Theme / Cahalic Theme ••●•• Playlist ••●•• Pinterest Spoiler: Artbreeder Face Claim ••●•• A Máthair déan trócaire. Character Information Full Name: Faolan Rowairna Athirne Alias: Ceartarbh Race: Ailor/Fin'ullen - Fin'ullen dominant Aontaithe Culture Age: 33 - December 1 Sex: Male Pronouns: They/He Sexuality: Ace Homoromantic Eye Color: Blue-green Core Concept Religion: Faolan was raised with the Aontaithe faith Toil na Máthar and holds it close to their heart, although perhaps more as a cultural and ancestral attachment than a confident belief in its truth. Tales and songs of the Aghaidh Anam are common in their repertoire and the common practices to appease or honor them are second nature. They do have an awareness of the beings associated with Morrland, but do not worship them beyond going along with common superstitions for protection. Concept: By nature, Faolan is a keeper of life and tradition, working to heal the wounded and sharing story and song with equal passion, and using their beauty and energy to enjoy the present and embrace the future. However, they have been known to turn to less-than-ideal methods to achieve their aims of a better future. ••●•• Between the winds, between the waves Between the sands, between the shore Proficiency Information Strength: 2 [x] Blunt Pack Polearm Pack Constitution: 0 Wisdom: 3 Engineered Medica [x] Common Alchemy [x] Medical Alchemy Dexterity: 4 [x] Pickpocket Skill Stealth Skill Slight of Hand Parkour Magic: 4 - Void Storm Magic [x] Light Magic Healing Magic Glamor Magic Charisma: 1 [x] West Linguist Ability Information Half-Fin'ullen Racials/Specials Knockdown Immune, Empowerment, Weapon Summon, Ageless, Waterborne, Call of the Deep [x] Highborn Cahal Specials - Inactive Cahalic Glamor, Cahalic Soul Lust, Cahalic Feeding, Cahalic Infection, Cahalic Influence, Cahalic Presence, Cahalic Visions, Cahalic Mentality, Cahalic Familiar, Cahalic Worldsong, Cahalic Form [x] Languages Common (Free) Aontaithe (Native) West Linguist Pack (Linguistics) Fluent - Altalar Moderate - Allorn, Suvial Basic - All others (Ithanian, Lëtz, Burdi, Sulvaley, Sinnayed, Saan, Katharic, Ibeth, Vasar) ••●•• Would that I were made of stone like you. Appearance Information Mutations: Faolan takes great pride in their multiple mutations, which emphasise their connection to the sea and islands. The mutations are typically Void in origin, but have become Exist-based after becoming Cahal. Eyes - Even when uninfected, Faolan's eyes are reflective in the dark, both on land and underwater. Skin - Patches of soft leopard seal fur circle Faolan's face and cover their shoulders and the backs of their arms. The fur is soft to the touch but cold and smells faintly of seawater. Teeth - Faolan bears the pointed teeth of a leopard seal. Hands - Faolan's fingers are tipped with blunt dark-grey claws. In addition, they have a set of tattoos on the backs of their hands - five bright blue swirls surrounding a single dark green swirl - which emit a slight glow in the dark. General Appearance: Faolan is an average height half-Fin'ullen, taking after their mother with their midnight black hair and blue-green eyes, but sharing their father's rounded ears and soft features, as well as having a slender build in contrast to the more muscular full-Fin'ullen. They wear their hair long and pull it back in a long braid, sometimes decorated with colorful or shiny beads or ribbons, except for two short braids from their temple bearing traditional blue and green anteloc beads. This gives them a slightly androgynous look, though still leaning masculine, even to the point of occasionally dressing in women's clothes for luck on the sea when a female sailor was unavailable. Their fashion is a combination of Fin'ullen and Aontaithe styles, usually a loose-fitting tunic and pants with some kind of mantle or capelet pinned with silver, copper, or emerald jewelry. They wear an intricately woven silver wolf-head torc around their neck and silver earrings over their right ear. When feeling especially fancy, they have sashes and belts of woven silver decorated with blue and white stones which jingle when they walk. Aquatic Form: Like other Fin'ullen, Faolan has a few additional changes that trigger upon their entering the water. The spotted fur that patched their face and arms on dry land spreads to cover their entire body, dark grey on their back shifting into white on their belly and speckled all over with dark grey spots. Their forearms take on the shape of a seal's fins, ending just before their fingers, where the webbing has extended to the tips. Similarly, their toes also take on this webbing and claws, and a pair of smaller fins sprout from each side of their lower legs. Finally, a set of antler-like dark-green branching coral curls from their temples around their head, each coral with five branches. Faolan also has the ability to transform their entire lower body into that of a seal, but prefers to only do so in the presence of other Fin'ullen or trusted friends. Cahal Form - Inactive: Ceartarbh is an imposing figure, though surprisingly gentle towards those that have not earned their wrath. They take the general shape of a humanoid figure with a bull's head and hooves, but this is where their resemblance to an Url stops. Five bright blue glowing eyes encircle the front and sides of their face and on top of their head are a pair of horns made of yew wood. These horns are tipped with yew leaves and berries and the wood-grain glows a bright blue - believed by Ceartarbh to represent the sins of evildoers being carved on the horns of Donn Cúailnge. The Cahal's torso is that of a muscular man, made of the same dark yew wood with glowing grains as their horns, and they wear a loincloth of yew leaves and berries over their furred legs. Stretching out from