App
Full Name: Sebastian Kraehe
Race: Other (Specifically a Carrion Crow)
If Other, provide a description of how they differ from humans: He's a crow, man, what is there to tell? In crow form, he's completely uninteresting and looks just like any other crow. He can switch between his crow and human forms at will, and has the ability to visit misfortune on those in his vicinity.
Occupation: Professional Bad Omen
Faction, if applicable: None, though the Golden Hour is a convenient ally
Reputation & rumors: As a crow, he bears all the reputation of his brethren: he's a bad omen, he brings tidings of death, he's smarter than a bird should be, he'll eat anything (including the dead).
As a human, he's known as a cheerful, friendly sort who enjoys gambling. He's got a bit of a reputation for being incredibly lucky at it. It's also been whispered around that people who get on his bad side suffer some sort of misfortune, and those who don't know he's a crow may be inclined to think he's some kind of witch.
Around the Golden Hour, some say he is no ordinary crow--that he is Huginn or Muninn, one of the crows said to have sat upon Odin's shoulders and whispered the secrets of the world to him. His silence on the matter only fuels the rumour. He's also known as a good source for information that could be learned through gossip. Members of the Golden Hour should know to watch their tongue around any crows. There are also rumours that he's a thief--he can't help it, he loves shiny things ='(
Age: Around 20, he doesn't know the exact number since his lifespan got weird when the witch took him on. Apparent age is early-20's.
Birthday: Unknown
Birth Hatching Location: A nest in a tree in Germany
Height: 5'6" tall as a human; 20" long as a crow
Weight: 130lb as a human; Slightly over 1lb as a crow
PB: Mousse (from Ranma 1/2)
History: When he hatched, he was just a simple crow. He spent his days scavenging for food, pissing off farmers, and hanging out with scarecrows. He would have lived and died an unnotable life if not for the day he landed on a windowsill to snack on a cooling apple pie. The windowsill, you see, belonged to a witch.
She was not happy to find a crow pecking away at her freshly baked pies. With a word, she froze the unfortunate bird in place and threw him into an iron cage, setting it on that same windowsill to taunt him with a view of the outside--and of the pies.
He stayed there three days, miserable, squaking at her repugnant old face and throwing himself against the bars of the cage. At the end of those three days he lay on the floor of the cage, hungry and exhausted, when finally she came to him and opened the door of the cage. He wasted no time in getting the hell out of there.
Life resumed as normal, with a new wariness of windowsills. He almost forgot the witch completely. One day, while he was gathering shiny things to hoard in his nest, he stumbled upon a basket full of golden thread behind an inauspicious home and hurried to steal some of the precious material for himself.
And there, standing in the doorway beside the basket, was the old woman who'd locked him up in that awful cage. He dropped his prize and flew away so fast it could've started a hurricane.
But these things always come in threes. The third time he encountered the witch, she caught him roosting in the rafters of her barn. "You must really like it here," she cackled, in crusty German. But even a crow knows that thrice is no coincidence, and he stayed, wings half-furled, and listened warily to what she had to say. She made an offer. Food and safety in return for service. He wouldn't have to worry about running into her and raising her ire if he was working for her, and she would see that he had all the ill-gotten corn and breadcrumbs he wanted.
Witches don't make offers to take on familiars lightly, he understood, and a chance like this didn't come along every day. As much as he liked being a perfectly normal crow with a perfectly normal life, the idea of magic was very appealing--think of all the shiny trinkets he could get if he knew magic!
The first order of business was getting a body that could run the sorts of errands an old woman needed run. She turned him into a human boy and gave him a name: Sebastian. She taught Sebastian to walk, talk, read, and all manner of other things he needed to know to help with her witchery. He had some trouble for a while, until she figured out that she hadn't quite gotten the eyes right and gave him some glasses to fix that, but once all the kinks were worked out he swiftly fell into his role. For years, he lived with the witch, helping her with her magic and learning some of his own. He was best with curses. It was only natural, she said; crows were bad omens, after all.
He learned a lot from the old witch, but he learned more from his infrequent visits into town. He learned about people, how to act around them and how to trick them. They were so different from crows; he found them fascinating.
