Basil-RoyDesjardins

Basil-Roy Desjardins (born Regis Devolet) is a coyote-dog hybrid born to the outskirts of ruined Quebec City, and a wandering medic and moonshiner.

Overview
Basics	Heritage	NPCs		Etc.
Date of Birth: 25 Oct 2016 Gender: Male Luperci: Ortus Mate: -- Residence: Amherst	Family: Desjardins Birthplace: Quebec Species: Coydog Subspecies: 62,5% Northern Coyote 12,5% Plains Coyote 25% Dog (Wirehaired Ibizan Hound, English Setter, German Shepherd, etc.)		Nosfer Male mule, about 5 yo Seal bay with pangare, draft horse traits. Called 'Sour' by his previous owner, renamed by Basil-Roy. Large and sturdy, Nosfer fits better his original name, given how moody he is. Perpetually unimpressed by Basil-Roy's talkativeness, but disciplined and obedient.	Player: Nina Creator: Nina Forum Pinboard
Pack Information	OOC Assumptions
Pack: Loner Rank: --	-- -- --

Appearance

Essentials

Basil-Roy could be easily confused for a dog at a distance, but upon closer look, his mixed heritage becomes clearer. He has a lithe and slim build, with a wide chest, slim waist, long neck, limbs that border on spindly, and his tail is thin and long. Despite all this, his face and overall sturdiness are clearly those of a coyote. The thickness of his fur varies greatly depending on the season, but the wiriness of it, especially on his neck, tail and chest, remains the same. What used to be strong lean muscles in his younger days have mostly faded into a lone wanderer's resilience and endurance. No longer does he ride into battle, bow and arrow in hand to kill and pillage, but rather spends his time foraging and gathering materials for his craft as a healer and moonshiner. His wilder days and later his time in captivity have left their marks on his body, several scars often peeking out from beneath his fur constantly reminding him of the life he left behind.

Humanization: High
- Basil-Roy is literate and has a unique vocabulary, wears clothing, can fight with ranged and melee weapons, and has knowledge of medicinal herbs and poisons, as well as how to produce distillates and fermented drinks.
- Clothing tends to be loose and comfortable, with no or simple decoration. Accessories are solely practical, like belts and his trusty messenger bag.
Scars and modifications: While every scar he carries has a story to tell and that he will not utter, some wounds have left him with some lasting damage.
- His left pinky is slightly crooked and doesn't bend all the way from not having been set right.
- Hard of hearing from his right ear from a blow to the head.
- His upper left canine is a gold cap after the original chipped during a fight and started to crack and risked infection.

Palette

Fur

Cocoa Brown (#1D1816)

Masala (#4D4844)

Iroko (#412F20)

Mondo (#4D3E30)

Pine Cone (#6B5F53)

Sandstone (#7D7162)

Tide (#C0B8B4)

Bon Jour (#E0DEDF)

Optime hair

Cocoa Brown (#1D1816)

Iroko (#412F20)

Eyes

Cinder (#0C0C15)

Nose/Paw pads/Claws

Shark (#191C21)

Acadia (#241F1D)

Treehouse (#38291E)

Forms

Lupus:

58 lbs (26 kg), 29 in (74 cm)

Secui:

132 lbs (60 kg), 42 in (106 cm)

Optime:

220 lbs (100 kg), 6ft 9in (210 cm)

Interaction

Speech: Basil-Roy has a soothing and warm rumbling voice, with just the faintest hint of a Quebecois accent.
Scent: Very heavy herbal scents, with subtler notes of wood chips, ash and alcohol.
Posture and Body Language: Fluid and measured movements, with a quiet kind of confidence to everything he does. Tends to wring his hands, and his tail is very expressive, often swinging happily.

