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| Portrayed by Dua Lipa, but gnome |
| Name: | Incunabulum P. Kettleblack |
| AKA: | Inkie |
| Gender: | None for me, thanks |
| Race: | Gnome |
| Class: | Rogue |
| Role: | Damage |
| Faction: | The Black Company |
| Professions: | mining, engineering |
| Homeland: | Gnomeregan |
| Player: | inkie |
RP Hooks
- Shady characters of all kinds might be acquainted with Inkie, via goblin contacts or various past Jobs.
- Anyone with cause to know the various Alliance mercenary companies might know of Inkie and the Black Company.
- Other gnomes might have been acquainted with Inkie in childhood decades ago.
- Anyone requiring or who has required legal services in the Kingdom of Stormwind might have hired (or considered hiring, and then run away from) Inkie.
Appearance
On the smaller side, even for a gnome, with a mutable mop of jaggedly-cut hair (naturally black, but regularly subject to change). Their vivid violet eyes are usually either concealed behind or alarmingly distorted by a pair of lilac-lensed goggles; there is often a cigar in their mouth (unlit, as often as not). Their style of dress veers everywhere from worn dark leathers to immaculately-pressed tuxedos.
Personality
ASTUTE * METICULOUS * GUARDED * HUMOROUS
Mercenary, Munitions Expert, Attorney-at-Law is the title printed on Inkie's business cards, and it about sums them up. Their manner and mannerisms verge on the absurd, from their inexplicable and preposterous accent to their penchant for Strange Hair. Most of it is theater; underestimate Inkie at your peril.
If you're in on the joke, it can be very funny. If you aren't, it can be anything from exasperating to clownish. Those closest to Inkie — mostly their confidants within the Black Company, but also their old friend Tadget Slipshank — know better. Inkie is shrewd and misses very little, and the whole time you were judging them, you were being judged back. Treat them with respect, however, and earn a generous, forgiving, and fierce friend.
History
The middle child of Dismas Grimnoggin and Rutabaga Firefoot, Inkie was bookended between two arcanely-gifted siblings, and tended to fade into their shadows. As soon as Inkie came of age, they abandoned Gnomeregan for the more personally comfortable environs of Booty Bay, where they attended the Steamwheedle College of Law and Explosives (no longer accredited), and double-majored in Loopholes and Demolitions. They spent several years working solo as a mercenary/attorney until they met the warlock Tocke von Kleinertod, with whom they established the mercenary Black Company (an outfit known to be Effective but perhaps less reputable than the like-named Cobalt Company; their motto is “Mercy Costs Extra”). The Black Company is based in Stormwind City, where they (and Inkie) can usually be found in the vicinity of the Slaughtered Lamb.
OOC Note: Inkie is my OG WoW character, as you may guess from my Online Alias. The Black Company as a guild does not physically exist in our Classic universe, but it is (in Retail) and was (in vanilla) a guild and it remains so IC for Inkie-purposes, as they've been leading it (and will continue to do so) for years. Inkie will appear in-game to do stuff for and with CC — like the Code of Conduct, which they drafted — but only as a Contractor.
Relationships
| Tadget Slipshank Tadget was Inkie's childhood best friend in Gnomeregan. The pair were inseparable — that is, until Tadget's mother separated them, declaring Inkie a Bad Influence. |
Writings
| Title | Summary |
|---|---|
| (2022-03-16) From the First | Tadget receives a concerning letter. |
| (2022-03-16) An Unexpected Letter | Incunabulum P. Kettleblack of The Black Company reaches out to their old friend Tadget Slipshank. |
| (2022-01-12) Replies to Ben and Inkie from Jo | Another reply to Ben and Inkie about Rae and the Mondragons. |
| (2022-01-09) Memorandum in Response to Captain Sparkwire | Commandant Incunabulum P. Kettleblack responds to the letter from Captain Jocoza Sparkwire dated 7 January. |
| (2021-09-16) The Birthday of Mr. Silentstep | Sil goes to an unusual lawyer, Inkie Kettleblack, to acquire a name change. |
| (2021-07-24) Trouble | Young Sil has an encounter with an unusual gnome. |
| (2021-07-19) There's An Inkie In My Boot | Nish and an old friend of Tadget's sit down to discuss Tadget's disappearance. |