The Cinderella Man
07-23-07, 02:11 PM
Level 3 updates are in RED
Basic Information:
Name: Victor “Padre” Callahan, aka ‘The Architect of Destruction’
Age: 36
Hair: Dark brown, nearly black, shortly trimmed, with wisps of gray
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6 feet and 1 inch
Weight: 240 lbs
Race: Human
Occupation: Prizefighter
Appearance:
Though he considers himself a rather unsightly unattractive man, Victor actually has no distinguishable marks that would sway his appearance towards either good or bad looking. A rather plain face (with an exception of a thin scar on his left cheek, courtesy of Doji Kadenzaa) is nowadays mostly locked in an indifferent phlegmatic look of a man who lost all his hopes when nobody is looking, or a thick dark frown when dealt with most people, especially if they are in the ring with him. There is a cheerful side to the man as well, the wide smile that once existed when Delilah was a part of his life, but nowadays the most he can produce is a sarcastic grin.
His body is quite athletic and slightly bulky (especially the torso and arms) which comes as no surprise since he is a trained hand-to-hand fighter. His muscles are now easily distinguishable, though not obscenely oversized as some fighters tend to make them.
His fighting outfit is the only outfit he really cares about. The scarlet shorts that bear the azure mark of the lily are always perfectly clean and fit perfectly with his dark brown light fighting boots made out of leather. His boxing gloves are scarlet as well and have a single word written on each of them. The right one bears the word “Destruction” and the left one bears the word “Architect”. Most fighters don’t see the right one with enough time to read it.
Out of the ring, Victor is a rather unremarkable everyman, sporting simple shirts of dull darker hues, jeans made of dark blue denim and a long black leather coat to cover the most of it. He can usually be seen with his bag o’ stuff hanging from his right shoulder.
Personality:
Victor is not the most communicative person ever. In fact, he rarely socializes with people. Always a bit on the introverted side, his personality slumped to the shut tight one with Delilah telling him the two of them are done with. He is silent, keeps to himself most of the time and just tries to live from one day to the next. Suicidal thoughts are not rare in his head, but most of the time he can push them away, mostly saying to himself that he is too gutless to actually do it.
Deep down below, his only desire is to find a reason to live for... fight for once again. His dream is a happy family, a modest house and a quiet life. Heroes and adventurers, those are the stuff stories and myths were made of. Victor is merely a simple man, trying to find his way through the bustle of life and doing a pathetic job at that. He often catches himself in self-pitying, bombarding himself with underachieving thoughts and really just stabbing himself in the back, saying he’s not good enough for a normal happy life. Behind all of that though, he is quite wise and well-spoken person, but those are the traits few hang around long enough to find out.
Weapons and Accessories:
A pair of boxing gloves – Nothing really fascinating about this item, the scarlet gloves made out of leather with words “Destruction” and “Architect” written on them
A pair of fingerless gloves – This pair is plated with heavy iron, and Victor uses him for his fights outside the ring. They are made out of black and red leather below which there are iron plates that go over his knuckles and down his forearms as an armguard.
A letter of recommendation – signed by none other then the famous Letho Ravenheart, this letter enables Victor to enlist in a branch of Corone law enforcement should he desire to so. ((Acquired here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=222&page=5)))[/COLOR]
Burlap sack o’ stuff – Following the well-known saying: “I wear everything I own”, this duffel bag is more or less his home/dresser/everything else. He has his fighting shorts and his gloves inside the sack when he’s not fighting or his usual attire when he is fighting. On top of the clothes, he has a water flask, about ten paces of rope, some extra rags that used to be clothes and a small velvety bag with a lock of light brown hair in it and a small torn armlet made out of blue, white and black string weaved together. There are also a needle and thread in there, a small pocket knife made out of steel and a pack of matches. Additionally, he’s carrying some provisions as well, about half-a-dozen packs of Shoe Sole Jerky, two jars of pickles, three packs of rather hard crackers and a small bag of dried fruits. A recent addition to the contents are 15 flasks with highly flammable lamp oil. ((Bought here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=6406&page=2)))
Combat knife – Victor purchased this weapon more because he didn’t have a proper cutting tool then because he needed it for defense. It is made of damascus. ((pic (http://www.hayesandassociates.co.nz/Knives/Meula%20Bowie%201.jpg)))
.50 caliber revolver, “Widowmaker” – this pistol is the only good thing that Victor procured from his ordeal with the Thurmonds. It’s a six-shooter, made out of hardened steel with a titanium barrel, with a handle made out of polished oak. Victor currently has 24 common lead-tipped bullets, 24 full metal jacket bullets and a gun belt with holster and holder rings for 12 bullets, all purchased at the Bazaar ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=43241#post43241). ((Lost here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=1790&page=3)))
Rywan Baseball Bat – Victor acquired this during his unfortunate visit to the island village where he helped extinguishing an insurrection. It’s made out of Rywan wood and is a bit charcoaled from the fire.
Scale Mail – made of the scales of a sea serpent, this short-sleeved shirt of armor is more of a memorabilia to Victor, reminding him of the time when he got a not so bright idea to be a pirate. He isn’t particularly fond of this piece of apparel, thinking its glittery aquamarine color a bit too tacky for his tastes. Unbeknownst to him, however, is that this piece of armor is enchanted, giving the wearer 50% resistance to fire. The scales are as hard as damascus. ((Forged here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=43241#post43241), scales acquired here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=41929#post41929), sold here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=6406&page=2).))
