Clay

Totem - Accepting New Players

Lazarus Greveus

Name: Lazarus Greveus Description: Lazarus is a man not easily understood. He usually keeps himself well groomed and attired in form fitting suits. His long black hair is perfectly strait and kept behind his head in a silver clasp in the shape of a cobra, a symbol that matches an emerald ring on his left ring finger. He is an exceptional diplomat with hints of nobility in his bearing. He protrudes a slippery and venomous aura when close for no plainly explicable reason, something that is felt before seen; Dangerous but not malicious… Hopefully. Backstory: Lazarus hails from the most ancient and noble house Greveus, from the kingdom of Lancaster, a land of knowledge and political power. His father was advisor to the king, Centillius Lancaster, and Master of Totems. Just a title in reality, Lazarus knew, it was a political title that gave his father control over a third of the commerce in the kingdom. Lancaster is a nation that prizes power and those who know how to keep it after all. Each noble house has a powerful totem that they wear like a coat of arms. It is a direct representation of honor in this society. “You MUST keep the secret or else you are nothing! Secrets make us noble son, you will do well to remember that…” Or so his father told him every day it seemed. But politicking and scheming were far more dull subjects than totems. See Lazarus’ father, Lord Casius Ethos Greveus, was probably a worse totemologist than He was! His father was great at everything he did in his office, but it happens to be that that has very little to actually do with totems. But don’t misunderstand, his father made sure to get all the tutors he could for his son. He was the Master of Totems after all! Alas, in reality totems were just a tool, cunning was the ticket to power. And so it was; Lazarus got a wide education in everything, from influencing the masses, to the new engineering application of totems. He was being groomed to be one of the most influential nobles in Lancaster. Perhaps King himself if his father played his cards right. And that, in the end is what caused the house of Greveus' downfall. Misplaced ambition is the destruction of the lofty, for there is always one more cunning than you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was late at night, in the dead of winter when Lazarus was summoned to his father’s chambers... “Have a seat my son, I shall like to share my last drink with you…” His father looked slightly pale. “Uh… I’m sorry father, but I do not understand.” Lazarus hated it when he didn’t get hidden messages in people’s superficious words. “Of course you do. I spoke plainly for, just this once my son” his father’s eyes were hazy in the fire light… "Your last drink of what? Understanding? Knowledge? Power?’ Lazarus tried to decipher the riddle. To no avail. None of it made sense! “Listen my son. I have put our house in great danger. My desire four our greatness has surpassed our place in the King’s court… Just remember I did it for you my son. I know you will be greater than I…” Casius gazed solemnly at his son, as if seeing a future, a future he wish would have been his. The pieces started falling into place for Lazarus, he literally meant what he said. Sure, you hear of great houses falling, but that wouldn’t happen to the most ancient house of Greveus. That kind of destruction only befalls the lesser houses... Lazarus was in shock! Never would he have believed it! “You jest father! You have the King’s ear! We are too powerful for that kind of trouble!!” Lazarus had tears coming to his eyes. The storied always ended bad, he couldn’t survive without his father. They are house Greveus! Crack! The door splintered and sprayed across the room. “Get down boy!” Casius shouted has he pulled his serpentine blade from it’s jeweled holster. The intruders gave no pause. The two of them were at his father’s desk before Lazarus could even blink. Knocking away the noble blade. It appears knowledge and politics didn’t count for swordplay... A quick twist of the wrist and blood splashed across Lazarus’ face. Unease A feeling of discomfort and danger permeated Lazrus’ soul. “Wha…aaa. at… is that!!!” Lazarus stuttered. “Be calm my son” His father spoke through gritted teeth, the blood coloring them red. “Our totem has been stolen.” His father spoke, but his voice grew dim in Lazarus’ head. But out Secrets are our power…. “No… Not our secrets…” All Lazarus had feared was coming to fruition at this most inopportune