Barnabas: Human

Name: Barnabas Shepherd (Barney)
Age: 15
Gender: Gentleman
Species: Human
Sponsor: Dionysus

Personality: Barnabas is a very polite and level-headed boy by nature, but suffers from PTSD which causes him to display some odd behaviors that sometimes portrays him as a neurotic crazy. He is eager to please and very loyal to those who show him kindness. He is a firm believer in chivalry, but is a tad sexist and often underestimates the females of the Athenaeum. Barney also is gullible and very naive. He is very shy with bodies and doesn’t even know where babies come from.

Barney is an excellent fighter and in good shape from his experience in the American Civil War. He is very dedicated to training and likes repeating the exercises he went through at the camps, sometimes at early hours. He also has some odd eating habits left over from his time at camp. He doesn’t feel the need to eat very much, and what he does eat is often bland. (Beans, salted dry meat, etc.)


History:
Barnabas was born in 1848 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of a baker, so his family was never particularly wealthy, but had enough that they lived a comfortable life. He was the youngest of four sisters and grew up as a bit of a momma’s boy. Being surrounded by females for most of his life, he developed a very chivalrous and respectful attitude towards women, albeit tainted by his era’s idea that they were frail creatures.

When he was thirteen (almost fourteen), the Civil War started and Barney’s dad went off to join the confederate army. They thought that the war would only last a few months, but the true scope of the situation became apparent when the First Battle Of Manassas happened, in which Barney’s father was killed.

After that, Barney’s mother collected the rest of their money and moved them all out to northern Tennessee (a border state) where they thought they would escape the bloodiest parts of the war. Barney’s mother and sister’s began working as maids for an anti-slavery but Confederate-sympathizing family who owned a plantation that was worked by free men. Barney helped work the fields to pull his weight, but made very little money.

One year later, Barney decided to go off and join the confederate Army Of Tennessee in November of 1862 in order to improve life for his mother and sisters. He didn’t really support slavery, but wanted to defend his homeland from the Union. At that point, slavery wasn’t even a factor in their reasons for fighting so much as it was a war for the south’s right to succeed. He was fourteen at the time, but like most soldiers under sixteen, Barney was accepted with only his word that he was of age.

He was a willing soldier all through training and looked forward to the day where he would really earn his pay. He wasn’t keen on fighting, but he wanted to feel like he had really earned the money. However, it was only a month later that he encountered his first and last fight in the Battles Of Stones River. Being one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, Barney saw thousands of men killed before his eyes. But despite the odds, Barney came out alive with only a gash across his arm. However, he received immense psychological wounds which in that era was called “soldier’s heart”. Today it’s called post-traumatic stress disorder.

Barney turned 15 the day the battle ended on January 2, 1863 and was put in the makeshift hospital for a short period of time in order to receive treatment for his arm wound. He was told it was infected (since he’d let it fester for days through the battle) and needed to be amputated. As he lay waiting for his turn to get a limb chopped off (while also acting like a grade A lunatic, talking to one of the nurses like she was his mother), an unfamiliar doctor approached him. This doctor was Dionysus who simply told Barney that he was taking him to a better place. Then he whisked Barney away to the Athenaeum without another word.

((Barney will of course have to have his arm healed in the infirmary upon arrival, but I hope to act this out in role-play.))

Preferred Weapon: Saber and Archery (decent with the saber since he was issued one upon entering the army; still learning the techniques for archery, but he has plenty of experience with aiming at moving targets)

Ability: The unpredictability of a madman. (Though Dionysus sorted out the major problems in Barney’s head like the illusions of his family and whatnot, he’s still very jumpy and impulsive.)

Classes:
-Rituals and Templeworks
-Fighting: Swords and Daggers
-Fighting: Hand-to-Hand
-Healing
-Weapon Forgery
-Battle Strategy

Roommate: N/A

More Notes:

-Still has a scar on his left arm from his wound

-Is ambidextrous

-Carries around his father’s stopwatch in his pocket and toys with the chain when he’s anxious (I’ll draw a ref for that later)

-Was named for Saint Barnabas, one of the earliest Christian converts

-Sometimes, when he’s tired, sick, or just really out of it, he’ll think that the Athenaeum and everything in it is a dream

-Still hopes that his Catholic God is real somewhere

-Loves animals

-Is a bit uncomfortable with having slaves in the Athenaeum

-Is somewhere around 6 feet tall and well built. (I don’t feel I made that clear enough in the drawing.) However, his height merely makes him awkward looking and sometimes clumsy

-His dark blue eyes often make him seem sad

-His nose and ears are a bit too big for him

-His greek wear is simple, but has a top half to it since he’s conservative. But he still rarely wears it because the skirt toga makes him uncomfortable

-No one touches the hat