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Aku the SamuraiOkay, WIP character sheet! Still need the Lore section filled out but I have most of it done! Please let me know how its going ^.^
15 * Male* October 14th, 2010
Physical Description: Hiroshi is relatively easy to miss at first glance. Shorter than most of his peers, Hiroshi barely reaches 5’ 4” and keeps a lean frame from daily workouts and regular time at his family’s dojo. He has black hair that he lets grow out just long enough for him to tie up when he practices and piercing blue eyes that he got from his dad’s european heritage. Unfortunately, he inherited his mother’s fair complexion that demands to stay indoors or it burns immediately. He usually keeps a few tubes of sunscreen handy in his bag just in case.
Personality Description: Hiroshi is blunt and believes a direct and honest approach is the best approach to any social interaction. He has little tolerance for drama and gets easily riled up when people involve him in it. If they’re pulling him in, they better expect a solution, not a comforting ear.
He excels at first impressions, his family instilling that much into him at least, and most people walk away thinking Hiroshi is a responsible level headed teenager but they would be incredibly wrong. Hiroshi is the friend that 100% supports kicking your bully into the dirt and curb stomping them without telling the teacher, that is already halfway out the door when you ask for a snack at 3am, and shows up to help you break out after curfew if you want to hang out. He responds to things instinctively and quickly, rarely thinking things all the way through before heading out.
That isn’t to say he doesn’t have more than a few insecurities. His biggest one is his height, or lack thereof, and if he is pushed too far on the issue, he’ll show off exactly what it means to be the heir to the Najira dojo. After all, they can’t tell his height if they’re face down in the dirt. But there are other things too. He collects soft, cute things, particularly in pink and purple, but hoards them privately. He has difficulty remembering people in the first few meetings so he introduces himself as Damien at school and Hiroshi at home so he knows based on how they greet him, where he knows them from.
Bio Description:
Talents: Jiu jitsu (modern), Ninjutsu (previous), fighting games, holding his breath, silent walking
Academic Affinity: Cognitive Psychology, Japanese History, Japanese
Extra:
Physical Description: Malvira Nia was easy to miss at first glance. Standing at 5’3 with moon pale skin and a lean frame packing more power than originally met the eye, most didn’t realize who she was until they coward underneath an unrelenting pair of crystal blue eyes. Malvira carried herself with a strength derived from confidence in her mission and a grace from years of combat and stealth training. By the end of her life, her body was littered with scars including three claw marks that ran across her face from a particularly nasty fight with a Martyr Favored.
Bio Description:
Legends:
Combat Affinities :Malvira was the final Keeper from a long line of families. Training in the various styles was expected since birth, turning into an equally well rounded fighter with bows (Kyudo), blades (Kendo), polearms (Naginata-do), and hand-to-hand combat (jiu jitsu/judo). Her own personal family specialize in various methods of unorthodox warfare (ninjutsu), specializing in tessen and wakizashi.
Malvira preferred to avoid direct combat and instead relied heavily on the hit and run tactics of guerilla warfare. The plan was always to end the engagement before it started. Doing so saved lives, conserved resources, and enabled them to handle issues in a timely manner. With a mix of planning, magic, and a heavy dose of finely honed instinct, Malvira was an expert at maintaining the advantage in battle.
Things didn’t always go as planned though. She traditionally opened with the bow, crafting arrows from shadows to help maintain her advantage. If the first shot didn’t take out the target or there were more targets than a single shot could eliminate, her first goal was relocation and her methods changed depending on the situation. If they weren’t intelligent enough to pinpoint her original location, she’d move manually just enough to be far enough away that she had a new angle. If her location was compromised, she’d rely on a combination of cloaking and teleportation magics to move between shadows quickly and silently and use their confusion to launch another attack.
Still, there were far too many times that she wasn’t able to maintain that advantage so she quickly closed the distance herself to surprise her enemy and hopefully catch them off guard. Her initial attack would often use the wakizashi or the throwing knives she kept on her before she’d retreat again and conjure a shadowy naginata to buy herself time to analyze her opponent. If it managed to move past, she’d drop the naginata for her tessen. Using it to defect and distract, she’d either force an opening in their guard with the rapid opening and closing of the fan and strike with a dagger or blade or wait until she had a moment to retreat back into cover to reposition and start again.
Hand-to-hand combat was a last resort. Being smaller, slighter, and lighter than most of her opponents often put her at enough of a disadvantage to dissuade her from using her techniques often but when she had to, she knew how to use their weight to her advantage and then target joints to paralyze them before materializing a shadow blade to plunge into their exposed spots.
Magic Affinities : Malvira’s shadow magic wasn’t showstopping. Her magic augmented her own fighting styles rather than eclipsed it, working into a pleasant harmony of martial prowess and magical surprises. Her primary use of magic was to create weapons from them, allowing her to conceal her attacks better than metal weapons that may accidently reflect light, to appear unarmed when tricking enemies into pressing their false advantage, and striking at enemy openings in the middle of a fight that drawing a weapon may not allow.
