Zaratch

Zaratch is a zeti who has forsaken the violent nature of his species, and has been making his best attempts to become a pacifist. Though his natural instincts and upbringing strongly inhibit this change, he is still trying his best to be a good person, especially for his partner and his daughter.

## Concept and Creation

Zaratch was actually made by Sigma. He was originally a character that had murdered the father of one of her other characters, Upsilon. He was typically a very mysterious and dangerous character who kept returning as a threat periodically. Around the time I made Zuasi, his mystery began to clear up a bit but after some time he wasn't revisited again.

So basically after Sigma moved away from the Lost Hex thing with her characters, and I wanted to bring back Zuasi, she just kinda let me have Zaratch now. I ended up making a handful of changes, such as turning him into a semi-pacifist, and making his relationship with Amaya more intimate to be more like a beauty and the beast kind of story. Also I couldn't find where Sigma put his only sketch so I just redesigned him from scratch.

## Personality

Zaratch is not the easiest guy to talk to. He rarely will say a word to strangers, assuming someone isn’t intimidated enough to approach him. He has an air of power and dignity around him, and this often scares others. That being said he has little to no companions.

While he was once violent in his past, due to his instincts and former lack of emotional control, but he is much more calm nowadays and considers himself a pacifist. He refuses to fight anyone unless in defense of himself or others. But sometimes he may slip and hurt others out of revenge.

Aside from that, deep down he is a bit of a softie. While difficult for one to find this side of him, he can be very kind and gentle, yet firm and determined. He’d do anything to protect those he cares about, and will support them as much as he can.

## Abilities

**Strength and Speed -** Like all zeti, Zaratch possesses amazing strength and speed, although he is considered to be much stronger than average zeti.

**Horns and Claws -** He tends to use his horns mike battering rams, to shove enemies away or impale them if he’s lucky enough. As for claws, well, slashing enemies open should be obvious.

**Electromagnesis -** Again like all zeti, Zaratch can naturally control electric fields and machines, although he does not use this ability very often.

**Empathic Field -** Some zeti have secondary powers unique to them. For Zaratch, he can create an aura that changes the emotions of others within a certain radius of him when he chooses. Forcing others to feel fear around him is ususally the most beneficial in combat, as he can make an enemy stop in their tracks or retreat all together. Though sometimes he uses this to calm others down if they’re already overrun by distress.

### Weaknesses

**Cacaphonic Vulnerability -** As with all zeti, Zaratch cannot withstand the effects of a cacaphonic conch. Even for him it causes extreme pain and irritability, which immobilises him.

**Recklessness -** While Zaratch has matured over the years, he may sometimes overestimate his own abilities and get himself hurt when he can’t match up.

## History

Zaratch has always lived on the Lost Hex, and has always been greatly admired by others of his kind for his strength and skills. At some point in his more youthful years, he was taken under the wing of Master Zik, and trained alongside Zavok, long before any other members of the future Deadly Six were recruited. From here Zaratch honed his abilities, as well as forming a friendly rivalry with his training partner, to the point he and Zavok were almost like brothers to each other.

But sometime later, Zaratch was beginning to mature, and started thinking differently about the methods he had been taught by Zik. He wasn't sure how he felt about always resorting to violence as an answer, even if it was in his blood to think so. Then one day, his whole life changed forever when an expedition team of foreigners, mobians from the surface world, had arrived on the Hex. Zaratch immediately distrusted the lot of them, and stalked them for some time in case they had ill intentions. But, one of the expedition members had gotten separated by accident, and encountered Zaratch. They stared at each other, breathless, but were both equally terrified. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, but she was still a foreigner. Conflicting with his sudden feelings, he awkwardly sputtered out a threat and ran away from her. They encountered each other periodically from that point, finally gaining the courage to talk, and he learned that she was a jerboa named Amaya. The two of them grew closer together, and Zaratch was beginning to grow feelings towards Amaya.

While his affections may have not been obvious to her, it was obvious to just about everyone else. Including Zik and Zavok. Master Zik simply let it be, knowing that it was Zaratch's choice to abandon training. But Zavok would not stand for it, and after an intense fight between the two, had a major falling out in their relationship that would never be repaired. It didn't matter to Zaratch though, because of Amaya's influence and his rejection of Zik's teachings he had decided to become a pacifist, and finally confessed his feelings to Amaya as well. As it turns out, she loved him back, and she herself decided to leave her expedition team to live happily with Zaratch.

After some time of living together, they realized that the two of them were, somehow, by all chances, going to have a child. The two of them were extremely shocked by this, as it was generally believed that it was impossible for their two species to conceive, and there was a lot of worry over the health of their child. Yet nevertheless, months later their daughter was born, alive and mostly healthy save for her right eye, which was misshapen and blind. They named her Zuasi, and from that point on Zaratch became fiercely protective of her.

He was well aware of the cruelty the other zeti possessed, he received his fair share of threats after falling for Amaya, so he often feared for Zuasi’s safety as it was obvious no one would take kindly to a hybrid. But he was also very loving and supportive of her, and he and Amaya did their best to raise her together.

When their daughter was older, they let her have a little more freedom to explore the Hex on her own, knowing she was more capable of defending herself. But what they didn’t know is that she had encountered the Deadly Six, and not knowing Zaratch’s history with them, tried to join their group. But she was rejected for being weak, and a hybrid, which led to her being attacked and injured as punishment for having the audacity to waste their time. Learning of this when she returned home, Zaratch was furious, and let go of his pacifist ways only for that day just to go out and get his revenge on all of them. While he did a number on them, he returned home with numerous wounds of his own, and got scolded by Amaya for being so reckless.

After this, they tried to continue on as normally as they have been. Then… Zuasi vanished one night. She left a scrawled note, not being particularly a strong writer, saying that she had left to find people who can accept her. Terrified beyond all belief, the two of them had left the Lost Hex to try and track down Zuasi to bring her back home. Currently, they are still searching.

## Relationships

### Amaya

Zaratch absolutely adores Amaya. He'd fight the world for her and she'd do the same for him. In a way, they have a "beauty and the beast" dynamic. They were obviously scared and cautious of each other when they first met, but now that's been overshadowed by immense love and dedication to one another. There's obviously some challenges that come with their relationship. After all, they're one of the few inter-species relationships that exist. They've received negativity from both of their respective races and have had to learn to accept or at the very least tolerate stark cultural differences, but this has only brought them closer rather than further apart. It is very rare for the two of them to fight, and if they ever do, it's usually a more lighthearted and petty argument.

### Zuasi

Zaratch is very protective over his daughter. With how much weaker she is compared to him and her genetics, he's well aware that the world is not on her side and that she'll likely struggle her whole life. But he still loves her, and does his best to provide. They're close, although Zaratch can be emotionally distant sometimes by nature, he's still very sweet to her and is prone to spoiling her sometimes. He also tries to teach her more about her zeti half and her physical abilities, considering he's probably the only zeti that isn't utterly disgusted by her existence. But there's still a disconnect between them that isn't easily defined, even if they do love each other.

## Trivia

* He is the first adopted character that I actually want to utilize.
* While predominantly a biped, he is also comfortable walking like a quadruped.
* It is easy for him to hide objects in his hair. When Zuasi was younger (and a lot smaller) she would hide in said hair.
* Note, his empathic field does NOT work like hypnosis. Those who are effected by it do not suddenly lose their memories or identity, and they are not less aware of their situation. They just suddenly feel different about said situation.