Character Approval Thread

[Admin]

Please place your characters for approval in this thread and a mod will get back to you asap. In the meantime why not take a read around the site or develop your backstory?

[Ali Stearn]

Are you taking new character? I have an idea.

[Hrair]

Hi Ali,

Yes we certainly are taking new characters. This is a very new forum so all are welcome!

We (The ST's) have not had chance to put up much of the back story regarding the Book of Knoll but I have PM'd you some of the ideas as to where we want to go as a general direction (subject to what happens with the players). perhaps you could consider that when you draft your character?

It does not need to be very long (but the longer and more well written the better I guess!)

Simply post your character in this thread for approval when you have finished preparing her/him and we can move from there.

Welcome to the Forum!

[Ali Stearn]

Doctor. Stearn
Name: Alisdair Stearn PhD MA BA
Age: 28
Place of birth: Exeter, Devon UK
Age of embrace:
Place of embrace:?Oxford UK

Species: Mortal


Appearance: 5ft 9, dark hair and thick glasses. Brown eyes and slightly portly.


Alisdair looks every bit the typical young academic. The morning of the day before his embrace he got up and put on a smart shirt, some chinos, a grey woolly jumper, a long dark trench coat and scarf.


He is of a medium build, slightly portly from not undertaking much exercise. He is usually clean shaven and sporting his thick glasses. He is very short-sighted which comes from all day perusing over books.




History:


Ali Stearn was born to Alfred and Sheila in Topsham near Exeter. His father worked as a communications officer on board a Submarine and was not present during Ali's birth. His father disappeared when Ali was 3 and Ali has not seen him since though every so often a letter arrives for him, his Mother and his three sisters.


Ali's Mum is a teacher of Biology at Exeter City High School, and has been since Ali was baby. Now she is with a Doctor of Gastrointestinal medicine at Exeter Hospital, Stephen Jones and since she has been with him these last three years she has become more of an extrovert. Ali is glad that she is happier now and he likes Steven on his brief visits back to the family nest.


Until the age of eighteen, Ali lived with his Mum and three older sisters in a little cottage in Budleigh Salterton. He established a love for the local library at a young age. He has an Uncle who he rarely sees who also works in the military as a Logistics Officer in the army. Both his Grandparents are dead and Ali has no other family.


At the age of 11 he went to the Coleham Grammer School Exeter, and studied hard. He had a few friends mainly from the chess club which is has been his passion since his Father had shown him how to play. He became a county champion for chess at the age of 13 and an international master at the age of eighteen, winning most of his games, he carefully and quietly built up his English attack. He also played well as black and some of the better rated players found his Berlin defence hard to break. .


Ali got straight A's at A level and started a BA in History at Oxford University.
He made friends quickly among the local chess club and amongst his academic peers. Toward the end of his three years of undergraduate when his friends began to move away Ali joined the local Archaeological Society and assisted on a number of digs looking for early medieval artifacts in Wales.


He graduated with a first and began a research MA in History. His thesis was on “The Exeter Book.” One day during his research he began examining strange runes written on a 17^th Century treatise on the Exeter book, purportedly written by a monk in Spain around 1692 titled “La sangre del libro”, and this is what sparked his PhD research off.


Alisdair abhors physical confrontation and verbal altercation. He is confident with other academics who know his subject but slightly nervous in a social setting.


Alisdair loves his books. He enjoys quiet academic conversation and has been for the last five years utterly obsessed by his research. Recently his research took a turn.


ALI'S RESEARCH


There was nothing in the text of “La sangre del libro” itself that was odd, but what interested Ali was a group of cuneiform marks on the side of the page. Ali researched these marks and could find no reference to them in any text. Were they a language, or a code? Ali could not decipher them, and though he engaged some help from some mathematicians and linguists from around the university no one could shed any light on them.


Ali needed more evidence.


He next got the more evidence he desired over the next couple of years, he identified similar symbols on a Callanish Stone Circle, apparently thought to be made by the Druids. He found the same symbols on a religious text dating from circumvent 1540 both buried in the Bodliean, and one on a Royal Naval Intelligence Daily Orders from Singapore heading to Naval Headquarters London dating from November 1949 which he found at the Public Record Office.


He began to ask around more scholars about the writings.


None of his colleagues who deal with late medieval recognised the marks on the religious text, and no copies of the original text (Ali had referred to the original text) bore the marks. Ali also drew a blank on the Ancient Celtic marks, none of his archaeologists colleagues could assist.


