Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to For King and Court. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Courtenay, Luke
Topic Started: Dec 3 2010, 01:30 PM (165 Views)
Luke Courtenay
Unregistered

[align=center]Posted Image
LUKE COURTENAY

Posted Image

* One tear in the driving rain
One voice in a sea of pain
Could the maker of the stars
Hear the sound of my breaking heart? .

HEY THERE. THE NAME IS SARAI, AND I AM 21.
I'VE BEEN ROLEPLAYING FOR ABOUT 2 YEARS OR MAYBE A BIT LESS
AND MY OTHER CHARACTERS WOULD BE CREATED IN THE FUTURE IF ALL GOES WELL WITH LUKE HERE. I FOUND FKAC AT RPG-DIRECTORY. OH, BY THE WAY, I READ THE RULES. WANT PROOF?
THE CODE WORD IS ALTERNATE UNIVERSE
WANT TO REACH ME? HERE'S MY IM: AIM – DEFENESTRATEDELF

Posted Image[/align]
  • - - - - Full Name, Luke Courtenay
    - - - - Title, If it counts, Father
    - - - - Gender, Male
    - - - - Sexuality, Heterosexual, though he tries not to have those feelings, or at least not to give into them. This is one of the more challenging vows for him.
    - - - - Age, 23
    - - - - Place at Court, Priest
    - - - - PB (Play-By), Max Thieriot
[align=center]Posted Image[/align]
  • - - - - Loves,
  • Helping – Luke is a bookworm, content by himself, but he prefers and likes being around other people and doing what he can to assist them. It’s why he became a priest and why he’s any good at it, in his opinion.
  • Books – and even better, reading books. And thinking about books. And...
  • Fire – Luke is no pyromaniac, not a destructive sort of person at all, but he finds fire beautiful. If anything can distract him from books, it’s the fire in his lamp.
  • Gingerbread – he has never been crazy about sweets, even as a child, but he loves gingerbread... even if it is indulgent. He tries to love it from a distance and at respectable intervals.
  • Observing nature, especially animals – of course, his brothers have made certain he knows not to say this without couching it in very careful specifications, since they find it hilarious and bawdy otherwise. It’s more about animals going about their routines: birds flying, deer grazing, spiders spinning webs. Much of this he might read about in books, but he prefers to satisfy his curiosity himself... another thing he knows better than to say to his brothers.
  • Horses – Luke is a more than capable rider, something more from his class than his profession.
  • A good joke – as long as no one’s hurt by it. Even filthy jokes, so long as they are not too crude and graphic, amuse him. Though not much good at reciting jokes, he can be a bit of a goofball when he feels it’s appropriate.
  • Tea – Luke is very much a believer in all things being better for a cup of tea, and a cup of tea being appropriate in any stressful situation. And he just likes tea.
  • Cold – much as he is often tempted to grumble about it, there’s something life-affirming and invigorating about the cold.
  • Women – but shh! Don’t tell the bishop! Luke has enough self-control not to stare and he has never been with a woman, but he wants to, in an “I want it but I can’t have it” way.
    - - - - Loathes,
  • Bullies – Luke has little to no tolerance for those who victimize people weaker than themselves.
  • Hangovers – and, oh, yes, from his youthful “wild” days (a few instances with brothers and cousins), Luke knows all about these!
  • Doing wrong – in himself, less so much in others. Luke believes that wrongdoing in others is a mistake and that the proper response is to forgive and learn from these experiences. However, he has no respect for someone unwilling to learn from or admit to doing wrong. For himself, he takes every instance of wrongdoing very seriously, no matter how small.
  • Politics – it’s fine for other people who like or are suited to it, but Luke avoids politics whenever possible. He’s a man of faith and morals, neither of which, in his experience, mix well with politics.
  • Suicide – for those who take this path, Luke has sympathy and pity, but he hates the act itself. He has seen the pain it causes. Though he struggles to understand why anyone feels this is the right course, even thinks he does, to a certain extent, understand, he hates it.
  • Feeling antsy – there are times Luke wants nothing more than to move, to do something, to be active! Unfortunately there are very few ways in which he can use this energy and still be priestly.
  • Filthy books – the amount of descriptions of saints’ lives that describe in great detail the temptations they faced both disgust and challenge Luke. He believes they are as good as supporting such things by perpetuating awareness of them. He believes this because he is aware of how he reacts to these stories, and how reading about temptation is about as good as facing temptation.
  • Gossip – it’s cruel, petty, and, in his opinion, deceitful. If Luke dislikes someone he would sooner say so to the person’s face than malign him behind his back.
    - - - - Strengths,
  • Projects surety and confidence – which is actually quite easy for Luke, because he is sure and confident. He manages to maintain this even when it is not so, though.
