RULEBOOK

NAMES

NAME › Merlin (given name) ; Merlin Ambrosius (chosen) ; Myrddin Wyllt (welsh version)
OTHER NAMES › Emrys (name prophesied by the druids), Merlin Ambrosius, Myrddin Wyllt
ALIAS › Dragoon the Great, a number of false names he assumes over the course of his immortality; generally tends to assume most basic of names, as they are the best for staying lowkey (but not always)

PERSONALITY

HOGWARTS HOUSE: Slytherin
ZODIAC: Scorpio sun, Aries moon, Gemini rising
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic neutral (dependent on point in time) ; gray morality archetype

LIFESPAN

LIFE STATUS: immortal
AGE: Physically around 30, actually over 1500 years old. Can manipulate physical age at will.
DATE OF BIRTH: October 31st (Samhain), late 5th century (unknown until later in life)
PLACE OF BIRTH: Ealdor, Essetir ; Albion (of Britannia)
ORIGIN: Most of his family hails from Wales, where he has also resided later in life at Carmarthen

IDENTITY

GENDER: male
SEXUALITY: bisexual & biromantic
SPECIES: magic incarnated, nexus being (commonly referred to as a sorcerer, mage, warlock, wizard, among other names, but not actually either of them), meta to be added.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

HAIR COLOUR › Black
HAIR TEXTURE Thick and wavy/curly. Choice of hairstyles have been varied over the course of history depending on current fashion and his own preference. He feels more comfortable in longer, below the ears hair (but not too long).
EYE COLOUR Blue / golden when using magic
DOMINANT HAND: Right primarily, somewhat ambidextrous
SPECIAL FEATURES: Light freckles on his nose, cheeks and at the top of his shoulders, a mole in the centre of his back
TATTOO: Magical dragon tattoo he got around the 12th century, done together with his magician friend and artist; it moves over his body, changes colours or sizes, or disappears altogether, especially if Merlin doesn’t trust the person that could potentially see it; its movements believably mimic a real dragon’s.

FAMILY

MOTHER: Hunith ; human, died when Merlin was thirty - eight (to his knowledge a commoner resided in the village called Ealdor, later finds out an educated woman of previously royal descent in exile from infancy, who spent all of her life living as a peasant)
FATHER: Balinor ; dragonlord, died a day after Merlin met him at twenty years old (before the Great Purge a lord and a member of the Order of Dragonlords, after the Purge becomes the last of his kind, a recluse hiding in a cave far from Camelot, eventually dying and passing his gifts to Merlin).
UNCLE: Gaius ; human, magic user, died two years after Camlann (Hunith’s brother, in Camelot from early youth, working as the court physician and a member of the Royal Council)
FAMILY FILES CONTINUED: the detailed account concerning merlin's heritage and his family HERE (link tba).

FORMAL

AFFILIATION: magic, magic users, Old Religion, Avalon, formerly the druids, formerly Camelot, formerly Albion, primarily himself during his immortality
WEALTH STATUS: starting from poverty (raised as a commoner), through a commoner with decent pay, a decent wealth with a title, to a sizable financial portfolio based on a fortune he made over the years of his immortal life

OCCUPATION: formerly Prince Arthur’s manservant / King Arthur’s personal servant, the physician’s apprentice / physician, later a number of high positions in the court of Camelot over the years, including being the member of the Royal Council and the original figure at the Round Table ; a healer, a scholar or a bard every now and again ; mage and magic teacher every now and again ; a number of other occupations during his immortality. He started his own magic school in Carmarthen.

FILES

STATUS: Born and raised as a commoner, later in life receives a noble title under the rule of Arthur Pendragon. Years after receiving the title, he learns more about his own heritage, and ultimately finds out his mother’s family is a daughter of a former king of Demetia / Dyved (before being overthrown when his mother was still just a baby), and his own father being a lord by birth before the Great Purge. It doesn't change anything, however if the Great Purge had never happened, his upbringing would have been vastly different - if not because of his mother's line, then most certainly because of his father's.
TITLES: The Last Dragonlord, briefly the Court Physician, the Court Sorcerer (under Queen Guinevere’s rule), First Royal Advisor ; Lord Merlin, Lord Emrys, Lord Ambrosius.

magic

The most important thing to always keep in mind, is that Merlin is extremely powerful. In his youth he only began to learn how to access his full power, knowing how to use it instinctually since birth. In legends, he’s been said to be able to do things such as rising entire cities from the ground, and his power could be compared to one of a deity. People have called him a sorcerer, mage, magician or a wizard, and he allows it, but in technical terms, that's not what he is. He's canonically an incarnation of magic, and would be considered a nexus being.That makes him an infinite, chaotic magical energy reshaped and put into a body that appears to be human. He's closer to something eldritch than something human. He is his own powerhouse of energy, and it is what makes him fully immortal - it also means that while in his canon magic is dying, his never runs out, making him the last beacon of it, and the reason it can still be maintained and eventually restored.

