Post by dogged on Sept 20, 2017 15:50:15 GMT -5
Black Dog
Rogue Shinigami/Forsaken
"Your son will writhe in the blood of all he loves. The spirits of the starless desert will devour him, as they did his father..."
-Reesa, the Red Witch
[ AT A GLANCE ]
Age / Apparent Age: 951 / 28
Gender: Male
Height & Weight: 6'4" / 212 lbs
Hair & Eye Color: Black hair, brown eyes
Positive Traits:
Persistent: Dog is a man of focus, with peerless determination. His tenacity, his rage, his refusal to become a victim to fate has kept him alive. He knows each day could be his last, and his focus remains solely on still breathing come the next morning with a stubborn refusal to die.
Strong-willed: Dog has a seemingly unbendable will of steel. When he makes a promise, an oath, or sets his mind to a goal, he is set on it's completion; letting nothing get in his way.
Self-Reliant: Many human lifetimes spent alone, constantly fighting for survival has taught Dog many things. One of them, being self-sufficiency. He is able to live on his own without help from any outside intervention or assistance. He is a survivor, and a good one.
Modest: Dog knows full well the kind of man that he is, and always carried an air of humility from his garments to his attitude. He is as humble as he is stoic.
Brave: Dog fears like all men do, it is what keeps him sane. However, when circumstances are grim, or others are in danger-especially if that danger is brought upon them by him; he will stand and confront it despite his fear. Sometimes, being the hero is the only choice Dog has.
Negative Traits:
Brutal: Especially in combat, Dog's anger can tend to get the better of him. In his own mind, battle is a fight to the death, it is either him or them. In the end he isn't concerned with how he wins and what he does, as long as he's still alive at the end of it. He will rip and tear with his teeth and fingernails; bash and rend until his foe is dead and he is not. He will even go so far as to harm himself if it means staying alive. His only desire, is to live.
Callous: It is difficult for Dog to form relationships with others, and has lead him to be apathetic and stoic when dealing with others and their problems. If he feels no obligation to help someone, and doesn't want to, he simply won't. This doesn't mean he isn't capable of forming friendships, yet, for Dog, friends are much more difficult to come by.
Short-sighted: Dog doesn't see the big picture or the grand scheme of things as much as others may. He keeps his focus narrowed on the task at hand, which is usually his survival. He is driven only by the primal desire to continue living, not worried about more grand plans or goals.
Despairing: Living a life constantly haunted by the vengeful spirits off Hueco Mundo as a man and as a shinigami; he is tormented not only by beckoning hollows, but by his own self-doubt, which he fears may one day kill him.
Conflicted: Beowulf and Reesa both make it difficult to know which one is truly trustworthy. On one side, a beast that never speaks but stalks both him and Reesa. On the other a hand, Reesa, who speaks and listens, but always seems to lead Dog down a path of self destruction. Two devils sit on his shoulders, and he is forced to discern between the better of two evils. His future is beyond uncertainty, and he knows he will be forced to confront it one day. Is what he is doing ultimately good? Or is it merely a necessary evil?
Loyalties: Dog is loyal to the oaths he keeps, and to the debts he must pay.
Snapshots:
March 4, 1041: Dog's father meets Reese, the Red Witch, where he receives the Mark of the Abyss, and is slaughtered by a horde of Hollows. The curse passes to his wife, and their unborn child.
December 31, 1041: Dog is born beneath his mad mother's corpse, rescued by Norman raiders.
August 4, 1059: At 18 years old, Dog is attacked by hollows for the first time; escapes down a river, almost drowning.
October 14, 1066: The battle of Hastings. Dog is killed by an English soldier.
October 15, 1066: Arrival in Rukongai.
October 20, 1066: Shinigami escort is killed by Hollows attracted by Dog's mark. Dog takes the asauchi for himself, killing the Hollows.
November 8, 1066: Is denied entry from Sereitei, forced out into the outer rukongai.
January 19, 1891: Asauchi takes full form, becoming a zanpakuto.
December 12: 2004: Achieves shikai.
[ ON THE SURFACE ]
Physical Description:
Black Dog, despite nearing a millennium in age, is exceptionally young in appearance especially considering his stress and dementia. Pale skin clings to powerful, veiny muscles that define the entirety of his physique seeming akin to a work of Greek stone craftsmanship in it's herculean beauty. Youthful and fair-haired, he carries with him not only the body of a tempered warrior but a stoic visage to match. His above average height is matched perfectly by his weight and chiseled musculature, giving him a rather intimidating and foreboding appearance that often frightens Rukongai dwellers by his sheer physical presence. Another accursed reason why it is difficult for him to form fruitful relationships with others.
Long pitch locks seem always held together in a bun behind his scalp; he is never caught with his hair down. A fine-trimmed beard covers his chin, jaw, lower cheekbones and around his plump lips. A few stray strands of hair occasionally fall from his bun, he was never a talented hair stylist by any means. From betwixt short eyelashes are eyes that seem filled with a magnetic, thousand-yard gaze. His eyes from the outside observer always tend to look pitch black, but in the light of a fire or the setting sun, their glittering brown shows through the dark of his pupils; the face and eyes of a true born Englishman. When enraged, or viciously fighting for survival, the bottoms of his irises carry with them a glowing red tint; like a firey rage billowing beneath raw human emotion. A notable feature on his face being the long horizontal scar that stretched from cheek to cheek on the bridge of his nose. The cut his deep, almost more a deformity than a mark.
