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[Dead Cruiser]

•Name: Vladimir "Vova" Kirillovitch Volkov

•Age: 18

•Appearance: Vova is a tall, well-built boy, with blue-grey eyes and dark hair. He usually dresses warmly in furs, hoodies, combat pants and boots.

•Personality: Quite a friendly fellow, Vova warms up to people quickly and is fond of physical contact; handshakes, hugs and slaps on the back can all be expected from him with regularity. Excitable and eccentric, he has many varied hobbies that he engages in with a great deal of vigor, and this passion carries into many other things as a general zest for life. He is sometimes surprising with his intelligence, as he can quickly find a deeper insight to things as those around him are pondering the surface details. He is very much a social animal, growing bored and lonely very quickly, and can be somewhat flighty in his moods, though he tries to stay positive and pleasant. Quite an optimist, he tries to see the best in things at all times, and grows quickly tired of complainers or pessimists.

•Clubs: A ghost member of nearly every club in the school, he attends whatever suits his fancy for that given day.

•Brief Backstory: Born and raised in North-Eastern Russia, Vova was the eldest son of a moderately wealthy family that made their fortune after the fall of the Soviet Union. While he had a fairly normal upbringing, he became fond of nightly walks through the cold forests around his home. It is on one such of these walks that Vova claims he formed his contract with Dracula. Always eager for new experiences, he quickly begged his parents to allow him to attend Covenant Academy. While the staff found some discrepancies between his story, the records presented by him, and the general history of his region of origin, he was accepted, and has since had quite a productive school life.

•Contract: Dracula

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•Name: Dracula

•Type: Vampire

•Personality: Dracula strikes most as an affable, gentlemanly fellow, almost pleasant in common conversation. He fancies the finer things; good food, classic literature, and tasteful company. However, this is mostly superficial dressing that serves to disguise what he truly is: a completely inhuman monster. Dracula cares nothing for human lives, seeing them as cattle at worst and helpful tools at best. While he sees his contractor (being his only means of entering our world) as an exception, he is not above manipulating Vova. He is remorseless and vicious, and at times his needless cruelty exposes his sadistic streak. At his very core, Dracula is the slave of his constant, insatiable, all-consuming thirst.

•Powers: Vova is granted strength, speed and resilience, that are beyond that which a normal human is capable of. He has a unique affinity for darkness, capable of flitting between shadows as easily as breathing. By temporarily taking the form of a mist, he can slip through knife-thin cracks or spaces, and he can turn himself invisible for a moderate amount of time.

•Fusion: When fused with Dracula, Vova's hair darkens to an inky black, his eyes turn blood red, his skin becomes white as chalk, and he gains great fangs and claws. His physical attributes are heightened to the point of being legendary, and he gains the ability to shapeshift into whatever animate or inanimate form that his mass will allow, including that of a cloud of mist. However, he loses his shapeshifting ability when exposed to sunlight, and he gains Dracula's maddening thirst for human blood.

•Summon: Dracula's true form is far from what one may expect. An almost unstoppable engine of destruction, Dracula is almost completely out of Vova's control when summoned. With scales like granite, he strikes with the strength and speed of a bullet train, ripping through all in his way with claws and fangs sharper than razors. The only thing truly limiting him is that he uses up his power extremely quickly, and his time spent in our world can only be extended if he consumes the flesh and blood of humans, and Luca invariably recalls him before he has a chance to do so. Sunlight has a dampening effect on his power, but it does not destroy him, as he is far above common vampires in terms of power.

[Dead Cruiser]

Levi

Name: Leviathan Nero

Alias/Nickname: Levi

Rank: Knight

Appearance: Levi is a tallish man with a strong build, sharp features and eccentric dress sense. He carries an air of aloofness and curiosity about him, though his dark, red eyes seem to always be glimmering with a multitude of unseen machinations.

Age: 29

Race: Aberrant/Human

Personality: Levi is to many the archetypal image of an eccentric genius. His thoughts are constantly flooded with plans and schematics, and human interaction seems to be a low priority to him. While he can garner up an air of professionalism when necessary, to most his demeanor is surly and foul-mouthed, distrusting of others and condescending toward their mental abilities. He treats women generally worse, as he also has a chauvinistic, lecherous streak. Regardless of his temperament, he has a strong, sort of old-fashioned sense of justice. There is evil in the world, and it must be either be punished or destroyed. Innocents must be protected, and good must prevail over all.

Biography/history: Levi was born as a scion of an ancient cabal of dark sorcerers, known as the Anticross. It was the mission of the Anticross to use ancient and otherworldly magics and technology to usurp the gods and become the new rulers of creation. As the second son of the order's mighty Grand Master, Levi was trained in the arts of the Magus as he grew up. He took exceedingly well to the skills of a war-artificer, trained to compliment his elder brother, Therion, who was concurrently being groomed to succeed their father as Grand Master.

However, as Levi grew up, he became disgusted by the organization that had raised and trained him. He saw the putrid evil of the Anticross for what it was, and hated them for their callous disregard for the suffering they wrought. Early in his manhood he defected from the order, turning to the Tower of Stars to alert them to the grave threat the Anticross presented. For years he went unheard, until the Anticross began their campaign to end the world with the use of an artificial god concocted from foul magic and the corpse of an Outsider. As the false god rose to life, the Master of Stars took notice, and himself sought out Levi for his assistance in combating the Anticross.

With Levi's knowledge of the order and skill as a Magus, the Tower of Stars quietly crushed the Anticross, killing their grand master and destroying their imitation god. The other masters of the order, including Therion, escaped however, and have been in hiding ever since. For his assistance, Levi was offered a position high in the ranks of the Tower of Stars, but declined, instead settling for a position as a lowly Knight, where his actions would be under far less scrutiny. Few in the Tower know of Levi's connection to the Anticross, and none besides himself know of his secret project to replicate their work. The Anticross' artificial god was a genius project, though ill-intentioned. Levi has been constructing in utmost secrecy a machine god of his own, with which he plans to banish evil from the world forever.

Reason for recruitment: On paper, he is signed on as a Magus, a rare breed of artisan that is soldier and scholar both. In truth, he is a member out of gratitude for his assistance in ending a threat to the world at large.

Strength of Will: Greater

Magic: While he has savant-like knowledge of magic theory and spell construction, Levi has little use for magic as most people use it. At the very most he utilizes alchemy at an extremely minuscule scale to assist in the writing of spell codes in the technology he creates.

God relations: As one might expect from someone who is trying to create their own god, Levi is not an especially pious individual, and spurns the attention of gods.

Tech: As an artificer of the highest skill, Levi is an expert in creating fusions of magic and technology. He accomplishes much of his work my integrating "spell code" at a molecular scale in the mechanics of his creations, essentially writing spells as programs into his technology. While he occasionally produces a convenience for the Tower's use, he hoards the majority of his advanced inventions to himself.

Levi's signature creation is GRIMOIRE, essentially a digital Spellbook. It utilizes Levi's "theoretical transportation" technology to keep a vast array of items and energy sources (sometimes including itself) in a sort of digital hammerspace, able to be summoned as needed. The COR LEONIS theoretical energy system that powers GRIMOIRE is also in this hammerspace, and is the fuel source for Levi's spells and technology. Other features of GRIMOIRE include mental transmission (basic telepathy) and assisted analysis of spell construction. GRIMOIRE is neurally linked to allow Levi access to its features without having to physically interface with it, even when it is in self-storage.

Levi's most prized creation is NECHRONICA, Necro for short. Necro is essentially an AI written in spell code, which is the operating system for GRIMOIRE. As a fully-realized AI, Necro has a willful and haughty personality, and is generally belligerent to everyone (often including Levi). Necro's digital avatar can be projected remotely as a holographic illusion, which can even be touched and interact with the world. Her avatar usually takes the form of a teenage girl with a white dress and long, silver hair, but it can change as she feels is necessary. Necro is an exceedingly skilled hacker, capable of learning and adapting her routines, and can improvise spell code on the fly to cast spells from the Cor Leonis on her own. Necro can also assist Levi in much the same way that a familiar would, helping to focus his spell construction and correct mistakes and bugs in his spell code.

Another of Levi's better-known inventions is the MAGUS STYLE system, closely linked to GRIMOIRE. Essentially a suit of magical armor, MAGUS STYLE bonds to Levi at a molecular level infusing his very skin with extremely efficient magical barriers. The armor enhances Levi's strength, speed and senses to superhuman levels, and grants him additional appendages formed from the armor's plasmic material. These can take the form of wings to grant Levi flight, additional arms in battle, or shields to protect him.

Apart from MAGUS STYLE, Levi's means of protecting himself is the ELDER SIGN shield system. Essentially a a magical barrier, the ELDER SIGN works as a sort of magical computer virus that disrupts and encrypts spell code that contacts it, essentially confusing and dismantling magical attacks that attempt to breach it. Its effectiveness stems from subverting the normal protocols enacted by magical barriers, and "trapping" specially-designed barrier-breaking spells.

Levi possesses a veritable arsenal of other weapons and spell programs. These include NITOCRIS, an illusion-generating program that can turn Levi invisible, duplicate his appearance, and a variety of other functions. ATLACH-NACHA is a strange program inspired by a particular spider-worshiping cult; it can be used to create sticky, flexible, extremely strong webbing material, command spiders or other arthropods, or summon a digital avatar of the spider-demon herself for battle. Levi's most often-used weapons are the spell cannons CTHUGHA and ITHAQUA; CTHUGHA fires explosive shots as hot as sunfire, whereas ITHAQUA fires analyzing rounds that home in on enemy weaknesses. The cannons can be twin-linked to form the devastating Spell Helix Cannon, or can e overcharged to summon digital demons of fire and ice, respectively. Similar are the twin nano-blades LLOIGOR and ZHAR, which take the form of stiletto swords, capable of changing shape and size, or even joining together to create a four-edged throwing weapon. Levi's final weapon is BARZAI, a superheated hyper-phase sword that can be thrown to form a flaming whirlwind of death, and always returns to Levi's hand.

Experimental technologies yet unfinished include the HUNTING HORROR, a spell-engine powered motorcycle, and an advanced form of powered armor and weapons systems, code-named METATON. Levi is as always working on his machine god, for now christened STRANGE AEON. Some of its features are complete, such as its twin spell engines TIMAEUS and CRITIAS, its SHANTAK flight system and its LEMURIA directed-energy weapons system. He is still in the process of upgrading the COR LEONIS to withstand the strain of powering such an immense magical construction.

Possessions/items/property: Levi has a pet shoggoth named Dunsany, which while a Shapeshifter, usually takes the form of a nonthreatening yellow blob with a single eyeball. Dunsany is immensely strong and nearly indestructible, but is generally docile. His gelatinous body makes for a favorite seat for Levi, who feeds him fresh penguin meat as a treat. Dunsany likes to repeat things he hears, much like a parrot, interspersed with cries of "Teki-li-li!"

[Dead Cruiser]

Name: Rúnlauf, the Wise

Race: Rowan Ent

Position: Esteemed King of the Spring Court

Age: Rúnlauf has long since lost count of his years, but his rings were many before the first cities of Man rose up from the riverlands, more than twenty-thousand winters ago at least by half.

Personality: As his epithet may suggest, Rúnlauf is known amongst both the Seelie and Unseelie courts for his incredible patience, wisdom and experience. An ancient being beyond compare, Rúnlauf is ponderous and deliberate in all things, and does not so much as speak a single word that is not true to his heart and pure intention. Simple of heart and generous of spirit, the Eldest Ent cares for all living things in this world, and has the capacity to see beyond the trivialities that cloud the judgement of his younger subjects. While he is quick to dispense with his teachings and worldly experience, his aphorisms and lessons often have their meanings hidden or muddled by Rúnlauf's vast expanses of memories and knowledge, and their value is usually not readily apparent. Rúnlauf appears to be in a perpetual state of bemused tranquility, and few living fae can claim to have seen him upset. Such is his temperament that he sees meaning and purpose in all things, and almost nothing can come to truly disturb him.

Appearance: A massive being, particularly when compared to the normally diminutive fae, Rúnlauf wears his years proudly. His grey-brown bark is gnarled and knotted, particularly where it forms his face, shaping his knobby, wizened features. His legs and knees are marked by the axes of Dwarves, and heavy roots burrow into the ground beneath his seven-toed feet. Tremendous branches sprout from his back, head and shoulders, where they grow into a lush verdancy of leaves and ripe, red berries and flowers. Eyes as red as cardinal feathers sit deeply in his wooden face, their gaze piercing, but kind. A tremendous beard of moss and lichen runs from the cork of Rúnlauf's chin, and trails down to rest in his lap. Lesser, smaller creatures and fae makes homes in Rúnlauf's bark and branches; birds and small pixies flit about and nest above his head, and small rodents and dryads live in the thick trunks of his legs.

Background: Ancient even among the Ent, Rúnlauf's earliest memories are vague recollections of the world in its purest, most primal state. The Ent cared for the forests, and the forests sheltered the Ent. The fae came later, bringing reason, order, and civilization to the world. Of course, as those things emerged where there was none before, they too brought unreason, chaos and incivility. The Ent paid little mind, as they were still content to tend the forests as they always had. The elves took notice of the Tree Giants, and looked up to them as the eldest defenders of the natural world. The elves taught the Ent to speak, and gave them names, as they were so insistent on doing to everything they saw.

But as the Ent became closer to the fae, they became more deeply involved in their conflicts. The fae warred against each other ceaselessly, and the Ent were caught in the crossfire, trying to their last to defend their forests. Later came Men, who as well took axe to the grand forests, and many Ent fell to their blows as well. Rúnlauf, named by an elf that came and died before he took notice of him, came to be eldest among his people after the felling of Yggdrasil, the grand elder, by the barbarous northmen. With the mighty magic of the primal wilds, Rúnlauf drove the Men from his sacred forests, and rooted himself as the fiercest defender of the trees. Impressed by his determination in such harrowing times, the Spring Court convened about Rúnlauf, and so he was instated as their ruler.

Years and peace have mellowed the once-fierce Rúnlauf, and he now lives to protect and guide the fae court that follows him. Having borne many a seedling over his countless years, Rúnlauf has by far lost count of his natural children, and considers all of his Spring subjects to be his children, looking after them as a protective ancestor. Possibly the oldest being known to the fae, Rúnlauf is revered by both the Seelie and Unseelie courts for his prowess in the mystic arts, his legendary might in battle, and his nigh-inexhaustible wisdom. Even the fleeting rulers of the "superior" Summer Court have at times bent the knee to the Eldest Ent to seek his guidance in troubled times. Though his reputation is fearsome, Rúnlauf has gone to root (literally) in the most recent centuries, and has not so much as left his throne in the Spring Court in recent memory. The Spring Court is run mostly below his notice, his lesser regents and advisors handling the affairs of the Court in truth, as Rúnlauf looks after the Court overall and guides its growth, slowly and gradually.

Even so, Rúnlauf grows uneasy in recent years. As he spends the Unseelie months asleep on his throne, the winds of winter whisper secrets to his runed leaves, and he divines the future in his dreams. Dark times loom ahead; nightmares plague Rúnlauf, as the wind whispers of war unending among the fae courts.

[Dead Cruiser]

Cherry Hunter

Name: "Cherry Hunter"

Age: 596

Gender: Female

Appearance: "Cherry," as she is now known, takes the form of a diminutive caucasian girl, perhaps only eight or nine years in apparent age. Flawless, white skin and flowing, golden hair give her an almost inhuman, uncanny beauty; as though she were a doll and not a living creature. Her golden eyes, wise far beyond her physical appearance, make it even clearer that she is far more than what she appears to be. Cherry dresses curiously, normally only wearing a tattered child's dress and slip, as well as a military surplus aviator's helmet.

Personality: To most, Cherry is a cold creature, utterly devoid of emotion and empathy. She barely speaks in public, instead solemnly going about her enigmatic duties as though she were a forsaken spirit. This is an act, however, to throw off her captors and those that she does not associate with. Her true nature is talkative, opinionated and incredibly haughty. She detests most that she comes in contact with, seeing them as creatures far beneath herself. She despises being looked down upon, and relishes dominance over others. However, opportunities for her in such matters are few and far between in recent years, but she takes whatever opportunities that she can get.

