King Jackson

"Take time to think it through, but when the time for action comes, turn your brain off and go in."

- King Jackson

King Jackson is the next Andrew Jackson, of the ‘Hunters of Kentucky’ folk song, among others. A Rebel who believes that everyone’s individual desires and interests should be protected and developed, he is almost mouth-foamingly protective of those close to him and of the idea of independence and freedom. He is absolutely interested in fulfilling his own destiny, sure, but he intends to do it his way, and believes others should be granted that same liberty. Made up of equal anger and well-spoken diplomacy, his love for duels, freedom, and adventure lends itself well to being at the forefront of attention, conflict, and leadership, for better or worse.

Both presidential and an entirely loose cannon, King is a hard-partying, hard-fighting, hard-crazy, handsome, handsome bastard who takes what he wants because he’s capable of doing so. What are you gonna do? Stop him? He’d like to see you try.

Personality
King has a roguish, manly sort of presence, but doesn’t invest in too much machismo or obnoxious/ toxic masculinity. Deeply charming, sexy, so much so that you don’t necessarily mind that he can sometimes be violent and arrogant. He fights passionately for what he believes in, but can sometimes overcommit and begin to embody a ‘strong but wrong’ sort of mentality. He’s funny, but most of his humor is unintentional or deadpan.

Despite his charisma, he doesn’t fall victim to the fault of trying to scheme with it. If anything, he more uses his anger and indignance to coerce and achieve his ends. He’s in control of his temper, but he occasionally lets himself be consumed by an outburst of contained, theatrical aggrievance (offset by a notable, sometimes fearsome reputation) as a tool for his goals.

He doesn’t play by any rule that does not service him, and is even quick to disregard some that do. He’s constantly adapting and fighting his way through any and all problems and issues that he is presented with.

He has his moments of idiocy, and the occasional flash of Yosemite-Sam-like rage, sure, but it's those really his cavalier 'think sometimes, act always' (or alternatively 'ask questions sometimes, shoot constantly') mentality and an inability to sympathize with others (he really can only function on empathy; if he doesn't have an immediate frame of reference for a situation, emotional or otherwise, he's kind of out of his depth and could potentially offend/ exacerbate) that kind of keep him from achieving his true potential.

He'd be the kind of guy you'd love to have as a drinking buddy and he might make a pretty cool brother-in-law, but he has that whole 'undeniable charm backed by unstoppable effort' that has lead some people to pin him as, how you say, 'kind of a crazy person'.

Appearance
King has a shock of ruddy brown that he keeps messy (think Chris Pratt’s hair and sideburns in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2), and hazel eyes. Or… eye. He lost his right one in an alley fight when someone slashed him with a broken bottle, and as such he wears a black patch over it, though the scar is still visible. He's good-looking, but doesn't especially care about his physical appearance in that he believes there's other things to sweat over, so he takes just enough pride in how he presents himself for it to be rugged, but not overdone. His jawline may be one of his most attractive physical features. His smile is crooked and devilish, but his gaze is typically hard.

Both hands are adorned with some series of glyphs, black psuedo-tattoos that seem to shift or change from day to day, but his one wrist reads ‘Art is Dead’, consistently.

How the Story Goes
"Hunters of Kentucky" was originally published ca. 1815 in Boston and celebrated the courage of the Kentuckians who fought in the Battle of New Orleans. One-fourth of Andrew Jackson's men at the Battle of New Orleans were from Kentucky. It was sung the way Irish singers told stories in narrative form, and performed to the tune of Ally Croker and The Unfortunate Miss Bailey. Proving to be a popular tune (with such alternate titles as ‘Half-Horse, Half-Alligator’; a reference to a lyric about the character of Jackson and the Kentucky soldiers), it was used by Jackson in his campaign for president.

How does Edison come into it?
King is, in simple, the next Andrew Jackson within the song.

Family
(To be updated)

Friends
(To be updated)

Pet
In true folktale fashion, King has a half-gator, half-horse little monster named Van Buren, about the size of a Brittany Pointer. It’s sweet as the day as long, happy to be anywhere, but -- like King himself -- can sometimes turn nasty.

Romance
(To be updated)

Enemies
King makes enemies with biblical intensity and sometimes worrying rapidity. The list continues to expand, sometimes on the daily.

Outfits
King is big on bomber jackets, his color scheme being greys, dark with a splash of red. He’s ultimately very punk-rock in his aesthetic.

Miscellaneous

 * He’s had the nickname ‘Hickory’ for as long as he can remember, but the skewing ‘Little Hickory’ is almost guaranteed to escalate any given situation.
 * He speaks bits of Creek Indian and French.
 * King has a New Orleanian accent; Uptown New Orleans rather than Cajun. The Uptown accent, being a little hard to describe, is not quite Boston, Southern, or French, but it has a mesmerizing implacability to it, a slight hitch in the words.
 * One of King’s favorite pastimes is duelling. 19th-century style, full-on duels, sometimes involving Seconds. He possesses an almost fanatical enjoyment of said duels; they seem to make him genuinely happy.

Connections/ Trivia

 * His name, 'King', is a stab at the political cartoons of the day, which depicted Jackson as a crazed warrior trying to re-institute a monarchy in his own name.
 * His pet is named after Martin Van Buren, an ally of Andrew Jackson's.

Quotes

 * ”Anybody else tryna discuss politics?”
 * ”You can call me anything. You can say I’m a cowboy or a murderer or slacker. But don’t you dare say I don’t deserve what I fight for.”

Trivia
(TBD)