[OOC] Essence of the World: The Mending

[Krauxis]

I'm easy, personally. I'm happy with whatever, it's just weird to me that the OOC went quiet.

[Lucius Cypher]

Oh, I think it's my turn?

[Wind Wild]

Lol guys this seems to be going a bit slow, sorry if it's my fault. So how about we kick-start it a bit?

Should we proceed with a collab between us all, a lecture or a mission? If you're all still on board, that is.

[Lucius Cypher]

I"m down with a simple mission. Hell, if you'd allow me, I'd like to have Karnage host it. A sort of "Getting your feet wet" combat job. Just him taking a few of the students out to take out some variants of demons, and maybe have one of the more experienced teachers also watch over in case something too high tier shows up and wrecks faces.

[Wind Wild]

That sounds good to me, if you think you can do it, I'd appreciate you initiating it. In fact, have that be the reason Carnage approached them in the first place. :)

[Lucius Cypher]

Awesome. So would it be okay if I initiate a sort of small timeskip where Karnage is waiting for everyone to arrive, or should I have him just approach everyone at breakfast?

[Wind Wild]

You can do a time-skip and narrate briefly how he invited the characters for the mission and they scattered to get their stuff or something. We can go more in-depth in out own posts if we want to. Sound reasonable?

[Lucius Cypher]

Yuppers. Be on it soonish.

[Krauxis]

As far as round rules go, I do have the opportunity to post next, I guess, but in the interest of transparency I'd sorta like to wait until somebody else goes first, since I didn't post all that long ago. Just wanted to get that out there.

[Xionist]

I'm so sorry for all the silence from my end and the huge delay its caused. I've been going through a mixture of writer's block and a bit of my own personal issues as of late and it has kept me from posting. However I have not died completely! Here is my post so I hope we can get the ball rolling once more.

[Krauxis]

No problems here, Xion. Glad you're around at any rate. I'll get something up tomorrow. Totally wiped tonight.

[Krauxis]

Just a wee post for the moment. Not a whole lot to say just yet and I'm just sort of getting off of a major work bender, so that'll have to do this time. Sorry if it's not a lot to work off of.

[Lucius Cypher]

Alright, if no one else is going to show up, I'll have Karnage brief the kiddos and let the hunt begin.

[Themerlinhawk]

I'm not bringing anyone to the party, but You'll all be happy to know I'm about to kick this party off in terms of plot and a bad guy for this season.

[Fallenreaper]

Couple of cameo PCs, though Wind and I already talked about I figured it would've been polite to show them here. Namely for other Players to glimpse at them and maybe stir life in the OoC as things seemed to have gotten rather quiet?

Name: Gabriel (no last name)

Alias/Nickname: Several really, depending on whom you talk to but most the alias and nicknames are degrading and are from disgruntled customers. Clairvoyant Reject, Worthless Failure, ect. Names that he pushes off as mere facts but nothing he can change.

Age: He tells his clients he’s between 200 and 225, making him a regressed angel. Not that it seemed to make any difference in his ability.

Race: Angel (Regressed modern)

Appearance:

If he wasn't so scruffy

He appears to be twenty-nine, the very age his regression had been completed within one of his lifetimes. It also explains, because during that lifetime he had been fascinated with long hair, why he never cut his pure white locks. Instead, it’s usually hanging about his eyes and face, almost hiding it from the world until he’s forced to put it into a ponytail when he has customers. Most the time he pushed it up and out of his light onyx eyes that seem to be filled by the world’s experience or at least a few lifetimes. Standing at 5’9” for his full height, Gabriel has a habit of hunching over due to his less than confident attitude and has cut him down to 5’6” in a slouch. Just under his eyes are rings and pale skin, evidence of his poor care habits and sleep patterns making him seem more like a fragile human rather than an angel.

