Lacchi
12-22-08, 05:33 PM
Name: Lacchi
Age: probably around 300 and something
Race: god/human/dog –and hopefully back the other way around eventually
Fur Color: predominantly white, with black splotches
Eye Color: brown
Height: 2’3”
Weight: fluctuates between 55 and 70 lbs. depending on his state of health and the reliability of his food sources
Occupation: god/thief/hunter/companion dog/messenger
Personality:
Laid-back and not enthusiastically expressive of his emotions, Lacchi usually lets himself get away with just plain old happy, sad, or momentarily annoyed. He doesn’t necessarily hide what he is feeling, and can, when he believes the moment calls for it, make his feelings obvious, very obvious… But he has found throughout his life that over-reacting unnecessarily calls attention to you, and he, being something of a thief and stray, doesn’t like doing such things. As a dog, and having lived for a goodly while, Lacchi is well versed in the concept of being lazy, but, while he enjoys relaxing, he finds that too much of it can become boring after a time. He loves those little humorous moments of life and, if they aren’t coming frequently enough on their own, has been known to attempt to create them himself, which may, or may not end in amusement for everyone involved.
Being a trickster of sorts, and one who values his secrecy, Lacchi is quite frank with his words. He feels that if he needs to edge around a subject, he might as well not bother discussing it. However, one shouldn’t be fooled by his forthright manner, since he doesn’t need to be telling the truth to be blunt about it, nor does he feel overly ashamed about lying in the first place, and, if caught out, won’t be shamed into speaking the truth instead. For him, his life is his life, and if someone wants to ask about it when he doesn’t feel like sharing, then they don’t really need to know. He never has been overly good at such things anyways. For a god, he isn’t much into going beyond annoyed and can rarely summon up the effort to be truly angry for long amounts of time. Rage just washes through him and he can’t hang on to it, usually it leaves him spent and a little morose if he tries, but he does feel it and doesn’t even try holding back his opinions when angered, though he usually won’t attack physically no matter how riled he gets.
Lacchi is not immune to fears, and he certainly isn’t afraid to run away, even if it brands him a coward. He much prefers the more subtle approach to getting out of sticky situations and will usually only stand and fight if he’s run out of other options. For someone who tends to get injured as often as he does, he has a tendency to flinch away from pain, or just the threat of it. But his by far strongest fear is of darkness. He can stand the night, after all, he has the stars and the moon then, but full darkness, or close enough will have him trembling and panicky enough thoughts just don’t work. He will, in short, be utterly useless and so terrified he won’t be able to get out of the dark by himself.
Appearance:
The first thing that most would notice about Lacchi is that he is a dog. Neither huge nor extremely tiny, he is perhaps slightly taller at the shoulder than most, being 2’3”. Quite obviously a mutt, one could, and probably would if they knew their hounds, classify him as a lurcher. His frame is fairly slight, with the general shape of any sight hound but a bit stockier; thicker legs, chest and a different facial structure give away his not being a pure breed. Lacchi has a narrow muzzle, brightly inquisitive, brown eyes and pointed ears that fold over halfway up their length to make them slightly crinkled and definitely floppy. He also has a slightly curved, longer furred tail.
His fur is of medium length and scruffily thick, perfect for those cool climates that don’t ever get too hot or too far below freezing. Usually, although not always, much of his fur is a browny-white from mud and dirt and other things getting caught in it. He keeps it as clean as he can, but that isn’t saying much. However, two large, black splotches are visible along his spine; one starting nearly halfway up his neck and going to just past his shoulders while the other one covers much of his rump and the very beginning of his tail. Black boots cover every one of his four paws, and he has a black patch around his left eye. His right ear is completely black, but his left is only tipped. The rest of him would be the aforementioned almost white.
