Changeling Prince of Wolves
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Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it's not because they enjoy solitude. It's because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them. |
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— Jodi Picoult |
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Sly is a son of the Lord of the Children of the Moon, an ancient breed of werewolves. A few in the supernatural community know this, though to the human world he does not exist beyond a collection of well-crafted fake IDs. He is also reputed to hold minor favor with Queen Mab, just enough that members of the Unseelie Court know not to harm or trouble him. Having settled on Atteberry Island, he resides at the Silvervine Estate, where he's joined with a group of allies to form a household of different supernatural creatures, whimsically styling himself the Lord of Misrule.
Despite having been alive for quite a long time, in many ways he still has the mind and emotions of a youth, thanks to the strange flow of time that he experienced while living in Faërie.
Personality
According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® personality test, Sly would be an "ESFP": Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving. As is typical of this personality type, Sly lives in the moment and is stimulated and excited by new experiences. He is interested in people and, if you get past his brashness, warm. He loves having fun and knows how to make a good time, is both independent and resourceful, spontaneous, and good with people. While this archetype is usually practical and realistic, Sly does tend to diverge from that pattern at times and can be prone to wild flights of fancy.
Having lived a life that currently makes little sense to him, he can become frustrated when expected to adhere to the expectations of others or follow routines. He has strong instincts and relies upon them, often unable to explain why he perceives something in a particular way except that he simply does. Despite discomfort with opening up to others, he has an emotional and even potentially quite warm nature. Unfortunately, self-reliance and trusting his instincts make Sly rather stubborn at times.
Background
A Changeling Child
Born on a first of April, perhaps it was inevitable that Roberte Jason Lupus would lead an unusual and interesting life. It was 1919. The Great War, later remembered as World War I, had ended. Transylvania became part of Romania. The Grand Canyon National Park was established. Teddy Roosevelt and Emiliano Zapata died. The United States began Prohibition. Mussolini founded his fascist movement in Milan. Amanullah Khan became king of Afghanistan. The Great Molasses Flood struck Boston.
It was an interesting year.
And in a tiny village in Russia, a village that no longer exists and whose name is now remembered by few, a baby boy was born--Roberte Jason Lupus--on April first. He was a very healthy baby, and his parents, Jason and Illyana, doted on him. For a few months, life was very good. Then it all went wrong. Blame them or thank them, it was the fairies that started it. Little Roberte was doomed to die, a soothsayer of the Unseelie Court had said, and Lord Ilex of House Hollyfrost chose to steal the child, replacing it with a fairy-made changeling doppelgänger. When Illyana and her babe were killed, only the doppelgänger died with her.
Roberte was spirited away to Faärie.
In the Land of Faërie
In the demesne of Lord Ilex, little Roberte was raised by the pixies and other lesser fairies of the house. Time did not pass in quite the same way in that realm, but he still grew toward maturity, and as he did, his body was changed fundamentally by the environment around him. Over the course of nearly a century he was transformed from a human child into one of the fae, a changeling. He learned to serve, to perform, to be a page in Ilex's household. He was frequently changed into different shapes for the amusement of the court, until he learned to control his shape at will. He learned spells and magic, and perhaps most of all he learned the ways of Faërie and the Otherworld.
For all those years, though, he dreamt of the life he would have had. This is not to say that he longed for it or contemplated it. No, his dreams were literally filled with echoes of his mother and glimpses of his father. As he grew, he knew them as he would have. He made peace with his mother's death, but he could never resolve the loss of his father, for his father was still alive. Then, Queen Mab came to the court. Sly did not know what happened to Lord Ilex, but Mab called him before her.
The Favor of a Fairy Queen
Mab placed her blessing upon him, saying he had been wronged--for Lord Ilex had gone against Mab's will in keeping the child. She placed a geas upon Sly, making him forget his time in Faërie, and then she returned him to Earth. There he wandered for a time, and he met a few people who sought to help him, but mostly he was confused. In time, as events unfolded, it suited Mab's ends to return Sly to his father. And so, it came to pass that Roberte Christopher returned from the dead.
SIGNATURE ABILITY
Uncontainable
Sly's ability to escape a situation goes far beyond his talent for vanishing. In truth, nothing can hold him indefinitely. Any cell, any ward, any barrier of any strength will, sooner or later, fail to contain him. While it might take him hours, days, or even weeks, he will always be able to slip through any barrier. Adding additional protections to a barrier or altering it will slow down this process somewhat, but it will not impede it. Sooner or later, he can always escape any form of containment, captivity, or immobilization. This is a trait that he unknowingly developed during his time in Faërie, yearning to return home to his family. Now, he can never be held anywhere against his will for very long.
