BCTheEntity

Tenebria's Scales [Freeform, Fantasy, Military]

@Kafka Komedy Right, then. Guess it's time to post him in the Characters tab, with your permission, because I'm not sure if you're doing anything particular like putting up links to the OOC character profiles in Characters yourself or something. I figure @Footman could probably do the same, again under your say-so.

Into The Dark: Mercenaries (Heroes of Fame and Fortune)

Nuva hadn't been quite quiet about his own attack, it was true, and in fairness, he'd likely be at least injured if the Captain had not intervened against the bandit charging him. However, the way Cassilda handled her own fight was... not exactly brilliant. He supposed it was likely that his actions had drawn in the group of six bandits, but if the screams from the one she killed didn't draw the rest to their position, it'd be a miracle. Still, he hid himself along with the rest of the party as the bandits showed up, and remained in place as first one, then the rest, died to multiple stab wounds and some horrible molten substance thrown by the dwarf Halbark respectively.

Only then came the lambasting from Kayden. Mostly directed at Cassilda, but the pointed glance over in Nuva's direction was enough to have him bowing his head shamefully. No orders had been given, technically, but Nuva figured he should still know better after years of being ordered around under much stricter commanders; under the dark elves, he'd probably have been viciously tortured for such a reckless maneuver. Though the end result after all had been said and done was nearly half of the bandits in the fortress deceased, so that was hardly a poor outcome.

Then, of course, there was the prisoner. One of the Captain's agents, no less... who had apparently done research on everyone now in his employ. He wondered exactly how much she knew of his origins, his race. Had she told Kayden of these, or anyone else in his closer counsel for that matter? Did those who knew think less of him for what he was, what he'd done under their command? He dared not ask, at least not in such public company. Regardless, it seemed stealth was no longer on anyone's minds, granted how Secret was freed from her cell, and by his own count, there were as many mercenaries as bandits left in the fort anyway; the Captain ordered people into groups, and Nuva nodded and strolled toward him, slowing to a halt briefly as he passed... Halbark, was it? Though he'd been informed time and again by his prior masters of how distasteful dwarves were, his time out of their influence had shown no particular evidence to prove this was true. Or at least, they acted with no more virulent hatred than any other race did upon discovering his own.

That in mind, Nuva placed his hand on Halbark's shoulder briefly, simply stating 'Well done on the bomb,' before removing himself from the dwarf's personal space and moving the rest of the distance to Kayden's side. All things considered, the dwarf had in one stroke killed more of these bandits than any other individual in the room so far; if nothing else, he deserved some recognition for the sort of mind needed to create such weapons.

@Sleater@POOHEAD189@Austronaut@Fubsy@frapet

Pokemon: Digital Masters

Uh, I'm here, but I've kind of been waiting for somebody to confirm there's still interest before making a post of my own. So, I'll do that at some point.

Tenebria's Scales [Freeform, Fantasy, Military]

@Kafka Komedy About one thousand years, actually. I think I'm going to set it up so that he faked his death after about 1200 years of life, and then ruled from behind the scenes until SOMEBODY leaked the truth about him, at which point he took power again and everyone went mad for some reason or another. I mean GAWD, it's not like he murdered millions of people personally or anything. So rude of them. Anyway, I'll try and finish off Sardiel's biography today, and apologise if I do not.

EDIT: Right, Sardiel's finally complete. Take a look, see if he's any good, etcetera. To everyone else, I might propose you take a look at the latter part of Sardiel's biography, as some people could implement some aspects of that into their own characters.

Into The Dark: Mercenaries (Heroes of Fame and Fortune)

@POOHEAD189 Gaaaah I knew I was toeing the deadline. Hang on, I'll get a post out. For ToM, too.

EDIT: By the way, just noticed something in your latest post...

We'll meet on the other side and take the men we can hostage to be belgamored by Cassilda, understand?"

You might want to fix that typo. I'm sure being belgamored is a far worse fate than merely beglamored; it sounds like getting an eldritch abomination set on you to me.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Funky Fistfight Freezers

@Dark Eternity, can I get you advancing the plot for Nick and Milo soon? And anyone else who needs it too, needless to say. And to the players, if you can keep going on your posts without needing GM intervention, that'd also be appreciated; I'm not sure @Lazy Rocktime has posted too recently, if we want to do an activity check. Having said that, I think it's safe to say the JoJo players aren't going to show up any time soon, alas and alack.

The Three Realms War [A DMC, Bayonetta and Darksiders RP]

For the Grace and Glory of The Creator!

Dramatic music plays as two angelic scions descend from the heavens!

And then becomes more fightsey.

Name: Iscah and Iacobos
Gender: Iscah claims to be female, Iacobos claims to be male; as they are both hideous flesh monsters encased in coloured marble, the truth of the matter is unverifiable.
Age: 15
Race: Angels of Laguna, specifically a Grace and Glory respectively.

Appearance: Iscah is slightly more feminine-looking than the typical Grace, and the red-armoured claws usually wielded by a Grace are heavily altered on her, bearing an oversized buckler-like construct across the back of each gauntlet, with claws that are longer, thinner, and straighter than usual, overall more reminiscent of swords; the overall impression is that of a lantern shield, albeit one that is three-bladed. However, said blades can also shift upward and back slightly, prompting the reveal of a wide weapon barrel from the shield portion of each gauntlet.

