Vincent Steinitz [Approved CS]
Posted: Thu Dec 16, 2021 2:24 pm
by Vincent Steinitz
Vincent Steinitz
Details
Full Name: Vincent Steinitz
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Birthdate: 99th of Vhalar, 694
Birthplace: On a ship
Fluencies: Common
Conversational:
Broken: Rakahi
Appearance
Vincent is a man of average height, with medium-length black hair which is usually unkempt and brown-colored eyes. He kept his beard short or trimmed. He has an athletic build physique. He could be usually seen with a piece of cigarette stuck in between his lips. He wears whatever is comfortable for him unless attending an event with enforced dress codes.
Personality
People who met him for the first time would describe him as a happy-go-lucky, easy-going, and foul-mouthed person. While those that had spent a lot of time around him described him as being ambitious and protective of those he called family. He’s also the kind of person that’s easily bored.
He doesn’t like confrontation unless faced with an overwhelming obstacle that would push him to his limits. When fighting against someone of equal strength or moderately stronger than himself, he would enter into a frenzied fighting state, urged by his determination for victory and undeniable proof that he is the stronger of the two. His combative style is characterized by his aggressive and domineering attacks while flaunting his mastered techniques to his opponents. If he deemed an opponent far above or below his league, he would tactfully make his exit.
He doesn’t like confrontation unless faced with an overwhelming obstacle that would push him to his limits. When fighting against someone of equal strength or moderately stronger than himself, he would enter into a frenzied fighting state, urged by his determination for victory and undeniable proof that he is the stronger of the two. His combative style is characterized by his aggressive and domineering attacks while flaunting his mastered techniques to his opponents. If he deemed an opponent far above or below his league, he would tactfully make his exit.
History
► Show Spoiler
Let me start my story with the question “what will you do if you win the lottery of life?” Born into a filthy rich and influential family, loving parents, servants at your beck and call, getting the best treatment in every establishment you visited, generally speaking having the best that the world could offer. It’d be nice right? And no, don’t get me started on that commoner bullshit about those upper class who envies the commoners because of their seeming freedom in life, with no responsibility, restricted lifestyle, sampling the best foods and drinks, playing boring lawn games, the political back-stabbings, ass-kissing, and boring social events. That’s probably a rumor started by a commoner who envied the upper class. Personally, if I won the lottery of life, I’d let my imagination run wild. The sky’s the limit, right?
But what if you won the other “lottery” of life. Deadbeat dad, absentee mother, jackass brother, thieving cousins, born into debt, develop a gambling habit, and well, you know the rest. It’d be great if there’s a reset button in life. But, sadly real life doesn’t work that way. A guy once said, “Life isn't fair, so you have to play the best game you can with the cards you're dealt.” Great insight, unless you’re dealt a ‘six feet under’ card, there’s not much you or anyone could do. Guess that guy got a point though, play the best till your last.
The truth is life hands out reset buttons. You just need to be keen enough to see it. For me, it came in the form of a street hustler called Leon. Leon is your typical street hustler, a sly fast-talker. He’s the one who got me into the life. He usually came by to visit once or twice a season. His visits are usually brief and consist of giving goodies to the kids followed by a heated argument with dad. One day, he and a group of his friends came to visit, which is unusual because he usually came by himself. There were no goodies and no heated arguments. It feels kinda strange. That’s the first time I saw him and dad hug each other. I swear that’s the first time I saw my dad cry. Before leaving, Leon asked me if I wanted to do a job with him since he was impressed that I managed to pick up the card trick that one of his friends did.
Long story short, I ended up working as one of the card dealers for his syndicate. Medium to high reward with low risks. Now I know why Leon’s better off financially than the rest of his siblings, my dad included. As long as we keep the other operations of the syndicate away from the gambling tables, we only need to worry about rival members and the occasional power-tripping angry customer. Which led me to my second major reset button, a regular of ours, Crow. If Leon's still in his younger days I bet that he and Crow would be like two peas in a pod. The difference is that Crow’s a better cheat than all of us combined. One night, his regular dealer was “out sick” for being too greedy. So being the sore loser that I am, I decided to take over as his dealer. When most of the patrons had cleared out, I demonstrated to him how he would do his tricks. This went on for almost two cycles, I could never figure out how he did it.
Finally one night after another failed attempt at figuring out his trick, he offered to show me how he did it. But with that came his usual warning phrase “High risk, high reward. Go all in or don’t bet at all.” He told me that most people that he showed his trick to, gave up after several trials of trying to figure it out. I was the only one who lasted this long. He gave me one last chance to back out. When I refused, he smiled and took out a dagger and sliced his hand, he told me to do the same and we shook hands. He then took out a coin and placed it on the table, he told me to move the coin using my thought. When he showed me earlier that he moved the coin around, I thought he was using some kind of string mechanism. This guy’s even crazier than I thought. But the more I think about it, the more it made sense. With the help of Leon and the other dealers, we come up with a million ways on how Crow would do the trick, but applying them in practice showed us that none of it works.
