Name: Raynard Shaw
Nickname: Ray, Shaw
Age: Unknown (appears to be in his late 20s)
Abnormality: Cursed Immortal

Abilities: To put it simply, Raynard cannot die. Not permanently at least. He can be 'killed' but despite his best efforts he can never manage to stay that way. For all intents and purposes, Raynard is just as fragile as any mundane human in the supernatural world. He has no innate abilities that would assist him should something that goes bump in the night decide he needs to be violently murdered, but no matter what you do Raynard will often be up and walking about in the next hour. Shoot him, stab him, rip him apart, chop or tear his head off, cut him into tiny pieces, dissolve him in acid. Nothing works. Believe him, he's tried.

It is not that Raynard heals from any wound. If you cut or pierce his flesh he will bleed and those injuries still hurt and respond in the way one would expect from normal human physiology. If he loses a finger or a foot or an arm it won't simply grow back. But should someone put the suffering man out of his misery, then he will simply come back. If one is watching his remains carefully, they might momentarily catch sight of a bright light coming from his body before the dead man is suddenly whole and if anything was detached from him in the process the removed bits simply vanish and appear back on him as if nothing had happened.

Weaknesses: Raynard only has himself (or at least his past self) to blame for the weaknesses and pratfalls that come with his rudimentary immortality. The exact nature of those drawbacks have changed considerably over the centuries as he experimented on himself in an attempt to finally end it all for good, but there is no doubt that the form they now take is the most troublesome by far.

Simply put, Raynard has to die at least once a day or else he runs the risk of losing his memory, though he makes a habit of making sure it happens at least twice a day just to be on the safe side. He's not entirely sure what he did to himself to alter his curse in such a way but if he fails to kill himself or have someone kill him within a period of 24 hours since his last death then the next time he falls and revives he will have no memory of who he was before. He retains general knowledge, gratefully not forgetting how to speak and read and most of his knowledge concerning alchemical work and enchantments but any knowledge of who he is as a person will vanish into nothing.

But why must he continually kill himself? Why not just allow himself to grow older like any other man, leaving himself journals like his older incarnations did before him. Well, once more this pratfall was unwittingly one of his own making. If he were to allow himself to age past these initial 24 hours he will age rabidly, comparative to approximately 5 years in a day, meaning he would have weeks before he would die of 'old age'. So instead of of suffering through the madness that might come with having to completely rebuild yourself every few fortnights he instead dies on a daily and nightly basis.

Affiliation: Independent. Owner of the Forgotten Curiosities.
Theme song: Ghosts That We Knew, Black and White
Faceclaim: Tom Felton
Physical Description: Raynard is a slender fellow. Standing just under 5'10" he has rather lithe, slim build that gives the impression that he would easily be sent tumbling if hit with a stiff enough wind. There isn't much visible fat to his form and he does have a fair amount of muscle tone but it doesn't stop him from looking thin, giving him the look of someone that is likely more scholarly than athletic. His features are sharp and angular and when he tries he is capable of giving a hardened glare that could but even the strictest overbearing mother to shame. At the same time though when he relaxes his features become warm and friendly, commonly seen smiling broadly with a row of oddly perfect teeth. His bright, sea-blue eyes are curious and investigative, like the world around him is a puzzle to be solved. When he is working in his store the short, dirty blonde hair atop his head is pristine and meticulous but when he is experimenting or relaxing he often could not care much for such things, often running his fingers through his hair to purposefully mussy it up as some kind of physical representation for separating his work from his true passions.

Distinguishing Features: Anyone that's known Raynard for an extended period of time can attest that his appearance has never really changed and despite his repeated deaths and dismemberments his flesh is blemish-free. This is largely due to the fact that whenever he perishes his body reverts to a set point, theorized to be the way he looked when the initial curse was cast on him. He has experimented with this a bit to confirm this. He's never had to bother with shaving away that 5 o'clock shadow he can get because he knows it will be gone the next time he 'awakens'. He has tried piercing his ear but when he revives the jewelry will simply fall away from him and the hole in his ear would have closed. He's tattooed ink into his flesh but like the piercing, any marring of his skin simply vanishes like it was never there.