Iacobos' physical form is slightly more slender than the typical Glory, though no more or less masculine than would be typical; the claws on his gauntlets are similar to those of a standard Glory where Iscah's are notably different to those of the typical Grace, but have the capacity to slide across and merge with one another to form the front portion of a rifle-like gun.

Faction: Heaven, specifically the Hierarchy of Laguna.

Personality

Naturally, both Iscah and Iacobos are fierce warriors, for such is the lot of any Grace and Glory, and indeed of many Laguna angels beyond them too. Unlike the majority of their kind, though, they are both imbued with the gift of tactical prowess: they are extremely crafty as individuals as well as fighters, to the point that they will often prefer to ambush any potential targets unawares, as well as striking the foe simultaneously where standard Graces and Glories may only move in one at a time, and in those rare cases where they are drafted for tasks unrelated to combat can produce complex plans that one would imagine was beyond mere Virtues, and the telepathic link the two share only further bolsters both these situations.

This is not to say they are identical in mind, of course, though they are very similar beings: both enjoy the service that they can provide to the Hierarchy of Laguna, and to Paradiso as a whole; both constantly scan their foes during battle to establish powers, strengths and weaknesses, and determine counters for such abilities; and both are immensely protective of their respective sibling, such that if one begins to falter, the other will gladly charge in to distract whatever foe has caused this state of affairs to buy time for their counterpart to escape before making their own. However, they differ on a few key points, namely their opinions of humanity: Iscah is certainly the less kindly of the two about mortals, and though she does not actively hate them so long as they do not attempt to hold up Paradiso's activities, she also does not particularly care if her attacks happen to cause a lot of collateral damage in the human realm; by contrast, Iacobos greatly prefers not harming uninvolved humans where possible, as doing so can only result in less support for Paradiso, though neither will he hesitate to slay a mortal who has foolishly decided that Heaven is their enemy. Iscah is also somewhat more aggressive overall than Iacobos, as reflected in their preferred fighting styles, and has a tendency to take charge of the pair when no other authority presents itself, often developing the duo's plans more along her lines for sheer force of suggestion.

Biography

Most angels of the Hierarchy of Laguna are produced in manners which are near-incomprehensible to human beings, eldritch as they are. The Affinities, forming from the souls of ritually-sacrificed humans, and their larger cousins the Applauds are exceptions to this rule. Iscah and Iacobos are two more: rather than being "born", or otherwise formed in whatever fashion Laguna angels come into being, these two angels were quite deliberately created by a number of other angels working in unison to improve upon the current design of the Grace and Glory pairing, amongst other things by linking their souls together in a way that ensured they could not be killed unless both their physical forms were destroyed. The end result was, it seemed, successful: the two beings attained their own separate bodies, with all the power and combat skill one might expect of their sort, and it was noted that, for whatever reason, they were far more intelligent and open to suggestion than any normal Grace and Glory would be. Potentially a good thing, for the vast majority of their kind would fight in inefficient manners that could be resolved in these two with long hours of hard drilling; also potentially terrible for Paradiso, if an external force found a way to convince them that Paradiso was a corrupt or evil force. They were still fundamentally opposed to the fiends of Inferno, of course, but if a sufficiently-charismatic human or other unaligned entity got to them...

Naturally, steps were taken to avoid this. For ten years, the two prototypes were, for want of a better word, "retrained" to work together as a team, to utilise their weapons more effectively (assisted later on by their request for personalised armaments, duly granted), and to ensure absolutely that neither would ever be tempted to betray the realm of Jubileus that had granted them life in the first place. An extremely short span of time for an angel, but as comparative newborns, this all had the desired effect on the two: at their apex as a team, they proved themselves nigh-unbeatable in combat even by angels of notably higher Spheres, and even alone could soundly best any lesser angel through a combination of unorthodox techniques and sheer raw power, all complemented by thorough indoctrination into the tenets of the Creator and her messengers. Of course, any prototype is likely to have a few glitches or bugs in its production process, and it was discovered at the ten year mark that Iscah and Iacobos had, in fact, developed a form of telepathy between themselves, only further bolstering their already-significant senses of self and tactical ability. This might have been considered a failure under some circumstances, but it occurred to one of the higher-ups on the project that perhaps it would instead prove itself a grand asset, if they could be convinced to work together. After all, they were smart enough to generate their own future improvements, and it always helps to double-check one's work against another mind...

With little ceremony, Iscah and Iacobos were dumped into the human world, told only that they might evolve to reach greater Spheres than they were nominally part of if they trained hard enough, then left to their own devices. Naturally, both took this to mean that they ought to figure out ways to further boost their own fighting abilities; thus, Iscah almost immediately took the intuitive route, beginning to develop a method of combat that extrapolated from her own natural style, and incorporated her weaponry and flame-based powers into it in ways that further boosted its effectiveness. Iacobos was more hesitant to immediately leap into anything, and though he did figure out a method of improving his weaponry through use of his magic and a few scattered battle techniques over the next half a decade, he rapidly determined that perhaps he might learn a thing or two from those who bartered pacts with Paradiso's angels, if they were still around, and sought them alongside the being who may as well have been his sister, slaying a fair few demonic (or otherwise Heaven-opposed) foes along the way.

