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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Werebat" data-source="post: 5370487" data-attributes="member: 40158">A rather drab, bitter-looking man sits alone at the bar, nursing the latest in a long line of drinks.  He has the look of a soul who has lost his cause.What is not obvious is that it is a doppleganger.  It goes by many names; in this form, it calls itself Dren.  Among its own kind, it goes by the name of Lum.Occupation: what’s your way of life?This and that.  Lum specializes in spying, and is skilled enough to have worked for some very powerful people (most of whom did not realize its true nature, and some of whom were ultimately betrayed to their enemies when that seemed more profitable).  It is an opportunst and is willing to earn (or steal) its keep in whatever manner comes its way, however.Physical description: just briefly, including any quirksAs a doppleganger, Lum can take on nearly any appearance.  Currently, it doesn't seem to be caring much for putting on an attractive face to the world.Attributes and skills: anything markedly above or below the normLum's Intelligence is a bit higher than the average doppleganger's.  It has levels of rogue, and the skills one would expect a spy to have.Values and motivations: what spurs you to action?Lum is currently despondent.  The last year has seen it supping at the tables of powerful nobles and the ecclesiastical elite.  It was assigned by a patron to ferret out the secrets of an up and coming noble family, and towards this end it chose to seduce a young, politically unimportant niece of the family's patriarch, posing as a member of an obscure noble line from a distant nation.For her part, the girl was enchanted by the doppleganger's silver tongue and charismatic ways.  But her earnest innocence and piety stirred a heretofore unknown feeling in the doppleganger's heart -- true love.  All could have been well if Lum had maintained its disguise indefinitely, but with feelings of love came a desire for honesty between itself and the girl, and Lum did something foolish in the pursuit of its heart's desire -- it revealed itself to the girl as the creature it was, hoping that she would be able to accept it as it was so there need be no secrets between them.  So real was the girl's love for it that it did survive the shock of this revelation, but in sadness she revealed that she could never marry Lum as it was a creature not of noble lineage, as she knew it would be against the wishes of her family and church.  Lum tarried for some time, trying to find a way to work things out with his love, but to no avail.  Finally, in pain and sadness, he abandoned his mission to disappear for a time, as only a doppleganger can.Behaviour: traits that stand outLum is sullen, withdrawn, and cynical.  Believing itself to have found -- and lost -- the love of its life, on some level it no longer cares if it lives or dies.  It realizes the irony of its situation; had it simply continued to lie to its love, it could quite possibly have spent a lifetime with her.  But the fact that it loved her made that an impossibility; to Lum, a dishonest love was no love at all.  It is also angered at the control its love's family and the caste system it espoused had over her, knowing that she loved it and truly wanted to be with it, despite its alien nature, and that its leaving pained her as much as it pained it.  It is angry at itself for having failed to find a way to enable its love to find her bliss with it, and feels keenly the pain it knows she must feel at their separation.  It has not considered such consciously, but it would almost certainly enjoy working out some of its anger on some deserving target, most likely a person or system forbidding relationships between young lovers for its own gain without regard to the resultant pain caused.  In fact, its alignment has drifted into Chaotic due to its quiet rage at the social systems that bind its love's decisions and prevented her from simply leaving with it.Other than this, Lum is a pretty typical (albeit skilled) doppleganger.Useful knowledge: perhaps a hook?Lum knows several juicy secrets thought kept safe by some powerful people, some local and some in far-off places.  Its freshest information pertains to the noble family it has been spying on for the past few months, but it will not willingly part with anything that could even indirectly harm its love.Mannerism: something memorableLum tends to shake its head and mutter cynical predictions for truly happy couples it observes.  It also nurses a simmering hatred of social systems (including religions) that forbid members of different groups from marrying who they will.</blockquote>

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