Barabas Gilliam

My name is Barabas. That’s not really important, except that I want you to know, whoever you may be and whenever you may be reading this, that I write this from a place of common ground. Like everyone else brought to this place -- like you -- I’ve been plucked out of my world, my home, without being given any choice or warning or explanation. I’ve found myself in this foreign in-between realm surrounded by strangers and unknown terrain. My abilities have been altered and new powers substituted in their place. Honestly, it’s more than a little fucked up.

And it’s jarring and confusing as hell. Some direction and explanation would hopefully be at least somewhat helpful.

We are, as is usually the case, all we can really count on. No one is coming to help in the foreseeable future. We are left to help ourselves.

So here we are. Here I am. The information we have put together here is as complete as possible and wherever feasible it is told, if not from first hand experience (my own or the experience of others who have been generous enough to contribute), then from speaking directly to those who witnessed and participated in the events chronicled, to cut down on the levels of hearsay and inaccuracy.

I'll also try to keep the level of personal opinion and bias to a minimum. But, as I have a number of strong opinions at any given time... no promises. I will at least try to make it clear what is fact and what is subjective.


[Table of Contents]


Astoria


The Circle


The Temple and Surrounding Areas

- The Temple of Beginnings
- The Forest
- Lake Dona
- The Caverns

Other Worlds

- El Minha
- Struxta
- Aftermath: The Struxta Plague

Directory of Skills

TBD

NAME: Daisy
AGE: Still old, thank you.
CONTACT: seasided
CHARACTERS IN GAME: Keith (Voltron)


CHARACTER NAME: Barabas Gilliam
AGE: 29
CANON Kate Daniels Novels
CANON POINT Towards the end of Magic Breaks, just before Curran & Kate announce they're retiring from leading the Pack
HISTORY:
Character Blurb
Series Character Guide 1
Series Character Guide 2

So, since the online resources are a bit thin, here's a quick breakdown of Barabas' history:

Barabas is the son of a werehyena, also called a Bouda, and a weremongoose. Because his parents were from two different clans, they could choose to belong to one or the other. They chose Clan Bouda, and thus Barabas grew up among the werehyenas of the pack. He, however, was born with his father's beast-shap, as weremongoose. At the age of eighteen, he was given the choice of whether to remain with Clan Bouda or join Clan Nimble, the clan that a weremongoose would normally belong to. He chose to remain with Clan Bouda as tat was the clan he grew up in.

This was, however, not without problems. As a weremongoose, Barabas did not fit in spectacularly well with his werehyena clanmates. To add to this, Bouda are a matriarchal clan where females are dominant. As a gay man, this put Barabas in a non-dominant position where he was also viewed in some ways as competition for mates. Generally, he was a misfit in all sorts of ways. But Barabas still managed to continue his education, go to law school, and become a lawyer for the Pack.

In his twenties, however, the Alpha of Clan Bouda made a deal with Kate Daniels who had become the Consort of the Beast Lord to have Barabas and another member of Clan Bouda become Kate's personal advisers. From that point on, Barabas serves as Kate's adviser and nanny, as well as lead legal counsel for the Pack. He earns Kate's trust, and through her the Beast Lord's trust as well. Barabas becomes incredibly loyal to Kate, and is there to help her navigate Pack politics, but also to lend whatever hand she may need.


PERSONALITY:

Barabas grew up something of a misfit, in the clan of misfits. For his entire life, he's been very clearly reminded that he doesn't quite fit in. He's a weremongoose who belongs to a clan of werehyenas. He's a man, and a gay man, in a clan where females are the dominant gender. But despite being the oddity, Barabas has always chosen to remain, to stick it out and to prove himself. He could have chosen to leave the werehyena clan for the clan that would match his beast form, but instead he chose to stay. He could have walked away from the Pack in general, but instead he chooses to remain, and not only remain, but to become an expert on Pack rules and laws and politics. Though he's given something of a hand in finding the position by his clan Alpha, Aunt B, he finds himself as nanny advisor to Kate, the Pack's female Alpha. Barabas is smart and diligent, and plays to his strengths. Though he refused to engage in challenging any of his female clanmates for position and dominance, he maneuvered himself through the Pack hierarchy in a different way.

Well-educated and good at reading the political landscape of a situation, Barabas is a lawyer who, at the current moment in canon, acts as the Pack's lead legal counsel. There is something almost gleeful in him when he has a chance to dive into a puzzle, to figure out how the laws and regulations work and how they can work for him and his situation. Beyond normal legal matters, Barabas is also the one often entrusted to compile research and insight on other situations. When a small contingent from the Atlanta Pack is chosen to go across the Atlantic to play neutral third party guard and mediator in a situation with European packs -- an even that they are well aware is a trap -- Barabas is entrusted with putting together the necessary need-to-knows about the landscape and players that they will be encountering. He takes his work and his assignment very seriously.

