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Full Name: Ravindra Naran
Race: Human
If Other, provide a description of how they differ from humans: N/A
Occupation: Guardsman, Sergeant
Faction, if applicable: Royal family
Reputation & rumors: Among the Guard, Ravindra has a reputation as somebody stern but fair, who won't put up with anybody's bullshit. In his younger days, he made a reputation for himself by fighting anybody who challenged his authority, and while the "fight you at the drop of a hat" bit of his reputation has faded, the "can definitely kick your ass" part has not. He has always done his job well and his reputation echoes it. Outside of the Guard, he has a reptuation as a man of few words who doesn't really like being spoken to.
Rumours include: he was trained as an assassin as a child, he hates people, he's childless because he's gay, he's childless because his wife's infertile, he won't let his goddaughter marry because he's saving her for himself (since his wife is obviously infertile, you see), his family moved here from India because they're displaced royalty/secretly assassins/pissed off a god/etc etc.
Age: 40
Birthday: October 31
Birth Location: a small village in west India
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 170lb
PB: Akshay Kumar
History: Ravindra spent his childhood learning that he was terrible at salespitching. In a family of traders, that was bad. Despite his father's forceful attempts to train him, he knew from a young age that he was going to run the business into the ground if he inherited it. His sister Iravati, however, two years his junior, was a natural salesperson. They agreed very early on that when he inevitably inherited the business, she would be the one running it.
He saw quite a bit of southern Asia in his childhood, traveling the trade routes with his family. It wasn't what he wanted to do, but it was familiar and he was just waiting it out until his father died. And then his father pissed off some very important people in India. People with power and the reach to make it dangerous. Ravi never quite knew the whole story, he just knew that one day they packed up and set out of India for the west, where that influence wouldn't reach them. He was thirteen when they left, and by the time he was fourteen, his family had settled into Tyrol and was starting to do business in Europe.
He hated it. He hated Tyrol, he hated having to learn English, he hated being dragged across the continent because of his father, and he especially hated his father. I mean he hated his father already, but that sure didn't help.
So it should be no big surprise that when he turned sixteen, he rebelled in the best way he could: he ditched the family business and joined Tyrol's Guard. He took to it like a fish to water; fighting was the first thing he found himself to be exceptionally good at. His father was livid. (Not livid enough to disown him, though. Mrs. Naran convinced him that Ravi would get tired of the Guard and come around eventually.)
It was in the Guard that Ravindra met Alexander Varista, a charming redhead with a knack for making friends (by which I mean he was a very persistent kind of annoying). He and Ravi were fast friends and became inseparable. He also forced Ravi to realize an uncomfortable truth: his disinterest in girls? It wasn't him being a late bloomer. He had his first crush and it was on a boy.
This realization was met with denial, horror, and disgust. Maybe it was just Alex, maybe it was a phase. It wasn't. He wasn't normal, there was something wrong with him. He was broken and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Eventually he came to some sort of understanding with himself, accepting that this was just the way he was, but hating that he wasn't "normal."
He never told Alex, although that painful longing for something deeper than friendship never went away. It was just as well; Alex found himself a happily ever after, which would have been impossible with Ravi. At least he was still included in it, because Alex and his wife, Catherine, agreed that Ravi would be the godfather for any children they had. Their first child, Amelia, was a terrifying responsibility, but a shining beacon of light in his life. He treated her like his own daughter, and "Uncle Ravi" quickly became Amelia's favourite person (something Ravi never let Alex forget).
The year he turned 23, two life-changing events happened. The first was that Alex was killed in action, struck down during an arrest gone bad. That left Amelia without a father and Catherine without a husband, and only Ravi to turn to for support. The second was that his father passed away soon after, leaving him head of the family and in possession of the family's business. Ravi never liked his father, but that didn't make his death good news. He was completely distraught over Alex's death, and the last thing he wanted was the headache of running a business. He put his sister in charge of operations immediately, and forced her to employ Catherine so Amelia's family wouldn't be entirely dependent on him for income.