time. He needed to be strong now, but the reality of what was happening was sinking in. His father’s tutors were too good. He knew exactly what was happening and what it meant… The house of Greveus was falling. “I am Balthier Marth,” said a man from the doorway “and I claim your house.” The stories call for a righteous duel between the lords of each house. A noble battle to the death, where the righteous always win... Lazarus looked to his father, his bleeding face broken. “I, Lazarus of the most ancient house of Greveus, will defend our house to the death.” Lazarus spoke shakily. That’s what they said in the plays… “Son No!” His father rose with more agility than seemed possible. He deftly rolled across the floor, the house blade sliding into his hand. A lightning quick jab, no more force necessary than to pierce flesh, pinned Balthier Marth through his side. “I Casius Ethos Greveus, Master of Totems, and friend of the King, His Majesty Centillius Lancaster, refuse your challenge!” Lazarus’ father struck the blade deep and twisted sharply, causing a cracking noise to echo from Balthier's chest. “Go son this is no place for children.” His father spoke with venom. He was back!! Lazarus was infused with energy to see the Lord of the serpent house of Greveus stand tall and powerful again! Wack! No… Lazarus stared, eyes wide but unbelieving… “Not anymore…” *Cough* Blood splattered from the lord of house Marth's teeth. “You are no longer friend to the king…” The man dragged himself to his feet and pulled a dagger from his coat. “This is now the property of the most ancient house Marth!” And with that Balthier's blade ruptured Lazarus’ father’s back…. The henchmen that had so mercilessly hacked at his father’s back now faced Lazarus... The boy was in shock. Torn between the feelings of grief and vengeance. Balthier spoke, “Let us end his line and be done with it.” Lazrus knew his time was short. His eyes scanned the area frantically… The fire! “No!!!! Please sir, you have taken my father and my heritage. You must not take my life!” Lazarus cried unabashedly, he had just lost his father after all. “I will change my name! You will never see me again.” The boy broke down into sobs, frantically scooting away from the approaching henchmen. Balthier laughed and bent down towards the teary heir of house Greveus, “Oh child, it doesn’t work like that.” The Lord laughed and brandished his still bloody dagger, gleaming in the fire light. “Your right, it doesn’t.” Lazarus spoke, his voice steel, “The house of Greveus doesn’t beg!” Lazarus grabbed the heating totem from the fireplace, a scorching scream ripping form the boy's lips. With all his strength he slammed the super-heated metal against the Lord Marth’s face... A sudden out pouring of smoke and the smell of burnt flesh accompanied the blow... Nearly masking the sound of a cracking bone. With a rough crisscross of blistered and bleeding flesh, the Lord collapsed. Mentally disregarding the agony in his hand, Lazarus hurled the super-heated plate at the henchmen. The super-heated metal racing towards them was enough to discourage immediate pursuit. Perhaps with the addition of seeing their lord collapsed in the floor, smoking... Lazarus was able to flee through a nearby window without immediate pursuit. And so he leaped through the window, out of his child hood home, leaving his youth with blood and burnt flesh on the carpet. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That was fifteen years ago… But Lazarus’s reminds himself every day, His father was wrong. It wasn’t the secrets or the plotting. It wasn’t the King or the houses. No, power does not come from such common themes. It has, and always will be, totems that give true power. He was always more passionate about them than silly politics, and now he sees that he was always right! It was his father’s down fall to rely on such human endeavors; Lazarus knows where true power lies. So he has dedicated his life to finding the most powerful totems, to see the truth of the universe. His house is gone. Decimated by the broken Lancaster Empire. But there is a greater power out there... Their voices are woven in the very fabrics of the universe… The totems are the key, and Lazarus will decipher their language… Goals/Fears: Lazarus has lost all desire for riches and power in the way the rest of the world sees it. He saw his family get torn apart in such a blunder. Lazarus wants to find the secret of the totems, whatever the cost. He does not want power over people, but power over