[Basic Trainer] Damian Neirin

Name: Damian Neirin
Age: 15
Hometown: Saffron City, Kanto
Trainer Type: Basic Trainer

Physical Appearance: Damian is a rather lanky individual. His thin and wiry frame is slightly taller than the average kid of his age, with Damian standing at a height of 5 feet 9 inches. His wealthy upbringing has given the kid almost unnaturally pale and blemish free skin, however the opposite result is that his physical condition is lacking, and he isn’t quite used to doing his own labor past rolling over in bed. He has semi-long auburn colored hair which he keeps pulled back, with several bangs being allowed to hang over his hazel colored eyes. His eyebrows are thin and well-trimmed and his teeth are perfectly straight and blindingly white.

Damian’s family standing is painfully obvious from his outfit. Over his body he wears a cream colored doublet made of linen. The article has loose sleeves which extend down to his hands and which he bunches up just above his elbow using metal armbands coated in silver. The doublet has a small collar which is tied around his neck using white lace, and the bottom of the doublet extends slightly past his waist and is kept tucked into his pants. Over the doublet Damian wears a maroon colored jerkin made of leather. The article has no sleeves and is open in the front, with brass buttons securing the jerkin to his body. The jerkin has a high collar which Damian keeps loosely around his neck by keeping the top portion of the article unbuttoned. The bottom of the jerkin extends past his waist to the middle of his thighs, splitting just below the waist to form two flaps of leather on either side. On his legs Damian has a pair of white khaki pants secured by a brown leather belt, and he wears a pair of dark blue suede shoes. On his right wrist the boy wears a long golden bracelet which extends from his wrist to the middle of his forearm, and is engraved in the likeness of a shining sun and with the words Dum spiro, spero, Latin for “As long as I breathe, I hope”. Finally Damian wears a pair of thick dark blue sunglasses on his head as a means to pull back his hair, and also carries with him a small dark green messenger bag.

Picture:

Personality:

- Arrogant: Damian is quite the arrogant 15 year old. He was raised to believe that wealth and title were in the hands of the best in the world, and his family standing has given the boy a superiority complex. He looks down on others around him and pretty much expects them to bend down and lick his boots if he so desired, and he all but considers the world and its inhabitants to be impromptu servants. The concept that anything he does might be inconsiderate or rude is completely alien to Damian, and rules only apply to those that are below his social standing. This arrogant nature even extends to his desire to be a Pokémon trainer, and despite just starting his journey he sees himself as the greatest trainer the world has known and a gifted presence in the Caspian region.

- Prideful: Alongside his arrogant nature is the immense amount of pride Damian has for his family name and conceived superiority. Insults to his pride won’t be taken lightly, and Damian will fiercely rebuke anyone who attempts to claim he isn’t the pinnacle of the world he believes himself to be. The boy also has a lot of self-pride, and he will become easily embarrassed if he makes a fool of himself in front of others (though he will argue it was completely intentional and incredible). It can also be devastating if he doesn’t live up to the expectations Damian has for himself, and the boy fully expects his actions to live up to the name he regards so highly.

- Headstrong: Damian’s head is thicker than the shell of a Squirtle. A product of his inflated self-image, the boy considers himself to be always right no matter the situation or his experience. His stubbornness makes it hard for anyone to change Damian’s mind once he starts something, no matter how obviously flawed the idea was in the first place. Not only is the kid stubborn however, he’s also impulsive, often speaking or acting without thinking first. He considers his actions to always be justified and of course believes himself to be superior in every way, and so he acts with the belief that he can do anything and knows everything, and completely ignores anyone who says otherwise.

- Impatient: Having grown up with an entourage of servants waiting to serve his every whim, Damian has become quite the impatient individual. He fully expects others to do everything and anything that he says, and becomes easily angered if the individual refuses or simply takes longer than he deems appropriate for the task. Even when it comes to acts of nature the boy has a hard time waiting, and he tends to be rather irritable if the world doesn’t move fast enough for his liking. This impatience also gives Damian a short fuse, and he often snaps at those that displease him in some way and isn’t exactly the best at keeping a cool head.

