Character Profile - Shayde

Heck's Guardian

Full Name: Shayde

Age: 32 (equivalent to 40 in human terms)
Clan/Location: Earth Clan

ROLE IN STORY

Shayde is Heck’s uncle on his mother’s side. He’s a Harmonic and has been so for quite some time after a few scrapes as a young lad who liked to travel. When his sister, Heck’s mother, was to marry, he returned home and has stayed ever since. Becoming a Harmonic was less his idea and more a necessity. He knew someone was coming after him and to make amends and protect his kind, he opted to become a Harmonic.

GOAL

Shayde wishes to honor his sister’s wishes and look after Heck. A troubled boy without the guidance of his parent’s an with no siblings. Shayde is his only living relative and the only one who has his best interests at heart. He also wants to protect the faeries from what is headed their way. Whether they want to believe his rantings or not.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Shayde is “short and stout” in his physique. One aspect I’d love to have about him is that his wings, heaven bless them, are overworked carrying him around and so his flying capabilities leave much to be desired. He’s always tinkering and inventing things so his clothing isn’t as well kept as the other Harmonics. His are more tattered, with dirt stains and holes in them. And unlike some other clans who like to conjure up the cleanest of attires, he prefers not to use his magic for such “trivial things.” His hair is long and black with just one streak of silver on one side. Oddly enough, that streak seems to never want to be in the same place twice (do with that what you will). A grey-haired man can be quite distinguishing, he might say to you in passing.

Shayde has workman hands, with dirt under his fingernails and calluses from hours of labor. Again, he could easily do away with such ailments and scars but he likes having them. Feeling more…human? Especially the one scar he has on his hand. It’s a mark that imprinted itself after an incident from his past when he traveled and got into trouble. It’s this mark that causes him even more issues now that he’s much older.

PERSONALITY

Shayde is a mumbler. He’s always mumbling some ideas in his head and transcribing them into his special recorder that he always has on him. This will surely be important later. I’m thinking of something like recorded messages he leaves for Heck that will only play when “he’s ready” or something like that. I’m envisioning something similar to Star Wars with a little holographic representation pops up on a disc and speaks sort of thing.

Anyway, Shayde is wise beyond his years. He’s “street wise” as opposed to book-wise which often leaves him feeling like the odd Harmonic out among the others. They consider themselves to be smarter because they learned “the right way” to be a faerie and wield power; from books and practice. Not out in the world galavanting like he did. Because of his street smarts, he speaks very fast and might say words and phrases that he picked up in his travels. Some he even makes up and pretends he heard it at some such place he visited. Knowing no one could ever fact check him. He treats everyone equally and doesn’t use the power of his station to his advantage the way other Harmonics might. Which is why he is teaching Junya, where another Harmonic would never dream of taking on an apprentice. 

OCCUPATION

Each Harmonic has a speciality. Something that is suited to their skills. And even though Shayde isn’t the most favored Harmonic among them, he is not without favor or friends. He also is a most skilled inventor. Some of his inventions are total disasters, but others, important ones, are helpful and useful.

HABITS/MANNERISMS

I think his mumbling is a habit of his. He’s quite messy. His work area at home is a mess and just everything about him screams disorganized, even though he might know exactly where anything is that he might be looking for…just not always right when he needs it…

BACKGROUND

As I mentioned before, Shayde was a bit of an adventurous youth. When he was growing up, he left home after a disagreement with his father. This left him on his own traveling to all sorts of places. He spent a considerable amount of time with this all sorts of people and in that time he divulged certain secrets that should never be shared with humans. Among these secrets is the legend about the tree that is guarded and protected by the faeries. A place that can never be found or reached by humans without the aid of a faerie.

INTERNAL CONFLICTS

The main conflict that Shayde has is about this secret he’s kept from everyone around him, especially the Harmonics and his nephew, until it was too late.

EXTERNAL CONFLICTS

Another conflict he has is with the tremors he’s noticing in his hands. Is it old age? Or something more sinister than that?

EXTRA NOTES

Shayde is an amazing illustrator. All of his inventions are depicted in drawings that he keeps all over his work area at home. His favorite tools are just pencil and canvas. And sometimes, when no one is watching, he’ll use magic to have the pencil do the work of drawing what he’s thinking in his head. AI in the faerie world, I wouldn’t wonder…