Name:
In his day to day life he goes by the name of Rowin Odo, however whilst wearing his mask he is known only as "The Conductor".
"Ooo! I do love names. Such interesting and variable things!"
Age:
It is unknown what age exactly The Conductor is. He himself has forgotten.
"Time is such a finicky thing. I, ironically, have no time to give to time. Isn't that a peculiar thought?"
Gender:
The body that Rowin uses closely resembles that of a male in its design. Though in reality he is very much genderless.
"I'm like a child growing up, so conflicted on my genitals that I claim to be this that and the other! Oh friends, just call me a man for now 'afore I think up something better."
Species:
Rowin Odo is a demon forever bound to the two small hook like blades connected by razor sharp and indestructible string... the weapon in question is constantly carried by his current "body".
He is capable of possessing everybody and everything that picks up these blades by extending his power through them and into his host. However unlike most other demons he is unable to move his spirit from the blades and into a new host due to the sigils adorned on the underside of each of the two edges, sealing him forever inside. Because of this he can only possess living hosts for so long before being forced out and his control being lost.
His current "body" is a mannequin akin to golems, created by an alchemist. It is an empty shell without any resistance and Rowin can control it completely and permanently as long as it is making contact with his weapon of a prison. If the weapon ceases to make contact entirely with the mannequin, then said falsified body will fall limply and uselessly to the ground, leaving Rowin himself trapped again until somebody picks him up.
"What callous Gods above did put me in my state I might never know... but a hop, a skip and a dance in this puppet lets me put on quite a show. No? One day a real body will come for me and as a human I shall go. I'll fight to make it so!"
Affiliation/Job:
Rowin has no affiliation to either of the major families, nor any small family beneath them. He is rumored to be willing to work with the de'Medici family occasionally. His unique set of skills in combat makes him capable of doing very difficult jobs for extra income and so one might say that he has an affiliation with them. Despite this he is no way bound to the family and is more of an occasional hired help than a permanent employee. Due to their somewhat shadier aspects, Rowin is known to refuse work with the Omicidio family. If they were to present him with a reward that directly benefited his quest for a true living form, then he might consider, but other than that he dislikes their business practices and tries to stay away from them.
"de'Medici can keep me fed when business at the shop is low. However the Omicidio spend so much time in the dark that they might as well bathe in tar to keep the black hearts permanent. I'm not playing a game of shadows as they are."
As a general daytime profession, Rowin owns and runs a toyshop where he creates various wooden toys and dolls for the children of Venice to play with. He was created a number of board games and other such pleasantries with his clever mind and one of the few things that brings him joy is being able to see a child, the embodiment of life and innocence, enjoy something he has created. It gives him hope that perhaps one day he might be able to enjoy such things too, as a real and living being, not confined to something as callous as a weapon.
"Toys and games are fun and distracting thing... it's pleasant as well to keep ones hands busy no? Especially in a way that entails the absence of gore and pulp, to avoid unnecessary shivers and gulps."
Appearance:
A black and green suit and a top hat adorned with golden trinkets. The brim of which and the hair beneath it constantly covering his eyes. That's the general idea that the people of Venice get when they see Rowin Odo for the first time. His attire is strange and unique, not at all common among the people of Venice. His hair is pure white, with green tips at the end, the unnatural color always raises eyebrows but many people often tend to accept Rowin's strange appearance regardless due to the fact that he is, of all things, a toymaker.
The suit is a premium material, which is good since it's all that Rowin wears on his mannequin body. It doesn't generally small since dolls don't sweat, but if he gets into some genuinely dirty work then he will wash it. He wears two leather bracers which are used to store his two miniature blades, the string connecting them goes down the sleeve and around his back, ready to be released when required and used as a weapon. He wears a pair of leather black boots, durable and water proof (something valuable in Venice). His hat is a small top hat adorned with various golden trinkets. It has a specially designed brim that holds his hair over his eyes while still allowing him to see, Rowins face is generally rather normal despite being a mannequin however his eyes are the exception.
Being magically animated allows the mouth and other features to move and function as normal, and this procedure generally makes it so they appear quite normal to other people. His eyes however, are made of glass and even though they move and function properly, their pearly surface makes for a rather unnatural effect that scares many people on sight alone. For this reason, Rowin keeps his eyes covered and out of sight. His final defining feature are his teeth, the mannequins teeth are part of the inanimate body and as a result Rowin feels no pain when they are harmed. He has as a result, filed the teeth down to form a sharpened row of fangs that he is known to occasionally actually use to bite people. "The teeth are capable of piercing flesh and causing damage, so why not use them in combat if it is effective to do so?" Is the way he generally views it.
