Miles Ookami
Contents
Man-at-Arms Miles Ookami of Crimson Wood, Dragonspine/Westmarch
"You're at a 10 right now. Keep it there." --Cadogan
"That would be overkill, along the lines of 'Let's drop a nuke on this fly!'"
"When you get older, bring home a nice boy, like Miles! See those boys over there? Don't bring home someone like them." --Eve, to Vincenza, at a fateful La Jolla fighter practice, in re: Doogan and Gonzo
WARNING: Subject is extremely verbose. Proceed with caution; use of thesaurus strongly recommended.
Personal Information
Miles began his Amtgard experience in Crimson Wood on the day of the Crown Quals Weaponmaster tournament of 2006. After a brief love affair with the Monk class, having fallen prey to the somewhat fallacious idea that Monks are immune to everything after a few levels, he was appointed "Court Bard" by Baroness Elspeth and spent the next two years or so working Bard up to sixth level (there was a bit of a hiatus in there for a while, what with relocation and all). This has become interspersed with Monster credits earned from playtesting two concept classes he has created, in the hopes that perhaps others will have a look at and enjoy these two classes, as well as perhaps working out any bugs. But, having attained his sixth level in Bard just in time for Voice to be nerfed by the introduction of the 7.5 version of the Amtgard Rules, Miles has been working on leveling up in Healer when the playtesting is inconvenient, undesired, or just plain unworkable.
His inexplicable long-time loathing of short swords has caused him to be seen on the field with all manner of other weaponry, ranging from double-daggers to quarterstaves to his beloved (by him only, it seems) flail; an early attempt at making a sai produced the (not of legal specification) "Battelabra," which still remains enshrined in his folks' garage somewhere as a monument to First Weapon Syndrome. That being said, emboldened by words of encouragement by evil Randy that he had the perfect build for a swordsman, he has been seen wielding sword and board much more often of late--and the results, to his delight, have been promising.
He also has a penchant for sashes and other strip-like pieces of cloth, which is evident in the custom garb graciously crafted for him by the talented Elspeth, in addition to the remarkably multi-purpose black sash he generally wears on the field at all times, weather permitting. He is apparently easily recognizable by his lanky frame (his near two-dimensionality makes him a difficult target for arrows, save for his groin, which seems to have a quasi-magnetic effect upon projectiles) and stubbornly resistant-to-styling hair.
His treasured Bardic flute, carved of a single piece of lovingly stained bamboo, was a gift to him from the kind Lady Ruby after his original instrument, an Irish tin whistle, was bent and smushed nearly beyond recognition, despite the fact that he still has the distorted object. However, after encountering difficulty with keeping even this pristine wooden instrument on his person during battlegames, making his continued (albeit unknowing) use of magic a bit dubious thereafter, he has since resorted to other measures for combat--such as a glow-in-the-dark cowbell, and a necklace made of multicolored kazoos. The Rules Revision Committee has responded by making it unnecessary for Bards to carry musical instruments to cast magic, come Revision 7.5--clearly they wish to nip his experimentation in musical accenture in the bud.
Miles is a zealous flurb and was termed the "yin to the yang" of Arthur MacGregor, a player renowned for his no-nonsense Stick Jock personality. The two share a heritage of migrating to Siar Geata from different lands (Arthur reportedly spent time in the Empire of the Iron Mountains), making this perhaps a truer statement than anticipated. Still, in any single-short duel, Arthur remains easily capable of defeating his flurby counterpart quite soundly. The fact that Arthur generally plays a 6th-level Monk makes this fact even more accurate in other events.
Miles' personality has at times been labeled "lacking in seriousness" or "extremely flurby." However, this, to him, is part of being in character; the role of a Bard is one of entertaining one and all, and as such he tends to be exuberant and whimsical, albeit supportive, on field days. This carefree exterior belies a mind and imagination ever at work, however, and the result of this tends to be a torrent of ideas to which whatever land he attends is habitually subjected. Some of these work, and sometimes even very well; others, not so much. So far, the concept classes he's created have been alright, though less than total flops.
One such aspiration is to eventually move to Canada, England, or Ireland, and, while there, create a new land. Shoot for the moon, as they say...
