GM Olmek's Zeitgeist Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Olmek

Alyssia Winthrope
Female human brawler 1
LN medium humanoid (human)
Init +3; Senses Perception +5
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Defense
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AC 14, touch 14,  flat-footed 10 (+3 dex, +1 dodge)
hp 12 (1d10+2)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +1
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +5 (1d6+4/x2)
Ranged
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Statistics
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Str 18, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +5 (+7 grapple); CMD 18 (20 vs grapple)
Feats Dodge, Improved Grapple, Improved Unarmed Strike
Skills Acrobatics +7, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (local) +4, Perception +5, Sense Motive +5
Languages Common, Primordial
Other gear 105 gp
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Special Abilities
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Brawler's Cunning Treated as having 13 Int for purposes of qualifying for combat feats.
Dodge +1 dodge bonus to AC.
Improved Grapple Don't provoke attacks of opportunity when grappling.
Improved Unarmed Strike Don't provoke attacks of opportunity when attacking unarmed. Unarmed strikes can deal lethal or nonlethal damage.
Martial Flexibility 4/day As a move action, gain the use of any combat feat for which you meet the prerequisites for 1 minute.
Martial Training Brawler levels count as both fighter and monk levels for feats, magic items, etc.

-Anthony was born to two very prominent, powerful and intelligent wizards. As their son, he is every bit the genius that they'd hoped he would be when they planned to have him, hoping to continue their legacy. The problem is, he can't do a lick of magic. Nothing, divine or arcane, calls to him and though he has shown in the past the ability to understand the theories behind it all, his interest in magic quickly waned around the age of twelve thanks to his inability to cast the simplest cantrips. Instead, around this time, he discovered some document's his parents had secreted away into their study. Something from Danor that seemed to work like magic, but didn't require any at all. This was the first schematic he had seen of such technology and to this day the complexity inspires his thinking.

-Anthony was disowned by his parents around the age of 15, when they discovered a small lab he had set up in the basement. They had been content to ignore him for many years, due to his lack of magical talent, but to bring what they saw as the enemy of their very way of life under their roof was too much. Anthony has lived on his own since and it has not always been comfortable, but the cunning man has made due. Still, he is very nearly broke to this day, barely scraping by and often spending what little he could save on scraps to further his research.

-Anthony tried to start a business using his talent and word quickly got out about his skill. To this day he's not sure who started that father, be it the Family, a Loan Shark, or his parents or a proxy of them; but one thing is for certain, Anthony know's it was no accident. Tony was in the building when the fire started and because of this he has a couple scars along the right side of his face. He doesn't seem to mind them these days, despite some remnants of pain and a few nightmares about fires.

-After losing his business and most of his equipment, Tony was left destitute and even owed several people some money. It was around this time that officer Susan Grey came across him. Recalling the talk that had been going around before the loss of his shop about his skill, Susan took a chance on Anthony and hired him as a Technological consultant. The man proved to be invaluable, not only figuring out the unique design of a 'silenced' pistol to kill someone without making a sound, but using what he knew of the local scrap dealers to find the person who had bought the necessary components. The stipend he received for this job was enough to pay off all of his debt and even get him some clean clothes, but instead of leaving it at that...

-Susan talked to her boss. Anthony was brought on retainer as a consultant, and after three years of diligently aiding the R.H.C., has been offered a job as an agent. He has been given some training and found to have some aptitude with a shield and sword, but he seems to prefer his smith hammer as a weapon. He keeps both on hand just in case. Though he is not too happy about not being able to work with Susan anymore, the fact that he can not only serve his country, but perhaps even achieve some of his lofty goals, more then makes up for this.

-Tony is interested in creating weaponry that requires only practice and diligence to use. He's against arming every man, woman and child; but he believes that if a man is willing to sweat and bleed he should eba ble to achieve something. Tony wishes to create arms and armor that can be used to protect the common man, without requiring a 'natural gift' that not everyone is born with.

-Tony also has a loftier goal. He has a dream of something in particular, Knights reborn, a new Order brought to his beloved country. The Steam Knights would be warriors who relied on skill and cunning and were equipped with amazing technology that would enable them to stand toe to toe with some of the deadliest fiends in the world. Much like his other goal, he wants this order to be open to anyone with the heart and determination willing to learn, but realizes that those who wished to join would have to be... carefully screened given the dangerous tools they would be given. He also understands what sort of up-hill battle he'd have politically to achieve this and hopes to use his success with the R.H.C. as an agent as proof positive of his idea.

