"War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." - J.R.R. Tolkein, The Two Towers

Red Spot is a winged doberman from an alien planet. He rules over the kingdom of Power Island and is a young prince who has not yet earned the title of King. (Power Island functions as a constitutional monarchy until the crown prince completes a series of quests and tasks to prove their competence.)

Red is frequently incorporated into various crossovers in particular Heart of Darkness ones. He is good friends with Andy. (Within crossovers where they have met)

In art

Red spot is much larger than an Earth dog, and is big enough to lift up a small car and fly away with it, hold a small human in his mouth, and fit his head inside a window without being able to fit the rest of himself along with it. I'm not 100% certain on his actual physical size down to the measurements, but he's pretty big. Red spot is large enough that Andy can walk under his belly without really needing to bend over to do so but can still bump his head. His wingspan is an appropriate length in comparison to his body and they don't appear to be too small for him to fly with them.

Red's coloration is the natural black and rust doberman coat type. The main color of his fur is black, and his markings are rust. They are located in areas typical for a doberman. Red's lips, tongue, and skin are normal colors you would expect a doberman to have. He has well taken care of teeth that are not noticeably discolored. Red has a naturally colored black nose and black pawpads. His claws are not typical doberman claws and are golden metallic. The claws on his wings are the same. The membrane of Red's wings are a deep red, fading into black as the skin extends along the bones and muscles of the wing. This crimson color is the color of his eyes but somewhat darker and less brilliant. Red Spot has brilliant crimson eyes. The white of his eyes are a golden yellow. Red's eyes glow in the dark. Red's pupils can narrow into slits but this is a rarity and if I want this in an art piece I will specifically request it.

The collar Red wears is made out of a super lightweight alien metal and is gold plated. It rests atop his lower neck and against his breastbone. This piece of armor is technically known as a gorget in the context of real world human use, and it serves the same purpose as to protect the lower neck and over the heart. The word is not used in-universe by Power Islanders to describe it and is simply known as an amulet or collar. It has additional uses due to the mechanisms and energy in and around the polished meteorite fragment embedded within. This stone at the collar's center glows with the same crimson as his eyes. It has the shape of a five pointed star, the same star shape often found on flags. Please do not change this up to a different star shape for creative freedom unless you speak about it with me first. The edges of the collar have a raised edge on both the top and bottom. All around the middle of the collar is an inlayed lightning bolt design, one on each half of the collar. It is symmetrical from the front. This amulet has political and cultural importance to Red's people. It is his species' equivalent of a crown. In most situations he will be wearing it. Only royal lichthunde have the stone at the center cut into a star shape. This amulet allows him as a younger lichthund to spit plasma by ionizing the hydrogen and helium in his hydrogen lung. This can be depicted by showing the collar sparking.

Red has a long "show crop" type of ear, which is common for dobermans. His ears are symmetrical and have a finely sculpted swoosh shape. Red Spot's tail has been cropped after two vertebrae. The stub is still visible and has enough left to wag. Red has a very thin, lithe, and elegant form. This is typical of a doberman. More breed specific traits are his large paws, broad chest, and big snout. His posture and poise is almost deer-like. He stands alert with his head up and his ears pricked.

Wings and star amulet not depicted. Please see additional images.

Red Spot's personality is a cocky facade that poorly conceals a great timidness. Hiding behind the legendary nature of his title and species, Red is in reality a very torn and frightened individual who suffers a great loss. As he's still young he does still love to play and adventure and have fun, but there is a cold, broken, maturity to him that is a reminder of what he's been through in life so far. He has trouble sleeping and cannot bear to be alone but feels that he must in order to protect others and himself. He is reserved around those he does not know and building up trust can be a delicate process. He values the importance of innocence and kindness and will quickly imprint on those he can tell are pure of heart. In some ways Red is too eager to form relationships which he ends up learning from the hard way. Red likes the quiet of peace and tender friends but fears the silence of solitude and being trapped in his own mind. A steadfast protector to those who need him, what makes Red Spot happy is knowing that he's helping those who cannot help themselves, especially if that involves preventing them from going through what he has.

Red will often spend long hours staring up into the night sky, the light of a familiar set of stars gives him the strength to take on another long day.

Red Spot has an unnamed trauma disorder (based on my experiences with CPTSD) that developed after he was forced to participate in war as a puppy. Red will have frequent bouts of disassociation and flashbacks when exposed to stimuli that can simulate these memories which include things like the scent of shadow, loud and sudden sounds, earthquakes, and others. 

