Ciaphas Halwood

Ciaphas Halwood (a.k.a. Walking Hazard)

Ciaphas is a human sorcerer of Oeridian descent and an adventurer hailing from Greyhawk. He has become entangled with an adventuring party in 568 CY, largely functioning as the party's comic relief and magic artillery.
He is a follower of Zagyg

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Ciaphas spent his early years living in an orphanage in the city of Greyhawk, having seemingly been abandoned not long after he was born with the only thing known to him about his parents was their surname, Halwood. Naturally not having much to do the young Ciaphas tended to get up to mischief as he ran about the streets of the free city, be it alone or as part of gang as they 'terrorised' the local shop keepers but a good shouting was always enough to send them packing and running back to their 'home' for lack of a better word. Such enjoyment though ultimately came to a stop with the advent of his magic powers starting to manifest from the dragon blood that coursed through his family's heritage. At first Ciaphas just saw it as an extension of his trouble making, though others would be inclined to say it was more vandalism, as shops occasionally caught on fire due to the young boy's lack of control over his magic.
Not long after a strange man turned up at the orphanage seeking Ciaphas out. Elric Stauffen turned out to be from the Guild of Wizardry, he had heard of the chaos being caused by an out of control magic user in the area but the last thing he had expected was a child. But in Elric's mind this made things easier to solve and could benefit himself, taking the miscreant sorceror under his wing he enrolled Ciaphas at the University of Magical Arts so that the young boy could learn to properly control his magic.....as well as become Elric's apprentice.
Ciaphas naturally didn't like the idea of being bossed around but he couldn't deny that being able to control his magic and discover more was an amazing gift that had been given to him, so as much as he hated the idea of the position he did his work for Elric as best he could. Ultimately it wouldn't be as bad as the boy had envisioned, while his new master indeed work him hard as Elric worked on his research he made sure to take the time to teach Ciaphas the ways of the world and what lay beyond the walls of the free city that his classes didn't teach him, effectively becoming the father figure that he never had. With this care given to him the once devilish miscreant became more worldly and relaxed in his nature, with an interest in the arcane and a desire to see the world his master had taught him about as well as a great deal of respect for the man who'd lifted him up from the bottom of society.
As Ciaphas reached adulthood in earnest Elric became more secretive, keeping him in the dark as to what they were doing regardless of how many times the young sorceror beseeched and pleaded to be let in to aid and join in the discovery. Eventually one day when he arrived his master was nowhere to be seen, nothing seemed to be amiss, nothing was stolen bar what belongings his master had most likely taken with him. All that remained of worth was a letter addressed to Ciaphas, a letter with a question he has spent years trying to answer with no luck as he's travelled the land in search for anything that can help him with his latest travels bringing him to the Borderlands...

Sexuality

Bi-sexual

Education

Attended the Greyhawk University of Magical Arts

Employment

Apprentice to Elric Stauffen  in Greyhawk Hired 'specalist' for Ocawyn

Accomplishments & Achievements

Helped in clearing the Caves of Chaos  in the Yeomanry 
Defeated his mad master and cultist of Tharizdun, Elric Stauffen 
Cheated death through the god Zagyg g Part of the expedition that re-summoned the lost city of Mendergast

Failures & Embarrassments

Blames himself for the incident at the Caves of Chaos concerning his old master

Mental Trauma

Suffered not so much a 'near death' experience but an actual death and subsequent ressurection by the Mad God Zagyg, his personality being altered drastically at the time to the polar opposite of what it was before.
This further lead into a case of split personality, the old and new fighting internally and manifesting as sudden changes in mannerisms and talking to himself, ultimately put to rest by Marrus.
Mental scars running deep and due to the manner that Marrus solved the split personality left some damage, manifesting through his love of explosions and fire he has become obsessed with fire-affiliated spells and magical artifacts and come to start hating the black dragon blood from his ancestry and thus himself.

Intellectual Characteristics

Natural curiosity about how things work, studious when the moment takes him, can be very absent minded if his interest is not peaked.

Morality & Philosophy

Believes that the ends justifies the means and is willing to use underhanded tactics and deception to achieve goals but refrains from being malicious. While he has a strong sense of right and wrong, due to his beliefs and methods he can come across as the opposite of his actual intentions.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Acquiring knowledge and seeing the world. Has been given a quest by his god to make sure the Black Crystals don't fall into the wrong hands.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

He isn't as smart as he makes himself out to be.
Has a way with words to bring others around to his view point.

Likes & Dislikes

Enjoys playing pranks on people, primarily Jafaan White knight of Pholtus .
Enjoys the outdoors and listening to nature while relaxing.

Dislikes people who are too stuck up and can't take a joke.

Virtues & Personality perks

Always tries to look on the brightside and cheer people up, showing things are always as bad as they seem.
Generally is smoking his pipe whenever he gets the chance

Vices & Personality flaws

Can be too 'trigger happy' with his spells, especially fireball.

Personality Quirks

Tends to try and shrug things off as a joke when things go wrong for him with a wide smile, chuckle and a shrug of the shoulders

Social

Contacts & Relations

Greyhawk Guild of Wizardry

Family Ties

Does not know his family, having grown up in an orphanage.

Social Aptitude

Reasonably apt when interacting with others and good at reading a room though can generally mess it up due to his joking nature.

Mannerisms

Is generally formal on first meeting people but quickly becomes relaxed and slips into a relaxed and casual nature once more. Is not above making fun of people out in the open to them if they've displeased him.

Hobbies & Pets

Has a familiar, King Cat, given to him upon being resurrected by Zagyg. Though their relationship is anything but that of a traditional master/familiar, more akin to good friends with the way they argue at times and play pranks together on the other party members.

A laid back guy getting caught up in world shaking events.

View Character Profile

Alignment

Chaotic Neutral

Current Location

Mendergast

Species

Human

Ethnicity

Oeridians

Age

25

Date of Birth

15th Fireseek 542 CY

Gender

Male

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Black

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Olive

Height

5'8"

Weight

126 lbs

Quotes & Catchphrases

"Fireball?"

Known Languages

Abyssal, Common, Draconic, Dwarvish, Undercommon