[hider=Leviathan][CENTER][h1][color=slategray][b]L E V I A T H A N[/b][/color][/h1][hr][h3][sup][sup][color=silver]A U G U S T  L E O N A R D  W I N F I E L D   [color=slategray]◼[/color]   M A R C H  1 3,  1 9 6 8  ( 4 8 )  [color=slategray]◼[/color]  M A L E  [color=slategray]◼[/color]   ? ? ?[/color][/sup][/sup][/h3][img]IMAGE/BANNER[/img][sup][color=silver]"Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning."[/color][/sup]
[img]http://expo.se/www/images/gk_andrew-vachss.jpg[/img][/CENTER]
[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]▼ A P P E A R A N C E:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][CENTER][sup][color=silver]"It seemed to be a sort of monster, or symbol representing a monster, of a form which only a diseased fancy could conceive."[/color][/sup][/CENTER][INDENT][INDENT][IMG]Image of Character[/IMG][/INDENT][/INDENT][indent][b][color=CADETBLUE]//STATS:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ HEIGHT |[/COLOR][/B] [i]5'10''[/i]

[B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ WEIGHT |[/COLOR][/B] [i]155 lbs[/i]

[B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ BUILD |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Lanky, prominent bones, wiry[/i]

[B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ HAIR COLOR |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Near-black[/i]

[B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ EYE COLOR |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Storm grey[/i]

[/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//DESCRIPTION:[/color][/b]
[indent][i]August is, at a glance, a generally unassuming figure. Not particularly tall, dull in coloration, and lean in build. His posture is withdrawn and defensive, carrying his limbs close to him and standing with a modest slouch. He dresses conservatively, and seems to take pains to avoid touching people. His dress sense is notably casual for his social standing, with the eccentric exception of the patch worn over his right eye. However, his presence and demeanor is so sharply contrasting from his appearance that most are completely unprepared for it. Above all else, he exudes control; his words and decisions almost seem to sap the credence of others. The schemes and arguments of others, especially those sharing in his presence, seem futile or ill-conceived when compared to his commanding charisma. It is not powerlessness that most feel around him, but a realization of how powerless they have always been.[/i][/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]▼ B I O G R A P H Y:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][CENTER][sup][color=silver]"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters."[/color][/sup][/CENTER][indent][indent][i]The name Winfield is known only to a privileged few, but among those few it carries immense weight and history. "Old money," so to speak, the family can trace its heritage past the colonization of the Americas, to the Norman conquest of England. In more recent history, they clan has spent the last few centuries in Massachusetts, quietly investing in the budding industrial and political interests of New England. Strangers to the celebrity of their contemporaries, Rockefeller and Morgan for instance, they have customarily kept themselves as far from the public eye as possible, valuing their privacy and security greatly. This is in no small part motivated by the family's turbulent history; plagued by "bad blood," scions of Winfield seem to be dealt great prosperity and ruinous madness in equal measure.

There has been no greater tragedy to befall the Winfield name in recent memory than Leonore Rosemary Winfield, heiress to the Winfield fortune in the early twentieth century. Ever plagued by flights of fancy and romantic delusions, she was known for spiriting away vast sums of money on vanities and frivolities. Her closest retainers and counselors did little to restrain her spending habits, as they took advantage of her mental absence to embezzle from her right under her nose. While her reputation was protected to keep their own interests from becoming compromised, most of Leonore's associates "jumped ship" after she began an affair with a disgraced German occultist and former SS officer, who manipulated her into devoting her resources to his own protection in the United States. Unsurprisingly, the relationship ended disastrously, as in the year of the infamous Dark Eclipse, the man eloped with what remained of the Winfield fortune, leaving Leonore alone, penniless, and pregnant with his bastard child.

The following year, August Leonard Winfield was born into abject poverty, with none to provide for him besides his half-mad mother. His early life in the slums of Springfield was miserable, but vital to his development. In his formative years he acquired the dagger-sharp cunning and utter ruthlessness that would both keep him fed and housed in his youth, and propel him into prosperity as a man. He had a wisdom beyond his years, and a perspective that found solutions that most others could barely fathom. From his school-aged years on he kept himself and his mother afloat by various unscrupulous means; from running three-card monte on his classmates, to balancing accounts for local bookies. Leonore had no degree and no skills, and August considered her little better than a burden, but her presence kept him out of state custody, and for that reason he continued to support her. The harder he worked, the more skills he learned, and the more contacts and favors he collected. By the time he was a young man, he had ingratiated himself with a handful of organized crime syndicates in the greater Boston metropolitan area, and had accumulated enough clout and funds to gain admission into Boston University. Casting off his now useless mother to rot in a mental institution, he attained top marks with a dual major in business and economics, and was (with some outside pressure) accepted into Harvard Business to complete his postgraduate degree.

