Introduction
Solomon van Rijn
An Angel [
Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future
Appearance
Notable Features
Sol has a habit of being noticed before he has even been seen. When he enters a space, he carries an effusive warmth, a feeling of coming home after a long absence that settles deep into one's ribcage. And when he is seen, he's hard to forget—towering over six feet tall, with a narrow, muscled frame, and a boyish energy in his expression; an earnestness, a drive to do good, be good. It's infectious.Personal Style
Solomon is, as many would put it, a bit of a dandy. He maintains meticulous grooming (when he remembers to shave), tailored three-piece suits that fit comfortably in light fabrics in neutral shades of cream, beige, and desert sand, and well-kept boots that are polished, but that quickly gather a homely dusting of the world with the way he paces around his workshop. (He would admit, sheepishly, that he rather likes the way they look when like that.)Solomon van Rijn
Editor, Under the Never Sun
Antique Books, Binding, Repair
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath:
for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Editor, Under the Never Sun
Antique Books, Binding, Repair
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath:
for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Circumstances
Currently
Something tells Sol he hasn't always been in Never, but he can't put a finger on what he was up to before finding himself on a dusty stretch of road leading into town. Since arriving about twenty years ago, he's set himself up in a small but comfortable homestead west of town, out of which he operates a printing press and issues a semi-monthly gazette, Under the Never Sun (which he sometimes shortens to UNS, pronounced uhnz).When not working on his gazette, Solomon can usually be found repairing antique books or writing up the next episode of The Brave Adventures of Zeke, a whimsical periodical about the cat that hangs around his property, known to steal letters and stamps and other small items.
His gun belts are always hanging from hooks by his front door, and when the Sheriff comes calling, Solomon takes up arms without hesitation. There's something pure about setting things right in the world, about fixing wrongs, and when the words don't come, when the print feels out of order, Sol knows that he can rely on the justice of the law to make everything feel organized and proper again.
Health & Capabilities
Physically, Solomon is the paragon of perfection, quick and nimble, but his mental health is a collection of fractured shards. "I wish you could forget …"On the rare nights he manages to find some semblance of sleep, it's fitful, and full of terrors. A darkness he keeps running toward, and feelings he can't reconcile with in the light of day.
Another effect of the demonic magic that binds his memories is that he holds a strong grudge against the concept of time; a clock on every wall, a watch in every suit pocket ... and he still can't keep his days (and years) straight with any consistency.
Socioeconomics
Solomon has managed to secure a modest living as writer, printer, and general book aficionado. While his semi-monthly gazette, Under the Never Sun, does not fare as well as its grander cousin, The Observer, Sol's quirky and unique perspectives have brought insight and humor to the generous folks of Never, allowing him to continue its issues out of his homestead just west of town for several years now. Their noble donations help him keep things running, but where they fall short, he engages in a series of barters with other townsfolk for all the odds and ends a man could need, often at a disadvantage to himself; it's the connections that matter, he knows.Skills & Talents
- Bookbinding- Book repair
- Gunsmithing
- Gunslinging
Present Relationships
Ariel Bernstein, printer's devil, apprentice, recipient of his first fallen miracle. Solomon reserves a complicated fondness for the young man; he sees in him a great will for goodness, but the darkness of his past still haunts him. Sol hopes that by providing purpose in work, Ariel will find purpose in life, too.Charles Four Rivers, newspaperman of The Observer, the two share a kindred calling to the truth, albeit a wildly different idea on how to deliver it. Solomon harbors a warm smile when he mentions how much he enjoys their banter, but indeed, most of their engagements are spent quietly reading in the same room. Still, he cherishes these hours on Thursday evenings, when he can remember them.
Aaron Bayliss, sheriff of Never (more insights coming)
Boone Duning, deputy sheriff of Never (more insights coming)
Identity
Hobbies
- Writing The Brave Adventures of Zeke, a series of short stories centered around the scrappy smoke-gray cat that has adopted his homestead as its own- Collecting and repairing antique books; the older, the better
Habits & Routines
Deeply spiritual and religious, Solomon keeps prayers every morning, before every meal, and again every evening. To not see his welcome, friendly face at church would be a clear indication that something was amiss in his life (such as forgetting which day it was).For as much as he struggles with time-keeping and tracking the passing of it, he attempts to anchor himself in something grounded with his rituals and routines.
- He has a standing reservation at a restaurant in town for tea every afternoon
- He swings by The Observer on Thursdays to catch up with Charles Four Rivers
- He aims to print issues of Under the Never Sun every other Monday, spending most Saturdays and Sundays toiling away in his printing shed (most of which is spent sweet-talking Bertie, his letterpress).
Personality
Earnest, idealistic, hopeful, whimsical, and more than a little lost in a world he very much wants to feel part of. What he was, what he might have been before, it drives him in a way he can't define even if he wanted to. It simply is. His will to do good, be a decent person, help his community, enact vengeance against those who are wronged, and tell the stories that are in his head.Background
History
"I wish you could
forget the things that would cause you trouble,
especially
because of me."
forget the things that would cause you trouble,
especially
because of me."
Gg
Once upon a time, there was a very passionate angel who devoted his entire being to striking down the enemies of God and, by extension, Man.
And then he fell in love with one of those enemies.
And then he fell.