Abilities: As "the remains of a beautiful demon," Cherry is a shadow of her former self. Even so, she is still a substantially powerful vampire; on par with most mid-to-high-tiered mages. Her speed and strength are both shocking, as she can easily move faster than the human eye can track, and can overpower opponents many times her size. Her senses are supernaturally sharp, able to detect individual blood scents from miles away, and see in perfect darkness. Shadow magic is a specialty of hers, and she can use it to bind or attack foes with their own shadows, or to conceal, protect or transport herself by stepping "into" shadows.

Skills: Cherry has little in the way of practical skills, but has a great deal of knowledge regarding magical phenomena both from her centuries of life and from listening to the endless prattle of her master.

Equipment: Entrusted to Cherry is a demon-killing sword that belonged to one of her former servants. Its unique properties allow it to inflict great harm to any magical phenomena (including mages), but it cannot so much as touch any mundane person or object.

Brief Backstory: One of the oldest vampires still active in the world, the demoness that would later be known as "Cherry Hunter" has origins lost to time, and to her own dusty catacomb of memories. She has traveled across the world, seeking new experiences and diversions in an endless parade of hedonism. She was powerful beyond the compare of most vampires, and feared nothing from mortals or magicians. Having traveled so far and so wide, she has made many enemies from when her whims have turned dark and deadly. She was ambushed by an unholy alliance of vampire hunters, and though she was able to fend them off, she was badly wounded and greatly weakened from the fight.

A particular onmyouji, who had been observing her for some time, saw this as his opportunity to "bring her to balance." With strange magic, he removed the heart from the weakened vampire while still keeping her alive. This sudden disturbance to her mystic physiology robbed her of the vast majority of her power, almost inducing a crippling atrophy to her very soul. Her regenerative power, still reeling from her battle, adapted her body to the sudden disturbance by regressing her in age, forcing her into the body of a child.

The onmyouji, free to destroy her heart and kill her whenever he pleased, instead sealed the vampire as she reeled from her loss. Using the magical rites of binding shikigami, he forced her to be his familiar and servant, following him as he went about his magical studies and duties. Having been bound by her true name (forcing her to use the pseudonym he gave her, "Cherry Hunter") and with her heart kept as collateral, Cherry had no choice but to grudgingly oblige.

For a few years this has been her life, combatting monsters and evil mages and performing menial duties for this onmyouji. The pair has come to Rokuro to observe the White Night and ensure it proceeds smoothly, but Cherry has other plans. She secretly vies to participate, in hopes that the Origin of Magic will grant her the power needed to regain her freedom from her captor, and resumed the lifestyle she is accustomed to.

[Dead Cruiser]

Name: Ryuji Monshiro

Age: 14

Gender: Female

Appearance: "Fufufu! It's not hard to go far in the world; all you have to do is follow me!"

Personality: Monshiro is a refined young lady with a presence far larger than her diminutive physical stature. While polite and well-tempered, she can be quite boisterous, and has a habit of commanding attention from other people. Her impressive intellect and willpower are matched by her maturity and charm. Monshiro's charisma is easily her strongest characteristic; when she speaks, people don't just hear her, they listen. Whether it is her adorable appearance, her authoritative voice, or her eloquence in speaking or some combination thereof, most people have a very difficult time disliking Monshiro, or even just ignoring her. She has a touch of her family's signature arrogance, but is more down to earth than her siblings. Monshiro does have a few childish traits, such as her love of cute things and her sweet tooth, but these are only seen by those she holds in close confidence.

Brief History: One of the several powerful and wealthy families in Sengoku City, the Ryuji Corporation is a family-owned international conglomerate. The Ryuji Corporation's business is people, as they scout skilled workers and individuals with special talents, and then coordinate with other businesses to place these persons in positions where they are best utilized. This sort of agency, as well as holdings in several service industries, is where the Ryuji family draws its profits. Or so it seems on the surface. This much of the Ryuji Corporation is a front for its operations as a paramilitary organization; the majority of the organization serves to recruit elite mercenaries and soldiers of fortune, to then lease out their services to the highest bidder.

Monshiro is the youngest daughter of the Ryuji Corporations founder and CEO, Ryuji Mikado (called "Emperor Ryuji" by some). She has lived in Sengoku city for the last eight years, though she has received her education privately. For her freshman year in high school, Monshiro has enrolled in Sengoku High School. Given that her older sister, Ageha, graduated last year, and her older brother, Hideo, is studying abroad, she is the only Scion of the Ryuji family currently attending Sengoku. Though she practices martial arts to keep fit, Monshiro really has no talent for fighting, and her underdeveloped stature gives her quite a disadvantage in physical confrontations. Knowing how dangerous Sengoku High would be for her, Monshiro's father assigned the most powerful member of the Ryuji Corporations private "Butler Corps" (elite agents used to protect the Ryuji family and the corporation's most private assets) to protect her.

Since enrolling in Sengoku High School, Monshiro has made great waves. She is the idol of the freshman class, and was elected as their class representative with a landslide victory. Even so, she is not without those that would attempt to discredit or defeat her, and she has met such challenges with dignity, and has prevailed with honor. Monshiro considers her truest rival to be Hirayama Chinatsu, as she aspires to become student council president to prove herself to her father. To aid her cause, she has begun to rally her own private sect of the Ryuji Corporation, comprised of students, with the intention of ridding the city of its more unsightly elements.

Weapons: While it is scarcely a weapon, Monshiro carries an antique fan with her, using it mostly to point dramatically. When actual weapons are required, she relies on Herman Hellsing.

Abilities: Monshiro has inherited her father's powerful charisma, which makes her a powerful orator and a highly magnetic person. Monshiro is not merely a likable person, but she is also very influential, and has a decent talent for what one might call manipulation. She can easily understand what people want, and how to play their motivations so that she gets what she wants. Monshiro inspires loyalty and dedication in those that follow her, and respect in those that dislike her. Even animals seem to enjoy Monshiro's presence and obey her instinctually. She is also remarkably intelligent, and is very good at playing politics.

Side?: Sengoku High School

Club: Student Council, Freshman Class Representative

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Name: Herman Hellsing

Age: 38

Gender: Male

Appearance: "Hmmh. Is this what passes for combat among youth these days?"

Personality: Herman is as polite and professional as one would expect a butler to be, and as level-headed and confident as the professional soldier that he truly is. Even so, he has a distinct air of arrogance about him, as he is clearly very sure of his power, with just a touch of sadism. An elitist and perfectionist both, Herman privately considers most people to be well below him, and very few people meet the high standards he imposes to be worthy of his respect. As a soldier-for-hire, Herman's morals are loose at best, and he will follow whatever orders given to him, though he still holds to a code of honor as a warrior.

Brief History: Much of this man's past is a mystery, but it is known that he was born and raised in Holland, and was the leader of a mercenary team renowned for having never failed a single mission. While he was completing a black ops mission within Japan nine year ago, Herman Hellsing happened to meet Ryuji Mikado, whereupon he was won over by the man's ideals and conviction, and pledged his service to him. Herman was inducted into the Ryuji Corporation's Butler Corps of special agents and personal bodyguards, and was assigned the secretive rank of 0.

Herman has known Ryuji Monshiro since she first began living in Sengoku city, and the two have formed a genuine bond in that time. Monshiro looks to Herman as a parental figure in place of her mostly-absent father and distant mother, and Herman respects and cares for Monshiro both as the blood of the man to whom he owes his loyalty, as well as an admirable young lady in her own right. Herman has been assigned to Monshiro as her personal attendant, to keep her safe within the perilous Sengoku High School. While he cannot always been seen, the man is always present around Monshiro, and is always watching.

Weapons: Herman mostly relies on his legs for his attacks, but is trained in numerous different styles of armed martial arts, and is a crack shot with a variety of firearms.

Abilities: Herman is placed as Rank 0 among the Ryuji Corporation Butler Corps, and not merely to keep him separate from the command structure of the other combat butlers; his ability in battle is leagues greater than the Rank 1 butler. His body is honed to a razor edge of perfection, as is his mind, essentially making Herman a living weapon. His speed and strength are both terrifying to behold, and his ability to hide both his physical body and his spiritual presence is unparalleled. Master of numerous forms of martial arts and styles of warfare, Herman most prefers close combat, with kicks powerful enough to kill a common man ten times over. Herman has also delved into several ki-utilizing techniques to give himself range when armed and diversify his skills, and his tolerance for pain makes it seem as though he does not feel pain whatsoever.

That aside, Herman is a Damn Good Butler, and is well-trained in such skills as cooking, cleaning, wilderness survival, mending clothes, handiwork, firearm maintenance, crochet and etiquette.

Side?: Sengoku, technically.

Club: None, he is a grown man.

[Dead Cruiser]

Name: Hraf Raven-Eye, “Blackbird”

Age: 36

Gender: Male

Race: Nord

Appearance: Hraf can be seen in several ways as having the appearance of the typical Nord man; tall and stout in build, with a wide jaw and strong, broad features. His hair is very dark brown, nearly black, worn to shoulder-length, carefully combed and woven into thick braids. His beard, while thick and coarse, is kept short and neatly trimmed. Hraf’s most notable features are his dark, hollow eyes. Deeply-set with dark sockets, his brown eyes at times seem as dark as the sea on a moonless night. His gaze holds both worldly weariness and tenacity like a starving predator.

Taking pride in his appearance, Hraf makes efforts to keep himself well-groomed and smartly dressed. Fine furs, wools and leathers are his usual attire when not at sea, and he has a fondness for fancy brooches and necklaces. His attire at sea is more utilitarian, consisting of durable a black surcoat and boots, strongly-woven cotton clothes and a beaver-pelt cloak. Beneath his clothes, though, his body is covered by telltale marks from his escapades. Hraf's body is like a living scrapbook, with hands worn rough by ropes and oars, scars from skirmishes and bar fights, prison and maritime tattoos, and a pirate branding on his forearm (courtesy of the East Empire Trading Company).

Personality: For a hardy sailor and known privateer, Hraf is a surprisingly personable fellow. Charming and silver-tongued, most find Hraf to be a man both easy to like as well as trust. However, his affable persona can be quickly shut off and replaced with the cold, ruthless pragmatism that one would expect from a veteran smuggler and mercenary. Hraf is an opportunist at heart, always on the lookout for the next chance to advance himself or his goals. While he acknowledges its strength, Hraf does not care for social standing as much as he values cold, hard cash. The power money brings is of supreme value to him, and Hraf is no miser; he lives quite comfortably off of his pilfered fortunes, and hopes to eventually retire on his accumulated wealth. While he is not completely without empathy, Hraf is rather stone-hearted, and cares little for those that he misuses or kills in pursuit of riches. The most consideration one would earn would usually be either their usefulness to him in the future, or the potency of any enemies that he would make by abusing or killing someone. Not that he fears reprisals greatly, as Hraf is a cool and level-headed fellow, and is quite confident in his skills and experience to keep himself alive and prosperous.

History: The clan Raven-Eye is an old and well-respected merchant house in Skyrim, claiming that their roots extend to the Atmoran sailors who brought Ysgramor’s Companions to Tamriel. Hraf was born a distant scion to the house, the second son of a second son. Even so, he was raised comfortably among his siblings and cousins, schooled in the arts of sailing and mercantilism, and when he became of age, he was given his own ship to command. He rounded the ports of Tamriel, trading and selling common goods in every province of the Empire. However, he quickly learned that there were greater profits to be made in the business of goods made illegal by the Empire.

Be it slaves from Black Marsh or moon sugar from Elsweyr, Hraf managed to put a finger in nearly every pot of Tamriel’s seedy black market. However, competition in the smuggling business was fierce, and Hraf quickly learned that one either needed to get good fast, or be killed faster. His skills in battle and manipulation were forged on the razor’s edge of criminality, from repelling rival smugglers off the deck of his ship, to sweet-talking Imperial customs agents. Even so, Hraf was still a young sailor, and was not infallible. An Imperial galleon intercepted a shipment of Hist saplings, and engaged Hraf’s smaller trade ship in battle. Much of his crew was killed, his ship was destroyed, and Hraf himself was captured by the Imperial authorities. His family’s connections were able to ease his sentence to a mere seven years in the Imperial Prison, but with that he was disowned from house Raven-Eye, never again welcome in his ancestral halls.

Hraf’s imprisonment was not his first turn in the clink (nor would it be his last), and it was not the end of his career. Once released, he recovered a cask of gold that he had buried in the sands of Stros M’Kai, having planned for just such an emergency. With this, he commissioned a new ship from the shipwrights of Windhelm, dubbed “Blood Eagle,” and hired a reliable, yet suitable unsavory crew from the city’s slums. With a more battle-worthy ship and crew, Hraf took on more dangerous work that he was previously hesitant to engage in, including piracy, raids on coastal towns and mercenary work. With the onset of the Civil War in Skyrim, Hraf returned home as a privateer. Not that he truly chose a side; the Blood Eagle merely sacked whatever ships seemed most vulnerable, and he had acquired papers to prove that he was allied with either side as needed.

The calm following the defeat of the Stormcloak rebels and the return of Imperial law to Skyrim was disappointing to Hraf. Opportunity for his brand of work has died down in these peaceful times, and as such he has been forced further inland to put his particular set of skills to use.

Skills: First and foremost, Hraf is an inheritor of the long tradition of Nord sailors. Able to command a ship just as well as he can work as a deckhand on one, Hraf’s years at sea have made him just as comfortable in the open ocean as he is on land (perhaps even more so).  He knows the coastal waters of Tamriel like they were his hometown, and he is intimately familiar with the numerous byways and coves used by smugglers such as himself. Storms and icy waters mean little to a Nord sailor, and Hraf sails through such obstacles fearlessly.

As reliable a warrior as he is a captain, Hraf is an experienced swashbuckler, more than able to hold his own in a close-quarters battle. Short swords and scimitars are his forte, especially when fighting with a shield, but he is competent with axes or mauls as well. Fighting in a cramped space with little room to maneuver is second nature to Hraf, and in this way the corridor of crypt is much like the underdecks of a ship. In more open spaces, Hraf is a crack shot with a crossbow, his sharp “raven’s eyes” aiding his aim.

In more subtle matters, Hraf is a skilled haggler and negotiator, and is surprisingly knowledgeable in matters of trade and economics. Over the years, Hraf has established a network of contacts throughout the Empire, both reputable and otherwise, from which he frequently calls in favors and blackmail. While his charisma mostly lends itself to establishing deals, trades and other such short-term agreements, Hraf is never the less a dangerously smooth talker, and has a penchant for manipulation in certain circumstances. Some say that the “raven eyes” allow a man to see the desires of others, but Hraf attributes this talent to experience and practice. Once he knows what someone wants, bending them to his will is usually just a matter of time.

Equipment: Hraf’s most prized possession is his ship, the Blood Eagle. A Nord longboat, the Blood eagle has a sturdy, oak hull and mast (both reinforced with iron), twenty rowing benches, and a black sail emblazoned with the silhouette of a red eagle. Modified to fit Hraf’s specifications, the Blood Eagle’s bow and stern are fitted with steel beaks, designed to ram into and pierce the hulls of other ships. Below decks are many secret storage compartments for smuggled goods built into the hull. The deck is kept well-waxed, allowing spilled blood to be quickly and easily cleaned away.

In battle, Hraf prefers functionality far over form, and prefers his equipment to be easily replicable in the event it is dropped into the sea or broken. When preparing for combat, he equips armored plates to his boots and bracers, dons a simple steel helmet, and wears a mail shirt between his surcoat and fur cloak. He carries a sturdy shield, made mostly of steel for strength, but with a layer of wood to catch blades and axes. His weapons of choice are a simple, curved sword of castle-forged steel, and a long, straight knife of similar construction. When preparing for enemies afar, he wields a steel-spring crossbow and a quarrel of iron-tipped bolts.

Birthsign: The Serpent

Miscellaneous: Hraf keeps with him a trained raven, which he calls Muni. It usually perches on his wrist or shoulder, and Hraf feeds it small corns or scraps of meat. It has taken to imitating death-cries that it hears in Hraf’s presence, or calling out “Blood! Blood!” at random intervals. Hraf finds this behavior inexplicably amusing.

First Impressions: Given his line of work, Hraf has become a sharp judge of character, and has practiced the skill of cold reading. Based purely on first impressions, the Blackbird has made snap-decisions that have led him to fortune a handful of times, and saved his skin on innumerable other occasions.

