Leeph Hailan -- Updated ref

EDIT: Changed his footwear, both in the picture and description. He looked really dumb wearing Japanese sandals. Just drew over the original flat picture and didn't edit the colour swatches. You can figure it out yourself.

Name: Leeph Hailan.

Age: Eighteen, born November 3rd.

Gender: Male.

Race: Cursed Everred Elf, also known as a 'Chimera'. Originally a normal Everred Elf while in the womb, Leeph's growing body came into contact with 'something' that caused his genetic makeup to change. (The more religious or old-fashioned Everredians call it 'Touch of the Gods', saying that the Gods of Everredian lore alter the bodies of certain children in order to test the strength and will of their people. Other people believe that less ethereal beings are behind it, attempting to create a better, stronger race of Everredians for military reasons. The latter is Leeph's belief., much to his chagrin.). Cursed elves are often associated with a certain animal and element, taking on characteristics of each. In Leeph's case, he is aligned with a cougar and lightning.

Weapon: Leeph was fleetingly trained in a mix of karate and boxing, as well as basic hand-to-hand combat training. However, due to the nature of the martial arts training, he has only mastered the simplest of attacks. His fighting style is, if anything, based on a mix of these trainings and a whole lot of instinct and adrenaline.

When the pain in his right arm subsides, he can use his claws effectively at close range. Also when his arm's limited mobility allows, he can attack with his signature red lightning. Activating the 'cursed' blood in his arm creates an electrical current that Leeph can control to an extent. It has the strength of the average modern police taser, able to stun, burn, or knock down an opponent depending on range and Leeph's current strength. A well-placed hit with this attack can cause muscle spasms and moderate to severe mental confusion, along with the pain.

Appearance: Leeph stands at 5'6 and weighs around 125Lbs, mostly due to the muscle in his upper body. Like all other males of his race, he appears younger than his actual age (if compared to a human, he would look more like an average fifteen-sixteen-year-old, rather than an eighteen-year-old), and can expect to keep this youthful physique for a few more years before maturing fully.

His skin is fair, healthier in tone than it has been previously, but still prone to sunburn and scarring very easily. A simple paper cut can leave a lasting mark, and only the smallest of skin incisions heal fully. Most noticeable is the scar across his face, starting over his right eyelid and crossing the bridge of his nose to end underneath his left eye. His arms and legs are also crisscrossed with scars, several of which look as though they have been stitched up and had the stitches removed too early. This gives his skin the look of breaking china, so to speak.

His hair is a dark red, as is the fur covering his right arm. His hair reaches down to his upper thighs when loose, and is usually kept tightly wrapped in off-white fabric from the base of his skull to several inches before the end of his hair, leaving a small tuft at the end. A few locks, too short to be pulled back with the rest, hang in front of his ears. His fringe falls mostly on the right side of his face, covering his eye and reaching just past his shoulders. It's more often than not tangled to some degree, due to his lack of a hairbrush or hygiene habits. His eyebrows are on the thick, angular side.

Keeping his bangs from totally obscuring his face is a pair of goggles, painted bright green, though the colour is beginning to fade. The lenses are a see-through magenta. He rarely wears them on his eyes nowadays, and keeps them mostly for their sentimental value.

Leeph has a somewhat pentagonal face shape, with his nose being a cross between a button nose and a more aquiline type. His lips are unremarkable, a pale pink against the rest of his skin. His cheeks, however, gain a deep pinkish-red colour when the blood rushes under them, as most people with his skin tone do. Leeph's ears have attached lobes, and are pointed just more than enough to distinguish them from human ears at a glance.

His right eye socket is empty, the eyeball having been torn out at the same time he received the scar across the lid. His remaining eye is narrow, almond shaped with borderline heavy lashes, and a very pale, almost pigment-free blue. It has a cat-like pupil that contracts into a slit in the light. Also similar to a cat, Leeph also has a reflective layer behind his retina that catches the light in the darkness, allowing greater night vision.

While his left arm is normal, save for the scattered scars, Leeph's right arm from the shoulder down is covered in thick red fur, the same colour as his hair. Nine times out of ten, the fur is matted with blood and beyond taming. On his upper arm, lower arm, and wrist, he wears tight-fitting, dark blue belts with pale metal buckles. The nails on this arm have elongated and hardened themselves into non-retractable claws, as have the nails of the pointer and middle fingers of his left hand. On his left wrist, more loosely fitting than the rest, is another blue belt. These belts are said to keep his chimera powers in check, though that theory is untested and likely untrue.

