Okay I've reworked Vaulthuz, gave him a few different powers , some changes to his personality and history that make more sense with his power level. Although the history might make him seem more powerful than he actually is, I don't know. Please point out any obvious problems I've missed (although I'd like to note with his abilities that the only way he can actually kill an opponent in battle either through his minions or if he gets extremely close to them. Most of his magic is non-lethal, well not directly).
Name: Vaulthuz
Title: Bonemelder- originally a term used for surgeons in his home tribe, Vaulthuz retains the title due to his often used ability to change the bone structure of his minions
Height: Average height for his race standing at about 6'8 at his full height.
Weight: approximately 300lbs
Age: Old for his race at about 90 years old, he is not quite in peak physical condition but he could still contend with a lycan 40 years younger without magic. Naturally ,Lycans generally only live until 60, however those with an affinity for magic can often live for up to 150 years, depending on their natural magical affinity. Vaulthuz would likely reach these 150 years without any other magical assistance, although he intends to live far longer.
Race/Species: Lycan- Lycans are large wolf-like beasts that at smallest stand at about 6' (essentially imagine worgen or werewolves, just always in their animalistic form). They have sharp senses, sharper senses and wits, although the race is not particularly inventive resulting in them being incredibly primitive with the most advanced civilizations only recently forming primitive feudal kingdoms but with most living in tribes.
Tier/Influence: # (4); regional. Vaulthuz uses necromancy and other dark arts to fuel his power. While they are generally powerful abilities, the drawback of his arsenal is that many of them have downsides to the user, such as accelerated physical decay and nightmares among other things. He is technically capable of commanding legions of undead but it would likely fracture his mind and send him insane. Although the necromancer is always looking for ways to neutralize these risks.
Group(s): The Cult of Lycholme (currently unofficial)
Appearance: Vaulthuz is a large black furred lycan with unnaturally red eyes. Due to his dabbling in necromancy, the tips of his fingers have lost all their flesh and fur,as has half of his face; revealing his skull to the world. When necessary he places a spell upon himself to hide these deformities but is not something he is generally conscious about. He wears black robes decorated with bones running down the sleeves and back, the cowl has a highly stylized, almost twisted, skull drawing on it. He also has several small bone spines protruding from his back.
Personality: Sly,ambitious and possibly a bit sadistic, Vaulthuz is willing to do anything to achieve his goals. Many would consider him mad as it is not uncommon to see the lycan speaking to himself, however this is merely the result of any captured souls or raised servants being too talkative than the necromancer would like. He is a curious soul who wishes to learn everything he can about the dark arts and reap the rewards that come with it, although he is still willing to discuss terms with anyone who is willing to serve him instead of simply killing them and turning them into another puppet. The lycan originally wished to help those who were injured with his abilities and try to keep the peace, but as he grew older he began to realize that the universe was a chaotic place. He decided he wanted to change that.
"This land is cruel. There is no reason or peace in it, us mortals only wish to indulge in our desires and die; to miss the big picture and pass on into the void. I must show them the error of their ways...but how? An extract from Vaulthuz' journal several months after being driven driven from his home
"Chaos is a result of free will. I will show this realm peace ; the silence of death , the order and peace it brings! " An extract from his journal, several weeks before waging war against his home planet.
Abilities, Talents, Traits, Powers:
( 4 ) Raise Dead -- Vaulthuz links his soul to the corpses of those around him, binding them to his will and reanimating them. This spell takes about a minute to come into affect before the nearby corpses will begin to move. Raised minions that strong possessed wills in life will be capable of speaking to Vaulthuz through his mind. Recently killed minions (within the past hour) will retain any learned abilities to their fullest degree, after this time their skills will degrade depending on when they were reanimated. After a full day the undead will have lost any skills it once possessed. The link requires no strategic advantage as the voice speaking is but an echo of the target. The servants will obey Vaulthuz without question but are generally slower than the average living being. Use of this magic also causes the user to decay at a unnatural rate
(4 ) Bone Melding -- Vaulthuz can manipulate the bone in dead or undead targets, he can stretch them, sharpen them , shrink them and generally reshape them. He can also use his abilities to combine his servants into a bone golem, which is an incredibly strong but slow (mentally and physically). Use of this magic has caused small spikes of bone to begin erupting out of his back.
