STATUS:
Merry Christmas boyos, don't forget to, like, be a good person and stuff. Also start thinkin of a new years resolution you'll actually go through with.
4 yrs ago
Current
Merry Christmas boyos, don't forget to, like, be a good person and stuff. Also start thinkin of a new years resolution you'll actually go through with.
2
likes
5 yrs ago
Status update: staying up all n8ght fuckin sucks and procrastination is a vile temptress.
1
like
7 yrs ago
4 months into this hole 'being a responsible adult thing' and I've come to a conclusion: It sucks and I want to go back to the days where I didn't have to plan out my game time.
1
like
7 yrs ago
Was supposed to be productive tonight. . . will try to be productive in the morning
4
likes
7 yrs ago
Taking a short break from posting till Monday/Tuesday, hopefully will feel more creative and less brain-dead
As the soft light of the early morning sun fell upon the city of Ominar, Damian made his way through the city streets, cursing his uncle for breaking the alarm the night before. The man had come home drunk and irritable, complaining about how the world was against him for near an hour, only to suddenly fly into a rage and break several things in their small apartment before retreating to bed. It wasn't anything new for Damian, the man often came home drunk and angry, but unfortunately, this time he'd been in Damian's small closet of a room when he decided to throw his usual fit.
*sigh* Why do I have to be stuck with someone like that. Damian couldn't help but think about how much he wished his father had done some more research on what had happened to his brother before sending him here. Whatever kind of person he'd been before, all that was left now was a bitter and dangerous drunk who was only digging himself deeper and deeper into the grave with every passing day. A fate that Damian wasn't too keen on sharing.
Shaking his head of such thoughts, the hybrid Licentia slowed his pace as he came within sight of the shop. It was a nice and quaint-looking store from the outside, but was given a greater appeal once one took a look through the window to see the veritable rainbow of assorted potions, elixirs, and tinctures that the proprietor had brewed for the people of the city to indulge upon, if they could pay the right price. Damian had been working at Victorious Secrets for a little under a month or so, having taken the job in order to expedite himself from the chains of debt that his uncle was currently tied up in, debts that also served to curl around his own neck as well thanks to that man's utter disregard for anyone but himself.
Taking a deep breath, Damian ran a hand through his auburn hair, checking himself in a nearby window to make sure he looked appropriately ready for the days work. His hair was as neatly brushed as he could get it in this form, his clothing consisting of a simple button-up shirt with a blue and white plaid design, a pair of acid wash jeans, and some grey sneakers. Once he was certain that everything was in order, he continued on his way to the store. Like his mother always told him, 'One should always try their best to look presentable, no matter the situation.'
However, something rather peculiar happened as he stood infront of the door, reaching out for the lock. His entire body felt a slight tingle course through it before he was suddenly pushed backwards by some unknown force. While the push itself wasn't very strong, he was caught unawares and promptly fell over onto his backside, feeling very confused and just a tad queasy. However, he was quick to regain his wits, eyes trailing upwards as he got a look at just who had knocked him over. As he got a good look at his 'assailant', however, it was difficult for him to force down the red flush that blossomed over his cheeks, as well as the slight trill of nervous energy that ran through him as he struggled to find words.
The woman towered over him, even when he managed to get to his feet, dressed more like she was going out for a night at Darius's club then an early morning walk. Her hair bore a deep red hue to it that served to very nicely frame her face, which held an almost ethereal beauty to it. To say that Damian found himself a bit enthralled was an understatment, though he quickly realized that not only was he staring, but his mouth had been hanging a tad open as he did so. Needless to say, the red of his face soon took on a much brigther hue as he cleared his throat, casting his eyes downward as he tried once more to get a few words out.
"I-I'm sorry for bumping into and for . . . um. . . st-staring." Damian fell silent quickly once more, as gauging the mysterious woman's reaction before he continued, the red beginning to leave his cheeks as he got over his initial embarrassment for a moment. "Did you require anything from inside? I've been working here a little bit, so I could possibly help you out in finding something, though depending on what you need, it might be better to ask Mr. Nabriales."
Appearance: Damian appearance is often somewhat variable due to his Nightwalker nature, though he often tries to keep a similar shape to make it easy for people to recognize him. This base form is a small boy around his early to mid teens, often with a head of vibrant orange-ish red hair, contrasting with his stark green eyes. His height in this form is usually somewhere between 5'4 and 5'5, with a weight of about 120 pounds, give or take. He often appears in a baggy, light blue jacket, a patterned grey and white shirt, some jeans, and a pair of well-worn shoes. His horns are strange, seeming to be composed entirely out of Vis and only appears when he uses magic. Their coloration tends to fluctuate a bit depending on his mood, but generally stay within the pink-purple range. However, this form is also just a disguise, if you will.
Like all Nightwalkers, his truest self is that of a shadowy amalgamation of Vis, though it's coloration is a bit different. Instead of a thick cloud of pure black, it takes a color more akin to that of a dark, royal purple mist broken apart by soft, half-lidden purplish-pink eyes. This form
As a shapeshifter, Damian is one to changes forms as one changes clothes, and not all of them tend to be humanoid in nature. One of his favorite forms is that of a cat, this shape in particular is one he greatly enjoys wearing, due to their small size, agile frame, and how often that they get pets without having to do anything besides purr and meow. He likes getting pets.
Also, due to a personal curiosity as well as to further develop his shape-shifting skills, damian has taking to appropriating a feminine form from time to time, trying to see what it's like as a member of the opposite sex, as well as whether or not it would help him in understanding girls as a whole.
Personality: Someone like Damian is probably the last thing people expect when they here the words 'Incubus/Nightwalker Hybrid'. Instead of a being that is walking incarnation of sin and fear, you would instead meet a timid, young looking boy, likely hiding behind either another person or his own hands as he does his best in attempting to greet you. A sweet boy who holds a disdain for violence and unfounded aggression, Damian is often subject to the whims of those around him more often than he'd like. While he tries to stand-up to himself against those who would force their will upon him, his aversion to conflict and general lack of experience with people leads to him often submitting after a few harsh words, though in his thoughts, he's not as completely cowed.
Despite his timid nature, Damian is a surprisingly tenacious individual, always working to complete any task given to him with all of his effort. And with this tenacity comes a somewhat understated cleverness that manifests from time to time. This cleverness often comes out in the form of unorthodox plans and uses of his abilities in order to solve any problem he's gotten into, and while not always successful, they almost always manage to catch people off guard with how . . . creative they can be. He also can be surprisingly stubborn and headstrong in situations where he feels he has to act, sometimes to the point of foolishness. Whether this is due to naivette or some hidden reserve of courage is something even he isn't sure about.
History
Damian's upbringing was. . . unusual for those of his kind. Instead of experiencing the hardships and prejudices that plagued most of their kind, trying to live in a world where nearly everything and everyone is against you, Damian grew up in the lap of luxury for a majority of his life. Pampared and taken care, his every need met without delay, and the only thing to his life being whatever subject of study his mother would thrust upon him each morning. To say it was a rather carefree life would be somewhat of an understatement. This life was provided for by his father, Leto, an ambitious Nightwalker who sought to put his shrewd intellect to the task of clawing his way up the ladder of a large technology company that focused on aspects of both domestic and military applications.
Leto wasn't without his enemies and obstacles, however, as many higher up in the company felt that he would only bring some sort of disaster to the company, being not only a Licentia, but a Nightwalker as well. While he definitely had the merit to gain his position in the higher echeleon of the company, his appointment had already drawn a lot of bad pubilicity, and they didn't want to risk potentially losing everything just because of one uppity Licentia. So, a few measures where made in secret to undercut him, causing the factory he was in charge of and the town that surrounded it to begin to fail, and all of the blame was being placed squarely on Leto.
As a result of this, the town surrounding the factory began to start degrading from a nice, cosy place to a bit of a shit hole, with workers steadily losing their jobs and conflict steadily beginning to rise from between humans and Licentia. Damian and his family were also greatly affected by this as, one by one, the luxuries and pleasures that he'd been accustomed to vanished. Not only that, but keeping three Licentia fed, especially one as young as Damian, as proving taxing on funds and supplies. There were, of course, other methods of getting these things, but Damian's father knew that this was exactly what his enemies would be waiting for, eager to sink his reputation even further.
