Character: Theopholous Dumedd
Character Sheet (Theopholous Dumedd)
Combat Value: 7
You are Theopholous DuMedd, a young Spark on the run from Baron Wulfenbach. And despite that, you have to admit that you're having the time of your life.You were born into a cadet line of the Mongfish family, a nephew to Lucrezia Mongfish herself; as far as you know, you're the last of the family, except for your cousin Agatha. You have mixed feelings about that. When you were a child, you raged at the world that left you alone. But you know the family's history and it isn't often a pretty one. Even your aunt Lucrezia, despite her claims to have reformed when she married Bill Heterodyne, was always a somewhat sinister figure. So you swore, years ago, to redeem the family name and restart it as a better one, the way the Heterodyne Boys did for their family.
Not that you've had much freedom to do anything of the sort. Baron Wulfenbach took you in when you were still a small child, and had you raised on board Castle Wulfenbach, his great airship. You were raised with a small gaggle of children, most of them hostages to the good behaviour of their families, which were all either noble or Sparky or both. That wasn't really the case for you -- there was no family left to hold you for -- but he knew the history of the Mongfish family better than anyone, and simply didn't trust you much.
Still, you have to admit that it wasn't a bad life. The Baron has always been a rather frightening sort of father-figure, and calling him "stern" is the greatest of understatements, but he has generally been fair, and never gratuitously cruel. You resent him for the lack of freedom, but can't really hate him.
While your circle of friends was small, you were close-knit. Several came and went, but a core of you were there together for a number of years. Closest was Sleipnir O'Hara, child of a Spark House up in the British Isles. You were together for most of your youth, and you thought of her as your sister and best friend. Gil was another hostage -- they never said much about his family -- who shared a very similar spirit with you, and you were fellow troublemakers. Z was the son of the Iron Sheik, the great Spark who rules much of the Muslim lands to the southeast; he was like a younger brother to you, and often the conscience of the group of you. And Zulenna -- well, she was like the spoiled younger sister, child of nobility who would never let you forget it. But they were the nearest thing you had to family, and you loved all of them.
The lot of you were overseen by Von Pinn, who was a sort of cross between your adoptive mother and living nightmare. On the one hand, she really loved the bunch of you, and you knew it: a mother lion could surely not be as fierce in protecting her cubs as Von Pinn was to you. On the other, she was the strictest of disciplinarians, always drilling in the concepts of duty and responsibility, teaching you all your places in the Wulfenbach Empire. Which made some sense for the others, who were intended to go back and rule their lands as vassals of the Baron someday. But you? You really had no place in this grand scheme, a lonely orphan who was destined to be left alone again someday.
So it wasn't exactly surprising when you began to show a rebellious streak around age thirteen. You were the oldest, and were always treated accordingly; eventually, Klaus formally appointed you Head Boy, to reflect your place in the pecking order. But you began to lead the rest in forays around the Castle: sneaking around, finding out everything that was going on in there, and generally being a bit of a nuisance. Klaus never did anything really terrible to you when you were caught, but you got rather used to scrubbing out the vats down in the laboratories.
This little family remained solid until age fifteen, when Gil was sent away. You always knew he had a secret, but you never knew what, and you were kind of shocked to discover that he was actually Baron Wulfenbach's son and heir, placed with you for his education. You were terribly angry with him then, feeling like he had betrayed you by never telling the truth, and only moreso when he never answered any of the letters you sent to him in Paris. Over the years that has mellowed somewhat: he is still your old friend Gil, and he was probably under orders from his father. Still, you will admit a lot of envy when he got sent to spend several years finishing his education in Paris, while you were still stuck on the Castle, and you've never entirely forgiven him.
Along the way, more and more kids joined your little family, as the Baron needed more hostages to keep his new lands in line. That was actually kind of fun. You've always gotten along with kids, and as Head Boy it became your responsibility to keep them in line. You taught yourself to be a better and better storyteller, mostly in self-defense: so long as they were listening, they weren't getting themselves into deadly danger. (Well, usually not: there was the time that Otto built the remote controlled Clank, and accidentally switched it on when he got too enthusiastic about your telling of The Heterodyne Boys and The Eel of Gibraltar.)
And Sleipnir -- well, you never said anything, but you started to develop a real crush on her sometime after Gil went away. When you were kids, it always seemed like she and Gil would wind up together, but after he was revealed as the Baron's son it became clear that that wasn't going to happen. The Baron promised her to some dimwit noble back home, but never asked her about it, and while she put a brave face on it, you could always tell that she was hurt by it. You were too much the good boy to go up against the Baron's will, but you kept telling yourself that tomorrow you'd tell her how you felt, and then -- then you'd do something about it. Of course, tomorrow never quite arrives.
