Quartz

## Basic Information

### Aliases

Pretty Boy (By the Sheriff)Aberrant SMP Musical Chairs Champion (Won the only games of musical chairs played to his knowledge)

### Pronouns

Quartz does not strictly go by one set of pronouns, and will accept any used for them, though they do somewhat prefer male.

## Physical Information

### Age

30-ish, if you add both Human and Floran Quartz' ages together

### Unique Features

A pair of white feather wings sprout from either side of his body.

## Biographical Information

### Place of Birth

Quartz resides in the tower where he lived as a human, prior to the Aberration and the incident that led to his death.

### Current Residence

Currently still resides in his place of birth

## Relationships

### Friends

Drop (A Neighbour), Tevel, SarktalosThere is another person from his past, though he only really mentions her in passing, sometimes quoting and remembering her words.

### Kin

Quartz' relatives, whoever they are, are without a doubt no longer with us.

## OOC Information

### Discord Username

Aigis#2928

*"I've read almost everything he left behind when he vanished. It's almost... scary to think about, how the whole world changed so much in just a year."*

Once a quiet, action-driven Floran, now an Angel. Quartz finds himself trying his hardest to prove himself and grow as a person. With his belief in balance, he sticks to a strong code of justice.

## Story

### Past - Human

Quartz was an accomplished alchemist, honing his craft long before the catastrophic event known as the Aberration. At the time of the Aberration, he was still very much human, but his research would lead to his tragic end.

During his time after the Aberration, Quartz remained free of mutations - much to his dismay. He spent the next 5 years of his life secluded in his tower, visited frequently by various people. His main visitors were mutants - people affected by the Aberration in ways that irreversibly changed their biology. They came to him asking for a 'cure', that they might no longer be shunned by their family.

Quartz refused to listen to anybody who came to his tower begging for the cure, knowing full well that such an endeavour was impossible - any possible cure for the Aberration-related mutations escaped the bounds of Alchemy and as such those people became a nuisance to his work. Additionally, the Alchemist would grow more and more infuriated with those people, as he wished he would have gained a mutation of his own - He believed the Aberration's effects to be a major turning point for the world. Anybody who would shun mutations and desire to rid themselves of them would be a fool, and were not worthy of the boon.

Almost 5 years after the Aberration struck, Quartz was still alive and still, miraculously, human. He was in the midst of experimenting with a plant acceleration serum - a serum that would further his alchemical progress and provide him with more fresh food - When his tower was struck by an earthquake. The sudden and violent nature of the event caused him to lose control of the serum, causing it to spill onto the surrounding plants. In mere seconds, the plants began to grow at an alarming rate, rapidly reaching the ceiling and cracking the brickwork above. Unfortunately, Quartz was unable to escape the crushing weight of the collapsing ceiling and ultimately lost his life.

### Past - Floran

Though his physical body perished in the earthquake, Quartz's soul remained trapped in his home, surrounded by the swirling plants that had claimed his life. Over time, the radiation mutated these plants, and eventually, one of them became a vessel for Quartz's soul, allowing him to be reborn as a humanoid plant being. He regained consciousness around 94AAE, after his new plant body had grown to resemble a human head. Though his soul persisted in this new form, his memories remained with his old, deceased body.

For a long time, Quartz was content with his existence as a mere clump of grass, growing and expanding within the confines of the room where he was born. However, the moment he became aware of the books around him, his desire to read and learn was sparked. Despite being unable to read much at the time, due to his limited form, Quartz set about growing, steadily increasing in size until he stood taller than the desk in the room.

The growing process was slow, but Quartz was driven to continue until he finally achieved his goal. For 2 years, Quartz remained close to the desk, immersing himself in the books on it, observing his body as it continued to grow and take on a more human-like form. Halfway through the second year, his roots connected with some vines creeping up the side of the tower. He allowed his roots to merge with the vines, and as a result, his growth rate significantly increased.

As Quartz spent time reading books, he began to ponder about his own name. Without anyone present to name him at his birth, he felt a connection to his past self's name and decided to adopt it for himself.

