Banuk the Kin-Eater
"Murderer," came the cry, "your heart pumps black the blood on your hands"
"Murderer," came the accusation, "your days are numbered by the lives you've claimed."
"Kin-eater," came the damning promise, "never shall you rest. Be filled with terror."
It sounded a bell in brass, beat in tandem with staves that clubbed consciousness from Banuk's eyes. Each note, hissed or shouted or whispered so by his ear, driven to dagger point into flesh. And yet, a grin slipped on his lips. They beat him, wrought wrath upon his skull, drove him deeper into a maddened agony as he watched blood pool about his eyes. But their wrists grew weak, trembled at grip of the stave, and the Kin-Eater could do nothing to suppress his laugh.
Appearance
Of middling height and build, Banuk houses an unremarkable topography save for a certain smugness centered about his lips; an easy smile, a cocksure grin. Regardless of its descriptor, it is oft noted to be unpleasant, showing far too many teeth in a mouth otherwise unaccustomed to mirth. Callouses and scars riddle his flesh, and his eyes are sharp with a wit undermined by how his mouth chooses to move.
Skills and Abilities
Heron Dances on the Lilypad; lightfeet accustomed to the mud-slick streets and tile roofs of the Cinder Ports graced Banuk with an adroit manner and preternatural balance. Such reflexes, honed through conflict between the Blue Districter gangs, the Feather Clan, and the hidden knife that blossomed from otherwise silent authorities, kept the man alive through decades-long misadventures.
Kin-Eater; a title granted to the criminal in recent months following a string of murders leading to his current incarceration and the revocation of his citizen status. While never granted an official family name at birth, Kin-Eater is a fitting moniker for the man's actions against those who raised him.
Shaman; popularly a spiritual profession with sufficient prestige, practice, and privilege, Banuk was gifted with certain similar abilities through artificial means. A cursed Raakgui was inked into his flesh, where it now writhes along the contours of his spine. It ripples there, wracking him with pain even as it offers him the ability to deal with other such creatures.
The Gentle Palm; Banuk exhibits great proficiency in all manners of violence. Of particular note is his preference to enact such proclivities by way of the open palm. Sure, a knife or a sword serves him on occasion, but few sensations compare to the kiss of knuckles on flesh.
Personality
A man acquainted with poverty, hunger, and pomp. Quick tempered, ill favored by luck, and caustic of manner.
Biography & Lore
Born much like the sewage filtered out by the Cinder Ports' blue sluice gate, Banuk entered this world on an assumption of care. Raised communally, it did not take long for him to fall in with the local gangs of Sonshan's Blue District, and it was in such company that he thrived. Adolescence passed him by mildly: he learned to read sparingly, to cook from what he could scavenge, to make the most of his days in an abundance of boredom. He also learned to bargain, barter, lie, steal, and fight, but those came as natural consequences of station more than from any special exertion of will.
As a young adult, one of the family heads selected him for a program. A shady shaman of unknown origins offered them a needle infused with a cursed Raakgui, and instructions with how to apply it for best effect. Of the dozen chosen youths, Banuk adapted at an acceptable rate and took to the training that followed with relative ease. At the very least, it did not leave him crippled (two others suffered from that, though in return they boasted greater proficiency in utilizing the Raakgui housed in their flesh). He earned the title of shaman. A back-alley shaman, yes, but it afforded him some measure of prestige amongst his peers all the same.
Later, he was selected again. Summoned before the head of his family, made to kneel and proclaim what loyalty he might feel. And told that he would take the fall for a string of murders. Not ones he committed, of course. Those were much lower profile; the trust extended to him only went so far. No, these murders involved members of the Feather Clan and a Morikami delegate. Not so easily hidden. Someone had to take responsibility, and after much heated debate and consideration it was decided that Banuk was a satisfactory delegate for the task.
Stripped of his citizenship, he was sent to labor at the behest of the Morikami for several years, only to return as a guest of the Intendant Family after his dues were paid. Upon finding his feet stuck fast to the muddy streets of the Cinder Ports again, there was nothing else for him to do but hunt down each of the family heads that abandoned him. A matter of course, really. Only... Banuk never was as clever as he thought. Local authorities, having caught quickly on to his actions, apprehended him before he could finish the work.