[damned] NS-Only Application
Name/Handle: Sun
Age: over 18
Gender: Female
Timezone: Central
Personal LJ: sunsingergirl
E-Mail: sunsingergirl[at]gmail[dot]com
AIM/other: sunsingergirl on AIM and Plurk
Is English your primary language?: Yes
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Series: InuYasha
Series' Medium: Animanga
Character: Naraku
Age: He's technically 50 years old, but he only appears to be 23.
Sex/Gender: He's male, in every which way you could possibly think of.
Canon Role: Villain. >D:
How long have you roleplayed your character, if at all?:
For a few months; I'm not entirely sure anymore just how long.
Where have you roleplayed in general and/or with this specific character?:
...at this same game. And another two. >>
Are you personally familiar with your character's canon?:
I have seen the vast majority of the anime, and have followed the episodes through to the very end. Never touched the manga though, so he'd be from the anime.
Please give us a personal history of your character's life:
*I went ahead and just used details of the series that were relevant to Naraku himself; this skips a lot of episodes that were just about the protagonists and other side adventures. One problem with canon is that a lot of the details tend to get handwaved and/or just plain not explained in depth - such as how exactly the Jewel is burned with Kikyo's body and ends up inside Kagome 500 years later. Chalk it up to magic? Lol. Also, the fact that Kagome is actually from so far in the future is only knowledge privy to certain characters - mainly members of Inuyasha's small group of friends. Naraku, obviously, is not made aware of this fact; he just knows that she's Kikyo's reincarnation.
**I'll also be forfeiting the history from his recent stint as a regular patient; he'll be taken straight from the same point in canon as before, with no memory of ever being a patient of Landel's Institute.
Naraku was born sometime during the Feudal Era of Japan as Onigumo; nothing else is told of his early life, but it's known that he grew up to be a bandit. Effectively stealing the band of thieves from his leader by tricking and betraying him, Onigumo made a very lethal enemy, and this was proven by the way the former leader returned and blew up the inn that they were staying at. However, Onigumo somehow managed to survive the explosion, and the leader, now once again in charge of his bandits, took the villain's charred body and threw him into a river, thinking it would kill him once and for all.
Onigumo was instead found by the priestess Kikyo, who hid him in a cave near her village. She tried to nurse him back to full health in secret, but it was apparent that he would never be the same. After some time, he was able to speak again, but he couldn't walk or move at all, and it was unlikely that he ever would again; lying in the cave, wrapped in bandages, until he died seemed like the only prognosis for the once-great bandit.
Throughout this time, he developed an obsession with Kikyo, and he eventually called a multitude of minor demons to him, making a deal with them: they could consume his body and essence in exchange for becoming a part of him and giving him their demonic power. This sickening and desperate event changed the very nature of Onigumo's being, turning him into a hanyou (half-demon) named Naraku. Because of this very unorthodox transformation, it also gave him the power to change his form at will, taking on whatever appearance he wished. This new power came in handy when he set out from the cave, completely reborn, to take his revenge on Kikyo for “betraying” him with her lover Inuyasha - another half-demon, one with his heart set on taking the Shikon Jewel for his own gain. The Shikon Jewel was an artifact that set Kikyo apart from other priestesses; it contained an enormous amount of power, which called to power-hungry demons and humans alike. Kikyo was its guardian, and Onigumo overheard her plans to use the Jewel to change Inuyasha into a human, so they could be together, and she could become a normal woman, with a family. This was, in fact, what prompted him to become Naraku.
It's unclear exactly how much Onigumo knew of Kikyo's relationship with Inuyasha, but it's obvious that his reason for transforming into the villainous Naraku was because he realized that he could not have Kikyo, with the state his body was in after the attack from his former leader. He saw her relationship with Inuyasha as a challenge from the other hanyou, and a failure on Kikyo's part. Once he had the power of the demons on his side, Naraku set out to take his revenge on the lovers while also taking the Shikon Jewel and its power for himself.
