Artemidorus "Arte" Agapov-Olossëa
High Elf Divination Wizard, 7th level, Neutral Good
if thou read this, o caesar, thou mayst live; if not, the fates with traitors do contrive.
Strength: 8 Dexterity: 10 Constitution: 16 Wisdom: 18 Intelligence: 20 Charisma: 10
Arte is a D&D 5e character I've been playing for about a year now in a high-fantasy, high-intrigue homebrew campaign. He's truly the apotheosis of all my character-writing fascinations, which might be why I've been so utterly insane about him. Prophetic visions, a desperate desire to change the future but a fundamentally human misunderstanding of how to go about it, good intentions leading to fanaticism, brain damage, old man yaoi, tentative reconciliations after ages apart, a brat summer, I could go on- he somehow checks every box.
I think two of his biggest inspirations were Mei Nianqing from Heaven Official's Blessing and Finrod Felagund of Silmarillion fame, though he's diverged significantly from both those concepts since I started playing him.
On naming: Artemidorus is a reference to the character of the same name in Julius Caesar, who is in turn a representation of a historical dream interpreter. Within the context of the setting, though, it's an archaic name that roughly translates to 'gift of the moon,' referencing the real-world meaning which is roughly 'gift of Artemis.' Arte is pronounced 'are-TAY'- rather than 'art'- because he's a valley girl. Olossëa, his maiden name, is a bastardization of Tolkien's Quenya; olos, meaning dream or vision, becomes Olossëa when mutated to match the island of Tol Eressëa. I did this to imply a 'dream island,' of sorts, for thematic reasons. Agapov is his husband's surname, from Russian agap and Greek's agape, to love.
Lore Summary
Age 0-291
Arte was born in the autumn of a thousand-year war between the countries of Osorid and Petha, in a small Pethan farming town. His mother, Athenodora Olossëa, was born into a long line of seers, and her visions called her to enlist in the army and protect her homeland. When Arte manifested their gift as a child, she urged him to follow in her footsteps and use their gift to protect the world in any way he could. Not long after, she went off to battle and Arte foresaw her death in a prophetic vision. Arte promptly tried to go stop it, but he was the elven equivalent of six; he just fell into a ditch and got stuck there the whole night. His father, a cleric called Kir, briefly thought he'd lost both his son and wife in the same night and demanded that Arte not pursue divination any further.
Though he tried for a while to follow in his father's footsteps, Arte proved to be a legitimately terrible cleric. For all of his fervency, he just could not muster up enough faith in anyone other than himself to do things right. It may have also had something to do with seeing his father's magic fail each time it "really counted," but that's a level of personal introspection he is generally incapable of. At least spending so much time around spellcasters allowed him to observe the mechanics of magic, and he started trying to reverse-engineer the mechanics of them, eventually stumbling upon wizardry in a world where it had been near-fully erased to prevent its use in warfare.
The war ended with the deaths of the previous monarch and the marriage of two princes when he was forty-one, and with it came new educational reforms. Wizardry was no longer an outlawed practice, and the first mages' college opened just in time for Arte to enroll. He spent his college years learning everything he could, getting into a centuries-long academic feud with famed-artificer-to-be Elias Harlow, partying near-constantly, and working as a tutor part-time. It was in his time working as a tutor that he met Noa Agapov, a struggling evoker (but a flourishing artist!) The two of them fell in love, and when I think about how sweet they were it makes me scream and cry. They were together for 80 beautiful years, worked as teachers at the same university, and eventually got engaged in the spring of 4793. They were set to be married the next year...
Age 291-541
Barely a month before the wedding, Arte disappeared. He saw the future one night, and found it so terrifying that he had to leave immediately to try and avert it. It felt like seeing his mother's death all over again- but he was stronger, better. He actually had the chance to make a change, so he left for Azbeia, a distant continent where the vision seemed to be pointing him. He didn't plan to be gone long. He'd return, and he and Noa would be wed in a world that was safe for them.
...Naturally, he was gone for 250 years. Arte can't remember his time on Azbeia, only some vague flashes of a death cult, a human sacrifice, fun stuff. He woke up back on the shores of Petha, one arm magically immobilized, and his memory so fried he could barely remember his name, let alone his life story. Though he was able to relearn his magic and piece together most of his identity, he was never able to figure out why he had the ring on his finger, or where his home was...
That was where he started the campaign, which is much too long of a tale to write out. He's kind of the party disaster, but as of our most recent session he and Noa have been reunited, he's participated in the killing of three (3) dragons, and met a god at least once.
Misc
buttons from idbuttons
Fun Fact: Canonically wrote yaoi RPF about the king of his country; introduced the Omegaverse to that fandom
The Mountain Goats song assignment: Black Pear Tree
Song that makes me insane about him: Is There Still Anything Love Can Do? - RADWIMPS
Favorite color: Gold, though you'd be surprised with how much purple he wears
Gallery
The most recent art of him. I think I drew this after watching Dungeon Meshi and it did something noticeable to my art style.
Original concept art.
Older portraits. Generally, I draw older Arte with a long braid, and younger Arte with a high ponytail.
Frames from an unfinished animatic to Erase - They Might Be Giants
Sillies