Its secondary purpose was concealment and movement, shrouding herself in them to make it harder to find her at night or in foliage, and disappearing between shadows and from various angles when she needed to reestablish a favorable angle of attack.
Extra:
Plight of the Martyr:
Stamina: 4
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 8
Intellect: 3
Faith : 1
Hiroshi Damien Johnson-Najira
15 * Male* October 14th, 2010
Physical Description: Hiroshi is relatively easy to miss at first glance. Shorter than most of his peers, Hiroshi barely reaches 5’ 4” and keeps a lean frame from daily workouts and regular time at his family’s dojo. He has black hair that he lets grow out just long enough for him to tie up when he practices and piercing blue eyes that he got from his dad’s european heritage. Unfortunately, he inherited his mother’s fair complexion that demands to stay indoors or it burns immediately. He usually keeps a few tubes of sunscreen handy in his bag just in case.
Personality Description: Hiroshi is blunt and believes a direct and honest approach is the best approach to any social interaction. He has little tolerance for drama and gets easily riled up when people involve him in it. If they’re pulling him in, they better expect a solution, not a comforting ear.
He excels at first impressions, his family instilling that much into him at least, and most people walk away thinking Hiroshi is a responsible level headed teenager but they would be incredibly wrong. Hiroshi is the friend that 100% supports kicking your bully into the dirt and curb stomping them without telling the teacher, that is already halfway out the door when you ask for a snack at 3am, and shows up to help you break out after curfew if you want to hang out. He responds to things instinctively and quickly, rarely thinking things all the way through before heading out.
That isn’t to say he doesn’t have more than a few insecurities. His biggest one is his height, or lack thereof, and if he is pushed too far on the issue, he’ll show off exactly what it means to be the heir to the Najira dojo. After all, they can’t tell his height if they’re face down in the dirt. But there are other things too. He collects soft, cute things, particularly in pink and purple, but hoards them privately. He has difficulty remembering people in the first few meetings so he introduces himself as Damien at school and Hiroshi at home so he knows based on how they greet him, where he knows them from.
Bio Description:
Hiroshi Damien Najira was born on a freezing October night in Shinhidaka, Hokkaido, one hundred miles from his mother’s ancestral home. Emika Najira was the second child of the master of the Najira Dojo, a famous training facility for Japanese olympians, athletes, and martial artists. The family claimed they were direct descendants from one of the original ninja of old times and every child is rigorously trained in their practice and are expected to serve in the Japanese Self Defense Forces in some capacity or another. Emika was no different, joining the JSDF when she was 18 and qualifying to enter the Directorate for Signals Intelligence two years later. She remained in the DSF for another five years, two over those overseas as part of a collaboration team with the U.N. intelligence community, before she let her contract with the JSDF expire.
When she returned, Damien Johnson followed her. Damien Johnson grew up in London proper, attending all his schooling in local boarding schools, until he graduated with a finance degree from Oxford university. He was a hot shot financial executive from a family well known for their political and medical accomplishments and he had all the intents to add financial into the family portfolio as well. Damien was a few years older than Emika but hopelessly smitten and he followed her back from England to Japan without a second thought.
He’d done his research. They’d talked about taking their relationship beyond where they were and when they reached the Najira family home, he asked for her hand in the traditional method. Her father had been originally set against the relationship, since he’d just found out barely a month before, but seeing his dedication changed his heart and he gave it the blessing on one condition: the children take the Najira family name. It worked perfectly into their plans. Emika never intended to give up her last name and they’d decided when they had children, they’d hyphenate their last names.
The pair relocated permanently to London for a year after their marriage but Emika found the city stifling. They found a home an hour away from London by train and the happy pair snatched it up easily. They kept their London home as well, the family’s income easily affording both. Emika established a second Najira Dojo in London and its reputation grew for the almost brutally intense master of the Dojo. Pulling on some connections she’d built from her time with the U.N., Emika was contracted to train new recruits accepted into british special services which she did with aplomb.
Two years later, they added Hiroshi to their family. He grew up much the same as his mother, in a strongly disciplined household despite his inherent tendency to chaos. His mother introduced him to the family traditions even earlier than normal because his energy was seemingly endless and he took to them like a fish to water. He displayed a startling aptitude for the martial arts, almost anything his mother could teach him, and quickly surpassed the classes for his age group. Once he had this to focus on, his grades also improved quickly now that he had an outlet for his excessive energy.
Growing up, Hiroshi never wanted for money. Between his dad’s explosive financial; career and his mother’s generous military contract on top of her fees for training olympians and martial artists that followed the famous family name, Hiroshi lived an incredibly modest life. The Najira family way ensured that it wasn’t lavish by any means but Hiroshi can sometimes be insensitive about the subject when he encounters quality beneath his expectations.
