nobodysnothing

Name: Leeds
Door: Door Pass

Canon: Barbarous (webcomic)
Canon Point: End of Chapter 6

Age: Unknown (likely 100+ based on hints in canon, but Leeds is a magical construct and was brought into existence with an adult mind and body, so even if it's later revealed that he's much younger, he is still fully mature physically and mentally)
Appearance: Eight feet of this:


History:

Leeds was created an unknown number of years ago by a mage named Ruby, who at the time was living as a recluse in a remote woodland cabin. The methods used to create him are unknown even to him - creating a familiar is one thing, but creating a familiar with higher thought, self awareness, and free will is explicitly forbidden and considered highly unethical and illegal. This is because all familiars are compelled to do what others need and want of them - either their bonded masters, or, if unbonded, anyone they're near.

Ruby was the only person Leeds knew for a long time. This was a difficult time, however, as Ruby herself was an arrogant, selfish woman who never really knew what to make of Leeds, and couldn't decide whether he was a man, a beast, or a familiar. In his own words, Ruby only saw the world through Ruby's eyes. Eventually, after seeing Leeds slaughter a whole warren of rabbits because she was hungry, she began to fear her own creation. She muzzled him, refused to use him as her familiar, and lectured him on learning self control, despite his protests that he was only how she'd made him.

Eventually, Ruby passed. Most of her possessions and research were reclaimed by ALMIA, the magic Academy she had once worked for. ALMIA also governs much of the magic in the region, through rules and regulations enforced by highly skilled mages known as Pillars. They also own and control all familiars except those passed down through family inheritance. Leeds, however, escaped the fate of being captured by them, likely through the aid of Cecilia, a mysterious woman who also happened to be an old friend of Ruby's. Though not a mage herself, Cecilia has been touched by a powerful being whose magic has left her unaging, with a skeletal right hand that can snuff out life and undo magic at a touch.

At some point after Ruby's death, Leeds did "something evil" due to his familiar's compulsion. Though he doesn't elaborate on this incident, it's the reason he started resisting the compulsion in earnest, and decided to hide himself away from the world with Cecilia's aid.

Luckily for him, cosmetic magic called glamour is quite popular in his world. Almost everyone assumes he's a human who's altered his appearance with this magic, as most of the world assumes it's impossible for a familiar to be able to talk and function as a person, even those knowledgeable in familiars and the magic to make them. He began working in Cecilia's apartment building (which appears to be somewhere in Brooklyn) as her superintendent, learning how to repair and fix up all kinds of things. She even allowed him to use the toolshed on the property as his carpentry workshop.

This went on for quite a few years. Leeds rarely went out, and he was frequently bullied (usually accidentally on their part) by the residents into doing extra work outside his job description or agreeing to things he hadn't cleared with Cecilia (like allowing them to use the basement as storage). He might be resisting his compulsion, after all, but he's not always as good at it as he should be, especially with people who are particularly demanding.

Until one day, one of the rare times he did go out, he ran into a young woman trying to stop a thief that'd stolen a bag on the subway. He found himself caught in the middle, finding himself compelled to grab the man as the woman tried to use magic to cut the bag loose. The magic went wrong, and she wound up holding a burning bag. The police let them off without a fuss, and he insisted on taking the young woman back to the apartments to get her hands seen to, as she had nowhere to stay at the moment.

Cecilia wasted little time upon meeting the young woman - Chiaki Persephone Mori, or Percy, as she calls herself - with offering her a job. She recognized that a young woman with bad magic would be desperate, and saw an opportunity with the standoffish and abrasive Percy to have someone on payroll who could stand up to the tenants when Leeds couldn't. In fairly short order, Percy was talked into becoming the building's second super in exchange for a steady paycheck, a place to live, and insurance.

Leeds and Percy get off to a rocky start. He knows from how she uses magic that she's likely from the ALMIA Academy, the very people he's been trying to avoid for years. He's not sure how to trust her. She doesn't understand his odd manner and feels like he's treating her like a charity case. But as they work together they begin to understand and trust each other more. Leeds even confesses what he is, so that she can understand why he struggles in some situations with the tenants. He also tells her of his fear of the Academy and the Pillars, of what they might do to them should they learn of his existence and capture him for their own use. She confesses that she dropped out of the Academy and had once wanted to join the program to become a Pillar. Slowly, they become friends.