During the night he wears a green mask with frayed and jagged edges. He takes the mask and leaves the hat at home, making his cold, dead eyes visible through the eyeholes that the mask provides. Two glassy orbs shimmering like dead still water in the moonlight, the mask is imposing enough as it is and adding this factor alongside Rowin's already estranged personality can make "The Conductor" quite the intimidating, creepy and bewildering opponent in combat.
"Perhaps my body is false but even I can't deny that I keep it looking rather dashing!~
Personality:
Longing | Insane | Passive-Aggressive | Friendly | Playful | Empathetic
The stranger a man is, the stranger the life he leads... and the oddity that is Mr. Odo is clearly no exception at all. At a glance and perhaps after even a few months of interaction the most prominent thing one might notice about The Conductor is that he is zany, random and completely
insane. His actions are all rather spur of the moment and at a glance he seems only willing to go with the flow and worry about the consequences later. He has no problem with doing anything on a whim, from something as simple as eating your lunch... to an act as dangerous as random murder. One might think him foolish and worthless because of this, but those people simply do not understand him.
Every major action Rowin takes is done with purpose and incredibly detailed planning. Beneath his insanity he is an incredible genius capable of vast strategic thought and he tends to avoid doing things that could land him in a very bad situation. He is fueled to act and move forward by his insatiable
longing for a true "human" form. He wishes beyond all else to be a living being, allowed to truly feel, breathe and live. He is constantly sickened by his entrapment and his forced existence in the body of a mannequin. While possessing others he gets a somewhat more intense understanding of life, but his possessions of the living are so short-lived that they only tease him with that which he might never have. He would give up everything, his power, his immortality, everything... just for the chance to experience a real life.
There is a great and hidden anger deep within the seemingly fun loving Conductor. He might be your best friend one moment, only to turn tail and insult or even attack you in a very
passive-aggressive fashion the next. He doesn't much care for other people, be they vampire, human, demon or otherwise and as such he generally does not feel regret from his actions. He is unlike other demons in the way he operates however, as he generally doesn't want to waste life either. Life is something incredibly valuable and something that he longs for. He is generally somewhat reluctant to end life, since he knows all too well how painfully important it is.
As a direct result of this, Rowin possesses a quality that is generally very rare in humans. Rowin is a very
friendly individual. He finds people just oh so fascinating, humans especially. By using a top hate to cover his shining, mannequin eyes during the day, he interacts with the people of Venice by acting as one of their own (albeit a very eccentric one). He doesn't want to kill that which he longs to be. He isn't genocidal, humanity and life is something sacred to him. Don't get me wrong, he will kill and he will kill often, but the fact that he tries to be friendly and generally makes an attempt to avoid killing... and the fact that he REGRETS it when he does so anyway... is something that goes against his very nature as a demon. Yet, it is his unique circumstance that makes it so the fact that he IS a demon is what fuels this behavior.
Rowin loves games, jokes, puzzles and other such activities. He is very random as mentioned before and will often try to make even the darkest of circumstances more entertaining in a sometimes rather eerily
playful manner. He could be held against a wall, his strings about to be cut and his life about to be ended before he can accomplish his goals and he might still make a joke or try to find a silver lining. He loves the children of venice and during the day he is known to bring them toys and other games so that they might play with them for his own amusement. Many parents tend to avoid him due to the fact that they suspect malicous intent. But to this day Rowin has never killed a child, in fact he tells himself and others often that that is one thing that he would never do. A child in danger may just be the one thing that can make him angry, on that note.
Rowin is a strange demon and if he were to be understood by another demon then he would most likely be despised. He is
empathetic with non-demon life and longs to be among them. He understand human emotion and the grander scale of emotion in general much better than a demon would and while he still has demonic tendencies he is slowly learning to become more man than monster... despite the fact that he may just be the least "human" of us all.
"It's a sad thought you know, that when this whole city is mad... a loony like me isn't popular because of the things he thinks are right and wrong.
History:
"I remember... such strife at my birth. Indeed it was so very violent."
Rowin Odo is a demon whom was crafted from the shattered fragments of a cruel and horrendous rulers soul some one thousand years in the past. He was created from nothing but pure hatred and anger and his behavior and actions expressed this. In his pure demonic state he was unnaturally powerful due to his being tied to a man whom had caused so much death and pain. His rage was unending and refused to cease for any consolation. He took hosts only to force them to destroy others, then to destroy themselves so that he might move on to someone else. He primarily enjoyed tormenting children by manipulating their feeble minds. He was created as a ravenous and prominent creature, feared by people of the time as an incarnation of demonology itself. Naturally those with power to stop such a beast would do so and so a powerful human mage took the task.
