Tucker Whiskers

Art by Dire

> *"You will not call me 'Dad', you will call me 'Sir', as you always have!!! And you have not been helped by them, you have been cursed! They have been trying to play god in this town for far too long. Trying to heal the sick, but they're the ones who are sick! You were never ill, boy, you were never ill! They made you sick by being here! You... They tried to play the role of Haio, and I see it now! The test is never you, son. It was them. Haio wants us to prove the strength. And strength we will prove!"*
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> - Tucker Whiskers denouncing the Hellebores
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**Tucker Whiskers** is a highly influential pastor in the Alabhastarian branch of the Church of Haio and the father of Dash and Cooper Whiskers. A militant follower of the God of Nature and Neutrality, he seeks to spread her word all across the world whether they accept it or not. His zealotry has led him to view the world through a distorted lens of faith, disregarding science and seeing all misfortune as tests from his god. He is played by JoeFudge.

## Description

### Appearance

Tucker Whiskers is a tall well-built older Human man with pale skin and ginger hair. His face is sharp and angular, with pronounced cheekbones and a square jaw. A series of wrinkles on his forehand and around his brown eyes attest to his age. His hair is kept short and brushed back from his face, save for a few stray hairs. He also has a full Dutch-style beard that covers his jawline. Bar his thick eyebrows, all his hair is streaked with grey, especially on the sides of his head. He also has rather large ears.

Tucker's causal clothes consist of a light brown jacket with a stripped pattern on the shoulders and a navy blue shirt. His official clerical outfit, meanwhile, is made up of plain black robes with a high continuous collar. The robes are then covered in a mantle of dried out brambles to denote his affiliation with Haio.

### Personality

> *"That sort of control, that... forcing someone to do what you want, that's... That's sort of power my dad would kill for. And I don't want to be like him."*
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> -Dash Whiskers to Evangeline Hellebore
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## History

### Early History

Tucker Whiskers was born in Alabhastar to the venerable Whiskers clan approximately 50 years before the events of Phase 3. The Whiskers clan had long since dedicated themselves to the Ionian God of Nature and Neutrality, Haio, after she had revealed herself to the people of Io after the Shattering almost 500 years ago. Tucker was to be no different, choosing to pledge himself to his ancestors' god as a cleric like so many before. Supposedly, in his youth, Tucker had suffered some form of illness that had eventually passed, something he solely owned to his own belief. As he grew older and matured in his role, Tucker's faith in Haio only grew stronger, evolving into a militant zealotry befitting a soldier. As far as Tucker was concerned, Haio's hand could be seen in all things in his life and beyond, providing both blessings and trials in equal measure. However, this perspective instilled a deep distrust in science in Tucker, especially medicine which he saw it as a perversion of Haio's intent for the natural order.

As time went by, Tucker eventually married to continue his proud family line. From this union, two sons were born, Cooper and Dash Whiskers. The eldest Cooper soon became his father's favorite, showing the strength of body and stoutness of heart worthy of a paladin of Haio. However, his youngest Dash proved to be quite the opposite, being frail, sickly and lacking in respectability. Despite his disappointment, Tucker raised Dash with the same grueling expectations he raised Cooper, in the belief that his son's dedication to Haio would help him overcome his infirmity.

### Preacher of Keld

A few years after his youngest son's birth, Tucker and his family took up residence in the town of Keld, located in Austrin region of southern Alabhastar. Keld, though a small town, was close to nature, possessing a secluded grove with some ruins where flocks could worship and listen to Her guidance. Tucker, as a leading member of the local Church of Haio, gradually amassed a small but dedicated flock of faithful owning to his skill in oration and latent charisma. Though a humble beginning, Tucker reveled in his authority and the sway he held over others, with his son Dash noting years later that he likely would kill for the power to freely control people. To exercise his new influence, Tucker campaigned successfully for the erection of a statue to Haio in the town harbor to remind all of Her bounty and grace, putting pressure on the town's meager finances to do so.

One day in the year 2175, shortly after a sermon, Tucker held back his youngest son in the grove to clean up while he ruminated. Though his chores were soon finished, Tucker deliberately waited in silence to test his son's discipline. When Dash remained quiet and still, Tucker finally asked Dash if he had finished. Despite his son's shaky affirmation, Tucker insisted that he double check, causing Dash to scramble to do so. As Dash did so, Tucker began to wax lyrical on how Keld would soon flourish under his teachings. When Dash replied that he already thought Keld beautiful, his father reiterated that he saw change in Keld's future, before declaring his youngest to be faster next time he was to clean up. Hesitantly, Dash asked to go play, invoking his father's ire. He then reprimanded his son for not paying attention during the sermon and demanded a prayer to Haio before he could take his leave, though not before adding that Dash should stop stuttering and speak with authority.

