Bors
Full Name: Bors Alastair Sundstrom Fortinbras
Referred to as: Bors, The Partisan, The Strong One, The Old Soldier
Age: 994
Height: 5’ 7
Weight: 150
Eye Colour: Hazel
Hair Colour: Brown
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Species: Human
Occupation: adventurer, nomad, musician, deity of music and sexuality
Religion: Borsites
Personality Traits: Generally sarcastic, yet friendly, but has mood
swings. Unless he’s in a state of stress or great anger, he is rational
and objective. Otherwise, he can act a little “loopy.” He can also
get more than a little cocky when dealing with mortals who are at odds with
him. Enjoys playing the occasional trick.
Sometimes, if he is feeling very low, or he is reminded of terrible
events in his life, he can be very brooding and dark. Whatever mood he’s
in, his actions are always for the good, albeit brutal on occasion.
Distinguishing Features: Hair is frequently mussed up, large sideburns,
dark bags under his eyes, may have a five o’clock shadow
Girlfriend status: Sabine Blasendorf
Kin: Johannes Fortinbras – father (deceased), Sarah Sundstrom – mother
(deceased), Pamela Fortinbras – daughter
History:
Bors Alistair Sundstrom Fortinbras was born to a young couple in a small town
known as Chalmstadt, on the plane of Jura. His parents were loving
people, who did their best to get by in a very hostile world. At about
the age of eight, his parents took him to see a group of wandering minstrels on
their way to a nearby metropolis of
Percival met with Johannes and Sarah, Bors’ father and mother, and offered Bors
the opportunity to learn from him. Bors was adamant about the chance to
learn how to play the lute. His parents were not so sure, as Bors would
be leaving his home for a long time. Bors begged them to let him go, and
with Percival’s promise to be his guardian, they agreed. Bors bid
farewell to his childhood, and entered a new phase in his life.
Bors traveled all over Jura with Percival, training with his lute when he could
and helping Percival when he performed. Bors looked up to Percival as a
father figure, and Percival saw Bors as a son. However, Bors never forgot
his parents back in Chalmstadt.
One night, after performing for a small crowd in a tavern, Percival was
counting the money he made from the gig at a table. Bors was plucking at
his instrument, working on his scales. Just then, a group of bandits
burst into the tavern and demanded all things of value. The lead bandit
saw Percival’s money and reached over to grab it. Percival fought back,
pulling out a dagger. After a short fight, Percival managed to kill the
bandit leader, while the other patrons took care of the others. However,
during the fighting, Bors was cut across the arm and his lute damaged.
Bors began to cry, from wound on his arm and his broken instrument.
Percival smiled and took his arm, singing to himself as he laid his hand on his
wound. Bors felt a tingling feeling as the wound closed before his
eyes. Bors was stunned, but Percival picked up Bors’ lute and sang again,
and to Bors’ amazement, the instrument was repaired. Bors wondered how
this was possible. Percival answered, “When your musical ability becomes
great enough, it can harness mystical abilities. Many musicians, poets
and scholars have spellcasting abilities. You will, too. Just give
it time.”
During his travels with Percival, Bors felt he needed to choose a patron
deity. Without one, his soul would be trapped in limbo in the
afterlife. Those who choose patron deities have their souls taken to
their deities plane when they die. Bors thought long and hard, and felt
that the goddess Salayna, a hedonistic patron of the arts and beauty best
suited his beliefs. Salayna was known as a flighty, vain goddess and her
clergy’s attitudes often reflected those traits. Regardless of Salayna’s vanity, Bors felt
that his musical talent and his handsome, rakish appearance were beautiful
enough to be accepted by the goddess.
After twelve years of Percival’s instruction, Bors became an expert lute
player. He still could not sing too well, but he promised himself to work
on it, feeling that his expressions were not complete with his lute
alone. His studies and practice left little time for Bors to persue a
personal relationship with others. He was curious about women, and
love. Percival explained sex to Bors when he was about fourteen, but at
twenty, he was still a virgin. He wanted to know what it felt like.
As Percival and Bors were making their way back to Chalmstadt for the first
time since Bors left, Percival began to cough uncontrollably. Bors asked
if he was alright. Percival reassured him that he was fine after his
coughing fit finally ended. Bors wasn’t so sure, but he trusted that his
mentor knew best. Just before they reached Chalmstadt, Percival collapsed.
