Edward Osborn
From Valwiki
"Enlightenment is not about imagining figures of light but of making the darkness conscious. "
~Edward Osborn's personal Motto
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| Player: | Aroken. | |
| Title(s): | Scholar of Kanoshire Academy Engineer of Valikorlia The Horned Rogue. | |
| Age: | 31. Born in 28 PF. | |
| Race: | Human. | |
| Eye Color: | Hazel. | |
| Hair: | Dark Brown. | |
| Skin Tone: | Average. | |
| Height: | 5'11". | |
| Weight: | 190 lbs. | |
| Alignment: | Chaotic Evil. | |
Dr. Edward Osborn known best by history as The Horned Rogue, was originally a natural philosopher of the mind and a scholar. However Osborn is best known as the one who took up the mantle of the old Horned Rogue. As a younger lad he was a member of a group of scholars known as Young Waltians and befriended many of the academics from that circle. Osborn is also known for putting forth various theories about the mind most of which he he posited evidence for. After a strange mishap involving one the old Horned Rogue's journals and some Ergot strains, the scholar went mad and went on a killing spree mocking much of Mordred Brovell's pattern. Much of what is known of Osborn after he snapped is found in the Osborn Journal, which was found not far from his old estate in Western Kanoshire County, near the border of Staghorn Forest.
Contents |
Biography
Youth
Much of Osborn's childhood is written from the point of view of his mother, who claimed he had a crippling fear of the dark. Until he was thirteen winters old, he could not sleep unless there were precisely thirteen candles lit in his room. Although a promising young mind, his father was highly abusive, repetitively calling the child names and berating him for his fear of the dark. Osborn's father had a tendency to beat his son, sometimes senseless, whenever he drank. And as such, the young scholar grew to detest alcohol. Although little is said of Osborn's mother, other sources claim she was a pious and well-learned woman, though grim and one who believed might made right. She knew of her husband's merciless beatings but believed it would make her son stronger, and much of her writing is from this perspective.
Despite his treacherous and abusive homelife, Osborn's tutelage went extremely well. Being highly skilled in mathematics and other areas of natural philosophy as well as logic, Osborn became infatuated with the mind. And although he found no warmth in his family, aside from his brother Henry Osborn to whom he trusted everything, his tutor encouraged him to study and even lended him texts and essays written upon the mind, as well as prevailing modern theories and hypotheses about the mind. Although proto-psychology was Osborn's pedigree, he found a love for engineering and mechanics, building some little gadgets and defenses which as he grew helped him fend off his father, to his mother's "otherworldly" approval.
In 43 PF, at sixteen winters old, Osborn begins to engineer things for the Valikorlian Army in the Imperial War against Dalmar. Although much lauded for many of his genius inventions, Osborn's love for the mind drew him back time and time again to experiments and texts upon the mind as well as the soul and the human brain. At the time of the sundering, the eighteen winter old Osborn took solace with his family up in Tower Town. and watched the world rebuild, as well as did his part. It was during this time he met and married Harriet Greene, who in his own words he described as "the lone light of his life, save the fiery studies of the mind."
Kanoshire Academy
In 50 PF, after moving his family back to Kanoshire County, Osborn has a daughter after many years of trying, whom his wife named Elizabeth. Edward Osborn reportedly danced in the streets the night his wife told him, many thought him drunk but he didn't have the scent of alcohol upon him. Since that time Edward was a father first and a scholar second, taking time off of his studies at times to help teach his daughter and spend time with his family. Although not that involved in politics, Osborn took after his mother and supported the Smarth family at the time. And was quite vocal about his support of Smarth's leadership of Celdin when the topic came up.
Aside from his support of Smarth, Osborn would tend to focus on topics concerning the mind, as well as mechanics. His passion for the field of mental philosophy landed him a position at Kanoshire Academy, where he maintained a seat as a professor and a scholar of the science. The majority of Edward's finest work, shine through at this point in his life. His ground breaking report on the soul as well as the brain's part in mental systems shook the academic view of the mind for many years, as well as his experiment on the nervous systems of various beasts when exposed to electric current. In 53 PF, the Inspired Conflict broke out. Although mostly irreligious and apolitical, Osborn expresses outrage vocally at the act of the Inspired upon Esthras. This event lead him into a strong distrust of magic, and a bigoted view of Magi.
Although his bigoted view of them faded in time, he all but forgot about magic in the Spring of 55 PF, when a mysterious and psychotic killer known as The Horned Rogue started to plague Kanoshire County. Having investigated the psychosis he caused upon the peasants, as well as the strange state of mind he himself claimed to be in, Osborn was all but obsessed with the crimson creature until his death at the hands of the Road Wardens. Harriet Osborn was reported by friends and relative to have shown key signs of depression during Osborn's obsession with the Rogue. Having reportedly attempted at one point to hang herself. The same friends and relatives often state that Osborn did act far more distant, and seemed to nearly forget his family at this time.
Life had started to return to normal for Osborn, who begun to reconnect with his wife and daughter. However his studies had still drifted from knowledge of the mind and it's workings, to knowledge of abnormal minds, and psychoses. Moodswings became frequent for the scholar, which caused Harriet's depression to occasionally resurface. However everything changed in 59 PF, when Osborn stumbled upon one of the Horned Rogue's many cavernous hide-outs. Hidden inside he found various artifacts and tomes which were made by the Horned Rogue's own hand. The scholar's obsession is said to have resurfaced at this time, along with intense feelings of hatred and curiosity for Mordred.
Eventually after days of intensive study, it is speculated that Osborn slaughtered his family, including his brother Henry. A Road Warden is said to have been chased away by a frenzied Osborn who he claimed to be "stricken with madness, foaming at the mouth, his eyes were red like that of a demon's". After some time Osborn took up the mantle of the Horned Rogue himself, and begun a spree of copycat style killings in a grim homage to the subject whom he so obsessively hated and studied.
The Horned Rogue
Coming soon to a wiki near you...
Psychology
Through out his whole life, Edward Osborn has been riddled with various psychological ailements which even his colleague Friedrich Strauss found to be "most disturbing". None the less, he has at times put himself under the microscope, and enlisted the aid of other scholars of the mind to help in understanding his own abnormal psychology. Franz Hauer, Friedrich Strauss, and even his own Mother have all aided in attempting to understand the mind of Osborn, which even before his obsessions with the Horned Rogue, was not a case of normality. Osborn was riddled with various irrational phobias while he was younger, from being in the dark and being left alone, to more unorthodox ones like the number seven. Although his phobias of being in the dark faded as he became the Horned Rogue, a plethora of other psychological problems manifested.
Irrational Fears
As has been previously pointed out, Edward Osborn had various fears and phobias through out his life. In his adult life as well as his younger years he was subject to the fear of being alone which his mother in an attempt to strengthen him, exploited mercilessly. As a punishment she would lock him in the servant's closet, which was both dark and cramped, and was a subject of endless nightmares which haunted Osborn into his adult life.
