Name: Neshar of the Shifting Shadows (More commonly known as Neshar Displacer Thief)
Age: 22
Species: Ocelot
Class: Thief/Shadow Dancer/: The character is not a spring chicken to combat, however he can not outclass other classes in pure head to head fighting. Instead, he resorts to acrobatics, thief tricks, cantrips, tools, teleportation, and dexterous skill to give him an edge in combat. In darker areas he’s much more dangerous.
Power Scale : 3.2 in Daylight, 3.4 Mid-day, 4 low lighting or at night, 5 in pitch black.
Description: A young male feline whom stands at the average height of 5’ 7”. His ears are curve upwards into a triangle, but rounds off before it can form a point. There are a number of small notches cut in his ears. A few from close calls from a blade, and a few from his ears being caught along sharp things. His fur is a mixture of grays with white and black markings lining the entirety of his body. His face is pointed, and characterized by eyes that gleams with a thief’s cunning mixed with an owls scrutiny. His whiskers forever curve forward at a soft and gradual angle. But it’s nearly invisible at a distance and easily up close. His hair is short and messy, but the feline makes an attempt to make sure that it’s flow stays behind his ears and thus keeping it out of his eyes.
His body is lithe, built with tight acrobatic muscles gained from years of tumbling in the streets, climbing castle and keep walls, and infiltrating the most dangerous of areas to complete his jobs. But make no mistake as his overall frame is fairly thin. And while it may be laughable in the daylight. The feline proves that he can use his size quite easily in battle too dodge, and minimize impacts on his body.
When the feline is not working, or is intending to blend in with society, he wears a light tan cotton tunic with fine embroidery near the collar, along the cuffs of the sleeves, and down the middle where it buttons together. His leggings are made of canvas, and are an earthly brownish color. Along his ears he wears a series of earrings and piercings. On his neck a loosely fitted leather collar. The collar holds small details, listing the feline as property of a Sergal General by the name of Valsh, in a distant empire. There is also a few glyphs running along the bottom edge with more information. The first detailing his trade as a scribe. The second lists a rank in which he takes commands from. And the third tells that the feline is allowed to travel to handle business. Of course there is no visible or hidden weapons on his body.
When the feline is in combat, or is working he sports a more substantial attire. His leggings are gray thick canvas leggings with soft and flexible black leathers attached to the thighs and his Digi-grade shins. He wears a hardened leather vest on his torso, that sports and earthy brownish gray color. And while the vest offers no protection to his arms, it does protect his neck with a thick padded “Cowboy” collar. On his arms are thin black leather gloves that spans up his fore arms and are tied tight by laced string. The fingers are cut off. And both are equipped with lockpicks and other small tools a thief might need. Next, his boots. His boots are formed with black leather, and are designed to fit his dig grade legs. The boots are missing the hardened rubber, and instead uses a bit of padding to help him keep quiet, and allows the feline’s toes and claws to make contact with ground for grip. And then finally, his mask. The mask is what gave him the title “The Displacer Thief”. The mask is made of metal with a finish to keep it dull. It’s shape is that of a displacer beast’s skull. It goes over his head like a cowl, and has finer cloth and padding to make it more comfortable to the wearer.
Attached to his belt are a series of similar daggers. And strung up on his back is a shortbow with a series of arrows.
History: Hailing from the Tatola Desert, Neshar grew up in a land ravaged by warring Sergal Clans. The larger Sergals of the northern mountain ranges only a few miles away from Neshar’s home town, versus the southern Sergals whom roamed the majority of the desert. This meant that survival was difficult in general. Whether it be from family members being caught in the crossfire, or be a victim of war’s misfits. The feline had to learn how to survive on his own, this became even more critical when his hometown was finally burned to the ground, forcing the feline up the mountains where the front line would likely not follow.
He found himself in one of the major cities, now living on the streets, and stealing on a daily basis to ensure he survives. His skill progressively became better, and he began seeking out bigger targets. Stealing from nobles, garrisons, and his last target a keep. But eventually, his luck ran out. He was forced to flee with a patrol of guards after him. They continued to chase him, forcing him to try and hide in a cave system inhabited by oddly natured displacers. These creatures eventually coarse Neshar into fallowing them to an alter where he gained his affinity for shadow dancing. However this moment was shortly lived. The soldiers whom were chasing him had finally caught up to him and captured him. He was drug back to the Mistress of the Keep. The feared General Valsh. She was mildly impressed by the lad’s skill. And instead of killing him. She offered the boy an ultimatum. Become useful, and her personal slave. Or be marked as a spy and be publically executed. Naturally it wasn’t hard to make that decision. And now while Neshar may be a slave. His life is very peculiar. Most slaves would envy his position. He’s treated better than most. And damaging him could easily become a death sentence. And… while there are still some things that he has absolutely no control of with his mistresses free time, she does hold him for a major purpose. She sent him away to train with an elite group of infiltrators and scouts. Giving him some decent amount of martial training, but more importantly improve his skills as a spy, and thus as a thief. Afterwards he’s been primarily used to infiltrate enemy camps and keeps to sabotage equipment, gather intel. Just about everything outside of assassination. And on his own free time, he began to target major treasuries and castles, stealing for sport rather than survival. Eventually, the thief had earned himself quite a reputation in the underground. A very skilled thief. But a thief with a sense of honor, as he prefers to keep his jobs clean, and has a number of codes he follows.