SKILLS
Athletics - Expert Level
An active life has made Sly a very capable runner, tumbler, climber, jumper, swimmer, and so forth. When it comes to typical athletic actions, he's quite capable. When it comes to specific skills, such as throwing a football or swinging a baseball bat, he has no experience to speak of, only naturally good hand-eye coordination and reflexes.
Fighting - Competent Level
Sly has learned to protect himself, largely thanks to a rough-and-tumble life and having to watch his step all the time. As a result he's become quite scrappy. His skill level is typical of a competent street fighter, and he also has experience with various ancient weapons, such as swords and bows.
Handcraft - Expert Level
Sly has an expert knowledge of various aspects of handcrafting, including repair work, cooking, and other such skills related to maintaining a household in a fairly old-fashioned or rustic setting that does not use electricity. His talents in this area are almost unrealistically developed for his age and station.
Lore - Competent Level
Sly knows a variety of supernatural lore, but it's largely specialized as relating to the fae. When dealing with the fae or the Otherworld, particularly when navigating the Ways, his skill level can be considered Expert. When dealing with beings highly disassociated from the Otherworld, such as angels and demons, his skill ranks only at Novice level.
Performance - Expert Level
Trained in the courts of Faërie, Sly has a tremendously skilled singing voice and pitch, as well as knowing how to read and write music and play a variety of instruments. His voice has quite a range, allowing him to sing from high tenor to low baritone. He is also a highly skilled dancer, moving with fluid grace just as easily in a ballroom or at a rave.
Survival - Competent Level
Apparently a background in woodsy living has its benefits. Sly has strong wilderness survival skills, particularly those that relate to the forest biome. He is a fair tracker and hunter, but he is even better at identifying and utilizing useful plants, navigating the woods, and sneaking or hiding amongst the trees.
ABILITIES
Power: Agility - Supreme Level
Sly's physique is enhanced by his bloodline and by his imbued fae nature, and in his case this manifests most strongly as enhanced agility. Sly is physically far more deft and agile than ordinary humans or even most other supernatural beings, ranking at the Supreme level. This affects his reflexes, dexterity, and other aspects of physical movement and agility, including his ability to move at great speed over short distances.
Power: Immortality - Supreme Level
Thanks to a variety of supremely potent mystic bindings and rituals, too deeply worked to be undone, Sly is truly immortal and cannot be killed. He is resistant to damage and regenerates from damage at the Supreme level. Even something powerful enough to cause him mortal damage will not kill him, only leave him incapacitated and dormant until his body can regenerate. Similarly, his soul cannot be destroyed. The down side to this is that he has absolutely zero special tolerance for pain, so no matter how indestructible he is, he can be incapacitated by pain almost as easily as a normal human. So, while he cannot be killed, he is not necessarily difficult to "defeat" or incapacitate.
Power: Senses - Enhanced Level
Sly has senses that go beyond those of ordinary people. For one, his senses are keener than normal, and they seem to have a longer range. For example, he can see farther and clearly even in near-darkness, and he has hearing like that of a dog or wolf. Similarly, he can track by scent. In fact, his senses are so keen that they react to various kinds of supernatural phenomena, allowing him to see, hear, smell, taste (etc.) when supernatural or mystic energies, creatures, and phenomena are near. One particular quirk of this power is that it also allows Sly to understand--read, write, and speak--any language he encounters as though he were a native speaker, though some mystic runes and the like may pose a much greater challenge.
Power: Shapeshifting - Enhanced Level
Sly can attain any shape, from an insect to that of a dragon or any in between. In those shapes, he gains any abilities that are naturally held by creatures in that form, up to Enhanced level. Notably, if these physical forms entail any special magic, such as a dragon breathing fire, then Sly can only accomplish those feats if he understands the magic well enough to perform them--so, while he can breathe fire as a dragon because he knows how to conjure flame, he cannot emulate a gorgon's ability to turn someone to stone, the raw magical power associated with a unicorn, etc.
