Jace's Arena Characters

[JaceBeleren]

Full list of characters:

Aelith T'Kalen - Original - 1/1/17

Saddaj Dakoren - Original - 15/1/17

Avacyn - Magic: The Gathering - 13/2/17

Ialla Jhen - Original - 1/4/17

Sorin Markov - Magic: The Gathering - In progress

[JaceBeleren]

Aelith T'Kalen

Basic Information

Tier: Moderate Powers
Titles: Witch Queen (prefix - Witch Queen Aelith T'Kalen), Red Hand (suffix, replacing surname - Aelith Red Hand)
Age: 673 (actual age) 29 (age when turned)
Gender: Female
Race: Dark One
Occupation: Witch Leader
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 96lbs - Despite her considerable height, Aelith weighs relatively little, as she has no need (and in her mind, no reason) to eat.
Build: Light
Skin tone: Very pale
Eye colour: Pale blue
Hair: Medium length, raven black

Details and Background Information

Aelith - Psychological Description

Aelith is ruthless, ambitious and has no empathy whatsoever. However, she is also a Dark One meaning firstly that this is hardly a surprise and secondly that this is an understatement. One thing which is surprising, though probably still an understatement, is that she treats the witches she leads as something between sisters and daughters. She cares for them thoroughly, and the only reason Mephistopheles lets her is because he knows what Aelith will do if harm comes to any of them. If Mephistopheles is allowing something to happen, that on its own is a reason it shouldn't.
Living potentially forever takes its toll on most people - if someone else had lived as long as Aelith, they probably wouldn't plan to live much longer. Aelith, however, has such huge desires that it will take centuries longer to complete them, at least. Being a Dark One helps, too - the combination of the added ambition and a direct link to Mephistopheles' desires makes it difficult to give up.

Aelith - Brief History

Aelith was one of the original twelve conjurers who survived the summoning of Mephistopheles 644 years ago. She can't remember anything about her life before that point, but everything since with impressive clarity. The Ellorien Empire was around then, and still around now - Aelith hates it, for being one of the few things in her way that can stay in her way safely. She spent most of her life moving from town to town, practicing magic and kiling people. She quickly found her calling as a witch - The Red and Black Books came naturally to her, thanks to her Dark One blood. She spent a long time doing this, before realising she wanted to make a difference. Her various acts of cruelty were minor, one-time things. She wanted to change the world. She was going to bring down the Ellorien Empire.
Aelith spent centuries working on her project. She had time, and she had a goal. That was all she needed. First, she worked towards reuniting the original Dark Ones. It was difficult, and ended up being a waste of time - they were mostly dead, with the rest missing without a trace. She built Castle T'Kalen in the marshes on the northeastern borders of the Ellorien. Most people assumed it was haunted anyway. She recruited a number of witches, who would soon be made into Dark Ones, to join her. She taught them centuries' worth of knowledge, and made several guerilla attacks at various locations in the Ellorien. Now, her insurgence is ready to hit at full force.

Arena Information

Weapons and Gear

• Parrying Blades - Aelith has a thin sheet of metal sewn into each of the forearms of her clothing. These are used to parry melee weapon attacks.
• Lifehunter Amulet - Aelith wears a cruel amulet around her neck. Its enchantments come from The Black Book - its wearer can see any dead or close to death regardless of darkness or obstacles. Its wearer also becomes stronger and faster in the presence of the dead, the more corpses, the more powerful the effect. These effects stop functioning when worn by someone who has never killed, or who has only killed the wicked.
• Concealed Dagger - Aelith keeps a dagger hidden up her sleeve, as a last resort. There is nothing special about the dagger, it has no unique abilities or magical effects. The blade is approximately eight inches long.

