Rat King Reference

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Backstory

Rat King is a rat-human hybrid created through unethical experimentation from a hidden medical facility called KILLDECO. As a child,  he fled to the sewers when the lab he was born in was burned down. KILLDECO has been searching for him since to little avail, and for this very reason, Rat King has no information on the nature of his creation.

Rat King was raised in the sewers with rats and exposed to all manner of garbage and filth, where the rats began to worship him as their king and a type of god because of his "immortality" (he is not immortal, but because of their shorter lifespan compared to his human lifespan, he appears to them as such). Rat King grew up without human connections or discipline, and as a result knows little about how to socialize with anybody who isn't a rat.

Personality

Rat King is reclusive, awkward, prideful and aggressive. Being raised by rats has made his behavior functionally that to an animal itself, as he lacks understanding of social cues and often does inappropriate things such as scratching himself with his leg, crawling like a rat, and not using utensils to eat. He lacks situational empathy and can come across as abrasive and even cruel, but it stems from ignorance rather than malice.

Rat King, despite the filth he lives in, is rather prideful and believes himself to be an amazing fighter and deserving of his own title as King of the Rats and the Terror of the Sewers. Having a habit for the dramatic, he has an intense desire to prove his greatness to the world at large. This paired with his lack of social skills can cause him to do inappropriate or embarrassing things that he lacks the understanding to see as such, like accidentally stealing others' belongings or smacking someone if they infuriate him.

Rat King lacks knowledge of basic things most take for granted, such as currency, basic manners, and social cues like smiling, waving, handshakes, bowing, insults and hand gestures. He also struggles with sarcasm and takes what others say at face value unless he has prior knowledge that refutes them. Despite his naïveté, Rat King is NOT a pushover and will eagerly become vicious when he feels it necessary, and due to his lack of social tact, will often not feel the need to hold back in terms of violence.

Much of Rat King’s treatment of others reflects how they treat him initially; he acts hostile towards those he perceives as hostile or kindly towards those he perceives as kind (however skewed this perspective is, because Rat King can be easily won over with food or gifts). His greatest wish, despite his difficulty around humans, is to have a normal life in which he is truly loved. Because rats have a lifespan of only a couple years, he’s outlived generations of them, which makes it hard for him to get attached to them and has caused him to see them as tools rather than family, though they’ve essentially been the only source of affection he’s had his entire life, making his relationship with them both complicated and dependent.