-When Tony was twelve, he came across a set of schematics from Danor that, to this day, inspires his creations. All of his technology is, much like those schematics, lacking in magic. He has ideas on how to mix the two, but because he is personally lacking in the skill he has made do without while building his gadgets. Rather then being a crutch, he has made it a strength, becoming all the more crafty in his designs! But he keeps secret the source of his inspiration, as he has no idea how is parents came upon the designs or why they had them rather then burning them.

-Tony is unaware of the fact that his parents are not only personally ashamed of him, but have received political backlash from their own colleagues due to his existence. Worse yet, every success he has often reflects a set back in his parents plans for their country. It is often innocuous, but his parents, who have had him watched for years, have not failed to notice the pattern and began actively sabotaging his efforts. When it nearly cost him his life, and did cost him his shop, his parents quickly stopped their attempts to ruin their son's life. Whether out of some small shred of love or the realization that it could destroy their plans even more to have their son turned up murdered, by their hands no less, his parents have decided to ignore their son altogether. Unfortunately their efforts intrigued those they had used as proxies, the Family to be specific, and much seedier elements may have an unhealthy interest in Tony's unique and magic-free designs... and the man who made them.

Friends
Susan Grey- An R.H.C. agent and investigator stationed in Flint, this woman of thirty years is both small and dangerous. Standing at only five foot one, she is often the butt of many jokes about her height from those that don't know her. Those that do respect her and flinch when someone makes such jokes, knowing what is too come. Despite being a little hotheaded, Susan is very good at her job, so much so that there are rumors that she might be transferred to a less prestigious branch soon enough, though Susan ignores them at this point with the intent of focusing on her job.

Susan first met Tony when she investigated the firebombing of his shop. It was rigged to look like an accident but, for completely different reasons then Tony, Susan suspected foul play. Unfortunately the investigation never turned anything up, but when she found Tony living on the street a couple months later she offered him an opportunity to make a living again. Tony quickly impressed her with his intelligence, keen eye's and skills. She began working more and more cases with him, even going so far as to get him on retainer. Finally, very recently, she managed to convince her boss to give him a job offer. Real training and a chance to go much further then he could as a 'consultant.'

Tony doesn't recall that it was she who had investigated his shops burning and Susan has never told him. She secretly blames herself for the lack of evidence turned up and to this day she wants to find the people that very nearly killed her friend. Tony has often joked that the fire might have been the best thing that happened to him, but her eyes always track to the scars.

They are not an item. Its complicated, Tony would say. Susan says she doesn't mix personal and business matters.

Johnny 'Max' Marcus- Johnny 'Max' Marcus is a very intelligent and crafty old man who runs a 'scrap' business. With the ever growing technological advancements within flint, Johnny saw a market no one else had tried to claim, largely because it seemed bloody stupid to do so. The used tech market. For the right price, Johnny will buy and sell damn near anything, up to and including his mother who apparently went for a whole two gold to a wealthy man with an interest in older women... or at least that's what the rumors say.

Anthony first met Johnny when he was fourteen and looking for some supplies that didn't require ten different licenses and parent approval. Johnny saw potential, and rather then gouging Anthony for every coin he was worth, the man gave Anthony some unique perspective on 'used' and 'old' tech. A lot of Anthony's designs and inventions, including the Simulacrum he keeps in his coat pocket, were made using scrap he bought from Johnny. And if there was ever a man that knew the seedy underground of Flint, it was this scrap dealer, who claims the best treasures are often found in people's garbage.

It is a little known fact, in fact all of two people really know it, that Johnny is a member of the Family. He uses his position as a scrap dealer to find new recruits, inform on competition, and steer those that learn to trust him away. He is rewarded with the one thing he loves most, even more then gold. Security.

Sir Edgar J. Arthr- Carl, as he is known now, is a man who once bore another name, one attached to a legend said to have died many years ago. He is a reknowned warrior and great Knight that the stories say went off to war against Danor and never came back. The truth is, he came back, but not as the man he once was.

He lost an arm and a leg to the war and also suffered from infection. The healers on hand were able to heal the latter, but not before it ravaged his body and left what remained a shell of its former glory. The knight used what favors he had saved to spread the word that he had fallen, rather then let it be known that he lost so much to the enemy. His honor gone, his name stripped and even his benefits lost to bureaucracy, Carl turned to drinking to soothe his mind.

One day he came across a man that claimed he could make a prosthetic leg and arm that would do much better then the wooden thing he had been given for the former. Carl ignored the brash youth at first, but after hours of insistence and learning that the young man wanted to do it for free, he made a deal with the lad. If he could do what he claimed in a week, Carl would not only pay him (with what money?) but teach him something valuable as well.

