This page is a Work in Progress. You can help by adding to it or reorganizing it, but please refrain from deleting content for now. ===== Brutal Mike ===== Brutal Mike is a well-known and well-liked NPC. He runs the Gauntlet of Glory, a low-level dungeon which he uses to challenge new adventurers (but is nonetheless often lethal). Brutal Mike is renowned for his martial prowess, his use of Incarnum, and his goofy yet entirely earnest manner. Brutal Mike has been seen staring into the sun.((He is not associated with the Emissary of the Suryasattva; Brutal Mike went blind.)) Brutal Mike is chaotic good. | **Character Profile** || |Class Identity:|Martial Artist| |Gender:|Unknown (he/him)| |Age:|Young| |Race:|Human| |Status:|Non-Player Character| |Affiliations:| [[:gauntlet_of_glory|Gauntlet of Glory]]| |Notable Relationships|Vicious Mark((Estranged cousin, since dead.))| | **Server Profile** || |DM:|Ro| |Died:|Never. ==== Personality ==== Brutal Mike's entire schtick is being a "nerdy martial arts white guy." He enthusiastically welcomes students, encourages them to train with him, and proposes methods of training ranging from insane to suicidal— though never maliciously. Despite how cheesy he is, Brutal Mike's style is undeniably effective and Brutal Mike himself well deserves the title of "badass". One correspondent((Whose identity our editor failed to recall. Apparently she recieved head trauma during her training.)) described Brutal Mike as "A really just completely surface level guy." Whole schtick is being a nerdy martial arts white guy. original ramble: "Welcome students. I see you have come to train you chakras with me!" Unironically cheese kung fu martial arts guy. ==== Conspiracy Theories: Going Brutal ==== +++ [A Brutal Conspiracy] | There is a theory among certain players as to why Brutal Mike is called Brutal Mike:((The DMs claim that he was simply named that at birth.)) On the Rolls, powerful heroes can go supersaiyan or megaevolve, and they get the suffix "Brutal" when they do. Brutal mike is simply always Brutal. But why have we never seen a PC go Brutal? Simple: at level 12 you can Brutal-ize. Which is the real reason Drew doesn't let you go above level 10. ++ ==== Incarnum ==== Brutal Mike is indelibly linked to Incarnum, which he both uses and introduced to the world during the [[#peak_of_pain|Peak of Pain.]] However, he was originally supposed to be a "dweeb with powers"((Around a level 3 monk.)), all talk and no walk. The legends goes that Ro was describing him to Drew and mentioned how Mike would "loudly declare he was blocking someone's Chakras when he attempted to Stun them." Drew mentioned Chakras existed in the "unhinged" book Magic of Incarnum, Ro read it, and the rest is relegated to myth. Original notes: Incarnum, orginally he was supposed to be a dweeb with now powers (lvl 3 monk ish) and Drew introduced Ro to Incarnum (because Ro mentions Chakras). Ro reads magic of incarnum, pushed for legalization— Ro made enough Incarnum adventures, Drew agreed to unban Incarnum. ==== Peak of Pain ==== Brutal Mike uncapped the Well of Incarnum was uncapped during the Peak of Pain. Assisted by a capable party of adventurers, Brutal Mike beat both an Incarnum dragon and his evil uncle in his greatest challenge yet. "The dads of heroes either die, or abandon them. I figured, to create the greatest hero of all, the only option was to do both." — Micheal Brutallis X, revealing himself to have taken Vicious Terreance's identity to fight his son. It was through these adventures, and the adventures leading up to this, that Incarnum became accessible in Barrow's Maw— though there are whispers of a small country abutting Ngonda, where Incarnum is known and practiced... a country called Negana.