Name: Shaihleb Sayid
Age: 14
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Appearance: Shaihleb, or Shai as most call him, is a boy in his early teens. Small for his age, he stands slightly smaller than girls of his own age. His body is thin, though not skinny, with a wiry, only lightly-muscled build. Shai possesses a pigment disorder, and as such his skin is a milky, pale color. His longish, unkempt hair is a fair, fine white, seeming almost blue under shade. Shai's large, childlike eyes are the color of rubies, and seem to pick up various colors in different lighting. His features are soft and delicate, giving him an innocent, childish, almost androgynous appearance. Even so, his face is usually firm and stoic, like a porcelain doll, with only his bright, focused eyes lending any life to his expression. Shai dresses drably, wearing only simple, undyed clothes, leather boots, and a thick, roughspun cloak to keep out the sand and sun of his homeland.
Personality: Shai appears to most to be a cold, withdrawn boy. This is not far from the truth, as he is introverted, soft-spoken and slow to warm up to people. Even when he feels comfortable around someone, he has difficulty expressing his thoughts and feelings, and more often than not doesn't try to. That is not to say he is anti-social, but he enjoys his own company as much as the company of others. His hyperactive mind has him often space out or become lost in thought, and he tends to over-think even relatively simple interactions. Even so, he is clever and creative, and feels a genuine need to help those that he cares for. Still quite young, Shai has his moments of naivete, and can be childishly stubborn from time to time, but at other times he demonstrates a mature self-awareness that belies his years.
Brief Backstory: Shai was born in a land known as Rabbiah, a harsh, sun-baked, wind-swept desert that takes up the land between the kingdoms of Europa and Xun. He was found as a babe on the steps of an orphanage in the heart of the capital of Rabbiah, Al Miraj. Though the foundling was taken in and given a name by the kindly couple that ran the orphanage, Shai was never truly accepted by his "siblings" within the home. His pale, ghostly appearance was a sharp contrast to the dark hair and olive skin typical to the desert lands, and Shai had strange mannerisms, as well as a cold, unapproachable demeanor. Finding him strange and alien for all of these reasons, the other children of the orphanage avoided Shai, even warning the other children that attended their schools to stay clear of him and whatever strangeness surrounded him. For this reason, Shai had a lonely childhood, and where other children filled their days laughing and playing games, he sat reading and tinkering with various toys and bits of machinery that he could get his hands on.
When Shai turned thirteen, it was time for him to leave the orphanage and become an adult, as was the case for all children. He was taken by the orphanage's patron to various businesses, workshops and vendors throughout Al Miraj to find an apprenticeship for Shai to take up. Most considered him to be too small and sickly-looking to be of any use, and others found his apparent lack of emotions to be unnerving. However, after traversing much of the city, Shai came across a secluded workshop, wherein a strange old man was found tinkering with even stranger gadgets. This man was known as an artificer, creating wonders of technology that rivaled magic through sheer skill and creativity. The artificer could sense something in Shai that the others could not, and quickly accepted the boy to take him on as his apprentice. Shai has since worked diligently under his master, progressing in skill at a rapid, almost impossible pace.
Abilites: Shai's most inherent ability is his powerful, practically superhuman intellect. His memory is functionally flawless, and his calculative abilities are stunning. His thoughts manifest in far more dimensions than most people, giving him a particular advantage in processing physical mechanics and designing various works of engineering.
Shai is, already at his age, a talented artificer. By utilizing the advanced schools of mathematics and engineering that were born in Rabbiah, he can design and craft weapons, tools, and all manner of other devices that can eclipse magic or spells in complexity and power. His dexterity and precision are both top-notch, as would be necessary to build such complex machines.
Lastly, and most fascinatingly, Shai is a psion. Not an especially rare trait in Rabbiah, as centuries of magical warfare ruined the supernatural balance of energies in the land, and such anomalies occasionally pop up as a result. As a psion, Shai is magically null, and is incapable of casting spells, staging rituals, using magical items, or anything else that would require a healthy connection to all that is magical. However, this comes with certain advantages, as he is essentially impossible to detect by magical means, and magically-focused effects have difficulty targeting him. His psionic abilities are rather weak and undeveloped, though he is still a functional empath (able to sense minds, emotions, and vague ideas of intent), and is a low-level telekinetic (able to exert about as much force as a stiff shove, in a very broad and unfocused area).
Equipment: Shai generally carries with him his artificer's toolkit, various bits of machinery and other gubbins, a few books and scrolls filled with schematics and sketches of machinery, and some small snacks and other scraps of food. His waterskin is also usually on his person, as clean water is equivalent to life in Rabbiah, and can often be traded in place of other commodities such as gold or salt.
Miracles: Unlock the Mind: Shai can psionically work his way into the deepest reaches of another's mind, and then take whatever he finds for himself. Shai can peruse through a person's memories, skills and knowledge as he likes, and then copy any of these things to stow away within his own mind. Doing so does not remove anything from the other person, and the experience itself is dreamlike and disorienting, but not painful. Shai cannot alter anything in another's mind this way, nor can they access anything in his mind, but he can peer into dark corners of a person's psyche that they themselves may not have access to. The process is a slow and intensive one, and can only really be performed on either a willing or unconscious individual.
Soul of the Machine: By coming into contact with any work of engineering or machinery, Shai can mystically analyze the device. He can immediately discern how the device works, its makeup and mechanisms, the theories surrounding its physics, and for what purpose it was made. Analysis of a broken machine will quickly reveal its faults and the most direct way to repair the machine to normal function. More intense focus can reveal to him the crafter of the device, how old the device is, a psychometric recollection of where the device has been and what it has done, and even a vague idea of the thoughts and feelings of its creator. By sufficiently analyzing a machine, Shai gains the knowledge necessary to perfectly replicate the machine or any of its functional components.
Domains: Mind, Invention