The arrangement worked well and life went on. Until a couple years later, when the fifth daughter of a wealthy artist went up for marriage, and Iravati insisted that they needed her social status to boost their own. Ravindra's answer was no, no, and also, no. Why should he be forced into a political marriage when Iravati wasn't even married? (Their father had forced a husband on her, of course, but he'd long since been disposed of under mysterious circumstances and she'd claimed to be infertile to avoid another.)
And then she said those fateful words: It's best for the family.
As angry as Ravi was, he knew he had a responsibility as head of the family to act in its best interests. He grudgingly agreed to the arrangement and was married to Sofia Budny. He regretted it immediately. Instead of a proper wedding night, he spent it explaining his utter lack of interest in women, an awkward confession to start off an awkward marriage.
For five years, they existed in a sort of limbo. Ravi treated her more like a business associate than a wife, acknowledging but distant. Sofia got her emotional support from Catherine and treated Amelia like a younger sister. This seemed to work fine.
And then Catherine died. Amelia came to live with Ravi. Sofia lost her best friend and and was left with a husband who would show mountains of affection to his goddaughter but none to her. It didn't take long for her to confront him, to ask him to try being a little less distant, to maybe try to care about her once in a while. At first he was angry, because it wasn't like he was in this situation because he wanted to be, but he was forced to admit she had a point. He did start trying to be less distant, to express some interest in her life and treat her like, if not a wife, at least a friend. It was largely for Amelia's benefit. It was better for her to have a father and a mother than a father and someone her father tolerated living under his roof.
This worked out until Amelia left to join the Golden Hour at fifteen. That was when Sofia, who had taken her parental role with Amelia to heart, decided the house was suddenly too empty and she wanted a baby.
Awkward.
Well, maybe he owed it to her. He agreed to try. Unfortunately, it was a disaster. All further attempts continued to be disasters. Sofia refused to give up, but Ravi is beyond frustrated with the situation. Their current relationship flutters between friendly and passive-aggressive-hate-on depending on where her "MUST HAVE BABY" switch is at the time.
Personality: Ravindra can take anybody in a fight and he knows it, but he's past the age of needing to prove it to everyone. This gives him a quiet confidence to go along with his air of authority, and despite his size he can seem very imposing because of how he carries himself. It only takes a glance to realize he's somebody you probably don't want to fuck with.
Half of his intimidation factor--the stoic silence--actually stems from the fact that he'd rather say nothing at all than something stupid. He's very bad at socializing and tends to "wallflower" at functions, but that's alright because it just makes him look like a badass loner and keeps people from coming over to bother him. He hates social niceties and having to pretend to be interested in vapid small talk (this is the main reason he couldn't sell water to a man dying of thirst). Ravi might be a bit more verbose than your standard stoic (in that he takes more words to say something than most people), but what he says is usually worth listening to.
He does, however, love telling stories. Myths from home, "war" stories from his work, humourous anecdotes--whatever he thinks is interesting. He's a fairly good storyteller, but you have to get his walls down or already be inside them to get him telling them. (Get him drunk around other guardsmen though and he'll keep going for hours.)
The worst part about Ravi is that he's more stubborn than the stubbornest mule you can imagine, and he hates to admit he's wrong. That is an awful combination and it can make him absolutely insufferable if you come down on the bad side of it. (But because of his refusal to admit he's wrong, when he apologizes you can be certain he absolutely means it.) He has a slow-boiling temper, and usually expresses his annoyance/frustration/irritation passive-aggressively, but once you hit the boiling point he can be violent and very scary. He doesn't yell, usually, he just throws things or flips tables or tears things off the walls in unsettling silence. When he gives you a deadly calm, "Get out," it would be in your best interests to follow that suggestion.
His stubbornness does have a positive side, however. He hates giving up. His stubborn pride will not allow him to quit. He'd rather kill himeslf than admit he stopped trying because something was too hard. (This is really the only reason he knows how to knit: Catherine tried to teach him and he refused to be bested by a pair of needles and some wool.)
But, if you've managed to break down his walls and wiggle your way inside, you'd find he's really very sweet, and someone with a good sense of humour, especially about himself. (He even makes short-jokes at his own expense!) He jokes around, teases his friends, and does things like stay up all night knitting a new pair of stockings for his goddaughter because she tore hers the day before and she would freeze without a pair in this weather. He rarely does anything for himself and puts others' needs above his own, which can lead to bitterness and resentment when he feels he's being taken advantage of, even though it happens because he never voices his misgivings.
