Cyan Dawnburn

Cyan Dawnburn is a nineteen-year-old citizen of Aurora, residing within the Lower Prolin district of Fornost, getting by in life through servitude in The Order of the Aurora and other personal pursuits of mining and writing. His family line is one lost to memory, as the otherworldly entity he’s been inflicted with has caused Cyan potent and sporadic memory loss, resulting in him forgetting his parents, his religion, his ancestry, and even his name; ‘Cyan Dawnburn’ was coined by the young man himself, still remaining something he often forgets.

Personality
"'‘Why Dawnburn?’ Well... I don’t really know how much longer I’ve got of being ‘me,’ so... I want to make the most of it. I-I want to shine. I want to flare higher than the sun can even hope to, hot enough to set fire to the dawning sky.' - Cyan, explaining his choice of last name." Cyan holds himself as a kinder soul than most people of his stature, being just as likely to offer a neighbor a bag of sugar as he would pay off a stranger’s 150k debt. This is based on his endeavor to be as bright of a beacon in the world as he can, while he can. In an outward appearance, Cyan is a conscientious, agreeable young man, caring to a fault and nervous in environments he isn’t prepared for. Mentally, however, Cyan holds immense, crippling anxiety to his predicament, constantly worrying if there’s something he’s forgetting or whether today will be the last day he can call himself ‘Cyan.’

Background
While very little of his past can be recalled, his history in Aurora has been well documented by himself as a means to combat his forgetful nature. His age is one based on assumption, but he believes himself to have been roughly eighteen when he settled within the city of Fornost and has since been trying to carve a stake for himself in life. His personal ambition is one rare to match, as through immense effort he was able to become not only the richest citizen in Aurora, but in the entirety of Rathnir, though he would come to lose this title in time. Cyan’s claim to wealth was through traversing otherworldly dimensions and culling them of their valuables to pawn off to the richest of the rich, the primary dimension in this process being the Nether.

Despite the riches he possesses, Cyan holds no royal titles, guild positions, nor lands of his own; Instead owning only a crude, decrepit room in the poorest district of his home city. Cyan says it works to keep himself humble, as money means little to him and material possessions are fleeting. As of recently, however, through recommendations from friends, Cyan has held the desire of improving his living conditions as a means to improve his mental health.

Sometime before his arrival in Fornost, the person we call Cyan went to bed one night to bear witness to one event he’s said he would always remember. In his sleep, a vision came: Rows and columns of checkered spaces in an empty pit of black, pieces dancing and crossing it in maneuvers both illegal and incomprehensible, all showing a game of what looked like chess being bastardized and perfected. The sight was but a blimp in his perspective, but soon after, Cyan began hearing things. There was a voice in his head. Cyan knows it wasn’t always there, but for all he can recall, its sound has been haunting him every day since.

There are no artifacts from his life before this event. No heirlooms or keepsakes, no letters or writings; Nothing to identify who Cyan was before his amnesia, and with each passing day, the affliction only seems to grow worse. The lackluster time he believes he holds left serves as a motivator for Cyan to do all that he can with what he has.

=Gambit= "“I’ve seen it hundreds of times before. Allow me to make it clear: Everything you see will rot. Every person you meet will falter. Not a single glory in this world will last beyond your death, and through it all, you will struggle for a reality you know you can't reach. Even after you've seen The Board, you refute me? …How vain.” - Gambit to Cyan, the current soul he’s possessing."

The Voice
A spirit traumatized beyond comprehension, the voice tainting Cyan’s soul is an otherworldly, immortal, dimension-hopping anomaly, belonging to a race long extinct in a reality that no longer exists. The one thing known about this being’s past is his name: Gambit. Through personal writings, Cyan has documented every bit of information he has let slip, allowing Cyan to remember certain things about the entity; Most things listed here were discovered through this method.

Gambit’s influence is the direct reason for Cyan’s memory loss. As the days go by, Gambit’s control over Cyan grows, and with it, his soul begins to be assimilated into the spirit’s. Cyan’s memory isn’t due to an illness like dementia; His very soul is being hammered away, with each chunk breaking off causing another bit of information to be taken from him and given to Gambit.