When she returned, Damien Johnson followed her. Damien Johnson grew up in London proper, attending all his schooling in local boarding schools, until he graduated with a finance degree from Oxford university. He was a hot shot financial executive from a family well known for their political and medical accomplishments and he had all the intents to add financial into the family portfolio as well. Damien was a few years older than Emika but hopelessly smitten and he followed her back from England to Japan without a second thought.
He’d done his research. They’d talked about taking their relationship beyond where they were and when they reached the Najira family home, he asked for her hand in the traditional method. Her father had been originally set against the relationship, since he’d just found out barely a month before, but seeing his dedication changed his heart and he gave it the blessing on one condition: the children take the Najira family name. It worked perfectly into their plans. Emika never intended to give up her last name and they’d decided when they had children, they’d hyphenate their last names.
The pair relocated permanently to London for a year after their marriage but Emika found the city stifling. They found a home an hour away from London by train and the happy pair snatched it up easily. They kept their London home as well, the family’s income easily affording both. Emika established a second Najira Dojo in London and its reputation grew for the almost brutally intense master of the Dojo. Pulling on some connections she’d built from her time with the U.N., Emika was contracted to train new recruits accepted into british special services which she did with aplomb.
Two years later, they added Hiroshi to their family. He grew up much the same as his mother, in a strongly disciplined household despite his inherent tendency to chaos. His mother introduced him to the family traditions even earlier than normal because his energy was seemingly endless and he took to them like a fish to water. He displayed a startling aptitude for the martial arts, almost anything his mother could teach him, and quickly surpassed the classes for his age group. Once he had this to focus on, his grades also improved quickly now that he had an outlet for his excessive energy.
Growing up, Hiroshi never wanted for money. Between his dad’s explosive financial; career and his mother’s generous military contract on top of her fees for training olympians and martial artists that followed the famous family name, Hiroshi lived an incredibly modest life. The Najira family way ensured that it wasn’t lavish by any means but Hiroshi can sometimes be insensitive about the subject when he encounters quality beneath his expectations.
Talents: Jiu jitsu (modern), Ninjutsu (previous), fighting games, holding his breath, silent walking
Academic Affinity: Cognitive Psychology, Japanese History, Japanese
Extra:
- Fluent in Japanese and English.
- Participates in the Kendo club (if it exists).
- Introduces himself as Damien at school. Only close friends are allowed to call him Hiroshi.
- Loves spicy food.
- Dawn is his favorite time of day.
- Struggles to stay up past 10pm.
Physical Description: Malvira Nia was easy to miss at first glance. Standing at 5’3 with moon pale skin and a lean frame packing more power than originally met the eye, most didn’t realize who she was until they coward underneath an unrelenting pair of crystal blue eyes. Malvira carried herself with a strength derived from confidence in her mission and a grace from years of combat and stealth training. By the end of her life, her body was littered with scars including three claw marks that ran across her face from a particularly nasty fight with a Martyr Favored.
Bio Description:
In the beginning, chaos reigned. Light and Dark, and the spirits that lived within, clashed since time immemorial. Eons of incessant fighting passed before a tentative balance was reached. This softer push and pull, give and take, created the earth, the sky, and all the creatures that lived in between. These newly created creatures saw the opposing forces as they did now. They honored those responsible for their creation and gave the forces names: Dia and Nia. The spirits of both were uncertain how to handle these newly formed creatures and so they flocked to the new world to see what they created for themselves.
As the Dark is wont to do, the spirits of Nia wandered among the new creations immediately. They found these new mortals endlessly fascinating and with time, doted on them. Their hearts filled with affection and they brought the struggling mortal under their wing. They taught them what they knew: they taught the mortals compassion and empathy, they taught them the importance of creativity and imagination, they taught them magic to hide and disappear and ways to brew elixirs for sickness. The spirits of Nia filled with love for these mortals and they lamented at how their children were stolen from them as they aged and passed. They hadn't known the pain of a loved one lost and with the passion the Children of Nia would become renowned for, the Darkness sacrificed it’s immortality to share its power with all of its children if only to live on with each of them forever.
Meanwhile, the spirits of Dia descended on another part of the mortals and found themselves enamoured with the image of themselves the mortals revered. The spirits took the form of powerful, winged creatures and claimed their place as the rulers of these lesser mortal races. They taught their servants architecture and business, built up trade and religion, and taught them to navigate with the stars. The Dia found the mortals pathetic, sad, and endlessly naive as their efforts served to exoll the Dia in all ways. As a gesture of good will, the Dia raised a single mortal above the rest and imbued him with a little power from each Dia, ensuring that they were unaffected by the sacrifice, and called him the Favored. The Favored gained powers beyond what any single mortal possessed and he ruled over the mortals of the Dia.
Although the existence of the world and its creatures benefited all spirits equally, the time old tensions rose between them and the mortals shifted to accommodate. The mortals of Dia and the mortals of Nia drifted apart and territory disputes began. The spirits recognized the threat their fighting possessed and so they met away from the mortal place to discuss how to proceed. Negotiations were tense. The conclave nearly quit or came to blows but weeks later, they came to a conclusion: ritual combat.
