General Information

Name: William Hewer
Gender: Male
Race: Human, Fae-Touched
Age: 19

Appearance and Characteristics

Physical Attributes:
Tall and thinner than his father, William might have his broad shoulders and strength but he lacks a good deal of the man's bulk. Having managed to inherit the fair looks of his other side he's a more handsome fellow than many you might find, and if he wasn't quite so odd he might have done well with the local girls. A focused and somewhat joyless young man, it isn't often that a joke or jest can bring him a smile for more than a moment before he returns to the task at hand and lets it drop. He comes across as older than he is and between that and his demeanor he can be more than a little off-putting, his soft speech focused and direct. At the best of times he's hard to read and at worst he's downright stony, and ever since the death of his parents his eyes have been black as his hair, which hasn't exactly added to his appeal.

Clothing:
While in the shop he dresses in cheap cottons that wash out the scent of blood and meat with thick leather aprons to keep it off him anyway. While out and about he does his best to be presentable in memory of a sartorial mother, but between his budget and his penchant for heavy, functional clothing it's rare to see him in anything other than a long collared coat. Not that he goes out much.

Armor:
His coat is good for brambles and switches, but Lord knows it isn't about to stand up to a knife.

Other:
William's eyes are black as pitch, a sign of the Lady Morana's favor.

Personality

Personal Attributes:
William is a simple young man, which isn't to say stupid so much as single-minded. He attacks a problem at hand with ruthless and fearless logic, dogged until it is solved and unyielding in his determination. Not that many problems really require quite so much effort, which is just how he likes it--if all went according to plan it would be a good day as far as William is concerned. A practical and down to earth soul, he gets on better with those older than he than he does with the young bucks in town (or would, if they weren't quite so superstitious). Still, there's plenty of warmth to William that most never see. Soft spoken and polite, his sense of humor may be a bit lacking but his manners and hospitality are not. Generous and austere, he takes pride in a good day's work for its own sake and doesn't want for riches or baubles. A bit more company perhaps, but that's neither here nor there.

Religious Affiliation:
William is a polite pragmatic, which means that he'll pray to whatever it is at a given time that he thinks he ought to. His mother taught him of the Forest God and the various little spirits that make up all things and his father reminded him always that God was watching, and between the two of them he mumbles his way through various little prayers here and there without ever really believing in any of it.

Greatest Fears:
In truth, William fears very little. Once upon a time he might have feared for losing his family but that's already happened, so these days his fears are more mundane. Losing the shop, failing to carry on their legacy, failure to provide for Erika... it's the daily ins and outs that haunt William's dreams, not ghosts and monsters and wicked things that go bump in the night.

Or at least it was, until Erika went missing. Now he fears for her.

Likes:
William likes crafted things that people must have taken pride in making, and knows enough about a surprising number of trades to sort them from the chaff. He likes the little carved creatures that the carpenter makes and the delightfully heavy glass cups blown by the local workers. There are few things more important to a butcher than a good knife so metalwork holds a special place in his heart, and he's traded more than his fair share of meat for the excellent wrought-iron installations about the shop that keep it looking like a respectable place of business. In keeping with his earthbound character he has a fondness for warm fire, conversation, and food, and though he likes his ale he finds himself a sad drunk more often than not and thus keeps a tight leash on his consumption.

Dislikes:
William dislikes mess and untidiness within his own holdings, though he doesn't mind it particularly in others. He has a deep loathing of gardening and the feeling of earth under his fingernails, and can frequently be seen picking at them to ensure they are up to standard. He dislikes his own mistakes as much as the next man, and goes to no small length to correct them, but if there's one thing William hates its dogs. They're not particularly fond of him--and the feeling is mutual--and after a nasty incident with Howard Bowman's hound a few years back he's done his level best to keep away from them.

History and Connections

Background Elements:
The Hewers have been butchers in Gerbovec for...well, as long as anyone can remember, really. Passed from father to son religiously, Marcus Hewer was no different but for his charm and good fortune in capturing the attention of a minor noblewoman by the name of Lily Costanteu. In something of a scandal the pair were wed and shortly thereafter blessed with their young son, William. As far as anyone could tell he was as normal a boy as one could ask for, if a bit more polite and a bit less brassy than a good number of the local lads, and sure as salt his father raised him on meat and knives and good business sense. If his mother tried to interest him in more intellectual pursuits--reading, writing, arithmetic--it stuck only insofar as to give him a rounded enough education. His father's son in spite of his looks, he wanted nothing more than to grow up to be yet another butcher at Hewer & Son's. That Lily had the luck to give birth to a daughter some five years later saved her from a life entirely occupied by meat, and together the four of them were a happy little family as far as anyone could tell, which made the coming bad blood all the more a shame.

