I should point out Sigurd only has a slight resistance to things which would otherwise make killing him exceedingly easy with a single hit, complete immunity is a far more powerful defence. (and also disallowed by Arena rules, usually, unless an effect is voided purely by logic, such as a mechanical entity being immune to poison by merit of its non-biological make-up)
He had suspected it might have picked up on his scent, by the time it finally turned around he was sure. Despite the precautions he had taken monsters simply did not work under the same rules as animals, so he expected nothing less. Sighing, he steeled himself for a frightful conflict with the great horned beast. His steps carried him within one hundred feet of the monster and as of yet it had not charged him, but had instead faced him in a stand-offish manner. Had he just encountered the monster he may have let it free at that point, not realising it was a ferocious and insatiable man-eater. However, he had seen the ruin it left behind it, there was no going back now, the beast had to be put down.
He slammed the spiked butt of his spear down into the soft earth at his feet, leaving it standing erect as he concentrated on his open right hand. Slowly, with exaggerated coolness the earth cracked and rock rose beside the spear, taking on its form beside it. Meanwhile, in his hand a large spherical object that seemed to be made of stone had materialised. It hovered slightly above his open palm and then dropped back into his hand. It repeated this strange behaviour, seemingly bouncing up and down as another tower of rock appeared next to the now mostly formed earthen spear. The whole process of creating two duplicate spears of rock took about four seconds, in which he could react at any point.
With a sigh, he stopped using the orb in his hand, the Celestial Orb of Moon, and returned it to wherever it lay when not in use (slightly diminished by his toil.) Then, provided the beast had remained still, or was at least a reasonable distance away, he reached in front of his original spear to grab the furthest away duplicate, uprooting it with a grunt and turning to face the beast. With a precision and strength of almost unnatural quality, a single step would see him launch the spear, javelin like, at the monster’s front right side, aiming for the neck.
Honestly, I've always found the things you manage to RP with other people with characters the coolest thing. Having one note in your ongoing story that you fought to a standstill with someone's anthropomorphic rabbit samurai is worth more than a thousand battles you just said happened in the past. At least in my opinion.
Which is why I've recently been going through characters and updating their 'canon' backstories, AKA making a note of confrontations they survived.
It's made me realise that with the exception of Sigurd's 'pseudo' death in WOTW, I've never lost a character in battle. You peeps need to try harder. Or maybe my running away game is just too strong.
Plus Skallagrim, the Dreamer or his ilk feature in three of my character's ongoing stories now, so he's at least cool by association. :D
Appearance: Broad shouldered with rough brown hide-like skin, Bakk stands at six foot five and would be considered ‘stocky’ by his race’s standards. His large form is predominantly muscular rather than fatty due to his unusual diet. His body seems relatively human, though large in every sense as his hands and forearms proclaim powerful dense bones. His body hair grows thick and course brown and covers his chest back arms and legs almost to the point of making him look animalistic. His face is large with a pronounced jawline and brow, and his unnaturally sharp and large canines jut upwards from his bottom lip. He wears his hair tied back at shoulder length and it has a messy knotted appearance, it is the same colour as his body hair and very thick and tough.
Clothing: Bakk dons himself in a fur and leather skirt somewhat similar to the lower half of a leather hauberk but with protection over the groin. It offers very little in the way of defence but also weighs him down and restricts him far less than any armour.
Bakk usually wears a fur vest, which actually only constitutes his under-clothes when roaming his home ranges, but his ability to acclimatize to cold requires little else in more temperate climes.
He wears simple fur boots sewn together to repair consistent damage, though his skin is tough enough to do without them cold would still likely cause frostbite and the loss of toes in the more extreme seasons.
Equipment: Bakk travels incredibly light, with a number of survivalist skills under his belt he requires little more than a pouch of essentials and a leather water-skin. Within the pouches are flint and tinder, twine and smoked meat. He also carries a six inch wood cutting knife in a leather sheath.
