Harish {RETIRED}

[RISHAB]

HARISH

Age:

7 years

Gender:

Male

Orientation:

Heterosexual

Race:

Lesser Spirit Youkai

Occupation:

None

Looks Aren't Everything

Birthmark(s):

None

Scar(s):

None

Appearance:

Born of the vengeful spirits of hawk and serpent, Harish is little more than a mixing of their parts: serpent’s long, thick body, hawk’s face and tail. His muscular coils are coated alternately in scales and feathers, a near even combination of each, as though neither creature was willing to lose ground to the other. Mottled pattern of black, green, yellow, and brown make up the scales, the green and yellow surrounding lopsided rings of black scales surrounding the oblong patches of brown. As with many snakes, his underbelly is lighter in color, though the same pattern persists rather prominently, rather than fading to yellow alone.

The feathers, taken from the might red-tailed hawk, are a mixture of reddish-brown, darker, wood-shaded brow, and tan, the reddish-brown being by far the most prominent. The segments of these feathers are of similar length, and placed along nearly regular intervals along his body, sprouting easily from beneath the scales before each segment, only to lie flat atop of the scales behind.

The brilliant red which red-tailed hawks are known for is found upon the two thick, long feathers which sprout in place of a serpent’s tail, a remnant of the hawk’s glorious tail; these two feathers are bright red rimmed in reddish-brown and stripped once with black towards the tip. His head, the largest portion of his body claimed by the hawk, is clothed in feathers of tan, orange, and brown, accented with black and a strip of white along his throat. His sharp eyes of dull yellow are those of the hawk, as is the wickedly curved black beak.

Though created from two relatively small creatures, Harish’s demon blood gives him a size which is hardly diminutive; his thick body stretches to twenty-three feet from the tips of his tail feathers to the tip of his beak, and is a foot and a half thick at its widest. As is common for snakes, the majority of his 273 pounds is muscle, lending his body an impressive amount of strength. However, past an initial strike within his reach, Harish’s speed is entirely unimpressive, a trade-off for his great size; however flexible his entire body may be, it still requires time to slither any distance.

What's Beneath the Skin

Personality:

Just as his appearance is a colorful mixture of hawk and snake, Harish’s personality, too, is a blending of parts. Though there was once a time when hatred alone ruled this demon’s actions, a result of the hatred which had turned these two spirits into a demon in the first place, he has since become more aware of other facets of his personality. So much an effect these other facets have had on him that the original hatred has for the most part, burnt itself out, and is no longer a part of his personality—though new hatreds are always awaiting the chance to rise.

In place of that hatred has grown a distinct sadism, and an almost overwhelming obsession with the hunt. Coming from two predatory species, Harish takes great pleasure in a successful hunt, while the snake’s devious nature makes the hunt itself, success or fail, a game to be enjoyed. His patience comes from the serpent’s ambush style hunting, allowing him to lie in wait for his prey for many hours without feeling the need to move—the restlessness of the hawk, always eager to spread its wings, is quelled easily enough.

Yet the hawk is not so easily tossed aside in other areas; Harish retains a very cautious nature, always watching, always aware. The sharp eyes of the hawk are his now, as is the instinct to use them to their fullest. Pride, too, is certainly a trait which stems from the hawk, a high flyer who rules the skies. The serpent, with its almost groveling movements, held little in the way of pride, but Harish’s own has developed beyond simple pride into arrogance—as the hawk once did, he views himself above all other creatures, never mind his inability to fly.

Cunning, another trait of the slithering viper, has also claimed a large portion of this demon’s persona. It is not enough to simply hunt; things must be made far more interesting than that. Harish is fond of drawing the hunt out in more and more creative ways in order to derive the most enjoyment from one target—perhaps not the most proper use of intellect, but a display of intelligence nonetheless.

A loner from his origin, Harish is a very introspect creature, solitary as a viper or a young hawk. He is not, however, entirely above dealing with others—just as hawks will settle with their own kind, he, too, is capable of being personable enough. Yet his manners are unpracticed, and his people skills are not so very practiced. He is a smooth enough talker, aided enough by his powers of suggestion, though his mannerisms as a snake tend to make others rather uncomfortable.

