Name: Zed Karlberg
Age: 17
Physical Appearance: Zed
Personality: Zed is a calm and quiet individual who typically doesn’t show a lot of emotion. At times he does seem to be friendly to someone, but that is merely an affectation that is likely to be prompted by an ulterior motive. Although Zed isn’t going to admit it to anyone, he has little respect for those around him, with the exception of his father, whom Zed admires for how determined that he is to provide for Zed, to the point of frequently working late and going on out-of-town business trips to earn more income, or so Zed thinks. One of the things that he has come to believe while growing up is that a woman was meant to be used as he pleased, and then cast aside when he no longer has any interest in her. Zed doesn’t believe in any gods or goddesses, but that is only because he has not been exposed to any religious teachings, and if just the right deity was to manifest himself/herself to Zed in a convincing manner, Zed is likely to be influenced enough to become a believer. At this point in his life, Zed is the proverbial diamond in the rough who needs the right mentor to guide him through his final transition into adulthood, for better or for worse.
Alignment: (potentially) Set
Location: San Diego, CA
Abilities: Lightning-fast reflexes, a steady aim, a perfectly steady hand, and the ability to focus solely upon a task at hand regardless of any distractions
Weapons: Butterfly knife, surgical scalpel
Brief History: As is all-too-often the case, Zed was the product of a drunken one-night-stand between a pair of college students at the end of a particularly boisterous frat party. The time interval between the party and the moment when Zed’s mother discovered that she was pregnant was more than long enough for Zed’s parents to realize that they really didn’t like each other, with each claiming that the other had been the seducer at the frat party. Even so, family pressure forced them to get married. That unhappy union lasted a little over five years, culminating in a bitterly contested divorce centered on the custody of Zed, since the couple had not acquired any material possessions worth fighting over. Naturally enough, the battle over Zed had continued long after the divorce and joint custody had been formally granted. Zed seemed to have been unaffected by the custody battle, although over time he had begun to show a strong preference for his father. When Zed was about ten years old, he tipped the scales in his father’s favor by tattling on his mother about how his mother’s boyfriend was in the habit of spending the night with his mother, and Zed had been bold enough to spy on his mother to see exactly what she and her boyfriend were doing while in bed together. That piece of information became the focal point for his father’s campaign to prove that Zed’s mother was a poor example for their son and an unfit mother. This had ultimately led to Zed’s father gaining primary custody of Zed. That’s not to say that Zed’s father was a paragon of virtue. It simply meant that Zed’s father was far more discreet in his personal life, to the point where he used his job as a cover for his affairs. While some of his father’s out-of-town business trips were legitimate, some were actually trips to the cross-town motel that he frequented in the company of his girlfriend du jour.

By the time that Zed had reached high school, those who knew him were inclined to think that Zed was interested in entering the medical field, possibly as a doctor or veterinarian. Zed certainly was interested in things like biology and anatomy, and he had been particularly attentive during lessons that involved dissection. While others in his classes had been a bit squeamish and hesitant, Zed had taken part with the calm assurance of someone who had done that many times before. What no one seemed to know was that Zed had been conducting his own private studies in dissection in the privacy of his bedroom and upon any hapless small animal that happened to fall in his clutches. Zed does have a pet that he is rather fond of, and if asked, he will proudly brag about his female boa constrictor that he has appropriately named Cuddles.