Weapons: Bakk’s weapons are multi-purpose in that he hunts and fights with the same equipment. He carries one iron war-axe and three to four sharpened stone throwing axes.
Skills: Bakk is a nomad and a hunter from the extreme northern mountain ranges, his skills as such are suited to survival in such an extreme clime.
Survivalist: Bakk can survive in harsh conditions and hunt for food, though his skill at hunting animals doesn’t translate outside of the wilds, he could reliably stalk even intelligent prey if given suitable conditions. A dependency on his throwing skills to maintain his life and the age at which he has reached are both signs that his axe throwing is impeccable for such an imprecise art.
Tribal: Bakk has a ferocious strength born from his primitive roots, though the Venar have come into contact with civilisation more often in recent times they are slow to adapt new ways, and compensate with their natural strengths.
Beast: The Venar have an affinity with carnivorous animals that borders on the super-natural, and their fighting mimics these creatures. Though Bakk has no formal axe training he can overcome better equipped opponents by merit of his strength and ferocity more often than not. However, the tendency to beserk can be a double-edged sword, and quick intelligent foes with better equipment would be sure to undo him eventually.
One with the Wilds: The Venar are closely attached to the natural world, and most exhibit incredibly acute senses, they can hear and smell extremely well and can see in low-light conditions, though the down-side is that they rarely maintain above average human intelligence, and many fall below.
Misc: Bakk prefers meat raw, and only smokes a small portion of his kill for lean times.
Bakk has a poor grasp of the common tongue, which makes him seem particularly unintelligent, though not a genius by any stretch Bakk is smart enough for his race, but this only comes out when conversing in his own tongue.
Bakk has a short temper in certain circumstances, and a disdain for outside races which makes him remarkably anti-social. However, the language barrier tends to make him out as a mysterious savage rather than an ill-tempered recluse.
Bakk has a poor tolerance for heat and grows incredibly ill-tempered and uncomfortable in warmer climes. Bakk is often startled by sudden loud noises, and would be alarmed by the sound of a gunshot.
Background: Bakk had lived a turbulent and mobile life, even for a Venar. He left his mother tribe at fifteen years of age after his brother ascended to tribe chief, and wandered the wilds alone for five years, as was custom for his people. Eventually he made contact with a new tribe and made a home for himself amongst them. Venar tribes are incredibly tight nit and small by necessity, with only twenty to thirty people in the largest. They often skirmish among themselves and with slavers from the south east, and Bakk had it no different. Distinguished as a warrior and a hunter, as one would expect of a prospective tribe chief who had been taught little else as a child, he quickly ascended the ranks in his new tribe, to the point where he was eligible for the chief’s daughter. Surprisingly, considering the nature of his society, his growing relationship with his promised wife, Elera, was actually a mutual one, and Bakk lived happily for eight years in the tribe.
However, there was discontent to be found, which came to a head when the wise old Chief died, leaving behind him a son and daughter. The son ascended the tribe and perceived Bakk as a threat, though little seemed to come of this hostility. However, one year prior to the present day the tribe was caught up in a vicious slaver raid that saw horrific circumstances befall them. Bakk challenged the Chief to a duel in the following days and when refused killed him in cold blood, accepting exile.
Becoming an Outlaw was not a particularly unusual experience for a Venar, but Bakk was haunted and driven in equal measure by whatever happened on those fateful days. He began to seek out contact with low-landers and southerners, desperate for information. He found out a hard truth, nothing came for free. However, he was put into contact with someone who had the means to give him answers he sought, and jumped at the chance. Luckily his skills as a warrior and a hunter would serve him once more.
