Class: Rider
True Name: Esfandiyar
Sex: Male
Alignment: Lawful Good
Attribute: Heaven
History: In the annals of Iran’s history, there was once a valiant and noble prince named Esfandiyar. Son and heir to King Goshtasp, he was even described as: “a hero of renown, and his tongue was a bright sword, and his heart was bounteous as the ocean, and his hands were like the clouds when rain falls to gladden the earth”. He supported the great prophet Zarathustra in the spread of Zoroastrianism, and for this was blessed and rewarded by him in turn.
...And yet, despite all of his virtue, Esfandiyar’s life was rife with lies and treachery from those about him. He was thrown into jail on false charges by his own father, due to the conniving of an evil man at court, and his father did not even listen to his protests of innocence. All of this, only to be recalled from prison to save his homeland from invaders with his father’s promise he could take the throne after this. Yet despite these promises, his father put off the deal and told Esfandiyar he could not yet take the throne before saving his two kidnapped sisters first. Sent by traitor along a dangerous and abandoned path to try to kill him during this quest, he overcame seven trials and ultimately succeeded before saving his sisters by conquering the Invincible Fortress (Roin Dej) and freeing them from there before returning again to his father.
But again he was put off by his father, denied a second time what he’d been promised by his father (the throne), who this time sought a final and far more deadly task to keep his son from ever taking the throne: To bring the hero Rostam before him, bound in chains. As there was a prophecy that noted the prince would lose to the great warrior, it was a sure death.
Despite the amicability between the two heroes, and protesting about the matter to his own father initially, Esfandiyar’s loyalty to the throne ultimately drove him to pursue his orders and battle the great hero in the end. He would leave Rostam and the hero’s mount Raksh bloodied and near dead in the end of their first bout, though the next day Rostam would return with a special two-headed arrow made from a feather of a Simurgh and a two-pronged branch from a tamarisk tree. This arrow was designed to strike the prince’s only remaining weak points, his eyes, simultaneously.
So came the end of Prince Esfandiyar, whose father would be held responsible for his death thereafter.
Personality: He is a noble prince, whose heart is as bounteous as the ocean and is filled with a desire for good. He is also a proud warrior, one who will not mince words or restrain them when speaking with friend or foe alike. A brave and zealous soul, even if troubled or dismayed by the road before him he will push through troubles and trials and tribulations alike..no matter how great or how small. In life he was a most steadfastly loyal servant due to his devotion and beliefs, even to such an extent that in life he followed the orders of his father (the king) to the point of marching to his own death. In hindsight of this, yet with his father long dead and no proper Zoroastrian king to follow he has sworn to not allow himself to be led into destruction by such evil things once more.
In regards to his own father, he feels only sorrow about how his father was and the fate that would later befall him in doing his righteous duty. The actions he took towards the hero Rostam, all to stubbornly seek to follow his father’s final order and fulfill his duty, have left him filled with regret. Even so, in his mind the past is just that...it is the past. In this vein he looks forward to the battlefield ahead, no desire for a throne lingering in him even now, and seeks to fight to his best.
To seek to change the past would be impious and improper, an affront to everything and the value it had therein and thereafter at that. Yet looking to the present and future he may yet fight again as a righteous warrior. Indeed, it is also his very compassion that has led him to answer the summons of the one who has called out to him for help. They are not his king, none can fulfill that role any longer, but maybe yet he can achieve something more in the world beyond the span of his life.
...As for a wish, if he managed to get one there was be but one tiny, insignificant thing he would seek:
“To meet with ‘that hero’ again, Rostam, over a fine feast in order to properly share tales of our deeds and drink wine without enmity nor evil to taint the occasion.”. It is a humble wish, a very simple one at that, but such is the heart of Esfandiyar.
Parameters:
Strength: B
Agility: C
Endurance: B
Mana: D
Luck: C
Class Skills:
Riding: A
-All vehicles and all creatures but those of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast-rank can be used as mounts. This rank is high enough to have an aptitude for the Rider Class.
Magic Resistance: -
-Lost this skill due to the effects of his Noble Phantasm, “Hudānu Urvan”, which supplants this and surpasses it in effect.
Personal Skills:
Bravery: A
-is the ability to negate mental interference such as pressure, confusion and fascination. It also has the bonus effect of increasing melee damage. Not usable under the effects of Mad Enhancement.
Eye of the Mind (False): B
-is a natural talent to foresee/sense and avoid danger on the basis of an innate 6th sense, intuition, or prescience. The accuracy of this instinct can be augmented by experience. The ability also grants an effect of offering resistance against penalties caused by visual obstructions.
Capable of calm analysis of battle conditions even when in danger and deduce an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament. So long there is even a 1% chance of a comeback, this ability greatly improves the chances of winning.
