Thomas Ashford, aka "Faucon"
Before Barovia:
Thomas Ashford was born in Mordentshire, to a small, relatively poor family consisting of father Patrick Ashford, a sullen man who earned his living as a hunter and a scout; mother Carolina, a gentle soul with frail heart and older brother Cameron, daydreaming wastrel. Thomas's childhood consisted mostly of working as an assistant in a small general store, this being one of the main reasons for his mostly calm and well-mannered demeanor and tidy, almost perfectionist-like nature. When Thomas was eleven, his mother died as her weak heart finally gave up. Soon after this, Camerons gambling habits turned his father and younger brother against him. Even so, blood ran thicker than water and Patrick had to come up with ways to keep himself and his sons well fed and safe. He was forced to start helping his old friends in their criminal activities, mainly hiding bodies of the people who crossed them. As age caught up with Patrick, he turned to his younger son for help as he was "the one with the backbone". Thomas was eager to assist and quickly took his fathers place. After few years, the ragtag group of cuththroats he had worked with were caught by law enforcers, and Ashford was forced to kill three men to protect his own, and his fathers identity.
After dust settled on the whole matter, Thomas started working for Horatio Carlyle, a crooked businessman with young daughter, Elise. Life was good for a while until Thomas´s past came knocking on the door of his current employer, a meeting that ended with both Horatio and Elise dead and Thomas running for his life away from the city. This is when the mists caught him.
Barovia:
Thomas ended up close to the city of Krezk where he never really managed to settle down. He kept mostly to himself until he met another misted outlander named Mykel Lacusta, who was on a business trip to Krezk from Vallaki (Rics character was shelved for about three months around these times and we decided to create Thomas around the time he started playing Mykel again). One thing led to another and Thomas was soon offered a job as a manservant and a bodyguard. As he had nothing to hold him down in Krezk, Thomas took the offered job and followed his new employer after tying all loose ends in Krezk.
As Thomas arrived to Vallaki, he soon started assisting Mykel and a woman named Denalie Grant in their business; sometimes openly sometimes under the secret identity of "Faucon". Thomas acted as their eyes and ears among the Ezrites. When Denalie was murdered, Thomas's job changed. From being a butler, he turned into a spy, joining the Vallaki militia and feeding his employer with all the information he could gather. Even though his career in the militia was advancing smoothly, Thomas's personal life was a mess. Not only his fetishes, but also the violent urges made normal, healthy relationships almost impossible and he was forced to seek out prostitutes, something that could've had a highly negative impact on his career and reputation if it had been found out. This slowly turned already carefull Thomas more paranoid. Still, working with the Ezrites, especially Nell Ward, was a welcome change for Thomas and he grew very fond of the woman over time, even falling in love in the end.
One day, Thomas met a Barovian noblewoman, Antonia Sojorica (Heretics plot) who had been attacked by a caliban and escorted her back to Bluewater inn. After some time, she contacted Thomas again and offered him the chance to kill her husband, offering herself and her riches as a reward. Thomas who was a ruthless opportunist, agreed and the deed was soon done. This foul murder was the first thing that strayed Thomas towards what he was in the end as sinister forces were turning their attention at him. Here and there on his body, oozing blisters and boils appeared and were followed by a horrid itch and stench, something Thomas kept hidden by bathing frequently and using lots of cologne. Along with the boils, odd, violent visions and flashbacks started to torment him.
As Thomas returned the gems to Antonia, he was ready to live a life of comfort as a noblewoman´s lover but instead of giving Thomas what was promised, Antonia tried to betray him by leaving Vallaki with her gold. Enraged Thomas raped and mugged her and left with the gold and jewelry. As this dark deed made his curse worse, Thomas was forced to leave the militia and live a solitary life in the wilderness, only occasionally meeting with Nell to whom he confessed his sins and prayed often with.
Staying hidden was easy for Thomas as he was used to living long times alone and surviving in the wilderness. Living like a hermit ensured that he would not harm anyone, but it had its drawbacks. Thomas had a lot of time to listen to the nagging voices in his head that urged him on, not to mention the visions that were getting worse daily. After making a stupid mistake, Thomas was caught and dragged to the Morninglord sanctuary where he was an imprisoned patient. This prison did not hold him for long, and Thomas escaped in a fit of madness after his guards took off the shackles that held his arms bound. But in the end, Thomas was caught by Nell once more and was taken to the citadel where he waited for death penalty.
Prison was rough for Thomas. Numerous beatings and constant mistreatment by both guards and his two cellmates turned him into a mental wreck. Visions of Antonia taunted him constantly, and Thomas even tried to escape few times, both attempts ending badly.
One night, however, everything changed. As Thomas was once again being beaten and humiliated, something happened. Bestial urge to get free started growing inside him, an urge to live, to survive but most of all - an urge to kill. The feeling grew stronger and stronger, so strong that it changed something in Thomas, giving him unnatural strength and turning him into a deathmachine.
The escape was brutal, over dozen guards and his cellmates slain, some ripped apart with bare hands, some killed with their own weapons. Thomas was free and he was one of the legion.
As undead, Thomas's madness grew worse, his mind was divided and filled with voices from which two rose over the others, both aware of each others excistence and both wanting to destroy the other.
Mister Ashford "The Beast":
Mister Ashford was all the bad habits of late Thomas, pressed into one big clump. Sadistical, petty and cruel megalomaniac, the one who loved nothing more than to play with his victims, for example making a group of travellers choose who would be sacrificed. The beast was strongest when Thomas had slept well or had recently fed.
Faucon "The Wretch":
Even though Faucon was batshit crazy. A gibbering, twitchy wreck with violent fits, he was the more humane part of Thomas, the one who tried to keep him from drawing too much attention on himself. Faucon would´ve rather just fed quickly from whoever happened on his path and be done with it.
Thomas still continued working with Mykel, him being the only man he completely trusted and being one of the closest things to a friend he had both in life and death. But Thomas's unlife came to an end when, when the student of his old employer betrayed him and gave the location of his nest to the Ezrites. In the end it was the woman he had once loved who sinked the stake in the beasts heart, thus ending Thomas´s miserable unlife.