The retired Legionnaire, Hector Sibassius, is not someone that Hraf thinks much of. While his skills would certainly be useful, the pirate instinctually distrusts those associated with the Empire. Hraf has spent too much of his life looking over his shoulder in anticipation of an Imperial galleon or an agent of the Pentius Oculatus to trust an Imperial soldier, even a retired one. Even so, Hraf is not outwardly hostile towards the man, and refrains from mentioning his days spent raiding Imperial frigates during the Civil War.

Balen Oril is an odd figure in Hraf’s eyes. He strikes the Blackbird as more of a wandering scholar than an adventurer or tomb raider, and he doubts that the Dark Elf would be of much use on their expedition. While scholarly pursuits have their place, that place is far away from the profits sought by Hraf, and so Balen earns little respect from the Nord on that point. If anything, he figures that Balen could serve as a shield or a pack mule in a pinch, but not much beyond that.

Angelique Something-Something… Merci, as she calls herself, is a familiar figure to Hraf. While he has personally never met the woman before, he recognizes her lifestyle, having seen it many times. The hedge witch is merely a peasant far from home, in over her head, but still scraping by. One resting on the shore of the underworld, but yet to tread its waters. In his early days, Hraf hired many people in similar situations to crew his ship after his more principled hands left him. These days he is more discriminating, valuing effectiveness over desperation. That said, Hraf figures that the Breton girl will be fairly easy to manipulate, should he need to. A little money goes a long way for some people.

Ashing is a familiar name to Hraf, as merchant families such as his own often knew others throughout Tamriel. While Hraf had not met the only daughter of the bereaved family before this expedition, he had met her father when the Blackbird was just a young lad. The man had died and Elayne had taken up the business while Hraf was doing time in the Imperial Prison, and as such had no dealings with her family’s company after Uthard’s death. Regarding Elayne herself, Hraf sees her as a simple sort of girl, smart enough to get herself in trouble, but not enough to get her back out of it.

The Dark Elven sellsword, Azriel Telvayn, is the sort of person that Hraf most prefers to deal with. The Blackbird puts great value on the mercenary’s one-track mind, lack of ambitions, marketable skills and manageable amount of intelligence. Hraf looks forward to working with him.

Meanwhile, the High Elven witch Aenyarin is precisely the type of person that Hraf most loathes to deal with. While the Blackbird himself was born much too late to fight in the Great War, in those times his father and uncle sold ships to the Empire and Imperial privateers alike, and suffered considerable losses when the Empire could not repay their bonds. As such, Hraf has a distinct distrust of High Elves, perhaps greater than his distrust of the Empire. Too smart to fool, and too haughty to charm, the Blackbird usually resorts to the last skill in his repertoire for High Elves: steel.  Hraf has decided to keep his eyes peeled for any convenient opportunities to rid their expedition of her.

Similar to the High Elf, Hraf does not care for the trickery of the Telvanni wizard Baladas Venym. Wizards are an unpredictable sort, and the Blackbird tries to keep his dealings with them to a minimum. Their motivations, Hraf finds, are usually strange, and their behavior stranger. Even so, the Dark Elf has enough of an ego that Hraf is still confident that he can be suitably manipulated, if need be.

Lastly, the Wood Elf Ungimros serves for Hraf as an example of why he doesn’t like or trust any sort of elf. Even the seemingly most reasonable and predictable of them, the Wood Elves of Valenwood, are inhuman degenerates without any sense of common decency. Not to say that Hraf prides himself on his own moral behavior; he merely laments that their deviation from the societal norms that he was raised to expect makes them all the more unpredictable and difficult to work with.

[Dead Cruiser]

Q Kane

Profile : Student

Name:

Quentin "Q" Kane

Age:

17

Gender:

Male

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Basic Information

Appearance:

Q's human disguise varies in appearance depending on the onlooker, but is still generally consistent enough for him to have a general description. Generally, he stands a bit over six feet tall, and has a wiry, muscular build. His features are somewhat heavy and brutish, giving him a visage resembling a bulldog. His eye and hair color vary, but they are usually some bright, outlandish color somewhere in the spectrum between blue, purple or pink. His hair is worn in an undercut that is sometimes styled into a tall, spiky mohawk, and he typically dresses in degraded and distressed leathers and denims, usually black and adorned with badges and slogans typical of the punk subculture, as well as various rings, chains and wristbands. When in company more likely to see though his disguise and notice such features as glowing, yellow eyes or a fanged maw, he will accessorize with such items as ornamental goggles or gas masks.

Personality:

Characterized by his school teachers as a disaffected, unmotivated youth, Q is far more intelligent than he lets on, but he has no desire to participate in modern society as he understands it. While he has his moments of genuine laziness, Q is mostly possessed by ennui and an intense distrust of authoritarian figures. His greatest desire is to be unrestrained by laws and societal norms, and left to his own hedonistic ends. Despite his practiced apathy, the idea of injustice perpetrated against marginalized groups and peoples fills him with indignant rage, which can become violent if provoked.

Backstory:

Quentin Kane was born to a single mother in Nottingham, United Kingdom seventeen years ago. His "father" is unknown, but it is suspected that he was not conceived so much as his embryo was artificially implanted into his mother. Quentin, who more frequently goes by the nickname of "Q," is not human, but is an as-of-yet unknown species of extraterrestrial. His race appears to be powerfully psychic, and passively broadcasts a hypnotic "cover" that disguises him as a human. Despite appearing to be some form of pinkish grub in his baby photos, to this day Q's mother has no indication that her son is not human, and becomes distressed and belligerent when the idea is suggested to her (likely a side-effect of long-term hypnosis).

Between his passive psychic disguise and human DNA absorbed from his mother in utero, by the time Q was of schooling age, he was able to successfully pass for a human in all respects, even when examined medically. Even so, Q was acutely aware that he was not like those around him, likely due to his developing psychic abilities. He withdrew socially, becoming something of an outcast among his peers, which was exacerbated by the relative poverty he and his mother lived in, as well as the somewhat unusual appearance given by his disguise. Q grew into niche interests and social groups, including the punk subculture, which he seems to have a great affinity for.

As Q grew older and his body began to develop more into its true, inhuman form, his behavior continued to deteriorate. Social withdrawal became delinquency as he engaged in various petty crimes, and frequent violent altercations with his classmates. It was this continuing degenerative behavior that spurred ATLAS (whom had been observing him in secrecy for some time) into action, requesting that he attend Palladium Academy out of the interest of his safety as well as that of others. While he initially chafed at the idea of attending a strict, privatized school, his mother encouraged him to attend due to his lack of university prospects otherwise.

Other Skills:

Q has a number of niche talents and hobbies, such as playing the bass guitar, DIY tailoring, and extensive knowledge of cultural topics (video games, music and comics in particular) from the mid-80s to late 90s. That aside, he can be surprisingly charismatic when in the company of other "misfits and outcasts," and is adept at thinking on his feet in stressful situations.

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Power Set

Name:

Teenager From Mars

Abilities:

Q's superhuman abilities stem from his extraterrestrial physiology. While a combination of minor physiological malleability and a passive hypnotic aura quite successfully disguise him as a human, these disguises can be dispelled or seen though with certain abilities or equipment, and superhuman individuals can partially see though his disguise in quick glances. Q's "true form" is that of a six-limbed vaguely reptilian creature; a beast of slimy, purple flesh and an indigo, insectoid carapace covering his limbs and torso. His face is just human enough to be sinister, with a mouth filled with needle-like fangs, glowing yellow eyes, a lengthy prehensile tongue tipped by a secondary mouth/stinger, and a bulbous cranium, swollen with his psychically-potent brains. Q's many limbs are divided into his pair of heavy forelimbs, each tipped with three massive slicing claws, his slender and precise manipulators with more human-like five-fingered hands, and his primary legs, which end in raptor-like talons. His body is lithe and sinewy, with a row of pointed, threatening spines that run from the top of his skull, down his back, and to the end of his blade-tipped tail.

Whatever Q's race is, their biology is preternaturally powerful, and are seemingly adapted to be stealthy, stalking hunters. Easily strong enough to overpower an adult man, Q's claws and fangs are sharp enough to slice through sheet metal, and his carapace is hard enough to withstand light small-arms fire. His agility is what makes him far more frightening, as he can move faster than normal human eyes can track, and his reflexes are sharp enough to literally dodge bullets. Some of the more esoteric features of his biology include his ability to see in complete darkness, climb on walls and ceilings, the potent toxicity of his blood, and his powerful sedative venom that he can administer via his tongue-stinger.

More subtle are the psionic powers he can manifest. Aside from his passive hypnotic aura, Q can induce a hypnotic trance with prolonged eye contacts, a state that leaves one both heavily disoriented and vulnerable to suggestive manipulation. Q can communicate telepathically, but only one-way, as he can transmit his thoughts but cannot read minds in turn. With intense concentration and exertion of his alien grey-matter, he can fire off bursts of psychic energy that can induce intense migraines or mild edema. While he is incapable of "true" mind control, he can seize the minds of others in short bursts; just enough to force someone to flip a switch or fire a weapon. By concentration psychic pressure on a nearby space, Q can also induce localized telekinetic blasts with the equivalent explosive force of a fragmentation grenade. While he has yet to use such an ability out of a lack of a willing target, he can also infuse others with a small portion of his psionic vitality from beyond the stars. As a whole, however, his powers seem to have a diminished effect on superpowered individuals, likely due to interference from their own abilities or the sources of their unnatural power.

Weaknesses:

Despite his impressive size and the durability of his carapace, Q is not particularly physically durable compared to most other superhuman combatants. Defensively, his best options are to take his opponent by surprise, or dodge their attacks altogether. His endurance is also nothing to write home about, as he fights most efficiently in short bursts, when he can capitalize on the near-precognitive reflexes granted by his potent adrenal glands. This lack of endurance extends to his psychic abilities as well, as using his more advanced powers will rapidly leave him "burnt out" until he can rest and recover, making him mildly disoriented and unable to use any other advanced psionics.

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Other:

While ATLAS has a number of extraterrestrial races on record, there are none they currently know of that resembles Q. After (begrudgingly) consenting to DNA testing, Q was shown to have an incredibly complex genetic structure, with over 300 discrete chromosomes and a sextuple-helix DNA structure. Preliminary analysis has revealed not only expected human DNA markers, but also those from a number of other cataloged species. Tentative conclusions drawn from this data suggest some manner of genetic manipulation or engineering at work.

[Dead Cruiser]

-Faction name: The Imperishable Empire of Azar
-Faction Type: Empire
-Flag/Banner: The Eye of Azar sees all, knows all.


NATIONAL
-Capital: Irem, City of Pillars
-Government Type: Absolute Monarchy
-Currency: The common peoples of Azar barter and trade for goods and services, but the state currency is the Hedj, silver coins backed by the Pharaoh's banks of grain and water.
-Population: 4 million, roughly.
-Unique Trait #1: Resource Rich: The reach of Azar is great and powerful, as they lay claim to the few remaining fertile rivers and oasis that are left in Azoth. Fresh, clean water is a prized yet accessible commodity, and is used to irrigate the great grain fields that branch off of the waterways of Azar. Grain is plentiful (though heavily taxed), as are other natural crops such as papyrus, sugarcane, flax and various fruits and legumes. Rare metals, minerals and gems can be found in mines that burrow beneath Azar, and even an Ichor spring and Spice refinery are jealously guarded by the God-King. Even more secret and precious are the relics of archaeo-tech hoarded by the Pharaoh in his personal vaults.
-Unique Trait #2: (Created by me)
-Unique Flaw #1: Vast Bureaucracy: Azar is large, but as well it is ponderous and unwieldy. The Pharaoh exerts his power through a complex system of clerks, accountants and advisors, which dulls his influence at the population level. Corruption is common in government officials, who frequently siphon funds and resources for their own personal benefit.
-Unique Flaw #2: (Created by me)


GEOGRAPHICAL
-World-Realm Map:
-Major Cities: The founding cities of Azar are situated over deposits of archaeo-tech that were quickly conquered and fortified by the earliest dynasties of the empire. Metropoli such as Maakep, Mesenebu, Seshahebsu, Sumenet and Tefaabhi sit along the riverways of Azar and serve as centers of politics, culture and commerce for their surrounding regions.
-Major Castles: Most cities in Azar are formed with the intention of being bastions against invasion. Most house a contingent of royal soldiers aside from its standard city guard, and are dedicated to the protection of surrounding villages and farms.
-Buildings of Interest: The ancient cities of Azar are filled with awesome displays of the wealth and power of the empire, in the form of huge monuments and tombs dedicated to its deceased God-Kings. Many of these structures are in fact ruins of the Old Ones, which themselves have been "entombed" by the reverent Azarites.
-Geographic Features of Interest: Irem itself is positioned over the Stygian Delta, a fertile expanse of land where the mighty River Styx meets the Great Inland Sea. The many branching waterways that flow into the Styx are the lifeblood of Azar, which jealously guards and regulates their waters.

RACIAL
-Majority Race: Simple humans make up the vast majority of Azarites, known in their tongue as Remet ("weeping ones").
-Majority Race Appearance: An empire as vast as Azar contains numerous different ethnic groups and subcultures, and so its citizens vary in appearance by some degrees. Skin tones range from near-pitch to lighter, dusky hues, and hair types range from smooth and flowing gold, to thick, kinky earthshades. Azarites are not known for their particular size, beauty or other outstanding features, and based on physique alone are rarely distinguishable from other human populations of Azoth.
-Majority Race Characteristics: Azarites are not a particular remarkable people. While they fare in the desert better than some, they are generally a simple, hard-working folk, content to live and work with the tides of the rivers, under the watchful eye of their God-King.
-Minority Races: As mentioned before, Azar is vast and its peoples are many. Nearly any race of Azoth can be counted among the population of Azar (save for Ghul and Magekin, which are traditionally culled), though there are some that are unique to the empire.

The God-Kings of Azar are the sole members of a peculiar subspecies of human, known as the Shaniatu. These beings claim to the the direct descendants of the Old Ones, "creatures born of the stars, shaped from fire as mere humans are shaped from earth." They generally resemble humans in shape, though the average Shaniatu stands head-and-shoulders above a normal human. The most remarkable of their features is their uncanny, inhuman beauty, which is said to cause the uninitiated to weep with joy at the sight of them. They move with impossible grace, as though traversing angles unseen by human eyes, and have the strength and speed of ten men. They grow no hair naturally, and their skin tone can appear as darkest ebony or as shimmering gold depending on the light. While they can interbreed with normal humans, most Shaniatu prefer to breed with their own kind, which due to their dwindling numbers over many generations has resulted in endemic inbreeding and numerous genetic defects. Pureblood Shaniatu are uniquely skilled in activating and wielding archaeo-tech, though the mysteries of magic utterly elude them.

A rare creature scarcely seen outside of Azar is the Sphinx, a particularly strange chimeric beast. While they are divided into various subspecies such as ram-headed Criosphinxes and hawk-headed Hieracosphinxes, they generally have a feline body, and are occasionally imbued with great, luxurious wings. Rarely smarter than common predatory animals, Sphinxes occupy the expanses of unsettled desert between the rivers of Azar, though some come to live near or in villages, necropoli or abandoned cities. Most Azarites see them as holy animals and guardian beasts. However, the rarest of them all are the Androsphinxes, who wear the faces of men and share in their intelligence (if not surpassing it). Elusive creatures, these Sphinxes most often live as hermits, far away from humans and other intelligent creatures, and spend their days brooding on philosophy and memorizing the ancient oral traditions of their kind. They generally look unfavorably upon pilgrims and other visitors, and are as like to kill and eat them as to speak with them. However, if impressed with strength or wit these creatures can make for loyal allies, who offer indispensable wisdom.

