Shiv

[Shivster]

Full Name: Shiv
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Height: 5’8”
Weight: 135 lbs
Eyes: Green
Hair: Bald, but the color of his eyebrows and constant stubble suggest brown.
Age: 27

Physical Description: Whipcord lean, Shiv is a thin but muscular man hailing from North-Western Eyropa. His usual clothes are a blue pair or wide legged cotton pants, with a drawstring at the waist and a drawstring on each leg, enabling him to pull the legs up and tie the drawstring, keeping his pants dry. His hard, callused feet are from a lifetime of running, walking, and generally living his life barefoot, only wearing shoes in moments he deems extremely necessary. Shiv has heavily scarred hands, from years of handling knives and mistakes made using said knives, and from dangerous sea and land animals. His knuckles always look swollen and blue from tavern and dock brawls, and he is missing the tip of his ring finger, and from the second knuckle up on his pinky is missing as well, both on the left hand. Shiv is covered (literally) in tattoos of good luck symbols, runic symbols for protection, and a large symbol to protect from the evil eye on his throat. Shiv is covered in ritual scars that he has made, asking the wind and water spirits, which he feverently believes in, for good luck and good fortune, and to keep evil away from him.

His skin is heavily lined with scars and burn marks, and has begun to take on the leathery look of someone who has spent most of his life on a boat. He is deeply tanned, and was once said to look like he had been stained in beechnut juice. He has a ready smile, and his smile reveals a gold tooth, his left upper canine to be precise. His ear lobes are pierced three times each, both sides with hoop earrings.

Possessions:
The Duffel- A canvas water proof bag with shoulder strap, Shiv uses it to carry his possessions. He has a pair of pants similar to the pair he is usually seen wearing, a pair for cold weather, and a pair of leather boots he calls his “fightin’ boots”. Basic leather slip on boots, they have steel plates nailed over the toes, augmenting the force of Shiv’s kick. The nails face outwards, and are over long because of this, causing nasty puncture wounds when they strike. Usually, the only time Shiv will wear boots is when he has to fight on land, choosing to fight barefoot on a boat, knowing that if he goes overboard the boots will fill with water and drag him down. The duffel bag also carries his only shirts, a simply canvas shirt that he can wear when he feels the need and a thicker wool sweater he traded for at a port for cold weather.

Weaponry: Shiv carries a knife on his person at all times, most of the time hidden inside the waistband of his pants. He has two other weapons, an old cutlass with a few notches on the blade, but still wicked sharp, and a gnome made handheld repeater crossbow. The mechanics of the repeater are simple. When he pulls the string back to notch it, the barrel on it rolls, placing a freshly loaded quarrel in the groove, and when he pulls the trigger, it snaps forward, a small block of wood propelling the quarrel out of the barrel and into whatever he is shooting at. The crossbow, due to its size, is not very powerful. At close range and in the right spot, a shot from it can kill a man. This is not to say that Shiv is a skilled fighter, because he isn't. His basic fighting philosophy with anything but his fists and hands is 'stick them with the pointy bit, or slice them with the sharp side'.


Powers or Strengths:

Strong swimmer: Shiv has spent more of his life in the water and on boats than he has dry land; in fact he was born on a boat. One of the first lessons he was ever taught was how to swim by his father. His father’s lesson consisted of throwing Shiv off the boat and seeing if he sank or managed to stay afloat. As he grew up, he developed stronger muscles, and built up his endurance. Shiv could most likely swim for days, as long as he could stay awake. If needed, he could also swim with only one arm, using the other to hold onto a person or item and take them to safety or drag them out deeper to dump them.

Skilled with Ropes- Another skill picked up from the life he has lived is his ability with knots. Being around boats, he has had to tie down cargo, weapons, and fishing lines, and make sure that the ropes had knots that would hold together well. Now, Shiv is a master at tying knots, enough that he places more confidence in this skill than any other. He is able to tie knots that get tighter if the ropes that are used have pressure applied, knots that loosen with just the right touch, and knots that can ease the weight of whatever load they are against.