“Aicha” – The 45. Caliber semi-automatic pistol that Walter Jimes used to murder Victor’s lover, Aicha. Its magazine can hold seven bullets. The pistol is black with a dark brown handle, and there is a gray “Aicha” inscription on the sides of the barrel. Victor currently has 84 Full Metal Jacket bullets, 84 Hollow Points and 7 with titanium tips. ((Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=1790&page=3), fixed here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=6406&page=2), pic here. (http://bohwa-technical-lab.hp.infoseek.co.jp/pict/04042002.jpg)))
Sawed-off Shotgun – The metal parts of this double-barreled weapon are made of titanium, while the wooden handle is made of ebony. Victor currently has 25 shells for the weapon. ((Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=1790&page=3), fixed here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=6406&page=2), pic here. (http://i.cnn.net/cnn/SPECIALS/2000/columbine.cd/Photos/DOUBLE.BARRELED.SHOTGUN.JPG)))
Skills:
Hand-to-hand Combat – over a decade ago, when he was within the Coalition and on his way to become the Champion of Scara Brae, Victor was the master of this. Within the ropes of the ring he was unbeatable, wreaking havoc with his devastating right hand. He was light on his feet despite his weight, slipping and sliding, bouncy and with catlike reflexes. However, back then he fought with his heart, he fought for Delilah and her heart and once she turned her back on him, his ability slowly faded away with her departure. More and more he started to fight like a bum, with not real reason to keep him going forward, so nowadays he’s about on a level of an expert hand-to-hand fighter. He makes a good three punch combo, but he’s lacking style and tactic so he’s basically a mere slugger.
Bludgeon Resistance – with all the hits he took over the years, Victor developed a minor resistance to the bludgeon damage. He can take twice the amount of bludgeon damage when compared to a normal human. ((Upgraded to Uncanny Bludgeon Resistance. Look below.))
Uncanny bludgeon resistance – With all the punches Victor took, he developed an extraordinary resistance to blunt objects such as fists, clubs, hammers and the like. This doesn’t mean he is invulnerable to them, only that he can take an inhumane amount of them (about four times more then an average person). But a good strike in the back of the head with something heavy can still punch his lights out. ((Acquired here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=3140&page=4)))
Firm feet – his style being to land more hits then he takes, Victor is not big on dodging the strikes. Because of that he developed a style that allows him to amortize the hits better then an average fighter, making him difficult to knock down. It usually takes thrice as much hits to knock him out, but that depends on the might of his foe.
Fists of flurry - This isn’t really an ability in the true sense of the word. When Victor has something to fight for, something that influences his state of mind and inspires him, his boxing skills are elevated to the level he had while he was at the top of his game, making him a master pugilist for a short amount of time. Keep in mind that it takes something truly influential like a dire threat or a sincere affection of a woman to bring this skill to life.
Down, but not out! – This is an ability that activates itself when Victor is extremely fatigued and/or injured. When such a state occurs, Victor’s strength, agility and resolve increase to twice of what it usually is and he’s even harder to knock down off his feet. ((Awarded here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=41217#post41217)))
Gunfighter – In a world where sharp and pointy things are abound, Victor opted for a different kind of fighting. With the acquisition of his revolver, he managed to get in quite a few pickles, and by now he managed to shoot his way out of them as well. He’s a long way from a true gunslinger, but his skill with the revolver is that of an expert. He can now quickdraw and shoot from the hip, but his accuracy suffers while using such techniques.
Attributes:
Strength and stamina are the main two attributes Victor focused on during his fighting years. The training, the battles in the ring and ten years of shoveling coal while imprisoned made him three times stronger then a usual fighter. His stamina is also considerably elevated when compared to an average fighter, but this mostly refers to the stamina within the ring and manual labor.
History:
The times of youth
Born as a second child into the Callahan family, Victor was on route to a rather ordinary life in a middle layer family in Scara Brae. With his mother being a housewife (and a damn good cook, Victor would always say) and his father an architect working for the local government (and being a preacher during his free time, giving all his Sundays to the Lord) the life ahead of Victor was wide open. His two sisters were Amayla (the older one) and Yavannha (the younger one) and together with his mother Veerah they made a perfect little family. Sundays at the church, abundant Sunday lunches, monotonous days that captivated with their simplicity and sweetness slowly drifted away the first years of Victor’s life, raising him into a person that admired his father and wanted to follow his steps. He was on a good way of doing that, but Fate rarely had her paths coincide with that of a mortal.
When he was fourteen years old his father Hector succumbed to cancer. The incurable sickness overtook his body slowly, making the just stern man fade away little by little every day and even though he fought with the sickness valiantly after all healers gave up on him, all the fate in his Lord couldn’t save him from the inevitable. That morning a terrifying scream awoke Victor from his slumber, his mother’s scream as his father exhaled his last breath and went to his Lord. It was to be a crossroad on the path of the young Victor.
His mother, being a mere housewife, barely managed to hold the family together, working long and hard just to earn enough money for them to survive. And yet somehow they managed to be happy, even though they barely had enough to live by. Victor dropped out of the university, straying away from the path of his father and leaving the dream to become an architect, and instead he started to work so his family could get by. It was a tough life and it took it’s toll on Victor Callahan that started to doubt the teachings of his father until there was nothing but hatred for the Lord.
Times of Romance
It was on one day, when Victor was strolling around with the usual set of dark thoughts flying through his head and his face lifted to the sky above, that he walked straight into the garden filled with yellow lily flowers. The garden belonged to the local Baron, Cornelius Da Lesius, and was currently tended by his daughter Delilah. On that sunny day Victor met a goddess, with her light brown hair smooth as silk, cascading down around her cherubic visage and shifting to a blonde hue under the powerful sun. She had the most beautiful azure eyes he had ever seen, and a smile that managed to melt the ice walls that he’s been lifting around his heart.
However, the romance between the two was not to be because life was seldom a bedtime story. Their communication was decimated to a bunch of written messages, Cornelius making certain that his daughter doesn’t meddle with the commoners. Atalanta, the servant girl of some fourteen years of age, served as an intermediate between Victor and Delilah, taking their messages that slowly grew in length and emotions until one day Delilah sent a message to Victor that made his heart thump powerfully and his hand shiver as he wrote the answer.
<in a beautiful handwriting, carrying the scent of sweet jasmine and perfume, stood a question> Victor, are you falling in love with me?
