Niyu

.: Playlist :.

1. Ending Staff Roll - Metroid Prime 

2. Monster - Imagine Dragons

3. In Our Small Way - Michael Jackson

4. Stranger in Moscow - Michael Jackson

.: General Info :.

Name: Niyu
Pronunciation: NEE-yoo
Nicknames: Nini
Age: Somewhere between 25 and 27
Birthday: October 30
Birthplace: Currently unknown
Species: Shadow creature (Identifies stick/human)
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Bisexual
Height: 4’11”

.:Distinguishing features:.
Niyu's most distinct features are his large, dark cloak and black mask with hints of gold such as the marking on his hood. He also wears gloves and boots of a similar color scheme wherever he goes. His sclera are a peculiar red with yellow pupils. He’s also below average height. Niyu's blood is vantablack and his insides are similarly dark.

In creature form, his appearance is drastically altered and becomes animalistic. His entire body grows and shifts into a large, reptilian beast that resembles some manner of alien dinosaur. Its overall body is slender, yet bulky and fittingly intimidating. His head becomes much more cubic to add emphasis to his ginormous, crushing jaws and the razor-sharp needle-like teeth behind them. He also appears to go from having two eyes to six with two of each side of his head and two on top. On the back of his head are a few shadowy tendrils. His arms become slightly elongated and receive three piercing talons on each hand. Finally, his raptor-like digitigrade legs also gain claws and allow for both bipedal and quadrupedal movement. 

Current residence: Traveling
Current home: Traveling
Occupation: Deliveryman
Relationship status: Single
Social status: Vagabond

.: Dialogue :.

Voice claim/Accent: Energetic and somewhat boy-ish, makes him sound younger than he is.
Language: English/Common
Other languages known: None
Style of speaking: Wears his heart on his sleeve, tends to be hyper and curious about everything, but doesn't waste a lot of time getting to the point. When talking to a friend, his tone becomes noticeably sweeter.

.: Personality :.

Niyu is generally a very kind and friendly person, always having the best interests in mind and his almost always willing to stick his neck out and help someone. This doesn't always work out the best for him, but he tries to smile through it anyway. The keyword being tries. In reality, his mood has a tendency to be very turbulent, and he has the potential to get very angry or sad. However, this also deepens his capacity for joy and love, not just for himself but for others as well.

When it comes to his hobbies, he's very passionate and will get really enthusiastic about them. He's also very curious about the world around him and is very eager to learn new things, whether by exploring places, by reading about them, or just by talking to other people and learning about their experiences. One might go as far as to call him a nerd, and it definitely shows in how enthusiastic he gets. He's also quite dense when it comes to emotions which, paired with his enthusiasm, makes him come across as stupid. He's not. He will get mad if you try to play him for a sucker, and trying to harm his loved ones will completely piss him off. And when Niyu gets mad, he gets mad.

Once angered, Niyu shows a completely different side of him. A side that’s cold at best and ruthlessly violent at worst. If he feels someone really deserves vengeance, he’ll drop any amiability and lay into them with little to no mercy. Combined with killer instinct, this can cause him to inflict serious injuries with little care about any harm done to himself. Typically he’ll return entirely to normal once the emotion wears off and feel great remorse for whatever he may have done, but in some very rare very special cases, he’ll hold a grudge. Perhaps the easiest way to earn this grudge is by going after him or anyone he loves, especially repeatedly. When a grudge is made, then Niyu is liable to snap anytime he sees the hated person. Fortunately, it takes a LOT to anger him in the first place and even more to push him to that point.

Secretly, he's a huge romantic deep down and craves partnership, but it's not a side of him he likes to show even to himself often. Despite this, he’s a real sweetheart.

Likes: Fun, interesting things, helping others, kind people.
Dislikes: Bad smells, abandonment, betrayal.
Hobbies/past times: Martial arts, baking, exploring.
Guilty pleasures: Romance
Pet peeves: Repetitive tapping noises.
Personal goals: Settle down into a stable life.
Religious values: None
General intelligence: About average, has lapses where it's below that.
General sociability: Very friendly and gregarious, but also still learning how not to be a complete klutz in social situations.

.: Relationships :.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION, RENOVATION IN PROGRESS.

.: Combat :.

General Skills: Martial arts, magic creature powers.
Peaceful or violent? Peaceful, but gets VERY violent when pushed.
Weapon(s) of choice: Himself (failing that, either a bo staff or anything that’s lying around).

.: Abilities :.

-Umbrakinesis-

 Niyu has the power to manipulate shadows and has shadow powers, such as being able to create and throw shadow orbs. He can split his body and create a shadow clone of himself if he strains hard enough, though he's only just beginning to learn the latter technique and so he uses it rarely. As he grows as a person, he’s constantly unlocking new powers and new ways to use his powers.