(3 ) Shadow Magic -- Vaulthuz is capable of releasing a bolt or beam of shadows at his target. If contact is made the target will suffer no physical pain but will instead be forced to re-experience their most horrific memories. A simple bolt will cause the target to experience it in a almost instant flashback while the beam will cause them to slowly re-experience it as though it was happening from the first time, possibly holding them in place depending on the willpower of the opponent. Mentally weak characters may be driven to insanity when over-exposed to this magic. After using this magic, Vaulthuz will generally experience his own worst memories when he next sleeps.
( 4 ) Soul Drain-- After making physical contact with a target, Vaulthuz can attempt to drain the soul from his opponent's body, instantly killing them if he succeeds. However, when the spell begins a battle of wills occurs. If the target resists the necromancers attack, they will have a moment to retreat as the necromancer awakens from an almost trance-like state as his soul returns to his own body. Draining a soul will grant Vaulthuz additional power in his spells, each soul he holds increases his power by a tenth but he can only hold 3 souls in his body at a time. Vaulthuz can also use souls to block magical or energy based attacks, although this will generally destroy the soul depending on the strength of the attack. Souls Vaulthuz has claimed are capable of speaking to him, although it is rare they will ever reveal anything of value due to the mind shattering pain of being ripped from their bodies. These souls usually fade into the void after about 3 days.
(3 ) Blood Rituals-- Vaulthuz is capable of sacrificing lifeforce (blood or soul) to increase his own physical (blood) or magical (soul) strength. This magic is highly ritualistic and requires a variety of of incantation and an altar to perform. There are types of rituals but Vaulthuz currently only knows one. But generally these rituals require payment to work. The more powerful the ritual, the more life force is required (Note: this power is something I'm possibly planning for future plots which is why I'm leaving the types of rituals relatively open. I'll give these rituals to the mods so they can read through them before I add them here and use them)
(2 ) Hide form-- a minor illusion Vaulthuz has created that allows him to hide his physical deformations and appear as a normal lycan would. This spell requires little effort to maintain but Vaulthuz generally only uses it when necessary or when first meeting a potential ally.
(3 ) Shadow Form -- Vaulthuz transferred his body into a mass of darkness. While in this form he is extremely fast and is capable of in atmosphere flight, however he cannot cast any other magic while in this form and cannot cause any physical damage until he has returned to his normal form.
Items:
( 3 ) Staff of Bones -- A staff created from the bones of his victims, Vaulthuz uses this staff to store souls in so they did not fade as quickly, they will last an additional 3 days before the trapped souls escape. He can hold a maximum of five souls in his staff at once.
( 1 ) Sacrificial Knife -- A blood stained blade Vaulthuz keeps as a memento of his old knife. It possesses no extraordinary properties but Vaulthuz usually uses it when performing blood magic rituals.
History: Vaulthuz spent his early years as what was called a bonemelder in his tribe, which was essentially a surgeon. Initially he enjoyed his lot in life and was content just being another bonemelder in a small tribe. As he grew older however, so did his ambitions. He wished to find new ways to heal wounds and correct broken bones other than brutal surgeries, crude medicines or straight up amputation. He eventually convinced one of the tribes shamans to teach him more than the basics of magic; every lycan that was found capable of magic was taught the basics and prepared for more specialized tasks in the village although these did not always involve the use of magic. Using what he had learned he tapped into shamanistic magic and managed to use it to heal flesh wounds and infections. But that was not enough for him, he delved deeper into the magical arts and even began raiding ruins of older lycan civilizations that had known incredibly advanced...well, everything. In his raids he eventually came across tomes that referred to shaping bone and flesh, it also detailed the reanimation of the dead. Naturally Vaulthuz was ecstatic and quickly began learning from these tomes and quickly began mending broken bones with ease. He became a loved figure in his village for his acts and had even began to teach others his techniques.