- Mistrustful: Damian isn’t the most trusting of individuals, for several reasons. Superficially because Damian looks down on the “lower class” he has eventually come to a simple conclusion, they simply can’t be trusted. The boy see’s wealth and social standing as such important factors to someone’s character that he doesn’t even believe those below him are capable of having noble traits such as honesty. His mistrust has a deeper root cause however, which is the “betrayal” he sees his father having committed against him with his mother’s Vulpix. The result is that Damian has a hard time believing promises that others make and is always skeptical of their words and intentions, no matter their class or attitude. This mistrust extends farther than just verbal however. While the kid certainly expects you to do everything in your power to please him, any matters he deems important or valuable he won’t lightly entrust to another, and he seldom trusts others with his thoughts and emotions.

- Ambitious:  Damian’s pride in his family name has given him quite the ambition. Having been raised to believe that he was always second best at whatever his eldest brother did, Damian now wants to prove that this isn’t true through his journey in the Caspian region. His overlying ambition is to become the greatest trainer in the Caspian region of course, certainly a lofty goal but one the egocentric Damian fully expects to be able to realize. However, his ambitious nature doesn’t just fuel his arrogance, rather it brings him to constantly push himself no matter what it is he does. Sure the boy thinks he’s the best at everything, but he also wants to show it, and Damian strives to make this vision true. No matter how high the obstacle or how daunting the task, Damian is the kind of kid to openly face it with a smile as it’s just another challenge to prove his worth during.

- Dedicated: As was previously mentioned Damian is about as stubborn and single minded as they come. However, this driving force isn’t just a negative aspect of Damian’s, but rather the same stubbornness couples with the boy’s ambition to make Damian a very dedicated individual. When he sets his mind to a task he won’t easily lose heart and stop, and will continually strive to overcome whatever difficulties lay in his path. The same is true for any oaths or promises the boy makes. Sure Damian is a loud mouthed brat, but his word is also his bond, and when he’s (very) seldom inclined to help another he won’t turn his back to them nor to those he can actually count among his friends and family.

- Courageous: Picture a Machoke. Now picture the same Pokémon growing up in an environment where it never had to lift a finger and is about 200 pounds lighter. This skinny little twig is basically Damian, but despite not having the most impressive physique the kid is rather courageous. As previously mentioned he views challenges welcomingly, and no matter how stacked the odds are against him he isn’t one to just sit down and meekly cower from his problems. No matter how much is thrown his way Damian always gets back up and tries to overcome his adversaries, and even if it’s impossible in the moment to triumph, fear isn’t a common occurrence in the young boy’s heart.

- Honorable: On the exterior Damian seems like a very unpleasant person. And you’d be absolutely right; he’s full of himself and looks down and almost everyone he’s ever encountered. But the one thing you’d be wrong is claiming that the kid is ill hearted. Damian has an inner sense of honor, and follows a sort of personal code which dictates his actions. Superficially this often comes across in a sort of savior complex; he’s the rich kid who is the best at everything so naturally it falls to him to fix everything, right? But at his core Damian isn’t evil per say. The boy isn’t a criminal and would never consider stealing or hurting another unless they threatened something he cared about, and even then he will only go so far as to ensure that he protects said thing. Damian believes in the ideal of justice, and while he certainly looks down on those around him, it doesn’t mean he wishes them ill. In fact Damian despises acts of injustice and the abuse of others, and while in his ignorance he’s certainly capable of these himself, he doesn’t relish or even enjoy causing pain or unhappiness in others. Finally, from his bond with his mother, Damian has learned to care and cherish Pokémon more than one might expect, and he firmly opposes any mistreatment of them.

- Optimistic: In the same way that Damian’s courageous nature means that fear seldom fills him, the boy has an optimistic outlook which wards his heart against hopelessness and dread. No matter the situation, whether the odds are stacked in his favor or against, Damian doesn’t easily lose hope and will always strive for a solution which he always believes is there to be found. The boy faced difficulties in his past, and will certainly face more difficulties in the future, but to Damian none of this will stop him from obtaining his goals. This sort of viewpoint isn’t even limited by his egocentric nature; rather he holds this to be true no matter who it is or what they strive to accomplish. In the end the only person who can stop you is yourself, and this is a philosophy which Damian carries throughout everything he does.


History: Damian was born fifteen years ago into the wealthy Neirin family of Saffron City, Kanto. His father, Hayden Neirin, was the owner and CEO of Vesta Inc., a large company responsible for the development of housing in the Kanto region and the reason for the family’s exuberant wealth. His mother, Izabelle Neirin, was a Pokémon trainer during her youth, but at the time of Damian’s birth the woman had already retired to take care of the family’s large estate on the outskirts of Saffron City. Damian was the younger of two children, being born three years after his brother Anthony Neirin was.

