Razdan

[Wren]

-Above the Surface-
Name: Razdan
Species: Rat-Stoat hybrid, or so he supposes. See Appearance.
Age: 21

Birth Date: July 21

Gender: Male
Occupation and Home: He is a wanderer searching for a band of vermin to join so he can plunder his way into an easy living. But until then, his main occupation is and has been for the past three years, a combination of infiltration, assassination, espionage, and thievery.
Alignment: Vermin, evil. He’s not one of those baddest of the baddies, but he’s bad enough that you’ll want to steer clear of him. He kills fellow vermin more than goodbeasts, though, simply because killing vermin usually has to do with a job. And let’s face it, goodbeasts don’t tick off vermin quite as much as other vermin.

Appearance:

Razdan’s an odd creature, standing about half a head taller than the average mouse and half a head shorter than the average sea rat. He claims himself as a rat, but there’s clearly some sort of hybrid thing going on in his blood—he’s got too many traits that don’t quite fit your average ragged, greasy-furred rat. Maybe his mother was a runt stoat or something, as that would explain Razdan’s glossy fur and stoat-like nose. But one of his parents must have been mighty short to create this shorty of a rat. Razdan doesn’t really know, he just knows he’s mostly rat and the rest doesn’t matter.

He’s not exactly a big guy on the horizontal, but he’s certainly what one would consider buff and he’s certainly not small or scrawny. He’s got a lot of muscle packed into his toned arms and manly chest. Yes, he’s rather a looker for the ladies.

As mentioned previously, he has glossy, soft, well-kept fur, and he makes it a point to keep it that way as much as possible. Again, mostly for the ladies, but it also makes him feel sort of above the rest of the filthy vermin rabble. His fur is an odd color, however, for any sort of vermin. It’s a russet color, though it fades to a peachy sort of white at the underside of his muzzle and his chest and underarms. He has large paws and a slightly long bald tail with little blue rings around it as sort of decoration. His eyes are black, like most rodents, and he has short, rather blunt claws for a rat.

Attire:

• He changes clothes regularly, as would be expected, but all his pants are black. It helps him sneak around and he just likes it better than any other color.
  
• His shirts are the only thing that really change in color and design, though they’re almost always short-sleeved or sleeveless except in winter or when he’s on a job that might require a knife up his sleeves.
  
• He wears what looks like a neck warmer, thick and black. What it does is he pulls it over his muzzle when he’s doing a job to help conceal his face from anyone who might get a glimpse of it.
  
• He wears a blue cloak some of the time, though not often. It’s mostly just for looking good, he’d never wear it during a job except for maybe its hood, but there’s too much risk of it getting caught on something or him getting grabbed by it.
  
• No shoes. Except in the winter, he might wear black boots.
  
• He has a small golden ring in his left ear and a blue wooden bracelet on his right hand.
  
• He usually gets scarred up quite a bit, so you’ll always find him with bandaging here or there.

- Face-to-Face -
Weapon(s):

He has a pair of katanas, his prime weapons and ones that are rather rare. These katanas include sort of gauntlet-like gloves to help strap them to his arms—that way he doesn’t have to worry so much about holding onto them. He also carries a number of daggers but not much else.

-Below the Surface-
Personality:

He’s very practical and rather detached. He’s greedy, yes, as all vermin typically are, but he’s not stupid. He never sets his eyes on a prize too big. He hasn’t ever had many friends, not since childhood, and they’ve all been killed by now. In truth he has a hard time socializing in any way other than with a client or in interrogation. He’s a fast-thinker, and a faster fighter. He relies on stealth and speed, and he has amazing upper body strength—it helps him climb like a squirrel practically.

Unlike most vermin, he generally doesn’t whine or beg too much when he’s faced with death. Of course that’s usually because Razdan knows of a way to get out of it…. I mean he’s still alive, isn’t he?

-Digging Deeper-
Strengths:

• Practical thinker, and quick reflexes.
  
• He’s fast and stealthy.
  
• Dang does he have upper body strength. Muscles! Helps him climb, it’s very handy, especially when sneaking into a fortress.

Weaknesses:

• His main problem is that while he has no trouble getting in, generally, he gets careless on the way out. Almost without fail he’ll complete the job but get in hot water during his escape.
  
• Poor with negotiation…
  
• His katanas do present a minor problem when he’s wearing both of them—they don’t come off fast and if he has to do something with his hands the blade of course gets in the way. Hence he usually only goes in with one katana on and the other on standby. What he’s working on is a way to withdraw the blades so he can fix that problem, but still wear the gauntlets and no one would suspect the weapons ready to shoot out at a victim.

