Wraith Elliot-Shirazi

Basic Info

Age: 32

Height: 5'9

Ethnicity: French and Israeli predominantly, but with a decent percentage of Turkish, Armenian, and German ancestry.  

Orientation: Aromantic

Pronouns: They/them

Appearance Notes: Wraith generally dresses in dark, fashionable clothing. Their style is roughly traditionally masculine formal wear/fashion clothes but with a more modern/sleek quality to it and with a subtly more 'femme' quality (since men's fashion and formal wear has been a lot more plain than the fancy patterns, fabrics, and ornamentation of women's equivalent clothes). They often wear mild jewelry such as earrings and necklaces, and less frequently rings (the fancy arm piece is more elaborate because it's their magical Focus; the exact design is still a wip, but they cover it with their sleeve when the sleeve is loose enough to). They don't ever wear hats or hair ornamentation because they don't like the feel of it on their head (very small/light hair clips might be tolerable, and their friends could convince them to try on a head piece for a very short amount of time just to see how it looks, but they would have to take it off after a couple of seconds; they do struggle in winter because of this, but if it gets really, really cold they probably would consider earmuffs the lesser evil compared to a full hat). 

They will sometimes braid a strand of their hair on the left side (their left) on good energy days, which aren't common but not unheard of either. The cracks on their face/neck are scars from a magical attack that seared their Essence; they go slightly around the tips of their ears, down both sides of their face and neck, across nearly their entire back, and over some of the front and upper parts of their shoulders/arms. Their hair goes down to the middle of their shoulder-blades in the back, and the front bang piece goes just a bit below their shoulder.

Power Appearance Notes: Wraith is a wizard and can cast various kinds of spells. They need their magical Focus to cast spells, and it glows when a spell is being cast (so even if it is covered by a sleeve, you'd be able to see some light coming from under it). It glows brighter for stronger spells and more faintly for weaker spells. They can cast a wide variety of spells, and the requirements of more complicated ones vary, and so do the appearances (like some require more Materials, which I usually imagine including more of a magic circle than normal), but some are simpler in appearance. I'm not too picky about how you choose to stylize the finer details of the magic. Some spells they can do include elemental spells, tracking people from some sample of them, and turning invisible.

2 Cent Summary: Wraith, known to most only as 'Shirazi', is a jaded and anti-social wizard who offers medical aid and knowledge/access to magical artifacts for a price. They practically never smile and usually seem annoyed or disinterested in most things and especially people. Despite their bitter, often vaguely threatening persona, they do have a streak of decency in them still. They are most interested in teas, gardening, reading, and learning more about medicine and magic.

Character Lore

History 

Wraith Elliot-Shirazi was born in Rouen, France to Cerise Elliot and Amir Shirazi. Their parents were a happy but fairly poor couple, and struggled against racial discrimination. When Wraith was eleven, their parents moved to London to open their bakery anew and start over. They lived in London peacefully for three years. 

Things changed when Cerise went missing. When it became apparent the police weren’t doing enough, Wraith went out to look for her themself. Catching a hint from a suspicious stranger, Wraith found their mother in the den of an emotion-sucking vampire, rendered catatonic by someone Wraith recognized as a regular customer who had been friendly towards their mother. They would have been entrapped as well if a wizard with a grudge hadn’t arrived and killed the emotion-vampire in front of them. Cerise never fully recovered, though she did partially. This was Wraith’s introduction to the paranormal underground of London. 

Once made aware, Wraith started to realize how deeply entrenched in the heart of the city this underground really was. They started looking for a way to defend themself, wanting to never be in such a vulnerable position again. While still in school, they started investigating magic - one of the more interesting and definitive ways a human could find power, although it was a harsh path forward.

Wraith spent high school going to great lengths to obtain magical knowledge and power on the paranormal side of things, and having an extremely unsuccessful love life with many break ups on the mundane side of things. (They were not yet fully aware they were aro, and knew they were 'supposed' to date, and so gave it... a real solid go). This was also when they embraced being nonbinary and chose the name 'Wraith'.  