Just after his fourteenth birthday young William (then Will, a much brighter and more cheerful fellow) and his family were on their way to a festival in Bessenova when tragedy struck. The wagon they'd signed on with struck a bad rut in the path through the Jarlione Forest and its axle cracked clean through, depositing then-Will and the rest of the caravan in the midst of the woods as afternoon wound down. Though the children were young enough to play and enjoy themselves it wasn't long before the shadows grew longer and the slow haul of the cart threatened to stand the lot of them in the depths of the woods. Neither Marcus nor Benjamin the Cobbler, who'd chipped in on the wagon to haul his own wares, were willing to leave their stock and family in the hopes of making it out on foot, and so between the two of them and the old ox that strained against the yoke they pushed forward as best they could.

They didn't make it.

It was a few days later that the holy hunters found the wreckage of the wagon and the half-eaten corpse of Oren the Ox. Sitting beside the road were a trio of graves and now-William, who looked back to them with tear-streaked cheeks and eyes black as pitch and was nearly put down on the spot. Fortune stayed the quick hand of the Hunter Lucas Peverel, who would have struck the head from his shoulders to be safe, for Captain Lucre took pity on the poor boy and saw him safely back to Gerbovec where he could reunite with his poor sister. Erika had been ill with a fever the night her family had left and spared the horrors of the eve, and the pair were nearly shipped to the monastery as orphans until William steadfastly refused.

"There's been a Hewer & Son's for as long as there's been a Gerbovec," he insisted doggedly, "and there will be one until the day the taxes take it from me."

True to his word, William took up as head of the family and did his fair best, which turned out to be a good deal better than anyone expected. Pity and compassion for his poor sister saw them through those first tough years, but by his sixteenth birthday he was a fair shop-keep and damn fine butcher, and if Erika had to mind till now and then she was as good a sport about it as you could ask. He did his best for her as his father would have and paid through the nose for the education his mother would have wanted her to have. If he wasn't exactly a frolicking young lad it was clear enough why, and the whispers about what had happened in the forest and the rumors about him and his coal-black eyes died down after a year or two of fair dealing and hard labor.

Until, of course, his dear sister disappeared five years to the night of his parent's tragedy. Now the whispers have started up again, whether he hears them or not. William lost his parents long ago--he's not about to lose his sister too.

Secrets:
There was nothing normal about the wolves that attacked the night William's parents died. They didn't move like mortal beasts, leaping between shadows and speaking as one voice in mockery of their prey. Their glimmering eyes feared neither fire nor blade and they made their games last, chasing the poor folk down one by one and...

Well. Worse than just killing them.

That he hasn't spoken of the night since means that none but Captain Lucre know the truth of his tale, though whether or not the knight believes him is another matter entirely.

What William doesn't know is that word of his sister's disappearance has revived the old whispers that it was no wolf that did the family in. Who butchered the butcher, eh? Not some pack of wolves, no, not a man like that. That was something wicked, right, something that chopped them all up and rode right back to live in his home. There's a plot against William among some of the more religious townsfolk who see his black eyes as a sign of the devil, and with this latest disappearance the Hunter Lucas Peverel has joined their number. He has no intention of making the same mistake Captain Lucre did five years ago, even if it means going against the Captain's orders.

Goals:
William wants nothing more or less than to bring Erika home safe and sound, and he's more than happy to get his hands dirty doing it if that's what it takes. Though he believes the wolves that killed his family to be simply another creature of the Darkness he can't imagine the two events being unrelated, and if it's going to take a sortie into the forest to get her back then so be it. He's already been on one or two looking, but without much training and without much expertise he's learning quite quickly that he's not going to make it very far. He'll need to find some help...

As far as my personal goals go, I'm always interested in characters who have to fight fire with fire and become what they hate in order to prevail. I'd be interested to see William struggle with embracing the darkness in order to save Erika, or perhaps to avenge her if she can't be saved.

Connections:
Belle Parsings, the wife of Arthur Parsings and the brains behind the delicious stews and rich pies at Gerbovec's local watering hole The Old Stable, has taken a fancy to the young black-haired boy ever since he popped around at a tender age and asked if she could teach him to make a pasty half as well as she could. She couldn't, but she could at least give him a more-than-fair trade for the meats he provided for her while the pair were recovering from their tragedy and pint'n'pie on the house for his efforts on the occasional long-day. While Arthur isn't quite so fond of the young Hewers he remembers Marcus well and turns a blind eye to the out-of-pocket in exchange for first dibs on Sunday's cuts.

