Varian Ruddiger

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[Name] Varian
[Nickname] N/A
[Age] 16
[Pronouns] He/Him
[Affiliation] Current prisoner of The Chosen Ones of St. Oriene
[Rank/Occupation] The cult forces him to conduct experiments in water-breathing serums, as well as inventing devices and building things for them.
[Alignment] Neutral, perhaps Varian was more selfless at one point, but he is undeniable self serving now.
[Dragon] A small rather distinctly striped terrible terror named Ruddiger

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[Appearance]
Varian is a very gaunt and hungry looking boy, much smaller than normal due to generally poor care by both his captors and himself. He has black hair of semi-long length, pulled back into a short ponytail, streaked with very premature greys and a shock of a teal blue. Around his neck and along his hands are distinctive tattoos that mark him as a slave to the cult and anyone familiar with them, the one on his neck has a nasty scar running through it where he attempted to claw the markings off.

He tends to carry himself with a deep air of distrust and fearfulness, always wide eyed and glancing over his shoulder, and his voice is extremely rough and painful from the severe scarring in his mouth and down his throat. Lesser scars line his arms and torso from poor treatment and unsafe working conditions. He is rarely ever seen without gloves and some kind of neck cover to hide the dehumanizing tattoos.

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[Personality]
There was maybe a time where Varian was a much different person than the haunted shell that he is now. He has the capacity to be an incredibly confident and clever boy, if not somewhat petulant in his interactions with authority. He is a brilliant scientist though, with a steel trap mind for alchemy and inventing, and he is ever searching for more and more knowledge to sate his constant hunger for learning. His time with the water cult have left him jaded and extremely paranoid, perhaps even a touch disconnected and unhinged, always carrying himself as if he's expecting abuse at any moment.

Varian carries heavy trauma from the things he's seen and done with the Chosen Ones, and they linger like violent ghosts in his mind, a constant reminder of everything they put him through. Because of the forced cannibalism, Varian has a deep aversion to meat, the smell often being enough to make him sick and shaky. He has frequent night terrors that wake him screaming, and has been known to harbor slight suicidal ideas, at least in the sense that he cares very little for his life.

Perhaps there is a chance he could find himself again with time, but for now the mistrust and fear run deeper than any scar.

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[Backstory]
Varian was born on the chaotic Northern Peninsula in the midst of the famine and war that was tearing the lands asunder. His family fearing for their lives sough voyage away from the nightmare on a ship set for the Archipelago, however they would never make it to the salvation they'd hoped for. When he was 14, the ship his family was sailing on was taken down, and the lot of them were inevitably taken prisoner by The Chosen Ones. Where Varian managed to prove his worth to the cult, his family was not so lucky, and one by one they were picked off and left to who knows what fate.

He was left alone, where he spent the next two years being subjected to the torment and sickness of cult life, serving them as an alchemist and inventor.