Things get intense when a young mage - a student from the Academy going rogue to work on his own projects - breaks into Cecilia's office to steal a magic artifact she owns. Percy and Leeds confront him, but he's prepared with a spell that sends them both to one of the abstract planes, where their psyches manifest. While Percy's able to hold onto some sense of self, Leeds loses himself, becoming a massive black bull monster the size of a house.

Percy and a manifestation of her younger self (using her first name, Chiaki), before her magic went bad, work together to capture the out-of-control Leeds. However, her younger, ambitious self realizes what Leeds is - a sentient familiar with a psyche - and realizes that she can get back into the Academy and maybe even become a Pillar herself if she claims Leeds and hands him over to ALMIA. She uses her considerable will and Leeds' confused and distressed state to force her will on him, turning him back to his normal form but under her control.

Horrified by being faced with the ugly and selfish person she used to be, blinded by ambition, Percy fights her for control as Leeds attacks her. She succeeds in convincing Leeds to fight Chiaki's influence, but Chiaki sends him to sleep before he can fully turn on her. With Percy injured and powerless with her broken, bad magic, she declares that she intends to return to the material plane with Leeds so she can turn him over to the Pillars, ensuring her place among their ranks, something that had been her lifelong dream. Percy, everything she had become since leaving the Academy and starting a new life at Cecilia's apartments and befriending Leeds, would fade away and eventually cease to exist.

But they're still in an abstract plane, where sense of self and strength of mind matter more than physical strength. Desperate, afraid, angry, Percy manifests something else. A deep, monstrous, hungry part of her soul. She turns into a blue, multi-armed creature, and she lets go of those old dreams, her old self, by literally consuming her. Leeds sees what she becomes before she passes out, then watches over her, and when she wakes she finds her conviction, resolve, and magic renewed. Together, they arrange the spell necessary to bring them both home.

Although they got through the trial together, Leeds realizes that he endangered both of them because he doesn't understand enough about what he is or how and why he was made. He tells Percy of Ruby, and her journals, which are now ALMIA property, and gives Percy permission to study him officially in the hopes that they can learn things that will keep them both safe should they find themselves in trouble again. Percy starts by working a spell that blocks herself from Leeds' senses, so he can be near her without the risk of being compelled by her will.

Personality:
Positive Trait: Patience

Leeds is a rock. Most of the time he's steadfast and even-tempered. His ability to sense what people want of him can give him insight into others' emotional states and makes it easier not to take things personally. He tolerates the constant demands of the apartment tenants with little complaint, even particularly difficult tenants like the three girls Percy affectionately dubs Cerberus. He tolerates Cecilia when she refuses to explain herself about decisions like hiring Percy. He even tolerates Percy, most of the time, holding up under her prying questions and abrasive nature far longer than most people would. When she messes up a whole bathroom tiling project with her magic, he sighs and gets to work pulling off the tiles before the grout can set so he can re-do everything manually. When she pesters him about his age or tries to pry about his feelings towards the Academy, he brushes her off and changes the subject. When she rambles on about principles of magic he listens, nodding along, despite not being able to follow her in the slightest. She does get under his skin on occasion, but only a very rare occasion, and less and less as they get to know each other better.

Negative Trait: Rage

Although it's well hidden and has a long fuse, there's a deep anger inside Leeds, borne from having to navigate a life where he was created to be a tool and a possession but also a person with wants and needs of his own. From having to hide who and what he is out of fear of what ALMIA might do to him, from having to make himself small around other people so he won't scare them or draw unwanted attention. It's first seen the first night he and Percy work together, where she still thinks he sees her as a charity case to feed his ego so she needles and provokes him until he lashes out, shouting at her about how nice it must be to be able to mouth off whenever you want, asking what's wrong with her, and accidentally damaging the porch pillar he grabs in the process. He snaps at her again at a later point over her questioning him about the Academy. But the biggest indicator is the massive black bull monster he becomes in the abstract plane they're both trapped in - a creature fueled by rage and pain, who lashes out even at those it knows and cares for because it's so blinded by emotion.

