Vagarious, Son of Gerard
AMBER - RECKONING AT THE FOOT OF KOLVIR
This friendly man is a fan of traveling, with simple needs. A quiet man, he loves baseball and seeks different realms where it is played.
Physically he is large man though not beyond a normal physique at 6' 0", 200 lb. Bats and throws left-handed. In general appearance, and in the images I would use for him, are similar to Lou Gehrig, who may have been a shadow of him. Besides sports he enjoys horseback riding, gardening, camping, hiking, singing, dancing, and drawing/painting.
He is followed by 3 wolves that are almost always thought to be large wolfish dogs. They each have an alternate form if needed.
Youth
Vagarious, also known as Van Garry, was born on an Earth world in the third year of the 20th century. A son of Gerard born while his father was studying the nautical trade of a developing metal hull navy. His mother Louisa was 3/4 Native American of the Nez Perce tribe. She died in childbirth.
Growing up he enjoyed sporting events with his father as well as sailing, hiking, camping, hunting, and other rugged outdoor activities. His father spent a great deal of time with the family of his wife.
He and his father spent a great deal of time dueling with a wide range of weaponry. They visited many sporting venues and both observed and played. He became an expert at golf, tennis, handball, archery and darts. He also filled volumes of sketchpads with artworks chronicling the activities he and his father shared. Pencil works mainly, but he also dabbled with painting.
When he was 13 he ran away from home and lived on the streets of New York for a couple years. While not exactly secretive about this time of his, he is evasive if asked. His skill with card and coin hand magic stems fro this time, as well as a love of card games, stage plays, and dancing. He is excellent at picking pockets and small slight of hand.
And there was Baseball. It was baseball that was his passion from his earliest youth. He had seen games as early as 1906 and enjoyed playing it but it was his time in New York on his own that he for all practical purpose lived in baseball parks. Selling programs, shilling for the telegraphed games, selling popcorn and pendants. He became obsessed with baseball card collecting.
His father eventually tracked him down in 1919 after he served two years in the Navy during World War I. Released from service he attended college for Columbia University rather then attending the Navel Academy as his father had hoped.
He was signed by the New York Yankees in 1923 and began a long and successful career playing until the beginning of WW2 when he reentered the naval service as a lieutenant in early 1940. His Indian heritage caused people to call him Chief. He was uncharacteristically vocal about not liking the nickname.
Despite his supposedly advanced at age of 37, in 1940, he was transferred to the air service and became a navy pilot. He flew the F4F “ Wildcat” and the F6F “Hellcat” fighters against the Japanese. By the end of the war he had attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander and shot down 22 enemy planes.
After the war he returned to Baseball as a coach and eventually as a manager of the New York Yankees.
In 1964 his father took him from the world of his birth to Amber. Here his real education began.
In Amber
While Gerard had not been silent about Amber, he had not brought his son there casually till his son had started to look unnaturally preserved on his home world. After a brief time in Amber he directed Van to serve in the Navy. Serving under his father he added a great many skills of the wooden navy. His skill with archery was improved as well as navel heavy artillery.
He was introduced to his relatives but was quiet and shy around them. He found a great deal to love in the library of Amber. Travel guides, maps, histories, and the multi-world studies necessary for shadow travelers. Polite, taciturn, he was not an easy mark and was especially fond of poker.
He detests card cheats, and as a skilled card magician he has a talent for recognizing cheats. His manner of dealing with them is at first quiet, but if pushed, direct.
He backs up his fathers in matter of politics but quietly, staying out of the active social scene in court.
In time he assayed the pattern and began a time of personal exploration.
Travels
Once he began traveling in shadow he sought out various places to play baseball but also to explore.
In time he grew lonely and a string of horses provided little company. So he thought about what he wanted and decided he wanted a few dogs of higher then normal intelligence. He sought a place in shadow with smarter then normal dogs who would bond well with an adventurer of his strength. This led him eventually to Rasdala and his three dogs.
During his travels he came across a style of sailboat that suited him. He had the 35' Catalina craft built from the finest words available and used the best construction methods known on the world of its origin. Strong lines were laid in and a slick coating to the exterior made it a very fast vessel for its type. The Sea Nymph became a mobile home for Van and his three companions.
Rasdala
Like many in his family he sought a place of his desires in shadow. In the realm of Rasdala he found many things to his liking. It was a land of peaceful peoples similar to Native Americans. They played a game similar enough to baseball that only a little bit of coaching was needed to correct the difference.
A race of reasonably smart wolfish dogs existed that bond with each other and with others of friendly demeanor forming life long attachments. Once bonded it was extremely rare for new bonds to occur. These Rasdala dogs are smart, fierce fighters, hard to injure and hard not to love. They have some slight magical abilities, notably that a small number of their race are able to shape-shift into the forms of other animals.
There he found a wounded nursing mother with a litter of huskie pups. The litter was cold despite the presence of their mother due to her injuries. He covered them with a bear hide and lay among them, sharing his ample warmth. He fed the mother milk and pilot biscuits to build her strength up. He tended her wounds. The litter survived, as did the she-wolf, and three of the pups bonded with Vangarious.
Three pups were named Fang, Dunce, and Imp. In time all three also sprouted the power to shift shapes. Each became a beast that it enjoyed being a great deal. Fang could become a bear. Dunce could become a horse, and Imp could become a sparrow.
