Appy
Character name: Manuel Laurin, aka Standing Waters
Background: Manuel is an Old World of Darkness character. He's a Mokolé (or Dragon's Breed), a race of creatures somewhere between were-reptiles (mostly crocodilians) and dragons. They're also known as "The Memory of Gaia," as they possess an ancestral memory going back to the age of the dinosaurs. Like all other werecreatures in Manuel's world, they must breed with humans or normal animals to continue their bloodlines. There's only about a 10% chance the offspring will be Mokolé; all others are considered "kinfolk." In many cases kinfolk are unaware of their heritage, but in some cases (like Manny's) they live closely with their shapeshifting family members. Actual Mokolé are getting rarer and rarer as the world nears its end.
Manuel was born in the swamps of southeastern Louisiana to a family of kinfolk who ran a small alligator farm/refuge/rehabilitation center. Shortly after he was born, the only other Mokolé at the farm--Sunlit Marshes (aka 'Sunny')--was informed by the spirits that Manuel had 'bred true' instead of just being kinfolk. Thus he's known all his life of the role he's meant to play.
Until he was old enough to go to kindergarten, Manny lived exclusively on the farm with his family. This was largely to make sure he understood why everyone else didn't need to know the family secrets, but the time was also used to teach him the very basics of the Mokolé (and how to do a few chores around the farm). He's always been fascinated by Sunny's stories of their kind and the past, and spent a large part of his childhood looking forward to when he'd be able to experience those things himself. Unfortunately, as far as he was concerned, he was also expected to do chores around the farm and--once he was old enough to go to school--keep up his grades.
Even after he was old enough to go to public schools, Manuel still spent a large amount of time on the farm with his family. Sure, he had friends his own age to play with (usually at their places, for some strange reason parents didn't want their kids playing by gators), but he always felt closer to his family. He grew up with a pair of cousins right around his age that he spent a lot of time with, as well as one eight years older that he looked up to. Aside from the cousins, his parents, and 'aunt' Sunny (she's not really an aunt, as she was born an alligator, but is blood related), the farm was also home to two aunts and an uncle (the uncle and one of the aunts--a woman who married into the family but was kin to a group of Mokolé in Florida--are the parents to the cousins he grew up with). Some of the alligators and crocodiles on the farm were also related (or at least Mokolé kin), but he was hardly able to interact with them much as a child. He also has one younger cousin, but she wasn't born until around the time Manny graduated high school.
In school, Manuel was generally a good student. He got average grades, but was prone to day dreaming and had trouble getting tests done before the class period ended. He has more of an aptitude for arts and history than math and sciences, but never really found any subjects he was that interested in until he discovered machines. One day, when Manuel was seven, his father asked him for help with repairs on one of the family's cars. At that age he did little more than hold tools and ask questions, but Manny quickly discovered how fascinating it was. From that day on, he'd try to talk his way to getting his normal chores exchanged for repair and upkeep to the various machinery around the farm (and instructions on how to do it, of course, but he learned that quickly). By the time he was 13, maintaining the cars, boats and hovercraft at the farm was mostly Manuel's job. He later learned to operate them all, but found that working on them felt more satisfying. So, after graduating high school, he went onto a vocational college to study mechanics. He currently works at a garage owned by an older friend from school, and relies mostly on his sense of touch to work.
Manuel had his first change at the age of 14, and due to that ended up taking a year off of school before high school. It was explained away as 'family issues,' but in truth aunt Sunny took him away to learn more about the Mokolé. She took him to a Caern (a magical holy place) hidden away and tended to by a group of Mokolé. There he learned more about his place in the world, how to handle the abilities he'd recently come into, and even more about the history of the Mokolé. At the end of the year, Manny was given the choice of remaining at the Caern, going out on his own, or returning to the farm. He chose to return to his family, wanting to continue to protect them and their land.
There was a bit of social confusion when he returned home and went back to school, but Manny rolled with it. He'd always found it easy to talk to people, so he had little trouble making friends and saw no issue with being a year older than most of his classmates. The friends he had before he changed more or less remained, though some of them would continue to ask questions about his disappearance for awhile. School work was largely the same as it was before he changed, but he did find it even harder to finish tests in the alloted time. Which lead to a bunch of extra-credit assignments (and annoyance/complaining at them) but he was still able to pass on time with a C+ average.
Currently, Manuel works part time at the garage and spends the majority of his off time at the farm or in the swamps surrounding it. He does have a group of mundane friends he hangs out with once a week or so, but they understand that family always comes first with him. He doesn't have nearly as many chores to do, but he is responsible for protecting the farm against outside threats. The farm is small, and not well known aside from locally, so thankfully its under the radar for most threats. There have been a few issues, however, the most notable being when a fledgling vampire tried to move into the town. It took the two weeks and the help of a were-raven in the area to find and root him and his minions out. Also notable was an incident with a suspected swamp monster. A fomor (person possessed by an evil spirit and essentially turned into an evil mutant) moved into the swamps near the family's farm. It brought pollution and banes (evil spirits, basically) with it, and caused a small outbreak of sickness and more fomori. As far as the mortals knew, there was a small toxic spill that was dealt with in a 'timely manner.' In reality, the family spent around a month searching out the source and, eventually, fighting to destroy the banes and unfortunate fomori.