Venar: Beast-Men of the Ferendis Range
The Venar are in many ways similar to the Ventus and many have claimed that they must share some common ancestry. However, culturally they could be no more different, the Venar are a nomadic tribal people who are roughly 90% carnivorous. They have an affinity for cold and the wilds and their social structure is one of small secluded tribes of roughly 20-30 people with a Chief and ruling family. To describe the Venar as pack hunters would not be too harsh a description, they have created no great works of art and have rarely strayed from outside their range. However, it has been said that even if they had anything worth taking few would try, the Venar are an extreme threat to large forces in their own territory, and many a passing army has suffered severe attrition from Venar hunters. Only some of the hardiest and most skilled slaver bands from Vrent and further south venture into their ranges with hostile intent, and many pay with their lives.
However, the Venar are prized specimens, many reaching seven foot in height with powerful bear-like builds and appearances. Their women are more slender and usually a good few inches shorter than the men, with comparatively softer features. However, both sexes are natural fighters and hunters. With the exclusion of these two main past-times the Venar’s affinity with the wilds also serves as the foundation of their spiritualism. They worship nature itself, specifically referring to something known as the ‘Roots of the Great Tree’ and believe only in one’s place in the cycle of life. Each tribe enforces its own rules and the rule of the strongest tends to hold the most weight. Those gifted with magic are known as Shamans and incredibly rare, though there is a surprisingly high amount of magic within most Venar, it tends to exhibit itself in physical ways. Particularly, most Venar are gifted with a supernatural control over carnivores, and can avoid fighting most predators using this innate ability. This fairly common trait is sometimes found in extremes among the Venar, and those afflicted are known as ‘Bear-Kin’ not unlike Beserkers in Norse mythology. Their affinity to Beasts causes them to adopt the traits of animals in extreme circumstances. It’s the Bear-Kin which predominantly account for the Venar’s ferocity in battle.
Classifications
Species: Mammal, Humanoid
Homeland: Ferendis Mountain Range in the north, some may be found in adjacent ranges and further south as slaves or explorers, though most die soon after leaving the northern mountains.
Appearance: Bear-Like men, large boned, tall with brown hide-like skin, sharp teeth and shrewd eyes. Not unlike Neanderthals. Women are smaller with slighter softer features, but still comparatively animalistic compared to ordinary humans.
Diet: 90% Carnivore, 10% Vegetation, Bark and Seasoning, most prefer meat raw
Intelligence: Average human and below intelligence.
Main traits/professions: Animalistic physicality, powerful bodies and dense bones make them natural fighters, acute senses make them exceptional hunters.
As something of a reference (and because I'm not overly worried about my submission being secret) this will be the character I'll be entering. He is what I'd call a fairly standard example of a low-powered character, only a touch above the peak of unpowered.
He's also the second character I ever created for Arena and fairly unrefined, before I got the knack for detailed CS. I won't be upset if a few things need adjusting to fit the specific requirements of this tournament Pollen, just let me know. Provided he does fit, it might help anyone new to this (or just new to creating a character of this power level) decide on an entry.
Identity
Full name: Sigurd Stoneheart
Name used: Sigurd (The dragon slayer in some rare cases)
Age: 32
Appearance: The only notable deviation from the image being that his entire left arm and part of his shoulder is encased in stone.
Height: 6ft 4"
Weight: 98kg
Weapons
Steel Longsword, fairly average in terms of length and weight.
Scaled Shield, an ordinary iron rimmed wooden shield covered with the scaly hide of a dragon. The shield itself is nearly impervious to flame, and can ward off most forms of physical and magical attacks as it still withholds the magical qualities of the dragon. It is roughly 100 cm in diameter.
Throwing Axes: Sigurd carries two small steel tipped throwing axes attached to his belt on his right hip, which he can throw with impressive accuracy.
Armour: As well as his shield and stone arm he wears fur and leather boots, leather and iron leggings and iron plated leather armour. He has a steel pauldron on his right arm, his left fends for itself. He wears an odd full iron horned helm (unique to his homeland) which will hopefully prevent him getting his brains beaten out.
Physical Stats: Sigurd is, outside of his stone arm, fairly mortal, though impressive none-the-less. He has a near peak human physique, easily able to bench 200kg and sprint at up to 15mph for a sustained period. However, his body is still fallible to all the weaknesses of humanity. The Stone Curse in its infancy does provide him some small resistance to poisons and other debilitations beyond that of an ordinary human, but not significantly.