Wardrobe

Personality

One's first impression of Basil-Roy would be that he's a meek and mild-mannered loner, which isn't too far off the mark. While he certainly has a calm demeanour and is usually temperate in his movements and actions, he's far from a milquetoast. After an introduction and some pleasantries, it becomes clear that Basil-Roy is confident, good-humoured, kind and very friendly. Very well-spoken and outgoing in a way that is not overbearing or intimidating, Basil-Roy has a certain charm to him. Despite his use of large or unusual words on occasion, his constant chatter can be as endearing as it might become annoying. He's quick to offer a helping hand to any who might need it, from stitching a wound to breaking a fever, or just an ear to listen. He's never one to judge another for their actions, save for a few select circumstances, and can be known to give some sound advice from time to time. Beneath the kind and friendly exterior, those closer to him might notice certain things about him that speak of a harsh and unforgiving past that still haunts him. A moonshiner who seldom drinks, a pacifist with scars decorating his body, the way he wields a knife or a bow with an easy familiarity that better fits a warrior than a healer. While he's not afraid about speaking of his past, he doesn't mention it unless directly asked, and always with a solemn tone.

Traits

Outlook: Basil-Roy has seen the darker side of life, and was shown that everyone deserves the chance to prove that they can be better, but he knows to keep his feet on the ground. He's a realist above all else and tries to be honest even when it might hurt.
Sociability: While the insecurity and shyness of his youth might sometimes show themselves when he feels out of his depth, he's really well-spoken and verbose, and has a calm and understated confidence.
Expression: Basil-Roy often blends himself to crowds and the landscape, hardly standing out but not actively hiding, and when he speaks he can hold a presence that introverted people sometimes can't. He has an endless patience and is hardly ever annoyed or angered, but on the rare occasion that someone tests him, his angrier side shows itself in his glare and grave tone of his voice.
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
- Holds himself to his own personal code, and attempts to do the prudent thing.
- Has little respect for gratuitous lawlessness and evil actions and can grow weary with idealists.
- Shows respect for life and other's well-being, and expects to be treated the same.

Motivations

Survival
Self-improvement, however that may be
Defend his new values
Share his skills and knowledge to others
Help others, physically or emotionally
Entretainment, because life is not all work and Basil-Roy likes to have fun too!

Fears

Being defined by his past
Returning to old and dangerous habits
Being trapped by his insecurities
Failing to atone for his past sins and to repay the kindness offered to him.

Interests

Likes: Working and wandering, talking to the local birds, discovering new useful plants and techniques, learning in general, good company around a warm fire and some snacks, spending time with friends and loved ones, making food, and the feeling of shooting a well-strung bow.
Dislikes: Large crowds, 'paladin' and preachy types, evil for evil's sake, poorly-maintained tools, a batch of wine gone sour, difficult winters, pests on his plants, and physical violence.

Biases

Packs: Salsola unsettles him, and Casa di Cavalieri makes his gums itch with all their posturing.
Species: While Basil-Roy holds no serious hatred for any particular species, he can underestimate smaller species than himself, like foxes, jackals and even other coyotes and dogs.
Non-Luperci: Has a fascination for non-Luperci, especially because of his mother's own desire to be turned despite her immunity to it.
Gender: Doesn't understand non-binary folk. It just doesn't compute to him, no matter how hard he tries to comprehend the concept, so he has elected to just 'live and let live'.
Color: Prone to startling around pitch-black canines, due to some unresolved trauma caused by one of his captors.
Sexuality: Basil-Roy is painfully gay and a very sex-positive person. Just do you and stay safe!
Age: He's very skittish around children, mostly because he doesn't quite know how to interact with them, and ends up treating them like adults which don't always work very well.

Sexuality

6 on the Kinsey scale: "Exclusively homosexual"
- While he heavily and recklessly indulged in sex during his younger days, regardless of his partner's gender or sexual kinks, he has considerably mellowed out since leaving his bandit life. Of course, he's never one to turn away a proposition and has been known to seek out other men that caught his eye, but Basil-Roy is slowly learning to crave more than just the physical act and to seek out other types of intimacy. While he's still learning the craft of romance and courting others, he's very confident and knowledgeable in bed and is a very patient and talkative partner (for better or worse).

