__________________QUICK STATS
Name Kuo "Escher" Tallia
Age 19
Gender Male
Species Human
Ethnicity Essyrni
Height 5'3"
Occupation "Merchant"
Residence The road (Wanderer)
__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF
Physical Description
Kuo, or "Escher", as was his title-name, has a relatively scrawny build— Not one suited to heavy lifting, prolonged combat, or extended physical activity. His darker skin and silver hair run in his family— for the most part, he takes closely after his mother, sporting a vibrant and sharp, yet beautiful face, and luscious silver locks. His eyes are such a bright shade of auburn that they appear red in the daylight, do in fact turn crimson red whenever his 'unique talents' are activated.
Kuo typically wears light clothing— shorts, for example, and a short-sleeved shirt of some sort, though very often the majority of his outfit is covered by a long, royal purple overcoat he dons when travelling; Occult oppressive-looking as it is, it helps him to conceal items or store gold and documentation on his person for quick and easy access. It also helps him, somewhat, hide his key possession, the "BD Box"; A small canister-like device, fastened to his belt, that glows an unnatural hue of purple; It appears to be connected by a single cable to a strange, jewelled necklace that Kuo is never seen without. Both the cable running from the necklace to the box and the jewel of the necklace it's attached to glow the same unnatural hue when Kuo's 'unique talents' are activated.
Personality
Escher is best described as a work-sociable, gifted kid who never got to be said kid. For most people, greatness is something that are born without and made to go through life to achieve; From a young age, however, Kuo always possessed a very special and significant role among an entire culture; He never got to experience such things as falling and scraping his knee for the first time, or hanging out with friends on the dunes, or even experienced a first love. As a result, while he is quite familiar with dealing with people, and relatively knowledgeable of the ways of the world, he never got to experience much of any of it for himself, growing up. Even now, as he lives a relatively free lifestyle, Escher's general lack of non-business-related interactions occasionally causes him to bow out of conversations in embarrassment or shy away from more intimate and personal events, lacking the sensibility to confide in others when he feels lonely, or wants more out of a relationship.
Magic/Abilities
When Escher was born, he was imbued with the power to interact directly with dreams and desires in the form of two gifts, both bestowed upon him by ancient beings the likes of which Le'Raana has forgotten with time. These unique magics don't grant him great strength, or destructive prowess, or allow him to summon monsters or any such— Instead, each gift allows him to interact directly with the magical boundary between what's considered "a dream" and what is considered "reality". Their names, as he was taught, are known as the "Golden Rule", and "Temperance", and by using either, Escher makes the 'dreams' of others into reality, thus fulfilling his end of the contracts he makes. In order for such a thing to be possible, Escher forms a sort of binding magical contract with the one who is to benefit from his gifts; A 'deal', wherein the user takes benefit of Escher's gifts, at a price designated by the kind of deal they make. As these powers are, however, meant for use (or abuse) by others, not Escher himself, they don't directly work on him— but they affect him in different ways. These gifts are capable of thus:
-The "Golden Rule" allows Escher to grant great wealth and prosperity onto one who makes said contract with him. The contract is designed as such— One who makes a deal with Escher for the sake of profit will always see that profit come to pass. As the contract holder uses that wealth, for any reason, Escher himself accrues wealth— But should the wealth of one of his clients be used to cause harm or pain to anyone else, the contract is voided— and all the wealth that the former client would've gained is lost, often by sudden and uncontrollable means. "He who has not, shall gain-- He who has, shall not take", or so the saying goes.
-"Temperance" allows Escher to grant the wish of anything capable of dreaming; be it human, demon, flora, fauna or otherwise. In order to do this, Escher breaches the boundary between what is a 'dream' and what is 'reality', bringing forth the iteration of whatever the wish from the dream may be. Temperance can make someone stronger— the strongest creature to have walked the lands. It can grant magical prowess beyond comprehension, bring back the dead, or even change a person into the fundamentally best version of themselves. Escher is allowed to ask for anything in exchange— Gold, servitude, one's firstborn child— and the one who seeks a contract is able to offer anything, but there are fundamental prices that must be paid, and if Escher or his client ask too little, the contract will "take" more from the one who makes the request, regardless of what either party wills. True balance is found when Suffering produces perseverance, after all...