With his dying breath, Percival told Bors that his training was complete and he
was ready for the world. Crying most of the way, Bors carried his
mentor’s body to Chalmstadt and had him buried in the local cemetery.
With a heavy heart, he returned to his home, and was greeted by his parents,
who were ecstatic to see him again. He demonstrated his lute playing
skill to them, and they were awestruck. They told him they were proud and
that he had grown up to be a handsome young man. Bors stayed at home for
a few weeks and left the day after his twenty-first birthday. He bought a
quarterstaff from the local weaponsmith and some leather armor. With the
armor on his body, the staff in his hand and the lute on his back, Bors
ventured out into the dangerous world that was Jura.
Now on his own, Bors traveled to
Bors and Prayludus frequented the bars in Jura during their adventures.
They both loved their ale, and Bors would make some money playing his
lute. In one such inn and tavern in a small town, Bors gave the best
performance of his life. They patrons gave him a huge round of applause
after hearing him. As he left the stage, the barmaid greeted him.
She was a beautiful young woman, about his own age, Bors guessed. She was
dazzled by his performance. She said her name was Elise Skylark and asked
him if he minded waiting until she finished her shift, so they could
talk. Bors didn’t mind, and returned to his table with Prayludus.
He told Prayludus that he was going to be there a while. Prayludus
acknowledged what was going on and retired to his inn room above the
tavern. Bors waited for Elise to finish her shift and the two talked over
ale for a few hours. After a deep conversation, Elise invited Bors up to
her room in the inn. What followed was a life changing experience for the
young minstrel.
Bors awoke to the sound of the birds chirping outside Elise’s window. He
looked beside him and saw Elise still sleeping. He stared up at the
ceiling and felt different about himself as if the man who fell asleep the
night before was a different person entirely.
It was not the physical pleasure that struck him as life changing, but
rather the sensations he felt in his heart, mind and soul. To share these sensations was something
divine and eternal for all living things.
To devote oneself so intently to the sensations of love was to expand
the horizons of physical expression and the boundaries of beauty within the
minds eye. In all of his travels, Bors
had never heard of such ideas and perhaps they could become a new code for a
new faith. But he knew for this to pass,
he had to adhere to his beliefs and adherence meant a necessary detachment of
physical and mental love, especially with his nomadic traits. He knew he could not love Elise.
After many months of adventures, Bors and Prayludus were walking along a lonely
road in search of another quest. His musicianship improved day by day and
he had begun to train with the whip as a new sidearm to better protect
himself. Suddenly, an elven man appeared before them on the road.
He had just appeared from thin air. Bors and Prayludus were stunned by
this occurrence. The man was dressed in golden armor, and was armed with
a shining sword and a great bow. He identified himself as the Ylarian, creator
of the Juran elves. Bors and Prayludus had little doubt, as what they had
just witnessed was enough proof for them. Ylarian informed them of a plot
of his rival’s, Muuragh, the creator of the Juran orcs, to destroy the elves
using a nefarious machine that could open portals to elven encampments from the
orcish plane. The orcs could then easily fall upon the unsuspecting elves
and slaughter them. Ylarian told the two that they were chosen to destroy
the machine and save the elves. Bors asked what the reward would
be. Ylarian replied that he could have anything. Thinking long and
hard, Bors realized the potential his philosophies would find in the dogma of
its own faith. Bors asked for ascension.
Ylarian thought for a second. His answer was that if he completed
the quest, then he would be found worthy of godhood. He would make Bors a
lesser deity. Prayludus wished to be a powerful wizard and wanted some
magic items. The elven deity agreed and wished them luck on their quest.
The two of them set to work to find a way to the plane of the orcs. They
deduced that the best plan would be to enter the Elemental Plane of Air and
from there, find a portal that would take them to any of the evil planes.
Through the evil planes runs the River Styx, which is a mystic river that
flowed from plane to plane. First, they had to find a way to open an
interplanar portal and also construct a flying carpet, as the Elemental Plane
of Air has no ground, but only air and the sporadic flying fortress.
Neither of these objectives were small tasks. To find the components and
information on how to build these, Bors and Prayludus scoured Jura. They
had many a brush with death and it took many weeks, but they found what they
needed. They found much more than that, for they found many mystical
items and treasure. Their experiences made them even more powerful: their
spellcraft abilities grew fast. They finally built the carpet and the
portal and entered another plane of existence!
