Toshi

The clothing / accessory designs aren't fully done yet! Will definetly add more details later on but for now just use tht pic lol

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Name:  Toshi 

Gender: Male

Pronouns: he/him

Height: around the size of a bobcat

Species: Nian (年獸) 

Age: If you count all the years he's been alive for, around 4000 /w\ ; But currently is about 12 mentally and physically

World: World Lore

Personality

+ Quiet and observed; every since he woke up from his deep slumber, he has been very observant towards others in fear that they won't welcome his precense (ahem a few incidents did happen) \\\ This also comes from his predator side, which always stalks a prey from the dark before launching an action (always thinks of the different results before doing something). 

- Proud; he actually really likes others complimenting him and always seeks for acknoledgement from others \o But he'll try his best not to bother others too much about it. Also he won't let his pride be damaged easily and thus rarely obeys to people whom he doesn't like.

- Chaotic; well this side has been greatly supressed already, but still some parts of it leaks through from time to time. He actually kinda enjoys chaos and ofc, causing it, but he knows it's really wrong to be like that and constantly tries to ignore that feeling of excitment when something bad happens. This, on the other hand, also gives him a very good battle instinct- In a battle, where everywhere is buzzing with chaotic energy, that side takes the better of him and guides him through the battle with ease (although you may see a maniacal glint in his eyes during the course)

+ Kind hearted; most of his evil side has already been locked away alrdy so now all that's left of him is a pure and kind heart that will have the urge to help every suffering form of life, from plants to insects to fishes. But no tht doesn't mean he wont eat them for food :3c (follows the rule of the jungle and to not toy around w the prey- 'Ye may kill for yourselves, and your mates, and your cubs as they need and ye can;
But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill man.'.  Afnsnf basically, my own interpretation- Doesn't kill for fun + respects prey

+ Sacrifical; to choose between his own life and others' happiness, he'll glady choose the second option (but sometimes, he forgets that by giving others happiness, he may bring others who like him sadness as well)

+ Faithfully loyal; His loyalty is not to be questioned u-u

- Timid; he's actually very timid and is dreadfully scared of 3 things: Anything with the colour red, loud noises, and weird creatures. Upon seeing / hearing those things he'll go into a panic mode where he does everything he can just to escape from it.

- Stubborn; very stubborn with his ideas / feelings and can't be persuaded easily. He'll probably launch a whole argument just because of smth as small as the flavour of ice cream tbh. 

- Also is really indirect with his words, because he fears of accidently offending someone (but no he doesn't change his opinion, it's more of like 'Uhm I mean that doesn't look that good so maybe change it...? But like it's ok i guess.' And feel rlly awkward about saying it.

- He's feels very responsible and guilty for the bad things that he's caused tbh, and will do anything to make it up

Likes

+ (though he doesn't admit it, and he hates the fact that he likes it,) Chaos

+ Unpredictable things (new things! Unlimited curiousity)

+ company and support from others

+ Hunting (even a treasure hunt or a simple hide and seek catch works)

+ Fighting hhh; it's in his blood 

+ Discovering new things d(owo

+ Being petted under his chin / behind ears (but he won't admit it +1)

+ Moving things; he'll try to catch them no matter what it is (but he won't admit it +2)

+ Felines /w\ He treats all of them as good friends and yes he likes to play w them (but he won't admit it +3)

Dislikes

- Anything thts red (fear)

- Anything thts weird looking (fear)

- Any form of loud noises (fear)

- Fire (fear)

- Small spaces 

- People who don't agree with his ideas /w\ ;

- Very predictable people / things

- True Facts

- People who are constantly angry and in a bad temper or people who are dreadfully quiet \\\ they're scary in his opinion

- Being treated like a cat u-u it hurts his pride (although tbh *cough* he actually kinda likes it but will never admit that)

- Having others suffer because of himself. And yea he doesn't rlly like to cause chaos, it's more of like his evil self loves it and urges him to do it.

