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Dec. 21st, 2011 02:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
studious_snakeOut of Character Information
Name: Robin/Chatsy
Username: N/A
Are you over the age of eighteen? Yes
Current characters in Baedal: N/A
In Character Information
Basics
Character Name: Jay Nagai
Username:studious_snake
Fandom: OC
Played By: Takuya Nagaoka
Icon: http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/114708752/44403603
4. Original Character Section
Physical Description: Jay is in his mid twenties and scrawny with black hair. He’s 5’6 and of Japanese descent. He looks like an ordinary human when in human form, and when he’s just sitting around his house or planning on doing something that may mess up his clothes, he typically wears a hoodie and jeans. However, he does enjoy dressing nice when the occasion calls for it, and has several slacks, dress shirts and ties that he will wear. He also owns one full suit. When he sleeps or intentionally takes on snake like characteristics, he becomes or gains certain traits of a seventeen foot long king cobra.
Sexuality: Bisexual - Jay is not an overly sexual person and is perfectly fine going long periods of time without sexual activity. That said, he is open to sex and sexuality, in both the setting of a one night stand and a long term relationship. In his opinion, sex is great when you have it, but not something to fret over when you don't. As of yet, he probably hasn't had sex more than a couple times, but he also doesn't see why people get so hung up on that sort of thing, figuring his accomplishments in his field should matter more than what he does between the sheets.
He tends to prefer those who do not frequently show strong emotions, as he doesn't really know how to handle them, and he tends to lose interest in a potential partner who demonstrates them. He would tend to prefer sex with other nagas, but is aware that this is not an option.
World Information: Jay’s world is similar to normal Earth, except supernatural creatures exist. They live in secret, taking advantage of the fact that any human who believes in them would be labelled insane. In his world, the nagas, which is what he is, are at war with the garudas, bird creatures. The garuda cannot turn into a human the way a naga can, but they can become invisible at will, as well as becoming large or small, even becoming so large that a human could be lost in their plumage. They are social, intelligent and predatory birds. This is spurred on by an instinctual predator/prey relationship, and nagas are the natural prey to garudas, and as such this war, which has been going on as long as either of them can remember, though it has been said that the Buddha created a temporary peace between them.
The nagas have a narrative of how this violent hatred came to be that paints the garuda in a rather unjust light. The mother of the nagas and the mother of the garudas were sisters with a strong rivalry, which led them to place a bet with each other, and the winner of that bet would be able to enslave the other. According to the naga version of the tale, the mother of the nagas, Kadra, asked the nagas to help her cheat at the bet, but they refused. Despite this, Kadra won the bet, but was angry at the nagas and arranged for a sacrifice of nearly genocidal proportions, until Astika, the savior of the nagas, was able to rescue them by charming the man in charge of sacrificing the nagas into granting him a boon, and the boon he asked for was to spare the lives of the remaining nagas. Despite the fact that the nagas did not have anything to do with their mother’s enslavement, the garudas blamed them for it and reaped their vengeance by devouring nagas whenever they had the chance.
Interestingly, in the garuda version of the myth, the nagas did engage in duplicity with their mother, and took far greater advantage of the success of the bet.
When feeding on nagas, garudas grab them in their claws, before slicing them open mid-air and eating only their fat before dropping their bodies into the sea. This method of feeding on the nagas likely hasn’t helped their view of the garudas.
Nagas in this world have the ability to take the form of a snake, a human, or gain whatever traits of their snake-form they want. Usually if they go halfway, they either gain a snake body with just a human head, or go upper half human, lower half snake. However, they are capable of gaining any combination of these traits that they desire. When sleeping, they always revert to their snake form. Unlike snakes, they lay clutches of only one to four eggs, which is fortunate since laying more eggs at a time would raise questions. As things are, they typically have to have at least one member of the family working in prenatal care at any given time to help them cover up any issues associated with suddenly needing four birth certificates without any sign of pregnancy. Nagas originally inhabited areas of China, Thailand, India and Japan that were near bodies of water. However, much like humans, they have immigrated to other areas all around the world.
The king cobra, which is the snake that nagas become in their snake form, is the one snake that guards their nest until the eggs hatch. Nagas take this further and actually guard their offspring as they’re growing up.
History: Jay Nagai hatched in his parents’ house in New York City, along with two brothers, Tom and Ken, and a sister, Gina, who hatched from the same clutch. Fortunately, they had a few uncles in the medical field who were able to issue a written statement for their birth certificates, which they filed as a home birth. It raised a few eyebrows, and people wondered how Aimi Nagai, his mother, managed to give birth to quadruplets without a caesarean, but with a doctor’s note and plenty of witnesses to the birth, no one who was aware of it wondered enough about it to look into it.
