[ooc] Application
Name: Mori
Personal LJ:
Contact Info: forestofsleep (AIM, Plurk)
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Housing: N/A
Character Name: Marcell Csorba
Character Age: 12
Background: This part of the app is lifted and edited from his old app at luceti.
Let’s start with a bit of world history. In the Beginning, the world was made by an omnipotent, virtually omniscient being. Basically it'd been terribly bored, and after deciding that this new world was too quiet made humans as the new residents, before proceeding to sit back and watch. Since belief works in strange ways here, once humans began worshipping the elements and other things, the deities that came into existence sort of became the world’s maintenance crew.
Well, except the gods also somehow became ridiculously human and are kind of jerkasses. Better yet, both people and gods seem to keep doing things that endanger the world, mostly by accident. One such incident involved two warring nations, the balance of the world’s atmospheric energy, and the magical equivalent of an a-bomb. Once it exploded, the huge influx of magical energy released upset said balance, and the world automatically scrambled to fix itself by diverting that energy elsewhere. Turns out, people were the most convenient outlets.
So they…changed. Most of those affected changed physically, acquiring animal traits or just plain weird characteristics. A small number developed strange abilities, whether or not they changed outwardly. More still appeared to be unaffected, but their descendents would go on to develop mutations as well. This was, of course, quite some time ago.
Marcell was born in the capital city of Panevis to a single mother. He’d always been very shy and introverted; he had difficulty making friends almost solely because it was easy to forget he was even there. It wasn’t intentional; Marcell just seemed to lack a presence, which wasn’t helped by his timidity. He was the kid who sat at the back of class, and didn’t say nor was spoken to much. Sometimes he played with his classmates, but he wasn’t particularly close to anybody.
His mother, to all appearances a pleasant woman, was actually a Stepford Smiler and frankly kind of unstable. She’d been a little…worrying for a long time, but after Marcell’s father left her, it only got worse. She seemed torn as to how she felt about her son - most of the time she tried to ignore him beyond caring for his basic needs, sometimes she was a little pleased with him, other times she’d unleash her wrath upon him for something he’d done. When she was satisfied with him she occasionally gave him gifts, only to take them away or destroy them in the next moment of anger. Physical violence was rare but an ever present threat; twice she tried to kill him by drowning him in the bathtub and strangling him to death, Marcell surviving only because she changed her mind at the last moment. It was a lot like walking through a minefield.
And Marcell still loved her and tried to please her anyway. He figured that he deserved whatever he got, since he did do things that made her angry, and she was his mom so she must be knowing what she was doing, right? Even after his mother narrowly stopped short of killing him twice, he still put his faith in her in some kind of desperate, misguided belief that if he made her truly happy they could finally be a real normal family, instead of just pretending to be one. He never once told anyone about what she did, never cried for help when she tried to kill him, and never complained when she doled out punishment.
When he was 11, he came back home to find that his mother wasn’t there (which was normal) and all her things were gone (which wasn’t normal). He panicked and went out to look for her, getting himself lost in the process. Once he realized she was gone and he didn’t know where he was, he freaked out even more. Nevermind being lost; he didn’t know who to go to and would have been too afraid to ask for help anyway, and even if he had knew the way back home he was too frightened to go back. It was all irrational and stupid in hindsight, but Marcell had stuck himself out in the streets, in a violent neighbourhood in the slums, because he was too scared to do anything.
This went about as well as you’d expect.
Marcell soon started stealing to survive, but having no real idea what he was supposed to do with himself he quickly fell into dire straits. His first pickpocketing attempt had him noticed soon after and chased down. Backed into a dead-end, he once again starting panicking. Instinctively, without thinking, he put his hands together and formed a box shape with them, and suddenly he found himself in a small barrier. Of course, he had no idea how he was doing this, which only served to freak him out more, and without any other options he simply sat there and hoped that his pursuer would give up and leave.
Except he passed out from exhaustion first. Whoops.
