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Jun. 16th, 2014 06:32 pmRory McCallum
Hair; Red
Eyes: Green
Height: just shy of two meters/ 6'3
Personality
Rory is a McCallum. This encompasses a lot about how he sees the world and his place in it. He began weapons training at age three and slept with a spear in his bed to attack any monsters that might try and kidnap him. Sadly only one tried and Grace got to stab it first. This was highly unfair in his opinion. His idea of a fair fight is him against four people. Generally he’ll win. And the idea of not fighting is completely foreign. So are tact, diplomacy and you mean shooting first is a bad idea? He’s a hero in the old fashioned sense of the world. Old fashioned as in Beowulf old fashioned. Blood, glory and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. He’s not afraid to kill and doesn’t consider it to be a last resort. He has what could be considered “hero’s luck” which allows him to get things done by the skin of his teeth, dodge the bullet just barely and be in the right place at the right time. He also has a seventh son’s luck which means you really don’t want to play darts with him, among other things. (Oh, but come on, one more game, this time I’ll be blindfolded and you can spin me around). Of course the luck doesn’t always hold out unless his life depends on it.
This has lead him to be completely unafraid of anything.
He’s a hero, a McCallum and lucky. That must mean he’ll win. There’s just no other possible solution. At least in his mind. Obviously this isn’t true, but it’s how he approaches situations: over cocky and confident. If it were true, he wouldn’t end up in jail as often as he does for cheating and fighting. He tries to take losing gracefully and laugh it off and if it’s not high, life or death, stakes then he’ll let it go. (Or get into a fist fight, one of the two.) Otherwise he will push himself to the point of serious injury or death. Not so much for the need to win but because if things are going down that badly that he’s not winning, that he’s in a situation where he is overwhelmed, that means something really serious is happening and he needs to make sure people get out/protect something/ or stop something, even if it means sacrificing himself. He’d be the guy who’d stay behind to let others get away. And he’d see nothing wrong with it. It’s just the way things have to be. Sometimes sacrifice is something a hero needs to do. He doesn’t like the idea, of course but it’s what he’s supposed to do. Again, it’s because he’s a McCallum and he’s a hero.
Failure in this case is if the people he was protecting didn’t make it out alive or the thing that needs to be stopped wasn’t stopped. If he’s still alive at the end of it and it’s not been solved he’ll haul himself out of bed to try and fix it. But if it was fixed, even if he was seriously injured or other people stopped the thing, it’s a win.
Which is what McCallums do.
Also because of this Rory is fiercely protective of people who need protecting. He’ll face down dragons, high fey and gods who try and hit on his sister (though admittedly Grace didn’t really need much help in that situation as she knocked Thor on his ass in one hit…) If he decides that someone needs protecting they will be protected. Woe be anyone who gets in his way. Woe.
When he’s not in McCallum Mode, as one might call it, Rory seems like a bit of a lazy, forgetful, layabout, good for nothing. He’s more than willing to bribe his littlest niece and nephew to put jam covered kittens in Grace’s clothes, but he’s also more than willing to lend Grace his own clothes while hers are in the wash. He’ll laugh at himself whenever a prank gets pulled on him. If someone accuses him of cheating - and can prove it - he’ll own up to it. If someone takes a swing at him, he’ll swing back, but he won’t be the person to start the fight.
It’s very hard to piss him off and he’s generally very affable, friendly and willing to go where life takes him.
History
The McCallum family is a long lined family, one that goes back to the creation of fairy itself. It’s one that’s intimately tied to fairy, but isn’t of fairy itself. (Mostly because none of the fey want to have any relation with them). Long ago the Morrigan had a child by the name of Callum. And he did something incredibly stupid. He helped kill seven of the eldest children of the first fey. He didn’t realize it was going to happen. He just led them to a grove - for hunting - he said. But instead someone with a grudge killed them with iron - the first of their kind to be deliberately murdered with iron - and strung up in the grove to rot. The spirits of these fey didn’t take to kindly to the brutality of their murder and overtook the grove, haunting it and making it maliciously alive, searching out souls to join them in their pain. The fact that it was constantly on the move reaching out to finds new souls to join it gave it the name “The Clutching Grove”.
The murderer was caught and killed but that left the question of what to do with Callum. It was an incredibly stupid of him and he should have known better. Most decided he should be put to death as well, but the Morrigan argued against it. She said that he should be punished, and all of his descents as well. The punishment? He would become keeper and king of the Clutching Grove. To try and rein in its wanderings and prevent it from stealing too many lives and souls. As the eldest of thirteen children, it was decided that a new king/queen would be chosen whenever a descendant of his had thirteenth child. On that child’s thirteenth birthday the eldest would be drawn into the Grove and stay there as the new ruler. Callum’s wife had several children at the time so he had plenty of time for descendants.
