Sampson Klein's page

1st: Slayer; EWP (Falcata), Weapon Focus (Falcata), Studied target, track
2nd: Slayer; Slayer Talent (Rogue Talent (Combat Trick - Power Attack))
3rd: Slayer; Sneak Attack, Furious Focus

The Invitation
<< 4682-4684 AR >>
Omar and Dassah Klein were at the cusp of greatness. They had degrees in transmutation from the Arcanamirium, the Twilight Academy, the Magaambya and the Acadamae. A power couple, they were hailed as the next great thing in transmutation in academic circles across Avistan and Garund. They had long been working towards the goal of becoming citizens of the utopian island of Hermea. They shared Mengkare's dream of one day perfecting humanity. They thought that the process could be sped up significantly through the use of complex ritual spells on a child while it was developing in the womb. Such work was bound to get them noticed by the Mengkare's scouts eventually so they chased their dream for years, all across Golarion.

It had recently become clear to them that the final piece to their puzzle was hidden in the Scrivenbough in Quantium. They used their contacts in the arcane spellcasting intelligentsia to arrange a meeting with Gen Hendrikan, the chief Riddler of the Scrivenbough. After explaining to him what they were after, they offered to donate a copy of the sum total of their research thus far to the Scrivenbough in exchange for the information they needed. Hendrikan was more than happy to oblige them. Soon they had set up a lab in the city and put the information provided to them by Abraxus' cult to use. They began testing their final spell on small vertebrates like mice and rats. The first several trials showed results better than any they could have hoped for. The animals affected by their ritual were superior to their brethren in every way. Omar and Dassah worked their way slowly up to more complex animals, and within a year had a successful test with a chimpanzee. Their test result, Heinrik, displayed the mental faculties of a human infant, and strength equivalent to a much older chimp. The experiment was declared a success, and Heinrik was put down.

That night Omar and Dassah were eating dinner at the most expensive rooftop restaurant in Quantium to celebrate their success. Their meal was interrupted when a well dressed man approached them. He bowed, smiled, and left a large expensive looking envelope on their table, sealed with the emblem of a gold dragon breathing fire. The hopeful couple looked to the seal, then to one another, before hurriedly opening the message. Inside was an invitation for them to come and continue their work on the island of Hermea as citizens of the Glorious Endeavor. Along with the invitation were two scrolls of teleport and a set of coordinates. The transmuters hurried home, packed their essential belongings and left to begin their new life.

Project Evolution
<< The island nation of Hermea | 4685 AR >>
The Kleins were in heaven on Hermea. They had always dreamed of a beautiful tropical island inhabited by some of the greatest minds of the human race from all across Golarion, where their needs would be met and their research encouraged. They were provided with a laboratory compound and whatever materials they required. They applied to the Council of Enlightenment to continue their experiments with the enhancing ritual, now called Project Evolution, on human subjects. Mengkare was counseled, and approved the test run, but on the condition that the test subjects be volunteers and fully aware of exactly what they were doing.

Omar and Dassah knew it was the best they could hope for from the benevolent dictator. They started a recruitment campaign looking for volunteers who planned on becoming pregnant in the near future. Part of the magic they had developed during their research was a fertility spell that nearly guaranteed conception if cast on both parties before intercourse. The Kleins could offer little more than pregnancy and the prospect of having a super-human child. On Hermea, that was enough. Half a dozen women and their partners volunteered to be in Project Evolution. Thanks to the Kleins' magic, they all became pregnant immediately. The rituals were carried out and the pregnancies carried to term. Four boys and two girls were born. They were in excellent health, and grew very rapidly. They were talking and walking by six months, and could write essays by the age of five. Around the age of eight they entered into puberty, and that's when the problems began.

Though not yet a decade old, the children had the bodies of teenagers, the minds of adults and had been training with weapons since they could walk. As puberty overtook them, they became increasingly aggressive and undisciplined. There were several incidents of violence between the children and the staff of the Project Evolution compound. The children were punished, but to no avail. Their behavior was becoming increasingly erratic, violent and uncontrollable. The Council of Enlightenment was informed by a worried whistle-blower and they demanded to meet with the Kleins at once in Promise. The Kleins teleported in, and assured the Council that they had everything under control, that any issues were just over-exaggerated teenage angst. Omar and Dassah returned from the meeting to find all the children's instructors and the employees murdered. The Project Evolution subjects had gone completely mad. They claimed only they were fit to live, and that everyone else were their toys to kill as they saw fit. Omar and Dassah were horrified. They used their magic to subdue the children, and delivered them to Mengkare. The dragon forbade them from ever again experimenting on human kind. They never found out what the dragon did with the children.

