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Sledge Bower

Sledge Bower is the son of Marcus Bower and an unnamed female, born in the swamps of Louisiana. He is currently a Tiro Lumius of Inferni.

1.  Appearance

Sledge is all sleight-of-hand and charlatan smile, whiskey and spit, Hermes laughing and wrapped in smoke, dark hair and mottled fur. He has the typical coloration of a Blue Heeler, but his features betray him--his jaw is distinctly angular, his muzzle long, and his ears tall and clearly coyote-like. Black surrounds his eyes, coats his ears, and slinks back into his mane--impossibly dark, rich and deep enough to seem lusterless, tangled into neatly-kept dreadlocks that fall over his shoulders, beaded with metal. They usually hang loosely, but he may tie them back at the nape for convienence. His muzzle and throat are red, and the rest of him--from a stripe between the eyes to the expanse of his back and his dexterous hands--are a mottled steely-grey, save for a few other touches of black--the tip of his tail, all four of his paws, tip to ankle or wrist, and from the rougher fur at his groin to the midpoint of his stomach (where his navel is, in Optime form). Sledge's eyes are his mother's: a red the color of dried blood. His body is long and lean, his broad shoulders and arms corded with muscle; a few scars mark him, mostly on his work-worn hands (so badly that, in some areas--particularly over the knuckles--they are free, or nearly so, from fur), and one bisects his lip and muzzle on the left side of his face.

Otherwise, he is fairly unremarkable-looking, save for the large-gauge ring through his septum and the three wooden pins through each of his ears. His voice is deep and gravely, a sort of Tom Waits with a Southern Gulf drawl. He rarely shifts from his Optime form, and is typically shirtless when so, although he'll typically wear a pair of black, tatter-hemmed shorts that hug his thighs, with a Bowie knife strapped to a belt loop. In hotter weather, there's often a red paisley bandanna tied around his neck.

Sledge is often accompanied by Jimmy, his Harris Hawk.

A detailed reference can be found here, and this dog has very similar markings/coloration to Sledge's own.

1.1  Forms

1.2  Other

2.  Personality

Sledge has a sort of stillness about him. He's a man of few words, and he rarely uses hand gestures; when he does speak, it's often gritted around a hand-rolled cigar, or followed by one of his rare, braying, belly-deep laughs. Raised around his father's Harris Hawks, he has a deep affection for birds, and will often chat with them in Low Speech. He prefers the company of only one or two folks at a time; more than that, and he feels a sort of obligation for mindless banter. (He'd rather speak only of important things.)

He stinks of moss and smoke and something spiced and almost fetid, as though he's brought the swamps up north, ground into his own skin. A Southern gentleman, so to speak, he has distinct ideas about gender that go unaltered by his own queerness: ladies ought to be treated well and kindly, and you'd better treat your own mother damn well. When it comes to other males, he doesn't often make his interest clear unless he's absolutely sure that the other might take to it kindly; he's discreet outwardly, domineering and brutal in bed, and is often read as being straight. When otherwise unoccupied, he often keeps his hands busy: whittling or doing woodwork, or making jesses and ties and hoods. He's got a good nose for cooking, and has a talent for food--mostly Southern cusine--and baking.

English is Sledge's first language, but he is fluent in Louisiana Creole and speaks some Cajun French.

2.1  Ideals

Interests Likes: Good food, butts, handsome fellas, swamps, birds, sleep, herbs, cigars, water, reptiles, spitting. Dislikes: Daddy's belt, Jimmy when he's being a complaining ass, most wolves, stuck-up folks. Traits Quiet, seems a little worn beyond his years. Alignment: True neutral Fears Past deeds catching up with him, losing Jimmy, losing his memory, dying alone. Motivations Good food in his stomach, a warm place to sleep. Inferni. Companionship and sex, maybe.

Biases Packs: None yet. Species: Uncomfortable at times around wolves. Non-Luperci: Just doesn't care. Gender: More comfortable in the company of other males. Southern gentleman--better treat the ladies nicely. Sexuality: No biases, really. Age: Has a great deal of respect for the old and enjoys their company--particularly when they've got something to teach. Sexuality Almost exclusively homosexual, although the right lady might catch his eye, or he might sleep with one strictly for the purpose of fathering children--Sledge can't see himself ever having a relationship with a woman, though. He's tried both monogamy and polyamory--no particular bias for or against either. Both suit him just fine, as do unnattached sexual liasons. He prefers a steady and committed (which doesn't necessarily mean monogamous, however!) partner. Substances Smokes cigars, drinks on occasion.

