Post by Baard on Mar 1, 2016 6:07:15 GMT -5
OOCNo larger than 500 x 400 px
Name: Potato-Face Sam
Years RPing: Ffff. 14 years?
Other: I cannot be stopped
How You Found Us: See above
General
Name: Baard (Formerly Kimset)
Birthday: 05/13/2010
Gender: Male
Species: Tundra
Physical
Height: 28 inches
Length: 56 inches
Weight: 125 pounds
Coat Color: Predominantly gray with darker accents on his ears and around his eyes but graying around the muzzle
Eye Color: Black (purchased from store)
Health Issues: None
Other Information: Pelt is littered with scars, and his legs / paws are proportionally larger than they should be, but shorter than average. Fur is mangled and dirty always.
Mental
Mental Stability: Sane
History: Venom and his brother Kimset were inseparable from almost the moment they opened their eyes in the southern region of Anikira. Venom's black fur contrasted nicely with his brother's dark gray pelt speckled with black guard hairs, and their personalities were similar but not quite the same. Kimset was harsh and controlling, stand-offish, rude, and always ready for a fight. Venom, on the other hand, was a born charmer--he could and often did use his smooth talking and persuasive eyes to get anything and everything he wanted, from his parents, his other siblings, everyone in his pack. They were polar opposites, really, but Kimset loved his brother as fiercely as anyone could. They fought and learned everything together, kept each other sane, and became the best of friends without having to try.
Shortly after the brothers turned one year of age, they were off in the forest that made up a majority of their home, heading back from a solo exploration, when they happened upon the pack's meeting site and set their eyes on a grisly scene. Blood and bodies were strewn everywhere, some of them still oozing from fresh wounds. The entire pack had been slaughtered in the few days that the brothers had been out exploring, and not a soul was left alive. Venom and Kimset were stunned, and after their initial shock, went to each body in turn in an attempt to find any survivors. There were none that they found, and all their family was accounted for. Distraught, the two spent the night in their old den, curled together with their noses buried in each others' fur to block out the scent of death that surrounded them.
The following morning, Venom roused his brother and the two of them set off to the east, following the faint trail that could only be the wolves who had destroyed their family. They traveled for three years, using their combined skills (Venom with his charm, Kimset with his ability to threaten effectively) to speak to other packs in the area and glean some information about the ruthless killers they were tracking. Some packs they passed had met the same grisly end as their own, and others had not. The deciding factor, it seemed, was whether or not the residing pack was receptive to the intruders. They were a pack of few, the numbers they heard ranging from seven to twelve, and they presented as ruthless but fair, until they were denied what they wanted--namely a place to sleep and hunt for a night or three. When met with kindness and hospitality, they would do no harm except to whatever prey they took down. If met with hostility, however, they would attack immediately and without mercy, leaving no one alive. Kimset and Venom, it seemed, were the only wolves to survive, though they would have died all the same had they been at home when the attack came.
When the two finally found the wolves they had been searching for, their numbers were down to six, and they were holed up in a large cave, five of them inside asleep while one wolf patrolled a small area in front of the cavern. Venom and his brother split up, Kimset sneaking around to secure a good vantage point while his darker sibling sauntered down in plain sight, headed straight for the guard as he walked to the point furthest from the cave. He was met with a snarl but placated the guard-wolf, speaking softly to distract him while Kimset got into position. It was a matter of seconds before the squat gray beast was upon the guard, and Venom as well, and the two of them easily took care of him with hardly a sound. But their bloodlust would not be sated until all the wolves who murdered their family met the same fate, and thus the two entered the cave and began battle with the five remaining wolves, sustaining wounds that were painful but not unbearable. It was a short battle, but bloody, and the brothers came out alive by the skin of their teeth.
Injured, the two spent nearly a month in the very cave they were hurt in, surviving on the carcasses of the wolves they had killed. Once they were healed enough to travel, they started off again, changed from the experience they had. Killing those monsters had changed them--Kimset, while always a brute, became a cold-blooded killer, and Venom lost the kindness he had known and became only a conniving trickster. They had evolved into the very same killers they had destroyed, though they did not attack wolves in large numbers. No, they were smarter than that; two wolves could not kill twenty. Instead, they picked off any stragglers they came across, sometimes killing immediately and with mercy, and other times toying with their prey and amusing themselves with a chase, or sometimes torture. They survived almost solely on the flesh of their distant kin, unable or unwilling to hunt herbivorous prey unless it was necessary.
It was only a year after they began their destructive path when Kimset went missing, running off after a fight with his brother. Venom had been turning soft, cooing on about how they should settle their bloodlust and become respectable wolves, and Kimset could not bear the thought. He loved the taste of wolf flesh, and killing was what made him feel alive; there was no reason to stop, and so he didn't. For several weeks he kept running and killing, until he reached the shore and began to swim. The gray male had heard of the mainland, and the sheer vastness of it fascinated him enough that he decided to brave the treacherous journey.