Now August Winfield, D.B.A., he desired greatly to start anew in a distant locale, hoping to establish new contacts and make his way legitimately. He chose his place of relocation meticulously, favoring both economic potential and minimal possibility of being linked to his criminal associates. He eventually settled on Crescent City, California, and founded his own financial advisement and investing firm, Aquarius LLC. Capitalizing on the technological and economic "Hyperhuman Boom" of the early nineties, Aquarius became an economic lynchpin of the Orlaith district, laying the foundation for many corporations that are household names today. As was the Winfield custom, August made his fortune quietly and without fuss; the layperson would have no idea who he was or what he did, but he was a figure to which the wealthy and powerful were both reverent of and indebted to.

However, as the years wore on and Hyperhuman activity increased, the boom slowed, and what was once a prospering city began to slump into poverty and crime. Aquarius' bottom line felt the recession, and they were forced to take on more unscrupulous clientele. August found himself falling back on old habits, as the allure of easy money made outside the bound of the law was too tempting in these difficult times. As well, this regression of behavior was likely a subconscious reaction to an unforeseen stressor in August's life: his own supernatural awakening. Almost like a second puberty, August discovered gradual, yet unsettling changes to his body. His vitality far exceeded that of a normal man his age, and he soon concluded that he had stopped aging entirely. His physique eventually surpassed human limits, and eventually even more disturbing changes took place, which he took every precaution to conceal from anyone else. His mind seemed to expand with his body, and he found himself supernaturally aware of the emotions and consciousnesses of others. He cautiously nurtured this growing extrasensory perception, and as soon as he had a handle on it, turned it to his advantage. He psychically dominated his competitors, and hypnotically implanted suggestions to his associates that would profit him best. Subtlety was the cornerstone of his manipulation, as his preferred tactic was to have others believe that they were acting of their own accord. Even when his criminal puppets were taken under, there was nothing material ever left behind to link himself and their activities.

In recent years, August's supernaturality has begun to escape his control. His dreams are often wrought with confusing and troubling visions, and his waking hours are plagued with strange compulsions and turbulent moods. His thought patterns have become more erratic, and while he reaches generally logical conclusions, he has difficulty explaining his reasoning to others. He picked up the hobby of distance swimming from seemingly nowhere, and purchased a stretch of private beach to satiate this yearning in privacy. His attentions always seem drawn out to the horizon, and he feels a psychic pull from far out to sea. Only in the past few months has he begun to wake up to find that he has been sleepwalking, and scrawling strange symbols and figures on the walls and floors of his modest estate. His powers of supernatural suggestion seem to work of their own accord at times, enthralling those in close contact with him as though his very aura was enough to transfix them. In a desperate search for answers, he has funneled a considerable amount of his personal funds into research into archeology and the occult, and has tentatively made contact with the Black Lotus Society through a former associate of his mother's. His desire to stay largely anonymous and keep his troubles private has stifled the progress of his research, and his results thus far have done little to stifle his growing worry that the "bad blood" of Winfield has taken him as well.

[/i][/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]▼ M O T I V A T I O N / O B J E C T I V E:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][CENTER][sup][color=silver]"I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men."[/color][/sup][/CENTER][indent][indent][i]August is driven by a desire to dominate and to control. His early life of poverty instilled in him a compulsion to stand above others so that he might never be at their mercy again. He sees the world as one where the strong devour the weak, and morality and justice only exist if they are backed up by the powerful. In some ways he considers himself alike to a god; lesser men pray to him, and he takes delight in their prostration. Even if they do not see him as their benefactor, or think themselves to be his superiors, it is enough to him that he is in true control of both their lives and his own.

