Palmer's Bio

Basic Information
Birth Name: Palmer Calhoun
Aliases:
Place of Birth: Charleston, South Carolina
Age:(real and apparent) 241, 25
Male/Female: Male
Current Occupation: Huntsman for the Charleston branch of the Anantya Clan
Past Occupation: (If different from above)

Appearance
Hair Color: black, when it's grown enough to see
Length and Style: Shaved bald
Eye Color: Dark Brown
Skin Color: Coffee Black
Height: 5'10
Weight: 160
Nationality: American
Race: (I.E. Vampire, human etc.) Vampire
Body Type: Athletic, well muscled

Description (if an NPC) or name of your creator(if a PC): Blaine of the Order of the Night, an ornery Irish historian, tall and gangly with red hair and a sharp tongue. He turned Palmer in part to save his life, and because he believed Palmer might be enough to change the tide of history itself, a power he wanted some small part in. Palmer enjoys a good, if sometimes healthily adversarial, relationship with his creator to this day.

Blaine is a self titled manipulator, a puppet master of sorts, whose purpose within the Order of the Night is to find the people with a certain quality of greatness and bring them to Anantya. He wants to exact influence over the Alexanders and Napoleons, to steer the conquerors and revolutionaries in his own direction. He makes an excellent choice to keep politically influential familiars in the service of his clan, and has personally turned a select few in the hopes of bringing more elitism and glory to Anantya.

Personal Questions
1. Describe your character's personality
Palmer is friendly, engaging, some might describe him as charming. He likes people and is a very social creature. His snobbery is directed at situations rather than individuals; as distasteful as he might find a particular bar, for example, he would gladly talk to the people inside. He takes successes and disappointments both in stride. He is serious at times, with a temper that tends to flare and burn out with equal rapidity, and is quick to laugh.

2. Describe how your character would appear to a stranger (I.E. typical dress, way they carry themselves etc.)
Palmer appears very relaxed and poised, though his build and movements indicate strength and quickness rather than sloth. His appearance is effortless; he seems to move and speak and dress without giving much thought and manages to look good doing it. He keeps up with the fashions of the times and generally looks sophisticated and 'hip'. He often wears sunglasses in spite of being a creature of the night. All in all, he's damn snappy.

3. What does your character like?
Palmer likes attention. He enjoys being fawned over and admired. He likes to shock people. He enjoys television and popular culture. He appreciates natural beauty; mountains in particular. He enjoys his work as a huntsman, particularly when he is protecting someone else.

4. Dislike?
Boredom. Being dismissed. Being alone. Waiting. In spite of his love of attention, he hates having his picture taken, claiming the flash bothers his eyes. Traitors and snitches

5. (For humans) Describe what abilities you see your character having if they were turned. NA

6. What are your fears?
That he'll fail in the line of duty; that someone will get hurt on his watch, or he'll make a mistake. Drowning. Losing the respect of his clan, or the inverse; losing respect -for- his clan.

7. What is your character's strengths and weaknesses?
Weaknesses:
Palmer is deeply self critical and doesn't take his own perfectly normal failings well.

He is a restless spirit, always looking for action. This can make him very abrasive company, as he enjoys instigating drama for his own amusement

He keeps his thoughts and emotions to himself and often gives off the impression that he doesn't care about anything, even something he cares very passionately about. He lacks the ability to bring a human element to discussion. He could be seen as insensitive, even unfeeling.

Strengths:
Palmer knows how to use his physical presence to the best effect in a given situation, whether that means looking intimidating or inviting.

He exudes confidence. People don't question his presence, even when he's somewhere he technically isn't allowed to be. He appears very sure of himself and this makes him quite convincing in an argument.

He is not easily manipulated; he can remain unmoved and objective even in very sympathetic situations


Hobbies & Skills
Makes a good showing at billiards
Palmer is good with team sports, soccer being his favorite
Loves television, particularly VH1

Abilities
Coat of Arms
Agility
Fierce Visage

Flaws
Aversion to water
Very sensitive to light

Cosmetic Traits(These must be minor, see the rules)

Quirks and Habits worthy of mention
Runs his hand over his bald head.
Personal History (Please be detailed, this creates your basis for your character)
Palmer is a southern gentleman, born in Charleston, raised in that combination of well bred manners and blunt practicality that flourishes among wealthy families in hot, difficult circumstances. Of course, his family wasn't exactly wealthy by their own right. They were kept, they were taken care of, he and his mother, two people who were valued enough by Palmer's father to support and embarrassing enough to keep out of sight.

Palmer was precocious enough to grasp the situation early on, and light hearted enough to not let his father's actions trouble him overly much. It wasn't, after all, -his- fault that his father was who he was; a wealthy Portuguese trader who fell in love with a woman he couldn't possibly keep. He knew that was the truth of it because his mother, a woman from Ghana with a soft, lilting singing voice, had explained it to him. They were loved. They were in exile, but they were loved.

He wouldn't wonder until much later how much of that his mother really believed. There were much more pressing matters in childhood than a man who lived across the ocean, a mysterious genie sort of person who was glad to send money, and gifts, but god forbid he ever come himself. There were people to talk to, and houses to invite himself into, and he loved hearing the words they used to describe him. Precocious. Sly. Charming. Angelic. The words rolled through his mind, and he beamed.

