i'll just leave this here
Name: Kanin Vikona
Gender: Male
Age: 63
Race: Elf
Appearance: A lean and handsome man standing no more than an inch over most (human) citizens of Poria, Kanin is fortunate enough to get the absolute best out of his heritage when it comes to his appearance. Each and every one of his motions contains the fluidity and grace of his elven lineage, further accentuated by his fair skin, lean build, and fine facial features, as well as a complete inability to grow a beard and cold, intimidating amber eyes. However, Kanin possesses an inordinate amount of power and muscle in his build for an elf, as well as dark brown hair, with bangs ending shortly above his eyebrows, that cast lingering doubts on the purity of his blood. Despite his age, he looks no older than his mid-twenties by human standards, putting a long lifespan clearly among the advantages his race affords him.
The most striking and recognizable aspects of Kanin's appearance, however, are those that he actively chooses, particularly his state of dress and the weaponry he carries with him. Outside of his home, or whatever other accomodations his job might require him to stay in, the discerning killer for hire constantly wears a black two-piece suit, the jacket single-breasted, with a white dress shirt underneath and laced dress shoes, crafted to be as comfortable and suitable for fighting as is possible (however, he refuses to wear a tie of any kind). At all times, Kanin not only carries a loaded 9mm machine pistol and extra ammunition hidden within his suit jacket, but has a five-inch switchblade engraved with elven text concealed within his trousers. When called upon to complete a task that warrants it, he may wield firearms with greater power; of course, such weaponry is not practical to keep on him. He also keeps a cell phone and a small, generic lighter within the inner pockets of his jacket.
Personality: With a demeanor as bitter and sardonic as one might expect from someone doing his job, Kanin is rarely anything close to a pleasant person. Not only is he rude and domineering, often demanding others to do things for him - demands which are not often denied, given his reputation as a killer - but he is more than content with intimidating or threatening others into doing what he wants. This dominant, threatening personality makes Kanin a very strong-willed individual, who will resist - usually quite violently - any attempts to cow, threaten, or intimidate him. Unsurprisingly these aspects of his personality earn him few friends, many enemies, and more terrified obedience than the average man in his already-fear-inspiring position would receive.
That unpleasantness aside, however, when left alone - or even mostly undisturbed - Kanin doesn't come across as anything more than an average, if apathetic, person, taking little interest in the affairs of other people unless they have something to offer him (or get in his way). What few friends he makes are usually people he is forced to put up with by his employers or those intelligent or lucky enough to keep on his good side during repeat visits to the Brigand's Barroom, a dive bar located in southeast Poria. Those that get in good with Kanin note that, when it comes to his friends, he is fairly generous and loyal, and willing to protect them or their interests without payment if it's not far out of the way. They also note a surprising (though, given his longevity, perhaps not) level of intelligence, claiming that when it comes to Poria's criminal underworld, Kanin is one of the best people to go to for assistance or advice; after years of such work, he is quite aware of the many intricate relationships between criminals, seems to have connections with every major syndicate, and is more than savvy enough to change sides if there's enough profit in doing so. In short, he's one of the most valuable friends or allies one could have in Poria's slums, but any such friendship or alliance is by nature built upon terra infirma.
History: Born in the slums of the East End, the bastard son of a long-dead, good-for-nothing drug addict he never knew and a frail, beleaguered elven mother, the early years of Kanin's life were anything but easy. He was derided as a weakling, coward, and crybaby by his human peers, an ugly, stupid brute by his elven ones, received only a basic formal education, and fought often. These fights, almost always provoked by the aforementioned insults (or truly awful comments about Kanin's mother) often ended with broken bones for other boys, until the beatings escalated into fighting young gang members and small-time criminals with knives at the age of eighteen; at twenty-one, he graduated to firearms, and conflicts that had once sent his detractors to the hospital began to, with increasing regularity, put them underground. It wasn't until he was twenty-six that he met, and made a surprisingly positive impression on, a human sorcerer named Fayrin Drakkan; soon after meeting the man, he was offered an apprenticeship as a young spellcaster, with Fayrin quite confident that Kanin would prove himself a more than capable sorcerer.
Working for three years under the mage made Kanin more knowledgeable than most on a few subjects; he was trained quite well in the use of the telepathic magic he was born with (and was only now becoming aware of), learned how to craft spells of his own - though he very rarely had the patience to do so - and was enlightened to various sources of power he could tap into. Willpower and magical energy in the surroundings were some such sources - but so too were darker sources such as the life energy of one's self or others. All of these Kanin took to well, both in theory and practice, but he failed when it came to the slow, methodical processes and ingredients of more traditional ritualistic magic. After repeated failures and refusal to learn from his mistakes on Kanin's part, Fayrin regretfully ended the apprenticeship, immensely disappointed that such natural talent would go to waste. Returning home to burden his mother, and both without any job and severely lacking in any skills that were both useful and legal, Kanin immersed himself in the one option that was always available in East Poria - a life of crime.
