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Tob, The Creature of the Wood
http://shokushu.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8383
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Author:  TOB [ Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:41 am ]
Post subject:  Tob, The Creature of the Wood

Yet another effort from Whisperer et al.


Name: Tob.

Race: Awakened nature spirit.

Gender: Male.

Age: Ageless (has existed as long as the planet Shokushu is located on).

Eye Color: Variable (based on mood - often black due to melancholy).

Skin Color: Mostly green with some brown or gray areas/patches based on form.

Skin Texture: As rough as corrugated bark or as smooth as a new-grown leaf.

Distinguishing features: Appears to be made of plants. Flowers tend to bloom in his presence and/or spontaneously spring up in his footsteps.

Fighting Style: Prefers not to fight, but will try to overwhelm attackers with his control over the natural environment.

Motivation: Lust, loneliness.

Personality: As a spirit of nature Tob has a mercurial nature that can run from extreme to extreme. He is equally likely to be joyous as morose; forgiving as vengeful; kind as cruel. It is the middle ground he is least likely to tread. Since desire shaped much of his awakening, he is prone to bouts of covetousness and lust.

Capabilities:
Shape-shifting: Tob can assume virtually any size and shape, though he always appears to be made of vegetation (mixtures of various types of plants, trees, vines, etc.). These shapes can have any type and number of body parts, including things like tentacles, tongues and phalli. He can form most types of 'natural weapons' (claws, teeth, horns, etc.) as well. These are the only things he can form of non-plant substances (but are just as often made of wood). Some common forms are a large, hunched, solidly built humanoid, a dragon-like creature and a sort of mossy canine. Will often take the form of a tree if he needs to hide, though how effective that is depends wholly on his surroundings.

Intoxicating presence: Through a potent mix of pheromones, spores and supernatural elements, Tob's presence (within about 20ft) is both soothing and invigorating. Not aphrodisiac or pleasure intensifying per se, it does tend to strip away inhibitions, making subjects more likely to surrender to their inner desires.

Nature mastery: Tob has great control over the natural world. He can manipulate living plants at will, making them grow, bloom, produce fruit, etc. He can also make them do things they ordinarily wouldn't or couldn't do, such as making trees walk or flowers sing, or virtually anything else one can imagine. He can alter dead plant matter as he desires (color, shape, texture) or even restore it to life. The more processed the matter is, however, the less power he has over it. Only sentient and artificial things are immune to Tob's power.

Alluring melody: Like a satyr, Tob is a master of the pan pipes and can play enchanting melodies that can fascinate and draw women to him. The effect can be resisted, however, especially by those who have heard it before.

Supernatural speech: A lingering effect of the extradimesional essence that awakened Tob is that he can immediately comprehend and speak (as well as read and write) any language he comes in contact with (though, regrettably, the author's only language is English).

Weaknesses:
Fire: Though he is not particularly vulnerable to fire, Tob is afraid of it, especially in the hands of a sentient being. Thus it can be used to keep him at bay.

Loneliness: Tob is constantly seeking company (especially of nubile young women) and might be swayed by a victim's promises to spend time with him, though this will likely backfire as he will expect part of 'spending time' will include sex.

Covetousness: Tob likes beautiful things and likes to acquire them. He might be temporarily 'bought off' with a shiny bauble, a piece of art, even a dance or poem. Though he is likely to pursue anyone nice enough to give him such a gift doggedly in the future.

Likes: Company, women, sex, natural beauty, music.

Dislikes: Fire, being alone, inhibitions.

History:
During The Overbeing's short time at Shokushu, it bent and warped reality in many ways. Though it was always careful to return things to their original state, the tiniest fraction of its essence became trapped in the natural environs of the island. Over the years since The Overbeing's departure, this essence mixed with the dormant spirits of the island and fed off the constant aura of lust that permeates the planet. Eventually an ancient spirit of nature and desire was awakened. A spirit calling himself Tob. Having only recently awakened, Tob has very little actual history. Much of his knowledge is inherited from the essence of The Overbeing, so he has vague memories of things and places and times of another dimension as well as of The Overbeing's activities on Shokushu.

Miscellaneous:
Those looking for an idea of what Tob's forms are like might check out the Forest Spirit by either PkLklMike or DragginCat on deviantart; or the creature in the M. Night Shyamalan film Lady in the Water.

Author:  Aegir 2 [ Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tob, The Creature of the Wood

Interesting character, and welcome. Happy hunting.

Author:  Madison [ Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tob, The Creature of the Wood

Question... if he just came around, how is he as old as Shokushu's planet?

Author:  Aegir 2 [ Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tob, The Creature of the Wood

I read it more like he was the planet, or the essence of nature but only recently got a consciousness where he was mostly a primal force before that or that's how I took it anyway.

Author:  TOB [ Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Tob, The Creature of the Wood

Yes, the idea is that Tob has always been on Shokushu's planet, but was dormant. It was the combination of The Overbeing's essence shard and the endless lust generated by the presence of the campus that awakened him and gave him his specific focus.

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