"Wir sind eine lustige Gesellschaft, die sich zufaellig auf einer Wuesteninsel befindet.""We are a merry crowd which is, by chance, stuck on a desert island."
Name: Asterus Xerxes Rysell
Age: 17
Class Level: Junior
Desired Spirit: Hatter of Madness.
Bio: Born into an ordinary family - albeit one with a rather unusual taste in names - Asterus was, from a young age, fascinated by the somewhat outdated art of stage magic, almost to the point of obsession. Saving his money, he purchased one kit of trick items, then another, continually expanding his collection until it became quite considerable. Soon growing tired of the tricks of others, Asterus then began to attempt to learn and create tricks of his own. Various illusions, puzzles, seemingly impossible feats of dexterity, all sprang to life from his imaginative mind, continually growing in audacity and complexity until even he had trouble keeping track of them all.
This obsession, however, rather annoyed his parents, who thought their child was neglecting his studies and wasting his time on pointless things. Consequently, he was arranged to be sent to a boarding school once he reached high school age, and that was that. This did not, however, stop him from smuggling as many of his favorite trick items with him as he possibly could.
He managed to fit in rather well as the boarding school, being jovial and kind in nature, if a little strange at times. He made friends with several of the students there - unbeknownst to him, some of them being former friends of the spirit he housed within him - and, although he ended up getting them into trouble quite a few times with his antics, most of them ended up on fairly good speaking terms, although none of them know him very well, a relationship which has been maintained up to the present.
To be honest, however, Asterus has never been quite... normal. His mind works in strange ways, and although he always seems to know what's going on, there's never any logical reason why. In truth, his obsession with tricks that defy logic ended up drawing some attention to him: that of the Mad Hatter, fugitive from Underworld and jovial guardian of the spirit of Alice in Chains. From the moment he began inventing his own magic tricks, some of which subtly violated certain laws of logic in their execution, the Hatter of Madness took a liking to him and his little tricks, and, choosing him as a Contractor, soon merged almost seamlessly into his own mind, giving him the creativity he needed to continue with his elaborate stage magic, up until the present day. During this time, Asterus has constantly practiced the powers of the Hatter, fascinated by their impossible and yet wondrous nature.
At this point, one might say that Asterus and the Hatter are less two separate entities than they are two halves of the same mind, with Asterus appearing as the public face, and the Hatter serving as the shadowy man behind the scenes. Whether Asterus has become the Hatter, or the Hatter has become Asterus can no longer be told. They are, in effect, one and the same.
"Half the fun of being mad lies in enjoying it, no?"