Eventually, the old witch died. Even though he was free of obligations and could return to his normal, crow-y life, Sebastian thought he'd have more fun in the city, slipping in and out among humans. He flew away in search of a new place, and found himself drawn to a place named Tyrol, in a country called Balfour.
He spent a long time observing; he discovered the Golden Hour and that he was what they called an "Other." It was a convenient place to stay if he needed to, though he preferred nesting elsewhere in his crow form, but more importantly, it was a place where he could talk about being a crow without raising too many eyebrows.
He doesn't hold any true alligiences in Tyrol, but the Golden Hour is a safe haven and he respects the Others there. He's been there a few years now and has no plans to ever leave.
Personality: Sebastian is a curious sort who's always listening for interesting tidbits of information. Just as crows hover in wait for scraps of food, he hovers in wait for scraps of conversation. He's got no personal vested interest in knowing all the gossip in people's lives--hell he doesn't even repeat most of what he hears--he just absolutely needs to know. With his constant eavesdropping and complete lack of political loyalties, (and his love of shiny things,) he is an easily-bribed informant for anybody seeking information.
He is rather self-centered. He can't help it, he's a motha fuckin' crow! Empathy is asking a bit much, you know? It's not that he's egotistical or expects people to cater to him, he just sees the world as divided into, "things that will directly benefit me," "things that will harm me," and "everything else." It's when you hit the third category that he employs rational thought instead of survival instinct.
His love for shiny things knows no bounds. You can get him to do practically anything for a shiny bit of metal. Money has no value to him except for the severity of its sheen. And hey--you know what's a great way to make lots of shiny money? Cheating at cards. He's fucking amazing at it. Don't play cards with Sebastian I am for real here. He card-sharks like a pro, usually playing up a dumb foreigner persona to trick people into a false sense of security.
He's very carefree and happy-go-lucky, which you wouldn't expect from somebody who is very skilled at cursing people and is an omen of death and ill luck, but there it is. He socializes easily and loves people, but sometimes it is obvious that he was not raised in any human society and the small points of non-understanding can be unsettling.
He experiences his emotions very strongly and doesn't try to hide them--except for those instinctive ones that pose a danger, you know, like fear, which can get you killed if you show it. He's bold and brazen and loud and obnoxious, with no concept of personal space and very little brain-to-mouth filter, and can be either a lot of fun to be around or the last person you want to spend any amount of time with.
Don't be fooled by the loud, carefree personality, though. Sebastian is cunning, vindictive (he didn't get good at curses by being a saint), and very shrewd. His problem-solving skills are top-notch, and he'll bang his head against a tough problem for weeks trying to come up with a solution. He'd make a very good lab rat, in that regard. And, while he may not care about the ramifications of what he says, he is quite capable of understanding the political impact of the things he hears. His ear for gossip gives him a wonderful objective view of the situation in the city and of all the ins and outs of its society.
Appearance: Crow form: BORING, HE'S A CROW. There is literally nothing identifying or special about him in crow form, he's just a black feathery asshole. The only way you could possibly recognize that particular crow as Sebastian is if he decided to speak (his voice in crow form just him vocalizing human sounds as a crow, pretty eerie), or if you recognized his behaviour.
His human form is more interesting. He has long, thick black hair, usually left unbound, hanging to his shoulder-blades with bangs ending just above his eyes. If you catch it in the right light, you might see a green or violet sheen to it, the same as his feathers. He has a round face with soft features and eyes that are so dark grey they are just shy of black. He wears high-collared flowing clothes (for the cool factor + freedom of movement), and a pair of thick round wire-rimmed glasses. The glasses aren't cosmetic. The difference in shape between human eyes and bird eyes didn't get taken into account during his transformation, so light focuses in front of his retinas, leaving him nearsighted.
He can change the appearance of his apparel at will, but the basis of his form is locked in. He can't change that because someone else set it for him.
Languages Known: German, English (literate in both)
Skills: Simple curses and minor magic (lighting candles and practical things like that), acting like an idiot to lure people into a false sense of security, card-sharking (seriously don't play cards with this guy), the ability to eat practically anything I swear to god
Strengths: Curse magic, great problem-solving skills, his interest in information, skillful flying!
Weaknesses: shiny things 8(((((, the inability to fully understand human society, his human eyesight, no seriously shiny things, his insatiable curiosity, did I mention shiny things?