-Intangibility-

 Niyu can make certain parts of his body or his whole body intangible for brief periods to avoid attacks. He can reform around something and it'll stay stuck in him until he makes himself intangible again.

-Shadow Morphing-

Niyu can melt into the form of a shadow on nearly any surface and travel any distance they desire in that form. He's much faster as a shadow as well. He can also go back to normal whenever he chooses. He can also trap other people as shadows if he touches them and melds them into a surface, but it requires intense concentration and only lasts as long as the victim is within a certain proximity of Niyu. He doesn't need to be fully normaly or fully shadow, he can do things such as peek his head out of the shadow or grab someone with his arms while the rest of his body remains safely as a shadow. He can hide among the dark and gives off no heat, but things like light and night vision will give away his position.

When turning from fully physical to fully shadow, momentum doesn't carry over between the two forms. For example, this means he can’t jump out of shadow form like a dolphin out of water. However, upwards momentum is still gained when going from fully shadow to fully physical. This is the basis for one of Niyu’s signature moves, where he comes out of shadow form with a rising uppercut.

Shadow form eats up energy, and both time spent and distance traveled in shadow form determine how long he can stay as a shadow. If a surface Niyu is on breaks on the point where he’s a shadow, one of three things happen. A small crack or chip won’t do anything, and Niyu can remain a shadow on that spot. If the break is more severe and creates a gap Niyu would not be able to cross over him, then he'll be forcibly ejected back into physical form. In the extremely unlikely event that the previous situation happens and Niyu is unable to return to physical form, he will get ripped apart and die.

-Primal Abilities-

-Healing Factor-

Due to his unique body composition, Niyu can take LOT of punishment. He can reattach his limbs with ease and survive normally fatal physical injuries such as impalement. However, the time it takes for a wound to heal depends on the severity of the wound. The more severe it is, the longer it takes to fully heal. His healing factor slows down when there’s a lot of injuries to heal in a short amount of time. He's also not completely physically immortal, as his neck and brain are vulnerable, and he cannot survive things like decapitation. Finally, the healing factor does not prevent him from feeling pain.

-Killer Instinct-

Niyu still has his killer instinct from his days as a creature embedded deep inside him. If a situation gets too dire, Niyu still stop fighting to win and start fighting to kill. At this point his tactics will become much more brutal. He'll resort to things like clawing, biting, and fishhooking, attacking very sensitive areas, and using anything in the nearby vicinity to get an upper hand. This is only reserved for when he’s legitimately fighting for his life. 

-Reversion-

As an absolute last resort, Niyu can revert parts of his body back into Elemental Creature form. As an example, he would be able to turn his fingers back into claws, or reshape his head to be able to bite down with his old crushing jaws. Niyu will never use this consciously, only when he’s too panicked to care. This is because every time he uses reversion, he runs the risk of fully turning back into a creature, thus sealing away his personality and memories once again.

-Martial Arts-

 Niyu has trained himself in Taekwondo and Muay Thai as a humane way to defend himself without resorting to things such as clawing and biting. Despite not being very advanced in either art, he can use his martial arts to defend himself and attack competently.

.: Fears :.

-Acrophobia-

Niyu gets very scared when high up.

-Thanatophobia-

Niyu is afraid of death. Standard, really.

.: Health :.

His healing factor keeps his body healthy and able to rebound from all but the gravest of injuries. He is still susceptible to things such as diseases and poisons, however.

Anything that unnaturally increases levels of serotonin should be kept away from him, lest he fall back into an addiction.

.: History :.

-Past-
Very little is currently known about Niyu’s past. All that’s known for sure is that he was born a shadow creature who gained sentience somewhere along its life. After realizing his kind are met with hostility from civilized people, Niyu spent years watching people from the fringes of society to see how they behaved and to learn their cultural norms. When he was ready, he reshaped his body into a more acceptable form and went to start a new life.
-Current-
He’s currently either traveling across the world, exploring new places and meeting new people in search of a place he can truly call home.

.: Other Details :.

- He has a sweet tooth and is not afraid to show it. His favorite food is cotton candy.
- The yellow markings on his glove and hood, while they look mystical, are purely decorative.
- Nobody knows what’s under his hood. He gets extremely defensive if anyone tries to take off his hood or mask. If he can't wear one or both for any reason, he’ll cover his head with something else, like a paper bag.
- Niyu’s blood being vantablack means his face becomes a darker shade of grey when he blushes.
- Niyu's name used to be Noyu before it got retconned for sounding too silly.