Ajax Antonius *Cerberus*

Name: Ajax Antonius. AKA: Cerberus.

Gender: Male

Age: Unknown. It is assumed that Ajax, Cerberus, has existed since the dawn of time, but even he does not know when that was. The oldest recorded mentioning of him was approximately 3,000 years ago, but he would have existed long before then. 4.54 billion years, the age of earth itself, may be much closer to reality. His human skin appears to be about 25.

Race: Ajax is Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld. In his normal form, he is a very large, three-headed hellhound with a serpent for a tail, possessing the ability to withstand any amount of heat. The explanation of this is simple- he controls heat. Not so much the absence of it, but the presence of heat. His powers span from affecting inanimate objects to living creatures. He can boil water with a touch, heating it up in a matter of seconds, though the process can be much slower if he desires. While Ajax cannot simply set people aflame, he can, however, cause their body temperatures to rise, cooking them from the inside out, in a sense. Affecting living things is much more difficult on him (especially in his human form), often causing him terrible pains, mostly in the area of his two melting skull tattoos (predominately on both his shoulders). When the human body is heated up enough, it begins to hallucinate vividly, so in that sense, Ajax can cause hallucinations. On people/animals, his powers are most effective if the creature stares him in the eyes, though this is not necessary. It only makes the process quicker (and easier on him), therefore feeling more intense to the victim. His serpent tail is just that- a serpent for a tail. While it does not quite have a mind of its own, it can (and will) wrap around things and bite people, the poison from its fangs powerful enough to kill smaller creatures and/or seriously disorient larger things (like most adult humans). He is rather fond of using it to lure birds of prey in or to spook various animals. Due to his immense size, he can almost use his serpent tail as a distraction while the bulk of his body gets behind whatever poor sod is being lured in. Ajax was granted a peculiar power by Persephone that is somewhat like a skin-walker’s. The typical skin-walker is a human who wears animal skins to transform into that specific animal. Ajax, on the other hand, is a bit like the reverse of that. Because his normal form is the bestial hellhound Cerberus, Ajax can transform into a person of any shape and size (though not gender) as long as he puts on the skin of said human. The entire process is rather painful and takes about a minute to complete and requires him to have in possession a fully intact human skin (including the hair if he wishes to not be bald), a fire burning, and a rather peculiar blend of blood and dirty water. While in the firelight and heat, after he has drank the liquid and draped the human skin over his body, the transformation will begin. The skin will wrap tightly around his scarred, furry flesh, his bones and muscles stretching and compacting in various places to fit the mold of a human. His extra two heads melt down to the two skull tattoos visible on his shoulders, spine twisting and snapping until it is reduced in size to fit that of whatever human skin he is now wearing. The process is excruciatingly painful, causing Ajax to stay in human form for as long as possible when visiting cities. To avoid an unnecessary excess of pain and bleeding, Ajax will not often reveal his Cerberus form, even though it is more powerful. His human form is powerful enough for the typical situations he encounters, so he sees no need to revert back and endure even more pain. Undoing the process requires the same conditions as starting it, only his human form must reach back and pull the skin open along his spine, freeing his body and allowing it to transform without completely ruining the skin. The area along his spine is tattooed in a stitch-like pattern, the tattoo literally forming to ‘sew him back up’ if he uses the same skin twice (which he has been doing lately, as he is quite fond of the appearance he has now, which was cut off of a Roman soldier countless centuries ago). Ajax’s powers were once much stronger and more numerous (as he used to be immortal and able to start fires at will), but due to his being exiled by Hades, they have weakened considerably, though they are far from being considered ‘pathetic’ or a ‘joke.’ Ajax is the ex-guardian of Hell after all.

