Name: Gaius Zephyr (Dagneel, the Life Bringer), ‘Gaius the Elder,’ ‘Old Man’
Age: ‘Gaius’ is a man late in his life. His apparent age is difficult to determine, but most observers would place him between fifty and sixty.
Race: Human (Guardian)
Inherent Ability(s):
Acquired Abilities:
Appearance:
Dragneel is quite fond of his true form. He would describe his scales as “immaculate,” and “breathtaking;” his eyes as “serene,” and “piercing.” There are certainly those who would agree, but he is not an unbiased source.
Nobody would say that Gaius strikes a particularly dashing figure. He would tend to agree. He woulddn’t say that he was ugly, more that he finds his human form less appealing than his true form.
Personality: Dragneel has placed his devotion above all else. He possesses myriad virtures and flaws—we’ll get to those in a moment—but first it must be said that the core of his very self, Dragneel is a servant of the God of the Heavens. He holds a deep respect for the other gods, and a great fondness for his peers, but his devotion trumps all else. Even his vanity. And Dragneel has considerable vanity. There is no grand explanation to this; Dragneel finds the appearance of his scales very pleasing, and, when he has nothing better to do in his true form, fusses over them considerably. This does not extend to his physical form. He finds the flesh of all non-dragons to be visually unappealing. As such, in an age where his true form would bring him great trouble, he settles for metal armor.
He considers himself wise, and while not as correct as h might like to be, there is some truth to this. But he is so certain of this that he can easily come off as arrogant and condescending. He does see himself as something greater than most other creatures he interacts with, because of his far greater age. In other words, he sees all but his peers and his charge (and his peers’ charges) as eternal children, wholly capable of achieving what he believes to be his heights if they only had the time. Occasionally, this thought sours him, tainting his manner with melancholy and longing to see what these transient mortals could be capable of with his breadth of experience.
This is not to say that he is incapable of mirth, or that he wiles away the hours with brooding. His manner is reserved, though frequently cracking when he is amused. Occasionally, however, it is broken with anger. His anger is an infrequent thing, but when it rears its head, he can sink into a vast pit of cruelty. When some poor fool brings him to action through anger, they soon find that he will take great twisting his words around them like rope, binding them in place with theor own fear, before unleashing is breath upon them.
History: His life, both as Dragneel and as Gaius, is far too long to describe in full here. However, two notes shall be made: First, of all the Guardians, Dragneel is the eldest. Given the length of their lives, it is so miniscule a lead that it has no bearing on their relations, but it is so. It actually became a point of humor when his human form began to age—earning him the nickname ‘Gaius the Elder.’ Second, he earned the title “Life Bringer” came upon him, not from some great act of healing magic, or defending the lives of innocents, but for siring an unparalleled number of children. Some today might find this anecdote amusing, but Dragneel still considers having created so many living, breathing creatures a deed worth bragging about. When the Purge fell upon his children, he was nearly consumed by rage and grief, and only his dedication to Arvas dragged him from his spiral of mournful fury. He has since made peace with the deaths’ of his children, but does still miss them.
Age: ‘Gaius’ is a man late in his life. His apparent age is difficult to determine, but most observers would place him between fifty and sixty.
Race: Human (Guardian)
Inherent Ability(s):
Strength of Will: Perhaps it is a result of the form he takes when masking his full splendor, or perhaps it is the way that from copes with the weight of the ages he has lived—he isn’t actually sure himself—but Gaius possesses indomitable will. Some might say that this is not unusual for a human, and they would be right, but Gaius is also Dragneel, whose age is of a scope and kind beyond what mortals can know, so he likes to think it a product wholly of his self.
- Heaven’s Breath: The God of Heaven gave Dragneel a breath to match for his uncommon rage. Not burning and hot, consuming and destroying all before it; but slow and seeping, curling and twisting around the objects of his ire until he, with manic glee, can make their strength his own.
- Farsight: Dragneel was always been uncommonly perceptive, when he was young, long ago. Now, be it from divine favor, natural progression, expenditure of effort, or some other cause, his sight has long since transcended physical boundaries. Nothing can hide anything from him when gazed upon by his slit eyes.