Abilities: Trained from a young age in the arts of war, he uses a perfected Viking style of combat, in which he utilizes his sword and shield in equal measure in both offensive and defensive styles. Basically, he catches the opponent’s weapon on either his shield or sword, depending on the angle of the strike, and lashes out with his free weapon. Either one can cause incredibly damage. If his shield is lost in combat his stone arm can be used in much the same way, the only disadvantage being that he loses the larger surface area of his shield, and projectiles can target his head or unprotected right side. The advantage is with some luck he could grab the opponent’s weapon and snap it in half.
The Stone Curse: Sigurd’s left arm is made of marble, to put things simply. However, the arm has a few magical qualities which account for his prowess.
It does not encumber him in the slightest, which means he can throw the arm around with all its strength at no disadvantage.
It has no issue with lactic acid build up, and is near impervious to conventional forms of damage. The marble itself is incredibly thick, making up the entire arm, and has been shown to slowly repair itself if scratched or cracked.
It dulls the effect of magic which targets Sigurd or the arm itself. In theory, he could reach into the void and effect otherwise intangible opponents such as ghosts with his left arm.
It can apply massive amounts of force; his left arm is roughly three times the strength of his right, allowing it to roughly curl 240kg.
Sigurd's Story (So Far): Sigurd was born in the far north of his homeland, dragons scoured the earth and his people could do nothing. He grew to impressive fame after his fabled slaying of a dragon, the first to do so. The act in which he killed the beast was also notable, he apparently dealt a paralysing blow with his left arm, and chopped straight through the creatures skull with a long sword. The tales were not believed, until his first public appearance revealed a startling and controversial trait, his left arm and shoulder were encased in stone. Living stone which did not hinder him in the slightest, yet allowed him to place ridiculous force into his blows, and remain unscathed in the process.
His fame grew as he slew a number of dragons on his travels, though he grew listless and weary of trekking through the north. In an encounter that by all accounts should have been his last he was thrown into the dimension of the Liason's tournament, the Way of the Warrior, where he was forced into combat with a number of dangerous individuals. Despite being obviously outclassed the warrior known as Sigurd performed well, before coming unstuck against an undead opponent with power beyond anything he had ever seen. When all his attacks failed him he was stabbed from behind and suffered a mortal blow, forcing him to leave the tournament in second place, his prize being his life.
After returning to his homeland with the knowledge of his tournament victories and losses he encountered a small dragon that embarrassingly forced him to flee battle for the first time, and after doing so resolved to pick up throwing axes and practice with them for any future encounters of the sort. Since then Sigurd has mostly wandered, the few remaining dragons in his homeland managing to evade his pursuit and cause untold devastation.
@DjAtomika I hope so, I'm still disappointed our confrontation was marred by my internet woes. If it had stretched on it would have been one to remember.
To be fair, I don't remember him entering the Arena and professing any great interest in fighting your clan from outside the Arena, Gun. It would also defeat the point of the whole 'invasion' so I can fully understand why it would suck the fun out of the concept.
Hmm, if you're not wholly confident in character acceptance you could ask someone to help you and keep character submission secret. Having too many judges (AKA open submission, where everyone plays their part in character acceptance) doesn't tend to work all that well as people have different ideas about character judgements (it's very subjective). The main upside to a secret admission (the characters can be revealed after the tournament starts, I personally recommend this as well, but only from what I've seen in the past) is that it stops people unconsciously or consciously creating characters to combat others. You'd think it would be difficult to cover every opponent but even at low powered it's possible to tack on a few extra defences to protect you from a character's unique form of attack you might not have thought of.
Still, that's just my two cent, it's completely up to you what you do with your tournament. Don't take anything I say as anything more than recommendations, it's your show.