Every 10 years, the Children of Nia and the Favored would meet on the border of the territory of Dia and Nia to act as proxies for their guiding spirits. This would allow the world to remain in one piece and slake the spirits’ instinctual need to clash with each other.
The Dia didn’t change their practice. A single mortal would be raised, granted powers beyond mortal capacity, and rule the rest. This mortal would be the Dia’s champion at the Conclave event each year until the next Favored was old enough to carry the burden.
However, the Nia had long lost their immortality. Instead, the trained their descendants in ancient techniques, melding magic with martial might. It was no secret they didn’t have the brute strength to overcome the Dia’s Favored so they learned. They studied everything they could, honed their skills day and night, and relied on each other. These families that dedicated themselves to the cause of the spirits became known as the Keepers of Nia. They swore a sacred vow to protect their communities from harm within and without. Many of the Keepers would step away from leadership roles because it clouded their ability to watch for threats impartially. Others took up the mantle eagerly and thrived.
So the world found an odd peace. Tensions between the communities faded away as the natural balance was found once again. It seemed a utopia.
Until 5000 years later, when a Favored discovered the Dia were only using the mortal race for their own gain and in his fury, massacred the Dia and absorbed the entirety of their powers. The Light consumed his mind, transforming him into an angelic beauty. His face turned to porcelain, forever twisted in the visage of his final lament, and he rose above his lands with only thoughts filled with the greed of the Dia. They fed him and his need for power extended past the lands of his people. His advisors begged him against and he branded them as heretics, killing them in the streets of their own home. The horror that he saw that day marked his entire people as traitors and he considered them worthless. Now called the Archon, he used his powers to warp his people into immortal creatures made in his own image. Twisted beauties, they became known as the Favored. Like the Archon, each face was now a porcelain mask displaying whatever last expression that had before the transformation claimed their minds.
The Archon declared war and it was brutal. Faced with the unrelenting might of Light and the unchecked fury of the Archon at the mere existence of Dark, the Keepers were soon forced to retreat. They herded as many as they could into the inner territories, setting wards and barriers to stall the Archon’s advance. They established cities with walls and gates infused with shadow, developed techniques that allowed their blades to drip darkness, and mastered guerrilla warfare and infiltration. The varied techniques of the past slowly died as the Keepers fought for survival.
Those caught outside the protected cities would soon find their minds succumbing to the light of the Archon and warping into one of its Favored. The Favored knew nothing of compassion, of mercy. They only knew of the ever growing hunger for power and conquest. To make matters worse, the Keepers discovered that the longer the war continued, the more new generations were born without the connection to the Nia. Hope was a scarce resource as 10 of the 12 cities collapsed beneath the Archon’s might and the remaining free mortals began to starve without the land to feed themselves.
Driven to desperate measures, the Keepers infiltrated the Archon’s Citadel in hopes of stumbling across any information on a critical weakness of the Archon and its Favored. Instead, they learned the nightmarish ritual the Archon used to strip the Dia of their power and start its age of unending bloodshed. They barely managed to escape with the information but the sacrifices they suffered were not in vain.
It took a century to complete the ritual. The second of the remaining free cities was battered with the renewed wrath of the Archon. Previous failures to complete the ritual cost the Keepers another life but in the end, the Keepers stripped themselves and their ancestors of their power and imbued it into one single child. Malvira Nia was raised under strict tutelage with the understanding that she was the child ever Keeper―no. Every mortal―placed their hopes in. It was stifling. A burden put on shoulders not yet strong enough to hold it. So she ran.
It would take years but watching the sister city of her own crumble beneath the Favored woke her up to the necessity of her destiny. She threw herself into her training, rallying the people behind her, and rode out to push back the Favored with her own soldiers besides her. For the first time in 5000 years, the Keepers won a battle.
The war was tough and at every corner, Malvira Nia was there to restore her soldier's resolve and defend them in battle. But as great of a leader, a general, and a soldier she was, anyone under her command would acknowledge that she was distant and cold. Most commended her dedication, even expected it, but those closest to her knew she accepted death as a certainty and they fought back against it. Those who grew up with her, her tutors, and even the few stragistest she worked closely with worked to make her open up, to accept that they could figure out a solution in which she lives because nothing in this world is ever certain.
It took the near death of someone she loved to make her change her mind. Malvira was known for risky operations that only relied on her but the soldier who would become Malvira’s life partner interfered when Malvira was close to failure, successfully turning the tide of the operation but nearly dying in the process. Mavira learned that day what she would be leaving behind if she died recklessly and her operations became less risky, more calculated. It drove her forced forward even faster. The old Keepers learned how to revert the Favored from their twisted state back to mortality and their numbers swelled.
It was a tale as old as time. The inevitable clash of Light and Dark that would put an end to this war once and for all. The Archon discovered Malvira’s love and capitalized on it, manipulating the resistance forces to sending her life partner and another small group to infiltrate what was supposedly a low risk encampment that the Archon itself would appear at moments after the group’s capture. Malvira was handling a wave of new Favored assaults when she received the news. She turned on her heel and rode into the night to face the Archon face on without a word to anyone.
