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Zero
Type of Character: Skaa Misting
Contact: PM Please
Type: Skaa
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Place of Origin: Luthadel
Occupation: Unemployed, but freelances as a mercenary/bodyguard - he is a member of the Skaa Rebellion
Relationship Status: Single
Metals Used: Pewter
Degree of Skill: Intermediate
Status: Hidden - but known amongst members of the Skaa Rebellion/Snapped
Strengths: (Try to make strengths and weaknesses relevant to your character. Try to tie them into your character's personality, experiences, relationships, etc.) Zero is physically strong. Despite his hard exterior, he actually has a very kind heart - at least for skaa and the disenfranchised. He is extremely loyal and protective of his friends and allies.
Weaknesses: Zero has a temper - especially when he sees children being mistreated. It often takes someone else talking him down to avoid metaphorically (or literally) cracking skulls. He tends to stick out because of his eye patch, so often avoids being stealthy. He rarely sees the point. Zero has a blind side on his right due to his lack of an eye. Zero is also illiterate. He never saw a reason to learn how to read.
At age 10, his life changed forever. Night had not yet fallen and the mists hadn’t come, but a nobleman was drunk and set his eyes on Mara. Zero wasn’t sure what happened when women were taken by the noblemen, but he for sure knew that they didn’t come back afterwards. Filled with rage, Zero tried to prevent his mother’s abduction. He ran through the city, trying to find his mother. Finally finding her, he ran to take her back.
The nobleman struck quickly, knocking out Zero’s eye with a dueling cane. Left for dead in the streets of Luthadel, Zero snapped. There had been trace elements of pewter in his stomach as he was hit, and a seeker member of a thieving crew discovered him, and nursed him back to health utilizing pewter.
The seeker’s name was Brayd Lind. Through Bryad, Zero met Alistair Zevros, another skaa thug. Alistair taught Zero not only how to burn pewter, but how to fight. Alistair started with martial arts and then proceeded to the staff and the sword. Zero showed a definite proficiency for the staff and focused on that.
Zero served briefly in the thieving crew, usually as a door guard. His eyepatch made him stand out, so he didn’t often go on raids. He wasn’t heavily involved in the scamming. At age 18, he left the crew on good terms and joined the Skaa Rebellion. As he grew, he learned of the fate his mother would have received at the hands of the nobleman. His anger had seethed and with that came a hatred for noblemen that could not be soothed. His personal experience in getting attacked as a child gave him a heart for children, and this combined with his hatred of noblemen could often lead him to make rash decisions if there was no one to hold him back.
Zero wasn’t going to let that happen. His mother wasn’t going to disappear. He ran through the streets of Luthadel. Even as a ten-year old, he was strongly built from physical labor. He also swept and shoveled the streets clear of ash and knew them well. It didn’t take long for the boy to catch up. Mara Tesril saw him first.
“No,” she yelled at him. “Run!. Get away!”
Zero didn’t listen. He couldn’t listen. The nobleman knew he was there now though. Switching his mother to his other hand, the nobleman struck him in the face with a dueling cane. Pain flashed through his right eye. Zero scream and fell to the ground, feeling wet blood in his hand as he brought it to his face.
Zero’s mother screamed, but he couldn’t hear it over his own. The boy pulled himself up to his hands and knees. His vision was blurred, and his hand left a bloody handprint on the cobblestones. Inside of him, he felt a power that he didn’t understand. Zero noticed a white orb on the ground nearby and when he figure out what it was, he vomited.
Zero didn’t hear the man approach him, but he heard him speak. “Quickly Alistair, he needs pewter. He’s running out.” There was a brief scuffling as a dark haired man lifted his face, almost shoving a vial of liquid down the boys mouth. “Drink it, son. It will help. Trust me.”
Zero felt that power again - larger this time. “Burn it,” the dark haired man said, and Zero noticed another man for the first time - Alistair he assumed. “Your body knows how to do it. There ya go!” The man smiled at him, as he blacked out.
Zero awoke in a bed. The dark haired man sat next to him. Zero sat up in the bed. “Here,” the man said, handing him a vial of liquid. Some type of sediment sat at the bottom.
Zero found himself trusting the man. After all, he had taken him in. “What is it?” Zero asked, after downing the liquid and sediment.
“Pewter,” the man said. “It’s what kept you alive. We’ll teach you more later, for now, suffice it to say, you’ll need it until you fully recover.”
Zero nodded, his hand going up to his right eye. Over it was a leather patch. “My eye is gone?” Zero already knew the answer.
The man nodded. “There was nothing we could do to save it. My name is Brayd.”
“Zero,” he responded standing up.
The pewter inside of him made him feel stronger, and Zero flexed his hand, feeling a new strength inside of him. It was a sort of warmth that he had never felt before.
“I’m hungry,” Zero said, heading to the door. “Is there any food?”
Abruptly Zero ran into the door. That was impossible. It had looked farther away than it actually was.
“Slow down, son,” Brayd said to him. “You can’t see as well as you used to. It will take time, but you’ll adjust. Come on, let’s get some food in your belly.”
Zero followed Brayd to a kitchen, where he sat down to eat some baywraps. He would have a lot to learn indeed.
**********
Present Day
Zero moved quickly, burning a bit of pewter to keep his balance. His opponent’s staff whizzed by an inch from his body. His opponent, a soldier with the Skaa Rebellion name Grizz grimaced.
“I thought I had you there,” he said.
“I’m full of surprises,” Zero responded with a smirk.
Zero spun his staff, and moved forward, striking high. His opponent blocked the attack, and Zero countered low, hitting the man on the leg. The man fell to one knee.
“Yield,” Zero said.
Grizz raised a hand. “I yield”
Zero moved his staff to his left hand and offered his right to Grizz.
“Always remember, if you know where one end of the staff is, you know where the other is also. The staff being a harder weapon is all in your mind.”
Grizz smiled and thanked him, and two more stepped into the sparring ring, not offering their names. Zero didn’t recognize them, but they were Skaa. He’d be willing to spar regardless.
“Bet my friend over there,” the taller of the two said, pointing in the crowd, “that we both could take you. He seems to think you’ll get the better of the two of us. I offer this challenge.”
Zero smiled and took a defensive stance. “Loser buys drinks?”
The smaller frowned. “But there are two of us…”
Zero’s smiled widened. “That means if I win, I get two drinks.”
The men laughed at that, but readied their staves to fight. Both attacked at once, Zero shifted his position to take on one at a time. The smaller moved towards him and Zero blocked his attack and countered with a move that pushed the smaller man’s weapon to the ground and setting him off balance. He then brought his own attack to the larger man. Zero attacked high as he had in the match with Grizz. The other man countered down, showing that he had either been paying attention to the fight with Grizz or he had more experience. Zero blocked and spun around the other trying to get to a point where he could see both of his opponents again, however, the smaller man had recovered fast. These two had clearly worked together before, and the smaller had made his way to Zero’s blind side. The two ended up running into each other.
Lord Ruler, Zero thought. I hate that blind side. Such a rookie mistake!
Getting tangled was enough for the two to surround Zero. A few more blows were traded before Zero yielding.
“To the tavern then. I owe you boys a drink,” Zero said. “Just remember, I want a rematch.”
Edited by LordKronos, 02 May 2019 - 03:18 PM.
