Fergus Virtanen Karhu

Fergus was born on Earth, South Africa to be more specific, at year 2050. He was caught by the vortex during the year 2079 and felt on the Vortex Line near to Lunianen.

He is a huge man, with the aspect of a viking displaced in time. Despite that imposing physic he look as harmless as a teddy bear, always smiling and telling jokes; which more often than not are self deprecating and even a bit cruel. Despite that appearance this man is more dangerous than any actual bear who ever lived when the bear was hungry and had been unfairly provoked

Fergus belong to the rare kind of men who learn how to use guns under the Global Government: since he became an adult he is a soldier. More specifically a Red Salmon The most serious criminal problem in his time is Genocide Terrorism, fanatic organizations that believe the number of humans on Earth must be reduced no matter the cost and take actions to kill the larger possible number of humans. Their goal is to save what is left of Nature and that's the only thing holding their hand and preventing them to became even more dangerous: they try to kill humans without harm other forms of life. This groups have killed millions, the number of humans on Earth never stopped raising despite of that but the Government don't see that as a reason to not fight the mass murder terrorists. The Salmons exist mostly to hunt down genocide terrorist cells. And the Red Salmons are the most precise and deadly among this elite troops. Fergus was high respected among his fellow Red Salmons. He is not a blood thirsty beast, despite the stereotype of people who look like ancient vikings being berserker: Red Salmons are precise and fast shadows, they must be to kill genocide terrorists one by one before any of them sound the alarm so the rest of their band can kill the hostages and/or escape. Fergus is cold, and his constant aspect of being distracted is intentional: he is never distracted.
Once on Sharitarn Fergus walked to the Welcome Tower on Lutianen, as Altair would do 11 years later. However, unlike Altair Fergus don't have magic potential. Had he being luckier the mage taking care of the tower would have welcomed him as a prospective citizen, but that was the first days of Helicon as head of this tower and he was pretty frustrated for be sent to this outpost on the Continent. He decided to send Fergus to the Insular city as a slave.
The hot iron brand and the life as a slave on a Peasant Caste farm didn't bothered Fergus. Pain was minimal, day by day life was far less humiliating than be a withe heterosexual man or Earth, and things on Earth where even worse to him since he was a obviously violent evil man in the eyes of most people just for have touched a weapon is his life. Not to mention the fact that his job was mostly to kill people

True to be told the conscience that he could escape the chains, kill the family who owned him, and swim to the Continent any time he wanted, also helped to make the condition of slavery less hard than it could have been to a different man. He could escape, would escape, but before he wanted to learn more about the mad man's Narnia where he had fallen

However, before the day to escape arrive a band of wild hunters from the Kailau Mountains invaded the farm. When that happened Fergus owner was on the city, trading in the Central Marked of Lutianen. The free companion, mistress of the house, was alone with two child and one grow son who was killed before know that something was not right.

Fergus saved the family, and earned not only his freedom but also their friendship. After that enter Lutianen Warrior Caste was easy, and soon after that he was invited to work for the king as his secret agent.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Fergus came from a traditional military family. 
    Being white people in the second half of XXI century on Earth they where already at the natural bottom of social hierarchy, but the vocation of work caring weapons placed them in a special kind of hell. 
    Weapons are bad. There is something horrible and irredeemable in any person wicked enough to touch a gun, that to not even mention carry one all day. That is common sense among the sane and honest citizens of Global Government. 
     Is necessary to have cops, agents of public security, trained to use weapons and violence against armed and violent criminals. Crime didn't became any more peaceful during XXI century, neither it became less common. Actually the Genocide Terrorism, a phenomenon characteristic of the period that starts whit Global Government, kills more people proportionally than all other violent crimes combined. The average person separates feeling from reason with little trouble in this matter, most the time: cold logic applied they know the existence of cops is a necessary evil, because without them the violent criminals would rule and all human right would be lost; but that is academic. In terms of emotions, cops are at least as bad as the Genocide Terrorists of misanthropic organization like the Dodos. 
    To being able to survive and stay sane the people working at public security forces close themselves in a sub-culture considerable isolated from the normal society they protect. In a sense they have more in common with the criminals they keep in check than with the normal person under their protection. 
    Perhaps is fair that most terrorists hate the cops less, and respect them more, than the average citizen does. 
     Racial and ethnic hierarchy however, does not change. No matter if you are in general society or in the ghetto of security forces, women are superior to men. Black women are superior to all other women, and white woman are inferior to all. Black men are superior to all other men, and white men are inferior. That is just natural right, and it is understood both by law and be the moral compass of any sane person. Homosexuals are superior to heterosexuals as well. The categories overlap and in daily dynamic who must shut up and who can speak sometimes became a bit confuse, but there is amazingly levels of consensus in the general social relations. "System works", you could say.       
      No difficulty in place Fergus in that system, the young boy understood very soon that he would always be the last to be recognized or protected, the first to be shamed and sentenced. His world would carry no weight at all in legal contexts. He has all distinctive marks of inferiority. So he grew up decided to get for himself the one sweet strawberry his world allowed him a chance to conquer.  
       More than 80% of society will live up to old age without a single day in a paid job, education is for all but professional positions are precious. Fergus entered the military, after a difficult and long selection. And he kept raising ranks as fast as legally possible, by being  voluntary for barely suicide mission one after the other, and coming back alive. Got himself quite a reputation in fact, close to legendary.

