The Book-Eater
Age: Appears 16
Sex: Female
Race: Qi'jhariihl
The Qi'jhariihl are better known as "book-eaters" in common tongue. Other terms for them can include "living compendiums" or "map weavers". Their name derives from their very method of existence and their rare ability to literally absorb texts into themselves. This is not to say they steal words from books but they can trace the patterns and weave them into their minds. More practiced members of the race are able to differentiate the knowledge and catalog it within themselves, but this method takes many years to even begin to comprehend. Therefore, younger members of this race may not even attempt to learn how to hone their abilities, since it takes a very sharp mentality and understanding to delve into this art. Even among those that try, it can prove to be a difficult task so in the end, only a few of this race end up being able to use their abilities at all.
Other beings require sustenance to live--the Qi'jhariihl require knowledge. In the simplest of terms, information and value translate into varying portions of life depending on the amount of each that they will feed upon in a single dose. The rarer and more ancient the object is, the more months--possibly years--the Qi'jhariihl can absorb from it. Potentially, they can live for as long as they are able to find artifacts and treasure. Many members of this race logically grow a sense of wanderlust and will leave their homes at young ages to spend the rest of their days as vagabonds and adventurers. If they are unable to find treasure to feed off of, they can just as easily use texts and literature, though this provides much less vitality time for them and will act almost as meals. (Meaning they would have to absorb knowledge several times a day to get by) Everything they ever absorb can later be called upon if the need should arise, however, retrieval of information can range in difficulty depending on if it has been cataloged and organized correctly with the mind.
Qi'jhariihl are highly sought after when it comes to journeying, due to their wealth of knowledge. For anything they do not know, they can learn in mere instants simply by taking in the text or maps into themselves. The trouble exists in being able to find one, as they tend to become antsy if in the same spot too long. To the less experienced, they will always appear as foreigners or world-weary travelers always looking for the next rush of treasure hunting. Overall, they will appear to bear much resemblance to humans, if not for three very distinct factors. The first resides in their eyes, which have the tendency to alight with letters and sometimes even small pictures or numbers, which will flash across their irises quickly when they are thinking or recalling knowledge. The second is their appearance. A member of this race can distinctly choose what age they would like to remain at and will not physically age beyond that point, given they remain constant in their feedings. (Though older members of the race prefer to appear more mature, by default) And the third is their memory capacity, which far exceeds (more than likely) all other races. A Qi'jhariihl never stops learning, however, this fact can work against them as they must be careful how much information they absorb at a single time. Too much can cause them to become absolutely incoherent and unable to retrieve what was just eaten.
Occupation: Treasure-Hunter
Appearance: Instantly noticeable are her extremely wide orange-amber eyes, as if she is contemplating her next meal at all hours of the day. Many streams of data will flit across her eyes in an instant as there is never a moment she is not thinking about something or other. She has long hair the same color as her eyes, bangs partially brushed to the left side of her face and sideburns curving around her cheeks. Her hair is thickly braided into two ponytails, the majority of the length hanging in loose strands of hair. She wears a silk hat adorned with small trinkets and knotted with a bow on the left side of her head. Her attire is very asymmetrical yet speaks volumes about her personality. At least she managed to match her shoes correctly.
Personality: Due to the sheer wealth of information inside of her mind, she has the tendency to stutter a little--rushing over her words without meaning to. This can cause her to leave out large portions of details from her explanations and she will hurry to fill in the blanks. However, this is often done in an out-of-order manner and will very easily confuse the recipient of the information. It can be a little frustrating to deal with her for an extended period of time simply because of the fact that she isn't an effective communicator. Oft are the times she will forget words in the generally understood language and slip into her own tongue (which is rife with many dialects). She doesn't have a great understanding of "right" and "wrong" and would love to simply classify herself as a "treasure hunter"--which would be accurate to some extent if not for the fact that she steals from those that already own her prize. She truly does not know the difference so reprimanding her will not do much good. She's got a mind for adventure, or perhaps just the lull of treasure? Either way, she is very excitable and does not have a great deal of patience. It is difficult for her to remain in any one location if there is nothing to hold her interests or anything to feed on. Her preferences are always constantly shifting so this makes her extremely picky and there will be times she will outright refuse to absorb something because it doesn't "pique" her interests. Though she attempts to be friendly, she tends to forget that not everyone will understand her. Most of the time, she will remain oblivious if someone else dislikes her. Despite her childishness at times, she has a charming likeability factor to her--so most will not shun her... once they get used to her speech patterns.
Skills
Strengths: Surprisingly, she possesses very keen aim and perception, making her a wonderful marksman and archer. She is skilled in long-range combat, if the need should arise, and rarely misses her targets. She was able to balance both physical prowess with her feeding--hey, sometimes a treasure hunter needs to fight for her trophies. She is quite agile and while her physical blows may not do as much damage as someone bulkier, she can still hold her own in hand-to-hand combat. She also has marvelous tracking affinity and can create maps from scratch by looking at the landscape and drawing from anything she has read about the area. She definitely has an odd type of charisma--somehow, others can be oddly drawn to her without even realizing why. This adds to her ability to be persuasive if she chooses to be and can often get others to see things from her point of view.
Weaknesses: Her recall is absolutely atrocious. This is due to her lacking the discipline of being able to organize all the information she has absorbed. Therefore, she finds it a challenge to draw upon the knowledge that she has learned--often depicting it in odd and chronologically incorrect spurts. She can have trouble sticking to one language and may not always be able to get her point across in times that she must. Her obsession with treasure and knowledge is formed out of her dependency on it to live--this can also lead her to become off-task and less focused on the situation at hand. She is also absurdly difficult to track should she wander too far from the group.
Equipment/Abilities: Despite the fact that she is a younger member of the Qi'jhariihl race, she is still able to absorb large quantities of information in one sitting. If she is able to recall it, she can create maps with ease or recite excerpts from text. Though she has not quite gotten around to the cataloging end of things, the information is stored in her mind... somewhere. Always on her person is also a bow that she had come across, a rare relic that she found whilst journeying in a desert.
Bio
Past: There is not much that she can recall about her earlier years. Unlike most members of her race, who will wait until their adult years to travel, she was seized by wanderlust at a very early stage in her life. As such, she was never taught basic discipline or how to organize the information inside of her mind. As she will tell it, she was treasure hunting before she could talk and wandering before she could run.
Present: It's a bit tricky to pinpoint exactly what she is doing at any given moment. At one, she could be aboard a caravan traveling to another city and the next, in the mountains to dig up lost tombs. With some hesitation, it can be said that she is currently looking for the next elusive treasure to add to her reservoir of knowledge.
Future: She will always be on the look-out for new treasure, no matter where it is in the world. She wishes to somehow gain mastery over her mind and somehow find tutelage in this art. She hopes that her travels will bring her to a potential teacher or to the right book that will unlock all the answers for her.
What other characters would know: She will always perk up at the word "treasure" and (literally) instantaneously appears in any conversation pertaining to this term. She has an insatiable appetite and always seems to be up for a snack... or five.
What other characters wouldn't know: Her conversion abilities aren't quite what they should be and she absorbs a greatly reduced amount of life energy from her feedings. It is easier for her to be on the edge between mortality and immortality and it a constant source of concern for her, should she need find something to absorb into herself.
Additional Quirks: She cannot eat regular food--if she does, her body will automatically reject it and she will have terrible symptoms develop from her endeavor. The mildest of which include migraines or an upset stomach, worse can be a fever or an ulcer--sometimes even worse. Almost always will she regurgitate the food.