Cog Kleinschmidt

"'It's nothing to do with me.'"

Cog is the protagonist of Clockwork, who has lived within Mercia Fortress for the past seven years.

Bio
Cog was a handyman in Mercia Fortress, doing odd jobs and living peacefully. However, during a summit between the representatives of Mercia and the enemy kingdom of Arcadia, Cog is blackmailed and forced to move to the elusive kingdom.

Despite being rather friendly and caring, Cog is apathetic about most things that don’t involve him. He secludes himself away, assuring himself that it’s nothing to do with him - that it’s too big for him to understand.

History
As a child, Cog lived a happy life with his father and older sister in a village of Meriden. After an incident that took the life of his father and sister, Cog was relocated to Mercia Fortress for immediate questioning. After absentmindedly fixing one of the soldier's broken pocket watches when it was placed near him on the desk, they decided to move Cog into the fortress temporarily as an artisan - until they could figure out what to do with him.

During this time, Cog met his new neighbour, Christian. To make sure Cog had enough money to pay rent, Christian begun the habit of breaking his own pocket watch on a daily basis in order to supply Cog with the money to continue living in the fortress.

During this time, Cog became friends with Mercia's prince, Boris. The two have since become best friends.

Going to Arcadia
When Alexander visits Mercia on diplomatic business, Cog learns that his father once helped saved Alexander's life. Alexander claims that he never got to thank Cog's father personally before he died, and offers Cog a job as his personal assistant to repay his debt of gratitude.

Despite Cog's unwillingness to leave his home, he still proudly tells all his friends about the job offer, hoping they'll be impressed and proud of him. However, everyone in the fortress instead just thinks it a terrible idea and chides him for even considering the offer. Though frustrated and resentful at having his genuine excitement and pride scoffed at, Cog still returns to Alexander that night to decline his offer

However, rather than accepting his decision, Alexander simply proceeds to blackmail Cog instead, showing his true colors. Alexander reveals that he is a magic user, plagued with a magical affliction that is slowly killing him - and believes that Cog has the power to save him. Alexander tells Cog after taking his affliction to Amalric - who secretly used healing magic to aid his work as a doctor - he was turned away and left to die. After proving that Cog has indeed inherited his father's magical prowess, Alexander forces Cog to accompany him to Arcadia, under threat of exposing him to Mercia as a magic user.

Relationships
Christian - Christian is Cog's unofficial guardian, who looks after him and makes sure he has enough money to live (by deliberately destroying his own pocket watch so he can pay Cog to fix it), and has since the day Cog arrived at the fortress. Cog views Christian as an older brother or pseudo-parent, and has accidentally called Christian "Dad" at least twice.

Boris - Boris and Cog didn't become friends until about seven months after Cog moved into the fortress, when Cog gave Boris a pocketwatch as a gift. Boris was always late to his lessons and his personal tutor was very strict, so he would always hide under the same stairwell until class was over. Cog found him one day and asked what he was doing, and because Boris was an asocial child, he explained and then told Cog to go away. Cog gifted Boris with a pocket watch so he would be on time, and they have been close friends ever since.

Alexander - Cog was initially very interested in Alexander, and flattered that he would offer to give him a place as his personal assistant.

After Alexander showed his true colours and insulted Cog's father, Cog threatened to tell the emperor about Alexander's magical inclination, effectively taunting Alexander with death (his biggest fear), but was ultimately subdued. After these events, Cog hates Alexander and takes any chance to employ sarcasm or insult his new boss. Alexander's indifference to Cog's attempts to hurt his feelings only make Cog dislike him more.

Amalric - Cog is proud of what his father did for a living and holds him in high-esteem. Although Amalric is dead, Cog continues to write letters to him as if he's still alive and just temporarily away and Cog is just writing to keep him updated as a way for Cog to let some feelings out that he might otherwise keep bottled up. The letters go under into a box under his bed, and while Cog continues to keep some things bottled up inside him, the letter writing helps. At least once a year Cog will go back to his hometown to visit his family's graves, and Christian and Boris always accompany him.

Trivia
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 * He doesn't like his birth name because there isn’t any real emotion behind it to him, whereas he associates the nickname Cog with his father and sister.
 * His favorite color is orange
 * His favorite animals are rabbits
 * He has a near-photographic memory for anything that has been written down. However, he dislikes reading.
 * He's ambidextrous
 * Cog is bisexual
 * He knows first-aid thanks to Christian, but would struggle to apply the knowledge in an emergency because of his tendency to panic.
 * His favorite food is gingerbread. His least favorite food is fish.
 * His surname literally means "little smith", and more specifically is an occupational surname for crafters of small metal objects or tools.
 * People in the docks wear jumpsuits for work, and Cog had to begin wearing one when he did maintenance there. He found it comfy and light/easy to wear, so he had actual clothes made in the same style.
 * His zodiac sign is Cancer.