⌈Name⌋
Rhys Llewelyn

⌈Nickname(s)⌋
An old, now deceased missing, 'companion' of Rhys's once took to calling him Lewie (as well as Lyn), which might offer some explanation to why he is no longer around, well…physically. Admittedly, he hates the nickname(s) and does his best not to respond to it(them). However, on the rare occasion someone does actually refer to him as such, he has been known to slip up and acknowledge the name(s). (Much to his aggravation.)

⌈Age⌋
Wouldn't you like to know. Well, between you and I, despite looking like he's in his early twenties he's actually 347 years old. Admittedly, for his particular sub-species, the Tennin, that's quite young, but for Humes, he's a bit of an old man.

⌈Race⌋
Rhys is a Tennin, which is a sub-species to the fae. (To be elaborated on in OOC.)

⌈Gender⌋
Lyn Rhys is a male.

⌈Sexuality⌋
It's doubtful Rhys is entirely sure himself. What can be said is that if you interest him, then you interest him. You could be male or female, it just might also not be a romantic interest.

⌈Appearance⌋
Rhys is a very attractive creature, and he is fully aware of it. He stands just short of six feet at 5’ 11.5” and possesses a slender frame. That is not to say he is too tall and gangly, but rather he has a lithe build that is well suited to his size – even if it is a little feminine due to it’s slightly dainty appearance. His silky, straight hair, though once quite long, has recently been cut short and is a dark black color that occasionally gives off a blue gleam in the right kind of lighting. He possesses narrow, sharp, icy blue eyes that are framed by long, thick, and vaguely feminine eyelashes. His blue stare always seems unceasingly focused on whatever is currently holding his attention. Admittedly, it can be a little unnerving to meet his eyes since he possesses an incredible intensity behind them. His facial features are quite attractive, while they are softer than most men’s and lack that rugged quality that is expressly masculine, it is still apparent that he is male due to the angular qualities of his facial structure found most often in his sex. Furthermore, he possesses ivory-colored, unblemished skin and rosy colored, small, plush lips. Finally, he does possess vaguely pointed ears that give him away as not being Hume, but they by no means compare to the ears of most elves.

Rhys carries himself with a great amount of poise and refinement. Every slight movement is done with a subtlety, balance, and charm usually only seen after years of training and with no small degree of talent. When he walks, he does so with his head held high and his back perpendicular to the floor, and though it may be exhausting he seems to do it with great ease. Of course, even he has moments where he must let loose, but even in those rare moments when he has relaxed his carefully maintained stance, he still exudes that air of sophistication.

His choice of clothing is also quite conspicuous as well. Rhys chooses to dress himself in traditional Japanese garb. Often, when he is not out to impress and generally alone and relaxing this includes a yukata. However, when he must travel or simply wishes to dress nicely he wears his feathered kimono, the Hagoromo. The kimono itself is both beautiful and striking as it possesses a beautiful flower design in a multitude of blue shades and long, flowing sleeves. The neckline, shoulders, and sleeves are lined with large beautiful dark, almost black (just like the color of his hair) feathers. So long, in fact, are the feathers of his sleeves that some actually drag behind him when he walks. He generally ties this kimono with a black obi and wears black tabi with his dark fabric zori.

⌈Personality⌋
Rhys is an extremely prideful male. He, like many of his race, is extremely attractive and he knows it all too well. Now pride is not always necessarily a bad thing. Pride can be an effective power in encouraging good behavior. Because of the pride he possesses in his appearance, Rhys puts a lot of importance in how he behaves and as a result he is extremely graceful and sophisticated. His every movement is well practiced and never wasted and he possesses very high-class etiquette. Furthermore, even when he is saying less than kind things, Rhys always speaks properly and politely when speaking to or around someone. His thoughts, however, tend to be a little more crude. His pride also makes him feel extremely honor bound. If he says he will do something, you can certainly trust him to do it. Unsurprisingly as pride and confidence tend to go hand in hand, Rhys is also quite confident in his ability to do things, look a certain way, and be accurate in his thoughts. He believes quite strongly in himself, and hardly cares for how others perceive him; although he does find life much easier if those he surrounds himself with have a good opinion of him. Unfortunately, this confidence and pride does often result with him being exceptionally arrogant.

