Matthias Foundling

[Gyrfalcon]

~Brief Description~

 

This character was created specifically (and exclusively) for the campaign setting of Lymnor's Wake.

 

Matthias Foundling is a member of the Confederation’s Third Division, under General Katherina Luminda. He serves in her forces in a variety of capacities, mostly as a scout, spy, or occasional assassin. Fully believing in the evils of magic, he has no mercy for those who support the Loom Rebellion.

[Gyrfalcon]

~Physical Description~

Matthias is twenty-six years old, but with the proper aid of cosmetics, stance and expression, people can guess anywhere from sixteen to sixty. Without some form of disguise, he is average in many respects, standing roughly 5’10” and weighing around 160lbs. He is neither broad across the shoulders nor hunched, tall-seeming or short. His eyes are hazel and his hair is dark brown and usually cut short. In short, he is one of those people you soon forget after meeting them, exactly as he likes.

[Gyrfalcon]

~Personality~

 

Matthias is on the near side of amoral, in the sense that while he understands the difference between right and wrong, he believes that the end often justifies the means if the end benefits the Confederation. While he won’t burn down an orphanage full of children, kittens and puppies to get one man (unless ordered to), he is willing to and has killed innocents in the past if they have gotten in the way of his fulfilling his duties.

 

Otherwise, Matthias is respectful towards his superiors and polite to those he works with, but there is a distant quality to him that only disappears around people he has grown to trust, it’s like he has walled off his emotions and feelings and doesn’t let them affect him. This results in a near-monotone voice, uninflected by anger, excitement or other passions. Once someone makes it past that barrier, Matthias opens up and smiles, jokes, and is otherwise a normal human being.

[Gyrfalcon]

~History~

 

Matthias was born in the slums of Valensia, in the darkest portions of the shady underbelly that supported the glittering opulence the city was better known for. His mother traded in negotiable affection and his father one of her many clients.

 

Early in his life, he learned the value of staying quiet and out of sight, as it led to fewer beating by his mother or her clients by disturbing their actions. His mother barely cared for him, and as he grew older, he took more and more to the streets, living through his wits, stealth, and quickness. Always a small child, Matthias learned to live by his wits and stealth then by fighting his way to prominence in one of the packs of urchins.

 

By the age of ten, his mother had thrown him out completely, and he lived on the streets by his wits, stealing just enough to avoid starving and barely avoiding freezing to death in the winter. It was late one winter evening that his fortunes changed forever. The young thief unwisely picked a member of the Confederation’s elite scouts as his target, not seeing the man’s uniform under his heavy cloak. Slipping close through the shadows, Matthias filched the man’s purse, only to find his wrist locked in a vice-like grip.

 

The man, Sergeant Garret Thomothan, was impressed by the youth’s stealth and skill, having only caught the youth in the act of the theft, not in his approach in the shadows.

 

Instead of taking him to prison, the Confederation Sergeant instead sort of adopted him. He lived with the Garret and his wife for several years, and they funded his way into one of the Confederation’s academies, where his excellent grades earned him a scholarship and continued education.

 

At the age of eighteen, he joined the Confederation military voluntarily to show his respect and love for the only man who ever treated him with affection and respect.

 

He did well in basic training, working hard but working as a loner. If he had to lead, it was through example, he didn’t try to persuade or negotiate. He stated how they were going to do things, then adapted if people failed to follow through. His excellence in solitary work brought him to the attention of the scouts, and his training was transferred from the general infantry to the Confederate Guides.

 

In the months to follow, Matthias was challenged physically and mentally as he adapted to the punishing regime that weeded out those who were not cut out for the scouts. He struggled through the training and proved especially adapt at camouflage in both urban and wilderness environments, often showing a stealth that matched that of many of the instructors. He graduated at the top of his class and was immediately assigned to the second battalion of the Fifth Regiment, Third Division. That was five years ago.

 

Having served through several campaigns, Matthias is one of the more successful scouts, having shown an aptitude for blending into environments, both urban and rustic, and an almost uncanny ability to look like, sound like, and act like anyone he’s had the chance to observe, or to blend into a larger group.

[Gyrfalcon]

~Abilities~

Matthias is a master of disguise, and can almost appear as anyone, anywhere. He keeps a supply of cosmetics (contacts to change his eye color, powders and creams to change his skin color, dye to change his hair color and the like), as well as wigs and one or two spare disguises common to the area he plans to travel in.

 

Other then his ability to disguise himself, he is a competent scout outdoors, capable of tracking, hunting and survival, and once again excels at blending into the background, while also being excellent at escape and evasion.

 

In a fight, Matthias is a solid but uninspired swordsman, his true skill lying in his ability with small blades and unexpected strikes from behind. He’s a better archer then swordsman though, and in a stand-up fight, he’ll try to use a bow as long as feasible before wading into melee fighting, either with a sword if its face to face or with daggers if he has a chance to flank and strike from behind.

 

Because of his knowledge of nature, he can usually find or prepare poisons or simple medical remedies with a minimum of trouble in wilderness settings, and he tends to help whoever is on cooking detail by providing spicing or wild fruit and vegetables.

[Gyrfalcon]

~Items~

As mentioned above, Matthias keeps the elements of his disguises handy in his backpack, if not always on him. He also keeps at least the basics of wilderness survival on him, such as a flint and iron, a length of twine, a fishhook if the area has enough running water for streams and lakes, that sort of thing.

 

His clothing changes with the needs of the mission when he is infiltrating, but when he’s in his role as a scout rather then infiltrator, he wears leathers in deep grays and greens, and light or studded leather armor, and a dark green cloak.

 

His weapons include a solidly crafted longsword which he has a tendency to leave behind with his unit, and a recurved shortbow that he can use either mounted or on the ground. His true passion is knives though – of all shapes and sizes. He usually has at least two or three, and sometimes many more. He normally keeps a masterfully worked and slightly curved dagger on his belt, and a few throwing daggers up his sleeves and tucked into the sides of his boots. He also tends to keep a stiletto behind the back of his belt, which he uses when someone needs to die with a less then obvious wound.