Narome

"I've had friends. But I'm not sure if I've ever been one before." - Narome

Narome is a prominent character in Endless Time. As a part-man, part-tondoe, Narome must steal the life energy of other living creatures daily.

Narome is characterised by his eternal dilemna: The choice between what's morally correct and his own survival.

Appearance
Some of Narome's only links to his original community are apparent in his appearance. He has green tattoos on his face and shoulders which he got at a young age(as per his community's tradition). His tattered gi is also a relic from those days.

Narome's appearance has been altered heavily from his Tondoe mutation(see backstory). Half his torso, his left arm, and his legs from just under the knees down have become mutated in a Tondoelike fashion. He has grown punctors(see backstory) on both shoulders, which he can move freely as if they were naturally part of his body. His hair colour was originally black, but the Tondoe mutation has turned it silvery white.

Abilities
Narome's signature ability is the power to sap life energy from any living target. As long as one of his punctors is stabbed into his victim and stays there, he can take their life energy and add it to his own. Most of the time this also seriously mutates the victim; often leaving them unable to meet their basic survival needs. Narome's punctors are very lethal. If Narome manages to take all of the victim's life energy, they will die. If he doesn't, they will likely be killed by the mutation instead.

Needless to say, Narome is a great close combat fighter. Aside from his punctor advantage, Narome is a skilled martial artist due to his monk days. The green, Tondoelike parts of his body are much more durable than the rest, and his punctors are a lot harder to sever than his limbs. Narome's agility and stamina are better than the average human's due to years of escaping the law. Considering his status as a highly wanted criminal, it goes without saying Narome is good at running away from any trouble.

Lastly, Narome becomes a much more formidable opponent if he goes too long without life energy or too much pressure is put on his punctors. When either of these conditions are met, his Tondoe instincts kick in, and Narome will quickly become extremely vicious.

Personality
Narome is an extremely conflicted individual. While he used to be a very kind-hearted person, emotional trauma has changed him into something else entirely. Over the 7 years between his transformation and the events of ET, Narome has trained himself to repress most of his sorrow. He became violent and cruel, casting his morals aside in order to stay alive. Somewhere deep in his mind, an unbearable despair remains locked away. But that doesn't stop a few memories from haunting him daily. He has tried his best to maintain a cynical outlook on life, just in case a flicker of hope found its way into his mind. But try as he might, Narome has never fully extinguished this hope. The impossible hope that someday, he could be happy again.

As of ET, Narome's severely warped morals have been challenged. After experiencing the warmth of friendship for the first time in years, Narome has found himself revisiting old morals he'd abandoned long ago. This makes Narome very indecisive, as he cannot decide whether to follow reason or emotion. He is sure he doesn't deserve any kindness and it will only bring forth more pain; but at the same time, his lonely soul cannot resist. For this reason, he is very protective of his friends, and feels deep guilt for the trouble they go through for him. He values them more than anything else in his life. Narome is still very ruthless towards people he dislikes. He can still be quite unnecessarily violent at times, as the negative morals he made himself believe are still a part of him.

Backstory
Originally, Narome was a kind and gentle monk living in a small, secretive community in Darath. But one day he was attacked by a Tondoe, a creature that feeds and reproduces by stabbing other creatures with it's long, tentaclelike apendages called punctors. When Tondoes do this, they feed off of some of the victim's life energy and also inject their DNA into them. The victim then transforms into another Tondoe. However, Narome was an unusual victim. For some reason, Narome's morphing stopped at a certain point. He grew his own punctors, his hair became lost its colour, and some parts of his body took on a Tondoelike appearance. He was now, for the most part, a human, but he had to rely on daily life energy in order to survive.

Unable to live with himself, he soon ran away from home. Over the years, Narome became a cold and ruthless criminal, leaving almost all ties to his original life behind. Narome gave himself a rule. He would never get attached to anyone or anything. He was what he was - allowing happiness into his life again could only bring about despair and regret. But no matter how much he tried to deny it, his conscience never left.

7 years after the initial Tondoe attack, his story in Endless Time began.