Skills and Special Abilities

• Dark One Resiliency - Being a Dark One, Aelith is extremely resistant to most forms of attack. Severing her head, or destroying her brain or heart will kill her. Fire is also effective. Aelith doesn't heal the attacks, she simply isn't killed by them, so removing both arms would be little different from killing her, as would anything else which would destroy portions of her body, rendering her unable to attack.
• Dark One Burning - Direct (skin to skin) contact with a Dark One is extrmely dangerous. Inherently evil creatures, such as demons or undead, will be unnafected, but most creatures will be burned at the touch. This process causes little damage, but is very painful and inflicts permenent scarring. Aelith can turn off this ability by concentrating.
• Red Book Magic (Fire and Lava) - Aelith's primary form of attack involves the creation and throwing of fire and lava. Aelith can use this at long range to create a typical, non-explosive, "fireball" effect. At shorter ranges, she can summon a thin stream of lava. This is her most damaging ability, but the high density of lava limits it almost to melee range.
• Red Book Magic (Induced Rage) - A spell Aelith created herself, this involves an actual, spoken taunt, as well as a subtle magic enhancement, designed to bring the target into a reckless fury. This is particularly effective against targets that rely on stealth or precision as they will often abandon these tactics in order to strike at Aelith as hard and as often as they can, relying on brute strength (which they may not have a lot of). However, targets of exceptional willpower may be able to resist this spell, and it may actually make certain fighters more dangerous.
• Black Book Magic (Open Wounds) - Aelith's favourite, though possibly not the most useful practically, rips open any wounds the target is already suffering. These can be wounds inflicted in the same battle, or those that have not healed since a previous one. This only functions on wounds that bleed - not burns, bruises, etc. It is often debilitatingly painful and will cause at least as much damage as the original wound. While very powerful, this spell is limited in its reliance on a wound being present in the first place.
• Black Book Magic (Doom Aura) - This is a permenent magical effect. Aelith coundn't turn it off if she wanted to. In a small radius around her (about 10 feet), colours become less vibrant, and small, non-sentient plants die. Living creatures feel a sense of dread, and find it more difficult to move quickly. However, evil creatures are not affected by this, and inherently evil creatures actually gain the opposite: they feel empowered and move faster.

[JaceBeleren]

Saddaj Dakoren

Basic Information

Tier: Moderate Powers
Titles: Desert Wanderer (prefix, replacing surname - Desert Wanderer Saddaj)
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Occupation: Traveller, Shaman
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 167lbs - mostly muscle
Build: Medium (athletic)
Skin tone: Dark
Eye colour: Brown
Hair: Deep black, shaven almost completely

Details and Background Information

Saddaj - Psychological Description

One of the most prominent features of Saddaj's personality is his devotion to the Ashen Steppes. Just as with most Desert Shamans, the Steppes are to him what a god is to his clerics. However, most Desert Shamans have a caravan or settlment both to protect and to rely on, Saddaj has neither. Saddaj's relationship with the Steppes is much more personal, as it is rare he speaks to anyone human, but he communes with the Steppes twice daily at least, more when in danger. He feels guilt for leaving his home, something the Steppes cannot understand.

Saddaj - Brief History

Saddaj had a strange connection to the desert ever since he was a child. He found little comfort around humans, and preferred solitude. He spent a lot of his spare time (which wasn't much - in the Steppes, you work or you leave) alone in the desert surrounding the settlement of Tal Sara, where he lived. While Shamans often displayed similar characteristics during their childhood, these were especially... severe. Many of the current Shamans expected actions of great significance to take place in Saddaj's life, though whether for better or for worse was not yet clear.
As Saddaj grew up, his Shamanic training began. Needless to say it went very well, his natural talent in the magic was truly unique. For these years of his life, Saddaj was happy, though it was doomed to end badly. On one of Saddaj's last days as a boy, a horrible sandstorm swept through Tal Sara. In truth, no one but the eldest Shamans in Tal Djirad had ever seen one like it, or would ever again. Saddaj, who had been going through his final training at the time, felt a voice speak to him, coming through the wind. It claimed to be the conciousness of the Ashen Steppes. It told him of how it had felt its enemies' hatred, as well as their strength, growing. Of how it had created him as a warrior to destroy them should they dare to challenge it once again. Of how it was now his turn to fight. It told him to kill his teacher to prove it could trust him. He did.
In doing so, Saddaj confined himself to a life wandering through the desert, speaking to no one living inside its borders. The desert sustained him, and made sure he would never give up. He even tried to end his own life once, the desert wouldn't allow it. So he walked. He walked until his feet were bleeding as the sun was setting over the cruel bright hills in the South.

