Robert Jeff Kelley
The Father of Modern Electricity
Robert Jeff Kelley (a.k.a. RJ)
As the "Father of Modern Electricity," Robert Jeff Kelley - better known as "RJ" to his friends and as "Akshixe" to his fellow Rangers - rose to champion the restoration of the Norna Ruins Dam, and, in rebuilding it to its former glory, lit the way for a bright future in the North.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Robust. Even prior to his service within the Rangers, RJ was an active individual. He was commonly described pacing the Rim of the Dam, as a morning ritual, an evening reflection, and whenever he needed a break from the workbench. Even in his older age (and perhaps as an effect of living among the tall Ni'kashiga for so long), he worked to stand straight, emphasizing his height.
Body Features
Like many Southern Walkingfolk, RJ had minimal body hair, and was beardless. His scalp hair, however, was a rich chocolate brown, and when younger, RJ wore his hair in a traditional cut: thinned or shaved on the sides, and long from the top of the scalp in either knot, braid, or loosely tied. However, as Hetchling custom for his gender, as he transitioned through the pillars of life, he would cut to commemorate the shedding of past weight; by old age, he routinely wore his hair short.
Facial Features
RJ was described as "rough" but that he had an "oddly craggily handsome" appearance, due in part to the distinctive planes of his face, and to his strength of personality.
Physical quirks
It would take a bystander a moment to realize it, but: RJ was seemingly unable to blink both of his eyes simultaneously. He would have to close one and then the other. Given his piercing stare and the tendency to hyperfocus his gaze while speaking to someone, the effect could be unconsciously unsettling.
Special abilities
RJ had an intuitive knack for mechanworks that often translated beyond ordinary tinkering. Given a mechanical device (or when asked to prototype one), RJ could figure and make things work without detailed guidance from his supervisors, and then couldn't explain how he did it. As a teammember within the Satta and the Rangers, he was simultaneously the source of relief for his ability to repair something, and a source of frustration for his exacting standards in teaching someone else how to take over (and for his lack of patience that they, too, didn't intuitively grasp it).
It became one of the largest challenges in the Dam restoration: taking mechanworks or restorative work that RJ would regularly step in to do personally, and trying to get details from him in order to document the process and create the manual for upkeep.
In the more superstitious North where RJ spent his later years, he often combated public perceptions of his abilities. Because of his ability to intake complex and often seemingly dissimilar systems of information, and to find the connections and trends within them, RJ was sometimes said to have had the gift of prescience; RJ himself derided such beliefs, saying that they were superstitious claims by uneducated Pa'xo'Anman who didn't have the background of information that he did. When confronted with the idea that he might have a "sixth sense," RJ countered by attributing any such thing to his acute senses, instead. And, when others tried to say he had a "second sight," RJ would push back, stating that he "just kept his ears open" and planned for anything.
Nonetheless, the man had a knack for forecasting the progression of events, knowing when to be in the right place at the right time when those events came to pass, and the ability to adapt to even the seemingly unexpected.
Apparel & Accessories
As a holdover perhaps from the earthtoned clothing of the Sentinels area, once he was released from the Rangers, RJ had a tendency to wear tan slacks, even when hunting and fishing. He was known for always carrying a knife (but not in his teeth...unless necessary), which he would use for everyday tasks as well as protection. He was also quite accomplished with a bow from an early age, and would use it often for sport and practice.
Specialized Equipment
Early prototypes had been in progress during his young adulthood at The Sentinels and during his expedition to the Norna Ruins, but it was in the year after his initial visit that RJ perfected his circuit detector, which helped him to locate and identify hidden mechanworks buried in the stone, architecture, or ruin. It was a crucial tool for the Dam restoration, and in further work restoring Norna ruins in the North and for uncovering aspects of the ancient Ni'kashiga ruins at Xowi' Canyon.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Robert Jeff Kelley is born to Southern Walkingfolk parents in the area of the Empty Quarter, as the youngest of seven brothers and six sisters. His father is killed in the Weli Ni'ni when he is three; his mother remains for another year before relocating the family to the more hospitable area of The Sentinels. As his mother never remarries, RJ is raised primarily among the dominantly Satta Birdfolk at the Sentinels, creating a lifelong interest in riversciences and mechanworks and a fiercely independent perspective on life and service.
At the age of sixteen, RJ undertakes the Oath of a Hetchling, dedicating his life towards upholding and uplifting Ni'kashiga culture. He works briefly with the Satta Kkaxe, but his natural skill quickly outpaces the Flock's ability to teach him. At the urging of his mentors, he applies and is accepted into the Rangers, where it is believed he will have a more rounded opportunity to further his education and use his skills towards the benefit of the whole.
