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Description
“Back home, my job is to design weapons to bring all this fighting in Rosado del Sur to an end. Every weapon I design is exclusively non-lethal, with as many safeguards as I can possibly put in place to keep them that way. No one dies in this civil war if they use the weapons I place in their hands. We capture people, we shrink them, we remove them, we encase them… but everybody lives. My grandmother was President Aphrodite Coral, and it was her murder that marked the start of this war. I don’t… want anyone else to die.”
Moodboard Sources

🔺 TEAM IAN 🔺
You can search * to jump between sections of this profile

*OVERVIEW

Birth Name: Morales Castillo - Does not normally use this name in Lilypad - This name is associated with his Gazelle Faction identity

This is the name associated with his heterochromia, the Shadow Blaster weapon, and the Platform Gun
OOC, Morales is named after Diana Morales from the musical "A Chorus Line," or more specifically he is named after a line from the song "Nothing" -- "Okay, Morales... Now what do you feel?" / "And I said... 'Nothing... I'm feeling nothing...'" [Song has un-CC-friendly language; listen at own discretion]
His dad calls him "Alice" as a term of endearment

Prefers: Ian Rosetta - Associated with Viper Faction identity

This is the name associated with his main app art outfit (especially the glasses), the Lightray weapon, and the Resize Ray

App: Here + Respawn

Temple Curse: Clones - Revealed in "Okay, Morales "

Voted most likely Rid Kid to walk in and flip random switches without reading up on what they do

NOTABLE CONTENT

If you were only going to check out one piece of Ian content that sums him up before this event, it should be: "Ian Steals a Friend "

If you've got time for two, also consider: "Dear Prometheus "

Respawn appeared in "Icarus You ," "Orpheus Reborn ," and "Meche's Sleepover ." He is a very neutral, easy-going familiar with dog-like behaviors, such as sitting down to scratch behind his ears. He does not walk biped. He does have a tongue, which pokes from his face nozzle to pant or lick your hand. He doesn't say much even if you're bonded to him.

Timeline || Arc Recaps || Table of Contents

Spreadsheet - Table of Contents - Anything Ian appears in is tagged "Ian" and will come up with CTRL-F (Art and literature are in separate tabs)

Personal Tracker - Contains proof links for forms, clothing, salon purchases, and also lists powers

*EVENT HISTORY

Ian's father, Eisen , always knew Ian was intelligent. Why wouldn't he be? Eisen screened several embryos and handpicked Ian as his son for just that reason (Ian describes himself as a test tube designer baby). Ever since he learned of the Shadow Dragon Temple, Eisen has wanted to explore the temple interior and whatever treasures may be inside it. Growing up, Ian was taught that the temple was valuable and important. Most of the interactions with his father revolved around how Ian's intellect would help Eisen break through it. After war broke out in Rosado del Sur, Eisen used Ian's anxiety about the war and his grandmother's murder to urge him that the fallen deity imprisoned in the temple would be able to end the war.

Since the death of Ian's wife in December 2021, however, Ian's only hope is to convince the deity within the temple walls to bring Ivy back to life. Screw Dad and screw the war. Also, can someone please hand him his inhaler? The dust down in this temple is killer on his allergies and asthma...

EVENT ACTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS

Ian hopes to power through the temple as fast as possible, but more importantly, he wants to be present when Room 100 opens. As far as Ian knows, if he can't prove he helped free the shadow dragon, he could lose his chance to appeal to it for help. Ian is likely to yell "Wait, wait, wait!" or whine when people outpace him. He's also likely to steal supplies or keys from - or sabotage - anyone he recognizes as part of Team Rudy.

Unless separated in a temple room, Ian is accompanied by Tab (his personal assistant / service dog) and Respawn, his dad's familiar. Respawn can revive anyone who dies within his protective aura, so Ian is more likely to stick near a large group of powerful people than he is to go off on his own. However, it's very possible he could get distracted and lose track of his teammates-- he struggles with dissociation, and if Tab isn't there to keep him centered in reality, he might zone out.

Ian is impulsive and tends to be snappy with others. He has a grandiose personality and tends to be loud and dramatic, as you might expect from someone with a cape and shiny anime glasses. He has a short temper and might lash out physically if he's upset (four good examples are the ending scenes of "19 Glances Back - Addison ," "Eisen Checks In ," "Counting Stars ," and "Misdirection "); when Ian gets upset, his tact and kindness tend to go out the window, and he'll pick a fight with anyone who talks to him.

If you are a Team Ian member in the same room as Ian and are struggling with a puzzle, he would rather help you with it than abandon you. He believes in safety in numbers... as long as he doesn't think you're intentionally dragging your feet. He might push you aside and solve the puzzle for you if you let him, but will get flustered and upset if he struggles with it in front of you. He's a prideful individual and doesn't like facing failure.

Skilled with: Puzzle, Strength, Monster, and Agility Challenges
Weak to: Trap, Illusion, Water, and Charisma Challenges

*FORMS - Click HERE for visual ref folder

Standard - Human | Generally Ian's preferred form for its dexterous fingers; it is comfortable to stay in for a long time. Ian is above average in terms of athletics, but he's still scrawny and by no means a skilled athlete

Mythic - Robot Rat | Strong, more reliable than robot dragon

Raider - Cyborg | This form isn't used often because of the limited finger dexterity, but Ian relies on it when he needs to access the

Shadow - Rat | A lithe, athletic form that can easily jump from place to place; Ian has a history of struggling with his shadow rat form

Electric Rat | A swift rat form that is rarely seen outside the interior of the robots (Because without a Duped Potion, the only time it can leave is if the robot is turned off or damaged). When Ian switches into robot forms, his electric rat form functions as the power core. This form is genderless

Robot Dragon | A large and powerful robot form that can fly and breathe fire, but this robot has not been refined as much as the robot rat form, so it is less stable and more dangerous

Alt Shadow - Human | An extra form; not much special about it

Alt Shadow - Dragon | Not to be confused with the Shadow God from the Shadow Dragon Temple

Half-Shadow - Human | A "corrupted" human form that Ian may fall into when he's already in human form and is growing stressed

Half-Shadow - Rat | ^

Half-Shadow - Dragon | ^

^ All three of Ian's "half-shadow" forms can be portrayed with different amounts of shadow on them, as his body has the ability to shift the shadow around; this was approved HERE

Notable pieces where Ian changed forms include: "Neophobia " (Shadow rat), "Ian and the Frog Princess " (Cyborg), "Counting Stars " (Electric rat and robot rat), "Ian Steals a Friend " (Robot rat and shadow rat), and "BANG! " (Shadow rat and robot dragon)
Ian also has two object forms - Backpack and Ray Gun - but I would rather these not be used during this event

*POWERS

Raider Abilities - Weakest to light
Raider-legal shapeshifting, heightened senses, can act like a shadow, minor shadow creation and manipulation, hivemind access

Tanuki x Selkie Genetics

Ian, like Meche, was born of a selkie x tanuki union. However, he did not gain any of their magical abilities and was born a fully standard human. He is not capable of passing on transformation or magic to his offspring; none of their powers exist in his body. The one and only "magical" thing about his standard form is his eyes, which are orange and red (heterochromia). This was done purely for aesthetic purposes and nothing about his eyes is magical (Except that his red eye gains the ability to glow sometimes after he becomes a raider).

Mad Scientist

Ian is on a raider ticket, meaning he is partly mythical in the eyes of the group. He is based on the mad scientist trope and has the ability to create a lot of mad scientist things relating to biology, physics, and chemistry. Ex: He was able to create Carmelo (a Bug cat.) out of genetic material, he can create weapons such as freeze rays, and he has extreme skill in robotics. I don't plan for Ian to create other living creatures, but anything he did make would be villager legal (AKA not a magic pet). Weapons will not be used against other members' characters without consent. Ian cannot create any mind control or powerful influence devices. He made an amnesia ray once but he can't remember it.

Robot Abilities

After becoming a raider, Ian gained the ability to shapeshift into a robot rat. He has some basic robot abilities like increased strength and also extra weaknesses, like water. Ian regularly attempts to fiddle with his robotic form, intending to modify it with "improvements" (to horrible and/or hilarious results) [Update note to permit modifications-- this is when he had flight and ability to gain additional robot forms was approved]
Ian's robots fly using rocket thrusters, shown in "Counting Stars " - The dragon's wings are primarily for show, but they save some fuel
Sample robot modifications were approved upfront: the addition and removal of rocket thrusters, buttons, panels, wires
Wing Backpack
Also, Ian can fly in non-robot forms by using his wing backpack, which is a combination of mechanical design and a white witch's blessing (Opal)

Cyborg Abilities

Ian can use his eyepiece like a mini computer (in cyborg and robot forms). He has some computer-based abilities such as the ability to toggle heat vision on and off. He can pull up screens using his "eye computer" to view information about himself (useful to assess damage and heat levels) or about other people (Think of robots analyzing what they see in media).

Minor meta information could be gained this way (Ex: Characters with very low or very high body temperature would stand out, possibly revealing them as mythicals even if they are disguised as standard villagers). Ian would have the ability to pierce deliberately bad illusions, but if the illusions are good enough then they will convince his screen that he is seeing a human instead of a kitsune, for example.

Fire
Ian gained the ability to breathe fire + shoot laser beams from the palms of his robot dragon form when this form was approved.

