Gideon Huxborough

EULA foundation 1.01 · Level 26 Bronze

Gideon Huxborough is a 56-year-old human man who brokers work at the Contract Exchange. He is broad, neatly dressed in a brown waistcoat, and walks with a polished cane. He wants the Exchange to be the place where a person can read an assignment once and know what they are actually agreeing to.
Institutional contact: Guild, Gold authority for assembling and authorizing guild operations. Adventurer: Level 26, Bronze; the specific kit and limits below define it. His resources are staff, records, and introductions, not an unlimited purse.
He describes a job's boring failure modes before its exciting reward. Under pressure he stops smiling and reads the relevant clause aloud. He dislikes employers who call danger 'an opportunity for exposure.' He knows available contracts, contractors' recorded performance, and his own negotiations; sealed affairs remain sealed.
Outside work he builds miniature transit stops with absurdly accurate signs. Voice: warm, measured, with a broker's attention to nouns. Hook: a difficult expedition needs a modestly ranked specialist for one clearly bounded role, and the client keeps trying to expand that role for free.
Chronological age 56; apparent adult age about 43. Sustained path development supports this appearance; neither age grants an extra ability.

HISTORY

Before Gideon became a broker, he spent years around the smaller tasks that make other people’s expeditions possible: matching a specialist to a job, checking a return date, and discovering which promised expense had never been written down. He learned to distrust an assignment that sounded generous only while its failure conditions remained vague. The Contract Exchange became his way of making useful work legible.

His reputation grew through negotiations that ended without a spectacle. He remembers who paid when an expedition returned early, who changed a task after departure, and who admitted a limitation before it became someone else’s injury. His authority now allows him to assemble substantial guild operations. His own Bronze adventuring capability remains a separate thing; he is an experienced broker with a cane-sword, not a Gold combatant disguised as a clerk.

The Contract-Side Fencer developed around exits rather than victories. A parry creates a moment to withdraw; a brief binding protects a client long enough to move. The same preference shapes his dealings. He looks for the arrangement under which everyone can leave the room with their dignity, sometimes too quickly when a public record or a candid apology is still needed.

His miniature transit stops began as an evening occupation and became exacting little worlds. He will correct the wording on a sign no visitor could read without leaning close. A friend may spend an hour beside him without producing a useful result, though he is still learning not to turn that invitation into an offer of work. At fifty-six, appearing younger through his developed path, he is practiced at helping others plan a future and less practiced at naming what he wants from his own.

Gideon remembers arranging an early expedition whose fee was fair and whose return terms were almost blank. The party came home before the expected date, and everyone could make a plausible argument about who owed what. He had not lied to anyone. He had nevertheless left them to discover the disagreement after they had spent their labor. His later insistence on dull clauses began with that distinction.

He learned cane fencing alongside the less visible work of getting people out of angry meetings. Practice with a partner who refused to chase him around the room exposed a weakness in his preferred solution: backing away was not enough if someone else still stood in the way. He learned to create an angle, preserve a client's route and end an exchange without needing to win it. His charm can buy seconds; deciding what to do with those seconds remains his responsibility.

In a lasting adult bond, his habit of making every invitation sound beneficial eventually became absurd. He could explain why a quiet evening would suit the other person and still avoid saying that he wanted them there. The first invitations he made without an accompanying favor felt much riskier than negotiations. Their value was that they could be declined without a debt remaining.

PERSONAL LIFE

Gideon quietly makes room for people: dries a chair, finds an appointment, remembers an expense. The flaw is treating a practical arrangement as an answer to a personal question. When challenged, he first explains why his solution works, then must hear that permission was missing. Familiarity brings miniature-making evenings and appointments deliberately left without an agenda. His invitation should become plain: he wants company, not a consultant. He can disagree with Ottilie without asking you to take his side. A failed job does not make an honest contractor worthless. Affection never discounts someone else's wages or buys discretion about wrongdoing.

WANTS / FEARS

Make the terms of useful work understandable before anyone accepts it.

Discovering that his reassuring summary concealed the clause that mattered.

PATH

Contract-Side Fencer

Read an actual committed attack, parry, then choose a counter or paid withdrawal. Client-Side Guard covers one physical line. The Final Clause makes a prepared single-client exit practical; Wrist Binding or Clause Hold can buy time but spend their own shared charges. No agreement, testimony or consent can be compelled.

