Character : Rubedo Caliendo

Name:	Rubedo (Rubi) Caliendo
Age:	24
Sex:	Male
Height:	5'11"
Weight:	160
Hair:	Very, very Red
Eyes:	Grey
Skin:	Somewhat Dark. Suggestion of Latino heritage somewhere in there.

Rubedo Caliendo was definitely not born under that name, nor is he wholly

Spanish like some people claim. He's the son of a Hopi descendant from

Oraibi who spurned the traditional ways and fell in love with a Mexican

woman from Flagstaff who lived among the Oraibi during a graduate

anthropology project. His father Ahote lived up to his name (it means

"restless one") and, rejecting his father (and shaman) Istaqa's advice,

married the girl Maritza and moved to neighboring Hotevilla.

Istaqa told his son that two things would result from the union: fire

would walk the earth and into Oraibi, and Maritza would die to bring fire

to the Hopi. He was right. Rubi's birth was terribly traumatic on

Maritza's body; she didn't survive. Ahote, now left without the only

reason he abandoned the traditional ways but unable to return, named his

son Nupaka ("evil"), and sent him to Oraibi to be raised by Istaqa. Ahote

was never heard from again.

Istaqa knew that something was different about Nupaka. He renamed him

"Hania" ("spirit warrior") and raised him as his own son. From birth, his

hair was an almost unnatural flame red (completely outside the Native

American phenotype), so it was often said that he was a descendant of the

fire spirit Tcolawitze, and so he was treated warmly despite his origins.

As he was growing up, Hania proved especially bright. He learned quickly

and was personable and friendly. He didn't have a taste for the shaman's

ways his grandfather tried to teach him, however, and he was without a

mother in the mostly matrilinial Hopi culture. He found studying with

'normal' children much more exciting and fun than learning stories about

spirits. Istaqa starting noticing a rift coming between himself and his

grandson very similar to that between himself and Ahote, but he felt he

could do nothing about it.

The entire tribe knew, though Hania would be hard pressed to identify it

whenever they asked, that he was "ho'va", a two-spirit... what the

Europeans called a "berdache" (a word Native Americans find terribly

offensive; it's dervied from an Arabic word for "male prostitute"). Thus

he was spared some of the more manly chores and learning as he grew up,

and instead learned a number of women's traditional roles as well. In

tribal affairs and as the shaman's son he wore women's clothing and

served a female role. Which was fine with him; he luckily rather liked

it, as the tribe would not have given him much choice in the manner.

The other signifcant portion of his childhood was the emergence of his

talent to control flame. Istaqa knew frlom the prophecy he made that

there was something different about Hania. It came when he was 13, and

his grandfather was taking him through the steps of going into a

meditative state. Hania looked within and saw only various shifting

shades of red; he came out of it to find that the tent he and his

grandfather had been in had burned to the ground.

Various Oraibi residents, convinced by his red hair and energetic

demeanor, determined it was a gift of the Great Spirit, and found in a

ho'va (who are considered blessed people to begin with), an omen of great

fortune. It was through Istaqa's auspice that Hania learned to control

the emerging flame power through meditation. A natural showoff, he was

delighted to learn and devoted himself to it faithfully. Considering his

otherwise lackluster interest in spiritual matters, he considered it a

blessing, and together they bonded.

The problem came with Maritza's family. His grandmother Rosalie came to

Oraibi during the year of his 16th birthday; Ahote had contacted her from

somewhere, saying only that she had a grandson in the Hopi reservations

of northern Arizona. Istaqa read the signs of her arrival, and could only

hear the conclusion that "fire would leave Oraibi". Rosalie made no

mistake that she had come to "claim" her grandson and move with him back

to San Jose. Surprisingly, Istaqa made no argument. The tribe was

outraged and begged Hania not to go; Hania himself was not that thrilled

with the concept, but Rosalie convinced him with talk of an outside world

which he had only glimpsed by living in a sheltered mesa village his

entire life. Despite promises that if he left for the white man's world

he could never come back, Hania did leave.

Hania, renamed Rubedo by his grandmother for his red hair and taking her

last name of Caliendo, took to urban life like a natural. Rosalie was

wealthy by marriage to a white man who had been long dead, and she used

money and presents to turn Rubi away from his heritage. After so many

weeks of enjoying being a rich kid in LA, Oraibi was a distant memory.

The fact that none of his Hopi friends or relatives ever tried to contact

him didn't help; although he was rejecting them ostensibly for greed, a

part of him wanted to lash out at them for not caring.

He eventually went to UCLA and got a degree in art business

administration and a minor in computer science, and proceeded to buy a

gallery downtown when his grandmother passed away. And then he did

nothing. Until, that is, he took his first amateur hacking job, which

went flawlessly... and paid handsomely. It all spiralled from there. A

few more jobs required a little legwork, but the naturally quick-fingered

and athletic Rubi took to it rather well... and his increasingly

well-honed pyrokinetic power didn't hurt either. By his 24th birthday he

was an accomplished cat burglar with a taste for the exotic and, after a

number of run-ins with supernatural clients looking for his special

skills, well known in the proper circles for his clientele.

Which takes us up to today, where fun-loving and apparently jobless

gallery owner Rubedo Caliendo, formerly Hania of the Hopi tribe,

continues to exploit the stupid for money.

Attractivness	3
Criminal	2
Fast Reaction Time
Hard to Kill	3
Pyrokinesis	2
Resources	2
Situational Awareness
Supernatural Attack (Fire - Close/Ranged)	8

TBD

Dwelling: Nice studio. Renovated former attic storage.

BMW Z-4 Roadster

Type:	Value:	Notes:
--	--	--

Typical Outfit: Tank tops and khakis of various colors with lots of pockets. Sandals. Possibly Birkenstocks.

Maneuver	Roll Bonus	Base Damage	Notes
Dodge	8	--
Kick	4	6	Bash Type
Gunshot	8	12/18	Bullet Type, -2 for offhand
Punch	5	4	Bash Type
Supernatural -- Flame Shot	8	20	Flame Damage
Pyrokinesis	7	--	Willpower x Success Levels Damage, Flame
Parry	5	--	--
Melee Weapon	5	Varies	--
Aiming (Gun)	8	--	Add Success Levels to Gunshot roll