And on the subject of his sexuality, it's mostly a point of frustration for him. He hates it, but knows he can't change it. It's made his life difficult--maybe he'd have a happier marriage if he actually found his wife attractive, and it'd be nice to get some satisfaction at home rather than having to slip out in secret during the night to go hire somebody. He's glad his wife has been mostly understanding, but with her current shift toward BABY! it's become very vexing.
Personality Keywords: stubborn, stoic, withdrawn, introverted, selfless, passive-aggressive
Appearance: Ravindra is short and pudgy, but definitely not soft. Aside from a few stubborn pounds he can't seem to drop, his weight is all muscle. He carries himself like somebody who knows what he's doing, even when he doesn't--that's the essence of authority. Usually seen in his Guard uniform, and when he's not he tends to be in some combination of skillfully hand-knitted clothing.
He's all-around dark: dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin, dark clothes. There's no hiding the fact that he's foreign--his bronze complexion sees to that, as well as the accent he's never quite managed to get rid of. His hair, just now starting to see concentrations of grey, is kept short. He has a long face with a strong chin and high cheekbones, and heavy eyebrows over deep-set eyes. He's not particularly handsome, but he's quite sure he doesn't care.
Languages Known: English (spoken + literacy; second language), Devanagari (literacy) + Hindustani (spoken; first language), most of the more widely-spoken south-asian languages (though with poor fluency due to not having spoken any of them in decades)
Skills: Good with languages, storytelling, skilled in a variety of weaponry and fighting styles, an accomplished knitter (just about the only skill he'll actually show any pride over)
Strengths: Tenacity, patience (usually), slow to angry, is able to laugh at himself, good at thinking on his feet and keeping a level head during a fight, willingness to put others first
Weaknesses: Stubbornness, violent temper, has trouble socializing with people and doesn't make friends easily, sometimes more self-sacrificing than he wants to be which makes him resentful
Race: Human
If Other, provide a description of how they differ from humans: N/A
Occupation: Guardsman, Sergeant
Faction, if applicable: Royal family
Reputation & rumors: Among the Guard, Ravindra has a reputation as somebody stern but fair, who won't put up with anybody's bullshit. In his younger days, he made a reputation for himself by fighting anybody who challenged his authority, and while the "fight you at the drop of a hat" bit of his reputation has faded, the "can definitely kick your ass" part has not. He has always done his job well and his reputation echoes it. Outside of the Guard, he has a reptuation as a man of few words who doesn't really like being spoken to.
Rumours include: he was trained as an assassin as a child, he hates people, he's childless because he's gay, he's childless because his wife's infertile, he won't let his goddaughter marry because he's saving her for himself (since his wife is obviously infertile, you see), his family moved here from India because they're displaced royalty/secretly assassins/pissed off a god/etc etc.
Age: 40
Birthday: October 31
Birth Location: a small village in west India
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 170lb
PB: Akshay Kumar
History: Ravindra spent his childhood learning that he was terrible at salespitching. In a family of traders, that was bad. Despite his father's forceful attempts to train him, he knew from a young age that he was going to run the business into the ground if he inherited it. His sister Iravati, however, two years his junior, was a natural salesperson. They agreed very early on that when he inevitably inherited the business, she would be the one running it.
He saw quite a bit of southern Asia in his childhood, traveling the trade routes with his family. It wasn't what he wanted to do, but it was familiar and he was just waiting it out until his father died. And then his father pissed off some very important people in India. People with power and the reach to make it dangerous. Ravi never quite knew the whole story, he just knew that one day they packed up and set out of India for the west, where that influence wouldn't reach them. He was thirteen when they left, and by the time he was fourteen, his family had settled into Tyrol and was starting to do business in Europe.
He hated it. He hated Tyrol, he hated having to learn English, he hated being dragged across the continent because of his father, and he especially hated his father. I mean he hated his father already, but that sure didn't help.
