OC Reference: Jiroku the Avali

So, this OC’s a couple years old now, hehe. He’s gone through multiple revisions over time. Originally I had created him as an alternate universe counterpart to Temril, but the characters eventually became so different that much time later I realized the moniker no longer fit. Plus, this way I’ll be able to have the two around together without time fudging! His starting age has also increased as my real-life age has increased. Now that I've hit adult age myself, I think I'll keep it at 18 for Jiro.

Anyway, description is as follows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quick Details:

Name: Jiroku Tanalya (or Tanalya Jiroku in formality, with pack name first), nicknamed Jiro (or rarely Jake by humans)

Species/race: Avali

Gender: Male

Height: 4'0"

Coat color: Medium tan base feathers, black plumage, medium violet plumage trim

Eye color: Medium violet

Crest featherstyle: 3 long rear-facing feathers at back of head, front-facing rough tuft just above forehead (he often lets these grow into paired crescent-shaped feathers)

Age: 18 (at start of roleplay)

Hatch date: April 3rd, 2256

Affiliation: Avali Illuminate

Occupation: Avali Expeditionary Fleet lieutenant, student, explorer

Interests: History, foreign culture, music, gaming, visual appearances, vehicles

Alignment: Neutral Good

Outfit(s): See Appearance/Wardrobe

Combat: See Weapons/Abilities

Backstory: See Background

Personality: kind, enthusiastic, calm and logical yet emotional, somewhat shy/introverted towards strangers, submissive/feminine, knowledge-seeking, generally optimistic (see Personality/Behavior for further details)

Sexuality (saved the best for last): Bisexual

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Appearance/Wardrobe:

Jiroku, or Jiro as he's often called, is your typical avali anatomy-wise: no cybernetic enhancements here aside from nanites in the blood and a Nexus neural link (standard augmentation), light eye enhancements allowing him to see on par with humans, and more recent completely internal environmental survivability augments. His primary color is a medium tan and his plumage is a very dark grey, bordering on black. His plumage trim is a bright-medium violet, and his eyes share this same tint. His crest feather "styling" consists of 3 large, long feathers protruding out behind his head in vertical succession of each other at slightly different angles, with a fairly large tuft of down-like feathers just above his forehead, facing forwards; he often lets this latter feature grow into a pair of crescent-shaped feathers similar in nature to his back feathers. He is quite tall for an avali at 4 feet, making him almost a whole head taller than the average individual of his race.

His casual wardrobe consists of black, loose-fitting sleeves with blue trim and a dark gray skirt with colorful chimes mounted on its bottom edge: an example of light, traditional avali clothing. He has also recently acquired more human-like casual clothing: a plain v-neck t-shirt that’s loose enough to be comfortable but well-fitting to his large yet feminine avali frame, light, black cargo shorts with a comfortable tail hole, and equally black elastic toeless socks to leave room for his toe claws (including an uncovered dewclaw) to peek out, complete with a dark navy blue/black 21st century-quality digital watch on his left wrist.

His favorite outfit, however, is one which reeks of dark fantasy, very similar to that which Temril wears although Jiro keeps the gold highlights and emblems of the disciple of D'sparil. He also wears simple brown boots resembling those worn by Daedolon in Hexen, though tailored to fit avali feet (digitigrade, toes/claws are still showing). Lately he has adopted gloves that match, also tailored to avali hands and having holes for finger edges/claws.

In order to survive in climates which he would otherwise suffocate or burn up, he sports a jeweled heart necklace: this is very similar to the one Temril wears but with the embedded feather of a close avali comrade instead of the black gem. It is enchanted with a "life essence" spell; this allows his body to keep functioning properly no matter climate conditions. If this necklace were to break while he was in such an environment, he would become susceptible to its conditions and likely die.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Weapons/Abilities:

Dark Fantasy Setup:

Jiro's weapon choice is also very similar to Temmy's, even using the same spells: Firestorm, Arc of Death, Poisonous Blast, and Tri-Magic (flames, frost, sparks) to name a few. His flame sword, however, is enchanted and made of actual tungsten, as well as being in the shape of a broadsword rather than being one-sided. He can "toggle" the flames on and off from will power alone, as leaving the fire enchantment enabled uses precious mana.

Magic is not his only ranged weapon, however: he sports an ice-enchanted, double-bolt ethereal (summoned) crossbow; he often uses this in conjunction with fire magic like Firestorm to create 'splosions. He can choose to load these bolts manually or let them regenerate, for a mana cost.

Jiro's mana and spell pools, as well as his overall magic proficiency, are not nearly as vast as Temmy's, but he makes up for it in survival skills and proficiency in other areas, such as gunnery and piloting. As all avali soldiers are required to go through isolated survival courses, he has acquired experience there. The origins of his piloting and gunnery skills are obvious.

Standard Combat Gear, a.k.a. "Doomvali":

Jiroku possesses a dual-purpose piloting/combat suit which encompasses his entire body, complete with visor helmet. The nickname for this suit is derived from the notorious "Doomguy", a personal idol of Jiro's who is somewhat similarly clad. Colors consist of black with orange highlights, as well as gray in certain areas. The suit is equipped with infantry-class Jump Jets, combining with his natural wings to give him impressive flight capabilities in combat.

To complement this outfit, he possesses multiple avali-made rail, Gauss/coil, and missile weapons; these include a custom double-barreled flechette coilgun acting as a shotgun, an extremely rapid-fire but relatively low-power minigun, and cryo rocket launcher. All weapons are cell-based, only having to reload when the cell is empty; this works almost identically to clip-loading. In case of rapidly closing enemies or loss of firearms, he carries an aerotech 2-handed blade resembling a katana in shape. He is sometimes known to carry a downsized Mauser Maschinengewehr 42 (MG 42) as an indication of his deep interest in human history.

Vehicles:

Jiroku is currently the owner of a customized Kizuma-class interceptor which he has named Star-Wraith, provided to him by the AEF in a paid agreement. Aside from AEF ventures, he mostly uses it to travel across Illuminate space to his personal settlement and explore, as well as practice his piloting skills.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Background:

Jiroku Tanalya was born on Avalon on April 3, 2256 (date corresponds with group of RP's Jiro is currently a character in) to parents he does not remember nor know the names of and likely would not recognize, as is the case with the formation of avali society around packs rather than families. His somewhat distant grandfather Kemura would become his guardian and caretaker a few months later.

Even as a hatchling it was clear that he is a curious one, getting himself into many dangerous situations only to be scolded for his carelessness. It was also clear he is very bright, a fast learner if there ever was one. He was quite shy at first, however, making it hard to get him acquainted with his pack members. He was also a noticeable victim of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and germophobia, limiting him to a rather small comfort zone. The latter two defects were largely overcome when he started taking basic survival courses as he went into a military career.

Unfortunately, an event that was not only tragic, but also extremely traumatic, scarred the infant Jiro. For reasons still unknown to him and his relatives, the nursery in which the hatchling was kept was singled out by a kidnapping group, taking all other members of his pack. By a stroke of luck he was spared; perhaps it was one or more of his would-be pack members who they had been after, and he had no real value to the offenders. Or maybe he was hidden away, saved from the a presumably unpleasant fate. The memories and intentions that day are either hazy or unknown, especially for the infant Jiro; a few days later the poor hatchling was diagnosed with a severe case of amnesia, his underdeveloped brain purposefully separating itself from the awful memories.

During this time he struggled to lead a life as a normal avali. Kemura placed Jiroku in a pack within the same tribe he himself was a part of and that the original Tanalya pack would have been included in (largely in order to ensure said pack would be likely to join the military when its members came of age), but this had the downside of limiting pack choices. Said pack choices decreased age diversity, which led to Jiro’s new pack being comprised of youth 3 years his elders.

Despite the best efforts of Kemura, his fellow tribe elders, and the older packmates to incorporate the hatchling, this age gap left its newest member often feeling isolated, inadequate, and sometimes even unappreciated. Kemura’s strict and specific home education combined with standard Avalon curriculum gave the small kit quite a bit to worry about and somewhat added to his negative emotions and insecurity, but at the same time exposed him to concepts that would give him a knowledge advantage when it came to the broader known galaxy. Thankfully, Jiro had relief in the form of his own packmates, especially the alpha female Nayoli, who took a liking to the younger kit and would serve as his protector and spirit-booster through both of their childhoods. The Ralai pack would later allow Jiroku to fit into ADF Academy training and regulations, finally giving him a sense of self-confidence which he had so badly lacked in his early years.