their back are a pair of large, though flightless, wings made of the light-colored branches of a hazel tree and 'feathered' with yellow-green hazel leaves and reddish hazel nuts. They also often carry a staff of hazel, topped with flowers and nuts as symbols of poetry and wisdom. Life Story Childhood: Faolan was born in the village of Roaninish on the coast of Tralee to Brendan Athirne, a local Ailor fisherman, and Rowairna Tiranoor, a Fin'ullen sailor smitten by the beauty of the islands. It was a comfortable upbringing, but one always under pressure to live up to expectations or risk family embarrassment. Although they enjoyed speaking time with his mother out on the sea and learning of Fin'ullen culture, they didn't excel at physical and martial skills. Faolan especially loved to spend time with their Ailor uncle Curoí, a seanchaí well-known for his skill with music and poetry, and was often found serving his guests or accompanying him with the steady beat of a goat-skin drum or the lilt of a melancholy song. [Amhrán an Farraige] Adolescence: Although a good sailor, Faolan grew to develop an interest in medicine, borrowing old texts and observing a local doctor in their free time. Eventually, they were allowed to become an apprentice and thrived in the challenging field, entertaining patients with their stories and genuinely enjoying helping to ease their suffering. [Star of the County Down] [Heartland] As they approached adulthood, Curoí invited Faolan to accompany him to receive a gift in honor of their becoming a man. The gift, Curoí explained, was one passed down through his line for generations, but as Curoí's son had passed of fever five winters previously, it would pass instead to Faolan. Faolan was excited and honored by this proposition, but upon seeing their uncle transform into a large black wolf with glowing blue eyes, they were frightened and turned to flee. Before they could escape, the wolf pounced upon them with a growl, saying that no 'young pup' was going to break generations of tradition, and dragged them away to a stone altar in the wilderness. When Faolan awoke from their 'nightmare', they had been infected with Cahalism. [Fear Not This Night] [Mama Werewolf] Adulthood: Faolan continued to hone their skills, working alongside the doctor and healing patients by day and training their hunting and fighting skills with their uncle by night. Curoí was a demanding teacher, but full of life and encouragement, taking obvious delight in his nephew's growing strength and competence. The two grew even closer than they had been before, the terrifying circumstances of their bond long forgotten as Faolan came to relish their newfound strength and power. [Hunter's Moon] One night, the two were walking back home after a late story-telling and drinking session when they were chanced upon by a group of Sanguine. Clearly outnumbered, Curoí attempted to fend off the Sanguine for long enough for Faolan to escape, telling them to run for the woods, but when they heard a yowl of pain from their mortally-wounded relative, Faolan ignored his warnings and returned to the fray. After killing one Sanguine, Faolan allowed the final one to flee and shifted back into their regular form to try to save Curoí's life with their medicine. However, it was already too late and, in their rush to try to save him, Faolan had failed to check whether anybody was watching. The cry of a group of guards, coming to investigate the commotion, alerted Faolan that they had been spotted and they fled into the woods.[Castlevania Main Title] [Crom Cruach] Regalia: Faolan spent the next decade travelling as a 'lone wolf', refusing to allow another Cahal close to them to avoid the pain of loss. With their skills as a doctor and storyteller, it was easy to find work and hospitality, but it was never long before the locals became suspicious and Faolan had to move on to the next town. After a dispute with another group of Cahal ended with them bloodied and left for dead, they decided to seek out more like themself, both for the safety of numbers and to ease the lonely ache that had settled into their soul. Regalia, it was rumored, had multiple packs in the wilderness and plenty of prey on the Surface. And so the soul-cursed medic made their way to the Holy City. [Red Right Hand] ••●•• And it shall come to pass on a summer's day When the sun shines bright on every stone. I'll come and take my little young son And teach him how to swim the foam.
Spoiler: Art - Updated 5/13/22 Faolan's Cahalic shift, Ceartarbh Note: These sketches are slightly outdated, being from an older design. In particular, Faolan now has the ability to transform their lower body into that of a sea-creature, so the elf-seal hybrid form shown here is no longer applicable and the Cahal form shown here is also an old form. It's kept here for reference and because I still think it looks cool, but the above image is what actually represents their current shift.
I realised I forgot to add the Light Mend abilities from Medical Training to their Ability Information section. Nothing has actually changed, I just wrote down the abilities.
@fantuinn Tweaked due to Fin'ullen update, changes in blue. EDIT: I was told I needed to take Fin'ullen racial boosts instead of half-Altalar, so I've tweaked that as well.
@Caelamus Changed soul-line to Ëlen, as I was finding that Usarr didn't really suit their character or my playstyle. Appropriate changes are made in green and I added a reference sketch of their new form, though I kept the old one available for reference as well.
Moved 3 points from Roguery to Fist Combat, updated Phys Stat accordingly. Added music to their life story.
@Yurs - Removed Cahalism, but left the form and abilities written down (just marked inactive) for reference or in case of reinfection.