Heathen Scum
The new story of Heathen Scum began all the same. An egg posed as a counterfeit relic, sold to an elite estate. Upon hatching he was quickly found by the master of the house, Leonel Hawklin, a notorious hobgoblin crime boss and religious zealot of Kaifang. He instructed his staff to get rid of the creature, but as before, they grew too attached to the hatchling to follow orders. After countless attempts at the child’s life from Hawklin, the child grew convinced that the insulting moniker “Heathen Scum” was his name.
The nannies eventually gave Heathen over to a friend of theirs, Bolden Hogges, living in the Spider District of town. There Bolden ran a small sub-community, mostly comprised of misfits and outcasts. Each carried the sins of their pasts, but they were committed to be becoming better people despite it, and formed a close-knit group because of it. They were known as the Hogs, in homage to Bolden as the founder, and also because they constantly put out some of the best food on the island. Heathen, as the new baby of the collective, became immediately popular with the group and formed close bonds with those around him.
As he grew older, his life became structured around three pillars: community, religion, and fighting. From his community he learned love, forgiveness, and the joy of a good meal. As many of them came from questionable backgrounds, they often taught Heathen that bad deeds do not make bad people. Even beyond the hogs, he became a bit of a communal delight due to his constant antics and desire to help anyone he could. With religion, he grew enamored with the god Bahamut, especially due to finding a hero that “looked like him.” His “auntie” Coretta Frieden, who ran the church, taught him the faith’s sense of honor and justice, which Heathen took to heart. He also grew a bit obsessed with the god, often visiting the church just to talk to Bahamut as if he were any other friend.
As for fighting, he initially got into it in secret to help the other Hogs with financial troubles. He was utter garbage at first, but he learned that he could take a hit and dish it right back. As he moved up in the ranks, he gained a bit of a name for himself in his groups. Not just for his victories, but his attitude. He didn’t see the violence/malice in fighting, instead he saw an exchange of blows almost like an exchange of words. It was his way of truly getting to know his challengers, and feeling how their emotions and history is etched in every swing they made. It allowed him to learn and grow alongside his competitors, and that combined with his charming nature gained him respect from many of his peers.
Though, this all changed the night of a major exhibition. Heathen was favored to win against a veteran Minotaur fighter, Otis Longhorn. To Heathen’s surprise, Hawklin personally came to him, asking Heathen to throw the match, offering Heathen a large amount of money for himself on top of a potential relationship between the two. Though he was greatly tempted by it, Heathen ultimately decided it would be an insult to his opponent to do so, and instead gave the match his all. It was a grueling clash, but both opponents had the time of their lives, neither having felt a thrill quite like that before. In the end, Heathen won the title, and what he thought was a new bond with his opponent.
That night, a fire broke out in the Spider District, engulfing his home. During the rescue efforts, Heathen made the unfortunate discovered the crew of vagabonds that had spread the flames, including Otis. He could hardly contain his anger when approaching them, but was quickly overwhelmed by their combined might. Coretta arrived soon after, and moved to cut down the criminals. Yet, rather than hide the steel met scale, as Heathen, despite everything, threw himself in front of the blow. This left a pair of disgusting gashes on his forearms, and an opening for the culprits to run. Rather than chase, Coretta stayed with Heathen as he hunched over and sobbed into his pooling blood, claiming that was still his friend.
He was escorted to the ruined temple of Bahamut once the fires had been quelled. Coretta stayed to heal his wounds the best she could, and warned that the target on their backs would mean the Hogs had to find a new home. Heathen, still frustrated and confused, reached out to his god, asking for his guidance and strength. Bahamut at first admonished him for aiding those criminals that destroyed his home. With great resolve, Heathen actually spoke out of turn, pleading to the god to hear him out. All he wanted was a chance. He asked Bahamut to allow him to guide those criminals to the light, and should he fail he will show them Bahamut's full wrath as he had asked of him. That was about when his connection to the god was interrupted by a strange pup that had decided Heathen was an excellent post to piss on.
He was naturally ticked off by it and attempted to grab the pup, only for it to playfully blink away when he got too close. Heathen quickly convinced himself that this was some emissary or test from Bahamut, and decided to keep at the chase. One thing led to another, and the dog had led him onto a small dinghy, heading out to sea. From the neighboring docks, the Hogs were able to share their farewells, as they also sought passage from town. Heathen tearfully promised to return to them once he was strong enough to fix the troubles he caused them.
Though still green as far as adventuring goes, Heathen presses on, with the newly dubbed Pongo guiding his path. Still incapable of denying a cry for help, and prone to stumbling into misadventures.
Personality
He's definitely still at his core the same goofball, but I do feel like there's bits of nuance that I wanna play with more. Overall, his goal is pretty shaky and loose, since that's in his character. He wants to be a hero, just like Bahamut or Frieden, someone who can protect any and everyone. Though I guess from a player perspective I kinda see him having a coming of age sort of arc. This is Heathen's first time on his own, which means he won't have the safety net of the hogs for a change. Considering their backgrounds, I'd imagine the rest of the Hogs had their ways of protecting Heathen by any means, and in general just spoil him growing up. Even with the fight pits, he'd always have Buster around to watch over to keep anything dirty from happening. With Heathen being such a dense bastard, it'd have him grow up not truly understanding the true nature of danger and loss, which fuels his bold and carefree personality. Either way, he is incredibly grateful to his family for all they've done for him, which is another driving aspect of why he went on this adventure. He has enough awareness to know that the burning in Kaifang was his fault. Though, he still rationalizes it as punishment for dishonoring Hawklin by going against his promise to throw the match. In general, he’s a bit insecure about his reliance on others. He feels bad when he takes more than he can give a person, as it feels unheroic to use others. His biggest fear is being a burden to others, which kind of came true when he forced his family to leave their homes. He kind of also sees going on an adventure as his own way of protecting the Hogs, until he is strong enough to fight his own battles. Flaws wise, besides the general idiocy, naivety, and overtrusting nature. He definitely has a bit of stubbornness and pride when it comes to his own abilities and world view. He's very willing to throw himself in front of everyone else in combat, and can feel bad if he's not contributing. Generally, if he believes something it can be difficult to change his mind. This can especially come into play when it comes to his honor as a fighter, and he may be less willing to flee a fight than others. Likewise, he may stubbornly commit to a task to help another, even if it may be foolish to do it. Like honestly, if Malewind turned out to be a bad guy, Heathen would probs fight to stick to their duties to him in order to honor their promises to him. With Hawklin, he doesn’t see him with any malice. He still sees him as an honorable man who gained great respect through hardwork and dedication. He still has the “dad” complex with Hawklin. Heathen sees him as another part of her family, and is honestly grateful that Hawklin brought him to be with the people he loves now. Honestly, I think some of his antics while younger did step on Hawklin’s toes now and then, but Hawklin had too much pride to admit it, or was fended off by the Hogs every time. I also thought it could be interesting to get into aspects of his identity. He doesn’t really know what kind of hero he’ll be, or really what he is in general. He doesn’t know what it means to be a dragonborn, having not really met with one in his life. He knows nothing of most cultures, he hasn’t found love, he doesn’t get royalty/politics. There’s a lot of life he hasn’t experienced, and I guess part of the excitement of playing him is just figuring out how he’d respond to it all.
Current Location
Children
Aligned Organization
Other Affiliations