NYKROSE
Aspect
Kind: Näcken
Aliases: Nyk, Niklas Nilsson, Fenfaxi
Sex: Male
Age: He's been alive as long as he can remember
Accent: Swedish
Traits
«Honourable»«Tenacious»«Cunning»
«Laconic»«Capricious»«Aloof»
«Vain»«Mischievous»«Spiteful»
Nyk is a man of few words. He prefers to save them for when they sting the most.
Kindness comes readily to him when honour demands it, & cruelty when it does not. He is not given to empathy.
A creature given to vanity, he can often be found admiring his own reflection when not up to greater mischief.
His temperament is as fickle as the weather, but his word is not.
He is a gambler, always eager to match luck & wits against another in contest. He is accustomed to victory; perhaps his given name is not unwarranted.
Values
Nyk values honour above all.
He is a creature of his word, & will not break any oath implicit or explicit.
He will not lie, but is free to omit the truth.
He will play by the rules, be they just or conspiring against him.
He acts with what respect he knows, as every being is worthy of it.
beliefs
Nyk holds an unwavering belief in Fate; what is meant to be, will be. Whether boon or bane, every event serves a greater purpose.
All beings are created equal in value. Every force or material is possessed of a spirit; no, these are merely the manifestations of these spirits. A rock, a man, a gust of wind, himself, they are all the same in the scheme of Fate. This mortal realm is but temporary, as if a dream. When it ends & all things in it have passed, they will return to eternity whence they came. The purpose of this game is beyond him, but it need not be understood to be fulfilled.
Hence, when he sees a moment to act, he will act. Were he not meant to do so, why should it be shown to him? If he does act, then surely the result is as Fate has decided. Thus is his motivation & his reasoning.
Guises
Nyk is a shapeshifter. While he can turn into almost anything, the following are his most common guises.
The man
Nyk's human shape is lithe & lean, like that of a wild animal. He has a narrow frame, with long bones ending in spindly hands. His skin is pale, untouched by sun or scar. The hair that he takes such pride in is often braided, rolling in thick sable waves that end at the tailbone when free. His perpetual beard is equally well kempt.
His face is gaunt. Wide cheekbones frame a long nose & beaked lips, amber eyes deep set beneath an angled brow. That those eyes might reflect in darkness are no one's concern.
His scent is of crisp running water, of moss after a rain, & the heady sweetness of lilies.
As is customary for his kind he will only dress in a practical, elegant grey, with a preference for red accents.
«Mid 30's»«5'7"»
the horse
Nyk's favoured form is that of the stallion Fenfaxi, the bog mane, first of the greys. His coat is white; milky & splashed with rosy dapples, his peat coloured tail laden with curls & trailing behind him. He is made of curves from his crested neck to sloping croup, as powerful & agile as any warhorse. A noble head bears large eyes & an expressive mouth, betraying his intelligence if one looks closely enough before he starts talking.
«Mulberry Grey»«15h»
the eel
Nyk is at home in the water & thus enjoys the form of an eel. He can also become the Nix, bearing the upper half of a man & lower half of a fish. His scales are fine & grey in colour, while the fin that runs the length of his tail is the colour of soot.
«Size Variable»
Boons
| IMMORTALITY | Nyk cannot be killed in a way that matters. He experiences pain, he can be harmed & his body destroyed, but there is no release of death. His spirit will persist in the mortal realm & take new form. |
| SHAPESHIFTING | If it exists & is not made of iron, he can take its shape. He can have no form at all. He can continue to speak, observe & interact with the world around him regardless of shape, even that of inanimate objects. |
| FORESIGHT | As a seer, Nyk can be called upon for all manner of premonition & meddling in Fate. He can grant boons or banes, see the future or peer into another's mind. |
| RITUAL | What some call magic, Nyk calls being a good neighbor. Nyk is adept in the art of using ritual & incantation to speak to other spirits, calling upon them to alter what reality lies in their domain. Through this, there are few limits to what he can achieve. |
| ENCHANTMENT | He can enthrall others, bewitching them with his music & alluring guises. The potency of this varies; it can be a subtle influence, or complete control over his victims' faculties. |
| VIGOR | Whatever form he takes, Nyk possesses supernatural strength & speed. He is tireless, needing neither rest nor sustenance. |
| CURSED BITE | When in his natural or Nix shape, his bite can cause sickness & hallucinations. |
| ALCHEMY | Nyk possesses vast knowledge of the natural world, & is well versed in both the chemical & magical properties therein. He's equally versed in applying that knowledge to harm...and to heal. |
Banes
| IRON | Nyk is repulsed by iron and its alloys, most commonly steel. Contact with these metals can render him nearly powerless & cause pain, but cannot kill him. Navigating the world of men is fraught with peril. |
| NAME | His true name is known only to him, for to speak it would sever him from the mortal realm. For all intents and purposes, he would be dead. |
Fun Fiddler Facts
His most prized possession is his violin.