Once he arrived, the male paused, at a loss. Without Venom, life would be twice as hard; he could manage, but how was he going to convince anyone that he was anything but a killer? Venom had smoothed out the sharpness of his personality, and without that, Kimset was nothing but a selfish, rude, burly brute with no redeeming qualities and no chance of fooling anyone. And so, with a bitterness that he clung to, the male became reclusive, seeking out regular prey and avoiding other wolves at all costs. When he was forced to interact with wolves he did not kill, he refused to use his given name--too much history lay behind it, and besides, he could not allow Venom an easy way to track him.
So Kimset became Baard, a name that he had heard in his travels and that had stuck with him. By this time, he had gotten himself much further inland than he had anticipated, and it was there on the plains where he thought his life would end.
A long day of traveling made for one tired wolf, and Kimset intended to take a rest beneath a shady tree in the middle of the plains. Before he could settle in, however, a massive cat--a lion, he would learn later--came from seemingly nowhere and a battle ensued. Woefully unprepared to take on an animal four times his size, Kimset struggled to avoid claws and teeth, forgoing an attempt at attack due to the sheer size and skill difference between the two. The lioness was quick, and had made short work of the male before she was stopped by a mysterious female wolf, one bearing fangs and closer in size to the formidable enemy.
Though it was still a struggle, Kimset was slightly awed by the prowess displayed by the female, and watched helplessly as she slay the beast, though not without sustaining her own injuries. The two exchanged names, and while he would not admit to being impressed by the larger Valdis, he certainly was. They spent several days healing together, sustained on the meat the lioness provided, before parting, both covered in fresh scars and headed their separate ways.
For another year the gray male moved about, careful to avoid more confrontations with the large felines that prowled the land. He was a loner at heart, content in his singularity, but curiosity got the best of him when he detected the very female who had once saved his life. Word was traveling throughout the area of a massive, long-toothed female who was leading a band of odd strangers grown into a family, and Kimset could not resist finding out what the story truly was.
So he sought her out, and the two had an uncharacteristically pleasant meeting in which Valdis explained herself and her pack--and then immediately offering Kimset (or, as she knew him, Baard) a position among them. The male was hard-pressed to simply ignore her offer and leave, for he had been alone since his packs death, and Dis was leading such a huge number of wolves that he didn't see himself fitting in. But after spending a day among them and finding that many were like him, though perhaps a little less sharp around the edges, he decided to go against his nature and join them.
Baard's time with Aesir was much more simple than he had expected, and before long he had taken on the role of Ellri, despite not being as old as some of the other members. He was well suited to the task, however, and from his position of Dregnr he had learned much more than his time as a loner; it was fitting that he take up a position that required less interaction, and he settled into his new-found solitude easily.
Despite the peace that was found in the pack, tragedy struck, and hard, with the fire that trapped a majority of Aesir and killed many. Kimset was one of the first to jump into the water and swim to safety, though he wished there had been a better place to go then Anikira. Venom was bound to be about, and would recognize his brother in an instant despite the changes. So, when Valdis did not immediately follow her family but instead stayed as long as she could to save them, Baard decided it would be best to lay low and stay hidden until he could find her.
Personality: Kimset, before he found Aesir, had been reclusive and closed-off, and most of that still shone as the most vibrant part of his personality. A quiet male, always observing, Kimset is one to avoid others unless interacting with them is quite impossible. When forced to make conversation, he is short and unpleasant, for his goal is to end the interaction as quickly as possible and return to his solitude. If he holds any ounce of interest for the wolf or subject in particular, he might grace one with a full several sentences, but he will avoid any topic he does not feel concerned with. He also does not have a sense of what may or may not be acceptable to speak of, or to say--for instance, he would speak of killing a fellow pack member as easily as a normal wolf would the weather, and often answers philosophical questions with a dark and rude comment. Though part of the pack, the male keeps himself separated and isolated, keeping an eye on the workings and happenings without being directly involved. While it might seem like a disadvantage, his approach to situations is actually quite useful. Quiet observation allows for careful calculation which leads to easy solutions and loads of knowledge others might not have.
In addition to his observational skills, Kimset is an efficient and ruthless warrior. Years of traveling and killing shaped him into a grizzled and harsh creature, and his physical prowess is as sharp as his mind, even at his advancing age. Though he has scars aplenty, the male has never turned down a fight--and typically has killed each opponent as swiftly as possible. There is no such thing as a harmless spar for the male, and one should take care in challenging him, for he fights only to the death. Additionally, he refuses to train anyone he doesn't feel is strong enough, and even if he chooses to grace a wolf with his tactics, he will only speak them once. If the one he speaks to does not remember, the knowledge is lost to them forever.
Despite this harshness, Kimset does have a secret indulgence--no matter where he is, or what he is doing (short of a battle), the sight of a butterfly or moth will always catch his attention and fascination, if only for a moment. Easily explained as a simple observation, the mangled beast takes a secret joy in the graceful and elegant movement of the creatures, an aspect of his mind that not a single wolf would ever be privy to.
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