Ira Wilhelm Chamberlain
Race: Nuit (formerly Human)
Current Gender: Female
Current Height: 5'7
Current Weight: 103lbs
Birthday: Winter, Day 92, 37BV
(Aged ~547 yrs.)
 Concept:
The meaning of life changes when existence is measured not in decades, but centuries. And it is existence. That's the only appropriate word for it. Spades did have a life, a very long time ago, before anyone ever called him Spades. Or her. Or whatever the present case may be. The name, Ira Wilhelm Chamberlain, remains now only as an ancient souvenir, a memento of the prelude to an existence so much more significant than a thirty-seven year old man lost to the chaos of the Valterrian.
It has never been easy to survive in Mizahar - before or after the cataclysm. It requires a certain patience for all things, and a finely tuned education on how not to take everything so seriously. Spades has learned over the years to take great care in holding his cards, measuring his risks, and knowing when to bet, fold, or call. The game he's playing has lasted over five hundred years - and understandably it can grow quite dull, even depressing as everyone around him leaves the table. Changing the rules helps to keep things interesting. Every time the Nuit requires a new cadaver, he chooses the opposite gender. Most recently, Spades is a she.
Appearance:
At least a third of Spades' existence has been spent as a woman, which has made him very adept in applying cosmetic paints and colors to his eyes and face. The purpose of which is never to hide the fact that he's a Nuit - he's not at all ashamed of what he is - but when Spades is female, he does prefer to convincingly play the part of a gaunt, but graceful woman. Often enough, in male or female form, he'll even apply careful painted designs on his skin as tasteful decoration - from delicate swirls and floral sprays to twists of briar and angular tribal markings. He's a Nuit, with or without it, but with a touch of style he can look altogether less dead.
Spades' present body belonged to a young half-Eypharian woman who died of cholera, so her body was already slight and pale when the Nuit took it as his own. The body remains very thin, and white as a sheet, so Spades usually takes great care in dressing her to look less sickly. What he found most beautiful about her body, when he first saw it, was that her left eye was stricken with a cataract that the girl had lived with her entire life. Upon death, it became more pronounced and hazed over, traced with barely visible blue veins that now carry embalming fluid instead of blood. This exquisite imperfection comes at the price of his better depth perception, but he's never regretted it.
The woman's remaining functioning eye is a striking shade of soft blue, which contrasts strongly against her long, rich brunette hair. To keep from losing any of her precious hair, Spades usually leaves it to hang freely, often under a hood. Seldomly, she will tie up her hair to keep it out of the way.
Personality:
The ability to feel emotions died with Ira Chamberlain over five hundred years ago. What Spades experiences now is more the memory of emotions, but with plenty of practice, it can very much resemble the real thing. Apathy is far too easy to sink into, and it's a constant trap that Spades falls victim to when she isn't careful. To battle this, she puts effort into being amused by almost everything. Love, hatred, sorrow, greed, lust, when experienced by other people, give him plenty of entertainment and it keeps his mind stimulated.
Still, it's impossible for Spades to truly mimic being alive as she once was. While she maintains a polite air, she can sometimes ask intrusive and provocative questions - trying to probe for the same emotion that she's lost the ability to truly feel. It sometimes has a tendency to put others on edge or feel ill-at-ease, while still others are flattered at the idea of being fascinating to another being. Despite this, Spades is capable of forming genuine friendships: particularly where their practicality most suits her needs. The concept of romance doesn't interest her, but she's not adverse to the idea of entering a romantic relationship (which for obvious reasons remains strictly platonic). Seeing the infatuation in another person's eyes helps her remember what love used to feel like.
History:
Ira Wilhelm Chamberlain was a man who lived in a very different world a very long time ago. Native to the Alahea Empire, he found himself on the wrong side of the war when the Valterrian began. For reasons which even he himself has trouble trying to remember, he took part in the process known as Daek-nuit and became immortal. In the centuries that followed, Ira Chamberlain became a ghost - or more literally a puddle of white ichor - who over time lost meaning as he took on dozens of new bodies and continued existing for several life times. The many experiences had by Spades are innumerable, many of them mottled by fading memory, and the Nuit focuses only on the present and the future. |
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by Spades on July 2nd, 2011, 4:33 am 