Thessaren

Thessaren's character page is gonna be very messy for a little while but I wanted to get him up to link something. More serious bio than Dr. Variens.

NOTE: Thessaren is native to a town in a version of the Late Campanian Mongolia. I haven't named it yet, so it's going by the provisional [Djadochta], which is the formation that Velociraptor is from.

Name
Thessaren. (clan-name?)

Species
Velociraptor [Anthropomorphic V. mongoliensis]

Age Range
Early 20s to 40s, though he stopped aging normally toward the earlier end of that.

Profession
Thessaren is involved in the printing trade in his [Djadochta] town, helping to put out a variety of informational pamphlets and fictitious stories. He took his career very seriously, which all the more left him adrift without it. He is also an avid freerunner, and a little bit of an artist, both of which apply across eras.

Physical Traits (external)
Pre-zombie Thessaren is a compact, red-skinned velociraptor with a gleaming blue-black crest. He is fit and trim, not particularly out of vanity, but simply due to an interest in athletics and instinctual and cultural pressures to remain in "hunting shape". The [Djadochta] Siege drove him to the edge; run ragged with lack of rest and constant stress, but in excellent, if somewhat skinny, condition from repeated heroics. At the very end of the Siege, he contracted a weakened version of the contagion, which changed him fundamentally: post-zombie Thessaren is gaunt and scrawny, skin and feathers dulled, and reeks of disease. He is unnaturally strong for his wasted appearance, and his eyes gleam with a permanent fever. Vividly green gunk crusts along his mouth, eyes, and nostrils, and he has a tendency to drool from overstimulated salivary glands.

As a velociraptor, Thessaren is inherently an obligate carnivore, though not incapable of enjoying the occasional piece of fruit or bread. The meat markets of [Djadochta] are well-stocked with animal meat and insects, considering that velociraptors and troodonts are a substantial minority there and the ceratopsians are known to enjoy meat as well. Partial zombification did not change this much, though he must now draw at least some of his life-force from his fellow sentients.

Personality
Always a quiet, driven, and competent sort of guy, Thessaren's life was upended by a zombie apocalypse hitting his anthrosaur-inhabited version of ancient Mongolia. During the crisis, his ability to keep cool under fire served him well, as did sharp reflexes and a lack of respect for "normal walkways". Correcting the same mistakes over and over again gave him quite a bitter streak, however, which only magnified when the dallying of his last rescue forced him to choose between zombification and losing an arm. In a moment of spite, he chose the former, but the disease's ravages became chronic rather than acute, leaving his original personality intact. The clash between the zombie hindbrain and his inherent drive to be a good person has worsened the bitterness, but his hate is directed outward at vague abstractions, and inward at his own weakness. He is good-natured toward individual people, in other words, despite his generalized misanthropy, though he avoids most people for fear of infecting them.

Training, Powers, and Abilities
All of Thessaren's formal training is in his somewhat boring pre-zombie day job. In terms of supernatural abilities, he draws strength not only from his normal life-force, but from the shadow-force that empowers the undead. This makes him flexible, and dangerous to tangle with for certain other supernatural entities. Unlike a verra, Thessaren has has no flashy ways to display this; his abilities are subtle—unnatural speed, agility, and resistance to damage. While catching another illness on top of his partial zombification is unpleasant, his strength and vitality do not diminish, only shift further toward the undead side. He could choose to infect someone with the contagion, even release a new plague if he chose, but that is the opposite of what he wants.

Dress
Long black coat, strips of cloth on his arms and legs. I've generally drawn him with sorta T-shirt-and-jeans under that, but they're not important to his design, and I've been moving this story more toward serious worldbuilding rather than "the modern world but with dinosaurs lol" so they're up for redesign.

Deeds
The unsung hero of the [Djadochta] Siege, Thessaren proved surprisingly capable of both putting down the zombies and rescuing those caught in the middle. He's easily saved hundreds directly, and his zombie-killing activities broadly helped turn the tide. Without Davarra's social rank and PR team, however, he has faded into obscurity. While remembered fondly by most of those he helped save, many are under the impression he perished during the war. There is a small shrine to him on the other end of town, but he has never seen it.

Possessions and Holdings
Prior to the zombies, Thessaren had a modest apartment in a decent section of town, and a job as a printer. He lost these not during the turmoil itself but afterward, when his condition prevented him from being around people, working, and otherwise returning to normal life. He lives on the street for awhile, but hopefully manages to at least find a permanent shelter there.

Friends and Alliances
Thessaren has been the more-or-less unwilling friend of outcast "problem-solver" Morsdirki. He probably has a couple of other contacts made during the war, but lost contact with most of his friends and family from before the crisis overall.

Kin
Children: none.
Mother: [?] normal velociraptor
Father: [?] velociraptor with ornithopod heritage

Other notable: [?], a female cousin.

Notes: Thessaren came to me in a dream, which was largely from his perspective. He slotted neatly into an existing world I had, though I will confess that said world was very clumsy and juvenile and had naught to do with averted zombie apocalypses in Mongolia at the time. More on that in Morsdirki's bio.