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PLAYER INFO.
✖ Handle: Jen
✖ Contact: Wuzzafuzzle on plurk or aim
✖ Are You Over 16: Y
✖ Other Characters Played in Consignment: Jack Benjamin, Fox (latter likely to be dropped if this dude gets in)
CHARACTER INFO.
✖ Character Name: Iorveth
✖ Canon: The Witcher; Post The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
✖ Character Appearance: elfchan
✖ Character Age: Over 100 years. Nothing canon beyond that. He's said to have been fighting with the Scoia'tael for over a century, and I assume he wasn't doing that since birth. The average lifespan for a normal elf is 300 years, and Iorveth is supposed to be on the young side, so, for the sake of a solid number, I'll say 127.
✖ Pick A Number: 053, 055
✖ Canon Setting:
"But for the first time, his fight makes sense. The Scoia'tael know no peace.
They've died for Nilfgaard, for the Valley of the Flowers, in vain.
They'd been betrayed and cheated - now they have a new goal.
The Pontar Valley could be the first state where no man would have to fear elven arrows when venturing beyond city walls,
and elves and dwarves wouldn't live in ghettos or on reservations.
First, however, we have a battle to win."
- Saskia, the Virgin of Aedirn
The world of the Witcher saga is, in basic set up, very typical of medieval fantasy, swords & sorcery worlds. It's inhabited by humans, elves, gnomes, and dwarves, as well as magical creatures of both good and evil persuasions. There are knights, kings, dragons, sorceresses, unicorns, castles, forests, and all of that. People travel by horses or on foot everywhere and technology suits the medieval time period, magical advancements only really utilized by the few mages capable, and it's limited to things like teleportation and, on occasion, mechanisms that allow communication with another sorceress far away (thought that is very difficult to come by). As for the land itself, the saga is limited to a chunk of land with an unknown name, just referred to as the Continent. A description of specific kingdoms can be found here, but the regions of particular import are Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms. Most kinds of typical, Earth terrian are held on the Continent - deserts, mountain ranges, swamps, forests, oceans, etc.
The things that really make the Witcher world unique are the racial, cultural and political strife that shapes it, through which the Witcher (Geralt, in the games) goes through. Witchers are individuals (often kidnapped children) with innate special abilities that are then put through intense magical rituals and turned into a sort of mutant to be crafted into very powerful monster-slayers. They are meant to be neutral in their dealings and don't often involve themselves in civil or political disputes. This doesn't have to be followed, seeing as in the games you choose which choices Geralt makes, and Iorveth comes from the path that leads Geralt to side with the Scoia'tael's (Elven guerrilla freedom fighters) causes and Saskia's war against Henselt. Starting on racial differences - the first to arrive on the Continent were Gnomes (and a few other minor races), then Elves (the Aen Seidhe), then Dwarves, then, lastly, Humans. Eventually, conflict broke out between the races - humans against nonhumans, and many of the nonhuman races suffered for it. The elves, having a much slower reproduction process, were slow to rebuild numbers and this came to be what brought their numbers down so drastically, as they are at Iorveth's canon point. They fell under great persecution by Nordlings (the people of the Northern Kingdoms), and thus, when the Nilfgaard Empire (operated much like the Roman empire) brought war to the Northern Kingdoms, many nonhumans, and the Scoia'tael units in particular, sided with Nilfgaard.
For as long as any race in the modern times of the Witcher world can remember, there's been incredibly hostility between human and nonhuman races, and even some between dwarves, elves and gnomes. After humanity's conquering of much of the continent, nonhumans began to be pushed back into a state of second class citizens within human nations, given their own had been destroyed or taken. Within cities, they live mostly in ghettos, and experience varying degrees of prejudice, depending on how vitriolic the region is. Racial slurs and discrimination in law, business and general social settings are common, and even, in some places, pogroms break out - citywide riots focused solely around killing nonhumans and the magically inclined. Culturally, dwarves are primarilly smithies and trade specialists. Elves, in more rural places, sometimes tend to the woods and surrounding areas, more focused on herbalism and agriculture, or manage whatever work they can get. Some nonhumans, less willing to settle for their status in human civilization, abandon it to the wilderness and join up with Scoia'tael units, taking to terrorizing traders that wander out too far from the cities' protection (mostly elves, though some dwarves are seen with them too). Otherwise, dwarven and elven culture has been reduced to just that - ghettos in human cities, and stories of how things used to be (something incredibly few, if any, have been long lived enough to give first hand account of).
