Dorien Voclain
Player: Tuck
Race: Human
House: Wolf
Class: Alchemist
Alignment: True Neutral
Vital Statistics:
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 135 lbs
Eyes: Green
Hair: Blonde
Skin: Pale
Description:
The Voclain family has deep roots in Diablotin going back centuries. While never one of the richer or more powerful families, their ancestry contains several prominent merchants, businessmen, and civil servants. Jerard Voclain was one such prominent man, being a successful local judge who raised his small family in the heart of Diablotin in a large house in The Pavillion. His wife, Sylvise Voclain, was the youngest daughter of a similarly respectable family, the Genevriel’s. A talented sorceress in her own right, Sylvise taught magical theory and metaphysics at a small college on the outskirts of Diablotin.
Their first child, Dorien Voclain, was born on the 13th of Twelfth-month, 2256. Their second child, Lucette Voclain was born a year and a half later in Fifth-month of 2258. Although they had originally wanted a larger family, complications with Lucette’s pregnancy rendered Sylvise sterile. Being intellectuals themselves, the couple raised their children to be curious and inquisitive, never sparing them the truths of how the world worked. Jerard, in particular, believed in being completely and brutally honest with his children on all subjects to encourage their scientific mindedness and encourage the pursuit of fact over fancy.
When Dorien was eight years old, his family took a month-long trip over the summer to visit his mother’s sister and her family in Psyrene. Tiphaigne Genevriel and her family had moved to Psyrene to start a farm as part of a government initiative to relocate imperial citizens there in order to foster intermingling and suppress revolutionary tendencies, a program which was eventually shown to be disastrous.
For the time being, however, the trip to the country was to be one of Dorien’s most pleasant memories and a defining time in his life. He was fascinated by the animals and the natural surroundings, having never been outside of the city limits of Diablotin before. His natural curiosity exploded and the time he spent with his cousin Genevriel Doucette and her family planted the seed of his desire to pursue the interaction of science and magic as his life’s goal.
For a while, after returning from Psyrene, Dorien took up the habit of adopting lost and feral animals in his neighborhood and studying their habits and behaviors. Although he was never cruel or neglectful of the animals, they were as much test subjects as they were friends. This fascination with animals came to an end, however when he was 12 and one of the stray dogs he had tried to befriend attacked him, savagely biting his left hand and leaving a large scar. After that time Dorien became deathly afraid of dogs and stopped collecting animals altogether, his focus shifting instead to chemistry and other sciences.
Dorien was popular enough as a child and had several close friends, some of whom shared his interest in science and nature. One of these was Cyrell Lefevre, a precocious young boy who was a neighbor of the Voclains and eventually apprenticed to a metallurgist, specializing in precision tools and scientific equipment. He currently works for a plant that produces both chemicals and chemistry equipment.
Lacking the wealth necessary to realistically afford tuition at the Castalia, Dorien instead chose to apprentice at the laboratory of a respected alchemist, Julienne Sormet, under whom he learned a great deal about both classical alchemy and the newly emerging tradition of shadar-kai alchemy that was currently being imported from the shadowfell. Julienne encouraged him to pursue his interest in theoretical and speculative chemistry and physics despite Dorien’s father’s insistence that he “Stay grounded” and devote himself exclusively to useful and marketable skills.
While interning at Julienne’s lab, he began a furtive romance with one of his fellow apprentices, a young elven girl named Nedezde Malinastra, the daughter of a low ranking Cozovode diplomat. From her he learned a great deal about elven philosophy and science, using it to inform his own growing knowledge of the world. He found that the elven principle of the oneness of the universe fit well with his concept of alchemy and the unification of science and magic through chemistry. Unfortunately, the romance ended when Nedezde and her family returned to Cozovode after barely a year in Diablotin, however her father’s stern disapproval at her interest in a human boy made the relationship unlikely to continue for long anyway.
After four years of interning at Mme. Sormet’s alchemy lab, Dorien’s father arranged for him to take a position at the Valent Munitions Plant, a practical position that he had secured through a friend of the family. Dorien opposed the mundane nature of the work and tried to refuse the position, but his father insisted that it was either that or being conscripted into the army, as by that time the war with Psyrene was in full swing and Dorien was of conscription age.
Dorien reluctantly went to work at the munitions plant, befriending the daughter of the plant’s owner, Korisse Valent, his immediate supervisor. The two had a friendly professional relationship, often challenging each other and assisting one another on special projects.
In addition, Dorien began a relationship with another laboratory assistant named Emelinda Poirier, an ambitious and talented chemist from a rich family. The two courted for a year and eventually became engaged.
