original character multimuse.
selective and mutually exclusive.
summoned by VII

 A  F  F  I  L  I  A  T  E  S  

   VILESTBLOOD     antonin cainhurst. -   avita desalvar. immutable part of her history and father to avita. may be mentioned in threads.   DIONIDAI     vratis of krilnei. -   avita desalvar. key figure in her early life. the child who lead to her hanging, and the only surviving adult of the krilneian massacre, now set to exacting revenge on her father. may be mentioned in threads.

 M  A  I  N  S  

   VILESTBLOOD     antonin cainhurst. -   blog wide.   SERPENTXPRINCE     forsythe jones. -   daniel perkins   VALDORIN     ellarian aep deryth. -   silas wood

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Two and a half millenia ago Avita of Krilnei is born blessed and beloved, only surviving ilk of the prolific leader of a clandestine preternatural community.For generations of her bloodline children would be born malformed and ill and live little, if at all, while the first breath of a healthy babe would spell inexplicable death to the leader before it. Unbeknownst to the people of Krilnei, the family line that held governance above them was a single powerful soul - an Eater, as it will come to be known - incarnating into many vessels and rebirthing itself each time. Avita is the first (and only) child of the Eater and a human to live to adulthood. As such, she's born burdened with the power that comes with the title.Her health is poor and her nature is volatile from an early age, and the hungry void that rests within every Eater soul howls loud within her too. In a few short years, lives and livelihoods fall victim to it. Obliviously, she draws energy from any and all who possess it like she is owed her share - like a black hole is apt to do - and Krilnei grows ill and tired and plagued before long. Most dangerously, it grows fearful of an unseen danger that surely walks among them. A danger that consumes more and more by the day. It is when she is discovered to be the originator of all hardship and wretchedness that befell her people that Avita's fate is sealed. For her unwitting transgressions, for her mere existence as a thing far too powerful and turbulent to walk the earth, she is hung by the very community that had once loved her. As last resort, her father manages to seize her soul to save it, but is powerless to reverse death itself. So he sows it instead. For the act of saving themselves before the black hole took them all - for the crime of depriving the Eater of its only child - Krilnei and its people end in bloodshed and devastation.Millenia later, Avita is reborn.By then her father Nikodemus has long achieved immortality and shared much of it with another being of origin as dubious as his - primordial eldritch creature Antonín Cainhurst. Alone he has tried and devastatingly failed to find a vessel apt enough to hold Avita's soul, each attempt at a resurrection ending with yet another body to bury. Until his lover joins the efforts, driven by a want to alleviate millenia-old sorrows. So it stands, Avita is brought to life anew not by magic or brute power alone, but through a delicate balance - that of her event horizon soul, fragile human flesh, necromantic magic and eldritch blood - and that of what will soon become her two fathers. It takes centuries before they achieve the right equilibrium, but in time their symbiosis bears fruit, the laws of life and death bend to their wills and Avita - long ago named for life - lives again.

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i know witches who whistle in different pitches,
calling things that don't have names

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 B  A  S  I  C  S  

NAME     Avita Desalvar
Known by conspicuously few other names and aliases. Fond of titles more than changing her name or offering a different one in any capacity. Though she remembers little of her first life, she's retained the honor the Krilneian people alotted to a name and its meaning.
CALLED     Vita by those closest to her. Girin by her papá and older brother, the name originating from ancient Akkadian and meaning flower. The Eighth or The Half-Hanged, per her unfortunate fate once upon a time. Lady Vernalia, to denote her the herald of spring wherever and whenever she so chooses to be. Shortsprout and sapling, as her dad still calls her.
AGE    immortal. unaging unless it is per her own manual control. her vessel is frozen in perpetual late 20s.
PRONOUNS     she/her
SPECIES     eater soul in an artificial vessel imbued with eldritch blood. earth witch.
metaphysically, Avita is an Eater - an ill-formed, half-hollow soul containing an empty, hungry void within. She utilizes that space to draw force from the outside world, sustain herself and manufacture magical abilities. Physically, she is an artificial flesh vessel, the result of an eldritch blood-sustained human body.
ORIENTATION     panromantic pansexual.
FAMILY     Father - Nikodemus Desalvar. Papà - Antonín Cainhurst.
PETS     Molerat - a haphazardly assembled amalgam of mostly human bodyparts in the crude shape of a quadruped. her first doggy :) he was a failed necromantic experiment of her dad's and Avita, at the tender age of 8, decided he was too darling to be put down.
RESIDENCE    Grand manor house elegantly overrun by nature and a vast garden beyond spanning some 800 acres of endangered forests and plains. It is its own conservation area. She tends to travel a lot but unfailingly returns to it and her parents' various vacation homes once in a while.
PROFESSION    Healer to most. Botanist to others. Has little need to work but much want to inflict change on the world. Conservationist and terraformer.

 P  H  Y  S  I  C  A  L  

COMPLEXION     Pale, perhaps paler than most, and smooth. Rosy when in peak health. Blemishless.
PHYSIQUE    5'4 and elegantly toned. Well-maintained slender muscle cushioned by a soft layer of fat. Slight kyphosis - a slouch she constantly finds herself correcting.
HAIR     A silky pale blonde in strong waves. Knee lenght, sometimes beyond. Always styled some way or other to keep it at least mid back lenght for convenience and ornamented with at least one accessory.
EYES    Deep-set and round. Light blue.
VOICE     Light and airy, naturally high. Cherubic laugh. Paces herself when speaking at times to remain intelligible. Professionally vocally trained, more to strengthen her vocal muscles than to achieve any singing capacity. She does have a decent voice for song though.
HEALTH     Practically unable to fall ill from any earth-borne viruses or bacteria. In peak physical health besides mild coordination struggles and some congenital muscle weakness. fine motor movements still give her grief sometimes - buttoning buttons, writing, manoeuvering small objects - but she's devised ways to work around them.
STYLE     Ethereal, faeric, royal-like. Extremely feminine, favouring whites, pale pinks, pastels and predominantly warm colors. Fan of flowing, light fabrics. Prefers skirts and dresses to anything that might restrict movement.

