Griff

*"You could walk a mile in my shoes and you'd be crazy too, with nothin' to lose."*

– Tupac Shakur
*"It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog."*

– Mark Twain
*"The nightmares? They never go away, Snake. Once you've been on the battlefield, tasted the exhilaration, the tension... it all becomes part of you. Once you've awakened the warrior within... it never sleeps again. You crave ever bigger tensions, ever bigger thrills. As a mercenary, I'd think you would have realized that by now. You care nothing for power, or money, or even sex. The only thing that satisfies your cravings is war! All I've done is give you a place for it. I've given you a reason to live.."*

– Big Boss, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

## Overview

### **Physical Appearance**

Griff is rather short by Thedosian standard but also an athletic young man with once fair now sun tanned skin, tousled golden blond hair with freckles and heterochromia iridium (mismatched eye color). Sports permanent thousand yard stare. Many people noted that despite his youthful appearance, Griff has a pair of much older man's eyes. Giving his age when being recruited, many senior Warden found his scarred body disturbing. It seems he have stopped aging at 16 and have difficulty growing his facial hair.

His left ring finger and a chunk of his right ear were cut off during his time as a child soldier. Griff also has a burn scar on his right shoulder and upper back. Multiple laceration scars are spotted throughout his body.

Griff is used to hot climate and prefer to be quick on his feet, so he prefers to walk around shirtless and barefoot when he is off duty or practicing.

### **Personality**

From the first glance, many have mistook Griff for a high born; soft spoken, polite, humble, patient, selfless, and strong willed. But in truth, Griff is a psychological damaged young man who adopted 'proper lad' attitude in order to suppress his inner darkness. In his worst moment, Griff can be vindictive, brutal, cynical, somewhat sadistic. EXTREMELY prejudiced toward Qunari and Tevinter, especially the latter. Have 'kill on sight' policy toward Tal-Vashoth raiders.

Tends to be self loathing and has a cynical worldview, thanks to his experience on Seheron. Deep down, he is still craving for battle and killing as he feels it's part of his identity. At the same time, he actively tries to fight his violent tendency. He loves it when he is on a mission where he can channel his murderous nature into good use.

After numerous life-threatening incidents, Griff is no longer afraid to die but doesn't want to die for nothing. One thing for sure, he won't go down without a fight.

Griff finds solace is solitude and prefer to work alone. He lost so much that he decided he will not get attracted to anything or anyone ever again. Though he will at least fake an attempt to socialize if he really have to. For instance, tried to get to know Andryanna and Sares on first encounter. Needless to say, it's very awkward.

Desires to kill the Archdemon just to make his existence worthwhile. Another excuse is Griff need a goal. or rather, a prey that he can focus on in order in maintain his fragile sanity.

Like a cannon with a long but explosive fuse. If one of Griff's berserk buttons is smashed or someone manages to cross his surprisingly decent threshold of patience, they will likely find themselves on the business end of his weapon. Several times.

### **Talents**

Good with swords and various melee weapons. Skilled hand to hand fighter. Excellent marksman and skilled with most projectiles he gets his hands on.

### **Skills/Spells**

* Stealth
* Ambush
* Leaping shot
* Full draw
* Pinning shot
* Evade

## **Biography**

### **History**

TL;DR: Griff is one fucked up young man with several issues who needs a hug.

Griff has no idea where he actually originated from. He was found by a poacher from a village in Seheron as an infant inside a flower basket. The boy's appearance was different from the native so the villagers were unable to tell where he came from. Village chief's wife took the boy under her care and named him 'Griffith'. The chief himself was a stern but ulitmately caring father toward his adopted son, taught the boy to fend for himself as soon as he was old enough. Griff has several good memories of the place; such as when he saved an elven girl from drowning. The girl's name was mouthful and Griff had a hard time pronouncing it so she told him to call him 'Peach'; Griff thereafter promised to marry and protect her when he is grown up.

Griff's life in the village was not easy, but quite a happy and simple one. It didn't last.

The village was like many settlements in Seheron; the villager livelihood was depend on farming, especially high-priced spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon. Such places are frequently target by the Tal-Vashoth. On one fateful day, Tal-Vashoth raiders arrived, but also a regiment of Imperium Legionnaire who sought to claim the village's fertile soil and potential laborers. Many innocents were caught in brutal engagement. Ultimately, it was Tevinter commander who commanded a scorched earth order to denied the prize to everyone, including the villagers. Griff was among a few survivors who watched in horror as magic inferno set their home ablaze. Once the ember faded to grey and after hours of screaming, Griff left the ruin of his home after he concluded that his adoptive family and Peach were gone in the flame.

The rebels put Griff on duty as soon as they learned that he can use a bow. Driven by fear and hatred, Griff ventured into the fray. At the same time, fire of war had forged sense of camaraderie between Griff and fellow fighters. Once again he felt he was not entirely alone which he clutched this feeling desperately as it was the light at the end of a tunnel of war. A couple years later in a raid on a Magister's outpost, the rebels liberated several slaves, and Griff was one of rebels who stormed the Magister's compound and personally slain Magister's son who held an elven slave hostage. That slave was Peach who actually still alive. For a moment, Griff was overwhelmed with joy and hope, then he discovered how lifeless she was. To add salt to the injury, she did not remember him. Griff did not deterred and tried his best just to make her remember which he succeeded after a week of dedication. The girl broke down in tears as Griff were telling her he will not leave her again.

