"From shadows we came, to shadows we'll return."
- Order of Shadows
A young man, thrown to scrapes and dirt since he was given birth, betrayed by thieves and trained by killers, forged into a perfect weapon for the darkest undertakings. This is Khai, the Twilight Assassin.
Khai
Appearance
Khai is a lithe and rather short man, given his young age. The harsh years of scraping and thieving away at Cerak At'Thul made him quite athletic, and since his unnatural joining into the Order of Shadows, his skin had developed into a much paler tone than before. Still, he is not without some devilish good looks, although he doesn't like to show his face often, being a professional assassin and such. Wouldn't do well for people to know his identity, right?
As for his common choice of clothing, he wears the traditional dark vests of the Order of Shadows' Assassins, choosing not to wear armor for the sake of maintaining his nimble approach. His arms are covered with light but sturdy plates, merely for style but not without utility, having pointy claws at the tips of his hands for close combat. He keeps his trusted katana sheathed on his back along with a dagger on his waist and several hidden shurikens and throwing knives all over his armor.
Underneath it all lies the source of Khai's powers. The dark markings all over his body, resembling tattoos, from where he extracts his Shadowtouched powers straight from the Shadowrealm.
Skills and Abilities
Strengths and Skills
One with the Shadows: His go-to basic skill, Khai uses his Shadow Magic to disguise himself in darkness, travessing distances or simply hiding himself from anyone. He can also harness enough magic to create a Shadow Decoy, a useful trick in combat to distract his opponents, leaving them open for a lethal strike.
Ninjutsu: Khai has been thoroughly trained in the ways of Ninja and assassination, a silent killer that strikes from the shadows in deadly silence. He favors a guerilla warfare approach as his fighting style, as opposed to open and straight up battle and has many tools at his disposal to do so.
Shadow Toss: His only ranged skill, Khai infuses his shurikens and throwing daggers with his Shadow Magic, making them stronger and able to pierce through most surfaces and armors, also improving their aim and speed.
The Twilight Dance: His ultimate skill, used only in emergencies for it brings a great toll to himself. Khai pulls all the Shadowpower from the marks on his body to create multiple clones made of pure shadows, mimicking his every move. They rush on in a eye-blinking dance of steel against Khai's opponents, dissipating in a huge explosion. Since it draws so much of his power, Khai is put in a dangerous state after its usage.Weaknesses
Element of Surprise: Having trained to be a assassin, Khai usually prefers to avoid straight up confrontations with other, more specialized fighters. Although he's not without skill, Khai can be bested if faced with enough strength, like against more brutish warriors and knights.
Withdrawal: Shadow Magic is the source of his powers, but it's also what keeps him breathing. Hanging between life and death, the Shadow Magic is the only thing that keeps him from joining the dead again, and thus reckless use of his powers or too much time away from the Life Fountains of the Shadowrealm can be deadly for Khai. These effects can be dampened as long as Khai takes a life, equalling the Balance of Life and Death that the Order preserves.
Cassaegrin
Personality
Khai is a trickster, usually sarcastic and of light humour, although that can change easily when faced with a contract for someone's life. Two sides of the same coin, this dark side of Khai can be quite frightening given how friendly he can be. Khai is also of a scoundrel nature, having lived his entire youth in the hard streets of Cerak At'Thul and its pirate bay, and thus he always seeks to be in advantage in every situation he finds himself in. But he's not without a gentle heart and sympathy, educated to be honorable even in the act of killing someone, and he's also quite naive with the ways of the world, even though he has faced hardships ever since he was born.
In the end, Khai can be both playful or coldly serious at almost the same time, but he's not of a evil mind and always seeks to see the good in people, even if they're marked for death. He obeys his duties as a Shadow Assassin without question and seeks to uphold the Balance of Life and Death, believing it to be the ultimate law in life.
In the end, Khai can be both playful or coldly serious at almost the same time, but he's not of a evil mind and always seeks to see the good in people, even if they're marked for death. He obeys his duties as a Shadow Assassin without question and seeks to uphold the Balance of Life and Death, believing it to be the ultimate law in life.
Biography & Lore
Khai was born on the rough streets of Cerak At'Thul, the son of a whore who passed away two years later, due to diseases gained by her lavish outgoings in the whorehouses over the bay. Having to learn the ways of life all by himself, Khai quickly got himself involved with all manner of dirty businesses, from being hired as a junior smuggler to high risk thievery. As he grew up, he develop quite the reputation amongst the crows and drunken beasts of that place, one that would eventually cost much to him.
With no more than 16 years, Khai and his band of junior rogues were bought off as slaves by some famous thief and his scary crew of pirates, murderes and what else. Being sold for two coins, they were sent off over the seas until they landed on the coast, making a lengthy journey up until near the mythical forests of Falwood, the ancient Elven land. Khai's greatest friend was an outcast elf he ended up befriended after stealing from him in Cerak.
They were tasked with finding out everything about a wealthy relic hoarder that had grew his pockets too deep with checking, probably betrayed the slavers after it. Khai was successful in tracking down the man, but he was caught and a fight ensued, with Khai taking his first life by pushing the man towards a rock. A lucky kill, but one that saved his life, or at least he thought so.
The slavers were pissed out of their minds when they learned of the deed, for they planned to capture the man and seize all his goods and informations and turn him into one of their wealthy contacts throughout the kingdoms. Khai never learned of what happened to his friends, but he was knocked out and taken to one of the creepy and ruined places deep into the forests of Falwood. He was beaten and eventually killed with a blade to his heart by the slaver.
The cries of pain and injustice eventually reached the Shadowrealm, a realm far beyond the reach of the people of Arethil. This strange world was a mythical place of old traditions and filled with magic, and such magic reached out to Khai, transporting his lifeless body to the Temple of the Order of Shadows. His body was pumped with Shadow Magic, which granted him another chance at life. Forever grateful and indebted, Khai asked to be trained as one of the Shadow Assassins of the Order, educated in their ways by the Masters and trained to reach his physical and mental peak.
Several years later, he was sent back to the earthly plane, now a grown man and a highly skilled assassin. His first task was to set out and find the slavers, tracking them all the way back to Cerak At'Thul, where it all began. He eventually found them in the same brothel of his mother, and carnaged followed. After he was done, the whole place was bathe in blood, the slavers' blood.
The people who caught sight of that knew they were now watched by a vigilant order of deadly justicars, bent on washing away the bad people of the world in a endless pool of blood and shadows, and Khai was one of their vanguards.
