Ragnar Christoffer Vartouhi

In Character

Name: Ragnar Christoffer Vartouhi
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Note: He is knighted and of noble blood as his father was a lord


(For family, just enter names and if there alive or dead please)

Parents: Kain and Charlene Vartouhi(both deceased)
Grandparents: Kynan and Faine Vartouhi and James and Quinta DeFron(all deceased)
Siblings: Palma (died age seven) Lacey (died age eleven) Edward (died age twenty-six) and Santon
Aunts & Uncles: James, Santon and Hillary Smio
Nieces & Nephews: William and Kain (Edward's sons) Santon, Rachel and Jillian (Santon's children)
Cousins: Melchior Ravenclaw, Richard Tellenon, Stewart O'Haron, Malachi Vartouhi, and Gregory Vartouhi
Children: James, Ianthe Lystrya, Unnamed infant (died at birth), Adrian John, Seth (died at four months), Allegra (died at age 3), Hafwyn Dane and Fabron (died at birth)
Grandchildren: Unnamed infant (died before birth) Robert (died at birth) Catherine, Hortense and Viviane (James' children) Syhn and Virgil (Ianthe's sons) Agnotha Grace (Adrian's daughter) Christoffer, Britt, and Agamemnon (Hafwyn's children)



Skin color: Tan
Hair Color: White
Hair length: Shoulder-length
Eye color: Blue
Size: 6 foot 7 inches
Build: Large, muscular with a bit of softness around middle XD
Play by: Donald Sutherland
Picture:







Crushes: Damalis Hylym (playby: Emilia Clarke) picture
Mates/Spouse: Agnotha Vartouhi
Status: married






Personality
Irascible, impulsive and intense, Ragnar is not a man known for patience or compassion of character. He is very affectionate and caring of his family but even with them, he is often prone to flares of temper. As his sons would say, he is a flame, set on a low burn most times but quick to flame high. When angered, he burns long and high, his loud booming voice easily shaking whoever it is unfortunate to be opposed to him. His wife and youngest daughter are adept at calming him, his sons equally are skilled at enraging him.
Beneath that flaming part of his character, he is a caring husband, affectionate father and faithful friend. Loyal to a fault, he is deeply religious and has a strong faith in God. Due to personal difficulties with a priest, Ragnar refuses to go into any church and instead communes with God elsewhere. This often begins debates among those around him, as many do not believe it is possible to know God without attending church. Agnotha on many occasions attempted to get him to return to church, as the priest who so grossly misspoke died years ago; but Ragnar refused to great his oath.


Around Family/Friends
Deeply in love with his wife, Ragnar goes out of his way to occasionally surprise or entertain her with little thoughtful gifts. Both of his daughters are his little cherubs, no matter their age still seen as the little smiling girls they once were in his eyes. Their husbands are loved as sons, but watched carefully nonetheless should they dare hurt his precious daughters. His eldest son, James and he share a closer bond than he shares with Adrian, the younger. Adrian and he lost their once close relationship when Ragnar lost his memory for those five years. As Adrian felt as though his father had died, as Ragnar became a stranger by pushing away even Agnotha, the young man no longer sought to love his father. Though both have attempted to rebuild their broken ties, there has been little give on either side as Adrian is his father's son and both are stubborn.

Around Enemies
Ragnar is merciless and nearly cruel with enemies; only showing the small compassion he has given when gently prodded by his wife. If betrayed by a friend, there is no forgiveness. And if an enemy is made before such friendship, it is a forever pact of mistrust and loathing. Ragnar is a man who loves deep and hates deep, a strong memory tied to all in either direction. Thoughts without retries in broken pasts.

Usual Mood around strangers:
His loud voice usually marks him as a nuisance before many people meet him. He speaks a lot and with nearly always louder than necessary. Usually just passingly friendly with strangers, he does not go out of his way to be nice, but when occasionally reminded he is pleasant enough.




Your Story Please?
Ragnar Christoffer Vartouhi was born the third child and first son to his parents. His birth during the exact month that his elder sister, Palma, died allowed for his first months of life to be sad ones. It was believed in the region he was raised in that a child born when another died would also be laid in a shallow grave. But despite his parent's fear, Ragnar lived to see his first birthday and many more.

His older sister, Lacey was very happy as an old sister, although she was only four years his senior. Together, when Ragnar could walk, the siblings would fish in the nearby river, dangling little toes into the current and chatting about all that they saw around them. They did many things together in those youthful years; although soon Lacey spent more time with their mother, learning the things she would need to keep a house and a husband.

