Kalir the Cook

Kalir Mirt

In the kitchen, you espy a cook busily cutting some potatoes and plopping them into a pot. You can see that he is wearing a grey tunic and pants, along with a small white cap and some kind of tattoo going down his right arm. As he raises this arm to put some more potatoes into the pot, you can see that one of his fingers is missing the last knuckle. As you see him wipe his sweat from his brow, you can see that he has large, bushy eyebrows and a stern expression.
He turns to you and crinkles his nose. "Unless you've got something to say," he shouts angrily, "I have to get these potatoes boiled and half a dozen other things, so go away!"

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Kalir is a large man in general, making him excellent at chopping vegetables.

Body Features

He is a large man with pasty skin, although he has a lot of red spots from burns or healing cuts.

Facial Features

He has very thick eyebrows and prominent eyebrow ridges, giving him a constantly stern expression. He also has a large nose that he crinkles often.

Identifying Characteristics

A cooking "accident" in one of the garrisons he worked in left him missing his left index finger from the third knuckle up (or the tip of his finger). He also has a small tattoo of an standing dragon on his chest, although only the tail can usually be seen going down his right arm.

Physical quirks

He is actually ambidextrous, so he can often be found chopping some vegetables with one hand and then cutting a roast with the other.

Apparel & Accessories

He wears the usual cook's uniform when he is on duty: a grey shirt and trousers with a black apron and a small white cap to keep his hair under control.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Kalir has spent a significant number of his years working kitchens and dining halls. As a child, his father ran a culinary school in Dúrmi and later Gratic City. He grew up learning the names of various herbs and spices instead of those of letters and famous figures. This, as well as an unshakable will, served him well when he reached his eighteenth year, where he served as a cook in the military camps and garrisons across the province. After his service, he was instantly hired up by the Lord Magistrate of the Gratic Empire for Frelg, for whom Kalir cooked some dozen years. After that, he found better pay with the Magistrate of Freebrook, the predecessor to Ignelsio Fardaker, and he's worked in the kitchens of the manor ever since.

Education

He's become incredibly experienced at being a cook, with his father being the owner of a culinary school.

He also has some basic training in combat due to his service in the military.

Employment

He's spent most of his wife cooking soups and roasting meat as a cook.

At various times, he's worked for his father's cooking school, as a cook in a variety of guardhouses and barracks within the province, and as head chef for two different Magistrates.

Mental Trauma

Kalir may have an iron will, but even iron rusts. His rust: a genuine fear of demons and their unholy acts upon the earth. The mere mention of the word "demon" sets his skin all a-tingle.

Intellectual Characteristics

Kalir likes to take things one step at a time, a useful trait among cooks who work alone as much as he does. All the same, he does not do well being distracted, usually leading to the offending person being shouted out of the room "before you ruin something!"

Morality & Philosophy

Kalir doesn't bother with a lot of moral distinctions, mostly because he's met so many different people throughout his long life. He's met zealous guards and lazy guards, kind-hearted guards and downright nasty guards, and it's coloured his view of people as a collection of all kinds of traits, histories, and backgrounds. Because of that, he treats everyone the same unless he learns otherwise.

Taboos

He believes a lot of superstitions are "hogwash" but he still follows a lot of them, especially banging one's shoe on the door of one's house when you arrive for good luck.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

When he was young, he spent a long time dreaming of travelling the world and trying exotic foods. While he often got to have the exotic foods due to his excellent pay, he never did get to see the places and regions where those foods came from.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

A master cook, having spent years thickening sauces and boiling vegetables.

A lack of ability to read, meaning that he has to remember all of his recipes.

Likes & Dislikes

He loves his work, of course, especially when he gets to make something special

He hates manual labour except for the basics required for his job.

Virtues & Personality perks

Kalir is a very quick and industrious man, having learned to prepare all manner of meals on his own.

He also has a small soft spot for the underdog, although he rarely meets a true one.

Vices & Personality flaws

He will not stop talking about cooking once he begins.

People who annoy him often will tend to get angry yells, telling them to stop distracting him.

Personality Quirks

He often crinkles his large nose, which seems rather funny when compared to his stern eyebrows.

Hygiene

As a chef, he knows that cleanliness will prevent his masters and himself from getting sick. Because of this, his pots and pans are kept as clean as if they were new and he can often be found cleaning after a meal concludes.

Social

Contacts & Relations

He is well-known to many who have become guards twenty years ago or earlier, although there aren't many of them.

Family Ties

He has a wife and an adult daughter, both of whom live at home. His wife keeps the place clean and helps out in the kitchen whenever there is a significant number of guests. His daughter Emli works at one of the local breweries as a serving girl.

Religious Views

Kalir doesn't put a lot of faith in religion, but he still goes to the temple when he can for the purposes of keeping up appearances.

Social Aptitude

Kalir has a commanding presence that makes it very hard to say no to him, as well as an unshakable will. He isn't particularly egotistical and not prone to excessive extroversion. He is a little crude, so he isn't usually allowed in the dining hall proper.

Mannerisms

He is fond of gabbing excessively about the steps needed to make a good beef stew or some other tidbit, meaning he takes a while to get to his point.

Hobbies & Pets

Cooking is his passion, and his free time is often spent keeping the kitchen spotless and trying to find new recipes from travellers at one of the local inns.

Speech

He has a loud, angry voice (even when not angry) and his pitch goes all over the place.

Wealth & Financial state

As a cook, his services are in high demand among the nobility, so he is paid handsomely for his service. He has a relatively good house in the town centre, just a few steps from the main market square. He often orders exotic ingredients and difficult to find spices when the money allows, as he has enough money that he isn't quite sure what to do with it. He doesn't carry this money, preferring to leave it at home.

Current Location

Freebrook

Species

Endamian Human

Ethnicity

Gratic

Year of Birth

1960 CE

Birthplace

Dúrmi

Current Residence

Freebrook

Gender

Male

Eyes

Dark brown, with speckles of green.

Hair

Short and blond.

Height

6' 2" (6 and a half handspans).

Weight

169 lbs. (511 IS's).

Known Languages

He speaks only Common Gratic and cannot read or write.

Art Credit: emperorcharlesii (me!)