Serpicus

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About Serpicus

Gaius enjoying a drink in one of his favorite bars in Stormwind.

Player: Knock

Character Full Name: Gaius Serpicus

Character In-Game Name: Serpicus

Nickname(s): Serp, Gaius

Association(s): Stormwind, Booty Bay

Race: Human

Class: Rogue

Age: 45 (though he tells people he's 38)

Sex: Male

Hair: Was originally dark brown, now well on its way to turning gray. It is now long and matted into dreadlocks which he keeps tied into a rough foxtail.

Eyes: Very pale blue, almost gray.

Weight: ~185

Height: 6'2"


Usual Garments/Armor:

When not out in the wilds, he is very well dressed, partly due to his egotistical nature. His preferred type of armor is leather, which allows him to move freely while in combat but still helps to dull any blows he may take. However, due to his engorged sense of vanity, he tends to try and ensure that his armor matches, so that if he encounters someone by chance he'll look his best.

Other:

He usually never goes anywhere without at least a few small throwing daggers concealed about his person. Whenever he buys or makes new armor or clothes, he sews a light leather sheath onto the inside of his sleeve for a long line of garrote wire.

Alignment:

Neutral, leaning towards Chaotic Neutral.


Personality:

Gaius is about as cocky as anyone gets. He feels apathy about pretty much any event that doesn't effect him directly. He usually speaks very clearly, with very little colloquialism or slang. He's very charismatic, vain and outspoken, and would probably make an excellent politician. He's generally cheerful and easygoing, but be warned if you insult him; he's very proud. And if he gets beaten in a fight, my advice would be to kill him there and then, because he'd never let it go. He likes to manipulate people for his own entertainment and so will often sit silently in a bar to listen to people talking about their personal problems. He'll even follow random strangers if they look suspicious, just to see what they're up to. He likes to think he could sleep with any woman he wants if he has more than ten minutes to chat to them. However, his main motivation in life is money. He'll do anything to get it, whether it be building an orphanage or burning one down. He really doesn't care. He loves to fight in bars because of the attention that people give a fight in a crowded room. He's also very nostalgic of his childhood in Elwynn, and often carries around a small hip flask filled with water from a spring near his old home, because it makes him feel as if he's right back there.

He's very interested in Tauren, Night Elves and Draenei, as he knows very little about them. He'll often ask blunt questions to anyone he meets of those races. He's indifferent to Blood Elves, as he doesn't see them as traitors to the Alliance. In his opinion they were doing what suited them best and so holds no grudges. He treats Dwarves and Gnomes just like Humans, and while he's suspicious of Orcs, Trolls and the Forsaken, he's willing to speak with them if it means he might make some money out of it. The reality is he'd kill a Human as soon as an Orc if it meant a fistful of gold waiting for him. While he was educated as a teenager, he's done very little to stimulate his intellect lately, which coupled with copious amounts of drinking, as well as the odd blow to the head, has left him a lot less intelligent that he used to be. While he's still smarter than the average Human, he's not as sharp and witty as he used to be. Gaius is pretty trusting of some, as he likes to think he's a good judge of character. While he's often good at hiding his true emotions, he can sometimes tense up visibly if asked a question he doesn't want to answer.


History:

A child of Antonius and Grace Serpicus, Gaius spent his early days on a small farmstead in southern Elwynn, in an area now known as Duskwood. His mother died in childbirth, leaving Antonius and Catherine, his stepmother to bring him up. As the only son of a farmhand, he was caught between a strict but kind father and a highly overbearing stepmother. They lived in a small house next to the main Farmhouse, owned by a retired guard from Stormwind. He had a relatively easy childhood, often spending long hours resting in the shade instead of helping his father till the fields or watching for predators encroaching from the woods. An outspoken child, he made and lost many friends as his confidence grew into cockiness throughout the years. As he entered adolescence, he began to realize that his good looks, intelligence and charm could let him manipulate the other children into doing what he wanted. He often spread rumors and lies just to entice them to fight amongst themselves, while his coddling stepmother let him constantly get his way at home. He became very headstrong, and eventually began to prefer the company of his father, who wasn't overbearing, and would debate with Gaius over any opposing opinions they had. Gaius liked to argue with his father, as it gave him a channel for his outspoken nature.

