[hider=Sagax Speculatus]
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[sub][h2]Sagax Speculatus[/h2][/sub]
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5'6" | 178 lb | 29 Years Old

Male | Imperial | The Tower
SPEED | agility

Imperial City, Cyrodiil
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[sub][h2][b]P[/b]rofile[/h2][/sub]
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[b]§ [u] Appearance   [/u][/b] 

[indent]Sagax is hardly an imposing figure, standing slightly shorter than your average Imperial with quite narrow shoulders and emerald eyes. He is thin enough that several people have given him worried glances, while in truth, he simply only eats what he absolutely must which leaves little meat to build on his bones; surviving on nothing during his teen years has given him the habit of rationing every morsel he has, though his experience with scaling walls and buildings gives him a little bit of visible muscle. Sagax's hair is near back to its original length, but now wears it in a short ponytail mimicking the fashions of nobility. He is also finally the proud owner of slight stubble. The man's body is littered with cuts, scars and smudges, and as of the siege of Windhelm, streaking burn marks over his arms and his upper body, reaching onto his neck slightly. Sagax accumulated the rest of his injuries from screwing up and losing his footing during deliveries and missing a grab when climbing in his childhood, getting into scuffs with animals making a bid for the same food as him, and other such mundane activities.[/indent]

[b]§ [u] Motivations and Outlook   [/u][/b]

[indent]Sagax is a very passive and agreeable fellow, the kind of man who would rather be at the sidelines instead of in everyone's face. He enjoys listening to the stories of his comrades and adventurers who pass him by, despite how true they may be, and will very seldom interrupt a good tale. He believes that there is always more to see in the world, and that is what drives him and keeps him hopeful for that one day that will grant him the power to free his father and give his family a better life.

Sagax is not a man that is easily angered, though that no longer entails being prone to inaction. He will respond to threats against the innocent and his family with swift, overwhelming force. He is still a hard nut to crack emotionally, but those that are more perceptive will notice his trademark grin has vanished. Sagax still trusts readily, but not quite so easily as he used to, and has begun to speak less and less, preferring to be with himself and his own thoughts if possible. This does not mean, however, that he is entirely walled off to good conversation.

He will sometimes offer solutions to problems that crop up, and will more often than not lean toward the path of least bloodshed. For this, he used to be called "milk drinker" in some circles of the company, but no more. His various exploits have earned him a hardened reputation. Or perhaps they're simply afraid he'll toss a bomb at them.[/indent]

[b]§ [u] Background   [/u][/b]

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[hider=I was a kid running messages...][indent]Sagax was born a full-blooded Imperial on the seventh of First Seed 4E 176 in the capital city to a dockworker and a guard captain living in the Elven Gardens District. His name had no distinct connection to what he was like as a very young child, but his parents were both very proud of their Imperial roots, and also believed that people would grow live up to the meanings of their names in adulthood, so Sagax supposes that they chose the name because they liked the idea of a "keen", energetic son. When he was three years old, on the twenty-eighth of Rain's Hand, Sagax's mother, Equa, gave birth to a second child; specifically, a daughter. Little Piper and Sagax became inseparable over the years, much to the joy(and relief) of their parents. Without any real sibling rivalry happening, Equa and Caius, Sagax and Piper's father, could work knowing that everything would still be relatively the same by the time they got home. Not that the two would stay in the house, though. In fact, by the time that Sagax and Piper were ten and seven respectively, it would be rare not to find them wandering the city.

Sagax enjoyed scaling the many buildings in the districts, and would sometimes feign a slip to scare Piper. He learned to stop those shenanigans when Piper began tossing rocks near him, but never quite hitting her target, whenever she thought Sagax was faking a slip, prompting him to latch back on to whatever ledge he was gripping whether he was going to or not. Piper would always ask around the market district or the docks if she could help out in any way, often conscripting Sagax as well, not that he really minded; he hated having nothing to do. Their main odd jobs usually consisted of package-running for the merchants or putting up advertisement posters for their shops. Sagax was easily the faster of the two, but also easily distracted, always stopping for something before being pushed back on track by Piper. She was always timely and organized in stark contrast to her almost bumbling brother; if not for Piper, Sagax wouldn't have gotten anything done at all. Their differences is what made their bond stronger though, both realizing that the other had skills that they didn't. Piper and Sagax could work in perfect tandem, always getting their jobs done, albeit not always in the efficient manner that Piper would have preferred.

