"I wonder... Do I fight on because I want to win? Or simply to drown out the howling of the dead?"
Name: Alexi Robsdotter
Title: The Knight of Winter
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Allegiance: Machina
Race: Human
Personality: For one who fights for the Machina, the Knight of Winter was an exemplar of many of the virtues of an angelic knight. Unquestioning loyalty born of honor and oaths, rejection of modern technology for chivalric steel and sorcerous will, a grim and serious demeanor. But the loss of her order has twisted seriousness to the hint of madness and turned grimness to fatalism that gnaws away at her heart. In a more idyllic time, Alexi would enjoy the pleasures of a roaring fire, hearty stew, and copious amounts of cheap beer and ale.
History: Humans have never been the race with the greatest sorcerous potential, but that does not mean they have none. The short lifespans of humans could never master magic to a degree that would allow them to fight in the war between Hell and Heaven on a mass scale, and their breakthrough came in the form of machines. There are occasionally those with the genius and natural potential to in a short life amass the power to fight, however, even if perhaps the playing field still isn't quite even.
The Knights of Winter, was once an order, living near the peaks of a snow-covered mountains, honing ice magic beyond mere manipulation of cold, and preparing their skills for when they were needed once more. When they were found and drawn into the conflict in the Nexus, their hearts were roused by the plight of humans seeking independence from both gods and devils, and they launched a crusade to aid the Machina. But they were few, and many were of only human talent, and they made no difference in the war at large. Especially due to the fact that the Nexus didn't seem to agree with them.
Alexi became The Knight of Winter with a capital T because there are none left of her kin or fellow knights. None of her oathbrothers have ever been reborn by the magic of the Nexus, and what was once a righteous crusade quickly became a lone warrior. Gifted beyond her years in skill, but more importantly in simple fate that left her the last of her kind.
Powers:
The Knight of Winter has ice themed powers. Shocking. However, her LITERAL ice powers are... Lackluster. While she can summon misty fogs, icebolts, and walls of ice, they simply lack in sheer power compared to angelic or demonic magicians, or even normal Machina technology such as guns and shield projectors. While bolstered in an cold environment or weakened in a hot environment, neither makes much of a difference to the fact that her literal cryomancy is little more than a support and utility power save in the most absolutely ice or fire aspected areas.
But her true powers are thematically related to "freezing" and slowing things, and the rebound when things revert to how they were meant to be.
Inviolability of the Mountain Peak- This creates an aura which places a "maximum speed" on all physical objects within a short distance of Alexi. Bullets become dodgeable, allowing martial combatants with the skill to parry arrows the potential to parry bullets. Momentum is however left intact, because magic says so, so the objects become no less deadly. If something enters then exits, it resumes appropriate speed.
Frostbourn Steps/Avalanche Strikes- Alexi can store up her speed, momentarily slowing her steps, to gain a great burst of movement, a "dash move". While her overall speed, does not change, sometimes it is useful to be much faster for a critical moment at the cost of slowness when you can afford to. Likewise, she can charge up a swing of her sword or some other strike, pushing and exerting her muscles, but her blade not moving until she releases the energy all at once in a strike that hits like ten. The weakness of both these abilities is that she cannot change the direction of the energy. Going right cannot become going left, and a thrust cannot become a swing, and being interrupted from focusing wastes the charge.
Dazzling Snow- Alexi can "freeze" the light coming off of her, to slow its travel from her body. When combined with fast movement, this can leave afterimages and leave the opponent a moment behind if they rely to much on their eyes and reactions.
Weapons: Her Oathblade is a magically augmented steel, that has served her well. It holds a keen edge and has not broken or blunted yet. It is also cursed or booned with the souls of all her fallen comrades. She does not know this, and thinks the pained voices are simply her own trauma, and not the fact that the Knights of Winter had a dark pact made in their past. The Oathblade currently draws upon the souls inside it to be very resilient, but if a necromancer with mastery of souls rather than just bones and bodies got ahold of it, the potential power would be quite something.
Equipment: The Knight of Winter is well equipped for the snow. But otherwise doesn't carry many of the useful gadgets like grenades or guns that other Machina aligned characters might.
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