Griffon Hugo, Circus Strong-Griffon (ready)

[TheInvisiblePony]

Roleplay Type:

Mane RP

Name:

Hugo. Also goes by the pen name of Magnum Opus.

Sex:

Male

Age:

Adult

Species:

Griffon

Eye colour:

His eyes are a sharp green in colour.

Coat:

His coat in sheen is only somewhat bright. Just enough to catch attention, but not enough to be distracting, but the colour is somewhat odd. It’s a brownish-grey, somewhat comparable to that of a pigeon almost.

Mane/Tail:

His head is made of feathers that almost are golden tinged in colour, but for the most part they’re a fairly simple white. Other than colours, he has no unusual markings to differentiate himself from other Griffons

Physique:

Hugo is big. Perhaps even slightly bigger than the average griffon, even. Muscular-wise, he is incredibly strong, perhaps even exceedingly so. His wings are about as muscular as his arms, and indeed they’d have to be for his flight to happen. However, he is very much strength focused instead of speed or agility focused, and while he can lift things for quite a while, he isn't very fast, and he can't preform many flight maneuvers well without coming across as clumsy.

Residence:

No permanent residence, although he dreams of living in Canterlot.

Occupation:

Circus strong-griffon, as he will introduce himself. Hugo also secretly masquerades as a somewhat unknown poet to fuel his dreams. When the situation demands it, Hugo is also not afraid to play the merchant game, though this is usually occasional.

Cutie Mark:

Not applicable, though he’s spent many an afternoon wondering what his would be.

History:

Hugo was born in Aquellia as befitting a griffon, but rather than being born and remaining in a singular place for his childhood, Hugo was one of the children of a more nomadic group of a griffon merchant family. During the first few years of his life, he traveled quite often around the country and saw very much of the dangers of travel, but also the wonder and appeal. Seeing as how that what he was raised to be accustomed to, he never found roadside monsters to be threatening, and he knew when to pack it up and hit the road when his family started to lose profit or run out of product.

What he did find fascinating was the city life itself. All of the griffons bustling around one set area, buying products as they came and never having to move, somehow seemed magical to him. Until his teens, he never even understood how they were able to stay in the same place their entire lives. To a certain extent, he almost envied the urban charm, but he was never able to attend. He had a duty to his family, and he was to be raised as a merchant, as he very well knew.

What he wasn’t expecting, was his introduction to Equestria. Although he had technically never gone into the pony lands until he was an adult, his family had visited Beakbreak city, and he had his first encounter with the pastel coloured equines. Of course he had heard of them, but they were pretty uncommon in Aquellia, and to come to a city that had an equal amount to the griffon population was fairly astounding to him. What’s more, he very much admired the talents these ponies possessed, and how the cutie marks advertised this, and redoubled their efforts to master their individual profession simply because it was plastered on their rear.

Although his time in Beakbreak city was short, it had left an impact on the then-teenage Hugo. The rest of his young life was spent in a fashion similar to before his encounter with ponies, which is too say, the life of a merchant. In his childhood, he had learned to read and write (necessary for mercantile transactions and such) by reading old epics of griffon knights, and as such had developed an almost outdated sense of chivalry, and spent most of the travels between cities lightening the load for his family by carrying perhaps a little more than he could actually lift, thriving just barely on the knowledge that he was being both honorable and polite.

Now, the family he was born too had a certain tradition involving the males, which is too say, once they became old enough to run their own business, that’s exactly what they did, while the females stayed with the main caravan. That way, the family could extend their business all across Aquellia. Hugo, upon reaching that age, almost immediately flew to Beakbreak city, home of all of those ponies whom he found fascinating. The stall he opened up there sold little more than the epics he had learned to read as a child, but it still found success and he handled it with the same honor he tackled life in general with. Quickly he garnered a reputation amongst merchants, and he started to run out of material to sell. However, this time, he didn’t want to leave Beakbreak city, but he didn’t have anything to sell to keep him in business. Hugo found it dishonorable to simply resell anything he bought from other stalls, seeing it as little more than stealing, so he turned to writing his own epics so he could sell those.

Initially, he was met with failure. Up and coming authors were always welcome, and he was good, but he was raised to peddle goods a certain way, and simply mass writing poetry and selling it like fruit didn’t work. So, he came up with a plan. Taking a leaf from the ponies he had come to admire, he made up an old stallion known as Magnum Opus, who had lived centuries ago and created dozens of plays, epics and poetry only to be forgotten to the ages themselves. With this in mind, suddenly he was once again raking up the bits as everypony and even everygriffon wanted to rediscover this ‘old legend’.

