ETRAYA / application.

⏵ player information
name and pronouns: Chels, she/her
age: 21+
contact: curbstomps

⏵ character information
name: Talmai
canon: Original, from the same verse as Sam and Ari.
age: 21
canon point: Post-finding Sam, after Nel's death.
history:

2182: Talmai is born in containment, in an underground Project Cherub facility on the Texas-Mexico border, with his mother reportedly dying in the process.

2183 TO 2185: Classified as viable: early neural scans show strong psychic resonance activity; his blood is identified as anomalous.

2191: Ordered to eliminate defective nephilim, to "stress test" his psychic abilities and absorption capabilities.

2194: Tal has his first overcharge event while being introduced to multiple kill subjects at once, triggering the formation of the Black Choir. He kills a handful of Project Cherub personnel before he escapes containment, but is eventually recaptured after an extended pursuit.

2196: Second overcharge event. Tal kills numerous Project Cherub children to escape, meeting Nel in the process, a nephilim capable of tapping into Tal's blood to create weapons. They form a two-person team, taking down Seraphs together.

2197+: Tal and Nel meet Sylas, a human capable of using magic. Their two-person team becomes a three-person team.

2201: During a fight with a Seraph, Tal hits his third and final (so far) overcharge event, accidentally killing (and absorbing) Nel while tethered to him. Tal and Sylas limp away from that fight after a costly victory and later meet Sam, who joins as their third, replacing Nel.

Tal is currently three years into knowing Sam.

abilities:

PSYCHIC ENERGY ABSOPRTION

• PERK: As a nephilim of Project Cherub, Tal's core ability allows him to absorb the memories, skills, and personality tics (known as personality echoes) of anything he kills.
• COST: Personality echoes come with a risk of inherited tics, compulsions, and fragments of identity that bleed into his own. Extended use leaves him fragmented, with "passengers" hitched to his mind.
• PERK/COST: If he absorbs too many echoes at once, his psyche fractures, and he hits an involuntary OVERCHARGE state, briefly granting him psychic superhuman power at the cost of his stability or, potentially, his life or permanent identity loss.
  
  While absorption without killing the subject is (reportedly) possible, Tal has not yet mastered that specific art.
  

SHARED ARSENAL

• PERK: Tal's blood can be weaponized by nephilim capable of forging blood weapons (Sam, Nel). Each weapon stays alive and anchored to Tal's body in a psychic tether.

TETHERED RESONANCE

• PERK: Force-feeding power through the tether, granting the weapon user a surge of buffs (accelerated healing, boosted reflexes, heightened perception).
• COST: Every surge siphons energy from Tal's body. He feels every hit his weapon user makes or takes, absorbing their kills through the tether.

FEEDBACK LOOP

• PERK/COST: Reversing the current of the tether, pulling energy back to Tal. He can also overload the bond as a last resort (or on accident, re: Nel), killing his weapon user.

Tal also has your standard "buff" sets from being a nephilim, re: enhanced strength, speed, stamina, and durability.

personality:

• A little feral. Everything he learned about becoming a person, he learned in captivity. He uses charisma as both a weapon and a shield.
• Loyal to a select few, but perpetually suspicious of strangers.
• Chronic inability to take shit seriously, which means he is generally pretty laid-back when shit hits the fan.
• Driven by a need for interpersonal connection, but only on his terms. He forms intense bonds, but is afraid of losing the people he cares about or, more notably, causing them to leave.
• Because of the nature of his abilities, Tal's identity is a patchwork of the dead, and he can be frequently unstable. He doesn't like extended quiet or sitting still, so he's always doing something, whether he's talking or joking or flirting or fighting.
• Deeply angry, at the people who created him, at his mother, at the Seraphs, at himself.
• Petty, spiteful.

samples: