Notes from Vel, on various creatures on his homeworld of Vakkert Sedd.

"This next guy... ugh. I don't particularly care for him. He goes by the name Ark, short for Arkadameus, and much like me he's a Reaper of souls and judge of the dead. However, if I had to describe him in one term, it would be my mirror. A furred dragon with scale patches, who often stands at 8 to 9 feet tall as an Anthro (I know he has a feral form but I've never seen it), in contrast to me, a scaled dragon with some fur who prefers his feral form first. Also, while I'm relatively new to the whole thing, he's been at it for several more decades, and as a dragon is much older than I am by a few centuries. Being on an even level, unfortunately, makes him a lot more powerful in all the same ways as me."

"Now, by my mirror I don't necessarily mean that's evil or anything because I'm one people would mostly consider "good", but where I take in wicked (but not too evil) souls and keep them in my artificial heaven to help them work towards redemption before passing on, Ark has the exact opposite philosophy. Not only does he have no concerns with immediately ripping all of the magic out of a soul to force it to move on, if he locks onto someone seeping with a particularly overwhelming vice, he'll slide in like a devil in their ears, enable and encourage them fiscally or physically, only to stab them in the back at the height of their embrace of their sins because spiritual mana tastes better the more evil someone was as a way of encouraging us predatory Reapers to hunt the wicked. He lives his eternal existence under the idea that redemption is a wasted effort, or a way of running from consequences they deserve to spend at least SOME amount of time in one of the Hells for (Many of these Hells will only torture a soul until their sins are worked off before throwing them into the wheel of reincarnation or letting them go to their godhood's good afterlife, unless they've done particularly monstrous things)."

"The glowing sphere that he carries that he can summon at will is an embodiment of someone's sins that he offers to those he has picked out for his metaphorical/metaphysical "Carbo-loading", and offers up the final temptations that could push someone over. The gluttonous are granted the grandest food they've ever experienced in endless quantities, the lustful are offered a heaven of pleasure, the greedy mountains of wealth, the wrathful to take out their cruelties on the targets of their darkest fantasies, the envious are given all of their rival's worldly possessions, the slothful are put into a unwaking sleep, and the prideful are locked into dreamy illusions of a world where everything truly revolves around them. If this sphere is so tempting that they accept what Ark has offered them, it will absorb them and destroy their bodies, leaving their souls for Ark to harvest and pass on. I've never gotten Ark to tell me if he can absorb the orb as an indirect way of consuming the sinner's physical energy (as opposed to actually eating them), but said energy has to go -somewhere-. Maybe he just swallows it when he's done with it."

"As far as his personality goes, he's a smooth talking and relaxed seducer, quick to encourage bad behavior and giving into desires, while often enjoying many of those vices himself. I hesitate to say he's a particularly bad guy because he's FAR more gentle to innocent people and good souls and can even be surprisingly loving around elders who will naturally pass, and is overprotective to murderous degrees over children because he considers it a grand injustice for a young life to be taken (on that, we agree). And is even given the clear to look at someone's lifespan and decide if it was too early for them to die and return them to life (a privilege I myself require a few more decades at best to be granted). But if he senses a darkness in even an otherwise good person's soul, he'll at least prod at it to see if they can be tempted enough for their souls to be tempting to him. This habit has also made him aspected far more towards the Infernal hierarchy of things, compared to me listing slightly more towards the Heavenly/Celestial."

"On that note though. Since we're diametrically opposed on what to do with the souls we judge, every time we've met has ended with our conversations turning unpleasant, only not turning violent because we both realize the futility of two true-immortals trying to kill one another. He's okay in short bursts... I guess."

"Still. Just like me he's a dragon through and through, pleasure-seeking, dominance-wanting, treasure-hoarding, everything stereotypical one could accuse one of our species of. I've not been around him long enough to know what circles of friends he keeps, but if he does they're likely as well treated as I make my friends, dragon do tend to be possessive of companions as treasures."

- End of report.

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And thus a new one joins the party! I bought Ark as a character option from Corrie this week after being somewhat struck by his design and the presented personality. I've long mused on the idea of a meaner counterpart to Vel, who as far as it goes is a bit of a boy scout when it comes to his "job". Ark is a lot meaner, especially towards the particularly wicked who deserve that kind of treatment.

I have a lot of ideas I'd love to use this guy for, not all of it quite as soft as my usual content as a heads up, but I think folks will enjoy seeing him around.

Ark belongs to me!

Initial Character Design and Art is  CorrieZodori!