Harlequin - The Jackal

His name Is Loranse Jestus, a name lost to time and the racking claws of insanity, he was born a man.
Born to carpenters, the Loranse had grown long dark hair and a tall stature which was mollified slightly by his attractive features. He was well spoken and had a rigid adherence to politeness and charisma, rarely letting his smile fall or vernacular falter. In his fathers workshop he grew an affinity for puppets. He enjoyed crafting their smiling faces and making them dance for the joys of others. His parents quickly noted he was far more suited as a entertainer rather than as a carpenter, and once he came of age, the family came together to acquire him that which he would need for his new life.
Loranse never gained the wealth that some entertainers enjoyed, and for the most part, his existence was a humble one. In time this suited Lroanse well, and he took the great joy in the entertainment and laughter of children.
He thought life would carry on this way for ever, but fate is fairly so accommodating. On one rainy day, entertaining the children of a port town, one women took notice. This notice turned to interest, interest into attraction and attraction to something warmer and more endearing. This transformation of emotion was mirrored by its recipient, with soon birthed a union, and from that union, a child. She was called Genevieve Jestus.
Life continued in this way for awhile, but time would prove that Loranse was not well suited for one place for so long. So it was decided that time would have to be spent apart, and Loranse returned to his calling. Perhaps the family could have found a way to make it work, but misfortune would rob them of the opportunity.
A war, the likes of which had never been seen before began. A mad King by the name of Solus Ill omen had begun twisting the minds of his people and calling into being great terrors. He had 3 prophets that he had given power. They were known as The Red Women, The Voice of God, and Harlequin the Jackal. Each wielding power enough to sunder existence, but none was more feared then the Scythe wielding madman known as the Jackal.
Harlequin was the man, and as fearsome as he was, he was not the true harbinger of destruction, for when he called upon it, the monster known as the jackal tor its self from his skin, and dragged those in its path into eternal suffering. Those that held the scythe lost all self, and became the vessel of the jackal, only living to starve their now Dark King and the monster that now waited inside of them.
The Jackal was horrid in its purpose, but worse were its methods. it seeks to rend flesh and snap bone, but never would it slay. those that were within earshot of its terrible whisper were dragged into the Outside. The Realm that it called home. In this place, nothing changed, and time did not exist. here would stay, broken and bleeding for all eternity, until The Dark King Solus would have need of you, to relieve you of your agony and grant you his one blessing. . .Oblivion.
So it was, that Harlequin and its dark host slew armies and innocents, only to have them come clawing out of the darkness, begging for release of their eternal suffering, and laying their services at the feet of their new master.
The Dark King threatened all that was, and all that could be. He sought to bring all that existed into perfection, and make it unable to change, into complete stasis. For the Outside had consumed him, and so it drove him.
Eventually Hero's brought forth their last effort, their desperate resistance, and with the power of a burning world, they ripped the Dark King into three parts. Body, mind, and soul. As these 3 parts flew across the globe, we return to Loranse, who in the echos of this war, sought to bring laughter to those that would receive it. But as the war Ragged on, he returned to his family and took refuge in the city of Argus, one of the great bastions.
As the final battle raged, and people cowered, Loranse played with the two puppets he had left, telling tales to the scared children in the dark, his daughter now old enough to understand. This image of him would be locked in her mind forever, and would shape her for the centuries to come, but her story is a different one.
When the Dark king was torn apart, his pieces landed upon the earth, far from where he was destroyed. His Mind fell to Agur, and with its impact, the magic of the outside bloomed across the city. Pain and horror ripped though the bodies of the people. A unholy force dragging them to the center of the city. As there bodies began to press together, shapes began to take form, mimicking the architecture around them. There were thousands of people in Agur, and in one night, they had been transformed into the City of Corpses, trapped in undying suffering, a prison for the mind of the Dark king.
The prophets were defeated, The Red women destroyed, The Voice of God Captured, But the Scythe of the jackal had disappeared.
In the Aftermath of the war, the City of Corpses was guarded, and the other fragments of the dark king, locked away. And so they stayed for one billion years. Only after civilizations, walls and all memory of their existence had crumbled to dust in the wake of some forgotten calamity, would the City of Copses stir. A single body fell from the amalgamation that it had contributed too. A man of tall stature, and black hair.
Lorance looked out upon the remains of the people he had shared his life, and sobbed. His whole being one of horrified despair. A voice came to him in this his sorrow, "Serve me, and I will save them, make me whole and I will relieve them from their suffering."
Lorance "Please. . . Save the children . . . I beg of you. If you do this, I will set the labor of my existence to you. Please."
And so the voice conjured a Scythe, "Take this, and serve me, take it, and make me whole."
Lourance crawled forward, dragging his body through the blood and sinew, and grasped the weapon. and he began to laugh. tears streaming down his face, he laughed and laughed as his hair turned white, his mind shattered by the monster inside him, and the despair in his heart.
The voice faded, its power spent. And so He was called Harlequin.
Harlequin roamed the world, searching for the lost parts of his master, but without direction, his mind was left to wander, and his power to torment a world unprepared for it. As the centuries grew into Melina, so did Harlequins understanding, soon words came back to him, and his mind gained shape and focus. he adopted a plaid cloak, set in grey black and red. His hood were adorned by bells, and he always carried his wicked Scythe. As her regained enough sanity to function, his hair returned to its black color, but only in locks, giving him a striped pattern of black and white. But still his insanity drove him, shaping his every division, and his madnesses were as such.

