The Basics
Name: Martyn Bohdan
Aliases: Bohdan Grahn, Bohdan the Bloody-Handed
Age: 24
Element: Ice
Classification: Consular
Birth Kingdom: Glacies
Home Kingdom: Glacies
Appearance
Playby: Iwan Rheon
Appearance: Martyn is not a handsome man. His skin is pale (befitting someone living in the arctic), and his physique is doughy though not unfit, it could best said that he lacks definition, or perhaps that there is still a remnant of baby-fat-chubbiness over his musculature. His hands are strong, with blunt square fingers and skin that his cracked and split by exposure, hard labor and general neglect, subsequently, his fingernails are splintered and ruined. They are a warriors hands.
His face is blunt, sharply angular and, like his body, lacking in definition. His chin and jaw blend into his throat, and though his cheek bones are prominent, his face is still chubby. His nose is broad and flat, his lips thin and showing a noticeable under bite. His hair and eyes are both dark, and the fact that his brow is heavy and shadows his vision only exacerbates the contrast between them and his pale skin. His ears protrude noticeably from his head and are the most prominent feature.
Several inches short of six feet (approximately 5'9"), and reasonably light (one hundred and eighty nine pounds), it's is Martyn's conviction more than anything else, more than his charisma (which is lacking), or his personality (which is simple) and certainly above his physical presence that drives him forward, and allows him to achieve.
Personality
Personality: 'Cattle die, Kinsman die, all men are mortal. Words of praise will never perish, nor a noble name.'
From Hávamál (The Wisdom of Odin) translated by Björn Jónasson
Idealistic, embittered by repression and loss, trained from youth to be a rebel, this then is Martyn Bohdan. 'If a law is unjust,' his mother taught him 'a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.'1 And surely no law could be said to be as unjust as those which Unda uses to ensalve the citizens of Glacies, and so he seeks, as his mother would have intended, to fight Unda and have freedom for his kin. This however is a lonely path, and Martyn is forced therefore to be solitary, he is dour, and only concerned with the righteousness of his course and the necessity of action. He does nothing which is not needful or practical, and goes through life with a professional intensity which is joyless, but effective. The only time Martyn typically shows emotion is when speaking about the injustices of Unda, or when fighting their soldiers.
Independent to a fault, he spurns the unofficial mantle of leadership which is placed on him, whether it be in Grahn-ville or in the so called Glacies 'rebellion' which to his mind ended when they named their own King (as much good as he's done for them). Still, no citizen of Glacies has a fiercer defender than him, and none who could benefit from his help is ever denied it, and yet the young man holds himself apart, fearing the loss of comrades as he was once deprived his parents. He is single, though not a virgin, and finds no joy in passion other than for his cause. Single minded might be a good way to describe it, obsessed might be closer.
So then Martyn Bohdan, goes through life at the tender age of nineteen, brooding over the safety of his home, hating the Undan's, and lusting for freedom without enjoying any of the benefits of it, and like as not, he would be at a loss for what to do with himself if he had it.
1. From the papers of Thomas Jefferson
Likes:
- His Own Element: Naturally controllers like their own, but Martyn also inherited an appreciation for the brutal beauty of the arctic from his father.
- Soldierly: From an early age, Martyn was taught (indoctrinated) to be a soldier. His mother's strength (both physical and intangible) reinforced her quiet word and bore abundant fruit.
Dislikes:
- Undas: The Collective Kingdoms have been the pall of gloom hovering over Glacies Martyns entire life.
- Bullies: Undas again, the Collevtive Kingdoms picking on her smaller, younger siblings out of greed and spite.
- Weakness/Hopelessness: Hemmed in by a Navy they can't match, Martyn bristles at the inability (or unwillingness) to fight back.
- Heat: Self explanatory for an ice controller, if its too warm, he can't work, and that feeds back into his other dislikes.
Elemental Strengths- Fast Working: Martyn is practiced at producing weapons honed from Ice, axes, spears and even arrows, and when you need a weapon, you need it now. In less than a minute he can create a functional war axe or spear, or a dozen arrows. And can repeat this as often as necessary so long as he can spare the time.