Ray Guns
Ian usually keeps 4 ray guns on hand: His Shadow Blaster (Can shoot a shadow that restrains people), his Lightray 4k (Looks like a white remote control, is silent and can shoot through windows, adding a lens can make the beam very hot), his Resize Ray (Often used to shrink enemies or himself; Ian has Minuscule perma'd, and an official villager target also needs Minuscule or Grandiose as appropriate), and his Platform Gun (Creates invisible forcefield platforms you can jump on; Ian has Protective perma'd)
Eloise's app has a few more details about common Rosado del Surian ray guns. Ian theoretically has some of those, but he usually uses these four.
In " Meche's Sleepover," Ian uses a more powerful Lightray that looks like a shotgun, but it is less energy efficient and has longer recharge time

Perma-Minuscule

Ian has the ability to shrink to approx. 5 inches in height and return to his normal size

Perma-Electric Master - Click for full info

Can gain forms made of electricity, can create electricity, can manipulate electricity, can resist electricity, can jumpstart hearts or cars, etc. Actually in canon Ian does not control electricity and this potion just exists to lend power to his rays and for lots of mad science aesthetic

Perma-Speedrunner - Click for full info

Can process things in hyperspeed. Can exist in a bubble that rapidly speeds him through things while the outside world progresses slowly. He does not have the ability to run on water. In his own eyes, he is still moving at normal speed and everyone else is moving slowly

Perma-Protective

Forcefield generation, usually but not always following hand or leg gestures. Forcefields may seem invisible until hit, but sometimes are more visible. Forcefields are made of energy and sometimes (but not always) have color. Forcefields may include sparks (Ian also has Electric Master) and may show signs of cracking under pressure. Forcefields can be created when an arm is swept through the air, meaning that by "shoving" someone from a distance, they might actually fall over because they were shoved with an invisible forcefield.

Forcefields are not always round. They can be other shapes and fit inside containers. They can also be jumped on and stood on. The range of this "jumping on" ability only applies as far as is reasonable for a Protective Potion. For example, running and throwing yourself off a cliff can result in a "block" spawning to catch you, protecting you from a fall and certain death. Alternatively, you might be encased in a bubble and bounce at the bottom. If there's no sense of immediate danger, the ability to create a forcefield "walking path" may not always be there, or might apply in limited ways.

Not a power, but I feel like I should point out that the Viper Faction is building a giant metal dragon kaiju; it was still in progess during March ("Dear Prometheus "), but it is very likely finished by now and could possibly be useful to you during Month 2 of the event.....

*EVENT USE

If you want to include the event NPCs in your story content, this event encourages that! The Raiders of the Southern Temple event is designed to mimic the storytelling set-up of an OCT (original character tournament) - A competitive storytelling environment where many stories are told, characters are portrayed by multiple people, and only one canon becomes finalized in the end. I am the only person who is restricted to treating the winning entry as the official story canon. If you don't win the competitive aspect, you can still keep your personal canon as long as you don't mind any conflicts it might have with my future story content if we RP later.

Ian Event Checklist

❗  Please be sensitive about blood and burns (Event host has hemophobia and burn trauma)

❗  You can show characters in different outfits, especially if you want to establish multiple days passing or if a certain outfit is too tricky for you to draw multiple times. However, please let me know in "Updates for Riddle" Discord channel so I can get the outfit with one of my fashion packs and keep clothing legal. You are also free to use clothing from the wardrobe trackers
Non-human forms [Rats/robots] can be portrayed naked, just keep it PG

❗  Relationships - Ian is a demisexual married to Ivy; he is not likely to develop attraction towards others
I'm okay with little jokes like the fact that Ian has multiple times in my canon been jealous of Kit possessing other people. It's okay to have your characters flirt with Ian and it's okay to show him feeling proud, amused, flustered, or whatever you think feels right as long as it doesn't advance into serious two-way romance.
Please don't portray Ian kissing/cuddling the other event NPCs, your own characters, or other members' characters; the dragon plot is more important to him. This also applies to his rat form, which is known in the past for wanting to flirt and reproduce. The rat brain is cool with dragon plot priority
It's okay to portray Ian showing loyalty to his teammates and forming friendships with them. If your character gets a crush on him in the process, that's fine; I'm okay with you playing your villager in character if they develop crushes on people they adventure with
For reference purposes, Ian is heteromantic demisexual. He dislikes surprise physical touch and finds it difficult to feel attraction towards people of his size who can restrain him. He does have a history of analyizing potential relationship options and would possibly seek a relationship again if he can't revive Ivy, so he's not necessarily cutting himself off from the concept. A useful piece about his attraction is "Fair's Fair " when Ivy flirted with him in her human form without Ian realizing it was her, and he felt conflicted and confused that he felt attracted to her.

✅  Can draw or write about this character. I encourage both mediums (and any other group-legal mediums)

✅  Can simplify this character's design within reason (i.e. they remain recognizable and within the group's range of free art style tweaks, but please don't change body or hair colors to something I haven't bought from the salon)

✅  Can portray your own interpretation of this character, including friendships, loyalty levels, inventory items, motivations, skills, weaknesses, interests, and dialogue-- I'd prefer you to keep things reasonable to the backstory info below, for example Ian grew up in a hot climate with no snow so it's unlikely he is a skiing expert, but also it really isn't the end of the world if you do say he's a skiing expert

✅  Can make up backstory details, such as minor past experiences or conversations (i.e. "This character had a sad holiday experience in this flashback" or "This character learned how to pick locks from a childhood friend they don't see anymore")

✅  Can ask questions in the "Lore Chat" channel if you want input from me

✅  Can portray this character's alt forms using the forms listed in "Forms" section-- If you want to draw a character that doesn't have a visual reference, please comment in the "Updates for Riddle" Discord channel to say you are taking dibs on designing that form's visuals because... we gotta keep it group legal and I can't have two people draw the same form in drastically different ways, I don't have the +1 Form potions to cover that right now wheeze

✅  Can portray story development. If you can build up a story to show the reason why, you can show event NPCs getting hurt, learning secrets, losing their powers, quitting their jobs, betraying friends, reviving loved ones, or dying during the event. This all plays into the "Riddle can only treat one entry as the final canon" thing so keep that in mind, as I might not be able to accept your piece as my canon! You are free to explore these things and some of it might make it into my final canon, but I can't promise all of it will (because the winner's entry might conflict).

❌  Don't add new forms or new powers to this character's power list (I may not be able to handle the group mechanics with quick turnaround time)
✅ I actually do have a +1 Form Potion on hand and if the Discord chat came to a consensus like "We would love to depict Ian with a new form" then yeah we can talk about it and get a group-legal design settled, but Ian is probably the only one I would make this exception for
❌  No major backstory retcons (i.e. "This character has kids" or "This character lost their parents at a young age" or "This character was abused by an ex")

❌  Don't ask me to preview your entire WIP so you can make changes based on my feedback (I only want to read the finals for scoring, not WIPs-- I really would prefer to see your character interpretation, not my input!)

🔺 *FULL HISTORY 🔺

Morales Castillo was born on the Southern Continent (Rhacilia) in the country of Rosado del Sur on January 18th, 1994, the allegedly first mortal child in either Eisen Tanuki or Alana Selkie's family. His native language is Spanish (at least, it's played as Spanish onscreen although I personally imagine it as a blend between Spanish and Scottish Gaelic). Ian was raised in Los Apartamentos de Serpientes Durmientes (Sleeping Snake Apartments), which was an apartment complex stocked mostly with Eisen's and Alana's children in an attempt to give them all space and hide the fact that they were relatives from those who frowned on non-humans in the city. Eisen and Alana avoided the use of their mythical surnames and attempted to blend with the human population by remaining in human forms at all times.

Rosado del Sur is the name of the country. The north of the country is wasteland (dry savanna and rock) and the majority of the country is covered by a metropolis. The metropolis is divided into three ports, which is where the warring factions have claimed their headquarters.
The metropolis is known for its neon aesthetic. Most people stay inside during the day when it's hot. The city is busier at night when the air is cool and you can see the stars (an important part of working in the east side)
Ian grew up in Port Tiny Diamond, also known as Puerto Pequeño Diamante

For paperwork reasons (managed by Alana's human brother Ray of Port Hawk's Eye), Eisen and Alana married in late 1991 and in mid-1992 were assigned the surname Castillo because they lived at the top of the apartment building. Castillo translates to "Castle." Although Eisen and Alana are both long-lived mythical creatures, they are each other's first marriage in the eyes of the law, which has resulted in them sticking together for longer than either has with past partners.

Alana is fidgety in her marriage, ready to move to other men, although she hasn't yet cheated (despite many people, including Ian, believing she has). Eisen is serially monogamous and would insist on a divorce before he moved to another partner. Until he finds someone else, he's happy with Alana. They have an understanding relationship with one another and generally know where they stand, although Ian is constantly dripping with anticipatory dread about the inevitable upcoming divorce. He dislikes his mother (whom he considers distant and inattentive) and claims he'll be happy to see her go, but he's anxious and lonely when he imagines life after his mom has moved away and he never sees her again.

Ian is the 99th child born to his mother and the 141st born to his father
Ian was born with two orange eyes, but a childhood ray gun accident required surgery and left him with a red one; he was 2
Pieces that show Rosado del Sur include "Wizards and Pigs ," "Untitled Ian Documentary ," "Icarus You ," and "Dear Prometheus "
"Icarus You" and "Dear Prometheus" cover the majority of Ian backstory between them
Ian grew up hearing stories of the Shadow Dragon throughout his childhood, although Eisen would only pursue it more seriously when Ian got older

Ian was born human, but is still in denial of this and insists he is actually a tanuki. Ian has only four fingers on each hand, which he claims is proof that he is not a standard human. At the age of seven (2001), he was assigned Tab Silvertwig as his service dog and sent to Elk River Boys’ Academy in Vermont, North America (where his aunt Alivia and uncle Moriko were living at the time). There, he met Rudy McLean and began polishing his English. When he would visit his home in the Southern Continent, he and Tab would earn Ladybug Scout badges in the local lodge. They used a lot of materials at the lodge to build inventions, meaning that the scout lodge was technically Ian's first laboratory.

Ian and Rudy were roommates at boarding school for 5 years

In 2006, when Ian was 12, one of his creations exploded and sent his father Eisen into a coma. Ian begged his grandmother (President Aphrodite Coral) to ask her secretary, Sunflower the flamingo (Mango's mother), to sell one of Palekaiko's sacred God Crystals to save his life. Sunflower refused. Ian panicked and repaired Eisen's broken body with metal as quickly as he could, pushing himself too far. He didn't repair all of it as he was sentenced to 6 months in juvenile hall for the explosion he caused.

