BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME: Silas Usher
NICKNAMES: Also answer to 'Sy' or 'Usher'
APPARENT AGE: 42
TRUE AGE: 850
TIME WITH THE CIRQUE: 10 years
JOB: 'Cleaner' of corpses found on the grounds. Twice-weekly bouncer at Virtue & Vice.

DESCRIPTION

HAIR COLOR: Dark Brown
EYE COLOR(S): Amber. Wears brown contact lenses.
HEIGHT: 6"3
WEIGHT: 210 lbs
DISTINGUISHING MARKS: Various blackwork tattoos.
PLAYED-BY: Idris Elba

Silas Usher stands out in a crowd. His dress is minimalistic and muted. You'll never catch him in an ironic shirt, or really anything more complex than a simple T or henley and a plain, unprocessed pair or jeans or slacks. He keeps his hair shorn close to the scalp. Frequently, he sports a few days worth of shadow - but even that is kept neat. He wears no flashy watch or accessories, nothing to signal wealth or status. Even his eyes, a lupine gold, are made more mundane by color contacts. The rest, as they say, is out of his control.

He towers over the average human; broad shouldered, darkly colored and with a posture that has had him pegged as retired military more times than he can count. Unless given good reason, he doesn't smile much. He prefers to watch rather than be heard, though the deep foreign rumble of his voice almost always grabs attention when he's feeling chatty. If it feels like he's studying you, you're not likely wrong. It's fair to call him a brooding based on appearance alone, although that's hardly true. With those he trusts, values or considers 'his,' his shoulders relax, his eyes soften and his smile comes easily. Silas has a rather distinct swagger to his walk. His body moves with a sort of predatory grace, an economy or intention to the motion that can sometimes look both affected and effortless. Factor in the countless blackwork tattoos that mark his arms, chest and back, and he might come across as far less refined a man than he is. It's alright if you underestimate him.

ABILITIES/MYTHOLOGY

SPECIES: Fae: Barghest

SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES:
-ENHANCED CONDITIONING: Silas is stronger, faster and suffers damage less easily than a human would, however these traits are no more enhanced in his human form than those of a Lycan or Shifter. His eyesight is fantastic. He sees better in low light than he does in the day, and enjoys night vision comparable to a cat's. His hearing is roughly equivalent as well.

-PLANESWALKING: This will look like a vanishing act to those who don't know where he's going. Though some fae are required to return to mounds to cross back and forth from the Otherworld, Silas doesn't. Only a bit of darkness or shadow to slip through is necessary. He has to reappear in exactly the same spot he departed from. Primarily he uses this to dispose of the bodies left around the Cirque grounds after the first two to three day abstainence rule is lifted. The corpses are simply never found; he feeds them to the bog that births his kind in the Otherworld. This ability is useful for dodging trouble for a time, but is not as efficient as teleportation. He cannot take any living being with him. His stay in the Unseelie Otherworld is indefinite. One day, he may simply choose to go home and not return.

-SHIFT: Silas is a what has most accurately been called a Goblin Wolf of the Unseelie Court, a Barghest. He was not born to a human body, though he has grown accustomed to it. On occasion he can shift back into his original form, though it is tiring to do so and requires the proximity of great magic. Over the years, he's found that the closer to the Central Cauldron or a powerful witch he is, the less difficult the change becomes. He can only sustain his original form in this world for a few hours before it exhausts him, at which point he'll change back involuntarily and sleep for the better part of a full day. Choosing to change back beforehand is less tiresome. Shifted, he appears as a wolflike black Fae the size of a small horse. His kind has given rise to the 'spectral dog' death omens, myths of hellhounds in highland moors and 'Grims,' anthropomorphized reapers. The truth is not so dramatic. Terminally ill or doomed visitors to the cirque have seen him for what he is more than once; just as he can sense deaht on them, like a dog smells cancer.

-ELEMENTAL: Unlike most Fae, Silas has no elemental abilities at all, having opted to develop skills in transformation and planeswalking instead. He has a great weakness to iron, and cold seems to disagree with him. He seems to have a small resistance to fire, however.

-DEATH SENSE: His kind has given rise to the 'spectral dog' death omens, myths of hellhounds in highland moors and 'Grims,' anthropomorphized reapers. The truth isn't so dramatic. Terminally ill or doomed visitors to the cirque have seen him for what he is more than once; just as he can sense death on them, like a dog smells cancer. He can't change the future, but the ability does help him get to the scene of a murderous snack-fest on the grounds for disposal with spooky efficiency.

SKILLS:
Polyglot (English, Gaelic, French, Spanish, High German, Czech), An excellent cook, has a largely eidetic memory, can use a map and compass in the age of GoogleMaps (yes this is a skill), is a decent trick shot with a six-shot revolver, decent carpentry, plumbing and electrician skills. Can hold his breath for four minutes.

PERSONALITY

Beyond his physical presence, one of the first things people notice about Usher is the strange sense of nobility about him. Like a wildcat, he's a study in a balance between empathy and malevolence, calm and violence. To quote the old addage; He speaks softly and carries a big stick he has earned a reputation for using without warning. In his long life, he's been both a stalwart guardian of innocence and goodness, and an unhesitant executioner of anything (and anyone) that offends those values.

