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Lyserg Benoît

This character is available for adoption in Anathema! Please PM Leadership for more information.

Lyserg Benoît is the hybrid son of a coyote named Sterling and a dog named Azelma Benoît Fauchelevent. After living as a loner and discovering his latent talent at healing, he sought a more permanent place to set up residence, which is how he came to Anathema in the fall of 2013.

Appearance

Lyserg is a coydog with a dominant coyote build; he is rather small with a long and lean muzzle, tall pointed ears, a svelte build, and a thick bushy tail. His fur is finer and silkier than a coyote, though, echoing his mother's Australian Shepherd^[3] coat. His pastel colors make this hybridization even more obvious, with the natural greys of his mountain coyote sire blending into a diluted strawberry red across his chest, his forelegs, and blushing across his cheeks. A darker hue of rust graces his tall ears, tips his shoulders, and bands over the base of his tail. His paws fade to a pale dusty grey, whereas his tail and muzzle lighten to a silver closer to white. The off-white feathers up his cheeks, past his eyes, and down his throat, mimicking the typical Aussie ruff but not fully encircling his neck. His eyes are a muted shade of dusty rose, and his nose leather and paw pads are liver brown.

Overall he is an attractive male, perhaps even feminine by some standards. In his Optime form, Lyserg has a wispy red mane that stands up in spikes and often falls over his eyes. Sometimes he ties his hair back into a ponytail to keep it out of the way. His most noticeable accessory is the scorched and bleached coyote skull that rests atop his head like a macabre helmet; it is tied with a strip of leather and fastened beneath his chin. Wearing the skull is a sort of penance for Lyserg, and he is rarely seen without it. He sports a leather belt with pouches containing plant extracts, powders, and poisons, as well as basic medical supplies. Sometimes there is a small rusted penny in his paw he rubs for a safer feeling.

Forms

Personality

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Lyserg the medic comes across as quiet, intelligent, and calm, which belies the barbaric appearance of the skull he wears like a hat. He harbors some misogyny, and sometimes treats females with less respect than males (though he will still heal them in a professional manner despite the snarky attitude). If one were to delve past his helpful exterior, it would soon become apparent that Lyserg has a deep sense of self-loathing, and tries to help others to overcome his survivor's guilt.

He is cool under pressure, but has the potential to snap into violent anger and even sadism if the right trigger is pressed. He seems ambivalent regarding slavery, seeing servants as useful but recognizing that everyone has a breaking point and even a slave can be dangerous if pushed too far. He is lonely outside of pack life, and is tired of traveling by himself. There is a darkness in him he cannot constrain forever, and it leaks out into sarcastic comments and angry outbursts towards females.

Ideals

Interests Likes: trying to help people, learning medicine, being in control of his surroundings, routine and stability, male companionship Dislikes: being alone, racism (esp. wolf supremacists), talking about his past, comments about his appearance, female companionship Traits Lonely, intelligent, sarcastic, misogynist, brooding, guilty, introverted. Outlook: Pessimistic, assumes he is to blame for everything bad. Expression: Often introverted, secretly dominant as he seeks control. Alignment: True neutral sassy Fears helplessness, illness and poison, losing his mind Motivations gaining control, seeking redemption, staving off loneliness

Biases Packs: He's new to the area; used to want to join Inferni, but changed his mind. Species: Distrustful of wolves unless they first treat him as equal. Non-Luperci: Fairly neutral, since his birthpack lived a feral lifestyle. Gender: Misogynist; prefers the company of males. Color: Neutral toward others, rather embarrassed of his own "girly" colors. Sexuality ''' - Lyserg has been very secretive about his orientation. He fears the female gender, and yet does not desire to find himself living along side a male. He finds it to be simply strange, but does not say so out loud even though he is forced to shield his eyes in the presence of two homosexual companions. Substances He has tried alcohol, but found it to burn his throat, and doesn't desire it ever. Smoking simply bothers him with the smell causing him to fall into small fits of coughing.

Spirituality Lyserg does not follow a specific religion, but he does believe his life was spared for some greater purpose. He views himself as a sinner beyond redemption, and feels more relaxed around other victims of fate like him. He would be open to learning a new religion.

Relationships

Key Relations His best friend: Lyserg doesn't like to talk about him, but that's whose skull he wears everywhere he goes. It's possible Lyserg's lingering feelings are of an unrequited romantic nature, but no one has found that out for certain. Isolde Sawtooth was the first Anatheman he encountered, and found that her high-pitched voice hurt his ears. However, he took an interest in the pack she described and remained nearby to scope it out. After eventually joining, he developed an odd love/hate relationship with the youth that is predicated on catty insults and being a "frenemy".

Family: Benoît Fauchelevent Mother: Azelma Benoît Fauchelevent Father: Sterling Extended: His mother's sister had children in Tampa, so he has two first cousins Éponine and Gavroche?, as well as his once-removed cousins Cosette and Clopin through that branch. However, Lyserg doesn't know his French relatives. His father was an orphan, so he has no extended paternal relatives.

Other Relations

Relations Colibri Haki was his prisoner over the winter of 2011. He, along with his companions, starved and beat her to prove their superiority over wolves. Come March 2012, she made her escape by slipping them all hemlock. His companions died from the poison, but Lyserg barely survived. He does not know Colibri is currently living in nearby Vinatta. Axelle Napier is the leader that accepted him into the pack. Obeys her but harbors resentment for her attitude/gender.

