Interests

► Stealing, Performing major heists
► Instagram, Taking selfies
► Bar hopping
► Sleight of hand / Magic tricks
► Art critique and appraisal
► Theatre (Musicals, Contemporary comedies)
► Modelling
► Himself

Personality

Callan is not a troll who hides his emotions behind a mask: what you see is essentially what you get. He is loud and self-absorbed, and wants to draw as much attention to himself as possible. He wants to make it clear that he’s a big deal and has a big ego to boot, constantly talking himself up and coming up with outrageous lies to make himself sound better. He loves to be overdramatic and is prone to exaggeration, taking after the movies and comedy performances he loves to watch. Breaking out into song and/or dance is also a common thing for him to do. He will also put down others as a means to make himself sound better, such as lording his caste over lowbloods or making jabs about their appearance compared to his devilishly handsome looks. All he wants is to appear popular, cool, and the most attractive person in the room.

What is equally as obvious as his bombastic nature is the fact that he is incredibly insecure. Callan knows that his psiionics make it difficult for anyone to remember him, so he has to do everything he can to ensure that he stays in people’s memories. He builds up this personality because he knows that in all other areas he’s painfully average, and he needs something that makes him feel special. This insecurity also reveals that his ego is actually incredibly fragile, and sometimes even the smallest comments can cause him to spiral. He often needs reassurance from those he’s close to that he is as cool as he presents himself to be, and has a tendency to act out as a means to ‘prove’ he’s not as lame as other people call him. However, he bounces back from these sudden confidence crashes very easily, usually after being praised by others.

Callan is additionally a very vain and shallow kind of person. He’s obsessed with his looks, and will splurge on expensive outfits so he can brag about the brands he’s wearing. He alternates between claiming that he has high standards for friends and will only associate himself with people as attractive as he is, or that he needs people who are less attractive than him to make it clear how good-looking he is. In reality, he doesn’t care about that as much as he says. He’s happy to befriend anyone who treats him nicely and will boost his ego whenever he needs compliments.

In contrast to his appearance, Callan’s cleanliness and motivation habits leave a lot to be desired. He hates doing ‘boring’ things like keeping his hive clean and cooking proper meals, so he often leaves those tasks for his moirail to do. He also doesn't like to do things for others unless it’ll be fun for him to do, and doesn’t put a lot of thought into any gift he’s buying for special occasions. He’s very much capable of doing these things if he were to put his mind to it, but he prefers to take the lazy route as much as possible. He’s not afraid to say out loud if he finds his friends’ hobbies to be boring or he doesn’t want to do what he’s been asked to do, typically in a way that lacks any tact.

Callan is street smart, but definitely not book smart. He is, however, very confident in his own intelligence. He often mispronounces or misuses large words, and will double down on his mistakes if corrected. He’ll also give out advice that he thinks sounds genius, but is more often than not illogical or nonsensical. There are some things he’s very knowledgeable in, in particular art history, pop culture and anything related to thievery, and while he can talk your ear off about the first two he keeps his knowledge about the latter a secret. He’s more perceptive than he comes across as, and knows when to keep his mouth shut. At times it may appear that he’s deliberately making himself sound less intelligent so others don’t suspect him of his other identity, but it’s difficult to tell if that is truly the case.

Psiionics

Callan’s psiionic power can be best described as Perceptive Manipulation / Amnesia, acting in a way similar to prosopagnosia. Anyone who sees Callan will find themselves completely unable to recall his face, and will struggle to recognise him in any other situations. Over time, they may be able to recognise him through mannerisms or way of dress, but if he were to change his appearance in any way they will no longer know who he is. This also extends to any attempts to photograph or record him on film, or looking at his reflection in a mirror or other surface, as his face will appear blurry and unrecognisable. Additionally, his psiionics are capable of fooling facial recognition software, which will often match his average horn shape and facial features to any other midblood in its database. Callan is able to recognise himself in these photos or in the mirror, and seems to be able to see through the illusion. His psiionics are constantly active, and Callan has no means to turn off or lessen its effects.