Red Spot is able to open up and feel more comfortable in particular when in other worlds that allow him an escape from his own far too responsibility-laden life. A commonly explored concept is Red spending time on Earth in the mid to late 1990s. He quickly becomes enamored with the vivid culture of this technologically charged era and plays around expressing tropey lingo and experiencing the sorts of things the planet and time period have to offer. Thanks to human friends he's grown fond of pizza, hamburgers, and the lightshows found in arcades. Red as a character has much more fun and feels much more at home being able to crossover in other worlds and stories. Red Spot was originally created as a comfort character for me when I was very little. He was a hero and friend that I desperately wanted and needed in my life. Since then he's also evolved into an avatar for me to express myself in regards to how trauma affects my personality, but I definitely like giving him a break and allowing him to be the big badass protector and "dad friend" again once in a while.

Red Spot has a skill where he helps children calm down and feel comfortable and safe. He may have some sort of psychic ability to appear differently to other people. Those who are innocent and good of heart think of him as a elegant and beautiful canine creature, while he strikes terror into the hearts of those who would seek to harm or take advantage of others. He doesn't physically shapeshift, and this is only really how he is subconsciously perceived in the minds of others.

Additional information about Red's collar/gorget:

Spoilers: (not necessarily required reading, but do explain some more of his backstory in more depth)

A matter of Wings ((SPOILERS FOR MID-SERIES BOOKS))

Red Spot as you may have noticed, does not have the traditional feathery wings of a lichthund, but rather the draconic wings of a finsterhund.

Unique skills and abilities and weaknesses of note

• Red's species is physically made out of star light, and this gives them several powerful abilities (can live in outer space, can fight with plasma, can travel at light speed, is more impervious to physical injury) and several useless abilities (casts no shadow, can always see in the dark, etc) It does have its downsides however, as the species can physically injure companions with powerful light bursts. Red being particularly unstable, has the potential to cause severe sunburns to unequipped mortal friends.
• Lighthunde are also light in the other sense. A massive creature would be expected to weigh similarly. While Red is fairly heavy, he is nowhere near as heavy as a creature of his size should normally be. This is because of his physical chemistry and the function and use of lighter-than-air gases that lichthunde siphon from the air naturally. Be warned though. He still has the density, kinetic energy, and momentum you'd expect of a beast his size. he might not dent things he stands on but if he barrels into you at full speed it might not be too pretty.
• Lichthunde can both spit plasma and breath fire using the same incendiary system that consists of specialized organs in the throat and a third lung. As a younger lichthund he requires his collar to ionize his plasma for him, as only the fully matured lichthunde have functional ionizing nodes. He can also shoot beams from his eyes and emit damaging levels of electromagnetic energy from his body. Red's plasma and fire abilities are average for someone of his age and species, but he is more of a juggernaut in combat due to a complete lack of trigger discipline and a strong presence of fight or flight instinct, making him less restrained about its use. It would appear that Red can produce bigger, more destructive attacks at greater quantity, but they are very draining and have poor accuracy with an increased risk of friendly fire.
• Red himself due to a side effect of what is usually seen as a problem, is considerably less physically unstable than others of his species and is resistant to shadow-based corruption. He can set foot on the mainland continents of darkened planets, sustain higher powered shadow entity bites, and come into physical contact with dark matter without being corrupted.
• Red is unpredictable in the air due to having to learn to fly without a tail. He uses his legs and head to steer instead resulting in atypical flight patterns. Red's flight speed is very fast and he has heavy landings.
• Red has above average bite strength and relies more on brute force in combat. His body is lean and elegant however which can result in issues in some instances and added strengths in others. Basically a "lightweight tank." Red has a high pain tolerance in combat which helps these at odds traits.
• Known for "going berserk" when exposed to traumatic stimuli in a fight, Red loses his ability to rationalize and will quickly level an area at the cost of his own physical health, leaving himself extremely vulnerable and exhausted once finally subdued. The loss of energy and plasma is substantial and it has the potential to put him into a comatose state for days or weeks. This can be prevented if he can be calmed out of this state relatively quickly.
• Red detests fighting and tries to avoid it whenever possible but if thrown into a situation he will be the first to respond with violence.
• • Red is untrained in the art but does technically posses the ability to umbramance (manipulate shadows) and shadow-walk. (teleport short distances within existing shadows.) He is adamant about NEVER using these abilities.
  • Red's star collar allows him as a royal lichthund to force "drone control" over lichthunde with lower rank collars, an ability he is unable to control (inexperience and age) and rarely given a chance to due to the functional extinction of his species. The process in the rare instance it has happened, has caused him pain (ambiguous whether physical or emotional) and was a traumatic experience for him.