[hider=The Emperor of Mankind] [b]Name:[/b] Legio [b]Gender:[/b] Typically male, can assume female form. [b]Appearance:[/b] [img]https://1d4chan.org/images/thumb/c/cc/Lord_of_Mankind.jpg/400px-Lord_of_Mankind.jpg[/img] [img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/nationceation/images/c/ce/Gloria_atomicae_by_larbesta-d46yf6a.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120201054502[/img] Legio is roughly thirteen feet tall, and aside from his primary appearance, it seems he can subtly alter his appearance to look just about however he likes to any given observer, so long as the form he takes remains within the limits of typically-accepted human biology. [b]Personality:[/b] With the race of humanity specifically as his domain, the Emperor of Man is naturally very inclined toward keeping his charges safe. He firmly believes that humanity is destined to become the dominant race over all others, mortals and immortals alike, and a lot of his morality is based around the notion of paving the way for humanity to achieve this fate: those who assist humanity's destiny are most welcome, those who hinder it are despised. That said, Legio has an honourable streak about him that he insists the humans who worship him emulate, being brave in the face of harsh odds, and honest in the face of lies and deception; though his own plans sometimes necessitate omitting information, he is for the most part not needlessly cruel in any sense, and to the right people can be very friendly, which at least endears him to certain other gods at times. [b]Major Domain:[/b] Mankind [b]Minor Domains:[/b] Truth and Bravery [b]Weaknesses:[/b] Ironically, the God-Emperor's biggest weaknesses lie in his very domains. Though plentiful, the vast majority of humans are not exceptionally strong by the standards of this world, and indeed are perceived as the weakest of mortal races by far too many groups; whilst they certainly have their epic heroes and everything in between, the average human soldier will not win a fight against a similarly-trained member of most races with a physical advantage... at least, not on their lonesome, and as always, many variables may lead to changes in the end result. Likewise, his subdomains of bravery and truth combine within his personality, leading him to give up a designated goal but rarely - a grand feat of morality, but not exactly pertinent when achieving his goal would be nigh-impossible, or even detrimental to his cause. Lastly, since his form is also based on that of humanity, he can technically die about as easily as a human if his foe bears a Godsbane weapon, but his own powers and equipment more than make up for this setback. [b]Your Avatar:[/b] [hider=The Colossus] [img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/32/d5/6d/32d56db780c69f4dc08b5fbf37fe43d0.png[/img] An immense living statue made of solid, heavily enchanted metal, imbued with Legio's divine essence and helpfully rendered animate by Alinius' will, the Colossus takes the form of the humans it is designed to protect sans the vital organs that it would otherwise require, and has been armed with a giant round shield whose barrier seems to extend well past its physical boundaries, and an equally massive sizeshifting blade able to slice even incorporeal entities in twain. Easily as large as or larger than any Avatar of the other gods, the Colossus' construction makes it nearly immune to defeat by most means short of decapitation or the removal of all four limbs due to a lack of organic weak points, and consequently relatively easy to "resurrect" through simple reforging, not to mention capable of taking or avoiding extremely heavy hits just as well as it doles them out. [/hider] [b]Stance:[/b] Legio is currently gunning for the throne, and whilst the Emperor of Mankind has no intent to be needlessly selfish about his leadership - after all, some insight from other perspectives could always be appreciated - he would be hard put-upon to accept a situation where he is not King of the Gods in some sense, as this would be what he feels is best for Mankind. If push came to shove, his most likely second choice would be Telios, as the eldest son of and most similar (even superior) option to Ephra, but he would need to consider himself all but entirely out of the running before acquiescing to this route. [b]Loyalty During the Rebellion:[/b] To put it lightly, Thatos was not an especially fun God of War to be around - whilst his gripes were considered legitimate by Legio, the manner he addressed them in certainly wasn't, and after all, Ephra was the Father of All Gods. Legio fought for Ephra throughout the war, in particular against those who targeted human settlements in a bid to weaken the King's power, and was as distraught when he heard of Ephra's passing as elated upon hearing of Thatos' destruction. [b]Center of Power:[/b] [hider=Globus Aquila] [img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Imperial_Orb_of_the_Holy_Roman_Empire.jpg/800px-Imperial_Orb_of_the_Holy_Roman_Empire.jpg[/img] A heavily bejewelled orb of gold, glowing