[@PaulHaynek] - Here's my replacement character, Thessir. I decided to go with something a little different from the shadow hand model which is hopefully acceptable. It's a useful alteration spell but it comes with some strong drawbacks which hold it back from being too strong. Hopefully he's a bit more palatable than my last two.

[hider=Thessir]
Appearance:[hider=Thessir][img]http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n151/dangerboy2/Thamus%20Rough%20Draft%2001.png[/img][/hider]
(What the picture doesn't show is that he has pointed ears.)

Name: Thessir.

Race: Rogue Elf.

Magic/Abilities: 

Given his people's ways his dark magic well supercedes his other fields of study. Despite his skill however his range of spells is rather low, lavishing most of his attention on improving one spell instead of learning a diverse collection like others. Beyond that he's an alchemist, knowing a few concoctions due to his brief role as lead alchemist. Here are some examples of his spells:

[u]Living Dark Form[/u]
His piece de resistance, his greatest spell yet, this spell is favored above all else for him and yet it still has yet to reach it's full potential. This work in progress is the result of several years worth of study and adjustments to the original iteration.

When cast this spell infuses it's caster's body with pure darkness, transforming it into a something existing in a halfway state between a solid and a liquid like some sort of ooze. This gooey form is quite malleable and able to shift it's shape with ease, moving completely according to the caster's will. In this state the caster is much harder to hurt physically, able to reform wounds and regain lost parts by reabsorbing them into the main mass. This form is far more susceptable to light however. When exposed to almost any form of light the substance comprising the caster's physical mass will begin to corrode, the brighter the light the faster the corrosion. Natural sunlight causes the fastest deterioration out of all forms of light, light magic included.

The caster is able to gain mass by absorbing the darkness around them but only to a certain limit. The total mass of darkness the caster can absorb is equal to the total mass of the caster plus the strength of their magical potency divided in half. In addition the caster must remain in physical contact with all portions of their dark mass or else upon the spell's end they will be missing parts of themself. The amount of the caster's body missing is equal to the amount of mass missing in the Living Darkness form. The missing sections of course will be deducted by percentage so a caster who loses a third of themselves during the spell will only be missing a third of their body instead of losing the amount of mass lost when they were much larger in size. The same rules apply to mass that is lost to light corrosion. Upon the spell's end the caster will return to the condition they were at before casting the spell while also taking upon the wounds suffered as a result of the Living Dark Form.

The dark mass much like other fluids is susceptable to being frozen. When frozen it will no longer be under the caster's control and will not be able to transform back until the mass is freed from the ice. The dark mass is not flammable however the light produced from flames will corrode it. All light magically created, both directly and as a byproduct of the spell cast such as flashes from lightning and light from a fire, will corrode the dark mass like any other source of light. Light produced by an illusion spell will not corrode the dark mass however as the light created is simply an image of illumination and thus holds no sway over real darkness.

As of currently Thessir can only transform up to half of himself into a Living Dark Form as he has yet to fully master the spell.

[u]Stain[/u]
Upon casting this spell causes everything the caster physically touches to become stained with darkness. The stain itself does little more than cover any surface touched by any part of the caster with an ink black splotch that cannot be washed away with normal methods. The caster however is able to sense the location of anything which is stained that is within a radius of five miles of him. The caster can only tell what something stained is by the shape of the stain so the more of something a stain covers the better an idea he'll have as to what it is. The stains can only be cleansed by magic designed to remove curses or by directly exposing the stains to natural sunlight. The stains vanish when the spell ends.

[u]Shadow Jump[/u]
The caster can use this spell to sink into any shadow of sufficient size and emerge out another shadow. Both the entrance shadow and the exit shadow have to be within twenty feet of each other. If either shadow is destroyed by light and any part of the caster is still passing through then the caster is roughly ejected out the exit shadow. This spell cannot be used in complete darkness as it requires at least a modicum of light in order to create shadows. This spell cannot be used on shadows either created with dark magic or manipulated with it, only natural shadows will suffice. The caster can use their own shadow as an entrance shadow but since the shadow vanishes as the caster passes through every exit using this method results in a violent ejection.

