Herald

Heavenly Steel // Black Peace

Magic-heavy or magic-lite? I've got a couple of char concepts in mind, just need to know if fighter types will be useful

Good Night Bears ~ The Interest Check

Laying down some interest.

Hosts: The Enemy Within

Went with Pride, but kept all the descriptions of history and powers a bit bland so they can be adjusted as we all character sheet up.

Leon Mackay, Pride's Host

Faceclaim:

Quote: "Your presumption that I can fail is incorrect."

Name: (Originally)Leannáin MacAoidh
(Current) Leon Mackay

Age: 29(When made a host)

Appearance: A series of old irish-style warrior tattoos depicting a red-handed warrior in battle against other warriors and demons stretches from his left elbow and dominates the upper left quarter of his chest and back, a singular red hand is emblazoned over his heart.

There was mention of an armored form in the sheet?


Personality: Leon has tried his best to let the world forget who he is and is slow to display any form of unusual power or ability even to fellow hosts or members of the order. Despite his unwillingness to display this power, he is still easily needled by the idea that he is somehow lesser than other hosts. His greatest fear is that it is inevitable that he will one day fail to contain Pride, and his failure will beget the suffering of untold numbers until they can be sealed away again.

Biography: Leon was a simple man from a simpler time. Raised as the third child of four in what would one day become known as Scotland, it was his place to learn the ways of war and fight when the rulers of his clan commanded it of him. While his everyday life tended to be more agricultural in nature, his clan was no stranger to the odd attack by brigands and exiles, and even once or twice a year a fellow clan would engage them in open conflict over some territory or another. So it would go, year after year for Leon and he expected that it would never change. He believed he would inevitably wed a farmer's daughter as that was his station, father his own soldiers and farmers, and pass away as his hair greyed or an enemy proved to be just a bit luckier than he was.

That changed with the coming of Lucifer's demons. War ravaged his people just as it did many others and Leon fled with the shattered remains of his clan. He had watched his brothers, his fellow warriors, and even the innocent noncombatants among his people cut down with frightening ease by the demon forces. Their weapons were useless, and it seemed even their gods had forsaken them to Lucifer until the monks came forward with a possible answer. Leon was an early volunteer for the ritual, but was held back by the monks as they identified a certain humility and lack of ambition which may prove promising in sealing away one of the deadliest demons of them all.

When Pride was spotted on the battlefield, Leon was sent forward in the most resplendent garments they could find, carrying the mightiest of spears that could be forged. He challenged Pride to a duel wagering his soul against the demon's own pride, calling out the demon as a coward and a weakling who let the frontline demons do what they could so obviously not. He insulted Pride to the point of enraging the demon, calling the creature forward from his ranks and out to meet Leon in combat.

The trap sprung. The ritual was performed, and Pride was sealed away inside of Leon, who in turn was cursed for his deceit and denial to engage the demon in combat. Eventually the war was won, and Leon faded away from the light of history, eager to be forgotten as his exploits during the war were beginning to make it difficult to suppress the demon inside of him. Every praise that was hurled at his feet was one more chain that fell away from the bindings. Every thankful gesture and offer of tribute or devotion was another hole in the cage. He needed to be forgotten.

Sin: Pride(self-styled King of Sin) is the avatar of the emotions each mortal feels when they are praised. They are that addictive call to receive more praise, to drive oneself towards greatness purely to hear how superior one is above those around you. They are the roar of the lion that calls out all challengers and the crack of lightning that made mortals bow their heads in worship. There are those who might say that they are the most neutral of the Sins, for having pride in oneself is surely not entirely a bad thing. Those who say this deny the demon's true nature however, for this demon thrives not just on driving oneself to be excellent, but to be nothing less than the best no matter the cost to yourself or others.

Among Lucifer's Generals they are the easiest to know. Pride conceals nothing about themself and takes on challenges if another even suggests that they might not be the best demon to do it. While this has led to them being manipulated in the past, Pride possesses their own unique style of cunning and intelligence which has solidified their seat as a General of Lucifer's armies. As much as other demons seek to control Pride through their own hubris, so too does Pride consistently undermine and manipulate lesser demons with questions of their own worthiness. After all, who among demons is better to judge their worth than Pride himself?

