HOME | DD
Artistic-Pineapple — SA | Scab | Aodh | Commoner
Published: 2018-12-30 18:34:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 825; Favourites: 14; Downloads: 5
Redirect to original
Description
. S c a b .if you fall, let them remember how you turned it into a dive
Mood Board | Astral Tracker | Playlist
a pianist with extra fingersName:// Scab
Nickname:// sometimes tells others that his name is actually Tio
Age:// 23
Gender:// Stallion
Breed:// Alter Real Unicorn, horn no longer present
Coat:// Some kind of silver bay roan appy
Height:// 15.2 hh
Orientation:// anything and everything
Herd Affiliation:// Aodh
Rank:// Commoner, has posed as a merchant, slave-trader, sanctum attendant, and chevalier
Patron God:// Any that will listen
Family:// dead to him
First Blessing://
Talents:// will be improvisionist | Artist - Musician
Drive:// Failing gracefully
A natural showman and social chameleon, able to shift into whatever persona the situation calls for. Heavily overconfident, but it's really just for the show. Openly rebellious, silently sorrowful. Undisciplined and impulsive. Ambitious but hindered by his own hand. Compassionate, but slow to trust others. he wasn't always this way.
A desperate escapist, but too attached to ever leave. Petty and passive-aggressive, sent spiraling by simple offsets.
A brilliant musician with a talent for improvision. Clever enough, but still makes stupid decisions. Doesn't give up, but constantly considers it. Highly dependent on others, but closed off from most of the world. Manipulative enough to be considered a thief.
An irresponsible garbage person with an alcohol problem in probably the most alcohol-rich place in the world. What could possibly go wrong?
Perhaps it's his aodhian upbringing, but Scab is confident by nature. Sometimes coming off as arrogance or entitlement, the manner in which he holds himself doesn't shift with his different personas. It is, however, a very well-kept veil that hides a greif-stricken and lost individual who has never learned to deal with their problems the right way.
It wasn't always like this, as the unicorn used to be incredibly driven and focused on his goals. His current lack of all motivation is directly related to all the goals he doesn't have. He now exists in a sort of hopelessness, covered by a dissolving facade. Very much like Gen-Z'ers.
He's absurdly selfish, having lived for most of his life on the streets. Frugal is too kind a word to describe his lifestyle. He exists like most of the lower-class commoners in Aodh - something to fill in the cracks. He absolutely hates this, but accepts it to the point of being comfortable.
Scab's ability to manipulate others really just comes from a realization he made long ago: be what they want, and you have all the control.
With this knowledge, he's learned to read those around him and meld himself into whatever they want him to be.
Unfortunately for Scab, his ability to act can only last so long. Eventually, he'll start to slip and raise suspicion.
This means he's also gotten very good at making a quick exit.
These days, however, you're far more likely to find him playing piano for a few shards in local taverns and wineries than impersonating someone. His dependence on alcohol has never been worse, but hey, you're in Opulence. Wine's cheap.
Scab's musical talents are his only redeeming factor. Once a passion but now just a part of who he is, his ability to hear and compose pieces for piano could perhaps never be challenged. That is, if he could figure out how to play what he hears with a damaged teke. Imagine it being the equivalent of having an extra finger on each hand. Because it wasn't always this way, the challenge of figuring out his extra sense of digits isn't simple. The opposite of a ghost limb, the extra teke ability could make him the best pianist. If only he could figure it out instead of being drunk.
