Name: Ash Greymane
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Race: human
Appearance: Ash has a rather unremarkable physique. His muscle tone is almost non-existent and he’s of rather average height. His brown reddish hair is rather wild and unkept. For those with a sharp eye it is clear that he just cuts it himself when it gets too long. His skin tone is rather tanned.
Probably the most remarkable features are Ash’s clothes. His simple pants look like they are at least several sizes too big and are held around his body with a leather belt that is easy to open up. He tends to wear simple peasant shirts and is mostly seen traveling with a bag of many spare clothes.
Around Ash’s neck there is a leather strap withs holds the fang of a wolf.
Backstory:
Ash was once a member of a nomadic tribe from far beyond the borders of what once was the great kingdom of Omicria. Connecting with your spirit guide was of great importance within the culture and considered a vital step towards adulthood. As a rite of passage all members of the tribe had to journey on their own for a month into the wilds in order to find and connect with their spirit guide when they became 15 winters old. During their journey, the tribe members had to rely on the skills they were taught and connect with their spirit guide in order to gain the wisdom and courage to survive the harsh conditions. Not everyone that undertook their journey returned home.
Just like all the other tribe members Ash ventured into the wilds on his 15th winter. The conditions were freezing and food and shelter hard to come by. Conditions deteriorated by the 2nd week as the worst snowstorm in a decade hit the area. As the young man’s body started to give in to hunger and the freezing conditions Ash could hear the wolf's howl in the distance. At that moment he was sure that he would be one of the people that never returned from their journey.
As his mind went black he suddenly had a vision. It was as if his spirit had left his body and was now flying close above the ground in the woods at a rapid pace. Forward, left, right around the tree. Then momentarily waiting behind the bushes before continuing. And then there was this smell. Something that the young man had never smelled before and yet he recognized it. It was the smell of deer. His mind was following the scent of the forest creature. As his spirit journeyed on, he could see the deer. Slowly Ash closed in on the animal and then he leaped.
Suddenly the young man woke up. The last thing he remembered was his dream about chasing the deer. And then he tasted it. The taste of blood in his mouth. His hunger was gone too. As Ash looked around he saw the carcass of a deer. It looked as if it was eaten by a predator. Did he do it? Did Ash somehow hunted it down with his bare hands and ate it raw? As the young man looked closer he saw a fang sticking out of the carcass, a fang of a wolf. Ash had found his spirit guide, the totem of the wolf.
As the month passed by Ash returned to the camp of his tribe only to be met with an eerie silence. What should have been a place full of life and fires was now a place of silence and death. Only the vultures circling above occasionally disturbed the silence with an occasional skreek. The camp had been raided and his tribe had been massacred. All the winter supplies had been taken and what was left was nothing more than burned out tents and rotting corpses. There was nothing to return to for Ash.
And then it happened, a vision. It was as if ash was high in the clouds looking down on a wandering lone wolf. As he followed the creature different landscapes passed until it stopped before the largest door he had ever seen. A building so humongous and big towered before him. At that moment Ash knew that his journey wasn’t over but just beginning.
Powers:
The shamans tell that everybody has spirit guides but not everyone shares a strong connection between them. Many people live their entire lives without noticing the signs and opening up for connecting with them. The shamans also say that spirit guides come in many forms. Some are ancestors that have deceased many generations ago while others are celestial beings from beyond time and space. For Ash his spirit guide is the wolf. A predator that the shamans associate with freedom, loyalty towards friends and family, perseverance and survival.
Spirit guidance: The guidance of the spirits manifest themselves through visions, dreams and signs. The spirit guides often show things, imagery or share experiences but never provide clear answers. The role of the guide is not to say what to do but to help those who they guide to find their own path.
Feral senses: Ash’s senses are highly developed. Even in his human form his senses are vastly superior to regular humans. He can distinguish the different smells of individual creatures from a mile away and his hearing and sight is far more accurate than that of a regular human.
Shapeshifting: Ash can borrow the power of his spirit guide and transform into a large bipedal wolf creature with razor sharp claws and teeth. In this form Ash’s is much stronger, faster and more agile than a regular human. However as this is borrowed power, Ash cannot maintain it for long periods of time not to mention that his spirit guide must agree to grant Ash this power. If his spirit guide believes Ash's intentions are wrong or the situation does not warrant the use of this power, Ash is not allowed to tap into it.
