Rack's chars.

Rackenhammer · Peasant Joined: 23 Jul 2009 Posts: 45 Location: NoVa

Okay, I'll take the opportunity to consolidate my char sheets. Some of them need updating, but I'll start with these:

Modern Era

Name: Conrad Juday
Age: 25

Species: Jackrabbit (three-quarters)/Mouse (one-quarter) hybrid

Physical Description: He is short, with the lean muscle of a swimmer. His fur pattern, solid gray, and his 5’2” height are due to his rodent heritage. His disproportionately large ears, which almost always bend forward, are the most obvious indicator of his jackrabbit parentage; the tip is missing from the left one. His bobbed tail and large feet are another indication of his jackrabbit progenitors. He has wavy black hair, cut somewhat short. The only other arresting feature is the unusually large fang in the left side of his mouth, which is doubly unusual when you consider that both his species are herbivorous.

He dresses simply, with a T-shirt and jeans or khakis, and a hooded sweater if he gets cold. He wears wide-framed glasses.

Personality: Conrad is a born troublemaker. Not because he likes the people around him to be annoyed, stressed, and generally inconvenienced; usually, his intentions are the exact opposite. But when you combine the charm of a seasoned conman, the smooth tongue of a lawyer, the creativity of a mad scientist, and a pragmatic sense of ethics, you inevitably get an ongoing series of plans and actions never more than two steps away from disaster.

That said, he’s not a bad person to know. He can fit in just about anywhere, and almost always has a pleasant demeanor. He has an acute understanding of how and why people do what they do, and is not only willing to listen to other’s problems, but also will jump to solve them at the drop of a hat. His charm and persuasiveness is often used to help him recruit others to the cause. Given the methods Conrad tends to use, that’s a mixed blessing.

Name: Vaughan Montblanc
Age: 25
Species: Red Wolf

Physical Description: An intimidating 6’2” high and built along the lines of a Special Ops agent, Vaughan is the sort of person most don’t try to mess with. His physique is mostly due to the training that all Montblancs go through from childhood, marking them among the vampire-hunting elite. He wears his hair spiked, and his wardrobe usually consists of a slightly worn suit.
The only other arresting feature Vaughan has is the Montblanc fang, jutting downward from the left side of his face.

Personality: While Conrad is garrulous, Vaughan is laconic. He is a wolf of few words, but considers them carefully. He does not fit in social situations near as well as Conrad, and speaks with an accent that sounds foreign no matter where he is, one unique to the Montblancs (the best way I can describe it is pan-European). He is better read and philosophical than one would guess by looking at him. While not hasty in using physical force, he is very thorough.

Biographies: Conrad and Vaughan are almost polar opposites, and yet have been friends for quite a long time, now. They first met when Conrad’s family moved from Edwinian Samoa to the mainland when he was eight. Conrad’s dad was a contractor, who’d gotten a large job offer and moved. Conrad was an only child, and quickly began to look for new friends.

Vaughan’s family had been living in the neighborhood before anyone else. The suburbs had grown around the old mansion, and most of the inhabitants of the new houses regarded the occupants as a little… odd. Considering that the Montblancs were all half-vampires, they were right. Vaughan had a younger adopted brother, Morrissey, a lynx who had been abandoned by his parents, one a vampire, the other a mortal. Vaughan’s older sister, Vanessa, never really liked Vaughan, but especially had it in for Morrissey, for reasons Vaughan could never understand. While the Montblancs were generally reclusive, going out only at night, Vaughan was desperate to get his eight year old self and his 5 year old brother away from his terror of a sister. So, he jumped the fence, and found himself in Conrad’s yard.

They were both puzzled at the first sight of each other; Vaughan because he knew only renounced half-vampires had the one fang, Conrad because he’d never seen anyone besides himself with the fang. Nevertheless, when the situation came out, Conrad was more than happy to help, which he did by faking a kidnapping. That was when Conrad’s talent for creating chaos came to light. At the apogee, Conrad then staged a dramatic ‘escape.’ He couldn’t keep the truth hidden forever, but the Montblancs were more than happy to do that for him, since they didn’t want the media poking around in their private lives. They taught Conrad about his Juday heritage, that he was descendant of half vampires, and the bloodlines had converged in both his parents, hence Conrad’s fang. Conrad later learned about the Montblancs’ heritage from Vaughan (see “An Experimental Idea”). Vaughan and Conrad, meanwhile, had formed a friendship as a league against Vanessa, in which Morrissey acted as a tag-along.

The situation with Vanessa deteriorated rather quickly. The Montblanc clan had become slightly inbred over the years, and Vanessa had a case of clinical paranoia and slight megalomania. Other than that, she retained her mental facilities rather well, and was strong enough that her family began to doubt that she was only half-vampire. It took Conrad, Vaughan, and Morrissey together to be anywhere near on an equal footing with her. Morrissey proved to be skilled with anti-vampire gadgetry, to a very great degree. The Montblancs homeschooled, mixing academics with their special vampire-hunting/guarding training regimen. Their house was big enough that Morrissey and Vaughan could avoid Vanessa long enough to finish their work and escape to Conrad’s. Conrad, meanwhile, was sharpening his skills of creating controlled chaos in the name of helpfulness, often recruiting the Montblanc brother in his efforts.

