The Headhunter

"Eighty-nine men I killed in that battle. Near a whole garrison, single-handed, and I'd have done for the Lockjaw as well if the Bloodhawk hadn't gotten to him first. What do they give me for the honor? A roll of coins no longer than a dwarf's cock, and a boatride to the next job. So again, you're damn right. You're damn right I won't be standing guard for a single one of the puissant, snotty bluebloods who won't give me a fraction of what I'm owed."
Rafe Spinner, better known by his chosen name of "The Headhunter", is an infamous veteran mercenary who currently serves as the Captain of the Wild Huntsmen Mercenary Corps. He is a highly skilled warrior with a pathological obsession with the acquisition of "trophies," physical tokens of his past conquest and glory. He wears all of these mementos on his possession, in patchwork armor comprised of the best bits he's taken from fallen enemies; for any foe who cannot offer up armor, the Headhunter will often take a grislier token by flaying off a piece of their flesh to add to his cloak. He has been active within, and considered the best fighter of, the Wild Huntsmen since 976AE but has only recently set his sights on leadership; despite his skill at arms, Spinner has thus far shown a neglectful attitude to leading his men and mainly succeeds through their admiration of him. The Headhunter's disposition has changed recently--he has become strongly disenfranchised with the ruling classes that employ him, and has begun to demand increasingly greater rewards in return for his services.
== Appearance and Character ==
Beneath his armor, Rafe Spinner has a disarmingly normal appearance. Jaster Blackthorne notes that the Headhunter's "face was thin, clean-shaven, his eyes warm brown and creased about the edges with laughter-lines; his hair had been brown as well, but age had thinned it at the front and turned it to grey. Only a single scar marred the man's tanned, seamed skin, a thin white mark on one cheek that looked like it could have been wrought by a dagger." Jaster also thinks that "he would not look out of place selling pottery in the Bronze Way, or shoveling out stables on a farm." The Headhunter is not a tall man, just an inch shy of six feet, and has a thin build. In his youth he was known to wear his brown hair longer, paired with a beard. The most unusual thing about his appearance is an "avaricious glint" that occasionally enters his eyes, showing how his face belies his true nature.
The Headhunter wears a unique suit of armor, described here again by Jaster; Spinner's greathelm resembles "the head of a snarling demon hound, crafted of rusted metal plate, and it took him a moment to realize that it was some kind of horrid greathelm. It had tall, daggerlike ears and an extended snout; one of its eyes was an amethyst, and the other a ruby. How one managed to see out of it was unclear, but the breathing-holes on the neck puffed out steam into the chill winter air like the smoky breath of a monster. The other armor the Headhunter wore was rusted as well, and it was the only thing uniform about it, for no two plates were alike; the right pauldron had the spiny look of Drow craftsmanship, the left gauntlet the clawed tips of Blackthorne steel, while the right boot was made from the muddy lizardskin used in the Marshlands. Most significant was the cuirass, which was black glass; the same black glass the pale creatures from the Riverford had been wearing. A beheaded-stag broach clasped a long cloak to the rider's armor, and what a cloak it was, for it was covered in a pattern of patches that were likewise drawn from a hundred different sources, torn from countless banners. Some of those patches looked like human skin."
Spinner's key characteristic is his avarice. He is not sated by his acts of violence and cruelty as any other sadist might be; instead, to truly take pleasure from the kill, he must have a memento of it. He displays tokens of all his finest kills about his person, and remembers the detailed story behind each one. The Headhunter takes no half-measures; every deed he performs must be legendary and glorious, with equally splendid rewards. Regular mercenary work, such as guard duty, therefore often holds little of his interest.
== Skills and Abilities ==
The Headhunter is a fearsome warrior, one of the best mounted knights currently alive in Aradia even though he is past his fighting prime age. His armor has various enchantments worked into its metal and conceals numerous small weapons that he can use to get a surprise advantage in a fight, such as a hand-crossbow concealed in the grieves and a fold-out spiked flail hidden in the left gauntlet. He has no use for a shield, instead preferring to carry two swords; the first is a Scimitar, a curved blade he won while fighting for House Knox in the far-South. He uses this as his main weapon for "common" enemies. However, when he believes himself to be facing a true contest, he will draw his second--an ancient weapon made by the Storm Kings of old, a blade that glows with baleful blue light. He rides a carefully-bred blood bay horse, and his riding skill as well as his talent with a lance has won him many jousting victories. His bloodthirsty, glory-seeking nature makes him a poor leader both in both peace and war, but his presence is both intimidating and inspiring, and thus he commands loyalty among his own troops and terror among his enemies.
== History ==
Rafe Spinner was born a commoner in the Bronze Way of Everglow City, circa 964AE. His mother was a weaver's daughter, only sixteen years old, who had slept with a member of the City Guard ten years her senior after a night of drinking in an inn. Once she was discovered to be with child, a hasty marriage was arranged that would soon prove to be an unhappy one. The child was born to a household with a resentful mother who had no qualms expressing how her son had "ruined her life," while his father slowly drank himself into an early grave. Rafe developed a vicious streak at a young age. When a local boy taunted him, calling his mother a "slattern," the six-year-old Headhunter took a heavy rock from the street and casually beat the other child half to death--a tooth from that boy's head became his first trophy. With his parents neglecting him, Rafe's vicious streak became more and more apparent. and he soon became involved in the crime that riddles the underbelly of Everglow City.