He made a proclamation of hatred towards the pure demonic Rowin and lured him to an ancient tomb, the mage was insanely powerful for a human and was able to resist Rowin's influence long enough for a fierce battle of wills to ensue.
"A massive conflict, to shake my foundation... followed by a darkness to crumble them completely, I should think. Though the details are lost in that same dark haze."
The young mage in a final triumphant moment cast a powerful incantation and held a pair of sharpened and mystical blades aloft, connected by string so thin that it was nigh invisible to the demons gaze. In a swirling dark vortex of abyssal energy Rowin screamed in a howl that made the young mans ears bleed as he was drawn against his will into the artifact. The legendary weapon known as Imperium. Once his form was taken within Rowin struggled and cried to break free, his voice limited only to telepathic wails of mental anguish, but in a last ditch effort the young mage cast a final, powerful hex. A sigil appeared on the underside of the two blades, a sigil so powerful that no known magic could break. By equivalent exchange, the spell was so powerful that the young mage himself turned to dust and Rowin trapped in his new form fell to the ground, unable to move and continuously moving as more of the humans moved to seal the tomb and look him away.
"The dark years began... I struggled, I learned."
In pitch black, Rowin raged for years. He channeled his anger for decades until his demonic power seeped out through the weapon, the powerful sigils weakening over time. Rowin thrashed and struck at walls and barricades that surrounded him. He reveled and despised the darkness surrounding him. Over time the blades began to move to his will, the strings whipping them forward on his command. He moved to the door of that accursed prison and struck, small chips at a time he continuously struck and attacked the entrance to that place, dents and holes appearing at his feeble and humble made strikes.
But he noticed then, perhaps "noticing" for the first time, every strike he made wore away at him too. His rage, his hatred, his very being. His thoughts were clear and his resolve began to waver. He remembered everything, those humans whom had imprisoned him, the man whom had given his life to seal him away. Life was... so precious to humans. Was he so terrible in their eyes? That this one man would give his everything to be rid of him for good? Was he so much of a danger to life that it was sacrificed to seal him away?
Was he an enemy to life?
Was he himself alive?
Was he... death?
It hurt him, it started to mentally scar him. He had destroyed so much, he looked through those humans eyes, felt their judgment of him. Felt his judgment of himself. Every chip he made in that wall struck deeper, hit harder into himself. He thought of the children, so innocent and kind, embodiment of life itself. Life, life, life. He had destroyed it, whatever was watching him have forgiveness, he had torn it apart. Death, he had been death for those souls. He, he had always been death. He had always hurt so many. He didn't know why but that was what he knew now. He was not alive, he never truly had been. He had been nothing more than a tool to take life away.
The dent became a hole over days, months, years, decades, centuries. Chipping through incredibly thick rock. He began to lose his old thoughts, the memories of his time as a demon before all but faded into the darkness of that place, leaving him behind as he so tiredly and begrudgingly flung his undamaged and magical form at that rock face door. He wanted to save life. That was all he remembered. Life was precious, he had to attain it. It was his purpose, he was bound to it. He wanted to be alive like the humans, the humans were the ones who truly lived and he wished to be like them. But he could not, not as he was, not where he was. He had to escape, he had to be reborn.
He wanted to live.
"Here it becomes clearer I feel, yes after the darkness passed and the light arrived. I searched for life."
A crack he didn't make, a beam of light reflecting off his blade into an empty forest glen. He slowly, slowly moved outside of the hole. Pushing himself to the entrance and brink he fell and felt something so unfamiliar reverberate off of his strings. Blades of soft grass, so welcoming, so bright. This was life, this place was living.
He... yearned to be like that too.
***
In the two hundred years that followed his escape. Rowin is still mostly unaware of his past actions. All he now remembers is that he was a powerful demon and that he had done something very wrong. He protects humans now with the heart he grew through merciless attack, holds back what little remains of the rage he broke away. His lack of knowledge of modern day humanity and his slight twinge of psychopathy has developed him into a very strange and eccentric individual for humans and other creatures alike.
He learned of his ability to possess other beings when a dog running through the forest gripped Imperium's strings in its mouth unknowingly and was swiftly overcome by Rowins presence, using the dog for as long as he could to escape the forest. Rowin found himself in Italy after falling from the dogs mouth on a roadway, carriages would pass and he would hear people speaking. He had no memorable name and took a liking to a stage name owned by a gypsy in a caravan that passed him at one point.
