Reply With QuoteARENA CHARACTERS
Name- Zanshin
Age- N/A
Gender- M
Appearance-
Assassin League- 黒い 幽霊 (Kuroi Yurei)-
Kuroi Yurei, also known as the Black Ghosts, is a league of assassins currently dominating the Asian Far East. With bases scattered across the region, they have carved a shadowy reputation for smooth efficiency and excelent customer service into the heart of the International Underworld. They make it a policy to obey the directions of their contacts absolutely to the letter, and this quality has made them the go to guys for a more personalized revenge. They have an old fashioned code of ethics and do not choose their targets themselves, and as such they are usually neutral in international assassin league disputes. However, their domain is the widest geographically, and many of their operatives are constantly engaged on jobs targeting rival assassins. Because of a sense of personal honor and a taste for eccentric hits, most of the league's employees wouldn't have it any other way.
Hits- No witnesses, no successful hits have been recorded.
Magical Power-
Possesses keen senses and a tactical mind, and is able to tap into a terrifying power, his namesake and primary weapon, Zanshin. Meaning "empty mind" in japanese martial arts, the technique of keeping one's thoughts clear is taken to its utmost extreme. Various injections via his suit alter his brain chemistry during an assassination, and he is able to fuse concious thought with mechanical movement. This aggregation of thought and action enables him to excecute plans and targets with brutal grace, his whole body moving in a unified rythm that would appear to border on precognition. This grim science has fused with the warrior arts, temporarilly enmeshing his sensory intake with concious thought and physical reaction, three components of combat that flow into and build upon each other. His reaction time is exactly as fast as understanding, his movements mechanically precise, his humanity completely gone- he has surrendered himself to his own mind to become the ultimate killing machine.
Weapons-
- A variable arms adaption system employed by only the most elite Kuroi Yurei members, this exo suit allows the operator to move unheard and unseen. The suit has been customized to Zanshin's personal taste, and eschews the system's usual stealth capabilities for several prototype modifications. Within the organization, he is primarily used to tackle heavily armed rival assassins, often with uncanny powers and the killer instinct to use them. To prepare, he has thickened the armor plating throughout the suit, which also utilizes a reactionary anti-kinetic gel to halt smaller caliber bullets without much trouble. He compensates for this inherent lack of mobility with the Zanshin system, a devious concoction of chemicals that allow him to time his movements with preternatural timing. The altered state also allows him to precisely target and calculate velocity, trajectory, and angles of reflection, granting him marksmanship far beyond the norm within his immediate vicinity. Finally, several rocket boosters are hidden within the frame, allowing him to move much faster than normal at the cost of his inhuman reaction time, as his mind can only predict and keep up with what his body is capable of under its own powers.
He also utilizes:
Three engraved katana of differing lengths set in shirasaya.
Small utility shotgun.
A MOTORCOBRA model heavy submachinegun.
Name- Zanshin
Age- N/A
Gender- M
Appearance-
Assassin League- 黒い 幽霊 (Kuroi Yurei)-
Kuroi Yurei, also known as the Black Ghosts, is a league of assassins currently dominating the Asian Far East. With bases scattered across the region, they have carved a shadowy reputation for smooth efficiency and excelent customer service into the heart of the International Underworld. They make it a policy to obey the directions of their contacts absolutely to the letter, and this quality has made them the go to guys for a more personalized revenge. They have an old fashioned code of ethics and do not choose their targets themselves, and as such they are usually neutral in international assassin league disputes. However, their domain is the widest geographically, and many of their operatives are constantly engaged on jobs targeting rival assassins. Because of a sense of personal honor and a taste for eccentric hits, most of the league's employees wouldn't have it any other way.
Hits- One successful hit recorded. One unsuccessful hit recorded.
