I didn't have a chance to post in the poll thread, but I'm hoping that doesn't rule me out. The world here sounds nifty. Anyway, a concept first, with stats to follow if'n you like the idea:
Josh Mornston, performance artist (bard)
Josh was supposed to spend his life working at The Steamworks Plant, just like all the other Mornstons. Like Grandpa Jerry, who got tossed on his butt after 50 years of service when his joints couldn't take the strain of riveting any more. Like his father, Joe, who spends every night coughing up the black soot he breathes in while filling the plant's furnaces during the day. Like his mother, Mariah, whose eyes are quickly failing in the low light of the widget sorting room.
Josh had better things to do than live or die as a Steamworks cog. He left behind the life of risking fingers to unjam gears and took to the streets. Cobbling together scraps and cast-offs, co-opting unused alleys, Josh became a performance artist. It didn't make him much money, but his penchant for satirizing the upper class definitely gave him noteriety. Whether that was performance talent, his choice of targets, or the burgeoning more-than-natural gifts he was discovering, "Josh O' The Mornin'" performed to packed alleys, uproarious laughter, and thunderous applause.
That is, until his latest show, wherein he chose to cast Steamworks' board of directors as various barnyard animals. President Moran was particularly furious with Josh's portrayal of him as an incontinent orangutan. While Josh rather vocally argued a man ought to have the right to mock whichever public figures he so chose. Despite Josh's natural and supernatural persuasive skills, the open air court decided otherwise, sentencing him harshly so as to dissuade other social malcontents from following in his footsteps.
Josh Mornston, performance artist (bard)
Josh was supposed to spend his life working at The Steamworks Plant, just like all the other Mornstons. Like Grandpa Jerry, who got tossed on his butt after 50 years of service when his joints couldn't take the strain of riveting any more. Like his father, Joe, who spends every night coughing up the black soot he breathes in while filling the plant's furnaces during the day. Like his mother, Mariah, whose eyes are quickly failing in the low light of the widget sorting room.
Josh had better things to do than live or die as a Steamworks cog. He left behind the life of risking fingers to unjam gears and took to the streets. Cobbling together scraps and cast-offs, co-opting unused alleys, Josh became a performance artist. It didn't make him much money, but his penchant for satirizing the upper class definitely gave him noteriety. Whether that was performance talent, his choice of targets, or the burgeoning more-than-natural gifts he was discovering, "Josh O' The Mornin'" performed to packed alleys, uproarious laughter, and thunderous applause.
That is, until his latest show, wherein he chose to cast Steamworks' board of directors as various barnyard animals. President Moran was particularly furious with Josh's portrayal of him as an incontinent orangutan. While Josh rather vocally argued a man ought to have the right to mock whichever public figures he so chose. Despite Josh's natural and supernatural persuasive skills, the open air court decided otherwise, sentencing him harshly so as to dissuade other social malcontents from following in his footsteps.