He was, helplessly and without any doubt. He was so deep in love with her that he could see nothing else but her, breathe and live for nothing else but for another message from her and that faint concealed scent. After his admission the letters grew in length substantially, each one of them falling more and more in love over a bunch of letters and the words written with love and affection. She sent him a kiss on every message by then, a faint trace of her perfect lips on each piece of paper. He treasured these kisses as if they were placed on gold, picking them up each time with is own lips. But letter could only go so far and both of them yearned for more.
It hurts, Victor. It hurts to be away from you, away from your arms that would hug me, make me safe. I want to scream and cry and fall asleep in your embrace, to kiss the night away, to hold you as lovers hold each other. Love shouldn’t hurt. But I believe, I believe that we will find a way and you should too. I need you to let go of your pessimism and believe with me. Speak your limitations and they are yours, Victor, and if we don’t speak of them we can achieve a miracle.
And he did. He believed and he decided to make the sky his limit. He managed to catch a falling star one day and he made a wish that day; he wished that she would be happy. In addition he said that he wanted her to be happy with him. The wishing stars didn’t take additions though.
The Fighting Days
The Coalition. The Coalition was his only ticket to his Lily (that is what he called her now. His Lily, his little lark, his wildcat and he was her oak, her beast). The Coalition was the gathering of wealthy men that were getting even more wealthy by selling the kind of entertainment the people always asked for. The bloody kind. They had all kinds of prizefighting events under their wings, making sure it is a fair and relatively safe battle, but still bloody enough for people to pay for. The fighters of the Coalition were known throughout Althanas, attending the high class parties in tuxes and with beautiful women at their sides. Cornelius Da Lesius was the president of this association. The Coalition was the only way for him to get to her. So he entered the fray.
All beginnings are hard, but some are a real pain in the ass, that was what his sister Yavannha always liked to say and she was damn right. His coach, the elderly looking scrawny chap with a blind left eyes and a wicked left hook, was a harsh trainer. Victor remembers his first day quite well. He told Arslan that he doesn’t need no fancy training, but rather just that he puts him into the ring. Arslan did. He put him into a ring with an inept youngling that only started to train and he whooped Victor’s ass in every way possible. But Arslan saw something then, this uncanny determination in Victor that kept lifting him up, that kept him on his feet even when his face looked as if it survived a World War and end up losing it. So after that Arslan ordered and Victor listened and soon enough he was on his way to the top.
6(5 by K.O.)-0-0
Six battles undefeated, Victor was a star on the rise. Most people knew of him now, “Padre” they used to call him because of the heritage of his father. Some even dubbed him “The Architect of Destruction” again because of his father and because of the fact that he could plot out the entire battle, draw it out until his opponent fell onto his wicked right handed piledriver. Arslan tried to train his left but gave up after seeing that Victor was and always will be pure right hander. It was somewhere at this time, when his battle with Garth Mastricth that another letter came to Victor.
<the handwriting, though still graceful, is somewhat sloppy> Victor, I... I met someone. His name is William and he’s a very sweet man. I... I don’t know what to do. I love you, you know I do, and there will always be a part of me that will belong to you, but I feel like I owe William a chance at least.
It was a shot though the gut, but it went clean through. The following words were the hardest thing Victor ever wrote:
There’s not much to ponder about, Lily. You should go for it. He is after all, real, and I’m not. Go and be happy with him.
But it wasn’t that simple. Neither of them was ready to let go and they were caught in between of letting each other go and clinging to each other tightly.
12(10 by K.O.)-0-0
One match to go. One match and he would have the title. Only Wayne Arenas to beat and he would be crowned the champion of Scara Brae. And he could have his Lily.
<there are smudges on the usually neat paper, and after reading the letter, Victor knew it was the tears of his beloved> It’s over, Victor. I... I can’t go on like this anymore. It hurts too damn much. On top of that, my father found your letters. Victor, I think he’s going to set you up in the final battle. I’m going to go away for a while now. I don’t know when I’ll be able to write again. I still love you, Victor, I always will... It’s just...
After that, no matter how many letters Atalanta carried from Victor, no responses came back. Letters of love, letters of friendship, it didn’t matter, they never came back and each time Atalanta (a gawky little thirteen year old lass with pigtails and hair as black as the night) came back empty-handed, a piece of Victor died. He tried to reassure himself that maybe this was for the best, but that was not what his heart was telling him. His heart was all about her... and it always would be.
The final battle was a goddamn letdown. Victor just didn’t have the flare anymore, and his every attempt just lacked the power it used to have in previous 12 battles. Arslan never saw something like that in his entire training career. It’s like something within Victor simply died and he was running on fumes... Like he was drunk whole last week and couldn’t fight even if his life depended on it. Wayne beaten him and Victor didn’t even wait for the judge’s decision. He walked away from the ring and never returned to Scara Brae again. Delilah was everything to him and without her there was nothing for him there anymore.
The Vagabonding Days - 14(10 by K.O.)-3-14
The time away from Scara Brae and Delilah did little good to both Victor and his battle score. He seemed out of steam, entering the ring just to lose another bout and collect the loser’s purse. Naturally, this alone wasn’t enough to sustain him, so he had to turn to manual labor. His uncle, Edward Thurmond, saw him and took him under his wing. However, his uncle was brutally murdered soon after Victor’s coming into Thurmond manner. Soon both his aunt and his cousin were murdered as well. Behind it all was his cousins Mariah and Jacob, that killed of the rest of the family in order to inherit the fortune. Victor, working with a mysterious assassin, barely got out of this encounter with his “family” alive.
He laid low for a while, in a town called Darth’s Ditch where he worked like a tavern bouncer, but soon enough trouble found him. A scared catgirl Feru came to the town asking for help against the evil wizards that overtook her home. Victor, ever the good guy with a soft spot for crying women, decided to help her and with peculiarly named druid Bob, they defeated the wizard. However, even though there was an apparent flare between Feru and Victor, the boxer left the girl, seeing that he had nothing to offer her but a life of a vagabond.