His wings are the same despite his form though they are rarely out, hidden under his coat usually, and whenever they are the wings appear to be molting all the time. Their overall appearance seems he’s incapable of flight, though it would be more because of the fact none had ever seen him perform as he tends to mention he gets airsick and would likely drop from the sky if he tried. Once out the total length from one tip to another is a meter and a half, or about 4 foot, making them among the smallest on record during his time. His wings seem to be a hybrid between the falcon species of Lanner and Saker. The coloring is tan white with the outside is brown and having black bars over the feather ends, breaking the monotone displayed.

His outfit is consistent of a dirty, and often patched old fashion trench coat over a black shirt, completely button up. The coloring, which had faded, was picked solely to hide all the stains from many coffees, food or other sort of stains that shows his ‘sloppy’ habits. Yes, he does eat... About his neck is an out of date necktie that’s plain red and hangs loosely, crinkled like in its manner. His pants are tan slacks and, like his coat, have been mended repeatedly over their long existence. On his feet are black shoes with the tread and sole worn completely down to an almost smooth finished thanks to his continual pacing around his modest housing.

Social Status: A clairvoyant angel with a below modest living that barely scrapes by making ends meets and keep a roof over his head. Using what is his only barely real talent of clairvoyance, he rarely gets customers (human, angel or the rare demon who doesn’t try to eat him) due to his ability being believed to be rather faulty when it comes to interpretation as he has great difficulty telling ‘visions’ from just ‘nightmares or dreams’ apart. Though ever so often he does hit a true one which why the Council sought to provide him with single protector and housing, tolerating his paranoid nature. In addition, it doesn’t help the fact not everyone has a great fate before them. Even other clairvoyant angels look down on him as something better to be stepped on than approached which surprisingly doesn’t bother Gabriel.

Relations:

Mihr- his deceased twin brother killed during after Hell’s gate fell, trying to protect him.

Uriel- An old, grouchy angel named Uriel acts as Gabriel’s bodyguard/babysitter. Uriel hasn’t a problem reminding the angel he is more likely to lose his mind then predict anything worthwhile (despite evidence of otherwise in the past), even when he’s entertaining the rare customer and tends to hurt his money income sometimes.

General Activity: Currently? He's been volunteering to help rebuild the damage left behind, at least what remains, as he also keeps an eye for his clients who survived Judas' all out war.

Abilities:

*Clairvoyance: Shaky foresight ability, Gabriel has a very high difficulty in telling apart simple nightmares apart from visions. While he has some latent talent, it seems regression hasn’t done much to improve this and only key individuals have been able to set it off. For a slight bit it’s a blessing as Gabriel doesn’t have to worry about the strict leash of the Council choking him with what little interactions he has in the world but it is rather depressing to be a large laughing stock even if he doesn’t show it.

*Flight abilities: Unknown if he even has these…

Equipment:

feather bangel: Enchanted to hid his Angelic essence and as long as he’s wearing it, to any creatures around him, he will read as human. When ‘on’ it glows a soft blue before the energy vanishes, leaving it to look like an average bracelet.

Protective vest: Thin but sturdy, he only wears this under his shirt for protection whenever he heads outside at Uriel’s request. It protects against both blades and bullets rather well, though it limits his torso movement greatly.

Personality:

Gabriel is an average downtrodden clairvoyant angel laughing stock. Despite this, he’s normally friendly and polite to anyone who approaches him though he is rather timid by nature and seems easily frighten by those he thinks will crush him. Forgetfulness and short attention spans seemed to run frequently in his interactions, some times so badly he can’t finish his train of thought before he trains off into stutters and jumbling words. In addition to his scatterbrained interaction is his inability to throw anything out and clumsiness that doesn’t make his pack rat, including old food cartons to mothy blankets and other junk, habit any easier to overlook.

Biography:

Before following his brother's lead and regressing, Gabriel's most cherish and lasting memories were when he was a common, normal surface angel. Hell's gate hadn't fallen back then and life was simpler. His father was a normal human, a gentle and timid man who fell in with a grey, battle angel. Together they produced twin angel offspring, Mihr his older brother and himself. As a child, Gabriel held a deep respect for his older twin and because that, he often followed the boy into the deep trouble during their childhood. It was hard to tell why Mihr had developed a indifference on the outside toward him but it seemed not to faze Gabriel in the least. At the time, they were both raised like normal angel offspring as they were taught their duties, heritage, and the common view toward vile demons and their responsibly of mankind. It was around fourteen when their clairvoyance kicked in and sadly, their levels were vastly different compared to each other.