Thankfully, they didn’t have to spend more than a day in the Elemental Plane of
Air, as far as they knew. They hoped that one of the floating fortresses
contained the portal to the River Styx. After many encounters for the
better and worse, they finally found one. They were lucky, as they found
a portal to the lower planes. But nobody could prepare them for what they
saw.
They had found the River Styx, but according their map of the planes, they had
to float through 3 more planes to reach their destination. They battled
through whole plane’s worth of demons, devils and even the environment of the
planes themselves before they finally reached the orcish plane itself. At
this point, it was now or never. After battling through Jura and 3 of the
most evil places in the multiverse, Bors and Prayludus were quite
powerful. Bors’ singing and lute playing abilities now surpassed even his
former mentor’s and Prayludus could destroy most creatures with a mumble and
wave of his hand. The two had finally reached the orc deity’s bastion,
and formulated a plan. They would use their magic carpet to move silently
through the chambers until they happened upon the machine. However, the
machine was guarded by two evil blue dragons. Using the dragon’s attacks
to their advantage, the two flew around them with the carpet until a few
wayward attacks left the machine destroyed. A few explosions later, they
found themselves once again in Jura, standing before Ylarian in his home plane.
He was impressed that the two mortals managed to complete such a quest.
The two then received their rewards. Prayludus’ spellcraft was bolstered
tremendously and was granted many magic items. Bors was granted his own
divine spark, the very essence of a god, as the divine spark grants the deity
his power. Bors felt its energy surge through him. He felt
transformed and invigorated. He was stronger, smarter and quicker than he
was. In fact, he was beyond human now. He became immune to many
things that would try to hurt him and became heavily resistant to injury.
His musical abilities were granted immense power; his songs were so powerful,
they could kill. He gained shapeshifting abilities, being able to
resemble anybody. He was even granted his own plane, to serve as his
residence and afterlife for his parishioners.
Bors set to work, spreading word of his religion throughout Jura. He
managed to attract only a few hundred at first, but that number grew
considerably. Eventually he had about five thousand worshippers.
Not huge, but good enough for him. Prayludus took on a student of his own
to learn from him. With their duties, they parted ways.
Bors was eager to use his godly abilities. He wanted to know the love of
a goddess. He set his sights on Salayna, his former patron deity.
He met her in her own plane and attempted to woo her. Unfortunately, Bors
found her not to be such a willing partner (for one thing, she was much more
powerful than he was). After quite a bit of persuasion, she gave in.
The next morning, Bors felt quite full of himself. He finally shared a
bed with a goddess, a goal he had for a while. But then he learned that
he didn’t have sex with Shalayna at all, but merely an avatar, a servant that
resembles the deity who usually makes contact with mortals. This hurt
Bors’ feelings like nothing else. Bors left her plane feeling quite
cheated. It was at that point that he realized that other gods would
never accept an ascended mortal like him. Bors went back to what he loved
to do, which was travel all over the multiverse with his voice and his lute.
He did just that for forty years, until he received word from his clerics that
his parents were dead. They both had become very sick and passed away
within hours of each other. Their death brought a terrible fact to Bors:
he will outlive many of his loved ones. This was the curse of his
immortality. Bors carried on for another five hundred years or so,
traveling, fighting evil, playing his lute, singing and spreading bastard
quasi-deity children all over the multiverse. He lost many friends along
the way, such as Prayludus, who died after living for 150 years. However,
he happened upon a world that would change his life forever.
After five hundred years of wandering, he came across a world called
Earth. Over the last few decades, Bors became ever much more disenchanted
with the worlds he saw. Each plane of
the multiverse he saw was made of warring sub-races and feudal warlords bent on
their own selfish goals. The commoners
were kept under the iron heel of rich and denied even the slightest of
knowledge. He grew weary of such an
existence and hoped to at long last find a world he could belong to. He entered the world in the city of London,
England, in the time of the Renaissance. Bors was impressed by this
world. He found his lute to be obsolete and instead played the
mandolin. He lived in
One night, Bors found a young woman running through the cold woods outside
York. She looked on the verge of death and had severe frostbite. He
took her into his home, where she told him her name was Jehanne Rouge and that
he was one of the “fille du roi” or “daughters of king,” which were a group of
young women who were sent to New France to copulate with the settlers.
She was running away from her “husband,” who beat her constantly. Bors
allowed her to stay with him. The two of them grew close over the months
that followed and eventually their relationship became physical. Within
the next two months, both Bors and Jehanne knew that she was pregnant.