Race: Other (Specifically a Carrion Crow)
If Other, provide a description of how they differ from humans: He's a crow, man, what is there to tell? In crow form, he's completely uninteresting and looks just like any other crow. He can switch between his crow and human forms at will, and has the ability to visit misfortune on those in his vicinity.
Occupation: Professional Bad Omen
Faction, if applicable: None, though the Golden Hour is a convenient ally
Reputation & rumors: As a crow, he bears all the reputation of his brethren: he's a bad omen, he brings tidings of death, he's smarter than a bird should be, he'll eat anything (including the dead).
As a human, he's known as a cheerful, friendly sort who enjoys gambling. He's got a bit of a reputation for being incredibly lucky at it. It's also been whispered around that people who get on his bad side suffer some sort of misfortune, and those who don't know he's a crow may be inclined to think he's some kind of witch.
Around the Golden Hour, some say he is no ordinary crow--that he is Huginn or Muninn, one of the crows said to have sat upon Odin's shoulders and whispered the secrets of the world to him. His silence on the matter only fuels the rumour. He's also known as a good source for information that could be learned through gossip. Members of the Golden Hour should know to watch their tongue around any crows. There are also rumours that he's a thief--he can't help it, he loves shiny things ='(
Age: Around 20, he doesn't know the exact number since his lifespan got weird when the witch took him on. Apparent age is early-20's.
Birthday: Unknown
Birth Hatching Location: A nest in a tree in Germany
Height: 5'6" tall as a human; 20" long as a crow
Weight: 130lb as a human; Slightly over 1lb as a crow
PB: Mousse (from Ranma 1/2)
History: When he hatched, he was just a simple crow. He spent his days scavenging for food, pissing off farmers, and hanging out with scarecrows. He would have lived and died an unnotable life if not for the day he landed on a windowsill to snack on a cooling apple pie. The windowsill, you see, belonged to a witch.
She was not happy to find a crow pecking away at her freshly baked pies. With a word, she froze the unfortunate bird in place and threw him into an iron cage, setting it on that same windowsill to taunt him with a view of the outside--and of the pies.
He stayed there three days, miserable, squaking at her repugnant old face and throwing himself against the bars of the cage. At the end of those three days he lay on the floor of the cage, hungry and exhausted, when finally she came to him and opened the door of the cage. He wasted no time in getting the hell out of there.
Life resumed as normal, with a new wariness of windowsills. He almost forgot the witch completely. One day, while he was gathering shiny things to hoard in his nest, he stumbled upon a basket full of golden thread behind an inauspicious home and hurried to steal some of the precious material for himself.
And there, standing in the doorway beside the basket, was the old woman who'd locked him up in that awful cage. He dropped his prize and flew away so fast it could've started a hurricane.
But these things always come in threes. The third time he encountered the witch, she caught him roosting in the rafters of her barn. "You must really like it here," she cackled, in crusty German. But even a crow knows that thrice is no coincidence, and he stayed, wings half-furled, and listened warily to what she had to say. She made an offer. Food and safety in return for service. He wouldn't have to worry about running into her and raising her ire if he was working for her, and she would see that he had all the ill-gotten corn and breadcrumbs he wanted.
Witches don't make offers to take on familiars lightly, he understood, and a chance like this didn't come along every day. As much as he liked being a perfectly normal crow with a perfectly normal life, the idea of magic was very appealing--think of all the shiny trinkets he could get if he knew magic!
The first order of business was getting a body that could run the sorts of errands an old woman needed run. She turned him into a human boy and gave him a name: Sebastian. She taught Sebastian to walk, talk, read, and all manner of other things he needed to know to help with her witchery. He had some trouble for a while, until she figured out that she hadn't quite gotten the eyes right and gave him some glasses to fix that, but once all the kinks were worked out he swiftly fell into his role. For years, he lived with the witch, helping her with her magic and learning some of his own. He was best with curses. It was only natural, she said; crows were bad omens, after all.
He learned a lot from the old witch, but he learned more from his infrequent visits into town. He learned about people, how to act around them and how to trick them. They were so different from crows; he found them fascinating.