So it should be no big surprise that when he turned sixteen, he rebelled in the best way he could: he ditched the family business and joined Tyrol's Guard. He took to it like a fish to water; fighting was the first thing he found himself to be exceptionally good at. His father was livid. (Not livid enough to disown him, though. Mrs. Naran convinced him that Ravi would get tired of the Guard and come around eventually.)
It was in the Guard that Ravindra met Alexander Varista, a charming redhead with a knack for making friends (by which I mean he was a very persistent kind of annoying). He and Ravi were fast friends and became inseparable. He also forced Ravi to realize an uncomfortable truth: his disinterest in girls? It wasn't him being a late bloomer. He had his first crush and it was on a boy.
This realization was met with denial, horror, and disgust. Maybe it was just Alex, maybe it was a phase. It wasn't. He wasn't normal, there was something wrong with him. He was broken and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Eventually he came to some sort of understanding with himself, accepting that this was just the way he was, but hating that he wasn't "normal."
He never told Alex, although that painful longing for something deeper than friendship never went away. It was just as well; Alex found himself a happily ever after, which would have been impossible with Ravi. At least he was still included in it, because Alex and his wife, Catherine, agreed that Ravi would be the godfather for any children they had. Their first child, Amelia, was a terrifying responsibility, but a shining beacon of light in his life. He treated her like his own daughter, and "Uncle Ravi" quickly became Amelia's favourite person (something Ravi never let Alex forget).
The year he turned 23, two life-changing events happened. The first was that Alex was killed in action, struck down during an arrest gone bad. That left Amelia without a father and Catherine without a husband, and only Ravi to turn to for support. The second was that his father passed away soon after, leaving him head of the family and in possession of the family's business. Ravi never liked his father, but that didn't make his death good news. He was completely distraught over Alex's death, and the last thing he wanted was the headache of running a business. He put his sister in charge of operations immediately, and forced her to employ Catherine so Amelia's family wouldn't be entirely dependent on him for income.
The arrangement worked well and life went on. Until a couple years later, when the fifth daughter of a wealthy artist went up for marriage, and Iravati insisted that they needed her social status to boost their own. Ravindra's answer was no, no, and also, no. Why should he be forced into a political marriage when Iravati wasn't even married? (Their father had forced a husband on her, of course, but he'd long since been disposed of under mysterious circumstances and she'd claimed to be infertile to avoid another.)
And then she said those fateful words: It's best for the family.
As angry as Ravi was, he knew he had a responsibility as head of the family to act in its best interests. He grudgingly agreed to the arrangement and was married to Sofia Budny. He regretted it immediately. Instead of a proper wedding night, he spent it explaining his utter lack of interest in women, an awkward confession to start off an awkward marriage.
For five years, they existed in a sort of limbo. Ravi treated her more like a business associate than a wife, acknowledging but distant. Sofia got her emotional support from Catherine and treated Amelia like a younger sister. This seemed to work fine.
And then Catherine died. Amelia came to live with Ravi. Sofia lost her best friend and and was left with a husband who would show mountains of affection to his goddaughter but none to her. It didn't take long for her to confront him, to ask him to try being a little less distant, to maybe try to care about her once in a while. At first he was angry, because it wasn't like he was in this situation because he wanted to be, but he was forced to admit she had a point. He did start trying to be less distant, to express some interest in her life and treat her like, if not a wife, at least a friend. It was largely for Amelia's benefit. It was better for her to have a father and a mother than a father and someone her father tolerated living under his roof.
This worked out until Amelia left to join the Golden Hour at fifteen. That was when Sofia, who had taken her parental role with Amelia to heart, decided the house was suddenly too empty and she wanted a baby.
Awkward.
Well, maybe he owed it to her. He agreed to try. Unfortunately, it was a disaster. All further attempts continued to be disasters. Sofia refused to give up, but Ravi is beyond frustrated with the situation. Their current relationship flutters between friendly and passive-aggressive-hate-on depending on where her "MUST HAVE BABY" switch is at the time.
Personality: Ravindra can take anybody in a fight and he knows it, but he's past the age of needing to prove it to everyone. This gives him a quiet confidence to go along with his air of authority, and despite his size he can seem very imposing because of how he carries himself. It only takes a glance to realize he's somebody you probably don't want to fuck with.
