Aerik was born to a family with a government job, as most unnaturals are, and born with very powerful telepathy. When it finally surfaced, about the age of 11, it quickly consumed him and cost him much of his sanity. Through years of counseling and his own, indominitable will, Aerik was able to regain himself and control his vast powers. He is still unstable, but it is in a very controlled manner, which is perhaps even more frightening. He had met his cousin Lyeth several times, his power developing far more quickly than hers, and knew her to be unnatural as well. When her parents died, she was to live with Aerik and his Grandmother. But that changed when she took flight with the Lair kids, who were in Chicago at that point (just before their transfer to Washington) and he, being bored, decided to seek her out, and found her. For amusement and the sake of a new challenge, he winnowed his way into her confidences and her friends'. Eventually, decided to play a little game, centered around his cousin. It didn't go the way he meant it to. In fact, it went completely awry. Lyeth used her own pyrokinetic abilities to absorb his life-stealing black flame, from whence his filename, Eclipse, stems from. This caught him completely by surprise as his flame is not actual flame, but an extension of his power and soul. His body was left, reduced to ashes, and he found himself inside her mind, alive and as well as before, but stuck in a young girl. Naturally, that caused some problems for both parties. Aerik became part of Lyeth, his telepathy and flames hers, and vice versa. He abandoned hope for his own form, but has finally had that dream realized with the aid of the Dark Elf, Valyn de Balois, in exchange for information. Aerik now inhabits the host body of a male Eshva, a beautiful, demonic creation of the Madame la Marquise, Valyn's Master. Aerik can no longer speak, Eshva having no vocal chords, but finds he is far more sensitive to magicks now, something he was never really exposed to before. He very much likes the new look of this host and the fact that Lyeth suffered immensely from the transfer, something Valyn had no qualms about doing to her. And Aerik had no compunctions authorizing.
Aerik is a telepath of devastating might, and knows well how to use it. His abilities include, but are not limited to, empathy, emotional manipulation, memory manipulation, illusions pulled from the mind, sensory stimulation and manipulation, "cloaking" his presence and others' presences from others, and planting suggestions and ideas. His black flames steal the lifeforce of others, drawing their strength into himself and adding it to his own. This will eventually drain and kill his victims if he does not release them in time. He does not mind killing, either, when it suits his purpose, though he does have a twisted sense of protection toward Lyeth (she has her uses, after all). He need not physically touch a person to use his black flames, only project them and, if the victim is caught up in them, they are his to drain. Aerik is often ruthless, cunning, sly, vicious, and incredibly polite and well-mannered. He can be warm and gentle, and is a terrific liar. If one can gain his loyalties, he makes a wonderous ally. But that is no easy task and he knows it. It has also become painfully obvious to him that many times his powers and command over the senses can become addictive. He often uses this to his advantage, but it can become almost overwhelming for both parties involved.
A sidenote: Even the act of mind speech with Aerik, over time, can allow him, subconsciously, to imprint on the signature of the person he is sending to. This means that his ability to breach mental shields, magickal or natural, increases a great deal. It also enables him to take control of another's mind with far less difficulty. He cannot control this aspect of his power. It's simply a survival instinct. And as Aerik cannot speak, he is forced to use his telepathy to communicate with others. However, he's managed to create a link with the illusionist, Gild, and casts his voice by this means. It is not magic.
Aerik's mind and body have long since completed the chemibonding, a painful and long experience that left him secluded in his room with Sai and Teksi, a full-blooded demon given to him by Scorscha, a magess, as his payment for altering Chalyss' mind from hate towards the woman into love. Aerik still has occasional flashes of the genetic alterations his body put itself through and because of this, he tends to stay in his room during these times. Aerik's body has changed...he is now a creature of both magical and mental might, his true form more astral than physical. He can, at will, switch from a solid to an intangible form. His senses have all been heightened to razor-edged keeness. His sense of touch, and being touched, is greatly amplified though his body tends to mute these sensations for his own good. He is highly sensitive to magics now, and over time will develop an immunity to any used on him for extended lengths. How long this takes depends on the magics and the power of the caster.
He's strong enough now to form very solid shields of his black flames, and can extend these over and through ones he shares a link with. Still mostly demonic, he's quite attuned to sensing other demonic presences. In a do-or-die situation, his body will automatically initiate needed changes as a last-ditch effort to preserve him. His psionics have tripled in strength... all thanks to Valyn. And, thanks to absorbing Razorshred, Aerik is now on mental level with an Elder God. Far too strong, even for him to be comfortable with. However, it may be that Shred is not totally gone, either, for one its very possible that one of such might might lose physical form, but his mind will continue on the astral plane, and as Aerik absorbed him, much as his cousin did to him, Shred may have only been slumbering in his weakened state.
Valyn is the elf who tore Lyeth's mind mercilessly apart to place Aerik in the Eshva. Valyn has become a strange kind of distraction... amusing, definitely. Entertaining, and Aerik's forms of entertainment take on various forms... such as forcing Valyn to want nothing to do with Zelgadiss Greywers, whom the elf was very nearly in love with when Valyn flippantly spurned Aerik and carelessly asked if he couldn't handle the competition. In answer, Aerik eliminated the competition through altering Valyn's emotions. Such can be the price for challenging a telepath who holds an intense link over another.
