I literally hit the message limit on this thing xD
Name
Erwen Angeles
Approximate Age
I don't think he even kept track, but he's around 18-21. Let's go with 19.
Species
Human-ish (Legend, so it really depends on who you ask for the specifics)
Gender
Male
Title
The Ether's Gatekeeper
Description/Image
Not my art. Okay, so I finally found a picture that actually looks like him. Minus the penguins, of course. But yeah, that's like his mental age too xD and it's so cuteeeee
This is a good reference for his clothing (other than the fact that his shirt has a collar) and actual age but inaccurate for practically everything else and he never looks that calm.
Usual Weapons/Tools
I'm not sure if his keys count, after all there are infinite of them and they're more of metaphorical keys than literal keys unless he forces them into a physical form.
Other than that, he has a longsword named Vatican but he generally forgets he has it in the first place.
Personality
Usually cheerful and happy-go-lucky, he has quite a disobedient streak and doesn't really think much of what people say he can and can't do. He'll listen to you, sure, but if another option looks better, the orders go into the incinerator. Due to this he can be painfully difficult and rebellious at times.
He tends to be quite impulsive, and he'll generally end up putting himself before others. It's not that he's selfish, he's just used to working alone so he often just forgets that other people have other limits and priorities. He's fiercely independent and finds it very difficult to have to rely on someone else unless he knows them well and is extremely certain of their ability to take care of themselves (such as Phoenix).
He often sees unusual or creative ways to do things, which is usually a good thing, but other times he ends up making a simple task really complicated.
He tends to be restless hyper, especially if worried or thinking about something, and can't stand being in one place for long, whether that means he has to pace, fidget, or gate away and back just to feel better, he'll do it. And probably annoy the heck outta people who are trying to relax, too. He gets bored way easily, making him sit in an empty room by himself is the best way to torture him (although it's not good for most people's sanities in general).
He has the boundless energy and cheerful outlook of a child, which leads to him sounding much younger than he actually is. He won't sleep for days because he's so hecking hyper, and will literally collapse from exhaustion eventually unless you force him to rest. Then good luck waking him up for 24 hours or more. And then he'll be severely annoyed that he fell asleep and also even more hyper.
Backstory
No one really knows where his family's odd ability to manipulate the gates originated from. Erwen's mother told an old story about an ancestor of theirs who fell into the ether and survived, and thereafter gained the ability, which was then passed down to the oldest child down the line when the previous holder died. (He never really paid attention to the story himself.)
His mother, who had the ability, was an important part of Candela (basically kind of like an airport connecting the worlds if you don't know already), like her father and grandmother before her, and thus their family was very well-off in life. Even as a child, Erwen was flighty and whimsical, with dreams of traveling the world that he could never fulfill. He didn't really care that much about luxury and usually annoyed his tutors so much they resigned. (Wow, this is cliche.)
When he was 11, he was told that something had gone wrong and that his mother had fallen into the ether. Naturally, he refused to believe it until he accidentally fell through a gate and ended up at the other side of the world (seriously, how do you accidentally do that?), which was both exhilarating and devastating, because he now had the world or even the universe at his fingertips, but this was a painful confirmation that his mother was dead.
When Candela officials approached him seeking his loyalty (after he got back, obviously), he refused. Being made to do the same thing every day and basically being a human taxi? No thank you. Erwen politely declined and instead left seeking a more... interesting lifestyle.
Since then, he's been a free spirit, never been doing one defined job or staying in one place for long. Sometimes he carries messages, other times people, but only if they're lucky enough to flag him down and if he's bored enough. (Again, refusing to be a human taxi xD) And then there's the occasional bounty hunting on the side. Even though there are also bounties on his own head for various reasons. More recently, he's been helpful. Creating gates in places where the ether is volatile and carving paths through the void. After all, not everyone has the ability to travel a thousand miles in a heartbeat.
Likes
- Traveling (at least, I would hope so)
- Meeting new people and places
- Heights (he wishes he could fly sometimes but ether-hopping is a good enough alternative for now
- Snow and also bakeries
Dislikes
- Being stuck in one place (he gets some sense of security from being able to leave at a moment's notice and feels like a sitting duck if he's tied down)
- Small fluffy things such as rabbits
- Having nothing to do (some people can entertain themselves, but not him!)
