Dorian Lash, Kineticist

Dorian is an unruly-looking character with a wild mane of poorly-cut red hair that tends to establish itself as wild and easy-to-notice, much like the man it adorns. The hair, combined with his pale green eyes, are very much at odds with his deeply tanned skin, and easy to pick out in crowds of Athas known for dark hair and dark eyes. His own behavior only exacerbates this, as Dorian says what comes to his mind, carries himself with something more than confidence but not quite arrogance, and has a tendency to be smug around authority figures. Discretion is not something the man seems to know about very well.

At the best of times, Dorian is bold but relaxed, quick with a plan and a retort—sometimes in the form of potent psychokinetic force, which comes as naturally to him as breathing. He can be lewd and crass, but is ultimately good-natured for all of that, taking slanderous remarks as easily as he makes them. But when words fall away and actions are taken, all joking is put aside, and Dorian becomes as serious as a hot day in the wastes. Though for all that he takes offense lightly, Dorian is highly and unnecessarily defensive of his sister—insults to her simply aren’t tolerated, and he’ll be the first to kinetically shatter the person’s bones who wishes to contest the issue. Lashes stick together.
[whisper=Badasterysk,Jolith,TheUdjat]Dorian enjoys a bit of wild bluster and fun, but deep down there is a hardened edge of seriousness with the man. He’s had a long life since the transformation and has learned from all of it, but has made it his goal to use the Elans’ gift to explore every inch and experience Athas has to offer, which is precisely why he aims to do whatever, whenever he wants. Every moment is a blessing, every instant a triumph, and it is to be savored and enjoyed—which tends to make him come across as pompous, selfish, and careless. But this is an excellent cover, so why fight it?

And it is, deep down, a very selfish existence. But he believes it is anybody’s right and responsibility to go out and claim life and all it has to offer. He’s not there to do it for them. And as long as he’s got a partner-in-crime, his ‘sister’, he sees no need to encourage anyone to keep up.[/whisper]

Most of the Lash reputation is rooted in Raam, where the two grew up. Raam has never been a kind or orderly place, and the twins embody what comes of such an upbringing. Devon quickly acquired a natural talent for manipulation and subversion, a useful skill in such environs, and like breathing such abilities blossomed into telepathy. Dorian went another path, and through tussles, street skirmishes, and all manner of trouble-making with fellows soon found his mind pre-disposed to the decisive, forceful will of a kineticist. When their talent for the Way was recognized, their parents seized on the opportunity and ushered them off to a school, where their aptitude was recognized and channeled into useful study. Both Lash children proved bright and studious—even if the boy still tended towards mischief, and the girl towards putting her telepathy towards less-than-selfless measures. Still, their fast learning led them to be taught special, ancient techniques for their chosen disciplines, and in a remarkably short time, both Lash children were ready to explore the world and find their calling. Their tutors, of course, had pre-determined paths for them to take, eager to advance their own place in the world with well-placed students. But the Lash twins undermined even them, sneaking out after their graduation to tackle the world full-force.

They’ve never looked back. Except maybe once or twice to lie low or resupply—Raam is a crossroads city, after all.

The Lash twins have roamed the Tyr region for the better part of five years, making adventure and getting into and out of trouble since the day their teachers of the Way let them loose on the world. Devon tends towards social interaction and calm rationale, as her discipline suggests, while Dorian embodies the energy and destructive potential of his own discipline—and between the two, few feats are impossible. More than one wayfaring merchant or templar have found themselves falling victim to the duo and their talents, and there is a even an elven tribe roaming the wastes that would pay handsomely for a pair of red-haired scalps based on their past exploits—not to mention a rather perturbed cleric of earth in the Balic region, and a very messy situation involving a noble family in Nibenay among whom they are simultaneously blessed and cursed. But for all those hungry for their blood, there are quiet murmurs that the Lashes aren’t all bad—the pair have a tendency to avoid bringing trouble down on average laborers and slaves, and seem to set their marks on higher prey. They may not be precisely famous or infamous, given that only select individuals have had the (mis)fortune of encountering them, but a brother-sister pair of young, crimson-haired psions, one demanding and one outspoken, is something one doesn’t easily forget.
[whisper=Badasterysk,TheUdjat,Jolith]Dorian's life pre-transformation comes back in bits and pieces, mostly during his dreams or while he's in the midst of psionic meditation. The events are uncannily familiar whenever he experiences them, and yet it always seems like they're happening to someone else. Certainly Dorian wouldn't do some of the things this man has done...

He has a name for this man--Valzhan, as he has heard him referred to by others. He was a very different man than Dorian is now, more reserved and analytical--cautious, even. He took his time and tended to plan things meticulously, be it a raid on weary travellers or an assault on a merchant caravan. For Valzhan, like so many on Athas, was a bandit. A raider.

