Ziggy Blackrust

Overview Salsola pNPC Salsola

For more information regarding pNPC use, please see Salsola's NPC page .

Quick Reference Guide
  • Location Preference: Millstone Village and The Ruins primarily
    • Known to travel to Amherst, La Estrella Roja.
    • Sometimes travels outside Salsola's territory, but does not range very far.
  • Form Preference: Optime
    • Often described as: Loud, curious, gregarious.
    • Posture: Relaxed and friendly, but aims to be noticed.
  • Demeanor: Ziggy is still maturing, and so is his personality! Generally good-natured and eager to become part of his new family, Ziggy is eager to help where he can and discover new friends. He is somewhat prideful, and still prone to make occasional jokes that go a little too far – but he's becoming aware that this isn't always a good idea.
  • Jobs: ---
  • See Plot Opportunities for ideas of how to use this character in a thread!
  • See Skills & Hobbies for more information about this character's talents!
  • Additional Notes:
    • --


Ziggy Blackrust (ZIG-ee BLAK-ruhst) is a member of Salsola, ranked among The Family. He is a musician and entertainer who aspires to compose a masterpiece, and is equally known for his unusual choice of attire and accent.

The bastard son of Roxy Blackrust and Laufey Revlis, Ziggy was born in North Boston long after his father departed the area. Raised alongside three siblings in a boisterous family, Ziggy was brought up in a rough-and-tumble city. As a member of a musically inclined family, Zig quickly found himself drawn to entertainment. He found himself floating from one band to another, unable to ever really keep up with any one group of friends for too long. Eventually, disheartened, he thought about giving up all together – until he began to pry into his absentee father. While his mother could provide little information, she mentioned the city of Portland, and provided him with a description and a name: something Ziggy would later discover was an alias.

As it turned out, he was not merely a bastard – but a bastard with a father who belonged to a notable family from a mysterious pack called Salsola. Following this, he was given specific instructions and a letter of introduction. Feeling confident and truly inspired, he set out to discover his ansectral homeland. Unfortunately, Ziggy got lost along the way.

In the wilderness west of Searsport he was saved from a precarious situation by a strange woman from the west. Though he initially would not tell her his destination, when she revealed her own they found themselves travelers with a common destination -- Salsola, the Thistle Kingdom.

Ziggy Blackrust
Default Avatar

Credit: Players

OOC Information

Overview

Biographical Information
  • Date of Birth: August 2021
  • Birthplace: North Boston, USA
  • Alias: Duke Tavish
Physical Description
  • Sex: Male
  • Pronouns: He/him
  • Luperci: Ortus
  • Species: Hybrid
  • Subspecies:
    • 58.5% Canis lupus familiaris (Dog) 1
    • 25% Canis lupus (Wolf) 2
    • 16.5% Canis latrans (Coyote) 3
Affiliations
  • Pack: Salsola (January 2023 - Present)
  • Rank: The Family (March 2023 – Present)
    • Previous Ranks: Show
  • The Associate (Jan-Feb 2023)
Assumptions

Salsola members may assume and reference the following without discussion/asking:

  • Common knowledge; i.e. rank, name, knowing having seen him “around”.
  • Knowing that he...
    • ...is a musician.
    • ...is a bastard Revlis.
  • Seeing...
    • ...him around, getting to know the territory.
    • ...him praciticing any of his skills.
    • ...him outside of Salsola.
Plot Opportunities
  • Use Ziggy to help with threads about:
    • Having someone entertain your character.
    • Teaching Ziggy more about Salsola and the local area.
    • Visiting La Estrella Roja or other open-locations.
  • Training:
    • Spar — No.
    • Teach — No.
  • Trade:
    • Offering — His musical talents!
    • Looking for — Instruments, clothing, foodstuffs, luxury items.

Appearance

Physical Description

Though considered the smallest of his litter, Ziggy is by no means a small animal. He has inherited his mother's stocky build and traces of his father's feathery fur. Muscular and fit, Ziggy has spent his entire life rough-housing and adventuring. Dexterous and nimble as he is it seems obvious that Ziggy is good with his hands, though he has devoted himself to the art of music and not craftsmanship, eager to share his talent with the world.

Ziggy has a multi-colored coat, ranging in tone from off-white to a dark gray, with notable red colors and tawny sections present. He has heterocromia: one of his eyes is yellow, while the other is green.

He cares about his appearance, and makes an effort to groom himself regularly. The second loudest thing about Ziggy is his choice of attire, which is made to stand out. Metal decorates every article of his clothing, ranging from simple studs to more complex chains. He likes bright colors and plaid/checkerboard patterns.

