Drexel

Drexel op Hamilton op Oberon

CHARACTER NOT AVAILABLE

Early History: Childhood

Drexel was born during the Time of the Black Road Wars, when his Father, Hamilton op Oberon, was Emperor of Caradala. Drexel's birth went unnoticed by Hamilton who was busy leading the combined armies of 5 kingdoms against the Hordes of Chaos swarming in upon the Black Road. Drexel's mother died during child birth, in the care of a midwife in a low section of a town not too far distant from the battle front, but in an out of the way location. No one knew she was in that little town. No one would have known who she was, except for maybe the Midwife, who never told a soul. And, of course, Hamilton; who never spoke of it to anyone, including Drexel. He was named Drexel by his mother before she died.

When Drexel's mother died, it was only then that the midwife noticed that she had six fingers on her right hand. When she looked to the infant she saw the same physical oddity reflected there, as well as six toes on his right foot. The midwife immediately took the body of the dead mother to the edge of town and buried her in an unmarked grave. Later that night, she took the infant to the towns only Inn and stables owned by a family that was kin to the midwife on her grandmother's side. The Mother of the Family owed a great debt to the Midwife, so she knew the Mother would raise the child right. And she also knew that the Family was unlikely to know the significance of the six digits... at least, she hoped. She had no other choice.

The Mother of the Family had just lost a newborn son to a harsh winter and sudden illness, and was about to lose her eldest son to the War; he was Of Age and decided he wished to become a warrior and a hero. The Midwife came to the Mother in private, after the Common Room had shuttered for the night. She told the Mother of the Stranger who showed up, gave birth, then died. The Midwife reminded her of her Obligation to Kin and of her Personal Debt she still owed. The Mother took in the child without question or hesitation; she was still grieving over the loss of her newborn son and was in need of a surrogate for her motherliness. However, that motherliness didn't last long.

Though they cared for him as they cared for their own, Drexel's adoptive family didn't like him much; he was an outsider, and a mutant; he had six fingers on his right hand and six toes on his right foot. His adoptive family ridiculed him for this, even before he could understand what they were saying; they called him Sei Dita, which literally means Six Digits, or Six Fingers, in the native tongue of Region. It was only when he got into trouble that he knew his name was also Drexel, for they would say: Drexel Sei Dita!!

Drexel was never allowed to call anyone by name, even if he knew it. He was only allowed to say: Nonno (Grandfather), Nonna (Grandmother), Padre (Father), Madre (Mother), Fratello (Brother) and Sorella (Sister). Patrons and Guests were to be called Signore or Signora (Sir or Madam).

Drexel's adoptive family was not overly large, 2 grandparents, 2 parents, 2 brothers and 3 sisters. Every member had one or more jobs around the inn and stables as there was little hired help to be afforded. Grandfather ran the bar and common room, but he was old and drank too much, so was really only good at tending the bar. Grandmother was in charge of running the Inn and dealing with guests. She also supervised the maid staff consisting of her 2 eldest granddaughters and a hired maid who doubled as a serving wench. Father ran the Stables, but also had to stock the bar and clean up the common room every night as Grandfather could not handle these duties any longer. Drexel had two adoptive Brothers, but one he never knew for he had gone off to join the War while Drexel was still an infant. The other Brother was not very smart but fortunately was strong and hearty, so he was given many manual labor tasks such as cleaning out the Stalls, feeding the horses, chopping wood, etc. He would also assist Father with cleaning the common room and restocking the bar. Mother ran the kitchen with the help of two of her daughters, the middle, who also doubled as a maid, and the youngest. The eldest daughter worked as a serving wench as well as a maid.

There were only two hired help at the Inn; a serving wench that also worked as a maid for the inn, in exchange for a room and meals, she lived mostly off of tips. Her name was Lily. The other hired help working at the inn was Bartleby; the Common Room Guard. He made sure nobody got too rowdy, that everybody paid, and that the family was never robbed. He would work from late afternoon till the wee hours of the morning before sunrise. He did not live at the inn.

Drexel learned much about cooking, horses and people while living and working at the inn. He grew tall and strong quickly. By the age of 3 he was over 3 feet tall and was given chores of washing dishes and helping with washing the laundry. At the age of 4 he was just shy of 4 feet tall and strong for his age; his chores now included more cleaning and chopping of wood. By age 6 he was over four and a half feet tall and thick, but not fat; he began cleaning out stalls and learning about horse care. By age 8 he was over 5 feet tall, stocky and could nearly outwork his Bother and Father. By age 10 he performed more work than his Brother and Father combined and, if he so chose, he could have beaten his Brother senseless; a young man who was also tall and thick and quite strong. While performing all of his duties all of those years, he was exposed to the Guests of the Inn and Patrons of the Common Room; he listened... for Drexel was not only tall, strong and hearty, he was also smart. He learned how people are; how they treat one another. Both in the eyes of the public, and in private. He listened to all their stories and boasts and opinions and facts, rumors and actual information from places beyond this little Villa. He learned at an early age about the War against the 'demonic creatures'.