The first years of Damian’s life were spent like any young child’s, screaming loudly at everything in sight and drooling over expensive furniture. However, unlike many children, Damian was raised deeply in the lap of luxury. As a baby it was not Izabelle who raised her newborn son, though she did care for Damian and spent many a moment by his side. Rather the baby was given an entourage of wet nurses and later servants who acted on his every whim and need. As the young boy grew older and learned to walk and explore an expansive estate filled with wonders and wealth opened up to him. It was during these treks into fast unknown closets and cellars that the young boy’s nature began to shine. The young Damian showed a brave curiosity as he ventured into the dark corners of the estate, and the staff worked day and night to stop him from hurting himself or the estate during his many exploits. The estate staff however loved Damian, and the boy showed a kind attitude and would often offer to help the maids and servants, much to their delight. In this way Damian’s early life was hardly void of entertainment or love and the young boy grew well.

There were some things that were missing in Damian’s life however, and one such thing was strangely Pokémon. Damian’s father had never been a trainer and had immediately entered the business world upon growing older. Because of this he had no particular care for the creatures, and in fact somewhat despised them, as they often conflicted with his company's plan to expand housing and would sometimes even attack his workers. As a result Hayden had all but abolished the presence of Pokémon from the estate, and even tasked the groundskeeper to ward off any wild Pokémon from straying onto the estate grounds in fear of them hurting the staff or worse, his family. The one voice of opposition to this was Damian’s mother, Izabelle. Because she had been a trainer she knew her husband’s fears and hatred were misplaced, but no amount of reasoning with him about the benefits of Pokémon and their friendship would sway Hayden’s judgment.

The one exception was Izabelle’s prized Pokémon and companion, a Vulpix named Yoko, who she kept at the estate much to Hayden’s chagrin. This Vulpix was the only Pokémon Damian would know for many years, but the two quickly became the best of friends, much to Izabelle’s delight. Yoko would often accompany Damian on his many excursions throughout the estate and even kept the boy from harming himself several times, and the two could often be found playing with one another. In fact they spent almost every minute in each other’s presence. Thus Damian grew to love and admire Pokémon at an early age much like his mother did, though as far as the young boy knew the Vulpix was one of a kind.

There was one other thing that was missing during a large part of Damian’s childhood, and that was his father Hayden. Though the man wielded an iron fist when it came to the dealings of the Neirin estate, Hayden spent the majority of his time either at Vesta Inc. managing his business or away on trips to oversee the construction of new residential areas. Thus Damian’s mother was the sole parental figure in his early childhood, and influenced his early kindness and love of Pokémon. However, when Hayden was at the estate, he largely ignored anything to do with Damian. The man didn’t hate his youngest son, but fully believed his wife and the estate staff would give the child an adequate upbringing. Rather, any time he spent with his family was spent with his eldest son and Damian’s older brother, Anthony. As the future heir to Vesta Inc. and the family’s fortune Hayden thought Anthony to be far more valuable, and spent many days tutoring him about running the business and how he should live life to carry on the Neirin name.

Receiving the cold shoulder from his father hurt Damian, but he was still young enough to have such pain be easily hidden by the amusement of playing with Yoko and curiosity about the world around him. The one exception was how his brother Anthony treated him. Because Damian’s older brother received all of Hayden’s attention he grew arrogant over Damian, who he thought he was infinitely better than because he had gained their father’s favor. Thus he would often torment the young Damian, and though Izabelle tried her best to put a stop to it, Damian had to endure the verbal and sometimes even physical assaults of Anthony as he went about his childhood. The one comforting presence in all of this was Yoko, and the bond they shared early on only grew stronger as the Pokémon was the young boy’s only friend in the world. The young Damian also showed a remarkable spirit and perseverance as he grew older, and no matter how many times Anthony would try to put him down, the boy would just get back up and keep trying to enjoy life as best he could.