- Hot weather
- Being touched (there's no bad experience behind this, he just... doesn't like it, you'll probably know something's up if he doesn't automatically scoot away when people come close xD)
- Getting treated like a small kid (being patted on the head, tucked in, etc. even though he practically is one)
Fears
- Drowning
- Somehow losing his ability to gate at a moment's notice or being unable to use it, even though he didn't always have it, he can't imagine not being able to again
Worst Flaw
Probably the fact that he's absolute garbage at cooperating.
Abilities
Gatekeeper
Hang on, this is going to be a looooong explanation involving random gate mechanics and how the universe works xD
The universe as you know it is floating in a magical void. Well, not exactly floating. Think of those cross section soil diagrams (here's one). Reality is much like that, except in more than three dimensions, so it's difficult to really visualize.
Using the soil diagram as a reference (this is weird), only the topmost part, the 'grass', is able to sustain life, as far as most people know. Some people consider the surface the the first layer, while others believe it does not count as a layer, as it is a part of the void. For this explanation, we will follow the latter.
The first layer of the void is known as the ether - is is both below and surrounding the first layer (again, not in three dimensions). An alternate and faster option to moving around on the top layer is to travel through the ether, a method known as gating.
Time and space are much more fluid in the void than they are on the top, which makes it, in some ways, a better means of travel. In addition, there aren't any physical barriers to stop you - mountains and walls on the surface aren't present in the ether. Creating a gate is much like sticking a needle into and out of a piece of fabric. In theory, you'd be able to dip into the void and travel a far distance much quicker.
But there is a problem, though. As mentioned before, the void cannot sustain life as most people know it, (yeah, there is a creature that lives in the void but we won't go into that), and it's often much more... volatile than the surface. While a gate is like a tunnel connecting two parts of the surface and should be safe to travel in, sometimes they fail for unknown reasons. Occasionally, the 'gravity' of the surface will pull you back to the top if you're close enough. Other times, well, no one really knows what happens, but no one who's fallen into the ether has ever returned.
Creating a gate is usually difficult. Spells have to be cast ahead of time, ingredients need to be set up, protective measures have to be taken to prevent everyone from falling into the void halfway through the journey. It's a pain - all that effort put into a one second journey, and the gate instantly closes on both ends after you're through, so then the process has to start all over again. You're essentially building a tunnel, except even more difficult. Candela is known for their most reliable gates and have figured out a way to keep them open 24/7 to avoid having to repeatedly set one up every single time. But they only connect the seven worlds together, they can't afford to connect every major city in the universe.
Anyways, let's talk about gate mechanics. You already know basically how they work, and we won't get into the boring details of how to set one up. When gates close, they leave a fading pattern in the ether, known as a trace. Parts of the trace signify the destination, while the rest show the location that was left. It is thought that the pattern is actually a language, but no one has ever translated it.
In order to create a gate, one must have a key. This is the opposite of the opposite of a trace, as it is the opening of a gate rather than the closing. Obviously, it's not an actual key, it's just a *waves hands vaguely* thing that is used to create the gate. Also, the more often a gate between two places is used, the easier it is to open again. It's often said that there are infinite gates in the ether, but opening them is the real problem.
Yay, now we're finally getting into the actual ability thing! Basically, Erwen can create gates at a moment's notice. Well technically, he can create keys at a moment's notice. (Anyone can create a gate at a moment's notice, but getting the key is the difficult part).
Most people with a little magic can mess with gates to bury them, lock them (so that no one can use that particular gate again, (although this is iffy since the ether does not like locking gates), etc. But this requires lots of concentration and very precise steps, while Erwen's way of manipulating gates is more... intuitive, maybe. But if I explained everything he could do with them, we'd be here all year.
He's also the only person who can force keys into reality (he likes making them take the form of a literal key). This lets anyone he gives it to instantly create the gate linked to that key, which is really helpful if you're not him. He also likes to force random keys into reality for fun. Usually pathways he uses a lot. It's a lot more difficult for him to bring other people with him, though. The gates don't like bringing along things that aren't him, so he can only manage two or three people either at once or in a row.
Unfortunately, he's not immune to the ether's effects. Well, he won't die as quickly if he falls into the ether? But that's not much help unless there's someone to save you.
Other
ENTP (-A)
~~~
Name
Haid'yn (Hayden in human form)
Approximate Age
3.6 billion (he looks around 17-18 in human form)
Species
Caladrius
Gender
Male in human form, technically genderless in caladrius form. Everyone just refers to him as a he.