Also, as a side curse, Callum’s children were giving a distinctive red hair and green eyes. So, as it would later be said, people would know who they are and get out of their way quickly.
They settled down in a home just outside one of the gates to fairy in a place dubbed Thorn Hall which is just outside of where Cork would later be. There they became known as the protectors of the Watchers - a group of standing stones that act as the gateway. As many of the building pieces of Thorn Hall came from fairy, the house has a magical nature and is bigger on the inside. Rooms open up and close as they’re needed and is generally nicer to family members than it is to strangers. Woe betide anyone trying to rob the place.
The family also became known for it’s rather ruthless approach to life and dealing with problems. They were the people you hired when you had monsters attacking your village, dragons stealing your virgins and armies attacking your kingdom. To sum up how most people - supernatural and not - see the McCallums is that they don’t have monsters under the bed because they’re the monsters on top of the bed.
At some point they also started making whiskey, the recipe handed down from mother to daughter. It’s currently a controlled substance in several countries and outright banned in others. It’s also Very Expensive.
Skipping forward several and many generations Rory is the second youngest child of Moira McCallum. He has a twin sister by the name of Grace who is the thirteenth child of the McCallums. His nephew Nat, heir to the throne of Ireland, and eldest child of Rory’s oldest sister Talia, was born a few months before he was. The three of them were raised pretty much together as siblings though Rory and Grace were closer and Nat occasionally had to go and visit the home in Tara. Rory did all the talking between him and Grace - who didn’t really speak until she was about six. And only then because Rory was stupid and fell down the well. Though he came out all right, Grace refused to come out of her room for a week and wouldn’t see Rory at all.
When he was five Nat gained a pair of twin brothers: Kale and Trever. Rory, Grace and Nat were exceptionally dubious as to these additions to their lives and tried to get rid of them in typical McCallum fashion. Once they left them out in woods for the wolves or fairies to find and take them (under the assumption that only demons could make that much noise) and when Kale and Trever were five sold them to the circus for three dollars and some cotton candy.
On their thirteenth birthday the McCallum curse struck. Grace and Rory woke up to discover that their oldest brother, the one who Grace adored beyond measure, had vanished. No one knew why. This broke the family a bit. Grace went silent again and ran off several times to try and find him. Kale used his psychometry on the Watchers and got overloaded, ending up in a coma for eight months. During the next few years Rory felt adrift. Grace refused to believe it wasn’t her fault that Dara had vanished and wouldn’t talk to him about it.
He threw himself into his weapons training, working at his shooting with the crossbow and rifle. As well as hanging out at the local garage to learn how to work on machines. It was something to do. Something to distract him. Things got better after they turned eighteen. Grace went on a quest to find Dara and came back a Chosen of the Morrigan and knowledge of what happened to their brother. She told Rory but no one else. The two of them started working together again on various jobs that the Morrigan requested or other things that Needed to be Done. Rory played cover to Grace’s charges. Though he was also perfectly competent at fighting with a sword and his fists with Grace at his back.
Beyond those jobs, Rory stays at Thorn Hall, content to be the local mechanic, scammer of newcomers by cheating at cards (it’s only cheating if you get caught) and whiling away the days watching his latest nephew and niece, help the family whenever he’s asked to, charm the local and not so local lads and ladies and occasionally get tossed into jail for a bar fight.
Brief World Description
Rory comes from an earth where magic is everyday and known. Everyone has a tiny spark of magic. Gods walk the world and because of this, society has developed quite differently. Perhaps the biggest difference is the lack of Judaism and its descendants, Christianity and Islam. The religion never formed because why believe in a god that doesn’t physically exist when its obvious that there are gods that do. Something happened many years ago that caused a weakening of the gods power. Some say it was humanity's realization that they didn’t need the gods for everything, like in the Industrial Revolution, or at least their priests. Others say that it’s part of the natural way of things. The gods are fading, its past their time.
The world has integrated magic into its everyday life. The study of magic is just another branch of science. Some of the more sophisticated technology is a blend of magic and machine. Doctors have the ability to help people through the study of medicine and in some cases the ability to heal people themselves. Ritual mages test the known bounds of magic while physicists test the known bounds of physics.
Some country lines are different. Eire never lost its sovereignty for example. In fact Rory’s oldest sister is married to its king.