He worked the docks in Serenti for a while after that before a rather young captain of the ship named Deadalus asked him to join his crew. Victor did so only to witness the captain drive the ship into a pirate ambush. The entire crew of the ship was forced to walk the plank. Victor was the only one of them that got to the shore. It was on this distant island that he got caught up in some local insurrection, together with a bestial woman named Doji, her daughter Inari, a human warrior Zerith and a woman named Cassandra. In a surprising turn of events they defeated the leader and Victor wound up owing his life to Doji.
To repay the woman, he joined her in her mission to Fallien where she was to exorcise the demon from the blade she had in her possession. During this journey, Victor grew to like both Doji and her daughter Inari, but before anything could happen between them, the demon overtook Doji and only thanks to a Fallien shaman they succeeded in exorcising the demon from both Doji and the blade. The relationship that seemed possible between the two came to a hold after this and they parted ways.
This led Victor back to Corone, back to Serenti and back to the arena where he did what he did best lately; losing. However, after one such loss Victor met a redhead Asuka Murakama. The brassy, footsure girl fascinated the prizefighter and he helped her in a fight against Ermano Worth, the local battle organizer that did some slave trading on the side. Given the rather frigid demeanor of the redhead, there was never even a spark of romance between the two, but Victor decided to stick with the redhead and help her in her mission even further, escorting her to Underwood.
The Vagabonding Days Continued – 16(11 by K.O.)-3-16
Victor managed to get himself in many a pickle as his homeless life continued. The most notable one was his attempt to free some slaves in Radasanth slums. Mislead by the mischievous Meredith, Victor and three nitwits just as short-sighted as him walked right into the trap, nearly winding up slaves themselves. Luckily for them, Letho Ravenheart and his Rangers intervened, rescuing both the slaves and the ne’er-do-wells that tried to save him. In short, everybody lived up to their reputation; Letho was the hero and Victor and his band of sorry freedom fighters were not. Still, it was enough to earn Victor an invitation in the Corone Armed Forces, but it was an offer he never followed up on. Grunt work wasn’t something he was keen on doing.
Because he didn’t take that job, he got in quite a pickle in another. A young frivolous pirate captain by the name of Eris lured him into an endeavor with a sway of her luscious hips and promise of great riches. Trustworthy as he was (and coveting female company), Victor took the bait and followed the redhead in a mission that nearly cost them both their lives. True, there were some high points during this task, like the night of lovemaking on the warm sands of some forgotten island, but they were soon interrupted when all hell broke loose, introducing a pair of gigantic monsters that fought for dominion. These titans clashed and Victor and Eris nearly became collateral damage.
After such a mind-blowing experience, Victor returned to his usual routine; prizefighting. Thinking he could earn some easy money on the nitwits and lumberjacks in Underwood, the boxer soon found out that the damn lumberjacks could pack quite a punch. Luckily, by sheer chance, he ran into a young herbalist that offered to help him with his wounds. Kaia, the foreign girl, was quite a healer with her remedies and salves, so they formed a partnership in which she aided him during his bouts while he in return gave her a share of the prize money. Partnership grew into friendship very soon, but whether the friendship would evolve or devolve, only time would tell.
Years Come And Gone – 23(15 by K.O.)-3-22
Trouble seemed to follow Victor around embodied mostly in girls and dames that got the prizefighter in trouble. Every time his heart was stronger then his brain and he would find himself helping a number of damsels that had a penchant for distress. Or maybe helping such individuals was a penchant of Victor’s. Either way, Padre got in quite a few adventures despite not being the most adventuresome person ever.
One of those that got him (and herself) in trouble was Asuka, a redhead that whose hair and demeanor were both touched by fire. Determined to investigate the slave trade in Underwood, Asuka led the way into the lair of the slavers and Victor followed. On another occasion, on a simple job of transporting some cargo across Radasanthia, Victor accepted help from a Fallien girl called Lehana. Their combined curiosities made them inspect the cargo (that they, of course, weren’t supposed to touch) only to find a frightened little girl tied up in a wooden box. Only later did they found out that Cadee was a talented sorcerer and that a pack of mysterious people kidnapped her with an intention to take advantage of her power. Luck and Cadee’s ultimate sacrifice saved Hana and Victor from certain death at the hands of an ice wizard. After that, Victor tried to find a steady job in Radasanth, but trouble found him yet again. Sanoë, a jeweler from afar, was on a search for her troublesome brother, and Padre couldn’t resist to offer a helping hand, as per usual. The mysterious search took them away from Radasanth and made them almost meet their death at the hands of the ever-elusive Coalition. The only encounter with a female that didn’t bring him naught by headache was one with Skie, a succubus which surprisingly wasn’t out to steal his soul away. Instead, she gave him a night of heated passion, but it was no more then an opportune encounter. The morning sent both of them on their own paths.
But none of those troubles measured up to one catastrophic one that sent the prizefighter to prison. Walter Jimes was a businessman, and his business were harlots. From what Victor could gather, the man had a wide assortment of those, and at the very top of his whoring pyramid was Aicha. Black of hair, blue of eyes, Aicha was a thing to behold and probably the most beautiful woman Padre ever set his eyes upon. Despite his disdain towards her line of work, her beauty ensnared him and soon Victor decided to steal Aicha away from Walter and escape Corone by ship. But on the night of the escape, Walter and his goons caught the two and on the deck of ‘Lorelei’, Walter Jimes threatened to end the life of the meddlesome boxer. However, the bullet that was bound to bring death to Victor wound up killing Aicha instead. Walter, however, took advantage of such an inauspicious event, leaving Victor to take the blame for the murder of the harlot.
For the next ten years, Victor Callahan was an inmate in the infamous Furnace, a Radasanthian prison, and for ten years he felt the anger in him fester. Ten years of hard labor hardened him both on the outside and on the inside. And when he came out from those wretched walls, there was only one idea on his mind.