Ali began researching harder, trying to link the four texts. How could four texts spanning over a thousand years of history have the same code written on them.


He decided to look harder into the 1949 Daily Orders document which he had found in the Public Record Office. He telephoned the public record office again to review the documents, he also, through his professor for the MOD to send him copies of some relevant records from 1949


It was then when things began to get a little strange. Apparent strangers would start asking him about his research, but always in hushed tones. Very pretty ladies talking to him, wanting to know more about his work. He started getting silent telephone calls in the middle of the night. He was sure he was being followed.


It was the morning the day before Ali's embrace. Ali had had another silent phonecall during the night and as a result had not slept well. He had a teleconference with University of Madrid that morning and was late. He grabbed his bicycle and rode as hard as he could through the busy Oxford streets. He rounded the corner to his office...


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


TO BE CONCLUDED (1)


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BACKSTORY


“What do you fancy?” said Doctor Ali Stearn to his friend Paul.


“I'll have another one of those 'Blood Rage's'” replied Paul.


Ali ordered the two drinks and handed the money over the to the barman. The barman handed the change back to Ali.


“Cheers” said Ali. He gestured outside.


The Turf Tavern in Oxford was heaving that night, it was pretty much heaving every night during term time, and there was no chance of a seat inside the pub that evening. Not at a quarter past nine.


The pair made their way into the large beer garden, as Ali walked up the steps into the large beer garden he tripped slightly spilling his pint. He looked up to make sure no one had noticed.


The garden in the Turf was warm, mainly due to the numerous heat lamps. Ali made his way to the front of the garden next to the sign that proudly declared:


“It was here that Bill Clinton did not inhale.”


The pair stood slightly awkwardly in front of the sign.


“What you doing this weekend Ali” asked Paul.


“Mushroom foraging” replied Ali.


“Crikey you do that every weekend Ali, you'll never meet a girl, is there even any mushrooms at this time of year?”


“I love it Paul” replied Ali “and yes there are quite a few varieties, edible ones too if you know where to look.”


The pair stood awkwardly for a few minutes.


“Sooo” said Paul, “how's the research coming along.”


“Pretty interesting actually at the moment” Ali peered over his heavy framed NHS glasses. “the boss is just about to come back from Russia with a really interesting find. I am hoping it will be a major publication and I might just get a credit on it, with a bit of luck.”


Paul smiled. “That would be good Ali, you deserve some credit for all your hard work”


“God knows I spend enough time at it” said Ali, turning his head to the side with an awkward tick as he did so. “Born, early talker, even earlier reader, reading history since I was four, school no friends, high school two friends, just about scraped the straight A's at A level with a lot of work. Hard work but no life. Plus it is not easy at Oxford with a working class family and no daddy boughts either!”


“Sod off” said Paul “Farmer's are all rich”


“My Dad's not rich, there is no money in sheep, and the farm is rented” protested Ali.


Paul shrugged and the pair returned to standing awkwardly in silence.


“So how is your protein study coming along” enquired Ali politely after a few minutes.


“yeah not too bad. I have to write up on the sRNA and the active transport experiment, so far I have a glitch in the...” Paul continued talking but Ali had ceased to listen. Paul's words had become just part of the background noise in the Turf, Ali had never been so distracted in his life.


It was not she was pretty, nor was it the way she laughed. It was her eyes. They were captivating Ali, he could not drag himself away. The dark haired girl with the piercing green eyes caught his glance and Ali's glance became a stare. He realised he was staring, and normally he could not look at a girl let alone stare at one. His stare became a gawk, and his jaw dropped as if to say something.


The girl with the piecing green eyes laughed and shook her hair back. She stood from the wooden picnic bench like table in the beer garden and whispered to the long haired gangly youth with a thin beard sat next to her. She stood from the table and disappeared into the pub.


“No chance mate...”


“Pardon” replied Ali.


“You have no chance I said” repeated Paul.


“I don't know what you mean” replied Ali feigning complete ignorance.


“She's with that dude with the long hair. I saw them snogging as we came into the garden.” noted Paul in a matter of fact voice.


“I wasn't...” protested Ali.


“Yes you were...for at least five minutes”


“What” said Ali in a shocked voice.


“You were just stood there staring at her for five minutes, even if she was single she'd be well creeped out....another beer, oh I see you still have yours. Down it?”


Ali shrugged and downed the rest of his pint. There was no way, he thought, he had been staring at her for five whole minutes.