Laziness is another quality Rhys has in his arsenal. Although, he would probably refer to it as doing no more than absolutely necessary and preemptively resting before he becomes tired. No matter what he calls it or how he chooses to disguise it, the fact remains that Rhys simply hates to do labor of any kind. He’s more inclined to tell other what to do than be told to do something himself, and rather hates it when someone tries to force him into doing anything that may work up a sweat. Especially since he hates sweat. Admittedly, there is one thing he always finds toil worthy and that is the elimination of anything he deems dirty. In all actuality, when it involves a lack of cleanliness, no one works harder than Rhys (unless there’s someone he can force to do the labor for him that is, he is quite bossy after all).

There is one other matter that he is willing to overcome his laziness for and that concerns his abilities. Rhys desire to achieve self-transcendence, basically, he wishes to overcome himself and be better than he already is, and to attain that he’s willing to do just about anything. But, much to his aggravation, his progression towards this has become stagnant and he has no clear understanding as to why. As a result he’s taken to spending incredible amounts of time studying the matter as well as going to great lengths to find research material. He may even be slightly obsessive (okay, he’s OCD, he’s very obsessive). His failure to advance is admittedly making him very angry with himself, and when pointed out is a very touchy subject and could incite rage towards the one that mentioned it. That being said, he’d be very ‘attached’ to anyone who could share knowledge with him concerning the subject and would remain in his or her company until they’ve shared all they could with him. Furthermore, he’d be more than willing to commit slightly immoral acts in order to grow in knowledge and ability.

This leads us into the next section of Rhys. He has a deep, deep, and down-right unhealthy love for organization and cleanliness. He’s obsessive compulsive, which means he’s extremely quick to see even the slightest error in anything and when he does he simply cannot leave it be. It must be fixed or he will become extremely agitated and very unpleasant for anyone to be around. Furthermore, it would be in everyone’s best interest if, once he’s finished cleaning or organizing something (especially something that belongs to him), no one touches it. Ever. Friend or foe, Rhys is very unforgiving of people when hard earned perfection has been shattered.

Rhys is neither a recluse nor a social butterfly. Sometimes he enjoys the company of people, other times he simply wishes to spend time in his own company. It depends quite heavily on his mood and what it is he feels like doing at that moment. When he needs time to think or simply wishes to relax, he’ll seek solitude. However, Rhys does get lonely from time to time, and, on occasion, he enjoys having thought-provoking conversations with intelligent people, especially since he himself is extremely intelligent and likes intelligence in other people (although, he does occasionally find stupidity amusing to a certain extent). Furthermore, he can be extremely easy to talk to and his age and experience allows him to offer good advice, which he does not mind giving. That being said, he purposely avoids talking about himself since he feels it opens himself up to growing emotionally attached to people, which is something he actively avoids at all costs. He’s even gone so far as to give up caring about people’s well being in general in order to maintain a comfortable distance – although, he still feigns caring and does seem like an extremely loyal and kind person that many would happily go to for help. However, if you are going to have a conversation with him or ask for his advice, be warned that you may want to think through what you decide to share with him. Rhys, though proficient at keeping secrets, is not above blackmail if you annoy him, so it may be in your best interest not to say anything at all.

As is the case with many Tennin, Rhys is a bit of a trickster by nature. These pranks more than likely stems from the fact he is easily bored and easily amused. He enjoys ‘interesting things’, which can be a rather numerous number of somewhat random things, and finds peoples’ reactions to his tricks to be particularly interesting. Admittedly, though entertained by most things, generally his interest is only held for a short time before he moves on to something else on account of it becoming boring to him. Despite being a prankster, he isn’t a very obvious or open about his devious nature. He prefers it if people aren’t aware that he actively engages in tricks since it takes away from his sophistication and makes it easier to get away with them. Unsurprisingly, his abilities as a tactician have been honed over time through this constant pranking, which has resulted in his being a very skilled planner.

