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Description
This is for the contest www.deviantart.com/thehalfbloo…

I’m going to address some of this straight to since this is their character, so I’m sorry if it reads a little weird. Also, hope there isn’t a word limit on this thing cause I started typing and then all of the sudden it became an essay. Oops. At least it is hopefully a bit entertaining and useful.

TLDR: this guy is a Slavic folklore representation of bad fate who serves the fate goddesses and keeps everything on track.

Character- Checker
Alternate name- Durak- from a popular Russian card game. It translates literally to “fool,” which could have multiple meanings. Either like the fool of a king’s royal court, Durak dances and entertains at the whims of fate, or, like the Major Arcana card, it could mean that he improvises and has faith in the future despite what he’s gone through so far. You don’t have to use this, I just thought it was a cool option.

Mythical creature- Likho-
Origin- Slavic Mythology (Think Russia, Ukraine, Poland, that general area. But really old)
Details- Likho means bad luck or fate. It has two major representations in folklore. One is a one eyed hag that spreads disease and other problems, sometimes referred to as a Likhoradka, the other is a mischievous male goblin that might strangle you in the forest late at night. It’s a really fascinating creature, here’s the Wikipedia page if you want to find out more. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likho
The moral of its story often seems to be that you shouldn’t try to cheat fate. For this character design I’m using a bit of a mix of both, his transformation is a bit more humanoid than a typical goblin (I couldn’t find a reliable Slavic source for goblins in their folklore so I just went with it), and he works on both a broad and narrow scale. There are also three traditional goddesses of fate in the Slavic religion, so as a lesser creature of fate I think he would probably answer to them in the version of this creature that I’m using. See his backstory for more detail.

Age- So this one is a little tricky.
Appearance wise he’s about 17.
Actual age.... well. I went having him be from another era cause I thought it would be cool for his character. The thing is, Slavic mythology is really old. Like, about three thousand years. There are a few ways you could handle this.
1- he just is 3000 years old. Interesting, but probably hard to write.
2- reincarnation (this would probably be in keeping with Slavic mythology, see this link for more detail if you want slavicchronicles.com/mythology… ) It could be interesting for him to have some memories of a past life or something, and he would still be 17.
3- (my favorite) he was created around the beginning of Slavic folklore but only lives in our time stream when the fates have a task for him to accomplish. He only experiences linear time during these times, which could last either a day or years, and other than that lives with the goddesses or is in stasis. This would create some uncertainty in his character since he doesn’t know how long he will be around. It also creates an interesting plot point. What happens when he has accomplished his task here? Do his friends try to fight a goddess over him, or make some kind of deal or sacrifice? Or do they just let him leave? If so, do they ever see him again? This could have him anywhere between 17 to hundreds of years old, and contribute a lot to his desire to fit in.

Backstory/ characterization- Checker/Durak is one of twelve keepers of fate (this is derived from the Likhoradka stories). His job is to make sure that fate is balanced and following the right path. If you asked him to describe it to you, he might say it was like a road or a thread. On a road, you might not notice every plant or rock in front of you but you do know you’re supposed to turn left to avoid walking off a big cliff. There are small things that don’t concern the fates, things he can either alter for better or leave untouched without consequences. Then there are bit things that must be addressed to avert disaster. Sometimes these are good changes, a life saved or a famine ended. Other times these are terrible sacrifices. Checker/ Durak is no stranger to death. He has killed, summoned plagues and storms, and started wars. He has tried to avoid these darker choices three times. Once for a friend (maybe more. A lover? He’s not telling, and it isn’t my business to spill his secrets), once for a child, and once for a nation. Every time, things turned out so much worse than he could have imagined. The individuals that were supposed to die always did in the end, taking more lives with them. His goddesses are cruel sometimes, but not without reason. He has come to trust their judgment (or maybe he just doesn’t care anymore?).
He rarely knows the specifics of his path, and this is where the threads of fate come in. He follows little pushes of intuition, little glimpses of foresight and vision, until he is where he is supposed to be. The more people he has contact with in relation to the snag in fate, the more threads he collects. At the end of the line he has a rope, a surge of knowledge showing him what must be done. This is part of his transformation. For these big turns that he needs to alter, he is transformed into his Likho form. This starts up to a day before the turning point, the shortest it has ever taken is five minutes. The distorted, scarred skin around his eye expands, covering half his face, going down his neck, and spiraling down his arm till it reaches the tips of his fingers. As it progresses his power of foresight becomes increasingly stronger. I don’t know if this would be painful or not, that’s up to you. Then he transforms completely into a monstrous creature with glowing red eyes, a singleminded focus on his task, and a perfect knowledge of the future (this could be an interesting plot point, maybe someone who knows what he is tries to capture him in this state to force him to reveal the future to them?).
Because he never knows how long he will stay in a place or who he might need to kill, Checker/ Durak keeps his distance from people. He learned that lesson the hard way. He has developed a bit of a morbid sense of humor as a coping mechanism, and between that and a desire to avoid saying anything that might tip the balance of fate, he keeps his comments to himself most of the time unless he is close with someone. He is incredibly smart, and picks up on new things very quickly. He loves to see what humans can create, and is fascinated with technology. He frequently uses hacking as a source of information to complete his tasks.