a similar colour, with the symbol of a double-headed eagle mounted atop it, embedded into his very armour or hovering around his head like a halo under normal circumstances. Other than Legio himself, and as a minor defense mechanism in itself, any who take this orb without his permission are "gifted" a portion of Legio's own insight - his bravery, his desire to see the truth unleashed, and above all his wish for mankind to achieve their full potential - and retain these inspirations after the orb is released, driving them to try and help embody and enhance the ideals of mankind. [/hider] [b]Relations:[/b] [i]Allied[/i] - Koritomo, Goddess of War; Galvan, God of the Forge; Califer, God of the Hunt; Azah, Goddess of Justice; Alinius, God of Death [i]Friendly[/i] - Telios, God of the Sun; X, God of Knowledge; Aela, Goddess of Life; Typhonne, Goddess of Storms [i]Neutral[/i] - Asmoday, God of the Underworld; Necrarch, God of Undeath; Legorian, God of the Sea; Oao, God of Darkness; Sleeth Rethrah, God of Murder; Leoric, God of Lust; Tian, God of Dragons; Naqqash, God of Sorrows; Dream, God of Dreams; Meztliyaotl, Goddess of the Moon [i]Unfriendly[/i] - Polaris, God of the Stars [i]Hostile[/i] - Sylendre, Goddess of Nature; Artheron, God of Predation [b]Powers:[/b] [i]The New Man[/i] - Legio was created to act not only as a leader of men, but as an example of how they ought to act, indeed how they ought to [i]be.[/i] As the Master of Mankind, Legio's physical power and skill is second to none: whilst not the utmost peak of strength, speed, agility, stamina, or durability amongst the gods, he is great enough in all aspects that their combination renders him a dangerous foe in physical combat no matter his opponent, not to mention skilful with many forms of weaponry even beyond what he is normally equipped with. [i]Matter Over Mind[/i] - Legio is not especially possessed of specific control over certain elements like many of his fellow deities. Instead, his main power leans a lot more general - he can generate a telekinetic force akin to disembodied, incorporeal hands to shield himself and others or strike down opponents with barely a movement, and notably to manipulate matter and energy with greater strength and precision the closer to himself it is and a maximum range that can easily encompass an entire army. Through these means, he can quite handily perform many and varied spectacular feats with material substances, from solid matter through to gases, even encompassing events such as lightning strikes, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes... but, as these do not encompass true magical feats beyond the telekinesis involved in them, those gods who already bear magic to manipulate these elements will inevitably win out in a struggle to control such elements, especially within the other deity's domain. Moreover, and as a logical extreme of this power's strength increasing within his proximity, the amount of control he has over his body proper is phenomenal. As a result, though his default appearance is as shown above, he is able to shift his appearance either subtly or not so subtly to adopt the form of just about any bipedal entity, albeit within reasonable human-like limits - whilst he could technically seem as many entities with human heritage, it would be a stretch to suggest he could adopt orcish form, and an insult to suggest he do so. This control also doubles as both sustained "flight", and a sort of rapid healing - not true automatic regeneration of wounds, but close enough that any attack which is not very rapidly lethal can be rendered moot in minutes, if not seconds. [i]Mind Over Matter[/i] - As his telekinetic strength offers him power over matter, so does his telepathy grant him access to the minds of others. Most commonly, he combines this and his body-moulding power to generate an image of himself in the eyes of those who behold him, one that best suits what they believe to be an awe-inspiring figure. Since this rarely works on other deities, he has honed the ability for other purposes too: most generally, he may use it to speak into or read the minds of humans all across the mortal realm, linked as they are to him by divine representation, as well as anybody else within a fairly large distance of him. Those within this range are also subject to mental assault, typically a sort of impossibly "loud" psychic scream intended to scramble sensory input and render unconscious those subjected to it, or a brief burst of their worst dredged-up nightmares as an alternative to killing them; should he want to avoid an interaction altogether, he can also trick their minds into simply not perceiving him, letting him pass by as though he were invisible. In a worst case scenario, he can make an effort to try and warp the target's very minds, either to change their memories or their loyalties, though enough telepathic power in kind or a strong enough willpower can ultimately dissuade any form of psychic attack or alteration made by Legio. [i]Truth of the Soul[/i] - The mind can lie; the soul does not. One of his