Story of the Hat (Hatman1801's page)

Hatman1801, formerly known as RunicOathkeeper, has been an avid RPer for years and years through a variety of different mediums. This is a recollection of his history, some of his recurring characters, and a few tidbits of his personal life.

Origins
Before getting into how Hatman came to Shenanilands or even VGLan, we should recount how he got into Roleplaying in general. Well, it's quite simple really. He had a fondness for it since the dawn of mankind, back when...some stuff, blah blah. You know the drill. He originally began his actually-knew-what-it-was Roleplaying ventures on MMORPGs, mainly Warcraft 3. Throughout much of his early teenage years, he would spend night after night awake until the wee hours of the morning, RPing under a variety of different themes with a number of different people; although mostly it was your recurring "Rescue the girl, deal with personal dramas, overcome, live happily ever after." Eventually, however, he came across a group of people who did things slightly differently. Rather than making games and being restricted to the models and limitations that a game provides, he was introduced to "Text based RPing". This quickly enamoured him and he became obsessive with it...and with the people. He Godmodded and complained, but his RP comrades were kind, and showed him the error of his ways. However, childishly (as he was a child), he altered his age and personality to seem more appealing to the people he would RP with. He wanted to fit in, instead of being an annoying tag-a-long brat. After spending a few years RPing over Warcraft 3, however, he realized an error. He couldn't maintain his mask anymore as the lies about who he really was piled on. Coincidentially, this occured right at the change from 8th grade to 9th, which in his state means Middle School to High School. It gave his persona the reason of college to disappear, and his RP reign ended as he dropped the MMOs in favor of a sleep schedule that would let him get up way-too-early in the morning.

That didn't last long at all, of course. He's a freaking psychopath, I tell you. High School got him into another MMO (thanks to some British kid who he thought was quite cute), and another roleplaying medium. World of Warcraft, of course, as stereotypes must be upheld and Blizzard Entertainment must make more money off of this sap. He met some people on there who lived unusually close to him for a worldwide game, who also enjoyed the art of RPing. Now, dear readers, I must warn you. The next several lines are of a horrific and graphic nature, and those with weak hearts should turn away now.

His new RP buddy, a rather psychotic and sexually obsessed fangirl by the internet name of Shinoburi...or something. He doesn't remember, it was some spinoff of Shinobi. Damn vowels. Anyway, and the actual name of Marie. She wrapped him into her fold like an innocent little butterfly caught in a spider's web, where she corrupted him, something to this day he regrets. Ignoring gory details, he roleplayed as Maito Gai, Kakashi, Naruto, Iruka, his first fancharacter, and, when her interests shifted, Dante and Kyrie of the DevilMayCry series. He wouldn't have the oppertunity to visit her specifically in real life, although he did meet her friends on a very fun occasion (she had some lame excuse involving lameness). Eventually, his maturity grew and her depraivity increased, ending with her losing almost all of her friends, and Hatman would never RP with her again, although her now-ex best friend would keep him updated on her status of life. Which was tragically brought upon herself. But this freakin' article isn't about her, it's about HATMAN and his RPing. So he was introduced to fancharacters at that point, yada yada. Moral of this paragraph; obsessive fangirls are evil.

So, he lost another RP buddy after the year of her enthrallment, but he dredged on, finding the occasional RP on that money-whoring MMO known as World of Warcraft. It was a sad environment, until he stumbled across a Newgrounds video known as Super Mario Bros Z. He liked Super Mario Bros...and he liked Dragonball Z...so this was a double-whammy of delight for him! He didn't obsess over it, but he did lose his patience with Alvin and his "Herpity derp, episode 7 is going to take A BAJILLION YEARS". He wanted some kind of update of what was taking the flash animator...so, he clicked on this little link that lead him to VGLan. Hatman had never really delved into foruming; he didn't see the attraction. But he wandered around aimlessly across the boards, under something he came up with that sounded cool at the time, RunicOathkeeper (what a damn mouthfull). And then he came across the RP board. It was here he made some connections, participated in a few RPs, and was rather content, if poor at being an active and contributing member. Unfortunately, real life reared it's ugly head, and he had to discontinue foruming...and most of everything fun on the computer. He quit World of Warcraft, let himself die out on the forum, but did manage to get his RP fix thanks to connections made on WoW to a couple of chumps. No fancharacters from these two, no sir, although the strange little Canadian with the internet name of neko-sora-chan would occasionally try to slip one by. Like a Kamen Rider he managed to sneak into a futuristic RP since the other chumpette didn't quite know or care what it was. He also got the MSN address of an RPer on VGLan known as Jensoman...he was a little eccentric sometimes, but Hatman liked that.

Fast forwarding, his life had managed to settle down. He had his RP fix, and was just kind of lounging around one day when Jensoman sent him a conversation invite on MSN. This wasn't uncommon, as the Mario fan was occasionally asking him for advice on this or just wanting someone to talk to. Jensoman mentioned that he was making a forum, and Hatman quirked his eyebrow. A fresh start. An artistic medium to appreciate. Skeptical yet hopeful, Hatman became the fourth member of Shenanilands, abandoning the title of RunicOathkeeper for something reflecting his current fashin interest, hats, and the number 1801, which...has no real meaning other than being a number. Everything seemed to turn out splendidly. Mandew's insightfulness and Jensoman's eccentric invitations would quickly bring members to the forum, a few of which Hatman recognized, although he wasn't always recognized in return. He proceeded to post the forum's first short story, The Dream, which seemed to kick a lot of writers into gear. When the members were below ten, he would compete with SSJZach for most number of posts, but Hatman is a very relaxed breed. He calmed down once he ran out of important things to say. And to this day he remains, RPing, commenting occasionally, but mostly just watching creativity spread and psychos on Chatango yell at eachother.

Recurring Characters
Hatman, unlike most members of Shenanilands, hasn't had much of an opportunity to create a recurring character, and consequently, a sprite for the character. He has had some in the past, but they were mostly based on the medium used, and so the restrictions bound him. They will be listed here though, in chronological order. (Please note, I'm not going to explain what everything is, just that it is.)

Alvios Windripper:
Hatman's original Warcraft roleplay character, Alvios was a Night Elf-Half Demon, born from a mild Inuyasha influence. He was the most powerful recurring character, fighting with twin crystal broadswords passed down from his father, and the raging, burning energy of his mother. Reckless and excited for battle, Alvios was often first to get smacked in the face in a fight, much to the facepalming of the other characters, until displaying skill and overwhelming power. He became married to an elf, Shard, a sorceress. He possessed a rivalry with the Red Dragon Sulfrax, whom had tried to make Shard his bride early on in the story arc, and a brother of sorts, Dark, a sporadic, wandering character born of Alvios' hate, which he discarded out of desire to keep Shard safe. He became father to twins, a girl and a boy, who would appear in the next arc of the story. Alvios had no recurring enemies, as Sulfrax became tame and Dark was unable to destroy his brother due to Shard's power. Any other villians were defeated until they discontinued with their ploys. (Side note: Alvios' name became one of Hatman's favorites, and he would use it for several other temporary characters)

Fenrious Lunaedge (Fenri):
Alvios Windripper's grandchild, Fenri is a horrid algamation of Night Elf, High Elf, Demon, and Werewolf, due to his mother, Alvios' daughter, being into that sort of thing. He looks alright though, although the ears, tail, and fangs didn't go well with his slender features. Fenri learned how to fight from Sulfrax and Dark, using his own claws rather than blades. Fenri didn't see much character development due to the particular RP ending suddenly, which kinda sucked for him. He pretty much fought some chick and that was it. Poor horrible little critter.

