Character Base

• Character Name: FitzChivalry Farseer
• Age: 35 or 36, give or take
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Realm of the Elderlings canon, specifically near the end of Fool's Fate. At this point in the novel, Fitz will and the Fool will have parted ways during the denouement, but he will not have returned to Molly to rekindle their relationship.
• Items Coming Along:

Nighteyes, a large grey wolf and Fitz's Wit-bond companion
His father's sword, more of an antique at this point than something he ever intends to wield in combat
An incomplete map of the Six Duchies drawn and illustrated by his uncle, King Verity Farseer
An axe, which he is far more likely to wield in combat
A piece of carved stone made from the same material as the Skill Pillars, which contains precious memory fragments of his time with the Fool and Nighteyes
A worn satchel containing his supplies for making ink, cartography, and poisons

• Content Warnings for Character: Child abuse, addiction (using magic as a proxy to explore it, but it's there), exposure to cruelty to animals (not by Fitz!!), murder, graphic violence and torture where Fitz is the victim.

Character Background

• History: There's just so much of it.
• Core Relationships:

The Fool.

“I have to let you go,' he said in a cracked whisper. 'While I can. Leave me that, Fitz. That I broke the bond. That I did not take what was not mine.” - the Fool to Fitz during the denouement of Fool's Fate

Fitz's relationship with the Fool is arguably the most emotionally intimate in his life, and is both a source of tremendous solace for him as well as immense suffering due to the roles that, according to the Fool, fate has prescribed for them both to fulfill. The Fool believes that, as the White Prophet, it is his destiny to change the fate of the world, and that it is Fitz's destiny to be his Catalyst--literally the tool that must be used, again and again, to nudge the course of history onto the correct path. It is this belief that leads the Fool into King Shrewd's service while Fitz is only a small child newly discovered by the throne, but this belief is not what comes to sustain their connection to each other over the course of their lives. Fitz and the Fool develop a powerful bond because, when they aren't thrown together by circumstances that require them to save the world, they just genuinely enjoy each other's company and are able to understand each other's uniquely isolating and othering experiences in the prejudiced world of the Six Duchies, not because their experiences are identical, but because when one of them suffers, the other is always, without fail, moved to alleviate that suffering, often at immense personal cost.

There's also a whack of discourse that has accumulated over at least the past 20+ years about whether or not their relationship is romantic, regardless of the word of god commentary on the matter from Robin Hobb, but I don't feel like it's necessary to open up that specific can of worms for this app. Suffice to say that the Fool's feelings are unambiguously romantic, Fitz's feelings are ???? contradictory, and they still end up doing this to each other a lot: ~~They were in love, your honour.~~

Nighteyes.

“'Little Brother, do not treat me as if I am already dead, or dying. If you see me that way, then I would rather truly be dead. You steal the now of my life away, when you constantly fear that tomorrow will bring my death. Your fears clutch cold at me and snatch all my pleasure in the day's warmth from me.' - Nighteyes to Fitz, Fool's Errand”

Nighteyes is a grey wolf, the third of the three animals that Fitz forms a Wit-bond with over the course of the novels (with the first being the hound pup Nosy, and the second being the terrier, Smithy). Their bond forms organically after Fitz rescues him as a young cub from a hunter intending to sell him at a market, and for the next decade and change of their lives, they are inseparable from each other in every way that matters. While Nighteyes often 'masquerades' as Fitz's pet when they are required to enter public spaces together (to avoid subjecting either of them to the prejudice and persecution associated with being a practitioner of the Wit), they treat each other as partners and equals within their modest 'pack,' with Nighteyes coming to view himself as the 'elder' brother in their dynamic (and he's right tbh, Fitz would be lost without him). They understand more than just each other's thoughts: they understand each other's hearts, and over time fundamentally become two parts of the same whole.

NOTE: I am choosing not to bring him into Trench with Fitz as an omen because as much as he and Fitz complete each other, Nighteyes is nevertheless still a separate individual whose mind and motivations are his own.

Chade Fallstar.

“Suddenly, everything was easy and clear. I simply did whatever Chade told me to do, and trusted to him to have it turn out right. My spirit rode high on the crest of that wave of faith, and sometime during the night it occurred to me: this was what Burrich had had from Chivalry, and what he missed so badly.” - Fitz about Chade, Assassin's Apprentice

One of the two men who raised Fitz, loved him, cared for him, and turned a child into a tool to be used by the Farseer throne. Fitz loves him, and is afraid of him. As the illegitimate half-brother to the late King Shrewd (Fitz's paternal grandfather), he is also Fitz's great-uncle, which grants them an additional familial connection. More than their kinship ties, however, Chade and Fitz are united by their unbending loyalty to the Farseer throne as royal assassins, as this is the trade that Chade teaches to Fitz while he is still an extremely young child.