In both cases, in order to form a contract, Escher must pay a price of specific kind— his soul. For every active contract that Escher has, a portion of his soul is syphoned away— used as a catalyst upon which the contract can be created between himself and the other party. A normal person would have their entire soul sacrificed for the deal— Escher, however, is possessed of an inherently vast well of mortal magical energy which allows the creation of a contract to greatly weaken, but not outright kill him. Whenever a contract ends, he regains that part of himself. On his own, he can create up to 10 contracts at any given time, by pushing his soul to it's very limit— Doing so would make him deathly weak, likely incapable of taking care of himself. However, with the magic of the "BD" or "Boundary Dream" Box, Escher can create hundreds of contracts at a time— this is due to the box's unique prowess of "doing the math" -- hashing out the details of a contract for Escher without much input on his end, and providing Escher with a degree of magical manifestation or influence within the boundary between dreams and reality. As such, he can theoretically be wherever dreams are; as well as be summoned by particularly fervent ones.
Relationships
History
"Let me tell you the story of Escher, the city that vanished in the sands. Once upon a time, there lived dark-skinned, silver-haired people in the deserts of Essyrn, outcast from the city. They were a poor and fortuneless folk, who struggled to make ends meet in the harsh and vast sandy wastes, banding together to form a community of sorts. The community found refuge in an abandoned temple from an age long past, wherein they found texts and tomes of a god-king worshipped by a people long ago, who ruled over them with a steady and fair hand, granting them wealth and power to match and meet their struggles. Over time, the community turned their beliefs to those of the old god-king, and began to worship and pray within the temple, building a small village around it. Over time, more of the tomes within the temple were uncovered, and one particular tome detailed an ancient ritual, in which the god-king's reverent powers could be called back into the world through a newborn child, who would act as the god-king's vessel.
Given their strife and struggles, it was agreed upon by the entirety of the community that they would take on the name of "The Children of Escher", after the God-king who watched over the lost civilization. It was also agreed upon that all newborn children, until one such child was capable of inheriting the God-king's powers, would be subjected to the ritual of his possession. Thus, the children of Escher were taken on their date of birth to the temple, and the ritual was attempted upon them; For the longest time, those who survived were weakened greatly by the ritual, and many did not live to see their 3rd birthday. The people suffered; their trials growing harsher and harsher still with the decline of their population until their people, on the brink of extinction, were given a sign.
Katalla, a high-priestess of the temple of Escher who was born infertile, became heavy with child. The people of Escher saw it as a sign from the God-king, that their trials and struggles were acknowledged, and that the newborn was to be the one to inherit his gift. And so it came to be that Katalla's firstborn son, Kuo, was offered to the ritual as a vessel for the God-King... and survived. And it was said that on that day, for the first time in hundreds of years, it rained over the temple of Escher, filling wells with pure water and restoring irrigation to the surrounding lands. Bestowed with the gifts of the old god, Kuo, whom the people renamed as "Escher" in reverence of the great king, was heralded as the return of the idol of their worship, and raised practically as royalty, by the people's standards.
Kuo lived as a reverent being for the majority of his life. The scholars of Escher uncovered much and more of the knowledge of the ancient culture, and learned of the detailed rituals of the sacred contracts the the old culture would create with the God-King, granting them great wealth and power. Kuo was possessed of these self-same gifts, and very soon, the people flocked to him to have the wishes fulfilled, and their needs met. The mages of the city were even capable of recreating some of the artefacts, such as the Boundary Dream Box, which allowed the boy to serve as a medium of prosperity for the entirety of the city. Quickly, Escher grew from being nothing more than a small village on the edge of ruin to a great city that provided for its people— where great warriors could make their name and find glory, and treasure seekers could ensure the prosperity of their families for generations to come.
Alas, the people grew greedy, and abused their power. As the city grew, the people sought vengeance against Essyrn, which cast them out and forced them into the life of strife they'd led so long ago. They beseeched Escher for more— more money, more power, all in the name of preparing to stand against the golden city, and take it for themselves... When overnight, a great sandstorm scoured the lands of Escher, its people caught in the tormenting winds and its homes and edifices consumed by shifting sands. And thus, come morning, the city of Escher, temple and all, had been swallowed by the sands, never to be seen again. It is said there were no survivors of the great city of Escher... But I suppose, then, you might wonder; Just how could I possibly be able to tell you this story?"
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