Name: Rostam
Class: Rider
Gender: Male
Appearance: An immense man, muscular but balanced, Rostam stands ten and a half feet tall, towering over all around him with the stature of a giant. His face is thickset and handsome, with dark eyes, olive skin and a thick black oiled beard that falls to his chest.
He is clad in a silver suit of heavy scale armor, rows upon rows of interlocking steel that cover him from shoulder to knee. Most striking of all however is the dark reddish orange fur pelt he wears over this armor, covering his back, chest, thighs and upper arms before trailing behind him as a cloak. His arms however, are largely bare, and his lower legs, while covered by grieves, have many visible chinks. On his head he wears an immense horned skull fashioned into a helmet, its teeth resting on his brow, it's pale horns adding a further two feet to his already immense height.
Alignment: Lawful Good
Personality: Proud and noble, Rostam is slow to anger and courteous in his words and deeds, being the shining example of a righteous Paladin of Ohrmazd. He is deeply sentimental, and thinks primarily of the reputation of his nation, his king and his god. In general, he is a ponderous easy going man who prefers to rely on simple actions and then react to the situation as it unfolds. Having lived for hundreds of years very little surprises him anymore.
Despite his exemplary qualities Rostam is also lacking in many regards. He is accustomed to victory by virtue of his exceeding natural gifts and does not take well to being bested, especially by means he considers underhanded or treacherous. When faced with frustration by these methods his usual solid composure is broken and he becomes angry and unreasoning.
Underneath all this Rostam suffers from a deep melancholy due to actions he regrets during his lifetime, and because of this his judgement can be questionable.
History: The great hero of Sakastan, Rostam was born the son of Zal and Ruduba, great nobles and Heroes in the ancient Kingdom. Raised by his parents, Rostam grew with supernatural speed, and by the age of eight was already larger than most of the warriors in his household.
One day the great white war elephant kept by his father went mad, and broke loose of his chain, rampaging around the grounds of Rostam's home. Rostam went forth to fight with the beast, easily pushing aside all the guards who attempted to restrain him for his own safety. Though only ten, he took his father's mace and killed the elephant with a single strike.
Blessed with a pre naturally long lifespan, Rostam would live for over a hundred years and would become the greatest hero of the Shahnameh. A giant of a man he grew too large for any horse to bear him, until he met with the giant steed Rakhsh, a stallion who possessed similar size, strength, and long life to his own. They became inseparable, and, when the King of Sakastan was captured by the Servants of Angra Mainyu they rode out into the desert to rescue him, making war upon the demons who had kidnaped him.
In the course of seven trials on this quest, Rostam and Rakhsh did battle with a monstrous lion, crossed a vast desert, slew and skinned a river dragon gaining its hide as invulnerable armor, defeated an evil sorceress, slew the demon king Arzang Div and his champion Olad, rescued the King Kay Kavus, and finally slew the demon sorcerer Div-e Sepid before takeing his skull as a helmet.
Rostam would dwell in peace after these trials for many years, but always a new war would spring up again, and he would be called away to fight. Every time he would lay waste to the invading army. Though facing countless champions and heroes over the years, only two would ever come close to matching him; the great hero Esfandyar and his own son, the warrior Sohrab.
Though he overcome both of these heroes in the end, their deaths would cause him only grief as he recognized Esfandyar's great virtue, and Sohrab's identity as his own child only to late.
In the end Rostam's extended lifespan would come to an end by treachery at the hands of his envious half brother Shaghad. Lured into a trap, robbed of his invulnerable dragon skin, he was trapped in a pit and pierced with countless poisoned spears together with Rakhsh.
Even this death by treachery and planning was not empty of glory however, for Rostam took far to long to die, and in that time was able to demand a dying wish of Shaghad. Bound by honor to obey, and thinking Rostam now helpless Shaghad granted him his last request of his bow and arrows. Seeing that Rostam still had strength left, and was stringing the bow to slay him, Shaghad took shelter behind a thick oak tree, but it made no difference. Rostam's arrow penetrated the heart of the tree and slew Shaghad on the other side, allowing Rostam to outlive his own killer.
Weapon: Rostam wields an immense mace of oak and iron. Long and heavy it is nearly the size of an ordinary man. The handle is gnarled wood, as hard as the iron that it is capped with. The head is roughly the size of a beach ball.