Arena Information

Weapons and Gear

• Ancestral Spear-Stave - Saddaj's weapon is a spear-stave from the Dakoren familial tomb. Saddaj comes from a long line of great warriors, and is skilled at using the spear-stave in both short-hand (holding the stave close to the head, in one hand) and long-hand (holding it near the blunt end, with both hands) techniques, as well as being able to swiftly transition between the two. Saddaj prefers to use the stave as a defensive tool in long-hand, but attack with short-hand. It is enchanted so that it may release a strong gust of wind. This is enough to stagger, but not knock down, an approximately human-sized opponent. There is no limit to the number of times it can be used, but there is to how often. Ten to twenty seconds are usually required between each use.
• Desert Clothing - This is unarmoured, unenchanted mundane clothing. It has no particular use besides protection from sunburn and blindness. It can be used to hide Saddaj's face when necessary.

Skills and Special Abilities

• Desert Magic (Weather Control) - Using his Shamanic talents, Saddaj is able to change the weather to his liking, even regardless of the time of year or day (yes, he can make it blindingly sunny in the middle of the winter at midnight). While this rarely has a significant effect on a battle, he can use it to make a battlefield more like his home ground, and it could certainly have an effect against strange creatures such as vampires, or fire elementals, for whom particular forms of weather can be debilitating if not fatal.
• Desert Magic (Sandstorm) - This spell allows Saddaj to create powerful gusts of wind while summoning a cloud of dust, and maintain this so that in a wide radius it is very difficult to see, and creatures without protection may suffer from having sand get into their eyes mouth, or other orifices. While these happenings may seem trivial, a loss of focus in a battle can be devestating.
• Desert Magic (Transmution and Manipulation) - Some of Saddaj's most powerful magic, he is able to transmute any kind of stone or brick into sand. Besides the potential to remove structural integrity, causing landslides, Saddaj's other ability described here works remarkably with it. He is also able top telekinetically move up to several cubic metres of sand at once. The potential for this is varied, but when a smaller contact point means more pressure, how much damage could a fast-moving object deal, when it is the size of a grain of sand?

[JaceBeleren]

Avacyn, The Archangel
and
Avacyn, The Purifier

Basic Information

Tier: Moderate Powers
Titles: The Archangel, The Purifier (both suffixes - Avacyn The Archangel and Avacyn The Purifier)
Age: Unknown
Gender: Female
Race: Angel
Occupation: Archangel
Height: Never mentioned, generally depicted as particularly tall
Weight: Never mentioned
Build: Medium
Skin tone: Pale
Eye colour: Solid white (The Archangel), solid black (The Purifier)
Hair: Long, loose, white

Details and Background Information

The Archangel - Psychological Description

Avacyn, The Archangel, is immensely benevolent towards humans. She was created to protect them, and she takes her job very seriously. She finds children easier to empathise with than adults - their innocence makes their mindset more similar to her own. Avacyn never smiles, despite her positive alignment, as she does not understand the point. It is believed that she can hear every prayer spoken in her home, Innistrad. She is also not above killing other angels if she decides it is the correct decision - she once killed another high-ranking angel (name unknown) and her entire flight (unit of angels) for allying with demons. It is also worth noting she fought the entire group alone. Avacyn has been described by other angels as one of the most powerful and confident of their race.

The Purifier - Psychological Description

After her corruption, Avacyn, now the Purifier, is a very different character. She believes humanity is the source of evil in the world - not the vampires, werewolves, or even the eldrazi abominations that she was made to defend against. She has commited gencide against humans in her beliefs, she did not even recognise the vampire who created her. Her fighting style greatly reflects her changed mindset: she is much more agressive and uses her speed and mobility to her advantage. She is short-sighted and hateful, focusing on the execution of humanity and ignoring the real threat.

