Anthem Tedd

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   <default>Anthem Tedd</default>
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   <label>Alias</label>
 
 
 
 
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   <label>First Appearance</label>

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Anthem Woodward Tedd<ref name=":0">“Anthem Woodward Tedd, dabbler in various battle practices, trophy hunter, weapons dealer, occasional teacher here, his goblins are goblin princesses. I have to admit you’re hard to pin down for location. Wisconsin?”

“Among other places,” Anthem replied. “Some in Canada.” - Excerpt from Fall Out 14.z</ref> is the head of the Tedd family.

Personality[edit]

Anthem believes in the inevitability of progress, both to improve the world and to strengthen his chosen discipline.<ref name=":1">Gone and Done It 17.14</ref> He is a staggeringly competent war mage with a thorough grounding in many practices, he combines intelligence with a broad education. He is completely at home on a battle field and can keep tactilely thought and more in the foreground of his mind.

Relationships[edit]

Daughters[edit]

Fought with his family to ensure his daughters would have rights.<ref>“Don’t diss my daddy,” Liberty told Avery, sitting up straighter. “If you’re going to start agreeing with Uncle T, then I’m going to get mad at you like I got mad at him.”
[...]
“There’s stuff you don’t know,” Avery said.

“There’s stuff you don’t know, okay?” Liberty pressed. “My family’s pretty well off, had money, has a history and business going back a good while. My family history is packed with badasses and asskickers, usually both. My dad had ‘Meri and me, and his dad was all, ‘You’ve got to have a son’. My dad said no, not if it meant ‘Meri and me would get made secondary or treated as lesser. So he got cut out of the family money, kicked enough ass at life to make them beg him to come back, and made them apologize and agree to cut us into family funds and resources when we come of age. How many dads would go that far?” - Excerpt from Left in the Dust 16.3</ref><ref>“I know Liberty told you I supported them against my family.”

“And you didn’t?”

“I did. And more they don’t know about. " - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.14</ref> Extremely unhappy with his daughters' choice of discipline, but they remain devoted to him.<ref>Anthem folded his arms. “I’ve thought about having her favorites among the goblins killed. It’d sober her up, wouldn’t it?”

“It might destroy her,” Elizabeth said.

“And she’d stop seeing me as daddy, and I’d be father instead, wouldn’t I?” Anthem asked.
[...]
Anthem stared in the direction of the door. “It’s too narrow a practice, it doesn’t equip her with everything she needs to survive in this world. - Excerpt from Fall Out 14.z</ref>

He has gone out of the way to make sure they have every opportunity.

Abraham Musser[edit]

His relationship with Abraham is complex. He views him as a friend and allies with him, hoping that it will ultimately benefit him and his family, but Anthem admits that he ultimately hopes for change while Musser wants to see a continuation of the status quo.<ref name=":1" /> Musser admits that he can't control Anthem if he's locked himself into a contest,<ref> I can’t control a berserk Hennigar or Anthem Tedd if he’s tied himself into a contest. I’ll make it clear to them that they should go at the first opportunity, but if you’ve earned their full ire, you must accept it. - Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.1</ref> but was in fact able to get Anthem to see reason and back down.<ref name=":2" />

McCauleigh Hennigar[edit]

He has been giving advice to McCauleigh about her upcoming family ritual.<ref>Verona knocked lightly on the door, even though Anthem had spotted her.

He finished what he was going to say to McCauleigh. “-if that’s what you want to do. Go. Be with your friends. There’s a bit of time to work this out, still. Don’t panic.” - Excerpt from Crossed With Silver 19.1</ref>

Sir Toadswallow[edit]

An acquaintance of Anthems wanted Toad for a task so he disappeared and took to means of summoning him with him.<ref>“It’s nothing against you, Liberty,” Toadswallow said. “Someone like your father wanted me on a full-time basis. A complete and total binding, maybe as a familiar. I wasn’t interested, so I had to drop away.”

“It sucked, seeing that the pages for summoning you were missing from the books.”

“I’ve missed you and your sister. We’ll find a way to stay in touch. Catch up.” - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.7</ref>

Vicky Tedd[edit]

He never recovered from losing his wife, Vicky, seemingly the only time he was perturbed.

