Guy's History

Guy Losobal

A.k.a. Sapa-pe-hin-wa-kan of the Sukawaka

I SLAVE

In a great grassland called by its inhabitants Etāhpe'o-mo'e'źstse-ho'e, lives a tribe of nomadic equines called the Sukawaka. The Sukawaka live a simple life traveling north in the spring, spending the summer in the northern reaches, then returning south in the fall to winter in southern areas. They were a free people, living a simple life, and wishing only to be left in peace. They eschew combat, preferring to negotiate, but when forced, they are more then capable of protecting themselves from the predations of others. Once decades ago, a celestial spent several years living amongst them. After a few short decades he returned to his otherwordly home, but to this day some of the Sukawaka bare the touch of otherworldly blood. However, our story does not concern the tribe. But rather one of its celestial touched children.

He was born towards the end of the spring migration, and given the name Sapa-pe-hin-wa-kan by his parents. The first eight years of his life were normal for a Sukawaka. He traveled with his people, and when he was old enough, he began to take part in their daily chores. But when the raiders came all that changed.

No one knows who they were or where they came from. They charged in under a cloud of smoke. The adult men went forth to defend, and they gave a good accounting of themselves. After a lengthy battle the raiders retreated. The men returned to the camp flush with victory only to discover that the battle they had fought had merely been a diversion. While they had been battling one group, another had circled around and attacked the camp from another direction. This attack was a lightening quick strike, and while the women fought well, the raiders succeeded in capturing several children. Amongst them was Sapa-pe-hin-wa-kan.

The captured children were carried to a large grove, where they were each bound to a tree to await the return of the main band. Once the raiders were all together, the children were prepared for the trek to come. They were lined up, and rope collars were fastened about their necks, each collar was tied by a short length of rope to the child ahead of them. They had their hands bound behind them, and marched off under the watchful eye of whip-bearing guards. They were forced to march all day, given only brief breaks for water. As the sun set in the evening, they were separated and fed a small meal of thin gruel before being bound hand and foot, and allowed to sleep the night. At dawn they were roughly awakened to begin the whole process again.

After a month of this the survivors arrived in a small out post on the edge of the Furrabian desert. There the children were sold to a slave trader. He in turn took them to the market where they were sold individually and went to their various fates.

Sapa-pe-hin-wa-kan was purchased by a wealthy owner, who was in need of a new houseboy. He was renamed Guy, and thus entered his new life. He was turned over to the seneschal, who set about training Guy in the proper behavior of a slave. The lessons were short, and mistakes were not tolerated. Disobedience was harshly punished, as was failure to perform tasks to the expected standards. Guy was not one to be punished for the same infraction twice, and quickly settled into a comfortable routine.

II GLADIATOR

As Guy grew older his heritage began to show. He grew tall, and exceedingly strong. His master seeing potential profits relieved Guy of his duties as a houseboy and sent him to his gladiatorial stables. While the food was better, the conditions were much worse. Under the watchful eye of their trainers prospective gladiators underwent arduous training from dawn till dusk. Calisthenics were performed for hours to strengthen them, and improve their stamina. Training with various weapons, and unarmed combat filled much of their remaining time. The discipline was brutal, and it was not uncommon for potential gladiators to be killed or crippled. Some candidates just plain couldn’t hack it. Those unlucky ones were consigned to a life of toil in mines or the like. For after any time in gladiatorial training they were deemed to dangerous to be used for household duties.

Guy however thrived. His physical prowess increased as he endured the grueling training regmen. He quickly became proficient in weapons and combat. Although he did not escape the lash entirely, his instructors could not help but be pleased with his willingness, and aptitude. By his sixteenth year, Guy was deemed ready for the arena.

His first match was a mass melee, pitting two teams against each other. At first Guy was hesitant, attacking dummies, and sparring with blunted weapons was one thing, but attacking living, breathing, bleeding opponents was quite another. But as the two sides clashed, Guy quickly became one of the fiercest combatants. Whether it was the threat of death at an opponent’s blade, or the roar of the cheering crowd, no one knows, but on the bloody sand that day a hesitant, timid teenager, was transformed into a bloodthirsty warrior.

Battle after battle, became blurred in his mind as the weeks and months went by. As his prowess increased, and his victories mounted, his treatment became better and better. Better accommodations, better food, he was even given females to satisfy his growing urges. However the training never ended. Everyday he was not pitted in a match he underwent a grueling regime of calisthenics, followed by several hours of weapons practice. However his evenings were his own to do with as he felt. As his fame increased, his master hired trainers to teach him the use of new weapons. He showed and amazing aptitude with a bastard marriage of sword and flail called a gyrspike, and so spent several months under the instruction of the weapon master Lcags Kyi Shalmari. Under his watchful eye, Guy learned the intricacies of the gyrspike, and eventually fashioned his own.