“All this potential, every spell memorized after years of painstaking practice and mental exercise, worthless. Without mana, we are nothing.”
Metz the Mana-Less Mage
Identity
Name: Metzalaatla Akalikalat
Nicknamed: Metz, Mad Metz, The Manaless Mage, The Pillar Elementalist
Race: Torm (Alternate Human)
Homeworld: Felenr
Age: 47
Appearance
Appearing Age: 30
Face: Metz has an angular face, bordering on gaunt, and usually sports a short reddish-brown beard, his eyes are green with a noticeable ring of a lilac coloration around both his pupil and iris. He has an angular scar through his left eye-brow, preventing hair growth in a small area. His teeth are lightly stained and he has noticeably sharp canines, but are otherwise unremarkable.
Hair: Metz has reddish-brown hair which he usually keeps tied back in a short pony-tail with a leather band, it’s long enough to fall over his eyes when loose.
Body Type: Metz has a wiry frame, with lean compact muscle appropriate for a survivor of the apocalypse.
Skin: Metz has very pale skin, despite being exposed to the sun constantly, due to genetics mostly. If one looks very carefully they might notice dark patches, particularly on his fingers and around the skin surrounding his eyes.
Height: 6ft Weight: 70kg
Personality: Metz has a strange, almost erratic personality. At one time incredibly stern or sombre he can rapidly change to making odd jokes or dark comments. One can only assume Dark Mana has had some degenerative effect on his mind, changing whatever personality the original man had forever.
Biological Properties:
Torm are fairly similar to humans in terms of biology, and Metz is a fairly average example save for his natural affinity to utilize mana, which makes him a mage. There are a couple of differences between Torm and Humans however, namely that Torm don’t have an appendix, which is a fairly useless organ and a misstep in human evolution. Their bones are also somewhat more durable, without weighing any more than human bones. They also have a terrible sense of smell, even worse than a humans to the point where their noses are almost exclusively just for breathing.
Up until recently, mana had interacted with every infant born on Felenr and made them physically fitter by speeding the regrowth of torn muscle and reducing recovery time from fatigue. It was essentially a super-drug. Though that mana is now gone, when re-introduced into a Torm’s body who was born when Mana was prevalent twenty years ago, they gain a short burst of super-human capabilities as their bodies greedily use up the mana they absorb. For ordinary Torm this is a welcome but fairly unimportant boost, where-as to mages it is both a blessing and a curse, for they sacrifice precious spell casting energy on running fast and jumping high for a short period of time.
Without mana, Metz physical capabilities are:
Strength: Bench 100kg, lift own body weight fairly capably. Speed: Run consistently for about five minutes at fifteen miles per hour, speedy acceleration. Agility: Peak human Endurance: Capable of maintaining vigorous activity with little decline for about ten minutes non-stop, fairly quick recovery time. Durability: Naturally more durable than a human of his size, due to stronger bones, still suffers from flesh wounds and the like pretty badly.
Skills:
Metz can fight moderately competently with his hands, favouring quick darting strikes rather than directly contesting someone with his strength. Metz can use firearms, firearms on Felenr bare some similarities to more common Earth weaponry, so his ability is somewhat translatable. Metz has insanely good precision and accuracy for someone with human characteristics, this is only increased when his body goes into overdrive on mana. Metz can climb with some significant skill. Metz has a number of survival-esque skills one would expect from a lone survivor of the apocalypse.
Abilities:
PURE MANA: Mana in its most primal and effective form, this can be moulded into any spell developed by the Torm mages so far. It also feeds Metz’ body, allowing him to nearly triple his ordinary physical characteristics for a very short period. (perhaps a minute at most if no spells are used.) This revitalisation of his body also reduces the effects of aging and has a number of other restorative effects, such as combatting poisons and disease. Pure mana can be fairly quickly manipulated into a wide range of spells by the process of casting, which requires specific phrases to be used in conjunction with a specific frame of mind to construct the spell. It is no quicker or slower at becoming any type of spell, unlike Black Mana which is somewhat faster at becoming a destructive spell.