At thirteen, Sagax's father decided that it was time to teach him how to use a blade. Caius deeply wanted Sagax to carry on the family ways, serving the empire and its people faithfully, and prepared his son by tutoring him in the art of combat early. It took only two lessons for Piper, who before then had simply watched, to haughtily announce that she could learn to use swords just as well as Sagax, and demanded that she be allowed to participate. Equa protested initially, worried for her daughter's safety, but soon gave in to Caius's reassurances that Piper would be perfectly fine, and that such tutoring would be very useful to her. Piper took well to what her father taught her, quickly catching up to Sagax in skill, but it wasn't until Caius permitted Sagax and Piper to spar together that Piper was able to display her greater prowess. Piper, while not as quick as Sagax, could maneuver herself much better and could land more strikes. Sagax's abilities lied more with dodging and parrying, and he simply couldn't get the timing down for actually swinging and landing a hit. Whenever he went to strike, Piper would smack his blade to the side and counter-attack, but sometimes if he could feint correctly Sagax could cause Piper to lose her balance. Despite their respective shortcomings, Caius was quite pleased with Sagax and Piper's capabilities, and truly believed that they could become masters if they kept with their training. These sessions continued for a few years, and the children would sometimes spar on their own, slowly but steadily increasing their skill over time.

Life was normal, if not happy, for the next five or so years, but only a month after Piper's fifteenth birthday, the Speculatus family was ripped apart. A riot had broken out in the slums over the guards being directly ordered to collect on the taxes of the disenfranchised that lived there. Caius was called to calm the situation and appease the angry crowd, but it only went horribly wrong from there. The mob began attacking the guards surrounding the perimeter, and Caius gave the order to form up and push them back. Instead, some of the guards openly retaliated, and the situation escalated incredibly quickly, with Caius losing control of his men. He shouted to back down but few listened, and what was meant to be a containment procedure turned into a slaughter, with several dead and others sustaining heavy injuries.

Under heavy pressure by the council and the press, the shamed guard captain faced a disciplinary hearing ending with him being stripped of his rank and sentenced to death. The press spun the story to be that Caius had ordered the attack on the mob when confronted peacefully, shattering the reputation of the Speculatus family and causing several good friends of the family to fall out. Even those that believed Caius to be innocent and knew the story feared retribution if they dared to continue to cohort with the Speculatus family, and left them to their own devices. Equa was fired from her job as a dockworker, though it was mostly for her own safety given the proximity of the port to the slums, and had then received an eviction letter a day later, a sort of covert way for those in the slums to feel as though they had achieved some kind of retribution and making them complacent. Equa, Sagax, and Piper were left with no income, no home, and very few friends. No one would let them live in their homes, nor did they dare go to the slums to seek refuge. They spent the following years living in the sewers and on the outskirts of the city surviving on rat and mudcrab meat and water from the lake.

It was during these years living in the sewers that required Sagax to learn the art of lockpicking, while Piper killed rats with whatever rusty piece of junk she could find that could even conceivably be used as a weapon, being the more combat-proficient of the group. He had a very rough beginning, with the only source of lockpicks coming from the rare ones that dropped through the sewer grates above them, lost by their unscrupulous owners passing by, and a source that was quite suspect to Sagax: Neat groupings of two to three lockpicks that were too conveniently placed to have been dropped unknowingly that found their way to the grate that Sagax and Piper used to get topside. Sagax was relived to know that the Speculatus family still had allies, though he did not know who. He suspected some of his father's old friends, or perhaps even the Thieves Guild. Regardless of whoever these friends were, Sagax was grateful, and he set out practicing immediately. Throughout the sewers Sagax found ancient wooden trunks left by their owners to one day recollect, but had obviously been forgotten. Most of them had simply had their lids smashed open to get the goods inside, leaving the locks untouched, and even the ones that were intact had only a few gold pieces and nothing more, but it was still good practice. It took him almost a year to get the craft down, breaking many lockpicks in the process, but Sagax finally had enough skill to warrant being confident. He began his first foray into outright thievery at nineteen, using the sewer entrances to the shops above to acquire things his family would need below. He felt ashamed, having to resort to crime to stay afloat, and hypothetical scenes of his father's words played in his mind, but deep down he knew that it had to be this way. He knew that the merchants above wouldn't deal with him directly, nor did he have anything to barter with. Sagax took only what he had to, mostly loaves of bread and the odd cure disease potion, ensuring that his activities went mostly unnoticed. His only major theft was an iron longsword for Piper, and from what Sagax heard it went reported but the guards gave merely a half-hearted investigation, only checking the main entrance to the sewers and going no further before turning back. He didn't know if the guards were just lazy or if they were intentionally turning a blind eye, but the only thing that mattered to him was that his mother and sister were safe and that Piper finally had a real weapon to use.

