Miedvied/Spinebreaker

Name: Spinebreaker

Spinebreaker never had a name. Born in the Amber Post (Manacle and Coin, pg 77) to a woman no more or less special than any other, he was the result of one night's casual cruelty - one of the Cesta family's younger sons chose to have his way with one of the slave women, and cast her away when he was done, not so much as bothering to let her wash herself of his seed before she was sent stumbling out of his quarters. The laughter of his guards chased her into the night.

Spinebreaker was born. Spinebreaker should have died the very same day, for newborns are useless for labor, and do not yet have the poignant desires and regrets that form such a delectable feast for the Fair Folk - not even the innocent dreams of youth. He was kept hidden from the guards, passed from woman to woman (mostly among the household slaves that kept watch on the guard's own children) until he was too old to remain hidden. It was then that he joined the others in bending to Arguin Cesta's whip, and eventually he was sold to a gladiator's arena in Nexus.

One would think that Nexus was where he got his name, but it was not; he was never famous enough for that. He made his way day by day, fighting just hard enough to survive. Scars shrouded his body more completely than any cloth ever had, and constant infections brought him a life of unending misery. By his twentieth year he'd contracted a chronic illness that kept him curled in pain, passing blood from mouth and anus, every minute he was not in combat. His days were growing short; he could only bring himself out of his pained stupor long enough to fight by taking rock cocaine, and that was hardly conducive to survival.

Still, he kept alive. The casual wickedness that ruled in the slave-training post had been ingrained in him from an early age, and it served him well now - he cowed the other fighters like unruly children, and unnerved them with what seemed like an uncanny ability to see more than he ought to; some said it was the Eyes of the Anathema, that he saw in madness what others did not, and that he had no soul. They were right about one thing, anyway, he had no soul; but it had been the slave trainers that had robbed him of it, not some mythical demon figure wagging his finger at him from beyond the grave.

Oddly enough, the day of his death was preceded by the day of his freedom; he'd earned enough in the pit to buy his freedom. His owner didn't hesitate; the man was dying, unpopular, and spread disease to the other fighters he shared his cell with. He wasn't on the outside for very long before he was captured by the Guild and sold into slavery again; it seemed to be written in his stars that his wrists would forever be bound by shackles.

When he arrived at Amber Post, however, things changed - it seemed that he saw in the guards' eyes things he had never seen before, and could manipulate those around him with an unprecedented facility. It was his charisma that kept people around him; it was his way with words that kept them serving and servicing him with medications and physicians until long after a mere slave should have been allowed to die. It was his domineering sneer that made the Cesta's decide to keep him, making him an assistant slavebreaker - and he recruited others in the same manner, with full knowledge that he was creating the sort of self-hating infighting that the Cesta's had hoped for, and that would keep the slaves under control.

Spinebreaker was soon known as the cruelest, meanest, most recklessly hateful man in all of Amber Post; and it was into this shell of fury and rage that was born the power of the Maiden of Battles. Every day of life a contest, a nail-tearing scrabble for what little could be had to live by, he was a man whose entire life had been a battle; and he now saw that more clearly than he could see the light of day.

He has since left the post, though he has kept the title Spinebreaker - awarded to him by the slaves that passed through the Post under his eye, and under his whip. Currently, he wanders the northeast threshold, posing as Guild slavetrainer-for-hire that he once was in truth. Nominally, he has joined the Bronze Faction, not so much out of idealism as because he will be long dead before he bows his head to anyone, Solar or not.

Caste: Battles

Concept: Guild Slavebreaker

Nature: Bravo

Attributes:

Strength 4, Dexterity 5, Stamina 2,

Charisma 4, Manipulation 4, Appearance 1,

Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 2

Physical Attribute Notes: Strength and Dexterity are high due to a life in the pits; Stamina is low as he is recovering from years of chronic illness.

Social Attribute Notes: He is notably charismatic and manipulative; body-wide scarring has reduced his appearance to pug-ugly, however. He is not hideous enough to have the Disfigured flaw, however, as supernatural healing may very well be able to raise his appearance above 1 in the future.

Abilities: Endurance 2 (F), Survival 2 (F), Dodge 2, Linguistics 1 (Old Realm), Socialize 1, Lore 3, Occult 2, Stealth 1, Athletics 2, Awareness 3 (F), Bureaucracy 2, Martial Arts 2, Medicine 3 (F), Brawl 1 (F), Melee 4 (Whips +1) (F), Presence 4 (F), Resistance 3 (F)

Backgrounds:

• Backing - Guild - 1

• Backing - Bronze Faction - 1

• Celestial Manse - 2

• Salary - 2

• Savant - 2

• Sifu - 2

• Acquaintances - 2

Colleges: The Banner 3, The Gauntlet 1

Charms: Terminate Illness, Secrets of Future Strife, Prior Warning, Ox-Body, Optomistic Security Practice, Absence, Becoming the Wilderness, Harmony of Blows, Meditation on War, Impeding the Flow, Orchestration of Conflict, Heroic Essence Replenishment, Shield of Mars, Smiling at the Damned

Willpower: 7 - Compassion: 1 - Conviction: 3 - Temperance: 3 - Valor: 3

Perm Ess: 3 - Personal: 13 - Peripheral: 35

Merits: Alternative Divination (reading eyes) 1 pt, Prescient Dreamer 2 pt.

Flaws: Unusual Appearance (Scarring) 2 pt., Slow Healing 4 pt., Weak Immune System 3 pt., Unlucky 3 pt.