He woke up to find that he had been rescued by his pursuer, who was one half of a pair of delinquents. Once they calmed him down, Marcell was offered a proposal: stick around and help out, and they’d teach him the ropes and try not to let him get killed out there. At that point, he was tired, hungry and desperate, and he accepted since he figured he had little else to lose. And so Marcell began living with Fabian and Kaja in an abandoned warehouse. Within the next few months, they picked up two more kids; Alp, a slave who ran away when his collar malfunctioned, and Lilya, a little girl whose eyes could induce hallucinations.
Initially, it was about using each other. The younger kids depended on the older ones for protection and shelter, the older kids found that the younger ones were useful for distractions, not to mention that two of them had abilities and the other knew how to cast magic. Over time, they grew emotionally dependent on each other because they were all kids who had no where else to go, effectively becoming each other’s “substitute family”. Life was rough and there weren’t too many soft edges to it, but they could deal with it.
There’s not a whole lot of interesting things to talk about during the year or so Marcell’s been with them. They were forced to leave the warehouse when it was reacquired, moving down to the sewers. A few weeks later they discovered that they could travel to a manhole behind a mansion located in the inner districts through the sewers; Fabian had the bright idea of sneaking inside during a party to steal something to be pawned off. Then he got arrested trying that, ahahaha...ha...
When Fabian was released a few months later, he declared that they were going to get out of the city, once the winter was over. They moved up from the sewers to an abandoned house (that they really weren’t supposed to be in, but since when did people care?), and have begun to attempt stockpiling as much preserved food and supplies for their journey as possible.
And this is when Marcell wakes up in Mayfield.
Personality: Marcell is an easily frightened, withdrawn kid. He is incredibly jumpy, more so in unfamiliar environments or situations, and has a rather deer-in-the-headlights way of reacting to them, if he doesn’t just back up as much as he can. He prefers to keep his head down and tends to not say much, coming off as distant and quiet when he’s not busy being afraid. Marcell is a natural introvert, which has both grown better and worse through his life experiences, and it’s unlikely he’ll ever grow out of it. He can be a bit difficult to be around sometimes though, as he’s something of a natural depressive; he doesn’t seem to be happy very often.
It’s easy to write him off as just a jittery kid, which...well, it’s not incorrect. His general caution towards most everything has its roots in mild paranoia and a very, very real fear of being harmed. Marcell has lived most of his life where safety was, at most, uncertain; there was the ever present threat of punishment if he stepped out of line or did anything deemed wrong, and the distinct possibility that this time he might not be so lucky and he could die. Having nearly been killed twice and now stuck in a violent neighbourhood where it’s not uncommon for people to simply be gone one day, he finds it easier to assume that anything and everything can hurt him if they wanted to, and they won’t necessarily show any mercy just because he’s young.
In part because of the environment he grew up and lives in, Marcell has a very jaded view of the world for a 12-year old. As evidenced by his belief that people may not act merciful towards him if he crossed them, he doesn’t have much faith in the goodness of people. In the end, people are out to ensure their continued survival, after all. He thinks that kindness and love are things he has to earn and constantly prove himself as being worthy of, because people don’t want to waste their time on someone who cannot benefit them in some way. Since he lives with people who are basically thieves and “outsiders” to normal society, Marcell is wary of authority figures and most adults -- again, he doesn’t think they would be very sympathetic or understanding, his own experiences with adults ranging from neutral to horribly, horribly negative.
Tying in to the earlier mentioned paranoia somewhat, Marcell is observant and perceptive, filing away information deemed important for later use. Considering his age, he’s surprisingly practical and matter-of-fact - don't attract attention, run don't fight, and don't ever, ever reveal the extent of your muscle unless you absolutely must. It’s cowardly, but he knows his limitations and that trouble is the last thing he needs. He doesn't like using his barrier ability if it'll give it away to other people simply because he doesn't want to put all his cards on the table, so to speak.
