Name: Benjamin Lloyd
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Affiliation: Roundtable Order
Weapon:
Joyous Guard: At first glance, an immense teardrop shield emblazoned with Ben’s personal symbol. The shield can take an incredible beating without showing any signs of damage, to such an extent that nothing has yet dented it. Joyous Guard is rather heavy, but Ben swings it around as though it were nothing. The shield can be held in the hand, or mounted on his forearm. Once activated, it can transform into an immense, two handed sword with firearm barrels on the crossguard to aid in its swings.
The Guard’s final form is a massive twin-barreled cannon, mountable on the forearm or carried by hand. Its munitions are sufficient to level most targets with a few shots, and their destructive capabilities are further augmented by the capability to add Dust. Its recoil is sufficient enough to require either a brace of the use of Dolorous Guard to keep it steady.
Joyous Guard also contains several Aura batteries, modeled after the ones originally used in his tonfa, to give him additional Aura reserves when needed.
His original weapons, Artorius and Lawnlot, are incorporated into Joyous Guard. Their blades help form its edge, and its shotguns add additional recoil boosting to its swings. In a moment of dire need, both could be separated once more from the cohesive whole. A reminder of what once was, and what might have been.
His off hand, when Joyous Guard is in its shield form, is usually occupied by whatever weapon is easy to hand.
Semblance:
Deinamig:
Dolorous Guard: With the radical shift in his personality, so too did his semblance. Deinamig, which once drew its power solely from within, evolved to reflect his view of the world. Dolorous Guard still draws its strength from Benjamin’s Aura, boosting the speed and strength of his muscles, but Ben is no longer the sole deciding factor. Dolorous Guard becomes proportionally more powerful as the number of Ben’s opponents grow. Against one person, it will draw from Ben’s strength alone. Against two his power doubles. Against three it triples, and so forth. The worse the odds, the stronger he becomes.
His strength is such, in fact, that most weapons cannot hold up to the stresses he puts upon them. The average weapon will break after only a few battles, while a more durable one might last longer. Since Ben’s strength is limited only by his own Aura and the number of his foes, there is no telling what strains his tools will be put under.
With Benjamin’s all-or-nothing attitude, Dolorous Guard rapidly turns him into a juggernaut on the battlefield.
Personality: Benjamin is a friendly guy. His teachers, once upon a time, might have called him lazy or slothful. He was always intelligent, but his work ethic seemed to be lacking. After his failure in Beacon’s entrance exam, all of that has burned away. Ben is driven, giving nothing less than one hundred percent in everything he does. He believes in his ideals almost zealously, and will fight with every fiber of his being in their defense. Among the people, among even his enemies, he is the model of professionalism and civility. The sort of man that would give the shirt off his own back if someone needed it more. Always ready with a joke or a smile.
But the flipside is darker. When the peaceful option fails, when every chance for a nonviolent resolution has been exhausted, he will destroy you. Your influence. Your defenses. Your weapons. You. As much as is necessary to ensure that you will never threaten his people again. He will lead the charge from the front, and not let up until any threat you posed is dust in the wind. He has a particular hatred for elitism and arrogance, with a passion that borders on personal. He faces any who choose to oppose him with every breath. If those you affiliate with have chosen war, the entire organization will be dismantled with the same brutal efficiency as any fight.
But for all his fairness, a well of rage flows in Ben's heart. As lofty as his ideals have become, he can't shake off their source. The resentment that still burns deep in his heart, resentment at Beacon, Hunters, his own failure... His noble goals grew from wrathful roots. These roots are hidden, buried deep, but all it takes is the right trigger to bring them to the surface. Any foe that hits the wrong nerve does not live to regret their mistake.
No better friend, no worse enemy.
Appearance:
Ben hasn’t changed much from the day he washed out of Beacon. A little taller, a little more toned, and his hair’s definitely gotten longer… But he’s still recognizable. What changed is the way he carries himself. Tall with an almost noble bearing, his posture has none of the laziness that once pervaded his demeanor. Each step is controlled and purposeful, and his expression holds an intense clarity of purpose.
Despite it all, he still looks… Friendly. Behind the revolutionary is a man who believes what he is doing is right, and genuinely cares about those who follow him. On the battlefield, he shows few signs of enjoyment. When he fights Grimm, he fights to defend mankind. When he fights his fellow man, he fights because there is no alternative.
Killing Grimm is satisfying. Fighting, sometimes killing, those who believe in their own cause is an unfortunate necessity.
