Issac Aren

Issac Aren
Full Name:	Issac Thadius Roberto Noel Aren
Race:	Human
Birthplace:	Yanille, Kandarin
Height:	5'10
Hair Color:	Black w/ Peppered Gray
Eye Color:	Emerald Green
Religion:	Undisclosed, likely Saradomist
Affiliations	Empire of Asgarnia(Archmage) Asgarnian State Arcanists(Arcanist Magnus)

 Issac Aren was created by Liam the Big, for use with the Empire of Asgarnia rolelay. Issac is also a member of the Aren Family. The mysterious Archmage of Asgarnia, this slim and smooth talking man is riddled with secrets and wisdom. His magical prowess is seemingly unseen, though it can be assumed he was not chosen for his job without merit. Issac himself was who instated the State Arcanists into being, and has run the program since its inception. Though of Kandar descent, he has been both faithful and loyal to all he has served.

Abilities

Physical

Issac has never been a prime physical specimen. His slim physique and lack of thick muscle mass do make him somewhat agile, however. While it is possible for him to augment his physical abilities with magic, he is not naturally strong, nor fast.

Mental

Issac’s mental capabilities heavily compensate for his lack of shining physical attributes. His long hours of study, and his harsh learning environment has forced him to be knowledgeable in many things. This, along with his overall accessibility to a wide variety of source of knowledge, have also assisted in this endeavor. 

Polylinguic

Issac is capable of speaking Common, Kharidian, and is semi fluent in elven(Only due to the incapability for the human tongue to speak elven in its entirety). In addition, he can read and write in Old Gnomish, Infernal (Latin), and Karamjan.

Photographic Memory

Issac possesses a near perfect photographical memory, meaning he remembers almost everything that he has seen once or twice before. This includes books, combat styles, rituals, and spell casting styles.

Accomplished Author

Issac has published many works, from fiction to texts of learning to books of law. Among them are:

• The Arcana Codex: The book of magical law for the Asgarnian Empire, filled from end to end with laws of a magical nature varying in severity and importance.

• The Tragedy of Nicholai and Brawn: A fiction about two brothers eventually separated by a succubus’ curse.

• Aeromantic Combat Stances: A five hundred page instruction text detailing various combat stances helpful for the casting of air magic, and ways to defend against all other of the common elements with air magic. 

Very Convincing

Issac’s silver tongue slings honeyed words, landing gently as feathers on the ears of those who hear him speak. Even when he is arguing against your points, it’s difficult to not side with him, purely due to his ability to make his ideals seem universally agreeable.

Magical

Issac, having spent a majority of his life training in various forms and styles of magic, finds himself very skilled in the many schools of magic in which he has invested his time into. However, due to this, the schools not focused on are far less superior to those he has spent his entire life honing.

Elemental

·         Aeromancy: Issac finds himself at home with the arcane art of air. It has been the focus of much of his study, and because of this, his by far greatest skillset. It could even be said he is a master Air Mage.

·         Geomancy: Issac sees little purpose with mastery of the earth when the sky is of far greater potential. The arcane art of earth evades Issac’s understanding, and as such is his weakpoint.

·         Pyromancy: Issac found this skill useful enough to train to some degree, though does not favor it mostly due to its uncontrollable nature. Although not favored, he uses it in conjunction with his more favored skill, that of aeromancy, to greatly bolster the flame’s ability to destroy. The arcane art of flame is only used when Issac is running out of options.

·         Aquamancy: Issac’s next go to skill set. The arcane art of water is another one of Issac’s more favored schools of magic. While he is by no means a master of water, he is greatly adept in the control and manipulation of water.

Necromancy

Issac’s secretive relationship with the arcane art of resurrection is bittersweet. While he is quite proficient in the school of magic, its general use is both frowned upon and illegal in many places. As such, his ability to use such things has decreased overtime, due to a lack of training. He is still able to command the dead, however, and will do so only as a final resort. Among his other abilities through this school are the tracking of other necromancers utilizing a thrall, the severance of the connection between a necromancer and a thrall, and the destruction of the undead through magical means. 

Other

·         Issac is a novice practitioner of enchantment, able to utilize basic glyphs and minor enchantments.

He has a vast knowledge of most, if not all forms of magic. It is strictly a knowledge, and not practice. This allows him to identify, even the most obscure of magical practices.

History

Birth

Issac was born in Yanille, to his mother Unah. His father, Mason Aren, was both a cruel man and a wanted criminal of the state. His home was the Pale Manor of House Aren, and he did have what could be called a happy childhood. Though his father was ever absent, due to both his criminal and uncaring status, his mother was both caring and supportive of Issac in both his life goals, and his studies. Though Unah was no mage, she tried her best to encourage Issac to pursue the path of magic. Before long, Issac would have two brothers, both born of his father Mason. His younger brother’s name would be Ferdinand, and his baby brother Jacob.  At the age of 6, Issac was sent to Aspera Tower in Asgarnia to learn from the Aren masters there.

Aspera

The halls of Aspera Tower are dark and filled with both horror and fear. It was here that he first met Christopher Aren, though the Lord Father’s visits to the Tower were few and far in between.  Despite a lack of a safety net of supporting individuals, Issac thrived in this environment, as if his very blood yearned for this conflict and chaos since his birth. The young man, despite his age was quite gifted in the arcane. His instructors constantly referred back to his ancestry, quoting feats that his father had achieved while he was within Aspera’s tainted walls. Issac could not tell if his father was the cause of his gifts, but either way the child shrugged off such ideals. Issac was not doing this for his father, the man who had abandoned his mother and brothers to seek out a life of death and crime. He would do this all for his mother, for his brothers Ferdinand and Jacob. The day finally came for his testing. The ten year old was unprepared for the horrors which lie before him.