College provided the final escape for the trio, though Morrissey’s arrival was somewhat delayed due to age differences. Vanessa had no interest in pursuing them, provided they did not interfere with her machination in inter-clan politics. Conrad took a dual major in Economics (the study of incentives, which he knew all too well) and Environmental science (since he was attracted to big problems). Vaughan, expecting to get into the family business, took an English degree, with minor in Philosophy. Morrissey, when he arrived, went straight into engineering. Over time, he drifted form the trio, though still providing them with inventions requiring testing from time to time.

Conrad’s and Vaughan’s plans didn’t quite work out. Conrad’s short lived job at the EPA convinced him that bureaucracies were immune even to his innovations (some of which were less sane than others), and Vaughan encountered the reality that Vampires had become scarce, and thus demand for hunters was down, and the Vampires no longer trusted Montblancs enough to ask for protection. What Conrad did have a talent for, was short-term moneymaking plans, so he convinced Vaughan to join him in partnership with… whatever ideas sprang from his head.
The pair have yet to hit upon a long-term plan, but rest assured, when they do, it will be something incredible.

Cyborgs Era

Name: Kolin von Drake

Age: 26

Nationality: Gawainian

Species: A feline/avian/fox hybrid

Social Class: Son of Rich Capitalists

Physical Description: Kolin's basic shape and facial structure is predominately feline, from your basic domestic cat. The coloring of his fur betrays his vulpine lineage, with black-tipped ears, white torso fur, and white "socks" and "gloves," and a white-tipped fox tail, with the rest of his fur a rusty red color. Kolin's avian ancestors gave him not only the wings on his back, but also a light, hollow skeleton, allowing him to actually use his wings to fly. Unfortunately, the skeleton has proved to be fragile, and breaks easily.

In clothing, Kolin prefers light, tight-fitting clothing, as that is less of a bother when in flight. Usually, he wears shorts, a sleveless shirt with most of the back cut out to allow room for the wings, a windbreaker of the same cut on some occasions, and running shoes, with soles made of an alloy designed to increase dramatically the repulsive force of impact on the ground. In other words, the harder you step down, the easier it is for you to bounce back up. Kolin's take offs therefore consist of a running start, followed by several leaps, each bouncing higher until he gets airborne.

Biography: Kolin von Drake was born the son of two furs working in for the multinational pharmaceutical giant MEZER (HQ in Gawain, with branches in Piriqui and Domus). His mother was a researcher, and his father was on the board of directors. You wouldn't call them bad parents exatly; it's just that they saw in their son an opportunity to test out some of their cybernetic performance-enhancing brain implants. They didn't exactly work as planned. Mental developement wasn't accelerated to the point where Kolin was an absolute genius in any particular subject.

However, Kolin's overall mental abilities were increased beyond normal, as if Mozart's musical genius had been divided up among all subjects. This was, at least, what his parents told their respective bosses, as unauthorized testing was only illegal if it didn't work. The executives let it slide, even though they couldn't notice much of any difference, other than the fact that Kolin routinely performed at the top of his classes, but not by a large margin. What it did leave him with was a bunch of circuitry in his skull, which slowly started to tip Kolin's mental balance. It wouldn't become noticeable until later, though.

In the meantime, Kolin had a more pressing medical issue: the fact that he could hardly do anything without breaking a bone or three every time he hit something more than moderately hard. Again, he was recruited for guinea pig duty, this time for cybernetic "bones" designed to grow with their wearer. These implants were made mostly of a carbon-structure, crystallyzed from a by-product of genetically engineered bacteria. By regulating the growth of the bacteria colonies in each "bone," you could regulate it's growth to keep up with the rate of growth in the fur it's implanted in. Since, with the advancement in DNA interpretation, Kolin's rate of growth could be exactly predicted. The experiment was a success, which established a regular pattern. Every time Kolin broke a bone, it would be replaced by a GISR (Growing Implanted Skeleton Replacements), which were much less inclined to break.

It was when Kolin was 12 that the effects of his mental state first became manifest. He was on a recuperation trip to the Arctic Islands, afer having replaced all the bones in his ribcage. He hated the cold climate, and the fact that it was blizzard weather, forcing him to stay grounded. On the last day, however, the sky cleared. There were no clouds that day, or night. It was then the Kolin saw, for the first time in his life, a night sky free of cloud cover or light pollution. He was never the same again.

Space became his obsession. He sought to learn everything about it that he could, what all those stars were, how they worked, why they looked they way they did, and how we came to find out all this information. It was that last thing which fascinated Kolin the most, especially the furred exploration of space. He wondered why it wasn't done anymore. It took Kolin some years to figure it out. Most of the orbital space around Feila was taken up by satellites, mostly Edwinian. Since major space expeditions could potentially disturb Edwin's dominance in space, it was unilaterally forbidden, on penalty of war.

By this time, a dream had taken hold of Kolin, the dream of actually exploring space himself. Other furs, before, had had such childhood dreams, only to have them crushed by the reality of the situation. Kolin was, however, insane at this point, and reality doesn't have that much effect on that kind of mind. He reasoned that since the Government of Edwin stood in his way, it would simply have to be removed. So, he turned his studies to history's revolutions for inspiration.

