Thomas

Affiliation
 Position
 Nationality
 Family
Justro (step-father),
Renee (mother),
 Significant other(s)
 Weight
 Gender
 Hair Color
 Age
 Alignment

**Thomas** is an adept light mage and a former circus ringleader. He used his light powers not only to heal others, but to also secretly stir the support of Pendsbornes towards magic and its potential benefits. However, he was caught and was forced to serve a year sentence in the Pendsbury jail before being taken away by Arkanov to become a slave in Sihrasul's underground slave trade. After befriending Arkanov and joining on the quest to find Mana's heart shards, he managed to evade his term as a slave and currently travels with Arkanov and their friends in their search.

## Concept and Creation

Thomas was originally a Sonic fan character created by SigmaAlphaThree in late 2013, and was the first Sonic character ever created by this user (until his 2013 redesign). His name was Theta the Otter. He was simply made to be Sigma the American Mink's sidekick, nothing more. Thus, he did not have a more developed backstory until much later in his history.

Towards the beginning of 2015, his backstory was worked on further making him a spy for the fictional government of a country called Tolace. This backstory would later be used for Arkanov. A spur of the moment decision led SigmaAlphaThree to give the Theta Sonic character to another user, but on the sole condition that a character based off of Theta could be created by the original creator in case a new storyline based off of human characters was created.

At the end of 2016, a new storyline was created between SigmaAlphaThree and KnucklesFangirl called Mana et Mecha and Thomas' character was made for the story, which was very different from his original in order to lessen the likeliness of being able to draw comparisons between the new Thomas and the old Theta.

## Personality

Thomas is typically categorized as a brave visionary. Because of his willingness to cast the use of magic in a good light in Pendsbury, Pendsbornes highly regard him as the voice of the citizens who is willing to speak up on behalf of an oppressed people. He simply believes if magic is a capability born with humans, it is their right to use it, not hold it back. His ability to stir emotions in people, whether it be through his theater performances in the circus or his monologues of freedom to the enslaved Samadurians, is what others find most memorable about him. It is true, as Thomas is passionate in problems he cannot find answers to readily.

However, his candor has its tendencies to be both a blessing and a curse. It earns him much recognition, but he also has an inability to hold his tongue in situations that require him to do so. Thus, he's managed to make many enemies simply from being too honest and blurting out the first thing that comes to his mind when he speaks with someone.

The people's high opinions of Thomas have also gone to his head. Thomas has an even higher opinion of himself and is extremely cocky, almost to a point of arrogance. Perhaps this has stemmed from the fact that he seems to be untouchable, as evidenced by his ability to evade both Pendsborne authorities and Samadurian slave traders, and an angry Salina when he ruined Sihrasul's water festival. In addition, the citizens' preaching of Thomas' bravery has led him to believe he is a godsend to the suppressed people of Pendsbury, and that he is basically a messiah for the city. When he articulates these beliefs to others, this turns them off.

Thomas is also a pathological liar, user, and cheat. Years of secrecy in his true motives and intentions have forced Thomas to be able to lie whenever necessary to prevent himself from getting captured. He is also willing to use the emotions of his captivated audience for his own purposes, like in holding up one of his cover stories or in getting them to interfere with authorities so he can evade the law. He is not this way towards romantic partners, but he does not feel as guilty in using his fans for his own purposes. His hypocrisy is that he is willing to express his true feelings towards magic to many citizens of Pendsbury and Atreanor, but in evading capture and punishment he freezes up and lies through his teeth to maintain his freedom.

However, despite major faults, Thomas can be kind and have a heart. If some befriend them he will be extremely honest to them and let go of his performer facade. He is smooth, charismatic, easily personable and great at communication and public-speaking. His coolness and easygoing personality are traits that many people find attractive, though those who know him well enough realize the face of the pro-magic movement of Pendsbury has his flaws like everyone else.

## History

### Origins from an Affair

Thomas' parents had a complicated love life before he was born. Renee, his mother, was from Pendsbury but Valkron, his father, was from Sihrasul and was one of the barons of the city. She had met him on one of Pendsbury's first expeditions to the country of Samadurai, and they developed a forbidden romance in Sihrasul. However, their affair couldn't last forever, as Renee was shipped back to the floating city within a month of their meeting. But a month was all Renee needed with Valkron to land herself in large trouble.

