__________________QUICK STATS
Name Dane Valkarius
Age 48, in Dane years, as far as he can remember
Gender Male
Species Dog (Probably)
Ethnicity ...Dog (Probably)
Height 7'9"
Occupation Mercenary, Fortune Seeker, Dog
Residence Ketra
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Physical Description
Dane stands roughly 7 feet and 9 inches tall, easily head and shoulders over normal folk without even trying. He's imposing on both height and width, sporting a well-defined, muscular frame, sharp, canine teeth and piercing red eyes. Dane's torso and arms are all covered in various old scratches, healed scars, and even a burn mark here-or-there as a result of his worldly outings and adventures, and he sports a very telling set of scars on his back— the sort you might get if, say, a lover's embrace was a bit too 'talon-y'. His chest-length, unkempt hair is bone white, devoid of pigment, and his skin is extremely pale, giving birth to his 'nickname'. He sports a rather strange pair of sharp, wolf-like ears atop his head, as opposed to normal human ones. According to Dane, they work exactly the same for the most part so it doesn't (or shouldn't) matter. He has a long, extremely fluffy tail that he is somewhat defensive about, but doesn't mind letting others touch.
Not much of a man for clothing, Dane most commonly wears a pair of black slacks with no particularly defining features, and... that's about it. He's not a huge fan of shoes, and will occasionally travel about barefoot, unless he's forced to put something on. In these, the rarest of occasions, he commonly fashions himself a set of makeshift sandals out of any string and wood, plastic or metal he can get his hands on. Dane is quite fond of hunting the toughest beast he can find in a particular region, skinning it, and wearing it's hide as a makeshift top— as a result, depending on the locale, he is often seen wearing the skin and fur of either a large bear, ungulate, or even a lesser wyrm— all of which having been tossed at the nearest leatherworker with a sack of gold to be fashioned into a longcoat that he wears bare on his upper body. "You can feel the warmth of the hide better" by not wearing a shirt, he's been quoted stating.
Personality
Dane is a very simple man... Dog... Person. He is a surprisingly friendly individual, despite the fact that he towers over most everyone and looks like a ripped polar bear. Dane enjoys food, sleeping, exercising, drinking, hunting, and mating. He doesn't consider the last one any less appropriate than the others; They're just things he likes to do. He is a well-tempered spirit towards everyone and anyone. Humans, demons, fae, elves, and other creatures alike receive just about the same warmth and friendliness on equal measure, unless said soul is his enemy. Gods save them, should that be the case. He's slow to anger, but can very much be angered— to the point of blind, unbridled and uninhibited rage.
Dane has a rather primitive view of the world, not particularly interested in politics, secrets or trickery. He believes everything and everyone should be straightforward about what they want, and that everyone should pursue what makes them happy. He's not a hedonist; He genuinely believes that life isn't about anything other than living for what you enjoy doing, and as it happens, Dane particularly enjoys doing what he does. As a result, he can occasionally come off as indifferent to the plight of others who lead more complicated lives, though he means nothing by it— he's simply either incapable of understanding, or lacks the desire to try to.
He can come off as cocky or arrogant at times, particularly when in the heat of battle, but the truth of the matter is that Dane is a very brave and tough, physically and mentally, person to know. Loyal to a fault, his friends and allies are his closest relationships, and he'll defend them tooth and nail, blood and bone, long after they're dead and gone. He doesn't hold back, either in conversation with someone he knows or in non-lethal combat, and he doesn't hold grudges, preferring to live and let live. He seems to be proud of that mindset, even if it polarizes him towards the people he comes across.
Magic/Abilities
No one knows exactly what Dane is. On the surface, he's a large man with an impressive build, and a few canine-like features. However, below that, the line between man and 'myth' become blurred very, very quickly.
Inhuman Body - Dane could crush a small boulder in his bare hands, and rip an old, rooted tree straight from the earth with a little bit of effort. He can sprint across the Draconi Forest in just over a half-hour within stopping, and glancing blows from blades and blunt weapons alike will scratch, scar and bruise him, but nothing yet has cut him straight through. Put simply, Dane's a monster. Regardless of his size and stature, his physical capabilities are freakish at best, and don't seem to be driven by any particular magical powers or enchantments. How can one tell? Well, it's honestly not that hard...
Inhuman Spirit - Magic just... doesn't work on Dane. Helpful empowerments and deadly curses alike have been observed to leave little effect on his body, as established by the many naturally-healed injuries he sports visibly. It's not as if the spells are nullified, or absorbed— He's neither a Mordecai, nor an Adhara, and being within the vicinity of either has no ill effects on him. Fireballs will singe his skin, and ice will freeze him still, at least until he breaks free of it— As a result, spells and hexes can still 'damage' him, even if only at the physical level, but a curse of petrifaction, or immobilization, or any sort of illusion— magics that affect the mind and soul, simply cannot penetrate far enough into him to take effect.