For attire, Leeph is almost always seen wearing a roughly made, close-fitting, sleeveless green turtleneck. Off-centred to his left, the collar has a line of reversed lacing, the remaining length of brown thread visible with a blue bead tied to the end for decoration. Without this necessary adjustment, it would be much more difficult for Leeph to remove and put on his shirt. Though the shirt could easily come down past his hips, he prefers to wear it tucked into his shorts.

Said shorts are also shoddily made, bought at a discount from the reject pile. Though still nice in their own right, the mistakes are visible to a trained eye. Mainly dark brown canvas with khaki coloured corduroy pockets and detailing. The edge stitching is brown-red embroidery, though sloppily done. The shorts are a size or two too big, come down to a little past his knees, and are held up by a thick black belt with a large, square brass belt buckle.

For footwear, Leeph wears a pair of boots made of soft black leather, tied up with, similar to his shirt, reverse laced brown string, decorated with a vermillion-toned bead.

Last but not least, Leeph's chimera cougar form: Smaller in size to a regular male cougar, the beasts fur is the same red hue as Leeph's hair. However, the fur darkens at his paws and the end of his tail, as well as the markings on his face. In contrast, the fur lightens to a more orange tone on his underside and chest, with the lightest colour being around his muzzle. This form has the same blue eyes, and several of his scars are deep enough to be seen clearly. While Leeph most often removes his clothing before transforming (if he has a warning), he keeps the blue belts on.

Personality: Leeph comes off as grumpy, irritable, and cynical. While this is true to an extent, he is mainly just shy and finds it extremely difficult to deal with people. He doesn't like to talk much, and when he does, it is either to blurt out a compulsive insult, or an awkward, timorous reply. In most cases, if his words hurt someone, he'll regret it, beat himself up for it a bit, and then try his best to make up for it in his own silent way.

Despite his social ineptitude, Leeph has a strong sense of justice and is adamant in his beliefs. If he believes something or someone is good, he'll stop at nothing to defend it/them, until proof to the contrary is undeniable. Though he can firmly attach himself to a certain belief (such as the origin of his 'curse'), he prefers to keep his opinions to himself unless he can express them in a non-verbal way, or if provoked into an argument.

When on his own, Leeph retains his childish curiosity and can spend quite a while everyday just exploring his area and silently observing. Part of it has been stained with a more paranoid watchfulness, but he can't help but inspect his surroundings just for the sake of enjoying them after he has ascertained his safety.

Similar to how he can become attached to an idea, Leeph can also become somewhat clingy with people. This is rare though, since most people avoid him due to his initial grouchy demeanour and his hard to crack exterior. Should someone get through his grumpy outer shell, one would see that he is simply shy and frightened of emotional pain. Treated with kindness and care, Leeph can quickly warm up to a person, to the point of being 'touchy-feely' and clingy. If accepted, the emotional and physical contact keeps Leeph in a good mood, and extremely loyal to the object of his affections. However, if betrayed, chances are he'll go catatonic, followed by an explosion of anger. So, best to either stay on his good side or keep a considerable emotional and physical distance from him.

Though Leeph doesn't have the liberty to be very picky with his food, he has a fondness for chicken soup, assorted stews, and well-made bread. Again, due to his inability to pick and choose his food at times, he's also willing to try anything new as long as it'll fill his stomach.

When he has time for it, Leeph enjoys climbing trees, cliffs, or to other high places, to appreciate the view. He also likes some sports similar to soccer, but due to obvious reasons he hardly ever has anyone to play with. He dislikes water and only uses it to bath, coming close to panicking if forced to swim. He has also picked up a bad habit of smoking whenever he can get a hold of a cigarette.

Strengths: Leeph excels at close quarters combat and climbing. Due to his stature and his race, he is also pretty quick on his feet. He can scale a tree or rock face in record time, even more so if he has rope on hand. He has a high physical pain tolerance, usually able to stand up quite steadily after taking a heavy blow. Several of his bones are also stronger than normal (with Everredian bones already being slightly stronger than those of a human), and will take considerable amounts of pressure to break. He has limited knowledge of medicinal plants, though he rarely puts it to good use. He also has exceptionally good night vision.

