Gregory Firelance

Arin Woodwealth

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Gregory Firelance

« on: 02 January 2008, 07:20:14 »

Gregory Firelance

Overview
Living from 1240-1330 A.S, this famous R'unorian inventor is known for his weaponry and time keeping devices. He is responsible for the creation of the infamous Firelance Machine as well as many other horrific devices of mass destruction. As he grew older however, he grew to hate war and turned his talents to more peaceful applications. From age sixty-two onwards, he returned to his first occupation, creating accurate timepieces.

Appearance
During his earlier years, Gregory Firelance was said to be a “Stout young man, not muscular, but quite strong in his own way. His sandy-brown hair hangs low, longer than most men, and not particularly well groomed. Gregory's face, darker than most by being singed by the sun, is composed of a strong, slightly pointed nose, framed by inquisitive brown eyes. The mouth is a mere slit on the His right cheek is marred by a scar caused by a work accident, where a blade was dropped onto him, narrowly missing the skull but still slashing his cheek. His hands are worn, and carry on them a constant roughness.” by his then fiancé, Phoebe Rockleaf. However, as he grew older, he became less fit; though not overweight, he was not as healthy as before. It is possible this was brought on by depression when he began to regret his work. His hair changed, as with most people, to a gray colour, and he often wore it in a simple ponytail, presumably to keep it out of the way as he worked. It is possible this change in appearance made him further depressed.

He often dressed in simple clothes, mostly beiges or light, tan browns. “The way he dresses is without style. He likes to wear simple clothes, and rarely wears more than a shirt and a jacket. Even on our wedding day, he wore a simple white shirt, and black trousers. The latter of these was covered in a sprinkling of sawdust. He does disappoint me, but I shall let him. He has a wonderful personality.”

Personality
Due to the line of his work, it would seem he would have been an aggressive person. However, as he was contracted to work in the military, he may not have been as cruel as his creations may reflect. It is likely he was under a lot of pressure to create the devices he did. In his later years he left the military to pursue a more peaceful life, creating timepieces. The main source we have about his personality is the diary of his wife. She wrote “Gregory is a loving man. While he may create the horrible machines he does, I highly doubt he would want to ever use them. In fact, I believe the only instance he would fight, would be to defend himself or his family. Some would name him a coward for not wanting to be in the military. Others, such as myself, would call him wise.”

He is known to have had few friends, but held those he did have dearly. This would show him to lean slightly towards being shy, or for the most part a loner. However, it is also possible his work put him under too much stress to keep many friends.

Gregory was known to take life seriously, though when in the mood appreciated humour. He was not one for rampant idiocy, but could take a joke. It possible his mother's death had a great impact on this side of his life, and her death at a party would explain this. His wife once said in her diary that the laughing of others may remind him, especially when he is not in a good mood, of the choking of his mother.

Biography

(All dates in A.s)

1240 – Birth of Gregory – Gregory Firelance born at some time during in the city of R'unor. Born to a wealthy merchant and his wife, he was spoiled during his early years.

1240-1255 – Gregory's Childhood – Gregory enjoys a normal childhood. He is reported to have been a curious child, interested in the inner workings of things, and fairly creative, building small devices from metals, using a blacksmith in R'unor as his workshop, from age thirteen. At fourteen years old, his mother died of choking at a party the family were attending. Gregory's wife wrote later that she could rarely coax him to talk of the death, and when she could, she got very little information from him.

1256-1268 – Gregory's Early Career – Shying away from his father's encouragement to become a merchant, Gregory worked as a clockmaker, creating timepieces for the nobility. Well practiced in his trade, his shop was one of the more successful in the city. During this time he also meets and weds his lifetime partner, Phoebe Rockleaf.

1269-1290 – Enters Military - Gregory Firelance is contracted to invent new war machines for the R'unorian army. He upgrades many of the R'unorian's existing war machines, such as the ballista, to increase their power, and firing rate, via adding mechanical additions to them.

1291-1295 – Firelance Machine – Over four years, Gregory had the concept of, built prototypes of, and perfected the Firelance machine. Upon seeing it in use, in a small off-coast island, the military immediately began production.

1296 – Doubts – Gregory begins to have doubts about the Firelance Machine. So far, the second machine has only just been made. Late in the year Gregory becomes depressed, and wants to be done with his work.

1297 – Note Destruction – Gregory destroys his notes at the start of the year. The third Firelance machine that has just been commissioned is destroyed, as without the notes it will not be able to be completed. It is possible his spouse suggested to do this, as she wrote several times in her diary she disapproved of Gregory's work.

1297-1227 - Gregory retires and becomes a clockmaker again, reopening his old shop. He takes on a young boy, who is unnamed in any sources, as an apprentice. Sometime here his wife also died, as entries in her diary cease from 1298 onward.

1327-1330 – Final Years – Gregory, in his final years, hands over his shop to his apprentice, and in 1330 dies peacefully of old age.

Importance
Gregory Firelance was the inventor of one of the most evil and yet efficient war machines any sentient creature has ever created. He also upgraded many other weapons of the R'unorians.


« Last Edit: 25 February 2009, 04:35:16 by Artimidor Federkiel »	Logged

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Arin Woodwealth

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Re: Gregory Firelance

« Reply #1 on: 03 January 2008, 05:03:16 »

Bumping as this is now complete.


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Arin Woodwealth

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Re: Gregory Firelance

« Reply #2 on: 16 May 2008, 05:30:31 »

Need some help with this one - There isn't much information about him on site, and the fact he was around several years ago, with the only records being military (I would imagine) and a biased diary.