Skilled Fisherman: Shiv has what some captains of vessels he has worked on call an almost supernatural sense of where fish will be in the water. He chalks it up to just knowing the waters. He can tell where they are feeding, what bait will catch the most, where to net for them. He doesn’t get it right 100% of the time, but he gets it right most of the time. He can tell by the air, the weather, the temperature of the water what his luck will be. Shiv will stay on a line for hours, waiting for a fish to bite, then fight the fish for as long as it takes to bring it in. The line breaks or the hook straightens more often than Shiv lets a catch get away from him.

Weaknesses and Flaws:

Myopia- Shiv has myopia, also known as nearsightedness. Objects at 15 yards or more are blurry to him, the farther away they get, the less of them he is able to see and discern. Shiv generally hides this from people, thinking they’ll treat him differently if they think he can’t see well. Below the 15 yard line, his sight is perfect, as good as anyone else’s. Shiv can focus his sight by squinting to see a little better, but it makes his head hurt and gives him what other people perceive as a scowl. This is another reason that Shiv only uses close-combat weaponry, he doesn’t want to miss.

Superstitious- Shiv is extremely superstitious. Hailing from a people who spend most of their lives on boats and in the waters of the world, they see omens and signs in everything, and having Good Luck is a matter of life and death. Most of the tattoos that cover his body are symbols and script that ask for Good Luck, to ward off Evil, including the tattoo on his throat. (A flaming eye, punctured by a blade, said to ward off the evil eye.) Shiv will refuse to sail if he believes the omens are bad, or if he thinks he has received a sign. While most people follow a small range of superstitions to keep them on the safer side, Shiv follows an extreme amount. Things like knocking on wood whenever ill is mentioned, wearing red body paint in certain areas of the sea to ward off the vengeful spirits of drowned sailors, and he has a various motley collection of moldy animal (and some would guess non-animal) body parts that are supposed to bring good luck. He doesn’t call it a fear of going against his superstitions, but it definitly makes him scared down to his bones when a captain goes agaisnt the omens. To much “ill goin” can and will reduce Shiv to a wreck, holding himself in a ball in some forgotten corner of the ship giving himself ritual marks, asking the water and wind spirits for forgiveness.


History:

Shiv was born Eirik Ragnarson in North-West Eyropa, North of Pedom Morini. Born to a large family as the oldest son, it became his birthright to ride the open waters with his father, a deckhand on a prominent merchant ship named the Sea Eagle. In the region the family hailed from, it was far more common to pray to the spirits of wind and wave than any god or Changer. The spirits have no names except for Wind and Water, and the type the are. (Sea-Water, Ocean-Water, River-Water, Spring-Wind, North-Wind, No-Wind.) The spirits were vengeful, fickle, and ever watchful to take their due from a careless soul, be he a sailor or a farmer. When he turned eight years old, his father brought him onto the ship with him. Eirik, who became known amongst the sailors as Shiv for his small size, never saw his home again.

After a few years of living on the boat with his father, Shiv was asked by Captain Hrothdane to move to the Eagles Pride, a smaller boat that he was giving to his son. Where as the captain of the Sea Eagle was a fair man, and willing to do the work with his crew to insure good will and good sailing, his son Hareld was not. After numerous accidents, lost cargo, and finally the loss of men at sea, Hrothdane put both his ships into port and decided to investigate the matter. A father can be blind to his sons faults, and no man was as guilty of this as Hrothdane. After making excuses and attempting to blame others, Hareld finally managed to lay the blame onto Shiv, and he was cast out from the group of sailors, to make his own way into the world.

Several years later, Shiv finds himself at odds with his fate. With no ship crew to be apart of, he lingers in the dust and filth of the port cities, looking for luck and a spirits kindness to fill his sails with wind to a new horizon. With no skills except for and knowing no life except that of a sailor, he's just looking for one more ship. He has traveled many parts of the world, and is now stuck bouncing from port to port on trading vessels that need him for that one voyage only, and he continues to look for a permanent home on a deck somewhere. All he wants is enough space to hang his hammock and to smell the sea and feel the salt spray on his face every day. He is a son of the Sea, as much salt and seaweed as any creature that swims the briny deep.

[Saruna]

Approved.