NATIONAL DRAMATIS PERSONAE
-Head of State/Monarch: The ruling Pharaoh is Sethansebranekha XII (Sethan for short). Even among the God-Kings of Azar he is known for his burning ambition, and has lead several campaigns of imperial expansion over his reign, with varying levels of success. He is known to have little tolerance for beings that fall outside of his purview of what is "natural," and has instituted many ethnic purges in the territories he has conquered. His rule is iron and his wrath is terrible, and for this he is known within Azar and without as the Black Pharaoh.
-Ruling Dynasty: Sethansebranekha is the twelfth in his line, the fifth dynasty known as the Sahu.
-Constable Of The Army: The Pharaoh is the supreme military leader of Azar, and under his rule has expanded considerably to become a more dedicated conquering force rather than a mere defensive army.
-Religious Head: The Pharaoh's title of God-King is not merely for show, as the ruling emperor is the focal point of worship in Azar. He alone is seen as the rightful ruler of the world through divine inheritance, and when his passing comes, he shall join the Judges of Duat and serve as chancellor to later Pharaohs as they currently advise him.
-Persons of interest: The only person that can approach the power of the Pharaoh in Azar is his royal Vizier. The current Vizier to Sethansebranekha is an Androsphinx that goes by the name of Sharuum. It is said that she came into the Pharaoh's service in his first campaign, when he was merely fourteen years old. When she saw the Pharaoh's armies, she was humbled by his power, and demanded to meet him, whereupon she was tempered by his conviction. Since then she has served as advisor and assistant to the God-King, his right hand and his closest confidant. As the most powerful civilian in the kingdom, Sharuum shares in the burden of ruling the empire with Sethan, and is the director the Azar's many bureaucratic administrations. Though she bends to the will of the Pharaoh, it is a deadly mistake to assume that she is subservient to any human, as many careless attendants have been flayed and eaten by the imperious Vizier.

CULTURAL
-History: Azar is an ancient nation, perhaps two-thousand years old, and its history is long and storied. Settlers on the Stygian Delta gave rise to one of the greatest empires in all of Azoth, after centuries of strife and toil. The Old Ones played a heavy hand in the rise of Azar, as the tools they left behind as well as their self-proclaimed descendants left their mark on this empty and ruined world. Theirs is a lengthy history of power and conquest, marked with tragedy and betrayal. Azar has swelled and receded just as the Styx does, though in modern times it rushes over its metaphorical riversides.
-List of Historical Grievances: Azar has an ancient rivalry with Dratha, as each sees the other as their major competitor for domination over all of Azoth. That aside, Azar makes no allowances for mutants and barbarians in the world, and seeks to eliminate them wherever it can.
-Relations: As one of the most dominant powers in the world, Azar makes allowances for various smaller nations and organizations. More often than not they are swallowed up by the empire and assimilated into it, but some manage to maintain their autonomy despite being caught up in the empire's expanding borders.
-Cultural Notes: Azarite culture relies on a highly-stratified sociopolitical system. Though all citizens bear approximately the same rights, those higher in caste are afforded preference and prestige compared to those below them. At the very top is the Pharaoh, the God-King of all Azar. Below him are his noble relatives, all pureblood Shaniatu. Then follow the royal advisors; scribes, judges and councillors, of which the royal Vizier holds the greatest honor. Their equals are the high priests of Azar, who serve in the Great Temples of Irem. In a unique position below the Pharaoh's advisors and high priests are his royal guard, which are comprised of his Shaniatu brethren that are either impure of blood, disgraced by their bloodline, or otherwise unconcerned with the honor of nobility. Below them are the more common government officials; lesser scribes, accountants and bankers. They stand equal to more common priests who man the temples of smaller cities and settlements. Skilled workers, such as masons, alchemists and embalmers, follow after. Below them are common peasants and farmers, who make up the vast majority of the population. At the very bottom are slaves, mostly people indentured through debt, but also criminals and prisoners of war. While not much social mobility is afforded to them, citizens of Azar are afforded substantial rights, as even the lowliest peasant has the right to petition the Vizier with his grievances. Women are afforded equal status as men (on paper), with rights to marriage, property and divorce. Even slaves are protected under Azarite law, and can buy their freedom from their masters.

RELIGION, MAGIC and ARCHEO-TECH
-State Religion: The Imperial Cult of Azar
-Religious Information: A religion as old as Azar itself, the Imperial Cult venerates the Old Ones as the godlike forebears of Azar, and views the afterlife in which they reside as yet another empire ruled by the Azarites' ancestors. The Pharaoh is the living avatar of the Old Ones, and is an immortal god in his own right. Even after his mortal form dies, he will live on eternally as one of the Judges of Duat, joining his ancestors in passing judgement on mortal souls that pass on into the afterlife.
-Religion Demographics: As the dominion of the Pharaoh is absolute, there is no room in Azar for other religions or heterodoxies. Citizens are expected to either subscribe to the Cult, or keep silent about their beliefs. Blasphemy is a crime punishable by mutilation of the face.
-Holy Relics In Possession: Artifacts of the Old Ones, known as Sekhem, are the holiest of relics to the Imperial Cult, and by law are to be turned over to temples, whereupon they are brought to the Pharaoh's personal possession. Countless relics sit in the Pharaoh's vaults, but the Sekhem with only aesthetic uses as usually donated to temples to serve as artifacts of power and worship.
-Holy Sites Under Control: The founding cities of Azar are sites with great numbers of ruins of the Old Ones, most of which interred in sandstone, marble and gold, with temples built at their foundations. Irem is famous for its five holy pillars, which are among the largest One One remains in Azoth.
-Magical Information: Mages and sorcerers of Azar are systematically rooted out and culled by the Pharaoh's secret police, an order known as Sybaris. The Shaniatu greatly fear magic and those who wield it, as it is the one power that eludes their authority, and could be used to overthrow them. Agents of Sybaris wield strange and unusual Sekhem in order to fight against the reality-warping powers of mages that may have entrenched themselves in Azar.
-Archeo-Tech: In more ancient days, Azar wielded Sekhem which shook the very world, and changed the landscape to suit their needs. In modern times, these relics are all but lost, and the Pharaoh's hoards are limited to artifacts that are mere trinkets in comparison. He and his royal guard wield weapons and armor with tremendous eldritch power, and the God-King is often adorned with many amulets and other treasures. The Pharaoh's royal alchemists are often experimenting with the few relics that still work, sometimes requesting the assistance of the noble Shaniatu to activate the ancient biometrics.

MILITARY
-Total Military Size: Discounting mercenaries, city guards, the royal guard, and Sybaris, the army of Azar counts 40,000 trained, professional soldiers. As many as double that number of conscripts can be recruited from the peasantry in times of peril.
-Military Details: The army is mostly comprised of infantry, each armed with spear, shield and kopesh. Archers make up another large portion, some mounted. Cavalry carries great lances and curved longswords, and may be mounted on horse or chariot. Azar makes great use of beasts of war in their battles, bringing massive snakes and scorpions to bear, and less commonly armored War-Sphinxes. Rare, yet evenly distributed among the army are elite officers (sometimes Sybaris agents in disguise) that bring mighty and terrible Sekhem to bear in battle, often turning the tide of the most dire conflict.

[Dead Cruiser]

Alignment: Hero

Real Name: Casey Nakamura

Age: 17

Superhero Name: Galaxion

Normal Appearance: "This is my home, and I will protect it. Let me show you the strength of my resolve."

Superhero Appearance: "This isn't just my strength. It's the strength of my ancestors."

Meta type: Neohuman

Description of Powers: Casey has the ability to tap into an inherent power source within his body, known among his family as "the Mark" and "the Radiance." Unbeknownst to them, this power is actually a dormant, aeons-old being of immense cosmic power, ingrained in Casey's genetic code. By absorbing cosmic radiation (most usually solar photons), Casey can activate this power, transforming himself into various forms with advanced abilities. Less advanced forms consume less of Casey's reserves of power, and can be maintained passively for greater spans of time, though using more powerful abilities will also drain his power. Each transformation takes a period of time to complete relative to the level of the from, and disruptions of Casey's transformation can result in him reverting to his human form. In any of his transformed states, Casey has a significant vulnerability to magical and psionic attacks, as their damage to him seems to be aggravated by the alien power he wields.

Forms

Pollux: Casey's base form as Galaxion, wherein he manifests armor, a sword, and an "ether board." As Pollux, Casey's strength is increased tenfold, his armor both protects him fully from the vacuum of space, and is greatly resistant to physical harm, and his ether board can permit him antigravity-based flight at subsonic speeds. Casey's sword has tremendous cutting power, and Casey can launch "photonic bursts" from his sword and chest cannons. All of Pollux's armaments are composed of an alien "living metal," a highly durable and light material unknown to Earth science, which possesses the peculiar ability to slowly "regenerate" from harm. As his simplest form, Pollux consumes the least power, and can be maintained almost indefinitely if he is exposed to sunlight.

Orion: The form that transitions from Pollux, Orion possesses all of the same abilities, but with the following exceptions. Pollux's sword has transformed into an energy blade, which is far more powerful, and capable of cutting through energy barriers. Pollux's ether board has become a pair of ether wings, granting sonic speed in an atmosphere, and supersonic speed outside of one. In addition, Orion possesses the technique known as "Zero Light," wherein Perseus traps his foe in an immobilizing beam of light, which also negates any magical or psionic powers they may possess. Orion consumes power more rapidly than Pollux, but can still be maintained for a decent length of time, though use of the Zero Light ability usually consumes all of Casey's power at once.

Hercules: The form that transitions from Orion, Hercules possesses all of the same abilities, but with the following exceptions. Hercules now wields two energy blades, doubling his close-quarters offensive power. While Hercules does not possess the Zero Light technique, he can sense and absorb background cosmic radiation in a given area, giving himself a tremendous boost in power or in the time the form can be maintained. Alternately, the energy can be spent to transition directly to Casey's next form, which is currently his only means of acquiring enough energy. While Hercules' energy absorption ability can increase the time spent in this form greatly, the radiation in an area following the use of this power will be insufficient for it to be used again for several hours, making it effectively a one-off.

Draco: Currently Casey's most advanced form, Draco can only be accessed by transforming immediately after using Hercules' energy absorption ability. As Draco, Casey grows to stand twenty feet tall, and possesses immense strength and durability, as well as teeth and claws with the cutting power of energy blades. Draco can fly using antigravity at supersonic speeds in or out of an atmosphere, and can survive in the vacuum of space. Draco can issue "photon streams" from his mouth, which possess terrible destructive power. Draco's most advanced technique is known as "Zero Galaxy," wherein he can neutralize magical or psionic attacks that have not yet damaged him, and add their energy to his own power. Draco consumes power extremely quickly, and even with the use of Zero Galaxy, this form cannot be maintained for long. Though Draco is currently Casey's ultimate form, he feels that he still has untapped potential, and that he may have additional, more powerful forms locked away within him.

Background: Casey is but the latest of a long lineage of metahumans, dating back thousands of years. Tracing their roots back to ancient Lebanon, their bloodline has carried through many ages and ethnicities. As such, Casey is of extremely mixed heritage, though he mostly identifies as Irish/Japanese-American. His mother was the previous bearer of the Mark, and as such, she lost her powers when she gave birth to Casey. The obvious transition of the Mark down the generational line heralded the arrival of the inheritor of the cosmic power of the radiance. However, not all were pleased; Casey's older brother, Sean, who had been passed over by the Mark, was intensely jealous of his younger brother, and tormented him throughout their youth.

Casey was raised from an early age to play the role of a righteous warrior, and was schooled in ethics and the history of his bloodline throughout the ages. He was trained intensely in combatives, including the art of swordsmanship, with both a single blade and dual swords. Essentially groomed to become a superhero by his family, Casey feels a great deal of pressure from the expectations for him to live up to his family's legacy, but his genuine desire to help others makes the path of the hero an easier one to follow.

Personality: As a civilian, Casey is charming and cheerful, with a playful, easygoing personality. He is very competitive, and loves to push himself to his limits. He makes friends easily, and is quick to forgive slights against him with a joke and a smile. However, when assuming his role as Galaxion (and in related affairs with his family), he takes on a far more serious demeanor. Evil must be rooted out and punished by all means, and the innocent must be protected at any cost. While he is against the idea of vengeance, he believes in firm and fair justice, and is more than willing to dole it out. A technical pacifist, Casey refuses to kill his opponents, seeking out methods of incapacitating them non-lethally, even when it would be far more difficult or dangerous to do so.

Origin Story: Galaxion made his debut some six months ago, fighting off a criminal organization known as the Star Crusade; thugs and gangsters hired by the wealthy elite to horde alien technology. Galaxion is an uncommonly-seen hero, only appearing to take on threats that are deemed worth of the application of his considerable power. Galaxion has so far mostly fought alone, but he is not adverse to team-ups with other heroes.

Secret identity known to public?: Negative.

City of residence: Angel City

[Dead Cruiser]

The Crocodile God

Name: Sobek

Universe: World of Darkness

Appearance: As a shapeshifter of Gaia, Sobek possesses three forms that he can shift between at will. His "suchid" (Creator) shape is that of a huge nile crocodile. An venerated grandfather of the Nile, Sobek is over twenty feet long in this form, and is covered in thick, armor-like scales, and his powerful jaws are filled with dagger-like teeth. An albino, his thick hide is an alabaster white, and his eyes are blood red in color.

Sobek's "homid" (Shaper) form is that of an Egyptian human (a Nubian to be precise). His human form possesses a hulking, muscular figure and brutish, almost subhuman features. He is typically dressed in the reignments of a slave, with little more than rags for clothes and bronze manacles on his wrists and ankles. His albinism persists through this form, bleaching his African skin into a milky white, and turning his close-shaven hair to the fairest blond. His eyes, however, are still a deep red, and maintain their primal, reptilian appearance from his suchid form. Likewise, Sobek keeps a mouth full of jagged, pointed fangs rather than normal human teeth.

Last is Sobek's "archid" (Destroyer) form. By tapping into the genetic memory of all Mokole, the Mnesis, Sobek "dreamed" this form into existence upon his First Changing. A primordial abomination shaped from the nightmarish beasts that ruled the Earth before Man had set foot upon it, the archid form is among the most deadly of all of Gaia's creations. A reptilian, somewhat saurian beast, Sobek stands on four strong legs in this form, though at the shoulder he is still taller than most humans. His body is dense, yet flexible, and covered in impenetrably thick, armored scales. A powerful tail as long as his body stretches out behind him, aiding his balance as he runs or rears up onto his hind legs, or serving as a rudder in water. Sharp spines sprout along his back, and skin stretches between them to form a flamboyant sail from his neck to the base of his tail. With a thick, scaled skull and forward-facing eyes full of predatory intelligence, Sobek is clearly well-adapted to charge into battle headfirst. His mighty jaws are filled with teeth longer than Men's fingers, and lengthy, fearsome claws tip each of his toes. Once again, Sobek's albinism is evident, as this monstrosity is the color of polished ivory, and its eyes are the deep red of uncut rubies.

Personality: Despite his fearsome appearance, Sobek is a forlorn creature. Forsaken by his people and damned into the servitude of his most hated enemies, he is plagued by madness and self-loathing. As with most vampires of his age, he spends much time in torpor (or the "Dragon Sleep," as his people call their own form of hibernation), preferring to sleep away the eons rather than live through them in anguish. One of Sobek's few outlets for his overwhelming grief and hatred is the Rage, the gift of primal power to his people by the Celestines. Sobek generally breaks up his centuries of sleep with outbursts of unthinking, berserk destruction, before falling back into torpor. His fleeting moments between sleep and rage are hardly lucid, as his mind has withered greatly from being divorced from his patron spirits. Sobek whispers deluded prophecies and meaningless aphorisms to those that bother to listen, and walks through life as though it were a nightmare that he cannot wake up from.

Powers/Skills: Sobek's supernatural powers are twofold: those of a Mokole, a weredragon of Gaia, and those of a Vampire, the damned descendants of Caine. Though since Sobek was embraced, his status as a vampire has overwritten many of his conditions and abilities as a shapeshifter. He retains a key few, however. As one of the Mokole-Mbembe of the Stream of Earth, Sobek is essentially a spirit of Gaia, the Worldsoul, made flesh. The speciality of his people is Mnesis, the Memory of Gaia. With it, he can recall events experienced by his ancestors, even those millions of years ago during the Age of Kings. Sobek can continue to shapeshift between his usual forms freely, though he no longer benefits from his Crowned Sun auspice. As with all of the Changing Breeds, Sobek is deeply tied to the spirit world, and can see and commune with spirits with ease. Though in his current form, the only spirits likely to listen to him are Banes, corrupted spirits of the Wyrm. Even so, Sobek is keenly attuned to sensing the spirit energy of natural places, and disturbances in the Gauntlet between the mortal world and the spirit world. Sobek's other powers are lost to him, as his Gnosis, his connection to nature and Gaia, has been severed by his undead condition. Even so, he retains his weakness to gold through his patron Celestine, Helios.