This is just a rough sketch, he looks a lot more like a normal dog than I made it look like… (http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a105/Nemaisare/Lacchi2.jpg)
Head shot (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wbEsXIPY9Aw8GhgOSIY6hA?feat=directlink)
As a human, and it isn’t likely that anyone is going to see him like this often, Lacchi has the same, dark, flashingly curious eyes, but really, he doesn’t look much like a dog. He could, if one felt like being impolite, term him as being a mutt in that he doesn’t resemble any particular race and is just, well, human… He is lithe and lean, muscular but not well muscled or overly defined in that way and his body is geared more towards stealth and slinking quietly through shadows than it is towards making quick, frightening first impressions on folks. He is quite short, approximately 5’5”, 5’6” or thereabouts, but looks taller, so long as there’s no one around to compare, because of his lankiness. He has long limbs and, despite the years, hasn’t gained much in weight. With a golden tinge to his fairly pale skin, he doesn’t match up with the light skinned races or the dark skinned races, but could nearly fit in with either. His hair, a light brown, is short and curly and he has the sort of confident grace of one who trusts his body’s abilities to take him away from trouble but uses his mind to direct it rather than instinct. (Note that I’ll add to this when and if he ever manages to shift)
History:
He was a god, he still is a god and he remembers it… Sometimes… Vaguely… He was born from belief, his mother the goddess of night, the moon and stars and other things, his father that faith the humans so blindly held close to themselves. After all, if they believed that their goddess had a child, then why shouldn’t she? He came into being without any need to grow and was, in truth, a god in his own right, even though he had no name nor identity other than as ‘her son’. He was the only child among the gods who was of them too, and they cherished him, teaching all the skills they had to offer so that he could be strong, as gods are meant to be. But although he could claim them all as relatives and they allowed it, he lacked the one thing that would make him a true god, for those who had created him of their faith did not worship him. Besides, they were claimed already by other gods. So, when they judged him ready, many, many years after his birth, his family sent him into the world of the mortals. Not just to live among them, but to be of them, so that he could choose whom he wished to serve. In order to become entirely mortal, he had to forget what he had been before, which meant cutting himself off from his powers and being reborn.
Thus it was that…
Lacchi was born and raised a wild lad. His father leaving him to his own devices more often than not after his mother died. It wasn’t for the sake of not wanting to spend time with him; more simply it was that he had very little spare time already. Lacchi’s father was a locksmith, well known if not well paid. He was a good man, gentle, honorable, loving and a master of his trade. He taught his son all he knew of locks and took him as his apprentice. He was a busy man, however, and more often than not was away or unable to give his son the attention he required.
So Lacchi played in the streets, and he befriended a nice lady who just happened to be a pick pocket. She liked his attitude and, more to the point, his nimble fingers and quick mind. She taught him what she knew and so he learned both sides of life. The hardships and the love, both in the law and outside it. When his father died he was thirteen and not old enough to look after the business, it was sold to the highest bidder and he was forgotten about. The pick pocket took him in, gave him what shelter she could along with further teachings. Lacchi learned quickly and well, the lessons embedding themselves in his mind to remain forever remembered. By fourteen she had him breaking into houses and stealing objects of greater value than what was on the streets, he knew locks better than she did and he could slip through smaller places. He never felt guilty about the stealing and never will.
His father had taught him patience by example and Lacchi did not lack of it, he could wait for as long as he needed before starting something and he very rarely did anything rash. He was determined to be the best at what he did, and he liked doing it, the heists were exciting, dangerous and every bit his kind of adventure. Quick, clever and never one to give up a challenge, Lacchi did become known among the rather secretive thieves guild as good, and, a bit more dangerously, he was also known among the city guards. He eluded most of the traps they set for him, though they managed to catch him once and got him chained in a cell to await his punishment. Fortunately, the guards had not found his lock picks when they searched him, so he was free and vanished at the next change of guard. Later, he returned for the knives they had taken from him and slipped away again. It was this feat that had him hiding in a stable when a girl, around his age, began her chores.
