- About Akram -
Name - Akram Mercier
Age - 24
Birthday - January 11
Appearance - About 5'8" tall, broad-shouldered, and overall very sturdy-looking. His hair is black and long in the front, but the rest is cut much shorter, though it is generally hidden under a red cloth headwrap. Akram has bronze-colored skin, which is weathered a bit by spending a lot of time outside, making him look perhaps a little older than he is. His eyes are green, and below them, Akram has golden marks like tears running down his cheeks and neck, and partway down his chest. He comes from a far-off land that is mostly desert, and, while Akram is interested in learning about this part of Gaia, he generally prefers dressing in his native and more exotic attire.
History - The Mercier family was a notable clan of merchants in Akram's homeland, and had been for quite sometime. Several very powerful mages also came out of the bloodline at a point in the distant past. The patriarch of the time decided to try to strengthen the magical bloodline, however, which resulted in a tradition of inbreeding that lasted several generations. Their magic did not get stronger, though, and instead, a genetic disorder tied to the Mercier magic developed instead - when spellcasting, the caster would periodically lose control of the raw power, resulting in various serious and often fatal injuries. Other people started to regard it as a curse of some sort, since the disorder claimed the lives of so many of the Mercier magic users, reducing their numbers, their wealth, and their influence. Akram is already the patriarch of the clan at the age of 24, though he still often defers to his grandmother's wisdom in family affairs. The woman is also determined to train Akram in the use of his magic herself; Akram wants nothing to do with the magic in his veins, and that is a large part of why he left home in order to come to Menewsha for an "extended vacation".
Personality - Akram is a fairly adaptable person, and also a natural-born leader. So far, his only experience as a leader has been as family patriarch, though, and dealing with the rest of his family - older woman and younger siblings, primarily - has made him into a sort of humorless, no-nonsense sort of man. Coupled with the natural pessimism that developed in him from a young age with the knowledge that he was all too likely to die before he had a chance to continue his family line, Akram often comes off as blunt, cranky, and bored with the world. He is a skilled businessman, though, at least in the sense of the bartering and dealing he is used to.