Weakness: Leeph can only fight and run for short periods of time before tiring himself out and needing rest. Partially because of his naturally low stamina and half due to his smoking habit. His long range attack skills suck, though. Because of his eyes' lack of pigment and cat-like design, his vision in bright light is staggeringly worse than his night vision. Even in neutral, diffuse light, he still has trouble seeing at a distance beyond ten metres. His right arm has been broken repeatedly in several places and healed very badly. He can only move it on good days when it doesn't pain him too much, and it gets very sore on cold days, especially when it snows. The pain is enough to keep him from sleeping or focusing, and severely limits his fighting abilities (though, it's somewhat useful for weather prediction). Leeph's electrical attacks are only as strong as the effort he puts into them. If he's tired or weakened, they will lose their potency. The effectiveness also depends on the build of his opponent. A burly, well-built being will be less damaged than a smaller enemy; quite predictable if you think about it. As mentioned above, his social skills are limited and can be troublesome at times. He learned to read the Common language at a young age, and is a fairly good reader and writer, but he's hardly even heard of math beyond simple adding and subtracting.

History: Leeph was born on one of the smaller isles of the Everred group, to Lan and Sotiria Hailan. His father, Lan, worked as a carpenter, and both of them were devote worshippers of Everredian religion. Lan more so than Sotiria; she silently disapproved of their island's obsession with religion, to tell the truth.

After a ceremony in her second trimester of pregnancy, Sotiria was told that her unborn child had been touched by the gods (See 'Race') and would help bring Everred to glory. Sotiria, knowing that this 'Touch of the Gods' wasn't all it was cracked up to be, worried for her child and spent the remaining months of her pregnancy trying to find out how to best make his life safe and happy. Lan, on the other hand, buried himself in the church until he came up with what he hoped would calm his wife's fears. You see, Lan had a kid brother named Taiki. Though Taiki was only four-years-old at the time, he too had been marked as a 'Cursed' elf and treated as such, either revered or feared by the people. It wasn't showing yet, but the upbringing that came with strictly religious parents and a title like that would begin to have an effect on his mental state. Taiki was associated with a wolf, and necrotic fire, though of course his abilities were not quite developed yet. He also had minor genetic mutations, giving him a lavender hair colour, uncommon for an Everredian elf (though whether this is actually a mutation or a recessive gene from a previous generation is unknown).

Have Taiki be a mentor for Leeph, train his nephew the way he had been trained, and take him under his wing so they could share the pain of being so different from the others. That's what Lan suggested. Though reluctant at first, having seen how the church was affecting Taiki's upbringing, Sotiria agreed.

And so, after the final months of a painful pregnancy and labour, Leeph was born. There were a few usual complications, but both Leeph and his mother survived. Leeph's childhood was fairly normal, even with his special affliction. He grew up as any normal child would, accompanied by his uncle and a few playmates around his own age. Already Taiki was starting to show signs of a sadistic personality, and picked on Leeph when no one was looking.

When Leeph was five years old, his mother gave birth to a second child. Leeph was now brother to a baby girl named Clover. Luckily, Clover was a normal elf, and there were no problems with her during pregnancy. Though it was only one more person, Leeph's short life became much busier. Home schooled by his mother, Leeph learned how to read, cook, and recognize healing herbs, along with assisting her with Clover. With his father, he learned the way of the Everredian church and how to manage a business (he likely hoped Leeph would continue on the family carpentry trade). And from Taiki, he learned how to question the words of his parents and the church.

By now, Taiki's twisted personality was starting to take shape, though he was notoriously good at keeping it hidden from the adults. His physical abuse remained small, but he became increasingly adept at psychological torment. At the same time, his training with his own parents and the local religious groups allowed him to hone his powers and become stronger. Even though he said he was passing on his lessons to Leeph (having frightened the boy into going along with the lies), it was closer to the truth to say that Taiki was 'practising' on Leeph.

Still, Leeph continued to enjoy his life. Even though Taiki's company was often painful both physically and emotionally, Leeph felt happy that someone else shared his problems. The other children he played with had long since abandoned him, either due to their parents or because of rumours spread by Taiki. When Leeph was alone, away from the business of his fourteen-year-old uncle and his five-year-old sister and all his own lessons and chores, he still loved to explore and play on his own. Since the houses on his island were predominantly up in trees, there were many places to explore and tons of interesting nooks and crannies and just as many ways to get there. To the reserved but outwardly curious boy, life was decent.