As an ancient vampire, Sobek's powers are far more pronounced. Already a powerful beast, his physical capabilities are exaggerated further by his vampiric condition into truly unnatural extremes. Sobek can exert control over the natural forces of the desert, with particular regard to reptiles such as snakes and his kinfolk crocodiles, and is master of poisons and venoms. Sobek as well can warp the minds of those around him into viewing him as an exemplary being; even a god if he so chooses. Mortal minds are easily awed and influenced by his presence, and he possesses a most diabolical sort of charisma. Though he has lost his natural power to regenerate, he can restore wounds in his flesh by consuming the blood of humans (beast blood no longer slakes his thirst), though this depletes the mystic energy he uses to fuel his other supernatural abilities. As a vampire, Sobek is afflicted with the trifold Curse of Caine. Firstly, he is consumed with the Hunger, the overpowering need to consume the flesh and blood of mortal men. Second, light is his bane; sunlight is fatal to him, and he hates and fears fire. As a childe of Set, Sobek is particularly sensitive to light, as even particularly bright unnatural light is blinding and disorienting to him. Lastly, he is cursed with the Beast, a predatory instinct that fights Sobek for control over his own body. Should the Beast win, or simply be indulged, Sobek's higher mind takes backseat to his instincts to feed and survive, whichever is more important at the time. Sobek has few qualms over surrendering control to the Beast, as he is subject to its frenzy and the unstoppable Rage of the Mokole during his waking hours.

Brief Bio: Hatched thousands of years ago to a Mokole-Mbembe clutch along the Nile, Sobek hatched under the Crowned-Sun auspice, prophesying that he would be a king among Mokole. When he came of age, he assumed leadership of his Clutch, and lead them to glorious battle against the encroaching Vampires of the rising Egyptian civilization. For decades the war waged, the Mokole slowly purging the nightwalkers from their ancestral lands. The Vampires, known as Settites (named for their leader, whom they revered as a god), could not stand against the twofold attack of the Mokole and their rival Osirian League. As the most feared general of the Settites, known only as the Scorpion King, fell against the forces of Osiris, Set himself departed to find a new leader for his armies. Set infiltrated the Wallow that Sobek ruled, and forced upon the mighty dragon the dark Embrace. Under most circumstances, the gifts of Helios prevent the Mokole from being turned into vampiric abominations, but such was the unholy power of Set that Sobek's connection to Helios was utterly severed, and a vampire Sobek became.

While Set succeeded in creating an unholy terror unlike any the world had ever before seen, he had failed in creating a fearsome leader for his army. Sobek was a sorrowful creature, maddened by his transformation. Set could only persuade the newly-sired Abomination to wage war (against his enemies) by completely dominating his mind, which was a waste of time and effort. With the rise of the Roman Empire, Set had little use for such an unsightly and unsubtle creature as Sobek, and entombed him in a shrine in Faiyum. A Typhonic Cult rose around the slumbering beast, the Abd'al-Sobek. There, in his tomb of flowing water, Settites sit and leave offerings to the Crocodile God. A retinue of ghouled crocodiles and caimans surrounds him, which whisper to the cultists the dreaming prophecies Sobek mutters in the Dragon's Tongue.

Equipment: The Crocodile God carries no weapons and wears no armor; his (un)natural body is mighty enough without them.

Others: Sobek's strengths as weaknesses may wane and wax with the various realities that he is deposited upon.

[Dead Cruiser]

Genbu

Name: "Genbu"

Age: Roughly 400, though he looks to be in his late thirties.

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Appearance: Genbu is a man of average height and build, but possesses the physique and discipline of a supreme soldier. His features are mostly unremarkable, apart from his obviously foreign heritage, with a sharp chin, crooked nose and a rough, shaggy beard. Interestingly for a warrior, not a single scar mars his face or body. His eyes are dark and deep-set, and his gaze is seemingly unfocused; staring through the world rather than looking at it. Long, black hair is typically tied back in a high ponytail, when not obscured by a straw farmer's hat. Worn, dark robes carrying the sigils of his forgotten clan are his typical attire, though in battle he sometimes dons a patchwork suit of armor: a curious mix between traditional plate armor and the traditional scaled armor of his homeland.

Bio: The man known as "Genbu" was born in a far off land, in a time long since past. His many years have not been kind to his memory, and so he remembers little of his early life. His childhood, parents, and even his birth name are lost to the abyss of time. He remembers having been born into a wealthy and powerful clan of warrior-nobles (the "bushi," sometimes "samurai" in his native tongue) in service of a feudal lord. He was raised as a professional soldier, and proved his skill in battle from an early age. However, the elders of his clan plotted against their master, and his clan was purged as punishment. Whether by luck or fate Genubu survived these purges, and was left as a warrior without a master. Tradition would dictate that such a warrior should commit honorable suicide, but Genbu was an impetuous young man with much to prove, and so set out as knight-errant; an outlaw for hire, called "ronin."

Mercenary work came easily to Genbu, as the destruction of his clan had hardened his heart to other, smaller tragedies. Sometimes employed by feuding nobles, other times by criminal organizations, Genbu's profession was steel and death, and he was skilled in it. It came to be that in one instance he was hired by a village to track down and kill a rampant demon, or "oni," and so ventured into the mountains to slay the monster. Instead of a hideous ogre, he instead found a beautiful woman who pleaded with him to spare her life. A monster all the same to Genbu, he battled her for hours on end, until she eventually gained the upper hand and mortally wounded him with her magic sword. Genbu remembers little of what happened after, but when he regained his senses the demon had disappeared, and he was left with her sword, which had bound itself to his soul.

Cursed with immortality by the Eldritch Arm now in his possession, Genbu wandered the land, honing his skill in arms to become the greatest warrior of all. He mastered secret and mystic styles of combat and swordsmanship taught by ascetic monks and spirits of the land, and his skill was without compare. However, the worst fate that could befall a soldier then swept through his homeland: peace. With the warring lords united under a single emperor, Genbu departed his homeland to find a place where a soldier of his calibre could find employment.

He arrived at a nation called Galadia during a time called the Age of Wars and Blood. Surely there could be no greater opportunity for a warrior, and so he spent more than a century as an unkillable mercenary, owing his allegiance to whoever paid him the most. However, his many years of killing and committing other atrocities wore on him, and he began to feel empty inside. Devoid of peace and meaningful relationships, he began to despair at his endless life. He sunk into a depressed stupor for many decades, wandering in search of anything that could end his miserable existence. He found no solace in this time, though he lost many of his memories and his skills dulled from the superhuman peak at which they once stood. In time his despair lessened, as his mortal anxieties began to fade away. He still wanders the land in search of an honorable death, though he accepts that his time will come as fate decides it, and in the meantime wishes to heal his damaged soul.

Other: Theme

Arcane/Eldritch Arm: Genbu is bound to the Eldritch Arm known as Kokorowatari (meaning "the passage across the heart"). Its normal state is that of a traditional curved sword with a single blade, typical of Genbu's homeland. While its length can change dramatically, it naturally takes the shape of an "odaichi," a usually ceremonial sword nearly as long as Genbu is tall. The handle is black leather with red wrappings, and the golden crossguard resembles the face of a snarling demon.

Kokorowatari does not augment Genbu's skills in any particular way; rather, it imbues him with immortality. He does not age, and he is untouched by disease and other illness. His body has remarkable regenerative abilities, to the point where it is seemingly impossible for him to die. Wounds from blades, arrows, fire or other weapons heal moments after being inflicted, and he can even recover lost limbs by reattaching them from where they were severed. That is not to say that he does not feel pain, though after centuries of battle his tolerance is much greater than a common man. Poisons rarely affect him, nor do drugs or other substances. Genbu theorizes that the only ways that he can truly die would be to have his head completely cut off in a single stroke (a fate that he has only nearly, but not completely, suffered), or for his entire body to be incinerated.

Standard Form: As mentioned, Kokorowatari's typical form is that of a typical ceremonial greatsword from Genbu's homeland, though its length can change to suit his needs; varying from a short sword ("wakizashi") to the maximum of its natural length. Even as a seemingly-mundane sword, its craftsmanship is supernatural in its quality; it never dulls, never breaks, and is sharp enough to cut a leaf flowing down a gentle stream.

Alternate Form: Rather than assume the form of another weapon, Kokorowatari can instead split into two identical swords, which can change in length as well.

Overbreak Form: If Genbu achieves a state of sufficient focus and bloodlust, Kokorowatari unleashes its Overbreak form: Kokorowatari no Akuma ("the devil's passage across the heart"). In this state, the blade does not undergo any significant physical changes, though the grip and crossguard fall off, and the blade's length cannot change from its natural state as a massive greatsword. Kokorowatari no Akuma is a blade of demon-killing, and inflicts tremendous damage to supernatural entities with even the slightest wound. As well, Genbu's regenerative abilities are increased dramatically; he recovers from wounds often faster than they can be inflicted to him. Even if he were to lose a limb, a new one would regrow completely from the severance before the old limb hit the ground.

Unleashed Form: Little is known about the true form of this Eldritch Arm, most of all how to unlock it. The Unleashed from is known as Yumewatari ("the passage across the dream"), and takes the shape of a short sword without a grip or crossguard. It is said to be a blade of demon-reviving, though what this means and how it can be used are both mostly unknown. Genbu suspects that it is in this form that the sword was passed down to him, as it healed him from a wound that should have killed him.

[Dead Cruiser]

Akagawa Jin

"I see... two angels screwing in the stratosphere. A constellation of black holes. A biological process beyond the the conception of man. What do you see?"

Short for his age, with a slight build and soft, almost effeminate features; Jin is often mistaken for being younger than he really is. His features are blended between Asiatic and Caucasian, making his ethnicity difficult to distinguish at a glance. His dress sense is incredibly simple, usually wearing only an oversized hoodie, shorts and sneakers. His skin is soft, fair and unblemished, and his hair is so light and silky that in certain lighting it almost seems blue. Even so, he is not an albino, as his eyes are emerald green in color. When his abilities activate, Jin's eyes literally illuminate with power, and light dances about him peculiarly, making him appear ephemeral, like a being not of this world.

_________________________________________________________________

Codename: Nova

House: The Squids

Grade: 10th

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Grey-Asexual

Birthday: 7 July

Blood Type: O+

Nationality: Japanese
___________________

Hobbies:

• Classic Literature
• Astrology
• Astrophysics
• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Programming
• Occult Metaphysics
• Comic Books

Personality: Jin is a strange character, not well understood by his peers. His thoughts seem to operate on a different level, or axis than that of most people. While he seems perfectly reasonable to himself, others find him incredibly odd and difficult to interact with. Likely related to this is his incredible level of intelligence, likely easily classified as that of a genius, though he refuses to have his IQ tested. Jin is somewhat lacking in social graces, and will usually say exactly what he is thinking, with no consideration to tact or politeness. Prone to non-sequiturs and strange emotional reactions, Jin has learned that he often rubs off on people the wrong way, and as such limits his social contact. It's a bit lonely, but it's for the best, as he sees it. His expression is usually stoic and neutral, and he rarely speaks unless spoken to. These factors combine to give him the image of a strange, outlandish loner. Despite his isolationist tendencies, Jin is a perfectly sociable young man. Though he has a hard time picking up on social cues, he likes other people well enough, and is surprisingly friendly, open and generous when one takes the time to get to know him.

History: Jin had a fairly normal childhood. At least, from what he can remember of it. His father, Japanese, was a nuclear physicist who sumo wrestled as a hobby. His mother, half English and half Russian, was a kind-hearted and soft-spoken geneticist. Beyond that, things are fuzzy for Jin. He seems to be suffering from a degenerative neurological condition in recent years, which has had severely adverse effects on his memory. Jin can remember that his parents are still alive, but not where they are or why they never contact him. He can remember that he has not always lived at Star Ocean Academy, but not where he actually lived beforehand. He speaks five languages, but he doesn't know when or why he learned them. Is he an only child? Also a mystery. Almost no records exist for him, as such the school knows just as much as he does about his past: very little.

That said, Jin's most consistent memories start at his enrollment at the Academy. He has excelled at his studies with little effort, and his power training his proceeded smoothly. Whatever Jin was doing before he enrolled at the Academy involved rigorous training with his powers, and as such the school's curriculum came quite naturally to him. Despite his academic success, Jin's strange personality and mannerisms have not earned him many friends. The aura of an "elite" follows him, not due to any deliberate effort of his own, driving others further away. Jin is seen as an enigma by his peers; the strange and mysterious ionokinetic, an eccentric genius without a past.

Given his overt lack of a social life, Jin devotes his time to extracurricular studies. That is to say, he spends a lot of time holed up in his dorm room with books and computers. He researches the physics that fuel his powers in order to give him better insight into how to control them and circumnavigate his weaknesses. He builds and programs computers as a relaxation hobby, though he rarely makes much progress as accidental discharges of his powers frequently fry his electronics. The occult also holds a certain mystique to Jin, and he reads up on a broad variety of related topics, from religion, to augury, shamanism, to chaos magic. When in need of simpler pleasures, Jin reads through his vast collection of trade paperbacks, manga volumes, doujinshi, graphic novels, "alt comix," and indie Euro-comics. That, or he scrounges together a working computer and proxy server to trawl obscure imageboards and darknet forums for secret restaurant menus, visual novel programming engines, conspiracy theories implicating Prime Minister Abe being a reptilian, and other such miscellany.
___________________

Current Classification: Starborn (Orion Candidate)

Special Ability: Jin's ability is classified as "ionokinesis," or the ability to generate and manipulate ionized and excited gases, generally known as plasmas. The rarest form of matter on Earth, and yet the most common in the universe, plasma is found in such entities as fire, lightning, auroras, stars, nebulae and novae, among others. Fairly skilled with his powers, Jin can fairly easily ionize gases and other elements in his environment to create plasma, and manipulate it very effectively without an excessive need for concentration.

Imperfection: The generation and manipulation of plasma by Jin's powers leaves an overabundance of ionized free electrons in an area, increasing as his powers are used in the general area. This can have a variety of effects, depending on the severity of the electron overload. On a small scale, electronics can malfunction and short out, suffering effects similar to that of an electromagnetic pulse. At a large scale, Jin can generate an electrostatic buildup comparable to a thunderstorm, essentially inducing a localized lightning storm in his immediate surroundings. These phenomena are creatives passively and unintentionally by Jin, who has little to no control over them. As greater phenomena emerge from extended usage of his powers, Jin generally has to devote effort to defending himself and others from the "backlash" of his abilities.
___________________

School Clubs:

• Going-Home Club

Character Relations:

• TBA

Other: Feint - Horizons

[Dead Cruiser]

Solasier Ra

Name: Solasier Ra

Age: 568

Gender: Male

Race: Eldar

Appearance: As one of the mortal sons of Asuryan, Solasier's appearance is vaguely similar to that of a human, but distinct so many ways that he could not be mistaken for one. Tall and thin in build, his body is mostly comprised of densely-corded muscle, giving him strength and speed far beyond that which his lithe form suggests. The sharp, angular lines to his face and his elfin features give Solasier both otherworldly beauty and unnerving, inhuman androgyny. Though the typical Mon-keigh would not notice such subtleties, Solasier's age and experience are beginning to show on his face; creases brought on by the weariness that only battle can bring marr his face, and silver has begun to creep into his long, raven-black hair. Solasier's skin is the color of natural silk (a swarthy color for an Eldar, but an unnatural hue to a human), and his eyes resemble cut topaz, possessing a dangerous glint and a predatory gaze.

While in casual company Solasier wears light garments typical of a corsair, ubiquitously dark in coloration. His mesh armor, however, is quite distinctive to those familiar with Eldar technology. Rather than the standard-issue armor issued to guardians, his is the heavily-modified suit unique to corsairs, beetle-black in color and outfitted with a corsair jump-pack. His lasblaster, splinter pistol and balelight gauntlet are similar in coloration and construction, and are adorned with the various runes custom to his Craftworld and corsair band.