His plan was set into action at dawn the morning after his transformation, when he attacked Kikyo in a field near the village. He used Inuyasha's appearance for this attack, to mislead the priestess into thinking her lover had betrayed her for the Jewel she was protecting. This led to a sort of domino effect; Kikyo in turn attacked Inuyasha upon seeing him near the village, which led Inuyasha to believe that she had betrayed him; he destroyed half the village to reach the Shikon Jewel, taking it for himself at last - all the while with Naraku waiting and watching in the shadows as his plan unfolded perfectly and the two lovers basically killed each other. The first hitch in his plan, however, occurred when, instead of shooting to kill, Kikyo merely pinned Inuyasha to the sacred tree near the village's shrine with a sacred arrow, placing him under a spell. The spell bound him to the tree and forced him to sleep; by successfully sealing him to the tree, Kikyo stopped the battle without incurring any more harm to the village or its inhabitants. She died soon after, though; the wound Naraku had inflicted upon her using Inuyasha's claws was fatal, and she bled out at the foot of the shrine.
This was the point at which his plan failed a second time; instead of letting the Jewel become tainted with her sorrow and anger at her lover's betrayal, Kikyo asked her sister to burn the Jewel with her body, so no demon could get a hold of it and use it for evil. This also forced Naraku to remain in hiding, waiting and watching for the day the Jewel would reappear in the world.
After fifty full years of causing secret havoc wherever he could, the Jewel reappeared; it's unknown how Naraku was made aware of this turn of events, but he immediately began to tour the countryside, searching for the scattered pieces of the Jewel - which was broken by Kikyo's reincarnation. Of course, he knew of his enemies' - a newly-unsealed Inuyasha and Kagome, Kikyo's reincarnation - journey to gather as many of the shards they could find, but he worked to find them faster, and to keep himself relatively unknown to them as he did so. This worked for a time - until the duo discovered a monk in one village. This monk's name was Miroku, and he told them of a curse that had been placed upon his grandfather (who had been a real pervert); a half-demon named Naraku had placed a Wind Tunnel in the monk's hand, and it had been passed down through the generations to Miroku. This was the first time Inuyasha actually heard the name of the person who drove Kikyo and himself apart - though he didn't realize it until later.
After Kagome and Inuyasha teamed up with Miroku, Naraku gave a human arm with a Jewel shard embedded into it to Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's older half-brother; the human arm was meant to replace the one that Inuyasha himself had cut off, and it was also to give Sesshomaru a chance to take the Tessaiga (a sword that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's father left him, one of great power) from the hanyou. This was a ploy to both distract Sesshomaru and weaken Inuyasha; it did not succeed, as the arm worked at first, but dissolved soon after Sesshomaru took it from Naraku, and Inuyasha managed to take the broadsword back from his half-brother. Afterward, Inuyasha and the others decided to pursue trying to figure out just who this hidden enemy really was, and Sesshomaru declared Naraku his enemy for his trickery.
Soon after they began to really make some progress unraveling the mystery of the man in the cave, Naraku appeared and actually told them who he was - and that he was responsible for Kikyo's death and Inuyasha's sealing. After escaping once again, Naraku began another plot to take down his potential enemies; by tricking a band of skilled demon slayers, Naraku took full advantage of the only survivor, a young female demon slayer named Sango, telling her that Inuyasha was the one who was responsible for her friends' and family's deaths and the destruction of her village. He gave her a Jewel shard to give her strength, under the pretense that he wanted to help her gain revenge on Inuyasha for killing her brother and father and annhilating her home village. Once he realized that his plan was failing, however, Naraku abandoned the original plan and revealed himself by sending one of his demon puppets to face off against part of the group. This failed plan inadvertently caused Sango to team up with Inuyasha and his friends, making them stronger.
After regrouping, Naraku hatched yet another scheme; this time, he resurrected Sango's dead brother Kohaku with a Jewel shard, erasing his memories to allow him to actually function without the severe burden that they left him with. He ended up using Kohaku against Sango, making a deal with her to bring the Tessaiga to him in exchange for letting her brother live forever. Once she arrived, however, Naraku ended up having to face off against her and the rest of the gang. He disappeared from the fight, though, when they appeared to be getting the better of him.
Sometime after he and his castle disappeared, Naraku discovered that Kikyo had been resurrected, and he kidnapped her away to a secret lair he'd made for himself, inside the holy mountain, Mt. Hakurei. He somehow persuaded Kikyo to take the Jewel shards from her reincarnation as he distracted the rest of the group with a deadly curse. They managed to escape, but not until after Kikyo disappeared with their shards.
