Binary Aphelion

By Worst Wizard

• October 5, 2015

Age: ~40

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn

Appearance: [Apologies for the lack of a visual reference, my artistic skills are rather lacking and I would prefer to express this through a text-based medium rather than utilize the Pony Generators found throughout the web. This will likely be fixed soon.]<br /><br />There is very little to Binary's form that could be considered particularly noteworthy. Bearing an average height and a muscular structure slightly on the weaker side, none but the truly paranoid and over-caring would consider his build impressive nor anything worrying.<br /><br />The total lack of a mane, while somewhat common, is often mistaken as a genetic trait rather than Aphelion's own doing. What would be a brilliant blue head of hair is now devoid of anything beyond his light grey coat.<br /><br />Age, it seems, has not agreed well with the Unicorn's features. Particularly obvious wrinkles below his ever calm, sapphire eyes mark the beginning of his bodily deterioration, accompanied by a long, thin, cobalt beard to further accentuate his wizened appearance.

Cutie Mark: Twin comets circle a six-pointed star locus, each mirroring the other's movement with perfect reflection. The comets bear contrasting colours, azure and vermilion, their trails mimicking the other's base colour.<br /><br />A symbol representative of delicate balance, as well as possessing the typical iconography for Magic, Aphelion's nature as a temperate, balanced and studious soul is laid bare.

Personality: Binary is, at his core, an extremely balanced and studious persona. There is a never ending thirst for knowledge and intellectual pursuits that reside in this pony's mind, driving him through a life of study and contemplation.<br /><br />One particularly wonderous feature is his capability of retention. Naturally bearing a near photographic memory, further enhanced by a life of meditation and study, there is very little Binary could not answer with relative accuracy after only a short period of time to analyse the subject of the question. <br /><br />Despite his aptitude for many forms of cognitive tasks, Aphelion is often the last to make a decision when under rushed circumstances, the inner desire to quantify and rationalize the bigger picture well before committing himself to action holding his otherwise extremely quick mind back.<br /><br />Whenever confronted with a problem he cannot solve, Binary is prone to studying not only his own thoughts on the matter, but those of others. Though it make take a long time for him to accept it, he bears no qualms with assistance in a matter otherwise too grand for him to solve.<br /><br />Quiet and contemplative, it is a rare occasion in which this Unicorn engages in conversation for the simple thrill, rather every action is made in the pursuit of his studies. This trend, combined with his well-honed emotional control and stability sometimes fallaciously paints him as a cold an uncaring individual.<br /><br />Unfortunately, despite his cool exterior, Aphelion does bear a major flaw in his pride. Those who cannot compete with his intellectual sparring are often dismissed as someone not worth any great portion of his time, even if he accepts them for what they are. He bears a particular distain for the arts, seeing them as false paths tempting the intellectual communities away from the true virtues of the mind.

Backstory: It was considered a rather strange occurrence when the Noble Unicorn Winter Solstice had chosen the Earth Pony Luminora to be his wife. Though by no means an overtly elitist society, it is often considered common practice for the Unicorns of Canterlot nobility to marry amongst themselves. Regardless, Winter had made his choice and proclaimed his love for Luminora for the world to hear.<br /><br />It was some years later that their first and only child was born. He was a Unicorn bearing of his father's regal appearance, with a hint of his mother's graceful persona. The combined careers of both parents were enough to ensure that all three of them lived rather well, even if Luminora's psychology profession was put on hold as their newly born Binary grew through early childhood.<br /><br />It was almost immediately obvious that Binary was a curious, intelligent and calm creature. Displaying a strong aptitude for the basic tasks in Magical Kindergarten, as well as usually maintaining a very collected state compared to many other children.<br /><br />Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, a highly illustrious place of education would be Aphelion's home for a rather large portion of his life. The sheer volume of intellectual material in the form of books, professors and old scrolls was enough to satiate his appetite for knowledge for some time. It was not long after his education there that he expressed a desire to learn more.<br /><br />Foregoing any form of real career, Binary opted to travel the lands, explore their libraries and ancient ruins in an attempt to find something to focus his mind upon. Up until this day his studies had been relatively unfocused, leaving him capable, but otherwise not particularly impressive in many intellectual and Magical fields.<br /><br />In a grand repository of spells, far to the east, Aphelion found something that reminded him of his home. A rather complex form of teleportation spell, there would have been nothing of note were it not for a few notes, word-for-word copied from a scroll he had once analysed in Starswirl's section of the Royal Library.<br /><br />It had finally clicked, after two and a half decades Aphelion realized that knowledge was not all about the raw data. Whoever had designed this spell not only found Starswirl's variation as a strong base, but also believed it lacking in some regard. Knowledge, much like the techniques of those around him, could be practised, improved, cross-referenced. Upon this epiphany, he returned to Canterlot, abandoning any and all plans he had made for further exploration.<br /><br />Occasionally performing services for the Academies of Equestria, Binary can now be found scouring the Royal Libraries and other such places of Canterlot. History, more particularly, the history of Magic and science has become a favourite of his, the constant learning and relearning of the same data taken from different perspectives giving him a far more focused and refined set of intellectual skills.