Yaben Akian (/jeɪbɛn əkˈiːən/)

Yaben Redall Akian

Yaben Redall Akian was a little insane. He was well known across all of Nobolia that he was just loony. He was also very dedicated and would not stop at something unless he did it, or he was insurmountably proven that he couldn't. This mindset would prove to kill him.
He wasn't always crazy, though. Sometimes things drive people mad. Sometimes it's their own doing...

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Extremely malnourished and underweight. His high consumption of protein-rich meats meant that he was surprisingly relatively strong.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Yaben grew up in a pretty normal middle-class life. As a child, he was recognised as a gifted student and rose to the top of his classes. He was not the most popular boy in school but he wasn't bothered. Yaben was wildly fascinated with the world around him, how it worked, what made it tick. He would often bring various things home with him and spend hours inspecting and taking them apart. As he grew older, these objects became more and more ambitious. He started on leaves and flowers, but rose to sticks and branches, then to big clumps of soil full of the tiny world of life. One day though, when he was 17, he went a little overboard; he captured a live mouse that was roaming around his home and crudely dissected it...alive. He could see it all, it's little heart pumping rapidly, muscles and ligaments shifting and twisting, the lungs growing and shrinking. The mouse fortunately died quickly and did not suffer much. It was this moment that everything changed. He wanted more, nay, he needed more. Yaben just had to see it all! He became obsessed with biology. By this point in history, there was not much known about anatomy. Everyone knew the basics; we breathe, we need all that gross stuff inside us, if the heart stops we stop, etc. But people didn't know how it worked. Yaben became determined to figure that out.
By the time he was 26, he had secretly been taking various creatures and cruelly taking them apart as often as he could. He was getting very good at dissection, knowing where parts were how to do it all quickly and efficiently. Worst of all, he knew how to do it to keep his specimens alive as long as possible. This was so he could see each of the parts in action instead of them becoming innate upon the death of the creature. He lived alone in a small shack near the city borders isolated far away from anyone else by now and so was pretty much free to do whatever he wanted in private. He did everything from the common rat to a horse, the circumstances of the latter are a little complicated. Yaben had isolated himself from everyone now. He has no friends, he cares naught for his family, takes no interest in the local community. He almost never left his shack unless it was to find another specimen. He lived off of the remains of his dissections and was very malnourished and underweight. He had been wearing the same clothes for months and they had become tattered and blood-soaked. He would not wash, cut his hair, or trim his beard, the latter two of which gradually became redder as blood dried in it. He hardly slept, feeling sleep was time that could be spent dissecting. It was around this time that he was going crazy, as one would expect.
Yaben wrote all of his discoveries and theories in a bloodied notebook he carried with him wherever he went. When he started using it, what he wrote was clear and formal: "The specimen weighs Xkg, coloured so-and-so, features white stripes." etc. Later on, however, he would become erratic and non-sensical: "it is still warm, blood is thick". He would almost always hold onto a specimen long after it's death to witness how it decomposed, but also for food and sometimes visceral entertainment. Despite these horrifying events and the horrendous lifestyle, Yaben did actually make many worth while discoveries. He understood that the heart was important and did lots of experiments on many of them, trying to find what it did. He eventually decided that it produced the body's blood and sent it around the body to where it would then be used, like a fuel. While this is not strictly true, he isn't far off and was a lot closer than the current understanding of biology. He also understood that the brain controlled the body, though he was never able to discern how exactly. By removing the scalp of an animal (which would usually kill them anyway, but not always, unfortunately), he could access the brain. He would remove parts, cut it in certain places, or even just sort of squidge it around a bit and see what happens. The results often had the animals either die or act completely differently. He tried similar strategies on other parts of the body and found that only the brain gave these kind of reactions. This told him that the brain has some sort of control over the rest of the body, though he never works out how.
