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[preblessed]

Player
Name: Laura
Contact: jojoveller
Over 18?: yea
Current Characters: Adrian endscape
Link to permissions/opt out: here

Character
Name: Oleander Thrice-Envoy
Canon: original
Canon point: Towards the beginning of the quest he got roped into to find someone's missing brother.
CRAU?: no
Age: 31
History: With the usual OC caveat of more info on his info post and my other OC's post, here goes:

The Temple of Ianke received Oleander - literally - as a baby, when he was left anonymously on the Temple steps with nothing but a brief note entreating the acolytes for sanctuary. He was subsequently raised as an acolyte himself, given a standard as well as religious education. A childhood accident left his right leg permanently damaged; he carries a cane that he doesn't always use, but he walks with a limp. Despite a latent talent for magic, he took it upon himself to limit his career paths within the Temple to historian and scholar, because the responsibilities of mage training in the Temple sounded like a lot of work. For much of his youth he was content to remain in the Temple, getting the itch to leave and see the world as a young teenager. This was largely misunderstood by his peers, who were not raised in the Temple and so couldn't see what the big deal was about the outside world. Oleander "escaped" the Temple around the age of sixteen, with a plan to explore the far reaches of the realm.

This ended after about a month, as he could hardly get further than the slums of The Basin: the trade city in which the Temple resides. Surrounded by dome walls on all sides and unwelcoming to a sheltered Temple acolyte with no money and no skills besides pretty handwriting, The Basin chewed him up and sent him back home, where he decided that a scholar's life might be dull, but at least it would be comfortable. Begging his way back into the Temple with professions of his devotion and unending loyalty to the Mother Superior and the Goddess earned him a reputation, ironically, as a very, very firm believer in the Temple's teachings.

Over the years, Oleander has risen through the ranks to become a Third Envoy, cementing his scholarly status and taking particular interest in ancient firsthand accounts of the Goddess Ianke visiting her believers face-to-face to deliver a message or some other kind of vision. It's entirely by accident that he stumbles upon the slightest hint that these accounts— and for all intents and purposes, everything in the Temple library— is completely fictitious. For someone who's been pretending to believe for over a decade so as not to be thrown out on the streets, suspecting that Ianke has been a scam by the First Envoys and Mother Superior all this time is pretty aggravating. Additional records cause him to wonder if the ultimate goal of the Temple is actually somewhat sinister; he resolves to find out.

Unfortunately, his personal research project into this theory is discovered by Bryony Twice-Envoy, his immediate superior and mother figure. She insists he leaves before someone less sympathetic and more concerned about Temple secrets finds out he's looking into it, and since he cannot simply get up and go from his position, they cook up a fake scandal to give him an excuse to transfer to the Temple aboard the space station Paragon. What scandal? Why, an illicit affair with an influential family's firstborn heir, there in the Temple, despite his marriage already arranged! Luckily, or perhaps unluckily for Oleander and the heir, this isn't quite as fake as Bryony believes it to be. It's fine, he'll have worse break-ups one day, probably.

His new quiet life in the Paragon Temple is much more boring; this Temple is only a branch, and lacks the resources the Basin Temple has for him to do any more secret investigating. So when he's interrupted by Mona, sister of an acolyte he'd never heard of arriving at the Temple with a wild story about her brother being murdered by the Mother for some kind of mage ritual, well! That's something to look into! Pure chance and a long-dormant desire to get answers see Oleander tasked with dealing with Mona and her quest— in particular, getting her into the Basin Temple and finding her brother, a mission he accepts hoping that a jaunt back into the Temple can help him reveal the big con, as a bonus. The two set off to locate a magician Mona has heard of who can prove the Temple has been working dark magic with Oleander as their means of getting back inside; she makes him get on a shuttle first thing, and it's the worst experience of his entire life.

Personality:

Silver-tongued and just trying to live a quiet life; Oleander Thrice-Envoy is an incredibly good liar who could con his way into anything he wanted, but he's pretty satisfied living a simple life as a scholar with room and board provided for life. His first loyalty is to himself, always, and while he is quietly charismatic and admired by the acolytes and lower Envoys in his charge at the Temple, he forms deep attachments with few people. His upbringing is unique among his peers and he has a strong complex about it, specifically the knowledge that his parents would give him up and leave nothing for him to find them again one day, and so he keeps most people at a comfortable distance. It's part self-defense and part envy— despite this, he retains close ties to his teachers who did the bulk of raising him, and his affection for his childhood friends is deep and genuine.

That said, he will lie to get people to see and treat him as totally benign; he has no problems playing the soft-spoken devotee, bowing and scraping to whomever if it will protect his own neck and preserve his lifestyle. He feels a shockingly large sense of pride at how long he's managed to play at piety despite having almost zero genuine religious devotion to his Goddess, which is why he's willing to take everyone down with him when he begins to suspect the Temple is not only deceitful, but actively harmful to its lower ranks. The only thing that trumps his desire to live comfortably is his pride.

Despite his cunning and highly intuitive nature, he is not worldly— literally, he's been out of the Temple long-term all of twice, and he does not know how things are supposed to be done out there. He knows about the world as a distant thing that he's read about in books and documents and heard stories of, but his firsthand experience is so low that everything is a little shocking. This, at least, isn't a lie: his first long-term trip outside was so bad that he decided to go back home forever, and he's decided since to glue himself to anyone more capable should he ever have to go out again. Being out of the Temple makes him uncomfortable, and when he's uncomfortable he lapses out of his usual politeness into a more snappish, irritable attitude until he can shuffle back to where he feels calmer.

Overall, Oleander is a decent person. He's self-serving but not malicious; looking out for himself but not by engaging in callousness or cruelty. While he puts up walls to protect his deepest vulnerabilities, he remains pleasant and friendly to anyone willing to treat him the same. While in his element he's able to be devious and manipulative to reveal secrets, but outside of it - and most situations are outside of it - he's easily overwhelmed. He's trying his best, and sometimes his best is Leaving Early to Nap.

Powers and abilities: None to speak of, supernaturally. He could have been good at magic but he never learned. In the realm of the ordinary, he has beautiful penmanship and a good memory.
Chosen faction: Sylph
Suitability: His setting is more high tech (until recently he was living on a space station), but other than appreciating things like elevators, he doesn't do much high tech stuff himself. He also has a big chip on his shoulder about Real Gods since discovering the Temple he's lived in his whole life is made up bullshit for money, so— being in a place with accessible All-Powerful Leaders will be good(?) for him. Or make him angry. Either way.

Sample
wham bam

Questions, comments, and concerns:
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