James Thorne
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Personality: Presenting himself as rather cold and unattached, James has a personality expected of a seasoned assassin rather than that of a young man not even out of his teens. He is able to change his demeanour quickly, adapting to what he perceives to be the best course of action if he needs to, but his usual personality is gentlemanly but cold. He upholds good manners, but rarely smiles and doesn't care for the emotional state of those he is talking to. When angered, he behaves in much the same way as he usually does, but is notably more violent. He is also harsh against those that he views as wasting time or incompetent.
Despite this, he can come across has slightly more easy going and caring around people he trusts, including his Servant and his family. He likes to banter with Archer while not fighting, and will occasionally make witticisms about events or circumstances. He doesn't show regret or remorse for what he has done, or how he lives, but occasionally admits regret about leaving his family behind when they needed him.
Appearance: James stands at 6'00", with a slim body type that had undergone a few years of intensive training.
Biography and Family History: Born to unknown parents, only to be orphaned in a mysterious car accident and placed into care for most of his early life. John and Victoria adopted him as their son aged 10. The couple already had a 6 year old daughter, Rena, and he was originally dismissive and cold towards her, paranoid that his parents would love her more, as their biological child. He eventually warmed up to her after she stubbornly kept trying to get closer to him.
His parents were training them as magus, as they were both Magus aligned with the elements Air and Fire, but his own training fell though and they stopped trying after he decided to give up. He continued to support Rena, even as they went though school. As he got older, he became increasingly anti-social and violent, eventually earning a reputation in school as a delinquent.
He disappeared aged 15 after a seemingly unprovoked attack on the family that claimed the life of his father, after which he attempted to lead the attackers away. His mother and sister never saw him again. He had learned of a rival Magus that sought to damage the Thorne family, but more specifically James himself, and had spent the following 4 years getting increasingly involved with criminal gangs and rogue Magus with the intention of finding and killing that Rival. He ended up travelling/being smuggled across the world as he developed his skills, taking inspiration from the infamous Magus Killer. After hellish training with PMCs, local militias and whatever else shady paramilitary groups would take him, he became a formidable hunter, as skilled with a rifle as he was a knife while his personality became colder, more remorseless and more detached. He killed his target shortly after turning 18, and spent the year picking up assassination contracts from The Magus Association and the Church against heretical magus and other such threats.
When he was chosen by the grail, he thought it was bad for business and planned to avoid it until he heard about the wish that is supposedly granted. Tugging at the last remaining shreds of humanity, he thought back to his family, and decided to use that wish to ensure his adoptive family remained safe, away from him, all the while unaware of Rena's own role in the Grail War. He accidentally used a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula while summoning in an abandoned bookshop after it fell into the summoning circle, and thus summoned the Heroic Spirit of Abraham Van Helsing.
Origin: Shatter
Elemental Affinity: Void/Fire
Number of Magic Circuits and Quality of Magic Circuits: 30, Very high quality.
Magic Circuit Switch: Flicking his lighter whilst picturing teal flames. If he isn't picturing them, his circuits don't activate.
Magecraft: Functioning as an active counter to Magecraft, he has developed a unique skill which allows him to utilise his origin to 'shatter' any form of spiritual energy, including magecraft and spell casting. He cannot, however, use any other magecraft.
Spirit Fire: An offensive form of 'shatter', it appears as teal flames that can cause considerable damage to any source of Spiritual power, including Servants and Magic Circuits. Only effective on Servants with Magic Resistance C or below. Anything C+ or higher is immune to it's effect. Has no effect on physical objects.
Shatter Aegis: a defensive form, it appears as a full-sized body shield made of teal flames, and can destroy any projected magic up to and including Three-line incantations, but is useless against physical objects. Has a limited effectiveness against NPs below B rank due to their spiritual nature, but sustained attacks will eventually overwhelm him.
Mystic Codes: Specialised Mystic Code
L115A3 Sniper Rifle, using a specialised .338 calibre ammunition inspired by the Magus Killer's Origin Rounds. These rounds are infused with his blood, and can inflict the concept of 'shatter' directly onto the magic circuits of a mage, or even onto the spiritual body of a Servant. The more Circuits and the higher the quality of the mage, the more damage is done. High-level mages can be crippled with a single bullet, and weaker Servants can also be severely wounded. Against those with no or poor quality circuits, they function as regular sniper rifle rounds.
Equipment:
Sphinx 3000 Handgun.
MX-8054 combat knife.
Engraved flip-lighter.
Black cigarettes.
Non-Magecraft Related Skills: Firearms training, rigging traps, self-defence training, basic first-aid, agility training/parkour.