Steampunk Detectives Character Contest

Name: William Wallace Ney
AKA: Clangor
Age: 33
Born: Etal, England
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 500 pounds (35.7 stone)
Hair: Brown (red highlights)
Eyes: Blue

Born near the ruins of Etal Castle in northern England of a Scottish mother and English father, William Wallace Ney grew up right as the world began to change and the wonders of steam-powered technology abounded. His parents were insistent upon him getting a good education, but their social and economic station made things like boarding schools a practical impossibility. William worked to educate himself, often doing odd jobs as a lad and using the money to send away for scholarly or engineering journals which he devoured voraciously. By the time he was twenty, he'd reached his full height, but became painfully aware that Etal had little to offer in terms of opportunity. He decided to make his way in the world by involving himself in coal mining operations, first as a miner, then as an assistant engineer. Within a few years, taking advantage of the then latest technologies and borrowed money from friends, he had quickly devised what he called a "miner's helper," a steam-powered exoskeleton with a self-contained breathing apparatus intended to quickly pull miners out of collapsed shafts. With a patent secured, he began touring England at various coal mines, hoping to attract purchase orders.

It was during a demonstration of this mechanism when disaster struck. William was at a site when a genuine collapse occurred, prompting him to put on the suit and attempt a rescue. In the process of helping the trapped miners out, a secondary collapse occurred, pinning William under the rubble and badly injuring him in the process. He ultimately was able to pull himself out, but physicians examining him later concluded that he would be crippled for the rest of his natural life, as well as suffering severe pulmonary impairment. Undaunted, William made refinements to the suit, allowing him to walk and breathe almost as normally as he used to. By this point, he is permanently trapped within the suit.

For his heroics, William was commended by several members of the nobility and attracted the attention of one noble with carefully ill-defined connections to the Crown. Now patronized by "Lord Whitecrag" (an obvious pseudonym), William spends his days in a non-descript warehouse in London, improving his technology or working for the Crown in an unofficial capacity regarding particularly dangerous situations, both politically and physically. Among London's underworld element and the more morally dubious members of Britain's high society, William has earned the name "Clangor," in reference to the unavoidable racket that his exoskeleton makes. While his presence is imposing, he still believes himself to be a man of reason and science, though his love for the arts is undeniable. He has a particular fondness for the poetic works of John Keats.

Name: Asma Mayweather
AKA: Hiss
Age: 14
Born: London, England
Height: 4'8"
Weight: 86 pounds (6.1 stone)
Hair: Black
Eyes: Topaz

The illegitimate daughter of an Anglo-Egyptian prostitute, Asma Mayweather grew up in and around the Whitechapel area, detesting it as only somebody born there truly could. By the time she was ten, she'd run away from her mother, adopting the name "Mayweather" for the month that she escaped, and built a reputation as a pickpocket and burglar. Her ability to squeeze into tight spaces and move effortlessly reminded many people of a snake, and her disposition (often described as "venomous") led to the nickname "Hiss" being bestowed on her, suggesting it would be the last thing anybody heard before she killed them. It was during a burglary attempt on an importer's warehouse on the Thames that she ran into William Wallace Ney for the first time. He had deduced her most likely entry point and simply parked himself next to it, catching her easily when she came in to pull the heist. When her employers came to silence her for her failure, William fought them off quite easily, then turned around and offered her an "apprenticeship" in his laboratory. In return for not being a petty thief any longer, she would be fed, clothed, housed, and educated by William. It was a staggering kindness which Asma was smart enough to realize she couldn't turn down.

Now 14, Asma has demonstrated not only her reliability, but surprised even herself with her potential as a practical engineer, assisting William with all manner of technical issues as well as being able to reach spots he can't. Her Cockney accent remains quite heavy, and her attitude around high society are just this side of hopeless at present, but she has been working on improving herself. To her, William is very much the big brother she never knew she needed. While she's completely cut herself off from her mother, Asma retains a great fondness for the Egyptian part of her heritage, often working in snake motifs or symbols from Egyptian mythology in her detail work. The London underworld as a whole isn't thrilled with the idea of her "going legit," but she's still got enough contacts and knows where enough bodies are buried to ensure the criminal element's cooperation when she's brought into a case.