Dog tends to almost always wear a set of dented black iron plates above a black leather layer of garbs akin to light armor; wrapped in stained bandages and cloth and completed by a beaten, tan, bloodstained cowl ripped horribly at it's edges. His right arm is the least covered, only his hand is clad in bandages which attempt to hide his mark.The armor is quite heavy, but does not seem to hinder the movement of his titanic warrior stature. His garb and appearance are always covered in grime and dried blood. Rugged and humble, he is far from a knight in shining armor.
On the back of his right hand is where his mark resides. A black circle buried deep into the charred, dead flesh around it. From the small crater outstretched tiny, vein-like tendrils that crawl up his fingers and wrist like a festering infection. A thick charcoal mist quietly eminates from the dark brand. Ivory bandages wrap around his hand in an attempt to cover it, but the tar-like blemish bleeds through unhindered.
Dog's voice is rough, raspy and deep with a heavy bass in his vocals. His accent is Norwegian in origin, despite being an Englishman. His voice, to normal folk, sounds rather revolting and too rough to be attractive or worth listening to. However the sound of his words always seem to carry with them a certain, uncanny gravity that ripens their worth. When he makes a promise, his voice alone seems to mean it; when he imparts knowledge, it is full of wisdom; when in battle, his roar furious roar sunders even the most hardened veterans. When his spiritual pressure is unleashed, his voice echoes with growling undertones billowing beneath it; like the malice of a vicious beast hides behind each word.
Dog always walks with his head down, eyes facing the ground with each foot in front of the other, step by step. At times it can be difficult to catch his attention, and he's rarely ever caught with a smile on his face. His strides are slow, heavy, as if he carries something heavy on his shoulders that no-one can see. Circles are always around his eyes as if deprived of rest, a rather poor, ominous sight to see in the eyes of a villager watching him tread alone down the dirt paths of the poor Rukongai villages. At times, he seems more real a monster than the hollows that terrorize them.
Spiritual Description:
Dog's reiatsu shrouds over him, taking the form of whispering shadows that blanket him like a seething cloak. The presence it invokes is that akin to a heavy feeling of burden or guilt, a truly melancholy aura that represents the festering darkness within the bottomless blackness of his mark. Beneath the shadow can be seen the faintest of two red glints which hover above his shoulders like still ornaments. When Dog is unleashing his spiritual pressure, these whispering shadows rush forward, howling like a cold northern wind. The reiatsu chills to the bone in it's ghastly presence, drenched in sorrow and an unsettling entropy. From within the writhing mass of shadow he appears a mere silhouette, hardly recognizable only by burning red orbs that burn from deep within the abyss; hovering above his blackened stature.
Dog's spiritual pressure reacts most flamboyantly to a single emotion, which is his anger. When enraged, The red orbs seem much more profound, monstrous even-completely unrecognizable as human eyes. As if some horrible beast hovers over him, feeding his animalistic fury. The abysmal reiatsu itself growls like a starving, salivating predator. The shadows will soar frantically like a chaotic abyssal hurricane with Black Dog at the epicenter of it's furious maelstrom. A sight that strikes terror even into the nefarious hollows which hunt him incessantly. An aura full of nothing but pure hatred and malice.
When Dog grips his sword, especially in shikai, with his right hand, the abyssal reiatsu seems to immediately wrap around the blade even if Dog is not focused on releasing his spiritual pressure. A dark malice covers the bloodstained weapon the moment he touches it, and it's residual tremors remain long after it's sheathed like a silent hunger.
[ BEHIND THE EYES ]
Personality:
In Dog's youth, he was always incredibly talkative and inquisitive; always asking questions and setting his sights on the unknown by the curiosity brought to him by his mysterious mark. He has since mellowed into a rather jaded fellow who seems to have mastered his emotions and expressions. Yet, his temper is the one thing he still has yet to fully conquer. He is quiet, calm and collected with an apathetic attitude toward most issues and dilemmas. His attitudes and emotions have tempered over the centuries of bloodshed he has endured. He becomes much more stoic and reserved with age, never seeming to walk with his head up as he did in his noble youth.
Known for his air of austerity, Dog is a gruff and cynical man holding a generally bleak outlook on life and the world around him. This undoubtedly is a consequence of the seemingly endless waves of suffering he has endured both in his life and in undeath; with all of the highlights of his life, after his arrival to soul society, often become lows. Despite his heavily guarded and brooding exterior, Dog has always had a soft, kind heart. This kind heart is what made it even more brutal a struggle to survive in his youth; for mercy in a cruel world is what kills most quickly. Even as Beowulf and Reesa claw and beckon within him to unleash his deepest hatred on the world, he retains his compassion and charity, with a stubborn refusal to abandon his humanity. Dog is also a man of his word and strives to keep any promises he makes; even if it means at great personal risk. It was his time as a knight that taught him this loyalty, that carried on even after his death.
In his formative years, fighting for the Norman raiders on the countrysides of England; he seemed devoid of purpose in his life. Killing only because he would be killed if he did not. He often spent these times trying to find a role-model to look up to, which, unfortunately for him, were a mere band of barbaric warriors. His precariousness, eventually, shaped his identity upon meeting Reesa, the manipulative Red Witch. With the promise to undo his curse, he fought for her against the Scots in a coup to take over the northern lands. During these years of conflict, Dog enters a sort of pilgrimage of self-discovery and revelation; telling Reesa that he wishes to leave her service and sail far away, into the west.