Paul took the glasses and made his way to the bar.


Ali chanced a glance over to the gangly lanky haired youth with whom the girl with green eyes was sat. To his surprise he found the gangly lanky haired youth grinning inanely back at him. The youth waived and gestured him to come over to the table. Ali looked behind him, and realising there was no one behind him aside from a grinning Bill Clinton, he pointed at himself mouthing “me?!.”


“Yes you” shouted the youth. “come and sit with us”


Ali shrugged and made his way over to the table.


“Hi I'm Phil” said the youth introducing himself, “this is Margo and Simon” he said pointing to his two friends. The girl you saw was Olivia, she will be back in a moment. I think she likes you.”


“Pardon” said Ali.


Phil roared with laughter, throwing his head back with a snort. “I said she likes you....we like you”


“But you don't even know me” protested Ali, still reeling from the forwardness of the group.


“Ali, we do....”


“Fair enough...” Ali shrugged “wait how do you know my name?” enquired Ali shocked.


The youth laughed again. Ali looked up as Olivia sat back down closely followed by Paul. The pair sat at the table with their new found beer buddies. Ali found himself staring at Olivia again.


“...so that settles it then” said Phil.


“That settles what?” replied Ali with a shake of his head, breaking his stare at Olivia and returning his attention to the conversation. He looked at Phil, and then down at the table where there was a large pile of pint glasses and he noticed his hand was bleeding. All of a sudden Ali felt very drunk.


“That settles it I said, we are going to break into the Bodleian.”


“Pardon?!” said Ali.


“I said that settles it, as agreed we are going to break into the Bodleian”


“Break into the Bodleian!?” exclaimed Ali, “agree?!...did I just miss out on this whole conversation, I'm not going to break into the Bodleian, you are crazy”


“Ali, Ali Ali...” soothed Phil in an extrimely calming voice. “we have been discussing this for the last three hours, you agreed we would break into the Bodliean”


“Three hours...what are you talking about we have only been here five minutes” he looked up at his friend Paul, Paul wrinkled his eyebrows in apparent disgust.


Ali shook his head violently to the right and looked at his watch. It was quarter to twelve.


He scratched his head.


“Are you ready?” asked Phil.


“Ready for what?” asked Ali shocked.


“To break into the Bodleian, well into the bookstack...it was your plan.” replied Phil.


“What the hell are you talking about?” said Ali, now totally confused. It was impossible, well not for him but it may as well have been. He could lose his post at the university.


The Bodleian is Oxford University's library, at least one of them, and it is certainly the biggest. It can only be accessed by readers of the library and there is a process required in order to become a reader. The Bodleian is not a library in the common sense, at least you cannot go in there and take a book of the shelf. You have to go and read the catalogue and order the book you required.


The librarian would then put the order to the book stack, and then depending where the book was located you could expect to have your book, or paper or journal or whatever in a few days, not to take out of the library of course but to read in the readers room. The Bodleian has everything, literally everything, well as close to as you could get. It is the size of the British library and stretches under a third of the city of Oxford. There are books in there which are thousands of years old. The library itself incorporates the bookstack.


Very few people have access to the bookstack and its many miles of corridors and bookshelves. Ali was one of the lucky few, and only because it was necessary for his research.


“Look – I don't know who you are but there is no way we are going to break into the bookstack” said Ali firmly to Phil.


“Ali” said Olivia, her green eyes glinting in the moonlight. “We don't need to break in exactly you can unlock it.”


“No way, there is...” began Ali, as he did so he caught sight of those eyes again.


Ali stumbled as he made his way upstairs. He crashed through the common room and fumbled with his keys as he unlocked the door of his flat. He fell through the door onto his carpet and picked himself up again, pulling a mug off the coffee table as he did so.


He made his way towards the kettle and flicked the on switch. There was a a dry gurgle as the element of the kettle sizzled. Ali realised there was no water and hurriedly flicked the switch off. He made his way to the tap and began to fill the kettle.


What the heck had just happened? How had he got home and how had got so unbelievably drunk? He struggled to remember but failed. He grabbed a blue mug from beside the sink and dropped a tea bag off the side of the cup onto the floor. He swore, and bent down to retrieve the tea bag, falling as he did so hitting his head on the cupboard in front of him. Ali swore again, and retrieved himself, and the teabag off the floor.


After a few minutes struggling he managed to make himself a cup of tea.