By the time they were a young adult, Wraith had gotten past the beginner stage of their magic studies, with only a handful of scars to show for it. They first moved out from their parents when they were twenty, when they found and joined the Adamantine Arrow Order of wizards in an attempt to find purpose. There, they were partnered with Sheva - an aggressive, paladin-like wizard who was very self-righteous and enjoyed the thrill of battle. The first time Wraith outright murdered someone was while defending Sheva in battle. 

Wraith was blindsided when, during a mission Wraith knew to be highly personal for Sheva and so was trying to be supportive, Sheva suddenly betrayed them, leaving them trapped in hostile territory and placing a weakness curse on them. 

Wraith barely made it out alive, and when they went to confront Sheva, it resulted in a heated argument that got cut off by the Order officials - as Wraith had been framed for letting the mission fail instead of Sheva. The two bitterly fell out after that, and Wraith was exiled from the Order (they were going to quit anyways, it was a matter of technicality that the leaders got to make their statement first). 

Afterwards, Wraith lived on the streets for a few months and began acquiring and selling various magical artifacts and remedies to make a living. It was rough going - their customers were often as much a genuine threat to them as law enforcement or gangs were, and they killed multiple people in self defense during that time.

Once they’d saved up enough, they got themself the apartment and car they still have today. Having a place of stability again gave Wraith the opportunity to actually think about what they wanted to do next. They weren’t very trusting anymore, but non-Order wizards were treated with far more suspicion and disdain than those belonging to an Order - so after taking a year to continue building their artifact business and recover from their time with the Adamantine Arrow, they joined The Mysterium Order, as it spoke more to their personal interests anyways. While this order didn’t have assigned partners like the last one, they found themself working most closely with an oracle woman named Vyr, who specialized in divination and telepathy studies.

When they were twenty-six, they heard of a vampire gang  that was harassing a poor mundane neighborhood - using the inherent conflict of the area to stoke and feed off negative feelings. Originally they weren’t going to do anything about it - whenever they had gotten involved with others, it tended to end badly for them. But they still held some resentment towards emotion-eating vampires after what happened to their mother, and their first mini-road-trip in their car had them feeling slightly more charitable than usual. 

They chased off the vampires successfully, but got fairly injured doing so, especially as the mostly Unaware civilians thought they were causing property damage and attacked them as well. However, they were approached by one resident who was thoroughly grateful for the  assistance - an older teen named Edrin, whose sister had been growing  ill due to the vampire’s presence and had some hope of recovery now. They swore to dedicate their life to hunting vampires, and asked to have Wraith’s backing. Wraith told them they weren’t in the business of officially backing anyone, but if they needed magical artifacts to aid their hunt, that was their business. Still, the sting of most of the  neighborhood hating and attacking them remained, and Wraith stopped trying to actively help people.

Later, Wraith eventually found the Mysterium Order too restrictive and pretentious to be enjoyable, and things went south when Vyr found out they were still selling valuable artifacts for money instead of preserving them, as was the purpose of the order’s work. Feeling cheated, Vyr retaliated by having a contact flood Wraith’s sanctum with cursed water. They nearly drowned, and the curse is where they got their veiny facial scars from. (This time, Wraith did get to resign before getting fired)

Wraith decided after that to remain a solo wizard, no matter the prejudice it brought them, and they started investing more in their sanctum at Stardust Fountain Cafe. 

Personality 

Wraith is a very jaded, anti-social individual. They pursue moral neutrality in their life; they don't believe in kindness for the sake of it, but they don't believe in cruelty for the sake of it either. They are willing to hurt, manipulate, or kill those who are threatening to them or invading their space, but will leave alone entirely those who aren't. They do have a certain sense of decency still; they are always courteous to service workers (almost uncharacteristically so), and treat all of their medical patients gently, refusing to discuss payment until the patient has fully recovered and often barely charging much for their black market doctoring. And while they don't act on it as often now, their inherent protective streak hasn't completely died; there's a number of people in their life that they are specifically choosing to look out for or can easily be needled into helping by. 

