Alcastre, Shadrak

[AmazonMonk]

Mishak (left) and Shadrak (right)

Profile
Birth Name: Shadrak Kabango Alcastre
Current Name: Shadrak Nrol Alcastre
Nicknames: Shad, Shaddy, ‘Rak, RakNrol, and 'Bango.
Siblings: One older brother (Mishak Vocare Alcastre) and one younger sister (Abada Alcastre).
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 159 lbs
Gender: Male
Class: Magician
Subclass: Musician (w/ emphasis on drumming)
Quotes: “Wait… don’t you know who I am? I am the up-beat sorcerer, the rhythmic wizard, the heart-thumping “tempo-mancer” of The Magician Musicians! I am Shad RakNrol Alcastre!”

"Let's RakNrol!"


Personality
Shadrak is a passionate musician with a persistent spirit for accomplishing his goals. He is fairly sympathetic to underdogs, having grown up as one himself, and finds joy whenever he gets the chance to help those who are unconfident with their abilities to discover their passion, drives, and selves. His greatest passion lies in creating music and performances that continue to dazzle people for generations.
Skilled at riling up a crowd.

Super Condensed History:

Spoiler:

Shadrak was born to a prominent family of magicians, the Alcastres. His older brother, Mishak, showed promise at a young age, but Shadrak did not take much interest in the arts. Shadrak was given his first drumset on his 13th b-day by Mishak (then 16)
His parents eventually confiscated his drumset because he abandoned other responsibilities. They got him a state of the art wand on his 15th bday.
Mishak (18) taught him some magic before graduating.
His parents only let him keep his drumset when they saw the potential it had with bringing out his magical talent.
Before Mishak left home for college, he took Shadrak’s wand, speaking into it as he left. After that day, Shadrak never saw the wand again. He did, however, find two odd looking sticks near his drumkit. After channeling his magic through them, he found that he could use them in almost the same capacity as his former wand. He gained dexterity as he drummed and performed magic with both sticks.
--
Shadrak and Mishak later went into music together, forming a growingly successful band called "The Magician Musicians", with Shad on drums and Mishak on lead vocals. (The composition and members of the band changed over the years, but they remained the 2 constants.) Shadrak also freelances his his services for other performances and events on his time off.

[note: Longer version of history is mostly fleshed out... Will probably create a thread of its own.]

“Armor”:

When performing, he occasionally likes to wear tail coats and a [rigged] top hand, an image of the traditional magician, though it usually depends on who he is performing with and the size and type of venue. For example, if he were freelancing his services to a group of gypsy musicians, he might adorn more exotic clothing as well, such as using turbans and/or jewels (which are sometimes enchanted with magic to produce great and immediate stage effects).
Off the stage, he often blends in with the crowd by dressing in more urban clothing

“Weapons”:

He wields two sturdy, twisted sticks which he occasionally uses directly to drum with. Though slightly different in appearance from "traditional" wands, they function in about as much the same capacity. His voice can also be considered a weapon, as he can use it to incant spells (though to a far lesser degree and effect without his sticks as a medium).

Spells

Spoiler:

[Levels of proficiency: ***** Mastered, **** Highly skilled, *** Moderate user/Some Skill ** Acquainted/ Acquired Work in Progress, * Little skill/Inefficient/No control, __ N/A; Not [yet] applicable]

High Proficiency (second nature) Spells:

• Levitation (*****) - Basic spell that causes target objects to float. Advanced forms allow the object(s) to be moved through the air at will. The size and nature of the target can influence the magic output and amount of control necessary to levitate/maneuver it.
• Luminancy (****)- A spell involving the emanation of light. Simplest form: An illuminating light forms at the tip of the wand akin to a flashlight. (It is possible to conduct the magic without a wand, though with greater degree of difficulty, as it requires complex incantations and greater magical input.) Other forms of the spell include shooting and/or manipulating the light created (color, form, etc) - with increasing difficulties

Spells in Progress:

• Automated Programming spells (***) – a self-sustaining spell. Take levitation as a simple example: the caster must maintain focus and magic output in order to levitate and move the object. With a self-sustaining spell, the object can remain floating on its own. In more complicated instances, a series of spells/movements are created and “programmed” to repeat in the same cycle. Simply put, Shadrak’s goal is to program the movements of his levitating drumsticks to maintain a rhythm, allowing Shadrak’s hands to be free to either add additional touches to the beat (almost like a “canon” in music) or to add other effects (light-shows, “crowd surfing”, stunts, and other audience pleasers). In a much more difficult form of the art, Shadrak would program and loop the sound itself rather than the levitation and motion of the sticks. This would involve a great number of complex spells to come into play, then further complicated through Automated Programming.
  --(note: Shad currently possesses mastery of the “simplest form” of the art, self-sustenance. He is capable of programming rhythms, with the degree of difficulty increasing according to the complexity of the rhythm (as it requires a great deal of multi-tasking). For practical purposes, he hasn’t garnered enough confidence to apply this for most high end performances (though he feels more at liberty to experiment with local performances and during studio practices).--
  
• Sound Capture(** to **.5) – Sound capture is a spell which creates a field (which, for most intents and purposes, is "invisible" and typically spherical) around an area to capture the sound waves within. The sound waves bouncing inside will eventually wear themselves out, meaning that even if the spell were release after some time has passed, there would be no noticeable sound escaping to the average ear. The sound may be “sustained” (through "sound sustenance", though it involves another layer of magic.)
  
  -Novice inventor of the art. He has learned how to encase sound, but is only just acquiring the skills to sustain it.
• Object Manipulation** – As the name implies, object manipulation is the ability to manipulate and distort objects. It is a few steps above the difficulty of simple levitation; some might even argue that levitation is a precursor to manipulation. In some cases, moving an object through space –an advanced form of levitation – is considered simple manipulation. Beyond that, magical manipulation implies the ability to distort an objects shape, size, and –in extremely advanced instances- composition. A simple example of magical manipulation might be squishing or stretching a marshmallow without actually touching it.
  
  [-] While Shadrak has exceedingly mastered the use and coordination of levitation, he is not a master of object manipulation – mainly because it’s not something he practices. Though he has tried enacting sounds from his drums through "manipulation" of the drum (invisible push/pull on a spot of the drum head) rather than physically striking them, the quality of sound produced was never satisfactory to his tastes. This level of ability might better serve a violinist or other stringed instrument player, but not this drummer. Thus, Shadrak possess basic skills with object manipulation. However, his interest with the magic has suddenly grown, as mastery may unlock the secrets to simplifying the execution of other spells related to his interests...
• Sound Amplification & Sound Distortion (**) – More self-explanatory spells… although not actually spells in their own right so much as an advanced form, combination, and usage of other spells. Both sound amplification & sound distortion, to be effective, likely require complete mastery of sound capture. That’s Shadrak’s theory, anyways, for if the spell were attempted on open-spaced sound, the result would likely be miniscule and unnoticed as it attaches to a single sound wave for a brief moment… or it would just miss as a result of the sound waves moving. The only other means of effectively applying S.A. and/or S.D. might be the instant the sound(s) emanate from the source (or continue to emanate). The danger lies in carelessness… one mistake, and sudden over amplification could send people in shock and/or blast their eardrums. Although it’s still a theory, it’s not a risk Shadrak is willing to take.
  
  a. Sound Amplification involves the decrease or increase of sound decibels. (**)
  

  i. Shadrak has some difficulty controlling this skill, as he does not yet have complete mastery of Sound Capture (complete mastery implying that he can do it with ease, as if second nature, allowing him to focus on a separate, new, possibly more difficult task.

  b. Sound Distortion involves the manipulation of the sounds frequency and tone, effectively altering their pitch and quality. (_.5)
  

  i. Not yet attempted. The degree of difficulty has been somewhat daunting, and if high levels of object manipulation are difficult, sound manipulation/distortion is sure to be incredibly moreso. He has imagined the idea, though... giving some thought to it's execution.
• Sound Creation (_) (mp usage unknown, but likely very high) – Sound created through magic alone. Degree of difficulty: Unknown. There exists the hypothesized possibility that the creation of sound waves through magical means is similar –or even parallel– to illumination magic.
  a. Shadrak: Not yet attempted. Believes if anyone can help unlock the secrets, Mishak can.
  b. Hypothesized that unlocking this spell will greatly simplify the manipulation of sound (amplification and distortion), just as manipulating the creation of one’s own magical illumination is simpler than controlling and manipulating pre-existing light. Although… it’s more likely that the only “manipulation” of sound will take place in the creation phase, not once it is created, as is generally true for illumination.

(May also be called: “Audition”, “Acoustic Genesis”, or “Sonalysis”.)