The Secret
<< The island nation of Hermea | 4693 AR >>
Though the Kleins understood Mengkare's decision, they were single-minded in their goal to create a perfect human, and would not be put off by a single failure. Ostensibly they turned their research in the direction of agriculture. Building a better milk cow, a fatter pig, chickens that laid more eggs and grains that would tolerate the cold. In actuality they were analyzing the data from Project Evolution to prepare for their next attempt. They convinced themselves that they could create the perfect human by slowing the growth rate, lowering the intelligence, and turning up the intuition and empathy in their subject. They knew there was no chance of them finding more test subjects without the Council and the Mengkare finding out, so they decided to use the only ones available--themselves.

Omar and Dassah conceived, and worked the ritual on Dassah in secret. What they didn't know was that she was pregnant with twins. It was a variable they hadn't accounted for. When it became clear that she was carrying two children they immediately began to worry about what might happen once the babies were born. They dared not end the pregnancy, lest they never again get the chance to try their perfected ritual. The twins were born without any complications, in Arodus 4793. They were identical boys, who the Kleins named Alter and Sampson. For a time it seemed that Omar and Dassah's fears were unfounded, as the boys grew and developed normally. They were bigger and smarter than the other babies, but not enough to arouse serious suspicion. It wasn't until they started talking that the Kleins realized something was wrong with Sampson. Though he was his brother's physical match, and he was nearly as smart, he was completely cold and detached.

Yin and Yang
<< The island nation of Hermea | 4694-4705 AR >>
As the boys grew, it became clear to everyone that they were totally different from one another. Though their bodies were the same, their minds were not. Alter was bright and sunny, making friends easily with almost everyone. Sampson couldn't make a single human connection aside from Alter. He could feel physical pleasure and pain, but nothing else. He was withdrawn into himself, completely logical. People were often scared of Sampson, or felt awkward around him, but Alter was always there to reassure them and vouch for Sampson's good qualities.

Omar and Dassah were terrified that Sampson would end up as a repeat of their first failures with Project Evolution. They knew that without emotions it would be possible for him to justify any behavior to himself. They decided to train him through positive and negative reinforcement to follow a certain code that would make him successful, disciplined and ambitious. They provided him with a set of motivational edicts (See bottom of sheet). They made him memorize and live by the edicts strictly. If he made a mistake, they punished him with severe beatings that they would heal afterwards. When he did well, they rewarded him by allowing him to do what he wanted--practice with swords. They drove Sampson to focus completely on his studies, hoping that with encouragement he could still become the "perfect defender" of Hermea. If one or both of their sons could rise to the top of Hermean society, then they would have proven their success to Mengkare, and could reveal their experiment openly without fear of reprisal.

The boys studied hard like all Hermean children, joining in various academic courses and combat training based on their interests and abilities. Sampson found himself drawn to all manner of self defense, strategy and combat courses. He excelled at gymnastics and most sports. He found he had a strong mind for mathematics, engineering and the smithing of weapons and armor. Sampson completed a smith's apprenticeship by the time he was eleven years old. Aside from being a journeyman smith, he had become an excellent athlete and budding warrior.

Warrior
<< The island nation of Hermea | 4705-4709 >>
Around the time the boys turned twelve, they entered puberty and began to grow rapidly. In less than a year they grew six inches and put on several kilograms of muscle. Their parents and instructors deemed them big and strong enough for full time warrior training. Alter was so talented that he could have studied anything he wished, but he loved his brother dearly and took his role as Sampson's guardian very seriously. Alter decided to join his twin in warrior training so he could continue to watch over him. The twins' parents knew that to become the best they would need to train with the true masters at the Battle Academy in Promise. The Kleins gave Alter strict instructions to watch out for his brother, ordered Sampson to follow his edicts to the letter, and sent the boys to the capital.

Once there, the boys took to their new training with gusto. They woke with the dawn and practiced cross training and sparring with different weapons for five hours every morning. After lunch, they had academic lessons in geography, history, and tactics. Every evening they were required to spend an hour meditating to maintain a clear mind, and then could use the remainder of their time on elective studies or apprenticeships. Sampson quickly grew to favor the two harshest and most talented Masters of the Blade in the Battle Academy. They were Rodrigo Dantares, a rondolero duelist from the lawless southern frontier of Taldor, and Nakano Ichiro, a sword saint and former samurai to the Minkaian emperor in exile, Higashiyama Shigure.