For the first few years, Ray, their father, and Aimi kept the four hatchlings at home most of the time, for fear that they may change unexpectedly, and fed them pinkie mice. After a few years, however, they taught them the importance of appearing human at all costs when away from the house. This lesson was fully understood by the time they were enrolled in kindergarten.
When they started school, however, it was quickly discovered that Jay and Gina were farsighted, and the two started wearing glasses at this time. In their snake forms they could compensate with their taste and other senses, but as humans, particularly humans who needed to read and write to do their homework, the glasses were a necessity.
As the four children grew older, they didn’t develop too many friendships. They were shy, and seemed a bit odd to other children, though they only minded terribly much when the other children would bother them, which, due to the fact that they were children, happened fairly frequently. However, when Tom joined the swim team, doing fairly well as nagas feel at home in the water, he gained some popularity which gained some token of approval for the other siblings, though Tom’s general apathetic demeanor at the overtures of friendship he received mostly countered that.
In their teenage years, the four nagas began developing their own interests. Gina began taking an interest in herpetology, Tom continued his swimming, Ken felt he should learn more about medical science so he could take over the role his uncle performed for the family one day, and Jay was fascinated by mechanical engineering. As with his snake-like nature, his mind was oriented toward conserving his energy. He may be interpreted as lazy, but he quite simply liked finding ways to get things done with the most minimal amount of effort on his part. This is essentially what mechanical engineering is, finding ways that people can do things without exerting as much effort. However, once he had an idea, he would exert an unusual amount of energy and enthusiasm in making it come true, much as a snake will come to life and exert more energy at times where it would solve a problem, such as when they’re striking their prey, defending themselves, fleeing or escaping a tank they’re kept in.
Their lives seemed fairly normal by their standards until they reached sixteen. They’d always been told about the garuda, giant birds who would kill their kind on sight, and about the war perpetually waged between them. However, they never thought it would be an issue, because while their parents had told them that there were rumors that some garuda had travelled to other countries just as nagas had, though none of the siblings thought that they’d ever really see a garuda.
At least, not until one day the four of them were cutting through the park on the way home from school. Normally the garuda stayed invisible to avoid having anyone find out that they existed, or shrunk themselves down to the size of ordinary birds, but this garuda had apparently just gotten in a fight with a water snake, and had grown to about five feet long from the tip of his beak to the tip of his tail in order to give himself the advantage.
For a moment, the four siblings stood frozen, knowing what that oversized bird must be. Tom was the first to react. He transformed halfway into his snake form and began to race toward the bird, hoping to kill the garuda, but Gina grabbed him, stopping him. She remembered that in all the stories, the naga never defeated the garuda, so she’d hoped if they didn’t attack the garuda would just let them go.
Unfortunately, they had no such luck. The garuda heard the commotion and turned his head toward them, and with a terrible shriek rose into the air and swooped toward Tom, grabbing him by the tail and lifting him into the air. Gina and Ken ran away, but Jay turned into a snake and slithered into the bushes, hoping to hide unseen. He was able to keep out of the garuda’s sight, and from his hidden angle he saw the giant bird slit his brother open and devour the fat out of his body while Tom still hissed and howled in pain. He only fell silent when his body hit the ground, once the garuda was done.
The garuda flew away shortly after, and Jay followed him, still in snake form, back to his nest. He was careful not to be seen, and once he made a note of where the nest was, he slithered away, hoping not to be seen. He returned to his clothes, discarded when he’d transformed, and turned back, dressing himself and returning home.
That night, Jay slipped out again, grabbing a can of gasoline and a book of matches. What he wanted wasn’t so much vengeance, the naga aren’t big on vengeance for their family members, but rather the security of knowing that they wouldn’t continue to be hunted by this threat. He returned to the area where the nest was and hid in the bushes, staring up at the nest, but there he saw a female garuda sitting on the eggs, and the one that had attacked his brother in a nearby tree. He became paralyzed with fright at the thought of trying to start a fire that may just draw their wrath, and so he sat, terrified, hiding in the bushes for the entire night. It wasn’t until sunrise when the two garuda woke up, and decided to fly off to hunt for some food that Jay gathered the courage to move.
He climbed up into the tree, then doused the nest in gasoline before climbing back, far from the nest, lighting a match, then tossing it onto the nest.
Jumping out of the tree he ran as fast as he could, afraid that the flames would attract the garudas. These two would still hunt them, he knew, but at least the three eggs he’d seen in the nest would not hatch more of these monsters, and the garudas had no way of knowing where he lived or tracking him down.
His mother reported Tom’s disappearance as soon as she could. She knew what had happened, of course, they had told her, but when nagas die they take the form of snakes. This also meant, of course, that she knew no one could find her son, but she didn’t want it to look like she hadn’t noticed he was missing, and she also hoped the garuda would see people looking for Tom and that it would force him to see that he’d killed a boy that people now missed.
Jay would never know if it would have its intended effect, nor would he know what the result was of burning the nest. He and his remaining siblings would never go near that woods or park again to find out.
