Age: 30 (looks a bit older than that)
Gender: Male
Race: Dinlander. A near-human race of warriors noted for impressive strength and a superhuman healing factor, being able to bounce back from severe wounds within a matter of days (although piercing their heart/hacking their head off/generally-anything-that-would-instantly-kill-a-normal-man will still have him down for eternity). Revere the Magispirits as minor deities.
Description: Darin is a tall, well-built man with fair skin and black hair. He's settled at around 5'8" (a source of endless chagrin for him; being a good five inches shorter than the average wandering swordsman of lore), with most of that height being focused in his long, lanky legs. His torso is covered by well-toned, sleek musculature, his skin remarkably unblemished by a sword's bite. His arms are well-toned in contrast to his legs, and he has managed to retain all ten fingers by a long stretch of miracles. His hair is black and scraggly, falling over his one scar - a jagged line from the lower right corner of his face, up across his left eye to his left temple, leaving him blind in one eye. His face is perpetually dusted with a shadow of a beard, although it never seems to get to any unmanageable length despite his attempts to grow it out farther.
He dresses simply but noticeably, with a black and red tunic, brown flared pants, open brown shoes (a choice of footwear that has earned him the somewhat embarrassing epithet "Darin the Fancy") and a brown, waist-length, collared cloak. He wears a belt with various scrolls and such on it, and carries a small traveling pack with him, containing a water horn, a wineskin, a bedroll and (usually) a few days' worth of food.
Equipment: He carries a sword, two-handed, the victor of many battles both before and after it came into Darin's ownership. He also carries several small throwing knives, although they see little use in comparison to the sword. There is the aforementioned list of living supplies and his clothing as well, but none of that is very interesting, is it? Besides, it's already been mentioned.
Spells/Magic: None at all!
Skills/Strengths: Although not quite the 'master' he has been touted as in the past, Darin is an incredibly adept swordsman despite the size and unwieldiness of his blade (perhaps due to an enchantment that makes it lighter, or perhaps he's just that cool). He is fairly accurate with a throwing knife as well. He can carry heavy loads long distances seemingly without complaint, seemingly in possession of strength well beyond what his frame should be capable of. He's also quite the charming and smooth talker, having gotten out of a great many sticky situations on wit and guile alone.
Weaknesses/Shortcomings: First off, the no magic thing. Darin has no ability to tap into his own mana pool, giving him a significant disadvantage in long-range battles (also given his severely limited depth perception, which has led to several... interesting circumstances). Also, there's the small matter of his, er, psychotic episodes.
Yes, our Darin, when wounded, or angered enough, temporarily loses his mind and goes completely kill-crazy. That 'wiped out a village' quip wasn't an exaggeration, he has actually slaughtered the whole population of at least two, perhaps three small towns during a particularly violent break, before succumbing to his wounds and falling unconscious. Although these breaks give him access to an improved healing factor and pain threshold, he is still basically human - hack off a limb or cut out his internal organs or behead him and he's going to die. There's also the added bonus of his temporarily forgetting who's on his side. He'll take a swing at anybody if they're inside the arc of his sword swing.
Personality: He's actually a pretty nice guy. He's unassuming, simple and charming, preferring the company of a warm body (usually Elven), a warm fire and a warm skin of wine. Talkative and funny, he never seems to really get angry at anything petty, and is openly affectionate with those around him. He stays close to his friends no matter what, but sometimes things can get complicated. This is only one side of the coin that is Darin. The other one is the berserker side; the shouting, raging, violent psychopath that emerges seemingly out of nowhere and leaves only when the energy is expended in Darin's body. It is a beast that is motivated only by bloodshed and pain, and deep down, fear - Darin's rational mind, being dragged along for the ride, deeply afraid for its life, afraid of harming his friends, afraid of what will happen when he surfaces again - or indeed, if he will surface again.
In short, he's a good guy, really.
Just don't piss him off.
History: Hailing from the frozen north, where the elements have started going wonky due to the Magispirits having been genocided upon, the Dinlander are a normally peaceful folk with a propensity for producing incredibly powerful mercenaries - what of the stories of Ulig Bloodletter, or Ogi the Tiger Claw, or Merciless Dinnir?
Having been raised on these stories, and trained to be a town guard from a young age, Darin was secretly bound to become like one of these great warlords. From a young age he started taking lessons to tap into the berserker rage of his people; but, unfortunately, he decided to use it on a few bandits robbing a shop before he had perfected them.
By sunrise the village was in flames and a 24-year-old Darin was fleeing south. The next six years were spent suppressing this proto-berserker and making a living as a sellsword and wandering mercenary, only accidentally wiping out one more village in the process, and that was in the midst of a Magispirit hunt, so it was forgivable... Right?
Eventually he got wind of the campaign being led for the Soul Magispirit and decided to join in.
(Black and gold. Red for the other half, although that's a given. Also brown because that's what red fades to.)