Rhys is also a fickle realist. He sees the world for how it is, but on occasion he does try to be optimistic about what could happen. Then again, he’ll just as often be extremely pessimistic about what may happen in the future as well. Often, the situation itself and the people he’s surrounded with will determine how he chooses to respond. Except, that is, when it comes to his outlook on people. Eternally pessimistic in his opinion of other living creatures, experience has fashioned Rhys into a very distrustful person. He expects there to be a liar in every person and actively searches for it. And even if anyone is lucky enough to gain his trust, the ease with which can be broken has no compare, and it can never be regained once lost.

His respect is just as difficult to gain as his trust and just as easily lost. That being said, if you are able to gain his respect, you’ll have also gained the dual bonus of a very loyal companion and an exemption from his mischievousness. Of course, a friend and a companion is not entirely the same thing to him. To him a companion is someone with whom you enter into an unspoken contract. If you give, he will give in return without fail, however, there are no feelings of care involved. If a companion were to ask for his help but have nothing to offer in exchange he’d do nothing for them and sleep soundly at night. A friend, on the other hand, would always be cared for whether or not they could give him anything in exchange. Well, theoretically that would be the case. It’s been a very long time since he’s had feelings of ‘friendship’ for another person.

Speaking of feelings, Rhys has an extremely wide range of them. He isn’t too sensitive, not every little thing causes a large emotional reaction, but he doesn’t attempt to put a cap on them either. He realizes that feelings are acceptable and a necessary part of living life, and, as long as he has good control over them (which he does), they can make him a better and stronger person and even combatant. That being said, he does have certain ‘buttons’ that set him off and cause him too lose control of his leashed emotions. Messing up anything he’s cleaned or organized, and anything to do with his appearance or Hagoromo will effectively cause a fairly intense and out-of-character emotional reaction.

More than likely due to his arrogance, Rhys is an extremely competitive person. He feels as though he must always live up to his own expectations and be the best at whatever he deems necessary. This is most evident in his competitive nature concerning appearance. If someone’s appearance is garnering more attention than him then he will be very quick to embellish himself in an attempt to enhance his natural beauty.

This leads into the final section of his personality. Just as he loves sanitation and order, Rhys loves beautiful things. That is not to say he hates ugly things, it merely means he has a preference for things that are attractive. As a result of this he’s become a collector of ornate antiquities and occasionally a collector of people. When it comes to things, he does tend to lock them away. However, he is by no means a thief of free will so he does not entrap the people he ‘collects’ rather he merely forces his own companionship upon them until he grows bored or they are no longer attractive and he ‘throws them away’. Admittedly, he finds throwing away people and ‘so-called’ friendships fairly easy since he does tend to keep people at ‘an arm’s length’ anyways.

⌈Abilities⌋
As with all living things, Rhys is a work in progress. He has an affinity for Spirit magic and as a result he is hyper sensitive to souls and spirits. He can sense them, both living and dead, (not necessarily see them except under proper circumstances; it's more of an awareness of their general presence) and he grows in ability with his own soul faster than most because he’s more naturally attuned to it. That being said, the time, complexity, an amount of sheer dedication and training required to achieve some of the more impressive spiritual abilities make them very difficult to master and as a result Rhys's current skills are very limited and to be honest, unreliable, much to his aggravation. Nonetheless, he's stubborn and as result is finding himself spending a great majority of his free time studying the mechanics and the philosophy behind Spirit magic so that he may improve his ability to utilize it. He has hopes he'll be able to one day surpass himself - which in his prideful eyes is an incomparable feat.

