Hadrian Maitaine

Name: Hadrian Maitaine
Age: 19
Race: Human
Place of Origin: Vienda

Backstory:

Hadrian grew up on the bank of the Arova River, where his parents, Dodger and Minnie, made a reasonable living by breeding hardy moa to be sold inside the city and abroad. Typical of most humans in Anaxas, Hadrian's life revolved around secrecy. His father Dodger began his sons! training from a very young age, practicing with them so that they could grow into adept, agile fighters. It didn!t matter whether or not they meant to fight in the Resistance; living life as a human was tough. They would need a good pair of fists and an impressive bag of tricks just to get by. Late at night, the three of them would practice hand-to-hand and close combat in the storage barn, working with all kinds of weapons, at least...ones that were available to them. There was only one pistol to the family name, and it was hidden under the floorboards in the family room.

During the day Hadrian worked on the farm, training the moa that his parents would eventually sell. I twas his job to take the green fledgling and train them for riding. One such day...

Oh, right...you wanted to know about the real Hadrian (what, you didn't expect we were keeping secrets? He is a HUMAN after all). Well, alright, here's the real story. All of the above is very true indeed, which is convenient enough for a cover-up. A simple farm boy on a simple farm. Truth be told, there!s a bit more to the story than what can be seen on the surface.

No-one can deny that life as a human is torturous at best. Despite the fact that Dodger and Minnie raised excellent, well-trained moa, it wouldn't have mattered if their moa started laying magical eggs, be cause they were HUMAN. And according to the galdori in nearby Vienda, the Maitanes had it too easy. Something clearly needed to be changed if humans were making a reasonable enough living to be paying the heavy taxes that sky-rocketed year after year...So, something did change.

Sooner or later, people stopped buying from the Maitanes, at least in Vienda. Although the business was already very quiet and unimposing anyway, word spread around nonetheless. Despite the fact that Dodger and Minnie still got business from people who knew Dodgers brother in Old Rose Harbor, the thing was that most people weren't willing to pay extra when there were perfectly good moa in their own towns. Their artisan friends on the bridge were too poor as well, even when they cut prices down and offered to train mounts for free. The family began to feel the typical financial strain, and Hadrian, along with his older brother, was forced to find work elsewhere. At the time, Hadrian was 16.

While Hadrian's older brother joined the crew of his father!s brother's merchant ship along with little fishing boat crew, Hadrian went to the Vienda Bridge. There, he picked up work with people he knew from his parents, working mainly as an apprentice artisan and making little pocket-monies from his few wares. He also performed a little bit with the viola, something he'd been given and taught to use by an underground teacher, and artisan friend that his parents had known before it was rumored that he'd been found out and killed.

The artisans weren't the only ones who frequented the Bridge, though. People came that spoke of a human uprising, men and women who came out of nowhere and disappeared quickly, as if brought in by the wind. One day while working, Hadrian was handed a pamphlet in code. He remembered the day well because it had coincided with his 17th birthday. It was a resistance pamphlet, something that he'd been taught to read but had never encountered; he!' recalled seeing one in his parents' home before it disappeared from sight.

Tension was beginning to build up again as another year passed. It was evidenced by the increasing oppression that the family was facing, and by the pamphlet hidden away in Hadrian's shirt. Some say that the fire happened by accident, the one that ravaged the Maitane home and killed Dodger and Minnie. The galdori claimed they had nothing to do with the incident, even though Hadrian swore he saw the blackback tracks in the mud and ashes before he!d rushed inside to salvage what he could. All he was able to save was his father's pistol, which he had found not where it was usually hidden under the floorboards, but on the floor near his father's severely beaten body.

After the incident, Hadrian didn't exactly know how he was expected to react. He was good at adapting to change, even if it was a result of something so severe. Deep inside, he had always understood the risks of what his parents did . But deep inside, he sensed the severe injustice and mistreatment too. Now, though, Hadrian was just another normal, 18-year old human, someone who had suffered great loss with almost no crime at a very young age.

Having procured a reasonable amount of underworld monies from his father's brother who dealt mainly in the spice trade, Hadrian decided to find a crew that he could sail with to Old Rose Harbor. There he would be able to find his older brother and hopefully his father's brother. What he hadn!t! counted on when he arrived in Old Rose was hearing the news that his uncle had been killed.

"Lookin' for someone, boyo?" The shady figured had asked Hadrian as he'd entered the pub. He was looking to find his uncle, but if that plan went awry,then plan number two was to get completely guttered.

Over the course of the conversation, which almost ended up with Hadrian yelling across the table, the stranger revealed himself as Hadrian's older brother. It turned out that Penn, had fallen into the criminal life aboard his uncle's ship before he'd died. While Hadrian had been innocently working away on the Bridge, mildly tasting the bitter reality of the rising human resistance, Penn had been working the spice trade. Oh, and the spices? Mostly poppah...although, they also carried nutmeg, of course. They did need a cover-up, after all.