This is where he hit his second roadblock at age 17. History, more than any subject, had been distorted distorted by government censors for centuries, especially the bits about revolutions. Governments don't exactly want citizens to draw parallels between them and totalitarian regimes that were successfully overthrown. Even the Second Domusian revolution was a little obscure, for the opposite reason. There was so much praise heaped upon it that facts were exaggerated beyond the point of usefulness. Uncensored history was, in fact, the sort of information that could only be gotten on the black market.

However, his parents stepped in to help Kolin, as they could hardly help but notice his revolutionary leanings. They were quite pleased with their son. The Government of Edwin had placed a moratorium on imported cybernetics and pharmaceuticals, thus closing a huge market to the MEZER corporation. Opening that market would be very, very lucrative. As it turned out, MEZER had some black-market connections, as most corporations did, and they were able to get in touch with an underground historian.

After several more years of study, during which Kolin attended Wexlar University and earned a degree in atstrophysics, which wasn't considered a very practical field. If all goes well, that should change. At the moment, Kolin is seeking like-minded furs in Gawain, and in Domus when he sometimes visits, in order to start an Edwinian Revolution.

Recently, another aspect of Kolin has come to light, that he is a magician, with the potential for almost all the elements. This has excited him very much, as it seems that at last he has found a way, if developed further, to actually strike out at Edwin. Also, his focus has begun to shift a little closer to home, since Bayreuth recently was subject to reign of terror Kolin suspects was instigated by Edwinian sympathizers. Thus, he has begun to gather all the magicians he can find, to band together for the revolutionary cause.

Personality: Like I said before, somewhat obsessed. He has not yet deteriorated to a monomaniacal state, but there are signs. Whenever Kolin is doing something not related to his Space exploration or revolutionary dreams, he really isn't all there. As a result, his school performance dipped in the liberal arts, thus erasing most of the benefits of his brain implant, and accentuating the ill effects. From time to time, Kolin will just stop, and stare into space, as if he could see the edge of the galaxy. It takes him a while to snap out of this reverie.

On the other hand, when Kolin is doing something he can relate to his dreams, he has an intense, almost frightening focus. No obstacle presented is regarded as insurmountable, and he has a tendency to lose his temper when anyone says otherwise. Also, he has an acute sensitivity to discrimination against hybrids, seeing himself as the heir to a long history of revolutionaries who fought for equality for all furs.
He isn't exactly what you would call social. The underground librarian who supplied his contraband history textbooks is the closest friend he has. That could change when he find a group of revolutionaries, but for now, he is a loner.

His mental state is not unbalanced enough yet to merit drugging or institutionalization in any country save Edwin, which would take measures even if Kolin wasn't plotting the forcible removal of the current administration.

Likes: Seeing stars, accurate history, warmer climates, flying, modern cybernetics, pasta

Dislikes: The fact you can only see stars in cooler climates, totalitarianism, broken bones, formal wear, potatoes

Middle Ages

Name: Zechariah Vesperocci (Ves-per-ok-si), Dragon of the West

Age: After 200 years, it really doesn’t matter

Species: Dragon (of course)

Physical description: Normally, he appears as a dragon with the same basic body shape as a normal fur. In this form, he is about 5’11’’, slender, with more strength than apparent, but rather less than one would expect of a legendary dragon. The scales of his face, front, and limbs are a pale, cold shade of white, while a fringe of black surrounds his head. His back, wings, and feet are jet-black. Zechariah’s face is long, almost equine, with a small group of black scales beneath the lower lip extending to the chin, which gives the impression of a neatly trimmed beard. He favors simplicity in clothing, going for a plain black robe, with a white skullcap. The overall impression is one of menacing elegance.

In “legendary” form, the body extends to a long, serpentine shape, with the same coloring scheme applied throughout. In this form, he is 30 feet long, 10 feet high, and 8 wide. He is not often seen in this form.

Personality: A lover of paradoxes, such as “the best place to hide is in plain sight.” He currently sits on the Octariat Council of the Unseen University as the Exalemain, that is, the one who conducts the University’s diplomatic/political relations of the University.

He is a believer in subtle control rather than direct exercise of power. As such, he uses his position as a central information hub, controlling its flow to best arrange the affairs of Gawain, with some influence in Eastern Domus and Western Edwin as well. Furthermore, his position of authority in the UU puts the activities of many field researchers and journeymen-wizards under his control, which he uses when some direct intervention is necessary.

In his considerations of what is “best” for the territories under his influence, he tends to put more weight on the plight of the people than the concerns of the nobility, though it is on rare occasions that he will actually be behind a deposing of a noble. One such incident would be when he gave semi-clandestine support from the University for Duke Fredrick’s usurpation in Wexlar. All in all, he prefers diplomacy to conflict.

History: The line of the Dragons of the West was nearly broken during the rise of Dysuhl. The contemporary Dragon of the West led his armies against the dark kingdom just before it became an ancient global power, but the Dysuhlians had developed several anti-dragon spells and weapons, which proved devastatingly effective. The Dragon retreated, mortally wounded and disgraced. He died in secrecy, and his surviving supporters hid his son, who was not much more than a whelp.

The heir remained hidden until the Seven led their forces to topple the Dysuhlian Empire. The dragon and his supporters signed an alliance with them, and joined them in their fight. After their victory, the actual governmental power of the West was given, by a blood-honor oath, from the Dragon to the Wizard Gawain, one of the Seven and the namesake of the Kingdom he founded.