It is here that Reesa reveals she is the one who cursed Dog's father, forcing him into a life devoid of peace or solace. Surviving the afterward onslaught of Hollows and slaying Reesa ultimately devastates Dog. Not only this, but his death, and his dementia is in large part, responsible for the callous and pragmatic man he becomes. He grows vindictive, only wishing to find a way to destroy Reesa's soul to free him of his curse once and for all. It consumes him with hate and anger; the sort of hatred that morphed his confiscated zanpakuto into a bestial bastard sword.
Dog keeps himself at arm's length of people, having a deep-seated apprehension towards friendship and comraderie after the unfortunate events of the past. Mostly due to the many people who have died close to him due to the affects of his own curse.
Dog's dementia has him constantly on edge, fighting a harsh mental conflict every day to hold on to his sanity. Reesa, and his curse is the driving force behind his crippling mental illness, which attacks him with horrible images and memories of his previous life and the coercion to let go of himself. Because of his dementia, he is sometimes prone to panic attacks. He screams and fights foes that aren't actually there, often spotted talking to people that don't seem to exist. If his dementia overpowers his willpower and mental fortitude, he will succumb to Reesa's madness, and forget himself and his humanity.
Another crippling weakness of Dog, is his debilitating fear of water. In part to having retained some of his memories, he had a near-death experience as a young adult in his time alive, drowning in freezing water while being apprehended by a horde of Hollows. He oftentimes finds it difficult to even drink water, and bathes meticulously by using only mugs of water at a time. He strays with zeal from rivers, the ocean, streams, and even thunderstorms. When confronted by his fear, he can be paralyzed in terror, unable to move with a crippling tunnel vision and muffled hearing.
Above all, Dog is the personification of persistence and resilience. Through his constant struggles and his terrible curse, he has continuously contended and resisted fate. He continues to subsist against an insurmountable burden and never yields to his trials and struggles. Dog does not believe in causality, destiny, or fate; and believes things are done only by the decisions he makes and the coincidences along the way. This disposition pushes him forward, in part not only to prove this dogma, but to consistently battle fate and escape death over and over again.
Dog's opinion toward Hollows are predictably hateful; moreso than most others. After spending his years constantly playing a game of tug-of-war with his life against their endless hordes, he draws a simple line at kill or be killed. His opinion towards shinigami are more problematic, as he can only credit them for the man that brought him to Soul Society and died trying to protect him.
Goals & Achievements:
GOALS:
-SURVIVE
-Kill Reesa
-Master Beowulf
-Gain entrance to the Sereitei
ACHIEVEMENTS:
-Achieved Shikai
[ GUARDIAN ANGEL ]
Zanpakutō Spirit: Beowulf [ベオウルフ] "Bedorufu"
Release phrase: Beowulf is unique in that it is not released by phrase, but by emotion. Dog is unable to release his shikai at will for this reason, and it is only unleashed when Dog is consumed by his passion and malice. His shikai is released through pure, raw emotion; not a phrase, but a furious roar.
Type: Melee, Force type.
Beowulf, as an asauchi, was taken from it's original owner by Dog, completely altering the course of it's development from the usual path of the Shinigami. Because Dog never attended the academy, or developed in naturally through the steady course of spiritual training; Beowulf has morphed into something less like a zanpakuto, and moreso an extension of Dog's deepest thoughts and desires. Originally a katana, over the course of hundreds of years of cutting and tearing, it slowly transformed into a long bastard sword, with a black hilt and a pommel in the shape of a wolf's head. Beowulf developed not by spiritual connection and tempering, but through being bathed in hollow blood for hundreds of years. It is an instrument of death, and the shadowy reiatsu of Dog's mark seems to eminate from the blade in a dark unison. It wasn't until over a decade ago that Dog first came in contact with Beowulf in spirit.
Beowulf takes the form of not one, but an entire pack of ravenous wolves; speculating that Beowulf may be a much larger, more powerful spirit, broken into many smaller fractions. The alpha of their pack is much larger than the others, with pitch black fur that endlessly stalks Dog's inner world in an eternal hunt. Beowulf does not speak to Dog directly, only the occasional growl and vicious bark. When Dog entered his inner world for the first and only time, he was hunted relentlessly by Beowulf and it's pack until he collapsed from exhaustion, yet it showed odd mercy when wrestling with him. Giving him a fighting chance even though it's strength had Dog outmatched in every way, and even went so far as to let Dog place his hand on it's head and stroke it's fur.
The relationship between the two is an odd one, but unmistakable. Beowulf yearns for Dog, and is the only creature that has remained by his side through the long, dark centuries of fighting and blood. It is a zanpakuto formed from the malice of thousands of dying hollows, fueled by the rage of the spirit and of it's wielder; Beowulf is truly a terrifying beast of a weapon. If allowed to reach it's full potential, it may become unstoppable. If Dog allows his rage to consume him when that time comes, it may be the end of himself, and everything around him.
