Maxim Korvo
Race: Passive (Free)
Birthday: 3rd of Loshis, 2690
Age: 28
FC: Goncalo Teixeira
Place of Origin: Bastia
Current Location: Old Rose Harbor, Anaxas
Occupation: Smuggler/Spy
Birthday: 3rd of Loshis, 2690
Age: 28
FC: Goncalo Teixeira
Place of Origin: Bastia
Current Location: Old Rose Harbor, Anaxas
Occupation: Smuggler/Spy
Physical Description
Maxim favors traits from both of his parents' lineage, fortunately neither of Anaxi Galdori blood. While he has the almond-shaped eyes and thin nose of most Galdori, he possesses the dark hair of his Bastian father, without a trace of red, and the height and stature of his mother's Giorian genes. Roughly 5'8" with a frame wrapped in lean muscle, Maxim can pass among the humans of Old Rose Harbor with little fear of recognition.
His skin is bronzed from days on the water, and not a few scars adorn his body, testimonies to the rough life he had lived after leaving his parents home. The Passive's tattoo on his upper left arm is always covered in some manner. Maxim's jade eyes appear crystalline in the sunlight, framed with strong dark brows. His beard is usually full, but not overgrown, and his mahogany hair may be slicked back or tussled. His features, rather rugged for one of Galdori blood, can appear handsome when cleaned up.
Maxim's sparse wardrobe is typically earth-tone, long sleeve button up shirts and dark, loose pants and often a vest as well. Warmer weather find Maxim in shorter sleeved collarless tunics, while in colder weather, a ratty sweater and weathered coat are worn. The bowie knife hangs from his belt, explained as a 'tool of his trade' rather than a threatening weapon. He also wears a thin bracelet of simple, worn leather on his right wrist, the origin of which Maxim never explains.
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Diablerie:
Static Stun: A surge of non-lethal electrical energy emanates out from Maxim, leaping from one being to the next in bright bolts. The effect is similar to mild electrocution, rendering the victim's muscles paralyzed with rigidity or spasm. Range is 40-foot diameter.
Static Stun: A surge of non-lethal electrical energy emanates out from Maxim, leaping from one being to the next in bright bolts. The effect is similar to mild electrocution, rendering the victim's muscles paralyzed with rigidity or spasm. Range is 40-foot diameter.
Personality
Maxim knows the face of injustice and oppression. He had once known affluence and wealth, for a short while as a child, only to have it taken away. Hard labor, servitude and prejudice had followed him since. But it didn't render him cynical, only defiant. Whether it was the persecution of the Galdori, or the oppression of Hawkes and his gang, Maxim sees his place in the world as defying such tyranny and making a way for himself. His angst is against institutions, and not so much individuals. While Galdori are avoided for obvious reasons, Humans and Wicks are treated without bias.
But his sentiment is not so much the altruistic valor of a champion. He possesses less virtuous morality than that. Maxim was not quite ready to take up arms with the human resistance, or stand in protest to Hawkes' taxes, but he could undermine the ruling force in Old Rose Harbor, and defy the Galdori under their noses at the same time with his illegal activities. Stabbing in the back was more satisfying than political posturing anyway. He is willing to help others if it means personal gain, or if it some way works against the goals of his 'antagonists'.
While short on strategic thinking, Maxim can talk his way around most situations, though he is by no means a social butterfly. Socializing to gather information or solicit work was one thing, a necessary discomfort. Maxim prefers interactions a more one on one basis. Only in such a scenario is there a chance to penetrate his defenses and see the humor and sometimes cavalier spirit the man shields for his own protection.
Backstory
A mixed Galdori couple (Bastian and Giorian) traveled with their young son from Bastia to settle in Anaxas, choosing the village of Dorhaven to make their new home. The father became an official under the Galdori mayor. The foreign couple, considered somewhat progressive by the Anaxi Galdori, treated their suspicions regarding their son’s latent inherent magic with a blind eye. Maxim showed no sign of testing or exploring his nature on his own.
