jeroukooName: Saef Harken
Title/Epiphet: Heavenly Thaumaturge, Captain 1st Heavenly Mechanised Squadron
Allegiance/Faction: Heaven
Race: Ascended Human
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 180 lbs out of armor. 310 lbs in armor.
Appearance:
Backstory:
Saef did not grow up in the Nexus. Rather he was born on Dinas Affaraon, a technologically advanced world that was absorbed into the Nexus roughly a year ago. In that time it was subjected to a Demonic invasion that made the planet all but uninhabitable. The first ten months essentially one long list of military defeats and horrendous massacres the globe over.
When the war started Saef was one of the foremost scientists on the planet. He spent the first few months being shifted between a dozen different research projects, each one a hopeful new wonder weapon or defensive technology. That didn't mean he was safe of course. The front lines frequently collapsed without warning and he repeatedly had to help fight off Demonic infiltrators.
As the conflict went on he became less scientist and more soldier. The death of his family and many of his friends lighting a burning desire for revenge deep within him. Attrition makes for speedy promotions, and the death toll in this war was particularly steep. His knack for small unit tactics and the fact that he hadn't died yet quickly raised Saef to his current rank of Captain.
When Heaven sent an army ten months in the former scientist dove into the study of their magic like a man possessed. It was exceedingly effective against Demons, which made it the perfect tool for Saef. Even two months later when the invasions had been beat back and the portal to Hell closed it wasn't enough. When word spread that Heaven was recruiting Saef was one of the first to sign up.
Powers:
Upon accepting Heaven's offer the new recruits from Dinas Affaraon underwent a transformation. Their bodies changed, becoming more idealized versions of themselves. Features became sharper and more defined. Muscles were denser and organs more robust.
They became superhuman. Many times stronger and faster than a normal person. The group could now take blows that would have most certainly killed them before. It would still hurt but they wouldn't be removed from the battle just because they caught a punch from the wrong demon.
When Saef ascended something unexpected happened. While cosmic energies swirled around him the former scientist, now soldier and thaumaturge caught a glimpse of something. For the barest of moments the very bones of the universe were layer bare to him. That glimpse changed him.
On the surface the only clue of his extra transformation is a head of permanently white hair. The real changes run much deeper though. When Saef looks at something or thinks of it he can't help but see how it works. Magical or scientific the mechanics are always laid bare.
It's not an instantaneous thing though. The more complicated a thing is the longer it takes him to figure it out. Nor does it allow him an automatic immunity to illusions. Any mental effects will still take place, he will simply be able to know that there is some sort of spellcraft taking place and eventually be able to puzzle through the mechanics of it.
While still young at the craft Saef has learned enough of the how's and why's to manipulate the mana and underlying principles of the holy spells taught to all the new warriors from his world.
Using those as a basis he has expanded his offensive repertoire immensely. He can now freely manipulate holy light in offensive and defensive manners as well as a variety of other spells generally associated with the angelic.
As a subset of this power Saef has learned how tonsee magical energy. It takes the form of different types of light, each type of magical energy looking like a different color and the strength of it measured by brightness.
Skills:
Doctorate level education in several fields, primarily in energy and particle physics.
A Glimpse of the Truth has only enhanced his already prodigious intellect. While not strictly speaking smarter, there aren't many fields of study he can't easily gain a work in knowledge of.
Weapons & Equipment:
Despite being a member of the armies of Heaven Saef and his comrades came from a highly technological world. Their weapons and equipment show that.
Hywelbane has two modes. The first takes the shape of a three foot long golden scepter with a white crystal at the end. Arcane runes run the length of the rod and the entire thing pulses with a soft white light.
In this form Hywelbane focuses and enhances Saef's power. Allowing him to perform greater feats of magic with more finesse.
When the second form is activated the scepter shortens to two feet. The extra material comes up to form a crosshilt and a blade the same color as the crystal extends.
The blade can be as long or as short as the wielder wishes it to be and is is made up of holy light. The sharpness of the blade depends on the abilities of the user. With Saef's skill at light magic the edge of Hywelbane can be measured in single digit photons.
Every good soldier needs a backup weapon and this is what most people used on Saef's home world.
