Name: Schuyler Montaigne
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Height: 5'7"
Appearance:
Schuyler prefers heavy fabrics that hang loosely, and his hair follows the same model -- heavy and loose, that is. His hair is a black, greasy, tangled mess that is cut just above his neck in back, hangs over his ears on the side, and frequently being pushed out of his face in the front. Behind his hair in the front are his pale blue eyes that indicate there is definitely some life in him and strikes remarkable contrast to his deeply tanned skin and black hair. He frequently looks grimy, likely from a lack of consistent bathing, and appears to be missing several teeth. Apart from the grime though, he appears to have not gotten in any too bad of fights, he lacks the scars of a warrior, but sometimes sports minor bruises from Gods-know-what and has heavily calloused hands from years of manual labor. Despite looking destitute, under his baggy clothes, he is well-fed and well toned.

An casual observer would notice Schuyler uses a walking stick and has a pair of well-worn boots. A more astute observer would notice Schuyler's walking stick is made out a single segment of strong oak and his boots are probably the most expensive of his possessions (apart from anything potentially hidden in his tangled mess of clothes). While a casual observer might take Schuyler for a beggar, an astute one may correctly presume Schuyler is well-traveled (but maybe now became a beggar).

Perhaps in another life, Schuyler could have passed as a traditional academic. His face has sharp features and judging by face structure and his expression alone, he looks like a bright fellow. His face begs for a pair of glasses, but he sports none. He frequently has a dour look about him and occasionally sneers at people passing him by. While he has a figuratively negative aura, it is not sufficiently powerful to drive people to avoid him on the street, but enough that people might make a comment about how society really has a ways to go when there are still people like him roaming the streets.


Personality:
On first impression, Schuyler is surly. On second impression, Schuyler is still surly. On third impression, Schuyler is immensely curious; mostly curious to know how people react to him being surly. On fourth impression, Schuyler is simply curious. He is curious on how others see the world and interact with it. Curious about how the environment impacts societies and how the societies impact the environment. He is curious about magic both arcane and mundane. He is curious how a blacksmith sees metal and how a cobbler sees shoes; and curious about how they both feel about commerce. He is curious about how others see him, but at the same time, never listens to their advice. He is also interested in why some people are bigots, but he is just as likely to start a brawl with a bigot than discussing their world view.

Schuyler is a pragmatist and to some extent, a minimalist. Clearly he does not care about his appearance. He also does not mind living in a cheap boarding house. When outside of a city, he prefers to life off the land, making shelters and collecting his own food as he goes. Most of his belongings he carries with him at all times. Certain items he has come across that are impractical to carry with him are stored in his parent's manor.
Speaking of his family, it is best not to ask him too many questions about it. While fond of his parents, he has decided to go his separate way (that is, continuing their previous lifestyle). He feels like he does not visit them as often as he should -- dropping in once since he was 16 is not quite sufficient. A worse question to ask him is about why he hasn't settled down and lived a normal life.

His lifestyle some might say is harebrained. Since he was a child, he was travelling to different lands and seeing different environments and different people. In his adult life, he continued the adventures he went on as a child, but an infectious desire to see what life on the edge consisted of consumed him. He climbed mountains, scoured deserts, cut through jungles and traversed marshes to find people living in these environments and to learn their way of life. After over 10 years of this lifestyle, his wanderlust died down a bit and is now in the process of recording some of his latest travels. In essence, Schuyler is the most uncouth and most adventurous anthropologist in the land (not that there are many anthropologists vying for the titles).

Strengths:
Competent Combatant- While Schuyler lacks formal military training, he is adept with both spears and hand-to-hand (and to a lesser extent with knives). He's held various other weapons prior, but shouldn't be trusted with them in a scrap. His proficiency in spears, unarmed and knife combat comes from his travels. Virtually all cultures at one time in their past used these primitive weapons to hunt, to fight, to compete. On during his travels, Schuyler soaked up these martial techniques and enjoyed sparring, ritual combat and competitions with the groups he met on his travels. Given most of the peoples he lived with didn't have sophisticated metal-working, the styles he's learned do not rely on armor and hence tend to be quicker and sometimes acrobatic.

