Nameless [Incomplete]

[* fable]

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[bg=213641] n a m e l e s s i have often d r e a m e d of a f a r - o f f place where a

[/b]h e r o ' s welcome would be w a i t i n g for me[/color][/font][/size]
out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole[/center]

n ame ✦ His name is Nameless. Why? Well, he doesn't quite rightly know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he's never been able to stay in one place long enough to be able establish himself as anyone. And as for nicknames, well... whatever you want to call him other than "Nameless" works, really. He is honestly chill with practically anything; you can even call him "That One Wolf".
g ender ✦ Male, though he tends to question his gender quite a lot; he thinks that he isn't masculine enough to be a brute (which is true, really -- ask anyone).
a ge ✦ Two years. Actually, he isn't quite sure anymore; he stopped keeping track after... well, he's not sure when, but he lost track a while ago. Nameless is pretty certain that he's two years old, though, give or take, oh... a year or two?
b irthday ✦ 14 December. He's pretty sure about his birthday season, though most wolves find it odd. A wolf born during the middle of winter? Obviously his mother hadn't be very smart, right? ... Nameless doesn't really think about it very much. Who cares about his birthday anyways? He sure doesn't. Hell, if he wanted to, he could have every day be his birthday!
p ack ✦ Loner. Not quite a rogue, since he doesn't really cause trouble for the packs -- at least, he doesn't do it on purpose; it's the thought that counts... right?
r ank ✦ He likes to think that he's a pretty important guy; unfortunately, his rank, if he ever managed to get into a pack, would probably be the lowest position possible.

the crowds will c h e e r when they see my f a c e
and a

[/b]v o i c e keeps saying this is w he r e i'm meant to b e[/color][/font][/size]
i thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul[/center]
e yes ✦ As black as coals and as deep as the ocean; as gentle as a tender mother hen and as passionate as a blazing fire. It sparkles like sunlight on snow and glimmers with unspoken genius. ... well, that's how he wishes his eyes were like. Personally, he finds them quite dull and unattractive; after all, they're just so... plain - how could anyone possibly like them? He envies those with unusual coloring, like purple, or red, or even yellow. At least they have some sort of color to them, whereas his is just... some odd place between black and brown. In reality, his eyes bring out the shifting, black shapes that crawl about on his fur, resulting in a look of picturesque unity, as though his eyes were purposely painted a dark ebony. They also contrast with his white fur, adding even more to their appeal. However, whenever he looks at his reflection, all he can see is a dirty wolf with boring eyes. No matter how many compliments he gets, no matter how many wolves praise his looks, he finds himself to be quite repulsive to look at; not that he tells anyone that. Hah! As if he would burden anyone with the task of listening to his useless moaning. He keeps that sort of nonsense to himself.
f ur ✦ His fur is strikingly white, with jet black, ever-shifting shapes decorating it. These shapes resemble different animals. Of course, this sort of coloring makes it extremely hard for him to blend in; therefore, he's not a very good hunter, nor is he an extremely good scout because he's so easily spotted. As for its thickness, because he barely catches enough prey to stay alive, it's very thin and rather sickly looking; it's also kind of limp, which he finds absolutely gross. Although he does his best to groom it (his black friends don't like it when their home is dirty), it always ends up being smeared with mud as he desperately tries to run away from the next thing that tries to kill him. Unsurprisingly, Nameless tends to be very cold most of the time, considering he not only doesn't have any fat to insulate himself with, but his fur is so ineffective and doing much but just hanging on his frail skin that it doesn't help at all. Not one tiny bit. The other disadvantage of having such craptastic fur is that other wolves tend to turn their noses up at his sorry appearance, and he really can't blame them, because he would do the same. He does have a bit of pride in the fact that no other wolf has black creatures walking about on their fur; it's what makes him unique, after all.
a ppearance ✦ Nameless is not a very pretty wolf. His generally scrawny, scraggly appearance more often than not disgusts other wolves and makes him look quite weak, which is actually a pretty accurate conclusion. Although he does make an attempt to groom his pelt as often as possible, he usually has very little time between sleeping, trying to find food, and running away from the next thing attempting to kill him. As a result of him having to be so active with so little food actually going in, Nameless is almost always very thin, almost sickly looking. Inevitably, he isn't very attractive to potential mates... also known as "those female wolves who never give him a second glance". In addition to being thin, he is also a rather small wolf for his age; in fact, he's about a paw and a half shorter than most mature male wolves, despite having legs that are long proportionally to his overall height. These lengthy legs are precisely what make him look at least somewhat graceful when he runs, which is most of the time, actually, so... maybe he is attractive, slightly?
- thin
- scrawny
- rather small
- not very elegant (unless he's running, in which case he likes to think that he looks pretty damn beautiful)
- facial expression is, more often than not, either: confused/bewildered, some sort of dumb look of plastic happiness, or pitifully sad
- face shape is relatively standard
- paws are dainty
- claws are chipped, dull, not too useful
- tail long in proportion to his body
p ower ✦
- black shapes on fur can be "brought to life"
- black shapes become 3-dimensional, solid, able to physically manipulate the world (i.e. bite things, push things, etc.)
- can only summon three black creatures at one time w/o dying
- experiences great deal of pain when black creature "dies" (they don't actually die; they just go back on his fur, but it still hurts)
- can keep one small creature solidified for ~30 minutes, one medium creature for ~15 minutes, one large creature ~7 minutes
- what creatures are available on his fur at the time depends on the situation (and his mood)
- can only summon creatures that are currently on his fur
* can "talk" to creatures that are on his fur ("active" creatures)
- cannot call creatures to be on his fur
- type of creatures on his fur varies with his environment/his mood/his situation (i.e. desert vs. ocean, peace vs. battle, happy vs. sad)
- certain creatures ("Guardians") will reflexively be summoned w/o much effort being spent
* cannot physically interact with anything (they go through solid objects)
* can make themselves larger/smaller, depending on the situation
* the only creatures that he can call up to be on his pelt at any time
* usually pop up in order to make him look intimidating/scare his opponents

