Refuge (Unicorn)

[Refuge]

=Information=
Name: Refuge
Species: Unicorn
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Occupation: Criminal
Likes: Surviving, money, moments that feel normal, alliance
Dislikes: Devoted law enforcement, failing to help allies
Special Talent: Leaving no trace
Minor Talents: Breaking and entering, delicate telekinesis
Alignment: Neutral (though frequents the Undercity)


=Appearance=
Height: 4’1”
Coat Color: Light blue.
Mane/Tail Color: Dark Blue
Eye color: Green
Cutie/Glyph Mark: A glass and a puddle of spilled red wine; half of it fades into his coat colour, outlined by a dotted line.


Picture:


=Bio=
Personality: The pony currently known as Refuge is, in a few words, crude but effective. This shows both in his work (where he accomplishes his task quickly, and one way or another leaving little if anything behind to lead to himself; usually preferring to make locating or identifying him difficult rather than hiding the actual crime, unless the situation calls for it) and in his interactions with others (very informal manner of speech, and when he’s not leading the conversation towards a destination that benefits him, like a job or an alliance, he’s often making jokes).


Despite, or perhaps because of his lifestyle, he finds ideas of having a real ally to be loyal to or experiencing moments that would be normal to a normal pony to be luxuries: Things he wouldn’t strictly require for living nor necessarily experience them often if ever, surely, but things he very greatly desires to have. Because of this and his intention to build a life rather than simply survive in Manehattan, he would not willingly let an ally down; if he takes a task, he will either see it through by his own merit or, failing that, find someone capable of the task pro bono.


Having failed to achieve a decent formal education throughout his life, he is practically illiterate and his skill with mathematics is limited to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; he has not been formally taught in other fields, though this is not to say he hasn’t found his own pieces of knowledge through his life.


History: Refuge, birth name Faint Whisper, was the youngest foal of a poor family living below Canterlot, unable to find residence in the city within their meager budget, and living off the land. The nearest school was quite a while from home; as such, Faint would only be able to attend school infrequently, and his level of formal education suffered from it; his literacy, numeracy, and arcane abilities were only taught to a basic level in addition to what he could learn by himself through the years.


He was still a youth when Canterlot fell to the Griffon invasion; his father, fearful for his childrens’ safeties, sent them off to seek a better place to be protected from harm.


Within the village Faint himself had been sent to, he found ponies willing to share their food, but suspicious of why he may have been sent from home; surely family would be the place to be for a colt to grow safely, especially in wartime? Panicking, he latched on to a word the villagers had described him as while hypothesizing his circumstances: Naming himself Latchkey, he found that with a few more deceptions regarding his past, he could gain the sympathy of those around him. Living off of their food donated to him, he became greedy; eventually sneaking into homes and making off with some of the items inside.


It wasn’t long before this not only became obviously his doing, however well he covered his tracks, but also for it to be too much of a strain on the villagers for them to tolerate it any longer. Casting him out of the village, he set off again to find shelter elsewhere.


Worried that word of his antics might have been sent ahead, he once again crafted a new alias, and resolved to learn from the mistakes he’d made last time. This time, he named himself Shadowstep, mostly because he thought it sounded cool (he was, at the time, a young colt) and he could justify it as ‘Guiding others through the dark’; and rather than regularly stealing, he would supplement his resources by spending with bits earned from banditry.


This stint ended when nopony listened or believed his justification for the name, and realized the colt named Shadowstep was probably responsible for the thefts and muggings.


His next identity, which he maintained for several years, was Vanish: A pony suited to making things less than apparent, having earned his Cutie Mark from removing stains; and helpfully volunteering to assist the village any way he could. This time, he was far more cautious; he built up his identity within the village for weeks before even attempting to steal anything, and made sure to carefully manage and develop his talents for theft and banditry.


Years spent learning to lockpick with minimal signs of any tampering; managing to use telekinesis for delicate tasks; ensuring that in any of his illegal activities, he remained unseen; learning to hold a weapon and use it to threaten and attack; and changing his town and his name and doing it all again as necessary, even into the years when Equestria completely fell under Griffon rule.


Finally, he made his way to Manehattan. With no idea what towns he’d already left behind, he saw the larger city as an opportunity to stop moving for a while. A large city like that, after all, would be far easier to find places to hide in, opportunities; maybe even use his talents for pay.


‘Refuge’, he could call himself here. Refuge, a place he might have found; Refuge, which he could find in permanent allies and they could find in him; Refuge in audacity, or in being unseen by his targets, two of his favorite tactics. Refuge, then, would be his name.


And so he set off.


Special Skills/Abilities/Spells Descriptions:
Telekinesis: Given both the way he’s chosen to apply his special talent of leaving no trace, as well as years of using his telekinesis for lockpicking, his telekinesis has developed to be well controlled; while not able to lift any extraordinary weight, he is able to use it for delicate tasks, primarily lockpicking.
However, Refuge lacks the knowledge to cast any spell besides Telekinesis.


Personal Timeline: Morning, December 5, Confrontation over Coin

[Steel Strike]

Approved