She was not a great beauty, in fact, she was rather plain, but it was her spirit that he saw, and that was more beautiful than any mortal face. She was singing as she worked and he watched quietly, listening and admiring. Lacchi left gifts for her, nothing that he had stolen, for that would only get her in trouble, and soon he showed himself to her. She has since told him of that first sight she had of him, a brown-eyed youth with a confident smile and cat-like grace, rough voiced and wild, but a man purely himself and nothing else. She had seen a rogue, but not a scoundrel and she had loved him from the first, just as he had her. Within that year, his nineteenth, they were wed and living in the small house Lacchi had bought with the money he had saved up. Though she never could quite convince him to forget his thieving ways, she did extract the promise that he wouldn’t do anything more dangerous than picking pockets.
In their second year together, Sara gave birth to a daughter who became the light of their lives. She had Lacchi’s bright, brown eyes and her mother’s beautiful voice when she laughed, but all too soon that happy life came to an end. Kari caught pneumonia and the doctors they could afford could do nothing. In desperation, Lacchi found himself on the roof of a rich merchant, his gear in his hands and his patience for once abandoned. Slipping quietly over the side, he caught his foot on a window ledge and dropped lightly down to come face to face with the owner of the house. He ran, but the merchant was rich enough to have competent guards and they caught him easily enough.
He didn’t want to reveal his reason for being there as it could have gotten both Sara and Kari in trouble and the man, though he probably would have forgiven Lacchi had he known, summoned the city guards. He had already broken his promise to Sara and that was reason enough to be punished for Lacchi. He didn’t try to fight, and, because he was so well known, his punishment was hanging. He didn’t manage to escape this time, and his last thought was that at least, if Kari died, he’d be there to welcome her. His last thought, the momentary ecstasy of knowing it couldn’t be taken away from him and then terror. Complete and utter terror.
When one is used to the usual senses of life, having them suddenly stolen can be a very big surprise. Because he was a god, and, as such had created himself to fit within the body without even knowing it, he couldn’t leave it. He died, his heart stopped and all he knew was a heavy, immobile darkness for a time, but he did not wake up in the afterlife. No, instead, Lacchi woke up at the bottom of a hole while loose dirt was being shoveled onto his body. He was already panicky from not being able to move, and didn’t even realize he could for a moment as he flailed about, gasping and coughing in the dust. But it was enough to send the guards scattering, and they must have kept quiet about it too, because nobody came after him. Of course, once the man had gathered his wits about him, he realized that death hadn’t exactly gone as planned, but he couldn’t go back to Sara, not openly. She’d be terrified and wouldn’t understand why. And he was too ashamed of having broken the two promises he’d made to her; no stealing and not to leave without telling her why. He couldn’t face her just then, but he stayed in hiding, living on the streets of his city as an idle beggar, getting by on his wits and the kindliness of his once neighbours.
Lacchi kept watch on his wife, and mourned secretly each night beside the grave of his young daughter, whom he learned had died the very night he’d gotten caught. For five years he stayed out of sight and alone, seeing Sara work through her own grief and move on, marrying another man and prospering. He was too ashamed of his cowardice to feel any anger at that, and it wasn’t as though Sara was betraying his memory, she’d mourned long enough and didn’t know he still lived. Didn’t know he was still alive to love her. In the end, he was forced to move on, not voluntarily, but because he was caught stealing once more. This time by an old enchanter who didn’t even bother calling the guard, but instead came up with his own punishment.
He turned Lacchi into a dog and took away his mind so that he was, in every way, nothing more than a dog that had strange dreams at night. He travelled a great deal too and never did return to the city. Once, the enchanter even created a portal and together hound and master crossed into Althanas and never managed to discover the way back. For all his strength, the enchanter was a bit addle-brained and tended to forget half of what he really ought to have remembered. On the twenty-first year of his life as a dog, when Lacchi was 57, the man tried to restore Lacchi to his humanity, but couldn’t quite come up with all the words to the spell. He managed to give him back his memories and his own mind, but Lacchi remained a dog. Still, in the course of returning his memories and releasing him from his service, the enchanter called up more memories than the human Lacchi had been should have known. Now, he knows something of why he does not die in the same way as mortals should and what he is truly searching for, but it isn’t crystal clear in his mind and the memories are still vague, wisps that grow stronger very slowly.