Wars between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms are a sort of constant running theme in the games - a total of 3 occur, the last of which has only just begun at the end of the second game; Iorveth's canon point. Nilfgaard, as stated, is much like the Roman empire, in that they go through conquering territories and forcibly assimilating them into the larger empire. For their service in the second war, the elves were given Dol Blathanna (the Valley of Flowers) as a home state - though not unconditionally. Their ruler was to answer to the Nilfgaardian Emperor and, under the treaty termed the Peace of Cintra, all Scoia'tael were to be handed over for execution at the hands of Northern monarchs - the betrayal of the elven commando units that fought for Nilfgaard under the agreement for a free state. It's said that the remainder of elves, and their race at large, in Dol Blathanna have no future, for the fact that over 2000 elves live there and over the 5 years it's been a state, only a dozen children have been born, due to the fact most of the population is older elves and sterile. Thus, why Iorveth sides with Saskia in The Witcher 2, as he believes the plan of equal rights and treatment between races in the Pontar Valley in Upper Aedirn (if Saskia wins it) will be the only place the elves can have a truly free life, to flourish without persecution.
This is how Iorveth fits into the setting. He was the commander of the last Scoia'tael unit to be broken in the second of the Nilfgaard wars, but doesn't consider the state of the Valley of Flowers to be a suitable place for his people to rebuild, due to the aforementioned. His unit resides mainly in the forest of Flotsam - a town on the border of Temeria and Aedirn - and he spends most of the time there terrorizing the people of Flotsam in the name of freedom for elves, though his goal is revealed to be working towards assisting Saskia in making the Pontar Valley a place free of racial persecution. As the second game opens, Geralt - the Witcher - is following a mysterious assassin, Letho, the Kingslayer (another Witcher), who had framed him for the murder of King Foltest of Temeria. His death throws the region Temeria resides in into a sort of political chaos, given he had no direct hiers, causing noble houses to begin squabbling over who should take the throne next, and the bordering kingdoms (Redania, Aedirn, some others) to creep forward with a want to snatch up land while the nation is weak. Only shortly before, the same Witcher assassin had executed King Demavend, of Aedirn, leaving the eldest prince to try to control power hungry nobles from taking advantage of the chaos. While Temeria is in turmoil with the sudden death of their sovereign, Aedirn faces similar conflict with their northern neighboring nation, Kaedwen, and the opportunist King Henselt, who arrives with a sizable army, demanding to either be given land from Upper Aedirn, or significant monetary compensation to back off. Saskia (the Dragonslayer, the Virgin of Aedirn), leading commander of Aedirn's military, leads the battle against Kaedwen for Upper Aedirn/The Pontar Valley, with an agreement from the Prince that she's to be given the land, once won, to turn into a protected place for human and nonhuman races to flourish with strict laws against persecution, enforced by her.
King Henselt of Kaedwen has been targeted by Letho, and a couple other Witcher assassins as well, for execution, though the force behind it isn't revealed until the end of the game. In the world of the Witcher, most all Kings have a court sorceror or sorceress present to assist and advise them - some are treated well and some are treated like attack dogs, and blamed if their efforts fail regardless of the monarch's decisions. The Lodge of Sorceresses, a council of the most powerful female mages (who operate as court advisors) in the southern and northern kingdoms, exists with the goal to further the interests of magic users, and stir the fate of the nations to benefit them. They hired Letho and his compatriots to begin assassinating Northern Kings, and put several things in motion to bring Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms back into a war that they will be able to control and determine the result of. They are also responsible for manipulating Saskia into fighting for the Pontar Valley (Saskia, enchanted by Phillipa Eilhart, with a spell to mind control her), though their influence, and Phillipa's spell, is ultimately shaken free of.
At the game's climax, there's a communing of Northern Kingdom kings, as the Nilfgaardian ambassadors, after a series of fights and attempts to frame other people, two things become apparent: The Lodge of Sorceresses had been plotting to overthrow the Northern Kingdoms and rule for themselves, and secondly, that all of it, from the assassinations of the Kings, to Letho botching the Lodge's plans, to the mass chaos that ensues from each, had been exactly what the Nilfgaardian Empire had sent Letho to do (even faking loyalty to the Lodge of Sorceresses) - stage the Northern Kingdoms, weaken and separate them, in preparation for an incoming Nilfgaardian invasion.
As The Witcher 2 closes, Saskia, Triss, Iorveth and Geralt are making their way from the ruined Loc Muinne, with knowledge of the Nilfgaardian invasion already at hand and the Pontar Valley secured in Saskia's name. They wait for the incoming war.
✖ Character History: Iorveth on the Witcher Wikia, plus plot of Witcher 2.
✖ Character Personality:
"Iorveth - a regular son of a whore."