Rowin Odo. A pun word used by the Caravans owner, the caravan was known as the "Ironwood" and "Rowin Odo" was a simple rearranging of the same letters. Rowin felt it suited him fine and it was enough of an identity for him to keep as he sat, half obscured by dirt, on the side of that caravan road.
***
The story of how Rowin Odo obtained his mannequin body is the same story as the one that tells of the first human he ever rescued. A powerful alchemist and puppeteer capable of amazing feats. However that is a tale for another time. What's important to know is that Rowin took this body and found his way to Venice. A town filled with water, life, vibrancy and the smiling faces of the children and people he know watches with an eerie smile and spontaneous step.
Having reclaimed just enough of his demonic power over time to make him formidable, Rowin now takes to the Venetian canals be night as "The Conductor" a mysterious man in suit and mask whom moves his body and attacks his foes with strings and blades that move at his every command. Protecting the life he so desires and craves and destroying whatever gets in his way (or earns him a bit of money when the tides are turned) he forever seeks a way for he himself to escape his prison and become a truly human being.
His grandest chapter, as well as that of many others, is about to begin in the City of Masks.
Powers/Skills:
~Enhanced Physical Capability~:
Rowin's body is not a living thing, it does not grow and it is hollow within itself. It is fueled purely by the demonic energy that flows from Rowin's prison of the weapon Imperium into the mannequin. This alone grants Rowin abnormal amounts of physical endurance and capability, without the negative effects of muscles, nerves and bones to hold him back Rowin is capable running at higher than average speed, jumping from ground level to rooftop and punching with the force of two men, twice his size. The downside to this is that his body is surprisingly fragile, limbs can be knocked off and if Imperium as any point disconnects from the mannequin body then said body will fall limply to the ground and Rowin will be trapped within Imperium with severely limited movement abilities unless he can reach the mannequin again. Due to the puppet body having no nerve endings, Rowin experiences no sense of pain or touch whatsoever, this can obviously provide a large number of positive and negative effects both. Drop something in a boiling pot of water? Rowin's got it. Take one of Rowin's legs while he's resting? He probably didn't notice.
~Imperium Telekinesis~:
Rowin is unable to telekinetically manipulate most objects due to his being sealed within the weapon "Imperium". However when it comes to the weapon itself, Rowin is able to manipulate the strings and blades magnificently using mental gymnastics and carefully times pulls on the strings with his hands. He can unleash flurry's of strikes using the sharp and edge thin strings, matching the strength of any blade, using the blades as a grapple he can launch himself forward by hooking into buildings and enemies alike. A similar technique can be used to bring enemies and light objects (such as his own severed limbs) towards him. Certain portions of the string can also be disconnected, however when doing so they lose all magical properties and become normal string. This CAN however be used for medical purposes, such as precision suturing of open wounds and for making repairs to ripped fabrics and more.
~Demonic Release~:
Not so much a unique ability as it is a form of true potential. If driven to a state of supreme rage then Rowin can unleash his full strength as an ancient sealed demon, making him faster, stronger and more durable as well as boosting the strength of his telekinetic abilities. Rowin has however, been working many years to hold back his true demonic nature in an attempt to become closer to a true living state of being, humanity. The old demon has been beaten to the point of standing at deaths door without so much as snarling, making him truly enraged takes very specific circumstances such as the sight of a child being harmed directly and injustly. (Which is currently the only known way to aggravate him.)
Weapons:
~Imperium~:
A pair of mysterious and small blades brimming with magical power and connected by countless, near invisible strings. This "weapon" is in fact the true possessed body of the demon Rowin Odo, he has been sealed away within the blades for nigh over one thousand years and during his time within them he has developed positive and friendly aspects, traits generally unheard of in demons. The blades allow Rowin to still utilize his demonic powers of possession and telekinesis, though only in a very basic sense. Through the power of his mind and telekinesis Rowin is able to move the razor sharp strings and blades in various directions and he can possess those whom come into direct physical contact with the blades themselves, if only for very temporary periods of time.
The string connecting the blades is incredibly thin and capable of slicing through many surfaces by whipping through it quickly. The blades themselves are also very sharp and have a curved and inwardly tilting edge, giving them a knack for "hooking" into various surfaces (and perhaps forms of living matter) allowing Rowin to move towards said surface or alternatively to pull it towards him. The two blades are marked on their undersides by demonic sigils. These sigils keep Rowin bound within the weapon and prevent him from simply taking a living host. Though he dislikes the idea of doing so regardless.
RP Sample:
Renegade - Titans
"My, my... quite the broody young man isn't he? Nightmares and Daydreams alike."