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Name: Given name unknown. Changed to Jacob Starr, occasionally uses aliases. Responds to 'J'.
Age: 24 (appearance), approx. 1900 (actual)
Gender: Male
Species/Race: Lupine sholai, a race of psionic beings native to the world of Zall.
Height: 7'
Weight: 358 lbs.
Build: Muscular.
Coloration (skin, scales, fur, feathers, hair, etc.):Vivid orange hair, cut short and messy. Thick, crimson fur; black skin.
Eye Color: Unknown. Jei always keeps his eyes covered when in his default form.
Distinguishing features: Jacob has a confident look about him, and smiles frequently, often revealing his sharp, pointed teeth. He has a moderately muscular build that he can change with his shapeshifting abilities (see below). On his upper back is a white mark in the shape of five spears crossing in the shape of a star (the holy symbol of Auros, Zall’s equivalent to Christianity). He also has a red trigram mark (a triangle in a circle) on both palms. The trigrams are hereditary, marking him as a sholai, while the spears are a special mark that signifies his Undying status (see below).
Clothing / Armor: Jacob arrived in the Dream wearing his favorite outfit, an embroidered green tunic. He’s not picky, though, and will wear almost anything that’s handy. He doesn't take to wearing regular armor, as he can create his own with the forcecrafting ability. He will always wear either a cloth blindfold, or a special metal plate blindfold. This plate covers his eyes and a large area around it, much like a mask. It is cushioned by leather padding for comfort purposes, and secured to Jacob's head by a metal chain.
Occupation / Class: Varies.
Affiliations (family, friends, organizations): Jacob's original family has long since died, and he has yet to start a new one. He makes various aquaintances wherever he goes, but none so far in the Dream.
Accessories (weapons, jewelry, tools, magic items, vehicles, etc.): Jacob prefers to rely on his own power instead of using items, so he usually carries very little with him.
Glass Gateway: Jacob crafted this item himself in order to make his way into another world. It appears to be a glass bracelet, but when Jacob places it over his head and thinks of a destination, it expands to the size of a hula hoop and teleports him to that place when he lowers it around his body (provided that the location isn’t warded by magic), whereupon it returns to bracelet size.
If a destination is not completely specified, the gate fulfills the incomplete specifications and randomizes the other details, and may break upon entry. Unfortunately, not knowing anything about the Dream expect that it was another world, Jei caused a malfunction upon entering the dream. The gate is currently broken into pieces, which Jei carries with him at all times.
Pets: None that travel with him, although he does enjoy interacting with other animals a bit.
Abilities/Skills & Power Level: Jacob is at the peak of physical fitness (by mortal standards). He has dabbled in boxing and grappling, as well as some basic weapon proficiencies and a great variety of Zalian languages including (but not limited to): Alanean (English equivalent), Zyempyani (Russian), Shiroiwa-go (Japanese), and Eisenlandic (German). These skills aren’t extremely advanced, as Jei spends most of his training time augmenting his psionic abilities (see below).
Psionics: The livelihood of any sholai is in their psionic abilities, and Jacob is no exception. Rather than drawing myrrh (mana) from the surrounding environment and channeling it into a spell like normal mages, sholai store myrrh in their own body and produce a different variety of supernatural effects, psionics. This means that sholai like Jacob are incapable of learning any other form of magic.
Psionics are not instantaneous; there is a period of concentration needed to manifest them, and generally only one power can be in use at a time.
Jacob’s psionic abilities are as follows:
Bodily Augmentations: Jacob can modify his body in order to be more effective at melee combat, toughening his skin, enlarging his claws, building up his muscles, or increasing his speed and metabolism, among other uses.
Camouflage: Jacob can blend in with his surroundings, resembling a weaker version of invisibility, and weaken his scent. Keen eyes and noses may still be able to spot him, however.
Shapeshifting: Jacob can alter the physical features of his body, as long as he does not greatly vary his total body weight. He mainly uses this ability to disguise himself as someone else.
