This is Airakuel (again). I created him for MaliceKisho's contest in which I was required to come up with an original character who was either a demonic angel or an angelic demon (make sense? ^_-). LONG description ahead...

Character: Airakuel ("airaku" = pleasure/grief in Japanese, traditional "iel/el" ending from angel names)

Physical Appearance:
Airakuel has slightly tanned skin, along with alert golden/yellow eyes and long dark-brown hair (which appears black for the most part). His piercings are laced with ribbons of various "burnt" colors (gold, maroon, forest or olive green, etc.). His wings can be summoned or dispersed, but the former action is painful.

Background & Personality:
After creating the character design of Airakuel, I was struck with inspiration concerning my fantasy world (Tridea) and made a sect of my Korinn (angelic spirits) called Ankivell. The Ankivell are Nature Korinn who guard/rule over different species of birds.

Airakuel is one of the laborers for the Starsheen, along with perhaps four others. Ankivell, like all Korinn, cannot reproduce (they have no primary reproductive organs at all, meaning no testes/ovaries). Unlike the elemental Korinn, however, the Ankivell are intrinsically attached to the race/species of birds over which they govern. If their birds go extinct, they cannot survive; likewise, their birds will all die if they (the Ankivell) are killed. And killing a Korinn is NOT easy. They were created as immortals, after all... They still have the choice of ceasing to exist in order to promote the safety/longevity of certain things, but forcibly killing them is the worst offense conceivable against the heavenly realm

Basically, the Starsheen Elves (at least the ones in power) hunted down specific types of birds until only a few were left, and caged them in a grand enclosed garden on the Sacred Isle. The five Ankivell affected by this bird-genocide were thenceforth at the mercy of the Starsheen because at any moment, their birds could become extinct, thus ending their lives against their wills.

The mere presence of the Ankivell on the Sacred Isle has led the other elven races to believe that the Starsheen have the support of the heavens. The captivity of the Ankivell is the Starsheen's best kept secret to maintaining political power over some of the other sects of the elven race. The only races of elves that are completely out of the Starsheen influence are the Aqualight, Treeglow, and Shadowvail Elves.

It is not in the nature of Korinn to feel pleasure or pain. They keep themselves removed from the violence and/or pleasures of the mortal realm more often than not. It is seen as taboo for a Korinn to seek out pleasure or pain. The few Korinn (Ankivell in particular) of the second brood who are captured, however, have been so far removed from the spiritual realm and its customs that they have learned to relish the "human passions" like few other Korinn.

Airakuel is particularly fond of intense sensations and emotions (i.e. rage, love, pain, sexual pleasure, etc.) and he is unafraid to seek them out. For that, he is shunned by other Korinn, and finds no company among the elves, who see him as dangerous at best. Korinn are generally feared by the mortal races, so Airakuel finds himself isolated.

Seeing how the elves practiced piercings, Airakuel learned to create corset-like piercings. (For those unfamiliar with corset piercings, they are superficial but are rarely kept long-term because of their tendency to migrate and become infected. Korinn cannot become infected, so Airakuel has little trouble keeping his piercings for long periods if he wishes.) His obsession with the "human passions" is a form of rebellion (against the Korinn), but came mostly from the centuries he has observed the elves; their wars, their love, their grief, and their customs.

Like other Korinn, Ankivell can summon or disperse their wings. In their case, summoning them can be painful, so most don't even bother dispersing them (again back to the Korinn custom of detachment). Airakuel is, of course, an exception... he relishes the pain like an adrenaline rush.

Airakuel goes through his emotions in an almost bipolar fashion. He has episodes where he is completely detached from his emotion... but then a day or two later he will have uncontrollable rages, grief-spells, or sexual urges.

Random Details: Airakuel wears a small ribbon on his left pinky finger (which you can't see in this particular drawing). During his 'manic' episodes, he tends to change his piercing designs often (once a week at least).

ALL INFO HERE IS (c) Kris Piet 2007
Drawing completed 7-24-07

NO TOUCHY!!