his own life. He fears falling into the trap of nobility. Becoming a pampered prince pretending to know how the world works. He knows it is all an act. A game with people’s lives counting as points. No... He is searching for something more. He knows there is meaning to all of this… But if there isn’t… Well... That would be his biggest fear of all. Mastery: Lazarus is a relative master in Manipulation, Diplomacy, and a journeyman in Totems. Equipment: Lazarus has the noble sword of house Greveus. A purely ceremonial blade. But, worth far more than its weight in gold. Although he was trained in dueling under his father’s name, he was always more prone to the academic nature of totems. Now that he is alone, he realizes the difference between the duels of lordlings, and a fight to the death. He knows he stands no chance in that arena. Never the less, the blade has significant diplomatic weight, since it is the symbolic blade of a most ancient house. In Lancaster none the less! Where only the most ruthless survive... His father was also able to transfer the wealth of his house out of Lancaster before their downfall. So Lazarus is exceedingly rich, though he cares little enough for it. In his mind, his wealth is only in his knowledge of runes. Personality:   Lazarus is unkind. Merciless. Unsympathetic. Maybe even cruel. But the truth is, he is blindingly focused. He is so consumed by his mission that nothing else is important, in that way you might call him arrogant. He would care about the suffering of others, if he could understand how it was more important than his own personal crusade. He is damaged, and it shows. But not in the way of an abused child, or battered woman... It makes him seem every bit the arrogant noble. A complete snob, above everybody else and their peasant squabbles. The truth is, he has been kicked in the mud and spit on more than most people ever will be. Imagine being the king’s friend one day, and then being a peasant with nothing to his name, the next... In his society, money didn’t mean anything compared to one's standing and House. His father made many enemies; something expected of his position, when you had that much power your decisions affected the whole kingdom. But when you lose the backing of the king you are the punching bag of society. With all that being said, even now all that matters is his mission. Lazarus has suffered immense fear in the face of combat, and now avoids it at all costs. But that doesn't mean he cant be useful elsewhere... It needs to be clear that Lazarus was raised under a completely different set of preconceptions and ideals than most. The kingdom of Lancaster prized the cunning and ambition of its houses. At one time the kingdom provided the most talented diplomats of the entire continent, able to bring an agreement to even the most hostile of enemies. Understand. There is a place for cunning and manipulation. The Lancaster kingdom has since lost this noble purpose and fallen into the ill repute of the other kingdoms on this continent. A great fall, marked in part, by the house of Greveus’ fall. Add to that the trauma of having your entire comfort zone, everything you know to be right and safe, destroyed when your 15, and you can imagine Lazarus. Totem: He carries a large grimoire of totems from all over the land that he has painstakingly gathered over the last 15 years. It is bound by a crisp black cover that glints of scales in the sunlight. With several inches of milky white paper perfectly cut to precise page sizes. It contains several of the general patterns of heating, finding, warding, and a variety of other elements. Very useful, a prize collection for most. But in reality. it is simply a practicality with no great use for Lazarus... His fifteen years haven’t been completely void of discovery though. He has won the understanding of another great totem to add to his own houses... His ring contains the house of Greveus’ great totem, of course. This totem emits an aura of unease and weakness that reacts to the wearer’s will. But what makes his houses totem great is the ability to weaken people’s mind, putting them in a state of compliance with the wearer’s goals. The more a request goes against a person’s beliefs the less likely it will succeed. But he also holds the Great Ruby of Panthos, a powerful war society from the east. This totem allows the wielder to slow time for 30 seconds once a day. Since Lazarus avoids combat at all costs he mostly uses it for eerie appearances or some unscrupulous endeavors.

