Name: Christopher Hoxton
Age: 34 years old
Height: 5’ 11â€
Weight: 200lbs
Eye colour: Hazel
Hair colour: Black
Appearance and physical characteristics:
Christopher Hoxton, otherwise known as Hox, is of slim build, fair skin and has jet black hair that is tied back neatly in a ponytail. He characterises the consummate gentleman, often dressing in finery made from imported Irrakram silks and often wears formal attire even on the job (sometimes, his work requires it). Being a professional thief, he also employs a featureless, white clay mask which he uses to hide his identity during robberies. However, when fighting (such as in the Citadel or during unsanctioned matches), Hox will often revert to his Messatsuthai garb (black trunks, hands and feet wrapped in tape).
Being physically fit and an adept martial artist, his frame is mostly comprised of lean muscle. He bears slight scars on the side of his face from a burn caused from a job that went wrong.
Personality:
In common life, Hox is a gentleman. He is sociable, calm and personable. Whilst his public persona isn’t superficial, there lies beneath a layer which tells of a master thief. He is an extremely driven and intelligent man who has dedicated most of his life to swindling; a profession that has called for him to master the arts of subtlety and subterfuge. On this, most of his victims have been of a certain ilk; men and woman who have gained great wealth through ill means or foul play. Hox’s principles prevent him from harming or stealing from the common citizen. He is most notable for “re-purposing†the finances of corrupt government institutions and only harming their employees when necessary.
Without being brazen, Hox is generally confident of his abilities as a thief and also his martial arts. That said, whilst he doesn’t fear combat, he will always try to prevent a heist from “going loud†and getting himself in a precarious position.
Quite often, outside of work, he will travel to the Citadel to sharpen his Messatsuthai abilities when he gets the opportunity.
Weapons
Prog-Knife
The Prog-Knife is a double edged steel blade, seven inches long, mounted on a retractable frame. The frame is part of a harmless looking bracer on Hox’s right arm. At the push of a small button on his wrist, Hox can extend and retract the blade quickly, which makes it useful for both concealment and combat alike.
Skills:
Accomplished thief and strategist: Hox has spent his entire life climbing the career ladder of the consummate heister. He is extremely well versed in techniques that allow him to bypass even the most difficult locks, and knows the tools and tricks required to get past the ones he can’t do on his own. He is observant and has studied the psychology of security guards over the years, learning what makes them tick and, most importantly, when they are most vulnerable.
Accomplished martial artist: Hox knows several martial arts and close combat techniques and is effective in studying and employing them. Below is a list of arts that Hox employs, and his grade with them.
- Messatsuthai (Accomplished): A modified Raiaeran martial art which combines kicks, punches and throws with magic to strongly enhance their effects.
Abilities:
Messatsuthai School
- Fokkusuhanta: A simple but effective technique. Hox can imbue his hands and feet with a blue fire that shatters into embers on impact with a target. The impact damage varies from light to medium, depending on the force of the attack. The fire damage can cause a second degree burn on a normal human being’s skin. This can be used three times per competitive thread. The fire remains active for two posts per summon.
- Sunekuhanta: A simple but effective technique. Hox can wrap any of his extremities in a wind elemental aura. If the wind makes contact with a target’s flesh, it will cut like a barber’s razor. The impact damage varies from light to medium, depending on the force of the attack. The wind damage can cause a seven inch gash on a normal human being’s skin if proper contact is made. This can be used three times per competitive thread, and the wind aura will remain active for two posts per summon.
- Nobouhanta: The art of binding. Hox can summon a rope of light between his hands, up to two metres in length. The fibres of light that comprise the spell are the equivalent strength of steel, but the matter itself is pure energy (this energy is not hot to touch and has no further effects). Whilst Hox mostly uses this as a utility, it can also be used as a weapon in a manner similar to swinging a steel chain.
Background:
Christopher Hoxton was born in Radasanth to Charles and Seleena Hoxton, and for the majority of his childhood enjoyed a stable life. He went to school, obtained a decent education and started a business selling trinkets at 16 years old on the street. Charles Hoxton, who owned a shipping company that exported “medical goods†from Tylmerande to Alerar during the Alerar-Raiaeran war, saw the potential in his son and brought him on board to oversee day-to-day operations of the firm. Between the pair, the Hoxton family started to make some money and it wasn’t long before the entire family had relocated to Tylmerande to expand the family business. However, after a couple of years, Christopher discovered that his father had been smuggling opiates and weapons to overseas backers in Alerar, and that this business accounted for nearly percent of the company revenue. Confronting his father privately about the matter, Charles admitted the business’s true purpose was a black market arms and drugs dealership, and invited his son to become a partner in the company.
Initially uneasy about both the company activities and the alignment with Alerarian investors, Hox reluctantly agreed. The younger son was ferried between Corone and Alerar to meet clients, and shown more of the day to day business of the company. Christopher witnessed his father Charles carry out intimidation, drug and arms deals and, eventually, executions. It wasn’t long after this that Charles began extorting money out of businesses in Tylmerande for “insuranceâ€, with Christopher sent out to make the collections. He was assigned with breaking into businesses and stealing the money back, should one refuse to make the correct payment.
Even after the Alerarian – Raiaeran war ended, the Hoxton Company continued an era of aggressive expansion.
Deciding enough was enough, Christopher spoke with his mother Seleena about the nefarious purposes of the company, but was shocked to learn that she was voluntarily keeping the books and backing her husband Charles. That night, Charles discovered Christopher’s complaints, and torn between his son and his freedoms decided to post Christopher to Alerar as an “envoy†for their clients to avoid any unwanted entanglements. His personal assistant, Zver, was tasked with making the arrangements but instead of shipping the younger Hoxton off, Zver took pity on him and arranged a dummy voyage. Christopher and Zver left Tylmerande, and it was at that moment the pair knew that they would not be free until the Hoxton Company had been stopped in its entirety.