Magical Power-
Possesses keen senses and a tactical mind, and is able to tap into a terrifying power, his namesake and primary weapon, Zanshin. Meaning "empty mind" in japanese martial arts, the technique of keeping one's thoughts clear is taken to its utmost extreme. Various injections via his suit alter his brain chemistry during an assassination, and he is able to fuse concious thought with mechanical movement. This aggregation of thought and action enables him to excecute plans and targets with brutal grace, his whole body moving in a unified rythm that would appear to border on precognition. This grim science has fused with the warrior arts, temporarilly enmeshing his sensory intake with concious thought and physical reaction, three components of combat that flow into and build upon each other. His reaction time is exactly as fast as understanding, his movements mechanically precise, his humanity completely gone- he has surrendered himself to his own mind to become the ultimate killing machine.
Weapons-
Due to a recent engagement with the Devils assassin league, the Kuroi Yurei has been forced to rebuild the Zankokusa project from the ground up. Instead of seeing their assassin as a broken weapon, the league's leadership regarded Zanshin's recent failure as an opportunity to create an even more finely honed killing machine. The Oni Model is the next step forward in exo suit technology, a prototype stripped down to its essentials, and a weapon that blurs the boundaries between man and machine.
The armor itself differs from its predecessor in several ways, first among them being the reduction of armor throughout the suit. The decrease of actual plating allows him to move with more agility, but leaves him more vuenerable to bullets. Furthermore, the organization has outfitted Zanshin with a reflexive steel forged prosthetic arm and an onboard computer to control his life support systems. This computer is constantly connected to mission control, and will provide real time statistical calculations of the opponent's every move. This is compounded with the consistent application of the chemicals that enable the assassin to enter the ZANSHIN state; instead of administering a large dose when Zanshin issues a mental command, the system automatically induces a less potent state of hyperawareness that will last throughout entirety of an engagement. The left arm has a heavy sheild underneath the outer layer, and the computer will direct its movements to block incoming attacks. Finally, the boosters have been retooled to provide less immediate output in favor of sustainability, eschewing the previous model's brutal efficiency for a more adaptable and graceful flow.
With modern medical science and a fair amount of scientific idealism, the Kuroi Yurei has raised one of their most potent assets from the ashes to create a deadly new tool of destruction. A soldier that cannot disobey. A weapon that cannot fail.
He also utilizes:
One blackened katana, reforged from the sword Zanshin was holding when he was salvaged. The blade was recreated under the supervision of a master swordsmith with techniques of modern metallurgy, and holds an edge that no weapon has ever matched.
Two modified Scorpion model handguns. 7 shots each, two clips each.
Cyborg Samurai- Mighty Glacier
Name:Lin "Merlin" Curtiss
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Mageshot
A wielder of forces both magical and mundane, natural and supernatural, harmonizing the art of war and the science of wizardry to place a bullet into a target at magnificent range. A mageshot relies heavilly on concentration and balance, honing his or her concentration into the point of a bullet to splatter grey matter across the target's surroundings from miles away.
Personality:
Dedicated and serious, he unflinchingly plods along a path riddled with bullets. A calm solidity follows him wherever he goes, inspiring his squadmates with a reassuring sense of safety. He takes care of his own to the best of his ability, but is willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the mission. Long years of fighting have hardened him to pleasantries and politics, but he talks to himself on lonely battlefields when he yearns to hear the sound of a human voice. He indulges himself in reading, and frequently quotes snatches of his favorite work to himself amid bullet hell.
Abilities: As a notorious "mageshot", Curtiss is both a phenomenal spellcaster and a hypercompetent marksman. His already considerable skill is augmented by magic, prepared and inscribed into a small leatherbound notebook that he uses for sighting calculations and a spell book. He is skilled enough with the rifle to reliably down a target at 1800 meters, but his theoretical killzone is wide enough to force him to use gravity magic to compensate for the curvature of the earth.
Though his skill is focused far away, on you, specifically, he is a well rounded combatant even when things get too close for comfort. He wields a recreation arming sword and service revolver with trained efficiency, and unlike his sniping ability, his spellcasting is no worse for the enemy closing in. He is limited in how much damage he can actually sustain however, and moves no faster than a normal human when fighting hand to hand. He is slightly more durable than the average man, but only just, and hits as hard as the next reasonably trained human being. Close combat is not his forte, and he prefers to avoid it.
