Player Name: Josh

AIM Contact: Angrydurf

Character Name: William O'Conner

Date & Place of Birth: 24 March 1978, Knowlton, Arkansas

Character Type: Rodere

Character Occupation & Skills: Cab driver, William has both a keen eye and near-perfect knowledge of the streets, bars, and hotels of the Big Easy. He spent his early years helping on the the family farm in Arkansas, leaving him with a fair understanding of basic agriculture and an uncanny ability to predict the weather. Before his infection he was a leading contender in the Mid-South Golden Gloves Tournament.

Abilities: As rodere, William can and must change forms; is stronger, faster, regenerates etc. Whether inborn, trained, or a result of the events surrounding his infection, William has an unusual ability to recover from wounds. He doesn't heal any faster than most rodere but can recover from more grievous wounds than most -- even some inflicted by silver. Silver is still a bane, but if he isn't 'finished off' he will recover.

Appearance: William is taller than most rodere, with a build more akin to that expected of lukoi than his own people, and perhaps due to this tends to slouch. He's handsome in an all-American kind of way with dusty brown hair and deep hazel eyes. His nose is slightly crooked and takes off any 'too pretty' sheen from his features. He is usually mildly unkempt outside of formal events. For those occasions he is usually slightly overdressed but at least a full year behind fashion trends.

His rat form is large, over three feet in length not including tail, with brown to gray fur. In his half-man form he reaches well over six feet in height of corded muscle, almost perpetually hunched in a 'guard' position balanced lightly on his hind paws, always in motion.

Personality & History: William was born third of five children in rural Arkansas. The O'Conners were not well off by any stretch and the economic boom of the era didn't touch their small farm or any other around Knowlton. By the time William was twelve, the bank foreclosed on the family farm. It was a blow, but the O'Conners weren't quitters and picked up and roamed for the next couple years, finally settling in New Orleans. William's parents both worked several jobs to support their children and when old enough the kids jumped in as well. Shortly after turning fifteen, a schoolyard fight looked to turn things around for William.

Insulted for his shabby clothes, William's temper got the best of him and he sent two older boys to the hospital before the fight was broken up. William was suspended, and worse, had his work permit revoked. However, one of the gym coaches thought he could channel some of William's teen anger and raw talent into something more. William was an experimental run of a new program taking at-risk kids and providing them a new outlet; in William's case this was boxing. So long as he made all practices, the school would reinstate his work permit and hold off on his suspension. William was grateful for the opportunity and made the best of it working hard both in the ring and out. In under a year his trainer lied about his age and entered him into the local amateur circuit.

William performed well and made a respectable showing. By his seventeenth birthday William was a minor local celebrity and the favorite for the Regional Golden Gloves Championship. With his stock so high and rising he was approached by local bookmakers and made a very lucrative offer to throw his fight. Well, Mamma O'Conner didn't raise no quitters or no cheats; William refused. When the bookies and their mob thugs got rough, William got rougher and at least one of them is on a liquid diet to this day. William figured the matter was closed. He was wrong. They caught him after work in the warehouse district the next day and decided an example needed to be made. Normally, William didn't have much to fear from three guys. He learned that day about the great equalizer: guns. They gave him one more chance to play ball then opened fire when he refused. He was hit almost fifteen times, ten in the chest. Then they hoisted his body into a dumpster and left him for dead.

He was found a short time later by an older rodere who, from compassion, or perhaps some sense of duty, tried to save him. The rat took him to his home nearby and infected him. The old rat sat and waited as the blood flow slowed, but William didn't wake and continued to breath shallowly. For several days the old rodere tended the slowly healing wounds and poured broth down William's throat, with no more improvement in his condition. William hovered somewhere between life and death, and refuses to speak of this time still. His would-be savior was out of ideas and turned to his King and the rest of the Horde for aid. The manner in which William had been infected was questionable, but their duty to him now was clear. King Jacob called upon the Horde's resources, and a solution was found in the person of Inez Rodriguez. She had only been with the Horde for a few years but had earned distinction for her level head, and more importantly, her skills both as a nurse and potent mystical healer. Inez was able to stir William's beast to live and serve and that first brutal brush of power has marked William ever since.

William's early years within the Horde were an exercise in emotional extremes. His family rejected him for what he had become, his promising boxing career was no more, he had few other marketable skills and no real place to call home. On the other hand he was quickly embraced by his fellow rodere. In the Horde he found a new family, and soon to follow a job and a home thanks to the beneficence of his fellows. One found him the job he holds to this day, several opened their homes to him until he could move out on his own. Later that year he was squired by one of the ranking Knights. Over the next three years he earned the respect of the Knights for his tenacious loyalty to the Horde and fierce defense of his fellow rodere at great personal risk and often harm. He also learned from his last day as a human that not all foes could be stopped with fists, and acquired a concealed carry permit for a classic Colt .45 given to him by his Knight when he was raised.

William also found a good friend in Inez who had also lost her family due to infection. Her gentle ways and calm demeanor were a great help in steadying him in his early years. However, from his first awakening there has been more her beast called his to service and it still serves. Despite their friendship this truth has remained she will likely always, at least to his beast, be Queen first and friend second. When Mahmoud took the kingship William was the first to offer his fealty as a Knight to the new King and Queen; he would never speak it aloud but this was more for Inez than Mahmoud. As Mahmoud has ruled William has never regretted that decision. William stands now as one of the elder Knights of the court and is fervently loyal to the King and his Queen, with the Horde as a whole coming in a close second.

William retains the basic values instilled in him growing up. He is honorable, loyal, stoic, hard-working. He is also still prone to fits of temper when one of these values is threatened or belittled. However, many of his illusions have been shattered. He no longer believes in the American ideals of equality and a benevolent government defending the people. His would-be killers walk free and his family turned their back on him. When he looks back he isn't angry or bitter, just sad that his youthful exuberance was wasted in such a fashion. All that aside, William remains an upbeat, good-natured man; few see his temper and fewer the deep hurts left by the betrayals, by family and government, following his infection. Instead he puts his faith now in his King and Queen and has embraced the Horde as his new family, and God help anyone who threatens any of them.