Random Sketch

Figuring this is one of my favorite characters I've ever created, I figure it'd only be justice to give her the limelight for the first character sketch thingie. So here goes:

Name: Ruun Del'Cyrious
Female Human Fencer
approx. 21 years of age.

Ruun is a versatile character, such that I've used and reused her again and again in different stories. She has a spot, major or minor, in just about everything I've written. Her most prominent role is in a story called 'The Torn Crimson Banner'. At 16, was sold into slavery (sadness) and was on her way to a brothel (yikes) when an enigmatic and freshly graduated Alystare Myskell (more on him in the future) rescued her. He was actually being paid to "protect the merchandise" until he found out the merch was a live shipment. He set her free, gave her some gold and told her to seek a lifestyle that she chose. The problem here was Ruun was uneducated and the cliche'd example of a character who's naivety outshines all else. Still, Ruun sought to carve a life for herself. She made do studying and eventually becoming a Paladin, a holy knight. Three years later, she met up with Alystare again after his near-death accident and sudden interest with peace between the warring factions. They ranked among a mercenaries guild, who, at first sought jobs for cash, and eventually joined up with the Imperial army and sought to end the war through force. Alystare left the army, much to Ruun's chagrin, and began his epic struggle to unite all the races that existed in the land, a notion he went into the history books for.

Then came the fated day: forces from each of the warring factions gathered together at the ruins of an Ancient Castle to negotiate peace talks. It was then that the conniving minds of the Dai'Tzan (more on them later, all ya need to know is they are BAD) struck, sealing the ruins off from the outside armies. Every man, woman, creature, Kiiathun Orc, TarJeuh, Felojin, Shadow Elf, etc etc was trapped, and brutally murdered by the undead essence the Dai'Tzan raised against them. This was the famous battle that Alystare Miskell vanished at, striking a blow to the peace talks. This is also where Ruun's character took a hit; caught up in the mobs of undead, Ruun came face to face with one of the most Powerful Dai'Tzan, a giant Minotaur named Kragus Zuol. In the fight, Ruun's sword-arm was bitten off (hence why she's missing her left arm in the above picture), but she managed to still strike Kragus down by picking up his own cursed blade and killing him with it. However, laying hands on a such an evil weapon twisted Ruun's mind and soul, and her Holy Diety fled from her. Without her God, Ruun began to despair and called her faith into question, and was finally shattered when the battle was over. She was the only survivor of the Battle of Bael Gar.

Clerics and Priests could sense the darkness in the sword Ruun held, which was literally chained to her arm and was as much a part of her as her flesh as anything. The blade, and the curse of Kragus living inside her, would kill her if ever removed. Of course, the Church valued the destruction of Kragus, sadly, decided to sacrifice Ruun's life along with him. This conflict of right vs. wrong drove Ruun made and forced her to flee for her life into the wilderness, where she lived with a dear friend, the Troll Shaman named Glorte, for the next year.

This year gave rise to the fabled hero Decimus Sparda, who deserves the spotlight to tell his story as it would take too long to write here. Ruun stayed out of sight of anyone until a chance encounter upon a small town that was being destroyed by what people had thought was a demon. It turns out that it was a reincarnated Alystare, Ruun's old friend and interest (there was a love story there, but I chose not to touch on it) Alystare was under the Dai'Tzan's control, used as a weapon to destroy the forces of Good while the Dai'Tzan sought to unlock the power of the World Trees, the great locks that separated the Abyss from the living world. Many events later, Ruun joined Decimus and, uniting with the Elves and the Kiiathun, struck back at the Dai'Tzan's undead armies. Decimus challenged Alystare to a fight, a fight that he slowly began to lose until Ruun stepped in. Neither Alystare nor Decimus even saw Ruun as she charged into the fight, moving in between their blades. She was killed by Alystare, a notion that broke through to his human side and eventually snapped the Dai'Tzan's hold on him. It was very tragic. With Ruun's blood spilled, Kragus was brought back to life only to get killed again minutes later by a tearful and distraught Alystare.

Ruun's life wasn't a happy one, but she perservered through it anyway, a character trademark I enjoy even though she wasn't very smart, and, for a while, physically handicapped. Another story I wrote, called "When the Hammer Falls" occurred in the SAME world as the above story, only hundreds of years later, starring the same bad guy Dai'Tzan peoples. A 'Ruune' shows up there too, I realized, and I spun her off as a descendant of the Ruun from the Crimson Banner story. Given that the original Ruun never married nor produced a family, and was a slave for her youth, I'll leave it at that as a mystery for how her bloodline continued.

Ruun also has a very heavy role in my novel, "A Redemption Through Blood," except happier. She has both arms, a better outlook and attitude on life. This story takes place in a completely different world than the other two stories, though, it should be noted.

So there ya have it. I really enjoy writing Ruun, she was the first female character I really felt for, and one I've related with for years.