Name: Thomas Finch
Alias: Lazarus, The Resurrection Mage, The Herald
Age: Apparent: 28 Actual: 255
Race: Human
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Theme]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=..Appearance:
Social Status: Lazarus is one of the most powerful and experienced Necromancers in the world to date; as a result he is not always scene in the best light due to the stigma that comes with death magic. After his time as the Herald of Sathanus the Academy and most other major players are incredibly distrustful of the Resurrection mage and as such he has gone from recluse to pariah in the span of the last twenty years.
Relations: Lazarus has few relations beyond those who come to visit him in Finch’s Loft. Mary’s disappearance left him without an apprentice until Evelyn arrived on his front porch demanding to be taught. Although Iris is his daughter Lazarus very rarely sees his daughter and her partner Ian but they are probably on the best of terms of all those who interact with Lazarus.
General Activity: Lazarus practices a variety of martial arts and combat styles, the arts, and academia, in addition to honing his magical expertise. Any time he is not exploring archaeologically or magically significant sights he can be found in his home working on a number of projects. Of late Lazarus has taken to intensively training his new apprentice who lives in Finch’s Loft with him.
Abilities: Before Lazarus' death he was a professor of archaeology with focuses in Egypt, Europe, The Aztec, and Japan. This was all made possible by the fact that Lazarus is a certifiable genius. Lazarus is also naturally gifted in the use of magic however when the Gate came down his powers increased by an order of magnitude.
Necromancy- Lazarus is arguably the world's most powerful Necromancer. Lazarus deals in the Essence left over when someone has died, or been killed; specializing in collecting and re-purposing essence. Lazarus is also quite adept at using dead corpses to fight for him. With the disappearance of the Essence of the World and the lack of Essence passing into the Void Lazarus has become an incredibly adapt Spirit mage capable of creating a variety of ephemeral undead.
Necromancy: With the last twenty years and his time as the Herald Lazarus powers as a Necromancer have grown in orders of magnitude.
Create Revenant: When Lazarus knows he is going to need heavier hitting undead he can prepare a form of combatant he calls a Revenant. Revenants are the bones of dead individuals which Lazarus has enhanced through Alchemy and outfitted with weapons and armor. These can range in form from Skeletons armed with swords and shields wearing plate armor to a swat team of Skeletons wearing Tactical Vests wielding sub machine guns. Lazarus has become increasingly adept at resuscitating and converting fallen enemy combatants as Revenants as their essence departs slower allowing him the time he needs to convert their corpse and gear into a seal for his controlling essence.
Create Walker- Lazarus has a knack for bringing corpses surging back from the dead to fight alongside him. As they are animated by his magic they are nigh unstoppable and require dismemberment before they are rendered dead yet again.
Void Bolt- Lazarus weaves necrotic death energies into a bolt of energy that he hurls at his enemies. Upon contact the bolt immediately begins to cause advanced decay in whatever it strikes causing break down on the cellular level in living organisms
Entropy Shield: Lazarus uses the essence of decay to shield him from attacks. Swords rust away, bullets lose kinetic energy and fall apart. Unprotected living creatures begin to rot and lose cohesion. (rumor has it Lazarus once stopped a building from falling on him with this). The shield discriminates between things that would do Lazarus harm and things that will not. Use of the Entropy shield for protracted amounts of time requires a source of essence however with the presence of dead essence being more prevalent it is much easier to maintain.
Hangman’s noose- Lazarus uses essence to “string up his enemies” constricting their throats and pulling them up off the ground. Effectively hanging them.
Vampire’s Bite- Lazarus elongates his canines and increases the bite force and structural integrity of his jaw. His bite also contains a potent neurotoxin which he generates by restructuring his blood.
Evocation- Lazarus is capable of a frightening repertoire of flashy fast and deadly magic ranging through the majority of the elements as well as encompassing the startling ability to use his own will to effect the physical world directly by infusing it with essence.
Soulfire: Every good Warlock can throw a fireball and this is Lazarus’ version of it. Lazarus causes oxygen to solidify so that he can use it as the fuel for an essence infused fire which clings to the recipient of this spell. The spell can be applied through the use of Enforce Will to move the solid oxygen, physically flinging the solid oxygen or through touching the target.
Enforce will: This spell gives Lazarus the equivalent of telekinesis within his sight range at the level of several thousand times Lazarus physical strength.
