Murkhail was a Russian Serf named Mikhail living in the late 1700s and early 1800s. He lived to see Napoleons' infamous invasion of Russia. He was Sealed and turned into a Masked by Rook right after killing his master, an old Prince, in order to save the life of a young serf child. He was dying and freezing to death in the frozen taiga of the Yakutsk stone forest in Siberia from the injuries attained during the fight when Rook performed the seal in order to save his life.

     Murkhail was weak and sickly all his life due being born with heart problems, but he threw himself into his studies and into serving the house of the old Prince who owned him until he made himself valuable enough to live as a house serf and survive. He educated himself and became a very scholarly and learned, able to speak and read many languages and acting as a house serf and personal assistant to the aging Prince, indispensible for the management of his estate and affairs. The Prince therefore took him everywhere and made use of Murkhail's skills in all matters. Murkhail harbored a deep, hidden hatred for the Prince that owned him, which he skillfully hid with his natural smile and friendly, studious voice. Perhaps, Murkhail's skill with acting and deception was his most valuable study of all, for though his academic skill made him useful despite his weak heart, keeping him out of the manual labor in the fields that would have killed him, his charm and easy smile, his ability to make others trust him, was what allowed the Prince to trust him more and more, despite all that Murkhail knew.

 
     In his everyday life, Murkhail's smile was his mask, and his skillful control of his expressions kept him alive as a serf in his cruel master's house. Now his Mask bears an eerie and still replication of the smile he held even as he was dying alone in the snow, with the Prince's blood on his hands. His eyes are a brilliant, deep red, and peer out on either side of his mask's false eyes, confusing many who look upon his mask as to where his real eyes.

     Murkhail is a part of the Unseelie Court of fae. He was deeply lost his entire life as a human, belying the story told through his calm laugh and smile, and the skillful control of his facial expressions which fooled everyone around him into thinking him a cheerful and gentle serf. However, despite the smile often being false and seeing many horrors throughout his life, there was yet some part of the smile that was not false, which Murkhail held onto, and which kept him grounded and alive. A deeply religious "Old Believer" like many Rurssian Serfs, he was often grateful to be alive despite his heart sickness, despite being owned and enslaved, and despite the terrors that life held for him. As a fae, he takes great joy and wonder in exploring both Mundis and Alfheim, and seeing firsthand the many places he read and dreamed about, which he had never been healthy or free enough to explore as a human. He had read hungrily when he'd been enslaved, for it had been his salvation in mind and in body, opening opportunities and a chance at survival, but also worlds and palaces within his mind in which he could escape. As a Masked, he continues to read hungrily and often, searching through the ancient libraries of the fae scattered throughout both the Seelie and Unseelie lands.

     Before he was sealed, Murkhail used to get terribly cold. With his poor circulation and improperly beating heart, he had difficulty staying warm in the bitter cold of northern Russia, and constantly bundled himself up in the warmest cloths he could find, his slight, delicate frame swimming in his garments. In the extremely thick fur of his new fae form, which is perfectly adapted to the coldest environments of Mundis and Alfheim, he gets hot extremely easily if the air isn't cool enough. To counteract this, when in hot areas, he either assumes his original form or swims in cool water to cool himself down. His fur is very dense and water resistant, and repels liquid and snow effortlessly like a wolverine's, and with his long body, he is an excellent and natural swimmer in this form. When he was was dying in the snow before he was sealed, he joked with Rook that as long as he stopped being cold, he was grateful for whatever form he took when he became a Masked. The Sealing made him made him feel strong, healthy and whole for the first time in his life, and he often does exuberant and joyous things in pure enjoyment of his new body and health. He never imagined that he would know what it felt like to have a properly working heart...

...Then, his Curse awakened.

     It was sudden, harsh, and completely unexpected, as the awakening of Blessings and Curses are to all fae, but especially the Unseelie.