Walter Crussel, who lost his own wife and son to a beast of the forest, has been more than sympathetic to the Hewer children since the accident. The town watchmen, the closest thing to a guard that Gebrovec maintains, unbeknownst to William has done more than a little advocacy on behalf of him to the rest of the town (who very nearly lynched him not long after he returned). Always happy to stop in for a chat and bring toys along for Erika, the aging watchman has helped ensure that no one has gotten fresh with the Hewers during the long nights and has once again started keeping watch on their house to ensure no rapscallions take matters into their own hands. That Erika disappeared on a night he was keeping to the rest of his rounds wounded him deeply, and he's tentatively willing to help the young man prepare for his journey to find her.

Howard and Margaret Bowman are a pair of God-fearing farmers well known in the area for their dairy and for Howard's massive hunting hounds. Having never much liked William after his return from the forest, his wary dislike turned to outright aggression when William took the eye of one of his dogs. It had latched onto the boy's arm at market (likely trying for a scrap of meat), and when it refused to let go William turned to one of his knives. That things stopped there was only in response to Walter's well-timed intervention and the extent of the injuries to his arm, which were deep enough to leave a scar that lasts to this day. The scar between the Bowman's and the Hewer's hasn't healed any better, and Howard and William maintain a heated dislike of one another. Margaret, though less outspoken about the matter than her husband, is one of the chief conspirators calling for blood in the wake of Erika's disappearance.

Skills, Magic, and Abilities

Skills:
William is a reasonably skilled young man, having grown up around tradesmen and then needing to learn to keep up a house and home on his own. His mother's teachings have given him a passable understanding of the scholarly arts (mathematics, geography, letters and the like) and his attention to detail and craftsmanship have helped him acquire a decent understanding of a good number of trades, including blacksmithing and carpentry. First and foremost, however, he's a damn fine butcher who can disassemble most forms of creature with frankly alarming proficiency. It doesn't hurt that he's had to spend a good number of years lugging around heavy slabs of meat, which have kept him strong.

Magic:
The only magic William has access to is the magic provided to him by the gifts of Lady Morana. Though he knows her only as the Lady in White, he has dreamed of her plenty of times since the fateful night he earned her favor by taking the pains amidst his grief to provide a proper burial to his family. In return, his midnight eyes can see the weaknesses in things, the softest parts. He can tell where a gate might be rusted or brittle or a knee weak and sore after a bad turn. Though it provides him no special ability to act on the knowledge, it also has its uses in a scrap or a brawl--one man's weakness is another man's opportunity, after all...

Weapon:
William has no special weapons aside from a dangerous and assorted smattering of knives. Loath though he is to turn to such tools in a fight he's certainly no stranger to them, and a cleaver and hook can be more than dangerous enough in the right hands. He also maintains a runic whetstone that makes sharpening them a breeze--a quick rasp over either side of a blade returns it to a razor's sharpness in the beat of a heart.

Combat Abilities:
William is not a proud fighter. Though he much prefers to avoid a fight and is fairly successful in doing so, if push came to shove he would acquit himself well enough. With no training but with good instincts and a fairly intimate understanding of how to use a knife on a body, William is a cautious foe who waits for a proper moment to strike and isn't above making a sacrifice to open up a lethal opportunity. That Lady Morana's gift allows him to see where a strike might do the most damage doesn't hurt his chances.

Combat Weaknesses:
William may be fast and precise with his knives, and strong enough of arm outside of that, he's no soldier. With no formal training and only the barest experience in battle, anyone with a foundation of skill-at-arms would have a substantial leg up on him.

Name: Marie Rievatu
Gender:Female
Race: Human
Age: 28


Physical Attributes: Marie is a gypsy woman with tall, somewhat thin and lean body. Her height is five feet, eleven inches and weight at 165 pounds. She has muscles to show her acrobatic abilities, thin fingers and hands are rough and scarred from climbing.
Her face doesn't stand out. Not a beauty but perhaps hint of cuteness with her round face decorated with small mouth, dark brown eyes under two dark, thin eyebrows and above her round nose. Ears are surprisingly long but thin, cowered with her curly dark, almost black hair that reaches her shoulders. Her hair is usually bound into ponytail.