- Maintenance: When you're weapons are made from ice, you need to know that you can rely on them to be there when you need them. Martyn has worked hard to ensure he can maintain melee weapons (or other such mechanisms) for a suitable duration.
Elemental Weaknesses- Localized: One of the drawbacks to Martyn's training as a controller is that he has difficulty exerting his will beyond his own sphere. Not to say that his arrows dissipate in flight, but that he cannot produce a block of ice ten feet off as a weight.
- Limited Effect: Another draw back is that his training has been so focused that he has neglected to macro-effects in favor of micro-ones. He can make weapons almost at will, he cannot flash grow icy stalagmites at a distance.
Background
Family:Mother - Janna Bohdan (nee Eklund), Ice Master (44)
Father - Oliver Bohdan, Water Consular (47. deceased at 42)
Siblings - Sigrid Eschevarria (Nee Bohdan) (29), Marita Solberg (Nee Bohdan) (26), Kajsa Bohdan (24), Catrine Bohdan (14)
Other - tbd
History: Martyn Bohdan, alternatively Bohdan Grahn or Bohdan the Bloody-Handed (or Marty if you happen to be one of his younger sisters), is the son of a sailor (Oliver Bohdan) and a soldier cum homemaker (Janna Bohdan). Born a decade after the secessopm pf Glacies from Unda, all he has known is the constant aggression of the Collective Kingdoms and her draconian Navy. Oliver had been a sailor in that Navy until the secession, and Janna had been a soldier in the same. This put them under tremendous pressure because their names were on lists of traitors and marked for capture. That the couples oldest daughter Sigrid, would eventually marry a Undan Naval Officer did nothing to alleviate this, since the pair would still not renounce their new allegiances or snitch on their new countrymen for their old.
The couple had five children, and Martyn the only son. Oliver had become a sort of explorer and naturalist since moving to Glacie, and Janna had settled into the life of citizen soldier. Martyn, late though he was in coming was seen as both his parents as a chance to pass on more of themselves than they might have otherwise. His older sisters, Sigrid and Marita had been reared to their own talents, and neither had shown inclinations towards their parent's respective callings (and Janna for her part, actively discouraged the girls from following her into soldiering).
From his youth, Martyn grew closest to his mother, principally because his father was frequently away, either fishing or hunting, or occasionally on forays into the Woods or the mountains beyond. Janna however was a constant presence, and she took it seemed special notice of her son. This fostered resentment in not only Sigrid and Marita who were older, but also in Kajsa, his twin sister, as any parental affection is apt to do among siblings. Too be fair, the girls complaints did have some merit. Janna had special plans for her boy, and the same formidable will which had allowed her to follow Oliver north from Unda, into what amounted as exile and poverty, would not allow her to be stymied now.
Janna you see, had particular ideas. When other children were fed fairy tales, Martyn heard of battles and warriors, and always the men and woman were great undefeated heroes, even when they were killed in battle. In essence, she built warriors and soldiers into mythical figures for her son to emulate, teaching him that true soldiers were champions of the people, the vanguard against not only wild beasts, but also wild men, and that a soldiers only responsibility was to the greater good of his people, even in contrast to the laws of his land. It was traitors talk, but Janna never made it seem so. Oliver did his best to instill his own ethos into his son, and a respect for the savage beauty of the wild did take hold, but Martyn's imagination ever was captured by becoming a soldier.
Once it was clear she had won Martyn's heart, Janna began working on his body. She turned his chores into training, the homestead never wanted for firewood, or water. And the neighbors never felt cut off, because Martyn and Janna would make treks to their lands to check in, and for Janna to offer her son for more labor. She also taught him how to fight. He wrestled with neighbors sons, and brawled with them. The lads went with Oliver or other fathers to hunt, and they learned the spear and the bow and the knife. Martyn also learned the sword, and tactics. And his father taught him how to survive their new home, how to navigate by the stars and the sun, whether on the waters of the Northern Sea, or the great vast plains of the tundra. All of this happened in the shadow of Undan aggression, and his parent's resentment of their former Kingdom blossomed into a fierce hatred in Martyn's heart. Sigrid's marriage to an Undan naval officer drove an irreparable rift into the family, and she and Martyn ever after had a fierce enmity. The argument that the pair had when she left, (though he was scarcely into his teens at the time) would haunt him for the remainder of his life, and cost their father his.