Marcell might be called mature by some, though “cynical” and “passive” are equally good substitutes. Beneath his tendency to be afraid of almost everything at one point or another, he has an incredible capacity to endure emotional abuse and hold back his feelings -- though arguably this is more because he’s resigned to his lot in life, and it’s probably not the most healthy way of coping with anything. Despite the fact he’s easily terrified, Marcell is also one of those people who you can insult and bully mercilessly and all he’ll do is take it passively. Actually, he’d try to run away first, but if that’s not possible he will just steel himself and hope that eventually he’ll be left alone. He has been put too many times into helpless and/or powerless positions, where fighting back frequently meant worse retribution, so he only really knows how to deal with problems by avoiding them or passively enduring them, but never actually confronting them.
This only holds true until violence gets involved, however. The very second it becomes violent, and especially when the violence is directed at him, Marcell will kick and scream and defend himself, even if it’s only so much so that he can run away at the soonest opportunity. He associates violence with the possibility of death following it, and although he personally believes he will have a very short life, he does not want to die. Self-preservation, he has it, now that he’s no longer living with his mother. He will freak out if it looks like someone is trying to hurt him, and if he cannot escape or effectively fight back somehow Marcell will be reduced to a ball of trauma and fear.
Unsurprisingly considering everything that has been said at this point, Marcell has a feeble sense of self-esteem. He has grown up with the distinct sense that he wasn’t wanted, when he wasn’t being told that he was useless or wrong or both by his mother. Combined with her abandonment and finding himself sitting on the fringes of society, Marcell feels as if he doesn’t deserve nice things. Surely, there must be something wrong with him if he couldn’t win over her love when other kids could so easily earn their parents’. And if he couldn’t make his own mother happy, what makes him think he could make anyone else possibly want him? It’s this kind of thinking that drags him down from moving forward, filled with doubt over his worth as a person. It has gotten better somewhat, since his friends have given him a greater sense of worth than before, but he’s still a long way from forgiving himself.
Okay, so despite being a downer and kind of a spineless wimp, Marcell does have some upsides to his personality. Once he starts feeling comfortable around someone he relaxes considerably -- he’s more willing to talk and give his opinions, and generally less outwardly frightened. He doesn't really know how to talk to people when he doesn't already know them well, and he’s incredibly easy to fluster and tease since he hasn’t socialized much. He’s an affection-starved child, so he tends to grow attached to those who are consistently nice to him and those who willingly protect him. Uh, that said, he’s also pretty bad when it comes to expressing his own feelings; he’s uncomfortable trying to be kind or nice without feeling he has to cover up for it in some way. An important thing to note is that despite everything, Marcell isn’t particularly angry or hateful -- resigned, yes, frustrated sometimes, yes, but he’s generally too...tired to really muster any anger at the world.
He is kind of a doormat and jumps at every little thing, but at the same time you don’t last long on the street if you don’t grow some spine quickly. He has no qualms about pickpocketing people, which requires getting up close and personal to them to snatch their wallets -- not exactly something you’d expect from someone like him. Marcell does feel a little guilty sometimes, but as long as he can continue justifying his actions he won’t stop, especially when the group’s survival depends on how much each of them can contribute. He also has a very intense sense of group loyalty. There is very little he won’t do for his friends back home - they're a replacement family, and maybe it won’t last but they’re all he really has and that’s what matters, as far as he’s concerned. He places a lot of trust and love in them, as people who protect and care for him despite what he believes is his own worthlessness, and they are the primary reason he tries so hard to prove that they did not misplace their trust.
Ultimately, Marcell is just a deeply traumatized kid who doesn’t realize the true extent of his issues, doesn’t want to admit he’s messed up, and doesn’t have the time or means to deal with them. Underneath all the layers of introversion, jade-tint, fear and unhappiness, he’s still a good kid who wants nothing more than for him and his friends to achieve a Happy Ending, even if he still believes that may be too much to ask for.
