The Cold Room |
Tesselae |
Player: Fox Lee |
Personal Data |
Full Name: | Tesselae |
Species: | Biri (jellyfish monster) transformed into a humanish creature |
Gender: | Male |
Age: | Looks like late teens/early twenties |
Height: | 172cm/5'8" |
Weight: | 83kg/183lbs |
Hair Colour: | White with a hint of blue |
Eye Colour: | Medium blue |
Skin Tone: | Moderately pale |
Biographical Data |
Occupation: | (Reluctant) villainous henchman |
Affiliations: | His Master |
Residence: | Dungeon |
Birthplace: | Dungeon |
Marital Status: | Unattached |
Known Relatives: | None known |
Weapon(s) |
None |
Magic |
Water magic - mostly altering perception and ranged battlefield control; Transformation |
Skills |
Great liar/manipulator, socially graceful. |
Items/Equipment |
Focus (blue crystal on a chain), kept hidden. |
Notes: Needs focus to keep his shape. |
Tesselae is a reluctant villain forced to work for an slightly-insane wizard/scientist in order to maintain his human shape. He's technically a bad guy, but on the occasion that he meets some heroes, he's always looking for a way to escape.
Appearance
Lithe. Tess is small and slim, but he's also tightly toned and stronger than he seems. He gives the impression of being constantly under tension, ready to spring back at any moment. His hair is white with a hint of blue, sort of crinkly by nature; he wears it long to his mid-back but tied into a high ponytail, with a short fringe and two long bangs trailing either side of his face.
Distinguishing Features
Tess's ears are only very slightly pointed, so he looks just a bit odd for a Hylian.
Preferred Clothing
The base layer of Tess's clothing is a tight black bodysuit formed of pants that cover his lower body to the hips (though the toes are left open), a sleeveless high-necked top that leaves his midriff exposed, and small gloves that are cut very low around his wrists. Over this he wears a pair of loose, billowing pants that reach his knees and are belted around his hips with a long sash. Finally, black mesh sleeves reach from his upper arms to forearms.
Hidden on his person, Tess carries a token given to him by his master, which grants him his shapechanging ability (and more importantly, to maintain his humanoid form). It looks like a small, rugged blue crystal hung on short silver chain.
Personality
Tess has a demure, somewhat shy demeanour, and seems to give things alot of thought before he speaks or acts. Very deliberately, he always tries to bow to other people's opinions and keep quiet about his own - as long as it doesn't effect his plans, he will always "go with the flow" and try to keep everybody else happy. This can get on some peoples' nerves, as it makes him a little obsequious, but it is usually a reliable way to avoid conflict. Overall, he seems quite innocent and kind.
When forced into a fight, he becomes very grim and serious, and is generally quite emotionless. The exception is when he feels he's at risk of losing his powers; his central motivating factor is the terrible fear that he will lose his humanoid form, maybe even his sentience. This is what keeps him working for his master, even though he's not a monster any more. Ironically, he will do almost anything to avoid losing his humanity.
Likes
Humans/Hylians/etc., being a person, interacting with other people and sharing their emotions. He collects bits and pieces from non-monstrous civilisations, whatever he can get his hands on. Tesselae is fascinated with the non-monstrous races, especially the prolific Hylians, and wants nothing more than to become one permanently. Since this is vanishingly unlikely, however, he usually has to content himself with studying human(oid) cultures and engaging with such creatures as much as he can.
Dislikes
Monsters, being forced to work for a villain, fighting, arguments.
Quirks
Unfortunately, the need to lie constantly has made Tess somewhat predisposed to lying, almost without thinking about it. It's hard to get important truths out of him without threatening.
Background
Tesselae began life as an ordinary Biri. However, he was transformed into a human-like form by a powerful sorceror in need of a henchman. Unfortunately said sorceror was a villain, and having gained sentience and a new body, Tess was able to understand how horrible it would be to return to being a mindless beast. With that threat hanging over his head, he is reluctantly working as the villain's underling, mostly trying to chase intruders out of the dungeon before a real fight can break out.
Affiliations
Tess has little choice but to work for his Master - for now.
Allies
None yet.
Enemies
Nobody in particular.
Combat
Tesselae is a mid-range combatant; he's good at using his elemental powers and has lots of tricks up his sleeve, but when it comes down to a straight-up fight he is less than impressive.
Style
Tess tries to avoid conflict wherever he can, relying on manipulation, trickery and stealth to instead of actual confrontation. When he's forced to fight, he uses his magic to obscure the battlefield as much as he can, then uses his water manipulation to throw his enemies around while still keeping them distant.
Advantages
Tess is a skilled manipulator of other people; what he cannot achieve with a lie or a bit of subtle emotional blackmail, he can usually manage with a bit of magic used to "fog" the mind just a little. It's not super-reliable, since he can only make suggestions and certainly not mind-control, but the subtle nature of his powers means that even if he fails, the target often won't notice that he was trying.
Tess can manipulate water in all its forms - vapour, snow and ice, even blood - but he cannot create it from nothing. Influencing water that's contained somehow (such as inside a bottle, or blood inside a person) is very difficult for him, however - making things explode is entirely out of the question. Mostly, he uses his water powers to command tendrils of liquid in combat, like whips or tentacles, and to create concealment in the form of clouds or snow. In a pinch, he can also freeze water to create simple structures (for example, a bridge over a lake), though these are extremely temporary. His water magic gives him considerable battlefield control, between reach and control (ice slick, obscuring fog, and so forth).
Finally, Tess is agile, acrobatic and slippery. The ability to change forms, althrough it does not grant him any special powers beyond basic physical traits, makes him all the more difficult to get a grip on.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Tesselae is a water creature, not just a water-user, so he's vulnerable to Forest magic. He relies on water to fuel his magic but also to keep him alive; he suffers greatly if he is dehydrated. Speaking of magic, his techniques do poor amounts of damage compared to other schools of magic, so he has trouble closing a fight quickly unless he has an unfair advantage.
Also, if one somehow has the ability to undo his shapechange (or has possession of his focus), one can basically bully him into anything.
Techniques
Water Tendrils
Creates far-reaching "tentacles" from an adequate water source, which he can manipulate like very simple arms. Mostly he uses them like whips, trying to pin his opponents or toss them around. Does poor damage, but very useful for control.
Obscuring Veil
Messes with visibility in a wide area using water in one of a variety of forms - mist, snow flurries, whatever. He himself is affected by this too, but he's also practiced a using it to attack quickly and slink back to cover to avoid retaliation.
Ice Slick
Creates a thin coating of ice over the ground, making it slippery and difficult to traverse. It doesn't do much against acrobatic individuals and is useless against fliers, but can be a real pain for less poised creatures.
Other Notes
Roleplay Notes
Tess technically belongs in SotA and Knight's Pass, but he's easily able to be dropped into other timelines. Since he's vague and deceitful about his background/goals anyway, he doesn't even need his "master" around to function.
Speaking of which, I'm yet to decide who he's working for. Got a character who fits the part? Speak up then…
Trivia
- Tesselae's theme song is Sweet Surrender by Sarah McLachlan
- Tesselae's name comes from the word "tesselate", referring to his original ability to shift into lots of different forms (though I don't think the Zelda version will be a shapeshifter).
- Tesselae's name is pronounced just like "tesselate" without the last "t".
- Tesselae's title/tagline comes from his theme song… I was trying to find something that was kind of emotional and longing, without being too painfully emo. Tesselae is unhappy, but he's not really "angsty".