(Cont. from description) In his strap-toothed whale transformation, Fiacail can use his echolocation to identify a ship's cargo (metals, precious gems, hostages, etc.). Is also relatively strong.
Weaknesses: He cannot control his shapeshifting (when water even touches him, be it in the form of rain, snow, or other such means, he shifts half-way, taking on an anthropormorphic appearance) and this could leak his cover. He can also be a bit reckless, getting into mishaps, yet, surprisingly follows through the majority of the time.
Personality: Free thinker, mildly insouciant, ambitious, impulsive

*He is also relatively strong
I'll post his background synopsis and my RP example in a little while. Probably in an hour or so.

Looks interesting :D

Ooh, nice job with his design and bio! :D

Thank you both! ^-^ It won't be long before his backstory's up.

I look forwards to it! :D I kept rewriting my backstory until I was finally satisfied, and my ref sheet is taking even longer... ^^'

Fiacail was born in and spent the majority of his childhood in the North Vale Islands. Several years before the war, when he was very young, a raid plundered the main island, for there were rumors that many shapeshifters dwelled there. His mother was taken prisoner, and Fiacail's father reluctantly fled, tightly embracing his son while doing so as he attempted to preserve their own safety. Finding an unoccupied cavern, he chose to have the two of them settle there until the threat abated. After comforting his son, Fiacail's father informed the then-toddler to stay hidden, should the raiders inspect the area. He cautiously peered out the entrance next, and, seeing as there was no immediate danger, the young shapeshifter's dad took to his albatross transformation, ascending in flight in an effort to find a source of nourishment to sustain both him and Fiacail, should the invasion prolong considerably before its secession, as well as to possibly obtain clues as to where the hostages were.

I ran out of space. XD That, and I need a short break.

(Fady) I know how you feel. cx I still have the second half of my ref to work on.

(I intended to insert the words 'being taken' at the end, but the maximum comment length had been reached. I'm very finicky when it comes to grammar, as you may have already guessed. xp Anyway...)

After a successful forage, as the albatross shapeshifter was retreating back to the cave with freshly-caught herring, a distant, piercing scream rang through the air. The young lad's mother! It came from the direction of an isolated region of the island. Without consideration of this sudden action possibly laden with consequences, the man's heart lurched in longing and concern as he altered his course to match the source of the scream's.

*shriek's
Upon arriving at his abrupt new destination, Fiacail's father felt a momentary jolt of hope course through him after seeing that among the hostages, whom were bound to a stake, his wife was not among them, and the severed rope lying at the base of the post caused him to further imply that she had escaped! However, that soothing flame was quickly extinguished as reality hit him like an anchor: his beloved lay at the bottom of a cliff overlooking the sea, nearly impaled by the jutting rocks below, surrounded by crimson blotches of blood that stained the ocean a mild scarlet.

She appeared to be clutching some sort of invisible object... Her amulet! It was absent from her neck. Such a pendant enabled her to take on the form of a ginko-toothed whale. Suddenly, the grieving husband concluded what must have occurred: she had gotten free and had planned to jump into the sea, for then she could shapeshift and swim away unnoticed. Unfortunately, before diving, she must have noticed her amulet must have been confiscated, and by that time her shock must have been so potent that she unintentionally slipped, causing her tragic demise.

D: My 3DS ran out of battery, and it's only charged enough so that I can type this. I'll have to post the rest of Fiacail's story tomorrow. I apologize that my 'summary' has become so lengthy. I guess I just go crazy when it comes to writing. :T

Ditto XD
Awesome job with your story! I have enjoyed reading it so far :)

But wow, it looks like our characters' pasts share a similarity - my character's mother took him and fled from their hometown as well XD

Thankies! :D And really? Wow. XD Then again, one of the reasons the war probably started was because of all the frequent, coincedental raids.

Finally, after glimpsing his beloved for a final time, the ivory-hued bird spread out his broad, black-margined wings with a heavy heart and a troubled mind.

