Cole Morgan: Wandering Gunchemist

[leons1701]

Cole Morgan, Wandering Gunchemist

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Name: Cole Morgan
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Class: Alchemist: Gun Chemist
Height 5'7"
Weight: 120 lbs
Age: 21

 

Description:

Cole might look fairly average, if a bit lean, from a distance. Up close, it's easier to see his slightly smug look, the utter obviousness with which he radiates "I know something you don't. Wait, I know a LOT of things you don't." It's also easier to see that whatever he knows does not include a cure for pimples or a way to make facial hair grow in any way but thin and straggly. He might be 21 but he could easily pass for 15, maybe 16. He might be smug, but it's also pretty clear that he's earnest and probably honest, people tend to trust him without necessarily being able to say exactly why.
Cole has a style, it's just a bit hard to say what it is. For the most part, he favors the sort of practical clothing anyone in the Greenbelt might wear, but he favors dress shirts and vests and tends to accentuate his clothes with odd patches of leather and bits of metal armor. Fortunately, it comes off as just a bit eccentric rather than deeply weird.
Spend a few minutes with Cole and it's obvious he's used to being the smartest person in the room. He obviously knows there are other smart people, and people even smarter than him, he's just not used to actually meeting them. He expects to know more about virtually everything, or at least everything that matters (to him at least), but if you can show you DO know what you're talking about, that's a great way to earn his respect, as long as what you're talking about isn't something silly like the affairs of the rich and noble or what clothing is in fashion at court.
For someone with such a steady hand under most circumstances, Cole is a bit of a klutz in social situations. Probably because he's just a bit nervous. This doesn't really apply when selling things, then he can just roll into his patter and possibly planned demonstrations and then he's just fine. It applies double if he should ever try to dance. He might not be the world's worst dancer, but he might well be in shouting distance.
Cole loves to gamble. He despises games of pure chance and will rant about them given the slightest excuse (and then drop a couple of gold anyhow, just because he can't resist). But give him a game of SKILL and chance and he's all over it. Given his intelligence, moderate ability at lying with a straight face and a minor aptitude at reading people, he's not a BAD gambler, but he'll get eaten alive by any professional, let alone the real hustlers. He can usually quit before his losses get too horrific, but he does lose enough money to keep him constantly scrambling and never getting ahead.

 

Backstory:

Cole's father was a wandering tinker/alchemist who abandoned life on the road to settle down with a nice village girl. Well, a village girl anyhow, his mother had something of a witchy reputation that wasn't entirely undeserved. But she was also a quite competent herbalist and she never actually cursed anyone, although some people may have received remedies that contained more laxative than strictly necessary if they irritated her enough. An only child, Cole was brought up around tinctures and tonics and reagents of multitudinous uses. He showed a certain gift for such things early on, though he never had a great deal of affinity for curatives, having a definite preference for weaponry. After all, while his mother's cures did bring her a certain respect, it was his father's skill with a gun that kept the rowdiest elements in town quiet. Quietish anyhow, it was a pretty rough and tumble town. Which, despite his parents best efforts, kept slowly changing for the worse. When the merchant everybody knew made half his money dealing with local bandits was able to buy himself the office of mayor, the few decent folk in town began moving out as quick as they could, including Cole's parents. The move to the capitol excited Cole, mostly for the change of scene but also because he'd be able to start studying with other alchemists.
Two years ago, a major plague hit the region and both of Cole's parents died. Cole was left with nothing but some random alchemist gear and a number of unpaid debts, some his father's and some very unfortunate gambling debts of his own. Hitting the road just before the bill collectors could corner him, he headed south, working his way across the country, bringing the marvels of modern alchemy to every two bit hamlet and farmstead he could find. Over the past two years, he's grown more able and more importantly, confident in his abilities. Rumors from the Greenbelt have drawn him there, if ever there was a place in need of some alchemy, this is it. And there's certainly money to be made, if only he can survive long enough to make it.

 

Drawback:

Cole actually has two drawbacks, sort of. The main one is his love of gambling which keeps him mostly broke and sometimes in trouble. The second is closely related, he owes major gambling debts to one of the crimelords in New Stetven. He's nearly certain that at least some of that debt was created by cheating, though of course he can't prove it and it really wouldn't matter if he did. At this point, the debt is basically unpayable, and due to the crimelord's whim, always will be. As the capitol syndicates extend their reach into the Greenbelt right along with civilization, every so often another 'pleasant' fellow comes by to offer him ways to work off his debt providing various alchemical services. Well aware that working off the debt is also impossible and that the services are at the very least unethical and more usually immoral and illegal, as well as likely foul and disgusting to boot, he has so far declined. Strenuously. It's not intended to be a common thing, but they may well show up at any time.

 

Random Quotes:

"I said I'm not that good at healing, not that I couldn't do it."

"Stubborn boulders? Old stumps too much work to pull? Modern alchemy has the answer! Just a bit of this miracle blasting jelly and those problems will be MUCH smaller!"

"A friendly game? Well, I shouldn't, but the stage doesn't leave for thirty minutes, so why not? Besides, with a time limit, I can't lose too much."

"Look, some alchemy is magic, some isn't. I don't have time to explain what they wasted a whole course not explaining at the Guild Academy. Just deal with it."

"It can't be a fight, nothing's on fire yet!"

[leons1701]

Fighting bandits is something Cole is quite willing to do, so he could have joined at pretty much any point. I'm thinking he would have joined in either Front Courage or that prospecting village rather than heading out with the group from the capital.