The most common view of Iorveth, outside of the few who know him well, is that he's a cruel, ruthless extremist; a mass murderer and a terrorist. That view can be mostly true, and Iorveth doesn't do much to dispell the thought. He's often cold and cruel, excessively so, though it's more for the sake of 'I have to kill them before they kill me' and in the name of fighting for what he believes is right, even if it's just standing up as someone in stark protest rather than being compliant in a human city. He's seen over a century worth of his race under unmasked persecution, and the hatred he holds for humanity fuels everything he does, but it's not just mindless killing for him. He's an idealist in that he wants a free state for the Aen Seidhe (the Elves), and a place where they can flourish and be free of prejudice. In a perfect world, and if his people weren't so dismally outnumbered as it is, that would be what Iorveth would strive for. A singular free state of Aen Seidhe only. A part of him also wants revenge - wants humanity to pay for what they've done to his people and wants the Aen Seidhe at a place of glory and high regard as they were when they first arrived on the Continent as a sophisticated race with pride and composure, not people huddled in slums and treated like second class citizens, sometimes even slaves.
But Iorveth also isn't blind. What sets him apart from Yaevinn (another Scoia'tale leader who speaks of wanting exactly that - the glory of the Aen Seidhe in flowery prose and metaphors) is that Iorveth knows the Elves are a dying race. What the Scoia'tael fight for, a kingdom of Elves, will never happen, not with as few as they are now and with as much power as the humans have. This is why he sides with Saskia to secure the Pontar Valley as a place of non-persecution, where Elves can settle for simply living peacefully, to rebuild in coexistence, with not only dwarves but humans as well. It's not his ideal - he despises humanity and coexistence seems partly like an insult to him after so many years - but Iorveth knows it's the best they can reach for as is. He's not so blinded that he can't realize that, and not so stubborn he won't settle for it in the light of what's best for his people."No one will grant us our freedom, Witcher.
We must win it ourselves."
It's obvious that Iorveth has seen a lot of the cruelty of the world, being that he's acquired such a burning hatred for humanity and those that will fall in line with them. While there's no canon given for what Iorveth's life was like before his time with the Scoia'tael, the wound that scars half his face and left him without an eye was likely done by humans to him. His trust is incredibly hard won, but not impossible as Geralt and Saskia have proven, and once his trust is won, Iorveth is intensely loyal. He'll go to all ends to help that person and will stand next to them if it means his death. If nothing else, Iorveth has a kind of fierce determination and conviction that has carried him through countless battles to the present. He believes that he must be completely self-sufficient, and considers that something to strive for as a people as well."Do anything stupid and they'll tie you down on an anthill, face coated in honey.
You'll scream so loud even the storm riders will hear you."
Despite the end goal he has of assisting Saskia in acquiring the Pontar Valley, Iorveth remains the commander of what's seen as a terrorist group of commandos, even by Elves themselves (though it varies in if they're seen as heroic or as murderers throughout). They'd call their cause fighting for freedom and for the rights of their race, but there's not much illusion in Iorveth that he's not incredibly ruthless, cruel and violent. He'll regard that it's the cycle of life that the humans want to kill him and he wants to kill humans in turn without remorse, and openly admits to taking pleasure from killing them ("like pulling weeds. Strangely relaxing"). It's both something he's settled with and doesn't feel much guilt over, as well as something he sees as a necessary image to uphold for the sake of meeting the ends he's planned for and what he wants the Scoia'tael to represent to the rest of the world - something to be feared, and thus, respected. He'll rant both on the injustices done to elves as well as the violent, barbaric nature of humans, and he believes that if elves are to have a decent life in the world, it has to be taken from fighting for it, not from trying to scrape by in ghettos, pandering to humans, or make continued failed attempts at diplomacy only to get them the bare minimum of respect and rights.
Despite the fact he can rationalize in knowing they have to back Saskia to achieve the best they can, this belief in paying back all the cruelty that's been dealt to the Aen Seidhe is still true in Iorveth. He's defeated and killed 4 (of 5) commanders of Northern Kingdoms secret service units (formed specifically to hunt Scoia'tael) and pins their coats of arms to his tunic. He would have had the fifth and final one if he went through with killing Vernon Roche - he takes them as trophies, as matters of pride and displaying victory over oppressors. He tells Roche, as he leaves him "We Aen Seidhe never kill the last of a dying breed" as well as "Live on and remember who defeated you - remember that he can do so again". He’s not above frightening and threatening and bleeding people into keeping an authority over masses (mainly just humans and others on their side, not the Scoia’tael, whom he treats like brothers and sisters). Once the Pontar Valley is settled, he won't disrupt it's peace (either settled within (unlikely considering his personal code for protecting the Aen Seidhe) or staying out of it to preserve it). It's a place that represents a hope he genuinely believes in - something he and his people haven't had for many, many years."Our women are prepared to die."
