Norton Breakbeak I [Ready]

[Blueblood]

Name: Norton Breakbeak (The First)

Gender: Male

Age: Adult, middle-aged

Species: Griffon

Eye colour: Auburn, flecked with gold.

Character colour: His bird half is that of a bald eagle, with white feathers making for a smooth round head, while the wings are, by contrast, black. The cat half is a mountain lion, with the golden-brown fur common to the kind.

Other: He has cultivated a truly magnificent mustache for a griffon. It is dark grey and full-bodied with waxed, curly tips.

Physique: His tour in the Aquellian Marines has left him with a basically sound body which has not run to fat, though it is a little slower than it used to be.

Residence: Breakbeak City, though he often calls it his Imperial Capital

Occupation: Self-declared Emperor. He lives off his medical discharge pay.

History: Norton Breakbeak was born to a moderately well-off family from the Clopton shores, or at least well-off for the area. The family were one of the few permanent residents of the place, and kept a small shop for the vacationers when they came, and spent the rest of the time fishing and tending to a small vineyard. Young Norton was the youngest of several chicks, and worked happily on such tasks as fell to the youngest son. Mostly, it was in keeping the shopfront clean, neat, and attractive, which he did with aplomb. He had an inclination for cleanliness and neatness, as it happened; his parents never had to force him to bathe or clean his room, which slightly worried them.

Aside from these early idiosyncrasies, Norton had more or less a normal childhood, full of the small adventures than any young griffon might get into in a small coastal town. Like most of the young ones, he always admired the Marines when they came down on vacation, or on training exercises. Seeing them parade about and swagger in their dress uniforms was a real treat for him, and he would often hide close by whenever a squadron came down to the coasts in uniform.​

One day, he even got up a facsimile of a uniform from various hand-me downs, washed pale and worn, but hemmed to neatness by an indulgent mother, and surreptitiously inserted himself at the end of a row of Marines presenting themselves for inspection upon the beach. The sergeant was not a griffon without humor, and went along with 'joke,' including the young Norton in the exercises, where the rest of the squadron more or less adopted him as a mascot. It wasn't quite according to regulations, but the officer was away, and central command was very far away, so what could be the harm?

Norton came home that day announcing his intention to join the Marines, making his parents quite proud. His father even went so far as to see if the young lad could be put into some kind of Officer's training, and directed Norton's remaining education to that goal. It was a success; Norton was accepted to the Military Academy in Talonopolis, and the whole town showed up to see him off.

While he wasn't the most brilliant student at the Academy, his diligence and particularity had a way of endearing him to instructors, and he was always willing to lend his classmates a hand if they were struggling. In the end, he got his commission and first assignment in a mountain outpost unit, guarding the Talonopolis Canyon against monster incursions. He served well, eventually earning a promotion to Captain, and was then reassigned to a Desert Patrol unit, which would clear out any bandits that threatened the borders of Aquellia.

Unfortunately, the patrol turned out to be a complete disaster. The major in charge of the unit was inexperienced in desert travel, and most of the rest were just as green as him. The unit got lost, and found themselves stranded without water and in need of rescue themselves. Norton, along with quite a few others, was suffering from severe heatstroke, and was served with a medical discharge.He took to wandering after that, not quite right in the head anymore. There weren't many places that a griffon could live on a Captain's three-quarters pay, but Breakbeak city was one of them. He took a small lodging, in a room above a worker's diner, and spent the next few years living quietly, practically as a recluse. Most of his day was spent in reading every paper and book that came from Aquellia, or in taking exercise flights around the city.

Nopony or griffon in the city, then, paid him any much mind until they opened their morning newspapers to be greeted with this astonishing letter, which Norton had sent in to every paper in Equestria and Aquellia that would print it:

To the Citizens of Breakbeak City, and the Griffons of Aquellia;

As the management of our political affairs has so developed that dishonor and degradation are its maintstays; in response to the crying needs of our time and at the peremptory request and desire of the large majority of these citizens of Breakbeak City and the Republic of Aquellia, I, Norton Breakbeak, do hearby assume my rightful title of Emperor, and declare my sovereignty over this, my namesake city, and over the domains invested in the former Republic of Aquella.