In his dimension, magic relies completely on whether its adepts can rationally balance its effects. This means that mages usually cast via equations or pacts, offering one thing for the use of another. Curtiss wields magic through a system he has dubbed "chemysticism", wherein he chooses the effects of his spells by selecting components of reality to manipulate, or predicts the effects of whatever he is casting by noting the target and the conditions under which the magic is cast. The discipline requires a great deal of mental fortitude, as it blends concepts of magic casting- vancian rule, theurgy, alchemy, and geomancy- with elements of modern algebra and chemistry.
Basically, Curtiss can cast whatever spell he needs to, but they all come at a price, and under strict conditions at that. He must choose an effect to manifest, understand its function and interperet its effects in the context of the battlefield, rationalize all the myriad components of its objective experience, pay for it with raw materials in the surrounding area, and fuel it with his own sentience. This process becomes even more convoluted and taxing when dealing with large scale or more complex magical effects, and the manipulation of others through magic involves so many variables so as to be theoretically impossible. These must all be done parallel to the rigorous calculations of a normal sniper, but the satisfaction when a pull of the trigger creates a lightning storm of apocalyptic proportions makes the job well worth it for the enterprising person of mass destruction.
Weapons:
Wand Action Sniper Rifle model 50, "Pendragon"
The Pendragon is an old model magic rifle, lovingly cared for and meticulously maintained by Curtis for over two decades of reliable service. Despite its age, it still packs quite a punch, but is not quite as accurate as it used to be. It is only capable of slow single shots, but each is used to devastating effect. It can "fire" spells by using the its wand as a conduit for the magic, amplifying the original effects of the given spell by magnitudes. The wand is inserted into the gun like a normal rifle bolt, and the spell is "loaded" with a sharp pull.
Spellbook:
A small black leatherbound notebook, frayed at the corners and well worn. Curtiss keeps his spell and spotting notations here, and must write down magic fourmulas on its pages before they can be cast. As an enchanted extension of his knowledge, he can easily find whatever dogeared page he needs. Though he usually works with blank pages, he has prepared certain simple spells in advance out of caution. Spells he writes down here are lifted with the rifle wand and loaded into the gun for massive damage.
Arming Sword:
Out of a sense of whimsy and nostalgia, he carries a straight two handed arming sword. It has been enchanted for durability, but can fail if exposed too long to more powerful impacts.
Service Pistol:
A momento he uses for close range combat, the gun cannot be used in tandem with spells. However, he is still quite a good shot with it, and the gun boasts a considerable amount of power for its size.
Born in the former Hong Kong zone to a Chinese father and a British mother, he spent his early childhood in relative peace. He learned values like discipline, respect, and obedience from his soft spoken father, and inherited traits like adventurousness and assertiveness from his mother. War reached the islands as investors in the driving force for magic, Volunas, began to contest with higher ups in the Chinese government over the necessity of nuclear proliferation. As corporate hired PMCs began to occupy Hong Kong, anti government radicals seized several former Soviet nuclear warheads, and a strike seemed imminent. The boy was spirited away to the Western Alliance Zone, and lived in the area formerly known as Great Britain.
There it was revealed that his mother had connections to a violent fundamentalist Christian organization, the Decreationists. Through his grandfather, the boy was trained to be used as weapon to shape a rapidly changing world. For years his superiors sought to control him, hone his gift for marksmanship into a lance point of destruction against those who would use the will of man, Voluntas, to meddle with the will of God. Nuclear strikes came. Like the dawn of a new day, the horiffying light of the new nuclear weapons began to crawl across the globe, first the far east, then spreading into the west. Through the use of Voluntas however, the much of the population was able to minimize the damage, and more than 40% of the world's population was able to survive the atomic holocausts. Thus discredited, the Decreationists had lost the fervor that had once united them, and tore themselves apart through infighting. Lin Curtiss was left alone.