[u]Shadow Puppetry[/u]
A rather simple spell, this spell allows the caster to manipulate shadows. This particular spell does not give shadows any special properties, the shadows only do as they always do. The shadows are able to travel across lit surfaces however. Spells that depend on shadows cannot use shadows manipulated by Shadow Puppetry. Since this spell is not particularly difficult it is quite fast to cast and can be performed quite quietly too.

[u]Dark Vision[/u]
This spell gifts it's caster with the ability to see in perfect darkness with excellent clarity. Though the caster can see all things in the dark the spell does not include the ability to see colors in the darkness however so everything will appear monochrome until they return to the light. The caster can cast this spell on others though they have a limit as to how many they can cast this on. The capacity for how many subjects the caster can bestow this spell's effects upon is limited by the caster's magical prowess.

[u]Acid Flask[/u]
With the right ingredients and tools Thessir can brew an acid which can dissolve most organic materials and slowly eat through some weaker metals.

[u]Lesser Healing Potion[/u]
With the right ingredients and tools Thessir can create a fluid mixture which when imbibed bestows the drinker an effect similar to a weak healing spell.

Personality:

[b]"Here lies Thessir. He didn't come from here."[/b] - A Thessirian Epitath.

Thessir is many things. A scholar, a thief, a wanderer and a mourner in one.

His kind have always focused on dark magic over any other discipline and he is no different. He finds great interest in exploring that field of magic's potential and bringing new understanding into his art. A major factor in his motivation is his thirst for knowledge, coming to the academy simply for better access to the city's wealth of arcane knowledge.

His ways are strange to outsiders and duly so. As a cavern dweller his childhood has prepared him for a vastly different kind of life than the one he leads now. Where once giant bats and massive spiders once lurked around dark crevices he only sees humans trudging about dark alleys now. The day brings him pain so the night is his true day. While the sun is high he'll do things if he must but he much prefers to take cat naps in rafters and dark corners. He is a light sleeper since those who were slow to wake back in the caverns were often soon to become spider food. During the night he travels much, often choosing routes which require a great deal of climbing and acrobatics to get around since it's closer to how travel was like back in the caverns, pathways veering as much vertically as they did horizontally.

Having started with little to his name he's had to make his way up the hard way, doing what was necessary just to get by. Luckily for him most of what was needed was largely stealing and occasionally fending off the human folk. He's gotten quite skilled with his use of knives, both the regular variety and the thrown kind. While he's above taking advantage of those who are worse off than him he sees little issue in taking from folks who have more than him since they clearly have plenty to share that they're just too greedy to relinquish on their own.

Aside from his native differences in behavior Thessir often plays up his eccentricities as a mask of sorts to hide his real feelings. He's yet to forgive himself for failing his people, likely condemning them to a horrible death. The guilt eats at him every waking hour but he trusts nobody enough to let them see his vulnerability so he wears a smile and has a chuckle as though he were always in on some joke that no one else heard. His humor is strange and often grim. He is fond of playing the fool, coming off as beneath most people's notice. He is even more fond of subverting other folk's expectations whenever possible, sometimes for good and sometimes not.

At heart he doesn't mean anyone much harm, simply trying to get by as he lives on for the sheer sake of living. While he carries a great sorrow he still can appreciate the sheer beauty of the world at large and marvel at all the things he never could have even imagined from the pitch black tunnels that he used to call home. To see and to learn is his calling now.

But first a bit of money could be useful if only just to get around.

Background:

A long time ago a tribe of elves who lived deep in caverns were sealed off from the outside world by a massive earthquake which collapsed all entrances and exits out of the mountain. While these elves were recovering from the devastation a massive rock-borer worm dug it's way up and started attacking their village, devouring entire clusters of homes and hundreds of elves in a single go every time it passed through. In their desperation a famous hero of theirs concocted an alchemical formula which would keep the worm at bay. This formula was painted in a long ring around their village and the worm steered clear of them. While they celebrated their success whilst mourning their losses they were now burdened with a new albeit less immediate problem. The worm that attacked them did not continue it's attack but it never left the mountain, resting below them it made it's new home and hunted in the local area around them. There would now never be a day when the worm would not be present for long enough for them to escape, even if they did manage to tunnel through the rocks barring them from freedom.

