Post by Kanraku on Jun 29, 2007 18:45:57 GMT -5
Full Name: Tekel Serling Laedom
Nicknames: Tekel
Height: 6'2
Bloodline: The blood of Tekel is about 70% human and 30% divine, as he is the descendant of the diety Heironeous.
Gender: Male
Species: Aasimar
Alignment: Lawful Good
Age: 1,586
Aura: A pale golden color
Languages: Common, Archon, Asuras, Celestial, Eladrin, Guardinal, Elven
Appearance: Although at first glance it looks like Tekel is just a normal human, upon closer inspection it becomes obvious of his half-angelic blood. His hair is almost a golden/white color that comes down to just above his shoulders with a straw-like quality. His facial features are soft as the words he speaks, with his cheekbones barely visible and a chin that slopes gently under his tight lips. The hidden ears under his hair are more pointed then a human's ear, but no where as pointed or as tall as an elves.
The leather made robe he wears contrats almost everything about his personality and the rest of appearence. With it's pure black color and pointed shoulder, it almost looks as if the clothes belong on a Tiefling more than an Aasimar. The robe itself drapes behind Tekel a couple steps whenver he walks, and cover his booted feet for the most part giving a floating look. On his left arm he wears a leather bracer with metal trimmings mainly for when he has to fight. The main reason for the darkness of his attire is to hide his golden aura. Although it doesn't completely make it dissapear, it does dim it enough so the normal human cannot see it and it allows him to blend in better in cities, as long as no one notices the glowing tatoos he dawns on his arms and face.
Covering Tekel's entire body are a serious of white (almost glowing) tatoos that signify his close ties to the God's. This is the main feature of Tekel that sets him apart from humans, and he had these odd markings since birth.
Tekel's tall and slender body is a perfect form for his hand to hand style of fighting. Since he does fight this way, his muscles are well toned but no where near huge and frightening.
Personality: To most humans, despite looking like them, Tekel seems very out of place and sometimes even quirky. He does not know a lot about the people of Carme, or their customs which often leads to him looking awkward. When he speaks it's obvious he has the blood of a God. Every word is carefully chosen and soft spoken, which leads to him talking rather slow for most people. In public, Tekel often times is quiet and shy, only talking if he feels it is neccesary.
It is obvious that most of Tekel's personality comes from the divine half of his blood. He is often quiet and never confrentational, always willing to talk out of a situation rather then fight the other person. To most humans he seems boring, maybe even ignorant with how little he talks and how calm he constantly is.
Weapons: Tekel carries no physical weapon, although he can create weapons through magic. If he fights physically, he will use his hands in combat.
Deities: The Gods are the thing that Tekel lives for. In fact, he was born for the sole pupose of serving the Gods, and most specifically Heironeous, who Tekel is descended from. (more in history section)
Knowledges:
Dieities: Having dedicated his life to the Gods (whether it was his choice or not) Tekel knows much about the God's of Carme. Most of the knowledge he knows about the Gods he was born with, but he has inforced this knowledge with countless hours of reading and studying about them.
Divine Magic: Tekel has studied the Divine arts of magic most of his life, using this as his main offensive attack if he ever fights. He is mostly skilled in healing with divine magic, and chooses to rarely fight with it, only when he has to.
Hand to hand Fighting: - To supplement his magical abilities is his strength in hand to hand fighting. Since he carries no weapon, this is his most effective way of physically fighting.
General Knowledge: Although he has human blood, he still finds most of the customs of this plane confusing. He lacks a lot of knowledge about typical life in the kingdom of Carme, despite living in Avie'ka for over a century.
Magic: Tekel's magic is differen't than most people's. Most who use magic some type of energy or mana, while Tekel's magic is almost all purely willpower. He focuses his faith and will into his own form of energy to cast, which gives him the ablity to cast more spells than most people, but it takes a little longer to cast.
Light - Illuminates Tekel to create a sorce of light to see in dark spaces. Can cut threw darkness spells
Blink - A short range teleportation spell. (max distance 20ft)
Rift - A long range teleportation spell that can take Tekel anywhere in Carme, but requires a great amount of energy and has a great risk of failure that can result in death.
Cure Light Wounds - Cures wounds that are found above the skin such as bruises, extrenal bleeding, and cuts with a very small amuont of energy required.
