S O R E N || kickflips over existential crisis

Player Information
Name: Ruby
Age: 28
Contact: rubygraves
Other Characters: Everett Vaughan rollfordiplomacy

Character Information
Name: Soren
Canon: The Dragon Prince
Canon Point: Season 3 Finale
Age: 18
History:
(Spoiler Warning: Most of Soren's history is his character development across all three seasons of the canon. This portion will be spoiler heavy for the whole course of the series!)

Soren is a young man with a simple background. He was born while his mother and father were still married and has a younger sister by a couple of years, Claudia. When their parents split, the children were given a choice of who to stay with. Soren chose to stay with his father, Lord Viren, and continue to live in the Kingdom of Katolis where they had been growing up. This seemingly forced his sister's decision. Claudia was urged to stay with Soren by their mother, who insisted they would need each other. Lord Viren was the High Mage of Katolis and the King's closest friend and adviser. Soren was raised with the privileges of high status, but had equally high standards and expectations placed upon him. Seeking his father's approval, and not being the book smart sort, Soren trained as a Knight.

Both talented and physically strong, Soren became a Crown Guard knight. He was lauded as being the youngest in the history of Katolis to achieve this. Other knights are shown calling him "sir" and addressing him with high rank despite his age. Of all the knights in the brigade, Soren was shown walking directly alongside King Harrow. Presumably, he spent much of his time in the presence of King Harrow, who was a just and noble leader, greatly admired by Soren. While not shown, it was likely that Soren learned his sword skill from King Harrow himself, as Harrow was an expert fighter.

Soren was also assigned to train the King's step son, Prince Callum, in the ways of sword fighting. Callum lacked for any skill or desire for knightly endeavors, and Soren was shown not taking the training very seriously. He humors Callum's desire to show off to Claudia, making an overly dramatic deal of supposedly being bested, though he doesn't maintain the unconvincing ruse for long. He also mocked Callum throughout their training, reveling in his own superior skills and calling Callum the "step-prince", since he was not King Harrow's natural born son.

Everything changed when the Moonshadow elves attacked.

Though alerted to their presence, Soren and his fellow Crown Guard Knights failed to locate the assassins before the full moon. Knowing King Harrow was in great danger, they prepared their defenses. Despite their best efforts, Soren at the forefront, the nearly invisible enemy killed King Harrow in his chambers. Though the assassins who went after Harrow lost nearly all their own lives in the attack, one survived without escaping. Soren was at the ready to execute the elf then and there, but his brief hesitation gave Claudia time enough to demand they take the elf prisoner, instead. Viren would keep the assassin in the castle to interrogate beyond this, though Soren would not be involved further.

After the King's death, Lord Viren rushed a funeral for the fallen ruler. Katolis' tradition dictated that a King must be mourned for seven days. Rather, Viren insisted upon a funeral procession that following sunrise. Prince Callum and his young brother, Prince Ezran, went missing immediately following the attack. Either Prince would be in line for the throne before Lord Viren, but the High Mage claimed both boys to be dead, as well. Soren's father would be crowned in that case, becoming King. That evening, only moments before being made the next King of Katolis, General Amaya arrived to interrupt the coronation. She had news that the Prince's were both still alive, though taken as hostages by another Moonshadow elf assassin. The throne would be left empty until either of the Prince's returned homed to be crowned or their deaths were confirmed.

General Amaya insisted her own man, a knight named Gren, lead the expedition to find the princes. She did not trust Viren, who wanted to send his own children. The moment she left, however, Viren took the mission from Gren, discreetly locking him away in the dungeon to keep him out of the way. He arranged for Soren and Claudia to go after the princes.

Viren called upon Soren to meet in confidence, giving his son a secret mission only he was to know of. Soren was to go after the princes, but the young man needed to return with the "terrible news" of both their deaths. Soren questioned this, not fully understanding the implication. Viren elaborated, insisting to his own son that neither Ezran nor Callum would be suitable to take the throne, that they would make weak choices as rulers. He told Soren his son needed to "do the right thing", leveraging his oldest child's desire to make his father proud. Soren openly doubted he could go through with this. Viren encouraged him further, insisting Soren he was strong enough to bare such a burden and that one day he would be King, after Viren.