History
- comes from higher-class merchant parents, but is actually a bastard-child conceived from a slave father and his mother
- shows great skill for music at a young age
- family life is strained and becomes extremely toxic between his parents as rumors begin to spread
- business slows and money gets tight
- in order to make ends meet, they decide to cut their losses and get rid of him
- is dumped in the dark district at age 8 after having his horn ground down
- grows up with the scoundrels, learning to pickpocket and trying to find a way home
- discovers that his parents claimed that he died years ago
- is now on a mission to destroy them both
- learns to manipulate the system, scheming and lying to get power and money
- falls into the hedonistic pit that is Aodhian culture
- eventually tracks his parents down again as an older teen in Opulence
- the confrontation ends in a physical fight and he earns the lightning scar across his chest
- is dumped in the river and washes up downstream clinging to life
- healed by local farmers, but now has a messed-up teke
- returns to Valore a month later to finish what he started
- finds his parents' shop completely burned down
- his "father" died in the fire. His bio mother is recovering in a hospital.
- Finds her and begs her for answers, finally learning about his conception
- leaves without really saying goodbye, is now without purpose
- eventually finds himself back in Opulence after completely sinking into alcoholism
- now plays piano in local taverns and wineries for shards
- could probably use a keeper or guardian because he honestly is very irresponsible
"I used to be a great musician, you know. Back when I was just a kid and didn't know about all the shit that happens when you grow up.
They called me a prodigy."
Scandalous Conception
Let's visit the commoner's district of New Valore.
The wealthier, upper-class part of the district where you weren't necessarily born with a silver spoon in your mouth, but they weren't that hard to purchase anyway. This is where we find Liza and Geoffrey. The young married couple upheld their status in part from inherited family wealth, distant noble relatives in Opulence, and a monopoly of the wine cork industry. Yep, wine cork industry.
While not overly glamorous, the demand for high-quality corks for use in aodhian wine is obviously immense. The two operate the business at its head, with multiple cork oak tree farms around Opulence and Bloom. Their production houses were stationed in New Valore. With servile slaves handling the labor and other family members overseeing the process, most of the revenue from the business stayed within the family and with every part of the process under control of Liza and Geoffrey, their empire took hold. However, they experienced trouble in producing an heir.
Years of trying came up short and tensions began to grow between the already distant couple. But then their problem found a solution when Liza grew round with child. The problem was that it wasn't Geoffrey's child.
She had spent the evening with a personal servile slave and the child within her belly was only half-blood, but who needed to know? They both feared what could happen if anyone found out; they could be knocked down from the social ladder, lose the empire to competitors, have to retire to a life of mild labor... it was too much to bear! Fate had presented them with a child to inherit the business and they weren't about to take that for granted. The slave that had fathered him was discarded, sold to a ghostly slave-trader known for keeping white alligators.
And then Tio was born.
Early Childhood
He was born a unicorn, with an innocent smile and a passion for music. In kindlehearth, he proved especially gifted at not only following music but creating his own. When it was time for primary and secondary school, Tio also proved to excel in science and reading (as long as there were pictures). He seemed to enjoy using his imagination just as much as he loved to explore the world around him. This isn't to say that he was a polite child, however. With his parents running the business, Tio was mostly raised by a nanny. Luanda also served as the secondary cook in the family's large home, which meant that Tio sometimes spent time alone. He would be given something to act as a distraction and therefore grew up constantly needing enrichment in order to keep from being bored. He would sometimes throw fits in order to get what he wanted and because his mother and father lacked a strong parental sense he oftentimes got it. Tio had a bratty streak and began to get on everyone's nerves who had to deal with him... until his 6th birthday.
The family got a grand piano and placed it in their main room hoping that it would give their child something to do. It worked.
Soon, his music filled the house and though it was simple, his skill level grew with his daily practice.
Unfortunately, something else about the child wasn't quite right. Family members of Liza and Geoffrey began to notice his coat developing into a pattern never before seen in the family lines. Strangest of all was his curly hair... a trait that neither of his parents possessed. Rumors began to spread that he wasn't a biological heir to the business and a few bold cousins began attempts at uprooting it from Liza and Geoffrey. Though their attempts failed, the small family became tense. Their union fraying ever more, Liza and Geoffrey avoided the reality of their problem by vacationing to escape. The family of three (with Luanda along of course) visited Bloom for a few weeks and Opulence for a few more. They had hoped that upon their return, the rumors and harassment would have ceased. They hadn't.