Then it all went downhill. Over the next four years, the threat of war with the neighbouring island country of Antallon grew. While Everred was a peaceful, content country, Antallon had bigger things in mind. The country's leaders wanted to convert Everred to their own religion, and their own way of life, and use the fertile farmland found on many of Everred's islands. Though Everred didn't have a very large army of it's own, it refused to give up it's land to Antallon. So, Antallon decided to launch a warning attack.

At the time, Leeph was out with Taiki. By now, Taiki was gaining a larger amount of control over his powers, able to produce the flesh-eating fire at will, and could transform into a wolf, though often with painful results on Leeph's part. Taiki was violently pressuring Leeph into working on his own powers. “You'll be as strong as me if you'd only put some effort into it!” He'd said, punctuating the words with a punch that was too painful to be playful.

Well fine, thought Leeph. He was fourteen-years-old, old enough to think for himself. He didn't believe in the church anymore, but he was sick of being abused by his uncle and not having any way to be free from it. Within an hour of the Antallonian army landing on the shores of the far end of their island, Leeph snapped. He shifted into the form of a cougar with a red coat and attacked Taiki, incapacitating him before fleeing towards his home.

The village, both on the ground and in the trees, was already in a panic, with many elves already dead or captured. Blinded by the pain and confusion of transforming, his own rage, and the violent activity going on around him, Leeph ended up attacking several more of his brethren, as well as a few Antallonian soldiers. His mind and body out of control, Leeph ended up running wildly around the perimeter of the island.

Along the way he encountered an elf, the same age as him, named Kreek. With his parents visiting relatives on Leeph's island, Kreek had come over from his own home island in search of them when he caught word of the attack. Unfortunately, instead of finding his parents, he ran into a very crazed cougar-Leeph. Slashing Kreek down the left side of his face, Leeph left three claw marks and blinded the boy in his left eye. In retaliation, Kreek sliced Leeph across the face.

Both bleeding and beaten up from the fight, the boys parted ways, Kreek to safety and Leeph to rampage further. He was eventually caught by the Antallonian army as a prisoner. By now, Leeph had reverted back to his humanoid form, though his mind was still catatonic and psychotic from the transformation. In his stupor, he ended up tearing out his own severely damaged eye, leaving the socket empty. Tossed on a ship with a few other captives, Leeph and the others were sent off to Antallon. However, due almost purely to a fluke in the weather, the ship sank and Leeph (still out of it) ended up washed on the shore of the mainland.

Somewhat cut off from the affairs of the island nations, the mainland did not wish to interfere and only helped the survivors of the wreck as anyone else would do. Leeph was taken in by a small inn, cared for until he was able to return to full consciousness. Though he wasn't aware, and wouldn't be aware for several years to come, by the shipwreck had been reported to Everred as having no survivors. Leeph was, in a way, dead to his homeland, and had no way of knowing if his family was all right. He barely remembered what happened after his transformation.
Blocking out the memories of his homeland, Leeph focused on recovering his health and exploring the new area he'd landed in. He often had trouble sleeping, though. Nightmares and random pain spasms kept him from sleeping, the intensity varying with the phases of the moon. On the new moon, Leeph would involuntarily transform into the cougar again, or even sometimes a form halfway between the cougar and his normal form. He was getting better at keeping it in check (locking himself up on the day of the new moon, only allowing himself to be released when his mind was clear). Even so, Leeph was shunned by most of the people living in the small town.
Eventually, after living at the inn for a year and earning his room and board by doing odd jobs around the area, Leeph became close to a few of the regulars at the inn. He felt like an average boy of fifteen years, working, playing, and doing his hardest to forget how he had ended up here, the reasons behind his monthly transformations and the way his skin scarred from nearly everything.

One day, however, when Leeph was out with a few people whom he considered friends, he ran into a ghost from his past. Taiki had found him again. Though he bore the scars from when Leeph had attacked him a little more than a year ago, his psychological tormenting skills were still just as sharp, and his sadistic, anti-social personality had only gotten more powerful. And along with those, a new feeling of intense, violent jealousy had gripped Taiki, and he was determined to show it.

