Murphy
From Changeling Venue
Contents |
Overview
Alias(es): Murphy, Murph, Typhus
Real Name: Henryk Czerniak
Age: mid/late 20's
Concept: Tramp
Seeming: Ogre
Kith: Water-dweller
Court: Winter
Freehold: Cresting Waves
Entitlement: unknown
Keeper: The Lady Beneath the Waves
Physical description:
Murphy is a quiet, brooding man, given to bouts of sullenness. Tall and ruggedly handsome, his moody, temperamental demeanor puts off many. He is athletically built, with an often unkempt, shaggy appearance. He peers out at you with dark eyes through his long dark hair.
Murphy's fae mien is fearsome to behold, as all ogres are! Standing taller than he does as a man, he is broader across the shoulders as well. His physique is more defined, and his skin takes on the bluish tinge of a drowned body. Horns curl back from his forehead. He sizes you up with dark, cunning eyes. Those close to him can verify that he smells faintly of the sea... and blood?
Relevant Mechanics:
None currently.
Character Livejournal:
Pending
Character Information
Known History
Not many know much of Murphy, or Murph as he sometimes goes by. He arrived in Gulf Breeze a few years ago searching for a place to settle down, after traveling for several years.
Known to be a loner and a man of few words, Murphy is known amongst the changelings for his patient, gentle nature, which many associate with being at odds of what is expected of proper ogres. Only twice has his temper ever been witnessed, both involving attacks by The Corrupt, when his friends and comrades were in danger and wounded. At these times he fought with enormous ferocity and strength, having to be drug from the battlefield afterwards, drunk with bloodlust.
Basic Timeline:
1925: Born Henryk Czerniak of Polish immigrants
1942: Enlists in Army at age 17
1944: Participated in the landing at Normandy (Omaha beach; D-Day)
1944: Shot and left for dead; taken by future Keeper's minions
1946: Posthumously awarded Bronze Star Medal for Valor (i.e. courage under fire)
1944-2000: Serves Keeper as a gladiator
2000: Escapes through the Hedge into the wilderness
2000-2003: Pieces together missing time; learns of families' fate; collects some personal possessions
2003: Arrives back in Gulf Breeze; discovers cave (Hollow); contacts local changelings
Current Activities:
- Searching for signs of the missing crusade.
- Avoiding detection from The Corrupt.
- Trying to resolve his feelings of guilt and despair.
- Searching for a greater meaning to his existence.
Merit Details:
Striking Looks **
Mantle (Winter) *
Background:
[The below is mutable. I am more than glad to fit in connections with other PCs!]
Murphy was Born March 16, 1925 as Henryk Czerniak, to Polish immigrants. He grew up simply and poorly in New York City. At an early age, his parents moved south to Florida, where there were many opportunities for a man to find work, as the prospects were not good in the city since the stock market crashed.
Henryk grew up tall and straight. He was a simple and quiet young man who never stood out much. A natural athlete, he enjoyed competition and was training to become an amateur boxer.
Despite his silent disposition, Henryk's good looks got him the attention of young women from time to time, and he met Abigail Johnson at a church social. The two quickly fell in love and were wed after a short courtship.
Throughout the late thirties, Henryk and his family closely followed the new of Hitler's ascension in Germany, and his aggression towards his neighbors. Terrible stories followed immigrants his family knew back to the New World. Shocked at the the blitzkrieg of Poland, Henryk wondered how a powerful country like America could allow this happen and not lift a finger.
Along with the rest of the country, all were shocked when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. Early into the next year, Henryk enlisted in the Army, lying about his age to get in right away. He fought to receive a deployment in Europe, and fortune granted him his wish.
War wasn't what Henryk thought it was. Frightening and vulgar, he managed to suppress his disgust at taking life, and found a special place in his mind to go when grisly fighting begun. Always afterwards, in private, these memories would catch up to him, and bring him to a place of melancholy. He hated killing, and was ashamed at his taking of life. He had to do this to survive though, he always rationalized. He had to do this to get back home. He developed a reputation amongst those he served with as cool headed veteran, and behind his back as a stone cold killer.