 M  E  N  T  A  L  

PERSONALITY     A study in affability as asset, weapon and upper hand, Avita is a social butterfly with warning colors. There is something compelling yet disturbing about her natural sociability - her friendliness and reliability are earnest and innate traits, easily provoking trust, and love but she's selective about responding in kind; someone who's formed a strong bond with her may find it insultingly one-sided. Therefore it's difficult to know who or how she loves from the outside looking in, but those she adores know as much. She's darling and kind out rationale rather than moral compulsion and in possession of a fervent determination oft confused for optimism. There's a strong will hidden under her apparent calm. Her nature is duality and balance. She has and always will maintain a harmonious existence with the environment around her, a far cry from her first life. Gives and takes with a fair hand, and through it, achieves symbiosis with other living things rather naturally. As an Eater soul, the yawning yearning void within her makes restfullness difficult and satisfaction seldom achievable, yet instead of easy thrills she seeks fulfillment through community, positive change and altruism. For that reason alone, however, she is rather picky where she puts her efforts and chooses her people wisely.
MBTI     ENFJ
LIKES     unconventional intelligence, building towards a goal, unmolested natural environments, 'still water runs deep' types of people, observation, knowledge as power and flattery
DISLIKES    disrespect to her or her family, ignorant cruelty, stagnation, authority, organized religion
MANNERISMS     phlegmatic, by no fault of hers. to combat that she takes care to move purposefully, elegant and fluid, rarely in a hurry, to make up for the occasionally disobedient muscle. her resting face is the picture of serenity. fingers fidget a lock of hair or the closest accessory when she's focused.
HOBBIES     She still practices botany for herself, drawn to experimental propagation and terraforming of deforested, destroyed lands. Ice skating. Ornithology. Taxidermy. Harp - she's quite awful at it, but does it purely for fun. Same with singing - though her voice can hold a tune wonderfully, she prefers not to make anything too serious of it.

 M  A  G  I  C 

NATURAL ABILITIES 
✺  SOUL EATING - The inborn power to absorb another living thing's soul, store it and use it as a resource for her own life or magic. Such is the nature of an Eater soul. As daughter of another Eater before her, her kin's nature is exacerbated within her - the draw of her void is akin to a black hole's pull. She's capable of soaking up energy from her environment like a sponge, as if she is owed it. It's how she sustains herself. This natural ability - strong and deadly though it may be, is underutilized per her abstaining and, outside of sustenance, only triggered as a devastating last resort. Through it were birthed all other magicks she ever has and will possess.✺  BLOOD MANIPULATION - The blood that lazily pumps through her quiet veins was a loving gift from her father - Antonín. It's the very thing that keeps her physical form stable and compatible with the volatile soul within. Yet controlling it is a skill she had to hone before she could feasibly reach full independence. These days manual upkeep of her form is but a whisper in the back of her mind, but it once took great effort to do so - it's why her father taught her rather early, so she may reach proficiency around the time of full maturity. Able to regenerate to a certain extent as result.LEARNED ABILITIES
✺  EARTH ELEMENT - Capable of utilizing the energy she has in store to channel into her environment. Talented at controlling plant growth, mutation, evolution and wilting. Likewise, able to drain life out of her natural surroundings when she is in need. Whenever uncontrolled life force may bleed out of her it oftentimes pours into earthen things.✺  HEALING - Exactly the same dominion she has over everything living. She can give an ailing, hurt creature vitality and thusly return them to wholeness - either through speeding up a natural healing process or forcing growth of new biological material. It can and has resulted in some abominations however. Her talent for blood magic aids her greatly in her endeavours.✺  ENERGY MANIPULATION - The pool of life force she keeps a steady supply of can be channeled and transformed into other types of energy - kinetic, thermal, light, but mostly magic. A soul is powerful enough to fuel much and she has plenty at her disposal. This is where her witchcraft largely stems from.

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 T  R  I  V  I  A 

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within you there is something holy
fighting to get out

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 S  T  A  T  S  

NAME     Avita Desalvar
CALLED     Vita (loved ones), shortsprout, sapling (father), Avita Nordin in disguise, The Half-Hanged
RACE     Aasimar. scourge type. oft concealed for her convenience and peace of mind. aglarondian on her dad's side with planetar celestial blood dating back generations, illuskan on her mother's. her civilian cover is of a human sorceress of no notable origin.
AGE    can be played at any age from 20s onward. (31 at the time of bg3's events). mortal.
PRONOUNS     she/her
ORIENTATION     panromantic pansexual. interest in romantic pursuits is rather rare.
FAMILY     DAD - Eris Desalvar, an infamous necromancer of Thay. Parading as Nikodemus Valder, simple human wizard. FATHER - Adiel the deva, disguised as Amant, battle mage. MOTHER, missing - Larael Nordin, human paladin.
PETS     Molerat - a grumpy little darling of a hairless cat she took under her wing as a baby. He's imp incarnate and she loves him very much.
CLASS     Sorceress. Divine soul. Classes in druid.
ALIGNMENT     Varied true neutral catered to herself and her family alone. Kind and gentle out of rationale rather than moral compulsion, but has the full capacity to be cruel.
FAITH     Sworn to no god and follower of few religious dogmas. Feels a kinship and deep respect for clerics of Ilmater's faith, and takes care to protect and aid them whenever able. Unsure if those feelings are her own or influenced by her planetar celestial blood. She likes to think it's the former.
RESIDENCE    grand house near Waterdeep elegantly overrun by nature and a vast garden beyond. vacation spot in Aglarond.
GRAND GOAL    To venture into the Underdark and find her mother Larael who's said to have been lost there decades ago. Conservation and preservation of Faerûnian flora and fauna. Exploration into nature's unknown.

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STR   8      DEX   12      CON   14      INT   11      WIS   13      CHA   17

strength would be realistically more of a 6-7, with avita having trouble lifting objects the same weight as her. running speed should be slightly lower.

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PERSONALITY    Affable, curious, driven, overpractical, has the capacity for ruthlessness. Naturally sociable, yet selective with her bonds. Difficult to know whether she returns one's friendship. Kind out of rationale rather than natural compulsion. Dislikes expectations being pushed on her.
MANNERISMS     phlegmatic, by no fault of hers. to combat that she takes care to move purposefully, elegant and fluid, rarely in a hurry, to make up for the occasionally disobedient muscle. her resting face is the picture of serenity.
COMPLEXION     Pale and of a porcelain appearance. Perfectly smooth and blemishless with an unnaturally dewy/shiny appearance to it.
PHYSIQUE    5'7 and elegantly toned. Well-maintained form to keep her muscles from weakening, cushioned by a soft layer of fat. Slight kyphosis - a slouch she constantly finds herself correcting.
HAIR     A silky pale blonde in strong waves. Knee lenght until her 30s, then mid back.
EYES    Deep-set and round. Bright golden. Pupil-less. Glamoured light blue for her convenience, yet still possessed of an unnerving depth and intensity.
VOICE     Light and airy, naturally high. Cherubic laugh. Paces herself when speaking at times to remain intelligible. Professionally vocally trained, more to strengthen her vocal muscles than to achieve any singing capacity. She does have a decent voice for song though.
HEALTH     In peak physical health besides mild coordination struggles and some congenital muscle weakness. fine motor movements still give her grief sometimes - buttoning buttons, writing, manoeuvering small objects - but she's devised ways to work around them.
STYLE     Ethereal, faeric, royal-like. Extremely feminine, favouring whites, pale pinks, pastels and predominantly warm colors. Fan of flowing, light fabrics. Prefers skirts and dresses to anything that might restrict movement. Always wears a bejewelled strip of silk around her neck.
ARMOR    None. (No proficiency) She finds the weight and tightness unnecessary. Seen too many bodies dead with their shoes half-on, besides, so why bother with a physical inconvenience when she has magical protection on her side.
GEAR    Twin poignard daggers and occasionally a quarterstaff on tap she fashions out of branches (used mostly for trekking aid).

