Vulk
Skitterleap
13 || Male
Ratman
Appearance
Vulk stands at a measly three feet and five inches, small and diminutive like the rest of his kind. Weighing in just barely over eighty-seven pounds. Though he is far from being a heavy weight or a dangerous fighter in close quarters, he is fast and nimble, with wiry muscle adorning his frame. He wears simple, practical clothing made from solid, durable leathers. With also hemp cloth wrapped around his legs and forearms.
A thick leather vest adorned with pouches, pockets, and bandoliers rests on his frame on top of the rest of his clothing, made for carrying vials and flasks of various potions, magical or otherwise. Besides carrying such things, his vest also carries bolts for his crossbow, throwing knives, darts, and various tools such as ones for picking locks/disarming traps.
Vulk has black fur the same color as that of a raven's feathers, which in the societies of his people, marked him for the ratman art of potion making. His keen golden eyes focus intently on whatever he gazes at. A habit he has picked up from careful sharpshooting with a crossbow, or carefully measuring out precise amounts for mixing in alchemy.
When not focusing on something, his gaze moves about continuously, a habit of survival and just general environmental awareness that is drilled into the head of every pup from a young age. Ratmen are smaller and weaker than other races, being aware of your surroundings may be the one thing that keeps you alive.
He is quite fastidious and does his best to keep himself nice and clean, giving his fur a nice sheen
Attitude
Vulk is calm and collected, any rat selected for the arts of alchemy is drilled in self-control. Alchemy requires precision, and mistakes are costly. When he sets himself to a task, he settles into a zen like calm and focus, most especially when he is sharpshooting a target. You might think this would make him aloof or perhaps reserved, but Vulk is outgoing and friendly towards others. The world is something to be explored, and it is full of experiences. To ratfolk, memory is what composes the soul, so every experience makes your soul more full of character and sensation.
The more full your life, the more you have experienced and seen, the greater your soul and spirit, you are the sum of your experiences.
This is psychologically in line with other ratfolk as well, thus they view amnesia, memory loss, or anything that can cause it as damage to what makes you who you are, if one was to lose their memory that person may as well be dead. Thus there is some superstition and fear of wizards, for their are rumors they can alter memories, and thus alter the core of who you are.
Vulk is however, not a fool, while friendly he is nonetheless wary and cautious when meeting new people, the ratfolk are aware that they are considered to be freaks of nature by some, some that would gladly kill them if given the chance. All know the legends, humans killed dragons for merely existing, and then twisted the world with dark magic.
While everyone is a potential friend, everyone is also a potential enemy too, it is wise to be cautious until you can determine which they are.
Too curious is a dead cat, and a dead rat in equal measure. That is what he has been taught his entire life.
Nonetheless, he remains optimistic about the opportunities facing him, Vulk wants to see new things, meet new people, try out new experiences, and make friends along the way.
As for what Vulk likes most out of life, he likes food. He loves the smell of food(of which his nose is very keen), he loves to cook the food, he loves to taste it, and above all he loves to eat it. Though there are things he will happily eat that other races would not consider palatable or even safe, but his ratfolk physiology has little trouble with.
This however does not mean he is incapable of cooking for other species, he is aware of what others may find palatable and what others may not, he considers himself a connoisseur of dining, of trying different ingredients, and he has tried many different things. Cooking is a lot like alchemy, just with different results and goals and a lot more leeway for error.
This, combined with his potent sense of smell means he is quite excellent at determining not only flavors for one's enjoyment, but he can even smell anything that would make someone sick, especially given his background as an alchemist, he can tell with careful application of his sniffer if the food is spoiled, or poisoned in some way.
Poison afterall, is a daily thing in ratfolk life. Once old enough ratmen regularly ingest various toxic things, such as various poisonous plants. The purpose of this is bizarrely enough because they enjoy the flavor of various toxins, but also because it helps keep their immune system and physiology healthy. Ratmen have such a strong resistance to poisons and diseases for this very reason. Ratfolk cultivate toxins in their homes, both from animals, plantlife, and fungi. Both for the purposes of creating potions and poisons, but also for this culinary appetite of theirs.
Thus, the advice to anyone who spends any time with ratfolk is this, do
not take any offered alcohol if you are not certain it is safe for you, for ratfolk are capable of distilling booze more potent than anything even dwarves can handle. As Vulk would be the first to inform you, ratfolk booze meant for ratfolk hits other races like ground glass.
All of this actually however means Vulk has a very discerning palate, thus anyone lucky enough to keep his company and can supply him with ingredients will find he can cook excellent meals.
This is his main hobby, besides alchemy, which is both hobby and occupation. His other is simply practicing his aim, with both thrown weaponry, and bows. Having a deadly aim is key to survival to any ratfolk who expects to have to fight for their life one day, so a wise ratman will learn to love getting good at it.
If there's anything he dislikes, it's simply unnecessary violence and contention with others.