Revenge.
Basic Information:
Name: Victor “Padre” Callahan, aka ‘The Architect of Destruction’
Age: 36
Hair: Dark brown, nearly black, shortly trimmed, with wisps of gray
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6 feet and 1 inch
Weight: 240 lbs
Race: Human
Occupation: Prizefighter
Appearance:
Though he considers himself a rather unsightly unattractive man, Victor actually has no distinguishable marks that would sway his appearance towards either good or bad looking. A rather plain face (with an exception of a thin scar on his left cheek, courtesy of Doji Kadenzaa) is nowadays mostly locked in an indifferent phlegmatic look of a man who lost all his hopes when nobody is looking, or a thick dark frown when dealt with most people, especially if they are in the ring with him. There is a cheerful side to the man as well, the wide smile that once existed when Delilah was a part of his life, but nowadays the most he can produce is a sarcastic grin.
His body is quite athletic and slightly bulky (especially the torso and arms) which comes as no surprise since he is a trained hand-to-hand fighter. His muscles are now easily distinguishable, though not obscenely oversized as some fighters tend to make them.
His fighting outfit is the only outfit he really cares about. The scarlet shorts that bear the azure mark of the lily are always perfectly clean and fit perfectly with his dark brown light fighting boots made out of leather. His boxing gloves are scarlet as well and have a single word written on each of them. The right one bears the word “Destruction” and the left one bears the word “Architect”. Most fighters don’t see the right one with enough time to read it.
Out of the ring, Victor is a rather unremarkable everyman, sporting simple shirts of dull darker hues, jeans made of dark blue denim and a long black leather coat to cover the most of it. He can usually be seen with his bag o’ stuff hanging from his right shoulder.
Personality:
Victor is not the most communicative person ever. In fact, he rarely socializes with people. Always a bit on the introverted side, his personality slumped to the shut tight one with Delilah telling him the two of them are done with. He is silent, keeps to himself most of the time and just tries to live from one day to the next. Suicidal thoughts are not rare in his head, but most of the time he can push them away, mostly saying to himself that he is too gutless to actually do it.
Deep down below, his only desire is to find a reason to live for... fight for once again. His dream is a happy family, a modest house and a quiet life. Heroes and adventurers, those are the stuff stories and myths were made of. Victor is merely a simple man, trying to find his way through the bustle of life and doing a pathetic job at that. He often catches himself in self-pitying, bombarding himself with underachieving thoughts and really just stabbing himself in the back, saying he’s not good enough for a normal happy life. Behind all of that though, he is quite wise and well-spoken person, but those are the traits few hang around long enough to find out.
Weapons and Accessories:
A pair of boxing gloves – Nothing really fascinating about this item, the scarlet gloves made out of leather with words “Destruction” and “Architect” written on them
A pair of fingerless gloves – This pair is plated with heavy iron, and Victor uses him for his fights outside the ring. They are made out of black and red leather below which there are iron plates that go over his knuckles and down his forearms as an armguard.
A letter of recommendation – signed by none other then the famous Letho Ravenheart, this letter enables Victor to enlist in a branch of Corone law enforcement should he desire to so. ((Acquired here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=222&page=5)))[/COLOR]
Burlap sack o’ stuff – Following the well-known saying: “I wear everything I own”, this duffel bag is more or less his home/dresser/everything else. He has his fighting shorts and his gloves inside the sack when he’s not fighting or his usual attire when he is fighting. On top of the clothes, he has a water flask, about ten paces of rope, some extra rags that used to be clothes and a small velvety bag with a lock of light brown hair in it and a small torn armlet made out of blue, white and black string weaved together. There are also a needle and thread in there, a small pocket knife made out of steel and a pack of matches. Additionally, he’s carrying some provisions as well, about half-a-dozen packs of Shoe Sole Jerky, two jars of pickles, three packs of rather hard crackers and a small bag of dried fruits. A recent addition to the contents are 15 flasks with highly flammable lamp oil. ((Bought here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=6406&page=2)))
Combat knife – Victor purchased this weapon more because he didn’t have a proper cutting tool then because he needed it for defense. It is made of damascus. ((pic (http://www.hayesandassociates.co.nz/Knives/Meula%20Bowie%201.jpg)))
.50 caliber revolver, “Widowmaker” – this pistol is the only good thing that Victor procured from his ordeal with the Thurmonds. It’s a six-shooter, made out of hardened steel with a titanium barrel, with a handle made out of polished oak. Victor currently has 24 common lead-tipped bullets, 24 full metal jacket bullets and a gun belt with holster and holder rings for 12 bullets, all purchased at the Bazaar ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=43241#post43241). ((Lost here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=1790&page=3)))
Rywan Baseball Bat – Victor acquired this during his unfortunate visit to the island village where he helped extinguishing an insurrection. It’s made out of Rywan wood and is a bit charcoaled from the fire.
Scale Mail – made of the scales of a sea serpent, this short-sleeved shirt of armor is more of a memorabilia to Victor, reminding him of the time when he got a not so bright idea to be a pirate. He isn’t particularly fond of this piece of apparel, thinking its glittery aquamarine color a bit too tacky for his tastes. Unbeknownst to him, however, is that this piece of armor is enchanted, giving the wearer 50% resistance to fire. The scales are as hard as damascus. ((Forged here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=43241#post43241), scales acquired here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=41929#post41929), sold here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=6406&page=2).))
