Byron Highmore



Byron "Deadfall" Highmore

Ship : Orion

 Workplace : The Institute/Freelance

Title : Mercenary

Age : 33

Race : Human (for the most part)

Homeworld : Earth

Hometown : New Orleans

Date of Birth : May 11th 1834

Personality
Sly, Aggressive, quick tempered yet likeable...Albeit ruthless and cold towards his adversaries, he cherishes the loyalty and comrade of his very few friends. When in pursuit of something, he will stop at nothing to achieve his goal. To betray Byron or the Institute, is to incur his nickname "Deadfall" a Tactic in which he throws the bodies of his captured and suspected "violators" overboard onto the lower decks of airships he is pursuing in order to create confusion among the opposing ship, and in effect relieving the violator of his life.

Byron Highmore loves to seize renegade airships, the sound of the steam engine, the wind in his hair, he also enjoys his drink, and tends to wag his tongue a bit much once intoxicated, though annoying it is not wise to bring his ramblings to light as one is likely to be run through either by blade or ball. Thought intelligent, he can often be heard ranting under his breath, to the voices in his head often unnerving a myriad of The Institutes colorfully diverse guests. Those few around him that call him friend have learned to cast these events off as miscellaneous incidents. Byron (to fellow members of The Order) is polite and even at times of alcoholic consumption...sociable. He has a quick temper and quicker gun if you are unfortunate enough to get on his bad side, alas...it is suspected that he has multiple personalities, therefore no one is ever sure which side is his bad. Byron’s dislikes are lack of loyalty, dishonesty, vegetables, milk, water, and generally anything with nutritional value.

Biography
Brought into existence on May 11th, 1834 to a prostitute mother, and a smuggler father, Byron was born into a life of poverty. At the age of 5 he was sold into servitude, which was, in all, not a bad thing. For his buyer, though strict and impatient was all together a fair man who owned a small fleet of merchant ships. With numerous small pirate ships abound, it is needless to say that Byron learned, at a very young age, to wield a blade and fire a ball. At the age of 15 he was given the chance to grasp his freedom when his master, injured by renegade pirates, fell ill and passed away. Traveling from port to port and from one ship to the next, he spent the next couple of years honing his capabilities aboard a vessel. It was during which time he met the love of his life, Georgina, during one of his frequent stays in the land port of New Orleans. Hoping for a better life for them both, he signed up for military service. Within a year of his deployment his love contracted yellow jack, also known as yellow fever. In May of the year 1852, she passed in the early hours of May 11th, the day of his 18th birthday. Her death drove him mad and he deserted his post aboard the small scouting schooner class airship named the Artemis. By boarding a seized smugglers trimaran named the Orion, he hoped to make it back to the port of New Orleans in time to lay his beloved to rest. But as fate would have it, he was cruelly served and was overrun by a small fleet of pirates whom tortured him for days and horribly disfigured him in the process. One night, though half starved and severely injured, he managed to slip his shackles and sneak back aboard the Orion as the watch drunk and fed, remained passed out.

The Orion slipped off into the clouds quietly and without notice. Adrift for nearly a week, the Orion slunk further into the Aether, Byron bed ridden with fever due to infection from his wounds...and blind in his right eye cause by damage inflicted by the pirates, lay unconscious...for once luck being on his side, finds the Orion having drifted into The Zervopoulos Institutes’ sector...a Neutral ground. Bound to the Institute by a profound sense of gratitude for having saved his life, he acts as a messenger and security escort to The Institutes guests though he detests S.C.A.R.S, and often works as a hired gun within the ranks of The Order, he respects and abides by (for the most part) the policies of The Institute. When not working on institute time, Byron has spent the last 15 years honing his fighting skills, so he can more efficiently vanquish the sky rats he deems responsible for keeping him from honoring his passed love.