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[kitrite]

♚ OOC
Name: Zee
Age: 27
Contact: plurk: buttadventure
Character In-game: n/a

♛ IC
Name: Vanadi Vadarta
Canon: original
Canon Point: About a year after leaving his planet.
Age: 26
Gender: male
Species: Kitrite (elf from space)
Appearance: Here! And for a little more specific detail, Vanadi is short (5'4) and slender, with gracefully curving ears that twist at the end as do all kitrites'. He has a thin face that can tend toward gaunt these days, and an ugly scar crosses the bridge of his nose to end under his left eye. The rest of his body, usually covered by clothing, is mostly metal. Both legs and his left arm are fully mechanical, and about half of his torso is as well (down the middle). His organs are a mix of mechanical and organic, as is his brain. What skin is left is covered in old scars, and it's hard to say by sight what made them. He tends to dress well, preferring intricately ornate outfits when he can get them, but usually having to settle for whatever he can afford. He almost always wears long sleeves, full pants, and a high neckline.

World Info/Background:

Vanadi is from a planet that most of the rest of the universe hasn’t heard of. It was only discovered by an outside species (humans) about 13 years ago, and since they have no advanced technology to share with the rest of the universe and no desire to export resources, they’ve mostly decided to keep to themselves since learning that they aren’t the only life in the universe. Anyone who has heard of it considers it a decidedly backwater planet, hardly even worth a visit.

Wayland was given a name when the humans first landed. The 20-some sentient species living on it already have always been far more concerned with their own territories and kingdoms to ever settle on an agreed-upon name for the place as a whole. Vanadi himself is from the kingdom of Aluthsa, located in remote mountains near the equator of the planet, in the desirable altitude below the snow level but above the sweltering jungle. As a result of their relative isolation, the kitrites have escaped much of the constant warring that the rest of the planet otherwise sees, and they've had plenty of time to build up their arts. Kitrian art and architecture is regarded as some of the finest in the world, especially if you ask a kitrite. 

Not much changed when the humans landed the SS August on the shore of an uninhabited inland sea. Generally, they were more preoccupied with their own affairs to stir up too much of ruckus with their new neighbors. For a start, when the August passed through Wayland's magnetic field (called Light, and responsible for the beautiful light show all night in the lower atmosphere, as well as powering most technology, and even endowing its sacred guardians, called Anchors, with unusual powers), it rendered the entire species infertile, and infected 10% of them with a fatal disease. They also had the challenge of building an entire city with the broken-down remains of their crashed transport ship, but that really did come second to the birth-problem.

Vanadi's story in particular was always a relatively simple one. He was a nobleman in the high courts of Aluthsa, and, being the youngest son of a family of old money, didn't have many expectations of him. He was trained in the usual things kitrite nobility are trained in: arts, musics, ritualistic fighting. He turned out to be really quite good at the graceful form of hand-to-hand combat that the kitrites were best known for, kobast. The biggest concerns in his life were the latest dramas around him, who was willing to join in on his amorous lifestyle, and where he could get the juiciest gossip. In short: he had it good.
 
That was, of course, until Venus. Venus was one of the many scientists seeking a cure for the infertility inflicted on them by the planet’s magnetic field, although she opted to go about it differently; while others looked to study cloning and other routes, Venus had chosen to perfect the human body with mechanical additions, reach the pinnacle of human perfection and eliminate death by disease or old age, and ensure that no one ever needed the replacement of a new generation. Finding kitrites and humans remarkably similar, Venus turned to the kitrite kingdom of Aluthsa when her study exited the purely theoretical phase. She was ready to begin experimentation — but not on humans. Human life was limited and therefore precious. Kitrites, on the other hand, could be bought for a sufficient payment of human technology that the rest of the world had never seen before. Having been impressed by Vanadi's display of his skill and fine physical condition at a martial arts competition, Venus chose her subject, paid the price, and had him secreted away to her lab in August.
 
His life was changed abruptly and thoroughly. Friends and family were told that he'd been called away by one of his many lovers for an adventure around the world, and most of them had no reason to doubt the authenticity of it. Vanadi was flighty and irresponsible, and had been known to be distracted for months on end by any particularly interesting lover. In truth, he was stolen away in the night, handed over to Venus's laboratory in August, and operated on before he was roused. He'd gone to sleep one night, fully kitrite, and woke up several months later filled with cybernetics and covered in healing scars. Venus had also taken the liberty of installing an obedience program, and Vanadi found himself physically unable to resist performing whatever tests she required to see how her various installations and upgrades were doing. Fortunately for him, possibly the only fortunate aspect of the situation, Venus was properly brilliant, and all new functions worked as they should. He was faster, stronger, more durable, very deadly, and decidedly miserable. To test the full extent of the loyalty program, Venus used Vanadi to deal with a scientist who had recently discovered and been appalled by her work on an unwilling subject. She ordered him to take whatever action he saw fit to, to ensure he wouldn’t do anything to endanger their project. Vanadi came to the reluctant conclusion that killing him would be the only certain way of keeping him silent, and the programming compelled him to carry it out. Venus’s work was a success.

