Name: Khairi Ilunga
Titles: Scion of the Roaring Thunder
Appearance:
Sex: Male
Alignment:Neutral Good
History: Outline: The Ilunga family is ancient. When the practice of written records started to make its way to their territory, they were sharing stories with their communities that stretched back hundreds of years. Even as the colonizing forces of the western nations broke apart their lives and sought to suppress their beliefs and cultures in the name of their God, the Illunga kept their histories. Through magecraft, hidden artifacts, and communion with their ancestors, the Ilunga managed to keep on to their history, though not without some losses.
Despite these losses, the Diviners of the Illunga clan kept to their policies of learning from those who came from elsewhere, allowing their culture and traditions to change and adapt to these new practices rather than break under their weight. As such, in the modern age, the Ilunga still maintain a place of prestige and respect amongst communities both mundane and magical within the Democratic Republic of Congo.
For Khairi, his heritage and the history behind it has always been a matter of great importance and has served as the main motivator in his studies to follow in the footsteps of the man he respects more than anyone, his Father. A powerful magus, a firm but fair leader, and a man of near-infinite kindness, Khairi's father was a man many believed would bring the Ilunga into a new age of glory. A man who even managed to gain the respect and knowledge of foreign magi, a lot that has long been known to look down on any who were not a part of their enclosed circle of families.
He was Khairi's hero. . . and thus, his tragic end was all the more traumatizing for his reverence.
Betrayed by a foreign magi from the clocktower, a man his father had invited to discuss ways to bridge the gap between the traditions of the Diviners and the ways of the Western Magi, for an artifact he could not even hope to use, the Conga-scepter that served the Ilunga family as a mystic code and familial relic for untold generations. The magi had, in his arrogance and pride, thought to use it to cover his tracks by destroying the village that the murder had taken place in. He was unaware that the scepter was no mere tool, but possessing a spirit all its own, and it was filled with a dark fury at the atrocity it was being called forth to commit. The foreign magi was found dead in a smoking crater, struck seven times by Nkuba's concentrated wrath for his hubris and evil treachery.
But rather than overjoyed by the man's karmic retribution, Khairi felt naught but a lack of closure at this knowledge. His father was gone, taken from him by a fool who had sealed his own doom and left the world a lesser place for the life he had stolen.
That couldn't stand, not in his eyes. On the day of his father's funeral, as everyone cheered and celebrated that man he was and seemed ready to let this tragedy pass, as the tale of his father was passed into the legend of the Ilunga. . . Khairi swore to himself that this would not be how his father's legacy ended.
The years that followed were a blur of vigorous study, both at home and abroad as he followed in the footsteps of the man he hoped to emulate, learning more of magecraft and mystery from numerous sources all across the globe and from many differing mentors. Some were great men and women, others conniving schemers or droll politicians, but all had something to teach him. he was voracious in his learning and prodigious in his talent. Many of his teachers could not hide their surprise that such a young boy from a "know-nothing backwater" could be a vessel for such magical insight. They did not understand that his knowledge was not his alone. That within him, in the tales he told to himself during long nights of study, the songs he had repeated so many times he sang them in his sleep, the ritualistic dances he performed in the wee hours of morning and night, in all of these things his ancestors were with him. Guiding him forward down this path, even if they did not wholly agree with his end goal.
Often, in subtle ways, he was urged to give up his quest, to let his father go. Among these voices, he knew, was the very man he hoped to bring back. The boy knew his goal was not healthy, that he was doing a disservice to the very history and lineage he found so important. There were many excuses he told himself, to justify to the spirits and himself that what he was doing was not selfish, that it was for the good of his family and community. But in truth, as he discovered the history of the Holy Grail wars, and the recovery of the Fuyuki grail, the hope that sprang in his heart was not that of a man seeing the light that may bring a great wonder to his people. It was the hope of a small, 13-year-old boy that he might once more be held in the arms of his father, to once more talk to the man as he is now, rather than speaking to the memory of what he once was.
For the dead often provide cold comfort to the living,and in their company, one finds only a faint whisper of the vibrancy that was once known.
Personality: Khairi is a studious and diligent young man, who always does his best to help those he finds in need. A natural-born leader of sorts, he greatly values his empathy and skills at working with the talents of others to work towards a common goal. That being said, the man is known for holding a grudge for longe rthan one can probably consider necessary or healthy, particularly against foreign magi. To Khairi, many of the magi he has encountered during his travels abroad have been arrogant, dismissive of people, and so caught up in their own searches for Truth that they don't care who or what gets hurt on their path towards it.
It was a reality he was not completely unaware of, but seeing it with his own eyes did much to plant a number of prejudices in his head when dealing with other magi. No matter how polite they seem, no matter how good-hearted
they seem, or open to conversation they claim to be, the young diviner is expecting callousness, deception, and arrogance to be hiding just under the surface. Perhaps not the best mindset to have in most circumstances, but he knows that for the coming Grail War, he'll have more justification than ever to be wary of other Magi.
Magecraft:
Possession(Ancestral): As the latest in a long line of Diviners from what is now known as the Kivu region, it has long been the young man's duty to act as a conduit between spiritual forces of the land and the members of his community. Through the use of ritualistic trance and communion with the realm of spirits, his family has developed considerable skill in calling forth the spirits of not only their ancestors but even ancient heroes and villains to help them reenact their legends within so that the mystery of their deeds continue on into the modern-day.