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credit: anjubatus' adventurer picrew

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 B  A  C  K  G  R  O  U  N  D  

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i sought to grow wings not plant roots

 S  T  A  T  S  

NAME     Avita Desalvar
Named after her grandmama, who she never met. Becomes Cainhurst-Desalvar by personal choice once her father and her stepdad marry.
CALLED     Vita, Vivi, shortsprout, sapling
AGE    can be played at any age from 20s onward.
PRONOUNS     she/her
ORIENTATION     panromantic pansexual. interest in romantic pursuits is rather rare.
FAMILY     DAD - Nicodemo Desalvar. FATHER - Antonín Cainhurst. Step parent. MOTHER - Laura Nordin.
PETS     Molerat - a grumpy little darling of a hairless cat that papá Antonín got for her as a kid. Vita personally imprinted on the ugliest of the litter she had her pick from. He's imp incarnate and she loves him very much.
RESIDENCE    Nowhere permanent in her younger years. Finishes her schooling in France and takes off around the world
PROFESSION    Botanist, Conservationist. Biological Sciences PhD.

PERSONALITY    Affable, curious, driven, overpractical, has the capacity for ruthlessness. Naturally sociable, yet selective with her bonds. Difficult to know whether she returns one's friendship. Kind out of rationale rather than natural compulsion. Dislikes expectations being pushed on her.
MANNERISMS     phlegmatic, by no fault of hers. to combat that she takes care to move purposefully, elegant and fluid, rarely in a hurry, to make up for the occasionally disobedient muscle. her resting face is the picture of serenity.
COMPLEXION     Pale, smooth and blemishless. Extensive care routine to juggle the side effects of several medications she takes on the daily.
PHYSIQUE    5'4 and elegantly toned. Well-maintained form to keep her muscles from weakening, cushioned by a soft layer of fat. Slight kyphosis - a slouch she constantly finds herself correcting. Scar from open heart surgery.
HAIR     A silky pale blonde in strong waves. Mid back length.
EYES    Deep-set and round. Light blue.
VOICE     Light and airy, naturally high. Cherubic laugh. Paces herself when speaking at times to remain intelligible. Professionally vocally trained, more to strengthen her vocal muscles than to achieve any singing capacity. She does have a decent voice for song though.
HEALTH     Born with a congenital heart condition. Heart transplant recipient at age 2. In peak physical health otherwise, besides mild coordination struggles and some muscle weakness. fine motor movements still give her grief sometimes - buttoning buttons, writing, manoeuvering small objects - but she's devised ways to work around them.
STYLE     Ethereal, faeric, royal-like. Extremely feminine, favouring whites, pale pinks and predominantly warm colors. Fan of flowing, light fabrics. Prefers skirts and dresses to anything that might restrict movement.

do you remember Beto?
the difference between barking and language?

 B  A  S  I  C  S  

NAME     daniel charles perkins
CALLED     dan, danny, darling
AGE    26 (verse dependent)
PRONOUNS     he/him
SPECIES     human, sonomancer. (sonomancy. the creation, distortion and manipulation of sound waves and vibrations.)
ORIENTATION     bisexual biromantic with a masculine preference. somewhere on the grey spectrum.
FAMILY     mother - patricia perkins.
PETS     cocker spaniel named bentley
ALIGNMENT    lawful neutral. for daniel, regulation is a concept exempt from good and evil. there are objective laws of the universe and of morality that he follows above personal opinion or emotion. chaos is the ultimate ruin. Without reason or order, he feels lost.
OCCUPATION    head concertmaster for a symphony orchestra - first chair violin. substitute concertmaster outside of world premiere season.
LANGUAGES     fluent in english, german, french and american sign. conversational in italian and russian he picked up through opera. linguistics is an ardent hobby of his.
RELIGION     devout catholic. his mother did not hold the faith, but raised him to do so, and fearfully. he's recently found himself on the slow road of disenchantment with religious beliefs.

 P  H  Y  S  I  C  A  L  

COMPLEXION     pale and marked. small mole beside his right eye. riddled with burst blood vessels from sonomancy gone wrong. blood spots around his neck. collapsed vein on his right hand. capillary rose on his left temple.
PHYSIQUE    5'10 and athletic by all means. broad-shouldered at any weight. more proportionally thicker past 28.
HAIR     golden blonde. usually kept chin length. slight curl to it.
EYES    light blue.
HEALTH     susceptible to colds and viruses. seasonal allergies.
STYLE     bespoke tailoring, sturdy fabrics. primarily sticks to simple professionalism - slacks and button-ups. silver rings on pointer and middle finger. metal plated shoe heels. always adorned with a brooch or metal pin.
SKILLS   advanced in piano and violin, adept at viola, above average in cello, harp and zither. average to mediocre in several other instruments. yearning to take up conducting. talent in composing the most awfully, viscerally emotive pieces. except when it comes to positive themes.