However, there was one friend that found an error in the cover story given for Vanadi’s disappearance. Maria, a fish-like attal from a neighboring kingdom, was a childhood friend of Vanadi’s. As Vanadi’s parents never would have approved of a friendship between their son and a frowned-upon attal, they enjoyed secretive vacations together every few months, which flighty, irresponsible Vanadi had never so much as shown up late for. When he failed to show up altogether, Maria knew something was wrong. She enlisted the help of Riley Riker, a human that had stolen the sacred power of the Anchors and named himself as the fifth Anchor in a sacred group of four. Most of the planet hated him for this, but as he had also effectively made himself sacred (as well as powerful), weren’t able to do anything about it. He wasn’t exactly a first choice, but he was the only help Maria was able to find. He was also able to help her learn Vanadi was in August, and traveled with her to go and track him down. A strange woman pointed them toward Venus’s labs as where Vanadi lived, but also warned them not to visit that night — a warning they both didn’t hesitate to ignore, of course. The two of them successfully broke in and located Vanadi, only to discover that Venus had ordered him not to leave for the night. Maria suggested that Riley reprogram him, as he’d already shown some skill with technology. He very hesitantly agreed to try, but mid-operation the alarm system locked all the doors, and sensors indicated that their break-in had been noted and showed the approach of what they assumed was Venus. Riley hurriedly finished the procedure, just in time for the figure to arrive: Kelawar, the same strange woman they’d run into before. She helped them escape the lab before disappearing into the city.

Almost immediately it was discovered that Riley had successfully removed Venus’s control over Vanadi — but accidentally replaced it with himself as the controller. Vanadi was understandably unwilling to be under anyone’s control at all, but he was more terrified of entering Venus’s reach and allowing her the chance to take back control. Maria returned to August 7 search for their mysterious benefactor, Kelawar, who refused to help on account of being busy trying to destroy Venus for herself, citing her as the murderer of her father. Vanadi was recaptured not long after by a subordinate of Venus’s, and the situation was finally dire enough for Kelawar to agree to help Riley and Maria free him. The three rescued him from the lab just as Venus was in mid-experiment, working with a Light powerful enough to destroy the lab and cause an explosion. They assumed her to be killed in the explosion, and with nothing left to do for the two seeking revenge on her, opted to escort Vanadi back to Aluthsa, with Kelawar along to try and work out how to de-program him to obey Riley’s commands. Meanwhile, there were steadily increasing mysterious attacks in August and surrounding nations, and that night their ship was attacked and destroyed midway through its journey by one of the creatures responsible for them. It was a creature only Maria’s eyes were attuned to seeing, which disappeared even from her in the coming light of dawn — until they realized it had taken cover from the sunlight in Vanadi’s circuitry. They were able to communicate with it while it was within him, and learned it was a young member of a species no one had heard of before, something that had lived within the Light in the planet’s magnetic field. The Anchors’ use of the Light had been a steady drain on the realm of these creatures, called flickers, which they were willing to overlook. Venus’s experiments began to drain it massively, though, and the recent attacks were they only way for them to strike back.

Each nation began to blame the next for these mysterious attacks, caused by something only Maria’s species could see, and the four of them had to spread the news they’d learned to call off rising tensions and the threat of the return of war. The creature, giving its name as The Fiery Traveller, built itself a robotic body to give Vanadi the use of his back and still be able to travel along with them. It reported that the Light was still being drained at an alarming rate, which lead to the discovery that Venus was not only still alive, but had found a way to power herself with Light. The five of them confronted her and pushed her to overload herself with Light, which was too much for her body and killed her. In the aftermath, Riley agreed to give up his Anchor powers, and the flickers made peace with the other Anchors and allowed them to continue use of the Light. And as thanks for his role in stopping Venus, the flickers presented Riley with a permanent source of power to maintain his use of the Anchor powers, as well as agreed to keep open a small hole in the magnetic field to facilitate the safe passage to and from the planet.

Vanadi left as soon as he had the option to, which involved human friends pulling a few strings and twisting a few regulations to have him shipped out on one of their ships. He'd seen his own planet proven to be violent, greedy, and selfish, and he was sick of it. He figured he'd take his chances with the rest of the universe, where he'd heard there were better prosthetics and loads of new species to sleep with. Nearly immediately he discovered that his family's wealth stopped at the magnetic field around Wayland, and he was painfully broke in the universe at large. He even had to get a job as a cook on a ship, how embarrassing. His one consolation is that it's nearly impossible for anyone from home to hear about it, let alone ever track him down.

Personality:

Vanadi has always been a charmer. He knows his way very well around court and high-society life, and he knows just how much to butter a person up to get what he wants. And he's very good at getting what he wants. Whether it's through hard work and lots of time put into friendliness, compliments, and favors promised, or sheer persistence, there aren't too many people that can say no to Vanadi. Not very many people want to say no to Vanadi. He's well known for leading a luxurious, pleasure-filled life, and if he wants something from you, the chances are you won't mind whatever form repayment takes. And Vanadi is very generous when paying back his debts; he likes to keep his relationships with useful people around him good, after all. This ability to read and play people isn't entirely manipulative, though— in fact, Vanadi really enjoys people. He likes talking with them, being around them, getting to know them— and most of all, seducing them. Attractive people are his favorite ones to know, just for that reason. Vanadi can never turn down a romantic rendezvous, no matter the species or gender of his partner, and he’s well known for his love of love.