Early ET
Narome's tale began in Sabolin, the capital city of Darath. After failing in his attempts to feed for the day, Narome(known as the Tondoe Menace) inadvertantly found his way into King Thereme's castle, Grathal. He was promptly captured by Thereme's guards and thrown into a cell, in which he was tortured by one of the king's many mages. However, the mage made a fatal mistake when he put too much pressure on Narome's punctors. His tondoe instincts triggered, Narome made quick work of the mage and a few guards waiting outside. He proceeded to leave Grathal the same way he came in: an open window. Unbeknownst to Narome, he'd evidence left behind that would later help assassin Drey Wilkins track him down.

By nightfall, the Tondoe Menace had reached the docks. He was soon spotted by Kea Kassidee, a Terumian mechanical mage on a boat nearby. Fortunately, Narome was nigh unrecognisable in the dark. Just as Narome was gaining the mage's trust, the UKS Defiant docked at the scene. But the technological marvel of his ship was too much for Kea to handle. She soon fainted, and tumbled off her ship. Reminded of someone he used to know, Narome ran to Kea's rescue and caught her before she hit the ground. Kea's initial reaction was of shock and horror - after all, she'd just realised who Narome really was. However, she soon took pity upon the menace - sympathising with the trauma he'd suffered due to the basic nature of his being - and apologised, giving him a kiss on the cheek. The two introduced themselves and set off to investigate the Defiant. Inside they met the ship's owner, a being from another planet named Mika Cadenza. He gave Narome and Kea a communication combadge each before the two left to rest for the night. However, luck was not in their favour. Their position was soon discovered by Sabolin guards. While Narome opted to escape, Kea was forcibly taken after admitting she knew of the Menace's whereabouts. Narome stopped, and realised that the one person to accept him for what he was in seven years was probably being tortured because of him.

Battle of Sabolin
Determined to save Kea, Narome and Mika set after Grathal in the Defiant. After being met by a military ship, the Defiant took flight. However, they were pursued by one of Thereme's top mages - the formidable Perofe. Perofe latched onto the ship and began to sabotage its abilities with his own magic. Fortunately, he was interrupted by fellow mage Salfira. During their duel, Narome was able to rescue Kea from a window. Meanwhile, Minoru's ship the Ebon Hawk kept Thereme's forces under control. During the chaos, the Defiant shook violently, and Narome was sent flying into a wall inside. Knocked unconcious by the blow, Narome was powerless to stop Thereme's assassin Darken Cypher from infiltrating the Defiant and kidnapping Kea.

The Assassin
Narome awoke in a bed on the AAS Ebon Hawk where he was greeted by Minoru Akihiro. Ikanovich Schtufen was sent to help Narome find his way around the ship. During the conversation, Narome was informed of what happened the night before. Sabolin had been completely destroyed(sans Grathal) in the battle. Kea had been retrieved, but Mika was presumed dead. Narome and Kea's unconcious bodies had been moved to the Ebon Hawk before the Defiant went down. Unfortunately, Ikanovich did not divulge much information on the Ebon Hawk other than the fact that it was Minoru's military ship and it was headed to Jeru.

'''This section is incomplete. Check back later for more.'''

Trivia

 * Narome has been terrorizing Sabolin for the last 7 years up until the events of ET. He has become relatively well-known in Darath as the "Tondoe Menace", and is wanted for countless murders.
 * Narome's age was originally 26. This was retconned to 23 early in ET to bring his age closer to Kea's.
 * At first, Narome's eyebrows were white. They were later recoloured to black for the sake of asthetic value. Furthermore, his Tondoe arm was considerably more monstrous. It was altered for practical use.
 * Narome once appeared in the crossover roleplay "The 1st Annual AAO Role-Playing Tournament". He was brutally killed in the first round at the hands of Ryo Tanshin.
 * Since Narome mostly lives off of life energy, he only needs to eat regular food once a week. However, this does not apply to his water consumption.
 * Narome is actually a vegetarian. This habit is left over from his monk days.
 * Every weapon Narome has wielded in ET thus far has been some kind of handgun. First a revolver, then a flintlock.