When the Orcs first came through the Dark Portal, Antonius gave no hesitation in uprooting his family and fleeing North. Many of their neighbours refused and fell in the initial onslaught from the Black Morass, to the East. After several weeks of travel, they crossed the land bridges in the Thandol Valley and moved into Lordaeron. The sudden uprooting affected Gaius, now aged 14, and over the following months he was very quiet and reserved, feeling unsure of his new Homeland. The small family found refuge in Silverpine forest, outside a small village under the protection of Baron Silverlaine. Having left nearly all their possessions behind, they were very down on their luck. However, they had escaped unscathed from the wrath of the Orcs.

Times were tough for a while, and while Antonius was unable to find work, he bought a bow and some arrows with much of what remained of the family's funding. A former hunter and trapper, he brought Gaius out for hours at a time, hunting the deer that elusively inhabited the forest and selling the pelts for petty change to the tanner in the village. The family stayed in a cramped room in the inn, until a few months passed and they were able to afford a small, run down house in the forest. Serpicus rarely aided his father in the actual hunting, being a skinny teen with little strength to pull a bow with. He relished, however, in the skinning and gutting of the carcasses. The family survived on venison and rabbit for a long time.

Months passed into years. The family became settled, hearing scant reports of the ongoing War to the South. Antonius hired a High Elf Hunter who was seeking a quiet life away from his homelands. The profits rolled in as the Hunter was both efficient and tireless. Things were looking up for Gaius. He was back to his old self, becoming involved in the affairs of the teenagers in the town, often causing heartbreak amongst the local girls. While the other Northern boys of his age had pale skin, freckles, and bad acne, he was charming, confident and handsome. He often told gruesome tales of the hardship of war to impress the girls, while in reality he had never witnessed any conflict before they fled. His father also payed him a small wage out of the profits, which allowed him to buy rounds of beer at the inn, while others couldn't afford it.

Antonius knew his son was a bit too clever for his own good, and knew that with little to occupy him things could turn badly. So, setting aside some money, he sent Gaius to a boarding school in Lordaeron's capital. Catherine, Gaius' stepmother was still as overbearing as ever, and wept for many nights at the thought of her stepson, now 16, leaving home for four years. Gaius, now an argumentative teen, was glad to be out of the sight of his stepmother, as he now resented her constant coddling and affection. But he knew in his heart that he would miss his father deeply. He wasn't traveling far, but the school was strict about visiting home, especially in times of war. Gaius was allowed to come home twice a year, once at Christmas, and once in June.

While he missed his father, he was enthralled. Most of the boys in his class were a few years younger, and so looked up to him. As well as being a natural leader of his group of friends, he was learning, and learning fast. Distant lands, different cultures, and new concepts like Science and Technology were introduced to him. He happily attended classes, engorged in every word that came from every teachers' mouth. He excelled at his subjects, and soon they became easy to him. He spent long hours reading into the night, with books stolen from the school's library. His greater understanding of each subject only served to further swell his already huge ego.

Home visits were always joyous, his stepmother often weeping as he waved goodbye. His father's business was doing very well, and he now hired tanners and leatherworkers, and sold and shipped finished goods, often selling to the Military to help the ongoing war to the South. A war that was being lost with each passing month, his father told him. Armor to be sent to the Army was decreasing in amount, and each time the order decreased, it meant the death of another soldier. In Gaius' second year, his stepmother fell ill. A fever engulfed her and left her weakened. He was allowed to visit her, but he knew that she had little hope of recovery. His father and stepmother had just moved out of their small house in the forest and into one of the larger ones in town. It had belonged to the Tanner and his 8 children, but they had been forced to sell and move due to his father's success.

