Akataras Bselrae [Dragon Body] (Commission Info)

~ Akataras Bselrae [Dragon Body] ~

References:

~ ~ Full Body (Primary reference) ~ ~ Example of Akataras' fire ~ ~ Example of Akataras' feathers ~
(The example of Akataras as a Drakengard dragon is only there to show off the layering of his feathers)

Description/General Info:

~ Appearance:

Akataras is actually quite short for a typical anthro dragon, being between the height of 5 5" and 5' 7" (due to his talons), though his tail actually makes his total length far longer.

He has a slender body, with visibly toned muscle but a moderately effeminate frame (built like an acrobat, rather than bodybuilder). Overall his build isn't that intimidating to other dragons, though his wings span more than double the length of his body.

Their immense countenance dwarfing the dragon's slender form, they are covered in layers of large, fine, black feathers along their backs where they connect close to the dragon's spine, their front displaying the membranous and bat-like quality of the unfurled constructs, the wings are also tipped with a curved claw of the same colour and imposing razor sharpness as the other claws attached to the black dragon's body.  

His head has an angular and sharp quality to it, with a short jaw and snout that have an oddly humanoid quality and at the same time firmly set in an angled , alien and reptilian fashion.

The black dragon's scaled head is adorned with a curved horn on each side of its skull (similar to that found on typical demonic imagery, or resemblant of the horns of a ram), while four lightly curved spikes of increasing length adorn his snout to his crown, a fifth spike is set a little further down at the top of his neck completing the dragon's cranial ornaments.

His clawed hands bear the same anthropomorphic shape as the majority of his body, with a pale white claw at the tip of each finger and thumb.

Akataras' lower body detracts from the humanoid nature of his torso and arms, his legs bearing the same slender but subtly muscled shape as most of his body but his clawed feet take on a far more reptilian appearance, having three clawed talons positioned at the front of each with a fourth rear talon which when combined with his tail allows the dragon to maintain his bipedal balance when walking.

The tail itself has no weapon at the tip and simply smooths to a point like that of a simple lizard's, bearing a length equivalent to the distance between the dragon's shoulder blades and ankles. While the tail is weaponless, it can still be used to trip and grip opponents.

~ Personality:
Akataras is a rather harsh individual with eyes that blaze with the same cold fire that his magic manifests as, hardened by his losses throughout his life and the experiences gained through his travels, the black dragon has gained a quite distanced and guarded personality (Realising that his compassion and emotion has often been the reason for his suffering in the past.).

Though his actions may often seem heroic and his attitude relatively relaxed, a far colder individual lurks behind the temporary smiles and laughter that he often expresses. (The later he is in his age the more distant he tends to be due to certain reasons I can't explain for spoiler purposes) In the earlier stages of his travels Akataras would often help others for the sake of helping but as time passed and he grew steadily colder he often wouldn't intervene unless it would benefit him in some way.

Despite his cold inner nature Akataras does have a kind heart (frozen in a sense but thaws a little from time to time) but often puts it aside when making decisions in order to calculate the best possible outcome, trying to avoid any bias emotion might draw into the equation.

Despite this, the black dragon is fiercely defensive of those he is loyal to/cares about, more often than not overexerting himself or placing himself into dangerous situations to protect those important to him, the loss or injury of any close ally can often shatter Akataras' usual façade and allow his deeper, more sombre and compassionate personality to show through the cracks.

Socially Akataras is quite a sarcastic individual with a dark sense of humour, though he won't usually show he can actually crack a joke till he's grown accustomed to the person he's speaking to and around those he doesn't know he tends to maintain a defensive personality.

He is secretive in nature and will often not divulge intimate facts about himself unless he trusts the individual with which he's speaking and even then has been known to simply lie about something to sate their curiosity. He also has a very dry wit and a glib attitude in some situations, he can sometimes be seen as insufferable.

While he is primarily protective mainly of his allies, Akataras rarely cares about the collateral damage that occurs during his fights and travels and as a result disregards the danger he may put others in frequently. He won't however go out of his way to put other people in danger at his expense and will attempt to avoid getting others killed for his sake.

He will attempt to spare life wherever possible as long as the situation allows it. For example if faced with just two opponents he may attempt to take them down non-lethally, but if faced with ten he can't really take the risk of attempting non-lethal take-downs and will kill until their ranks break and flee. Even then, if one of them escaping could lead to another group fighting him, he will move to intercept and kill the fleeing opponent, rather than have to kill another seven or eight people.

~ Combat:
Akataras has lived for a long time and throughout his life has been taught to use multiple different melee combat styles. He is skilled with using one-handed or two-handed blades (though he struggles with dual wielding) and is most often found swinging around a hand-and-a-half blade for convenience.

Other than his sword skills Akataras also has skill with unarmed combat and fights with a heavily acrobat, kick-based martial arts style, using his arms for blocking strikes rather than attacking, though he is capable of tearing through human flesh with a puncturing strike using his claws. (Armour can obviously protect against this, striking through leather armour might take a few attempts but metal armour can't be penetrated by his claws unless weakened first)

Trained in the use of a staff at a later stage of his life and capable of applying the same disciplines he learned during this time to the use of a spear (though he is far more comfortable with a blade in hand or no weapon at all than a staff).