This psiionic is technically classed as a mutation, due to its ability to bypass all natural resistances and most psiionic-dulling powers. Even those with an ability to cancel out psiionics completely may find themselves doubting if they can truly remember Callan’s face. As a drawback, Callan has a slightly weakened resistance to other's psiionics and mental-based powers, approximately on the same level as an average yellowblood. While uncontrollable in nature, if Callan were to focus on actively using his powers he could potentially increase the intensity to the point that people may start to forget more aspects of his appearance, but this isn’t something he knows about or would be interested in using.

Backstory

Callan hatched under completely regular circumstances for a greenblood - or so he believed. For the most part, his childhood was normal: he regularly hung out with Amarys, who also lived in the same forest as him, and the two would also find other trolls their age to play with. Amarys got into Flarp, which he wasn’t interested in, and as they got older she began teaching him how to fence. What was unusual was the fact that at an early age he began manifesting psiionics of a caliber much more powerful than what is considered normal for his caste. It wasn’t an immediate realisation and nothing seemed to be overtly wrong, but he would notice that Amarys and other trolls seemed to have trouble recognising him from time to time. He would have to remind his neighbour of who he was, and sometimes she didn’t seem completely convinced. He tried to not let it bother him too much, but as more and more people became unable to recognise him he knew it was more than just a coincidence.

After getting frustrated and upset over what he had convinced himself was his friends playing a stupid prank on him, his lusus finally informed him of his bloodline’s powers. This was just something he was just going to have to live with for the rest of his life. Callan didn’t want to believe it, and instead doubled down on his efforts to try and stay in everyone’s memories. He wanted to be famous and popular, and become a star so that he’d always be in people’s minds. He started figuring out how his psiionics worked, and managed to find a recognisable fashion style that people would associate with him. He really wanted to break into the modeling scene, but his hopes were very quickly dashed by the fact that it was impossible to capture his face on camera. Dejected, he moped about in his hive for days after his applications to agencies were all rejected and spent most of his time watching movies and playing video games, until finally he got an idea.

Maybe the world isn’t ready for Callan to be famous, but what if he could be someone else?

Inspired by his inability to be caught on camera and desire to show off both his smarts and acrobatic skills gained from gymnastics classes, he turned to the world of crime. Specifically, the fancy major heists he’d seen in movies. Amarys had taught him everything she knew about fencing before she moved away to pursue her bodyguard career, and he started practicing parkour on top of his gymnastics moves. He decided his thief persona would have to dress plainly in order to fit in, and that would in turn make his typical outfits stand out more. He started out small, simple hive break-ins and learning how to navigate highblood surveillance systems, and after his first successful attempts he was hooked. If he failed, he’d just have to be quick enough to escape and no one would be able to figure out who he was. Soon, news was starting to spread about a mysterious phantom thief, and he proudly took that name on as his moniker. He also began stealing orchids from one of his other neighbour’s garden to use as a calling card, purely because that’s what he’d seen in movies. At the same time, another name was spawned from his crimes: The Clover Killer. This one arose due to the increased number of midblood murders by people trying to catch The Phantom Thief, and the concept of a serial killer tampering with legislacerator records to frame innocent midbloods was perpetuated by the legislacerators in order to cover up their own incompetence. Callan is unaware he’s the source of these rumours.

He then moved onto his current primary target: art galleries. He was always a fan of artworks, and what better way to gain notoriety than to steal some of the most cherished works in history? But early on into this new career trajectory, disaster struck. While in the middle of a heist at the lesser-known Pettakere Gallery, he was caught in the act by the owner, Renais Sulawe. Renais chased him down, and managed to back Callan into a corner. Callan panicked, and the gallery owner hesitated about killing him for just a few moments too long, prompting Callan to fire his grappling hook gun at him as a distraction. What he didn’t expect was that such a weapon could be deadly. Renais was skewered through the chest, which Callan then had to dislodge the body from his strife weapon and promptly fled the scene. This is currently the only confirmed murder by The Phantom Thief.