 M  E  N  T  A  L  

PERSONALITY     daniel is an equator-bound winter. a muted, controlled kind of warm, never at full capacity to be either extreme; always far too polite for it. stiff-mannered and rigid from an early age, and possessed of a charm best described as timid, he still takes care to always put his best, kindest foot forward. at once both proud and passionate about his work and the most insufferable perfectionist. rigid in opinion.
MANNERISMS     key word: stiff, as previously mentioned, which is not to say naturally still and prim. reared to be proper in posture and conduct, he abstains from showing too much emotion in his physicality despite the urge to. all told, daniel holds himself like a man uncomfortable in his own skin and hyperaware of himself and his body language in public. it's a different story in private - he's animated, prone to gesticulating and terribly chatty. self-soothes by clicking the rings on his pointer and middle finger together whenever stressed.
LIKES     ridiculously early mornings, coffee, animals (dogs especially), warm colors, blue hues, performing regardless of where, perfect sounds, companionable silence, the click of metal.
DISLIKES    all-white rooms and clothes, sterility, the sound of women's heels, being watched while composing or tuning, smalltalk.
ABILITIES    Enhanced hearing. Auditory-tactile synesthesia. Sonomancy.
any noise at his disposal yields to him - it can be made louder or weaker, distorted, scattered, redirected or held off entirely if it so much as passes through his hands. even weaponized. a high enough amplitude and he can cause severe damage to biological structures. anything higher is yet above his abilities. a unique set of senses helps him preternaturally attune to sound beyond human perception. he can detect noise outside the range of sensitivity of the ear, ultra- and infrasonic both, while everything within it, he can feel psychogenically (and often physically, too).

 A  L  L  E  G  R  O 

His earliest memories are of home lessons and being able to make the windows vibrate by simply speaking. He is Daniel, son of Patricia, living in a quaint one storey house with a dalmatian named Spot as his best friend. He wants for nothing in the world but his mother's love, a quiet, well-behaved child who constantly earns her ire. Her expectations are high. After all, he is special.He's always been able to feel sound. Touch it. He can rake his fingers through noise like it's viscous, grab and hold it. Take it into himself, do with it as he pleases, then put it back out into the world again. The sound metal against metal makes feels like a blade in his hands and listening to Ave Maria is like touching silk. Patricia's voice is nothing short of a whip. Sudden, sharp, stinging; and she cracks it often. He still loves her very much.She begins training him age 5. He's a nervous learner and a late bloomer so she hires stricter tutors to whip him into shape, the type that are fond of back-to-back repetition and demand frustrating perfection, just like her. The development of his preternatural abilities, she oversees personally. His power proves extra effective with music. Noise is different from melody and one of them he can memorize, recreate and control much easier. It also means Patricia can limit his roster to softer sounds he can't do much damage with. Classical fits the needs of the experiment and he's well enough fond of it, so mother rewards him with lessons in piano, violin and viola, and he soon takes his first uncertain baby steps in controlled sonomancy. Unfortunately, he never masters his voice. On certain days he can't talk without breaking something and is forbidden to leave the house at all. He shatters Patricia's beloved french doors one day and she makeshift builds him a white, padded, soundproof room in their home. It's awfully quiet in there, but it's for the better. The neighbours can't hear. By age 6 he knows he's a strange child. He knows showing that will get them in trouble.

 B  R  I  O  S  O 

It does. If asked, he'll admit he barely remembers that day, beyond the sudden chaos of it. His first taste of primal, survivalist prey-fear. It's a blurr of loud, achy noise, yelling and light that his sleep-addled, disoriented mind can't catch up to, and then it's silence. Standstill. He surmises the danger they're in only when he's facing the familiar round gleam of its gun barrell: there are eight intruders in their home, in the middle of the night, and they are armed. His mother calmly stands behind him, hand at his shoulder, whip-voice in his ear. "Just like we practiced, Darling. I need you to scream." He kills all eight of them on the spot. It's bloody and violent, the windows blow out and he tears a hole in the wall opposite. He's never seen a man's head crack open like an egg before. He's never known he could do damage like this. All he cares for is that he and his mother are safe. Though they have to run, and fast, they are safe. He's only 7.They flee with just Spot and the clothes on their back and keep moving around for the next 10 years. Patricia makes him do things he knows are immoral at best along the way, but by the end they've amassed a solid little fortune and a few IDs. They stay with an unfamiliar man he's expected to call 'uncle Hal' for a while, until they get back on their feet and deal with Daniel's irritating streak of sudden selective mutism. Throughout it all, he gleans what he can from hushed phonecalls. His mother has dangerous connections, and some of them are perilously aware of him. Oddly enough, she still drags him around for work as if they aren't in hiding. He's brought along to a meeting and told to make the big bad man's head vibrate if he doesn't agree to their terms. Two months later mother makes him lure a woman whose name she says like an insult into a lone alley. It's a confusing time. Patricia proclaims them safe soon enough, yet they still keep moving.They never stick around one place for more than five months. They're a strange family. With so much instability in their lives, mother grows more irritable by the day, less tolerant of missteps, and it's becoming tougher to tiptoe around her moods, so Daniel gets an earful often. With so many mixed signals, mistakes tend to happen. And often. He chokes on a sonic scream and rips his throat open at 13. As comfort, he's spared some of his mother's deep, soul-crushing disappointment for the duration of his hospital stay. They move to a different town after, somewhere the media won't find them. There's another white, soundproof room built into their newest home and this time he catches the name - anechoic. They settle for two years of peace, during which Patricia grows meaner. Antsier. It's easy to yell over a child so quiet.

 C  R  E  S  C  E  N  D  O 

At age 15 he finally yells back and pops a capillary in his mother's cheek. His sentence is 2 months of complete and utter silence. He isn't allowed to speak anywhere near her, for fear of committing another atrocity. A tutor is hired to teach him Sign Language in its newest form. Going forward he is only to sign during arguments and chastizings. But regardless of how much she hounds him for it, his message still rings loud and clear: she isn't able to control him as well anymore. He's grown tired of violence.So she allows him his freedoms. There's little danger of him leaving her, at least. She's trained him exceptionally well, so he makes exactly the kind of skittish, asocial schoolboy as is expected of him, and an even worse college student. The years following are a trade-off between the training she wishes to put him through and the dreams he's intermittently allowed to pursue. Soon enough, her ambition shifts to making him a protege. Yet no matter how she pushes, she never quite manages to suck the joy out of performing for him.At the end, he excels in classical music on his own. To Patricia's surprise, his fragile, anxious sensibilities somehow survive the grinding critics of the musical world and he ascends the stage readily. And he will always find glee in the fact. That he makes a much better creative than he ever did a weapon.

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NONE EXIST OUTSIDE MY SIGHT
FEW OUTSIDE MY APPROVAL

The Tower of Equilibrium. Indeed it is a tower. Such it became eons ago. Far before the rudiment of humanity's existence and shortly after this earth's inception, it emerged in the settling dust of the first worldly catastrophy. The foundations of its terrible void appeared mysteriously beneath the brewing apocalypse, to halt it in its track and swallow it whole. A piddly mound of sand settled atop the chasm - the Tower's ground floor, formed around the remains of its first meal. The tip of its iceberg. It would take many shapes along the years. And beneath it many more ravines would yawn, one atop the other, to fill its bottomless belly every time chaos stirred.