i will f i n d my way if i can be s t r o n g
when i go the

[/b]d i s t a n c e i'll be right where i b e l o n g[/color][/font][/size]
in the fell clutch of circumstance i have not winced nor cried aloud[/center]
p ros ✦
- considerate
- fairly obedient
- understanding (or, at least, he tries to be)
- honest (well, it's more like he doesn't know how to lie, but... whatever)
c ons ✦
- can't camouflage
- tends to be very loud
- socially awkward
- slightly... insane?
- tends to take things very literally
- physically weak
- mentally weak
- emotionally... "numb", in a way? It's almost as if his emotions are "artificial", in a sense, as if he doesn't really feel them.
q uirks ✦
- talks (out loud) to voices in his head
- narrates his actions (i.e. when he jumps, he yells "JUMP!")
p ersonality ✦ at least 200 words.

it may take a l i f e t i m e but i'll see it t h r o u g h
and i can't look b a c k ; i can go the d i s t a n c e

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under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed[/center]
r elations ✦ None. Well, of course he has a father and a mother and siblings, but... he makes it a habit to not remember them.
h istory ✦
- comes from pack beyond Holy Lands
- son of pack's "emperor"/emperor's concubine
- given to rival pack as political hostage (5 moons old)
- during Great Migration (pack goes from summer lands to winter lands; winter lands = ~20 miles from Holy Lands), Nameless gets left behind (1 winter old)
- wanders around for a while
- taken in by loose, traveling "pack" of rogues/loners
- abandoned by pack b/c his connections w/ "empire" (1 1/2 winters)
- wanders around Holy Lands for a while before arriving @ pack lands (2 winters)
* kept alive by powers (which had been steadily growing stronger/easier to control)
o ther ✦ The pack he originates from is based on the Great Islamic Empires (the Ottoman Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Mughal Empire) as well as various Chinese dynasties, including (but not restricted to) the Zhou Dynasty, Han Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and Qing Dynasty. The pack is much more advanced than Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Orion, and Andromeda in that the pack has formed a large empire with a highly centralized government and a vast amount of land controlled by one emperor, instead of many different packs. This was made possible by several developments that are unique and uncommon among wolves.

