Corebarn Tyto

[CoreTyto]

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Name: Corebarn "Core" Tyto

Origin: uncertain, possibly Bretonian

Age: 32

Affiliated home world: Planet Houston

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Background

A small child was discovered on board a Bretonian trading vessel docked in the Manhattan Trading District without any other type of identification but the standard ID chip identifying him as Corebarn Tyto. No previous records on the child or his possible parents could be found in neither the ship's logs, nor the Liberterian and the Bretonian ID systems. The child was quickly registered in the orphanage system of Liberty and started bouncing from home to home, place to place.

The child had a tendency to escape the homes that he was assigned to, be it for unknown reasons (rumor has it the families were not in fact suited for such an endeavor as an orphan child might be. They say the pay is decent though). One night, when the boy was around 9 years old, the LPI caught him red handed stealing food in the restaurant district of Manhattan. Due to having a record from his uprising, Corebarn was sent to Planet Houston to fend for himself, just like many others before him. The local law enforcement's reasoning being as simple as "keeping the streets of Manhattan clean from the filth" (their words, not mine).

The kid learnt the lay of the land, lifting credits from off-world trader pockets and helping out the local crime factions with minor jobs they would offer. When Corebarn wasn't out rummaging in the wastes that the people here called treasure, he spent his time in a dimly lit bar (and simultaneous gambling den, off the records of course) called "Aces&Eights", where he spent a considerable amount of time in-front of an old arcade cabinet playing a very detailed space game where the player would be flying a spaceship doing different jobs (the name of the game is up for speculation, rumor has it it starts with an "E"). It was also here, in the midst of Aces&Eights that Core met Bounty Hunter Camden Dowe, that used Houston as his home away from home. Dowe would treat Core to food and drinks while telling grand stories of his hunts, or cheer Core on while he was flying his spaceship in the conspicuous space game that lived in the arcade machine. This would be the start of Corebarn's future story..

As the years passed Core became a more prominent member of the Houston underworld, getting better and better at his sleight of hand, scamming gamblers in "The Ace" (which was how Core would come to call his now accustomed home in the bar) and hearing more and more stories from Dowe. Until suddenly Dowe stopped showing up. At first Core didn't think too much about it, it wasn't unusual for the Bounty Hunter to be gone for months on end, but after 3 months of no show Core started getting anxious. Another month passed, still no word and no Dowe to be found. Core started asking around, see if anyone had heard something, anything. Nothing. No one knew a thing, and most of them didn't even care. Corebarn finally went to the Houston BHG HQ, a place no boy at the age of 14 should ever need to set foot in. He asked the clerk if they had some info on Dowe, sat down and waited. After what seemed like an eternity the clerk called him forth, handed him a scrumpled paper and shooed him out of there.

There they were, the letters telling Core everything he needed to know: "Missing in Action" in bright red letters. There wasn't much information that could be extracted more than that Camden Dowe had been in the Omicron Kappa system close to the Ciutadella Outpost when his ship stopped responding, presumed dead. Core knew what he needed to do, but had no means to do it.

Corebarn continued lifting credits, doing jobs and hustling the gamblers of their lightweight money while glancing at the local shipyard dreaming about his future. He kept on honing his skill on the arcade machine, however unreal the mechanics might have seen it was what he had at his disposal and suns know he was getting good at it.

18 years after Dowe's disappearance in the void of the edge worlds, an old beat-up Kestrel Freighter turned up at the Houston shipyard. A ship that would prove to be Corebarn's way off the planet, together with some credit in his pocket and a goal in his mind..