Divine Hammer - Summons small ethernal hammers that float around Tekel and strikes enemies.
Ethernal Sword - Summons a glowing ethernal great sword that Tekel can wield as a melee weapon.
Entropic Shield - Reduces the chances of ranged attacks hitting Tekel by 50%. (lasts 30 seconds)
Bull Strength - Grants the target +4 strength. (lasts 60 seconds)
Cure Moderate Wounds - Cures wounds under the skin such as broken bones and internal bleeding with a moderate amount of energy required.
Dispel - Removes negative spells from the target. (sleep, fear, paralsys, ect)
Cure Serious Wounds - Cures major wounds such as torn limbs, brain damage and major bleeding, but requires a great amount of energy.
Divine Vestment - Adds armor to the target. (lasts 120 seconds)
Searing Light - Shoots a ray of pure divine magic at the target, burning the skin of the evil aligned. .
Raise Dead - Revives a recently deceased target.
Banish - Attacks the soul of the target directly, dealing major damage to the evil aligned.
Parlaysis Ward - Protects the target from paraylsis
Fortitude - Grants the target +2 Constition
Ethereal Jaunt - Makes Tekel invisible until he attacks.
Word of Faith - Stuns the target, and can sometimes kill the evil aligned.
Restoration - Slowly regenerates the health of the target.
Blade Barrier - Creates a ring of ethernal blades around Tekel that attack enemies when they are in radius. (lasts 60 seconds)
Reduced Damage - The target takes 25% less damage while the spell is active. (lasts 20 seconds)
Infuse Health - Tekel loses 50% of his health, but heals the target enirely.
Holy Wrath - Sends a beam of holy light to attack the enemy.
Turn Undead - Either will send undead away or will kill them.
Retribution - Whenever the target is attacked, the attacker recievers 25% percent of the damage back. (lasts 30 seconds)
Diamond Body - Target is immune to all forms of poison. (lasts 30 seconds)
Flurry of Blows - While in this fighting style, Tekel's attacks come 5x faster then he normally attacks, but each hit deals slightly less damage.
Power Strike - A punching attack that requires a slight charge up time but deals a large amount of damage
Stunning Fist - A punching attack that stuns the enemy for a short time. (stun lasts 15 seconds)
Fighting Styles: Since Tekel had no formal training as a monk, most of his fighting styles are self taught, or even made up by him. Some of them were also taught when he spoke to Heironeous.
Cobra Strike - The Cobra Strike fighting style is one that is self-taught by Tekel. The style focuses on agility and defense, allowing the monk to move quickly and make it hard for him to pin down, letting Tekel make an attack when he wishes.
Denying Stance - With this self-taught style, Tekel focuses on dodging attacks and defensive manuevers to cause his enemy to make the first mistake and/or wear themselves out. While in this form he has basically no offensive attacks.
Hand and Foot - In this balanced fighting style, Tekel uses both his hands and feet for offensive and defensive attacks with equal effectiveness.
Invisible Eye - With this fighting style, Tekel fights not with his eyes, but with his ears and all other senses. This style is mainly used in darkness, but is also effective in light. Invisible Eye was taught to him by Heironeous.
Overwhelming Attack - This fighting style leans all the way toward offensive. Tekel unleashes every attack he has constantly with very little breaks (similar to a Barbarian in beserker mode), and leaves him almost defensless against unseen attacks.
Sleeping Tiger - With it's fluid and swift striking, this fighting style is perfect for ambushes. Attacks can sometimes take a little longer to prepare, and cause more damage if the enemy is unaware the attack is coming. This fighting style was taught by Heironeous.
Undying Way - While in this fighting style, Tekel simply shows a great amount of patience by trying to outlast his oppponent with defensive tactics and sheer endurance.
Other Objects: Tekel carries virtually no objects with him other then the clothes on his back.
Weaknesses:
-- Blunt Weapons 20%
-- Fire 10%
Resistances:
-- Age (Tekel has lived longer then most Aasimar, most likely due to his larger amount of divine blood)
-- Divine Magic 50%
Immunities: None
Abilities: Don't let Tekel's lack of weapon and soft personality fool you. If he is forced into it, he combines his divine magic with the fighting style of an unarmed monk to fight an enemy. His close ties to divine magic give him great abilities as a spellcaster, both with healing and offensive spells.