When a band of wolf demons decided to raid a seemingly abandoned castle, Naraku attempted to take this opportunity to steal their leader's Jewel shards (embedded in his legs) and slew the entire pack; he very nearly managed to pin this on Inuyasha and his friends, which would have provided another enemy for Inuyasha, who would distract him from his main goal. But they discovered one of Naraku's demon puppets inside the castle and realized the truth; this in turn created a new enemy for Naraku himself: Koga, leader of the wolf demon tribe. He declared that he would take his revenge upon Naraku before Inuyasha and sped off.
Sometime around this point, Naraku began to create incarnations from his own body - basically, beings created from his body that he could control, each by different means. One of the most notable of these incarnations was Kagura, a wind sorceress; Naraku controlled her by keeping her own heart hidden from her, threatening to crush it and end her existence unless she did just what he said. This effectively kept Kagura under Naraku's thumb as he continued to gather as many shards as he could. He used her quite often to distract Inuyasha and friends while he got away.
About the same time that Kagura made her appearance to the heroes, so did Kanna; another incarnation of Naraku's, she was a small, white-haired girl who never spoke and carried a mirror with her everywhere. During a fight against Inuyasha, she used the mirror to deflect his attack; the mirror was also shown later to possess the ability to show Naraku whatever he wished to see. This made him the ultimate stalker, and it kept him constantly in the loop of whatever Inuyasha and gang were up to at what time. Naraku also created Juromaru and Kageromaru, a duo of exceptional speed, to further distract Inuyasha.
After some time passed, Naraku realized that the only thing keeping him from killing Kikyo was Onigumo's heart - which still beat within his chest. Frustrated with this fact, Naraku found that he could only take away the souls she was using to keep her resurrected body going, and she fled, weakened.
Naraku's next ploy to destroy Inuyasha once and for all was to reawaken the dragon Ryukotsusei when the hanyou went to stab the sealed demon, basically killing him while he was down and allowing Inuyasha to gain the strength to use the more powerful (and heavier) Tessiaga. The ensuing battle nearly managed to get Inuyasha killed, but he managed to come out on top at the very end, defeating an enemy even his fabled father had only managed to seal. This also earned Inuyasha another attack for the Tessaiga to use, making him an even bigger threat to Naraku.
Naraku then decided to try to use one of Kikyo's former enemies against them; he gave a shard to Tsubaki, a dark priestess, as a trade for her cursing Kagome and forcing her to try to kill Inuyasha. The curse succeeded, but Kagome managed to defeat Tsubaki herself before any harm came to Inuyasha, and the dark priestess fled with her shard instead of returning it to Naraku. When he finally went to take the Jewel shard back from her, she ended up losing her eternal youth and beauty as well.
Soon after these events took place, the barrier protecting Naraku's castle weakened mysteriously, and Inuyasha and Koga used their noses to try and track him down. This was around the same time that Kagura discovered Inuyasha's secret - that he changed into a human every month during the new moon - but she kept it from Naraku after he threatened her once more, before beginning another horrific transformation. Frustrated with Onigumo's obsession for Kikyo holding him back, Naraku forced him out of his body. However, when Onigumo unexpectedly took shape as another incarnation set loose upon the world, he immediately went straight for Kagome, recognizing her face as Kikyo's and attempting to act on his obsession for the dead priestess. Meanwhile, Naraku took his chance to find Kikyo; though he found it was now simple for him to kill her, he was too weak to do so without Onigumo as a part of him, so he went to find the incarnation and reabsorb him into his body. After this seemingly pointless experiment, Naraku put his barriers back up at full capacity, forcing his enemies to try to find a way to get past them.
He appeared again a fair time later, when he went to Sesshomaru and threatened his human ward Rin's life, unless Sesshomaru killed Inuyasha for him. Sesshomaru ignored this threat, and ended up teaming up with his hated half-brother in order to fight Naraku. Working together, they managed to wound him, but Naraku successfully pulled himself out of the fray by ordering Kohaku to kill Rin; Sesshomaru had to leave to save her. Naraku effectively disappeared, along with his myserious castle.
To allow himself some time to recuperate, Naraku reincarnated the Band of Seven - a group of seven killers/thieves to antagonize Inuyasha and group. This act succeeded in steering the protagonists' attention from the main enemy while they dealt with the exceedingly difficult to defeat Band of Seven. After Kagome noticed an irregularity in the spiritual signature of one of Naraku's demon puppets, the group made their way to Mt. Hakurei. Unfortunately, the barrier erected by the holy mountain wouldn't allow any non-humans to pass through - this included Inuyasha, Kikyo, Sesshomaru, and Koga. While Kagome could pass through, she opted to stay with Inuyasha outside the barrier while Miroku and Sango journeyed through the mountains, scouting the area and searching for any trace of Naraku.
