Be a hero. Protect the people. Defend liberty and justice. This was the mantra that Gerard believed in. His father was an officer for Policus. To Gerard, his father was a hero – a defender of justice. He grew up on the stories his dad used to tell of people being hurt and Policus stepping in to defend them.

It was no surprise that Gerard became an officer for Policus, nor would it a surprise that he would be the hero of the Sai-Lei massacre.

The Sai-Lei was a large restaurant, known for their exorbitant prices and food that was worth the cost. Rich people tended to eat out daily at the restaurant. It was obvious that the Sai-Lei was going to be a target of a terror attack.

Thirty people died that day. Most of them magnates. Yet, sixty were, all at the hands of one off-duty officer who happened to be attempting to impress a woman. Battered, bruised, shot, and cut, Gerard managed to live through that day. After his recovery, he ended up being promoted to a new unit, one that suited his skills.

The AUT was formed shortly after the Sai-Lei massacre to combat the increasing amount of terrorist attacks. Their motto was simple - "by any means." They were given prototype weapons and armour suited to them and spent the next 30 years responding to any terrorist attack in any district. The AUT managed to gain a nasty moniker from the people - "Reapers." Wherever they go, death shall follow.

The AUT were dismantled after the Coup Incident. A group of Policus officers, disagreeing with the growing police-state, stole armaments and went to fight Policus. The AUT were the first response to the insurrection. The coup was almost instantly destroyed. No one would have expected the vast gap in power. The Commanders realized the danger of having such a powerful and neutral entity in their midst. Thus, the members of the AUT were given two choices: Retire and never speak about the AUT again or else.

Gerard was in the latter category, much like some of his comrades. They decided to stay in their base of operations. No matter who came after them, no matter what consequence, they would protect the people. They would continue their duty. They would be brothers until the end.

And the end they met.

The base was instantly destroyed by some sort of weapon. All his comrades were dead. Yet, Gerard managed to live thanks to his armour. It protected him. He escaped and spent five years hiding. By sheer luck - good or bad - someone managed to find the stash were he kept his equipment from the good ol' days. Rather than report it to Policus, they offered him a job to protect the people once more.

Gerard easily accepted.

Elizabeth Carmine was born into a family of completely normal people with no magical abilities whatsoever. After being tested for magical potential and receiving almost abnormally negative results, she was sent on the same path most people with insufficient magical abilities go. The girl studied in the fields of architecture with high hopes and aspirations, but ended up as a technical assistant on some semi-legal mining colony that made most of its profits by digging up the remains of forgotten civilisations and selling the useless rubble on black markets.

One day, Liza managed to steal what appeared to be an old book from an otherwise unimpressive haul of ancient trash. She originally wanted to sell the tome herself, hoping that she'd be able to finance her ticket out of the shitty grind, but luck was not on her side. The facility was attacked by painstakers shortly after, and although they killed a lot of the workers, some of them were taken hostage, Liza included. After the panic over being kidnapped died down, the mind-numbing boredom of being locked in a cell for what seemed like a lifetime settled in. The girl started reading in the book she somehow managed to smuggle along, and although she didn't understand a word of what was written there, there was something enticing about the sound of those syllables. Something made her continue through the pages until she found herself whispering incomprehensible words.

Then, suddenly, there was meaning. The knowledge didn't flow into her, it felt like it had been there from the very beginning. As if she simply looked at the world the wrong way up until now. Suddenly, she knew what this book really was, what it meant to be its owner and the powers that came along with it. And she knew the powers that came with this ownership were her way out of the hole that was her life. To the painstakers great surprise, their unexpectedly potent prisoner had a rather loose sense of morals and didn't seek retribution for her kidnapping, she wanted to join them.

While her newfound powers bought her a place among the painstakers, her new sense of self-preservation allowed the girl to survive long enough to educate herself in the art of combat. This did nothing to stop the people around her from dying like flies though (although it is not entirely impossible that Liza's unnatural company had something to do with this).

Eventually there came the day when fate came looking for her once again. In form of a Nightmare kicking down her front door, probably attracted by the strong magical signature of the relic in her possession. About half an hour later, after that thing had destroyed half the neighbourhood, the cleaners came to help. While Liza was not able to kill the nightmare on her own, she had managed to keep it busy for long enough to be noticed and didn't hesitate a second when they offered her a job.

All of Liza's magical abilities come exclusively from the relic that is known as the CHAOS CODE. Ownership of this tome is established by reading a specific passage of the book out loud or killing the previous owner.
As soon as ownership is acquired, the user immediately receives comprehensive knowledge of the language the CHAOS CODE is written in as well as awareness of where key passages are found in book, as if they had studied it thoroughly. Without this knowledge the CHAOS CODE is effectively useless, ensuring that there is only ever one person able to access it at a time. Ownership of the book brands the wielder with two runic affinities, which dictate their available spells and prohibit usage of all other forms of magic permanently.
The owner of the CHAOS CODE is granted psychokinetic control over the CHAOS CODE itself and any one object that has previously been turned into a focus through a lengthy enchanting ritual. This occupies one hand per levitating object.
An established focus is used to mark objects or individuals with shamanic runes through brief physical contact. The mark itself is painless, invisible and can not be removed. The wielder of the CHAOS CODE can activate all placed runes at once by reading certain phrases out of the CHAOS CODE aloud.
Chanting the respective passage out of the CHAOS CODE allows for all runes to activate instantly, as soon as they are placed. Runic affinities define the effect of active runes.