Ian was 12 when he first met Ivy, as seen in the last flashback of "Icarus You "
Ian reacts to the explosion in "Dear Prometheus " flashbacks

In late 2007 / early 2008, Ian began working with a secret Viper Faction recruit - Ivy the fruit bat (looked down on in the city for not being human) - as a team to scout the massive metropolis that covers Rosado del Sur. He briefly encountered Ivy in 2006, but early 2008 kicked off his first "solid" interactions with her.

This is also the year that President Aphrodite was found dead and her body was moved to the stasis chambers in the eastern part of Rosado del Sur's metropolis (the city Port Hawk's Eye). Even then, the president title was more of a dictatorship as Aphrodite had inherited the position from her father. Alana (Ian's mother) claimed all the inheritance for herself, turning away her two human siblings (Nizhoni and Ray) who were deemed worthless mortals. This caused extreme friction in the family, and the country slowly began splitting into three factions, each headed by one of the three siblings. Ian was always close to his Auntie Niz, and before she cut ties with Alana, she told Ian that he could always seek her out if he needed employment in the future since they were family and she loved him.

Ian's grandmother is seen alive in early "Icarus You " flashbacks
Ian reacts to his grandmother's death in "Dear Prometheus " flashbacks

During this time of friction, Ian created Meche out of Alana and Eisen's DNA so he would have a human sibling to grow up with. He was also struggling with severe daily panic attacks, mostly connected to his father's injuries, his grandmother's murder, and the rejection of his mother (who did not hide the fact that she looked down on him for being mortal).

Ian is very protective of his younger sister, Meche . For the last 12 months, Lucretia has tried to adopt Meche, but problems arose when Lucretia met with Eisen and Alana in "Meche's Sleepover " and they insisted that the adoption would be unsafe. Ian has extremely mixed feelings about the adoption as he dislikes the fact that Meche is cutting him out of her life, and especially dislikes the fact that she is choosing to join Courtney's family when Courtney is the one who killed Ian's wife

In late 2008 (around August), as a way to get off the planet and hopefully stop the panic attacks, Ian dropped out of high school to study abroad on Planet Tuu with his Aunt Alivia (Alivia having married Eisen's tanuki littermate, Moriko; Alivia and Moriko are now separated in present day, so technically Alivia and Ian are ex-aunt and ex-nephew).

Ian will often claim he graduated because, well... he doesn't really advertise the fact that he dropped out. While working with the Tuu aliens, Ian abducted and microchipped 10-year-old Sekhmet, although she didn't learn of his involvement until "Ian Steals a Friend" in December 2021. 10-year-old Sekhmet gained a reputation in Port Hawk's Eye during this time, which is further discussed in "Dear Prometheus." Cedric and Tab traveled to Tuu with Ian, and Ian also met Tyler while he was there.

Between late 2008 and part of 2012, Ian remained on Tuu, studying and totally not having dropped out of school. It's worth noting that before he dropped out, Ian had a very promising scholarship lined up for him at his witch school of choice. Since he vanished for 5 years and cannot provide proof he took the classes needed for high school graduation, the scholarship was revoked. Ian would have been pressured to be a white witch to complement his brother Cedric, a black witch, but probably would have switched to become a black witch and master electricity. Instead, his future took him down the path of raiderhood in 2021.

In 2012, Alivia and Ian returned to earth where Ian met Meche in person for the first time. Eisen woke from his coma, so Ian continued working on repairs to Eisen's body. During his time studying on Tuu, Ian learned a great deal about genetics, biology, and neuroscience (at the expense of abandoning most other education). He spent all his time either working on his dad's body or working on personal projects. He didn't know it at the time, but this was the last chance he really had for personal projects and "fun" inventions. Alana, having grown bored of fighting with her siblings from basically Day 1, was glad to hand leadership to Eisen while she went off to sunbathe and flirt with hot seal men down by the pier.

The Viper, Gazelle, and Hyena factions began to solidify in Ian's absence, so he missed most of the early pre-official-war drama and returned to the planet at a time where tensions were bitter and building fast. The metropolis is divided according to its ports. Eisen, Alana, and Ian consider themselves aligned with the Vipers.

Read more about the 3 factions HERE
2012 is also the year Eisen became a black witch and gained Respawn as a familiar

In 2013, Ian had a bad clash with Rudy. Apparently, in Ian's absence, Rudy had been busy pursuing the Shadow Dragon. 2013 revealed that Rudy was after the temple deity too (having leeched off Ian's childhood stories and notes back when they were in boarding school together). Ian never really got over this. The splintered relationship was much harder on Ian than it was on Rudy, as Ian had considered Rudy a brother figure since he was 7 years old and he was horrified by the idea that Rudy was scheming to murder a sacred deity and steal its magic for his own.

In 2014, fighting officially broke out in Rosado del Sur. The three factions were officially acknowledged as the Viper, Gazelle, and Hyena factions. This same year, Ian and Ivy confessed their feelings for each other ("19 Glances Back - Ivy ") and become boyfriend/girlfriend in secret.

On March 3rd, 2015, Ian and Ivy crossed the border and were married in Rosewater Savanna since a human/bat marriage would be illegal back home ("Miles Away "). As fighting grew more severe, Eisen pressured Ian more and more to spend less time "playing" and more time designing weapons. Ian tried to shelter Meche from the worst of the fighting. Notably, Ian was extremely insistent that he would only design non-lethal weapons, most likely due to the trauma he went through when Eisen was hurt in the 2006 explosion. To this day, he dislikes the thought of killing people and has a lot of anticipatory anxiety about his future.

2015 is also the year Ian began collecting people with the plan to get into the temple in 2017

In 2016, Ian created Carmelo and again turned to Alana as a surrogate mother for his creation. Alana agreed and Carmelo was born as his and Meche's half-sibling, and the youngest of the Castillo family ("19 Glances Back - Meche "). Eisen continued heaping pressure on Ian to design weapons and stop the war at all costs, even if it meant summoning the imprisoned Shadow Dragon from inside the nearby rainforest temple.

In 2017, Ian tried to get through the Shadow Dragon temple through one of its doors (near an underground lake shrine), believing he had all the married couples required to open that door. Notably, Addison was part of this group and the events of that attempt can be seen in "19 Glances Back - Addison ." Shortly after the temple entrance failed, Addi (under their pop star name, Sunni Delightful) was murdered in Mudkeep Town's Mudflower Hotel. However, because Addi had multiple alternate forms, only one died. Addi lost access to that form (the "assigned female upon form gain" pygmy goat form) and currently swaps between the androgynous and AMAB pygmy goat forms, along with a few other forms they have.

Ian was put on trial for murder (in Rosewater Savanna despite being a citizen of Rosado del Sur). Mango and Cody both testified of his presence, but Ian was deemed innocent and released. Mango and Cody went into Witness Protection nonetheless, with Cody in particular feeling bitter that his life was uprooted because of a testimony that didn't even put Ian in jail. Ian is still extremely bitter about this event, as revealing why he - a native of Rosado del Sur down south - was across the country in a random hotel in north Rosewater Savanna - would have forced him to admit he and his wife had arrived for a secret romantic getaway in their wedding night hotel. Ian opted for the risk of going to jail to keep Ivy's identity secret, as their marriage is illegal in Rosado del Sur and would have caused severe political drama back home with his high-up position in the Viper faction. Ian does have occasional nightmares about the trial ruling him guilty and landing him in jail with murder charges, though they're not as bad now as they were in late 2017 and 2018.

More about the trial can be glimpsed in "Apex Predators (Part 2) ", "The Hedgehog's Dilemma ," "Diamond Dust ," "Eisen Checks In ," and "Southbound "

During 2018, Ian mostly stayed in Rosado del Sur since Lilypad had been leveled by a raider attack, but throughout 2019 and 2020, he began to visit Lilypad more frequently, spending about 6 months of the year at home in Rosado del Sur and the other 6 at the family cabin in Hollow Forest. Despite the raiders in the area, it was arguably considered safer to stay at the family cabin and work remotely to keep Viper Faction weapon designs and secret plans from falling into enemy hands during the war, especially once his aunt Alivia moved to Lilypad (after her mansion in Satin City caught fire).

In terms of group submission dates, Ian made his first onscreen appearance in 2020 with a cameo in "Wizards and Pigs " ("19 Glances Back - Ian " provides Ian's POV of the car scene), and his first present-day appearance alongside Carmelo in "Robin's Egg Blue ." He also appears in "Roadrunner " when he and Ivy were driving back with smoothies from the gas station. He made a notable appearance in "Copperhead Dorkface and Alivia " where he threatened his pregnant aunt Alivia with a ray gun, left her begging and writhing in pain, and stole her oranges (including the ones she had already planted). This piece is also notable for focusing on Ian's pride, as he made a point of correcting Alivia when she got his title wrong and when she accused him of stepping on the grass when he did not, in fact, step on the grass.

Eisen once held the title Copperhead Eisen of the Viper faction. Because Ian is a double agent (playing the role of Morales in the Gazelle faction), Morales "stole" the title from him as a power move and became "Copperhead Morales" until "Ian" supposedly reclaimed it in a totally real but secret fight, after which he supposedly retired the title Copperhead out of respect for the late Copperhead Eisen.

2021 was a big year for Ian content, kicking off with "The Copperhead and Candle " which showed Ian's tenderness towards animals and children, his hot temper, his love for Ivy, and his struggles with dissociation. He notably appeared in "Masquerade Part 3: Shed Skin " where he was seen having a business dinner with Robin, and this was followed by "Birth to My Creation" (TBA) wherein Ian drank a raider potion and began to gain his robot forms. This was the finale of Arc 6, "Dead Wait."

Arc 7 - "Mecha of Science" - opened with several Ian pieces, including "Red Rubber Gloves " (a poem), "Roland and the Beast of Burden ," "Badges For Vipers ," "Eisen Checks In ," and "Neophobia ." As the year went on, Ian content continued showing him as a short-tempered scientist with delusions of grandeur, but increasing focus was placed on his relationship with Ivy as she began to prompt him to consider starting a family with her. Rosado del Sur frowns on non-humans, and the Ian/Ivy marriage is not considered legal in that country. Staying near Lilypad would keep Ivy out of harm's way, which wouldn't be a bad thing. Although Ian already had DNA for both himself and Ivy on hand, he agreed to try fixing the broken shrink ray so that he could reduce his size and court her a little more face to face. He expressed a lot of anxiety about this even while in the middle of working on it in "I Start Fixing a Shrink Ray ."