Conflicted by this, Soren immediately began to stress eat. Claudia met up with him and also seemed hesitant about their father's orders. Neither shared with one another the truth of what Viren had told each in private. They then spent time journeying together to track down the princes. Claudia's dark magic, which she was taught by Viren, eventually led the two siblings to the Cursed Caldera.

Along the peak, they discovered the Moonshadow elf that supposedly kidnapped the princes. Claudia cast a spell to put the elf to sleep and Soren readied to execute her. With blade drawn back, he hesitated. When Claudia urged him on, he expressed that killing a sleeping person didn't feel "sporting". Soren clarified, insisting that so long as the elf was awake even just one second, it was honorable enough to go through with. While the siblings were distracted with this bickering, Rayla, the elf dodged away. She had anticipated the spell and stabbed herself with a rose thorn in order to stay awake. Rolling with the new situation, Soren and her battled, Claudia providing support to her brother with her dark magic. Before anybody could be seriously hurt, Callum rushed in and broke up the fighting, explaining that he and Ezran were not kidnapped but on a mission with their new elf friend. Soren, embittered by this, begrudgingly goes along with the insistence they all stop fighting until morning.

Deliberating with his sister that night, Soren reluctantly agreed with Claudia's idea to avoid force, at least to start. He just wanted to stuff both princes into sacks and drag them home. Claudia wanted to try and talk them into returning, Soren's least favorite problem solving method. Running with that idea, Soren swiftly lied about Harrow still being alive, saying the King wanted his sons to return. This angered Claudia, who insisted it wrong of them to lie to their friends, while Soren wasn't bothered by it.

He was conflicted over what his father wanted him to return with. He grumbled to hismelf that he couldn't kill the princes, both still only kids. He then rationalized that if they happened to die doing something stupid, it wouldn't be his fault. So, while Claudia tried to convince Callum to return with them willingly, Soren set up a horribly dangerous zip line through the forest. He made sure it would be safe the first time he and Ezran used it, but planned to loosen the supporting peg to cause an accident after that. Rayla caught onto this and insisted Soren go down the zipline himself, while she watched from the top side. She scared him by nearly cutting the rope as he went down, teaching him a lesson on the spot. Soren defaulted back into wanting to just shove the princes into sacks and return with them that way, after this went awry.

That night, Claudia returned from the evening she spent with Callum. When Soren realized she was in tears, he immediately jumped to her defense. In an awkward, but heartfelt admission he told her he would always be there for her, to punch someone, or whatever else she needed. Claudia knew as much, but was calmed and touched to hear it said. She had been upset by telling Callum about King Harrow's death and how much pain it caused him. Soren and Claudia knew they still needed to return with the princes, so they hatched a new plan.

It was Soren's "stuff them into sacks" plan and it failed, do to both Claudia and Soren's failure to see through an illusion planted by Rayla. Both princes escaped with the elf and the newly hatched dragon prince. Soren and Claudia's plans were foiled in part by a tracker sent by General Amaya in secret, Corvis, who Soren knocked out and took prisoner. Corvis apparently tricked Soren into letting him go several times after this, only Claudia wise to the man lying.

Having lost the princes trail, Claudia and Soren traveled to a town intent only to drop off Corvis in a jail there. When they arrive, Soren attempted to pull rank as a Crown Guard to garner attention to his demands. This didn't work immediately, as the town was distracted by a dragon in the clouds overhead. While it was not attacking the town, Soren saw fit to intimidate it away. He rallied the guards and went to the guard tower of the town, manning a ballista and firing a bolt at the dragon. This appeared to frighten the beast away, but it turned and began burning down the town.