A sleek looking silver pistol, the LSW-27 Saef carries has been extensively modified. Using some techniques that he only recently figured out the weapon has been converted into something truly magical. The power cell now feeds into a heavily rune inscribed crystal. Said crystal converts that energy into blasts of holy light capable of melting half a foot through solid stone.
The Duban is a suit of highly advanced power armor and a big part of why the people of Dinas Affaraon could fight demons at all. Now that Saef has ascended the strength and speed enhancements are less obvious but even so it is a highly useful set of equipment.
Metal/ceramic armor plating is augmented by holy barrier. While the shielding can take several hits it wasn't designed to withstand a sustained barrage. Instead the designers built it to survive short bursts of fire, after which they would start to recharge.
It's not an instantaneous charge. If all the capacitors are empty it can take up to a full minute to refill from the onboard reactor. A long time in a pitched battle.
An onboard sensor suite uses a wide variety of means to keep track of the user's surroundings. Not designed as a scout or full scanning platform the Duban's passive scanners can keep an accurate reading of the battlefield out to about two hundred and fifty meters.
That's not factoring in things like the binocular function on the helmet. It's an average of what the onboard computer can tell the user at any one moment.
Technological filtration systems and holy purification enchantments have been combined to create an extremely effective built in gas mask. The user can survive in just about any location with a theoretically breathable atmosphere. With a few modifications this includes underwater operations, even if said modifications require a properly equipped workshop to perform them.
Duban has two different types of comms. The first is your traditional radio. It's usually kept locked down when fighting Machina. The second is quantum entanglement. Each suit has a series of entangled particles linked to both fellow squad members and command.
Communication between those so linked is crystal clear and unhackable no matter how far apart they are. The downside is that it only extends to people with linked particle pairs.
The last major piece of the suits is the jetpack built into each one. Technically called Quantum Particle Propulsion Systems, most everyone just calls them jetpacks.
Since it uses newly created quantum particles for thrust the user never has to worry about running out of fuel. However the system is quite the power hog. Power has to be diverted to it when in full use leading to reduced sensor range or increased shield recharge time.
After many long hours spent with Librarian Si, the combination of magic and science that is "Knowledge Is Power" was crafted. Aside from the fact that it is double the size of a standard book the primary thing to catch an observer's eye is how white the thing is. The covers are made out of a nonmagnetic white metal alloy and the pages all look crisp and new. It's not completely white though. The name of the book is emblazoned on the front in letters that glow an electric blue and is surrounded in an intricate magical circle of similar luminescence.
Of course carrying such a large and heavy book at all times would be a major pain. To circumvent that a few extra features have been added. When not in use the tome is stored in a personal pocket dimension. Nothing else can enter the dimension either with the book or by itself.
When called upon "Knowledge Is Power" activates a combination of antigravity technology and levitation magic to hover in the air near its master. The tome moves according to Saef's thought but cannot go more than a couple yards away at any one time
In order to prevent a predicted increase in size and weight the two who made it pulled a little trick with the pages. When a reader is about halfway through pages that have already been read will start to vanish. As this happens new pages will appear under the yet to be read pile. It is essentially a never ending book.
Of course those are all ease of use side benefits. The real power of the book lies in the name. Everything that Saef considers useful information is automatically captured by the book. The book then turns that information into power. The more important or useful the information is the more more power the tome can draw from it. These facts are not consumed to create magical energy but rather they add to the book's capacity to generate mana.
TLDR: It's a magic floating book that acts as a secondary mana generator for Saef. The more interesting stuff he finds out the more power it can give him.
Sample Post:
Title/Epiphet: Heavenly Thaumaturge, Captain 1st Heavenly Mechanised Squadron
Allegiance/Faction: Heaven
Race: Ascended Human
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 180 lbs out of armor. 310 lbs in armor.
Appearance:
Backstory:
Saef did not grow up in the Nexus. Rather he was born on Dinas Affaraon, a technologically advanced world that was absorbed into the Nexus roughly a year ago. In that time it was subjected to a Demonic invasion that made the planet all but uninhabitable. The first ten months essentially one long list of military defeats and horrendous massacres the globe over.