- Any kind of plants :v

- Canines (he has a urge to roar at them and watch them run away in fear when he sees one)

- He actually fears death quite alot and doesn't want to 'dissappear'. Sometimes when he's alone, tht sealed away part whispers to him about how he'll take over soon and Toshi will be forgotten by everyone, and dissappear. This scares him half to death and ends up shaking terribly while trying to stop himself from breaking down \\\\ The main thing is tht he doesn't want to loose his friends and doesn't want to be alone forever /w\ ; But if his death will bring happiness and allow the people that he likes to continue with their lives, he will gladly do so u-u

- Notes

Please read through these as some of them r rlly important to the design!!

• That bell was given to him by ther person who saved him! Erm since he's a descendant of a Taoist Master ( 道士) and cause he wanted it to be more...luck bringing / cheerful so it's red /w\ ; there are luck giving stuff on there as well (design is unfinished). Yea tbh Toshi used to not like it, even afraid of it at start but he gradually got used to it and now treasures it as 1) his only way casting spells, and 2) a gift from his good friend, and the only thing for Toshi to remember him with. The way it works is kinda like a wizard's staff- he channels mana through it in order to cast the spells.
• Yes the person who saved him is a rlly kind person as well /w\ but he does feel kinda guilty and angry of himself tht he released Toshi (no, he didn't tell Toshi about his life before being bound).
• He's carnivorus :3c any kind of plants will cause him to vomit and feel very sick.
• He used to be able to shift into many different forms when he was in his full power (before being sealed), even a humanoid one, but now he has forgotten how to \\\ 
• His movements are incredibly cat-like hhhh, and yes he can retract his claws at ease. The sounds he can make without telepathy are also feline sounds btw (kinda like a cougar). 
• The name 'Toshi' means 'Year' in Japanese and was given by the descandant of the Taoist Master without actually knowing the meaning of it 
• He actually has no 'original' element! So for spellcasting he can cast prty much any attack spells of any element, except for fire. This includes: Wind, water, earth, nature, etc. Yea he can also wield them with ease (just a small amount per time)
• Erm just a small reminder: the white tufts on his head are two horns, not fur \\\

Powers

•  Telepathy; he usually speaks with telepathy! Erm but he can still make sounds on his own, but just a series of feral noises (growling, roaring, etc.). With this, he can also project images into other’s heads as well as emotional feelings, and it's not limited to any number of people per time. It’s a natural power he has so it was not weakened \\

•  Spellcasting; he’s able to cast small attack  spells w his bell (minor elemental manipulation, etc.) but that’s not all he could potentially do, it’s just tht he has to learn all of it again and his current ‘staff’ limits his abilities to not being able to cast too complicated spells (can't withstand a huge amount of mana). Tbh, he can actually cast spells without a staff, but, again, he forgot how to /w\ ;
• Aura of chaos; it’s just a normal aura he radiates to mortals and thus causes them to fear / hate him without knowing why \ ; prty much has 0 control over it dou. Evil creatures also naturally look up to him / respect him with awe / obey as well. But this has been weakened due to the fact tht his current form really just can’t radiate as much fear as before
• Defying gravity; can float slightly above ground if concentrating (maybe 10 m max), used to be able to fly dou :v. Can also walk on clouds since he's technically half god \\\
• Feral qualities; sharp claws, feline teeth, agility, and ofc amazing strength. When magic doesn't work that well, he fights physical and proceeds to the usual scratching and bitting- Yes it does hurt quite alot. Sometimes he even adds elemental qualities to them, like coating his claws w electricity, etc.

