[hider=True Life - I was a Holy Savior] [center][img]https://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjExNi43MjlhYjYuUld4cFlYTWdVMmhsY0dGeVpBLCwuMQAA/beyond-wonderland.regular.png[/img] [img] http://gdj.graphicdesignjunction.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/digital-illustrations-20.jpg [/img] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7UtxUlpEP0]Intervention[/url][/center] [hr] 》[u]B a s i c s[/u] [color=9CCDDC]Full name:[/color] Elias Jonas Shepard [color=9CCDDC]Age:[/color] 28 [color=9CCDDC]Date of Birth:[/color] 11/23/92 [color=9CCDDC]Gender:[/color] Male [color=9CCDDC]Occupation:[/color] Bartender [color=9CCDDC]Where are you from?:[/color] Georgia 》[u]A p p e a r a n c e[/u] [color=9CCDDC]Height:[/color]5'11 [color=9CCDDC]Weight:[/color] 160lbs [color=9CCDDC]Hair Color:[/color] Brown [color=9CCDDC]Hair Length:[/color] Short [color=9CCDDC]Skin Color:[/color] Tanned [color=9CCDDC]Eye Color:[/color] Blue [color=9CCDDC]Tattoos, Piercings, etc skin markings:[/color] A cross tattoo on his right bicep from his time as with The Holy Saviors. He wears a large cross around his neck and a Roman collar although he clearly isn’t a priest. [center][img]https://66.media.tumblr.com/35bdf08bd350d2a57133d1df03abf4c6/tumblr_nqgyv9nZkW1uxt55go1_500.gif[/img] [url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl0d0Q7MyzA]High Hopes[/url][/center] [hr] 》[u]R e l a t i o n s h i p s[/u] [color=9CCDDC]Sexuality:[/color] Straight [color=9CCDDC]Relationship Status:[/color] Single [color=9CCDDC]Any pre-determined friends?:[/color] None [color=9CCDDC]Siblings' Status:[/color] Only child [color=9CCDDC]Parents' Status:[/color] Alive but estranged [color=9CCDDC]Pets:[/color] None [color=9CCDDC]How open is your character to friends from 1 to 10?:[/color] 8 [color=9CCDDC]How open is your character to romance from 1 to 10?:[/color] 5 》[u]I n t e r e s t s[/u] [color=9CCDDC]Likes:[/color] ✡ A hot meal enjoyed with good company ✡ Music that really has something to say ✡ Smoking a cigarette on a quiet night while looking at the stars [color=9CCDDC]Dislikes:[/color] ✡ Killing, even when it must be done ✡ The indoctrination of the young and otherwise ill-informed ✡ Hate, and what it does to a person, rotting them from the inside out [color=9CCDDC]Hobbies:[/color] ✡ Conversing with strangers ✡ Drinking ✡ Searching for a meaning in a chaotic world [color=9CCDDC]Skills:[/color] ✡ Combat, several years training and hunting, and even more years hunting animals have given him decent skills with your standard variety of weapons. He’s no longer fond of firearms and the only one he carries on him, a handgun, is his last resort if it comes down to a kill or be killed situation. ✡ Quick reflexes, a must have for anyone who goes looking for trouble, but he’s not exactly set for endurance, smoking since thirteen will leave you with shit lungs after all. ✡ His ability to relate to and empathize with others, he listens well, seeking to truly understand those he talks to. He keeps an open mind, tries to learn from others and allow them to learn from his mistakes, and he’d rather talk than fight any day of the week. [center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/564x/da/3a/31/da3a31260ad201c1fffcf36d9a1a8c17.jpg[/img] [url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITe3Jh-cBhM]The Grey[/url][/center] [hr] 》[u]P e r s o n a l i t y[/u] Eli’s personality has gone through radical changes in the past few years. A rebirth of sorts, and he emerged from the shell of an angry and hateful young man as someone who seeks to better understand the world and its people. He has a deep respect for things he took for granted, and the thing he respects the most is life. He his personality is still, in many ways, evolving, having spent much less time away from the cult known as The Holy Saviors than he did as one of its most loyal members. He is driven to become a better person by his guilt and shame of his former self, fiercely determined to put as much good into the world before his number’s up. All that’s left of his rage is directed at no one but himself, for the things he did and the mistakes he made. It’s the last piece of his former self that he can’t let go, because he knows the things he did, are unforgivable. Outwardly Eli is kind and friendly, willing to help others and as generous as he can afford to be. He strives to stay open to new experiences and anything that can expand his world view and understanding, but he is slow