Name: Kris
Race: Imp
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Underneath his mask Kris's face is a constant raw red from one time his face was splashed with acid, as though he had no skin left. Though he recovered, his he would never have hair on his head ever again. The rest of his body is largely unmarked, but that is mostly due to the fact that he finds scars unsightly, and hasn't done something for his face simply because the damage is too severe.
Faction: Inquisition
Biography: The one known as Kris did not get his name until many years after his birth. He was born in the islands of Veretta, on a remote and fairly unknown island. This was for one expressive purpose: Training agents for the Inquisition. Orphaned imps are not rare in Veretta, and indeed, a large mass of them can become very troublesome. They are at best beggars and pickpockets, or at worse criminals and terrorist. So there is little pity to see an Imp dead on the streets. But what use is a corpse, when it could be used to serve the Queen? Those of the Inquisition stationed in Veretta would take imps off the streets, from those born fresh from their mother's wombs to those who are barely three years old. They must be young, to ensure that they grow strong.
The imp that would later be known as Kris was one of the many Imps taken off the streets. He himself was taken from his parents at the age of one, when her mother made the mistake of trying to spread the existence of the Inquisition. The imp known as Kris was taken from his mother's corpse, and he too was taken to this remote island to begin his training. There were a hundred Imps selected, but their life was a cruel one. They were selected to become the Inquisition's elite poisoners. As they grew up, all the food they were fed were small doses of poisoned with various plants and venom native to the island, to build a resistance towards them later in life. A little over half of the Imps died from the food alone, but those who survived to the age of seven or over were finally told of their purpose. Their mysterious masters told them quite clearly what they were fated to become: Agents of the Inquisition, Loyal to the Crown of Aeribis. Those who objected were killed; those who tried to escaped were killed. Those who spoke of the Inquisition outside of the safety of their own company were killed. No one was safe from the Inquisition, least of all the trainees.Their rules were such: Try to flee the island, and you will be killed. Reveal your affiliation to the Inquisition to anyone aside from those of the Inquisition, and you will be killed. Lastly, kill and be caught, you will be killed. Aside from those rules, they were also told to study and master the art of Alchemy and poisoning, as those who fail to reach a certain level of skill would be killed off.
The Imp that would be known as Kris began his training by first studying the poison in his native lands of Veretta. Others did the same, but went about it differently. Some were not content with study and bookwork; they went out of the safety of their home to create poisons themselves, and tested it against animals and each other. Slowly as the years gone by, more and more of the Imps died off. Some died due to betraying or trying to leave the Inquisition. Others were murdered by each other. Others were caught murdering and subsequently executed. Some succumbed to the poison their body could no longer withstand. The Imp that would be known as Kris focused on his study, thinking that if he did so, he would be safe from the Inquisition. He too would leave to create his own poisons, tested them, but kept to himself. He stayed away from others, knowing that they had no intention of being kind to him. He had thought that if he simply stayed out of their sight, he would be safe. He was wrong.
The Imp that would be known as Kris had his life changed at the age of ten. The home that he called his own was burned down. There were many rumors as to who or why it happened, but during the blaze many of his own were killed. It was also on that very same day that he came to realize a very important thing: This island was not only meant to train the poisoners of the Inquisition. The island, unknown to it's inhabitants, was meant to train all types of the Inquisition's assassins. From those who would use blades to those who relied on magic. And one of their "Test" was to kill one another, in such a way that could not be traced back to the assassin. Suddenly, it became every person for themselves. The Imp that would be known as Kris fled his burning home, dodging and hiding from the other assassins in training, who came together to prove their mettle against him and the other Poisoners. Many fought and even killed their assassins, but ultimately they were killed, and their numbers lessen. This merciless act compounded the fact that the Inquisition would not value those who merely toiled away with their heads down. Those who survived learned that for them to live, they needed to act.
The Imp that would be known as Kris fled to the nearest city. With no home to go back to, he had to find a new home to live. The forest was too dangerous, but the city was not any more safer. He ran to the city simply expecting help in some form, but here his ties to the Inquisition did not matter. He if tried to speak of it, he would be killed. But here he had no titles, no reputation, just another orphaned Imp. Like many others. The only good that came from this was that the Imp that would later be known as Kris was able to hide among the other orphaned Imps. Some of whom he suspected to also be members of the Inquisition, but he dared not ask. Despite what had happened, he was determined to improve his skills. He knew the Inquisition would not stop watching him. So he must show them his worthiness.
He began to improve his resistance to poisons, constantly spreading a small dosage in whatever food he could scavenge, food that could have passed off as poisoned without his influence. One some point he had to try to get himself a weapon, so he tried to steal a dagger from a weapon's smith. He failed, and had almost thought that his life would end right than and there. But perhaps due to the imp's luck, the smith's mercy, or even unknown intervention from the Inquisition, the imp that would later be known as Kris was instead adopted by the smith. He tried to raise the imp like his own son, to give him a normal life. But it would be too late for the Imp. Despite being only eleven years old, he had already chosen his path, as the Inquisition had demanded. He merely used his adopted father's as a means to improve his own station, to provide shelter, and to establish a base of operation. It was here that the imp that would be known as Kris was given the name of Kris, after the dagger that he created under his adopted father's guidance. He chose this weapon from a book he read, where it was said that the dagger, Kris, could be forged with toxic materials, to ensure that each strike would become fatal. A fitting weapon and a fitting name for the Imp.