Back home, times were tough for his young family. Abigail gave birth to a daughter, named Sacha after Henryk's mother. His father injured himself in an accident with a thresher, and it became extremely difficult for them to begin meeting ends, despite the war boom. Hired hands were brought on, and every month was a matter of making deadlines meet. Henryk never knew of this, as their correspondence never reached him on the front lines.
He was there at Omaha Beach. He fought through that meat grinder. For countless hours, he and his unit took ground, lost ground, and he carried wounded back to cover where possible, bullets whizzing around him all the while. Eventually, he was the only man left uninjured from his unit. Like many displaced soldiers, he mobbed up with others and formed new units on the battlefield, continuing to carry the fight to the Germans entrenched ahead.
Eventually they did it. The day had been won. Unfortunately, that victory was short lived for Henryk. In the back, he took a bullet from an enemy combatant thought to be dead. Falling near-dead into the brush nearby, he was taken by creatures who had been secretly watching him with interest for some time.
With haste they carried him back to their mistress, The Lady Beneath the Waves. Through her arts with exotic ocean flora, she healed Henryk of his wounds, and made him comfortable within her court beneath the sea. Struck by her presence, he could do nothing but conform to her whims.
It was to his great surprise and outrage that he was thrown into a cage like an animal when his wounds had healed. He was whipped and starved, and treated as a monster.
Drug yelling and kicking, he was thrown into an arena, with only short fat sword before him. Gates opened on the other side, and a strange hulking figured emerged. The stench of blood wafted through the water, and Henryk knew that it was life or death from this point on. He went to his special place in his mind, and defended himself with the gladius before him, taking down this hulking foe after a fierce battle. To the cheers and fanfare of the audience, Henryk feasted on his foe's corpse, as he was no longer fed by his Keeper nor her minions.
For countless years, this was his life. Brutal and violent, he never forgot what brought him here, if he never could figure out why. He fought and survived, and became an adept champion of the Lady. Always aware, he studied his surroundings and those around them, formulating a method of escape. He had to do this to survive, he always rationalized. He had to get back home.
One day, his time came. With great enthusiasm, he escaped from the prison he was housed in. Sneaking through the halls of this place, he eventually made his way out. Spying a way out of the compound, Henryk rushed to freedom, only to be brought down by minions of his Keeper. With her pealing laughter echoing through his ears, Henryk was drug back to his cell. This happened more times than he could remember.
Eventually, his big break came, and he managed to break out of the Lady's compound. Through a whirlpool he discovered, he made his great escape through the Hedge. Nothing was different from any other time, and to this day, Henryk remains suspicious of his good fortune. He still is unsure of his fortune. Fair or Foul?
Unconscious, he washed upon a beach. He was back on Earth! Greedily, he hugged the sandy ground below, thankful to be out of the Lady's clutches, if only for a little while. It was here though, that he made a terrible discovery. Staring into a pool of still water, he saw what he hadn't seen in years: his own face. Horrified and disgusted, Henryk wept. He never realized that he transformed himself into a monster. He only did it to escape! He only did it for his family!
For a while, he lived out in the wilderness, hiding and surviving as best he could. Slowly, he learned that he wasn't monstrous to those that saw him, as he occasionally would run into hikers or campers out here. Eventually, some passing travelers approached him, as strange as he was. At first fearing these two as agents of his Keeper, he made ready to fight. He no longer had the strength in him to do it, however, and let them approach. Perhaps a death would release him from this cruel fate.
These strangers didn't kill him though. They were changelings like him they explained. Slowly, and with patience, they filled Henryk in on what had happened to him, and how there were others like him. They taught him the ways of their hybrid culture, and told him a nearby freehold were he may find sanctuary. And that is how he was put onto the road to Cresting Waves.