This was a situation Bors had never faced before. He knew that his
previous relations ended in childbirth, but he had never paid the thought any
mind before. Bors didn’t want to leave his home in York and stayed with Jehanne.
When it came time for the baby to be born, Bors was both excited and
nervous. A child was something wholly new to him. The town doctor
delivered the child to Bors, but the delivery was far from flawless; Jehanne
died during labour. The moment was bittersweet; Bors had lost another
loved one, but held his new daughter in his arms.
Bors struggled to bring up his daughter, whom he named Pamela after the
character in Sidney’s Arcadia, but it was hard on both of them: Bors having to
raise her all by himself and Pamela having no mother. Nevertheless, Bors
did his best to bring her up right. Pamela grew up to be a fine young
woman, musically talented under Bors’ instruction and a trained
swordsman. When Pamela finally became an adult, Bors revealed the details
about him and her. Bors knew that, like the children of all deities and
like Axel, she was a quasi-deity. At first, she accepted the news with
confusion. Bors decided that to take Pamela to his plane would be the
best course of action. Bors took her there, and the sight amazed
her. He led her to his home there, a great castle on a high hill in the
centre of the plane. Bors offered her the throne and stewardship of
Ossinia.
Bors returned to York and continued his life alone, but felt much better a
person. After living there for a while more, the war between New England
and New France was heating up. Bors was content not to interfere in a war
between two petty squabbling nations and thus ignored the British regulars and
French soldiers who would pester him for quarters. Unfortunately, after denying a group of
Frenchmen access to his home, they returned while Bors was out hunting and
destroyed his modest house. Upon seeing
that which he had worked so hard burn before him, the home in which he loved
his first wife and raised his first child brought to ashes, Bors furiously took
his hunting knife to the soldiers. With
that, he knew he could no longer remain neutral in the affairs of the
Bors thought the fighting was over, but then there was a divide in the
colonies. During the American Revolution, Bors enlisted in the militia, under a
different name, and defended
But the peace would not last long. Canada was under attack in the war of
1812. Again, Bors fought the invaders. Out of all the battles he
fought, the one that stood out most in his mind was the battle of Queenston
Heights, where, against all odds, he and his fellow soldiers defeated the
enemy. The victory was undercut by the death of his commanding officer,
but it was then that Bors felt that Canadian soldiers were the greatest
fighters in the world. For nearly 200
years, Bors had lived, breathed and bled for his home in
After the war, Bors continued to live in
Following the Great War, Bors saw his home of Toronto undergo huge
growth. Technological advancement amazed him, such as the
automobile. He ignored prohibition laws, frequenting speakeasies and
continuing his musical ways. He found an instrument called the guitar and
played it just as well as he did the lute and mandolin. He played at
clubs and shared a bed with many women until the outbreak of the Second World
War, where Bors signed up with the Canadian Forces yet again, but his time in
the infantry. Bors was one of the few Canadians stationed in Hong
Kong. But something that happened there still haunts Bors’ dreams to this
day.
Bors was living with a Chinese family living in Hong Kong. He liked them
quite a bit and they felt as if he was one of the family. But one day
while Bors’ battalion was out training, the invasion of Hong Kong
commenced. Enemy soldiers ambushed the battalion, but Bors and his men
fought back, stopping the ambush. But the enemy was coming from the
opposite side of the island. Bors gasped in horror and frantically ran
off to protect the family he was staying with. Armed with his Lee Enfield
rifle, his sidearm and a katana from one of the dead officers, Bors fought his
way through the streets of Hong Kong. He finally reached the house, but
nothing could prepare him for what he would see next…
Bors kicked the door down and he felt his heart stop. The children were
beheaded, their father dismembered and their mother being gang-raped by the
enemy soldiers. Upon seeing Bors there, they slashed the woman’s throat
and attacked him. Bors slaughtered his enemies with great prejudice and
anger. After seeing the carnage wrought, Bors snapped. He took his
blood-soaked sword and ran through the streets of Hong Kong, killing as many of
the enemy soldiers as he could. Eventually, he ran into another Canadian
battalion fighting in the streets, who where on their way to evacuation.
The commander of the battalion tackled Bors and calmed him down. Bors and
his battalion successfully evacuated Hong Kong, but the sights weighed heavily
upon his psyche. Bors was awarded the Victoria Cross again for his actions
in Hong Kong, for his mad killing spree saved many of his men.
