Profile of Kenneth "Nulion" AgeName: Kenneth Age Callsign: Nulion Faction: Clan on Rimor Guild: Alpha Omega Title: Squad Commander Occupation: Council of Truth C. Staff Born in: Old Earth Mother: *...* Father: *...* Relatives: -none known- Age: 28 Background: Kenneth Age (Or Nulion) is, or rather was, a quiet opifex man born in the relatively small suburban town of New Allegheny, on Old Earth. The small, peaceful life of a town like that was hardly enough for Ken, who dreamed of working for Omni-Tek on the far-off, exciting world of Rubi-Ka. His grandparents, immigrants from Rubi-Ka who had fled the building conflict there, forbade him to go back there. Their stories of danger and wonder only fueled Ken's imagination. One night, after having saved up enough money to hitch a ride to Rubi-Ka at the nearest spaceport, Ken left his old life behind, to prove to his family that he would make something of himself on the frontier world of Rubi-Ka. Things worked poorly for Ken from the very beginning though, as his long-awaited job with Omni-Tek ended up nothing more than a functionary's position at the very bottom. It was a job meant more for robots, protecting cleanerbots in transit lines beneath Rubi-Ka's surface. It was during this time, though, that Ken learned how to use the rifle. After meeting a a clansman for the first time in a bar one night, Ken thought that if he couldn't make a better future for himself with the corporation, then he could do so in the service of the Clans. This opportunity came swiftly with the re-opening of the Council of Truth, to which he quickly applied. He still works with them to this day. Outside forces continued to complicate Ken's life, everything from missing persons to raids by vampiric cults, metaphysicyst god-worshipping sting operations that left Ken temporarily branded an enemy. In a turning point of Ken's life, he was even blamed, albeit temporarily, for the shooting of then-CEO of Omni-Tek Rubi-Ka, Phillip Ross. The most influential and life-changing event for Ken came in the form of an attack on a small Clan settlement in the Longest Road region of Rubi-Ka, Bliss. The town was then besieged by an enormous mutant that had broken out of containment from the nearby Biomare facility, run at the time by Omni-Tek's medical branch, Omni-Med. The mutant, having formerly been a human being, managed to infect Ken via a grievous wound to the leg in its dying throes...and despite the best medical attention he could find, the virus inside Ken's body went untreated. The virus, an artificially-constructed nanophage built by the science team at Biomare, was a resilient kind of superbug that only caused severe flu-like symptoms for the first week or two of its lifecycle in the host; this left Ken in a near-bedridden state for some time after his infection. It was during this time that a woman from Omni-AF, General Honer, approached Ken with an offer; retrieve evidence that Biomare was connected with the shooting of Phillip Ross, and she would give him a suppressant for the disease he was stricken with. Little did Ken know, the virus Phillip Ross has been infected with at the time and the virus he was infected with himself had a similar "base construction", the two nanophages having been designed by the same research teams. The suppressant he was given after retrieving the evidence condemning Biomare was simply a global "off" switch for nanophages created by Biomare. Ross was simply too fargone in his own developing condition to be treated by such a low-grade drug, but it wasn't too late for Ken...although as time would prove, it simply wouldn't be enough to stop the virus from progressing further. Some time had passed since then, and the virus still lay dormant in his body. All it needed was an "on" switch, and that came in the form of the child-murdering cult of nanomages plaguing Rubi-Ka, known as the Legionnaires. Ken had attempted to thwart this organization by infiltrating it, a sort of sting operation that got him much closer to its leader than he ever should have been. Their leader, Volcatius, had an enormous amount of control over nanomachines and notum around him, so much so that it inadvertently re-activated the nanophages lying dormant in Ken's bloodstream. It came back with a vengeance, leaving Ken rapidly mutating into something other than human. This began the scramble to find a cure for the rapidly evolving virus, led by his friend in Omni-Med, Dr. Alannah "Kealy" Burke. Despite not being able to find a proper cure for the virus, an improved version of the suppressant was crafted using the leftover bits of Ken's initial infection, such as a claw fragment extracted from his leg, as well as the last bits of suppressant originally given to him by Honer. The battle against the virus was far from over however, with each version of the improved drug losing its potency, and allowing the virus more time to mutate Ken's body. After nearly ten iterations of the suppressant drug, Ken's disease had reached a dangerous level; it was nigh uncontrollable. Omni-Med, recognizing the biohazardous nature of Ken's body decided to send out a team of armed men and doctors to his "aid", capturing him and keeping him in a facility for several days. During this time, they regressed the appearance of Ken's body to what it had looked like before the mutations, which were transforming him into something more reptile than human. Released back into the world a normal-looking man, Ken's humanity was still on a timer; he only had scant days to enjoy looking like a human being, before the reptilian nature of his mutations came back to haunt him. Through research conducted at the time, it was discovered that Ken's body had adopted a reptilian regeneration response, the same mechanism in a reptile's body that allows it to replace lost limbs. Omni-Med's attempt at regressing Ken to a human form had only resulted in his entire body thinking itself to be damaged, and so within the span of mere weeks, Ken devolved from a healthy opifex man into a reptilian beast struggling to keep his humanity in check. Things reached their lowest point literally moments before being administered a regeneration response suppressant by his doctor; the needle scared him to the point that his human mind simply lost itself to the growing urges of the beast he was becoming, and he fled. He went missing for nearly a week, living as a wild animal in the sandy deserts of