Gabe's visions were often fleeting and erratic, unable to predict anything with certainty, compared to his brother's clarity and accuracy which allowed their own mother to evade death more than once. Naturally the Council acted accordingly to what they viewed as best for all involved. Mihr, and Gabriel, were both removed from their parents' custody and placed under protection of assigned guardians better suited to protecting their gifts. The effect on his brother was most noted in Gabriel's eyes when the older one drew closer to the only family he had left, Gabriel himself. At the age of sixteen, Mihr began talking about entered regression and seemed to beg Gabriel to follow along for the ride in his brother's wake. Weeks after his power had gotten stronger, Gabriel noted Mihr seemed twitchier than usual. His brother often came back distance, upset and furious from his meetings with the Council, both scheduled and not. Though Mihr never laid a hand on him, Gabe feared what his brother might do in his temper and pulled away in fear. Finally it was revealed what troubled his brother most creating the last nail in Gabriel's decision to join his brother in regression. Presenting their deserves to the Council, there was of course worry about the transgression and the chances one or both could be driven insane.

Mihr's arguments were difficult to counter and drew any needed votes into his favor, his speech seemingly rehearsed to perfection. Using resources provided, namely the experience of past regressed clairvoyant angels and demons bound to tamers, helped both held their bodies and mind together through the process. Inside, when it was all said and done, part of Gabriel regretted the decision because he was nearly driven insane. It proved he was always the weaker of the pair after all.

During the pain, their bodies had slowed in aging and seemed to finally stopped at twenty-nine though several hundred years passed in a blur. However, the addition in memories and power seemed not to have helped Gabriel in the least to increase his clairvoyant powers or add more. The only show that he was now an Original was the fact he appeared to have stopped aging at all. A matter that didn't exactly please the Council very much since it made all their work and effect a vain attempt to salvage what pitiful power he had. Some blamed him while others believe his weak in barely making it was a deep factor. Whatever the cause, Gabriel was no long able to completely tell a true vision from dreams accurately. Instead they melded together into a chaotic mess often enough the result left the Council frustrated with him, again separating the twins and pushing Gabriel into one of the lower living conditions under Council control. Mihr, however, was keep under closer watch as well as inhabitants suited for his usefulness.

It was the last time Gabriel saw his brother for a long time.

Times he caught glimpses time to time. Once time he recalled well was when the Council summoned all angels, from the weak clairvoyant to the proud battle angels under one roof and presented to each one two strange vials. One red and the other white, their task was to aid Melody by attempting to gather essence from their fellow races in order to create a new instrument. Among his brother, he also view more intimidating figures like Hazumi, the mother slayer, and Lucien, the angel once entombed in onyx. Being among those tossed away, it made him silently feel better when he saw they too were summoned. Unable to approach for fear he would be ripped apart, he departed back to his apartment without protest.

When Loom was destroyed by the Flesh construct, the thing finally slaughtered and left for dead on the city's outskirts, it was a surprise he survived it. Even more wasn't dragged into the hidden events transpiring around it until the end. After the event, Mihr paid him a visit and mysteriously wanted to re-council their broken brotherly bond. His guardian had sought a new place for the pair to take refuge while he was left with his brother. The reunion was short lived when several demons chose a half hour later to rip his home apart, hoping to gorge themselves on two defenseless clairvoyant angels. What they didn't count on was Mihr specializing in both Clairvoyance and Battle areas. He fought to protect them both...then lost his life because of it. After receiving reports over an attack, several of those assigned to seek out Mihr arrived too late. They found Gabe's home in ruins, demon guts smeared all over the walls and corpses scattered all over the room while in the center laid Gabriel himself clinging to his brother's dead eyed body. The older twin's chest ripped out, wings melted, and face a mangled mess that supported Gabe's sobbing one.