From a very young age, Jiro was fascinated by war-based competition; it boosted his self-esteem and gave him a nerdy outlet for his unquenchable thirst for knowledge. This interest would lead him to enroll in the Avali Defense Fleet at an unusually young age, still in his early teens. Surprisingly adept at taking orders and staying calm, despite his personality type, he successfully graduated from the academy with the rest of his packmates at the rank of sublieutenant. They were subsequently transferred from Defense Fleet duties to the Expeditionary Fleet, where their superiors deemed their adventurous young spirits would be better put to use.

At 18 years old, Jiro is rather young to hold the position in life that he does. He, however, sees this as indicative of his further potential, and goes through it as calmly and confidently as he can.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Personality/Behavior:

Jiroku is a rather strange individual: sometimes he is very hard-working and sometimes he is lazy. He tries to keep to plans but usually ends up completing milestones through sudden bursts of energy and drive. Though at first shy around strangers, he begins to get very comfortable and social around those he enjoys. He has a habit of sticking to kinder, softer words for a majority of the time, and is difficult to anger. The exception to this is in competitive situations, which he takes seriously and can become abrasive in. He can be turbulent and insecure, and no matter how hard he tries to minimize emotion he is, by nature, quite the emotional creature.

His emotional nature, in turn, leads to an individual of many faces. The kit may be desensitized, calm, affectionate, submissive, timid, self-deprecating, determined, hotheaded, or even bloodthirsty, depending on how he currently feels and who he is currently around. His occasional emotional instability and numerous quirks are largely due to his turbulent early childhood, having a negative effect on his mental health.

He is always open to new points of view, and at times doesn't even value his own opinions very highly. This leads to him being easily persuaded, provided these new opinions do not conflict with his moral compass.

As with Temril, Jiroku is very aware of the vastness of the universe, and used to maintain the belief that "Nothing matters in the grand scheme of things anyways." As more opportunities came to him and he developed more friendships, however, his attitude towards life began to change, and he now keeps an optimistic air about him. Nevertheless, he sometimes has difficulty finding motivation, in turn causing him to struggle when faced with larger tasks. As a result, he really benefits from pep talks.

Jiro is an honest but kind individual: he does well at balancing these two traits. He is very sympathetic towards those that are going through a rough time, but is more likely to suggest ways to solve the problem than offer purely emotional/mental help.

Jiro often refers to himself jokingly as a "nerdy femboyvali", proudly advertising his simultaneous labels of nerd and femboy. He is somewhat easily flattered, due to his low self-esteem and even lower expectations from others; he acts rather feminine yet embarrassed whenever he is complimented, especially from phrases such as "cutie boy" or "good boy". He is very open to cuddling with those he is close to, and will not hesitate to get suggestive or even lewd if the feeling overcomes him. He generally acts very submissive and docile around close friends, even pet-like at times. The nature of Avali society means this is not so much a taboo and he feels more comfortable with it as a result.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Additional Notes:

Jiro is in good shape physically, but this is usually due to others coaxing him to exercise, along with natural means such as survival when exploring. He’s quite a bit heavier than the average Avali simply because of his size. For years he had tried to keep his weight close to the average, giving himself quite the ectomorphic (tall but thin) figure; this has changed recently as his packmates have taken steps to help him gain healthy weight, leaving him just the slightest bit chubby almost to where it’s not even noticeable. He has average torso muscularity relative to his size, meaning moreso than the average Avali build, but more of his weight in muscle and fat is contributed by the lower body than by the upper body, giving him a running-focused build.

His posture and stance vary wildly depending on his mood: anywhere from clumsy to plain badass when he's determined.

Jiroku's two favorite forms of media are video games and music; he has incredible knowledge and affinity with both of these, as well as a love for many different genres of both. He tends to gravitate towards human-made examples of both even more than that of his own race, as he acknowledges and embraces the long and diverse history of both humans and their culture. In fact, the avali pretty much prefers anything human. This extreme fascination, however, leaves him at odds with rather xenophobic Illuminate government doctrine which it attempts to instill on all its citizens; coupled with lack of pack and personal oddities, Jiroku is often seen as nothing more than a mentally-disabled outcast to Illuminate avali.

He speaks the standard Avali Illuminate language, of course, but also knows a great deal of Galactic Standard. On rare occasions he struggles with the latter, but this is usually limited to a lack of complex vocabulary. His accent is a watered-down version of whatever you imagine as the accent exhibited by those from Avali Illuminate space, or the standard Avali dialect rather. I like to imagine Jiro as having a slight, subtle British accent, effectively coming out as what is known as a Transatlantic accent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is the comprehensive imgur gallery for depictions and references of Jiroku. imgur.com/a/GC7I5