He was very good at what he did, as near as Dorian can tell, leading numerous men to takes the goods and lives of others, selling them into slavery, or leaving them to die if they seemed unprofitable. More than a mastermind of such operations, Valzhan engaged in them firsthand, turning his body into a weapon through psionics, personally ripping people apart with vicious claws. The memories of such events are chilling and visceral, all the more disturbing for the fact that Dorian enjoys them.

But as good as Valzhan must have been, Dorian knows that eventually his lifestyle caught up with him. Eventually he assaulted the wrong caravan, the wrong merchant dynasty, and his band was torn apart and sent running, though he has not been able to discern the particulars of the engagement. Valzhan was put on the run, and through his finely honed abilities he persevered--until, presumably, he was found by the Elans. Not a particularly good man, Dorian has never known precisely why they agreed to transform him into one of their own. There must have been something in his spirit or his mind that showed promise, which allowed him to be reborn as Dorian Lash.

[Dorian doesn't know it, but he has subconsciously taken a lifestyle very different from his former self out of a need for atonement and repentance for his deeds. He doesn't feel the need to precisely do good--indeed, Dorian can do some rather bad things all on his own--but he does feel compelled to enjoy life, to take each moment for what it is and nothing more, to exist in the present with each breath. Planning does not come to him naturally--or at least he repudiates it--and so, too, does he unconsciously hope to wash away the bitter cruelty and tormenting spirit of Valzhan. But there's always the possibility that extenuating circumstances can reawaken that very corrupt, vile portion of himself and pull it back to the surface. By existing as he does now, he is 'normal'--not charitable and virtuous, but not sadistic and cruel. Somewhere inside, he strives to remain that way, though this is the side that tends to spring up when Devon is threatened. The echo of her old torment (even though he doesn't know about it) is, paradoxically, an aid to keep him on his path.]

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Dorian and Devon Lash were created some forty years ago out of a pair of humans that were in the same generation of individuals brought into the world by the Elans. They aren’t the only Lashes, but they are some of the most notable, the others pursuing different paths. Dorian and Devon bonded well during that infancy, and agreed to walk through their new life together—for safety and companionship. They truly see themselves as siblings, even if genetically they are of different heritage (not that one could tell by their very similar physical traits; this was an intentional design of the Elans and their physical preferences), as they arose from the same ‘birth’.

The Lashes made their way to Raam, first, out of word of the city’s reputation for ancient psionic teachings, for given their new highly psionic existence, this was of great interest to them. They studied for a very long time in Raam, much longer than their purported five years. Devon was more interesting in the workings of the mind and emotions, mastering people, while Dorian found himself drawn to the external world and the forces that make it work, particularly the interplay of the elements, which he found he could tap into with his will to some extent. Eventually, knowing that their conspicuous lack of aging would soon look odd to the people there, the pair departed Raam to spend their time in other parts of the tablelands.

This has ever been a balancing act. Posing as human with such long lives, the two can never spend too long in any given place, but dedicate a few years to one, then some to the other, and so on. Many of the enemies they purport to have in their false backgrounds are genuine, though the circumstances tend to be more involved, and a keen investigator will note that they could not all have happened in so short a span of time. They didn’t, but the different parties have taken no note of each other, and think the Lashes only on the run or hiding from them in particular.

But there is one enemy they don’t mention in their stories, and that is a fellow psion that has been hunting them—and other Elans—for years. They have never personally met the man, nor do they wish to, but what they have gathered is that the man discovered the existence of Elans and was keenly interested in being transformed into one—but he was denied this. He since discovered that this was only a result of his own physical appearance, being less-than-attractive and not of the rare red hair and lighter eyes they favor. So jilted was this man that he made it his cause to hunt down and kill the Elans for spurning him, hating the very features they loved. Sometimes he doesn’t even bother to confirm if a creature is an Elan, it is said, and will do away with a human for the physical features alone, perhaps out of fear that they will one day be transformed.

This psion has heard of the Lashes, of course, and hunts them just as earnestly. He came very close to catching them recently, pursuing them to the outskirts of Urik where their psionic abilities were nearly exhausted, and their only recourse was an insane plan initiated by Devon—to get captured by slavers. The two arranged to get found by a group of such slavers, and Devon used what power she had left to ensure that they didn’t get horribly killed or abused at their hands. Safely in the cages of the slavers, the psion couldn’t get to them, and was forced to watch as they were taken away. They were only taken to Urik, but so far they have avoided their pursuer… though now they must figure out a way to escape the bonds of slavery.

(I plan to go more into Dorian’s life pre-transformation, but this is something he’ll only be remembering in bits and pieces, and probably isn’t needed for the full background. Unless you really want it.)[/whisper]