He sat down and put his feet on the table and drunk his tea. He was still trying to recall the nights events, but his brain, would not let him. Ali stood again, swaying. He wondered if a further drink might help him remember what had happened. He made his way to the cupboard with the head shaped dent in it and retrieved the quarter bottle of vodka.


He looked at it for a while, before looking to the top of the cupboard.


There on top of the cupboard were his keys. Not his house keys but his work keys. On them a key for his Vauxhall Corsa, two locker keys, one for his locker at work and the other for a locker from his last college which he had not gone back to retrieve. Also on his keys were the key for his desk drawer and six keys for the various doors of the bookstack.


He pushed the bottle of vodka into his pocket and grabbed his one foot Maglight torch from the cupboard.


He made his way towards the door of his room and then stopped.


He scratched his head with his keys.


“What on earth am I doing?” he thought to himself.


He looked at the torch in his hand. Doctor Ali Stearn then decided he would not think any better after a large drink of Vodka, but he would think better in the morning, well perhaps after a long sleep and some bacon and eggs he would think clearer. It had to be all better in the morning. He started back towards his bedroom. He placed the Maglight back in the kitchen drawer.


He looked at his hands before he opened the bedroom door. “Why am I still carrying my work keys?” he thought to himself, and made his way to the the small cupboard with the head shaped dent in it and placed his keys on the top of it. He turned to make his way to the bedroom, stopping to open his drawer and extract the Maglight. He turned again and picked up his work keys and made his way to the front door.


Ali got a strong sense of deja vu as he reached the front door. He thought he would feel better after a lie down, and perhaps some bacon and eggs in the morning. He turned back towards his bedroom and placing the Maglight back in the drawer he went to the bathroom and back to the bedroom.

As he made to open the door, looking at the keys in his hands he picked up the Maglight from the drawer in the kitchen and went to the front door.


He scratched his head, decided he would feel better after a lie down, and possibly some bacon and eggs in the morning, and even a sausage, then he headed back to his bedroom depositing the Maglight in the drawer on the way to the bedroom. He got to his bedroom door, looked at the keys in his hand, and the retrieved a Maglight from the kitchen drawer, he then went to the front door where he heard a loud buzz.


Ali made his way to answer the intercom.



“Erm...helloo?” he said to the intercom.


“I'm at the front door, can you let me in?” said the raspy but familiar voice at the other end of the intercom.


Ali scratched his head. It was against policy to let other students in to the building without their keys, especially when they rang the intercom at half past three in the morning.


“Are you a student” he said in a drunken manner.


There was no reply. Ali stood for a second and replaced the Maglight in the drawer, he made his way to the bedroom, looked at the work keys in his hand, retrieved the Maglight and picking up his red wooly hat he went to answer the buzzer.


“Can I come in?” asked the voice at the other end.


Ali swore under his breath and pressed the entry button. “yes, come in” he sighed.


Ali closed his eyes, and lifting his glasses he pinched the bridge of his nose.


He opened his eyes.


“This is the door” said Phil.


“Pardon” said Ali.


Ali was stood, slightly opposite the Turf Tavern and at least 300 meters away from his college.


“This is the door” repeated Phil.


“Go on Ali” cajoled Olivia. Ali found himself opening the door to the eastern stairway of the book stack.


He made his way through.


The two vampires and Paul remained on the outside.


“Can we come in?” they asked together.


“Yes” replied Ali.


“Are you letting us in of your own free will?” asked Olivia.


Doctor Ali Stearn found his mind clear slightly. Whatever was fogging his thoughts lifted, well at least it lifted sufficiently for the sixteen pints of Blood Rage to sufficiently have a proper effect. He thought as well as he could for a second, had time to wonder what was going on for about 1.8 milliseconds before looking at Olivia and those piecing green eyes. They were no longer as piercing as before but they were still so pretty.


Ali's beer fuddled brain made something stir down below. The something down below was asleep and not really listening to Ali's beer fuddled brain, but intimated to him that in principle it would be willing to anything this girl required, but could not assure any participation, save from suggesting that anything that involved giving this female what she wanted would be a good idea.


“I am inviting you in of my own free will and volition” sighed Ali, “just try not to break anything, don't steal anything, don't let anyone catch you and five minutes okay?”


The vampires pushed past Ali and down the stairs into the bookstack.


“Coming” said Ali to Paul.


Paul looked confused. “Umm what's going on?” he asked.


“Dunno, I do know the 'Blood Rage' was a bad choice though, I'm hammered” replied Ali.