Gender Identity
RJ identified as doga, as masculine male.
Sexuality
RJ preferred women (though on occasion, because of his habit of withdrawing into and intensely focusing on a project, some might say he preferred work).
Education
Though his stay with them is relatively brief, his work within the Satta Kkaxe earns him official hpaziza in the areas of mechanworks, circuitry, repair, and construction. He would later be awarded additional honors in the field during his Ranger service, and curiously enough, an honorable mention for his hydroagriculture design at a regionwide gardening fair later in life (where he submitted his design under a fake name).
Employment
In his cadet-theen at the City of The Fingers, his aptitude for mechanworks leads him to be transferred to The Horn for the duration of his corps-theen. While at the airfields there, RJ alternates his time between aeronautics research at the Horn, and at the Citadel, teaching several advanced courses at the Institute for Mechanworks and Technology. He develops a reputation for being a highly intelligent instructor with obvious skill, but a mercurial figure in the classroom with his exacting standards for students.
Because of his skill (and perhaps for the mercy of his students), after his Renewal of Oath into Cairnsfolk-theen, RJ is sent on expeditions to the Norna Ruins at First Water River. He is pivotal in early repair work. Though his talents are diverted briefly for planning stages of Powell Station, RJ intuits that the Norna Ruins at First Water are more than they appear, and is a large influence in the action to send subsequent research expeditions focused on uncovering the purpose and scope of the ruins and its mechanworks. As he spends more time uncovering the possibilities of the ruins, these early expeditions spark and foster what would become his lifelong mission.
After his release from Ranger Service, RJ continues to consult regularly for the Rangers at The Horn, and at the Institute for Mechanworks and Technology at the Citadel, helping to develop special tools and equipment; he sees the work both as beneficial to the larger whole, and financially beneficial to his larger mission of restoring the Norna Dam. In teaching courses and training others on the new equipment, the work allows him to develop trust relationships with other Flocks, who soon to come to believe that this stocky Walkingfellow might actually have the ability to restore the ruin.
Accomplishments & Achievements
With his experience, RJ would serve as a citizen consult for the airfields at The Horn, and in time, headed up the Ballistics Laboratory at the Exhlin Test Ranges. When his career path turned towards the focus on the Dam, there was both a sigh of relief (as he was a challenging superior) and a sigh of wistfulness (for the work that would never be).
Failures & Embarrassments
RJ's independent nature made him resistant to rules or regulations he felt were arbitrary, unfair, or poorly reasoned; his rebellious streak meant he often challenged those rules in ways both overt and subtle.
As a hunter trained by Satta Kkaxe, RJ prided himself on his ability to sneak up on prey, make the mark, and retreat, all without being noticed. He had a particular distaste for boundaries, especially when it came to game, believing - like many of the Ni'Anman - that hunting (and being hunted) were part of the greater cycle of things and essential to knowing ones place and rhythm in the cosmos, and that no one folken owned the rights to limit the players within this ritual. His beliefs, in combination with his inclination to challenge rules, meant that he often pursued game into territory far beyond acceptable bounds, a problematic habit especially when it took him out of Flock jurisdictions, or caused him to cross from Ni'kashiga lands and into O'pxan or Pa'xo'Anman territory in the North.
As a result, RJ hated to be caught poaching. When it came to fauna, his belief system dictated that the consumption of game was the only correct way to honor the life that had been taken, and that the act of being eaten was to acknowledge the final rhythms of the cycle; the laws of poaching dictated that the corpse would be taken away and sometimes held as evidence, often spoiling before it could be used. To add insult, being caught poaching meant that the most vital aspect of hunting - to do so without being seen - had been compromised, and regardless of whether or not he would end up being charged or not, RJ would often storm for weeks over the perceived slight to his reputation as a hunter.
Mental Trauma
Though he was sometimes described as "a man of moods," friends of RJ described him as an arrow or (when his anger was less strategically released) as a catapult: the swings he experienced and the force of his response were only because some reason of great force had moved the man to action. This was often his strength - the unstoppable vision - but could also be his weakness. He would express that he found loved ones especially challenging: because he cared (and because of his high expectations of those he let into his inner circle of confidence), he was most easily influenced into an emotional outburst when he felt let down by those he loved.
Intellectual Characteristics
RJ was described as a dedicated individual. He was often slow to act initially, but dedicated and detailed in his methods of work once he had set a goal.
