Charles Matthias

Full Name: Charles Matthias
Race: Cursed Human (Rat)
Born: 675 CR
Fur: Brown, with a black patch on the right side of his face in the shape of a hand.
Eyes: Dark Brown
Height: 4'2"
Faith: Ecclesia

Position within Keep: Long Scout, former Headmaster of the Writer's Guild.


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Introduction

Charles Matthias is a Long Scout at Metamor Keep, a group of elite souts and warriors who undertake the most dangerous of missions into the Giantdowns. He joined the Long Scouts in late June of 706 CR. Prior to this, he was the Headmaster of the Writer's Guild. The Writer's Guild is an artistic guild that Charles helped organize when he first came to Metamor in CR 700. It is dedicated to producing works of literature, preserving older works, and training new writers.

Charles is married to Kimberly Matthias and has five children, all of whom were born in May 707 CR. Kimberly and his five children are all rat morphs like him.

Charles is also a Black of the Sondeckis, a secretive mage clan from the Southlands.

Daily Life

In late January 707 CR, Charles was exiled from Metamor until the Summer Solstice because of his suspicious relationship with Krenek Zagrosek, a fellow Sondeckis. He now lives in Glen Avery with his wife, children, and their wetnurse, an opossum named Baerle.

Charles is still a Long Scout, but now he can coordinate scouting teams with the Glen. No other city in the Metamor Valley is as close to the Giant's Dike as Glen Avery, so his role is crucial. Much of his time is spent on patrol for the Glen. He continues to train his student Garigan, who also possesses the Sondeck. He also trains as a squire with Sir Saulius in preparation for the Summer joust.

Family, Friends & Allies

Charles's is the son of Kitchlande merchants. When he was seven years old, his abilities with the Sondeck manifested themselves. His family gave him to the Sondeckis order, and he has not seen or heard from them since. He spent seventeen years at Sondeshara, and in that time made many friends, the closest of which were Jerome Krabbe, Ladero Alenez, and Krenek Zagrosek. He has since learned that Ladero was killed in a fight and that Zagrosek has been corrupted by the power of Marzac. In CR 699 he abandoned the Sondeckis order after being ordered to assassinate a good man. He travelled across Galendor, and even spent a few weeks in Ava-shavåis before coming to Metamor in CR 700.

After arriving in Metamor, he helped organize the Writer's Guild, and made several friends there, including Zhypar Habakkuk, Tallis, Nahum, and Phil. He also befriended the other rodents in Metamor over the years. Sir Erick Saulius is the most prominent of these, in addition to Gregor the Baker who became a capybara. In 706 CR, the Lady Kimberly came to Metamor and became a rat as well. Charles did what he could to cheer her up, and in fairly short order the two of them fell in love. They were married in January CR 707. Because both of them are rats, their children are rats too, and her pregnancy only lasted four months. The children's names are Charles, Bernadette, Erick, Baerle, and Ladero.

Through the Long Scouts, Charles has become good friends with Misha Brightleaf and the other Longs. He has a very icy relationship with Rickkter, as the two are from rival mage clans.

Charles has a student named Garigan, who he instructs in the ways of the Sondeckis. He is also friends with Lord Avery, Angus who is in charge of the Glen scouts, and many others at the Glen.

Abilities

Charles primary skill comes from his years in Sondeshara. The Sondeck is an inborn magical gift that allows him to manipulate physical force at will. He can make a blow pass through air, and can lift weights that should be impossible. He is trained with a Sondeshike, a staff weapon that channells force to its ends, giving it the ability to deliver devastating blows.

The Sondeck feeds on rage, and if not controlled, can make a Sondecki irritable at first, and then very angry at everything. Eventually, if not mastered, will lead to the Sondecki's death. The Sondeckis order trains them to find their Calm, either through meditation, singing certain songs, or practicing their form of martial arts. The Sondeckis are spies and assassins, perhaps the best in all the world. And some of them, like Charles, are trained to be warriors almost without peer.

Charles is also a skilled writer, and though he has not done so of late, he can still tell a good story if the situation demands.

He can also take on a six-limbed tauric shape, though he mostly does so out of curiosity or when he needs the extra leverage four legs provide.

Personality

Charles tends to focus on the tasks that are in front of him, and as such, can often miss subtle clues about the ways others feel. That said, he is keenly interested in his friends, and wants to help whenever he can. If he feels he has given offense because he did not react the way another expected him to, he will try to make up for it later. He thinks of the future from time to time, but rarely more than a few months ahead.

Although he can be exceptionally stubborn, he is rarely hot-headed, and so gets along with most people, no matter their creed. He was raised as a Follower, but has several Lothanasi friends, and has even helped in the Lothanasi temple when the need arose. He has an ongoing feud with Rickkter, because Rickkter was a member of the Kankoran, a rival Southlands mage clan. For a period of time, Charles kept a Sondeshike that belonged to Rickkter. This led to friction between Charles and several of his friends (Habakkuk and Misha mostly). Charles eventually returned the Sondeshike after the Winter Assault, which led to a cooling of their rivalry, but it is still there.

Charles enjoys teaching others, just as much as he does scouting and writing. When out in the woods, he is always watchful of his surroundings and expects those he is with to do the same. Because he likes teaching, he is more understanding of the mistakes of those less experienced than himself. But he is no less vehement in making sure they understand how severe those mistakes can be.

He is deeply in love with his wife Kimberly, but he also has affections for their midwife and wetnurse Baerle. He has not yet acted on them.

Goals

Charles has very simple goals for his life. The four that matter most to him are:

  1. Raising His Family. Charles is a new Father, and wants to see his children grow up and lead good lives. He is very proud of them as a Father should be. He also looks forward to all the many memories he and his wife will share together.
  2. Doing His Job. As a Long Scout, Charles has an important responsibility to help keep the Valley safe. He takes this very seriously, and considers it his most important task, no matter how much it pains him to leave his family.
  3. Training Garigan. Garigan is his student in the ways of the Sondeck. Charles looks at him as if he were a son or a younger brother. Charles fully intends one day to bring Garigan to the Sondeckis order in Sondeshara.
  4. Helping The Rats. Charles considers one of his long term goals to help his fellow rats at Metamor come out of hiding. He wants them to be proud of their form and live productive lives as citizens of Metamor.

Physical Appearance

Charles is a short, stocky Rat Morph, with long muzzle, saucer-shaped ears, brown fur, long whiskers, digitgrade feet, opposable thumbs, a long pinkish scaly tail, and no head hair. When in his rat-taur form, he gains a foot and a half in height, and an extra hundred pounds. His lower half is mostly like a normal, albeit large, rat. He can use all six limbs to scamper and climb up rocks or trees with ease.

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He prefers to dress in warm woolen tunics, preferring forest colours of brown or green. He sometimes wears blue as well. But some part of his clothing is always black. He also has a black Sondeckis robe that he wears for Sondeckis rituals.

On June 21st of 707 CR, he was struck on the right side of his face by the hand of a Shrieker. Everywhere the Shrieker touched has been blackened, and the fur will never grow back. Charles opted to keep the scar as a testament both to the threat Shriekers pose, but also to his own fortitude.

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