I envision my character being a plot device more than a hero. Sure he will have his moments, but I want him to be the one that does the shady thing our other heroes wont do. Or to take care of problems before anyone else thinks of them. Is there a particular guardsman fighting against our mission? He will be dead by the next day, robbed by some local thief. A particular politician playing power games? Everyone knows to be cautious around any lords of Lancaster, and Lazarus will use this to his utmost potential. Do you want some special trinket or knowledge, exceedingly hard to come by? Lazarus has it, or can get it, for a price. He is not meant to be good or evil, but just as he is, without petty definitions... Anyways... I took a lot of liberties just to flesh out my idea for a character. Please feel free to nitpick so that I can get just the right character for your story...

A Brave New World?

lol Lullyn, yes he is an abrassive character, it's so much fun! You guy's don't have to go along with what Eric does, I am simply playing out his character. The GM thing only applies to actual plot developments. You guys can decide to gangup and try to bully the truth out of me. But it makes for interesting character development to see how you all react to him adn what he does. Thank you for your post Raven a post a day is actually a pretty good pace. I still want a post from Blackmist before I post the next plot development. I think Ill make it a group post so we can develop a plan and get all that kind of stuff done with one post. Ill write something up today or tomorrow and PM it to each of you with places for you to write in reactions and such and then post it to the IC. Anyone have any good ideas for hwo were going to sneak a ship off planet, or maybe hide aboard one. My secret device is a frequency key that will let us past the orbital defences. I am thinking the ending sequence in this scene is a suprise attack from the military police or whoever Eric stole it from. Something like a frequency key would for sure be tracked or something. (I don't know why Eric wouldn't disable the tracker...) Lets hear some ideas!

A Brave New World?

Looks good! Lets see what the others have to say about this situation...

A Brave New World?

Eric still has the stock of your rifle, I planned on him re-balancing it, and giving it a custom fit to your hand, hence the robots scanning it. Also it was part of the plan to throw you out of balance while taking away your second sight and main weapon. But judging from your post you got the message so it is up to you. Do you want Eric to upgrade your rifle and thereby leave you without heavy firepower for this meeting? You can change yours to account for an incomplete gun, or I will edit my post to be continuous with yours. I like the personality btw :)

A Brave New World?

Eric looked at the equipment on his workbench dully. "Let me guess its jamming?" He deftly disassembled the stock of the rifle, his flying robot 'bugs' swinging in tools and parts as if a giant hive mind was at work. "People never seem to grease these right, there is a small locking mechanism right where the stock meets the assembly and people never think to oil it..." Eric took a pair of very thin needle nose pliers and popped out what looked to others as a small block. In the meantime small bugs hovered around to Chastity and started poking her hand. She eventually got the picture and outstretched her hand and the small bot scanned it before going over to some machine in this maze of a shop, stopping to pick up her rifle stock form the workbench on the way. "You see the lock has nothing to do with firing, but if you have ever built anything above a standard C class rifle you know there is a hollow cavity in there where grit and debris from a gummy lock can get into the nooks and crannies of the barrel slide. Compound that with kinetic shock, such has a heavy amount of firing or I don't know, something as crude as hitting someone with it..." Eric paused and looked down his nose at her before snickering. "Really its quite ridiculous that you would every pay someone to do such an mediocre job. I'm positive you would have been able to clean and oil the barrel to the same standard. No it takes at modicum of knowledge to know the real problem and fix it. But I suppose that is why you came to me!" Eric spoke rapidly has he worked not pausing to take a breath. A bug had returned with the small metallic box that they now understood to be some sort of locking mechanism. Eric reinserted it and set the half disassembled weapon aside and looked down at the mercury. "I took the liberty of cleaning and then carbon plating the lock, it is not the best solution but we slummers don't exactly get the best resources down here. It will not jam due to that particular issue unless you subject it to a rather astonishing amount of heat or manage to survive these streets and keep that weapon for another 10 years... Which makes me think..." Eric looked at her obviously measuring her up... "Why are you useful? We are all tools, you see, some are hammers and some are nails." He examined her curved and slim clothing bugs instantly swarming her, little red globes of 'eyes' scanning her, pulling lightly on her hair and shining light into her eyes. Despite the obvious destination of his stare it was a cool calculating look in his eyes, as if he was running through a lists of purposes and seeing where she fit in the equation. Or if she was a rusted wrench that needed to be disposed of. "No..." He glanced back to his workbench the bugs instantly dispersing. "you are much more subtle then that..." "Oh! A mercury! I love these little guys, I have a few of my bugs based of this little model. Yes he is getting a little old but there are few that match his charm" ZAP! A bug had at one time hovered over to Ryan and zapped his hand holding the briefcase. Eric kept working, apparently oblivious to the situation. "Poor guy has just been tweaked a little, nothing he can't recover from. You really should take better care of your tools Ms." Eric was bending tiny rods with a strange pair of pliers that had some sort of spring mechanism in the handle. "Oh I always wanted to see how well an infrared imprint would register on an optic array! Perfect timing!" Eric turned abruptly to a small workstation and started typing furiously, "Yes! This should go well." A small beeped registered from the console and was immediately repeated by a rather round bug that flew strait at Chastity's eye while another flew up to hold her hair out of the way. "Stay Still!!!" Eric shouted grinning wildly. A quick blast of freezing air into her eye and then a rather unsettling red flash accompanied by a burning sensation in her eye socket that she didn't quite feel but senses. "I wouldn't try to play with that particular toy for at least an hour." ZAP!!! This time Eric turned to face Ryan, "Name?" A dangerous smile flashed across his face. "Yes, well you should probably give up that case, he will get rather incessant shortly. I haven't had the pleasure of working on a Gauss rifle in years." "Now for you..." Eric said giving Bo his full attention, "I have a rather special creation you might enjoy..." A series of flying robot swarmed the stocky man tracing his arms, legs, and chest at varying distances. "It will take some minor tweaking but I think you will find it more to your taste." Eric said, looking significantly at the man's axe. "Now Ms. what is your name, and are you in?" Eric said to Chastity simply.