Ian's anxiety over becoming a father continued to be a main point in pieces like "The Dinner Party " and "Ivy's New Man " as Ian reunited with his half-brother Cedric, met Cedric's triplets (who already had kids of their own), reunited with his aunt Alivia who was nearing the end of her pregnancy (her newest litter fathered by Percy), and met Ivy's familiar. Ian and Ivy had agreed that she could bring a familiar into her life while he was still debating the pros and cons of fatherhood. Notably, Ian finished his shrink ray in "Obligatory Pre-Diasaster Make-Out Sesh " and was so conflicted about the idea of becoming a father that he almost chose to break the ray forever, unable to explain even to himself why he made it in the first place if it scares him. He is, in fact, a glutton for being praised for his accomplishments no matter how much he fears what he creates.

His growing anxiety regarding his relationship with Ivy led to him wavering in his loyalty, and in "Fair's Fair " he admitted to Ivy that he felt attracted to a human woman named Ellie, and it was revealed in "Pen to Paper " that he did begin flirting on and off with Ellie throughout October and November. Ellie, unbenownst to Ian, was actually Ivy in her human form as she tested his potential attraction to her. Ivy, who was born a fruit bat and turned into a vampire against her will, hated her human form but was determined to keep it if Ian fell in love with Ellie. If Ian's fear of reproducing stemmed from his reluctance to "hurt" his tiny bat wife, then maybe he could love a human?

Ian and Ivy traveled north in "Northbound ," and "Cardinal Street ," with the two most notable pieces of this arc being "Counting Stars " and "Fairytale Gone Bad ." Ivy was making her annual mapmaking tour of the area near Raljjord and Ian joined her as her bodyguard. Unfortunately, 2021 also happened to be the year that Raljjord natives Silver and Courtney had returned home to undertake their coming of age ceremony. While fleeing from the hunting Courtney, Ivy took on her human form, much to Ian's horror as he realized Ivy and Ellie were one in the same. And, more upsetting to him, that Ivy had hidden her human form from him for seven years, even lying to him on multiple occasions when he asked if she had any other forms.

At this point, Ian realized that the reason the Shadow Dragon temple had rejected him in 2017 was because Ivy wasn't actually a bat, but a vampire, which was not the correct species needed to open the door. Therefore, Ivy's lying added years of stress and sleepless nights that could have easily been avoided... It seemed she was determined to prevent him from reaching the Shadow Dragon and his dreams meant nothing to her. Ivy begged his forgiveness, and Ian chose to kill her human form so - like Addison - she would lose access to that form and be restricted to the forms that hadn't died. In her case, killing her human form might remove her human DNA so the temple door would accept her as a bat. Unfortunately, after Ian killed her, Ivy flew away from him in a panic. Courtney brought her down as his ceremonial hunt kill, successfully completing the coming of age ritual that he ran away from years ago before his arrival in Lilypad. He finally became a man in Raljjordian society... at the cost of Ivy's life.

Other pieces in the Northbound arc include "White Widower ," "A Creature of the Night ," "The Mineral Museum ," "Ian Steals a Friend ," and "Misdirection ." There's some sort of transition piece that bridges the gap between "Misdirection " and "Simon Says ," but I haven't finalized how I want it to go down. Just know that Ian did leave Raljjord at some point, possibly in a destructive way and almost certainly on the run. It's fine.

In 2022, Ian begins early January with "Simon Says ," where he (in his Simon identity) persuades Sekhmet to travel with him to the Southern Continent-- a way of getting back at Professor Nightly (AKA Eisen) who flat-out told her that she wasn't allowed to join the autumn archaeology adventure as long as she and Courtney planned to try for kids. Sekhmet, furious at the thought of a man controlling her life, accepted Ian's offer, which would come to fruition a few months later.

The next notable piece of 2022 Ian content is "Icarus You ," which flips between telling the story of the Krakens vs. Unicorns turf war and flashbacks to Ian's childhood. Ian's relationship with Tab (and also his father) is a heavy focus of this one. This piece also reveals that Ian met Rudy when he teamed up with some bullies who were picking on him, althoughhe and Rudy did later become friends. At the end of this story, Ian jumps from the central pillar in the Battlegrounds, fails to shapeshift, and dies because he hit the ground too hard. Fortunately for him, he died within Respawn's protective aura, which catapulted him into the waiting pool of Iolite County.

Ian's brief experience in the waiting pool is seen in "Orpheus Reborn ," where Ian meets Kit's mother, Isadora. Isadora warns Ian not to leave the pool because if he does, he'll officially be beyond Respawn's abilities to revive him. Ian nearly leaves the pool when he hears that Ivy is "somewhere beyond his line of sight," but he does stay in the pool long enough that Respawn successfully revives him. Ian explains his experience to his father, Tab, and Roland, who react with more nonchalance than Ian would have liked. Eisen warns Ian not to "play" with Respawn's revival abilities but insists on Ian taking Respawn as his second bonded familiar (the first being Ichi, his robot bug).

Meche was very affected by this experience which is why she skips school to seek Ian out the next day in "Persephone Here "
At the end of "Orpheus," Ian requested that Roland bring Kit so Ian can ask hir questions about the afterlife. Roland does so, leading to "Wait For Me "

Ian's experience with "heaven" (and his conversation with Kit) prompts him to seek out Rudy for more answers (and, while he was at it, persuade Opal the white witch to place a blessing on his wing backpack to allow him to fly-- It's worth noting that Ian already had flight on his power list because of his robot forms, so Unicorn Saliva wasn't needed, but canonically he needs that backpack to fly in his wingless and rocketless forms). This led to the "Runaway " arc, which starts with a comic page before switching into 5 emote conversation stories each about 2,000 words long. Ian returned to his final day at the turf war in "BANG! " before leaving early to catch a flight south with Sekhmet and Courtney (taking on his Simon disguise, as alluded to in "Simon Says").

Runaway Part 4 - It's worth noting that although Courtney opted to approach Eli (Kima's avatar) in "Two Gods In the Orchard" to ask about his future kids, Ian resisted the meeting, insisting he didn't want spoilers about his future because he would rather meet his future kids side by side with Ivy. He dislikes the thought of having kids in other timelines, as it flares his anxiety.

Ian's role in the Southbound arc includes "Flirting Lessons ," "Southbound ," "Pretty Girls In a Gift Shop ," "Dahlia National Park ," and "Dear Prometheus ," the latter being the finale of Arc 8. During Arc 9, Ian appears briefly at the end of "Spirit Dogs in Spring " and is involved with some chaos in the May 2022 raid. At this point, his content fades into the background, with him enacting plans to visit the Shadow Dragon temple in August...

*IAN'S RAIDER IDENTITY

It is worth noting that all throughout 2021, Ian faced struggles with his raider forms, including the fact that his shadow form consistently whispered to him that any children he produced with Ivy would be sickly abominations and that he should leave her for a human woman and a better chance at reproducing. Ian's shadow form was shown to be dangerous and unpredictable at times, even sneaking out in the middle of the night to run wild- and once attempting to sneak away from Tab and Roland while at the train station.

Ian exclusively refers to Finch as "The Dark Lady" and has high respect for her. He thinks she's amazing because she was able to gift the power of shapeshifting into multiple forms "instantaneously" when, in Ian's perception of world lore, it normally takes years and years of study to learn how to shapeshift. This is a nod to the Raider Potion granting an additional 3 forms instantly while all other ticket types have to wait for 2 month cooldowns before new forms can be gained.

Ian thinks Finch is cool; he brought her cookies once and he wants her to think he's cool too. Due to Ian's warped life experiences (which include the civil war, a father who was once a feral animal who believes in survival of the fittest, growing up with selkie family members who have accepted stolen sealskins and being yanked into sudden marriages as an acceptable way of life, and living with aliens who believe abducting and microchipping people without consent is okay) he has a difficult time imagining Finch as an evil being. He sees her as a "tragic scientist" in the exact same way that he sees both Victor Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll as misunderstood figures who are unfairly analyzed, ridiculed, and hated; Ian looks past the moral qualms and believes that Finch's love for scientific exploration is super cool and he is thrilled to take part in it.

Ian blames himself for not being good enough, frequently considering himself a "failed experiment" because he struggles to maintain control of his shadow form. He desperately wishes to master his shadow form and will purposely switch to the rat form to wander and inevitably cause chaos in Lilypad - see also, the "Runaway " arc - at times he is convinced that "he needs to see what it does" so he can "research" it. You can try confronting him with blatant evidence that stealing things, breaking things, and turning other people into raiders against their will is wrong, and Ian will bend backwards to excuse Finch even when he doesn't really understand her motivations himself.

In truth, Ian has been so desperate for the ability to shapeshift for the 27 years of his life before he became a raider that he clings to Finch as this brilliant scientist who made his dreams come true. Finch has absolutely given instructions that make him pause and feel uncomfortable, but Ian chooses to brush these character flaws aside because he wants to believe her motives are pure even when evidence suggests they aren't. Think of all the ways that creating a hivemind could be useful for people in a dangerous environment who need to cry for help! And she DID give him night vision, even if it left him sensitive to the sun.

Ian just wants to be a cool shapeshifter, hopefully gain a dragon form someday, and meanwhile hang out with a cool witch scientist. What's so wrong about that? The Dark Lady is so smart and powerful to have designed something like the Raider Potion. And shapeshifting is so fun...

... and he chose this life for himself, after a lifetime of being pushed to be only what his father wanted him to be. Even if it's scary, it's also thrilling to experiment with these other forms and fight to gain control of his shadow state. He wants to pass this experiment with flying colors so that no matter what Finch ends up doing with her research from here, at least he got something nice out of it. Don't take this away from him.........

