Aleksander Nilsen - Norway

[Aleksander Nilsen]

Name: Aleksander Nilsen
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Quarter: Citadel (originally from the Northeast Quarter)
Job: Speaker
God(s): As a Speaker, he is rather closely tied to all the Gods. However, the most important one to him is Gedlek. Though on any special occasions or when the need arises, he will perform rituals or sacrifices for the other Gods as well.
Gift: Aleksander is highly sensitive to other people's emotions. In other words, he can sense what people are feeling better than normal humans, sometimes even better than the person in question themself. Some people think he is a mindreader, which is not true in the most common meaning of the word. Aleksander senses what people are feeling, not what they're thinking. However, if someone is highly focused on a single thought and the emotion risen by that thought is unusually strong, he might be able to make out an actual word or two. This is extremely rare, though.

Personality: Aleksander has always been bit of a lone wolf, something that is as much his own fault as it's everyone else's. He prefers silence to live chatter and is pretty shy of strangers, so his social skills are not on par with those of most other people. Aleksander is perfectly aware of this, but it doesn't bother him all that much. He doesn't really see the point why he should even try approaching new people when he knows in the end it'll only turn awkward and unpleasant for both sides. Though it doesn't help that other people tend to shun away from him, labeling him as cold and uncaring because of his apparent lack of emotion. And it's not like they're completely wrong, either.

Having spent most of his life with only a few close people, Aleksander's view of the world has turned kind of biased. There's ”us” and then there is ”everyone else”. If you somehow manage to get past the outer shell and are allowed into Aleksander's small bubble, you will find he is extremely loyal and will do everything in his power to protect and help you. The outsiders, on the other hand, don't really matter and Aleksander doesn't generally concern himself with their problems. As long as those he loves are safe and happy, the rest of the world doesn't matter all that much to him.

Unlike what his outer appearance suggests and what people think, Aleksander is not emotionless. Not even close. He just has mastered the skill of locking up his feelings. He might appear completely blank on the outside and have a whirlwind of emotions raging inside him at the same time without anyone realizing. He has never been good with emotions, especially his own, so he tries to postpone dealing with them and lets them bottle up inside until he can't take it anymore. Because of this, his emotions tend to be kind of extreme when they finally surface. It also makes him incredibly snarky and easily irritated. If you're not in the position to get Aleksander hanged for his words and haven't done anything to earn his respect, you'll be most likely to get only blunt and sarcastic comments from him. He's not one to sugarcoat his words. If he thinks you're an idiot, he will make it perfectly clear for you.

Actually, Aleksander is rather honest with everything he says. He isn't afraid to voice his own opinions, but won't bother to do it unless he has a reason to believe it'll make a difference. Quiet by nature, he usually takes the role of a observer in a conversation, listening to what the others have to say and drawing his own conclusions and forming his own ideas. Just because he is quiet doesn't mean he is stupid; he just doesn't want to waste time by sharing his half-formed thoughts. He really wishes other people would do the same.

Aleksander may be snarky but he has whimsical and playful side as well. He doesn't joke around like your average person does, but he has his own weird sense of humor that more often than not involves harmlessly teasing his little brother. He also has a tendency to act 'out of character' at times, which usually is a huge surprise to people but is actually a pretty big part of Aleksander's character. However, closed as he is, his playfulness only surfaces when he feels he can loosen up. In other words, with those closest to him. Even if you don't find his sense of humor funny, if you get to witness it you should take it as a compliment. Even if he's joking at your expense.

Appearance: Aleksander has emotionless, smoky blue eyes and straw-coloured hair that is nearly always secured away from his face with a small, cross-shaped pin. He is a very lean man, despite never having done much physical work, and while his face has some more roundness to it, his sharp and pretty features are clearly visible. Despite being fairly tall, his thinness often creates an illusion of him being much smaller than he really is.

Most of the time he wears the official robes of the Speakers. Though pleasant to the eye, the silken robes rich in both colour and layers are way too heavy and hard to move in for his taste. That's why whenever he is off-duty he prefers to wear more simple clothes; pants and an off-white shirt will do just fine. However, whenever he goes out he will make sure he looks tidy. Not because he is vain, he is quite the opposite, but simply because of his position in society.

Strengths:
• His Gift
  
• Control
  
• Status
  
• Quick mind
  
• Tough

Weaknesses:
• Physical strength
  
• Stubborn
  
• Pessimistic
  
• Introverted
  
• Bad social skills

Likes:
• His brother
  
• Cute things
  
• Folklore and mythology
  
• Learning
  
• Silence
  
• Mountains
  
• The sea
  
• Sweets

Dislikes:
• Loud people
  
• Stupid people
  
• Being underestimated
  
• People who don't respect his personal space
  
• Human touch not initiated by himself

Quirks:
• Despite being a man of high self-control and liking things to get done quickly, Aleksander is horribly unorganized. One look into his study will be more than enough of a proof. Though it's not dirty, just messy. It's only thanks to the servants that the chaos doesn't spread to the whole building.
  
  
• Aleksander has a tendency to act ”out of character” sometimes, whether it's saying something seemingly irrelevant in the middle of a conversation or spontaniously agreeing on a rather foolish idea. More often than not, though, there's a logical explanation to his actions, people just don't see it.
  