Personality: Manuel is generally a nice guy; he's friendly, open and enjoys helping people, even those he doesn't know well. His kind say he's destined to be a protector, and that fits him quite well. Manny would gladly protect his friends and family with his life, and will even step in to protect strangers he sees as innocent or weak (though he won't risk as much--his family needs him alive). He's generally rather cheerful and tries not to get bogged down in depression or anger...though he does have quite a temper at times. Werewolves and vampires piss him off to no end, as do normal wolves to a lesser extent.
Manuel and his kind worship the Sun, the Earth (Gaia) and Dragon (their people's totem); he's very ritualistic about such things, but usually keeps them in private. His fondness for the sun shows through in a few ways, though, like his tendency to sun bathe, preference to live diurnally and greeting of friends with "Sun sees you." He also has an affinity for water and loves swimming (in either human or alligator form).
Even though he's only 22 years old access to the memories of his kind make Manny view things on a much larger time scale than normal humans. He's got incredible patience (what's waiting a few days when one remembers centuries or more?), but is usually rather slow at making decisions. The bigger the decision, the longer he takes to mull it over. His thought process can be considered 'slow' because of this, but he's not stupid. He just moves at a different speed.
Aside from protecting his family and friends, Manuel aspires to create something lasting. It need not be a physical object; a great deed or other form of legacy would work just as well. He'd like to be someone useful in the memories of future Mokolé. To this end he also eats up as many stories--preferably true--from people he meets. Manuel is proud to be what he is, and sees the destiny he was born into as a gift that should be cherished and used to its fullest.
He also dreams of one day 'settling down,' taking a mate and raising young. He's terribly careful and ritualistic about anyone he's considering getting into a relationship with. Manny's less cautious about casual sex, but isn't very promiscuous.
Appearance: In human form, Manuel stands 5'7"-ish and weighs around 160lbs. He has brown eyes, dusky skin and black hair currently cut to between his ears and shoulder and worn kind of scruffy. He dresses most often in a t-shirt, boots and jeans or coveralls. He's often got dirt or oil under his fingernails, but tries to keep from being too dirty over all.
In reptilian form, Manuel is a rather unremarkable american alligator. He's about 12 feet long from snout to tail.
In his archid form, Manuel most resembles a miniaturized Spinosaurus. He measures seven feet tall at the shoulder, the spine adding an extra two feet, and is 18 feet long. He has gills as well as lungs in this form. His colouration is mainly the same as it is in alligator form.
Skills/Abilities: All Mokolé can shapeshift between three forms: human, reptile and archid. The human and reptile forms are identical to mundane animals, but the archid form is something else. Its the 'battle form' of the Mokolé, and each one is different. I stuck Manny's in appearance :3 Clothing is destroyed in the change, and all Mokolé revert to their breed form (human for Manny) when unconscious.
Normally, they can shift within seconds, except sometimes within high-stress situations (shifting during, say, combat or when one is doing something else that requires most of one's concentration may not work). At Vert Manny will find it much harder to shift, and will not be able to maintain archid form unless he's extremely angry or backed into a corner and unable to defend himself or someone else otherwise. He'll only be able to shift to alligator form if able to concentrate on it for at least five minutes and he's in an environment that 'fits the form' (he'll find it much easier to shift in the water or a warmer, more humid climate, and would be unable to shift at all in somewhere like a desert or completely urban area--with the possible exception of in sewers :3). If he's too weak (via injury, lack of sleep or something else), he'll be unable to shift out of human form at all and may revert to it if in another form.
As an aside, Manuel cannot speak any human language in his non-human forms. (There is a Gift for that, but he doesn't know it and I'll leave it up to modly ones if anything like that is learnable in game.)
In addition to shapeshifting, Mokolé have an ability called "Mnesis." This is the ancestral memory of their kind, passed from parent to child and thus different for each Mokolé. These memories are usually viewed by going into meditation or dreaming, and are viewed from the point of view of the Mokolé (or kin) who originally experienced them. Some Mokolé can remember only a few centuries, where as others can remember back to the Triassic period. Manuel can remember about a millennium, but this ability will be sealed.
Mokolé can regenerate wounds, save those from gold, silver or supernatural sources. It only takes minutes to heal a small cut, but may take days or months to heal a massive wound. This can only be done while resting in a form other than one's breed form, so isn't any help in combat. Larger wounds must be regenerated before smaller ones can be. This will be sealed (but gold and silver will still cause more serious wounds than other sources).
