Parker Hardyman

Parker is somewhat unfriendly, being wary of most people when he first meets them and keeping most people at an arms length. He's not entirely against building relationships or trusting people, but he does so cautiously due to past experiences. He generally appears unafraid, being willing to perform dangerous acts if required, though he does deep down have some reservations about putting his life on the line unnecessarily.

He is quite direct in the way he speaks to people, not holding back his first impressions and not caring much for etiquette. He is especially impolite towards those he percieves as corrupt, or those he percieves as being the type to hoard or flaunt wealth. Despite his lack lack of finances or general posessions, he is charitable when he is able to be, putting in the effort to help those he sees as being in need, especially similarly poor or victimised people, though he tries to do so in a way which doesn't paint him as too heroic or noteable, being dismissive of thanks he recieves.

He is also very resourceful, growing up very poor and spending a lot of his childhood following his father's death on the streets has taught him how to be quick on his feet and work with few resources. Similarly, he is also able to make a little stretch quite far.

Parker is a thin and scrawny young man who is quite short in stature. He has chin-length red-brown hair that is somewhat choppy and unstyled, which he wears a newsboy cap on top of. He has a warm skintone and pronounced cheekbones, with a sharp jawline. His eyes are a mid-brown colour and rectangular in shape, having thick, dark eyebags and appearing to be in a permanant glare. His clothing is disheveled and multiple sizes too large for him, and has been repaired multiple times. His shoes seem to never stay tied. He has bony hands.

Parker was born and raised in the shanties of a human city, meaning he is used to the pain and danger that can come alongside poverty. His mother disappeared, presumably having passed away, when Parker was around five, so he was raised alone by his father.

Parker's father was not the best guardian, with most of the family's money being spent on rent and alcohol. Parker worked multiple jobs as soon as he was legally able to to assist with expenses, though he didn't see the income of these jobs much at all. Parker would spend more time at the tavern than at home, as that was where his father was most often outside of work. As they were often unable to afford substantial food, his father would often feed him spiders and other insects that would crawl on the walls of the tavern, to stop him from complaining about his empty stomach. Due to this, Parker picked up a habit of eating insects, especially spiders, whenever he was hungry, resulting in the other children cruelly giving him the nickname of "Spiders."

Following Parker's father's mysterious death, he was left alone and unable to afford to pay rent with the miniscule wages of his jobs, leaving him on the streets. Since then, he's been working as a newsboy and doing simple quests to afford a room in the tavern. For extra funds, he turned his being accustomed to eating strange things as a kind of party trick, recieving tips to eat strange things that people offered to him. For this reason, he's not exactly the healthiest, but his body does have a resistance to some toxins and poisonous things.

Following a would-be-fatal experience where he was run down by the mayor's carriage, Parker made a deal with a shunned god to extend his life, wanting to remove the mayor from his position of power. The god accepted the deal with the condition that Parker would complete a quest for them, though they refuse to tell him what it is, instead insisting it'll find him when the time is right. Because of this, Parker feels as if he has to accept almost every quest that is offered to him in case it is the one wanted by the god, not wanting to break his half of the deal.