Fond of experimenting with his abilities, Harish will commonly invade another’s personal space, attempting to coil around them or simply to brush against them, in order to make the contact which is necessary for his ability to work. While he is certainly capable of improving his people skills, Harish actually enjoys his ability to cause others discomfort, and has done rather the opposite—honing his disquieting nature rather than working to be more personable.

Strengths:

• Cunning :: A trait inherited from the serpent which is half his origin, Harish is a rather quick thinker. He is a smooth talker, much aided by his abilities of suggestion—when they work—and is capable of thinking clearly in most situations.
  
• Persistence :: Likely a remnant of both the hawk and the snake which created him, Harish is a persistent demon; he does not shy from a target simply because things become more challenging or perhaps more dangerous—instead, these things simply make the chase more interesting for him, and he becomes all the more driven to finish what he has started.
  
• Patience :: Limited as he is by being so slow, Harish has become something of an ambush predator, and as such has developed a great amount of patience; he does not feel the need to go rushing off to find something interesting, but is, instead, quite content to wait in a comfortable, safe spot for his prey to come to him. This often spares him notice, and has kept him safe from the rampant demon lords and others which might so easily kill him.

Weaknesses:

• Lack of Speed :: A twenty-three foot beast of a demon with no ability to fly or even a good pair of legs, Harish is limited greatly by his inability to do anything more than slither along. His only speed comes from an initial strike—one which does not require his entire body to move.
  
• Arrogance :: Having only recently begun to think for himself, and having discovered that he has powers shortly after this newfound self-awareness, Harish believes himself to be a cut above all other lesser demons, and even, perhaps, on a level with other demons. Humans, too, he believes are no where near his potential. However, Harish is rather unimpressive when it comes to fighting or his abilities, so these beliefs are bound to get him in some very uncomfortable situations.
  
• Obsession :: The downside of hiss arrow-like persistence—Harish finds it very easy to become obsessed with any chosen prey should they become more of a challenge to capture. When this happens, he often finds it difficult to stop pursuing such a target, regardless of the risk this often places him in. He also, on occasion, refuses to hunt any other than his chosen prey, neglecting his own needs and weakening himself along the way.

Fears:

• Heights :: Despite half his origin being a hawk, Harish is entirely petrified of heights; he blames this on his snake half, and it is likely that his lack of wings does not help. The closest he gets to being at any real height is when he winds his way up a thick tree, and even then he hugs tightly to the trunk and refuses to extend himself along any branch which looks even vaguely questionable.
  
• Deep Water :: Certainly a part of his hawk half, Harish does not trust his abilities at swimming, even though, by all rights, he should be perfectly capable of it. He is not fond of even getting his feathered segments slightly damp, and approaches water only when necessary to drink. When needing to cross any stretch of water, he finds a place narrow enough for him to launch a portion of his bulk to the other side and then hauls himself across, never loosing contact with dry land.
  
• Servitude :: Certainly more a remnant of the hawk than the snake, but very probably from both, Harish is very attached to his freedom. With the demon lords taking lesser demons as servants and slaves, the need to avoid such a fate has risen greatly to the forefront of this demon’s mind; it is perhaps not entirely a fear, but rather a very large concern, and something Harish has every intention of avoiding.

Being a Part of Me

Items:

None

Weapons:

• Beak :: The natural weapon of any predatory bird, second only to their talons (which Harish, sadly, does not possess), Harish’s wickedly curved beak is a sharp as any man-made weapon, and though fangs are often more effective, a beak is still fully capable of dealing impressive damage when used correctly.
  
• Venom :: Created from a venomous snake, Harish retains the ability to produce a fairly potent venom, which is dispensed through the sharp tip of his beak, as required by the lack of fangs. However, Harish’s venom is far from being the most potent possible; an average dosage will result in little more than shooting pain, blistering, and swelling surrounding the bite wound—symptoms which rarely last more than a week before fading.
  
• Coils :: Lacking a truly effective venom, Harish has taken his cue from the constricting pythons and turned his entire body into a weapon; he is certainly not above crushing or strangling an opponent, as long as he can catch hold of them first.