Acquired Abilities:
- Heaven’s Marshal: Gaius has learned a fair few secrets in his long life. Since first acquiring human form, he has become a master of the blade and all of its ordinary uses, but has also learned this secret of steel. Rare indeed is the flawless craft and, once every fortnight, under the borrowed light of the moon, or the direct light of the sun, he can locate and strike the exact weakest point of any working of metal. A bladed weapon will shatter, leaving a considerably less effective hilt behind—though, any remaining pieces of sharp metal on the hilt, or the various scattered pieces, are still perfectly dangerous. A considerably more blunt object, such as a the head of a mace, or a metal plate on a piece of armor, crack at first, before crumbling, having, in the case of the latter, absorbed any harm that the strike might otherwise have done. It is interesting to note that this ability is basically useless against works of metal with many small parts, such as chainmail.
- Heaven’s Steward: So long as he can gaze upon his God’s domain, Gaius shall never be lost. If Gaius can see the sun in the sky, or the stars at night, Gaius will know where he is going. There is actually precious little magic in this—Gaius has memorized the path of the sun, and countless maps of the stars, and this power is more a matter of convenience for intuiting angles and displacement, which combines with the aforementioned knowledge to produce the desired result. If a skilled illusionist were to create a passable imitation, and Dragnel’s Farsight could not be turned upon it, then it this power would become actively detrimental.
- Heaven’s Strength: In his prime, Gaius was like a legend come to life, with the strength of ten men and the ferocity of twenty. Over the many years, however, age has sapped at his human form’s strength as it would any other aging man. Now he ‘merely’ has strength that would be beyond reasonable on someone a third of his apparent age. Furthermore, and more importantly, it keeps his old body functioning at a pace that can match young company—something necessary for his present duty.
Appearance:
Dragneel is quite fond of his true form. He would describe his scales as “immaculate,” and “breathtaking;” his eyes as “serene,” and “piercing.” There are certainly those who would agree, but he is not an unbiased source.
Nobody would say that Gaius strikes a particularly dashing figure. He would tend to agree. He woulddn’t say that he was ugly, more that he finds his human form less appealing than his true form.
Personality: Dragneel has placed his devotion above all else. He possesses myriad virtures and flaws—we’ll get to those in a moment—but first it must be said that the core of his very self, Dragneel is a servant of the God of the Heavens. He holds a deep respect for the other gods, and a great fondness for his peers, but his devotion trumps all else. Even his vanity. And Dragneel has considerable vanity. There is no grand explanation to this; Dragneel finds the appearance of his scales very pleasing, and, when he has nothing better to do in his true form, fusses over them considerably. This does not extend to his physical form. He finds the flesh of all non-dragons to be visually unappealing. As such, in an age where his true form would bring him great trouble, he settles for metal armor.
He considers himself wise, and while not as correct as h might like to be, there is some truth to this. But he is so certain of this that he can easily come off as arrogant and condescending. He does see himself as something greater than most other creatures he interacts with, because of his far greater age. In other words, he sees all but his peers and his charge (and his peers’ charges) as eternal children, wholly capable of achieving what he believes to be his heights if they only had the time. Occasionally, this thought sours him, tainting his manner with melancholy and longing to see what these transient mortals could be capable of with his breadth of experience.
This is not to say that he is incapable of mirth, or that he wiles away the hours with brooding. His manner is reserved, though frequently cracking when he is amused. Occasionally, however, it is broken with anger. His anger is an infrequent thing, but when it rears its head, he can sink into a vast pit of cruelty. When some poor fool brings him to action through anger, they soon find that he will take great twisting his words around them like rope, binding them in place with theor own fear, before unleashing is breath upon them.
History: His life, both as Dragneel and as Gaius, is far too long to describe in full here. However, two notes shall be made: First, of all the Guardians, Dragneel is the eldest. Given the length of their lives, it is so miniscule a lead that it has no bearing on their relations, but it is so. It actually became a point of humor when his human form began to age—earning him the nickname ‘Gaius the Elder.’ Second, he earned the title “Life Bringer” came upon him, not from some great act of healing magic, or defending the lives of innocents, but for siring an unparalleled number of children. Some today might find this anecdote amusing, but Dragneel still considers having created so many living, breathing creatures a deed worth bragging about. When the Purge fell upon his children, he was nearly consumed by rage and grief, and only his dedication to Arvas dragged him from his spiral of mournful fury. He has since made peace with the deaths’ of his children, but does still miss them.