Half of his intimidation factor--the stoic silence--actually stems from the fact that he'd rather say nothing at all than something stupid. He's very bad at socializing and tends to "wallflower" at functions, but that's alright because it just makes him look like a badass loner and keeps people from coming over to bother him. He hates social niceties and having to pretend to be interested in vapid small talk (this is the main reason he couldn't sell water to a man dying of thirst). Ravi might be a bit more verbose than your standard stoic (in that he takes more words to say something than most people), but what he says is usually worth listening to.
He does, however, love telling stories. Myths from home, "war" stories from his work, humourous anecdotes--whatever he thinks is interesting. He's a fairly good storyteller, but you have to get his walls down or already be inside them to get him telling them. (Get him drunk around other guardsmen though and he'll keep going for hours.)
The worst part about Ravi is that he's more stubborn than the stubbornest mule you can imagine, and he hates to admit he's wrong. That is an awful combination and it can make him absolutely insufferable if you come down on the bad side of it. (But because of his refusal to admit he's wrong, when he apologizes you can be certain he absolutely means it.) He has a slow-boiling temper, and usually expresses his annoyance/frustration/irritation passive-aggressively, but once you hit the boiling point he can be violent and very scary. He doesn't yell, usually, he just throws things or flips tables or tears things off the walls in unsettling silence. When he gives you a deadly calm, "Get out," it would be in your best interests to follow that suggestion.
His stubbornness does have a positive side, however. He hates giving up. His stubborn pride will not allow him to quit. He'd rather kill himeslf than admit he stopped trying because something was too hard. (This is really the only reason he knows how to knit: Catherine tried to teach him and he refused to be bested by a pair of needles and some wool.)
But, if you've managed to break down his walls and wiggle your way inside, you'd find he's really very sweet, and someone with a good sense of humour, especially about himself. (He even makes short-jokes at his own expense!) He jokes around, teases his friends, and does things like stay up all night knitting a new pair of stockings for his goddaughter because she tore hers the day before and she would freeze without a pair in this weather. He rarely does anything for himself and puts others' needs above his own, which can lead to bitterness and resentment when he feels he's being taken advantage of, even though it happens because he never voices his misgivings.
And on the subject of his sexuality, it's mostly a point of frustration for him. He hates it, but knows he can't change it. It's made his life difficult--maybe he'd have a happier marriage if he actually found his wife attractive, and it'd be nice to get some satisfaction at home rather than having to slip out in secret during the night to go hire somebody. He's glad his wife has been mostly understanding, but with her current shift toward BABY! it's become very vexing.
Personality Keywords: stubborn, stoic, withdrawn, introverted, selfless, passive-aggressive
Appearance: Ravindra is short and pudgy, but definitely not soft. Aside from a few stubborn pounds he can't seem to drop, his weight is all muscle. He carries himself like somebody who knows what he's doing, even when he doesn't--that's the essence of authority. Usually seen in his Guard uniform, and when he's not he tends to be in some combination of skillfully hand-knitted clothing.
He's all-around dark: dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin, dark clothes. There's no hiding the fact that he's foreign--his bronze complexion sees to that, as well as the accent he's never quite managed to get rid of. His hair, just now starting to see concentrations of grey, is kept short. He has a long face with a strong chin and high cheekbones, and heavy eyebrows over deep-set eyes. He's not particularly handsome, but he's quite sure he doesn't care.
Languages Known: English (spoken + literacy; second language), Devanagari (literacy) + Hindustani (spoken; first language), most of the more widely-spoken south-asian languages (though with poor fluency due to not having spoken any of them in decades)
Skills: Good with languages, storytelling, skilled in a variety of weaponry and fighting styles, an accomplished knitter (just about the only skill he'll actually show any pride over)
Strengths: Tenacity, patience (usually), slow to angry, is able to laugh at himself, good at thinking on his feet and keeping a level head during a fight, willingness to put others first
Weaknesses: Stubbornness, violent temper, has trouble socializing with people and doesn't make friends easily, sometimes more self-sacrificing than he wants to be which makes him resentful