Appearance

Physical Description

Surprisingly fit for a dwarf. Foregoing the stereotypical appearance of looking like a barrel of mead. Protruding muscles can be seen underneath his clothes.

Body Features

A muscular dwarf with an average height and weight to boot. Thanks to the amount of travel he does and the exercise that comes with it, it has allowed him to shape his body into something that is envied by most others. It does however make him a bit of an outcast within the dwarven society, which he couldn't care less about.

Facial Features

A big, prominent beard frames his face along with a moustache and sideburns which he keeps well-trimmed and unbraided. Not a single piece of jewelry can be found intertwined in neither hair, beard or face. His reasoning being that it can be easily latched onto in a fight, or stolen by brigands.
His brown eyes pierce through anyone he speaks to as if he's looking at something behind them.

Identifying Characteristics

A frequent smoker and thus can almost always be seen with a pipe in his mouth as if it was glued onto it. Enjoys wearing featureless clothing save for a ring that sits sternly on one of his fingers, made out of silver and gold. Can predictably be found in a place of healing such as a temple where he performs the work of his Deity, free of charge.

Physical quirks

His eyes become twitchy and erratic when he enters a room with a heavy atmosphere as if looking for a way to escape the situation.
Every step he takes looks calculated and careful.
Has a tendency to sigh a lot, to the irritation of others.

Apparel & Accessories

Ranulf prefers featureless clothing compared to other clerics or dwarves for that matter, saying it allows him to blend into a crowd more easily. As such, he looks more or less like a common dwarf on his way to work by the forge rather than a cleric of Life. One could almost say that he takes great care in making himself as featureless and uninteresting as possible. He never leaves home without armour however and carries it concealed underneath his garbs.

Mentality

Education

Ranulf has no proper education save for the one that all clerics undergo when they become a servant to the greater cause.
One could argue that he learned how to forge by his father when he was at a very young age, but whatever knowledge he gained then, has been lost to the mists of time ages ago.

Employment

A very common misunderstanding is that Ranulf is hired by the local temple or other similar holy site since he almost always spends his free time there tending to sick and wounded. If he isn't there then another location would be a hospital or a battlefield as a medic. But the dwarf has no employment or ties with anyone, instead he performs his art and helps people free of charge, only asking for the bare minimum in return such as water and a place to sleep. Had he been conscripted into the army or hired by the local authorities, he would have earned much more silver to earn his keep. But he refuses such things, preferring to be his own boss rather than someone's pawn.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Thanks to his travels and his dedication to helping the sick and wounded regardless of alignment or where on the social hierarchy ladder the people he's treating stands, he earned the nickname 'Father Ranulf', one which he himself refuses to use and scoffs at others who insist on doing so.
 
Once managed to save a high ranked officer within the Elite Guard of a dwarven military force by amputating both his legs, having been the only cleric to correctly identify that he was suffering from flesh-eating bacteria brought upon him by an undead ambush.

Failures & Embarrassments

Because he doesn't drink strong spirits and isn't accustomed to its intoxicating effects, he becomes completely smashed very easily (if one were to be able to get him to drink it, that is)
 
His refusal to let anyone die if there's even a small chance of saving them will at times clash with the opinions of people he is trying to save, as he is absolutely unable to understand or comprehend the fact that there are some who simply do not want to be saved by him and instead prefers to let death come and claim them.

Mental Trauma

After he inherited a strange book with odd symbols on it and a lock without a key keeping it shut and closed from his father, he spent years attempting to open it thinking it would point to other family heirlooms.
What awaited him when he opened it was madness, chaos and unspeakable things that etched themselves onto his psyche. Burning the book, he is still suffering from the after effects of it and continues to grow increasingly more paranoid, superstitious and mad as a result of this.
 
The burden has taken its toll on the dwarf and those who look into his eyes can see that he has faced unimaginable horror and lived to tell the tale about it.

Intellectual Characteristics

Ranulf, for better or worse, is never or very rarely influenced by the world around him and has instead his goal set in stone and never deviates from this path towards it.
This has led him to be brutally honest in situations that required a more delicate touch because by his own reasoning, time that is taken away from him that could be spent performing his healing arts is time wasted. He has no patience for small talk and prefers getting the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Morality & Philosophy

Ranulf never distinguishes right from wrong, or good and bad. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter to him what people choose to squabble over. You can be a pickpocket, an assassin, a corrupt government official, an honest and good King, an ordinary farmer. To Ranulf, they are all treated with equal worth no matter their accomplishments or commited crimes.
Because if he were to see the differences and build an opinion based on that, it might hinder his work to be performed in a timely and efficient manner. And that is something the dwarf cannot allow to happen.
Failing to save someone from the clutches of Death because of his hesitation to aid them would be something he could never forgive himself for. Everyone has to live, because everyone has to suffer.

person.sexuality

Ranulf is by all accounts, straight.
But he has not once been with a woman and at this stage in his life would never even consider such an option.

person.gender_identity

"What are yah even blabberin' about? Are ye injured or not? No? Then don't waste my time with shite that's better suited for scholars and bookworms."