Clothing: Marie usually wears worn clothes, usually woolen and bit larger to her own size. Her shirts are white or brown with wooden buttons and patches here and there, skirts are two-layered with black or dark blue and brown outer layer having oil stains and patches to cover burn marks. Some patches are just hidden pockets. Her trousers are black, stained and have minor holes. Her boots are leather and cover her shin half way.
She wears a bandanna or a scarf around her head, and a wanderer's thick green cloak to cover her from weather.
At nights when she wants to stand out however, she wears her black skirt decorated with golden stripes and stars, black shirt with grey decorations of moon and stars and white ruffles on neckline and end of sleeves, with silver earrings and rings decorating her.

Armor: Hardened leather leg guards and leather gloves, padded slightly at knuckles and on the outer side.

Other: Marie's clothes have faint scent of smoke and oil.


Personal Attributes: She lives for herself and comrades first, not concerned too deeply about troubles of unknown unless it does involve profit for her or her associates. She is greedy for power, admiration and wealth but cautious, having either professional relationships or one night with someone for her pleasure only, and negotiations or conversations handled escape route planned beforehand or having her steam launcher or knife within hand's reach.

Religious Affiliation: There still exists gypsies and their tribes who wander among lands, putting out camps and ask protection from darkness with abundance of rituals and keeping some relationships to Fey Touched. Marie's nomad group wandered around land in search of Tane, the Fire Bird. She herself gives her prayers to him with hint of hope to meet him once in her travels. But she doesn't devoutly search the Bird any longer.

Greatest Fears: She's afraid to lose her freedom; locked in cages forever to be doomed in slavery, imprisoned and forgotten in dungeons with no light given, be in love with someone so much that she cannot live the life like she wants, wandering and stealing.

She's uneasy of the forests, even afraid of them, since at young age she heard of Caecilia and how, if one sees her tree or the dryad herself, loses any will and will eventually turn into tree. This was told by older grandmothers in order to scare children not to wander in the woods alone, and the story has stuck. At older age, she still feels like anywhere in older and thicker forests there could be a branch of the old tree. Bigger and older the forest and further away she's from a camp, road or something familiar, more uneasy it makes her feel even with the Steam Launcher.

She does still feel fond of her family and caravan, as well as some of his comrades in Bandit King's band. Marie does trust to the elder's rituals and the survival capabilities of her caravan as well as the Bandit King's defenses in Coggeshaf. Still, at times she has thought about what if something were to happen to them and she wasn't there to help them? These thought leaves her uneasy until she hears once again from them.

Likes:
-She likes the affection of men and women she can get when she's out in the night. Their adoration and their dreamy eyes.
-A successful pickpocket or something stolen always gives her sense of accomplishment and pleasure.
-The joy of running and climbing freely on rooftops, streets, plains and trees.
-Feasts and drinks that she has bought with her own money.

Dislikes:
-Stains on her better dress and outlook.
-Those that try and take advantage of her.
-Those who want to have her as a wife or a girlfriend.
-Faults on things she has bought with her precious money.


Background: Marie was born in a wandering gypsy caravan consisting of seven families, whose elders were keen followers of Tane. Forgetting the safety of cities and churches and instead relying on rituals taught with tales and stories from generation to generation, and the strength and will of one's own, they attempt to gain Tane's favor. On the travels, the children grew into teenagers and they learned skills from villages, towns and passerby's while selling talismans of their own.

Marie grew agile and wild with her brothers, sisters and cousins. Always teasing others and running as the trouble came, she learned to be quick-witted and bold. Rituals didn't interest her too much, neither did the idea to move from town to town in a small nomad group, and as she gained age of 17, she said farewells to her family and the caravan as she started to wander from town to town.

It didn't take long for her to learn how to pickpocket and steal, but finding someone to sell the stolen stuff was harder. She learned to haggle at marketplaces to get good prices from her goods, disguise herself when she was doing ill deeds and looking fabulous while selling them. After years of honing her skills in stealing, pick-pocketing and doing other shady deeds, she started hearing stories of Captain Algernon Mill, the Bandit King, who also had underneath him engineers who knew technology, and ritualists bit different from those Maria knew.

She took interest to the group. It took some tailing, finding villages they had pillaged and following the trail, until she found them. She had to offer quite a portion of her fortune to meet the one of Bandit King's generals, Roland the Grey, to whom she pledged her loyalty and skills. Roland did indeed give good use for her skills. In turn she was given some equipment to help her, most notably a Steam Launcher with different ammo and equipment to maintain it.