After several years of success however, Vaulthuz began to become frustrated with the old tomes. They had shown him how to resurrect the dead but it did not seem to work correctly, they were husks of their former selves with no personality or memory of their life. He quickly killed these resurrected lycans and burned them, his tribe would not approve of tampering with life and death as he did. Eventually he was caught of course and he was chased from his home for disturbing the natural order and attempting to control what was natural. Vaulthuz spend the next few years lurking in caves and learning what he could from the ancient tomes and collecting more of them when he could.
Eventually Vaulthuz understood the true extent of the magic he had been using and realized what power he could wield. And the vengeance he could wreck on the world he had tried to help. He spent time refining his abilities and discovering more, without the help of the tomes now, his old tribe had caught on to his methods of learning and had raided many of the ruins to destroy any of the tomes and recommending to other tribes they were friendly with to do the same.
He spent three decades learning everything he could, developing his powers and stealing bodies for his army when the time was right, even recruiting a few young and ambitious lycans to act as his spies and soldiers when he would strike. Eventually he did, by this time his old tribe had united with several other local tribes to form a primitive republic. The nation fought against him and his horde for several years but eventually it fell ; it's dead joining his army and a few exchange's their lives to act as his living servants who would help raise his armies. He was not satisfied with that however, seeing the legions at his command he craved more. However this was when the cracks in his power began to form. The voices of his servants in his mind grew louder and he could feel his sanity slipping away from the constant voices and the frequent nightmares when he finally managed to sleep. Eventually he disbanded a large portion of his horde and instead sent his living servants to weaken the living nations of his planet for several years through political manoeuvring and frequent raids. Eventually he managed to obliterate every nation on his planet. He had created peace here. But he knew there would be chaos elsewhere, so he set about creating a way to reach these places and left his horde in turmoil, pushing them from his mind and turning them into rabid animals. When the time came he would reclaim them, but for now he would allow the disorder so he could think clearly.
Vaulthuz spent decades working to create a spell that would allow him to find these new worlds, he expended countless souls,servants and hours perfecting it and testing it,even as the world he currently lived in gradually began to grow back ; small groups of survivors began to form villages to fight off the now disorganised hordes while their master was deep underground. Eventually he had perfected the spell, he stepped into the portal ready to conquer what was on the other side.
Character Sheet for Vaulthuz
Name: Vaulthuz
Title: Bonemelder- originally a term used for surgeons in his home tribe, Vaulthuz retains the title due to his often used ability to change the bone structure of his minions
Height: Average height for his race standing at about 6'8 at his full height.
Weight: approximately 300lbs
Age: Old for his race at about 90 years old, he is not quite in peak physical condition but he could still contend with a lycan 40 years younger without magic. Naturally ,Lycans generally only live until 60, however those with an affinity for magic can often live for up to 150 years, depending on their natural magical affinity. Vaulthuz would likely reach these 150 years without any other magical assistance, although he intends to live far longer.
Race/Species: Lycan- Lycans are large wolf-like beasts that at smallest stand at about 6' (essentially imagine worgen or werewolves, just always in their animalistic form). They have sharp senses, sharper senses and wits, although the race is not particularly inventive resulting in them being incredibly primitive with the most advanced civilizations only recently forming primitive feudal kingdoms but with most living in tribes.
Tier/Influence: # (4); regional. Vaulthuz uses necromancy and other dark arts to fuel his power. While they are generally powerful abilities, the drawback of his arsenal is that many of them have downsides to the user, such as accelerated physical decay and nightmares among other things. He is technically capable of commanding legions of undead but it would likely fracture his mind and send him insane. Although the necromancer is always looking for ways to neutralize these risks.
Group(s): The Cult of Lycholme (currently unofficial)
Appearance: Vaulthuz is a large black furred lycan with unnaturally red eyes. Due to his dabbling in necromancy, the tips of his fingers have lost all their flesh and fur,as has half of his face; revealing his skull to the world. When necessary he places a spell upon himself to hide these deformities but is not something he is generally conscious about. He wears black robes decorated with bones running down the sleeves and back, the cowl has a highly stylized, almost twisted, skull drawing on it. He also has several small bone spines protruding from his back.
