Buckle
Buckle is a 14-year-old Halfling male that lives with Rabia Boyal as her ward. He is an escaped slave from the Sellenian City of Bax. Buckle has suffered serious trauma at the hands of his former master and is very small and slight for his age, even as a Halfling. To the best of anyone's knowledge, Buckle has not spoken a word to anyone, ever.
Thought to be born into slavery within the same villa that had purchased Rabia Boyal, Buckle's master was a cruel and sadistic master to his chattel slaves, and the young Halfling known as Buckle was a particular focus of his abusive attention. Routinely beaten, starved and locked up by his owner and his owner's slave foreman, an ebonos Human named Nuri, Buckle has carried the scars of his years as a slave into his teens.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Shockingly thin and at least two stones (near 30 lbs) underweight for a Halfling his age. His hair is an unruly tangle of long brown locks that, even when clean, almost never see a comb or brush. His back and shoulders are crisscrossed with ugly, deep scars from his childhood beatings. His bright blue eyes, though, burn with an intense and intelligent light that belies the traumas of his past.
Apparel & Accessories
Buckle is always seen wearing a thin leather belt that is long enough to need to wrap twice around his thin waist and still hangs nearly two feet beyond the strangely shaped silver buckle.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
No one knows what name Buckle was given at his birth or what his parents called him. In fact, almost nothing is known of Buckle's past before Rabia met him in her master's villa, where he was never called by a proper name but only ever by descriptors such as "dung-head" or "worm". He was always tasked with the most awful jobs to be had at the villa, jobs like latrine duties, floor scrubbing, refuse removal, chimney sweep, etc. He was often rewarded with beatings and lockups even when his duties were completed perfectly. The slave foreman, Nuri, was particularly prone to beat Buckle bloody with his own belt, and Buckle's back gives clear evidence of this even today.
On the day that Rabia struck back against her master with fire and blood, Buckle was seen by Rabia to quietly walk towards the foreman called Nuri as he cowered and groveled before her and the villa burned around them. Buckle pulled the foreman's belt from the man's waist and calmly proceeded to strangle the man with it, an effort that nearly drove Buckle to physical exhaustion, but he did it. Buckle has worn the belt, double-wrapped around his thin waist, and Rabia has called him "Buckle" ever since.
Social
Family Ties
Buckle seemingly has no memories of his actual family, but has quickly developed a deep and lasting bond with his fellow escaped slave and rescuer, Rabia, to the point where the two are very nearly inseparable.
Social Aptitude
While Buckle is not inclined to keep himself very presentable on a daily basis, he is clean, fed and well-rested. His clothing tends to be a bit ill-fitting due to his especially small size.
Speech
Buckle has not uttered a word in all the years that Rabia has known him, and no one in their new home of Aresh has heard him speak, either. He is fully aware and understands what others are saying to him, but makes no verbal response... ever.