Few months later, she hanged herself upon finding she was pregnant with her tormentor's child. Griff burned her body along with his hope and last trace of his innocence.

Due to their successes, Griff's insurgent group was targeted by many factions as they wanted to get rid of a painful nuisance once and for all. With the death of important figures, the rebels started arguing over the matter of leadership; some suggested that they should retort to raiding civilians to compensate the loss, some suggested the Qunari would welcome them with open arms. Griff had no idea which direction his former band eventually chose since he left them for another rebel group. A ragtag band of abandoned children with nothing but gut and anger. Killing getting easier and easier. Not a day gone by without setting an ambush or raiding an enemy outpost under cover of darkness. It feels good to help the weak, but even better when he has to kill the deserving to do so. Though one by one, young 'soldiers' fell by the enemy, their comrade's fury only became more incandescent. If possible, they will not left a sibling in arms behind. Griff himself got caught, beaten, and tortured yet it was his friends who rescued him. Their bond, while making those children ready to descend into hell and back for each other without hesitation, it also made the goodbye more painful when one sworn sibling was killed. Nothing worse than being the last one left.

With nothing else to lose, Griff followed a slavers band who took his last blood brothers into the Deep Road with murderous and suicidal intent. He spent all his golds for one way trip on a merchant ship all the way from Seheron to Anderfels just for the final showdown. he then found himself in a dwarven Thaig full of strange, horrifying creatures who attacked the slavers. His lust for vengeance got better of him, Griff ignored his instinct to run and went for the slaver leader instead. An arrow got him first. It was not the first time Griff got shot but the pain was so immense as the arrow was laced with every known poisons in the world. For a moment, Griff looked into the abyss and waited for the end. Then he saw an image of a deformed, raging draconic creature.

Griff found himself surrounded by several pairs of friendly eyes again after several months of loneliness and rage. They introduced themselves as Grey Wardens, and they had a good news and bad news for him; he survived but whatever life he had prior to the fateful moment, it had ended.

He was 13 years old when he passed The Joining; however, Griff lied about his actual age so he can become a full pledge Warden faster and avoid the mess over how to take care of a child. Everyone eventually knows the truth but since Griff makes himself useful to the Order, The First only gave him with a small punishment before assign him back to duty.

### **In-game**

Griff was on assignment to locate various darkspawn entrances around the Anderfels wilderness and check for any breaches so that squads can be sent to deal with the darkspawn.

Has just returned to Weisshaupt.

## **Relationships**

Indifferent to everyone equally, except for the two Vints.

## **Miscellaneous**

### **Griff's ever-growing list of berserk buttons.**

A comprehensive list of how to flip Griff over. Surprisingly, the mockery about his virginity is not one of them. It gets old very fast thanks to Fernando.

#### **kind that earned you a disapproval**

* Address him by his full name; Griffith.
* Being idealistic.
* Being naive.
* Calling him a kid or something similar.
* 'If you kill him, you'll be like him.'
* 'Why do you named your raven Peach?'
* Refuse to eat meat.
* Went out of your way to be a pacifist or completely docile.
* Nicknames are for friends, and all of them are dead. Don't bother to pick one for him.

#### **Kind that earned you resentment**

* Being a Qunari. Sorry, I mean Oxmen.
* Being a Vint.
* Tell him you understand how he feel. Only few individuals are exception.
* Tell him how to do his job way too many times, unless Griff did messed something up.
* Being self righteous.
* Being suicidal. There can be only one.
* Being overly smug.
* Retort to kissing up or blackmailing when breaking necks is a viable option to solve a problem.

#### **Kind that earned you a death glare**

* Make an empty threat toward him.
* Ask him where is the wine in the middle of Deep Road.
* Tell him the Maker actually cares for him, and all the misery he went through was a test.
* Call him a soporati.
* Call him a psychopath, crazy, insane, etc.
* Being a coward.
* Talk shit about his height.

#### **Kind that earned you a mark for gruesome, slow, painful death.**

* Cruelty toward children.
* Being a 'Magister'. All Tevinter upper class citizens are Magisters as far as Griff concerned, much to Helena's dismay.
* Being a Tal Vashoth.
* Being a slaver.
* Being a rapist.
* Being a pedophile.
* Being a double-crosser.
* Being a casual demon summoning mage.
* Being a Tevinter soldier. Sadly, the 'ex' also included.
* Being possessed by a Fade entity
* Use Blood magic way too many times.
* Waste innocent lives for stupid reasons.
* Any implication of 'Seheron belongs to [anyone but not its native]'.
* Ask him to fetch wine and cake in the middle of Deep Road or a place similar.
* Caught him in the worst moment. Usually occurred when you get in the middle between him and a person who just hit one of the buttons above.

## **Gallery**

* Paranormal.pngSample Photo
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