The Glassmaker - Stoat

[mchedj]

Name: Aleoht Glassmaker
Nicknames/Aliases: The Glassmaker
Gender: Male
Age: 45
Species: Stoat
Occupation: The Glassmaker is a vermin warlord who strives to show that the greatest of the goodbeasts can fall. He is also a glassmaker, and a weapons-maker.

Physical Appearance:

General--
His build isn't necessarily a strong, or athletic one. Rather, his build would more likely be considered average than anything else. He isn't weak, nor is he strong. Were he weak, he would not be as successful as a warlord as he is, in which case, he would likely find himself a hordebeast, or dead, whichever comes first. Even so, what he lacks in strength, he makes up for with intelligence.

He is covered head to footpaw in jet-black fur, that fades to a soft gray at his belly. It is for this reason that he was named Aleoht; id est, the prefix A-, meaning "lack of," and the word leoht, meaning "light." The color black is usually attributed to darkness, which not only fills Aleoht's heart, but is also a 'lack of light.' Even so, Aleoht has rid himself of his original name, though it matched his personality so well, and now is only referred to as the Glassmaker, which, although a mirror of his occupation, seems completely irrelevant to his character, history, appearance, and, well, pretty much everything about him, again, with the exception of his occupation. He possesses two, strangely red eyes that reveal nothing of his thoughts, unless he wishes for those thoughts to be known.


Attire--
At times, the Glassmaker will wear white clothing, contrasting with his black fur. Usually, this consists of a white tunic, white breeches, white boots, a white belt, a white cloak, and occasionally a white hat of some kind. Of course, he never wears white clothing when he is working.
Other times, he will wear black clothing so as to blend in with something dark, such as a dark cave, the ashes of somebeast's house, the night sky, or any such darkly colored thing he might have to blend in with at some point in time. This usually consists of a black tunic, black breeches, black boots, a black belt, a black cloak, and occasionally a black hat of some kind (sounds a bit familiar). Unlike his white clothing, he may sometimes work while wearing his black clothing -- Stains don't show up as well on black.
As of late, however, he has tended to wear clothing based around the color purple. Id est, a dark blue tunic, dark purple breeches, black boots, a black belt, darker purple cloak, and a light purple hat. This particular appearance contributes a bit to the rumors of his being insane to some level.

Possessions:

He always carries a long knife made purely of diamond, which he finds useful, as diamond is virtually unbreakable. It is unknown where he obtained so much diamond to craft such a weapon, but the matter isn't usually considered for longer than a few seconds, because very few beasts who are unfortunate enough to see the knife have little or no time to consider it further. He generally carries with him more knives than simply this one, though, and most are mainly for intimidation. He isn't very skilled with any particular weapon, which is why he isn't usually seen with any weapon other than a knife.

Other than this, he prefers to carry around with him a pouch of powder that ignites upon impact. He uses this to appear as though he is magical by lightly coating a gloved paw with the powder, and slamming that same paw onto something else. For instance, his gloved paw might have some of the flammable powder on it, at which time, he might strike a tree with said paw, causing the powder to burst into flames, thereby igniting the tree. This trick is typically used as an intimidation technique, though not one that he is likened to use frequently. This is mainly for two reasons: the first being that he only has a limited amount of the flammable powder, and the second being that he prefers not to risk anybeast discovering the secret to his "magic." Thus far, nobeast is aware of the powder; therefore nobeast knows that the Glassmaker truly is not magical, and he does a splendid job of keeping it that way.

Personality:

Although categorized as vermin, he is far from the stereotype most would give him upon a glance. As a matter of fact, he is rather beyond such a stereotype, and is not some revengeful, unintelligent, single-minded, pathetic hordebeast, nor is he a revengeful, somewhat analytic, treasure-seeking, still pathetic vermin warlord. This particular apple not only fell far from the tree, but felled that very tree in the process, and began a new tree of its own kind. He is both better, and worse than vermin warlords of old, and of new. He is better, in that he sees revenge as mere stupidity created only in the heads of weaker-minded beasts, and that he is in no way, a pathetic excuse for a warlord, by any means. He knows that inside everybeast lurks some kind of evil, and he intends to reveal the presence of such evil in the goodbeasts of Mossflower. He will go to great lengths to show that even the best of the goodbeasts can fall. He is worse, in that he doesn't have any desire whatsoever to improve anybeast's character, or to create any sort of happiness, sense of safety, kindness, or any other such thing. His only motive is that he enjoys watching another beast suffer, especially when that beast causes its own suffering due to its own personal flaws. He also finds glee in turning a beast's plan against him/her, and proving another beast wrong. There is no need to clarify the fact that he is an immediate threat, and a danger to Mossflower, though his intentions are not that of greed, like most warlords, but that of evil -- as corny as that may sound I can't think of any word more befitting than "evil."

