Mack

.:Basic Information:.

Name: Genevieve
Character Name: Ioakim Jebediah Mackgar
Alias/Nickname: Mack
Race: Bakhyar
True Age: 55
Apparent Age: 55
Sex: Male
Height: 7'8"
Weight: 320 lbs
Hair Color/Style: He has an unruly mane of shoulder length sandy brown hair that is going gray.
Eyes: He is blind in both eyes. Left eye gone from wolverine attack, right eye clouded from a virus resulting from the attack.
Marks/Scars/Tattoos: Mack has many scars from a hard life also because he likes to brawl. The most noticeable are on his eyes. A clawed mark traces a path from his left eye brow across the eye and onto the high cheekbone. The scarred skin has closed up over the eye socket. Other bites, nicks, and scratches adorn is body.
Physical Appearance: Mack is big, even for a bakhyar and has a warrior’s physique. He has a large stocky frame that carries a bit of extra weight on it. He looks quite strong with a brawny chest that continues into a barrel stomach. His legs and arms are strongly muscled like tree trunks. His skin is like a soft old brown leather. A soft rich fur of dark and golden browns with a little red cover his chest, back, thighs, forearms, and the tops of his hands and feet. He wears a short but ill kempt beard. His hair is an unruly mane of graying golden brown. Older now, he was once probably a handsome man in a big, burly sort of way, except for the huge disfigurement of his eyes.
Occupation/Class: Druid/Doctor

.:Secondary Information:.

Philosophy: “eh? That squirrel over there says you’re full of shit. And I tend to agree with him.”
Magic Schools: Earth, Spirit
Carried Possessions: Mack carries a bag with an assortment of eggs, feathers, roots, herbs, plants, rocks, minerals, and small utility tools (knives, spade, small hammer, flint). Sometimes the occasional mouse or bird makes a home with him for a short time too.
Clothing and Armor: He wears a random assortment of animal skins and furs down to a loincloth depending on the weather. He has high leather moccasins that he lines in fur for the winter. A tooth necklace made from a variety of different animals hangs down over his brawny chest. The center tooth is from the wolverine that took his eyes.
Weapons: He has an intricately carved walking staff that is probably heavy enough to give a good thumping. A short dagger hangs at his side.

.:Personal Information:.

Likes: Peter, children, nature, plant and animal physiology, women, smoking, eating, brawling
Dislikes: Peter’s parents, lice, uppity city folk, rushing, bad cooking, unnatural things
Merits: exceptional senses (except sight), strong, soft-hearted, skilled doctor
Flaws: blind, grumpy, raunchy, flirt, stubborn, blunt, likes to provoke reactions from people, has a dependent (Peter)
Worst Fear: Drowning. While a decent swimmer, he is afraid of drowning.
Personality: Mack is always accompanied by Peter, a young human boy, who is mute and slightly mentally and physically disabled. Peter acts as Mack’s guide and garçon. Peter leads the older man and waits upon him, but their relationship is much more than master-servant. Mack treats Peter like a son and apprentice with special needs who needs to learn how to deal with the world in his own way. When asked why the big man has left his settlement and Mack maintains it is to give Peter’s parents a good drubbing for abandoning the boy. Mack is grumpy, but grows-on-you sort of charming. He can be very gruff and unruly like a summer storm, but is a skilled doctor using a mixture of herbal remedies, knowledge of physiology and anatomy, and a little magic. The loss of his vision has heightened his other senses and he is very good at picking up things that other people don’t. Despite his large, imposing stature has a very tender touch and has seduced many women with it if they don’t slap him and storm away first after some blunt or salacious comment. His massage and trigger point therapies are very popular. Mack loves nature and he is truly at home when he is out amongst his beloved plants and animals. He marvels at the diversity and ferocity of the natural world and despite the loss of his vision he can get around quite well speaking with the plants and animals. He tolerates cities, villages, and other people because like all bakhyar he enjoys the communal spirit of trading stories and experiences. He can usually be found either out in the forests or in a tavern where he likes to provoke people with exaggerated stories and outlandish tales just to get them going and challenge their notions.
History:

Mack was born in a typical bakyhar village. He was a big, handsome boy who had a lot of promise as a hunter. He loved being out in the wilds of the forest. He was learning to identify the edible plants and had an excellent sense of tracking. His strength and athleticism was going to make him a formidable hunter.