Detect magic: Jacob can detect supernatural activity, be it magic, psionic, or otherwise, at will. Overly strong magics may temporarily overwhelm him.
Telekinesis: Jacob can levitate or otherwise move objects that weigh up to 4,000 pounds in total without strain. Magic resistance may mitigate this ability. Jacob normally uses it to clear a path for himself, throw his enemies around, or simply fetch a distant object.
Flight: An extension of Telekinesis on Jacob’s body, this provides the means to fly through the air at speeds of up to 200 mph. He is quite nimble and acrobatic in flight, and can accelerate and decelerate quickly.
Phasing: Jacob can separate his molecules in order to pass through solid objects. He cannot phase through wards or magic barriers. He can activate this at the same time as his flight power.
Telepathy: Jacob has the ability to telepathically communicate with any sentient creature without enough mental protection. He can also attempt to discern their surface thoughts, though this too will fail against significant mental resistance.
Concussion: Concussion lands a solid physical blow on a target from a distance, using naught but Jacob’s mental force. More hardy opponents will be less affected, or unaffected, by Concussion.
Forcecraft: A more permanent use of mental energy, in the form of a physical object created out of thin air. Typical forcecrafted objects are weapons, armor, barriers, and platforms (the latter used as an alternative to flight). Forcecrafted objects have a default strength similar to that of steel, and are invisible save for a shimmering effect on light passing through them. The creation time is greater for bigger and/or more complicated objects.
Personal Gravity: The ability to change the direction of Jacob’s personal gravity; in other words, walk up walls and ceilings. Like Flight, this ability requires concentration. Jacob will be normally affected by gravity should the effect be broken.
Divination: Jacob can attempt to discern the nature of a supernaturally enhanced item’s magics and determine its function. Divination may fail depending on the item’s wards or complication of magics.
Remote Sense: Jacob has the ability to project his senses at a maximum distance of ten miles, sensing (in any of the five senses that he chooses) anything within ten feet of his projection point. Jacob cannot sense magically warded areas. If Jacob uses this ability at less than 500 feet, he can use other psionic powers simultaneously; if he exceeds this distance, however, he will lose contact with his normal senses, making him vulnerable to attack.
Overpower: Normally, a sholai’s body has a number of locks on its psionic ability, in order to keep itself healthy and intact. As an absolute last resort, Jacob can use this ultimate psionic power to break these locks and multiply his power a hundredfold. He will grow more feral in appearance, and his fur will become matted with his blood. It is almost impossible to stop Jacob in this state, but aside from the excruciating pain the user suffers, his body will be stressed beyond repair after several minutes, killing him. Thanks to his undying status, Jacob’s body will reform, but it will take eight days at the very least, thanks to the destructive stress Overpower inflicts. Furthermore, he cannot use Overpower again for a full year, or else the time allowed before he is killed again will be drastically reduced. Naturally, Jacob will not use it unless his circumstances are as dire as they can get.
Power Level: Given Jacob’s abnormally long lifespan, he has been given more time than normal for a sholai to gain psionic power, and is now not only the most accomplished sholai on Zall, but also the most powerful being to hail specifically from that plane. Of course, due to the rigid laws governing reality in Zall, the limit for power is relatively low. Jacob will find himself frequently outclassed by the more god-like beings of the Dream, and indeed some of the more reasonably powered ones as well.
Dream-Exclusive Powers: Because of the Dream's very loose laws of reality, Jacob is slowly learning to expand his powers to suit his new environment. The following abilities only function in the Dream or a world with similar leeway towards supernatural abilities.
Improved Shapeshifting: Jacob has access to a pocket dimension where he can store organic material to increase or decrease his mass far beyond his limits on Zall. The dimension can currently store enough mass to support a form of up to 4 tons in weight, or as little as one ounce.
Weaknesses: Because of the wrack, it is quite difficult for Jacob to fight for extended periods of time. Also, as previously mentioned, psionics are the only supernatural abilities that Jei can learn.