Nyk is a master musician, & can play virtually any string or woodwind instrument.
He is rarely without a pair of gloves for protection against iron.
A small apothecary of locally harvested hallucinogens has taken up residence in his home to aid his alchemy & ritual practice.
Nyk is totally & happily unconcerned with the outside world; he cares for the movements of the stars, not of kings and armies.
Words have power, & he never swears or engages in profanity.
He has a certain knack for cracking his toes at the least appropriate times.
Nyk is carnivorous & possessed of a voracious appetite.
Puns bring him pain. Horse jokes in particular are nigh unforgivable.
He is an aspiring alcoholic.
Nyk never seems to speak more than is necessary; his speech is concise. He enjoys conversation but is just as happy to say nothing at all.
lore
On Näcken
Näcken is a water spirit of many names, many faces, and many places.
They make their homes far and wide, haunting lakes, streams, marshes, and even the sea.
They can be benevolent, malevolent, and anywhere in between.
They are solitary, beholden to none but themselves. Neither kings nor gods hold them in sway.
Shapeshifters all, they can take the shape of man or beast, tree or stone, their countenance pleasing or hideous. They use their beauty, their songs, their spells, to lure the unwitting to their deaths for the love of them.
Folk Wisdom
Näcken is said to grow despondent if not in regular contact with a source of water.
He may appear in the guise of a handsome youth, a mature man, or a wizened elder.
His hair is always wet, betraying his true nature.
Sightings of Näcken's true shape vary; he is given the shape of a troll, a drowned corpse, a tangled mess of weeds, or no shape at all.
Most sightings occur at night, or in fog.
Drownings are believed to be the work of Näcken.
Näcken's call is that of the loon, & foretells death.
It is thought that he is most active during the Solstices & Equinoxes, at dusk & at dawn.
He has been known to breed with horses, producing more of his kin. He is also known to father trolls.
In some tales he may take a human bride, willingly or otherwise.
Water lilies are named for him. Näckrosor, Näcken's roses, grow wherever he dwells. He guards this garden jealously, & many have died to possess them.
He can become invisible, among other things.
Näcken is known as the greatest fiddler in all the realms. From his strings play the sounds of nature, & nature dances. He is willing to impart his skills to mortals...for a price.
Common sacrifices to Näcken include mutton, snuff, brännvin, gold coins, black animals, three drops of blood, or children.
The Sjörå is his enemy, as they battle for territory.
Some claim that he has no soul, & so laments that he will never see heaven.
Songs say that Näcken is in love with Freyja.
Näcken is the most feared of spirits, using any means necessary to seduce & devour his victims regardless of creed.
He can only be stopped by uttering his name, with iron, or by outwitting him in a contest.
Realms
Historical / Fantasy
#[V: Dark Times & Fair Folk]
A highly flexible, catchall verse for everything that doesn't fit anywhere else. Nyk can appear in any place, any time period, in any shape.
It is assumed that he makes his home in a nearby body of water, & has a reputation for being a particularly nasty spirit. One who can lend magical aid...for a price.
Alternatively, he may be wandering the land in one of his many guises.
«Default Verse»«Fandom Compatible»
Modern
#[V: Midnight Sun]
Having long since moved to America, Niklas now makes his home at a cabin in the remote town of Troughwater, Alaska.
Working in finance by day, the rest of his waking hours are spent patrolling his territory, keeping chickens, & tormenting the neighbors with his refusal to put on underwear & general disposition. They live in the shadow of the terrible knowledge that they do not know what he is, beyond that he is not at all human.
Having developed a terrible, all consuming addiction to coffee—he can quit anytime, he swears—he somehow makes time for working, witchcraft & spinning gossip at the kitchen table between mugs.
«Selective»«NPCS: Del & Ian»
The Witcher
#[V: Witcher]
The nykr is a spirit from another realm, albeit not one in any hurry to return home. Legend tells that the creature was summoned by an aspiring demonologist. As with most foolish endeavors this went immediately awry; what he conjured instead was an irate entity from another plane, one who promptly slew him for his trouble. It now skulks the waterways of the Continent, ever seeking a meal or an audience.
Notorious for enchanting youths, trading spells for offers of food, drinking all of the good ale, public indecency & other acts of mischief, it is no easy contract for a Witcher. One might find, too late, that a silver sword will not suffice.
«Book, Game, & Show Friendly»
The Elder Scrolls
#[V: TES]
Niklas takes many forms; a skald wandering the roads of Skyrim, a witch haunting Solstheim's frigid forests, a fisherman on the Niben, a cliffracer above Vvardenfell. Torn from his home beyond Aetherius, he now serves the Daedric Prince Hircine as a witch of Glenmoril.