They moved on, and when they were eighteen they each enrolled in separate colleges, and while they remained at home, they each spent little time interacting with one another. Jay went to New York Technical Institute, where he got his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation, he joined the Order of the Engineer and now has a plain stainless steel band that he wears on the pinky of his right hand. He will have been just about to start a bright and promising career when he was brought to Baedal.
Powers: He can turn into a king cobra. This can be a complete transformation or he can grow any part of a cobra, for example, just turn his legs into a tail or teeth into fangs. Whatever aspect he takes of his human or cobra form, he can hold as long as he’s conscious. In some aspects, he could be considered a cobra who takes human form, since if he’s rendered unconscious or killed he will become entirely a cobra.
Bite - As a cobra, if he grows the proper venom sacs, his bite will be venomous and is strong enough to kill if he delivers enough venom. However, a typical bite will not be strong enough to kill. Symptoms of his bite include drowsiness, pain and blurred vision. If bitten, a victim should seek medical care immediately, as antivenoms are highly effective in treating his bite.
Unhinging jaw - Even in human form, Jay eats by unhinging his jaw and swallowing prey whole.
Slow metabolism - While he does have to eat with more frequency than a king cobra, which can go months between meals, due to his higher level of physical and mental activity, Jay only has to eat somewhere between once a week and once a day depending on his activity levels and the size of his meal.
Talents/Abilities:: Jay is a trained mechanical engineer.
Personality: Jay is in many ways a human snake. He, like many naga, has personality traits that are like an actual snakes would be if enhanced and developed by human intelligence, cultural values and emotions. One example of this is in the fact that he’s an introvert. Like a cobra, he typically avoids confrontation and isn’t comfortable around large numbers of people. This doesn’t mean he won’t post or regularly interact with others, but more that he won’t make a habit of stirring up trouble.
He’ll typically avoid loud parties, and if he goes to a party at all, he’s typically the guy sitting in the corner hoping to not be noticed. It takes a while for him to grow comfortable with others, and until he does, most of his conversations tend to either be purpose oriented (trying to figure out where he is and what to make of Baedal will help to spur many of his early conversations), started by others, or sparked when a subject of particular interest to him is brought up.
Jay likes to take the path of least resistance. He likes developing machines that make things easier, and he likes the idea that mechanical engineers are more sought after than many other professions, making it easier than some to get started in once the proper credentials are acquired. This extends to other things as well, however. It’s easier to live as a human, with others thinking he’s human, so he does. If, in a given situation, he decides it’s easier to get things done as something else, he’ll be that. If someone assumes he’s a vampire should he grow his fangs, or a mutant, or a wizard, he likely will only bother to correct them if he believes he’s better off not being thought of in that way. If a lie will benefit him, then the lie will be had.
It is also to be noted that this will be used when people assume his emotions are more like theirs. He does have human emotion, but his reasoning may not always match someone else’s, and he will let them draw their own conclusions as to his reasoning if it will make his motives more understandable in their eyes. For example, the destruction of the garuda’s nest was not borne of a feeling of vengeance so much as fear for his own safety if another generation of garudas hatched in his area. If someone were to assume his feelings in that area were feelings of vengeance, he’d let them, because it may be to his advantage to think he’s understood. Furthermore, he typically acts polite and relatively friendly to those he meets, because, quite simply, it’s easier to get what he wants that way.
Then there is the other side of his personality. Most of the time he seems shy, reclusive or harmless, but the truth of the matter is that he can and will strike when threatened. Whether it be a threat to his life, his home, his passions, or, if he should ever end up in a relationship, his partner, he may stand up and posture a bit to warn others off, but after that he will strike, and he will be dangerous. Depending on the seriousness of the situation, Jay would be willing to kill others or inflict serious harm in order to defend his own life.
This is not the only time he can be roused to surprising passion and energy, however. He also can be quite enthusiastic when it comes to his career as an engineer, particularly when he has a new idea that he wants to try. He’s always more energetic when working on a project than he would otherwise tend to be.
Ever since the death of his brother, Jay has suffered from ornithophobia. In smaller birds such as pigeons, this just manifests itself in an intense desire for them to go away, and he’ll often try to kick them if he passes them by. The more birds there are, the more uneasy he’ll feel. With hawks, he’s more likely to panic, and either try to chase them off by throwing stones at them or just try to get away.
With his family, Jay has a very unique relationship. His parents are much like king cobra parents in some ways, which guard the nest until the eggs hatch, though in nagas this is extended to when the young nagas reach adulthood and leave the nest, at which point the parental protectiveness ends. As such, he has memories of being loved by his parents and an awareness that his disappearance will likely make them concerned that the garudas may be hunting again. However, he is also aware that beyond this concern, his parents won’t miss him as deeply as human parents would. His bond with other family members also is more like the bond of coconspirators than the bond of family. They share a secret and use their own skills to promote the keeping of that secret, and look out for the well being of each other in order to guard their race as a whole, which generally by outsiders gets interpreted as normal familial love, but the same depths of emotion isn’t there. Jay’s fear after seeing his brother die was caused more by his own fear of dying like that than actual mourning.
