Garm
The Basics
Name: Garm
Gender: Female
Age: Ancient, but appears to be in her late 20's
Species: Chimera
Pantheon: Greek
Origin Myth: Bellerophon & the Chimera (from Homer's Illiad)
The Physical
Height & Weight: 5ft9, 138lbs, strong and athletic (in human form) / 9ft tall, 14ft long (including tail), 20ft wingspan, 8818lbs
Hair & Eye Color: Dark Brown hair, hazel eyes / red eyes for all of her heads
Physical Description: In her natural form, Garm is a fearsome Chimera, a towering beast fit to rival an elephant for size. Blending the features of lion, goat and dragon into a deadly admixture, she bristles with a lion's deadly strength and agility. With the forepaws and body of a lion, she caries three heads from left to right: A fire-breathing dragon with black scales, a female lion in the center, and a great white bearded goat, it's horns curving back and away, on the right. From the lion's powerful shoulders sprout a pair of enormous dragon wings and it's powerful hindquarters dissolve into the sturdy hooved feet of the goat. From her rump sprouts a hooded serpent with gleaming red eyes. The chimera moves with a hunter's liquid strength and deadly precision; so many snoots and not a one good to boop.
Human Form: In human form, Garm, is... so much less. Or so she feels. Strong legs and a full but muscular body are typically dressed in leather or dark denim. She often leaves her midrif bare as she's come to understand a taught middle is a sign of strength and fitness among mortals. Her makeup (which she does with surprising pride) is either dark or simple, making her look fierce and austere just in different ways. In essence, the dark-haired beauty is a biker chick. Leather jackets, f*ck-off boots, studded belts, the works. Dark hair, long and immaculate black nails; she's surprisingly well groomed for someone who's essentially three animals and a snake in a trench coat.
Talents & Weaknesses
Skills: Garm is a natural brawler in both her forms. A lifetime of hunting prey of all shapes and sizes and prowling territory has made her a gifted hunter. She makes an exceptional lookout (even without her extra heads) and is vigilant and watchful by nature. And patient. Garm does not bore, she waits.
Powers:
Strength and Endurance: The power she's been granted is almost more illusory than it is polymorphic; it compacts her down into a human shape rather than transforming her whole cloth. As such, her proportional strength and resilience are almost on par with her natural form, though obviously lacking the claws, teeth, horns and wings that really make her terrifying. Garm can take a lot of punishment and she can lift objects that should proportionally be implausible for a woman of her size. She has an animal's disregard for pain and wounds that might cause others to swoon or falter only seem to make her mad. She is not, however, immortal, she just takes a lot to bring down.
Keen Senses and Extra Eyes: In her natural form, Garm is incredibly gifted with a number of keen noses, animal senses and four functioning sets of eyes and ears. She's almost impossible to ambush if she isn't sleeping, and even then, it's a mixed back.
In human form, it's not nearly as difficult (see weaknesses) although her sense of smell remains more acute than a human's and it is very difficult to sneak past her from down wind.
Vulnerabilities:
Only Human: When in her human form, Garm is in many ways a creature off balance. For all of her precision and strength as a Chimera she sometimes forgets she doesn't have a tail or hindquarters to balance herself with, or wings to assist in jumping, or an extra mouth to speak from when she's eating. Bipedal motion can sometimes be... mercurial. Not always, but sometimes.
This is especially problematic when it comes to perceptions. Garm doesn't think of herself as someone who can be snuck up on, she's used to being able to watch her own back in a very literal way. And so she is both very startled when caught by surprise, and also takes it very personally from a point of pride, finding it very embarrassing. From behind is her weak point for perception.
Writing Checks Your Mouth(s) Can't Cash: Garm is very accustomed to prowling through life as an apex predator. Even her single great defeat at the hands of the titans and their giants was mostly an unfair fight. She's got the pride of a lion, the ego of a dragon and the willfulness of a goat. Garm is almost tragically easy to goad into contests or challenges as long as in the moment she thinks it's fair. And even then, playing against her pride is a sure-fire way to bait her into overcommitting where more sensible foes might fold. The reality is, she's not particularly clever or bright. She's never really had to be.
Relics:
The Collar of Cognito: This spiked collar fits around Garm's lion neck and transforms with her in her human form. It was gifted to her by a human wizard named Cognito in exchange for his life centuries ago and it serves to shield and safeguard her minds from others, keeping her safe from telepathy and mind-control.
Under The Hood
Personality:
Garm is not an easy person to deal with if you don't know what you're doing, and in that way she's much like the animals that compose her natural form. On the surface she's closed off, surly, brutish and callous. She's very much a stranger to kindness. Only in the last few months has she had a real taste of it in a really long time. And it's... changing her, if slowly.
Garm is, like many animals, easily plied with food and flattery. She appreciates anyone who appreciates her and hates the idea of owing anybody anything. And so those who are kind to her earn her version of a reciprocal kindness though it still tends to be gruff and forceful. She wants to be liked and included but is not wont to admit it. That said she doesn't like to be smothered or coddled. Garm does well with those who treat her with the same respect and admiration she reserves for herself.
A few drinks in and a couple good burgers and Garm has a much softer side, an underbelly, that she tries not to show. She's easily embarrassed when she shows anything close to kindness or curiosity (the later of which she has plenty) but she's learning. There's a lot she doesn't know about the modern world but she does her best to fake her way through it. The truth is she's a monster of many parts and she doesn't always know which parts she wants to be. And so she often leans into the spots where her instincts all overlap: hunt, fight, feed, be fierce, be brave, be strong. And therein lies most of her problems.
Backstory:
Garm is... complicated. A proud grand-daughter of Echidna, she is a cub of the very first and most legendary Chimera, the one slain by Bellerophon. Having born witness to the duo's well-storied battle, she harbors no small suspicion and prejudice for demigods in general. Despite a long life, it has not been one of reflection or growth for Garm, but of self-sufficiency and strength. Garm has always had a lot to prove. And that hasn't changed. At least not yet.
Before coming to Rhodes she was arrogant, prideful, vicious, and superior. And a lot of that hasn't changed. At the same time, her near-death encounter with the titans and their brood was an eye-opening experience for her, it was the very first time she was laid low and it was with great shame that she came crawling to the island. Never before has she needed help from anyone and there's a seed there in her heart that's taking root that just might lead her down a road of renewal. Unless the goat-head eats it first.
Having washed up on the shores of the island with tattered wings and the sorts of wounds that might have done in a elephant, she was half-drowned and clinging to life. Taken in and nursed back to health, Garm feels a sense of indebtedness to the people of the island. She has thrown her lot in with Circe and it's tough to say how much of that is Garm's need to owe no one for anything and how much of that is the witch's exceptional ability to charm all manner of beasts, of which Garm in several.
As such she's claimed Circe's Club as her territory, after a fashion, and guards it with Circe's blessing. For the most part that involves lounging around and looking tough, which she is very good at doing, and occasionally getting between those who are having too much fun and those who no longer are.