He can also be really cold. It's not that he's cutoff from feeling, it's more that he forces himself to what he believes is necessary. Iorveth is more concerned with the results of a situation than the actual cost of life and ill morality that comes from it as consequence. In Flotsam, when the Scoia'tael need to get away from the city to catch up with Letho and assist Saskia, he's willing to leave a group of elven women trapped in a burning house. When Geralt jumps ship to save them and goes to chase down Loredo, the man terrorizing them, Iorveth does come ashore and attempts to help, though it's too late by then and he goes into a rant about how disgusting humans are. He'll attempt to be cut off from things and would rather be ruthless and cold, and while he'll mostly succeed, he's not entirely untouchable in this."Iorveth, the woodland fox.”
Iorveth is noted by many of his enemies and his journal entry to be very cunning. He's pragmatic and largely a strategist as much as he is a warrior. This is what kept his unit in being the last of the Scoia'tael to fall in the Nilfgaard wars. While he’s very willing to shoot first ask questions later if the situation calls for it, he’s smart enough to investigate things before running through with brute force. When Geralt brings Letho's betrayal to him, he reminds Geralt that he won't hesitate to have him put face first on an anthill, but he does want to investigate Letho's intentions. When he devises a plan that leaves himself in Geralt's hands (though not without his archers standing by), Geralt asks why not just force Letho to confess. Iorveth replies with an elven saying that translates to "Conquer with courage rather than strength". Meaning he'd rather follow through it with a well conceived plan and use all skills available than just brute force his way through. Just as well, he's acutely observant, able to tell when Saskia isn't acting herself and that Phillipa seems to be controlling her. This asset is exactly why Letho decides to betray him instead, realizing he won't be able to fool Iorveth for long."GERALT: I take back what I said. You're not grandiose, you're mad."
IORVETH: My mother said likewise."
While brash, he's also well spoken, and can be philosophical. Usually philosophical talk goes in with depressing talk of how humans are douchebags, and the stupidity of the prejudice against elves, but beyond that, he isn't a simple bloodthirsty warrior or a stoic commander. He makes jokes (two of them being Lord of the Rings jokes because CDPR apparently couldn't resist), laughs at things that seem impossible or things people say that strike him as absurd, pokes fun at people, and he is often dry, sarcastic and sardonic. At one point he speaks an Elven phrase, and when Geralt repeats it back to him in Common, he gives a douchebag type of clap like 'good job, toddler'. He does the same thing in a sarcastic manner when fake-applauding Roche's battle history. He's generally unimpressed and aloof, and when things aren't dire at the moment, he might even joke - though it's notable that seeing a smile on him is a rare thing. He's more likely to smirk and sneer in amusement."Sooner or later humans will kill off all the Aen Seidhe.
Then dwarves and gnomes. Your kind knows no other way.
It's in your genes. You'll keep killing each other until only one remains - the strongest among you.
A thousand years from now a dim-witted human barbarian will climb to the top of a pile of bones,
sit down and proclaim 'I win.' "
It's obvious to see that Iorveth is cynical and jaded, and driven by the long grudge he has against humanity - not only a grudge, a wound of a conflict that salt is constantly rubbed into. But it's a kind of hate that, while passionate, is old. He's almost grown tiresome of it, but he still follows it as a lifestyle, believing it necessary and right - as he is still idealistic and believes there should be vengeance for the people that have suffered and that the Aen Seidhe should stand against humanity with pride. But at the same time, it seems like it's exhausting him, knowing they won't win. Keep in mind that Iorveth has spent 100 years in this fight, striving for the same purpose, and seen war after war, and been on the bad end of betrayal by human empires that promised to assist the elves more than once. Hope for the kind of victory he wants has been very hard to hold on to. They can only strive for the best they can get for their remaining people. Despite that, and his want to stand up for his people and fight for their freedom and rights to an undisturbed life, Iorveth dreams of just having a peaceful life. Literally - on the quest that allows you to view dreams caught in crystals, Iorveth's is of him in a comfortable cottage, relaxing in the evening with a pipe in hand (and what fans have deciphered as elven weed), a table full of fruit and a pig on the spit in the fire place. He's smiling and looking relaxed. Granted, the dream isn't translated from the Elder Speech that it's in, but that's the fairly clear visual interpretation of it. It's unlikely, considering his character and how he feels compelled to do all that he can for the fight, that he'll ever really achieve that dream, as it doesn't look like universal peace will even truly come for the Aen Seidhe. But it's what he dreams of. And perhaps his motivation is achieving that for all in his race before settling for it himself. On top of that, Iorveth has been a warrior for a century. It's very difficult to let go of a life so steeped in war.