• Causing suffering is the greatest gift one can give, for through it we learn to become happy.

• All people are good.

• The Dark King is Always Benevolent.

• Rudness is the worst action that can be taken.

• To be unchanging is the fate of all things, be happy for those that join the outside.

• Never harm children, for the are innocent.

Harlequin wanted to help people, he wanted to make them happy. But form what he could tell, everyone he met always had everything they needed to be happy. To him it was obvious, they did not appreciate what they had, and how could they? In order to understand the dark, you must see light, and in order to be truly happy you must truly suffer. So I shall give you happiness, by giving you suffering.
Harlequin can no longer die, the power of the dark king has rested in his eyes, changing them to the color grey, if they are ever destroyed, he can be killed. If he threatened to be killed, the Jackal shall rip from his weakened state, and be free to maim and drag into darkness all that it can see. Once it has done so, harlequin will appear form its receded form, healed, and his eyes repaired. However if the jackal is defeated before this happens, he will be in a vulnerable state, and if slain, will permanently die.
Because of his immortal and pain free state he cannot perceive any reason someone would want to hurt him or cause him malice. He views all such actions as a misunderstanding or as an attempt to make others happy through suffering. Although murder is an attempt to help others that failed, usually by accident. To murder intentionally would be rude, the ultimate sin.
Any command by the dark king must be good, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.
Harlequin is incapable of taking actions he perceives as impolite, as such, he views the act of giving someone suffering as a gift, and he only offers it to those that do him kindness, for if they were to be kind to him, it is his obligation to give them a gift of equal value. Those that offer him no kindness, he will not make suffer. If someone takes a action that he perceives as rude, he will attempt to reeducate them, or if the action is rude enough to make him angry, he may fly into a rage and rip the offender limb from bloody limb.
He views the fate of his family as a good thing, and does not understand why he would ask them to be freed. However this makes perfect sense to fee the children, as they should not suffer in stasis. This contradiction disturbed harlequin, and might be a tool to unravel his insanity, although the fall out might be blood thirsty violence.
Because of these insanities Harlequin does not call upon the jackal, instead seeking to keep it hidden away, as to not cause the potential harm of children.
Because Harlequin is the first to attempt control over the monster. He is the first to begin to gain a master of his power, rather then being a slave to it. Over the hundreds of millions of years that harlequin has been alive, he has gained a master over the powers of the Outside that even the Dark King did not poses. he can summon dozens of arms from under his cloak to spike and rip at enemies. These arms can extend for hundreds of meters and each has the strength to rip through feet of metal and cause horrid damage. They are limited by the weight of Harlequins body, which is only 220 pounds. So in order to unleash their true destructive power, other arms have to root harlequin in place.
Harlequin can rend the minds of those around them, twisting insanity and suffering to such a skilled degree that few are his equal. Most of the more skilled twisting must be done at a touch however.
Many of Harlequins insanities can be put into situations of contradiction, in those cases they can be broken. When a insanity is broken it usually causes either rage or sorrow, but regardless woe unto those that caused it. As harlequins insanities become broken, be becomes fare more competent and formidable. his ability to empathize with others and makes plans increases, and his hatred for all things related the outside grows with it.
The most difficult to break is his view of the Dark King, his master. If this were ever to be broken, harlequin would remember his original name, which is the true key to his freedom. Without this, the Dark King cannot hope to command him, as the mind never learned his True name. The one that holds that key, is his daughter, but that is a different story.

Picture is a fan piece made for Howl's Moving Castle

Circumstances of Birth

Born to a Carpenter and wife. Their first names are lost to time but their last name was Jestus

Eyes

Grey

Hair

stripes of white and black Lockes

Height

6,7

Weight

220