As luck would have it, the Lumen Sages had only recently begun reorganising themselves, and after a time, a sect of the angel-worshipping humans discovered the two Virtues and gladly welcomed them into their fold, very appreciative of anything amounting to Heaven's assistance against the surges of hellish activity that had begun plaguing the world. They certainly benefited from the presence of a Grace and Glory, but the very same Glory received a much greater boon almost by accident: Iacobos noticed that, time and again, the Lumen Sages would both slow time to boost their speed and call down other angels to assist in combat. And he wondered to himself, "Why shouldn't I be able to do that? I'm an angel myself, my own brethren shouldn't be sealed away from me." And other such thoughts as those. Naturally, the Sages were more than happy to help, though at first their methods seemed practically impossible to pull off, for they achieved a connection to Heaven via pacts with its minions... but months passed, discussions were had, and Iacobos finally managed to work out a way of essentially hijacking his own ethereal bonds, directing them to draw lesser angels from Paradiso in much the way the Lumen Sages did. In effect, he forged a "pact" with himself.

And no sooner had he managed this then the sect of the Lumen Sages he and Iscah were with came under attack by a gang of Umbra Witches. They, too, had been growing in strength in the past few years, and though all the warriors of Heaven so present fought hard, the Lumen Sages in the area were wiped out entirely. Indeed, it would have been very likely that Iscah and Iacobos themselves would have perished regardless of reinforcements, had it not transpired that a certain group required soldiers for its cause. The Grace and Glory were spirited away to the plane of the Charred Council, and given the offer to work under them as keepers of balance and, in essence, managers of the universe itself. Both refused almost instantly, Iscah on the grounds that Hell and its demons were a fundamentally evil force and deserved to be destroyed in favour of Heaven and its angels, and Iacobos on the basis that, whilst he'd been told his whole life that Hell and its minions were evil without solid proof, he'd just seen firsthand what the Umbra Witches were willing to do to their fellow humans, who had wanted nothing more than to protect the world from devastation, unite all peoples within their nation... and etcetera. In other words, the Council's warped idea of "balance" could shove it.

They were unceremoniously returned to the human world, almost exactly where they'd been spirited away, complete with Witches. The angels worked together to fend the demon-aligned women off as long as they could, and even managed to kill some of their number, but they were inevitably swamped by the larger force heedless of teamwork, Iacobos taking a blow that sheared his head from his shoulders, and Iscah coming very close to impalement through the chest, if not for the intervention of Heaven itself. Or of the team who had created them, rather. They were too valuable, after all, to be discarded so readily, and could have been the basis of a new generation of angels entirely in the minds of these scientists; and so Iscah was drawn back into Paradiso, to recuperate for a time until she could return to full strength, and her brother's soul could be revived in a new body. As of now, they have both returned to their usual power, and are waiting for the moment when they can be sent back down to Earth, to continue their mission to denounce the evils of Hell, and extend the reach of Heaven across the whole of the mortal realm.

[Combat]
Before anything else, it should be noted that as very closely intertwined entities with the capacity to share their perception of any given battle, Iscah and Iacobos essentially share a pool of style points between one another as though they were a single character. This has positives and negatives in various forms, but the effective outcome is that they can both benefit from investments in certain styles, equipment, and techniques, whilst others will assist only one of the pair; each style, technique, and piece of equipment is marked accordingly.

Powers and Abilities:
Laguna Biology - Iscah and Iacobos are both angels of the Laguna Hierarchy, and as such are just shy of being humanoid abominations if not for their marbled masks and armour: they do not age, possess incredible physical abilities, strength and agility in particular, and in unison are more than capable of tearing nearly any mortal to shreds, though they are nevertheless bound by their Sphere, and can have trouble dealing with beings beyond their level even given their own power. However...

-Divine Grace, Incandescent Glory - As described, Iscah and Iacobos' power and speed are practically unrivalled within their Sphere, especially when complemented by Iscah's fire-producing abilities and Iacobos' electrokinetic powers. Furthermore, being particularly well-tuned toward such a goal, their ability to work together to outmaneuver and defeat opponents is unparalleled by any, save perhaps the fabled Gracious and Glorious pairs of the First Sphere. This, however, comes at the cost of vastly reducing their effectiveness when separated, by choice or otherwise; they remain difficult foes alone, but struggle to adapt to the knowledge that they lack backup, causing them to attack far more aggressively than they ought to, as though their partner is still around to cover their back.

Telepathic Link - Possibly a contributor to their unnaturally-high intelligence, Iscah and Iacobos share a mind link that allows them to communicate with one another silently and extremely quickly, granting each access to the other's thoughts, ideas, strategies, and so on, to the point that new plans can be discussed with one another in the heat of battle with the opponent knowing nothing of whatever they are about to face off against next. Naturally, this only serves to further strengthen their teamwork; should it be broken, though, they'd lose this ability to communicate so readily, and would likely react... poorly, to put it lightly.

Surrender of Self - Amongst all Graces and Glories, Iscah and Iacobos are unique in that they are effectively D&D-style phylacteries for one another: should one of them die, their soul will be automatically drawn into the body of the surviving member of the duo rather than succumbing to whatever fate it would otherwise have been subjected to, allowing the "deceased" individual to be resurrected in a new body in Paradiso if the partner is given a chance to return there. Thus, it is necessary to kill both Iscah and Iacobos to ensure that they both remain dead, and they are both very aware of this fact. As of current, the surviving partner does not gain any benefits from trapping the deceased partner's soul, though they have bounced ideas between one another in an effort to figure out possible ways of improving this situation.