Many generations of elves past. In memory of their great hero every generation one of them would be given the role of chief alchemist. The new chief alchemist would usually be chosen by the former chief alchemist and was almost always the apprentice of the former chief alchemist. The chief alchemist is a position that's just as important as the chieftan of the village and equally as respected. The elf we know as Thessir was an apprentice to one such chief alchemist.

As they were buried, unable to tell night from day beneath the stone of the earth, they had go by a different method of telling time. The lived by cycles, the time it took for the formula to begin to dry and flake off the walls. Every cycle the Chief Alchemist would perform the Ritual of Renewal which was essentially just repainting the old formula with a new coat. The whole village would attend to witness the event and upon it's completion they would hold celebrate. It was basically a major holiday for them, the celebration of a new cycle safely secured.

_
Come the day of the Ritual of Renewal all were gathered to bear witness to the maintenance of the formula band. The former Chief Alchemist was very old by then, old enough that he deemed it proper to finally retire and pass on his title to his pupil. Thessir was still young but the old man felt he was well and ready to uphold the mantle.

As Thessir was approaching the wall however something occured. The ground began to rumble and shake. From the depths below the bridge massive carnivorous bats flew up and began attacking all they could see. Producing his dagger he attempted to fight the bats off but there were too many. One smacked right into him and sent him falling to what he believed to be his certain death.

What he did not know was that in the hundreds of years since they were buried the worms movements had moved the earth, pushing stone aside and creating tunnels. After falling for what felt like forever but in reality was no longer than about ten seconds or so instead of hitting stone like he expected he splashed into a deep pool of water. He did not know how to swim however and quickly found himself drowning. His vision grew dim and it seemed like death was upon him.

_
When he awoke he was not in a cavern at all but aboard a ship, stuck in a net no less. He was caught in a fishing net and now aboard a fishing boat, something he had no experience with whatsoever. It was only when he started struggling against the confines of the net while the heavy weight of fish pressed on him to an effect which felt crushing that the fishermen noticed he was among their catch. When they let him down he spoke but his language was far too different from their own. They looked confused but took him to shore anyways since he didn't look very threatening.

In the port city Thessir took his time learning the local language, still reeling from the knowledge that everyone he's known for all his life was now likely dead since he failed his duty to replace the formula. The empty basin which once held the formula but was now rinsed clean with sea water was clear enough evidence of his tragic failure.

Once he could understand the language of the land he went out of his way to seek out knowledge of dark magic. His people had pretty much practiced dark magic at the exclusion of all else due to the fact the only light his people had ever known came from the small bioluminescent mushrooms that grew within the mountain in sporadic patches. The days were harsh as his eyes definitely not adapted to handling natural light at such volume, not to mention his skin was pale as snow. His complete lack of pigment as a result of the lack of sunlight meant he burnt with ease under the sun's harsh rays. The nights however were a marvelous sight. The twinkling stars and softly glowing moon set upon such a vast night sky were no less wondrous no matter how often he viewed them.

_
So he worked mostly at night. Without any skills of value to the people of this port he had to resort to pickpocketing to make a living. He saved up his money until he could leave for a place the locals called Zauberheim. It was said that this place was the magic capital of the world. With his fascination with dark magic he was determined to set off and find this city to see what knowledge of the dark they have stored.

For a small pittance of all the money he had saved up he paid a caravan to let him ride with them on the cart as a passenger. They traveled for many days and night until they finally arrived at the capital. It was a massive place, practically as big as the biggest cavern they had back at his former home. Setting off into the city it wasn't long until he was directed to Seraph Academy, the premier facility for those wishing to learn magic. Determined to deepen his understanding of dark magic he signed up to become a student.