F  U  N  C  T  I  O  N

Survival first and foremost. The Tower represents balance itself, so within that description fall several implications about its duties - prevention of world-ending catastrophes, apocalyptic destruction and corruption, containment or, failing that, destruction of entities posing a danger to the worldly equilibrium. Observation of potential threats. Logs of any and all creatures or concepts of preternatural origin.

A  R  C  H  I  T  E  C  T  U  R  E

Surface-level, The Tower appears as a regular building of understandable proportion. The size, style and type of building has changed throughout the ages, but it consistently maintains part of its interior to be habitable by worldly beings - such that it can be entered, explored and exited, designed and furnished to be perfectly unremarkable, in the current trends of the time it exists in. It can even serve a function in society; at times an office or residential building. A terribly talented chameleon, this is the Ground Floor; beyond whose tentatively solid, sensible walls lays a chasm. Venturing further within - or rather below - through doors accessible to few, the concepts of reasonable dimension, scale and size become merely subjective suggestions. At 'shallower' levels are contained locations still somewhat architecturally conceivable by the mortal mind. Among which the library with its endless logs of the preternatural, the catacombs where monstrosities are imprisoned and many, many, many more. ◆  On horror architecture

ALL ARE EQUAL BEFORE JUDGEMENT

Around the time creatures began to roam the earth - the preternatural, the Other and the genesis of organic life alike - and threatened to unbalance it once more, the young Tower's need for mobility grew. Thusly was conceived the Archivist - a miniscule part the behemoth shed of itself and made solid and separately sentient. Its co-existence with beings of intelligent bipedal nature - primarily preternatural - provided it a practical exemplary slate after which to model its shape and appearance. Learn its behaviour from. With the passage of years and eras and the human population overwhelming the world, Constance adjusts itself in accordance, but keeps tight log and memory of all it had learned of the hidden preternatural world. It is, in essence, the Tower's eyes, ears and hands. And its angler light.

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C  O  N  S  T  A  N  C  E

Keeper of balance. Staver of apocalypses. Constance is in charge of maintaining the equilibrium and keeping threats to it at bay, responsible for chaos that the Tower in its large, lumbering glory cannot catch on its own. He is no vanquisher of unrest, granted, but rather makes sure it does not reign supreme. Archiver of any supernatural abominations - that's 17 antichrists he's had to deal with so far... His civic cover is that of a simple office employee, archivist, accountant for hire, scribe, landlord. He's kept many odd professions throughout the years.The name Constance it was given by a mortal long ago out of practical need for a label. He likes it - a word fitting both its function and the culture of many creatures he wished to inconspicuously walk among. It accepts many other names as well - Equilibrium, the Tower, whatever one might deign to call the anthropomorphic personification of Balance itself in any language. Connie is a mildly and situationally acceptable nickname. He's sported many last names, all invariably boring. May be addressed by any pronouns, though he's fond of he or they. Aromantic Asexual.On their anatomy.   ◆   Constance always appears as a simple man of unremarkable origin and color for its environment. Sallow with dull eyes. Dark, short-cropped hair, neatly laid in a flawless corporate middlepart. Styled professionally without a hint of elegance to his clothing, favouring simplicity and unmemorability. Bow-straight posture and minimal mannerisms. May sprout facial hair whenever necessary. May sprout extra eyes and arms whenever necessary.

A  B  I  L  I  T  I  E  S

Constance's physical framework is similar to a mannequin, in that extreme changes/stretches to the structure makes it bend unnaturally. With additional pressure, the bends don't break. They shatter. Chipped or melted parts are therefore commonplace. Yet these do not worry him - they have a tendency of snapping back in place rather quickly. No matter what or who may stand in their way.The Tower does not aim to be an immortal creature despite the fervent fight it puts up to salvage its existence from the forces of chaos. Instead, its goal to restore cosmic entropy, strenghten its own arches to infallibility and calcify into an eternally silent statue - an inescapable tomb for all the instability and unrest that rests in its bowels. Though the behemoth cannot cement itself quite yet, Constance - a tiny speck of it in possession of the same ability - has no such reservations. In the name of balance he has called upon the power of stasis - stood before abominations and amid apocalypse fires alike - and petrified himself along with everything around him. Within a few days, he would emerge from the bowels of the Tower anew, an identical model to its previous iteration. While the bodies he's left behind, layered with sediment or come upon by humans or creatures alike and hailed as statues, still remain in the world to this day. They are few - as this ability is rarely employed - but grand.Certain abilities Constance possesses only within the Tower. As a part of the static behemoth, distance from its 'mothership' strips it of its inherent power:
◆ omniscience about the existence of any and all preternatural creatures
◆   procuration of stationery and legal documentation out of thin air. legitimate power

T  R  I  V  I  A

◆   come modern times, they've begun to operate out of an inconspicuous apartment building downtown (the tower's latest camouflage) and have crafted themself a state of the art modern office to fit all of their paperwork needs. and they are many, considering he logs and keeps track of all manner strange, dangerous entities.
◆   rents the apartment building out to tenants - the inconspicuous part of the building, while their office is situated.. elsewhere. tries to pick unobservant, ignorant tenants but things going missing or likewise randomly appearing (corridors included) sometimes tends to be.. obvious.
◆   may extend his services to anyone keen on tracking down and disposing of a thorn in his side or a particularly troublesome entity. is not legally responsible for your death.
◆   very fond of humanoids and their miscellany oddities, emotions, cultures, languages, traditions, et al. has little interest in imposing itself onto them, but it's curiosity drives him to socialize as quietly and unobtrusively as possible to glean more details. would be honored by an invitation to participate.

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Your run of the mill small town local. She prefers to call it 'comfortable', not 'stuck', but her old man really did a number leaving her the gas station business before his death - some shoddy attempt to get her to stop drifting and settle down. All in all, the place ain't that bad. It's a troublesome, cursed town, sure, and the night critters make funny noise, but it's got to do much worse than that to chase her out. Too many good folks out here to leave behind. She's got a purpose here.