Negative Trait: Pushover

Leeds, despite being able to fight against the familiar's compulsion, still struggles with saying no. And it's not just the compulsion's fault - he genuinely doesn't like people being mad at him, and likes making people happy. He's surprisingly easy to bully simply by being firm and persistent. Cecilia even hired Percy under the pretense of needing someone who can stand up against the tenants and say no when their demands are unreasonable. Before Percy was around, he would often be roped into doing extra work, even outside his on-duty hours. He even agreed to let the tenants use the basement for storage without checking with Cecilia. The first time he and Percy work together, he agrees to let her try to use magic to tile a bathroom, even though he knows her magic is broken, he hates magic himself, and he knows it's a bad idea. But he senses it'll make her happy if it succeeds, so he caves.

Negative Trait: Morose

Leeds is, well, a bit of a sad sack. He's prone to being quiet, closed-off, and dour, most often seen throughout the comic with a hangdog expression. He's reluctant to talk about himself, and so is very bad at addressing things that are bothering him. Early in Percy's employment at the apartment building, he expresses concern to Cecilia about having someone with Academy ties living and working around him, to which she comments that he doesn't leave the apartment complex for months at a time, accusing him of hiding away in his apartment instead of making any effort to engage with the outside world. When Percy offers to show him around the Academy campus, before she realizes just how bad an idea that is, he brushes her off and gets moody and snippy when she pushes him on it. At one point she comments that she's had enough "sullen men" in her life, to which he acknowledges she has a point.

Powers and Abilities:

Powers

Familiar's compulsion: The big one - Leeds is a familiar, and familiars are compelled to do what they sense their bonded mage wants or needs of them. As Leeds doesn't have a bonded mage, he feels it from everyone. He's not psychic - he won't know why a person wants him to do a thing, just that they want him to do it - but he might draw reasonable conclusions from his compulsion (e.g. if he senses someone wants him to bring them a glass of water, he might assume they're thirsty, but he has no way to know for sure). He can resist these compulsions, but it becomes harder if there's stronger will behind them. Multiple conflicting compulsions, such as from multiple people, can easily overwhelm him and make it hard for him to do anything. Allowing himself to follow the compulsions unquestioningly feels good, but he has conflicted feelings about how ethical that is. This ability can be blocked by magic/psychic defenses, and in Duplicity it will be less reliable, allowing players to opt out even if their characters don't have IC protections. More details and official opt-out on Permissions Page (link TBA).

Familiar's bond: Familiars have been shown to be able to channel the magic of the mage they're bonded to, even if said mage usually has to rely on writing out complex equations and formulas to cast spells. This is unlikely to come up as Leeds is not currently bonded to anyone and he himself doesn't know how the bonding ceremony works, but worth mentioning.

Enhanced strength: Leeds is strong enough to damage concrete with his bare hands. As his exact limits haven't been discussed in canon, I'm defaulting to his strength being within peak human limits for his build (8' tall and built like a tank), so very, very strong but not superhumanly so. He does not need to work out to maintain strength and muscle mass, it's just how he was made.

Environmental resistance: Leeds isn't affected by cold or heat nearly as much as a human would be. He's shown wearing sweats during hot summer days and only a loincloth in a cold, snowy setting, both without any sign of discomfort. Extreme cold or heat can still affect him, as can magic cold/heat.

Endurance: While Leeds can be hurt and even destroyed, he's made of much tougher stuff than most natural beings and it's harder to injure him. Most things that would cause minor injuries to a human won't bother him at all.

Functionally immortal: As a familiar, Leeds will live until he's destroyed. He will not age, get sick, or die naturally.

Hot Breath: Entirely aesthetic, but Leeds' breath has been shown to come out as visible steam when he's worked up, even at room temperature.

Abilities

Handyman: Leeds has worked as an apartment superintendent for years, and can do pretty much any kind of repair work or home improvement task short of serious electrical or plumbing.

Carpenter: Carpentry in particular is a hobby for Leeds, and he makes both furniture and carved animals in his spare time.

First aid: Leeds knows basic first aid and can evaluate injuries to know when something needs professional help or not.

Inventory:

Toolbox, empty
A little, hand-carved wooden bull
A metal mask shaped like a bull's head with one broken horn

Samples:
Dialogue sample
Thinky sample (NSFW)