Here is what we know, or can infer, about characters from stories posted here on The Seize so far.

Team IT, Waywards Wandering

Craig Johnson . Sarah Senfield . Deathwish . Kanji Takimura

Craig Johnson from Team IT

Craig Johnson
Age: 29
Astrological Sun Sign: Capricorn

Craig has worked for Computer World, your one stop IT service and computer sales shop, for a few years now. Somehow, Craig is still convinced that one day, some day, the work will be finished so that the team will have time to work on other projects. Every time he makes progress with this goal, customers, the big bosses, sales, or marketing throw him a curve ball and they go back to being back logged. Craig figures all they need to do is band together and get a “system in place”. Most of his efforts are thwarted by the bosses that own the company as they have ideas of their own about what those video game playing slackers can do. They love to load on more work, almost as much as sales and marketing likes to try and pass their work off on the IT Team.

Craig is the self-designated liaison between Team IT and the bosses, for more reasons besides no one else wants to do it. When he speaks, they give him some measure of respect. He threatens to quit about once a month and the bosses will usually back down just enough right as Craig is ready to ride off into the sunset. Craig would like to be left to just manage the team, though the Team has other ideas on the subject, especially Sarah who thinks of herself as the team’s muse. Regardless, there is too much work to be done to just be a supervisor to jump in on only tricky cases. He’s a hard worker, but avoids being on the phone as much as he can get away without his teammates getting angry.

Craig used to work “for the government” and that is “all he is allowed to say”. Most of the team suspect he is just embarrassed about his last job which was probably at some big box electronics store. Sometimes they wonder, though, as his knowledge is pretty extensive for someone not yet thirty, especially when it comes to slapping together spare computer parts “just to get the damn thing working already”.

Craig has a fondness for organization. He loves wikis and has a bunch of them set up for team usage. He also adores Excel spreadsheets that list and compare data.

Craig is single and has a hard time with dates though he’s quite good looking. He’s been accused of being boring, controlling, and uptight. He’s extremely logical-minded and likes things to be clear, cut, and dry. Craig worries about his lack of luck in love as thirty is right around the corner, though he’d never admit it to any one on the team.

Sarah Senfield from Team IT
Age: 26
Astrological Sun Sign: Scorpio

Sarah is anything but the ‘token woman’ as she is the designer and front-end developer of Computer World’s external support website and their private team internal blog, along with Tom who mostly handles back-end programming. She is also a Windows system administrator for the company, being in charge of group policy for the domain. In addition, she still is responsible for the external tech support and computer repairing and building just like the rest of the team. She has a hard time not taking on additional responsibilities, and does her best to keep peoples’ griping to a minimum. In general she handles it quite well, but if you push her or don’t treat her with respect the outer calm will drop and you will regret it. She works with little complaint as long as she is not expected to ever step foot outside the basement during work hours and she is allowed to manage her time as she sees fit. If you have a problem with her using remote desktop or sshing into your computer, don’t ask for her help, as she has little patience for n00b walk throughs. She’s more likely to bite the bullet and do this for customers, but for her coworkers, she is more likely to lock down their account further so they can’t mess anything up in the future and as punishment. This, of course, excludes her IT coworkers which she has nothing but love and respect for. The Domain’s OUs reflect this as they are broken down into: “TeamIT, “Nice”, “Naughty”, and “ShitList”. The freedom for her to use her own discretion is why she stays with the company, otherwise she would have quit within the first week. She hasn’t even been with Computer World for a full year and already the upper management is unsure what they would do if she ever did leave, since they’d either have to hire three people to do her job or find someone else as capable, hard working, and in love with her job as her. The big bosses know this, try to hide the fact, and hate it. Unlike Craig, she isn’t always threatening to quit her job. Like Craig, she is constantly trying to find better ways of getting the work done, though her methods differ from his. While he tries to organize, she supports more of a head on ‘try it out and get it done’ approach.

Deathwish from Waywards Wandering

Deathwish has been traveling the world with his long-time, fleshy friend Kanji Takimura for sixteen years. Though he is not technically a native to the Eastlands, he considers them his home and Kanji like a brother. He was transported from his home when he was still a child and there is much he does not remember about his real home, though he still misses it greatly. A group of kids found Deathwish long ago, but Kanji and Lial were the only two who were brave enough not to run at the sight of him. Kanji found him a home at the monastery and together they found ways to communicate with each other even though Deathwish could not speak. His people communicate through tongue clicks, facial twitches, and smells. Deathwish did not have vocal cords and could not at first understand the language Kanji and Lial spoke. Deathwish has not seen Lial since he and Kanji set out from Wenga sixteen years ago.

