Everything is AI because plagiarism is profitable and because people think we’re in a dark age where skills like art and writing haven’t been democratized to hell and back for decades already
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5 mos ago
Shoutout to all the gay mfs for being remembered by corporate America for a month
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5 mos ago
i forgot like half of you until you existed on my profile again lmao. you know what we have dms for this sorry mods
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Bio
I invented necromancy and the windmill. I beat the sun in a poker match during the summer of 1273 and God hasn't felt the same since.
Speaking of faceclaims, I'm honestly having trouble finding one that fits my character. Most of the ones that have a four armed girl that I can find are fantasy or have more than four arms.
This is why I usually use picrews for my characters lol
"Were you expecting me to say something philosophical related to darkness? Something like how there is always a light in the dark? Well, it's not a thing, it's a person. And that person is me."
Jack Hawthorne | "Nocturne" | 28
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Powers: Umbramancy
Nocturne's powers are the ability to form and manipulate absences of light in a way that some would consider almost magical. This power is a result of prolonged exposure to the energy of a world known as the Shadowlands, and includes anything from pulling shadows off of the wall and making them three-dimensional to make a weapon, or turning a well-lit room pitch black. Any place where light is obstructed or blocked has to potential to be used as a weapon by Nocturne, and he can alter the properties of darkness as if it were a tangible form of matter. This includes forming solid forcefields out of a single shadow, or as Nocturne prefers, forming weightless weapons to use against an enemy. Nocturne's connection to the Shadowlands allows him some control of the "dark energy" that flows into the material world. He can collect this energy for using what he refers to as Shadow Magic.
Energy Drift: Using the energy that flows through him, Nocturne can partially negate gravity to float through the air or cross wide gaps with ease. This is similar to outright flying, but is too loose to have fine control needed for flying like other superheroes.
Dark Barrier: A simple forcefield capable of stopping bullets and other physical attacks.
Night Vision: Having spent years in a place where light does not exist, Nocturne has no need for light to see what's in front of him.
Shadow Scythe: A weapon that Nocturne learned to use in the Shadowlands. It weighs virtually nothing, and can cut through solid steel as if it were paper.
Gloomhaven: A three-dimensional sphere of darkness that can be used to close off an area or imprison someone within. Light cannot penetrate the Gloomhaven's area, so anyone else inside of it is completely blind.
Black Gate: Nocturne stretches a shadow over a flat surface and connects it to a nearby location up to a hundred feet away, turning the shadow into a portal. The shadow used has to be near pitch-black for this to work.
Unseen Door of Midnight: If the conditions are right, Nocturne can open a portal into the Shadowlands. A large area must be rendered pitch black, and cannot be illuminated by any light whatsoever for as long as anyone is inside. The portal acts like an anchor for anyone who crosses through, meaning that if it is compromised, anyone inside the Shadowlands will be cut loose from the material world, and potentially afflicted with the darkness like Nocturne. Nocturne can theoretically use this to banish someone from the material world permanently, as long as they don't find a way back.
Power Weaknesses
Dark Energy: Like all magic, this requires certain conditions or requirements to be met beforehand, and Nocturne has developed various techniques based on this which depend on dark energy to function. The problem with relying on dark energy is that it cannot be created through his powers, only collected through obscuring light in sufficient volumes. As the light of the material world removes darkness, it removes the energy of the Shadowlands that bleeds in from beyond, which means that a sufficient source of light would be enough to render Nocturne's abilities useless. Nocturne is heavily dependent on darkness for everything he does. Even a small, faint shadow can likely be put to some use, but in open daylight away from shade, it is very easy to lock his Umbramancy out of use. His reliance makes him virtually defenseless with the ability to manipulate darkness. It also leaves him without the ability to open something that requires two hands...
Glass Cannon: Nocturne's method of dealing with villains or similar threats comes down to one of two things. Either he locks down an area by turning every shadow into what is essentially a magic bear trap, or he constructs a scythe to deal with enemies up close. In the presence of enough light, he can do neither of these things. Nocturne handles physical combat very, very poorly when unarmed and unable to access his abilities. In such a situation, he could be taken out with little effort by most people.
Black Heart: The Shadowlands are an inherently evil place. When Nocturne first entered, a piece of him fractured from his being and was left behind. That piece left behind a hole that was filled by the dark energy of the Shadowlands. That darkness is now a part of Nocturne, and gnaws at him from the inside like a knife stabbing at weak points in a brick wall. Nocturne depends on this as the method through which he accesses the rest of his abilities, but it has a mind of its own. In cases where Nocturne's state of mind is compromised, such as intense anger or an attack that weakens him mentally, there is a chance that the darkness inside of him will find a foothold and rip away the control he has over his mind and body. After this occurs, Nocturne's body takes the form of a living shadow, and acts on a twisted sense of instincts and self-preservation, attacking anything presents itself as a potential target with reckless abandon as an ever-expanding well of dark energy. Light is drained from the surrounding area to make way for the creature, causing it to grow stronger as time passes.