Zechariah, the current Dragon of the West, honors that agreement in regards to Gawain’s descendents, but does not hesitate to use his influence to “help” them. He is the third generation DOW since the fall of Dysuhl. Previous generations had kept their identity a closely guarded secret, but when a young Zechariah had attained a professorship at the UU, he declared himself to be the “Dragon of the West, since I know for certain that I am the highest-ranked dragon in Gawain, and no other has any greater right to the title.” Most of the listeners and any of the public who found out believed it merely to be a bit of a joke, as few believed that the Four Legendary Dragons were any more than a myth. A select few, however, are made privy to the secret truth.

And so the line continues…

Abilities: His hereditary power is complete mastery over the wind, which fits well with his temperament. The wind itself is never observed, only the effects of its acting. This was what got him a scholarship to the UU, and later his professorship. In his studies among the wizards, he has picked up a near-mastery of light magic, as well as some talent in farsight (seeing great distances and into secret places) and far-hearing (much the same). He also plays the flute very well. The inter-academic politics has also sharpened his skill relating to people and getting them to do what he wants.

Those are all that have hard copies on my computer. I have an earlier version of one that I'll have to seriously update, and the rest may be scattered here and there.
_________________
All hail the Scion of the Spanish Throne!

Peasant: Que? Quis usted?

Er... no hablo espanol, senor.

RabidFox · Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:17 pm Post subject:

I see you saved your sheets. Awesome!

Rackenhammer · Peasant Joined: 23 Jul 2009 Posts: 45 Location: NoVa

I found another one! Took me time to update it, but here it is:

Middle Ages

Name: Telemain Eveks

Age: 20

Species: Mostly ferret, but there’s a black fox somewhere in his ancestry

Appearance: Not physically impressive, but very eye catching. Standing at about 5’ 9”, Telemain looks like an ordinary ferret except:

A) Where a ferret normally has a cream-colored face and torso, Telemain’s fur is black.
B) His ears are pointed, as opposed to round

The rest of his fur is a normal brown, except for the aforementioned ears, which are white on the inside. He is dressed in blue slacks, a high-collared white shirt, a knee-length blue vest with a plethora of pockets in varied sizes and shapes, a brown leather belt, and some well-made boots. The clothes fit slightly loose on him; he could stand to eat better.

Personality: You take a scholar, and routinely ship him to war zones, and what results is something like Telemain. While he still finds it hard to think of himself as anything other than a scholar-mage, the fact remains that he is at the front line of a secret war, which could break out into conflict anytime, anywhere; add to that the fact that the whole mess is partially his fault. As such, unless he is actively involved in something, anything, anxiety, and perhaps a bit of pathological melancholia, tends to take its toll on him.
Still, his scholarly background does still pervade him, in the way he speaks, and in the knowledge he has of magical things. He’s learned how to think under pressure, and he still believes that sufficient knowledge can make any situation solvable. What worries him, though, when the anxiety gets through to him, is that he isn’t worthy of that knowledge.
He bears an intense prejudice and distrust against all rats.

Biography: He was born to peasant stock in some godforsaken place in Gawain, the last of too many children. The only thing which saved him from a life of drudgery (or starvation) was that he had a large amount of magical potential, which caught the eye of an old passing red fox wizard named Skeve. How and why he came to be there is a mystery, Skeve saw Telemain and his potential, purchased him from his family, and took Telemain to the Unseen University

The Unseen University is a rather secretive magical research academy located in an undisclosed location in Gawain. Its graduates are known as “wizards,” and absolutely anything related to magic in any way is studied here. It was in this environment that Skeve raised Telemain, and took him as an apprentice when he was old enough. One of the first things Telemain learned was there was more to magic than just the Seven Elements (or six, there was a bit of a controversy over whether Ice was separate or not), such as the kind found inherent in music (Bardic), the mind (Psych), and pure energy. Also, there were various applications to certain spells that few had thought of before, such as using an illusion spell to create a disguise. Telemain took to this environment well, leaning something about everything, but not very much about anything. He couldn’t find a niche that interested him more than anything else. Telemain remained here until about age 15.

At this time, Skeve took his apprentice out on journeys to acquaint Telemain with the real world. On one such occasion, Skeve attempted to teach Telemain how to use magic to earn money, the job being to provide cover for two young lovers being kept apart by their parents, specifically, by impersonating them. As it turned out, the pair were actually con artists, and Skeve and Telemain barely escaped being mobbed to death. From that moment on, Telemain swore never to impersonate a girl again, and Skeve started to wonder if Telemain had a Jinx. After 3 years, a trip around the world, and a ton of assorted adventures later, both agreed a jinx or hex of some kind was on Telemain, but both were puzzled as to its nature.

At age 19, Telemain graduated from the University as a journeyman wizard, and it was then that he was informed that the university expected him to pay for all the room, board, and education he received from it. Skeve had died recently, and left the money to pay for Telemain’s education, but the money only covered half of it. The University was a kind lot, and put no interest or threats of collection agents on the debt, but firmly stated to their new graduate that he could not become a “full wizard,” and be entitled to all that came with it, until the 25,000 gold was paid in full. He could pay in gold or in new knowledge.