Paul nodded in agreement. “Definitely a poor choice” he paused and cast a hand over his chin. “Come on then” he said after some thought, “I've never seen in the book stack, plus we better keep an eye on those two, who knows what they are up to.”


As if on queue there was the sounds of laughing and a strange muffled chant from the bottom of the stairs.


“Why did I let them in again” asked Ali.


“Breasts?” suggested Paul.


The pair made their way down the stairs, and Ali flicked on the Maglight.


The bookstack was eerie in the daytime, let alone in the dark. The Maglight cast a dim glow as the pair turned left at the bottom of the stairs and made their way towards the sound of the muffled shouting.


“We should never have let them two in” said Ali.


Paul grunted an agreement.


The pair made their way along the corridor and into a large room with dozens upon dozens of bookshelves containing books about ancient history, science and law. The two made their way between the shelves, coming to a narrow door at the end.


The pair proceeded through the narrow door into another small corridor, and down the corridor into another bookstack.


They made their way through the shelves, medieval history this time and through another narrow door into a wide corridor.


The pair turned right down the wide corridor and made their way towards the now increasingly muffled shouting. The pair continued along the dark wide corridor into the blackness before arriving at yet another door. They made their way through the door into another bookstack, Roman history this time. Ali made his way around the shelves and through a stout wooden door at the bottom. He turned left into a narrow stone corridor sloping down further beneath the city.


Ali could hear muffled noises from the couple through the ageing wooden door. He swept his way through into a musty and dank smelling bookstack.


This was the ancient Egyptian area, and there were plenty of text concerning ancient Egypt on the wooden shelves. He made his way to the end, where there were papyrus papers, and Ali thought to himself he would have to find this part of the bookstack again, there were some interesting papers here. He opened a door into another corridor at the base of the ancient Egyption bookstack. Again it was a narrow stone corridor.


“Do you think we should shout them Paul” asked Ali.


Silence.


“Paul?” asked Ali again.


“Paul?” he said into the darkness louder this time, sweeping his Maglight from left to right.


There was a loud giggle from a wooden door to the right of the corridor.


“Olivia” rasped Ali. The darkness gave no reply.


Another dark corridor, lead to another wooden door.


Ali pushed the door open and was faced with candle light, there were seven candles along the sides of a short but fairly wide corridor. The candles illuminated gargoyles lining the edge of the corridor.


Now Ali should have realised that candlelight was weird, not just because he was a few hundred meters below Oxford in a part of the book stack that was not even catalogued at four in the morning, but because candles, matches, lighters and tinderboxes were banned in the Bodleian, very banned. Ali did not notice however, and in lack of any common sense emotion taking over him he decided to push open the stone door at the end of the corridor.


The room inside was black, pitch black. Ali swung his torch around the room.


“Paul?...Phil?...Olivia?” he whispered.


There was no reply from the darkness.


There was a stone table in the middle of the room. On the table there stood two goblets, one silver and one gold. In the centre of the grey stone table was a tome. Ali took a deep breath. The scholar deepdown inside took the better of him and crept towards the table.


The Maglight flickered as Ali reached the table.


“Paul?” whispered Ali again.


The darkness gave no reply.


Ali tiptoed towards the tome.


He began reading. He stopped reading very quickly. The words, well symbols were doing something to his brain. He felt himself being drawn in to the book. The torch flickered.


A laugh sounder from the darkness, and Ali's vision wobbled as his legs buckled. There was a sharp taste of metal in his mouth as he touched the floor. He drifted in and out of consciousness for the next few minutes and was vaguley aware of been tied to a table.


“Now, it's going to be light in ten minutes” Ali thought he heard a voice say. “how are we going to get him to London?”


Ali entered the tome.


STARTING EQUIPMENT:


1 x 1ft Maglight (flickering, but works with a tap + 1 x spare bulb.
1 x set of keys for a Vauxhall Corsa. (and other misc keys)
1 x fountain pen (leaking)
1 x pocket guide to fungi.
1 x red woolly hat
1 x small bottle of Vodka.
2 x fruit pastels (stuck to lining of jacket)


ARTIFACTS CLOSE BY: AT the ST's Discretion


One huge leather bound tome
2 goblets, one of silver, one of gold.

[Hrair]

Hi Ali, Great solo, very well written. I have also checked your sheet and approve your character. 

Please post your character in the Main Story Thread (Book of Knoll - Characters) and provide a link to the story in your character sheet as discussed.

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