Name: Kris Vespin
Age: 17
Nationality: Shienaran
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 190lbs
Hair color/length: Black, shoulder length
Eye color: Dark Green
Talents: Masking, Elementalism
Fire: (9)
Earth: (7)
Spirit: (8)
Air: (9)
Water: (8)
Strength in One Power: 51 Below Strong Original Strength: 51
Age started Channeling: 17
As Kris rode into sight of the great city of Tar Valon for the first time in his life he was taken by a feeling of complete awe, nothing in his home country of Shienar was anything like what lay before him. The city sprawled for miles, and although he had heard about it so many times from books and stories told by visiting gleeman, nothing but seeing it for himself had done the place any justice. The one thing out of the entire city that kept his eyes locked firmly in place were the two Towers that he knew were the homes of the Asha’man and Aes Sedai. He quickly realized that he had been sitting in place, and heeled the horse given to him by the town to reach the great city faster, that he might put the town’s hardship in front of the Amyrlin Seat in a timely fashion. As he rode on he finally settled down from the excitement he’d had over seeing the Towers and told himself he needed to control himself better, he was a battle hardened citizen of the borderlands and although he was just barely old enough to be considered a man, he despised the times when his emotions took control of him like he was still a young child. He began to think about home at that thought and wondered how his family was doing while he was gone. Although it had only been three days since he had been sent on his way, in the borderlands three days could mean utter destruction for any town. Of course, that would mean the failure of the towers on the border of the blight in doing their job correctly.
Kris was born in Fal Moran, where his family had lived a good majority of his childhood. At the age of seven they had moved to the town where his father started a farm and began making a living the old fashioned way, with hard work and muscle. Even at that age Kris had helped around the farm and though sometimes it seemed pointless to him, he rather enjoyed helping his father in the field. His father taught him what he knew about character, about doing good things for the people and being as honest as possible, and with those philosophies in mind Kris grew into a young adult that might one day make a living well enough to earn the title of lord. As a child and even into his teens he had little control over his emotions and they tended to overwhelm him sometimes, a problem Kris hoped he would soon get past but would end up staying with him well into teens. At the age of ten the town was struck by its first trolloc raid since Kris had been there and as he watched the soldiers defend the town without reservation, he gained a new respect for the men in the town that were part of the regiment. He asked his father why he didn’t join them and was quickly told that his father had to watch out for the family and could not afford to go into the military. Still very proud of his father, he did not mention it again at any time, wanting to help with the farm as much as he could. By the time he was thirteen he had been taught everything his dad knew about farming, and everyday would help his father plow, plant, and when the season came harvest.
When he turned 14 Kris began to have an interest in the military as he started to notice the soldiers coming home from raids. Despite the enjoyment he got from working the land with his father, he believed he would have more enjoyment protecting it with the rest of the soldiers. His growing interest soon pushed him to enlist in the Shienaran army where he would undergo six months of training before being put into action defending the small town. Every day for six months he had woken up before dawn, grabbed a quick breakfast from the kitchen, and run to the camp where he underwent a basic training in archery and sword fighting. The training he was told should be enough to take on any trollocs he might encounter during a patrol or defense he might be involved in. He took to both like it was second nature learning quickly to push all thoughts from his mind to become one with his weapon allowing him better accuracy and precision with arrows and the sword. He hoped that the day would be far from approaching that he might have to use it in defense of his land as he would prefer to live in peace than to have to fight off any threat. While he was in training the mayor had also passed being of an extremely old age for the time, and a replacement was picked out of the very ranks of the army. The leader of this regiment was the new mayor, and when he turned fifteen with just weeks to go in his training he hoped that he would some day get to stand beside the great man in battle or out without a difference.
He looked up from his thought and was startled at how much closer he was to the city than he had thought. I was only distracted for a few seconds wasn’t I he thought to himself, and quickly made sure he had everything he needed before entering the city.
As he approached the gate he finally saw how massive the walls were and was amazed at why anyone thought they might attack the city and be victorious. He had heard about the Aiel War and how they had been turned back at the Shining Walls, how could they even thi{ink to break Tar Valon. He continued through the city taking in the Ogier Craftsmanship he had heard so much about, and thought that it would be great one day to settle here when his fighting days were over. It was getting close to midday and he was barely half the way to the White Tower from the gates and the streets were bustling. He saw people selling good from doorways, merchant trains making there way toward shops, and guards patrolling the city watching for signs of trouble. They looked elegant in their uniforms sporting the Flame of Tar Valon, but he knew that elegance didn’t mean anything when it came to battle. He finally reached the courtyard and dismounted, a stable hand running forward to take the horse until he was ready to leave. He then walked at a brisk pace through the entrance and into the gardens that separated the towers. Turning toward the White Tower he found himself staring up at an Asha’man, he bowed quietly and went around saying, “Good day Asha’man,” before continuing on toward the tower. However if he had looked back he would have noticed the Asha’man staring at him in almost disbelief.