Abilities: Marcell first of all naturally has an abnormal excess of magical energy. This has only done two things for him; giving him a slightly better-than-average resistance to magic (which includes restorative/healing magic), and the special ability to create a barrier. As a side note, the country he is from suffers from a curse placed upon it due to some world backstory things, rendering all of its citizens incapable of using magic despite the fact they should be able to otherwise. Marcell is no exception. That excess energy he has can only be used for his barrier, and nothing else.
Abilities that result from excess magical energy are considered separate from true “magic” in his world, although they may achieve similar effects. While magic can be summed up as “willing the laws of physics into being your bitch”, special abilities tend to be centred around abstract concepts and instead bend reality to achieve effects. Marcell’s barrier ability is based on “isolation”, and it manifests as an invisible boxed-shaped barrier. By forming his hands into a box shape, he is able to form the barrier around him almost instantaneously. The barrier is always box-shaped, and anyone inside will be cut off from everything outside, including oxygen. The area inside the barrier will look like how it would be without people to outsiders, and the area outside the barrier will similarly look like how it would without anyone to everyone inside; he can also do it without the illusion. In his world its the equivalent of (almost) Ultimate Defense -- only very powerful abilities can penetrate the barrier, and it essentially functions as if it is its own separate, self-contained “world” despite not actually being one.
He instinctively knows how much oxygen is left within the barrier, and can detect people right outside the barrier. He can make the barrier larger or smaller, but can't move it and can't let anything enter or leave it without taking the whole thing down first. Also, any barrier he makes cannot exclude him as it's formed around him. Larger barriers are more difficult to maintain and tire him out more quickly. Aside from the fact it’s limited by how much oxygen is left and his own stamina, it has one other weakness -- it only forms a “perfect” box if there is nothing to act as a floor (such as in midair or in the water). If there’s ground directly beneath it, it won’t bother to protect that side -- technically, someone could tunnel into the barrier this way. Mods are free to nerf the barrier’s power if they feel it is too powerful and/or gamebreaking.
On the more mundane side, he’s a fast runner and good climber, as well as surprisingly dexterous from being a pickpocket, but it’s nothing extraordinary.
Personal LJ:
Contact Info: forestofsleep (AIM, Plurk)
Other Characters Played: N/A
Preferred Housing: N/A
Character Name: Marcell Csorba
Character Age: 12
Background: This part of the app is lifted and edited from his old app at luceti.
Let’s start with a bit of world history. In the Beginning, the world was made by an omnipotent, virtually omniscient being. Basically it'd been terribly bored, and after deciding that this new world was too quiet made humans as the new residents, before proceeding to sit back and watch. Since belief works in strange ways here, once humans began worshipping the elements and other things, the deities that came into existence sort of became the world’s maintenance crew.
Well, except the gods also somehow became ridiculously human and are kind of jerkasses. Better yet, both people and gods seem to keep doing things that endanger the world, mostly by accident. One such incident involved two warring nations, the balance of the world’s atmospheric energy, and the magical equivalent of an a-bomb. Once it exploded, the huge influx of magical energy released upset said balance, and the world automatically scrambled to fix itself by diverting that energy elsewhere. Turns out, people were the most convenient outlets.
So they…changed. Most of those affected changed physically, acquiring animal traits or just plain weird characteristics. A small number developed strange abilities, whether or not they changed outwardly. More still appeared to be unaffected, but their descendents would go on to develop mutations as well. This was, of course, quite some time ago.
Marcell was born in the capital city of Panevis to a single mother. He’d always been very shy and introverted; he had difficulty making friends almost solely because it was easy to forget he was even there. It wasn’t intentional; Marcell just seemed to lack a presence, which wasn’t helped by his timidity. He was the kid who sat at the back of class, and didn’t say nor was spoken to much. Sometimes he played with his classmates, but he wasn’t particularly close to anybody.