• Spiritual Awareness – While in deep meditation, Rhys becomes hyper aware of the world. His spirit is very calm and as a result is very sensitive to changes in the environment, especially spiritual ones. Furthermore, with the proper exertion, he can expand his spirit out into the environment in order to observe it more closely. This particular ability allows for Rhys to gather information on his surroundings. Usually, the information is vague without expansion, but detailed with. That being said, meditating leaves him vulnerable to physical attack, and expanding his spirit or soul leaves him vulnerable in a spiritual sense - which is never good and part of the reason he doesn't often expand his soul unless absolutely necessary, since simply meditating can generally give him enough information to warn him of imposing danger.
  
• Medium – A step up from being able to expand his soul, Rhys has the ability to astral project it. He does this whenever he feels it necessary to actually speak to roaming spirits, such as the spirits of Erandal and Feran. He has yet to develop ‘astral eyes’ so he is limited to merely doing it through astral projection, and, just like with expanding his soul, it leaves his body exposed to physical attack, and leaves his soul even more susceptible to attack and damage, which is part of the reason he almost never does it, and when he does it’s only for very short periods of time. Astral projection, however, is also useful for other purposes, such as communicating with people a long ways away quickly. But as said before he generally doesn’t do it because he believes the cons outweigh the pros.
  
• Self-Transcendence - Basically, this is the ability to exceed your own limitations whether physically, mentally, or existentially through the use of ones spirit or soul (basically sheer willpower). He could do almost anything as long as he has the mana and soul to achieve it. Well, that would supposedly be the case if he could actually do this. While it is technically possible, Rhys has no where near the knowledge or experience to achieve it currently and admittedly is finding himself stagnant in his progression to achieving this. This stagnancy is in part due to the fact that self-transcendence requires achieving a certain psychological state and Rhys does not know how to achieve it or even what this state actually is, he is failing in his understanding of what it means to transcend himself. It's a good question really, how does one exceed their own limitations or the limitations of the world they live in? Hence his obsession with researching it.

As a further side note, he can fly. His Hagoromo grants anyone who wears it the ability of flight as it is something akin to a removable set of wings that aren’t actually wings and don’t flap. Lastly, he does possess another ability unique to Tennen and that is the ability to inhabit Religious items. It’s an ability often used by the dying species in order to remain hidden and safe from the eyes of other aggressive species. That being said, when this ability is used they cannot move the object they’ve inhabited and any other magic cannot be cast, furthermore destroying or damaging the object would severely wound the Tennen inside. Rhys is no exception to this.

⌈Region⌋
Tennin are not the type of species to live in each other’s company as a result there is no specific region that Tennin take to inhabiting in. Most live on their own hidden in shrines and temples built by other species and tend to avoid traveling.

Rhys lives in a now abandoned, large, and extravagant temple that was built in honor of the primordial elementals and the accompanying dragon-kin. Admittedly, there was once a time when creatures of all shapes and sizes often visited, but now the sanctuary lies forgotten and perhaps a little menacing (which is entirely his fault). Despite its abandoned state it is well taken care of (by him) and every sculpture, painting, and writing has been salvaged and maintained to appear as it was at its prime. Unfortunately, Rhys tends to attract spirits to the temple, as he has some knowledge on how to help them pass on and can actually communicate with them. Moreover, his trickster nature led to him playing a great number of pranks on visitors, and all of this combined eventually led to the belief that the place was cursed (and it is cursed…with his presence).

The temple was not built within a city like many; instead it was carved out of the side of a lonely southern mountain called Huíyì Guân, which is about a two days walk from the nearest town. Due to the distance between his home and civilization, Rhys actually maintains his own garden from which he gathers food – primarily his diet is vegetarian, but occasionally he goes into town and splurges on meat. The climate is actually quite humid all the year long (since the temple sits in the shadow of the mountain and the rain clouds can’t actually go anywhere as the mountain blocks the path), but the temperature fluctuates between hot and cold normally as per the seasons’ dictate, which means instead of rain he’ll occasionally receive snow.