There is, another spirit residing within Dog's inner world. It is Reesa, the Red Witch, forever maintained in spirit form and bound to Dog forever by the Mark of the Abyss. Her long, fiery red hair like a thousand glittering embers over a beautiful freckled face with sparkling grey eyes. As a spirit, she is much younger than she appeared when Dog ran her down in life. Now the two are forever bound by the curse she placed on his family. Reese is deeply in love with Dog, in a twisted, demented way. She constantly beckons him to let go and unleash his hate for her to roll over the world. Though despite her haunting, almost villainous mannerisms towards Dog, she only wants him to grow and live on; which means making him do things he would otherwise refuse to do for the sake of his survival. She often hints that she is the master of Dog's fate, and refers to him as "Her beautiful beast." As if he were her pet to reward and punish at her leisure. When Beowulf first revealed himself to Dog, Reesa felt threatened, and since, both her and Beowulf have been distant from one-another, never confronting Dog at the same time.
Indeed, Beowulf's spirit and form were also molded from Dog's deep hatred for Reesa, and so the pack relentlessly hunts her within the mire as well. The beast wishes to devour the witch, that Dog may finally be free of his burden. Reesa's goal, though unknown to Dog, is to force Dog and Beowulf into one being. To create the perfect beast, to unleash a terrible monster onto Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the World of the Living.
Inner World:
His inner world is called "The mire." A dark, endless forest of leafless trees and howling winds. The moon above his forever eclipsed in a black circle that seems identical to Dog's mark. The bottom of the moon bleeds an ivory light down the night sky that drips over the endless wooded horizon as if the moon were weeping. The forest goes on in all directions forever, giving Dog the endless feeling of being lost within it's winding wood; stalked in the darkness by the pack of Beowulf. Reesa also resides deep within the abysmal wilderness, hiding. She speaks and appears to Dog wearing a bright red dress, and around her is a luminous aura that makes her appear like that of an angel. This is an attempt to fool Dog into trusting her, and giving in to his animalistic impulses to become one with Beowulf's carnivorous malice.
Power:
Beowulf is a melee type zanpakuto. Upon release, it becomes many times larger than even it's bastard sword form. It is far too large, too crude, and too heavy to even be considered a sword in it's released state. By all means, it is a hulking slab of iron larger than most greatswords. It is capable of tearing through several heavily armored opponents at once, and each swing emits a powerful shockwave that hits solid objects with not only a tremendous force, but a flurry of cutting wind slashes; like a pack of wolves tearing into their prey. Due to it's immense size, it serves more as a bladed club or bludgeon rather than an actual sword. The sheer momentum of the swing is enough to tear apart even the most heavily fortified of targets. Due to the slaughter of countless hollows, the blade has been soaked on a near-daily basis in the blood of baleful spirits and monsters. The blade gradually becomes stronger with thee more foes it slays and thus more effective against more advanced and well-evolved hollows. The sword has killed so many that it has consequently absorbed portions of their life force, turning the sword into a cursed weapon; just like it's master. If Dog is not careful, Beowulf will consume him into an abyss which he can never escape.
Zanpakutō: Originally, Beowulf was a standard Katana as an Asauchi. After over nine hundred years of slaying hollows out of pure killer instinct and hateful malice; the sword warped into a large bastard sword. A silver blade forever stained in a dark carmine. The hilt of the armament is black leather, with the most recognizable figure being the statuesque figurehead of a wolf chiseled around the pommel. When released, it becomes a massive hulking cleaver that stands as tall as Dog.
[ LEGACY CREATED ]
Origin:
The nameless boy was given a bastard's birth; found bathing in ashen grass in a puddle of afterbirth beneath the corpse of his mother, dangling by rope beneath a burning tree. The entire village had been lit ablaze, from the elderly to the children they were 'purified' by the church. An angry mob of townsfolk from villages dotting the English north were astonished at the coffin birth, some calling it a sign from God, and others called it the antichrist itself. The young infant, drowning in his mother's blood, bore the same black mark on his hand that his parents had both shared. A pitch mark that festered like a black, rotting wound yet never spread nor deteriorated. A brand that marked his mother a witch and killed his father. It was this brand that shaped his identity since the day he was born, the Mark of the Abyss.
The dumbstruck villagers had been conflicted on what to do with the disgusting little thing. If they should lynch it like his mother or spare it. Finally they made their conclusion, and decided to burn it at the stake for the heresy of it's mother. They were stopped only by the brand, which drew the spirits of the damned like moths to a flame. The townsfolk were slaughtered by the invisible creatures; with screams and rending flesh being the first sounds the young infant heard upon coming into this horrid world. The hollows, after their feast had been ended, crowded over the little thing; watching it, without moving, at his festering brand. In the hundreds, they crowded him and remained in trance, staring at him without sound yet their yellow eyes all held a seething malice. They wanted to devour it, but seemed unable. For hours the baby cried, and eventually, he was answered.
A Norman raiding party stumbled across the charred village as dawn came. Their leader, Harolt Blancbaston, discovered the starving, freezing child on a heap of charred wood with it's back soaked in ash and it's body drenched in dried blood. Even the stoic raider seemed mortified by the sight, and mercifully took the boy into his care. They rode north, into the grey forests of Scotland.
Rise to Power: Rise to Power should include the Academy and any time you have spent grinding through the rank and file Shinigami events. This would include you unlocking Shikai and most of your notable events in your history. This is where you explain how your character has gotten so strong.
Call to Action: This is where you talk about the event(s) that made your character shift from an NPC to a player character. For whatever reason, they need to be pulled away from the daily grind and put into the spotlight. In this section, you’ll want to highlight that event(s) and justify why your character is they way they are today.