He has also been known to pair his sword skills with a shield when necessary, though his shield techniques are far less refined than his blade, due to his preference of ending fights quickly with deadly strikes rather than wearing down an opponent's strength. He also prefers having a free hand to cast spells with.

He is skilled with all of the abilities outlined above and while best with a blade is by no means unconquerable, there will always be (and have been) someone that can overpower him, or strike faster than he can.

~ Magic:
Other than his weapon skills Akataras is also a powerful mage, a fact which is aided by the unique nature of his magic and draconic flame. Akataras' fire is unique, to him it is warm and soothing, not an unpleasant flame that could harm him. To others it burns, but it burns cold, it is tied to Akataras' primary magic type of ice but ignores the principles of his regular ice magic, instead it blazes like any other flame and burns the victims down to white ashes, or snow essentially.

The flames manifest with a blue-turquoise colour (The same as Akataras' eyes) and serve as Akataras' primary magic attack type, when he's not summoning ice spikes and blades to tear apart his opponents of course.

While the magic tends to manifest in an unconventional way, it still follows similar principles to regular ice magic and allows Akataras to freeze objects, bodies of water etc. and of course construct objects out of ice to fight with, whether as projectiles or as blades and armour (though they lack the same durability as typical weapons and armour.

His fireballs and flames also lack any real impact of their own as they don't rely on combustion when cast. As a result Akataras wears a ring on his right hand that allows him to use sonic magic and adds a small shockwave to his spells via it to give them a little more impact.

The summoning of strong icy winds is also still possible for Akataras, despite the fiery manifestation of his spells.

He can also cast runes and sigils capable of more complex magical effects than his standard spells, these will often combine elements of his magic together to make more devastating attacks, or let him use a more advanced form of the elemental magic he's attuned to.

In later life, events transpire that rob him of his dragon body. This same process unlocks a latent ability of Akataras' spellwork that will be detailed elsewhere.


~ Style:
Akataras like many of my characters has a flair for the dramatic and prefers flowing clothing that accentuate his movements. Typically he can be found wearing vests, tunics, long coats and fingerless gloves/hand wrappings.

He is also partial to wrapping-based belts with ornate buckles that tend to trail off, loosely fitting pants/trousers for his legs and wrappings for his feet (as he can't wear shoes due to the talons). He's fond of the same colour schemes as Vincent preferring clothing in blacks, greys, blues and whites, as well as teals.

Though as a spirit Akataras can manifest illusory clothing he simply prefers not to bother with it at all as he deems it a waste of what little energy and magical prowess he still possesses in an ethereal form.

~ Summary:

- Akataras is a black scaled anthropomorphic dragon with turquoise eyes and enormous wings.
- His scales are a deep black and seem to shimmer under moonlight. They take on an angular, semi-shield-like shape and overlap one another to form a protective layer over his skin.
- His underbelly (which has an overlapping, plated quality), horns, spines and wing membrane are all a deep blue-teal colour.
- His wings are immense in size, clawed at the tip, mostly bat-like but their backs are covered in a thick layer of large black feathers. (Beneath the feathers a layer of silky black flesh coats the wings, though this is usually invisible.)
- He has a relatively slender frame, uncommon for dragons of his nature and to other dragons would not appear overly intimidating. However Akataras has a pair of gleaming turquoise (which lean more towards blue than green) eyes that smoulder with a cold light, giving him an imposing gaze. His muscularity is still visible however, but he's hardly sculpted out of stone. More like a nimble acrobat than a body builder, his muscles are visible.
- Despite his youthful build and appearance Akataras is actually over 2000 years old.
- Akataras has a relatively enigmatic, distant and brooding personality, though he hides his colder nature behind dark humour and sarcastic comments. He's also bisexual and used to be quite a shameless flirt and very seductive, however certain events pushed this element of his personality out of sight. Occasionally though it can shine through and some of the brighter, more sarcastic Akataras can be seen.
- He is fiercely loyal to those he cares about, even if he doesn't display his affection openly. Can be quite ruthless at times, especially if pursuing something that could be considered a greater good. If his allies are threatened or injured, mercy is rarely shown. He will however avoiding killing if possible or unprovoked. If focused on a task however, a bodycount isn't really an issue to him, if you draw your weapon against Akataras, expect to die very shortly afterwards.
- He is skilled with multiple weapon-based as well as unarmed fighting styles. Preferring the use of a hand-and-a-half sword as his primary offensive weapon.
- Akataras is also an accomplished mage that uses ice-based magic which manifests as turquoise fire, similar in colouration to his eyes. This 'Frostfire' burns cold and creates white ashes and is particularly potent against the undead.
- Prefers dramatic clothing with blue, white, black, grey and teal being the colours he's most often seen wearing.
- Despite his powers and prowess Akataras eventually scraped a little closer to the jaws of death than he ever had before (again; he ended up as an elf the last time) and is currently bound to the human Vincent Belsara. (Though he isn't technically dead... technically.)
- The information of Akataras provided here is relevant to his personality, appearance and abilities when he still possessed his dragon body. While much of this information persists to his time spent in an elven body, there are some differences that will be outlined in regards to that particular body.