Bernard Black

Name: Stacey
Age: 29
Contact: thepenguinred
Other Characters: Maria Hill (MCU)
Interests: Social drama and hard life choices.


Name: Bernard Black (Just Bernard for the AU)
Canon/OC: Black Books
Journal: afilthwizard
Race: Dwarf
Nationality: Orzammar
Occupation: Enchanter
Age: 30

History


Canon history link in as much as a sitcom has a main plot.

General AU background below. Leaving this basic to allow for more background ties to be inserted as time goes on.

-Born into the Smith caste in Orzammar
-Showed early talent at working with lyrium, possibly due to his general disregard for the potential danger of most substances, and fell into role of an enchanter
- Spent most of his youth working for his parents and slumming it with the dusters, gambling, drinking,and whoring. Continued with this life plan into adulthood, but also picked up a few more responsibilities to pay for it once his family stopped giving him money.
- Went on to take over a small shop of his own where he enchanted some items but mostly served to sell the items produced by other smiths he knew.
- Fell into debt with the Carta as he continued to 1) gamble and 2) be terrible at it.
- Gained a large contract with a dwarven noble family to enchant a large number of items, allowing him to pay off most of his Carta debt.
- At a party celebrating the unveiling of his work, he showed up drunk, hit on all female family members, and eventually passed out in the kitchen. Was informed shortly thereafter he would not be paid for his work and would be advised to leave Ozammar for his own safety.
- Carta took over his shop to cover his debts and provided him passage out to the surface.
- With nowhere else to go or anything to do, was recruited into the Inquisition for his enchanting talent.

Personality

Bernard is overall an unpleasant person.He’s incredibly sarcastic, vice-ridden, self-centered and prone to focus on the most minor of his own problems over even the life threatening issues of others (including those of his closest friends). He doesn’t understand what the world wants from him, why it’s always bothering him, when all he wants is to be left alone and allowed to do what makes him happy in that given moment. These things that make him happy mostly involve: drinking, reading, eating, sleeping, smoking, gambling and a bit of whoring, but can also encompass petty revenge and grudge holding for absurd periods of time.

This isn’t to say he’s incapable of helping others, he will simply never voluntarily do so. He gets along best with forceful people that will simply demand and harass him into doing whatever they want. He is utterly incapable of respecting people that don’t bully him to an equal or greater extent that he bullies them, often bulldozing right over individuals that are too polite or well mannered. If someone is ready to push back, however, Bernard often folds quickly and at least attempts to do what has been demanded of him.

Despite thinking he just wants to be left to do whatever he wants to do, Bernard is fairly terrible at deciding what it is he actually wants in practice. This whole process is mostly confounded by the fact that he doesn’t like things going his way for any reason other than people are being accommodating to him. During a busy day in his shop, for instance, he will yell at people to get out and leave him alone. If they leave because he told them to, he will be pleased and get back to celebratory drinking. However, if they all leave because the shop next door is better and not because of Bernard telling them to, he will become instantly obsessed with doing whatever it takes to bring them back instead of just being happy he got what he wanted one way or another. This often ends in Bernard actively acting against his own goals simply to spite someone else, with this behavior being one that is very easily exploited by others.

Though he displays an overall distaste for his fellow sentient creatures, Benard can very quickly become dependent on others. He isn’t good at taking care of himself or making responsible choices to begin with, and the moment another person takes over some responsibility for his wellbeing he gives it over to them entirely. If he has a personal chef for even a week, for instance, he will become incapable of making his own meals for months to come.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths: Enchanting, general smithery, drinking.

Weaknesses: Interpersonal relationships, fighting, cleanliness.

Inventory

The clothes on his back and ale in his flask.

Motivation

Bernard has nowhere else to go and was informed the Inquisition was the more profitable place for an enchanter to peddle his wares at the moment that didn’t require getting on a boat or getting stabbed by rogue mages/templars. Once he gets to Skyhold, he will simply be too resistant to another change in scenery to leave again.



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