The Legend of Zelda: Shadow of the Ages

Character profile: Tesselae

~ The Cold Room ~

- - - - Basics - - - -

Full name: Tesselae, aka "Tess"

Race: Biri (jellyfish monster) transformed into a humanish creature

Age: Looks like late teens/early twenties

Gender: Male

Occupation: (Reluctant) villainous henchman

Blood Type: N/A

Instrument: ???

- - - - - - Appearance - - - - - -

Height/Weight: 169cm/83kg

Hair: White with a hint of blue, sort of crinkly by nature. He wears it long to his mid-back but tied into a high ponytail, with a short fringe and two long bangs trailing either side of his face.

Eyes: Medium blue

Skin Tone: Moderately pale.

General Build: Lithe. Tess is small and slim, but he's also tightly toned and stronger than he seems. He gives the impression of being constantly under tension, ready to spring back at any moment.

Distinguishing features: Tess's ears are only very slightly pointed, so he looks just a bit odd for a Hylian.

Preferred clothing: The base layer of Tess's clothing is a tight black bodysuit formed of pants that cover his lower body to the hips (though the toes are left open), a sleeveless high-necked top that leaves his midriff exposed, and small gloves that are cut very low around his wrists. Over this he wears a pair of loose, billowing pants that reach his knees and are belted around his hips with a long sash. Finally, black mesh sleeves reach from his upper arms to forearms.

Accessories: Hidden on his person, Tess carries a token given to him by his master, which allows him to maintain his humanoid form. It looks like a small, uncut blue crystal hung on short silver chain.

- - - - - - Personality - - - - - -

General Attitude: Tess has a demure, somewhat shy demeanour, and seems to give things alot of thought before he speaks or acts. Very deliberately, he always tries to bow to other people's opinions and keep quiet about his own - as long as it doesn't effect his plans, he will always "go with the flow" and try to keep everybody else happy. This can get on some peoples' nerves, as it makes him a little obsequious, but it is usually a reliable way to avoid conflict. Overall, he seems quite innocent and kind.

When forced into a fight, he becomes very grim and serious, and is generally quite emotionless. The exception is when he feels he's at risk of losing his powers; his central motivating factor is the terrible fear that he will lose his humanoid form, maybe even his sentience. This is what keeps him working for his master, even though he's not a monster any more. Ironically, he will do almost anything to avoid losing his humanity.

Likes: Humans/Hylians/etc., being a person, interacting with other people and sharing their emotions. He collects bits and pieces from non-monstrous civilisations, whatever he can get his hands on.

Dislikes: Monsters, being forced to work for a villain, fighting, arguments.

Interests: Tesselae is fascinated with the non-monstrous races, especially the prolific Hylians, and wants nothing more than to become one permanently. Since this is vanishingly unlikely, however, he usually has to content himself with studying human(oid) cultures and engaging with such creatures as much as he can.

Abilities of note: Tess is a skilled manipulator of other people; what he cannot achieve with a lie or a bit of subtle emotional blackmail, he can usually manage with a bit of magic used to "fog" the mind just a little. It's not super-reliable, since he can only make suggestions and certainly not mind-control, but the subtle nature of his powers means that even if he fails, the target often won't notice that he was trying.

Tess can manipulate water in all its forms - vapour, snow and ice, even blood - but he cannot create it from nothing. Influencing water that's contained somehow (such as inside a bottle, or blood inside a person) is very difficult for him, however - making things explode is entirely out of the question. Mostly, he uses his water powers to command tendrils of liquid in combat, like whips or tentacles, and to create concealment in the form of clouds or snow. In a pinch, he can also freeze water to create simple structures (for example, a bridge over a lake), though these are extremely temporary.

Quirks: Unfortunately, the need to lie constantly has made Tess somewhat predisposed to lying, almost without thinking about it. It's hard to get the truth out of him without threatening.

- - - - - - Background - - - - - -

Social Status: As long as he's disguised, he irrelevant; otherwise he's a monster.

Family Status: None known.

Birth Rank: Anybody's guess.

Homeland/Birthplace: ?

History: Tesselae began life as an ordinary Biri. However, he was transformed into a human-like form by a powerful sorceror in need of a henchman. Unfortunately said sorcerorsorceror was a villain, and having gained sentience and a new body, Tess was able to understand how horrible it would be to return to being a mindless beast. With that threat hanging over his head, he is reluctantly working as the villain's underling, mostly trying to chase intruders out of the dungeon before a real fight can break out.

- - - - - - Combat - - - - - -

General level: Mid

Style: Tess tries to avoid conflict wherever he can, relying on manipulation, trickery and stealth to instead of actual confrontation. When he's forced to fight, he uses his magic to obscure the battlefield as much as he can, then uses his water manipulation to throw his enemies around while still keeping them distant.

Advantages: Tess is agile, acrobatic and slippery. His water magic gives him considerable battlefield control, between reach and control (ice slick, obscuring fog, and so forth).

Disadvantages: Tesselae is a water creature, not just a water-user, so he's vulnerable to Forest magic. He relies on water to fuel his magic but also to keep him alive; he suffers greatly if he is dehydrated. Speaking of magic, his techniques do poor amounts of damage compared to other schools of magic, so he has trouble closing a fight quickly unless he has an unfair advantage.

Also, if one somehow has the ability to undo his shapechange (or has possession of his focus), one can basically bully him into anything.

Special: Nothing

Techniques:

Water Tendrils: Creates far-reaching "tentacles" from an adequate water source, which he can manipulate like very simple arms. Mostly he uses them like whips, trying to pin his opponents or toss them around. Does poor damage, but very useful for control.

Obscuring Veil: Messes with visibility in a wide area using water in one of a veriety of forms - mist, snow flurries, whatever. He himself is affected by this too, but he's also practiced a using it to attack quickly and slink back to cover to avoid retaliation.

Ice Slick: Creates a thin coating of ice over the ground, making it slippery and difficult to traverse. It doesn't do much against acrobatic individuals and is useless against fliers, but can be a real pain for less poised creatures.

- - - - - - Other - - - - - -

A Quote: "You think so?... Oh, yes, of course, I should have realised it earlier. Silly me!"

Other: Nothing of note.

- - - - - - OOC Info - - - - - -

Theme Song: Sarah McLachlan - Sweet Surrender

Seiyuu: ??

Name info: Comes from the word "tesselate", referring to his original ability to shift into lots of different forms (though I don't think the Zelda version will be a shapeshifter).

Pronunciation: It's just "tesselate" without the last "t".

Title/Tagline: From his theme song... I was trying to find something that was kind of emotional and longing, without being too painfully emo. Tesselae is unhappy, but he's not really "angsty".

Roleplay notes: Tess technically belongs in SotA and Knight's Pass, but he's easily able to be dropped into other timelines. Since he's vague and deceitful about his background/goals anyway, he doesn't even need his "master" around to function.

Speaking of which, I'm yet to decide who he's working for. Got a character who fits the part? Speak up then...

Other notes: None.

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