Due to mundane events of the educational persuasion, Miles is currently living in the San Diego region, and will be attending field days at the Barony of Siar Geata as time permits, accordingly. While there, he has unwittingly picked up (from its denizens, naturally) an association with Unicorns--particularly those featured in episodes of Robot Chicken. This has even gone so far as to be included in the renowned Magic: The Gathering cards Milan of Amber crafted in the Summer '08 Crown Qual A&S Tourney, which featured an image straight from the show.
Honors
Miles was styled "The Just" by Baronial Champion Will Northam for his role in Will's ongoing quest scenario for the land; to wit, he attempted to get to the bottom of the mindless battle perpetuated in true Machiavellian fashion by Will's NPC Troglodyte, rather than fomenting the conflict. He earned his first Order of the Warrior on his first day of attendance by making it to the final match in the Great weapons section of the aforementioned tournament while wielding a polearm graciously loaned to him by Niveus, displaying from the very start his affinity for non-Short weaponry.
He received the crushingly ironic "Flurb Sword" for a strange achievement in a quest that involved killing Milan of Amber (in Azure Dragon form), despite the fact that Milan died only once (and even then, not at Miles' hand); thanks to Jack's undoubtedly masterful work in crafting it, the blade became detached from the hilt even before he left the field the same day. Undaunted, the magical bopstick has been reconstructed and will undoubtedly lure Miles into using short swords more often, what with it being shiny and all again fallen into mysterious disrepair, then vanished--meaning his only really stickly weapons left are the Howitzer crafted for him by evil RandyDourn and a random short he made himself, his Randy-made Howitzer and short having apparently been apprehended by someone else as well. A distressing series of events, 'tis.
Other Accomplishments
Miles served as Court Bard for two reigns (Winter '06-Fall'07) under Baroness Sirrah Elspeth, while he was still physically present in Crimson Wood. He was later elected GM of Bards and Guildmaster of Heraldry for the summer-winter '08 reign in Siar Geata, and during the summer '08 Siar Geata Weaponmaster tournament for Crown Qualifications inexplicably placed third overall, proving that the odds of the odd are odd indeed. He has served as GMR for Siar Geata in the past, creating several Reeve examinations that Brigade complained were "harder than Brennan's." (Despite this, Brigade still passed them readily, depriving his commentary of considerable weight.)
Creator of the Robe of a Thousand Flurbs.
Miles also most gracefully accepted awards at the Escondido Renaissance Faire with his arm macramed to his leg via the sashes on his own garb. He would like to add that this was entirely because of his busy-fingered squire, and that she found it intensely amusing.
One of his offhand suggestions (of which there are far too many, and which are usually far too long) tipped the balance of power and resulted in the creation of SG Chaos, which later became the Paper Street Soap Company--which you do not talk about. He was appointed Minister of Verbose therein by Big Brother--or at least, that's the concise version of the title. You're welcome to see the full version in the sig tag created for the office.
Belted Family
Miles is a Man-at-Arms to Morrzania Felbin Lacqueri squired to Dame Emer Rustytongue who was squire to Dame Weilok, who was squire to Sir Greywalker, who was squire to Viscountess Dame Andralaine, who was squire to Sir Deth, who was squire to Grand Duke Sir Gilos Dawnhope, who was squire to Grand Duchess Sir Tawnee Darkfalcon.
Membership
Miles is a new member of the Dreamweavers and of the Wandering Unicorns. Miles was appointed a member of the Crimson Wood Privateers during Mid-Reign of March 2007.
Other (Mostly Mundane) Information
Miles is a writer and poet, in addition to being well-versed in the sciences. He enjoys helping others learn and create, and is generally willing to help anyone who asks for assistance with such things as character creation, roleplay development, personal histories, etc. The AmtWiki is, to him, an important resource for making the sum knowledge of the Amtgardian realms available to all in an easy-to-navigate, cohesive, monolithic format, and as such he tends to go on article-editing and -creation sprees, leaving the Recent changes board littered with remains in his wake, 'til should he again surface--perhaps like a Gargantuan Reptillian.
His literary works have placed well in Clan-level events.
