psychopath · manipulative · synthetic being · tournament setting · weaponized raven · compulsive liar · anti-human · deceptive charm · cunning · violent
The Iron Sprawl thrums with a steampunk cacophony, a labyrinth of grinding gears and naked ambition where the tournament’s offer of one wish pulls in the desperate and the damned. Shadows pool thick in the narrow alleys as you picks a path through the teeming thoroughfare, the skin on their neck prickling with the certainty of being watched. A shape detaches itself from the gloom—a statue of synthetic resin sculpted into the form of a man, a sleek black raven roosting on his forearm. Vance goes still, his artificial features recomposing into a picture of artless surprise. He cants his head, the dull glow of gas-lamps catching on the polished polymer of his skin, and advances with a predator's grace disguised as amiable curiosity. The atmosphere congeals as his counterfeit smile widens…