Styles:

People's Unity Style L1 (Iacobos) - It is generally the case that most angels cannot actively summon one another, this functionality being restricted to those Lumen Sages who have formed contracts with the Hierarchy of Laguna and a few of the stronger Spheres. Iacobos is the exception, and though it does require a small energy input and the naming of a particular rank to perform this sort of summoning (naturally increasing as stronger angels are summoned), the rewards are typically more than worth the cost; this style is often combined with Iacobos' own attacks, be they melee or ranged.
L1: At level 1, Iacobos can summon any angel to his side in the Third Sphere, up to and including the strongest of Principalities of both the Hierarchy of Laguna and, less frequently, the Army of Light. Though they are weak on their own, these angels can be summoned with practical impunity to swamp foes in bodies, to the point that mere Angels are effectively bound to Iacobos' will upon summoning, and it is only rarely that otherwise-idle Archangels and Principalities will even be able to summon the energy to question a Glory's orders, much less disobey them outright. Indeed, he often keeps a lone Decoration or Compassion about as a pet of sorts, replacing it whenever the current one is killed or otherwise removed from him, and apparently naming all of them Nyarlathotep (Nyarth for short) after "one of those quaint human mythological texts" regardless of which one is currently in thrall to him.

Evil Denouncement Style L1 (Iscah) - A highly agile style relying on number of hits and area damage, the claws of Iscah's gauntlets draw back to expose the weapon's barrel, and a burning stream of holy promethium (in various forms, depending on how strong Truth and Love are) pours forth, igniting whatever it touches, and serving as both a cloak to her actions and a much-needed boost to her attacks, assisted further by the shields attached to each gauntlet that can readily block incoming attacks as needed. At higher levels, Iscah moves and strikes faster and faster, incorporating her own summoned flames into her attacks more effectively as well.

Double Trouble Style L1 (Both) - As described, Iscah and Iacobos are both far more capable of ganging up on foes than a normal Grace and Glory pairing. This is described by the Double Trouble Style, which to some extent draws on both their standard tactics and personal combat styles to produce a combination style capable of ensnaring and beating down most foes very effectively, and their strategies only become more synergised as this style reaches higher levels.

Evolution Blastoff Style L0 (Both) - Not currently in effect, but it is known to both Iscah and Iacobos that they hold the potential to utilise this "style". Realistically, it is less a combat style and more a boost to their power: though they presently remain as Virtues, and initially invoking this style will require as much effort as generating a new style outright, each level up of this style will provide a massive boost to power in all areas for both partners, essentially raising the Sphere they are part of, from Virtue at "L0" to Dominion at L1, to Throne at L2, and so on up to the highest ranking of Seraphim, below only the Auditio and Dea themselves. Knowing that there exist beings similar to souped-up Graces and Glories at the highest levels, Iacobos has proposed that they are intended to transform into a Gracious and Glorious themselves at this style's maximum strength, though Iscah is far more sceptical about this theory's viability. They also have theories about how this style could be invoked to better synchronise their souls when one of them dies, though the process of achieving this will involve further thought and discussion on their parts.

Equipment:

Truth and Love L1 (Iscah) - Iscah's gauntlets, with sword-like claws and a shield construct on the back, and the barrel of a weapon hidden behind the claws.
L1: The shield is roughly the size of a buckler, the claws are about the length and width of shortswords, and the weapon barrel is a sort of holy flamethrower - whilst her Evil Denouncement Style is in use, it will spew out a near-indefinite stream of magical flame akin to a regular flamethrower, the flames themselves not dissimilar to her own summoned flame, that form a wall of fire around Iscah as she moves and fights.

Reach Above Nations L1 (Iacobos) - Iacobos' gauntlets, more akin to a standard Glory's claws normally, but whose claws can shift and merge to create the barrel of a gun with seemingly limitless ammunition.
L1: The gun's barrel is apparently that of a battle rifle, with a muzzle velocity of 850 m/s, a basic firerate of around 500 RPM, and- whilst Star Extend is in effect- a maximum firerate of 1300 RPM. Iacobos can apply force of will to further increase firerate beyond this point, but doing so risks melting the gun barrel and rendering the gun useless until it can be repaired.

Aegis of Grace and Glory L1 (Both) - The plating and masked full helms worn by any Grace or Glory.
L1: Covers only as much area as the standard Aegis - the head, chest and shoulders, groin, and most of their legs, all of which is prone to shattering when enough damage is taken to reveal the angels' true features, as is the case for any Laguna angel. Their hands are largely protected by their clawed gauntlets, moreso for Iscah than Iacobos for reasons described above.

Techniques:
Standard Techniques
Standard Grace and Glory techniques.
-Elemental Tether L1 (Both): Using their respective elements, Iscah and/or Iacobos extend their claws on long bonds, vastly increasing the range of their melee attacks.
L1: The range increase is about one meter.
-Wide Swing L1 (Iscah): Iscah takes a wide swipe at the area in front of her, potentially cleaving through multiple enemies at a time, or else dealing a great deal of damage to a single foe at the cost of a slightly slower attack than usual.
-Tornado Strike L1 (Iscah): Iscah twirls toward an opponent, doling out a series of rapid melee attacks like a burning tornado once in range.
-Counter Strike L1 (Iacobos): Iacobos attempts to dodge an incoming attack, in the same moment using his weapons to return an attack toward the opponent.
-Shockwave L1 (Iacobos): Iacobos falls back and charges his claws with electricity, then leaps a few feet into the air and slams them into the ground, sending arcing lines of electricity in all directions to try and electrocute the opponent. This is evidently much more powerful if a direct hit is achieved.