Spirituality Agnostic. Not quite sure what he believes--he'll pray every now and then to something unnamed.

3.  Interaction

• Speech: Non-rhotic; voice is deep and gravelly, a sort of Tom Waits with a Southern Gulf drawl. English is his first language, although he is fluent in Louisiana Creole and speaks some Cajun French--his English is occasionally interjected with these.
• Scent: Moss, cigar and woodsmoke, spice and sweat; Inferni.

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4.  Relationships

4.1  Key Relations Characters: Here is where you might describe especially important family members (e.g., if your character has a close, competitive relationship with a sibling, describe it here) or friendships or whatever else.	4.2  Family: Families, Families, and Families Mother: Characters Father: Characters Siblings: Characters Extended: Here is where you might describe their extended family, if necessary. This template is formatted to include only nuclear family -- why repeat all of a character's possible relations when it's a list of 100+ characters in some instances? :| Easier to link to family pages, says Sie.
4.3  Minor Relations You might want to just keep a simple list of characters your character has encountered, or you might want to describe them, or whatever.	4.4  Former Relations Dead and inactive characters should go here.

4.5  Residence

• Grimwell Caverns, Inferni

4.6  NPCs Jimmy Species: Harris Hawk Age and DOB: Four years old, DOB unknown. Description: Typical male Harris--dark, intelligent eyes, yellow cere, yadda yadda. Personality: Grumbles about food a lot. Speaks broken High Speech.

4.7  Abilities

Strengths Cooking (Journeyman): Skilled in baking, pastry-making, meat-curing, all sorts of Southern cuisine. Reading (Journeyman): Can read well in English. Writing (Apprentice): Decent, still learning. Low Speech (Journeyman): Can converse very fluently in avian low speech. Not as skilled in other dialects, however. Reptillian High Speech (Apprentice): Grew up next to an alligator. Falconry (Master): Daddy taught him to catch, train, and hunt birds and treat their illnesses.

Weaknesses Not a very good hunter. Grew up around livestock and falconry birds. Not an excellent fighter, either. Can hold his own, but most certainly isn't any sort of warrior.

4.8  Inventory

Trade

Can typically be found in Inferni or wandering around.

• Offering: Dried and fresh herbs, salts, spices, seeds, pickled and canned goods, cooking lessons, cooked foods, lessons in Low Speech and reptilian High Speech, falconry lessons, sexual favors.
• Accepting: Pork and pork fat, spices, flour, charcoal, sexual favors, combat training.

Items

5.  Achievements

Pack Game

Catacombs

6.  History

Born deep in the swamps of Louisiana, Sledge grew up as the middle child of the litter. His mother ran off not long after he and his siblings were weaned, leaving him with his father: a whisky-swilling, tobacco-spitting, banjo-pickin' sort of coyote who had a hand in falconry--he raised Harris Hawks to help them hunt, and Sledge learned Low Speech early on, just as he learned leathercrafting and how to hunt and skin and to spit just like his da. He flew the birds and talked (not without difficulty) to the alligator outside their shack, and played with his brother and sister, and he grew.

His first time with a man came when he was ten months or so--a cur three times his age, yellow-eyed, with a smile that made him melt, stinking of weed and brandy, pressing him against a tree until he thought he'd die if he didn't kiss him right then and there. Their trysts went on for a good while, until Susanne (his little sister) found him so not far from the house. Sledge's father gave him a good licking with his belt, and the boy slunk off in the night with one of his father's birds and a rucksack. In retrospect, he thinks it a little immature of him, and he misses his family, but he was a teenager, and perhaps such a reaction was to be expected.

He passed through the ruins of New Orleans, making do as he could: teaching others Low Speech and nuances of falconry. Sledge then headed east to the Carolinas. After a messy, over-passionate affair--one that ended in blood--he headed north, trying to outrun what he'd done.

6.1  Timeline

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• Month:

6.2  Threads