His mother, to all appearances a pleasant woman, was actually a Stepford Smiler and frankly kind of unstable. She’d been a little…worrying for a long time, but after Marcell’s father left her, it only got worse. She seemed torn as to how she felt about her son - most of the time she tried to ignore him beyond caring for his basic needs, sometimes she was a little pleased with him, other times she’d unleash her wrath upon him for something he’d done. When she was satisfied with him she occasionally gave him gifts, only to take them away or destroy them in the next moment of anger. Physical violence was rare but an ever present threat; twice she tried to kill him by drowning him in the bathtub and strangling him to death, Marcell surviving only because she changed her mind at the last moment. It was a lot like walking through a minefield.
And Marcell still loved her and tried to please her anyway. He figured that he deserved whatever he got, since he did do things that made her angry, and she was his mom so she must be knowing what she was doing, right? Even after his mother narrowly stopped short of killing him twice, he still put his faith in her in some kind of desperate, misguided belief that if he made her truly happy they could finally be a real normal family, instead of just pretending to be one. He never once told anyone about what she did, never cried for help when she tried to kill him, and never complained when she doled out punishment.
When he was 11, he came back home to find that his mother wasn’t there (which was normal) and all her things were gone (which wasn’t normal). He panicked and went out to look for her, getting himself lost in the process. Once he realized she was gone and he didn’t know where he was, he freaked out even more. Nevermind being lost; he didn’t know who to go to and would have been too afraid to ask for help anyway, and even if he had knew the way back home he was too frightened to go back. It was all irrational and stupid in hindsight, but Marcell had stuck himself out in the streets, in a violent neighbourhood in the slums, because he was too scared to do anything.
This went about as well as you’d expect.
Marcell soon started stealing to survive, but having no real idea what he was supposed to do with himself he quickly fell into dire straits. His first pickpocketing attempt had him noticed soon after and chased down. Backed into a dead-end, he once again starting panicking. Instinctively, without thinking, he put his hands together and formed a box shape with them, and suddenly he found himself in a small barrier. Of course, he had no idea how he was doing this, which only served to freak him out more, and without any other options he simply sat there and hoped that his pursuer would give up and leave.
Except he passed out from exhaustion first. Whoops.
He woke up to find that he had been rescued by his pursuer, who was one half of a pair of delinquents. Once they calmed him down, Marcell was offered a proposal: stick around and help out, and they’d teach him the ropes and try not to let him get killed out there. At that point, he was tired, hungry and desperate, and he accepted since he figured he had little else to lose. And so Marcell began living with Fabian and Kaja in an abandoned warehouse. Within the next few months, they picked up two more kids; Alp, a slave who ran away when his collar malfunctioned, and Lilya, a little girl whose eyes could induce hallucinations.
Initially, it was about using each other. The younger kids depended on the older ones for protection and shelter, the older kids found that the younger ones were useful for distractions, not to mention that two of them had abilities and the other knew how to cast magic. Over time, they grew emotionally dependent on each other because they were all kids who had no where else to go, effectively becoming each other’s “substitute family”. Life was rough and there weren’t too many soft edges to it, but they could deal with it.
There’s not a whole lot of interesting things to talk about during the year or so Marcell’s been with them. They were forced to leave the warehouse when it was reacquired, moving down to the sewers. A few weeks later they discovered that they could travel to a manhole behind a mansion located in the inner districts through the sewers; Fabian had the bright idea of sneaking inside during a party to steal something to be pawned off. Then he got arrested trying that, ahahaha...ha...
When Fabian was released a few months later, he declared that they were going to get out of the city, once the winter was over. They moved up from the sewers to an abandoned house (that they really weren’t supposed to be in, but since when did people care?), and have begun to attempt stockpiling as much preserved food and supplies for their journey as possible.
And this is when Marcell wakes up in Mayfield.
Personality: Marcell is an easily frightened, withdrawn kid. He is incredibly jumpy, more so in unfamiliar environments or situations, and has a rather deer-in-the-headlights way of reacting to them, if he doesn’t just back up as much as he can. He prefers to keep his head down and tends to not say much, coming off as distant and quiet when he’s not busy being afraid. Marcell is a natural introvert, which has both grown better and worse through his life experiences, and it’s unlikely he’ll ever grow out of it. He can be a bit difficult to be around sometimes though, as he’s something of a natural depressive; he doesn’t seem to be happy very often.