Void sphere: Lazarus moves all matter from around a subject and suspends the forces of gravity within the sphere trapping his victim. You can imagine the results.
Abjuration- Lazarus has a solid repertoire of defensive spells and healing spells but he has yet to focus his efforts in expanding this particular field of magic. The most notable exception to this is Lazarus ability to resurrect the dead. After being fused with the essence of The Herald and the current state of the world Lazarus is capable of finding and replacing souls within a few weeks of an individual's death assuming the soul hasn’t been damaged prior.
Divination- One of Lazarus most unnerving abilities has developed as he has worked with magic over the last two centuries. Lazarus has the ability to innately read surface thoughts of those around him, while he cannot actually read thoughts this ability acts like a sixth sense when it comes to others intention towards him much like reading someone's body language. With effort Lazarus is also capable of viewing and hearing distant events and places
Precognition: When Lazarus ramps his sixth sense it gives the impression of Lazarus being able to tell the future. Typically Lazarus only does this when he is in the throes of combat magic where he is directly manipulating massive amounts of essence. Lazarus actively reads body language, thoughts and movements. This allows him to predict and react to attacks as they are made against him giving him the ability to block attacks he can’t see coming, fight in total darkness and even dodge bullets as he knows where the shooter is going to fire.
Illusion- Lazarus is only moderately skilled at illusions and Veils as his interests in Necromancy and Alchemy have caused him to neglect this particular form of magic
Alchemy- Second only to his fascination with Necromancy Lazarus is a potent practitioner of Transmutation which has led many (falsely) to believe that he has created some sort of Philosophers stone in order to extend his life. Lazarus is capable of transmuting most naturally occurring substances into other substances via the rearrangement their atomic structure. Lazarus is also capable of enhancing the properties of materials beyond what the would normally be able to do (making wood as hard as steel, making stone as soft as clay, etc..). Finally Lazarus is also capable of limited transformations to his own form, however he is strictly limited to his one physical form preventing him from assuming the form of another individual or creatures.
Lazarus has a dirty dozen set of abilities when it comes to Alchemy:
Solid Air: Lazarus forces air to condense to an almost solid form. His favorite use of this is for blocking bullets.
Thick Skinned: Lazarus thickens and hardens his skin to the point that he can shrug off blunt force and sharp force trauma.
More than Human: Lazarus can manipulate his own muscle mass and bone structure to give himself enhanced speed, strength and stamina. This allows Lazarus to move with enhanced speed, lift massive weights and fight for hours.
Specter’s Assault- Lazarus has an incredibly unique ability stemming from his Necromancy. When he is wielding Dracul, Dracul stores several copies of Lazarus’ consciousness given physical form via Essence. These copies can manifest themselves as physical entities momentarily. The copies occupy the same space as Lazarus and mirror all of his movements however Lazarus has a rather ingenious use for them. The other copies are used for combatting multiple opponents simultaneously or a single opponent more aggressively. The specters can’t move more than about a foot from Lazarus. The Specters are also leashed to Lazarus’ will and he can vary their movements and attacks at will, up to a few seconds after Lazarus moves. This allows for him to launch simultaneous or successive attacks with variation in each of the attacks. This also allows him to simultaneously defend against multiple attackers.
Equipment:
Dracul- Lazarus created Dracul (The Dragon) by forging essence imbued electrum with steel which allows Lazarus to store Essence in Dracul as a sort of battery for his more potent magic. Dracul can also steal essence from anyone struck by it (Lazarus achieved this by weaving demon essence into the blade taking their ability to consume essence and repurposing it for his own uses). Additionally Dracul is far tougher than any known metal due to the fact that Lazarus wove the essence of thousands of diamonds into over the course of the last two hundred years it making it unearthly hard. Lazarus rarely uses Dracul now but when he was using it Lazarus stored a truly monolithic amount of essence in it.
Anduriel- The Onyx Mask; one of Lazarus many artifacts the Onyx Mask houses a Shadow Demon which gives Lazarus the ability to take on the form of a shadow, give shadows substance and to manipulate them. It also makes Lazarus ephemeral making it incredibly hard to hit him in combat.
Rings- Lazarus wears two rings on each hand which he has augmented to store kinetic energy. This energy can be released in order to cause Lazarus to be able to punch through solid stone and metal...or someone's head.
