Real name: Ashley "Ash" Banes
Gender: Male
Birthday: November 2nd - Scorpio
Powers/abilities: Ravenspeak
The short version: he can talk to ravens.
The long version: he doesn't actually "talk", insofar as they can't literally understand human words, but they can share present thoughts, emotions, mental images, and ideas with one another. To this degree, he can ask favors of the birds, give warnings, as well as receive them. In later stages, he will be able to call (not summon) any and all nearby ravens, see through the nearest one's eyes, and be able to mimic their sounds. This ability can be utilized effectively in battles by asking birds to PECK AND CLAW THE s**t OUT OF HIS ENEMIES. Or to poop on them for pranks.
Rookie: Limited to ravens within ten yards of his current position and a total of 6 birds communicated with at a single time. Can communicate through shared emotions, mental images, and vague ideas.
Sidekick: Limited to ravens within twenty yards of his current position and a total of twelve birds communicated at a single time. Can communicate through shared emotions, mental images, and vague ideas. Able to call/send out a distress signal to all ravens within an extended range of thirty yards who will then flock within his twenty yard limitation so they may be communicated with easier.
Hero: Limited to forty yards of his current position and a total of twenty four birds communicated at a single time. Can communicate through shared emotions, mental images, and vague ideas. Able to fill in the gaps with hand gestures, simple words, and sound mimicry (of ravens). Can call/send a distress signal to all ravens within an extended range of sixty yards who then flock within his forty yard limitation so they may be communicated with easier. Able to lock onto a single raven within range and see through its eyes at any given moment.
Superhero: Limited to sixty yards of his current position and a total of forty-eight birds, holy s**t, communicated with at a single time. Can communicate through shared emotions, mental images, and vague ideas. Able to fill in the blanks with hand gestures, simple words, and sound mimicry (of ravens). Can call/send a distress signal to all ravens within an extended range of eighty yards who then flock within his sixty yard limitation so they may be communicated with easier. Able to lock onto a single raven within range and see through its eyes at any given moment. Can now now use a single raven as a vocal medium and speak through it to deliver messages, though this is also limited to his range of sixty yards.
Which area is the character based/from: Northeastern Ronth
Age upon entering academy: Fifteen
How did your character get their powers: Genetic (mutation) -- It's something he was born with but it didn't set in fully, to his understanding, until puberty.
Motivation for entering academy: A better life (selfish), understanding (of abilities), to do something worthwhile, to better the lives of the downtrodden
Ash has had it hard for as long as he can remember. He and his brother were always on their own and even in groups it was like they were alone. Ravens in particular always seemed drawn to Ash, though he didn't understand it at all until his brother's passing. Now that he's completely alone, abandoning the gang, he is running out of options and needs a way out of Ronth -- permanently.
Strengths:
Scavenger: blah ties into klepto kinda, he has a keen eye for useful things even when they might seem like junk to others. he's good at spotting deals, nabbing something before anyone else gets a chance, and he's even better at knowing when something's just not worth it.
Acrobatic: parkour dat b***h
sort of
not fully parkour but he and his brother had to learn to move fast and smart while on the streets. it's a dangerous life and this style developed somewhat naturally. he doesn't know it has a name and it definitely isn't technically the same but your every day viewer might see him move and make the assumption. easily scaling fences, moving past obstacles without being slowed down, bounding off walls, even jumping across roof tops are all common practices
Stealthy: definitely not a ninja, but shadows are friendly for him, the dark is comforting, and he's a quiet person normally -- nearly silent when he's trying
Weaknesses:
Sticky Fingers: (slight kleptomaniacal/hoarding tendencies; sometimes shiny things, something kept for no reason other than he likes them, other times he'll try to pawn them off for a few quick bucks. it is slightly kleptomaniacal because if he sees anything discarded at all it's an immediate "finders keepers" thought process, but he won't outright take from stores or people unless absolutely necessary. they're both mild compulsions rather than a conscious decision but rarely does ash do anything to fight it)
Easily Spooked: (loud noises; he doesn't yell or get frightened easily so much, but loud noises are something that have always disturbed his calm and, to some degree, he is a bit jumpy with them. thunder storms, car crashes, gun shots, fireworks, even someone blaring their music can put ash on edge and he definitely doesn't like people who yell)
Suspicious: Not by choice but as a result of Ash's lifestyle, it can be easy for others to look at him and see someone untrustworthy. It doesn't help that his ideals aren't quite in line with the modern hero, that he has been able to survive most of his life on theft, or that his eyes are always scrutinizing everything and everyone distrustfully, either.