Noteworthy Gear:
His collar is enchanted, permanently marking his status as a slave. And while it is labeled as Scribe/Servant. The Scribe is actually a front to allow him to blend into society.
His earrings are permanently attached. The only way to remove them is by removing the ears, or going to an artificer. Their function is only useful to the wearer and bears no outside effects. The earrings acts as both a gauge and a ballace for when he shadow steps. The plane in which he must steps through defies the natural laws placed in the earthly plane. Thus making it harder to tell distances, and orientations in space. The Gemstons in them stores permanent locations, and a return location. Thus allowing the feline to shadow step large distances... but only to very specific locations he's visited, or has a gem for.
Flaws and Weakness:
While the feline can see perfectly in the dark, that is with no source of light, and in low lighting settings. A bright light is blinding to him.
The feline can not go toe to toe against opponents whom are more combative than he. In which he is required on using his tricks and clever stratergies to take his opponents down.
The feline’s magic is weaker in well lit areas.
And then lastly. No matter what, the feline bleeds a trail of visible shadow aura, and the limb in motion will become slightly transparent with any swift or violent movements. This is a dead give away to his identity.
Abilities: Neshar is technically a cursed one. Having tampered with the old magic, and gained the lost secrets of a sect of mages often refered to as Shadow Dancers. A practice often popular with and most often practiced by master thieves and assassins. However, given that the magic is old and lost, there are still more techniques for the feline to discover, or adapt what he already has with time and practice.
Passive: The magic makes some small enhancements to the cursed one’s body, improving their reflexes and sight in the dark. Neshar is capable of seeing perfectly in areas with absolutely no light for a distance of a hundred twenty feet, but only in black and white. Those influenced by the magic will bleed out an aura with swift and sudden movements, as well as having the limb in motion go briefly transparent. Though this is a dead give away in many cases, Neshar uses this feature to his advantage with deft slight of hand, and dexterous feinting. Lastly, the magic becomes more reactive the darker it gets. In lower lighting settings, his eyes will begin to be washed out with a darkish purple aura, to the point where the aura is seeping out in whisps in complete darkness. While it admits no light… it is detectable to magic detection.
Shadow Step: Possibly what the Shadow Dancers are most well known for, and the origins of their nick name. Neshar quite literally dances between Shadows with graceful somatic acrobatic movements, which allows him to seemingly teleport between locations. But the reality is he’s stepping between dimensions using the shadows as a portal. While it is the quickest and hardest to predict, it’s major flaw is the requirement of shadows nearby. Another problem is that it’s difficult to determine distances without some sort of aid, and the laws of physics are not the same.
To bypass this, Neshar can apply his magic to an inert object, and use that as an anchor. Thus allowing him to teleport to the object. But there are a few rules to this as well. If the object is in motion, then he will adopt its speed and trajectory. Should the object end up in an area it shouldn’t, if the location is weak enough, it will be destroyed. If it’s not, then the anchor fails. The achor leaves a visible trail of magic in it’s path.
Summon Shade: Neshar can summon a sentient shade in the form of his own silhouette, with the same temperament as his own. He can communicate with it freely, as it can move about the world on it’s own. However, Neshar is not experienced enough to allow it to become thrilled. Thus the shade can not go to far away from him, nor does it hold a physical touch to the world.
Cloak: The feline creates a temporary invisibility cloak on himself. While cloaked, he makes no sounds... but the enviorment can be disturbed none the less if he's careless. The cloak is immediately lifted when his concentration breaks, usually by attacking.
Noteworthy Skills:
Clever - The feline is very observant and very clever. He can notice small details and patterns, and piece together hints and clues to greater riddles.
Disciplined - With a background in the military with a military based nation, and training in one of the elite special force regiments has amounted into a very disciplined thief. Although he might not act it, he can exercise the intense training behind a soldier to ignore some wounds, focus on priorities, steady his nerves, and even take risks without hesitation.
Loyal - It's not always true that there is no honor among thieves. For this thief does have some form of it. While his honor doesn't prevent him from groin shots, and eye gouging, it does prevent him from backstabbing his team.
Educated - despite his backgrounds as an alley cat. His mistress was very adamant about his education. And he couldn't argue any less, as it had made him quite effective. That being said, if he should ever loose a hand and have his career ended as a thief. He could always be a scholar or a bard with some uncanny knowledge.
Learning - Some might claim him to be a master thief. He prefers to just call himself a professional. He feels that there is still more to learn. Especially with his magic.
Topic: Against the Night OOC (Read 21301 times)