Attle Bowman

> "*Demaro Vett made me a fighter. The old man made me a survivor.*"
> ― Attle Bowman
>
>

Attle Bowman is one of the main characters of *Origin Stories*, introduced in Killerjoy. After growing up in Genith, Attle left for a life, or rather death, he felt worthwhile with the rovers travelling the madlands.

Those plans changed after Attle met Couver "Three Hands" Galley. Attle found himself caught up in a dangerous conspiracy involving masques, monsters, and lords upon the discovery of a newborn gargoyle.

## Appearance

Attle is described as having spiky maroon hair and dark brown eyes and sideburns. When wearing the Silver One suit, his hair turns silver. After the revivalist attack at the Crossway, Attle's hair did not return to its normal maroon color, however, and stayed silver from there on out.

## History

### Early Life

Attle grew up in Genith with his parents. At some point he went to Sepperlin and spent time with the Demaros. There, Vett trained him in how to fight. He also befriended both Jun and Vada.

After spending time in Sepperlin, he made his move to Dirthe at 15 years old. He intended to continue on and join the rovers. He had his sights set on the Ending Wood when he was attacked by a burbeast. Armed with only a knife, he managed to defeat the burbeast. In the aftermath, he found his way to a hiding village near Carver where he would meet Three Hands. The old warrick captured Attle and intended to kill him. But that never happened. Attle spent a year and a half there with Three Hands training how to be a survivor.

Three Hands had a plan. He wanted to take back Carver, his colony city from the Lords who've corrupted it. He created the Silver One suit in order to do it. He tasked Attle with wearing the suit and acting on his behalf for his mission.

After that year and a half, Attle went into Carver and became a worker for Delmontpelier. He worked on the railings that supported the cities silos. Here, he befriended Myrts Ashen and Kerrigan. When he wasn't working on the railings, he was helping Three Hands. And in the time in between, he planned to still go and become a rover.

Not long before the start of Killerjoy, Attle (as Silver One) found a group of gargoyles near Eckle Lake. There were prowlers attacking the mother and its newly hatched children. They killed the mother, and in her death throes she fell upon and crushed her children. In his anger, Attle killed all of the prowlers for their gratuitous violence against a beautiful creature that only looked to protect its children. After all that death, Attle was surprised to find one gargoyle was still alive.

He brought the newborn gargoyle, whom he named Vermon, to Three Hands, but the old warrick turned him away. Attle brought him into Carver, thinking he'd have time before he was fully grown, and hid Vermon - and a soulbook - in the Mayor's Manor under the Crossway.

At some point, Attle legally changed his name from Artem Atilles to Attle Bowman to honor his deceased Uncle.

### Killerjoy

When Vermon broke out of the Mayor's Manor under the crossway, Attle was nearby. He had heard the commotion on one of his days off. Disguised as Silver One, he came in and fought the gargoyle, bringing him down with minimal damage to the surrounding area. The manor was destroyed, but nothing else was harmed.

The next day after a long day working at the railings, Attle was approached by Illum Nairo. Nairo took Attle to Brandishier, but didn't do a great job of escorting him. He told Attle where to go in a way that was confusing. Accidentally going to the wrong office, Attle found himself before a huge screen that showed the goings on of all the lords of Carver, a useful tool no doubt. One of the lords shown was Demaro Jun. Realizing he was clearly in the wrong place, Attle left and found where he was supposed to be only one floor up. He met with Proctor Allen and Griffin Marsh. Attle is brought on as a Collateral Investigator by Allen to help with the investigation of the gargoyle attack on Mayor's Manor. Griffin was assigned to be Attle's aide as well.

Arriving at Mayor's Manor, Attle found out what happened to Vermon since he left. The beast had a sign placed on him by the imp Cody. The soulbook was handed over to the Lord Prime. And Demaro Jun had decided to kill Vermon in his sleep. Jun and Attle reunite for the first time in years, and Attle learns it's because of Jun he got this job in the first place. He's really only there to validate the lord's decision in the eyes of the people of Carver. Playing along, Attle says he needs to do some investigating for it to be believed. He then goes over to Vermon and removes the sign from the gargoyle, waking the beast. Vermon flew away without attacking anyone, like the beast they all believe him to be.

Disguised as Silver One, Attle left Carver to go after Vermon. He found him at Eckle Lake, right where he had been born. Jun had followed him out to the lake and made to arrest Silver One. A fight broke out. Jun summoned a cyclops from the Whirle to take on Vermon. Silver One kept pace with Jun long enough for Vermon to finish off the cyclops. Both Silver One and Vermon fled. They went to Three Hands to hide. After a discussion, Attle decided that what he wanted more than anything was to be a rover. Which meant leaving Vermon with Three Hands. But before he could leave for the Spine, he needed to finish what he started with Three hands.