History: Long ago, more then six-thousand years time, the deity Heironeous could only watch as Carme slowly was being tainted by more and more evil. Day by day he watched the killing plundering and rape of the three kingdoms that once were so divine. He was watching the land die.
With the pain that it caused Heironeous, he couldn't bear to watch it much longer. On one day, he vowed to make it all change and had a plan. Heironeous would desguise himself as a human named Ailmon to create a child with one citizen in Carme with the last name Laedom. This would bring about a descendant of the Heironeous himself, one who could prevent the darkness from enveloping Carme.
Generation after generation the descendants of Heironeous and the Laedom bloodline failed in doing Heironeous's plan to keep away the darkness. Most of them died in battle, while some simply did of age. Luckily, before everyone of them died, they always had another child, slowly keeping the Laedom bloodline alive. The longer the bloodline went, the less and less the newest born knew of his divine blood. Slowly the markings of Heironeous began to fade, and the aura of them almost nothing. Finally, almost a four-thousand years after Ailmon had first helped create this divine bloodline, a new born was the one who could finally have the potential do the bidding of Heironeous.
Tekel was born to a small peasent woman who lived just on the boundaries of Valikorli City in Avie'ka. This woman knew nothing of his divine blood. From the moment he was born, there was something differn't with him then the other children. Along with the odd divine markings placed all over his body, he also had a glow about him. Although most magical beings had auras, no one had ever seen a child with a golden aura like Tekel's. Some mages instantly knew he was an Aasimar, while some neglected him, deciding him a freak. Throughout his childhood, Tekel was mistaken as a demon, and often beat upon and miss-treated for it. As much as she wanted to do something, his peasent mother was to scared to do anything to help her frail son. All she could do was run away, and she did so to the small village of Krahm, a city alarmingly close to the scavenger lands. She knew the dangers, but did so to have her son as far away from Valikorli city as possible.
After years of living in Krahm peacefully, the inevitable finally happened and Tekel's mother was killed by scavengers when Tekel was only 14. If it weren't for his half-divine and knowing of what he must do, he may have taken the death harder than he did. But knowing what he was born to do, he simply left Krahm and headed back for Valikorli City just days after he buried his own mother in the soil under the small they lived in.
When he returned the Valikorli City, the reception was just about as good as when he was born. People considered him a freak and outsider, some even considering him a demon, despite the golden aura and bright hair. Despite this, Takel lived outside of the city in the house his mother had lived in just 14 years before.
Throughout the first 18 years of life Tekel had lived, he never had spoken to any God's, Heironeous never interfeared with his childhood, and only watched from the heavens. Finally, when Tekel was 27, he spoke on night in the young Takel's dreams. He confirmed what Tekel had believed all his life, that he was sent to rid the land of the evil that plagued it. Heironeous told of the divine powers and blood that Tekel possessed, and ultimatly helped him utilize them. Tekel took this new knowledge and began to do the dieitie's work. At first he started small, finding caves and abandoned towers that house demons and evil souled creatures. He would enter these places and dispose of them before they knew what happened. His combination of divine magic and self-taught monk style fighting, provided him with a great advantage over the often frail ne'er do wells of Avie'ka.
Over the next 1,300 years, Tekel spent time doing this same thing. He could be found either fighting the evil aligned, or simply helping those in need. Although he was of a God's blood, he knew he was not immortal and took that in stride. Whenver he would enter a city, he would often wear a cloak to conceal his golden hair and eyes, and hopefully his aura. With this he could be seen as a normal human to either interact with people to get food, or to simply sneak up on a demon to dispose of it.
When Tekel was 1,581, he heard that Heironeous had left an ancient artifact . Tekel knew that this would be a test and a hard journy to get this item. But with it, he knew that he could cleanse the land of Carme once and for all.
After finding the artifact the diet Heironeous left for him, Tekel made his way out of Carme, forever leaving the darkness that was his past. He know travels the world freely.
Job/Class: Monk
Family: Tekel's mother was a peasent woman. His father was a failed descendant of Heironeous. (more in history section)
Friends: None
Enemies: Tieflings, Demons, Evil Aligned Characters
Hobbies: Tekel doesn't have many hobbies as he is essentially a bred divine being for the sole purpose of protection, although he does rather enjoy reading and walking aimlessly threw the lands.
Notes: This character is from a site I used to be, I hope it's ok here.