Before that however, he still had unfinished business left. Using the small amount of resources these strangers had given him, Henryk had to learn the fate of his family. Through the use the of the library and other public records, he learned of his parents death, and how his wife had remarried. For the first time in his life, he learned of his baby girl, now grown and with a family of her own.
His wife was still alive. He had to see her.
Arriving at her home, he was amidst an estate sale. He learned that she had died earlier that week. Needing the money, his daughter had put up many of his family's old possessions. It was here that he managed to procure some mementos of his former self. A photograph of mama and papa, some memorabilia from the war, and a few other assorted things.
On his way to the freehold, inclimate weather took hold. A terrible tropical storm had snuck upon him, and he took shelter underneath a bridge. Here he discovered a funny thing. There was a small entrance here, to something familiar and alien. Cautiously traveling through, Henryk found himself in a small cave, and new immediately that we was back in the Hedge, though in a safe place. Laying his rucksack down, he prepared to present himself to the changelings of Cresting Waves.
Motley
Allies
Brotherhood of Chains: Once known as Typhus in the arena, Murphy has forged precious bonds of friendship and camaraderie within their ranks.
Evie Greene: One of the first changelings that Murphy had met this side of the Hedge, he can sometimes be found accompanying her in her traveling as a merchant between freeholds.
GB: Having fought beside and against her, Murphy has come to recognize a worthy ally... and enemy.
Longshot: First meeting Murphy under the wheel of his motorcycle, the two have become good acquaintances. From time to time, Murphy enjoys reminding Longshot of the favor he owes him over this incident. It's one of the few times the local changelings have seen Murphy smile.
Mr. Tent: Pending.
Ryland Frostbite: Despite their differing lock-picking preferences, Ryland and Murphy have always looked out for each other on the street, considering the alternatives.
Solanum Xanti: An unusual combination, Murph and Xanti share a brother like friendship unusual given their quite opposite personalites. Supplementing the other, both have helped each other out of more than one sticky situation.
Solstice: No one's quite sure how, but both Murphy and Solstice have enjoyed a quiet friendship since about the time she first arrived at Cresting Waves. Whatever the connection, Murphy has been able to find a hot meal and King-sized bed at The Inn of Lost Hope whenever he's been in need.
Taran Tula: Pending.
Enemies
Yes, please
Character Inspirations
Romulus Ledbetter, The Caveman's Valentine
Czernobog, American Gods
Iorek Byrnison, His Dark Materials trilogy
Soundtrack
"Away with the Fairies" Inkubus Sukkubus
"Save Yourself" Stabbing Westward
"Hate You" King's X
"Bullet with Butterfly Wings" Smashing Pumpkins
"Hurt" Johnny Cash
Quotes
- Heh! He's a feisty one. And by feisty, I mean I want him at my side, not charging down my aim. Boy's an asskicker! And well, maaaaybe a good guy. Oh nah, screw that, he's better. He's a good Ogre!!! -- GB
- "Honey, no one may believe this but there isn't a more gentle soul than my brother Murphy... we may not have the same parents... but we understand each other in all the ways that count... He is the guy you don't call when your in jail.. because he is sitting right next to you, sweetie." Solanum Xanti
- "There are few whom I trust with my life. There are even fewer still that I would freely give my life to protect. Murphy is both." Solstice
Rumors
- Despite Murphy's gentle and kind demeanor, missing people are often encountered where ever the vagrant happens to be dwelling at the time. Suspicious glances are always cast in his direction.
- Murphy's melancholy is the result of some troubling news he has heard. He was the man on the phone with the girl at the turn of the millennium.
- The Bronze Star that hangs next to the sigil in the Cresting Waves freehold belongs to him as his token of his Pledge to protect those who dwell there. Various stories persist of how it was earned, though none agree on the exact details. He has never mentioned it himself, and when asked about this his voice trails off and he gets a faraway look in his eyes.
- Murphy belongs to an exclusive changelings-only fight club.
OOC: Darren Bogus