  
• He holds a deep interest for black magic and pagan traditions, even though he is a Speaker. Mostly he just likes to study about these, but sometimes he might try out a spell or potion or two. He likes to keep quiet about this, though, since most people wouldn't approve of a man of his profession doing such things.
  
  
• He absolutely loves being pampered on. He will try to deny it to the very last second, but if you get him into a somewhat comfortable position and start to, for example, massaging his shoulders or playing with his hair, he will turn as sweet as a kitten in no time. However, this only works with people he is familiar and comfortable with, as those are the only ones he can relax around.

Fears:
• Losing someone important - Especially his brother. He doesn't know what he'd do if he lost the few people he can trust in. He may be a loner but he actually is afraid of ending up truly, completely alone, without even the thought that there's someone out there who cares to comfort him.
  
• Small, enclosed places – He can handle them to some extent. However, if it seems he can't get out he is quick to freak out.
  
• Having to depend on someone else completely – Aleksander is a fiercely independent person by heart
  
• Not being in control – Being in control of himself is probably the most important thing to Aleksander, so he is afraid of losing that. The mere thought of letting go absolutely terrifies him.

History: Aleksander was born into a noble family in the Northeast Quarter, but doesn't really remember much of his childhood home because of having been sent to Citadel at an early age. His parents were kind and loving, if a bit clueless about how to handle their withdrawn child. Aleksander spent a good deal of his time as a child reading and studying; it was something he immediately took interest in after learning how to spell. He didn't really have any friends, not before his brother was born, but he would often play with a boy around his age that lived closeby. The boy was too loud and bossy and brash, but he was Aleksander's only playmate and so he didn't complain. Much. It was not like they had completely lousy time together, anyway.

At the age of seven, Aleksander's parents decided to send their son to Citadel so he could be trained to become a Speaker. They thought it would be a great idea, giving their sons special ability and his background, and Aleksander didn't disagree. He was quite happy in his new home; he was taught new things everyday and the people were mostly nice to him. The only thing he really missed from his earlier home was his little brother, but he was allowed to keep in touch with his family so it wasn't unbearable.

Showing quite a bit of talent, Aleksander finished his training fairly quickly. Like the other Speakers, however, he remained in the Citadel and hasn't really left it since. Though he is happy enough with what he does, he can't help sometimes thinking what it would be like to leave everything and try traveling around their small island.


RP Sample: [from Tarot Nouveau]

Aleksander was really starting to regret coming to the ball. He hadn't even intended to do so at first, but after being reminded about the fact that the Spades had probably the biggest library in the whole world he had changed his mind fairly quickly. The chance of getting his hands on some of the oldest and rarest books ever written had just been too much to resist, even if it meant he would have to partake in pointless socializing in exchange.

However, he hadn't been prepared for this. He had originally planned to sneak away from the celebrating masses as soon as possible, but it had proved to be far harder than he'd thought. First, there were much, much more people than he'd ever imagined there would be, though he now realized that had been pretty stupid of him considering the invitation had been sent to all four kingdoms. Second, it seemed there were quite a few unmarried ladies who desperately wanted to dance with every male they managed to set their eyes on. And now matter how much Aleksander had tried to refuse their invitations, his night had so far involved way too much dancing and far too little reading to his tastes.

As the last notes of another song echoed in the ballroom and the guests started their applause, Aleksander made a new desperate attempt to get away from the dance floor and out of the room. And this time he seemed to have some luck with him, as he managed to make it into one of the quieter corners which was occupied by people seemingly more interested in chatting and gossiping than dancing. Taking a deep breath, Aleksander started to scan the room for exits that looked like they might lead deeper into the castle. It might've been easier to just ask someone about the library's whereabouts, but he didn't really feel like talking to anyone here more than he absolutely had to. It was like the people here loved hearing their own voice. Once they started, they never shut up.

He had just spotted a doorway on the eastern side of the room that looked fairly promising when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around reluctantly, expecting to see yet another girl hoping for a dance, and was surprised when he found himself facing a young man instead. Aleksander stared up at him for a few moments, confused, before something clicked into place and the confusion made way to a whole new mix of emotions, consisting mostly of surprise and irritation.

”What the hell are you doing here?” Aleksander made no effort to lower his voice as he spat the question at Amleth, drawing a few appalled looks from the higher ranked people around them. Seriously, he had never expected to run into the younger man here. He hadn't really expected to see the man ever again, to be honest. And if you asked him, he would've preferred things to stay that way. Amleth was probably the most annoying, stupid and brash person he had ever met in his life, and those couple years in his company had been more than enough to prove that multiple times over.

Mentally cursing his worse than bad luck, Aleksander glanced down and spotted the wine glasses Amleth was holding. He lifted his brow slightly as he continued sarcastically. ”Trust you to be first one getting smashed at a party. Did you leave any for the other guests?”

Out Of Character
Name: You can call me Koru. Or Nor if you'd prefer a shorter name, I'm not really picky.
Age: 20
Contact: MSN: dragonfly1991@luukku.com (please tell me beforehand if you want to add me so I won't reject you as some random creeper)
Anything else?: Um... I'll say Ilmatar simply because she has a pretty name orz