It was in these circumstances that Damian, 45 years old and worried about the conditions of his family's future, made a decison. He had to leave, to ease the burden on his family, at least until his father was able to get the better of those who had sought to take him down and bettered the situation. After talking it over with his father, who was extremely hesitant to send the boy anywhere alone due to his sheltered upbringing, a deal was struck. Damian would be sent to Ominar with his uncle, Nocte. While Leto hadn't spoken to his much older brother in sometime, he knew that the man was strong enough and honorable enough to be trusted with his son, and would be able to protect him from the seedy underbelly of the city. He could also teach Damian how to properly utilize his abilities as a Nightstalker, something that Leto had failed to do in his ambitious planning to gain more and more power within his company.
Unfortunately for Damian, his father couldn't have been more wrong in his beliefs. The man he once knew was no more, having fallen to the vices of potent drugs and debauchery as he made his career in what was known as 'the Midnight Circuit', A somewhat ancient tradition that had been carried over from Torqueo, it was a treacherous set of underground brutal pit-fights that went on till only one combatant was left alive. Nocte was a 3 times grand champion of the ring, but fell into heavy debt and poverty despite his success. When Damian came upin the man, he was on the end of his rope, with their new Prae overlords on one end, bashing doors in and wreaking havoc within the Licentia filled slums, while on the other hand he had many key players of the criminal underworld of Ominar chomping at the bit to get their money back. . . one way or another.
So when Damian appeared on the scene, Nocte had little hesitation in thrusting the boy headfirst into the city's criminal underbelly, warning him to keep quiet about it to his parent's until the debt was paid, or else. He even played on Damian's fear of possibly ruining his family's reputation by pointing out the fact that word of Leto's son affiliating with criminal elements would certainly cause issues for the poor man. Not only that, but Nocte made sure to make it very clear that, as Damian currently was, he'd likely be dead within a few months as some other Licentia's meal. If he wanted to survive, he needed to protection of someone powerful, and Nocte just happened to know someone who could fill that position perfectly.
And so it was that Damian was essentially sold into Darius service about a year prior to the current day, having to live with his uncle due to not making enough to live anywhere else that was even remotely safe.
Belongings/Equipment
His clothes
A smartphone
A few books
Backpack
Handheld gaming device
Capabilities
Mental: Damian is a rather intelligent individual who has spent nearly all of his life so far in self-study. As a result of this near constant pursuit of knowledge, he tends to have a very good amount of general knowledge on multiple subjects, and two areas in which he could be considered as a specialist of sorts: Chemistry and Biology. The subject that he had taken the greatest interest in out of the curriculum his mother had drafted for him, they also prove quite useful for his abilities as a shapeshifter. With his knowledge of biology, he can create create entirely new organs inside of his body with remarkable ease. And when mixed with his knowledge of chemical reactions, he can produce some rather interesting effects when he puts his mind to accomplishing something.
Aside from that, Damian is also a very empathetic individual that is always ready and willing to listen to anyone's plight, no matter who they may be. This allows him to better understand people then others in his profession, and assists him greatly in his goal to seek peaceful resolutions to conflicts when everything goes well. Unfortunately, when mixed with his generally naive nature, this can make him rather easy to fool by anyone who can make up a good sob story and take advantage of his kind heart. Even after a year of living in Ominar's underworld, he still refuses to close off his heart to those who could very well be in need of just one act of kindness in there day.
Another dangerous trait of his mentality is that Damian is both pacifistic in nature, as well as a bit of coward due to how much he was coddle before his introduction to the true nature of the world. This leads him to often try his best to avoid and run away from conflict when ever it rears its ugly head, even when it comes at his own expense. Whenever he does choose to engage in a conflict, it's often in order to protect or assist someone near to him who is in danger that they couldn't possible handle or escape from. And even in those situations, he never tries to kill those he faces, and will even try to stop others from doing so depending on the situation. The extreme nature of his moral compass is due to his naive nature and often causes him to get into no small amount of issues. While most would think a year working for Darius would cause his morality to fade, but if anything, the things he's witnessed have seemed to strengthened his resolve in this regard, if only to avoid becoming like some of the others in the kingpin's employ; devoid of any morality and driven solely by their own selfish desires to commit no shortage of terrible things.
Physical:Due to his Nightwalker blood, Damian possess an extreme versatile shapeshifting ability, able to change his form into whatever he so desires with little true limit besides his inability to hide what he truly is from those who can sense his Vis and being careful to keep his soul cores from potentially getting damaged or targeted. This ability to shift his body also feeds into his ability to heal, making him rather durable and very hard to put down for extended periods of time though it isn't impossible, especially due to the weakening of this regenerative factor by his Incubus blood as they are known to be relatively slow healers when compared to their shadowed brethren.
Sleep/drowsiness venom:Damian has manipulated his body in order to create an organ that can produce a form of neurotoxin that can put most targets to sleep within 5 minutes of getting the substance into their bloodstream, as well as causing an increasing slowdown of thought and movement in the time leading up to losing consciousness as well as the poison spreads through their body. When facing Licentia opponents, Damian is sure to inject the bio-chemical cocktail with a surge of vis so as to ensure it has an effect. The toxin is a venom, and thus, must be injected into the bloodstream to be effective. This is often done through transferring the poison into hollow claws or fangs that he forms when engaged with a foe.
His Inucubus blood doesn't just disadvantage him, however, far from it. While not quite as quick as Incubus may be, Damian still possesses impressive agility and speed. His reaction times and speedy movements, when mixed with the fluidity of his body due to his shapeshifting ability, can make him a very elusive target to hit. This is made even more apparent when taking into account the enhanced senses of a nightwalker, which make it very difficult to catch by surprise if he happens to be on the look out for something.
While lacking the finesse and skill in his control of Vis in order to supercharge a particular sense at the moment, his shadow senses give him the ability to see perfectly in the dark, as well as giving him knowledge of where exactly shadows lie in his surrounding area. On top of this, Damian possess an ability to view the Vis of those around him that works like a mixture of sight and smell, allowing him to identify people by their specific Vis signatures, as well as view those nearby through walls and other obstacles.
A unique aspect of Damian's Vis sense, however, is that his Incubus blood has mixed to enable a secondary sense of sorts that enables the ability to glean slivers of information from a person, making him capable of gaining glimpse their dreams . . . and their nightmares. All the information consists of, however, are brief, sometimes barely coherent flashes of it's contents, never really telling him what the dream is really about, but give the general feel of the dream. This info can be misread, however, if the dream is more complex than Damian is used to dealing with. His main use of this sense is to see when people near him are having bad nightmares so that he can offer them some relief and a good sleep with his dream magic.
As strong as Damian's physical capabilities are, he's definitely not an immortal or unbeatable. While Damian does posses an impressive baseline of abilities and great potential in this front, he is sorely lacking in the skills and mindset necessary to completely capitalize on them. In the times where he must fight, he tends to run through his Vis very quickly through over-use of shapeshifting and his magic to overwhelm his foes, relying on the fact that he often keeps his Nightwalker nature a secret to launch a surprise counter-attack, hoping to deal with his opponents as quickly as possible before they have time to adapt.
The issue with this, however, is that if his initial assault is rebuffed or ineffective (or if the foe already knows of his capabilities before hand) then he can be rather easily taken down by taking advantage of the known weaknesses of Nightwalkers(light/purification-based magics, spells that disperse Vis or hold it in Stasis, and Vis-infused platinum), as well by simply letting him burn himself out. Due to his habit of only feeding in small burst, Damian's vis reserves are often smaller than average, meaning that if his initial onslaught fails, he has very little to fallback when he runs out of Vis to throw around.
Magical/Technological
Dreamwalking: Damian's most unique magical ability is his special brand of Dreamwalking, as it differs drastically from that of normal Incubi, instead more closely resembling the shadow-walk ability of Nightwalkers. Instead of it being a purely mental/spiritual process, the first step in his brand of dreamwalking is to physically enter the dream. This is done by turning into his true form and allowing their form to coalesce around them, a soft, calming glow emanating from the center of the mist before it disperses upon his entering of their dreamscape. The pros to this ability is that it allows him a heightened connection with his target, giving him a better idea generally on how to manipulate their perceptions to achieve a desired effect. Not only that, but he gains a more direct connection to their subconcious mind, enabling him to subtly alter them inside their dream in a way that leads to their dreamselves becoming more willing to listen and accommodate Damian in his request, though they still have the ability to refuse him and/or wake up from the dream should they notice the deception, though most will only have foggy recollections, at best, of the incident upon waking.
Damian's dreamwalking also enhances the range of his dream sense ability, allowing him to perceive the dreams of anyone with in half a mile of his current situation. By sensing out these dreams, making use of the strange state of his body while inside of a person's dreamscape, and borrowing some Vis from the person he's inhabiting, he can near instantly transport to another person's dream without having to slip out of the dream world, though he can only accomplish this about 2 times, maybe 3 if he pushes himself, due to the strain it places on his body. This allows him to very quickly escape from a waking dreamer without having to risk getting caught and/or captured by them.