It was also during this time that his celestial heritage began to tell. It was minor stuff. In complete darkness, his normally grey eyes would glow with a golden light, and he could see clearly, albeit in black and white. He discovered he was resistant to acid, cold, and electricity. While far from invulnerable, he could shrug off some of the effects of those forces. Finally, he could call into existence a globe of pure light once a day. It was the spontaneous emergence of this last ability that prompted Shalmari to delve into the origin of these abilities. He managed to determine that somewhere in his ancestry Guy had a celestial being, but knowing nothing of his family they could tell nothing more. Guy for his part chose to keep this information and his abilities to himself.

Upon his return to his owner made him a trainer charging him with instructing new gladiatorial candidates, where he gained a reputation as a fair but demanding taskmaster. His master also took him on the road, booking him in bigger arenas in exotic lands. It was in one such place he gained the title Losobal, the black death. Finally, when he was but twenty-two years of age, he earned his freedom. It was a distant land, a large arena, a series of single elimination bouts, for a tremendous prize. The tradition, was to grant the winner (and usually sole survivor) his freedom. A tradition that was adhered to because it encouraged the combatants to give it their all.

At the end of the week of grueling combat, Guy was victorious, leaving a score of dead opponents in his wake. With his freedom, Guy wasted no time. He owned just the clothes on his back, and his gyrspike. He had no skills but those he had learned for or in the ring. Still, mercenary bands are always looking for skilled warriors, and Guy was very skilled. It did not take long for him to become a member of a mercenary band.

III MERCENARY

Guy spent four years traveling with the band. He participated in wars and police actions. They hunted bandits and in turn were hunted as bandits. They served as guards, and slew guards to reach their objectives. All the time Guy continued to increase his skills. He also had wealth for the first time in his life. But most important to Guy, he was free. Still that was not enough, Guy wanted something more. He just didn’t know what.

Gradually, Guy began to withdraw from the drinking, and brawling, the gambling and wenching that marked the off time of the other members of the band. He began to withdraw into himself. He found himself spending time alone in his quarters just quietly thinking, or taking long walks by himself, alone with his thoughts. His strange behavior was not lost on his superior. The experienced raptor took the young equine, aside and talked to him. It did not take him long to discover that the young Guy would never be satisfied with the life of a free-booting mercenary. Still he did not wish to lose such a promising warrior. So he offered to teach Guy to read hoping that would coax the youngster into staying for a while at least.

The offer worked. Guy had never learned to read, but had always understood the advantages of it. The mercenary leader worked with Guy between campaigns, teaching him to read and write, and to work with numbers. Guy for his part relished these lessons, for each one opened the world up to him a bit more. In fact he would have gladly foregone his wages, taking these lessons in lieu of monetary payment.

For a while, Guy was content. He still held himself apart from the lusty activities of the others in his band, but he no longer felt the restlessness he had. Guy never became truly proficient at reading, tending to be slow, and having to sound out many of the words. Nor was his writing that good, being only passably legible. Still, it was enough. For a time anyway.

Then when the band was hired by the minor noble Lord Sku’zhabs he met someone who would change his life. Like Guy he was a warrior, but he devoted his life to mastering a single weapon. To Guy, who’s training in the gyrspike was similarly focused, this seemed like a purpose he could claim for himself. He sought the advice of this weapon-master, and after a few tests of his determination and sincerity Guy was rewarded with instruction.

IV Guardian

During the time the mercenary band was in his employ, Lord Sku’zhabs became impressed with Guy’s skill and dedication, and offered him a position in his court as one of his bodyguards. Guy considered the offer for the entire night, and in the morning he had made his decision. He formally withdrew from the mercenary band he was a member of (although they promised him he would be welcomed back anytime), and swore the oath of allegiance to Lord Sku’zhabs. His decision was made as much to continue his training under the weapon-master as anything else. But deep inside, Guy was beginning to question his life. He was beginning to feel that there had to be more then fighting, killing eating, drinking and wenching. Guy felt that perhaps by dedicating himself to a cause greater then his own enrichment, he might find what he was seeking.

Guy distinguished himself with his dedication, and his increasing skill with his unusual weapon of choice. He discovered that Lord Sku’zhabs bodyguards were primarily a show of force. Few would be foolish enough to attack the minor noble with the strength of the guards he displayed. Still Guy did on occasion have to raise arms against the determined assassin, or the crazed killer.

However while his studies under the weapon-master had given him new focus, and his dedication to Lord Sku’zhabs had given him purpose, he still felt a gnawing emptiness inside him. After a long discussion with his instructor, Guy was told that his answer lay at the beginning. What he sought could not be found where and when he was, but rather he needed to return to where he had started on his journey.

Guy however was not ready to leave his current employ. First of all, he was comfortable where he was, better the unsatisfying known, over the great unknown. Also, he was honestly afraid to return to Furrabia, where his current life had begun. The Sukawaka, and the plains of Etāhpe'o-mo'e'źstse-ho'e were distant memories to Guy little more then half remembered dreams, as far as he was concerned his life had started out in Furrabia, and he feared that to return there would be a return to slavery. Finally, Guy had sworn an oath of service to Lord Sku’zhabs, and Guy took his oaths very seriously.

No, Guy stayed where he was, or at least that was the plan.

