Casimir
Profile:
Race: Nekomata
Age: Adult
Height: 180cm (5cms for the ears)
Weight: 69kg
Hair Colour: Black, with dyed red tips
Occupation: Spy for the red sap
Class: The agile, yet dashing rouge.
Notable Abilities: Can transform into a cat.
Active in: https://www.verdantdynasty.com/
Backstory
Casimir started out life as a simple cat. He hailed from a long pedigree of familiars. Thus making him the perfect companion to a spell caster. Once the young kitten was of age, he was adopted out to a magic professor to serve until the end of his days. Life was simple at first. Playing, napping, food and getting into all sorts of mischief.
However the simplicity of life only grew more complicated as the professor magically bonded with the cat through a familiar binding ritual. This ritual allowed the caster to use their familiar as an extension of their own will and magic. While this binding magic artificially extended Casimir’s life span it came at a cost. Sometimes he would lose his autonomy, other times he would be the test subject for new experimental magic.
This simple cat was content with life, no matter what happened his master was still there to smother him with affection and treats. Casimir still got to be the cat he was born to be. Much to his owner’s dismay, his cat often escaped the confines of the estate to prowl the streets causing problems with the local female cats.
These simple days come to an abrupt end. The magic professor died and left the cat heart broken and alone in the world. The bonds that Casimir knew were shattered. Unable to be mended. His little heart yearned to reunite with his master. Yet instead he was a burden passed along to family and friends, with the expectation that the old cat would pass soon.
However the feline was just as spry as when he was a kitten. The professor’s magic still resided strongly in the cat, extending his life expectancy. As such the old cat witnessed and noticed many people there were who were passing on. With the growing affinity to death, the old cat’s tail’s split. This simple house cat was able to peer at the border of the dead. He was able to witness lingering souls crying out their regrets to their loved ones. The simple life the cat knew was starting to grow more complicated.
Casimir began questioning his own morality and his own purpose. What he once relegated to ‘just people things’ he started to notice more nuance to it. How people behave, what their motivations are, it always seemed there was a reason behind how people acted. Complex concepts like good and evil made sense to him.
With his growing knowledge and understanding of the people he loved. He knew that he had to adopt a humanoid form to fully be able to integrate into their society and their lives. The little cat practiced and tapped into the residual magic and was able to adopt a humanoid form.
With the help of the family taking care of him, he was able to learn the basic skills he needed to survive in the world as a humanoid. At first he was very naive. Casimir’s sheltered life left him vulnerable to scammers and tricksters as such the feline often got himself into trouble. Lessons were learnt as the cat-boy figured out not everyone was nice and had his best interests at heart.
Once settled into a comfortable persona, he found work as an apprentice locksmith and a side hustle of being a gopher for the local mafia. Checking prices, sending a special person a discrete message, finding out where a certain person lived and so forth. His involvement with them was relatively surface level, all that he was expected to do was keep his mouth shut, lie about his involvement and do the job and get paid. No extra strings attached.
Even with these gigs, it eventually became clear to Casimir that he couldn’t play the fool forever. It was unusual for a lot of ghosts to linger around the organisation especially with a lot of regrets. The more he thought about the organisation, the less it made sense to him. The only way he knew to figure this out, was to join them and observe them. To pinpoint exactly where that corruption is hidden.
The Organisation's main purpose was to restore magic and life to their dying world. Their main ways of achieving this goal was to send capable people to other worlds to connect trade routes of magic. Casmir’s starting role in this organisation was on the fledgling strike teams. These teams were sent out to quickly subdue problems to gain favours with the other worlds.
Whilst the adventures were fun as well as the interesting locales. There was one thing that the perceptive cat noticed. The border of the dead just seemed to be never ending. Something just felt off. Some of these ghosts remained willingly, as if they were invested in a greater plot. Others cried in protest.