I asked for water
(she brought me gasoline)

S  H  O  R  T  H  A  N  D

NAME  Sally Clover Carnwell. Introduces herself as Sally Clover. Sal is reserved for her brother.
AGE   in her 40s (verse dependent). born may 6th, taurus.
GENDER   female
SEXUALITY   bisexual, feminine preference
OCCUPATION   Gas station owner & clerk. the place operates under her name and she takes care to stock and tend it. gets students to man the till in the daytime. has always covered the night shift herself. too big of a turnover rate, she says. // protector of Mildale by heredity
RESIDENCE   her childhood home in Mildale. lives with and takes care of her elderly mother
VEHICLE  Dodge Ram 96'. Yamaha Virago motorcycle
CRIMINAL RECORD  Two years in prison, assault with a deadly weapon.MOTHER  Mary Carnwell
FATHER  Sawyer Carnwell (deceased)
BROTHER  Arnold Carnwell (3 yrs older, deceased)
BROTHER  Owen Carnwell (younger irish twin)
SISTER  Sarah Carnwell (5 years younger)Broad, well-built, tall. A sturdy woman most would describe as rough-edged at first glance. Tan complexion, sun-spotted in places with deep smile lines she's had since her late 20s. Brown-eyed, topped off with a set of russet-dyed chest-length curls (natural brunette, started greying in her mid 20s). All earth, all salt. Of several scars from an eventful youth, a small jawline laceration is the most prominent.PERSONALITY  Familiar, southern hospitable woman with a particular sort of charisma, Sally's tough, blunt and straight-forward. After so long relying on herself alone and playing head of the family in Arnold's absence it's become her way or the highway - she's immovable about her values. Fairly thoughtful and kind if manually lead into caring about someone, but her circle is close, small and exclusive. Distrustful of most yet with an open mind. Patient when it counts.
LIKES  a good six-pack, being well-armed, quality tobacco, folks who've earned their keep, sturdy cars, baseball, the peace of the country
DISLIKES  Hotshots with expensive modern cars, inexplicable bullshit, cold weather/cold spots, loudmouths, nosey outsiders, getting wet

L  O  N  G  H  A  N  D

Born second out of four siblings and the first one within shotgun wedlock, named for luck as some misguided blessing for her parents' marriage. Dad's a hard to please, stoic man with a small gas station to his name, mom's his high school sweetheart that never quite made peace with her husband's hometown, Arnold's the golden child, Sally and Owen are thick as thieves and Sarah's the coddled youngest. As it stands, their lives first diverge at a wide berth before converging again, for tragedy.By the end, Arnold's gotten a good job and a fianceé, lost both, spent 4 years in the army and 2 at dad's gas station clerk, and come back from the latter worse, Sally's relived her father's glory days on his old motorbike, riding around wrong crowds and even wronger roads, proud of her speeding ticket collection, Owen's gone to college (the only one) and embroiled himself in the brutal corporate world and Sarah's married the man of her dreams without ever looking back, even when he turned out to be less than.Sally returns home suddenly to a sick, dying father, a distressed mother, Arnold in shambles living at home and the gas station signed in her name. Her big brother doesn't last long after that. Sally does the best she can to weather dad's death and burial and Arnie's treatment, but as it goes, when you're in pain, you tend to overlook things. She doesn't notice. How could she have not noticed. Six years to the day after Arnie's seemingly gotten better, mom finds him in the station walk-in, shotgun next to him. Nothing's the same after that.Owen and Sarah save themselves however they can, one chasing big money and the other - happiness through children and marriage. Neither quite manage. And then there's Sally in the middle of it all, completely lost. She falls down slowly, then all at once. Breaks a man's jaw, shoves a gun in his face and gets locked up for two years for defending her brother's memory. Darling Sarah takes in their mother and all her ghosts and superstitions and unreachable expectations while Sally's behind bars - the last thing she does for this damn family - then dumps it all back on her as soon as she can. That's how it all stands now. Sally, haunting in her birth home, watching the time pass.. and slowly discovering Mildale's secrets and just how much of the sleepy town's history and penchant for tragedy is connected to it.

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Silas is bastard-born to a peasant woman and a Lord. Of his mother, Silma's, children, he is first of three, and of High Lord Graig Berennis', one of eleven and oldest surviving son by the end. The burden of illegitimacy is heavy, but he and his mother suffer little of it at the hands of fellow smallfolk. His birth makes Silma no less lovable, just more difficult to wed. Yet, sure enough, Horan Tarre, a humble fisherman by trade, steps up to the task against his parents' wishes and whisks his small new family away into the woods near a lake shore. The most carefree years of Silas' childhood are spent there - learning the art of herbs and flowers from his mother, fishing with his father, and welcoming first little sister Moira and then baby brother Delan in quick succession. It's then he develops the rudiment of his true affinity to nature. The young boy takes to any weed quick as a green thumb, ventures to befriend all manner of woodland critter. By the end he knows the forest like a home.The sea takes his parents early into his seventh year. They leave for catch in fair weather, but sudden storm befalls them and their boat never comes back. Horan's sister quickly takes the children in as wards, allowed little choice in the matter, but she stays away from Silas, who is both not of her blood and afflicted by a sudden and unsettling despondency. Sat on the shore night by night, he prays to the waves for his parents' return each high tide for twenty days. The sea returns their bodies to him come next full moon. They are granted burial on land. Within the year, the Tarres grow weary of Silas' presence and cast him back into the forest, where he is happy to return. Aged 13, he's left to his own devices.But as they say, it takes a village and the village sure takes to him. All who'd harboured any love for Horan and Silma prior to their deaths scrap together some sympathy and kindness for their little boy. The women feed him bread and teach him to cook, sew and wash, the men tolerate him trailing in their shadow and picking up various trades by eye. The rest he learns through trial of his very own. Though by that time Lord Berennis has caught wind that Silas is orphaned and reaches out to acknowledge and financially underpin the child out of some, no doubt laughable, sense of responsibility, his efforts are thankless. Years later Silas will say he was raised by an army of uncles and aunts, by way of thanks to the smallfolk he'd grown up with and as mockery of his very father by blood and his stepfather's sisters for their abandonment.

 Son of the wood 

NAME   Silas Tarre. Silas Berennis.
his preferred and frequently offered surname of choice is 'Wood'. the Tarres, his stepfather's family, wanted nothing to do with him and his mother had no surname. denied of identity on all fronts, he named himself son of the forest.
MONIKERS   Lassy, King of Wood and Water, Lord of the Bushes; Foxtail
AGE   early to mid twenties (verse dependent)
GENDER   male
SEXUALITY   known to indulge without fear of reproach. bisexual, biromantic.
BIRTHDAY   for the life of him he can't remember and the details are inconsequential to begin with. summer child, that's for certain.
OCCUPATION   the job of healer found him, but he hardly picked it. he has a notable passion for botany. both healing plants, medicines and poisons are provided only to select clientele. occasionally brought forth to treat ailments, tame rowdy mounts and train hunting dogs, even birth calves. whatever his neighbouring smallfolk may seek him out for, he's overeager to help out and finds the talent befalls him naturally with enough enthusiasm.