Upon her return she found she was pregnant, but she could not contact Valkron until the next expedition. She gave birth to Thomas. Many in Pendsbury were confused by the child's dark complexion and this raised suspicion, but Renee embarrassedly explained that Thomas' dark skin must've been a recessive gene amidst her lineage. Renee had one problem through all of this: she had a husband at home on Pendsbury, named Justro. But she was unhappy in their marriage to begin with. Justro tended to beat Renee and then apologize soon afterwards, claiming he still loved her, but Renee's love for him was broken. She decided she would tell him that Thomas was Justro's kid, and Justro was thrilled to hear this. A child would've solidified their relationship and prevented Renee from ever divorcing him. Renee simply wanted to get away from Justro and when the next expedition date came, years later, she returned to Sihrasul to seek out Valkron.

Valkron was surprised to discover he had a son, but extremely happy that Renee was back with him once more. However, the two had to keep their relationship a secret, for if the expedition's officials found out Renee had a child with a Samadurian while on the expedition, she would have been "terminated" from the mission, which meant she would've lost her life. So for six years while still on the expedition on the Samadurian floor, Renee and Valkron kept their relationship even more of a secret. Renee went alone on "solo missions," which was Renee's cover story for her secret trysts with Valkron. Within the six years she stayed in Sihrasul she had another kid by Valkron, this time a girl named Salina. Renee couldn't explain this child's birth, for she had been away from Justro for many years. He couldn't have possibly impregnated her. So she told Valkron to keep Salina, finally explaining that she had a husband on Pendsbury. Understandably, Valkron was furious, and vowed to never see her again.

### The Return

Depressed from the loss of her lover and of her second child, Renee returned home to face even more devastation: Justro had died while she was away from a heart attack. Thankfully, Justro hadn't beaten Thomas as he had with Renee, but upon Justro's death Thomas was sent to foster care so he would have some place to stay as a lone three year-old with no parent to take care of him. Renee retrieved Thomas from the foster home he had been living in for three years while his mother was away.

Now Renee felt guilty for spending so much time away from her son when she was after a man who didn't even love her anymore. Thomas was too young to comprehend where his mother had gone off to and what she had done, but because he was away from Renee for a good portion of the beginning of his life, he never felt too close to her, but he believed she had been off on the Pendsbury Expedition collecting research on the mages of the land below them, not fraternizing with some man. He was alluded to believe she had been doing something noble in discovering the mysteries on mages. As a result, he grew up curious as to the true nature of magic and the people who used it, and reverent towards his mother, believing she was a truth-seeking, just person, when in fact she was quite selfish in leaving him for years on end. He would come to discover this in time.

### Early Life

Afterwards, Thomas grew up appearing like an average boy to others but his mother knew something was very different about them. He attended Prinsburn Insitute for the Naturally Gifted (PING) and tested into being a possible light mage. Thus, he learned how to not use his powers as did most other peers his age, but when he was at home he quizzed his mother on all of the things she knew about mages while in her past tenure as an expeditioner. When his mother could not answer some of his questions, he went into the privacy of his room and secretly practiced his powers.

When he was not practicing in secret he spent much time around his mother. She didn't have to work because of her inheritance from Justro's death, so she spent much time around her son lying through her teeth about the things she learned on the expeditions. She also tried to control Thomas' inquisitive behavior, warning him that asking too many questions about magic and about what Pendsbury's society condoned would land him in jail, but Thomas always had troubling holding his tongue.

### Forced to Work

One day, when Thomas was 12, his mother announced they had to file bankruptcy. Her inheritance from Justro was almost liquidated completely and she could not get another job due to her past as an expeditioner (in Pendsbury, those going on expeditions are forced to have that one job alone, to prevent past expeditioners from informing other workers around the city about magic and possibly starting a revolt). Additionally, she had been diagnosed with lupus, and Renee could not get a job with such a taxing disease, but she could not get monetary assistance for being sick either. Thomas was worried and wanted to make sure his mother would be safe and secure at home, so he decided to drop out of school and take the first job he could to bring money into the house. That job happened to be a circus performer in the city's circus, Cirque du Rebelles.

The circus was created by Pendsbury officials to provide some form of entertainment to the city's citizens so they wouldn't be completely depressed and unhappy. It was an average circus too, and had standard acts with animals like horses, clowns (Pendsbury's demented intepretation of them, of course), and performers with masks akin to those worn in Carnivale. Thomas was a trapeze artist. He struggled in mastering the tightrope at first, and the pay was dismal, but it was the only job available to a kid under teenage years, and the money was enough for his mother. Even when he grew up, though, he kept with the job because he enjoyed the circus mates. As he aged, he rose through the ranks. First he was a trapeze artist, but he soon elevated himself to the main attraction on the trapeze, then a part of the elite acrobat crew, and finally to being one of the main ringleaders. All the while he was practicing light magic and became scarily good at mastering the element.