⌈Relationships⌋
Rhys, as is common among the Tennin, never had the opportunity to truly grow to know either of his parents. Although, he did know his mother far better than his father, especially considering he never met his father. For the first eight years of his life he lived by his mother’s side. That being said, she was distant. Yes she cared for him and kept him alive but she did not shower him in the love mother’s often give their children. It seemed as though caring for him was more like a requirement for his mother than a desire. And to make that requirement easier, he too kept his distance.

The one that actually raised and cared for Rhys was an old elf with a mastery of Death magic and knowledge of a great many forms of magic (though he did not necessarily practice them), his name was Erandal and he was the caretaker of Rhys’s temple before he passed away. He found Rhys a few months after the Tennin had left his mother’s side and took him to the shrine. Rhys grew quite fond of Erandal quite quickly and spent almost 146 years living with the elf before he finally passed away. Rhys was, admittedly, saddened by the loss of his first and one of his only friends but, fortunately, he only missed his company for short while as Rhys quickly encountered his ghost. Ghost or not, Erandal is one of the few people the Tennen feels comfortable talking about himself with and often seeks advice from. More specifically, he often seeks his knowledge on magic, as he was far older and more studied than Rhys is.

I should probably address this ‘friend’ of his that died went missing. Well, shortly after Erandal passed on, a young elf, name Feran took his place as caretaker of the temple. He was strangely accepting of Rhys’s presence within the holy place and often took the time to travel into town and buy the Tennen things in an attempt to befriend him. Rhys did enjoy his company from time to time, but admittedly sometimes Feran annoyed him. Especially when he started giving him nicknames. About a month after Feran started calling Rhys Lewie and Lyn, the young caretaker disappeared. His ghost reappeared about a week after he went missing and became one of the many spirits Rhys surrounds himself with. As for whether or not the Tennen is responsible for the death of Feran, it’s uncertain but many credit the ‘spirit that haunts the temple’ with causing it.

He did fall in love one time before, or he thinks he did, however he doesn’t care to relive that particular experience and as a result has forced all memory of the woman aside.

⌈History⌋
There certainly isn’t enough time to cover all 347 years of his life so I’ll simply address the key events. The first was his original encounter with Erandal. Rhys left his mother’s side of his own volition. There was no particular event that forced him away nor did anyone insist he leave. Perhaps its part of the nature of Tennin, but he simply sensed it was time for him to go and so, at the age of eight, he went. He didn’t have a particular goal in mind; he simply assumed he would eventually find a place to stay as long as he kept moving.

It would come as no surprise that it was a struggle for an eight-year-old fae to survive in the world, both in the wilderness and outside of it. There was always the threat of being attacked by something, and he would soon discover that naivety would make living far more difficult. He had more than a few encounters with creatures that were aware of his Hagoromo’s secret and sought to steal it from him, but fortunately even as a child he was more than capable of escaping their grasps and as time passed he quickly learned to begin avoiding civilization and stop trusting people so easily. Furthermore, he never stayed anywhere for any extended period of time. Well, that was the case for a short time, as it were he eventually grew weary of travel and stopped moving, taking shelter and hiding within the visible roots of a large tree for weeks. It was there that Erandal found him sleeping.

The encounter was slightly confusing for them at first as neither were expecting to see the other. For Erandal, he could not understand why a young child was sleeping beneath the roots of a tree during such a raucous thunderstorm. For Rhys, he couldn’t understand why he was being shaken awake from his slumber and found it to be an unhappy experience.

Nonetheless, Erandal eventually convinced the young Tennen to follow him by promising both food and shelter. Admittedly, Rhys was apprehensive of Erandal’s intentions at the beginning, but was pleased enough to find that the shelter was a beautiful temple uninhabited by any other Tennin, and admittedly his growling stomach wouldn't allow him to turn down the prospect of food (it had grown tired of the nuts and berries he'd managed to scrounge off the forest floor). Furthermore, Erandal quickly proved that his kindness was without cost and Rhys grew to trust and respect him. Eventually, Rhys adopted the elf as his father.