“Aicha” – The 45. Caliber semi-automatic pistol that Walter Jimes used to murder Victor’s lover, Aicha. Its magazine can hold seven bullets. The pistol is black with a dark brown handle, and there is a gray “Aicha” inscription on the sides of the barrel. Victor currently has 84 Full Metal Jacket bullets, 84 Hollow Points and 7 with titanium tips. ((Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=1790&page=3), fixed here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=6406&page=2), pic here. (http://bohwa-technical-lab.hp.infoseek.co.jp/pict/04042002.jpg)))
Sawed-off Shotgun – The metal parts of this double-barreled weapon are made of titanium, while the wooden handle is made of ebony. Victor currently has 25 shells for the weapon. ((Acquired here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=1790&page=3), fixed here (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=6406&page=2), pic here. (http://i.cnn.net/cnn/SPECIALS/2000/columbine.cd/Photos/DOUBLE.BARRELED.SHOTGUN.JPG)))
Skills:
Hand-to-hand Combat – over a decade ago, when he was within the Coalition and on his way to become the Champion of Scara Brae, Victor was the master of this. Within the ropes of the ring he was unbeatable, wreaking havoc with his devastating right hand. He was light on his feet despite his weight, slipping and sliding, bouncy and with catlike reflexes. However, back then he fought with his heart, he fought for Delilah and her heart and once she turned her back on him, his ability slowly faded away with her departure. More and more he started to fight like a bum, with not real reason to keep him going forward, so nowadays he’s about on a level of an expert hand-to-hand fighter. He makes a good three punch combo, but he’s lacking style and tactic so he’s basically a mere slugger.
Bludgeon Resistance – with all the hits he took over the years, Victor developed a minor resistance to the bludgeon damage. He can take twice the amount of bludgeon damage when compared to a normal human. ((Upgraded to Uncanny Bludgeon Resistance. Look below.))
Uncanny bludgeon resistance – With all the punches Victor took, he developed an extraordinary resistance to blunt objects such as fists, clubs, hammers and the like. This doesn’t mean he is invulnerable to them, only that he can take an inhumane amount of them (about four times more then an average person). But a good strike in the back of the head with something heavy can still punch his lights out. ((Acquired here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=3140&page=4)))
Firm feet – his style being to land more hits then he takes, Victor is not big on dodging the strikes. Because of that he developed a style that allows him to amortize the hits better then an average fighter, making him difficult to knock down. It usually takes thrice as much hits to knock him out, but that depends on the might of his foe.
Fists of flurry - This isn’t really an ability in the true sense of the word. When Victor has something to fight for, something that influences his state of mind and inspires him, his boxing skills are elevated to the level he had while he was at the top of his game, making him a master pugilist for a short amount of time. Keep in mind that it takes something truly influential like a dire threat or a sincere affection of a woman to bring this skill to life.
Down, but not out! – This is an ability that activates itself when Victor is extremely fatigued and/or injured. When such a state occurs, Victor’s strength, agility and resolve increase to twice of what it usually is and he’s even harder to knock down off his feet. ((Awarded here ( http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=41217#post41217)))
Gunfighter – In a world where sharp and pointy things are abound, Victor opted for a different kind of fighting. With the acquisition of his revolver, he managed to get in quite a few pickles, and by now he managed to shoot his way out of them as well. He’s a long way from a true gunslinger, but his skill with the revolver is that of an expert. He can now quickdraw and shoot from the hip, but his accuracy suffers while using such techniques.
Attributes:
Strength and stamina are the main two attributes Victor focused on during his fighting years. The training, the battles in the ring and ten years of shoveling coal while imprisoned made him three times stronger then a usual fighter. His stamina is also considerably elevated when compared to an average fighter, but this mostly refers to the stamina within the ring and manual labor.
History:
The times of youth
Born as a second child into the Callahan family, Victor was on route to a rather ordinary life in a middle layer family in Scara Brae. With his mother being a housewife (and a damn good cook, Victor would always say) and his father an architect working for the local government (and being a preacher during his free time, giving all his Sundays to the Lord) the life ahead of Victor was wide open. His two sisters were Amayla (the older one) and Yavannha (the younger one) and together with his mother Veerah they made a perfect little family. Sundays at the church, abundant Sunday lunches, monotonous days that captivated with their simplicity and sweetness slowly drifted away the first years of Victor’s life, raising him into a person that admired his father and wanted to follow his steps. He was on a good way of doing that, but Fate rarely had her paths coincide with that of a mortal.
When he was fourteen years old his father Hector succumbed to cancer. The incurable sickness overtook his body slowly, making the just stern man fade away little by little every day and even though he fought with the sickness valiantly after all healers gave up on him, all the fate in his Lord couldn’t save him from the inevitable. That morning a terrifying scream awoke Victor from his slumber, his mother’s scream as his father exhaled his last breath and went to his Lord. It was to be a crossroad on the path of the young Victor.
His mother, being a mere housewife, barely managed to hold the family together, working long and hard just to earn enough money for them to survive. And yet somehow they managed to be happy, even though they barely had enough to live by. Victor dropped out of the university, straying away from the path of his father and leaving the dream to become an architect, and instead he started to work so his family could get by. It was a tough life and it took it’s toll on Victor Callahan that started to doubt the teachings of his father until there was nothing but hatred for the Lord.
Times of Romance
It was on one day, when Victor was strolling around with the usual set of dark thoughts flying through his head and his face lifted to the sky above, that he walked straight into the garden filled with yellow lily flowers. The garden belonged to the local Baron, Cornelius Da Lesius, and was currently tended by his daughter Delilah. On that sunny day Victor met a goddess, with her light brown hair smooth as silk, cascading down around her cherubic visage and shifting to a blonde hue under the powerful sun. She had the most beautiful azure eyes he had ever seen, and a smile that managed to melt the ice walls that he’s been lifting around his heart.
However, the romance between the two was not to be because life was seldom a bedtime story. Their communication was decimated to a bunch of written messages, Cornelius making certain that his daughter doesn’t meddle with the commoners. Atalanta, the servant girl of some fourteen years of age, served as an intermediate between Victor and Delilah, taking their messages that slowly grew in length and emotions until one day Delilah sent a message to Victor that made his heart thump powerfully and his hand shiver as he wrote the answer.
<in a beautiful handwriting, carrying the scent of sweet jasmine and perfume, stood a question> Victor, are you falling in love with me?