And with that, Telemain went out into the world, not knowing what would hit him. Just six months after graduation, he found himself without money or lodgings, and as such accepted, out of desperation, a commission from a dark and mysterious rat. The job was to remove and old tree ward that hid a treasure underneath. To this end, the rat had recruited a ferretaur named Aldrick and Logan, a wolf who had been cursed with a long-sealed wizard named Amelengrien locked in his mind. The ward soon fell before their combined efforts, mostly because Telemain discovered that his jinx could be harnessed to sabotage any magical construction. It came to light then that the rat who had commissioned them was none other than Vedicus, a necromancer from the ancient dark empire of Dysuhl,
From that day, Tel was dogged with nightmares, depicting a world of darkness, death, and destruction, of which he was the principle architect. These dreams eventually led hi to seek the guidance of Dr. Letitia Martin, Dean and Chaplain of the Unseen University. It was determined that Telemain had proved an invaluable help to the necromancer, and that to be free of the dreams, as well as to prevent them becoming reality, Telemain would have to fight Vedicus.

The opportunity came swiftly. While in Domus, Telemain chanced upon Vedicus as he was battling a group of furs in a tavern, and winning. Using his jinx, he backfired the magic Vedicus used upon himself, killing the rat in the process. Of course, that is no permanent problem for a necromancer, but it did indicate to Telemain that fighting back was not a hopeless cause. It was during this time that he was reunited with a long-lost cousin of his, the black fox Immortalia, and together with a few other companions, including the wolf Logan; they set off back to the Unseen University.

The trip was not without incident. Unwittingly, Telemain and his companions had docked upon a slave ship, and had to fight for their lives once the secret was discovered. This coincided with a slave uprising, which proved instrumental to their victory in the bloody sea battle.

Waiting for them on the Gawainian Docks was Nessus, brother of Vedicus, who was once a powerful necromancer himself, but who had been reduced to mortality after fallout with him. The rat volunteered his help and knowledge to aid in the fight against Vedicus, to which Telemain reluctantly agreed. On the way to the University, they encountered Vedicus again, who made offers to Telemain to join with him. Tel refused, and as such Vedicus went off to wreak havoc on a nearby town. Fortunately, Dr. Martin lent aid to Telemain, as did Logan and Amelengrien, and Vedicus was killed again, but again that was not permanent.

With that, Telemain, Logan, Nessus, and Dr. Martin continued on to the University, towing in a golem which Vedicus had attempted to use against the town, but had malfunctioned. Once there, it was revealed what the treasure that was under the ward actually was: the central control unit for the Demiurge, a Dysuhlian super-weapon that could give Vedicus all he needs to conquer the world. Also, Vedicus has other associates, and golems, which could strike anywhere. It is agreed that this is a war, and the Unseen University and whatever allies it can scrape up will be mobilized against Vedicus and his allies. Telemain, having had the most firsthand experience with the Dysuhlians, is now one of the top agents in the field, and is promptly sent to Yamaha.

Telemain’s first stop was at Azalus, where the reception was lukewarm, at best. He wasn’t able to dig up any extra information, or secure the alliance of Azalus against the Dysuhls. Discouraged, he went back into a village to raise money for a ship’s passage to wherever else he was needed, and found himself falling in love with Kanon Nakamura, a miko at the local temple. Unfortunately, Kanon had a problem with demon-possession, which, while it proved a danger to everyone around her, she was able to overcome, unfortunately at the cost of her life. Telemain had barely time to grieve when Zechariah Vesperocci, Dragon of the West and UU Octariat Council member, recruited him for a diplomatic mission in the Arctic.

Recent political instability had led the University to believe that the Dysuhlians had a hand in it, but it turned out to be a dispute between the Dragon of the North and the King of the Arctic islands. Zechariah remained to sort things out (and recruit allies) while Tel was shipped to Edwin to deal with an unholy alliance between Lord Cyrus Evoncar of Kent, and Tamas, another Dysuhlian. He managed to stop their advance, but still feels as though he is treading water, and not making progress.

Magical Abilities: Telemain has some access to wind spells, and a tentative grasp on water. He has also some talent in illusions and disguise, although, he is unable to see his own illusions, so he requires outside feedback on them. He can’t cast really big spells, unless he has a very long time to preparer, but he has a very interesting way of adapting smaller ones to do the job. He knows how to cast more intensive spells; he just lacks the control over the energy they require. Also, he can be counted on to know about any unorthodox kind of magic he comes across.
Also, his jinx, which he has named the Majide, allows him, after touching money which newly comes into his possession, to sabotage, destroy, or simply befuddle any kind of complex magic.
[/u]
_________________
All hail the Scion of the Spanish Throne!

Peasant: Que? Quis usted?

Er... no hablo espanol, senor.

Rackenhammer · Peasant Joined: 23 Jul 2009 Posts: 45 Location: NoVa

(Double post for Miles von Wexlar and the Dresden Free Mercenaries. Full thanks to Sade for recovery of profiles.)

Name: Lord Miles von Wexlar

Species: Ferret

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Physical Description: A bit deformed but not horribly so. His left leg is about 2 centimeters shorter than his right, so he walks with an unever gait. Also, his spine is slightly crooked, which balances out the unbalance in his legs so that his shoulders are almost level. He's only 5'4'', but his head lookes like it belongs upon a body about 8 inches taller. His back is slightly hunched, which means he stands shorter than he really is. His skeleton is rather brittle, with muscles that seem too overdeveloped for it to support.