  • Listening and observing – and, equally, listening and observing without judgment. Luke tends to know what goes on around him and he tends to hear what people are saying, which makes his ability to guide and advise that much stronger.
  • Keeping his wits about him – it takes a lot to make him lose his temper, and even when he does he has an amount of logic to keep him from doing anything stupid. Luke is sharp in a debate, as well.
  • Social skills – his willingness and ability to chat with everyone and anyone are what made him choose to be a priest rather than a monk. Luke thrives in a social environment.
  • Philosophizing – thinking about things, understanding them, looking at new and different approaches to them. He enjoys thinking and moral or intellectual puzzles, and he’s good at them.
  • Moral fortitude – Luke knows right from wrong and acts on this knowledge as much as possible. While he might be the one to be caught up in a snowball fight on a Sunday, Luke does not steal or lie or cheat.
    - - - - Weaknesses,
  • Uncoordinated and physically weak – not that he necessarily needs strength and coordination, but as someone who has spent the past dozen years studying, Luke is hardly in peak physical form. If someone threw a ball at him, only pure luck would help him catch it. He knows a few quick self-defence moves—he has two older brothers, after all—but that’s the extent of his physical abilities.
  • Women and sexuality – easily his greatest weakness. Luke has been long enough dedicating himself to the priesthood that he has never kissed a woman, let alone more, but he feels attraction to women and struggles with thoughts and feelings. He knows himself to be lustful. He may not be any more lustful than any other man, but it’s not so terrible a sin for other men.
  • Forgiving himself – perhaps not a weakness so much as an issue of total failure, Luke preaches love and forgiveness to others and imposes punishments on himself beyond what his confessor deems necessary for absolution.
  • Obedience – Luke has taken a vow of obedience and knows he should follow it, but when his heart tells him something is wrong, he tends to listen. This can get in the way of his vow. He has the tact to be subtly disobedient or disobedient in spirit only, but he is. In a subdued, devout, clean-cut sort of way, Luke is roguish.
  • Naiveté – for a man in his mid-twenties, Luke can be rather childish, believing in goodness and virtue and their ability to conquer all. He does not know what a “bad person” really is.
  • Interacting with those his age as an equal – Luke tends to feel that his experiences have made him very different to other men his age, and so to be not exactly withdrawn but very carefully controlled. He does not share his thoughts and often feels alone because of it.
    - - - - Dreams, As far as Luke is concerned, he gave up certain dreams in trade for others. Had he not dedicated himself to God, he would be the sort of man who wanted to have a loving family. A part of him still wishes he could have this, but not enough to make him turn his back on the church. It’s more than a job for him. Luke believes that the Bible is the word of God and believes that what he has dedicated himself to is holy work. He wants to do good in life and for his soul to go to Heaven when he dies. While salvation is a major factor for him, it is not actually his driving force. He wants to help people.
    - - - - Fears,
  • Snakes – one might think that for a cleric nothing can be more frightening than hellfire and while, academically, Luke would agree, snakes simply terrify him.
  • Failure – to really and truly fail to help someone. He’s done it once, with his cousin, and while Luke is beginning to see that as an error made by a very young man, he fears to do so as an adult. Then there would be no excuse.
  • Death – he has spent so much time studying and thinking about the ideas of Heaven and Hell, Luke is painfully aware that, one day, he’s going to one of them. But more than he fears hell, he fears dying.
    - - - - Overall Personality, At his core, Luke is a mix of observant and helpful. He is quite content to sit quietly and watch something unfold—for example, a spider spinning a web or a craftsman at work—and this same skill helps him read people, having made him very attuned to body language and facial expressions. With a knack for knowing what goes on around him, Luke easily could have become a courtier, had he been so inclined. However, he would have had to learn to compromise his morals. Luke sees the world in strict terms. There is, to his thinking, always a higher road.

    For all that, he can be light-hearted and easygoing. There’s a degree of spiritually indomitability to him that enables him to avoid stress in tense situations. He is not a life-of-the-party sort, but he is steadily optimistic. Overall he’s a very lonely person. He can talk to just about anyone and by his profession will discuss most people’s secrets, but he keeps quite a lot to himself and ultimately, his is a lonesome existence.