Rogue Shinigami/Forsaken
"Your son will writhe in the blood of all he loves. The spirits of the starless desert will devour him, as they did his father..."
-Reesa, the Red Witch
[ AT A GLANCE ]
Age / Apparent Age: 951 / 28
Gender: Male
Height & Weight: 6'4" / 212 lbs
Hair & Eye Color: Black hair, brown eyes
Positive Traits:
Persistent: Dog is a man of focus, with peerless determination. His tenacity, his rage, his refusal to become a victim to fate has kept him alive. He knows each day could be his last, and his focus remains solely on still breathing come the next morning with a stubborn refusal to die.
Strong-willed: Dog has a seemingly unbendable will of steel. When he makes a promise, an oath, or sets his mind to a goal, he is set on it's completion; letting nothing get in his way.
Self-Reliant: Many human lifetimes spent alone, constantly fighting for survival has taught Dog many things. One of them, being self-sufficiency. He is able to live on his own without help from any outside intervention or assistance. He is a survivor, and a good one.
Modest: Dog knows full well the kind of man that he is, and always carried an air of humility from his garments to his attitude. He is as humble as he is stoic.
Brave: Dog fears like all men do, it is what keeps him sane. However, when circumstances are grim, or others are in danger-especially if that danger is brought upon them by him; he will stand and confront it despite his fear. Sometimes, being the hero is the only choice Dog has.
Negative Traits:
Brutal: Especially in combat, Dog's anger can tend to get the better of him. In his own mind, battle is a fight to the death, it is either him or them. In the end he isn't concerned with how he wins and what he does, as long as he's still alive at the end of it. He will rip and tear with his teeth and fingernails; bash and rend until his foe is dead and he is not. He will even go so far as to harm himself if it means staying alive. His only desire, is to live.
Callous: It is difficult for Dog to form relationships with others, and has lead him to be apathetic and stoic when dealing with others and their problems. If he feels no obligation to help someone, and doesn't want to, he simply won't. This doesn't mean he isn't capable of forming friendships, yet, for Dog, friends are much more difficult to come by.
Short-sighted: Dog doesn't see the big picture or the grand scheme of things as much as others may. He keeps his focus narrowed on the task at hand, which is usually his survival. He is driven only by the primal desire to continue living, not worried about more grand plans or goals.
Despairing: Living a life constantly haunted by the vengeful spirits off Hueco Mundo as a man and as a shinigami; he is tormented not only by beckoning hollows, but by his own self-doubt, which he fears may one day kill him.
Conflicted: Beowulf and Reesa both make it difficult to know which one is truly trustworthy. On one side, a beast that never speaks but stalks both him and Reesa. On the other a hand, Reesa, who speaks and listens, but always seems to lead Dog down a path of self destruction. Two devils sit on his shoulders, and he is forced to discern between the better of two evils. His future is beyond uncertainty, and he knows he will be forced to confront it one day. Is what he is doing ultimately good? Or is it merely a necessary evil?
Loyalties: Dog is loyal to the oaths he keeps, and to the debts he must pay.
Snapshots:
March 4, 1041: Dog's father meets Reese, the Red Witch, where he receives the Mark of the Abyss, and is slaughtered by a horde of Hollows. The curse passes to his wife, and their unborn child.
December 31, 1041: Dog is born beneath his mad mother's corpse, rescued by Norman raiders.
August 4, 1059: At 18 years old, Dog is attacked by hollows for the first time; escapes down a river, almost drowning.
October 14, 1066: The battle of Hastings. Dog is killed by an English soldier.
October 15, 1066: Arrival in Rukongai.
October 20, 1066: Shinigami escort is killed by Hollows attracted by Dog's mark. Dog takes the asauchi for himself, killing the Hollows.
November 8, 1066: Is denied entry from Sereitei, forced out into the outer rukongai.
January 19, 1891: Asauchi takes full form, becoming a zanpakuto.
December 12: 2004: Achieves shikai.
[ ON THE SURFACE ]
Physical Description:
Black Dog, despite nearing a millennium in age, is exceptionally young in appearance especially considering his stress and dementia. Pale skin clings to powerful, veiny muscles that define the entirety of his physique seeming akin to a work of Greek stone craftsmanship in it's herculean beauty. Youthful and fair-haired, he carries with him not only the body of a tempered warrior but a stoic visage to match. His above average height is matched perfectly by his weight and chiseled musculature, giving him a rather intimidating and foreboding appearance that often frightens Rukongai dwellers by his sheer physical presence. Another accursed reason why it is difficult for him to form fruitful relationships with others.
Long pitch locks seem always held together in a bun behind his scalp; he is never caught with his hair down. A fine-trimmed beard covers his chin, jaw, lower cheekbones and around his plump lips. A few stray strands of hair occasionally fall from his bun, he was never a talented hair stylist by any means. From betwixt short eyelashes are eyes that seem filled with a magnetic, thousand-yard gaze. His eyes from the outside observer always tend to look pitch black, but in the light of a fire or the setting sun, their glittering brown shows through the dark of his pupils; the face and eyes of a true born Englishman. When enraged, or viciously fighting for survival, the bottoms of his irises carry with them a glowing red tint; like a firey rage billowing beneath raw human emotion. A notable feature on his face being the long horizontal scar that stretched from cheek to cheek on the bridge of his nose. The cut his deep, almost more a deformity than a mark.