You finally got the chance for freedom that you'd always longed for, after meeting your cousin Agatha. When she was first brought to the Castle, you had no idea who she was. Indeed, she was just a sort of side-effect: the apparent lover of a man named Moloch von Zinzer, who was thought to be a new Spark who had recently broken through. Of course, the reality is that Agatha herself was the Spark, but in a rare moment of error, the Baron had simply made an incorrect assumption.
You knew from the time you met her that Agatha would be fun: she was just enjoyable to be around. In retrospect, you know that that's partly because she is a powerful Spark, and has the natural charisma that comes with that. But she's also a good and decent person, and a real hero. When the Castle was threatened by a Hive Engine, she simply dove right into it to save everyone. She was downright inspirational: the kind of person you've always wanted to be.
So when it all went to hell -- when you all discovered that she wasn't plain Agatha Clay, but was really Agatha Heterodyne, daughter of the great hero Bill Heterodyne, and fought her way out of the Castle -- you knew that it was time for you to do the same. You tried to get the rest to come with you, but Zulenna had been killed in the fight and needed to be revived by the Baron, and Z insisted upon staying behind with her. Sleipnir tried to escape with you, but got caught; so, in the end, you found yourself alone. Free, but alone.
That didn't last long, though. While you were out on the road, you encountered Othar Tryggvassen. You knew the stories of Othar -- the great hero, who had done so much to help so many people. You were vaguely aware that he was the Baron's arch-enemy, the two of them always at each others' throats, and you'd met him briefly during Agatha's escape from the Castle. But you hadn't ever had a chance to talk to him before. He was interesting, if a bit peculiar. His sense of good and evil is so black-and-white -- you've never quite seen anything like it. He doesn't deal with subtleties, and that can actually be a bit dangerous: you've found that he can sometimes be as much harm as good. But he's well-intentioned, and does enough good to forgive him the danger.
Othar didn't so much ask as tell you that you were going to become his sidekick: you've learned that that's his style. You had to think about it for a while, travelling on your own for a few days, and then accepted the idea. In the meantime, he discovered that Agatha had made it out of the Castle safely, and was now travelling (under her assumed identity of Agatha Clay) with a Heterodyne Show. You're glad to know that she is safe, and have been looking forward to seeing her again.
So you and Othar began to travel, and you have to admit that it's been like living in a Heterodyne story. First there was the two of you bringing down a Wulfenbach transport ship to pick up some supplies. Inside, you found Moloch von Zinzer, bound and caged, on his way to a fate worse than death in Castle Heterodyne. He begged the two of you to let him out, and after you did so, Othar offered to bring him along with you. You were a bit reluctant at first -- your encounters with Moloch in the Castle weren't all that friendly, especially once you discovered that he had been faking Sparkery in order to save his skin -- but he's proven a reasonably capable comrade, if not exactly a hero.
The Giant Snail of Sandhyrst wasn't really that much of a challenge, once you found the local salt mine. But the kidnap of the Princess of Harkovia was a genuine adventure, leading to the three of you racing halfway across the continent on giant rocs, and then attacking Sir Shellgreave and his firey giant clanks. Getting home again from that took a good deal longer, but there were plenty of smaller adventures along the way.
A few weeks ago, the three of you began to hear the rumors about the Hidden Castle of Amagog, which had reappeared after passing into legend centuries ago. To your surprise, it was Moloch who proposed that you investigate it: he seemed to have some particular interest in this Castle. You haven't yet figured out why, but all of you agreed that it sounded like a grand adventure. And once you arrived, you found Master Payne's Circus in residence! You took the opportunity to quietly seek out Agatha in the evening, and exchanged a fond reunion, telling each other your respective adventures. She has been traveling with the Circus while the Wulfenbachs think her dead, so she, at least, has some freedom in her life.
A week ago, you finally set upon the Castle. Moloch (more characteristically) declined to actually enter, but Othar had recruited an old friend of his from the Circus: Embi, who he introduced as the Black Knight. You were startled -- the Black Knight is a legendary figure, from the story The Heterodyne Boys and the Race to the West Pole, and you had always envisioned him as, well, taller. But they both assured you that he was indeed Ember of the stories, and you welcomed him into the group.
So you, Othar and Embi attacked the Castle that evening. It was an adventure unto itself, full of death traps a good deal nastier than anything you had previously encountered, and you got a bit banged up, your arm torn wide open. But you managed to get through by working together, and made it into the laboratory at the Castle's center. At which point, you will admit, you found the situation a bit anticlimactic: there was no obvious villain here, just a bunch of systems running on automatic. Embi took the large crystal at the center of the room as a trophy, and the group of you headed out again.