Avacyn - Brief History

The vampire Sorin Markov created Avacyn to create balance between humanity and the various dark creatures that hunted them in Innistrad. By stopping either side from ever getting more powerful than the other, she prevented extinction on both sides of the fight. Though Sorin's method worked for a long time, it was eventually broken by the demon Griselbrand. He challenged Avacyn to battle, and after fighting for days, the only way Avacyn could stop Griselbrand was to trap them both in the Helvault, possibly forever. She did, removing the balance between humanity and the rest of Innistrad, throwing it into chaos once more. She was soon freed, however, by the necromancer Lilliana Vess, who wished to kill Griselbrand in order to free herself from the demonic pact that would cost her her soul should she fail. Releasing Avacyn involved releasing all of the demons in the Helvault, though the selfish Lilliana likely cared about neither the archangel nor the other demons - her focus was solely on Griselbrand. Upon Avacyn's return, part of her defence of humanity involved the cursemute - the transformation of many (willing) werewolves into wolfir, creatures like werewolves, but an unchanging mix of the two aspects rather than one sometimes and one others. In return for this, they were expected to protect humanity the way Avacyn did. A powerful and strange spell cast by Nahiri later planted a seed of suspicion in Avacyn's mind. Over the following months, she witnessed a number of foul acts commited by humanity which convinced her that humanity was unfit for her protection. After attempting (and in some cases, succeeding) to convince other angels of her beliefs, she made an attack on humanity, slaughtering hundreds before she was finally stopped.

Arena Information

Weapons and Gear

• Avacynian Longspear - Avacyn's twin-pronged longspear glows slightly in the presence of evil (The Archangel) or humans (The Purifier). Its shape means that someone stabbed by it will have difficulty freeing themselves. Avacyn generally wields it in one hand, and it works as a medium for her Burning Light ability.
• Celestial Armour - Armour forged by angels, made for fightinf the darkest creatures Innistrad has to offer. It is light, but as strong as well-made steel. Avacyn uses chainmail, with plates covering particular areas aditionally (see images for specifics).

Skills and Special Abilities

• Wings - Being an angel, Avacyn can fly quickly for long durations. The Purifier's are heavily stained with blood, doing little other than creating an extremely intimidating and obviously hostile appearance.
• Burning Light - Avacyn can channel a beam of light through her longspear. This is a solid, constant beam that will create deep trenches (up to one foot) even in stone. Getting hit by something like this would usually be instantly fatal, and armour or a shield would be little use. However, it cannot be maintained by more than several seconds (about 10), and it is obvious when Avacyn is about to do so, as her longspear glows brightly (more so than when detecting evil/humans) for a second or two before the attack begins.
• The Smell of Blood (The Purifier only) - Avacyn, The Purifier, can smell a wound from dozens of metres away, making it difficult to hide from her. However, the smell also drives her into a frenzy, forgetting what little defense she was using in favour of an all-out attack.

[JaceBeleren]

Ialla Jhen

Basic Information

Tier: Moderate Powers
Titles: Mistweaver (prefix, replacing forename - Mistweaver Jhen)
Age: 31
Gender: Female
Race: Half-demon
Occupation: Mercenary
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 130lbs
Build: Athletic
Skin tone: Pale
Eye colour: Gray
Hair: Shaved on either side, tied back in the middle, black

Details and Background Information

Ialla - Psychological Description

Ialla is an efficient, methodical fighter with little care for who or what she fights for. She is the sort of person who does things as well as she can the first time (better that than to have to try again later), but who recognises there is rarely enough time for perfect. She prefers to bait her opponent into a trap, then cut them down before they are sure what is happening. Her method of doing things also causes her to dislike people who waste time - she has a particular hate for hagglers. If they can't afford her service, she says, they don't get it. She often also has difficulty trusting people. Friends have always seemed more trouble than they're worth to her, and she's always been capable enough on her own. The best thing you'll ever get from Ialla is respect, and that's tough to earn, but easily worth it - she's always been someone you want to be on the same side of.

