Kaytiff

Kaytiff is a former Vigil siegemaster and field commander. He was forced into retirement because of his injuries.

He grew up as an orphan and was accepted into a military institute to hone his combat abilities as he aged. Now he prides himself as being a capable Vigil soldier, tactician and defender of Tyria. He's still very young, but despite his age, he's participated in many battles, including the invasion of Orr.

Kaytiff, as drawn by Xam.

History

Origin

Kaytiff was born into a typical Asura family, but his parents were killed by the Inquest and he was kidnapped. Kaytiff was not the only child abducted by the Inquest during this time, and all of them were experimented upon. Many of the experiments conducted on Kaytiff and the others were for products the Inquest and other organizations still use to this day, such as Norn steroids, the chemicals in total makeover kits, and even technological body modifications and replacements.

Kaytiff and a select few other Asura were also selected to be placed into an Inquest Super Soldier Development Program. Kaytiff was given upgrades that would allow him, as he aged, to have tremendous strength and make him a bit of a tank. Another who was experimented upon was Artéya, who Kaytiff calls his 'sister in circumstance'. She was in the same program as Kaytiff, but she would become an Inquest assassin rather than a tank. Kaytiff protected Artéya as much as he could, and the two stuck together for most of their life as a result of their experience.

One day, the Inquest base was attacked by Asura who were brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers of the Asura parents that were slaughtered. They came to get revenge on the Inquest and to save the children, but they were doing so because the Peacemakers would not aid them. Doing so was considered murder because of the laws in Asura culture, so once the children were free and the facility was destroyed, the Asura saviors went into exile outside of Rata Sum. Some of the children were raised by the people who saved them, but not all of them were quite so fortunate. Kaytiff and Artéya were put up for adoption in Divinity's Reach, and neither would accept being adopted unless the other could come. After many failed attempts to adopt the two separately, a single Human adopted them both.

The Vigil

After being raised in the Reach, Kaytiff eventually left Divinity's Reach behind to go join the Vigil Academy. He wanted to be a Seraph deep down, but he knew they would only accept Humans. He did the next best thing because he knew he'd still be able to protect his family in the Reach even if he was hundreds of miles away.

People were questionable of Kaytiff's abilities due to his age, but they couldn't say no to a new recruit. Kaytiff was requested to stay at the rear due to his inexperience, but this quickly changed as Kaytiff began to see more and more combat. He eventually became a rallying force for the Pact forces, often making motivational speeches and calls to those who fought alongside him. Telling them what they're standing for, the weakness of the dragon they're fighting, and generally showing all the traits a good leader should show.

Kaytiff did not participate in the actual fight with Zhaitan, but he managed to hold several of Zhaitan's lieutenants at bay with his fellow Pact soldiers so that Destiny's Edge could deliver the final blow to the elder dragon. His victory would not be the one to go down in history, and his name would likely be forgotten while Destiny's Edge was praised... but fame and glory did not matter to Kaytiff. What mattered is that those who he fought to protect would stay safe. People who are defenseless and unable to fight for themselves, like how he was when he was a child. People needed a guardian, and he would be that guardian.

Kaytiff continued to fight with the Vigil for many years, but eventually he was forced into retirement because of his injuries.

The Flameheart

Shortly after his retirement from the Vigil, Kaytiff joined a group known as the Templars of Arkayne. They fought evil, just as Kaytiff did, but they were not quite so absolute in their ways of diminishing evil as Kaytiff was. They often captured and questioned enemies while Kaytiff preferred to kill them and be sure they could never risk the lives of others ever again. He began to grow annoyed with the Templars, but there were a few who maintained his respect. Among them, a Charr named Kaargoth. However, Kaargoth would often make rash decisions to hint his annoyance with the Templar, and one day he wandered into Blazeridge to let himself die so he would no longer have to see the Templars fall. Kaytiff and the others rallied to save him from the Flame Legion, and Kaytiff stayed behind to defend them after they saved Kaargoth. They escaped through a Mesmer's portal while Kaytiff kept Flame Legion forces distracted.

However, reinforcements never came for Kaytiff and the Flame Legion cut off the road for Kaytiff to make his escape. He was stuck in Blazeridge. Fortunately, he met up with the Ash Legion forces and took up camp with them. For two weeks, he performed cloak and dagger attacks on the Flame Legion, learning to disguise himself in the ash with the aid of the Ash Legion. However, one day while Kaytiff was on a patrol, he returned to find that the Ash Legion encampment had been destroyed due to an ambush. Kaytiff was now behind enemy lines without a chance of rescue or escape... so he charged into an enemy encampment to fight to his last dying breath. He would avenge the lives of the soldiers who fought alongside him, or die trying.