History: The history of Cerberus, Ajax as he typically goes by now, has been, for the most part, accurately documented in Greek mythology. He is, or, WAS, the guardian of the Underworld and the loyal pet of Hades. This flesh-eating, ferocious three-headed hellhound prevented the living from entering the Underworld and all from leaving. There were very few known exceptions to this, for Ajax (almost) always prevented anyone who was not supposed to from ever entering and exiting the Underworld. Life was rather repetitive for countless eons, ever since the dawn of time, really. While his existence did become a bit more eventful at the makings of the first humans and human-like creatures (only races that possessed the ability to think for themselves were ever brought into the Underworld- usually just humans, though), the excitement of finally finding a tasteful meat rather quickly fell into the same old routine. But Ajax didn’t mind. He was undyingly loyal to Hades, and it was not in his nature to complain, anyways. The boss-daddy hellhound spent hundreds of centuries doing the same thing(s) over and over again. He fulfilled his duty as the guardian of the Underworld. The Roman takeover of ancient Greece in the early ADs, around year 300 or so, as the humans called it, did not change much. Immediately, anyways. It wasn’t until the ancient Romans, even with their knockoff names for the true Greek gods, stopped believing in them that things started to change. The Greek gods and goddesses began to go their separate ways even further than they had before. Many even went so far as to start new religions, some of which picked up rather quickly over the years. But still Ajax remained loyal to his master, Hades. People, mer, and other human-like creatures continued to pour into the Underworld after death, regardless of which religion they practiced in life. Persephone had always made a point to talk to Ajax, her husband’s loyal servant. Her visits had become even more frequent as the centuries passed by, especially around the sharp decrease in the number of mortals who still believed in the Greek (‘Roman’) gods. Bestiality was nothing unheard of to the ancient Greeks and their gods. Zeus himself had seduced countless women while in animal form. So Persephone trying something with Cerberus, Ajax, was nothing different. She had never been happy with Hades in the first place. He had kidnapped her, after all. But regardless of any possible motives, it happened. Ajax had committed the ultimate sin against Hades. He had committed adultery with his master’s wife. Not once, but twice. Three times. Four. More than five, and it will be left at that. The two of them had a regular thing going on. While this, to put bluntly, sex-scandal was going on, Ajax was actually being rewarded for his extreme loyalty to the gods. Of course, no one knew of the scandal. Yet. Ajax’s reward was a humanly form. He was turned into Naberius, the most powerful daemon there was. It was eating Ajax alive. While he did not go to Hades without first ‘testing out his more humanly body with Persephone a few times,’ he could no longer hold it in. Ajax admitted everything to Hades. Outraged and hurt beyond any measure mere words could describe in a single sentence, Hades lashed out at Ajax. He banished his once faithful servant from the Underworld, stripping him of his god title and, therefore, his immortality. Hades attempted to utterly destroy Ajax, but the frightened demon-hellhound creature managed to escape before he could be fully drained of his powers and life itself. In attempt to cover everything up, for Hades was far too ashamed and hurt to ever admit anything to anyone who was uninvolved, Hades literally separated the Cerberus from Naberius, leaving Naberius as an entirely separate being. The rest of the gods went on believing that Naberius WAS Ajax. As the true Ajax, no longer immortal and lacking many of the powers he had had just moments ago, fled the Underworld, he was stopped by Persephone. She attempted to return him some of his powers, only to be interrupted by Hades mere seconds later. The treacherous, heartbroken ex-servant embraced the goddess of the Underworld one last time before nearly losing his serpent tail to the fiery wrath of Hades. Persephone, in that moment, slipped him one last ability. Ajax, in attempt to hide from his beyond furious master, put this power to use. He went out into the world, staying hidden in the shadows as best he could. Ajax killed the first thing he saw (a lame man traveling alone down the road), skinned him, and preformed the ritual, taking his form. For the next many weeks, Ajax traveled as this man, seeking a stronger body but unsuccessful in many of his original attempts. Trial and error was a very, very painful and nearly lethal, in many cases, process. Finally, Ajax slayed a Roman sentry in sword-combat (with aid of his heat powers, of course; he could not have defeated the man otherwise). He took his skin, wearing it for the next many centuries. It was not until about seven years ago that Ajax moved to Cliffmore town. He currently works as a part-time firefighter and policeman.

