Shimmer Von Rechtmen

"Why does everyone keep referring to me as a 'greenhorn' and 'hot'? I have no horns, and maintain a comfortable body temperature."

## Social Description

### Relatives

Marquis Von Riechman (Father)The Lady of Shine (Mother)

Alaxander (Elder Brother)

Lili (Younger Sister)

## History

Second Son of a Marquis in Roslyn, Shimmer, or more commonly addressed as Shim, grew up idealistically among lush vineyards, stomping grapes with his friends far from worry or hardship. His mother a beautiful Aphorite herself, he inherited her strong will and mind, and learned much from daily lessons with her, covering all manor of subjects including lawfulness and the culture of both the land and his ancestry. Her lessons always carried with a particular cadence, the rhythm of which felt like music to his ears, and she refused to accept certain turns of phrase as linguistic choices, insisting that 'analogy and metaphor were tools of chaos, to force interpretation into language'. Leading to his... difficulty in understanding and communicating with such devices.

Without the pressure to perform as his elder brother, years passed before he found responsibility, yet it came as a welcome duty. At the turn of his first decade his father sought out tutelage for his boy to become martially adept. As the eldest son was to enter the nobility and inherit the land, it was Shimmer's duty to gain presence and prestige for his accomplishments, elevating their family name. He stopped spending time with children his age, engrossed in daily training in swords and armors. Yet, as many Aphorites do, he grew fascinated by their construction and order, spending his free time watching the smiths in town work and occasionally helping move metal when his father wouldn't learn of it. The simplicity of that life appealed to him... yet the weight of expectation and duty called.

Yet, things took a turn as he neared his second decade. After years of training to join the military as his family's honorable son... His father rejected the notion. With a pensive expression, he insisted the boy was not ready, and to stand as nothing but a warrior would bring shame. Unwilling to question his father, he accepted this with a heavy heart. And, in a first act of, what might be considered defiance, created a plan. The money he had personally saved for a dowry, to impress his father when it came time for marriage, went to an old tome of Magicks. One that discussed entry theory, concepts, designs and glyphs. But more so, this tome in particular held his interest for it spoke of the synergy of sword and spell. The idea of storing small power in a blade to wield for efficiency in battle. On his own, with a steadfast regiment, he practiced in secret. Studying, researching in the family's library for days on end, justifying it as preparation for noble duties. After three years of personal practice... He entered his father's study dressed in shining chain and a pack bursting with gear. He laid down a written request for aid from the La Belle Garrison, his hand sparkling with arcane energy as it planted firmly on the table.

Without lifting his head from the parchment he was already writing on, his father continued on. And Shimmer stood, for minutes, in silence with his father, only the scratching of the quill filling the air. Finally, as the ink dried, he read what his father had written. A formal presentation of his second son, to the La Belle Garrison, as a sign of good faith between their counties. With the words "... His desperate ambition for excellence and reverent adherence to codes of ethic ought to rub off on the mercenaries he'll find as peers. But do keep an eye on him to be sure the inverse does not apply." With a curt nod to his father, Shimmer left his home in a carriage to Dulais, to make his family proud.

## Appearance

Dark silver skin with a slight sheen, with markings and scars of gold, define him as an Aphorite. Eyes of glimmering gold rest under onyx hair, dazzling as it descends as fine as gossamer. This otherworldly yet gilded appearance cause many to mistake him for Aasimar, and treat him as such. His light gray vest rests atop a new shirt of chains, which fall to his thighs over deep blue breeches. Resting on his side next to a leather-bound tome, is a masterfully crafted antique of his father's, a blade adorned with geometric patterns and loops rolling across it's hilt, and a brilliant azure orb set into the pommel. His ensemble is clearly new, unmarked by trial or hardship, and each piece far above the price range for a typical adventurer. All befitting the smile that caries it.

## Personality

Lawfulness, as idealized by a young boy from a generous upbringing, can be considered naivety. The law is righteous, without it would be chaos, and chaos brings suffering. Even if you disagree with the law, if everyone follows the same code, we are one people and can improve eachothers lives. His cheery eyed hope is warm, yet unintentionally bashing to those who view those laws... unfavorably. Still, courtesy, respect, honor, and chivalry run through his veins like golden blood, and he offers such to all, even those who'd spit in his face for it.

## Loves

Country before family, family before friends, friends before strangers, and strangers before himself. Such is his upbringing of devotion and respect. He's had passing fancies, and his... exotic appearance draws eyes, yet his life has had an absence of applicable company, before now.

## Fears

Chaos swirls in minds like a drug tempting every action. It is harder to follow the letter of the law and he pities those who fall from it. Yet he fears those who relish in their decent into what he considers abominable madness. To swim in chaos is to disregard the order and respect of the world, to wish to see it fallen around you, and to resign yourself from peace.

## Hobbies

In his spare time, he has always spent time at forges watching the craftsmen create order from chaos in a tangible way. He has read deep tomes of his family library on cultures and laws of the world, interested in history and how nations rise and fall. He also enjoys a good performance of music, especially orchestral symphonies as their rigid order and structure and composition ring in his ears like the voice of order itself.

## Family

His Father is a Marquis in Roslyn, owning a large vineyard and maintaining good standing with the nobility. He originally intended to have Shimmer join the military, but changed his mind without notice, leading the boy to spend three years of self study on magical swordsmanship to make himself worthy of setting out for military accolade on his own. To which his father could not protest.

His Mother, the Lady of Shine, was a well known performer and conductor for her time, distinguished by her shining skin and brilliant skill. She raised her son with love, care, and strict teachings on Aphorite culture and customs.

His Elder Brother, Alaxander, inherited his father's human side of the family, and the family nobility.

His Younger Sister, Lili, looks much like her mother and has begun performing music in a small circle of noble girls. The family is very proud of her.

## Friends

Friends are few and far between for the boy that obsessed over success. He hasn't seen his former swordsmanship tutor, a commander in the military somewhere again after coming out of retirement, for almost five years since their lessons ceased. Having lost contact with his old friends from town, and outside of his family and their staff, he has been short on companionship and learned to enjoy his time alone over that of noisy company.

## Enemies

He's yet to accrue a number of enemies, yet there was a child from another noble house that visited and ran amuck in their garden, Shimmer's first sight of chaos in a soul, and they met several other times at festivities or noble gatherings under less than ideal terms.

## Aspirations

To do right by his family name and the duty they spent years preparing him for. He has an expectation to perform great deeds, to bring order to chaos and pain, to unite fractured friends under the banner of countrymen. Yet personally... he yearns for simplicity, as a rippling pond is not an orderly one. To sit by a forge and strike metal to metal, forging tools of efficiency and balance, to be wielded by countrymen in the name of order. No life tempts him more. Yet it is by shunning these thoughts and embracing duty, that he reassures himself in his belief of order, over desire.