(OOC: If you would like to PM me, please use the name "Gaius" in the Recipients box.)

Appearance
The most striking thing about Gaius's appearance is the growth of small stones that protrude from his skin, evidence of his heritage among a race of earth elementals who live deep within the highlands. The stones sometimes seem like whole grey calluses lining his face and neck, his back, and the outer portions of his arms and legs–especially when he has not been in contact with people for a long time. But mostly they take the form of small, smooth pebbles squished haphazardly into his flesh, an off-putting but not necessarily monstrous addition to his otherwise human physique. He has fair hair, grey eyes, a weathered complexion of intermediate shade, and stands well above six feet.

History
Gaius was born of a human warrior of the highland villages and a member of an elusive tribe of stone men who live in the depths of the mountains. The union was brief; he was barely two years old when his parents could not bear the life of solitude their love had forced on them. Because in infancy he seemed passably human, his mother took him to be raised by the village as she redeemed herself as a rightful soldier. He learned the ways of the highlanders and took easily to wielding swords and polearms. As he reached manhood, however, his regretful heritage began to take form: the aforementioned stones began to poke painlessly through his skin, pushing up out of his face and body even after they were forcibly removed. Outwardly, the villagers were friendly enough–after all, they had watched him grow up and succeed in all the ways that mattered. But the pubescent boy felt nonetheless like an outcast, peeved by inadvertent stares and curious after his father.

So he left his friends and his mother to seek out the stone men, and for many years he learned to live in the wilderness on his own. Just before he reached his twentieth year, he found them. An entirely male race, they were made of more stone than flesh, pulled together by the ancient primal magic of the mountain. Though he did not look much like his father, he convinced the man to take him in and teach him the way of the deep earth. He learned their brand of geomancy well enough, though he would never be as connected as his cousins to the essence of the planet. Perhaps they might have accepted him as one of their own, but he didn't give them the chance. Ultimately he would be left to wander between both worlds, searching for his place without a real understanding of what that means.

Threads
Ambush
Jump
A Search for the Self
Endurance
Lost in the Hills
Fiery Memories