Name: Ibrahim Evcen
Nickname: Ib or Evan
Age: 28
Gender/Pronouns: Male (He/Him)
Sexuality: Opportunistic, Demiromantic
Description: Stands at 6" with a muscled build. Ibrahim wears his hair long, typically pulled back into a ponytail or bun, and keeps a full beard. He walks with the kind of self-unconsciousness that comes from not being afraid of anyone. His expression bespeaks a calm, steady temperament that smiles easily. Ibrahim's voice conveys emotion well and falls naturally into the kind of steady cadence ideal for putting a mark at ease or putting his daughter to sleep with a story. The experiments done to him have left no (obvious) physical mark.
Notable Features: Bearded, pony-tail/bun, very fit.
Supernatural Creature: Cerberus
Abilities:
Guardian of the Underworld:
• He possesses immense strength and stamina, the upper limits of which have not been (safely) tested. He can punch through a steel door, take a bullet to the chest with barely a scratch and appears to be indifferent to most poisons, illnesses or chemicals.
• He can ignore (and doesn't experience) fatigue or sleep so long as he has a task, activity or purpose before him.
• His actual physical speed isn't much faster than a normal human but his mental processes accelerate the more they have to track. He can't dodge bullets but he can watch them pass, he can drive a vehicle far beyond a human's ability to perceive and react to environmental conditions, etc. He mostly uses this to win every bullet hell game he can get his hands on.
Beware the Gates: Can generate a fear effect that makes him appear to become something others are afraid of. This effect is generally conscious but can happen unconsciously if he feels genuinely threatened (not common). The power has a 30 second ramp up period, with specific stages.
Stage 2: A perceptible dimming of the light in the target's peripheral vision, followed by a darkening of Ibrahim's features. Background noise drops off in volume, as the target becomes aware of a myriad of whispering voices from no particular direction.
Stage 3: Ibrahim's aspect shifts towards what the target fears most in a confrontation. Ex. If afraid of snakes, his skin appears to become reptilian and his eyes slitted. If afraid of the police, a badge materializes on his chest and his clothes become a uniform.
This effect is psychic, not physical. If multiple people are his targets, the first two stages remain the same but the third stage is unique to each. How each target reacts is up to them, depending on how they would react to what their senses are telling them is a profound danger.
Ever Vigilant: All five of his senses are amplified in direct proportion to countering concealment. The more quietly someone walks or whispers, the more their steps and words echo in his ears. A person standing in shadows looks brightly lit, and someone invisible seems to radiates light. The more impossible it is to detect someone, the more Ibrahim's attention is drawn to them.
That said, someone blending into a crowd, appears to be nondescript or otherwise makes no special effort to hide doesn't stand out to him at all.
Peculiarly, intent matters. Someone standing in a shadowy corner because they're trying to eavesdrop will visibly stand out to him. Someone standing in a shadowy corner because they want to be left alone or they have a migraine and are avoiding light will remain concealed.
This explicitly includes the ability to spot, perceive and interact with spirits, ghosts and other immaterial beings.
No One Escapes the Hound: This curious metaphysical power only activates when he's pursuing or tracking someone. Once he's 'locked on', the signs of their passage become supernaturally obvious to him. The faster they travel to evade, the the faster he appears to travel to catch them. Once the target is traveling faster than about 20 miles per hour, they must remain at that speed or he'll appear in their path the moment they're slow enough for him to catch, experiencing no time in between.
Ex. If in the woods and someone drives away on an ATV, he can run after them and appear nearby ahead, able to lunge for them as they pass. If they're in a car and they hop onto an interstate and drive for 200 miles before pulling over for gas, he'll emerge from the gas station's doors or from behind the building.
To Ibrahim, he perceives the chase as 'taking a shortcut'. If beyond human speeds, he may blink as a car races away but open his eyes to find himself running out of a closet or doorway in sight of this quarry. This can be just as startling and weird for him as it is for the one he's chasing.
'Locking on' requires an existing line of sight, in person, and his sustained attention. If he gets distracted or loses consciousness, he loses the lock.
Weaknesses:
Sunlight: When exposed to and standing in direct sunlight, his powers recede. His strength becomes that of ordinary men (if still impressive given his physique), he's vulnerable to bullets, poison, sleeping gas, etc. and he loses his other powers. Ibrahim finds sunlight 'a bit bright' but otherwise isn't physically inconvenienced.
Direct UV from artificial sources doesn't limit his strength or durability, but otherwise shuts down the rest of his powers as well (and still makes him vulnerable to chemicals, viruses, etc.).
Personality: Ib is a charming, well spoken man with a decided Turkish accent and a quick, ready smile. He radiates confidence, presence, and an attitude that comes from winning more than he loses. He's a surprisingly good social chameleon, though, mostly owing to his background in social engineering his way into homes and commercial buildings to size up their security. By nature, he's steady and level-headed, not particularly afraid of anyone or anything. He's defined by his love for his daughter, Zehra, and his loyalty to friends and family.
That said, Ib is also innately suspicious of others, always sizing them up to see what their game or agenda is (he has one, why wouldn't they?). He's also a meticulous planner...and therefore
not an impulsive person
at all. When he commits to a plan of action, he's a force to be reckoned with, but he's also slow to take advantage of sudden opportunities if he doesn't know what happens next.
Likes: Sunrise, working out, eating healthy, jewelry, kids, swimming, a good fight, a great sports match, a superb cigar.
Dislikes: Religion, police, amateur crooks, most movies, being lied to, losing a target he's tailing. Also, clowns creep him out big time.
History: He grew up in a family of eight, tucked away in a shack underneath the railways in Istanbul, Turkey. Their crushing poverty didn't drag him down, as everyone else was just as badly off in his neighborhood. Ibrahim's friends were the only ones that mattered to him and he was lucky enough to fall in with a small group of winners. None of them were academics, of course, but a few came from families with connections and he met a number of surprisingly important people as he grew up.
Ibrahim didn't join a gang so much as he grew into one. He learned to fight, learned to lose and get back up and win. His best friend, Ferit, was the son of a captain in one of the mob families in Istanbul and that friendship was what changed Ib's trajectory from likely ending up a dead tough on the street. Instead, the mob put him to work in a variety of ways to see if he was worth recruiting. Ibrahim was exposed to a range of criminal activities and picked up the basics of concealed carry, how to mug someone, how to jimmy a lock and how to avoid drawing heat from what little law enforcement there was in his part of Istanbul. For Ib specifically, he ended up learning the fine art of casing. Techniques for spotting security systems and gaining access to homes or work sites, how to research floor plans and the routines of residents, employees or security. How to tail someone without being spotted and take pictures of their activities for either use in planning a job or for incriminating evidence someone in the family could use to blackmail them.
His career peaked in his early twenties, thanks to his mob family giving him a better living than a factory, warehouse or gas station would pay. In time, Ib started seeing his best friend Ferit's sister, Demet, and eventually married her at the age of twenty one. Their baby girl was born two years later, though he sadly lost his wife to postpartum preeclampsia. Thankfully, Ib had his wife's family as well as his own to lean on and his daughter, Zehra, grew up with her grandparents while Ib worked during the day. He always came home to his little girl and, by the time she was four years old, Ib started giving serious thought to becoming 'respectable' and working as a residential security consultant.
But he couldn't say no when his best friend asked him to come stateside with him for some family business with the American Mafia. Ib and Ferit flew into New York, spent a week in meetings and seeing the sights, before Ibrahim went to sleep one night in his hotel room.
The next morning, he woke up in Balam Sanctuary. That was one year ago. And all he's thought about since is getting out and getting back to his now-five year old little girl.