Within a week, Catherine had died. While Antonius mourned the death with many tears, Gaius remained unaffected. He appeared sullen and full of grief, but he merely did so to appease his father, and laughed and joked as usual when his father wasn't around. He knew that he should have felt bad, but his apathy towards his stepmother meant that life continued on as normal for him. If he was truly honest with himself, he was glad to be free of his overbearing stepmother. Returning to school within a week of the death, he was glad to be back at his studies. A further two years passed, and the overconfident teen grew into a snobby man. His graduation drew near, but Gaius grew worried for his own sake. He knew that the war to the South was close to being lost, and Khaz Modan and Lordaeron would be next. If that happened, he was now old enough to be conscripted into the Army. Word reached his ears that refugees were fleeing from the South, and a thought struck him.

Writing to his father, he asked for a large loan that he promised to repay. As he was in his final year, he was allowed to leave the school premises for hours at a time, and so was able to receive the parcel full of coins, delivered by his father's delivery man. He spent the next few weeks buying some land and a disused farmstead in the Arathi Highlands, always organizing everything by mail, and even hiring an assistant. His plan came into fruition just in time for the arrival of the Refugees from Azeroth. The Serpicus Boarding House was open for business, giving a place to stay to the needy for an extortionate fee. He decided that he had learned enough from his school, and simply packed his things and left one afternoon. He traveled back south to his father in Pyrewood Village to tell him the good news, but his father's reaction wasn't the one he expected.

Antonius was enraged as Gaius told him about leaving school, but then simply grew pale and silent as he was told of the Boarding House scam, and of the profits it had been reaping. Gaius went to give his father a large parcel of coins from his trunk, as repayment for the loan, but as he placed it on the table Antonius struck him across the face. He began to scream, roaring that Gaius had disgraced the family name, and that his mother would be turning in her grave if she knew what a monster her son had become. Gaius just looked shocked, not expecting this reaction. His years of overconfidence and vanity had filled him with false pride, and he swung a fist at his father's face. The blow struck, but Gaius had never been in a fight, always able to work his way around one, and so his father simply grabbed his wrist and twisted, restraining Gaius.

His voice was quiet and shaking as he told his son to leave home, and never to return. Reeling from the shock of what had transpired, Gaius stood up and walked out the door, as if in a trance. He went to the forest and sat on a rock for a long while. Gradually he turned his thoughts over in his head, trying to figure out his options, and trying to figure out where his father's rage had come from. Eventually he got back up and decided to head east to Arathi to inspect his new investment. While Gaius wasn't completely selfish, he had very little empathy left after years of being able to understand and manipulate people. He simply didn't understand what he had done wrong, and could see no harm in exploiting the needs of others, let alone why his father had been upset by it. He journeyed on foot through the forest and into the plains of Hillsbrad. As he walked one afternoon, a horseman rode in the opposite direction, yelling to turn around, and announcing that the Horde had landed nearby.

Surveying the horizon, Gaius saw sails out at sea, enough for a full attack force to be landing. He had heard news of the fall of several of the islands, but hadn't thought the Horde would launch an invasion of Lordaeron so soon, given that the kingdoms there had just allied against them. He fled south into Gilneas, not stopping to warn his father on the way. There, he used much of his savings to keep himself occupied, often staying in the tavern drinking to pass the time. Gilneas was a powerful nation, and he knew the Horde would not dare attack it unless the rest of Lordaeron had fallen, which would buy him enough time to flee if necessary. Several months passed quickly, word often reaching Gaius of the war effort. He spent most days in a cycle of eating, sleeping, and getting drunk. He thought often of his father's words, but still failed to see what he had done wrong.

His assistant had assumed him dead, and taken over the running of the Board House, but was killed when the Horde swept across the Highlands. Eventually the tides of war turned, and the Alliance began to push the Horde back from their homeland. Once he thought it was safe, Gaius at last ventured North into Silverpine, eager to speak with his father, whom he still loved deeply and wished to reconcile with. When he arrived in Pyrewood, however, he discovered that his father had been killed a week before. Not by an Orc, but by a wild bear in the forest while out hunting. The house in town had been sold by the High Elf, who had thought Gaius dead.