This is a powerful ability in terms of info-gathering and infiltrations, but not without it's downsides. One such issue being that Damian's wounds from a dream often carry over to his physical body upon exiting, and aren't as easily healed as his body reconstitutes it's self thinking that it's supposed to be like that, not to mention that the shock to his system often prevents immediate shape shifting after exiting a dream while wounded. This ability is also more dangerous and difficult when used against those skilled in the arts of defending their minds from invasion, as they can not only resist and drive him out, but if they are lucid dreamers, then they could trap him in the dreamscape, leaving him at their mercy unless he finds a way to wake them.
Currently, this is the only way that Damian can directly meddle with someone's dream, as his skills at using magic aren't the best, especially in regards to dream and illusion magic.
Vis-Drain & Shadow Magic: Like any Incubus, Damian is able to drain Vis from people through physical contact with them, though his rate of drain is somewhat diminished when compared to that of other Incubi. However, he makes up for this with an added feature of his shadow magic. While Damian has skill in the art of shadow magic like any other nightwalker, his Vis gives rise to an odd effect. Basically, he can drain Vis of multiple targets via contact with his shadow with an amount of drain equivalent to that of his normal Vis drain. This drain can be combined with that of his normal vis drain in order to gain more Vis, though it's something that Damian would likely never do unless pressured to by outside circumstances. This ability works best on foes who are asleep, as his shadows cast a sort of relaxing affect on those they touch, lulling them into a deeper, sounder sleep while he feeds off of them. When used with his Vis and Shadow senses, Damian is able to maximize his feeding without putting himself in danger and minimizing the amount of Vis he needs to take from each individual.
Not only that, but if he's in a good mood, then his shadows often leave the target with more pleasant dreams then when they started, though Damian has no control over how exactly that occurs within the person's dream. And on the other side of the spectrum, if Damian feeds on someone while under some form of duress or while suffering from a bad mood, his shadow will often cause the dream to worsen, resulting most often in rather frightening nightmares.
This ability also comes into some effect when used on a aware target, but tends to be even less effective than usual. This makes banking on the shadow's draining capabilities to keep his Vis up inadvisable, as he'd need a lot of targets in order to make it worth it, not to mention that they'd have to be fine with letting letting his shadows cling to them. In general, Damian's skill with shadow magic is middling. While his range and overall strength is good, allowing him to hold most foes in place if he gets the drop on them, the vis composition within his shadows tends to be rather rratic and unstable, making it easy to disperse them with a sudden impact, such as a punch, an explosion, a sudden burst of Vis, etc. All these things often cause his shadows to instantly break apart, making them rather ineffective weapons and defenses.
Shadow Tendrils: His main use of the ability, he summons shadowy tentacles to rise up from the shadows to grasp at his foes. The maximum range of this ability is around 5m, but the further away they get from him, the weaker and slower they tend to be, making it a spell best used at close to mid-ranges for the best chance of getting the drop on an enemy. The tendrils are pretty resistant to being broken, able to hold down most humans and prae with ease, though more physically strong Licentia or superstrong humans/prae will have a much easier time of it. As previously stated, however, any sudden, forceful impact will be able to break the tendrils apart with remarkable ease. This can include anything from a good punch, kick, bullet, projectile magic attack, or a sudden burst of vis from the target.
Shadow Wall: While normally a defensive move, with the fragility of his shadows, Damian's version is used more to provide momentary cover of an area as well as to trap unaware foes. How it works is by having two separate shadows stretch out to meet with each other, and then causing a sudden surge of shadow to rise up to a max height of 2m in the form of a wall. This wall proves effective in trapping anyone trying to cross a chokepoint, at least momentarily, as the speed at which the wall will close around them leaves most with little chance to avoid it. The wall doesn't last for very long, however, maxing out at around 10-15 secs before it disperses on it's own.
Shadow Smokescreen: This spell is used for both escape and disorienting a foe, as it causes a sudden influx of thick smoke-like darkness to fill an area. This black darkness can't be dispersed with wind, but purification and light magic can effectively clear a path through the darkness with very little issue.
Aura: Damian is capable of radiating an aura around his person that, depending on his intention, can have one of two effects on a person. In most instances, his aura works like that of an Incubus' irresistible charm, making it easier for him to get on people's good side, especially with his kind and caring demeanor. However, if he gets greatly stressed or afraid, like in the middle of a fight or while on the run, his aura will twist into that of an aura of fear. THose affected will feel a heightened sense of paranoia while within range of his aura, followed by other, more personal effects that differ from individual to individual, such as slight visual and auditory hallucinations, thoughts turning towards past fears and tragic events that would serve to heighten their sense of fear.
Jaiden rolled his eyes beneath his helmet as he heard the voice of the prim and proper princess Cut-A-Bitch speak up from behind him, half-tempted to simply ignore the woman before she could try to spew any more ridiculous notions of honor and duels at him. However, he didn't want to have to deal with an upset swordswoman with an itchy trigger finger for the entirety of his stay here, so he gave her the benefit of the doubt and actually listened to what she had to say.
To his surprise, however, he found neither hidden threats nor brazen attempts to shove her code of violent ethics down his throat, but a simple suggestion to start things over. Not only that, but as he took a second to actually look her over, he found that she didn't actually look half bad, he'd almost dare to say she looked cute in the get-up were it not for his run in with her previous persona. Jaiden didn't respond immediately to the outstreched hand before him, mulling things over in his head for a few moments as he gave off a seemingly impassive stare from beneath the shaded glass of his helmet. However, his posture soon relaxed as he met Amie's hand with his own, giving it a firm shake.
"I'd say we both acted a little hastily and foolishly earlier, so why not let bygones be bygones. I can definitely say that it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance this time, 'Miss; Amie. As a reintroduction, my name is Jaiden Fairfield and let's hope we get along better this time around." Taking her hand in his own, he made a bit of an overdramatic pantomime gesture of kissing her hand like a knight would to that of his lady. As soon as he released her hand, however, the door would open to reveal a rather adorable and cheerful looking woman in some science-y nerd apron, followed by the sweet and savory smells of a hot meal coming from within the Lodge.
He barely had time to give a wave to the sudden stranger as she quickly introduced herself before she zipped back inside the building, presumably to set the table for the meal he smelt. Jaiden could only chuckle in mild bewilderment as he turned towards Amie, taking a step back to give an overly deep bow in her direction. "As they say, Ladies first."
Okay so here's my first go at Damian. Not going to lie, I'm not particular sure if he's a 100% done yet, especially with a few of his abilities and what not, but I feel like keeping them stewing in my head any longer is just going to make me more frustrated and stuck then anything else. So without further adieu, here he is. Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated, especially since I still think he needs some work in a lot of areas.
Appearance: Damian appearance is often somewhat variable due to his Nightwalker nature, though he often tries to keep a similar shape to make it easy for people to recognize him. This base form is a small boy around his early to mid teens, often with a head of vibrant orange-ish red hair, contrasting with his stark green eyes. His height in this form is usually somewhere between 5'4 and 5'5, with a weight of about 120 pounds, give or take. He often appears in a baggy, light blue jacket, a patterned grey and white shirt, some jeans, and a pair of well-worn shoes. His horns are strange, seeming to be composed entirely out of Vis and only appears when he uses magic. Their coloration tends to fluctuate a bit depending on his mood, but generally stay within the pink-purple range. However, this form is also just a disguise, if you will.
Like all Nightwalkers, his truest self is that of a shadowy amalgamation of Vis, though it's coloration is a bit different. Instead of a thick cloud of pure black, it takes a color more akin to that of a dark, royal purple mist broken apart by soft, half-lidden purplish-pink eyes. This form
As a shapeshifter, Damian is one to changes forms as one changes clothes, and not all of them tend to be humanoid in nature. One of his favorite forms is that of a cat, this shape in particular is one he greatly enjoys wearing, due to their small size, agile frame, and how often that they get pets without having to do anything besides purr and meow. He likes getting pets.
Also, due to a personal curiosity as well as to further develop his shape-shifting skills, damian has taking to appropriating a feminine form from time to time, trying to see what it's like as a member of the opposite sex, as well as whether or not it would help him in understanding girls as a whole.
