Character Description
Name: Puskurunuwa Petrides
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Nationality: Shariq
Appearance: Years of traveling and training under the sun has left Puskurunuwa's already olive complexion dark, and turned his once black hair sandy. His face remains boyish, and could be considered handsome on the rare days he bothers to shave: otherwise he’s sporting the eternal patchwork stubble that ironically adds to his youthful appearance. Warm brown eyes and full lips add to his charm- until they part into an easy smile that showcases a set of shockingly large, crooked, and brilliantly white teeth. Puskurunuwa owns little in the way of clothing and stains of varying ages mark his trousers and shirt, both sagging on his lithe frame of five and a half feet. Even his belt is fastened by an extra self-made puncture some inches from the proper holes. Working as an acrobat has given him some degree of muscle, but only enough to for the speed and nimbleness such performances required.
Personal Effects: All of Puskurunuwa's worldly possessions can fit in a repurposed grain-sack, and easily swung over the shoulder. Inside it contains:
- a curved knife half the length of his forearm
- white chalk
- a single spare shirt
- about 15 feet of rope
- a handful of precious gems, most cracked or scratched in some manner
- a box of matches
- an unlabeled bottle of dark brown spirits
- a tin oil lamp, it's glass flame shield long lost
Background:
Occupation: Circus Preformer, petty-thief
Backstory:
Whatever glory was to be found in rebuilding a long dead empire was lost on rural peasant children. All Puskurunuwa knew of Shariq was his family's cursed plot of land and the destitute fishing village miles to the north. There was never the means to travel any further. The family's farm failed to reliably produce, and most years they found themselves short on meeting taxes and their family still larger. Puskurunuwa's counted seven younger siblings by his tenth year, and possessed increasing awareness of their shrinking dinners. Rather than continuing to labour fruitlessly on barren land and watch his family’s starvation, Puskurunuwa packed what little that was his own and headed west, towards the distant grey horizon that was The Inburian Empire.
His original intention was to find work in the capital's ever growing factories. The road to Inbur, however, was enlightening. Puskurunuwa, who'd barely met more than a dozen people over his entire life, found entire towns and settlements seemingly crawling with them. He stopped in most, taking odd jobs anywhere that would take him, earning just enough to continue on his journey. The further west he went, the more unwelcome he was. Be it his age, nationality, or class; he was often met with harsh words and slamming doors. By the time he'd toured around the bay to the capital, Puskurunuwa had come to the conclusion that labour, be it on the farm or in the city, did not suit him.
So began his life as a miscreant urchin on Inbur's streets. A few years were spent picking pockets and modest thievery from merchants and visiting nobles on the docks. It just enough Puskurunuwa fed and dry, with plenty of free time to do as he pleased. Most was spent pestering the city's other miscreants; beggars, drunks, and street walkers. All were targets for young Puskurunuwa’s constant yammering and curiosity. Eventually he gained enough of a reputation to approuched for jobs on behalf of others. Most involved light burglary, or a planting, but it paid more than pinching pockets.
It was one such job that had Puskurunuwa visiting Lord Landry's Big Top Circus in 1071. He was working his way into the eponymous owner's safe when some commotion outside lay his plans to waste. Lord Landry returned to his office early, and found Puskurunuwa folded tightly inside his small safe some hours later. He offered the boy employment - as a performer. The following six years were the greatest stability Puskurunuwa had ever known. He became a master at trapeze and contortion - skills that had always come naturally, but little practiced as more than a means to an end before. While he never took to reading or writing, the far and frequent travel uncovered a talent for picking up languages. With the help of his gregarious, almost over-familiar, personality it rarely took more than a few weeks in a new region for Puskurunuwa to begin speaking comfortably with locals.
His fellow performers became his family, constants within a never-ending cycle of changing cities, local hires, and audiences. Xquic, the fire-dancer with a low voice, taught him how to grind grain with stone and turn it into bread with nothing but water and a campfire. A small family from Sakha managed the animals, and they quickly accepted Puskurunuwa into their unit. They took him along on hikes when they found themselves traveling the countryside, showing which plants could be made into tea, and mushrooms that would poison. He tailed the impossibly large strongman, Cllément, relentlessly, always wanting more of the Monchian's improbable stories until the latter's patience wore thin and picked up the boy with one hand and shotput him away. Twins Stelia and Kypros were his siblings in aerial performance acts; their lives in each other’s hands each time.
It was Puskurunuwa's eighth time in Inbur since joining the troupe when the Calarian invasion began. By the time their forces reached the capital, the circus family was scattered. Landry’s available funds, and their collective savings were all quickly spent as the city's tensions grew in anticipation of enemy forces. Puskurunuwa found himself completely alone by the time they arrived. As lost and stranded as when he'd come to the city ten years before.