When the war started Saef was one of the foremost scientists on the planet. He spent the first few months being shifted between a dozen different research projects, each one a hopeful new wonder weapon or defensive technology. That didn't mean he was safe of course. The front lines frequently collapsed without warning and he repeatedly had to help fight off Demonic infiltrators.
As the conflict went on he became less scientist and more soldier. The death of his family and many of his friends lighting a burning desire for revenge deep within him. Attrition makes for speedy promotions, and the death toll in this war was particularly steep. His knack for small unit tactics and the fact that he hadn't died yet quickly raised Saef to his current rank of Captain.
When Heaven sent an army ten months in the former scientist dove into the study of their magic like a man possessed. It was exceedingly effective against Demons, which made it the perfect tool for Saef. Even two months later when the invasions had been beat back and the portal to Hell closed it wasn't enough. When word spread that Heaven was recruiting Saef was one of the first to sign up.
Powers:
Heavenly Body
Upon accepting Heaven's offer the new recruits from Dinas Affaraon underwent a transformation. Their bodies changed, becoming more idealized versions of themselves. Features became sharper and more defined. Muscles were denser and organs more robust.
They became superhuman. Many times stronger and faster than a normal person. The group could now take blows that would have most certainly killed them before. It would still hurt but they wouldn't be removed from the battle just because they caught a punch from the wrong demon.
A Glimpse of the Truth
When Saef ascended something unexpected happened. While cosmic energies swirled around him the former scientist, now soldier and thaumaturge caught a glimpse of something. For the barest of moments the very bones of the universe were layer bare to him. That glimpse changed him.
On the surface the only clue of his extra transformation is a head of permanently white hair. The real changes run much deeper though. When Saef looks at something or thinks of it he can't help but see how it works. Magical or scientific the mechanics are always laid bare.
It's not an instantaneous thing though. The more complicated a thing is the longer it takes him to figure it out. Nor does it allow him an automatic immunity to illusions. Any mental effects will still take place, he will simply be able to know that there is some sort of spellcraft taking place and eventually be able to puzzle through the mechanics of it.
Divine Thaumaturgy
While still young at the craft Saef has learned enough of the how's and why's to manipulate the mana and underlying principles of the holy spells taught to all the new warriors from his world.
Using those as a basis he has expanded his offensive repertoire immensely. He can now freely manipulate holy light in offensive and defensive manners as well as a variety of other spells generally associated with the angelic.
As a subset of this power Saef has learned how tonsee magical energy. It takes the form of different types of light, each type of magical energy looking like a different color and the strength of it measured by brightness.
Resistances & Immunities:
Demonic Energy: As a holy being Saef has an innate resistance to demonic energies. Unholy blows are softened and the effects of evil magic lessened.
Airborne Gasses and Agents: The filtration systems and purifying enchantments on his armor protect Saef from most tiny, floating, deadly things that might want to do him harm.
Light and Sound Dampening: His armor protect Saef from overwhelming levels of light and sound. It's not a full immunity, but his team's flashbangs aren't going to stun him.
Weaknesses:
Machina Weaponry: Since he came to the Nexus to fight Demons most of Saef's defenses are aimed at protecting him from that kind of attack. This means that attacks from Machina weaponry are particularly difficult for him to defend against.
Magical Energy: Since Saef has only recently gained magic he has not had the time to build up any real metaphysical muscle. As such the amount of energy he can summon is limited without his tome.
Demonic Energy: As a holy being Saef has an innate resistance to demonic energies. Unholy blows are softened and the effects of evil magic lessened.
Airborne Gasses and Agents: The filtration systems and purifying enchantments on his armor protect Saef from most tiny, floating, deadly things that might want to do him harm.
Light and Sound Dampening: His armor protect Saef from overwhelming levels of light and sound. It's not a full immunity, but his team's flashbangs aren't going to stun him.
Weaknesses:
Machina Weaponry: Since he came to the Nexus to fight Demons most of Saef's defenses are aimed at protecting him from that kind of attack. This means that attacks from Machina weaponry are particularly difficult for him to defend against.
Magical Energy: Since Saef has only recently gained magic he has not had the time to build up any real metaphysical muscle. As such the amount of energy he can summon is limited without his tome.
Skills:
Doctorate level education in several fields, primarily in energy and particle physics.