Liza's primary runic affinity is the GRUDGE rune.
The GRUDGE rune curses the wielder, causing a RUNIC BEAST to haunt them. This RUNIC BEAST can instantly relocate to Liza's momentary location, cloak itself at will, regenerate any amount of damage and does not require oxygen or food to persist. It can be damaged and disabled, but killing it permanently is impossible. While not immediately harmful her, the contract between Liza and this creature as established by the CHAOS CODE dictates that it will end the wielders life once their ownership of the CHAOS CODE ends.
When Liza activates a previously placed rune, her RUNIC BEAST will immediately attack the marked object/individual, consuming one mark with every attack.
It is possible to empower the RUNIC BEAST by chanting the correct section from the CHAOS CODE, allowing the beast to freely attack the target without consuming marks, but this disables all effects of her secondary runic affinity for the duration.
While Liza's own physical strikes with the focus do not exceed human strength, her beasts delayed attacks inflict significant damage with its obsidian claws and corrosive saliva. It is noteworthy that Liza is unaffected by said corrosive substance.
Although activated runes force the beast to attack, the creature is sentient and acts independently whenever it sees fit to do so. Its true motivations are unknown, but there have been multiple instances implying that the creature has either grown fond of Elizabeth or seeks to extend her ownership over the CHAOS CODE.
Although Liza initially named the creature "Glav", she later found a passage in the tome indicating that its name might actually be "Labolas".


Liza's secondary runic affinity is the GUARD rune.
GUARD passively shields the user from physical harm by deflecting incoming attacks whenever the CHAOS CODE is being used. This can deflect up to four attacks before Liza has to recite a passage from the CHAOS CODE to recharge the ability. Four light blue flames hovering next to her represent the currently active charges. Initial activation of this ability is "free", but recharging GUARD mid-combat without a lengthy session of meditation will force the Glav to bite Liza once.
The user can chant a specific section of the CHAOS CODE to empower the deflection effect, causing a burst of blue flame to erupt from the point of impact to damage attackers. However, no new marks can be placed with this chant being active.
It is possible to transfer protective charges to allies in emergency situations by reading the respective passage from the CHAOS CODE, but the user can only maintain a total of 4 protective charges, and active charges can not be "recalled" from an ally. This takes away one layer of GUARD from the wielder until the shielded ally is actually attacked.

Combat suit "Firefly"
The combat suit "Firefly" is a fairly standard set of utility-focused armor with a few specific modifications. The primary feature of the Firefly series suits are directional boost units that allows the wearer to leap around a battlefield at impressive speed. The main exhaust unit on its back works in tandem with several smaller exhaust units on arms and legs to amplify speed and force of basic running and jumping motions. The suit foregoes protective features almost entirely to provide maximum performance in terms of unhindered movement and agility. Its state-of-the-art regenerative fabric technology is able to repair damage done by penetrative or cutting weaponry to shield the user from extreme temperatures and vacuum.
The helm Liza uses is custom-made and provides visual aid in tracking Glav's movements during combat, as well as basic vision modes. Its design is reminiscent of ancient shamanic masks described in the CHAOS CODE.
All technical features of the suit are operated by an unshielded battery system that needs to recharge and can be disabled, but the suit is built with such an event in mind and so lightweight that it wouldn't hinder the user regardless.

Focus Glaive "Grudgel"
A standard-issue energy glaive used by slightly more specialised forces but practically everywhere, with a few modified features. At its core the design is that of a durable mechanical staff with a purely mechanical blade on one end and a simple energy-based blade on the other. This model had its energy-blade removed and replaced by a simple industrial chromatic particle marker. Striking a target with this blunt end of the glaive will cause a small eruption of blue particle fragments that adhere to any surface and can easily be wiped off.
This glaive is Liza's chosen focus. Striking any target with the blunt end imbues a rune. The blue particles fulfill no other purpose than to mark the location of placed runes for easier tracking. Removing the blue dust does not free a target of the hunters mark.
Striking a target with the blade on the other side of the glaive does not imbue a rune, but offers the convenience of directly inflicting damage.

Stryker/v07 Pistol
Liza carries a standard issue Stryker v7 within her standard combat equipment. She is not particularly experienced with this weapon and doesn't have a free hand to use it anyway, most of the time... but it feels nice to have one available.

SG-048 "Fragment" Grenades
Two standard issue grenades that synergize nicely with her available magic and can make the nightmares shut up permanently.