Height: 46" Weight: 63# Hair: White Eyes: Blue Skin: Weathered Clothing: | Tattoo on left shoulder Widget's Hat |
Widget was the recipient of a rare genetic condition that threw his hormones out of whack. He is considered a little person due to his short stature. The proportions of his body are normal, it's just his actual size that isn't. His appearance was severly impacted due to irregular hormone levels that caused the bones,cartilage and some connective tissue of his face to grow at rates different than it normally would have resulting in a rather startling appearance.
Name be Widget. Aye, I've 'eard tha' one afore. Fact be tha' th'folks I crewed out wif on m'firs' tour, a merchant vessel she be - Posieden's Pride - I dinna be sure 'ow much pride Posieden 'ad in't, she'd certainly seen bet'er days, but th'crew all loved 'er an' tha' made all th'diff'rence... Where was I now? Oh, aye, th'crew - they felt I 'ad a bit o' a knack wif th'mechan'cal problems tha' no one else seemed t'be unnerstandin'. Started t'callin' me 'Widget'. I asked 'em 'bout it an' they tol' me 'twas on account o' m'stature an' 'ow I managed be fixin' thin's others couldna make 'eads-nor-tails outta. I didna fully unnerstan' wot they were goin' on 'bout but it seemed 'armless 'nuff an' all in kindness. Made me a closer part o' th'crew an' such. Since I moved on from there th'name's kinda carried 'long wif me. Don' mind much, it fits like a well-worn coat now. Dinna y'be lookin' askance at me there, it be a genetic thin', y'canna be catchin' it. Gears-an'-screws o' th'Maker, y'longshanks get t'thinkin' everyone's th'same's you an' forget 'bout those o' us below your eye-level. I'll be lettin' y'in on a bit o' a secret we know down 'ere, shall I? 'Tis a mite safer not always bein' in eyesight, if'n y'be catchin' m'drift. Saved m'hide more'n once, it did. I dinna be pretty nor over-tall but I'll be tellin' ya, you'll not find anyone 'oo loves gadgets more'n m'self. Now, 'ows 'bout we open this 'ere bot'le o' Gremlin Whiskey an' see if'n we c'n get t'bein' bet'er friends.
Max Tesla was born and raised on a ranch on the border-world of Boros. Though
a fair amount of Boros is home to large spreading scrap heaps, much to a
scavengers delight, there is still a great deal of prairie land given over to
ranches and farms. This is where Max grew up. The Teslas bred and raised mainly
horses for use on the planet as well as a few other small herds of varying
animals over the years, such as kangaroo.
As Max grew up it was discovered that
he just wasn't growing as fast as other kids his own age. To complicate matters
he was, quite frankly, a hideous sight. After medical examination Max and his
family learned that he was the recipient of a rare medical condition connected
to his growth hormones that would restrict his growth to roughly half that of
his peers though his body would be in proportion unlike other strains of
'dwarfism'. It was also responsible for his appearance having caused the
bones,cartilage and some connective tissue of his face to grow at rates
different than it normally would have.
The kids from the ranches nearby took it
in stride and for the most part he was treated normally. Max's only problems
with prejudice normally came from adults, mainly outsiders. He was given chores
on the ranch commensurate with his age but due to his short stature and the fact
that for some reason the animals never really got on with him, shying away when
he came near, his family found it difficult to find tasks that he could do.
It
wasn't until his 10th year that his mechanical apptitude showed itself. Max had
always found the machines facinating and much more comfortable to be around
since they didn't tease him about how he looked or run away when he got closer
like the animals did. There was a day when the ranch handyman was having
problems repairing an old hovercraft and had stalked away in disgust leaving a
bemused Max looking on wondering what was wrong. Max walked over to the
hovercraft made the adjustments needed and replaced secondary compression
coupling, just like the old mule had mentioned needed to be done. Max had the
hovercraft idling and was replacing the handymans tools back in the toolbox when
the handyman returned from lunch.
The handyman was astonished that everything
was fixed. The old hovercraft was even running better than it had in years. Once
it was known that Max had made the repairs it was brought to the attention of
his family and from then on Max's primary responsibilities revolved around the
vehicles and machinery on the ranch. Max was in heaven. He had finally found a
way to contribute meaningfully. It was when he found a few engineering textbooks
at the nearby city library that things really took off for him.
