Deity: Ares, god of war
Name: Shiloh Ganis
Gender: M
Age: 22
Height: 6' | 183cm
Personality: (Short version is the title of the CS.)
Initially polite and mild-mannered in an absentminded, habitual way, Shiloh presents himself in a controlled and sophisticated manner—at first. It probably won't take long for him to become bored of the usual pleasantries and try to make things a little more... interesting.
Shiloh will at times go out of his way to provoke people or situations as a
really really awful side-hobby. Though he takes great care to stay in control of his own self to a certain extent, he finds delight in losing control of situations. Both predictable and unpredictable outcomes are fine with him as long as the results or process to get there is entertaining enough. In the event that he needs to choose a side... well, it might as well be a coin toss; he's not much for loyalty or even winning in this sense. In order to keep him from bothering you or causing too much unnecessary havoc, it'd be best to keep him occupied with either pestering other people or another suitable distraction than to have him bother you instead.
He enjoys traveling, especially to places where he can observe many different kinds of people with cultures varying from his own. He stays in contact with the few people who can stand his existence via the internet; in fact, most of his friends are those he met online and don't often meet.
That's probably why they're still friends... Shiloh's character is needlessly complicated and difficult to understand for most, but his friends are probably still his friends because they don't care.
Or just don't really know what to make of it but deal with it anyhow. Powers: If he wills it, Shiloh is able to fuel strong emotions in other people within a certain range. It works best with negative emotions or uncomplicated ones in which one loses his usual sense of self (ex. rage), and when Shiloh himself is relatively calm. The usual purpose of this power is to cause conflicts which can act as distractions; unfortunately, if overused, Shiloh himself becomes affected and loses his usual composure, becoming affected by his own blood-lust and leading him to (often violently) initiate conflicts directly on his own. Since it's difficult for him to bring himself out of this state, another person will have to attempt to shake him out of it or just knock him out for this to stop. If the risks outweigh the benefits of the outcome, it's better to avoid letting him use this ability unless it becomes absolutely necessary.
Even when he doesn't use it, his presence in general does tend to make, for example, hot-tempered characters even more hot-tempered than usual, so it isn't hard to tell that he doesn't have complete control over his ability. It might be better to think of this as a passive ability which he can fuel with his intent (with the metaphorical "fuel" being his own rationality and self-control). That he still, to this day, cannot fully control this ability is a bit of a sore point for him, but he acknowledges this failure (if a bit resentfully) and uses it sparingly. Although he hates needing to rely on other people for his own shortcomings, if someone reliable is not going to be nearby him while he uses this ability, he will refuse to use it up to a certain point. Really, though, how likely is it that you'll need very violent or full-blown chaos in a large-scale area anyway?
Weapon:
A custom-made umbrella of questionable material. He carries this with him everywhere, no matter the weather, and it is the only material object he holds any sort of attachment to. He's gotten pretty creative with its use over the years, so let's just not talk about that. Usually, he just casually whacks people with it if he feels the need to. He... actually doesn't really use this as a weapon if he can help it because of a
previous trauma certain incident. (We don't talk about that either.)
He does have a spare made almost entirely of some metal alloy
because of that one time he almost snapped his favorite (only) umbrella into thirds and (his feels) suffered greatly for it and thought it might be a good idea to get a more indestructible one instead but he just couldn't bring himself to part with the current one and ended up just sending it in for repairs and tossing the new one into some dusty corner where it now sits sadly like the unwanted younger child of an otherwise happier family , but he thinks the shape is rather inelegant and doesn't often carry it with him, though it is technically better-suited as a weapon... oh well, he doesn't care.
Biography:
Born Shiloh Asker to a happy, wealthy, newly-wed couple, his birth was a welcome delight in his parents' lives. The family of three lived in contentment for years, going through few bumps and problems along the way that gradually increased and worsened. Eventually, the source of most of these problems was pinned to young Shiloh, who seemed to bring bad luck wherever he went and didn't seem very concerned about it at all.
Although it was true that his more passive powers had manifested early on while he was unaware of and unable to control them, since they fed on pre-existing negative emotions, it was likely the problems he "caused" would have risen sooner or later anyway. The constant pressure and added guilt eventually triggered his first loss of control, which lead to his father leaving the family once things calmed down again, and then his mother dropping him off at an orphanage, unable to bring herself to love or care for him as she once did. Her parting words left a deep impression on him, bringing to mind a memory of his father saying something similar to him long ago... so long ago that had actually never happened to him in this lifetime. Oh.
Gradually, as he spent his days in the orphanage and moving from one foster home to the next, Shiloh began to remember more of his pastlife. At first he was curious about this sea of memories and intrigued to see more. The more he learned, however, he less he wanted to know. He prefered keeping his own memories to this unwanted invasion of new ones that felt like old. Throughout his teenage years, Shiloh attempted to deal with this sudden identity crisis, suffering breakdowns in his confusion until he dealt with it the way he dealt with most things in life: by accepting it, grudgingly and with much bitterness and resentment. By then, he was old enough to get away with leaving the orphanage by smilingly explaining his memories to his charges and his plans to look for answers in Mount Olympus.
It was a bit of a lie; what he actually wanted to do was travel around and see the world a bit without ever stepping near the other "blessed children," but... well, considering his online gaming buddies, we already know how well that went. He sort of meant to head to Mount Olympus once he reached 21 to fulfill his curiosity (and maybe see if he could, y'know, somehow not be Ares reincarnated anymore
which was quite unlikely considering his luck but hey a guy has to try at least), but he got a bit distracted on the journey there. For a year. (It happens.)
Well, now he's here. He was getting a bit bored anyway.
Miscellaneous:
+ Don't leave him with children.
+ Sometimes arranges to be at the right place at the right time, but only if it means he can
be a nuisance to someone else find great entertainment from this.
+ Once kept a pet vulture that followed him around in a mostly abandoned town for a while.