Special Effects (if any):
Heightened Senses: All anthros from Zall have hearing and smell far above the human average. Even without the use of his eyes and psionics, Jacob can move around and fight without much difficulty in sensing his surroundings.
Merely being a sholai is above average, but Jacob’s history goes one step further. Ieshu Auric granted him the following qualities:
Undying: As long as Jacob is marked by Auric, he cannot be permanently killed by any power in any universe. Even if his body is destroyed, it will regenerate from even a single particle in a few days’ time (more if Overpower was used beforehand). This does not prevent him from feeling pain, and may even expose him to even more pain than the normal person in certain conditions, due to his body being unable to shut itself down, but it also has a bolstering effect on his confidence, knowing that he will stay alive no matter what happens to him. He does not age, nor does he suffer fatal effects from disease or poison (all other effects still apply).
The Wrack: A disease from Zall that is eventually fatal to most that contract it. Jacob was inflicted with this when he received his mark, and while he will never die from it, he will never be rid of it, either. The wrack causes a dull ache in most of Jacob’s body, and causes him to occasionally cough up blood. It is not contagious. Other parts of Jacob’s body may sometimes become injured because of it, but not for more than a day.
Description of Personality: Jacob is generally upbeat and casual, although he has a tendency to annoy or demean some people he interacts with. He tends to smile a lot, except when severely distressed. He is very curious about the Dream, and eagerly learns everything he can about it. He prizes his independence above all else; he doesn’t care what people think of him and his actions, and he acts mainly to better his own abilities and well-being. He is quite responsible, though, and he will respect and frequently defend the freedom of other people. Perhaps is greatest challenge is balancing his open lifestyle with his love for an orderly, rigid God.
Brief History: In Zall, Jacob has been very tight-lipped about his history, telling very few about it; this may change in the Dream due to the people there who might be able to understand him better.
During the first years of Jacob’s life, he was far more immature and abusive towards other people. He lived in the Dry Lands, then under the control of the vast Utopian Empire, whose soldiers he enjoyed harassing. He was top of his game until the Hallowed Soul, Ieshu Auric, came to prominence.
The world of Zall has always had strict laws of magic and psionics, and yet Auric was able to break those rules with his miracles, which Jacob failed to do no matter how hard he tried. Gradually he began to despise Auric for his talent, and focused on destroying him instead of self-improvement.
Eventually he got his chance. The Utopian Empire offered a reward for Auric’s capture, and using his powers, he found and turned Auric into the authorities. They executed him by means of excruciation, impaling him with spears that were enchanted to heal his wounds just enough for him to stay alive for a few more hours while triggering a massive amount of pain. Jacob was disappointed that Auric didn’t make a sound while he died, unlike the other victims who would scream until their lungs gave out.
In the days following Auric’s death, Jacob slowly began to lose his mind. When he handled his reward, he imagined that the money seared the skin off of his fingers, even though it was at normal temperature. Eventually he lost touch with reality completely and felt an extreme pain throughout his entire body. When he sought shelter in a cave on the fifth day, he was unable to move or even stand up from the agony before a resurrected Auric appeared to aid him.
Auric urged him to stand, or he would never know happiness again. It took considerable time and all of Jacob’s power just to get on his knees. It was during this time that Jacob forced himself to let Auric be the better man and concentrate on himself alone, without anyone else to consider. As he asked for Auric’s forgiveness, the cave ceiling, weakened by the telekinetic force Jacob emitted as he struggled, collapsed and crushed his body.
It would be just about a century before Jacob would wake up, still under boulders but powered by Auric’s final miracle. Eventually he freed and healed himself, noting that Auros had gained a widespread following, spread by Auric’s disciples.
Over the centuries Jacob developed his power and watched history unfold, participating directly when he felt that he was needed. He only recently became aware of the existence of other worlds, and after building the Glass Gateway, successfully teleported to the Napping Cat’s Dream.
A brief and character revealing answer to the question, "What is your ambition?": “Life, liberty, and the pursiut of happiness. I will improve myself and help others do so themselves.”
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