When Ragnar was five, he became a big brother with the arrival of little Edward. At first he was greatly jealous of the gurgling infant, but soon he channeled that jealousy into a fierce desire to protect his brother.

His education was given him by the manor priests, both monks taking him for long walks under the glorious sky as they taught him to read, write in Latin. He learnt about the saints, their days and read a great deal of the huge Bible that was chained to the wall of the church basement. It was too heavy for the little boy to lift, so he had to read it laying down beside it. From a young age, he became enraptured by the God illustrated in the golden inks along the ornately decorated edges of the pages and the words themselves. He wanted to become a priest and told his tutors as much. They assured him to do what God wanted and directed, already knowing that as the eldest son of his lordly father, Ragnar would not be allowed to enter the clergy.

When he was six, his beloved sister Lacey was taken from life. He excepted her death with ease, believing she watched him among the angels. At that time, he became the eldest child in his family.

He was an expert horseman by seven years, enjoying the black stallion, Coal Dust, that was his very own. When he was nearly nine, another brother, Santon, was added to the family. With Edward already under his wing, Ragnar was willing to wait the few years before the new brother was able to play. The young boy taught everything he knew to his younger brother over their childhood years. It was Ragnar who taught Edward to ride a horse, to find the good place to fish, to spit straight and how to get the sting out of a wasp sting.

Not long after his tenth birthday, Ragnar was caught in a thunderstorm and Coal Dust was killed in a tumble down a hill. Barely surviving the fall himself, he dragged himself under a grove of trees and waited out the storm drenched and shivering. In the morning his father and uncle found him and took his home. Suffering from a fever and soon becoming very ill, he lay on death's door for nearly two weeks. During this time, he hallucinated that Lacey was sitting by his bed, urging him to get well although he insisted that God wanted him in heaven. Lacey insisted that it was not yet his time and when Ragnar finally agreed with her, he was soon well and about.

As his studies with the monks continued, they also taught him useful skills such as smithing. He excelled at that skill and soon had surpassed the abilities of the monk teaching him.

He stayed close to his father the next three years, learning a great deal from him the managing of the farm they held. For although both his parents were of the nobility and held the rank of lord and lady, they were not wealthy or even educated. His father could not read or write, leaving such figurings to the scribe that patiently went over the notes and ledgers received. As Ragnar grew, he helped his father learn to read and write, the pride of the older man not allowing the priests or scribe to help him. He also offered to teach his mother, but she laughingly assured him that she had no need to learn.

When he was thirteen, Ragnar joined his father and uncle as they went to join the king's forces in battle. With his face still wet from his mother's tears, he took the task of message-runner. He soon became adept at ducking the arrows sent his way as he ferried messages between the front battle lines and the nobles at the rear. Nearly eight months were spent at war and the young man became homesick and weary as bad food, smoke-filled air and blood and grime began to eat away at his enthusiasm. He celebrated his fourteenth birthday by joining the ranks of the archers, trembling as he awaited the first order to loose a barbed message.

His uncle was killed in a battle and so his father was forced to return home. Ragnar enjoyed the few months away from the fighting and bloodshed. He rode with his brothers, fished and hunted along side them and delved into his studies although they had been completed long ago. He read the religious texts that the monks had used as his primer and again, went to lay beside the Bible. But when the call to return to war did come, he did not hesitate.

As the archers stood their ground, a few of their number falling to the enemy, a rush of cavalry cut through them. Ragnar felt a sword swipe at his chest and laid still a long time, believing his life to be draining from him. When the dawn came and he yet lived, he gingerly rose and wrapped the cut, it not having been as deep as he thought. He joined a group of other left behind soldiers and they made their way back toward the retreating army. Unfortunately they stumbled upon an enemy camp and Ragnar was one of the few survivors that was thrown among the other prisoners. Tied together with long ropes, they were forced to march behind the soldiers. Those that fell were slain. They were taken to a fortress and locked into the dank prison beneath.

Surrounded by the equally filthy prisoners that had once been his fellow soldiers, Ragnar prayed to God for the strength to withstand the agony of imprisonment. He stayed within the cramped space for nearly two years, before the king arranged for the release of the soldiers, since several nobles were among them. Haggard and ill, Ragnar fell from the group as they stumbled back to their forces. He laid by the road for nearly two days before a travelling minstrel found him and took pity. The man took him to the nearest town and nursed him back to the help with help from the tavern keeper's daughter and wife.
Ragnar thought he had died and gone to heaven when an angel-faced girl smiled down at him as she wiped his feverish head.
He found her name was Damalis Hylym and by the time he had gained the strength to be about his feet again, both had fallen deeply in love with each other. Her father gave hearty consent to their marriage, having seven other daughters and liking the handsome well mannered Ragnar anyway.