Abilities:

As nothing more than a lesser demon, Harish’s abilities are unimpressive even at best. He possesses only some minor abilities of suggestion, an ability which is similar to mind control, but far less potent or effective. If Harish can maintain contact with another demon or human, he is capable of implanting suggestions into their minds, and, if successful, can influence their actions. However, as soon as contact is broken, the chances his suggestion will remain are often slim at best; only the truly weak minded will continue to follow out his orders.

Even with contact, those with stronger minds may be entirely unaffected by his ability. Often, Harish is little more than a smooth-talking, highly influential demon, as nearly all demons and even most humans are of a strong enough mind not to be entirely brainwashed. Harish’s best chance at maintaining control of a victim is to make the suggestions while his victim is asleep; his ability can influence a person’s dreams, and a sleeping mind is not as defensive as an awake one, making it more likely that his suggestion be followed, although even this is not guaranteed.

Flaws:

As mentioned, Harish’s abilities are entirely unimpressive; they are limited by contact—even with his impressively long body, maintaining contact with someone who does not wish to be touched is not an easy task—and can easily be ignored by those with a stronger mind. Aside from the weaknesses of his ability, Harish is also a relatively slow individual, capable of only very short bursts of speed when he first strikes, but slow when required to actually move his entire body.

Additionally, Harish is decently limited weapon-wise; his beak and unimpressive venom can only do so much, and are not as versatile as a sword or dagger; as for the use of his body as a constricting weapon, there are obvious complications with this: even with thick scale protecting parts of his body, he has no true armor to protect him from an enemy’s strikes, especially with his body so easily in reach.

From Whence I Came

Family:

None.

History:

Demons, especially the lesser demons, can be spawned from any number of events, and many such demons come of vengeful spirits, human, demon, animal, or otherwise, which are unable to leave the living world. Hatred, or perhaps a sense of unfinished business, a need for revenge—these things trap a soul in the living realm, consume them and corrupt them until, eventually, a demon is born of the incident. Such was the case with Harish.

A red-tailed hawk, bent on protecting its nest, spied a viper slithering its way through the branches, bent on reaching the nest and devouring the young. Without hesitation, the hawk dove upon the viper, entangling it in powerful talons. However, the serpent would not die so easily; it twisted itself towards the hawk and sunk its fangs in. Before the hawk could finish off the snake, it found itself carrying a lethal dosage of its venom. Both snake and hawk died in rapid succession, and neither was at peace with its death. The viper carried hatred for the winged beast which had slain it, while the hawk lamented the death of its young—missing a parent, they, too, soon perished. Neither spirit could rest at ease, and, instead, found themselves entangling again and again in what seemed to be an eternal continuation of the fight which had ended them both.

As it was to turn out, this continued battle was not eternal; instead, as hatred consumed both the battling spirits, and they turned talon and fang on each other again, their souls merged, and from it was born Harish, a demon of serpent’s body and hawk’s features. The demon spirit was born complete with a tangible form, and size to conquer even the sum of its original parts. Knowing only the hatred it had been born from, the demon lived its first years as nothing but a rampant killer, mindless beyond the need to unleash this great anger, this need for revenge.

Over time, however, this demon began to recall other parts of the hawk and the snake which had created it; it began to feel the joy at a successful hunt which both had felt, the love of freedom which came from the hawk—unbound by gravity as it was—and the devious nature of the cunning viper. Four years after its creation, the demon gained control of the hatred which had, to this point, been all it had known. It no longer killed randomly, or simply for a need—instead, it killed for the fun of it, for the enjoyment of being successful, and for the thrill of the hunt itself.

It was at this point, and over the next three years, that this demon became aware of himself—he was not simply some mindless, selfless entity, but a conscious being, a sentient. He—although there was no true determine of gender in this demon, he believed himself to have more masculine traits than feminine—could think and speak for himself, and act for himself. He spent less time mindlessly hunting whatever moved, and took more time to select worthy and entertaining prey, to toy with them, and to amuse himself. The hatred which had once ruled him had burned itself out, leaving the demon to pick his own path.

