Raijinslayer — Roleplayer Guild

An explanation of Ian's powers, family, and partial legacy.

Okay, so I've been doing a lot of brainstorming for who Ian's family, the Blackwoods, used to be before his grandfather took them out of the business of exorcisms. Basically, the Blackwoods were once the heads of a sect of church-ordained exorcists in the days of old, said to be blessed with the blood of angels in order to give them great power to use against the forces of hell. Whether this is true or not is debatable. What isn't is in question are the powers that the Blackwoods were historically gifted with since the early days of the protestant church. Every member of the family had some innate reservoir of holy energies that not only helped to defend them against the evils they fought and the temptations they came with but also enhanced their fighting abilities. 

Strength, speed, durability, all of these physical capabilities were heightened for the Blackwoods. On top of this, they also had the crux of their fighting styles, something that put them above all others in their field: The Golden Seraph Sacraments. These magical techniques allowed their users the ability to perform spectacular feats, equal to the of any servant of hell. However, in recent years, the Blackwood sect of exorcist has been whittled down to just one member: Aleksander Blackwood, Ian's Great-Grandfather. The reason for this drastic reduction was, sadly, due to corruption within their ranks. Aleksander's own brother, always a faithful servant of their lord, fell to the temptations of a powerful demon he and his squad had been sent to slay. Under her orders, they bred dissension amongst the ranks, causing others to question their rigid beliefs, to question whether they were truly doing the word of God, or if God even existed in the first place. These thoughts, with the help of the dark power gifted to them by their dark benefactor, soon grew into an open civil war between the fallen brothers and the other members of the sect.

When the dust settled, only Aleksander was left standing. All the other members, fallen or otherwise, were killed in the fighting. Since then, the man has since taken to trying to raise a new sect of Blackwood exorcist, however, the difficulty of such a task is immense without any family to fill the gaps. His wife had passed during the fighting, and his son had forgone this life in favor of living a normal life away from it all. And so we come to years after, where Alek's is trying to get his Great-grandson Ian to take up the mantle of exorcist once again. He also helps Ian train to control his demon side and has even drafted up a set of sacraments to help Ian in channeling his power. The Black Seraph Sacraments are similar to those used by the fallen exorcists, but instead of just solely using the power of hell or heaven, these sacraments blend them together to create a form of equilibrium in the individual. While it's unknown whether Ian had inherited any of the Holy Power of the Blackwoods of old, he can still use these sacraments to help control the hellish power he currently uses. So far, however, Ian's only able to use a few sacraments, the strongest of them being the Sword of our Lord, which makes ann ordained blade out of darkness and hellfyre for him to use in battle. His other sacraments are those of healing, reinforcement, and speed, though he lacks the skill as of yet to apply them to others besides himself.

Now, onto Ian's powers. I think that Ian's domination ability should work like an extreme version of the influence system, where his rolls are modified by his Freak Modifier, and his opponents are modified by their Superior modifier(closest thing we have to will in this game). That way, people with a stronger will, so to speak, will be less likely to be effective, and makes things a bit fairer.





Aleksander is a very old man, clocking in at around the 80-90 year mark at this time. However, due to his position as the head of Blackwood Exorcists, he was given access to a special sacrament, one that grants the wielder Eternal Youth, Vigor, and Life, but the cost of this is that they must forever stay tied to God, giving an oath of celibacy and abstinence from all worldly pleasures. This doesn't mean he can't be killed, but with his powerful regenerative abilities and more durable body, it's extremely difficult to do so. The man, despite his grand skill and talent, is not well-known due to the secretive nature of the Blackwood sect. Those who do know of him, however, likely think of him as a madman and serial killer than a force of good.

You see, the Blackwood Exorcist are a secret society that investigates crimes of demonology and the like, and to those involved, they offer mercilessly swift judgment. There and gone without a trace, all that most ever see of them is the grisly remains of those who would dare to willing consort with demons and other devilish denizens of the other plains. Aleksander, in particular, is responsible for a great number of "murders" all around the globe, and he has been spotted enough for people to give him a moniker of sorts. "The Bloodstained Priest", for we seen, his robes are usually splattered with the gore of his victims. While he uses a sacrament of concealment to hide his face in shadows whenever he goes out, he's still very careful whenever he goes out to wreak his bloody work, as he knows that any of the heroes he runs across would be quick to take him down, and he'd likely be forced into battle with them. "Heroes, so absorbed in their sense of righteousness, tend to be absolutely terrible listeners when they think you guilty of a crime."