more esoteric powers, Legio is capable of looking past the physical matter of a being to observe their very soul, and in doing so to observe the truth of their being more directly than can be hidden from anybody, not to mention whether or not they are lying about what they say, though in this case further interrogation to extricate the truth would be necessary, such as the use of Mind Over Matter to read their thoughts. Indeed, this power even allows him to manipulate the soul of another being, to enhance or diminish it as desired, even to snuff it out entirely, though any manipulation beyond truth-seeing is implausible to use against a fellow god without extreme effort. [i]No Courage, No Quarter[/i] - In a fight, it is rare that a foe will not at some point consider fleeing if they are on the back foot. This power is intended to dissuade that option, and to punish whoever takes it. Choosing a number of targets to enact this power upon, Legio generates a sort of semi-visible mobile boundary, encompassing whoever he has targeted (which can optionally include himself sans negative effects if he is to be involved in this battle, but must include both sides of a combat no matter what their alliance to Legio is), with the field growing larger the more individuals are encompassed within it, with the final size allowing for anything from one-on-one duels to entire epic-scale combats. So long as the majority of targets are not considering escape, the field moves roughly with all individuals within, Legio included, and those within are protected from external interference; yet the moment one side truly considers fleeing, routing, or otherwise exiting combat, the field's position locks, and any foes who pass from inside to outside in an attempt to escape (though not to pursue those who try to escape) are cursed. The Coward's Curse can affect even gods, albeit to a somewhat lesser degree than it does mortal and immortal creatures, and runs as follows: until such time as the Coward returns to face whichever enemy they were previously fighting, all wounds they suffer (including from the battle) will fail to heal properly, staying open far longer than usual even if they would usually heal very rapidly, reopening with the slightest hint of exertion, and typically become badly infected even if it should not be plausible for infection to take hold. Similarly, the Coward is rendered unable to recover any magic or stamina they have used, either from the battle itself or their subsequent exertions, and will eventually collapse and die of enervation if they do not return to fight. They will also find themselves irrationally terrified of even the most mundane things, making it nigh-impossible for them to engage in activities and events they would usually be comfortable with combined with the constant, maddening knowledge of roughly where the foe they fled from is located, these latter two effects attempt to drive the Coward to face their enemy once more. The Coward's Curse cannot be lifted save through the Coward coming back to finish their fight, making themselves visibly known to the foe beforehand to assure their courage is recovered, or else if Legio himself is persuaded to lift the Curse personally. Should they flee once again, the Curse will make its comeback as if it had never been lifted to begin with; should the Coward try to attack their enemy whilst they are unaware, or worse yet be hunted down by their foe instead of vice versa, the Curse will only strengthen further, beginning to actively inflict unhealing wounds and drain the Coward's magic and energy even when doing nothing, and so all but ensuring the Coward's eventual demise. [b]Godly Equipment:[/b] [i]The Golden Hoplon[/i] - A suit of well-decorated golden armour, as seen above. The armour itself is unencumbering despite its bulk, and extraordinarily hard and tough, very difficult to penetrate or crush even with high-quality Godsbane weapons; what makes it truly powerful, however, is the fact that it shields its wearer from negative mental effects such as fear or mind control, as well as projecting an aura of bravery and stamina that imbues those fighting for Legio to keep up pressure against a foe no matter how much they would otherwise be flagging - very useful for avoiding a rout, but it could also work against them if a retreat would in fact be the most pertinent option. [i]The Blade Imperium[/i] - A weapon forged for Legio back in the time when he aspired for Boletia's ascendancy as the sole human empire, this is not only an incredibly well-crafted Godsbane sword in its own right, as seen above, but a strong focus for Legio's own magical abilities. By imbuing his power into it, he can generate a telekinetic effect far more extreme than usual that manifests as incorporeal flames around the sword, allowing it to cut through most substances like water, launch slashes of force as long-distance strikes, produce makeshift barriers to guard against enemy attacks, or even generate a sort of psychic whip to strike his enemies with. [i]The Claw of Man's Mastery[/i] - An immensely