His class, or what remained of it, were shepherded by several of the High Mages of the tower to the basement level, which was off limits for all young apprentices, under penalty of death. Issac heard whispers from his classmates, some curious. Most fearful.  Issac was somewhere in between. The fear of what might come filling his belly, yet still remained the curious nature of a child, wishing to unlock the very secrets of this ‘Test’.  Soon the stench of death filled the nostrils of the young pupils, each now shuddering and shaking. Some shed tears, others stayed silent. They came to a large metal door, likely ten feet in height, and five in width. The etching upon the metallic surface suggested it was enchanted in some way, though Issac would only see gibberish, he not versed in such things. High Mage Volargin stepped before the door, and clasped her hands behind her back.  The woman spoke with a rasp, a low grinding crawl of vocal notes slowly stretching from her jaws. “Now children, the time has come for all of you to grow up!” She said enthusiastically, as if glad to finally be rid of the children. “Each of you will step beyond this door, and you will search within until you bring me a stone. Easy enough for you lot, eh?” Her grin creaked towards one side of her face, a few of her rotten teeth peeking through her chapped lips. The children were all fairly confused. A rock? This was too simple a task for it to be a test of a mage, never mind that of an apprentice. Yet still, each of the children nodded in turn, looking to each other than to Volargin. “The stone you seek is no mere rock. No pebble chipped off the floor. You are searching for focus stones, children, stones which will choose your path for you while you continue your stay here at Aspera Tower.” Again, the children were confused. Surely finding such an object could not be too difficult. Each of the children got in line, and were uneasy. Jittering like a chime in the wind.

The door glowed a bright red, and slowly, it opened. The creak and grind of metal on stone echoed through the hall which they had come from. Beyond the threshold, only darkness, a light mist or a fog hanging in the air. The first child slowly entered the mist, and seemed to be consumed by it. All of the other children waited. Soon ten minutes would go by, then twenty, then thirty. Before long, a sickening scream rang out from the darkness, that of a child. Volargin smirked. “Shame. I thought that one had more fight in them. Next!” There was a unified gulp from the remaining three students, and Issac was next in line. Slowly, Issac too stepped into the mist. Into the darkness.

The other side of the doorway was as dark as it seemed, though there were many lights shimmering off in the distance. Yet they were clouded by the thick mist of the darkened hall which he found himself in. Suddenly, Issac heard movement, slinking nose, like that of a snake. Issac was frightened, as his heart began to race. He began to run, deeper and deeper, towards the faint shimmer of lights at the end of the hallway. Yet no matter how far he ran, the lights seemed to only get farther away. The being which seemed to chase him pursued, and seemed to only get closer and closer. Issac decided that whatever it was, he would have to fight it. Clearly the stones were not the real test, surely it must be the slaying of the stone’s keeper. He quickly removed his wand, albeit an apprentice’s wand was not that powerful, but it was all he had, and charged the mightiest spell he could muster. A blast of air, that of a strike level. It cleared some of the mist, revealing to Issac who his attacker was. It was a large skeletal snake with the skull of a human. The being shrugged off the meager attack casted by the ten year old and continued forward toward him. However, in that glimpse of his attacker, Issac could see a black stone, suspended in the being’s chest cavity. This stone, in the moment he saw it, spoke to him, called out to him. As if it was an old friend, a family member, a lover. A power that resonated so deeply within Issac’s body. He braced himself, and outstretched his hand where the stone had been. There was a sickening crunch, as the being collided with Issac. After a few moments, Issac awoke, still in the darkness. Yet he had it, he could feel the smooth stone in his hand, resonating, pulsating with energy. A sharp pain went through Issac’s stomach, and as Issac felt for the cause, he would have felt a bone, imbedded in the side of his stomach. Slowly getting to his feet, Issac attempted to make out where the entrance was, tears running down the child’s face from the pain of his injury. He moved slow, attempting to find an exit. The pain hurt him so as he bit his lip, kneeling in pain, tears still streaming down his face. Before he knew it, his eyes closed, and he felt himself slowly slipping unconscious. It was then that his journey began.

A flurry of visions accosted the child. Death, rotting corpses, countless tombs and gravesites all across Gielinor, each more horrific than the last. The child saw before him many people dressed in black, around various circles, runes and glyphs carved into tables, floors, and even the remains of the dead. The undead rising before him, their visages mere shells of their former selves. The visions continued, faster and faster, before culminating in a vast emptiness. There was nothing before the child. A void, no sound, no sight. Somehow, this emptiness put the child at peace, an understanding of death and undeath slowly filled the mind of the boy, this yearning for knowledge growing ever steady. Alas, it was not to be forever. Soon, he awoke.

When Issac’s eyes opened yet again, he was back at the door, standing before his two remaining classmates. The smile on the face of High Wizard Volargin was odd, and creepily sickening. She saw the stone in the boy’s hand, and knew what the child would become. “Get him to the medical bay.” She chirped with a sick glee. “Can’t have him dying until he wants to come back.” She chuckled to herself as several Conjurers took the wounded, crying child away. On his way to medical, he passed out again.

From this point on, Issac was a Mage within Aspera Tower, taken into the Tower’s most notorious and least ethical course of study, Necromancy. He soon found himself surrounded by vile individuals at a near constant, it soon becoming the norm for the young man. Among them was High Mage Volargin, the tower’s High Mage of Necromancy. Volargin was a cruel woman, who chose the field out of, as far as Issac could tell, a sick pleasure in the pain of others. Issac would continue his dark and twisted study until he was allowed to leave the tower freely at the age of eighteen.