Julio Huevo

First introduced in Quoth the Raven Issue 28 as a character in the Chibiloft comics. Doctor Julio Huevo is an Invidian alchemist and scientist who signed on with the Chibiloft Crew because he felt that the adventuring life was the perfect match for a man of science.

Origins

As a young man, Julio studied first at the College d'Art in Karina, but soon moved on to the University of Dementlieu and later to the colleges of Leidenheim. He collected an impressive series of degrees; although he specialized in alchemy and biology, he was also highly-educated in such seemingly-conflicting fields as cosmology, history, architecture and engineering, as well as mathematics, physics, metallurgy and philosophy. In truth, Julio had strained his intellect to its very limits and collected degrees like they were going out of fashion for a single reason: he wanted very much to bring the fires of enlightenment to his countrymen in Invidia. He envisioned himself returning from his studies like a modern Prometheus. What he got when he returned to Karina was general apathy; Julio had to eke out a living by serving as a town doctor and occasionally made a little extra money by fact-checking and proofing the work of more famous scientists.

Julio was well-aware that he might change his fortunes if he just left Invidia altogether and settled somewhere with a more established scientific community, but the truth was that he had grown bitter and disappointed. To what good purpose had his parents slaved to put him through an expensive education, one which had eaten up his youth and time he could have spent on more pleasurable activities, when it had all seemingly come to nothing...? All that seemed left for him was to save up money for his eventual retirement... and burial.

Julio's state of genteel despair ended when an adventurer band knocked on his door one night. The Chibiloft Crew had come to Karina on the hunt for a murderous doppelganger, and they thought they could better expose the creature with some simple alchemical tools. While Julio was at first puzzled by the bunch of oddballs that had invaded his practice and were spouting what seemed like gibberish at first blush, he soon became intrigued and then enthusiastic. It seemed as though the dust that had been coating the gears of his prodigious mind was sloughing off as the adventurers fed him information on a biology he had never studied before, and gave him specifications for alchemical tools he had never created. But he was eager to try.

In the end, the mission to apprehend the doppelganger was ... mostly a success. Julio's contribution was invaluable in unmasking the creature. Unfortunately, it found its way to his doctor's practice, where a fight broke out between the adventurers and the monster, and Julio tried to be helpful. There was an explosion that destroyed Julio's place of business, the Karina City Watch drove the adventurers out, and the scientist joined them on the road. While he more or less bullied the Chibiloft Crew into taking him with them as their scientific consultant because of the destruction of his home and business, Julio cared very little for these. What mattered to him, was that he could see a life of challenges, excitement and achievement before him, where before all that had he had seen was an eternity of grey and disappointing days as he plodded his way to the grave.

Current Sketch

While many people might see a scientist in an adventurer band as a square peg trying to fit in a round hole, Julio would disagree. Adventurers are forever facing new and unique challenges that can benefit from scientific solutions. They are also forever discovering lore ancient and secrets brand new, which must be recorded and studied by the scientific community.

Julio sees himself as living on the cutting edge of science, and he is loving every minute of it. Contrary to what might be expected of a man of science in the Demiplane of Dread, he approaches each new person and situation with the energy and keen interest of a young man and the respect and good manners of a bygone generation, rather than trying to browbeat people with his intellect or pigeonholing every item and experience in a framework of rigid theories and equations. No longer reduced to proofing the work of others, he is submitting his own articles to the scientific community and has even written a book or two.

While his body may be that of a middle-aged and frankly overweight man, Julio's mind once again feels as young and energetic as it was when he first set on his journey of education. He has even rekindled his love for the fine arts, and he paints and plays the violin during downtime to refresh himself.

Although Dr. Huevo really does fit in quite well with his new team, sometimes his openmindedness can be a problem. Not satisfied with relying on tried and true methods when these might be improved upon, from time to time Julio comes up with unorthodox ideas that he wants to put to the test. In his enthusiasm, he may forget to warn others about what he is planning, as when he used an invention to shave the infamous Levkarest Lycanthrope instead of injecting it with a sedative...

Combat

Julio is not a strong combatant - not unless he drinks his mutagen and transforms himself into a monstrous brute, which is not something he is very comfortable with. He far prefers to keep a safe distance from battle and assist by hurling bombs at selected targets to deal damage and control the battlefield, or else putting his extracts or some cunning new invention to use. Still, if a situation requires him to drink that mutagen and step in, he will.

Religion

Julio stumbled into the worship of Ezra during his time in Port-a-Lucine, where he was fortunate enough to receive permission to study the archives of Ste. Mêre des Larmes. He is an adherent of the Dementlieuse Sect of the Church, but is respectful of the other three Sects and will quite happily attend the services held by his teammate Aubert.

Secret

None, really. Julio Huevo is happy with his life as it is, and simply enjoys his life and the challenges of being a member of the Chibiloft Crew. If he is hiding anything, it is maybe a small regret that his advancing age has made him a less competent dancer.

Cosmonomicon

The good Doctor Huevo is working on a new book, one he has jokingly called the Cosmonomicon. It started out as a comparison of various cosmological models, including the Lamordian Weltaulkügel. By extrapolating commonalities through philosophical analysis, he has distilled what he considers to be 'a theoretical framework of reality'. Currently, Julio is developing mathematical formulae to prove or disprove his theories. He has not been shy about contacting fellow alchemists, scientists and various spellcasters (such as his own teammates) to collect data and refine his formulae. Dr. Huevo is quite unaware of the ripples his work might cause.

Statistics

True Neutral Invidian male human Alchemist