Mental Trauma

Fergus was inscribed as voluntary to a experimental program to implant cybernetic technology in soldiers, to make them both more efficient and more controllable. Had he arrived alive from his last mission on Earth he would be in the hands of a medical team for a very long time.
He was a very unwillingly voluntary. The medical chief persuaded him to sign as a voluntary by treating the soldier with a accusation of rape. The accusation was what in other times most would have called "false", but there is no question about those things anymore: when a woman says she was raped by a man that is what happened.
The good doctor and Fergus has been a couple years before. Now she needed voluntaries for the cyborg program, and realized that enlist Fergus was the most certain way to attract the kind of young soldiers she needed.
Fergus hated the idea of expend the rest of his existence in a hospital and a guinea pig, but was better than the alternative. His only real hope had been a honorable death in combat. What he almost achieved.
The red salmon was saved by the inter-dimensional phenomenon that carried him to Sharitarn. But the nightmares about cyborg program never stopped completely. The may leave him in peace for half a year, or a little more than that, but always come back.

Morality & Philosophy

Unlike most men from Earth Fergus does not have particular discomfort with the androcratic aspect of Sharitarne society. Is not that he believes that women are natural slaves and men necessarily their masters, but he never subscribed in his hearth the Earthling conviction that women are morally superior to men either. If you ask him about this you may hear something like: "I take subjects like that matter of facttly: matter of fact those are the rules I need to assume valid in order to do my job, here and now".
Slavery doesn't catches his attention either. Having been a slave himself in one of the conditions considered by all heavier than average, that of property of Peasant Caste, he do feels that there is many things worse than be a slave.
Fergus subscribes the Warrior Caste of Sharitarn without reservation, he strongly believes in honor and places high value in loyalty. Follow orders, accomplish the mission: "die trying" is a lazy excuse. If come to that he will sacrifice his life for the safety of his city, as if that was not a big deal, because it isn't. It is just being a warrior. And from Fergus point of view is not a long distance from what he had learned as the meaning of being a Red Salmon, any way.
One problematic instance to apply that matter of facttly logic is the care of children. On Sharitarn the implicit proper behavior about children is that they belong to their parents, at least in the borders of civilization and except for a few Castes.
Most parents employ moderate physical punishment to their children, publicly enough. Some go too far. In any case, you are supposed to ignore the incident if a mother cuts her daughter's hand off with a clever. Even native Sharitarnes sometimes protest against exaggeration in punishment of young humans, but those protest take the shape of "not here" if they even go that far. You never tell the person responsible by a children how to treat that children. Is not you right to step in that territory, would still not be even if you where the king on this city.
Understand the rule is not a problem. Problem is that Fergus has this sort of "elder brother syndrome", hard to silence. Is what made his such a nice mentor for Altair and other people trying to find themselves. Is also what places him in trouble when he don't need or want to buy a fight.
When Fergus step outside the rules of acceptable social behavior he does that to try protect a children. Sometimes it has nothing to do with punishment even. Lizard-folk must eat intelligent being from time to time and they sometimes buy their food in peasant settlements, Peasants seldom sell their own young but they do sell children of slaves if price is right. As is their right to do. However, that's the sort of situation when the red haired Teddy Bear face brings to memory those old legends about furious Berserkers.
A case like that in the worse possible moment pushed Fergus to a personal crisis. Leading to the conversion he mentions to Altair in the last portion of The Traveller.
Fergus tell his sigrax friend that he has converted himself to religion. Not a local one, but a Earthling faith.
The general opinion about religion among Earthlings is about as negative as opinions can be, and Altair totally subscribes it. The Chemical Engineer feels so disappointed with his friend, who up to his point was a model to him, that he don't even asks which was the religion. Does not matter, they are all superstition of course, any one would be equally bad.

Divine Classification

Human Warrior

Alignment

Lawful Whatever

Species

Humans

Gender

male

Aligned Organization

King Cerbion of Lutianen

Other Affiliations

• Lutianen, The Insular City

Related Myths

• Failed Assassination