Grim Solace [Ready]

[DerpRavener]

Name: Grim Solace
Sex: Male
Age: Middle aged
Species: Earth Pony
Eye colour:  Purple
Coat: Dark Grey
Mane and tail: Forest Green
Physique: Physically Fit
Residence: No set residence
Occupation: Necromancer

 

Cutie Mark: A wisp ascending to the sky.
Grim Solace’s start in exploring necromancy began at a young age.  One would think that a funeral home would be a dull place of work, and for the most part one would be right.  But caring for the dead isn’t without the occasional hazard.  One ‘patron’ wasn’t quite ready to leave, and resulted in a haunting.  Furniture was thrown around the room, and for a time the funeral home was rendered unusual.

 

Grim Solace was afraid, but also curious.  What would drive a pony to cling to the world like this?  He braved the room and tried to ask…only to be repelled like everypony else.  But he was not deterred.  He returned to the room, and while no longer willing to converse with the spirit, he was able to observe it.  Creeping around the building, he was able to follow it and listen to it’s mutterings.  He discovered that in life it had a beloved pet, and was driving itself mad worrying about what would happen to the pet cat now that the spirit had passed on.  Now armed with with the knowledge, he tracked down the ghost’s cat, and returned to the funeral home.  When Grim Solace promised to care for the animal, the spirit was calmed enough to move on.  That was the day Grim Solace discovered his talent for interacting with and calming the deceased, or those close to them.

 

Unique traits:

 

Grim Solace has a talent for interacting with spirits.  As well as the more conventional uses of speaking to or banishing the spirits of the dead, he has also convinced a few particularly helpful spirits to travel with him and assist him on his journeys.

 

As a part of his study in necromancy, he has also picked up a talent for potion making, including the ability to identify commonly useful herbs, and the ability to make potions with various effects relative to spirits as well as a number of useful medical salves and potions.

 

Grim Solace is also physically fit, and has a modest hoof-to-hoof combat ability.  He’s no master martial artists, but in his travels he’s found that he can’t rely solely on his understanding of spirits to protect himself and learned accordingly.

 

History:

 

Grim Solace’s parents ran a funeral home, which had been in the family for a few generations.  They saw it as sombre but important work.  The young Grim Solace took this attitude to heart, and assisted his parents with the running of the business.  Doing so gave him a unique appreciation to the effects of a pony passing on, as well as acclimatizing him to the emotions surrounding such events.

 

As he grew up however, Grim Solace grew more and more curious.  Beginning with the even where he earned his cutie mark, he grew more and more interested in death and the things surrounding it.  Furthermore, being in the most rebellious time of growing up, he had a particular attraction to for forbidden and frowned upon.  He began pursuing the skills and knowledge of necromancy.  Progress was slow, but Grim Solace persevered, until he eventually found a knowledgeable stallion who could teach him.  He lost touch with his family during this time, having followed his new mentor abroad.

 

Grim Solace learned much from his mentor, but over time he came to have philosophical disagreements.  The mentor was closer to what many think of as the stereotypical necromancer, consorting with the dead to gain strength at the cost of one’s soul and morality.  Solace however wanted to understand the dead, to learn more about what was essentially his family’s longtime purpose, and to help those who most needed it.  They began to argue with each other about whether necromancy should be used for furthering oneself or helping the spirits one encounters.  Eventually they came to blows, and while Grim Solace was far less experienced, he was able to use his former mentor’s arrogance against him.  The mentor was slain, and Solace made sure he would not return..

 

In the aftermath of losing his mentor, Grim Solace felt aimless. He had learned enough to continue on his own, but the loss of a stable source of instruction meant he was no longer certain what to do with himself.  He began to reach out to his family, reconnecting to them through a series of letters, but he was not ready to actually face them by returning home.  Instead he began to wander Equestria, chasing down stories of lost or suffering spirits and alleviating their suffering.

 

Amidst his wanderings Grim Solace has reconnected with his family.  While the combination of a regret over past actions and a drive to keep helping spirits prevent him from returning home for long, he is welcome there.  He makes a point to visit when he’s in town, and is welcome to rest if he needs time to recover after a particularly harrowing journey.

 

Lately Grim Solace has developed something of a rivalry with the caribou of Whitescar,  Their own attitude toward necromancy has created what is in his mind an unreasonable number of unresolved spirits, which Solace has taken it upon himself to assist and send on their way.

 

Personality/Summary:

 

Grim Solace is generally speaking a serious pony, and often comes across as cold.  He is not as uncaring as his first impression would imply, but he is not very outgoing.  He is very quiet, preferring a few words of great impact over more regular speech.  He cares about others, and tries his best to help but he’s only one pony, and often finds his attentions divided between the living and the dead.

 

Grim Solace takes a patient approach to challenges.  He prefers to wait and watch, then use that information to act precisely.  He applies this mindset to combat, as well as puzzles and other challenges.

[Blueblood]