Appearance
Standing at about 5’8”, Varius is a curious creature, looking like some kind of hybrid of sheep and cat, with some other indistinguishable features in between. Build-wise, they’re ‘boft’ - they’re fairly muscular, but it’s hidden under a soft, rounded, somewhat chubby appearance, which lends itself well to their androgynous look. They’re covered in velvety soft fur that’s brown in most parts, with grey fur on the inside of their ears, from their muzzle to their inner thighs, along the underside of their tail, and on their fingers, palms, toes and soles. They have black pawpads on their hands and feet, which have five fingers and four toes, respectively, and they lack claws. Their head is covered in a long, fluffy, brownish-grey mane of hair, which covers their eyes and goes down as far as between their shoulderblades, giving them a very scruffy and unkempt look. They also have a pair of dark brown horns that curl forward and down, before curling back up and ending in rounded-off points. Their nose is a small, rabbit-like slit, their ears are short and triangular, poking out from under their horns, and their mouth hides some very impressive, pointy-looking teeth, with prominent canines.
Currently they’re wearing little more than a light grey tanktop with “ЧВЛ” (CML) printed on the chest, baggy, stitched-up, dark grey sweatpants, and a pair of ratty old off-white shower flipflops, the only thing protecting their paws from the ground.
Reference Images
Background
Not born but created in a lab outside of Chulman, Varius was an attempt by a research lab known as Chulman Military Logistics (Чульман Военная Логистика) to create a genetically-engineered tactician, who could analyze a battlefield and request reinforcements on the fly, while still being able to hold their own in a fight. While Varius’ analysis and tactics were sound, they consistently failed in combat exercises, and they were mothballed, kept secret from society at large.
A group of scientists sympathetic to their plight orchestrated an ‘accident’ as a distraction to release Varius and a number of other failed experiments - Varius themselves was less fortunate, being one of the last to be freed before the directors locked things back down, they hadn’t time to get anything more than a handful of ragged, ill-fitting clothes on their way out.
Wandering lost and confused for a few days, Varius found a friendly old stranger who wasn’t fazed by their odd appearance. After hearing their plight, the man mentioned that a friend of his had recently moved to Synthetica, and that there were all sorts there - Varius might find a place for themselves there. With this as their only direction, they took a boat east, across the Sea of Okhotsk, headed for Raqote Mawet, ready to move in to Synthetica and start a new life.
Personality
Gentle and kindhearted most of the time, it’d be hard to believe Varius was a military experiment at all. These days, Varius finds themselves wrestling with trauma from their imprisonment in the lab following the mothballing of their project, as well as from the failed combat experiments that resulted in their situation. This can result in Varius experiencing panic attacks, depression or, less frequently, outbursts of anger, but with some help they can bring their emotions under control.
Thoughtful and analytical, Varius can come across as both very intelligent and very lazy - the aforementioned depression can make it hard for them to motivate themselves to do much, now that they have as much time as they like to process things.
Notable Features
Ageless: Varius is in some regards artificial, and always appears to be about 27 years of age. They cannot die of old age or sickness, though they can almost certainly be killed by other, generally more violent means.
Healing Factor: Not perfect, but Varius can recover from injuries at an accelerated rate - where a broken bone may take 6-8 weeks for a normal person to heal, Varius could heal within a month. Varius does not know whether this extends to severed limbs, and is not keen on finding out any time soon.
Intelligence: As per their design, Varius is quite an analytical fellow, usually able to solve problems with careful thinking. This has, unfortunately, diminished somewhat since their escape, and they can find themselves a bit frustrated and overwhelmed when their smarts fail to come up with a solution.
Slow Metabolism: Varius can go for quite a while without food, though they do still need water to survive.
Sterile: As an experiment, Varius is sterile, and incapable of concieving. They do, however, still have a sex drive, and can still feel pleasure.
Miscellaneous
- Varius is non-binary, and prefers they/them pronouns.
- Varius possesses a vulva, but no breasts. They are somewhat reserved about this, preferring to remain clothed.
- Despite being a military experiment, Varius finds themselves stuck with a number of kinky thoughts, though they have yet to actually try anything of the sort, and are unsure where to start or how to even explain what they’re feeling.