While performing a routine purse-cutting for the Viper gang, Rafe encountered the mercenary captain known as Sir Hieronymus Jex. Once he learned of the sellsword lifestyle and the apparent glory that came with it, Rafe became obsessed with becoming one himself. He followed Jex's Wild Huntsmen company out of the city and managed to worm his way into becoming a squire for them. Throughout his adolescence, Rafe's infamy began to grow as he started collecting armor from his dead enemies to make a suit of his own. He had prodigious skill at arms, and it was eventually decided that he ought to be foregrounded within the Corps; Jex knighted the boy, who was only fifteen at the time, as Sir Rafe Spinner. But the newmade knight had grown to detest the name he had been born with. He began calling himself by a new one--"Headhunter."
In the decades that followed, the Headhunter won glory and trophies aplenty for himself, putting him a far distance from his lowborn commoner roots. He became notorious for being willing to kill any target, no matter how young or how feeble, so long as he could get a memento out of it. He frequently worked with both House Blackthorne and House Knox in this capacity. He lost to Sir Valar Druun at the Griffin's Peak Tourney to celebrate the birth of Arthur Blackthorne's twin children, but while there, met a young elf named Arianne West who would go on to become his protegee and squire. 
== Second Demon War ==
Following the apparent death of Arianne, the Headhunter assumed command of the Wild Huntsmen for the first time. He attempted to negotiate with Lord Jaster Blackthorne to join the war, but was turned down for his asking price was far too high--"a castle and a daughter to marry," which soon became Spinner's new mantra when dealing with the nobility. When neither faction could give him what he desired, Spinner protested by taking his troops to camp in the midlands and fighting for neither side. This was changed when Arianne West showed up, alive, at the Huntsmen's fortification and persuaded Spinner to take action in favor of the Blackthornes. The Headhunter led his troops to Medger's Spine, where he killed nearly a hundred enemy soldiers single-handed, and thereafter journeyed to Caybourne where he aided Jacques Blackthorne with his assault on Talia Sabre by killing the girl's guardsman, Sir Tybolt of Volmark. 
Granted lordship of the Tropics in exchange for his service to Dominic Blackthorne, Spinner led the Wild Huntsmen up north to partake in the Arkon War. But he was struck again by a bit of avarice and refused to march to battle unless granted further rewards. This infuriated Jaster Blackthorne who staged a coup by disguising himself with the Headhunter's own armor and forcing the men to turn against Spinner (whose true appearance they'd never seen). Spinner was left alive but had to wander into the mountains in exile, left to freeze to death. 
== Aradian Civil War ==
Spinner survived the freezing conditions of the Obscura mountains, motivated now by sheer spite and burning desire for revenge against the Blackthornes. While disfigured by frostbite, he managed to collect scraps of his former armor and reassemble a patchwork version of it. He revealed himself to the New Senate early in 1016AE and took on a position as a key war advisor & leader of the anti-monarchist armies. Lord Axl Waynrite rewarded Spinner's service with something the Headhunter had wanted for a long time in marriage to a noblewoman, giving him his 14-year-old niece Maisie as a wife. Spinner forcefully sired a child on the girl and cared little when the birth killed her, staying only long enough to name the infant boy Maddox before he returned to the war. 
The tide eventually turned against the Rebels and in the end, Axl and Rafe were the only two commanders left. The two fled to Brecilidia where thy hid and plotted ways to salvage the war effort. They eventually concocted a desparate plan to kidnap the Queen's daughter Alyssa, which they succeeded at, fleeing with the captured child to Fort Hollowhead, which would be the staging for the final battle of the war. Rafe was confronted by his former protegee, Arianne, who was wielding his former sword Drakalibur. He met his death on the edge of the blue blade he'd once claimed as his trophy.
== Legacy ==
Through his son, Maddox, Rafe Spinner has several living descendants in 1086AE thru House Falmar. His grandson Sir Gerhard Falmar unwittingly echoes his grandsire's masked appearance and formidable combat ability; while Rafe's great-grandson, Sammael Falmar, is nothing like the Headhunter at all.
== Trivia ==
The Headhunter's character is inspired by numerous figures in popular fantasy; he has a strong resemblance to the Tattered Prince, a character from George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, who also has an commoner's appearance and wears a cloak made from the banners of his enemies. This is combined with the Greek god Ares, described as frequently decorating his belongings by using human skin. The Headhunter's monstrous greathelm is similar to the dog's-head one worn by ASOIAF's Sandor Clegane. His overall appearance, presence, colored sword and harsh breathing are based upon Star Wars' Darth Vader, while his concealed weaponry and profession is similar to another Star Wars character, the bounty hunter Durge.