Sagax's "spree" went on for six years until he was actually caught. He had snuck into the local potions shop to find a healing potion, as Piper had sustained quite a large gash from a mudcrab's pincers, where the owner, an altmer woman named Varulae Saderin, was waiting for him. She had hid on the staircase, a wall separating it from the rest of the room, and announced her presence as Sagax was half way way back to the sewers. Varulae implored Sagax to stay a moment, and said that she simply wanted to talk to him. Sagax stood close by to the sewer entrance, hand to the knob, but listened out of curiosity, wondering what scathing words were about to be flung this way. To his great surprise, Varulae was very sympathetic to Sagax and his family, and revealed many others were as well. She explained that many of the Speculatus family's allies were too afraid to intervene in the sentencing of Caius, fearful of being lambasted and outcasted. Most people simply followed the story that the papers wrote, and believed that Caius ordered the attack on the slums, leaving the rest to suffer the effects of rather violent peer pressure. She speculated that the council had a hand in how the story was reported, and wanted to appear as though they took a hard stance against corruption in the Imperial City watch and dealt with the root of the problem. As the years passed, however, tension had died down and the incident was hardly more than a bitter memory to most. Now, those loyal to the family were fully willing to assist them, and Varulae even insisted that Sagax and his sister and mother stay with her in the upstairs quarters. Sagax, extremely grateful for the offer, accepted, to the joy of the jovial high elf. He fetched Piper and Equa and Varulae led them upstairs, where a guest room was available.

Too small for all three of them, Sagax offered to clear out some space in the cellar and stay there, but Piper angrily protested, mostly stung with pride and love for her brother hearing him offering to sleep in some cold, dark basement while she and mother stayed upstairs comfortably in actual beds. They eventually compromised: They would all sleep in the same room despite the crampedness, but since the room was too small for three beds, a small mat would be placed in the middle of the room where one of the two of them(neither Piper nor Sagax would hear a word of their mother offering to give up her bed) would swap places and sleep every other night. Sagax insisted that Piper be the first person in the rotation to sleep on the bed under the reasoning that she had been far more active, hunting rats and mudcrubs, so she needed more restful sleep. She begrudgingly complied, but only after heavily inspecting Sagax's bedding, ensuring that he would just as comfortable as she would be sleeping in the bed. As much as she loved the stubborn bastard, Sagax's tendency to give up certain comforts out of some misguided sense of self sacrifice even though he could easily have them just as she and mother did greatly irritated Piper, and Sagax knew this. It was fun to see her get mad sometimes, though.

Under the employment of Varulae, Sagax found himself in the exact same position as he was several years ago, being a messenger and delivery boy, though Equa and Piper went through some pleasant changes in employment. Piper started offering herself as a shop guard to any merchant who would have her, and their mother took up Varulae's craft to assist her in the business. Of course, much to Piper's frustration(and Sagax's endless amusement), Sagax refused most pay, only accepting compensation for significantly laborious or dangerous tasks, which did not come often. For the most part though, the remaining family enjoyed a stable living. This, though, was not enough for Sagax. Not only did he wish for his sister and mother to be able to live comfortably in a home they could call their own with friends to call upon in their time of need, he also recieved a very interesting bit of news: Caius had not yet been executed. According to Varulae and some local guards, Caius's execution had been postponed several times, as, to quote the council, there were "much more pressing matters to attend to". Sagax had formed a plan. A very long plan with an admittedly low chance of success, but it was a plan. Sagax bided his time until he was of twenty-nine years, where at that point he had been able to save up enough gold from the jobs he'd take pay from to acquire armor and other supplies.

