Sigmund Roenach
Profile
Basic Information
Name:
Sigmund Roenach
Nickname(s):
Sigi
Age:
18
Birth Date:
10th Thawing, 8277
Height:
6'
Gender:
Male
Race:
Human
Class:
Rogue
Occupation:
Deposed Prince of Koben
Guild(s):
Enhancement(s):
Therras' Favour
Likes
Animals, pegasus riding, trips on airships, warm and chatty people, ghost stories, fireplaces, marzipan, apples, secret codes and puzzles
Dislikes
Being put on the spot, big expectations, invasive questions, orchestra, blood sports and hunting, fireworks, sailing ships, being touched without warning
Personality
Timid | Soft-hearted | Sincere | Dutiful | Self-effacing | Sensitive | Moody
Sigmund is known in court as a 'nice kid' - kind, gentle and unassuming, but without much will of his own. For the most part, they are right. He is indeed a bleeding heart who tends to idolise others at his own expense. He is eager to please and placate, and gives things easily - from material gifts to care, attention and forgiveness - at the cost of being a doormat. And through a combination of a sensitive personality and childhood experiences that stunted his growth, he severely lacks confidence.
Unfortunately his own self-defeating habits make his failings very easy to see. He is painfully shy and struggles to stand up for himself, partly by nature and partly because he has internalised a lifetime of comparisons with his charismatic older brother. He often caves to criticism, pressure, guilt, fear and his own poor self esteem, which results in giving up, clamming up or running away most of the time. None of this, however, means that he lacks thoughts and feelings of his own - he is in fact a very emotional person and overthinks to the point of stress all the time... but with no outlet for the maelstrom in his heart, he bottles everything up and ends up prone to moods, melancholia, sudden outbursts and poor decisions fed by both impulse and tangled thought processes.
Yet as chaotic as he is right now, he does have valuable strengths if only he could believe in himself long enough to show them. While he lacks his brother's force of personality, he has his own kind of understated charm - empathetic, sweet with words and harmless in a way that makes it easy to let one's guard down with him. And while he seems toothless, he is a surprisingly cunning and determined liar when he really wants something - though his sheltered life and timidity mean he's still too naive to make proper use of it. Most of all, despite his avoidant maladaptions he is responsible at heart; in the end he really does want to do right by his friends, his duties and his people.
History
At birth, Sigmund was highly celebrated - for several generations the ruling line of Koben's Imperial family had borne only single heirs, so the arrival of a second son was cause for joy. As he grew up however, the positive sentiment turned largely to disappointment - as it turned out, his soft personality was clearly unsuited for royal responsiblity. For a while this didn't really matter - the younger son was an opportunity wasted, but his older brother was more than enough and at least this would mean little chance of succession drama. He went through the usual rigours of a royal upbringing, but was allowed to stay away from the pressure of the spotlight.
It was a lonely childhood - his father was cold by nature, his mother distant by choice, and the people around him tended to be either critical or dismissive. It was only his servants and eventually his older brother Fabian who gave him real, consistent warmth. He attached strongly to Fabian, who became in his eyes not only his brother, but his protector and idol.
All this came crashing down when Fabian was assassinated. All eyes turned to 13 year old Sigmund, and suddenly it meant a world more that he was no match with the confident, likeable Fabian. There was not enough time for him to grieve his colossal loss. The pressure from his father and tutors to become a worthy heir intensified, often in unhelpful ways. The court whispered about him with a mix of fear for the nation and stirring personal ambition - if Sigmund couldn't be a good ruler, as history and evidence seemed to say, then they would have to take it upon themselves to control him.
Crushed with grief and new royal pressures, Sigmund clung to Fabian's rose-tinted shadow - if he himself wasn't enough, then he would have to become a replacement for his brother. He tried to adopt what he knew of Fabian's mannerisms, aesthetics and friends. He pushed himself harder at the things Fabian did well... but it was never going to work and deep down he knew it though he didn't accept it. Even as he aged to look more and more like his brother, they were fundamentally different and Sigmund continued to grow in a different direction whether he liked it or not. Where Fabian was charismatic, brash and forward, Sigmund couldn't help but be soft-spoken, delicate and distant. Where Fabian danced through court life with an easy charm, Sigmund continued to stumble - burdened by preconceptions, insecurities and a sensitive nature ill-suited for the court's adversarial games.