While training under them Sampson discovered something for the first time--feeling. He didn't have a name for the emotion that rose up when he was in an intense sparring match, but for the first time in his life he felt alive. It may have just been the rush of adrenaline, or some primitive survival instinct, but Sampson became addicted to the feeling. Compared to what he felt with a blade dancing in his hands, the rest of his emotional life was literally flat and meaningless.

Rodrigo's style was quick and flashy, mixing slashes of his falcata with bashes and weapon locks from his buckler. Sampson learned to love the falcata's power under his tutelage. Rodrigo taught him the importance of footwork in a swordsman, and Sampson learned to apply his acrobatic skills to his blade work. Ichiro's training was more about mental focus and ending the fight in one stroke. He insisted that every movement of the blade must be an attack, must mean death to your enemy. He taught Sampson the importance of defeating the enemy with the fire in your gaze before blades ever leave their scabbards. He favored a katana, used in two hands to deliver single lightning-fast and deadly blow. Sampson was able to learn Ichiro's techniques better than any of the other students. His lack of emotions made the mental focus and application of will necessary for the forms easy for him. When Sampson wasn't training or studying he continued his work with the forge. Mastering the blade required more than just knowing how to use it, it required total understanding of the instrument. He studied the forging of weapons and armor from some of the few non-humans on Hermea, the dwarven and elven mastersmiths Mengkare invited to the island to aid in the Glorious Endeavor.

Over the next four years the boys grew in stature and skill until they were known as the wonder boys of the Battle Academy. Samspon was the first student since Ichiro started teaching on Hermea to master the Iaijutsu Strike technique. It enabled him to draw his blade and attack so rapidly that often his opponents were out of commission before they knew the fight had started. The twins were now so tall and muscular that they towered over the other teens in the Academy. Sampson worked for months to forge a sword for himself in anticipation of his citizenship exam. He based the blade on a falcata, but scaled up to a massive size to be used with two hands. Over the years he had developed a new style of dueling, which fused together the traditions of Taldor and Minkai. He had to be the best when it came to exam time, that was the rule.

The Trial

<< Battle Academy, Promise, Island of Hermea | Very Hot, Humid | 27th Arodus 4709 >>

The battles had begun that morning. All the Battle Academy students who turned sixteen in the last six months were taking their citizenship exam today. They all hoped to be the last one standing; to be allowed to stay on the island as a defender of the Glorious Endeavor. Sampson's blood was already up. He'd defeated two of the half dozen contenders already. Everyone had expected as much. The matches had been child's play for Sampson. He finished them quickly, without even drawing his blade. Instead he beat the other boys into submission with his cestus. Everyone knew it would come down to the Klein brothers facing off. The rumor mill speculated that Alter would throw the fight, and let his brother take the position as a defender. Alter was smart enough to make citizenship on his academic merits alone, he didn't need to win here, though it would be a major blow to his honor to lose.

Sampson had other plans. He had heard the rumors too, and he knew that his brother was the only one in their class who might be able to match him. Alter had trained mainly with a Vudrani disciple of Irori, learning a method of unarmed fighting called the Sacred Mountain style. Though it was a very defensive combat style, Alter's fists could still crush brick and bone alike. The only rules of the combat exam were that the first man down was out.

Today they will see. I have always done as they all asked, I have followed the rules. Now they will see the perfection they have created. Sampson still felt the rush of the last battle from a mere five minutes before. Despite this, he maintained his normal deadly-calm focus. He felt no fear or anticipation, just amped up and ready to fight. He flexed his sweaty limbs, hopping in place to maintain their looseness while he waited for the signal. He reached up and jiggled the hilt of his newly forged blade, making sure it was loose in the scabbard. He'd never drawn the sword in combat. He planned to unveil the design against his brother.

The trumpet blasted signaling it was time for the final match. Sampson strode back up the small flight of stairs leading from the ready room to the fighting pit. The pit itself was a twenty foot diameter circle, with a packed dirt floor and a fifteen foot high smooth wall broken only by the two entry portals opposite one another. He saw Alter stride in across from him in his loose robes, with his hair up in a turban. Alter smiled at his brother, sunny as usual, and strode to the center of the ring. Sampson's face was placid as a frozen pond in the heart of winter. The twins came together in the center of the ring. The judges and crowd fell silent in anticipation. The brothers offered each other a short bow without breaking eye contact, and then assumed their ready stances a pace apart. Alter's smile never faltered, he was ready to fall on his own metaphorical blade and lose his pride so that his brother might profit. Sampson's eyes didn't blink once. They seemed to bulge out from his face, dark portals of nothingness locked onto their smiling mirrors in his brother's face. "I'm the best," he challenged Alter quietly.