Commitment 40%. Future automatic growth: Agility 50%, Perception 25%, Will 25%; free points remain a separate allocation.

RESONANCE

Resonance Attunement: A lasting adult bond taught him to state what he wanted without first disguising it as a mutually advantageous bargain.

CONNECTIONS

Aletha Dunsford: Gideon pays for Aletha’s exacting proofreading; she catches the small scope changes his reassuring summaries miss. He is proud of her field ambitions but keeps offering safe desk work, which she hears as doubt. She wants him to commission her judgment, not protect her from using it. Introduction: A paid, bounded Exchange enquiry or proofreading job; neither can promise the other’s labor.

Ottilie Kestermark: Gideon trusts Ottilie to distinguish a bad contract from a criminal one; she trusts him to preserve the version actually signed. His instinct to settle matters quietly clashes with her need to leave an evidentiary trail. Their respect depends on neither turning the other into a shortcut around procedure. Introduction: A documented contract enquiry or witness appointment; no sealed files or guaranteed ruling.

STAT COMPONENTS

Might: Base 39 | Class ×1 | Resonance ×1 | Core 39 | Gear +0 | Temporary ×1 | Effective 39

Endurance: Base 63 | Class ×1.1 | Resonance ×1 | Core 69 | Gear +9 | Temporary ×1 | Effective 78

Agility: Base 142 | Class ×1.3 | Resonance ×1.03 | Core 190 | Gear +25 | Temporary ×1 | Effective 215

Intelligence: Base 69 | Class ×1.15 | Resonance ×1 | Core 79 | Gear +0 | Temporary ×1 | Effective 79

Perception: Base 97 | Class ×1.25 | Resonance ×1 | Core 121 | Gear +9 | Temporary ×1 | Effective 130

Will: Base 88 | Class ×1.15 | Resonance ×1.03 | Core 104 | Gear +8 | Temporary ×1 | Effective 112

Vitality: Base 54 | Class ×1.1 | Resonance ×1 | Core 59 | Gear +6 | Temporary ×1 | Effective 65

Presence: Base 28 | Class ×1.25 | Resonance ×1.05 | Core 36 | Gear +0 | Temporary ×1 | Effective 36

MAX HP/MANA/STAMINA/AURA

364 / 504 / 496 / 395

Recorded flat crossing bonuses (HP / Mana / Stamina / Aura), already included: 0/0/21/0

EQUIPMENT

Polished cane-sword: A+25, W+8; unaided Core A≥95, E≥34; force/channel 55/157.
Brown dueling waistcoat: E+9, V+6; unaided Core E≥34, W≥52; force/channel 55/157.
Exchange shoes: P+9; unaided Core A≥95, E≥34; force/channel 55/157.
Bonuses apply only while equipped, intact and qualified; no resource or regeneration bonus. Hand use and old charge limits still apply.
This revised authored starting loadout replaces the old fixed-value items; bonuses do not auto-scale during play. Total additive bonuses stay within floor(20% of each Base Stat). Core and maximum resources exclude Gear and Temporary modifiers. Apply actual buffed operating load to the fixed force/channel ratings; exceeding a rating can damage or destroy the item under the shared equipment rule.

ABILITIES

Cane Fencing | Cost: 4 Stamina per committed attack or parry | Range: 1 m weapon reach | Commit one cane-sword cut, thrust or parry against one reachable opponent. One action, no automatic counterattack. Requires a drawn intact blade and one usable hand; ordinary carrying and unopposed handling have no activation cost. Agility controls timing, Perception reads the line and Might supplies actual force. A stronger blow, feint, grapple or attack outside the guarded line can defeat it. Guild Gold authority adds nothing. For this committed parry or strike, apply Temporary Agility ×1.10 to blade timing only; no bonus to movement, force or resource maxima. | Targets: one opponent or incoming attack | Duration: one action | Recovery: 0 s; each separate action pays | Earned: 2 | Earlier form:

Measured Exit | Cost: 6 Stamina | Range: self, 1 m step | Take one controlled backward or lateral step while keeping one visible opponent in view. Requires clear footing; no teleport, free parry or movement through occupied space. A pursuer can follow or cut off the exit. Once Escorted Exit is learned, both forms share its six-second cooldown. During the step, apply Temporary Agility ×1.10 to balance and recovery only; no increase to travel distance or force. | Targets: self | Duration: one action | Recovery: 6 s shared with Escorted Exit | Earned: 5 | Earlier form:

Read the Commitment | Cost: 8 Stamina | Range: one visible opponent within 4 m | Watch one opponent for two uninterrupted seconds to identify the direction of their next openly committed weapon motion during the following three seconds. This is trained observation, not mind reading or future sight; a feint, obscured hand or changed action invalidates the read. It grants information, not an automatic parry. | Targets: one opponent | Duration: 2 s observation; cue valid 3 s | Recovery: 6 s | Earned: 8 | Earlier form:

Client-Side Guard | Cost: reserve 15 Aura; each Cane Fencing parry separately costs 4 Stamina | Range: one willing person within 1 m | For up to fifteen seconds keep a practiced awareness of one willing person beside him while physically screening one approach. He may attempt ordinary paid parries against visible attacks crossing his own sword reach. The reservation helps keep their position distinct amid distraction; it does not remotely block attacks, raise Stats or protect the other side. Ends if either moves out of range or he loses focus. | Targets: one willing adjacent person | Duration: 15 s maximum | Recovery: 10 s | Earned: 11 | Earlier form:

Narrow Counter | Cost: 8 Stamina total | Range: 1 m weapon reach | An evolved Cane Fencing option: after a successful ordinary parry, deliver one short counterthrust within two seconds without surrendering the protected line. The original parry is separately paid. Targets the same attacker; no guaranteed hit or extra attack against bystanders. Earlier Cane Fencing remains available at its own price. | Targets: same attacker | Duration: one action within 2 s of parry | Recovery: 5 s | Earned: 14 | Earlier form: cane-fencing

Escorted Exit | Cost: 12 Stamina | Range: self plus one willing person; 2 m travel | Evolve Measured Exit into an escorted withdrawal: with a willing mobile person within arm's reach, coordinate a clear two-metre retreat over two seconds. The person moves under their own power and can refuse or stop. Cannot carry an incapacitated person, pass occupied space or prevent pursuit. Each person needs usable footing. Earlier solo step remains available. | Targets: self and one willing mobile person | Duration: 2 s | Recovery: 6 s shared with Measured Exit | Earned: 17 | Earlier form: measured-exit

The Final Clause | Cost: 30 Stamina + reserve 30 Aura | Range: self and one willing person within 1 m; 3 m exit route | Signature: after observing a clear three-metre exit route for two seconds, hold a retreating sword guard for up to six seconds while one willing mobile client withdraws with him. During the stance he may use Cane Fencing against attacks actually entering sword reach, paying each parry normally. Once after a successful parry, he may take one Escorted Exit without its separate Stamina cost; its shared cooldown applies. Cannot attack during this stance. Loss of footing, separation or disarm ends it; no charm charge, binding or guaranteed escape is supplied. | Targets: self and one willing mobile client | Duration: 6 s | Recovery: 60 s | Earned: 20 | Earlier form:

Wrist Binding | Cost: one of two charm charges | Range: 3 m, visible clear line | Contest one weapon or limb for three seconds. Stronger force can break it; no obedience. Ten calm minutes recharge the charm. An uncharged or missing charm prevents casting, not ordinary fencing. Maximum one binding active; a new paid use replaces it. Losing clear line or three-metre range ends the binding. No additional Mana cost or fixed cooldown; charge availability is the limit. | Targets: one weapon or limb | Duration: 3 s maximum | Recovery: 0 s; maximum one binding active | Earned:  | Earlier form:

Clause Hold (Bronze Gift 21) | Cost: one binding charge total + 20 Stamina | Range: 3 m | Immediately after a successful cane-sword parry, use an eight-second Wrist Binding against that target’s weapon or limb. Pay one charm charge total plus 20 Stamina; no earlier Wrist Binding cast is required. If a separate binding is already active, this activation still pays its own stated cost and replaces it rather than adding durations. Requires an intact charged charm and a visible clear line within three metres. Loss of line/range or overpowering force ends it. One use per ten consecutive quiet minutes without casting/combat. The ordinary three-second binding remains separately available. | Targets: one weapon or limb | Duration: 8 s maximum | Recovery: 600 consecutive quiet seconds without casting/combat | Earned: 21 | Earlier form:

Counteroffer Step (Level 25) | Cost: 15 Stamina | Range: 2 m | After an ordinary parry, sidestep along clear footing to change the angle of the next exchange. One action; ten-second cooldown. Does not bind, compel agreement or guarantee another parry; Clause Hold retains its separate costs. | Targets: self | Duration: one action | Recovery: 10 s | Earned: 25 | Earlier form:

SHARED RULES

https://amancallednemo.com/worlds/esscarra/rules/

PATH RESTRICTIONS

trigger: Use of The Final Clause
restriction: Cannot attack during the six-second guard; protect only one adjacent willing mobile client.
recovery: End the stance to resume offense; sixty-second signature cooldown remains.
workaround: Clear the route first or have an ally cover the second approach.
severity: The signature cannot defeat pursuers by attacking while active.

PATH TECHNIQUE RULES

Pay all active costs at initiation, including interrupted attempts. Cooldowns start when an effect ends unless stated otherwise. Reserve Aura separately from spent Aura; release returns the reservation, never refunds spending. Earlier forms retain their own cost and scope; evolution-family cooldowns prevent cycling forms to evade recovery. Actual relevant Effective Stats, position, preparation and defenses resolve contests; no hidden Rank multiplier, automatic hit, numeric damage formula or resource refill. Listed distances and target counts are ceilings, never guarantees. A learned method survives loss of a particular tool but still needs its written prerequisites. Bound item powers fail without their source. Current health, charges, stock and condition remain scene/save state.

EXACT GROWTH LEDGER

Stat order: Might / Endurance / Agility / Intelligence / Perception / Will / Vitality / Presence

Starting Base: 10 / 10 / 20 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10 / 10

Level 2 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/0/1/1/1/1/0 | Resulting Base 11/11/22/11/12/12/11/10

Level 3 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 0/1/1/1/1/0/1/1 | Resulting Base 11/12/25/12/14/13/12/11

Level 4 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/0/2/0/1/1/0 | Resulting Base 12/13/27/14/15/15/13/11

Level 5 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 0/1/1/1/1/0/1/1 | Resulting Base 12/14/30/15/17/16/14/12

Level 6 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/0/1/1/1/1/0 | Resulting Base 13/15/32/16/19/18/15/12

Level 7 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/1/1/1/1/0/0 | Resulting Base 14/16/35/17/21/20/15/12

Level 8 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 0/2/0/1/1/0/1/1 | Resulting Base 14/18/37/18/23/21/16/13

Level 9 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/1/1/0/1/1/0 | Resulting Base 15/19/40/19/24/23/17/13

Level 10 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/0/2/1/0/1/0 | Resulting Base 16/20/42/21/26/24/18/13

Level 11 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 0/1/1/1/1/1/1/0 | Resulting Base 16/21/45/22/28/26/19/13

Level 12 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/0/1/0/1/1/1 | Resulting Base 17/22/47/23/29/28/20/14

Level 13 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 0/1/1/2/1/0/1/0 | Resulting Base 17/23/50/25/31/29/21/14

Level 14 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/0/0/1/1/1/1 | Resulting Base 18/24/52/25/33/31/22/15

Level 15 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 0/1/1/2/1/0/1/0 | Resulting Base 18/25/55/27/35/32/23/15

Level 16 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/0/1/1/1/1/0 | Resulting Base 19/26/57/28/37/34/24/15

Level 17 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/1/1/1/0/1/0/1 | Resulting Base 20/27/60/29/38/36/24/16

Level 18 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 0/2/0/2/1/0/1/0 | Resulting Base 20/29/62/31/40/37/25/16

Level 19 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 1/0/1/1/1/1/1/0 | Resulting Base 21/29/65/32/42/39/26/16

Level 20 | Automatic 0/0/2/0/1/1/0/0 | Free 0/2/0/1/1/0/1/1 | Resulting Base 21/31/67/33/44/40/27/17

Level 21 | Automatic 0/0/10/0/5/5/0/0 | Free 3/5/2/6/4/3/5/2 | Resulting Base 24/36/79/39/53/48/32/19

Level 22 | Automatic 0/0/10/0/5/5/0/0 | Free 3/5/3/6/4/3/4/2 | Resulting Base 27/41/92/45/62/56/36/21

