Name: Prator Dhatri (Praetorian Guard ancient roman bodyguards, Dhatri hindi god of health and domestic tranquility)
Blood colour:#a50000 ████
Gender: male
Symbol:+
Personality: An honest, diligent, and happy kid, Prator is the poster wiggler of a lowblood troll, a proud worker who dreams of growing up to having an utterly boring and unimportant job serving the Great Troll Society. He likes the quiet satisfaction of a job well done, and goes out of his way to be helpful for other trolls of all blood colours, although his lusus tends to scold him if he 'wastes' his time on other lowbloods. Friendly and a little naive, he tends to let others walk over him like a doormat, not really understanding how to deal with or express the negative emotions that stir in him when he's treated badly.
Thanks to his lusus, Ma, Prator is a bit of a hermit. Technically, he never leaves his hive during an average night, spending all his time in the tunnels dug by them both, with Ma, digging for food. The only times she sees it necessary for him to leave is when they have run out of shoring materials to keep the tunnels up, and then they usually take a tightly guided path to one of the garbage pits outside of Chittentown, where they scavenge for more materials before heading home.
As digging is dangerous work, especially for a little troll, Prator regularly gets into hazardous situations or suffers minor to medium injuries. However, he's become experienced enough to be able to take care of himself, and thanks to a rather unexpected gift dragged home by Ma, has a medical book of dubious origin, full of tips and instructions on how to treat and set various injuries. As Ma gets impatient if the tunnel system is not worked on for long enough, Prator has learned how to patch himself up and get back into shape in the shortest amount of time necessary. Ma encourages this, as she believes a lowblood who needs to rely on others is a dead lowblood.
Strengths: Attentive Prator has been taught by Ma to always make sure his Queen wants for nothing. Since Praetor doesn't think it's ever likely that he'll be serving his monarch directly, he transfers this to his friends around him. Always working hard to read their emotions, he is quick to jump on any subtle moods displayed and if they are negative, try his best to help soothe them. He just wants everyone to get along! Ma tends to twitter at him about this, his fellow lowbloods aren't really important in her eyes, he should only be tending to highbloods, but out in Chittentown these are usually in short supply. He's also got good general awareness of the world around him, as tunnelling requires you to be aware of where everything is around you, and navigating underground requires a keen memory and sharp eye.
Industrious An active kid, Prator is always scrambling around with something, helping Ma in her never ending expansion of their home. He digs, he shores, he carries dirt, and he makes sure his tasks are done properly, because after being in one tunnel collapse you never want to be in one again. Ma has done a good job in raising him to work hard, do things properly, and see the inherent value in creating something with his own two hands. While he lacks the drive to come up with projects of his own, he will pick up the initiative on things he knows need to be done, and enjoys basking in the glow of someone looking at his work and giving him one of those pump-biscuit stopping compliments, like 'Eh, looks ok'.
Content Raised to be a good little Royalist, Prator knows what he's going to do when he grows up. He'll be a construction drone! He'll build houses for other troll children on Alternia, and help society. Prator doesn't want to go fight evil aliens on starships, or build some amazing technological advancement, or go down in troll history for some famous (or infamous) deed. While this might be called unimaginative and lacking ambition in a highblood, for Prator it makes him perfectly equipped to handle his role in life. He likes what he does, is excited to help future trolls create comfortable places where they can live and grow, and is enthusiastic and exited about where he will end up in life. Everything will be ok!
Flaws: Passive If you kick sand in his face, Prator will probably just look at you uncomfortably then do his best to avoid or placate you in the future. Ma's never really taught him how to stand up for himself, or deal with conflict. Cooperate with others, work together for the betterment of society, and you will be accepted and useful. If he's getting grief from others, he tends to assume it was due to him not fulfilling his proper obligations, and will bend over for them, no matter what the reality of the situation is. This usually extends to other lowbloods, but here Ma will come into play, driving the other troll off before they cause trouble. Left alone however, he's easy pickings for a yellowblood or orangeblood who feels like stomping down on the only things below them.
Dependant While Prator is an industrious and hard working troll under the direction of others or his lusus, on his own he's lost. Directionless and hesitant, he will most likely look around trying to find someone to tell him what to do. If no one steps up, he will most likely sit around listlessly, poking things with a stick. Ma has been so good with filling him with direction and purpose, but hasn't ever given him time on his own to develop interests or dreams of his own. While she does leave the hive occasionally, giving him time to think, he usually fills it with work that he knows she would approve of, and encourage were she there. Thankfully with her around, he'll never have time to dwell on this.