Finch's Loft- A sprawling castle in County Kerry Ireland Lazarus used his inheritance from his family to purchase he has turned it into a sanctuary for him to study magic and his other pursuits.
The Black Journals- All of the Necromancy and magical research Lazarus has done over the years are contained in the black journals. They are a chronicle of Lazarus’s descent into the darkness on his quest to return Kathleen from the dead. They are the most complete how to manual for Necromancy the world has ever seen. They are currently complete with an incomplete thesis on Necromancy in the current state of the world.
Personality: Quirky is the easiest way to describe Lazarus as he is prone to fits of brilliance that cause him to be all consumed by his work. When Lazarus isn't suffering from one of his manic bursts he has the personality of a pleasant college professor.
Lazarus has a fascination with history and archaeology and anything related to magic in mythology which means it is easy for him to tangentialize in conversations. Lazarus does not treat anyone differently based on their race or status.
Lazarus also has a vicious cold side he reserves for his enemies or anyone foolish enough to cross him while he is on a manic high. Lazarus’ hard and cold side allows him to defend himself and those he loves (Which are few and far between), the problem with this state of mind is that it is also is when Lazarus is at his most brilliant in terms of magic. This state is usually brought on by using Dracul and tapping into the well of souls stored in it.
Biography:
Prior to his initial death Dr. Thomas Finch was a professor of Archeology at Trinity College in Ireland as his genius had allowed him to complete three doctorates and landed him a job as a tenured professor at Trinity. During this time Finch was obsessed with mythology and magic in ancient cultures due to his minor abilities as a practitioner. When the Gate fell Finch finally came into his own as a Warlock.
Finch focused much of his time on mastering the art of Necromancy as many of the cultures he studied had focus on death, life and the mastery of the two. While exploring a site in Greece Finch discovered the first half of the information he needed to resurrect himself after his death and a year later he discovered the second half of the information on a dig in Egypt. When he finally returned from a two year sabbatical to Trinity he discovered one of his students had been murdered by a demon. In a rage he tracked the demon down and confronted it. The demon tore Thomas Finch limb from limb. After consuming Thomas’ corpse the Demon assumed it had gotten away with it’s murder but four days later Dr. Finch returned with a horde of walking corpse and tore the demon apart. After the battle Thomas Finch was dead but Lazarus had been born that day. Lazarus resigned his position at Trinity to continue his study of magic in the peace of his newly acquired home Finch’s Loft.
While exploring the ruins of Loom Lazarus discovered the girl Mary among the ruins. The girl reminded him of the student he had lost and he immediately took her in vowing to protect her as he saw Mary as a chance at redemption for his past failure. After discovering Mary appeared to be carrying some sort of other presence within her and that she was incapable of magic he started teaching her fencing and the arts in place of magic.
The student that was killed by the demon went by the name of Kathleen O’heir. A striking beauty with fiery red hair and a laugh that caught Lazarus’ heart. After Kathleen was out of Lazarus’ class the two were briefly engaged and then married in the Ring of Kerry. The three years Lazarus had with Kathleen were the best of his life. When he left Trinity to go on his sabbatical he left Kathleen to finish her studying at Trinity. Lazarus promised Kathleen that when he returned they would travel the world and be together. Lazarus had just inherited his family's fortune and he no longer needed his position at Trinity. When Kathleen was killed Lazarus went into a blind rage which led to the events of him receiving his name. After Kathleen’s death Lazarus’ study of magic has been focused on Necromancy and Alchemy for one reason. Lazarus want’s his wife back.
After a missive from the Academy of Loom Lazarus moved himself and Mary to the Academy where he worked as a professor for the next decade or so where he was reunited with his daughter Iris and took a new student named Ian who fell in love with his daughter. After several missions into the Easter Jungles of Hell the Children of Sathanus finally called in their debt and took Lazarus to become the Herald of Sathanus. Lazarus spent a year as the Herald and in the time committed several atrocities in the name of Sathanus.
A team consisting of his Daughter, Ian, Hazumi and others were finally able to put an end to the Herald’s rampage. The Essence of the World was able to separate Lazarus essence from that of the Lord of Hell’s essence and the other Children’s essence which had been used to create the Chimeric Herald. Upon Lazarus return to the world he resigned at the academy shortly after Hazumi’s disappearance. Returning to Finch’s loft Lazarus sunk into depression over the loss of his lover: Hazumi. Lazarus has recently spent much of his time on research, and training of his new apprentice.
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