Age: 19
Race: Human (Possessed by Geist.)
Physical Description:
Cassius is a tall male in his late teens, with long, raven-black shoulder-length hair. His skin is alabaster white and his eyes are a clear blue, rimmed with dark circles and a tired, reddened look. His muscular tone is that of a climber, being quite stocky in the shoulders, arms and legs, a very slender and well defined in the stomach and torso. Due to years of living in the streets and a consistent strain on his physical wellbeing, Cassius does not have much in the way of body fat.
Cassius has very angular, hawkish features, with a thin mouth and a set of too-white teeth and high cheekbones. Many people would describe him as striking and statuesque, but that is mainly because he makes very little in the way of smaller movements and is often lost in thought.
Cassius’ skin is very cold to the touch and has a waxen, rubbery feel to it in comparison to most people, but does not leave any slime or is any less like skin in its resistance. It can be cut and stabbed and smashed, but the wounds never bruise and it makes a rubbery squeak when sliced.
Possessions: Cassius owns very little as he is on the run much of the time. His clothing consists of a tight-fitting leather shirt with a high collar and cut off sleeves, a thick belt with a heavy fabric drape for the front and back, as well as two thick leather boots that got up to his thigh and are covered in belt straps. His arms are covered on the lower half with thick leather braces and a pair of gloves that cover his palms and leave the full length of his fingers exposed.
Around his neck is a black chain. Attached to the chain and dangling over his heart is a rather solid-looking black key, made of some kind of dark iron. Functionally it has no other purpose but to act as a reminder, but it is in fact the whole cause of the predicament he finds himself.
Other possessions include things like a bedroll, a small animal skin tent and a few other survival items which he keeps in a backpack. He also has a rolled up fur-lined cloak for the cold weather, but lately he has been finding that temperature has not been a problem for his body.
Powers or Strengths:
Geist: Cassius is possessed permanently by a Geist. Unlike a ghost, these spirits are strong and have some form of sentience over their thrall-like counterparts. Cassius came across this particular one through the Key it once possessed in life. The Geist bestows several inhuman abilities on Cassius although since the joining is new, they are limited in number and potency. These include the following;
Healing and Minor Pain Nullification: Cassius is just as venerable to damage as any other human, but by expending some of the power given to him, the Geist effectively staves off death from the user. This is a passive ability and will heal minor wounds like scratches and slight cuts in a matter of moments, where as deep cuts and punctures require up to a couple of hours to fully heal. During this time, Cassius does not bleed, but rather oozes a viscous clear fluid that seals up the wound and then gradually evaporates to leave not even so much as a scar.
This power does not make him more resistant to any type of damage other than non-lethal. Punches and non-crushing blunt damage (like a sap or a weak persons unassisted, non-magical fist) will have little effect. (Where as a punch from a martial artist or a huge troll or something would work like normal.)
In addition, Cassius has a dulled sense of pain. A crippling broken knee will still cause him to be unable to put weight on the wound, but he would be able to hobble on without screaming and weeping the whole way. This also causes stab wounds and slashes to not hinder his movement so much, but extended activity will increase the severity of such wounds normally.
Increased Strength: Cassius is capable of greater feats of strength than your regular person. If he puts his mind to it, he could overturn a cart, jump very high or throw a ball for quite some distance. This does not make him so strong that he can obliterate people with a single stroke, just gives him an edge in getting out of trouble and causing a bit more destruction when needed.
Bone Fingers: Cassius can channel the energy of the Geist to his fingertips and palms, causing his skin to become rock hard in his digits and coating them in the energies of necrotic power. Although for all intents, this power is invisible (with the aside of his Geist Tell – see below), the skin is capable of penetrating skin and thin armor much like a blade. It is an odd sight to behold as normally a finger can not do such a thing, but his digits are capable of poking holes through flesh and weaker armor with the same effect as a dagger.
This power also allows Cassius to ‘slap’ aside blows from blades with his palms, as the hardened skin can be used to parry. In addition, the hand can be used as a claw for climbing, or to make shallow slashing attacks, but not to the same grade as simply stabbing someone with his fingers.
Other Powers: The Geist has promised Cassius that as the joining increases, more powers will be made available to him, but he has to actively choose to aid the Geist in its hidden, dark agenda. As the two of them synergize further, the more powerful he will become.
Weaknesses and Flaws:
Geist Tell: When using his powers, a slight internal white light flashes in the affected area, causing his skin to become nearly translucent and his bone structure to stand out like a black silhouette. This is a haunting and dark vision to behold as the dark energies of death flow through his body and cause him to become very specter-like himself.
This also includes usage of his hardened skin, making using the power secretly impossible. Things like heightened emotions of rage or sadness also cause this effect to happen with the same potency. When this happens, his eyes turn into bright pinpricks of blue light in an endless black pit of his eye sockets, his voice changing into a distorted disharmony. Social interactions are nothing if not impossible when he is angered or saddened to a great degree.