Personality: Hyperactive, or rather, he functions best when hyperactive. So long as he is doing something, "maintaining forward momentum" as he calls it, he is a cheerful, charming person. Despite the difficulties his body gives him, he still maintains a vigorous lifestyle, exercsing both body and mind. He has to, otherwise, he can lose his momentum, and find himself in a depressed funk. This happens a lot when he breaks one of his brittle bones.

He is not a very subordinate person. Not to say that he rebels against authority, it's just that the group dynamics of any situation he finds himself in usually end up with him saying what is done, usually without anyone noticing. Years of trying to get his way out of his parent's overprotection have sharpened these skills a lot.

Biography: Miles is the only son of the current Duke of Wexlar, Fredrick von Wexlar. How his father acquired this position is a significant part of Miles's story.

The old Duke of Wexlar, Otto, was singularly nasty individual. It didn't help that he was proficient in Dark Magic, and quite skilled in manipulating the lesser nobles and the various magical academies of his territory so that no widespread, orgainized resistance formed. The few who did rebel were usually crushed.

One such person was a baron by the name of Piotr. In punishment for his rebellion, Otto pronounced a curse upon Piotr's household, that the firstborn of his family and their descendants would be destroyed by a dark, mutative plague. The first victim was Piotr's eldest son, Fredrick's older brother. Piotr was a broken fur afterward. Fredrick, who was only five at the time, wasn't told what happened to his brother.

Now, as a baron's second son, Fredrick was low enough on the social scale not to have to be subject to a political match (such things were discouraged by Otto anyway, for fear that a strong familial alliance would erode his power base.) So, Fredrick fell in love with a commoner, Kara by name, and determined to marry her. A hitch was thrown in the proceedings by an attack on the village where she lived by slavers, who carted her, among others, away. Fredrick wouldn't have any of that, so he immediately, upon hearing the news, dragged a few of his guardsmen and a dozen angry commoners in pursuit of the slavers.

Surprinsingly, everything went off rather well. The slavers were apparently expecting no pursuit, and were taken by surprise. The joy of Fredirck and Kara's reunion was marred by the discovery that the slavers had been in the pay of the Duke, and were in fact only a part of a larger organization which padded the pockets of the Duke and kept the populae under his thumb, by proding an "outside enemy" too keep the rabble-rouser's attention away from their local tyrant.

Incensed, Fredrick returned to his father demanding an explanation why such things were tolerated. It was then that Piotr informed him and Kara about Otto and his curse. This did nothing to dampen Fredrick's rage; it just channeled it into a conviction: Otto shall pay for his foul deeds.
Slowly, Fredrick built a rebel force, mostly from the commoners. Using the guards and peasants from his first raid on the slavers, he conducted more raids, and added to his army fromthe grateful commoners. Local nobles began to take notice, and secretly supported him. Resistance suddenly began to coalesce against the Duke, and the magical acadmenis began to take notice too.

So also did the duke notice. He figured, however, that the imminent death of Fredrick's soon-to-be-born son would break him as it broke his father.
Fredrick, however, had prepared countermeansures. The best healers he could spare were sent to be with his wife when she gave birt to Miles. While the magical treatments managed to save Miles's life, they also rendered Kara infertile, and Miles was deformed. Still, he lived, and that was enough for his father.

The conflict soon came to an all-out war. Miles and Kara were kept behind the battle lines, with Miles's Granfather Piotr. Miles grew up aware and proud of what his father was doing, and eagerly looked forward to any time Fredrick could spare to be with his son.

Then, at last, the war was over. Otto had been defeated at last, and Fredrick crowned Duke of Wexlar. He took advantage of the euphoria to begin a purging of Wexlar's nobility, booting out those loyal to Otto and appointing replacements (not always of noble blood).

Miles, in the meantime, was beginning to find out what it meant to be regarded as deformed. Among the greater population, the general reaction to him was either pity or revulsion. Depending on how he felt when he encountered these, Miles would either be galvanized to prove he deserved neither, or be pushed deeper into a derpressed funk.

Miles is now 18. He desperately wants to make his father proud of him, by doing something a great as what Duke Fredrick did in Wexlar, or at least by showing that he's capable of doing something that great. Given that he isn't let out of the Ducal Grounds often, that is difficult. But Miles is not about to back down from the challenge.

The challenge came in the form of a trip away from home, without parental supervision. With a few trusted retainers, Miles ventured forth, and promptly got himself enmired in a situation exponentially more dangerous than any he had so far faced. In order to protect his identity, he went by the nom de guerre Myles Rackenhammer, commander of the Dresden Free Mercenary Force. To add credence to this story, he recruited a former assasin and a street urchin, and proved instrumental in fighting off a bandit attack, and suborning the survivors into joining the Dresden. So far, so good.

What Miles hadn't been aware of was the fact that the bandits had been hired by an agent of the Dysuhlians, a group of necromancers heir to a dark empire, and megalomaniac to the extreme. The bandits would rpovide a distraction for especially hired assasins to finish off the nobility of Wexlar. This attempt, however, failed when Miles challenged one of the would-be assasins to a wine-tasting contest in lieu of single combat, and won. It was then that the necromancer, Tamas by name, moved against him directly, sending out a dark construct that had once been a little girl by the name of Melissa. Again, this attack was repulsed, but the ensuing magical storm transported the entire company some distance away.