Other basic character traits-
Quiet, sarcastic, does good at every opportunity to make up for all the harm he has caused. He just wants to see people smile. He often doubts his place in the world, wondering if his actions are for the best, if he can ever have a semi normal life, if he can really accomplish any good. He never feels like he fits in, having lived in so many time periods and moving so frequently. He picked up a New York accent on a visit there around 1988, it was one of the places he has stayed the longest and is the inspiration for his current outfit, although he altered it to be a bit more modern to blend in. He is a chameleon, always changing to fit whatever time and place he has been assigned to, and sometimes even he doesn’t really know who he is. Give him a new set of clothes and one minute to observe, and he can shift his attitude and appearance perfectly. Checker/ Durak would make a very good spy. Despite all of this he remains an optimist, always trusting that things will work out, that people will be their best, and that good things will come. That’s part of fate too, after all.

Role in the plot- I don’t think his goddesses would be down with some scientist guy messing with fate like this, do you? For now he has probably run into one of the group members and is following his intuition that he needs to be with them.

Powers- normal form- high intellect and minor foresight let him predict his opponents moves and react quickly. He’s a bit of a glass cannon. He can use some magic (although the most powerful things like plagues require a lot of time and preparation) but he can’t take too much damage without going down. As such he fights very pragmatically, using tricks and traps and whatever else he can get his hands on. If you want, he might be semi immortal. He can die, but he can be reincarnated or his goddesses can bring him back. Maybe he looses some memmories if this happens? That could be cool.
Likho form- perfect foresight. He is very difficult to defeat in this form because he knows his opponents’ moves before they do. His magic becomes more powerful as his connection to his goddesses increases. His biggest weakness is his greatest strength, his singleminded focus on his mission. It could be used as a distraction to catch him off guard or force him into impulsive action.

Description
This is for the contest www.deviantart.com/thehalfbloo…

I’m going to address some of this straight to since this is their character, so I’m sorry if it reads a little weird. Also, hope there isn’t a word limit on this thing cause I started typing and then all of the sudden it became an essay. Oops. At least it is hopefully a bit entertaining and useful.

TLDR: this guy is a Slavic folklore representation of bad fate who serves the fate goddesses and keeps everything on track.

Character- Checker
Alternate name- Durak- from a popular Russian card game. It translates literally to “fool,” which could have multiple meanings. Either like the fool of a king’s royal court, Durak dances and entertains at the whims of fate, or, like the Major Arcana card, it could mean that he improvises and has faith in the future despite what he’s gone through so far. You don’t have to use this, I just thought it was a cool option.

Mythical creature- Likho-
Origin- Slavic Mythology (Think Russia, Ukraine, Poland, that general area. But really old)
Details- Likho means bad luck or fate. It has two major representations in folklore. One is a one eyed hag that spreads disease and other problems, sometimes referred to as a Likhoradka, the other is a mischievous male goblin that might strangle you in the forest late at night. It’s a really fascinating creature, here’s the Wikipedia page if you want to find out more. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likho
The moral of its story often seems to be that you shouldn’t try to cheat fate. For this character design I’m using a bit of a mix of both, his transformation is a bit more humanoid than a typical goblin (I couldn’t find a reliable Slavic source for goblins in their folklore so I just went with it), and he works on both a broad and narrow scale. There are also three traditional goddesses of fate in the Slavic religion, so as a lesser creature of fate I think he would probably answer to them in the version of this creature that I’m using. See his backstory for more detail.

Age- So this one is a little tricky.
Appearance wise he’s about 17.
Actual age.... well. I went having him be from another era cause I thought it would be cool for his character. The thing is, Slavic mythology is really old. Like, about three thousand years. There are a few ways you could handle this.
1- he just is 3000 years old. Interesting, but probably hard to write.
2- reincarnation (this would probably be in keeping with Slavic mythology, see this link for more detail if you want slavicchronicles.com/mythology… ) It could be interesting for him to have some memories of a past life or something, and he would still be 17.
3- (my favorite) he was created around the beginning of Slavic folklore but only lives in our time stream when the fates have a task for him to accomplish. He only experiences linear time during these times, which could last either a day or years, and other than that lives with the goddesses or is in stasis. This would create some uncertainty in his character since he doesn’t know how long he will be around. It also creates an interesting plot point. What happens when he has accomplished his task here? Do his friends try to fight a goddess over him, or make some kind of deal or sacrifice? Or do they just let him leave? If so, do they ever see him again? This could have him anywhere between 17 to hundreds of years old, and contribute a lot to his desire to fit in.

Backstory/ characterization- Checker/Durak is one of twelve keepers of fate (this is derived from the Likhoradka stories). His job is to make sure that fate is balanced and following the right path. If you asked him to describe it to you, he might say it was like a road or a thread. On a road, you might not notice every plant or rock in front of you but you do know you’re supposed to turn left to avoid walking off a big cliff. There are small things that don’t concern the fates, things he can either alter for better or leave untouched without consequences. Then there are bit things that must be addressed to avert disaster. Sometimes these are good changes, a life saved or a famine ended. Other times these are terrible sacrifices. Checker/ Durak is no stranger to death. He has killed, summoned plagues and storms, and started wars. He has tried to avoid these darker choices three times. Once for a friend (maybe more. A lover? He’s not telling, and it isn’t my business to spill his secrets), once for a child, and once for a nation. Every time, things turned out so much worse than he could have imagined. The individuals that were supposed to die always did in the end, taking more lives with them. His goddesses are cruel sometimes, but not without reason. He has come to trust their judgment (or maybe he just doesn’t care anymore?).
He rarely knows the specifics of his path, and this is where the threads of fate come in. He follows little pushes of intuition, little glimpses of foresight and vision, until he is where he is supposed to be. The more people he has contact with in relation to the snag in fate, the more threads he collects. At the end of the line he has a rope, a surge of knowledge showing him what must be done. This is part of his transformation. For these big turns that he needs to alter, he is transformed into his Likho form. This starts up to a day before the turning point, the shortest it has ever taken is five minutes. The distorted, scarred skin around his eye expands, covering half his face, going down his neck, and spiraling down his arm till it reaches the tips of his fingers. As it progresses his power of foresight becomes increasingly stronger. I don’t know if this would be painful or not, that’s up to you. Then he transforms completely into a monstrous creature with glowing red eyes, a singleminded focus on his task, and a perfect knowledge of the future (this could be an interesting plot point, maybe someone who knows what he is tries to capture him in this state to force him to reveal the future to them?).
Because he never knows how long he will stay in a place or who he might need to kill, Checker/ Durak keeps his distance from people. He learned that lesson the hard way. He has developed a bit of a morbid sense of humor as a coping mechanism, and between that and a desire to avoid saying anything that might tip the balance of fate, he keeps his comments to himself most of the time unless he is close with someone. He is incredibly smart, and picks up on new things very quickly. He loves to see what humans can create, and is fascinated with technology. He frequently uses hacking as a source of information to complete his tasks.

Other basic character traits-
Quiet, sarcastic, does good at every opportunity to make up for all the harm he has caused. He just wants to see people smile. He often doubts his place in the world, wondering if his actions are for the best, if he can ever have a semi normal life, if he can really accomplish any good. He never feels like he fits in, having lived in so many time periods and moving so frequently. He picked up a New York accent on a visit there around 1988, it was one of the places he has stayed the longest and is the inspiration for his current outfit, although he altered it to be a bit more modern to blend in. He is a chameleon, always changing to fit whatever time and place he has been assigned to, and sometimes even he doesn’t really know who he is. Give him a new set of clothes and one minute to observe, and he can shift his attitude and appearance perfectly. Checker/ Durak would make a very good spy. Despite all of this he remains an optimist, always trusting that things will work out, that people will be their best, and that good things will come. That’s part of fate too, after all.

Role in the plot- I don’t think his goddesses would be down with some scientist guy messing with fate like this, do you? For now he has probably run into one of the group members and is following his intuition that he needs to be with them.

Powers- normal form- high intellect and minor foresight let him predict his opponents moves and react quickly. He’s a bit of a glass cannon. He can use some magic (although the most powerful things like plagues require a lot of time and preparation) but he can’t take too much damage without going down. As such he fights very pragmatically, using tricks and traps and whatever else he can get his hands on. If you want, he might be semi immortal. He can die, but he can be reincarnated or his goddesses can bring him back. Maybe he looses some memmories if this happens? That could be cool.
Likho form- perfect foresight. He is very difficult to defeat in this form because he knows his opponents’ moves before they do. His magic becomes more powerful as his connection to his goddesses increases. His biggest weakness is his greatest strength, his singleminded focus on his mission. It could be used as a distraction to catch him off guard or force him into impulsive action.