Teemo Fireforge

Teemo Fireforge (a.k.a. The Black Bull)

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

While still larger than the average man, Teemo is somewhat smaller in stature than the average full grown Minotaur. If he happened to have been born in a litter, he would be considered a runt.

Body Features

He is covered in thick knots of black bovine fur. The only spots on his body that are devoid of his hair are his slightly borwn/white horns and his ebony hooves.

Facial Features

He has a classic protruding bovine face, with modest curved horns just above his flat bull ears on either side of his head. His piercing blue eyes contrast with the tufts of midnight black fur that cover his face.

Physical quirks

There are labyrinthine type carvings in both of his horns, starting from the root at his scalp going about half way up. They are slight grooves that jig and jag at hard angles, organically swirling around the horns making their way up. These are similar to tribal tattoos for Minotaurs, with the flow of the labyrinth speaking its own language like a hieroglyph. These etchings tell the story of Teemo's life; his accomplishments, failures, and goals.

Special abilities

The labyrinthine etchings on his horns are able to glow and he can smite his enemies with divine power with a hammering of his horns.

Apparel & Accessories

He has a modest set of chain mail armor that he wears. His gauntlets have the symbol of the rose on either back hand, and the front of his shield has an image of an eagle in flight. Both are symbols of Aryx, the god that Teemo serves.
Tucked into a self designed pocket on the inside of the shield is, what appears to be, the hilt of a sword with no blade. When Teemo withdraws the sword, and makes a prayer to Aryx, a 6 foot shimmering blade made from pure sun light comes forth.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Teemo was born to Teefo and Indira Fireforge, meeting when the former was hired as protection for the circus the latter worked for. Teefo was a mercenary, getting work where ever he could, and Indira was a circus performer with Yahel's Famous Circus. They fell in love and were married and ran off together to start a family.
Shortly after Teemo was born, a strange spiritual creature killed Indira, changing the course of their lives forever. Realizing that he did not have the capabilities to raise a young calf on his own, Teefo dropped his newborn son off at the front door of a church, praying to whichever god owned dominion over it to protect his son and find him a nice place to live.
The next morning, the proprietor of the church opened the door to find, what she believed was, a demon. At only 4 weeks old, Teemo had yet to fully grow any resemblance of fur, so what lay on these steps was a small pink hairless child, with small stubs for horns coming out its head. The woman quickly called for aid of the church and they went to dispose of the spawn.
They were about to drown him in a bath of holy water, when a small old man came into the church and saw what they were doing. He yelled to the worshipers and exclaimed that the day was a holy day, and that no murder may be done on a holy day, even to those of utmost evil. He persuaded them to lock the child away, and they could kill him on the morrow. 
Teemo was then locked in the cellar of the church, where he stayed for hours alone, in the dark and damp stone room when finally the old man returned to him. He took pity on the baby, although he doesn't know why, and decided to smuggle him out of the church.
And thus, Teemo was saved for the first time. Whether it was some divine intervention, or just compassion on the part of the old man, either way Teemo was rushed to his cottage on the outskirts of town to raise the young Minotaur.
He named him Hustol, and kept him safe and comfortable for 7 years, until the time of the old man's death. There were rumblings throughout the town that the old man kept a monster in his home. The panic throughout that town was contagious, as within a few hours over a hundred people with torches and pitchforks came to the cottage. The old man told Teemo to hide upstairs, which is where he was when he witnessed angry townsfolk break into the house and kill the old man. The looked around for Teemo, who had slipped out a window during the chaos, Teemo was on the run, once again alone has they set the cottage ablaze.
He lived on his own for a while, doing odd and end jobs here and there for some money, most of the time getting the short end of the stick when it came to payment. Teemo was optimistic though. He felt that there wasn't a coincidence that he had survived the arson on his old caretakers home. "There has to be some higher power looking out for me" he would think, as he lay alone under a bridge during a rainstorm, or in a cave he would find abandoned at night, "otherwise, why am i here?"
As he grew older he would start to lose his optimism. People would never miss an opportunity to look at him funny, yell obscene insults his way, or even beat him up and rob him, on the few times he had anything worth stealing. They would call him a beast, a wild animal, and tell him he didn't belong in town. This led to Teemo almost entirely avoiding inhabited places all together, and choosing to stay in the forests, where he could be alone. He wasn't any more or less hungry in the woods than he was in the towns. 
With nothing to do he would sit on the hard ground and observe the animals that came across his path, barely even noticing Teemo as they went about their day. It would fill him with joy, to be around living things that didn't treat him like some abomination, but in the pit of his stomach it filled him with dread. He started to wonder if everyone was right. "Am I an animal? was i put on this world to be killed in the woods from some lowly Lord who gets bored one day and goes for a hunt?".
