1,001 Characters #27: The Duke

27. Duke "The Duke" Skellington    85A365   ex-Marine       Age 22      1 Terms

Skills: Cutlass-2, Mechanical-1.

Benefits: A collection of historical records about "The Duke" in the portrait.

 

     Duke Skellington joined the Indid (pronounced Indeed) Marine Corps (IMC), straight out of school. He did his basic training at the Marine Training Centre, where he was instructed in the finer points of cutlass play (Cutlass-2) and gained the nickname "The Duke" after some wit noticed his resemblance to an ancient portrait hanging in the base museum. After basic he moved on to the school of engineers where he learned mechanics (Mechanical-1). The following few years were served both aboard ship and dirtside, where he saw some combat, and quite a lot of boredom, to be honest. During his spare time he did some research regarding the portrait, and became almost totally absorbed in the subject's life and history; so much so that he began to affect the mannerisms and style of his, new found hero.      

    As his term of service came to a close he decided not to re-up and chose instead to explore the galaxy at his own pace. He can be found at any class A-D starport visited by the Indid Navy, where he will be looking for transport or working passage.

   

    Indid    0802    A433779-D    N    Na Po                                                G

Referee:"The Duke" has modelled his entire behaviour and style on that of his personal hero and namesake. This namesake could be any Duke for whom you can find a portrait. Said portrait can serve as the character's portrait, because not only does Skellington bear a close resemblance to, but he has modelled his entire style upon, the person in the portrait, including clothing and hair style. (Note: He may even be an actual descendent of the original Duke, but he will never know it).

    Note: any "Duke" will do; I originally thought of the Duke of Wellington, but a search for a portrait of The Duke, brought up a host of portraits with duke in the title; subjects of these portraits included the Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Wellington, John Wayne, the Dukes of Hazzard, and even David Bowie.

   That Skellington does his best to act exactly like the original Duke, but history is full of cases of missing records, and sometimes mistaken assumptions, so he should be played as a mostly perfect copy of the original, with the occasional jarring inconsistency as he emulates a behaviour or mannerism that is incorrectly associated with his idol.

    Have fun with this.