A week after the fight at Eckle Lake, Jun holds a press conference to announce what happened, more specifically to turn public opinion in their favor by controlling the story. At the summit, Silver One was branded a criminal. Among the mediums in attendance was Pen Marten. As she asked questions of Lord Austra, a wicker attacked the summit. Attle had to sneak into his Silver One costume to help take on the beast. In the fight, he was injured badly enough to be captured by the Lords.

When Silver One awoke in Center Stage, he was interrogated by Lovis and Blite. Or at least he was supposed to be. Instead, a true masque, Ember Spin, broke into Center Stage and helped Silver One escape. They fled on a chop piloted by Wander Soul, another masque. The chop was capable of cloaking, but was not fully invisible when Blite and Lovis came after them. Another fight broke out atop the chop. The masques and Silver One escaped by the skin of their teeth.

During the flight to Brandishier, Ember Spin revealed herself to actually be Pen Marten and that she, along with all the other masques of Carver, knew Attle was really Silver One. When they arrived at Brandishier, they went to the room with the screen that displayed lord locations. Waiting for them was Nairo. After being convinced it was safe, Attle removed his mask to have a discussion with them. Nairo explained to Attle the significance of the arrival of the gargoyles. How they likely signified the coming of another Annihilation. The masques, and Nairo, were looking to prevent another Annihilation, whatever that happens to be. They will do that whether Attle joins them or not. Attle refuses after learning that they were the ones who unleashed the Wicker on the summit at the Paramount.

Attle abandoned the masques, his Silver One persona, and his job as a Collateral Investigator. Despite this, he couldn't forget what he learned and continued looking into the Annihilation hoping to find some information. Kerrigan had been helping him despite thinking it an obsession. After a time, Kerrigan asked Attle for some help as well. His sister, Ashen, had quit the railings and intended to take part in the Parcel Exams. Kerrigan hoped Attle could convince her not to go. Kerrigan didn't account for Ashen's determination. Attle was unable to convince her.

Pen came to Attle again, but not in a confrontational context. She found him using a tracker Nairo placed in his mask. She told Attle it was about "the old man" and Vermon. They left for Three Hands' hiding village and found that both he and Vermon were gone. There were no signs of struggle. They were just gone. Pen and Attle were too late and went back to Carver. But before parting ways, Pen gave Attle a round infused with mettle which would help him find his way to her if he ever needed to.

Attle had moved into the Myrts' home after losing his job as an investigator. He was there in the days leading up to Ashen's departure for the Parcel Exams. But before he was to see her off, his attention was caught by a revivalist attack at the Crossway. Donning the Silver One persona against his better judgement, he went to help the civilians stuck in the fallen silos. After fighting a few revivalists, he went over to the silo and made a door for them to out. In order to protect the civilians leaving through his hastily made hole, he had to use his own body as a shield against the revivalists shooting at them. His suit did a good amount to prevent the rounds from puncturing his body, but that didn't stop him from feeling all the pain from the impacts of each round. Silver One nearly passed out then and there from the pain.

Jun and Commandris arrived on the scene to deal with the revivalists on sight. Jun didn't want to hurt Silver One, he wanted to help him even. But Commandris called him over to help her destroy the machine the revivalists had brought to the Crossway. In a moment of selflessness, Commandris took the device and flew it up high into the air. She destroyed it far and away from the city where it couldn't harm anyone. But it didn't kill her, either. It only claimed her arm. She fell back to earth, but landed as if nothing happened. Silver One escaped by dropping a smoke bomb and rolling off the railings.

Attle woke in the room under Mayor's Manor where he had stashed Vermon. Bomie Ono, the caretaker of the manor, was healing him. It turns out, Griffin was the one who found him and brought him there. Since the fight at the Crossway, his hair remained a silver color. After regaining his strength, the three of them left their hiding spot. Attle intended to leave Carver then and there. He left the suit and mask with Griffin, but he took the gloves for himself. Before he left, however, Griffin activated the mask which in turn activated the tracker. Wander Soul appeared seemingly out of nowhere on the chop and approach Attle. Griffin intending to protect Attle, tried shooting the masque. When she hesitated, Wander killed her instead. Attle didn't hesitate, though, and punched a hole through Wander's chest.

Attle found his way back to where he worked while still a bolter. Here he sat in misery, moping over all that he'd been through. As he made his decision to leave Carver, he found his path blocked by his father, Artem Gero, and Jun. The three of them left for the Perogian to meet with Madus Delmont. Artem wanted Attle to enter the Parcel Exams and become the second parcel to the Millenius. This was in order to help him take down the Lords, the masques, all of them.

While talking with Jun, Attle realized that the lords had nothing to do with Three Hands and Vermon's disappearance. And that it was Nario behind that as well. Attle and Jun come up with a plan to track Nairo and the masques of Carver down using Cody. Using the new gloves that Delmont made for him, Attle and Jun leave the Perogian to find out the truth.

