Background -
To understand Shun'u il'Sharil and how he became known as Neelkan (The Red Peacock) you have to go way, way back into the past. All of about the eighteen years the boy's been alive! (Ok, so not very far.) Born to parents Tiarella and Taven il'Sharil, Shun'u was the youngest child of six. Yes, ya heard that right. Six. All five of his older siblings were girls. All of 'em. Now in another society this might have been a problem, but not so in Eharon. Since he was born into a land that had women over everything, he had little voice in anything. And on top of that, his sisters (Especially Aidou!) were pains! They always made fun of him because he somehow inheriated his father's appearance (his father was an outlander).
Now under the constant torture of his taskmaster older sisters (Pa'liu, Jiang, Li'an, Mai and Aidou) and his mother's HUGE breasts (we're talking head sizes here!), Shun'u didn't grow to like women very much. And let me explain how his mother's HUGE breasts were torturous really quick before anyone gets any sick ideas. Picture an adorable, red haired little boy. Picture a big, huge breasted mother. Picture the mother hugging the boy. Picture the boy nearly suffocating. You get the idea? Good. Now let's move on! Back to the not likeing women. Shun'u grew up hating women in general. His sisters and mother and the women living around him in Eharon weren't exactly the best templates to meassure the entire sex as a whole, but that's what he did. If you're wearing a dress and look like a woman, then likely Shun'u ain't gonna like you at first sight.
Not only the fact that he was a boy living in a woman dominated world, but he was... different. And we're not talking about his hair and eyes at this point. We're talking about the dreams he would have. Horrible, evil, awful dreams. Dreams of death. Dreams of dark things. And his family would dismiss him waking up screaming and crying and stuff as normal nightmares. But they weren't. The boy was born with the ability known as Dreaming, and oddly enough it developed quite young. Before even his fifteenth year. And since this is the time of the Trolloc Wars, where war and death are key themes of the world, his dreams were never very pleasent. Suffering the dreams of a world gone mad. This is where the white streaks in his hair came from. Sometimes, during the worst of the worst, he would wake up with a white streak in his hair. This happened several times over the years, so now there are several streaks throughout. His sisters took great pride in making fun of him over this as well.
Now, growing up in Eharon, one thing that is nearly a given is the fact that from an early age he learned the art of dueling. Though he never truely honed the ability to fight with knives, and therefor it is not his best weapon. Instead he's better with blunt weapons. Namely the weapon which earned him his nickname in later years. A iron-ribbed fan. Yes. You heard that right. A fan. Hold up... How is a FAN a weapon? Well it can be used in many ways. One of which is as a stabbing weapon. The edges of an iron-ribbed fan are very sharp. They are more commonly used as a defenseive weapon. A shield against swords and knives. It opens like any other fan, but since the ribs are iron instead of paper and stuff, it's fairly sturdy and would offer a decent shield. (This is based of the Japanese tessen weapon) Other then that, he learned very few skills in his youth other then chopping wood and doing chores and cooking for his sisters. (Yes, the guy cooked. Though he would never admit to it now!)
One more thing that must be noted before I continue on is this fact. Neel is afraid of water. Yes. You heard that right. Water. Deep water. He can't swim, and he would have to be dragged onto a boat. He's terrified of it. If he had to cross a bridge ge would walk in the VERY center of it. This isn't his only fear. His other fear is that of milk. He has a complex about it. Here's Neel describing it in his own words: "Blood and ashes! When I was a baby I almost died several times when I was crushed under my ma's giant breasts. Even now I just hear about milk and I start to suffocate..."
In his fifteenth year, after a particalarly painful encounter with his older sister Aidou (older by but a year) he decided he'd had enough and ran away from home, taking just a handful of things with him. During the night, he wandered into a bandit territory. When confronted by five large men, the small (for his age) boy just balled up his fists and started yelling insults at him, not afraid at all. The leader of the group was watching off from the side and interupted before the other bandits robbed him of his money. The guy was so awe inspiring! Shun'u immediately had something he'd never had before. A male rolemodel. The man told him to go on his way, and Shun'u literally jumped on the man, clinging to his leg and begged to be allowed to join the bandits! He didn't want to be bandit really, he just wanted to be like HIM! He was SO COOL!
"Please let me join with your men!" Shun'u yelled, standing his ground in front of the much taller dark haired man who'd just saved him from the bandits.