Well-Traveled Explorer- There are corners of Wholland Schuyler has not visited, but those are few and far between. His life's work and passion has been exploring and learning how to survive. As such, he has mastered several languages (incl. the common tongue, Orcish, Dwarven, and several regional languages) and is adequate in many others (a couple Eastland tongues, Elvin, Goblin). Beyond learning local tongues, Schuyler learned local survival lore. He knows how to find herbage and food in snow-capped mountains, tell the difference between poisonous and delicious berries in marshes and other essential facts for living on the edge. More generally, he has developed a keen sense of direction, gotten a sense for when danger is about, learned how to move about unseen, and learned how to deal with unexpected (and unwanted) encounters on the road.

Learn Quick, Don't Forget-
Schuyler comes from a long line of scholars, and he inherited their wits in spades. He has a remarkable potential to learn and to remember. While on the road in different environs it pays to be adaptable. Additionally, in his travels, he rarely brings writing materials due to their flimsy nature, so he commits what he learns to memory, then can pull it back out from memory more-or-less flawlessly. Probably the reason why Schuyler hasn't stopped to focus on one specific area of study is he gets intellectually restless after working in one area for a while. His knowledge is definitely more broad than it is deep.


Neutral Aspects:
Curious as a Cat- Schuyler's curiosity can be pathological, but it also forces him to march through doors others would avoid. Most of Schuyler's best experiences in life were because he chased down a lead like a wolfhound and refused to give up even in the face of failure; other times he probably would have been more successful changing tack. In recent years, Schuyler's curiosity has been tempered significantly, but he still enjoys a good mystery.

Daredevil- In many ways, it is a miracle Schuyler is still alive. Travelling to the top of mountains or to the middle of a desert killed more than a few people. While he does feel fear, he also has a sense of invincibility. Or he used to. Recent years have reduced his feeling of invincibility, but also made him more nihilistic. Replacing a sense of invincibility with nihilism did a bit to curb his disregard for his own safety, but not much.


Weaknesses:
Jumpy- Schuyler is surprisingly easy to startle. Loud noises, sneaking up behind him are good ways to make him jump or stagger away. Its not fear, just his reflexes being a bit too keen. He is highly self-aware of his jumpiness and tries to keep tabs of his surroundings at all times to minimize the chance that something unexpected startles him. As a result, he has a bit more difficult time focusing than others.

Uncouth- In the past, Schuyler paid a bit more attention to his appearance, but not so much anymore. Pretty much the only part of self-care he pays mind to is trying not to smell. Other than that, if something of his appearance isn't directly related to his well-being, he deems it surplus to requirement. As such, he is a grimy person and his clothes are ragged and stained.

Familial Separation- Schuyler hasn't seen either of his families in years. One family he chooses not to visit due to the environment they now live in (too posh for his tastes). The other he is essentially barred from seeing. As such, he tends to become uncomfortable when people discuss their families -- especially when they discuss their families in favorable terms. People bragging about their children is something that will turn Schuyler to wood.

Perennially Poor- Schuyler has a way with money... mostly a way with not having it. He feels uncomfortable carrying coins with him and he does not own convenient storage space. As such, he generally cannot buy more than lodging for a week and food for a few days. Despite this, he actually does have a small fortune through his parents. When he comes across a fascinating curio, he sends it back to them. He would be compensated for it, but they never know where he is, and he has not returned home in years.


Notable Equipment:
The clothes on his back- While Schuyler's clothes look ragged (and are indeed ragged), they are comfortable and well layered giving him insulation from hot and cold, a defense against pickpockets, and they provide minimal protection in the case of a knife-attack. He also wears a good pair of boots optimal for bursting into a run if need arises.

Walking Stick- Schuyler's walking stick is made of fine Oak. It is sturdy and could easily double as a blunt-force weapon. It can triple as a spear if he removes a screw-on cap that conceals an iron tip. The walking stick was designed by Schuyler and built by a colony of Dwarves living in Y'krea. The stick has served him well through the years and he is beginning to suspect the Dwarven craftsman lightly enchanted it to enhance its durability.