But there was hope.
The boy used his trained skills the only way he could, by becoming a hired gun for one of the scattered settlements of a now nuclear planet Earth. He read every old newspaper he could find, devoured every scrap of information about their unlikely savior. Voluntas was the key, through sheer willpower, mankind had survived destruction at the hands of their own monsters. Those towns that were left untouched by the rain of fire had one of two things- a Voluntas researcher, or incredible luck. Fortunately for Lin, his settlement was possessed of the former. The young man demanded that the old scientist teach him a sufficiently advanced form of his craft, a way to shape the world around him and guard those that had been torn away from him from the terror of the fallout. The elder agreed, but on the condition that young Lin would put down his gun.
The boy readily agreed.
His training thus begun again, the boy began to use rudimentary magic to protect his new home. He became a hero to his people, and made his instructor proud. As a product of the old world, the young man found that he could make use of his natural talent for manipulating Voluntas by adapting his sniper calculations to the art. Algebra lended itself well to the craft, as Voluntas must always be brought to balance. He served for decades, soon taking the old sage's place when he shuffled the mortal coil. His promise fufilled, the soldier has taken up his gun again, a sentinel in a hollowed out world. Up in the highest tower of his small hamlet he resides, watching with hawk like intensity for so much as a twitch... Waiting for a chance to prove that he is truly a wizard of bullets...
Magic Sniper- Glass Cannon
Name: Richard Homily
Race: Human
Age: 37
Appearance
Barrier Master
Now more machine than man, Homily has fused himself with the technology to sustain himself amid the broken ruins of his home. He wields "walls", powerful psychic shields that he uses to enclose, entrap, and crush opponents.
History:
Grown from a test tube by unfeeling machines in the distant future, Homily was cultivated as the ultimate weapon. Throughout his childhood, he was subjected to genetic modification, high voltage electroshock therapy, and excruciatingly painful preternatural ability testing. After years of abuse, he finally discovered his gift for creating "walls" by breaking out of his containment chamber, wielding the psychic barriers like battering rams and blades to cut his way out of the facility. It seemed that his rampage would earn him the freedom that all living creatures innately crave, but once all was leveled he understood that "outside" was not freedom. The world outside of the immaculate maze of chambers he called home was a devastated husk, the battleground for never ending military conflict. He rejected this violence, deciding that he would not be used for the purposes that his overlords had dictated for him. He would be the shield rather than the sword, defending his solitude by all means necessary. Quiet amid the chaos, he returned to the ruins of the facility and began to build. He enclosed himself within the heart of his old rooms, rejoined himself with the building's computer and ample power supplies, and created ever more walls with the power of science, eternally waiting for the war to end...
Pros
• Walls can be created in a variety of shapes extremely quickly
• Capable of average movement speed while manipulating walls
• Skilled aerial combatant
• Internal parallel thought processors allow speedy reaction time to a variety of threats
Cons
• Immobile when shields are being created
• Vulnerable to direct attacks to "body"
• Precision of wall manipulation is decreased over long ranges
• Finite energy supply
Powers/Abilities
Passive Abilities
Levitation
Homily floats serenely above the battlefield, choosing to hover anywhere from a meter above the ground up to a mile above sea level. This ability allows him to keep an eagle eye view over the battle, assessing and manipulating his walls from afar. It also gives him a distinct advantage in aerial combat, and a favorite ploy is to lure an opponent up with stepping stone like walls before dropping them from the atmosphere.
Awareness
By recording disturbances in a constantly projected magnetic field, he is able to achieve a state of hyper-awareness within a radius of 10 meters, and precision wall manipulation is much easier within these boundaries.