Lord Sku’zhabs had business to attend to. Business that required him to travel from his secure town to the Rose Empire, a distant land. The journey carried them through land that bordered the Furrabian desert. Naturally, he took his bodyguards with him. The trip and the business were uneventful. The return trip however wasn’t.

Their journey had taken them close to the territory claimed by vicious tribe. The tribe responded by sending assassins. A poisoned dart ended the life of Lord Sku’zhabs, mere seconds before the assassin’s head hit the ground. With a single dart, Guy was unemployed, and released from his oath. Guy saw this as a sign, and parted ways with the rest of Lord Sku’zhabs household, to travel into Furrabia. His destination uncertain.

V WANDERER

One morning, during his travels, he saw an oasis, and decided that it would make a good place to stop for the day. With the sky growing lighter in the false dawn, he arrived at the small oasis to see a figure sitting there before a small fire, obviously trying to keep warm in the chill of the desert night. Guy called out as he approached, not wanting to scare the individual. The individual turned to face Guy, his hood falling away to reveal a thin, almost emaciated dog like head, with squarish ears, and impossibly black eyes. The individual greeted Guy cooly, then noticing the weapon Guy bore, asked him if he was a warrior. When Guy responded in the affirmative, the slender figure stood, allowing his robe to slip away. From a sheath he drew a large sword with a hook-shaped blade, and bade Guy to fight with him.

Surprised, Guy refused, and stated if he was intruding he would leave. The assailant merely slid into an offensive crouch and told Guy to fight or be cut down where he stood. The challenge roused the battle lust that Guy had struggled hard to suppress. Guy forced it back down and stated simply that he had no interest in fighting, and that he was leaving. The other leapt forward and slapped Guy on the side of his head with the flat of his blade. Then while Guy was stunned and disoriented, he caught Guys legs with the hook like blade of his sword, and sent Guy tumbling to the ground. The figure laughed at the supine warrior, and kicking sand on him in derision, stated that a coward such as he had no business carrying weapons.

Guy’s control broke and he flew to his feat, a growl in his throat, and his gyrspike in hand. After the first few passes, Guy’s restraint returned somewhat and he realized he had made a grave mistake. Although his opponent was smaller and slighter, he was much more skilled then Guy. Guy’s enraged attack, quickly became a desperate defense. How long the battle lasted, Guy cannot honestly say. It felt like hours he desperately dodged and parried the blows of his foe, but in reality it was most likely less then twenty minutes. His breath coming in ragged gasps, his arms growing weary, Guy knew the end was near.

Then, as the sun crested the eastern horizon, the figure abruptly ceased his assault. He stepped back and saluted Guy, before sheathing his weapon. Suspicious, Guy maintained a wary defensive stance, as best his tired muscles would allow. The mysterious stranger then tossed a small cube at Guy’s feet before turning and walking into the sun. Blinded by the light of the rising sun, Guy did not see what became of his opponent.

Guy examined the small cube his adversary had left. It was maybe three inches across, and made of some sort of smokey crystal. In scribed on each side was the word tesseract. Curious Guy spoke the unfamiliar word aloud, and was instantly transported into a square room of some sort of grey marble. On the center of each wall was a doorway, all of which appeared to lead to identical rooms. In the center of the room he was in, a ladder stretched to a small opening in the ceiling. Guy spent an hour exploring the strange place, determining that it consisted of six identical rooms, interconnected by some strange magic. Guy could walk through a doorway, into the next room, then proceed across the room to the opposite doorway, into the third room, then again through the opposite doorway into the fourth room, and then finally through the opposite doorway again, only to be back in the room he started in, across from the doorway he left through.

Finally Guy tried the ladder, as he reached the top, and climbed out he found himself standing in the oasis, exactly where he had been, the small cube in his hand. Realizing the potential of this unexpected gift, Guy placed it in what he hoped would be a safe place, and again spoke the word. He slept the day away, in the tesseract, and emerged that evening to continue his travels.

VI ENTWINED

Finally, after nearly a week and a half of traversing the harsh Furrabian desert, he saw in the distance another oasis. He approached this one warily remembering what had happened at the last one. To his pleasant surprise, he found a structure, and a sign, reading simply Club Entwined.

The first beings he met in Club Entwined were Lee and Livie Onyxclaw. They made the weary equine feel welcome. Later that day, he met the mysterious StarDust Shadows. This equine intrigued Guy who had never heard of a unicorn before. He found that to be more fascinating then her demonic side. Guy decided to spend a few days at the club, before continuing his journey.

After a couple of days and the opportunity to meet more of the employees, he began to feel comfortable there. He also began to question the wisdom of his quest. He had been away from his homeland for two decades, and had changed much in that time. Further he had no idea where his homeland was. In fact beyond a few images, and a half-remembered language, he knew nothing of it. Nor could he find anyone who had heard of his homeland.

In the meantime Club Entwined was here, and he fit in. Finally, he reached a decision, and applied for a job. Owing to his experiences as a gladiator, he was hired as a referee for the club’s arena. So with a job, a position in life, he settles into his new role in the newest stage of his life.