Magic: Spells - Enhanced Level
During his time in Faërie, Sly was trained in a variety of cantrips and spells, accruing more than a century of experience. He is exceptionally skilled at household spells, charms, evocation, and enchantment. The biggest gap in his knowledge is that he knows almost nothing of necromancy. As foci he favors somatic spells with occasional incantations, allowing him to use most types of magic at the Enhanced level, and his greatest strength is in combining his spells with his shapeshifting. One other noteworthy spellcasting talent he has is entering and navigating the Ways.
Power: Vanishing - Supreme Level
Sly is able to "vanish" from one place to another, fading first to invisibility, then to intangibility, as he actually dematerializes partly into the Ways. While in this state, he is completely undetectable to physical senses of any acuity. However, supernatural senses that can perceive the Otherworld at even Basic level have a chance, if a small one, to detect him. Enhanced senses of this type have a slightly better chance of detecting him, and Supernatural senses of this type would have a fairly even chance. When in this state, he either remain in the vicinity of where he was, effectively intangible and invisible, or skim along the edge of the Ways to reappear as far away as across the continent within a few seconds. The fading process takes around one second per mile he intends to travel, so that he can travel across a room in a blink, but traveling hundreds of miles may take him a few minutes to complete.
Power: Warded Mind - Enhanced+ Level
Sly's mind is warded against influence or control at the Supreme level, making it nearly impossible to steal his free will or force him to do or feel anything that he would not normally. However, other mental effects that do not alter his thoughts, feelings, memories, or free will are resisted at the Enhanced level: this includes both direct attacks and mental illusions, for example. Notably, in keeping with other drawbacks of his, mental influence that creates the sensation of pain affects him much more strongly, and his wards only grant him Basic protection against such effects.
ADVANTAGES
Attractive
Sly is attractive enough in the conventional sense, but more than that he has a certain "something" about him that tends to invite a response from people. His presence makes it easy to draw and hold the attention of others. However, when he doesn't want to be noticed, it almost works the other way around, letting him blend into the crowd as far as normal senses are concerned.
Resources
One of the gifts of the Winter Court was rather more mundane than the others, yet it's still quite useful. They set him up with a very generous trust fund, one that ensures he will live a luxurious material lifestyle for essentially as long as human civilization persists. For Sly, money will simply never be a concern. Further, his father has gifted him with a generous estate on Atteberry Island, so he has a luxurious home as well, and thanks to these supernatural contacts, Sly is also able to obtain fake IDs or other documents as needed, helping him to protect his true nature from discovery by any troublesome officials.
Unseelie Court
While Sly has his liberty, free and clear, thanks to Mab's agreement with his father, he still enjoys a token membership in the Unseelie Court, holding slight favor with Mab and what passes for her goodwill, since he has been useful to her. As such, he can call occasionally upon the Unseelie Court for minor favors, such as leading others through their territory without being troubled, though he has no grounds to request for much beyond that. In general, the Unseelie Court also knows that by Mab's decree, Sly is not to be troubled or harmed.
WEAKNESSES
Changeling
As a changeling, Sly is susceptible to lesser versions of all the weaknesses of the fae. While iron does not do him actual harm, it does cause a very painful burning sensation when he touches it, as though he had grasped a red hot coal. Binding him with iron also completely negates his ability to use magic, vanish, or change shapes. Steel causes him only minor discomfort. Similarly, he is able to lie, but when he is really pinned down on something--asked thrice--he must give a direct answer that adheres to at least the spirit of the truth. The power of Oaths binds him more powerfully: He is not capable of willingly breaking any Oath he makes, though if one is broken by circumstances beyond his control, he suffers no harm from it.
Family
Living in Faërie for a century or so had a number of impacts on Sly's life. Many were positive, such as saving his life, granting him magic, and eventually receiving the blessings of the Winter Court. Others have been more challenging, such as ending up with a cordial but strained relationship with his father, who has never fully accepted the loss of the werewolf son he'd expected nor reconciled with the changeling son he now has. As a result, Sly is fairly estranged from his family, leading him to strike out on his own when it comes to such attachments.
Past
Sly has had a hell of a life. When he was young, his mother was killed and he was taken to Faërie to serve in the retinue of a Sidhe lord of the Unseelie Court. He spent a century or so being a novelty and plaything for this lord, only to be thrust back into a world that he hardly recognized. He's adapted fairly well, all things considered, but he's also generally quite ignorant of many aspects of the modern world as a result of his long absence. One need hardly even mention all the emotional baggage he carries around.