As time went on, so did his mental state. Come 30 years old, he was absolutely insane. He no longer wrote discoveries or theories in his notebook, in fact, he barely wrote at all, more of incoherent scribbles and ramblings. His speech faltered, he was so filthy and his clothes were so old that they actually stuck and basically fused with his skin, his hair stopped growing years ago due to how malnourished he is, and the list continues. He is honestly just the worst. Yaben cares not, however. He doesn't really even remember that that's his name. By now though, the city had grown and the area around him that was once empty has been developed, at least to some degree. Now, people were noticing the horrific stench of rotting flesh, the disappearance of pets, the sounds of a madman, all emanating from that decrepit shack of his. The authorities were aware of this by now and received complaints day-by-day to do something about it. Until they finally did. A pair of guards arrived to Yaben's shack in the early-evening, lightly equipped and expecting to just talk to an old man. Little did they know. When they knocked on the door, which was more of a plank of wood that rested in place, they received no answer. Pushing it aside slightly, they were horrified and disgusted by what they saw. Flesh and guts strewn across the room, random bloodied tools and equipment laden erroneously over tables, gangrenous corpses of various animals of all sorts in a pile in the corner. They drew swords and used some cloth to cover their faces, though it did little to protect them from the hellscape they were entering. Yaben was nowhere in sight at the moment, but there was candlelight and quiet chattering near the back of the house. As they approach, they were preparing for the worst. They turn the corner and find Yaben hunched over a new specimen and he was interested in the spine in this case. The soldiers, now deathly terrified, attempt to talk to him. Upon no response, they try to assert their authority and threaten him with their swords. Yaben stopped working. He leaps upon the nearest soldier, wrestling them to the ground and trying to gnaw at his neck. The other soldier at first goes to stab Yaben, but hesitates, instead opting to separate him and his colleague. He wrought Yaben off using a pair of small cuffs to bind his hands. Yaben resisted but he couldn't possibly overpower the soldiers in his state. He screamed and rolled around, trying his hardest to free himself from the cuffs, to absolutely no avail. The soldiers composed themselves and dragged him outside. They slowly wrangled him back to the nearest guard station where they would throw him into the holding cell and try to decide what to do with him. The only law he's really broken is attacking the soldier, otherwise, he is just a crazy guy in a backwater shack. While the acts he's done to living creatures are inexcusable and distressing, there isn't really a Nobolian law that says he isn't allowed to do that. Yaben had worn himself out trying to get free of the soldiers so they had a medic look at him while he was less active. He discerned that he is in a terrible state (duh) but he could be saved with some good food, some human contact, and importantly a wash. A few different soldiers that were being punished for something else were delegated to sort him out. It took a long time and a couple lost teeth but they did finally get Yaben clean and fed.
Yaben served the next few months in a small jail. Ever so gradually, he was coming back to normality. His speech was still mostly incoherent, but he was looking much better and wasn't nearly as aggressive as before. He was given a haircut, a few sets of fresh clothes, and some general life skills (how to clean himself and his possessions, cooking meals, etc). He was dropped off back to his shack by a pair of soldiers at the end of his sentence. While the shack was cleaned and cleared of its...mess, it is still just a shack. Yaben was fine with it though, its his home and he liked it. He wanted to get back to work straight away but he knew he couldn't, he was told to stop his dissections for the safety of both Yaben and the local animals. He would also be checked up on every once in a while to make he's doing well and following the rules. He would need an alternative to keep his mind busy.
Yaben had thought that anything and everything was just another specimen to open up and inspect, even the world itself. He thought that the world is alive too, and he tried to take it apart. He spent weeks digging a hole just outside his shack to try to reach the centre of the world and explore its insides. When this obviously went nowhere, except about four feet into a pit, he thought that maybe he was tackling this all wrong. What if the world worked differently? It didn't seem to have flesh and blood like all his specimens did, but it must have something that kept it alive. This idea drew his attention to the Nogolem. The Nogolem was not an organism, it was made of rubble and stone, not flesh and blood. Perhaps the world of Adremesis works similarly. For the first