Noble Phantasm(s):
Name: Beastslayer Chariot
Title: “Bathed in Death, I Drive Thee To Victory”
Rank: B+
Type: Anti-Phantasmal, Anti-Army
Range: 1-50
Targets: 100
Description: A special chariot built at Esfandiyar’s behest, it is enclosed (like a moving tank) to protect the rider whilst being covered in mighty spikes. It is driven by two armored horses covered in spikes as well, and was used by Esfandiyar to slay two different Phantasmal creatures. The first was a dragon with a toxic (venomous) fiery breath. Esfandiyar drove this chariot into the throat of it, got stuck in there, and cut it to shreds from inside using his sword. The second monster he slew whilst using this chariot was another Simurgh, not the same as the one tied to Rostam’s family, but all the same another Divine Beast of the very same species.
The two steeds pulling this chariot, both bathed in the blood of a dragon and a Simurgh and having survived both battles and Esfandiyar’s other trials to boot, have become some kind of Monstrous Beasts by this point as well.
This chariot normally is just a speeding, edgy-looking, spiky thing meant for transport and running into things to damage them (or run over them and causing more damage). It does this well as a C rank Noble Phantasm, and naturally against Phantasmal Beasts (and those who carry the blood of them like a certain King) the damage it causes to them receives a “+” modifier. Secondarily, Phantasmal Beasts in contact with this chariot are also drained of strength for as long as they remain in contact (including if they are impaled on it or stuck to it due to being impaled by parts of it).
Yet when activated, the true power of this chariot is manifested. It acts like a magnet for Phantasmal Species, attracting them to it like a lure and compelling them to physically attack it with their bodies...which will get them impaled on it (which is the intention).
-------
Name: Hudānu Urvan
Title: “My Flesh Is Wrought Anew, Wherefore I Come To No Harm”
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Unit (Self), Passive
Range: -
Targets: 1
Description: A Noble Phantasm embodying the “gift of invincibility” bestowed to Esdandiyar by the prophet Zoroaster, or rather more literally speaking this Noble Phantasm is Esfandiyar’s own body. However, the true nature of it runs deeper than simply a gift or blessing, and it's true nature is tied to the hero’s own name. The name of Esfandiyar literally translates to: "given by Spenta Armaiti", who is one of the Amesha Spentas, aka: the six creative or divine manifestations of Wisdom and Ahura Mazda.
When Zoroaster gave him this gift of invincibility, by having him bathe in a sacred pool of invincibility, it was in the process literally giving the hero a body "forged/created by Spenta Armaiti" or literally "a body created by the Earth Mother". Such is what he possesses even now as a servant inherently. His body possesses C-ranked damage reduction, as in anything B or higher is reduced by C (so B is E, etc). Damage taken is also reversed by the body, basically being a constant source of healing when Esfandiyar is damaged. This Noble Phantasm's reversal and damage reduction effects also apply to not just damage, but curses, magecraft, poison, and so forth as well. Esfandiyar's master can still heal and support him using magecraft though.
There is only one ultimate weak point upon the body of Esfandiyar, however...his eyes, which were closed when he bathed in the sacred waters and received this gift. To pierce them is to strike the hero’s ultimate weak spot, akin to Siegfiried’s leaf-shaped spot on his back. Strike him through one eye, Esfandiyar is left half-dead. Able to recover potentially, but half-dead. Likewise, piercing both of his eyes in both parts of his “ultimate weak spot” simultaneously is the one actual way to kill him in turn. This is due to how he died in life when struck in both eyes simultaneously by a specially-made two-headed, Simurgh-blessed arrow fired from the bow of the hero Rostam. Esfandiyar’s eyelids remain just as invincible as the rest of him as well, admittedly, but his eyes themselves remain utterly unaffected by the gift or this Noble Phantasm.
It is of note that, with this body of his, Esfandiyar was able to go blow for blow with the hero Rostam for a long time without a scratch (whilst beating him bloody in return). That is no small feat indeed.
-------
Name: Hišāy Maga
Title: “The Binding Chain Of God”
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 1-30
Targets: 1
Description: Chains made by inhuman hands alone, a tool of heaven crafted by Ahura Mazda and then granted to Esfandiyar by Zarathustra. They are silvery colored chains with a similar design to certain ‘golden chains’ from ancient Mesopotamia, but in this case bear heavenly designs upon them that denote their true maker. These heavenly chains were themselves based upon the original
“Chains of Heaven” that came from the time of a certain ‘King of Heroes’, but were in this case forged a divine tool to bind all else (even including the likes of vile witches and demons).
When using this Noble Phantasm, Esfandiyar conjures shimmering, silvery portals in the air through which lengths of this divine chain emerge to bind or pierce targets. Forged by the divine authority of their creator with the specific purpose of ‘binding’ targets, even on a conceptual level, these chains when binding or attached to others will drain them of strength and energy (just as using them to bind a witch in life kept her from using magecraft) and negate transportation abilities used on the target or the very chains themselves.
However, there is also a caveat. The higher the Divinity of the target, the weaker the chains’ binding and effects are against them. With A rank Divinity, a target would be able to properly break or shrug these as if they were just normal, mundane chains.
Zapdos
Xaltwind
Spiffy
dwyer austin
The Otter
Dezuel
Izurich
Danyel
Aku the Samurai
tundrafrog1124