After being interrogated and subjugated to lawless suspicion, Gabriel shortly left to bury his brother's body and never looked back to Loom. For at that time, his mind scarred by memories thanks to the city's misfortune. During Judas' war he was mostly absent, gone without a trance as the battle for Loom, Kenan and fate of the races was fought over. When the war ended, he found himself discovered shortly towards the end by a battle angel named Uriel.

Currently Uriel and he are in Loom where he's tried to remake a life for himself and help some with the rebuilding.

Name: Uriel

Age: 39 years, though he’s really 56 in age.
Race: Angel (Battle Angel)

Appearance:

Despite his age, Uriel’s fitness and appearance depicts him as more in his late-thirties. A Caucasian male with skin the hue of raw sienna color, his skin is covered in faded scars from his experience on the surface battling a wide range of surface demons as well a few hellion-leveled demons. His pale blonde mane of hair has been said to remind many of a young lion’s, and kept much the same way, messy and shaggy. The bangs swept over his left eye, hiding the fact he’s going blind in one of his bright blue one and the iris’ color is fading. In the back, his locks are in slightly longer lengths and gravitate down to just an inch above his shoulders. they are still trimmed close to the neck with two braids consisting of nine red beads, one for each demon, left resting behind his right ear.

His face has a square, rough jawline giving him a slightly grizzled appearance you might expect from most angelic veterans with a faded chin cut vertical through his five o’clock shadow. His height is about 6’0” though he has shrunk some from his previous 6’3” due to his aging years. His wings are 14’4” in total diameter when fully stretched out, each wing coming at about 7’2” each. In addition, they are large and angular, much like a peregrine falcon, made for speed in a free fall and long traveling distance. A silvery white coloring, the feathers are broken in places by old battle scars which edge onto his whole body, each one a memory of his youth.

He usually wears basic Grey tee-shirts, cargo pants or jeans in a tidy appearance. He also wears steel toe boots made for curb stomping the hell out of any unwise surface demon stupid enough to mess with his charge.

Abilities:

Angelic Essence: Uriel has total and complete mastery over his own body from its basic functions to its more complex inner workings. His body’s combative traits like speed, strength, endurance, agility and more have fall into the lower Seraph range of power. Enough to handle most surface demons and some low level hellions well enough. Anything at Warden or beyond gives him great difficulty, mainly problematic due to his lacking experience with any such being.

Fluid manipulation: He can manipulate his own blood and other fluids, from eye to plasma, to make them increase their flow speed or lower it. This can increase his stamina and reflexive reaction well beyond human measures or slow it.

further details

Examples of currently known tactics within this area

-Blood becomes erosive on contact, burning most material that doesn’t originate from his own body, after being exposed to the air.

-Increase or decrease his blood flow. He’s used this to slow demonic poisons then eject them from his system, increase air flow to his system, taper off bleeding wounds, and even increase cushioning against blunt force blows to limit damage as a few examples.

Tissue Manipulation: Able to control his living tissue, he can create multiple effects, both offensive and defensive, which give him an edge over most inexperienced battle angels who arrogantly believe they can outmatch him due to age.

farther details

Examples of currently known tactics within this area

-Regeneration of dead, gone, or damaged tissue is possible like many of his fellow brethren. Minor bruising can take a second, more serious but clean cuts (like from a sharp blade) can take 3-4 seconds, and ripped off, shattered, or worse can take up to 10 seconds depending on the damage total. Obvious higher the damage within a wound then longer the healing will take.

-Control over his ligaments and tendons can allow him to use them in unusual ways in both defense and attack. By increasing the cell reproduction within a ligament or tendon, he can split open his skin and use it to whip out at his foes or wrap around an object. However over use of this ability will result in slowing him down when it comes to fast movement with that limb, namely during the time the ligament or tendon is used, until it is restored back to its original state.