Lacking the necessary skills or knowledge to work as a burglar, racketeer, or information broker, Kanin started out as a debt collector for the Graggor syndicate. While he wasn't especially physically intimidating, his magical abilities came in handy when it came time to fight or to draw information from debtors, and he still had a number of serviceable knives from his violent youth. For the most part this debt collection service was standard; a few shakedowns here and there, but rarely any serious violence - until about a year in, when the Graggor family started to clash with the all-goblin Duende association. The next time Kanin went to collect from a goblin "client", said client wasn't alone - there were two Duende hitmen with him, set on ending the elf's life then and there. Surprisingly to all parties, Kanin left with not only his life, but no apparent injuries, the money of the now-dead hitmen and target, and a feeling of raw fulfillment. Those higher up in the Graggor syndicate took note of this - including old Ezra Graggor himself - and put Kanin on the fast track to the top, giving him the duty to collect from increasingly violent people before finally offering him a position as a hitman. Within eight years of joining the syndicate, Kanin had gotten respect, power - both "political" and otherwise - job satisfaction, and wealth, to a degree he had never before imagined; his mother, who had long toiled at a job she hated to support him, was sent to live in a pretty coastal village, blissfully unaware of her son's wrongdoing. Around this time, he began to make himself recognizable, wearing his suit constantly in public and making sure to always present the image of a cold, capable killer.
Ironically, Kanin's troubles began then, as he began to kill less discriminately, certain that the amiable Ezra wouldn't turn on him and doubting that any other groups would dare to draw his ire. Jobs he was employed on became more violent, with collateral damage a commonality; at first an extra body or two, but slowly building up to entire households murdered, the buildings burned to the ground, and the corpses rendered unidentifiable without magic. Between the time he turned thirty and forty, Kanin had significantly increased the murder rate in Poria solely through his own work, and while it was common knowledge within the underworld that he was responsible, law enforcement never seemed able to pin it on him. Witnesses were killed, and evidence to link him to the scene never found, in large part due to the Graggor's continued interest in keeping him out of prison. The final straw, however, was Kanin taking the life of a young woman outside of a job; Ezra then explained to the killer that he was simply too dangerous to continue to employ on a permanent basis. While the reasoning was sound, Kanin could hardly have been called thrilled at being fired; he impassively accepted his termination, but butchered a young orcish man the night following. Callous in his choice of location and the manner in which he killed the man, Kanin was brought in by law enforcement for the first time, and thus began one of the most controversial trials in Riordan's recent history.
Despite a clearly inordinate level of force used on Kanin's part, he was able to successfully plead not guilty of murder by way of self defense, it being readily apparent that he had killed the man, but the reasoning behind doing so much less so. Further, in a final favor for his longtime friend, Ezra collaborated with Kanin to send dozens of perjurious (and, shockingly, several sincere) character witnesses to the stand for the defense, as well as still more testifying that the man Kanin had killed had been extremely drunk, violent, and dangerous - not to mention significantly larger than the elf. These arguments and more were successful insofar as keeping Kanin from a decades-long stint behind bars, and he was found guilty only of the lesser charge of manslaughter, and sentenced to a mere eight years in prison; however, an expert's analysis of the killer's mental health recommended he be put on antipsychotic medication for the remainder of his life. Kanin ended up spending four years in a medium-security facility where he was constantly medicated, and his behavior improved greatly; further, he was allowed to spend much of his free time on the study of magic, provided that he was very strictly supervised, and received the benefits of a more complete education as well. His conduct was such that he was transferred to a minimum-security site halfway into his sentence, and given a much broader range of privileges while there; he developed a keen interest in a variety of strategic tabletop games and in his own fitness as a result of having so much time to spend on both.
However, like any good thing, Kanin's time in prison eventually came to an end, and the day he was released he retrieved his weaponry, bought new clothing, and returned to the East End to do the job it felt like he always had; however, he did not stop his course of antipsychotics. Though now taking on a much greater variety of jobs than his "cleaning" duties, Kanin was and continues to be recognized as one of Poria's - and, quite possibly, all of Riordan's - most prolific and deadly killers, and he is the man many go to if they can't afford any errors involved in their jobs. In the decade and a half since he was released, the elf has matured into a much more stable and precise individual, and has thus warranted trust and respect from his employers where he used to only merit fear and wariness. Further, he has taken a much more vested interest in magic than at any time before in his life, using a great deal of money to provision his home with a well-stocked library of the arcane arts, which he often peruses in his free time.
Magic: Though he studied under Fayrin for years, and put a great deal of effort into understanding magic while in prison, Kanin's principal strength lies in telepathy. He is capable not only of reading people's minds and projecting information to them without a word, but also of altering their perception and mental state, either subtly or (with a great deal more effort) overtly. While his raw potential is vast, having barely used his power in the first half of his life thus far has kept him from exploiting it fully - no doubt a good thing given his previous volatility.
One very useful trick Kanin did pick up from Fayrin, however, is the ability to draw magical energy from his surroundings to fuel his spellcasting - and, thus, often avoid using his own reserves on his magic. Thus, in the presence of a strong magical field, Kanin's strength in the supernatural is greatly amplified; in a "null" zone, however, he must greatly exhaust himself to generate stronger sorcerous effects.
Kanin's magical ability serves him very well in his line of work, both with the acquisition of information and in completing the more wicked aspects of his business unnoticed and unhindered.
Misc.: Kanin puts a great deal of importance on making sure he takes his medicine regularly, and to this end always keeps some on his person while remaining very well-stocked at home. He is a frequent and (unusually for an elf) fairly heavyweight drinker.
Kanin regularly corresponds with and sends gifts to his mother, though does not let on to the criminal activities which fund them, instead giving off the impression that he is a successful business specialist. If she is aware of his misdeeds, she is quite good at hiding as such.
Finally, the knife and pistol that Kanin carries with him are for much more than show; he has proven to be lightning-quick and deadly accurate in the use of both, whether his targets are expecting him or not; he is also a brawler of considerable repute, though avoids fighting unarmed wherever possible. His non-combat and non-magical skills include, unsurprisingly, great familiarity with forensic evidence (and the destruction thereof), breaking and entering, and technical and practical knowledge of a wide variety of firearms (and some explosives).