The Archon’s intent was to mow Malvira down with the Favored but its pride demanded he accept the challenge she threw in its face. Their battle lasted three days and three nights. Her forces rallied to her, trying to penetrate the heart of the encampment to offer the last Keeper their support but they couldn’t keep up with the sheer numbers. Her friends, her family, her soldiers fell to the light and transformed into Favored even as she battled it’s source. Malvira’s rage and desperation built with every fallen friend.
The dawn of the fourth day broke the stalemate. The building fury finally exploded and drove her blade, dripping with Darkness, into the Archon’s heart and he crumbled to the ground, the Light fading as he did. The Favored shifted back. It was a painful, terrifying process but eventually the Favored would return to their mortal forms once more. Malvira thought she’d escaped.
But the Archon had one final curse. A spiteful curse on this land and those who defied him, the Archon uttered it with its final breath and a torrent of Light was unleashed on the world. For there to be harmony, Light and Darkness must be in balance and now that Light was let back into the world, Malvira knew the Darkness inside her was needed as well. She gave herself over to the Dark and she faded along with the Archon, the darkness pouring out of her to neutralize the Archon’s curse.
As the Dark is wont to do, the spirits of Nia wandered among the new creations immediately. They found these new mortals endlessly fascinating and with time, doted on them. Their hearts filled with affection and they brought the struggling mortal under their wing. They taught them what they knew: they taught the mortals compassion and empathy, they taught them the importance of creativity and imagination, they taught them magic to hide and disappear and ways to brew elixirs for sickness. The spirits of Nia filled with love for these mortals and they lamented at how their children were stolen from them as they aged and passed. They hadn't known the pain of a loved one lost and with the passion the Children of Nia would become renowned for, the Darkness sacrificed it’s immortality to share its power with all of its children if only to live on with each of them forever.
Meanwhile, the spirits of Dia descended on another part of the mortals and found themselves enamoured with the image of themselves the mortals revered. The spirits took the form of powerful, winged creatures and claimed their place as the rulers of these lesser mortal races. They taught their servants architecture and business, built up trade and religion, and taught them to navigate with the stars. The Dia found the mortals pathetic, sad, and endlessly naive as their efforts served to exoll the Dia in all ways. As a gesture of good will, the Dia raised a single mortal above the rest and imbued him with a little power from each Dia, ensuring that they were unaffected by the sacrifice, and called him the Favored. The Favored gained powers beyond what any single mortal possessed and he ruled over the mortals of the Dia.
Although the existence of the world and its creatures benefited all spirits equally, the time old tensions rose between them and the mortals shifted to accommodate. The mortals of Dia and the mortals of Nia drifted apart and territory disputes began. The spirits recognized the threat their fighting possessed and so they met away from the mortal place to discuss how to proceed. Negotiations were tense. The conclave nearly quit or came to blows but weeks later, they came to a conclusion: ritual combat.
Every 10 years, the Children of Nia and the Favored would meet on the border of the territory of Dia and Nia to act as proxies for their guiding spirits. This would allow the world to remain in one piece and slake the spirits’ instinctual need to clash with each other.
The Dia didn’t change their practice. A single mortal would be raised, granted powers beyond mortal capacity, and rule the rest. This mortal would be the Dia’s champion at the Conclave event each year until the next Favored was old enough to carry the burden.
However, the Nia had long lost their immortality. Instead, the trained their descendants in ancient techniques, melding magic with martial might. It was no secret they didn’t have the brute strength to overcome the Dia’s Favored so they learned. They studied everything they could, honed their skills day and night, and relied on each other. These families that dedicated themselves to the cause of the spirits became known as the Keepers of Nia. They swore a sacred vow to protect their communities from harm within and without. Many of the Keepers would step away from leadership roles because it clouded their ability to watch for threats impartially. Others took up the mantle eagerly and thrived.
So the world found an odd peace. Tensions between the communities faded away as the natural balance was found once again. It seemed a utopia.
Until 5000 years later, when a Favored discovered the Dia were only using the mortal race for their own gain and in his fury, massacred the Dia and absorbed the entirety of their powers. The Light consumed his mind, transforming him into an angelic beauty. His face turned to porcelain, forever twisted in the visage of his final lament, and he rose above his lands with only thoughts filled with the greed of the Dia. They fed him and his need for power extended past the lands of his people. His advisors begged him against and he branded them as heretics, killing them in the streets of their own home. The horror that he saw that day marked his entire people as traitors and he considered them worthless. Now called the Archon, he used his powers to warp his people into immortal creatures made in his own image. Twisted beauties, they became known as the Favored. Like the Archon, each face was now a porcelain mask displaying whatever last expression that had before the transformation claimed their minds.