Description
“Back home, my job is to design weapons to bring all this fighting in Rosado del Sur to an end. Every weapon I design is exclusively non-lethal, with as many safeguards as I can possibly put in place to keep them that way. No one dies in this civil war if they use the weapons I place in their hands. We capture people, we shrink them, we remove them, we encase them… but everybody lives. My grandmother was President Aphrodite Coral, and it was her murder that marked the start of this war. I don’t… want anyone else to die.”
Moodboard Sources

🔺 TEAM IAN 🔺
You can search * to jump between sections of this profile

*OVERVIEW

Birth Name: Morales Castillo - Does not normally use this name in Lilypad - This name is associated with his Gazelle Faction identity

This is the name associated with his heterochromia, the Shadow Blaster weapon, and the Platform Gun
OOC, Morales is named after Diana Morales from the musical "A Chorus Line," or more specifically he is named after a line from the song "Nothing" -- "Okay, Morales... Now what do you feel?" / "And I said... 'Nothing... I'm feeling nothing...'" [Song has un-CC-friendly language; listen at own discretion]
His dad calls him "Alice" as a term of endearment

Prefers: Ian Rosetta - Associated with Viper Faction identity

This is the name associated with his main app art outfit (especially the glasses), the Lightray weapon, and the Resize Ray

App: Here + Respawn

Temple Curse: Clones - Revealed in "Okay, Morales "

Voted most likely Rid Kid to walk in and flip random switches without reading up on what they do

NOTABLE CONTENT

If you were only going to check out one piece of Ian content that sums him up before this event, it should be: "Ian Steals a Friend "

If you've got time for two, also consider: "Dear Prometheus "

Respawn appeared in "Icarus You ," "Orpheus Reborn ," and "Meche's Sleepover ." He is a very neutral, easy-going familiar with dog-like behaviors, such as sitting down to scratch behind his ears. He does not walk biped. He does have a tongue, which pokes from his face nozzle to pant or lick your hand. He doesn't say much even if you're bonded to him.

Timeline || Arc Recaps || Table of Contents

Spreadsheet - Table of Contents - Anything Ian appears in is tagged "Ian" and will come up with CTRL-F (Art and literature are in separate tabs)

Personal Tracker - Contains proof links for forms, clothing, salon purchases, and also lists powers

*EVENT HISTORY

Ian's father, Eisen , always knew Ian was intelligent. Why wouldn't he be? Eisen screened several embryos and handpicked Ian as his son for just that reason (Ian describes himself as a test tube designer baby). Ever since he learned of the Shadow Dragon Temple, Eisen has wanted to explore the temple interior and whatever treasures may be inside it. Growing up, Ian was taught that the temple was valuable and important. Most of the interactions with his father revolved around how Ian's intellect would help Eisen break through it. After war broke out in Rosado del Sur, Eisen used Ian's anxiety about the war and his grandmother's murder to urge him that the fallen deity imprisoned in the temple would be able to end the war.

Since the death of Ian's wife in December 2021, however, Ian's only hope is to convince the deity within the temple walls to bring Ivy back to life. Screw Dad and screw the war. Also, can someone please hand him his inhaler? The dust down in this temple is killer on his allergies and asthma...

EVENT ACTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS

Ian hopes to power through the temple as fast as possible, but more importantly, he wants to be present when Room 100 opens. As far as Ian knows, if he can't prove he helped free the shadow dragon, he could lose his chance to appeal to it for help. Ian is likely to yell "Wait, wait, wait!" or whine when people outpace him. He's also likely to steal supplies or keys from - or sabotage - anyone he recognizes as part of Team Rudy.

Unless separated in a temple room, Ian is accompanied by Tab (his personal assistant / service dog) and Respawn, his dad's familiar. Respawn can revive anyone who dies within his protective aura, so Ian is more likely to stick near a large group of powerful people than he is to go off on his own. However, it's very possible he could get distracted and lose track of his teammates-- he struggles with dissociation, and if Tab isn't there to keep him centered in reality, he might zone out.

Ian is impulsive and tends to be snappy with others. He has a grandiose personality and tends to be loud and dramatic, as you might expect from someone with a cape and shiny anime glasses. He has a short temper and might lash out physically if he's upset (four good examples are the ending scenes of "19 Glances Back - Addison ," "Eisen Checks In ," "Counting Stars ," and "Misdirection "); when Ian gets upset, his tact and kindness tend to go out the window, and he'll pick a fight with anyone who talks to him.

If you are a Team Ian member in the same room as Ian and are struggling with a puzzle, he would rather help you with it than abandon you. He believes in safety in numbers... as long as he doesn't think you're intentionally dragging your feet. He might push you aside and solve the puzzle for you if you let him, but will get flustered and upset if he struggles with it in front of you. He's a prideful individual and doesn't like facing failure.

Skilled with: Puzzle, Strength, Monster, and Agility Challenges
Weak to: Trap, Illusion, Water, and Charisma Challenges

*FORMS - Click HERE for visual ref folder

Standard - Human | Generally Ian's preferred form for its dexterous fingers; it is comfortable to stay in for a long time. Ian is above average in terms of athletics, but he's still scrawny and by no means a skilled athlete

Mythic - Robot Rat | Strong, more reliable than robot dragon

Raider - Cyborg | This form isn't used often because of the limited finger dexterity, but Ian relies on it when he needs to access the

Shadow - Rat | A lithe, athletic form that can easily jump from place to place; Ian has a history of struggling with his shadow rat form

Electric Rat | A swift rat form that is rarely seen outside the interior of the robots (Because without a Duped Potion, the only time it can leave is if the robot is turned off or damaged). When Ian switches into robot forms, his electric rat form functions as the power core. This form is genderless

Robot Dragon | A large and powerful robot form that can fly and breathe fire, but this robot has not been refined as much as the robot rat form, so it is less stable and more dangerous

Alt Shadow - Human | An extra form; not much special about it

Alt Shadow - Dragon | Not to be confused with the Shadow God from the Shadow Dragon Temple

Half-Shadow - Human | A "corrupted" human form that Ian may fall into when he's already in human form and is growing stressed

Half-Shadow - Rat | ^

Half-Shadow - Dragon | ^

^ All three of Ian's "half-shadow" forms can be portrayed with different amounts of shadow on them, as his body has the ability to shift the shadow around; this was approved HERE

Notable pieces where Ian changed forms include: "Neophobia " (Shadow rat), "Ian and the Frog Princess " (Cyborg), "Counting Stars " (Electric rat and robot rat), "Ian Steals a Friend " (Robot rat and shadow rat), and "BANG! " (Shadow rat and robot dragon)
Ian also has two object forms - Backpack and Ray Gun - but I would rather these not be used during this event

*POWERS

Raider Abilities - Weakest to light
Raider-legal shapeshifting, heightened senses, can act like a shadow, minor shadow creation and manipulation, hivemind access

Tanuki x Selkie Genetics

Ian, like Meche, was born of a selkie x tanuki union. However, he did not gain any of their magical abilities and was born a fully standard human. He is not capable of passing on transformation or magic to his offspring; none of their powers exist in his body. The one and only "magical" thing about his standard form is his eyes, which are orange and red (heterochromia). This was done purely for aesthetic purposes and nothing about his eyes is magical (Except that his red eye gains the ability to glow sometimes after he becomes a raider).

Mad Scientist

Ian is on a raider ticket, meaning he is partly mythical in the eyes of the group. He is based on the mad scientist trope and has the ability to create a lot of mad scientist things relating to biology, physics, and chemistry. Ex: He was able to create Carmelo (a Bug cat.) out of genetic material, he can create weapons such as freeze rays, and he has extreme skill in robotics. I don't plan for Ian to create other living creatures, but anything he did make would be villager legal (AKA not a magic pet). Weapons will not be used against other members' characters without consent. Ian cannot create any mind control or powerful influence devices. He made an amnesia ray once but he can't remember it.

Robot Abilities

After becoming a raider, Ian gained the ability to shapeshift into a robot rat. He has some basic robot abilities like increased strength and also extra weaknesses, like water. Ian regularly attempts to fiddle with his robotic form, intending to modify it with "improvements" (to horrible and/or hilarious results) [Update note to permit modifications-- this is when he had flight and ability to gain additional robot forms was approved]
Ian's robots fly using rocket thrusters, shown in "Counting Stars " - The dragon's wings are primarily for show, but they save some fuel
Sample robot modifications were approved upfront: the addition and removal of rocket thrusters, buttons, panels, wires
Wing Backpack
Also, Ian can fly in non-robot forms by using his wing backpack, which is a combination of mechanical design and a white witch's blessing (Opal)

Cyborg Abilities

Ian can use his eyepiece like a mini computer (in cyborg and robot forms). He has some computer-based abilities such as the ability to toggle heat vision on and off. He can pull up screens using his "eye computer" to view information about himself (useful to assess damage and heat levels) or about other people (Think of robots analyzing what they see in media).

Minor meta information could be gained this way (Ex: Characters with very low or very high body temperature would stand out, possibly revealing them as mythicals even if they are disguised as standard villagers). Ian would have the ability to pierce deliberately bad illusions, but if the illusions are good enough then they will convince his screen that he is seeing a human instead of a kitsune, for example.

Fire
Ian gained the ability to breathe fire + shoot laser beams from the palms of his robot dragon form when this form was approved.

