Raaj Kalhraatha

"How surely are the dead beyond death. Death is what the living carry with them." - Suttree

the basics
Name || Raaj Kalhraatha
Nicknames ||
Age || Twenty-six
Species || Malayan tiger
Gender || Male
Sexuality || Heterosexual
God || Mrithun, God of Death
Birth God || Kohriander, God of the Sun
Gifts || Silent movement, immunity to poisons and venom, also has no scent
Occupation || Assassin


the appearance
Voice Claim || Liam Neeson

Identifying Features || Raaj is a large creature, with powerful shoulders and legs that allow him to run and leap with startling force. He has rich, orange-red fur patterned with narrow, sleek stripes and around his chestnut-amber eyes are accents of white. His claws are abnormally long and dyed crimson to complement the black tattoos of thorns around his front ankles. The Mark of the Sun God, a faded golden sun on his forehead, remains a testament to his former life. The black feather Mark of Death rests on his left shoulder over a scattering of patchy fur where the scars from old burns still linger.

Clothing || As far as clothing is concerned, Raaj prefers to wear little more than a harness for his various weapons. Clothing is restrictive and can weigh an assassin down, so he never wears much except when undercover, and in those situations he often covers up with a thick black cloak that hides his harness and weapons well. When it comes to piercings, Raaj decided against his ears, not wanting that to be a point of weakness that someone could exploit, but he does have a gold stud pierced into the left side of his bottom lip.

Weapons || When it comes to weapons, Raaj prefers knives and gauntlets fixed with incredibly sharp claws. He’s pretty good with his teeth and his own claws in a pinch, but metal is an extremely effective tool in the hands of a trained killer.


the personality
Overall || Ask anyone who knows Raaj about his personality, and you’re bound to get the response, “I didn’t know he had a personality.” The tiger is quiet, his demeanor distant and calculating, and his gaze is only warm in color, his glare famous for its ability to intimidate others. He rarely speaks, preferring to listen and observe. Despite his silence, Raaj is a deeply intelligent, cunning creature with a mind as sharp as his claws. In some ways, his intelligence makes him even more detached from those around him, causing him to rely more on thought and reason than emotion or instinct. In general, Raaj has very high expectations of himself, and his perfectionistic nature can sometimes cause him a great deal of personal anxiety, though he hides it well.

The assassin possesses a great deal of strength, but he is much subtler than many his size would be, preferring intimidation and clever strategy to brute force and rashness. Above all, Raaj is patient. He takes his time with a kill, most of the time to stage something that he feels fits the particular quarry. In a way, Raaj thinks of his work as an art form, death a great spectacle that he orchestrates. He has a great disdain towards those who do not acknowledge this fact, or towards those who are only assassins because they like to cause pain and suffering. Despite his profession and his coldness, Raaj is not deliberately cruel. He prefers a quick, clean kill, no loose ends, and this is part of the perfect execution that he near-obsesses over.

the history
Family || Father: Jaan Kalhraatha, alive. Mother: Saami Kalhraatha, deceased. Sister: Tila Kalhraatha, deceased.

Important People || Raaj has two “pets,” an asp called Azan and a saw-scaled viper called Trza.

Hometown || Kahrin Jungle. Currently lives in Evryll, the base of the Assassin’s Guild.

History || Raaj was born to the Kalhraatha family of Kahrin, a distinguished family of aristocrats led by Jaan Kalhraatha, whose position over the inhabitants of their village might be referred to as a mayor or minister. He oversaw labor assignments, settled disputes, and generally represented the interests of every creature in the village. Jaan and his mate, Saami, had two children in their first litter, the older being a female named Tila, and the younger being Raaj. Jaan and Saami had high expectations for their cubs, and from a young age Tila and Raaj studied history, mathematics, science, literature, art, and every subject that their parents could find them tutors for.

Tila was a natural at everything she did, intelligent, beautiful, clever. Raaj looked up to her and admired her, for though he was intelligent, he did not excel at the arts or at socializing with others, and this made him less desirable in their parents’ eyes. He tried desperately hard to be as good as Tila, he studied longer, practiced his sums more often, but no matter how much he worked, Raaj could never beat her. One night, he fell asleep while studying, a candle still lit by his bedside, and the candle tipped over and lit his bed on fire. While several villagers were able to come and put out the fire, the burn marks across Raaj’s shoulder where he couldn’t roll out of the way in time remained long after the incident. His parents took it as another example of his ineptitude, and frequently mocked him for the hideous burns and compared him unceasingly to his sister.

Tila didn’t care for competition, and she resented her parents for forcing a wedge between the two siblings. As the cubs grew older, she became more and more rebellious, getting into fights, not taking her studies seriously, and generally making a ruckus everywhere she went. Her parents were of course distressed by her truancy, but instead of reining her in or scolding her as they did Raaj, they made excuses for her and covered up the incidents with favors and their social standing. Raaj grew bitter, but through all this, still loved his sister, even if he couldn’t will himself to join her in her free, unfettered lifestyle.

Everything changed for Raaj when his older sister died in an accident. Her death hit the family hard. All of Raaj’s parents’ expectations were forced on him, and his mother mourned her daughter to the point of being insensitive to all else. Eventually, she died under mysterious circumstances, causing some to wonder if she ended her own life, or if Raaj or her husband secretly murdered her. After her death, Raaj’s father spent more and more time away from him, and Raaj wondered if his father blamed him for his mother’s death—or even Tila’s. What Raaj never told anyone was that the accident that ended his sister’s life… was his fault.

Torn by guilt and sadness, Raaj left his home to join the king’s army, a post that suited his father’s station enough that Jaan allowed his son to go. The life of a knight-in-training was difficult, but in a way, Raaj enjoyed the hard work. He’d always loved to spar with Tila, and spending time fighting and training with knives and weaponry distracted him from the guilt he felt. However, his obsession with perfection and the fact that he poured so much of himself into his training made his superiors anxious. They saw in him an astounding amount of strength—and bloodlust. Eventually, after a particularly violent bout with a fellow knight, he was turned out of the army—”honorably discharged,” but everyone knew it wasn’t honorable, and Raaj’s father would never have taken him back after that, even if Raaj had wanted to return home. Rather than do that, he remained in Evryll and worked as hired muscle, basically doing whatever was asked of him to make a living, using the violence of his mercenary work to numb the pain of losing his family, his good name, and basically everything that had ever mattered to him.

Eventually, he was noticed by the local assassin’s guild. They brought him in, trained him in their ways, and Raaj accepted their customs and their creed readily. Since joining them, he has proven himself a capable killer, channeling all of his being into his work, accepting Death as his god and turning aside all thoughts of his unhappy past.

the roleplayer
Alias || Lion
Pronouns || She/her
Age || 24
Other Characters || Khazaan Dryden, Sehryn Raincatcher, Alira Azaani, Riune Aventi
Anything Else || Rumble rumble grumble grumble bumble bumble?

made by remi of rilla go!