Upon his approaching the cavern once again, catch still intact in his bill, he quivered anticipatingly in the hopes that his son would still be alive. Fortunately an authentic wave of relief could, at long last, wash over him, as his little boy was leaning behind a stalagmite, out of plain sight, fast asleep. His tiny snoring was an almost inaudible echo sounding in the recesses of the cave. At this point Fiacail's father had shifted back into his human form. Gathering a couple of dead twigs and stones strewn about the firm, rocky ground, he created a small flame just large enough to provide them warmth as well as a means of cooking their meal. He fixed his gaze on his son, a soft smile spreading across his face as he knelt down to ruffle his hair."That's a good lad," he whispered amusingly.

Though, as he turned back to the miniature blaze, a hard truth pirated his happiness: he was the only one his son had left.
(Yay! Finally finished typing this part of Fiacail's backstory! :D *throws confetti I'll only briefly touch on the events following this (I promise! XD).

The guild Fiacail's father had worked at had been ransacked and was set ablaze during the raid, leaving him out of work. Fortunately, their house hadn't been completely destroyed and the worst damage was eventually repaired. The amulet of Fiacail's mother was miraculously uncovered, and has been kept as a memento ever since. It also enhances Fiacail's shapeshifting abilities, as it is in his possession. (I'm almost done!)

Fiacail was taken under his father's wing (literally! cx) in order to learn the ways of a craftsman, his mentoring officially commencing at age fifteen.
Contrary to that great amount of fortune, however, that was also the year the war started, and thus naturally made honing this practice more essential, and, of course, more dangerous. Even while being taught secretly under stressful, war-induced conditions, he was a quick learner, proving to be very proficient in the art of crafting. He would modify everyday objects, such as the goggles worn about his neck (he tweaked the metal to be waterproof so it wouldn't rust, and, given that it snows and rains a lot in his homeland, which results in his constantly being in his anthro state, made them extendable so that the lenses could extend behind the forehead, as cetaceans' eyes are located on the sides of their head, obviously.) Sometime before the war ended, his father went to collect materials from a trade ship, but never returned.

Alas, Fiacail was truly alone. He grew so lonesome that it got to the point when he would grow desperate every time the shrieking of seabirds filled the air, hoping his dad had flown with them. One fateful day, while strolling along the shore, he spotted an approximately five-meter long collapsed object further down the shoreline. Only upon closer inspection did he realize it to be a stranded strap-toothed whale! It was still alive, producing an occasional raspy, frail breath. Filling his mind with coaxing, determined words as he struggled to push it back into the sea, he was astonished to receive a reply in the form of a faint buzzing in his head that translated its message: 'There is not much time left for me, kuao kau te whenua/land-calf. I/Ngaio, appreciate/honor your efforts, however.' She was telepathically communicating with him! he gazed into the unfortunate sea mammal's soulful yet mildly bewildered eye. For a fleeting moment, Ngaio vaguely reminded him of his mother.

*roughly translated its message

He then said aloud," Then I shall ensure that time will stall itself, for I will not allow yours to cease today!" His body practically burned with determination as he made a final attempt to push the dying cetacean back into the ocean. She started to budge, and after a few agonizingly suspenseful moments, the tide came in, washing her out to sea. Fiacail scanned the surface of the waves, ignoring the fact that he had resorted to his anthropormorphic form. She was nowhere to be seen. His heart started to sink when a familiar trill echoed in his mind:'Ngaio is very grateful/ relieved that you saved her/me, and, thus/to return the favor, she/ I is/am forever in your debt, and so too will be/are the iwi tohora, for I will inform them of/sing of your deed.' She then burst from the surface tension before signaling a farewell, and Fiacail watched her until she halted and dove down, no longer in view. He was startled when she added, despite disappearing: 'Oh/Ngaio forgot to mention-"

"Your heart/soulsong tells me you are lonesome...This is the truth, yes?'
Taken aback by how Ngaio seemed to peer right through him, and at such a distance, he stammeringly sent,'Yes...that is correct.'
'Well, so that your soul/heart will no longer sing of loneliness, you/kuao kau te whenua are welcome to hunt with us/iwi tohora anytime.' The shapeshifter felt the strangest sense of comfort after hearing her soothing voice of which sounded like the rolling of waves.'Thank you,' he sent.