Wraith's resting expression is a sort of soul-piercing half-glare, and they hate people sitting or standing too close to them (like, closer than five feet). They are very territorial in general and guard their possessions closely. They're very blunt and straightforward when interacting with others, preferring to get right to the point. This means they can come off as extremely rude or harsh at times, especially when combined with their more deadpan or sarcastic side. They are capable of being more polite and considerate, they just usually choose not to unless it's a particularly delicate situation (or if the person falls under the service worker or medical patient category). 

Their main hobbies are taking care of their house plants, reading books, and going out in the city places that are ambient but not strictly social (cafes, museums, music avenues). They have a special interest in black and green teas, and a caffeine addiction to match (they have some interest in herbal teas too, just not quite as obsessively). They spend a great deal of time in the local cafe they secretly built their sanctum in the back of, and have detailed opinions on different types of black tea and different default drinks depending on their mood and health. They own a very beat up car that they love a lot but have no idea how to drive (they eventually got some magic talismans to  have it self-drive). They still use a flip phone, and refuse to move on from Windows XP; in general, they put very little effort into technology beyond having a firm grasp on anything they need day to day or for their work.

Despite seeming disinterested in most things on the surface, they are fairly appearance conscious; they always dress nice, often wear mild perfume, and put effort into keeping up a clean and tidy appearance. In fact, they hate touching anything dirty and will complain about having to do so. They also have a nervous fixation on protecting their air quality and lungs/breathing, exacerbated by their experience with almost drowning to death (which instilled a bit of a fear of water specifically as well), and always have a magic air filter around them. 

Relationships

• Hazel Shimizu [Owned by MouseDemon]: Wraith and Hazel started off as two people who just heckled each other on their down time. Over time, as a result of over-exposure and probably also their personalities a bit, they started to open up more and become actual friends. The two of them are now functionally best friends; both pursue petty banter with each other still, while being able to read their more subtle expressions of emotion. While neither is naturally inclined to be super affectionate, they do support each other in their own way, and Hazel is one of the few people Wraith will speak about their struggles frankly to (as long as they're in private; in public, they almost only troll and complain about each other). Wraith is currently passively protecting Hazel's still living younger sister, and both have a protective streak towards each other, even neither would ever advertise it in public or make showy displays out of it in private. 
• Valentine [Owned by Ghostable]: Wraith and Valentine have a working business relationship, for the most part. Valentine provides support to Wraith when they're in political binds/in danger from someone in return for otherwise free medical aid whenever needed. The two mostly don't socialize a lot outside of this, but they seem to share a basic mutual respect and lack of hostility for each other. Due to sharing a mutual friend/annoyance in Hazel (and because the plot forces them to), they have recently wound up spending more time together, which thus far has simply been considered 'fine'. 
• Persephone Faye [Owned by Riel1130]: Shirazi is a regular customer at Persephone's cafe and has been for about ten years, making them informal friends. Their sanctum is located in the rival cafe across the street, so Persephone was initially wary of them (and they're initially wary of Literally Everyone). Upon realizing they were largely non-threatening to her and her business, she found a bit more to talk to them about with their artifact and healer businesses. Shirazi makes more effort to be polite to Persephone than your average person because she often serves them tea at her shop, and this includes not lying to her directly since she's a Fae - honesty is a Big Deal to them. That and them not asking for anything in return for their black market healing eventually convinced Persephone to see them as a friend and not just a Pleasantly Undifficult, Sometimes Useful Customer. The two of them may not socialize a great deal outside of their two work spaces, but there's mutual fondness and respect that's grown over time.
• Sheva Ellsworth: Sheva and Shirazi are ex-best friends and current arch-nemeses. During the time they were partners, they made an extremely effective duo on the job, and were quite close personally as well. Sheva developed a strong crush on Shirazi fairly quickly, but he was never bothered by it being unrequited, in part because he didn't honestly want a Traditional romantic partnership anyways. Likewise, Shirazi was okay with Sheva's affections because he always respected their boundaries. In social settings, Shirazi usually hid slightly behind Sheva since they're anti-social and touch-averse, and Sheva would happily take all the socializing and physical contact bullets for them (because he liked that sort of thing anyways, and want to help Shirazi be more comfortable in public). Ever since Sheva's betrayal, the two have been bitter enemies. Shirazi hates Sheva, and is especially bothered by the fact they still don't know why he betrayed them, and by knowing that despite everything Sheva might still count as a better person than them. So they complain about/insult him a lot, and will do things specifically to upset him or make his life more difficult. Sheva also antagonizes Shirazi a lot and will frequently challenge them to wizard duels (but always gets rejected). He still definitely has a crush on them though and sometimes feels intensely guilty for hurting them, and so will often protect them from other threats without telling them. *Sheva, while the two were friends, was one of the few people Shirazi could handle limited physical contact from. So you can draw them interacting but ONLY if it's with their past-self designs (they had different hair styles, so you don't have to draw them both in uniform if you don't want to).
• Maerune: Shirazi and Maerune are passive enemies with a somewhat complicated relationship. They each resent the other for personal reasons, and often in opposition to each other, but both are aware that they don't really know the person under the fairest of circumstances. Maerune exclusively refers to Shirazi as 'The Exile', and they are fairly cold to her as well, but they have developed a grudging respect for each other over the years as well. Shirazi thinks she is one of the least hyprocritical members of the Adamantine Arrow Order and actually a source of good, and Maerune respects the reliable medical aid they give to people. They aren't friends, but they're used to each other after so many years and can get along civilly if needed, even if they won't hesitate to fight each other if the situation calls for it either.

