[b]Name:[/b] Rassmata 'Fireblood' Trolno [b]Age:[/b] 20 [b]Sex:[/b] Male [b]Breed:[/b] Full Orc [b]Appearance:[/b] Slightly larger than most orcs, Rassmata's skin is a gentle light green, where it isn't mottled darker from burn wounds or scars. His eyes are a twinkling blue, and his nose is a horribly crunched and disfigured mess. Rassmata is hard at hearing from close proximity to frequent explosions, and talks in a loud voice. His back is covered in whipping scars, and the pinky and ring finger on his left hand are missing. He walks with a slight limp from a stab wound he received as a piker. Much of his scalp is covered in burn wounds, and his cheek is pitted from flare-ups from his experiments. When not directly in combat, Rassmata dresses like a craftsman, a thick leather apron, sturdy leather gloves and boots, a light linen shirt and canvas trousers. When he's working with the more volatile explosives, he wears a prototype of a welding mask, a thick slab of metal attached with leather straps and has eye and mouth slits covered by a mesh grille. His leather apron and gloves are, of course, dyed a dark red. His right tusk has been broken off at the tip. [b]Skills/Abilities:[/b][indent]- Please list with most potent skills first. - Munitioneer: Rassmata is a savant with making things go boom, and his talents with the creation and operation of explosives are matched only by his enthusiasm. He is likely to be found tinkering with new concepts for causing destruction or altering the ratios of completed explosives to see the resulting changes. - Siege Engineer: Working as the indentured servant for a dwarven siege company for a decade, Razzmata has repaired and built almost every type of siege weapon out there, and was often used to operate the more unreliable ones. He learned through harshly beaten lessons and keen observation the best place to destroy a fortification, the best location to place siege weapons, and the numerous techniques needed by a successful siege engineer. Conversely, he is also skilled at creating durable fortifications, knowing how make something resistant to attacks. - Literate: Taught so he could follow the munitions ratios by the siege company he was raised by, Rassmata can read and write in dwarvish, and has quite a head for numbers. - [/indent] [b]Equipment:[/b][indent] - Munitions crafting tools- all the scrapers, tongs, chisels, molds, pliers and whatnot you can imagine. It's all second hand equipment, scrounged up from other sources, but lovingly maintained. - Armor and weapons for when he needs something thicker than an apron: a horsehair padded jerkin, a dented half-plate, and cheaply made chainmail. A painted red [url=http://static1.squarespace.com/static/52e477f9e4b083a7aecd3d0d/530a4adce4b0f4676183d7cd/530a4b0ce4b091b1a7941660/1395116857156/helmut_16.jpg]roundhead helmet completes the look.[/url] He uses a giant dwarven forged battle axe, along with a dwarven forged short sword. Both weapons have a stamp of the Hellstrikers dwarven mercenary company. - Small wagon loaded with explosives, pulled by Rassmata when on the march, as no-one else would be willing to. -Journal containing the various ratios needed for explosives, along with carefully drawn instructions on how to make them. - [/indent] [b]History:[/b][indent] [hider=history] The youngest son of a wandering orcish family, Rassmata's family was staying in a cave close to a major human settlement when Rassmata was six. Though Rassmata's father had been careful to only hunt and forage in the woods, where he wouldn't anger any humans, they were attacked in the night by a group of human youths that had caught wind of them, and fancied themselves adventurers, ridding the world of a terrible horde of monsters. Despite the valiant efforts of these brave human adventurers, Rassmata's father and older brothers were able to fend them off, and killed one of the youths. Knowing that the humans would strike back, Rassmata's family fled the same night, traveling as fast as their legs would carry them, leaving behind their possessions. They were not fast enough to flee men on horseback, however. Before the sun had set again, Rassmata had been orphaned, his father, mother, and older brother killed, his little sister and himself taken captive and enslaved, his captors thinking that he was young enough to beat into subservience. His sister was sold to work as a maid in a nobles house. She was only 4. Rassmata was given as a gift to the leader of a small mercenary company, in hopes that they would stay and protect the town for a time. Unfortunately for the town, the mercenary leader, after accepting the gift, left town, moving on to find bigger rewards on one of the many border skirmishes happening at the time. Rassmata spent the journey to the northern borders as the personal servant to the company leader, laundering his clothing and maintaining his sword and armor. He was cruelly beaten when he displayed the slightest hint of rage, and learned quickly to hide his frustration. The company leader