-Extreme and sometimes bizarre contorts by increasing the flexibility, ecstatically and strength within his joints. Uriel can rotate arms, legs and other limbs to almost inhuman angles just to be able to defend himself from everywhere. This can lessen damage from blows, blade tears, and more enabling his healing to meld more rapidly though too many will still leave him drained.

-Other traits include ejection of foreign matter, solid, liquid and more, from within his muscles and depending on the matter could return the attack in his own way. Example of this is whenever Uriel takes a bullet, he’ll allow it to penetrate his flesh and stop it within his muscle, the fibers hardened and coil around the object, then within seconds work it down his hand where the tendon propel it in a direction of Uriel’s choosing. Naturally not all objects can be handled like but it is one example of what can happen.

Protein/Bone Manipulation: By stiffing or changing the structure of key proteins, Uriel can lengthen his nails into slight claws a few inches out of his fingers, increase the cones within his eyes, alter key useful organs, and even turn his hair into stiff, quill like weapons.

farther details

-Calcium exchange. This can be displayed in his fingers or bones when needed. Lightening his bones make him lighter and faster while making them denser allows greater weight resistance and more protection from breakage. However, each has its cons as well. The lighter the bone, the more likely it will break with enough pressure and risks shattering it. Density increases weight and slows his muscles, delaying his reaction time for toughness. Key areas he can fuse bones together creating thick, armor like plating for any venerable point. This includes protecting his heart through fusing his ribs into one solid piece, absorbing his nerves within his spinal column or strengthening a joint against shattering.

-His finger nails unlike humans, are made from carbon. These can retract to a few inches in length and curve like feline claw, making them extremely hard for makeshift weapons should he ever be without. Any longer, they would risk breaking rather than be useful. Though it doesn’t have the reach his gun or guisarme has, it will do in a pinch tearing through almost any threat’s flesh and leaving it a bleeding mess. In addition to his nails, he can stiffen and hollow out his hairs creating a dense, offensive protection around his head back similar to tiny quills. The small roots are able to become detach and if left within the victim, can be harmless either hollowed out hairs or contain a small, injectable trace of blood that slides down the hollow and directly under the skin or into the blood stream. The hair will grow back just as quick. (These aren’t lethal as they are painful and hindering, the blood doesn’t release until the hair is pulled out)

-He’s also able to affect key organs in seconds, trailing from shifting them a few inches and limiting the damage to more drastic, like splitting apart into two smaller pieces. Affecting important organs like heart, lungs and more in this matter will show in his reaction until they are placed back together while the shifting is more to limit damage rather than stop it completely. Sadly, he can’t completely rearrange his interior anatomy to protect all his vital organs as it would affect require his continual focus to retain the effect and merely make his combative skills suffer.

Equipment:

Main weapon: Uriel has a simple, yet effective guisarme as his weapon of choice. It has a reach of about ten foot and enables him to strike out at demon from a safer distance then a sword or dagger. However, it’s not without its flaws as he needs both hands to handle it effectively usually forcing him to wear leather gauntlets on his upper arms for farther protection.

Secondary weapon: As a backup weapon, Uriel also has a more modern yet distasteful 9mm handgun. Fully loaded and a modern tool of the era, he’s not fond of using it though when it comes to life and death, a warrior can’t be picky when it comes to protecting his charge. Namely at any costs.

Bio:

Like many of his angel brothers and sisters, Uriel has been born over and over throughout the ages since Heaven’s gate fell and the surface has been come their new home. Many of his lives have began and ended the same way, some never achieving much while others gained untold glory, though this is the life before he decided to edge into regression. It is the present life which holds the most meaning and will set his path, having the most influence due to his experiences and altering his views on the Council.

Like all angels, he was taken from his family at the tender age of 13 and initiated into the Council’s system for their kind. It was simple back then. He was placed under Remiel Hunter, his mentor and a Senior. Remiel taught him much due to his approach with hands on experience and harsh teaching, often pushing Uriel pass his breaking point even when went beyond Remiel's duty and right. Many of the other Seniors thought Remiel rode Uriel far too hard though few were willing to say it to his face. These physical lessons mingled alongside the Council’s schooling, Uriel learning the angel’s roles to protect humanity and destroy the demonic scum plaguing the world. Sadly little of the book learning stuck due to arrogance and pride, traits obtained thanks to his mentor. It was true when none were surprised when he turned out as he did: a perfect killing machine. It was the fate of all battle angels after all.

