[center][h1][color=888888]𝓜𝓪𝓵𝓽𝓪𝓻[/color][/h1][/center] [center][color=888888][i][h3]Spirit of the Beast[/h3][/i][/color][/center] [hider] [center] [img]https://i.imgur.com/2L7C1jB.jpg[/img] [hr] [h2][color=888888]Basic Information[/color][/h2] [hr] [h3][color=888888]Age[/color][/h3] 30 [h3][color=888888]Gender, Pronouns, Preferences[/color][/h3] Male. He/Him. Heterosexual. [h3][color=888888]Race[/color][/h3] Elvian [h3][color=888888]Class[/color][/h3] Ranger Sorcerer [h3][color=888888]Weapons[/color][/h3] [b][color=888888]Crossbow[/color][/b]: As with all his weapons, Maltar's crossbow is crafted and enchanted with knowledge that Thoren passed on. The crossbow is more compact version than most and its limbs can be folded in as not to be cumbersome while traveling. While it is smaller than most crossbows, it was constructed with expertise that allows it to deliver equal power to its larger predecessors. Bolts are not required, because the flight groove of the crossbow is engraved with a sigil that materialized a solid bolt of violet ethereal appearance when the serving is pulled back to the retention lever. Although ammunition is essentially endless, the bolts will deliver no more damage than any standard metal bolt, and the bolts will dissipate after striking the target. The sigil is also light dependent, the less light there is, the slower the reload time. In ample lighting, the materialization of a bolt takes a second or two. [url=https://i.imgur.com/kvb54tk.jpg]Gauntlet Blade[/url]: Maltar doesn't wear armor besides one gauntlet with a retractable blade on his right forearm. The blade extends or retracts when Malter forms a fist and extends his thumb and fifth digit. [url=https://i.imgur.com/dN6mD4y.jpg]Dual Short Swords[/url]: Forged from the finest steel and engraved with sigils to prevent the blades from dulling. [h3][color=888888]Detailed Appearance[/color][/h3] [b][color=888888]Maltar[/color][/b] stands tall at 6'5" and has a strong athletic build, ruggedly chiseled features, a dour visage, and dark hazel green eyes. With long, unkempt dirty brown hair, infrequently trimmed beard, soiled skin, and tattered attire that requires cleaning much more often that it receives, his physical appearance displays his utter lack of vanity. Disrobed, Maltar's torso, shoulders and legs exhibit the result of his childhood abuse in heavy layers of scar tissue. [b][color=888888]Beast[/color][/b]: While Maltar's irises are naturally a hazel green, the entirety of his eyes will flood ink-black at the moment the beast within begins to rise to the surface. Once the beast has fully taken hold of Maltar, his skin will puff, bruise and marble with dark veins, while his digits will thicken, black claws will extend, and although his teeth will not lengthen, they will alter to a serrated triangular shape. Maltar's physical size will not grow while overtaken by the beast, but his strength does increase to that of several men. [table][/table] [hr] [h2][color=888888]Bio[/color][/h2] [hr] [color=888888]Maltar[/color] At the age of 12, Maltar killed his own father. Maltar's father was of no class value, just a wicked man that brutalized and battered his son on a daily basis for no cause but his own sadistic gratification. When Maltar grew old enough to work up the courage, he slew his father with a stone, bashing his head to mush. Upon his father's death, Maltar burned down his childhood home in the Western Ellezag Plains and walked away with nothing but the clothes on his back and blood on his hands. Maltar started a nomadic existence wandering the lands of Vradia in a constant battle to survive until, at the age 14, he was taken in by a human middle-aged couple who lived in a secluded cabin in the mountain's northeast of the Evergreen Forest. Thoren and Marya were both Rangers and Sorcerers who dedicated their lives to the protection and preservation of civilization in the norther reaches of Vradia. They raised Maltar as their very own and devoted all the time they could to guide him in their beliefs and pass on the knowledge of their ways. When Maltar was seventeen, while camping alone in the woods several miles from home, a dark entity came to him in his sleep. Maltar's efforts to fight off the spirit entity were futile. It pinned Maltar to the ground and pressed against his will until finally it entered and took possession of his body. Two days later, Maltar returned home in a savage and crazed state, drenched in the blood of many untold victims to his possessed bloodthirsty lust. With a spell to suppress the entity within, Thoren and Marya subdued their adopted Elvian son. For several days, Marya tried by all the means she knew to exercise the evil spirit from inside Maltar but arrived at no success. As a final resort, she concocted an elixir that Maltar would need to drink several times a day to keep the beast within him at bay. Thoren and Marya made a vow to forever withhold Maltar's murderous crimes from the world. The identity of the spirit that took hold of Maltar's body that night in the woods has not been determined. It soon came to pass that Maltar began experiencing a recurring phenomenon he came to call Night Shifts. He would, on sparse and random occasions, wake up in a different location than he went to sleep. These shifts in location didn't only take place at night, it could happen at any time he slept or was rendered unconscious, but he stuck with the name regardless. When Night Shifts first started happening, Maltar thought that maybe he had started sleepwalking, but the more it happened the more he suspected there was much more to it, as there were times when he would wake up in locations too far for him