Current Story
Stuck though he was on the past, the rest of the world did not wait for him. Sigmund, the dud prince who nobody had much hope for, became a central pawn in the Empire's games of power. Kidnappings, attempted assassinations, an arranged marriage just as he was discovering his own first love with someone else - troubles orchestrated by other people came at him one after the other. His desperation to live up to what others wanted transformed into frustration at being thrown around, and at his own helplessness in the midst of it all. Though the tumult of his life left him constantly grasping for safety, it also loosened his grip on his brother's shadow. And with the help of friends who saw him as he was, he at last broke free of it.
But just as he found his own will, he made the biggest mistake of his life. He followed his parents to the Citadel of Crowns against their wishes and in the battle against an Ascended there, he saved his mother but caused his father's death. On his return to Koben, with the Emperor's seat before him, he spiralled into a mire of guilt and grief. A series of bad decisions made in that haze gave Renata Kaspar, Marchioness of Vilsia, the chance to force him under her thumb - banished from Koben to choose between living as her puppet or abdicating. He chose instead to escape by faking his own suicide.
He is now on the run while Renata takes the throne. Now more than ever, he must confront the question of what he really wants.
(As of last sighting he has at least managed to pawn off his old clothes for a new set and some pocket change, thanks to the example of his former companions. He got his true peasant clothes but he also very much got ripped off...)
Additional Info
Politically, he has always been seen as a puppet despite Artur's insistence that he will rule by his own power. This has led a lot of the powerful people around him to try mold him - consciously or otherwise - into someone who will bend to external (i.e. their) advice. A dutiful type by nature, he absorbed this and has trouble trusting his own judgment over others'.
When he was young, he worried a lot of people by developing imaginary friends at far too late an age, and far to vividly - even going so far as to physically injure a friend of his at the time. The suspicion that he wasn't quite right in the head was deemed something inappropriate to be open about, so the sentiments were disguised in superstition. Coincidentally, by hour of birth he is a Secret Raven - and because he has no ability with magic, the obvious conclusion is that the karma over his head is one of death and misfortune. Although those details aren't public knowledge, it did feed into the story of a prince surrounded by bad karma.
He is dexterous and pickes up sleight of hand pretty quickly (Fabian used to use him in his pranks for that exact quality, which Sigmund felt very chuffed about at the time). Surprisingly for those who only know of his timidity, he's also quite acrobatic and has no fear of heights. He has more or less taught himself a number of pegasus aerial tricks that his riding tutor would blanche at if they knew.
He is good with animals and leans on his (many) pets for companionship. He has a small sparrowhawk pegasus from childhood that's now retired but still cared for, and has since moved on to a striking widowbird show pegasus and a Brahminy kite sport pegasus. He used to look after Fabian's red wolong, until his brother died and his father got rid of it in grief.
Very sheltered in a very bourgeois way. Does not understand money.
Relations
Fabian Roenach
Beloved older brother, the only family member he attached strongly to. Sigmund adored, idolised and in many ways relied on him. Despite the 11 year difference, they were genuinely close and shared a special rapport.
Elizabeth Zimmermann
Childhood friend/bully turned ex-girlfriend. When he was eight and they were newly introduced, Sigmund had a brief crush on her. Later, he rebounded on her after his forced breakup with Lorna. Although he directed his pent up energies towards her for a period, it never registered to him that she considered them to be 'dating' so left without warning. He wants to apologise but isn't sure she wants it - especially since she's left Koben.
Luciana Kaspar
Childhood friend turned ex-girlfriend. His second rebound after Lorna was with Luciana. Their relationship lasted a few months but ended explosively when it became clear he was using her. When he wouldn't leave her alone out of guilt after it ended, she resolved to use his desperation for forgiveness for her family's advantage.
