Xerxes O'Grady

Xerxes "Rex" Victor O'Grady

Rex is his nickname and is almost exclusively referred to as Rex in writing, although strangers only know him as Xerxes.

56 (appears 32)

He/Him

The Iron Maiden Darkspawn

Werebeast (Lion)

November 8th, 1964

Levi Stocke

6 FT 2 IN (1.9m)

Big and Bulky, Muscular

Hazel Brown

Light brown, with red undertones and a ginger beard

He can let it get a bit shaggy

Dozens. Enough for two full arm sleeves, across his chest and back, and the start of sleeves on his legs on his thighs working downwards.

None

Either simple - cotton t-shirt, jeans, sturdy work boots - or stereotypical given his appearance. Biker vests with cut off sleeves, leather bomber jackets. Occasionally adorned with jewelry like gold chains or rings. Rarely does he look 'dressed up', or even business casual; polos and khakis are definitely not his thing.

He sports a litany of scars under and around the tattoos, though most are superficial and not deep or particularly serious injuries.

For as old as Rex is in Human years, he is still in his early formative years in terms of being a Werebeast. It's a strange dichotomy between a man in his 50s, appearing to be in his early 30s, with the emotional control of a hormonal teenager, thanks to the beast living in his head.

Rex grew up in a world where perceived 'weakness' was a cardinal sin, and what could mean the difference between life and death in a literal sense. Street smarts was an absolute necessity to survival, and anything 'different', anything that fell outside the scope of 'street' or 'thug', was often quickly and severely dealt with. He has understandably internalized this, to where 'Know No Weakness' is a mantra of his.

That does mean that anything that is deemed 'weak' or 'soft' in his mind - which is mostly expressing any emotion that's not anger or indifference - is met with swift and brutal punishment. Including if it's himself. Rex is a bully, needlessly cruel and demeaning; the only small mercy to his victims being he himself is subjected to the same treatment.

He also deals with a lot of internalized shame and guilt around both his bullying behavior and his apparent abhorrence towards anything that can be seen as weak. His inability to self-reflect hides a low self-esteem, and also masks fear of his own emotions that he was never taught how to express or handle.

As a result, Rex's entire persona is almost entirely built on how others would perceive him, rather than how he sees himself. He appears to be a walking stereotype of a thug because leaning into that image was the only way to survive in his world. Leather, tats, scars, motorcycles, smoking, knuckle dusters, gold chains, switchblades… Rex has been living that image for so long it's become him, regardless how he may have felt at an earlier point in his development.

Rex is bisexual, although he's mostly closeted to the fact he likes men. He's only been in 'relationships' with women, men are like a secret and guilty lay on the side never to be spoken of again. It's a lot of internalized shame around the idea.

Rex is the second youngest of 5 boys, and has been competing for attention and affection his entire life. He has a rocky and co-dependent relationship with his brothers; they all tend to be toxic and bad influences on one another, but blood is blood.

He has a bad relationship with his father, but is close with his mother. The O'Grady line passes through his mother; his father wanted the clout associated with the name and took it as his own.

Jack O'Grady is a distant great-uncle, Rex's family line descends from one of Jack's brothers.

Cynric Parker and Faina Parker are also wards of Jack's, Cynric more so than Faina.

Rex and Cynric are friendly (enough), but aren't close.

Rex and Faina dislike each other immensely, but it's in a step-brother/step-sister way. They are constantly fighting and getting each other in trouble, with Cynric the go-between, but if push come to shove or times got genuinely dangerous, they would step in for each other.

None of his own, besides his Sparrow.

NOVEMBER 8TH, 1964

Detroit, Michigan

Snow Haven, Alaska

Some say location is just as important as upbringing when it comes to children. If it takes a village to raise a child, doesn't that also mean that the village must be a suitable one? Xerxes Victor O'Grady was born in 1964 in Detroit, Michigan, and other than a few brint stints in Chicago, he lived in Detroit most of his life as it lost its way and descended into the madness it is today. Some might say he was cursed from the start.

Xerxes being a mouthful for a gaggle of young boys to say - he was born boy #4 of 5 brothers - the new baby was quickly christened as 'Rex' and that is what he became to family and friends. It became a sign of how close someone was to him or his family if they were allowed to call him Rex instead of Xerxes.

Rex's father was, to put it nicely, a brown noser. A lowlife with a thirst for power and less than nothing to show for it, a mean streak a mile wide and the ability to weasel his way into the not-always-good graces of the fellow lowlifes around him. Rex's father had dreams of being a boss a la Godfather, but was just another abusive asshole who couldn't hold down an ordinary job. So how do you accomplish such a goal? By clawing your way from the bottom.

The O'Grady branch that Rex's father settled himself with in Detroit were ones on the seedier and dark underbelly, and their name held clout. He weaseled his way into a marriage with the youngest daughter by pretending to already be everything they would want out of a son-in-law and took her name. That gave him the street cred. Then they got to work pumping out the kids. 5 boys couldn't have been more of a blessing; it was basically like having their own personal mini-army. Wasn't a lot that wasn't possible with a six-person Werelion crew.