He is considered to be insane, and rightfully so, but it is a mystery as to whether or not he truly is mad. He shows many characteristics of a madbeast at times, but seems to be entirely sane other times. If, in fact, he is insane, it is merely some form of schizophrenia that seems to magnify the dark behaviour he exhibits.

His ability to determine another beast's nature, and pattern of thoughts has given him the experience and knowledge to predetermine another's actions, and discover a personal flaw in a beast's character. He finds these flaws to be extremely humorous, or at least, it appears that he does, and loves to watch another beast make a mistake, especially when he lures that beast into making such a mistake. It is for this reason, that when a beast makes a such a mistake, he may burst into a fit of maniacal laughter, which contributes to both his reputation of being insane, and to his intimidating appearance.

Strengths:

The Glassmaker lives up to, or rather, beyond his name, able to crafts windows, sculptures, ornaments, and even furniture (strangely enough) from glass. As well as ornaments, he is skilled in the making of unique, and deadly weapons. He crafts all that he makes out of not merely glass, but various metals, stones, and all kinds of precious gems.

He is a cruel warlord with no consideration toward anybeast other than himself, and whose methods are...different than that of most vermin warlords. He doesn't lead an army in the same manner as most warlords, preferring to take only a few vermin with him at a time when attacking somebeast, and having them all killed in one way or another when he no longer needs them. When he executes his plans, every possible occurrence is considered, and it seems as though he is never without preparation.

He is somewhat of a master of intimidation, though his methods are unusual, at best. Rather than scare an army into action by a display of strength, he prefers to allow the vermin to choose based on previous experiences. Due to the precision, and success of the missions, and plans he has devised in the past, those who follow him dare not gain his distrust, which makes commanding an army a much easier task. There is no need to clarify the fact that he is an immediate threat, and a danger to the goodbeasts of Kergha, because his intentions are not that of greed, or revenge like most, if not all warlords.

He knows and understands the manner in which a beast's mind works, and uses this to his advantage. He will sometimes act in some way or another in order to create a reaction in another beast, and usually this action makes very little sense. He depends on that beast's reaction to determine the nature and behaviour of said beast, and when he has learned the pattern of that beast's mind, he then will use this knowledge to his advantage in whatever way he sees fit, usually to predetermine another's thoughts and actions.

Weaknesses:

He is not what one would consider powerful, and is not a seasoned warrior. Despite the amount of weapons he crafts, he is not particularly skilled in the use of any of them, as most fighting he does consists of thoroughly analyzed actions that require little movement.

He underestimates the character of goodbeasts, and expects each of them to easily turn on each other. He, whether he knows it or not, considers himself superior in comparison to the minds of goodbeasts, and has no morals whatsoever, which contributes greatly to such underestimation.

Due to his reputation, he isn't trusted among vermin, or anybeasts, for that matter. This makes gaining another beast's trust, temporary or not, a difficult task. The fact that most beasts consider him both insane, and a threat doesn't help.

History/Background:

Aleoht was born into a cold world, namely one that was, at the time, experiencing a particularly brutal winter. He was found, and adopted by two goodbeasts, both rabbits. The night he was found, was a particularly snowy night, and one could hardly see beyond two meters. From what Aleoht gathered, he was found in the center of a clearing, his dark fur showing up clearly against the white snow. As for his condition at the time, he never learned.

