Gender: Male
Age: Exact age is unknown, but looks to be at least 30.
Physical Description: White hair, teal-green eye. One eye. Bandages over his other (left). Thick jawline, but rounded. Obviously his clothing/fashion and such won't be in this style, but these are pictures of the original concept he was based off of: [Reference 1]. Admittedly, I'm not too sure how hermits from this time period would have looked, particularly those living alone in the forest without human contact for years. I'd imagine something like this or this wouldn't be too far from the truth as far as his state and style of clothing. No one seems to know what's behind his bandages except for him, but there doesn't seem to be any signs of a fresh wound.
Personality: Ichime is deeply connected to the Earth and nature in general. Aside from herbs and healing, his specialties as a Whyst lie in Earth elemental and Mystic magic. Ichime is very serious and almost never seen to smile. He seems to use his familiar, Ginyami, as his spy to find out what's going on out in the world because this hermit chooses to stay secluded and in one place in order to keep from being 'corrupted' by the rest of humanity, drawn in by their ways as they forget the ways of nature. Ichime believes in staying close to nature to understand it better.
He doesn't care much for other humans, but he has an affinity for animals and plants alike, often doing what he can in the forest in which he lives to help and repair those in need of his aid. It is with reluctance he will help humans and for this reason stays out of civilization's way, making it very difficult to find him. However, if one has the courage and tenacity to seek him out, he may consider lending them his assistance.
Ichime cares greatly for nature, but he understands that all coins have two sides - yin and yang - which cannot exist without each other. That's why, despite his isolation from other humans, he still wants to understand how the rest of the world is affecting nature. Sometimes, in exchange for a little information on the world outside his forest, he will also offer his help. Occasionally, if Ginyami finds someone who is in need of his Whyst's services and/or who is of some interest to Ichime for whatever reason, he will offer to lead this person or peoples safely to his human at the heart of the woods, provided they follow him with obedience and without deviation.
History: Not much is known about Ichime, but it can be assumed that he was born and raised in the woods. By who or what is a mystery, for he does not speak of any parents and lives with no one but his familiar. Some speculate that Ichime was raised by Ginyami or other forest spirits, though he has never confirmed nor denied this. The Whyst has not been known to venture beyond the boundaries of the forest for any reason. Many who know of him fear him and his strange ways. He does not seem to mind this, but it is difficult to tell if he minds anything due to his general avoidance of humans.
The recent rumors of Hounds re-emerging into the world of humans has him interested, however, and while it's whispered that he can converse with spirits, the only real source of information he has on anything that goes on outside his forest is his familiar. As Ginyami can't speak, most don't really understand how Ichime gets information from him, but he seems to have his ways, such as when the fox leads an interesting traveler or a lost child directly to the Whyst.
Gender: Male
Personality: Playful, amoral, sly, tricky, cowardly, tempermental, arrogant, stubborn
Story: As a young child, Ichime encountered Ginyami several times before he realized that the fox was his Familiar. Each time, the fox was in trouble, often because of his lack of camouflage and the resulting ease with which predators could locate and hunt him. The first time, Ichime found the fox fleeing a pack of some noble's hunting dogs. Another time some weeks later, he found the poor creature fighting with a scavenging bird over a rabbit the fox had just killed.
Though Ichime cared a great deal for nature, plants, and animals, he was also aware of the balance of death that sustained life and normally wouldn't interfere in nature running its course. By the fifth time he discovered the creature by his hut a few years after their first encounter, however, starving and half dead, he knew there was something more at work. He decided that if he could save the fox, this would be confirmed. Cleaning, feeding, and nursing the creature with and without the use of magic, it took all the young Whyst's knowledge and skills to restore the fox to full health.
Once the light-colored fox was good as new, Ichime released him, but Ginyami continued to return. He left ever evening and returned every day, sometimes bringing Ichime gifts from the forest and sometimes even from beyond. When the fox brought back a neatly-folded robe of silk, Ichime finally realized that the fox was venturing into human territory. He feared for his friend and tried to keep him indoors, but Ginyami was restless and often found ways to get out of the tiny hut by digging or otherwise. He continued to bring back gifts, a great many of which Ichime found useful, though he worried somewhat about where they came from. Eventually, though, he decided not to ask too many questions and simply accepted what was brought to him.
Ginyami only went out at night, but sometimes he wouldn't return to Ichime for days. At night it wasn't as easy for the fox to be spotted by predatory animals, even with his light coat, but his human could only assume that the fox had an easier time blending into human surroundings than the natural habitat of the forest. It was ironic, a human more at home in a forest and a fox more at home with other humans, but they balanced each other out. They grew closer together as the years passed until it almost seemed they could read each other's minds, communicating without words, but instead the slightest of gestures, expressions, or motions.
Their magic balanced each other out as well, for as a fox, Ginyami specialized in Fire and Air magic while Ichime specialized in healing Water and life-giving Earth. Both of their greatest talents, of course, lay in the magic element of Mystic. It was said that besides healing magic and knowledge, enhanced by his familiar, Ichime possessed an unusual ability to see slightly better in the dark than most other humans. Stories were told about how the forest hermit often spooked poachers and hunters out of the woods in the darkness of night with his fox friend.
A common, simple, and favorite trick of theirs was Ginyami's use of silver fire to attract, distract, and/or lead lost or unwanted forest visitors back from whence they came. If they would not follow the silver light, Ginyami caused it to grow brighter and brighter until its viewers were temporarily blinded before the magic flame disappeared. After that, Ichime with his superior sight in darkness would be able to incapacitate the unwelcome humans and sometimes knock them out before returning them to the edge of the woods. It was thought that his ability to see better than others in the absence of light had something to do with the eye he always had bandaged up, though no one knew for sure because no one else could see what he was doing in the cover of total darkness.
