Name: Sora Zardathian
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Race/Nationality: Caucasian & North American Immigrant
Appearance: Personality: In a world of the manic and empowered, Sorin has survived. When the world suddenly gained powers, an event he calls “The Singularity”, he learned quickly that the world he once knew came to a very abrupt end. Since then, Sora has survived using intellect, cunning, and manipulation. With the skills of a conman and psychologist, he goes through life playing with the hearts and minds of others to reach his goals. He never forgets a debt, good or bad. If you do find yourself on the wrong side of his good graces, take caution. He is the type of man to smile and take whatever punishment is given, all the while planning your downfall in a spectacular manner.
Although he is proud of his lifestyle, it is a lifestyle of distrust and disinformation. He will often keep people at arm's length, never allowing people to see his true feelings and motivations. This is both a way of hiding his underlying goals as well as a way to defend himself from future loss. If one does get passed his walls and barriers, and get close enough to be called an ally or friend, Sora will do anything for them.
Abilities: ShadowmancySora has the ability to alter and manipulate the shadows around him at will. He can do anything from giving the shadows a physical form and shape, to traveling through them at breakneck speeds. Sora has broken down the ability into 5 main overarching abilities.
Shadow Constructs - Sora can create physical objects using the shadows in the near vicinity. There is no restrictions on what he can create other than that there must be enough shadow to create the desired object and that it cannot be sentient. There are a few Caveats to using the shadows in this way though. Shadows were never meant to have a physical presence in the world and constantly try to return to their natural state. This means that Sora must make a constant effort to maintain the object’s form. The bigger the item, the more effort and concentration it takes to maintain the object's physical existence.
Shadow Marionetes - Closely related to Shadow Constructs, Sora can controls and shape the shadows how he sees fit. Be the shadows physical or not, he can control how they look and how they move. Combining this ability with Shadow Constructs, Sora can create the illusion of life and sentience. For example, by creating a Shadow Construct of a Tiger, He could control the Tiger’s movements and actions like it was a real Tiger. This is all an act though and can be seen through by experienced eyes. Controlling Shadow Constructs is a mentally taxing task, and increases the difficulty of maintaining the object’s physical presence in the world.
Shadow Walk - Sora has the ability to temporarily turn himself into shadows and move through them with blinding speed. He can also hide within the shadows to escape detection or to eavesdrop in on private meetings and conversations. As a shadow he cannot interact with the physical world and can only maintain what changes he has already made to the shadows around him. Also, when he is travelling through the shadows, he cannot travel to non-connecting shadows. An example would be going into the shadow of a mailbox. If the shadow of a nearby lamp is overlapping the shadow of the mailbox, Sora can jump into that shadow and keep moving. If there are no other shadows overlapping the mailbox’s shadow, then Sora would be confined within the shadow of the mailbox. Also, although he turned into shadow, he is not impervious to damage. Although the damage is reduced, any physical or mental trauma he sustains as a shadow will take effect when he returns to a physical form. Another note would be that, if the shadow Sora is currently possessing disappears, he will automatically return to his normal state.
Shadow Mind - Sora has a natural shield against mental attacks. The shield isn’t overly strong though. Strong telepaths can still push through it and attempt to seize his mind, but he/she will find that there is a mysterious second entity helping to repel the attack. Sora has surmised that the natural darkness within the human anatomy is what actually shields his brain and mind, and therefor cannot get any stronger or weaker since the shadows within the body never changes.
Shadow Theater - This is Sora’s strongest ability, but also the least used. By entering a meditative state, Sora can syphon the shadows in a large radius around him to create a large room sized area of shadows. He can willingly control how the light reacts within this area and create several complex Shadow Constructs. He has found that this is not a practical ability for combat and to only be used as a trap or training tool. He has only ever practically used this ability twice and both times were to help him escape capture from the GAU.