was something of a gambler, and he wasn't a very good one, often blowing the company's earnings after a battle in a single night. Finally, after he had failed to pay some dwarven mercenaries for gambling debts, the company leader gave them the only thing of value he still possessed, Rassmata. The dwarves, faintly amused at the novelty, accepted, taking Rassmata as their property and voiding the company leader's debt to them. This particular mercenary company was a large and well respected siege company the Hellstrikers mercenary company, selling the expensive siege equipment and the talent to operate them to the highest bidder. The siege company was also in high demand because of their use of blackpowder explosives, a deadly and still rare talent that can shift the tide of the battle, if used properly. The dwarves, almost as a joke, set Rassmata to munitions duty, a dangerous and extremely precise task of first making the black powder, and then preparing it for use in the various explosives used by the siege engines. The deaths that occurred in munitions duty were the highest in the company, as any carelessness would result in a cataclysmic explosion. Remarkably, Rassmata showed a natural talent with it, and was eventually entrusted with more and more tasks from mere munitions duty, including the maintenance and operation of the siege engines themselves, until he was almost treated like an actual member of the company. It was at this time that Rassmata was presented with his two weapons, the battle-axe and the short sword, each with a stamp on the pommel of the Hellstrikers coat of arms. He was also taught how to read and write dwarvish, so he could pass messages along to other members of the company, and follow complex formulas for munitions. Despite this treatment he received, Rassmata was still inferior to the other dwarves, and was often beaten cruelly by members of the company when they were drunk or angry. The few times that Rassmata showed his fiery orcish temper, he was punished so violently that thinking about those times are enough to make him cringe from the remembered agony even today. Despite this, Rassmata would have said at the time that he was happy with his life, most of the Hellstrikers were at least ambivalent to his existence, and he genuinely enjoyed working as an assistant- he had stopped thinking of himself as a slave- for the company. During a siege of a particularly ornery rebelling lord, the Hellstrikers set up the siege equipment at the base of the mountain the castle was set into. The season had been unusually cold, and there was already snow accumulating on the mountainside. In the middle of the night, the defending castle sent trumpeters up high into the mountain top, with the only instruction of playing as loud as they can, for as long as they can. They did so, and the loud outbursts seemed to shake the very mountain itself, as it shifted and caused a violent avalanche to roar down the mountainside. The defending castle had sealed itself away in preparation, yet the attacking army at the base of the mountain had no such warning, and much of the army died during the surging crush of snow. The Hellstrikers large and cumbersome siege engines stood no match, they were smashed like kindling and thrown around. Rassmata, who had been doing internal repairs of a sealed battering ram at the time, was protected from the worst of the avalanche, with the sturdy battering ram taking the brunt of the force, effectively sealing him away in a layer of snow. The rest of the Hellstrikers fared much worse, and many perished. After the avalanche, the demoralized mercenary forces decided to cut short their contract and fled, taking with them a large portion of the conscripted soldiers. During the speedy retreat, the Hellstrikers either overlooked the absence of Rassmata or thought him to be dead, and left him behind. After digging himself out of the thick layer of snow atop the battering ram, Rassmata found himself alone, with only a few hostile soldiers in the distance. Scavenging through the abandoned supplies, Rassmata discovered his weapons, slumped in a forgotten weapons locker, and thick furs to keep him warm during his southern journey, hoping to reconnect with the Hellstrikers. Moving by himself through the frosty wilderness, Rassmata rediscovered his long forgotten independence, and came to resent the treatment he received at the hands of his life-long masters, though he still found himself falling into his old habits when confronted by other races. He eventually decided to be a free agent, traveling the world at his own volition. During his travels, he would work odd jobs for isolated villages, who were wary of the soft-spoken and subservient orc. It was during this time that he assembled the toolkit he has today for his munitions building, and he would occasionally sell rudimentary fireworks to villagers for middling sums. When stopping in a larger village for a day, he was amazed to see a disciplined orc bartering with a shopkeeper for supplies. Speaking