Active Ability- Wall
He gathers electrical power from his internal generator, issues a command for his onboard computer to process, and uses his body as an energy conduit to create a tangible representation of kinetic force. These force fields can be manipulated with a flick of a cycle, creating a material barrier in a nanosecond. They appear as flat planes, but can be pieced together as polygons to create a variety of three dimensional shapes. They are durable but not wholly unbreakable, and larger, more complex constructs require more energy and concentration to maintain. His entire fighting style is based off of the manipulation of these walls, and as such combat against him is more akin to fighting a sentient structure or building than a single warrior.
Fragment
A sub skill of wall manipulation, enables Homily to break his own walls and control the smaller pieces. Though it requires a great deal of concentration, he can do anything from launch larger shards like spears to send them flying as a razor sharp cloud in a projectile attack.
Armor
Another more complex variation of barrier manipulation, he creates and maintains several walls simultaneously, wrapping them around his fragile body for a more assured defense. The technique is primarily used to both protect him and give him minor melee capability, but he can also create a walking armor within the range of his magnetic field. He controls its movements as a puppet master and must focus entirely on its maintenance.
Edge
He hones a wall into an extremely thin blade, condensing it into a dense string of energy that can be sent out at speed. The result is a guillotine like cut into the enemy, a mid range attack that bisects opponents with ease. Like all walls, it can be broken, but the material in question must be extremely hard to break through its coiled string.
LOTUS EATER
If his vital signs show signs of failure, his onboard computer takes over and merges with Homily's consciousness, redirecting the energy normally used by his life support system into combat functions. As a result, he extends his magnetic field to 20 meters, is able to create and control multiple large or complex constructs at once, and loses the human empathy required for mercy. By its nature as a desperation attack, this built in failsafe can easily exhaust itself, leaving Homily mentally broken and completely at the mercy of his assailant.
Barrier Master-Stone Wall
Name: Arcana
Race: Skull Kid
Age: 13, 26, 39, 52
Appearance
Servant of Luck
A capricious and mysterious entity that directly serves Lady Luck, this phantom boy enters the combat zone out of boredom, curiosity, and a fair bit of bloodlust. He plays with the fates of men like toys, only occasionally forgetting how easily the arms come off, as a friendly opponent to the Mistress of the game. He exists in multiple dimensions at once, overseeing the fortunes of worlds and throwing in his own wrenches to stave off the Lady's ennui, and this humble servant has acquired no small powers of his own. He has played his cards right thus far, but the ancient child now wants to test his own abilities; fortune favors the bold, and the Lady has granted him the chance to enter the battlefield and test his own powers.
Pros
-He can move incredibly quickly, covering short distances in litte more than a flash and longer ones in a blur
-He is incredibly agile, able to climb, dodge, and dive under and over obstacles and blows
-He can display devious cunning, making use of every weapon at its disposal to organize complex plans of attack
Cons
-He must focus a considerable amount of power and concentration on maintaining a physical form, and cannot take many blows lest his presence on this dimension be disrupted
-His physical strikes are not particularly powerful, and his magical abilities are likewise
-He's very light, which enables him to jump far and fast. Conversely, it also makes him very easy to get knocked away
Powers/Abilities- Draw
Arcana wields a deck of fifty two cards that can produce a variety of magical effects. He can only access thirteen of his full repetoire, but if fortune favors him on the battlefield, he will be able to use his potent abilities to devastating effect. Twelve of his cards are divided into four suits: red Swords, blue Staves, green Cups, and yellow Coins. The first enables him to summon weapons, the second grants access to magical assaults, the third provides healing and augumentations to his abilities, and the fourth manifests strange and random effects. He attacks by drawing cards and playing them, but he must follow certain rules if he is to fight effectively.
-Cards of a particular suit must be drawn in order to progress through the power levels of that suit. For example, when Arcana draws the first card in the swords suit, Dagger, he must draw another swords card to manifest the next level of the suit, Long Sword.
-The first level of the suit may be drawn and played in the same turn, but doing so resets the progression of cards in the previously used suit.
