 Bastien Arx 
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| Imperial Servant
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| Status
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| Fullname |
Bastien Arx
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| Titles |
Venator, Primus
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| Summary |
Ex-Knight with a mile-long resume.
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| Spouse |
None
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| House |
Arx
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| Father |
Coel Arx
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| Mother |
Enfail Mor
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| Date of Birth |
October 13 480 (480-10-13) (age 29)
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| Place of Birth |
Twisted Forge, Smithfield, Guardian
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| Species |
Human
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| Gender |
Male
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| Height |
6'3"
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| Weight |
200 lbs.
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| Eyes |
Hazel
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| Hair |
Dark
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| Playlist
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After all of this time, there are around ninety songs on Bastien's iTunes playlist, and it's getting to the point that I'm getting some (well-justified) ribbing from certain individuals about the amount of music on his page. To cut down endless reams of dropdowns, most of his music has been consolidated HERE, on a neat in-browser player. What's listed below is just a handful of current essentials to fit with recent events, and they're subject to change.
| My Brother's Blood, Kevin Devine
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- My brother’s blood boils in my arms
- It balls my fingers into fists
- It bubbles, blisters, burns my palms
- It floods with fury, fights and fits
- Its got the good guy in me hiding
- It kicks my humble heart around
- Its got me fiending for the fire
- That could finish off this town
- Oh its got me good.
- It's my brother's blood on a cherry tree
- It stains the bark from branch to root
- It puddles thick with pits and leaves
- It strains the sweetness from the fruit
- Its got me looking for communion
- A hiding spot off underground
- An open plot I could climb into
- A lightning promise in my mouth
- A blackout oath I swore and meant
- But couldn't conjure up again
- I don't know one thing about my brother's blood
- No, I don't know one thing about my brother's blood
- It's my brother's blood
- On my dirty lungs
- On my crooked mouth
- On my swollen tongue
- On my father's gun
- On each stranger's face
- Across the bluebird sky
- On every hand I shake
- Night after night
- With each chuckled prayer
- Such sweet relief
- My fists full of hair
- And each desperate drive
- For elusive peace
- And every endless night
- of every wasted week
- All that dialogue
- Doubling back on me
- All that tangled talk
- All my growling need
- It's my brother's back
- It's my father's arms
- It's every twisted fact
- In my sorry heart
- My sorry heart, my sorry heart
- I spit and scream:
- 'What's done is done'
- 'Go make your peace with everyone'
- They don't need to know about my brother's blood
- No
- They don't need to know about my brother's blood
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| Quote
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Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels' hierarchies?
and even if one of them pressed me suddenly against his heart:
I would be consumed in that overwhelming existence.
For beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror, which we are still just able to endure,
and we are so awed because it serenely disdains to annihilate us.
Every angel is terrifying.
And so I hold myself back and swallow the call-note of my dark sobbing.
Ah, whom can we ever turn to in our need?
Not angels, not humans, and already the knowing animals are aware
that we are not really at home in our interpreted world.
-Rilke, Duino Elegies
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| Emeritus
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- He is not the man he used to be.
- When all you've ever been is built around all you've ever known, and all you've ever known is taken from you...
- ...what's left?
- His life is a phantom limb: cut away, dead and gone, but somehow he still feels it.
- Somehow it still pains him.
- How do you make a life out of the ashes of your certainties and the broken shards of faith?
- How am I not myself?
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| And then...
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He's begun to make a lifestyle out of shedding old selves like snakeskin, perpetually in the process of departing from something or someone and becoming something else. As the devastation of fresh grief begins to wane, banked from a bonfire down to a lingering, smoldering undercurrent, he -- along with the rest of the citizenry -- finds himself facing the prospect of a radically changed Empire beset with a whole new landscape of challenges and opportunities. They demand that a man refocus his attention, and inevitably thoughts will turn from the hurts of the self to the hurts of the whole. Perhaps he can be forgiven if he does so with some small relief: hard work is forever an appreciable distraction.
This latest iteration of the former knight carries the title Venator and wears it with as much purpose and dedication as he has worn that of Sir, Sheriff, or Captain, with neither resounding pride for what most would consider a promotion, nor dejection for what is ultimately still a demotion from a former life. When queried he's expressed gratitude for the demonstration of the throne's continued faith in his capabilities -- a statement that carries extra weight in the light of several unpleasant arrests immediately following the events of the Schism.
Whether or not it will stick...that is anyone's guess.
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| Public Knowledge
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Because after two and a half years, a timeline was way too much information.
- He was a knight. He certainly participated in his fair share of exploits alongside of his brothers, but the unfortunate truth is that the most widely-known fact about his knighthood, at least amongst the general public, is that he was unceremoniously (and violently) ejected from their ranks in November of 505. Rumor at the time cited his feelings for a certain Purist as being responsible. Later events seem to have pinned this down as truth (despite the fact that the pair met in the course of Bastien's duties, with the Lady Baronet on the receiving end of the knighthood's displeasure.
- That relationship had an extremely unfortunate ending -- or rather, series of endings -- involving Ravelle's eventual marriage under outlandish circumstances to another man (prompting Bastien to leave the Empire for a time) and culminating in her death when she took her own life in January of 508, not long after his return.
- It is, as might be expected, a sensitive subject.
- Not just formerly a knight, he's also worn the titles of Sheriff and Captain of the Guardian ducal guard.
- The man is an expert equestrian -- perhaps one of the few qualities he shares with most of his estranged extended family. He's almost more comfortable on four legs than two.
- He tends to be taciturn to the extreme in mixed or even just unfamiliar company. There are those in Gateway who can remember the squire he used to be, and they will swear up and down that he wasn't always so stoic; likewise, there are a handful of individuals in the city with whom he maintains friendly but irregular contact, and they will claim that he can be drawn out and more accessible given enough time. His inclination toward quiet doesn't seem to include a desire to be away from other people; it's not uncommon to find him loitering in the Fire Pit, listening to surrounding conversations in which he takes little part.
- He is a notoriously fussy eater. This has been relevant on more than one occasion, and driven more than one well-meaning gift-giver halfway to crazy. Anything more than bland food tends to make him feel ill. He blames being raised on barracks food for this, and has no appreciation for complex cuisine -- or drink, as he's almost equally notorious for not caring about the quality of his alcohol, so long as it's strong enough to get the job done.
- He was arrested and released twice after the Schism, and spent a large chunk of time recovering from injuries sustained on the evening that the Schism took place, reputedly received in an action taken to save the Emperor's life. Afterward, he either resigned or found himself released from his position with Duke Guardian and moved his things into the Court Wing (despite a lack of noble title), ostensibly to better concentrate on his duties as Venator Primus.
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| Records
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| Gallery
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