Two years ago, near the end of the war, Dorien was working in a lab at the munitions plant and while distracted, accidentally left a beaker heating for slightly too long, which resulted in a chemical explosion that left two interns dead and caused third degree burns on Dorien’s right arm and side. After two months recuperating from his wounds, he was brought to trial on charges of manslaughter, public endangerment, and destruction of property. Although he was found innocent of any purposeful wrongdoing in the end, the process exhausted him and left him in a state of shattered nerves and depleted confidence in himself and his work. The public accident and trial also meant the end of his career in legitimate alchemy and academic circles. Soon after Emelinda left him as well, unable to deal with Dorien’s shattered nerves and the loss of his confidence and ambition. Within months, Dorien was living on the streets, making ends meet with odd jobs and selling his homemade drugs just to be able to eat.
One afternoon at a local soup kitchen, Dorien met a man who went by the name of Puce who was an ex-drug dealer that had been forcibly put out of business by a woman named Hettienne who had robbed him blind. Puce was looking to get back into the game and Dorien saw a chance to start making some decent money again. With Puce’s contacts and Dorien’s expertise, the pair went into business producing and distributing Dorien’s homemade cocktails of drugs which were too new to even be illegal. Although he and Puce are business partners, Dorien still doesn’t completely trust him, knowing that the hoodlum would turn on him in a minute if he thought there was a profit in it.
About six months ago Titania Trueblood, prodigal daughter of the emperor, was attending a party where several of Dorien’s customers were using his product, and after trying them herself and meeting Dorien, Dorien managed to convince the princess that someone with his skills could help the bottom line of her cabaret by producing cheap, high quality elixirs, drugs, and potions for her clientele without having to buy them from a retailer. Soon after, Titania gave him a small corner of her club to use as a sales floor and a back room for a laboratory and production center, her stipulation being that he limit his in-club sales to legal and not-yet-illegal products and not conduct any illicit activities on the club premises.
Dorien got a small apartment in The Shambles which he currently shares with his roommate, a young inquisitor named Argent. He began working less and less with Puce in order to focus on his legitimate dealings at the cabaret, a situation which Puce has not been happy with. Unfortunately, without Dorien, Puce has no product to deliver and he knows it, so he has grudgingly accepted the arrangement for now.
Dorien still sees his childhood friend Cyrell often, and the two are very close. Since Dorien’s accident, Cyrell has become a major supplier of chemicals and equipment for Dorien’s personal projects and professional work. In addition, Dorien still sees his sister sometimes, as she is an occasional visitor to Titania’s cabaret. Lucette has made a name for herself as a successful sorceror and has recently accepted a teaching position at the Castalia where she teaches basic sorcery and magical theory. For a while she was also dating the MC at the cabaret, Hugonel Silveira, a descendant of a lesser branch of a previous emperor. Dorien has not seen his parents since shortly after the trial, and he is in no hurry to see them any time soon. The thought of what his father might say to him at this point is nearly enough to send him into a panic attack.
Dorien has made several friends and acquaintances at the club. One of them, a young girl named Denise Murodea, has become something of a companion of his, helping him with his projects and running errands for him. Another, the stage magician Aubrienne Romilly, has become one of his best customers.
Dorien’s life in the last two years has been a freefall that has only recently begun to stabalize. He has fallen far from the graces of academia and the legitimate alchemical world, and he has no idea how to regain his lost status, or if he even wants to. For now he is simply going through the motions of survival, hoping to figure out what he’s looking for and how to get it somewhere in the streets of Daiblotin.
After the events of Diablotin 3, Dorian had three children with Misery and funneled his energies into his family and building Drenco (Diablotin Research and Engineering Company) into a major industrial company with Misery and Nedezde as his business partners. Through a variety of patents on chemicals, processes, and industrial equipment, the company grew to be one of the leading industrial powerhouses in the city during the post-war years, and also one of the few to employ Shadar Kai and Rat citizens in higher management and research positions.
Later in life, Dorien and Misery became active in community development, especially in The Shambles. They used their wealth and influence to fund welfare and children's programs, anti-drug programs, education initiatives, and infrastructure development for the Shadar Kai community and the rest of the city.
Associated NPCs:
Name - Age - Occupation/Class
Misery - "Wife"
Viv'zii Voclain Oldest daughter
Celeste Voclain - Middle daughter
Entropy Voclain - Youngest son
Jerard Voclain - 53 - Judge
Sylvise Voclain - 50 - Sorceror
Lucette Voclain - 22 - Sorceror
Cyrell Lefevre - 25 - Artisan/Metallurgist
Julienne Sormet - 48 - Alchemist
Nedezde Malinastra - 23 - Alchemist
Emelinda Poirier - 26 - Scientist
Puce - 38 - Rogue
