Post by Ze Flying Wraithetti Monstress on Dec 18, 2009 18:31:48 GMT -5
Name:
Cesar Insalata
Age:
One hundred twenty-two
Race:
Elf
Appearance:
Cesar has spent most of his time among humans rather than his own kind, so his physical features are a little different from what most expect of the tall, slender, feminine elves that most people conjure up in their heads. For one thing, Cesar spent most of his childhood starving, which somewhat stunted the usual towering elven height- he just barely clears six feet. He is also less spindly and more muscular than the average elf, and his skin is a dark golden pallor from spending so much time out in the sun.
However, Cesar’s face still retains a good degree of the femininity that elves are so well-known for, most notably his arched forehead and long face, as well as their more exotic features such as his high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. He has a square jaw, full lips, a short, beardless chin, and a small nose. His eyes are steel-grey and framed by long lashes and thin light eyebrows, and his hair is medium blonde and hangs to his shoulders. Cesar is very particular about his hair and usually slicks it back and has it in a ponytail. The only thing marring Cesar’s face is a small snake tattoo branded on his left cheek, a symbol of murder and of his exile from Iberia. The tattoo is very simple, done in black ink and showing the snake slithering downwards.
Cesar wears whatever’s casual in the places he goes to. If it’s Galbatorix’s royal court, he dons the finest silks and robes he can get his hands on, if he’s blending into a crowd of peasants, he’ll wear rags, and everything in between. Cesar finds his race rather handy since it’s an easy way to get attention besides the fact that elves are generally more attractive than humans, and so the only attempt he makes to hide his race is by using a cowl or a hat of some sort to cover his ears. As for weapons, Cesar was never the type for engaging his targets in combat- in fact, hand-to-hand fighting is his weakness. He lacks the necessary speed for parrying and dodging blows, and so the only conventional weapon he can be found with is a stiletto or two. His training mostly lay in poisons and seduction, so those are usually the two means he uses to dispatch his targets.
Personality:
Cesar’s personality is unorthodox to say the least. He does, of course, have those tendencies that all assassins are trained in- indifference to murder, unending loyalty, a high sense of self-preservation- but he isn’t the cold-hearted demon most people would expect from his type. On the contrary, he is unendingly charming and cheery, always energetic and preferring to look on the bright side of things.
An important part of Cesar’s personality is his complete comfort with sex. It might have something to do with his early years spent in a whorehouse, where all things sexual were the norm, and his training in seduction, but his constant bringing up of it in conversation is usually seen as awkward and shocking. He can make any object a euphemism, and his mind often reverts to thought of love-making. As for falling in love, that is where Cesar draws the line. All his life, he has known nothing but pleasure and violence. He considers himself to have led a good life, and will grab pleasure wherever he finds it, and believes that expecting anything else is wrong and reckless. Love, to him, is a mere illusion that people fool themselves with, leaving him with no desire to chase after it himself.
Cesar doesn’t feel connected with other elves. Only his mother came from Du Weldenvarden, and he was born in the Empire, so he doesn’t feel any particular tie to his homeland, or any real reason to have one. Du Weldenvarden had little to offer him on his one-time visit there; whereas Galbatorix offers him anything he could want- wine, gold, and women. He also finds the passionate nature of humans far more interesting than the stolidity of the elves, as well as the fact that they’re easier to seduce. He also isn’t too convinced that the Varden actually stands a chance of defeating the Empire, so he has no interest in taking his business over to their side.
When with people, Cesar is anything but reclusive. He’s eager, friendly, and very humorous, and doesn’t fear rolling with the punches even if they’re specifically directed at him. He also has no problem with talking about anything at all, which usually leaves people more confused and disturbed than charmed. When it comes to the nature of being an assassin, Cesar doesn’t see it as anything immoral or disgusting. It’s simply something he grew up with. The pay is good, it gets him fear and respect, and he’s a lot better off than the average Alagaësian. As for killing itself, Cesar gets a good feeling out of it. It’s nothing sexual; there’s just something very empowering about controlling someone’s life. He doesn’t particularly fear dying since it’s so familiar to him.