Title
The Wandering Caladrius
Description/Image
Not my art. He's a bit smaller, enough so he can perch on shoulders without too much of an issue. Also, this is a beautiful picture asdfijklajsdflkj
Not my art, human form. How come I can find ten billion decent pictures for him but not for Erwen? Yes, I guess he does kind of look like Jack Frost. Hush.
Usual Weapons/Tools
Nothing really, other than his talons and beak I guess. Sometimes he has a bow named Caran (CHAR-awn), but we're not using it for this.
Personality
Kind of distant and aloof, it seems 3 billion years still don't do much for your social skills (rip me). He's often brutally honest without much regard to dancing around people's feelings, and he tends to lay heavily on the sarcasm.
He's quite difficult to anger or upset, both due to the fact that it's in his nature and that he just... doesn't care. There's very little he actually cares about, really. Most things are just too trivial to him for him to consider. He'll go on his way healing people because that's his purpose rather than out of a sense of actual compassion. It's not that he hates the world. He just doesn't really think about it much. Despite this, he is a good person- er, caladrius. He sees most humans the way humans would see a guinea pig (*glances at Mossflight*), cute and amusing but not particularly impressive unless they really impress him.
He believes he has a debt to the universe for his existence, so he'll happily go with whatever happens to him. To him, life just goes on. Nothing too interesting about it, but he's fine as it is.
He'll stand out of any arguments or drama. He's just not interested, and it's usually something too insignificant to him to really have an opinion. He's reliable if you want the bare facts, though, and he doesn't bother with sugarcoating things.
Backstory
He's not really sure himself where he came from, but about 3.6 billion (he hasn't really kept track) years ago, he was created. He thinks he was some attempt to keep some of life from dying of a disease (obviously, he's only one creature so he only could save some of them). He hasn't always been a caladrius, he's not really sure what he's been before but he's changed every once in awhile as the world has changed. Since then he's just been doing his thing running around saving random people.
Likes
- Being in the open
- Seeing people go "OMG you're so majestic" (he spends a decent bit of time preening)
- Sunshine
- Having... a sense of duty, I guess
Dislikes
- Small talk (if it's not important, it's a waste of time)
- Enclosed areas
- People right in front of him talking about legends and stories that he knows aren't true (because he was there, duh)
- Annoying cheerfulness
- Being treated like a pet bird (being stroked, hand fed, etc.)
Fears
Most of his fears are just things that he doesn't want to happen because they'd be incredibly inconvenient for him. He doesn't really have crippling fears of anything
- Very small spaces
- Fire
- Being stuck on the ground for whatever reason
Worst Flaw
He just doesn't really take anything life and death seriously. I mean, he'll never get paranoid I guess, but he'll never have the determination and drive that comes with knowing there'll be terrible consequences if you fail.
Abilities
Caladrius
He can heal things such as sickness and exhaustion with a touch by taking it upon himself momentarily and releasing it. He cannot entirely fix bodily injuries such as wounds or broken bones but can help speed up recovery and take away most of the pain. It gets more difficult and takes more of a toll on him if done repeatedly in a short amount of time (because honestly, getting sick repeatedly even if it's only for a second each time is frankly exhausting).
He can assume a human form, but his healing ability is greatly decreased. However, he usually tends to stay in human form when around other people because he cannot communicate (except with other birds, I guess) in his true form. Obviously, he can't fly in his human form either, but he doesn't seem to have trouble switching back and forth with ease. He isn't 'grounded' towards either form, meaning that he'll stay in whatever form he's currently in even if badly injured or killed.
He is able to tell if someone is sick or getting sick no matter how much they try to hide it. He also has the ability to take only part of it, so he could get rid of nausea or something but not fever if he chooses (but he usually gets rid of the whole thing if he can).
He has the capability of transferring a sickness to someone else, but he hates the fact that he can even do so in the first place and won't even do it to his worst enemy.
Also, he can't get sick himself, and yes, he can help with allergies but prefers not to. He can't take the allergy itself away but he could probably save someone from dying a particular time if they accidentally ate peanuts.
He can also heal most kinds of poison in the same way he heals sickness.
"I am not a vaccine. You flatter me."
Other
ISTJ (-A)
Also, I made a random caladrius design because I was bored.
  |