Specifics

Forms:

  •   Lupus : 31 in (78.7 cm) ↔  78 lbs (35 kg)
  •   Secui:  39 in (99 cm) ↔ 147 lbs (66.6 kg)
  •   Optime:  5ft  11in (71 in / 180 cm) ↔  210 lbs (95 kg) (Preferred)

Interaction

  • Speech: Ziggy has a prominent Boston accent. He can be heard "r-dropping"4 , and often uses unusual slang.
  • Scent: Salt, smoke, Salsola (pine/evergreen, with salty and marshy overtones).
  • Quirks, Gestures, Etc.: Cannot keep his fingers still, becomes very fidgety when bored.
  • General Posture and Body Language: Relaxed and friendly, but aims to be noticed.
  • Disguise: Ziggy uses his alias "Duke Tavish" as a cover. Though he is still developing this character, he tends to be outgoing and occasionally obnoxious. He rotates through borrowed clothing, but intends to craft an entire wardrobe for his alias.
    • Disguised Scent: Wild mint, sage and wood-smoke.
Coloration Palette

Fur

Thunder (#383638)
Pine Cone (#6d5b55)
Teak (#b48d61)
Cumin (#894322)
Brown Rust (#b15c35)
Dawn Pink (#f1e8df)

Optime Hair

Thunder (#383638)
Cumin (#894322)

Eyes

Sushi (#87AB39)
Saffron (#F4C430)

Scars, Nose/Pawpads/Claws

Zorba (#A59B91)
Birch (#332E1E)
Reference Images
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Personality

Summarized: Sincere, boisterous, affable, ambitious

The idea of living fully has always appealed to Ziggy, who from a very young age was brought up being told that life was meant to be fun. As the smallest of his litter, Ziggy learned that he had to be loud and act out to be heard and seen. Unfortunately for him, his antics weren't always so appreciated. As he reached adolescence, his reputation as a trickster and a troublemaker often made it difficult for him to keep friends, though he makes them very quickly.

Ziggy is still maturing, and so is his personality! Generally good-natured and eager to become part of his new family, Ziggy is eager to help where he can and discover new friends. He is somewhat prideful, and still prone to make occasional jokes that go a little too far – but he's becoming aware that this isn't always a good idea.

  • Motivations: Writing a masterpiece, learning about his father's family, proving his worth, being part of the group
  • Fears: The dead (both bodies and ghosts), bats, being ignored or shunned, romantic commitment
  • Likes: Drinking, partying, being the center of attention, helping others
  • Dislikes: Juggling, politics, Specific textures, Competition, hail

Skills & Hobbies

Note: Listed skills are those that the character has some significant talent or interest in to be noteworthy.  Skills that have been mastered (and are best expressed as such) are marked.

  • Singing (Journeyman)
Having been brought up in a very loud family, Ziggy learned early on how to project and be heard. Luckily for the rest of the world, he has a wonderful singing voice. Ziggy is able to manipulate his voice to various levels of pitch and tone, and hit both high and low notes. This allows him to sing vibrato, though he is just as likely to “metal growl” when the genre calls for it.
  • Performance: String Instruments (Apprentice)
While his family leaned heavily towards percussion, it was the more uncommon stringed instruments which appealed to Ziggy. He has played with several variations of these throughout his youth, including bow harps, lutes, and a washtub base. Before leaving home he unhappily settled for a simple banjo, which was at the time the only item he could afford to trade for – he intends to “upgrade” this as soon as possible.
  • Fishing (Apprentice)
Truthfully, Ziggy doesn't really enjoy hunting. He knows how to, sure, but he'd much rather take his chances relying on bodies of water to provide him options. Besides, he can hang out and practice his music while he waits! Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ziggy isn't the greatest fisherman – but he knows how to cast a line and reel in his catches (most of the time, anyway).


Threads

If you have a thread that features this NPC, please add it here using the below template!

Template:

# '''[[Thread:#####|Title]]''' (DD MMM YYYY) \\
Summary of thread
  1. Title (DD MMM YYYY)
    Summary of thread

2023

  1. reaching out for a spark (January)
    Ziggy and Morrow Larue go on a companionable stroll, running into new Associate Anders Holt (and a trapped owl).
  2. Swig the cordial, the unpeachy lovelorn (April)
    Ziggy, Serac, and Anders Holt speculate about Faction pledging at the Last Supper.
  3. right here and now, it means everything (May)
    Ziggy emcees for the Founder's Day talent show, opening with a ballad.
  4. I walled up your kingdom with radio wires (October)
    At the masquerade-themed Last Supper, Ziggy makes a background cameo as a scarecrow as he plays music.
  1. thread


 

1 Rottweiler, Border Collie, Beauceron, Doberman, Labrador, Cattledog

2 Primarily Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf, Alaskan Tundra Wolf, Caspian Sea Wolf. Minor: Arctic Wolf

3 Plains Coyote, Mexican Coyote, Northeastern Coyote

4 Example: card becomes /kad/ "cahd" and color /ˈkʌlə/ "culluh".


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