Image:
Nicknames: Tekel
Height: 6'2
Bloodline: The blood of Tekel is about 70% human and 30% divine, as he is the descendant of the diety Heironeous.
Gender: Male
Species: Aasimar
Alignment: Lawful Good
Age: 1,586
Aura: A pale golden color
Languages: Common, Archon, Asuras, Celestial, Eladrin, Guardinal, Elven
Appearance: Although at first glance it looks like Tekel is just a normal human, upon closer inspection it becomes obvious of his half-angelic blood. His hair is almost a golden/white color that comes down to just above his shoulders with a straw-like quality. His facial features are soft as the words he speaks, with his cheekbones barely visible and a chin that slopes gently under his tight lips. The hidden ears under his hair are more pointed then a human's ear, but no where as pointed or as tall as an elves.
The leather made robe he wears contrats almost everything about his personality and the rest of appearence. With it's pure black color and pointed shoulder, it almost looks as if the clothes belong on a Tiefling more than an Aasimar. The robe itself drapes behind Tekel a couple steps whenver he walks, and cover his booted feet for the most part giving a floating look. On his left arm he wears a leather bracer with metal trimmings mainly for when he has to fight. The main reason for the darkness of his attire is to hide his golden aura. Although it doesn't completely make it dissapear, it does dim it enough so the normal human cannot see it and it allows him to blend in better in cities, as long as no one notices the glowing tatoos he dawns on his arms and face.
Covering Tekel's entire body are a serious of white (almost glowing) tatoos that signify his close ties to the God's. This is the main feature of Tekel that sets him apart from humans, and he had these odd markings since birth.
Tekel's tall and slender body is a perfect form for his hand to hand style of fighting. Since he does fight this way, his muscles are well toned but no where near huge and frightening.
Personality: To most humans, despite looking like them, Tekel seems very out of place and sometimes even quirky. He does not know a lot about the people of Carme, or their customs which often leads to him looking awkward. When he speaks it's obvious he has the blood of a God. Every word is carefully chosen and soft spoken, which leads to him talking rather slow for most people. In public, Tekel often times is quiet and shy, only talking if he feels it is neccesary.
It is obvious that most of Tekel's personality comes from the divine half of his blood. He is often quiet and never confrentational, always willing to talk out of a situation rather then fight the other person. To most humans he seems boring, maybe even ignorant with how little he talks and how calm he constantly is.
Weapons: Tekel carries no physical weapon, although he can create weapons through magic. If he fights physically, he will use his hands in combat.
Deities: The Gods are the thing that Tekel lives for. In fact, he was born for the sole pupose of serving the Gods, and most specifically Heironeous, who Tekel is descended from. (more in history section)
Knowledges:
Dieities: Having dedicated his life to the Gods (whether it was his choice or not) Tekel knows much about the God's of Carme. Most of the knowledge he knows about the Gods he was born with, but he has inforced this knowledge with countless hours of reading and studying about them.
Divine Magic: Tekel has studied the Divine arts of magic most of his life, using this as his main offensive attack if he ever fights. He is mostly skilled in healing with divine magic, and chooses to rarely fight with it, only when he has to.
Hand to hand Fighting: - To supplement his magical abilities is his strength in hand to hand fighting. Since he carries no weapon, this is his most effective way of physically fighting.
General Knowledge: Although he has human blood, he still finds most of the customs of this plane confusing. He lacks a lot of knowledge about typical life in the kingdom of Carme, despite living in Avie'ka for over a century.
Magic: Tekel's magic is differen't than most people's. Most who use magic some type of energy or mana, while Tekel's magic is almost all purely willpower. He focuses his faith and will into his own form of energy to cast, which gives him the ablity to cast more spells than most people, but it takes a little longer to cast.
Light - Illuminates Tekel to create a sorce of light to see in dark spaces. Can cut threw darkness spells
Blink - A short range teleportation spell. (max distance 20ft)
Rift - A long range teleportation spell that can take Tekel anywhere in Carme, but requires a great amount of energy and has a great risk of failure that can result in death.
Cure Light Wounds - Cures wounds that are found above the skin such as bruises, extrenal bleeding, and cuts with a very small amuont of energy required.
Divine Hammer - Summons small ethernal hammers that float around Tekel and strikes enemies.
Ethernal Sword - Summons a glowing ethernal great sword that Tekel can wield as a melee weapon.