 L  O  O  K  S 

EYE COLOR  emerald green
HAIR  a bright vivid red in thick, coarse waves going down to his mid-back. occasional stubble when the razor turns dull and the whetstone misplaced.
BUILD  exceptionally tall and stocky. visibly strong. thickset, soft, with little definition to his heft, but not at the expense of agility. broad back and built arms.
EXTRA   rosy tan. often sunburnt. scars from a happy and eventful youth, the jowels and claws of various animals and even one unfortunate meeting with fire, nose bump on the bridge's very middle. missing whole righthand pinky, half of ring finger of same hand and a few toes from hypothermia.

 S  P  I  R  I  T 

Taught from infancy that the earth provides for those that do good by it, Silas approaches all creatures with that very same mindset. He is a man governed by compassion and an unwavering expectation to see it returned. Kind if he can be, understanding if he can't, more curious than judgemental, ruled by indiscriminate honesty. He keeps no hardship or cruel word close to his heart, treading through life lightly, nimble and airy of spirit and geared towards burying emotions which threaten to rot him. Though for all his warmth, he is oft obstinate, and his respect is never freely given out to anyone who have not earned it. Regardless of title, he rarely bothers himself with those clearly 'lesser of spirit' in his eyes, while everyone else is swiftly introduced to his nosiness and prodding geniality. The man can't leave well enough alone. It is known.

 D  U  K  E 

an elk friend, silas procured him as a baby from one of his own hunting traps and, feeling responsible for the little critter, hand raised him to teenhood before letting him loose. he's a majestic creature of some seven years now, yet still visits outside of mating season. unchallenged in his lordship and territory, boasting plentiful ilk and even a wolf kill under his belt, the beast has more than earned its name. recognizable by a wood-carved pendant tied to the left antler with red string.

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LORD BERENNIS
Not long after his acknowledgement as Graig Berennis' bastard, Silas joins his father's family as ward despite his notable distaste for high society. They are a well-off but small house slowly losing common favour and, though a woodland boy, he is well aware of the change he can make with a small title to his name. He is even better aware of the luck that allowed him such a position; and likewise, the misfortune. Graig Berennis is a proud, shrewd man, elevated to lordship and land through the clever unseating of his older brother, and thusly, they say, doomed for his insolence. His rule is weak, his power uncertain, and many already prey on his seat despite three of his five legitimate heirs still being alive, spurned on by sinister rumours of 'The Curse of the Dead Son'. By the time Silas joins their house, only two able-bodied remain, the third struck by sleeping illness. With the social gait of a newborn fawn and yet chin held high, he unknowingly walks into a crumpling empire and puts himself in the very crossfire it.THE RED BEAST
Decades later they speak of the legend. A creature haunts the Elkswood, thrice a man's size and with teeth the size of tusks. Many no longer visit the forest, frightened by tales from men who'd barely lived to tell them. 'It speaks in riddles' they say. 'It towers over trees, eyes hollow, hair the color of blood, and stalks for prey slowly.' Those who tread the woodland borders always do it quickly, during daylight, and hope for death by cold, not beast. If they survive, they count it as luck.MODERN
A product of a well-documented public affair between agricultural empire heir Greg Berennis and his gardener at the time - Silma, Silas gas an odd, dysfunctional start of life and an odder yet family dynamic when his mother marries. Nevertheless, from his colorful life emerges a rather gentle, simple man, unsurprisingly fonder of animals than humans. Meet Silas Wood, bright-smiled DVM with an equine specialization.

closer to the bone sweeter is the meat

P O S T  M O R T E M

NAME   born Yekaterina Oborina. what she masquerades as depends on the decade one meets her in. or the whim. most often goes by Vera Vankova. nicknamed Vannie or Vanya. Katya to those closest.
ALIASES   Rothwell Graves the famous novelist. Her best-selling series 'Cain's Cabinet of Curiosities' is long overdue for a 28th installment and has been shrouded in mystery for a little over one hundred years, for its longevity, variety of occult topics, medical accuracy and the rumours that Rothwell Graves is a name passed down through generations. // Athanasios from notable medical journal publishings. // Lina, operating within occult circles and heading supernatural information highways in several countries
AGE   newly entered her 150s. mid to late thirties visually.
GENDER   female
SPECIES   vampiress; undead creature
SEXUALITY   homosexual homoromantic.
BIRTHDAY   june 3rd. gemini.
OCCUPATION   medical examiner // mystery novel writer under the penname Rothwell Graves // medical journalist // supernatural enthusiast

A U T O P S I A

COMPLEXION   unnatural pallor. hollow shadows in some places
PHYSIQUE   short and stout. 5'3, pear-shaped with a wider bottom, thick thighs and a tummy. ample curves everywhere.
EYES   slanted, perfectly almond shaped. a warm, oddly light, pale auburn - almost too warm; almost red.
HAIR   strawberry blonde. pin straight and frequently subjected to the 1890s curler trend she's never let go of. always fashioned up.

E N C E P H A L O G R A P H I A

PERSONALITY   WIP
MANNERISMS   WIP
LIKES   WIP
DISLIKES   WIP

P R E  M O R T E M

Daughter of a medical journalist in the 19th century, Yekaterina Oborina follows her family as they move across countries and then whole continents in search for glory and, to that end, in morbid pursuit of anomaly. Her father, an accredited doctor overcome with deep obsession over the macabre, soon goes down the dark road of occultism and unearths his wife and daughter from their home time and again to chase after legends and myths. Though worried for his sanity, Vera can't overlook the trail growing hot and the evidence piling. It soon sparks a curiosity within her. Though not permitted to study and take up the mantle of physician, she still accompanies him in his research and expeditions, her own husband in tow, all while diligently studying literature and fine arts.It's in the later winter some 100-something years ago, left alone to attend to and prepare an oddly fresh body her father has just acquired for autopsy, that Yekaterina finally meets her first anomaly. Without a touch of warmth or a pulse to it, the emaciated, pale corpse nevertheless rises before her very eyes and gives chase like an animal possessed. She suffers a horrible, violent bite first before she manages to successfully flee the creature, parting with chunks of her own flesh in the efforts to tear herself away. When it follows her outside, in the rays of dusk's last light, it bursts into flames and withers into nothing. Katya comes to the next morning with her skin unbroken and eyes stinging from the light.Her interest in the macabre after this point is solely fuelled by a desperate need to understand her own condition - vampirism, an ailment once thought fictional. She publically chalks it up to sun allergy, settles into life at night and welcomes the discovery of every new ability she possesses with a smug enthusiasm. Her father dies shortly before Vera's youthful looks becomes suspicious, and mother keeps her secret well out of shame.

