Lithium
Stats
- Gender: Male
- Sexuality: Bisexual
- Height: 183cm
- Age: Middle aged
Biography
- As a child, Lithium grew up in a privileged household, but his upbringing was largely cold and without genuine love from his parents. Despite this, he constantly strove to impress them and be seen as a "good" boy. His father was generally unwilling to connect with his son, and his mother treated him as an accessory whose accomplishments became her own.
- On the other hand, Lithium was very close with his sisters growing up. They stuck together and supported one another as best as they could throughout childhood, with Antimony consoling Lithium, and both Lithium and Antimony protecting Arsenic.
- In part to escape his awkward home life, and in part because he is naturally a bit of a loner, he left his home world at the tail-end of his adolescence. He worked largely on survey missions for the Imperium to which his home planet belongs. His duties involved observing and reporting on the conditions of planets that were potential candidates for colonization. He sincerely enjoyed the experience of learning about other worlds, cultures, and people. He developed a budding interest in science and biology during his travels, after witnessing firsthand the diversity of life the universe has to offer.
- Eventually Lithium left his surveyor position with a desire to travel beyond the bounds of the Imperium. He became something of a drifter during the latter half of his young adulthood, never staying in one place for long, traveling farther and farther away from the place of his birth. An escape, but to this day he feels deep guilt and regret over abandoning his sisters. He imagines that they now hate him or no longer care for him.
- At the beginning of his middle age, he suffered an accident in deep space which resulted in the loss of several parts of his flesh and a few organs. The other passengers of the vessel on which he was traveling assumed he couldn't be saved, and so left him for dead. Luckily a passing scavenging ship found him before the worst could happen, but the quack doctor onboard did a shoddy job stitching him back together. He was subsequently dropped off at the nearest non-hostile planet in poor health with the once-detached parts of his body permanently rendered pale and numb.
- After his accident and failed surgery Lithium became determined to fix himself up. But, being in a solar system far from his home planet, the doctors here had no experience operating on his species, so they refused to see him. Out of spite he applied for medical schooling, and was accepted. However, by the time he had performed enough research to heal himself, his injuries were too far into their scarring to be made brand new again. After this setback he still resolved to study hard in the hopes of saving other individuals in similar circumstances.
- During his studies his lack of social skills give him a hard time. Friendships he made soon dissolved over misunderstandings or mistreatment in one direction or the other. While he and the friends he made went their separate ways, his mood lowered into the ground, making him seem even unfriendlier than before and making new friendships unlikely.
- With no friends to speak of and most of his academic bridges burned, Lithium graduated and set up a clinic and research laboratory near a colony on an isolated moon.
- Further into his career as a doctor, he gradually started to disregard the ethics of medicine and became something of a "mad scientist". He made a habit of patching injured people together in much the same way as he was originally disfigured, rekindling his obsession with finding a way to heal his scars. He started developing new experimental treatments, performing experiments on patients without their consent, and reanimating corpses with a sick fascination. He soon became obsessed with any kind of gore or dismemberment. Once word got out, it lead to the loss of his medical license.
- Slipping further back into his comfort zone of isolation, the only social contact he received later in life came from his "patients", i.e. anyone unlucky enough to stumble upon his laboratory.
- After some time, Lithium made an unlikely friend in an organism belonging to an unknown species. After it arrives at his clinic apparently badly hurt, he nurses it back to health with the ulterior motive of eventually studying and experimenting on it. He names it Hydra and teaches it to speak his language. Lithium soon discovers that Hydra has amazing powers of mimicry, and it learns to form itself into a humanoid shape. Hydra eventually perfects this shape and adopts a feminine manner. Hydra now works as Lithium's loyal assistant, unfortunately enabling him in his grotesque experiments. She allows Lithium to perform experiments on her as well, possibly out of gratitude for his saving her life.
Personality
- Lithium has a hard time getting his emotions across correctly, partly because of lack of experience stemming from his long periods of self-imposed isolation. His usual lack of facial expression often makes him appear indifferent. It looks like a "resting bitch face" to some. His monotone voice doesn't help matters.
- However, on the inside, he is extremely sensitive and sentimental. He has strong empathy for others and loves his friends deeply. Idealizing close, deep, and vulnerable connections, he has a hard time not getting too attached to friends, and is deeply hurt when others don't care for him as much as he does for them. Knowing this, over the years he has become less receptive to friendships and will only allow the occasional one or two people in.
- No matter how much (or how little) he tries to pretend otherwise or ignore it, deep down Lithium has very low self-worth and self-esteem. In his younger years, this lead to him settling time and time again for friendships and relationships with people who didn't respect him. He tries to connect with people on a genuine and vulnerable level, but they usually just see through to his lack of confidence and dismiss him as a nuisance. Eventually he snaps and cuts contact once he realizes they don't care, or gradually moves on to the next group of people who he believes will treat him better. And so the cycle continued until his graduation from medical school, after which his isolation began.
- Lithium has developed an extreme sensitivity to any disrespect, real or perceived. He has a habit of assuming that someone is mocking him or otherwise treating him with contempt, and will preemptively defend himself with excessive aggression. If he senses (correctly or incorrectly) that he is being rejected by those he cares about, he reacts venomously, with all empathy going out the window.
- As he gets older, he embraces his externally-perceived role as a grumpy old man, evolving from a common introvert into what some might describe as a misanthrope.
- Lithium has always been a moody fellow, but his isolation and resulting poor mental health have developed the problem even further. His mood swings have intensified, resulting in bursts of hyperactivity and mania. It is during these times that he performs some of his most cruel procedures with no regard for his patients' well-being. In the aftermath he usually becomes dejected and retreats to his personal rooms for days on end.
