Rhen Maverick
 Rhen Mahowyn
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 Art by anti-phony [1] | |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | Miqo'te/Highlander |
| Clan | Mixed Heritage |
| Citizenship | Gridania |
| Height | 6 Fulms 1 Ilms |
| Weight | 210 ponz |
| Age | 33 |
| Occupation | Adventurer / Thief |
| Alignment | Chaotic Neutral |
| Server | Balmung |
Contents
Basic Info
The most noticeable things about Rhen, at first glance, are his musculature and the myriad of scars that cover his body; the deepest scars crisscross his back and wrap around his neck, wrists, and ankles. Though he doesn't make an effort to conceal the scars that mar his otherwise statuesque frame, he doesn't talk about them either. Looking past these things, one might take notice of his ever present eye-patch which covers his blinded left eye. Despite these factors, Rhen could almost be considered attractive, were it not for his constant glower and seemingly dark demeanor. Most would easily view him as a brute and his taciturn nature often does little to combat this stereotype. Rhen has a poor body image due to his abnormal build and the scars that riddle his flesh, both of which he feels make him unattractive. This was only amplified by the verbal abuse he suffered in his many years of enslavement. Rhen has no qualms with nudity, spending the majority of his life naked while enslaved, but at the same time does not flaunt his form. He chooses to wear modest clothing more so due to his status and his preconceived notions of physical beauty.
Rhen tends to wear a turban with an affixed mask that works much in the way a security blanket would work for a child. He only removes this when he feels physically and emotionally safe within his current environment. While wearing his turban, Rhen is more confident both physically and mentally which allows him to say and do things he generally cannot with it removed. The only other time he might remove it would be to better ready himself for combat, meaning those who witness him remove it would have reason to be wary were they not acquaintances.
Due to the majority of his life being spent in combat, Rhen has learned to rely on his hearing more than his sight. This ability has aided him in all forms of combat and sometimes gives the impression that his left eye isn't as blind as it truly is. His seemingly voracious appetite for combat has earned him the moniker of The One-Eyed Wolf. While he doesn't relish battle as much as others may think, it is the only thing he truly feels good at; despite his artistic and musical talents. Most times, Rhen can be found sketching his surroundings in one of several small notebooks he keeps. On rarer occasions, one might be able to find him practicing with his lute. Though he is skilled at both, he would rather not share his talents with others due to his fear of ridicule.
Though he is a skilled fighter and thief, many of Rhen's other abilities are sorely lacking. First and foremost of these is his lack of basic social skills, which leads to many embarrassing social faux pas. Without proper schooling or a healthy environment with which to mature in; Rhen didn't learn to read or write. Thanks to his mate, Shofie, he's slowly began to grasp both, but he still has much and more to learn. Due to his past, he has a fear of being tethered to anyone or anything since it's not something he's had experience with. As a result he tries to keep his distance from others, both physically and emotionally, as a way to keep himself "safe". Thus far, Shofie is the only one in his life that he feels safe with, both emotionally and physically.
History
-Before The Calamity-
Early life is something of which Rhen never speaks, aside from mentioning that his name was once W’rhen Tia. How he came to Ul’dah and what had become of his family before then is something that he himself may not know the answers to. However it came to be, he spent his formative years without a family or a home in the squalor of Ul’dah’s darkest alleyways.
It is here he lived the life of a pickpocket, scrounging and scavenging in the back alleys for whatever he could get to survive. He decided to call himself Rhen, foregoing his connection to a tribe that, presumably, had no attachment to him. For many years he succeeded to live in this manner, but things changed when he tried to pick the pocket of a merchant, as he has so many times before. This merchant was in fact a ringleader in Ul’dah’s underground fighting circuit. Had he known this, he might have paid more attention to the two men to either side. Both men were fighters in the employ of the merchant and their duty was to act as his muscle for an important business venture that would require all the gill the merchant had in his purse. Though Rhen managed to get the purse, he was unable to escape the fighters who caught him soon after. The purse was retaken, but not before Rhen was beaten until he lost consciousness.