    He naturally wants to help other people. A willingness to offer advice can make him seem somewhat pompous, but this is tempered by an equal willingness to listen. This is something present in his personality both as a priest and as a friend. People might not think to go to a cleric with small, petty issues, but Luke will listen and try to offer guidance about anything.

    It takes a good deal of courage for Luke to publicly argue. In fact he tends to be generally acquiescent, and if he does disagree, he raises the issue respectfully, in private. He is absolutely useless in a physical conflict, though he feels compelled to diffuse such situations before they become violent. It’s much easier when he is not involved—that is, he can easily enough step in to mediate between two men, but if asked his own opinion he would probably hem and haw and maybe quote the Bible, and not answer.

    In short, Luke can be quite restricted by his desire to be respectful. However, what’s right will win out in a significant enough situation.

    He is something of a loose cannon, in some ways. Luke does have a temper. When pushed too far, he lashes out with sharp words. He is not a physically violent man beyond maybe hurling something across the room. (He would never hurt someone, but taking his anger out on a wall and a paperweight can be very satisfying.) Mostly, though, he is quiet and easily overlooked. Luke utterly lacks ambition. He is content to study and help others. He has a strange mix of piety and disobedience to him. Though devoted to God, Luke has his theological disagreements with the church. These are often pedantic issues with Scripture, and usually kept to himself or between himself and a colleague.
[align=center]Posted Image[/align]
  • - - - - Family Members,
    Roger and Matthew Courtenay – close in age and older than Luke, Roger and Matthew spent their childhood alternately teaching their little brother things like basic swordplay (whether he wanted to learn or not), beating the sense out of him, and making sure no one else did.
    Rose and Winifred “Freddie” (nee Courtenay, both married) – sisters
    John and Beatrice “Bet” Courtenay – parents, Lord and Lady Courtenay, holders of the Earldom of Devon.
    - - - - Overall History, Luke is the youngest child of John and Beatrice Courtenay, born 1487. As a nobleman’s son he simply did not see his father too often, and feared disappointing him. It didn’t help that John was a believer in swift, corporal justice towards his children and Luke had seen both his brothers slapped across the mouth more than once. That Roger and Mattie were smart-alecky, mischievous creatures never quite sank in. Only a year apart, the two had been inseparable since toddlerhood and were respectively seven and six years older than Luke. They found the new baby boring. Their first significant interaction with him occurred when Luke was two and a half years old and his brothers decided it would be funny to slip a lizard down his nappy. They both claim to this day that Luke has a scar where the lizard bit him—since the bite only bled a small amount, this is extremely unlikely.

    That was rather the way of things, for the Courtenay children. Roger had Mattie, Rose had Freddie, and Luke was close with his mother. He was often ill as a child; because of this, he learned academics more and sooner than his brothers. Roger and Mattie were well on their way to becoming knights. They were also big, strong and, while not stupid, not especially well-educated either. This never seemed the path for Luke, too frail a child for anyone to imagine him holding a sword. He took well to his studies, though.

    His first five years were filled with a seeming endless trade-off of coughs and fevers, but his health improved after that. He grew stronger. Still, soldiering never seemed in his future. From the earliest he sensed that this was something of a disappointment to his father. Luke knew he could have undone this. Had he insisted on training to fight instead of study, eventually he would have gotten his way—at least so he believed—and he gave serious thought to it. Ultimately he faced the fact that he simply did not want to fight.

    One of the most significant events in Luke’s life occurred when he was fourteen. He had always been close with a cousin of about the same age, an imaginative daydreamy type of boy called Ned, short for Edward. Ned had always had time for Luke when they were younger and Luke was ill. Throughout his childhood he had been cheerful and outgoing. He grew darker and depressed as he began to grow up, though. He and Luke remained close, exchanges letters in which Ned often wrote of how empty the world felt. Luke would write back trying to counsel and cheer his friend as best a teenage boy could. Ned hanged himself in 1501. The pain and devastation this caused his family shook Luke. He devoted himself to his studies, but he also re-read Ned’s letters, looking over and over them for clues.

