Difference between revisions of "DKMortals/Avir"

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Avir, called Little Wisdom

Background:

He sacrificed his mentor with the long-handled knife the old man had given him for his fifteen birthday. His stomach fluttered with a mixture of nervousness, excitement, and dread. By the time the screaming is done and he offered Thunder Wisdom's heart to the demon, his anger had long fled, replaced by a grim determination to see it through.

Thunder Wisdom had adopted him off the streets when he was no more than a ragged, smelly pickpocket. Thunder Wisdom was a patriot and taught Avir to be the same. He dreamed of a great empire in the north, ruled not by gods or Exalted but by mortals. He always said he would anything to preserve it. Avir would eventually discover to, to his dismay, how true that really was.

The little boy, so scrawny and intent on his master, imitated the old man in everything. When his master scowled, he crossing his arms and staring forbiddingly. Even as a young man, he copied his mentor's ways of dressing and clean habits. His nickname Little Wisdom was inevitable.

He calls himself Avir now, and tries to convince others to do likewise.

As Little Wisdom grew into a handsome young man, Thunder Wisdom began to neglect his sorcerous education in favor of using his pupil as an envoy and representative. Little Wisdom was clever and witty, in a biting sort of way, but Thunder Wisdom no longer felt he had the self control or the discipline for true thaumaturgy. Avir felt summoning demons was …cool. Thunder Wisdom disapproved. People began disappearing off the streets. The fangs of demons Thunder Wisdom sent out to harry the league's enemies were costly and difficult to placate. In time, he realized that certain sacrifices had to be made, and with a feeling of regret for his lost innocence, he began feeding the refuse of society to his demons.

Avir was horrified. He waited, and begged and pleaded with his master, and shut his ears to the screams in the basement. When an investigator found out about Thunder Wisdom's murder ring, a blood ape was sent after him. Avir tried to stop it; the investigator still died.

Avir came back missing a finger and the demon still free. He apologized to Thunder Wisdom. With the sardonic smile that had made Thunder Wisdom begin to distrust him, he admitted the old man was right. And he sacrificed Thunder Wisdom on the thaumaturgist on his own bloody altar. He sent his blood ape after the other, and his demon won (or at least he think his demon won. At any rate, he had one demon head and one demon following his orders, and that was what he cared about).

But there was no need to send the blood ape back too soon. He was a better man. A better mage. And Thunder Wisdom had been right about one thing: a man had little power to right the world if he discarded useful tools, however..distasteful. .

Avir pinned his mentor's murder on Hopping Toad and Young Rascal, two lurking thugs who had helped Thunder Wisdom lead people into the bloody basement. Avir manufactured the evidence and they were executed with much fan-fair. He smiled only once in the grim days following Thunder Wisdom's death. When he watched them hang from the neck.

Appearance and Reputation: Avir is good-looking, in a careful, polished way. He wears clothes a little better than he can afford and washes himself meticulously. His black hair curls slightly and he has a charming smile. This makes him popular with the young ladies, but the old ones cluck their tongue and reckon him too ambitious. Not like Thunder Wisdom. Thunder Wisdom had been stern, but he knew his duty.

Avir is not considered entirely a success in his career for the Night Watch. He captures fewer enemies and often returns empty-handed with a sheepish smile and practiced excuses. They'd suspect bribery if they hadn't investigated him thrice already. (in reality, these missing enemies have been sacrificed to his demons)

He likes cats but does not keep any himself.

Morose Carp: Her name is actually Bright Carp, but you'd never know it to look at her. She has a long face, long stringy hair, and an air of perpetual gloom. A failed businesswoman, she's slipped steadily down the ladder of legitimate enterprise til she ended on the bottom rung, as a procurer and fence of merchandise of questionable legality, morality, or taste. When that fails, she moonlights as muscle. She wields her club with a certain indifferent brutality that the nihilistic respect. She's Avir's all-purpose henchwoman for those times demons won't do. Demons do more and more often, these days.

Thunder Wisdom, Hopping Toad, and Young Rascal: Are dead. And very angry.

Stomps-On-Skulls: Avir's first blood ape, and now almost a pet. He has a deep, growling voice and sometimes offers advice beyond smashing and crushing. Stomp has been kept unusually long in Creation, and it is beginning to affect him. He has eaten all the cats in the neighborhood and is beginning to eye the dogs. He tails Avir on missions, but is otherwise often left at home; Avir cannot be too often attended by the occasional smell of rotting meet.

The Thing in the Basement: Thunder Wisdom was often reckoned humble for staying in the same humble hovel he'd inherited from his master. Not so. In a golden circle emblazoned on the floor in the room under the basement, a powerful demon sits, imprisoned for an age . Avir knows of him, but though his advise is good, he tries to avoid taking it. He appears to Avir as either a curvaceous nude woman, a creepy little girl, or Thunder Wisdom, depending on his mood. He toys with Avir when he has the chance. He knows the thaumaturge will inevitably fall within his thrall, just as Thunder Wisdom had; it is almost tedious in its inevitability. Nevertheless, he persists. He has little else to do.

The Other Thing in the Basement, and in the Kitchen, and Under the Bed: Avir doesn't know it, but Thunder Wisdom had a demon-blooded offspring with the thing in the circle. It wanders the house freely.

It amuses Stomp not to warn Avir.

Motivation: Defend the Haslanti League as an empire of mortals.