A Glimpse of the Truth has only enhanced his already prodigious intellect. While not strictly speaking smarter, there aren't many fields of study he can't easily gain a work in knowledge of.
Weapons & Equipment:
Hywelbane
Despite being a member of the armies of Heaven Saef and his comrades came from a highly technological world. Their weapons and equipment show that.
Hywelbane has two modes. The first takes the shape of a three foot long golden scepter with a white crystal at the end. Arcane runes run the length of the rod and the entire thing pulses with a soft white light.
In this form Hywelbane focuses and enhances Saef's power. Allowing him to perform greater feats of magic with more finesse.
When the second form is activated the scepter shortens to two feet. The extra material comes up to form a crosshilt and a blade the same color as the crystal extends.
The blade can be as long or as short as the wielder wishes it to be and is is made up of holy light. The sharpness of the blade depends on the abilities of the user. With Saef's skill at light magic the edge of Hywelbane can be measured in single digit photons.
LSW-27 (Modified)
Every good soldier needs a backup weapon and this is what most people used on Saef's home world.
A sleek looking silver pistol, the LSW-27 Saef carries has been extensively modified. Using some techniques that he only recently figured out the weapon has been converted into something truly magical. The power cell now feeds into a heavily rune inscribed crystal. Said crystal converts that energy into blasts of holy light capable of melting half a foot through solid stone.
Duban-X7-99
The Duban is a suit of highly advanced power armor and a big part of why the people of Dinas Affaraon could fight demons at all. Now that Saef has ascended the strength and speed enhancements are less obvious but even so it is a highly useful set of equipment.
Metal/ceramic armor plating is augmented by holy barrier. While the shielding can take several hits it wasn't designed to withstand a sustained barrage. Instead the designers built it to survive short bursts of fire, after which they would start to recharge.
It's not an instantaneous charge. If all the capacitors are empty it can take up to a full minute to refill from the onboard reactor. A long time in a pitched battle.
An onboard sensor suite uses a wide variety of means to keep track of the user's surroundings. Not designed as a scout or full scanning platform the Duban's passive scanners can keep an accurate reading of the battlefield out to about two hundred and fifty meters.
That's not factoring in things like the binocular function on the helmet. It's an average of what the onboard computer can tell the user at any one moment.
Technological filtration systems and holy purification enchantments have been combined to create an extremely effective built in gas mask. The user can survive in just about any location with a theoretically breathable atmosphere. With a few modifications this includes underwater operations, even if said modifications require a properly equipped workshop to perform them.
Duban has two different types of comms. The first is your traditional radio. It's usually kept locked down when fighting Machina. The second is quantum entanglement. Each suit has a series of entangled particles linked to both fellow squad members and command.
Communication between those so linked is crystal clear and unhackable no matter how far apart they are. The downside is that it only extends to people with linked particle pairs.
The last major piece of the suits is the jetpack built into each one. Technically called Quantum Particle Propulsion Systems, most everyone just calls them jetpacks.
Since it uses newly created quantum particles for thrust the user never has to worry about running out of fuel. However the system is quite the power hog. Power has to be diverted to it when in full use leading to reduced sensor range or increased shield recharge time.
Knowledge Is Power
After many long hours spent with Librarian Si, the combination of magic and science that is "Knowledge Is Power" was crafted. Aside from the fact that it is double the size of a standard book the primary thing to catch an observer's eye is how white the thing is. The covers are made out of a nonmagnetic white metal alloy and the pages all look crisp and new. It's not completely white though. The name of the book is emblazoned on the front in letters that glow an electric blue and is surrounded in an intricate magical circle of similar luminescence.
Of course carrying such a large and heavy book at all times would be a major pain. To circumvent that a few extra features have been added. When not in use the tome is stored in a personal pocket dimension. Nothing else can enter the dimension either with the book or by itself.
When called upon "Knowledge Is Power" activates a combination of antigravity technology and levitation magic to hover in the air near its master. The tome moves according to Saef's thought but cannot go more than a couple yards away at any one time
In order to prevent a predicted increase in size and weight the two who made it pulled a little trick with the pages. When a reader is about halfway through pages that have already been read will start to vanish. As this happens new pages will appear under the yet to be read pile. It is essentially a never ending book.