Eventually, the old witch died. Even though he was free of obligations and could return to his normal, crow-y life, Sebastian thought he'd have more fun in the city, slipping in and out among humans. He flew away in search of a new place, and found himself drawn to a place named Tyrol, in a country called Balfour.
He spent a long time observing; he discovered the Golden Hour and that he was what they called an "Other." It was a convenient place to stay if he needed to, though he preferred nesting elsewhere in his crow form, but more importantly, it was a place where he could talk about being a crow without raising too many eyebrows.
He doesn't hold any true alligiences in Tyrol, but the Golden Hour is a safe haven and he respects the Others there. He's been there a few years now and has no plans to ever leave.
Personality: Sebastian is a curious sort who's always listening for interesting tidbits of information. Just as crows hover in wait for scraps of food, he hovers in wait for scraps of conversation. He's got no personal vested interest in knowing all the gossip in people's lives--hell he doesn't even repeat most of what he hears--he just absolutely needs to know. With his constant eavesdropping and complete lack of political loyalties, (and his love of shiny things,) he is an easily-bribed informant for anybody seeking information.
He is rather self-centered. He can't help it, he's a motha fuckin' crow! Empathy is asking a bit much, you know? It's not that he's egotistical or expects people to cater to him, he just sees the world as divided into, "things that will directly benefit me," "things that will harm me," and "everything else." It's when you hit the third category that he employs rational thought instead of survival instinct.
His love for shiny things knows no bounds. You can get him to do practically anything for a shiny bit of metal. Money has no value to him except for the severity of its sheen. And hey--you know what's a great way to make lots of shiny money? Cheating at cards. He's fucking amazing at it. Don't play cards with Sebastian I am for real here. He card-sharks like a pro, usually playing up a dumb foreigner persona to trick people into a false sense of security.
He's very carefree and happy-go-lucky, which you wouldn't expect from somebody who is very skilled at cursing people and is an omen of death and ill luck, but there it is. He socializes easily and loves people, but sometimes it is obvious that he was not raised in any human society and the small points of non-understanding can be unsettling.
He experiences his emotions very strongly and doesn't try to hide them--except for those instinctive ones that pose a danger, you know, like fear, which can get you killed if you show it. He's bold and brazen and loud and obnoxious, with no concept of personal space and very little brain-to-mouth filter, and can be either a lot of fun to be around or the last person you want to spend any amount of time with.
Don't be fooled by the loud, carefree personality, though. Sebastian is cunning, vindictive (he didn't get good at curses by being a saint), and very shrewd. His problem-solving skills are top-notch, and he'll bang his head against a tough problem for weeks trying to come up with a solution. He'd make a very good lab rat, in that regard. And, while he may not care about the ramifications of what he says, he is quite capable of understanding the political impact of the things he hears. His ear for gossip gives him a wonderful objective view of the situation in the city and of all the ins and outs of its society.
Appearance: Crow form: BORING, HE'S A CROW. There is literally nothing identifying or special about him in crow form, he's just a black feathery asshole. The only way you could possibly recognize that particular crow as Sebastian is if he decided to speak (his voice in crow form just him vocalizing human sounds as a crow, pretty eerie), or if you recognized his behaviour.
His human form is more interesting. He has long, thick black hair, usually left unbound, hanging to his shoulder-blades with bangs ending just above his eyes. If you catch it in the right light, you might see a green or violet sheen to it, the same as his feathers. He has a round face with soft features and eyes that are so dark grey they are just shy of black. He wears high-collared flowing clothes (for the cool factor + freedom of movement), and a pair of thick round wire-rimmed glasses. The glasses aren't cosmetic. The difference in shape between human eyes and bird eyes didn't get taken into account during his transformation, so light focuses in front of his retinas, leaving him nearsighted.
He can change the appearance of his apparel at will, but the basis of his form is locked in. He can't change that because someone else set it for him.
Languages Known: German, English (literate in both)
Skills: Simple curses and minor magic (lighting candles and practical things like that), acting like an idiot to lure people into a false sense of security, card-sharking (seriously don't play cards with this guy), the ability to eat practically anything I swear to god
Strengths: Curse magic, great problem-solving skills, his interest in information, skillful flying!
Weaknesses: shiny things 8(((((, the inability to fully understand human society, his human eyesight, no seriously shiny things, his insatiable curiosity, did I mention shiny things?