Over those three years, Harish—the name had seemingly come to him of its own accord, perhaps from the remnants of hawk or snake, and it simply seemed right—began to notice there was more to him than tearing beak and crushing body—he had power. Nothing impressive, not on any scale of things, but to him, it set him apart, made him better, stronger than the run-of-the-mill lesser demon. He had only a vague understanding of his abilities, and experimented with them time and again until he began to understand them—what they did, how they worked, and the limits they held. To him, though, those limits have never truly existed; he believes only that it is a matter of his better understanding his abilities, that if only he continues to learn them, they will grow forever—he is entirely unaware that his powers have, for the most part, reached their greatest ability.

As of now, Harish has few ambitions—though he is free to pick his own path, he is still relatively content with that which he has always lived. He continues to test and experiment with his abilities, awaiting the day they will grow in power, all the while ducking away from the most powerful of the demon lords—his newfound awareness, and the hawk’s burning attachment to freedom, make him loathe the idea of servitude; Harish has no intention of being turned into some other demon’s pet. In between dodging servitude and trying his abilities, Harish spends his time much as he used to—seeking worthy prey, and making the hunt as enjoyable as possible, toying with his food, as it were, before putting an end to their misery.

How You Play

RP Sample:

Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen

Oh we’re still so young and desperate for attention

Twisting, twisting, turning, spinning, down and down through the cycle he goes—what cycle, you ask; why, the cycle, of course, the only one which matters. Life, death, time—all was wrapped into one single cycle, which twisted and twisted and twisted on down, deteriorating as it went—for went things prone to just becoming more and more crappy with time? Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, year after year after year—it all was the same, events repeating one another, leapfrogging on and on to give the illusion of variety, but never truly changing the players which dallied on through time. All that changed was the energy with which they jumped, as each and every one became weary, sluggish, even irritated, so that the cycle slowed or sped erratically, so that events became harsher, more mild, all without warning. Yet, in essence, as always, it was all just the same.

Boredom. Boredom was the feeling which prompted such rambling of thoughts, such philosophical debate. Even one such as he, who prided himself upon patience, could eventually grow bored. Boredom was a powerful emotion—and, indeed, it was an emotion, not simply the lack of one—capable of plaguing a person into drifting off, into losing track of time, or their surroundings; it could ignite an unstoppable drive to do something, anything, and could force even the least impulsive to do stupid, unthinkable things without a second—or, perhaps, even a first—thought. Boredom was dangerous.

Philosophical ramblings, useless, time and thought consuming things, did only very little to stave off the boredom which lurked so readily at the door, waiting to drag him out of his cozy home, to send him into all sorts of danger. It did not help that, somewhere, deep inside, or perhaps only as deep as the roots of the feathers which sprouted so readily from gaps in his scales, somewhere in him, there was a restless raptor pressing him to stretch his body as though there were wings to flourish, as though he might take readily to the wind and soar, just to stave off the boredom.

That was bull.

Feathers, all in all, are worthless things if not arranged in precise formation. Why, his were not even so terribly attractive—not that there was another demon worth attracting. As for taking to the skies, soaring on the wind—well, that would be out of the question even if he did have wings. Just as that restless hawk preyed on him from the feathers, the ground-bound serpent ensured his scales stayed in firm contact with the dirt. Taking to the air—pah!—no view was worth kissing death on each cheek and inviting him in the door.

A rolling shift of muscles lifted his head, shook it swiftly side to side, the feathers ruffling out momentarily before they settled again into sleek, sharp features. He sent the ripple of muscles down along his spine, tensing each portion of his body, scaled and feathered alike, as though even this miniscule motion might stave off the boredom. It certainly spared him the thoughts, as he took extra care to not miss a single stiff portion of his body, tossing philosophy and ramblings to the wind—let them do the flying and soaring; he was quite content here, on the ground, curled upon himself in the hollow beneath the roots of an impressively large tree. Yes, perfectly content.

He kept telling himself that.

_{Harish
575
lyrics © Panic! at the Disco
haha, I’m liking this guy already xD even for a completely rambly sample post}

__________________________________________

How Did You Find Us?

Found ya on Proboards Support

How Long Have You Been Role Playing?

Somewhere around 5 to 6 years

[REDEMPTION]

I love it! Accepted.