Personality: Someone like Damian is probably the last thing people expect when they here the words 'Incubus/Nightwalker Hybrid'. Instead of a being that is walking incarnation of sin and fear, you would instead meet a timid, young looking boy, likely hiding behind either another person or his own hands as he does his best in attempting to greet you. A sweet boy who holds a disdain for violence and unfounded aggression, Damian is often subject to the whims of those around him more often than he'd like. While he tries to stand-up to himself against those who would force their will upon him, his aversion to conflict and general lack of experience with people leads to him often submitting after a few harsh words, though in his thoughts, he's not as completely cowed.
Despite his timid nature, Damian is a surprisingly tenacious individual, always working to complete any task given to him with all of his effort. And with this tenacity comes a somewhat understated cleverness that manifests from time to time. This cleverness often comes out in the form of unorthodox plans and uses of his abilities in order to solve any problem he's gotten into, and while not always successful, they almost always manage to catch people off guard with how . . . creative they can be. He also can be surprisingly stubborn and headstrong in situations where he feels he has to act, sometimes to the point of foolishness. Whether this is due to naivette or some hidden reserve of courage is something even he isn't sure about.
History
Damian's upbringing was. . . unusual for those of his kind. Instead of experiencing the hardships and prejudices that plagued most of their kind, trying to live in a world where nearly everything and everyone is against you, Damian grew up in the lap of luxury for a majority of his life. Pampared and taken care, his every need met without delay, and the only thing to his life being whatever subject of study his mother would thrust upon him each morning. To say it was a rather carefree life would be somewhat of an understatement. This life was provided for by his father, Leto, an ambitious Nightwalker who sought to put his shrewd intellect to the task of clawing his way up the ladder of a large technology company that focused on aspects of both domestic and military applications.
Leto wasn't without his enemies and obstacles, however, as many higher up in the company felt that he would only bring some sort of disaster to the company, being not only a Licentia, but a Nightwalker as well. While he definitely had the merit to gain his position in the higher echeleon of the company, his appointment had already drawn a lot of bad pubilicity, and they didn't want to risk potentially losing everything just because of one uppity Licentia. So, a few measures where made in secret to undercut him, causing the factory he was in charge of and the town that surrounded it to begin to fail, and all of the blame was being placed squarely on Leto.
As a result of this, the town surrounding the factory began to start degrading from a nice, cosy place to a bit of a shit hole, with workers steadily losing their jobs and conflict steadily beginning to rise from between humans and Licentia. Damian and his family were also greatly affected by this as, one by one, the luxuries and pleasures that he'd been accustomed to vanished. Not only that, but keeping three Licentia fed, especially one as young as Damian, as proving taxing on funds and supplies. There were, of course, other methods of getting these things, but Damian's father knew that this was exactly what his enemies would be waiting for, eager to sink his reputation even further.
It was in these circumstances that Damian, 45 years old and worried about the conditions of his family's future, made a decison. He had to leave, to ease the burden on his family, at least until his father was able to get the better of those who had sought to take him down and bettered the situation. After talking it over with his father, who was extremely hesitant to send the boy anywhere alone due to his sheltered upbringing, a deal was struck. Damian would be sent to Ominar with his uncle, Nocte. While Leto hadn't spoken to his much older brother in sometime, he knew that the man was strong enough and honorable enough to be trusted with his son, and would be able to protect him from the seedy underbelly of the city. He could also teach Damian how to properly utilize his abilities as a Nightstalker, something that Leto had failed to do in his ambitious planning to gain more and more power within his company.
Unfortunately for Damian, his father couldn't have been more wrong in his beliefs. The man he once knew was no more, having fallen to the vices of potent drugs and debauchery as he made his career in what was known as 'the Midnight Circuit', A somewhat ancient tradition that had been carried over from Torqueo, it was a treacherous set of underground brutal pit-fights that went on till only one combatant was left alive. Nocte was a 3 times grand champion of the ring, but fell into heavy debt and poverty despite his success. When Damian came upin the man, he was on the end of his rope, with their new Prae overlords on one end, bashing doors in and wreaking havoc within the Licentia filled slums, while on the other hand he had many key players of the criminal underworld of Ominar chomping at the bit to get their money back. . . one way or another.
So when Damian appeared on the scene, Nocte had little hesitation in thrusting the boy headfirst into the city's criminal underbelly, warning him to keep quiet about it to his parent's until the debt was paid, or else. He even played on Damian's fear of possibly ruining his family's reputation by pointing out the fact that word of Leto's son affiliating with criminal elements would certainly cause issues for the poor man. Not only that, but Nocte made sure to make it very clear that, as Damian currently was, he'd likely be dead within a few months as some other Licentia's meal. If he wanted to survive, he needed to protection of someone powerful, and Nocte just happened to know someone who could fill that position perfectly.
And so it was that Damian was essentially sold into Darius service about a year prior to the current day, having to live with his uncle due to not making enough to live anywhere else that was even remotely safe.
Belongings/Equipment
His clothes
A smartphone
A few books
Backpack
Handheld gaming device
Capabilities
Mental: Damian is a rather intelligent individual who has spent nearly all of his life so far in self-study. As a result of this near constant pursuit of knowledge, he tends to have a very good amount of general knowledge on multiple subjects, and two areas in which he could be considered as a specialist of sorts: Chemistry and Biology. The subject that he had taken the greatest interest in out of the curriculum his mother had drafted for him, they also prove quite useful for his abilities as a shapeshifter. With his knowledge of biology, he can create create entirely new organs inside of his body with remarkable ease. And when mixed with his knowledge of chemical reactions, he can produce some rather interesting effects when he puts his mind to accomplishing something.
Aside from that, Damian is also a very empathetic individual that is always ready and willing to listen to anyone's plight, no matter who they may be. This allows him to better understand people then others in his profession, and assists him greatly in his goal to seek peaceful resolutions to conflicts when everything goes well. Unfortunately, when mixed with his generally naive nature, this can make him rather easy to fool by anyone who can make up a good sob story and take advantage of his kind heart. Even after a year of living in Ominar's underworld, he still refuses to close off his heart to those who could very well be in need of just one act of kindness in there day.
Another dangerous trait of his mentality is that Damian is both pacifistic in nature, as well as a bit of coward due to how much he was coddle before his introduction to the true nature of the world. This leads him to often try his best to avoid and run away from conflict when ever it rears its ugly head, even when it comes at his own expense. Whenever he does choose to engage in a conflict, it's often in order to protect or assist someone near to him who is in danger that they couldn't possible handle or escape from. And even in those situations, he never tries to kill those he faces, and will even try to stop others from doing so depending on the situation. The extreme nature of his moral compass is due to his naive nature and often causes him to get into no small amount of issues. While most would think a year working for Darius would cause his morality to fade, but if anything, the things he's witnessed have seemed to strengthened his resolve in this regard, if only to avoid becoming like some of the others in the kingpin's employ; devoid of any morality and driven solely by their own selfish desires to commit no shortage of terrible things.
Physical:Due to his Nightwalker blood, Damian possess an extreme versatile shapeshifting ability, able to change his form into whatever he so desires with little true limit besides his inability to hide what he truly is from those who can sense his Vis and being careful to keep his soul cores from potentially getting damaged or targeted. This ability to shift his body also feeds into his ability to heal, making him rather durable and very hard to put down for extended periods of time though it isn't impossible, especially due to the weakening of this regenerative factor by his Incubus blood as they are known to be relatively slow healers when compared to their shadowed brethren.
Sleep/drowsiness venom:Damian has manipulated his body in order to create an organ that can produce a form of neurotoxin that can put most targets to sleep within 5 minutes of getting the substance into their bloodstream, as well as causing an increasing slowdown of thought and movement in the time leading up to losing consciousness as well as the poison spreads through their body. When facing Licentia opponents, Damian is sure to inject the bio-chemical cocktail with a surge of vis so as to ensure it has an effect. The toxin is a venom, and thus, must be injected into the bloodstream to be effective. This is often done through transferring the poison into hollow claws or fangs that he forms when engaged with a foe.
His Inucubus blood doesn't just disadvantage him, however, far from it. While not quite as quick as Incubus may be, Damian still possesses impressive agility and speed. His reaction times and speedy movements, when mixed with the fluidity of his body due to his shapeshifting ability, can make him a very elusive target to hit. This is made even more apparent when taking into account the enhanced senses of a nightwalker, which make it very difficult to catch by surprise if he happens to be on the look out for something.
While lacking the finesse and skill in his control of Vis in order to supercharge a particular sense at the moment, his shadow senses give him the ability to see perfectly in the dark, as well as giving him knowledge of where exactly shadows lie in his surrounding area. On top of this, Damian possess an ability to view the Vis of those around him that works like a mixture of sight and smell, allowing him to identify people by their specific Vis signatures, as well as view those nearby through walls and other obstacles.