As far as his fashion sense is concerned most of the time how he presents himself depends on who he is speaking with or the setting he is in. When running his shop he is very formal and pristine, commonly seen in a crisp button-up and tie paired with a fashionable sport coat, preferring to look professional when it comes to anything related to his business. Outside of that, he is considerably more casual. He doesn't let his clothes get overly worn and doesn't consider torn clothing a worthwhile fashion statement but when he is out and about town, working in his lab or relaxing for the evening he tends to favor comfort over presentation.

Personality Description: Much like his attire a lot of the way he presents himself can differ depending on the setting. When fully engrossed in his trade, playing the part of a merchant for his clientele both mystical and mundane, he strives to be polite and courteous. He can get a bit short with people at times when they start to get on his nerves but does his best to remain professional. When he is focusing on his alchemical research he hates being interrupted and can quickly lose patience with people when they interrupt him in the middle of his work. That is unless he comes across someone that seems to have a curious mind like him, then he is eager to share theories and findings. In more relaxed settings though he can be warm and welcoming, eager to play host and meet new faces or reconnect with old acquaintances.

History: Not even Raynard is entirely certain where exactly his story begins. He's been around for a long, long time. That much he knows for certain. He doesn't recall why he's been around that long either. Had he angered some ancient being and they had found him undeserving of the sweet release of that final rest? Had stumbled a seemingly benevolent entity that thought his extended lifespan was a gift or a reward for a service he'd provided? Could he have possibly have done this to himself? He thought that the last one was the most unlikely but he couldn't rule out that possibility entirely. Even if this extended lifespan had been something he'd committed to himself willingly at the time over centuries of life walking the world as a common human can prove tiring.

Luckily for him, much of his old life had been chronicled by him before he'd forgotten them but even then large portions of it were missing. The earliest entry in all of his journals is dated September 6th of 1666, cursing the heavens that an idiot named Thomas Farriner had ever been born. Apparently, while Raynard had been away on business a fire had raged through several neighborhoods along the edge of the River Thames, resulting in his life's work being consumed and turned to ash by the flame. His lab, his research, his recorded and gathered knowledge and his home had been wiped out in a day. The following entries would be filled with notes chronicling in brief what he could recall offhand of his own past so that future versions of himself wouldn't be left completely in the dark.

While the origins of this curse remain unclear (he cannot rule out that the unnatural alteration of his lifespan could have started as a blessing but it has undoubtedly turned into a curse) he knows in its original form he was changed so he could never die. But eternal life didn't translate to eternal youth. And after so much time staying alive as long as he had as a feeble, frail old man threatened to drive him mad. He wanted to rest. So he turned to alchemy, an early form of science and formula that still leaned heavily into the world of the mystical and supernatural in search of a 'cure'.

While he's succeeded in altering the form of his curse, ending it up to this point has been nothing but total failure. He is no longer living as a crotchety old man for all eternity but now he doesn't know the vast majority of his own past. He has ledgers and journals and records he's kept over his various lifetimes but they often feel like they were written by a completely different person.

Thankfully his wits stay about him with each loss of memory and he has his old notes and findings on. It's also helpful that apparently, the last version of himself was quite miserly, laying the groundwork for a very successful business. On the surface, Raynard is a seller of antiques, strange nicknacks and collector's items for the regular, mundane visitor to his shops. When someone who has to hide their true nature from the rest of the world enters his shop, asking to speak with the owner of the 'Veiled Curiosities', he has a special stock in a hidden back room just for them to peruse.

While the tourism trade does assist him in selling things to the normal humans that walk through his doors, his real money comes from the services he provides. General supplies needed for making potions and casting spells, sourced from around the world. Protective wards and charms. Ancient relics locked behind warded displays. But it's not just what he keeps on hand, it's also the connections he has made that allow him to seek out items on request (with proper compensation of course), though most commonly this comes in the form of rare ingredients or things like blood bags for vampires that are not aligned with a coven. Just don't expect any handouts.

For the last forty years, he has kept up a routine that has lessened the risk of losing his memories again. The last time he lost track of who he was (an amusing and embarrassing story in equal parts) he thankfully had an ally in a long-time acquaintance of his to help him get back on his feet, Archer Ashby. Thankfully with his help, he was able to more quickly make sense of things before irreparable damage was done to his business. Since then he has always seen Archer as a friend first. He still charges the man for things should he come calling (he has his livelihood to think of after all) but is always more than willing to make the man and those he watches over a good deal.