However, with the recent development of August's supernaturality, he has begun to suffer an identity crisis of sorts. He no longer truly understands who or what he is, and what his place in the world is. So far he has sought to solve these insecurities rationally, through research and practice, but he fears something deeper at work, that is potentially outside of his admittedly meagre control.[/i][/indent][/indent]

[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]▼ A B I L I T I E S / S K I L L S:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][CENTER][sup][color=silver]"Can you fill his hide with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears? If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle, and never do it again! Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering."[/color][/sup][/CENTER][indent][b][color=CADETBLUE]//ABILITIES:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Birthright |[/COLOR][/B] [i]August isn't sure what he is, but he knows it isn't human. He has seemingly stopped aging at the physical equivalent of his mid-thirties, and he continues to grow more powerful physically. Despite his unimpressive appearance, August is freakishly strong, able to flip a mid-sized car onto its roof with only a moderate effort. His endurance is equally profound, as he has taken to swimming miles out to sea as a leisure activity. While his body is only as durable as a normal human's, his regenerative capacity is sufficient to quickly heal flesh wounds, and he has on one occasion managed to grow back an entire appendage. However, this regenerative factor carries severe side effects, which seem to manifest even without August becoming wounded, as his body continues to metamorphosize outside of his control.[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Sheol |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Similar to his progressively inhuman physical characteristics, August's mind is developing into something he doesn't understand. While he can be loosely considered a psychic of some description, August suspects that something far different is at play. Currently, he has a certain amount of extrasensory perception, able to sense the emotions and presences of living minds, and to a limited extent influence them with the force of his will. He has greater control over sleeping individuals, and can implant hypnotic suggestions in their minds that can influence their personality and decisions. This influence has begun to outpace his control of it, as he has occasionally found that he has inadvertently hypnotized even waking persons with his idle thoughts. While August initially believed that his own strange dreams were premonitions, he has recently discovered that he is actually astrally projecting his consciousness in his sleep. He has almost no control over this ability so far, as his consciousness usually manifests in locations that he does not recognize.[/i][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//SKILLS:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Doctor of Business Administration |[/COLOR][/B] [i]August is highly educated in the fields of economics and business, and has extensive experience in these fields, as his self-made fortune can attest. His material resources are plentiful, and he has his own firm, Aquarius LLC, to fall back on.[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Con Artist |[/COLOR][/B] [i]By cutting his teeth on petty crime and studying under more proficient cons, August is quite proficient in such skills as deception, redirection and slight of hand. While he is more than a little rusty at the practical application of these skills, they're still second-nature to him, and it takes a very skilled individual to get one by him.[/i][/indent]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ It's Who You Know |[/COLOR][/B] [i]August is an exceptionally well-connected individual. Anyone who is anyone in Crescent City owes him either a significant favor or a substantial amount of money. While his direct contacts are numerous, his network is practically all-encompassing, as even if he doesn't have a contact in a particular area, it can be assured he knows a guy who knows a guy.[/i][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//LIMITATIONS:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Metamorphosis |[/COLOR][/B] [i]August's powers are the result of him changing. Into what, he has no idea, but the process has only just begun. His powers warp and progress faster than he can master them, and sometimes diverge into something else entirely. What's more, is that he is growingly increasingly unable to conceal his supernaturality from others. This includes both his literal physical appearance, as well as his outbursts of psychic influence potentially drawing unwelcome attention to himself.[/i][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//WEAKNESSES:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ Friends Back East |[/COLOR][/B] [i]August is a man desperate to escape his past, and yet doomed to repeat it. His overwhelming need to dominate and control, growing stronger as his mind and body both mutate into inhumanity, have drawn him back into the world of criminality, which already blackens his past in New England. His history of being a two-bit thug and conman in Massachusetts, as well as the shame his mother brought onto his family name are sore subject for him, and have on previous occasions broken his cold and calculating demeanor. [/i][/indent][/indent]
[COLOR=SLATEGRAY][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]▼ N O T E S:[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][indent][b][color=CADETBLUE]//SUPPORTING CAST:[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]▼ ALLIES[/COLOR][/B]
[indent][B][COLOR=WHITESMOKE]◼ [I]TBD |[/I][/COLOR][/B] [i]Test[/i][/indent]
[B][COLOR=SILVER]▼ FRIENDS[/COLOR][/B]
[indent][B][COLOR=WHITESMOKE]◼ [I]TBD |[/I][/COLOR][/B] [i]Test[/i][/indent]
[B][COLOR=SILVER]▼ ENEMIES[/COLOR][/B]
[indent][B][COLOR=WHITESMOKE]◼ [I]TBD |[/I][/COLOR][/B] [i]Test[/i][/indent][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//STOMPING GROUNDS[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ TBD |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Test[/i][/indent]
[b][color=CADETBLUE]//PARAPHERNALIA[/color][/b]
[indent][B][COLOR=SILVER]◼ TBD |[/COLOR][/B] [i]Test[/i][/indent][/indent][/hider]