It would come as no surprise to anyone that the Rhys never made raising him easy. A troublemaker from a young age, he often would torment visitors with small, harmless, but vastly irritating pranks and traps. He was disciplined often by the elf, and Erandal spent a good amount of time apologizing for his adoptive sons actions. Ironically, many of the visitors were fond of the child despite his mischievous nature and assumed he’d eventually grow out of it, thus they were well accepting of him residing within the temple as well.

Unfortunately, he never grew out of it and, as he got older, his pranks and traps grew more intricate and on some occasions more dangerous. That being said, the number of pranks and their frequency did decrease over time, as even Rhys understood that they were hardly action suited to one of his ‘status’ (and certainly Erandal’s nagging had absolutely nothing to do with it either).

Plus, Rhys grew distracted by his desire to surpass himself, which did help lead to his spending less time being impish and more time improving his knowledge and skills in magic.

It was apparent at a young age that Rhys had an affinity for spirit magic, he was ultra sensitive to the souls of those around him and Erandal quickly recognized and decided to harvest his natural ability. Though not a proficient user of spirit magic, Erandal had enough knowledge to lead Rhys in the appropriate direction. The old elf encouraged (and did his best to teach) Rhys to learn to harvest the power of his soul through meditation, but it was only a short time before Rhys’s skills would surpass his mentor’s and he began to turn to written studies and other creatures with knowledge of the subject.

He soon however reached a wall in his studies. Rhys has familiarized himself with his soul and he is very attuned to it and, through his meditations, with others. That being said, he can’t move beyond that skill, which has lead to him leaving the temple (as he’s read all that’s available to him there) for weeks at a time in order to find more texts concerning the subject.

Rhys also spent a lot of time observing Erandal performing many rituals. As a master of death magic, the elf often performed funeral rites and any that did not require death magic to perform (but simply items, chants, and motions), Rhys was able to imitate.

Then there was the day he met her. A woman whose name, race, and face he chose to forget and wishes to never know again. She often visited the temple bringing with her flowers to lie in thanks to the primordial elements and dragon kin. It was on one of these visits he first saw her from within the holy statue he often resided in, and, admittedly, he was originally incredibly unimpressed by her appearance and low level of etiquette. Yet, stranger things have happened, as through time and observation of her kindness and gentleness he grew to look forward to her visits. And that anticipation eventually gave birth to what was probably love.

It was soon after this he finally spoke to her face to face. She had dropped a flower and being unable to contain his desire to speak to her he showed himself and returned it to her. She thanked him and continued on her way, but that was all he needed, that simple word of thanks to him. He started approaching her more often, and attempted to engage in conversation with the woman, and she would gladly respond. Minutes eventually turned to hours and he found himself looking forward to her smile more and more.

Then one day she stopped coming.

Months past without word, and Rhys suspected the worst. Then she returned, with a man, her new husband, who she loved with all her heart. Rhys was hurt, to say the least. But he knew it was not her fault and he was not angry with her, he was angry with himself. He had grown too attached to her and had allowed himself to become vulnerable and that was an unforgiveable offense and something he would not do again.

Soon after this incident, he started actively ‘haunting’ the temple in an attempt to keep away visitors. He’s created this haunted temple by laying down hundreds of traps, all varying in size and complexity, some with the goal of frightening and fooling visitors, others (usually closer to the temple itself and Rhys’s usual location) with the intention of causing harm. He’s been largely successful in ‘haunting’ the temple as now almost no one visits and the few that do generally do it as a test of courage or out of curiosity.

Erandal passed on in the beginning stages of the ‘haunting’, unfortunately, so he could do little to stop the temple from becoming a frightful place. Taking his place was the young and inexperienced Feran and, unfortunately, Rhys has never been fond of taking orders from people he doesn’t respect.

As for what exactly happened to Feran, well, that will probably remain a secret for now, but do not worry as all things come to light eventually and the events that lead up to the young caretaker’s death is no exception.

Presently, Rhys is the only living occupant within the temple and he’s quite satisfied to remain that way as long as he continues to have the occasional visitor to trick and can visit civilization whenever he chooses.