However, I'm most likely to roleplay in worlds where magic is ever present, where he still is what he is - but less depressed.He's tied to the grand design and is meant to keep the balance, which often determines how and when he uses his magic concerning high scale events, and whether or not he will get involved.There's a number of limitations he has, most of which are directly linked with his duty to uphold the balance in the world. Seeing as he's tied to the creation, and senses and disturbances, he sees it as his duty to keep the grand design in tact, which he's selectively upholding. Due to his power status, he's also usually discouraged from time travel by the Powers That Be. He can remember the different timelines when they are changed and travel dimensions. With some of the most unstable branches of magic, especially healing and necromancy, it doesn't always work or work as expected, seeing as it depends on someone he's trying to help's destiny. Shortly - he technically can do it, but he might not be willing.

details

TRAVELLING WITH AITHUSA: In the first few centuries after leaving Albion when he travels with Aithusa to search for more dragons. For safety, he often transforms her into a small white lizard that fits right into his pocket when travelling too long of a distance or when it’s not safe for her to fly.FASHION SENSE: Merlin's an immortal, so his fashion sense varies greatly depending on the century, as well as whether he wants to be noticed or not. If he wants to, he looks like the plainest dude you will ever see. Might even put on his old man disguise. But Merlin in the legends was known for his feather cloak, so I want you to know is that he's the most fashionable fashion disaster if he puts his heart into it.Drama is the key word. He likes patterns, and he dresses weird, because often your favourite clothing item is like fifty years out of fashion.

MAGIC SCHOOL: In Merlin’s canon towards the end of his original lifetime, he establishes a magic school in Carmarthen in Wales where his family on his mother’s side originally came from. That’s where Merlin’s tower comes from actually, as it was adjacent to the school itself. When he leaves Albion, the school runs on without him, with many brilliant sorcerers teaching, until he returns and finds widespread Christianity and anti magic sentiments, again. That’s why he uses magic to put the school into a pocket dimension for safety, which is where it resides until modern times.In verses where magic is dying, the school has eventually been abandoned and gone into disrepair, though the pocket dimension is still operational.In verses where magic is doing fine, the school still exists and is running. The teachers are often former students, with Merlin popping in every now and then. It’s not a widely known location and only a handful of students know Merlin is the Merlin, and still alive, and not just some guy, given that the paintings of him inside are of him in his old man disguise.

items and spells

There’s a list of recurring enchantments, spells and themes my Merlin has been using throughout his immortality, that keeps popping up in threads, so to clarify a few confusions, especially for people who haven’t followed me for very long:MAGICAL HUT BY THE CRYSTAL CAVE: At the end of his life in Albion, in order to protect magic, Merlin relocated to a small hut by the Crystal Cave. Before leaving Albion to search for more dragons with Aithusa, he enchanted the hut to be forever preserved in a pocket dimension. Despite its own natural magical protection, after returning some time later and seeing what has happened to Britannia in his absence, he extended the dimension to include the crystal cave to protect it.He also enchanted the hut to be bigger on the inside and the place has continued to grow over the centuries, holding many lost magical objects, memorabilia and extinct plants.Seeing as he’s the only one who can find it, it’s a lost powerhouse of magic, knowledge, history and Merlin himself, however over the years he’s invited many people to come and visit.Despite it being in a pocket dimension, the area where it would have been placed is still covered in a forest up to the modern day.

RINGS: Merlin commonly wears at least two rings on his fingers. The one with a gem on it is one of his transformed magical staffs that he can whip up if he wants to at any given time (he doesn’t actually need those, but it looks cool in physical combat, which he tends to avoid unless necessary or he’s angry enough to smack someone, helps aim when you want to get a specific person in a battlefield, or simply just for the aesthetic). The other one with markings on it is a direct link to his hut, through which he can access items he left behind during his travels. Sometimes he also uses a ring for storage, or one enchanted to be a ring, but is actually a dagger.RETURN TO OWNER SPELL: Everything he owns and carries with him, in case of being lost or stolen, is enchanted to return to Merlin, unless they are things he can allow to be lost.It works on a case to case scenario, so if let’s say someone who’s actually just hungry steals something from him that’s not irreplaceable, the spell doesn’t activate, but the rest of things have a return to owner enchantment. They also hold a location spell, just in case.ENCHANTED BAGS: He always appears to travel very light, but actually his bag or occasionally pockets are enchanted to hold much more on the inside than they could ever hold judging from the outside, which has proven very useful considering he travels all the time.

AITHUSA: The White Dragon. She is one of the great dragons, and the first Merlin called to life as a dragonlord. Because of certain events, she never fully grown, and instead became disabled, never learning how to speak or use her full power. Merlin travels with her for about three hundred years after his original lifetime, before she passes away.THEODORE PERIWINKLE: Zombie cat. Merlin's cat during Victorian era, who despite his grumpy attitude, has become Merlin's longtime companion. After his death, he reanimated him into a zombie cat, whose black fur turned glittery and eyes turned purple.

PRIMULA, RENATA & RORY: Loyal horses. Having spent long centuries horseback riding, Merlin has grown a great love for horses. These three are his current friends, and he tends to them faithfully.

FORKINSON AND SPOONELLA SNUGGLYPUFF: Fork is a stray cat Merlin found and adopted in modern times. He was an orc in past life. Spoon is his lizard sister, who likes to sit on top of Merlin's head, and followed him for as long as he finally decided to adopt her.