Sorry to double post, but here's my nightwalker :P

[center][B][U][I]Crow[/I][/U][/B][/center]
[center][img]http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/102/e/5/sifu_by_claparo_sans-d7e6fpg.jpg[/img][/center]
[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptXZCsVyEkU]Theme[/url][/center]

[hider=Basic Info][B]Name:[/B] Unknown. (Casurus[Overthrow; Fall])
[I]Alias:[/I] Crow.
[B]Nicknames:[/B] Wispy
[B]Age:[/B] 130.
[I]Apparent Age:[/I] 20 or so.
[B]Species:[/B] Demon(Hellion).
[I]Sub-Genus:[/I] Nightwalker.

[B][url=http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/364/4/8/witness_by_oceancradled-d4ks5ll.jpg]Appearance:[/url][/B] As a nightwalker, Crow wears no true garments, though he is often in a human guise and as such tends to wear clothes along [url=http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/293/f/9/folken_in_the_rain__ffxiv__by_shawnzy-d6r8k70.png]these lines[/url]. Beyond this there is a key detail to his the humanoid variety of his demonic form which should be brought to mind, and that is the presence of the many smoky tribal markings that run over his form. Among these are those that dwell on Crow's face, these lines serve as his mouth and will move in response to his mood to form expressions as if he had a true mouth. Additionally, while these markings do move when he speaks, his actual voice can be emitted from anywhere on his body, and typically resounds from the whole of him, bouncing sound waves in all directions as he speaks. Some have even stated that after he has been speaking for some time in this manner that the sounds become much like the clamor of a murder's wings and voices alike.

[B]Personality:[/B] A lazy opportunistic bastard, Crow is much like many nightwalkers in that he would prefer to feed easily and at his leisure rather than work for his place in the world. Nonetheless, there is a strange compulsion rising in him to do just the opposite, to take chances and work for his own gain. Much like the carrion bird whose name he's taken as moniker, he is a cunning and bright individual who has a tendency to collect things that he thinks hold value or are merely interesting to look at. Unfortunately for some, this happens to include living creatures, though with these he is far more careful so as not to be easily traced. Another similarity with his namesake is his cautious nature as he believes it prudent to be as such in a world where the three races have come as close to equals as they have ever been.

When it comes to conflict of the violent sort, Crow prefers to avoid it as he much rather settle things with intellect than brute force. Still, when it all comes down to it he'll throw a punch...or a fireball or two, so to speak. As a nightwalker he's a rather disloyal fellow, using people for his own ends with few exceptions. Still, there are those who catch his interest, he'll keep them around for awhile...or forever, turning them if they amuse him enough. Still, he's not one for grovelling and dislikes having 'mindless servants' or 'minions,' preferring instead to have comrades and allies. He's said that a friend is more valuable than someone willing to die to please you, such beings are boring and not worth mention or praise. Oddly, having someone who can disagree with you is something of a flaw when it comes to planning and when asked why he still allows such elements into his schemes he tends to answer that there'd be little challenge in it otherwise.

When it comes to his preferred activity, one must look to things that require little physical effort, but demand a great level of mental focus, for Crow simply loves a good game of strategy and tactics. He adores games like chess, and on the darker side of things, he loves mind games. Still, even when he is thoroughly enjoying something there tends to only be a lazy smile upon his face, rather than an outright maniacal grin like one might expect. This is mostly because he strongly believes in restraint, at least when circumstances allow that is. Last, but not least, Crow is not one to anger easily, in fact a great many believe him to be without anger, though possessing the faculty for annoyance of course. While he is certainly a master of keeping a cool head, somewhat due to his dabbling in philosophy and the way it has effected his perception. The truth is however, that Crow is as capable of being angered as any other being, it's just that it takes a helluva lot to get him there, though I'm not sure exactly why anyone would want to go to such a place.

[B]Biography:[/B] Waking as if from a deep slumber, Crow entered the world in mind, where he had already existed in essence. The Western Realm was his domain, the place from which he originated. However, he had little wish to stay there under the tyrannical rule of their lord, someone that he held no small measure of disdain for, though he knew not why. Gathering those few who agreed with him, as well as a few other demons, the black sheep traveled to Surface only to find that the Western Lord's influence, the touch of Szayeis, lingered and danced in the middle realm as well.

Annoyed, Crow kept to the shadows, feeding and congregating with his comrades and takin territory in the name of their lord without really meaning it. They were rebels, invisible guerilla fighters in a war that did not exist anywhere, but in their minds. Peace however, slowly settled over Progaia and Szayeis' malignant, and annoying, presence dwindled. The West closed, though it was always open to its native inhabitants, be they nightwalker or otherwise.