to fully trust. His time in a cult has made him well aware how easy it really is to manipulate and deceive. If the road to hell is truly paved with good intentions then he knows he must be careful where his intentions lead him. For someone who gets such joy from meeting new people; listening to the stories they have to tell and experiences they have to share, he has trouble maintaining friendships. Partially because of his difficulties with trust and his tendency to move around a lot, but mostly due to his self-destructive behaviors and his belief that he doesn’t deserve real happiness. The majority of what many people might mistake for courage comes from his self-destructive tendencies. Other lives are worth more than his, a grizzly fate is what he believes he deserves and to die in another’s place would bring him peace. Eli is neither closed off or guarded about his past, more than willing to share his past mistakes with those who push for details. If he can dissuade others from going down the same road, it’s more than worth sharing what they would learn in time anyhow. When he was young his faith in things was incredibly strong, but he lost that. If there exists a higher power, well the things he’s seen in this world do not make such a God worthy of worship. He holds nothing aside from life, and simple pleasures, as sacred anymore. The world is a dark and cruel place so he does what he can to feed the light. 》[u]H i s t o r y[/u] [color=9CCDDC]“If you’re looking for a tragic backstory to explain the things I’ve done, you won’t find one here. My choices, and mistakes, were all of my own doing. I laid down with dogs and now I’m covered in fleas.”[/color] Raised by a pair of devote Catholics; his father a real fire and brimstone type preacher type, and his mother a cook at a run-down old dinner. He didn’t have much growing up but he had food and shelter and if you asked him, he’d say there are plenty who had a worse start than he. His father was a fan of harsh discipline and Eli was a wild child who grew up having to make his own fun. In essence, he got well acquainted with his father’s belt. When he was you his parents forced him into every church related activity they could. They were really hoping the whole ‘honor thy father and thy mother’ stuff would kick in but what really stuck was all the stuff about evil and righteous fury. His father’s church was very old school, similar in a lot of ways to the Holy Saviors. As a kid, and especially as a teen, Eli was full of rage. There was something comforting about an entire group of people, a whole congregation, who all knew they were better, and to be filled with righteous fury at those who were deemed wicked. Eli and his father never got along, and at thirteen he left home and never went back. He bounced around through various towns, living in churches and homeless shelters, searching for something even though he wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking for. Eventually he ended up in Ember Grove, and met an incredibly enigmatic young priest, Father Xavier. From the moment they crossed paths Eli idolized the young preacher. He was passionate, so completely sure of every word he spoke, and drew lost souls to him like a righteous flame. The thing about being in a cult is you can’t see it until it’s too late, and once you’ve gone all in you become trapped. Eli devoted his time to doing nothing but serving The Holy Saviors. He helped build that group into what it is today, he recruited, he studied, and eventually he hunted and killed for them too. It wasn’t all hunting and murdering witches though, other members helped him to find what he thought was his way. They studied with him, helped him get his GED, they became like family to him. It wasn’t hard to kill when he thought he was doing Gods work and he was so enraptured by Father Xavier that the preacher’s truth was the only thing he could see. Eli devoted a large part of his free time to the study of scripture with Father Xavier, becoming a part of his inner most circle. He planned to go to seminary school, become a priest as well, and to help lead alongside his mentor. He took classes at the university in Ember Grove, majoring in philosophy and while he started towards seminary school, he never took his vows. Things changed when he and some others were sent after a coven. Except instead of a coven they found a family. Killing adults weas one thing, but to slaughter children, even witch children, was a horror he had not