Equipment Techniques
Techniques derived from Iscah and Iacobos' weaponry.
-Searing Stab L1 (Iscah): Whilst utilising the flamethrower on her weapon, Iscah rams her claws into an opponent's body, forcibly roasting their flesh as the flamethrower spews fire directly into the wound, and ideally the internal organs as well.
-Star Extend L1 (Iacobos): Iacobos charges the guns on his gauntlets with electricity, vastly increasing their firerate and imbuing each individual projectile with an electrical charge for greater damage, particularly against targets that are covered in or integrated with large quantities of metal.
L1: This style is not particularly efficient, and can only increase the guns' firerate at a rate of around half their base firerate per minute, such that reaching maximum firerate takes a comparatively long time considering the speed at which supernatural battles are conducted. Fortunately for Iacobos, he does not need to constantly fire the guns to achieve this effect, meaning he can avoid excessive collateral damage, or even spend a few minutes before a fight charging up to start off at maximum firerate. Additional electrical damage from bullets is fairly small, though not insignificant.

People's Unity Style
Techniques only Iacobos can utilise based on the summoning of other angels to his side. The techniques themselves are fairly obvious, so only the maximum number of entities summoned per use will be listed next to them; fewer entities than this can be summoned if so desired, and additional summonings for more energy can obviously be implemented as desired.

-Angel Calls - The lowest of the low, these angels require practically no energy to call into Purgatorio, and in the same stroke are cannon fodder in all but name.
--Affinity Call L1: 6, in any of five forms
--Cachet & Compassion Call L1: 3 (+4 per)
--Dear & Decoration Call L1: 2 (+6 per)
--Enchant Call L1: 4
--Acceptance Call L1: 3, in any of two forms

-Archangel Calls - Angels in a pseudo-commanding position, they can help coordinate lesser angels and themselves take little energy to bring in, but are only somewhat tougher than their weaker counterparts.
--Applaud Call L1: 3, in any of two forms
--Accolade Call L1: 2, in any of four forms
--Enrapture Call L1: 2
--Fidelity Call L1: 4

-Principality Calls - The strongest of the Third Sphere, and effective specialised shock troops and Third Sphere commanders, but still quite weak in the grand scheme of things, though they still do not require much energy input to bring in.
--Ardor Call L1: 2, in any of two forms
--Irenic Call L1: 1
--Allegiance Call L1: 1

Evil Denouncement Style
Techniques only Iscah can utilise based on the use of her flamethrowers to swamp the area about her in holy fire, combining with a rapid attack style for heavy and rapid damage overall.
-Burning Twister L1: Essentially a stronger version of the standard Tornado Strike, Iscah spins fast enough that the air about her forms currents, whipping the fire she emits into a veritable wall of flames surrounding her that sear anything foolish enough to move into her range on top of the physical damage dealt.
-Pyro Cloak L1: A more crafty use of her fire to hide Iscah and distract her opponents, making it difficult to figure out where she is going to attack from next.
-Wall of Flame L1: Slamming her hands to the ground, Iscah sends a wide wave of magically-manipulated fire outward, in an attempt to engulf any foe who chooses to stay put or simply dodge to one side or the other.
-Curling Strikes L1: Rather than attacking head-on, Iscah actually strafes rapidly around her foe as she attacks, continuing to burn and strike them even as it becomes more difficult to turn in a way that lets them respond accordingly.
-Funeral Pyre L1: A sort of finishing move against an apparently-weakened opponent, Iscah initiates this attack with a Searing Stab, then throws them upward a ways and follows after, impaling them from behind with another Searing Stab before flipping on top of them and dropping them to the ground, stabbing and slashing rapidly with her free claw until impact, and finishing them off with a final doublestab to the head, all accompanied by waves of fire throughout the technique.

Double Trouble Style
Techniques that Iscah and Iacobos can utilise in tandem for greater effect. Notably, most of the techniques previously described can also be utilised as part of this style, enhancing their capacity to deal damage as fending off both attackers becomes incredibly difficult.
-Light Speed L1 (Both): Taking a page from the Lumen Sages, both Iscah and Iacobos can use this style to slow the passage of time for everything other than themselves, essentially acting as a temporary speed and agility amplifier, though in any case it cannot be sustained for too long before deactivating, and any slowed time must "recharge" for a brief period before it can be utilised again.
L1: The passage of time slows to about a quarter of its usual pace for up to three real seconds at a time; each slowed second takes ten seconds of real time to become reusable. we still need to discuss this
-

Into The Dark: Mercenaries (Heroes of Fame and Fortune)

@Fuzzybootz I think you can press the Escape key to stop moving gifs on the screen. Just a temporary fix per page, but still.

Tenebria's Scales [Freeform, Fantasy, Military]

Moved from the Interest Check thread.

