Atticus Tanner, from The Clockwork Girl, a roleplay on RPG

The first thing that one sees when one meets Atticus is of course his tattoos. There is hardly an inch of him that is not covered in ink. A grand ship in full sail against a terrible storm rides across his chest, the waves intertwined with plants and exotic grasses from which a snarling tiger stalks down his right arm. A goddess in robes and laurels dances at one thigh and a soldier dies in battle at the other. Across his back, a memento mori drinks wine which drips in grey pools at its feet whilst roses encircle its head. A compass points to north at the base of his neck and the symbols of alchemical elements line his fingers. The only space that remains unmarked by black and grey is his face, though ink is beginning to encroach in the form of a stylized sun with its rays radiating to the angle of his jaw on the left side of his neck.

Beneath the tattoos, he is tall and lean. Even though it has been more than four years since he left his former profession, tightly coiled muscles move beneath his illustrated skin like machinery and there is strength in the line of his build. Despite this, he walks with a noticeable limp and with the aid of a carved wooden cane. If one looks closely enough, one might find the apparent cause; an ugly scar that stretches from the inside of his lower leg up to his thigh which is just distinguishable by the pearlescent distortion it lends to the ink that covers it. Of course, it is only when he is performing that the scar is uncovered. Day-to-day he dresses like any other man his age and class; in grey suit trousers, an off-white shirt and an unbuttoned waistcoat. Indeed, he might pass for any other man if it were not for the glimpses of grey-black at his cuffs and above his collar.

At twenty-nine years of age, his features are still handsome, in a sharply-hewn aquiline kind of way, but beginning to become lined at the corners of his eyes, which are a soft liquid green. His hair is a sun-bleached brown and chin-length but is often tied roughly back with a leather strip.

Personality

Sarcastic and gruff to an extent that borders on cruel, Atticus has an uncanny ability to rub people the wrong way when the mood takes him (which, admittedly, is often). Those that have earned his respect know him to be shrewd, bold and compulsive and, despite his many failings, not unkind. Sheer bloody-mindedness and a deep-seated empathy for the strange and the outcast of this world has made Four Corners into a success and he buries himself in his work.

History

Born to a prostitute who died in childbirth, Atticus' earliest years were spent in destitution, living a miserable life in an orphanage in Carlisle. He was ten when the circus came to town and, on one of his many escape attempts, he remembers crawling under the pegged-down canvas of the big top and lying in the dirt below the lowest row of seats to watch the acrobatic troupe practice for their act that night. These were humans who could fly like sparrows, who seemed to weigh as little as a feather and, in their costumes, looked like birds of paradise. For the next three weeks, whenever he evaded the attentions of the sisters at the orphanage, he presented himself to the office of the ring leader, demanding to be taken in and trained as an acrobat. Every time the ring leader; a man named Micajah Bell, told him to get out of his sight. He was too old to begin training now and besides, who would pay for his bed and board until he could earn his own way? After a while, the circus went away and Atticus was left alone.

But summer came round again and once again he did the same. This time, the ring leader was so surprised to see the fierce-eyed boy demanding a training post and an odd-job position yet again after twelve months that he gave in. Within four years of training (during which he also sold tickets, mucked out the animal cages and cleaned the stands after shows), Atticus was ready to join the troupe. In another five, he was the main male lead and was widely said to be the best acrobat the circus had had in years.

All that changed, after her, after the accident.

He left the circus, part-cast-out, part-self-exiled and wandered aimlessly for a black few months until he was walking through London Docks one day and was struck with an idea. Soon, he was rapidly accumulating tattoos and collecting fellow exiles around him. Let them be cast out. The most important thing was that the public never truly wanted to be rid of those they had shunned, they wanted to remind themselves of the monstrosities they had rejected and laugh or gasp or fall silent with pity. Fine, but Atticus was going to damn well charge them for the privilege. Then he'd see who was laughing...

Atticus Tanner

0 · 585 views · located in Steampunk London

a character in “The Clockwork Girl”, as played by NorthernSoul

Description

Personality

History

So begins...

Atticus Tanner's Story