Age: 15 turns
Sexuality: Homosexual
Craft & Rank: Smithcraft, Apprentice in Metal Craft.
History: Winderick grew up in a rural area, in a cothold run by his grandfather. When Winderick was 12 turns he joined a caravan to take him to Benden Hold were he could be taught Smithcraft by his uncle. He was accompanied by his older brother, who would be returning with the caravan after Winderick was safely with his uncle. From an early age Winderick showed a talent for building and creating things, even helping his father with repairs, so his parents thought smithcraft would be the best choice for him. Even though there was a smithcrafter in the cothold, Winderick's father insisted he be trained by his uncle on the grounds that his uncle was a superior craftsman. Deep down Winderick felt that he was being pushed out of the cothold to give more attention to his older brothers. To this day he holds onto this perceived abandonment, even though it makes him miserable.
While traveling with the caravan Winderick was befriended by a group of boys around his age, the oldest being 14 turns and the youngest 10. One night the oldest boy, Tanner, whom the adults considered a trouble-maker, lead the group of boys away from the caravan while the adults were sleeping. Winderick went along, eager to make an impression upon his new friends. They wandered around until they came to a pen of herdbeasts owned by a local beastcrafter (they were not part of the caravan). Winderick stood on the fence pegs, watching the herd with the rest of the boys, until Tanner picked up a small stone and threw it at the head of the nearest herdbeast. The rest of the boys laughed and soon joined in, all but Winderick, who was horrified by the plaintive cries of the defenseless herdbeasts. One of the boys tried to give Winderick a stone to throw, but when Winderick refused and tried to escape the gang turned their aggression on him. When the guards came the boys fled, leaving Winderick lying by the fence with several bruises.
Tanner threatened to beat Winderick up again if he told on them, but Winderick told his brother anyway, thinking he would get the better Tanner and his gang. To his disdain, little was done about the incident. Although Tanner received a stern scolding and extra chores, and even though the stones were too small to cause any real harm, Winderick thought he should have been punished more severely for attacking the herdbeasts. Since Winderick didn’t know all the boys by name (even the guards could not identify them all, for it was dark and they ran quickly) some of the guilty children were able to escape punishment simply by denying involvement, which further infuriated Winderick against them.
This single act of tattle-taleing sparked a vicious feud between Winderick and Tanner. The gang continued to bully him for the rest of the trip. Winderick was even more dismayed after he was blamed for starting a fight with one of the kids in the gang (mind you, the accusations were completely true, but Winderick saw it as justified revenge for the herdbeast incident). Tanner’s gang made sure every kid in the caravan knew Winderick was a snitch and a fibber, ensuring that he made no friends. When the caravan arrived in Benden, Tanner continued to spread rumors to every kid he met, calling Winderick a dullglow, a goody-two shoes, a thief and bed wetter. By the time the rumors reached Winderick’s ears the caravan had already moved on, so there was little he could do about it even though the rumors were mostly untrue.
Eventually the rumors were all but forgotten, but they were always present in Winderick’s imagination. He isolated himself with his craft and avoided social contact with other children as much as possible, making few acquaintances. Now Winderick has decided he doesn’t need friends to be happy.
Description: Winderick is naturally tan with a strong upper-body and small square face. At fifteen turns he stands at 5’5” and will grow a few more inches by the time he reaches his twentieth turn, but will never be considered tall. His dark hair is cut short and is naturally straight and coarse. He has light brown eyes. There's a rather large patch of light skin on his right forearm, a burn he received from the furnace while rushing through one of his early lessons. He now treats the furnace with the respect it deserves. He has a few other minor scars on his arms and legs, most of them the result of impatience in the smithy.
Personality: Winderick considers himself mostly autonomous. He practices his craft to the best of his ability, completes his work on time (most of the time) and tries to stay out of other’s way as much as possible. This has less to do with shyness than a general distrust toward people. In fact Winderick is extremely self-confident. He believes he knows exactly who he is and refuses to change for anyone. He takes unwanted criticism as a serious affront to his honor and may even fight to defend it. However, if the criticism comes from someone who outranks him or whom he respects, he will usually only growl and sulk at their perceived disapproval. He’s stubborn and always wants to do things his way.
Despite his rough exterior, he is actually quite kind. He’s more likely to help than hurt unless he believes the other person is not worth his time or insults him in some way. He believes in honor and justice, but usually takes these ideals into his own hands. If you can get through to him, you’ll have a friend for life. He’s been aware of his sexuality since his 12th turn, at least as far as he can remember, and is interested in sex but still a bit too anti-social to attract any partners.
Salvage Operations
NOT USEABLE - Icon #020
There’s an impulsive, adventurous streak to Winderick. He tries to follow the rules only because he wants to stay out of trouble, yet there are some rules he sees as silly or asking to be broken and will happily bend them, even break them, as far as he believes he can get away with it. This was not always the case. Since he left home and began training with his uncle he’s had little contact with other children his age and thinks of himself as an adult, giving him a right to break the rules when he sees fit. Sometimes the results are positive, such as enabling him to complete tasks more quickly than other apprentices, but most of the time his freewheeling leads to poor results. He sees his uncle’s scolding as an affront to his creativity, which is his favorite part of being a metalcrafter. He mainly specializes in machinery but also makes jewelry and small household items in his spare time. As he grows he will develop his skills toward becoming a mechanic and already shows an interest in repairing spring-powered clocks, although he is far from mastering this skill.
Perhaps Winderick’s biggest flaw is his difficulty with letting things go. He still believes his father sent him away to give more attention to his brothers, even though there’s no evidence to support this. After the Hold children swallowed the rumors spread by Tanner Winderick decided he wanted nothing more to do with them, even though he could have dispelled the rumors by making friends. It’s often very hard to get him to see things from a point of view other than his own.
Other: Winderick will be Searched by Murphy’s character K’la.