Before the first waves of sound blasting from the signal trumpet finished ringing across the pit, Sampson was moving, beginning at his feet. Ichiro's eyes went wide from his place in the judge's stand, and he jumped up shouting, "No!" but it was too late. For Sampson, time seemed to slow down, his body acted faster than even his thoughts. It reacted as trained by countless hours of focus and practice. His torso blurred as he drew the massive falcata off his back and slashed forward with one alacritous movement. The blade gleamed in the noonday sun and Alter's smile faltered for an instant before his face was annihilated by the swift descent of Betrayal. As Omar and Dassah joined Ichiro in screaming, Sampson coolly sheathed the newly christened blade. He felt no love for his twin, he felt no loss. He felt no shame at what he'd done. He felt nothing. He hadn't broken any rules. Everyone knew that people died in the exam sometimes. Why were they screaming? Shouldn't they be applauding? Wasn't it his parents who'd taught him, "Do everything in your power to be the best....Keep your own interests and aims above those of all others....Take every opportunity to increase your own stature, prestige, and power." What did they expect?

Exile
<< Hermea, Andoran, Druma | Arodus 4709-4710 >>

After he killed his brother in the Citizenship Exam, Sampson's parents disowned him. They confessed to their experimentation on the boys to Mengkare. The golden dragon was not pleased that they had defied him, and he imprisoned them immediately. Sampson had technically broken no laws. The occasional death during the exams was accepted as part of the risk one takes to become a defender. Deaths are however almost always accidental. Despite having no legal grounds to punish Sampson, Mengkare declared him unfit for citizenship. He was provided with some basic gear and enough money to get started on the mainland of Avistan, along with passage to any port in the Inner Sea. Sampson was banished from Hermea, never to return, on pain of death.

Though Sampson didn't understand why Mengkare and his parents had treated him the way they had, he accepted it without comment. Accept everything as what it is...Be indifferent to where you live...Complaints are appropriate neither for oneself nor others. The edicts ran through his head as he decided where he would go. He knew from his studies that Andoran was a land of free men and opportunity for all. He would travel there, and see if he couldn't become a famous smith. His passage was paid for on an Andoran trading galley in Promise which was preparing for the long return voyage to Almas.

The Andoran capital city of Almas had more people than the entire island of Hermea. It was a totally different environment than the island Sampson grew up on. Sampson was quickly able to find work as a smith, but without money to buy a shop, it would take him decades of work to become well known. He continued to work as a journeyman, saving money while he considered his options. He still practiced the blade every morning, in the yard of the smithy before starting his work. It was this daily discipline that lead to a drunk bravo challenging Sampson to a duel on his way home from the tavern early one morning. The soldier was offended that a smith saw fit to do a fighter's work, and wanted to impress his friends. Sampson calmly accepted his challenge, and shortly cut the man down in the street.

It had been months since Sampson had fought. He had forgotten how it made feel. He knew then that he would become the greatest master of the blade to ever walk Avistan. There was nothing else for him. He quit his job at the forge and caught work with a river barge headed north as a guard. He'd heard that Druma always needed more mercenaries and decided to head there via Isger. The journey to Druma took months. Along the way, Sampson fought in several skirmishes with bandits and monsters, and three more duels. He was seventeen years old, and had already killed four men in honorable combat.

Sellsword
<< Druma, Molthune | 4710-4713 >>

Upon arrival in Druma, Sampson joined up with the Blackjackets, their standing mercenary army. A man of his skill was welcome, and they equipped and paid him well. Most Blackjackets were fanatically loyal to their masters in the upper echelons of the Prophecies of Kalistrade because of their own greed, and the monetary rewards heaped on them for their services. Sampson felt no loyalty to Druma. As always he felt nothing. Due to the Blackjackets' excellent equipment and training, it was rare for a Druman caravan or ship to come under attack. He spent a year in the Blackjackets guarding caravans back and forth from Druma to Molthune. During that year, the only real action he saw was another duel. It seemed his size and lack of fear were a magnet for men looking to prove themselves in personal combat. To Sampson's eyes it was another year wasted. He would never be successful guarding other people's things. Keep your own interests and aims above those of all others....Always accept payment when it is due, rewards when earned and an even (or greater) share of any profits...Take every opportunity to increase your own stature, prestige, and power. His parents' edicts rang through his head daily. He would never shine in Druma, he needed to prove himself in war.