By the time they managed to fully figure out what the villain was up to, Naraku was reborn from the sacred mountain itself; it turns out that he managed to successfully rid himself of Onigumo's heart without weakening himself drastically. Kanna and Kagura are seen escaping the mountain with a suspicious bundle, but no one is able to pursue them. The bundle, it turns out, is the physical form of Onigumo's heart implanted into yet another incarnation - this one is most commonly referred to as “the infant.” Onigumo's soul is thrown off into the depths of Mt. Hakurei; separating himself from Onigumo in this way made Naraku much more powerful, quite similar to a full demon - though he's still technically a hanyou at this point. The transformation also made him virtually immortal, unless the infant is harmed in any way. In hopes of finally destroying Inuyasha and his friends once and for all, Naraku destroyed the entire mountain, forcing everyone to flee it as it collapsed. Naraku managed to defeat Kikyo at this point, since he still had the strength to do so without being held back by Onigumo's feelings for her.
It's at about this point that the protagonists realized that Naraku had pretty much all the shards already; only one is left, and it couldn't seem to be found anywhere in the world. The heroes rested while Naraku searched for a way to get the last shard.
During this time, Kagura fell down on her job as the infant's guardian, and it was cut in half - but somehow miraculously survived; half of it was taken by Kanna, and the other half remained with Kagura, and her half aged into a boy named Hakudoshi. Hakudoshi turned out to be one of Naraku's more useful incarnations. He was the one to continue scouting for a way into the netherworld - which inadvertently drew the attention of Inuyasha and his group. In another quite subtle rebellion against Naraku, Kagura tipped Inuyasha and his friends off on a possible way to enter the netherworld, and Naraku gave Princess Abi, leader of the bird demons, a halberd to help in her attempt to gather enough human blood to dilute the poison from her mother's body.
Around this time, Kikyo's body was found floating in a pool, dying from Naraku's poisonous miasma. It's found out that Kagome was the only one who could save Kikyo, but she needed to make the choice herself. She did save Kikyo, but the priestess was still subject to weakness from her exposure to the miasma. She went into hiding, in hopes to recuperate sufficiently before the final battle.
Kanna is later found out to have taken her half of the infant and placed it with a noblewoman, with Kohaku as a guard; he saved them both from the demon birds when they came to attack, but is later forced by Naraku to take the infant back from the noblewoman and kill everyone else on the grounds. Afterward, the memories of his entire past resurface, and he attempted suicide; Kagura saved him, however, the fact that he'd remembered everything eluding her. He resolved at that point to kill Naraku as way to absolve himself of his past crimes, however unknowingly he may have committed them.
At this point, Naraku betrayed the bird demons, killing them and creating a river of blood that led the way into the netherworld, where the final shard was being kept. He was followed quite closely by his enemies, and once everyone arrived at the grave of Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's father, he sat back and watched the fray that came forth when the deceased guardian Hosenki refused to give up the last shard without a fight. As was his style, Naraku allowed Inuyasha to fight his fight for him, biding his time until he could swoop in and just take the final Jewel shard for himself. However, after effectively corrupting Hosenki with the presence of his own shards, he managed to steal the shard away from Hosenki when the demon was weakened enough by Inuyasha - who went on to completely defeat a purified Hosenki, strengthening his Tessaiga more and giving it the ability to use the Adamant Barrage - basically, the ability for the blade to transform into diamond.
Meanwhile, Sesshomaru managed to keep Naraku occupied long enough for Inuyasha to finish his battle against Hosenki; in order to cut the fight short and escape, Naraku poisoned everyone present with his miasma, and everyone is teleported back to the land of the living. Finally back from the netherworld, Naraku sent out his two main scouts, Hakudoshi and Kohaku, to find Kikyo and force her out of hiding. Hakudoshi's plan to bring the dead priestess into the open failed and just caused more trouble to Inuyasha's group.
