[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/230312/5900f571789037c5830e3fbce607377e.png[/img] [IMG]https://preview.redd.it/ai-generated-the-lord-of-the-rings-characters-in-anime-v0-2seaca2v587a1.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=4ed1c64c49c9c0e98bc86f8e91629256c0bf2420[/IMG][/center] [center][color=CC9466][h2]Character Description[/h2][/color][/center] [center][sub][color=fff79a]A series of fortunate events. [/color][/sub][/center] Maxwell Ander’s life can be summed up to a series of mostly fortunate accidents, starting with the boy accidentally consuming a devil fruit in his younger years. Fortunate being he managed to get himself into some decently powerful positions, at the cost of his anonymity and the constant need to make sure his moral compass doesn’t become compromised. The title of Rat King has a double meaning. The first being that Maxwell has a rather close relationship with the island’s rodents, as well as a strange love of cheese, a side effect of the fruit? Who knows. Rats and mice are generally his biggest source of information as well as his source of wealth. The second meaning refers more to his informant position on the island. The “Rat” refers to his tendency to turn people in. As a child who grew up on Pol Stictid he saw nothing wrong with how the island was run. It was normal to him. Then, when the boy accidentally ended up within the ranks of a Pirate crew shortly after consuming his Devil Fruit he saw how the rest of the world worked. He saw the kindness of other people and realized things were different. However, the quite hefty bounty on his crew’s heads Maxwell often found himself a target to those wishing to put an end to Brutos’ run. As a result he is now unable to leave Pol Stictid, being forced to remain on the Island as the crew didn’t want to risk him getting captured. [center][color=CC9466][h2]Character Goals[/h2][/color][/center] Within any corrupt or outright lawless organization or civilization there are always people who are just trying to make it. There are those who maintain a solid moral compass while working under not so moral circumstances. Maxwell is one of these people. He is simply trying to get by while not compromising his own morals. Having a “good” character who more or less got themselves accidentally mixed in with some less than savory situations hopefully provide a new lens to view said situations from. As well as the hijinks of Rats bringing him random things that may or may not get him into some rather sticky situations. I want to explore how a goofy, accidentally lucky guy rides the line of keeping his morals straight while also maintaining the, admittedly comfy, lifestyle he got for himself. The moral dilemmas one might face in a relatively lawless, anti-government society, while being fully aware that the system he is used to is flawed and corrupt. [center][color=CC9466][h2]Character Notes:[/h2][/color][/center] [color=fff79a]Organization:[/color] The Saw-Tooth Pirates (Operates off of Pol Stictid) [color=fff79a]Position:[/color] Informant [color=fff79a]Starting Sea:[/color] South Blue [color=fff79a]Devil Fruit:[/color] [url=https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Hiso_Hiso_no_Mi]Whisper-Whisper Fruit[/url] This fruit allows the user the ability to “speak” telepathically to animals. Though it does not allow him control over them he gets by just fine by bribing them to do tasks for him with food. [center][color=CC9466][h2]Relations and character related NPCs[/h2][/color][/center] [hider=Captain Brutos] [center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/82/ee/b1/82eeb1fd9795183724a2a8a6905bb1b2.jpg[/img][/center] Captain of the Saw-Tooth Pirates and Maxwell’s current boss. A brutal fishman with no regard for anything other than his own power and wealth. His crew are tools for his goals, acceptable sacrifices, and fodder with the exception of Maxwell, whom Brutos still views as a tool but one that is too valuable to lose. He and his crew are prominent in the human trafficking scene as Brutos feels it's the most lucrative "trade". Bounty: 67 million beri[/hider] [center][color=CC9466][h2]Sample Post[/h2][/color][/center] Maxwell could not fathom how he had mistaken a devil fruit for a wheel of cheese but it seemed somehow, he had. Where had the thing even come from? He honestly had no clue. Things just seemed to happen to him. The amount of times strange things, or good fortune happened to fall into his lap was staggering. He had yet to determine if this was strange, good fortune or both. All he knew is he was now staring at a rat who had told him not to step on it while he was walking through the cargo hold of his crew's ship. [color=CC9466]"Did you just… talk to me?"[/color] He questioned leaning closer to the seemingly cornered rodent. Its little body heaving from its heavy breathing. [color=fff79a]"You understand me?"[/color] The high pitch voice squeaked back in the brunette's head. Both creatures blinked, though the rat did so at a faster rate than Max did. [color=CC9466]"I...I think so..."[/color] Maxwell sat down, forgetting the reason he had come down here in the first place. The rat remained in its place though seemed less apprehensive now that the human was seated. Both seemed to stare at each other for a long time before the rodent broke the silence. [color=fff79a]"Well...I...I go now."[/color] It said before scurrying off to somewhere Maxwell could no longer see it. The male sat there for several more minutes processing this information before eventually remembering he had come down here to grab some vegetables for the ship's cook. [center][h3]Some weeks later[/h3][/center] Maxwell spent the following weeks after his discovery communicating with the ship's rodent residents. He hadn't noticed how many were aboard the ship until he could start talking to them. The number would have been alarming if he hadn't been distracted with the fact that he could now talk to them. Which had become less of an odd fact to him as the weeks passed. Each rat had their own personality and even had their own self given names. It had taken a while for him to build trust with the rodents, but by now he could get them to do small tasks for him if he simply promised food. Most of these tasks needed to be done at night when the crew was sleeping to avoid detection. There had been a lot of trial and error so Maxwell ended up with many of the other crew member's personal belongings. Something he kept to himself as explaining how he ended up with them was not something he wanted to do. They would likely throw him overboard for being some sort of loon. So now the crew was convinced the ship was haunted, the missing belongings on top of the mysterious shuffling and scratching at night had many of them spooked. So much so that when they docked a day ago everyone left the ship, leaving Maxwell and his rats alone. The fact that none had come back yet was concerning to say the least. Maxwell had requested that many of the ship's resident rats leave the ship in search of his crew, concerned they might have been captured by marines. However, all the rats he sent out came back with no news on his shipmates. It was as if they had vanished. [color=CC9466]"You don't think they were so scared that they just abandoned the ship do you?"[/color] He questioned one of the rats that had stayed behind. He simply received an unsure squeak back. [color=fff79a]"If they did leave, that means the ship belongs to you now."[/color] Replied another, seeming relieved that it didn't have to sneak around, at least for now. Maxwell waited a few more days, sending rats out periodically to check around before finally deciding that his former crew had quite literally abandoned the ship. He hadn't meant to spook them but such was the way of Maxwell's luck. Strange, and or extreamly lucky things always seemed to simply fall into his lap. [center][color=CC9466]Post Directory[/color][/center] [hider=The Shark and the Rat] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5442938/raw]-Episode 1[/url][/hider]