[hider=The Wendigo]
[b]-Name:[/b] Ahanu “Ravenous One”

[b]-Gender:[/b] Male

[b]-Type:[/b] Wendigo



[b]-Appearance:[/b] Ahanu, the man, is a specimen to behold, exuding a rigid confidence and carrying a body grown in the bountiful times before European settlers had any notion of North America. He is well toned by the rigors of his past life, days spent as a tracker and hunter for his tribe, but his skin is cold and oddly clammy. Still, there are few who wouldn’t feel intimidated by his stature, nearly a head taller than most adult men, with a sturdy, broad shouldered build. Ahanu is undoubtedly a handsome man, with chiseled features and glossy waist-length hair. In truth, he is a man trapped in time, the hollow look in his coal colored eyes and the somber turn of his mouth silently relate a deep pain which seems to hound him everywhere he goes.

[hider=Veiled][img]https://www.belgraviacentre.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Native-American-Model-Martin-Sensmeier-Belgravia-Centre.jpg[/img][/hider]

The beast that resides within, however, is another matter entirely. The Wendigo, often referred to by the man it inhabits as “Ravenous One,” is a rotten mountain of frozen, fungus ridden carcass, well-over double the size of his human form, and weighing nearly as much as a small car. Stout limbs expand rapidly and the audible crack of bone and sinew can be heard as the skin peels away to reveal cloven hooves and gnarled, clawed hands disproportionately large for his form.
Flowing locks grow mane-like, spreading from the crest of his head to the tip of a shaggy tail in stringy and matted clumps. A massive pair of antlers, sizable enough to give even the biggest bull moose a run for its money sprout from his head, as the skin of his face sloughs off to reveal an animalistic skull to match. The horrifying visage comes complete with wicked looking teeth that can crush bone to powder and a long, undulating tongue which hangs sloppily from his mouth.
A true horror to behold, and not one many have seen and lived to tell of.

[hider=True From][img]https://pre00.deviantart.net/da94/th/pre/i/2016/263/5/4/the_wendigo_by_dragongirl787-daiabd6.png[/img][/hider]




[b]-Age:[/b] Ahanu has lived over 400 years at this point, but as a man looks to be in his late 20s or early 30s.




[b]-Powers/Traits:[/b] In the days before being claimed by the Wendigo, Ahanu had been his tribe’s most prolific hunter. A man of incredible endurance, uncanny stealth and overall fitness, with a keen sense for tracking prey and a disconcerting ability to notice minute details others would generally miss. In those days it was said he had been born under the blessing of the Great Mother, and now, inhabited by Ravenous One, those traits (as well as his sense of smell) have been amplified ten-fold. The monster emanates an aura of frigid cold, and is completely immune to effects of inclimate weather or cold magic, though it detests flame.

Ahanu retains a modicum of that physical power as a man, and is still the skilled tracker he was in his past life. It is only in his true form he becomes an inescapable force, a relentless, indomitable nightmare that can uncannily move through dense brush or deep snow virtually silently despite his size.

However, it is not a transformation to be taken lightly, for not only does it leave Ahanu’s body in a decrepit and temporarily ruined state upon reverting to human form, but so too does the Ravenous One seek to constantly gnaw away at Ahanu’s humanity. With each transformation he feels his grip loosen on the man he was, and seeks to be. The monster within yearns to manifest itself permanently & it is a constant struggle to overcome the insatiable hunger which torments his every waking moment.




[b]-Background:[/b] The son of a chieftain, Ahanu had a happy, healthy upbringing and quickly showed his talents for hunting, fishing, and fighting, much as his father did.

His life was full. He grew. He had a family. He had his tribe.

The storm changed all that.

It began with unseasonal rains in mid-summer, which turned to torrential floods as the weather chilled. Game became scarce, the rivers began to freeze and the crop withered and died. Ahanu, now a respected member of his tribal council, urged his people to make the difficult decision to move to high ground, into a series of caves carved into the Purcell Mountains of present day Canada. The hope was to hold out until spring, and seek other lands once the storm cleared.