The next week was a painful one for you -- your arm got a bit infected, and you found yourself running a fever. Agatha told you several times to go see Countess Marie, the mistress of the Circus, who was apparently a healer of some talent. Finally, two days ago, you decided to do so. Agatha wasn't around, but you introduced yourself and Marie provided you with a remarkably efficacious healing salve. Your arm still hurts a bit, but it was effective enough that you are forced to wonder if she doesn't have a bit of Spark in her.
Since then -- well, you can't put your finger on it, but something's up. You know Othar when he's up to something -- subtle he isn't. But he is deflecting your questions whenever you ask, so you don't really know. Probably nothing dramatic, but you need to keep an eye open, and maybe talk with Agatha about it.
So it's all been fun, but you must admit that you're getting restless. You're out here enjoying your freedom, but your "siblings" are stuck back at the Castle. You miss Sleipnir more than you care to admit to yourself. If you could see her again... you don't really know what you'd say, but you find yourself regretting never talking with her about your feelings before. Z deserves more than to be a mere vassal of the Baron. Even Zulenna might be a bit stuck-up, but when it really mattered, when you were all fighting to get Agatha out of there, she came through and proved herself braver than the lot of you, sacrificing herself to that creature DuPree.
Maybe it's time for a little rescue mission...
Public Info
Personality
You are a pretty even-tempered person. When you were a kid, you were fairly rambunctious, but you have mellowed quite a bit since then. You've found yourself as a Spark and an adventurer, and really -- you're quite enjoying life right now.You pretty much never get really angry, but you worry about people a lot, sometimes more than you should. If you get yourself into trouble, it's usually because you care too much about folks. You're an incurable romantics, and deep down you really think that the good guys do always win.
Some People You Know (Theopholous Dumedd)
Sleipnir O'Hara: Your childhood best friend, now perhaps something more? It's time to get her out of the Castle and let her live her own life -- perhaps adventuring with you.
Z: Your "little" brother, son of the Iron Sheik. A good man, always more mature than his years. In many ways, the best of you.
Her Highness, Zulenna Luzhakna, Princess of Holfung-Borzoi: Heh. Zulenna has never been shy about her titles. You've always loved her as a sister, even when you couldn't stand her. You hope that she is all right. When Agatha (and you) escaped the Castle, Zulenna was killed by DuPree. The Baron was going to bring her back, and you know he can do it -- but still, you have trouble imagining what it's like to be killed like that.
Von Pinn: Your frightening Den Mother, Von Pinn has never harmed any of you, but you are always rather intimidated by her. When she yells at you, you know you've been yelled at, and even now it's all you can do to not cower like a three-year-old before her. She loves you, but she serves the Baron, and that loyalty always come first for her.
Othar Tryggvassen: Leader of your merry little band of adventurers. Othar is a good man, but you know all too well about his little crusade -- he intends to kill all Sparks, ending with himself. Where does that leave you? You've never told him that you're a Spark, but he's not that stupid. You are pretty sure that he's all talk -- he's never actually killed anyone that you've seen -- but it's still a bit unsettling. And what is he hiding from you?
Moloch von Zinzer: You can never quite decide whether you respect Moloch or not. At first, he seemed nothing but a big blowhard, and a violent one at that. But as you've gotten to know him better, and heard about how hard his life has been as a soldier and as a wanderer, you can't help but sympathize. This is a man with nothing but freedom, and it hasn't all been joyous for him. Why is he so interested by the Hidden Castle, though?
Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach: Ruler of most of Europa, keeper of the peace. The Baron sees himself as simply doing what he has to do -- bringing order to a land that would otherwise only know chaos. But surely that doesn't require such absolute control.
Boris: The Baron's four-armed Construct butler. The very definition of cool competence. You've tweaked his nose more than a few times during your years in the Castle.
Gilgamesh von Wulfenbach: Klaus' son, your sometime close friend. You can't quite view him the same way any more, knowing that he was the Baron's son all along, and it was rude how he cut ties with the rest of you when he went off to school. But you know that he's a good man, and you have some hope that he will grow up to be a better, calmer, more reasonable ruler than his father.
Wooster: Gil's butler, a British friend who he brought home from Paris. Not a bad sort, but no easier to engage in casual banter than Boris.
Agatha Heterodyne: Your only family, the daughter of your aunt Lucrezia. A Spark of great power, but a good woman -- perhaps the true heir to her father's heroic legacy. She is travelling incognito, under the name "Agatha Clay", so that she doesn't get attacked by all those with scores to settle against the Heterodynes. The Wulfenbachs think her dead, and you aren't going to be the one to disabuse them of the notion.
Dingbot Prime: The first of Agatha's little Clanks, a remarkably intelligent device even if it can't speak in the conventional sense. Admirably loyal to its Mistress.