Ray Guns
Ian usually keeps 4 ray guns on hand: His Shadow Blaster (Can shoot a shadow that restrains people), his Lightray 4k (Looks like a white remote control, is silent and can shoot through windows, adding a lens can make the beam very hot), his Resize Ray (Often used to shrink enemies or himself; Ian has Minuscule perma'd, and an official villager target also needs Minuscule or Grandiose as appropriate), and his Platform Gun (Creates invisible forcefield platforms you can jump on; Ian has Protective perma'd)
Eloise's app has a few more details about common Rosado del Surian ray guns. Ian theoretically has some of those, but he usually uses these four.
In " Meche's Sleepover," Ian uses a more powerful Lightray that looks like a shotgun, but it is less energy efficient and has longer recharge time

Perma-Minuscule

Ian has the ability to shrink to approx. 5 inches in height and return to his normal size

Perma-Electric Master - Click for full info

Can gain forms made of electricity, can create electricity, can manipulate electricity, can resist electricity, can jumpstart hearts or cars, etc. Actually in canon Ian does not control electricity and this potion just exists to lend power to his rays and for lots of mad science aesthetic

Perma-Speedrunner - Click for full info

Can process things in hyperspeed. Can exist in a bubble that rapidly speeds him through things while the outside world progresses slowly. He does not have the ability to run on water. In his own eyes, he is still moving at normal speed and everyone else is moving slowly

Perma-Protective

Forcefield generation, usually but not always following hand or leg gestures. Forcefields may seem invisible until hit, but sometimes are more visible. Forcefields are made of energy and sometimes (but not always) have color. Forcefields may include sparks (Ian also has Electric Master) and may show signs of cracking under pressure. Forcefields can be created when an arm is swept through the air, meaning that by "shoving" someone from a distance, they might actually fall over because they were shoved with an invisible forcefield.

Forcefields are not always round. They can be other shapes and fit inside containers. They can also be jumped on and stood on. The range of this "jumping on" ability only applies as far as is reasonable for a Protective Potion. For example, running and throwing yourself off a cliff can result in a "block" spawning to catch you, protecting you from a fall and certain death. Alternatively, you might be encased in a bubble and bounce at the bottom. If there's no sense of immediate danger, the ability to create a forcefield "walking path" may not always be there, or might apply in limited ways.

Not a power, but I feel like I should point out that the Viper Faction is building a giant metal dragon kaiju; it was still in progess during March ("Dear Prometheus "), but it is very likely finished by now and could possibly be useful to you during Month 2 of the event.....

*EVENT USE

If you want to include the event NPCs in your story content, this event encourages that! The Raiders of the Southern Temple event is designed to mimic the storytelling set-up of an OCT (original character tournament) - A competitive storytelling environment where many stories are told, characters are portrayed by multiple people, and only one canon becomes finalized in the end. I am the only person who is restricted to treating the winning entry as the official story canon. If you don't win the competitive aspect, you can still keep your personal canon as long as you don't mind any conflicts it might have with my future story content if we RP later.

Ian Event Checklist

❗  Please be sensitive about blood and burns (Event host has hemophobia and burn trauma)

❗  You can show characters in different outfits, especially if you want to establish multiple days passing or if a certain outfit is too tricky for you to draw multiple times. However, please let me know in "Updates for Riddle" Discord channel so I can get the outfit with one of my fashion packs and keep clothing legal. You are also free to use clothing from the wardrobe trackers
Non-human forms [Rats/robots] can be portrayed naked, just keep it PG

❗  Relationships - Ian is a demisexual married to Ivy; he is not likely to develop attraction towards others
I'm okay with little jokes like the fact that Ian has multiple times in my canon been jealous of Kit possessing other people. It's okay to have your characters flirt with Ian and it's okay to show him feeling proud, amused, flustered, or whatever you think feels right as long as it doesn't advance into serious two-way romance.
Please don't portray Ian kissing/cuddling the other event NPCs, your own characters, or other members' characters; the dragon plot is more important to him. This also applies to his rat form, which is known in the past for wanting to flirt and reproduce. The rat brain is cool with dragon plot priority
It's okay to portray Ian showing loyalty to his teammates and forming friendships with them. If your character gets a crush on him in the process, that's fine; I'm okay with you playing your villager in character if they develop crushes on people they adventure with
For reference purposes, Ian is heteromantic demisexual. He dislikes surprise physical touch and finds it difficult to feel attraction towards people of his size who can restrain him. He does have a history of analyizing potential relationship options and would possibly seek a relationship again if he can't revive Ivy, so he's not necessarily cutting himself off from the concept. A useful piece about his attraction is "Fair's Fair " when Ivy flirted with him in her human form without Ian realizing it was her, and he felt conflicted and confused that he felt attracted to her.

✅  Can draw or write about this character. I encourage both mediums (and any other group-legal mediums)

✅  Can simplify this character's design within reason (i.e. they remain recognizable and within the group's range of free art style tweaks, but please don't change body or hair colors to something I haven't bought from the salon)

✅  Can portray your own interpretation of this character, including friendships, loyalty levels, inventory items, motivations, skills, weaknesses, interests, and dialogue-- I'd prefer you to keep things reasonable to the backstory info below, for example Ian grew up in a hot climate with no snow so it's unlikely he is a skiing expert, but also it really isn't the end of the world if you do say he's a skiing expert

✅  Can make up backstory details, such as minor past experiences or conversations (i.e. "This character had a sad holiday experience in this flashback" or "This character learned how to pick locks from a childhood friend they don't see anymore")

✅  Can ask questions in the "Lore Chat" channel if you want input from me

✅  Can portray this character's alt forms using the forms listed in "Forms" section-- If you want to draw a character that doesn't have a visual reference, please comment in the "Updates for Riddle" Discord channel to say you are taking dibs on designing that form's visuals because... we gotta keep it group legal and I can't have two people draw the same form in drastically different ways, I don't have the +1 Form potions to cover that right now wheeze

✅  Can portray story development. If you can build up a story to show the reason why, you can show event NPCs getting hurt, learning secrets, losing their powers, quitting their jobs, betraying friends, reviving loved ones, or dying during the event. This all plays into the "Riddle can only treat one entry as the final canon" thing so keep that in mind, as I might not be able to accept your piece as my canon! You are free to explore these things and some of it might make it into my final canon, but I can't promise all of it will (because the winner's entry might conflict).

❌  Don't add new forms or new powers to this character's power list (I may not be able to handle the group mechanics with quick turnaround time)
✅ I actually do have a +1 Form Potion on hand and if the Discord chat came to a consensus like "We would love to depict Ian with a new form" then yeah we can talk about it and get a group-legal design settled, but Ian is probably the only one I would make this exception for
❌  No major backstory retcons (i.e. "This character has kids" or "This character lost their parents at a young age" or "This character was abused by an ex")

❌  Don't ask me to preview your entire WIP so you can make changes based on my feedback (I only want to read the finals for scoring, not WIPs-- I really would prefer to see your character interpretation, not my input!)

🔺 *FULL HISTORY 🔺

Morales Castillo was born on the Southern Continent (Rhacilia) in the country of Rosado del Sur on January 18th, 1994, the allegedly first mortal child in either Eisen Tanuki or Alana Selkie's family. His native language is Spanish (at least, it's played as Spanish onscreen although I personally imagine it as a blend between Spanish and Scottish Gaelic). Ian was raised in Los Apartamentos de Serpientes Durmientes (Sleeping Snake Apartments), which was an apartment complex stocked mostly with Eisen's and Alana's children in an attempt to give them all space and hide the fact that they were relatives from those who frowned on non-humans in the city. Eisen and Alana avoided the use of their mythical surnames and attempted to blend with the human population by remaining in human forms at all times.

Rosado del Sur is the name of the country. The north of the country is wasteland (dry savanna and rock) and the majority of the country is covered by a metropolis. The metropolis is divided into three ports, which is where the warring factions have claimed their headquarters.
The metropolis is known for its neon aesthetic. Most people stay inside during the day when it's hot. The city is busier at night when the air is cool and you can see the stars (an important part of working in the east side)
Ian grew up in Port Tiny Diamond, also known as Puerto Pequeño Diamante

For paperwork reasons (managed by Alana's human brother Ray of Port Hawk's Eye), Eisen and Alana married in late 1991 and in mid-1992 were assigned the surname Castillo because they lived at the top of the apartment building. Castillo translates to "Castle." Although Eisen and Alana are both long-lived mythical creatures, they are each other's first marriage in the eyes of the law, which has resulted in them sticking together for longer than either has with past partners.

Alana is fidgety in her marriage, ready to move to other men, although she hasn't yet cheated (despite many people, including Ian, believing she has). Eisen is serially monogamous and would insist on a divorce before he moved to another partner. Until he finds someone else, he's happy with Alana. They have an understanding relationship with one another and generally know where they stand, although Ian is constantly dripping with anticipatory dread about the inevitable upcoming divorce. He dislikes his mother (whom he considers distant and inattentive) and claims he'll be happy to see her go, but he's anxious and lonely when he imagines life after his mom has moved away and he never sees her again.

Ian is the 99th child born to his mother and the 141st born to his father
Ian was born with two orange eyes, but a childhood ray gun accident required surgery and left him with a red one; he was 2
Pieces that show Rosado del Sur include "Wizards and Pigs ," "Untitled Ian Documentary ," "Icarus You ," and "Dear Prometheus "
"Icarus You" and "Dear Prometheus" cover the majority of Ian backstory between them
Ian grew up hearing stories of the Shadow Dragon throughout his childhood, although Eisen would only pursue it more seriously when Ian got older

Ian was born human, but is still in denial of this and insists he is actually a tanuki. Ian has only four fingers on each hand, which he claims is proof that he is not a standard human. At the age of seven (2001), he was assigned Tab Silvertwig as his service dog and sent to Elk River Boys’ Academy in Vermont, North America (where his aunt Alivia and uncle Moriko were living at the time). There, he met Rudy McLean and began polishing his English. When he would visit his home in the Southern Continent, he and Tab would earn Ladybug Scout badges in the local lodge. They used a lot of materials at the lodge to build inventions, meaning that the scout lodge was technically Ian's first laboratory.

Ian and Rudy were roommates at boarding school for 5 years

In 2006, when Ian was 12, one of his creations exploded and sent his father Eisen into a coma. Ian begged his grandmother (President Aphrodite Coral) to ask her secretary, Sunflower the flamingo (Mango's mother), to sell one of Palekaiko's sacred God Crystals to save his life. Sunflower refused. Ian panicked and repaired Eisen's broken body with metal as quickly as he could, pushing himself too far. He didn't repair all of it as he was sentenced to 6 months in juvenile hall for the explosion he caused.