Holding little affection for the barren West, Crow spread his metaphorical wings in Szayeis absence and came into his own. Over the last 100 years he has accumulated the resources and manpower equivalent of a small army and with it he has created an outpost of sorts in each city he deems of importance. However, it is upon the ruinous landscape of Loom's resting place where he has set up his base of operations, where what one could call his gang functions. Here there have been erected a myriad of strange structures. On the outside they appear normal, but within their geometry seems...non-euclidean, alien and without logic. Still, while Crow could be considered the head of a decently sized gang, he and his associates are more businessmen than they are thugs.

They conduct business slyly and in secrecy when possible. They do not apply force or rule through sheer fear, but strive to gain their hold through more intellectual means. It is as if Crow plays chess with his comrades, but each of them a knight in his eyes, rather than mere pawns.[/hider]
[hider=Nightwalkers]
Demons of embodied shadow and darkness, nightwalkers are typically found in the western realm of hell where the sky is forever dark and no sun shines down on their shifting features. One of the few races of true shape-shifters, nightwalkers are capable of changing their form with essentially no limits other than size, which is dictated by their individual power and/or how much they have assimilated, be it shadows, essence, or other sources of such. While able to near perfectly shapeshift to emulate any form they desire, nightwalkers have an acute weakness to things that emit powerful illumination, such as fire, sunlight, holy luminescence, and lightning. This has led to most nightwalkers being active primarily during the night time as most of their ilk would die under the harsh rays of the sun.

Having rather unique capabilities due to their shadowy make-up, nightwalkers are capable of controlling, traveling between, and outright assimilating shadows. One can generally identify the power of a nightwalker by noting what form they decide to take and whether or not they can exist in the sunlight without being harmed or otherwise altered by the rays. As such it should be noted that weak nightwalkers will perish in mere minutes under the light of the sun and will remain permanently damaged if they survive, whilst a considerably more developed nightwalker will only be weakened by the sunlight, decreasing its overall power until the light wanes and the sun dips beneath the horizon.

This brings one to a unique fact about nightwalkers. While all demons are weakened [I]somewhat[/I] and are thus stronger during the night, this particular species actually becomes stronger depending on how dark a locale is. Thus, the less light there is, the more powerful a nightwalker will become. When night falls, even a weak nightwalker should not be underestimated as they will become at least two to three times more difficult to kill and a good deal stronger than before, allowing them to compete with the average demon and fend off minimally trained angels. The average nightwalker during night time is far more deadly as they become a force to be reckoned with so much so that the majority of human and angel kind have recognized nightwalkers of the average level and above as being “nigh immortal during the night.” This is largely due to a nightwalker's ability to assimilate shadows into their body, allowing them to effectively /become/ the darkness of night, closing in on their opponent from all angles, and devouring them alive without consequence.

Not only does this ability make them difficult to locate, not to mention damage, but it also increases the size that the nightwalker can reach when shifting forms, thus allowing them increased variability in their shapeshifting. Also due to their shadowy and incorporeal or intangible natural state, nightwalkers are essentially immune to conventional weaponry, be they guns, swords, or any other variety of weapon. In fact, the only material that seems to have any increased effectivity against them is gold, which can harm them even in their incorporeal state. It is not entirely known as to why this is the case, but it is theorized that it is gold's highly conductive state as well as the way that it reflects light, making it especially bright and particularly reminiscent of the sun.

They are capable of traveling through shadows or pitch black areas with ease, not having to move in the physical sense, but being able to effectively transport themselves from one place to another through darkness/shadows. While this is the case for normal, or conventional, weaponry, it should be noted that enchanted weapons have a higher chance of effecting nightwalkers as they are infused with magical energy and thus, in part, exist in the same space as their allegedly incorporeal bodies. Fire, light, 'holy', and lightning based enchantments tend to cause these demons the greatest damage. 	

However, a nightwalker's two greatest banes are in fact sunlight and what are referred to as 'despells'. These 'despells' are a class of magic that can deactivated or negate the magical properties of other spells, objects, or beings. Thus, when effected by a despell nightwalkers will lose their ability to become incorporeal shadows and will have to maintain some kind of physical form. Lastly among the typical abilities and traits of nightwalkers is the following, their cunning mindsets and their ability to manipulate essence. This ability varies in its use and largely depends on the individual, but it can be applied in any field from manipulating people's minds and emotions to warping their very souls to cause harm. The limitations and weaknesses of said ability depend on the individual nightwalker.