A few relationships ought to be touched on, considering the people Iorveth is closest to, if Iorveth's path is followed in the game, have great influence on his gradual change from strict vengeful violence towards a more peaceful goal. Saskia, firstly, is the largest person of impact on Iorveth, their relationship extending to time before either are introduced in the game. Iorveth describes her as "one who believes in integrity, honesty and honor, who won't sell out to Nilfgaard for a few florins". It's regularly joked about, in game, that Iorveth has a gross huge crush on Saskia (which, seems pretty feasible, really), but his admiration for her is clear, as well as his respect for her. Iorveth is one of the very few (read: two) that know of Saskia's true nature - a dragon - and is fiercely protective of her secret, even towards people he trusts like Geralt. Her ideals for a coexisting peace have been entirely adopted by Iorveth, near mimicking her words exactly in saying he wishes for a truly free state, where an elf could visit a human inn, and humans could enter the forest without fear. Granted, his belief in Saskia and possible feelings for her aren't all that pushed him to this conclusion - Iorveth has been waging a losing war for a long, long time, and he'd been ready for something that actually works. Saskia just happened to be a person he could put his faith and hope in, with a strength of character he could trust. Beyond Saskia is Geralt, who witnesses the sort of softening and beginning of redemption of Iorveth's character throughout the game (beginnings of - he still has a very long way to go to erase all of the stains of his past from his name at the close of the game). Iorveth does not go out of his way to give humans a chance, and with Geralt, it's only by necessity that he starts to work with him (even if he switches between calling him a human or nonhuman whenever it suits his mood (aka is Iorveth mad at Geralt? Geralt is a human)), but through that necessity, he comes to have to rely on Geralt, and Geralt doesn't let him down. In fact, goes above and beyond in taking care of people Iorveth holds dear - his men, the threatened elven women in Flotsam, when even Iorveth wouldn't spare them mercy in the face of what he felt was more urgent. It's the same kind of reliability and integrity that Iorveth truly comes to respect, and value, and, in turn, he begins to make more room to care for Geralt's human friends, Dandelion and Triss, by virtue of They Are Geralt's And Geralt Is Good People. It's remarked in Vergen, after Geralt's chosen to fight with Iorveth and supported him, that Iorveth seems to be softening, and changing, becoming more accepting and less vicious.
However, even with all these warm fuzzies that progress is bringing Iorveth, he's still the kind of dude that will kill a person rather than knock them out if they're in his way. Iorveth has been a product of war for far too long to ever truly be at peace, but it is the ideal that he now strives for, for the Pontar Valley, and will do anything, even work under the CDC, to protect that dream.
✖ Character Powers & Skills:
✥ Archer :: Scoia'tael are known as the world's best archers, and Iorveth is particularly skilled for his race to be in such high command, so it's safe to say he's Hawkeye levels of incredible archer. Also, he's had over a century of active practice in battle.
✥ Guerrilla Commander :: Iorveth was the commander of the last Scoia'tael commando unit to be broken in the second war with Nilfgaard. He's known very widely across the nations by people who've never seen him face to face yet can recognize him easily, and is infamous for being both skilled in battle, strategy and tactics. He was 1 of only 2 officers to escape the execution of Scoia'tael commanders after the Second Nilfgaardian War, and is the singular leader that unites the remaining Scoia'tael in Witcher 2. He's skilled in command, tactics, strategy and general reading of a battle.
✥ Swordsman :: While his archery is superb, Iorveth fights with swords often in close combat. He was able to down Vernon Roche, the commander of what is essentially a secret service for King Foltest in Temeria, as well as 4 other secret service commanders trained to hunt Scoia'tael specifically.
✥ Hunting :: Scoia'tael live completely in the forests. They live off hunting and foraging, make clothes and tools from game and put together traps and things for animals, so it's a way of life to Iorveth. It's noted they mostly eat more vegetarian kind of things, through, like roots and berries, though it doesn't exclude meats.
✥ Trap Making :: Iorveth is familiar with trap making for both hunter's game and humans themselves. There are Scoia'tael traps all freaking over the Flotsam forest and they're annoying as hell.
✥ Nature Boy :: The Scoia'tael are in general all trained for trap making, rough bomb making, familiar with herbs and the occasional potion. The woods are their homes and they're very accustom to them. Also, they live in trees. Like weirdos.
