Ronan Theril Thayer (he/him)
Half-Elf Monk (28)
Current Level: 10
Current XP: 575
Current Inspiration: 3
PAST (Backstory)
Important People
Taliesin Thayer — Grandfather and Ringmaster of the Flying Shadow Circus, monk
Amaranthe Theril — Mother, monk
Vasil Thayer — Father, rogue
Suriana Thayer — Older sister and closest childhood friend, a rogue prodigy
Zella Thayer — Younger sister, rogue
Keir Thayer — Younger brother, rogue
Listehl Theril — Cousin and closest childhood friend, monk (deceased)
Danae Whistlestop — Aunt
Ronan grew up in his family’s circus, the Flying Shadow Circus, which was a front for their crime dealings—they often pickpocketed their patrons and warred for territory with other traveling troupes. He was 12 when he went on his first mission to sabotage a rival circus’s tent and open their animal cages. But it gave him a bad feeling. He wasn’t a fan of the vandalism and often volunteered to be the lookout or made excuses to not go altogether. There was only one other circus troupe that returned their sabotage efforts, the Periwinkle Performers. They weren’t as skilled at their disruption efforts as the Flying Shadow Circus was because Ronan’s family’s circus was made up of rogues and monks in the Way of Shadow.
But performing was in his blood—the flying trapeze was his forte and he and his older sister, Suriana, and his older cousin, Listehl, were often paired together for performances. They were best friends—inseparable from the time Ronan could walk and tag along with Listehl and Suri’s antics. Their cousin, Listehl, was a year younger than Suri and a year older than Ronan and the three together were a staple in the circus. Until Listehl’s death when Ronan was 15. Listehl fell ill following a raid on the Periwinkle Performers’ circus. What happened to make him carry the apparently non-contagious sickness home, no one knew. And despite healing efforts, Listehl died a month later.
Ronan and Suri are three years apart which didn’t become a big deal until Suri got her first girlfriend and Ronan, age 14, was suddenly too young to tag-along. It was during their teen years that they grew apart. The death of their cousin and the third to their trio put an additional strain on their relationship. Their distance was one of the contributing factors to Ronan leaving—the biggest emotional anchor tying him to the circus had drifted apart as her rogue abilities soared and he took on the class of his mother—monk.
Ronan is five years older than his next sister, Zella, and nine years older than his brother, Keir. Because of this age gap, Ronan didn’t have a tight relationship with either of them—nowhere near the tight relationship they had with one another.
When Ronan fled, it was early morning—just after dawn when most of the nocturnal crew was still asleep. He gathered his favored belongings—his pan flute and the cook’s tools his auntie had given him for his 15th birthday and that Zella had carved his initials into. He entered their circus tent, the sun streaming through the opening lit on his grandfather who’d woken early as well. Taliesin knew that something was up and may or may not have left his immovable rod in the open as he left. Ronan tried not to think about the possibility that his grandfather hadn’t intentionally left the uncommon item behind for him, and took the rod with him as he fled.
Ronan stumbled upon Piq’s boba shop soon after its founding. After making a meaner comment than he meant to about the food, Piq hired Ronan as chef and soon Ronan spent several nights a week performing when he wasn’t cooking. His immovable rod is quite the prop, his specialty is placing it in the air, swinging on it, clicking it off and then clicking it back on at the end of a mid-air somersault or leap to mimic the trapeze.
PRESENT (Appearance/Description)
Ronan has one of those faces that people think is familiar, though he never knows any of the people who say that to him. His eyes are a bright amber, his hair a soft brown with orange undertones which hangs down just past his shoulders. He has thick eyebrows that are often pulled low in a pensive scowl. His mouth is full and his nose is pointed and straight despite being broken in a botched trapeze act when he was 13. He is 6’0”, lithe and agile.
He wears light clothes—the heaviest article of clothing he has is his cloak which is black on the outside and embroidered with silver threaded four point stars on the inside. He wears his belongings in a black pack that’s been patched many times with various color threads—whatever color the person he paid to stitch it up had at the time.
His ten darts sit in holsters along his leather belt so that he can easily reach them. He carries his quarterstaff like a walking stick which is carved in a braided pattern. The bottom is tipped in a thin metal to protect it from chipping against the ground. He added it himself so it delivers no additional damage regardless of if that end is used in an attack. The staff was his grandfather’s—it was one thing he stole from his family (other than food, water, and the immovable rod) when he fled in the early morning hours.
Ronan is a middle child—a mediator through and through. He’s quiet and observant which serves him well from the shadows where he tends to linger.
He has a love for music and has been teaching himself how to play the pan flute since he was a preteen. He can’t read music, but he enjoys making up songs—even if he’ll never remember them. Every song he plays is basically a new one. Ronan learned to cook from his Aunt Danae whose lessons inspired Ronan both in the kitchen and out of it.
He’s a soft, sensitive person. He makes a lot of social mistakes and because of this he tends to keep quiet in large groups of people—except for his friends from the boba shop at Athkatla. He’s more relaxed with them than he was with his own family—minus Suri and Listehl.
FUTURE (Goals/Dreams)
Ronan isn’t sure what he wants from his future—growing up he thought the only thing he’d ever do was perform with the other shadows in the Flying Shadow Circus. Now that he’s moved beyond that, he has no idea where he’s going in life. He knows he likes utilizing his physical abilities—likes performing and awing people with his skills—but there’s a darkness that lurks in his heart, something that stirred to life when Listehl first fell ill. Something that feels vaguely like a desire for revenge. But Ronan doesn’t like to think about that. He has no proof that the Periwinkle Performers did anything to Listehl, but the unknowing has gnawed at him since he was 15 years old.
For now, he’s mostly content with adventuring with his friends and keeping the boba shop afloat despite the rival tea shop’s antics which remind him heavily of the Periwinkle Performers.