Zulatticuzin Etruka

Physical Appearance

• Gray hair that trails slightly past shoulders, exclusively worn in a short ponytail
• Yellow slitted eyes
• Fair skinned on the pale side
• Tall in height
• Physically fit with well built muscles, but not bulky
• Sharpened canines with a second set of fangs behind them that can be folded out/extended similarly to a snake's fangs
• Does not have a tail; was clipped off during his time in Delzin

Clothing Style

Zul has a somewhat simplistic but mildly edgy style, usually consisting of some kind of trench coat with protective gear for his joints. All his clothing is made of durable material yet doesn't impede his movements so he can handle his work with ease. He tends to wear boots, gloves, pads for his knees and elbows, and light leather armor under his normal clothing. He tends to pick colors that somewhat dull rather than vibrant, but he leans toward warmer or earthy colors.

When he was younger/during his marriage, he wore clothing more standard for living in the US, although his color schemes were still relatively close.

Personality

Zul has always had a somewhat serious but compassionate personality. In his youth he dedicated himself to caring for his younger brother and fighting for their survival while in the Delzin system. Since their parents were killed, Zul valued nothing over ensuring his brother's safety, and he'd gladly take any punishment in his stead. After they escaped and went their separate ways, Zul's helpful demeanor has remained, although he's slow to trust and very cautious. He values his freedom and quality of life greatly since he knows fully well how it feels to have neither. As a mercenary he works for pay, although he's willing to help others for free if they are in dire need. He tries his best to not make too many personal connections to the people he meets, since he's very much the type to become too sentimental with his relationships. He chooses to connect to only those who truly earn his trust and friendship, and to those he is a steadfast ally.

During his time with Alcata, Zul was likely at his happiest and most at ease with his life. His kindly demeanor showed the most when with his beloved wife and children, and he came off as a relatively quiet and unassuming but devoted husband. He was equally protective with his family as he was with his brother and became much less rigid and overly untrusting.

Since the death of his wife and son, Zul has gone back to being rather serious and closed off from personal attachment. He carries out his work more solemnly and is quieter than before, and he doesn't take on free work at often as he used to. However, he can still sometimes be appealed to do so if the need is desperate enough, for his kind heart is still there, buried beneath his grief. Despite what he says about wanting vengeance against his brother, Zul likely wouldn't be able to hurt him and probably only wants answers. Zul is also completely unreceptive to romantic approaches, and although he doesn't get snippy about it he does get depressed when brought up and tends to withdraw further away from the world.

Abilities

• Although his rifting network is dormant, he is capable of channeling rifting from other sources to a minor degree
• Mastery in firearms and hand to hand combat
• Shapeshifting - giant snake
• Demonic strength and agility
• Hairline reflexes
• Extremely high pain tolerance
• Accelerated regeneration from demonic aura
• Thermal vision

Strengths

• Responsible, reliable, and mature
• Down to earth, protective, and selfless
• Clever, quick witted, and instinctive
• Resourceful, enduring, and loyal

Weaknesses

• Sentimental, closed off, and gets depressed by affection due to past loss
• A bit of a stick in the mud and has trouble finding things that make him happy now
• Slow to trust, overly cautious, and rather solemn and melancholy
• Once he is emotionally invested in someone, he cannot do anything to hurt them (even if they deserve it)

Backstory

Zul and his younger brother, Zymatthiazin, were captured with their parents from their tribe on Rytikdrein by Delzin when he was young, and he distinctly remembers his father being shot by guards and his mother being dumped out of the gassing chambers not long after. Zul took care of his younger brother and did all he could for them to survive, and Zy was mostly dependent on him for years. Although Zul doesn't talk much of his time there, he and his brother remained in the system for over a decade until they managed to escape during a riot. The two traveled together for some time, but Zy at 16 years old was eager to make it on his own for the first time, so the brothers finally parted ways. Zul initially trained as a mercenary with a group from Xyarok, and he eventually became a bodyguard of sorts for a small organization working to sabotage Delzin and help smuggle out more victims. After some time working as a guard and escort for these refugees, Zul took on work specifically to hunt down higher ranked members of Delzin and various hunting groups of theirs.

During his time, he encountered a young Ariac named Silazek while tracking down Delzin members doing covert work in Onakaiya, and oddly enough the boy aided him while searching for their base near the Ariac mountains. Zul spent a few years in Onakaiya aiming to clear out every last member from the region, and at the age of 25 he succeeded in taking out the last known group before they could escape in a submarine to Aaquanixie using the Warp Gates on the bottom of Lake Osa. However, Zul suffered serious injuries during this encounter, and although he was successful he was left clinging to life by the time he swam to shore from the sunken vessel.

While lying on the beach, barely conscious and bleeding out, a siren of the lake named Alcata noticed him and attempted to charm him with a song, intending to lead him into the water and put him out of his misery. For a reason even he could never explain the spell didn't affect him, and the siren risked going out to him and healed his wounds with her rifting before fleeing back to the water. Shortly after Zul was aided by Silazek and another member of his clan, whom he had run for help to after waiting for Zul to finish his mission and noticing he was injured. Out of curiosity, Zul returned to the lake after recovering and looked for the siren, and to his surprise she came up from the lake to meet him. The two conversed on a number of instances before Zul was called back to do more work hunting more Delzin members.

A few months passed, and Zul and a few other hunters were assigned to track any other Delzin members in Aaquanixie. While crossing one of the many seas on a ship, the crew managed to catch a mermaid in one of their fishing nets and pulled her onboard. To Zul's dismay, the mermaid was Alcata, and the sailors intended to kill her since they found all sirens to be dangerous. Zul quickly convinced his companions to help him prevent that, and they fought off the entire crew before commandeering the ship. After this incident and completing his work on Aaquanixie, Zul followed Alcata back to Lake Osa where they remained together and had two children. At some point Alcata desired to move to Taliac, where her sister Nerissa lived with her family upon learning a spell to gain legs, so the family moved there and Alcata fell in love with the new land.

The family lived there for years, living a relatively quiet and happy life until their happiness was shattered forever one night. Zul returned home late that evening after running some errands, and he found the front door open, his oldest boy, Tommy, shot dead near the doorway, and Zy standing over Alcata's body while their youngest son, Tyler, cowered in fear. Once the brothers noticed each other, Zy fled without a word, and Zul ran to comfort his traumatized son.

Zul still has no idea why his brother did such a thing, but he still seeks answers. Since then, Zul has left Tyler in the care of Nerissa and has returned to his life as a mercenary. He uses his work primarily to find leads on Zy's whereabouts while cutting down Delzin members on the side for his own pleasure.

Trivia:

Associated song with Alcata: Subterranean Hell