Profile of Varshj
General Information
The person known as Varshj is a perfect fusion of a Vivarian and their incuflora. The mind of who once was only Varshj and the mind of his flora were so compatible, they eventually fused completely to become one individual. Although they don’t consider themselves as Varshj anymore, they continue to use the name for convenience and recognition. Varshj was an adult Vivarian born under the Moon of Unity, currently 25 years of age. Their youth in the hatchery was mostly spent in solitude, as the Vivarian and the incuflora much preferred the company of each other instead. After much time living in quiet introspection, Varshj and the incuflora began to develop intimate feelings, and grew closer day by day. This practice is uncommon but not unheard of for Vivarians, but Varshj took this to the extreme. Their bond eventually grew so deep that they discarded their individual identities completely, and announced themselves as one being, their love for each other always present, now only solidifying. Though born in a city underwater, they moved to Celleron, the only half-submerged capital of the Freedom of Vivaria and began life on the surface, to accentuate their eccentricity.
Traits of Voice
Varshj speaks as if they were acting every moment, and enjoying every conversation to its fullest. They tend to rhyme without even noticing, and speak freely of anything. Often they become too engrossed in monologue or dialogue, and their volume control diminishes. They tend to speak loudly and theatrically in general, drama being a part of their persona.
Physical Appearance
They stand quite tall but are also very skinny, due to their general disregard of food or sleep in favor of creative pursuits. Physically being a Vivarian, their pale blue-gray skin is covered in places by more vibrant fish-like scales, their eyes are a hazy light blue, their nose is flattened with nostril-slits and their mouth is filled with a clean row of shark-like teeth. They have large flared ear-fins, and a lure dangling from their forehead they like to set behind one of which. Unlike most Vivarians they have lush verdant hair due to the incuflora seed planted in the back of their head, near the cerebellum and hippocampus. The flora has spread to cover the majority of the right side of their brain, and sprouts from there as a long flow of various blue and violet flowers covering that half of their sharp featured face and most of their head, as well as cascading behind them in a long ponytail. The remaining left side of their head is ‘shaved’, but a tangle of delicate vines wrap around it to form beautiful patterns. They always stand with exaggerated posture, most often with their right arm tucked behind their back and their left free to gesture.
Personality
Varshj is a well of inspiration and positivity, almost never ceasing their boundless creative maelstrom. They’re a compassionate soul but often very self-centered and easily distracted. A long conversation with them may leave you feeling like you’ve learned things you could never have dreamed of, but at the same time you don’t remember anything of what you just learned. Their joy for life and art, as well as their eccentric and exaggerated personality have made them a public figure for the people of Celleron, and they often gather a sizeable audience during their public poetry and discussion nights. Very few attempt to understand them, and even fewer actually do, and this is just fine with them. They relish their strangeness and value individuality over all else, in their view every last flower should be able to blossom. Their most deepest fear is being alone.
Health
Though it tends to hardly show in their energetic way of life, Varshj often neglects basic necessities like eating or sleeping in favor of creative pursuits. This leads to them periodically burning out and having to recuperate to regain their usual vim. They have some significant issues with their short and long term memory due to long lasting use of a psychedelic, but they say they honestly prefer life this way, for memories are nice but making more is endlessly more exciting. Their special art of ‘mind-painting’ requires the use of traces from souls, and these masterpieces are gathered in a gallery in their head that is independent of normal memory. It is like a pocket-plane made reality by their connection with their flora. Mind-paintings, although not corporeal, can be shared as visions through pollen secreted by their ponytail.
History
Varshj was born far from shore, in a fairly deep-water hatchery. Like all Vivarians, they were born from a clutch of eggs deposited by their parents and then grew up in the hatchery, watched over and taught by the caretakers. Due to their reclusive and quiet nature as well as their physical frailty as a child, they were chosen to receive an incuflora seed into their cranium, so they could focus on the talents that were seen in them. Varshj and the incuflora quickly began their bonding, and succeeded in it better than any other child from their hatchery ever had. Once they came of age and left the hatchery, they joined a group of other young Vivarians with similarly placed incuflora, but found that they didn’t fit in with the mostly coolly intelligent and serious mages. They set off on their own towards a city known for oddities and out-of-placers, the half-surfaced capital on the coast, Celleron. In Celleron they quickly found more like-minded friends in a group of actors, and began to truly live their life as they wanted to. Sometime during this period they discovered a unique property they had when using a psychedelic substance popular in creative circles, soul-traces allowed them to paint vivid, living scenes in their mind from the fractured memories stored within the traces, and they knew they had found their calling.
Relationships
Like the majority of Vivarians, Varshj’s views on romance and relationships is very freeform. Though unlike most Vivarians, they have devoted most their lives for a single partner, themselves. They still regularly indulge in casual romance and sex with other Vivarians they find particularly interesting, but perhaps they have found a way to love that is different from the love other Vivarians feel. Though others have had romantic relations with their (or even others) incuflora, Varshj feels they have discovered something much deeper, and much more beautiful, and they’d rather die than lose either half of their complete self. Varshj is known as a socialite and a public figure, and regularly attends gatherings and groups, while also hosting many themselves.
Combat
Like all Vivarians with cranial incuflora, Varshj could use their exceptional mind-link to cast tremendously powerful psychic spells, but as a pacifistic soul they have vowed to not use such destructive powers unless absolutely necessary. Physically they are very frail and share the largest weakness of all Vivarian mages, the vulnerability of having their hair rooted amidst their delicate brain. A strong individual could, if they wished, cause heavy damage to the brain by pulling at their hair.
Miscellaneous
Varshj enjoys food and drink for their taste, and can appreciate them for what they are, but they rarely feel hunger or thirst. They dabble in alchemy in order to perfect a mixture for purifying soul-traces, but often forget the formulas they’ve already tested and instead simply enjoy the act of making matter change forms. They can never seem to stay still, always motioning with their hands and act very outwardly expressively. They enjoy practicing music but never seem to have the patience to truly learn an instrument. They have a distaste for stubbornness, and believe everything in life should have the freedom to learn and change.