Anzu

Anzu, also known as the "Bandit Prince of Libra'um ", is a fairly young Akyr with a mysterious past. He is the main character of Ascend: Rise to Power.

Appearance

Anzu is a fairly below-average height male Akyr, even in his "human" form, standing around 5'6, with black fur and golden highlights on his tailtip and hair. He has a soft, fuzzy mane around his neck, upper chest, and shoulders, which he doesn't bother tucking into his coat because he feels as if it's too stuffy in the desert heat. Like all Akyr, even in his human form, he possesses pointed, fluffy ears and a long tail, as well as a sufficient amount of fur on his body, although there are clearly patches where the hair is less dense or nonexistant (such as his face and on part of his arms, back, thighs, face, and torso). His skin color is light brown and he has purple eyes, although the right eye has a cataract that makes is appear milky white. There is a horizontal scar on his nose and a scar going vertically down his left eye and on his lip. Anzu's age is rather inconsistent between intepretations by the writer. He is determined to be anywhere from as young as sixteen to as old as twenty one.

Akyr Form

Anzu's Akyr form is much the same, except he is completely furred and has a long, beaklike snout and a maw filled with long, pointed teeth. He also has his wings out at all times in this form and he is physically stronger.

Outfit

Anzu's outfit is a fairly unusual one, even by Libra'um standards. He wears a tan, linen shirt underneath a leather coat and light tan baggy pants that go down to his knees. The shirt under his coat is noted to be in terrible shape, with several bloodstains and tears. The left sleeve has almost entirely been ripped off, with a small piece of fabric still left and the right has been hemmed so it does not tear further. On his left side, he wears a leather piece of armor that keeps his shouldergaurd in place and was once used to keep a quiver on his back, which he states he no longer has in his possession. The golden insignia on the piece is that of the Devil-Maiden's Revenge, which was a crew of adventuring seafarers that Anzu's adoptive father's friend used to be part of.

Around his waist is a piece of fabric with a light blue pattern on the front left side and around his right hip is a purple piece of cloth that obscures a knife belt. Attached to the back of his belt is a scabbard containing a xiphos. He wears plain leather boots. Anzu wears bandages on his left hand (which is his preferred hand) and on both of his forearms and calves.

Personality

Anzu is a rather unpredictable and sneaky individual, owing his continued survival to his wits and lack of an extremely rigid moral code. He is prone to being very emotional and is sometimes easily provoked to anger (but rarely to violence). Anzu is impulsive and brash. However, he always tries to keep himself one step ahead of others, being quite devious. Anzu uses his quick wits to analyze his foes in combat and is a dirty fighter, though he fully admits that he would much rather run from a fight than start one. He is the type of person to 'live in the now', with a one-track mindset when it comes to his goal(s), as a result, he often disregards other people's safety or well-being in favor of reaching those goals quicker, which gains him the ire of people who manage to get close to him. Anzu does not care much about notions such as 'honor' and is perfectly willing to lie, cheat, and steal to ensure his survival.

Anzu is an extremely talkative person and is not the most well-mannered individual, with his sharp tongue and impulsiveness quickly landing him into trouble. He does not appear to be patient or mindful of most other people's feelings and tends to be on the 'brutally honest' side. He is remarked as being a bit overdramatic and sometimes a bit childish. Anzu has a bit of a troubled past, which he is mostly defensive of and because of this, he does not often form close bonds with people and keeps others at a distance.

Despite these qualities, Anzu does have some heroic traits, such as his loyalty to those close to him and willingness to go through hardship and pain to protect the people or things he finds some sort of value in, or even that which those people find value in; This trait is in sharp contrast to his survival skills, as he shows a great disregard for his own well-being, even, when concerning the protection of his allies. He is also not an outwardly malicious person, despite his disregard for strangers. He does not place a lot of value on superfluous material possessions or money, and in spite of him being a thief, he only does so for survival. Anzu is actually quite humble about his accomplishments and skills and does not expect thanks or reward for the good things that he does.

He isn't the sort to follow others blindly and he is always questionable of authority. However, he is willing to listen to others who may be more knowledgeable or experienced than him in certain subjects, and will begrudgingly accept their advice if he feels it is necessary. He does show some admiration for people who are seen as heroes or paragons, but tries to play it cool.

History

[Will be put here eventually.]

Much of Anzu's backstory is unknown, although he mentions that he was an orphan raised by a wingless Akyr named 'Doc' and his business partner 'Rokh', a half-human, half-Diatar male. They vanished mysteriously four years ago, something in which he attributes to the kidnappings that began to occur during that period. Anzu expresses that he desperately has been looking for answers about their disapperance, but between surviving and trying to evade the law, he hasn't been able to find any clues that would lead him to them.

Abilities

Anzu has a distinct lack of any magical abilities in the beginning of the story, a peculiarity for the mostly magically adept Akyr, although this changes once the story gets going. That being said, he does possess some of the natural abilities of his race and a few proficiencies he gained through his life.

Racial Abilities

Shape-shifting-  Like all Akyr, Anzu can shapeshift in and out of his Akyr form. He can also shapeshift his wings so they appear in his human form, but since they mostly get in the way, he does not always have them out. Like other Akyr, he also can see in the dark and has a longer lifespan than that of a human.

Magical Abilities

Incarnation of Chaos - Anzu, being the reincarnation of Chaos, possesses some of the abilities of his former life. However, he is not in full control of them. Due to this, it comes at an extreme risk, since he becomes intensely violent and unpredictable. He will outright disregard the safety of himself and others for the sake of combat.

Anzu in his Rage State

Rage State - He enters an enhanced berserker's rage in which his physical strength and speed is multiplied many times over, at great physical and mental cost. He gains a red aura around his body and is forced into his true shape. While in this state, he has heightened combat prowess and senses. Even though Anzu's normal style of fighting is crude and rugged, he is much more graceful and percise when under the influence of his own magic, although he displays a much higher level of brutality, bordering on sadistic. He will toy with his opponents and extend the duration of the fight simply to fufill his bloodlust, a trait that contradicts his usual demeanor entirely. In fact, one could say that Incarnation Anzu seems like an entirely different character.

Skills

Sword Fighting - Anzu uses a xiphos against armored opponents and is decently skilled at wielding most small blades.

Marksmanship - Anzu at one point used to use a bow for hunting and was actually a decent marksman, although his skill is limited by his lack of depth perception due to the cataract in his right eye.

Trivia

• Anzu apparently cannot read, or at least cannot read well. However, he can read his name and write down the runes for it.
• He was born on the Winter Solstice, which would be the First Day of the month of Vlaustsol. This would not properly coincide with Earth's solstice or dates, since there are sixteen months in the Aksyos calendar, thirty days each, and each season is four months long.
• Anzu has gone through several names during the planning stages of the book; the first was Thunder, which was cycled out extremely fast; the second was Jack, but the writers didn't want him mixed up with another character; the third was Alcoth, which was simply a surname and he was never referred to by a first name; the fourth was Leo, which stuck until an incident in which the character was nefariously stolen; the final being the current, Anzu.
• Anzu's name is a reference to the Sumerian demon, Anzu / Abzu / Zu, who was described as a bird monster or half-man, half-bird. In the myth, Anzu steals the Tablets of Destiny and was hunted by the gods for his treachery.