Family Relations None atm.

Minor Relations Friendly: None atm. Unfriendly: None atm. Sex: Assumed to be virgin. Fights: (won) None atm. Fights: (lost) None atm. Murders: None atm.

Former Relations None atm.

Abilities

Strengths Medic — He can stitch wounds, set bones, deter infections, and handle most pressure-filled situations with admirable calmness. He trained for several seasons with experienced merchants used to rough customers. Poisoner — After his near-death experience with hemlock, Lyserg became an expert at identifying, collecting, and applying poisons of all kinds. He is perpetually suspicious of food and drink, and always checks for strange odors or signs of tampering. Witty — Lyserg is clever, observant, good at arguing, and always gets the last word. Especially talented with catty insults, as he seems to enjoy bickering. More skills can be added by the adopter!

Weaknesses Guilt — He forever blames himself for getting his friends killed by their slave, and easily plunges into self-loathing depression if anyone asks him too many questions about his skull hat. Temper — Lyserg has a sadistic streak and seems to enjoy hurting others when he gives in to anger; this is something he tries to resist, and feels disgusted by after it passes. Slaves and women seem to be most at risk. Females — Having grown up motherless and watching a female kill his friends, his natural mistrust of their gender lends him to disrespect females, and in more extreme cases, enact violence against them. Warrior women can cow him into frightened obedience, though he will forever resent them for it.

History

Lyserg's mother Azelma Benoît Fauchelevent was born in Tampa, Florida alongside her sister, Fantine. Unlike her littermate, Azelma did not want to live in the crowded and tumultuous city any longer than she had to, and once she came of age, the Aussie mix set off to travel across the United States. Her path led her northwest, and she eventually reached the spacious wilderness of Montana and made it her home. There was a small pack of local mountain coyotes and coydogs that were friendly enough to her. She rapidly integrated into their feral lifestyle, and became a full-fledged pack member when she claimed a coyote male named Sterling as her mate.

Azelma and Sterling were not immediately blessed with puppies, though; they suffered several miscarriages before their one successful birth, the son they named Lyserg Benoît. Azelma was weakened by the birth and never fully recovered, passing away peacefully several months later. Lyserg grew up with the only other youngsters his age, three brothers born to pure coyote parents. Two of the brothers teased him mercilessly about his dog markings, but the third brother became Lyserg's best friend, and he was readily accepted by their family. Trouble arose when the boys were nearing adulthood; a pack of wolves from Yellowstone had migrated north to stake a claim to new territory, and were harassing the small coyote pack. Rather than fight and face certain death, the coyotes disbanded.

Lyserg left his father in favor of traveling with his hotheaded friends. They were bitter toward wolves and yearned to find a place where coyotes could reign dominant, but the further north they went, the more wolves had already laid claim to the land and chased them off. It was then they heard a rumor from a traveler that hailed from the northeast: a fearsome coyote clan that lined their borders with the skulls of the wolves who challenged them. Lyserg was hesitant, but his best friend was enamored with the story, so the quartet set off in that direction. The more they talked about it, the more wild and exaggerated the stories became, and soon they had convinced themselves they would need to prove their superiority over wolves in order to gain acceptance.

The boys decided they would capture a wolf as a slave, and offer it to the clan warlord upon their arrival. Most of the wolves they encountered were far larger and stronger than them, and backed by the might of a pack, making it impossible. Their luck turned one winter day when they encountered a lone female, small and seemingly defenseless. Lyserg and the brothers ambushed her, binding her wrists, ankles, and jaws, and proceeded to drag her along their own journey as a prisoner. She did not put up much resistance, and grew weaker as time passed and they continued to starve and beat her. Lyserg had never experienced real violence before, and found a dark part of himself that enjoyed having such power over an inferior. He had been helpless to stop the wolves from driving him from his childhood home, and helpless to save his mother from dying; now he finally felt like he was in control.

That was about the time his prisoner mixed hemlock into their foraged provisions, and poisoned them all to make her escape. Lyserg and his friends all collapsed together, struggling to breathe as paralysis swept through their system. The nightmarish ordeal dragged on for an interminably long time, and when Lyserg was finally able to raise his head, he saw that all three of his friends had already been killed. Miraculously he alone survived, but his body was weak and his spirit was broken. As he slowly regained his strength, he burned his friends' bodies, then buried their scorched bones -- all but one. His best friend's skull would be his permanent reminder of what he lost. He blamed himself for getting his friends killed and being helpless again, and the grief, guilt, and rage filled him with a darkness he could not see past.

More than a year has passed since Lyserg donned the skull of his best friend. During that time he tried to live alone, but grew desperate for company and fell in with a group of traveling merchants. They were not good friends but they were good teachers, and Lyserg gained a variety of skills as he struggled to distract himself from his depression. Notably, he memorized all the plant poisons he could find, so that he would never fall prey to such an obvious trick again. He also surprised himself by discovering his latent talent at healing. His knack for stitching wounds, setting bones, and concocting poultices made him realize he could devote the remainder of his life to helping others, and perhaps fill the void inside of him. His other option was to give in to the darkness and lose himself, and only time will tell which direction he will turn toward. He has since parted ways with the merchants and is looking for a more permanent place to set up residence.

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