BLACK (Corrupt) MANA: Corrupt mana created from the blood of an organism, though usually the users own. It has a darker influence than the neutrality of pure mana, damaging the users psyche as much as his body. When under its effects the users body undergoes a rapid change, growing slightly more muscled while the skin darkens around the eyes and hands, it increases Metz’ physical capabilities by up to six times. Black mana is limited in that it cannot be used for spells that require a healthy state of mind, such as healing and shielding, but it is useful in that it jumps at the opportunity to become something hurtful or destructive. (Half the casting time for destruction and pain spells, healing and shielding spells are unusable.)
Mana must be used wholly before a different type may be applied, or the differing mana types have a tendency to react unpredictably and can cause the mage significant harm. There is a maximum amount of each type of mana that a Torm can process at one time, consuming any more would just be wasteful. On average, Metz can cast two to three spells using one vial of Mana, or six of his elemental circles. The ultimate spells, Splitting River, Death Hand, and The Chamber and Purge are all one time use per vial of mana.
Spell List
List of spells: Casting Time
Shielding Spells
Spellbreaker: Three seconds The mage is covered by a transparent shield which blocks an opponent’s supernatural abilities for about fifteen seconds, it can be overcome by the force of an opponent’s spells.
Aegis: Three seconds The mage is covered in a golden glow which repels physical assaults against their person, transferring only a tenth of physical force across their whole body and repelling physical damage and wounding. It can be overcome by immense physical force, and lasts about fifteen seconds.
Splitting River: Five seconds Probably the most powerful defensive spell known to Torm, Splitting River is mostly used to reduce the effect of an opponent’s most powerful ranged attack or spells, it works by meeting the destructive power of an ability or attack and splitting it evenly down the middle, diverting each stream of the attack to either side of the mage, who stands behind the point of the split. This isn’t 100% effective, but it takes the sting off otherwise devastating abilities.
Destructive Spells Bolt: 2 Seconds Unleashes a bolt of lightning from the user’s hand, may be used with both hands to fire a three-pronged lightning bolt, but the user is thrown backwards upon launching the attack. It dissipates at any range over one hundred feet, or when it hits something.
Death Hand: Two seconds Allows the user to imbue their palm with the essence of death for two seconds, which is essentially parasitic mana, when applied directly to an opponent it quickly numbs the area and begins draining the life from them, after twenty seconds the essence of death explodes with green energy in a tight area, tending to destroy whatever flesh it was applied to. The weakness of the ability is that when casting it the opponent has a deep feeling of foreboding, knowing instantly that they must avoid the essence of death at all costs.
Pillar Elementalist: Metz’ nickname comes from his unique form of utilizing the elements, in something similar to pillars. It works by imbuing a circular area of varied size depending on desired effect, at a distance of up to 100 meters from the man which he can either see or vaguely observe (So although he couldn’t see the top of a building for example, he can observe where the top –would be- and activate his ability). The outline of this circle corresponds to the basic element he is planning to manifest, red for fire, blue for water, white for air, brown/orange for earth.
Fire Pillar: Time Varies Metz imbues the Earth with a red circle, two feet in diameter for every second spent casting, this in turn increases the height of the ability when it’s unleashed by four feet per second. Once the circle is placed it can be activated instantly at any point, causing a gushing torrent of fire that burns at around 1500 degrees Celsius to be unleashed in an upwards pillar corresponding to the cast time. Regardless of the casting time the fire pillar lasts three seconds, and reaches its full height in a second.
Water Pillar: In essence the same as the Fire Pillar, save that the effect causes a torrent of water to blast upwards and then fold in on itself, potentially trapping a foe. This pillar moves at 100 feet per
second. The water can be directed to move in different directions, essentially making this ability more of a flexible pillar. Lasts three seconds.