Ian was 12 when he first met Ivy, as seen in the last flashback of "Icarus You "
Ian reacts to the explosion in "Dear Prometheus " flashbacks

In late 2007 / early 2008, Ian began working with a secret Viper Faction recruit - Ivy the fruit bat (looked down on in the city for not being human) - as a team to scout the massive metropolis that covers Rosado del Sur. He briefly encountered Ivy in 2006, but early 2008 kicked off his first "solid" interactions with her.

This is also the year that President Aphrodite was found dead and her body was moved to the stasis chambers in the eastern part of Rosado del Sur's metropolis (the city Port Hawk's Eye). Even then, the president title was more of a dictatorship as Aphrodite had inherited the position from her father. Alana (Ian's mother) claimed all the inheritance for herself, turning away her two human siblings (Nizhoni and Ray) who were deemed worthless mortals. This caused extreme friction in the family, and the country slowly began splitting into three factions, each headed by one of the three siblings. Ian was always close to his Auntie Niz, and before she cut ties with Alana, she told Ian that he could always seek her out if he needed employment in the future since they were family and she loved him.

Ian's grandmother is seen alive in early "Icarus You " flashbacks
Ian reacts to his grandmother's death in "Dear Prometheus " flashbacks

During this time of friction, Ian created Meche out of Alana and Eisen's DNA so he would have a human sibling to grow up with. He was also struggling with severe daily panic attacks, mostly connected to his father's injuries, his grandmother's murder, and the rejection of his mother (who did not hide the fact that she looked down on him for being mortal).

Ian is very protective of his younger sister, Meche . For the last 12 months, Lucretia has tried to adopt Meche, but problems arose when Lucretia met with Eisen and Alana in "Meche's Sleepover " and they insisted that the adoption would be unsafe. Ian has extremely mixed feelings about the adoption as he dislikes the fact that Meche is cutting him out of her life, and especially dislikes the fact that she is choosing to join Courtney's family when Courtney is the one who killed Ian's wife

In late 2008 (around August), as a way to get off the planet and hopefully stop the panic attacks, Ian dropped out of high school to study abroad on Planet Tuu with his Aunt Alivia (Alivia having married Eisen's tanuki littermate, Moriko; Alivia and Moriko are now separated in present day, so technically Alivia and Ian are ex-aunt and ex-nephew).

Ian will often claim he graduated because, well... he doesn't really advertise the fact that he dropped out. While working with the Tuu aliens, Ian abducted and microchipped 10-year-old Sekhmet, although she didn't learn of his involvement until "Ian Steals a Friend" in December 2021. 10-year-old Sekhmet gained a reputation in Port Hawk's Eye during this time, which is further discussed in "Dear Prometheus." Cedric and Tab traveled to Tuu with Ian, and Ian also met Tyler while he was there.

Between late 2008 and part of 2012, Ian remained on Tuu, studying and totally not having dropped out of school. It's worth noting that before he dropped out, Ian had a very promising scholarship lined up for him at his witch school of choice. Since he vanished for 5 years and cannot provide proof he took the classes needed for high school graduation, the scholarship was revoked. Ian would have been pressured to be a white witch to complement his brother Cedric, a black witch, but probably would have switched to become a black witch and master electricity. Instead, his future took him down the path of raiderhood in 2021.

In 2012, Alivia and Ian returned to earth where Ian met Meche in person for the first time. Eisen woke from his coma, so Ian continued working on repairs to Eisen's body. During his time studying on Tuu, Ian learned a great deal about genetics, biology, and neuroscience (at the expense of abandoning most other education). He spent all his time either working on his dad's body or working on personal projects. He didn't know it at the time, but this was the last chance he really had for personal projects and "fun" inventions. Alana, having grown bored of fighting with her siblings from basically Day 1, was glad to hand leadership to Eisen while she went off to sunbathe and flirt with hot seal men down by the pier.

The Viper, Gazelle, and Hyena factions began to solidify in Ian's absence, so he missed most of the early pre-official-war drama and returned to the planet at a time where tensions were bitter and building fast. The metropolis is divided according to its ports. Eisen, Alana, and Ian consider themselves aligned with the Vipers.

Read more about the 3 factions HERE
2012 is also the year Eisen became a black witch and gained Respawn as a familiar

In 2013, Ian had a bad clash with Rudy. Apparently, in Ian's absence, Rudy had been busy pursuing the Shadow Dragon. 2013 revealed that Rudy was after the temple deity too (having leeched off Ian's childhood stories and notes back when they were in boarding school together). Ian never really got over this. The splintered relationship was much harder on Ian than it was on Rudy, as Ian had considered Rudy a brother figure since he was 7 years old and he was horrified by the idea that Rudy was scheming to murder a sacred deity and steal its magic for his own.

In 2014, fighting officially broke out in Rosado del Sur. The three factions were officially acknowledged as the Viper, Gazelle, and Hyena factions. This same year, Ian and Ivy confessed their feelings for each other ("19 Glances Back - Ivy ") and become boyfriend/girlfriend in secret.

On March 3rd, 2015, Ian and Ivy crossed the border and were married in Rosewater Savanna since a human/bat marriage would be illegal back home ("Miles Away "). As fighting grew more severe, Eisen pressured Ian more and more to spend less time "playing" and more time designing weapons. Ian tried to shelter Meche from the worst of the fighting. Notably, Ian was extremely insistent that he would only design non-lethal weapons, most likely due to the trauma he went through when Eisen was hurt in the 2006 explosion. To this day, he dislikes the thought of killing people and has a lot of anticipatory anxiety about his future.

2015 is also the year Ian began collecting people with the plan to get into the temple in 2017

In 2016, Ian created Carmelo and again turned to Alana as a surrogate mother for his creation. Alana agreed and Carmelo was born as his and Meche's half-sibling, and the youngest of the Castillo family ("19 Glances Back - Meche "). Eisen continued heaping pressure on Ian to design weapons and stop the war at all costs, even if it meant summoning the imprisoned Shadow Dragon from inside the nearby rainforest temple.

In 2017, Ian tried to get through the Shadow Dragon temple through one of its doors (near an underground lake shrine), believing he had all the married couples required to open that door. Notably, Addison was part of this group and the events of that attempt can be seen in "19 Glances Back - Addison ." Shortly after the temple entrance failed, Addi (under their pop star name, Sunni Delightful) was murdered in Mudkeep Town's Mudflower Hotel. However, because Addi had multiple alternate forms, only one died. Addi lost access to that form (the "assigned female upon form gain" pygmy goat form) and currently swaps between the androgynous and AMAB pygmy goat forms, along with a few other forms they have.

Ian was put on trial for murder (in Rosewater Savanna despite being a citizen of Rosado del Sur). Mango and Cody both testified of his presence, but Ian was deemed innocent and released. Mango and Cody went into Witness Protection nonetheless, with Cody in particular feeling bitter that his life was uprooted because of a testimony that didn't even put Ian in jail. Ian is still extremely bitter about this event, as revealing why he - a native of Rosado del Sur down south - was across the country in a random hotel in north Rosewater Savanna - would have forced him to admit he and his wife had arrived for a secret romantic getaway in their wedding night hotel. Ian opted for the risk of going to jail to keep Ivy's identity secret, as their marriage is illegal in Rosado del Sur and would have caused severe political drama back home with his high-up position in the Viper faction. Ian does have occasional nightmares about the trial ruling him guilty and landing him in jail with murder charges, though they're not as bad now as they were in late 2017 and 2018.

More about the trial can be glimpsed in "Apex Predators (Part 2) ", "The Hedgehog's Dilemma ," "Diamond Dust ," "Eisen Checks In ," and "Southbound "

During 2018, Ian mostly stayed in Rosado del Sur since Lilypad had been leveled by a raider attack, but throughout 2019 and 2020, he began to visit Lilypad more frequently, spending about 6 months of the year at home in Rosado del Sur and the other 6 at the family cabin in Hollow Forest. Despite the raiders in the area, it was arguably considered safer to stay at the family cabin and work remotely to keep Viper Faction weapon designs and secret plans from falling into enemy hands during the war, especially once his aunt Alivia moved to Lilypad (after her mansion in Satin City caught fire).

In terms of group submission dates, Ian made his first onscreen appearance in 2020 with a cameo in "Wizards and Pigs " ("19 Glances Back - Ian " provides Ian's POV of the car scene), and his first present-day appearance alongside Carmelo in "Robin's Egg Blue ." He also appears in "Roadrunner " when he and Ivy were driving back with smoothies from the gas station. He made a notable appearance in "Copperhead Dorkface and Alivia " where he threatened his pregnant aunt Alivia with a ray gun, left her begging and writhing in pain, and stole her oranges (including the ones she had already planted). This piece is also notable for focusing on Ian's pride, as he made a point of correcting Alivia when she got his title wrong and when she accused him of stepping on the grass when he did not, in fact, step on the grass.

Eisen once held the title Copperhead Eisen of the Viper faction. Because Ian is a double agent (playing the role of Morales in the Gazelle faction), Morales "stole" the title from him as a power move and became "Copperhead Morales" until "Ian" supposedly reclaimed it in a totally real but secret fight, after which he supposedly retired the title Copperhead out of respect for the late Copperhead Eisen.

2021 was a big year for Ian content, kicking off with "The Copperhead and Candle " which showed Ian's tenderness towards animals and children, his hot temper, his love for Ivy, and his struggles with dissociation. He notably appeared in "Masquerade Part 3: Shed Skin " where he was seen having a business dinner with Robin, and this was followed by "Birth to My Creation" (TBA) wherein Ian drank a raider potion and began to gain his robot forms. This was the finale of Arc 6, "Dead Wait."

Arc 7 - "Mecha of Science" - opened with several Ian pieces, including "Red Rubber Gloves " (a poem), "Roland and the Beast of Burden ," "Badges For Vipers ," "Eisen Checks In ," and "Neophobia ." As the year went on, Ian content continued showing him as a short-tempered scientist with delusions of grandeur, but increasing focus was placed on his relationship with Ivy as she began to prompt him to consider starting a family with her. Rosado del Sur frowns on non-humans, and the Ian/Ivy marriage is not considered legal in that country. Staying near Lilypad would keep Ivy out of harm's way, which wouldn't be a bad thing. Although Ian already had DNA for both himself and Ivy on hand, he agreed to try fixing the broken shrink ray so that he could reduce his size and court her a little more face to face. He expressed a lot of anxiety about this even while in the middle of working on it in "I Start Fixing a Shrink Ray ."