What I experienced that night, even I wouldn’t wish such fate to fall upon my worst enemy. To sum it up in a few words, I’d rather die than go through another experience like that. The long version, I was a bit skeptic when Crow told me to move the coin with my thought, but after seeing the demonstration earlier, I was convinced that it might have to do with something not natural. I’ve heard stories of people walking through fire and came out unscathed. I turned my focus back on the coin and tried to move it with my thought. The ringing in my ears grew louder as if someone’s continuously ringing a bell in my ear. I could feel the pain growing, starting from the top of my head and slowly spreading throughout my head. The more I focus on moving the coin the faster the pain spreads. I could feel the throbbing pulsating pain with every heartbeat. It felt like someone’s pounding your head using multiple hammer. My eyes grew watery, I could feel my heartbeat pulsating in my head.
At that moment I thought it couldn’t get any worse, when the coin began shaking, my head felt like it’s shaking, being hit by thunder, and being split in half by an axe all at the same time. The ringing became louder to the point I couldn’t hear anything else aside from it. And what was that? I swear that I have forgotten about it, my mother’s cold face on that rainy day. The ring on my father’s curled up hand retracting from my face, blood dripping on it. The night Leon reconciled with his brother. The first time I met Crow. Crow’s dealer pocketing the money. Wait what? I don’t remember about that. The color of the shirt that the bartender was wearing earlier this evening before changing of shift. I was not only seeing things that I unconsciously have seen before but overlapping conversations, words, gibberish it all came pouring. It felt as if my unconscious mind and my conscious collided. I swear I remember seeing my parent’s smiling face looking at me, they looked younger. Was there always two coins? My vision became blurry, do you know that feeling when you were about to pass out but then you can’t? That’s what I felt. The double vision of the coin slowly merged, I could feel the table shaking, or was it my body’s that shaking? It came to a point where I was silently pleading for death to come and end my pain and I averted my focus back on the coin and in that split second the coin flipped.
It was at that moment that I felt as if time stopped. I must’ve been exaggerating when I said time stopped, it felt as if time stopped because I never felt that peace and quiet in my mind. All those chattering stopped. I was back from what I felt like a five trills journey from when I was born until the moment I flipped that coin.
Crow grabbed a piece of cloth and threw it in front of me, he gestured at my nose. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but the familiar smell of blood is present. I took the piece of cloth and wiped my nose. It isn’t the first time I experience a nosebleed, but it is the first time I experienced a nosebleed without getting punched in the face. Crow spend the next cycle guiding me on my journey as a practitioner of the Sovereign discipline.
Now how did I end up in Rharne? Well, remember Leon right? That sly fast-talker uncle of mine. He got in trouble with his former boss, for what? Being greedy, I guess all those profits got the best of him. But what differentiates him from the others? Leon’s cautious as fuck. I guess his instinct is what kept him alive all this time. Trials before the confrontation with his former boss, he had sent his trusted employees and partners alike to other cities. He told me to wait for him in Rharne since his former boss won’t dare step a foot in Rharne since he was marked for death by his former gang over there. He left me with a warning that Rharne’s underworld is much more sophisticated and brutal. So I and Crow set off for Almund to get Crow’s emergency stash and set off for Rharne, we split up at the harbor since Crow needed to take care of business elsewhere and he told me that he will find me in Rharne.
That was two cycles ago. I spent my days running card games in Rharne’s port, market squares at the different quarters, the most being in the earth quarter and the least being in the glass quarter. I don’t have the manpower and resources to run several operations at once, so I stick to a one-man operation. I usually picked out spots where there is heavy foot traffic as well as Lightning Knight’s presence. One of the things that Leon taught me when running a one-man operation is to use law enforcement as your muscles. I don’t mean bribing them or anything, but simply operating where there’s a high presence of them would deter other shady-looking characters from interfering. I’m running a game-of-chance operation by the way, even though the chances are sometimes rigged in my favor. I make it a habit to not be too greedy. I mean what’s the rush? It will take time to amass a sizable fortune to be able to finance bigger operations anyway. As long as I could cover my daily costs and save up some coins, that’ll be enough.
