JohnB's Games

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====== Hamin Carmine ======

Hamin is a character that I took over, back in the early 2000s.  I left the game for a few years, then retuned to pick him up again.  In play, he has finished up a fairly goring character - dour and with little to say for himself.  Elements of this background were written by the earlier player, the rest reflects his experience.  Since the last background element was written, he has literally met gods .... 

PERSONALITY

Hamin is a personality in conflict

As a child and an adult he has been trained to duty, duty, duty  a ‘lawful’
trait -  However he is naturally a ‘chaotic’ person.  Carmine  tends to worry
about what his ‘duty’ is and how he should discharge it -  however his
chaotic nature means he sometimes comes up with ‘strange’ ways to do things
(his original decisions that earned him the title of ‘slayer’) -  strange
timings for things   (His  sudden decision to leave home, his decision
10 years later to search for his family) -  he has these strange impulses
and needs to act on them.

All in all it makes him a very serious, almost dour man.  He can be firm
(bordering on the harsh, particularly with himself).  He is quite laconic and
Droll in the way that he deals with people -  almost off hand.

Unless you can catch him in a really relaxed, comfortable mood, when he can be
more cheerful.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

DESCRIPTION

Slayer is an imposing figure, standing at height of just over 6 feet and
with a muscular build. Having a shaven head, his most striking and
noticeable feature is that he has only one eye, his right, a pale blue. A
black eyepatch covers the area over his left, a cruel looking eye painted
red upon it. From beneath the patch, an old scar runs down to the corner of
his mouth, giving him the appearance of a permanent sneer.

He wears a vest of hard black leather, matching his black pants and hard
black leather boots. The hilt of daggers can be seen protruding from the
tops of his boots and a long hunting knife at his right side. Apart from
these, the only other weapon on him is a long pole-axe, one end with a long
two-sided blade and the other sporting a cruel looking hook.

The warrior wears no jewellery save for a single gold ring upon the fourth
finger of his right hand.

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BACKGROUND

Slayer grew up in a modest household, the son of noble. Born with the name
Hamin de'Carmine he was taught the ways of nobility from a young age, along
with numerous lessons in history, geography and literature. When coming of
age, he was schooled in the art of combat. A naturally gifted warrior, he
was eventually recruited into the Kings guards. Before long, he became a
Sergeant, and then Captain. He was respected by his men.

He married his childhood sweetheart when he was 25, a beautiful girl with
large brown eyes. She was a commoner, he a nobles son and Captain, and they
lived in a modest home. But they were content.

After many years of Captaincy in the Kings guards, he was selected for a
mission into a neighbouring kingdom with several dozen of the kingdom's best
soldiers. After many of these missions, he came to be the leader of a
division of these 'special forces', along with the rank of Lt. Captain.

It was on a mission into the nearby mountains that his life was turned on
its head. An intelligence gathering mission, he was suppose to lead a dozen
men into an area known to be occupied by enemies of the crown, and get
information on positions, men, and supplies.

Things went wrong; the enemy knew they were coming. A decision had to be
made quickly, but it was too late. They were smothered by the enemy through
sheer numbers. Hamin lost an eye and was badly injured. The rest of his
squad did not make it, and he cursed the gods, and from that day, he turned
his back on them.

He managed to escape somehow and sometimes regrets that he did. Upon return
to his commander, he gave his report of the enemy, and of the ambush. It was
not received well and he caught a part of whisper in the room "...slayer of
his own...". He tried a sneer. How fitting, he thought. After many hours of
contemplation, he came to the conclusion that he had made the wrong decision
and ultimately, he had been responsible for the death of a dozen of the best
soldiers he had ever commanded.

He became known as 'the Slayer', though none said as much to his face. It
became more than he could bear and he resigned his position. He took to
wearing only black and became distant and cold. Unable to face his wife
anymore, he grabbed a few personal belongings, his poleaxe, and walked out
of the city without a backwards glance.

Now he travels alone, clad in his black leather and carrying his long
poleaxe, with no more possessions that those carried upon his person. Living
in the forests, towns, cities, never staying in the same place for too long.
He calls himself Slayer and fear he who stands in his path, for the
black-clad warrior is coming, and death rides upon his shoulders.

                          ------oooOOOOooo------

Oh I was there, I saw the waters raise up around the city walls, destroying
the fishing village and the other houses outside.  Like the everyone else
from the village I huddled inside the city walls, my family were safe in my
cousin’s house, I was out defending the walls.  I saw the bridge of bodies
grow as the bastards forced them into the waters, I saw men drown as the foe
marched across their inert forms, and I fought along the walls and the
daughters raised their great magic.  I even saw the flame take Brislar as he
screamed his agony at the passing of his wife.  I saw the enemy fade into
the distance, become small and grey as we faded from the world.  One minute
there were flames, the clash of arms and the screams of battle, then there
was grey silence.  We stopped and looked at each other, and started to
search.  We searched for our family, our relatives, our comrades and the
enemy.  We found them alright -  those that still lived.  But we found our
limits too.  The city was sealed, the waters of a grey sea lapped around our
walls, day and night seemed as one a flicker of yellowy grey and reddish
grey.  In my deepest thoughts they are the days passing and the nights lit
up by the flame that was Brislar.   An unchanging world -  no day, no night.
No spring or summer -  not even a winter, just the unchanging flicker red
and yellow greyness.

We were lucky.  The city was well stocked against a siege, although there
were almost riots over food while sorted out a rationing system.  We searched
for years to find a way past the grey barriers, but never once did we find a
way back to the real world, instead we learned to fish in the grey sea, and
which seeds we could grow in the gardens and on the roof tops.  Indeed we
never before understood what a great variety of different types of mushroom
could be grown inside warehouses.  We were fortunate, I was one of the most
experienced officers left in the city, and my cousin has influence, soon I
was running street patrols and overseeing some of the ration distribution,
my wife and daughter were helping manage mushroom farms and brewing a strange
tasting ale from  their product.  Even for us, life was dull and
un-interesting.  It was  struggle to stay alive, but alive we are - and for
that we must thank the Daughters and Brislar.

Then, after years, they started to come again.  Every so often some foul beast
appeared in the city.  We hunted them down of course, and left them for dead
before we searched for their entrance, but we never found it.  Then one day
they took my Rose.  She was in the wrong place at the wrong time and her
throat was ripped out.  Still the beast fell, the spike of my bill straight
through its throat and into the back of its head, but it was too late to
save my Rose.

Then my daughter disappeared.  It  didn’t take long to work out that she
wasn’t in the city, I know every grey corner of every grey street like the
back of my hand, she wasn’t there.  So I started to explore the perimeter,
and it was only by chance that I was there when a flicker appeared.
Something was trying to come in , I am not sure what, but I ripped its
entrails out as I forced my way past it.

And now I am here.  If I can’t keep my daughter somewhere she will be safe,
I will have to make it safe wherever my daughter is.