Hari Kumar

APPEARANCE

He is short and relatively slight in stature, but wiry and deceptively strong. (About 5’5” and 135 lbs.) He has medium brown skin, brown eyes, black hair and a short beard. In animal form he is an Indian wolf weighing just under 80 lbs., very large for that species but still small by gray/timber wolf standards. His coat is sandy brown with dark gray highlights on the back and shoulders. He looks a bit like an over-sized coyote:

BACKGROUND

Hari’s ancestors were a minor lineage of Uratha and wolfblooded in India. They were of low status in both werewolf and human society. As shapeshifters they were considered lesser because they were descended from the smaller, less powerful Indian Wolf ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_wolf ) instead of the Eurasian Gray Wolf as was the case with the more dominant lineages. (This distinction far predates Hinduism and the supposed "Aryan Invasion," although the werewolves later identified themselves with castes as they became more socialized with humans.) As humans they were of low caste, often working as tinkers, scavengers and junk collectors. Hari’s family worked as shipbreakers at a port in Gujarat. His parents were killed in a workplace accident while he was still an infant, and he was put up for adoption.

(Hari (then named Paul) was adopted by an American family, the Kennedys. He had a mostly normal upper middle class childhood in Los Angeles, as part of a happy and loving family. There were still times when he felt apart. The only brown person in a white family. The only Indian in his most of his school classes. He was even an outsider among other Indian-Americans, lacking so many of their shared experiences. Beyond all of that, there was simply the lingering sense that he was different in some undefinable way… From a young age he was fascinated by India and things Indian, wanting to know more and more about where he came from. He carried this on into his education, with the encouragement of his parents, who were both academics. He majored in History at UCLA and then attended graduate school at Stanford, pursuing a PhD in History with specialties in South Asia and Archaeology.

For a long while, Hari thrived in graduate school. He had always had an interest in finding lost things and mysterious bits and pieces, so both historical research and archaeology fascinated him. He also got involved with “living history” and re-enactments, especially learning “hands-on” about the ancient and medieval metal working techniques that were the focus of his research. Tinkering and gadgets had been another of his childhood interests… He completed coursework and comprehensive exams, but problems set in while he worked on his dissertation. Hari’s First Change was late in coming, but it was coming, along with all of the usual emotional warning signs. He was prone to strange moods, to alternating outbreaks of euphoria and depression, to strange thoughts and stranger dreams. Naturally, his academic performance suffered. A long-simmering dispute over the direction of his research came to a head… and one evening he was summoned to his advisor’s office to receive the news that his funding would not be renewed. That’s where things got hairy. Literally. Hari ended the discussion by throwing the professor out a window. His career as a werewolf was off to a smashing start…

The professor’s injuries were not life-threatening (fortunately his office was only on the second floor), but Hari was still charged with aggravated assault, and even after a plea bargain he was facing two years in prison. Just days before he was supposed to report and begin his sentence, he was approached by a group of strangers and offered a choice. He could come with them. Or... Their leader pulled back his jacket to reveal a large pistol. Their kind did not do well in prison. And Hari was such a pretty little boy. What did he think would happen when somebody tried to make a bitch (no pun intended) out of him? It would get… messy. That’s just the kind of mess the People didn’t need. So, one way or the other, he’s not going to jail. It’s “for the good of the order” as you academics like to say… So Hari went with them, and he was recruited into the Iron Masters.

Hari spent the next two and a half years in Las Vegas, learning the basics of werewolf society. He was given a new identity (He chose the name “Hari Kumar” after a main character from the “Jewel in the Crown” novels and TV series. It was totally average and easy to pronounce). He found a job, even if working in a body shop was a long way from teaching in a college classroom. He found a place as a pack Omega. But not all was well. Even in this strange new setting he was a bit unusual. He was an intellectual and an introvert in a very martial and macho subculture. Some in the community wondered if he belonged at all. And he was gay. That was not a huge problem in his previous life, growing up and working with liberals and academics, but not all Uratha were so progressive. His sexuality left him in an odd place. Was he allowed to court other werewolves, since their relationship could not produce offspring? Well, if he was going to do that, his Alpha might not have been the best place to start… When his romance with the pack leader was uncovered, it was decided that it would be best if he left Las Vegas and started over somewhere else. For the good of the order, you know…