Earth Pillars: Works similarly to the fire pillar, except that the shape of the pillar can be manipulated, into spikes for example. This pillar moves at two hundred feet per second. Remains after activation until the earth is moved back down by the mage or destroyed/moved in some other fashion.
Air Pillar: Unique in that the air actually blasts down from a height of roughly double whatever is caught inside the pillar, moving at two hundred feet per second. It can batter a man to his knees with ease, though it is relatively un-lethal. Lasts three seconds.
The Chamber: Metz’ unique spell which utilizes all of his Pillars, allowing him to create a structure for capturing and eliminating powerful foes. It combines other spells he knows and can take different shapes. This spell takes ten seconds to manifest ordinarily.
Healing Spells
Veil of Health: Six seconds Allows the user to create a doorway of rejuvenating energy, when passed through it heals minor wounds and gives them a quick burst of energy that wears off after about thirty seconds. It’s essentially the magical form of a second wind.
Stabilize: Two seconds An emergency healing spell, it allows the user to stabilize their own, or someone they’re in contact with, vitals. The immediate effect of this is to cease bleeding from all open wounds, to briefly numb all pain from wounds, to isolate disease or poison, and to essentially give the target a brief period of respite. Its effects last about ten seconds, giving the user time to concentrate on a more extensive healing ability.
Purge: Five seconds A magical ability which negates all foreign entities acting on the user, removing curses, debuffs, poisons, and diseases. It works over the course of a minute, sometimes taking longer to remove more extensive issues. The user is immune to further similar effects while the magic is working, but it drains mana quickly.
Misc Spells
Seeing Eye: Three Seconds Metz manifests a second eye, which allows him to scour through a battlefield with a magical sight which is incredibly difficult to hide from. The only limitation is that it can only see with this increased perception directly in front of him, so sneaking up behind him is still an option. However the sight can see straight through brick walls and the like up to 100 meters.
Disperse: Two Seconds Metz can remove obscuring clouds and smoke and other dangerous elements in the air from his immediate vicinity for up to thirty seconds using this spell.
Levitate: Two Seconds Metz can briefly remove the effects of gravity on his person for ten seconds, also granting him the ability to hover up to ten feet off the ground and over pitfalls etc.
Lift: Two Seconds One of the few utility spells Metz still remembers from when his life wasn’t just about survival and conflict, Lift allows him to essentially raise an intimate object of up to two tonnes off the ground by up to ten feet for ten seconds. It doesn’t lift particularly quickly however.
Mana Condensing: Two Seconds Used to convert Pure Mana from a Felenr well-spring into a liquid form which can be consumed.
Black Mana Ritual: Five seconds Used to turn a vial of blood into a vial of Black Mana.
Equipment
Armour: Metz wears a green woollen jumper with numerous holes in it, with a scrapped together vest over the top made of a material called Dural, which is for all intents and purposes similar to a stab-proof vest. Beneath his jumper is a form fitting underlay called Underpad, it has proven effective at resisting small-arms fire from as close as fifteen feet away, so in conjunction with the Dural vest Metz has significant upper body resistance to fire-arms.
His trousers resemble tough brown cargo pants, and he wears black boots.
Weapons:Metz carries a sharp slightly curved knife called a Shint, it’s made of steel and is roughly fifteen inches from handle to point. He carries it across his chest in a sheath.
He also carries a Fire-Type 2, which is the second model of the original Fire-Type, a pistol variant designed almost eighty years prior. The most recent weaponry on Felenr became useless as it relied on mana, so the Fire-Type is archaic in design. It roughly resembles a match-lock pistol, but with a stubby block on the top of the weapon which almost resembles a magazine. It can be loaded with up to four roughly 9mm equivalent rounds by feeding them into this compartment, but it must be fired with a single-shot action and the hammer has to be pulled back with each shot. Luckily Metz is an exceptional marksman, and the weapon is not as inaccurate as human matchlocks, it’s about as powerful as a matchlock and is accurate up to 100 feet. He carries it in a holster on his right hip.