By the time Kris was thirteen years old, he had already grown to be quite a formidable agent for the Inquisition, at least among his peers. Joining him was a fellow nameless assassin of the blade, who used a tomahawk as his signature weapon. Another was an agent of the Inquisition who was focused into intelligence gathering. Together the trio worked to improve each others abilities, and soon began to go after other agents-in-training of the Inquisition. And they did all of this right underneath the unaware eyes of the public; not even Kris's own adopted father was aware of his son's activities, merely thinking that he was a scholarly imp who aspired to be a doctor. A ruse that Kris could easily maintain. For the next year, the number of agents within his age group in the isolated island dwindled. Not all due to Kris and his allies, but they did contribute. Kris himself was one of the very few Imp Poisoners left from the hundreds that were originally taken in by the Inquisition. Thanks to the information network of one of his allies, he discovered the location of the last of the Poisoners; for him to pass and become a true agent of the Inquisition he was expected to kill them. Or at least, they were expected to die; Kris did not hesitate to send his more combat-oriented friend to do the dirty work for him, supplying him with weapons from his adopted father's store or poisons he made himself. He would occasionally go to the location of the assassination and provide help as he had to, but hardly ever did he enter a fight unless it was to end it with a stab to the back.
Things were never so simple, however. When it became down to three of the original Poisoners, Kris's ally was killed in battle. His rival had created an explosive poison from common cooking ingredients, which would first engulf the hapless victim in a suffocating cloud, and could explode with a heat source. While far from subtle, the materials it was made from would ensure that it could be made anywhere, using very simple components. That simplicity was it's strength; it did not require any complicated source, so it was near impossible to trace without cleaning ever kitchen of it's spices and seasoning. All it would take was strategically placing all the materials together to stage and "Accident". And Kris's ally was caught in that accident, his body burned to a charred crisp. Only his Tomahawk remained, lodged into the body of the third poisoner. His sacrifice would not be in vain as Kris would face down the final poisoner. He would have to face him alone, knowing that he would be at an disadvantage as his finally opponent had lived in the forest of the island since before Kris's home was burned down; his last opponent had all but mastered the venom and taint that the forest provided, and had tamed many of it's hostile wildlife to his side. And short of burning the whole forest down, there was little that Kris could do. But he had a plan.
The first step of his plan was to, for the moment, forget about his connection to the Inquisition and enter society under the guise of a simple merchant. He kept his ties to the Inquisition quiet, but made no attempts to try to flee. He helped his father's business and tried to expand, until soon his father's simple workshop became a pseudo factory called "The Tainted Blade". The second part of his plan was using his father as a figure head, he used his influence to gain other allies in the form of general goods merchants, trading in and out of the island. Those who did not comply were killed by Kris himself, using the chance to hone his skills as an assassin and a poisoner. For five years he continued this ruse until at some point also killing his father after he became too close at discovering Kris's affiliations (He would still occasionally be attacked by an assassin-in-training from the Inquisition), but even as his father's business began to fall he had already achieved what he was after. The third part of his plan: Plague Rats.
Using the trade from his father's business and contacts he made through the same business, he had managed to bring in rats infested in plague to his island. Unlike it's inhabitants, he was prepared for the outbreak. It took barely a month before a devastating plague infested the city and outlaying country sides. His ally who acted as his intelligence provider was also killed during this plague, not that he cared in particular. The plague eventually reached the one Poisoner hidden in the forest, who had bide his own time waiting for Kris to foolishly try to enter his territory. Though the Poisoner himself was able to concoct a means to protect himself, the beasts he tamed were not so fortunate. Knowing that it would only be a matter of time before his foe would develop the means to counteract his efforts, Kris went on the offensive.
Donning an air-tight suit and a mask that would filter poison from the air so that he could breath, Kris entered the forest to fight his final foe. He took with him his signature Kris, the tomahawk of his fallen ally, and a present from his late-adopted father, a crossbow. During his years playing merchant he had trained with the weapon, finding it much more useful than his dagger. The bolts had the strength to puncture through a steel breast plate, but wasn't so cumbersome to poison as it would a normal arrow. He could also fire it with one hand and did not need to stress his body on trying to keep a good posture with using a bow. He also took with him various alchemical mixtures, such as anti-venom and his own poisons, though he suspected that his plague has done more than enough for what he needed to do. Indeed, when he met with his foe at last, he only had his own venom-tipped spear and vials of acid. Their battle was short, but not without it's share of scars. Kris was quick to shoot a bolt into his foe's foot, hampering his movements. His opponent was able to his Kris flat in the face with a vial of acid, saved only thanks to his mask, but suffered ever burns for it. Kris than released a smoke bomb, causing the area around them to become masked by a thick white fog. From there he was able to sneak behind his foe and slit his throat with his Kris. As he laid dying there, Kris returned to the city to wait out the plague.
The plague, thankfully, did not last too long, as it was nearing the cold season. Between than and now Kris had created a new identity as a doctor and spread as many vaccines for the plague before it would come back. During that time he was contacted by an agent of the Inquisition, rewarded for his rewarded for his determination and viciousness, and was sworn into the Inquisition. He continued his ruse as a traveling doctor, curing ails and healing the weak through his concoctions. But when the Inquisition demands it, he would also kill on their behalf. He traveled the world under the Inquisition's watch, and will continue doing so until his death.
Skills:
Expert Poisoner and Alchemist
Highly resistant to poisons
Decent with his Dagger, Tomahawk, and Crossbow
Stealthy
Equipment:
Light Crossbow
Kris (Forged with toxic metals to cause numbing over areas were the blade cuts and eventual paralysis if left untreated)
Tomahawk
Alchemy set
Air-tight leather armor
Filtration Mask
Other: Kris knows of one spell that he can use. With the right phrase he can cause his body to catch flame and be burnt to ash in a matter of seconds, in the event that he is captured by his enemy and he is about to reveal secrets of the Inquisition. However, anyone who knows that magic word could also trigger it. The phrase is "Queen Eline silence my soul". He learned this shortly after becoming an Agent of the Inquisition, though he is not sure who else knows of it or if anyone else has something similar.