Tucker remained to watch his son pray beneath the great tree in the centre of the grove, something he himself was always drawn to. However, midway through his prayer, Dash erupted into a coughing fit. Approaching, Tucker commanded the sick boy to stop. After the fit subsided, Tucker had Dash show him his hand, into which he had coughed up some blood. Rather than express concern, the Whiskers patriarch ordered him to wash it off him and his clothes so that no-one else would see it. When Dash tried to apologize, Tucker countered by saying he should apologize to Haio instead as, in Tucker's mind, Dash had clearly committed some transgression to earn her ire. His father lectured about how he was sick as a child and through Haio's blessing hand grown stronger. During this lecture, Cooper was used as a further comparison to shame Dash's lack of faith. Battering down Dash's weak protestations, Tucker instructed him to pray until sundown, threatening he would receive no supper otherwise. Receiving the boy's meek acquiescence, Tucker left for home, leaving Dash in the grove. Unbeknownst to Tucker, this command result in his son crossing paths with with a new family that had moved into Keld that same evening, calling themselves the Hellebores.

### Test of Faith

Over the next two years, Tucker would continue his fervent preaching to great effect, growing in influence and divine power alike. Now possessing a greater mastery of nature, the preacher of Keld had amassed a great flock and the town in turn had changed to reflect this new paradigm. Perhaps the greatest change to Keld was the great church erected where the Grove of Haio once stood, built on Tucker's command as a show of utmost faith. However, while Tucker's star was on the rise, he was undermined by the decline of his son. While Tucker focused all his attention into the glorification of his god, Dash's illness had steadily grown worse, unchecked and untended to. Tucker was repeatedly approached by Dr. Ignatius Hellebore, the father of his youngest's new friend Piper, who offered to treat the boy's sickness. Each time, Tucker rebuffed him, holding fast to his distrust of medicine. Rather than seeing it as a matter of health, Tucker now viewed Dash's condition as a test from Haio, an obstacle to be overcome by devotion, not rationality or compassion. However, despite all Tucker's efforts to prove his piety, Dash only grew weaker and closer to death.

Unable to hide the boy's illness any longer, Tucker convivence his followers to assist him in praying for his son's deliverance. However, days of prayer and offerings of Goodberries came to no avail. Eventually, Dash finally reached the brink, struggling to even breathe. Taking the boy to the grand temple he built, Tucker laid his son before the altar and began to beseech Haio for her guidance through the night. In his prayer, he asked her why he had been shouldered with such an embarrassment for a son when he had done so much in her name. Admitting to the boy's illness, Tucker asked Haio how to save his son and prove himself in the process. When no divine answer made itself known, Tucker reached his own revelation: Haio valued strength, and so the boy must show strength in order to survive and the greatest strength would come when faced with death. And to do that, he must be somewhere closer to Haio. His mind set, Tucker carried Dash through the darkness, from the church into the neighboring burial grounds, muttering prayers to himself as he did so.

The pastor took Dash into a large crypt intended as the tomb for his family and placed him atop the pedestal inside. Tucker urged his sick child to stay in the crypt and pray to Haio and prove himself worthy of being a Whisker. If Dash lived, then his faith had been rewarded. But if he died, then at least he passed into the embrace of Haio and returning to the earth. Either way, for Tucker, this test of faith would see its end. The barely conscious Dash called out to his father, saying he was scared. However, Tucker dismissed him, stating he would not be scared in this moment. To further his point, he said that Cooper would be thankful, not scared, if he were in Dash's position. Without hesitation, Tucker reiterated that Dash would emerge from the tomb as a new boy, as someone Tucker could recognize as his son, or he would not and the disgrace he brought Tucker would die with him. Approaching one last time, Tucker insisted Dash use the last of his strength in his prayers, satisifed when the boy clasped his hands together and shut his eyes. With these final words, Tucker departed the crypt, closing the gate behind him and heading home for the night to await Haio's judgement.

### Fire and Fury

The next morning, at the break of dawn, Tucker returned to the burial grounds to see what fate had befallen his son. Opening the tomb, he was elated to see Dash, not only alive, but looking healthy. Tucker began to praise Haio with abandon, proclaiming that Dash had proved himself just as Tucker believed he would. Hopping down from the pedestal, Dash approached his father, who kneeled down to met the boy's eyes for the first time. As Tucker pontificated on the benison Dash had received from his prayers, Dash explained that the miracle had come from an unexpected place; that Haio had sent Piper and Dr Ignatius Hellebore to save him. Hearing this, Tucker went deathly quiet, all joy leaving his face. Unaware of this change, Dash went on, talking about the medicine they gave him and that all his prayers had led to them helping him. Tucker then cut across him, coldly asking what he meant by medicine. When Dash, realizing his mistake, trailed off, Tucker demanded to know what the Hellebores had given him. Dash replied he did not know.