Dog tends to almost always wear a set of dented black iron plates above a black leather layer of garbs akin to light armor; wrapped in stained bandages and cloth and completed by a beaten, tan, bloodstained cowl ripped horribly at it's edges. His right arm is the least covered, only his hand is clad in bandages which attempt to hide his mark.The armor is quite heavy, but does not seem to hinder the movement of his titanic warrior stature. His garb and appearance are always covered in grime and dried blood. Rugged and humble, he is far from a knight in shining armor.
On the back of his right hand is where his mark resides. A black circle buried deep into the charred, dead flesh around it. From the small crater outstretched tiny, vein-like tendrils that crawl up his fingers and wrist like a festering infection. A thick charcoal mist quietly eminates from the dark brand. Ivory bandages wrap around his hand in an attempt to cover it, but the tar-like blemish bleeds through unhindered.
Dog's voice is rough, raspy and deep with a heavy bass in his vocals. His accent is Norwegian in origin, despite being an Englishman. His voice, to normal folk, sounds rather revolting and too rough to be attractive or worth listening to. However the sound of his words always seem to carry with them a certain, uncanny gravity that ripens their worth. When he makes a promise, his voice alone seems to mean it; when he imparts knowledge, it is full of wisdom; when in battle, his roar furious roar sunders even the most hardened veterans. When his spiritual pressure is unleashed, his voice echoes with growling undertones billowing beneath it; like the malice of a vicious beast hides behind each word.
Dog always walks with his head down, eyes facing the ground with each foot in front of the other, step by step. At times it can be difficult to catch his attention, and he's rarely ever caught with a smile on his face. His strides are slow, heavy, as if he carries something heavy on his shoulders that no-one can see. Circles are always around his eyes as if deprived of rest, a rather poor, ominous sight to see in the eyes of a villager watching him tread alone down the dirt paths of the poor Rukongai villages. At times, he seems more real a monster than the hollows that terrorize them.
Spiritual Description:
Dog's reiatsu shrouds over him, taking the form of whispering shadows that blanket him like a seething cloak. The presence it invokes is that akin to a heavy feeling of burden or guilt, a truly melancholy aura that represents the festering darkness within the bottomless blackness of his mark. Beneath the shadow can be seen the faintest of two red glints which hover above his shoulders like still ornaments. When Dog is unleashing his spiritual pressure, these whispering shadows rush forward, howling like a cold northern wind. The reiatsu chills to the bone in it's ghastly presence, drenched in sorrow and an unsettling entropy. From within the writhing mass of shadow he appears a mere silhouette, hardly recognizable only by burning red orbs that burn from deep within the abyss; hovering above his blackened stature.
Dog's spiritual pressure reacts most flamboyantly to a single emotion, which is his anger. When enraged, The red orbs seem much more profound, monstrous even-completely unrecognizable as human eyes. As if some horrible beast hovers over him, feeding his animalistic fury. The abysmal reiatsu itself growls like a starving, salivating predator. The shadows will soar frantically like a chaotic abyssal hurricane with Black Dog at the epicenter of it's furious maelstrom. A sight that strikes terror even into the nefarious hollows which hunt him incessantly. An aura full of nothing but pure hatred and malice.
When Dog grips his sword, especially in shikai, with his right hand, the abyssal reiatsu seems to immediately wrap around the blade even if Dog is not focused on releasing his spiritual pressure. A dark malice covers the bloodstained weapon the moment he touches it, and it's residual tremors remain long after it's sheathed like a silent hunger.
[ BEHIND THE EYES ]
Personality:
In Dog's youth, he was always incredibly talkative and inquisitive; always asking questions and setting his sights on the unknown by the curiosity brought to him by his mysterious mark. He has since mellowed into a rather jaded fellow who seems to have mastered his emotions and expressions. Yet, his temper is the one thing he still has yet to fully conquer. He is quiet, calm and collected with an apathetic attitude toward most issues and dilemmas. His attitudes and emotions have tempered over the centuries of bloodshed he has endured. He becomes much more stoic and reserved with age, never seeming to walk with his head up as he did in his noble youth.
Known for his air of austerity, Dog is a gruff and cynical man holding a generally bleak outlook on life and the world around him. This undoubtedly is a consequence of the seemingly endless waves of suffering he has endured both in his life and in undeath; with all of the highlights of his life, after his arrival to soul society, often become lows. Despite his heavily guarded and brooding exterior, Dog has always had a soft, kind heart. This kind heart is what made it even more brutal a struggle to survive in his youth; for mercy in a cruel world is what kills most quickly. Even as Beowulf and Reesa claw and beckon within him to unleash his deepest hatred on the world, he retains his compassion and charity, with a stubborn refusal to abandon his humanity. Dog is also a man of his word and strives to keep any promises he makes; even if it means at great personal risk. It was his time as a knight that taught him this loyalty, that carried on even after his death.
In his formative years, fighting for the Norman raiders on the countrysides of England; he seemed devoid of purpose in his life. Killing only because he would be killed if he did not. He often spent these times trying to find a role-model to look up to, which, unfortunately for him, were a mere band of barbaric warriors. His precariousness, eventually, shaped his identity upon meeting Reesa, the manipulative Red Witch. With the promise to undo his curse, he fought for her against the Scots in a coup to take over the northern lands. During these years of conflict, Dog enters a sort of pilgrimage of self-discovery and revelation; telling Reesa that he wishes to leave her service and sail far away, into the west.