The Flame Legion knew there was an Asura somewhere that was causing them trouble, so once they subdued Kaytiff, they carved a glasgow smile (a Legion Smile?) into Kaytiff's face and left him to bleed out. But shortly after Kaytiff was mauled, the Iron Legion finally broke through the Flame Legion's defenses with intent to rescue the Ash Legion. However, all they found was Kaytiff. They rescued him and brought him back to the Citadel, but shortly after his scars were mended, Kaytiff returned to Blazeridge to continue his fight against the Charr. For his passion to defend the well being of his allies and his determination to do what is right, he was given the nickname "Flameheart". The name was definitely intended to mock the Flame Legion, because they worship the Flame and someone who is not Charr is walking around with a name of that nature. Kaytiff did not mind and rather liked the sound of it.

To this day, Kaytiff continues his fight against those who would threaten the well being of those who cannot defend themselves. Despite his injuries, Kaytiff will fight for good until the day his life is claimed.

Appearance

Due to the nature of the experiments performed upon Kaytiff, he has some identity issues that other Asura would not possess:

Kaytiff is 20 years old and roughly 30 inches tall (2 ft. 6 inches). His gender is often cited as male due to his appearance, but the character is actually a hermaphrodite, though 'he' is sterile. This is a result of too many experiments due to the chemicals used in the Total Makeover Kit's gender switch potion. As a result of being both genders, he has a very feminine build and a high pitched voice. His hips are wider than most males and he's rounder in some places compared to others.

He has blonde hair which is long and tied up into a pony tail. He has a trident facial pattern, torn ears, cream skin and sky blue eyes. He also possesses a glasgow smile, a scar down his left eye (forming a plus sign with his cheek scar) and several smaller blade marks dotting his chest and back from the battle he had with bandits as a child. His trident pattern was eventually lost due to a full body burn. The flesh was mended, but left darker marks in his skin, forming the dot appearance he now possesses.

As per his nickname, "Flameheart", Kaytiff wears a suit of armor that appears to be on fire and radiating heat. It is unclear how this affects Kaytiff, if at all.

Kaytiff, a commission from Tim on Tumblr. [Image is when Kay was intended to have spots, but changed later].

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths:

• Compassionate
• Empathetic
• Enduring
• Navigation
• Friendly
• Caring for others
• Humble
• Loyal
• Heart of Gold
• Stubborn (refuses to stay down in a fight)

Weaknesses:

• Stubborn (his refusal to stay down often means his wounds will be greatly aggravated and he could suffer worse later in recovery)
• Distrusting
• Naive
• Mentally challenged (by Asura standards)
• Never believes he's good enough
• Keeps emotions to himself
• Paralyzing Fear of Spiders
• Fear of Heights

Family, Friends & Enemies

Family:

• Artéya - Kaytiff considers her a 'sister of circumstance'. They are not blood brother and sister, but their experience in the Inquest lab and sharing the same cell made them bond as brother and sister, rather than friend or krewe mate. Kaytiff grew up with Artéya in Divinity's Reach and always acted as the big brother with her as best he could.

Friends:

• None to note.

Enemies:

• Gidon - A former Peacemaker who drugged Kaytiff and attempted to make him a mindless follower to Gidon's cult, the Church of Gwimm.

OOC Notes

Anything obtained through here is to be considered OOC knowledge unless specified otherwise. If you want IC knowledge of anything in here, you must message me in-game before role playing having somehow acquired the information. My username is Gray.1704.

Yes, my character is a hermaphrodite. This is the first and only hermaphrodite character I have, and the reason Kaytiff was made into a hermaphrodite is because I could never decide whether I wanted to have the character as a male or a female. Yes, the character is a herm because of OOC influences. But I know the concept of having a multi-gendered character is a bit much for some people. I don't actively RP the character as being a herm and will often say 'he' instead of 'she' or 'hir' or whatever it is people do when they RP as herms. People see a male and Kaytiff knows they see a male, so why say "Oh I'm not a he"? It doesn't make sense, so unless people are getting down and dirty with Kaytiff, they won't notice that Kaytiff is multi-gendered.

It's worth noting that I will not role play with people who meta game, god game, or try to read my mind (without prior consent). I've seen enough of that role play in the past and I have a short fuse with it.

"Keep your bio short" they said. "It doesn't need to be a wall of text" they said. Yeah well, six years ago people would tell me not to write huge walls of text to explain everything and to just keep it short... but that's not how I do things. It annoyed people back then, I have no problem with it annoying people now.