This would prove to be the undoing of not only Ahanu, but his entire tribe.

As the weather worsened, the heavy snowfall would begin to close them in, and in a panic to avoid being buried, his people would trigger an avalanche that would entomb those that weren’t killed outright by the slide.

Trapped in nearly complete darkness, things quickly became desperate, as what little food they had gathered was quickly eaten as they sought to dig their way out. Soon, the weakest survivors began to shiver violently, the damp and cold a constant companion without a source to build a proper fire. Then, one by one, they began to die.

As one of the largest and strongest of his tribe, Ahanu worked tirelessly to free them from their icy prison, but to no avail. With the howling winds of the storm still swirling outside, his once proud people dwindled to a handful. Ahanu quickly found himself placing his partner, and their children with the rest of the fallen.

The voice began soon after. A hollow drone that echoed within their minds like a swarm of angry insects. It urged them to do terrible things, unthinkable things. It whispered to them in the suffocating blackness of the frozen caves, driving them mad.

Ahanu claims, or perhaps chooses, to not remember who first suggested they eat those who had already fallen. But eat they did, a malevolent hunger quickly took them, the buzzing voice egging them on. The few remaining gorged themselves until they had reduced every available corpse to little more than skeletal scraps, at which point they cracked them across stone and sucked the marrow from the bones. When the flesh ran out, they turned on each other, caring for little other than to placate the insatiable appetite which had overtaken each of them.

Spring would eventually arrive, the snow would melt, & the caverns exposed to the sun's touch once again after many long months. Only Ahanu would emerge, hanging on to his humanity by a thread. The monstrous essence which resided in the caves now bound to his very being.

The Ravenous One fought through his resolve easily in those days, leaving a path of violence and death in his wake as he fought to reign in the terrible darkness. Ahanu sought to end his suffering, to take his own life, but the beast would not allow death to take its avatar. Each time he tried, he would awake in a foreign location, broken but still very much alive, and the process would begin anew. With every body consumed by the entity, it grew stronger, fighting to take permanent hold.

Ahanu would navigate the Americas for several lifetimes, the Ravenous One an unwanted companion, wandering aimlessly to seek a cure for his condition. Undergoing arduous rituals and punishing spirit quests across the continents, he slowly, painfully untangled his soul from the seeking roots of the beast. This delicate separation would grant Ahanu some semblance of relief, but it was no cure. Ravenous One always emerged again, poking and testing for any sign of weakness, any slip of resolve. It seemed eventually the hunger always became too great.

Bain & Hoyle would catch wind of Ravenous One as they expanded their operation to the new world, quietly catching and imprisoning the monster through the use of arcane traps. The organization would quickly discover the plight of the man trapped, bound to the beast, and an agreement was made.

Ahanu, now shackled by a series of protective wards, was left to live out his days in an isolated cabin in the remotest reaches of his native Canada. The beast was unable to manifest, though it chattered still, and the hunger remained. Ahanu himself was largely forgotten by the agency, suffering in stoic silence, reserved to his fate, and haunted by his past.

That is, until the events of Ragnarok. With B&H’s ranks decimated by such powerful villains, the decision was made to ‘recruit’ characters like Ahanu to help bolster the ranks and give Bain & Hoyle more muscle to level the playing field should another threat rear its ugly head.

In return, Bain & Hoyle have perhaps foolishly promised to free Ahanu from the Ravenous One once and for all, though it’s not a promise they are entirely sure they can follow through on. 

There is a current of fear underlying Ahanu’s continued involvement with Bain & Hoyle. He is mostly considered an asset to the company, both as a tracker of supernatural game and a juggernaut against larger foes, however, The Ravenous One is a very destructive weapon. His manifestation can swing the pendulum of victory in either direction very quickly, and Ahanu insists Bain & Hoyle’s tether on Ravenous One is not strong enough to last, though few are listening.

Those in charge of such decisions are far more concerned with what Ahanu and his little friend might do if they find out they’re leading him on.

Ahanu is not keen to this dirty little secret, but tensions between the two are slowly mounting.
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