He'd seen often enough that Molthune was constantly fighting, and not just bandits, but an actual war with their neighbors to the north west. They also offered citizenship as a reward for military service to foreigners. They didn't pay as well as Druma, but Samspon cared little for amassing wealth. It was recognition and victory that he craved. The next time he was in Molthune, Samspon deserted the Blackjackets and applied to join the Molthunite army. They were glad to have such a massive specimen and experienced soldier. Over the next two years, Sampson saw plenty of action on the front lines with Nirmithas. He felt no particular loyalty to Molthune, but he was satisfied with the chance to see battle so often. One day in Arodus 4713, he took an arrow to the chest, and nearly died. A cleric managed to keep him alive, but it would take weeks for him to fully recover from the wound. His commanding officer forced leave on him, offering him an apartment in Braganza for three weeks and a purse of gold to spend as a reward for his valor. The festival for Building Season would be in full swing, and whether he wanted it or not he "needed" the time off.

Cold; Sampson never shows any emotion. It's not an act either, he simply doesn't feel anything. The one exception to this is in the heat of battle, where he experiences a joy unlike any other.

Disciplined; His lack of emotion leads to a lack of normal human drives. He has no vices, or hobbies. He never wastes time, or sits idly. He's totally focused on achieving his goals.

Narcissistic; Sampson literally feels nothing for other people. The only people he can form any kind of real bond with is people he's fought with. His own good is always the "greatest good"

Logical; Due to having no emotions, logic is Sampson's main decision making method. He uses a strict utilitarian ethic for determining right and wrong. Maximizing his own benefit is always the goal.

Polite; Sampson is unfailingly polite. He never swears, and exhibits perfect ettiquette, even to those he's killing.

Racist; Sampson believes humans, particularly Hermeans, are superior to all other humanoids. He believes this not out of any deep conviction or experience, but simply because he was taught to believe so, and has yet to be proven wrong.

Secular; Sampson was raised not to worship the gods, rather to respect them and stay out of their way. He finds it illogical to abdicate your own will to another being.

Honest; Sampson is a terrible liar, and a terrible actor. He's learned to either tell the truth, or to keep his mouth shut. He doesn't exaggerate, or use sarcasm.

Buzzkill; Sampson never laughs at jokes, or makes any of his own.

Badass; Sampson's huge frame, tattoos, and his ice cold stare combine to make him very intimidating. He knows this and relies on his aura of threatening mystery to get him through a lot of situations.

Friend to Children; Sampson will never harm a child, regardless of race. He often looks back on his own childhood and wonders if it was cruelty or birth that left him without emotion.

Mercenary; Sampson's only true loyalty is to himself. He works for the highest bidder, and has no compunctions about changing sides. Though once he's established with a team or unit he prefers to work with them for as long as possible, due to the inefficiency of constantly learning to fight with new people.

Kills Without Blinking; Sampson will kill without hesitation if he thinks he needs to. He takes no pleasure it in, and attempts to avoid killing whenever practical because of the issues it generates, but it's about as troubling to him as breathing.

Driven By the Blade; Sampson's only reason for living is to be the best swordsman that Avistan has ever seen. This idea and goal is the driving force of his personality. Every decision he makes should take him closer to that goal. Once he is the best swordsman to walk the earth, he will return to Hermea and show them all how wrong they were about him. He will show his parents that he is the best.

Ht: 6'8"
Wt: 300 lbs
Age: 20
Hair: Bald, shaved
Eyes: Dark Brown
Skin: Light brown, tanned bronze

Celebrity Lookalike

Standing before you is a tower of a man. He stands two heads taller than most people, and his shoulders are half again as wide as the average man's. His bronzed skin is stretched tight over hard muscles. The warrior has no visible body hair, and his head is shaved. Sampson's large, recessed, dark eyes meet everything around him directly and unflinchingly. They are colder than the lifeless void of the Dark Tapestry. His upper left arm and shoulder are heavily tattooed with geometric glyphs and sigils. His upper right arm has four two-inch long horizontal scars cut across it.

He wears a faded red Molthunite army uniform which has had the sleeves roughly hacked off to make way for his shoulders, over a sleeveless chainmail shirt. The uniform is crisscrossed by two bandoleers carrying several sunrods and a blacksmith's tools. The chevrons on the shoulder of the uniform mark the rank of sergeant. His chest is pinned with a medal indicating having been wounded in battle, and another for exceptional action in the face of danger. Sheathed across his back is a massive forward curving blade. It has the look of a one handed sword, simply enlarged to gargantuan proportions. There's another smaller version of the sword sheathed at his waist, and a spiked cestus on one hand. His legs are covered with practical looking leather breeches. There are strange, open-topped circular sheathes strapped to the outside of his thighs, each containing several chakram. Over everything he wears an elbow length grey cloak lined with oilskin and containing a few pockets.