A unique aspect of Damian's Vis sense, however, is that his Incubus blood has mixed to enable a secondary sense of sorts that enables the ability to glean slivers of information from a person, making him capable of gaining glimpse their dreams . . . and their nightmares. All the information consists of, however, are brief, sometimes barely coherent flashes of it's contents, never really telling him what the dream is really about, but give the general feel of the dream. This info can be misread, however, if the dream is more complex than Damian is used to dealing with. His main use of this sense is to see when people near him are having bad nightmares so that he can offer them some relief and a good sleep with his dream magic.
As strong as Damian's physical capabilities are, he's definitely not an immortal or unbeatable. While Damian does posses an impressive baseline of abilities and great potential in this front, he is sorely lacking in the skills and mindset necessary to completely capitalize on them. In the times where he must fight, he tends to run through his Vis very quickly through over-use of shapeshifting and his magic to overwhelm his foes, relying on the fact that he often keeps his Nightwalker nature a secret to launch a surprise counter-attack, hoping to deal with his opponents as quickly as possible before they have time to adapt.
The issue with this, however, is that if his initial assault is rebuffed or ineffective (or if the foe already knows of his capabilities before hand) then he can be rather easily taken down by taking advantage of the known weaknesses of Nightwalkers(light/purification-based magics, spells that disperse Vis or hold it in Stasis, and Vis-infused platinum), as well by simply letting him burn himself out. Due to his habit of only feeding in small burst, Damian's vis reserves are often smaller than average, meaning that if his initial onslaught fails, he has very little to fallback when he runs out of Vis to throw around.
Magical/Technological
Dreamwalking: Damian's most unique magical ability is his special brand of Dreamwalking, as it differs drastically from that of normal Incubi, instead more closely resembling the shadow-walk ability of Nightwalkers. Instead of it being a purely mental/spiritual process, the first step in his brand of dreamwalking is to physically enter the dream. This is done by turning into his true form and allowing their form to coalesce around them, a soft, calming glow emanating from the center of the mist before it disperses upon his entering of their dreamscape. The pros to this ability is that it allows him a heightened connection with his target, giving him a better idea generally on how to manipulate their perceptions to achieve a desired effect. Not only that, but he gains a more direct connection to their subconcious mind, enabling him to subtly alter them inside their dream in a way that leads to their dreamselves becoming more willing to listen and accommodate Damian in his request, though they still have the ability to refuse him and/or wake up from the dream should they notice the deception, though most will only have foggy recollections, at best, of the incident upon waking.
Damian's dreamwalking also enhances the range of his dream sense ability, allowing him to perceive the dreams of anyone with in half a mile of his current situation. By sensing out these dreams, making use of the strange state of his body while inside of a person's dreamscape, and borrowing some Vis from the person he's inhabiting, he can near instantly transport to another person's dream without having to slip out of the dream world, though he can only accomplish this about 2 times, maybe 3 if he pushes himself, due to the strain it places on his body. This allows him to very quickly escape from a waking dreamer without having to risk getting caught and/or captured by them.
This is a powerful ability in terms of info-gathering and infiltrations, but not without it's downsides. One such issue being that Damian's wounds from a dream often carry over to his physical body upon exiting, and aren't as easily healed as his body reconstitutes it's self thinking that it's supposed to be like that, not to mention that the shock to his system often prevents immediate shape shifting after exiting a dream while wounded. This ability is also more dangerous and difficult when used against those skilled in the arts of defending their minds from invasion, as they can not only resist and drive him out, but if they are lucid dreamers, then they could trap him in the dreamscape, leaving him at their mercy unless he finds a way to wake them.
Currently, this is the only way that Damian can directly meddle with someone's dream, as his skills at using magic aren't the best, especially in regards to dream and illusion magic.
Vis-Drain & Shadow Magic: Like any Incubus, Damian is able to drain Vis from people through physical contact with them, though his rate of drain is somewhat diminished when compared to that of other Incubi. However, he makes up for this with an added feature of his shadow magic. While Damian has skill in the art of shadow magic like any other nightwalker, his Vis gives rise to an odd effect. Basically, he can drain Vis of multiple targets via contact with his shadow with an amount of drain equivalent to that of his normal Vis drain. This drain can be combined with that of his normal vis drain in order to gain more Vis, though it's something that Damian would likely never do unless pressured to by outside circumstances. This ability works best on foes who are asleep, as his shadows cast a sort of relaxing affect on those they touch, lulling them into a deeper, sounder sleep while he feeds off of them. When used with his Vis and Shadow senses, Damian is able to maximize his feeding without putting himself in danger and minimizing the amount of Vis he needs to take from each individual.
Not only that, but if he's in a good mood, then his shadows often leave the target with more pleasant dreams then when they started, though Damian has no control over how exactly that occurs within the person's dream. And on the other side of the spectrum, if Damian feeds on someone while under some form of duress or while suffering from a bad mood, his shadow will often cause the dream to worsen, resulting most often in rather frightening nightmares.
This ability also comes into some effect when used on a aware target, but tends to be even less effective than usual. This makes banking on the shadow's draining capabilities to keep his Vis up inadvisable, as he'd need a lot of targets in order to make it worth it, not to mention that they'd have to be fine with letting letting his shadows cling to them. In general, Damian's skill with shadow magic is middling. While his range and overall strength is good, allowing him to hold most foes in place if he gets the drop on them, the vis composition within his shadows tends to be rather rratic and unstable, making it easy to disperse them with a sudden impact, such as a punch, an explosion, a sudden burst of Vis, etc. All these things often cause his shadows to instantly break apart, making them rather ineffective weapons and defenses.
Shadow Tendrils: His main use of the ability, he summons shadowy tentacles to rise up from the shadows to grasp at his foes. The maximum range of this ability is around 5m, but the further away they get from him, the weaker and slower they tend to be, making it a spell best used at close to mid-ranges for the best chance of getting the drop on an enemy. The tendrils are pretty resistant to being broken, able to hold down most humans and prae with ease, though more physically strong Licentia or superstrong humans/prae will have a much easier time of it. As previously stated, however, any sudden, forceful impact will be able to break the tendrils apart with remarkable ease. This can include anything from a good punch, kick, bullet, projectile magic attack, or a sudden burst of vis from the target.
Shadow Wall: While normally a defensive move, with the fragility of his shadows, Damian's version is used more to provide momentary cover of an area as well as to trap unaware foes. How it works is by having two separate shadows stretch out to meet with each other, and then causing a sudden surge of shadow to rise up to a max height of 2m in the form of a wall. This wall proves effective in trapping anyone trying to cross a chokepoint, at least momentarily, as the speed at which the wall will close around them leaves most with little chance to avoid it. The wall doesn't last for very long, however, maxing out at around 10-15 secs before it disperses on it's own.
Shadow Smokescreen: This spell is used for both escape and disorienting a foe, as it causes a sudden influx of thick smoke-like darkness to fill an area. This black darkness can't be dispersed with wind, but purification and light magic can effectively clear a path through the darkness with very little issue.
Aura: Damian is capable of radiating an aura around his person that, depending on his intention, can have one of two effects on a person. In most instances, his aura works like that of an Incubus' irresistible charm, making it easier for him to get on people's good side, especially with his kind and caring demeanor. However, if he gets greatly stressed or afraid, like in the middle of a fight or while on the run, his aura will twist into that of an aura of fear. THose affected will feel a heightened sense of paranoia while within range of his aura, followed by other, more personal effects that differ from individual to individual, such as slight visual and auditory hallucinations, thoughts turning towards past fears and tragic events that would serve to heighten their sense of fear.
Itsuki couldn't help but roll his eyes at Hana's silly act, finding it to be in poor taste given the fact that she had just been disembowling the Kakuja not half an hour or so before. Even for a ghoul, he figured that acting in such a fashion would be seen as more disturbing then anything else, though that may just be what his sister was attempting to do. Turning his attention to said Kakuja, he was only somewhat surprised by the fact that she was staring at Takumi with such a flustered, yet hopeful expression. For a moment, he felt a bit of a connection with the kakuja, but quickly shook his head of the notion, bringing to mind the grisly scene he had walked in on.
She's a danger and a threat. Nothing more, nothing less.
His thoughts(and the slight surge of anger that had bubbled up with them) were put on hold as Hana suddenly spoke up again, the bubbly tone stricken from her voice as she delivered the worst news that any ghoul could hear.
The Doves were here.