Bors was transferred to Europe, where he saw little action until D-Day, where
he landed at Juno Beach with the rest of his battalion. Bors was shot
repeatedly coming out of the transport, but his divine spark stopped most of
the bullets and gunshot wounds were nothing he couldn’t handle. The
Canadian forces successfully drove the Germans from Juno Beach, but at the end
of the battle, a stray artillery shell exploded inches away from Bors.
Bors survived the blast and when he collected himself, he found his left arm
lying a few feet away from the rest of him. Bors grabbed his arm and
managed to hide himself while he reattached his severed limb, realizing that
modern warfare was dangerous enough to fall even the most powerful beings.
Following his tour in
The plane that Bors arrived at took him by surprise. It was called
Ruferus and its populace consisted of both humans and anthropomorphic peoples,
known as “Furs.” Bors was amazed that the two species could coexist to an
extent, unlike on Earth, where the humans could not stop warring. Moments
after arriving in Ruferus, Bors was greeted by a young bunny girl who
introduced herself as Christina MacIntyre. Bors introduced himself, but
did not reveal his nature as a deity. Christina offered Bors a place to
stay, as she knew he was not from around. Christina led Bors to a
formerly abandoned building in Thalland City, the largest city in
Ruferus. In the building, Christina lived with about half a dozen or so
Furs about her age. Most of those in the group were artists of
sorts. All of them were either homeless or disowned by their
parents. The leader of the group was a cat girl named Sabine
Blasendorf. Bors was smitten by her at first sight. He
thanked the group for their hospitality and slept there overnight.
The next morning, Bors revealed himself to the group and offered the group to
join his religion. The group unanimously agreed. Bors gave them
necklaces with his holy symbol on them and welcomed them into his
religion. Bors spent a few more weeks with them, getting to know them all
quite well, but pursuing his romantic interests with Sabine. The others
in the group included Sabine’s sister Ute Blasendorf, a Grey Wolf named St.
John Cavanaugh and his girlfriend Christina MacIntyre and a mouse girl named
Morgan Frontenac. Bors then left to return to Canada, where he played his
electric guitar and sang around Toronto, loving the Rock and Roll and disco
music.
After a couple of years, he was curious as to how Sabine and the others were
faring. He returned to Ruferus to find a force of invading demons had
destroyed much of the world. However, it was Sabine and her group that
killed the demon lord that had ravaged the world. Bors was impressed by
their act and as a reward for their achievements, he bestowed quasi-deity
status on the group and invited them to live in Ossinia. Only Sabine
accepted the invitation. Bors told Sabine the way he felt about her and
she felt the same way. The two became lovers and she lived in Ossinia for
a quarter century, training to become a cleric, until the threat of the demons
came to Ruferus again.
Bors feels it necessary to help his friends in their struggle and has taken up
residence with them again. This is his fight….
Habits: Smokes (calms him down when he’s angry or whatever and his
immunity to poison and disease render the harmful effects of cigarettes
harmless), drinks, potty mouth and sex.
Date of birth:
Place of birth: Chalmstadt, Jura
Background Nationality: Canadian, German, Scottish, English (no accent,
but can adopt any)
Abilities (not stemming from divine spark): Healing, limited summoning
abilities
Divine Abilities:
Immortality,
Immunities
to electricity, cold and poison
Resistance
to fire
Divine
musical abilities
Limited
shapeshifting abilities
Divine
shielding
Divine
swordsmanship
Enhanced
physical and mental abilities
Weapons: Heavy cavalry blade, he also uses any kind of submachine guns
or automatic rifles and any kind of pistols. He favours his magic
weapons, but he also likes using high caliber pistols, Desert Eagles, magnums
and the like. In any case, he is usually armed to the teeth.
Musical Abilities: Amazing singer and guitarist, and can play any
instrument at the very least half decently
Likes: Women, listening to good music, performing on the street for loose
change, taking over the minds of his enemies and embarrassing them, video
games, movies, or simply sharing an intimate moment with Sabine
Dislikes: People who insult his system of beliefs, general evilness,
anybody who harms his friends, mortals who are full of themselves, has a
special loathing for rapists and makes sure they die, in his words, “horrible
fucking deaths.”
Quote: “The mortal mind, or even the immortal mind, is more fragile than
one thinks. Much like a work of art, it takes great care to form it into
a vessel of creativity and intellect, but so very little to warp it into
grotesque, depraved, delusional flotsam.”
Date of Creation: June 2002
Characters, artwork, images, written works and this site © Gussie "Hatman" Jives. Do not copy or rip.