Alaster Katopodis(Retired)

## History

"I used to be the personal bodyguard of a low noble outside of Fenar. Their identity is unimportant on account of them being dead. I know what you're thinking, must have been a bad bodyguard, huh? No- well, that's debatable. What matters is that he was killed by another noble. It was just fucking noble politics, nothing to do with me or anyone actually important, and I almost got killed for it.

So like I said, this guy was nobody important. But he didn't know that, thought he was rightful emperor of the world. I hated the guy, but he was paying so well that I couldn't pass the job up. Well, at the time at least; it was nothing compared to what we see in the arena, but a lot for a bodyguard job. He was paying so much because he only wanted the best, and of all of his options that was me. Note that throughout my entire multi-year employment for this guy, I never even had to intimidate anyone, let alone actually protect him from anyone or anything at all. We also hardly said a word to each other most of the time, which was fine by me.

So the actual story starts this one day when we head to a diplomatic meeting with some other shitty noble. He goes in, I wait outside. Very normal for nobles. After like two hours we head back, nothing unusual happens. The next day, guy doesn't get up in the morning. He was a late sleeper at the best of times, so nobody thought anything of it, until eventually someone goes in to check on him and finds him cold and pale. Turns out that other noble didn't like him as much as they'd claimed to, slipped a little something into his food the previous day.

There was this big fiasco, and everybody was looking for someone to blame. Everybody included the guy's family. As his bodyguard, it fell straight on me. There was this rushed mockery of a trial, and my execution was scheduled for ASAP, but right afterward they get a message from the other noble. Yeah, the guy who poisoned him. Apparently they have this rule that they can't legally punish someone for something another noble did, something about whipping boys and inhumane treatment. And turns out, the guy who poisoned him was bragging about it to everyone who would listen, including the *family of the guy he's just killed.* Fucking nobles. So that rule is there, keeping my head attached to my body--but the guy's mom is still out for blood, and there are plenty of ways to kill someone. So I got the fuck out of there. Missed out on some gold they owed me, but I wasn't risking my life to go back.

After that I didn't have anywhere to be, and I had a good amount (again, for the time) saved up, so I just decided to train for a while. I'd heard of this adventuring thing, and I was both martially and psionically trained, it just made sense. So I spent something like two years hopping from small town to small town, helping people out here and there, but mostly focusing on strength training and honing my combat ability. Then I came to Fenar."

## Fighting Style

Alaster is a master of battlefield control, who has increased his reach to the fullest extent possible. He uses his psionic ability mainly to augment his martial techniques, such as making use of his psionic telekinesis to extend his reach even further, and hold an entirely separate weapon with his mind. Alaster is no paladin, regularly using dirty tricks to debuff enemies rather than attacking them directly. He prefers to use his turn to reposition and prepare, locking down enemies and preventing them from doing anything to fight back. He has gained the ability to interrupt many normally-safe actions, minimizing the options that an enemy within his massive reach can take. His psionic ability as of recently allows him to put all of his allies exactly where they want to be, as well as speed himself up to better prepare for enemies' potential missteps.

Through training, he has extended the psionic augmentation of his martial ability much further than was possible before. His all-encompassing reach locks down the battlefield like no one else.

## Jobs

### Crazed Man Circus

Alaster's introduction to Fenar was a strange carnival, where he met some disturbing creatures, played some cruel games, and walked away with a pikmin to carry his stuff. All in all, not a bad first impression.

### Magma dragons and Nessie combinations of pure love

A dragon, freed from the carnival, led Alaster and the party to where the rest of his family were being held captive. Someone scouted the cave ahead of time, which was very helpful. With equal parts preparation, skill, and luck, the party freed the dragons and befriended a water monster that might otherwise have easily killed them all.

### Null Mouse Intro

Alaster helped Abraxas out with an infestation in the school basement. There were some large grubs down there, but it turned out that they weren't the real issue--the thousands of tiny null mice everywhere were. The party dumped a bunch of vinegar everywhere and were able to call it a day.

### Yuth-Kin Festival

Alaster attended another festival, run by a bunch of strange creatures called the Yuth-Kin. He drank some good booze and hung around for a while, until a mock fight turned real and there was ooze everywhere. After it was cleaned up, the festival continued, and ended with the designation of a new city district.

### Arena Fight: Golems

Alaster was one of a few who signed up for an exhibition match against a bunch of golems of different kinds. It ended with the contestants' miraculous victory against a wave composed of Adamantine and Antimage Golems.

### Sewer Swines and the Polluted Pork

Alaster joined a party on an expedition down into the sewers, where apparently something awaited. Not knowing what to expect, and so having prepared for anything, Alaster was still very surprised by the enormous porcine centipede that awaited, with its many offensive body parts and swine casters. After chopping it up into bits, one member of the party was able to purify the rotten pork, and the city was fed for weeks off of its remains. Alaster also learned that someone was researching a method of chaining Schisms together, allowing their mind to work in absolutely insane overdrive.

### Beethoven vs the Druid

Alaster accepted a job from a friendly bee named Beethoven. Alaster had never met Beethoven beefore, but the others on the job vouched for him. Beethoven lead the group to a Druid and said to put him down. The Druid tried making some strange appeals to a twisted version of morality, but Alaster was just there for the job. After killing the Druid and his allies, a portal opened containing some huge wasps that were apparently keeping a bee god's power in check or something? All Alaster knows for sure is that when they died, Beethoven beecame the bee god. So that's pretty interesting.