It was during his Senior year, Uriel gained his own younger classman to train. The boy's name was Samuel Tyrus and while a bit too scrawny and thin, the boy had potential when Uriel applied the same methods as were taught onto himself. It seemed he would see the boy succeed, but neither could've predicted it wouldn't come to pass. During what supposed to have been a simple training exercise over surveillance became a bloody affair ending in Uriel seriously wounded and Samuel dead. Despite his grave mistake, he had managed to bring the student’s body back before it could’ve been consumed by demons, nearly costing his own life. It was the first and last student he would’ve had, refusing to repeat his mistake.

On graduating Uriel found himself back working alongside Remiel once more. It was their duty to watch over and protect an assigned section of Loom, keeping most the human inhabitants safe. His experience with surface demons grew and developed once more under Remiel’s guidance, the pair unmerciful and vicious in their protection against all demon kind. It was when he was 33 he witnessed the aftermath that transpired in 2014. It was when the monster nearly leveled Loom and rattled the Council’s worries, calling them all- including the black winged ones- to the building. Uriel learned several weeks later that the building was destroyed by a demon who consumed a few archangels and many of his kin, all because one angel was careless and enraged the bastard. Like a vulture it didn’t help the Kinslayer also managed to kill his fair share in archangel despite trying to stop the demon.

A year later, Judas’ war broke out tossed the whole crumbled structure back on its head. Though Uriel never knew any of the angels involved, there was rumors and some evidence, that a small group was trying to once more populate Heaven. Mostly refugees from what he knew though he wasn’t responsible for seeing them to safety or protecting their attempts. Angelic and demonic numbers fell rapidly due to Judas’ xenphobia, his will unyielding to any not human, resulting in casualties in the thousands or more on Hell’s gate breaking. Among it all, Uriel watched the worse and best in war while he fought to survive among his brethren. It was during one rebellion attempt that he lost his eye and his faith in the Council. An angel, young and black winged, had came back wounded and bleeding, her wings in such a mess that flight was impossible. Unknowingly in her recklessness, she was leading a pack of gate killers right to their encampment. Naturally due to the prejudice given to Remiel by the Council, the older angel lashed out in a rage at his fellow angel believing she had betrayed them then left her to die slowly. Uriel showed mercy against his idol’s reason, resulting in Remiel taking his eye, and finally snapped the dark angel's neck, allowing them both to flee undetected by the gatekillers.

That event rattled Uriel’s usually strong faith in the Council, resulting in his separation from Remiel and carving his own way through the war. It was during one of his personal explorations did he come across Gabe, a terrible excuse for a clairvoyant he had ever seen. The angel was hiding in a crumbling bunker and been with him ever since. It didn’t help only one fourth of the population of angels currently lived through the genocide inflicted during the war.

[Xionist]

Hey hey what happened everyone? Did ya all glue your hands together or something?

[Wind Wild]

Haha you beat me to it!

Soul count, I know some have been busy with school, however.... who's still here and who's still interested? If we're doing this we really need to get to it and be a bit more regular.

[Krauxis]

I was under the impression that Lucius was going to post a new phase or something? I thought I read that somewhere. If not, my mistake.

Either way, I'm still around, though I can't pretend to be as zesty as I was after a long absence. Still, I'll be more than happy to get back into it if somebody got the Defib unit out.

[Fallenreaper]

I've been waiting for Gabe and Uriel to be accepted and looking for an entrance somewhere.

[Lucius Cypher]

TIME TO ACTIVATE MY NECROTIC POWERS, FOR I AM FREED FROM THE SHACKLES OF INSTITUTIONALIZED LEARNING! TREMBLE BEFORE ME MORTAL WRETCHES! TREMBLE!