Rel - Test

[Lea]

^{(Lineart belongs to the creator. I think I accidentally erased the watermark... but Reliquim's design is mine.)}

Etymology: Reliquus: remains, the remains of the dead, relics, surviving.

Passive:

Heartborn Tempest

Nickname: Rel (rarely)

Age: 23

Gender: Male

Learning Style: Visual

Being type: Somebody

Societal Position: Chaotic Neutral, Violent

Current primary objective: Having vanquished his brother, he now seeks only to rest in peace.

Original World: Yorani

Current Residing World: Twilight Town

Favorite Color: Teal

Favorite Drink: Rose Petal Tea

Favorite Food: Grilled Squirrel (a delicacy amongst the Cinders.)

Quirks: OCD.

Species: Firefox: 
A transubstantiate species capable of metamorphosizing between bipedal humanoids and quadrupedal vulpines at will.

Sub-species: Emberfox:
This sub-species developed after a virus native to Yorani began infecting Firefoxes. They lost their vibrant color, instead becoming far more pastel. They grew scrawny and unhealthy-looking, and the flames from their vulpine forms had been replaced by naught more than constant plumes of smoke. In their bipedal form form their skin became more pale. Many tried to wait it out, but the sickness never left. The accursed found themselves permanently inflicted, and capable of spreading their affliction at will.

As time grew, the virus spread, infecting more and more of the healthy Firefox population. The civilizations began to shun their own people. Those afflicted with the curse were sick. They needed to be put out of their misery - and moreover, the firebrand ideas cropping up throughout civilization were telling people that the sickness had to stop - and at any cost. 

Spurned, demonized and hunted by their own brethren, the Emberfox people fled commonplace civilization. They banded together in secret and formed an order of their own. The Emberfox kin began to rally under the banner of the Cinder Society: a coalition of Emberfoxes who had decided to stand together for the betterment of each other. They buried their affliction the best they could and many of them led lucrative lives despite their bane.

As a community the Cinder Society holds their tone in a mysterious, dignified and high-class flavor despite the hand life has dealt them. While maintaining one's place in the world with a sickly and secretive presence may sound difficult, many Cinders have found themselves capable of great things. Their dwellings tend to give the flavor of old victorian homes and communal mansions, where they can pass off their ashen tone as 'the complexion of the rich'. Interaction with many of them may even have one assuming they're rich and famous and have their lives together, but the Cinders know better. As a people, their predicament has also given rise to a new racial ability: the ability to fabricate illusions. 
˚ It should be noted that Reliquim's capabilities of illusion are all but null and void. While there may be potential later on, for now he has not awakened that ability within himself.

The Legend of the Ghost Fox:  

Reliquim began his life marked by his differentiation. His mind works in a very advanced, but very unique way. He grew up left-handed, and would often break down problems and come up with atypical solutions. His responses to the problems set before him - both in school and at home - were less than exemplary. Not that they were wrong, they were just very... non-idealistic. His unique attributes, while truly a strength, were constant targets for the other children's ridicule. He would be bullied, and his response was not to take it. Nor was it to fight back. No, Reliquim's revenge would come in the form of a carefully-planned trap that would never make him the center of attention, allowing him to passively get his revenge while safely watching from the sidelines.

Of course when all of his enemies would wind up with various problems that somehow didn't directly involve him, Reliquim would pick up a reputation for being cursed. Or haunted.

In his early teenage years, he began exhibiting dangerously aggressive tendencies toward those who picked on him, and with the aforementioned reputation preceding him, he began to be viewed as a threat to his own community. To keep him contained, his older brother, Letifer, surrendered him to prison, where he was tethered to a chain - much like an aggressive animal is kept on a leash to keep the community out of harm's way. It wasn't long after his sentence that Letifer's insanity would manifest. It resulted in the murder of many of their own people - including his own family. Reliquim was stricken down as well.

Mortally wounded, he expected to die. But upon the transition to the Afterlife, an Archangel sent him back, with the stipulation that whomever he kills, he will bear the weight of their deaths through the permanent bronze collar around his neck. For every person he kills, a portion of their soul becomes bound to the collar, becoming a permanent haunting voice that only Reliquim can hear. 

Once he had learned that the voices would never leave him, Reliquim got serious about hunting his brother with every intention to end him. He had convinced himself that only once his brother had paid for his mistakes, then the voices would stop.

His endeavors thus far have been grounded in, and given focus by, that goal.

Each soul shard trapped within his permanent collar has a name:

Viktra was his first voice, and unfairly, his best friend. He accidentally killed her in a mishap with a fork, and regrets it to this day.

One of Rel's biggest enemies, Eltar picked on him since day one, even assaulted him physically. He rightfully deserved his untimely end.

Jasprus was a mercy killing; mortally wounded, and pleading for the peace of death.

Arlen challenged him and lost the fight.

Powers & Drawbacks:
Silver Tongue: Reliquim has a knack for figuring people out. It doesn't take him long to detail a person's attitude, feelings and mannerisms, and categorize a person's motives, essentially.  He is not always right, but his observational skills usually don't let him down.  Though not always, he often uses this ability to mess with the subject's Heart strings. Reliquim loves people, though not in perhaps a healthy way. He wants to know what makes them tick, and how the mechanics of their personality and mind might still tick depending on the wrenches in the plans. One thing that drives him is the basic question: what would happen if?
˚ Additionally his observance lends a hand to his ability to talk his way out of or around many sitautions. More than once he has bargained with a merchant for a better price (or no price at all).

Eyes of the Heartless: This move is done similar to an exchange of consciousness, in which he can see through the Heartless' eyes. The Heartless still retain their ability to move and think on their own. This ability is more of an information gathering technique than an attack. He may use this information to sell to those who need the extra intel, or to get the winning edge over his enemy. However, this move is just as likely to land him no information at all depending on when and how he uses it.
˚ Due to the high level of concentration this ability requires, his body goes into a trance-like state and is highly vulnerable to attack. He can only see though one Heartless's eyes at any given time.
˚ This ability would only be used on Heartless characters, if at all, and only with their permission.
˚ Additionally, given the state of vulnerability his body is subject to during this ability, there are very few circumstances in which he will likely decide to use this (on player characters) at all.

Smoke and mirrors:  Being an Emberfox comes with perks. Exploding into a cloud of smoke is one such. For a short time, he may disperse into a cloud of smoke. Since it typically only lasts for a couple of seconds (one post at max, with a three post cooldown) he could use it to dodge an attack, move around a corner, or get to a second-story roof, crawl through the seam in a locked door, etc.
˚ However dispersal is an exhausting process. Headaches and dizziness are the chief drawbacks to this perk. Of course if he has to stretch the process out over a longer duration, disorientation and weakness upon re-assembly are the tariffs.
˚ While being aeriform, Reliquim's smoke cloud may be caught or dispersed (ie. waving a hand or weapon through it). It should be noted that dissolving the cloud will not kill him, it will merely act as a hindrance for physical reformation.
˚ Prolonged diffusion will also cause him varying levels of exhaustion and/or disorientation and headaches when he finally does become fully organic again.

Blood of the Emberfox:  While taking on many of the traits that would seem human, Reliquim is, in fact, a monster. As he was the byproduct of two parents already infected, he has lived his entire life under the Cinder Society. The virus inside of him makes it possible to afflict others via bite or tainted blood infusion.
˚ While the effects of the virus should only manifest in others with Firefox genes, a mutation would not be hard to be argued for.

Weapons: Teeth and Claws
Regardless of his form, Reliquim would likely apply his claws and teeth to a physical battle. He's decent with ad-lib combat with other weapons, but will only use other weapons if he knows there's no way around it. He doesn't generally like to fight hand-to-hand, but rather prefers to create battles of the mind, or things which cannot directly point back to him. That is, unless the victim is looking for a puppeteer calmly pulling the strings some place.

He has a rough edge to his personality that has led to a few spats in the past. If he finds that direct battle is a must, he will become volatile and dangerous. While he relies on sharp teeth and bronze claws for battle rather than a staff or sword, he should not be taken lightly. He is a daunting foe when he has to be.

Appearance: While he typically resides in his Humanoid form, due to the weak state of his heart at the beginning of Nightfall, for now his seven-foot grey Vulpine identity will be his only facsimile.

Light silver is the main color of his Vulpine form. To compliment silver of his fur, his eyes are a blood-burgundy color. Dark ash-gray socks, smoke and the tip of his tail are all the brown-grey of a dark smoke. Contrary to their smoldering appearance, the constant smoky wisps dancing from his body are frigid, their temperature tainted by the cold and brooding state of his heart.

His bronze collar, claws and chain are reminders of his fate; he's discovered that they're permanent fixtures, despite his attempts in his former life to remove them. Depending on his mood, he may choose to let his crazed personality escape through the expression on his face. Sometimes he may be seen with an unsettling grin rolling across his long vulpine maw.

Personality: A good Heart that's been mangled beyond repair, Reliquim is a cracked individual. He's quiet, and despite his species, takes on the behaviors of a cat rather than a canine. He chooses those he wishes to be loyal to, and the list is few and far between. Due to his background, Reliquim's mentality is close to the brink. Those on his bad side are usually condemned to suffer his merciless mind games. Often he enjoys throwing wrenches into other peoples' plans simply for the demented high of finding out how the chess pieces on the board would react to curveballs. 

Being a reclusive, observant being, he has practiced reading people for many long years and can usually pick up on their reasoning. He often delights in delving into the workings of the mind and discovering what makes individuals tick and why; articles on subjects detailing mental tendencies and statistics highly intrigue him.

As a summon, he will probably be defiant at times, choosing the path he deems the most worthy rather than what his partner wants him to do.

Perhaps through his long and perilous journey, Reliquim has discovered that inflicting pain on others temporarily relieves his own inner turmoil. He never desires to kill his victims, all he's looking for is something to numb his suffering, even if only for a time. This pain does not have to be physical, as mind games and watching others become confused and frustrated also seems to help.

Despite all of the drama of his past, Reliquim could very likely balance out, to some extent, if anyone could work with him past his madness. He doesn't consciously know it, but acceptance and someone to truly accept him for who he is are the things he's been after all along.

Role Playing Sample: The unnerving rebound of a hyena’s laugh gave a spine-chilling edge to the sleepy, fog-touched forest. An uneasy feeling was sinking into the mist-ridden world, only made heavier by the darkening twilight sky that had cast patches of dim firelight golf above fallen red leaves. 

The slender Emberfox male would let out another rolling, inhuman chuckle as the night’s chill had begun to set in. Around his ankles a small wind rolled, rustling some leaves in a swirling breeze before allowing them to flutter where they may.

He sniffed in the chilled air. The breeze that pricked his lungs carried with it the scent he’d been trying to pin. But it was just a wisp of it, and then it was gone.

A widening smile cracked in thin slits up the sides of his cheeks. The lunatic expression spoke the truth about just how fractured Reliquim’s sanity had become. Sharp wine-colored eyes would shift from one silver tree stalk to the next. The leaves had not all dropped yet. Even now, as he stood still, a handful chose to waste away in a crumbling flurry. “Look who’s hiding now, brother.” His face lit with a twisted satisfaction; as though he had any real control in the situation. Those wine-colored eyes squinted to see beyond the shafts of firelight sun that pierced through the trunks of the trees.

A few strands of silver ash hair had fallen out of place, hanging loosely just to one side of his nose. Heavens only knew that Letifer was always the one with the upper hand. Yet it was Reliquim who was comfortable in the encounter this time. There was a resolve in him; one he knew would send him to the grave. The problem was that he no longer cared. He wiped a thin stream of blood from his jaw, his loose, low-to-the-ground stance ready to pounce at any moment. That gaze shot over to a motion in the tree line looking to catch the source of the motion behind the mist: yet beyond the fog setting in the east, there was nothing truly telling. “Are you planning to run away again?” The smirk after the question revealed his jagged fangs. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Letifer had tried to flee at the first sign of trouble. Big brother always had.

“Oh Reliquim, brother, you have me all wrong!” the source of the voice seemed to be all around him: an omnipresent statement from somewhere within the slowly-consuming mists. “I would that you would join me!” 

Reliquim’s eyes would thin as they slowly scanned the area around him. Seeing nothing, he would spin on his heels and scour the rest of the landscape. Still, there was nothing.

A rustle in the leaves a few yards behind him caused the edgy Emberfox to whirl around, those dark auburn eyes alight with the pirouetting emotions of feral fear and an equal whirlwind of determination. The red leaves and silver tree trunks blurred together for a moment, then dark wine-colored eyes sharpened on the image above him. Letifer was descending with his glaive poised to impale the younger Emberfox.

Quickly Reliquim threw his hands - his fingers protected in large bronze claws - upward to deflect the damage. He would roll out of the way. The screech of the metal against his bronze-colored claws was ear-scraping. Yet the deflection was enough to buy him time. From the cushion of decaying leaves beneath him he sprung back to his feet. Then it was back to focussing on Letifer. “Yeah, well you have a hell of a way of showing it!” That maroon glare snapped back to his opponent, who had only just gotten up from his staggering landing. 

The younger brother struck before Letifer had time to react, planting one set of bronze armored claws into his foe’s trapezius muscles. The other set grabbed and tore deep into the thin layer of flesh just above his brother’s ribs.

Letifer spat an angry shout before throwing his arms behind him to grab the pest and throw him over his right shoulder. 

It was a good throw, landing Reliquim a good six feet away. His ash hair was brushed from his gaze just in time to see the gold-decorated blade coming again to claim his life. He relied upon his speed to save him, rolling swiftly out of the way. The glaive pierced the ground where he had been only a moment ago. Letifer was bleeding heavily. It was getting more difficult to attack. “Don’t you understand, brother? You and I would be stronger together!” He assaulted with an arcing swing of his weapon, but faltered in the execution. 

Reliquim managed to squirrel out of the way, slipping behind the blunt edge of the blade and running up the side of the pole, the claws of one hand slashing upward, aiming for anything from Letifer’s stomach to his jaw. 

The older male had come out with a cut stretching up his throat and along his chin. He would get his bearings as those ash-like silver eyes focussed on the younger male.

Reliquim’s skin rippled with rage. He brimmed with the anger and the hatred that had festered between them for years. “I saw what you did on Yorani! I understand — it was because of you. Yorani fell into darkness because of YOU!” the roar pitted in the back of his throat, he sprang for Letifer again. 

His arms swung wide with an animalistic slash. “You killed my friends!”

Another slash, and this time there was rage in his voice. “And our FAMILY!”

The older brother had been holding his profusely-bleeding ribcage, breathing in suffering as he backed up and tried to dodge his brother’s attacks. He had still been pierced multiple times. By now, the puncture wounds his brother had made to him, along with several more strikes across his stomach, abdomen and ribs. Some of them he was able to block, others he was too weak to dodge very well.

“Necessary casualties,” the blonde-haired brother seethed. “I thought you’d moved past that — seen the bigger picture — but I guess I was wrong.” His shoddy, uneven breathing showed that his health was waning. It was a point that Reliquim had taken particular interest in. He was getting closer to achieving his goal. The evil he’d been tracking was almost vanq—

— !!

Letifer swung the blade of his glaive upward. It had caught Reliquim off guard. The younger brother was caught up in his anger; something that had been building on his insides since the day he’d witnessed Yorani’s undoing. Where many siblings held a respect for each other, Reliquim looked at Letifer and only saw the intensity of his own inner rage. There was a typhoon inside of him that raged of emotions - all of which he’d kept caged because he refused to deal with any of them. And the moment one rose up to blind him, Letifer struck. 

The younger brother staggered back, blood spewing from the wake of the blade as a sizable slice opened across his upper chest. The wound alone wouldn’t have been fatal, but it was enough to hinder his capacity for battle. If he let it. But he couldn’t take the coward’s way out. He was this close to extinguishing the evil that had dragged his home planet and likely others into the darkness. Life would not give him this chance again.

The younger brother had been driven by the ignition in his spirit: a flame that burned hotter than his pain, driving him with the resolve to do whatever he had to do to achieve his goal. 

Both of them would take this chance and deliver a strike to the other. Letifer’s thrust had ended with five claws piercing his heart. Reliquim’s rush had fallen slightly short of its mark as he slid to a halt down the pole of his brother’s glaive. The blade shot through his stomach, and the younger firefox coughed up a large stream of blood. 

The fight was over. They brought each other to a stand-still. Letifer dropped to the ground as the last of his life drained from him, and in the dying light Reliquim staggered a few short yards and fell back against the trunk of a nearby tree. And it was here, in peace, he turned his gaze up toward the heavens, and smiled.

Questions/Comments/Suggestions: Dusty old record