Spirituality

Christian atheism
- Basil-Roy was raised in a fairly atheistic community, believing in no greater power than the powers of nature, but in a non-animistic way. Because of that, he believes death is just the end, the return to ash and dust all that awaits is the great nothingness of non-existence. During his time in captivity, he was surrounded by vaguely Christian beliefs, like mercy and the concept of grace. Though he does not believe in God, Basil-Roy has adopted certain turns of phrases like "oh my god", "jesus, mary and joseph!", etc., as well as various Christian values, like the belief that all deserve the chance to be better and that forgiveness isn't earned, it's given. And ever since it was given to him, he seeks to use his second chance at life for something better. Beyond that, he has no particular religion or sense of spirituality.

Substances

To say that Basil-Roy has a complicated relationship with alcohol would be an understatement. While he suffered from mild alcoholism in his youth and would use the buzz to loosen himself and have an easier time interacting and socializing, his time in abstinence was spent craving the comfort of the drink as much as he utterly hated it for the hold it had on him. As he slowly broke the addiction and reaccustomed himself to sobriety, his hate turned into fear of alcohol, and he dreaded so much as the smell of it. However, his work as a medic and occasional apothecary saw him having to deal with pure alcohol from time to time. As his fear abated with the familiarity of it, he started to brew drinks again and taste testing them was less like an anxiety-inducing event and more like another part of his routine. Soon, his curiosity started to win out and he started to try out infusions with hallucinogenics for trading, and while he avoided selling them in large quantities, he never thought too much about producing more of the thing that once caused him such dread and pain. He still avoids drinking in excess, always limiting himself to a few sips a month out of principle, he certainly doesn't mind others drinking and indulging themselves.

Skills

Strengths

Combat

Hand-to-hand (Journeyman): Can hold his own in a brawl, most of his move sets are aggressive and vicious and meant to end a fight as fast as possible.
Armed melee (Competent): Profficient with a machete knife and short daggers, though he no longer carries weapons.
Archery (Accomplished): A skilled sharpshooter, still uses bow and arrow for hunting fowl and large game. Still has a wickedly quick draw.
Mounted combat (Accomplished): Steady and sure on a saddle, he can wield poles and his machete as much as he's an accurate archer on a horse. His bandit group used mounted assaults and ambushes often.
Tactics and strategy (Journeyman): Basil-Roy ascended to bandit leader at a very early age, often planning raids and ambushes with older and more experienced members and he turned out to be a very quick study, though his lessons didn't last long before they were cut brutally short.

Survival

Hunting and tracking (Competent): Basil-Roy can feed himself without much trouble, and has a very adept nose for tracking prey.
Foraging and Salvaging (Journeyman): He knows how to seek and recover useful materials from nature and from ruins, although the success rate of salvaging from ruins isn't quite worth the risk of braving them.
Botany (Competent): Able to recognise several wild species and a few exotic useful plants, and to recognize most of their edibility and uses.
Gardening (Journeyman): Knows how to keep most local plants alive and thriving, but still struggles with certain pests and illnesses and how to prevent and cure plants of them.

Animal Husbandry

Horse riding and care (Accomplished): Being part of a wandering pack of bandits meant that Basil-Roy has been on the saddle since he could shift, and although his times of horseback archery and combat are done with, he still has perfect posture and reins etiquette. He can easily read the body language of horses and communicate with them, as well as tend to them. He can also treat most illnesses and non-life threatening injuries.
Lowspeech (Journeyman): Basil-Roy is fluent with the lowspeech of corvids and birds of prey, and can mostly understand songbirds and passerines. Also adept with equines, but struggles with other dialects.

