Xinu Skutnic

Xinu Skutnic (a.k.a. Rhino)

Xinu Skutnic (Rhino) is the huge chief bouncer at the Ox and Mule Inn. He breaks up fights and busts heads when the need arises, which is often. He is an expert brawler, street fighter, and wrestler, and knows a hundred different ways to subdue and hold unruly patrons. Although he is enormous and heavily muscled, he is also relatively agile and can move at lightning speed for short distances - like the distance from the bar to the fight about to break out.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Xinu is in excellent physical condition. He is enormous, heavily muscled, quick, and agile. He rarely suffers any illnesses. He does have a number of scars from injuries he's gotten during fights.

Special abilities

Skutnic is an expert brawler and wrestler, able to disarm and subdue most opponents within seconds.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Xinu Skutnic grew up to a poor family living in Coalton. His father was a coal miner, and his mother was a farmhand and housewife. When he was young, Xinu's father died in a mining accident, leaving him alone with his mother. From a young age, Xinu was known around Coalton and the other villages for his size, strength, and temper, but not for his intelligence nor his wits. He hated schoolwork, and his teachers didn't like him. Other kids picked on him and tormented him, and he frequently got into fights, most of which he started after losing his temper at being ridiculed once too often, and most of which he won, as his size and strength gave him natural advantages.
His mother tried apprenticing him at Coalton Forge when he was ten years old, but he didn't like the work and didn't have an aptitude for the complexities of blacksmithing. By the time he was twelve, he was becoming a problem around the town far too often. Finally, his mother found him a job in Bree at Banting and Sons, Morticians. He helped dig graves and bury corpses. The job made use of his natural strength, didn't require a lot of brainpower, and inured him to the sight of dead people and gore, but it was boring, and Xinu didn't particularly like it.
When he turned eighteen, encouraged by Morticia Banting, Xinu applied to become a member of the Royal Southport Constabulary and was accepted, to his own surprise. His mother was thrilled, and Xinu was proud of himself. He did his very best during his training. He especially excelled in hand-to-hand combat training. It was not just his size and strength that helped in that; he was much more agile than people expected, and he had a knack for learning the proper techniques for subduing his opponents. One tactic that he developed on his own was to rush headlong into a melee, using his size and weight, and the shock of slamming his enormous frame into someone's body to overwhelm opponents. That tactic earned him the nickname Rhino.
When he was nearing the end of the year-long training and apprenticeship period, Xinu learned that his mother has passed away back in Coalton from an illness. She was buried in the cemetery at Bree. Being there at her funeral ceremony brought back memories of being bullied, slinging dead bodies, and all the blood and gore he'd seen working at the mortuary. His mind was filled with dark thoughts, loneliness, and anger.
Ten days after his mother's funeral and going through her meager belongings, disposing of her clothes and selling her few things of value at a pawn shop in Southport, as part of his training Skutnick went on a foot patrol into the streets of Dockton West with an officer of the Southport Constabulary. As they neared the intersection of Dockton Street and Weston Perimeter Road, they heard the sounds of a huge fight in the Ox and Mule Inn. Rushing into the tavern building, they found themselves in the middle of a huge brawl between a group of sailors and another group of caravan guards, over thirty men throwing bottles and chairs, punching, kicking, and biting. A couple had pulled out daggers and were engaged in a knife fight to the death; several others had makeshift clubs. Someone threw a bottle. It hit Xinu on the head, cutting him. He snapped.
Charging into the melee, Xinu grabbed one of the knife fighters and broke his arm at the elbow. The fighter dropped the knife. The other knife fighter sliced Xinu's arm, so Xinu punched him in the face so hard that his nose shattered, and he dropped to the floor out cold. A sailor hit him with a club on his back. Xinu turned, swept his feet out from under him and stomped on his chest, breaking several of his ribs. Another sailor swung at him, hitting his shoulder. Xinu shrugged off the blow, picked the sailor up and body slammed him to the floor on his head, knocking him out. A caravan guard tried to get behind him and grapple him. Using his enormous strength, Xinu broke the guard's hold, grabbed his left arm, and tore it from it socket, leaving the guard with a dislocated shoulder. Xinu then punched him in the eye, shattering the socket, leaving him unconscious. Another guard jumped on him from behind. Xinu, his rage welling up in him, slammed the guard into the wall, knocking the wind out of him. Xinu spun around and grabbed him by the neck, holding him off his feet against the wall and started strangling him. By this time, the shock of Xinu's assault had ended the fight. The sailors and guards that weren't lying on the floor unconscious or seriously injured watched as Xinu strangled the life out of the man, leaving him limp, his eyes bulging from his head. Just as he was about to breath his last, the constabulary officer patrolling with him whacked Xinu on the head with his truncheon, stunning him. He put his handcuffs on Xinu. The Weston Guards arrived, taking the other brawlers into custody.
Xinu was marched back the short distance to Weston South Fort, where he was thrown in a solitary cell in the dungeon. Later, at the insistence of the influential and wealthy caravan master that employed the caravan guards, Xinu was charged with attempted murder for nearly strangling that guard to death. He was discharged from the Royal Southport Constabulary. At that news, he sobbed, losing all hope for his life.
At his trial, the judge called Xinu Skutnic a possible danger to society and sentenced him to eight years at hard labor at the Salton Prison, but because Xinu had acted to break up the brawl, and because he had recently lost his mother, commuted the sentence to two years in the jail at Dockton Fort, admonishing him to think about his life and get control of his anger. Humbled, Xinu promised to do that. He was 19 years old.
During his two years in the jail, Xinu Skutnic exercised assiduously, developing his strength even further, sparred and wrestled with the guards, and even tried to get some book learning. The dark thoughts roiling his mind had mostly faded, and though no one would call him jovial, his anger was under control. Called to the court when his sentence in the jail was coming to an end, the judge questioned him about the state of his mind, and the jailers and guards about his behavior. Satisfied that Skutnic was no longer a threat, the judge ordered his release.
Xinu was happy to be released, but didn't know what he was going to do. He was only 21 years old, but had no job, no prospects, no money, no family or friends, and no place to live. Going back to the Constabulary or any other guard organization was out of the question. The caravan masters that traded at Southport would never offer him a guard job. As he walked out of the gate of Dockton Fort, he had no idea where to go or what to do.
As he was standing in the street wondering which way to go, a big, heavy-set, dark-skinned man approached him, not as big as himself, but pretty big. A little wary, Xinu wondered what he wanted. Revenge, maybe? As he got near, the man said, "Greetings, Xinu. Or do you like to be called Rhino? My name is Ooshi Mito. Most people call me Ox. My partner, Mule, and I own the Ox and Mule Inn. I've seen what you can do in a brawl, and I'm in need of a bouncer. Do you want a job?" A little stunned, Xinu wasn't sure what to say. So he blurted out, "Uh, okay, I guess. Does it come with a place to live and some food?" Ox said, "Yes, don't worry about that. Follow me."
And so Xinu "Rhino" Skutnic has been at the Ox and Mule Inn ever since. He is completely loyal to Ox and to Mule for rescuing him when he was lost and without hope or direction. He in turn has rescued a few other good young men that were in a bad spot, adding them to his crew of bouncers at the Ox and Mule Inn.

