Emeric Vael is a Dragoon candidate, one of the wetscales in Temerity’s intake.1
Description
Appearance
An elf, the oldest of the wetscales, with long, tangled black hair in a loose ponytail and golden amber eyes.21 His skin is fair and unblemished, and the dark circles under his eyes give him the look of someone who does not get enough sleep.1 He wears no armor, and carries a pair of war picks on his belt, one of good wood and steel and the other of dark wood and bone yellowed with age.21 He is fairly well muscled for his lean build.3 He stands five foot eleven, and is rangy. His long nose has been broken at least once and set imperfectly, and his wide mouth rests in a sardonic half-smile. For an elf his manners are rough: he slouches, spits, swears and eats with his hands.
Personality
Emeric is hostile to nearly everyone in the intake. Temerity caught him staring daggers at almost every cadet, and at Lia Amakiir, and the only one he did not seem to dislike was Kyren Lenara.1 He scorns the Order’s pageantry: he told Temerity she was “a little too sold on it all” and reeked of a true believer.1 He is arrogant without bravado, and very hard to read. His face shows little he does not allow it to, a control that comes with practice.1
Emeric believes there are things much worse than Sorrowsworn beyond the walls, and says he means to kill them.1
Biography
Session 9
When Temerity came to the wetscales’ end of the barracks on 29 Coldrise, 1714 PSF, he was sharpening a bone war pick on his bunk. Asked whether the bunks were assigned, he told her it was obvious she was new, and that they were not.2
Session 14
Before sunrise on 1 Nightdeep, 1714 PSF, Emeric told Kyren Lenara, within Temerity’s hearing, “I wouldn’t get attached to this one. I don’t think they have what it takes.”1 When Temerity introduced herself to the cadets he gave her a look of total derision, and made no effort to hide that he hated her.1 He gave his own name as Emeric Vael.1
Dismissed at about five, he found Temerity walking up to him and sighed.1 He told her she and the other trainees had no idea what was out there, and that it was not his job to tell them.1 When she clapped him on the shoulder he smiled a condescending smile. “If you live, you will have exceeded my expectations.”1 As he walked off, Temerity saw him take his hand off the handle of his bone war pick. She had not seen him put it there.1
Session 15
Paired with Temerity to spar on 2 Nightdeep, 1714 PSF, Emeric took a wooden quarterstaff, wielded like a spear, and a baton in his off hand.3 He was faster than Temerity and very precise, but could not parry her blows with wooden weapons.3 As they fought he asked her why she was really there, and grew angrier at each answer. “You can’t be that naive,” he said.3 Temerity knocked him out with a headbutt, and he was taken to the medics, to be out for hours.3 Rhea Larnas had thought him the recruit with the most combat potential.3
Session 16
On 3 Nightdeep, 1714 PSF, Emeric kept up with the harder drills, the most physically capable of the wetscales after Temerity.4 He had avoided her all morning, but when she asked Kyren Lenara for help with the Draconic, he joined them.4 “Look, I’m sorry. I underestimated you,” he told Temerity, and added that she was overestimating her understanding of what she was getting into.4 Kyren had no business being there, he said, and needed far more physical training. Temerity heard concern in it.4
Quotations
- “There are worse things outside these walls than a few sorrow corrupted animals, and I’m going to kill them.” Emeric, to the other cadets.1
- “You reek of a true believer.” Emeric to Temerity.1
- “If you live, you will have exceeded my expectations.” Emeric to Temerity.1
- “That’s something to do. It’s not a reason to do it.” Emeric to Temerity.3