A million thoughts flooded Itsuki's mind as he tried to think of possible exits and escape routes, but it was difficult to do due to his unfamiliarity with the area. He almost didn't notice when Hana walked up to him, but his attention immediately as she place something into his hand. Looking down, Itsuki seemed to almost freeze as he listen to Hana's instructions, his eyes flitting between the remote then his sister as she moved to barricade the door. Grinding his teeth together, Itsuki took a single step forward, not seeming to even hear Miyako's question as he started speaking to Hana a harsh whisper, having enough presence of mind to not yell even though he really wanted to.
"Hana, let me take the heat. I don't know this area in the slightest, not any safe houses, or routes that wouldn't be watched by the Doves. And more importantly than that. . . I can't just leave you to die. I won't leave you to die. Take the detonator and get out of here. . . please." Despite his attempts to reign it in, emotion flowed onto Itsuki's face and into his face as he all but begged Hana to let him take her place. In his mind's eye, all he could see was the faces of those he had failed to save. His parents, the old man. . . Hiyori. He couldn't stand by and let someone else he cared for die. He had to do this. He needed to do this. . . or he didn't think he'd be able to handle the guilt that would follow.
@LemonsThat would be me, your very non-existant co-gm. *gives a bow* I've mostly just been busy with school and stuff, so I haven't been too chatty. Also just started posting again after a short hiatus
Soon after walking away from the group, Jaiden found himself leaning against a tree, feeling as if he'd lost all the strength in his legs. Consuming the entire tree in order to quickly hike up his regen speed by feeding all of his bio-generation into it had been effective in getting him able to react to a possible immediate threat, but the after effects were predictably devastating to his system. His body always struggled with assimilating plant matter(especially large quantities like that), often leaving him exhausted soon after ingesting it, along with his body feeling as if it wanted to turn itself inside out for the the better part of an hour.
"Well. . . that could have gone better. Geez, if it wasn't for that Justin guy, I'd either be in a world of hurt or on the run for killing that stuck-up sociopath of a rich girl." His thoughts turned to said sociopath for a moment, chuckling to himself as he thought over the encounter in his head and realized how ridiculous both of them were acting. "Fuckin' hell. . . who even challenges people to legit duels anymore? That concept is so antiquated it isn't even funny, and the fact that some thirty-woman said it makes it even sadder. And weren't duels outlawed or something way back when. . . could've sworn that was a thing." It was a this point that Jaiden took a moment to curse his lacking education, knowing he really had himself to blame for it though. Never was the best student, and like the rest of the world, he never really saw the internet as the information hub it was. Just a place to find funny videos and the occasional breaking news story.
"Still, crazy and antiquated as that chick is, I wasn't really much better given how I was basically threatening her without strictly saying it. *Heh* Guess I wasn't as blameless in that situation as I acted. Still, I'll be damned before I apologize to that stuck-up princess, especially with that stripper-esque name. Seriously, who names their kid Amethyst, especially as a first name. Jaiden let out a few more weak chuckles at the proud woman's expense, before a wave of aching pains turned his laughter in to pained groans as he sank to the ground. ". . . Fuck, I need some damn meat. Ugh, damn space girl and her dumb spaceship with it's stupid self-destruct-y lookin' countdown. Making me fuck my back up for nothin', and I doubt I'll even get so much as a thank you either. *sigh* That Jane chick is probably talkin' alllll~ about how much of a filthy deviant I am, and other fancy sounding insults of my general character." Jaiden could almost hear her irritating, holier-than-thou, stick-up-her-ass-formal sounding tone now, talking all sorts of shit.
After taking a breath, both to calm himself down and to take his mind off of imagined(and somewhat self-indulgent) slights to instead redirect focus back to the task of getting to his bike. With a sharp, if pained, intake of breath, Jaiden pushed himself up unsteadily to his feet. Carefully putting one first in front of the other, he slowly gained more confidence in his ability to walk, and thus slowly increased his pace with one eye constantly eyeing the sky in hopes that it remained cloudless till he got to the Lodge.
"Yeah. . . if I were to rate my day so far, it be a solid 'FML' right now. F it very fuckin' hard."
later that day. . .
Damian had managed to reach his bikewithin an hour of his departure without incident. Much to his relief, it was undamaged and untouched, still hidden from sight behind a thick bit of brush along the roadside. A quick check through the saddle pouches that he had attached to the the back half of the bike revealed that everything was still there, including his spare set of clothes. After getting properly dressed, along with a thick black leather riding jacket and his streamlined black helmet, he was quick to rev the engine as he mounted his ride, taking a moment to listen to the engine purr to life.
"That's a good girl, Jessie. Missed me, didn't ya?" Jaiden said in as he leaned in close to the car, revving the gentle purr of the engine into a might roar that echoed through the surrouding woodlands. "Come now, don't be like that. I got held up with something. Now, just relax and enjoy the ride. Probably going to be out last one for a while, but I'll be sure to care for you. Don't want ya to lose your figure, do we?" Chuckling to himself, Jaiden revved the engine once more as he put pressed the pedal down, causing the cycle to jet forward with a lunge, quickly blazing a path up the road to the Lodge. The trek that had taken an hour of exhausted walking to accomplish know only took around 15 minutes, if that, as Jaiden's 'girl' ate up ground along the narrow country roadway as if the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels. While for most, this would be tantamount to suicide due to the very rugged and curvy nature of the road, Jaiden's enhanced reflexes and dexterity allowed him to navigate all the turns with easy, the feeling of burning rubber like this making him so glad he decided to go with Jessie, and not her newer, more hi-tech sister. In his mind, once you take the wheels off a cycle, then there's no fun in riding it anymore.
Those residing in the Lodge would hear Jaiden's arrival even within the confines of the Lodge, as the engine easily penetrated into the interior of the building with it's thundering roar. Pulling into the a screeching halt, Jaiden, marked his arrival with an arcing skid mark as he twisted Jessie to the side, the front wheel acting as a focal point for the turn as he hit the brakes. Once he had completely stop, he put down the kickstand before getting off the ride, patting his ride on the side with a muttered "Good job, Jessie" before heading up to knock on the Lodge door.
"Oi! You guys back yet? It's Jaiden. Is the brat still with you guys, or did she hightail the first second she got?"
Appearance: Damian appearance is often somewhat variable due to his Nightwalker nature, though he often tries to keep a similar shape to make it easy for people to recognize him. This base form is a small boy around his early to mid teens, often with a head of vibrant orange-ish red hair, contrasting with his stark green eyes. His height in this form is usually somewhere between 5'4 and 5'5, with a weight of about 120 pounds, give or take. He often appears in a baggy, light blue jacket, a patterned grey and white shirt, some jeans, and a pair of well-worn shoes. His horns are strange, seeming to be composed entirely out of Vis and only appears when he uses magic. Their coloration tends to fluctuate a bit depending on his mood, but generally stay within the pink-purple range. However, this form is also just a disguise, if you will.
Like all Nightwalkers, his truest self is that of a shadowy amalgamation of Vis, though it's coloration is a bit different. Instead of a thick cloud of pure black, it takes a color more akin to that of a dark, royal purple mist broken apart by soft, half-lidden purplish-pink eyes. This form
As a shapeshifter, Damian is one to changes forms as one changes clothes, and not all of them tend to be humanoid in nature. One of his favorite forms is that of a cat, this shape in particular is one he greatly enjoys wearing, due to their small size, agile frame, and how often that they get pets without having to do anything besides purr and meow. He likes getting pets.
Also, due to a personal curiosity as well as to further develop his shape-shifting skills, damian has taking to appropriating a feminine form from time to time, trying to see what it's like as a member of the opposite sex, as well as whether or not it would help him in understanding girls as a whole.
Personality: Someone like Damian is probably the last thing people expect when they here the words 'Incubus/Nightwalker Hybrid'. Instead of a being that is walking incarnation of sin and fear, you would instead meet a timid, young looking boy, likely hiding behind either another person or his own hands as he does his best in attempting to greet you. A sweet boy who holds a disdain for violence and unfounded aggression, Damian is often subject to the whims of those around him more often than he'd like. While he tries to stand-up to himself against those who would force their will upon him, his aversion to conflict and general lack of experience with people leads to him often submitting after a few harsh words, though in his thoughts, he's not as completely cowed.
Despite his timid nature, Damian is a surprisingly tenacious individual, always working to complete any task given to him with all of his effort. And with this tenacity comes a somewhat understated cleverness that manifests from time to time. This cleverness often comes out in the form of unorthodox plans and uses of his abilities in order to solve any problem he's gotten into, and while not always successful, they almost always manage to catch people off guard with how . . . creative they can be. He also can be surprisingly stubborn and headstrong in situations where he feels he has to act, sometimes to the point of foolishness. Whether this is due to naivette or some hidden reserve of courage is something even he isn't sure about.