Bonus Info

Trivia

• On average, their favorite black teas are Ceylon and French Earl Grey. Whenever they're recovering from an injury or illness, however, they default to lemon green tea with honey.
• They spend a lot of time at cafes, and have decided their favorite pastries are cranberry-orange muffins, cinnamon rolls, and coffee cake. The last one surprised them because they don't like coffee as a drink, and yet it works in bread.
• The only dishes they know how to cook are potato leek soup, socca, and baklava. Otherwise they just eat out and fill their cupboards with corn flakes, sour candy, and plain yogurt. (You know how some people eat from a tub of ice cream when they need to cry? Wraith does that with the yogurt, just not frequently)
• Wraith visits their parents twice a month. Both parents are still alive, and they live on the outskirts of the city, where the paranormal presence isn’t quite as strong/dangerous. They still run a local bakery.
• Wraith is trilingual; they predominantly spoke French as a child, while also learning Hebrew at home. They started learning English shortly before coming to England, and have used it the most since then. However, they write all their scholarly notes in Hebrew cursive, and still occasionally use French conversationally around either their parents or when they run into someone else who has it as a first language.
• They are left-handed.
• They like synth pop and jazz/jazz fusion music the most.
• Wraith’s mundane cover job is a freelance gardener. 
• In their apartment, Wraith grows jade, lavender, weeping figs, hoya carnosa variegata, and a nerve plant. On their patio they have a little herb garden consisting of chives, parsley, rosemary, marjoram, thyme, basil, and sage.
• Their MBTI personality type is INTJ-A.
• Their birthday is September 13.

Associated Tunes

• "Unraveling" by Sevendust
• "Illusion & Dream" by Poets of the Fall
• "Smoke and Mirrors" by Symphony X
• "When All is Lost" by Symphony X
• "Believe in Nothing" by Nevermore
• "Dead Heart in a Dead Word" by Nevermore
• "Misery's Crown" by Dark Tranquility
• "Always December" by Citizen Soldier
• "Into the Blue" by Cain's Offering
• "But Not Tonight" by Depeche Mode