The Eternal King of Perinne

King Sardiel of Perinne, a.k.a. King Sardiel the Eternal

Gender: Male
Age: 2231
Race: Elf
Allegiance: Perinne Empire

Equipment

• The Royal Armour - A high-quality suit of full plate steel commissioned by Sardiel to maximise his own protection in the event of an inevitable conflict, with metal Lapi stones spread through its structure, allowing it to transform into a semi-fluid state like a full-body suit, to eradicate weak points in its structure, let the bearer move as smoothly as though they were unarmoured, and automatically reinforce itself against particularly hard blows such as those of a mace at the cost of momentary weakness in other areas. A small Lapis stone embedded in the helmet also allows the user to see out of the metal of the helmet as though it were not there whilst transformed, letting even the eyes and head be covered more effectively.
• The Royal Mace - A weapon again commissioned by Sardiel to keep up with recent advances in protection, possessing a spiked head of lead coated in hard steel, placed atop and fused to a sturdy metallic pole, then decorated all over with recessed gold trim. Despite its name and appearance, it serves as a physical weapon only, albeit quite a strong weapon that is hard to protect against.
• The Royal Shield - Yet another item commissioned by Sardiel, again to assist his own self-defense, this is a steel heater shield embossed with the Perinne family's coat of arms designed more to deflect blows than block them outright, largely because a deflected blow leaves the foe open to a counterattack. It contains a Lapis gem in the handle for the purposes of healing, though said gem rarely needs to be used thanks to the properties of The Royal Armour.
• The Royal Swords - A pair of 80cm long steel arming swords, of comparatively simple design by the standards of much of Sardiel's other equipment. These possess a single metal Lapis each in the hilt, most often used by Sardiel to ensure the blades remain inconceivably sharp for the time even after solid blows, though they can in theory be reshaped as desired as a result of the stones' presence.

Abilities

• One of the most major uses of Lapi Sardiel has is that of a very rare sort which, upon activation through a somewhat complicated ritual, significantly slows the user's aging for an extended period of time. In fact, he has completely mastered this form of Lapis, and is vigilant in reapplying its effects when he feels they are close to running out, with the end result that he has not been seen to age at all within the lifespan of anybody currently in his court, and regardless is already nearly three times older than one would expect the natural lifespan of an elf to be, and coming close to twice the age of the next oldest known elf in history, thus granting his moniker as "eternal".
• Sardiel is also an accomplished user of various other Lapi, thanks in part to the aforementioned excessive lifespan; most notably is his mastery of lightning Lapis, which he often utilises in combat when he is forced to engage a foe directly, and his mastery of nature Lapis, allowing him to create and grow plants from seemingly nothing, for both utility, such as spontaneous growth of fruiting trees, and combat support, such as vines to restrain a target or sharpened tree branches to stab or lash with. Indeed, by expending a significant portion of his stamina upon a particularly large chunk of nature Lapis, he can create a humanoid tree monster several meters tall, akin to a mindless ent or golem, to fight in his place, either as an automated monstrosity for distraction of the foe whilst he makes his escape, or as a creature directly controlled by his movements such that he can combine his own combat skill with the strength of such a large entity, though the thing does bear somewhat of a weakness to greater quantities of fire even given that it is not made up of dry wood. Other commonly-used Lapi include fire, water, earth, metal, and healing, though he has access to most types of Lapi which exist anyway thanks to his role as king, and none of those listed are specifically mastered in the manner of Sardiel's primary three Lapi.
• As with any elf, Sardiel possesses two common ETs. The first is the enhancement of all his senses beyond standard human limits: he can see farther and in more detail at any given distance than nearly all humans, hear a greater range of sounds than any human with higher limits to volume before damage is sustained, detect much more subtle flavours and smells than most humans, and is far more tactile when it comes to pressure and temperature than the majority of humans. However, these are not the only senses humans and elves share, and Sardiel also possesses better senses of balance and acceleration, awareness of the relative positions of his body parts, both sensitivity to pain and threshold for pain before it overwhelms him, and various minor improvements to internal senses. Even his sense of time is better coordinated - where humans will gradually perceive any given time period as being shorter as they age thanks to the relative amount of time experienced by them, and indeed may perceive time as moving faster or slower based on excitement factors, elven minds experience time in a way that makes every hour of every day seem to progress at a constant rate regardless of their age, meaning they don't lose touch with beings of shorter lifespans as a result of essentially perceiving their aging the way a human might perceive that of a dog or cat.
• The other ET common to elves is, effectively, an improvement to their overall agility. Thanks to a combination of more flexible joint structures, more specialised muscles, a faster metabolism encouraging a slender build with little body fat, and slightly greater bone plasticity, Sardiel is naturally capable of moving and bending in ways that specialised human contortionists would have trouble emulating. Combined with the enhancement of his senses, he is also far more dextrous than most humans, capable of performing delicate tasks such as crafting minute sculptures that humans might struggle to create. The exchange for this is comparatively lower strength than a human of similar build, though since he is a rather skilled warrior, his physique is not exactly weak to begin with.
• Finally, though it is not confirmed to be an ET in itself, it is believed that the minor draconic heritage of the Perinne royal family, Sardiel included, has granted them a certain degree of additional stamina, making them proportionally more capable of engaging in prolonged and/or intense activity, as well as directly improving their spellcasting capability by giving them a greater energy pool to draw from when utilising Lapi.