On Nirn he has no magicka reserves nor connections to his Vættir kin, instead relying on shapeshifting, enchantments, his knowledge of ritual & Alchemy to make his way.
«Third & Fourth Era Preferred»
Shrek
#[V: Far Far Away]
Niklas Nilsson, Shapeshifter Extraordinaire, works as a model. Every cheap, bodice-ripping romantic novel in Far Far Away has his visage on the front cover. The dashing prince with sculpted abs? That's him. The princess swooning in his arms? That's him, too. The noble steed they rode in on? You bet your bottom.
His cover work is known far and wide, but the real enterprise is in portraiture. Niklas is much better suited to sitting still & smiling pleasantly than the average courtier, after all. It is the secret that every high society person knows; he dons the commissioner's likeness—with a little nip and tuck!—&always, always, finds their best angle for the artist. The more, shall we say, risqué angles included.
As he always models with someone else's face, very few know what he actually looks like; to avoid paparazzi, he simply disguises himself as...himself, & retreats to his marshy home in the countryside when not at work.
Niklas has a reputation both for being eccentric & bellowing "WHAT are you DOING in my SWAMP?" in a Scottish Swedish accent at unwanted visitors, which is all of them.
«Selective»
Unknown
#[V: Let Fate Decide]
This placeholder tag denotes any interaction where the verse is not specified.
Compatible Themes
Middle Earth
The Chronicles of Narnia
Fable
God of War (2018)
The Ancient Magus' Bride
Norse Mythology
Germanic Folklore
Celtic Folklore
Slavic Folklore
Historical Settings
Rules
General
Mun is 21+.
Selective.
Independent.
Mutuals preferred but not exclusive.
Canon & OC friendly.
AU, multiverse & multiship friendly.
Posting & Threads
Medium to high activity!
Reply speed averages at one week or less.
Multiple format friendly; paragraph preferred.
I try to match reply tense & length.
I trim posts, & ask the same in return.
Read More cuts may be used at my discretion.
NSFW content will appear & be tagged accordingly.
The smut tag for this blog is #not safe for näcken.
Ask starters will be moved to new threads.
I use minimal icons or formatting.
I ask that aesthetic formatting be legible.
I do not queue replies.
Plotted threads preferred, but I am comfortable winging it as well.
I do not use a thread tracker.
If you lose interest in a thread, please let me know! I will do the same for you. If dropped threads become a regular occurrence I will cease any efforts to write with you.
If a starter is not replied to after three months I will repurpose it into an open starter. The same goes for threads that are dropped after a few posts.
I periodically delete OOC posts.
I only reblog promo posts of those I actively write with.
All posted artwork is mine unless otherwise sourced.
Communication & Etiquette
DM is reserved for OOC chat.
Discord available to mutuals.
No chain messages. I will delete them.
Anonymous is enabled.
I do not track tags! If you want me to see something, please DM me or use the @mention feature to get my attention.
I do not accept submissions or asks that are not blog relevant or provided without context.
I do not accept video submissions.
M!A's are accepted at my discretion.
I always read rules and bios before following.
I may take up to a week to follow back; I will check a new follow for compatibility over the course of several days before making a decision. Along with rules & muse I will be looking for active roleplay threads.
No godmodding or metagaming.
Mun =/= muse. Do not assume that because my muse does something or holds an opinion that I endorse it.
I don't care if memes are reblogged from me or the source. It does not affect my notifications.
Restrictions
I will not roleplay non/dub-con, incest, or indecent acts with minors or animals. Consenting adults who take the shape of animals/sapient creatures are in the clear, as my muse is a shapeshifter & having such a rule against similar muses would be pretty dumb.
That said, fiction =/= reality; I believe that no topic is off limits to explore in fiction regardless of whether I am personally interested or even comfortable in writing it myself. If you disagree, this blog is not for you.
I will not roleplay with anyone under 18 years of age. If I cannot find your age listed on your blog as 18+, I will not roleplay with you.
I do not tolerate OOC suicidal ideation. I will not hesitate to link to resources & block anyone who perpetrates it or any other form of making me responsible for their mental health. I will not be abused by strangers on the internet.
I do not want to see sociopolitical posts or OOC spam on my dash.
I do not tolerate drama.
I will not roleplay with personal blogs.
I will not interact with fiction kin.
I will not interact with muses of real people, living or dead. This includes historical fiction interpretations of those people lifted from other media & alternate/online personas of living persons.
I periodically unfollow inactive blogs. I may refollow if activity is resumed.
I’m not interested in faceclaims & don’t care about celebrities. I also don't believe in banning or policing faceclaims.