It was a very abrupt announcement in the early morning, before everyone had set out to do their duties. He was going become a mercenary, and earn his fortune among a capable company and earn fame throughout Tamriel. He was going to become a man of the people and rebuild the Speculatus family's reputation. He would eventually do something so great, so significant, that the council would then grant him any desire. On that day, Sagax would demand the release of Caius Speculatus, and bring the Speculatus family back together once more. Piper told how that he sounded like a raving madman, but Sagax cheerfully declared that he WOULD return, and he would free his father from his false imprisonment. He would hear no opposition to his plans, and even went so far as to acquire his gear the day before. The group spent the next two hours arguing back and forth, but Sagax simply would not give. Knowing that nothing would dissuade Sagax, Piper and Equa both said their goodbyes. It was a heartfelt and tearful event, though Piper tried her damndest to hide hers. Varulae wished Sagax great fortune and gave him several healing potions and one very potent concoction: a potion of invisibility. She very sternly "suggested" he take it as a last-second ace in the hole, so Sagax gracefully accepted knowing full well that the high elf would not take "no" for an answer.

Sagax heard rumors of a group hiring at Markarth in the northern province of Skyrim. It sounded promising, so that is exactly where he headed, and is with the company still.[/indent][/hider]

[hider=What makes me a good Demoman?][indent]Since being with Ashav's company, Sagax has done some...questionable things. No not murder or anything like that, but things that might make you question just how smart of a man he is. During the siege of Windhelm, Sagax had forgotten his bag in a warehouse on the docks, but they had already been overrun by the Kamal. So what did he do? He scaled the walls in the dead of night, snuck into the warehouse and retrieved his possessions. Using a potion of invisibility, the Imperial made his way back out and scaled the wall again even as the Kamal fired ice spikes at him. If not for a friendly guard that had been watching his back, Sagax probably would have bitten the dirt right then and there. Now as if that weren't dumb enough, just a few hours later him and his friend Roze offered themselves as bomb-runners to Ashav. He agreed, handing them each an arcane charge which they were to use against the nearest docked Kamal ship. The ship received significant damage, but so did the two runners. Roze had been pierced by a wood splinter from the frigate while Sagax suffered severe burns and most likely a good bit of head trauma, not to mention the mental they both suffered.

Oh, you thought that was it? That Sagax decided enough was enough and vowed never to be so reckless again? No no no, that was but the beginning. After rescuing the mages trapped in the College of Winterhold, the company sought shelter in a cave on their way back to Dawnstar. A cave that had been claimed by none other than a colony of Falmer. When a chaurus decided it fancied Do'Karth as its meal, Sagax jumped onto its back and drove his blade deep into the insect's chitin plating, prying it away until his foe retreated, screeching all the way.

Not long after, Roze and Sagax were once again handed a bundle of arcane charges and given the mission to sabotage a Kamal slave vessel that had intercepted them as they sailed back to Dawnstar from Bthamz. Using potions of resist cold and their own agility, the two infiltrated the engine room and blew the sucker to bits, shredding the hull and sinking the frigate with great prejudice. At the very least, that bombing run went much better than the last.[/indent][/hider]

[hider=Songs of Salt and Suffering][indent]Tmeip'r. That stupid, overgrown garden snail. If he could, Sagax would drag his fat ass back out of wherever he went after he died just to kill him again. And then he'd repeat that for a good few days. Sagax's shortsword measures to about twenty inches in length. If the smith that forged it muttered the word "hate" for each strike of their hammer, for every quenching, for every moment spent honing its edges, it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate he feels for Tmepi'r. 

The only solace Sagax could find in Roze's death was that it was instant and painless. There was no pointless, unjust suffering. His woes would not end there, as near as soon as they docked, Do'Karth fled the company in the dead of night, leaving Sevine a broken husk of the woman she was before. Then, during the banquet, Tsleeixth was stolen from the company as well at the hand of the vampire Nyrehtaud.