CHARACTER SAMPLES.
✖ First Person POV: TDM threads that met AC: With Geralt. With Kael'Thas.
Other TDM threads here for reference of what he was up to: Top level (Erin and Yosuke). With Furiosa.
✖ Third Person POV:
The forest is never completely silent, because life is never silent. Always the shake of leaves as the breeze passes through them, the slow creak of trees bending in the wind, or twigs breaking under animal paws, creatures darting through the brush. Even at night, it's never quiet - owls, streams in the distance, even the monstrous things are no different from the rest in how their movement falls in with the rest of the forest. The people in Flotsam, of the larger human citadels as well, thought of the Scoia'tael as bloodthirsty savages, carrying dh'oine heads on pikes and covered in war paint, maybe eating babies or some other ridiculous notion. And perhaps, Iorveth muses, they're right in a way (minus the baby eating). But he doubts they'd imagine, out here, with the surrounding woods burying the countryside at his back and the open hillside before him that only just looks over the finally calmed Pontar Valley, the barbarian commander would be idly standing barefooted in a trickling stream, crystalline water cool against sore, battle-worn muscles, as he stands with pants rolled up to his knees, humming an easy, contented tune.
Even less so would they imagine the small, half-smile he wears as he watches the quiet city of Vergen below the rolling hills he stands on, where dwarves, elves and humans are all set about helping one another clean up the mess from the battle with King Henselt's army. Iorveth himself, even, is a bit surprised by how he'd come to this, after only barely escaping the massacre of his fellow commanders at the hands of Northern humans, giftwrapped by the Southern emperor. Hate had, and still does, burn deep and scalding in him for the race, and the Aen Seidhe doubts he'll really be able to sleep soundly in the city walls himself; at least, not without his swords within arm's reach. And yet, he'd created this. Iorveth - murderer, terrorist, vengeful wraith - had put all he had to give into the hope of this place, this haven for peaceful coexistence, and, in doing so, gave his people a real chance at regrowth. At a future.
"Beautiful, is it not?"
A light, elven voice behind him and to the left. He must have been deeply lost in his thoughts not to have heard the woman approach, he imagines, as he twists at the waist to peer over at her. A merchant from Vergen, he thinks, heading back with her wares stowed in bags strapped to her back. The same small, almost disbelieving, look of relief touches her features, and there's a warmth Iorveth hadn't thought himself capable of blooming in his chest.
"Moreso than Dol Blathanna." His voice almost reverent, he twists back to look over the city, dusk light beginning to paint everything in ambers and golds. "This sight is hope."
After so very long - hope. Not some half-freedom that Enid an Gleanna settled for in the Valley of Flowers, where the old and sterile cower under Nilfgaard's watchful eye and call it sovereignty. Real, true, battle won freedom.
"A pity it won't last."
It spikes in him like a poisoned arrowhead straight to his heart. A truth he'd been dreading since just seconds after the Kaedweni forces retreated. Cynicism, he'd wanted to chalk it up to, but it's simply numbers, and Iorveth has been reading battlefields past and future for over a hundred years. For a moment, he's speechless, before swallowing hard, mustering up the stubbornness he's known so well for.
"We'll make it last."
"Can we?" The merchant girl carries on, and Iorveth begins to feel ire for her build, annoyance, worn clear as he twists back to shoot her an unamused glare. While many have scampered off with the same look shot to them, between Iorveth's appearance (the gruesome scar maaring half his features) and reputation, the girl seems completely unfased by it. Instead, keeps going, with the kind of seriousness of a medic delivering a death pronouncement. And people call him dour. "The Dragonslayer, the townspeople of Vergen, and Iorveth's Scoia'tael, minus the losses at the battle of Vergen. How long before Kaedwen musters their forces and comes to avenge Henselt's humiliation? Before Aedirn resolves it's conflict of leaders and Stennis comes to take what he believes is his? Before they all stop scavanging the remains of Temeria and turn to this land once more?"
Tiresome, a ragged huff leaves him, and the moment's been ruined by this woman intent on soiling the victory. As she goes on, the commando comes wading out of the stream, setting into pulling his boots back on and rolling his pant legs down, answering only with the kind of drawl dismissal one gives to a toddler that's been whining too long.
"When they come, we will--"
"Nilfgaard comes now, Aen Seidhe." Her voice suddenly hard, and absent of the tint of his race's accent - speaking in something loftier, darker. Iorveth's blood chills, his hands already moving to his swords, though she takes no note, or has no real concern for it. "Will you rely on their mercy to uphold a Nordlings' treaty? Or have you forgotten the cries of your kinsmen when they were thrown into the ravine?"
