William Larracin

William "Larky" Larracin is a Machinist of the Guild of the nation of Marratain, and a member of the Order.

Information
Role-player: ShadowSpectre

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Species: Human

Identity: Machinist

Appearance
Of average height, Larky appears to be an intimidatingly built character in his full gear; warhammer and short blade at his side, both of which are jet black, enrobed in a black and blue-grey hooded outfit. He owns a full-face carnival mask made from blue-grey steel which he usually only wears during ceremonies.

Hood down and mask off, Larky's asymmetric smile dominates. It's a mixture of arrogance, confidence and genuine friendliness, a peculiar combination that works to irritate people and enthrall them at the same time. His short black hair is loose but thick, framing bright, hazel eyes and rounded cheekbones, giving him a remarkably happy appearance, despite how gaunt he is. A slightly crooked nose and mildly tanned skin set the scene for the remarkable colours of his face; his eyes are sunken, with skin darker still framing them and he has a few worn lines on his forehead. He has the slightest slouch, rounding his broad shoulders and muscled frame. It is said that he has a prosthetic limb, but nobody is ever sure which of the four it might be.

Background
William Larracin was born to Jacqueline Larracin and Mortimer Kilner near the northwest shores of Marratain. Jacqueline died a few years after Larky was born, taken by an infection that she contracted due to complications from William's birth and spent several years fighting before finally succumbing to illness. In that time, however, she managed to teach William how to read, write and started to teach him mathematics, from her own career as a Machinist. Mortimer was a carpenter, and after Jacqueline died, he did as much as he could to raise William in a way that his mother would have wanted. As a result, William was remarkably adept at design and building small scale models by the time he reached the age of eleven, old enough to enrol for the examinations for Marratain's Guilds. It was found that he was a rare specimen who was both naturally talented at particular forms of magic (relating to physical strength) and intellectually proficient enough to be a Machinist. Without question, William joined the Machinists. Making plenty of fast friends and maintaining strong relationships with the more skilled Machinists, he was very quick to be recommended to the Order, and he joined the force when he reached the age of sixteen.

Twelve years passed and he rose through the ranks comfortably. His negotiation skills were not inconsiderable, and his sharp wit and comprehensive understanding helped him in undertaking delicate matters in ambassadorial roles when necessary. His combat skills were surprisingly effective, too; other Order members suggested that his natural magical talent translated into actual physical prowess regardless of whether or not he chose to pursue the study of magic. He was therefore subjected to a quiet investigation, but there was no evidence of magical practice found, and rumours quickly died out: nobody really believed it, and now it was confirmed that the possibility was highly unlikely.

Larky's main interests as a Machinist were to understand things. Unlike many of his peers, he spent a lot of time studying alongside the non-machinist scientists of the time, learning what he could about biology, medicine, physics and chemistry. He helped to spread a wider understanding of mechanics with his work, and when in the Order, he translated that into map-to-terrain theory, applying it well to become a highly effective agent in the field.

Equipment
Fond of stealth as a method of intimidation, Larky has a reputation in the criminal underworld for being a nightmare given form. One of his favourite devices is his grapple launcher, designed to allow him to traverse heights with ease, fashioned from a flintlock pistol's body and an electromagnet, firing a rope with metal wiring distances up to twenty metres away. Larky's grapple launcher uses a standard grappling hook, making traversal in areas with few ledges impractical, but he is prepared to climb manually instead, being fond of bouldering in his spare time.

Larky's other equipment is also slightly peculiar. He has a caplock pistol, as is common amongst the Machinists of Marratain, but he also uses a larger, longer caplock weapon with a barrel not too similar to the pistol. The peculiar difference is that the inside of the barrel is scored with a loose internal thread, allowing a more accurate shot further away, up to 300 metres, rather than the nine or ten that a pistol offers. The downside of such a weapon is that it takes a lot longer to load than pistols, but Larky's decision to use stealth more often than combat means that normally, a single shot is all that's needed to stir the hornets' nest and he would normally have other contingencies in place from then onwards. While he doesn't favour close combat, he isn't incapable of defending himself. On the contrary, his above average strength lends to a more confident fighting style. His weapon of choice is a shortsword made from a steel alloy which he often enjoys burnishing and seasoning, giving it a little more punch against armour. He does use a second weapon, a fearsome warhammer or, less commonly, a sword, but he normally avoids carrying such a weapon around as it weighs him down somewhat, something he cannot afford when on missions where he would be intimidating without directly confronting the opposition, even with his strength. For the same reason, Larky wears light armour made from ringmail sandwiched between two thin plates of leather.

He also has the standard Machinist equipment toolkit and sensor, as well as the Order radio, though he tends to leave it switched off a lot.