to have traveled in the time that had lapsed. His suspicion that something supernatural was taking place was confirmed by Marya who one night witnessed Maltar literally vanish from his bed. On that occasion, Maltar woke up the next morning three miles away from home on the bank of a river. For many years, Maltar has attempted to find patterns in the when's and where's of the Night Shifts, but of course, he hasn't been able to figure out why it happens or predict when it will. Only that it's extremely inconvenient, and that it started happening soon after the sprit beast took his body. Maltar was almost 30 when he returned home one night after a week-long hunting trip and found Thoren and Marya gone. The couple's absence from their home was not entirely uncommon and Maltar had not thought much of it at first, but when he discovered the symbol, albeit a message that only he could decipher, etched in the timber of the floor beneath the kitchen table, he knew they were not returning any time soon. The Elvian knew what he had to do. He restocked his pack, gathered his weapons, filled his Burden Flask with elixir, and set out across the land. [color=888888]The Beast[/color] Life has its ways of dishing out unfortunate events that open the doors to unwelcome circumstances. In Maltar's case, these circumstances - such as going without his elixir for too long, becoming intoxicated with alcohol, sleep deprivation, and arriving at a state of unbridled rage - have allowed the beast to rise to the surface and take hold of Maltar. The first few times that Maltar was overtaken by the beast he was utterly void of control, but in time his internal efforts to try and control the beast's bloodlust resulted in a shift in its focus. While Maltar is still unable to puppeteer the beast, it's savagery now seems to be influenced by Maltar's pursuits, ambitions and interests. [hr] [h3][color=888888]Likes[/color][/h3] Solitude Hunting Delivery of Justice Bacon [h3][color=888888]Dislikes[/color][/h3] Crowds Loud noises Cruelty Disrobing People breathing on him [table][/table] [hr] [h3][color=888888]Skills and Abilities[/color][/h3] [color=888888]~[/color]Transcendence: At times a proficient hunter requires more speed than the physical body can manage when confronted by a formidable enemy, and for this reason Maltar was instructed in the ability to instantaneously traverse short distances. The distances crossed are normally up to a few meters, and requires a heightened state of acuity that is commonly produced in times of battle and other adrenalized situations. [color=888888]~[/color]Night Eyes: Since being possessed by the beast, Maltar is able to see in the dark. [color=888888]~[/color]Mingle: A technique taught by Thoren for the cunning of hunting, Maltar has the ability, when standing completely still, to appear as one with his surroundings, whether it be a wall, a stack of barrels, or part of a tree. The effectiveness and duration of the deception is dependent on Maltar's mental discipline at the time. [h3][color=888888]Drawbacks of Mentioned Abilities[/color][/h3] [color=a187be]~[/color]Transcendence: Crossing short distance in less than a blink of an eye can be hard to manage. A slight misjudgment of distance can be the difference between success and failure, and in some cases, life and death. [color=888888]~[/color]Night Eyes: Having Night Eyes comes with only one drawback, that is a slight sensitivity to brightness and a greatened sensitivity to sudden illumination of light in a dark place. [color=888888]~[/color]Mingle: regardless of the mental discipline acquired, the ability to camouflage into surroundings will last half a minute at best. [h3][color=888888]Four Basic Skills of Contribution[/color][/h3] [color=888888]~ Perception[/color] Visionary: It is a combination of Maltar's Sorcerer and Ranger knowledge and his introverted disposition that has produced in him skills of keen observation and intuitive insight, to the point that he sometimes receives visions and perceptions of truths that lie beyond the apparent. [color=888888]~ Arcana.[/color] Scholarin: Maltar's ability to decipher arcane script and symbols, as well as his proficiency in reading and speaking most languages and dialects is fundamental in solving related problems and acquiring communitive understanding. [color=888888]~ Investigation.[/color] Scrutiny: Practiced observation in hunting and tracking has made Maltar attuned in detecting weaknesses in opponents, unobvious causes of death, wound types, and picking up on inconspicuous or obscure clues in uncertain situations. [color=888888]~ Investigation.[/color] Phantom Eyes: These observation skills have taken on a new level of vision thanks to the spirit of the beast that resides inside Maltar, granting him the added ability to pick up on peoples auras, energy levels, and the capacity see and sometimes communicate with ghosts, spirits, and disembodied souls. At times like this, Maltar's eyes will become gilded with a gray mist. [table][/table] [hr] [h2][color=888888]Extra Information[/color][/h2] Maltar keeps a flask tethered to his belt at all times. He calls it his [url=https://i.pinimg.com/564x/45/dd/9a/45dd9aaf6b6b57a1bdd65af97e8569b1.jpg]Burden Flask[/url], as it contains the elixir that keeps his beast at bay. Malter brews more of the elixir as quickly as possible when the flask becomes half empty, which can be difficult because sometimes the ingredients aren't easily accessible. Maltar has a pet - possibly a familiar - that only he can see... most of the time. This odd creature came to him three days after he was taken by the spirit beast and has stayed with him ever since. [/center] [/hider]