“Come back with me or I'll kill your friends”, he said, and came very close to proving he meant it. So, for the sake of his new-found comrades, Leeph left with his uncle again.
For the next three years, Leeph was travelling, living, and training with his uncle. This time, his uncle seemed pretty intent on actually teaching Leeph how to fight, though his punishments for failure were extreme, and his training techniques bordered on his old psychological torture tricks. Taiki had gotten to the point where he could transform parts of his body at will into a more wolfish form – namely, his arms – to better channel the cursed blood within him in a battle. He wanted Leeph to learn this technique.

But first off, Taiki had said, they would have to strengthen Leeph's body. “Your muscles are good enough for now,” his uncle had said, “so why don't we work on the bones?” As soon as Leeph asked what the older man meant, he knew there would be pain involved. “I heard that if you break your bones repeatedly, they'll heal back stronger than before!” While this was somewhat true (micro-fractures in the bones can heal and cause the bone in question to become progressively stronger than normal), it wasn't quite what Taiki had in mind. But even if he'd known that it was micro-fractures that did the job, rather than actual full-blown fractures, it probably wouldn't have stopped him from breaking Leeph's arm repeatedly.

Leeph's body reacted strangely to the damage, causing the hair on his broken right arm to grow until it resembled the fur of his cougar form and the nails to grow into claws. Even though this did indeed increase his fighting strength, the side effects were painful. The bones did not heal properly, and still cause him a lot of pain to this day. That, and the hair follicles bleed in order for Leeph to use his lightening techniques. Though that pain is easily ignored, it can be troublesome when he's constantly bleeding.

For about two years, Leeph lived with his uncle in an old abandoned lighthouse. Taiki gave Leeph several blue belts, which he wrapped around the younger boy's red arm, telling him that they would keep his powers in check and help with the pain. With no energy to think otherwise, he kept wearing them and wears them to this day. Though they don't actually help very much, the placebo calming effect works.

One summer's day, however, Taiki told his nephew that he was going on a journey by himself. “Stay here and watch the lighthouse while I'm gone” He said, as if nothing could possibly be out of the ordinary. For six months, Leeph waited. Taiki never returned. After debating, torn between waiting for his uncle and taking his life back, Leeph decided that he would search for any other Everredian elves on the mainland, and find a way back to their homeland (if it was even still there.). With that, he set out on his own, timid journey.

On his way, he met the very same boy he had attacked in his blind rage on his last day on his home island, Kreek. Kreek, not recognizing Leeph as the monster he sought to kill as revenge for the loss of his eye, allowed Leeph to travel with him. It was a tense moment when Kreek first saw Leeph transform, but the calm, benevolent boy simply let his grudge die. Kreek could easily see that Leeph regretted his actions, even though he had hardly been aware of them. After explaining the situation (Leeph regaining, or at least paying more attention to, his lost memories), the two of them moved forward.

As the two of them travelled, they picked up more information on Everred, the wars, and the strange existence of the cursed elves. An encounter with a one-armed half-elf gave Leeph the suspicion that the curse wasn't of ethereal origin, but instead the effects of an experiment conducted by the Everredian government. Whether this was true or not, he had no way of telling.

Sooner or later, another lost Everredian joined their party. A cursed elf by the name of Becky, who had the traits of a squirrel. Odd, yes, but her powerful strength and speed came in handy during their travels. Kreek took to Becky like an older brother, protecting the dimwitted but joyful young girl whenever he could. Though Becky was as cursed as Leeph was, she wasn't of any use for information. She didn't remember anything from before she had been taken to the mainland.

Several weeks after his eighteenth birthday, Leeph caught wind of his uncle. An informant had mentioned a cruel, lavender-haired man. However, the apparent whereabouts of said man were in the opposite direction of Kreek and Becky's destination. Once again making a painful choice, Leeph parted ways with his kin to hunt down his uncle.


Notes: Finally, a new ref for Leeph! Leeph's a character that's really grown up with me, even if I haven't actually used him in many long term RPs except for one very special one. I really like how he's finally starting to grow up, but still has that adorable little cute thing to him~. I need to draw him more, totally. I got the full body pose from a model in a Sears catalog, and the cougar ref from Google. Good luck to anyone who can actually manage to read through all of his information, and thank you for looking~!