Barabas has proven himself to be intensely loyal. Though he was initially "given" to Kate as one of her advisors as part of a deal between Kate and Aunt B, and his loyalty was therefore part of the package, Barabas has demonstrated a true and genuine personal loyalty for Kate. He's always there if she needs him, and takes her well-being and happiness very seriously. At one point he has to be stopped from attacking the Beast Lord because of how he believes Curran has been acting towards Kate. In his own words, Barabas says that he is extremely lucky to be able to call Kate a friend. He very clearly cares for her.

Despite being very serious and good at his job, Barabas also has a flair for the sarcastic and dramatic. He can be more than a bit cutting, and isn't hesitant to share his thoughts on just about anything. He doesn't shy away from making the off remark when he can get away with it, and is so entirely unlucky in love that he's almost resigned to it. He has a certain self-awareness of his failure in this area. In general, there's something about him that is quite self-aware, of what he is and how the choices he makes have put him in the situations he finds himself in. Despite knowing the rules, Barabas does not always choose to play by them, often finding his own path.

Though he doesn't necessarily come across as nurturing, Barabas is the type to take care of the people that he has decided to call friends or to consider his. Kate, Christopher, the other shapeshifters that he works with, he is very intent on their well-being. Immediately following his current canon-point, Barabas actually finally leaves the Pack in order to separate himself from it when Kate and Curran do, to remain loyal to them and stay working with them. So he's at this point currently, where he's risen as far as he can, and likely will ever be able to, within the Pack, and he's ready for a new challenge.

Barabas is not the strongest fighter in the Pack, but he is not afraid to jump into the fray. He is fast and skilled with a knife, and is well aware of his own ability. He also doesn't hesitate to fight for the people he cares about and the things he needs. There is a certain culture of violence in the Pack, where individuals are challenged for dominance and fights for this are fought to the death. This is not Barabas' nature. He doesn't go seeking fights or violence, but he is capable of it, and not afraid to resort to it when he needs to.

At times, Barabas can feel the need to prove himself too much, and he's not good at letting people close (especially romantically) and often times deflects with sarcasm rather than dealing with an issue. He can react with anger and irrationality, and like all shapeshifters, the potential to lose himself to the animal instinct in him remains. However, for the most part, Barabas comes across as quite polished and in control. He can be very focused, especially when a problem has been put in front of him.


CANON POWERS:
Barabas is a shapeshifter, specifically a weremongoose. In canon, he is able to change form into both a full beast form where he is a significantly larger-than-usual mongoose and the much more commonly used warrior form -- a half form that incorporates both his animal characteristics and his human characteristics. This warrior form is used for fighting. Barabas is able to speak very clearly in his warrior form, which is something of an impressive talent.

As a shapeshifter, he is also stronger and faster than normal human beings, and his senses are heightened, even when he is in his human form. The virus that causes humans to become shapeshifters also grants those infected with it accelerated healing abilities. Flesh wounds heal remarkably quick. Broken bones heal within a couple weeks.

In addition to these abilities, shapeshifters have a few weaknesses that go along with their condition. Silver in particular is very toxic to shapeshifters. Wolfsbane causes an almost allergic reaction and interrupts a shapeshifter's ability to track by scent. Also, shapeshifters are in constant struggle to continue to keep their control. Shapeshifters who lose this struggle and are overcome with the feral aggression become Loups. Loups are violent, vicious creatures who know only bloodlust and depravity. A shapeshifter can "go Loup" in times of extreme stress, if they consume human flesh, or at certain times in their life -- especially during adolescence and puberty.

Because turning into a shapeshifter is caused by a virus, in canon Barabas could potentially infect someone else with a bite -- but this is not something he would ever intentionally do.

OTHER:
So he's a lawyer, and he's good at it. He's also a skilled knife fighter. And an expert wielder of sarcasm.


CRAU INFO: N/A
MAGIC ABILITY:
If possible, for his power he'll be keeping his shape shifting ability. Or at least, being gifted with an ability similar to it -- which will involve a learning curve. However, instead of shifting into a weremongoose, he'll shift into a werehyena (a bouda).
He'll be able to take his beast form as well as his warrior half-form (larger than his beast form, stronger, half man half mongoose, all nightmare). He will have some trouble at first shifting into a warrior form, until he relearns how to do it for his new shape. Additionally, many of the other effects of being a shapeshifter in his canon will be either reduced or nullified.

His healing ability will be brought down to a more human-like state, which will likely cause him some trouble since he doesn't think twice about risking life and limb in certain situations as he knows his body can heal.

His senses in his human form are normally extraordinarily sharp. To start with these will also be dulled closer to human, though as he learns how to deal with this new magic that allows him to shift, he'll be able to access his senses even when not in beast or half-form.

ANY WEAPONS/MAGICAL ITEMS?: He's got a knife on him, without question. And he knows how to use it.
ANY PETS?: Christopher. None!


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