I figured that alternating between the port area and the Dust Quarter gives me a higher chance to meet with Leon or Crow. Which led me to my third reset button, Gustav. I met Gustav when I was doing a game down at the port area. At first glance, everything about Gustav screams shady. His goons positioned themselves to block the view from the Lightning Knights that usually passed by there. He placed a bag of coins on the makeshift table and told me that he wanted to play a game. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the number of coins that he bet was more than the number of coins that I’ve got on hand and I’m not stupid enough to bring my entire wealth when operating outside the Glass and Sky Quarters. The guy knew when to make a move, he picked the time of the day when I close shop and the time of the day when there’s a change in the Lightning Knight’s patrol shift. Wanting to end the day without getting shanked, I decided to let him win and be done with it. But instead, he threw me another bag of coins and told me to play seriously. So I decided it’d be better to play along. I did my routine trick and he lost the bet. He took out several coins and told me to do it again. This went on three more times before he told me that he couldn’t figure out how I did it.
He then invited me to join the Shadow Quarter and that refusal will result in death. Now I understood Leon’s warning when he said that in Rharne the underworld scene is much more sophisticated and brutal. I mean, I can outrun Gustav and his goons at that moment, but what’s to say in the coming days? I could get shanked on my way to the market and none would be the wiser. Reluctantly I agree. I wasn’t given any further information aside from the ‘Thrice spoken Word’ and to continue to make a profit.
[Starter Quest]
But what if you won the other “lottery” of life. Deadbeat dad, absentee mother, jackass brother, thieving cousins, born into debt, develop a gambling habit, and well, you know the rest. It’d be great if there’s a reset button in life. But, sadly real life doesn’t work that way. A guy once said, “Life isn't fair, so you have to play the best game you can with the cards you're dealt.” Great insight, unless you’re dealt a ‘six feet under’ card, there’s not much you or anyone could do. Guess that guy got a point though, play the best till your last.
The truth is life hands out reset buttons. You just need to be keen enough to see it. For me, it came in the form of a street hustler called Leon. Leon is your typical street hustler, a sly fast-talker. He’s the one who got me into the life. He usually came by to visit once or twice a season. His visits are usually brief and consist of giving goodies to the kids followed by a heated argument with dad. One day, he and a group of his friends came to visit, which is unusual because he usually came by himself. There were no goodies and no heated arguments. It feels kinda strange. That’s the first time I saw him and dad hug each other. I swear that’s the first time I saw my dad cry. Before leaving, Leon asked me if I wanted to do a job with him since he was impressed that I managed to pick up the card trick that one of his friends did.
Long story short, I ended up working as one of the card dealers for his syndicate. Medium to high reward with low risks. Now I know why Leon’s better off financially than the rest of his siblings, my dad included. As long as we keep the other operations of the syndicate away from the gambling tables, we only need to worry about rival members and the occasional power-tripping angry customer. Which led me to my second major reset button, a regular of ours, Crow. If Leon's still in his younger days I bet that he and Crow would be like two peas in a pod. The difference is that Crow’s a better cheat than all of us combined. One night, his regular dealer was “out sick” for being too greedy. So being the sore loser that I am, I decided to take over as his dealer. When most of the patrons had cleared out, I demonstrated to him how he would do his tricks. This went on for almost two cycles, I could never figure out how he did it.
Finally one night after another failed attempt at figuring out his trick, he offered to show me how he did it. But with that came his usual warning phrase “High risk, high reward. Go all in or don’t bet at all.” He told me that most people that he showed his trick to, gave up after several trials of trying to figure it out. I was the only one who lasted this long. He gave me one last chance to back out. When I refused, he smiled and took out a dagger and sliced his hand, he told me to do the same and we shook hands. He then took out a coin and placed it on the table, he told me to move the coin using my thought. When he showed me earlier that he moved the coin around, I thought he was using some kind of string mechanism. This guy’s even crazier than I thought. But the more I think about it, the more it made sense. With the help of Leon and the other dealers, we come up with a million ways on how Crow would do the trick, but applying them in practice showed us that none of it works.
What I experienced that night, even I wouldn’t wish such fate to fall upon my worst enemy. To sum it up in a few words, I’d rather die than go through another experience like that. The long version, I was a bit skeptic when Crow told me to move the coin with my thought, but after seeing the demonstration earlier, I was convinced that it might have to do with something not natural. I’ve heard stories of people walking through fire and came out unscathed. I turned my focus back on the coin and tried to move it with my thought. The ringing in my ears grew louder as if someone’s continuously ringing a bell in my ear. I could feel the pain growing, starting from the top of my head and slowly spreading throughout my head. The more I focus on moving the coin the faster the pain spreads. I could feel the throbbing pulsating pain with every heartbeat. It felt like someone’s pounding your head using multiple hammer. My eyes grew watery, I could feel my heartbeat pulsating in my head.