large Godsbane gauntlet with blades for fingers, as seen above. Much like the Blade Imperium, the Emperor can focus his power into the blades to let them safely hold or sharply cut through most materials, though with nothing like as much strength or control as the Blade Imperium. Instead, the Claw's effects are intended to enhance the best aspects of humanity, emitting an aura that substantially amplifies the capabilities of most humans in its range to better push them toward their perceived destiny - their strength and speed are boosted beyond normal human limits, they acquire a healing factor that can stitch together light to moderate wounds in relatively short order, and their minds enter a state of thought that is improved both quantatively and qualitively compared to usual, letting the average soldier fight with greater effectiveness, and allowing their leaders to develop complex and brilliant tactics and strategies on the fly. [b]Demi Gods:[/b] Typically, Legio does not fornicate frivolously. Very rarely is it a necessity for diplomatic purposes, but for the most part, he prefers to keep to long-term partners - so far, he has yet to experience such a relationship with a god, but has experienced love with mortals in the past. From the most recent such relationship, he has borne two children: Narrakk and Astaros Ophus. [hider=Narrakk Ophus] [hider=Face; Melee Weapons; Armour Colouration; Symbol Design] [img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/be/56/e0/be56e0739d3b9c2c8e43c950c7adb3bf.png[/img] [/hider] [hider=Ranged Weapon and Quiver; Armour Style] [img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/e/ec/Primarch_Jhagatai_Khan.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120625225845[/img] [/hider] Narrakk is the elder of Legio's semi-divine sons by a few years, and physically the superior of the two even accounting for age difference - though his magical prowess was never as great as Astaros', his eventually-muscled physique of some nine and a half feet more than made up for it in the frequent competition they engaged in, and though he celebrated his victories, he accepted his defeats with quite a bit of humility, helped somewhat by his inheritance of Legio's ability to view a soul and see what truths it held, though not to command them as his father did. On top of this, he bore his father's courageous heart, his drive to discover the truth wherever it lay, and a keen intellect besides, though neither to the all-encompassing degree that Astaros would practically obsess over; he strongly believed that to let himself do nothing would be a waste of his legacy as a demigod, and so took to combat training against the Emperor of Mankind in preparation for eventually getting involved in a true battle. He quickly became great at what he did. Too great, Legio eventually decided, for the talent to be squandered, especially since Narrakk seemed mostly content with his life in a way Astaros, having left for X's realms, was not. Shortly after his mother's death, Legio informed him that he would from then on be trained by the god of War himself, Thatos. Under him, Narrakk continued to improve, becoming ever more skilled in all forms of combat, and during this time struck upon and relayed to his father the idea of the Eternal Wardens, humans raised up by Legio's power to become immortal warrior-scholars capable of protecting humanity even beyond regular humans currently could. For this insight, he was placed at their head, granted the title of Field Marshal Supreme until such time as his father revoked it or his life came to an end - if it ever did. Yet for the coming civil war, that chance rose ever higher. After his separation from Aela, Thatos' mind focused ever more intently on perfecting the raw savagery of war, to the point of neglecting other aspects that too were necessary to keep the ravages of battle from being overwhelming... naturally, though Narrakk offered his advice to Thatos occasionally, the war of gods happened nonetheless, Narrakk convinced by his mentor to fight under his banner in the name of ending Ephra's freedom. Some five years in, Legio revoked his leadership over the Wardens and led the immortal humans himself from then on, but it took another forty or so before the demigod realised how insane Thatos' crusade had become, arguably had been since its inception. One last effort to bring Thatos to his senses led Narrakk to miss being slaughtered as a supposed traitor by a hair's breadth, and so he fled the War God, returning to his father's side to continue fighting under Ephra's banner for the remainder of the war. After the death of Ephra and Thatos in that final battle, Narrakk was reinstated as the leader of the Eternal Wardens once more, though in truth he had unofficially returned to that role for quite some time anyway. So too was he placed under the tutelage of the new deity of War, the daughter of the old; though he evidently had his concerns, some based in experience and others in trustworthiness, Koritomo proved as good a teacher as Thatos had ever been, arguably