Erasmus 'Ras' Snoek

BACKGROUND

Erasmus Snoek was born on the first day of Autumn in the year 2490, in Lehmburg, a village in the Wastelands that surround the city of Marienburg. From a young age 'Ras' was treated differently from his brother and sisters by his father, Werbout the innkeeper, who seemed to detest the child, beating him relentlessly and using him as a whipping boy to punish the others. He was taller and leaner than his siblings as well, with a long, scruffy, mane of dark hair. Only his mother showed him any real affection and she would tell the boy that it was his lot to suffer now, for he was destined for greater things.

The Snoeks of Lehmburg had kept 'Den Opgeblazen Hond' (The Bloated Dog) Inn for as long as any in the village could remember, along with the accompanying ferry service across the Bogglehm Fen, a broad and impassable waterway that swallowed the main northeast road to Marienburg. His father ran the taproom, his mother cooked, while his sisters waited on the patrons. It was whispered in certain circles that innkeeper Werbout kept less than savory company, cavorting with marsh bandits and common thieves. Ras and his older brother Brouwer, operated the ferry service, though it was Ras who labored at the ropes, hauling them day in and day out, whilst his brother picked at his teeth and whistled marsh-bird songs. The continual hard labor knotted the young man's muscles and broadened his back and in time Ras grew strong, punting the ferry effortlessly across the fen without complaint.

The Bloated Dog Inn

The 'Cursed Marsh' was dangerous, full of outlaws, beasts and worse things, and as a result savvy folk rarely ventured into its depths. There was a constant need although to guard against the dangers of the marsh and on more than one occasion degenerate mutants had launched raids upon the inn and village. As a result Ras often practiced with the archaic blunderbuss "Ezel" that the Snoeks kept aboard the barge. The piece required little skill to fire, although Ras proved a capable enough marksman. Outside the scattered mutant raids, he rarely had need to fire the gun, as its sight alone and that of the tall, stern young man who held it, was often cause enough for weaker men to seek easier targets. And besides, Ras possessed an uncanny intuition for sensing danger, which often kept him and his brother out of any serious trouble before it ever eventuated.

The Cursed Marsh

Lehmburg attracted its fair share of visitors; Marienburg or Imperial travelers heading west, Bretonnian merchants or the odd Estalian or Tilean trudging their ways east to the city. No matter who, they all passed over the Bogglehm Fen in Ras' barge and he quickly learned the arts of negotiation and haggling. Ras' favorite visitor to the Inn was his mother's brother, his uncle Thiel 'the Eel' Valk, a man of some notoriety and skill from Marienburg, whom Ras sometimes felt more affinity with than his own kin. His uncle would meet often with nefarious sorts, in the Hond's taproom, talking furtively long into the night, but Ras was wise enough to know that their business was best left a mystery.
It was on one of his uncle's visits that Ras' life took a turn. Uncle Thiel bore no love for his brother-by-law and after a particularly intense argument with innkeeper Werbout, it was announced that from that day forward Ras would be assisting his uncle in his endeavors beyond Lehmburg.

APPEARANCE
Ras is tall, lean, well muscled and broad chested. His arms are long and powerful, his hands large and calloused from years working the marsh barges. He has long, unkempt, black hair and keeps a trimmed mustache and goatee. Tanned from working outdoors, his features are stern, but not unattractive - his steely green eyes reveal little of his nature. A small tarnished silver ring adorns his left nostril.
Ras wears a dark leather doublet over his threadbare clothes and is often clad in a long, grey, hooded cloak, salt-stained, by the marsh. His worn, knee high boots are tattered and caked with mud. A rust pitted sword and long dagger hang comfortably from his belt, though he bares little real skill with either blade. Ras often smokes a noxious local marshweed, that non Wastlanders find offensive, from a long stemmed pipe; a vice he fails to cede.

GM add-on:

• After the big showdown between Grossbart and Titus, Ras was appointed as Titus' right-Hand Man, a position previously held by Rolf under Grossbart's Captaincy.

RAS' CHARACTER SHEET
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