Biography: Ever since he could remember, Sora could read other people’s true motivations. He didn’t know why, but he learned at a young age how to observe the voice fluctuations and body language of others. He could sense when he was being used or lied too, and it lead him to be ostracised by almost all the kids his age and even some groups of adults. Since he didn’t have any real friends, he became very introverted and turned to books and video games to pass the time. Most of the books he ended up reading were educational books, a large portion of them being about psychology, philosophy, and communication. This was because of his father, who worked as college teacher for some college that Sora can’t remember the name of, kept bringing home textbooks and scientific magazines. Sora was content on being a silent academic, but that all changed when he was 10 years old.
That was when the world got turned upside down. In an event, that Sora would later coin “The Singularity”, where a large portion of the world’s population gained supernatural abilities. Sora remembers the sudden chaos the ensued in the passing months. His most vivid memory of this time period was the sudden rise of the Great Arcane Union. They made short work of the United States Government, and quickly spread their influence through the continent as an opressive and tyrannical force. It was around this time that Sora and his father fled to Canada.
It wasn’t long before the GAU focused its sights on the Norther Territories, and once again Sora had to watch as he lost everything. This time was much worse though. In an effort to defend what little they had left, both Sora and his father joined the local rebellion. A small group of powered people who had the idea in their heads that they had what it takes to stop the GAU, they were wrong. After a couple of months of relative success, the rebel leaders got word that a member of the Grand Council would be passing through a nearby town. The rebels thought it to be a great opportunity to deal a significant blow to the GAU. Sora was the only one to sense that something was off with the messenger that delivered the news. Over and over Sora voiced his concerns, but his words fell upon deaf ears as the rebel leaders were blinded by such a ripe opportunity. A week later the entirety of the rebellion forces moved out in what would be their largest operation yet. It was also their last.
Sora was right to be concerned. Apparently a few weeks prior, one of the rebel force’s messengers was captured by the GAU. The messenger was tortured and brainwashed into working for the GAU, and then sent back into the field to work as a double agent. The exact same messenger was later given false information to give to the leaders of the rebellion. What was going to be the biggest opportunity for the rebel forces quickly became their biggest downfall. When the rebels reached the town, they were quickly greeted by a large group of hostiles and 3 members of the Grand Council commanding them. It was a massacre. Sora watched as the GAU slaughtered everyone he cared about.. The only thing that Sora could do was run. It wasn’t enough though. His escape route was cut off by none other than one of the Grand Council. Just before the man was about to land the killing blow, Sora’s father stepped in and sacrificed himself. Sora watched has his father was maimed and mutilated by the man's magic. Sora ran, but not before lashing out at the man and leaving a visible cut down the right side of his face. Sora escaped from the town, the lone survivor.
After the fall of the rebellion, Sora was a wanted enemy of the GAU and he was alone. He spent the next few years running from town to town, narrowly escaping the GAU goons. He couldn’t stay in one place for too long, so he started learning the ways of the criminal. He learned how to lie, cheat, and steal from others in order to survive. Eventually he became a Grade A conman/grifter, and was able to make a reliable living from deceiving those who thought themselves untouchable.
Eventually the pressure from the GAU became too much, and Sora was forced to flee the country. He was able to cheat his way onto a smuggler’s air ship, and set forth for Mundin. After many hardships, he finally became a citizen of the island city-state. He can now be seen in multiple of the streets and alleyways of Mundin, cheating other powered people out of their hard earned wages all the while planning his eventual revenge against the GAU.
Specialties:-Expert at Sleight of Hand
-Highly Proficient at Reading the Body Language and Voice Modulations of others.
-Can fluently speak and read English, Japanese, German, French, and Mandarin.
-Proficient at weapon-based combat
-Highly Knowledgeable of Psychology and the Human Psyche
Equipment: Sora always carries three things no matter what.
1. His father’s pocket watch
2. A curved dagger
3. A Book (The book will change but he will always have a book)
Other: He has very deep grudge against the GAU and despises anyone connect to it.