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and ME, light-loving, light-eater

lumen is a sentinel entrapped. a great big dimensional serpent, or whatever the ashes of those would be called, cremated upon entry. the creature was cast into exile from the vast expanse of the cosmic beyond and imprisoned on the mortal plane. the realm of earth was foreign and inhospitable to them, as one would expect from a planet labelled dangerous and unpreservable. lumen's sentencing was supposed to be their death. but the creature had become gaunt, made smaller in size by celestial consumption, and thusly managed to squeeze its less-than-unfathomable dimensions within a human fleshsuit as soon as they found one.

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basics

 NAME   lumen (an ironic little moniker)
 REAL NAME    uncommunicable. no translation applicable to human speech. beyond that, instead of names, their species refer to each other by hierarchal rank
 AGE    none. their vessels' ages vary. existant since time immemorial.
GENDER    none. drawn to brighter colors and, incidentally as result, oftentimes to feminine vessels. by association, it enjoys the pronouns she/her, but any work
SPECIES    corpse of a cosmic behemoth, now a pale imitation of its previous grandeur TRIVIA 
✦ Its form is, ironically, a glowing white with a bluish tinge, often confused for the essence of light. It is not. That's what it looks like when their current vessels rip and leak - the highly radioactive liquid resultant from the breakdown of their cosmic form. It is actively dissolving with each however brief exposure to earth's atmosphere.
✦ No concept of morality or emotions. Lumen is inherently unfamiliar with things unnecessary in the hierarchal group of higher beings from whence they came. Though, in their current predicament, it does try to learn through those they absorb, gathering their memories, thoughts and emotions like a library of human manuals.
✦ The sound of their kin's native primordial tongue inspires insanity within the human mind and most unfortunate listeners desperately seek to escape the hellish gurgle of noise in any way possible, be it at the expense of their own lives.
✦ Decidedly trying to piss off their jailers and make them open the cellblock even a smidge so the exiled creature can slither out.

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if they cannot protect, sentinels can only rust

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B  A  S  I  C  S

NAME     Nikolai Dobrev Mowinckel
OTHER NAMES     Arsenic, Arsen, modern legal documents filed under 'Angel Dobrev'. will, on occasion, offer the surname Kotkin
AGE    87, late 30s to early 40s visually
PRONOUNS     he/him
SPECIES     zmey. a creature long thought mythological, native to the southern slavic mountains.
ORIENTATION     gray aro spectrum. no preference. only ever loved one man
FAMILY     husband - Hans Mowinckel (deceased), son - Evan Mowinckel (27 years old)
PETS     Pisanko - 8 year old siamese.
RESIDENCE    dreary apartment in a small bulgarian town. two family homes left behind in england and germany. several estates inherited from his late husband. travels around way too much to have a permanent home.
PROFESSION     private Investigator (primarily in supernatural circles). ex forensic pathologist.
LANGUAGES     bulgarian (mother tongue), russian, english

P  H  Y  S  I  C  A  L

COMPLEXION     Pale. Covered in a variety of moles and freckles.
PHYSIQUE    5'9, ectomorph with a fine layer of fluff on top. Soft tummy and arms, thicker thighs. Natural forward hunch in posture.
HAIR     Brunette, in tight, thick curls down to his chin.
EYES    Hooded, rounded. Warm medium brown with prominent undereye bags and dark circles.
NOTABLE     Fingers and wrists marred with scuff and cut marks. Split and badly healed side of the mouth. Forearm puncture scarring.
VOICE     Rather deep, timbre on the gruff melancholic side. Low pitched until raised; then it thins.
HEALTH     Well-managed schizoaffective disorder. PTSD. Chronic back and neck pain. Poikilothermic. Undergoes brumation during the colder months.
STYLE     Consistently a low effort all black, roomy and loose, comprised of various simple sweaters, jeans and slacks. Vague 80s influence. Always far too warmly dressed for the weather.

T  R  A  I  T  S

PERSONALITY     A crude, crotchety man mostly geared towards peace and quiet these days. Melancholic and distant, Angel's rather focused on doing his job and sticking his head in as few pots as possible. He has a short temper for stupidity, an unfortunate penchant for ruthless sincerety and an inherent disagreeableness that tends to turn aggressive when challenged. Efficient and dependable, courageous when it's smart to be. Yet he's parental by nature, indubitably loyal to the bone, catered towards doing the good thing and awfully caring in the context of long term bonds. Has to take care of something or he perishes.
LIKES     Coffee in unholy doses, simplicity, routine, cats, bourbon, gardening, knitting, being amongst people without necessity for communication, feeling useful.
DISLIKES    Needles, hospitals, the cold, cruelty towards children, being forced to make rash decisions, metal bonds of any kind.

Z  M  E  Y

The Zmey are a species of reptilian beasts long assumed to be purely of southern slavic folklore. Biped creatures with scaled, serpentine bodies, long necks, human faces and wings tucked beneath their armpits. Thing of legend both ill and benevolent. Above all they're humanoid shape changers with a natural instinct for protecting their lands, almost universally geared towards justice, whatever they decide that is. In days of old the zmey resided atop the mountains as semi-divine sentinel and only descended to feed, mate and battle. To this day zmey are solitary by nature. Cathemeral but instinctively human-shy due to centuries worth of misguided hunting of their kind, they prefer small, dark dwellings and are fairly territorial of them, often possessed of a deep belonging to a land and peoples, prone to residing in the same place for most of their lives. Highly anthropomorphic, they can effortlessly walk among humanity undetected and many have adapted to live alongside them.Zmey are neither immortal nor invincible, but blessed with longevity. It isn't uncommon for them to reach well past 200 years. However, dying of old age is a rare luxury. Stronger and swifter than humans, in possession of tougher skin and armed with mild heat resistance, Zmey are rather tough, yet can still be killed like any other creature - by grievous injury. Their healing is superficial - wounds close easily and leave no scars so long as they don't breach the second layer of scales or, likewise, the muscle. Their natural weapons include venom in some and breathing fire in others. Angel counts among the former. He has both fangs and glands that secrete a paralytic neurotoxin, deadly in high doses.All trueborn zmey and some human halflings are the result of a failed twinning and tend to be true hermaphrodites, possess a second liver, three kidneys, some form of polydactyly and even grow extra heads.Sweet yellow clover, star gentian and all iridaciae which include irises and gladiolas, are poisonous to zmey. Touching the herbs induces severe allergic reactions. The smell is a repellant.● Abilities detailed

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