with the orc, he learned of the Nar Mat Kordh Ishi, and though he hadn't spoken orcish in over a decade, he found it returning to him as he enlisted. His time with the pikers were uneventful, other than the fact that he was much easier to order around then the other tuskers, and his constant meddling with explosives. He was quickly recruited by Kavu Broken-Tusk into his siege engineer cadre, and earned the nickname 'fireblood' when, after being struck with an arrow during a skirmish with some knife-ears, he responded by flinging incendiary firebombs into the forest, setting the entire forest ablaze. That caught the attention of the old Eye-Drinker, and he was bumped up quickly into the Chosen, letting him experiment with various explosives at his ease He's been with the Company for three years now. [/hider] [/indent] [b]Personality and Psychological profile:[/b][indent]Rassmata is unusual among orcs in that he doesn't let his temper get the best of him, or even appear in most occasions. When he is provoked, however, his wrath is usually so great that he could fell an ogre barehanded. He is also incredibly gentle, avoiding confrontations much of time, instead seeking to reconcile with others quickly. This makes many orcs contemptible of Rassmata, thinking him a spineless coward. When something comes up that relates to his area's of expertise, however, chiefly explosives and siege warfare, Rassmata is extremely vocal, and will not back down until he is acknowledged. When interacting with other races, especially dwarves, Rassmata shuts down, and will likely obey direct demands without thought. This habit has begun to be broken, however, as he spends more time with other orcs. Rassmata is insatiably curious, and will constantly try and understand new things. This also influences his munitioneering, as he constantly strives to improve upon his creations.[/indent] [b]Relationships and Acquaintances:[/b] [hider=Nargesh] Rassmata is slightly intimidated by Nargesh, her massive frame and brutish nature making him feel subordinate to the woman. At the same time, however, he considers Nargesh an unused opportunity, and has been trying to devise a way to make Nargesh willing to carry siege equipment on her back, or to make her a possible explosive that she could wield that could decimate fortresses. [/hider] [hider=Half-Face] Rassmata had heard all the rumors about Half-Face when he was a Piker, and has learned a little about his past from second and third hand sources, gossip exchanged by the Pikers during downtime. And from what he's learned about his past, Rassmata feels a (possibly misplaced) kinship with the orc, knowing what it is like to be used by humans. [/hider] [hider=Dakgu Elf-Scraper] Rassmata thinks he understands Dakgu's loyalty to his Wargs, relating it to his own obsession with explosives. Neither of the two have spoken together much, as both are more subdued in their behavior. When he does see Dakgu's Wargs though, he will find a treat to give them, often a shred of meat, and will try and exchange a smile with Dakgu. [/hider] [hider=Grolan] Rassmata, despite his initial dislike of Grolan for his human appearance, thinks of Grolan as a potential friend and ally, someone else who is unused to the brutishness of the Orcs, and has spoken with him on occasion to learn about his upbringing. [/hider] [hider=Einark] Rassmata is intimidated by the pale orc, having seen and heard Einark charge into battle. While Einark has never been openly disdainful of him, Rassmata has never felt fully comfortable in his presence. [/hider] [hider=Kavu] Rassmata may be more loyal to Kavu than he is to the rest of the Company, going to him first when displaying a new prototype for an explosive, asking his advice on most matters, and being a dedicated member of the siege engineer corps that Kavu has formed. [/hider] [hider=Xozu] Having never encountered orcish shamans before, Rassmata is fascinated by the old crone, and has overcome his reservations about the shaman, and occasionally comes to visit her to enchant an explosive to do something additionally explosive. Since he's never actually met a knife-ear, he trusts Xozu's judgement of them. [/hider] [hider=Bel-Gond the Metal-Wall] Rassmata has a complex relationship with Bel-Gond, his eagerness to speak to someone in dwarvish is tempered by the deep-seated subservience and slight fear he feels when he sees a dwarf. As such, Rassmata tries to avoid Bel-Gond, and when the two do speak, Rassmata is subdued and defers to Bel-Gond. [/hider] [hider=Ungoth] Rassmata enjoys spending time with the cave orc, and has started to frequently go to him with he hurts himself invariably when experimenting with a new explosive. Rassmata respects the orc, and tries to understand Ungoth's thought process. [/hider] [hider=Rulfim] Rulfim receives the same treatment that Bel-Gond gets from Rassmata, tempered slightly because of her gender. Rassmata is less deferential to Rulfim than he is to Bel-Gond, which lets the two speak on more equal terms. [/hider]