Teeth bared like a beast caught in a snare, the elf whirls on her in a blink, blade brought to her throat as he pushes her back against the nearest tree trunk, words vicious and drenched with the feral kind of rage Iorveth has always been so comfortable sunken in.
"What are you?"
Chin tilted up, eyes bored and unreactive, she answers cutting in on the tail end of his words.
"Hope for the Pontar Valley."
"Answer me again with cryptic nonsense, and I'll rip your tongue out, to nail to Vergen's gate."
If the woman - elf, demon, mage, whatever she may be - knows anything about him, she'll know there's nothing but promise in that threat. Still, she breathes out through her nose, as if having to sum up a great deal of tolerance to continue this conversation with calm patience.
"Saskia, the people of Vergen, your men, and you as well, all know you lack the resources and numbers to fend off the Kings of both the North and the South. Not without allies--"
"We've won this land for ourselves once, we shall do so again--"
"You won't. You know that. The entire realm knows that."
Hatred, rage, frustration, helplessness; all old friends as deeply rooted in Iorveth as blood and bone by now, bubbling up like a boiling spring ready to erupt. Not entirely unintentionally, he's leaning his weight forward, pressing the razor sharp edge of his sword into the woman's skin and drawing a line of crimson that trickles in a small stream along the edge of the metal. She doesn't so much as flinch, and he wants to take her head clean off for that alone.
Not even accounting for how right he knows that she is.
"And? What do you propose?" Words dragged out along gravel, wrapped in razor wire, and coated in venom. "An alliance, in which we're a protected, yet heavily taxed and closely regulated, reservation? So long as every law and edict is followed to the letter, lest our benevolent caretakers come to exterminate us? Like Dol Blathanna?"
Jerking back, the elf spits on the ground in front of her. Never again would he trust another 'benefactor' whispering sweet, empty promises for their freedom. If they want it, they must take it themselves - and so they have. "What more do you want to bleed from these people that they haven't already given?"
It's half rhetorical, and Iorveth's on the verge of deciding to just gut this woman where she is and call an end to this absurd proposal, when he's given an answer he hadn't expected.
"You, Iorveth. We only we want you."
For the second time in not even five minutes, the elf is speechless. For what, execution? Some political farce? She doesn't wait for him to ask.
"Enter into a contract of employment with the CDC, do what you do best - wage war - under our banner, and the Pontar Valley will have every resource it needs for its own people to protect their hard won freedom. No interference from us otherwise."
If all it had ever taken to win a future for the Aen Seidhe was Iorveth's life, he would have given it ages ago, that's true. Even just for ballista, impenetrable walls, troops, trade? Happily, he'd give it. How much had he really expected himself to be able to settle into peace after one hundred years of violence? That's a given, but the fact of the matter is, that has never been a possibility. It's not only an impossible offer, but an offer too good, too generous, to ever be true. Eye narrowed to a wary slit, and muscles tensed, pulled taunt between a want to put away his sword and throw it forward to lodge in her throat, there's more disturbance in his tone now.
"What nation sent you? Nilfgaard? Redania? Aedirn?"
She laughs - laughs - and Iorveth's teeth grind.
"None you would have heard of, Aen Seidhe." Her smile is too wide, her stance too relaxed, as if she already knows he's agreed to her proposition. Which, to Iorveth, is a clear sign that he shouldn't. And yet, the hope Vergen's victory granted him has poisoned him. It's planted a seed in the depths of his mind that incessently hopes for more.
Silence between them falls, and Iorveth would swear that the forest itself had gone quiet for that instant. Even the stream just behind him seems muted, as dusk gradually falls into twilight.
"What promise do I have that what you'll provide will be worth it?" It falls from his scarred lips softly, almost like whispered defeat. Her smile shows teeth. Iorveth thinks of wolves.
"If you follow, I can show you." She steps out from the tree, back half turned before she looks back to him, eyes too bright in the dimming light. "Are you ready?"
"Yes."
CHARACTER ITEMS.
✖ Pick a Team:
GREEN TEAM: Iorveth taken combat as a lifestyle for over a century, either as a rebel Aen Seidhe, attacking humans and villages from the woods, or as a Scoia'tael leader, commanding elven units in the Nilfgaardian wars, and fighting to keep his unit alive and protected in the fallout of the wars, hunted by the special forces of the Northern Kingdoms, up into the fight to secure to Pontar Valley. He's about as high ranking as a fighter can get in the Scoia'tael, and canonically defeated every commander of the five major nations' special forces units. He's regarded as especially dangerous both for his physical skills for combat and archery, as well as his talent for tactics and strategy. He excells both in defense and offense, but knows war and battle far better than he knows peace.