It is here that Reesa reveals she is the one who cursed Dog's father, forcing him into a life devoid of peace or solace. Surviving the afterward onslaught of Hollows and slaying Reesa ultimately devastates Dog. Not only this, but his death, and his dementia is in large part, responsible for the callous and pragmatic man he becomes. He grows vindictive, only wishing to find a way to destroy Reesa's soul to free him of his curse once and for all. It consumes him with hate and anger; the sort of hatred that morphed his confiscated zanpakuto into a bestial bastard sword.
Dog keeps himself at arm's length of people, having a deep-seated apprehension towards friendship and comraderie after the unfortunate events of the past. Mostly due to the many people who have died close to him due to the affects of his own curse.
Dog's dementia has him constantly on edge, fighting a harsh mental conflict every day to hold on to his sanity. Reesa, and his curse is the driving force behind his crippling mental illness, which attacks him with horrible images and memories of his previous life and the coercion to let go of himself. Because of his dementia, he is sometimes prone to panic attacks. He screams and fights foes that aren't actually there, often spotted talking to people that don't seem to exist. If his dementia overpowers his willpower and mental fortitude, he will succumb to Reesa's madness, and forget himself and his humanity.
Another crippling weakness of Dog, is his debilitating fear of water. In part to having retained some of his memories, he had a near-death experience as a young adult in his time alive, drowning in freezing water while being apprehended by a horde of Hollows. He oftentimes finds it difficult to even drink water, and bathes meticulously by using only mugs of water at a time. He strays with zeal from rivers, the ocean, streams, and even thunderstorms. When confronted by his fear, he can be paralyzed in terror, unable to move with a crippling tunnel vision and muffled hearing.
Above all, Dog is the personification of persistence and resilience. Through his constant struggles and his terrible curse, he has continuously contended and resisted fate. He continues to subsist against an insurmountable burden and never yields to his trials and struggles. Dog does not believe in causality, destiny, or fate; and believes things are done only by the decisions he makes and the coincidences along the way. This disposition pushes him forward, in part not only to prove this dogma, but to consistently battle fate and escape death over and over again.
Dog's opinion toward Hollows are predictably hateful; moreso than most others. After spending his years constantly playing a game of tug-of-war with his life against their endless hordes, he draws a simple line at kill or be killed. His opinion towards shinigami are more problematic, as he can only credit them for the man that brought him to Soul Society and died trying to protect him.
"There is more to you, Dog... Keep getting back up, keep fighting, keep failing. All that matters, is that you never surrender. And when the time comes, kill that bitch."
Goals & Achievements:
GOALS:
-SURVIVE
-Kill Reesa
-Master Beowulf
-Gain entrance to the Sereitei
ACHIEVEMENTS:
-Achieved Shikai
THE MIDNIGHT HUNTER
[ GUARDIAN ANGEL ]
Zanpakutō Spirit: Beowulf [ベオウルフ] "Bedorufu"
Release phrase: Beowulf is unique in that it is not released by phrase, but by emotion. Dog is unable to release his shikai at will for this reason, and it is only unleashed when Dog is consumed by his passion and malice. His shikai is released through pure, raw emotion; not a phrase, but a furious roar.
Type: Melee, Force type.
Beowulf, as an asauchi, was taken from it's original owner by Dog, completely altering the course of it's development from the usual path of the Shinigami. Because Dog never attended the academy, or developed in naturally through the steady course of spiritual training; Beowulf has morphed into something less like a zanpakuto, and moreso an extension of Dog's deepest thoughts and desires. Originally a katana, over the course of hundreds of years of cutting and tearing, it slowly transformed into a long bastard sword, with a black hilt and a pommel in the shape of a wolf's head. Beowulf developed not by spiritual connection and tempering, but through being bathed in hollow blood for hundreds of years. It is an instrument of death, and the shadowy reiatsu of Dog's mark seems to eminate from the blade in a dark unison. It wasn't until over a decade ago that Dog first came in contact with Beowulf in spirit.
Beowulf takes the form of not one, but an entire pack of ravenous wolves; speculating that Beowulf may be a much larger, more powerful spirit, broken into many smaller fractions. The alpha of their pack is much larger than the others, with pitch black fur that endlessly stalks Dog's inner world in an eternal hunt. Beowulf does not speak to Dog directly, only the occasional growl and vicious bark. When Dog entered his inner world for the first and only time, he was hunted relentlessly by Beowulf and it's pack until he collapsed from exhaustion, yet it showed odd mercy when wrestling with him. Giving him a fighting chance even though it's strength had Dog outmatched in every way, and even went so far as to let Dog place his hand on it's head and stroke it's fur.
The relationship between the two is an odd one, but unmistakable. Beowulf yearns for Dog, and is the only creature that has remained by his side through the long, dark centuries of fighting and blood. It is a zanpakuto formed from the malice of thousands of dying hollows, fueled by the rage of the spirit and of it's wielder; Beowulf is truly a terrifying beast of a weapon. If allowed to reach it's full potential, it may become unstoppable. If Dog allows his rage to consume him when that time comes, it may be the end of himself, and everything around him.