AND, in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, I declare that the ruling Triumvirate of Tribes is to be dissolved, and so do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different Tribes of the Griffons to assemble in Aerodrome Lobby, of this city, on the 1st day of Feb. next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of Aquellia as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity.-Norton Breakbeak I, Emperor of the Griffons.

Needless to say, no one reading that was entirely certain what to make of it. The first question on the muzzles and beaks of all readers was "Just who is this Norton Breakbeak?" He wasn't hard for them to find. Perched on the balcony of the only building on the street which had all the industrial soot scrubbed off of it was Norton I, in all his finery (purchased from the local pawnshop.)

In the weeks and months that followed, the astonished populace awoke to the fact that, no, Norton was not joking; he really thought of himself as the Emperor, albeit one still in need of solidifying his position. Second, this "Emperor" seemed to believe that the bustling, dirty, workaday depot city of Breakbeak was really one of Equestria's great metropolises, which neglect had allowed to fall into a state of decay, which he proposed, by Imperial edict, to remedy. He would write to newspapers, and show up in full regalia to town council meetings with propositions and plans of action, surprisingly well-thought out, for "restoring the Imperial Seat."

While nopoony or griffon in the city takes him seriously, and none outside seem to have acknowledged him yet, the consensus is that "The old fellow's mostly harmless, bit of a laugh really, and he does care enough to keep his stoop clean. Heck, he'll clean yours if you call him 'Your Imperial Majesty,' and promise to take care of it after." In fact, he's already made a marked improvement of the street he lives on...

Character Summary: Obviously, he has quite huge delusion of Grandeur, though whether this is a holdover from his heatstroke, some new madness bred of isolation, or a very elaborate plan of some kind is not possible for the outsider to tell. His family hasn't yet heard of his new calling in life, and it isn't certain what they'd do if they found out.

Besides this one spot of madness on his brain, however, he's a surprisingly clear thinker. He's well-read up on things happening at home, and is quite adept at summing up the situation and providing an opinion upon it, though political matters soon segue back into a recommendation of his own Imperial Person. In his daily habits, he is as scrupulously clean as he ever was, keeping his living quarters neat spotless, which is an endless battle against dust and soot in Breakbeak city. He calls it "A noble war against dirt and degradation." His manners are good, if somewhat in the military manner, and he treats his own secondhand regalia with all the respect due to his old dress uniform in the marines.

His routine will vary from day to day, but he gets out quite a bit more than he used to, parading himself in finery around his "domains," which are pretty much any business that won't bar themselves to harmless lunatic. He also "holds court" in the diner below his apartment, talking to any bemused patron who has a few minutes to spare.

Oddly enough, he's one of the most enthusiastic patriots that his adopted city has. Emperor or no, he'll work with his own claws on any city improvement project, and propose a dozen more to any who will listen. He's currently working on a grand plan to make Breakbeak city worthy of housing an Emperor, and there are some quite good ideas in there, mixed with more outlandish proposals.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Rackenhammer

[Armony]

How is this application coming along?

[Blueblood]

Did some work on it today; not sure when the whole thing will be finished.

[Armony]

Things still going for you?

[Blueblood]

Yeah, this one might take a while; I've been busy with other RP's and RL things. I will finish this eventually!

[Blueblood]

And done! Or at least I think so; I've never done a non-pony here before.

[Bellosh]

He wasn't hard for them to find. Perched on the balcony of the only building on the street which had all the industrial soot scrubbed off of it was Norton I, in all his finery (purchased from the local pawnshop.)

This would be Falco Kestrelson's pawnshop, am I right?

[Blueblood]

Naturally! I had it in mind when I wrote this app (and I figured it would make a good thread seed, too).

[Imagination]

Death to the false Emperor! Looks great!

[Blueblood]

Thanks! I'm gonna have fun with this one.