Personality: Solasier is an unusually relaxed sort of Eldar, far more sociable and accommodating than many of his kind. Granted, by human standards he is still unpleasantly uptight and standoffish, but he is not impossible to get along with. He strikes some as a sort of hedonist, seeking out new adventures and experiences. While this is a dangerous path for an Eldar to tread, his centuries of learned discipline guide him in seeking wisdom and knowledge, rather than purely pleasure and sensation. Sharply observant and dangerously cunning, Solasier possesses at once a cold pragmatism that would strike most races as cold and heartless, and a flair for the dramatic that sways between frivolity and needless cruelty. Despite his humanlike shape, his Mon-keigh allies must keep wary of his still distinctly inhuman thought processes, at once capricious and subject to succumbing to obsession.

History: "Solasier Ra" is not the true name of the Eldar agent known by his human allies. Rather it is a pseudonym taken some decades ago on the outset of his departure on the Path of the Outcast. That aside, Solasier was born as most Eldar are in this dark age: in the deep void aboard a Craftworld. Kaelor was his home; a remote, backwater world unnotable for much beyond nearly colliding with Saim-Hann, and a series of internecine house wars. Solasier took up the Path of Awakening upon reaching adulthood, and quickly moved onto the Path of the Artisan, choosing to manufacture weapons with which his people could defend themselves. However, as the rivalries between the Great Houses escalated, they demanded weapons from the gunsmiths of Kaelor. Solasier considered contributing to further violence between his people to be distasteful, and so changed over to the Path of the Warrior, as the Aspect Warriors had declared neutrality in the strife.

Solasier chose the aspect of the Swooping Hawk, an airborne warrior. In his many years spent as an Aspect Warrior, Solasier came to relish the freedom brought by sailing through the skies over a battlefield. He felt untouchable, unconstrained by the petty rivalries that embroiled his Craftworld. In time, he came to be a highly-respected warrior, considered to be among the most agile flyers and the keenest marksmen in Kaelor. Even so, Solasier kept on for the freedom that battle brought him, not for the recognition of his people or even really to defend his world. However, after so many years in his Aspect Armor, he could feel a psychic tug binding him to it. This horrified Solasier, as he realized that he was very close to becoming an Exarch of the Swooping Hawks. He was shocked and almost disgusted by the idea, as such lifelong commitment was at severe odds with his hate of bindings and restraints.

At once, Solasier left his Craftworld, taking on the Path of the Outcast. He considered no other option to be sufficient to distance himself from what he had nearly become. He wandered the Calixis Sector for some time, eventually drifting out into the Koronus Expanse. It was there that he became involved with the Children of Thorns, a particularly ruthless band of Eldar Corsairs. Mostly consisting of Druuchi, the dark brothers of the Craftworld Eldar, the Children of Thorns were cruel and merciless pirates, raiding many ships and worlds throughout the sector for slaves and treasure. Solasier once again achieved notoriety among the corsairs for his skill in battle, particularly in his mastery of the customary jump-packs of the corsairs. For years he reveled in the pure liberty that piracy and lawlessness brought him, having never realized how constricting life aboard a Craftworld truly was.

After spending many years as a pirate, Solasier's thoughts have begun to return home. He wondered if he could in some way help Kaelor, and make it less of a suffocating and dour place for future generations. These thoughts brought the realization that Solasier was for the first time naturally reaching the end of his chosen path, and yearning for the next. With this in mind, he has departed the Children of Thorns, and seeks to close out the Path of the Outcast, perhaps with another few decades of high adventure, before returning to his Craftworld.

Skills: Solasier is a fierce and unrelenting warrior, as many Eldar who walk the warrior's Path are. Already physically and mentally superior to a human, his training gives him frightening lethality on the battlefield; as he moves faster than a human eye can track, and is stronger than a natural human could ever be. His intuition is supernaturally sharp, a boon of his natural psychic sensitivity. His accuracy with a lasgun is uncanny, and he is an undisputed master of airborn battle and tactics. Skilled as well in boarding tactics and melee combat, he truly lives up to his reputation as a terrifying pirate of the Koronus expanse. His previous Paths have brought him keen skills of observation; there is little that escapes his eagle-eyed notices. As well, he has a fair deal of knowledge in the art of crafting Eldar weapons, allowing him to adequately repair and maintain his own weapons, or even craft makeshift ammunition in emergencies. Solasier has explored much of the Halo Worlds, and has considerable knowledge of the Koronus Expanse and the various worlds and regions beneficial to pirates and other such outlaws.

Equipment: The equipment and weapons Solasier carries are mostly accumulated from his various Paths walked throughout his life. His corsair mesh armor his specially modified to allow him to survive in the void of space for hours at a time, as well as advanced optics to aid his already superb marksmanship. Attached to his armor is a corsair jump-pack, which gives him extreme mobility both in-atmosphere and in zero-gravity. His primary weapon is an Eldar lasblaster, the ritual weapon of the Swooping Hawks; similar to a human lasgun, but with far greater power, accuracy and efficiency. He carries a variety of sidearms, such as a splinter pistol gifted to him by one of his Dark Eldar comrades, a balelight laser gauntlet carried as an emergency weapon, and a void sabre, earned by many years of fruitful piracy. Strapped Solasier's leg is a piece of equipment normally unique to Swooping Hawks, which he managed to keep as he departed on his current Path: a grenade pack. A slight misnomer, as it is actually a form of grenade launcher, it offers tactical advantage to warriors by carrying and firing a variety of explosives, including frag, plasma, krak and haywire grenades. The pack can also be easily opened to retrieve and throw grenades normally. Lastly, his soulstone (which outs him as a Craftworld Eldar, as opposed to a Dark Eldar) is typically worn over his heart on his armor.

Miscellaneous: !!

[Dead Cruiser]

Ryotaro

Name
Matsuzaki Ryotaro, the Black Tiger
松崎良太郎
_{Covered by the Forest, Stout and Healthy Son}

Age
17

Totem
Tiger

Appearance
Ryotaro is a robust, strongly-built young man, with muscles earned from years of street fights and manual labor. He's quite tall for his age, standing a head above most of his peers, and is still growing. Given his size, his hard-cut features, and his sharp gaze, he can easily pass for a man six or seven years older than he actually is. Ryotaro's dark hair is usually worn around the sides, with a surprising amount of hair hidden on top under his cap. He almost never wears a shirt, giving his skin a rich tan, and exposing at all times what appears to be a scar left by some sort of claws beast that runs down his chest. His left arm is tattooed down its length in the traditional style of the Yakuza, but he has no other tattoos. Ryotaro's general attire comprises of dark, loose trousers, a pair of geta sandals, various accessories such as belts, bracelets and earrings, the coat of an Imperial Military officer worn about his shoulders like a cape, and his signature cap, pilfered from the same officer, with various modifications to make it more suitable for a delinquent such as himself. Ryotaro carries himself with overwhelming confidence, bordering on arrogance, and has a constant air of swaggering masculinity. He is fully aware of how large he is and how intimidating his features are, and frequently sneers menacingly or looms over people to use his appearance to his advantage.

Personality
An utterly free spirit, Ryotaro hates to be tied down by anything; be it the law, people, or even his past. He bucks and rebels against establishments and those that represent them as a matter of course, and takes no small amount of pleasure in breaking the rules and generally causing mayhem. He believes that all people should aspire to follow their own path as he does, and respects those with strong individuality and assertiveness. He holds his personal honor highly, taking great offense to those that would challenge his strength or bravery, and similarly holding cowards and weaklings in contempt. Ryotaro's will is that of red-hot iron, and once he has set his mind on a goal or challenge, it's almost impossible for him to give it up. His strong personality makes him a rather magnetic person, and Ryotaro greatly enjoys surrounding himself with people he considers similar to himself, or at least aspire to live as freely as him. To the surprise of many, a character as surly-looking as Ryotaro is quite friendly, and is very talkative and witty in the right company.

History
Ryotaro was born in a town not far from the foothills of the great mountain range that runs through northern Tsukishima. Yanagimachi, as it was known, was something of a backwater farming town, though it was also an important trade center for the local prefecture. Too large and modern to be considered a village, too small and rustic to be considered a city. Such was the stagnant charm of Yanagimachi. Positioned only a few hours' walk from a military encampment, the steady stream of bored and restless soldiers ensured that Yanagimachi had a prosperous pleasure district. Ryotaro was born the bastard of one of the senior prostitutes of the town's premier brothel, who inherited the establishment after the owner fell ill and left her in charge of its management.

Not only a whoreson, but raised in a brothel as well, Ryotaro was never much for high society. As a child he was rambunctious and mischievous, his mother often too busy to keep a close watch on him. As he grew older, the childish pranks became more aggressive ventures such as pickpocketing and street fights. Ryotaro understood what he was and his place in society more and more with each day, and it filled him with an anger and a sadness that he could not adequately express. Violence became his outlet; starting fights, destroying property, as well as hanging around gangsters and other such lowlives. By the time he was fourteen, he was such a menace of Yanagimachi that his mother cast him out of their home and onto the streets. More angry and bitter than ever before, Ryotaro ran away from his home town and into the forests near the mountains.

No one can say for sure what happened in the week that passed after that (mostly because Ryotaro makes up a different story every time he's asked), but he returned to Yanagimachi with a large scar running down his chest, a fine sword nearly as tall as he was, and a changed attitude. Though he was still a delinquent, he no longer needed to act out to express his feelings. He sought out children like he had been, angry at the world and their place in it, and took them under his wing. He taught them to fend for themselves on the streets, how to fight and win, or how to steal and not be caught. Within a year, Ryotaro was the kingpin of a large gang of disenfranchised youths, the influence of which extended even into the neighboring villages around Yanagimachi. This delinquent gang called themselves the Black Emperors, and referred to their leader with the reverent title of Black Tiger.

Though he was happy with the place he made for himself, Ryotaro wondered if there was more to life. He was growing older, and these childish antics would not keep for very long. The Black Emperors sometimes ran favors for the local yakuza, and Ryotaro himself was considered an associate by their number. A future among their number was possible, but Ryotaro considered that the choice of a child that never grew up. He returned to his mother's brothel for the first time in years, and consulted her for advice about his future. It was in this long discussion that his mother told him that his father was a soldier in the Imperial Military, and that only Ryotaro could decide his own future.

Ryotaro needed time away from his home and the memories that surrounded it to think about this. He needed to clear his head, and decide his own fate. It was then that he decided to head out and track down this father that he never met, as it could lead him to learn something more about himself, which could help him find his path in life. Ryotaro set out on the roads, and traveled for nearly six months before being arrested in a village in a mountain pass for trying to run off on a restaurant tab of 2 ryo.

Strengths
Although he carries an odachi sword, Ryotaro is far from a swordsman. His true fighting style is that of a brawler, as he is extremely experienced in street fights. He usually seeks to overpower an opponent in a fight, using his strength and reach to his advantage as much as possible. An utter pragmatist in battle, Ryotaro will use any dirty trick he knows, or any miscellaneous object lying around, as long as it will put him at an advantage. Having no skill in sword-fighting at all, Ryotaro only ever actually brandishes his sword for the purpose of intimidation.

Having lived on the streets nearly his entirely life, Ryotaro is quite streetwise. He knows his way around such seedy establishments as brothels and gambling dens, and can effectively talk with or negotiate with yakuza and other criminals without being duped. He's half decent at sneaking around, an effective pickpocket, and is no stranger to setting fires. While he isn't the most educated fellow, he does possess the low cunning of a proficient criminal, which is invaluable when forced to think on one's feet.

Surprisingly, Ryotaro's greatest advantage is his charisma. When he speaks, people listen. Where he goes, people follow. Ryotaro has a good understanding of other people and what motivates them, particularly people of the lower class (such as himself). He can be funny and charming when he needs to be, but also ruthless and terrifying as well. Good at improvising and making up stories, Ryotaro is also a quick-thinking and convincing liar. He can be quite eloquent and persuasive when he sets his mind to it, and what makes this most dangerous is how few people expect this from him.

Weaknesses
Ryotaro's lack of formal combat training puts him at a severe disadvantage against skilled opponents. Though he carries a massive sword, he has no idea how to use it, and would probably be better off barehanded in a swordfight. While he can hold his own against street thugs, common soldiers, and similar trash, a samurai or other trained warrior would mop the floor with him. Ryotaro is effectively useless in duels, and to win fights must hold advantages such as fighting in close quarters, or taking his enemy by surprise.

Similarly, Ryotaro is utterly uneducated. He is illiterate, and can't count much higher than twenty. While he is decent with money within the context of haggling, he otherwise knows nothing about handling, counting, or properly managing money. As a result, he's almost always broke or going broke. He's not dumb, and is quite clever and observant, but these advantages can be nullified by exploiting his lack of book knowledge. While he may sense that he's being duped, he may be unable to convincingly prove it, and thus is often treated as an idiotic goon.

While Ryotaro's tenacious will is a benefit in many ways, it's also his critical character flaw. He is stubborn beyond all belief, and is almost impossible to dissuade from a task or action once he's decided on it. He can also be worked up into a fury relatively quickly, as his emotions are surprisingly easy to manipulate. His rashness and bull-headedness have nearly been his undoing in the past, and time will tell if they are ever truly the death of him.

Most of Ryotaro's weaknesses can be attributed to his youthful inexperience. All of his boasting aside, he's still just a kid, and has much to learn about the world. Though he considers himself to be somewhat jaded and cynical from his poor upbringing, he still holds a fair deal of childish naivete. A lesson he is still sorely in need of learning is that not everyone is susceptible to his charms; those that do not consider him to be charming usually find him quite repellant. To some he would come off as a precocious child, but to many he just appears to be a moronic, posturing loudmouth.

Likes
-Cheap beer
-Gambling
-Shaved ice
-Sumo

Dislikes
-Fish smell
-Annoying women
-Cold weather
-Foreigners

Theme
Rap is the Soul of a Man! Nah, too obvious.
Yeah, sure.

[Dead Cruiser]

Sirren Gadex

Name: Sirren Gadex

Chapter: Flesh Tearers

Chapter Demeanour: Among the most savage of the Sons of Sanguinius, the Flesh Tearers are infamous across the Imperium for the sheer brutality and destruction they bring to every battle. Known to completely lose themselves in the heat of battle, they have often brought ruin to friend and foe alike. Worse yet is the rate at which their Battle Brothers fall to the curse of the Black Rage, which has crippled their chapter and will likely bring its ruin before long.

Personal Demeanour: Despite his chapter's reputation, Sirren strikes most as a particularly cold and dispassionate individual. After attending to many dozens of his brothers that have fallen in battle or to the Flaw, he has grown callous and melancholic. While he attends his duties as earnestly as he ever has, they are performed with detached professionalism and grim routine. Seemingly the only effort he puts his heart and soul into is the destruction of the Emperor's enemies, upon which he unleashes all of the fury his chapter is known for.

Speciality: Apothecary

Rank: Sanguinary Priest

Power Armour History: Inherited from his mentor in the Flesh Tearers' sanguinary priesthood, Sirren's armor is adorned with Cretecian sigils and fetishes, as well as the ancient iconography of the sanguinary priesthood, which date back to the Age of Heresy. More artistically adorned than most armors among the spartan Flesh Tearers, the armor's machine spirit still carries their chapter's legacy of rage and tragedy, as many of its previous wearers have fallen to the Black Rage (Sirren's mentor included). With Sirren's induction into the Deathwatch, this is the first time that his armor has been painted black, and not been worn by a lost brother of the Death Company.

Description: A grim figure, even by the standards of most Astartes, Sirren wears the scars of many battles on his body and in his posture. Nearly the entire right side of his face is comprised of scar tissue, pulling his face into a permanent snarl, and almost all of his black hair has been burned away, including his beard and eyebrows. He bears very little resemblance to his angelic primarch, given his brutish features and forest-green eyes. A pair of skull-emblazoned service studs are embedded on his left brow, showing his centuries of service to the Emperor.

Despite the multitude of scars crossing his body like spiderwebs, Sirren is in good condition physically. Nominally larger and bulkier in size than the average Astartes, he has had no major bionics added to his body, and he is as spry as any initiate, regardless of his veteran status. Outside of his armor, Sirren wears only simple garments, typically red and white, and small effects of the sanguinary priesthood. Given his status as a medic, he abstains from wearing more gruesome trophies and fetishes off of the battlefield.

Skills: As with most Sons of Sanguinius, Sirren is an expert in rapid assault and close-quarters battle. His ferocity is in his blood as a Space Marine and as a native of Cretacia. Given his early life of savagery, he is adept in tracking and hunting great beasts that could slay even an armored Astartes, and is well adept to prolonged survival in remote conditions. As a member of the sanguinary priesthood, Sirren is an expert in the rituals of initiation and purification common to Blood Angels successors, and is well-practiced in the medical care and physiology of his fellow Astartes, particularly the peculiarities of his chapter's gene-seed.

