[hider=Champion] [u]Name:[/u] Krix Mardus [u]Age:[/u] Mid-thirties [u]Sex:[/u] Male [u]Appearance:[/u] 2 meters tall with the build of a blacksmith, and weighing in at over 100kg. Thick slabs of muscle coat his entire frame and are accented by a myriad showing of scars, giving ample evidence of the labors he has completed in his long life thus far. He keeps his dark hair shaved and more often than not his torso bare, save for the chains encircling it. Overall, he has the appearance of a brute and a bully, though he is generally anything but. [u]Powers:[/u] As the champion of the god of sculptors, metals, and volcanoes, Krix possesses an inherent ability to generate and manipulate the primal elements of earth and fire. This affinity grants him a high resistance to damage from flames or heat, and aids him in the practice of his chosen profession as a craftsman and warrior. He has also been gifted with potent physical boons thanks to his many centuries of service, rendering his skin as tough as hardened leather, his muscles strong enough to lift one tonne, and his bones hard enough to withstand the high speed impact of a "car". He can move with sufficient speed to outpace even the fastest horses by double, and react in sufficient time to avoid even the projectiles known to modern man as "bullets", given sufficient space (10 meters or more). He can heal from even severe wounds in hours or days, rather than weeks or months, and even the power of his senses is not to be underestimated. He can see minute details in near total darkness with perfect clarity, determine the properties of a material by their sound alone, smell the composition of an alloy from a dozen meters, and count the threads in fabric by touch. His endurance is likewise phenomenal, and he has been known to remain at the forge for weeks at a time without sleep, food, or rest. [u]Skills:[/u] Krix is a master craftsman, able to forge any mundane weapon or armor with ten times the speed and skill of any mortal, rendering his creations far superior to even those of man's machines and technology. While his skill is still inferior to that of his patron in the making of weapons and armor of a more divine and magical nature, there are few even among the immortals who can match him in this regard. In addition to his skill as a smith and craftsman, he has often been called upon to fight his patron's battles on the mortal plane, serving as his proxy in the great tournaments the gods use to decide the fate of their schemes. In the course of his centuries of service, he has become a highly skilled and exceptionally potent warrior, in addition to his skill at the forge. [u]Weaponry:[/u] Hammer - With a half meter handle and a ten pound head, this hammer was forged by Hephaestus himself and given to Krix as a reward for his dedicated service. While its primary purpose is to be used in the forge, it also possesses several properties that make it ideal for use in combat. Foremost among those properties is the ability to dispel and reinforce enchantments and magical energies, as well as redouble the efforts of its wielder tenfold. When used to create, it will fortify any enchantment put on the item and cause every strike to land true, and when used to destroy, it will cause ten times the normal damage of such a strike to magical barriers and crafted items, though living flesh will suffer only the force of the blow itself. No one save those chosen by Hephaestus can wield this hammer. Chains - When he is called away from the forge and summoned to do battle, Krix will often wrap his torso and arms in chains forged from the ore of a meteorite and blessed by his god. These chains are resistant to magical tampering, and several orders of magnitude more durable than even the strongest of steel. They also seem to be able to grow longer and shorter at will, though whether this last capability is due to Krix's powers with earth or inherent in the chains themselves is unknown. Greatsword - A sword sized for Krix, the blade alone is just over a meter long, and the handle just shy of a third of that length. This blade is carried on his back when going to battle, and is forged after the fashion of a leaf (similar to glamdring). It has been blessed by Hephaestus to remain always sharp and unbroken, and has the uncanny ability to disperse focused magical assaults, as well as protect the hand and arm of them that wield it. Shortsword - Short in name only, the leaf-blade of this weapon is two-thirds of a meter in length, and it is worn over the same shoulder as the greatsword. In addition to the blessings of resilience and toughness, this blade also possesses the ability to harm those beings that would normally be immune to physical damage, such as ghosts, wraiths, and various other forms of spirits and undead, as well as defend against their attacks. [/hider] [hider=Deity] [u]Name:[/u] Hephaestus [u]Sex:[/u] Male [u]Appearance:[/u] [img=http://www.greek-mythology-pantheon.com/wp-content/uploads/Greek_Gods_and_Goddesses/Hephaestus_Vulcan_Greek_God/Hephaestus_Vulcan_Greek_God_Art_02_by_HardCoreDesigns.jpg] [u]Domains:[/u] Blacksmiths, Craftsmen, Artisans, Sculptors, Metals, Metallurgy, Fire and Volcanoes. [/hider] [hider=Combined] [u]Alignment:[/u] Neutral [u]History:[/u] Krix was born in a small village in greece, less than a week's journey from the city of Athens, and even from a young age he displayed an innate talent for the crafting arts, so much so that this talent caught the eye of one of the gods. As the god of crafting, smithing, and metals, Hephaestus took a special interest in those mortals who showed particular promise in those fields, and even among the gifted Krix stood out as special. Slowly but surely, his favor with the smithing god grew as he continued to pursue his chosen occupation, growing so great even that he was gifted with immortality, so that his talent might not be snuffed out of the world. Even then, he rose to greater heights in skill and power as he quickly became one of Hephaestus' favored sons, those both mortal and immortal who had shown particularly great skill to their patron and been rewarded for it. For Krix, this favor meant an innate ability to shape and alter the materials with which he worked, as well as a resistance to and control over the heat and flames required for the process. Additionally, his strength was enhanced to allow greater blows and stronger creations, his speed to better utilize the long hours at the forge, and his senses to more correctly discern the properties of the materials he used and how to treat them. It was not until several centuries after the forge god first took notice of him that Krix was called to serve outside his workshop, in order to defend his patron's position in the heavens against those champions who would dare to oppose it. Despite his meager amount of traditional combat training, his brute strength, durability, and powers with earth and fire made him well-suited to the new environment, and he soundly defeated the first dozen challengers. It was not long though before he came to realize how greatly their skill outmatched his own, and so he took it upon himself to seek more formal training in the ways of combat and learn what he could before next he was called. While his skill in combat would never reach the level of his skill at the forge, he nevertheless became an even more formidable combatant as his training progressed alongside his work. When next it became time to defend the position of his god, the opponents he faced were far superior to those he had defeated the first time, yet his training paid off. He won the battles against all but three of his opponents, and those defeats only spurred him on to train harder. So he did, until the next time he was summoned to battle, then again until the next, and again until the next, all the while adapting and training to become the best among those favored by Hephaestus. He may not have understood the reasons for the contests, but he had been given great gifts by his god and he would do his utmost to repay that dept. [u]Other:[/u] To be determined. [/hider]