Pardner

## Pardner Salem

Official Pardner Salem art by @BrachyZoid

Pardner lived on a farm in southern Tracadia with his family (mom, dad, two brothers and five sisters). The rest of his family lives peacefully, falling very much into the “gatherer” category, but Pardner was always horrendous at that kind of thing. Handling animals or gathering crops, it didn’t matter, Pardner sucked at it. However, where he thrived was in hunting. He moved to Alivast when he turned 25 to work as a bounty hunter since that’s where he felt like he was actually competent. He ended up part of the Merkz after he put the three of them in a deep, shared debt.

Pardner describes himself as “Dusty Trail Brown” with eyes that are “Sarsaparilla Amber”.

## Personality

He walks with confidence when he’s alone, but tends to be a little more reserved/self-conscious when he’s with Cliff and Vlad. He is a competent hunter and tracker, but a string of bad luck has made him a bit self-conscious about his skills, so has developed a habit of acting like he is knowledgeable and in control even when he's at a loss.

He has found that the role of the "face" of the Merkz has fallen on his shoulders, a role he is uncomfortable with as he prefers to be in the middle or back of the pack.

## Characteristics

### Weight

75% of a horse

Luigi is a deinonychus who serves as Pardner's mount, hunting companion, and friend. Luigi’s back is covered with a mane of bright-red feathers. The bald parts of his body are covered largely by clay-red scales and skin.

Pardner sees Luigi as his friend and sort of like a son. He would go to great lengths to protect him, and is incredibly proud of him whenever he does basically anything at all. He tends to stay near Pardner most of the time, aside from when they’re in combat, in which case he goes wherever he’s needed or commanded to go by Pardner.

Not much is known about how Pardner raised Luigi, but it is known that he raised him from an egg, as he likes to point out every time Luigi does something cool (e.g. “I taught him that” or “Yeah, boy, that’s how I raised you!”).

#### Luigi's Relationships

* Pardner - Best friend! Best best friend! Love forever. Fight for.
* Cliff -  Big hairy soft. Friend.
* Vlad - Scary dark. Friend probably?
* Remy - Feather like Luigi. Maybe friend but maybe not friend. Maybe just gold.

## Relationships

### Cliff

Pardner likes Cliff, though he acknowledges that his boneheadedness can be pretty annoying sometimes. He finds him kind of pitifully cute, like a puppy covered in mud. He’s willing to help Cliff understand things, but when it gets tedious he usually passes that responsibility onto Vlad.

### Vlad

Pardner and Vlad aren’t incredibly close considering the fact that Pardner is the one that got the three of them into deep debt on the very first mission they ever took on together. He steps on eggshells around Vlad as much as possible without compromising his cool-guy exterior. He’s sort of bitter about the whole thing. He’s not hostile towards Vlad, though. In fact he knows he messed up and wants to do right by him.

### Remy

Pardner views Remy as a weird, fancy-pants benefactor. Definitely one of the more thorough employers he’s had over the years.

## Trivia

* Pardner is very good at playing the harmonica.
* Kuu (Cliff’s player) likes to joke about Luigi liking Vlad more than he likes Pardner, but that would never happen and also Kuu is a bastard for even suggesting that.
* Luigi's hat was a spur-of-the-moment addition by BrachyZoid who had a minimal description for the official art.
* MontyGlu rejected Mario as a name for the dinosaur before approving Luigi.
* When Pardner initially introduced himself to Remy he offered his hand for a handshake, Which was casually ignored. Some say he is still waiting for that handshake.

## Gallery

* Pardner fanart 1 by @RooseButte
* Pardner fanart 2 by @RooseButte
* Pardner fanart 3 by @RooseButte
* Pardner and Luigi fanart by @RooseButte
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