-Cards can be drawn without being played, a technique called holding, and left in places on the battlefield for later use. Holding cards allows him to draw more cards, and he can overcharge spells by picking up held cards all at once. In addition, Arcana can force held cards to explode, with a power level proportionate to the level of cards that have been held. This ability has a caveat in that opponents can also pick up held cards, and throw them as explosive projectiles that can deal minor damage.
-Cards can be stacked. This means that Arcana can layer the effects of his cards, combining the effects of cards that have different suits. For instance, if he were to draw the first card of the Staves suit, Fireball, and draw the first card of the Swords suit, Dagger, his next attack would become Fire Dagger. After this, he may also draw a third card that belongs to the Suits that he had previously drawn, such as the second Swords card to play Fire Longsword or the second Staves card to play Flare Dagger. Certain combinations cancel each other out, or can prove detrimental to the wielder.
-Cards can be played multiple times without being stacked, but Arcana can only draw up to three normal cards at any one time.
-His thirteenth card is a black trump card with a golden numeral 'X' on the back. This Wheel of Fortune enables him to skip a level in his currently drawn hand and play it instantly, but he can only use it once a match.
Swords
Dagger- The first level of the Swords suit, playing it causes a simple and sharp dagger to materialize.
Longsword- The second level of the Swords suit. It summons a quintessential arming sword to Arcana's side.
Scythe- The third level of the Swords suit allows him to create his favorite weapon to detriment and horror of his foes. The Scythe is sharp enough to create gusts of cutting air.
Staves
Fireball- Summons a fireball for Arcana to lob or pitch at his enemies, dealing minor fire and concussive damage.
Flare- Fires a faster fire-based projectile, which explodes with furious power upon contact.
Megaflare- Creates a large, nonelemental burst of magical fire that scorches anything in its way to a crisp. Its flames can only be doused by holy magic, and it displays minor homing abilities.
Cups
Shield- Creates a powerful shield to deflect attacks. When played multiple times in succession, the shield can be reinforced instead of simply creating more.
Heal- Heals the user for an amount of damage proportionate to the amount of healing Cups cards used in play.
Buff- Increases attack and defense at the cost of speed.
Coins
Platform- Creates a cube of solid and undefined matter to be used as a handy stepping stone or platform.
Clones- Creates clones of Arcana to distract and confuse the enemy. They can each use the first level of whatever other cards Arcana has drawn, or use held cards by picking them up. They can take hits for Arcana, but they have very little defense.
Fly- Creates wings for Arcana made of red and black light. They allow him to fly, but only until he draws a new card.
Sleight of Hand
By combining the powers of cards from four different suits and using the trump card, Arcana can incur the blessing of his mistress, Lady Luck. It allows him to dodge the next successful attack, and allows him to immediately draw one card at its second level of power. He cannot stack cards while the effect is active.
Sword Sleight- Aces High
By drawing three Sword cards and the trump, he is able to create the ultimate sword, Excalibur. The sword makes him move fast enough to leave after images, and allows the next blow to hit for massive damage. Arcana must be careful with his speed however, as the technique can miss if he doesn't time his strike correctly.
Staves Sleight- Hellfire Clubs
By drawing three Staves and the trump, he is able to summon a firey maelstrom of doom. The firestorm can burn through the arcane and mundane alike, and reduce all but the hardiest of foes to magically irradiated ashes.
Cups Sleight- Kingdom of Hearts
By drawing the Cups cards and combining their restorative powers with the trump, Arcana creates a personal aura that can withstand up to four charges of attacks. He also gains a boost to power and speed, with no adverse effect to strength. Damage to the protective aura are cumulative, and cards can only be drawn to the first level while the enchantment is active.
Coins Sleight- Diamond Reflection
By combining the strange powers of the three Coins cards and adding the focus of the Wheel of Fortune, Arcana can mimic any attack his opponent makes in the future that has a value of four charges or less. Mimicking even more powerful assaults means that he must stack more Coins cards, until the charge of this technique reaches seven charges.
Servant of Luck- Fragile Speedster