The lad disappeared... and when he returned a few hours later to the same alley way that Carl tended to stay in, he had string, a book, and a writing utensil. For the next hour he took notes and measured using the string and then vanished again. Carl thought the lad gone, for he didn't show up that day, nor the next. But on the third he returned with two proto-types. The first was the leg, after only a few minutes of Carl wearing it, the lad saw a problem that even Carl didn't notice. The arm was more complicated, but it seemed to be up to snuff. The young man disappeared again... and returned two days later, this time with modified proto-types...

So on and so forth it went, going far beyond a week, and each time Carl seemed a little more cheerful to see the young man, whose kindness and optimism slowly worked its way into the old Knights heart. Over time, the two became friends, and Carl began making active suggestions. At the end of two months, the young man was finished, and Carl had a working leg that bent when it needed to and pushed up when it needed too. Carl couldn't feel a thing, of course, and couldn't actually move it. But all the same the knight felt as if he could perform some of his old fighting maneuvers again. The arm was better still! With a twitch of a shoulder muscle, it opened and closed a claw like hand, and though it couldn't really move very well it could still hold something. It could also lock into place.

Despite the fact that it had taken far more then a week. Carl paid the man, and even went through with teaching him something important, something that Carl hadn't been able to teach in many years. How to fight, how to defend one's self. With his old shield and sword Carl taught a young Anthony how to take care of himself, and their friendship became something more. That of a mentor and his student. Though Carl has long since taught Anthony everything he could with his limitations, the two are still good friends, so much so that Anthony even knows Carl's real identity.

Carl ended up paying Anthony not with coin but with his old shield, a busted thing that Anthony spent many a night getting back into its former glory. Tony almost didn't except, but Edgar told him it wasn't payment anymore. It was a gift to a friend.

Enemy
Vex- Vex is a cruel, merciless, calculating, cunning and all around confident killer. He has few rules and even fewer regards for the law or human life. What makes him the most dangerous is not his skill with a blade, old fashioned as it is, nor his ability to seemingly disappear into thin air. No.. it his intelligence. No one can say how long Vex has been operating within Flint, largely because most people don't know when he bloody started. One day he just introduced himself as such, about thirty years ago.

Twice now, Anthony has consulted on a case dealing with Vex, and twice now Anthony barely escaped with his life. The truth is, Tony knows for a fact that if Vex wanted him dead, he'd be dead. But, be it a small mercy perhaps, it seems Vex doesn't care about grudges either. Its that sort of cold view on the world that's likely kept him alive this long. Nothing personal... just the job. It was Vex that had crafted the silenced pistol, the first of its kind that was completely non-magical, and it was Tony that had uncovered the nature of the weapon and tracked down the lab where it was made. That was the first time Tony's life intersected with Vex's job and it earned the man another scar, this one along his chest.

Vex is not part of, but does work for, the Family. He also works for the clergy, the politicians, the merchants, the commoners, other gangs. His prices always seem to vary, and his jobs are often eclectic in nature. The only thing that stays true is that the moment he takes a job, he stays bought. No bribe is large enough nor treasure great enough to deter him from his job. Always the job.

-Anthony remembers fondly the first time he saw technology broken down and scribed in beautiful, flowing handwriting. He remembers well the day he looked upon the Danor schematic, though even now he can't say what it was or what it did, not entirely. All of his inventions carry with it slight hints of that last schematic, as if he were trying to rebuild it in piece-mail. It is safe to say that even his grandest creation to date, his Simulacrum, was inspired by the design. To top it all off, the crest that Anthony gives to his creations to mark them as his imitates the crest he had seen on the design. The differences are subtle, but enough that it changes from something of Danor origin to something of his own making. The image of one gear with a rune is now three smaller gears attached to a belt of sorts, with a hammer overlaying them. The crest is often burnt into any of his contraptions permanently and though he isn't always craft, he -does- where it as a necklace.

-Anthony is a very bright man, but he's not always aware of some of his habits. For instance, he has a tendency to pause mid-action and start muttering to himself every once in a while in different languages. One isn't enough, he claims, since there are some words not found in the common language that better describe what he's thinking. Its hard to follow, but if one could they would hear designs being uttered of interesting complexity for several seconds or even minutes... all to be thrown away by a casual dismissal at the end as he reaches a certain conclusion. Very rarely, when he finishes, he pulls out a journal he carries on him and writes it all down. Susan claims to have only seen this twice.

-Anthony was taught to fight by a real knight, and though his skills are definitely lacking compared to a warrior or a soldier with some real experience, anyone who know's and studies the martial arts can see the hints of an old and respected discipline in how he moves his body and shield.