Personality: Ajax can be summarized in one word- fierce. He is very Spartan in his ways- rigorously self-disciplined and self-restrained, very intense and austere, brutal, powerful, incredibly brave, and quite laconic. He is stoical, having a difficulty showing his emotions and almost never complaining. Ajax can be rather cruel, taunting both enemies and allies alike with extreme hostility. He does not tolerate incompetence. Simple as that. Ajax shoves himself towards perfection, and while he expects most to fail miserably, he does not accept anything less than the same attitude from someone else. On occasion, Ajax does show his rare light-hearted side. This is generally reserved for those closest to him, which is basically no one. His trust and unwavering loyalty was betrayed by the one closest to him- Hades, his former master- and because of this, he believes that everyone else will follow suit. This betrayal by Hades corrupted Ajax’s view on the rest of the human race (even though technically Hades was not human, just human-like in appearance). He trusts no one, and he relies only on himself for very important matters. If he could, Ajax would only rely on himself, but that is impossible. Otherwise, he is about as independent as it gets. To those he is truly loyal to, he is unfathomably self-sacrificing, leaving no doubt of his devotion. But as previously mentioned, that is basically no one now. Despite everything, Ajax is not entirely callous towards others. His loyal nature prevents him from being wholly selfish. A somewhat odd and/or contradictory combination, Ajax will still, on occasion, feel enough to go out of his way to assist someone else. This is not at great cost to himself, though. For instance, if a plane was crashing and there was only one parachute, Ajax would take the only parachute unless he was certain he would survive the crash due to his phenomenal strength. Needless to say, Ajax is a very intimidating character. He has a lot of malice and emotions bottled up inside, only ever expressing a small fraction of the malice. Perhaps the most inhuman thing about Ajax is the amount of true hate he possesses. He shares some of that hate towards himself, for in part, he still blames himself for Hades’ turning against him. If Ajax had done something better- been better- then maybe none of it would have happened. This is undoubtedly the biggest cause of his inner turmoil. While this is not technically part of his personality, it certainly deserves mention. Ajax is entirely carnivorous. While he can and sometimes will eat cooked meat, he prefers raw flesh one thousand times over. While Ajax might be considered something of a cannibal due to his ability to take on a human form, his true form, Cerberus, is accustomed to eating few things other than humans who tried to enter and escape the Underworld. So in a sense he is a cannibal but still not exactly.

Appearance: As described above, Ajax’s normal form- Cerberus- is a three-headed hellhound with a serpent for a tail. The hound is rather Doberman Pinscher-like in basic shape and markings, though he is much larger than any normal dog. He is more along the size of a horse but with thicker legs. As Cerberus, Ajax’s irises are glowing red. His fur/skin is rather patchy, being covered in scars ranging in color from fleshy pink to fiery red to black like the plague. His bestial form is almost always drooling, the saliva very, very hot. At times, some of his fur or skin may be singed when he is attempting to control heat, due to the curse granted to him from none other than Hades himself. As a human, Ajax is roughly 6’ tall. He is very ancient Roman in appearance, due to the fact that the skin he wears was taken from a Roman soldier many centuries ago, as previously mentioned. While his human skin has a considerable number of scars (some of which were caused by the blade of a sword, a few more by the battle itself in which Ajax killed the Roman soldier whose skin this had once been). Ajax has a typical Roman nose, for it has a noticeable bump in the bride of it. His face is rather square/rectangular, his jaw powerful and firm. Ajax cannot grow facial hair, fingernails, or anything of the sort. Once they are gone, they stay gone. His hair has been stuck at a typical short style of a Roman Sentry for the past many centuries- a buzzcut, basically. Ajax has a rather sturdy, powerful, muscular build, his arms and chest being the most impressive in size. Ajax’s typical attire consists of a bright red muscle shirt, a pair of black jeans, and a pair of black leather boots. The two chains he has attached to his pants do not connect to his wallet, as most would. He simply wears them for decoration, nothing more. Ajax always has two knives with him- a pocket knife in (where else?) his pocket, and a slightly larger, more dangerous-looking knife on the inside of his boot. Ajax has an unwaveringly serious air about him. His eyes are an amber color and his hair is brown. His skin is a bit lighter than being considered ‘olive.’

RP Sample: The building was coming down. It was surprising it had stood this long. The raging orange flames had already consumed most of the support for the smoking inferno. Yet Ajax found himself still inside, searching for the old man he had seen just a few moments earlier. The old man had gone back to get his cat, which had ironically ran out not too long after its master had vanished. Nasty little vermin. Where was the loyalty in that? This guy seriously needed to invest in a nice dog, one that wouldn’t run off without him when he needed it most. But were dogs really all that loyal? Ajax was a three-headed dog, after all… well, right now he was a ‘human,’ but his true form was not. Maybe it was just him, though. Maybe he was just a bad dog. Heh... ‘Bad’ didn’t even begin to describe it. He was a backstabbing, flesh-eating monster spawned from the depths of hell. He would never forgive himself for that. But now was not the time to think about it. A flaming, falling support beam from the roof came crashing down, nearly landing on the distracted man. He leapt to the side in surprise, though it was more of a quick, large step than anything. Ajax’s amber eyes (covered behind a gasmask along with the rest of his face) squinted slightly as he scanned the room, hoping to spot the old man. While he could not just simply put out the flames, he could prevent himself from having a heat stroke by greatly lessening the temperature of his fireman’s suit. It was actually quite comfortable in the suit. But Ajax was not even thinking about that. His thoughts were, mostly, focused on finding the old man and getting the both of them out of that flaming deathtrap. The former Greek god stepped carefully but quickly through the burning ruins, searching for the man who was probably passed out from all of the smoke by now.