Eric Wormwood◆ 22 ◆ January 3rd ◆ 6' ◆ Guardian ◆ A P P E A R A N C EAlong with his six foot lanky but lean body, Eric sports a head of curly light brown hair, about neck length, combed all the way to his left side, giving that sort of Skrillex hairstyle but without the douchebag. He wears a pair of slate grey spectacles, half-rimmed with circular lenses. His main dress is always very formal; a waistcoat, crisp cuffed shirt and tie, slacks and dress shoes indoors, accentuated with a matching suit jacket when outdoors. He also sports a silver watch on his right wrist, and a small silver band on his left index finger. More often than not he wears full fingered black leather gloves on his hands as well.
◆ I D E O L O G YCool, calm and collected (mostly), Eric is a classic example of an intellectual. Often cooped in his room reading or in a library, he is the sort of young man that values intelligence very highly, especially amongst his peers. Not to say that he doesn't value socialising, of course, just that Eric happens to enjoy the company of smart (or educated, at the very least) people.
However, this does not diminish the fact that Eric is also quite the friendly young man. When not studying, researching a topic of fancy or simply reading a story book, Eric is with his friends, chatting the day away, having a meal or just simply being in their company. Being a very simple young man, he is content to hang around his friends when they're in a group and listen to them talk and offer opinions every now and then, rather than actively participate in a conversation or debate. He's chill like that.
He is also quite level headed, preferring to believe in the whole "Higher Power" thing, rather than fervently worship some god or what have you. Eric finds the whole religion thing to be far too...complicated for his liking, and instead merely believes that there's a higher power watching over everything, nothing more.
◆ B A C K G R O U N DEric was born in Willowholm, a small township a distance away from the Dark Zone's current northeastern border to Cetra. The people there lived in relative peace, having an active militia that defended against any stray Mordrem that happened across them. Life, for the most part, was peaceful, and Eric's parents were a pair of scholars intent on studying the Mordrem and Stigma.
One day, when he was eight, a militia force returned to the town in pieces. They were followed shortly by a seething mass of Mordrem that overwhelmed what little defences Willowholm had. During all the chaos, Eric was separated from his parents. Crying and lost, he sought instead a childhood friend, a boy with whom he had played and grown close with over the years.
When the WARG team, led by a pair of Guardians, later arrived and cleared out the Mordrem, they found Eric in the town's school. In his little arms was cradled the still form of his friend. Dead. His parents later found him, and together they moved away into Cetra's capital, to escape the madness that laid in their former home.
Once they settled firmly into their new home, Eric's parents wasted no time presenting their findings to the city council, along with various military representatives. Their work was applauded, not to the standard of other military researchers, but the couple had dug up some new findings that added to their already vast research pool. They were offered a place in the Oakridge Academy as teachers, a placing they quickly and readily accepted. As for the boy, he was summarily enrolled into Oakridge as a student and taken in once he reached the right age.
School life was dark. Through his whole life, he hadn't accepted the loss of his buddy from his childhood. It made him very quiet, unresponsive at times, and anti-social. His mother was quick to send him for psychological counselling, which was where he met the mountain of a man, Rogart Hendrickson.
The two became fast friends over their similar experiences, and quickly became one of the iconic sights of their cohort. After all, how often did you see a small, lanky teenager conversing happily with a hulk? Where Eric lacked in strength and force, Rogart was happy to help him train. Tying weights to his arms and legs as he underwent his sword and endurance training, while lifting light weights to supplement his body mass turned Eric from a beanpole to a lean athlete.
When the two graduated from the Academy and joined the WARG, they were sadly separated due to their placement in different teams. But they still keep in contact, their friendship hard to break.
◆ W A R F A R EEric's weapon is twofold, considered one of the more unique weapons of Oakridge. Its main form is that of a
rapier, ornate and well-crafted in appearance, with a long, thin blade that is sharp the whole length of the blade. Eric uses this sword in conjunction with his learned style of fencing and hand-to-hand combat, very typical in form and function. It's second form, however, is not so typical. When Eric pushes a button on the hilt of the sword, its blade detaches, gains serrations along the blade's edges and separates into several parts connected by a chain. This bladed whip is his weapon's alternate form, and he wields it with a precision unmatched by most of his peers.
◇ Gladio [Lightning] [Water] [+Leech] [+Empower (Fanatic)] [-Pain] [-Imperil]
- Gladio is Eric's main offensive Spirit, augmenting his sword strikes and combat style to make him as fluid as water and as quick as lightning. When Gladio is active Eric's clothes gain archaic runes that glow a pale blue, as do his eyes. His strikes become faster and his blade gains extra sharpness, dealing extra physical damage and piercing armour. Gladio commonly manifests itself as a roiling torrent of water, though small, that flows and coils itself around his body and weapon, and represents his strength and will of heart, and fluidity of form and spirit.
◇ Ramuh [Lightning] [+Lancet] [+Protect] [+Shell]
-Ramuh is Eric's armour spirit, granting him extra protections along with counterattack capability. When Ramuh is active, holographic plate armour appears on his body, hovering over his body but not impeding his movement. This armour glows a visible yellow, and crackles with electricity. Whenever something strikes it, Ramuh strikes back with a quick flash of lightning. The old fogey rarely shows his face, being grumpy and anti-social, but when he does, it's in the form of an old, bearded man carrying a gnarled wooden staff. Ramuh represents Eric's fierce loyalty and devotion to protecting not only himself but his friends too.
◇ Ruinga [Fire] [Lightning] [Holy] [-Poison]
- Ruinga is Eric's main weapon enchantment. It imbues three elements together into his blade that, when combined, create explosive pearls of light and fire when he swings or stabs out with his sword. These pearls are roughly the size of an orange, and explode into brilliant spheres of light and fire upon contact with its target, dealing magical damage with the explosion along with setting the target alight, dealing damage over time. Ruinga's form is very simple, manifesting as three orbs that circle around his body; one of light, one of air, and one of fire, that occasionally meet and explode into a little shower of fireworks before forming again. Each of the orbs are also semi-sentient, as they play with each other when Eric isn't doing anything. The trio of tiny spirits represent his inner playfulness and childlike curiosity and thirst for knowledge.
◇ Anima [Dark] [-Curse] [-Terror] [-Pain] [-Imperil]
- Eric's last spirit is his main crowd control spirit. Anima manifests itself as crimson spectral chains that wrap around his arms and torso, and attach to his weapon. When Anima is active, the next attack Eric deals will make his target or targets extremely vulnerable to incoming damage along with immobilisation and dealing damage over time. Eric commonly uses Anima when he attacks with the blade whip form of his rapier, to strike multiple enemies at once to maximise the effectiveness of his debuffs. Anima is a remnant of Eric's depression, his misery, sadness and grief from losing one of his closest friends.
◆ A S P E K T S◇ Lancer
◇ Adept
◇ Fanatic
◇ Lucky