Rhen awoke to find himself beneath the city in dark cell, a place that would be his home for some time to come. From the others who inhabited the cells around him he learned that he was to be a fighter in the arena, but not the one that Ul’dah was famous for. This arena had no formal home, nor did it have any rules. Fighters lived and died for the pleasure and profit of those who had enslaved them. Rhen spent his days training and fighting, as days and nights bled into each other. Due to his nature as a loner, he was dubbed Maverick and hardly any who saw his fights knew he had any other name. The constant fighting and training toned his body as much as it wore him down. The world he had come to accept as his lot in life changed when, during a fight, he took a club to the head. The blow, which should have taken his life, had taken the gift of sight from his left eye. Half blind and stunned, Rhen was at the mercy of his opponent and he braced himself best he could for an attack that never came. The ground shook and the very air around them thundered; the Calamity had struck Eorzea. The ceiling caved in, spilling brick and fire upon the arena and the area around it as the wealthy scrambled and pushed at each other in hopes of escape. Through sheer strength of will, Rhen fled as rubble pelted his back and flames licked at his clothing and skin. In a small clearing amid the wreckage, he found the merchant that had captured him. His legs had been crushed by a wooden support beam, flames dancing upon it crawling ever closer to him as he squirmed beneath the weight. The man begged Rhen for forgiveness, and promised him many things in exchange for saving his life. Although, Rhen would never find out if any of these promises were to be kept, as he left with the merchant’s purse as the man screamed at his back.
-After The Calamity-
Now a free man with some money to his name, Rhen found only promise in the new age the Calamity had ushered forth. With the skills he had gained as a fighter he quickly found work as an Adventurer. Having spent so much of his life in Ul’dah he eagerly learned all he could of the world around him through his travels. He had decided he liked the sound of Maverick, taking it on as a last name as a way of reminding him of where he had come from. Rhen found a strange comfort in The Shroud and began spending more time there and within Gridania. He joined the Order of Twin Adders and served under the company for few years before leaving active duty, returning to life as an Adventurer. His reason for leaving is not fully known, even to himself. Rhen only remembers being sent to dispatch a large group of bandits holding up merchants along the road through Silent Arbor. He, and several other Adders, boarded covered wagons bound for Quarrymill. How the bandits learned of this is uncertain, but they were able to set both carts ablaze with flaming arrows before descending upon the caravan from the trees. The next thing he remembers is being drenched in blood, and the silence and smell of death about him. Nothing moved, and only his anguished cries rung within his ears. He is convinced that he murdered everyone there, even his own allies, in a fit of rage brought about by his PTSD. Not wanting this event to tarnish their name, the Twin Adders removed Rhen from active duty and erased the records.
It was around this time that Rhen made a return to the back-alleys and shadows of Ul'dah to reacquaint himself with some of the other survivors. While most had, like himself, left Ul'dah to find solace in other parts of the world; others had remained behind to take up positions in the Black Market that had been vacated in the wake of the Calamity. With their shadowy help, Rhen became something of a Robin Hood; taking from the rich and sometimes giving something to the less fortunate. As of yet he has not been caught and, due to his Black Market ties, none have been able to trail him.
His only companion in his wanderings was his sometimes loyal chocobo, Butz, who was assigned to him during his enlistment. Despite the bird belonging to the Grand Company, Butz refused to leave Rhen's side and he was granted leave to keep Butz as long as he lived in Gridania. Butz refuses to let anyone saddle him without a fight and is known to attack Rhen and others without warning. Feeding him carrots or fighting back are the only options, the Rhen would advise other's use the first rather than the latter.
-Present Time-
During one of his ventures he met Shofie Mahowyn who, through sheer force of will and personality, managed to wear down his defenses. In time she became a constant companion and friend. Their friendship blossomed into love and for the first time Rhen understood what having a family was like. As an expression of his new found understanding and his love for Shofie, he took her last name.
His service within the Adders afforded him the ability to live within the Lavender Beds, and while his home and its decor might seem meagre to most; it is his first and only home and therefore, to him, a castle. Most of the goods within it were bought, though more than a few have been "acquired". The addition of Shofie to the household has brought both life and clutter to the household. Rhen does his best to allow her to have a space of her own, free of his constant need to tidy.
Combat Ability
Rhen is skilled in several forms of melee combat, both armed and unarmed, due to his experience in the underground arenas. While he is competent in their uses, he is not exactly proficient and lacks proper form. Before his time serving in the military, Rhen learned how to hunt with a bow as a means of self-sufficiency and later was able to use that skill in combat. He furthered his mastery of the weapon via training at many of the Twin Adder garrisons. While one might think his lack of depth perception would hinder his ability to judge distances, they would be hard pressed to give him a challenge he could not complete with a bow. What he lacks in terms of combat prowess is made up for by his inherent agility, brute strength and high pain tolerance. If pressed into close quarters combat, Rhen prefers using any of a multitude of daggers he keeps hidden on his person, but tries to use this as a last line of defense.
Rhen tends to get lost in a blood-lust when in the heat of battle, completely ignoring his own personal safety while only focusing on killing any and all that pose even the slightest threat (and sometimes even those who pose no threat at all). Due to this he prefers to fight from a distance or rely on stealth to avoid direct confrontation.