time in about a decade, Yaben left his shack and began his way towards the city gates. Yaben was infamous now and all that saw him quietly got out of his way as he slowly shuffled towards the gates. When he eventually got there, he stepped up to the Nogolem and started inspecting it up close. The guards around just ignored him, knowing who he was and that he was just curious. The Nogolem was also not bothered by Yaben's interest and stood vigilantly still as it had for decades. Yaben was fascinated with the surreal nature of the Nogolem, how such a being could exist. The subtle wisps of energy that wafted around the Nogolem's presence made him think that the world doesn't have a heart or a brain, but it does have blood. This "blood" is the same ethereal energy that emanated from the Nogolem, a stream of silent power that swept across the entire world. Little did he know, Yaben had just discovered the Natural Flow.
He wanted to dissect the Nogolem but he knew he would never be able to. So instead he just observed. For days on end he just sat by and watched as the Nogolem did its thing. There was one thing that Yaben noticed that seemed to be crucial to the whole theory. Occasionally, the Nogolem would use it's mighty fist to draw a symbol in the air just ahead of him. When doing so, the wisps of energy would glow brighter and react to the symbol. Once the symbol was broken, the wisps flared up and dimmed back to normal as if nothing happened. Yaben still had his notebook on him and drew sketches of the symbol as best as he could When he was satisfied, he went back to his shack and attempted to wield it. He would draw the symbol on the floor using various different things: blood, soil, water, stone. He never did get a reaction though. He tried to do it more like the Nogolem, drawing the symbol in the air and then punching through but that didn't do anything either. Except once. He closed his eyes and focused as much as he could and drew the symbol as carefully as humanely possible. To his surprise, a shaky, poorly drawn symbol was floating and glowing gently in front of him. He broke it, and while nothing happened, he was the first person on Adremesis to use magic.
Yaben practised day and night, drawing and redrawing the symbol. Overtime it did actually get better, each drawing was more accurate and shone brighter. One day, once he broke it, he was taken aback by an actual reaction, albeit minor. The symbol jolted energy into his arm as it backfired. He didn't know it backfired of course, to him, this was proof that the symbol did something. He wrote down everything he tested into his notebook, and although it was still mostly incoherent, what he was writing was a bit more meaningful. He described the brightness, the feelings it gave him, how it reacted with its surroundings, and so on. It would end rather catastrophically eventually.
Yaben tried to channel his focus into the symbol as much as he could. He drew the symbol bigger than usual and strained himself doing it. When he broke it, it was all over. The spell backfired so badly that it exploded, causing a burst of energy that destroyed most of the shack. Yaben died pretty much immediately. Upon investigation of the explosion, the authorities found Yaben dead, but his notebook was still intact. They buried Yaben in an unmarked grave right near the far edges of the cemetery but kept his notebook. It fell under extreme scrutiny for years, trying to determine who Yaben was and what happened to him. The examination of his book paved the way for early magic to be utilised, along with the eventual proper discovery and proof of the Natural Flow. It also greatly improved the understanding of anatomy, despite the circumstances.

Education

Yaben's education was simply a common middle-class school. Not long after leaving it in his late teens, he was living alone in his shack.

Employment

Yaben never once worked a job.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Lead the way in understanding the biology and anatomy of many different creatures, even humans. Theorised the Natural Flow and use of magic, his previous work assisted in the true discovery of them.

Mental Trauma

Well, he was absolutely insane, so. Yeah.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

He just had to know how things worked, he needed to. He didn't really care what it cost him, he would spend all of his time dissecting and tearing apart various creatures.

Hygiene

Non-existent.

Species

Human

Age

33

Date of Birth

11th of December, 861 BFB

Date of Death

24th of October, 828 BFB

Circumstances of Death

Died when a spell majorly backfired.

Birthplace

Nobolia

Place of Death

Nobolia

Gender

Male

Eyes

Green/grey, wide, usually bloodshot.

Hair

Just beyond shoulder length, wild and unkempt, silvery-black.

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Extremely pale and rough due to severe malnourishment.

Height

1.69m (~5'6.5")

Weight

50kg (~110lbs)

Quotes & Catchphrases

'Underidoderidoderiododeridoo.'