Everything about the Neirin family changed however when Damian was eight years old. Hayden’s business had been flourishing the past several years and the family’s wealth had continually expanded, but such success had only made the man eager for more. And the only obstacle to expansion and thus further success that Hayden could see were Pokémon. Vesta Inc. had been historically forced to build in less ideal locations due to the presence of wild Pokémon in more favorable areas, who would slow and sometimes halt construction as they defended their territory. But in that year Hayden began a hostile campaign of expansion through Vesta Inc. into profitable land, land teeming with wild Pokémon. At first the plan had been kept secret, but eventually word had gone out about the systematic destruction of wide swaths of wilderness and Pokémon homes at the hands of Vesta Inc. People became quickly outraged, and while Hayden ignored their cries for the expansion to stop, there was one thing he couldn’t ignore; at the head of the opposition to his plan was his wife, Izabelle Neirin.

Needless to say Hayden was furious by what he saw as a betrayal by his family, and starting that year the man began to stay at the estate more and more to watch over his family and especially his wife, who was confined to the estate grounds. Izabelle was not submissive however, and a large dispute emerged between Damian’s parents over the actions of Vesta Inc. The crack between the two adults would soon grow into a fissure separating the entire family though, as their two kids began picking sides in the dispute. Anthony naturally favored his father, who had showered the eldest son with praise and raised him to fervently believe in the doctrines of Vesta Inc. Damian on the other hand had grown up with Yoko and shared his mother’s love for Pokémon, and so a resentment began to grow in Damian towards his brother and father.

This split of the family continued for a tense and heated year, but when Damian was twelve disaster befell the Neirin family. The dispute between Izabelle and Hayden had only grown more hostile as Vesta Inc. continued its aggressive policies. Eventually this culminated into a loud debate which raged throughout the entire house as the two went at each other, but the argument was cut short when part way through Izabelle fell violently down a set of stairs the couple had been fighting near. The woman appeared mostly unscathed after the accident, and though many fretted over her condition, Damian included, Izabelle brushed away their worries. It was not until a few days later that her injuries became apparent when Damian’s mother collapsed during the middle of the day. A doctor was immediately called and he concluded that Izabelle had suffered a fractured rib which punctured one of her lungs, and would need to undergo surgery.

The news devastated the estate, Damian most of all, as he had grown even closer to his mother the past few years as he defended her against his father. Thus it was not the estate staff that cared for Izabelle the most as she awaited her surgery, but Damian. The young boy tended to his injured mother day and night alongside his mother’s Vulpix, the Pokémon as distressed over her trainers condition as Damian was. Eventually it came to be the night before Izabelle’s surgery, and the woman, touched by her son’s care of her, gave the young boy a gift. It was a long golden bracelet, and on its surface were etched the words Dum spiro, spero. Izabelle explained to the young boy that the words meant that so long as he lived, he should never give up hope and always continue to move forward. The item became a treasured possession of Damian’s and the words never truer the following day, for Izabelle Neirin died in the hospital due to complications from the surgery.

His mother’s death tore Damian’s world asunder, and a gaping hole was left in the part of Damian’s heart were his only loved family member once existed. He and Yoko would mourn for months to come, and for Damian life would never be quite the same again in the estate, which now appeared bleaker than it ever had to the young boy. It was not just Damian however who mourned the loss of his mother; the entire estate staff had loved the matron of the Neirin family and Anthony, though more estranged than Damian from his mother, still felt the loss of a parent. It was Hayden who vanished, Damian’s father leaving the estate a few days after his wife’s death and not returning until half a year later, leaving his two kids to be cared for by the estate staff. Because of this Damian’s resentment towards his father only grew, first for his negligence at caring for his wife and then for abandoning his children following her death. Damian also blamed the man for his mother’s death, for if it hadn’t been for his actions the argument wouldn’t have started. Their common loss of a parent did little to mend the gap between Damian and Anthony as well, as the latter returned to his old ways shortly thereafter, his ego only fueled more by being the oldest Neirin at the estate with their father’s absence.

When Hayden returned however, abandonment was a concept far from his mind. Instead the man began to have a direct role in the dealings of the Neirin estate. He continued to shower praise and gratification on Anthony, seeing his eldest son as a worthy member of the Neirin name, but towards Damian he began to show some interest as well. But instead of praise, he only showed disappointment towards his youngest son. During his time at the estate Hayden had witnessed Damian’s nature, the kindness and generosity he had shown towards the staff and how he took more after his mother Izabelle than Hayden, and in the man’s mind these were traits of someone who was weak and thus unfit to wear the Neirin family name. Though not eldest, Hayden still worried that Damian would grow up to undermine his fortune, much like his late wife had.