Naive Prator struggles to understand the true self-serving and conniving nature that a lot of trolls harbour. Ego is a foreign concept to him as well, and doesn't match with the Alternian propaganda Ma regularly drags home and lines the walls with. Genuinely subscribing to the 'Trolls of all Colours Working Together to Crush Our Enemies' message that is generally broadcasted, he believes that everyone is, deep down, like him, wanting to work together for the greater good! He trusts other trolls with his safety, and remarks, and emotions, because he thinks they will take the same care of them that he would of theirs in return. He will even approach highbloods innocently, expecting them to if not see him as an equal, than at least as the useful, loyal and hard-working lowblood that he tries to be, and value him for it.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2012 6:57 pm
Home: Praetor's hive is an unassuming enough semi-hovel, in a bad part of Chittentown, near one of the city's dumps. The inside is practically empty apart from all the piles of seeming junk and dirt everywhere, as well as a certain amount of paper clutter lining the walls. There's a small area cleared for living in the most spartan definition of it, and a few sketches of an extensive tunnel system tacked up on the wall, mostly for visitors rather than Prator or Ma. The main feeling of the hive is a large nest, comfortable for sleeping in, but meant for little else. A rickety stairway to the basement shows where the real activity goes on. What starts out as a simple tunnel leading out of the wall gradually grows into a network of passages twisting and tunnelling their way through the soil below Chittentown. A few passages are closed off, most due to accidentally burrowing into another troll's house or the sewer system and a hasty retreat being called. Some passages lead to Ma's stores of food, filled with tubers and other underground plants that are the great goal behind all the constant digging. Others simply stretch forward into the desert, constantly being worked upon by Prator and his beloved parent.
Lusus: Ma is a huge damaraland mole rat, from nosetip to stubby tail slightly over the height of an adult troll. She is an industrious worker, almost furiously so, and gathers Prator and herself food by digging vast twisting tunnel networks in the desert. Leading out from the basement of their hive, she and Prator are usually found a good two hour walk away through their underground network, furiously digging and shoring and moving soil in their never-ending quest for food. She is a bit bossy to him, as she considers him her subordinate, and tends to give him the dirtier jobs, or the ones involving the most busywork. However, Ma is always there working away herself, lifting the wood that is too heavy for Prator, tunnelling through the rock that is too hard for him to break, setting a good example through action. Ma tends to see other rustblood trolls as unimportant, unless they become his friend, when she then fits them into her own idea of 'her colony'. She will treat them almost as an adopted second child (minus the emotional attachment), and demand the same kind of heavy, intensive labour from then that she does from Prator. This does not always go over well with their own lusii, and has lead to a certain amount of difficulty in making and maintaining friendships. Despite her gruff and bossy twittering, Ma is very attached to Prator and is, in her practical-minded way, giving him the best education she can for the position he will most likely end up in when he grows older. While other lusii push idealistic visions onto their charges and leave them woefully unprepared for the real world, Ma is determined that with her tutelage Prator will fit in, know his place, and feel comfortable there.
Personality: A professional first and foremost, Prator will be there when you need him with a cool towel, a hot meal, or a living shield. He will fold your clothes, feed your lusus, and keep your hive clean. In return, all you need to do is keep a steady supply of beetles funnelling into his pocket. Prator worked out early on in his life that there are two kinds of power that a troll can get in life. One is gained through blood, the other through money. Having struck out utterly in the blood pool, Prator spent the first couple of sweeps of his life realizing that he couldn't cope with being systematically trodden on by all of society. Since then, he's sold his services and his life to the highest bidder, effectively becoming a paid slave. In return he gets protection by association with the highblood that he's currently guarding, and an income that he saves away for a rainy day. So far he's amassed a fair amount, but hasn't found anything to do with it. In fact, Prator finds it difficult to spend money, as in his eyes wealth is a kind of adjustable blood colour, and allows him to stand above other red and orangebloods who aren't as well off.
Apart from his slightly warped perspective on wealth and the hemospectrum, Prator doesn't think too much about other trolls, or life in general. At least, he tries. As he hands his life over to the troll who he's currently working for, he finds that the best way to keep a long and healthy relationship is to replace his thoughts and opinions with his current masters. It saves disagreeing, prevents him from getting annoyed, and allows him to get on with his job without letting unimportant things like personal feelings getting in the way. Of course, when situations get stressful it's hard to not have opinions bubbling up, and Prator still slips up and drops his poker face if emotions are running high enough. Thankfully though, most trolls he's worked for have been kind enough to merely throw him out on his horn after an argument.
Catering mostly to invalid trolls, or those who live a life where they can't take care of themselves properly, Prator has had to learn a skillset rarely practiced by most trolls, focused around dealing with disabilities, medical care, and general domestic work. He also through force of habit tends to focus intensely on his current target, watching their every move and checking the area around them for anything that might get in their way. Listening to what another troll is saying tends to come secondary, and unless they are giving him direct orders, Prator will often completely tune other trolls out. This makes actually talking with other trolls a painful task, with him constantly dropping out of the conversation to stare intently at and around his conversational partner. Constantly falling back into routine, more than once he's accidentally begun tending to the personal hygiene of a complete stranger after they've approached him, smoothing their hair and brushing dirt off their clothes. It's never ended well.
