Alias: Hill, as his last name translates.
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Appearance & Physical Characteristics
Ata comes off as decidedly barbaric, if such a world like this could even be bothered with imperialism in the scope of things between dragons, politics, madness, etc. He stands at a slightly 5'5, and weighs somewhere between 115 - 125 lb., give or take the enormous quantities of meat he'll eat given the opportunity and resources. Neither end of his weight range change the fact that he has quite a wiry build, which reveals more bone than flesh once Ata is stripped down. From his heritage comes his clay-red skin, which has been baked by the sun during his rigorous labors to darken it to a rich, earthy complexion. His rigors stain his body throughout with slightly darker, smooth splotches of skin, proof that he had scaled the backs, arms, and necks of many angry wyrms. He has, like many "savages", thin cheeks held by high cheekbones, thin almond-shaped eyes, and a constant pout to his lips. He appears to almost be in a constant state of starvation, despite how much he's eaten, as his years of hardened life have instructed his body to adapt accordingly; excess weight has long been void as an option. Despite all the aforementioned facts, he has slightly larger feet and hands than most, though this is more attributed to his heredity than his acquired traits. His hair and eyes are as dark as the onyx his isle country is most noted for.
In more recent times, though, Ata has changed at least his hairstyle to about half an inch from his scalp, and has shaved his hair in other areas for comfort and ability. There are no visible changes to his body...at least, not from the outside.
Clothing/Armour Style
In his daily wear, he almost always walks barefoot and dresses as though a poor laborer does : he walks only with his undergarments and a pair of shortened linen, khaki-dyed trousers fastened to his waist by a cord of thick, tough fibers, sparing no one the sight of his gaunt torso.
Truth be told, the design of his armor defies the conventional structures of others. With suggestions from the designs of older plate armor, the set consists of a simple cuirass, a pair of tassets, vambraces, and greaves. These parts consist of incredibly brittle scales that have a keeled design to bar would-be attackers from crunching through the hide, lest the offender lacerate its tongue and gums. The scales themselves boast higher durability and resistance, but stiff nature of the scales disallow protection of the joints, and most certainly not the head. To aid with scaling rough surfaces, gauntlets and sabatons were designed with thin, flat protrusions to dig underneath the overlapping scales of dragons. These were made from the shavings of a dragon's claws, as the actual claws themselves were too difficult to process. A leathery cloak made of similar scales come from the eyelids of a giant dragon, and does well to cover him from weather, flames, and weapons.
The scales looks almost like granite, and have bits of plant growth here and there wherever little cracks might be. It makes for great camouflage, whatnot with the dark greys and spots of greens.
Personality:
Simple, aloof, light-hearted, uncultured, alien.
"We must work in the world, because it is thus...no...we have made it thus. I have made it thus."
The Mission : Altamirano, after removing protection from the indigenous tribes in the Treaty of Madrid.
Abilities
Insight - When Ata gouged the eyes of his first dragon, he was stained in the blood and brain-matter of a being inconceivably older than he was, or so he thought. The flow of blood pushed him off and nearly drowned him. He awoke during a full moon and began to feel the world around him as though he was one, as though he belonged to the skies and seas, but the feeling disappeared. Ever since then, though, he could see the flow of "essence" (as he calls it) flow within a person, revealing their intentions in the near future. With this, he has predicted the attacks of his jealous brothers, the lunges, leaps, and bites of other dragons that came soon after in a fitful rage, and even the tension in the children's legs as they ran from him, covered in blood. Within a single battle, he can identify an opponent's preferred method of attack, so that if there are survivors in the future, he can prepare accordingly for his comrades.
Like many of those in his tribe, Ata is an expert climber, and boasts no other strength than those in his fingers and hands. As Ata's curse progresses, though, he will begin to lose his ability to hang off of cliffs and dragons as he once did, for dragons have little need to cling like a suckling baby against the mother Earth.
Brief History
Ata Phnom claims to have slain one of the largest dragons to date, and though many would protest his armor, no one could deny the fact that he was wearing the eyelashes of a dragon that must have been at least as large as he described. He came upon the creature in his later teen years, a dragon dozens of stories tall that had lain in the beach for whoever knows how long. The strange sight to see was the fact that its face and front arms were lacerated, as though whipped thoroughly with a weapon that must've been incredibly keen. However, there was no sight of a hunter, and the cuts were certainly beyond what a hunt would inflict. Ata decided that he might as very well be the one to slay it, for the dragon could be a threat if allowed to live. He scaled its arm, and journeyed a good half-mile to its face, where he scaled the brow, and stabbed the dragon in the eye. So he held on for dear life when the dragon tossed its head back in pain, but he was already set to work on getting towards the other eye; he did not relent from his bloody task, and blinded the dragon. The dragon's old wounds re-opened, and as the dragon shook on its death throes, Ata was flung into one such pool, and struck his head on something. When he came to, he could see things differently, and had thus gained an ability beyond that of most other humans.
In his distant isle country, he requested at once for his villagers to help, but something was amiss. The men looked angrily at him, and a great cursing and shouting arose from their mouths. They wanted the kill, too, and had asked why Ata struck first. Ata replied he found nothing wrong, and was even willing to share the kill. Soon a blown-up debate occured, which led into a fatal argument that set Ata against his three older brothers. He speared three of them in self defense, which scared off the children watching in the brush.
A little disheartened and confused, Ata decided to walk back and process as much of his kill by hand, and thus produced the eyelashes and scales now used for his armor, before he was hailed by the chiefs of his tribe, who had came after the children spoke of Ata's deed. As he was explaining the whole situation, the dragon's body was dragged back into the ocean by heavy currents, leaving only the chief and his story to legend. They decided that his offense towards his siblings was a sin, and prescribed that he go out and repent by continuing the hunt with the other peoples of the world. This was all done, however, not before they made his armor and schooled him in a monastery. By his tribe's law, he is forbidden to indulge in life, and must repay his disservice to his blood by servicing others unknown to him.
It has been four years since then. Time has slowly started to treat him for the worse.
Equipment/Inventory
- Garments
- Armor
- Bone-Spear : A simple spear made out of the horn of the massive dragon. A man's strength alone could barely penetrate a wyrm's tough hide, but if the strike is made with conviction and aims true, then the strength of the thrust means little.
- Straw Sandals
- Jute sacks on a leather belt, carrying :
Various currencies for provisions.
Bits and pieces of dried and smoked meats.
A plethora of flints and bits of iron for starting fires.
Kindling.
Dried petals of lavender, for making teas while in flight.
Possible Full Dragon Form
Ata would be a relatively average-sized dragon, lacking most of the features his first kill had. However, if allowed to live and feed off of the flesh of other wyrms, it will grow to the point where few distinctions could be made. Its smooth, shark-like skin would begin to develop into individual scales, and every ridge would become more pronounced. If he eats perhaps over a hundred dragons in this form, he would be near identical to his first kill in form, though not quite yet in size. Ata is capable of diving at very deep levels, each size increase making him more resistant to the crushing pressures of the deep sea. Every kill and dragon consumed further develops his wings into six fins that propel the dragon the same way as the fins of a cuttlefish propel the body. Few other dragons could rival him with similar speeds in such deep places. If one does choose to pursue him, they'll have to somehow find a way to penetrate his thicker hide without filing off their claws and teeth, something that possibly no hunter or dragon has ever done, nor would they ever do...so long as they were in the water.
