[IMG]http://i63.tinypic.com/20pbuk4.jpg[/IMG]

[b]Full Name:[/b] Julian Marino

[b]Nicknames/Alias/AKA:[/b] (He calls himself Julian, but he's known as "the big guy" around Whitecross.)

[b]Age:[/b] 20

[b]Gender:[/b] Male

[b]DOB:[/b] May 13, 1996

[b]Occupation:[/b] Student / Part-time stocker and cashier at Oryana Grocery

[b]Race:[/b] Shifter

[b]Hair Color:[/b] Dark brown

[b]Eye Color:[/b] Gold

[b]Height and Build:[/b] 5'11", muscular yet lean.

[b]Other Appearance:[/b] Julian uses hair gel to keep his hair spiked out of his face. He likes to wear well-fitting thin hoodies and T-shirts that show his athletic build, along with skinny jeans and worn black Converse.

[b]History/bio:[/b]

[hider=Family History]
It is mythologized that King Lycaon of Arkadia infuriated Zeus, the god of the sky, by wanting to serve him a slaughtered child, his son Nyctimus being one of the options. Zeus' angry response was to bring lightning bolts upon fifty of Lycaon's sons and turn Lycaon and Nyctimus into wolves. The descendants of Nyctimus became Shifters, able to shift in and out of their wolf forms at will, while the descendants of Lycaon found themselves as Lycanthropes, cursed with uncontrollable transformations under the full moon. Shifters hated the Lycanthropes and still do, having the goal of demolishing the race.

Nyctimus' daughter, Phylonome, gave birth to twin sons, one of whom founded and populated Rome. Among his descendents were shipbuilders, who joined the trade business and sailed in the modern-day Mediterranean Sea. These people gained the family name Marinus ("of the sea"). In the 1500s, the Italian Wars resulted in the Italian city states spending a period of time under Spanish rule. A few families named Marinus immigrated to Spain and changed their names to Marino. When news came of a new land discovered, a few Marinos set out on ships the Americas. One family began their new life in what is now known as Florida.
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[hider=Julian's personal history]
It was known from the moment Julian was conceived what he might be. Julian was born in a private hospital in Ocala, Florida, on May 13, 1996 to specialized doctors. DNA tests confirmed that Julian was indeed a shifter, although his bright golden eyes, differentiating him from non-affected brown-eyed family members, was enough indication. Appropriate personal and medical arrangements were made.

Julian was an only child and lived with his parents in Ocala. His father, Edward Marino, was the senior manager of a company that sold furniture and household appliances. He received discounts as well as a good salary, and filled the entire apartment with furniture and appliances from that specific brand. Being loyal to his work, yet quite the proud person that he was, one of Edward's favourite things was when guests noticed the uniformity of everything in the house. He would often position the items so that the brand name was visible, and try to drop subtle comments into conversations about how much he liked using such-and-such an appliance from this brand. If guests were so interested as to ask about it, the resulting conversation would often revolve around how Edward worked for such a great company. He wore brown contact lenses to change the colour of his eyes, even though they were hardly an unnatural shade of golden brown. His mother, Roisin Wilson-Marino, was a second-generation Irish-American. She used to teach general science in a middle school, known among the students for giving out relatively simple assignments for easy marks while still being somewhat of an effective teacher. When Julian came, she decided to work from home and provide science lessons online, available to the middle schools of Ocala. This gave her time to give Julian her undivided attention.

Julian seemed like a regular temperamental child in his youth. He attended Maplewood Elementary School and developed a knack for appearing to befriend loners. He loved to talk and was seen as a natural leader. He was overly-sensitive to criticism, throwing tantrums in class and expecting people to comfort him. He was also a jealous child, getting angry if he perceived someone as better than him at something and arguing if he lost a game. Although he was small and skinny no matter how much he ate, he had above-average strength and speed. He excelled at all sports and never seemed to get hurt. He also had a suspiciously good sense of hearing and smell, sometimes making him feel overwhelmed. It was decided that music lessons would help him control his attention to at least sounds, and he took up guitar lessons. It took four tries to find a guitar teacher patient enough not to drop him. Perhaps picking up from his father, he was proud of his heightened abilities and senses and liked to show them off.

His first shift conveniently happened in the summer between elementary school and middle school, in the middle of an intense dream. When Julian woke up the next morning, he felt different in the bed. He screamed loudly when he saw what he had become. His mother ran into his room with a worried face that was immediately replaced with relief, confusing Julian. That day, his mother told him the legend of the Shifters and the Lycanthropes and his family history. Since Julian had no clue about any of this, it took him a few years to fully understand everything, but this only served to confirm his belief that he was special. He was sworn to secrecy, only deciding to keep this oath after Roisin explained the family's potentially doomed fate if the secret was let out. He didn't want to bring any negative reputation and harm to himself. His father revealed his own wolf form and took to training Julian how to control it, taking him to the Ocala National Forest to practice hunting and wolf behaviour.

Out of fear for revealing the family secret, Julian's parents hired several tutors to home-school Julian through middle school and high school. Most of the tutors grew to dislike Julian for his arrogance, but kept coming for the pay. His friends from elementary school, the young loners, had had enough of Julian's controlling ways and happily cut off connections from him when they stopped going to the same school. Julian denied his isolation and simply dismissed these old classmates as unworthy of his friendship. He selected new, worthy "friends" in online chats and video games, meeting up with the ones in his area to attend events and party. He had a girlfriend for his last two years in high school, a tall blonde named Lily Flynn. She lived with an abusive family and was used to neglect enough to be with him, using her time out with him more as an escape from her home than anything else.

A plan long in the works, Julian's parents sent Julian off to Whitecross to attend Gringore Academy after high school. They explained to him that he would not only received a college education, but would learn about his powers as well. Infatuated by the opportunity to finally show his powers to the world, Julian promptly broke up with Lily. He moved alone to Whitecross two months after he turned 18 and took residence in the dormitories of Gringore Academy. He hardly needed any time to adjust to this new isolation. Being outgoing and an extrovert, Julian had no trouble busying himself with studying, parties, events, and a part-time job at Oryana Grocery, socializing whenever and however he pleased. He has developed a crush on a same-aged floor-mate, a witch named Susanna Lim, who he has tried unsuccessfully to seduce by talking about how special he is.
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[b]Family/Relationships:[/b]

[hider=Family/Relationships]
Edward Marino - Father. Shifter. 52.
Roisin Wilson-Marino - Mother. Human. 49.
Lily Flynn - Ex-girlfriend. Student at Hillsborough Community College. 20.
Susanna Lim - Crush. Witch. Student at Gringore Academy. Floor-mate. 20.
Sam & Alex - Students at Gringore Academy. New floor-mates. 18.
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[b]Other/Extra:[/b] Julian is aware that Lycanthropes are the enemy, but hasn't had much to do with them yet. Julian enjoys talking to people (about himself), working out at the gym (especially in front of the mirrored wall), playing all sports, and being in situations where he can take the lead. Julian also tends to give people nicknames no matter how well he knows them, especially if they're also called Julian.