Personality: Scrupulous (merit), Opinionated (merit), Self Conscious (flaw), Judgmental (flaw), Emotionally Fragile (flaw), Thoughtful (merit), Altruistic (merit), Intuitive (merit), Troubled/Brooding (flaw), Secretive (flaw), Blunt (flaw/merit)
For lack of a better term, Ash is a street rat. He's been one for years now and it's a life he's fully embraced. That doesn't mean he doesn't want something better and he's always on the look out for opportunities with which he can improve upon his quality of living. Unlike some others in his position, Ash is not someone who would do anything for those opportunities. In fact, he has a very long list of things she would never resort to doing which range from armed robbery all the way up to killing. He has strong opinions on matters like that, actually, and was instilled with many scruples and values through his brother and the other few positive influences throughout his life. Never would she hurt someone that didn't deserve it, which usually translates into them trying to hurt her or other people who don't deserve it first. The fact that people "deserving" to get hurt or die being completely subjective is something he hasn't quite wrapped his mind around yet and he tends to look at things in a pretty black and white fashion. It's easy to see who the bad guys are from their actions, in Ash's mind, but experience has taught him to be distrusting of most everyone initially.
Hobbies: sometimes sits on fire escapes and watches people's tvs, collecting rain water for drinking, finding alternative methods of survival in ronth that don't involve taking other people's things (unless, of course, they've already gotten rid of it)
Likes: being warm, soft cotton fabrics, getting more than a few bites to eat every other day, food is really great wow
Dislikes: cats (birds and cats don't get along and stray cats were mad competition for food), being hungry, stealing, socioeconomic disparity
Fears: rational and irrational;
General backstory: young orphan or run away in a kiddy street gang in ronth, sees some serious bad s**t, on the run a lot, livin' like a hobo, strugglin' errday, oh my god birds you are so helpful, thank you, what the crap???
practically raised by older brother, the two ran away from a ronth orphanage (that was practically falling apart anyway) when he was very young so he doesn't remember much outside of traveling from place to place, rooting through trash, avoiding police and security, and running from dangerous people in their exact same position. he was pretty sure his brother had some sort of gift but he never explained it to ash
(his nickname was "copycat" and he could make doubles of himself; the downside is that each double was a legitimate living, breathing, feeling, thinking copy with all of his memories and emotions and they could die just as easily -- the deaths were felt by the original but any injuries it acquired showed up as scars).
it's possible he'll never know what it was, as twoish years ago there was a huge scuffle among their gang and a more serious one, which resulted in many injuries and a few deaths. his brother was one of those killed, which marked the end of his term in the gang. he didn't speak for several weeks and even stayed by his brother's body for three days, having moved it into an alley and out of sight. it only became a problem once the smell hit, and a bunch of carrion birds decided he'd make a good meal -- ravens. ash finally gave up on the body, from the crows' assurances, but instead of letting them eat his brother he pulled him back out into the open for the authorities to find after giving him a makeshift vigil. one crow in particular stayed with ash after that and the two developed a wordless bond. it helped him find edible things, he gave it shelter from poor weather. it was a nice trade off, and in time his grief gave way to curiosity and a morbid acceptance.
Looks department:
includes things like physical traits (eyes, hair, height and weight, blablabla), costume, colour scheme, symbol (if you want), etc.
LOTS AND LOTS OF BLACK
GRUNGY HOBO MALL GOTH
not only black, that'll be reserved for the actual costume
for now, just really dulled out colors