Lastly, Mokolé can use 'Gifts,' which are supernatural powers/magics taught to them by the spirits. Manuel knows two: One allows him to find water within a 20 mile radius, as well as letting him tell if that water is contaminated in any way. The other allows him to resist pain; it does not prevent him from being injured, but it prevents him from feeling the injuries for a short period of time. Both of these will be sealed.
For mundane abilities, Manuel's got pretty good stamina. He's a certified mechanic and knows how to live off the land (...of a swamp, at least) if needed. He's also pretty empathetic, but only in a mundane 'i can read body-language/your tone of voice' way. He also knows how to fight, but only hand to hand and is more experienced in fighting in archid form.
Manuel also knows a trick to control his body temperature. This is partly due to his Mokolé heritage, and is much more useful in archid form due to the spine on his back. If he concentrates enough he can keep himself from over or under heating--or cause himself to do so. Since he's cold-blooded as an alligator, he can't use this ability in that form.
The Mokolé have a few racial weaknesses. Silver and gold burn them, save in their breed form (though wounds caused by those metals are still worse/harder to heal than wounds from other sources). Items that are only silver or gold plated don't cause this problem, as there's not enough of it, nor do alloys that are more some-other-metal.
They are prone to 'frenzy' if they get too angry, or occasionally too injured. When in a frenzy, a Mokolé automatically assumes archid form and lashes out against anything in sight. They're completely blinded by rage and will continue to fight until they loose consciousness (either by using up all their energy or by being attacked).
Spoken/Written languages: English and Cajun-French. Manuel can also speak 'The Dragon's Tongue,' the language of the Mokolé, but that's rather unlikely to come up.
Items: Just the clothes on his back and his wallet (w/id and one credit card and nothing else in it)
Third person sample: Manuel slipped lazily through the water, watching and waiting. In this part of the swamp, sighting an alligator was hardly a strange thing, so his presence went unnoticed. Today he had a purpose besides sunbathing and hunting; Manny had overheard talk of men poaching while in town. That couldn't be allowed, especially not so close to his wallow, so he planned to teach them a lesson. Eating them might be more satisfying, but it'd be more dangerous in the long run, thus he'd settle for giving them a good scare. No one hunted 'gators in a swamp hiding a dinosaur.
A fish brushed his snout as he turned towards the shore, but Manuel restrained the urge to snap at it. He wasn't that hungry and the prey he was hunting was much more important--and worth the wait. He'd already been out here on and off for three days, but it was no big deal. They would come and he would be there for him; the Mokolé could wait years if it was needed.
Besides, it was nice and peaceful in the swamp while they were away. It was just too bad he couldn't nap in the sunlight.
Manuel wasn't sure how much time had passed before he finally smelled humans on the wind. The sun had long since gone down, so they likely thought they could sneak around better in the dark. Not that less light would do them any good. Inwardly, Manuel smirked as he drifted closer, listening closely to the intruders. He couldn't act too quickly, after all, scaring off harmless locals wasn't needed. He had no problem with those who lived in harmony with his swamps.
But these men were definitely what he'd waited for. They spoke of finding 'the big one' and something about making a mint in wallets and shoes. He could smell alcohol as well, which would certainly make this easier. The two men would never forget the fear they felt tonight, but who would listen to a drunk's tales of dragons? Part of him wanted to strike now, but instead Manuel lashed his tail and floated closer to the men. A foolish alligator drifting too far into the open would hopefully look like an easy target.
And he was right, it didn't take the men long to spot him. They laughed, praising their luck and making sure to get their guns ready. Manuel appeared to ignore them...until the first took a step into the water. Then he turned, snapping, towards the hunters. But it wasn't an alligator that greeted the men anymore. No, they were met with the gaze of an angry dragon, a nearly twenty foot long dinosaur-like creature lurking in the reeds. Manuel roared, making sure to show off all of his sharp, pointy teeth as he did so.
Predictably, the men panicked. Dropping their tools as they ran, each fighting to keep the other between himself and the danger. Manuel snapped at them, and followed onto the shore, but let them go unwounded. They wouldn't be back, and they had no proof of their encounter (assuming they even remembered anything other than the fear). Again he waited, until he could no longer hear the men crashing through the swamp, then shrunk down into his human form. They'd left their guns behind, and it wouldn't do to just let them sit here. Laughing, Manuel gathered them up and started back towards his home.
First person sample: *The feed clicks on with Manny clearing his throat.*
Hello? Can anybody hear me? ...Well, I guess you can't reply until I finish this, if I'm understanding this right. Ah, lets see, it was this one that...oh, I guess I can't do that yet. *He sighs*
My name's Manuel and I'd really like to get home. But I guess that's not so easy? Can someone at least explain what this is all about?
*Pause*
And, uh, why there's a giant rat watching me. Since its probably not dinner.
*Click*
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