Name: Ketse, full name Ketsegbeeses. (Pronounced "keht-sayg-bay-saysh. Don't make fun of my individualized pronunciation cues. that's not cool.) No last name, you'll see why in a minute.
Physical Description: ...It depends.
Previous Posts With This Character: http://korisalt.tumblr.com/post/10633693313/so-i-guess-i-might-as-well-put-up-some-stories , http://korisalt.tumblr.com/post/13338170859/heres-ketse-in-a-dress-a-rather-impractical
This is a god character, essentially, and thus almost never the protagonist. Ketse is a character from my main world, i.e. the one that has more than one story to it, and neither human nor a spirit. Ketse is particularly important in that many of that world's stories trace back in one way or another to Ketse, its sibling Kansk, or the conflict between them throughout history. Accursed English pronouns...Ketse is a shapeshifter, so physical sex is changeable, and it has no particular sense of its own gender. More or less, Ketse is the second-oldest of the Endless, slightly younger than Kansk.
Ketse was born of the misery of its creator. The creator, before it discovered its ability to create, was horribly lonely. Not at first, because it took it quite some time to conceive of the idea of beings other than itself. Initially, it wished for a companion. Finding none, it despaired, dreaming of this companion. Coupled with that despair was rage against this ordering of the universe. These emotions-- the wish for a companion and the rage and despair at being so alone-- gave shape to Kansk and Ketse, respectively.
Back when I wanted to make this deep and allegorical, Ketse represented misfortune, and its twin Kansk good fortune. That is, to meet Ketse and catch its interest is terrible misfortune and more or less a matter of luck. Unlike Kansk, Ketse is not particularly attached to any of its various forms nor does it prefer any particular gender presentation over any other. (Kansk was forced into the physical world and typically sticks to that initial form.)
Ketse's goal in any given story can essentially be summed up as: Ketse gets bored. Kansk and Ketse have fairly unlimited powers, being rather more significant fragments of the creator than the typical, so most things they want could come fairly easily to them if they simply exerted that power. But that, of course, would be boring. Besides, there's nothing much in the world Ketse wants beyond an interesting show to watch. If one does not create itself, Ketse will tweak pre-existing conditions as necessary. Now, Ketse is fairly sadistic to extent but does not simply enjoy pain for the sake of pain. There must be plot; there must be substance. With a bit of an exception: Ketse enjoys seeing those it particularly cares for in pain. This is most usually directed at its twin, whom it loves dearly. (Quite honestly, love from Ketse is functionally the same as hate.)
Ketse itself is generally pretty happy; it cannot in fact feel any form of sorrow, unless its sibling is nearby. It can feel anger and boredom and often does, but tends towards cheerful and is usually smiling. Its speech mannerisms are fairly polite-- it never raises its voice, for example-- but this is all artifice. It does not care about others' well-being or dignity as living creatures. It would probably find the latter of those a laughable concept. (No really, Ketse would just crack up at that.) It tends not to use violence itself unless someone has personally annoyed it, preferring to cause others to act for its amusement. Nor does that amusement always necessarily involve violence; although it does often enjoy others' suffering, there are many things it finds interesting.
Kansk and Ketse (and possibly the other Endless, I've yet to decide) have something of an...for lack of a better word, "aura" to them. This is a pervasive sensation of presence, affecting... more or less everyone within a certain area, although some individuals may notice from a greater difference. Usually, Kansk and Ketse alike actively prevent this from affecting those around them, simply because it makes them rather more noticeable and thus makes it more difficult for them to do as they like. I have previously described Ketse's with the following:
"makes one sick with terror, of horrors too unspeakable for the mind to fully envision; phantoms skittering across the mind of every terrible thing there is and could be in the world and the sense that they are all there with you; the knowledge and weight of the inexorable despair that waits in your future (so it seems); an overburdening of the mind, an awful dread of living "
Pardon the multiple alternative descriptions; at the time, I was simply trying to get the gist of it. Which, as you probably can see, comes down to: it's really not pleasant at all. This is simply a sensation; no physical change necessarily accompanies it, although this probably still qualifies Ketse for the Eldritch Abomination trope.
Most succinctly, Ketse is dread. It is despair, and nihilism, and rage against inexorable fate, but rather than feeling these things itself, it invokes them from within others. I don't usually describe characters in this way; my stories are not allegories and my characters are not symbolic. Ketse, however, is barely a character; it's not complex enough for that. Ketse is the crushing weight of nothingness, the doubt that our tiny, brief existences matter in the vast uncaring stretch of time and space, and the certainty that they don't. That is what one truly feels in Ketse's presence, when it lets its true self be known. Erasure of self. Ketse will tell a friend all these things, silently, with a smile, and send them on their way to face eternity.
That said, Ketse is not entirely inhuman. Its most human trait, ironically, is its pride and vanity. Ketse considers humans, spirits, and even the other Endless beings lesser than itself. It does not like to be questioned or challenged, but most of all, it cannot stand others to stand before it unimpressed. Ketse is vain, gets angry when its pride is hurt, and lashes out. Now, these may be calmly delivered tantrums backed by horrific inhuman power, but they are tantrums nevertheless.
Ketse also gets jealous. Not often, and it typically isn't aware of said jealousy, but it does happen.
Thank you for reading. If you'd be interested in more character posts, let me know. Others, not being about Ketse, will be more normal.
