Ser Cullen Stanton Rutherford

Name: Vivien
Age: 41
Contact: kirsteena@plurk
Characters Already in Teleios: Archie Hopper
Reserve: http://teleios-mods.dreamwidth.org/1551.html?thread=1612559#cmt1612559

Character Name: Cullen Stanton Rutherford
Journal: fuzzypauldrons
Age: 31
Fandom: Dragon Age
Canon Point: After the end of Dragon Age: Inquisition
Debt:

Class A:5030 years
Class B: 0 years
Class C: 3099 years, 6 months

Link to debt chart
GRAND TOTAL: 8129 years, 6 months

History:

His history on Dragon Age Wiki

Pertinent points to take note of:

DA: O The Hero of Ferelden was a female Amell, and ignored his call for the Rite of Annulment when she rescued the Circle, saving the mages
DA: 2 Stood with Hawke against Meredith after she helped the mages, let Hawke escape afterwards
DA: I The Inquisitor aided the mages, triggering Cullen’s personal quest to hunt down Samson. When judged, Samson was conscripted to work with Cullen.
Cullen did not take lyrium in the game.

Personality:

To say that Cullen has been through much in his relatively short life is an understatement. Although not a mage, magic has been one of the defining features of his life.

At the root of it he’s a soldier. Most of the time he is earnest and serious - it is certainly what he presents to the world.. He takes everything he does seriously, and wants to be the best he can be at whatever he does in life. He initially joined the Templar Order with dreams of being a good soldier - protecting the world from mages, as well as protecting mages from those who would hurt them.

It turned out to be a naive dream. Now, he is the soldier who has seen far too much, far too young, and has made bad choices along the way leaving him with severe PTSD. When a mage, Uldred tried to take over the Ferelden Circle, Cullen was one of the last Templar’s left standing, having endured days, possibly weeks of physical and psychological torture at the hands of demons. It changed him, made him grow to hate everything he’d sworn to protect. When he was transferred to Kirkwall as their Knight-Captain (and at age 20, he was far too young for the post), his Knight-Commander manipulated him, encouraging his hatred of mages so she could cover up her own abuses. It took until everything came to a head in Kirkwall for him to actually look at his life, and realise just where it went wrong. The Order had fallen so far, and was corrupt from the top, it went against everything he’d believed in when he was a recruit. He jumped at the chance to serve something better in the form of the Inquisition, and walked away from everything that he was as a Templar, including the drug they use to keep Templar on Chantry (the closest equivalent is the Catholic church) leashes. It didn’t matter to him that the withdrawals could be lethal, or cause madness. He’s trying to follow a new path now, but it is not easy when his past keeps rearing up to greet him.

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, as an advisor to the Inquisitor, he is the voice of logic. There is always a simple solution to things, and most problems can be solved if you throw enough men at them, and if the men are soldiers, so much the better. He cannot stand the more convoluted methods that the other advisors prefer, and if the request is, quite frankly ridiculous, he has no qualms about telling everyone around him so, and refusing to take part in such a waste of time.

Life is a constant struggle for Cullen. He detests the life he led before, where he followed order almost blindly, and allowed his fear of mages to dictate his actions. Now, he wants nothing more to atone for the life he had before. He fights nightmares constantly, and the addiction to the drug, lyrium, that all Templars have to take. The Chantry uses the Templar’s addiction to the drug to control them, to force them to view mages as it feels they have to. It has led to many abuses, which Cullen initial did try to avoid, but for a period in Kirkwall simply turned a blind eye.

He doesn’t consider himself brave for taking this path, for trying to leave the Templars behind. There is a part of him that will never consider himself worthy of anything good that comes to him - that’s why he took a long time to admit his feelings for Trevelyan, because he couldn’t believe that she would ever want to be involved with someone who considers himself so broken.

He doesn’t let people into his life easily. When Kinloch Circle fell, a desire demon used his innermost thoughts, desires and hopes against him; it’s left him unable to trust easily.
Cullen has a very small circle of people he trusts implicitly - mostly Cassandra, Dorian and the Inquisitor. It is Cassandra with whom he trusts his whole career if the decision to come off lyrium goes wrong, and he is unable to perform his duties. Sometimes he feels that Cassandra has more faith in him than he does himself, but he does appreciate her support. His friendship with Dorian has surprised him - and pretty much everyone else - a former Templar, and a Tevinter mage. It’s like something out of a penny dreadful. But they share a love of chess, Fereldan ale and enjoy one-upping each other, and it’s become a friendship that Cullen cherishes. It proves to him he can be friends with mages. But it is the Inquisitor who he trusts the most. He hadn’t let anyone into his life for years, not since Amell in the Circle, but Nadia worked his way into his life, and into his heart. He finds it difficult to open up to her at first, keeping so much back, but he slowly admits to the problems he is - the addiction, the nightmares, and lets her help him.

He cares for his soldiers - he’s been shown as caring, coming to their aid, no matter the rank, being there for them if they are hurt or just need encouragement. He takes control of their training, making sure they at least know which end of the sword is the pointy end...

He is going to struggle with Teleios at first, as when he hears why people are brought there, to pay off a debt, he is going to feel shame at just what he has done in his past to accrue said debt. Once he has gotten over that initial shock, he will treat it as another opportunity, much like the Inquisition was, however this one has no lyrium in it, so he will hope to get over his addiction far more easily than if he had the temptation back home. It will still be hard for him (the addiction is something, but he can be weak away from the troops he feels he has to stand tall in front of.

Powers/Abilities:

Although we never see Cullen use his Templar abilities, it is safe to assume that he has standard Templar powers. Although lyrium has a lot to do with Templar powers, Alistair and Cassandra can use Templar powers without having used lyrium

Between the three games there are different versions of the spells but essentially they are:

Silence: Cullen can prevent mages from using any spell

Cleanse: Dispels all magical effects in the area

Smite: Basically drawing on holy power to create an offensive attack, which can knock anyone off their feet.

Given Cullen had been using lyrium to boost his powers for a long time, when he does eventually get them back they will be weaker than he is used to. It will be possible to build them up, but it will take time. He is also a skilled soldier, having trained as a warrior for almost twenty years. He has been trained to primarily counter magic users, but is also a keen strategist (he loves chess, what can I say?).

Appearance:

In full armour

Somewhat more laid back


Samples:

Actionspam Sample:

[He stood high on the battlements, watching the training of his troops, yelling down a few comments

The Ambassador wants me to do what? Tell her… tell her I have far more important things to do than attend her tea party, like making sure these recruits know which end of the sword is the one that hurts.

[He cocked an eyebrow as the messenger didn’t respond. He shouldn’t have expected anything else, and he sighed.]

Well who else is going? If there is nobility there, no, I am not going. Remind her what happened with the Bann last time. I am sure she would not want a repeat of that. And if that doesn’t work… tell her I’ll be there at sundown.

Prose Sample:

Cullen at the fourth wall