"Santa Claus is real and he's dead." ― Kugrash
Kugrash, formerly known as Bruce Kugrich, is a resident of the New York Sewers and a protector of and speaker for all those who can't speak for themselves. He is played by Brian Murphy.
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Description[]
"I'm Kugrash. I look like kind of a fucked-up Master Splinter. I've got like a hooked, humpback. I"m two feet tall, I'm a rat man. I've got like a rusty metal staff that looks like a pipe. And I wear rags made of discarded MTA employee clothes.
I live in the subway tunnels, I take care of the discarded people of New York, and the little beasts and the cockroaches. I am the shit that feeds the flies."
― Brian Murphy
Appearance[]
Kugrash appears for most of the series as a two foot tall, dirty rat man with matted fur wearing rags made from discarded clothing. In 'Pigeon Plus Ones', Sofia offers to detangle his fur. Kugrash tentatively agrees, and Sofie starts going at his fur, straightening it and trying to add some volume. By the end of this his fur is so poofy that he is beginning to look like a chinchilla. Later in the same episode, he asked Sofia to buy him a little suit off a doll to wear to the wedding. He also acquires the Rat King's crown in 'Scramble in the Sewers'.
To the Waking World[]
Kugrash is hidden behind the Umbral Arcana, and presumably to most of the waking world just looks like a large rat. However, on the occasion that Sofia detangled his fur and they went to a bar, he appeared as a baby that was so hairy that it upset the other customers, and they had to be asked to leave. This led to the invention of the 'Hairy Baby' scam.
Wild Shapes[]
Throughout the series, Kugrash wild shapes into a variety of animals including a sewer shark, bear with darts in it, a miniature King Kong with tiny biplanes flying around his head, a mutt with it's tongue permanently out and drooling saliva, and a 'balding' eagle with his feathers falling out.
Background[]
Bruce Kugrich had a job in finance in the 1980s, with which he worked hard to support his wife and two sons. However, at some point he focused too much on his job, and the greed it required of him. He partnered with a woman named Gabriela Sinclair to fund a school, but he embezzled the money and bet against the success of the impoverished school, simply because it was the more profitable move.
However, Gabriela Sinclair was a powerful magic-user, and cursed Bruce that his external form should match his greedy heart. Changed into a rat-man, Bruce was dropped into the Unsleeping City, the magical demimonde of New York. Surviving for years on self-pity and garbage, Bruce eventually found his empathy by looking out for the city's homeless. Not caring that anyone remembered his name properly, he became known as Kugrash.
History[]
Start Spreading the News[]
On the day of SantaCon, Kugrash was hiding from MTA workers, preparing to do his normal rounds of helping the homeless, when he found Sofie Bicicleta, passed out in an alleyway. Getting her food and shoes, the two realised they had met before, and that she had assumed he was a hallucination. At this point, they are met by Fred & Marty, two cockroaches, who informed Kugrash that a sleigh had crashed in Central Park and that Santa might be dead. Wanting to help, Kugrash and Sofie went to Central Park, and found the sleigh, crashed and surrounded by signs of struggle, and also someone had ripped something out of the dashboard. Taking evidence, Kugrash led Sofie to Misty Moore, a famous actress who does fae magic, to ask for knowledge, and then the three go the Gramercy Occult Society to get more info. Here, they were recruited to stop a Santa-related fracas in nearby Times Square.
Relationships[]
Wally Kugrich[]
One of Kugrash's sons, Wally was hurt by Kugrash leaving him as a child, but never gave up hope that he would come back. When they reunite, he initially mistakes his father for Rat Jesus, and believes that his biological father must have been a rat. He quickly makes up with Kugrash, and Kugrash starts living with Wally in 'Home for the Holidays'.
David Kugrich[]
Kugrash's other son, David is slower to forgive Kugrash, but still helps him to find information about Robert Moses. Kugrash frequently describes David as a 'ball buster', but is proud of the man he has grown up to be.
Perry the Pigeon[]
Kugrash asks Perry on a date to Ronald's wedding as friends, but Perry is worried that this will make him look pathetic. When Kugrash agrees to go on a date romantically, Perry admits that he has been dreaming of this day for a long time. Perry and Kugrash meet again at Grand Central Terminal in Home for the Holidays, when Kugrash continues to lead him on, and tries to get Perry to keep an eye on the pixies for him.
Sofia Bicicleta[]
Kugrash has a great relationship with Sofia and is the only one of the party to ever make it out to stay at her house in Staten Island. He took care of her on several occasions when she was passed out outside of bars, gave her an egg salad sandwich and made her shoes out of plastic bags, and they invented the 'Hairy Baby' scam together.
Gabriela Sinclair[]
Gabriela Sinclair was Kugrash's business partner in the 80's but he sold her out to make money himself. In her rage, she turned him into a rat, but this also triggered her curse and turned her into the Fury of Rage. In Hall of Heroes, Kugrash is able to use the crown of the Rat King to break the curse on the Sinclair family.
Santa Claus[]
Kugrash is good friends with Santa, and often receives parcels from Santa around the time of Santa Con to deliver to the homeless people around New York City. Despite this, his name is still written on the Naughty List until the end of the series, and Kugrash notices that it looks like it has been written there very cheerily and with no sense of guilt.
Trivia[]
- Instead of a bear, hawk and unicorn, Kugrash's spirit totems take the forms of a juicy cockroach, spicy pigeon, and unicorn.
- Kugrash does a very good little dance. It began as an attempt to trick a bar tender into thinking he was a 'trick rat', and though this didn't work, he seemed to enjoy it so much that he continued to do it throughout the series.
- He came up with the 'Hairy Baby' scam, where you go to a bar, look like a hairy baby and make everyone uncomfortable, and they feel so bad about asking you to leave that they give you a free drink. Kugrash and Sofia have run this scam on at least three bars in New York.
- A promising beginner cobbler, Kugrash made some shoes out of plastic bags for Sofia after she left her old ones stabbed in the eyes of a troll.
- His mini was sold as part of the Dimension 20 The Unsleeping City Auction for $1,601
- His Rat King mini was sold as part of the Dimension 20 The Unsleeping City Auction for $2,133
- His Bear Wild Shape mini was sold as part of the Dimension 20 The Unsleeping City Auction for $536