Character Generation (J)

Cato's mother was Cxohose of the Batakimbe tribe, a "bokor", a sort of sorceress for hire, who hailed originally from the faraway and exotic lands of Mzwamandla in Hotu. His father is supposedly the wealthy landowner Lord Quintus DuRouche of New Fundy, or at least that is what Cato was told by his mother. As a young child, Cato lived in the slums of New Fundy with Cxohose. She served as a soothsayer, fortune teller, hex thrower, and witch doctor, mostly to the poor and downtrodden, but sometimes secretly to the affluent and nobility.

When Cato was six, his mother took him to a remote cabin in the Malzbatune Mountains. To Cato's great despair, she left him there in the care of the witch known as Goody Hen. This horrible old crone became both Cato's caretaker and tormentor. Under Goody Hen's domination, Cato suffered mental and physical abuse and witnessed ongoing horrors inflicted by the witch upon dozens of kidnapped children.

The witch had a crew of thugs led by an imposing half-orc named Urokush. They would bring children to her, most about 3 to 7 years old. The witch would raise them for a year or so, locking them up in small cages like animals. After feeding the toddlers all sorts of gruesome brews, cutting them and tattooing runes on their skin, she would hand them over to terrifying cloaked riders who arrived during the night of winter solstice every year. These horrible figures were veiled in shadow, draped in auras of dread and horror. Where they took the children, what they did to them, Cato never knew. He assumed that it was horrible.

All the while, Cato was forced to do the witch's bidding, even serving as an overseer managing the captured children.

When Cato was 13, he finally summoned up enough courage to attempt escape. He fled to the wilderness, but was soon tracked down by Urokush and his crew. When he was carried back to Goody's hut, Cato was transitioned to full slavery. He was most often chained in the goat stable. Sometimes he was chained to a heavy rock that was forced to carry every step he took. All the while, the witch would torment him with hexes, illusions, and nightmares. There were times that he thought he would descend into complete madness.

Another 6 winters passed. Cato suffered endless nightmares, and failed at many escape attempts. Finally, one winter night, when Goody Hen was placed under a deep slumber by a treacherous fey, Cato filed his chain and ran. As he fled from a pursuing Urokush, Cato fell from a cliff and was severely injured. Cut, broken, and nearly frozen to death, Cato was rescued by dwarf prospectors who were exploring remote game trails. They carried Cato back to Rock's Haven, and he recovered under the care of dwarven healers.

Unsure of what to do with his new freedom, and still fearful of being found by Urokush, Cato fled to the only other place that he knew: New Fundy. He lived in the city of his birth for a couple of years, working as a laborer and sometimes sliding into the company of criminals. He never found his mother, and never approached Lord DuRouche, the man who was supposedly his father. He knew that there was no chance that he would be accepted by the nobleman. Cato also wondered if his mother had even told him the truth about his lineage.

Burglary, pick-pocketing, and mugging never sat well with Cato, though he committed all of these street crimes as a way of life for a time. Cato had never had any role models or influences to teach him morality or righteous living, but he had known suffering. He had seen the pain of others who did not deserve it. Cato began to accept that inflicted suffering and betrayal were inherently wrong. He is still haunted by the cries of the children that Goody Hen tortured and caged. He is still disturbed by the memory of her black magic that he knows is evil.

Trying to break away from the temptations of crime in New Fundy, Cato has recently moved to the rural town of Feldoor. Here he seeks a different life, a fresh start, a new opportunity. He still worries that he may cross paths with Urokush or Goody Hen one day. And if he does, he wants to be ready.

In fact, Cato wishes that one day he might be able to confront the witch and her goons and end their unholy work, though the prospect of such terrifies him at the same time. He has not fully faced his own internal pain, but Cato unknowingly yearns for redemption. He remembers all of the years when he failed to help the kidnapped children, all of the times when he brought more terror and suffering upon them himself, even if at the direction of his own cruel master. Cato remembers the innocent victims of a sadistic witch, the helpless who were carried away by fearsome Men of Shadow.