Sagax killed an innocent woman during the riot at the banquet, and he feels only the barest of remorse. She tried to kill him after all, and so his counterattack was justified he tells himself. Even now, onward to Wayrest, Sagax can feel himself slipping. He is running out of friends. Running out of patience. Running out of faith. At this point, his only anchor is Piper.[/indent][/hider]
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[sub][h2][b]C[/b]apabilities[/h2][/sub]
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[b]§ [u] Skills   [/u][/b] 

[indent]Expert: Acrobatics
Adept: Athletics, One-Handed Blade
Apprentice: Legerdemain, Communication, Sneak
Novice:Light Armor, Alchemy, Medium Armor[/indent]

[b]§ [u] Flaws   [/u][/b]

[indent]Sagax is physically frail due to his time in poverty. He had not much to eat and often times the lake water would make him ill, weakening his body over time, so he cannot take much punishment.
    
Does not work well under pressure - In extreme circumstances, Sagax is liable to break lockpicks, fumble a grab during an escape, or alert an enemy to his location accidentally, amongst other things.[/indent]

[b]§ [u] Spells   [/u][/b]

[indent]None[/indent]

[b]§ [u] Tactics   [/u][/b] 

[indent]When he must fight, Sagax uses the secret art of going very very fast to wear down his opponent before striking with quick thrusts and slices. He is also able to easily outmaneuver most foes, be that by dashing around them or scaling obstacles to gain a height advantage. He is also quite good at parrying with his blade.[/indent]

[b]§ [u] Relations & Affiliations   [/u][/b]

[indent]Equa Speculatus - Mother
Caius Speculatus - Father
Piper Speculatus - Sister
Varulae - Family friend[/indent]

[b]§ [u] Opinions   [/u][/b]

[indent]TBW[/indent]

[b]§ [u] Crimes and Accomplishments   [/u][/b]

[indent]Crimes: Petty thievery
Crimes/Accomplishments: Not dying when he really should have[/indent] 

[b]§ [u] Other   [/u][/b]

[indent]Despite being weak physically, his stamina is almost boundless, and is very quick on his feet. Sagax particularly loves the cold Skyrim wind against his body as he sprints to his destination, giving him a bit of extra energy on those longer journeys.[/indent] 
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[sub][h2][b]I[/b]nventory[/h2][/sub]
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[b]§ [u] Cash & Valuables  [/u][/b]
30 gold coins
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[b]§ [u] Keys & Lockpicks  [/u][/b]
Ten lockpicks, all placed on his belt like decorations.
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[b]§ [u] Tools & Crafting Materials  [/u][/b]
None
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[b]§ [u] Clothing, Armor & Jewelry  [/u][/b]
Over his new plain white cotton shirt is a leather cuirass made of hardened, layered leather, with a hem of chainmail that drapes from his waist to just above his knees. Atop the cuirass rests a set of leather pauldrons of the same make, covering Sagax's shoulders and part of his upper arms. Replacing his old wool kneeguards are a pair of hard leather greaves, wrapping around his calves and part of his thighs, with brown cotton trousers below. His footwear consists of hard leather boots, made to resist all manner of weather conditions, and his gloves are made of more flexible leather and have rough palms and fingers, perfect for acquiring and maintaining a grip on several surfaces. The Imperial can sometimes be seen wearing a hooded fur cloak that drapes around him and reaches below his hips.
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[b]§ [u] Weapon & Ammo  [/u][/b]
Steel short sword, Dwarven dagger
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[b]§ [u] Potion & Arcane Supplies  [/u][/b]
Two healing potions and a magicka potion
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[b]§ [u] Books & Documents  [/u][/b]
Several letters addressed to him from his mother and sister and friends in the Imperial City.
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[b]§ [u] Consumables & Ingredients  [/u][/b]
Three portions of hardtack and a canteen of water
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[b]§ [u] Bags & Containers  [/u][/b]
One bag which is sectioned for convenience and holds most of his things and two pouches strapped to his waist.
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[b]§ [u] Other  [/u][/b]
A basic fire starting kit, a fur bedroll, an inkwell and quill, a bundle of four sheets of parchment, a roll of cotton used as a pillow and a salvaged Dwemer gyro.
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