Moving from their traits and delving into their culture some very intriguing details can be found, first and foremost among these is that nightwalkers do not appear to hold the first demon, and second god, Lucy in reverence. The reasoning behind this is unknown and while there are a great many theories none of them hit anywhere near the mark. Moving on from this, there is a focus on treachery, intelligence, a strict understanding of the vague, mysterious, and unseen aspects of reality in nightwalker society. In fact many nightwalkers tend to give out a title rather than their name for they believe not only that names have an inherent power, but also that this chosen title is more of an aspect or trait that describes them more vaguely than their name does, allowing them a degree of anonymity.

As to their history and interactions with other demons, well, nightwalkers are typically a rather tight knit group and while many betrayals and the like will occur within their fold, they typically do not associate themselves with the majority of demonkind. The reason for this is unknown, but what is known is that it is not caused by either xenophobia or disdain. This mentality has made it rather rare to see hybrid nightwalkers who are a mixture of nightwalker and some other demonic race. In fact, their only truly prevalent interactions appear to be with the lord of their realm who they appear to have some sort of pact or magical contract with no matter if the lord changes or not. It is not entirely known what this pact entails, but it is very apparent that it does in fact exist. Beyond this nightwalkers keep to themselves, not intruding in the affairs of other demons or realms if at all possible.

While they are not very sociable in hell, nightwalkers seem to change somewhat when they venture to surface, something all nightwalkers can do effortlessly and without passing the gatekeeper due to their ability to transmit themselves through shadows the exception to this being especially powerful nightwalkers, whose essence signature is too large to slip through the cracks and seams of the boundary. Regardless, when on the surface to explore, hunt, or scheme, nightwalkers will interact with humankind quite often, either misleading, devouring, manipulating, or even befriending their ilk.

The presence of nightwalkers throughout human history points to this even more as in old myths and the like there are often described nightmarish creatures with no form, malevolent auras, and a wide variety of other traits that, if one does a bit of digging, seem to point towards nightwalker activity. In fact, one of the typical abilities of nightwalkers is that of nightmare creation where they enter the vicinity of their to-be victims, assimilate with the shadows of their surroundings, and utilize their essence manipulation to instil terrifying scenarios into the minds of their chosen prey. This has earned their kind another name and has led many demonologists to believe them a part of the demon classification of beings referred to as “Nightmare creatures”. These beings essentially feed off of the terror of their victims, dragging out their feeding processes for years whilst gradually killing their target through terrible nightmares. While nightwalkers are perhaps /capable/ of this sort of thing, they are not in fact nightmare creatures.

Moving on, it should be noted that while nightwalkers themselves are not nightmare creatures, they are capable of creating such. How one might ask, well quite simply by infecting humans with their demonic taint which will typically create one of three types of surface demons these being Shades, vampires, or Sollicitus. For further information on these demons one must do further research.[/hider]
[hider=Origin State]
A detail about nightwalkers that has been hidden from the majority of not only the dwellers of surface, but from demon kind itself is that while they are indeed shapeshifters they all possess one form which is the truest expression of their essence. It is their Origin State, the state in which their power and personality is expressed fully. While this form is universal to all nightwalkers, it is not identical between individuals due to the fact that its appearance and abilities originate from the personality and true nature, rather than from their species.

[/hider]
[hider=Capabilities][B][U]Demonic Abilities[/U][/B]

[I]Enhanced and Magical Senses:[/I] Due to his cautious and lazy nature, Crow has developed the ability to see in sphere of 40 feet around his person for the majority of the time, even when in his human form. Outside of this sphere he can still easily detect essence signatures and the like. Additionally, like most nightwalkers, he is capable of tracking people down via their unique essence signature. This ability is however, not absolute unless the individual he is tracking has entered his sphere of influence once. If any other form of their essence enters his field he can still track them due to it having the same 'scent' so to speak. His ability to sense the use of magic and generally individuals of higher than average power is as good as most nightwalkers. Thus, the more powerful someone is the easier they are to track, and vice versa. Additionally, he can detect locations where magic is being used in excess, the stronger the magic, or the more essence it requires, the easier it is to locate and track. Within his sphere of influence, Crow is capable of detecting the exact potency and power of an individual regardless of attempts to conceal such.