One day he decides to go into town one last time. He wasn't going to be poached by some ranger while he laid against a tree, he was going to go out fighting. "They think I'm a beast", he thought as he lumbered his was to the small farming town, "I'll show them how much of a beast I can be."
Through sheer divine power, or perhaps the skills of a veteran adventure, Teemo was met at the entrance of the woods by a figure he did not know, yet somehow felt familiar. Teefo was old, his brown fur was turning grey in his age, and he had battle scars all over his body. Teemo was confused as to who this figure was, and after being told of the paternal connection, Teemo forgot all about the town. Rage filled him as he charged the dead beat Minotaur, with all of his anger and frustration behind him. The old bull, quite easily, put Teemo on his ass, jesting that there was a lot for him to learn.
Teemo never truly did learn to love his father, but did come to respect him. For 10 long years, Teefo showed him how to use every type of weapon possible. He told him stories of his adventures and trials, but most importantly, he told him stories of his mother. He would ask his father almost every night to hear stories of her, and Teefo always obliged. He would stare into his father's eyes, blue just like his own, and listen to the stories. Teemo craved the way his father looked at him, down to his soul. They weren't filled with hatred or disgust, but love. 
One day Teemo was awoken to the sound of laughter and the clanking of armor. Five roughly armored men had stumbled upon their camp. They were arguing over who got to go first, ignoring Teefo's plea for peace. "They don't care that we can talk", he thought "they only see us as a prize to hang on their wall". 
They assaulted the two minotaurs. Sawing and hacking off Teefo's horns as their prize, and berating Teemo that his were too small and not worth the effort. The job was sloppy, and the elderly bull died from the blood loss, as Teemo laid there broken, feeling useless and unable to help. He watched as his father's eyes, mirrors of his own, slowly glazed over as the life left him. He laid next to his dead father for 2 whole days before he had the strength to get up and bury him. Teemo swore that day that he was no longer going to be a bystander to his life. He was sick of people dying on his behalf. He took up his father's sword and shield, and headed into town.
He found the men that had murdered his father, drinking wine in a tavern out of the horns that sparked the conflict. He killed them easily, as they were unsuspecting and drunk, but knew that he needed more training if he was going to rid the world of this evil. He practiced with the sword everyday for 3 years, training in the way his father had showed him. Then, once again, someone found him. A couple drunk people found Teefo hitting a tree with his sword one morning, and jested that the local heifers had learned to swing a sword. Teemo was once again mocked and humiliated for being a Minotaur, but this time he was ready, He turned to face the attackers when one put an arrow through his shin.       
Teemo collapsed instantaneously, as the assailants surrounded him and started to kick and beat him up. One picked up his sword, his father's sword, and snapped the blade off claiming that an animal didn't need one. Teemo closed his eyes and waited for death, this time wishing it would come. "Is this why I was put here?" he thought as each blow became more and more numb "Was I put here just so one morning some drunk assholes can work off their breakfast on me?"
What felt like forever finally stopped with a quick whoosh sound. Followed by another and another, as Teemo's attackers fell one by one. Teemo laid there for a moment wondering if this is how dying felt, when he opened his eyes to see he was alone, with bodies surrounding him. The had almost no visible injury but were nonetheless dead. Teemo looked around and that's when he saw two blood red eyes staring at him through the trees, as if the shadows of the forest were looking at him. Was this Death, coming to take me away?
The figure approached him and the eyes turned to two crisp blue marbles. For a moment Teemo thought he was looking at some spiritual reflection of himself until the figure spoke. His name was Nix, and he explained that Teemo was in fact not dead. Nix helped Teemo with his injuries and helped dispose of the bodies. The strangest thing about Nix's eyes weren't the dreadful red that he first saw, or the fact that they had the ability to change. It was the way the blue eyes looked at him, it was the same way his father did. There was no hatred there, no disgust, no malice in any way. In fact, Nix never even made mention to the fact that Teemo was a Minotaur.  
Teemo stood up and retrieved what remained of his father's blade, and knelt in front of Nix. He held the hilt out in front of his as if there was still a blade, which would have been planted into the ground at his feet. He swore then that Teemo would always serve and protect him, and that he would spend the rest of his life defending his, as Nix had just done for Teemo. As he finished his vow, and brilliant blinding light shot out of the end of the hilt and into the ground, sizzling as it evaporated the dew of the surrounding grass. 
"This was it", Teemo thought in amazement "This is my path. This is why I'm here".
End

Education

Teemo has had no formal education.

Employment

Currently is in the service of the great assassin Nix.

As a Minotaur, Teemo Fireforge was always stigmatized and feared. Now as a Paladin, he uses the divine power bestowed upon him by Aryx, God of the sun, to defend those in need, and maybe change how the world views a Minotaur.

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Alignment

Lawful Neutral. Tends to take on the alignment of whoever he is sworn to out of sheer loyalty.

Gender

Male

Eyes

Blue

Hair

Black

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

N/A

Height

7'9"

Weight

400lbs