The trip back to town was uneventful, but it still remains to be seen what will become of Miles' mercenaries.
***

And now, for the rest of the crew...

Name: Karl Thari

Species: Gray wolf

Age: 56

Rank: Mastersergeant

Physical description: Frightening, to tell you the truth. The sergeant is practically covered in scars, which do nothing to improve his already homely face. He stands at about 5’11”, and is solid sinew and muscle. His eyes, though, those are most frightening. They constantly assess you, and you get the impression that he is calculating all the ways that he can debilitate and/or kill you. And he is fully able to do so, too. Almost always in uniform.

Personality: Not near as evil as his appearance may suggest. He is very protective of his charge, Miles, and his daughter, Lena. He is taciturn, and rarely smiles. Nevertheless, he mostly manages a sense of self-control, except where his daughter is concerned. Any adverse threat to her could push him over the deep end. Has a strict sense for military discipline, which he is more than happy to instill in others.

Bio: Thari began his service to Miles’ family in swearing oath to Piotr, to serve as batman to his son, Fredrick. Thari had a wife in a nearby village, where Fredrick’s sweetheart, Kyra, also lived. It was just after Thari’s daughter had been born that the slavers descended upon the village. Fredrick led Thari, some other guards, and angry townspeople to return them. Unfortunately, Thari’s wife had died from abuse by the slavers, but his daughter had survived.
Thari’s daughter, Lena, was left in the care of Kyra when Fredrick began his campaign against the evil duke, Otto. Thari could only visit a few times, and those times were precious to him. After the place where Miles, Kyra, and Lena were was attacked, Thari was assigned there permanently, officially to protect Miles, but also to protect his daughter. After the end of the war, they all moved into the Ducal palace. Life was not all that interesting for Thari for some time, except when miles got into scrapes time and time again, but now that Miles has formed the Dresden Free Mercenaries, Thari is beginning to learn how much he really loved being bored…

***

Name: Lena Thari

Species: Gray Wolf

Age: 18

Rank: Captain

Physical description: As beautiful as her father is ugly; easily as tall as he is, but with no scars to mar her face, and an impressive figure. She wears her mages robes like her father wears his uniform.

Personality: She has a taste for adventure, which has made her a good friend of Miles, who constantly creates it. She is not as belligerent as her father, but has learned how to fight, though with magic rather than weapons. The recent episodes with the Dresden Free Mercenaries have only sharpened her taste for adventure. She is close to Miles, but held back by a sense of class-consciousness. She looks up to her father as a model of how to be prepared for battle, and how to conduct oneself on the field.

Bio: Born during a time of upheaval, Lena was mostly raised by Miles’s mother, Kyra, with assistance from Thari whenever the war allowed him to help. Lena and Miles grew up together, and Miles was almost always able to convince Lena to go along with whatever insane scheme had come out of his head. After the war was over, it was discovered that Lena had magical talent. Together with Miles, she finally prevailed upon her father to allow her to take lessons from tutors sent by the Unseen University, which had helped Miles’ father, Fredrick, to depose the evil duke, Otto. She took to her lessons adeptly, and is now as skilled as any average journeyman-wizard.
Her recent adventures with the Dresden Free Mercenaries have revealed a side to her that was mostly unfamiliar until now. After a few upheavals, she took to the art of fighting rather well, although her first kill was a shock to her.

***

Name: Rulf Halas

Species: Red Fox

Age: 30

Rank: Captain

Physical description: Rulf is a rather nondescript fellow, who would look out-of-place on a battlefield as anything but a healer. About 5’7”, with gentle eyes and non-muscular frame, and wearing the white robes of his Order, Rulf is no combatant.

Personality: He has the gentle bedside manner of the best of doctors, though has a limited patience with difficult patients. In his own domain, he is very assertive, which he feels he has every right to be, due to his superior knowledge in the arts of healing. Elsewhere, he is about as assertive as a jelly sandwich.

Bio: Rulf was one of the foundlings taken in by the Unseen University, and quickly found his calling in the Order of the Healers. He showed especial talent for mending shattered bones, so when Mile’s old personal healer died, Rulf was sent to the Ducal palace as a replacement.
This assignment proved to be the toughest that Rulf had ever faced. Not only was Miles almost constantly injuring himself, he had a way of deflating Rulf and making him laugh, which cut down on how assertive he could be, thus making his warnings to Miles fall on deaf ears. But that was nothing, compared to what would happen when Miles created the Dresden Free Mercenaries. Now, Rulf has to deal with the injuries of an entire band, and has had his patience wear, slowly but surely, ever thinner. Which is good, since he has to keep his charges under control.

***

Name: Pierre Montcalm

Species: Gray fox

Age: 27

Rank: Lieutenant

Physical description: Pierre has a face that is handsome when he smiles out of cheerfulness, or when he is genuinely concerned over someone, but all the rest of the time he has that slightly-off look, much like a highwayman who works with trickery rather than by force. He has the light step and physique of a swordsman; standing at 5’6” and wielding a flamberge, few can deny that he is good with the blade. He wears clothes that may, in better days, have graced nobility, but now are relegated to the commoners as a step or two above rags.