Such was merely the beginning of his troubles.
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[hider=Writing Sample]
[u][b]Thessir[/b][/u]

The waves lapped against the side of the ship's hull. It canted with the undulant motions of the sea below. Raised above the deck in a swaying net he laid, pressed firm against the criss-crossed bands by a pile of cod. He sputtered and coughed, his body purging the unwelcome water from his lungs. He opened his eyes, the world still a blur awash with colors and motion without solidity. The light stung his dark eyes, encouraging him to close them once more. He coughed further and muttered deleriously.

[b]"Hey! I think we caught someone in our net!"[/b]

He heard a sailor yell up to the captain. There was motion below, more talking too. The pulley slowly lowered the net down until it was resting against the deck. He felt himself grabbed by the collar and pulled from the pile of fish by rough calloused hands. His eyes peered through half-opened lids as he tried to limit the exposure his eyes recieved from the light. He saw a grizzled man, much taller than himself with a salt & pepper beard and a navy blue coat. He was clearly fairly old though not decrepid as of yet, well muscled from years of sailing the many seas.

[b]"Hey, do you speak our language elf?"[/b] The older man the other sailors referred to as the captain asked in a language Thessir did not speak.

"E?" Thessir answered back in his own language to no one's benefit.

[b]"Bloody hell.[/b] The captain stroked his beard, deep in thought.

[b]"Captain, what do you plan to do with 'em?"[/b] The previous sailor asked.

[b]"Well, we ain't no slavers and we sure as hell ain't sellin' him to none either."[/b] The captain grumbled with a frown. [b]"We'll drop him off at port and wash our hands of it."[/b]

The rest of the crew mumbled to themselves and traded whispers with one another. Some agreed with his decision, some wanted to see if they could make some money off this stranger stuck on their boat but none of them raised issue with the captain's decision. As the rest of the people went back to work he felt a hand take him by the shoulder and lead him down into the ship's hold.

_
As he was lead into the dark doorway he awoke. The wagon rolled along the dirt trail under the autumn orange sky, the sun setting in the distance. As he stirred he could hear talking in the distance. They were approaching the city, namely the entrance where guards were inspecting the wares of merchants for contraband.

[b]"Hey, we got guards checking the cart so wake up."[/b] The man sitting across from him gave him a firm but restrained kick on the leg to make sure he was awake. Thessir pulled his leg back and gave a bit of a hiss but otherwise didn't act on it. He simply straightened his hat out and sat himself inbetween the large squid and the basket of fish, making himself appear less prominently.

[b]"Ho there! We need to check your wears before we can let you enter!"[/b] the guard ordered authoritatively.

[b]"Oh ho ho, sure thing good sirs. Feel free!"[/b] The portly merchant put on his jolly airs and motioned to the men to come on over. Normally the fat man was anything but pleasant but he wasn't going to give guards any attitude, not if he wanted to actually do business in the city.

The armored men dismounted their horses and proceeded up to the back of the wagon where they peered in to check the goods. The man sitting across from him gave the guards a friendly nod. As they went over the buckets of fish one man noticed Thessir. He just gave him a friendly smile and a wave.

"Good eve'n ssirs." Thessir greeted the man with a thick accent that drew out the S's in his words. The guard simply looked at him quizzically.

[b]"What be you, Beastkin or elf?"[/b] He questioned.

"I am Thessir. I do not come frrom here." His accent gave emphasis at strange points in his sentences, complete with a frequent rolling of the R's.

[b]"That does not answer my question"[/b]

"Ah, er... A- Elf." He answered though his certainty was anemic. The guard didn't look too happy with the answer.

[b]"... Whatever."[/b] Not bothered enough to care the guard simply finished up his search of the wagon before rejoining his comrade. They had finished their inspection and mounted back up, awaiting the next merchant's cart to roll up. They rolled on through the gates into the big city itself.

Thessir looked up at the large buildings which loomed overhead as the wagon rolled on over the cobbled streets. Though he had his uncertainties he knew that what he wanted was within his reach. All he needed to do was sort some stuff out first. It was never going to be that easy but he already knew that.
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