War Horse Rakhsh. Scaled armor. Babr-e Bayan & the skull of Div-e Sepid.
Parameters:
STR: A+
CON: A
AGI: C
MGI: C
LCK: C
Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: C
Cancel spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against magecraft on the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals
Riding: A+
A skilled rider, he is capable of mastering a horse that no other hero could tame, and was even able to ride the divine Simorgh for a day. Due to his size however, it would be highly improbable that Rostam would be able to make use of any modern vehicles, even though he would be able to understand their function easily.
Personal Skills:
Battle Continuation: C
At this rank the Servant is capable of impressive feats of uncanny endurance, able to fight on with wounds that would ordinarily be considered crippling. It is even possible to remain alive with deadly injuries, though he cannot fight.
Blessed of Ohrmazd: A
The divine blessing of Ohrmazd. Ones lifespan is massively extended, and Strength is permanently ranked up. (accounted for in baseline stats)
Dragon Slayer: C
The slayer of a river Dragon, weaker by nature than the great Dragons slain by the likes of Sigurd and Beowulf. He receives an additional rank down for and having done it with the aid of Rakhsh. Nevertheless, his damage output is increased by 25% against dragonkind, and he gains 25% resistance to dragon breath.
Noble Phantasm(s):
Name: Babr-e Bayan
Title: Imperishable Skin of the River Dragon
Rank: B
NP Type: Barrier
Range: -
Maximum Number of Targets: -
Description: The hide of a Persian river dragon, a mighty beast which was slain by Rostam with the aid of Rakhsh. The hide is the resistant to fire, water and weapons. All attacks of these types of C rank or below are unable to penetrate the suite at all and attacks of B rank and above will be reduced by the difference between the ranks (B rank attacks becoming E rank, A rank attacks becoming D rank.
This is not conceptual effect, but rather a form of conventional armor. As such attacks which penetrate the pelt will leave holes through which subsequent attacks can be made. Armor repair takes several minutes, and as such is not largely possible in the middle of battle. In addition, areas not directly covered by the pelt have no special protection, and hence Rostam's dragonhide is full of chinks.
The neck, armpits, forearms, back of the calves, inner thighs, feet, hands and face are all unprotected by this Noble Phantasm.
In addition to the pelt, Rostam possesses a magical skull helmet which has been assimilated into the noble Phantasm, the two artifacts becoming simply part of "the marvelous armor of Rostam." It possesses identical properties to the dragon pelt, allowing its protection to extend to his head, though his face remains largely uncovered.
The pelt grants Rostam B rank resistance to fire, negating all but the most hellish of fire attacks, and reducing those of A rank or over to mere E rank singes. Areas not directly covered by the pelt may still be burned however.
Despite his immense weight which should make the activity impossible, the resistance to water granted by the pelt allows Rostam to float freely in any body of liquid.
Babr-e Bayan is vulnerable to Hero's and Noble Phantasms which possess the attribute of Dragon Slayers, and suffers a two-rank degradation against such entities.
Name: Rakhsh
Title: Shining Lion Steed
Rank: B+
NP Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 1-25
Maximum Number of Targets: 1
Description: The peerless stallion of Rostam, Rakhsh is the mightiest of all horses in the Shahnameh. Immense in body and strength, Rakhsh stands over ten feet tall at the head, matching Rostam's stature and being the only steed able to carry him. A fierce hero in his own right Rakhsh has slain a monstrous lion on his own while his master was sleeping, and is a fearsome foe even when Rostam is not mounted on top of him.
Immensely swift, able to gallop at speeds which only the swiftest hero's can match on foot, and able to sustain these speeds over long periods. When galloping into battle Rakhsh is comparable to an oncoming tank which crushes all in its path.
As an Phantasmal Beast Rakhsh possesses strength and speed far above most ordinary heroes.
Rakhsh possesses refined senses of smell and hearing which exceed Rostam's own. Four times while the hero was sleeping unaware Rakhsh noticed the approach of a creeping monster and roused his master to wakefulness to defend himself. When it comes to vigilance against things such as traps, incoming missiles, or assassins using presence concealment, Rakhsh possesses abilities comparable to Arturia or Cuchulain, far exceeding Rostam's own.
Finally, Rakhsh possesses a highly gifted intelligence for a horse, approaching human reasoning. Though he cannot speak, he can understand most of what is said between parties, and is able to formulate battle plans and complex decisions of his own.
