The Spirit Walker
Full Name: Symond Hearst
Nickname(s): Likes to be called Simon, says it's easier than his actual name.
Age: 19 years old, just enough to be considered a man. He looks young for his age, but don't let it fool you. He's got an older man's wit, and enough experience in the woods to make grizzlies seem like townsfolk.
There's More than what Meets the Eye...
Height: Exactly six feet even.
Weight: Roughly 160 lbs. He's skinny, but not scrawny, with a good bit of muscle on him.
Basic Description: Symond has deep blue eyes that make you want to stare into them forever. His hair is thick and dark, and is a rich shade of brown. He's got a young, handsome face that isn't pockmarked or scarred. His features are finally beginning to show the sharpness of age, but he still retains a bit of child-like softness. While hunting, he wears clothing you would find more typically on Native Americans. In the woods, he wears soft deer hide pants, a bear pelt he's fashioned into a jacket, lightweight boots he's made out of deer hide, a soft linen shirt, and he carries a quiver with his bedroll wrapped around it as well as a leather pack with sturdy buckles. The quiver is large enough to store a good two dozen arrows and his longbow. When he does come into town, Elliot changes into typical puritan clothes of the period. He often smells of the forest he spends so much time in, like fresh green plants, wildflowers, black dirt, and icy spring water. He tries to maintain a freshly shaven face, as he cannot grow a full beard yet. The hair on his head defies all attempts of civilization, and often breaks combs and thinning shears.
Distinguishing Features: On his right shoulder, located more towards his back, is a tattoo that was given to him when he made his pact with the light. It was not inked on to his skin, it simply appeared there the next morning. He seems to wear a form of permanent smirk, though he doesn't try to, his smile comes out on it's own and seems more like something a prankster would wear as opposed to a respected hunter. He wears a necklace that is adorned with three, large, mountain lion claws.
Gifts from the Other Side...
Aligned Side: Light
Domain: Spirit
Powers: Symond, is a touch unusual, as far as Wiccans go. Instead of channeling power through himself, Symond stores power inside his own body and releases it through his physical exertions. His body is a reservoir for natural energy that he absorbs through Silberlöwe, his familiar.
~Spiritual Awareness. Can sense when things are happening around him that may be related to the spiritual, or magical realm. It doesn't have a very far range, only about 60-80 feet.
~Enhanced Condition. Symond benefits from enhanced strength, speed, agility, balance, flexibility, senses, durability, and endurance. While he is a powerful specimen, it should not be taken to mean that he can just run around lifting things, punching stuff through walls, and outrunning horses all day. After a while he will start to wear down and become tired, making him less of a threat.
~Predatory Instinct. Can think like a predatory animal when hunting, tracking, pursuing, or fighting. This allows his instinct to take over and allow him to perform far more capably than normal humans, and even some Wiccans and predatory animals, in those fields.
~Stealth Tactics. Able to utilize skills and techniques that make him harder to find or sense. He is an expert of camouflage and appears to blend into the darkness of night.
Weaknesses:
~Close quarters fighter. He has to be up close and personal to do any real damage, otherwise, all he can do it be bait and shoot stuff with his arrows.
~Naive. He tends to think the best of people, and is often surprised when they betray him.
~Manaless. Symond doesn't actually have spells or real magic. By remaining close to his familiar, Symond absorbs power, which he uses to power his living body and push it to the extremes that he is capable of reaching.
Familiar: Cougar. A wild and powerful creature, named Silberlöwe, calls Symond its master. It is through his familiar that Symond is able to draw power from the spirit realm, and by channeling that power through his familiar, Symond has taken a share of the power nature has given to such a fierce predator. Silberlöwe lives just outside the town, protecting it from dark creatures when he can. Further, he stays out of town whenever Symond goes in to sell his wares, people didn't take kindly to him even when he was just a cub. However, when Symond goes out into the woods, Silberlöwe goes with him every step of the way.
The Story of My Life...
Personality: Symond is a nice enough kind of guy. He's not particularly outgoing or kind, but if you've made a friend out of him, then he'll stick with you for life. Symond is always respectful, even when dealing with people who don't deserve it. He's spent enough time in the wild to know that there's always another predator out there. People's time in this world is ever shortening, so treat whoever you can with respect, you don't know how much time they've got left. Whenever he's in the town, Symond always feels so restrained. People are so delicate, and the comings and goings of those who live in the town are so easy to disturb, like a completely calm pond, the smallest of pebbles would disrupt its surface. He tends to treat those he knows aren't Wiccans or Witches with a touch more delicacy than normal, as if they might break if he were any rougher with them, even when speaking to them. The quirk is hard to notice, but once you do, you'll see it wherever he goes. It's not his fault, it's the only way he knows not to break things or people. Symond is a talkative enough guy, he'll engage in conversation if piqued, but he won't simply start chatting it up with whomever he sees walking across the street. However, in the forest, Symond becomes something altogether different. His entire personality changes. He becomes very cold, very distant, and full of earned pride. When Symond steps into the woods, he becomes a stone cold hunter. You can even see it in the way he walks, checks his surroundings, and stalks his prey. He is, however, still respectful to those things he kills in the forest. He always thanks his downed prey for the part they play in feeding others, and calls them worthy opponents.
History: Symond was born typically. His parents fell in love and had him. However, that is where the normalcy stops. His parents perished in a fire that destroyed his home. They were suspected of being a paired Witch and Wiccan. The townspeople, afraid of what horrible monstrosity they might produce, burned down Symond's home. The little toddler was, miraculously, unharmed and was sent to the orphanage. The Mayor took it as a sign that Symond wasn't a Wiccan, that God had saved him. Symond was allowed to live, however, no one would take him in. He was, after all, a Witch's child. Who knew what he might become as he grew up. Instead, he grew up normally in the orphanage without showing signs of magic. One one particularly normal day, while he was out playing in the field on the outskirts of town, Symond was approached by his familiar, a mountain lion cub. Symond was still very young, so his first reaction was to run away. However, what happened next completely knocked Symond off his feet. The cub spoke to him. He told him that his name was Silberlöwe, and that as Symond grew, so too would he. The cub confirmed, that Symond was, in fact, a Wiccan, but he was different from his parents. He absorbed energy and stored in in his body, instead of redirecting it like other Wiccans or Witches. So, keeping his head, and accepting the strange turn of events, Symond kept his heritage a secret, and true to Silberlöwe's word, as Symond grew, he became stronger. In order to hide his gifts, Symond took to the forest, studying the natural world through the eyes of a hunter. He excelled. He would often bring back more than his teacher, the only professional hunter in the small town. The man, who was getting old anyway, simply laughed it off, calling Symond a Child of the Forest, saying he could have the title of the Town's best hunter. Symond's grown up proving the old man right. Through his own intuition, and Silberlöwe's instruction, Symond flourished in the woods, often bringing nothing with him but a boot knife, his bow, and a quiver full of homemade arrows. Symond's set himself up quite well, bringing his kills to the town butcher, his herbs and other plants to the Apothecary, hides to the Tanner, and whatever wild flowers he can to whoever wants them.