The creature, which Nocturne refers to as the Penumbra, lacks a sense of self-awareness equal to a human being, it only cares about satisfying the base impulse of causing ruin and spreading the dark into the world. In the event that the Penumbra has awakened, any hero with an energy-based power should attack with full force: Fire, lightning, radiation, especially visible light, all cause extreme damage to the monster, and can weaken it enough for Nocturne to regain control. The odds of this happening again are virtually impossible due to Nocturne's experience, but the Penumbra is always there in the back of his mind, waiting for the slightest break in mental fortitude which it can latch onto and burrow out through. Light is its greatest weakness, and if Nocturne is lucky, he can throw himself under a high-powered spotlight for a while to keep a breakout from happening if he suspects he is losing control.
Personality
Patient | Composed | Caring | Mellow | Reserved
Experience
Roughly eight to nine years in the Shadowlands, a few weeks in the Justice Society.
Appearance
Shoulder-length black hair, a scar across his face, and an entire fashion sense that seems to revolve around Autumn. Those are the most stand-out things about Nocturne's appearance aside from his left arm, which is a solid black shadow. He lost the real one during a fight in the Shadowlands a long time ago.
Backstory
Many years ago, Jack Hawthorne fell through a hole into the Shadowlands, and went missing for three years. It was here where he was exposed to the dark energy that he now uses for fighting evil. While lost in another world, he learned to survive in a land where there was no light, or sympathy for a human. He learned to shape darkness into blades, call it to protect him, and see through it where normal eyesight had failed him. He was hardened and strengthened by its energy, but found himself constantly at war with his own mind over the years to control something that buried itself deep inside of him. Jack hunted the creatures that called the Shadowlands home, and ate their flesh to survive, fading in and out of a human form and its consciousness until time seemed to blur like the shadows around him.
Eventually, he was found in one of these low periods by a man they called the Shade. He was one touched by the Shadowlands the same way, but he had control. The Shade showed Jack mercy, and helped him learn how to grapple with his inner darkness. After what could have been eons or only seconds of time in the real world, Jack gained a tight grip on the Penumbra, and the Shade taught him a trick that could open doors in and out of the Shadowlands. It was on the other side of one such door where the Shade revealed his background as an anti-hero to the young man, and offered him an opportunity to join him. Jack refused, and left without looking back. Shortly after, he was actively participating in the hero scene as Nocturne, brandishing a scythe and devouring villains whole in their own shadows. The Justice Society took notice of the man and his abilities after a few years. and offered him a position in their ranks, which he accepted.
Sample Story Arcs
The Endless Night: In the late hours of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, the Shade arrives to prevent the sun from rising. Nocturne, whose understanding of darkness rivals the Shade's, must find a way to help the Justice Society make the sun rise again before the Shade's power grows too strong.
A Helping Hand: Following an intense battle that left Nocturne's magic temporarily burnt out, he is left without the ability to use umbramancy or his left arm. When evil doesn't rest, Nocturne can't stand by without putting up a fight, but struggles to be useful on the battlefield. Through the help of his friends, he learns that there is more to being a hero than magical powers.
The Beast in Black: Something inside of Nocturne begins to kick up dust as he is compromised by a side of his powers he thought to be long dormant. When a creature of all-consuming, malevolent darkness takes hold of Nocturne's mind and body, it is up to the Justice Society to contain him, and scour his recorded knowledge on the primordial darkness of the Shadowlands for answers before it is too late.
Live by The Scythe: After a crippling defeat that leaves Dermont unable to use Nothung, Nocturne uses the opportunity to help him train to fight. The two learn valuable lessons from each other about the ability to adapt to unfavorable circumstances, and what it means to set an example for others.
When Hanna stepped out for a phone call, Stormy grabbed one of his brownies and took a bite. "These are good. Whoever made them should be proud." He said with a bit of sarcasm as if someone else made them and not him. "Well, anyway. I'm going to go and join the others at the campfire. Help yourself to the brownies if you want. They'll stay warm for a while. And maybe make sure Hanna doesn't give the new one too hard a time when I'm gone." He said to Kelly before heading out that way. He took a seat by the fire and relaxed momentarily. The night was cool, and the flame was just the right amount of warmth to balance it out. Stormy watched the light show that some witches were putting on. The witches of this coven always put on some of the best light shows around. He wasn’t paying much attention to the people around him as he finished off the brownie, until he overheard a conversation about herbs in the forest. Another tradition some people did for Ostara, from the part of the world where Zhalia happened to be from.