Thus for the next two years the man would spend more and more time with Damian, teaching him how a Neirin should act in his mind and attempting to change the “weak” nature his youngest had developed. Though Damian resisted initially due to his hatred of his father and memory of his mother, the sole influence of Hayden eventually won over. Whenever Damian would act in a way that displeased the man the boy would be punished, and though Damian still held an inner resentment towards his sole parent, anger soon turned to fear and then acceptance. By the month Damian became more and more like his brother Anthony; arrogant, snobbish, and greedy and far from who he once was, and those in the estate were helpless to do anything about it. But no matter how much he changed and bended to his fathers will, still Damian held no favor with Hayden, and try as he might the boy could not win over his father’s affections.

One of the main reasons for this was the continued presence of the Vulpix Yoko. Though Damian had changed over the past two years his bond with the Pokémon had not, and through his friendship with the Vulpix the spirit of his mother and his love of Pokémon remained alive in Damian. This greatly displeased Hayden. The man had always harbored mistrust and hatred for Pokémon, but now he saw once more the creatures winning over the loyalties of a family member, just as they had done towards Izabelle. He had allowed the Vulpix to remain at the estate in hopes that Damian came around eventually, yet all that Yoko had done was keep the old Damian still lingering in the world. And thus it was one night shortly after Damian turned fifteen that Hayden acted, and upon waking that morning Damian discovered that Yoko had been removed from the estate by his father. The loss of his best and only friend was unimaginable to Damian, and the disappearance of the Vulpix only brought the same pain he had felt upon his mother’s death. But most of all Damian gained a bitter hatred beyond anything he had felt before that day towards his father, and with no one left at the estate whom he cared about the boy did the one thing he could think of. He ran away.

Taking what little belongings he could Damian fled a few nights after Yoko had been taken away, leaving the estate he had grown up in and plunging into the dark streets of Saffron City. The abandonment of his lavish lifestyle was a shock to the boy, and his first few nights living in Saffron City were some of the hardest he had ever faced. The boy persevered however for he hoped to find Yoko wandering about somewhere in the city, his father perhaps just throwing the Pokémon into the streets only for the friends to be reunited. But such was the not the case, and soon Damian found that his father had sent some of the estate staff to go looking for the boy in Saffron City. Not wishing to ever return to his old home, Damian was forced to leave behind the city and any hopes of finding Yoko, and though the act pained him greatly, he began to head south.

As he travelled away from the city and into the wild, Damian had his first encounter with a wild Pokémon. He stumbled upon a Raticate on the path, and with memories of the only Pokémon he ever encountered in his mind, he approached the creature fully expecting it to be as friendly as Yoko had been. The Raticate however attacked Damian, and the boy would have been severely injured by the aggressive Pokémon had not a trainer happened upon the scene. Using her own Pokémon the trainer was able to defeat the Raticate and cause it to scurry back into the bush, and then went to help the fallen Damian. Though the boy felt bitterness at having been found so helpless, Damian marveled at the sight of the Pokémon trainer and the skill and bond she had with her Pokémon. The trainer reminded him greatly of the stories his mother used to tell of her own exploits, and the boy couldn’t help but ask question after question towards the girl. Eventually the girl explained that she was on her way to Vermilion City to board the ferry and head to a new region, a “trainer’s paradise”, called the Caspian region.

The trainer offered to take Damian to Vermilion City and even implored him to head to the Caspian region seeing how eager he had been towards her Pokémon. Damian was hesitant at first, having lived in Kanto all his life and been secluded towards anything to do with the outside world. But he knew that all that remained in Kanto was the memories of his mother and Yoko, and the hatred towards his remaining family, and so the boy decided to go with the girl and start afresh. When the pair arrived in Vermilion City they parted ways, the girl wishing Damian luck in his own Pokémon journey. Using what money he was able to take from the estate the boy purchased supplies and a ticket to the ferry which carried all trainers from Kanto to the Caspian region. And so it was that only a few hours later Damian found himself aboard the ferry, with nothing but the sea at his back and the Caspian region in front, and the words his mother had said echoed in his mind: “Dum spiro, spero”, for so long as he lived, he had hope for the future.


In Party Pokemon:

PC Pokemon: None

Items: