Samson Jadik
Appearance
Samson has a strong and well toned build that's lightly tanned from working as a labourer when he can. He keeps his brown hair short and messy and his eyes are a dark blue. He wears a patchwork of mismatching clothes and wears well-worn leather boots and gloves. When expecting a fight Samson will don his old red doublet and tarnished steel armour, all of them remnants from the little known Red Swords. At his waist is a belt with pouches for food, a wineskin and a purse for his meager stack of coins. A loop is fitted on the right side of his hip for a small hand axe.Skills and Abilities
Fire and Ash - Five years ago Samson realized he had a strong attunement to fire magic and began a serious endeavor to improve his abilities. He's found that simpler spells, such as creating embers for a fire, or casting light don't need much concentration, but that he still has difficulty casting larger and more complex spells, such as fireballs and walls of fire. Instead Samson has found a work around and uses ashes and water to create a cheap ink. he sues this to inscribe parchment and then imbues it with magic. Using one of these small scrolls Samson can cast a spell quickly and without failure. After a spell is used the ashen ink smolders away and he's left with a blank piece of parchment.Martial Strength - Training with The Red Swords for years has given Samson a decent understanding of technique in a broad mix of martial weapons, such as spears, staves, swords, axes and maces. he can use bows, but cannot reliably his anything and is most comfortable using a shield and sword or axe. Because of his size and experience Samson is able to fight toe to toe with most men and has even bested a dwarf in individual combat once.
Personality
like his father Samson is blunt and quick to voice his opinion, often being told "You're an ass. Honest as can be. Still an ass." by his companions in The Red Sword. Samson would laugh it off and take the compliment from the insult.Biography & Lore
Samson Jadik was born the second son to his father James, a stone mason, and his mother Jocelyn. His elder brother Frederic took over the family trade at seventeen and he had three younger sisters, Erin, Leanne and Evelyn. His upbringing was rather laissez faire from his neighbours accord and Samson was frequently in trouble with his mother for getting filthy or tearing his clothes. He enjoyed roughhousing with Frederic and the other boys around his home and finally his father had enough of his sons foolhardiness and began to apprentice him as a mason when Samson was eleven. Already complete some basic schooling Samson took time to adjust, but was diligent in assisting his father at work.A family friend, Brennan 'Stonebeard' Kazak, was the shift manager for his father. The dwarf was short but broad and could carry twice as much as the men that worked for him. As a child Samson took a liking to Stonebeard and pestered him to teach him how to speak Dwarvish. Unable to deny the persistence of Samson Brennan began teaching him to speak Dwarvish, and Samson struggled to adopt the foreign tongue but showed decent progress after a few years. This relationship continued and Samson eventually became decently fluent in Common and Dwarvish and could hold conversations in either language with relative ease.
When Frederic turned 16 he ended his apprenticeship under his father and became a fully fledged mason. Thirteen at the time, Samson confided in his father that he didn't want to be a mason and instead wanted to enlist in the army. His father, known for being blunt and crude, told his son he was only chasing death, but that he wouldn't stop him. Taking this as permission Samson quit his apprenticeship and sought out work as an errand boy for the military. The only problem was that they weren't willing to pay him for any work, nor were they keen on having an eleven year old boy working amidst them. Defeated Samson retreated home to apologize to his father and request his apprenticeship back. He was denied. Instead Brennan and James had found a mercenary group named The Red Swords, whom Brennan had close ties with, that would accept Samson as an errand boy and, if after three months hadn't fouled up, pay him.
For a decade Samson dedicated himself to The Red Sword and followed their parties out on expeditions and to military camps. When Samson turned sixteen he began training under some of the newer recruits and gained a broad, albeit shallow, experience with a variety of tools and weapons. Considerably strong for his age and tall as well Samson did well in light sparring and was soon recruited to fight with the mercenaries. By this time most of the larger skirmishes had been decided and The Red Swords began to focus on guarding caravans, villages and other smaller and safer tasks. Taken under the wing of Brennan 'Stonebeard's cousin Samson proved his worth over the next couple of years, even being recognized on two counts for assisting more veteran members.
By time Samson had turned thirty he was well and full a core member of The Red Sword. He'd worked with them for nearly two of the three decades he'd lived and had earned a decent position and pay. In 365 after the fires in Eastern Falwood the company began bleeding money. In no position to know why let alone how to assist Samson doubled his efforts to save his pay and began sending more home to his family. In 367 The Red Sword was bankrupt and withheld payment for all members for the three months preceding this. The leaders, mostly in power due to nepotism, had taken whatever funds remained and vanished leaving behind a near hundred mercenaries angry and without pay.
Samson didn't have enough money to return home, and didn't have any prospects back there either leaving him with little direction. Using what money he'd personally saved he staved off hunger and slept in stables for a few months while searching for odd jobs. Many of the old members of the company had resorted to robbery in an effort to regain their wealth, but it ended on the gallows for most of them. Samson began wandering, his life direction had suddenly changed and he had difficulty finding work that paid sufficiently. Looking to the horizons Samson began to wonder where he would go next.