Talents

• Military tactics and strategy - Sardiel is an accomplished battlefield tactician and strategist, able to figure out the most advantageous locations for any given army to set up and the general movements the troops should take to maximise their effectiveness.
• Political strategy - Sardiel is also a highly skilled political manipulator, as any royal ought to be, and is more than capable of figuring out what is best for his kingdom and how best to effectively implement any given decision, as well as various ways of appeasing the nobility of his court as and when it is needed.
• Swordsmanship - Sardiel is a generally skilled swordfighter, up to and including the use of two blades; though dual wielding swords would be a foolish thing for most humans to attempt thanks to the complexity of such tasks, the more capable senses and agility that elves naturally possess allow Sardiel to engage in it as comfortably as he would with a single sword or a sword and shield, all further enhanced by how sharp he can make such weapons.
• Magic and Lapis use - Naturally, Sardiel is also very accomplished in terms of magical ability; this is explained in more detail in the Abilities section.

Personality

One of Sardiel's primary motivations is his intense fear of death. He is a naturally rather paranoid individual as a result, and has taken many precautions to ensure that he will not die by any means, ranging from myriad bodyguards to protect him whilst he sleeps to several food testers of different races to generally remaining off the battlefield when he can and leading from behind when he must, even though he has trained extensively in the use of blade, bludgeon, and Lapis alike to further ensure he will remain alive as long as he possibly can. Whilst this does provide him with a great deal of motivation in all areas, not just those focused on his own lifespan, it also means he finds it very difficult to have complete faith and trust in anybody, with even his King's Guard not immune to suspicion if he believes a member of the royal court has reason to want him dead.

That being said, he is not as tyrannical or draconian as one might imagine, and in fact takes his role as Perinne's king quite seriously, utilising his natural drive, long years of experience and knowledge of how to rule, as well as those of his leading generals and King's Guard, to develop and implement solutions to problems in his court and kingdom as they present themselves; the main problem is that in doing so, he regularly focuses his efforts on projects of a grand scale that eclipse the individuals of the realm, which promise great long-term gain that many of the kingdom's shorter-lived inhabitants will not see for a substantial portion of their life, if they even live to see it at all. This is only exacerbated by his immense age even for an elf, and he often does not account for the customs or concerns of the common folk and peasantry as a result - after all, he's lived through two millenia of cultural change; what's another decade or two compared to that?

Biography

Sardiel was born a long while ago, to parents who had recently taken the throne; back then, the culture was noticeably different from how things are in the present day. Most notably, there was a significantly-reduced presence of elven nobles in the court of Perinne, as many such families had yet to achieve the success and wealth that centuries of experience helps to catalyse without strictly guaranteeing either. Many of those present at the time were instead human, and Sardiel soon noticed that the older humans in the court, servant and noble alike, would sometimes disappear permanently with no warning. Though his parents gave reasons for their vanishing during his childhood, such as "we removed them from their position for doing a bad job" and "they're taking an extended rest in the next country over", maturity brought with it an ever more unhealthy awareness of the concept of death, and the fact that even elves were not immune to their lives ending, a point hammered in quite roughly when Sardiel was unfortunate enough to have one of the eldest elves in court expire of heart failure right in front of him.

Naturally, this shaped much of his future mindset, most notably the permanent fear that he too would eventually die. He desperately did not want to die. What would happen if he died? Maybe his soul would be taken to an afterlife of grand scope and high adventure, as the religion of the time dictated... and then again, maybe he'd just be permanently incognizant, save if a necromancer drew his soul back into the realm of the living. Or worse, subjected to some impossible nightmare for no good reason, other than that he'd failed to survive beyond his time. For two hundred years, these ideas plagued him, leaving him despondent and insular day-in and day-out, and he even considered hiring a necromancer to resurrect him as some form of undead entity just to ensure he would not die of old age.

And then, one day, he had an inconceivable stroke of luck. Two decades or so ago, a minute stockpile of Lapis had been acquired within Perinne- no more than a few gemstones overall- and its effects tested in secret by a significant mage group at the time, and it had been discovered back then that upon the performance of certain rituals, this Lapis would do something or other. The "something or other" in question had recently been revealed as slowing the aging process, for several of the older users had yet to pass on, whilst the younger users seemed to be very similar in age to how they had been years before. Naturally, the mages of the guild saw this as a form of minor miracle; just as naturally, upon Sardiel's discovery of the substance, he demanded as soon as possible that the group give him one of those stones and the instructions for how to use it, though he offered a quite handsome sum of money in return. Since one does not refuse an order (or payment) from royalty without good cause, even as a guild of mages, they agreed to his terms, and granted him the stone and the information on how to use it.

His first anti-aging ritual was performed that very night, and paved the way for him to progress further into the realms of magic and Lapi use over the course of his life. With each ritual, his aging slowed more and more heavily, and he was ever vigilant about ensuring he performed these regularly. At three hundred, he appeared to be two hundred and sixty; at four hundred, upon the deaths of his dear parents and his coronation as king, he seemed merely two hundred and ninety; and at six hundred, after the birth of his third and final child, he looked to be no more than three hundred and ten. This pattern continued accordingly for hundreds more years, until Sardiel finally mastered the anti-aging Lapis completely, and his appearance ceased to advance from an apparent three hundred and thirty five years or so, even though by then he was more than a millennium old, his wife deceased and his eldest child approaching a quite elderly state.

So, too, had the people of the land begun questioning the state of affairs of royal progression: whilst many of the shorter-lived races were unaware of how unnaturally youthful Sardiel was, many longer-lived beings such as elves, and indeed plenty of nobles in a court that was by now already beginning to shift toward elven monopoly, were beginning to ask exactly when Sardiel would perish and pass his crown on to his children. As well, a lot of people were not necessarily content with his ruling style, his tendency to consider the long term gain over the short term loss, the many over the few, the kingdom's expansion over mere local customs and fears. And so, as both self-protection and assuaging of fears, Sardiel developed a plan to fake his own death.