Although it is well known, even by Lucifer himself, that Pride desires Lucifer's lofty throne, this is the one area in which Pride acknowledges that to pursue would be suicide. Instead of being ashamed of this, Pride will openly admit this to other demons, acknowledging Lucifer's power and in turn using that goal to drive themself to even greater feats of strength and power.

When Leon calls upon Pride's power, his already impressive durability increases exponentially. Weapons and powers wielded by lesser demons are repelled the moment they impact his form and his mind becomes resistant to illusions and manipulations. His presence on the battlefield enhances the strength of his allies and weakens the morale of his enemies as though they were witnessing a literal engine of destruction heading directly for them and them alone.

Curse: Pride demands recognition, and over the years the demon has learned that recognition can only be found when there is opportunity to excel. Pride's curse upon his host is that they must always act when called upon to perform a task, though the method of execution is up to the host and success in that task is not a guarantee. The host of Pride also cannot deceive another about their identity, and will openly admit who and what they are if asked directly.

Likes: Classic literature, Mechanical and Engineering papers, and the occasional bottle or three of whiskey. He also enjoys hearing about the lives of others around him, taking some small joy in others enjoying what he denies himself.

Dislikes: Taking credit, talking about himself or his personal history, and the game of chess.

Quirks: Despite his centuries spent trying to be a living avatar of humility, one trait Leon has never been able to suppress has been a certain self-confidence and quirky half-smile. He has a well developed sense of humor and often inserts that humor into situations that should be taken far more seriously. He believes that one should always strive to do two things in excess: laugh and love.

Hosts: A Demon RP

Tentatively interested. Wrath of course is my favorite, but my deadliest is pride.

Guardians

Herald, checking in! I will have a char sheet ready by tomorrow night, I just got a little overwhelmed with today's activities irl

Guardians

Definitely interested.

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Tommy Pearson

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Never thought I'd have the gorram ship questioning my ability, Tommy thought to himself as he stared at the consoles, a bit wide eyed at the revelation of an artificial intelligence on the China Doll. The ramifications of having an actual true AI... he started to wonder just who in the hell he had managed to sign himself up with. Were they black market dealers? Did they need the AI to bypass Alliance blocks?

He took off his hat and ran a hand through his closely cropped brown hair. "Right to the meat of the issue," he muttered, then held up a hand though he wasn't sure what direction to gesture in, "sorry, meant no offense about the meat thing."

He wasn't sure how much control the AI was permitted of the ship, but he didn't care to find out by pissing it off.

"If you're lookin' at my war records, you're right," he began, sighing heavily, "I didn't so much fight as run supplies as avoid getting shot. Sure I burned my share of gunpowder at the Alliance, but I was hardly what you might call the front line type."

"I spent a few years runnin a Komodo class. Different from the China Doll, I know, but beggars and choosers," Tommy continued, "got my pilot's wings the way half the men in the Independence Army did... previous owner was killed right in front of me and no one else was quicker to take the controls. My military record is a mess on the part of the piss poor job the administration did, but trust me, I've got more than a few years sailing the black."

"Can't say I've spoken with an AI before," Tommy said, "you my co-pilot on this bird? Or do you have some other role to play here Miss Samantha? It is Miss, right?"

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Tommy Pearson

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Tommy's brow furrowed in confusion as he eyed the com unit suspiciously, having traced the voice's origin point directly to it. Who was he talking to now? Another crew member somewhere in the ship? It had to be, right? Were they just too shy to come up and talk to him face to face? The whole conversation was setting him on edge, but he tried his best to keep it out of his voice.

"A Sir-name? Naw, I ain't much of a nob-," Tommy's face flushed slightly, "oh, you mean a family name. Sorry, my usual conversation partners can't even spell surname most of the time. It's Pearson. Tommy Pearson."

He moved back around to the front of the consoles, taking another look towards the entrance to the cockpit and reassuring himself that no one was in fact standing in the shadows messing with him. He took the pilot's seat again and after a few moments of eyeing the comm system again, began resuming his secondary checks of the China Doll's systems.