Lacchi has been traveling ever since, wrecking havoc or offering help where he appears, but more often than not, disappearing just as quietly as he came, with few folks any the wiser. He is looking for some way to return to what he was and has, in the process, styled himself the God of Thieves and Children, albeit a little fancifully and not altogether certain, when he thinks it to himself, whether or not he really is.
Skills:
As a god, Lacchi has an unlimited potential, with vast amounts of power at his finger… er, paw tips. That being said, he has absolutely no idea how to open himself to that power or how to use it. He has a few, small spells, nothing special really that he has learned over the course of his life, and likes to learn anything new. However, just because he can’t use it, doesn’t mean that others can’t, and, if they know how, anyone could siphon power from him until he learned to block them or it kills one of them and in strong enough amounts it probably could.
Unlock- Because of his affinity for locks and unlocking them, Lacchi can use some magic to open any ordinary lock, whether it needs a combination or a key, and the most inexpensive of magical locks. He cannot, however, open barred doors or bolts or chains or the more powerfully spelled ones, and only occasionally has spotty success with knots. They’ve never come fully undone yet, but they do get loose enough that, if they are on the ground, he can undo the rest with his teeth.
Communication- To communicate, Lacchi can send his thoughts to any sentient being, and he can control how loud they are within that person’s mind and whether or who it is that gets them, whether a group all at once or just one person. He cannot, however, read minds or understand foreign languages. He knows tradespeak, a little dwarfish and some elven, and could pick up on random words fairly quickly. Luckily, however, thoughts are not a language and so can be understood by anyone he sends them to. It might be a one-sided conversation, but at least it gets them somewhere. Mind blocks aren’t a deterrent.
Levitate- Lacchi can lift himself a few inches off the ground, it just gains him a little extra height and helps when he wants to walk quietly, since his claws can’t click on air and keeps him clean if he has to go through a muddy puddle.
Look Away- It is a sort of invisibility spell that doesn’t make him fully invisible, but makes people look past him or lets their gaze simply slide off without really noticing he was there, that way, instead of people seeing doors open by invisible means or something, they can see him opening the door and don’t think anything of it.
*Also, as a god, he can die, he is immune only to age and air born viruses, anything else that kills people could easily kill him. But, while he is dead, his body will reconstruct itself around his soul/spirit/godly entity/whatever you want to call it and once it is fully healed, he will come alive again. Somewhat frightened, very weak and maybe even a little crazy, but still alive. It usually takes at least two days for him to ‘wake up’, the more physical harm done to him the longer it takes, but his spirit also needs to recover, which is why he won’t be awake as soon as his body is fully healed.*
Every now and again, when he is extremely riled or as utterly relaxed and contented with the world as he could be, Lacchi’s power will change him back into a human without him even realizing that it’s happened. And as soon as he notices, he’ll be a dog again. However, this means that he could eventually learn to control his shifting if he could find someone to teach him. Or so he hopes…
He can walk through magical alarms and shields without making either react, sometimes without even knowing they’re there. Of course, the stronger they are the more effort it takes and, with the shields at least, the slower he will move through them. He cannot bring anything living with him, and only an object that he is carrying and concentrating on will come through with him, which usually means that he doesn’t stay unawares for long.
Being a dog, Lacchi has the same senses as one. He also has the strength, endurance and speed of a sight hound and some fighting experience, although it is rather minimal.
Equipment: fleas...
He has a very old, very ratty leather collar that has a small compartment for holding notes, small amounts of coin or pebbles… Whatever someone might have wanted to put in it. He, of course, can’t use it, but it does mark him as ‘owned’, though he hasn’t had a master for two years, now and the collar is kind of falling apart.
*Note: I know this isn’t really a skill or an ability and probably also shouldn’t belong to a beginning character, but it is an essential part of Lacchi’s history and his very being. I won’t go overboard with the deaths and coming back to life thing, since it’s not all that fun to rp over and over again, but I was hoping you’d let me keep it. If not, I’ll get over it. *gets down on knees and begs to be allowed to keep it* Please!