The family's outing had made them seem even more guilty and while his parents verbally fought for their livelihoods, he remained oblivious to the ordeal. Instead, he would play the piano in the main room, breathing in the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen and forget that anyone was arguing at all. Until his parents made a rash decision to save themselves.
Chevaliers arrived at their upscale home early in the morning after receiving a distressed call for help. The place was in shambles, curtains torn and expensive dinnerware shattered. They claimed it had been vindicators, hateful of their use of slaves for the business, who had entered their home in the night and destroyed everything. Worse yet, the monsters had stolen their only child away. A Ransome note demanded a massive amount of shards for his return from the wilds of Sirith and his parents begged for help finding him. A week after the search for the child started, a second note turned up with his horn. It said he had been sacrificed for their movement.
Then the search stopped and Tio was marked as deceased. His horn was burned on a pyre for the funeral service, the only part of him that his parents still had. They grieved and the family that once tried to usurp them grieved for the lost child. Rumors of the scandal dissolved in the tragedy of it all.
The truth was that the boy was very much alive. Ripped from his parents in the night by someone they had hired, he was sedated for the removal of the horn growing atop his head. The stump it left was ground down to the bare skin and cauterized by the fire manipulation blessing his father possessed. He was then taken into the dark district and left, his parents unable to take the life of a child but clearly capable of saving their own hides by any means necessary.
Life on the Streets
Tio tried desperately to get back home, but in this new place, no one would listen to him. None of the slaves around him were as nice or chubby as Luanda. He wandered for nearly an entire day, eventually begging for a drink to quench his thirst. The individual who offered the water was a chevalier, tasked with being part of the watch for the day. He wasn't exactly sure why the child he offered his canteen to wasn't as dirty as the other labor slaves or why there was a burn mark on his head but decided to take him out of the dark district because he wasn't sporting a slave bridle. Perhaps the child had gotten lost and turned around during a street race.
Though Tio begged the cavalier to take him home to his parents, the soldier just shrugged. "Do you know how many time you scoundrels are trying to pull this with me? I'll take you back 'home', let you in, and then you just swindle all the shards inside while someone's out running errands. I've heard all the stories, so just leave it." This child clearly wasn't what he claimed to be, he wasn't even wearing a gilded bridle.
So Tio was left to his own devices at the age of about 8. Long story short, he was adopted into a little gang of urchins that became his family. From them, he learned to pickpocket and thieve. They gave him a new name because all urchins need a street name, of course. Tio was dubbed "Scab", for the wound on his head that healed without incident due to being cauterized. His claims of once having a horn were usually met with snickers and mocking. He soon learned that these people believed only what they could see. But he also learned that he could use that against them.
That was the important rule of any game; always make it easy for people to give you money.
Scab began scamming horses on the street with tricks he taught himself. It was amazing how much money someone would bet if they were certain that they were right about something. He used this against them in cards, ball under cups, and other tricks of the eye he could pull off with a trained teke. His experience playing piano meant his teke was especially limber and quick. Soon, his tricks and scheming was pulling in more shards than thieving could.
More coming soon.
Bonus points for you if you actually read all that garbage!
Related content
Comments: 8
holy hell, I LOVE him??? his story is so interesting and I just... really I love him..
if there's any way he'd ever run into Chance at some point, we should totally make that happen!!
also... that color pallet absolutely slays me, as does all your art. Can't wait to see more of this dude!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
He's been floating around for so long and I'm floored that you like him! Thank you for these kind words, I'm honestly considering selling all the designs that didn't make the cut for him...
I'm very certain Chance could find him in your local aodhian pub, either tickling the ivories or laying halfway into the gutter outside.
Feel free to hit me up on discord if you'd like to plot! <3
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
taking out the TRASH
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
so he's walking himself out huh?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
he's gotten quite good at it
👍: 0 ⏩: 0