Ialla - Brief History

Alessana Jhen was a saint of the Ellorien Empire - a figure known throughout the land and many neighbouring ones for her deeds of courage and heroism. She had been married for a long time already, and soon became mother to Ialla. What she didn't know was that a shapeshifting demon had kidnapped and replaced Alessana's husband several months ago, draining the life force of both to remain corporeal, Alessana's constitution hiding the effects and healing her before the next draining. The demon, Triz'ata, was the father of Ialla. Obviously, upon Ialla's birth, things didn't go brilliantly.
Investigation soon found Triz'ata's true identity, and his death was quick. Alessana's true husband was found dead the same day. Everything about Ialla was covered up, anything less would tarnish her mother's reputation. The child was declared a stillborn, and the husband murdered. People worldwide gave their sympathies to the unfortunate hero.
Allessana was unwilling to simply destroy her child, regardless of the father. She had a close friend of hers, living in a rural location where they would not be found, look after her. Afraid but indebtted, they eventually agreed, but said that if anything "unnatural" happened, they would stop immediately. Ialla was brought up this way until the age of twelve, but Alessana's friend proved true to their word when something finally did happen - an otherworldly mist emanating from the child inexplicably. Ialla spent the remainder of her childhood on the streets, barely scraping together the food to live on, eventually resorting to crime. After a few years, when she was sixteen, her horns had grown too prominent to hide. She was forced to sleep during daytime and move only at night, where she would only be seen by the drunk and the stupid. She soon attracted the attention of someone entirely different, a teacher of sorts. By her adulthood, she had become an accomplished swordswoman.
Her adult life was mostly spent travelling from country to country, selling her talents as a mercenary. Under one occasion, she met a strange figure who recognised her potential, and sold her the tattoos that cover her left arm. These allowed her to control her powers properly, which saved her life many times. Her reputation built massively, and now the guards know not to stop pale women with tattooed arms, horns and black swords when they walk into town.

Arena Information

Weapons and Gear

• Blood Iron Sword - Ialla's sword is made from a powerful, magical material called Blood Iron. Made through a process which involves the intended user sacrrificing some of their blood, it is specifically attuned to one person. Ialla's sword will grow thorns around the handle when someone else tries to use it. When she uses it, she can hear the blood of those around her, making it almost impossible to hide.
• Leather Armour - Just that: normal leather armour. About as much protection as is possible without hindering movement on some level.
• Attuned Tattoos - These are designed to allow Ialla to control her magical abilities instead of them just occuring spontaneously. They have no effect of their own, but they make Ialla's natural abilities much more useful. When in use, they glow a faint, murky red.

Skills and Special Abilities

• Mistweaver - Ialla's signature spell is to create a thick cloud of mist that obscures vision, and dampens the local atmosphere enough to put out small flames (a candle but not a torch). Combining this with the blood-hearing from her sword creates a predator-prey situation that takes even seasoned warriors by surprise (often more so than novices), much to Ialla's amusement.
• Abnormal Gravity - Ialla can slightly adjust the way gravity works to suit her. This is only for herself, she cannot directly affect others with this. She can use use it to jump abnormally high, stop and change direction in mid-air, and breal falls.
• Sudden Step - Ialla can suddenly move a few steps in any direction, leaving a small cloud of mist where she left. This is irrelevant of any obstacles, but she cannot finish inside one and any objects she is holding or people touching are brought with her. Her favourite use of this spell is to run directly towards a melee combatant, then use it to cover the last spell so they engage her too slowly.

[JaceBeleren]

Sorin Markov

Basic Information

Titles: Grim Nemesis, Solemn Visitor, Lord of Innistrad (all suffixes, replacing surname - Sorin, Grim Nemesis; Sorin, Solemn Visitor; Sorin, Lord of Innistrad)
Age: ~2500
Gender: Male
Race: Vampire
Occupation: Traveler
Height: Never mentioned
Weight: Never mentioned
Build: Medium
Skin tone: Grey
Eye colour: Bright orange
Hair: Long, grey