![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
So she can basically be boiled down to God Is Evil when it comes to your universe. Paradox seems like a very complicated villain (I like the Meaningful Name by the way; I don't know if you did that on purpose but wow. One of the things I like most about him/ her is the deep ties this villain has to the Universe in general. Man, I have to put spoiler tags all over this post lol![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
. From what you've described about the Confederation of Light, and all the other horrors that lurk in this story's 'verse, I'm not surprised that she wants to end it all. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to live in the worlds I've created, but her backstory makes me wonder if I would be just as appalled at the cruelties and monstrous actions committed in them if I actually found myself there. I also can't help but follow that train of thiniking to wonder if I would take steps to destroy them if that was the only way to end it. As a writer and a creative person, Pradox's underlying motivations really make me think.
- Name: The Harpy
- Age: Nobody knows. Ein Woe says she was in power when he became Archduke of Hell.
- Personality: Manipulative to an extreme, and a skilled actor and disguise artist, The Harpy can pull off almost any disguise with aplomb. Its implied a few times she really, really likes deception and the faces people make when they're betrayed. As in, really likes deception and faces of betrayal. She - as far as you can call her a she - enjoys using the fact the Masquerade makes her invisible to mortals to menace families and haunt houses for "shits", with a chance of "giggles." Her most common disguise is that of a human girl of about seven. This does not stop her from doing really, really messed up things. She does seem to really, really, really hate the Streika / Gradich Family, attempting to murder people who even look like Dolph Gradich or his son. She and Ein Woe are very bitter enemies, with him blocking her numerous times politically, and mucking up a plan that would've let her murder a ten month old Matthew. She seems to be a constantly very mocking individual, enjoying making people uncomfortable by using her forms for different things.
- Abilities: Shapeshifting, "Reality Fold" (lets her "Claim" a part of an area and make her own little world in there, an exclusively full-blooded demon ability), Super-Speed, manipulation of dark energy, Mind Control, controlling lesser dark spirits, and the use of a power literally just called The Corruption. It allows her to corrupt or kill whatever it touches. If used on a human soul, she can burn it to ashes.
- Weaknesses: Weak on her own, she's also a Smug Snake who has little to no idea how normal humans behave. She's also used to being able to bully people and likes fighting people weaker than her.
- Goals: Kill Dolph Gradich and Kill Matthew Streika.
- Motivation: Dolph stopped her from possessing none other than Hitler. With Matthew, its merely that he was born.
- Role in the story: The Dragon in New Dawn -0, Big Bad of the short stories "Devil House", "House of Dolls", and "I Wanna Play".
- Backstory: Not much is known of her backstory, just that she instantly was antagonistic toward Ein Woe, and despises even her own father, The Prince of Demands.
- Relevant Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Contends she had one (though she is the most prolific liar in New Dawn), and is one to Reiji, and numerous other "Pieces".
- It is fully subverted in regards to Demands. Its eventually shown he doted on her a lot, making her violent disdain of him difficult to understand.
- Ax-Crazy: Sociopathic and insane, she seems to have no idea how normal humans function, and is violent for the sake of violence. There was one time she chewed on someone's face as they slept while conferring with her father.
- Bait the Dog: Claims she is unwilling to murder Kristof in front of Dolph, and when he goes to leave, she tries to kill him anyway because she thought it'd be funny. Dolph was certainly displeased.
- Big Bad Ensemble: In House of Dolls, she teams up with Angela, Mr. Spices, Graverobber, The Master, three humanoid Ghouls, Mephist, Ba'al and Moloch. They mostly try to maneuver to betray one another, but when push comes to shove, they put up an incredibly good fight.
- Creepy Doll: Her favorite toy is a bear that says "I Wanna Play". She likes making it go off right before she does something fucked up.
- Demon Lords and Archdevils: She's the daughter of The Prince of Demands, Ein Woe's immediate superior. Note that she mostly chooses a human girl's appearance, while The Prince resembles a tremendous, masked demon-beast with four arms, wings, and six eyes, including two on his wings. So she's definitely no normal monster or run of the mill enemy.
- Evil vs. Evil: The Harpy is a horrifying monster, and most of her first appearance has her killing Nazis. Subverted when she starts going after very young trainees, including Dolph's protege Kristof, who was all of fourteen, and trying to kill Dolph's mother, father and little brother. Played much more straight in her fights with Ein Woe and his group.
