[hider=Cassio]
[color=fff200]Username:[/color] C4ss10 "Cassio"
[color=fff200]Real Name:[/color] William Jones
[color=fff200]Gender:[/color] Male
[color=fff200]Age:[/color] 38
[color=fff200]Race:[/color] Half-Alv
[color=fff200]Class:[/color] Swashbuckler
[color=fff200]Subclass:[/color] Swordsmith
[color=fff200]Level:[/color] 90
[color=fff200]Appearance:[/color]
[center][img]https://s3.narvii.com/image/63bwocvtpxoacskzv3pv7lgq3uzth3mq_hq.jpg[/img][/center]

Cassio's avatar appears to be a younger male with gray hair. He wears simplistic clothing that seems to resemble business attire. In fact, Cassio refuses to wear actual armor, instead using magical items that are modified to appear mundane. He keeps this relatively unassuming presence to allow opponents to underestimate him, while also giving him the added presence of having to rely almost entirely on pure skill to accomplish his goals.

[color=fff200]Background:[/color]
Will first learned of Elder Tales when he was a senior in high school. Him and his friends signed up early on for the Beta, and were able to secure decent usernames as a result. Will was a Shakespearean nerd, choosing a relatively obscure Othello reference as his username. The kids ended up forming a guild on the MMO called the Arcanian Vanguards so that they could stay connected when life tore them away physically. They were about twenty-five strong at the most. By the time of the Catastrophe, there were only eleven active members of the guild.

Outside of playing Elder Tales, Will was the "Community Development Manager" for his alma mater's theater department. He had graduated from the university with degrees in advertising and film. He was a husband to his high school sweetheart (and former member of the Guild), and had two children. He would dedicate as much of his spare time as he could playing Elder Tales to ensure that he could keep his levels up for raids. He was the first to reach the level cap in the guild, and is considered one of the best Swordsmiths on the server before the Catastrophe.

[color=fff200]In Game History:[/color] 
The greatest disappointment Cassio faced during the catastrophe was realizing that no members of his guild were online. His friends, most of whom he'd known since childhood, were completely separated from him. Being the only online member of the Arcanian Vanguards, Cassio quickly disbanded the Guild and moved to start a new guild, The Blades. He reached out to every Swordsmith he could locate through his contacts, and started up the relatively small guild. He's spent most of his time training up his members in Swordsmithing, while also working to begin his slow climb upwards through fighting and adventuring.

[color=fff200]Guild/Position:[/color] Guild Master of the Blades
[hider=The Blades]
The Blades is the premiere Swordsmith guild of the North American Server. Will, upon realizing his other friends weren't online, started the guild shortly after the start of the Catastrophe in order to keep himself busy and in an attempt to grant any Swordsmiths the chance to train and gather together to develop their skills and trade their products. The Guild is relatively small, given how unpopular the Swordsmith subclass is.

Number of Members: 28
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[color=fff200]Personality:[/color] 
Cassio is highly trained and regimented in regards to his play-style. He is a min-maxer, and has dedicated himself to optimizing his skills and mastering his craft. As a result, Cassio seemed distant to most when he played "for fun" over the years. More recently, Cassio's nature as a father has become more apparent. He is nurturing of the skills of lower-level players, taking as many in under his wing over the past month. When he interacts with other guilds or participates in quests, his old tendencies to communicate only when necessary and focus solely on completing the objective reign supreme.

A Goal that he has placed for himself is to create two swords that have been deemed only a rumor: the Sun Blade and the Moon Blade. Some minor rumors in dialogue trees, minor quests, and deep diving into game files years ago hinted that they could exist. Part of Cassio's reason for establishing The Blades was to determine if it was possible and how these twin blades could be crafted or located. He's recently picked up a reliable lead, but it would require journeying far from his guild's current location to pick up specific components.

[color=fff200]Swashbuckler Skills:[/color]
[b]Early Thrust:[/b] A skill that can only be used when a combat encounter first begins, or before it begins. Does a moderate amount of damage, and places three marks.
[b]Razor Edge:[/b] Interrupts a target's casting of a spell. Moderate cooldown. Places a mark.
[b]Viper's Thrash:[/b] A powerful DOT (Damage over Time) skill that forces bleed damage and reduces the target's accuracy. Places a mark.
[b]Snake Bites:[/b] Reduces Target's Accuracy. Can stack up to 4 times on each target. Places a Mark
[b]Lightning Step:[/b] Teleports user behind target in a flash of light. Moderate Cooldown.
[b]Whirlwind:[/b] Basic AOE attack that deals moderate damage to nearby enemies. Moderate Cooldown.
[b]Cheap Trick:[/b] Concentrated attack that deals moderate damage quickly and interrupts target's action. Often used as a powerful swashbuckler counter move. Moderate-Long Cooldown. Places a mark.
[b]Thrust Joker:[/b] Powerful Thrust move that deals moderate damage and high DOT with powerful Bleed damage. Can only be chained as a counter when user receives damage. Long Cooldown. Places a mark.
[b]Round Windmill:[/b] Large AOE Move. Sees the user jump into the air and perform a high number of critical slashing attacks while mid-air. Useful in clearing out mobs or dealing a massive amount of damage to a boss. Has a long cooldown, and causes a long "freeze time" for user after triggering.
[b]Break Trigger:[/b] Finishing Move that causes all markers on all enemies to detonate at once. Markers are typically placed due to other, minor skill attacks. High Cooldown time.

[color=fff200]Swordsmith Skills:[/color]
[b]Forge's Flame:[/b] Minor Fire Resistance as a result of constantly working with blades. Passive.
[b]One with the Blade:[/b] Minor stat boost to attack and defense stats when wielding blades. Passive.
[b]Master Sword Crafting:[/b] Can craft nearly any sword in the game, so long as the crafting components are found and the recipe is known.

[color=fff200]Racial Skills:[/color]
[b]Analyzer:[/b] You are an expert in artificial weapons created in ancient times. Unlike the descendants of its former creators, the Alvs, these machines can only be used for destruction.
[b]Dimension Walker:[/b] An expert in the Alv's transitory magic, you can freely control distance by sensing the world's fluctuations.
[b]Native Operator:[/b] You're a natural at operating various tools, from machines to apparatuses. Its complexity doesn't matter; you can use a steering carriage to an ancient Alv defense mechanism.
[b]Parallel Mind:[/b] A skill where your thoughts run in a parallel, separating your physical movements from your mind when hit with a bad status.
[b]Progressive Relic:[/b] You have a high affinity for consumable items said to come from ancient Alvs. You can even use complex items that cannot be used by other races.

[color=fff200]Equipment:[/color]

[b]Flash Lindworm:[/b] A pair of powerful and beautiful phantasmal-class dueling swords. Required components that took months of raiding in order to then be crafted within the past month as Cassio achieved the former cap in his Swordsmithing skill.

[b]Gloves of the Duelist:[/b] Increases damage dealt by Early Thrust, and increases the damage and radius of explosions for Break Trigger.

[b]Boots of the Rushing River:[/b] Decent boots that increase the movement and attack speed of the wearer, but penalizes the wearer if he stops moving to change direction. Once a gimmick item that now sees great use during the Catastrophe with the more streamlined "control" over the game.

[color=fff200]Theme song:[/color]
[center][youtube]https://youtu.be/capV8asfWnc[/youtube][/center]

[color=fff200]Fun Facts:[/color] 
Cassio's username is a reference to the character "Michael Cassio," a character from Shakespeare's [i]Othello.[/i] Will had spent much of his high school and collegiate life involved in performing with Shakespearean theater companies, and his first role was as Cassio.
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