While Oliver and Janna had bought into Glacies as an independent nation, Sigrid resented the poverty, missing the good things her parent's spoke of so negligently. So when she met and married a Undan Captain, she had no problem at all informing on her parents (whom she saw as having cast her out). She had not expected a punitive Undan expedition to their village, but would never let on latter that she regretted what happened, and maybe she didn't.
When Sigrid's husband lead an Undan expedition against the Bohdan's village, Oliver and Janna knew where they had come from, even if they did not recognize their son-in-law in the van of the enemy. Oliver was killed, and Janna captured, Martyn, his twin Kajsa and their youngest sister Catrine were ushered out of the village by their Mother, and thereby escaped as so few did. Watching their home burn, Martyn swore never again to flee Undan soldiers, to avenge his parents (whom he assumed dead), and to punish Sigrid for the betrayal he could only assume she had made. Then, with nothing else to do, he took Kajsa and Catrine into the Pine Forest, and set about making them a home there. He was fourteen years old.
*~*~*~*~*
Ten years later, and Martyn's small cottage in the Pine's has turned into a village known colloquially as Grahn-ville, literally, Pine Town. Almost all of the citizens have survived Undan raids and retreated inland rather than follow Halvar Gustaffson's evacuation, whether that be across the ocean to South Glacies or to Valetudo. They exist in quiet discontent, hunting and looking out for each other, and hating any sight of the Undan navy. Remembering his mother's teachings, and in honor of her memory, Martyn has continued to train with his weapons, teaching others who would ask, essentially preaching the Gospel of the Warrior, and fostering a group of other young men (and to his mothers doubtless dismay, a few woman) who view themselves as the protectors, not only of Grahn-ville, but of the sanctity of Northern Glacies. Martyn, now calling himself Bohdan Grahn, intends to soon take the fight to Undan interests, to finally see his homeland independent as it should be.
Soon.
OOC
RP Sample: The alarm was loud when it finally sounded, as set to do, in the early part of the late afternoon. Wyatt Whitaker (as he was now known) slapped at it in agitation until it stopped, and threw back the tatty sheet on his mattress. If he'd had a proper bed and not just a mattress on the floor, he'd have swung his legs over the edge, but since he didn't he simply rolled over and stood, spry despite his apparent age and the bevy of scars which crossed and crisscrossed his body. The council flat he had managed to secure was not the nicest place he had ever lived, but it was far from the worst (which said something about the sorts of places that he had lived).
“I hate mornings.” He groused to no one in particular as he light a cigarette while making his way to the bathroom, naked as the day he was born, to shower and get what passed for presentable. Some one had thought that it was a good idea to put the medicine cabinet with the mirrored door directly over the toilet, so he was forced, every morning, to look himself in the eye while he took a piss. It wasn't a pretty sight.
“Jesus Christ..” He swore around the cigarette and a self deprecating smirk. Blowing a cloud of smoke into his own face he concluded.
“You look like shit.” Then he finished his business, and the cigarette before dropping the remains into the toilet. Then he flushed before turning on the shower (cold as always) and set about getting cleaned up from what must have been another typical night.
Even though the neighborhood his flat was in wasn't the best, the Barghest felt no fear of leaving his
prized possession parked in front. The bike was gorgeous, no doubt about it. And, if it's previous owner was to be believed, worth nearly one hundred thousand dollars. Wyatt of course hadn't paid that. He'd paid nothing, and the previous owner now had a fair ballpark on the value of his life, if his spirit cared to contemplate that in whatever afterlife he had found.
Settling onto the chopper, Wyatt turned it over and grinned a little boys grin at the sound the hundred and fifty horse power engine made when it roared to life. From down the street, a group of local 'toughs' watched Wyatt sullenly, the signs of their recent beatings still obvious on their faces and in the casts on various limbs. They had thought they would take his Fantasma Del Lago from him. Now they watched it while he slept. As he rode past he saluted them in mock camaraderie and threw back his head and laughed at their return gesture before opening the throttle and roaring away. They didn't like him, it was certain, but they were afraid, and that was good enough.
Alias: Flip
Subject: Martyn Bohdan 
Tue Apr 16, 2013 2:14 pm