Ian's anxiety over becoming a father continued to be a main point in pieces like "The Dinner Party " and "Ivy's New Man " as Ian reunited with his half-brother Cedric, met Cedric's triplets (who already had kids of their own), reunited with his aunt Alivia who was nearing the end of her pregnancy (her newest litter fathered by Percy), and met Ivy's familiar. Ian and Ivy had agreed that she could bring a familiar into her life while he was still debating the pros and cons of fatherhood. Notably, Ian finished his shrink ray in "Obligatory Pre-Diasaster Make-Out Sesh " and was so conflicted about the idea of becoming a father that he almost chose to break the ray forever, unable to explain even to himself why he made it in the first place if it scares him. He is, in fact, a glutton for being praised for his accomplishments no matter how much he fears what he creates.

His growing anxiety regarding his relationship with Ivy led to him wavering in his loyalty, and in "Fair's Fair " he admitted to Ivy that he felt attracted to a human woman named Ellie, and it was revealed in "Pen to Paper " that he did begin flirting on and off with Ellie throughout October and November. Ellie, unbenownst to Ian, was actually Ivy in her human form as she tested his potential attraction to her. Ivy, who was born a fruit bat and turned into a vampire against her will, hated her human form but was determined to keep it if Ian fell in love with Ellie. If Ian's fear of reproducing stemmed from his reluctance to "hurt" his tiny bat wife, then maybe he could love a human?

Ian and Ivy traveled north in "Northbound ," and "Cardinal Street ," with the two most notable pieces of this arc being "Counting Stars " and "Fairytale Gone Bad ." Ivy was making her annual mapmaking tour of the area near Raljjord and Ian joined her as her bodyguard. Unfortunately, 2021 also happened to be the year that Raljjord natives Silver and Courtney had returned home to undertake their coming of age ceremony. While fleeing from the hunting Courtney, Ivy took on her human form, much to Ian's horror as he realized Ivy and Ellie were one in the same. And, more upsetting to him, that Ivy had hidden her human form from him for seven years, even lying to him on multiple occasions when he asked if she had any other forms.

At this point, Ian realized that the reason the Shadow Dragon temple had rejected him in 2017 was because Ivy wasn't actually a bat, but a vampire, which was not the correct species needed to open the door. Therefore, Ivy's lying added years of stress and sleepless nights that could have easily been avoided... It seemed she was determined to prevent him from reaching the Shadow Dragon and his dreams meant nothing to her. Ivy begged his forgiveness, and Ian chose to kill her human form so - like Addison - she would lose access to that form and be restricted to the forms that hadn't died. In her case, killing her human form might remove her human DNA so the temple door would accept her as a bat. Unfortunately, after Ian killed her, Ivy flew away from him in a panic. Courtney brought her down as his ceremonial hunt kill, successfully completing the coming of age ritual that he ran away from years ago before his arrival in Lilypad. He finally became a man in Raljjordian society... at the cost of Ivy's life.

Other pieces in the Northbound arc include "White Widower ," "A Creature of the Night ," "The Mineral Museum ," "Ian Steals a Friend ," and "Misdirection ." There's some sort of transition piece that bridges the gap between "Misdirection " and "Simon Says ," but I haven't finalized how I want it to go down. Just know that Ian did leave Raljjord at some point, possibly in a destructive way and almost certainly on the run. It's fine.

In 2022, Ian begins early January with "Simon Says ," where he (in his Simon identity) persuades Sekhmet to travel with him to the Southern Continent-- a way of getting back at Professor Nightly (AKA Eisen) who flat-out told her that she wasn't allowed to join the autumn archaeology adventure as long as she and Courtney planned to try for kids. Sekhmet, furious at the thought of a man controlling her life, accepted Ian's offer, which would come to fruition a few months later.

The next notable piece of 2022 Ian content is "Icarus You ," which flips between telling the story of the Krakens vs. Unicorns turf war and flashbacks to Ian's childhood. Ian's relationship with Tab (and also his father) is a heavy focus of this one. This piece also reveals that Ian met Rudy when he teamed up with some bullies who were picking on him, althoughhe and Rudy did later become friends. At the end of this story, Ian jumps from the central pillar in the Battlegrounds, fails to shapeshift, and dies because he hit the ground too hard. Fortunately for him, he died within Respawn's protective aura, which catapulted him into the waiting pool of Iolite County.

Ian's brief experience in the waiting pool is seen in "Orpheus Reborn ," where Ian meets Kit's mother, Isadora. Isadora warns Ian not to leave the pool because if he does, he'll officially be beyond Respawn's abilities to revive him. Ian nearly leaves the pool when he hears that Ivy is "somewhere beyond his line of sight," but he does stay in the pool long enough that Respawn successfully revives him. Ian explains his experience to his father, Tab, and Roland, who react with more nonchalance than Ian would have liked. Eisen warns Ian not to "play" with Respawn's revival abilities but insists on Ian taking Respawn as his second bonded familiar (the first being Ichi, his robot bug).

Meche was very affected by this experience which is why she skips school to seek Ian out the next day in "Persephone Here "
At the end of "Orpheus," Ian requested that Roland bring Kit so Ian can ask hir questions about the afterlife. Roland does so, leading to "Wait For Me "

Ian's experience with "heaven" (and his conversation with Kit) prompts him to seek out Rudy for more answers (and, while he was at it, persuade Opal the white witch to place a blessing on his wing backpack to allow him to fly-- It's worth noting that Ian already had flight on his power list because of his robot forms, so Unicorn Saliva wasn't needed, but canonically he needs that backpack to fly in his wingless and rocketless forms). This led to the "Runaway " arc, which starts with a comic page before switching into 5 emote conversation stories each about 2,000 words long. Ian returned to his final day at the turf war in "BANG! " before leaving early to catch a flight south with Sekhmet and Courtney (taking on his Simon disguise, as alluded to in "Simon Says").

Runaway Part 4 - It's worth noting that although Courtney opted to approach Eli (Kima's avatar) in "Two Gods In the Orchard" to ask about his future kids, Ian resisted the meeting, insisting he didn't want spoilers about his future because he would rather meet his future kids side by side with Ivy. He dislikes the thought of having kids in other timelines, as it flares his anxiety.

Ian's role in the Southbound arc includes "Flirting Lessons ," "Southbound ," "Pretty Girls In a Gift Shop ," "Dahlia National Park ," and "Dear Prometheus ," the latter being the finale of Arc 8. During Arc 9, Ian appears briefly at the end of "Spirit Dogs in Spring " and is involved with some chaos in the May 2022 raid. At this point, his content fades into the background, with him enacting plans to visit the Shadow Dragon temple in August...

*IAN'S RAIDER IDENTITY

It is worth noting that all throughout 2021, Ian faced struggles with his raider forms, including the fact that his shadow form consistently whispered to him that any children he produced with Ivy would be sickly abominations and that he should leave her for a human woman and a better chance at reproducing. Ian's shadow form was shown to be dangerous and unpredictable at times, even sneaking out in the middle of the night to run wild- and once attempting to sneak away from Tab and Roland while at the train station.

Ian exclusively refers to Finch as "The Dark Lady" and has high respect for her. He thinks she's amazing because she was able to gift the power of shapeshifting into multiple forms "instantaneously" when, in Ian's perception of world lore, it normally takes years and years of study to learn how to shapeshift. This is a nod to the Raider Potion granting an additional 3 forms instantly while all other ticket types have to wait for 2 month cooldowns before new forms can be gained.

Ian thinks Finch is cool; he brought her cookies once and he wants her to think he's cool too. Due to Ian's warped life experiences (which include the civil war, a father who was once a feral animal who believes in survival of the fittest, growing up with selkie family members who have accepted stolen sealskins and being yanked into sudden marriages as an acceptable way of life, and living with aliens who believe abducting and microchipping people without consent is okay) he has a difficult time imagining Finch as an evil being. He sees her as a "tragic scientist" in the exact same way that he sees both Victor Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll as misunderstood figures who are unfairly analyzed, ridiculed, and hated; Ian looks past the moral qualms and believes that Finch's love for scientific exploration is super cool and he is thrilled to take part in it.

Ian blames himself for not being good enough, frequently considering himself a "failed experiment" because he struggles to maintain control of his shadow form. He desperately wishes to master his shadow form and will purposely switch to the rat form to wander and inevitably cause chaos in Lilypad - see also, the "Runaway " arc - at times he is convinced that "he needs to see what it does" so he can "research" it. You can try confronting him with blatant evidence that stealing things, breaking things, and turning other people into raiders against their will is wrong, and Ian will bend backwards to excuse Finch even when he doesn't really understand her motivations himself.

In truth, Ian has been so desperate for the ability to shapeshift for the 27 years of his life before he became a raider that he clings to Finch as this brilliant scientist who made his dreams come true. Finch has absolutely given instructions that make him pause and feel uncomfortable, but Ian chooses to brush these character flaws aside because he wants to believe her motives are pure even when evidence suggests they aren't. Think of all the ways that creating a hivemind could be useful for people in a dangerous environment who need to cry for help! And she DID give him night vision, even if it left him sensitive to the sun.

Ian just wants to be a cool shapeshifter, hopefully gain a dragon form someday, and meanwhile hang out with a cool witch scientist. What's so wrong about that? The Dark Lady is so smart and powerful to have designed something like the Raider Potion. And shapeshifting is so fun...

... and he chose this life for himself, after a lifetime of being pushed to be only what his father wanted him to be. Even if it's scary, it's also thrilling to experiment with these other forms and fight to gain control of his shadow state. He wants to pass this experiment with flying colors so that no matter what Finch ends up doing with her research from here, at least he got something nice out of it. Don't take this away from him.........