Hezediah Harlequin's House of Havok Introduction, Part Two
In Red Hanger…
Hez: “Oh, for Chrissakes, Hephraim! What in the name of the Great AFOL do you think you’re doing here?”
The Menagerie is both a term for Hephraim’s beastly collection and for whatever space he has claimed for his sanctum, as he rarely moves about without his animal friends.
Hephraim: “Brother! How good to see you! I thought you died.”
Hez: “What?”
Heph: “I want to formally inform you that Hangar Bay Red is my Sanctum now. Look! See? I even had them drag my throne in here. Looooots of room, yes? I’m very excited.”
Hephraim Harlequin is the former Ringmaster of 4H. Unfortunately, whatever occurred out in deep space those many years ago, apart from murdering his entire crew, drove him quite insane. Heph is still sometimes prone to unbelievably violent rages but now displays a much lighter hearted, caring side as well. He considers himself the ultimate caretaker for the universe’s beasties and shepherd to lost and disenfranchised souls. He also considers himself a benevolent God-King and is now quite above the station of Ringmaster, which he has graciously passed on to his brother, Hezediah. It doesn’t help his delusions any that Hephraim is a Wild Farce user.
Hez: “Like fucking hell! AFOL’s Fucking Neckbeard, Heph, I didn’t sign off on any of this. And your damned pets are making a riotous mess. You are aware that these rings are drop platforms, right? No fucking way the animals survive the trip down. That’s why I wanted them bundled up at the ramp and you in Hangar Yellow to go over the goddamn fucking plan.”
Heph: “HAHA! You’re so funny!” *Mimics Hezediah’s gruff tone* “Hurr, hurr, Big Dumb Hoo-Man gunna grow ‘hair’ and smash us to pieces. Hahaha!” *Returns to his own weird, offputting cadence* “In all seriousness, brother, you shouldn’t worry so much. Come over here and watch this. Pyotr! Gather the Vermin, will you?”
Pyotr Pyapr: “…”
Meet Pyotr Pyapr, a very skilled musician in the employ of Hephraim. Pyotr was originally one of the many pirates the brothers discovered at the Hideaway upon their triumphant return to the universal scene all those years ago. At that time, he had a particular penchant for the flute but whenever he tried to play it, the other pirates would laugh at him and call him names. Under 4H’s new rule, musical and other performance abilities were not scorned but, rather, highly prized and Pyotr rose through the ranks rather quickly now that he was allowed to practice his true desire. Many of the pirates who bothered him before bother him no longer. Pyotr’s rage and repression gifted him with a singular musical ability. He learned to harness that ability, learning to mesmerize with his flute song, and sent those who had wronged him on a long walk out of a short airlock. Now, he works directly under Hephraim, who is the only person in the whole troupe who isn’t scared shitless of him.
Heph: “Pretty Cool, right?”
Hez: “…”
Heph: “Faceless! Stow my birdies and fishies safely away, please.”
Faceless: “Mmmph.”
Faceless is a hulking brute the brothers discovered on an asteroid in the Styx Belt, near Dis. No one is really sure what the hell he is, exactly. Nor are they sure where he comes from or how he has managed to survive. What is known is that he is extremely, often violently, loyal to Hephraim and does whatever he can to please the former Ringmaster. Faceless unnerves the hell out of Hezediah, which is primarily how he came to be in Heph’s service in the first place. The Freaks in the Freakshow, he can handle but he tends to stick all the really weird ones with Heph. It’s probably for the best anyway.
Heph: “Trainers! Prepare for Drop!”
The Animal Trainers and acrobats are almost exclusively all Ingots, an insectoid race whose carapace are largely composed of a kind of living metal. Ingots are naturally hive minded and are usually organized into castes based on the kind of metal found in their bodies, with warmer, red type metals predisposed toward aggressive tasks and cooler, white metals predisposed toward utility or labor tasks. The Ingots shown here are all “sufferers” of a racial disease (for which there is no known cure) that damages the psionik hive mind connectors in the Ingot’s brain and generates individualism and independence. Most Ingots go crazy and die from the severance but a rare few flourish. Efforts to engineer a cure have failed time and again. Some think that the disease is invulnerable but many suspect sabotage on the part of the newly independent individuals. The two golds shown here are a highly energetic sort, with the deeper gold being somewhat more violent. The blue is actually of a rare derivative clan of cooler metals notorious for their adaptive abilities. Ingots as a whole are widely regarded for their adaptive natures but the blues are stereotypically leaders in this regard. The Hivemind regards the loss of one to the disease to be most distasteful. The two steels are handling the Wartusks thanks to their incredibly durable physiologies. Though it may seem an odd choice at first for animal trainers, the Ingots are uniquely suited to the task. They still have very limited psionic receptors which allow them to soothe and sometimes control the minds of simpler beasts. There really is no set squad size, with the cavalry units or with the Wartusks. Ingots come and go and the ones affected by the disease rarely work well together anyway.
Heph: “See? What did I tell you? Everything is fine. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to depart.”
Hez: “Fine. I guess I’ll go fucking tell the Freakshow to stay behind and watch the ship while the Yellow and Red Rings drop. Fuck.”
Heph: “Birdie, Birdie, Tiger, Birdie, One Fish, Two Fish…”
Hez: “…Yeah.”
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