He was, helplessly and without any doubt. He was so deep in love with her that he could see nothing else but her, breathe and live for nothing else but for another message from her and that faint concealed scent. After his admission the letters grew in length substantially, each one of them falling more and more in love over a bunch of letters and the words written with love and affection. She sent him a kiss on every message by then, a faint trace of her perfect lips on each piece of paper. He treasured these kisses as if they were placed on gold, picking them up each time with is own lips. But letter could only go so far and both of them yearned for more.
It hurts, Victor. It hurts to be away from you, away from your arms that would hug me, make me safe. I want to scream and cry and fall asleep in your embrace, to kiss the night away, to hold you as lovers hold each other. Love shouldn’t hurt. But I believe, I believe that we will find a way and you should too. I need you to let go of your pessimism and believe with me. Speak your limitations and they are yours, Victor, and if we don’t speak of them we can achieve a miracle.
And he did. He believed and he decided to make the sky his limit. He managed to catch a falling star one day and he made a wish that day; he wished that she would be happy. In addition he said that he wanted her to be happy with him. The wishing stars didn’t take additions though.
The Fighting Days
The Coalition. The Coalition was his only ticket to his Lily (that is what he called her now. His Lily, his little lark, his wildcat and he was her oak, her beast). The Coalition was the gathering of wealthy men that were getting even more wealthy by selling the kind of entertainment the people always asked for. The bloody kind. They had all kinds of prizefighting events under their wings, making sure it is a fair and relatively safe battle, but still bloody enough for people to pay for. The fighters of the Coalition were known throughout Althanas, attending the high class parties in tuxes and with beautiful women at their sides. Cornelius Da Lesius was the president of this association. The Coalition was the only way for him to get to her. So he entered the fray.
All beginnings are hard, but some are a real pain in the ass, that was what his sister Yavannha always liked to say and she was damn right. His coach, the elderly looking scrawny chap with a blind left eyes and a wicked left hook, was a harsh trainer. Victor remembers his first day quite well. He told Arslan that he doesn’t need no fancy training, but rather just that he puts him into the ring. Arslan did. He put him into a ring with an inept youngling that only started to train and he whooped Victor’s ass in every way possible. But Arslan saw something then, this uncanny determination in Victor that kept lifting him up, that kept him on his feet even when his face looked as if it survived a World War and end up losing it. So after that Arslan ordered and Victor listened and soon enough he was on his way to the top.
6(5 by K.O.)-0-0
Six battles undefeated, Victor was a star on the rise. Most people knew of him now, “Padre” they used to call him because of the heritage of his father. Some even dubbed him “The Architect of Destruction” again because of his father and because of the fact that he could plot out the entire battle, draw it out until his opponent fell onto his wicked right handed piledriver. Arslan tried to train his left but gave up after seeing that Victor was and always will be pure right hander. It was somewhere at this time, when his battle with Garth Mastricth that another letter came to Victor.
<the handwriting, though still graceful, is somewhat sloppy> Victor, I... I met someone. His name is William and he’s a very sweet man. I... I don’t know what to do. I love you, you know I do, and there will always be a part of me that will belong to you, but I feel like I owe William a chance at least.
It was a shot though the gut, but it went clean through. The following words were the hardest thing Victor ever wrote:
There’s not much to ponder about, Lily. You should go for it. He is after all, real, and I’m not. Go and be happy with him.
But it wasn’t that simple. Neither of them was ready to let go and they were caught in between of letting each other go and clinging to each other tightly.
12(10 by K.O.)-0-0
One match to go. One match and he would have the title. Only Wayne Arenas to beat and he would be crowned the champion of Scara Brae. And he could have his Lily.
<there are smudges on the usually neat paper, and after reading the letter, Victor knew it was the tears of his beloved> It’s over, Victor. I... I can’t go on like this anymore. It hurts too damn much. On top of that, my father found your letters. Victor, I think he’s going to set you up in the final battle. I’m going to go away for a while now. I don’t know when I’ll be able to write again. I still love you, Victor, I always will... It’s just...
After that, no matter how many letters Atalanta carried from Victor, no responses came back. Letters of love, letters of friendship, it didn’t matter, they never came back and each time Atalanta (a gawky little thirteen year old lass with pigtails and hair as black as the night) came back empty-handed, a piece of Victor died. He tried to reassure himself that maybe this was for the best, but that was not what his heart was telling him. His heart was all about her... and it always would be.
The final battle was a goddamn letdown. Victor just didn’t have the flare anymore, and his every attempt just lacked the power it used to have in previous 12 battles. Arslan never saw something like that in his entire training career. It’s like something within Victor simply died and he was running on fumes... Like he was drunk whole last week and couldn’t fight even if his life depended on it. Wayne beaten him and Victor didn’t even wait for the judge’s decision. He walked away from the ring and never returned to Scara Brae again. Delilah was everything to him and without her there was nothing for him there anymore.
The Vagabonding Days - 14(10 by K.O.)-3-14
The time away from Scara Brae and Delilah did little good to both Victor and his battle score. He seemed out of steam, entering the ring just to lose another bout and collect the loser’s purse. Naturally, this alone wasn’t enough to sustain him, so he had to turn to manual labor. His uncle, Edward Thurmond, saw him and took him under his wing. However, his uncle was brutally murdered soon after Victor’s coming into Thurmond manner. Soon both his aunt and his cousin were murdered as well. Behind it all was his cousins Mariah and Jacob, that killed of the rest of the family in order to inherit the fortune. Victor, working with a mysterious assassin, barely got out of this encounter with his “family” alive.
He laid low for a while, in a town called Darth’s Ditch where he worked like a tavern bouncer, but soon enough trouble found him. A scared catgirl Feru came to the town asking for help against the evil wizards that overtook her home. Victor, ever the good guy with a soft spot for crying women, decided to help her and with peculiarly named druid Bob, they defeated the wizard. However, even though there was an apparent flare between Feru and Victor, the boxer left the girl, seeing that he had nothing to offer her but a life of a vagabond.