Chade is the source of many of Fitz's formative life lessons, for good and ill: he teaches Fitz the memory tricks that help him to remember, at a glance, what a room looked like when he last left it, so as to quickly determine whether anyone has interfered with his possessions; this objectively saves Fitz's life, as well as the lives of those he cares about, on multiple different occasions. However, Chade also regularly and routinely pushes both himself and Fitz past what their physical bodies and minds should be able to tolerate to protect the Farseer throne, or to push forward its agenda, and this brand of relentless drive and devotion at the expense of one's own life is something Fitz still struggles with. Chade actively enabled Fitz's addiction to his own Skill magic, and that addiction remains with Fitz at his canon point in-game.

Burrich.

“There isn't much in a man's head that can't be cured by working and taking care of something else." - Burrich to Fitz, Assassin's Apprentice

The other man who raised Fitz from childhood, loved him, cared for him, fostered in him a tenderness and understanding towards the care and needs of animals--and simultaneously subjected him to physical violence in an effort to try to 'beat' the Wit magic out of him, out of fear that it would get him killed. Witted himself and carrying old trauma over his experiences with the hereditary magic seen by the world as being foul and unclean, Burrich's (unacceptable!! inexcusable!!) violence towards Fitz in this respect is born from a place of love and fear, as well as from his lingering devotion to Fitz's father, the late King-in-Waiting Chivalry Farseer (who The Discourse seems divided on regarding whether there was a romantic aspect to their bond with each other; there was nevertheless a clear romantic bond between Burrich and Chivalry's wife, Lady Patience).

Character Personality Through Key Moments

(2+) Positive Experiences:
Loyal and devoted.

“But in my heart, when I said 'my king,' I meant Verity.” - Fitz about his uncle, King-in-Waiting Verity Farseer, Assassin's Apprentice

All of the formative influences in Fitz's life model loyalty and devotion for him in different ways that are by turns nurturing and destructive. Each of them nevertheless contribute to Fitz's base programming, if you will, and the end result is that loyalty and devotion to others in his life is not something he has to think about very much: it is just something that he does, and only thinks about in hindsight while navel-gazing about his relationships. The most obvious example to point to here is his relationship with King-in-Waiting Verity Farseer, his paternal uncle and the mentor who ultimately attempts the least destructive means of tutoring him in the usage of the Skill magic. Fitz's loyalty to the Farseer throne may have been 'bought' by his grandfather, King Shrewd, but Verity is the one who invests in that loyalty through the evolution of his relationship with Fitz.

The end result of this investment is Fitz's unyielding belief in Verity even when all evidence suggests that he has died, and this loyalty is what sees him through his journey through the Mountain Kingdom to Kelsingra in search of Verity during the final book of the first trilogy, Assassin's Quest.

Careful and deliberate.

“When considering a man's motives, remember you must not measure his wheat with your bushel. He may not be using the same standard at all.”

While Fitz absolutely makes some bull-headed and foolhardy decisions, particularly in his youth, he would have made for a pretty poor court assassin if he wasn't capable of carrying out the throne's work with precision and attention to detail, which would have meant he lived a very short, very brief life. When making just about any decision, Fitz demonstrates through his narrative recollection of past events precisely when and where he acted impulsively and thoughtlessly, versus those moments where he acts with more caution and consideration. Some key examples: the time he dedicates to discussing how he mixes his poisons and inks in preparation for his work, contrasted against his reckless pursuit of vengeance against his uncle, Prince Regal, after King Shrewd's murder in Royal Assassin. Particularly in the books of the Tawny Man trilogy where Fitz is older and has the benefit of wisdom and hindsight at his disposal, he is much more measured and cautious.

(2+) Negative Experiences:
...Loyal and devoted.

“It doesn't have to be that bad,' Chade said quietly. 'Most prisons are of our own making. A man makes his own freedom, too.” - Chade to Fitz, Assassin's Apprentice

Fitz's loyalty and devotion is a knife that cuts both ways. I touched on this a bit already in his relationships with both Chade and Burrich, but I think it bears repeating that these formative influences hammering in the unassailable virtue of loyalty and devotion specifically, and delivering this message to the politically inconvenient son of a bastard prince, was not done accidentally. It was absolutely done by design. And while both Chade and Burrich do without a doubt love Fitz--however harmful and toxic their love is in other respects--they both know that a royal bastard is a risk to the Farseer throne is his loyalty and devotion are anything other than unimpeachable. Fitz isn't wholly unaware of this; Chade does share this knowledge with him when he is very young, in part to drive home the value of the lessons that he is teaching, to emphasize why it is so important that Fitz excel in his role as assassin.