Once Hadrian told the story of their parents' death, Penn confirmed that their uncle had been murdered only a few months later. Penn was in the pub trying to find an easy lift from some of the guttered 'boyo's, as he called them. Unfortunately, the art of disguise was up for the night, as his true identity had been spoken. As he walked Hadrian out to show him where he was staying, he relayed to his young brother the delicate art of, well...ripping people off. The main draw for Penn was the money, and the satisfaction he got from pulling the wool over galdori eyes when he used disguises. It was easily done, since a lot of the general public was usually one of two things: sloshed, or on their way to becoming sloshed. Easy peasy.

For a few months, Hadrian worked with Penn to establish disguises. He practiced painting on Penn's faces, and mixing skin dyes for him to use, along with fake facial hair and the like. There was a mild artistic appeal, even though Hadrian much preferred making !honest! money in the underworld streets by playing his instrument and working late at night on his inventions. Because, secretly? Hadrian wanted to invent things. Hovercrafts, different kinds of phosphor lights, ways to end the galdori rule...you name it.

Hadrian celebrated his 19th birthday at the pub with Penn where they both had been reunited that evening. There, Hadrian convinced Penn of the need to return home and find a way to work for the resistance. Once they got back to Penn's place, Hadrian showed Penn the pamphlet he!d been given years ago while his parents had still been alive. Hadrian showed him his his father's old pistol, which he!d rescued from the fire, even if it was a little burnt and didn't quite work anymore. Apparently, Penn was in complete agreement. They couldn't waste time in the Harbor anymore; they needed to be serious about the injustice going on and being done to their people. The next morning they rigged a small boat that Penn had been manning for a wick friend, and sailed off for home. Ahh, good old Vienda.

Personality:

For a human, Hadrian is surprisingly upbeat. Very intelligent and inventive, Hadrian enjoys making a living by the natural talents he possesses, having known and disliked the rough life he led in Vienda prior to his parents! death and finding his brother in Old Rose Harbor.

Hadrian is surprisingly upbeat...at first glance. He's also very adept at hiding his true feelings, of which he has many. More often than not he has a "things happen for a reason" attitude, which is how he coped so easily with the death of his parents...that, and time. He sees a hope for humans that perhaps the cannot always see so easily. He desires justice and righteousness to prevail above all else, and would die for vengeance against the galdori.

Description:

Standing at 5'9", Hadrian walks with a strong posture. His movements are languid and fluid, as if he is ready for action at any given moment. His hair is a medium brown with a bronze tint, lightened throughout with subtle blond streaks by the sun. His skin is medium-toned, given the fact that he!s worked outside for most of his life.

Hadrian has more than enough scars on his body to last a lifetime, but perhaps the most prominent one is a small scar on the left side of his cheek that is a little over three centimeters, a result of a feisty moa who kicked out at him during a training session. The deep cut healed almost seamlessly, visible as a subtle indent across his smooth skin. Is is only really noticeable when Hadrian smiles, where his appears as a dimple.

Hadrian!s eyes are round and bright blue, but he often has them narrowed as a result of being so used to glaring sunlight. He has a strong face with handsome, angular features and naturally white teeth.

One thing that literally no-one has ever seen is a long pinkish burn that snakes its way up Hadrian!s right leg, a result of his pans-leg catching on fire when he ran into the burning home of his family. He wasn't able to put it out immediately, hence...a burn. Given that he usually wears pants long enough to cover it up, it doesn't exactly make him self-conscious; he's very casual about it, and would probably downplay the incident to a stranger if asked.

Inventory:

Clothing:

A few simple cotton shirts, some hand-dyed, some plain white
a couple pairs of trousers. Most often wears navy
a pair of dark leather riding boots
a worn yellow bandanna that he keeps tied around his wrist, mainly as a sweat rag, sap rag...etc...
his mother's old leather headband that he keeps wrapped around his wrist; has small pictures carved into the leather
a black work coat for winter

Weapons:

home-made sling
balisong "point"
easily-concealed stiletto form Penn
his father's old, tarnished pistol

Mount:

a foldable hovercraft he has yet to get working
Kickah, a moa he trained at his parents' ranch and also rescued from the fire. The one, in fact, who gave him the oh-so-ominous scar

Misc:

underworld money
a roll of leather strips, rope, and gauze bandages
various metal rungs and seemingly useless contraptions that he keeps in a backpack
a pouch for sling bullets
a leather-bond booklet containing artisan verse that he once purchased on the Bridge. There is a small resistance pamphlet folded up and tucked inside one of the many thick pages (written in code, of course)
a viola, in its case

Career:

artisan; viola
pickpocket and con artist...sometimes
closet inventor. As in, secretly wants to make inventions, not closets

Goals:

find someone working for the resistance in Vienda
eventually work for the resistance
find justice for his parents and uncle...even though his uncle did somewhat deserve it for being a mangy pirate...
earn some money
learn to speak some Tek, or other secret languages