It’s easy to write him off as just a jittery kid, which...well, it’s not incorrect. His general caution towards most everything has its roots in mild paranoia and a very, very real fear of being harmed. Marcell has lived most of his life where safety was, at most, uncertain; there was the ever present threat of punishment if he stepped out of line or did anything deemed wrong, and the distinct possibility that this time he might not be so lucky and he could die. Having nearly been killed twice and now stuck in a violent neighbourhood where it’s not uncommon for people to simply be gone one day, he finds it easier to assume that anything and everything can hurt him if they wanted to, and they won’t necessarily show any mercy just because he’s young.
In part because of the environment he grew up and lives in, Marcell has a very jaded view of the world for a 12-year old. As evidenced by his belief that people may not act merciful towards him if he crossed them, he doesn’t have much faith in the goodness of people. In the end, people are out to ensure their continued survival, after all. He thinks that kindness and love are things he has to earn and constantly prove himself as being worthy of, because people don’t want to waste their time on someone who cannot benefit them in some way. Since he lives with people who are basically thieves and “outsiders” to normal society, Marcell is wary of authority figures and most adults -- again, he doesn’t think they would be very sympathetic or understanding, his own experiences with adults ranging from neutral to horribly, horribly negative.
Tying in to the earlier mentioned paranoia somewhat, Marcell is observant and perceptive, filing away information deemed important for later use. Considering his age, he’s surprisingly practical and matter-of-fact - don't attract attention, run don't fight, and don't ever, ever reveal the extent of your muscle unless you absolutely must. It’s cowardly, but he knows his limitations and that trouble is the last thing he needs. He doesn't like using his barrier ability if it'll give it away to other people simply because he doesn't want to put all his cards on the table, so to speak.
Marcell might be called mature by some, though “cynical” and “passive” are equally good substitutes. Beneath his tendency to be afraid of almost everything at one point or another, he has an incredible capacity to endure emotional abuse and hold back his feelings -- though arguably this is more because he’s resigned to his lot in life, and it’s probably not the most healthy way of coping with anything. Despite the fact he’s easily terrified, Marcell is also one of those people who you can insult and bully mercilessly and all he’ll do is take it passively. Actually, he’d try to run away first, but if that’s not possible he will just steel himself and hope that eventually he’ll be left alone. He has been put too many times into helpless and/or powerless positions, where fighting back frequently meant worse retribution, so he only really knows how to deal with problems by avoiding them or passively enduring them, but never actually confronting them.
This only holds true until violence gets involved, however. The very second it becomes violent, and especially when the violence is directed at him, Marcell will kick and scream and defend himself, even if it’s only so much so that he can run away at the soonest opportunity. He associates violence with the possibility of death following it, and although he personally believes he will have a very short life, he does not want to die. Self-preservation, he has it, now that he’s no longer living with his mother. He will freak out if it looks like someone is trying to hurt him, and if he cannot escape or effectively fight back somehow Marcell will be reduced to a ball of trauma and fear.
Unsurprisingly considering everything that has been said at this point, Marcell has a feeble sense of self-esteem. He has grown up with the distinct sense that he wasn’t wanted, when he wasn’t being told that he was useless or wrong or both by his mother. Combined with her abandonment and finding himself sitting on the fringes of society, Marcell feels as if he doesn’t deserve nice things. Surely, there must be something wrong with him if he couldn’t win over her love when other kids could so easily earn their parents’. And if he couldn’t make his own mother happy, what makes him think he could make anyone else possibly want him? It’s this kind of thinking that drags him down from moving forward, filled with doubt over his worth as a person. It has gotten better somewhat, since his friends have given him a greater sense of worth than before, but he’s still a long way from forgiving himself.