Sai Canaan is a young mutant, much like an unnatural, whom Aerik met through Lyeth. Sai has proven to be quite entertaining for the telepath, having no defenses against Aerik's power over the mind. At the moment, Aerik only toys with him, but may use him for more later....perhaps as another means to strike at Lyeth. And Sai being her friend will only add to the satisfaction. Or at least that is how Aerik viewed Sai before the R.UN.ner's Eshva body started assimilating the magicks to Aerik's unnatural abilities which, in turn, is helping Aerik to regain some of his sanity. Sai has declared his love for Aerik, wholly and genuinely of his own free will, and not stemming from Aerik's manipulations. Aerik has revealed to Sai that the emotion is returned. And its finally been known that Sai is not human..not even mutant, but syntant. One Mystic has been keeping in the dark as to his true nature so Sai could be studied. Aerik was displeased with Mystic for this, but felt no differently towards Sai for it. It's only strengthened Aerik's resolve to protect Sai from anything that would hurt him.
Unfortunately, things change. While Sai was again in one of his cocooned comas, his body altering for about 4 months, Aerik's own body was undergoing changes, leaving him as he is now, with all his flaws and needs. In fear for the unconscious Sai's safety, Aerik took another room, and agreed to an arrangement with Nicholas Laughton. Caught up in his own problems, Aerik had neglected to keep tabs of Sai's condition. This led to Sai awaking and searching Aerik out in concern... which quickly changed to hurt anger as he scented another in the room Aerik had taken. Almost insane with heartbreak, Sai went home and furied there while Aerik and Nicky battled a few issues out. It's been a long, long time since the telepath has even seen Sai, much less spoken to him, and it may be better he never does again. Sai is bitter, even hateful towards Aerik, but also doesn't know why the man apparently abandoned him. Aerik still loves Sai, as a dear friend, and that means a lot to Aerik, but Sai has other ideas. Ones of his own. So Aerik's first love has become simply one of the many to hate him now...
Jesse Raymond, filename Ei-Que... a fellow telepath and R.UN.ner who reminds Aerik of himself when he was much younger. He has watched her for some time now, having often visited the GUARD main Complex astrally when he was trapped in Lyeth's mind. Even then, he knew her power far surpassed what the GUARD had assessed... roughly half his own, which still makes her very strong psionically. Though he taunted her when they first met in the tavern, she had proven to be an ally when she covered his mind with her own shields after the Creator's punishment left him helpless. Aerik does not forget such things, and will not overlook the fact that she also had a hand in saving his life, taking command of his body after a serum Sai administered to Aerik, in the hopes of alleviating his pain from said punishment, reacted near lethally to the Eshva form. Aerik has taken to teaching Jesse the power at her disposal, enlightening her to the possibilities a telepath of her stature possesses, out of gratitude.
More than that, she and Aerik have found themselves deeply in love, soulmates and starcrossed. Both have finally come to accept the sad fact that the love will never be realized; she loves Alan, another unnatural as well... and Aerik is devoted to Nicky. Their friendship, therefore, has become an intense one. Jesse is Aerik's Father Confessor and best friend. The link shared is far more than anything Aerik's mind could create though that is also there. A deep tension exists between the two... and most likely always will, never to be explored in its possibilites.
Nicholas Laughton...a young man who is one of the few Aerik cannot use telepathy with. This kind of person is extremely rare and the inability to communicate mentally is usually a natural one. Nicholas, however, paid a small fortune for his shields, and Aerik has learned a small bit about them since the two first met in the tavern. Their's is an interesting relationship to say the least; Nicky needs a telepath to do his work, and Aerik's discovering he needs Nicky for...other reasons.
Aerik's evolution into his Eshvan body was not perfectly done...there were several small but important flaws.
In an interesting twist, Aerik awoke from a two year coma, no longer with those flaws, and Nicky no where to be found. Aerik is as yet uncertain if this man existed and erased himself from the telepath's mind, leaving him with the control he so badly desired, or if Nicky was a figment of Aerik's over-powerful subconscious, used in assisting Aerik's shattered mind to heal.
MIRROR (Arlette Sinclair)
Aerik in female guise. Once he awoke from his coma, thanks to the presence of Teksi (and possibly someone else, lurking in darkness), Aerik chose to go back to Earth, but in the form of a woman. His Eshva body easily allowed this alteration, though it rebelled against blonde hair or blue eyes, which he would have prefered. So, violet-eyed and black haired, he returned to his home as Arlette Sinclair, an unnatural French Canadian with the ability to mirror others' powers, hence why Aerik still uses his links.
He also holds a link with Shutdown, a technopath. With this link, Aerik hides himself from electronic devices that could target his filed heat signature and power signature. He's also used Aura to assist him in changing his visual signature. In otherwords, he is another person entirely when looked on in any way. Unless one can read magical signatures, which he's forgotten about and probably cannot change due to the nature of his body. But if it's pointed out to him, he could most likely at least muck it up somewhat. Maybe. He's gone so far as to remake his shields as well, creating them as pliable, softer to the mental touch, but deceptively so, undercoated and galvanized with his tremendous energies. In all ways but magical, he is not Aerik Winters. He is Arlette Sinclair (though able to bounce back effortlessly bewteen the two shapes. He will not use his female form off Earth), a new RUNner to the Lair. None but Aura know the truth.
**...G.U.A.R.D.=Genetically Unnatural Apprehensions and Research Department
The Legal Mumbo Jumbo
***R.UN.ner= Rogue Unnatural
((All Unnaturals receive their monickers from the GUARD, who use them as filenames. Whether they accept the use of the names or not is a personal choice.))
All characters contained on following pages, or their distinct likenesses, the names Unnaturals, Hunters, R.UN.ners,
GEMlabs, and G.U.A.R.D. are copyrighted under law by Rebecca Baerman, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, and 1999.
Artwork excluded in this claim would be any that she herself did not draw which belong to their respective owners
and creators legally. What will eventually be printed will not include borrowed images, and Rebecca Baerman makes no
claim to them as her own.