Tommy Hawkins

# Tomas ‘Tommy’ Hawkins

> I believe the technical term is ‘Boom! Headshot! – Tommy Hawkins
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Tomas ‘Tommy’ Hawkins was born the son of a prostitute in a single room tenement in the poorest district of Varadin. He never knew his father, just that he was one of the Johns who would frequent the women of the night down ‘whore lane’ as it was known. Occasionally, in the rare moments his mother wasn’t off her face on hallucinogens, she’d tell him that his father was a handsome prince from a faraway land who’d one day return to take them away to his palace. Tommy never believed it.

Growing up in the gutter he quickly learned how to fight with his fists. He wasn’t necessarily stronger than his antagonists, but he was quicker and unlike some of the thugs in the rookery, he learned how to block blows with something other than his face. With no family to speak of, he soon joined a gang, ‘The Ratrunners’ (named for their knowledge of the sewer network as an escape route) as a way to get food and for some semblance of family. His speed, and street smarts allowed him to rise through the ranks quickly, and he was soon acting as a lieutenant to the gang leader. He progressed from fists to bricks and bats to knives and swords, becoming skilled with both hands in dealing fast and brutal damage to enemy gang members.

A chance encounter on the street, three thugs from ‘The Wolf Pack’, a rival gang were mugging a gnome. Too busy beating the gnome and trying to wrestle a package out of his hands they didn’t see Tommy approach. The three thugs were quickly dispatched with a pair of shortswords hidden under Tommy’s coat. The gnome was thankful for Tommy’s assistance that he offered him a reward. It transpired that the gnome was actually Valmin Aricorin, a master craftsman machine smith and watchmaker, on the way to a client with a priceless new timepiece. What interested Tommy more however was the gnomes other skills with machines, specifically an ornately carved wheelock pistol in his workshop. One of the few craftsmen who could make blackpowder weapons, Valmin agreed to make Tommy a pistol as a reward for saving his life – but then offered to teach him the skills of gunmaking if Tommy agreed to work for him as a bodyguard and enforcer. Valmin was not just a machinesmith, it transpired, he was also a senior figure in the mysterious Guild of Mastercraftsmen Conglomerate – colloquially known as ‘The Firm’.

Tommy is course and uncouth, coming from the gutter. He makes comments which might seem to others to be offensive, but if anything he hates other humans more than any of the other races –and the only women he’s ever really met are prostitutes or other gang members. Tommy is happy and jovial most of the time, unless he’s crossed. Then he’ll fucking gut you.

He’s fiercely loyal to his friends and allies, but thinks nothing of carving up his foes and seems to relish the chance to fight. He particularly loves getting a chance to use his ‘Shooter’ the wheelock pistol Valmin made for him – a cruder but more rugged version of the one he first saw in the machine smith’s shop. He’s known by name to the city watch, but they’ve never caught him for anything. He’ll also follow the criminal code and never snitch – he just settles scores in his own way.

Bizarrely he doesn’t believe in Religion or magic, though he is very superstitious. In his own words:

‘It’s all bunch of bollocks, smoke and mirrors and that. I saw some geezer make a monkey in a day swindling some poor, pissed sailors down by the docks. I got him to show me how he did it (with a gentle application of a bladed article) and the cheeky fucker had a second pack hidden up his sleeve! All sleight of hand, and waving wands and nonsense. All for show to terrorise the poor bugger in the street. Same as religion.’