Kishay Talukhin

Severely underweight, a lot of cuts and bruises, some of which never healed properly and are still inflamed. He's in pain most of the time but has gotten so used to it that he barely notices it unless the injury is fresh.

Underweight, ribs are showing, hands are boney etc. His body is battered and beaten up, his skin is stretching thinly over his bones. He still has enough muscle to run, hunt and use his sword but that's only because of his elvish nature, if he were human, he'd probably be dead. Elves are more resilient in the matter of adapting to starvation and surviving injuries. Other than that he has the same kind of graceful slim build that pretty much all elves have.

His face is all sharp angles. Because of the lack of fat his cheeks are sunken in as well as his eyes. He has a high briged, straight nose and high cheekbones. His jawline juts out a lot and his face is a bit broader than Auun's. His eyebrows are straight and on the thicker side. His cupid's bow is somewhat far apart and his chin is wider than Auun's.

Extremely sharp angles, a mad look in his eyes, very underweight and malnourished, dirty and bruised.

His ears are bent backwards, so instead of having a tip that goes straight up, his ears have a "kink" in them and the tip is facing back.

Kishay is an excellent swordsman and has great survival skills. Even though his body is constantly battered and at its limits, his body control is extraordinary and would put most elves to shame.

Kishay is wearing knee high mangled leather boots and black trousers that once fit snugly but are now too big. they're stained and washed out and the colour is more brown-grey than black. as a top he wears a once black tunic with the elvish high collar and long sleeves that are ripped up to the elbows, the seam of the tunic is also torn to shreds. a beaten leather belt is holding together his now much too large and torn up tunic at the waist and it has an extra band for holding his sword tied to it. The sheath was lost years ago. He also wears a shredded cape that is draped over his shoulders and held together by a stained metal clasp. It doesn't have a hood and now reaches down to his knees (was almost floor length originally) but it's made from a thick fabric that spends a lot of warmth.

He only carries his sword, Tilestras, The Earthshaker, and a few knives and daggers with him, as well as the fur of a deer he hunted, a matchbox and a water container made from leather.

Kishay was born the second, and thus youngest, child of the King of Estira, the realm of the great eastern woods. the eldest child of the current ruler, as is the tradition, is usually heir to the throne. However, there is a second component in determining the next ruler; wielding the great sword Tilestras, one of the 7 sacred relics. Tilestras does have a mind of its own though and it chooses who its capable with and whi it wants to form a bond with. Thus it happened that on the day of the ceremony, where Kishay's brother should have been given the sword, it chose Kishay instead. Both brothers were very young still, as compatibility is often determined during childhood, and so Kishay became heir to the throne, much to his brother's and his own disdain. Much of the disapproval from his brother's side stemmed from their father now spinning the narrative that Kishay was actually his first born.   Growing up as the heir to the throne, Kishay never had much time to simply be and his childhood was practically non existent. Almost every free minute was spent readying him for his duty, learning languages, history, strategy and etiquette. The only escapes from the classroom were riding, sword, archery and music lessons as well as hand to hand combat. The only thing Kishay was really passionate about was when his father (but more often than not his subordinates) would take him to ride through the forest to visit different cities in order to familiarize Kishay with his future domain.   Because of his status and his busy schedule he never really had friends, and although in the first years after the sword choosing Kishay, the relationship with his brother had gone sour, the two got on friendly terms again as time passed. So his brother was probably the only friend Kishay ever had.   Now it could be asked why the strict drilling was necessary in the first place, as elves are believed to be immortal and therefore have plenty of time to pass down their knowledge to their heirs and they would typically rule a lot longer than any mortal ruler. It is true that in most elven courts the education of the heirs to the throne is more relaxed and it is believed that even royal children need to experience childhood as it roots them more in the real world outside of the palace walls. Through this they should be able to become wise and benevolent rulers who always have the best for their domain in mind. However, Kishay's father, a hardened man who had seen many wars and conflicts, saw that quite differently. Not only that but the many conflicts had made him weary and had weakened him. Therefore, his son was supposed to learn as much as possible in as short a time as possible, so King Siarth could retire. Kishay was raised almost like a human successor would be raised and Kishay's father had even consulted human instructors for his son's education plan. On top of that Kishay's mother was getting lost in the shadows of mental illness and became more and more distant, until she went to the north for treatment and never returned.   Kishay had never had much time to be himself and he always was who others needed him to be. He grew more and more frustrated with that situation, not even knowing who he was and with his frustration his jealousy of his brother, who was so free and careless and genuine, grew too. However, Kishay's brother was jealous of Kishay too, not only because he "stole" his position as heir, but also because Kishay got all the attention, privilege and priorities. Ishra, despite being the first born, was always second rate and nothing he'd ever do would be good enough. So when Ishra asked Kishay permission to hold Tilestras, something only a ruler or an heir to the throne, someone chosen by the sword, was allowed to do, Kishay denied him. They got into a huge argument that got physical and in the end Ishra lay bleeding on the ground, spurting a fatal wound caused by the magical blade and his brother's own hand. Kishay was in such rage that he didn't feel shock or remorse at first, just grim satisfaction and peace of mind. That changed rather quickly though, once his anger had subsided. He brought Ishra to the infarmry but it was too late.   The king was outraged and so were the people. They demanded Kishay's death and an end to their lineage of ruling and King Siarth himself wanted to put an end to his son's life. However, Tilestras protected Kishay, against his own will, and so he was quietly exiled with the public believing he had been executed. Kishay took the blade that would not, under any circumstances, part with him, swearing to keep it safe and not letting anyone ever making use of it again. The night of his departure he kneeled at his brother's grave, making a vow never to let anyone die at his hands again.