History
Damian's upbringing was. . . unusual for those of his kind. Instead of experiencing the hardships and prejudices that plagued most of their kind, trying to live in a world where nearly everything and everyone is against you, Damian grew up in the lap of luxury for a majority of his life. Pampared and taken care, his every need met without delay, and the only thing to his life being whatever subject of study his mother would thrust upon him each morning. To say it was a rather carefree life would be somewhat of an understatement. This life was provided for by his father, Leto, an ambitious Nightwalker who sought to put his shrewd intellect to the task of clawing his way up the ladder of a large technology company that focused on aspects of both domestic and military applications.
Leto wasn't without his enemies and obstacles, however, as many higher up in the company felt that he would only bring some sort of disaster to the company, being not only a Licentia, but a Nightwalker as well. While he definitely had the merit to gain his position in the higher echeleon of the company, his appointment had already drawn a lot of bad pubilicity, and they didn't want to risk potentially losing everything just because of one uppity Licentia. So, a few measures where made in secret to undercut him, causing the factory he was in charge of and the town that surrounded it to begin to fail, and all of the blame was being placed squarely on Leto.
As a result of this, the town surrounding the factory began to start degrading from a nice, cosy place to a bit of a shit hole, with workers steadily losing their jobs and conflict steadily beginning to rise from between humans and Licentia. Damian and his family were also greatly affected by this as, one by one, the luxuries and pleasures that he'd been accustomed to vanished. Not only that, but keeping three Licentia fed, especially one as young as Damian, as proving taxing on funds and supplies. There were, of course, other methods of getting these things, but Damian's father knew that this was exactly what his enemies would be waiting for, eager to sink his reputation even further.
It was in these circumstances that Damian, 45 years old and worried about the conditions of his family's future, made a decison. He had to leave, to ease the burden on his family, at least until his father was able to get the better of those who had sought to take him down and bettered the situation. After talking it over with his father, who was extremely hesitant to send the boy anywhere alone due to his sheltered upbringing, a deal was struck. Damian would be sent to Ominar with his uncle, Nocte. While Leto hadn't spoken to his much older brother in sometime, he knew that the man was strong enough and honorable enough to be trusted with his son, and would be able to protect him from the seedy underbelly of the city. He could also teach Damian how to properly utilize his abilities as a Nightstalker, something that Leto had failed to do in his ambitious planning to gain more and more power within his company.
Unfortunately for Damian, his father couldn't have been more wrong in his beliefs. The man he once knew was no more, having fallen to the vices of potent drugs and debauchery as he made his career in what was known as 'the Midnight Circuit', A somewhat ancient tradition that had been carried over from Torqueo, it was a treacherous set of underground brutal pit-fights that went on till only one combatant was left alive. Nocte was a 3 times grand champion of the ring, but fell into heavy debt and poverty despite his success. When Damian came upin the man, he was on the end of his rope, with their new Prae overlords on one end, bashing doors in and wreaking havoc within the Licentia filled slums, while on the other hand he had many key players of the criminal underworld of Ominar chomping at the bit to get their money back. . . one way or another.
So when Damian appeared on the scene, Nocte had little hesitation in thrusting the boy headfirst into the city's criminal underbelly, warning him to keep quiet about it to his parent's until the debt was paid, or else. He even played on Damian's fear of possibly ruining his family's reputation by pointing out the fact that word of Leto's son affiliating with criminal elements would certainly cause issues for the poor man. Not only that, but Nocte made sure to make it very clear that, as Damian currently was, he'd likely be dead within a few months as some other Licentia's meal. If he wanted to survive, he needed to protection of someone powerful, and Nocte just happened to know someone who could fill that position perfectly.
And so it was that Damian was essentially sold into Darius service about a year prior to the current day, having to live with his uncle due to not making enough to live anywhere else that was even remotely safe.
Belongings/Equipment
His clothes
A smartphone
A few books
Backpack
Handheld gaming device
Capabilities
Mental: Damian is a rather intelligent individual who has spent nearly all of his life so far in self-study. As a result of this near constant pursuit of knowledge, he tends to have a very good amount of general knowledge on multiple subjects, and two areas in which he could be considered as a specialist of sorts: Chemistry and Biology. The subject that he had taken the greatest interest in out of the curriculum his mother had drafted for him, they also prove quite useful for his abilities as a shapeshifter. With his knowledge of biology, he can create create entirely new organs inside of his body with remarkable ease. And when mixed with his knowledge of chemical reactions, he can produce some rather interesting effects when he puts his mind to accomplishing something.
Aside from that, Damian is also a very empathetic individual that is always ready and willing to listen to anyone's plight, no matter who they may be. This allows him to better understand people then others in his profession, and assists him greatly in his goal to seek peaceful resolutions to conflicts when everything goes well. Unfortunately, when mixed with his generally naive nature, this can make him rather easy to fool by anyone who can make up a good sob story and take advantage of his kind heart. Even after a year of living in Ominar's underworld, he still refuses to close off his heart to those who could very well be in need of just one act of kindness in there day.
Another dangerous trait of his mentality is that Damian is both pacifistic in nature, as well as a bit of coward due to how much he was coddle before his introduction to the true nature of the world. This leads him to often try his best to avoid and run away from conflict when ever it rears its ugly head, even when it comes at his own expense. Whenever he does choose to engage in a conflict, it's often in order to protect or assist someone near to him who is in danger that they couldn't possible handle or escape from. And even in those situations, he never tries to kill those he faces, and will even try to stop others from doing so depending on the situation. The extreme nature of his moral compass is due to his naive nature and often causes him to get into no small amount of issues. While most would think a year working for Darius would cause his morality to fade, but if anything, the things he's witnessed have seemed to strengthened his resolve in this regard, if only to avoid becoming like some of the others in the kingpin's employ; devoid of any morality and driven solely by their own selfish desires to commit no shortage of terrible things.
Physical:Due to his Nightwalker blood, Damian possess an extreme versatile shapeshifting ability, able to change his form into whatever he so desires with little true limit besides his inability to hide what he truly is from those who can sense his Vis and being careful to keep his soul cores from potentially getting damaged or targeted. This ability to shift his body also feeds into his ability to heal, making him rather durable and very hard to put down for extended periods of time though it isn't impossible, especially due to the weakening of this regenerative factor by his Incubus blood as they are known to be relatively slow healers when compared to their shadowed brethren.
Sleep/drowsiness venom:Damian has manipulated his body in order to create an organ that can produce a form of neurotoxin that can put most targets to sleep within 5 minutes of getting the substance into their bloodstream, as well as causing an increasing slowdown of thought and movement in the time leading up to losing consciousness as well as the poison spreads through their body. When facing Licentia opponents, Damian is sure to inject the bio-chemical cocktail with a surge of vis so as to ensure it has an effect. The toxin is a venom, and thus, must be injected into the bloodstream to be effective. This is often done through transferring the poison into hollow claws or fangs that he forms when engaged with a foe.
His Inucubus blood doesn't just disadvantage him, however, far from it. While not quite as quick as Incubus may be, Damian still possesses impressive agility and speed. His reaction times and speedy movements, when mixed with the fluidity of his body due to his shapeshifting ability, can make him a very elusive target to hit. This is made even more apparent when taking into account the enhanced senses of a nightwalker, which make it very difficult to catch by surprise if he happens to be on the look out for something.
While lacking the finesse and skill in his control of Vis in order to supercharge a particular sense at the moment, his shadow senses give him the ability to see perfectly in the dark, as well as giving him knowledge of where exactly shadows lie in his surrounding area. On top of this, Damian possess an ability to view the Vis of those around him that works like a mixture of sight and smell, allowing him to identify people by their specific Vis signatures, as well as view those nearby through walls and other obstacles.
A unique aspect of Damian's Vis sense, however, is that his Incubus blood has mixed to enable a secondary sense of sorts that enables the ability to glean slivers of information from a person, making him capable of gaining glimpse their dreams . . . and their nightmares. All the information consists of, however, are brief, sometimes barely coherent flashes of it's contents, never really telling him what the dream is really about, but give the general feel of the dream. This info can be misread, however, if the dream is more complex than Damian is used to dealing with. His main use of this sense is to see when people near him are having bad nightmares so that he can offer them some relief and a good sleep with his dream magic.