With little desire to take his fiance from her home, Ragnar, now seventeen, became the town blacksmith's helper. Saving money and working hard to afford a little house for his love, he spent all of that year slaving over the anvil.
Damalis delighted in watching him work, his huge arms glistening with sweat, burnished gold by the glow of the firelight. Together, she thought, they would have a wonderful family and life. Already she looked forward to the children that would come after their marriage.

It was not however to be. That winter, Damalis developed a cough, her red cheeks fading to a pale chalk and her health draining quickly. Within two days and overnight, the beautiful girl went to join Ragnar's sister in heaven. Heart-broken, Ragnar barely waited till after the funeral to pack his meagre belongings and leave the town.

He returned to the army, this time as a soldier instead of an archer. In the second battle he was knighted for slaying an enemy noble by the king himself. Setting himself against the enemy, he took the reputation as a merciless slayer, his fellow solider whisperingly calling him 'The Hangman'. He himself killed in a vain attempt to rid himself of the grief of his lost Damalis and the life they might have had.

By his twenty-third birthday, Ragnar was well known throughout his country and had dined at the king's table many times. Weary of the soldier's life, he needed no prodding to return home when news reached him of his father's death and his mother's illness. He barely reached home in time to say farewells to his mother, who it was believed held onto life for the only reason of seeing him again. With no desire to work the land, Ragnar gave the estate to Edward, who was more inclined to farming than his elder brother. A horse under him and his belongings packed well, the eldest Vartouhi took to wandering the countryside.

He made many friends and enemies as he went; his temperament forcing most to pick sides quickly. Enjoying the hunt in the unknown forests and the peaceful life by the fire and stream, Ragnar kept his hearth-less life for nearly four years. It was during the early fall of that fourth year of wandering that he passed through the fields and orchards of Sir John Torren. He stopped his horse and was joyfully called over to help those peasants picking the harvest. He spent two days there, the good food, music by the fire keeping him when usually he would have left.
The next day he was working among the orchard when he saw a beautiful girl playing with a baby as she worked. Amused by how childlike she was as well as enchanted by her pretty face and inky tresses, he began conversation with her. Her twinkling eyes and mischievous smiles, shy as he found out she was a widow and the little boy was her son, led him in and soon he impulsively decided not to live without her. Her name was Agnotha and he was in love.

After finishing the day's work, he went and spoke with her father, happy to find it was John Torren himself. Her sad history with her first husband strengthened his resolve to have her as his wife and when he was given permission to court her, she seemed as equally happy to be in his company. Over two weeks, they worked together in the day and spent the last light hours of the night speaking beside the fire. He found her a pleasing companion, easy to speak to and each day the affection between them blossomed more and more into love. She told him that James was actually not her blood son and he was slightly confused by his extreme joy at finding that out. It was somehow easier for him to love the little boy after finding that her first husband ( a man of horrible reputation) had not been the father. He proposed to her and they did not wait as he had with his first love. Uncommon as it was, they married the very day he requested her hand. He adopted James as his own son and the newly married couple moved into the Torren Manor, since John had poor health.

Ragnar got along very well with both his father-in-law and his brother-in-law, finding them excellent conversationalists. They in turn were so grateful that he was a better man than Agnotha's first husband that they could find no fault in him.
The family's joy in the union was completed a few months later as Agnotha joyfully informed Ragnar that they would be having a child.

(for the rest of the history- consult Agnotha's history)



Magic Side: N/A
Favorite Spell: None



Weakness:
Prone to have bad headaches
Has a weak heart
Easily angered
Prone to impulsive actions

Skills:
Smithing
Sword-play
Archery
Ploughing
Gardening
Hunting
Fishing
Wood-carving

Items:
-Cane (wooden with a carved ivy pattern into the length)
-A handkerchief with his wife's initials
-A small wooden chest containing
**A lock of his wife's hair tied with a yellow ribbon**
**His mother's rosary**
**A dried flower Allegra gave him**
**A carved cross he made for his first love, Damalis**
-The signet ring of his nobility (plans to give it to James upon his death)



Favorite Color: Yellow
Voice: Deep with a gravelly edge, Scottish brogue qualities
Theme song: It's Not My Time by 3 Doors Down