This is not to say that a naga, and Jay by extension, can’t form friendships or relationships, only that such feelings are not there by default simply because of family ties. Parents in naga families often do feel genuine romantic feelings toward one another, and Jay could develop such feelings toward someone himself. He can appreciate and enjoy someone’s company, and this can develop into genuine friendship. If they should leave, he likely wouldn’t mourn their loss as much as most would, and he doesn’t feel lonely when he doesn’t have friendship, but he often finds the company of those with similar interests to his own pleasurable.
This will likely help him adapt to Baedal. When he arrives, he’ll likely decide whether he likes or dislikes the place based on whether he can get a career in his field, as he didn’t go to all the effort of getting his degree for nothing. As for being uprooted and placed in a new place, he’ll accept it for what it is and simply try to get the necessary information about it and how he can survive in it as quickly as possible. He will hide his identity as a non-human, but quietly support xenian rights as much as he can without drawing attention to himself, to, he hopes, make things easier for himself should he ever be revealed as a xenian himself.
Object: A stainless steel ring that fits his pinky finger.
Reason for playing: Of all my characters, Jay is the most adaptable to a new environment. While he is shy, I think he’ll have enough information he wants to spark initial interactions, and since this is an environment where he’ll need a job I feel like that will help give him reasons for more interactions. I also found the non-human minority interesting, and wanted to play with the idea of him hiding what he is even though he would be able to live in society as a non-human.
He is also a character that tends to seem normal, but has odd quirks about him that come out with more regular interaction with other characters, so since this is a closed setting (as opposed to dressing room rpgs which he has been played in before), I will be able to explore those better. Also, I think his naga nature will make him more suited to the horror aspects of the game and give him the basic natural defenses he’ll need to survive.
Gods: Kavan, because Jay’s biggest passion in life is engineering and developing new technologies.
Writing Samples
First-Person Network Post: [The camera flips on, and Jay can be seen, wearing a dress shirt and slacks, as well as his glasses. He has a small metal ring on his right pinky finger. He’s silent for a moment, then glances at the little red light, licks his lips nervously, and starts.]
Hello? I’m guessing I’m sending some kind of message on here? I know this probably won’t let me talk to anyone interested in getting me out of this place, but if whoever kidnapped me is seeing this, I’d like to know what’s going on.
[He then picks up the pamphlet.]
And yeah, I read this. Really creepy, by the way. This isn’t a cult or something, is it? Because I’m not really cult material.
Third-Person Arrival Post: When he’d been taken, he’d been in human form. This was fortunate, because it meant his clothes had been taken, too. Now, however, he was unconscious, and his body had shifted into the long, slender form of a cobra. When he came to, however, he suddenly jolted awake. This room wasn’t familiar, and that was a very, very concerning thing.
Jay’s first thought was that he’d fallen asleep somewhere he shouldn’t have, but as he slithered the rest of the way out of his clothes and looked around, noting the ‘Don’t Panic’ scrawled into the tile, he realized that wasn’t the case. He had, most definitely, been kidnapped, and even if whoever did it didn’t know what he was beforehand, they most definitely did now. After changing back to his human form quickly, Jay dressed himself and pulled on his glasses and ring, which was sitting on the ground nearby, before rushing over to the door and trying to open it.
It was locked. Jay jiggled the handle as if though that was going to change matters, but of course it didn’t. Of course his kidnappers wouldn’t just leave him in an unlocked room, unguarded.
Seeing a pamphlet on the floor, Jay went over and examined it.
Third-Person Action Post: Jay screamed, feeling the claws digging into his wrists, and watching as the beak began pecking at his stomach, tearing at clothes and flesh. Pain shot through his body, and he hissed, beginning to transform in desperate hope that his shifting form would allow him to squirm free and get a bite in. He would not die the way his brother did. He refused. Letting his arms whither into nothingness, Jay lunged toward the feathered beast.
Before he could sink his fangs into its hide, however, he felt its beak close around his neck. He froze in terror. Was this it, then? Was he going to die, slaughtered by this garuda? His stomach sank, and a desperation to live filled him, but he honestly saw no way out of this mess. He sat there a moment, his features a horrifying mix of human and serpentine, his still human eyes casting a pleading look toward the garuda knowing that he lacked the capability to elicit pity, when a gunshot rang out.
Blood splattered against a nearby brick wall, and the garuda fell dead, limp beak releasing Jay’s throat. He breathed a sigh of relief, but quickly looked up, wanting to see who his rescuer was, particularly since they now knew his secret.