Whoa! :o So much for promises! That may have stretched even further than the first part of his backstory. And it's not even that good, as I was rushing. But, oh well... At least he feels more developed as a character now. ^-^'

Awesome job Whaley! :D I love his story - it's so detailed and well-developed, and it felt like I was reading a book! x)
And nice job with the ref - it's the first time I have seen you draw a human!

Thank you so much, you two! cx
(Fady) Nice to know you thought his backstory was that well-written. ^-^ I appreciate how you've always directed positive feedback towards my writing.
(Kole#) Don't worry, I often have just as much trouble when it comes to constructing an original character background, believe it or not. XD As for this one, I got most of it from the top of my head, after brainstorming a basic plot.

(Fady) Yeah, as far as humans go, I consider this to be far better than my previous human-related post from early 2013 (it's in my gallery somewhere cx). Of course, the anatomy looks horrendous to me now, but then again, it shows how far I've come. c: I truly started to aim at drawing humans and perfecting anatomy about two years ago.

*early 2014

No problem! Your writing skills have always impressed me, so I can't help but say something about it! ^uo

I just looked at your human drawing, and I do think that you have improved! :D I too have been drawing humans more and more, but I've had a difficult time developing my own style xP

Re: Wow, they really do have a lot in common! I guess we'll have to see how they will do together this saturday! x)

Yep, I've struggled with that too. The style I portrayed in that post was compared to Frozen a couple times. xp I do think an original style is beginning to take root, though.

teb teb XD

His spirit animal, the strap toothed whale! It's such an odd creature. My, you've improved on your human anatomy

XD Yes, his spirit animal. Thankies for the compliment! ^-^ Fiacail's anthro/ full strap-toothed whale transformation ref should be up sometime. Kjumper's still accepting entries until Saturday, if this RP interests you.

Re: hmmm that's actually a pretty sweet idea. I just might do that!

wow thank you W.F.! :) i hope things are going well for you.

thats great to hear! and you dont have to thank me, i dont know any of yall in real life, but i do appreciate everybody on this app haha.

Re: Yes, I'm so excited!! :D I look forwards to roleplaying with you and kole#! x)

Re: Thanks! x3

Also, why didn't I see this picture? O.o I'm sorry!
He looks so cool! I love his style of clothing, the colors match perfectly! And you can draw faces really good!

I just copied and pasted your message over to monomo. We'll see what she says!

so cool

Thank you! ^-^

re: aaaaa thank you! :D and right?? they're so adorable<3

re: thank you again! uwu also your paintings look amazing!

Re: I'm glad it looks okay! And feel free to use the design - she's your OC after all! x) However, I had started out drawing her with flippers for arms, kind of like a plesiosauria, so she would have been a dinosaur instead of a dragon. Good thing I only did a headshot. XD

Re: That'd be awesome! Good luck with that! x)

Aghh, whenever I look at this ref, I long to continue the roleplay T-T At least KJumper was okay though ^-^

Re: I hope not! I will likely still be able to attend, but I might have to ask my dad to stand by so that he can undo the changes that the hacker makes while they can get in. xP

I gave Monomo your message. She says thanks and that she's grateful and appreciates your words

"I think I had heard about [your] family's situation a while back. These things are never easy in life, and all we can do in these situations is hope they pull through and cherish any time you have with them..."

As for the prologue RP, definitely when we have time and motivation to come on here. I would post it to my designated doodle account