Several hundred years before Nameless' time, the surrounding lands were occupied by packs much like any other wolf pack. An ambitious pack, who claimed to be of all the same descendant whom they called "Hydrus", named after the great water serpent of the ocean this pack came from, slowly conquered the warring packs one by one. Their success came from their cunning (they often played the packs against each other, diplomatically pulling the strings so that their enemies would often be exhausted by the time they came in for the kill) as well as their charismatic leaders who were able to lead them to victory. They also utilized terrorism: when moving on to attack another pack, they gave the pack two options: surrender and support them or be brutally slaughtered. When a pack chose the second option, the pack left only one or two wolves alive - often the weakest - to go to the next pack and recount the tales of cruelty they witnessed. This resulted in many packs surrendering more often than choosing to stubbornly hang onto their pride. Thus, the great Hydrus Dynasty was established, only to be quickly overthrown by the Volans pack. This pack was a coalition of the packs that had been conquered, all whom hated this foreign pack who had so violently suppressed them. In order to legitimize their rebellion, a new idea was created:

The leader of the Volans pack asserted that an emperor ruled under the eyes of "Heaven", and if he fell out of Heaven's favor - something indicated by natural disasters, political unrest, and the like - he was destined to be overthrown and replaced with a ruler chosen by Heaven. This was appropriately called the "Mandate of Heaven". Of course, when the leader of the Volans pack successfully overthrew the Hydrus pack - who was easily defeated because they were a minority against a frenzied majority - he was immediately named the "Son of Heaven", thus making it so that anyone who dared opposed him opposed Heaven itself. And so, the Mandate of Heaven became the excuse for rebellions and dynastic change in this land. After the Volans Dynasty, who fell because of the corruption of later emperors that led to neglect of his unhappy subjects, came the Apodis pack whose success came from their ability to organize a professional army using various drills and by having all military positions be given to those who proved themselves in battle. The Apodis Dynasty fell as their government became decentralized due to the feudal order they set up, with the Apodis Emperor giving land - that he technically "owned" - to his generals who, in return, gave him their military and political support in theory. The wolves living on a general's land were to hunt and follow his orders and, in theory, at least, this general and his small, private army would give them protection. These generals, as they grew more and more powerful began to fight amongst themselves for more land, with the Apodis Emperor being powerless to do much but watch as his empire collapsed due to numerous devastating civil wars.

A very powerful general rose up, a wolf by the name of Pavonus, and subdued all the other generals. Equipped with a brilliant mind and a knack for catching the enemy off-guard, he established the Pavonus Dynasty, of which Nameless' father was the emperor. The Pavonus Dynasty, unlike the Apodis Dynasty, remains highly centralized. This is due to the fact that the emperor possesses the only trained army under his command, an army made up of wolves who had been taken from outside the empire's lands at a young age and raised by the emperor, thus making them devoted only to him. This monopoly of the army makes it a challenge for any wolf to oppose the emperor, for although the wolf is allowed a trial, he or she is almost inevitably executed for treason. What also keeps the general population subdued is the fact that the empire is very tolerant, so not many wolves have a reason to complain. The heavy amount of propaganda doesn't hurt, either.

The position of emperor passes down from father to son, usually the first son. If the first son is deemed incapable, he is either exiled or executed, then replaced with the second son. If the second son is also pronounced incompetent, the same thing happens, and so on and so forth. Remaining sons are, by tradition, killed by the chosen son, so as to prevent any family tensions. This emperor is then able to choose one female wolf to be his mate and any number of other female wolves to be his concubines. Concubines are expendable and are often exiled or executed if they get too possessive or needy, or if they outlive their one purpose in life: to please the emperor. Sons of concubines are viewed as "illegitimate" and are usually ordered to be killed immediately; daughters are allowed to live, more often than not, since they are thought to possess little threat to the emperor. Occasionally, an emperor will show mercy for the helpless pups - especially if he likes the concubine - and allow them to grow up, but these pups are often grown in the harshest of environments, living on the outskirts of the empire basically in exile.

Thus, it is in this world that Nameless is born into and eventually escapes. It is a land wildly different than any other wolf society, one that is unique and full of complexities and intrigue.

b e y o n d the g l o r y is the h a r d e s t part
for a hero's

[/b]s t r e n g t h is measured by his h e a r t[/color][/font][/size]
beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade[/center]
y our name ✦ Fable.
o ther characters ✦ None.
n otes ✦ None.

like a shooting s t a r i can go the d i s t a n c e
i will search the w o r l d ; i will face its h a r m s

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i am the master of my fate ; i am the captain of my soul

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