Morality & Philosophy
Like the machines he tended, RJ was governed by a strict code: "Do the right thing, and let whomever doesn't like it, reconsider their actions." (His view of what was right, however, wasn't always aligned with everyone elses, which occasionally brought him into rocky ground with others!)
Taboos
Sometimes, RJ felt more comfortable around machines than people: an intensely reserved man when it came to his private life, he hated public displays of affection or overly flowery displays of praise and compliment. He preferred to do a job right because it was the right thing to do (not because there would be praise involved), and absolutely hated hugs in public.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Ultimately, RJ carried the communal perspectives of Ni'kashiga culture into the world: his actions were fed by the simple motivation to make thing better for everyone, and in the work he did, to uplift the progress of the whole.
Savvies & Ineptitudes
RJ was well aware that he couldn't do everything correct, but he tried anyway.
Likes & Dislikes
He loved hot chocolate, but hated it when there was no bread on the table. After being introduced to the more dense "Damper" bread of the Southern coast, RJ was famous for hauling extra provisions and an extra (and "extremely specialized! It's FOR BREAD ONLY") cast-iron oven pot in his pack, in order to make his camp version. (Once his squadmates tasted it, they often helped haul ingredients for more!)
Virtues & Personality perks
RJ always paid his debts. Though he didn't always get along with older folken and had a reputation for being cantankerous, he was somehow always liked by animals and small children, who perhaps best appreciated his directness and honesty.
Vices & Personality flaws
As a force in motion, RJ carried his grudges to their grave. He was known for always giving people what they deserved when they crossed him - but sometimes going too far...
Personality Quirks
Though he could respond intensely and passed judgment hard, RJ could forgive anything if he recognized you were truly sorry.
Hygiene
"Bathed weekly no matter what!" ...but it was sometimes joked he had to use sandpaper to scrub.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Though he was an intensely reserved person when it came to the deepest centers of his personal life, RJ also tended to start conversations with almost anyone; because of his thirst for larger understanding of the systems of the world, he had a knack for finding their interests and using that as a conversation thread. Folk were often surprised by what he did know about a topic, impressed by his thoughtful questions, and flattered by his willingness to listen. (It was only his most observant friends who would pick up on the fact that he rarely talked about anything really personal.)
Despite the aspects of his personality that could make true friendship challenging, this ability built him much goodwill over the years, and his circle of contacts was broad. Diverse, it included everyone from general Officers, common Rangers, Caravel Captains, Fleet Commanders, Caravan Drivers, Government Officials, Presidents, Clan Leaders, Matriarchs, Ambassadors, Mayors, Council Members, Doctors, Teachers, Peacekeepers, Servicemen, Fishers, Weavers, Carpenters, Gekohcatchers, Gohtherders, Game Wardens, Farmers, Clothiers, Boxers, Tavern Owners, Drinking Buddies (but he didn't partake), Cooks and Pastry-makers (he did partake), Peddlers, Junk Collectors, and any other number of folken. And, if there were any young in the settlement, you could rest assured that you'd find them knocking on his workshop door or showing up at the campsite to share whatever piece of interesting news they had heard, because here was someone who truly listened.
Family Ties
RJ married later in life to Edna, a Northern Walkingfolk woman, and was honored with 4 boys, 1 girl, and lots of grandchildren. Though two of his siblings died young, he relied on the network of his remaining brothers and sisters; many of his siblings found Ranger service ideal, and the larger network of the Rangers allowed RJ to remain in postal contact with everyone, even after they all traveled their own way.
Religious Views
He had the "Third Eye", so he took a dim view of most religious figures, especially those who claimed particularly exclusive paths. He always said that any Gods knew their own without other people telling them who they were.
This view brought tensions among some of his interactions with the Northern Walkingfolk, but, curiously enough, was a strength in his negotiation with the O'pxan, who felt similarly. His beliefs were almost certainly influenced by and largely reflected among the greater Ni'kashiga.
Social Aptitude
He enjoyed talking to people, no matter what side of the argument he took.
Mannerisms
RJ always greeted people with one pointer finger held up, so they would know he was thinking on 'the one thing.' What that "one thing" might be, however...!