It wasn't all pleasant romps through the streets and chatting with strangers, of course, but Palmer knew, whatever other rude people said about the color of his skin or his manner of speaking, that he was a special boy.

It was something he could hold onto when admiration turned to resentment, when warm smiles directed at a too bright child turned to wary looks of fear at a man who could very well prove to be a threat.

Palmer never could understand why people were afraid of him. Not that he was naïve; he understood that basic fear that comes from witnessing the inertia of solidarity, something unstoppable and immovable and -other-. But while he didn't take most things personally, it seemed the hateful looks he got on the way to the Methodist church every Sunday and Wednesday, the former for services and the latter for prayer meetings, were directed at him more so than whoever was walking with him. It was as if they understood he was, not the leader, but the glue of the group of new elites gathering together.

In 1791, the slaves of Santo-Domingo revolted, and the fear was suddenly tangible and alive. Rumors of voodoo practices mixed in with horrific stories of a brutal civil war fed the fear, leading to a rash of unspeakable crimes.

The rope was tight around Palmer's neck, he was watching them beat his mother with closed fists, hearing them call her a whore and worse, and he still didn't understand.

If not for an interfering historian with just a touch of a God complex, he might have died never knowing. The rope did not break his neck; he did not die instantly, as he was meant to do, but hung and suffocated slowly. The last thing he saw with human eyes was a tall white man bending over his mother's body.

"I couldn't save you both."Â?

Those were the first words Palmer heard upon waking, his neck sore and tender, not yet knowing that he was forever changed. The man spoke with a faint accent, and his sharp red hair gave some indication of his origins.

It was as though the universe had played some cruel joke on Palmer. His mother, gone, and this red headed bastard in her place. This man who said things that made no sense, mutterings about Palmer 'just being a little ahead of his time' and 'need to keep you around a little longer.' This man who frustrated him to no end with his useless books and answers that weren't answers at all. And lord knew Palmer had asked enough questions. Why was he changed? Why him, and not his mother, who, in his mind, was much more deserving? And what the hell was he supposed to do now?

The answer he got to the last question was in some ways the most infuriating. 'What you were meant to do, of course. You're not supposed to die.'

In contrast to the somewhat...complicated relationship with his creator, Palmer found both solace and camaraderie in the Order of the Hunt. While it was some time before he worked up the nerve to join the Order and tell his creator, he began spending time with what he jokingly called 'Charleston's finest' early on. He was never the strongest or the fastest, but they saw a use for his physical presence and his easy going sense of humor made him a well liked target dummy of sorts. The more physical nature of the Hunt's work was a comfortable balance to the strain of being one of Blaine's children, and ultimately he decided that he should go where he felt some measure of...not exactly happiness, but contentment...within his clan.

That was how, when Palmer met Vesay in the early 1820s, he had transformed into someone fueled and filled with the desire to act.

Vesay was everything Palmer was not, and Palmer was everything Vesay needed to put his plans into action. Vesay was a brilliant leader while Palmer preferred to just get everyone in a room and hope for the best. Vesay was a planner and a thinker, where Palmer tended toward action. They were well matched, one from the Order of the Night, one from the Order of the Hunt, and together they organized. Palmer drew the crowds, seeking out the right people, bringing them in, and Vesay would speak in that Methodist church and they would walk out inspired. They came for Palmer's sake, and stayed for Vesay's sake, and neither were quite sure who they acted for, but they saw the city change under their hands.

Palmer thought, in those years, that perhaps he was doing what his creator had expected, had known, all along. He felt full of his destiny, vindicated for years of believing he was special and right and there were -big things- in store for him.

Of course, neither history nor pride could account for a traitor in their midst. Palmer was doing the somewhat unpleasant work of slitting said traitor's throat when the flames from the Methodist church leapt into the night.

The pain of losing Vesay, the horror of seeing his brothers, -his- people, mostly human but -his-, because their words had brought them together, seeing them lynched and burned along with all of their hopes in one blazing night nearly destroyed Palmer. The horrible lies of conspiracies and plots for vile acts and uprising only made it worse; god, but they had just been talking! It had all just been ideas, small ways to make their lives better, passive resistance, boycotts, not so different from what started the revolutionary war, but Palmer had never imagined it would go so far, that the fear was that deep.

He retreated to his clan, and while his creator was scant comfort at times, the odd pair cultivated a strange sort of kinship. Blaine's hard assed nature and unsympathetic responses to what he referred to as 'Palmer's angst' made him tougher, and in a way Palmer woke Blaine up to realities. He grew to love his work; though Blaine was always a little bitter Palmer hadn't joined the Night, he had to grudgingly admit that being a Huntsman suited him well.

OOC Checklist
Player name (online is fine) Verileah
Other Characters you play: Danielle, Nova, Thaddeus, Theodosia
How you came to SA (Other board, friend, etc): I blame my uneven upbringing.
Have you read all the Rules? Yep.
Do you understand that this is an adult board with adult content (sometimes graphic and violent in nature)? Understood.
This board is adult only. Are you over the age of 18? Yep.