Hair; Red
Eyes: Green
Height: just shy of two meters/ 6'3
Personality
Rory is a McCallum. This encompasses a lot about how he sees the world and his place in it. He began weapons training at age three and slept with a spear in his bed to attack any monsters that might try and kidnap him. Sadly only one tried and Grace got to stab it first. This was highly unfair in his opinion. His idea of a fair fight is him against four people. Generally he’ll win. And the idea of not fighting is completely foreign. So are tact, diplomacy and you mean shooting first is a bad idea? He’s a hero in the old fashioned sense of the world. Old fashioned as in Beowulf old fashioned. Blood, glory and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. He’s not afraid to kill and doesn’t consider it to be a last resort. He has what could be considered “hero’s luck” which allows him to get things done by the skin of his teeth, dodge the bullet just barely and be in the right place at the right time. He also has a seventh son’s luck which means you really don’t want to play darts with him, among other things. (Oh, but come on, one more game, this time I’ll be blindfolded and you can spin me around). Of course the luck doesn’t always hold out unless his life depends on it.
This has lead him to be completely unafraid of anything.
He’s a hero, a McCallum and lucky. That must mean he’ll win. There’s just no other possible solution. At least in his mind. Obviously this isn’t true, but it’s how he approaches situations: over cocky and confident. If it were true, he wouldn’t end up in jail as often as he does for cheating and fighting. He tries to take losing gracefully and laugh it off and if it’s not high, life or death, stakes then he’ll let it go. (Or get into a fist fight, one of the two.) Otherwise he will push himself to the point of serious injury or death. Not so much for the need to win but because if things are going down that badly that he’s not winning, that he’s in a situation where he is overwhelmed, that means something really serious is happening and he needs to make sure people get out/protect something/ or stop something, even if it means sacrificing himself. He’d be the guy who’d stay behind to let others get away. And he’d see nothing wrong with it. It’s just the way things have to be. Sometimes sacrifice is something a hero needs to do. He doesn’t like the idea, of course but it’s what he’s supposed to do. Again, it’s because he’s a McCallum and he’s a hero.
Failure in this case is if the people he was protecting didn’t make it out alive or the thing that needs to be stopped wasn’t stopped. If he’s still alive at the end of it and it’s not been solved he’ll haul himself out of bed to try and fix it. But if it was fixed, even if he was seriously injured or other people stopped the thing, it’s a win.
Which is what McCallums do.
Also because of this Rory is fiercely protective of people who need protecting. He’ll face down dragons, high fey and gods who try and hit on his sister (though admittedly Grace didn’t really need much help in that situation as she knocked Thor on his ass in one hit…) If he decides that someone needs protecting they will be protected. Woe be anyone who gets in his way. Woe.
When he’s not in McCallum Mode, as one might call it, Rory seems like a bit of a lazy, forgetful, layabout, good for nothing. He’s more than willing to bribe his littlest niece and nephew to put jam covered kittens in Grace’s clothes, but he’s also more than willing to lend Grace his own clothes while hers are in the wash. He’ll laugh at himself whenever a prank gets pulled on him. If someone accuses him of cheating - and can prove it - he’ll own up to it. If someone takes a swing at him, he’ll swing back, but he won’t be the person to start the fight.
It’s very hard to piss him off and he’s generally very affable, friendly and willing to go where life takes him.
History
The McCallum family is a long lined family, one that goes back to the creation of fairy itself. It’s one that’s intimately tied to fairy, but isn’t of fairy itself. (Mostly because none of the fey want to have any relation with them). Long ago the Morrigan had a child by the name of Callum. And he did something incredibly stupid. He helped kill seven of the eldest children of the first fey. He didn’t realize it was going to happen. He just led them to a grove - for hunting - he said. But instead someone with a grudge killed them with iron - the first of their kind to be deliberately murdered with iron - and strung up in the grove to rot. The spirits of these fey didn’t take to kindly to the brutality of their murder and overtook the grove, haunting it and making it maliciously alive, searching out souls to join them in their pain. The fact that it was constantly on the move reaching out to finds new souls to join it gave it the name “The Clutching Grove”.
The murderer was caught and killed but that left the question of what to do with Callum. It was an incredibly stupid of him and he should have known better. Most decided he should be put to death as well, but the Morrigan argued against it. She said that he should be punished, and all of his descents as well. The punishment? He would become keeper and king of the Clutching Grove. To try and rein in its wanderings and prevent it from stealing too many lives and souls. As the eldest of thirteen children, it was decided that a new king/queen would be chosen whenever a descendant of his had thirteenth child. On that child’s thirteenth birthday the eldest would be drawn into the Grove and stay there as the new ruler. Callum’s wife had several children at the time so he had plenty of time for descendants.
