Well since it's a fresh start, I may as well start off with a fresh character first and decide later on whether or not to bring one of the boys over.
EDIT: And so the first few fun facts have been added.
[SPOILER="Yes, it is a reference. No, you don't get to guess. Unless you want to, of course."]
Name: Ralyegh (pronounced like Raleigh) Innsmouth
Age: 16
Gender/Pronouns: Male (He/Him)
Sexuality: Straight
Height: 12.5 ft, mainly due to his inhumanly-outstretched body.
Appearance: Ralyegh's stature appears tall and pale, like someone had just taken a human and just stretched them like a rubber band. His skin appears pale and close to fair, though there also appears a faint, sickly-green hue mixed into his pigments. His hair is ash-black, long and messy, as if a charred octopus was sat atop his head. His eyes are a luminescent, almost orange-ish yellow with black spots, appearing almost extraterrestial in nature. His digits, especially his fingers, appear stretched and edged, his nails being more like claws, giving the appearance of having pointed digits instead of regular human ones. Even though he appears so tall, his physique is still relatively wide enough to appear average and not at all slender. His typical clothing consists of a dark-green hoodie over a dark-brown leather coat, hood pulled up over his eyes, sunglasses placed over his bulging, bulbous eyes and a black scarf tucked over the squid-like beak that is his mouth. Due to his abnormally-shaped hands and feet, he has to wear leather gloves and boots, both black in color, while something like hand warmers and socks are completely out of the question as they would get torn apart almost instantly. His pants are more normal, being just simple leather khakis, albeit with abnormally tall legs befitting of his own.
Personality: Ralyegh often appears withdrawn and reserved, trying his best to keep a distance from people thanks to being aware of his ominous aura tending to creep others out. He tries his best to be nice, but with his shy and often complacent attitude, harassment has often been a big problem for him - though, not long enough to cause any lasting psychological effects thanks to his minions manifesting themselves to become the night terrors and day pranksters of those who had shown any ill-will against him, though he did manage to get enough control over this ability to stop them from automatically manifesting from his mass to avenge their master. Even if not yet formed, these minions often tend to voice themselves inside Ral's head, which causes him to stand out even more as an oddball because he often tends to talk aloud, as if speaking to an invisible creature when really, he's just not realising that he's speaking his thoughts aloud. He's managed to get some control over this too, but it still slips past him on occasion.
[SPOILER="Forgotten History"]Ralyegh's past is shrouded in a veil of mystery, as even his origin seems to be an unknown variable. Any close family he's had is already deceased, his powers disallow any sort of genetic testing and his hair and eyes don't even resemble those of his supposedly biological parents. His parents had a long history of being archaeologists on both sides of the family, though where one dealt with underground dig sites, the other went diving under the seas for artifacts.
Rumours say the Innsmouth family ended up discovering something they shouldn't have and that they were already going seemingly crazy before their son's conception, though only Ralyegh seems to know at least a portion of the answer to these rumour's questions.. truth be told however, there are some things even he doesn't know about. Won't stop him from trying to get to the bottom of things, though. He can't just let Sleeping Dogs lie after all, so why should he?[/SPOILER]
Powers: Ralyegh's origin of his power is unknown, and it certainly lives up to this mysterious origin by being equally enigmatic. First and foremost, Ralyegh's insides appear to be nothing but some sort of black sludge, which begs the question of whether Ral's the shell or the writhing, dark mass within. Either way, Ralyegh can seemingly shatter and re-form parts of his body in order to reveal the oozing, almost-physical liquid inside, moreso being on the shapeshifting side rather than being actual regeneration as he can't heal back injuries caused by others, though those do also heal on their own using his stamina as a source to feed on. Strangely, due to this sludge replacing most of his organs and even his skeletal structure, Ralyegh also does not have requirement for sleeping, nor does he ever seem to get sick from diseases, have a need to breathe or can suffer from any sort of chemical exposure or poisoning. The only human thing he still has a need for seems to be sustenance, particularly flesh and any kind of meat in general, making him more of a carnivore than an omnivore as, while he can eat plant-based foods, they don't bring him any benefit whatsoever.
From his sludge, Ralyegh can produce minions of all shapes and sizes, provided they fit through whatever hole he can manage for them and as long as he still has enough energy to spare. These minions can act on their own accord, though they will also follow any command given to them by the boy, even if it means putting their own lives on the line. If defeated/killed, these sludge-like minions tend to melt and vaporize into black, mist-like vapours that quickly dissipate into the air and disappear. Though they usually tend to look different, there's always two key factors to look out for; their blob-like consistence and their glowing, yellow eyes. Strangely, despite their liquid, almost mud-like consistence, they never seem to leave a trail of their own mass behind themselves, regardless of their movement, just like how Ralyegh never leaves any sludge behind himself. At least, not any sludge he is willing to part with, that is.
Ralyegh's physical power such as durability and strength also appear to be much more than should be humanly possible, though his speed does come up lacking, ironic for someone of his size. This is mostly in part to the sludge residing under his skin, which he can also form into different constructs and appendages to be used like an extra limb, such as an arm, a tentacle, an eye, etc. All he needs is for the sludge to still be connected to his body and for his body to have a large-enough opening for said limb to be formed out of. Forming limbs themselves isn't tiring, nor is using them. It really is just like growing another part of his body, with energy cost and exhaustion only equaling to the same result as one would have when overexerting themselves with enough movement, though without any of the muscle soreness or potential tearing. Because, you know.. it's hard to get sore muscles when all you have is just black sludge.
