Verne
Details
Real Name: Verne 'Zero' Arceneaux
Alias: Jonathan 'Nathan' Vedieu
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Age: 340 years old
Height: 6'
Weight: 170lbs
Birthdate: 1st Day of Frost, 182nd Year of the Age of Sundering
Birthplace: Somewhere within the Clockwork Empire region
Magic: Vitalis, Artificing
Factions: House Vedieu
Fluencies: Common, Kathalan
Conversationals: Vilandroc
Ineptitudes: None
Appearance
Verne gives off the appearance of being in his late 20s despite being over 300 years old. His eyes sporting the same brownish color as his hair.
Personality
Verne has a laid-back personality. Perhaps it is because he knew he had all the time in the world and didn’t need to sweat the small stuff. Verne doesn’t care about conflicts. He knows that there’s no end to conflicts. It’s just a vicious cycle that keeps on repeating itself to no end. A man of curious nature, especially when it comes to engineering, clockwork techs and the culinary arts. Despite his laid-back personality, he is quite observant, and those perceptive enough could tell that underneath his laid-back nature is a beast waiting to be released.
History
The firstborn of Stephan and Rachel Arceneaux was raised in a time of great despair and sorrow. Always on the move, never having a place to call home. As a result, the Arceneaux family and other survivors from the Clockwork Empire have been moving from one refugee place to another.
It had been hard for Verne to have a childhood that others would consider ‘normal’. What normal means to him is always sleeping with a weapon within reach, training with various weapons and sparring with his peers and eating three times a day means that they are having a feast. That was the cycle he’d been brought up in, a new place, meet new people, prepare for the incoming mist or hostile forces, move to another refugee camp and start all over.
Verne would have been stuck in the never-ending cycle till he drew his last breath until they met a group of people calling themselves the Menders. The Arceneaux household quickly bonded with the Menders, despite knowing both sides were taking advantage of each other. The Menders, with their strange magic and combat capabilities, and the Arceneauxs, with their handed-down knowledge in artificing and engineering.
Life as he knew it began to change. Now they only have to move when the mists appear, eating twice daily, and their small numbers grew into a sizable community. A senior Vitalis mage even took Verne under his tutorage, teaching him the ways of the Menders. Everything was going well until it wasn’t. When most of the Menders and able-bodied of their community were out scouting a new place, they came under attack from a band of heretics calling themselves the Dawnmartyrs. It was a close call; they would have lost if not for Verne’s mentor and the other mages that stayed behind.
On that day, Verne lost many friends and family members. Good people that were trying to survive in a world gone mad. Blinded by grief and anger, he finally accepted his mentor’s offer and was initiated formally into their ranks, receiving the rune of Vitalis. It was a journey of pain and new beginnings. His mentor guided him with an iron fist.
It was by chance that he found the battered clockwork music box while rummaging through his parent’s belongings. He was reminded of when his mother used to wind up the music box and let the tunes play out into the night while she told him and his sibling stories of their ancestors. Tales of the Clockwork Empire, of people on their machines flying through the clouds, of flying cities, of giant golems and many more. As a child, he found it all magical, but as he grew older, he knew those stories were often far-fetched from the truth. But one story stuck with him about a city dubbed the technological powerhouse of the Clockwork Empire and its many secrets.
As far-fetched as the story sounds, Verne knew there was some truth to it, at least. After all, he could manipulate blood now. So he pitched his idea to his mentor and, along with a group of fellow survivors, set off for the so-called technological powerhouse city to look for techs that could turn the tide of battle against the Dawnmartyrs.
Verne finally found the so-called technological powerhouse of the Clockwork Empire. He settled down in the ruins of the city. Scouring through the city, turning over every stone and salvaging anything he could recover and meticulously documenting his search, preserving knowledge that otherwise would be lost to time.
Time passed, and then the Graveplague happened. Then, Verne found out that he has been on the wrong side of the fight all along. It wasn't the Dawnmartyrs that attacked the encampment and killed his loved ones. It was a sick machination of his mentor. He went with the scorched earth approach, fearing what might happen if the Menders got a hold of his research and perverted it.
Presently he goes under the alias of Nathan Vedieu, the bastard son of the Vedieu Household of the Imperium.