The Archon declared war and it was brutal. Faced with the unrelenting might of Light and the unchecked fury of the Archon at the mere existence of Dark, the Keepers were soon forced to retreat. They herded as many as they could into the inner territories, setting wards and barriers to stall the Archon’s advance. They established cities with walls and gates infused with shadow, developed techniques that allowed their blades to drip darkness, and mastered guerrilla warfare and infiltration. The varied techniques of the past slowly died as the Keepers fought for survival.
Those caught outside the protected cities would soon find their minds succumbing to the light of the Archon and warping into one of its Favored. The Favored knew nothing of compassion, of mercy. They only knew of the ever growing hunger for power and conquest. To make matters worse, the Keepers discovered that the longer the war continued, the more new generations were born without the connection to the Nia. Hope was a scarce resource as 10 of the 12 cities collapsed beneath the Archon’s might and the remaining free mortals began to starve without the land to feed themselves.
Driven to desperate measures, the Keepers infiltrated the Archon’s Citadel in hopes of stumbling across any information on a critical weakness of the Archon and its Favored. Instead, they learned the nightmarish ritual the Archon used to strip the Dia of their power and start its age of unending bloodshed. They barely managed to escape with the information but the sacrifices they suffered were not in vain.
It took a century to complete the ritual. The second of the remaining free cities was battered with the renewed wrath of the Archon. Previous failures to complete the ritual cost the Keepers another life but in the end, the Keepers stripped themselves and their ancestors of their power and imbued it into one single child. Malvira Nia was raised under strict tutelage with the understanding that she was the child ever Keeper―no. Every mortal―placed their hopes in. It was stifling. A burden put on shoulders not yet strong enough to hold it. So she ran.
It would take years but watching the sister city of her own crumble beneath the Favored woke her up to the necessity of her destiny. She threw herself into her training, rallying the people behind her, and rode out to push back the Favored with her own soldiers besides her. For the first time in 5000 years, the Keepers won a battle.
The war was tough and at every corner, Malvira Nia was there to restore her soldier's resolve and defend them in battle. But as great of a leader, a general, and a soldier she was, anyone under her command would acknowledge that she was distant and cold. Most commended her dedication, even expected it, but those closest to her knew she accepted death as a certainty and they fought back against it. Those who grew up with her, her tutors, and even the few stragistest she worked closely with worked to make her open up, to accept that they could figure out a solution in which she lives because nothing in this world is ever certain.
It took the near death of someone she loved to make her change her mind. Malvira was known for risky operations that only relied on her but the soldier who would become Malvira’s life partner interfered when Malvira was close to failure, successfully turning the tide of the operation but nearly dying in the process. Mavira learned that day what she would be leaving behind if she died recklessly and her operations became less risky, more calculated. It drove her forced forward even faster. The old Keepers learned how to revert the Favored from their twisted state back to mortality and their numbers swelled.
It was a tale as old as time. The inevitable clash of Light and Dark that would put an end to this war once and for all. The Archon discovered Malvira’s love and capitalized on it, manipulating the resistance forces to sending her life partner and another small group to infiltrate what was supposedly a low risk encampment that the Archon itself would appear at moments after the group’s capture. Malvira was handling a wave of new Favored assaults when she received the news. She turned on her heel and rode into the night to face the Archon face on without a word to anyone.
The Archon’s intent was to mow Malvira down with the Favored but its pride demanded he accept the challenge she threw in its face. Their battle lasted three days and three nights. Her forces rallied to her, trying to penetrate the heart of the encampment to offer the last Keeper their support but they couldn’t keep up with the sheer numbers. Her friends, her family, her soldiers fell to the light and transformed into Favored even as she battled it’s source. Malvira’s rage and desperation built with every fallen friend.
The dawn of the fourth day broke the stalemate. The building fury finally exploded and drove her blade, dripping with Darkness, into the Archon’s heart and he crumbled to the ground, the Light fading as he did. The Favored shifted back. It was a painful, terrifying process but eventually the Favored would return to their mortal forms once more. Malvira thought she’d escaped.
But the Archon had one final curse. A spiteful curse on this land and those who defied him, the Archon uttered it with its final breath and a torrent of Light was unleashed on the world. For there to be harmony, Light and Darkness must be in balance and now that Light was let back into the world, Malvira knew the Darkness inside her was needed as well. She gave herself over to the Dark and she faded along with the Archon, the darkness pouring out of her to neutralize the Archon’s curse.
Legends:
When city fell and lives did flee,
Pursued by Light in perverted glee,
Find themselves upon the ridge
Where all hope did crash and halt
With no way out and no retreat.
A single crossing guaranteed
Their lives were forfeit.
When Sun met sky in cradled zenith,
Light ignored their fervent pleas
For sweetest mercy on their knees.
The horde which snarled bespoke their fate
As minions of what they hate.
And yet why did they still make pleas?
None had answered for so long.
And even as the their lives and homes
Crumbled to dust around them ,
Their spirit sang out for sweet reprieve.
None who lived to tell this tale
Recall the moment when all.
Held a collective breath.
The world around them stilled on its axis
And even Light stopped in its tracks.