After they all got up and left, Stormy considered that for a moment and thought he should attempt to get to know that Zhalia girl. If anything in his talk with Hanna from earlier was true, she probably needed some friends. With that in mind, Stormy decided he didn’t have anything to lose and got up to look for wherever it was that the three of them went off to. He followed the others who were making their way over into the trees, having been here long enough to know that it wasn't a good idea to stray into the foggy woods alone, or far from civilization. He wasn't quite sure why, but he trusted Lina and the other witches enough that he wasn't about to go pushing into a mysterious forest alone.
He caught up with them once they all made it past the houses. That hole in the wall still hadn't been entirely patched up. "Hello, you three. I hope you don't mind, but I thought I heard what you were saying about herbs for the celebration. I'll help." He vaguely recognized Simon and Manon, as they were around for a bit now, give or take, but he hadn't really had much interaction with them up until this point. The dark-haired person with an Asian look though... They must've been new. This would be a good chance to make a friend or two, he thought. "My name is Scott, but a lot of people usually just call me "Stormy." You're Zhalia, right? We were just talking about you back at the patch." He said to Zhalia in particular after he was in front of a wall of trees. Actually, no. What he saw was a veritable ocean of trees wrapped lowly in thick arms of fog.
It was an unironic thing to say he wasn't a superstitious man. Stormy was a witch who could flick his wrist and make an impenetrable dome of green light as long as that wrist was wrapped in magic chains. He spent most of his life learning about magic and occult lore surrounding it, but he wasn't the type to throw salt over his shoulder or avoid walking under ladders. No, Stormy understood things about magic that took the enigma out and made them factual. But the edge of this forest looked like he had stepped to the edge of another world untouched by man or witch. Something about the way the land looked so isolated and dense in spite of witches living at its edge made Stormy pause and just take it in. He couldn't see past a few feet, but surely this was just a beautiful sight and nothing more... Right?
"Nettle, garlic and dandelion. I'll look for Nettle. Don't trip over something, it's hard to see around here." And so Stormy set about picking the ground for patches of Nettle as best he could in low light conditions and fog rolling through from the north. It was times like this when he wished he did more with Evocation than just thermal magic.
People did like to talk during celebrations, Stormy couldn't argue with that. What good was an Ostara gathering where you couldn't share the joy with another person? A trick question, really. "I'm sure that you mere mortals enjoy it. But, yes, the "eating people" thing does seem a little extreme, really. We'd probably know already if something like that were true." To say nothing of the fact that he heard they sacrificed newborns. Rumors usually didn't sit well with Stormy, especially when he was a witch. Over the years, he heard a lot of rumors about witches; that they were an evolutionary crisis, that they were signs of god's existence, threats to national security, the list went on. Whenever Stormy heard such rumors about witches, he typically went out of his way to discredit them and anyone who was considered a "source" on such supposed facts. His favorite "rumor" was the one where witches were the result of scientific experiments and that they owed their existence to the American military as a result. That one made him laugh. A lot.
"I think being in a cult would be a pretty bad thing, cannibalism or not. People only really enjoy being in a cult when they're on the inside. You'd be brainwashed among other things. A lot of humans think covens are cults, if I remember right." Stormy was mostly just following along with the conversation so Hanna wasn't talking non-stop for nothing. "At least, I hope most people don't like being in cults." That was a joke. Of course people don't like cults. Stormy cracked a grin when Hanna tried the brownie. "Go ahead, help yourself to them. There's enough for everyone." Back when Stormy had first been introduced to Shipden, he was in an absolute mess. He hadn't eaten in days and was living out of a car that was probably only half a mile from running empty. He always enjoyed baking or cooking, and it was one of the first things he did when he had the chance. That was the emotional equivalent of peroxide on an infected wound for him, and it was even better that people actually liked the taste of what he made.
Oh, selfie time? Selfie time. Stormy tossed the now empty plate into the trash and leaned in beside Hanna and Kelly and smiled for the picture. It might've been just a touch difficult to actually see if he was smiling, seeing as he had an entire lion's mane draping down from his face, but he was smiling. And it was a genuine smile. The world outside this coven was often a nasty place. People hated witches, and wanted them dead and gone at every turn, but nights like this were a reminder that there wasn't a single witch on this earth who had to just lie down and die. They deserved a good life too, even if they had to struggle to get it.
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