Seeing his error in the now endangered city, Soren freed Corvis and ordered him to do whatever he could to help the citizens. He then admitted to Claudia that he'd really messed up this time and, though bitter, asked for her help. Using dark magic, she enchanted an ballista bolt so it will always strike it's prey, which downed the dragon in the nearby forest. They sought out the dragon, discovered where it fell, finding it seemingly dead. Claudia teased Soren after about how he had always wanted to slay a dragon, but she was the one who managed to do so, first. They collectively chained the beast down as a precaution and Claudia suggested they take it back in pieces to their father, the components of a dragon valuable with many dark magic spells.

While they deliberated over the fallen dragon, Rayla appeared to free the beast, but is unable do to the metal chains binding it down. Soren and Rayla fought again, but Callum appeared to aid her, using his own first attempt at dark magic. The chains upon the dragon turned to snakes and scatter the soldiers. The dragon, freed, woke under freshly falling rain. Rayla fled with Callum, Soren turning then to fight the dragon. He broke a horn off the dragon with his sword, but was knocked aside and broke his back. Calling out to Claudia for help, she turned away from the mission she was given by Viren in order to help her brother, also failing her secret task. The dragon flew off and Soren was left severely injured in the wake of the battle, with Claudia at his side. He described that he could no longer feel anything, causing Claudia to use a dark magic healing spell, but when it did nothing for him she needed to have Soren carried back to town to see a real doctor.

Back in the half demolished town, Soren was laid up in a hospital bed. He was aware, even before Claudia brought him the news, that he'd be paralyzed for life from then on. Reflecting on what got him to this, he explained that he was actually happy about this, saying it was best he could no longer do anything terrible to anybody. He regreted what happened to the village because of him and he was wracked with guilt over what Viren asked him to do. Claudia asked what their dad requested of Soren and he admitted to her that he was told to kill the princes. That left her horrified, if doubtful, hoping Soren misunderstood. He knows what he was told, but didn't argue with her, accepting of his fate.

The very next scene, Soren had decided he'll be a poet! Claudia laughed at him, but he enthusiastically insisted that it was better this way, because he'd be free of expectations from their dad or anybody else. He remained remarkably optimistic despite his plight, rattling off a terrible haiku with the wrong amount of syllables. Claudia promptly had a melt down, claiming she couldn't leave him like that, trashing the doctor's office until she was thrown out. Next she returned to her brother, it would be infused with powerful dark magic, zapping him with the life force she stole from a baby deer. This healed him, returning his ability to move, though his broken ribs remained. While grateful, Soren is immediately worried for Claudia as she collapsed from the use of her magic. The spell took a visible toll on her, as Soren later notes.

The two left to return to the castle, worried over what their father would say. They both failed their missions, but Claudia had the horn that Soren cut off the dragon, which she hopes will ease their father's potential anger with his children.

When the two returned to the castle, they were met with surprise. Immediately put into chains, they were dragged before the King to answer for Viren's crimes. While they were gone, their father had been imprisoned for acts of treason. Their punishment was delayed, as Prince Ezran returned to take his place on the throne. The ten year old was unsure what to do about the two siblings so he orders they be kept locked up, if given food. While Claudia was outraged about all this, Soren was largely reserved, still remorseful of what he was ordered to do by their father. If he was to be punished, he felt it justified, at least for him. The siblings soon visited Viren in his dungeon cell, who was predictably upset by their combined failures. Claudia explained they didn't have a choice, that Soren could have died, but Viren's responded with a snarling "that doesn't matter!"

While quick to calm and explain himself, Viren explained that they all must be prepared to sacrifice what they loved. Soren was not... comforted by this, horrified and rejected by his father's lack of care for him. Claudia stepped in to ask if that was why Viren wanted Soren to kill the princes. Viren was immediately taken aback by this straight up call out, but quickly attempted to laugh it off. He pretended that he never told Soren to do such A thing, which Soren had a difficult time arguing against. He knew wel he was not the smartest, but that what Viren wanted him to do was clear, even if veiled language was used. Viren acted disappointed in Soren's "misunderstanding" of what "the right thing to do" was and Claudia believe their father. Soren, this time not fooled by Viren's lies, only left further dejected by the betrayal.