As the second year of his new life came to an end, Quartz had learned much about the world around him and had merged with many plants. His thirst for knowledge was quenched, but he yearned for more. He severed his connections to all the plants inhabiting the building, pulling himself free from the floor, and following his heart. He began to collect items and carefully store them, and worked on repairing the tower. He practiced and grew skilled with various tools and weapons he found around his home.

Quartz has currently spent much of his existence in the tower where he was born. However, in recent times, he has caught sight of signs of civilization on the horizon - lights, smoke, and other indications that there may be other survivors on this planet. His curiosity piqued, Quartz has set out to explore in the direction of these signs, determined to discover whether there are others still living on this world. He has prepared his equipment and set out on his journey, eager to learn more about the world and the people in it.

Quartz has Recently joined The Collective of Communal Knowledge, a group focused on the creation & preservation of knowledge throughout the world. His reasoning for joining was to help contribute to the collection of knowledge and further his access to research.

### The Blood Bowl

The Blood bowl was an event that Quartz attended: A round of brutal fights in which each participant displayed their combat prowess and unique skills.

The event had been proceeding smoothly, until the appearance of a certain individual. Quartz acted as best he could to hold back the individual's attack, until it finally ended when he disposed of an artefact in lava.

The full encounter has shocked Quartz to his core, and incidentally rendered his ability to communicate verbal non-existent. He is working to recover his voice.

### The Vaults

A group of individuals set out to explore Chorus and discover a location known as the "Vault" after finding a book written by an unknown person. Inside the vault, they found treasures and books detailing Quartz's as he hunted for cursed objects. They learned of an item called the "Lens of Detection," which was used to detect curses and store them safely in the vaults. As they ventured through multiple vaults hidden on a lake island on Chorus, they uncovered more information about the curses until they found a book marked as "cursed." Inside, Quartz revealed the truth that the item used to detect curses was cursed itself, leading him to blindly trust whatever the lens revealed. He also revealed that the "cursed" book was a ruse, as he could not remember writing it and was too afraid to open it out of fear of being afflicted by the curse. In the book, Quartz begged anyone who read it to take the lens of detection from him, knowing that he would be unable to part with it himself. As they prepared to leave and find Quartz, they were discovered by the Floran, but fortunately, Quartz willingly gave up the lens without fighting and it was taken to be hidden in a safe place. Having lost a cursed item that held a semblance of control over him, he feels a great deal of shame: someone who tasked themselves with sealing away cursed objects, afflicted with curses?

### AI's Dinner & Drink

Following the events of the dinner event, Quartz has began feeling... a little jittery. He has somewhat recovered from The 'Vaults' incident, though finds himself still needing to resist the lingering effects of the curse.

As the true meaning of the event was revealed, Quartz gave his agreement: He would join them in the fight against Talbot Grimes. His decision to join was led by two main factors:

1: He was struggling with a sort of inferiority complex, desperately wanting to find ways to prove himself

2: Upon first encountering Talbot, Quartz was frozen where he stood, unable to move from fear. He wants to get Talbot back for that - simple as.

In other news, Quartz has discovered the cursed staff's vines are beginning to spread up his arm - he fears where they will move to next.

### The Curse-Seeker's Purification Ritual

In Quartz' search for freedom from his curses, he discovered this group he called the curse-seekers. He followed their steps as they sought a way to be free of their own curses.

He eventually found a location on Chorus designed to purify curses, and they achieved this via one method only.

"THE ACCURSED STANDS ON THE TERRIAN STONE, GEM IN HAND"

"THE SAVIOUR ACTIVATES THE MECHANISM"

"THERE, ON DEATH'S DOOR, WILL THE GEM GRANT FREEDOM"

Read about What happened During the purification.

As a result of the ritual, Quartz became a Guardian Angel, bound by a deal he made at death's door to a gem he found.