History: Benjamin Lloyd was the son of a weaponsmith in a small town in the northeast of Vale called Redwood. His family, once, was a long line of warriors. Huntsmen and Huntresses, protectors of the Kingdom. Somewhere down the line tragedy struck, and the Lloyds turned their back on their profession and turned to being smiths. They settled in Redwood, and just… Never left. Generation after generation lived in the same town, inheriting the same shop, and working the same job. Ben wanted nothing more than to break that cycle. He knew he could do more, and he knew his entire
family could do more, than that. He could turn his back on his family’s passivity and make a difference. He learned the weaponsmithing trade so he could fashion his own weapons, but he never lost sight of his end goal.
Not that his father approved. Finally, when he was a teenager, the matter came out in the open with a long, drawn out argument. His father was dead set against the idea, but he finally gave Ben an ultimatum; if Ben could get himself accepted to Beacon, he had his father’s blessing. If he failed he would come back to Redwood and continue training to take over the shop. It was a deal Ben took in a heartbeat. Every spare moment for the next few years was devoted to crafting his tools, honing his skills, and becoming knowledgeable enough to excel. Endless hours poured into the pursuit of one goal.
And finally, his chance came. His application to Beacon was accepted. He was there, ready to take the entrance exam, and break free from his family’s endless cycle. Equipment well-tended, well-supplied, and the task was (on paper) simple. It wouldn’t be easy, but he knew he had the skills and the knowledge to do it. His Semblance was even an added Ace up the sleeve, a trump card in case he needed it. His unwillingness to use it ended his career before it ever started. By refusing to use Deinamig at a crucial time, he failed the entrance exam.
He was headed home before he could even process what happened. A few days later, after he was already on the train, he found out that three of his fellow washouts had shown exceptional valor in dealing with a Grimm attack and been offered a chance to attend Beacon. The fact barely registered. Ben was despondent, completely devastated. Back in the workshop almost before he’d left, confined to the same cycle he was so certain he had broken. So he threw himself into the work he hated, channeling his smoldering resentment into his work. Churning out weapon after weapon for every would-be Hunter or Huntress that came through the door, knowing that many of them wouldn’t ever achieve their dream. His work, his workshop, his own village became a veritable Purgatory. Nothing ever changed while his resentment grew, and grew, and grew.
Until Grimm managed to overrun Redwood’s walls, demolishing the semblance of normalcy he had created. The police, though well-equipped, were not Hunters. They had little experience dealing with Grimm, and their efforts to stop the creatures bordered on futile. The shattered peace, if only for a moment, reawakened Ben’s resolve. His will to do something more. Artorius and Lawnslot saw use one more time, shaking off their dust to slay the beasts invading Ben’s home. The fight was brief, but brutal in its efficiency. Ben had learned from his failure. When he fought, nothing was held back. The small pack was destroyed with devastating, systematic precision. But the opportunity was brief. Once the Grimm were gone, his weapons returned to their place on the shelf, and he prepared to return to the drudgery of his day to day life.
Not before, however, he offered to train the town’s police in more effective anti-Grimm tactics. After all, they had the tools. They just needed the training. The sheriff accepted, so for the next few months he took time out of each day to meet with the town’s (small) police force and instruct them not only in anti-Grimm tactics, but teach them to use their weapons effectively. Rather than the overwhelming apathy his life had been filled with, he found that his drive had been reawakened. He approached even his own work with renewed vigor. Grimm broke through again, but this time the police could repel them. Curiously, more customers started coming through his door. Average citizens looking for something to defend themselves with, and many of them wanted the training to use them.
Before long he was selling not just the weapons, but training. Word spread, and his business kept swelling. People had grown fearful after the breach in Vale, and with that fear came more and more Grimm being drawn to the Kingdom’s people. And slowly Ben started to think. When he wanted to be a Hunter, there had only ever been one option; he needed to attend Beacon. And attending Beacon was no small feat. One school for all of Vale, and it accepted only the best. Produced only the best. With no real military, Vale’s defenses consisted only of those graduates. Atlas saw to its people’s safety with a real army, one that sought not only to protect civilians, but its soldiers as well.
Vale’s defenses were so poor that the Atlesian military had needed to help put a stop to the breach. And with the Grimm attacks on the rise, that prestigious elite wasn’t enough to protect the people. Their own fears attracted the Grimm, and the more the Grimm attacked, the more they feared. Every living thing had an Aura. A way to protect themselves. So why was that power, that power and the training to use it, confined to so few? Confined to that small, elite class of Hunters and Huntresses?