Of course those are all ease of use side benefits. The real power of the book lies in the name. Everything that Saef considers useful information is automatically captured by the book. The book then turns that information into power. The more important or useful the information is the more more power the tome can draw from it. These facts are not consumed to create magical energy but rather they add to the book's capacity to generate mana.
TLDR: It's a magic floating book that acts as a secondary mana generator for Saef. The more interesting stuff he finds out the more power it can give him.
Sample Post:
A sigh echoed through the metallic chamber. It wasn't a sigh of annoyance or exasperation. No, it was one of relief. The kind of sound a person makes when they just finished a difficult task and can let their mind and body relax.
In this case it was one Saef Harken relaxing as he leaned back against a nearby wall. An engraving tool lay near the newly completed magical circle in the floor. It was based off of the control circle he had used to restore Lumeria to its former glory. Once adjusted the powerful circle made an excellent addition to his new wizard tower.
Saef couldn't help smiling at the thought. He had a wizard tower now. Just the idea of it sent his boyhood fantasies of heroism and magic spinning through his head once more.
"You got that smile on your face again." Said a voice from the doorway."The one that means you're thinking about how awesome you are."
A tilt of his head brought the speaker into view. Tall, with pale skin and red hair. Emerald eyes sparkled with amusement from a face that bore the inhuman beauty of all who joined Heaven's armies. Aine Caldeon, his oldest still living friend and second in command of his personal squad.
"My new wizard tower is awesome, Aine." the thaumaturge shot back from his spot on the floor. He most certainly did not giggle at thought of all the stuff he could fill such a thing with. Certainly nothing more damaging to his manliness than a chuckle.
Aine rolled her eyes as she walked across the room towards him. She sat down next to him with an exasperated sigh. "Please tell me that you are at least going to put up some kind of self cleaning spell?" She stared at Saef as he opened his mouth and raised a finger, only to lower it and tilt his head with a thoughtful look on his face. "Seriously? That's it. I'm banning you from holding mission briefings in your 'wizard tower' until you at least get a roomba in here."
"Oh come on Aine!" Her Captain exclaimed. "I've got a holodeck all set up on the second floor. Think about how cool our briefings would be if you could actually touch the terrain holograms!"
"No" Came the answer, accompanied by a pale finger being shoved in his face. "I've seen what your lab looks like. We won't even be able to find the second floor without a guide."
"But Aiiiine. The holodeck."
"No"
In this case it was one Saef Harken relaxing as he leaned back against a nearby wall. An engraving tool lay near the newly completed magical circle in the floor. It was based off of the control circle he had used to restore Lumeria to its former glory. Once adjusted the powerful circle made an excellent addition to his new wizard tower.
Saef couldn't help smiling at the thought. He had a wizard tower now. Just the idea of it sent his boyhood fantasies of heroism and magic spinning through his head once more.
"You got that smile on your face again." Said a voice from the doorway."The one that means you're thinking about how awesome you are."
A tilt of his head brought the speaker into view. Tall, with pale skin and red hair. Emerald eyes sparkled with amusement from a face that bore the inhuman beauty of all who joined Heaven's armies. Aine Caldeon, his oldest still living friend and second in command of his personal squad.
"My new wizard tower is awesome, Aine." the thaumaturge shot back from his spot on the floor. He most certainly did not giggle at thought of all the stuff he could fill such a thing with. Certainly nothing more damaging to his manliness than a chuckle.
Aine rolled her eyes as she walked across the room towards him. She sat down next to him with an exasperated sigh. "Please tell me that you are at least going to put up some kind of self cleaning spell?" She stared at Saef as he opened his mouth and raised a finger, only to lower it and tilt his head with a thoughtful look on his face. "Seriously? That's it. I'm banning you from holding mission briefings in your 'wizard tower' until you at least get a roomba in here."
"Oh come on Aine!" Her Captain exclaimed. "I've got a holodeck all set up on the second floor. Think about how cool our briefings would be if you could actually touch the terrain holograms!"
"No" Came the answer, accompanied by a pale finger being shoved in his face. "I've seen what your lab looks like. We won't even be able to find the second floor without a guide."
"But Aiiiine. The holodeck."
"No"