As strong as Damian's physical capabilities are, he's definitely not an immortal or unbeatable. While Damian does posses an impressive baseline of abilities and great potential in this front, he is sorely lacking in the skills and mindset necessary to completely capitalize on them. In the times where he must fight, he tends to run through his Vis very quickly through over-use of shapeshifting and his magic to overwhelm his foes, relying on the fact that he often keeps his Nightwalker nature a secret to launch a surprise counter-attack, hoping to deal with his opponents as quickly as possible before they have time to adapt.
The issue with this, however, is that if his initial assault is rebuffed or ineffective (or if the foe already knows of his capabilities before hand) then he can be rather easily taken down by taking advantage of the known weaknesses of Nightwalkers(light/purification-based magics, spells that disperse Vis or hold it in Stasis, and Vis-infused platinum), as well by simply letting him burn himself out. Due to his habit of only feeding in small burst, Damian's vis reserves are often smaller than average, meaning that if his initial onslaught fails, he has very little to fallback when he runs out of Vis to throw around.
Magical/Technological
Dreamwalking: Damian's most unique magical ability is his special brand of Dreamwalking, as it differs drastically from that of normal Incubi, instead more closely resembling the shadow-walk ability of Nightwalkers. Instead of it being a purely mental/spiritual process, the first step in his brand of dreamwalking is to physically enter the dream. This is done by turning into his true form and allowing their form to coalesce around them, a soft, calming glow emanating from the center of the mist before it disperses upon his entering of their dreamscape. The pros to this ability is that it allows him a heightened connection with his target, giving him a better idea generally on how to manipulate their perceptions to achieve a desired effect. Not only that, but he gains a more direct connection to their subconcious mind, enabling him to subtly alter them inside their dream in a way that leads to their dreamselves becoming more willing to listen and accommodate Damian in his request, though they still have the ability to refuse him and/or wake up from the dream should they notice the deception, though most will only have foggy recollections, at best, of the incident upon waking.
Damian's dreamwalking also enhances the range of his dream sense ability, allowing him to perceive the dreams of anyone with in half a mile of his current situation. By sensing out these dreams, making use of the strange state of his body while inside of a person's dreamscape, and borrowing some Vis from the person he's inhabiting, he can near instantly transport to another person's dream without having to slip out of the dream world, though he can only accomplish this about 2 times, maybe 3 if he pushes himself, due to the strain it places on his body. This allows him to very quickly escape from a waking dreamer without having to risk getting caught and/or captured by them.
This is a powerful ability in terms of info-gathering and infiltrations, but not without it's downsides. One such issue being that Damian's wounds from a dream often carry over to his physical body upon exiting, and aren't as easily healed as his body reconstitutes it's self thinking that it's supposed to be like that, not to mention that the shock to his system often prevents immediate shape shifting after exiting a dream while wounded. This ability is also more dangerous and difficult when used against those skilled in the arts of defending their minds from invasion, as they can not only resist and drive him out, but if they are lucid dreamers, then they could trap him in the dreamscape, leaving him at their mercy unless he finds a way to wake them.
Currently, this is the only way that Damian can directly meddle with someone's dream, as his skills at using magic aren't the best, especially in regards to dream and illusion magic.
Vis-Drain & Shadow Magic: Like any Incubus, Damian is able to drain Vis from people through physical contact with them, though his rate of drain is somewhat diminished when compared to that of other Incubi. However, he makes up for this with an added feature of his shadow magic. While Damian has skill in the art of shadow magic like any other nightwalker, his Vis gives rise to an odd effect. Basically, he can drain Vis of multiple targets via contact with his shadow with an amount of drain equivalent to that of his normal Vis drain. This drain can be combined with that of his normal vis drain in order to gain more Vis, though it's something that Damian would likely never do unless pressured to by outside circumstances. This ability works best on foes who are asleep, as his shadows cast a sort of relaxing affect on those they touch, lulling them into a deeper, sounder sleep while he feeds off of them. When used with his Vis and Shadow senses, Damian is able to maximize his feeding without putting himself in danger and minimizing the amount of Vis he needs to take from each individual.
Not only that, but if he's in a good mood, then his shadows often leave the target with more pleasant dreams then when they started, though Damian has no control over how exactly that occurs within the person's dream. And on the other side of the spectrum, if Damian feeds on someone while under some form of duress or while suffering from a bad mood, his shadow will often cause the dream to worsen, resulting most often in rather frightening nightmares.
This ability also comes into some effect when used on a aware target, but tends to be even less effective than usual. This makes banking on the shadow's draining capabilities to keep his Vis up inadvisable, as he'd need a lot of targets in order to make it worth it, not to mention that they'd have to be fine with letting letting his shadows cling to them. In general, Damian's skill with shadow magic is middling. While his range and overall strength is good, allowing him to hold most foes in place if he gets the drop on them, the vis composition within his shadows tends to be rather rratic and unstable, making it easy to disperse them with a sudden impact, such as a punch, an explosion, a sudden burst of Vis, etc. All these things often cause his shadows to instantly break apart, making them rather ineffective weapons and defenses.
Shadow Tendrils: His main use of the ability, he summons shadowy tentacles to rise up from the shadows to grasp at his foes. The maximum range of this ability is around 5m, but the further away they get from him, the weaker and slower they tend to be, making it a spell best used at close to mid-ranges for the best chance of getting the drop on an enemy. The tendrils are pretty resistant to being broken, able to hold down most humans and prae with ease, though more physically strong Licentia or superstrong humans/prae will have a much easier time of it. As previously stated, however, any sudden, forceful impact will be able to break the tendrils apart with remarkable ease. This can include anything from a good punch, kick, bullet, projectile magic attack, or a sudden burst of vis from the target.
Shadow Wall: While normally a defensive move, with the fragility of his shadows, Damian's version is used more to provide momentary cover of an area as well as to trap unaware foes. How it works is by having two separate shadows stretch out to meet with each other, and then causing a sudden surge of shadow to rise up to a max height of 2m in the form of a wall. This wall proves effective in trapping anyone trying to cross a chokepoint, at least momentarily, as the speed at which the wall will close around them leaves most with little chance to avoid it. The wall doesn't last for very long, however, maxing out at around 10-15 secs before it disperses on it's own.
Shadow Smokescreen: This spell is used for both escape and disorienting a foe, as it causes a sudden influx of thick smoke-like darkness to fill an area. This black darkness can't be dispersed with wind, but purification and light magic can effectively clear a path through the darkness with very little issue.
Aura: Damian is capable of radiating an aura around his person that, depending on his intention, can have one of two effects on a person. In most instances, his aura works like that of an Incubus' irresistible charm, making it easier for him to get on people's good side, especially with his kind and caring demeanor. However, if he gets greatly stressed or afraid, like in the middle of a fight or while on the run, his aura will twist into that of an aura of fear. THose affected will feel a heightened sense of paranoia while within range of his aura, followed by other, more personal effects that differ from individual to individual, such as slight visual and auditory hallucinations, thoughts turning towards past fears and tragic events that would serve to heighten their sense of fear.
Amie's challenge wasn't met with fear, excitement, or even any true anger. Instead, Jaiden simply looked her dead in the eyes a he leaned in a bit closer, allowing the tip of the blade to make contact with his throat as he made his response.
"Go ahead. Do it." Discomfort and hunger were momentarily forgotten as the predatory urge to prepare overcame him. If she continued her assault on his person, the response would be sudden and savage as only the barest threads of humanity where keeping the starving beast at bay. However, he needn't have worried as another came between them, a guy who had given Jaiden his shirt. Closing his eyes for a moment, he silently thanked the man for his intervention, as the break in the tension helped him to center his mind, pushing back the hunger just enough. Once he reopened his eyes, however, he'd be greeted with a rather lackluster attempt of smoothing things out, as well as a demand that warranted a much exaggerated eye roll from the blonde man.
"I don't what's more telling of how out of touch you are with how the real world is: the fact that your so quick to draw your weapon, or that you you think you have any right to make demands of me after pulling that shit." Jaiden merely shook his head as he walked around the noblewoman, scratching at the back of his neck as he threw a final retort towards her. "Settle for me calling you Jane for the foreseeable future and tell that man servant of yours that he's going to have to deal with it." Continuing to walk a certain distance past the brush into the smoldering clearing that the crash had made, Jaiden came to a stop as he realized something.
"Oh yeah, Justin, I'll give you the shirt back once I get back to the lodge. I gotta get my bike up to the Lodge before the weather turns, so that means I gotta jet if I want to make it in time. I'll do the whole meet and greet thing later, when I'm less exposed, ye?" With a tip of his head, Jaiden would make to walk away, his feet carrying him away from the scene surprisingly quickly if nothing happened to halt him once again.
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