After more time passed, Naraku stole the Fuyouseki, which was an artifact that was used to conceal demonic auras; this item would be useful for him to maintain the element of surprise, which is undoubtedly Naraku's favorite tactic, by this point. Doing so awakened the actual keeper of the orb, a demon called Gakusaijin, who ended up creating even more problems for Naraku's enemies before aiding them in finding Naraku and his stolen Fuyouseki. Their efforts to help Gakusaijin, however, were stopped by Hakudoshi.
In yet another bid to kill Inuyasha and his friends before they can defeat him, Naraku led them into the highly acidic stomach a stone demon, trapping them inside. His plan was to wait until they dissolved before taking their Jewel shards to combine with him own, completing the Jewel once and for all; however, they proved too strong to be defeated, and they managed to make it out of the stomach whole.
More time passed, and Naraku maintained his awareness of his incarnations and their possible betrayal by using Kanna's mirror; Kagura actually reneged on her part of the plan to betray Naraku with Hakudoshi, as she grew close to Kohaku through the time they spent together under Naraku's thumb. Hakudoshi tried to kill her for betraying him, but Inuyasha saved her. Naraku abandoned Hakudoshi while he was fighting the protagonists, and the incarnation ended up being sucked into Miroku's Wind Tunnel. After being saved by Inuyasha, Kagura was offered her heart by Naraku, which was tantamount to offering her long-awaited freedom. She accepted, and he immediately impaled her on his tentacles, pumping her full of miasma. This proved fatal for her, as she managed to escape him on the wind - only to die right before Sesshomaru.
What point in time are you taking your character from when he/she appears at Landel's?:
Toward the end of the series, at the beginning of the last season. He's just killed off one of his older incarnations, Kagura the Wind Sorceress, for betraying him, and he's made it just that much closer to completing the Jewel and winning the battle once and for all.
Please give us a detailed description of your character's personality:
Naraku’s most well-known quality has to be his obsession with both the Shikon Jewel and the priestess Kikyou. He feels no need to be secretive about his desire for the jewel - however! If asked about Kikyou, he will deny, deny, deny; he won’t deny that he killed her, but he maintains that whatever feelings he may have for her are the product of Onigumo's obsession with her. He finds Onigumo exceedingly pathetic, and he hates his human side and tendencies with a passion.
Naraku is a master manipulator; he is borderline ingenious, and his plans always begin flawlessly. If it weren’t for Inuyasha and his damnable friends being so lucky, he’d have won the fight a long, long time ago - or so he feels. He is also quite determined, and if he decides something, he will stop at nothing to make it happen. He can be very persuasive when he wants to be, and he has no qualms using dirty tactics to get his way (i.e. cheat, lie, steal, maim, kill, flutter his pretty eyelashes, smile his pretty smile, etc.).
Romance is a concept that Naraku doesn’t completely grasp, especially after his failed attempt at obtaining Kikyou. He seems to believe that people are pawns and toys, an ends to meet a means, and he cannot make himself take them seriously; most beings normally bore or enrage him, though he finds some of them intriguing from time to time.
He's not a lazy individual, either; he just doesn't like to get his hands dirty, which is why he does most of his fighting from afar and through incessant mindgames. He could be described as an “evil genius,” if one was so inclined, and he has an almost sociopathic method to his madness. He's extremely charismatic, always trying to come off as the helpful stranger, when, in all actuality, he's secretly waiting in the wings, biding his time until he can take full advantage of those he “helps.” Naraku is out for Naraku, after all, and no one else is more important to him than himself and his own well-being and advancement.
Please give us a physical description of your character:
Naraku is quite tall; in canon, his height differs between forms, though he normally remains anywhere between 5'8” and 6'2”. He has a sharp chin and wide cheeks, forcing his face into a sort of heart shape; his eyes are fairly narrow, giving him a near-constant perturbed expression. His skin is very pale, and it has a grey undertone to it, though in sunlight it can seem almost beige. His hair is very long, sometimes seeming to rest at the back of his knees, and sort of curly or wavy; it’s a very dark black, often referred to as “inky”. His eyes are normally a deep crimson color, though they change in canon, as he’s naturally a shapeshifter; at Landel's, though, they'll be a light brown. He has a fairly athletic build, thin though muscular.
What kinds of otherworldly abilities does your character have, if any?:
Shapeshifting: Pretty much self-explanatory; Naraku has the ability to take on the form of whoever he chooses. He really only displays this power a few times in canon; once his identity is revealed, though, he begins to rely on other abilities instead.