     His Curse, "Beating As One" though it is sometimes useful when he manages to find a way to harness it, is completely out of his control, as all Curses are at Level 1. The Curse causes his heart to beat quickly or slowly in his chest, and seems to be influenced by his emotions and mental state, rather than his outward appearance; something he has very little control over. As in life, he now struggles often to keep his heartbeat even and normal, and its beating is often painful in his chest, especially as it grows too slow or overly fast. Though neither of these states seems to cause permanent damage to him other than discomfort or pain, "Beating As One" puts the hearts of those that are in his proximity under the sway of his own heart, and forces theirs to beat in rhythm with his. His Cursed heart is erratic and unpredictable, sometimes hammering quickly, other times barely beating at all, or stopping completely. This arrhythmia is no longer deadly to him, as fae magic has made him durable and very difficult to kill, and seemingly especially resistant to his own heart's Curse, but it is especially deadly for any non-magical creature or person that is around him when his enchantment has taken hold. Fae around him find the experience deeply unpleasant, and may black out or experience extreme pain if his Curse is far out of his control. A weakened Masked may even find his Curse deadly enough to shatter their Mask. For this reason, when he is upset or angry, or bothered by anything, or if his Cursed heart randomly begins to act out, he often seeks seclusion, much as he did in life when he needed to hide the effects of his heart sickness.

     Murkhail is embarrassed by his Curse when around his own kind due to his lack of control over it and how it reveals his emotional state, and is worried about causing others pain and discomfort due to its effects. However, if he really trusts a Masked of his own kind, seeking their company but staying distant enough to hopefully keep from affecting them when his Curse acts up can help to distract and comfort him enough to calm him down. At this point, he had one Masked that he trusted in this way named Kona, whom he knew for many years and had many adventures with, but she disappeared for a long time without a word, and he is constantly looking for her in his travels, both consciously and unconsciously. Sometimes he seems to have mental conversations with his dear, lost friend, and this worries the few other Masked that are close to him, who worry that Kona is dead, and that losing her Kona caused him to lose his own mind a bit. However, he tries to bury this grief, as he does with his many other griefs, and present a smiling face to those around him.

     Murkhail is very driven by his own sense of justice and duty. He believes is on earth for a purpose; to help and try to save anyone he encounters that needs his help, be they esk, human, animal, or plant. Every Masked Seal he has performed has been in a desire to help or save those around him, or salvage a terrible catastrophe. When a city he traveling through in Russia had a massive nuclear disaster that irradiated the land all around it, he performed his first Masked seals, draining all his NYX and strength in a desperate attempt to save the creatures and people who were dying in the city. He also got the aid of all the fae he could find and worked with them to attempt to clean up and remove the radioactive waste that was overheating within the destroyed city, and would have caused a second detonation. They were successful in their endeavors, but were tricked by an ancient fae that offered the party help, as instead of removing the waste altogether as he had promised he could, he instead planeswalked it into the depths of the ocean, irradiating the sea.

Murkhail has and will kill those who threaten or seek to destroy the weak, the meek, and the innocent. He only kills when he sees no other option, but he will relentlessly hunt and destroy anyone who purposely seeks to destroy and cause harm to these. He believes those who are weak should be protected, and they bring their own value and strength to the world. Being religious, he also believes that the meek and innocent are beloved by God and should be cherished and guarded.

     He became the holder of Light Elemental magic, a power bequeathed from ancient nature magics that came to him as he tried to save and help others, and fell short again and again with only his Curse to aid him, which was altogether too destructive and out of control, making it difficult to use for good. Unlike his Curse, The Light Elemental has only been useful to him, as it reacts to his joy, his strength, and his determination, and which he has had a much easier time learning to control. He can light, guide, and warm those around him with his elemental, and as he gets more experienced using it, he gains the ability to create light projections that can give the illusion of different creatures and humans walking about, though they have no substance and are formed purely of light and color. As his Light Elemental grew in power, he also gained the ability to use it offensively to blind and burn when needed, though he rarely does.

     He has performed many Masked Seals, and the immense NYX overflow from each Seal he performs cracks his Mask and the area of his chest just over his heart, causing Sealing Amber to flow and dry in the area over his chest, forming hardened crystals of amber once he recovers and rests. The result is a collection of small patches of Sealing Amber shining like badges on his chest over his strangely beating heart.