even better for the balance she showed in her training. As of current, he continues to hold his position, both leading and training the Eternal Wardens where needed, and in turn being trained under Koritomo in many matters for the foreseeable future. [/hider] [hider=Astaros Ophus] [img]https://orig00.deviantart.net/8f9b/f/2016/346/4/5/daemonic_magnus_the_red_by_raffetin-dard1xp.jpg[/img] Unlike his brother's story, Astaros' tale is one of self-inflicted pain. Where Narrakk was more physically adept, Astaros was possessed of incredible magical potency for a demigod, complete with skill far beyond his father's own, and where Narrakk was comparatively humble, Astaros' arrogance was extreme beyond measure, both unbecoming of and unusually suited to a son of the god of Man. Driven to compete with Narrakk again and again in his youth as though feeling a need to prove himself, a childhood strewn with both victories and losses led to constant research into new ways of defeating his brother - sometimes straining his relationship with his parents for his absences - and ultimately to a thirst for knowledge, for the truth of all things as well as the ways in which they were distinguished from the lies of the world, on par with that of the God of Knowledge himself. And who else could satisfy such a thirst, but for that samesaid deity? Thus, at a comparatively young age, Astaros went to X, and forced himself to swallow his pride and beg for the god's favour and teaching. Though he had a demigod of his own to consider, X decided to offer Astaros tutelage, if he in turn could offer a sign of devotion - not to X himself, but to what the god represented, the ideal of knowledge, pursued even at great personal cost. Sent away to meditate on this matter, Astaros eventually came to the revelation X had plucked out his own eye, a most fitting price for the gift of magic to mortals. This inspired Astaros to remove his own, with much agony, and so to present it to X as his offering. X, however, was not satisfied with this. "An eye," he proclaimed, "can be regrown with magic. What cannot be restored, once it is lost, is your humanity." Only now did Astaros learn of his mother's death, for so long had he been away from her in his quest that she had aged to infirmity. And so, Astaros was given the following statement: X's library, and the books and knowledge contained within, were free to be perused, and whatever he desired as a lesson would be taught to him - knowledge of the fragility of mortality merely being the first. Since then, Astaros has pushed the limits of his power time and again in a bid to ever improve himself, even missing out on most of the civil war in favour of further research and self-improvement. He has retained his competitiveness and arrogance, both partially fueled by the knowledge of X's child Atefir as well as knowledge of Narrakk's leadership over the Eternal Wardens, but now feeds his thirst for knowledge by following X's teachings to the best of his ability. In his mind, having seen how mortals eventually die, this means attempting to rise to godhood by abandoning his own mortality, and so has warped his own form to encompass ever greater physical and magical strength, much to his father's chagrin. He is currently a full ten feet tall, practically demonic in form if not mind, and possessed of incredible magical prowess that renders him nigh-unstoppable on the field of battle by anything short of another demigod, as infrequently as he brings himself to such fields; yet the Eye Breaks that he senses every so often remind him of the mortal components of his power, shielded from reversion by his divinity but nonetheless shaken each time. His current quest is to determine how to excise this mortal magic from himself, displacing it with purely divine power, and therefore bringing himself one step closer to true godhood. [/hider] [u][b]The Land of Emanule[/b][/u] [b]Lands:[/b] It is disingenuous to suggest that humans have [i]a[/i] main country, widespread across the mortal realm as they are. However, being that Mankind is Legio's prime domain, his own physical realm is largely derived from where humans have most deeply settled at any given time. Consequently, Legio's primary country is a nation called "Emanule" by its people. The land bears a roughly-pentagonal border tilted slightly on to its South-East corner, wholly exposed to nearby ocean from North-North-East to South-East, with its borders tied to other lands beyond this. Closer to the sea, Emanule's land grows temperate, including grasslands and deciduous forests*, whilst the further West one travels, the cooler and hillier the land grows, with fewer forests and somewhat more evergreen flora. Across the land, naturally, are various human cities, towns, and villages, the country's capital of Ephrum sitting just below the country's centerpoint, connected by its largest road to the next two largest cities, Legornack to the farthest East and Thatanos in the Western hills, though some settlements of dwarves do exist in the West too. *Short of oversights, all forests