Taboos

Because of what transpired for Ranulf, which shaped him into the dwarf that he is today, he has made a vow to himself never to kill anyone unless it is the absolute last resort be they man or beast alike.
This means that he shows mercy to all beings, good or evil. To him, they all deserve the chance to live so that the can carry on suffering.
 
He drinks alcohol but never to the point where he becomes drunk or tipsy or anything of the sort. This has put him in a fair amount of awkward situations around his dwarven peers. His reasoning behind this is that it dulls his senses and would make it hard for him to detect danger.
 
Refuses to eat fish or anything else caught from the ocean.

Known Languages

Ranulf can speak and write Common and Dwarvish. Due to the unfortunate event that struck him earlier in his life, he can also understand Deep Speech in both spoken and written form. But this is something he doesn't share with others out of fear of invoking or enraging whatever unnatural forces that might be listening.

Personality

Motivation

After having turned from a very common and ordinary dwarf into the broken shell of a man he is today, Ranulf became bitter and resentful towards those around him who doesn't have to suffer the way he does, every day and every moment on the mortal plane.
This led to him becoming a Life Cleric in order to keep as many people as possible away from the sweet release of death.
He prefers people to be alive and battling their own horrible mental traumas, their failures and their embarrasments because if he has to do that, then everyone has to. The only way the dwarf feels satisfaction, is through other people's suffering.

Quotes & Catchphrases

"What can I do for ya?"
"Good and evil, who the fuck cares? Injured or dyin', now that's more like it."
"I have no sympathy for the dead. They're the lucky ones."
"Expect danger around every corner, lad."

Savvies & Ineptitudes

His absolute determination to become the greatest healer in Faêrun and beyond has allowed him to become deeply invested in the anatomy of several different races and thus can correctly identify ailments faster than most of his kind and attempt to cure it just as quickly.
 
Has a complete lack of understanding in how to conduct himself in meetings of an important nature or in situations that he finds to be uncomfortable.
At which point, he either becomes brutally honest or doesn't utter a single sentence. A nightmare for diplomats who will quickly find that Ranulf is beyond help in this matter.

Likes & Dislikes

One can easily describe Ranulf in his current state as a sadist as he finds great satisfaction in the suffering of others.
He never inflicts it himself, instead opting to keep those around him alive in order for them to continue fighting their inner demons, their doubts, failures, nightmares and embarrasments.
 
Enjoys smoking as it calms his nerves.
 
Is easy to anger whenever he encounters another being who has given up on life and is ready to die either by their own hands or someone else's and will as a result of that go out of his way to make sure that the person in question survives whatever wound or injury that gets inflicted on them out of pure spite towards them.

Virtues & Personality perks

The Hill Dwarf will persevere in any given situation if it means he gets one step closer to achieving his goal. Like a brutal enforcer but instead of inflicting pain, he specializes in removing pain. Physical ones anyway.

Vices & Personality flaws

Despite his actions leading him down a path of good, Ranulf can just as easily turn around and carry on with actions that can be labelled as evil. If it ends up hurting others in the process, he could care very little so long as it doesn't kill them.
Nothing is allowed to stand in his way on his road of curing ailments and healing wounded. For better or worse.
He's not actively involved in criminal events but doesn't shy away from them either for this very reason and has no qualms in either accepting help or hiring help from the criminal underbelly.

Personality Quirks

Ranulf has tried to bury his past and run away from it, but to no avail. It haunts him day and night. Cannot be killed with a sword or eliminated by magic. It can appear in the corner of his eyes as a barely noticeable shadow, a nightmare that torments him in his sleep orwhispers in a dark room where only he is present.
This burden has taken its toll on the dwarf, turning him into a paranoid and superstitious creature with a penchant for OCD behavior to boot.

Hygiene

Since he understands how things like infections and disease can spread through a lack of hygiene, Ranulf keeps himself clean at all times with a good helping of clean water and disinfectants in his backpack.

Social

Birthplace

Settlestone

Current Residence

Ravenloft

Hobbies & Pets

Has no known pets or hobbies worth mentioning.