Education

Xinu Skutnic completed some elementary education, but barely. He can read and write to some degree, and do the most elementary arithmetic. His speech is crude, and his writing is full of spelling and grammatical errors.

Employment

Xinu is the head bouncer at the Ox and Mule Inn. He has been in the position for several years.

Failures & Embarrassments

After losing control of himself during a brawl at the Ox and Mule Inn, being thrown out of the Royal Southport Constabulary, convicted of attempted murder, and serving time in jail, Xinu was humiliated and humbled. He vowed never to repeat a mistake like that in his life.

Mental Trauma

Xinu Skutnic grew up without a father and lost his mother at an early age. He was bullied and ridiculed for being slow and dumb. All of that scarred him deeply. He is suspicious and aggressive, but looks to his bosses, Ox and Mule, for direction.

Intellectual Characteristics

Xinu isn't bright, but he isn't stupid, either. He lacks education, but he is brilliant when it comes to deescalating potentially violent situations, using his size to his advantage. He is also a brilliant and skilled brawler and fighter, with few in Southport or even in Sudland that can match him.

Personality Characteristics

Hygiene

Skutnic is indifferent about his appearance, but he isn't filthy. He washes and changes his clothes when they're dirty. His position requires that he maintains a reasonably decent appearance.

Wealth & Financial state

Xinu Skutnic is far from wealthy, but not destitute. His employers pay him a reasonable wage, and his food and lodging are provided by them. He tends to spend the money he earns on food and drink, so he saves very little.

Current Location

Southport

Species

Human

Year of Birth

9126 34 Years old

Birthplace

Coalton

Current Residence

Ox and Mule Inn

Sex

male

Gender

male

Presentation

male

Eyes

Dark brown, narrow

Hair

Close cropped, straight, balding

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Medium brown

Height

6'6" (198 cm)

Weight

270 lbs (122.5 kg)

Quotes & Catchphrases

"Get out now before I mess you up." "Do you think you can hurt me with that toothpick?" "Don't make me hurt you."

Known Languages

Xinu Skutnic speaks Sudkou crudely. He can read and write, but not well.