Entropic Shield - Reduces the chances of ranged attacks hitting Tekel by 50%. (lasts 30 seconds)
Bull Strength - Grants the target +4 strength. (lasts 60 seconds)
Cure Moderate Wounds - Cures wounds under the skin such as broken bones and internal bleeding with a moderate amount of energy required.
Dispel - Removes negative spells from the target. (sleep, fear, paralsys, ect)
Cure Serious Wounds - Cures major wounds such as torn limbs, brain damage and major bleeding, but requires a great amount of energy.
Divine Vestment - Adds armor to the target. (lasts 120 seconds)
Searing Light - Shoots a ray of pure divine magic at the target, burning the skin of the evil aligned. .
Raise Dead - Revives a recently deceased target.
Banish - Attacks the soul of the target directly, dealing major damage to the evil aligned.
Parlaysis Ward - Protects the target from paraylsis
Fortitude - Grants the target +2 Constition
Ethereal Jaunt - Makes Tekel invisible until he attacks.
Word of Faith - Stuns the target, and can sometimes kill the evil aligned.
Restoration - Slowly regenerates the health of the target.
Blade Barrier - Creates a ring of ethernal blades around Tekel that attack enemies when they are in radius. (lasts 60 seconds)
Reduced Damage - The target takes 25% less damage while the spell is active. (lasts 20 seconds)
Infuse Health - Tekel loses 50% of his health, but heals the target enirely.
Holy Wrath - Sends a beam of holy light to attack the enemy.
Turn Undead - Either will send undead away or will kill them.
Retribution - Whenever the target is attacked, the attacker recievers 25% percent of the damage back. (lasts 30 seconds)
Diamond Body - Target is immune to all forms of poison. (lasts 30 seconds)
Flurry of Blows - While in this fighting style, Tekel's attacks come 5x faster then he normally attacks, but each hit deals slightly less damage.
Power Strike - A punching attack that requires a slight charge up time but deals a large amount of damage
Stunning Fist - A punching attack that stuns the enemy for a short time. (stun lasts 15 seconds)
Fighting Styles: Since Tekel had no formal training as a monk, most of his fighting styles are self taught, or even made up by him. Some of them were also taught when he spoke to Heironeous.
Cobra Strike - The Cobra Strike fighting style is one that is self-taught by Tekel. The style focuses on agility and defense, allowing the monk to move quickly and make it hard for him to pin down, letting Tekel make an attack when he wishes.
Denying Stance - With this self-taught style, Tekel focuses on dodging attacks and defensive manuevers to cause his enemy to make the first mistake and/or wear themselves out. While in this form he has basically no offensive attacks.
Hand and Foot - In this balanced fighting style, Tekel uses both his hands and feet for offensive and defensive attacks with equal effectiveness.
Invisible Eye - With this fighting style, Tekel fights not with his eyes, but with his ears and all other senses. This style is mainly used in darkness, but is also effective in light. Invisible Eye was taught to him by Heironeous.
Overwhelming Attack - This fighting style leans all the way toward offensive. Tekel unleashes every attack he has constantly with very little breaks (similar to a Barbarian in beserker mode), and leaves him almost defensless against unseen attacks.
Sleeping Tiger - With it's fluid and swift striking, this fighting style is perfect for ambushes. Attacks can sometimes take a little longer to prepare, and cause more damage if the enemy is unaware the attack is coming. This fighting style was taught by Heironeous.
Undying Way - While in this fighting style, Tekel simply shows a great amount of patience by trying to outlast his oppponent with defensive tactics and sheer endurance.
Other Objects: Tekel carries virtually no objects with him other then the clothes on his back.
Weaknesses:
-- Blunt Weapons 20%
-- Fire 10%
Resistances:
-- Age (Tekel has lived longer then most Aasimar, most likely due to his larger amount of divine blood)
-- Divine Magic 50%
Immunities: None
Abilities: Don't let Tekel's lack of weapon and soft personality fool you. If he is forced into it, he combines his divine magic with the fighting style of an unarmed monk to fight an enemy. His close ties to divine magic give him great abilities as a spellcaster, both with healing and offensive spells.
History: Long ago, more then six-thousand years time, the deity Heironeous could only watch as Carme slowly was being tainted by more and more evil. Day by day he watched the killing plundering and rape of the three kingdoms that once were so divine. He was watching the land die.