Claudia and Soren were pardoned soon after by the newly crowned King Ezran, who declared they will not be punished for the crimes of their father. When Viren soon after orchestrated a political move from his cell, leveraging threats of war against Ezran, this led the young King into abdication from the throne. When Viren was freed and took the boy's place as King, Soren stood back. While others are distracted with Viren's coronation, he helped both Ezran and those aligned with him to escape from the castle. Ezran inquired why Soren would risk himself to help and Soren explained he was still a crown guard. While he felt regret that he couldn't protect King Harrow, he wanted to protect Ezran. Despite not being sneaky in the slightest, Soren managed to do this undetected.

Soren remained Crown Guard for his father, briefly becoming the Prince of Katolis, though he never proclaimed himself this. He rode alongside Viren and Claudia, a massive army of human forces at their back. As they traveled into the foreign territory, he inquired with his father over what the plan was, but wa only met with scolding dismissal. Viren's plan soon after was to steal a great power from the Sunfire elves, which he did with the help of the familiar on his shoulder (his "little bug pal" as Soren coined). Returning to the armies with this power, he demanded Soren be the first to be changed by it. Seeing his father as nothing short of villainous at this point, Soren refused, outright saying he was afraid. Viren was distracted by the Neolandian Prince, who stepped up to take the power in Soren's place.

At that point, Soren fled behind his father's back. Claudia followed after him and he begged her to come with him. He could see what his father had become and couldn't stand by it anymore, encouraging Claudia that she can leave Viren behind, too. She argued with Soren, crying that it was unfair for him to make her choose between sides of the family again. Soren recognized her pain and simply told her goodbye, which she refused. He left her and Viren behind, riding out several days ahead of the rest of the army. Soren reached the lair of the Dragon Queen to attempt to warn those there; Callum, Ezran, Rayla, and their allies. Soren was rescued during his ascent by Ezran, who wished for everybody to hear him out.

With a disarming, but well earned clarity given his experiences, Soren gave a speech to them about his father. He declared that he knew the kind of person Viren was now; a villain. While they could run with the Dragon Prince for now, it would not stop Viren nor his armies from amassing power. Prolonging a chase would only mean his father would become more powerful and if they were going to stop him they needed to "look evil in the face and say no more." The party decided to make a stand at the lair and protect the Dragon Queen and Prince with all their might.

Before the battle, Soren took the time to apologize to Callum directly. He explained that he was wrong to tease Callum for being the "step-prince". Soren reflected that he was jealous of how obvious it was that King Harrow loved Callum. It went unsaid, but clearly Soren wished his own father had acted that way towards him. The two hugged it out as Soren insisted that would seal the apology.

The ensuing battle was an arduous one. Soren fought valiantly and keenly given his knowledge of the enemy tactics and weaponry. With the help of Sunfire elves, dragons, and even other human reinforcements, Viren's armies were bested. The battlefield was being cleaned up in the aftermath and as Soren freed a dragon that had been chained down during the fighting, he was glad to be on the side unchaining things. Soon after, he rushed to Ezran's aid, hearing the prince in distress.

Soren drew his sword on his father, who stood at the ready to kill a helpless Ezran. Claudia rushed to the opposite side, urging Soren that he was making a mistake. With his sword raised and ready, Soren yelled to his father that he now knew what was right. When Viren would not lay down his weapon as demanded, choosing to attack Ezran, Soren stabbed him through the chest. Claudia gasped in horror and Soren fell to his knees in shock. Muttering that he had no choice, Claudia is furious, but soon revealed that the supposedly dead Viren was merely an illusion. She fled, having declared the entire battle merely a distraction. Viren was still presumed dead, thrown from the top of lair by Rayla, and not found. Claudia also remained missing.

At the end of the series, Soren stood alongside Callum, Ezran, and their Xadian allies before the Dragon Queen.