Misc
Other:
Name: Robin/Chatsy
Username: N/A
Are you over the age of eighteen? Yes
Current characters in Baedal: N/A
In Character Information
Basics
Character Name: Jay Nagai
Username:
studious_snakeFandom: OC
Played By: Takuya Nagaoka
Icon: http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/114708752/44403603
4. Original Character Section
Physical Description: Jay is in his mid twenties and scrawny with black hair. He’s 5’6 and of Japanese descent. He looks like an ordinary human when in human form, and when he’s just sitting around his house or planning on doing something that may mess up his clothes, he typically wears a hoodie and jeans. However, he does enjoy dressing nice when the occasion calls for it, and has several slacks, dress shirts and ties that he will wear. He also owns one full suit. When he sleeps or intentionally takes on snake like characteristics, he becomes or gains certain traits of a seventeen foot long king cobra.
Sexuality: Bisexual - Jay is not an overly sexual person and is perfectly fine going long periods of time without sexual activity. That said, he is open to sex and sexuality, in both the setting of a one night stand and a long term relationship. In his opinion, sex is great when you have it, but not something to fret over when you don't. As of yet, he probably hasn't had sex more than a couple times, but he also doesn't see why people get so hung up on that sort of thing, figuring his accomplishments in his field should matter more than what he does between the sheets.
He tends to prefer those who do not frequently show strong emotions, as he doesn't really know how to handle them, and he tends to lose interest in a potential partner who demonstrates them. He would tend to prefer sex with other nagas, but is aware that this is not an option.
World Information: Jay’s world is similar to normal Earth, except supernatural creatures exist. They live in secret, taking advantage of the fact that any human who believes in them would be labelled insane. In his world, the nagas, which is what he is, are at war with the garudas, bird creatures. The garuda cannot turn into a human the way a naga can, but they can become invisible at will, as well as becoming large or small, even becoming so large that a human could be lost in their plumage. They are social, intelligent and predatory birds. This is spurred on by an instinctual predator/prey relationship, and nagas are the natural prey to garudas, and as such this war, which has been going on as long as either of them can remember, though it has been said that the Buddha created a temporary peace between them.
The nagas have a narrative of how this violent hatred came to be that paints the garuda in a rather unjust light. The mother of the nagas and the mother of the garudas were sisters with a strong rivalry, which led them to place a bet with each other, and the winner of that bet would be able to enslave the other. According to the naga version of the tale, the mother of the nagas, Kadra, asked the nagas to help her cheat at the bet, but they refused. Despite this, Kadra won the bet, but was angry at the nagas and arranged for a sacrifice of nearly genocidal proportions, until Astika, the savior of the nagas, was able to rescue them by charming the man in charge of sacrificing the nagas into granting him a boon, and the boon he asked for was to spare the lives of the remaining nagas. Despite the fact that the nagas did not have anything to do with their mother’s enslavement, the garudas blamed them for it and reaped their vengeance by devouring nagas whenever they had the chance.
Interestingly, in the garuda version of the myth, the nagas did engage in duplicity with their mother, and took far greater advantage of the success of the bet.
When feeding on nagas, garudas grab them in their claws, before slicing them open mid-air and eating only their fat before dropping their bodies into the sea. This method of feeding on the nagas likely hasn’t helped their view of the garudas.
Nagas in this world have the ability to take the form of a snake, a human, or gain whatever traits of their snake-form they want. Usually if they go halfway, they either gain a snake body with just a human head, or go upper half human, lower half snake. However, they are capable of gaining any combination of these traits that they desire. When sleeping, they always revert to their snake form. Unlike snakes, they lay clutches of only one to four eggs, which is fortunate since laying more eggs at a time would raise questions. As things are, they typically have to have at least one member of the family working in prenatal care at any given time to help them cover up any issues associated with suddenly needing four birth certificates without any sign of pregnancy. Nagas originally inhabited areas of China, Thailand, India and Japan that were near bodies of water. However, much like humans, they have immigrated to other areas all around the world.
The king cobra, which is the snake that nagas become in their snake form, is the one snake that guards their nest until the eggs hatch. Nagas take this further and actually guard their offspring as they’re growing up.
History: Jay Nagai hatched in his parents’ house in New York City, along with two brothers, Tom and Ken, and a sister, Gina, who hatched from the same clutch. Fortunately, they had a few uncles in the medical field who were able to issue a written statement for their birth certificates, which they filed as a home birth. It raised a few eyebrows, and people wondered how Aimi Nagai, his mother, managed to give birth to quadruplets without a caesarean, but with a doctor’s note and plenty of witnesses to the birth, no one who was aware of it wondered enough about it to look into it.
For the first few years, Ray, their father, and Aimi kept the four hatchlings at home most of the time, for fear that they may change unexpectedly, and fed them pinkie mice. After a few years, however, they taught them the importance of appearing human at all costs when away from the house. This lesson was fully understood by the time they were enrolled in kindergarten.