He worked the docks in Serenti for a while after that before a rather young captain of the ship named Deadalus asked him to join his crew. Victor did so only to witness the captain drive the ship into a pirate ambush. The entire crew of the ship was forced to walk the plank. Victor was the only one of them that got to the shore. It was on this distant island that he got caught up in some local insurrection, together with a bestial woman named Doji, her daughter Inari, a human warrior Zerith and a woman named Cassandra. In a surprising turn of events they defeated the leader and Victor wound up owing his life to Doji.
To repay the woman, he joined her in her mission to Fallien where she was to exorcise the demon from the blade she had in her possession. During this journey, Victor grew to like both Doji and her daughter Inari, but before anything could happen between them, the demon overtook Doji and only thanks to a Fallien shaman they succeeded in exorcising the demon from both Doji and the blade. The relationship that seemed possible between the two came to a hold after this and they parted ways.
This led Victor back to Corone, back to Serenti and back to the arena where he did what he did best lately; losing. However, after one such loss Victor met a redhead Asuka Murakama. The brassy, footsure girl fascinated the prizefighter and he helped her in a fight against Ermano Worth, the local battle organizer that did some slave trading on the side. Given the rather frigid demeanor of the redhead, there was never even a spark of romance between the two, but Victor decided to stick with the redhead and help her in her mission even further, escorting her to Underwood.
The Vagabonding Days Continued – 16(11 by K.O.)-3-16
Victor managed to get himself in many a pickle as his homeless life continued. The most notable one was his attempt to free some slaves in Radasanth slums. Mislead by the mischievous Meredith, Victor and three nitwits just as short-sighted as him walked right into the trap, nearly winding up slaves themselves. Luckily for them, Letho Ravenheart and his Rangers intervened, rescuing both the slaves and the ne’er-do-wells that tried to save him. In short, everybody lived up to their reputation; Letho was the hero and Victor and his band of sorry freedom fighters were not. Still, it was enough to earn Victor an invitation in the Corone Armed Forces, but it was an offer he never followed up on. Grunt work wasn’t something he was keen on doing.
Because he didn’t take that job, he got in quite a pickle in another. A young frivolous pirate captain by the name of Eris lured him into an endeavor with a sway of her luscious hips and promise of great riches. Trustworthy as he was (and coveting female company), Victor took the bait and followed the redhead in a mission that nearly cost them both their lives. True, there were some high points during this task, like the night of lovemaking on the warm sands of some forgotten island, but they were soon interrupted when all hell broke loose, introducing a pair of gigantic monsters that fought for dominion. These titans clashed and Victor and Eris nearly became collateral damage.
After such a mind-blowing experience, Victor returned to his usual routine; prizefighting. Thinking he could earn some easy money on the nitwits and lumberjacks in Underwood, the boxer soon found out that the damn lumberjacks could pack quite a punch. Luckily, by sheer chance, he ran into a young herbalist that offered to help him with his wounds. Kaia, the foreign girl, was quite a healer with her remedies and salves, so they formed a partnership in which she aided him during his bouts while he in return gave her a share of the prize money. Partnership grew into friendship very soon, but whether the friendship would evolve or devolve, only time would tell.
Years Come And Gone – 23(15 by K.O.)-3-22
Trouble seemed to follow Victor around embodied mostly in girls and dames that got the prizefighter in trouble. Every time his heart was stronger then his brain and he would find himself helping a number of damsels that had a penchant for distress. Or maybe helping such individuals was a penchant of Victor’s. Either way, Padre got in quite a few adventures despite not being the most adventuresome person ever.
One of those that got him (and herself) in trouble was Asuka, a redhead that whose hair and demeanor were both touched by fire. Determined to investigate the slave trade in Underwood, Asuka led the way into the lair of the slavers and Victor followed. On another occasion, on a simple job of transporting some cargo across Radasanthia, Victor accepted help from a Fallien girl called Lehana. Their combined curiosities made them inspect the cargo (that they, of course, weren’t supposed to touch) only to find a frightened little girl tied up in a wooden box. Only later did they found out that Cadee was a talented sorcerer and that a pack of mysterious people kidnapped her with an intention to take advantage of her power. Luck and Cadee’s ultimate sacrifice saved Hana and Victor from certain death at the hands of an ice wizard. After that, Victor tried to find a steady job in Radasanth, but trouble found him yet again. Sanoë, a jeweler from afar, was on a search for her troublesome brother, and Padre couldn’t resist to offer a helping hand, as per usual. The mysterious search took them away from Radasanth and made them almost meet their death at the hands of the ever-elusive Coalition. The only encounter with a female that didn’t bring him naught by headache was one with Skie, a succubus which surprisingly wasn’t out to steal his soul away. Instead, she gave him a night of heated passion, but it was no more then an opportune encounter. The morning sent both of them on their own paths.
But none of those troubles measured up to one catastrophic one that sent the prizefighter to prison. Walter Jimes was a businessman, and his business were harlots. From what Victor could gather, the man had a wide assortment of those, and at the very top of his whoring pyramid was Aicha. Black of hair, blue of eyes, Aicha was a thing to behold and probably the most beautiful woman Padre ever set his eyes upon. Despite his disdain towards her line of work, her beauty ensnared him and soon Victor decided to steal Aicha away from Walter and escape Corone by ship. But on the night of the escape, Walter and his goons caught the two and on the deck of ‘Lorelei’, Walter Jimes threatened to end the life of the meddlesome boxer. However, the bullet that was bound to bring death to Victor wound up killing Aicha instead. Walter, however, took advantage of such an inauspicious event, leaving Victor to take the blame for the murder of the harlot.
For the next ten years, Victor Callahan was an inmate in the infamous Furnace, a Radasanthian prison, and for ten years he felt the anger in him fester. Ten years of hard labor hardened him both on the outside and on the inside. And when he came out from those wretched walls, there was only one idea on his mind.
Revenge.