At that moment I thought it couldn’t get any worse, when the coin began shaking, my head felt like it’s shaking, being hit by thunder, and being split in half by an axe all at the same time. The ringing became louder to the point I couldn’t hear anything else aside from it. And what was that? I swear that I have forgotten about it, my mother’s cold face on that rainy day. The ring on my father’s curled up hand retracting from my face, blood dripping on it. The night Leon reconciled with his brother. The first time I met Crow. Crow’s dealer pocketing the money. Wait what? I don’t remember about that. The color of the shirt that the bartender was wearing earlier this evening before changing of shift. I was not only seeing things that I unconsciously have seen before but overlapping conversations, words, gibberish it all came pouring. It felt as if my unconscious mind and my conscious collided. I swear I remember seeing my parent’s smiling face looking at me, they looked younger. Was there always two coins? My vision became blurry, do you know that feeling when you were about to pass out but then you can’t? That’s what I felt. The double vision of the coin slowly merged, I could feel the table shaking, or was it my body’s that shaking? It came to a point where I was silently pleading for death to come and end my pain and I averted my focus back on the coin and in that split second the coin flipped.
It was at that moment that I felt as if time stopped. I must’ve been exaggerating when I said time stopped, it felt as if time stopped because I never felt that peace and quiet in my mind. All those chattering stopped. I was back from what I felt like a five trills journey from when I was born until the moment I flipped that coin.
Crow grabbed a piece of cloth and threw it in front of me, he gestured at my nose. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but the familiar smell of blood is present. I took the piece of cloth and wiped my nose. It isn’t the first time I experience a nosebleed, but it is the first time I experienced a nosebleed without getting punched in the face. Crow spend the next cycle guiding me on my journey as a practitioner of the Sovereign discipline.
Now how did I end up in Rharne? Well, remember Leon right? That sly fast-talker uncle of mine. He got in trouble with his former boss, for what? Being greedy, I guess all those profits got the best of him. But what differentiates him from the others? Leon’s cautious as fuck. I guess his instinct is what kept him alive all this time. Trials before the confrontation with his former boss, he had sent his trusted employees and partners alike to other cities. He told me to wait for him in Rharne since his former boss won’t dare step a foot in Rharne since he was marked for death by his former gang over there. He left me with a warning that Rharne’s underworld is much more sophisticated and brutal. So I and Crow set off for Almund to get Crow’s emergency stash and set off for Rharne, we split up at the harbor since Crow needed to take care of business elsewhere and he told me that he will find me in Rharne.
That was two cycles ago. I spent my days running card games in Rharne’s port, market squares at the different quarters, the most being in the earth quarter and the least being in the glass quarter. I don’t have the manpower and resources to run several operations at once, so I stick to a one-man operation. I usually picked out spots where there is heavy foot traffic as well as Lightning Knight’s presence. One of the things that Leon taught me when running a one-man operation is to use law enforcement as your muscles. I don’t mean bribing them or anything, but simply operating where there’s a high presence of them would deter other shady-looking characters from interfering. I’m running a game-of-chance operation by the way, even though the chances are sometimes rigged in my favor. I make it a habit to not be too greedy. I mean what’s the rush? It will take time to amass a sizable fortune to be able to finance bigger operations anyway. As long as I could cover my daily costs and save up some coins, that’ll be enough.
I figured that alternating between the port area and the Dust Quarter gives me a higher chance to meet with Leon or Crow. Which led me to my third reset button, Gustav. I met Gustav when I was doing a game down at the port area. At first glance, everything about Gustav screams shady. His goons positioned themselves to block the view from the Lightning Knights that usually passed by there. He placed a bag of coins on the makeshift table and told me that he wanted to play a game. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the number of coins that he bet was more than the number of coins that I’ve got on hand and I’m not stupid enough to bring my entire wealth when operating outside the Glass and Sky Quarters. The guy knew when to make a move, he picked the time of the day when I close shop and the time of the day when there’s a change in the Lightning Knight’s patrol shift. Wanting to end the day without getting shanked, I decided to let him win and be done with it. But instead, he threw me another bag of coins and told me to play seriously. So I decided it’d be better to play along. I did my routine trick and he lost the bet. He took out several coins and told me to do it again. This went on three more times before he told me that he couldn’t figure out how I did it.
He then invited me to join the Shadow Quarter and that refusal will result in death. Now I understood Leon’s warning when he said that in Rharne the underworld scene is much more sophisticated and brutal. I mean, I can outrun Gustav and his goons at that moment, but what’s to say in the coming days? I could get shanked on my way to the market and none would be the wiser. Reluctantly I agree. I wasn’t given any further information aside from the ‘Thrice spoken Word’ and to continue to make a profit.
[Starter Quest]
Word comes to Vincent from an unknown source that to prove himself in the Shadow Quarter, he needs to pull off a unique, original crime of some sort. The thing is, without knowing who the message came from, how is he to know who assigned him the task and who might be watching?
Renown Ledger
| Thread/item | Adjustment | Running Total |
| Starting Package | 15 (Avalon) | 15 |