Aleksandar Sweetpea

## History

Aleksandar Sweetpea never knew his biological parents, having been thrown at the doorstep of the Sweetpea family home in the Gnomish district in Mutoun. Taken by surprise by the appearance of the massive child at first, the Mama Sweetpea grit her teeth and dragged him in before the storm and rain sapped the life from his body. Her husband David took the news of the minotaur child with much.......chagrin before accepting that he was staying.

Alek provided a series of many a new challenge in their lives, mostly due to his size and hunger. Mama Sweetpea quickly came to love Alek as one of her own, calling him "Her little Sweetpea". David on the other hand resented the child that had taken over their lives and divided Mama Sweetpea's attention away from their other four children, but quickly came to accept him as his own after trying to defend David's name in a nearby playground.

One afternoon when Sweetpea had just turned 5 and been forced to start staying outside due to his size, David heard the sounds of a scuffle in the middle of the night. Thinking it might be a burglar of some kind, David armed himself with a blunderbuss and peered outside. Greeting him was the sight of Alek, tussling with another, much older minotaur larger than him while a circle of minotaurs were jeering insults at him. Charging outside, David began screaming at them to leave his property before he took them off himself. At the sight of the normally meek gnome charging them with a firearm and clad in pajamas, the crowd of minotaurs fled instantly.

David walked over to the fairly bloodied minotaur and began questioning Alek over what had happened, to which he only replied through a swollen face "Said tha' you weren't my real da' 'n shouldn't h've 'ad kids t'all.". David's heart went out to the young boy as he bent down and began tending to Alek's injuries, a proud smile on his face at his son's willingness to defend his family.

Alek grew quickly, towering over even other minotaurs in a matter of years in both height and muscle. Contrary to his initial appearance, his four gnomish siblings merely used this as a chance to climb over him, using him as something of a jungle gym as they themselves grew up.

During this time, Mama Sweetpea tried to give him as best of an education as she could, bringing home textbooks and other teaching materials from the schoolhouse where she worked. Alek tried his best to not disappoint his Mama who'd sacrificed a lot to keep him in her life and not sent off to an orphanage, but the material could not stick in his mind no matter how hard he tried and how often he studied the tiny books that she brought home for him to work out of. Eventually getting sick of failing over and over at both reading and understanding the materials she'd brought home for him, Alek decided it would be better if he wasn't there to disappoint his adoptive mother and left home.

Alek roamed the streets of Mutoun, getting a job in construction and getting the blueish tattoos that would be later removed from his face. He continued on like this for several months, living alone and never finding a place to call home, before meeting his first sweetheart, a minotaur named Rosie. She was a charity worker for one of the new churches to Sarenrae and not too long after meeting each other, quickly fell head over heels in love with each other.

A few months later they had moved in with one another, Alek getting his face tattoos removed and finally getting training to be what he'd always wanted to do ever since he first saw the traveling theatres throughout the city, a dancer. Rosie supported him though all of this, but slowly grew more and more distant from him. Their dates and the love that they'd had for one another dwindling as time went on, Alek spending more time with his dancing and Rosie at the church. One day, Alek came back home, to find everything pertaining to Rosie completely missing from the apartment. Confused, he wandered to the church where they'd first met to find no mention of her there either. Emotionally hurt and worried he might have been delusional about Rosie entirely, Alek returned home to Mama Sweetpea.

He returned to find Mama Sweetpea there waiting with open arms. She ran up and gave him a hug, leading him to his outside lean-too that had been taken care of while he was gone. Alek ran a fever for the next few days, muttering Rosie's name in his sleep.

Recovering from the fever, he heard of the city of Skyholm nearby and went to investigate the rumors about the city of a thousand doors to make a himself a new life as a dancer.

## Appearance

   Alek stands tall, even among fellow minotaurs and making him somewhat of a menacing figure. Light blue tattoos can be seen on his muscular upper arms. Most days, when not working, he usually wears a pair of light, thin pants, modified for ease of movement, and a holster for his great-axe across his back regardless of the weather.

Around his nose are small pierce marks from back when he had a nose ring and small, little markings of old facial tattoos that were never quite fully removed.

## Personality

Aleksandar may seem rough around the edges, but beneath that exterior he's plagued with insecurities about his size and appearance born from the mocking comments of peers from his youth.

He is fairly accepting of people, knowing what it's like to be an outcast among your own race and even your own family. Most of the time, Alek is a fairly easy going person that enjoys a good drink with friends and seems to have a protective streak of certain people.

## Relationships

Macie Mosswell-A noble of the Mosswell House in Skyholm and Alek's best friend. She's been one of the few people he's been able to trust and have them shares secrets back. Friendly, sweet and curious as can be, he's found himself wanting to protect her and enjoy life more and more.

Flint-An strange guy with a passion for drink that Alek has found himself alongside time and time again on jobs. As far as Alek's been able to tell, seems like a decent guy.

Kairi- An elven machinist who's not only hired Alek as her dance teacher, but been flirting with him the last few times Alek and her have interacted, be it serious or not.

## Aspirations

Alek doesn't have a particular goal outside of starting a new life for himself in the city of Skyholm, away from the place where the only thing that stuck to him was his last name.