Natural Healing - Dane's body often takes considerable beatings, but he's never been down for more than a day or so. A wound heals naturally much, much quicker on Dane's body than it would on a normal human being, with scars forming over his grievous injuries within minutes and otherwise fatal blows being what it would take to put him down for any extended period of time. Even then, unless it's the heart or the head, Given Dane a night or two to recover and he'll be back on his feet, ready for round two with whatever knocked him down.
Relationships
History
Dane was found outside of Essryn over 40 years ago, a pup by comparison to the enormous man he is today. He never met his father, creator, or whatever left him out in the sands of the Kaadir desert, and his only real 'family' was the passerby woman who, a kindly soul in her own right, took it upon herself to nurse and looked after the young man until he was strong enough once more to venture out and about on his own. He was one of a few 'children' that the kindly Essryni woman took in; most of them, at the point of recovering their strength, roamed off into the city streets, never to be seen again; Dane stayed with his adoptive 'mother' until she died, before leaving Esrryn entirely.
He wandered, and wandered, from the sandy deserts to the mountain ranges of Thunderblack, into the plains of Adela, all the while fending for himself and unconsciously avoiding humanity as a whole. The very first time he was actually seen again was some several years later, in the outskirts of the Draconi forest. He wandered the forests for some time by this point, eying people from afar, but never coming too close to the actual residents. Some people thought he was some sort of ghost, given his overall 'white' appearance, while others thought he was a new breed of monster, the way he would stare from a distance with those piercing red eyes, but most just ignored him and kept their distance; Life in Adela was hard enough without worrying about some weirdo in the background who didn't matter. He had no name, no family, no sense of identity.
Life was very hard, in fact, for one Lewis Valkarius, resident of the nearby city of Ketra, who lost his loved ones to a roaming gang of bandits some time ago, and had been coping with that since then. Lewis would take long, quiet walks through the mid-depths of the forest, contemplating what he actually had left of worth in his life. It was during one of these walks that he actually met Dane, though at the time, the younger man didn't have a name. It was Lewis who actually gave him the name of "Dane" for the sake of conversation, and what a conversation they had. Lewis and Dane hit it off very well; Dane was a good listener who loved to be scratched behind the ears and a shoulder to cry on when Lewis felt the occasional lows of his current state of being. Their relationship was almost therapeutic for him, and over time and many more conversations, Lewis invited Dane to stay with him in his home.
Dane became family to Lewis over the years. He helped around the house, found work as a bodyguard within the city, and would often go on walks with Lewis through Ketra where, over time, the other residents got used to him as well. And how couldn't they? Dane had a friendly and attractive personality, and loved being petted what's more. Over the years, he grew from a normal-sized young man into a big, big man who barely fit in the house Lewis owned. He exhibited unique talents and samson-like strength more and more as he grew, meaning more than anything that the food bill went up a bit. Still, Lewis took care of him and loved him like a son, even giving him his last name, "Valkarius", as proof of his belonging. Dane wore the name well, and proudly announced it to anyone who would listen. The residents of Ketra just rolled their eyes and laughed whenever he did, though.
A short few weeks afterwards, however, tragedy struck. No one knows exactly what happened, because no one was there to witness it. However, nearby residents happened to hear a struggle within Lewis's home, and walked in to find that the man had apparently hung himself and died from the asphyxiation. Dane, who happened to not be around at the time, was stricken with grief over his loss, and wouldn't sleep until he found out what had happened to Lewis. Following his nose, as well as a few eye witnesses, Dane sought out and eventually came across a man by the name of Arkeus Callian. Arkeus was a large man who had been at odds with Lewis long before Dane knew either over some unpaid debt, and after a day of drinking, decided to take matters into his own hands. He had to have staged the murder to look like a suicide.
Dane, livid, got into quite the fight with the man and attempted to tear Arkeus to shreds. Friendly folks and nearby guards couldn't pull him off of the eventually beaten-down and near-dead Arkeus, and it was only by the chance actions of a passerby Serenian woman who saw the attempted homicide by Dane that anyone was able to stop him. The woman was a mage, well-versed in her own regards in many mortal magics, and utilized a binding earth magic spell to attempt subduing Dane; To the woman's surprise, and Arkeus's fear, Dane nearly broke free of it. The woman's spell held true, however, and eventually Dane was detained and taken away to be held in the city's dungeons.
Or, that was supposed to be his fate. Rather than turn him over to the guards, the woman proclaimed how much 'safer' it would be if she kept watch over him, given the destruction he'd caused (and the fact that not a single guard could hold him), and with the man still imprisoned in stone, she left the city and took refuge in the nearby Draconi forest. There, Dane was given a chance to plead and explain his case, which he did. The woman, as It turned out, was quite surprised and impressed by his apparent ability to not only withstand, but also resist magic— especially her own, given her expertise. Having heard him out, as well as taking his gifted nature into account, the mage gave him a choice; Either to be sent back to Ketra and serve his time, or to leave with her, as a member of her adventuring party, and work towards preventing tragedies like Lewis's from happening in the future. Dane readily agreed to the latter of the two options. Thus, with bittersweet memories of his owner passed, and a name he carried with pride, Dane left his home life at Ketra behind, and began to travel the world as a seeker of fortune, a member of the soon-to-be-infamous "Red Ravens".
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