Things didn’t stay hunky dory for long, as the griffons reading the stories found it at least odd that a pony of all creatures could write masterpieces very similar in structure and style to the griffon myths of old, and soon began to suspect something was afoot. At this point, Hugo was so caught up in the ruse that the only dishonor left was to be caught in a lie, otherwise it was simply a clever ruse to get his writing out there. Hugo spent many a week coming up with various excuses as to why a pony could write like a griffon, but eventually he simply came to the conclusion that he’d need to write more like a pony.

So with that in resolve, he put the selling of his wares on hiatus and moved to the most pony of all places – Canterlot itself. Needless to say, he stuck out like a sore thumb. In fact, he hadn’t considered just how much he’d stick out. Sure, there was the griffon embassy, but he was far from an ambassador. Even more so, if he started to say he was studying pony literature, Hugo feared that would raise suspicions even more. What he did notice was that, thanks to all of his lifting in his youth, he was exceedingly strong, and the ponies noticed this very well.

Following this, the gears ticked and tocked like gears very much do, and it occurred to Hugo to play this to his advantage. He decided that his disguise for being in Equestria was to be a traveling strong-griffon. That is to say, he would stupefy crowds with his strength and agility as a griffon (mostly the strength) and he was in Equestria because back home strength was more expected of Griffons, and he could never make back in his home country because of that. And so, to keep up with this, he had to actually travel across Equestria, much as he does now, secretly studying as much pony literature as he can as well as constantly writing new ‘Magnum Opus classics’ to keep his style in tip top shape

Character Summary:

Likes – Poetry, books, chivalry, strength, a clever ruse, honorable ponies or griffons, ponies, talent, merchants, bits, old griffon epics

Dislikes – Secrets being spoiled and told, dishonor, rude ponies or griffons.

As a very much secret author, Hugo’s deepest fear lies in being found out for what he is. If he simply fails, it wouldn’t be difficult to work up another alias and try again, but if he were found out, that would be his last chance. He may have been born a merchant, but his writing quickly grew on him until he realized that it may have very well been more important that what he was raised for, and that it must have been what he was meant to do. He only maintained the pen name because Hugo believes that if he revealed it he would have to acknowledge it as a lie, which would be mortifying to him.

Indeed, ever since he starting writing his own epics and poetry, Hugo has found that to be his passion in life. Although he originally went to Equestria to learn equine literature so as to continue making profits, his intention has moved fully to learning as much as he can about writing and improving his own style to the point where he could create Magnum Opus' magnum opus: a 'rediscovered' novel so grand it would be known throughout both Equestria and Aquellia. Wishful thinking perhaps, but it keeps him going on his journey.

Personality wise, Hugo first and foremost has a secret to keep. As such, he does not try to act as smart as he really is, and tries to fit the well-intentioned brute stereotype as much as possible to throw off suspicion. He will read and act surprisingly sophisticated when he feels he’s alone, but otherwise nopony should expect to get a stimulating conversation out of him. Indeed, the only time he lets himself break free is when it involves his code of honor. If anypony ever finds their self in trouble, he won’t hesitate for a second to help them out regardless of his disguise, and he goes out of his way to be at the very least polite, even when pretending to be no better than your standard not-terribly-bright muscle bound strong-griffon.

In spite of all his character traits, Hugo also happens to have quite a few flaws. For one thing, his very code of honor is the strictest law of his life, to the point where it can be a tad insufferable for other ponies or griffons. By this, he doesn't allow the slightest mistreatment, even if the situation calls for it, and is very easily offended by gestures or phrases he finds dishonorable, such as haggling over the price of a merchant's wares (cheating the merchant from money that should be his) or even improper ways of saying hello (first impressions are everything!). Also, it should be noted, that sometimes he tries a bit too hard with his charade and can come across as overbearing or forceful to the point of being nigh-on redundant with fake personality traits.

[Lux]

Hello.

Your friendly neighborhood RP Helpstaffer here.

Very interesting character you have. My only advice is to add his motivation as well as his character flaws/ weaknesses.

You're almost there, so keep going!

[TheInvisiblePony]

Oh, yes, flaws and motivation. People do tend to have those, don't they?

Regardless, I hope the few sentences I've now added into the character summery address this problem, and thank you for the input! I trust you'll inform me of any other flaws should they appear.

[Lux]

Those sentences look good.

[flutterscotch]

I like this character a lot, and he seems well-rounded to me with the addition of those few sentences.

ORDINARILY, I would want more information as what he does as a Strong-Griffin, but it sounds like being a "street performer/entertainer" in exchange for bits or food or shelter like the minstrels and bards of old is just his day job to keep him alive while he pursues his true passion. You didn't mention if he was part of a troupe, so I am assuming that this is what you mean. You don't imply that he is having the hard life of an itinerant, so I think it's OK. When you're spending as much time in the library and writing as he seems to be, who needs anything more than a bed?