Personality:
Rude, Cocky: These are clearly traits he's picked up from his father, in a bid to emulate him. Soren's arrogance is more playful than his father's, rooted in his obvious talent as a knight without being so self serious. He's also a young man who has known high status all his life, so he's not exactly the outwardly sensitive type. He's certainly been taught proper manners as Crown Guard knight, but would rather act cocksure than polite.

Immature: This makes for both naivety and a more carefree than most around him. This is also reflected in how gullible Soren is, at times very easy to fool. Because of this, Viren underestimates his son's ability to know he's being manipulated, which Soren does catch onto eventually.

A "Witty Dumbass": Soren seems to share one braincell with his sister and rarely gets his turn to use it. He tends to not see much beyond surface level and doesn't know what nuance is. This ends up having it's advantages, Soren having a certain sense of clarity for the obvious truth others might miss. In particular, this allows him to see through his father's manipulations, as Soren isn't entrenched in or concerned with complexities. He has moments of brilliance, primarily rooted in self reflection, that can be impressive and surprising to those around him.

Humorous, Easygoing: An extension of some of Soren's immaturity and his sometimes surprising wit, he greatly enjoys a good joke. Or a juvenile joke. Or even a horrible pun. He's not difficult to please on this front. He spends much of his time with Claudia trying to make her laugh, often succeeding. Even between moments that could be dire, he exudes a breeziness that seems out of place to other, more uptight sorts, like his father. He does focus up when necessary, but doesn't seem to fret. If something does happen to be nagging at him, he will stress eat.

Heart of Gold: More than anything, Sore wants to do the right thing. He doesn't always succeed, but he's earnestly trying! Hesitation is a running theme in Soren's actions, reinforcing his good morals conflicting against orders that wrong others. Soren is shown holding back when he feels something isn't, as he puts it, "sporting". Soren is far from the pragmatist his father believes himself to be, likely because of Harrow's more just influence.

Repentant, Self Reflective: When Soren makes mistakes, he's quick to realize them. When he causes the dragon attack on a village, he admits to Claudia he's really messed things up and (though begrudgedly) asks for her help. At his lowest point, soon after, Soren expresses he's glad to be paralyzed. He states it will be better now because he cannot hurt anyone anymore. When he is healed and able to move again, he carries that remorse with him, doesn't forget. When locked up upon returning to the castle, he believes he'll be deserving of any punishment that's decided on. Once freed, Soren does what he can to make his past mistakes and behavior right.

Brave, Confident: Simple enough, Soren does not shy from his duties as a knight. He stands ready to fight and doesn't back down, even against stacked odds. While he might hesitate to unnecessarily harm someone, he is willing to give everything to stand and protect himself or those around him.

Abilities & Skills:
Swordfighting: Soren's greatest skill, one he's honed and acclaimed for, despite his youth. He is a skilled fighter, remarkable enough to become the highest rank of knight in Katolis, despite his age. He uses a straight, broadsword and can move with agility in plate armor. This is something he knows well enough to be entrusted to teaching the Prince, though Soren doesn't have much success in this.

Horseback Riding: He is able to ride and handle a horse with ease.

Basic Tracking: He is sent on two tracking missions of high importance by Lord Viren. Though he's aided secondhand by magic in each case, it's to be presumed he has enough skill in this to be trusted with the task.

Poetry: More a skill he thinks he has, but he probably has a -1 ability score in it. Specifically, he likes haiku, but he has a difficult time counting syllables. Doesn't stop him from trying. Oh my god, does he try.

Inventory/Companions:
Crown Guard armor, uniform, and broad sword with sheath. All visible here.

Choice: Witch
Reason: Mostly? Irony. While both his father and sister are both mages, excelling in the use of Dark Magic, Soren finds it "creepy". He's spent his life certain he'll never use it himself, as it not inherent in humans in his world. To be in a world where the rules surrounding magic are so different, it will make for an interesting challenge and responsibility for him to unexpectedly wield.

Sample: January TDM Top level