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Name: Cian
Titles: The Shade-Stalker, the Hound of the Morrigan, Sworn Sword to the God of Death, Shadowman, the Nightland’s Ambassador.
Age (Physical): Early Thirties
Age (Actual): Much older.
First Impressions: Visual: Tall, broad-shouldered, slightly reminiscent of a wet dog. Always something a little uncanny: a smile that’s too wide, a gaze that’s a little too piercing. Shadow rarely behaves exactly how it should, usually an inch or two “off” where it should be.
Aural: Weathered, scratchy, comes right from the bottom of his lungs. Doesn’t do ‘quiet’ well. Irish accent.
Olfactory: Moss, wet wool, cheap deodorant.
Background: Once, Cian was a common cutpurse, leading a small group of thieves to rob and plunder, share the spoils, and blow their money on good ale and warm beds. Until one day, they tried to rob a carriage belonging to the God of the Dead. Amused by Cian’s presumption, the God of the Dead threw him a bag of gold with a warning: he was not to spend it too quickly. If he did, Cian would serve Death for a thousand years.
It lasted two months. And a millennium is a long, long time.
Officially, Cian is the Ambassador for the Nightlands - the realm of the dead. It is ruled by the Many-Named God of the Dead, typically appearing to Cian as The Morrigan. Since the God of the Dead can also be Hel, or Osiris, or Hades, or any other thousand others, he usually simply refers to them as his Liege. Cian represents the God of the Dead in the world of the living and carries out their will: hunting down escapees and necromancers; aiding ghosts and spirits in their last affairs; representing the Nightlands in other pantheons, courts, etc.
Personality: In his original life, Cian was brash, hot-headed, and impulsive. Robbing Death, being murdered by his own shadow, and a few centuries of servitude has done little to quash that. He’s not always great with people, bristles at being challenged, and has had to learn to mind his manners, especially when acting as the voice for his Liege’s affairs. He relishes a good fight: throwing punches at a bar, clashing swords, sparring, anything that gets his heart pounding in his chest. If anything, constant death and reviving has made that worse. Why hold back, when he knows what’s to come after?
While his preferred method of problem-solving is physical force - particularly at sword-tip - Cian can be surprisingly patient. He regularly assists spirits and ghosts with unfinished business: a final goodbye, vengeance upon an enemy, or simply a friendly ear to air their grievances before they pass. Some ghosts stay, tethered to a place or a person, and Cian ensures that it’s properly recorded and notarized. And he has a soft spot for rascals and miscreants: trouble-makers, thieves, tricksters, conmen.
It’s only around his Liege that Cian’s bravado falters, that he bends the knee, that he does as he’s told. They are one of the few entities that he fears, the keeper of his fate, the layer of his geas, and Cian hates her, and Cian loves him, and it’s really complicated.
Abilities: Recursive Immortality - Crossing into the Nightlands requires dying. Every time Cian is killed, he is sent to the Nightlands to fulfill any necessary duties - court, reports, paperwork, receiving new orders, etc - before he wakes again in the world of the living. He still feels the pain with each death, be it from drowning or the blade or other physical trauma, and it always hurts. Upon revival, he usually has some light bruising or scabs from his previous death. When he’s lucky, he’s sent back out in the open, or on a shoreline, but more often than not, he has to claw his way out of the ground, or swim up from deeper waters.
Living Shadow - Cian’s shadow is alive, sentient, and (normally) under his control. It can interact with the material world in limited ways: helping him draw his sword, opening doors, moving objects. If he’s particularly rested and in a well-lit room, his shadow can manifest as dark tentacles to hold down an opponent. The less light, the weaker it is. Importantly, Cian’s shadow was granted to him by his Liege, and serves as his main connection to the Nightlands. It can override his will, and on the occasion he’s needed in court immediately, it can kill him. (Usually by choking).
Rot - There’s an aura of rot around him that he can’t fully control or predict. Sometimes, it only makes plantlife wilt a little, while other times, it causes meat to rot and fruits and vegetables to completely decay. Makes cooking a bitch.
Swordsmanship - Yeah, he’s good with a sword too.