No longer able to ignore the matter, it was revealed that Maxim was without the capacity for magic. The mayor and other prominent Galdori citizens demanded the passive child be dealt with immediately. Then can a charismatic stranger to their door under the cover of night. The human man begged audience with the couple, and offered them a humane solution to their dilemma. He was in the business of finding passives a refuge where they could live in relative safety and wellbeing. His secretive nature and vague answers were explained away by the need to protect the place and his work. For a fee, he would take Maxim and deliver him to the safe place.
Desperate to show their son mercy, while satisfying the powerful Galdori of the village, the couple agreed. Handing over a large sum of money and their son, the stranger slipped away. The couple could claim their child had been put out of the village.
But the unscrupulous stranger took Maxim to Old Rose Harbor, where he engaged in the true nature of his business, slave trade. Maxim was sold to a trader, the stranger receiving his filthy lucre twice for the boy. Maxim began serving aboard a steam boat that carried goods to and from Anaxas, swabbing decks, washing dishes and other menial labor.
Nearly a year and a half later, the ship came under attack by pirates. While the pirate captain threatened the traders into surrendering their cargo, a zealous buccaneer fired a pistol. The ball struck Maxim in the shoulder. Musket balls and arrows suddenly flew between the two ships. Maxim in pain, chaos and fear, felt a sudden spike in his anxiety, and something triggered. The flashing arcs of electricity emanated from the young man out in every direction, incapacitating nearly every member of the trader crew on the deck. The pirate crew boarded the ship virtually uncontested.
The pirate captain, a superstitious man, though Maxim to be a good luck charm. Against the will of the crew, he was taken aboard the pirate ship to serve the captain. Maxim did so until he was nearly twenty, learning not only sailing, but how to fight in close quarters and employ ranged weapons under the harsh but almost fatherly care of the captain. The slight but strong youngster also served as a spy while in harbor, seeking information on the cargos of the ships nearby, and the movement of enemies.
Life was hard but tolerable, until a deck brawl broke out among the crew in Old Rose Harbor. The crew blamed the Passive for some recent ill luck, and vented their frustration upon the captain’s pet. Again, in duress, Maxim's diablerie was triggered, dropping everyone around him. The captain could no longer risk having Maxim on board and, at the crew’s outcry, tossed Maxim overboard into the harbor. But not before pressing several concords into his hand. The young Passive man swam to shore.
Maxim used the coins given him by the captain to purchase a sloop. He took the surname Korvo, the name of the pirate captain's pet yoffel. The passive concealed his identity, aided by the fact that his appearance and stature favored his Bastian/Gioran parents and not the Anaxi Gildori. Chartering private service to Cellas and Fentail Isles, and supplementing with some fishing, Maxim managed to eek out a living. Like everyone, he paid his dues to Hawkes. Then a new gang began to appear in town, soon given the name the “Drain.” Maxim was recruited to do some small time smuggling for them, and eventually some “eavesdropping” on the rival Bad Brothers.
Aptitude Skills
| Mental | Physical | Social |
| Average | Good | Average |
Focus Skills
Career and Income
Housing and Inventory
Housing: Sailor (Passive Custom)
Maxim lives aboard the aged sloop that also provides the means for his living.
Inventory
Aboard Ship
One Hammock
One Gangplank
One Small table
One Chair
One Chest
Four Plates
Two Eating knives
One Fish smoker
One Lantern
One Map of the east coast of Anaxas and nearby islands
One Set of clothing
One Set of toiletries
One Tinderbox
One Waterskin
One Compass
One Spyglass
One Small fishing net
One Small anchor
One Week’s worth of dried food rations
Weapons
Bowie Knife
Airbow (similar to crossbow, without the bow. Uses compressed air to fire arrows.)
Goals
Maxim thinks little of the future. He knows he will always be a Passive, and therefore never truly free. But he longs to find a place where he could be. In the mean time, he hopes, deep down, to make a difference, even if it is on one person's life.
