*RolePlaying Character Background Thread*

[Slate]

Antorensiel Slate

Born and raised in Veins, Slate was a kind child who learned quickly and respected his elders. Never speaking out of turn and letting his rationality guide him through tough situations, Slate nonetheless became popular with his young peers thanks to his athleticism: people wanted him on their team in sports. It was at this time he adopted his surname as his preferred moniker; Antorensiel doesn't abbreviate neatly. As a teenager his habits changed little. He became more outgoing, but only compared to his hyper-reserved childhood identity. Driven by the hormones of puberty he adopted a habit of challenging physical exercise to impress the opposite sex, though little came of it. Slate found himself drifting away from his more socially-inclined friends and when he was 17, decided to begin attending university in Yuno.

Academic life was a good fit for Slate, an introvert who often passed the time in quiet thought, but he could never make himself specialize in any school of knowledge, preferring to learn about whatever he could. Unfortunately, he spread his studies so thin that his money ran out before he had taken enough courses in any subject to suitably make a career of it. However, university gave Slate a new sense of self and more importantly, opened him up to people with its intellectual discussion and inspiring professors.

Without any money however, Slate began to wander. Doing odd jobs for money throughout Rune-Midgard, he eventually found himself in Prontera, where he enlisted with the Knights' Guild. He spent a long time with the guild and eventually began to rise in rank. Living simply, Slate accumulated much of his money over the years and donated a large sum of it to the Kingdom, for which he was awarded a place among the nobility. Regarding his new standing, he was given an important place in the pecking order of the Knights' Guild.

It was during this time that he was sent along with his subordinates on an errand that brought him to the Nameless Island. Slate had not anticipated the ferocity of the monsters that roamed that unhallowed ground, and after one of his men received a critical wound, Slate resolved to finish the mission alone so as not to put anyone else in danger. He plunged, solitary, into the Cursed Abbey, laying about left and right with his spear, but it was not long before the monsters overwhelmed him. On the ground and losing blood quickly, Slate was sure it was the end when the vicious Zombie Slaughter standing over him fell with a hideous groan. His men had disobeyed his orders to come and rescue him, and what was more, they had taken not one injury on their way.

This event painted Slate's worldview all over again. Rather than punish them for disobedience as he would be expected by the laws of chivalry to do, Slate quit his position in the Guild, no longer believing in the power of authority. Comeraderie, loyalty, friendship: that was true power, not strength or rank. Slate continues to work with the Knights' Guild, but as an associate rather than a member, refusing to partake in the hinderances of rank.

Slate pledged his loyalty now to a guild, one which was not concerned with success or goals but rather run by simple acquaintanceship. From the people of the guild he came to know about the recent happenings in Rune-Midgard involving the war between Light and Dark.

From the outset Slate knew that he could never truly side with either of the opposing forces; they each stood for something he vehemently opposed. Darkness put an emphasis on personal power, which Slate could respect, but it had misguidedly judged that only some people had such power, and that they were somehow better than the rest. Light believed in goodwill and kindness, something Slate had always supported, but they relied on the obscenity of rank, believing that the strong should protect the weak and thereby making the same mistake as Darkness.

Slate's goal, then, became clear. He knew the truth. Each allegiance seemed to assume that there were those who were strong and those who were weak, and that meant that neither could be right: humanity by its very nature is strong. Slate began to get to work righting these wrongs: he allies himself with the Light Alliance, judging that those who believe in kindness will be more inclined to listen to him. If he can get those who work for one side to see the truth then the other side can be convinced with their help. If neither takes his word for it, he will continue to side with whichever needs his help, lengthening the stalemate until someone finally catches on to the fact that neither can be better than the other.