Helios Varkam

HELIOS VARKAM: PHYSICAL PROFILE, PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE, BIO

Name: Helios Varkam
Species: Fire Jaguar
Gender: Male
Date Of Birth: August 15th, year unknown.
Height: 1.85 m (6.06 ft)
Physical appeareance: He's a tall, thin, semi-digitigrade jaguar with the body completely covered in spotted fur, showing a whiter tone on muzzle, chest, belly, palm of hands, wrists and base of feet. His most peculiar dark marking is a sacred, serpentine, sun-shaped spot that starts from the right eye and ends on the right pectoral, called the Mark of the Sun (which basically allows him to be chosen as a witchdoctor in his clan). His bodytype seemed to be trained to fight, but has become slim and emaciated from time and neglect. His blond-ish hair is shaped like a wild, feral mane, which runs down to the middle of the back, as well.
Due to a magic incident, his soul has been detatched from his body: now, it can be seen as a smokey presence with skeleton-like face and fingers, constantly flowing close to him, coming out either of his eyes, nose or ears. Helios' eyes have also undergone a drastic change from the incident, turning fully green, no iris or pupil visible: although he appears to be rather nearsighted (therefore relying mostly on smell and hearing), his new eyes allow him to clearly see ghosts and other kinds of spirits.
He still wears the ceremonial, half-burned clothing he was initially buried with, adhorned with golden plates and feathers, which are rather important in his culture. His weapon of choice is a sacrificial dagger with the handle carved from jade and an obsidian blade: after a self-harming ritual, the weapon is now soaked in magic power, therefore able to fight demons and ghosts with.

Short bio: Helios is the last survivor of an ancient dynasty of soul-summoning felines called the Fire Jaguars. Born with the Mark of the Sun, visible on a Fire Jaguar cub since the first days of his life, Helios was destined, once grown up, to be the medicine man of the clan; he learned various rituals, magic techniques and sacrificial methods from his mentor (useful not only to summon and control spirits, but also to fight them if needed) that, later in life, he himself would've had the duty to teach to the new apprentice. Just like the Mark, the name "Helios" is a title that all witchdoctors wear when they complete their training and their mentor dies. As such, Helios wasn't always called so from the start; however, he'll never reveal his acual name.
Due to a magical accident, Helios' mentor has died before he could complete the training for him: determined to save his master, Helios had tried to perform a resurrection spell from the Fire Jaguars' ancient Book of Ghosts, a cursed collection of forbidden enchantments that seems to have a mind of his own. Realizing it had been opened by an unexperienced witchdoctor, the Book has not only reversed its Resurrection spell by detaching Helios' soul, but has released several evil spirits into the mortal dimension.
Seemingly dead, Helios had been buried by the rest of his clan after the accident, remaining underground for 20 years. When he woke up from his slumber and finally got out of its temporary grave, he had found out that his clan was no more, but that the Book and the spirits were still causing grief and murder all over the world. Determined to make up to its fatal mistake, he has set off on a journey to either kill or send the spirits to their original dimension, finally destroying the Book.

Psychological/Behavioural profile: Pre-accident Helios was an average guy: well-mannered and disciplined, he has always shown to be very altruist and willing to help anyone in need, even if that meant doing sacrifices, either figurative or literal. Highly convinced that extreme problems needed extreme remedies, he has also shown to be rather reckless in handling magic objects that an apprentice like him would've never been able to dominate.
Post-accident Helios is shown as much more serious, silent, merciless hunter, appearing as very fierce in combat despite its apparently weak physical state. He's not as ironic and witty as before, keeping personal considerations about the outside world to himself. Under the tough, first impression, though, Helios is still very inclined on helping others, and will behave courtly and formally to anyone that doesn't pose as a threat to him.

Additional notes
Feathers: Feathers are a recurring symbol among Fire Jaguars; they represent fire in general and that's why they collect them as much as possible. In particular, red feathers represent fire as a destructive power, yellow and orange feathers represent fire as a light source, signifying life and positive energy. The more a clan member is adhorned in feathers, the more important they are: that's why the leader has feathers around his head that look like sun rays; his sceptre is decorated in the same fashion in order to look like the sun. Depending on where and how they are worn, feathers are used by the Fire Jaguars to emphasize their brutal force, intelligence, cunning, beauty, speed, and other qualities.
Helios has a few sets of feathers that decorate his appeareance; the small number indicates he's still an apprentice. His red feathers are bigger, but they're always matched with two orange feathers at each side: this means that he has a desctructive, fighting spirit that is usually kept at bay by his kind nature. Feathers attached to his earring are very prominent, indicating his remarkable cunning and well developed senses. A couple of feathers attached to his loincloth indicate that he's an adult and able to procreate.

Resurrection ritual: One of the forbidden spells written in the Book of Ghosts that an Helios wouldn't use unless really necessary. It has to be performed on a victim that has died of an unfair death, and must be performed in the first 24 hours of the death when the soul is still near the body of his owner and able to be sucked back into it. It is hard to judge wether the death of a person is unjust or written in its destiny, and because of this, the soul reviving technique is dangerous for the performer as well; performing this technique after a just death incites the Book of Ghosts to injure or kill the witchdoctor, as well as increasing the power of the spirits held within its pages, waiting to come out. The more important said dead person is to the performer, the greater and more painful the side effects are.

Burying techniques: Fire Jaguars (luckily for Helios) don't mummify, cremate or do other modifications to corpses; however, they dress them up with a special, half burned robe (which symbolizes death by fire, considered noble as it's death by their sacred element), gold bracelets and feathers. The coffin and headstone are both made in wood and decorated with red pigment; they both bear the same symbol which is unique from family to family.

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