Male

Probably Bi or Pansexual

Seeing as he is a former prince he must be quite well educated. He speaks multiple languages, knows about the political relations between different countries and kingdoms, he knows how to negotiate and how to be diplomatic, he knows the formalities of audiences and meetings with other leaders. He was educated in the art of war and strategy, he knows a lot about history, a connoisseur of art and the language of flowers and color symbolism, heck he was even educated about fashion. However, he probably threw all that knowledge out of the window once he was in exile.

Former prince of Estira, now in exile and therefore unemployed.

He excelled at his princely studies and duties and mastered the art of swordsmanship at a very young age. He is fluent in multiple languages and can play a variety of instruments. His instructors usually had nothing but praise for him.

Kishay's biggest failure was the loss of control in the fight with his brother. His quick temper and moodswings generally led to a few rather disadvantageous situations for him.

The death of his brother still haunts him, he has nightmares and sometimes auditory hallucionations about it. The hallucionations only happen when his body is extremely exhausted and more or less at the brink of death.
He has trust issues and problems with perfectionism and because of his distant father and absent mother he has problems with vulnerability and emotional bonds.

MBTI Type:

INFP-T (I=91%, N=62%, F=77%, P=52%, T=90%)

Enneagram Type:

6 or 9 (but leaning more towards 6)

Archetype:

Orphan and (maybe) Rebel? With the goals of belonging and changing norms(?) and the flaws cynicism and crime(?)

Chief feature:

Self-Destruction with the fear of losing control.

Don't refer to him as "Prince" or anything related to his former status of royalty. Don't mention Estira or his family to him in general. He gets upset and cranky and very uncomfortable.

Primary external goal?

Keeping Tilestras and himself away from the rest of the world and society.

Why do they want this?

So neither he nor the sword he believes to be cursed, to ever cause harm again or be used fo evil.

How do they try to achieve the goal, what stands in their way?

Kishay tries to stay away from civilisation and sticks to the woods. He's also always on the move, making sure no one can find any traces of him. However, when Auun does find him, he wants Kishay to fight for Drifeyer and has, accidentally, put some mercenaries and assassins on their tail and now he needs to defend himself against them and violate

How does that goal evolve over the course of the story?

Kishay starts trusting Auun (and falls in love with them) and he realizes that helping Auun and protecting them is more important to him than not using Tilestras, so he agrees to go back to Drifeyer, but not without a nagging sense of guilt and worry about using the sword.

What are other external goals?

Survival and finding someone to trust. Maybe also something concerning the other sacred relics? Maybe he wants people to stop depending on them so much? Maybe he wants to destroy them? But maybe I'm not gonna do anything with that, who knows.

What are their internal goals?

Kishay needs to forgive himself, accept himself and overcome his trauma, grieve and guilt. He needs to learn how to move on and how to stop blaming himself, especially for something he had less control over than he thinks.

What do other characters want?

Auun wants him to fight with Tilestras in a war and they also want to get a juicy story out of him that they can then use to climb the social ladder.

Extremely skilled with the sword and in hand to hand combat, generally good at handling weapons, hunting, fishing, finding mushrooms and berries to eat, a lot of other survival skills.