Strengths: Competent When he began to work for other trolls, Prator quickly realized that he had been blessed with both an efficient mind and capable body. He has a keen eye, a steady hand, and can bend himself to whatever task is put in front of him with little to no trouble. Of course, ask him to build a robot and he'll need a manual with detailed instructions, but if he has all the materials and information necessary to complete a task, he'll do it. And it won't be a half-bad job at that.
Attentive Living tuned in so closely to other trolls has made Prator keenly sensitive to the needs of others. Not only that, but he can often pick up if a troll needs something before they themselves are aware of it, as he's used to reading the warning signs well beforehand, giving him ample time to prepare. Unfortunately, from Prator's point of view, this has also given him an experienced eye at reading emotional signals on other trolls faces and bodies, even ones that only show subtly. He tries to pay as little attention to these as possible, if only to spare himself the distress of having to acknowledge that other trolls have feelings.
Focused The world is full of distractions but thanks to practice, willpower, and a natural tenancy to concentrate on one thing at a time, Prator can filter out all unnecessary distractions, like audio imput. When he wants to put his attention to one thing, the entirety of Prator's body shifts itself to that task, no distractions. Of course, he can widen out and center his mind and body around say, a weekly schedule, then work through it neatly for as long as desired. Whatever the task, Prator finds it easy to switch off other trains of thought, ignore any thoughts that might be floating around his head, and get to the task at hand.
Loyal Prators loyalty extends to a near fanatical level for his current employer. He will risk death, injury, trial, banishment, execution, or any other personal tragedy to follow the wishes of the troll he draws his salary from. You don't have to give him a reason, or justification for any of your actions, in fact he probably won't even pay attention if you try and explain why you're doing what you're doing. Prator doesn't care what the world thinks. All he needs to know is that he is in your service, all he cares about is what you want him to do, and while that stands true he will follow you to hell and back.
Flaws: For a Price You will never meet a more loyal troll than Prator .... unless you offer him the right price. Outbid his current master and he will switch sides faster than you can blink. After leaving an old master, he won't 'carry the torch' and continue to hold any loyalties, instead Prator will gladly turn on them, if his current employer wants him to. One reason behind his constant refusal to become fond of other trolls is due to situations like this arising, and his dislike of personal feelings getting in the way of a situation that just might make him more beetles.
Yes Man Prator will do whatever you ask, even if he knows that it's a dumb idea. He'll agree to your opinions on something, even if he knows they're wrong. If you want to go hug the giant rabid drooling monster that's charging at you, he'll let you, then neatly stitch up the pieces. Ask him for ideas, and he'll parrot back to you your own. As long as you're still able to give him what he wants, currency most likely, Prator will let you fail, get hurt, upset others, and ruin your own life with bad decisions, all while calmly echoing your own cries of 'I thought it would be ok!'.
Closed Off Actually shaking a real conversation out of Prator, while being a challenge in itself, would present a troll that appears to be nothing but a empty mirror. Mimicking his current employers preferences and beliefs, once you push past his first layer of defence you will hit the glacial slopes that are his second. For the sake of being the perfect servant, Prator has shoved his own thoughts and feelings as far back as they can go, and locked them there. Half the time he barely registers them himself, and when he does, is quick to drown them out with his self-indoctrination.
Passive A follower, not a leader, Prator won't lift a finger unless it's because he's being told to do it. After a childhood filled with the pain of making bad decisions, he finds it a relief to simply follow orders rather than choose and fail on his own. At least he can blame someone else when things turn out wrong. Even his reactions to situations tend to be based on how he's been told to react, rather than his own instinct or choice. While this works in situations where he's been told exactly how to deal with things, if he's not prepared it ends up with him hesitating and stumbling, unused to having to figure things out for himself.
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Home: Prator tends to either be an in-house servant or live within easy walking distance of his current employer. Before coming into the service of other trolls, Prator spent his earliest and happiest days in Chittentown, helping other trolls with their projects and adventuring down tunnels in the sand with his Lusus. However, when he was roughly three sweeps old his lusus decided it was time for him to learn to be around higher blood castes, and they set out for New Hemisect City.
Lusus: Prator's lusus was a giant damaraland mole rat, and quite a good guardian. She raised him empathizing hard work and selflessness as the most important virtues for one of his caste, and was training him to become a competent and loyal ally. Unfortunately, she hadn't finished her lessons when they began their migration to NHC, and on their journey she died protecting the young troll, leaving a very young Prator alone in the world to raise himself.
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