And then he landed in Never, entirely absent of his memories and the knowledge of being an angel of retribution; worse, he lacked the memory of the love that was enough to make him wonder, if just for a moment, if a kiss was worth it.
Despite this gaping hole in his identity, this loss of who he was and what he wanted, Solomon was still in possession of at least one thing: an innate desire to proselytize, to defend the Truth and spread Good. So he did what he could. He tried to make a home for himself, he watched the people of Never, he learned how the world worked (or at least, the world as it was given to him to understand), and he found the best way for him to be ... himself, whatever that meant, was for him to share what he saw, to write about it, to put it in print, make it fact, spread it everywhere.
So he started publishing his gazette, and it seemed to work. It made him happy. And helping the people around town? That made him happy. And watching the little (but miraculous) changes in their lives that he couldn't explain, but that he still knew to be God's work? That made him happy.
But then came the nightmares. Did angels even sleep? Now they did, at least ... sometimes. Visions of darkness, of longing, of gold and fire and a deep bereavement for something he could not define, left to grasp at like sand slipping through his fingers. This did not make him happy. It made him sad in a way he couldn't express, like he knew he was supposed to know something, but how can he know what he doesn't know in order to know what he's forgotten? It leaves him in cold sweats; it leaves him with a churning in his soul.
He won't let the melancholia keep him. He prays. He prays harder and harder. The harder he prays, the more things seem to change in his life, but to what end? What difference does it make when no amount of praying seems to quell the deep gnawing at the edges of his existence?
Powers & Magic
Powers Use
Once, Solomon was a great soldier. Strong in his convictions, unyielding in his faith. But these days, Solomon is completely unaware that he's an angel of retribution. It's pretty obvious to some what he is, and some have even tried to argue with him about it, poking, provoking, doing what they can to get his Grace spooled up for Smiting, anything to get him to be who he's supposed to be. But Solomon simply won't remember what he is or how to use his abilities, not while a certain silver-tongued demon's casually uttered yet corruptibly selfish wish is still in place.Nevertheless, Solomon is still unyielding in his faith. So he prays, morning, noon, night. A few more times in the spaces between. He prays for strength, he prays for focus, he prays for fortitude and strategy. And despite his best denials, his prayers are potent. His Grace, ineffable. There's a great Love in him that drives him, moves him, pushes his powers to leak out of him when they can, and he just can't help himself. No matter how dumb and dense he can be, he knows that there's power in prayer, and he will keep praying to help those around him, and seeing their outcomes, even if he can't and won't recognize his influence, brings him great joy.
Performed Miracles
Ariel Bernstein
Six years ago, Ariel was traveling with his parents and his older brothers west to San Francisco when an outlaw gang descended upon their wagon caravan. They killed most everyone save Ariel and a few others, but he did not walk away unscathed. The outlaws' witch destroyed his eyes, leaving him to wander the wilderness for days before stumbling upon Never. Solomon found him half-dead and brought him into town, nursing him back to health without so much as a single question as to what caused such damage. But one night, Sol heard the young man praying. Pleading may be a more accurate description, to be honest. He was begging God for help, sobbing for the will and the power to reclaim his life, to find a way to get back at those who had taken everything from him.It broke Solomon's heart to hear the young man so bereaved and angry; he was angry for him.
He'd be angry with him.
So Solomon prayed, too. He prayed harder. He prayed so hard that when Ariel woke up the next morning, his sight had been miraculously restored. Furthermore, Ariel soon discovered that he could see through illusion magic. Ariel became convinced that Solomon was somehow responsible, but Sol gave a kind smile and said that he couldn't possibly have those sort of powers, he's just a man. "Still, we all know God works in mysterious ways."
With his sight (and more) restored, but with nowhere to go, Ariel began apprenticing under Solomon as his printer's devil, helping his guileless guardian angel as 'eyes' (and ears) around Never, and he hopes that he'll one day see those who took his sight in the first place—and finally be able to make them pay for it.
Plotting
Romance
Were Solomon to let himself ponder on the remarkable wonders of worldly and otherworldly loves and desires, he would reckon himself an alien to these concepts, his knowledge and familiarity being with only that of the Great Love he holds in his Faith.It would seem that Sol feels no motivation toward romance or sexual excursions, but the truth of it is a bit more complicated than simple devotion to God. Once, he had another—a dalliance of wits across enemy lines and along masculine sinew that had, over time, turned into something altogether new, and at the very moment Solomon accepted it, it was gone.
Solomon is not incapable of love or desire, but if he could actually remember what either of these were like, he'd argue that one assuredly and quickly follows the other, and strongly, but they are, all the same, mutually exclusive for him.
Friends
A friendship with Solomon is easy to come by. He makes himself known to just about everyone in Never, such as through his series of bargains and barters, sharing pews in church, and spreading stories through his gazette, Under the Never Sun. While he can be terribly forgetful about the details, he always celebrates someone's birthday (even if he got the date wrong), and he's always there to lend a helping hand, the advantage of his height, or simply his warm and inviting presence. It is heard he gives amazing hugs.Antagonism
Open to:- Those who knew the angel before he went by Solomon
Other Plot Requests
Open to the following miracle plots:- Vengeance/retribution/revenge
- Reclaiming agency through self-defense
- Reclaiming agency through finding one's voice (the pen is mightier than the sword)