[I]Shapeshifter:[/I] Quite able in the realm of shapeshifting, Crow tends to use his in a more supplementary manner, using extensions of his true shadow state to create substance in the midst of his illusions. However, like all nightwalkers, he is entirely capable of altering his physical make-up entirely to his will as long as he has the essence or shadows necessary to do so. However, while many nightwalkers use their shapeshifting to give them an ethereal state and to increase their size, Crow primarily uses his to increase the density of his physicalized form. This odd choice has caused his human and demonic humanoid forms to be either very solid, or very energetic. As such, he essentially packs more power into his body than would otherwise be possible making his physical attacks and abilities rather...explosive in their potency.

[I]Demonic Influence:[/I] While the essence of most nightwalkers brings into being vampires, Crow is capable of creating both Sullicitus and Shades, both of which are exceedingly rare types of surface demons. Beyond this he can actually manipulate the essene of those he influences, further mutating their demonic affliction and turning them into even more bizarre, or even more powerful, surface demons. This is of course through the combination of his demonic influence and essence manipulation. Lastly it should be noted that Crow has complete control over his influence, meaning that he cannot accidentally afflict someone or change the nature of their essence, though he can pretend to. This, along with his essence manipulation actually allows him to conceal his own nature as well.

[I]Possession:[/I] While Crow is capable of possessing people via direct contact, he can also access them through mere contact with left behind essence. This does not allow him to possess them from long range, but it does allow him to locate them no matter where they are, and if there is enough lingering essence he can access their senses and even influence them via illusion and mental manipulation almost as if he were there.

[I]Lazy Intellect:[/I] While Crow is effectively a genius in his own right, capable of incredible analytical feats, and possessing a great deal of intuition, he is at the end of the day quite lazy. As such, he can be tricked through the manipulation of his laziness and he will more often opt out of violent situations, or take the path of least resistance unless absolutely necessary not to.

[B][U]Magical Abilities[/U][/B]

[I]Essence Manipulation:[/I] Truly one of his most powerful tools, Essence Manipulation is likely the ability that Crow has focused on most in his 100 years of life so far. With it he is capable of inducing powerful hallucinations and illusions by influencing the essence of his surroundings and through that the individual. He can also do this directly however, doing so makes it easier to detect. Additionally, Crow's mastery of this ability is such that even half a second of contact is enough for him to cause a powerful sensation of pain or discomfort equivalent to being hit in the gut by a professional boxer. With the assistance of his demonic influence he is able to make himself even more persuasive than he already is, making him especially good at reasoning and convincing people to his own ends.

However, unlike most nightwalkers, Crow's abilities in this field do not stop there. In fact, he is even capable of something that many humans, and certainly the secretive practitioners of the Art would be quite jealous, or indeed angry, of. He is able to mimic the natural patterns of nature much like the Art of Athriohm. It is unknown exactly how he acquired this ability, but it could be attributed to the fact that he murdered and consumed several practitioners in his time, likely assimilating both their knowledge and abilities respectively. His abilities still pale in comparison to a skilled practitioner of the Art, so he has taken to manipulating the smaller particles, atoms, and molecular structure so as to minimize the scope of his abilities. This allows him to mimic elemental manipulation and a great many processes that would otherwise force him to exert far more effort than he'd prefer to.

While it limits his own magical capabilities a great deal and temporarily deactivates many of his racial abilities (such as shapeshifting and a good deal of his enhanced sensory capabilities) Crow is actually able to completely mask his essence and can furthermore isolate individual strains of essence within his own. These abilities allow him to actually mimic the essence of anything that he has devoured, though typically he can only accurately mimic the essence of humans due to the pure nature of angelic essence and the difficulties involved with obtaining it. However, he can take the form of, and mimic, the essence of an angel for a limited period of time, typically around ten minutes, though he has done so for twenty, an act that did not go without its dangers.

[B][U]Skills and Learned Abilities[/U][/B]

[I]Hand-to-hand Combat:[/I] One could consider Crow a strange mixture between mixed martial artist and street fighter. His fighting style tends to be lazy, but still packs an incredible punch, focusing on his natural durability and essence amplified physical attributes. However, when he feels like trying, or is forced to do so, he can become a frightening martial adversary, making him quicker to react and counter, as well as to generally beat his adversary to a pulp.

[I]Human and Demon Psychology:[/I] Having worked with humans and demons so much in his life, Crow has grown accustomed to their psychological functions, allowing him to better interact or manipulate individuals of said races. Angels however, are another story and he considers them more difficult to bargain with, or convince. Thus he tends to not deal with them much, if at all, when possible.[/hider]