The purpose of this Character Study is to lay out a character all for all and see what people think about it. Gain ideas, ways to improve, and general hints, tips, and ideas.

So, what do we have?

Richard Underwood, a royal sounding name, prefers to go by the nickname of Rico. This is due to him being a rather unsophisticated acting person, to him a name like Richard is stuffy and foreign sounding.

What is Rico? Rico as a character is what is commonly referred to as a anthropomorphic, that is to say a human given non-human traits, in the case of Rico this is a vulpine-like appearance. As far as attire is concerned, as I said Rico is far from what we call upper class, there are no particular garments of which he consistently appears save a old auburn overcoat or trench coat as trendy people may call it. I gave him this piece of clothing to cover anything that might need concealing, such as smuggling an infant half brother away from harm. The idea came from a certain identical garment I obtained while in my second college year under strange circumstances.

Where does this Rico come from? He is a resident of a fictional world called Kyzarie, populated by people called Kydane, not surprisingly. This Kyzarie is a planet with many of the same troubles as ours, the paramount issue being religion. This religion and the others like it play one of the main roles in almost every storyline involving Rico.

What is this religion you ask? Not a simple question but I'll voice the 'skinny' of it. You seen millennia ago Kyzarie was much like earth in its primitive stages. Rather like a movie from the 1940's if you can imagine that. During this time, unbeknownst to the rest of the world a man was wandering the planet writing down his experiences with the races of Kyzarie and his thoughts on the same. Because of some rather outlandish tales of this old man that was called Kenji Pendragon and his deeds and prophetic knowledge, people sought out his writings. Of course this was many a year later and the language in which this book, titled simply 'The Remembrance of Kenji', was written was then a dead language. Many a philosopher and linguist gave hand to translation and many variations of the texts were made. Rather like if Jesus had a diary, if you will.

This religion took its name from Kenjis constant references to an animal of Kyzarie, an animal that defied nature. This animal had the look of a large wolf, its eyes look tired and sad and its fur is the color of gray one might find on a aging persons head. How does this defy nature? It doesnt, but the actions of this large canine do. It only preys on larger animals, and when rumor is taken into account it was many a time reported to actually protect smaller animals. This creature is of current a legend, living only in the most distant areas of Kyzarie. By name it is called the Warden Wolf. And it seemed the focal point of Kenjis thoughts. It is debated that the reason is because the animal was so similar to his own appearance, but no accurate records of Kenjis appearance exist.

I digress; this man and his diary became the icons of a religion calling itself simply The Warden. Their teachings were those of the Remembrance in all its glory. To spread peace, love everyone, protect the weak, respect the strong, all of the things that are what most people would consider good.

But, as with all religion, something happened. People started examining the texts in minute detail, following Kenjis words so closely they became corrupt. The Sodalitas, what we would call a church, found something disturbing in Kenjis words. Several of these passages detailed his torment at the hands of what he called rodent-kind, this word on Kyzarie referred to the races of the planet that resembled rodents, and his growing anxiety of them. This discovery did not bold well for rodent-kind of any sort and was cause a distinct split in the Warden faith. One section was infuriated that something of this nature was taken so literally and left the world. For at this time Kyzarie is begun traveling the vastness of space, but that is another story. These people called themselves Crusaders and denounced the new Warden faith, disappearing into the void of space and never returning again.

It wasnt long before another rift occurred. A long-standing tradition on Kyzarie was that inter-racial was forbidden. This was not simply a religiously motivated law, it was long standing tradition due to the strange aging of the Kydane themselves. You see for each race on the planet, there was a different lifespan. As with animals in the real world some lived much longer than others. And most of the species lived at least twice the length of a human. The shining example was the Canoids, the doglike people that were considered noble birth. The longest living Canoid died at the age of 1347, well beyond a millennia. While the longest living Rodenoid, or rodent-kind, that lived a mere 558 years. Such a massive change per race led to tragic problems. A Lupoid and Rodenoid that were born of the same year would be in completely different stages of life in a mere decade or two. To prevent the heartache of losing a mate to old age while still young or lose interest in mate due to differences of maturity it was decided to ban inter racial marriage for the good of the people.

With time this was broken more and more, a few years after the mass exodus of the self proclaimed crusaders, ironically enough dubbed The Exodus, a group of Warden disheartened with the new ideals of shunning rodent-kind for being the anxiety of Kenji became inflamed when a certain event happened. But lets focus on the House of Underwood for a moment.

The ruling family of Sodalitas, was none other than the House Underwood. Possibly the most highly thought of vulpinoids on Kyzarie whose lineage was actually traced back to Kenji himself. The Underwoods were a powerful family, adept and trainers of what was called The Art. The Art was a term on Kyzarie used to describe magic. Magic on Kyzarie was no mere parlor trick, it was a weapon, and there were schools to learn to control every element in nature and beyond. Perhaps this attunement is the reason why many of the powerful families lived such incredible lengths of time.