History: As with all Flesh Tearers of this millennium, Sirren was born a native of the death world Cretacia; one of the many savage tribes that regressed to a paleolithic state during the Dark Age of Technology, barely even capable of language. Their daily existence comprised of surviving day-to-day against the violent seismic activity and monstrous creatures endemic of their world. Despite their stunted intellect and lack of technology, the Cretacians had adapted to become physically powerful, with razor-sharp reflexes, thus making them exceptional candidates to become Astartes. Sirren was one such young man chosen from his tribe, and tasked by the metal angels of red and black to slay a mighty predator as his initiation. His hunt lasted an entire lunar cycle, and most thought him dead, until he managed to return carrying the jawbone of one of these terrible beasts, soaked head to toe in its blood.

Inducted as an initiate into the Flesh Tearers, Sirren took as well to his indoctrination and biological enhancement as could be hoped. The only hiccup in his training came from his demeanor; he was competitive to a fault, and was remarkably quick to anger. Fistfights between himself and his fellow scouts were common, and resulted in frequent disciplinary action. By the time he had graduated to become an Assault Marine, his back had already turned to leather from his many floggings. The chapter's leadership, hoping to cool the temper of an otherwise promising marine, inducted him earlier than most into the sanguinary priesthood, putting him into his company's command squad as a Sanguinary Novitae.

Sirren learned humility fast, as he was forced to care for his wounded brothers and to collect the gene-seed of the fallen. He saw the error of his rambunctious past, now realizing that they had enough enemies in the galaxy without him disrupting the chapter from within. However, his premature induction had its drawbacks; as he was still a relatively young and inexperienced marine, he had not yet become totally accustomed to the horrors of war and what lurked in the reaches of the galaxy. Grappling with these tormenting forces, as confronting every single death and lost brother in his company, was a great strain on his mind, and having been pulled out of his assault squad early, he had insufficient outlet to work off his aggression and frustration. Over the decades, these traumas darkened Sirren's mind, making him unnaturally cold and unfeeling to cope with these stressors. This culminated some time after his full induction into the sanguinary priesthood as his mentor fell to the Black Rage in the midst of battle, and Sirren delivered the Emperor's Peace to him as he lost all reason.

Equipment and Armament: As a Sanguinary Priest, Serrin carries a specialized narthecium, augmented with a Acus Placidus reductor pistol, and an oversized Exsanguinator reductor blade. As he is currently not serving with any other Sons of Sanguinius, he chooses not to carry a sacred Blood Chalice, but does have one in his possession. As his typical armaments, Serrin carries a Deathwatch-issue bolt pistol, a standard assortment of grenades, and both his personal chainsword and combat blade.

[Dead Cruiser]

Villia

•Name: Villia Buria

• Age: 20

• Gender: Male

• Appearance: While of decent height and build, and possessing what was once a fairly handsome face, Villia's appearance is greatly marred by his gruesome scars, and the works of artifice built into his body that keep him functioning. His eyes glow with the light of ingenuity, and he has a constant smell of ozone and motor oil about him.

• Method of Travel: Villia possesses an ignited Planeswalker Spark, which allows him to traverse the Blind Eternities between planes of existence, or open portals directly from one plane to another, as long as he is familiar with his destination.

• Powers: Villia is a prodigious mage for one so young, possessing several distinct specialties learned from a variety of different planes. Foremost is his talent for metamagic: redirecting, replicating, empowering or outright nullifying existing spells, mana or aether. He possesses a great affinity for elemental magic, particularly that relating to storms; lightning, fire, wind and water. Artifice is another of Villia's talents, capable of summoning, replicating, altering or empowering magical technology. Villia is a passable summoner, mostly able to summon servants and creatures from the aether which relate to his elemental specialties, and half-decent transmuter, able to warp machinery and aether similarly. Lastly, Villia is in the process of developing precognitive powers, magic such as scrying and glimpsing briefly into the future, though his skills are at an early stage.

• Personality: Villia is, at his core, a creative and curious soul. He always wants to know more and do more, often not stopping to think if he should. While impulsive and reckless at times, Villia is genuinely cunning and has a mind for calculation. He may take risks, but they are weighed carefully. Most of the time. Villia sees the Multiverse as an oyster eager to offer up knowledge and experience to him, and as such, he's willing to take great lengths to protect it. He sees his own shortcomings as his greatest weaknesses, particularly his physical ailments, and constantly strives to improve himself to make up for them. Very flexible and great at thinking on his feet, Villia excels in working in unpredictable and unique ways, even as far as acting predictably when others don't expect it. On a personal level, Villia is friendly enough, but somewhat awkward; more used to mana equations and boilers than people. Some find his borderline-obsessive passions inspiring or charming, while others find them more unsettling or annoying.

• Starting World: Ravnica, the City of Guilds

• Backstory: Son of an Izzet Steamworker and a Gateless healer, Villia grew up in the waterlogged slums of Ravnica's Tenth District. Though living conditions were not the best, and their quality of life was far from luxurious, Villia had a fairly calm, happy childhood. His neighborhood was closely-knit and they kept each other safe from seedier elements of the Tenth District. Villia spent much time at his father's heels, trying to learn as much as he could about the steamworks that kept the city running. From his father's Guildmage associates (and after a great deal of pestering), Villia was taught the basics of magecraft and the ideals and specialties of the Izzet League. Seeing the great benefits that the Izzet League brought to his family and to his community, Villia dedicated himself to studying and practicing magic so that he may one day become one of the Guildmages that he so admired.

Villia worked tirelessly through his teen years, studying magical theory and practicing basic spells and cantrips with an inspired fervor. The more he learned, the more he saw there was to learn, and the more excited he became. His goal became all the greater, and steadily creeped closer. Upon his sixteenth birthday, with a grasp of magic and steam engineering that rivaled his father's associates, Villia was offered by the Izzet his much-desired induction opportunity. For his induction project, Villia designed a Mizzium-core stasis-field designed to reflexively plug leaks in the steamworks, thus preventing pipe bursts and district flooding. Too excited to sleep, Villia spent the night prior to his induction review tinkering with his project, and found himself the following day weary, but filled with enough passion (and perhaps a bit of mania) to keep him on his feet. The Guildmage inspector came to review Villia's prototype, and Villia activated it, his heart swelling with pride. Soon, it was not merely his heart swelling, but the steam boiler as well. His prototype was sublimating the boiler itself, rather than merely the leaking steam. Too late realizing the issue, the steam core exploded in a shower of lightning and molten metal, with Vallia himself catching the brunt of the blast. More emotions than he could comprehend surged through him, and before he blacked out from his injuries, he felt something set aflame within his soul.

Villia awoke in a strange city, not the Ravnica of stone towers and and crowded alleys that he knew. Rather, he was surrounded by flowing canals and gorgeous works of brass filigree. His wounds, as severe as they had been, had seemingly been treated, though he found himself struggling greatly to breathe. Eventually his caretaker found him awake, and explained that he had been found on the street, half his face burned away, his lungs scorched and his legs shattered. They had done enough to save his life, but there was nought that they could do to keep him from being invalid, as they were merely doctors, not artificers. Inquiring further, Villia found that he was no longer on the city-world of Ravnica, but in the capital city of Ghirapur, on the world of Kaladesh.

After further recovering from his wounds, Villia sought out the artificer's guild, and inquired within. He found that mages on this world were rare and subjugated by the government, the Consuls, and that artifice filled in the gaps he thought best served by magic. Hiding his status as a mage, Villia joined the ranks of the artificer's guild, and learned their advanced artistry. He practiced his magics in privacy, crafting new spells from this world's alien mana. With his own technical skill and the new knowledge he found, Villia fashioned himself assistive devices to restore himself to his usual functionality; an air-condenser tank and mask, leg-braces, an aether-sensor to replace his missing eye, and other enhancements such as a mana gauntlet to aid in spellcasting. Confident that he had learned enough from this world, Villia called on the fire in his soul once again, and Planeswalked to a new world.

Villia has traveled the Multiverse for some years now, learning new spells and techniques from each world he visits. He learned the arts of thaumaturgy and prophecy from the Cult of Keranos, the Storm God on the heroic world of Theros. He learned secret and ancient enchantments on the dark plane of Shadowmoor. He even returned to his home plane of Ravnica to compare his skills to the Izzet that he had so long admired. In his travels, he has learned of those who travel between world as he does, and their Multiversal conflicts. Vallia believes that he can make a difference to protect these unique world that he has learned from, and so wishes to bring a swift end to the most recent Multiversal war.

[Dead Cruiser]

Finn

"Knowledge is cruel. I would not wish this curse on anyone."

Name
Phineas "Finn" Kyle

Age
15

Physical Description
Finn is, without close inspection, not much different from a typical boy his age. He appears to be something of a late bloomer, as he is somewhat short for his age, and his features are only beginning to transition from being soft and childlike to the hard lines of a man's face. Even so, his build is lean and somewhat athletic, and he is generally strong in the body. His dress sense is causal and utilitarian, typically preferring warm sweaters and other thick, loose-fitting clothes. Finn's skin is quite pale, which matches with his hair that is so fair to be almost white. He has always had blue eyes, but since the awakening of his powers, they have become his most obviously supernatural feature. Beyond the fact that they glow with otherworldly power, his eyes waver in shades between blue and green, and looking into them can sometimes possess one with a sudden sense of vertigo, as though looking over the precipice into an endless abyss. A sort of ethereality surrounds him, and his very presence seems fleeting, as though he was made from mist and light and not flesh and blood.

Important Items
Well aware of the impermanence of time and reality, Finn barely keeps any possessions with him. His powers are drawn from the world around him, and so he needs no specific focus. That, as well as his somewhat spartan upbringing, keep him from being a particularly materialistic person in general.

Short Bio
Finn doesn't speak much about his own past, as he claims that it's an uninteresting subject. However, given the the strange turns his personality has taken since the onset of his powers, he seems to only ever speak in cryptic hints and other vagaries. To that end, he claims to have been born "at the end of the world." He was one of the first of those afflicted by the Records to begin working for the government, and has done so since he was considerably younger. Both of his parents appear to be government employees or affiliates of some kind, and are supposedly scientists. Finn himself seems to be a child prodigy of some sort, given the alarming rate at which he can learn and memorize new information, and possesses a seemingly eidetic memory. Finn performs the duties asked of him without protest, but dispassionately, as his powers have imbued him with an intense sense of ennui despite his young age.

Spell List
High Magic: Knowledge is Power
Finn's mind is a curiosity, in that it can generate magical energy through the process of learning new information. Like equal parts generator and battery, Finn can accumulate power through gaining knowledge, and then store it for later use. Most knowledge he gains adds only an infinitesimal amount of energy, resulting in a slow but constant accumulation throughout his day-to-day life, but lost secrets of the world and particularly burdensome knowledge can add a considerable amount of power in one shot. This acts in addition to the typical mechanisms that govern the power of most magic-users, giving him a generally higher capacity for more power spells.

World Magic: Waters of Eternity
Finn can exert control over water, bending it to his will and forming it into various shapes. Moving, "living," water, such as in rivers and waterfalls, is more receptive to his power, and he has great affinity over mist and fog, but seawater, clouds, and steam seem curiously resistant to his influence. He also has some limited control over plants, particularly those with high water content. The most mystic aspect of his power is to weave semipermanent constructs or small servants from mist, which can vary in tangibility as he dictates.

World Magic: Secrets of the Earth
By speaking the tongue of the natural world, Finn can learn its secrets. He speaks the language of birds and beasts, interpret the dances of moths, read the scrivenings of starfish, and so on. He has even been known to commune with plants and trees, and in favorable conditions can whisper to wind and to water. This power does not grant him any command over these creatures or forces, but he seems to be generally recognized as one of their own for his ability to commune with them, and he can accept offering of magical power from them.

Timespace Magic: Glimpse the Horizon
Finn is a seer, to put it simply. By exerting magical energy, he can gain visions into the past or future. These visions can be relative to a person, a place, or even an object, but the more distant he is from these things or the looser his bond with a person, the more effort it takes to create a prophetic vision. With sufficient knowledge of an place, he can even scry upon its present, allowing him to remotely view an area. Viewing further into the past or future requires an exponentially increasing amount of energy, and so his visions are typically limited to the span of weeks in the past or future.

Timespace Magic: Dance of Time
By making himself "desynchronized" from the normal flow of time, Finn can induce a variety of effects. He can alter his perception of time so that his own thoughts and actions occur at a far faster rate than others, alter his position in space-time to teleport over short distances, or induce a sort of chronological disability that renders him intangible and unperceivable by physical means. However, when in this state, his magical power is constantly being drained to maintain it, he cannot use any sort of magic, and cannot truly interact with the physical world in any meaningful sense. Sufficiently advanced use of timespace magic against him will still affect him, or can be used to drag him back into the normal timestream.

Timespace Magic: Loom of Fate
Time is ever-moving, and with it, the future is always changing. Finn can "forecast" the future in short bursts, essentially granting him visions of every possible future that can occur within the next five seconds, based on his own actions. Though disorienting if used in succession, and extremely draining on him, it gives Finn a glimpse of the infinite pathways that fate can take based on his own choices.

[Dead Cruiser]

Gryffyth Wolfsblood

Name: Gryffyth Wolfsblood, "Gryff" for short, called "Outcast" by the Elves
Gender: Elf Male
Age: An impetuous youth of 87, though this is nearly impossible to tell by anyone who is not an Elf.
Race: Elf of the Forest

Appearance: To the eyes of men, one Elf looks much like another, as they each possess an sleek, almost ethereal beauty. Gryff is no different, though his lithe form and crisp, angular features are marred by the scars of life in the wilds. Like most forest-borne Elves, his coloration is warm and earthy, with bronzed skin, hair the color of molten copper and eyes the same brown as rosewood. His long, wiry hair is generally kept tied behind his head, and he usually dresses in simple vestments of woven flax and thick leather. He does not wear shoes, and his clothing leaves much of his sun-kissed skin uncovered. On some occasions, Gryff will paint his skin with dark, green pigments, or don a rough-spun hooded cloak, making him ever more difficult to spot in the underbrush of the Dark Forest.

History: The Elves of the Dark Forest, considered barbarians and pariahs by their civilized, southron kin, live in insular, close-knit societies hidden in the brush and trees. However, they are notoriously distrustful of outsiders, even of Elves that hail from other groves in the forest. Gryffyth Wolfsblood was raised in a particularly raucous grove. When he was very young, a faun that rarely strayed from his mother's side, Men had come trampling into their glen with their axes and flame, and the elder Elves had not taken kindly to it. They swept into the human settlement under the cover of night, and killed their destructive woodsmen in their sleep. However, their message was not well-taken by the humans that remained. The other men took their revenge by setting the forest ablaze, burning down the hidden village in which Gryff and his family lived.

Gryff was one of the few that survived, escaping the blaze by fleeing into the depths of the forest, tightly clutching a bone dagger. For days he traveled alone, and nearly died, until he happened upon another Elvish village. Knowing the ways of his people, and did not beg them to take him in, as he knew none would. Rather, he lived on the outskirts of their village, surviving on their scraps and learning by careful observation. On occasion he would be run off, and would flee to another village to do much the same. In time, Gryff learned to survive on his own, and explored the Dark Forest and the lands beyond. His curiosity was not tempered by the reclusive nature of the Elves, and so he learned much and grew bolder with each passing day. In time, he even took to the villages of Humans nearby, caring little that they had taken his family from him so many years ago.

Personality: Most expect a certain demeanor from Elves; an aloof, haughty condescension, masked beneath layers of subtlety and misdirection. In some ways Gryff meets this description, as his emotions are subtle and difficult to gauge, and his moods can shift suddenly and capriciously. Even so, he is remarkably friendly and polite for one of the Fair Folk, especially towards the races of Men and Dwarves. Resembling to many a rambunctious teenager, he is vigorous and excitable, as well as incredibly curious about the lives and experiences of others. Even so, he carries a certain force of will and confidence unique to Elves; if he knows something another does not, or can perform a task better than they can, one should not expect him to keep quiet about it.