Okay, so despite being a downer and kind of a spineless wimp, Marcell does have some upsides to his personality. Once he starts feeling comfortable around someone he relaxes considerably -- he’s more willing to talk and give his opinions, and generally less outwardly frightened. He doesn't really know how to talk to people when he doesn't already know them well, and he’s incredibly easy to fluster and tease since he hasn’t socialized much. He’s an affection-starved child, so he tends to grow attached to those who are consistently nice to him and those who willingly protect him. Uh, that said, he’s also pretty bad when it comes to expressing his own feelings; he’s uncomfortable trying to be kind or nice without feeling he has to cover up for it in some way. An important thing to note is that despite everything, Marcell isn’t particularly angry or hateful -- resigned, yes, frustrated sometimes, yes, but he’s generally too...tired to really muster any anger at the world.
He is kind of a doormat and jumps at every little thing, but at the same time you don’t last long on the street if you don’t grow some spine quickly. He has no qualms about pickpocketing people, which requires getting up close and personal to them to snatch their wallets -- not exactly something you’d expect from someone like him. Marcell does feel a little guilty sometimes, but as long as he can continue justifying his actions he won’t stop, especially when the group’s survival depends on how much each of them can contribute. He also has a very intense sense of group loyalty. There is very little he won’t do for his friends back home - they're a replacement family, and maybe it won’t last but they’re all he really has and that’s what matters, as far as he’s concerned. He places a lot of trust and love in them, as people who protect and care for him despite what he believes is his own worthlessness, and they are the primary reason he tries so hard to prove that they did not misplace their trust.
Ultimately, Marcell is just a deeply traumatized kid who doesn’t realize the true extent of his issues, doesn’t want to admit he’s messed up, and doesn’t have the time or means to deal with them. Underneath all the layers of introversion, jade-tint, fear and unhappiness, he’s still a good kid who wants nothing more than for him and his friends to achieve a Happy Ending, even if he still believes that may be too much to ask for.
Abilities: Marcell first of all naturally has an abnormal excess of magical energy. This has only done two things for him; giving him a slightly better-than-average resistance to magic (which includes restorative/healing magic), and the special ability to create a barrier. As a side note, the country he is from suffers from a curse placed upon it due to some world backstory things, rendering all of its citizens incapable of using magic despite the fact they should be able to otherwise. Marcell is no exception. That excess energy he has can only be used for his barrier, and nothing else.
Abilities that result from excess magical energy are considered separate from true “magic” in his world, although they may achieve similar effects. While magic can be summed up as “willing the laws of physics into being your bitch”, special abilities tend to be centred around abstract concepts and instead bend reality to achieve effects. Marcell’s barrier ability is based on “isolation”, and it manifests as an invisible boxed-shaped barrier. By forming his hands into a box shape, he is able to form the barrier around him almost instantaneously. The barrier is always box-shaped, and anyone inside will be cut off from everything outside, including oxygen. The area inside the barrier will look like how it would be without people to outsiders, and the area outside the barrier will similarly look like how it would without anyone to everyone inside; he can also do it without the illusion. In his world its the equivalent of (almost) Ultimate Defense -- only very powerful abilities can penetrate the barrier, and it essentially functions as if it is its own separate, self-contained “world” despite not actually being one.
He instinctively knows how much oxygen is left within the barrier, and can detect people right outside the barrier. He can make the barrier larger or smaller, but can't move it and can't let anything enter or leave it without taking the whole thing down first. Also, any barrier he makes cannot exclude him as it's formed around him. Larger barriers are more difficult to maintain and tire him out more quickly. Aside from the fact it’s limited by how much oxygen is left and his own stamina, it has one other weakness -- it only forms a “perfect” box if there is nothing to act as a floor (such as in midair or in the water). If there’s ground directly beneath it, it won’t bother to protect that side -- technically, someone could tunnel into the barrier this way. Mods are free to nerf the barrier’s power if they feel it is too powerful and/or gamebreaking.
On the more mundane side, he’s a fast runner and good climber, as well as surprisingly dexterous from being a pickpocket, but it’s nothing extraordinary.