Lastly, his most influential power by far stems from the sludge itself once more - Ralyegh appears to have some sort of psychic potential, though not through telekinesis, but through mental communication and especially in hallucinations and illusions. His presence alone seems to eminate an eerie, unnerving aura from his body, sometimes even casting whispers of different voices in strange languages into the heads of those around him, direct contact with his gaze allows him to keep a mental connection with as many people as are looking at him, provided they remain within a semi-large radius around him while his fingers can cause hallucinations and read through memories using only physical touch. While reading memories takes time and can be interrupted, hallucinations only require that one touch to be induced, though the one affected can also break free from the illusions once they realise that what they see is not as it seems. One special interaction occurs when Ralyegh puts a hand on those without conscience - what is a hallucination to the awake will instead affect the dream/nightmare of the dreamer instead.
To sum it up in smaller form:
- Cannot get sick, poisoned, does not need to sleep or breathe, etc. - only has a need to eat meat and can only eat meat and meat-related foods. Nothing much to say about this one, just really as basic as they come.
- Is physically stronger and tougher than any normal person could train themselves to be, but is also slower than the average person. Has a healing factor, but this also depends on stamina and thus needs constant food consumption to retain completely effectiveness.
- Can create minions and appendages through the sludge underneath his skin, and can de-/re-construct his skin to make openings. This ability cannot be used to re-seal injuries, but it can be used to re-arrange his skin to avoid getting it injured in the first place. Minions do not leave a body and vaporize into black vapors instead that dissipate into the air.
- Being around Ralyegh can unnerve someone and, at worst, make them hear strange whispers, direct eye contact is needed to form a telepathic connection within a semi-large radius, illusions can be made with physical touch while reading memories requires a maintained connection of direct contact with his hands/fingers. Illusions can also be extended into influencing dreams of sleeping/unconscious targets.
Likes: Eating meat, walking about at night, making friends, playing games, swimming/diving, exploration/travelling.
Dislikes: Eating vegetables, his powers, summer heat (and summer itself), sunlight (and light in general), being on his own.
Relationships: None worth mentioning.
Other: Might write some fun facts in here from time to time. Here's one to start out with:
- Even before coming to Karma High, many nasty rumours have been spread about Ralyegh, what with his powers making him stand out like a sore thumb in public.
- Ralyegh's stench of rotting, sun-dried fish, overwhelming amounts of salt and ocean waters are the result of his sludge, which seeps through the pores of his 'skin', though this shell does mostly ward off the smell enough to minimize its radius to only being picked up on if someone stands directly near Ralyegh. God help you when he decides to remove his skin, though.. or anyone else within a large radius, for that matter, for this stench becomes MUCH worse without the skin to suppress it. Like, 'month-old corpse' levels of bad.
- Ral's unnerving aura works exactly as you might think the aura of an eldritch being works; short-term exposure can cause others do distance themselves due to constant anxiety induced by the voices and other small hallucinations caused by it, while long-term exposure can fully drive one insane and shatter their mental state. Thankfully, it's only within semi-close proximity, about a bit farther out in effective range than his aquatic scent reaches.
- Innsmouth's discoloured skin stems from it being formed from his sludge itself, which also explains how he can shift it around freely and create openings, just like how he can shift his true body around. His regeneration also stems from the sludge using nutrition gained from meat to rebuild itself, making raw flesh the most optimal food source, having turned Ral into a true carnivore in every sense of the word.
- Adding on to the above, Ralyegh actually wasn't born with any hair - instead, his black hair is actually his sludge naturally flowing through the holes and crevices where hair follicles would have sprouted, had he had them. He only has this hair, mind you- eyebrows, beards, etc. are completely out of the question unless he specifically forms them on his skin. However, just so his hair wouldn't just look like someone dumped a barrel of tar on his head, they were the very first thing he trained his shapeshifting talent on, eventually forming them into what they are now. Because of also being formed from the sludge, they are constantly damp and appear as if greasy, regardless of whether or not they were recently soaked, washed, dried, etc.
- Though he may have been born in America, Ralyegh and his mother's side of the family are actually from England and, because of this, he can switch between american and british accents easily. American is his default, with the british one coming out the more stressed out and overall anxious he is.
- Despite how it may seem, starvation does not actually 'kill' Ralyegh like how it would with normal creatures. While it is true that it makes him weaker, the longer he goes without food, the more powerful his ravenous instinct gets, eventually becoming so out of control that he would willingly eat whatever unfortunate soul ends up in his vision, the only exception being his own minions (who, at that point, would also go out of their way to quickly find a food source for Ralyegh as to stop him from rampaging). This takes a large amount of time though (about two whole month without ever eating), so ravenous rampages are about as rare as they can be.
House: While it is true that Ralyegh has an extent of super strength and endurance/durability, his limited telepathy and minion manifesting would nudge him more into the House of Siren.
[/SPOILER]