Shock and grief engulfed him. He felt numb and could barely speak. He rented a room in the inn, and spent three silent days in his bed, too sad to cry, but too miserable to leave the room. Eventually hunger and thirst forced him to venture out. He ate and drank, speaking to no-one. A few locals knew him from his teenage years and stepped up to offer their condolences, but they were only ever answered with a nod, or a small grunt. A few weeks passed, and eventually Gaius could bring himself to speak more than a few words to others. Though he had already lost his mother and stepmother, this was the first person he had known to die whom he truly loved. Packing his things, he bought some light armor, a short dagger, and some supplies of food and water. He walked out the door of the inn, not knowing where he was going, but knowing that he wanted to leave and not come back.

Within a year, the Second War was over, and the lands to the south had been mostly retaken. Gaius was without a home, without a family, and without friends. He was a man with nothing to lose. He traveled around, seeing many of the sights and sounds of Azeroth that he had longed to see as a child. His demeanor grew better with every passing month, the grief of his loss passing slowly. He became more social, talking to strangers in taverns across the continent, listening to tales of loss and woe. But the long war was over, and the mood of the people of Azeroth was somehow lifted. He began to feel like settling down once again, and usually kept a small income of gold, doing odd jobs for people, or coming up with schemes to scam them out of their money.

He still felt little empathy for others, and often lied and cheated to get what he wanted. Slowly the years passed, and he moved from place to place. Sometimes staying a night, sometimes for months at a time. He never went wanting for money, women, or fun. Slowly, his pride and ego returned. His father's death seemed like a distant event in the past, and it no longer affected him. The ridiculousness of a man getting killed by a wild animal as the enemy was sweeping through his homeland sometimes made him smile to himself when he thought of it. Gaius was back.

While spending the night in Goldshire, a novice paladin, barely entered into his studies overheard Gaius telling a group of strangers a dirty joke about the Church of the Holy Light and failed to see the funny side. Challenging Gaius to a fight, he threw down his weapons and raised his fists in a taunting pose. While he was still inexperienced, Gaius let his pride get the better of him and accepted. They circled each other for a moment, before the muscled paladin swung at his head. Dodging out of the way, Gaius found that he could move and fight much faster than his lumbering opponent. The crowd cheered as he dodged left and right and sent jab after jab into the paladin's face. While he wasn't physically strong, Gaius had good stamina, acquired from spending long hours walking the roads of the Eastern Kingdoms. He found that he could wear his opponent down without feeling tired, and while his punches didn't do much damage, they were enough to break a man's nose, which is just what he did.

The crowd cheered as the paladin fell to the floor, blood seeping through his fingers as he gripped his face. Gaius, charismatic as ever, took a long bow and cheered with the crowd, a wave of appreciation falling over him. The adrenaline of the fight and the cheers of the crowd were like a drug to him, and from that moment, he was hooked. He began to pick fights wherever he went, becoming better and better with each fight. The inevitable happened, however, and while in Booty Bay he was bested by a quiet man who had served in the war and knew how to deal with most enemies. Gaius fell to the floor, blood pooling in his mouth. The sting of defeat made him think of his father striking him many years ago, and a fit of rage engulfed him. He ran outside, seething. Waiting hours into the night, the veteran finally left the inn, unaware he was being followed. Waiting for the veteran to pass out of the sight of the guards, he approached quietly, slit the man's throat, and tossed him into the waters. He payed for a flight to Stormwind and headed straight for a tavern as soon as he landed. He felt complete apathy for what he had done, but the sting of defeat and the memories it brought back had left him feeling a little disorientated.