Krosp: Agatha's cat, a curiously megalomaniacal Construct who fancies himself the King of Cats. Not exactly your favorite creature, but has helped her enough that you are willing to tolerate him.
Bangladesh DuPree: The Baron's chillingly happy assassin, DuPree is probably the only person who scares you more than Von Pinn. The way she casually killed Zulenna still gives you the shivers, late at night.
Jenka: Most active of the Baron's Jaegermonsters, the one who gets sent out on "special missions". You've only met her a few times, but she doesn't have quite the goofiness of most Jaegers: this is one who has the brain to match her strength.
Maria: A townsgirl who has joined up with the Circus. Othar pointed her out yesterday as his "plucky sidekick" -- he's apparently forgotten that Agatha already has the title of "plucky sidekick" (from when they were escaping together), so he needs some other role in your merry band for this girl if he's going to pull her in. (And what does that make you, anyway?) She looks nice enough, and Othar seems to pick good people, so she's probably worth getting to know.
Countess Marie: One of the leaders of this little Circus group, you must admit that she might have saved your life the other day. She and the other Circus members are clearly decent people, and something is troubling them. What is it?
Male Spark (from Comic) (Status: In Game)
Pictures
http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/cgi-bin/gg101.cgi?date=20051118
Plots:
Runaway Students (Runaways)
The Brain Transfer (Brain Transfer)
People of the Mirror-World (Mirror-World)
Theft of the Clockwork Crystal (Stolen Crystal)
The Suspected Revenant (Suspected Revenant)
Items
Rapier (Rapier) -- An elegant, long, thin blade, this is exquisitely sharp, so it is effective either for thrusting or slashing damage. This sword gives Zulenna a +3 in combat, Gil a +2, and Agatha, Theo, Sleipnir or Z a +1.
Historical Background
The following were notes while the character was evolving. They do not necessarily represent the way it came out.
Head boy among the hostages on the Castle?. Fun, but also serious and practical when he needs to be. Takes his position very seriously.
Theo is a low-grade Spark. He is purportedly [related to] Lucrezia (he says that he is her nephew), which makes him Agatha's cousin. She is apparently (v3, p109) his only family.
He is a skilled storyteller, a talent that has been honed by entertaining the kids among the hostages.
Despite being Head Boy, Theo has a dangerous sense of adventure. For instance, he is the one who decides that [it would be fun] to sneak into the Lab and see the Hive Engine. He's very much the ringleader of the Hostage Squad. Indeed, this is consistent enough that Klaus simply [assumes it was his fault] when some kids snuck into his Lab. That's a possible story hook: maybe, just for once, Theo didn't do it, and is trying to prove that to everyone? Might be something Mirror-Agatha did, that he's been blamed for?
His relationship with Gil is very complex. They were best friends while Gil was one of the group, but things got strained when he revealed himself. Now, they [blame each other] for the failure to communicate. This is a great plot to play with in-game.
Note that Theo's skin is bright red. It's not entirely clear what's up with that. (It may just be mis-coloring in the online version -- he appears more conventionally swarthy in the paper edition -- see v3, p119 for example.)
He respects Klaus, but is [justifiably a bit scared of him].
When last we saw Theo, he was planning on escaping with the Hostage Squad, and meeting up with Agatha in Mechanicsburg. This story might want to take place near there, to give a reason why all this is coming together here. The last we "saw" him was (v4, p108) -- he had apparently gotten off the Castle, and was presumably heading for Mechanicsburg.
Othar claims that Theo is a big fan of his (v4, p108). We do not know how accurate this claim is. Telling the same encounter from Theo's POV might be interesting.
Justin 12/30: Okay, let's play it this way. Since escaping Castle Wulfenbach, Theo encountered Othar and began to adventure with him. Not long after that, they attacked and captured a Wulfenbach transport vessel, and found Moloch inside, on his way to a hideous fate at Castle Heterodyne. He begged for his life, and Othar decided that anyone who the Wulfenbachs disliked that much was clearly a Good Guy. So the three of them took up together, and have been adventuring ever since -- sometimes separating, but always coming back together again soon.
While he originally had believed Agatha dead (having heard that out of the Castle), he's known for a while that she is alive, via Othar.
We might give Theo a simmering romance plot with Sleipnir. If we cast him as Brian Rust, he's looking for a bit of angst and romance, and she needs more oomph, and we don't have a bunch of the in-story romances, so this might be good.
Theo needs more plot. There should be something that ties to his family history. He's a Mongfish, not a Heterodyne, but they are closely enough related that he might tie closely into one of Agatha's plots. Maybe the Mongfishes had something to do with the history of the Jagers? That would be one good tie, but he should have at least one major plot of his own.
Amount of Character Potential: Good (The best of the hostages, and their on-the-run leader.)