These days, Sy is a bit more tempered. Decades of life in the mortal world has given him the ability to see in shades of gray - if only enough to keep the bodycount comparably low. Because his species is most closely related to a wolf, Usher is a pack animal. He's not a loner, neither does he prefer solitude. He'll spent as little time in his trailer as possible, finding it lonely. He's not the most animated companion. He won't compromise his dignity by clowning around or making a fool of himself for the amusement of others. He's a glutton for company, but it has to be quality company, otherwise he'll look elsewhere. Conversations about the weather don't interest him. Silas is the sort to sit down and immediately start asking prying questions about life, love, your fears, your family and where you might see yourself in five years. He tolerates bullshit, games and trivialities about as well as a vampire does the sun. He wants the meat, not the bare bones.

Despite his solid, sometimes apathetic outward composure, Silas is a passionate creature. He has a deeply valued sense of honor, is intensely loyal to those who meet those parameters and get to know him, loves earnestly and hates with equal zeal. Either as a result of his species, his old work history or a combination of both, he has a particular weakness for women. A classy woman with a principled mind and a sense of humor will get him every time, regardless of whether the sentiment is friendly, romantic or custodial. Virgins are funny territory. That sounds odd, but in keeping with his default tendencies towards violence with the dishonorable or unprincipled, Silas is just as serious in his dealings with the innocent and the pure - children, the mentally simple, and virgins. No one knows why, but it's a popular feature in medieval beastiaries for a reason. Like a man possessed, he will do just about anything to ensure the safety and dignity of a person meeting this criteria, and can never take action himself to compromise that. It might drive him nuts to do so, it might be terribly inconvenient, but he simply won't be able to help himself. If he dislikes the individual on a personal level? Too bad. He'd still step in front of a bullet for them. He's also been known to pick up strays in his travels, safeguarding runaways, orphans and castouts as found-family until they're old enough or confident enough to make it on their own. Like a proud parent, he's always happy to see them on unexpected returns, no matter how lengthy or brief.

HISTORY

The man now called Silas was born from a bog in the sidhe Otherworld. For years, he and his several brothers were little more than animals. They stalked the wilds as beasts, learning from and living off of the enchanted land. Life was honest, simple and straightfoward. In young adulthood he gained his complex mind and a broader awareness of the world. It was a Cinderella moment; the clock struck twelve, and the carriage became a pumpkin. In all its ugliness and beauty, the reality of his world was made clear to him.

Compelled by the age old purpose of his kind he reported to the Unseelie court to make use of himself. Like his many brothers before and after him, he was given a name, then assigned to safeguard a young maiden of a noble house of the Winter Court.

His charge, Aisling, was talented in elemental magiks and no wilting flower. In equal measure, she appreciated the added security and hated him for the loss of freedom he represented her. Still, they were together for nearly 50 years, when she was begrudingly married off. The family kept him on retainer for excellent service rendered. Over time, he safeguarded Aisling's daughters, then granddaughters.

His life has been a long one, but no epic of dramas, conflicts and heartbreaks. Centuries of service molded Silas into a machine of duty and discipline. Until he met Ygraine. Of all the maidens whose honor he was tasked with assuring, she was his favorite. She was sharp as a tack, shrewd, artistic and for an Unseelie, even a bit sweet. Ygraine turned down suitor after suitor proposed by her parents by circumventing the system - cleverly digging up dirt on each prospective to prove him unworthy of her. It became a game for them both, Silas would help her investigate, and he would avoid transfer to a new charge. When a suitor finally bested her at her own game, however, Ygraine did the unthinkable. She hung herself in her bathing room. Her passing was not his fault. This was known. Her family excused him from service anyway. Rather than be reassigned to a new noble house, Silas left.

He crossed over to the mortal world instead, following lines of travel Ygraine had outlined countless times in her longing for adventure. Perhaps he was mourning the loss of his job. Perhaps he had loved his charge. Perhaps there was a glint of something else in him, something his dutiful brothers lacked - a little hint of grey, a little inclination towards rebellion against his own restrictive nature. The mortal world grew on him over the years and continents. Ten years ago, he came to the Cirque. Immediately, he felt more at home than he had in the rest of the world.
OOC & LINE INFORMATION

PLAYER NAME: Annie
PLAYER CONTACT: Dropbox. Info on the comm contact page.
PLAYER AGE: 21+

STORY:
RESOURCES/FINANCIAL: A combination of miserly living and a habit for collecting and hoarding valuables over several centuries has made Silas' portfolio rather lucrative, to say the least. He is not working because he needs too. He works because he'd likely die of boredom or frustration if he ever stopped feeling useful.

GOALS: Explore what he's like if he lightens up. Just a little. Introduce him to increasing levels of moral gray, net him some unlikely relations with people who he wouldn't have given the time of day (or would have killed) a few decades ago. Have fun with the 'cleaner' position. I'd like him to work towards deciding whether he claims this world, or the Fae Otherworld as his real home, rather than splitting the difference.

STORY HOOKS: Relations with Fae. Fights and all sorts of conflicts and rivalries with dishonorable coworkers he's not supposed to kill. Easy lines with all of the workers at Virtue & Vice, and any species that have man-eating or murderous tendencies.