There was no reason. It was senseless, needless, and worst of all,
arrogant. So Ben extended an offer. Anyone who came to his shop in Redwood could buy a weapon, and he would train them to defend themselves. Anyone who brought their own weapon would be trained free of charge, with no obligation. He outfitted Redwood’s police force with Huntsman-quality weapons, and ensured they knew how to use them. And before long, the people poured in. People from all over Vale. Small-town police and citizens, even residents of the city of Vale, all looking for a way to hold their own. More students and orders than Ben could handle by himself. So his father joined him in the shop once more, helping him create orders as they came. His former students began to train the new ones, and they all began to pass on the word.
A year later, villages were forming their own militias with equipment on par with Beacon’s graduates. And still they came, all with one desire; to take control of their own defense. Ben’s profession soon became a platform, a way to speak his ideals to the world. And the world
listened. His students were
loyal. His ideals, of a world free from the elitist system that created Hunters and Huntresses, became their ideals. Why rely on heros to protect them when they could protect themselves?
It was a movement that started small. Redwood was first, with its police turned into an efficient force for defense. The neighboring villages followed their lead, using their training to fend off the increased Grimm attacks. Slowly it started to spread from Vale’s northeastern corner, one person at a time.
And when the White Fang attacked a village, it wasn’t for the Huntsmen that they called. It was for Redwood. And Benjamin Lloyd answered. Three of his most loyal supporters went with him to the village the White Fang had taken up residence in, and marched into the lion’s den. He went in to talk, to convince them to depart the village and leave it be. They weren’t in a talking mood.
The four walked back out only when that branch of the White Fang had been so thoroughly destroyed that they would never threaten another village. After that day, the movement truly took hold. It was no longer just an ideal. It was a banner to rally around, a banner carried by their leader. Everyone who followed his ideals recognized Benjamin as their leader. The Roundtable Order, a sign that all were equal within its ranks. Loyalty was earned, not expected. He was their leader not by right, but by force of will.
Their villages were under the Order’s protection, not Vale’s Huntsmen. Vale’s system was rejected in favor of their own, local defenders. And in the places they held sway, Hunstmen were not looked upon as heroes. They held no superiority in the eyes of the people, only a pedigree with all the trappings of the system they rejected. They were still welcome within the northeast of Vale, but the people’s reaction was not the same.
The Order maintained defended the people and maintained peace, but it was not soft. If a peaceful solution could be found, it was taken. Any threat to the people’s safety that could not be talked down was eliminated, with methods as severe as the situation required to ensure they would not be a threat again. Grimm, White Fang, criminals, members of each have fallen before them one time or another. After the White Fang's first incursion, Ben personally lead the Order to systematically root out and destroy the organization. Any White Fang cell within their sphere of influence was demolished. Sometimes they surrendered. Most of the time they were crushed with brutal, overwhelming force. It was during this time that the Order adopted some of their less... Savory practices. Grimm masks hang outside the Order's villages. One for every White Fang operatives killed. Their weapons are smashed, and impaled in the ground beneath them.
Once the option to surrender had been declined, there would be no survivors.
The Order has only existed a relatively short time, but its influence has spread like wildfire. And spread far enough that Vale government considers it a threat, unauthorized and beyond their control. Two teams of Hunters were dispatched to Redwood to Redwood to take the Order's leaders in alive. They were permitted into the village to meet with Ben and his lieutenants, under a banner of peaceful intent. Until their intentions turned out to be much less than peaceful, and the two teams refused to leave without a fight.
Maybe they thought they had the fight well in hand. Their enemy was a Beacon washout and his students, and they were all trained fighters. Quick, easy fight. Their assumptions were proven wrong the instant Benjamin put their leader through the wall. The fight was quick, visceral, and brutally efficient. Two Huntsmen died, and a third later died of their injuries. The remainder... The most diplomatic option was to let them go. Take their fallen and return home. Some of the Order wanted them dead instead.
Benjamin took the balanced option. Their weapons were taken, their supplies were taken, and they were dropped in the deepest part of the woods to find their way back. A week later, two made their way back to Vale. Search parties are still seeking the remainder of their teams.
So they, in turn, have sent a group of Beacon’s Huntsmen to bring in the Order’s leadership. A group spearheaded by third-year Team ALNT, Sangue Naga, Trad Oak, and Lorena Negasi, led by Amaranth Desire.
Team Alliant.
Ghosthands,
Plank Sinatra,
UltimoScorp,
The World