Craft

Medicine (Competent): Has knowledge of anatomy and common illnesses, and can treat most injuries and sicknesses. Has performed surgeries like amputation, bloodletting and removing arrowheads from wounds, with varying levels of success.
Poison-making (Accomplished): Very well-versed with poisons, from the mild to highly toxic. Also knows a handful of ways to detoxify the body, like bloodletting and drinking coal dust, but he has yet to put them to the test.
Brewing and Moonshining (Competent): A field of study he has devoted considerable time and effort mastering, Basil-Roy has brewed several batches of drinks succesfully, like beer, wine and ale, but his main field of experience has been with distilled drinks, especially corn- and apple-based moonshine. Whiskey, vodka, applejack and brandy are some of his specialities.
Reading and writing (Master): Basil-Roy is a quick and cunning reader, and has an extensive - and often confusing - vocabulary thanks to his access to more complex books. His script and lettering are also enviable.
Drawing (Apprentice): As he studied botany and medicine, Basil-Roy began to draw anatomy schemes and unknown herbs for posteriority, and while they are simple and mostly shorthand for himself, he's quickly improving at it.

Weaknesses

Hyperfixation: Basil-Roy is a great student, whatever he sets himself to learning, he dedicates himself fully and wholeheartedly. However, that is often detrimental as he often forgets to take care of himself, skipping meals and sleep in order to keep educating himself. It's not uncommon for him to develop migraines and body pains once he's caught himself in a reading or training binge, something he could shake off in his youth but not anymore. He can also neglect his social life, disappearing for days at an end without speaking to anyone as he delves into a new book or subject of study. On occasion it also blinds him to creative and innovative ways to approach a problem or tricky situation.
Introspective: As a counter to his hyper fixation, he's begun to always question and doubt his approach to all manner of things, from interactions with others to his work practices. It turns him introspective and pensive as he tries to come up with as many different possibilities and variables, which often distracts or immobilizes him from action.
Myopia: Another consequence of his late-night studying and reading by frail candlelight or in darkness, is his eyesight has taken a toll. While it is still faint and not as advanced, it will certainly impact his archery and even his daily life in the coming years.
Social anxiety: While Basil-Roy has managed to refine and polish his anxious ramblings into a veneer of confidence and talkativeness, he's still somewhat awkward meeting new people or in uncomfortable social situations. When in the past he disguised this behind the buzz of drink and aggression, he now hides behind endless jabbering which more often than not only makes it worse.
Survivor's guilt: Basil-Roy has suffered through many traumas and mental issues, most notably his survivor's guilt for being the sole survivor (as far as he knows) of his bandit gang, and he carries great guilt for being the only one given a chance at a better life when he was the one who led his family down the path of their demise.
Pacifist: As he refuses to sink back into a violent lifestyle, Basil-Roy refuses to make use of his combat skills even when it's a life or death situation. At most he'll dodge and block attacks until he finds an opening to run away from the fighting, and he'd rather get injured than hurt others. Not that he's a cowardly doormat, far from it, but he's very reluctant to fight back and will definitely not start any fights of his own.

Connections

Family
Mother: ~~Emilie Magris~~ Father: ~~Trevor Devolet~~ Littermates: ~~Gervaise Devolet~~, ~~Midas Devolet~~, Viviana Devolet Half-siblings: --	Family: Desjardins Extended: Devolet, Magris

Relationships

Key Relationships

Characters is an important fellow and I'm gonna tell you why

Positive Relationships

Characters made a big happy impact because reasons
Characters is also worth knowing and here's why you should know lalala

Poor Relationships

Characters was a jerk once, let me tell you how bad it was

Notable Associations

Sexual partners: Characters
Violent encounters: Characters, Characters

Property

Residence

Areas, Packs

A description of the residence! Where it is, layout, what have you.

Inventory

You can list individual accessories, clothing, etc. with links here.
You can add Inventory icons below this header.
Or you can do what Lin does
and just make a Pinterest board and link it here!

Trading

Actual belongings you can list and detail one by one.
You can make a Pinterest board for this too and link it here.
You can add Inventory icons below this header.

History

Part of a crew leaving the port of Barbados and headed to Portland, a nasty storm blew his father's ship far off route, and stranded him in the north, unprepared and unequipped for such an event. His father found shelter with a small group of loners and managed to survive, but he never made it back to the sea, finding a new home - and love - with the travelling group. They travelled further southwest and had settled in Ohio for a while, by the time Basil-Roy was born. A shy and reserved child, the boy had a hard time engaging with others, except when they were training. Enjoying the positive attention that succeeding in his lessons earned him, Basil-Roy took to it with enthusiasm. He learned from his parents how to fight, rob and kill, and became uncannily proficient at it at an early age. It was clear that the young man had a cunning mind and an eagerness to learn, and an uncle taught him the trade of poisons and venoms, which the boy avidly studied.