Reputation[edit]

Noted alongside Musser and Grayson Hennigar as one of the "big guns" in Ontario combat-wise.<ref>Anthem, Grayson, you, you’ll all live, all the big guns, you’ll survive, but there won’t be much for you. - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.z</ref><ref>“On that note, Anthem Tedd, Grayson Hennigar, and a few key others will be arriving shortly,” Rook announced. “They’ll want to see Matthew. We might stall, but that’s a dangerous proposition. They are very good at what they do and they are very focused. Every second we can buy while Matthew asserts control over his Demesne after the ritual will be critical. If they’re going to breach it, it will be right after.” - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.13</ref> (Although he's primarily based in Wisconsin, he operates in many locations, including several in Canada.)<ref name=":0" /> Possibly stronger than Musser in a straight fight, but begrudgingly admits that he's weaker overall.<ref>“And he’s stronger than you.”

Anthem smiled wide at that. “Perhaps.”

“You could maybe beat him in a straight-up fight, but he’s stronger in virtually everything else, right?”
[...]
“I will concede Musser has more connections, tools, and other things than I have.” - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.14</ref> He's extremely wealthy and successful at his trade.<ref name="17.xe1" /><ref>“What does he do?” Avery’s dad asked.

“For a living?”

“For a living.”

“Uhhh, the sort of things you do if you can kick ass and then you go looking for excuses to use that in your work. Bounty hunting, being a bodyguard,” Verona replied.

“Survivalist stuff,” Avery said. “Hunting. Had his daughters hunt and forage for their own food for a while before they came to the summer thing.”

“I’m picturing a militia guy, living out of a trailer,” Avery’s dad said.

“So… more like a millionaire,” Verona replied. “All that stuff? He does it for and with people with power.”

“That doesn’t mean all that much,” Avery’s mom said. “A lot of homeowners in the cities became accidental millionaires when housing prices became what they are.”

“Pretty sure he’s a millionaire in a way that matters much,” Verona said. - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.12</ref> Samaniego is of the opinion that Anthem should be killed on sight.<ref>“One of the Tedds, wasn’t it?” Samaniego asked. “You did the imprisoning? Correct me if I’m wrong.”

Avery, already having taken another bite, not wanting this meal to get cold, because it would be gross cold, wanting the meal to be done quickly so she would be freer to talk, counted it as lucky she had an excuse not to reply.
[...]
“Her town got attacked. Again. And the only practitioners I know of who have been gone for that long are the Tedds. Anthem Tedd, America Tedd. Liberty Tedd briefly, but she got out, she goes back for visits. Again, correct me if I’m wrong.”

Avery swallowed, drank some iced tea, holding up a finger, then replied, “Yeah.”

“Why not kill him?” Mr. Samaniego asked. “He’s murdered before. Murders for which he’ll never see justice, because of the world he lives in, the favors he curries, the power and wealth he’s amassed. America Tedd isn’t a charmer either. Put bullets in ’em.” - Excerpt from Crossed With Silver 19.5</ref>

Appearance[edit]

Handsome, blonde and stubbly. Appears "of a type" with Abraham Musser, but more casual in clothing and demeanour.<ref>Mr. Anthem Tedd entered the room. Of a type with Abraham, but more relaxed in his clothing, he had stubble on his cheeks and blond hair, and he was more willing to smile. He clapped an arm around Hart’s shoulders.
[...]
Grayson, Anthem, and Musser weren’t cut from the same cloth so much as they were different fabrics used to fill in the same general outline. Where they differed was in particulars of style. Anthem looked more like the classic good looking dad of television, with the blond hair and intentional messiness of stubble, a plaid-printed shirt he’d left unbuttoned at the top, and face that seemed to have two modes- easy smile and concern. He looked concerned right now. - Excerpt from Fall Out 14.z</ref> He visibly resembles his daughters in looks, and is physically imposing.<ref>“I think America takes after him, so you can imagine that girl you dealt with, but like, way less vulgar, and also built like he belongs in an action movie, decades of training…” - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.12</ref><ref>Anthem walked over to the first animal, the sheep, and slit its throat. By sheer strength alone, he dragged it. A bloody streak traced the edge of the diagram, about a third of the way before it got thinner.
He’d reached the calf.

He slit its throat. The process that followed was the same. He dragged it.
[...]
He used the blade Braxton had given him to kill the first sheep.