The man's eyes narrowed, "What? Weren't ya saying earlier that a bandit was a dirty occupation?"
"I did but...but...you're different from those other guys. You're not even going after any of my belongings!"
"Who'd steal your dirty clothes and small change?" During the pause, Shun'u jumped on the taller man's leg and clings there like a small child. "Hey. Would ya leggo?"
"It's not that I wanna become a bandit. I wanna become like you. You were really cool! I wanna become a man like you!"
The bandit leader who's name was Hakurou kicked the boy off and continued towards his bandit base. Shun'u didn't take the kick for an answer and followed the guy and snuck into their base. When he got caught and dragged before the Leader, the Leader was impressed by his presistance and said he could join, giving him a new name, because Shun'u was not appropriate. Upon finding out about the boy's skill with an iron fan added onto the boy's eyes, the boy became known as Neelkan. The red peacock.
Among the bandits he learned a lot more then he ever could have at home. He learned to fight with his fists as well as with his fan and even a little with the sword. How to steal, pick locks, ect. Even though he was the youngest among the bandits, he was the Leader's favorite. And by the time the boy was sixteen he was the Leader's second. Upon being appointed second, the Leader bestowed upon him a secret known to no one else but the leader and his sucessor. The bandits had a treasure.
The Leader had always warn a pair of metal bracers on his wrists, but Neel had never really paid much attention to it. Upon reaching the Second, he was presented with a pair of earrings. Two golden hoops. If they are examined closely, on the place where the earrings meet the lobe, there is an engraving of an animal head on it. The head of a bird. A falcon actually, but once they were bestowed on Neelkan, they were no longer refered to as falcons, but as peacocks from then on. Though Neel never knew this, the earrings are ter'angreal. So were the leader's bracers. The earrings gifted the wearer (as long as he wears both) the ability to move faster. About five times faster then he normally could. Obviously a very good thing for a bandit to have! In greater detail, the earrings can only be warn and used by men who can NOT channel. They can not even have the potential to learn. That's why it doesn't work for every man. It didn't work for the Second before Neelkan. But it works for Neelkan. He may be a Dreamer, but he has no ability or even spark to channel.
Now obviously since he's seventeen at the moment, there's a whole year between when he was named Second and when the new story of his life starts (in short, RP!). Through the years with the bandits, Neel never told anyone about his strange dreams, but almost everyone knew that he rarely slept well. Also during the years, the group moved further and further north. Just a short time ago, the bandits were caught in the "crossfire" of a battle between Tower forces and Dark forces. Neelkan was injured fairly badly, and found by a Yellow Sister who took him while he was still delerious back to the Tower for healing. The bandit group has likely named him dead, and this is the point I intend to start playing him. Coming to in the Tower infirmary, still extremely weak from the healing. Poor guy's gonna freak surrounded by women!
Neel's ter'angreal -
When wearing both of the hooped earrings (has to wear both), the man is gifted with an ability of enhanced speed. It is only active in rare instances, particularly when emotions of the person wearing them are intense. Fear and anger are the two things that set it off the easiest, though in rare instances being really excited could set it off for a brief period. It never lasts very long, just a quick spurt of speed. Meaning for a few moments he moves inhumanly fast. Running, dodging, whatever. He could literally be a blur for a moment. But a few seconds after it's activated it stops working, and he'll return to regular movement. Times when this would be set off most for Neelkan is when faced with his... fears. Which as I pointed out in the background are deep water and milk. Also his hatred for women would likely cause it to go off if surrounded by them and something sets him off. This is of very little use in combat except for one brief spurt, giving him time to dodge or get a decent distance between himself and his opponent if caught in close quarters. This won't be used to attack people multiple times in one round. No getting stabbed twenty times before you even get the chance to react or anything like that. It's mostly a dodging or retreating, or moving in really quick to steal your purse kinda thing. (And for the most part for funny scenes when he freaks out cause of a woman or something and starts jumping around in blurlike motions for a second or two, then falling down once he returns to normal.) Also, this ter'angreal when used wears the person OUT. If activated too many times in a short period the person could pass out. Too many times is a rough way of saying it, but in short if it's used more then three times in an hour the guy's gonna need to lay down and take a nap, and if it's used anymore then that, he might just faint.