When they started school, however, it was quickly discovered that Jay and Gina were farsighted, and the two started wearing glasses at this time. In their snake forms they could compensate with their taste and other senses, but as humans, particularly humans who needed to read and write to do their homework, the glasses were a necessity.
As the four children grew older, they didn’t develop too many friendships. They were shy, and seemed a bit odd to other children, though they only minded terribly much when the other children would bother them, which, due to the fact that they were children, happened fairly frequently. However, when Tom joined the swim team, doing fairly well as nagas feel at home in the water, he gained some popularity which gained some token of approval for the other siblings, though Tom’s general apathetic demeanor at the overtures of friendship he received mostly countered that.
In their teenage years, the four nagas began developing their own interests. Gina began taking an interest in herpetology, Tom continued his swimming, Ken felt he should learn more about medical science so he could take over the role his uncle performed for the family one day, and Jay was fascinated by mechanical engineering. As with his snake-like nature, his mind was oriented toward conserving his energy. He may be interpreted as lazy, but he quite simply liked finding ways to get things done with the most minimal amount of effort on his part. This is essentially what mechanical engineering is, finding ways that people can do things without exerting as much effort. However, once he had an idea, he would exert an unusual amount of energy and enthusiasm in making it come true, much as a snake will come to life and exert more energy at times where it would solve a problem, such as when they’re striking their prey, defending themselves, fleeing or escaping a tank they’re kept in.
Their lives seemed fairly normal by their standards until they reached sixteen. They’d always been told about the garuda, giant birds who would kill their kind on sight, and about the war perpetually waged between them. However, they never thought it would be an issue, because while their parents had told them that there were rumors that some garuda had travelled to other countries just as nagas had, though none of the siblings thought that they’d ever really see a garuda.
At least, not until one day the four of them were cutting through the park on the way home from school. Normally the garuda stayed invisible to avoid having anyone find out that they existed, or shrunk themselves down to the size of ordinary birds, but this garuda had apparently just gotten in a fight with a water snake, and had grown to about five feet long from the tip of his beak to the tip of his tail in order to give himself the advantage.
For a moment, the four siblings stood frozen, knowing what that oversized bird must be. Tom was the first to react. He transformed halfway into his snake form and began to race toward the bird, hoping to kill the garuda, but Gina grabbed him, stopping him. She remembered that in all the stories, the naga never defeated the garuda, so she’d hoped if they didn’t attack the garuda would just let them go.
Unfortunately, they had no such luck. The garuda heard the commotion and turned his head toward them, and with a terrible shriek rose into the air and swooped toward Tom, grabbing him by the tail and lifting him into the air. Gina and Ken ran away, but Jay turned into a snake and slithered into the bushes, hoping to hide unseen. He was able to keep out of the garuda’s sight, and from his hidden angle he saw the giant bird slit his brother open and devour the fat out of his body while Tom still hissed and howled in pain. He only fell silent when his body hit the ground, once the garuda was done.
The garuda flew away shortly after, and Jay followed him, still in snake form, back to his nest. He was careful not to be seen, and once he made a note of where the nest was, he slithered away, hoping not to be seen. He returned to his clothes, discarded when he’d transformed, and turned back, dressing himself and returning home.
That night, Jay slipped out again, grabbing a can of gasoline and a book of matches. What he wanted wasn’t so much vengeance, the naga aren’t big on vengeance for their family members, but rather the security of knowing that they wouldn’t continue to be hunted by this threat. He returned to the area where the nest was and hid in the bushes, staring up at the nest, but there he saw a female garuda sitting on the eggs, and the one that had attacked his brother in a nearby tree. He became paralyzed with fright at the thought of trying to start a fire that may just draw their wrath, and so he sat, terrified, hiding in the bushes for the entire night. It wasn’t until sunrise when the two garuda woke up, and decided to fly off to hunt for some food that Jay gathered the courage to move.
He climbed up into the tree, then doused the nest in gasoline before climbing back, far from the nest, lighting a match, then tossing it onto the nest.
Jumping out of the tree he ran as fast as he could, afraid that the flames would attract the garudas. These two would still hunt them, he knew, but at least the three eggs he’d seen in the nest would not hatch more of these monsters, and the garudas had no way of knowing where he lived or tracking him down.
His mother reported Tom’s disappearance as soon as she could. She knew what had happened, of course, they had told her, but when nagas die they take the form of snakes. This also meant, of course, that she knew no one could find her son, but she didn’t want it to look like she hadn’t noticed he was missing, and she also hoped the garuda would see people looking for Tom and that it would force him to see that he’d killed a boy that people now missed.
Jay would never know if it would have its intended effect, nor would he know what the result was of burning the nest. He and his remaining siblings would never go near that woods or park again to find out.