Titles: The Shade-Stalker, the Hound of the Morrigan, Sworn Sword to the God of Death, Shadowman, the Nightland’s Ambassador.
Age (Physical): Early Thirties
Age (Actual): Much older.
First Impressions: Visual: Tall, broad-shouldered, slightly reminiscent of a wet dog. Always something a little uncanny: a smile that’s too wide, a gaze that’s a little too piercing. Shadow rarely behaves exactly how it should, usually an inch or two “off” where it should be.
Aural: Weathered, scratchy, comes right from the bottom of his lungs. Doesn’t do ‘quiet’ well. Irish accent.
Olfactory: Moss, wet wool, cheap deodorant.
Background: Once, Cian was a common cutpurse, leading a small group of thieves to rob and plunder, share the spoils, and blow their money on good ale and warm beds. Until one day, they tried to rob a carriage belonging to the God of the Dead. Amused by Cian’s presumption, the God of the Dead threw him a bag of gold with a warning: he was not to spend it too quickly. If he did, Cian would serve Death for a thousand years.
It lasted two months. And a millennium is a long, long time.
Officially, Cian is the Ambassador for the Nightlands - the realm of the dead. It is ruled by the Many-Named God of the Dead, typically appearing to Cian as The Morrigan. Since the God of the Dead can also be Hel, or Osiris, or Hades, or any other thousand others, he usually simply refers to them as his Liege. Cian represents the God of the Dead in the world of the living and carries out their will: hunting down escapees and necromancers; aiding ghosts and spirits in their last affairs; representing the Nightlands in other pantheons, courts, etc.
Personality: In his original life, Cian was brash, hot-headed, and impulsive. Robbing Death, being murdered by his own shadow, and a few centuries of servitude has done little to quash that. He’s not always great with people, bristles at being challenged, and has had to learn to mind his manners, especially when acting as the voice for his Liege’s affairs. He relishes a good fight: throwing punches at a bar, clashing swords, sparring, anything that gets his heart pounding in his chest. If anything, constant death and reviving has made that worse. Why hold back, when he knows what’s to come after?
While his preferred method of problem-solving is physical force - particularly at sword-tip - Cian can be surprisingly patient. He regularly assists spirits and ghosts with unfinished business: a final goodbye, vengeance upon an enemy, or simply a friendly ear to air their grievances before they pass. Some ghosts stay, tethered to a place or a person, and Cian ensures that it’s properly recorded and notarized. And he has a soft spot for rascals and miscreants: trouble-makers, thieves, tricksters, conmen.
It’s only around his Liege that Cian’s bravado falters, that he bends the knee, that he does as he’s told. They are one of the few entities that he fears, the keeper of his fate, the layer of his geas, and Cian hates her, and Cian loves him, and it’s really complicated.
Abilities: Recursive Immortality - Crossing into the Nightlands requires dying. Every time Cian is killed, he is sent to the Nightlands to fulfill any necessary duties - court, reports, paperwork, receiving new orders, etc - before he wakes again in the world of the living. He still feels the pain with each death, be it from drowning or the blade or other physical trauma, and it always hurts. Upon revival, he usually has some light bruising or scabs from his previous death. When he’s lucky, he’s sent back out in the open, or on a shoreline, but more often than not, he has to claw his way out of the ground, or swim up from deeper waters.
Living Shadow - Cian’s shadow is alive, sentient, and (normally) under his control. It can interact with the material world in limited ways: helping him draw his sword, opening doors, moving objects. If he’s particularly rested and in a well-lit room, his shadow can manifest as dark tentacles to hold down an opponent. The less light, the weaker it is. Importantly, Cian’s shadow was granted to him by his Liege, and serves as his main connection to the Nightlands. It can override his will, and on the occasion he’s needed in court immediately, it can kill him. (Usually by choking).
Rot - There’s an aura of rot around him that he can’t fully control or predict. Sometimes, it only makes plantlife wilt a little, while other times, it causes meat to rot and fruits and vegetables to completely decay. Makes cooking a bitch.
Swordsmanship - Yeah, he’s good with a sword too.