For in domain the wrong side of day
Stood Darkness with blue eyes ablaze
Sweet Meralyn with easy song
Blade ready against the coming fray.
And so did Light command its slaves
To claim the Darkness for the Day
But firm she stood against the point,
Swift as song and true as arrow
With not a flinch or show of fear
As Sun continued to its drink.
Next came Pious,
Large of jowel, jaw, and claw,
Four legs to rip and tear
And still did Darkness with the bout
As Meralyn screams and shouts,
Dripping white with Favored blood
And corpses growing beneath her butt.
Soon screamed Fervent,
Reflections of us,
Mortals who fell
Beneath Light’s lust,
Yet still fall did they
In heavy foray
And added to the growth.
Soon the Sun dipped down its head,
The slivered moon regarded its friend
With favor and fun as She bathed in its light
While true Light considered
To fight or to flight.
Wisely did It choose
To flee beyond the moon
But not without rebuke or two
When Martyred Favored
Bodies blocking out the sky
Lumbered slowly forwarded
To blot out the night.
With eyes held shut,
Their hope all but gone,
Since Darkness did naught
For their own flesh and blood
With the felling of cities
Why should She now
Stand against those who commit such atrocity?
And yet there came none,
No Light in its waves,
No carcasses of Martyr scattered across their flesh
With not even a whisper
Darkness had best
The worst of the nightmares
Light yet created
And upon that podium
Of Light’s single loss
Did the Bridge of Malcant
Restore our hope lost.
Pursued by Light in perverted glee,
Find themselves upon the ridge
Where all hope did crash and halt
With no way out and no retreat.
A single crossing guaranteed
Their lives were forfeit.
When Sun met sky in cradled zenith,
Light ignored their fervent pleas
For sweetest mercy on their knees.
The horde which snarled bespoke their fate
As minions of what they hate.
And yet why did they still make pleas?
None had answered for so long.
And even as the their lives and homes
Crumbled to dust around them ,
Their spirit sang out for sweet reprieve.
None who lived to tell this tale
Recall the moment when all.
Held a collective breath.
The world around them stilled on its axis
And even Light stopped in its tracks.
For in domain the wrong side of day
Stood Darkness with blue eyes ablaze
Sweet Meralyn with easy song
Blade ready against the coming fray.
And so did Light command its slaves
To claim the Darkness for the Day
But firm she stood against the point,
Swift as song and true as arrow
With not a flinch or show of fear
As Sun continued to its drink.
Next came Pious,
Large of jowel, jaw, and claw,
Four legs to rip and tear
And still did Darkness with the bout
As Meralyn screams and shouts,
Dripping white with Favored blood
And corpses growing beneath her butt.
Soon screamed Fervent,
Reflections of us,
Mortals who fell
Beneath Light’s lust,
Yet still fall did they
In heavy foray
And added to the growth.
Soon the Sun dipped down its head,
The slivered moon regarded its friend
With favor and fun as She bathed in its light
While true Light considered
To fight or to flight.
Wisely did It choose
To flee beyond the moon
But not without rebuke or two
When Martyred Favored
Bodies blocking out the sky
Lumbered slowly forwarded
To blot out the night.
With eyes held shut,
Their hope all but gone,
Since Darkness did naught
For their own flesh and blood
With the felling of cities
Why should She now
Stand against those who commit such atrocity?
And yet there came none,
No Light in its waves,
No carcasses of Martyr scattered across their flesh
With not even a whisper
Darkness had best
The worst of the nightmares
Light yet created
And upon that podium
Of Light’s single loss
Did the Bridge of Malcant
Restore our hope lost.
Listen close and listen well, children. The grove over yonder must never be entered. You all know the one; it glimmers bright even beneath the dark of night in perpetual defiance. You little ones won’t remember the time the Light came to our village. The monsters that scratched at the sky. We called them the Martyred Favored. As big as a house with as many arms and legs as four men, each tipped with razor sharp claws that’d cut even stone in twain with ease, more so a man. But that wasn’t why they were made.
No. Those were only to protect its body, swollen full as if with child. It stomped unheeded by thorn or brush, caring little for anything in its path, as it made its way to wherever the Light demanded. It had no mouth so it killed for pleasure, made no noise other than the screams of its victims and the weight of its steps, but a moving Martyr was what you preferred. Because when it stopped, it exploded.
Light would explode from inside and corrupt everything it touched. Living creatures turned to Favored, ground purified of life, and anything else disappeared. The first one to ever be stopped was right here in this village. A soldier noticed the creature escape from the battle on the ridge and come thundering down to us. We saw it and we despaired, even as the soldier came galloping down behind it.
He cut it off at the grove. The two battled and we wept at his cries of pain and we wept when we heard the thunderous footsteps still. We knew what we would become. We braced ourselves as best we could, putting anything between us and them even if it meant nothing. The grove turned bright, blinding, and pure, and we mourned before we couldn’t anymore.