They moved on, and when they were eighteen they each enrolled in separate colleges, and while they remained at home, they each spent little time interacting with one another. Jay went to New York Technical Institute, where he got his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. After graduation, he joined the Order of the Engineer and now has a plain stainless steel band that he wears on the pinky of his right hand. He will have been just about to start a bright and promising career when he was brought to Baedal.
Powers: He can turn into a king cobra. This can be a complete transformation or he can grow any part of a cobra, for example, just turn his legs into a tail or teeth into fangs. Whatever aspect he takes of his human or cobra form, he can hold as long as he’s conscious. In some aspects, he could be considered a cobra who takes human form, since if he’s rendered unconscious or killed he will become entirely a cobra.
Bite - As a cobra, if he grows the proper venom sacs, his bite will be venomous and is strong enough to kill if he delivers enough venom. However, a typical bite will not be strong enough to kill. Symptoms of his bite include drowsiness, pain and blurred vision. If bitten, a victim should seek medical care immediately, as antivenoms are highly effective in treating his bite.
Unhinging jaw - Even in human form, Jay eats by unhinging his jaw and swallowing prey whole.
Slow metabolism - While he does have to eat with more frequency than a king cobra, which can go months between meals, due to his higher level of physical and mental activity, Jay only has to eat somewhere between once a week and once a day depending on his activity levels and the size of his meal.
Talents/Abilities:: Jay is a trained mechanical engineer.
Personality: Jay is in many ways a human snake. He, like many naga, has personality traits that are like an actual snakes would be if enhanced and developed by human intelligence, cultural values and emotions. One example of this is in the fact that he’s an introvert. Like a cobra, he typically avoids confrontation and isn’t comfortable around large numbers of people. This doesn’t mean he won’t post or regularly interact with others, but more that he won’t make a habit of stirring up trouble.
He’ll typically avoid loud parties, and if he goes to a party at all, he’s typically the guy sitting in the corner hoping to not be noticed. It takes a while for him to grow comfortable with others, and until he does, most of his conversations tend to either be purpose oriented (trying to figure out where he is and what to make of Baedal will help to spur many of his early conversations), started by others, or sparked when a subject of particular interest to him is brought up.
Jay likes to take the path of least resistance. He likes developing machines that make things easier, and he likes the idea that mechanical engineers are more sought after than many other professions, making it easier than some to get started in once the proper credentials are acquired. This extends to other things as well, however. It’s easier to live as a human, with others thinking he’s human, so he does. If, in a given situation, he decides it’s easier to get things done as something else, he’ll be that. If someone assumes he’s a vampire should he grow his fangs, or a mutant, or a wizard, he likely will only bother to correct them if he believes he’s better off not being thought of in that way. If a lie will benefit him, then the lie will be had.
It is also to be noted that this will be used when people assume his emotions are more like theirs. He does have human emotion, but his reasoning may not always match someone else’s, and he will let them draw their own conclusions as to his reasoning if it will make his motives more understandable in their eyes. For example, the destruction of the garuda’s nest was not borne of a feeling of vengeance so much as fear for his own safety if another generation of garudas hatched in his area. If someone were to assume his feelings in that area were feelings of vengeance, he’d let them, because it may be to his advantage to think he’s understood. Furthermore, he typically acts polite and relatively friendly to those he meets, because, quite simply, it’s easier to get what he wants that way.
Then there is the other side of his personality. Most of the time he seems shy, reclusive or harmless, but the truth of the matter is that he can and will strike when threatened. Whether it be a threat to his life, his home, his passions, or, if he should ever end up in a relationship, his partner, he may stand up and posture a bit to warn others off, but after that he will strike, and he will be dangerous. Depending on the seriousness of the situation, Jay would be willing to kill others or inflict serious harm in order to defend his own life.
This is not the only time he can be roused to surprising passion and energy, however. He also can be quite enthusiastic when it comes to his career as an engineer, particularly when he has a new idea that he wants to try. He’s always more energetic when working on a project than he would otherwise tend to be.
Ever since the death of his brother, Jay has suffered from ornithophobia. In smaller birds such as pigeons, this just manifests itself in an intense desire for them to go away, and he’ll often try to kick them if he passes them by. The more birds there are, the more uneasy he’ll feel. With hawks, he’s more likely to panic, and either try to chase them off by throwing stones at them or just try to get away.
With his family, Jay has a very unique relationship. His parents are much like king cobra parents in some ways, which guard the nest until the eggs hatch, though in nagas this is extended to when the young nagas reach adulthood and leave the nest, at which point the parental protectiveness ends. As such, he has memories of being loved by his parents and an awareness that his disappearance will likely make them concerned that the garudas may be hunting again. However, he is also aware that beyond this concern, his parents won’t miss him as deeply as human parents would. His bond with other family members also is more like the bond of coconspirators than the bond of family. They share a secret and use their own skills to promote the keeping of that secret, and look out for the well being of each other in order to guard their race as a whole, which generally by outsiders gets interpreted as normal familial love, but the same depths of emotion isn’t there. Jay’s fear after seeing his brother die was caused more by his own fear of dying like that than actual mourning.