Other:
3 well-crafted knives concealed in his clothes
Small coin-pouch concealed in his clothes



Likes: Simple foods, foreign foods & common culture, folk entertainment
Dislikes: High culture, opulence, bigotry
Habits: Takes the cheapest accommodations, tries to minimize his cash reserves, exercise

History:
Pre-adulthood-
Schuyler was born to a family of travelers. Travelers that had to take some time off of the road to take care of a young baby. Once he was no longer a young baby -- at an age of 6 years old, they began to travel once more. His family were not simply travelers, but a mix of academics and traders. Levying their formal education, they were able to identify objects of cultural value and sell them to people of great wealth for a slice of small wealth for themselves.  During this period, Schuyler became enchanted with the travelling lifestyle, but not so much with the mercantile ways. When he was 16, his family had amassed sufficient wealth to secure them a comfortable lifestyle and a fine manor in Streamore. Schuyler stuck to the road.

First Travels-
His first adventure out from his family's sight was to the Cloudy Crags, where he made study of the life among the clouds. He took particular interest in how they adapted to the harsh terrain and the construction methods of the numerous bridges. He did not realize the trip would be as strenuous as it was. Due to the high elevations, he found himself exhausted by mid-day. After several trips to an apothecary, he became determined to not just understand the environment but to experience it to the fullest. As such, he began to live with some of the locals instead of just visiting them and training his body as they did. Over the course of his stay, he felt his muscles strengthen and his lungs expand. Even after leaving the Crags, he continued to train his body to handle more and more stressors.

His second adventure was to explore the Florantine, a remote swampy region of the wetlands were a tribe of elves were rumored to have established themselves in seclusion. He managed to find 'a' tribe of elves, but they were not as secluded as some had assumed. They had some trade with outlying settlements, but most found the trade to be too mundane to report; Schuyler found it quite fascinating and ended up spending a year living with the elves. While living among them, he tried to improve on his mediocre Elvish while he lived with them to limited success. He proved to be a quicker learn as a hunter, joining the elves on several hunts. He became an honorary member of the tribe after completing their right of adulthood in which he was required to win several sparring matches, show his ability to hunt, and survive a week on his own deep in the marshes. Inevitably, his wanderlust struck again and he set out for more adventures.

For the next couple years, Schuyler did his best to avoid the wars and traveled with the World Trotting Caravan. While there, he paid for his spot much as his parents would: identifying curios of value and tossing out fakes. While the work didn't fulfill him, he enjoyed the people he came into contact with. From the contacts he made, he organized an informal show-fighting where people exhibited their combat prowess both alone and with a sparring partner. The admission prices made enough money that Schuyler was quit being a curio examiner and focus on organizing and participating in the semi-staged fights. The venture quickly spiraled into someone else's hands and acts such as feats of balance and precision and blowing flames were incorporated. Schuyler's interest declined as the focus shifted from the culture to the spectacle and organized a few ultimately unsuccessful expeditions.

After the string of unsuccessful expeditions, Schuyler returned to his parents for a time and wrote a couple manuscripts on his travels. The manuscripts was published, but anthropology was a rather niche market, so he didn't exactly become a household name. After a couple months of living with his parents and voraciously consuming every book in their personal library, he once again set out, this time for more remote locations. One of the books mentioned a remote, treacherous, snow-capped mountain by the name of "Y'Krea." The book didn't mention any inhabitants living in such an environment, but Schuyler decided he would climb the mountain and search for any life! Mostly he just wanted to climb a mountain.