A Brave New World?

Well sadly my time is at an end. I planned to get more done but inspiration got me carried away. I spent a little to much time trying to add detail and continuity. I really like the story we have a good start! I will try to check in a few more times tonight, but plan on tomorrow being the next real development.

A Brave New World?

There came a knock at the door and Eric stopped his speech. "Must be a customer I will take care of them quickly." He opened the door stiffly, preparing to send some thief or other unsavory type away. You don't get very many upstanding customers down here. He was rather caught off guard by the beauty standing outside his shop, not the usual thief at all it seems. He would need another distraction... "Please come inside." He said crisply, "we have much to do..."

A Brave New World?

Eric looked up from his device and saw the man outside his shop door. Interesting... It seems this little escapade is growing! "Don't mind the bugs! they are harmless. It's the dumpster you need to watch out for!" Eric chuckled lightly at the look on the strangers face and gave Bo a wink. "It is a dumpster after all, they have the most horrid smell..." Eric pulled tapped a quick sequence on a touch pad obscured by random bits and pieces. A large holographic map was displayed before them all. It was the capital city. A few red markers were outlining different locations. "We need a ship. We can try to steal one from the spaceport, but we all know how highly guarded that is. I was thinking a little more outside the box... The only place that has space ready vessels outside of the port is at the military base. They have a small docking station there to receive certain important people and merchandise..."

A Brave New World?

Well, I was actually thinking about coming to you with the gun. It's tempremental and often needs a tune up. But I'm not sure if your char is known as a repairer of such things, or if I'd need my mechanical bird to get damaged. You tell me? I can make it happen.

@Lullyn

Yes, and the gun it will help solve one of the conditions of Eric's plan.

A Brave New World?

"That is most unfortunate... Don't touch that!" Eric grabbed a rag and brushed the quicksilver piece of art. "This is a quantum destabalizer... theoretically." In reality it was just a bad idea, he hadnt worked out all the kinks yet. But it had potential. "Anyways we need a ship. Perhaps a pilot. A way to get through the upper districts and probably a way to gest past a few military instalations. Still interesed?"