The following week, he payed another ancient war veteran living in the city for training. He never wanted to be beaten again, but he loved the thrill of fighting. He worked on building up his muscles, often taking odd jobs just because they involved heavy lifting or plenty of work using just his arms. He had always been fleet-footed, ever since he was a child, but his upper body was very lacking in any sort of mass. He had retained his skinny frame from his teenage years, and though he was approaching thirty, his body showed little sign of change, other than the odd gray hair, which most certainly didn't appeal to his vanity. After three years of the training sessions three times a week, he felt as if he was ready to take on the world. His ego further swollen by a pair of well toned arms and a defined abdomen, he challenged his trainer to a boxing match. A few brief punches later, Gaius bested the wizened veteran, knocking him out with a solid right hook to the temple. He stepped over the fallen man, and removed a small purse of gold from his belt, pocketing it for himself. His training was complete. Now a skilled boxer, Gaius had also been trained with an assortment of melee weapons. He preferred the speed of a dagger above all others, as it suited his quick fighting style.

With the drums of war now well and truly beaten to a close, much of Azeroth's native dangers had encroached on lands that had been safe long ago, before the wars. It seemed that everyone needed the assistance of a fighter of some sort, and Gaius found that the rewards were plenty. Even his former homeland in southern Elwynn, which had always been a sleepy hamlet, had been corrupted by worgen, the undead, and wild creatures of all sorts. Much of Azeroth was left scarred by the Wars, and many now turned on each other with no-one else to fight. All that meant for Gaius was that over the next several years, there was always someone who wanted something done. He fought creatures of all sorts, monsters, beasts, even humans, all the while perfecting his abilities. He became especially adept at sneak attacks, often preferring to deal with targets at night, just for the extra cover the darkness provided. And, of course, he always loved a good bar brawl when not busy. He took up a trade in leatherworking, if only to make use of the hides of many of the beasts he was tasked with killing. He crafted his own armor, often dyed black or green to help conceal him further. He took jobs from anyone who would pay, be they part of the Alliance, rebels, or just outlaws who needed to buy something specific from a city.

When the plagues and then conflict broke out in the North, Gaius was tempted to head into Lordaeron for the promise of gold that all wars bring, but he had an uneasy feeling about the situation and was earning enough to keep himself happy down south and so felt no need. The rise of the Scourge never affected him directly and so he continued to live life as he had for almost a decade. He was healthy, he was happy, and he was getting richer by the day. He often stopped looking for work for weeks at a time just to get drunk, find some women to sleep with, and fight strangers to impress an equally drunken crowd. With news of the discovery of an entirely new continent, he was intrigued.

His education in Lordaeron had left him interested in different cultures, and a new land as vast as the Eastern Kingdoms was sure to have some interesting places and people. However, the Third War was well underway and there was no way for any average citizen to get there besides joining the Army, which was something that Gaius just wasn't prepared to do. He vowed to explore it some time in the future, provided the war was won and he survived whatever the Eastern Kingdoms had to throw at him. Without anything to stimulate his intellect, as well as copious amounts of alcohol, not to mention the occasional blow to the head, Gaius gradually lost his ability to improvise as well as he used to be able to. He was however as charismatic as ever, if not even more so.

With the destruction of Archimonde and the Alliance losing the High Elves and gaining the Night Elves, Gaius was always tempted to up and leave for Kalimdor. While he was making plans for a trip, however, The Dark Portal opened once more and adventurers flooded through into Outland. What this meant for Gaius is that there was less competition for jobs given by people looking for help with whatever they needed. The money rolled in, and eventually he bought a small cottage outside Darkshire, if only to have somewhere to feed his sense of nostalgia. He still lives there, but often leaves for weeks at a time to find work. He has no desire to find a stable job, and prefers the freedom that only comes with having nothing to tie him down. He'd up and leave his cottage without hesitation if Duskwood came under attack by a force that he wouldn't be able to deal with.

After a brief spell with some mercenaries in Booty Bay, Serpicus settled into Stormwind, often spending his nights drinking and/or fighting. He tried to open a club to swindle some rich folk out of their money, but couldn't get the project off the ground unfortunately. Lately he's been hanging around, drinking or doing odd jobs. Life is good, so he's not going to change anything soon.

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