The ghosts refused to give him a clear answer. Instead pressured Casimir into uncovering the loose threads on his own. In his limited free time, he spent as much as he could pouring over dusty tomes and old records. Just to find the sting of events that started this whole chain off.
In The Organisation’s eyes, it appeared to them that Casimir’s talents were misplaced. Whilst he was holding his own in the strike force, the desultory cat seemed better suited to book keeping and translating records. Much to Casimir’s displeasure this boring job did leave him closer to the Organisation’s heart where they could keep a better eye on him.
Personality
At first glance, Casimir reads as incompetent fool who doesn’t take things seriously. It is as if everything was a joke to him. Those who take the time to understand will discover that he’s always hiding behind a persona. While he is open to what he sees and thinks, there’s always something he is holding back from the conversation.
To him he finds it really difficult to explain his past to others. It’s abnormal and something he feels others cannot relate to despite the simplicity. He finds it easier to lie to fit in. While this may backfire on him, those that stick the course will find a friendly creature that will work hard to be someone’s friend.
With the veil of death around him, Casimir is known for being easily distracted and often trailing on conversations that he has with nobody around him. This feline is used to seeing ghosts. To him these apparitions are part of the natural world. While he does feel great pity and sorrow for them. He also understands that he can’t play therapist for them. While he does help where he can. He also understands that he has the physical world to be concerned about.
Philosophy:
When a person asks what makes him different from his past, Casimir would always say ”Responsibilities.” While it being a surface level answer for him it goes deeper. When he was a naughty little cat in his younger years those female cats had kittens. Male cats however typically do not raise their young. However, that didn’t stop him from seeing cats with similar markings to him. Rather than simply just ignore the folly of his wanton younger years. Casimir has taken the responsibility to tame these feral kittens and find them good homes.
To him taking responsibility, acknowling past mistakes is the steps that he takes to separate himself from the common beast. However he isn’t above seeming incompetent to avoid extra responsibilities.
Notable Abilities and Skill Sets
Transformation magic:
Being exposed to magic for all his life has left Casimir with his own source of magic. While his mana isn’t deep. It’s enough for him to lock and sustain a form. However he cannot alter his eye colours, or markings thus making his forms easily identifiable.
Feral Form: The Common Cat.
In this form Casimir is the size of a common house cat. In terms of combat ability it’s completely and utterly useless. What it lacks in raw power, it makes up in social engineering. Who wouldn’t want to pet a friendly cat? Or even question why a stray cat is in the alleyway. However those who do know Casimir will quickly notice that split tail of his.
Primal Form: The Sabre Tooth.
A strong primal form as big as a lion. With sharp claws for grabbing and enlarged canines, this cat can do serious damage to those who are unskilled in fighting beasts. This form is either used as a deterrent or a last resort. He often finds the enlarged canines clumsy and encumbersome.
Humanoid form:
The form he defaults to. It's best suited to live among people and to interact with doors, gadgets and their technology. While it may not be the most agile or strong, opposable thumbs make life so much easier.
Mall Ninja Blade Enthusiast.
Being a blade enthusiast, Casimir has a small collection of impractical blades at home. As he delved further into the hobby and learned how to actually fight with swords. He has quickly learnt that his collection was actually rather cringe. Being the crafty cat that he was, he uses these impractical, useless weapons to mess with people.
The Veil of Death (Only Works on His Home World)
Being a nekomata Casimir is able to see and converse with the souls of the dead. With this skill he is often able to gain information and insight that would have been lost from this world. However this ability has a hefty emotional toll. These souls that he often interacts with are bitter, confused or sad. Their stories of their demise are graphic and detailed. As such Casimir often tries to ignore them.
Locksmithing Apprenticeship:
A completed apprenticeship where Casimir learnt the basics of ethically breaking into people’s homes and their belongings. He also knows the basics of creating and casting keys. However his skills of creating locks leaves much to be desired.
Fun facts:
Casimir is red-orange colour blind.