By his current canon point, this has created a heartbreaking level of self-awareness in Fitz's heart, in that he knows that his devotion to the Farseer throne is a poisonous thing, but he also knows that he will run himself ragged for the throne if it needs him again.

Skill addict.

“Am I recalling it from my own mind, or from dozens of retellings by legions of kitchen maids and ranks of scullions and herds of stable boys as they explained my presence to each other? Perhaps I have heard the story so many times, from so many sources, that I now recall it as an actual memory of my own. Is the detail the result of a six-year-old’s open absorption of all that goes on around him? Or could the completeness of the memory be the bright overlay of the Skill, and the later drugs a man takes to control his addiction to it, the drugs that bring on pains and cravings of their own? The last is most possible. Perhaps it is even probable. One hopes it is not the case.” - Fitz on his memory, and Skill addiction, Assassin's Apprentice

According to a 2019 interview with Tor.com, the concept of a world in which magic is an addiction was one of the first world-building thoughts Robin Hobb had around the world of the Six Duchies and the Realm of the Elderlings more broadly. Viewing the Skill and its usage as an addiction as much as it is a world-building mechanic is important to understanding Fitz's continuous drive to use it, even knowing that doing so causes him pain and suffering--because it doesn't only cause him pain and suffering. In addition to its usefulness as a tool for long distance communication as well as a weapon, it floods the senses with positive feedback through immersion in an awareness of the world and the people in it. When Fitz indulges in this wild, reckless Skilling, he loses hours, sometimes days of his life, and is wracked with debilitating headaches once he stops doing it... as well as the belief that the only way to make the pain and craving stop is to do it again. It's a self-perpetuating cycle of feast or famine, with no moderation in between.

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers: I will be keeping Fitz's canon powers and using blood mechanics to enhance them. In canon, Fitz possesses two different magical abilities:

The Skill: a hereditary talent that grants Skill users telepathic abilities, as well as the ability to influence the minds of others. There is a degree of social prestige that comes with being a Skilled individual, as often the talent is associated with people with some blood relation to the Farseer throne.
The Wit: considered base and bestial magic, the "Witted folk," or the "Old Blood" as they often refer to themselves. People born with the Wit are able to forge a telepathic and sensory bond with an animal, which allows them to share their sense awareness of the world, among other abilities. This magic is viewed at best with mistrust in the Six Duchies, and at worst, is enough to see someone executed.

Other Abilities:

Armed combat, leveraging the axe.
Sneaky-stealthy stuff.
Poison-making.
General subterfuge.

• Blood Type: Vileblood
• Omen: A large, russet-coloured red stag sporting a mean set of antlers. Fitz doesn't know his name yet.
• Blessed Day: December 5
• Patron Pthumerian: Dorothea
• Blood Power Manifestation:

Weapon enhancement. In preparation for combat with beasts or other monsters, Fitz will lace his axe with a tincture of his own rendered blood.
Pain-resistant. Fitz's vileblood grants him a higher tolerance to pain than your average ~~bear~~ ~~wolf~~ human, including the inevitable headaches that follow an intense bout of Skill usage. The 'penalty' at work here is that this higher pain tolerance will enable his tendency towards Skilling recklessly, and will make him physically weaker over time given how Skill magic essentially sends the body's metabolism into overdrive.
Optional exsanguination?: If Fitz is in a tight spot after enduring an injury, or after too much Skilling, he can drink the blood of other Sleepers to recover the strength/vitality that he has lost in the process--but this will contribute to how corruption manifests... and for him, corruption impacts Nighteyes, rather than Fitz himself. This is included to make any situation where Fitz may need to drink the blood of other Sleepers as something he will have to grapple with intensely, since even in a life or death situation, he is sacrificing a little bit of Nighteyes' vitality and sentience in the process.

Writing Samples

One: TDM threads for this month with Viktor et al.
Two: TDM threads from last month with Huaisang and the Fool

The Player

• Player Name: liz! (tho I also go by ray if there are too many liz's in your life already)
• Player Age: 36
• Player Contact: discord @ peonyfoxburr#9936,

ragweed
• Permissions: Here.

Other Characters

Jin Guangyao

Link to Character 1 overall AC: here!

deer country app;