Earthly Rat Star, Miska

A Finnish youth who is one of the 108 Stars of Destiny, Miska serves as one of the spies of the warrior group, gathering information in the shadows, and scurrying back to Zenith Castle in his sleep to report his findings with his fellow Star Paladins. Having dreams of becoming a cartoonist, he became the Earthly Rat Star after an incident, and plans to make a comic book based on his adventures.

## Character History

Born in Helsinki, Finland, to a middle-class family, Miska was the typical city boy who lived and played with his siblings. He wanted to become a cartoonist when he was young, but his older brother scoffed at his dreams, ripped up every drawing Miska gave him and called them childish. His younger sister was often amused by his drawings, and kept them in her room. Once, Miska was locked in their house's rat-infested basement by his older brother, and thus developed a fear of rats. Luckily, his parents got him out in time when they found out he was missing for the family dinner.

But that did not stop him from giving up on his dream. He drew as a hobby from grade school to high school, and when he was in the eighth grade, one of his teachers discovered his talent, and told him to enter the art competition. Miska agreed, and when the day came for the art competition to start, he submitted his drawing: a knight fighting a giant mouse. It went in second place, but Miska, and by extension, his parents and sister, were okay with that.

Not his older brother though. Late at night while his younger brother, his sister, and his parents were celebrating, he left home and wandered into the woods, angered that his parents and sister would prefer a boy who cared about drawing to him, smart, successful, and physically fit. Then he heard hissing voices in his head...

The next day after dinner, when night came, he lured his parents and siblings into the basement of their house. The voice in Miska's brother's head told him that he will prepare a 'surprise' for them. He claimed that an embarrassing drawing done by Miska was in the basement, and told his parents and siblings to go down there to check. When he led them to the basement, they entered, and then the older brother, as he shut the door, told his parents that they will die regretting loving Miska and his sister over him, before locking them in and hiding the key in his room. He called for Miska, telling him that his parents and sister were kidnapped by rats. Miska was suspicious at first. He asked his older brother to give him the key, but he refused. So he went to grab his father's axe (his father was a lumberjack) and tore down the doors to the basement. He saw his parents and sister after searching around for a while, taking care not to injure them. His parents told them what his older brother did, and apologized for being blind to what happened.

Suddenly, Miska heard a loud noise. He turned around, and saw a giant rat! He was scared at first, and thought of giving the axe to his father. "No, you use it to kill the thing. Remember the drawing you did that won second place in the art competition? It must born by your desire to overcome your fears," he told Miska. The boy nodded, and told his parents and sister to look away before he did the deed. The giant rat reared, and Miska walked up to it and swung the axe at the monster, only for it to bleed inky black smoke and fight back. The more Miska swung, the more tired he became.

That is, until the rats in the basement started attacking the giant shadow rat, nipping at its feet. The monster raged, screaming loud enough for the neighbors to hear. The rats scurried off, and Miska fought the rat one more time. After a few round, at the stroke of the axe, the shadow rat became severely injured and vanished in a puff of smoke. Miska apologized to his parents for breaking the doors to the basement. His parents told him not to worry about it, while his younger sister congratulated him.

Meanwhile, his older brother was lying to the neighbors that his younger brother, his parents and sister died in the basement. When Miska emerged from the basement with the parents and sister unharmed, the older brother was shocked. One neighbor, a policeman, asked the older brother how did the parents get locked in the basement. Just as he was about to accuse Miska, his parents told the neighbors what happened, including how the older brother lured them to the basement and locked them in, and the fight Miska had with the shadow rat. The older brother then burst into anger and cursed at his family for loving their artistic son more than him, and for letting him have a career that he thinks is only for children. He stormed out of the family's home and was never seen again. The neighbors congratulated Miska for saving his parents and sister, but hoped that his older brother would see the light again.

After that, Miska went to wash up, change into his pyjamas, and went to his bedroom to reflect on what just transpired. Then he saw a star in the sky shining with golden light, and flying. He watched it for a while, then dawned on him that it was heading towards him. Miska decided to stick around to see what it was, only for it to reveal itself as the Rat Star Orb. It flew into his body and merged with him, and the boy was so surprised at what happened to him that he wanted to draw the moment.

When he went to sleep after that, he dreamed of a land filled with fairy-tale magic, where children make their dreams into reality with their imagination, just as how he made his drawings with his imagination. He met a Golden Griffin Warrior, who led him to the Realm of the Sun's Zenith Castle. Once inside, Miska placed his hand on a stele in the castle's throne room, and changed into his Heroic Form for the first time. The lad told the Golden Griffin Warrior what happened to him. The warrior said, "My name is Ranald, or you can call me, Ra. I am the Leader of the 108 Stars of Destiny, which you are now part of, as well as the Leader of the Crusaders of the Constellations and the Dream Defender & Guardian of Dreamland. You must have a strong dream held in your heart, because you saved your parents and your sister, overcoming your fear of rats, you have become a warrior worthy of this power."