History:
Cesar’s parents were ages different from one another. His mother, Ysabel Ajja, was a naïve young elf maiden from Osilon who constantly dreamed of being swept off her feet by some overly handsome stranger. And by chance, one day she got him. Methen Insalata, meanwhile, was a shady individual with a penchant for deceit. He was an elf from across the southern sea, hailing from a country called Iberia. He came north to Du Weldenvarden for trading, mostly specializing in drugs that only grew in Du Weldenvarden, and when he left Ysabel came tottering right after him. She followed him into Alagaësia proper, which by then hadn’t been taken over by the Empire yet, and was his arm-candy for about a year, which was when Cesar was born. However, eventually Methen and his illegal business were prodded at by the Riders, and he had to pack up and leave. The overly faithful Ysabel followed him when he sailed back to Iberia. Unfortunately, the law caught up with him, and he was executed, leaving Ysabel stranded in a strange country with a newborn infant. On top of that, Methen had his debts.
Ysabel joined a local brothel specializing in elves, the Pearl, which was where Cesar was raised in his early years. Bar the lack of food, it was decent enough, and Cesar spent most of his time listening to Ysabel’s forlorn tales about Du Weldenvarden. However, she eventually died giving birth to Cesar’s half-brother when he was in his early thirties. Seeing that Ysabel had been the one paying for Cesar’s boarding, he was on his way to being kicked out into the street, but the mistress noticed that Cesar had a remarkably strong frame despite the fact that he was starving, and found a better use for him.
Iberia was corrupt in the extreme, almost entirely ruled by an infamous guild of assassins known as the Iberian Hawks. They had effectively kept all the noble Houses at war with one another. The brothel mistress sold Cesar to the guild, and despite the fact that he was scrawny and didn’t know the pommel of a dagger from the pointy end he was accepted, and began training. He was placed in a tiny apartment with thirty other initiates, which he made his home for twenty years running. Cesar didn’t have the strength for heavier weapons like longswords and hammers, so he was mostly trained in knife-work and archery. He was also only of average ability when it came to magic, so he received little training in that. When he was in his fifties, he trained in more subtle things like poison, stealth, and seduction. He underwent dangerous operations from the very beginning, as well as constant tests of survival and skill, and by the end of the twenty-year training regime only he and two other initiates were alive. Cesar was made a junior Hawk, and from then on was ordered to do missions for his guild.
However, when he was in his late seventies, Cesar was sent to destroy an entire House. Aiding him was a young bride-to-be called Zahra, who would help him get into the manor. On the way there, despite his furious attempts to shut out his emotions, Cesar became very smitten with Zahra. By the time they arrived at the manor, however, and he began the slaughter, armed soldiers popped out of nowhere and arrested Cesar. Zahra was left alone. Cesar was dragged to prison and branded with the Iberian symbol of treachery, a black snake, and then kicked out into the street. The Iberian Hawks carried a ‘do-or-die’ rule, and the price for failing a mission was death, so it was assumed he would die soon. Determined to see his mission through, Cesar stalked back to the lonely manor in the countryside, but first he made a detour and murdered Zahra in her home despite her pleas of innocence. He then went back to the manor and slaughtered the family and their guards, and went back to the Hawks’ base in a dark mood.
But upon getting there, Cesar was congratulated and made a senior Hawk. The entire mission had been a ruse for proving his loyalty. Zahra had been innocent. Heartbroken and disgusted, Cesar took a contract for the farthest target possible- one King Galbatorix in some Empire to the north- and headed there, planning on destroying this one last target so more Hawks wouldn’t go there, and then disappearing.
However, Galbatorix was a lot more than just a king, as Cesar found out when he landed in Teirm several months later. A century-old human and something called a Dragon Rider no less, Cesar wondered just how motivated he was to finish the mission. Instead, he turned his sights on Du Weldenvarden. Alagaësia had changed enormously since his mother had been there last, but the elves were still rumoured to exist, and the northern forest was his best bet.
It, of course, didn’t live up to the fantasies he had constructed as a boy, listening to his mother’s tales. Elves were starkly stoic and closed things, and he was viewed with suspicion for being an outsider despite being a full elf. Disappointed, Cesar left in a matter of months, determined that killing Galbatorix had to be easier than staying in Du Weldenvarden.
He went to Urû’baen and snuck into the palace late at night, but magical wards and Shruikan easily stopped him from carrying out his mission. Cesar was dragged to Galbatorix’s throne room and deposited in front of him, where Galbatorix promptly went through his mind. However, he seemed to realize that Cesar held no personal vendetta against him, considering he hadn’t even heard of the man until a few months ago, and was willing to escape a faraway past. Bedsides that, he wasn’t a big fan of the Alagaësian elves. Galbatorix offered him an ultimatum- Cesar would serve him as an assassin, and his life would be spared. Cesar liked living, so he agreed. He was subsequently placed in the Tribunal, a fifty-man-strong assassin squad that dealt mostly with ratting out and sabotaging the Varden. Cesar has served as an Imperial assassin since.
