Helk the Hatchet

Codex introduction

Appearance
Helk is a short, stub nosed man. He is about thirty years of age, but looks older, perhaps thirty-five or forty. He carries himself poorly, with stooped shoulders and a stumbling, sagging walk. His features are ugly to the point of grotesquery, and the several long scars do not help matters. His eyes are are a squinting and bloodshot green, marred by the touch of madness.

History/Background
Born to a young farmer and his wife, Helk had a happy childhood, at least for the first few years, anyway. Unfortunately, when he was three years old things started to go wrong. First, the weather turned bad right at harvest time and half the crop was lost. Next, a plague wiped out the livestock. Finally, his mother died.

This series of unfortunate events sent Helk’s father spiraling into alcohol, never to return safely. After three years of drinking and beating him, Helk’s father died.

After the funeral Helk was quickly taken in by a sympathetic neighbor. But already he was showing signs of sociopathic behavior. It wasn’t very obvious to his foster parents, but every now and then things would come to their attention. When Helk was ten, they noticed that the family dog would run out of the room whenever he entered. When he was fourteen, they realized that the neighbors had started to avoid them. Although it was all very puzzling, they simply shrugged it all off.

When he reached the age of eighteen, Helk set out on his own. He traveled to the village of Vorwin. There he became a gravedigger for lack of other skills. In his own little circle of acquaintances, Helk soon earned a name. He continually lied and stole. A few weeks after he arrived in Vorwin, Helk lost his job. He quickly found another, this time as a rat-catcher. In the next three months three months. Helk was imprisoned four times for violence. In the vermin-infested jails was where Helk gained his facial scars and his nickname. During this time he also started using paralytic spider venom, and he soon became addicted. He also lost twelve different jobs.

In the following years his life didn’t change very much, in fact, it only became worse. He was constantly in trouble with the law. Finally, things got so bad that he decided to leave town. After wandering around for a few days he fell in with a marauding horde. There his violence and lack of remorse allowed him to fit right into their ranks.

Amelia and Horatio
Helk began to play with his foster father’s hatchet at a fairly young age, perhaps eight or nine. For several hours each day, he would be out behind the woodshed, chopping wood and other, less unliving, things. His practice turned into study; his study into an obsession. For the next ten or twelve years he would not be without two or three hatchets hanging from his belt or tucked in his boots.
Two of these Helk has a special attachment to, the first, which he calls Amelia, he stole from the father of a girl of the same name back when his father was still alive. The second, Horatio, was taken from his foster father. Though they are completely normal hatchets, Helk believes that Amelia and Horatio are actual people. They talk to him, tell him what to do. He even believes that they love him.
Helk will fiercly protect Amelia and Horatio, the hatchets themselves as well as their honor. If anyone makes fun of them, then he will attack without remorse.

Roleplaying Notes
Helk’s sociopathic symptoms are as follows:
1. Persistent lying and stealing
2. Lack of remorse or empathy
3. Inability to keep jobs (the exception is, of course, his involvement in the marauding horde)
4. Recklessness
5. Inadequate control of anger
6. Recurring difficulties with the law
7. Substance abuse
8. Violent tendencies