Jun and Attle go to Brandishier to get Cody's help. Cody is unable to direct them to Nairo and Vermon, but he does give them enough information to figure out that Nairo has been using the gargoyle to influence the revivalists. He'd been using it to get them to do his bidding in Carver. They need more answers and have to find someone to ask. Jun remembers Gema, the Joalishwoman interrogated by Commandris, and realizes she can point them in the right direction.

Attle and Jun head to the Sky Hall to speak to her. While Jun distracted the lords in the hall, Attle was to go to Gema and convince her he was a masque there to break her out. Attle found Gema dead in one of the cell's beneath the Sky Hall. He got into a fight with the proxies in the lobby during his escape, but he was saved by Jun who knew how to find the masques. Jun recruited the other lords of Carver as well to help take on this threat.

Arriving at the masque hideout, it became clear that the lords and their proxies would be wiped out before even making it to the front door. Attle decides to stealthily take on the revivalists watching the entrance by himself. Before the rest of the lords come, Attle convinces Jun to let him use his flit to enter from above while Jun uses his newfound snow mettle to distract the masques below.

The gamble paid off and Attle got into the hideout. Most of the masques left for the entrance when the distraction began in earnest. He took out the remaining masques and found Vermon. Before he could do anything to help the gargoyle, Ember Spin came and attacked him. Their fight was evenly matched. It came to a halt when Vermon was brought elsewhere in the hideout. Attle ran after the gargoyle and found himself facing off with Nairo near the main entrance. There was a barrier of mettle between where Attle and the masques stood and where the lords and proxies waited.

Ember was instructed to dispose of Attle. But before she got the chance, Attle disable the barrier letting the lords through to attack the remaining masques, Ember included. Another masque came forward and revealed himself to be Three Hands. The old warrick made short work of Attle, knocking him unconscious momentarily. When he came to, he saw Jun had lost an arm. Three Hands had also killed Blite and Black Ox in that span of time. He'd have killed Lovis, too if Attle hadn't stopped him. Nairo and Three Hands gave Attle a choice: Kill Jun and be pardoned, or die with the rest of them.

Attle chose to unshackle Jun, releasing all of the lords restrained gage mettle on Three Hands. The power punched a hole through Three Hands and knocked Jun unconscious.

Meanwhile, Nairo was using Vermon to see into the Whirle, to find out what caused the Annihilation so long ago. A bright light came from the device Nairo used. It was unstable. As he watched, Attle caught a glimpse of Exa through the Whirle, though he had no idea who she was.

The device was getting out of control and Nairo's body was overcome by the unstable light coming off it. Soon, everyone there would be consumed by it as well. The only choice was to escape using the pipes in the hideout that were used to move Vermon around. Jun carried Lovis into one of the pillars they intended to use to escape. There was only enough room for one more. Pen attempted to send Attle thinking herself unworthy of going on, but Attle took the choice away from her. He pushed her inside and sent the pillar off, staying behind to be consumed by Vermon's light.

His body was gone, but Attle was not done with this world. Or rather this world was not done with him. Blite, the supposed lord, used seel to keep Attle's soul tethered to the world. Attle wanted to continue living, but Blite threatened Myrt Ashen's life if Attle didn't agree to his terms.

## Skills and Abilities

Attle had been trained by both Demaro Vett, a powerful lord in Sepperlin, and Couver Galley, a true Warrick. With their training, he became an excellent fighter. He knew how to redirect someone else's strength or mettle to his own advantage. And with the aid of the Silver One suit, he became stronger, faster, tougher.

Attle's greatest strength lied in his quick thinking and ability to think on his feet.

## Quotes

> "*I know a lot about things lords hate.*"
> ― Attle Bowman
>
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> "*You sobbish moron, you actually believe the Whirle can be commanded like it plays by your rules? You would kill all of us on a baseless theory of time, then?*"
> ― Attle Bowman
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> "*I just have to show up, pretend nice, and go home richer than I started.*"
> ― Attle Bowman
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> "*I'm no masque, lord decadent. And the gargoyle has harmed no one. If you mean to take him from me and hurt him, then I will have to exercise my right as a citizen to stop you.*"
> ― Silver One
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> "*I'm a criminal in their eyes. They'll never care for my help with anything, even if it could help them save the entire colony city.*"
> ― Attle Bowman
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> "*Did the Sovereign tell you to become a parcel? Because if so, that's some astounding divination.*"
> ― Attle Bowman
>
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> "*I’ll quit with the personal questions, too, since that was a terrible idea to begin with.*"
> ― SIlver One
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> "*Disappear yourself, Attle Bowman. It's one of your strengths.*"
> ― Attle Bowman
>
>