Character Profile: Yancy

Name: Yancy of Heart’s Stone, Yancy Heartstone (Modern AU)

Aliases/AKAs: Beardy

Title(s): Lector, Academy of Magecraft; Visiting Proctor, the Barnter School of Light

Selected Publications: Prophetic Histories: The Future as We Knew It (1943); The Chosen One Prophecy and Its Relevance Today (1947); Dragons: Beast or Neighbour? (1951); Prophecies: A Student’s Handbook (1956); Intermediate Light Magic, Second Edition (1961); A Beginner’s Guide to Light Magic, First Edition (1967); A Theory of Interdivisional Magic (1970); Advanced Light Magic, First Edition (1972); Light Magic for Masters; First and Second Editions (1977/84); Summoning Magic for Beginners (1980); Prophecies and You (1986); The Chosen One Prophecy and Its Relevance Today, Expanded Edition (1987); The Journey to Find the Chosen One (forthcoming, 1992)

Classes Taught: Dolovin History for Beginners; Kyainese History of Beginners; The History of the ven Sancte Monarchy; Dallarjon and Porean: the Building Blocks of Dolovai; the History of Magecraft; The Catechism Wars; The Flame Wars; Modern Dolovin History; Introductory Light Magic; Introductory Shadow Magic; Intermediate Light Magic; Intermediate Shadow Magic; Advanced Light Magic; Advanced Shadow Magic; Shadow and Light Magic In Concert; Practical Applications of Magic; The Development of Magic; The Biology of Dragons; Introduction to Prophecy; Intermediate Studies in Prophecy; Advanced Prophetic Studies; Special Seminar on the Chosen One Prophecy; Special Seminar in Messianic Prophecies

Hair Colour: Wizened white

Eye Colour: Sparkling blue

Height: 200 cm

Weight: 87 kg

Build: Statuesque, foreboding

Sagacity Level: Off the charts

Distinguishing Marks: Tree tattoo over his heart, barking dog tattoo on his left buttocks, owl tattoo on his right foot, tower tattoo on his left upper arm, arcane glyph tattoo on his left pelvic bone

Beard Status: Glorious, full

Member Size: Quite large

Preferred Wardrobe: Flowing robes, preferably with a staff and pointed hat

Relationships (Romantic and/or Sexual): Giles ven Sancte (lover, deceased), Vera daughter of Valentina (ex-wife, deceased)

Family Relationships: Yolanda and Vincent of Heart’s Stone (parents, deceased), Evelyn Tealark (mentor, deceased), Elijah the Light (rival), Diana daughter of Delia (partner), Oliver son of Orlando (apprentice), Isaac of Clearwater (student/spiritual grandson)

Notable Students: All of Yancy’s students are notable, as they all have unique strengths that make them special

Sexuality: Pansexual

Preferred Positions: Atop his partner

Kinks: Sexual humour, double entendres, blindfolds

Orgies Attended: Old Time Academy Orgies

Bio: Born in the Dolovin border town of Heart’s Stone to a carpenter and a guard sergeant, Yancy lived a modest childhood, studying to follow in his parents’ footsteps. But destiny had grander plans for young Yancy, and he manifested powers as a mage and was taken to the academy for magecraft in Three Hills. There, Yancy met a young man named Giles, who became the love of his life. Because of Giles, Yancy became very concerned about the end of the world, and decided it was important to put his all into combatting the forces that would destroy the cosmos, and thus became a professional historian (with a minor in combat magic) in order to best understand the various prophecies, most especially the famous chosen one prophecy, which he had strong cause to believe would come to fulfillment in his lifetime. Though destiny saw fit to separate him and Giles, it did give Yancy a long and illustrious career at the forefront of prophetic research, light magic, and teaching. When it came time for Yancy to finally meet the chosen one of prophecy, the lad was not quite what Yancy had imagined—but he was by far the better for it, and Yancy wouldn’t have him any other way.

Notes:

• Yancy is a historian of prophetic literature specifically, and has created the world’s biggest archive of prophecies in his study at the academy
• Over the course of his career, Yancy has interpreted a number of minor prophecies and determined they had already come to pass, and has also assisted in curing diseases, capturing renegade mages, and, once, combatting a clan of orcs by himself. He considers his greatest accomplishment to be the effect he has had on his many students
• In order to find and learn about more new prophecies, Yancy has travelled across Menechit multiple times, and has also spent significant time in Yavhore’s eleven nations, and also three years in Enjon and two in Aergyre, learning all the relevant languages and customs in order to do his work
• In the first year of Yancy’s apprenticeship, he received a large box of love letters from Giles that contained prophetic instructions in addition to love. After Giles’s death, Yancy received a second box of letters, sent to him by Giles’s son Gerard, who found the box in his father’s effects and sent it to its addressee. The second box contained decades’ worth of love letters and no prophetic material, and Yancy has read them all dozens of times
• Yancy did have romantic attachments after Giles, including a brief marriage to a fellow teacher named Vera, who chose to divorce Yancy as he was too focused on his work and not enough on their marriage
• Yancy’s favourite non-teaching activity is journeying around once every other year or so to find new mages for the academy to educate. He feels personally responsible for every student he brings in
• Yancy secretly attended Giles’s wedding. Later, his status allowed him an invite to other royal events, including his children’s weddings. He could not bring himself to attend any royal balls when Giles was king, fearing he would not be willing to leave if he saw Giles
• Yancy has reconstructed the ancient language of Har’chezt more thoroughly than any other scholar before him, though his dictionary is still far from complete and contains far too much speculation for his liking
• Yancy only ever asks his apprentices to help him with tasks like grading if he feels they will benefit from them—he believes that his work is his work and he should not foist it onto his apprentices, no matter how busy he is
• Yancy considers a student/teacher relationship to be lifelong—all his former students are still his students and his responsibility, no matter that many of them are teachers with their own students

Quotes:

• “Don’t. I can see when you lie to other people, Giles. We know when you’re pretending to be okay. We’re your friends. Just tell us what’s bothering you.”
• “I think all prophecies are a bit self-fulfilling. That’s probably why they’re written.”
• “I’m not worried about the world ending. Because we’re going to stop it together.”
•  “I thought a few times that it must be nice to know what you know. To know the future. But…it’s horrible, isn’t it?”
• “You are the best thing that ever happened to me too. I’m never, ever, ever going to forget you. I’m going to love you until the day I die, Giles ven Sancte.”
• “I seek a lad…aye, or a girl. A boy or a girl in your village, one who is different from the others. You may have noticed a mark on his body, or he may have performed unique feats…”
• “Our prophecies have long foretold that one day a child would be born who would unite the three magicks and in so doing, protect the world from destruction.”
• “It’s not a waste of time, Isaac, to try and help someone who is upset.
• “The expectations we place upon ourselves are often stricter than those imposed by others.”
• “I always have time for my students, Isaac.”
• “Isaac will surely be a beacon of hope for us when he is older, but at this time expecting him to fight for us is ludicrous.”
• “Nothing remains beyond understanding forever.”
• “You must never tell anyone this, Giles, but in moments of great weakness, I sometimes imagine that we might have had a son or a grandson as kind and courageous and as bright as he is. You would have loved him, Giles. I do.”
• “I still love you with all my heart, Giles, and I always will.”
• “You are hardly the first student to confuse a location spell with a hirsutism spell. They are very similar.”

Trivia:

• As a lad, Yancy dreamed of going on adventures as a mercenary or knight, though even then he felt he was more suited to reading or listening to such tales rather than starring in them
• Yancy was once late coming home from playing in the fields outside of Heart’s Stone and was accosted by a ruffian who demanded his pocket money. Yancy instead invited the ruffian home and convinced his parents to give the young man supper. He later became Yancy’s mother’s apprentice
• Yancy’s first sex partner was a boy named Oslo who lived down the road from him in Heart’s Stone, with whom he shared several sleepovers and several firsts
• When he and Giles were together, Yancy used to wear Giles’s clothing to feel closer to him
• Yancy once had a very young student named Pax, who was one of the most academically inclined students he ever had and was able to correct an error Yancy had made in interpreting a minor prophecy regarding the chosen one’s birthplace. Yancy was disappointed when Pax left the academy, though of course he wanted for him to do whatever made him happy
• Yancy’s time with Giles was the most sexually active period in his life. They made love several times a day, often not entirely in private, and sometimes in groups with their friends
• Yancy once ran out of tea on a journey in Kyaine and had to drink coffee, a terrible experience that he’d sooner forget
• After Giles, Yancy was sexually active with many of his partners including Vera. He engaged the services of prostitutes on occasion as well, though he was always embarrassed to go to brothels—especially after he met a student of his in one
• Under the pseudonym Stone Fireblood, Yancy is the author of a series of fanciful adventure novels focused on knights, battles, dragon slaying and of course sex, which he insists he only adds because his publisher requires it. Many of his novels are contemporary, but he also writes historical (and historically accurate) stories about various figures from Menechit’s history in imaginary situations
• Though Yancy ended up being a historian, his secondary field of interest is research into dragons

Modern AU: Modern Yancy is a professor of classical history who, rather than teaching at a university, has elected to educate the youth of today by working at St. Sebastien’s Academy, a formerly Catholic private school. He also teaches part-time at the local public high school, believing that education and his specific expertise should not be limited to those wealthy enough to attend private school. Yancy is married to his long-time partner Giles, living with him in relative peace and enjoying visiting their extended family now and then. When not teaching, grading assignments, coming up with course material or doing his own research and writing definitive books on a variety of subjects, Yancy enjoys reading fantasy novels, watching murder mysteries on television, and finding new and interesting varieties of tea to drink.