History:
Razdan grew up never knowing his parents, who they were or what happened to them. This sort of story isn’t a rare one among vermin. What is rare is what happened to Razdan—he somehow managed to stay alive. Imagine a toddler running around a vermin port city, and then try to imagine him actually surviving to adulthood.

He always lived on his own, begging for food off goodbeasts and stealing food off vermin (and praying with all his might that he wouldn’t get caught.) He gained a sort of gang of dibbuns in his early years and that helped keep him alive. But vermin are rarely softened by children any more than they are by anything else that tries to pickpocket them. Razdan watched as one by one his friends and allies were cut down, despite being only children. Razdan took up the blade himself around this time, for defense. A short dagger was his best friend, and whenever he was caught stealing he would quickly stab into his captor’s hands and make for an escape. Eventually he found himself on his own. At 10 seasons all his old allies save one were dead, and he and the other split ways. It was time to look for bigger and better things.

He lived in the wild sometimes, but could never catch much in the way of birds or fish, reduced to living off fruit and roots—hardly substantial. But it helped him stay lean and fit. Once in a blue moon he might try to live off the charity of goodbeasts, but his greed would overcome and he’d try to make off with as much as he could of theirs.

At 14 seasons, he observed as a large vermin army of two-hundred strong swept through the land from the Eastern Sea. With so many it was unlikely that they would notice one more slip into their ranks…Razdan wasn’t there to stay. He joined them and marched with them until they made camp, at which point he pretended to sleep with them. But during the deepest part of the night he snuck off into some of the tents, stealing what he could. When someone woke up he did what he had to—killed them before they could raise an alarm. He was successful for the most part, right until the very end when he tried to sneak out of camp. Watchers were on the lookout for deserters, and so when Razdan tried to slip by, he was immediately surrounded and chained, dragged off to the general…

He was left until morning, and by then the dead were discovered. The war general, a hefty wildcat, approached Razdan. The rat didn’t cry out for mercy. He’d seen for himself where that had gotten his friends… Lowering his head, he awaited the executioner’s sword.

But the wildcat began to talk to him. “You’re rather young to be a killer, aren’t you?”

Razdan didn’t really have a response to that. But still not looking up, he replied, “One does what he has to. To survive.”

“Yes….one must live.” The wildcat drew his sword, resting the blade on the back of Razdan’s neck. The young rat shuddered under it’s sharp edge but still refused to cry out. “What about you though? Do you deserve to live? Especially after murdering my men…”

Razdan had no reply. Nothing that could save him at any rate… The wildcat grabbed him by the neck and hauled him off towards a stream, Razdan kicking and shouting protests as others had but knowing it would do him no good. He was desperate!

The wildcat took him out of sight of his men and started beating the young rat, Razdan still bound hand and foot, unable to raise an arm in his defense. His shouts reached the camp until he was bloody and weak. The screams eventually stopped coming. Twilight fell. Then the wildcat stopped…

Pacing in front of Razdan’s glazed eyes, the wildcat spoke. “I am General Graw. I have not killed you today, young rat…be grateful.”

Razdan was made a slave for the plundering army for the next two seasons, right alongside the reviled goodbeasts that were also captured. They never spoke to Razdan, though. Were afraid he was a spy sent among them. Perhaps he would have turned traitor to them if it would get him out of this situation, but Razdan had other things on his mind. He often observed General Graw using a katana. Razdan was fascinated by the weapon. Fighting with your fists, punching really, but with knives! He got his paws on a cooking knife himself and for the sake of his curiosity slipped out of view of others but was still within the camp boundaries. He gave a sad attempt to take apart the knife and tie the blade to a makeshift gauntlet to make his own katana. It didn’t work out so well…especially when one of Graw’s men found him fooling with a knife on his own.

Razdan was dragged back into the wildcat’s tent. He expected another beating or death. But Graw, as it turned out, had taken an interest in the young rat… He actually let Razdan try his katana, watching the rat attempt a form and coaching him as he went about it. Then General Graw offered him a job…

Razdan’s first job. His ability to sneak in and dispatch Graw’s men his first night had impressed the wildcat. He figured the rat could do it again. Razdan was sent in against a small army of resistant woodlanders—mostly squirrels and hares. Razdan slipped in during the night and killed their commanding officer, a hare. Razdan remembers his snores and his startled gasp as Razdan took him out. He returned to Graw’s army and was rewarded handsomely. He served under the wildcat for another season before the group of hares and squirrels teamed up with other woodlanders and took down the vermin army. Razdan escaped, but from then on he has been selling his services to any who will pay: infiltration, assassination, espionage, and thievery.