Rabbits, as they were, the two were always very proper, and excessively neat. The world he lived in was one with only two absolute realities: good, and not real. If something was not considered good by his mother's judgment, it wasn't bad, but rather not real. The environment he grew up in was one without evil, and consisted of only the boundaries of their house, that is, a rather wide, hollow tree that appeared as any other tree; without windows, openings, or a noticeable door. His mother never liked the outside world, and its realities, therefore, the world outside the house was not real. As any dibbun, he accepted this as truth, because to a dibbun, one's mother cannot possibly be wrong. Yes, this was the world he lived in for several seasons, a world his father was forced to create for Aleoht and his mother. Though 'twas obvious to anybeast that his mother was mad, and cruel to keep her adopted dibbun separate from the world, and in a world of her own creation, in which did not exist anything she disliked, Aleoht could not find a single flaw in his mother, because flaws were not real.

This kept on for the first sixteen seasons of Aleoht's life, until one day, his father had reached his limit. He stormed from the house, attempting to take Aleoht with him, declaring that he had had enough of the false realities Aleoht's mother had created. He had taken not two steps from the house when she came upon him, stabbing him multiple times with a dagger. All the while, Aleoht watched. He couldn't believe his own eyes. His father was dead, but he couldn't possibly be dead -- death wasn't real. Mother couldn't be wrong. Wrong, wasn't real. But she had killed him, and he was dead, but if death was real, then his mother was wrong, which meant wrong was real, and she was wrong, and if she was wrong, then she was flawed, but flaws weren't real either. His mind spun, and his thoughts raced as his mother's reality was broken before his very eyes. What else was she wrong about? First of all, he was outside. If death was real, wrong was real, and flaws were real, then the outside world was probably real too. After all, he was outside. There was but one way to find out.

Before his mad mother could reach him, Aleoht was sprinting away, attempting to run as far as this new reality would let him. That day, he would finally enter the outside world, and he would enter it naive.

Aleoht spent the next fourteen seasons in the outside world, finding that death, and flaws were all too real. He found that even the kindest of creatures were flawed, and each of them had some sort of evil lurking in them. It seemed as though each of them tried to hide this evil, as though it didn't exist. Aleoht had long ago rid himself of the realities of the world his mother had created for him, and was disgusted that everybeast seemed to unintentionally try to bring that world back, hiding what they didn't like so that it became 'not real' to them. He had hated his mother since the day she killed his father, and after fourteen seasons of living away from her, he found that every other beast was hardly different than she. To him, they were all just like her. He then decided to show everybeast that what they concealed, and looked upon as not real, was real, and even the best of the goodbeasts could fall. He would start with his mother. The plan was simple, and he could execute it alone.

He set the house to fire, and waited at the door. He had always been taught that fire wasn't real. When she burst through the front door to escape, he was waiting. He pushed her back inside the house, and stood, blocking the exit. "You also said that neither death, nor fire were real. I'm going to show both to you." Maniacal laughter coupled with the agonized screams of a doomed rabbit created a frightening atmosphere, which has remained with Aleoht since.

Later, he gave to himself the surname Glassmaker, and lived up to it by making and selling ornaments and weapons near the shores of the Western Sea. He had no real reason for becoming a glassmaker, at least, none that followed any kind of path of logic. Nevertheless, Glassmaker is what, and whom he became. He traded that which he made to vermin "warlords" who happened to pass by. He made a living out of it, and soon had gained their trust. He had sold to only three different "warlords," or so they liked to call themselves, because of the scarcity of vermin in Mossflower. Even so, he knew each of them well, judging by their behaviour, and the manner in which each reacted.

He one day decided that the "warlords" thought to highly of themselves. He started with the first warlord he had ever traded to. Bribing seven of that vermin's hordebeasts, he stole passed the sentries, killed the guards, and soon stood near the now-awake "warlord." The brainless vermin had no weapon in the nearby area, and the Glassmaker had a dagger...Enough said. During the entire process of sneaking up on the sleeping "warlord," he had managed to silence each and every one of the beasts he had bribed. If he hadn't, they might have been inclined to think too highly of themselves. Soon after acquiring control of the warlord's army, he decided to move on to the second one. In little time, he had gained control of the armies of three different vermin "warlords," and now controls a rather large army, himself. He easily struck fear into those who followed him, and killed those who chose to attempt to overthrow him. As of late, he has been watching the inhabitants of Redwall Abbey...

Relationships:

• Mother - Deceased
  
• Father - Deceased

[Ashstripe]

A very twisted character. I love it.

Approved.