Feared: The Geist in his body causes normal, day-to-day people to feel uneasy around Cassius. People who are strong of will or of body (other characters, powerful NPC’s and the like), are unaffected by such things, but may feel uneasy or uncomfortable by his presence. (Player’s choice).
Insomnia / Night Terrors / Sleepwalking: When Cassius sleeps, bad things tend to happen. This can take the form of many things, but his Insomnia is a side effect of being scared to sleep. He will toss and turn and as a result can be somewhat sluggish and tired most of the time. Sometimes he will manage to get some sleep, but 50% of the time he will either be wracked with horrible visions or he will wake up in a place different form when he fell asleep… sometimes in the middle of terrible situations.
The Geist is at its full potential when Cassius sleeps. Sometimes memories of the Geist’s life flash through his head, showing scenes of horrific murder on the battlefield or a wondrous city razed to the ground. It gives him clues and hints to what the Geist was like in life, but it all points to the same thing; it was not a good person.
Sometimes, Cassius sleeps so soundly, the Geist will possess his body, acting out of its own evil desires and goals. Often times, Cassius will awaken to fins himself over a murdered body or in someone’s house. Either way, he is often at odds with the guard because of this.
Hunted: Due to the murderous nature of the Geist, Cassius is a wanted man. If he is identified by the guard, he will be chased down or killed for crimes. In either case, Cassius must remain hidden at most times and often stays with the transient community of Marn and out of the way or prying eyes. Humans being the social creatures they are, Cassius often finds himself in the city… if anything to watch humanity at play and envy them.
Unskilled: Cassius is not either a trained fighter or thief. His minor dabbling in both has made him competent to defend himself but not so much that he could take a trained and skilled fighter one-on-one. His skills in larceny are mediocre at best and he is not exactly assassin or master thief material. When Cassius fights, it is usually very reliant on his strength and speed, but he is quite inventive.
Basically he fights like a dirty bastard.
History:
Cassius was one of the unfortunate ones. Some people rise from rags to riches and others fight their way up to be recognized as heroes and saviors. Cassius is neither of these. His life started out in the barn of a farming community just outside of Marn; his mother a maid to the household and his father a traveling knife sharpener from out of town.
His mother could not afford to look after the boy and keep her position with the household so she abandoned him in the city of Marn, hoping someone would take him in. Someone did in fact take him in, but it was not the right sort of person she was hoping for. The man who took in a young Cassius was none other than Finslay Winter, a criminal of some renown who put Cassius under the care of some of his whores. Growing with some of the illegitimate children of the house, Cassius became nothing more than a cleaning boy and errand runner for the criminal.
When he came of age, he would join some of the more seasoned criminals on jobs to help rob houses, steal and pickpocket and cause a distraction for the guards. They did not care if he was going to get caught, but he never seemed to in the end. Eventually it came to the notice of Finslay that the boy was talented in getting out of trouble at least.
Things were fine when Cassius was just another boy working under the radar with no potential, but once he had come to the notice of the boss, the jobs – and threats – started. Cassius did not want the responsibility, but nevertheless, the jobs were forced on him. He had only been on his own for a month when Finslay told him that there was an item he absolutely must have.
Cassius went on his job, the target being an old tomb in Shim and the object a keepsake of one of the dead buried in the floors below. Through a combination of luck and panicked skill, Cassius made his way to the places below the grown-over tomb and opened the door to the room containing the item.
A simple, black iron key rested on its chain, hung from around the neck of a skeleton who was dangling from various old and rusted restraints that kept it held aloft. Although terrified of what kind of creature needed such fail safes to contain it, Cassius took the key and started back to the hideout, moving as fast as possible.
His speed left him open however and on the way up the stairs, he set off a magical failsafe, causing rumblings from the tomb and the walls to start parting to make way for the prisoners long-dead wardens. Coming at him with rusted blades, the skeletal warriors stabbed and sliced at him, the final blow landing deeply into his heart. As his life blood flowed from the wound, Cassius cursed his life, knowing that he had died for nothing in a world of pain and hurting.
In the darkness the voice of the Geist called to him. It offered him a bargain, telling him that if he were to accept, that no one, not even Finslay Winter would be able to make him do anything he didn't want to again. In his anger and sadness, Cassius reached out and gripped that power, taking the essence of the long dead soul into his own being and melding it – permanently – to his being.
When he awoke, parts of a dead Finslay Winter lay around him, his fingers coated in gore. His wound had all but closed up, and his skin felt rubbery and waxy to the touch. Something in him had fundamentally changed, and although the soothing voice of his murderous Geist tried to calm him, he realized what a mistake he had made.
Now Cassius travels in the undergrowth of the city, avoiding Guards and Battlemages, trying to find some way to control the evil creature in his soul from doing any more real harm, but slowly he is starting to sink into that black pit of power.
It just isn't fair, and that makes him furious.
