Travis Algraz

Full Name: Travis Algraz


 
Age: 17

Orientation: bi-sexual
 
Species and current description: raccoon (wolf originally). 5’ 8” with long silver hair, heterochromatic eyes (left one blue, right one light green), and a slightly toned frame, his facial features a bit softer than most males. He was last seen wearing long black pants and a deep crimson shirt under his signature lab coat. A small note pad and pen can always be seen in the coat pocket.
 
Background story: As a small wolf pup, his father would end up dying from a heart attack leaving him in the care of his hardworking mother. A strong woman not ready to give up on raising her son and eagerly shared with him his father’s legacy as an alchemist which in this world was one of the major sciences alongside the medical field. He didn’t necessarily fit in with kids early on either as he would soon be found to be an intelligent and thus gifted child who was more interested in how to help peoples' lives with alchemy than making friends. This trend would continue as he would later be seen as a brilliant alchemist and in the eyes of many a scholarly gentleman who was at the top of his field. For anyone that knew him though, he would prove to be a reclusive and somewhat blunt and insensitive individual. He also had his father’s pride and desire as shown by the following of people he kept close for “personal” reasons. The pride was a bit well deserved as he was considered to have mastered the science of alchemy as he even succeeded in creating a philosopher’s stone at 13 while most other teens were focused on how to start scoring with the same or opposite sex. Over the next couple of years he succeeded in getting a degree for his alchemy and even finding someone he would consider his eventual mate and most trusted lab partner, a young miss by the name of Lyra Herstvale. His fame wouldn’t last him long as thanks to his mass media attention he would end up garnering the attention of some less than reputable people. Those who would even manipulate and kill the love of his life in order to control what they want out of him.

Cause of Death: The cause of death wasn’t immediate and occurred over the course of a year starting when he was sixteen and a half. Lyra had fallen ill and despite how medical science triumphed over most known diseases at the time it could not give her a cure. In a show of desperate rage the youth declared an ultimatum; the creation and successful use of one of Alchemy’s long sought after dreams known as the Aurum Potable, better known as the golden elixir. For three months he would toil and work near sleepless nights, putting all of his clout and wealth into this effort to save her. When judgment day came it found him wanting and punished him with her untimely death. The elixir he thought he created was instead a poison that sent her into immediate shock and killed her, not ever knowing that one of the men on his research team was responsible for the demise. The next several weeks would be hell for him as he would lose his fame and be made into an outcast on the streets. The recognition as an alchemic prodigy now gone along with his love all over what he found to later be a simple yet life threatening error on what he believed to be his part. As he wallowed in his own self-pity and contemplating suicide with the remains of the very poison that killed her still in his possession, he was approached by a less than trustworthy looking grizzly bear in a long black trench coat. He offered the young wolf a chance to lick his own wounds, promising him his fame back and another chance at being written down in history as the man to cure perhaps all known disease itself with a second chance at the potable. In a moment of weakness he bargained with that devil and soon toiled again in a lab that was his and with a team of loyal alchemists to back him and his research up, he yet again found himself at the critical moment. The elixir was to be tested on his employer, a charismatic dragon who was in the most advanced stages of cancer. When it came time to collect his payment after he learned of its success the dragon personally thanked the back of the wolf’s head with the butt of a gun. Soon after the deed was done, the thugs would end up taking the young man’s research and clearing out the place of work in a matter of a couple of hours. When he came to and realized what had happened he started to shout and curse at the sky, before eventually pounding his fist at the ground. As he did a small vial dropped from his note pocket; at which point he remembered that he didn’t have to suffer. That he always had a way out, a chance to be with his beloved and that the only thing separating them was the cork that kept the liquid in the vial. He couldn’t handle the pain any longer, and thus on the anniversary of Lyra’s death he choose to take his life and hopefully be with the angel he could not save.


 
Struggle: most of his struggles upfront will be about trust while the later points will deal with his use of alchemy. While not hesitating to use its destructive bits, anything concerning the healing and well being of others will immediately get him to be frightened and put into question his own ability. As far as he was concerned he failed to save anyone in the long run.

Personality Points:

easily puts up the friendly face mask but can just as easily be rude and blunt without much warning, even among friends.

when left alone with individuals, can actually be shy and easy to startle. Almost even gets rather defensive very quickly with even the smallest prodding in private moments until he better knows the person he’s speaking to.

At this point is rather quick to be submissive during a show of force but when presented with anything he knows about will show adamant and almost commanding nature that was akin to him being a wolf in his past life.
 
Key Item: The vial of poison he used to kill Lyra and himself, a small drop of the golden venom remains.


Trivia:
 
The inspiration for Travis’s creation and species choice was actually a result of the creator looking back at his first experience with therianthropic shifts. The result of course was a raccoon much like the lovable one seen in game now. However where the shift was shy and very reserved, this model was modified into something a bit more bold and outgoing for maximum enjoyment. The end result is something a bit closer to the personality of the user but, better to be safe than sorry sometimes right?
 
The decision between Travis or Lyra as characters was a long and uphill battle in which either decision still meant an alchemist but it would have changed the focus from a gun slinging alchemist to a more magic heavy alchemist or even a “Battle Mage”. Should Lyra have been playable for this game, everyone would have seen a rather manipulative snow leopard. Either way, Lyra isn’t a “lost cause” just yet. She might very well make an appearance at a later date in this game or the next.
 
The entity known as “Razia”, who appears in several of Travis’s journal entries as well as some of his normal bits of speech is in reference to a D&D 4^th edition character (as well as another creator shift) who is currently still active in a lvl 1-30 overarching campaign; Children of the Infinite. Her appearance here is to show that her journey does continue after her plans in that journey have finished. While she is no longer physically alive and instead exists across time itself, she still finds her self very busy making sure that each and every one of her “children” are safe and not causing too much trouble for anyone to handle.
 
Another tough decision in the creation of Travis Algraz, once it was decided he was to be used, was to decide how his story should actually go. The creator struggled with the idea of making him the end in a long line of characters who had undergone this retrial before. The end result of which obviously being later down the road and after we go through the Algraz and related family history far enough we find the beginning entity which lead up to him in the first place. The idea was later scrapped due to over complexity and many uncertainties.
 
The special item held by Travis Algraz; the near empty vial, was actually one of three items that was to be considered when it came to light that the character could hold a key item with them. The other two items in question were his Philosopher’s Stone necklace and his custom pistol that he affectionately named “Miranda”. Both items were left out in favor of the sappy Romeo and Juliet-esk item instead due to very obvious reasons as both of the other items could later be remade anyway, not to mention they were stolen from Travis after his death and therefore couldn’t be “carried over” with him into the retrial.