Age: probably around 300 and something
Race: god/human/dog –and hopefully back the other way around eventually
Fur Color: predominantly white, with black splotches
Eye Color: brown
Height: 2’3”
Weight: fluctuates between 55 and 70 lbs. depending on his state of health and the reliability of his food sources
Occupation: god/thief/hunter/companion dog/messenger
Personality:
Laid-back and not enthusiastically expressive of his emotions, Lacchi usually lets himself get away with just plain old happy, sad, or momentarily annoyed. He doesn’t necessarily hide what he is feeling, and can, when he believes the moment calls for it, make his feelings obvious, very obvious… But he has found throughout his life that over-reacting unnecessarily calls attention to you, and he, being something of a thief and stray, doesn’t like doing such things. As a dog, and having lived for a goodly while, Lacchi is well versed in the concept of being lazy, but, while he enjoys relaxing, he finds that too much of it can become boring after a time. He loves those little humorous moments of life and, if they aren’t coming frequently enough on their own, has been known to attempt to create them himself, which may, or may not end in amusement for everyone involved.
Being a trickster of sorts, and one who values his secrecy, Lacchi is quite frank with his words. He feels that if he needs to edge around a subject, he might as well not bother discussing it. However, one shouldn’t be fooled by his forthright manner, since he doesn’t need to be telling the truth to be blunt about it, nor does he feel overly ashamed about lying in the first place, and, if caught out, won’t be shamed into speaking the truth instead. For him, his life is his life, and if someone wants to ask about it when he doesn’t feel like sharing, then they don’t really need to know. He never has been overly good at such things anyways. For a god, he isn’t much into going beyond annoyed and can rarely summon up the effort to be truly angry for long amounts of time. Rage just washes through him and he can’t hang on to it, usually it leaves him spent and a little morose if he tries, but he does feel it and doesn’t even try holding back his opinions when angered, though he usually won’t attack physically no matter how riled he gets.
Lacchi is not immune to fears, and he certainly isn’t afraid to run away, even if it brands him a coward. He much prefers the more subtle approach to getting out of sticky situations and will usually only stand and fight if he’s run out of other options. For someone who tends to get injured as often as he does, he has a tendency to flinch away from pain, or just the threat of it. But his by far strongest fear is of darkness. He can stand the night, after all, he has the stars and the moon then, but full darkness, or close enough will have him trembling and panicky enough thoughts just don’t work. He will, in short, be utterly useless and so terrified he won’t be able to get out of the dark by himself.
Appearance:
The first thing that most would notice about Lacchi is that he is a dog. Neither huge nor extremely tiny, he is perhaps slightly taller at the shoulder than most, being 2’3”. Quite obviously a mutt, one could, and probably would if they knew their hounds, classify him as a lurcher. His frame is fairly slight, with the general shape of any sight hound but a bit stockier; thicker legs, chest and a different facial structure give away his not being a pure breed. Lacchi has a narrow muzzle, brightly inquisitive, brown eyes and pointed ears that fold over halfway up their length to make them slightly crinkled and definitely floppy. He also has a slightly curved, longer furred tail.
His fur is of medium length and scruffily thick, perfect for those cool climates that don’t ever get too hot or too far below freezing. Usually, although not always, much of his fur is a browny-white from mud and dirt and other things getting caught in it. He keeps it as clean as he can, but that isn’t saying much. However, two large, black splotches are visible along his spine; one starting nearly halfway up his neck and going to just past his shoulders while the other one covers much of his rump and the very beginning of his tail. Black boots cover every one of his four paws, and he has a black patch around his left eye. His right ear is completely black, but his left is only tipped. The rest of him would be the aforementioned almost white.