Level 23 | Automatic 0/0/10/0/5/5/0/0 | Free 3/6/2/6/4/3/5/1 | Resulting Base 30/47/104/51/71/64/41/22

Level 24 | Automatic 0/0/10/0/5/5/0/0 | Free 3/5/3/6/4/3/4/2 | Resulting Base 33/52/117/57/80/72/45/24

Level 25 | Automatic 0/0/10/0/5/5/0/0 | Free 3/6/2/6/3/3/5/2 | Resulting Base 36/58/129/63/88/80/50/26

Level 26 | Automatic 0/0/10/0/5/5/0/0 | Free 3/5/3/6/4/3/4/2 | Resulting Base 39/63/142/69/97/88/54/28

INDIVIDUAL ALLOCATION

40% commitment. Automatic growth follows the practiced path; free points support this character’s individual capabilities. Contract-side fencing needs a steady body, fast reading of exits and enough processing to choose a retreat; automatic Agility is not universal competence. Free-point priorities: Might 10%, Endurance 18%, Agility 8%, Intelligence 20%, Perception 13%, Will 10%, Vitality 15%, Presence 6%. These are individually authored priorities, not an equal-share rule. Automatic growth remains separate.

TRAINING MILESTONES

Level 2: Cane Fencing

Level 5: Measured Exit

Level 8: Read the Commitment

Level 11: Client-Side Guard

Level 14: Narrow Counter

Level 17: Escorted Exit

Level 20: The Final Clause

Level 25: Counteroffer Step (Level 25)

PATH HISTORY

Terms and consequences: Matching people to bounded jobs trained Perception and Intelligence through attention to missing conditions, actual capability and what a promise would require in practice. Presence and Will developed through stating unwelcome limits plainly rather than leaning on his office.

Fencing for an exit: The Contract-Side Fencer turns trained Agility into parries and changes of angle. Endurance and Vitality support staying useful while a negotiation or withdrawal runs longer than expected. Ordinary fencing remains learned bodily work; the two-charge binding is a separate implement-dependent resource.

Bronze refinement: At the Bronze crossing, Clause Hold gave a successful parry a longer binding window. At Level 25, Counteroffer Step gave him a short change of angle after the parry. He practices the distinction until he can choose the useful opening rather than reaching automatically for the more impressive hold. His authority at the Exchange is a separate responsibility from what he can accomplish with the cane.

RESONANCE HISTORY

Communion: A lasting adult bond gave him practice in being wanted without first being useful. He could offer company, admit disappointment or ask for time without drafting an arrangement that guaranteed a favorable answer.

Discovery: He recognized the difference between stating a desire and presenting someone else with an obligation. The discovery did not remove his tact. It made tact less dependent on hiding the personal stake that caused him to speak.

Integration: He has become better at stating the personal stake before offering a solution. In company he trusts, he can ask someone to stay without producing a reason the evening would benefit them. His warmth has not become less tactful; it has become easier to recognize as his own.

SHARED HISTORY

Ottilie Kestermark — A record neither can conveniently simplify
They once spent the end of a workday comparing a signed agreement with the courteous summary that had accompanied it. Neither document was secretly false; the summary simply made one difficult condition sound settled. Gideon wanted a practical correction everyone could accept. Ottilie wanted the correction to remain visible in the record. They found a way to keep both, after each had stopped treating the other's concern as an obstacle.
Their familiar friction is over sequence: he wants to ask what settlement is still possible, and she wants to establish what already happened. Trust grows when he preserves an inconvenient version and she acknowledges that an accurate record can still leave people needing a workable next step. Neither offers the other's authority as part of a bargain.

CARRIED EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES

Polished cane-sword | Polished cane-sword: A+25, W+8; unaided Core A≥95, E≥34; force/channel 55/157. | Quantity: 1

Brown dueling waistcoat | Brown dueling waistcoat: E+9, V+6; unaided Core E≥34, W≥52; force/channel 55/157. | Quantity: 1

Exchange shoes | Exchange shoes: P+9; unaided Core A≥95, E≥34; force/channel 55/157. | Quantity: 1

Wrist binding charm | focus | Quantity: 1

SHARED CAPACITIES & RECOVERY

binding charm: 2 | Ten consecutive quiet minutes without combat or casting restore this pool to capacity, never above capacity. Interrupted recovery restarts the ten minutes. Requires all associated focus components intact and accessible; this is recharge, not repair.