Name: Tomas "Anthem" de Costa
Sex: Male
Race: Human Remade
Age: 25
Description: Anthem is extensively remade to the point where little of his original body is recognizable. Though he maintains a humanoid silhouette, various parts animal, human, and mechanical have been cruelly fused to his flesh, and much of his remaining body has been further altered. His face went from thin but ruggedly handsome to an eerie blank angular doll-face, porcelain-white and perfectly smooth, but segueing into a reddened angry neck wracked by scar tissue. His face is nearly expressionless, his skull faced with subdermal metal and ceramic plating. Even Anthem's eyes are far from the original, instead being donated by a species of eagle of prodigious size, granting him improbably accurate eyesight even to great distances and an eerie, intense golden gaze.
His shoulders and upper body are mostly human, but just above the elbows his arms are replaced by sleek dark metal, lengthened beyond normal human proportions and tipped with slender metallic hands with long retractable talons modeled on those of hunting cats. The interface between metal and flesh is eerily organic, steel and meat merged into one, but marked by swollen scar tissue and strange angular protrusions beneath the skin.
Much of the 'unnecessary' organs have been removed from Anthem's midsection, giving him a caved-in waist, and the muscles on his torso, back, and abdomen have been replaced with those of a great hunting tiger, granting him a long, sleek body bristling with power but marred by extensive scarring where the skin tore under the stresses of its new contents. His chest and upper back have had segmented metal plating fused their surfaces, a sort of unremovable armour, curved to exaggerate his body contours and to provide a deflective surface.
His pelvic region has had all unnecessary equipment removed, the feline musculature continuing down to his legs, which like the arms have been fused to carefully-crafted mechanical limbs just past mid-thigh. These are long, digitigrade, causing the sleekly-built Anthem to tower over most humans and granting him shocking speed and agility, while the metallic talons installed in the toes make even his kicks capable of tearing out a man's throat.
This hideous amalgamation of human flesh, animal muscle, and metal limbs and plating has an additional secret weapon: a sort of 'battery' mounted in the base of his skull fueled with a self-replenishing reservoir of sanguinamantic power, the force sustaining Anthem's warped body that grants considerable resistance to outside magicks and an astonishing ability to self-repair injuries, whether they be to living flesh or cold metal. It is this 'battery' that elevates the Remade from a common combat model to an adversary truly dangerous to any magical being.
Out of some sadistic mercy, the sanguinamancer left Anthem with his own voice: hearing the mournful, pained melodic tones coming from such a monstrous form is quite distressing to most listeners.
To conceal his wretched form, Anthem usually wraps his body in a hooded greatcloak, though he is also clad in garments of the Guardian colours tailored for his unique bodytype. He is a grim and fearful sight to any that incur the wrath of justice.
Weapon: Anthem's favoured weapon is a sturdy pump-action shotgun of the arcane form so common to steamtech societies, though its construction is comparatively simple and robust. This sizeable shotgun, almost entirely brass-plated metal but for a wooden stock and grip, is loaded with either shot or slugs (some containing enchantments!), and is sized for his expanded form. However, he is more than capable of rending foes apart with his claws or bludgeoning them with a literal iron fist.
Organization and Rank: Guardians, Initiate.
Magic: Sanguinamantic Battery (See Description)
Skills: Anthem is, as one might guess by the name, an excellent singer with an extraordinarily broad range and depth. He is also a decent cook, can operate most forms of machinery with competence (though not excellence), and can play guitar and violin, although those skills have fallen to the wayside somewhat. Most of all, Anthem is trained in common militia and city guard tactics, particularly involving the takedown of hostile mages and supernatural creatures.
Zodiac Symbol: Gemini
Bio: Anthem was born Tomas de Costa to a couple of Spanish descent living in London. Poor immigrants, Anthem seemed destined to a life of poverty alongside his half-dozen siblings, when it was discovered that he possessed an excellent singing voice. He was swiftly enrolled into a local choir where he honed his skills, seemingly a serendipitous means of getting off the street. As he aged and was deemed no longer suitable for the choir despite his excellent voice, he took what earnings he had to set out as an independent musician for some years, ironically returning to the poverty of the streets he thought he escaped. He even ran with a gang for some time, learning his shotgun skills and honing his athleticism and earning the nickname Anthem, which he has used in place of his real name ever since.
His gang in London's dark side was small and insignificant, a bit force amongst many vying for wealth, power, and control, but they had a hand in smuggling materials like drugs and other dangerous contraband from the waterfront. This ran afoul of a local crime boss, a powerful rogue sanguinamancer who formerly served the government by 'Remaking' convicts into more useful forms: human flesh grafted with industrial equipment, animal parts, and machines to be better laborers. The sanguinamancer--a Shifter--was removed from his position when, either out of some ideals of karmic justice, he began mutilating convicts in ways that he felt befit their crimes: murderers with their victim's faces growing from their chests, thieves without hands, and even more twisted Remakings.
Anthem's gang was betrayed by one of their own--a tip left by one of their members noting that a shipment of materials used in making "Dreamstuff," a popular narcotic, was left unguarded in a waterfront warehouse. They were ambushed by the Shifter's men, some killed, others taken captive, and horrifically Remade as an experiment to create better street soldiers: Remade that could crush the mage's rivals.
The betrayer pocketed the Shifter's payment and left information for the Guardians, perhaps out of remorse, or perhaps to tie up loose ends. The Guardians raided the sanguinamancer's headquarters, imprisoning him and his top lieutenants and freeing the numerous abductees the crime lord had taken.
It was too late for Anthem, however.
Now grievously and horrifically Remade, Anthem sought refuge with the Guardians, realizing he would never be able to live a normal life and with few underworld routes to turn to. The Remade now serves as an Initiate, a foot soldier for the Guardians, his unique modifications and newly-trained skills making him adept at combating the forces of darkness, though not the pains that haunt his wracked form each day.