Skills: Having spent his life in the wilds of the Dark Forest, away even from other Elves, Gryff is a survivalist extraordinaire. Easily able to live off of the land, he can identify with ease such plants that can hurt or heal, recognize and track dangerous or helpful beasts, and can pass through the forest below the notice of many. As with most Elves, Gryff is a crack shot with a bow, and his senses are sharper in the wilds than any Man, Dwarf or other such race. Up close, Gryff prefers to fight with a spear, but will resort to a dagger when in restrictive environments. As the one of the few skills he remembers from his parents, Gryff also has some experience in handling and breeding beasts, wolves in particular, and is so comfortable with the animals that it seems as though he speaks their howling tongue.

Possessions: Gryff wears light, hand-made clothes, including a thick cloak, a waterskin and sturdy satchel. His deerskin quiver carries arrows of wood, bone and eagle feathers that he fletched himself, and his bow is carved from yew and strung with the sinew of an elk. His spear is sturdy oak, lacquered with sap and beeswax, and hardened in fire. His dagger, a memento of his parents, has a the fang of some great beast as a blade and a handle of carved bone. Gryff carries a variety of useful herbs and other natural ingredients with him, which can be made into poultices or poisons as he needs them.

Miscellaneous: Gryff's faithful companion is Lwyci, a dire wolf that he had raised since the beast was a cub. The wolf is frightening to behold, standing well above Gryff's waist at its shoulder, with a dark grey pelt and yellow eyes. Having spent much time in the forest together, Gryff and Lwyci are much like brothers, helping one another in their daily lives. Lwyci is a skillful hunter and tracker, and is large enough for the lithe elf to ride on. While distrustful of strangers, Lwyci is utterly loyal to Gryff, and would likely lay down its life to protect him.

[Dead Cruiser]

Name: Sulk Mandragora

Race: Aconite: A humanoid race of ephemeral beauty and mystique, the Aconites commanded a vast interstellar empire in ages past. Wielding their great mastery of science and magic, they modified their own race to be without physical flaw, and to possess inborn psionic power. However, this served only to deepen their pride and vanity, and in time their empire crumbled until their homeworld was conquered by the Crux Tenebre, and their race was driven to near-extinction.

Age: 583

Gender: Male

Appearance: Like the other few remaining members of his dead race, Sulk is possesses a fey, almost supernatural beauty. Skin the color of bleached bone, long hair of pure white that turns to bright cerulean near its tips, and emerald eyes that burn with psionic power. His form is lithe and powerful, and his features appear as though wrought by a master sculptor. Marring his ephemeral beauty are a variety of battle scars across his chest and limbs, a tapestry of sailor and prison tattoos across his back and over his hands, and the Crux Tenebre's pirate branding on his left forearm. When outside of battle, he prefers to wear only a pair of loose-fitting trousers, and supportive wrappings about his wrists, ankles and midsection.

Homeworld: Phantasmagoria: Once a lush paradise world and the capital of the Aconite Empire, Phantasmagoria has since been reduced to a smoldering wasteland of black glass and glowing radiation. Nominally within the core-systems of the Crux Tenebre, after being rendered uninhabitable by atomic warfare, Phantasmagoria is considered a backwater planet of almost no value. The few surviving Aconites scrape out an existence deep underground, scavenging for technology and mourning the lost glories of their race.

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Role: Captain

Skills: Sulk's years of survival in Phantasmagoria's underground made him a tenacious survivor by nature, and imbued him with instinctive knowledge of scavenging and some principles of engineering gleaned from his father. Given his many years of experience both in the military and as a privateer, Sulk is a skilled warrior and voidship crewman, particularly adept in open-void combat and boarding actions. With centuries of experience commanding voidships, he is more than competent in his role as captain, and is an effective tactician in voidship combat. As part of his inborn Aconite nature, Sulk is a psion of considerable power, specializing in the psychic disciplines of telekinesis and telepathy.

In battle, Sulk's choice of armaments are his relic Aconite weapons and armor. While the armor itself serves as an effective voidsuit, providing a number of life-support and utility functions vital for open-void combat, it is also infused with psycho-reactive crystals that allow him to project a telekinetic protective field from the suit. His shield is imbued with similar crystals that amplify the effect into a concussive blast or a wide-range forcefield. His Aconite war-axe has these same crystals along its blade, giving it either supernatural cutting power, or a concussive burst effect on its strikes. His arquebus does not fire traditional ammunition, but explosive bolts of psychic power that can blast an enemy across a room and punch through heavy void-armor.

History: Aconites, the scions of a dying world and a long-dead empire, are a race all but lost to the universe. Sulk was a rarity among their kind, as it was a near-miraculous occurrence that he was born at all. Already slow-breeding by the nature of their long lifespans, the likelihood of two Aconites producing a child following the death of their race was even more slim. Raised in the subterranean ruins of Phantasmagoria, Sulk's mother died of rad-sickness not long into his childhood, and he was raised largely by his father. The underground was never meant to be home to Aconites, much less to raise a child, and so Sulk's youth was difficult and turbulent. By the time he was grown enough to care for himself, the lasting trauma of having survived the Crux Tenebre's war of extermination as well as the death of his wife drove Sulk's father to madness. An engineer by trade, he found some uncertain relic or another deep in the underground, and sat tinkering with it for the rest of his days, barely stopping to eat or drink.

Unwilling to watch his father slowly die from madness, Sulk set off on his own into the underground, hoping to escape the hellish life that it presented him. With raw ingenuity and tenacity, he managed to rig together a basic void-shuttle, a craft barely powerful enough to get him off-planet. After escaping the ruined husk of Phantasmagoria, he drifted for some time on the ether winds, before being picked up by a band of smugglers that had used one of the planet's moons as a hideout. Sulk was taken in by them and learned the void-sailor's trade, as well as the life of a privateer on the void seas. Sulk spent many years as a smuggler and mercenary, moving between many pirate bands, sometimes even commanding ships of his own, always skirting about the edge of the law.

Eventually his life of lawlessness caught up with him, and he was apprehended by the martial police of the Crux Tenebre. Charged with high piracy, he was presented with two options: death, or a lifetime of penitent servitude in the Crux's penal legions. Too much of a survivor at heart to surrender to death, he was taken in as a conscript marine upon one of the Crux's mighty warships. Conscripts were given such dangerous duties as performing boarding actions on enemy ships, and only the skilled managed to avoid certain death. Sulk proved to be among their number, as he quickly proved to be a vicious and effective warrior. Any time not spent in combat was spent either in a cell or performing menial duties, and in this time Sulk reflected inward, meditating and honing the psychic power deep within him.

After decades of penitent service to the Crux, Sulk's opportunity at escape presented itself. A brief sortie near Phantasmagoria's star, meant to purge pirate activity in the area, brough him back in contact with the privateer band that originally took him in. Though over two-hundred years had passed since then and none of the original crew remained, their iconography was the same. After cornering the band's captain with his squad of fellow conscripts, Sulk turned his gun on his squadmates, and revealed to the captain his pirate branding, and the tattoo of the band's crest on the back of his hand. Together they escaped to the surface of Phantasmagoria, and then hid deep in the underground, seeking to wait out the battle in the void overhead.

A psychic impulse lured Sulk to a particular corner of the underground, which felt strangely familiar to him. When he reached the point that the call had led him, he found his father still working away, just where he had left him two-hundred years ago. The man greeted his son as though he had only been gone a few minutes, announced his work complete, and then keeled over and died. The mysterious relic was now revealed to be a ship, which Sulk's father had spent his last remaining years repairing. The vessel was strange, most certainly not Aconite in origin, and yet had been buried underground for thousands of years. Sulk and the pirate captain boarded the ship and activated its long-dormant launch protocols, revealing a silo leading all the way up to the planet surface. Barely understanding how to pilot the strange ship, they accidentally launched it directly into the ongoing void battle above, and lingered just long enough before escaping via Hypertravel that the ship was logged in the Crux Tenebre's records.

Discovering the ship to be a legendary vessel spoken of it pirate tales of the deep void, Sulk named the ship Nova Dawn, and took on the pirate captain as his first mate. Slowly the two built up a band of mavericks and outcasts, and sought treasures and fortunes lost to the currents of time and the whims of the Void. Nova Dawn has sailed for more than a hundred years now, and while none of its original crew remains save for Sulk, its legacy lives on as one of the most infamous pirate ships to ever sail the Void.

Personality: The concept of an infamous pirate captain brings certain ideas to mind, and Sulk embodies many of those aspects. While he is ruthless and craves wealth and fame, he is not cruel, and keeps his focus sharp enough that his greed does not cloud his mind. He is a strong believer in codes of honor, bonds of loyalty, and the repayment of debts, especially among pirates and outlaws. Not necessarily superstitious as many sailors are, he is still keenly aware of the influence of the supernatural, and has a strong respect for such forces. That said, he actively distrusts and despises authority, and in some cases goes out of his way to disrupt it out of spite. Above all else he values freedom, both his own and that of others, as both a youth spent in Phantasmagoria's claustrophobic underground and decades spent a prisoner have ingrained in him freedom's true value.

Other: Sulk

[Dead Cruiser]

Zoa

Name: "Red" Zoa, Son of Zod

Race: Pure Orc; a cousin-race to Man that while larger, stronger and more brutish, can generally pass as human without close inspection. The Ahvul-Orc are the last remaining tribe of Orcs free of corruption, and as a result, memory has faded among the civilized races of what Orcs once were. In modern days the Ahvul-Orc are considered either monstrous humans, half-giants, or some crossbreed of Men and Beastmen.

Nationality/Nation description: The Ahvul-Orc, or the Children of Orc, are a barbarous tribe of nomads that wanders though the wastes of Nagath. The last Orcish tribe to remain free of corruption since the rise of Daigon, numbering some five-thousand strong, they pride themselves on the purity of their blood and their adherence to the near-forgotten ways of their people. They refuse to consort with demons and other monstrosities, and frequently battle against rival tribes of Beastmen and "fallen" Orcs. Hunter-gatherers by nature, they carve out a harsh existence in Nagath, guided by their ancient laws and traditions that keep them strong and free of taint. While they put little value on art or philosophy, preferring usefulness to the tribe or glory and plunder in battle, they maintain a strong oral tradition and are deeply spiritual, maintaining a shaman caste that dutifully records bloodlines and matches mates to keep them free of inbreeding. Considered capricious by civilized folk, the Ahvul-Orc are as likely to attempt trade with outlanders and Marcher Lords as they are to raid and pillage them.

Occupation: An exile from his tribe, Zoa makes do as a hunter, bandit, or mercenary, depending on where he finds himself.

Religion: The mythology of the Ahvul-Orc is extensive and complex, as it dates back to before the rise of Daigon. They revere an entity itself known as Orc, their messianic god-ancestor. A spirit of youth, rebellion, and cleansing flame, in legends Orc rises when his children have greatest need of him, to break the chains that bind them and free them from enslavement and stagnation. A monstrous, bestial figure, he is described as equal parts as a wolf, lion, viper, or dragon, depending on the story, but he always bears the Red Fire of Orc. His archenemy is the leper-god Rizen, a rotting carcass that embodies law and enslavement, who seeks to keep the Children of Orc in bondage. However, the crux of their mythology is that whenever Rizen is overthrown, Orc will eventually grow old and corrupt and take his place, and Orc must arise anew to overcome him in an endless cycle of revolution.

Appearance: Mighty even among the Ahvul-Orc, Zoa stands tall enough that a common human's eyes are about level with his chest, and he weighs as much as a grown bear. His build is that of thick, corded muscle, hard-won from surviving in the inhospitable wastes of Nagath. His skin is a swarthy brown, and much of him is covered in a virile coat of coarse body hair. His features are brutish and primitive by human standards, with a broad, flat nose, a wide forehead and heavy brow, deep-set yellow-tinged eyes, a thick, ruddy beard, and exaggerated eye teeth that resemble primate fangs. Zoa's most striking feature is his mane of crimson-red hair, which cascades from his scalp like a wreath of flame.

Personality: Zoa's personality has been shaped by his upbringing, both as a survivor of Nagath and a member of the enigmatic Ahvul-Orc. Pragmatic and direct, Zoa is normally very open about his thoughts and feelings, though he understands the value of both civility and misdirection. Honor has its own place, but that place is very rarely on the battlefield. While he lacks education as civilized folk would understand it, he possesses a sharp, animal cunning, as well as a deep well of tribal wisdom. Surviving purely on his own strength comes naturally to him, but he appreciates loyal and reliable comrades greatly. He finds finery and other such products of civilization distasteful, but he has developed an appreciation for the food and liquor of the civilized peoples, and can prove a mirthful and rambunctious fellow when in high spirits. However, he also holds great sorrow in his heart, as he misses his tribe and was greatly wounded by the betrayal of his father.

Biography: Born the firstborn son of the king of the Ahvul-Orc (a dark and brooding warrior known as Zod, Son of Los), Zoa was a prince among his people. He was born hearty and strong, with a shock of red hair that stood out as an omen of good fortune among his people: touched by the Fires of Orc. Mysterious circumstances surrounded his birth, as while the Ahvul-Orc do not marry, parents typically raise a child together until their offspring can hunt for their own meals. Rather, Zod raised the boy by himself, as his mother was nowhere to be found. No women among the Ahvul-Orc claimed to have birthed Zoa, nor had ever seen Zod with a mate. Even so, the might of their king and the good fortune that the boy represented were enough to quell the doubts these mysteries created, and Zoa grew up to be loved and admired among the tribe.

Mightier even still than his father, who was one of the greatest hunters and warriors in recent memory, Zoa's ascension to king of the Ahvul-Orc was greatly anticipated among their people. It would be a long way off, as their law held that when the old king became too weak to rule, his own son would slay him in an honorable duel and take his title. Such was their way, and Zoa had no grief over the matter, but Zod fretted over growing old and losing his strength. Not yet a man among his people's laws, Zoa was already called by them "Red Zoa," for his mane of crimson and the blood of prey and enemies he spilled.

The Trials of Flame, the right of passage for the Ahvul-Orc into adulthood, went smoothly for Zoa as he came of age. He raced, wrestled, slew great beasts, and performed great feats of endurance. When the time came for him to receive the ritual branding on his chest that marked him as a man, however, something was amiss. The hot iron did not sear his flesh as it did the others. Wary of this, the shaman elders tried to burn him with a torch, but to no avail. The fire did not so much as singe his hair, much less burn him. Knowing that this could lead to the truth behind his son's birth being revealed, Zod accused his own son of consorting with demons for such unnatural power, and had him exiled from the tribe. While much of the tribe was suspicious of this, their confusion and fear was enough for them to agree with their king's decree. Shocked and dejected, Zoa had little choice but to pack his few belongings and leave.

Since then, Zoa has wandered the wastes seeking the truth behind the reason that fire will not harm him. He hopes that if he can find the truth, of himself or of his father's dark secrets, he may return to the Ahvul-Orc and resume his rightful place as king.

Equipment: Greatly self-sufficient, Zoa carries little beyond his barest necessities. He wears simple leathers that only just cover his massive body, and prefers thick-soled sandals to boots. The black fur of a monstrous hell-bear typically hangs from his shoulders, or is slept on as a bedroll. A waterskin large enough to drown a lesser man hangs on his hip, and a broadsword looted from the corpse of a Justinian knight hangs at the other. He wears beaded necklaces of bone, obsidian and other fetishes, and a dagger carved from the fang of some vicious beast dangles on his chest like a medallion.

Whether it is a curse or a blessing, Zoa is marked by the Fires of Orc, and the flame in his soul burns brighter than any earthly one. As a result, heat and fire cannot harm him, as his hide will not burn and he feels no discomfort from even the hottest blaze.

Skills: Having survived for his entire life in Nagath, Zoa is an excellent survivalist and hunter, able to track beasts with ease and last for weeks on end in the wilds, completely alone. He is a ferocious warrior, skilled in wielding swords, axes, clubs and shortbows, and is adept in wrestling as well. His strength is truly horrific, able to crush a man's skull in his bare hands, and is matched by his seemingly endless endurance and tolerance for pain. In less physical matters, he is well-versed in his people's legends and myths, speaks a number of languages gathered over his travels, and has extensive practical knowledge of many types of flora and fauna throughout Nagath.

Motivation: Above all else, Zoa seeks answers. He wishes to uncover the truth behind his birth, the Fires of Orc, and his father's secrets that forced him to cast him into exile.