Deathwish communicates telepathically in a deep, masculine voice. He can ’speak’ directly to one person, to just a few around him, or broadcast to an entire room. Though he lacks the ability to speak traditionally, he has learned a lot about the common human language of the world and can usually pull off vocal inflections telepathically. Still, sometimes his speech seems blunt or emotionless since this method of communication is foreign. He is also versed in communicating through gestures since he did not always have the ability to communicate telepathically. He can also read and write, but not very well.

Some of Deathwish’s ‘native language’ can be broadly interpreted by those who know what to look for, though subtleties that another of his race would catch on to are lost on humans. Laughter is accompanied by the ridges around his large nose wiggling and a smell much like mint. The smell of mildew shows irritation or exasperation. For the most part, degree of smell or quickness of movement or clicking can be interpreted as a greater degree of emotion. For example, a hint of mint would be a snicker while a strong, fresh breeze of it would be a belly laugh.

Deathwish has a scaly hide and snake-like complexion. His face sports large reptilian eyes with no eyelids, a sizeable and sensitive snout, and a row of pointed canines. He has a large tail that doubles as both a weapon and a nuisance. His hands are four-fingered and taloned. His feet are like those of a large bird, three ‘fingered’ and also taloned. He is not only conspicuous in his features, but also his size. Deathwish is just under seven feet tall. This makes him have to custom tailor all of his clothes and custom make any armor he wears.

Deathwish wields a broadsword fashioned by people from his home world. His highly polished armor is custom made steel, simple yet undoubtedly made in the Eastlands.

Deathwish did not find or inherit Brihaad as a Goddess as many of her followers do. She guided and comforted him from the day he found himself in this world. She granted him a connection with his broadsword that was holy and allows him to wield it like an extension of himself. She also gave him the powers to sense evil, heal wounds, and heal disease with his touch. These powers have limits, since by using them Deathwish is literally channeling the power of a deity. With practice he can channel more power more often. These powers are the power of a paladin, and not given often or lightly. Usually a paladin would be honored and revered even by those who weren’t followers of any deity, but Deathwish’s outward appearance makes people wary and skeptical. Even in Wenga, where Deathwish grew up, most people do not believe Deathwish is a paladin unless they have seen him perform a healing first hand. Even then, some have given the credit to Kanji. This doesn’t bother Deathwish so much as the awkward staring and fear he instills in people.

 

Kanji Takimura from Waywards Wandering

Kanji has been traveling the world with his long time, reptilian friend for about fifteen years. Kanji is from the Eastlands and before that had never lived anywhere but the monastery he was raised in. His father was from the west, his mother grew up in the area Kanji was raised. They have both long since perished, his mother having believed in taking the Goddess Brihaad’s work far and wide and getting involved where there were those in need. His father was a warrior of some renown who would rather be poor than sell his sword to those undeserving.

Kanji was always proud of his parents and was thankful to be raised by the monks, training to one day fill his parent’s very large shoes. He was always quick to make friends with people both in town and in the monastery. Though most of his time was spent training, learning, or running errands, he had a knack for making everything fun and stealing snippets of time to get to know people. In the hottest days during the summer he was allowed to go out and play with his friends. It was on one of those days he found Deathwish. He and his friend Lial were the only two children not to run away when they found him, confused, hurt, and mute, a broadsword laying nearby. Kanji became very close to both Lial and Deathwish who was allowed to stay at the monastery. Kanji has not seen Lial since he left Wenga many years ago.

Kanji is friendly by nature and is quick to smile. When he is upset he has a habit of stuttering. His eyes are dark, small, and slanted, but otherwise he does not look like an easterner by any means. His skin is fair, his nose pointed, and his ears perhaps a bit to big for his head. It’s not so much his ears are big, but his frame small. He stands just over five feet and is more slim than not. Kanji does not mind as this often lures opponents into underestimating the strength of his small fists and makes others trust him easier.

Though he has an easygoing nature, underneath that Kanji is relentless when it comes to serving his Goddess, Brihaad. Many monks chose to spend their entire lives in the monastery they were trained, but Kanji knows there are many things wrong with the world today. He feels like it’s his duty to undo the major wrongs and always help his friends in any way he can.

As a monk, Kanji is a follower of Brihaad and trained in using his body as a weapon. Monks are discouraged from using any weapons but themselves and their environment in battles since it is what they have trained in from the start. A discipline of self sufficiency and reliance is taught. Monks, unlike priests, usually combat foes hand to hand and only call on Brihaad as a last resort or to compliment their own skills. Kanji is an expert in acrobatics, climbing, swimming, running, as well as many hand to hand fighting styles. He is trained in using these styles in different terrain. Monk’s training includes situations like fighting in running water, combat in tight spaces, and beating an opponent only using certain body parts.