Engulfed in outrage, Tucker got to his feet, commanding his stammering son to be silent. Wrapped in his righteousness, Tucker rationalized aloud that Dash was never the true test of his faith, merely a symptom of it. In his mind, Dash's degradation was a product of the Hellebore's interference in Keld and its workings, even going as far to connect the word "hell" with the family's name. Getting more animated, the pastor decreed that Dash would never spend any more time with Piper or his family ever again. When Dash tried to protest, Tucker angrily ordered his son to call him "sir" as he had done before and to realize he had been cursed by the Hellebore, not helped. Decrying them for playing god, Tucker came to the conclusion that Haio wanted him and his flock to prove their strength, and that they would do so by purging the town of the Hellebore's influence. Adopting the persona of a commanding officer, Tucker commanded Dash to walk straight home to his room and get his brother to gather the flock to the temple for a sermon that would really means something. Dash's last attempt to resist was shouted down, and the boy dejectedly did as he was told. Tucker then went straight to the temple to prepare for his

The next couple of days were marked by righteous fury and vicious words as Tucker preached to the people of Keld. He told them his own version of events, of the treachery of the Hellebores, the corruption they peddled to his son and the test Haio had laid before them all. Under his passionate sway, the flock were turned against Ignatius, his family and everything they stood for. Finally, in a crescendo of outrage, Tucker led his followers to the Hellebore's residence and the herbalist shop they owned, torches in hand. At his direction, both buildings were set alight to purge the corruption the disreputable family had spread. However, such violent repercussions were not unfamiliar to the Hellebores, so when Tucker and his mob arrived to met out their judgement, the family themselves were nowhere to be seen. Be they fled or dead was of no significance to Tucker, for he had finally passed the test. As the flames licked at the night sky, Keld, in his mind, was free at last.

### Prodigal Son

With nothing or no-one else to resist him, Tucker's hold over the town of Keld became absolute. For the next twenty years, his influence continued to build a stronghold of faith and piety in southern Alabhastar. Meanwhile, he continued to act as the militant father of his sons Cooper and Dash. Though Cooper continued to be his favorite, Dash now had the necessary strength to be raised in true Alabhastarian fashion, learning fighting styles and survival skills. Though more respectable in his eyes, the rift between the two never mended, rather growing deeper as Dash began seeing his father for what he was. Eventually, the time came for Dash to make his oath to Haio, as so many Whiskers men had done before him. The specifics are unclear but it is likely that Tucker himself oversaw the ceremony. However, Dash never showed the level of faith Tucker wanted, and did not use his newfound gifts for reasons he would not divulge to his father. Eventually, upon reaching adulthood, Dash cast off his responsibilities to both Haio and his family and left Keld for Qethos to become a Protector. Though Cooper maintained some form of infrequent contact, Tucker lost touch with Dash altogether.

## Mechanics

### Powers and Abilities

#### Cleric Abilities

* *Channel Divinity: Turn Undead*
* *Destroy Undead (CR 1/2)*
* *Nature Domain Abilities*
	+ *Acolyte of Nature*
	+ *Channel Divinity: Charm Animals and Plants*

#### Feats

* It is currently unknown what feats Tucker knows.

#### Spell List

##### Cantrips

It is currently unknown what cantrips Tucker knows.

##### 1st Level

* *Animal Friendship*
* *Speak with Animals*

##### 2nd Level

* *Barkskin*
* *Spike Growth*

##### 3rd Level

* *Plant Growth*
* *Wind Wall*

### Notable Items

It is currently unknown what notable items Tucker possesses.

## Etymology

"Tucker" is a masculine given name and surname of mixed origin. The name is believed to be an occupational surname for a cloth-fuller, a person who cleans and thickens cloth. The English version of the name is believed to have its roots in the Old English word *tucian*, which means "to torment".

"Whiskers", also called vibrissae, are a type of stiff, functional hair possessed by most mammals and some birds and fish. They usually grow in clusters along the sides of the creature's face. As a result, Whiskers is a traditional name for cats. The term "whiskers" has also become a slang for facial hair on humans.

The name "Whiskers" may also be derived from the English surname "Whisker", which is related to other surnames like Wishart and Wesker. These surnames are all supposedly derived from the Norman-French words "viscr" (meaning "wise"), and "ard" (meaning "brave" or "bold").

## Trivia

* Tucker's first name comes from a list of popular names for Golden Retrievers Dodger found online, a trend which extends to other members of the Whiskers family.

## Images

### Official Art

Tucker Whiskers in his priestly attire (Art by Dire).