It was during his rite of passage in his thirteenth year that things changed. The Kun Chak was the ritual for all perspective hunters of the clan. A two week’s isolation in the forest marked the boy’s resourcefulness, ingenuity, and abilities to live and survive in the wilderness. When the boy returned from the forest he was considered a man and full member of the clan.

Mack went deep into the forest. He took his time to reflect on things past and future. All was going smoothly. During his last day he was tracking an animal he had heard. He had gathered plenty of flora foods and had no need for the meat, but he wished to test his skills. He heard what he thought was a small or medium sized predatory animal so he pitted himself against it. He wanted to see just how close he could get without it noticing. A challenge. He got closer, but then suddenly lost the trail. Annoyed that he had not even caught a good glimpse he let his guard down and that was when the wolverine lept down out of the branches. It tore into the left side of his face ferociously. In a frantic scrabbling brawl Mack managed to kill the creature before it killed him, but not without a toll. His left eye was mangled badly and he suffered numerous other bites and gashes. He managed to stop the worst of the bleeding before he passed out.

It was morning when he finally awoke. It took him two more days to make it out of the forest dragging that wolverine and by then fever and infection had set in. The clan doctor had no chance of saving the eye and over the next few days an infection spread and took the vision from his other eye before the doctor was able to cure it.

Stubbornly he tried to continue as a blind hunter. He would bravely, or stupidly, go out into the forest daring it to take him if it could. He was persistent or crazy, but the time out in the forest was not ill-spent. He slowly found that his other senses were becoming more acute. Finally he was not challenging nature, but part of it.

One of the druids of the clan, an eccentric, but beloved old man, had been watching from a distance the progress of this brave, stubborn, arrogant youth. When Mack finally understood that nature could not be defied or mocked or toyed with, only accepted, the old druid took him on as an apprentice. Mack particularly likes the anatomy of plants and animals. He has learned to use his other senses as alternatives to sight, though they do not completely replace it. From that grounding he has become a skilled doctor as well as druid. He lived many years tending his clan and was well respected. Though he would say well sought after by the women.

About two years ago a caravan of several human families were temporarily stranded when a wagon axle broke on a road near the clan’s settlement. The humans were welcomed into the town providing good hospitality while the axle was fixed. Peter was one of the young boys with them. There was something a little strange about him. He hardly spoke and the adults treated him poorly for being different. They would order him about, slap him around, and be generally abusive. The other children were also quite cruel taking cues from the adults. Truth be told, Mack hardly even noticed the boy and the other Bakhyar treated it as something familial.

The caravan left early in the morning. It was very late afternoon when several bakhyar brought Peter back to the settlement. They said they had found him by the side of the road the caravan long gone. He had obviously been beaten and the most serious injury was a nasty crack on his skull.

Mack nursed Peter back to health and took him in. The boy recovered quite well, but wouldn’t talk. He still suffers from a wandering eye and a few head ticks probably due to the head injury, but otherwise is quite physically fine. He became a companion to the older man. Mack became quite attached to the boy and all his idiosyncrasies. Some months later, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, Mack announced that he would take Peter out to find his parents and “Give them the good thumping they deserve.” A few in the clan think that Mack wasn’t sure how to deal with his growing fondness for the boy, others that he wanted to help him return to his own people, not his parents, and others that it was an excuse to explore the world a bit. The truth is probably a little of all of that.