Currently, Callan is in a fairly good position. He met his now-moirail Gerrel at a party, and while Callan still hasn’t quite figured out this whole quadrant business he’s very fond of the redblood and wants to try and make it work (ideally with little effort on his end…). He’s also gotten involved with Izuili and his own thief persona Blue Beetle, in which his attempts at proving to the other greenblood that he’s just as capable of a thief as him have begun developing into a rivalry. There was additionally a brief stint in which a magical tome he stole from his friend Maidel’s shop temporarily resulted in his hair turning neon green due to an ‘embarrassment curse’, but he does not want to talk about that. He has two famous personas, and a novelty Instagram account about his unusual selfies that’s gained a cult following. But as much as he loves the attention he receives from these ventures, he’s still waiting for when it’ll be the real Callan’s turn to become a household name…

Trivia

Appearance

► His voiceclaim is Ben Diskin, somewhere between Matthew from Fire Emblem Heroes and Jack from Beastars.
► He has an Australian accent.
► He dresses flashily as a means to stand out, as he's otherwise completely average in all other aspects.
► All of his shoes are designer, and he wears a different pair while in his Phantom Thief get-up.
► His cape manages to stay on his shoulders thanks to cleverly-positioned pins, fashion tape, and sheer force of will.

Habits

► He generally doesn't give lowbloods the time of day as he sees himself to be above them, although he'll give a pass to anyone who treats him like the high(er)blood he is.
► He deliberately calls people by the wrong name or gives them ridiculous nicknames. He does this partially because it annoys him how often he's mistaken for someone else and wants people to get a taste of their own medicine, and partially as a sign of affection.
► He prefers to not kill unless it is absolutely necessary. The only time he has killed another troll was by complete accident.
► He has a fear that one day he'll be forgotten completely. He keeps multiple diaries and is writing an autobiography of himself so that there are records of his existence.
► He's terrible at cooking, so when he's not eating microwave meals or buying take-out his moirail will cook for him.
► His calling card is leaving an orchid at the scene of the crime.

Hobbies and Favourite Things

► He's very athletic, and is trained in artistic gymnastics. He is particularly skilled in power tumbling tricks such as flips and midair spins, as well as balacing on and swinging from bars/poles.
► He likes to steal from 'dangerous' targets, such as wealthy and hemoloyal highbloods, gangs, and places with large amounts of security present. He generally targets objects of worth such as jewels, gold, famous paintings, and possessions with significant value (both monetary and sentimental).
► His motivation is solely for the statement of stealing from high profile targets, rather than for greed or an actual desire for other people's things. He has little care for the value of what he steals, except for the fact that they're considered valuable.
► His Instagram account became popular not for his modeling, but for the effect his psiionics have on his selfies. They've been considered to have a 'creepypasta-esque' appeal to them, and no one knows if it's a legitimate account or someone trying to make an urban horror story. He jokingly changed his IG name to 'SelfieCryptid' because of this.
► He's a huge beer enthusiast, and often hangs around bars and breweries in his spare time.
► He's not particularly artistically inclined, but he's great at art critique and has some knowledge of art history. He cannot be fooled by forgeries.
► He also likes stage plays and musicals, but only if they're contemporary comedies. He can recite the entirety of Avenue Q.
► Apart from those interests, he isn't well-read at all. He has no care for literature or anything classical, making his embodiment of the classic 'phantom thief' trope purely coincidental. While he has watched movies with heist scenes in them that served as an inspiration, he couldn't name any classic fictional thieves if you asked him.
► He also likes magic performances and sleight of hand tricks, and is able to perform a couple basic tricks.
► He owns an Xbox that he likes to play on occasion. His favourite games are The Simpsons Hit and Run and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

Residency

► He lives in the heart of the Evergreen Woods, a fairly average and nondescript forest named after the abundance of evergreen trees within it. His hive is of average size for his caste.
► He does not keep his hive tidy and all, primarily due to his own laziness. It's often his moirail who ends up cleaning up the place.
► The walls of his hive are covered in mirrors and highly inaccurate self-portraits.
► One of the guest bedrooms at the front of his hive has been converted into a storage room for all of his stolen paintings. For obvious reasons, he doesn't allow anyone to set foot in there, and has decorated the door in police tape.

... And Everything Else

► He's lactose intolerant, but isn't aware of it.