"Mind if I inquire who I'm talking to?," Tommy said as he stared at the readouts, satisfied that nothing was terribly out of the ordinary, at least, not that it appeared to his eyes. Of course, the last time he had been this close to a Firefly class had been back during the war.

"It's a little disconcertin' to be talkin to a squawk box, be easier to talk face to face yeah?" Tommy said, leaning back in the chair and relaxing slightly as one boot came up to rest on the edge of the console. "Are you a member of the crew or one of the passengers?"

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Tommy Pearson

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Tommy settled a hand reassuringly on his knife as he and Yuri walked through the closed in corridors of the China Doll. He had been surprised to be invited inside, but he supposed if this crew really needed a pilot as badly as they said, best to have him look at his new potential office before signing anything. Especially since based on the look of the crew, the China Doll was set to depart within a few days to make a profitable run through the black.

It wasn't long before they reached the cockpit, and Tommy eyed the pilot seat with mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness. He noted the lack of chaos typically found around a pilot's chair. Pilots, Tommy included, had a habit of viewing their seat as their personal throne through which they ruled the kingdom that was the ship even if it was at the orders of a Captain. He smiled a bit and slipped into the chair, taking a moment to relax at the increasingly familiar feel of the seat. Even if it was only his throne for a short time, he had a feeling he was going to like this ship.

“Feel free to run her through a preflight check. The radion core’s offline right now, and it goes without saying we can’t spin up the atmo engines with all that foot traffic, but short of that you should get a decent feel for her.”

Tommy's hands were already moving, dancing across controls and readouts in a series of basic flight checks. Everything appeared to be as Yuri said, fuel level was acceptable for a jump through the black, power readouts were within acceptable limits, and coolant and emergency measures appeared to be well in place and untampered with.

"Don't mind the unfamiliar hands darlin'," Tommy muttered to himself, or at least he thought it was to himself, "gotta learn a fine shape like yours to treat it right. I promise I'll be gentle exceptin those times when I can't."

He was halfway through running the checks a second time to look for irregularities when an unknown voice seemed to come out of the air itself.

"Greetings, Tommy, and welcome to the China Doll bridge."

"Gǎo shénme guǐ?(What the hell?)," Tommy hissed, his hand flying down to his sidearm and pulling it halfway out of the holster, already taking as much cover as could be found in the cockpit and putting the consoles between him and the door. His eyes scanned for a target and despite the rapid reaction, his breathing was calmed, nearly silent as he tried to find who, or what had spoken.

"Gorram haunted ship got ghosts of former pilots talkin to me now?," he muttered again when he could find no moving target to draw his attention. His body was tensed, ready to spring in any direction to save himself but his hand slowly slid the Firestar M-45 back into it's holster. Discharging a few rounds in the cockpit was a terrible way to introduce himself to the crew, he figured.

"Sorry, must not have heard ya coming up the corridor," Tommy called out, straightening to a standing position and continuing to peer into the entrance to the cockpit as his brain could only assume that is where the voice could have come from. "I'm uh... the pilot... potential pilot, I guess... H-Hello?"

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Tommy Pearson

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Tommy's eyebrow arched at Yuri's words. A standard share plus room and board? It was a pretty good deal, and not one that you might offer to a stranger who you'd known only ten minutes. And pilots normally got the short end of the deal in his experience, after all, what were they gonna do about it? Crash the ship out of spite? Perhaps they really did need a pilot. Of course, he needed a job too so he was not about to turn down a silver platter when he saw one.

"Seems mighty fair to me. I 'preciate you giving me the consideration," he said, digging out the requested information from inside a pocket on his coat. Well, at least as much as could be carried around these days. "Make any inquiries you'd like. I had some trouble in my younger days, then some more trouble we all called a war I guess. Been good at keepin' my nose clean since though."

He had to as a matter of survival. Contrary to what the propagandists promised, the Alliance never forgave and never forgot. Just because they weren't actively hunting you across a battlefield didn't mean they couldn't find other ways to ensure you lived in hell.

"Do you mind if I wait around?," he asked, "I'd be interested to meet the Cap'n if he has time. If not, well just lemme know if I should stash my gear in the ship or screw off somewheres else."