Family life in the massive mansion the Underwood called home was ideal. Russell, the husband and leader of the now extremely powerful Sodalitas church, was a normal man. He was charismatic and handsome; he was the leading teacher of school of fire art. Of which both his two sons attended. However the two children were night and day. The eldest was Trevor, a hardworking and good looking young man any father would dote on constantly. He excelled through diligence and pride, had many a lady look his way during school and was just as charismatic as his father. The other son was Rico, he was rather a mommas boy as you would call it, overly sensitive and quick to run behind Diane, his mother. Diane was as many would say, the perfect wife, she was content to stay home and raise her children, she had a hobby of practice the Earth Arts and as such she and her husband were not as close as most couples. This brings us back to little Ricky as he was called in school. Aside from his sensitivity Rico was basically a normal child. Therein was the problem. He was average in his schooling and the work he put into it, one would think he would be frustrated with a more successful older brother. He was not, and not because of his willpower or attitude, but because Rico possessed something Trevor didnt. That something was natural talent. Yes abilities that took young Trevor weeks apon months to learn were simply of matter of Rico getting in the mood to do. Usually this evened the overall amount of time it would take to learn something new, as Rico was not the most diligent person; in fact he was fairly lazy.

But this all seems like a good life. A rich family, two boys that either work hard or possess talent, you would think it would be paradise. Unfortunately all that glitters is not gold. Sometimes a glittering object can be found elsewhere, somewhere dark and secretive. Like the slums of the Kyzarie, these backalleys were much like you would imagine a street of Harlem, or even the infamous New Jersey. This is where the Kydane lived who couldnt get good jobs, or any job. Sometimes that glittering object is the very short attire of a waitress of a not so upscale beverage establishment. You see, while there was a law prohibiting religious intolerance and racial prejudice, Warden dominated most places of business, and they found creative ways to exclude certain people from their payroll. This of course means that those of rodent origin or those of or birthed out of inter-racial couplings were as the Warden referred to it tolerated. This meant that while noones rights were broken, the Warden were still allowed to shun those their religion said to. What does this have to do with Rico you ask? A moment.

One particular beverage establishment was a private getaway for Mister Underwood; a place to collect his thoughts away from the bustle of political and religious yammering. Over time there was a certain glitter that held his attention. A very attractive young lupoid, that would be rabbit-kind, named Connie. Its not for sure of the specifics and Im sure you probably dont want to hear them, but Connie was soon with child, Russells child.

As you can imagine the leader a church condemning both rodents and interracial marriage would not see their leader cheating on his wife with someone his religion shuns in a good light. A good amount of hush money was paid and for a time that was the end of it.

In a decade or so Trevor and Rico became young men and began to explore Kyzarie on their own. Trevor did all the things good boys do, volunteer work, part-time jobs, you know the drill, Rico however didnt fit in so well. He seemed to actively cause himself problems. His excursions mainly were walking alone through the slums of Kyzarie. He felt good there, everyone wanted to be friends with an Underwood in that neighborhood just for the status when job hunting.

To cut things sort this troubled young man can into possession of two things he shouldnt have; knowledge of Connie, and worse yet her child. The sensitive Rico was immediately infuriated as he found the boy in the streets after following some information from one of his friends. You can only guess what mom had to say.

The situation snowballed into an avalanche. Religious extremists from all corners of Kyzarie voice their opinions. Now of course Warden are peaceful and forgiving yes? Of course, so they did not blame Russell for giving in to temptation but did ask he correct it. No, this did not mean killing anyone. However it did mean he would help the young man, who did appear very much a rabbit, fit into normal society.

At a meeting of the leading Sodalitas Warden they brought the child, named Tobias, in front of them. The boy could barely stand, not out of fear, but because he was only ten years old. Note that in the scheme of relative aging this would have made him barely out of diapers. These strange cat and dog-like people told him he was not to blame for his sins, so he would be forgiven as Kenji would have. Of course then they stated he would undergo corrective surgery so he would appear normal. Also he would attend special classes to help him tend with his new life.

Now three people in this audience are key in the following events. One you know, Rico, who is watching strangers tell him his little half brother is going to be forced into a life that he could not imagine. The other two are the key leaders of a movement, a movement waiting for this moment. A movement that as was stated much earlier was disheartened with the new ideals of the Warden, this Sodalitas church. During the course of the scandal involving this young half-breed they watched him closely, and more closely Rico. They saw his empathic eyes, how he had his mother show him how to take care of little Tobias. One old man had a specific agenda here, more than taking the half-breed before he could be butchered into something he wasnt. He wanted Rico as well, and this was the chance he needed to see Rico prove himself even though he wasnt aware of it.

As the final judgment sounded across the packed room of onlookers these three key people stood up. Rico was the first, he jumped over the dividing rail and into the center of the room, standing over his smaller brother with a look any defiant teenager would have. The ensuing chaos was all the two quick-witted men needed. As Rico forced back the hesitant guards with what limited flame throwing abilities he had the two men rush in and in the blink of an eye both the men and both boys had vanished.

Well thats a little of what Rico is and why he is. This accounts for only a part of Ricos life. At the last sentence Rico was probably about 60 years old. Again in the strange relative aging of Kyzarie that checks him at his adolescence.

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