The next day, King Sardiel rode off for a distant land, escorted by a small batallion of guards. Eight days later, the guards returned with a corpse, announcing that the king had unfortunately expired of some rare illness in that land, and that the throne would now belong to his eldest, or his eldest if he should expire before coronation.

The day after that, Sardiel returned to the castle in secret, undetected by anyone, and ensconced himself in the castle's inner sanctum. There, he handed a false crown to his (frankly surprised) eldest child to be declared king with, for though he might be king in name, Sardiel's continued semi-mortal existence meant he was naught but a figurehead. The power remained with his father alone, and if he and his descendants wanted to prove themselves loyal, they would comply with the true king's orders, and take this secret to their graves save for telling the truth to their own children. Some time later, it occurred to Sardiel that perhaps not all of the current "king"'s children would need to be informed, but by then all of his grandchildren and even some great-grandchildren knew. He supposed it wasn't entirely bad form; after all, he'd need informants to tell him the current state of affairs beyond and within the walls of the castle.

Another millennium or so passed. Sardiel's children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, passed into and out of life; Sardiel continued to live unaging in that time, his descendants bringing him food, drink, and interaction. After a time, one of them brought in a few servants to assist Sardiel's life and personal interaction; though he was furious at first, especially after learning about discussions early on of how similar each new king's ruling policy had been to Sardiel's own, evolving into a semi-myth about some vastly-powerful demon called "The Eternal King" who controlled each monarch of Perinne (which over time was growing into a full-blown empire spanning multiple countries) into doing its bidding, it transpired that none broke the secret of his continued existence to the world at large, and he eventually adapted to the change in circumstance, even managing to convince some of them to sneak Lapis stones of various sorts into the inner sanctum to let him continue practicing his magical abilities as needed.

Unfortunately, the scope of the cover-up eventually became too grand to hide. Sardiel still has no clue who revealed that he was still alive and ruling from the shadows to the court and world alike, be it one of his younger descendants or a newer servant who had yet to establish how extreme the consequences of their actions might be. However, it stood that the current "king" was the one to inform him of his rediscovered existence, and that in light of "the miraculous discovery about his ancestor's continued existence", as it was put to the court with no indication that he'd known about him beforehand, he had abdicated from the throne entirely in favour of his maniple-great-grandparent, who after all was "far more qualified to rule kindly and fairly thanks to their experience and wisdom".

Sardiel found it hard to be angry or scared about this turn of events, mostly because he was rushed into his "re-coronation" almost as soon as the prior "king" announced his abdication to Sardiel. It quickly became clear that opinions in the court (now very heavily populated by elves) were mixed about his return and/or hiding in the shadows - some saw it as the same miraculous discovery it had been pitched as, and others believed it might be good to have an experienced warrior in charge; some were relatively indifferent, whilst others still were enraged at apparently being lied to, either about his continued existence outright, or else that he'd possibly been pulling the strings for far longer than he had any right to in their eyes. Some even attributed the name of the non-existent demon that myths had been built about to Sardiel himself, in praise and in mockery alike. And of course, Sardiel knew full well that these sentiments would be emulated in the empire at large, with much more dire results than simple anger: civil war was surely on the horizon.

Quickly, he arranged his affairs to prepare for the inevitable. The smiths and enchanters were ordered to construct a new set of equipment- armour, shield, mace, and swords- for "the ruling monarch both present and future", though he fully intended this ruling monarch to be himself for the rest of time now that the truth was known, "and the family of the same". He hired individuals of a mildly unscrupulous nature to burrow through the court, up to and including the King's Guard, to determine who if any were disloyal to him, and purged from their positions of power and wealth anyone who it seemed was even slightly opposed to the crown, replacing them with others who he could be sure would not turn against him; once again, he sacrificed short-term gain for long-term benefit, as he knew this move would surely be seen as draconian in nature and accelerate the oncoming storm's arrival, though he believed it utterly necessary to ensure he would survive to see the storm pass.

And finally, funds were invested into the military: soldiers, knights, and generals were hired and trained as needed, combat equipment was produced at a rate unseen since the conflict against a neighboring empire three hundred years ago, military outposts were set up in the most important areas of Perinne's rule, and guard patrols became more frequent throughout the land of Perinne. All to help combat what by then was beginning to present itself as a rising movement, in the form of the so-called Glanz Empire, the start of a legacy that Sardiel was sure would prove to be a corrupt and rotten hulk throughout. Power, after all, is a force that corrupts many, indeed an end rather than a means; if he himself wasn't evidence of that, he didn't know what was.

He prays he will have the courage to relinquish the excess of power he has built up once the war is over. Moreso, he prays he will have the option to begin with.

Other

This stands to reason, but despite his skill at arms and magic, Sardiel will rarely fight personally unless he has no other choice, in practically all other situations choosing to flee situations that threaten his life instead. Better, in his mind, to live a coward and return to redeem oneself than to die gloriously and prove to be a meaningless martyr, or worse to be imprisoned by an uncaring or even sadistic foe.

Tenebria's Scales [Freeform, Fantasy, Military]

@Kafka Komedy ...alright. Well, that being said, I'll go ahead and move Sardiel's sheet into the OOC proper, so I can keep track of stuff there.