Maurice ''Rhys'' Lewis
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Maurice is a relatively scrawny man who doesn't look unhealthy, but clearly doesn't put physical strength as his priority. Parts of his body, such as his right arm and left eye, are replaced with artificial instalments which he seems to be in full control over. He is a well-managed man who can be quite influential and charismatic on non-official occasions. He has half-long brown hair and a dad-stache, both of which have grey streaks worked through them, whether or not the greyness comes from age or stress is difficult to pinpoint.
Identifying Characteristics
During an accident when Maurice was younger he lost his right arm and left eye, he also ended up with gnarly burn marks across his left arm and chest. His arm and eye were replaced with artificial creations, and his scars were covered up with tattoos.
Special abilities
Maurice is a Kalashtar, meaning that he is sharing his body with another person's soul or essence. In this case, it's the partial soul of his good friend Kalib. He can speak telepathically to any creature he can see without sharing a language and said creature can talk back. This condition also results into a disconnected mind from the plane of dreams. Over the years, Maurice managed to use this time he spent not dreaming to continue his research.
Metallic Arm
Maurice has a metallic arm to make up for the right arm he lost when he was a child. His father-in-law, Art Fisher, created it for him. Even though Maurice isn't an expert on artificer magic, these days he is able to repair minor damage to the arm due to Haiden Lewis's lessons.
Over the years, after Maurice lost his connection to arcane magic, he worked together again with Haiden to enhance the abilities of his arm.
Increased Strength. When using his metallic arm, Maurice gets +5 to strength checks.
Luminance Mode. In darkness, Maurice can let the pulsator in his palm glow with pure electricity, serving as a lantern. It provides bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet.
Mystic Magnet. Maurice can release a 15ft wide burst of static energy that causes all metal objects nearby to violently repel or attract toward each other. Perfect for disarming enemies or causing chaos. If an item is being held, the creature holding it must make a DC16 Strength saving throw to keep it in their hand.
Pulse Strike. Maurice punches a target within 5ft of him to deal 3d10+5 lightning damage.
Overcharge Strike. By overloading his arm, Maurice delivers a single punch with a enough electricity to disrupt a magical effect or short-circuit magical constructs for 1d4 turns. Afterward, his arm shuts down for 1d8 turns.
Whip Surge. Maurice extends electricity like a tether, creating a lightning lash that deals 2d10 lightning damage. The target makes a DC 16 Strength saving throw, on a fail they are pulled 10ft towards Maurice. If aimed at something conductive that's heavy enough, Maurice can pull himself by latching onto the object.
Electromagnetic Parry. As a reaction, Maurice can attempt to block an attack targeted on an ally within 5ft with his arm by creating a brief magnetic shield around his arm. This adds +5 to the target's AC until the start of Maurice's next turn.
Apparel & Accessories
Around his neck, he seems to be wearing a well-worn blue tie matching the blue lights in his prostetics.
Even though he is rarely spotted without the semi-formal appearal, you can clearly tell he doesn't take great care of himself. His shirt is usually untucked, his hair is always just a tad bit too long, his socks often mismatched, and his pants have not touched an iron in decades.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
When Rhys was born, he had always had a imaginary friend named Atlas, a black half-dragon who was always there when Rhys needed him. When Rhys grew older, he mentioned Atlas to his parents who shoved it off as any other imaginary friend children would have, this was not the case. Rhys was raised in a small home by his father and mother. His mother was a nice person who had always accepted Rhys for who he was, this caused Rhys to be drawn more to his mother than his father. His father was a distant man, always shaming Rhys for being weak and wanted to raise him as a proper man.
It was Rhys’ 8th birthday when they celebrated it in the garden with some of Rhys’ friends, he didn’t have many back then, but that didn’t bother him much. Rhys got into a fight with his best friend and cried for his mother who soon came to calm him. His father saw the event happening and took Rhys back inside where he continued to ‘beat the sensitive boy out of him’ and turn him into a man instead of a cry-baby.
From that moment on Rhys hid his emotions in front of everyone except for Atlas, who became his only friend from there on. Atlas knew everything about Rhys, from his insecurities to his strengths.
Education
Maurice studied at Senty University, a proclaimed university on the continent of Supros. His studies focussed on Divination and he graduated top of his class.
Employment
Accomplishments & Achievements
Mental Trauma
Around seven years later, Rhys’ parents had grown apart. They were still living in the same house with the only form of communication being fighting. One night Rhys’ parents had the worst fight so far, he could hear the furniture breaking and plates being thrown around from his room. Just like every fight, he tried to zone out and get back to sleep, but something was different. The fight had suddenly ended, with a sudden silence creeping through the house. He went to look downstairs where the smell of smoke started to make its way into his lungs. He barged through the door where he saw his father sitting next to his mother who was lying on the ground while fire was spreading along the walls of the house. For just a minuscule moment, which felt like an eternity, Rhys looked down at his unconscious mother while his father started to grab Rhys by the shoulders, shouting something unintelligible. The last thing Rhys remembered was a loud cracking sound coming from the ceiling and then the smoke covered his eyes.
When he came to, he was laying outside covered in dust with a numbness that had spread through his body. Sitting a short distance further, he could see his father coughing aggressively, behind him the house that was still being haunted by the flames that lit the area with a large light. The silence was broken by the sound of people yelling and soon a man ran over to Rhys.
A few days later, Rhys woke up in a different place. He woke up in a different bed and a room which was not his. He wanted to move but it felt like something heavy was holding down his right arm, when looking at it he realized his normal arm had been replaced with a mechanic one. He jumped out of the bed of fear and stumbled over a chair standing in the room and falling against the wall. Soon after that, the same man from before ran into the room. The man introduced himself as Arth Kincaid. He told Rhys that his house was burned to the ground and his mother was found in the building, barely recognisable, his father was arrested but had been released because there were no signs that he had indeed started the fire.
Rhys asked Arth why he was here, and not with his father. Arth told him his father had left town without visiting Rhys and how he felt responsible for taking care of Rhys. When he found Rhys in the rubble, his arm was crushed by a large pillar and he had suffered severe head trauma. Arth offered to take care of him until Rhys wanted to leave, Rhys thankfully accepted his offer and started working in Arth’s shop.
This is where he met Leoda Kincaid, Arth’s daughter, who worked in Arth’s shop as well. At first their relationship was based on a rivalry who could build the best artificial products, but after four years of working together their relationship became more romantic. The stronger their relationship grew, the less Rhys talked to Atlas. After all those years, he had finally found someone who he felt safe around, someone where he could be himself. This is around the same time he had his first ever fight with Atlas, who had become more controlling as soon as Rhys and Leoda started hanging out more. Rhys reminded Atlas that he was the one in charge, and Atlas was just a manifestation of the controlling part of his father.
Atlas didn’t like this, and he started his revenge. He started haunting Rhys’s dreams with awful images of his memories, which drove Rhys into paranoia after the lack of sleep. Leoda immediately noticed his strange behaviour and asked him what was wrong. With his mind full of doubt, he told her about Atlas, and to his surprise she believed him. She instantly took interest in Atlas and started assuring Rhys they’d find out more about him. She told him that he should never let someone tell him that he can’t do something, not even her.
Personality Characteristics
Personality Quirks
- Due to his Kalasthar abilities, Maurice is unable to dream. This, combined with a severe lack of sleep, has resulted in a phenomena cleverly dubbed ''Sleep Labour'' by Blaire Martikov. Blaire only requires four hours of meditating to regain his energy, so it's not uncommon for Blaire to keep an eye out for a sleep labouring Maurice. A handful of times Blaire even had to take away sharp objects from Maurice's general vicinity.
- Maurice despises Ferrel Martikov, Blaire's father. Even though they have only met twice, on their latest trip to Waterdeep Rhys had too much to drink and was aware of Ferrel's tantrums and manipulative approach to parenting. Maurice referred to Ferrel as ''a waste of a High-Elves lifespan'' before he was arrested. Since that night Maurice has been banned from setting foot in the city of splendors.
- Has an impressive collection of magical artifacts of which he's quite knowledgeable. How he has gained this expertise is unknown, it definitely wasn't because of his degree in Divination magic.
- Once became incredibly angry at an intern for spilling coffee on his blue tie. As he stormed off, Blaire followed him only to return the next day stating that Maurice has taken the week off.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Leoda
Rhys was 22 and Leoda 21 when they acquired their first big breakthrough on their search for Atlas’ story. With all the excitement Rhys took this moment to propose to Leoda and they married one year later before heading on their biggest adventure yet. After they married, they said goodbye to Arth for a while to continue their research. They travelled for months to get to a famous library in the north of the country. They found a book that was about an extremely rich collector for centuries ago and his sudden disappearance. Finally satisfied with answers Leoda asked Rhys where he wanted to take their journey next, and even though these answers created more and more questions, Rhys told her that he wanted to go back home and settle down. Nearly two years had passed since they had bought a house in the same city where Leoda’s father lived where they continued to work in the shop. Leoda had always wanted children of her own, but Rhys always had doubt about this, since he was afraid of being too much like his father. This insecurity of his was the reason behind their first big fight. She had told him that great men were never born great, they would eventually grow into the great man they are destined to be. Ignoring this statement, Rhys took the day off and headed to the tavern, Rhys came home later that night from the local tavern and noticed Leoda hadn’t come home from work yet, he decided to surprise her at the shop with some food. It happened quite often that they’d work late when they wanted to finish a project before locking up for that night, so Rhys didn’t think much of it. He grabbed some food and froze when he heard an old voice behind him. It was Atlas’ voice that cause shivers going down his spine telling him he’d better hurry or he’d be too late to the stop. When he arrived at the store, he noticed that the door was ajar. He sneaked inside and the moment he saw Leoda she yelled at him, demanding he’d leave immediately. When he turned around, he felt a sharp pain in his head and fell unconscious. He woke up tied to a chair with Leoda tied up on the other side of the room, Arth was lying on the ground motionless. Spread across the room, there stood eight men whose identities were hidden by the masks they were wearing. One of them noticed that Rhys had woken up and walked over to him. He started asking questions about the Lewis family, specifically about his father. Rhys’ father rarely spoke to him, let alone talked about how their family got their wealth. The man continued asking him more and more questions Rhys hadn’t any answers for. This caused the man to grow angry and he threw Leoda on the ground and pulled her up by her hair. Still even these days, the following events still haunt Rhys’ memories. The man grabbed a rope and tied it around Leoda’s neck, he ordered another masked man to put her on a chair and to tie the rope to one of the pillars of the ceiling. The rope was just long enough for Leoda to reach the chair under her with her toes, barely maintaining balance. The man told Rhys he’d better hurry up, because the longer it’d take to answer the questions, the more difficult it’ll become for his girlfriend to keep her balance. Rhys locked eyes with his wife, recognising the scared look he had the night of the fire. He then started blabbering everything he was able the think of that he knew about his family, every single thing from his grandfather to the cleaning lady that came on Fridays. While Rhys was hopelessly spilling useless information Atlas’ voice spoke to him. Atlas told Rhys to let him take control, he could eliminate everyone in the room if Rhys would just let him in. Rhys was now screaming information to cover up Atlas’ tempting words when there was a smacking sound of the chair falling over followed by a moment of silence. When the men looked down at Rhys, they realized he was of no use as he was quietly sobbing now. The men packed up their stuff and when the last one was about to leave Rhys to bleed out on his own Rhys let go. The last thing he remembered that even though it was his voice that spoke the words, it was not him. ‘’You know what? This just feels right. You know, being me… This me, I mean. Like it was all meant to be. Now tell me, which one of you fuckheads gets skinned first?’’ When Rhys woke up, he was somewhere entirely different than before. He was sitting in the pouring rain against a wall on a street he didn’t recognize. He looked around and came to a conclusion; he didn’t know how long Atlas took control, but he would never be the same person he was before.Kalib
As time past, Maurice became good friends with a man named Kalib. Even though their time together was short, Maurice considers Kalib as one of the best people he had ever met. Ever since Kalib's passing, a day hasn't gone by without Maurice feeling guilty about how little he let Kalib know how much he appreciate the latter. In order to make it up to Kalib, Maurice has done what Kalib had wanted to do for so long. He kicked Florin out of Senty, their hometown, and restored it to its former glory.Haiden
During Maurice's travels to stop The Cult of the Mother, he encountered Haiden Lewis. Haiden is from another dimension where Maurice's parents never left the Swordcoast for Senty. Haiden was looking for the reason why his parents were murdered by travelling via different dimensions when he stumbled upon Maurice, who stood out from all other versions of his fater. This Maurice, our Maurice, was raised in Senty and had to live with the death of his wife. Even though their relationship is complicated, Haiden and Maurice do not see themselves as father and son, but more as brothers. This is hard for Haiden, but it has gotten easier over the years.Blaire
Years after Maurice had left Senty and went to the Swordcoast, he met Blaire Martikov. Blaire had always had an interest in multi-dimensional travel which is what allowed them to meet. They have worked together for many years and are inseparable.
Alignment
Neutral Good
Date of Birth
1462 DR
Birthplace
Senty, Supros
Children
Pronouns
he/him
Gender
male
Eyes
Right brown, left artificial
Hair
Half-long brown with grey streaks
Height
180cm
Aligned Organization