With the pain that it caused Heironeous, he couldn't bear to watch it much longer. On one day, he vowed to make it all change and had a plan. Heironeous would desguise himself as a human named Ailmon to create a child with one citizen in Carme with the last name Laedom. This would bring about a descendant of the Heironeous himself, one who could prevent the darkness from enveloping Carme.
Generation after generation the descendants of Heironeous and the Laedom bloodline failed in doing Heironeous's plan to keep away the darkness. Most of them died in battle, while some simply did of age. Luckily, before everyone of them died, they always had another child, slowly keeping the Laedom bloodline alive. The longer the bloodline went, the less and less the newest born knew of his divine blood. Slowly the markings of Heironeous began to fade, and the aura of them almost nothing. Finally, almost a four-thousand years after Ailmon had first helped create this divine bloodline, a new born was the one who could finally have the potential do the bidding of Heironeous.
Tekel was born to a small peasent woman who lived just on the boundaries of Valikorli City in Avie'ka. This woman knew nothing of his divine blood. From the moment he was born, there was something differn't with him then the other children. Along with the odd divine markings placed all over his body, he also had a glow about him. Although most magical beings had auras, no one had ever seen a child with a golden aura like Tekel's. Some mages instantly knew he was an Aasimar, while some neglected him, deciding him a freak. Throughout his childhood, Tekel was mistaken as a demon, and often beat upon and miss-treated for it. As much as she wanted to do something, his peasent mother was to scared to do anything to help her frail son. All she could do was run away, and she did so to the small village of Krahm, a city alarmingly close to the scavenger lands. She knew the dangers, but did so to have her son as far away from Valikorli city as possible.
After years of living in Krahm peacefully, the inevitable finally happened and Tekel's mother was killed by scavengers when Tekel was only 14. If it weren't for his half-divine and knowing of what he must do, he may have taken the death harder than he did. But knowing what he was born to do, he simply left Krahm and headed back for Valikorli City just days after he buried his own mother in the soil under the small they lived in.
When he returned the Valikorli City, the reception was just about as good as when he was born. People considered him a freak and outsider, some even considering him a demon, despite the golden aura and bright hair. Despite this, Takel lived outside of the city in the house his mother had lived in just 14 years before.
Throughout the first 18 years of life Tekel had lived, he never had spoken to any God's, Heironeous never interfeared with his childhood, and only watched from the heavens. Finally, when Tekel was 27, he spoke on night in the young Takel's dreams. He confirmed what Tekel had believed all his life, that he was sent to rid the land of the evil that plagued it. Heironeous told of the divine powers and blood that Tekel possessed, and ultimatly helped him utilize them. Tekel took this new knowledge and began to do the dieitie's work. At first he started small, finding caves and abandoned towers that house demons and evil souled creatures. He would enter these places and dispose of them before they knew what happened. His combination of divine magic and self-taught monk style fighting, provided him with a great advantage over the often frail ne'er do wells of Avie'ka.
Over the next 1,300 years, Tekel spent time doing this same thing. He could be found either fighting the evil aligned, or simply helping those in need. Although he was of a God's blood, he knew he was not immortal and took that in stride. Whenver he would enter a city, he would often wear a cloak to conceal his golden hair and eyes, and hopefully his aura. With this he could be seen as a normal human to either interact with people to get food, or to simply sneak up on a demon to dispose of it.
When Tekel was 1,581, he heard that Heironeous had left an ancient artifact . Tekel knew that this would be a test and a hard journy to get this item. But with it, he knew that he could cleanse the land of Carme once and for all.
After finding the artifact the diet Heironeous left for him, Tekel made his way out of Carme, forever leaving the darkness that was his past. He know travels the world freely.
Job/Class: Monk
Family: Tekel's mother was a peasent woman. His father was a failed descendant of Heironeous. (more in history section)
Friends: None
Enemies: Tieflings, Demons, Evil Aligned Characters
Hobbies: Tekel doesn't have many hobbies as he is essentially a bred divine being for the sole purpose of protection, although he does rather enjoy reading and walking aimlessly threw the lands.
Notes: This character is from a site I used to be, I hope it's ok here.
Image:
' Bloody heck, two jobs and a BUNCH of kerfuffle later, and I'm back AGAIN.