Reed General Information Race: Akalak Age: 30 years old, 44th of Fall, 489 A.V. Gender: Male Birthplace: Sunberth Height: 6’5” Weight: 200 lbs Physical Description: For anyone meeting Reed for the first time, here is what they would notice: He was tall for a man, short for an Akalak. His shoulders and chest were broad, and his stomach lean with muscle. He wore his hair short, close to the skin, and meticulously maintained. His skin was a deep magenta while his eyes were a pale pink. He had a strong jaw, with high cheekbones that carved bold curved lines down to his mouth when he smiled. His nose was broad and flat in a way that someone experienced in the field of medicine would immediately know it was from having been broken many times. Under his right eye was small faint pink scar that looked like a scratch. He had big hands that were rough, and thick with calluses. He was muscular in the way of someone who has started seeing gains from body building. There was a slight mass increase in his arms and legs, while his chest and stomach were showing subtle signs of becoming more toned. On his body were two tattoos. The one on his chest was of five hollow stars, the brand of his master. His right shoulder had something more exotic, an odd pattern that drew its inspiration from a Myrian design. Character History In the Fall of 488 A.V., Reed’s father, Wojima was on his way back from Ravok with his Kelvic wife, Tamala when they were ambushed by slavers. They killed Wojima with the others who resisted and took Tamala with the rest to be sold at Sunberth. There she ended up with a minor local gang who were surprised to soon find out the woman was pregnant. Even more so when it turned out to be an Akalak child. The doctor they took her too was unable to save her life, but managed to preserve the child, whom they quickly decided to sell to a more established gang. From there, he bounced around between a few handlers until he was old enough to be useful. It was a long time before he could start earning for his master, and that made life for him very hard. Most of the time, whatever food he got was what the other slaves felt like sharing, or what he could steal on the streets. The adult slaves didn’t mind him too much, but the boys on the street hated him something terrible, using any old excuse to get into scrapes with him. Because of that he learned early on that he was different, and that the other boys despised him for it. For a while, he thought it was just because he was a slave, but he soon realized he was built differently. He could see better at night than they could, and he was much taller than them. Later, he learned that the hardships he suffered as a child were to prepare him to fight for his master and give him a ‘proper’ Sunberth education. At least, that was how his master explained it to him. When it came time to start earning proper, he got his first taste of cage fights. He lost a lot of them in the beginning, because it wasn’t like fighting the local toughs at all. Fortunately, he’d learned how to be adaptable on the streets and started doing a lot better in his matches. As a reward, he started eating better than he ever had in his life, which was plenty reason for him to train even harder. Eventually, his master sold him off as a guard when the fights went through a slump and became less and less profitable. His new master wasn’t a bad man, but the slave that managed his household was petty and vindictive. Reed got stepped on his toes one day, and from then on, the man, Silun, seemed bent on making him miserable at every opportunity. It made the new situation less than pleasant, but Reed knew his place, so he endured the abuse. His second half however was not so forgiving and emerged late in his twentieth year of life. The experience was beyond strange for Reed who had only ever known his own mind, and he strived to suppress this voice that he didn’t recognize or understand. The constant nagging and knit picking of the caretaker didn’t help him to keep this personality contained though. In fact, the Silun’s actions fed the anger the newly emerged soul was nurturing till finally it had exhausted Reed’s resistance and killed the caretaker. For this reason, Reed was sent to the pits to fight until death, and there his dark half took control again. In that darkness, with man after man sent after him, he fought like a savage. He used anything and everything to stay alive. This attracted the eye of a man from Ravok who appreciated his performance and ended up buying his contract. Reed did not emerge from the pit, but gradually he did peek out from time to time over the next few years serving his new master. His new personality called himself Merdem and came out strongest when put into a cage fight by their new master. Meanwhile, Reed struggled to understand this unexpected intrusion to his psyche, and over the years got better at suppressing this personality thought it always has been taxing. He had the best success using strategies to ‘outwit’ himself, which is the way he saw it, and training hard was the way that worked best for him mentally. After nine and a half years of serving this new master, he finally managed to wrest control from Merdem while on the way to Ravok with his master. When the knights came attacking his master and the other slavers, Reed put to work his practice suppressing a very surprised Merdem. He gave himself freely to the mercy of the knights, and to his surprise they brought him back to a city unlike any he had ever seen. There, a man who was with the rescue group, helped him to get situated in the city. Known by most as Kaer or Weld Curisaris, depending on whom you were talking to. Reed quickly learned that after spending some time with the Akalak, and admiring the example the man sets, he decided to become a squire to return this great favor. Character Concept Reed never imagined he’d end up in a city like Syliras. He thought other places were just a variation of the slums he saw in Sunberth. Nor could he have fathomed the selflessness of the knights whom rescued him from the slavers on the road to Ravok, or the kindness of the Akalak knight that got him settled into the city. It gave him the inner strength he needed to control, and manage his dark half, Merdem. As he gets to know the knight Kaer more, he hopes that he might learn more about this other personality he harbors within, so that he might be able to better manage its ‘urges’ in the future. Of course, he is hesitant to broach the subject, because he feels a lot of shame over these intrusive thoughts, but as Merdem starts gaining more traction, Reed finds himself more desperate to find answers. In the end, he might be forced to open up, or risk giving Merdem free reign. Traning (Skills, Arcana, Lore, and Language)
Ledger
Possessions
Housing A small, single room 20x20 apartment located within Stormhold Castle. It is furnished with a table, chair, bunk, chest, small night stand, and a hearth. |