Name: Nigel Stelar
Alias:
Age: Well beyond a natural lifespan. Appears to be 40
Date of Birth: Feburary 16
Hometown: Unknown
Height: 5'5
Weight: 140
Hair Color: Natural: Bald, holo watch: Black with distinguished grey streaks
Eye Color: Natural: N/a (empty sockets, no more than an indentation), holo watch: Milky white
Nationality/Race: Unknown
Occupation: Owns a book store and jewelry store in the upper part of town and is one of the night staff at the Academy library.
Personality Profile: Nigel is...complex man. While he's usually quiet and introverted, he's very outgoing and likes to meet new people. He's quite dedicated to his job and spends much of his time either of his stores or working on projects from home. When not at work or home, he's often found in coffee shop and takes pride in supporting local businesses. For the most part he's optimistic and often tries to find some light in the worst situations.
Physical Description: Nigel appears to be a man who never sets foot in the daylight: his skin is bone white and easily burned by bright lights. This paleness is made more intense by his black hair and clothing. Those features are intensified in the same way and seem unnaturally dark against his white skin. Nigel only wears black clothing and prefers to look professional even if the clothes are on the casual side. An onyx cane with a black tasmanian devil head always accompanies him, used for guidance whenever there isn't enough darkness to guide him.
As his natural body is on the horrific side, he prefers to wear a holo watch whenever possible. When not wearing one, he's pitch black covered with tiny scales that give him an iridescent sheen. Two large feathered wings are on his back and a smaller set attach to his hips. At the end of his wing feathers are glowing blue eye-shaped symbols reminiscent of the false eyes on a moth or peacock. Eight deep rifts run across his face and are evenly spaced. They can split open like a flower and sharp teeth line the edge of the 'petals'. He has no visible eyes and relies on his powers to see. Another side-effect of his mutation is to have black, toxic blood.
Character Pictures:
Natural appearance
Holowatch
appearance with a holo watch+Kizkie
Head unfurled
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Mutation/Powers: Shadowmancer
Primary: Shadow manipulation. Nigel can distort and control preexisting shadows to suit his whims. This is his strongest mutation, able to sustain the darkness even in the presence of light. The strength of the shadows is directly proportional to the amount of them. That is, if there is enough darkness, they can be condensed to a point where they have special properties and have an influence on physical objects. Shapes can be formed and manipulated and the most seen occurrence of this is in the form of: tentacles/tendrils or the appearance of an imp-like creature named Kiz`ke. Some minor adjustments can be done to Kiz`ke to make it look like a rat-shaped dog (removal of wings/horns and shortening of the tail) for walkies in public.
Years and years of practice has made him able to 'see' using the darkness, sensing objects that are cast in shadow or possess them. If an object is completely bathed in the darkness, Nigel can see an outline and some details but not color, fine details or patterns. This is not true sight, not by a long shot. He can sense shadows cast by an object and make an assumption of what it is based off of that but cannot view anything directly unless it is completely submerged in darkness.
Secondary: Shadow healing: Once more this relies on the amount of darkness found in the general area. Should there be enough to grant his any real power, he can use them to speed up the recovery process. If he's in total darkness for a long period of time, great healing can be done. This includes regrowing limbs although such a thing would take multiple sessions to actually complete.
Tertiary: Shadow walking: Nigel can enter the darkness and emerge from another dark place at will. People and objects can be escorted but there's the possibility of said individual being lost in limbo.
Drawbacks/Weaknesses: All of the powers are powered by darkness and nothing can be preformed unless there is enough of it to fuel him. There is no 'charging' involved: he must have enough to work with at the point of time where he wants to use the mutation. Sunlight wears him down, as do bright lights, like they drain his life force or very essence. Being in a bright location for too long will start to have a detrimental effect on him. If the exposure continues an unnatural length of time (constant light for days without pause), his body will begin to break down or even die. The toxic blood makes donating blood and getting transfusions impossible: he can only take his own blood and has to make sure that the school has some on hand in a special acid resistant container in case he gets severely hurt.
As stated in the ability to manipulate the darkness, this is dependent on there actually being any significant points of shadows to bend in the first place. To have a mass great enough to interact with physical objects, there must be enough darkness to spawn such a thing. The size and strength of the object is directly proportional to the amount of darkness present. Even these special shadows are weak to the light though they can survive some exposure; the light will wear them down the same way that it does him but at a much faster rate of time. How quickly this erosion occurs is again proportional to the brightness of light. A dully lit room will allow the shadows to remain for a longer period than a sunny day for instance.
The shadow-sight is more dependent on the presence and deepness of darkness than manipulating the shadows. Just how much he can 'see' depends on how strong they are. If the room is completely black, he has decent 'sight' but if there are only silhouettes visible, that is all that he can see. Bodies, objects and everything else gets distorted depending on the source of light and identifying objects in the early morning and late night is near impossible, as would estimating size or identifying an object or person. If there are no shadows available, he would be left completely blind.
The shadow healing does not affect him adversely but it wears on the recipient doubly. Their body is willed to heal itself at an accelerated rate, which is wearing enough on an individual but his particular brand of ability has a negative effect. While healing, the victim suffers greatly: the amount of pain is proportional to the amount of healing being done. A small papercut would be quite painful but closing a gash would be excruciating. The healing of a limb could push many past their threshold of pain unless strong sedatives were used or if the person had an unnatural tolerance for pain. The healing factor feels like a freezing cold agony similar to a frigid knife being sliced through the skin. The longer an individual is subjected to it, the more it spreads through the body. A secondary effect of this, if the individual is subjected to it long enough, could very well be nightmares of the sensation.
Shadow walking can, as the name implies, only be used in the presence of deep shadows. There must be enough darkness also found on the exit side as well. If there is not, he'll have to find an alternate route or return to the point of origin. Should a second person be escorted, they must hold tightly on to him or be faced to spend eternity in Limbo. The place has...nothing. No sound, temperature, ground to step upon, smell or sensation. It is a true void and extended periods spent here can drive a person mad. This is a great threat and reserves the ability to bring a second person along to being an emergency use only. The person could be retrieved though it would take some time to find them.
How do you believe this character's powers will further develop in the future? Become more efficient and require less darkness for usage. Perhaps decrease the amount of pain an individual suffers during healing. Maybe even some minor resistance or strength to light.
Background: Nigel has had a very long, full life. While he knows when he was born, he won't share that information with anyone else. In the time between 'then' and 'now', he's assumed several different names and lead as many lives. He has raised families and moved on, wandering wherever his curiosity takes him. Despite the long time he's roamed the earth, he hasn't let it jade him.
Life got difficult when his body abruptly shifted, leaving him with the appearance of a demon. This made him retreat into hiding, becoming noting more than a hermit in his house. Many years were spent studying his texts, learning to read braille when his eyesight failed. But with the invention of the holo watch, he soon rejoined the world and relished life once more. It's taken some time to readjust to society and catch up with the times but he's back to normal...sort of.
Quirks, Extras, Random Character Facts: One of his favorite hobbies is playing the daily Sudoku in the newspaper.