By age 12 he was pushing six feet tall. One early morning, before dawn, as Bartleby was leaving for the night, an intruder startled him and a fight broke out. Bartleby was injured, and so was the intruder, but Bartleby was hurt the worst. Drexel had heard the commotion and came rushing in just in time to save Bartleby's life, as the intruder was about to deliver a lethal blow. Drexel rush the man with little thought and simply plowed into him and shoved him to the ground, then dropped upon him and beat him nearly to death with his fists. Bartleby stopped him at the last minute, got to his feet, the finished off the intruder with his blade. He told Drexel to got get cleaned up and not to tell anyone he was involved. And in reward for his help, Bartleby promised to teach Drexel how to fight, with and without weapons... once he healed up. And he kept his promise.

At age 15, nearly full grown at a height of six feet four inches and thickly muscled but still bulking up, the War came to that little Villa. A small contingent of Demons had broken off from the main group closer to the Black Road in order to destroy the Villa and farmlands around it; one of the last places like it remaining this close to the Black Road. By the time the Armies arrived, lead by Emperor Hamilton, it was already too late. The Villa was destroyed, the crops burnt to the ground, the fertile lands poisoned. As the superior troops of Hamilton's Elite dispatched the remaining Chaos Warriors, it was discovered that only one person was left alive from the Villa; Drexel. Hamilton saw the young man covered in blood and ichor, the bodies of demons and the humans of the Villa littered the ground around him. His arms hung loosely at his sides, a pair of 'bloody' wood axes still clutched in his hands. He was wounded and bleeding, he was swaying a bit but still managed to stay on his feet. Hamilton dismounted and approached the boy on foot. As he was about to speak, Hamilton noticed the extra digit on Drexel's right hand, and immediately knew who he was.

"I am Lord Marshall Hamilton. What is your name, boy?" Hamilton asked.

"Drexel Sei Dita, Signore." The boy replied, his voice as shaky at his wounded body.

"You have shown great courage and strength in Defending your Villa against the Hordes of Chaos, Drexel Sei Dita. However, your villa has been razed, and your crops burnt to the ground, and your land poisoned. You, Drexel, are the only survivor. My Sergeant will take you to our camp where you will be cleaned up, receive medical attention, food and rest. After you have had time to heal we will speak again. At that time you will be given the option to become my squire and learn how to fight, or you may go your own way."

Drexel nodded, then nearly collapsed. He was helped onto a saddled horse then taken to Hamilton's camp.

Middle History: The Black Road Wars

After only a few days in the camp's infirmary, Drexel was fully healed and on his feet and asking to see the Lord Marshall; yet another indicator to Hamilton of the boy's lineage.

Drexel spent 5 years as Hamilton's Squire. Mostly, he performed his squire duties, but also received hand-to-hand combat training, both armed and unarmed, and eventually learned horsemanship and the basics of mounted combat. Drexel never even saw combat, let alone participated in it, instead spending all of his time in camp. Drexel didn't know that Hamilton was the emperor, and he thought the term Lord Marshall was just a fancy title for a general. Drexel could tell by the way people treated him that he was privileged, however he never abused that privilege and did his best to earn the respect of those he trained with and worked beside.

Current History: A Shadow Walk Away

After the Black Road War ended, Drexel had Walked the Pattern of Caradala and learned the ways of it powers, he left his home world to begin his Shadow Travels.

He knew he would need money, in some fashion, so after a bit of thought, began by seeking out a long lost shipment of cut gems. Drexel knew, from what Hamilton had taught him, it was just a matter of adding up all the details until you arrive at the place you desire, no matter how improbable or odd it may seem. He began moving away from Caradala, thinking about a place, where over two hundred years ago a caravan crossing a dry riverbed was swept away when a sudden flashflood from a storm miles away brought a wall of mud, uprooted trees, scrub brush and water down upon the wagons, sweeping them away, killing the all horses and men alike. One of those wagons was carrying a very large shipment of cut gems of varying types, sizes and qualities. Over the next few weeks the heavy rains and flooding from the late summer storms common to the arid region continued and made it impossible to search for the lost shipment of gems. But even when conditions improved and many attempts were made in the months and years following the incident, the gems were never found. Nobody realized just how far down stream the wagon traveled on the wave of mud, debris and water until it was finally buried beneath tons of mud, rock and debris over a hundred miles from the crossing where disaster struck.

As Drexel continued to his destination, he thought about how the recent summer storms that ended about a month ago had been more severe than normal causing more water to course down that particular riverbed, causing rock and sand to be moved, causing an area to become accessible that once contained a wagon, now rotted from time and washed away, a wagon filled with cut gems... if one knew where to dig. Drexel continued down stream along a dry river bed in a arid region until he knew he had found the place he was looking for. A night of good sleep, followed by a full day of digging in the sand made him richer than he could have ever imagined. And he knew this was just the beginning.

Then Drexel sought out a Shadow filled with conflict, a place where the Black Road had passed through, but had not been there so long as to decimate its resources and population. A place that would need a man of his skills, a place that could 'afford' his services. Still being new to Shadow Walking, Drexel ended up in a Shadow of his Desire, however he neglected to pay attention to a few details; the Time Flow being one of them. The Shadow he ended up in had a Slow Time Flow compared to Amber, and by the time his decade of adventuring was over, nearly a hundred years had passed in Amber.

That Shadow was named (name); it was a place of swords and sorcery, a place of magical races and creatures, a place filled with fights, battles and wars. Upon arriving he first began investigating the lay of the land, quietly, for a few months.

Then he looked into some of the local mercenary groups, then joined a small one, took command of it within a week, then began recruiting and absorbing other small mercenary groups over the course of the next several months.

Running Sheet Drexel