At home, before his changes, Vanadi would come across as terribly shallow, sometimes even seeming empty-headed, at first glance. As preoccupied by court life as he had been, he flitted from social group to social group, giving very little thought to the actual people around him. Life was one long soap opera, with tiny incidents blown far out of proportion, just by value of having nothing bigger to keep them in perspective. Vanadi went along very willingly with this take on things, happy to make friends to hear some new piece of gossip and forget them the next day. Some of these habits remain even in his new life; Vanadi can talk to so many people and put so much energy into them all, that very little of it will be genuine. He's happy just to pass time with people, never mind actually caring about most of them. That's a step further than court life had ever required, and so he'd never made a habit of it. There are a few lasting, genuine relationships in his life, most notably his close friendship with Maria and later with Kelawar and Riley, but he had generally never seen the need to open up and really show himself to very many people.

The man is an extrovert, through and through. Being around others gives him energy, and the more positive his relationship with them, the brighter he shines. Deprive him of that, though, and the result is something pitiable. Like a flower taken from sunlight, in the absence of company, Vanadi becomes dispirited and withdrawn, even sullen. Having had good company whenever he wanted it for nearly all of his life has left him with no resistance to loneliness, and he suffers it acutely. More recent years have him seeking out company where ever he can find it, and it wasn’t unusual to find him befriending some janitor in one of Venus's labs. He became willing to overlook as many ugly qualities as he had to, to find someone to talk to.

One shouldn’t mistake his acceptance of any company he can get for anything but an act of desperation, though. Vanadi is still an incredibly vain creature. He's used to being admired and complimented for his looks, and he was very proud of them. Even now he puts tremendous care into his appearance, and the cosmetic changes he's undergone at Venus's hands have impacted him more deeply than any other upheaval she'd brought to his life. For a few years following the changes Vanadi kept every inch of his body covered, employing high necks, long sleeves, and gloves at all times. He was deeply ashamed of his own appearance, and tried to pretend nothing had changed rather than face what had become of his life. He's since become resigned to and jaded by his largely-metal body, and considers it just one more ugly gift his home planet gave him. Still, he won't be found with anything less than a full outfit very often.

And finally, Vanadi is very tired of being someone else’s pawn, and wary of ever being taken advantage of again. His escape from Venus has left him with a much shorter span of patience than he’s ever had before, and the right people can spur him to pettiness and passive aggressive sniping, if not outright nastiness. Vanadi the eternal people-pleaser has finally had enough of trying to accommodate everyone in the name of keeping good company, gaining lovers, and having favors fulfilled. An unpleasant person can drag him down to their level these days, and he’s no longer above a petty exchange of insults — or even blows, should it come to it.

Skills/Abilities:

Vanadi is very skilled with hand-to-hand combat, and uses a method that was formed to put the generally lighter, smaller kitrites at an advantage against bigger, stronger species. He's had to adapt it after gaining so much weight and strength, but he's worked with martial arts for so long at this point that its evolution came naturally to him.
He's generally very balanced and graceful, although now and then an augmentation might throw him off, particularly if it's glitching.
He doesn't have much training with any weapons outside a staff, but is a pretty quick study.
He's excellent with reading people, and usually knows what to say and when.
His metal body has also made him somewhat faster than the average human, as well as considerably stronger and much more durable. His body will require mana (in lieu of electricity) as well as food to run, and the strength will be lowered to the peak of human capability while the durability is at the level of a suit of armor.
His left eye, mechanical, can usually see in infrared in the absence of light. That setting of it will malfunction here, though.
And finally, maybe most importantly, he's one hell of a cook, and adapts to new ingredients and pallets fast.
He has no magic or otherwise supernatural abilities.

Magic Weapon:

Randomize me!

Carrier:

A mechanized hummingbird, done in stainless steel and blue crystal.

Sample:

[ video ]

[ There's a lazily smiling face in the video, which is, of course, very calculated. Vanadi is situated somewhere in the Hall of Glory, artfully posed at a window that casts just the right light on his face in just the right place. Composition is important. ]

Well I, for one, am thrilled to be here. [ Only the most tone deaf would find earnesty in that. ] A touch disappointed at the lack of an enthusiastic welcoming committee, but the bird was better than nothing.

Now, somewhat more pertinently — how serious was that yammering tin can about being called here for war? [ He snorts. ] I can't be unique in being able to think of a good few things I'd rather be doing in a brand new world than waging someone else's war. I don't even want to be waging a war for my planet, why would I bother with this one?

[ But he waves that off breezily, like he has better things to do than get worked up over all this. ]

That aside, my name is Vanadi, and I'd be much obliged to anyone willing to donate a few moments of their time for a more personal tour. Nothing against the bird [ everything against the bird, he's clearly not a fan ] but I really do prefer a more organic touch to these things. The living make for better company. [ Here he adds a charming smile. ] I can make it worth your while. Go on — ask how. I'll show you the list.