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Sal Bryhme
The Radio Host
Sal Bryhme
The Radio Host
24
Male (ftm)
Sal Anthony Bryhme
Legally speaking, his full first name is not actually Sal, but an unstated name which Sal is a shortening of.
Bryhme
The rebellion
Shep Magden, after Shep himself is killed.
Sal
Savior
Sal
Anthony
Priceless One
An-thon-ee
Bryhme
N/A
Bryhme
Human
Average height, heavy build
Above average
Light with olive undertones
5'6"
Dark brown
Brown
Slightly unkempt, wavy.
Some stubble.
Heavy scarring on his right leg, which left him with a limp.
Has a fairly big scar running across most of his right leg from getting it tangled in barbed wire in his twenties and left him a slight limp on bad days. Gruff, gravelly voice.
Sal is...an acquired taste, to put it nicely. He's impulsive, cynical, loud-mouthed, aggressive, and has a stubborn streak a mile long. He spends his days either working a grueling factory job, picketing government buildings, or carrying on his father's radio broadcast in an attempt to radicalize more people against the Wolsian government. Despite the act he puts on, when it comes to interpersonal relationships, Sal is very insecure and awkward. He can barely express his feelings for Helsha Schmidt without stumbling over his words, not that she's much better at it. Beneath his gruff exterior, Sal is someone who genuinely cares very deeply about his loved ones and is deeply dedicated to the cause, to the point of putting himself at risk for it. He tries to keep his cynicism in check, although it's difficult given how overwhelming the bad news can be. He works best around other people who can keep him in check, but his personality makes teamwork difficult. Has a tendency to panic when something doesn't go according to plan, and when he's panicked, he tends to lash out.
Tendency to over-gesticulate when he's getting really invested in what he's talking about. Not great at modulating his voice--he tends to have one volume and it's loud.
While his show is very much not for everyone, Sal is...not charismatic, per say, in the way Shepherd Magden is, but good at rallying support for a cause. He can throw and take a punch and although he's not in great shape, he can hold his own in a fight. He played the trumpet as a teen and while out of practice, he's still okay at it.
To take down the Wolsian empire with whatever means necessary
Spends almost all of his free time working on rebellion-related stuff, but also enjoys music, whether practicing it or listening to it/attending performances at local bars and clubs.
Impulsive, cynical, loud-mouthed, aggressive, stubborn. Tends to laser-focus onto a specific goal or task and not consider outcomes or implications. Although you wouldn't guess it by listening to his show, in private, Sal struggles with a lot of insecurity, namely in regards to himself as opposed to Shepherd Magden and his own relationship with Helsha Schmidt .
Against those in higher-up positions on any planet's government, especially those that refuse to help out the less well-off.
Sal was born on Wols to Julietta Magden and Gideon Bryhme, a pair of factory workers who never actually married. Gideon hosted a radio show he called Bryhme Time in which he decried the government's treatment of workers, as well as its imperialism. From as far back as Sal can remember, he listened to his dad's rants, and when his father was killed in a strike bombing, Sal kept the recording equipment and decided to continue the show when he could.
Sal's father died when he was thirteen, and two years before that, his mother had died in a workplace fire. Now orphaned, he moved in with his maternal aunt Greta Magden and her sons Jerrik and Shepherd. The two had been close as children but drifted apart over the years, but now they were together again and formed a tight bond, one strengthened by their mutual dislike for the government.
Detour: Sal knew that he was transgender from an early age and transitioned socially at around seven. At 18 he received an injection that basically served to alter the estrogen produced by his body into testosterone, but his coverage did not extend to any surgeries and he couldn't afford them on his own, so he saves what he can to put towards top surgery.
As the new host of Bryhme Time and a notorious picketer, Sal got into his fair share of brawls, most of which he could handle. His abrasiveness and unwillingness to compromise led to a lot of very public arguments that sometimes escalated into fistfights. Once Shep joined up with him as a more mellow, digestible counterpart, this lessened. Sal, Shep, and Helsie worked with the galactic resistance movement to hit the Wolsian government where they could, but Sal wasn't satisfied with how it was going. Soon an idea began to form: what if he cut the flower at the root and killed the Director? As the figurehead and leader of Wols, taking her out of the picture would derail any government attempts to imperialize other planets for at least a bit. He tentative suggested the idea to Shep, who surprisingly agreed, and so they set to work.
