Artur Syon
Appearance:'Flamboyant red hair' probably is the first thing that comes to the average onlooker's mind upon seeing Artur for the first time. He indeed has got quite the mess of it that reaches well down to his shoulders, but his pretty face is also framed by a well maintained beard of equal color running along his jawline. His eyes are gray and slightly striking, but otherwise there's nothing conspicuous around his head area.
Artur stands at 6'2 with a slightly above-average build and prefers to clad himself in what most people would consider to be an anachronism. He however thinks that a leather trenchcoat with rich decorations depicting flowers or other, more abstract shapes etched onto it is just perfectly fine for getting around casually outside. Since it goes down almost to his feet one hardly notices that at least his pants, a pair of black jeans, are more modern styled. For the everyday office treadmill he has a white shirt with decorations stitched on it, too. He usually wears at least thin cloth gloves, for reasons that are obvious once he doesn't.
Concept: Artur's mother and her husband were both magically talented individuals, but have kept this a secret from the very beginning. She had realized quite early that magic did by no way mean that all classical human knowledge and explorative efforts were worth any less, so there had never been a reason for her to abandon her highly respected researcher's position at an advanced physics institute. She could merely not dare to talk about her supernatural touch with any of her colleagues for it would likely have been interpreted as a not so acceptable expansion of current theories and standard models.
So she found herself in sort of a dilemma situation: If even computing could do magic, then there was so much potential for improvements on some very important experiments, but surroundings would not stop being so terribly conservative easily. Secretly trying to perform... modifications... however brought with it the risk of discovery or failure for the lack of a whole team as a resource. She tried it anyway, smuggling both equipment out of the facility and her husband in for assistance. Hoping that a few inofficial tours behind the scenes and some hands-on experience (that is... pressing a few buttons on fancy machines believing they'd actually be enabled) would instigate their son's desire to follow the path of his parents, they brought the young boy Artur in, too.
That was until one of the modified experiments, turned on in the middle of the night and with all cameras and logging systems bypassed, experienced a malfunction. The attempt to draw raw power from another realm beyond earth hooked up to a different dimension than the one originally intended, so what came out of the portal was not ready, or willing, to be consumed by the machinery. Feeling that it had been sucked out of its home, the demonic entity instantly turned highly aggressive, broke out, ruined the lab and killed Artur's parents.
Yet in the process it also destroyed the apparatus holding open the portal that was its only way back. The creature realized it had condemned itself to be alone in a foreign space, so it turned to its only hope left for salvaging its own kind in this unknown world: reproduction. No female needed in this case, however. Only... a proper, suitable host that most importantly was still alive. It happened while Artur had been knocked out of consciousness, so he never got to know that this kind of thing actually happened to him at this point.
The next day, it was believed that some kind of terrible incident had occured, but none of the investigators had knowledge of the supernatural and thus failed to figure out what truly happened, also the creature had disappeared. Artur, now an orphan child, was adopted by another couple who lived in the Chicago area. Little did he or his new surroundings know that what 'impregnated' him was only waiting for him to reach adulthood, yet at the same time was not adapted to both ordinary human nature and Artur's magical heritage. No Xenomorph baby or other shit burst out of his chest at his 20th-or-something birthday, but... he started to change.
Powers/Skills: Artur's never been truly assimilated by his infestation, but has managed to maintain the upper hand in terms of control over himself. In fact this means that he is able to tap into newfound prowess that is the result of his demon merger. However, compared to what the creature it originally came from was able to do, it is limited. You will notice that beneath those gloves and shoes he usually wears are claws that, albeit relatively small, are sharp to the touch. Just like his teeth. Anyone still interested in a mélée might learn that his bones, muscles and skin are quite a tad more dense, powerful and sturdy than they should be, but much to Artur's unfortune this doesn't really help against bullets and has not exactly improved his overall speed. He still needs stuff like his heart or lungs without too many holes in them, you know ?
Having been able to deal with the street thugs of the run-down block of town he lives in with his own methods so far, Artur's never really seen the need to pick up some firearm's training. He'd be a novice shooter to say the least, but to his excuse he keeps claiming that the bang of a bullet would be too much for his 'hypersensitive' ears on the long run, let alone the muzzle fire of something on full auto! There is reason to believe that the demon that approached him came from a plane where things are much more quiet than on earth, otherwise developing auditory and visual senses that improve detection capabilities as much as they are easy to be overloaded and turn even worse than your average eyes or ears for the exact same reason doesn't make much sense.
Oh, and his personality has become a little more... unstable. As easy going and relaxed as he is in most circumstances, he starts to accelerate into some sort of rage and recklessness once being attacked in a manner too nasty or once he's started to draw the blood of his foes.
Things your character wants to happen (probably won't):Being accepted and valued for what he is in his entirity, and maybe find out more about what he himself really is now.
Things you as a writer want to happen (maybe will):Monster killing or other forms of action, puzzles, crime solving and interesting interaction with the other characters.
Writing sample:I participated in the last iteration of this and hope you still remember me :)