As the group set off again, Basil-Roy stood out during raids to settled packs and other wandering groups, apt and eager to prove himself to his family. So fast was his rise through the band's ranks, that he was known as the Flying Bandit, a name which stuck as he came to often lead the younger members during raids. Despite earning respect and adoration, he was still shy and often awkward around others, which he started to remedy with drink. Since booze was such a hard find, Basil-Roy figured he should learn how to produce it, which saw him and his family cruising closer to the coast, where the larger settlements - and craftsmen - were most likely to be found. It was then that his group, now several heads stronger than they were in Ohio and a pack in their own right, assaulted and took over a settlement south of Cheesepeake Bay. It was a hard claim, but the band enjoyed their new home while Basil-Roy 'convinced' the local moonshiner to teach him the secrets of the trade. The year the band spent there was rough on the locals, to say the least, as the invaders did as they pleased and took what they wanted. Eventually, something had to break.

Basil-Roy and his closest friends went hunting for a few days and upon their return, found the town under attack. Some townsfolk had fled to seek aid under the nose of their sentries and brought back several fighters from an allied pack to fight off their band from the settlement. Basil-Roy took to arms and tried to gather their forces, but one of the enemy fighters threw him off his horse and into the river. Dragged down by the current and almost drowned, Basil-Roy lost everything in a single night save his life.

As he tried to find his bearings, the coydog was found by scouts of the opposing packs and taken prisoner. They didn't kill him but rather used him as the communal punching bag. Being battered and bruised so often, Basil-Roy spent a lot of time with their healer and despite their rocky start, managed to befriend the older woman and her young apprentice. They both saw that the once bandit had more than paid for his deeds and was learning to be a better person and that deep down, he was no villain. With their help, he quit drinking and learned the trade of herbs, this time not to kill or sicken, but to heal, and when the healers learned of Basil-Roy's moonshining skills, they gave him liberty to produce wines and spirits for their pack. Despite Basil-Roy's various improvements, the leaders refused to clear his name, so the young apprentice released him at night, letting him take their young mule to carry him away quickly.

Fleeing north, Basil-Roy swore not to go back to his old life, for the sake of the two healers who allowed him to have a second chance despite the horrors he incited and committed. As such he cast away his birth name, the 'Flying Bandit' Regis Devolet became Basil-Roy Desjardins, meek and humble wandering healer and occasional moonshiner.

Basil-Roy wandered through the northeast, often helping strangers and tagging along to a few travelling groups as their medic and moonshiner, but never staying for too long anywhere. During his journeys, he was surprised by a bear and almost killed, if not the timely interference of a traveller. His saviour introduced himself as Renee Armoise, and owning the man a life debt, Basil-Roy followed him to Portland and promised to repay him somehow. Renee didn't need to say much, but Basil-Roy saw the weight on his shoulders, so he befriended the man and hoped to soothe some of his troubles. In time, he came to understand the secretiveness of Renee's pack and their distaste for outsiders, but it didn't deter him any. When his friend returned from a trading venture with a burning fever and an infected wound, caused by a bandit attack, the irony of the situation was not lost on him. Saving his friend's life and having repaid his debt, he found he had earned the other's respect, who introduced himself with his true name, Cleome Valentine. Their friendship only grew from there, of which he was forever thankful for, but when Cleome asked him to join his pack, Basil-Roy refused. He saw the edges hidden behind their practised smiles and honest sneers and knew he was long past such subterfuge and wickedness.

When the time came for Cleome to leave Portland and head back to Salsola, Basil-Roy for the first time didn't wish to let go and move on, instead choosing to follow his friend for the journey to Nova Scotia.

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