## Personality

### Basics

Quartz places great trust in those who have helped him and will go to great lengths to assist them in return. Despite his lack of verbal communication skills, his actions speak louder than words. This is partly due to the fact that he has difficulty understanding spoken language, having spent much of his time reading and understanding it only in written form. Additionally, Quartz can be characterized as a collector, hoarding anything he comes across and organizing it to the best of his ability. He finds a sense of beauty and art in this pursuit.

Due to his limited understanding of spoken language, Quart mostly speaks in broken english, using his notebook to write if he feels he can't get his intention across verbally.

### Likes

Quartz has a deep passion for reading, as it allows him to understand more about the past and the world he lives in. He finds the existence of books as records of history to be immensely fascinating and feels that his current life is in some way connected to them. With the aspiration of one day authoring his own book to document his experiences.

As Quartz lacks a digestive system, he cannot consume food, thus he has no specific food preferences. However, if given the opportunity, he would be eager to try strawberries as his first food experience.

To pass the time, Quartz has taken a liking to the practice of alchemy, experimenting with brewing potions and studying their unique effects. This has become one of his favourite hobbies, as it allows him to continue learning and exploring the world around him.

### Dislikes

While reading is a favourite pastime for Quartz, he holds a distaste for ink in its liquid form. He finds it messy and often finds himself having to clean up spillages.

As for food, Quartz does not have any strong preferences as he cannot eat, instead, he dislikes the inability to experience the taste and sensation of eating.

## Further Lore

### Floran Journal Entry #1

I found one of Quartz's - no, not mine, the Human Quartz. I'll just refer to him as Him - Well, I found one of his old journals today. Most of the pages are blank, so I figured I may as well start writing my life here. So, uh, hello there. My name is Quartz. I'm a Floran who, well, I suppose you could say I inherited the home, name and lifestyle of a man who lived before the Aberration - and for a while after it, too.

So. The Aberration, huh? A cataclysmic event of global proportions. Nobody and nothing was left untouched as a result of it. It's... scary to think about. According to His own notes on the event, it's like the whole world turned on its head all thanks to an experiment gone wrong. It's one of those things that shouldn't have happened, but it did.

Now that I think about it, maybe I have this whole cataclysm to thank for my birth. I don't fully know the story behind my creation, after all, He didn't exactly leave any notes on new experiments before he vanished. My running theory is that either I'm the result of the Aberration mutating my plant structure in such a way that I gained sentience. Or maybe I'm the result of a lonely alchemist trying to make a companion before he goes mad from isolation.

If that's the case, maybe I was too late.

Even as I write this, doubt fills me. Uncertainty over who I am. Fear that, if I was too late to help Him, I now have no real purpose in life. Nervousness that He might return, and that we will share in the awkward information that we both share the same name.

I guess I'll keep myself occupied until I learn more. This tower is in a horrible state of disrepair, after all. "The search for knowledge can't truly begin with a trashed workstation", or so He says.

### Floran Journal Entry #2

Well. I have some bad news. I went ahead and got myself *cursed*.

Let me explain.

Cursed items are usually rare, but there may be more of them due to something called the Aberration. People create them as traps for thieves or for those seeking to improve their connection to the world. A curse usually has both positive and negative effects. In my case, the staff I have can cast powerful spells, but I cannot put it down and it drains my vitality. These types of spells are no longer practiced in current times, making the *positive* side rather useless.

The staff is fitting with my appearance, with vines wrapping tightly and painfully around my hand to hold it in place. I can feel a pulsing sensation coming from within the staff. Sometimes, I feel as if I know what the staff wants. It seems to have a hunger and feeds on experiences from all living things.

Unfortunately, due to the lost knowledge of cursing, there are no longer methods to remove a curse. As a result, I am now stuck with this staff permanently.

On the positive side, the vines on the staff are visibly different in color than mine, which could be useful in determining if the curse is spreading. Currently, the staff is not causing any further harm and remains only on my arm.

Maybe I should search for more cursed objects. Deepen my understanding of them to a point where one day I can remove the curses myself.

Yes, this seems like a decent goal to strive for.