Hank — Roleplayer Guild

Name: Professor Thaddeus Hower. 
Age: Sixty-seven.
Gender: Male.
Former Occupation: Author of several accessible "popular science" novels; professor in Roman & Hellenistic Philosophy; frequent honorary guest speaker. 
Height: 6'1".
Weight: 150 pounds.
Scars/Tattoos/Other: Other than a few old nicks and cuts here and there, the only scar Thaddeus has is a sickle-shaped incision immediately below his left kneecap from semi-recent surgery (two years ago). He has no tattoos. 

Appearance: Lik all old men, Thaddeus stoops slightly. His strikingly blue eyes, full of warmth, pierce from above the rim of a pair of reading glasses, perched on his nose. Creases and wrinkles line his skin, some from age, others from smiling. Smooth, pianist's hands; no callouses. He still sports a head full of gray hair, and his chin is covered with pepper-and-salt stubble; a little silver at the temples is starting to show. He has clean, straight teeth, but they are not as white as they used to be. Thaddeus is usually dressed in simple sweaters and pants; grayscale and drab colors. He wears leather men's shoes and a heavy, sombre watchpiece ticking away the time. He is in every way the image of the old scholar. 

Past Affiliates: Thaddeus used to be a husband and a father of two; his wife was slain by the virus, and his adult children both moved to Europe a few years ago. He has not heard from them since the outbreak. 

He grew up in a large household and had many brothers and sisters. Some of them had passed away already, but others were still alive at the time of the outbreak. They used to stay in regular contact, but Thaddeus has not heard from them either. He suspects most of them are dead. 

Current Affiliates: In lieau of his own family, Thaddeus has become the caretaker of a five-year-old girl named Sarah who was orphaned by the virus. Her parents were family friends; Thaddeus has known Sarah for all of her life. She trusts him unconditionally, but is very distraught by the death of her parents. Thaddeus does his best to distract her from this fact and finds therapeutic catharsis in doing so. She is bright and compassionate, and Thaddeus is immensely fond of her. 

Skills: When it comes to practical skills, Thaddeus contributes very little. He is a moderately skilled woodworker (as a hobbyist) and remembers a thing or two from his years as a boy camping in the woods near Baltimore, like tying a proper knot and setting up a tent. He really shines in the category 'decidedly less useful'; Greco-Roman philosophy and history, modern metaphysics, the place of mankind in a godless universe, etcetera. 

That said, he is a highly educated academic with decades of teaching experience, powerful rhetoric skills, and a large knowledge base; additionally, his craftsmanship as an orator is considerable, matched by his penmanship and linguistic eloquence. All of the aforementioned skills demand respect and make him very persuasive, even if they don't directly help him survive. 

Strengths: With age comes wisdom, as they say. Thaddeus's greatest strengths and most admirable traits are his patience, compassion, empathy and experience. He stays calm under duress and helps others cope with their losses, providing a source of warmth, stability and fatherly guidance. It is no surprise he was a mall Santa in his later years. Additionally, he is still quick-witted and intelligent; friendly quips and clever solutions come to him easily. 

Weaknesses: Growing old isn't all fun and games; it comes with weakness and frailty too. Thaddeus's greatest weakness is definitely his meager vitality compared to younger men. He can't run without sharp pain in his left knee and becoming short of breath almost immediately, he can't lift heavy things and he definitely can't fight; though, given proper training, he should be able to fire a rifle. 

One might also argue that he is perhaps too forgiving and understanding. In any given group, he will most likely be the last person to condemn or punish harshly. 

History: Thaddeus was born in Maryland in 1947 to conservative Christian parents in a large family. His parents raised him with Christian beliefs and values, but unfortunately for them, Thaddeus always had a skeptical mind and became apostate when he learned of Galileo in high school. 

He continued his academic career at the American University in Washington DC, where he studied Philosophy and History. Thaddeus had great interest in the thinkers of old and could spend hours discussing and comparing their views to the great optimism of the 50's, or the social reform that swept through the nation in the 60's. After graduating he took up a teacher's post to avoid the Vietnam war draft, becoming 'essential personnel'. His real passion, however, was writing. He authored several novels over the course of his twenties and thirties, explaining philosophical concepts to laymen, with straightforward titles like, you know, 'Philosophy Explained'. They were moderately succesful, but Thaddeus Hower never became a household name. 

He met his wife, Elisabetta, while on vacation in Italy. She came with him to the United States, where they married and had two children. 

In later years, Thaddeus wrote more opinionated books, like 'Our Place in the Stars', a treatise on the place of scientific progress in philosphy. He graduated from a mere high school teacher to a professor and was often invited to give talks at conferences and other universities. 

His children eventually moved to Europe, independently, to pursue different careers (one to Germany, the other to the United Kingdom). Thaddeus and Elisabetta remained behind, content in retirement, when the viral outbreak hit. 

Thaddeus, stricken with grief at the loss of his wife, found himself a survivor in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Questioning his luck (was it luck, or punishment?), he traveled as best as he could by car, checking to see who else had survived. All of his friends were dead, but he found Sarah alone in the home of her parents. She was too young to understand what had happened, but the fact that her parents refused to get up was enough to cause the young girl great distress. Thaddeus immediately took her under his wing and has been protecting her from the elements ever since. During the winter they survived in a basement, stocked with supplies from local supermarkets. Thaddeus told her every story he knew and played all the games he could think of.

Now spring has come. They have both grown weary of the basement and, perhaps despite better judgement, have left its safety to see what is left of the world. This is how they stumbled upon the Towers.
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Dionysian Mystery

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