deciduous or not are [i]thoroughly[/i] cleared of hostile flora and fauna by any humans living nearby, for fear of a certain duo of deities acting against them. That in mind, Emanule's flora and fauna are relatively mundane, similar to those of medieval countries such as England or France. [b]People:[/b] Aside from a few dwarven settlements, the vast majority of Emanule's people are human, with a few Dwarven settlements in its Western parts. Typically, Emanule is not exceptionally warm or cool, and so its people are mostly light-skinned, with a reasonable variety of hair and eye colours across the board, though skin tones do shift toward a mild tan as one moves toward the warmer Eastern parts of the country. [b]Culture:[/b] Emanule's society is, for the most part, very meritocratic in nature: smaller villages demand it in order to sustain themselves, whilst towns and cities require it to ensure all are living to their fullest potential, be it in the arts, sciences, trade, leadership, or in simple hard labour as some are wont to aim for. Even for the breadline poor, life is somewhat lavicious - an Emanulian home considered ascetic often has a flowing style to it evocative of former Boletia, whilst the ultra-rich often manage to acquire artwork and sculptures from Boletia itself and other dead civilisations from around that time period through various means. Evidently, it is a nation of significant wealth, and its architecture and common pastimes reflect this, yet oddly enough, it is surprisingly lacking in religious worship. The only major deity worshipped throughout the whole country is Legio himself, supposedly for blessing them with his presence and protection for so much time, and whilst other deities may be worshipped within individual households, only the God-Emperor of Man has his churches within this land, for good or ill. [b]Technology:[/b] Emanule's technology lies firmly within the early Renaissance era, with its human inhabitants having discovered the scientific method of research, the crank and connecting rod, and the printing press during the civil war proper; with the assistance of the country's dwarves, weapon technology has begun to adapt toward matchlock guns, and arquebuses and muskets alike are increasingly wide-spread weapons, though for their reliability medieval-era melee weapons, longbows, and crossbows all remain commonplace amongst many troops. [b]Capital:[/b] As stated above, the capital city of Emanule is called Ephrum, closely followed in size by Legornack and Thatanos. Evidently named after the former King of Gods, Ephrum is a city of around 150000 inhabitants and 38 kilometers in diameter, largely focused on trading between the next two largest cities and many other cities and towns in Emanule, rendering it an especially mercantile location with almost city-state-like power. This is only further supported by the fact that Emanule's monarchy has situated itself within Ephrum, granting the place a lot of social protection, not to mention substantial military strength. [b]Beings:[/b] Emanule is not home to any particular immortal races, and indeed not so few human nations are similar, since Legio has but rarely seen fit to create new entities himself (though plenty of human nations do integrate members of other races as well, comparatively tolerant as they are). The one exception to this lies in the form of those humans who Legio has seen fit to, in essence, uplift. [hider=Eternal Wardens] [img]https://pre00.deviantart.net/59ce/th/pre/f/2015/341/c/4/golden_knight_by_jasontn-d9jctzr.jpg[/img] Occasionally, a human will arise with strength, skill, magic, or any combination of these, far beyond what is usual for mankind in its current state, who sets forth to achieve great things and exceeds all expectations. It is to these heroes that Legio descends, and through use of his power over mortal, specifically human souls, he strengthens their very essence, not only enhancing their own being to near-bursting but imbuing them with a tiny portion of his own divine strength. The result is an Eternal Warden: human in form, yet far beyond human in all other aspects, they are unaging, incredibly difficult to kill for all manner of reasons, and by some human societies considered angels or even minor demigods in their own right. After their ascension, they are inducted into Legio's personal army, gifted with even greater training in all fields of combat, science and philosophy, and ultimately bestowed weapons and armour forged from the finest magic-imbued materials to fight with. Those rare few who are exceptional even among these paragons lead their number and the charge, armed with Godsbane weapons just in case the occasion arises that a god needs slaying by an immortal. Most tellingly of the Master of Mankind's worldview, even the Eternal Wardens are considered by Legio to be mere shadows of what the human race shall eventually accomplish: though treated well, he expects that they too will eventually be eclipsed, and hopes they will not hold themselves back when the time comes to move onward. [/hider] [/hider]