Faehran Maeti (Faefae-chan):
Faehran was Hatman's first fan-character, who took residence in the strange world of Shinobiryu's (or something's) RP. Mainly a Naruto character, Faehran was out on a mission from the Kirigakure village at a young age when generic protagonist Orochimaru came and tested a new jutsu on the unwilling targets, and Fae's squad. Originally horrified, Orochimaru took the boy back to his lair of the Hidden Sound village, where he was used as a test subject of Orochimaru's. He had created an artificial Bijuu, contemplating that the massive amount of power he witnessed Naruto use to defeat Gaara would be better suited for him, especially if he could control it. He was successful in creating the beast, the eight-headed serpent Orochi. Sealing the creation within Faehran, Orochimaru intended to possess his body, until a side effect occured; he could not possess a body which already housed two personalities. Instead, Faehran went through more backstory bull, and was sent to Konohagakure as an emissary of the Rain, while secretly spying on the village. He came to work in the service of an entrepreneur named Nikki, an extremely wealthy and influental woman, and the aforementioned Shinogaga's main character. An ex shinobi herself, Faehran stood by as a witness, adviser, and bodyguard as she went through man after man; Gai, Kakashi, and even a demon slayer named Dante, developing a strong friendship in the woman's servitude although ridiculing her possessive behavior. When Dante arrived, he felt the need to pass along the information of the man's power to Orochimaru, who came himself to try and capture the man and tap into this new power, except blah blah this is getting too long and isn't worth it. TL;DR, STUPID FAN CHARACTER.

Zelivanth:
Shitty World of Warcraft character with a generic Death Knight backstory made to RP-and-play-WoW at the same time with a buddy. It's not important. So, he gets the shortest section ever medal.

Noel:
Awww yeah, shit just got real. Hatman's first character on the Shenanilands forum, Noel seems to be popping up everywhere, from Fate to Universal Tournaments to Xion to DB Kai! Noel was originally created for Fate, as is a mild tribute to Hazama from BlazBlue in terms of fighting style and outfit. However, Hatman enjoys the outfit regardless of who wears it, and the only thing she's stolen is the character's signature attack, which is a chain of energy that pulls Hazama to a location or a character to Hazama depending on button input. The Tama-no-Orochi and Silent Tears techniques aren't terrifyingly original, but they make due while Hatman works on his next character. Noel suffers from memory loss, in more RPs than one. She puts on the confidence of a Mafia gangster and the casuality of a poker player, however it is mostly a farce. Her lack of memory has left her very unstable, so much so that the power she possesses seems to be possessing her instead. A lapse in her concentration leaves her at the mercy of the untamed power, and while the outbursts are short, the results are devastating. This has made Noel feel isolated, as she does not want to endanger others.

My God that section was way too long. I probably forgot some but, eh. No harm done.

Holy Arceus in a Tutu, Hatman Behind the Screen!
General stuff. Yeah, so...I guess I should talk about myself as a person. My name's Caleb, I'm 17 and I live in Florida. I'm a High School dropout for medical reasons, as during my Sophomore year I began having seizures, and it's hard to stay in school when you spend most of your time with uncomfortable auras. I have an older brother who's moved out, and two siblings at the ages of 4, my sister, and 3, my brother, from my mother's second marriage. I have a Graduate Equivilency Diploma, from a course I took back in November and finished in early February, so don't think I'm a bum. I can not drive, since they wouldn't let me get my permit back when I was in school due to seizures, and they wouldn't give it to me when the seizures were controlled due to being a dropout. I only got my diploma back in May, but life issues have prevented me from getting transportation TO the DMV to get it now. Woe is me.

Hobbies, eh. I play lots of video games, although not as many as I would like, since my mother stole my Wii once she realized she could exercise without going outside (DAMN YOU WIIFIT). Right now all I have is my wittle DS Lite and my PS3, which is lacking in the truly amazing games department. I try to write at least one short story a month, although whether or not I like it is debatable. I used to draw, mostly in an anime/fantasy style, but I'm shamefully not too great. I read...a lot. I'll read just about anything. Hell, that's mostly what I did in school. Sat there, reading books, ignoring the teacher, then Ace-ing the tests. Silly teachers, all your base are belong to us.

Currently, I'm helping my mother deal with family issues like a good little son, waiting for the opportunity to move out of her drama-life and get a job.

== Super Special tl;dr Section!!! == I'm just your average guy. I have ups, I have downs, I've been through some shit but so has everyone else. We are all born, we all die. That's the beginning and end of every story. It's what we do with it that counts. Times change, world changes. But people...people themselves decide whether to change or not.