Ian doesn't agree with his great-grandfather's methods but understands that his grandfather is far from a bad man, and thus will be unlikely to ever let others know the connection. No one on the team has even heard of Aleksander, even Alex because his mom doesn't like to talk about it, though she's under similar thoughts as her son. He goes to train with his Grandfather every now and then and has been doing so for around 6 months. It's not a lot of training, sparse and spread out as sessions tend to be, but it's helped Ian greatly in learning how to fight for real and control his powers.

Also, Andrea and her family may have had dealings with the Blackwood sect before. Nothing bad, since the dealing of Mephisto and Faust, was approved by God himself but things tended to be a bit strained between the families at times. Since Ian has had yet to use sacraments in battle(I imagine he just got clearing by Aleksander just a few days before this training) she wouldn't know of the connection yet, though she could suspect. Once she sees the sacraments, however, it'll be easy to tell. However, I'd think that the two families would have tried to stay out each other's way, so her father is likely to tell her not to say anything about it. I'll have to talk this through with Ermine.


Legacy Name: The Blood-stained Priest
Real Name: Alexander Blackwood
Look: Man, White, Trendy Clothing, Predecessor's Costume, Simple Symbol Insignia. 
Abilities:  Enhanced Physical Abilities, Divine Regeneration, Divine Sacaraments, Enhanced Senses, Partial Immortality

LABELS: 

Danger +3
Freak  +2
Savior 0
Superior +1
Mundane 0

❑ I know what I am: Once per scene, when you
defend a teammate you can shift Savior up
and another Label down in addition to any other
benefits from the move, even on a miss. If you
do, add 1 Team to the pool.

❑ The Legacy matters: When you take influence over someone from your legacy [or give them influence over you], mark potential and take =1 forward. When someone from your legacy causes your labels to shift, mark potential and take +1

❑ Never give up, never surrender: When you
take a powerful blow from someone with far
greater power than you, use this move instead
of the basic move. Roll + Savior. On a hit, you
stand strong and choose one. On a 7-9, mark a
condition.
- you get an opportunity or opening against
your attacker
- you rally from the hit, and it inspires the
team; add 1 Team to the pool
- you keep your attacker’s attention
On a miss, you go down hard but leave your
opponent off balance and vulnerable.

❑ Thick and thin-skinned: Whenever you have Angry marked, take +1 ongoing to unleash powers.

Sanctuary
You have a place where you can rest, recover, and reflect upon your powers. Choose and underline
three features of your sanctuary:
a library of valuable tomes; a scattering of ancient relics; a containment system
Choose and underline two downsides of your sanctuary:
Easily tampered with due to low number of members, Need something else here, because nothing else fits the character
with, tied intricately to your doom
When you call upon the resources of your sanctuary to solve a problem, say what you want to do.
The GM will give you one to four conditions you must fulfill to complete your solution:
❑ First, you must _______________________
❑ You’ll need help from ___________________
❑ You and your team will risk danger from ______
❑ The best you can do is a lesser version,
unreliable and limited
❑ You’ll need to mark one box on your doom track
❑ You’ll have to obtain ___________________

Adult Moves
Wield your powers
When you wield your powers with precision or grace,
roll + Freak. On a hit, choose one. On a 10+, choose
two.
• take hold of something vulnerable to you
• create something useful from
your environment
• neutralize an opponent or
threat, at least for now

Overwhelm a
vulnerable foe
When you overwhelm a vulnerable foe, roll +
Danger. On a hit, the fight’s over. They’re done.
On a 10+, choose one. On a 7-9, choose two.
• you take a powerful blow in turn
• you hurt your foe more than you intended
• you cause serious collateral damage

Team Moves
When you share a triumphant celebration with someone, tell them whether you see them as an
equal. If you do, give them Influence over you and mark potential. If you don’t, shift Superior up
and any other Label down.

When you share a vulnerability or weakness with someone, tell them a secret about your legacy
(including your own true feelings about it) to clear a condition and give them Influence over you.

POTENTIAL >>>>❑ >>>>❑ >>>>❑ >>>>❑ >>>>❑
Every time you roll a miss on a move, mark potential.

Advancement
When you fill your potential track, you advance. Choose from the list below.
x Take another move from your playbook
x Take a move from another playbook
x Someone permanently loses Influence over you (Issac Blackwood); add +1 to a Label (Danger)
x Rearrange your Labels as you choose, and add +1 to a Label (Freak)
x Unlock the remaining two powers of your suite
x Take Sanctuary from Doomed Playbook

When you’ve taken five advances from the top list, you can take advances from the list below.
x Take an adult move (Wield Your Powers)
x Take an adult move (Overwhelm a Vulnerable Foe)
x Lock a Label, and add +1 to a Label of your choice (Danger at +3, +1 to Freak)
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