It most commonly represented the invitation to a state of pure awareness without the burdens of preconception, and the use as a greeting invited the other to enter too into such a neutral state before engaging. RJ would point to electronics and computing as reasoning:
"People think that a circuit is edged, or centered: that you can test the circuit by asking it what it is in order to determine this. People go into dialogues the same way, they feel they are coming to ask or be asked for something, that conversations are always about exchanges of power. Like a circuit, this constant testing can wear you down, can break you, it will burn you out. But disconnect the circuit from power: now it is in a third state! It is manhce: untestable, unaskable! To attempt to ask the circuit in this third state whether it is edged or centered is a flawed question; you ask the wrong question! In limiting your question by the conditions of your question, you limit your ability to know its true state outside of your conceptions. You must come to folk in the same way: disconnected from power - unlimited - and only through this means will you truly learn everything you need.For all his good intentions, though, RJ's emotional nature would sometimes win out, and the motion became an unintentional authoritarian gesture instead: to pause the individual's starting words long enough for RJ to direct the conversation as he wished. That being said, some friends would say that if the pause was particularly long, it was moreso a signal that he was in the middle of a thought, finishing a conversation he'd been holding with himself, before attempting to be fully present for the next. If you pushed the moment, you shouldn't be surprised if he'd push back!
Hobbies & Pets
Hunting, Fishing, Bowyercraft, and Fletching.
Wealth & Financial state
RJ was good with investing money - his ability to predict trends meant that he had a good portfolio. His tendency to stockpile for future projects or opportunities meant that he lived modestly (sometimes to an extreme), and rarely had what he would consider "free cash."
Though he originally owned many of the restoration equipment and assets of the revitalized dam, RJ sold most of these assets to the greater Council for hold by the State, allowing the project to transfer so that no one hand could ever undo the work. He eventually became moderately well off due to these "retirement investments" (and from his general life planning) as the dam project succeeded. Upon his death, he left his family with several investment assets from his Flock relationships, as well as with the residuals from his non-dam invention patents. The residuals from inventions made possible through the Dam were placed in trust for the long-term sustainability of the project, and are primarily focused in training new engineers who, like him, may not have had access to such educational opportunities without the assistance of mentors and advocates.
Symbolic Associations
Birdfolk Direction
As the thirteenth child within a Walkingfolk family, he is spiritually associated with the direction of Center.Sigils of Note
RJ Kelley is often associated with stylized currents and the rush of waters from the dam itself. He is occasionally referenced with the image of an arrow.OUTBOUND SIGNIFICANCE
Artifacts referencing Robert Jeff Kelley include:
- Day 88 of the 100 Days of Oce, 2019
- The RJK Dam 100 years Commemorative Stamp, 2015
Influence for Robert Jeff Kelley includes:
- The character of Robert Jeff Kelley is based on my grandfather, and his character sketch is drawn from a series of interviews and a review of personal history; though influenced by his Outbound persona, it should be noted that certain aspects, histories, and trajectories have been altered by the course and influence of the Inbound world.
- The writing of this article would not have been as well-rounded or as personable without the many contributions of R.E. Kelley, who provided many of the insights into RJ's personality and motivation. Any successes in describing the man are owed to him; any failures to represent the character are mine.
Alignment
Technologist. Like many Southern Anman, RJ believed firmly in the sciences, in the progress of technology, and in the pursuit of efficient, balanced life.
Current Location
Species
Ethnicity
Honorary & Occupational Titles
RJ was often unofficially called the "King of the Electronic Scrap Pile," and "The Electro-Wizard."
When in Ranger service, his servicename was "Akshixe," which means "I [fix/make] something for you." Though he returned to his nickname, "RJ," in many cases and after release from service, it was a sentiment that expressed and influenced his greater path.
Life
214 ak
297 ak
83 years old
Circumstances of Birth
Common, he was born into a poor family, as the youngest of 13 children. Some might say that he was affected by the significance of this number: 13, as the inner direction, representing a path to centeredness.
Circumstances of Death
He died in bed, after a long and full life. Perhaps sensing the end, his normally chaotic workspace was found neatly boxed, labeled, and accompanied by handwritten manuals and theories to the work he realized he would not finish.
Birthplace
The Empty Quarter, in the western wastes near Weli Ni'ni.
Children
Eyes
RJ had amber eyes, which held the light often to become startlingly gold. Like many Southern Walkingfolk, in low light or darkness, his eyes are slightly reflective due to the inner layer.
Hair
Rich, chocolate brown
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Reddish skin, especially with extended time in the sun.
Height
6 feet
Weight
a very muscular 215 pounds
Quotes & Catchphrases
In his youth, RJ was known for saying "Never back up from a fight." (In his older years, especially as he worked with the O'pxan, it tempered a bit with the supplement "Don't start a fight you don't need.")
RJ also liked to say, "That's another way I won't do that," which often served dual purposes as personal reminder and social snub.
Other Affiliations
Character Prototype
Ultimately, RJ was a Fixer: whether a piece of machinery or in the larger machinations of the greater world, he was the sort of man to find the right gear to get almost anything into motion.
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