Sal and Shep confronted the Director late at night and held her at gunpoint, but Sal couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger. As he stood there, he realized how stupid the idea had been--someone else would just take her place, possibly someone worse, and nothing would change. He began to try and de-escalate the situation but Shep fired--and the bullet had no effect. The two ran and got separated in the chaos, and Sal later learned that Shep had been killed in a shootout with one of the Director's bodyguards. He and Helsie reluctantly fled Wols for Kauff, hoping to evade capture.
Decent. He can read, write, and do basic math, but he didn't have much of a formal education.
April 3rd
Julietta Magden and Gideon Bryhme (both deceased)
Art credit to the makowka character maker II Picrew by makowka
- Another National Anthem (Assassins, specifically the 1990 recording): Even ignoring the musical's name, this song fits Sal to a T, namely the parts sung by Byck. Not only does the sentiment fit, but the voice does too--and if you imagine the Balladeer to be Shep, it hurts a lot more. Genuinely, if I put the lyrics that fit him it'd be almost the entire song.
- Have It Your Way (Assassins 2004): Average Bryhme Time episode. Alright, I jest, but the sentiments expressed (and the passion with which they're delivered) are similar. The line at the end especially: "...and then where are we? Who do we believe? What do we do?! We do the only thing we can do. We kill [the Director]." Also I think his voice would sound something like this.
- Governator (Green Day): This one just feels very much like a sentiment he'd share and also a song he'd play on the show.
- The Dance of the Flowers (The Nutcracker): I genuinely could not explain this one if I tried. I think the connection in my mind is that I was super into The Nutcracker while I was developing Sal and so it stuck.
- Hand Me My Shovel, I'm Going In (Will Wood and the Tapeworms): Again, can't explain this one coherently it just fits.
- Wrecking Ball (Mother Mother): Self-explanatory.
His broadcasting set, a hand-me-down from his late father
Helsha Schmidt
Shepherd Magden
Helsha Schmidt
Shepherd Magden (cousin)
Bears
His fists or a knife.
Radio host, factory worker, revolutionary
Staunchly anarchist. Anti-capitalist, although he can't really be defined more specifically than that due to the sci-fi setting.
Agnostic in the sense of "if there was ever a higher power, they either don't care anymore or they're dead".
Burgundy
Honestly anything filling. His family can't afford to be picky.
Shepherd Magden : Shep and Sal are close in the way an older and younger brother are--they're not best friends or anything, but they look out for each other. Shep pushed Sal into actually confessing his feelings for Helsie, and Sal radicalized Shep to anarchism. As Shep gained renown for being a cute, charismatic guy who made revolution palatable, Sal grew to be a bit resentful of him--after all, what would Shep be without him? Nothing. But after a while this lessened as the two matured. Sal blames himself for Shep's untimely death, as he was the one who proposed the idea of the assassination but couldn't make himself follow through, and was separated from Shep in the ensuing chaos. Before he fled the planet, he learned that Shep had been fatally shot by the Director's bodyguards. Sal went on to use Shep's name on his broadcasts to keep his revolutionary fervor alive.
Helsha Schmidt : Helsie and Sal have known each other since childhood, but were never especially close--she was always Jer's friend, not his. This changed when Helsie became engaged to Jer for a marriage of convenience and moved in with the family, including Sal. The two began to work together on the broadcasts and soon became friends. Although Sal knew the impending marriage was just one for tax benefits, he couldn't help but feel guilty about his burgeoning feelings for Helsie, especially after two tragedies struck the household in rapid succession: Helsie's sister Madrigal was killed in a horrific factory accident, and Jer blamed himself. The grief was too much for him, and he committed suicide. After Jer's death, Helsie and Sal grew apart (mostly due to Sal distancing himself from her) but came back together when Helsie decided that she wanted in on this revolutionary business. The two began to work together even more closely than before and eventually confessed their feelings for each other.