This is just a rough sketch, he looks a lot more like a normal dog than I made it look like… (http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a105/Nemaisare/Lacchi2.jpg)
Head shot (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wbEsXIPY9Aw8GhgOSIY6hA?feat=directlink)
As a human, and it isn’t likely that anyone is going to see him like this often, Lacchi has the same, dark, flashingly curious eyes, but really, he doesn’t look much like a dog. He could, if one felt like being impolite, term him as being a mutt in that he doesn’t resemble any particular race and is just, well, human… He is lithe and lean, muscular but not well muscled or overly defined in that way and his body is geared more towards stealth and slinking quietly through shadows than it is towards making quick, frightening first impressions on folks. He is quite short, approximately 5’5”, 5’6” or thereabouts, but looks taller, so long as there’s no one around to compare, because of his lankiness. He has long limbs and, despite the years, hasn’t gained much in weight. With a golden tinge to his fairly pale skin, he doesn’t match up with the light skinned races or the dark skinned races, but could nearly fit in with either. His hair, a light brown, is short and curly and he has the sort of confident grace of one who trusts his body’s abilities to take him away from trouble but uses his mind to direct it rather than instinct. (Note that I’ll add to this when and if he ever manages to shift)
History:
He was a god, he still is a god and he remembers it… Sometimes… Vaguely… He was born from belief, his mother the goddess of night, the moon and stars and other things, his father that faith the humans so blindly held close to themselves. After all, if they believed that their goddess had a child, then why shouldn’t she? He came into being without any need to grow and was, in truth, a god in his own right, even though he had no name nor identity other than as ‘her son’. He was the only child among the gods who was of them too, and they cherished him, teaching all the skills they had to offer so that he could be strong, as gods are meant to be. But although he could claim them all as relatives and they allowed it, he lacked the one thing that would make him a true god, for those who had created him of their faith did not worship him. Besides, they were claimed already by other gods. So, when they judged him ready, many, many years after his birth, his family sent him into the world of the mortals. Not just to live among them, but to be of them, so that he could choose whom he wished to serve. In order to become entirely mortal, he had to forget what he had been before, which meant cutting himself off from his powers and being reborn.
Thus it was that…
Lacchi was born and raised a wild lad. His father leaving him to his own devices more often than not after his mother died. It wasn’t for the sake of not wanting to spend time with him; more simply it was that he had very little spare time already. Lacchi’s father was a locksmith, well known if not well paid. He was a good man, gentle, honorable, loving and a master of his trade. He taught his son all he knew of locks and took him as his apprentice. He was a busy man, however, and more often than not was away or unable to give his son the attention he required.
So Lacchi played in the streets, and he befriended a nice lady who just happened to be a pick pocket. She liked his attitude and, more to the point, his nimble fingers and quick mind. She taught him what she knew and so he learned both sides of life. The hardships and the love, both in the law and outside it. When his father died he was thirteen and not old enough to look after the business, it was sold to the highest bidder and he was forgotten about. The pick pocket took him in, gave him what shelter she could along with further teachings. Lacchi learned quickly and well, the lessons embedding themselves in his mind to remain forever remembered. By fourteen she had him breaking into houses and stealing objects of greater value than what was on the streets, he knew locks better than she did and he could slip through smaller places. He never felt guilty about the stealing and never will.
His father had taught him patience by example and Lacchi did not lack of it, he could wait for as long as he needed before starting something and he very rarely did anything rash. He was determined to be the best at what he did, and he liked doing it, the heists were exciting, dangerous and every bit his kind of adventure. Quick, clever and never one to give up a challenge, Lacchi did become known among the rather secretive thieves guild as good, and, a bit more dangerously, he was also known among the city guards. He eluded most of the traps they set for him, though they managed to catch him once and got him chained in a cell to await his punishment. Fortunately, the guards had not found his lock picks when they searched him, so he was free and vanished at the next change of guard. Later, he returned for the knives they had taken from him and slipped away again. It was this feat that had him hiding in a stable when a girl, around his age, began her chores.