Second Travels-
And so he did. It took him a year of preparation and research at Frell, but he managed to climb Y'krea. He led a small party of like-minded (mostly Dwarven) adventurers to the peak, but discovered that more than a couple other people already left markers of their ascent. While he was mildly discouraged at that, he was more discouraged when an avalanche nearly buried him and his party. Seeking shelter in a cave, the party slew an awakened bear and sought to find an exit other than digging out from the snow covering the entrance to the cave.  Within the cave network they discovered a colony of Dwarves. The colony of Dwarves showed Schuyler's how to return to the base safely, but Schuyler and a couple other from his party were more interested in learning how a colony of Dwarves survived inside a remote mountain. There, Schuyler learned how the Dwarves used walls of ice to reflect the light coming in from the caves to farm in the warmer interior of the caves. Like his time with the Elves of Florantine he learned how they fought, how they hunt, and how they entertained. Competitive wrestling was common among the Dwarves and, though interested, Schuyler was sorely beaten every time he tried it. He seemed to have a greater talent for a game played on the stones with small figures. He stuck up a friendship with several Dwarves by his curiosity and open-mindedness.

After departing Y'krea, he continued to avoid the war by spending four years traveling around the Eastlands. While most of his journeys were to remote areas to experience obscure cultures, the Eastlands were easily the most developed areas he traveled to to learn of their ways. Rather than staying in one place for any length of time, he continuously moved through the lands, often staying in temples where he could stay and talk of the cultures he had seen and learn some of the cultures of the Eastlands. Some of these temples had a martial focus; this suited Schuyler and he tended to stay at these for 2-3 weeks to discuss the practical matters and the philosophy of combat. Unlike many that go to the Eastlands and return, Schuyler returned much the same as he left.

After spending a few days in Inrivers, he decided he would try to find some of the elusive migratory tribes in the Sea of Sands. He gathered together a band of orcs, goblins, and humans and set out to the desert. Unsurprisingly the trip to the desert was much easier than the trip within the desert. After only several days within the Sea of Sands, much of his expedition had abandoned him. After about a week, the entire expedition was dehydrated, disappeared, or dead. The disaster was a combination of Schuyler underestimating the desert and deserters taking supplies. After two weeks, Schuyler found himself alone and on his last drops of water. Before he succumbed to the heat and the sun, he saw a woman fighting a lion near an oasis. The woman was armed with a spear, but the lion's ferocity forced the woman back and mauled her unconscious. Schuyler raced down the dune he stood on and managed to skewer the lion on his spear.

Two years later, he was widowed by his wife -- the woman who he had saved -- and his two children were to live with her parents and he was barred from seeing them. He spent two years living with their tribe and learning their ways. The wanderlust within him faded when he met his wife and he had intended to stay with them for the remainder of his life, but they did not trust an outsider to be the primary caretaker of the children. They were concerned his presence would make the children eventually leave the tribe to learn of Schuyler's people. Schuyler sympathized with the tribe in the abstract, but could not totally forgive them in practice. He left with a bitter heart.

Post Sea of Sands-
Several months after leaving the Sea of Sands, Schuyler settled down in a town to work in his manuscripts. He kept his head down, but sensed the temperature of the town heating up. After a few townies ambushed a city guardsman in the marketplace, Schuyler was caught up in the chaos and was mistaken to be a rabble rouser. After being cornered by two members of the city guard -- swords drawn -- Schuyler subdued them with fist and spear and sustained a moderate leg injury in the process. Several of the instigators discovered Schuyler limping out of the alley where two members of the city guard lay and offered to treat him. Schuyler accepted the treatment and little to his knowledge, was now participating in the Phoenix Rebellion. While his injury healed, Schuyler gave instructions to the peasant-folk who had avoided combat to this point. While not the best instructor in combat, he taught them to fight as if they were hunting prey. He taught them to fight on favorable terms and use stealth. Blend into the environment then strike quickly. After his leg recovered and Schuyler participated in some of the street-fighting, he disappeared from the Rebellion. He had discovered that the tactics he had been teaching had lead to a sense of paranoia on the other side and lead to several attacks on non-combatants.

After leaving the Phoenix Rebellion, a disillusioned and bitter Schuyler decided to stay in Inrivers rather than Streamore to work on his manuscripts of his journeys because he had only briefly passed through Inrivers before and was curious to see how much it resembled the Eastland proper. To pay his rent, he began participating in some underground fist-fighting competitions. After refusing to take a fall for an under-the-table payoff, some lowlifes started to give him some trouble. Now, Schuyler is looking for some competent people to help him deal with the lowlifes.