Mack and Peter make quite a pair, traveling around and having a rousing good time of it all. Mack acts as Peter’s mentor training him and helping him with life skills though some might questions Mack’s judgment of such things. They can either be found meandering the forest or roadways possibly lost, though quite capable of surviving off the land or in a tavern making a ruckus revolving around stories, women, and brawling. It’s at times unclear who leads who since Peter leads and Mack can’t read a map anyway. Mack can often get work as a doctor or selling herbs and plants he gets in the forests.

.:Basic Information:.

Character Name: Peter Firenze (NPC)
Alias/Nickname: Peter
Race: Human
True Age: 11
Apparent Age: N/A
Sex: Male
Height: 5'
Weight: 80 lbs
Hair Color/Style: He has black unkempt hair that Mack (usually) cuts roughly.
Eyes: Crystal blue
Marks/Scars/Tattoos: There is a large scar on his forehead that moves back past his hair line. It looks relatively recent within the last year or two. He gives the impression of being slightly retarded.
Physical Appearance: He is tall and gawky for his age, but has not hit puberty yet. He is usually a bit dirty and tanned nut brown from being outside.
Occupation/Class: Clod/Apprentice

.:Secondary Information:.

Philosophy: ...
Magic Schools: N/A
Carried Possessions: Peter carries a rucksack with some extra furs and leathers. He has an assortment of utility tools and random objects that catch his interest, rocks, insects, plants, bones, etc. He has a carving knife that he uses to whittle little mementos and statues from woods, reeds, vines, bones, whatever is handy.
Clothing and Armor: He wears loin skins, furs, and moccasins even though Mack keeps trying to get him to wear trousers like most humans. In warmer weather he prefers to go barefoot.
Weapons: Peter carries a slightly rusted short sword which still looks too big for him. Mack is not sure where he got it and is certain he can’t use it very well though he taught him enough so that he won’t immediately cut off his own toes or arms.

.:Personal Information:.

Likes: Mack, bugs, animals, carving, eating berries, dirt, pleasing people, warm fires
Dislikes: scary mean people, his family, baths, haircuts, too much clothing
Merits: dedicated, kind
Flaws: mute, awkward, young
Worst Fear: Finding his family and losing Mack.
Personality: He is a mute in that he does not speak, though it’s uncertain whether he can or not. (Mack thinks he could, but chooses not to.) He has a wandering eye that make people assume he is mentally retarded. However, if he is a bit slow, he is certainly not dumb. He can be shy with moments of forwardness. His social manners are awkward and made worse when he tries to imitate Mack’s. He has certain idiosyncrasies in the ways he approaches life. (He should be considered autistic.) He enjoys tasks and learning. He is a little shy, but likes to please people, sometimes in unexpected ways. He really likes to whittle wood into a array of little mementos. He is quite dedicated to the old man. It may be in part due to the fact that Mack does not treat him like a freak, but just another young boy with a need for personal attention and guidance. They have learned to make a good team and have a very limited touch-based communication given that Mack is blind and Peter mute. Mack is very protective of the boy, but also encourages him to new experiences trying to teach him about the world. This is somewhat amusing since Mack spent most of his life among other Bakhyar with only occasional interactions with the other races. Peter often tries to emulate Mack.
History: Peter was born into a family of merchants. He was a strange, awkward child much to his parent’s embarrassment and aggravation. Not able to cope with his differences the family began to treat him differently and as a lesser member of the family. He was often spanked for not following instructions or not being how they wanted. Soon his siblings and the other children and people around his family also treated him cruelly because of what they considered retardation. Peter’s childhood was miserable full of taunts, teasing, and spanking. He became nearly a slave to the whims of his family and their colleagues. It came to a head when his family’s merchant caravan broke an axle out on a remote road. They were taken in by a bakyhar village and aided in the repair of the wagon. However, the ordeal had worn thin their patience and restraint. Once on their way Peter’s father became so enraged at Peter for some minor grievance that he beat him near to death. Peter was discarded on the side of the road. It was there that some bakyhar hunters from the village found Peter. See Mack’s history for continuation.