He finally walked into the main hall of the White Tower only to find a room full of people waiting to go before an Aes Sedai and hoped that it would not be long before he could find one. He quickly spotted on near by that had just finished with one of the many people and rushed toward her catching her attention. “Good day Sir what can I do for you?” she asked while Kris collected himself. Bowing he said, “Aes Sedai I am here from a small town in Shienar and ask that I may go in front of the Amyrlin Seat regarding an issue the town sent me here to retrieve help with.” The Aes Sedai looked at him for a brief second in disbelief and then said, “Before you can go before the Amyrlin Seat I must know your reason for it must be of great enough alarm for her to be alerted of it.” Kris nodded and continued seemingly where he left off, “Our mayor was injured in the last trolloc raid Aes Sedai. We have done everything we can for him but his wound seems to be killing him more and more everyday. The town gave me a horse and sent me to ask the Amyrlin Seat for healing.” The Aes Sedai’s face filled with compassion as she told Kris, “You will not need to go before the Amyrlin Seat for that Sir. I will go and find a Yellow Sister to accompany you back to Shienar.” As he watched her walk off he was relieved that he would be getting the help the town needed, the town leader was a great man and he would give his life for him if required to. A few minutes passed with Kris observing the people in the hall and looking at the superior craftsmanship of the Tower itself. Had he been paying full attention he would have noticed an Asha’man by the entrance watching him intently.
Finally the sister returned accompanied by another Aes Sedai, Kris bowed once again and gave a quick greeting before the new Aes Sedai spoke. “Sir I am of the Yellow Ajah, we are devoted to healing and things of that like. Please describe to me what exactly your mayor is going through.” Kris had been there everyday to check up on him as he was Kris’ mentor and he was able to give great detail, “Well parts of the wound are blackening and a few days after he took the wound he became feverish. When I left he was pale and his breathing was almost in gasps.” The Aes Sedai’s face went white at the description and the sister spoke again, “I fear that your lord has less time than you might think we must make haste to your town.” Kris became rather distressed at these words not wanting his mentor to die of a wound given to him by shadowspawn. She told him she would be back in a few minutes and he backed away toward the entrance to wait for her so that another person could talk to the Aes Sedai that had been so helpful in finding a healer for him. He began to think about his life and what it was like when he first met the mayor of the town.
Kris had woken up that morning excited because it was his last day of training to become a soldier in the Shienaran army. Luckily there was a group of soldiers stationed at his town that he would be joining, the town mayor recently put there a few months ago was the leader of this group. Eager to join them he skipped breakfast at home that morning and ate some fruit on the way to the camp. After he arrived he quickly reported in and was alerted to find out that the last training days schedule had been remade. There was a trolloc raid heading for the town and it was up to them to hold them until reinforcements arrived. Kris was shocked, he was only 15 and already he’d be facing trolloc’s in battle to defend his home. He was told to wait in the middle of the camp until it was time to form up and start marching and he ran off until he found a large group of soldiers and joined them. After about an hour of waiting the leader of their band of men came out and ordered them into ranks, which due to months of training, came together in a few seconds. They marched north towards the border until they reached a clearing; here they prepared to meet their enemy, a reported number of 500 – 1000 trollocs. It was a daunting number but the beasts weren’t particularly the greatest fighters and were easily subdued by a somewhat smaller force of well trained men. There were at most 600 – 700 men in the Shienaran unit, more than enough to hold out until reinforcements came. Here they waited until they heard the sound of howls and grunts from across the field, at that point everyman stood and formed into two columns.
As the trollocs cleared the forest on the other edge of the clearing Kris noticed one thing that made him become anxious, these trollocs were led by a halfman. The Shienarans pulled out their bows and readied a first volley of arrows to be fired; Kris quickly used the void to clear all thoughts from his head feeding everything into a flame until he was one with the bow. As one the Shienarans all lifted their bows and fired a volley into the sky watching as the arrows came down in the group of trollocs felling a good 100 or so of the massive group. With this outrage of death they charged forward giving the Shienarans time to fire one more volley before they drew their swords to do battle. Kris somehow at the front of the lines surged forward as the trollocs got closer taking out one, then two, then three. He soon lsot count as the battle raged around him of how many had come at him and died, when then he froze in panic. Behind his most recently felled enemy stood the halfman staring at him, his gaze held kris rooted to the spot in panis and he was sure he was about to die. Suddenly from the side of his vision a man came crashing through the trollocs sword in mid swing, it met its target and shortly the halfman’s head lay on the ground and all of the shadowspawn were writhing on the ground in pain. Seconds later he realized that it was the mayor that had saved him, and from that moment forward the mayor had taken it upon himself to teach Kris all he could about life, army, and politics.
He was startled back to reality by the Aes Sedai that was accompanying him back to Shienar who quickly told him she was prepared to leave. She had come back with a cloak and what looked to be her warder, he had heard tales about the cloak this man wore and it made him almost sick just to watch it as it shifted in and out of sight. He bowed to both of them and gave them both a word of thanks before the three turned toward the hallway to the gardens. As they walked through he gardens the Aes Sedai made polite conversation about where the town was and what it was Kris did there. He quickly informed her that he had worked Bil’s, his father, field on the edge of town until he was almost 15 at which point he went to military training. The town was a mere half day ride from Fal Moran to the west and had its own regiment of soldiers to protect it. They had just reached the courtyard and were heading to the gates when Kris heard a voice yell out, “You with the Yellow Sister stop!” Kris turned to see who had called his name and noticed it was the same Asha’man that he had just about run into earlier. He bowed to the man again and spoke, “Asha’man I have done nothing wrong why are you stopping me?” The Asha’man paid no heed to the boy’s question as he turned to the Aes Sedai you may continue to wherever the three of you were going but the Black Tower requires that he stay. You know what to tell his parents.” Finally the Asha’man looked down and said, “You will follow me.”
It's a nice story, but it's not really much of a history. From that, I know that he worked on a farm as a child, and that he's been in the army for two years. Most of what I took out of that was things about the mayor, and about the Borderlands, but what I want to know about is Kris. Tell me about his childhood, go into detail, not just that he worked on a farm. Tell me about how he liked what he did, where he lived, things like that.
ok read you advice and edited the post hope you like it :)
Much better, approved. :)