Noman
From Changeling Venue
| Seeming | Mirrorskin Darkling |
|---|---|
| Court | Autumn Court ••••• |
| Freehold | |
| Player | Tug Brice |
Contents |
Overview
Real Name: Unremembered
Location: Cincinnati
Age:
Seeming: Mirrorskin
Kith: Darkling
Court: Autumn Court
Keeper: The Eraser of Boundries (Now deceased)
Virtue: Faith
Vice: Wrath
Concept: Shosuro Actor/Ninja from L5R
Description:
Mask: He's... average. Mousy brown hair, brown eyes, about 5'7", average weight. Nothing about him stands out very much. He seems to have been built to be unmemorable. He looks like everyman.
Mein: His mein also average height and average weight, but his face is blank. It has all the proper features, nose mouth, eyes, but absolutely nothing distingusing about them. He looks like a walking archtype of a person. The eye naturally looks over him. When he's nervous or scared, his features change slightly, as if he is unconsciously shifting his identity to protect himself.
Mannerisms: Noman seems to fade into the background. Even when speaking there's something in his mannerisms that doesn't want to draw attention to himself. When he's not working he tends to sit quietly and read or be near Miss Catherine. When he is working, he acts however he needs to. He is confident with his skills, even if he is not confident with anything else. He stares too much, often not blinking for minutes at a time. He often takes a long time to speak, as if the words have to come from a distance. He has a habit of studying people in detail.
Mantle: Noman's mantle is both strong and subtle. Any shadows that he contacts are deepened, growing darker than they should normally be. When outdoors, there is always a breeze blowing around him, usually scattering a few dead leaves around his feet, no matter the season. Anyone nearby also has the sense of terrifying anticipation, the feeling of the hairs at the back of their necks standing on end. When he works his contracts, this sense is heightened. While shadows don't actually form, all light is muted around him. If working a contract standing in shadows, those shadows become deepest black.
History
Noman was born Michael Smith. He had the perfect life. A great job as a therapist, a loving wife and a child on the way. All that changed one night when he was taken. He was running an errand to the store late at night when he heard a scream and saw something go streaking through the park. Without thinking, he parked the car and got out to see what it was. He walked through the archway into the park and found himself Elsewhere. He appeared to be in some sort of hedge maze, but he didn't know of any around the area. There was the baying of hounds in the distance, and a man walking toward him. He was at once the most beautiful and terrifying thing that Michael ever saw. He sat there frozen as the man walked closer, finally stopping before him. He smiled a cruel smile and said "Hello Michael." It was then that he blacked out. The next years of his life were a living hell. His Keeper drug him back to Faerie and proceeded to slowly break his mind. Noman was put through dreams that seemed real, reality that was dreamlike and moved back and forth between the two until he could no longer tell the difference. His Keeper destroyed his ability to know what was real and what was not.
Somewhere during this hellish ordeal, there was a struggle. Noman often had dreams of killing his Keeper. In some, he would actually make it to the other edge of the Hedge before his Keeper woke him with that cruel laughter. One day, he never woke up. He dreamed he killed his Keeper and ran into the Hedge before becoming hopelessly lost. At that point, Nujalik literally stumbled over him. He was curled up in a ball, fighting off one of the many panic attacks when she came tearing around the corner and tripped over his fetal form. With her help, he made it out of the Hedge, but once back in the real world, he was lost. He had no memories of home, no way to make a living, no concept of reality. For a while, he was just another homeless man. Then Miss Catherine found him. She brought him back from the brink, taught him how to be a part of society, both Lost and Mortal. She made him who he is. With her help, he became a functional individual again. Now he is totally devoted to her.
Noman still suspects he might be dreaming. He does not know if this is really happening and often believes that everything since his escape is a cruel experiment by his Keeper to break him down even further. Even after confessing these worries to Miss Catherine, they still continue to plague him.
Present
Noman is insane. After speaking with him for 5 minutes, this is patently obvious to most people. He is a functional individual, but that is a shell built up around a creature paralyzed with fear and doubt. His identity is mutable, to the point that he mantains multiple identities good enough to withstand a police investigation. He is totally dedicated to his Motley, and especially Miss Catherine. He would do quite literally ANYTHING for Miss Catherine.
Associations & Associates
Motley Mates
Catherine Wheel - Miss Catherine, guiding light and closest friend.
Dominic Jackson Hunter - The man who saved Miss Catherine, and so many others.
Paisley - Although we shared the same Keeper, I don't remember this strange little girl. Where he broke my sense of dream and reality, he broke her ability to tell pleasure from pain.
Evan Marshall Tudor - The Family's financier and enabler. This Fairest has connections to EVERYTHING.
Troll - This summer court ogre is the Family's enforcer. He's big, he's hard, but he's not too bright.
Alfred Drake - This Ogre is a fellow autumn courtier, and resident good guy. He does his best to keep the Family on the straight and narrow.
Friends and Companions
Elizabeth Ann Sexton - A young Elemental who he suspects could be his daughter.
Althea Sexton - Elizabeth's mother, and a redeeming influence.
Rufus Arrowny - A fellow Mirrorskin from whom Noman has learned so much.
Holly Poppet - This ball of sunshine often helps Noman acquire things he might not otherwise have access to.
People from the Past
Nujalik - The Beast who guided him through the Hedge.
Jack Sprat - Noman has crossed paths with this Beast several times before.
Lalita Das - Noman's ex and only girlfriend. The experience was both brief and informative.
Others
Christian - One of Miss Catherine's persistent suitors.
Uriel de Lenormand - The hand that holds Christian's leash.
Faith Thomas - The Fairest who runs the Crying Muse.
Associations
The Family - His motley. Closer than blood, tighter than chains, harder than steel.
Brotherhood of Midnight Ravens - While not publically known, Noman is a member of this modern day Thieves Guild. His talents at breaking and entering and infiltration are quite useful.
The Hellfire Club - Noman maintains distant relations with this group, mainly because he doesn't trust them and would cheerfully murder a significant portion of them. Keep your friends close...
Character Inspirations
Mr Vandemar and Mr Croup from Neverwhere.
The Scorpion Clan as a whole and the Shosuro family specifically from Legend of the Five Rings.
Quotes
"What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil." - Friedrich Nietzsche, Aphorism 153 Beyond Good and Evil.
"He's travelled so far beyond right and wrong he couldn't see them with a telescope on a clear night." - Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.
"Noman is my name, Noman do they call me--my mother and my father, and all my comrades as well." - Homer, The Odyssey.
Rumors
- Noman isn't the orignal name for this Lost. In fact, it's a name and personality his Motley made for him.
- His Keeper is dead, killed by Noman himself, although you would never get him to believe it.
- There appears to be some strange relationship between Noman and Elizabeth Ann Sexton, but neither of them know quite what to make of it.
- Noman's fetch is in jail, for some heinous crime.
- Noman is mildly retarded, and sometimes threatens people just to cover up for the fact that he has no idea what's going on.
- Noman is completely, incurably insane, and is kept on a leash by his motley when not working.
Approvals
Mantle 5: USA-EC-LC-0710-80122