Ranald told Miska that he too has a dream of working in the city of his birth-country to save his family parish home, but now, he's taking care of the children in the parish home and working as a freelance teacher to learn the skills needed for the jobs in the city. He told Miska that as he likes to draw, he would use his talents to make the children happy and inspired as a Star of Destiny, and to be an information gatherer and spy to defeat the forces of evil who want to make the minds of children dull.

After that, Miska, as the Earthly Rat Star, embraced his new duty, being a high school student who now uses his art not just to entertain people, but to inspire them to hope, educate their minds, and even hide information only his fellow Stars of Destiny can read.

## Appearance

Miska in his civilian form is a 16-year-old Finnish boy who is thin, with stick-out ears. He wears simple clothes, though most of the time, he's seen wearing a light blue shirt that's always splattered with paint when he does art. He also wears a beret, a gift from Arsene on his first adventure with him.

His Heroic Form is clad in golden and sky-blue armor, with the character '耗' engraved on a diamond on his chest armor. His legs have armour with spikes on the soles, his arms are equipped with gauntlets having claws for him to climb vertical surfaces, and his belt has a cylindrical container for his paintbrushes hanging from it, and his Dream Pen, which he uses to write on both paper and air. He wears a helmet with two round discs on it, making him look like a rat.

His Radiant soul, when summoned from himself, takes the appearance of him wearing armor resembling a rat, a flowing golden cape, and paint splats surrounding it.

## Personality

Miska loves to draw, and can often be seen on the streets of Finland drawing for people when he's not in high school. But he does it for free, not for payment, unless there is someone he knows who needs the money. He points out to people that he draws not for money, but for the happiness of children.

It helps that despite his past, he still longs to make children happy, and no surprise, his talent in art help him do that. Recently, he decided to teach children how to draw in his spare time as a volunteer art teacher, which his parents are fine with.

However, he can get so lost in his head that he seems to be unaware that his art can consume his time, hence why his family is the anchor for him to hold on to reality. He needs to spend time with the real world aside from the realms of thoughts and dreams like all Stars of Destiny. Sometimes, he get a little bit irritated when his art is belittled and made fun of, sometimes when he's told that it needs improvement. Therefore, the Stars of Destiny who appreciate his art would tell him that he needs positive criticism to improve his art. But if there are forces of evil seeking to remove all art and beauty from the world, Miska's more than happy to join his comrades to bear arms against them.

So far, Miska as the Earthly Rat Star serves as the spy of the 108 Stars. He may have overcome his fear of rats, but he is still cautious due to his job. He may be a paladin of the stars, but he, like some of the Stars of Destiny like Arsene, hides in the shadows, gathering information until the time to strike has arrive. He communicates with his fellows through artworks filled with symbolism regarding the mission status, what the villain's like, and even hides instructions from the Heavenly Spirits in his hand-drawn cartoons to give to his fellow Earthly Fiends. On the side note, he's the one who does the art for Arsene's calling cards.

## Powers

### Offensive

* Paint the Town Red ( ●  ● ) - Lobs paint blobs of a color he thinks of at a target, causing him to feel the emotions specific to that color. Red means anger and passion, Yellow for joy, blue for sadness...
* Inky Blindfold ( ●  ● ) - Sprays ink from his Dream Pen at the eyes of a target, blinding him for a while.
* Drawing-To-Life ( ●  ●  ● ) - Draws a picture of any living thing with his Dream Pen, such as lions, tiger, bears, armies of men, and his favorite, a swarm of rats. The picture comes to life and attacks/distracts target.

### Defensive

* Wall of Paint ( ●  ● ) - Draws a wall in front of ally, protecting him

### Passive

* The Message's in the Details ( ●  ● ) - Draws a picture on any surface with his Dream Pen and encodes messages in it. Only Star Crusaders can read it and understand it. Others such as Crusaders and Knights of the Lunar Mansions may need some effort to decipher the picture, unless they bring along someone smart enough to decode messages.
* Ethereal Image ( ●  ● ) - Draws an illusory object with his Dream Pen. Often uses it when he's with Arsene, with the phantom thief swapping the real thing with the illusion.
* Inspiring Pictures ( ●  ●  ● ) - Draws an image that depicts a positive future for a target to inspire them to take action.