Also, as a side curse, Callum’s children were giving a distinctive red hair and green eyes. So, as it would later be said, people would know who they are and get out of their way quickly.
They settled down in a home just outside one of the gates to fairy in a place dubbed Thorn Hall which is just outside of where Cork would later be. There they became known as the protectors of the Watchers - a group of standing stones that act as the gateway. As many of the building pieces of Thorn Hall came from fairy, the house has a magical nature and is bigger on the inside. Rooms open up and close as they’re needed and is generally nicer to family members than it is to strangers. Woe betide anyone trying to rob the place.
The family also became known for it’s rather ruthless approach to life and dealing with problems. They were the people you hired when you had monsters attacking your village, dragons stealing your virgins and armies attacking your kingdom. To sum up how most people - supernatural and not - see the McCallums is that they don’t have monsters under the bed because they’re the monsters on top of the bed.
At some point they also started making whiskey, the recipe handed down from mother to daughter. It’s currently a controlled substance in several countries and outright banned in others. It’s also Very Expensive.
Skipping forward several and many generations Rory is the second youngest child of Moira McCallum. He has a twin sister by the name of Grace who is the thirteenth child of the McCallums. His nephew Nat, heir to the throne of Ireland, and eldest child of Rory’s oldest sister Talia, was born a few months before he was. The three of them were raised pretty much together as siblings though Rory and Grace were closer and Nat occasionally had to go and visit the home in Tara. Rory did all the talking between him and Grace - who didn’t really speak until she was about six. And only then because Rory was stupid and fell down the well. Though he came out all right, Grace refused to come out of her room for a week and wouldn’t see Rory at all.
When he was five Nat gained a pair of twin brothers: Kale and Trever. Rory, Grace and Nat were exceptionally dubious as to these additions to their lives and tried to get rid of them in typical McCallum fashion. Once they left them out in woods for the wolves or fairies to find and take them (under the assumption that only demons could make that much noise) and when Kale and Trever were five sold them to the circus for three dollars and some cotton candy.
On their thirteenth birthday the McCallum curse struck. Grace and Rory woke up to discover that their oldest brother, the one who Grace adored beyond measure, had vanished. No one knew why. This broke the family a bit. Grace went silent again and ran off several times to try and find him. Kale used his psychometry on the Watchers and got overloaded, ending up in a coma for eight months. During the next few years Rory felt adrift. Grace refused to believe it wasn’t her fault that Dara had vanished and wouldn’t talk to him about it.
He threw himself into his weapons training, working at his shooting with the crossbow and rifle. As well as hanging out at the local garage to learn how to work on machines. It was something to do. Something to distract him. Things got better after they turned eighteen. Grace went on a quest to find Dara and came back a Chosen of the Morrigan and knowledge of what happened to their brother. She told Rory but no one else. The two of them started working together again on various jobs that the Morrigan requested or other things that Needed to be Done. Rory played cover to Grace’s charges. Though he was also perfectly competent at fighting with a sword and his fists with Grace at his back.
Beyond those jobs, Rory stays at Thorn Hall, content to be the local mechanic, scammer of newcomers by cheating at cards (it’s only cheating if you get caught) and whiling away the days watching his latest nephew and niece, help the family whenever he’s asked to, charm the local and not so local lads and ladies and occasionally get tossed into jail for a bar fight.
Brief World Description
Rory comes from an earth where magic is everyday and known. Everyone has a tiny spark of magic. Gods walk the world and because of this, society has developed quite differently. Perhaps the biggest difference is the lack of Judaism and its descendants, Christianity and Islam. The religion never formed because why believe in a god that doesn’t physically exist when its obvious that there are gods that do. Something happened many years ago that caused a weakening of the gods power. Some say it was humanity's realization that they didn’t need the gods for everything, like in the Industrial Revolution, or at least their priests. Others say that it’s part of the natural way of things. The gods are fading, its past their time.
The world has integrated magic into its everyday life. The study of magic is just another branch of science. Some of the more sophisticated technology is a blend of magic and machine. Doctors have the ability to help people through the study of medicine and in some cases the ability to heal people themselves. Ritual mages test the known bounds of magic while physicists test the known bounds of physics.
Some country lines are different. Eire never lost its sovereignty for example. In fact Rory’s oldest sister is married to its king.