Personality: Sly,ambitious and possibly a bit sadistic, Vaulthuz is willing to do anything to achieve his goals. Many would consider him mad as it is not uncommon to see the lycan speaking to himself, however this is merely the result of any captured souls or raised servants being too talkative than the necromancer would like. He is a curious soul who wishes to learn everything he can about the dark arts and reap the rewards that come with it, although he is still willing to discuss terms with anyone who is willing to serve him instead of simply killing them and turning them into another puppet. The lycan originally wished to help those who were injured with his abilities and try to keep the peace, but as he grew older he began to realize that the universe was a chaotic place. He decided he wanted to change that.
"This land is cruel. There is no reason or peace in it, us mortals only wish to indulge in our desires and die; to miss the big picture and pass on into the void. I must show them the error of their ways...but how? An extract from Vaulthuz' journal several months after being driven driven from his home
"Chaos is a result of free will. I will show this realm peace ; the silence of death , the order and peace it brings! " An extract from his journal, several weeks before waging war against his home planet.
Abilities, Talents, Traits, Powers:
( 4 ) Raise Dead -- Vaulthuz links his soul to the corpses of those around him, binding them to his will and reanimating them. This spell takes about a minute to come into affect before the nearby corpses will begin to move. Raised minions that strong possessed wills in life will be capable of speaking to Vaulthuz through his mind. Recently killed minions (within the past hour) will retain any learned abilities to their fullest degree, after this time their skills will degrade depending on when they were reanimated. After a full day the undead will have lost any skills it once possessed. The link requires no strategic advantage as the voice speaking is but an echo of the target. The servants will obey Vaulthuz without question but are generally slower than the average living being. Use of this magic also causes the user to decay at a unnatural rate
(4 ) Bone Melding -- Vaulthuz can manipulate the bone in dead or undead targets, he can stretch them, sharpen them , shrink them and generally reshape them. He can also use his abilities to combine his servants into a bone golem, which is an incredibly strong but slow (mentally and physically). Use of this magic has caused small spikes of bone to begin erupting out of his back.
(3 ) Shadow Magic -- Vaulthuz is capable of releasing a bolt or beam of shadows at his target. If contact is made the target will suffer no physical pain but will instead be forced to re-experience their most horrific memories. A simple bolt will cause the target to experience it in a almost instant flashback while the beam will cause them to slowly re-experience it as though it was happening from the first time, possibly holding them in place depending on the willpower of the opponent. Mentally weak characters may be driven to insanity when over-exposed to this magic. After using this magic, Vaulthuz will generally experience his own worst memories when he next sleeps.
( 4 ) Soul Drain-- After making physical contact with a target, Vaulthuz can attempt to drain the soul from his opponent's body, instantly killing them if he succeeds. However, when the spell begins a battle of wills occurs. If the target resists the necromancers attack, they will have a moment to retreat as the necromancer awakens from an almost trance-like state as his soul returns to his own body. Draining a soul will grant Vaulthuz additional power in his spells, each soul he holds increases his power by a tenth but he can only hold 3 souls in his body at a time. Vaulthuz can also use souls to block magical or energy based attacks, although this will generally destroy the soul depending on the strength of the attack. Souls Vaulthuz has claimed are capable of speaking to him, although it is rare they will ever reveal anything of value due to the mind shattering pain of being ripped from their bodies. These souls usually fade into the void after about 3 days.
(3 ) Blood Rituals-- Vaulthuz is capable of sacrificing lifeforce (blood or soul) to increase his own physical (blood) or magical (soul) strength. This magic is highly ritualistic and requires a variety of of incantation and an altar to perform. There are types of rituals but Vaulthuz currently only knows one. But generally these rituals require payment to work. The more powerful the ritual, the more life force is required (Note: this power is something I'm possibly planning for future plots which is why I'm leaving the types of rituals relatively open. I'll give these rituals to the mods so they can read through them before I add them here and use them)
(2 ) Hide form-- a minor illusion Vaulthuz has created that allows him to hide his physical deformations and appear as a normal lycan would. This spell requires little effort to maintain but Vaulthuz generally only uses it when necessary or when first meeting a potential ally.