There is, another spirit residing within Dog's inner world. It is Reesa, the Red Witch, forever maintained in spirit form and bound to Dog forever by the Mark of the Abyss. Her long, fiery red hair like a thousand glittering embers over a beautiful freckled face with sparkling grey eyes. As a spirit, she is much younger than she appeared when Dog ran her down in life. Now the two are forever bound by the curse she placed on his family. Reese is deeply in love with Dog, in a twisted, demented way. She constantly beckons him to let go and unleash his hate for her to roll over the world. Though despite her haunting, almost villainous mannerisms towards Dog, she only wants him to grow and live on; which means making him do things he would otherwise refuse to do for the sake of his survival. She often hints that she is the master of Dog's fate, and refers to him as "Her beautiful beast." As if he were her pet to reward and punish at her leisure. When Beowulf first revealed himself to Dog, Reesa felt threatened, and since, both her and Beowulf have been distant from one-another, never confronting Dog at the same time.
Indeed, Beowulf's spirit and form were also molded from Dog's deep hatred for Reesa, and so the pack relentlessly hunts her within the mire as well. The beast wishes to devour the witch, that Dog may finally be free of his burden. Reesa's goal, though unknown to Dog, is to force Dog and Beowulf into one being. To create the perfect beast, to unleash a terrible monster onto Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the World of the Living.
Inner World:
His inner world is called "The mire." A dark, endless forest of leafless trees and howling winds. The moon above his forever eclipsed in a black circle that seems identical to Dog's mark. The bottom of the moon bleeds an ivory light down the night sky that drips over the endless wooded horizon as if the moon were weeping. The forest goes on in all directions forever, giving Dog the endless feeling of being lost within it's winding wood; stalked in the darkness by the pack of Beowulf. Reesa also resides deep within the abysmal wilderness, hiding. She speaks and appears to Dog wearing a bright red dress, and around her is a luminous aura that makes her appear like that of an angel. This is an attempt to fool Dog into trusting her, and giving in to his animalistic impulses to become one with Beowulf's carnivorous malice.
Power:
Beowulf is a melee type zanpakuto. Upon release, it becomes many times larger than even it's bastard sword form. It is far too large, too crude, and too heavy to even be considered a sword in it's released state. By all means, it is a hulking slab of iron larger than most greatswords. It is capable of tearing through several heavily armored opponents at once, and each swing emits a powerful shockwave that hits solid objects with not only a tremendous force, but a flurry of cutting wind slashes; like a pack of wolves tearing into their prey. Due to it's immense size, it serves more as a bladed club or bludgeon rather than an actual sword. The sheer momentum of the swing is enough to tear apart even the most heavily fortified of targets. Due to the slaughter of countless hollows, the blade has been soaked on a near-daily basis in the blood of baleful spirits and monsters. The blade gradually becomes stronger with thee more foes it slays and thus more effective against more advanced and well-evolved hollows. The sword has killed so many that it has consequently absorbed portions of their life force, turning the sword into a cursed weapon; just like it's master. If Dog is not careful, Beowulf will consume him into an abyss which he can never escape.
Zanpakutō: Originally, Beowulf was a standard Katana as an Asauchi. After over nine hundred years of slaying hollows out of pure killer instinct and hateful malice; the sword warped into a large bastard sword. A silver blade forever stained in a dark carmine. The hilt of the armament is black leather, with the most recognizable figure being the statuesque figurehead of a wolf chiseled around the pommel. When released, it becomes a massive hulking cleaver that stands as tall as Dog.
[ LEGACY CREATED ]
Origin:
The nameless boy was given a bastard's birth; found bathing in ashen grass in a puddle of afterbirth beneath the corpse of his mother, dangling by rope beneath a burning tree. The entire village had been lit ablaze, from the elderly to the children they were 'purified' by the church. An angry mob of townsfolk from villages dotting the English north were astonished at the coffin birth, some calling it a sign from God, and others called it the antichrist itself. The young infant, drowning in his mother's blood, bore the same black mark on his hand that his parents had both shared. A pitch mark that festered like a black, rotting wound yet never spread nor deteriorated. A brand that marked his mother a witch and killed his father. It was this brand that shaped his identity since the day he was born, the Mark of the Abyss.
The dumbstruck villagers had been conflicted on what to do with the disgusting little thing. If they should lynch it like his mother or spare it. Finally they made their conclusion, and decided to burn it at the stake for the heresy of it's mother. They were stopped only by the brand, which drew the spirits of the damned like moths to a flame. The townsfolk were slaughtered by the invisible creatures; with screams and rending flesh being the first sounds the young infant heard upon coming into this horrid world. The hollows, after their feast had been ended, crowded over the little thing; watching it, without moving, at his festering brand. In the hundreds, they crowded him and remained in trance, staring at him without sound yet their yellow eyes all held a seething malice. They wanted to devour it, but seemed unable. For hours the baby cried, and eventually, he was answered.
A Norman raiding party stumbled across the charred village as dawn came. Their leader, Harolt Blancbaston, discovered the starving, freezing child on a heap of charred wood with it's back soaked in ash and it's body drenched in dried blood. Even the stoic raider seemed mortified by the sight, and mercifully took the boy into his care. They rode north, into the grey forests of Scotland.
Rise to Power: Rise to Power should include the Academy and any time you have spent grinding through the rank and file Shinigami events. This would include you unlocking Shikai and most of your notable events in your history. This is where you explain how your character has gotten so strong.
Call to Action: This is where you talk about the event(s) that made your character shift from an NPC to a player character. For whatever reason, they need to be pulled away from the daily grind and put into the spotlight. In this section, you’ll want to highlight that event(s) and justify why your character is they way they are today.