She worked with the group as means for infiltration, reaching hard places and gaining information. She became comrades with some of the fellow thieves, bandits, engineers and shamans and worked with them to defend themselves against the darkness and steal and grab whatever one can. However, after 4 years she was part of sacking and capture of Coggeshaf. Her mission was to incapacitate some of the guard towers. The great assault and Bandit King and his three general's insatiable greed slowly brought the realization that eventually the Baron will come to fight the Bandit King's group, and that would mean her life eventually. She said her farewells to three of her closest comrades, took the Steam Launcher along with some equipment and left the bandits as silently as possible. Now she wanders hoping that someone else might have use to her skills and money to offer in return.

Secrets:
- Marie knows that the oldest in her caravan, Elder Miriam is a great woman. In fact, she's Fae Touched and third in the long family line to own a Feather of Tane. These feathers are kept hidden and their existence is known only by three oldest of the family, waiting for time when Tane's feathers are brought to bring old heroes back to life for a great battle. Marie was eavesdropping and heard this when she was a little girl, and hasn't shared this to anyone. She blackmailed her elder to get blessing for Marie's leaving with this information.
- Roland the Grey will send something after Marie, this she expects. She doesn't know what, exactly. Roland is the man that gains information, and for this he has torturers, spies and kidnappers. One among them is a charming and heartwarming fellow on the outside. Inside he bears love towards no-one but himself, enjoys gaining trust and then betraying them and thus leading his victims towards peril; He is ”Saint” Tophias, Roland's infiltrator and torturer, and he's been sent after Marie, who has never seen his face nor heard about him.

Goals:
Stay safe from Roland the Grey's revenge and whatever Roland has in store for Marie. Get riches and enjoy life without fear.

From the game personally I want to see plans that go south, surprises that we have to react to, conflicts and moment of relief where we reflect upon what happened and talk, surviving (or not!) horrors and all that kind of thing.

Connections:
The elder Miriam: Oldest and most respected in the Caravan, with decades worth of knowledge of stories from deities and darkness and respectable ritual knowledge. She wasn't too happy that Marie chose to leave, bitterly saying farewells to her.
Engineer Frederich: One of many engineers that work with the technology to keep Bandit King's army armed and dangerous. Close comrade who taught Marie to work with Steam Launcher and how to maintain it. Expert with everything mechanical and always grumpy as Marie broke his creations. The two spent evenings together around furnace where Frederich old about his early years in library, and Marie about her years within cities.
Markov and Roset: Twins that work for Bandit King. One is a lean man, an acrobat and skillful knife thrower, other is hulk of a woman carrying enormous axe anywhere she went. They and Marie were known as the three troublemakers and were usually rising their kegs after successful job. It was hard for these three to part ways, but nevertheless they left with good terms.
Roland the Grey: One of the three generals underneath Bandit King. He assassinates, kidnaps and gains information by torturing or bribing prisoners or his contacts, or by listening visions of underling shaman. He was happy to have Marie among her ranks and wasn't too happy to see her go away without a say. Especially as the fight against Baron's forces come every day closer, deserting Captain Algernon Mill's band is not acceptable.


Skills: Marie is a thief. She's good climber, quite athletic and agile. She knows how to pickpocket, haggle, escape places and somewhat disguise herself. She has very low knowledge of engineering that covers how to maintain her Launcher and how it operates.

Magic: N/A

Weapon: Marie took Steam Launcher from the Bandit King's engineers. It looks like a small cannon with trigger and a wooden handle that weights five pounds. It uses pressured steam-cases to shoot harpoons and projectiles. It is a silent and powerful weapon, but slow to be reloaded; Steam case and harpoon must be put in separately. She uses this in combination with variations of iron harpoons to fend off men and creatures of Darkness, blunt-ended projectiles to break locks and thin surfaces, and spears and hooks to help climb hard to reach places. Bolts and hooks can be equipped with chains and ropes.
She also has a knife hidden in her skirts and a saber on side to defend herself.

Combat Abilities: Marie is an agile mover, capable of climbing. She has good aim with her Steam Launcher thanks to years of practice. She knows how to slash and stab with her saber and knife, aiming to slash and hurt as much as possible in as little time as possible.

Combat Weaknesses: She isn't trained soldier, hence against an experienced combatant she's in disadvantage. Her Steam Launcher only has so much ammo, as the shells and bolts weight decently. Launcher is slow to be reloaded for a second shot. Against the creatures of Darkness, it's power may not be enough by itself.