Rex became involved in the 'family business' when he was about six years old - old enough to be a lookout and errand boy when needed. And he was desperate to be involved after baby boy #5 was born and he was no longer the youngest; competing with the other boys for the love and affection of not only their father, but their mother's family as well. He took to the streets, and he took to them early; in his family, there were no other options.

Once Rex was about 13 - and well acquainted with the life of a Detroit crime family - his father began to make the first upward moves. First he moved up within the ranks and esteem of the O'Grady branch, until he was settled in with the patriarch and in his good graces. Then he began working to overthrow him. Considering he had five sons of his own, it only took swaying a handle of uncles and aunts and cousins to his father's side to have the numbers. In typical fashion, Rex's father did not take on the mastermind role for himself; he pinned it on a brother-in-law to hold the crown.

It was a bloody fight between the two 'factions' of the family. Rex was forced to not only watch, but participate. He was 18 at the time. His older brothers joked that his first kill finally made him a man. Rex forced himself to agree.

Family takeover effectively completed, and yet able to still claim devotion to whatever group he brown-nosed to next since he hid his role in the master plan, Rex's father now had to take on the rest of Detroit - a promise he had made to the family members who agreed to the coup. It was the only way he could fulfill his dream of being a crime boss, since ultimately the O'Grady branch was considered small fish in a big pond in their area at the time. They needed real clout.

What followed was 20 years of on-and-off turf wars with neighboring street gangs and crime families for territory. Rex's father would back a group - sending in his 5 sons to work on his behalf - and then ultimately turn on and betray them whenever the group was successful. For a time, Rex and his brothers were even on 'loan' to other cities - he spent a good portion of his 30s on and off in Chicago during some dark years in the city's history, before ultimately returning to Detroit.

The 1990s on were not kind to the werelion, and they were not kind to his father or their pride. It eventually became known that Rex's father was a man who could not be trusted; who was as likely to stab you in the back as help you, whichever was for his own gain. He lost loyalty in both the surrounding gangs and within his own ranks. In-fighting began. Still, Rex and his brothers knew no different than to stick with their father, so his father always came out on top.

It was 2010 when his mother finally 'woke up' from whatever figurative spell she had been under when it came to her husband and her family's criminal dealings; she had always been a silent supporter before, but generally did not condemn what was happening to her family. She had been raised as a criminal's daughter, after all. It was only after Rex's father rapidly lost support, and times got desperate, that she saw him for what he truly was, and started to work to extract herself and her sons from his grasp.

Rex's opportunity didn't come for another 10 years, but when it did, she seized it. Rex's beast was known as being particularly vicious, and he did little to rein it in. Lunar Changes were often horrific for anyone not a werebeast who stumbled into his path. The O'Gradys had a family warehouse for the changes, reinforced and able to be chained up from the outside. Easier to handle aggression when everyone was all together in one space. Usually the brothers ended up tearing into each other, and it kept the rest of the world safe. Until one night it didn't.

To this day Rex doesn't know what happened - was it sabotage? An accident? No one knew - but Rex woke from a Lunar Change miles away from his family's warehouse, miles outside the city's outskirts. The warehouse gate had been unlocked, but only Rex's beast went out of control at the freedom, having torn a path through a handful of neighborhoods and escaping into the wilderness. He was incredibly lucky that the neighborhoods had been mostly abandoned, no one that they could find was seriously hurt, and that he hadn't been spotted by any Unaware Humans during the rampage.

But a sniper's laser was now on his back. His mother got into a screaming match with his father about bringing the Shadow Knights down on their heads. It was eventually decided that Rex's beast needed handled before another such incident would get them all killed, and his mother called in a favor with a distant relative who was renowned for that sort of thing within their family: Jack O'Grady, a mercenary living in the frozen north of Alaska, who agreed to take him in.

Against his will - only going because of the faint worry of the Shadow Knights and his mother's pleading - Rex packed up what little he could take and was forced up north to Snow Haven, Alaska, where Jack had taken up residence. Rex has been expressly forbidden from returning home to Detroit until the matter with his beast is fixed.

It's been two months now and Rex is already sick of it all - Snow Haven, Jack, dealing with his beast, and the grunt work the Scotsman has him doing - but he is far more frightened of Jack and his mafia connections than he ever was of his father. So stuck here he is until something gives.

Rex's beast is a Werelion.

Rex was born a Werebeast and has always known about the supernatural underground, although he's never quite paid attention

His bipedal beast form leans much more into the DARKER BROWNS AND REDS of the African lions than the golds and tans you might picture. Think more Scar than Mufasa. His beast form is also massive, towering at upwards of 8 feet when stretched up to his full height, and he is built like a tank. His eyes change to a mixture of gold with light brown flecks, with the brown so light it looks more of a rusted red.

Rex and his beast actually have a fairly harmonious existence with each other. He doesn't struggle with control and he and his beast are fairly well in tune with each other. The problem is that Rex instead both funnels into and embraces the Werelion's darker tendencies, choosing not to fight or rein in any of the beast's instincts. He is often violent and bloodthirsty when Changed, and his Lunar Changes in particular can get quite nasty if unleashed on an unsuspecting environment.

It was this lack of control in that sense that got him in trouble enough to be sent to his distant uncle, or risk the wrath of the Shadow Knights.