Arin Woodwealth, more confuzzled than usual.


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Azhira Styralias

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Re: Gregory Firelance

« Reply #3 on: 16 May 2008, 05:37:12 »

Do what I did with my People entries...make it all up!

The only on-site stuff I had for Waudrin Ghortz were two quotes in the Watcher's Phantasms entry. Two quotes attributed to him. The rest I came up with myself. You'll have to keep within current tribe standards now and incorporate any on-site stuff into the entry but the rest is open field for you to come up with.


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No, I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith. And that, I fear, for any reasoning, conscious being, would be the cruelest trick of all.

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Drúadan

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Re: Gregory Firelance

« Reply #4 on: 16 May 2008, 06:01:41 »

To elaborate a bit on what Azhira said;

While these sources on Mr. Firelance may be limited, it is your job to make more up.

Is a short description of him somewhere in a book of famous inventors? Are the descendents of his apprentice prepared to perhaps discuss stories passed down from their... what would it be, great-grandfather? These are the kind've questions you want to ask. The inferences you make throughout the entry are good, but to add a little more flavor to it feel free to describe other sources and make up your own info. Perhaps make only leading comments in these sources, so you can continue with the same process of inferences you have used already.

For this specific entry, perhaps describe what his inspiration was for the device. Don't feel the need to strictly follow the site, let your imagination flow.

Good Luck!


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Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind,
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves,
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach,
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

-Bob Dylan "Mr. Tambourine Man"

Arin Woodwealth

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Re: Gregory Firelance

« Reply #5 on: 19 May 2008, 06:05:48 »

Little bit of an update here.


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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: Gregory Firelance

« Reply #6 on: 22 May 2008, 02:20:32 »

Ok, let's check this one, Arin

Good to see a People entry once again, especially an entry, which deals with a person where we only have a few lines of overview so far. Always great to get some holes filled

- Here's something missing:

Quote

The mouth is a mere slit on the

- In the last paragraph at the Appearance section you seem to quote his wife, yet you don't state that. So that should be added.

- In general we have of course a basic problem with our Mr. Firelance, as he is born in R'unor, where we have only a very sketchy discription of these isles, and we have several tribes (no less than 9!) mentioned that are also somewhat sketchy. The tribe that seems to be the most appropriate for our guy is the Blaar'kr one, see here for details of what we have on that. Maybe you can mention that and integrate some of the things you find there.

But we cannot easily allocate him anywhere properly and describe him in detail according to the tribe he is a member of, also the names mentioned (Gregory, Phoebe etc.) might have to change eventually once we know more about R'unorians. Well, but I think we can put these details back for now and focus on the personality. I'm sure sooner or later the R'unorians will be elaborated a bit better.

- Concerning personality: If I remember correctly and judging from Xenos' other contributions Gregory Firelance was also meant to be definitely a sort of excentric, mad professor type, so you might add a few things in this direction, making him a bit less "regular"... lol

(I always have to think about Doc Brown from "Back to the Future" when I think about this guy for some reason.) The biography is still a bit basic, so anything that could spice it up a bit would be welcome, I guess.

- R'unor is a pretty small kingdom spread on many isles. So weapons of mass destruction don't make that much sense on it, unless you like to invent something pretty cool primarily - and notice the real outcome much later. Maybe you could establish first that he has a certain proficiency with all kinds of devices and then the Santharian kingdom (maybe some officials were checking on some R'unorian Brandy) became interested in his abilities. They could have sponsered a cooperation between Santharia and R'unor in order to get such a device constructed by a genius like Firelance. (The name could eventually be Erpheronian-inspired BTW, more as a honorary one.)

I'm just letting my mind free reign here, maybe this is something that you'd like to pick up, as I think you can make things quite interesting that way: Expanding on that idea that the work was commissioned by Santharia as well there was a lot of pressure on him, and eventually he realized that he couldn't continue with it. Then he destroyed his plans - you don't explain his motivations clearly yet. I guess his conscience stopped him from continuing such a war machine, as maybe it was just interesting for him to realize such a magnificent device. - Maybe he then went undercover, escaping the Santharian wrath, and started working elsewhere as a clockmaker, and only after his death his wife revealed her identity and told the story etc.

What do you think about that, Arin? - Guess such ideas can make our guy much more interesting, eh? cool


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"Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a mediator, and this must be the heart." -- Maria (Metropolis)

Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: Gregory Firelance

« Reply #7 on: 25 February 2009, 04:37:17 »

Entry status set to "Question", and thus also brought up on top of the Forum. I've PMed Arin, yet if we don't hear from him, this is available for being completed by anyone who likes to do it. Maybe I'll do it myself if I get the time, as I've added some thoughts in my yet unintegrated comments here.


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"Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a mediator, and this must be the heart." -- Maria (Metropolis)

Tharoc Wargrider

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Re: Gregory Firelance

« Reply #8 on: 25 February 2009, 05:35:37 »

I think you should make the time to finish this one Arti. I can't remember the last time I saw an entry by you, and with all your comments so far, you've pretty much finished it anyway.

Besides, you need to keep your hand in. This is your Dream as well, remember?


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Re: Gregory Firelance

« Reply #9 on: 01 March 2009, 03:01:37 »

By Artimidor's request I am going to work on Finishing this poor souls entry. -Wish me luck- I'm going to post my changes in a new thread as I come up with them so that I can edit as needed.