### Forbidden Magic

Eight years into his job, on the evening of one performance before the curtains came up, Thomas decided to use his light powers to add a new light show to the circus, which had become increasingly popular in the city and was even going on tour to Atreanor. His performing-mates discovered what he was doing and were alarmed at his open use of magic at first. But the circus' light fixtures were broken and they decided they needed some form of replacement. So Thomas stayed backstage and used his powers as the main light source for the night. The lights shone in vibrant ways, different from anything any Pendsborne had experienced before. The crowd loved it. However, the curtains were pulled back for final bows and Thomas was discovered to be using his powers the entire show. Thomas grew fearful, thinking he would be arrested, but he was greeted with the pleasant surprise of being given a standing ovation for his part in the circus. Thomas was delighted and ate attention up, but asked the audience to not tell anyone about what he had done. To his relief, they all agreed. The citizens of Pendsbury were just excited to see something new for once, and even with all of the anti-magic culture Pendsbury breeded, they wanted to know they were not the only ones interested in using magic behind closed doors.

Thomas' boss was furious with him at first, but more and more attendees of the show began to donate money in favor and support of the circus. So, his boss decided to promote him to head ringleader for his performance, but only if he could keep up the magic act in secret. Thomas went to the drawing board with his performers for an all new show, when that favored magic and showed the people of Pendsbury just how beneficial and spectacular magic, the skills they were born with but told to subdue, could be. It was risky to do such a performance, especially one for a circus backed by Pendsbury's government, in secret. But Thomas' curiosity with magic had been proliferating since he heard his mother speak of the expedition. He didn't care much for the anti-magic lessons in PING. He wanted to discover the forbidden, far-away world of mages and magic. Why, he wondered, was something people were born to have and use suppressed?

For three years then on, the circus show for Cirque du Rebelles was a hit. The underground pro-mage performances garnered a lot of support from Pendsbornes and Atreans alike, but they were never found out, at least not immediately. Thomas became well-known as the genius behind such stunning displays, and his boss grew happily rich. Renee had no clue what her son was doing, for she stayed home and could not leave her house with her illness, but she heard of how popular her son was getting and was proud. Everything was going great...

### Discovered

... Until one of the performers snitched on Thomas. When Pendsborne officials came during a performance one night, however, and captured the crew Thomas immediately ratted out his other performers, saying they schemed the entire plot. He was afraid of being locked up and was ready to lie by whatever means necessary, certainly emulating his mother's attitudes towards honesty. The other performers were furious, and told Pendsborne authorities and police the truth on how Thomas had planned everything and how it was all his idea. Thomas was arrested, and his story was displayed across the entire city and country of Atreanor as a warning to all "rebels" who wanted to begin a magic revolution. The circus was shut down.

Thomas stayed in a jail cell for an entire year, not told of what charges he would face and unable to see his mother. Thankfully he was not subjected to torture, but he did get occasional beatings and floggings for talking back to authorities and claiming he was pleased by what he had done.

### A New Adventure

Finally, a year after his arrest, a decrepit, feeble Thomas emerged from the city's dungeons and greeted by a tall man in a red coat. Thomas was confused, and when he asked what was going on, the man introduced himself as Arkanov. He was an Elite Seven member, the Master of Shadow, embarking on an undercover mission to Sihrasul. He did not say much else about his goals, but he informed Thomas that he was to be accompanied by Arkanov to Sihrasul as well. The Pendsbury officials decided his fate: he was to be a slave to Samadurian slave traders. There was a drop-off station in the city for him and a buyer waiting. Thomas, cuffed and unable to protest, went along with Arkanov to face his fate. He did not know the true nature of what was in store for him in Sihrasul...

## Trivia

* His general design is based off of SigmaAlphaThree's old character, Theta the Otter, which does not belong to her anymore.
	+ The only similarities between Theta and Thomas at this point are the similarities in color scheme and their relationship with one of the main characters: Sigma the American Mink for Theta, and Salina for Thomas.
	+ Thomas' personality is starkly different from Theta's and most matches that of the older Sonic character Digby.