ORANGE TEAM: The Scoia'tael are masters of adapting to their surroundings, scouting, and using their own ingenuity to give themselves the upperhand of a situation or battlefield. They're a guerilla warfare unit, and used to relying on wits and pragmaticism above numbers and force. While Iorveth will be completely screwed for anything involving technology on Orange team, he has a wealth of skill for recon, resourcefulness and stealth otherwise.
✖ Reason for Joining the CDC: Iorveth has given his entire life to trying to both avenge the decimation of his race and secure a future for his people to rebuild. Everything he's done, all the cruelty, sacrifice and war he's thrown himself into has all been leading to the goal of etching out a life for the Aen Seidhe to find peace in. In his younger years, he might have been more devoted to an entirely free, Elven-only state, but after meeting Saskia, and sharing her vision for the Pontar Valley, he's come to see the benefit in simply coexisting. He's thrown all of his eggs into the single basket that is the Pontar Valley, but he also knows the threats they face, and that the Scoia'tael won't be enough to fend off Kaedwen, Aedirn, Redania and Nilfgaard. He's agreeing to the contract, albeit not without hesitation and a want for more solid proof of fulfillment, on the premise that the CDC will not actually show up to defend the Pontar Valley, but give the people there the resources they need to defend it themselves, without having to rely on the CDC to be around. While he'll take a lot of issue with the complete destruction of entire worlds, when presented with the alternative of sacrificing his world, and thus, the last of his people, the Pontar Valley and Saskia, he will be unable to take that choice. He'll hate himself for it, and hate the CDC for it more, but he'll stay in line. At least, until given a better out. This might mean that he'll have some rough patches with obedience (as he's sort of shit at obedience to begin with), but, ultimately, he's smart enough, and selfish enough, to choose his own world over the worlds they're targeting. As disgusted as he'll be with what the CDC does, Iorveth is absolutely unwilling to damn his people.
✖ Mission Freebie: Security for the Pontar Valley - granted permanent resources from the CDC to protect themselves. The CDC itself can't show up. He just wants them to supply things to the Pontar Valley/Saskia, that are world and time period appropriate. NOTE: So, I actually tried to get as many canon familiar people to help me out with this as I could, given that, while the Witcher 3 is supposed to be the end of the Geralt-centered Witcher games, it's not certain if there will be any more games released in the same world or not, so the on-going canon thing is kind of ???? IDK? I chose to have Iorveth ask for just resources rather than the CDC's direct involvment or personal gaurantee of defense, so that it could be sort of like the freebie request for Anders, in that he asked for supplies for Kirkwall mages instead of CDC involvement. If that's still not an okay thing to ask for, I can probably figure a way to have Iorveth refuse any kind of reward for what the CDC asks him to do, once he realizes what the CDC actually does (as he isn't getting full disclosure in his recruitment).
✖ Personal Item or Weapon: Scoia'tael bow and quiver of arrows (30, as per the Application FAQ).
✖ Character Inventory:
☒ The clothes, holsters, belts and pouches he has on him (reference pic)
CONFISCATED
☒ Two swords
☒ Daggers/throwing knives/skinning knives
☒ A couple traps and trap making supplies
☒ A small pouch with around 450 in Orens (Witcher moneys)
☒ Wooden flute
☒ Pipe, with some elf weed :|
☒ The stuff contained in his packs: basic bandages, herbs, roots, berries, seeds, maybe some jerky, tools for arrow making.
After the mod update on the teams, I'd like to alter what choices I put down for teams. I'd still like to keep GREEN as one of my choices for Iorveth, but in light of the new definitions, and of the units and unit leads being dissolved, I'd like to swap out Orange team for RED team. I do have Jack on Red, but given that he won't be a lead, and given how violently opposed to more human interaction than is necessary Iorveth is, it'll be pretty easy to keep them from ever interacting. Iorveth probably won't even know his name if he's just a random other recruit rather than a lead. In addition to that, I'm planning to put Jack in for the team reshuffle so he may not even be on Red for much longer. As for Iorveth's ability to suit Red, there's all the reasons relating to combat expertise mentioned in the section for Green, but Iorveth is also noted to be very skilled in stealth and is heavily involved in several assassinations of import peoples or royals in his canon. He also has a much easier time with moral justifications, and has very little issue being incredibly ruthless and violent when the situation deems it necessary. Either way, Green or Red would probably be perfect for him.
I actually went ahead and dropped Fox, so currently the only character I have in the game is Jack Benjamin (red team).