Metz also has a small backpack with food and drink for a couple of days and a few other survival supplies. He also wears a belt with space for four vials, one is always filled with black mana and one with Pure Mana, and the other two are randomly rolled for before a battle begins by a judge. Roll 1, empty, 2, Black Mana, 3 Pure Mana.
Additional Fluff
The Short History of Felenr, his Homeworld
Felenr is a world like our own save for that mana exists as another element in the atmosphere and could be utilized as energy similar to how humanity intends to use hydrogen. It was a supremely efficient fuel, and although the few unique individuals known as mages were able to feel that mana shouldn’t be used for industry the majority of the race were ignorant of the entity. Sometime in the last twenty years however a process which had been happening at a trickle suddenly increased tenfold, mana began to disappear.
Three years after mana’s departure civilisation crumbled and anarchy reigned, governments fell and people died enmasse to war and disease. The magi fought over the remaining reservoirs, areas where such significant mana poured from underground that even with the bleeding effect the substance could still be gained. To the proud Magi mana almost became a drug.
Three years after that, Black Mana was discovered. None of the Magi were prepared for the devestation it caused in the hands of a Dark Mage who quickly grew addicted and mad from its allure. Terrible rituals and sacrifices saw the mana become taboo, but none-the-less Mages were forced to utilize it or go completely unprotected.
In a post-apocalyptic world the remaining Torm struggle for survival, one of them is Metz, the Pillar Elementalist, one of many Mages that still cling to the old ways and resist the maddening effects of Black Mana.
On Magic in Felenr
Magic in Felenr requires a great deal of time and effort to master even at a basic level. Each spell must be learned with painstaking practice and memorized so that it can be utilized in stressful situations. It is rare for any mage to manage to muster more than fifty spells even with their extended life spans.
Metz life before and after the decline
Metz’ was always an above average mage, noteworthy but not quite council worthy. He took some work as a field operative in the Magi-rebellion some years prior to the fall of mana, and so had experienced his fair share of war. His unique weaponized Elemental Pillars were a devastating force on the battlefield, and earned him a number of nicknames.
After the fall with mana growing increasingly scarce Metz turned to Black Mana, finding it more powerful than he could ever imagine. As he wandered the fallen ruins of his civilisation he began to wonder, how had mana disappeared almost overnight?
With something of a purpose Metz spent the next fifteen years going from well-spring to well-spring and tracking the bleeding effect of the mana there. Avoiding Black Mana as much as possible, he instead learned to condense mana in the air and place it into vials to be consumed directly when required. After all that time researching he finally thought he had found the source of his people’s woes. Closing in on a nondescript mountain-range somewhere in the far south… he believed he had found a portal to another world, and they had stolen all his damn mana.
Post NoW
Metz’ found a portal, and he also found the source of his people’s suffering. He discovered that beyond his world lay a Nexus of interlinking planets and galaxies, with worries and fears that stripped his personal turmoil of gravitas. In accepting an invitation from a mysterious figure known as ‘Skallagrim’ he was drawn into the conflict of the multiverse and played his own small part. In contests designed to conceal and protect the Key to Ghourkas’ prison Metz excelled using skills harnessed over a life-time of struggle and survival. In close matches against both a deformed assassin and a humanoid Wolf he prevailed, before his final show-down with an agent of the Angar-Ryllan. Through perseverance and no small amount of luck, Metz was victorious in the Nexus of Worlds, and received the Key of Ghourkas to use as he saw fit. Ghourkas, he learned, had been the source of his planet’s (Felenr) decline and so Metz decided to use the tool to seal him tighter in his prison, stifling his leaching of Felenr’s mana. Upon his triumphant return he discovered chaos in the Nexus, and Skallagrim was captured by unknown forces. After fighting unsuccessfully, Metz was saved by the magic of the Dreamers and returned to his homeworld, where he now resides, seeking out new sources of Mana and developing his skills from his experiences, a forever changed man.
Nytefall
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