Saimyosho: Demon wasps from hell; they are quite poisonous, and Naraku somehow magically controls them. He normally just uses these as an easy and effective way to dissuade Miroku from using his Wind Tunnel during battle.
Demon Puppets: Puppets made in Naraku's appearance; created out of earth and black magic. He uses these mostly as a distraction and a means for escape while in the middle of fighting.
Above average strength, speed, and healing: These three are standard for any hanyou or youkai (demon), and they are also fairly self-explanatory.
Flight: Yes, Naraku can fly. :P He mostly just floats, thought, not real, honest-to-God flying.
Ability to absorb other beings/parts of demons: This power sort of goes along with the shapeshifting, because it's one way that he maintains his ability to change form and regenerate; basically, whenever Naraku's wounded, his way of recuperating and healing is to absorb other demons and their body parts; in doing this, he also absorbs their power, more often than not increasing his strength. This is also a very effective way of ridding himself of an enemy, though the more notable enemies of his (Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Kikyo, Koga) always tend to wriggle away just in time.
Miasma: A poisonous toxin that he emits pretty much whenever he feels like. It usually takes the form of a thick, purple smog, infecting whoever breathes it in; he can also, however, inject it directly into another being, giving them a much more lethal dose. This method also enables him to control just how much of the toxin the other person is exposed to. He's also shown in canon to use the miasma as a cover for teleportation when leaving mid-battle.
Beam Attack: He pretty much extends parts of his body in a zigzag attack at his foe. It shows as a glowing purple beam in the anime.
Barrier: Another one that explains itself. Naraku has the ability to erect quite formidable barriers, as a defense.
Psionics: He's shown in canon to use quite a few abilities that center on just the use of his mind: telepathy, levitation, telekinesis, astral projection, mind control, teleportation, and illusions.
Incarnations: Because of the strange nature of Naraku's being, he has the ability to split pieces off of himself and make whole new entities, with their own personalities and powers. These incarnations include: Kagura, Kanna, Akagane, Byakuya, Hakudoshi, Goshinki, Akago, Juromaru and Kageromaru, Muso, and Magatushi. Each incarnation was merely a tool Naraku used to meet his goal, and he disposed of them when they were no longer useful to him; although they were created from his own body, he never saw them as individuals.
Regeneration: This is a more extreme version of his supernatural healing ability, though this is different from the average hanyou/youkai's. Basically, he uses power and body parts that he's absorbed from other demons to regenerate parts of his body that become injured or dissolved completely. It helps to make him nearly indestructible. (Think Jeepers Creepers.)
Human/Demon Sides: In canon, it's known to some of the characters (and the audience) that the main protagonist Inuyasha has a time every month when he's in a weakened state; basically, he becomes human every month during the new moon. Some ways into the series, it is discovered that Naraku, who is also a hanyou, has a time like this as well, but one of the many, many advantages he experiences from his disturbing origin is that he gets to pick what time of the month he's weakened. When this time comes, he pretty much becomes a pile of goopy demon bodies with a human head that isn't really attached to anything.
Black Magic: Naraku uses spells. Lots of them. The most widely known example of this would be the curse on Miroku's hand, the Wind Tunnel that gets handed down from generation to generation.
Magic Castle: His castle has a penchant for disappearing whenever he wills it to; it's also referred to as the “Phantom Castle.” He also normally keeps it contained within a barrier, making it virtually impossible for enemies to locate. Once they do manage to find it, however, it will appear to be nothing more than an abandoned castle.
If these powers need to be weakened in order to prevent your character from outright killing the patients they prey upon, please explain how you would do so:
I would probably allow him plenty of his powers, only weakened severely. The strength and length of his tentacles would be decreased; they could only extend three feet, and they would only be available for use twice in one NS, for 45 seconds each time.
I would need to take away the Magic Castle, incarnations, demon puppets, and saimyoshi, obviously, and I also think that I would strip him of his ability to fly and use black magic, just to make things more interesting. I would also need to remove his ability to absorb others and use the Beam Attack, since these would both be very godmodey skills, and possibly kill other characters, which would be against his orders from the Institute.