And then, just like that, the skys turned dark before its time. There She stood, the last Keeper of Nia, a blip against the impending explosion. Tendrils of Darkness stretched from the sky, up form the ground, and even from the air itself, all bending to Her will as she wrapped the grove with one hand and cradled the soldier, unconscious, with the other. The world shuddered as the ground quivered beneath the monster’s ire but Her will stood firm with a simple flick of her fingers as the deluge crashed against Her. It rose and rose and rose and rose until it vanished into the sky, returning night to day, and left only the trees bright with Light.
So no you cannot go into the grove or a monster you’ll become. Just gaze upon it in awe and always remember the day that Darkness came.
No. Those were only to protect its body, swollen full as if with child. It stomped unheeded by thorn or brush, caring little for anything in its path, as it made its way to wherever the Light demanded. It had no mouth so it killed for pleasure, made no noise other than the screams of its victims and the weight of its steps, but a moving Martyr was what you preferred. Because when it stopped, it exploded.
Light would explode from inside and corrupt everything it touched. Living creatures turned to Favored, ground purified of life, and anything else disappeared. The first one to ever be stopped was right here in this village. A soldier noticed the creature escape from the battle on the ridge and come thundering down to us. We saw it and we despaired, even as the soldier came galloping down behind it.
He cut it off at the grove. The two battled and we wept at his cries of pain and we wept when we heard the thunderous footsteps still. We knew what we would become. We braced ourselves as best we could, putting anything between us and them even if it meant nothing. The grove turned bright, blinding, and pure, and we mourned before we couldn’t anymore.
And then, just like that, the skys turned dark before its time. There She stood, the last Keeper of Nia, a blip against the impending explosion. Tendrils of Darkness stretched from the sky, up form the ground, and even from the air itself, all bending to Her will as she wrapped the grove with one hand and cradled the soldier, unconscious, with the other. The world shuddered as the ground quivered beneath the monster’s ire but Her will stood firm with a simple flick of her fingers as the deluge crashed against Her. It rose and rose and rose and rose until it vanished into the sky, returning night to day, and left only the trees bright with Light.
So no you cannot go into the grove or a monster you’ll become. Just gaze upon it in awe and always remember the day that Darkness came.
Combat Affinities :Malvira was the final Keeper from a long line of families. Training in the various styles was expected since birth, turning into an equally well rounded fighter with bows (Kyudo), blades (Kendo), polearms (Naginata-do), and hand-to-hand combat (jiu jitsu/judo). Her own personal family specialize in various methods of unorthodox warfare (ninjutsu), specializing in tessen and wakizashi.
Malvira preferred to avoid direct combat and instead relied heavily on the hit and run tactics of guerilla warfare. The plan was always to end the engagement before it started. Doing so saved lives, conserved resources, and enabled them to handle issues in a timely manner. With a mix of planning, magic, and a heavy dose of finely honed instinct, Malvira was an expert at maintaining the advantage in battle.
Things didn’t always go as planned though. She traditionally opened with the bow, crafting arrows from shadows to help maintain her advantage. If the first shot didn’t take out the target or there were more targets than a single shot could eliminate, her first goal was relocation and her methods changed depending on the situation. If they weren’t intelligent enough to pinpoint her original location, she’d move manually just enough to be far enough away that she had a new angle. If her location was compromised, she’d rely on a combination of cloaking and teleportation magics to move between shadows quickly and silently and use their confusion to launch another attack.
Still, there were far too many times that she wasn’t able to maintain that advantage so she quickly closed the distance herself to surprise her enemy and hopefully catch them off guard. Her initial attack would often use the wakizashi or the throwing knives she kept on her before she’d retreat again and conjure a shadowy naginata to buy herself time to analyze her opponent. If it managed to move past, she’d drop the naginata for her tessen. Using it to defect and distract, she’d either force an opening in their guard with the rapid opening and closing of the fan and strike with a dagger or blade or wait until she had a moment to retreat back into cover to reposition and start again.
Hand-to-hand combat was a last resort. Being smaller, slighter, and lighter than most of her opponents often put her at enough of a disadvantage to dissuade her from using her techniques often but when she had to, she knew how to use their weight to her advantage and then target joints to paralyze them before materializing a shadow blade to plunge into their exposed spots.
Magic Affinities : Malvira’s shadow magic wasn’t showstopping. Her magic augmented her own fighting styles rather than eclipsed it, working into a pleasant harmony of martial prowess and magical surprises. Her primary use of magic was to create weapons from them, allowing her to conceal her attacks better than metal weapons that may accidently reflect light, to appear unarmed when tricking enemies into pressing their false advantage, and striking at enemy openings in the middle of a fight that drawing a weapon may not allow.
Its secondary purpose was concealment and movement, shrouding herself in them to make it harder to find her at night or in foliage, and disappearing between shadows and from various angles when she needed to reestablish a favorable angle of attack.
Extra:
- https://youtu.be/dJ-QLl5qjLg
- color code = FC38FF
Plight of the Martyr:
Stamina: 4
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 8
Intellect: 3
Faith : 1
