ESSENTIALS - Name: Nikolaus Silverthroat
Nickname: "Niko"
Age: 19
Social Class: Artisan
Occupation: Minstrel
APPEARANCE
Official Art!
xxxxxNiko is hopelessly lost as far as keeping with the latest fashions. He suffered through a particularly embarrassing performance when he bought the most expensive outfit he could find without paying attention to how the clothing looked, and thereafter vowed to dress moderately. He's played it safe by sticking with primarily black or dark grey clothing, with a maximum of two extra colors, and just one piece of jewelry. He has a weakness for hats, however, as one noble lady told him he looked dashing in them.
xxxxxNiko makes a point of bathing regularly, and keeping his hair trimmed and neat looking. He adores hot baths, not just to be clean and warm, but because the steam is good for his voice.
PERSONALITY
xxxxxNiko is a two-faced jerk, and he is perfectly aware of this. He doesn't care. Rather, he doesn't care so long as the person he's antagonizing is in a lower station than he. Around persons of a higher station, he does his utmost to appear a paragon of courtly virtue. He has never been able to shake the feeling, however, that at any moment, he'll be fingered as a gutter snipe, and thrown back into poverty. The adrenaline crash after a performance for high society tends to make him particularly surly with those of the lower class, as they're a visual reminder of his greatest fear.
xxxxxNiko also tends to switch back and forth between lavish shopping sprees on everything he ever coveted when he was poor, spending the money before it's taken away from him, and miserly hoarding every single coin he can lay a finger on, saving against disaster. The decorations in his apartments suffer drastic changes from month to month as he'll buy sumptuous furnishings, just to sell them away again to regain money, which he'll spend on more furnishings later on.
xxxxxWhen stressed, Niko tends to hide his feelings until whatever is causing him stress has been solved, or gone away on its own, after which he'll vent his frustration on anything or anyone nearby (whom he can afford to abuse, anyway).
xxxxxAbout the only time Niko lets his guard down is when he's practicing his singing. The concentration required to memorize lyrics, and iron out the melody of his songs until they're perfect means he doesn't have time to worry about anything else. The sense of contentment he feels when finally nails a song is probably the happiest Niko ever manages. Though he promises himself that someday, he'll be the most famed Minstrel in Llywdbeinn, and never have to worry about being poor again.
xxxxxOne of the only other ways to catch Niko being civil to those beneath his station is to see him interact with young girls. His memories of his little sister, combined with a nagging sense of guilt, compel him to treat them with more compassion than he does anyone else.
ABILITIES
xxxxxNiko's pride and joy is his singing voice, a warm, full tenor completely at odds with his personality. He practices daily to maintain his voice, and worries whenever he so much as coughs, as he's terrified that he could lose his voice completely. He depends upon it to earn his living. He'll accept commissions to sing at events, and should he do particularly well, he might receive a token of favor from the attendees.
xxxxxNiko definitely cannot hold his own in a fight. His best hope in a confrontation is to find someone to protect him, fight dirty, or run away. While he keeps a blade on him at all times, the extent of his knowledge is that the pointy end goes in the other guy, and he uses it mostly just to make any would-be attackers think twice.
xxxxxAnd Niko is pretty good at bluffing his way through tense situations when he can't just throw his station around and get his way. While fashion may escape him, he's fairly good at observing and imitating proper behavior. And what he hasn't learned through observation, he'll hire someone to tutor him.
HOBBIES
xxxxxSinging is Niko's full-time hobby. He's a quick student for catchy tunes, but he also has the focus needed to memorize the longer epics, and ballads. He's constantly on the lookout for new songs, or rifling through book stores for old copies of forgotten music. Anything that can give him an edge in performing.
xxxxxLearning to read and write, literature as well as music, has also been one of Niko's top priorities once he came into money. Growing up illiterate, he knew he'd be at a severe disadvantage when it came to those who'd been taught from a young age, and set about to remedy this. Bigger words can still give him trouble, but he's mastered the commonly used words, and he sucked up all the knowledge he could get on reading music notation.