    Unlike his brothers, Luke never caused much trouble, at least until his early teens. By then his future with the church was certain. Unlike some of the other boys with whom he studied, Luke was dedicated to the church, believed in its teachings, and wanted to be a priest. However, certain behaviours of his ruffled a few feathers. Unbeknownst to Luke, a bishop was asked to speak to him. He assumed the meeting to be random, and assumed that the bishop found him bent over a maths book purely by chance. The bishop encouraged him to set aside these studies, reminding him to focus on Latin, on history—on subjects that did not go against the church. Luke calmly, and with as much innocence as he could muster, argued that on the contrary, maths and science could not possibly turn him away from the church, because they were the studies of God’s glories, and surely, if intellect and salvation were what set apart man from beast, he ought to devote himself to using his intelligence to study the world God had made.

    This just about set the tone for Luke’s life. He believed in God and Jesus Christ, but not always in the conventional ways. Because he caused little stir and never made a fuss about it, this was generally tolerated. He continued his education. His mother continued to be glad for her youngest son, and his father continued with his low-key hostility over the issue. Luke eventually realized that his father was not displeased with a son who would become a priest, but with a son who was such a bloody pansy. A man could be a priest and not a daisy-growing girl about the whole thing.

    Of course, even understanding this, there was not a single thing he could do about it. He did not see himself as a bloody daisy-growing pansy, but he had no desire to fight over it, either.

    As his ordination approached, Luke found himself returning again to the issue of his cousin Ned. Ned had never truly left him and had, ultimately, sent a letter to Luke explaining his choice to kill himself, timing it so that Luke received the letter after he had died. Unable to face ordination with this on his soul, Luke spoke to one of his teachers in seminary, a priest, about whether or not he was suited to become a priest himself, and about the friend he should have been able to save. Luke asked if he should confess and if indeed he could confess, if there was any absolution here. His teacher told him it was impossible for Luke to be absolved when he had done nothing wrong, but that Ned would burn in Hell, there was no saving him.

    Luke never quite believed that. He had known Ned well and insisted to himself that madness had caused him to kill himself, the madness of ignorance and loneliness. And that had not been his fault. It made strictly adhering to the Church’s teachings that much more difficult for him. However he was obedient other than such little, private matters, and Luke continued much as he had expected to: he was ordained, and he began his life as a priest.
[/font]
  • - - - - Roleplay Sample,
    Luke took a deep breath, feeling his chest expand and the caustic chill of the air. The seconds had never moved so gradually as they did now, each slowed by the weight of the last, each dragging by with aching deliberation. He had given up trying to focus on the book open in front of him. The steady ache behind his eyes made that two steps from impossible, and his distracted mind took it the rest of the way. He exhaled and his breath clouded the air. Idly, he tapped his fingertips in a steady rhythm against the tabletop, putting so little effort into it his fingers practically dropped onto the table.

    He should have been working on a Latin translation. A passage from Virgil lay before him, and normally Luke enjoyed both the decoding and literal translating involved in turning Latin sentences into English ones, and the story of The Aeneid. He was in a state today, though, and even Aeneas’s dream of warning from Hector could not hold his attention. If anything, it worsened his distraction. Guilty feelings twisted like coils of hot wool boiling inside him. Aeneas had been given a chance, at least, to save Creusa. Why had Luke never had the chance to save his cousin? Worse, what if he had? He tried to remember the last time he and Ned had been together. Had there been some sign...?

    The sound of rustling and shifting drew his attention back to the present. The other boys were clearing their things. Luke joined them. For once, he, too, was glad to be through with studying. He moved intentionally slowly. When the others made their way out, he hung back. “Father Andrew?” He would have expected physical symptoms: a constricting feeling in his throat or chest, nausea, sweaty palms. Other than a dry mouth, his body felt fine. He just did not want to say. He focused on a scratch on the wall. “I... I think I need to confess.”
[align=center] THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY THATSNOTMYNAME ! @ CAUTION EDITED BY LANIE OF FKAC [/align]
Quote Post Goto Top
 
Catherine Willoughby
Member Avatar
vérité sans peur
[align=center]Posted Image

Make sure to head on over to the FACE CLAIM and claim your PB.
We want to know the person behind the character! INTRODUCE yourself.
Plot with other characters in the PLOT FORUM,
Want to join in threads with others, but not sure what to write first? Hop on into the THREADING EXTRAVAGANZA.
And be sure to post your info in the CONTACT LIST.[/align]
[align=center]"I must shape my own coat according to my cloth, but it will not be after the fashion of this world but fit for me."

Catherine is in 2 threads.
[/align]
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Enjoy forums? Start your own community for free.
Learn More · Sign-up Now
« Previous Topic · Application Graveyard · Next Topic »
Add Reply