Other Abilities
Rhen is an accomplished thief and has made the majority of his profits via his "profession". Due to his connections with the shadowy underworld in Ul'dah, he is afforded information on the goings on within the markets and the lives of the merchants there. With this knowledge he has been able to "procure" and sell many a thing without concern of apprehension. Even still, Rhen tends not to like spending too much time in Ul'dah due to his nightly activities there and his past experiences within the cities walls.
Rhen's strength and agility aid him by allowing him to scale almost any structure with relative ease which gives him access to many places that are hard to guard.
Personality
Rhen is quiet and gruff in nature, choosing to speak only when it is required of him. Somewhere beneath his stony visage and walls of doubt and mistrust lies a warm heart, though few have ever managed to get close enough to see. Rhen tends to keep to himself, using the skills that his life granted him to thrive without much need for assistance from others. While not one to turn away company, he is also not one to seek it. Gaining his trust takes time and effort, but he would reward such with undying loyalty. Despite all of this, he will offer help to those in need without question or compensation, not wanting others to suffer in ways he has.
Rhen puts himself above and before all else in his life. While he does not do this maliciously, the results tend to always put things in his favor. He doesn't have many in his life he would consider a friend, and any cooperation he may give to others will always have a hidden motive. Were the price or reward high enough, he'd not bat a lash at working for anyone, even the Garlean Empire. Trust is not a word that fits well within Rhen's vocabulary and he is just as likely to sell someone out as he is to offer them aid; sometimes doing both at once. The number of people he's double-crossed is rather small, as is the list of those aware of such. Despite his given nature, he does have his loyalties and a personal code of conduct which keeps him in line. An example of this would be that he is incapable of doing any harm, physically or otherwise, to any persons less fortunate than himself. However, at the same time, he would see no issue with going against that were the person ever to reach a status above his own.
Affiliations
Rhen has ties to some of the Black Market factions within Ul'dah, as many of its members managed to escape from enslavement during the calamity at the same time as him. Due to this, he is allowed a certain level of safety within the walls of the city, though he chooses not to rely on this ties too heavily. While he is still affiliated with the Twin Adders, he is no longer directly tied to them and takes jobs, mostly, from the Adventurer's Guild. Despite being a Rogue, he has no ties to the Rogue's Guild or any of its affiliates in Limsa Lominsa.
Other Notes
Rhen's unusual height and build is to him having mixed heritage, but he has no knowledge of his parents. One of his parents was in fact a Highlander, and this could have been the reason he was abandoned at a young age.
Despite Rhen's abnormal size and strength, he is otherwise a normal Miqo'te of low status. He does not have the Echo nor is he a part of anything revolving around quests or the main story of the game.
Rhen's personality pretty much a combination of Big Boss, Riddick and Guts. While I do like all three characters, especially Guts, I did not have them in mind when creating Rhen. Rhen’s story came about when I left my old FC and Server, and in time developed into what it is now. There are elements of all three characters that do not quite match up to Rhen, but the combination of these characters is the closest I could get.
Rhen's voice most closely resembles that of Alucard from the English version of Castlevania: Symphony of The Night.
Characters who work in Gridania, live in the Lavender Beds, are in service with The Order of Twin Adders, or a member of the Gridanian Adventurer's Guild would know of Rhen as The One-Eyed Wolf and have heard many outlandish tales regarding how he came to be called such. Feel free to make the tale as fanciful as you like, but make sure it involves combat and him slaughtering a large number of people. Who or what these people were is entirely up to you.
Characters who work in Ul'dah, live in The Goblet, are in service with The Immortal Flames, a member of the Ul'dan Adventurer's Guild, or have ties with the Black Market would have knowledge of a shadowy Miqo'te thief who Rhen bares resemblance to. However there is not enough evidence to link these two together. Only characters with ties directly to the Black Market would be privy to knowledge connecting the two, and be able to hire Rhen for things the Adventurer's Guild would not touch. Unless your character is very wealthy or very powerful, Rhen would not have stolen from them.
Though knowledge of Rhen as a Mercenary would be easily obtained, knowledge of the event that caused him to be removed from active duty with The Twin Adders would be very hard to come by. The only people who could possibly have knowledge of the exact events would have to have been in service with The Order of The Twin Adders with Rhen and would have been sworn into secrecy regarding the true nature of the events.
If you wish to have IC knowledge regarding any of Rhen's past that has not been expressed by Rhen himself, then you must first clear such with me.
Gallery
<gallery>
File:RhenRef.png |Reference of Rhen's physical form File:YoungRhen.png |Rhen as a child living in the back alleys of Uldah. Art by Zaheela [2] File:Enslavedrhen.png |Rhen after a match in one of the underground arenas in the belly of Ul'dah File:Rhen3.png |Art by Steffydoodles [3] File:Rhen4.jpg |Art by Shofie [4]