]Likes:

His favourite colour is the rich dark green of pine needles on a fresh summer morning shortly after sunrise.
His favourite food is whatever he can find that will keep him from starving is fine with him. It used to be pine sapling honey though.
Favourite Possession: One might think his sword because he took it with him although that's forbidden, but since he took it because he was convinced that the sword had become cursed after what he'd done and he needed to bear this curse as a reminder, it's probably not his favourite. He probably doesn't have a favorite possession.
Favourite Animal: Elk
 

Dislikes:

To be added

Kishay is -or was- very kind, understanding and compassionate. He has a strong sense of ethics and morality and holds himself and others to this strict code. On a social level he used to be a very kind, understanding and sensitive person who trusted others, always saw the good in them and gave second chances. These virtues are now buried under layers of mistrust, pessimism and cynicism.
He is loyal, thinks deeply, he's a hard worker, creative, passionate, generous and open-minded. He also wants to make a difference in the world and change it for the better.

What positive trait could become a flaw in the right situation?

His strong ethics and morality can become unreasonable and unachievable, which not only causes tensions with other people but also negatively affects his self-esteem. His deep thinking easily shifts to overthinking and anxiety.
His belief in the good in people and his tendency to give second chances, made it easy for others to exploit him and walk all over him, but that's not the case anymore.

What positive trait causes just as many problems as it solves?

His emotional sensitivity, his idealism, and always wanting to see the best in people and as mentioned before, his deep thinking turned overthinking.

Kishay is very impulsive, moody and easily angered. He has a fiery temperament, doesn't have his emotions under control, generally doesn't know how to deal with his own feelings and doesn't have a strong sense of self.
He avoids conflict, isolates himself from others and has trust isuues. Kishay is anxious and overthinks a lot, he's become pessimistic and cynical over the years in exile. He's opinionated, takes things personally and sometimes wallows in self pitty. He also has a strong tendency for self-destructive behaviour.

What trait annoys other characters?

His mood swings, cynicism and taking everything personally.

What might hold him back?

Anxiety, paralysing fear of becoming evil and losing control, overthinking everything and his tendency for self-destructive behaviour.

Looking around all the time, his gaze never lingers in one place for long, a nervous twitching in his fingers as if to reach for his sword.

Becaue he lives in the wild and is constantly on the move, his hygiene is very poor. He is often dirty, his hair is greasy, his skin covered with cuts and bruises, some of them are infected and he probably doesn't smell great either, although elves don't have strong body odour.

He used to get along well with his instructors, advisors and the people living in the palace, but now he has no contacts anymore.

All family ties were cut when he was exiled, but they weren't that great before either. His mother had left the palace a long time ago because of her poor mental health, she went to wander in the Grey Woods to the North for betterment but never returned. His father, worn out from war and always busy with his duties, had always been distant and strict. He'd had a good relationship with his brother but that didn't end well either.

He used to believe in the God of the Trees and the Goddess of the Soil but for him all the divine is dead.

He is very socially awkward, even before living in exile he used to be quiet and tried to blend in. He never wanted all the spotlight on himself but due to his role as the heir to the throne that was impossible. He always thought a lot but had trouble putting it into words others would understand, even though he was eloquent and fluent in multiple languages. His etiquette and manners were impeccable and if you could strip away the mantle of fear and mistrust they would probably still be there. Although he was never a charismatic person like for example Auun, people were still drawn to him.

Nowadays, Kishay only speaks when necessary and that's almost never. Therefore, his voice gets exhausted quickly and when he speaks to Auun he only uses short, quipped sentences. He only gives the most important information when he speaks but later on he starts opening up more and as speaking becomes more natural to him again, he also starts adapting a more narrative style of speaking.
He has the habit of stiffening whenever he's asked a question or spoken to in general. He looks uncomfortable when he has to hold a conversation and after the initial stiffening he starts shifting his weight around a lot and after a while he starts moving around, walking in circles while speaking. He also tends to leave his sentences unfinished and trail off into his thoughts.

No pets, no hobbies. He used to love playing the harp and singing though.

Kishay's tone of voice is rough and strained at first because he didn't use his voice for so long. After getting used to speaking again, his voice has a soothing quality to it, even though he speaks quite monotonously. His voice is on the deeper side of the spectrum and although his Common Arregean used to be flawless, he got rusty and forgot some words and he has a more Estirian accent now and sometimes gets syntax wrong.

As a prince he used to be rich and able to live comfortably, but now he has no money at all, no roof over his head, no belongings other than the clothes on his body and a few weapons and no place to call home anymore.