expected. Doubt set in. How could he be on a righteous path if this is where it led, watching a man who he thought spoke for God, gun down a child. He did everything he could to convince himself it was justified, and thought of leaving the behind the only place that had truly felt like a home was terrifying. Somehow, he found the strength to draw a line when it came to what he could be asked to do. He no longer found himself worthy of priesthood, if this was what God demanded then he longer wished to submit, and if it wasn’t then he was certainly no righteous man. He left Ember Grove, leaving behind those he thought of as family, a place that welcomed him with acceptance, and every deeply ingrained belief he held about the world. He tried to see more of the world than the small corner he knew and tried to learn more about the creatures he hunted. The painful truth became evident, he found no evil in the majority of witches, at least none that did not exist in the average person. Hunting down vampires and werewolves proved just as complex. There was no easy way to tell the difference between good and evil in the world. So, for a time he gave it all up, even faith itself. Eli believed in nothing, he resigned himself to drink himself to death and ignore every ugly truth about the world. As hard as he tried to ignore it, he saw evidence of people being slaughtered by creatures and creatures whose deaths were caused by hunters. Guilt of being nothing more than a bystander to the bloodshed he’d once been such a willing participant in, set in and that guilt ate at him. He couldn’t do nothing, and there was no going back to what he’d been before, and so Eli became something new. He knew that his first step had be returning to Ember Grove, the place where he had done the most damage, a place where creatures of all kinds were drawn. The Roman collar that hangs heavy around his neck serves as his reminder, of all things he won’t do, the terrible mistakes he’s made, and of his new calling, a promise to do what he can to preserve life. This is his form of atonement though he knows that there is no grand redemption from his crimes. If there is a soul, he knows his is far too tarnished to be clean again. All he can do now is put as much good back into the world to offset some of the evil he put into it. Now Eli hunts by his own rules, he can no longer see the world in black and white, there’s too much gray everywhere, and he knows it’s not always as clear as creatures bad, people good. He’s encountered far too many sacks of shit who call themselves people and a good number of supernaturals who don’t even seem capable of doing the things he’s done. So, he only goes in for the kill when he’s sure, sure that the thing he’s hunting is killing. Being a vigilante is not as cracked up as he once thought it would be, but he can’t go back now, can’t know what’s out there and do nothing. However, there’s plenty of days though, were he questions if doing something is just as bad. Even with the rules he set up for himself, only killing things he knows are dangerous, it still eats at him. How can judge he monsters when he’s a monster himself? [center][img]https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PepperyIllegalHadrosaurus-size_restricted.gif[/img] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AHCfZTRGiI]Hurt[/url][/center] [hr] 》[u]G r o u p[/u] Unaffiliated and while he’s willing to work with others, Eli isn’t going to let anyone command him to kill ever again. 》[u]P r e f e r r e d W e a p on (s)[/u] A Barretta 9mm handgun serves as his last resort and he prefers it in its holster than in his hand. He has a collection of UV, silver, and regular bullets. He also carries with him a powerful UV flashlight, his vampire deterrent knowing they can get pretty hungry at times, as well as silver coated brass knuckles in his pocket for frisky werewolves. When actively hunting something across his back he carries a combat machete. 》[u]C o m b a t S k i l l s[/u] ✡ He does okay in a fist fight but is by no means a brawler. He’s quick and scrappy, relying on improvising and ending things quickly. ✡ Tenacity, he doesn’t give up, and fights without any fear of death. ✡ When it comes down to it, Eli is a good shot, and he doesn’t scare easily. 》[u]W e a k n e s s e s[/u] ✡ Smoking habit’s done a lot to lessen his endurance. ✡ Not much in the way of brute strength when compared to supernaturals and even other hunters. ✡ Extreme reluctance to kill. [/hider]