(3 ) Shadow Form -- Vaulthuz transferred his body into a mass of darkness. While in this form he is extremely fast and is capable of in atmosphere flight, however he cannot cast any other magic while in this form and cannot cause any physical damage until he has returned to his normal form.
Items:
( 3 ) Staff of Bones -- A staff created from the bones of his victims, Vaulthuz uses this staff to store souls in so they did not fade as quickly, they will last an additional 3 days before the trapped souls escape. He can hold a maximum of five souls in his staff at once.
( 1 ) Sacrificial Knife -- A blood stained blade Vaulthuz keeps as a memento of his old knife. It possesses no extraordinary properties but Vaulthuz usually uses it when performing blood magic rituals.
History: Vaulthuz spent his early years as what was called a bonemelder in his tribe, which was essentially a surgeon. Initially he enjoyed his lot in life and was content just being another bonemelder in a small tribe. As he grew older however, so did his ambitions. He wished to find new ways to heal wounds and correct broken bones other than brutal surgeries, crude medicines or straight up amputation. He eventually convinced one of the tribes shamans to teach him more than the basics of magic; every lycan that was found capable of magic was taught the basics and prepared for more specialized tasks in the village although these did not always involve the use of magic. Using what he had learned he tapped into shamanistic magic and managed to use it to heal flesh wounds and infections. But that was not enough for him, he delved deeper into the magical arts and even began raiding ruins of older lycan civilizations that had known incredibly advanced...well, everything. In his raids he eventually came across tomes that referred to shaping bone and flesh, it also detailed the reanimation of the dead. Naturally Vaulthuz was ecstatic and quickly began learning from these tomes and quickly began mending broken bones with ease. He became a loved figure in his village for his acts and had even began to teach others his techniques.
After several years of success however, Vaulthuz began to become frustrated with the old tomes. They had shown him how to resurrect the dead but it did not seem to work correctly, they were husks of their former selves with no personality or memory of their life. He quickly killed these resurrected lycans and burned them, his tribe would not approve of tampering with life and death as he did. Eventually he was caught of course and he was chased from his home for disturbing the natural order and attempting to control what was natural. Vaulthuz spend the next few years lurking in caves and learning what he could from the ancient tomes and collecting more of them when he could.
Eventually Vaulthuz understood the true extent of the magic he had been using and realized what power he could wield. And the vengeance he could wreck on the world he had tried to help. He spent time refining his abilities and discovering more, without the help of the tomes now, his old tribe had caught on to his methods of learning and had raided many of the ruins to destroy any of the tomes and recommending to other tribes they were friendly with to do the same.
He spent three decades learning everything he could, developing his powers and stealing bodies for his army when the time was right, even recruiting a few young and ambitious lycans to act as his spies and soldiers when he would strike. Eventually he did, by this time his old tribe had united with several other local tribes to form a primitive republic. The nation fought against him and his horde for several years but eventually it fell ; it's dead joining his army and a few exchange's their lives to act as his living servants who would help raise his armies. He was not satisfied with that however, seeing the legions at his command he craved more. However this was when the cracks in his power began to form. The voices of his servants in his mind grew louder and he could feel his sanity slipping away from the constant voices and the frequent nightmares when he finally managed to sleep. Eventually he disbanded a large portion of his horde and instead sent his living servants to weaken the living nations of his planet for several years through political manoeuvring and frequent raids. Eventually he managed to obliterate every nation on his planet. He had created peace here. But he knew there would be chaos elsewhere, so he set about creating a way to reach these places and left his horde in turmoil, pushing them from his mind and turning them into rabid animals. When the time came he would reclaim them, but for now he would allow the disorder so he could think clearly.
Vaulthuz spent decades working to create a spell that would allow him to find these new worlds, he expended countless souls,servants and hours perfecting it and testing it,even as the world he currently lived in gradually began to grow back ; small groups of survivors began to form villages to fight off the now disorganised hordes while their master was deep underground. Eventually he had perfected the spell, he stepped into the portal ready to conquer what was on the other side.
