Puck

Mavasi Gim Rutuka, now referring to himself only as **Puck**, is a duplicitous, crafty individual that, following an experiment gone awry, has gained a form of immortality that allows his consciousness to live on after death inside the body of a completely different person. With this power, he has seen the rise and fall of numerous civilizations, and works in cohorts with the Only Hierophant and Prime Hegemon by providing them with valuable information about distant civilizations.

## Background

The being now known as Puck was originally little more than a Kaeolian lowlife by the name of Mavasi Gim Rutuka, who survived in the harsh urban environments of the Kaeolian Empire's core colonies by working as a hitman for the highest bidders. Though skilled in the art of deception, Mavasi's luck finally ran out when he was captured by the Ministry of Imperial Safety and convicted of assassinating a well-known government official. Instead of being killed outright, Mavasi was sent away to a secret government research facility as a test subject for the dangerous and controversial Lurvasom Experiment. While it was a groundbreaking achievement within the realm of Kaeolian quantum science, this experiment, meant to test the feasibility of time travel using quantum technology, was very unpredictable. Likewise, Kaeolian scientists thought a convicted felon would be the perfect test subject, since there wouldn't be any major repercussions if something went wrong. Unfortunately, the Lurvasom Experiment was not successful, as, at the end of it, Mavasi still stood in exactly the same spot, having not traveled through time at all. Infuriated with this outcome, MIS officers seized Mavasi before he could exit the test chamber and gunned him down without a second thought, killing him quickly. To the officers and scientists, it seemed as though Mavasi was dead, but in reality, he had just woken up as someone else, somewhere else.

Through unknown means, the Lurvasom Experiment had caused Mavasi's very consciousness to undergo irreversible quantum entanglement with the minds of countless other sapient beings. His death had simply caused his consciousness to manifest within the brain of a different person. Mavasi's memory and skills were still intact, but had now been fused with the memories and skills of the person he now occupied. At first, Mavasi was confused and disoriented, and ended up getting himself killed very quickly after obtaining a new body. However, this simply allowed him to become someone else, and after a few repeats of this process, Mavasi realized that, for better or for worse, the Lurvasom Experiment had given him a form of immortality, as no matter how many times he was tracked down and killed, he would always come back as someone else. Over time, he studied his own self-perpetuation abilities and learned how to control them, allowing him to take over the bodies of specific individuals. This exploration of his newfound powers quickly gave rise to megalomania, and before long, the man who had once called himself Mavasi Gim Rutuka ceased to exist. He was now an amorphous, undying being that answered to only one name: Puck.

Understandably, it was only a matter of time until Puck garnered the attention of The Cluster's more ancient inhabitants. Through his occasional excursions in the Milky Way Galaxy, Puck had interacted with the Infinity Guild, and thus, his existence was duly noted by the enigmatic Only Hierophant. When the Hierophant learned that Puck had encountered a vision of Black Infinity during his interactions with Guild priests, the Hierophant reached out to Puck directly and brought him to Nexuta so that he may stare through the Nightmare Telescope and become a Black Witness. The knowledge Puck gleaned from his transformation into a Black Witness made him indebted to the Only Hierophant, and ever since then, he has worked to aid the Only Hierophant's twisted grand scheme, manipulating the political dynamics of major civilizations to serve his goals. The extent of Puck's actual influence is unknown, for he has assumed many guises and occupied many roles throughout the many different lives he has lived across The Cluster, but this very anonymity is proof of just how powerful Puck really is.

## Appearance and Abilities

The very nature of Puck's existence prevents him from being bound by any singular identity, and as a result, his physical form is in constant flux as his consciousness is transferred to different individuals. He has occupied the bodies of many Kaeolians and, after learning how to better control his powers, lived several lives as members of completely different species. Due to physiological disparities, Puck has rarely assumed anything other than a humanoid form, but, at the height of his power, he was, theoretically, capable of existing within the body of any sapient creature he wished. In many situations, Puck has inhabited female bodies, but as a whole, he has always referred to himself as male, owing to his origins as Mavasi Gim Rutuka, a male Kaeolian.

Puck's single greatest ability, and more or less the very nature of his identity, stems from his regenerative consciousness entanglement. Upon death, Puck's consciousness is not destroyed, but rather transferred to a different, random individual somewhere else. In regards to their brain, this person is "killed" in the sense that they cease to exist after Puck's consciousness is transferred to their body. Usually, a person that undergoes this process will enter a comatose state immediately after Puck's previous host has died, and wake up shortly afterward as Puck himself. Puck instantly gains all of the memories and information held by a host upon taking control of their body, but still retains all of his own memories and skills, allowing him to behave as though he really is his host while simultaneously working to his own personal gain. After countless transferals and countless deaths, Puck has gained a plethora of knowledge on many subjects, and excels at virtually any task. Now that he has more direct control over this ability, Puck has gained extensive information on the innermost political secrets of many major civilizations by living the lives of important government officials, and has reported much of this information back to the Only Hierophant in order to tighten his control over these civilizations.

## Personality and Behavior

After many, many millennia of constant death and rebirth, whatever semblance Puck bore to his original form as Mavasi Gim Rutuka has been almost completely erased. The gift of immortality has made Puck cynical and sociopathic, traits that are amplified even further by his alignment with the Only Hierophant and status as a Black Witness. Puck has little regard for the lives of others and will gladly abandon morality if to do so will aid him in one way or another. He revels in causing mischief and sowing discord among those that become aware of his existence and seek his death, and is known to have led many individuals to their demise through his antics, luring them to the most dangerous corners of space as they chase him down to exact their vengeance. While many of his actions seem needlessly chaotic, they are but a front to Puck's true nature, which is that of a crafty and extremely knowledgeable spy. By distracting his enemies, Puck is often able to work undetected, siphoning secrets and information that he brings back to the Only Hierophant. His natural wit and cleverness have almost always prevented him from failing, and as a result, he is one of the Hierophant's most trusted underlings, and maintains good relations with both him and other powerful figures, such as the Prime Hegemon of the Bedlam Society.

Despite his immortality, Puck is very averse when it comes to directly engaging his foes. Unexpected deaths often interfere with Puck's scheming and grand plans, especially if he is occupying the body of an important political figure. Those that have tried to hunt Puck down have found that he communicates chiefly through remote messages and proxies, preferring to keep a low profile so as to go about his business unfettered. While his destructive behavior may suggest otherwise, Puck is furtive and diligent when it comes to maintaining his disguises, and while these traits benefit him as a spy, they don't do him much good in combat. Even though he has plenty of fighting experience, Puck often chooses to flee rather than fight his enemies head-on, especially if they are physically stronger than him.