Background
Vulk comes from a clan that lives in the sewers beneath Azuriko, which are maintained by the ratfolk in exchange for peaceful relations with those above ground, knowing that perhaps some might find them distasteful. Family is everything to the ratfolk, highly communal they rely on each other in tight family units, and those family units in turn rely on other family units to form the clan as a whole. The ratfolk are far from stupid and are well aware that they are physically very weak compared to many surface-dwellers, so team work and strength in numbers is relied upon.
Those born with black fur are marked for being alchemists, ratfolk can be superstitious, and believe that the color of your fur decides where your abilities lie. Vulk was born with such black fur, and was thus once old enough, apprenticed to his master. An old ratman who was reaching the end of his days, and was pleased to have a chance to pass on more of his teachings.
His master was harsh, but fair. Vulk was praised when he did well, but because alchemy is a costly trade, he remembers being beaten(though not hard enough to do anything but leave painful welts) for making mistakes with potion making. Vulk holds no resentment towards his master, understanding his motivations.
It did also teach him focus, and precision, there can be no errors when making potions, the reagents are difficult to acquire or expensive. Each one also requires a portion of your blood, and having small bodies means the ratfolk can afford to make mistakes even less than other races in that regard.
Vulk's master also would if he thought his apprentice was not paying sufficient attention or focusing enough, often reach out very quickly and yank hairs out of Vulk's tail, a painful reminder to keep your attention on what your master is teaching you. If Vulk were to give an analogy to a human, he would say it would be like yanking hairs out of your nostrils.
He was taught these by the old man, and he was taught also the ways of the ratfolk, namely moving unseen and unheard, and how to precisely land shots from a bow of any kind, or from throwing knives. These Vulk was not taught by his aged master, but by several 'Gutter Runners' as they were called, the master assassin's and guards of the clan. Assassin's because sometimes an attack can be turned aside with one, precise, well placed attack.
Their duties were to guard the clan from those that would harm them, so they plied the trade of killing only against enemies. In Azuriko this was essentially never needed, the sisters ensured that if the clan had a problem with someone trying to harm them in the city they could take it up with the law.
However the Clan has need to go out on foraging runs on many occasions, both underground and above ground, for food, alchemy reagents, and anything else the ratfolk need. Their culture placing a firm emphasis on self-sufficiency, so Vulk had once sufficiently trained been on many of these excursions, protecting those doing the work, more than once he has fired a crossbow bolt laden with poison to fend off an enemy that would mean harm to his clan mates.
Generally for most things, mundane toxins get the job done, there are plenty of natural toxins from plant and animal in the world to meet most needs of the ratfolk for these, magical toxins are held in reserve until met with a powerful foe that warrants the use of the deadly alchemical genius of the rats.
When these toxins are brought out to bear, enemies beware, for these toxins are truly fearsome to face. It is said that the ratfolk have a rare poison that can fell even adult wyverns with a single strike, however whether this is true or not has never been confirmed, but it is known they have a wide variety of magical poisons and acids to wield against enemies.
Vulk has learned how to create these, of course.
Eventually at the age of thirteen, ratfolk growing to adulthood very quickly, he has set out due to a population boom of his clan to explore the world, with the official purpose of finding valuable reagents for his clan, but in reality he is free right now to do as he wishes, provided it brings no harm to the clan.
Eager to explore, adventure, and discover new things, Vulk decides he wants to see everything he possibly can, perhaps even earn some glory along the way!
Life (Roleplay World)
Physical Abilities
Vulk is very stealthy when he chooses to be, he prefers to rely on surprise attacks, ambushes or traps whenever possible. Usually by aiming down a spyglass to zero in on targets from long range, a single bolt covered in poison implemented for that particular target, and then retreat to allow the poison to do it's work.
If however that is not an option, he is still a good marksman in any situation, and can support others at range with his trusty crossbow, loading up poisons to weaken and debilitate the target.
If it truly comes down to it, he is trained with a blade, and will fight in melee with a shortsword and buckler, though he relies more on his dexterity than raw physical power, he can still be helpful in this situation even if he'd prefer to avoid it.
Being as small as he is can mean however he is easily overlooked, or can simply get in enemies blindspots and the like.
If the situation is truly desperate, he has flasks of magical acids that can be thrown at a target, but these are difficult to make and thus he tries to avoid any need to use them.
Outside of combat he is quite adept at scaling buildings or objects, disarming traps and breaking into things their owners would prefer remain locked.
Magical Abilities
Vulk, like all ratfolk, has no magical abilities
Weapons/Tools
Vulk carries a crossbow that is custom made, built for durability and reliability, clever ratfolk engineering allowing for relatively rapid reload(in about six seconds instead of ten or twelve). His bandolier which is stocked with many flasks and vials, along with pouches for carrying many different things.
A short sword, tools for picking locks and disarming traps, and ammunition for his crossbow.
All of these are simple, but well made.
