Nathaniel

Nathaniel, a trainee monster at Camp Half-light, was sent there to infiltrate it by the Isolationist faction. He is descended from an unnamed thief who dared try to outsmart death.
==Appearance==
Nathaniel's is dependent upon how recently he has fed on human flesh, and how much he last ate. The longer he foregoes feeding the more rotten and decayed his body becomes, with his skin and hair falling off to reveal his true form. However, when he is fully nourished he is almost indistinguishable from a human in appearance, and even harder to tell apart from a demigod. He has short black hair and brown eyes, and often tries to cover up as much of his skin as he can; a habit born from trying to protect his true appearance.
==Personality==
Nathaniel is a kind and compassionate individual, he enjoys helping people and has thrown himself into learning all he can about medicine, although attending an actual university was out of the question. He likes to feel like part of a group, although has tried not to grow too close to anyone given the transient lifestyle he leads. He believes that demigods and monsters are dangerous for humans, who should just be left to decide upon their own path without their direct interference - that's why he joined the isolationists and agreed to go to the camp. However, more than anything he hates people seeing him in his true form, and is ashamed by it.
==Background==
Nathaniel never knew his mother as she died during childbirth. His father spoke of her often though, how he had truly loved her and how her last words had been in joyous recognition of her son. But it was never something Nat could picture in his mind. He and his father spent all their time trying simply to survive - which was far more difficult than one would initially believe for a family of Ghouls. Never staying in one place, and trying to find sources of nourishment without being noticed by any mortals was a painstaking task. Nathaniel spent most of his time in the wilderness, staying as far away from any settlements as he reasonably could. It took him a while to understand the dangers that constantly followed them, or the half-bloods who sought nothing more but to mount their heads as trophies. Countless times he would argue with his father, demanding to be allowed to go into a town and meet actual people, get to know them, rather than simply cowering in the trees. It wasn't until he was older that he realised that his father - wiser as he was - knew that this was impossible. 
That life ended when Nathaniel turned 12. A half-blood had finally managed to track them down and ambushed their camp whilst they were sleeping. Nathaniel's father rose to challenge the attacker and urged his son to flee. Nathaniel ran and ran all day before he collapsed from sheer exhaustion, the fear that had been driving him no longer enough. He never saw his father again after that. At first Nathaniel tried to survive how his father had shown him, but he struggled. One day, starved and desperate, he approached a small settlement. Finding himself in a morgue, Nathaniel gorged himself out of sheer hunger. To his surprise, when he tried to leave the humans who saw him didn't cast him a second glance. After this discovery, Nathaniel lived amongst the humans, trying to pretend that he was one of them. He got a job at that same morgue, an ideal arrangement. Over time, he became increasingly interested in the work that went on above his head, where the nurses and doctors performed miracles on the living. Nathaniel recalled his father telling him of how his mother had been a doctor - someone who saved and repaired rather than destroyed. The staff took a liking to their young companion, the Medecins Sans Frontiers volunteers letting him look in on their work as long as he kept quiet - they were undermanned and an extra pair of hands was always welcome. However, over time they were astonished with Nathaniel's natural aptitude for the work. He seemed to know the human anatomy even better than they and could identify an ailment or injury seemingly on instinct. More and more they involved him in operations and he even was given his own patients when they were overloaded. Nathaniel loved it, feeling like he was finally being good for something. Then, one day he was involved in an accident in the village - his body torn apart by the event. He awoke to find everyone around him dead, his own form perfectly healed. In horror, he fled. He's been once again living from day-to-day since then, until he heard about the camp.
Category:Modern Mythos
Category:Modern Mythos Characters