Personality: Pierre has a rather chivalrous demeanor, always protective of the ladies and much enjoying their company. He attempts, at many times, to act like an honorable knight, but has been rather out of practice, and it shows. He has no qualms about stealing from males, having let go of quite a few moral scruples over the years, but doesn’t consider himself a bad person, or at least, a person beyond redemption.

Bio: Pierre was born into a family that really didn’t have much going for it. They lived in a makeshift shelter in an alley in a Domish city, just barely scraping by. The only way out of this was for Pierre to become a page to a knight, and that was his dream. When he was eight, a pavilion had been set up where knights evaluated potential pages and squires some miles outside where Pierre lived. Pierre’s father had since died, and Pierre was an only child, so his mother took her life savings, and gave it to her son, making him vow to never, ever, lift his sword to harm a woman. He promised, and setout for the pavilion.
Unfortunately, he took a wrong turn, and fell in with a bandit group. Now, most bandits would have jut taken the money and left Pierre for dead, but his one decided to take him in, after all, one more pair of hands was nothing to be sneezed at. The particular bandit group that Pierre belonged to was small and nothing special. As he grew up, Pierre fancied himself a gentleman bandit, even though what was left of his honor was chipped slowly away. When he was 20, the group decided that the pickings in Domus were thin, and stowed away to Gawain, where they met up with another bandit group who had come from Edwin, and decided to join forces. They went on like this for w while, until the only honor Pierre had remaining was the vow he had given his mother. Then, they got a mysterious assignment; a rat hired them to create destruction in a town in Gawain, for undisclosed reasons.
It turned out to be a complete fiasco, as far as the bandits were concerned. Miles, acting as the commander of “The Dresden Free Mercenaries” rallied the town, and sent most bandits out of the world of the living. Pierre was one of the few survivors, who had been given the opportunity to surrender to Miles, as a ‘provisionary recruit.’ After a fight with their former employer, the number of bandits left was about half-a-dozen, and Pierre was seriously considering a change in career, so he accepted. He learned Miles true identity while acting as a translator, but agreed to keep his secret, seeing this as an opportunity to regain his lost honor.

***

Name: Ashe Juday

Species: Yellow Tabby cat

Age: 28

Rank: Corporal

Physical description: Wiry and tough, much like your average tomboy. She is not given to ostentatious dress or manner. She has a couple of scars from previous fights, and always carries two dirks around with her. She stands about 5’5”, but even furs taller than her never feel as though they’re looking down on herm for some odd reason.

Personality: Ashe has never been one to back down from a fight, and takes no nonsense from anyone. She isn’t especially heartless, she just has a “them or me” attitude towards most other furs, seeing them either as not worth her attention, or somehow trying to take advantage of a perceived weakness. Thus, she preemptively discourages friendliness from others towards her, seeing it mostly as a deception. That’s become a little more difficult lately.

Bio: Ashe’s family has an… interesting history. Her grandfather was a half-vampire, who was shunned by the vampires’ community in Edwin, and thus took the Juday Oath of renunciation of vampire heritage, and thus took the last name “Juday.” While he managed to find a wife, their union was not a happy one, and their son ran away from home, and became a bandit. Into this environment Ashe was born. Her father never told her who her mother was; she was a captive who’d been raped and had died in childbirth. Ashe’s father taught her to fight, and to not let anyone mess with her. It was odd that any parental affection was shown at all, but it may have been guilt, or the simple fact that all bandit groups can use another set of sticky fingers. A guard raid on the camp decimated their numbers, Ashe’s father being among the dead. She was twelve at the time, but had established a presence in the camp that kept most off her back, and more besides; she had a natural talent for cooking. That was more than enough to justify her staying, but she could waylay with the best of them, often disguising herself as a man.
Still, Edwin is not an easy place for bandits, and so Ashe’s group went over to Gawain, where they met up with Pierre’s Domish group, and decided to join forces. Pierre, for whatever reason, decided that he liked Ashe, much to her annoyance. Still, he kept the members of his own group, which had not grown up with her and thus had no respect for her, from messing with her.
Then came the fateful assignment from the rat. Before Ashe knew it, everyone she had known was dead, except Pierre, and her only chance for survival was to join the Dresden Free Mercenaries. She couldn’t understand why anyone would allow an enemy to get that close to you, but after fighting under Miles, she began to understand why his “troops” were loyal to him. As someone who could get the rest of the bandit “irregulars” in line, Ashe was promoted to corporal.
She is still fending off advances from Pierre, and serving as camp cook, but is slowly starting to open up.
_________________
All hail the Scion of the Spanish Throne!

Peasant: Que? Quis usted?

Er... no hablo espanol, senor.

KatKry · Cub Joined: 24 Jul 2009 Posts: 17

Good to see all ya characters are back, Dude ^^
_________________

All my characters
http://feila.s2.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?t=79
Because they're just so damn amazing

Rackenhammer · Peasant Joined: 23 Jul 2009 Posts: 45 Location: NoVa

Yes, I was rather pleased about that, myself.

Speaking of which, I didn't see Luckless on the list of yours. Did you lose her, or just decide not to post her?
_________________
All hail the Scion of the Spanish Throne!

Peasant: Que? Quis usted?

Er... no hablo espanol, senor.