Newland. Only after following the scent of food and potential mates to Newland City was he sedated and captured, leaving several women bitten and infected before finally being dragged off to Newland Prison. While the women were treated with a newer suppressant drug, Ken was left to remain in a jail cell for the next month, with only the company of friends and the hopeful effects of a new drug to keep him from losing what little of his humanity remained, forever. What ended up coming out of that jail cell wasn't exactly a beast, but it wasn't Ken either; it was a strange mixture of the two, a very innocent and unknowing creature that needed to relearn almost everything over again, just to be able to mix amongst people at least semi-normally. It took another three months, and a crack to the head with a martial arts staff, for Ken to regain his old self completely. He was left broken and fragmented by the experience of the past several months, barely able to cope with more than just his own consciousness vying for control of his mind. A manifestation of the beast he was becoming wanted its own savage needs, while the innocent persona that had dominated his life for months wanted its own curious way of being happy. The desire to simultaneously be civilized and wild created a huge conflict in Ken's mind, leading him to seek help from the most unlikely of places; Omni-Reform. A kindly psychiatrist, Maugerry, offered the troubled Ken the help he sorely needed via psychiatric sessions and hypnotic therapy. The unexpected help from Reform, coupled with the unending support of the friends around him, have helped him to climb back onto his feet and get back to the normal life he tries to hard to maintain. He'll keep trying, and keep fighting, until the day he dies... PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Nulion's build and bone structure is still humanoid, although the skin everywhere on his body below his neck has been mutated into a coating of iridescent scales. Above his neck, only patches of grey, opifex skin still remain. His eyes are a wild, feral green in color, the pupils slit vertically; they glow like a dog's eyes at night, as Nulion is able to see very clearly in the dark. His eyes also have a strange "third eyelid", or nictitating membrane that can slide horizontally across his eyes. His teeth have not been spared the mutations, becoming sharpened and more suited for the tearing of meat and bone from his prey. His tongue has lengthened considerably, the tip forked; his tongue is able to move about more freely, giving him the ability to easily lick you, should he choose. This lengthy tongue, combined with mutations to his mouth and teeth, have given him a sharp, distinct hiss and growl to his voice. Thick, sharp claws have pushed their way from out of his fingers and toes, as well. Also worthy of note is that his body is now cold-blooded, requiring the use of a suit of temperature-controlled Dust Brigade armor that he wears almost at all times. Personality: Nulion is and always has been a friendly person, despite the hardships of his rapidly changing life; he tries hard, with the aid of friends and company, to enjoy things and at least smile every once in awhile. His condition has come to dominate much of his personality though, his ability to deal with people swaying wildly depending on what he feels and smells from the people around him. Sniffing and licking at the people he meets and the people he enjoys is second nature for him, and he can frequently be heard, or seen, licking his comm as a response to something he likes coming from out of the comm unit. People who anger or frustrate him are met with a half-baked feral nature, with him at times whimpering in defeat and other times snarling with defiance at those who taunt him or those he cares for. When angered or upset, the bestial nature of his mind can get the best of him, and he can be tempted to do or say things he otherwise never would. This goes the same for when his extra-sensitive nose picks up an arousing scent; he will be tempted to do or say things that he normally never would. When not combating the direct effects of having half a beast's mind, Nulion can easily become upset or depressed at the fact that he is so separated from his family back on Old Earth, and that he left them for a life on Rubi-Ka only to become a freakish reptilian creature. Another interesting bit worthy of note is that Nulion tends not to refer to other people as "people" when angered, or when in a bestial state of any sort. Instead, he refers to people as "mammals", a result of his constant feeling of estrangement from the human race. A recent, developing interest in Nulion is that of mating, a very typical and natural thing for an animal to want out of life. This is controlled by scent, and is having a very strong impact on Nulion's human self as well. Where his human mind feels depressed that he is one of the only single men he knows within his circle of friends, his bestial nature argues that it should go and find a suitable female, and quick. The human mind argues back that any sort of contact of a sexual nature would infect his partner, spreading his virus. This is exactly what his bestial nature wants, and it continues to struggle to get what it needs... Likes: Nulion gets enjoyment out of a number of things, some of them from his human nature, others from the bestial side of things. He enjoys music, parties, the company of friends, a hot cup of cappuccino from The Cup, a well-prepared meal, a good night's rest, and his family (Who he misses very much...but he hates talking about it) ...but his bestial side has its own likes, as well. The beast in Nulion enjoys hunting, killing, feeding on fresh meat and the leet pies his friend Joe gives him, sex, picking up interesting scents, licking at people he finds interesting or enjoyable, and expressing his altered nature without being judged...which is a very rare thing. Dislikes: Nulion has several dislikes...Omni-Med, Rita Prestin, war, his distance and separation from family on Earth, "shortsighted mammals" who can't understand the beauty in what he's becoming, and injections of any sort. Although he is coming to accept and see the beauty in the creature he's transforming into, he is still very scared of what will happen if he can't rein in the beast and keep it under lock and key. He wants a little of the wild side...but not the entire thing. |