The afflictions Gambit causes aren’t limited to Cyan’s memory; Rather, the amnesia appears to be a side effect of the being’s presence, since its main influence being that every time Cyan goes to rest, Gambit gains autonomy of his body. This control seems to accelerate the assimilation between the twos souls, causing both the corrosion of Cyan’s memory and granting Gambit a physical presence in the world of Rathnir.

The One They Call, “Slumlord”
Bodily possession is a terrifying prospect, and the use Gambit has for Cyan’s body only works to cement that statement. When assuming control, Gambit acts as a narcissistic, brutally violent, manipulative man sowing chaos and corruption where he can. Utilizing discrete magics to manipulate key figures and employing hard-to-witness torture tactics, Gambit is the entity behind the publicly undetermined man many fear to call the Slumlord. Through his connections in the criminal underworld, the Slumlord has gathered monetary prosperity, an infamous reputation, and - what Cyan believes Gambit is truly after - taboo secrets of arcane practice.

Evident from Cyan’s writings, the acting Gambit does as the brutal legend in Prolin is only to establish a position therein to garner wealth as a means to learn of the grandest magic’s in this world; A horrifying revelation when one comes to find that Gambit seems to master these arts with ease, likely attributed to the being’s assumed lifespan being several millennia long and having gained mystical experience over hundreds of lifetimes. Cyan claims Gambit views Rathnir as only the next stepping stone in the being’s journey towards becoming a “Player on the Board,” and has admitted to being willing to sacrifice anything it has to accumulate power.

Claim to Wealth
Many would say the one thing that sets Cyan aside from the common fodder of the world would be the mass amounts of financial wealth he’s come into possession of, many envying his position or viewing it with a critical eye under the assumption of foul play being involved. The reality couldn’t be further from such, and the actual gaining of his funds was only a side effect of what he had been doing.

Cyan has been evident in his displeasure towards Gambit taking over not only his life, but the memories of whoever he used to hold dear, and has previously tried methods towards purging the spirit or reducing his effects to no avail. Except, there was one tactic that did do something. And that tactic abused the mechanics of the fiery dimension we call the Nether.

You see, for all the drawbacks and hazards the brimstone-coated hellscape brings, there is a single benefit to the Nether Cyan discovered: The inability to sleep. Gambit could only take the reigns of his body when he fell asleep, so if he didn’t sleep, there was little the spirit could do.

Through sheer willpower, Cyan has managed to stay in that hell for prolonged periods, taking trips lasting weeks at a time with no rest to recuperate, only coming out when he is absolutely forced to. The benefits of this are - to Cyan - invaluable; Gambit’s assimilation with Cyan’s soul is elongated immensely, and as Gambit has no means to interact with the world, the Slumlord’s activity has died down. Ultimately, Gambit’s plans may not be eliminated, but through this they have been greatly slowed. The drawbacks of this are immediate and obvious; The human body is not intended to go so long without rest. As such, Cyan is much more prone to physical illnesses, anxiety, psychosis and other mental traumas, though certain magics and potions have been able to negate some of these effects. It is not uncommon to see thick, dark rings underneath Cyan’s eyes due to the physical stress this method has on him.

Regardless, his time spent in the Nether has given him ample time to traverse and master it, with Cyan taking up mining as a way to keep himself mentally and physically preoccupied. In turn he’s come across vast chunks of Netherite, which he’d come to process and auction off to others in the Overworld. Even selling at a discount has ended him with a large sum, an amount that he doesn’t even seem proud of. Rather than the story of his money having been from a rags-to-riches drama or fable, the reality is it was gained through the process of a desperate, last-ditch escape mechanism from a fate that’s seemingly inevitable.

Gallery


(For more photos and applicable Picrew info, check out the Imgur link.)

Trivia

 * During the slight discussion between Aurora and Boulderov regarding the anomalies within the latter's prized boulder and meteors throughout the land, Gambit was the one to inadvertently start the altercation between the two through informing Cyan as to the presences contained within them.
 * Luckily for Cyan, the Slumlord's identity as yet to be discovered, with Gambit only acting while wearing some form of mask to disguise himself.
 * Cyan is slightly self-conscious of the shadows under his eyes, taking measures to hide them when he can remember.
 * Ever since Gambit has possessed him, Cyan has become a prodigy at the game of Chess.
 * Cyan is an author, having written several pieces in Rathnir, one of such being the book over 'Critical Position,' a religion he assumes he is the only one to follow.