Lore

• So, rmb tht Nian monster (年獸) from those chinese legends? His lore is pretty much the same as that, but the twist is added in after he was scared away by the villagers due to the bright flames and thundering noises. These techniques were taught to them by this very ancient Taoist Master (道士) who just so happened to catch the current situation of the village and decided to come and help. His skills were already really close to that of a god's tbh, so he had no fear for this monster.
• After being scared away by the villagers he had no food or whatsoever due to the fact that his main source of food is gone and that most creatures were still hibernating during that time. In a cold winter night like that, and just after waking from his year-long hibernation, he was starving to death and lacked the strength to hunt on his own. (he never thought that this would happen so didn't prepare a second plan).
• At last, he went to search for food / help and just happened to meet the Taoist Master who had taught the villagers how to protect themselves from him. And of course, the master wasn't in any mood to help this evil beast.
• But, due to the hallucinations Nian was beginning to have from starvation, he thought that tht guy was a god who was just having a small stroll in the mortal world because of his strong aura of magic and begged him for help and forgiveness since well the Nian monster is technically a creature from the heavens as well so maybe the gods will see pity for him. 
• But of course, the Taoist master didn't help him and instead sealed him away with strong binding spells. This includes sealing away his memory, power, and his status as a mythical beast. And so, he fell into a deep slumber for a few thousand years without realising the change in the world around him.
• ...Until someone came and released him from his binding. By that time, the boundaries (结界) were already really weak and could be broken easily, so just a small mistake would've released Toshi from that state. Well, guess what, that small mistake happened- The descendant of the Taoist Master who had imprisoned him was actually responsible for keeping him there since it was a family tradition. He realised that the boundaries were fading and decided to try it out for himself and renew them with an old dusty book that contained brief information about how to do so. And so, he followed them, or at least tried to, but ended up doing the wrong step which caused the seal to shatter, thus releasing Toshi.
• But as mentioned before, Toshi's memories about who he was before were locked away deep inside his mind so he could barely rememeber anything about his old self. One of the things he remembered is that he used to be really powerful and was a mythical beast, not just an ordinary creature, but he couldn't remember his evil deeds and such. So when people around him start to hate or fear him because of that aura he radiates, he just gets really confused and sad because in his memory, he has done nothing wrong to make them have those kinds of feelings. Same thing goes for his fears- he has 0 idea why he's scared of them and is also very confused with that. 
• So now, he kind of just stays with the descendant that has released him and treats him as his only friend, and sorta 'master' (but he'll never admit so and will never ever call him by that). A small part of him dreads to gain back his memories and powers because of pure curiousity + feels like a part of him is always missing, but, somehow, he knows that the concequences will be terrible so rarely speaks of it.

• The seal locked away his abilities and memories, no matter released or not, but now because it got weaker across the times, it can only prevent him from using large scale magic if he remembers how to do them (tht part of his memory was wiped out). Also locked away his 'gigantic scary beast form' (since tht was only earned when he reached a certain peak of magic). The memories may leak through into his mind from time to time though.
• When he uses his magic, rings of ancient runes surround him because of tht seal. Tbh those rings r always around him, it's just tht when he uses magic it can be seen by naked eye- those who can detect magic can see them even when he's not casting spells, thus giving them the knowledge that someone has cast a spell on him.
  Those tht r more experienced in magic can even see an aura around Toshi tht repesents the large gigantic beast form he was befr, but bound in runes
  and chains.
• Those runes will literally burn him if he were to use or recieved strong magic (like strong healing spells, defense buffs, etc.). But, if that level was to be increased (like very very strong), then the seal will break apart (after being pretty much burned alive for a while) and he will regain all his past memories and powers. But upon breaking that seal, his evil side that dreads revenge will take over Toshi and use that vast power as his own to cause chaos around the world. And, of course, his first task will be to slaughther the entire family of the Taoist master who had sealed him away, incuding his descendants.
• Toshi and tht descendant soon goes out and travel to search for someone who can help to unlock Toshi's hidden powers (breaking the rest of the seal). No, the descendant doesnt know the concequences of completely breaking that seal open- he thinks that the evil side has vanished completely due to the seal long ago and feels sad for Toshi since he lost so much power. He also thinks tht his ancestor would also want to release toshi since, well, much has changed and he isnt evil anymore (in this state).
• Toshi isnt completely sure of this but hes looking foward to getting back his power and not be someone who will hinder their progress, like in his current form. He wants to lessen the burden on the descendant for trying to protect him. 
• Remember! This happens a while after they got used to each other! Before they went out to travel the descendant was trying to hide Toshi in his home while not letting others discover hhh, since having a mythical beast at your home isnt the most common thing to do (although its not tht rare, considering how in tht world some rich ppl or those w high magic skills also have mythical pets at their home), and it will raise suspicion of how he managed to get Toshi, considering his economical status and magic abilities (not the best, but not too bad either since he has a magical background. To be honest, his magic skills is actually a bit better than Toshi's hhh).