As such, not only does this magecraft allow for Khairi to call upon the combined knowledge of his Magi ancestors while in such a trance, much in the same way one would use a magic crest, but through this accumulation of mystery, he has theorized the possibility of strengthening that of his Servant through this method through reenactments of their own legend. Not in any lasting way, of course, but perhaps through allowing his servant access to this well of spiritual belief, accumulated mysteries, and long ancient traditions, he is able to further refine the connection between him and his chosen hero.
Evocation(Thunder): The Ilunga lineage claims to have gained their connection to the spiritual through the divine blood of Nkuba, god of Lightning, either through a blessing of descending from his coupling with amortal Diviner in times long past. While the veracity of this tale is certainly in question, what is apparent is how the Ilunga family has always boasted an impressive affinity for the element of lightning and electricity in their magecraft and Khairi is no exception. While not originally taught in the ways of offensive use of the spell, his time abroad has helped him formulate spells with which to utilize the fury of Nkuba against his foes in a more direct manner. He can also make use of natural sources of lightning and electricity as a source of magical energy through the Commune attribute, harmonizing himself with the raw energies of the natural world to better fuel his ceremonies, though the rate of conversion is often not tilted in his favor.
However, that is not the only way he makes use of this connection to Lightning and Thunder. Through this devotion to Nkuba, god of Lightning, he is able to enact rituals to influence the weather of a region, as well as provide a more subtle play on the electrical connections found in all living things. Normally, he uses this as a form of aura reading or emotional dampening effect, allowing him to soothe those in pain or distress so that they may be more at ease in his presence. With his preparations for the Grail war, however, he has learned more deceptive and harmful ways to use this skill, such as curses that interfere with one's reaction time or ability to focus.
Healing: As a Diviner, Khairi was given extensive teaching in magical healing through a variety of methods, most commonly that of herbal remedy infused with Mana. He has studied spiritual healing for the purposes of warding off evil curses and maladies of the soul, making him skilled in the understanding of and excising such curses.
Divination: Another penchant of his role as a Diviner, Khairi uses a number of methods to divine the proper way forward in his day-to-day life. While never a precise form of intuition, the use of Divination magic does wonders for helping him to find out which of the paths of his future stand the best chance of accomplishing his goals.
Quality of Circuits: A+
Quantity of Circuits: B
Elemental Affinity: Wind and Fire
Attribute: Commune
The attribute of the Ilunga family that begets their ability to foster connection and communication with the realm of the spiritual and esoteric. Through their use of magic, they do not just seek knowledge, but complete immersion in their craft and the ability to spread their understanding to others. Like other magi, the Diviners of the Ilunga see themselves as part of a winding chain of knowledge but rather than see their ancestors as being distant repositories of knowledge, they are still an active part of the family, alive in every Diviner of the family and guiding their actions with their combined experience and knowledge.
Magecraft: See above, i guess
General Magecraft
Mystic Codes: Ancestral Conga-scepter, supposedly blessed by the deity Nkuba and used in the ritualistic retelling of the Epic of Mwindo for generations within the family. A temperamental mystic code relic, it offers a wielder who it deems worthy to a powerful conduit for their magecraft, particularly those related to that of calling Lightning or healing those near death's door. However, the scepter is no mere pliant artifact, but a thing with both a spirit and a temperament all its own. As such, if one seeks to misuse its power or ignore the temperament of the relic, they will find in it a tendency to fight and struggle against them, causing a chance of any use of its powers to backfire on the user. If this is done for long enough, then the wielder will be faced with the ultimate retribution as the sky erupts into seven bolts of thunderous might comes crashing down on the perpetrator with the intent of turning them to dust.
A number of Fetishes and Masks with which he has imbued Mana and ancestral memories into. Some can be used as a source of power, while others help him accelerate his use of certain magics, or even grant him access to ones he has not formally studied. Some examples of this would be a necklace containing the finger bone of a Ilunga ancestor that was well-known in his ability to heal increasing the speed and effectiveness of his healing magecraft while in the spirit trance, or a mask that harnesses the memory of another ancestor to grant him some measure of pyromancy skill. These artifacts serve to give him a bit of a swiss-army knife approach to magecraft in the war, and while he doesn't believe it will let him face off against anyone actually trained in any of those adjacent fields, it may help;p to throw off his foes in what his expertise actually is. Any advantage he can gain, no matter how small, is one he'll need given his lack of other resources
Non-Magecraft Abilities/Items:
Empathy and Leadership: Khairi is a natural-born leader and a people person, often able to quickly read those he talks to and working with them to decide how best to help them achieve their goals or make better use of their own abilities.
Dance: Along with the traditional dances he makes use of for his rituals, he's also a skilled breakdancer, having fallen somewhat in love with the frenetic energy of the style after watching some American television and doing some research on the side. He's quite good, and at times makes use of the moves to add a personal flair to his practices as a Magi.
Medicine: Along with the more mystical arts, Khairi has done plenty of study in more mundane treatment methods, and often carries a first aid kit on his person in case of emergencies. While not a licensed medical professional by any measure, he is fully capable of performing quick diagnostics of symptoms and injuries and best immediate practices to put in place till a more qualified person comes to the scene(or till he makes use of his more magical expertise)
Modern Tech: While far from a tech whiz, Khairi is pretty modern-minded as far as being a magus goes, able to use most amenities of modern living without much confusion. He's also a pretty good driver and carries around a smartphone for the sake of contacting his relatives back home. Everything important or compromising, however, he prefers to write down on paper. Just in case, especially during a grail war.
Money: While not as absurdly wealthy as other Magus families tend to be, the Illunga are fairly well-off due to the demand for the services of Diviners in African culture, as well as the intense level of education required of their training. Even if the belief in the supernatural among the average citizen is starting to fade, the cultural power of the position still holds strong.
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