He wasn’t as strong as Anthem Tedd was. He accepted help from Braxton, dragging the sheep around. - Excerpt from Fall Out 14.z</ref> When he visited Kennet, he carried a sword, and he put on a medieval helmet in order to abide by the rules of Kennet Found.<ref>He exhaled heavily, with an effect magnified by the medieval helmet he wore, visor down. [...] Anthem drew a sword from his hip, swinging in the same motion. - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.y</ref>

Abilities and Art[edit]

Described as a "dabbler in various battle practices, trophy hunter, weapons dealer" or a "sorcerer of fighting practices, warmonger".<ref name="14.ze1">Mr. Anthem Tedd entered the room. Of a type with Abraham, but more relaxed in his clothing, he had stubble on his cheeks and blond hair, and he was more willing to smile. He clapped an arm around Hart’s shoulders.
[...]
“I, Anthem Woodward Tedd, sorcerer of fighting practices, warmonger, first son of a first son of a first son, hereby make my claim,” he pronounced. - Excerpt from Fall Out 14.z</ref> More broadly, he can by be considered a "combat practitioner" or "War Mage".<ref name="17.xe1">The Cavendars weren’t a big family, but they were on the map. They didn’t earn enough to send kids to the Blue Heron, nor did they have the status to get in on merit alone. That owed mostly to the fact they scraped by as war mages with no ‘real’ job and none of the high profile clients that the Hennigars and Anthem Tedd managed.
[...]
At the mention of his name, Anthem glanced over. He nodded once, as if in answer to Sawyer’s question.

Oh.

What did they all have in common? They were all combat practitioners. War mages. - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.x</ref>

He uses his sight to aid him in combat and show him trajectories, lines of effects and area of effects. He normally uses this to assisted him with aiming firearms and over weaponry.<ref> drew his gun, using his Sight as he swept the area. He didn’t have much use for the investigative side of the Sight, so he’d tuned it into something complementary to various tools and practices. Trajectories, lines of effect, areas that would be included in any blasts. A laser sight or laser guidance for anything, whether it was a gun or a large scale explosive. Incoming or outgoing.- Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.c</ref>

He has the ability to break through magical Law that would prevent violence, claiming that he represents an older Law, that of trial by combat.<ref name=":2">Anthem was apparently not hunting Miss anymore.

“It’s no-violence, right?”

“A rule Anthem can break,” Avery said.

“Didn’t know that part. Will he break it?”

“Don’t think so,” Verona said.
[...]
Musser was talking to Anthem. Anthem’s skin was covered in papers, and they’d pressed down hard enough that it looked like extensions of flesh rather than something on the outside of that flesh. - Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.1</ref> This happen in no small part because of months of work with Musser on the latters Lordship campaign.<ref>“It’s Law.”

“It’s your Law. I draw my power from older Law, closer to the Seal. It stands as a basic principle, of competition, violence, and duels. Dig deep enough in most bodies of law and Law, there is always a right to trial by combat. It supercedes.”
[...]
“Respectfully…” Anthem said. Then he finished the sentence by throwing the knife. He was hit by five pieces of red paper in the course of the throwing motion, and something in reality cracked and grated against itself as he pushed through with the final part of it.
[...]
“Anthem pushed past the Law of Kennet found,” Nicolette said. “He’s got a lot of clout, helped by the fact he’s had a long string of victories, defending territories. Apparently enough to make it happen. The Founder is wounded.” - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.y</ref>

He has a Practice that generates a magic circle in front of a projectile he's using and then divides it, duplicating the projectile and aiming it at the vitals of dozens of targets simultaneously.<ref>Practice caught the knife as it left his hand, a magic circle eating the knife on its way to turning fractal, twelve similar circles converging on one another before spreading out.

Twenty-four knives flew out. One for each Other at the front of the crowd. Everyone that wasn’t protected by an Other standing in front of them was caught- knives to the heart or forehead.

He took a step forward and three more writs plastered themselves to him. Gun drawn, practice flowing, moving around the weapon. Magic circles found their alignment like missile targeting systems in a movie dogfight.

He shot down the center of the crowd. The bullet went through at least ten more Others, and dropped Miss to the ground, hole in her chest. Heart-shot. - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.y</ref> A similar Practice will duplicate a melee weapon and then levitate the copies<ref>The Fae turned, swatting the blade out of the air as it speared in. An awkward strike, owing to those injuries. The blade was hit hard enough that it cut through the cards.

It didn’t matter.

Every single card in the arena, scattered, had been turned into a duplicate.