I would leave him his ability to shapeshift, though I would limit it to maybe three times per NS. And the shapeshifting could only hold up for five minutes at a time, and it would fatigue him after each use. He would be able to use his strength and speed, which would be weakened but still stronger than the vast majority of patients bustling around the facility. He would be able to use both his regenerative ability in conjunction with his super quick healing, but this would also fatigue him.
His barrier, psionic abilities (telekinesis, a small amount of telepathy, mind control, teleportation, and illusions), and miasma would all three remain, with restrictions so as not to godmod the other characters. His barrier would mostly be for personal protection, so it shouldn't be a problem, but I'd like to limit the number of times he can use it per NS to only two, just to keep things interesting. He won't be able to read anyone's minds, but he could move objects a very short distance (two feet at the most?), and he wouldn't be able to use the mind control at all, since this would definitely fall into godmoding territory. The teleportation will only be used once, if at all, and the illusions could be used a total of three times per NS, and they would last for three minutes at the most.
The miasma can be used as either a liquid toxin he injects directly into the other character in conjunction with his tentacles, but it wouldn't be as lethal as it's shown to be in canon; the effects on the patient would be limited to nausea, vomiting, coughing, fatigue, and, in some cases with higher dosage, a temporary blackout, should the other player be so inclined. These same symptoms would apply also if the miasma was used in its other capacity: as a thick, purple cloud of noxious gas. The cloud would only have about a five foot diameter, and it would dissipate after only 30 seconds. Any other characters with an especially sensitive nose would be knocked out cold instantly.
Does your character have any non-otherworldly abilities/training that surpass the norm?:
Naraku doesn't have much in the way of fighting ability, but what he lacks in brawn he makes up for in sheer intelligence, stealth, and madness. Basically, Naraku is a near-genius. He's also highly charismatic and manipulative, almost to the level of being a certified sociopath. He also has this insanity to him, that allows him to go about these evil, crazy schemes that he comes up with entirely guilt-free. In canon, he's seen pitting a brother and sister against one another in a fight to the death, snickering over the scene.
Why do you feel like your character would work out better as a Nightshift-Only aggressor?:
Naraku relies a great deal on his powers; he's worked so long and hard to gain them, and playing him as a regular patient character becomes very difficult after some time. He's not a slow-paced person, though the series definitely made him seem that way, and it was difficult to keep up that same sense of mystery that surrounds him in canon. I believe that playing him as a NS-Only aggressor would help with that factor immensely, and make him into the real villain that he is.
He can brutal and frighteningly monstrous when put to the test, and I believe that playing him in this capacity would bring out the much more easily feared side of him - make him less of a person, more of a nightmare, so to speak.
How would you justify your character fighting on the Institute's side?:
He would just be slightly brainwashed - say, to think that Landel was going to help him in his fight to gain the Jewel if he did this for him. Or to think that the patients were trying to escape to steal the Jewel from him? Either would work, really, but his views would just need to be somewhat skewed, so he would still be focused on the Jewel and keeping it for himself.
Third-Person Sample:
Idiots, the lot of them. Four of the so-called "patients" - Naraku cared not whether they were or weren't, in fact, ill in any way.
What he did care about was the fact that the ever-sinister Landel had promised him the remaining sections of the Jewel in exchange for a few... favors. Of course, these favors couldn't be very difficult; after all. What could possibly impose more than a slight threat to such a powerful being as Naraku? Nothing, that's what.
He paced along the curve of the hallway, sneering at the way he was so enclosed now. Back in the day, he'd become used to fighting in open clearings, meadows, treetops, on the ridges of mountains! This was unacceptable.
But as soon as Naraku noted those few patients coming round the corner, his sneer widened, softened, into a grin. The excitement pooled in his gut, like cold fluid, and he became determined to think of initiating a confrontation within close quarters as a type of challenge as he watched them come closer in the small space, and crimson eyes darted about the corridor, searching for the best way to approach them. He decided, finally, to stay close to the opening, remembering his orders. They're not to get past me, into the rest of the building - or, Kami forbid, the outside. With a sickening smirk, Naraku stood his ground, taking a deep breath as he felt his fingers slowly morphing, combining, becoming one with each other and his arm, which thickened, lengthened. After mere moments, his right arm had taken the form of the tentacle he cherished so much, and laughed cruelly at his opposition.
"Turn back now," he called out to them. "Return to your beds, and no injuries will be sustained tonight."
Gods, he hoped they were stubborn. A battle such as this could prove quite entertaining.