By the age of
sixteen it was a common site for Max to return to the ranch in one of the
familys mules towing a gravsled piled with scrap. Max had taken those
engineering books and found that the scrap piles around Boros were a treasure
trove of pieces and parts that he could assemble into devices of his own design.
His favorite invention was a wind powered hoverboard that he used to travel all
over the countryside, often racing whooping and hollering alongside one of the
horse herds. His invention didn't go unnoticed and soon there were several
hoverboards owned by his friends from the surrounding ranches and farms. Somehow
one of those hoverboards ended up in the hands of a visiting engineer who,
recognizing a great idea, scanned it, changed a few minor parts on the design to
make it more efficient and shipped the design to the company's marketing group.
A few months later Max found an ad for his design on the cortex. Repeated waves
to the company resulted in nothing more productive than the announcement that he
hadn't patented the design so they were not responsible for paying royalties.
Ever since that situation it has been Max's dream to pull together enough money
to start his own engineering firm (possibly even a shipyard!) and create and
patent his own designs. It was to this end that in his 19th year that he left
his family and Boros for a position on a merchant marine vessel as Mechanics
Mate, second class.
Over the next few years Max began to build a bit of a
reputation for uncanny repairs when others just couldn't make sense as to why a
device in apparently working order just didn't function. Due to this knack, as
well as his size, his shipmates began calling him 'Widget' a name he has
continued to use. He traded on this reputation, and, despite his short stature
and unpleasant appearance, was able to find positions of increasing
responsibility and challenge.
While serving a stint on a starliner he met a man
working security. Though the officer was rather reticent at first Max found that
he warmed up enough when Max shared out his homemade whiskey. He'd found the
designs for a working still in the Galactic Encyclopedia and had decided to try
it out. After a few false starts and a couple of different recipes Max became
rather proficient at distilling his own 'Gremlin Whiskey', a pun on both his
chosen profession as well as his own appearance.
Locating a few oaken casks on a
planetside layover he was able to put aside a few gallons of his homemade brew
and allow it to mellow with age. At the time Max met the security officer he was
never with out a flask that could be shared out. Max found Gremlin Whiskey would
often grease the social wheels that his appearance caused to grind to a halt.
The two of them spent the rest of the tour becoming fast friends and kept in
contact even after, with Max occasionally bottling an aged cask of his homemade
brew and mailing it off to his friend along with a unique device or two of Max's
own design to suit a need that his friend had.
Max's most recent post has been
onboard an old trader vessel that had seen better days. Upon arrival at Santos
an Alliance cutter ordered them to heave-to and prepare to be boarded. The
captain gave orders to run. The pilot, in full knowledge of the situation,
heeled the trader over in preparation to run and punched the pulse drive. There
were muffled explosions from the engine room and smoke billowed out. The
captain, absolutely certain the little creature he'd hired to keep the ship
running was in league with the Alliance, barrled into the engine room spun Max
from his attempt to make sense of the damage and proceeded to beat him with a
handy wrench. It was this wrench that Max had been using to make a last minute
repair when seals on the primary control coolant valve blew, as he had told the
captain repeatedly would happen. The box-end of the wrench had cracked throwing
Max across the walkway to slam his head into the bulkhead. It was as a dazed Max
made his way back to the pipes to put a temporary patch over leaks and reroute
the coolant that the captain had barged in with murder in his eye and
cluelessness in his mind.
Meanwhile the Alliance had been able to attach bording
lines to the trader vessel and anchor it to their own ship. They had borded as
the captain was preoccupied and his crew had run about confused, seeking to keep
the Alliance off the ship any way possible. With the engines down the crew
resorted to firearms to keept the Alliance officers at bay. Through superior
numbers and firepower the Alliance boarding crew overcame the traders' crew and
took them into custody. Dimly, Max recalls an Alliance soldier pulling the
captain off of him before he passed out. He awoke two days later in the
hospital.
Max discovered, much to his horror, that the crew had been smuggling
drugs and other illegal substances used to keep many of Santos inhabitants in
the thrall of their employers. After hearing Max's story the Alliance officer
let him go and advised him to keep his head down for a bit as the trader captain
had been putting out the word that Max had sabotaged the engines as an Alliance
spy. Well, nothing could be further from the truth and Max rebutted the captains
statement saying that it was his own greed that had caused the problems onboard
his vessel since he wouldn't pay for basic maintenance. Max's reputation won out
with the crew who knew how stingy the captain could be and he went on his way.
It's been a couple of weeks since he was discharged from the hospital and Max
has been taking his time finding a new ship.