She was not a great beauty, in fact, she was rather plain, but it was her spirit that he saw, and that was more beautiful than any mortal face. She was singing as she worked and he watched quietly, listening and admiring. Lacchi left gifts for her, nothing that he had stolen, for that would only get her in trouble, and soon he showed himself to her. She has since told him of that first sight she had of him, a brown-eyed youth with a confident smile and cat-like grace, rough voiced and wild, but a man purely himself and nothing else. She had seen a rogue, but not a scoundrel and she had loved him from the first, just as he had her. Within that year, his nineteenth, they were wed and living in the small house Lacchi had bought with the money he had saved up. Though she never could quite convince him to forget his thieving ways, she did extract the promise that he wouldn’t do anything more dangerous than picking pockets.
In their second year together, Sara gave birth to a daughter who became the light of their lives. She had Lacchi’s bright, brown eyes and her mother’s beautiful voice when she laughed, but all too soon that happy life came to an end. Kari caught pneumonia and the doctors they could afford could do nothing. In desperation, Lacchi found himself on the roof of a rich merchant, his gear in his hands and his patience for once abandoned. Slipping quietly over the side, he caught his foot on a window ledge and dropped lightly down to come face to face with the owner of the house. He ran, but the merchant was rich enough to have competent guards and they caught him easily enough.
He didn’t want to reveal his reason for being there as it could have gotten both Sara and Kari in trouble and the man, though he probably would have forgiven Lacchi had he known, summoned the city guards. He had already broken his promise to Sara and that was reason enough to be punished for Lacchi. He didn’t try to fight, and, because he was so well known, his punishment was hanging. He didn’t manage to escape this time, and his last thought was that at least, if Kari died, he’d be there to welcome her. His last thought, the momentary ecstasy of knowing it couldn’t be taken away from him and then terror. Complete and utter terror.
When one is used to the usual senses of life, having them suddenly stolen can be a very big surprise. Because he was a god, and, as such had created himself to fit within the body without even knowing it, he couldn’t leave it. He died, his heart stopped and all he knew was a heavy, immobile darkness for a time, but he did not wake up in the afterlife. No, instead, Lacchi woke up at the bottom of a hole while loose dirt was being shoveled onto his body. He was already panicky from not being able to move, and didn’t even realize he could for a moment as he flailed about, gasping and coughing in the dust. But it was enough to send the guards scattering, and they must have kept quiet about it too, because nobody came after him. Of course, once the man had gathered his wits about him, he realized that death hadn’t exactly gone as planned, but he couldn’t go back to Sara, not openly. She’d be terrified and wouldn’t understand why. And he was too ashamed of having broken the two promises he’d made to her; no stealing and not to leave without telling her why. He couldn’t face her just then, but he stayed in hiding, living on the streets of his city as an idle beggar, getting by on his wits and the kindliness of his once neighbours.
Lacchi kept watch on his wife, and mourned secretly each night beside the grave of his young daughter, whom he learned had died the very night he’d gotten caught. For five years he stayed out of sight and alone, seeing Sara work through her own grief and move on, marrying another man and prospering. He was too ashamed of his cowardice to feel any anger at that, and it wasn’t as though Sara was betraying his memory, she’d mourned long enough and didn’t know he still lived. Didn’t know he was still alive to love her. In the end, he was forced to move on, not voluntarily, but because he was caught stealing once more. This time by an old enchanter who didn’t even bother calling the guard, but instead came up with his own punishment.
He turned Lacchi into a dog and took away his mind so that he was, in every way, nothing more than a dog that had strange dreams at night. He travelled a great deal too and never did return to the city. Once, the enchanter even created a portal and together hound and master crossed into Althanas and never managed to discover the way back. For all his strength, the enchanter was a bit addle-brained and tended to forget half of what he really ought to have remembered. On the twenty-first year of his life as a dog, when Lacchi was 57, the man tried to restore Lacchi to his humanity, but couldn’t quite come up with all the words to the spell. He managed to give him back his memories and his own mind, but Lacchi remained a dog. Still, in the course of returning his memories and releasing him from his service, the enchanter called up more memories than the human Lacchi had been should have known. Now, he knows something of why he does not die in the same way as mortals should and what he is truly searching for, but it isn’t crystal clear in his mind and the memories are still vague, wisps that grow stronger very slowly.