This is not to say that a naga, and Jay by extension, can’t form friendships or relationships, only that such feelings are not there by default simply because of family ties. Parents in naga families often do feel genuine romantic feelings toward one another, and Jay could develop such feelings toward someone himself. He can appreciate and enjoy someone’s company, and this can develop into genuine friendship. If they should leave, he likely wouldn’t mourn their loss as much as most would, and he doesn’t feel lonely when he doesn’t have friendship, but he often finds the company of those with similar interests to his own pleasurable.
This will likely help him adapt to Baedal. When he arrives, he’ll likely decide whether he likes or dislikes the place based on whether he can get a career in his field, as he didn’t go to all the effort of getting his degree for nothing. As for being uprooted and placed in a new place, he’ll accept it for what it is and simply try to get the necessary information about it and how he can survive in it as quickly as possible. He will hide his identity as a non-human, but quietly support xenian rights as much as he can without drawing attention to himself, to, he hopes, make things easier for himself should he ever be revealed as a xenian himself.
Object: A stainless steel ring that fits his pinky finger.
Reason for playing: Of all my characters, Jay is the most adaptable to a new environment. While he is shy, I think he’ll have enough information he wants to spark initial interactions, and since this is an environment where he’ll need a job I feel like that will help give him reasons for more interactions. I also found the non-human minority interesting, and wanted to play with the idea of him hiding what he is even though he would be able to live in society as a non-human.
He is also a character that tends to seem normal, but has odd quirks about him that come out with more regular interaction with other characters, so since this is a closed setting (as opposed to dressing room rpgs which he has been played in before), I will be able to explore those better. Also, I think his naga nature will make him more suited to the horror aspects of the game and give him the basic natural defenses he’ll need to survive.
Gods: Kavan, because Jay’s biggest passion in life is engineering and developing new technologies.
Writing Samples
First-Person Network Post: [The camera flips on, and Jay can be seen, wearing a dress shirt and slacks, as well as his glasses. He has a small metal ring on his right pinky finger. He’s silent for a moment, then glances at the little red light, licks his lips nervously, and starts.]
Hello? I’m guessing I’m sending some kind of message on here? I know this probably won’t let me talk to anyone interested in getting me out of this place, but if whoever kidnapped me is seeing this, I’d like to know what’s going on.
[He then picks up the pamphlet.]
And yeah, I read this. Really creepy, by the way. This isn’t a cult or something, is it? Because I’m not really cult material.
Third-Person Arrival Post: When he’d been taken, he’d been in human form. This was fortunate, because it meant his clothes had been taken, too. Now, however, he was unconscious, and his body had shifted into the long, slender form of a cobra. When he came to, however, he suddenly jolted awake. This room wasn’t familiar, and that was a very, very concerning thing.
Jay’s first thought was that he’d fallen asleep somewhere he shouldn’t have, but as he slithered the rest of the way out of his clothes and looked around, noting the ‘Don’t Panic’ scrawled into the tile, he realized that wasn’t the case. He had, most definitely, been kidnapped, and even if whoever did it didn’t know what he was beforehand, they most definitely did now. After changing back to his human form quickly, Jay dressed himself and pulled on his glasses and ring, which was sitting on the ground nearby, before rushing over to the door and trying to open it.
It was locked. Jay jiggled the handle as if though that was going to change matters, but of course it didn’t. Of course his kidnappers wouldn’t just leave him in an unlocked room, unguarded.
Seeing a pamphlet on the floor, Jay went over and examined it.
Third-Person Action Post: Jay screamed, feeling the claws digging into his wrists, and watching as the beak began pecking at his stomach, tearing at clothes and flesh. Pain shot through his body, and he hissed, beginning to transform in desperate hope that his shifting form would allow him to squirm free and get a bite in. He would not die the way his brother did. He refused. Letting his arms whither into nothingness, Jay lunged toward the feathered beast.
Before he could sink his fangs into its hide, however, he felt its beak close around his neck. He froze in terror. Was this it, then? Was he going to die, slaughtered by this garuda? His stomach sank, and a desperation to live filled him, but he honestly saw no way out of this mess. He sat there a moment, his features a horrifying mix of human and serpentine, his still human eyes casting a pleading look toward the garuda knowing that he lacked the capability to elicit pity, when a gunshot rang out.
Blood splattered against a nearby brick wall, and the garuda fell dead, limp beak releasing Jay’s throat. He breathed a sigh of relief, but quickly looked up, wanting to see who his rescuer was, particularly since they now knew his secret.
Misc
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