A cold iron blade suspended in air, willing to strike. - Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.c</ref> that can then travel into a target at speeds most would find too fast to dodge.<ref>Anthem drew a paper from one pocket, glanced at it, then held a sword with palm flat under the blade, at roughly eye level. When he pulled his hand away, it suspended there for a moment, then dropped down about two feet to the waiting hand. At set intervals, it duplicated itself. Five swords horizontally suspended in the air.

He tapped the butt end of one blade, and it flew forward, the others chasing it.

Too fast to dodge, moving with enough force that the blade pierced chest and sank down to the handle. Right through the heart. The other blades caught throat, leg, shoulder, and belly. - Excerpt from Fall Out 14.z</ref>

He has also shown the ability to create Simulacra that generate copies of himself based on certain aspects of himself.<ref> - Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.c</ref>

Tools[edit]

He has a variety of spell cards; one relays to him the state of his weapons as well as other information about them,<ref>Pulling out a card, he touched it to the gun, unraveling it into a series of dark lines. It became a dark, inky sketch on the card, with words surrounding it, describing its state and various details of the weapon, including how recently he’d acquired it and the care he’d given it. He could angle the card and let the scribbled, barely-legible text drift across the surface, giving other information. It would need a good clean, with plastic caught in the rifling and mechanism. - Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.c</ref> or allow him to put temporary enchantments on his weapons,<ref>He sorted through some spell cards. Temporary enchantments he could lay on the blade, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
[...]
He took the temporary enchantments out of his jacket. Each inscribed on a paper, papers all placed together, with a clip to secure them. There were tabs at the side, and each was marked with a symbol that let him identify them in a moment, their backs heavily decorated.
[...]
Anthem tossed them into the air. [...] Anthem speared two cards with the knife as he twisted in the air. - Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.c</ref> still others serve as an inventory space that lets him hold various weapons and or magic items,<ref>His card became a gun.
[...]
Anthem reached into his coat for cards, pulled one out and whipped it at his counterpart. The man glanced momentarily at it, then shook it out, until it became a leather thong and a small bag. - Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.c</ref> Examples include:

The Cat's Eye Sling, a sling designed to penetrate augury.<ref>The Cat’s Eye Sling is good at penetrating augury. Every augury has a tell, and if you catch the right one, you can punch right through to catch the person on the other side.- Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.c</ref>
Thread Cutter, a knife that when it hits something ricochets of the target, following the line of connection.<ref>He pulled a card out. Thread Cutter. A knife.

He shook it into existence and threw it hard at the fallen simulacrum’s body.

It ricocheted off, chasing the connection to the girl who had stabbed him. - Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.c</ref>

On one occasion, he used a shotgun loaded with inscribed pellets that he could then recall with a diagram, glowing with energy and doing subtantially more damage on the way out.<ref>The rune on the paper glowed.

And so did the shotgun pellets, those buried in flesh and those that had missed the target, scattering to road and wall behind the Other.

Every single pellet darted toward the rune, leaving a streak of light and smoke behind it. Nearly every single one did more damage to the Other on the return. - Excerpt from Fall Out 14.z</ref>

Chronology[edit]

Background[edit]

Mercenary that has worked across North America.

Married to a woman named Vicky who he had two daughters with.

He has ended up imprisoned in what was a presumably mundane jail at some point.<ref>“My dad doesn’t get me. He loves me but he doesn’t get me, so he goes and gets sent to jail sometimes and crap, and he’ll ask how I’m doing and if I need anything, but he won’t… he doesn’t care.” - Excerpt from Vanishing Points 8.7</ref>

Post-Carmine Contest[edit]

He helped Abraham Musser with his lordship plan.<ref>- Fall Out 14.z</ref>

He attacked Miss whilst investigating Kennet Found, killing multiple Foundlings in the process.<ref>- Gone and Done It 17.y</ref> He got several writs because of his actions such that he would have to serve several months if he ever came back.

He fought with Lucy after he disowned Liberty Tedd, the battle ended with him agreeing to take civility courses in Kennet Found, having to serve the three months that he got. During that time he reforged his bond with his daughters.<ref>“And McCauleigh is supposed to go home,” Verona said.

“Liberty went home, I think she had her fill of her dad and her sister,” Avery said. “But in a good and healthy way. They’re still in touch.” - Excerpt from Crossed With Silver 19.1</ref>

References[edit]