Lacchi has been traveling ever since, wrecking havoc or offering help where he appears, but more often than not, disappearing just as quietly as he came, with few folks any the wiser. He is looking for some way to return to what he was and has, in the process, styled himself the God of Thieves and Children, albeit a little fancifully and not altogether certain, when he thinks it to himself, whether or not he really is.
Skills:
As a god, Lacchi has an unlimited potential, with vast amounts of power at his finger… er, paw tips. That being said, he has absolutely no idea how to open himself to that power or how to use it. He has a few, small spells, nothing special really that he has learned over the course of his life, and likes to learn anything new. However, just because he can’t use it, doesn’t mean that others can’t, and, if they know how, anyone could siphon power from him until he learned to block them or it kills one of them and in strong enough amounts it probably could.
Unlock- Because of his affinity for locks and unlocking them, Lacchi can use some magic to open any ordinary lock, whether it needs a combination or a key, and the most inexpensive of magical locks. He cannot, however, open barred doors or bolts or chains or the more powerfully spelled ones, and only occasionally has spotty success with knots. They’ve never come fully undone yet, but they do get loose enough that, if they are on the ground, he can undo the rest with his teeth.
Communication- To communicate, Lacchi can send his thoughts to any sentient being, and he can control how loud they are within that person’s mind and whether or who it is that gets them, whether a group all at once or just one person. He cannot, however, read minds or understand foreign languages. He knows tradespeak, a little dwarfish and some elven, and could pick up on random words fairly quickly. Luckily, however, thoughts are not a language and so can be understood by anyone he sends them to. It might be a one-sided conversation, but at least it gets them somewhere. Mind blocks aren’t a deterrent.
Levitate- Lacchi can lift himself a few inches off the ground, it just gains him a little extra height and helps when he wants to walk quietly, since his claws can’t click on air and keeps him clean if he has to go through a muddy puddle.
Look Away- It is a sort of invisibility spell that doesn’t make him fully invisible, but makes people look past him or lets their gaze simply slide off without really noticing he was there, that way, instead of people seeing doors open by invisible means or something, they can see him opening the door and don’t think anything of it.
*Also, as a god, he can die, he is immune only to age and air born viruses, anything else that kills people could easily kill him. But, while he is dead, his body will reconstruct itself around his soul/spirit/godly entity/whatever you want to call it and once it is fully healed, he will come alive again. Somewhat frightened, very weak and maybe even a little crazy, but still alive. It usually takes at least two days for him to ‘wake up’, the more physical harm done to him the longer it takes, but his spirit also needs to recover, which is why he won’t be awake as soon as his body is fully healed.*
Every now and again, when he is extremely riled or as utterly relaxed and contented with the world as he could be, Lacchi’s power will change him back into a human without him even realizing that it’s happened. And as soon as he notices, he’ll be a dog again. However, this means that he could eventually learn to control his shifting if he could find someone to teach him. Or so he hopes…
He can walk through magical alarms and shields without making either react, sometimes without even knowing they’re there. Of course, the stronger they are the more effort it takes and, with the shields at least, the slower he will move through them. He cannot bring anything living with him, and only an object that he is carrying and concentrating on will come through with him, which usually means that he doesn’t stay unawares for long.
Being a dog, Lacchi has the same senses as one. He also has the strength, endurance and speed of a sight hound and some fighting experience, although it is rather minimal.
Equipment: fleas...
He has a very old, very ratty leather collar that has a small compartment for holding notes, small amounts of coin or pebbles… Whatever someone might have wanted to put in it. He, of course, can’t use it, but it does mark him as ‘owned’, though he hasn’t had a master for two years, now and the collar is kind of falling apart.
*Note: I know this isn’t really a skill or an ability and probably also shouldn’t belong to a beginning character, but it is an essential part of Lacchi’s history and his very being. I won’t go overboard with the deaths and coming back to life thing, since it’s not all that fun to rp over and over again, but I was hoping you’d let me keep it. If not, I’ll get over it. *gets down on knees and begs to be allowed to keep it* Please!