OOC Minecraft Username: Lordofthedank  Are you at least 18 years old?: Yes Have you read the rules? (Link): Yes(Optional) How did you hear about Avalore?: Honestly cannot remember but if I were to hazard a guess, word of mouth(Max. 1) Were you referred by someone? If so, please provide their in-game username: genuinely have no recollection  (Optional) Introduce yourself if you’d like, as well as any creations you want to share (e.g. art, builds, skins): I’ve been roleplaying for a very, very long time. I’ve been using it for a creative outlet when I’ve felt drained from the most mundane. I’ve felt that recently my creative side has taken a backseat in life so I’m trying to get in touch with my creative nature once again and truly immerse myself in a new and exciting world and see where the story takes me. — In-Character Read the following prompt: The rhythmic lull of hoofbeats are a marching drum to the small group of pioneers and variety of folk you have found yourself amongst, packed into a wobbling wagon. The rolling plains of the Southern Reach and a clear sky stretch out all around you, the buzz of excited chatter a dull wash in your ears as your mind strays to your former life and what has led you here to new lands. “Nervous?” You blink, returning to the present moment. A kindly older woman sat near you is smiling warmly with a crinkle to her eyes. “I can tell it’s your first time. Still remember mine,” she flashes a grin and leans in. “Tell me my dear, why have you come to the Reach?” How do you respond (in character)? (250 wordminimum - please make sure to include at least three references to our lore in your response, with two coming from different pages in the Compendium.  Two of the three selected should also be in-depth, avoid simply name-dropping lore terms. Tie the terms into your character's backstory. Why are they important to them?) Rocking back and forth on the wagon, Cardinal fixes his eyes on the woman. His conflicted expression shifts ever so slightly as he was pulled from a thought to face her in his light. Pursed lips curved into a smile as he found his words and found his truth. Finally, after all his ruminating, he finally voiced the thoughts that beseeched him. “Fourteen…” He’d start as he ran a thumb along the bridge of his nose. "Fourteen summers I’ve made this very same trip down south twixt the Midlands and the Southern reaches.” Cardinal took in a sharp breath, flaring his nostrils as he prepared for the words that followed. “Father only says it’s been good for me because I’d get the off chance to see ‘more of the world yond’ the walls of a cave’...” Shaking his head, Cardinal’s lips curved ever so slightly into a fond smile, tugging at an ever fleeting memory, only to brood on the thought and mulling it over, as if chewing over a concept in and of itself as it came to him before resuming.  "Nay, I think it was because he just wanted company. Couldn't fault him for it either.” He'd proceed to wave his hand around, jestering to those around him vaguely, never enough to draw their individual attention but enough to suggest they were the object of a muted thought, "Observe our company now. A far cry to those we’d dealt with per regular. We're currently bound downwards and inwards t'wards the spire, mhm? Harkon to this; our trips yond border were exclusive to everywhere but. Mingling with the Walljacks we were. Never even glimpsing the cradle of civilization past their marshes. Father even had to learn Southern Creole for his trade to get by. For the life of me, it made nay a lick of sense… Ye'see, me Father's a Mason, a man of necessity.  We like working with our hands and earning our bread with it; so our trade is tools, labour and stone, so it goes as per the Mason Guild way. The ’Lowenheim’ way. Lucrative business that is..." He drone on but only falling into a silence as he shifted his gaze downwardly onto a scattering pebble jostling this way and that before it locked into the crack of a plank beneath him, "...labour I mean. One of our biggest services was patching up ye'local hamlet after t'was struck by a 'Horned Monarch sighting'. Often, t’'was but a felled gate and knocked over door. I'd wager an unruly drunk went on a bender and sooner did it himself than having a fabled beast run amuck. Alas, Father is the man he is and we saw it through. Yet that nay answer why I'm here now then does it? Bit tired of 'Horned Monarch Sightings' and more interested in that there big Spire. The Valkian Empire is a great, big expanse, we've tapped into every trade we know. Every lane of industry our culture could aspire for. /However/. I'm willing to wager that the Southern regions might have untapped resources and means to exploit yet available... And that right there is why I'm here. To search beyond und-” he’d muffle a stifled cough, correcting himself and his speech… “/And/ search for 'unknowns' and 'fables' of my own. After all, if you squint hard enough, what really is the difference between a Gazelle and a Krakerstag? Simple really… it’s the call of adventure; Invitation to treat or A lesson on risk and humility” — Character Name: Cardinal Lowenheim Character Race: Human/Valkian Character Age: 20 Brief Physical Description: Lowenheims are labourers by trade. Ranging in fields of conventional carpentry, stonework or to the tending of crops. Peasant stock are often well versed in their flexibility with these trades and Cardinal's body reflects that. Genetically tall, taking onto his Mother for her height, ranging between the sixth foot area, while his father is slightly shorter and stocky, to which Cardinal did inherit. Built to an average stock, Cardinal sports a mid crop flow of hair and cloudy emerald eyes. Regularly squinted with his brows ever knotted into perplexation; either suggesting sternness or forming the lines of a brooding, thoughtful nature. Such creasing his forehead into worn lines of a thoughtful 'giant'.