- Even Evil Has Standards: She claims such is the case. We then find out she wanted to possess the Fuhrer to do a much, much more thorough genocide on Europe's population, making this claim of hers patently false. If anything, she's just as bad as what she claims to be fighting "for moral reasons."
- I Lied: One of her favorite ways of getting that disturbing, fetishistic rush from deception.
- I Shall Taunt You: She knows Dolph is The Atoner for his role effectively protecting the Third Reich from Supernatural Enemies, so every time they meet, she calls him "my favorite Nazi."
- He turns it around in House of Dolls, telling her that while he is atoning, she's stagnating, predictable and the same as ever.
- Casting a Shadow: Not as advanced as some others, but she can turn herself into living shadow and drink the life of people she touches, leaving burn marks.
- Jackass Genie: When a young teen pining for his old middle school teacher confided in nice little "Sally", she used her Life Drinker ability to age him to forty five. He was shot when his parents - not recognizing him - called the police. She instantly used The Corruption on him and burned his soul to ash. For fun.
- Kick the Dog: She, like a certain demon from Inu Yasha, can detach pieces of herself to turn into living creatures. She abuses them so horrifically, that when Reiji, one of her detachments, is made the Dark Scion of the malevolent Vicelogia, he calls the abuse Logia rained down on him an improvement.
- Narm: Invoked Trope; she acts so hilariously over the top in some houses, she makes people decide the owners are just making this up, they're crazy or Attention Whore's. Once that's done, she gets down to business.
- One-Winged Angel: Turns from a cute looking little girl into something resembling the brutal hybrid of a bear, a wolf, and an eagle with Combat Tentacles and natural armor. It helps the first two times, less so the last two times.
- Predecessor Villain: Mostly; she's The Dragon in New Dawn -0, having failed to possess Hitler and do...whatever it was she was gonna do, except she never died. She finally bit the bullet in House of Dolls at Matt and Dolph's hands, but came back one final time and Ein and Matthew put her down in "I Wanna Play".
- Razor Wind: Done by swiping her claws through the air really fast.
- Squick: Oh, yeah. Some of the things she does will have you reaching for a bucket.
- The Vamp: Subverted; it never works, mainly because she takes the form of a seven year old when doing it. She even propositions Dolph for an encounter, which he rejects very quickly as utterly disgusting. Mostly used to show she has no idea about normal human mores.
- Villain Team-Up: Became The Dragon to Felix after her initial plan failed. She made a much, much bigger one during House of Dolls.
edited 16th Nov '13 12:57:33 AM by NickTheSwing
Ugh, the Harpy seems crazy, Chaotic Evil and all over the place. Once again I have to congratulate you on creating villains who are so well-thought out and just so evil and yet intriguing. Like Elijah, she arouses my natural disgust, though much less so. Still, the idea of wanting to kill a baby simply because they were born is kind of icky (though I can't complain; several of my villains have tortured and outright murdered infants, so...) Strangely I think what I like about her most isn't her creepiness but the fact that she is portrayed as just kind of...pathetic in many ways. She's powerful and dangerous sure, but as you mentioned in the post, she stagnates while the person who was evidently evil before and is genuinely trying to do good, progresses and evolves. I like that.
- Ah one last thing. I also like how unlike many if not all of your villains, you haven't given her a specific age, only saying that she has been there for a long time. She could be Time Abyss or just a really long-lived demon but no one knows. It reminds me of Retsu Unohana; who has seemingly always been in her position.
edited 16th Nov '13 11:19:40 AM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
- Name: The Endless Army
- Inspired by: The T-800, The Golden Army Alphonse Elric
- Age: All over the place. The oldest known one was 86 when transformed and the youngest are a pair of thirteen year old twins.
- Personality: Again they have many differing personalities due to their diverse age, races, nationalities and allegiance to the two world powers. However, their overriding emotions are intense anguish due to their situation. Some regard what has happened to them with despair, some with hatred toward the one responsible but all are horrified at having their souls torn from their mortal bodies and sealed within mechanical constructs with zero control over their actions apart from what their controller wishes. Due to this, many are able to collaborate with one another on how to keep their loved ones safe such as intentionally missing with attacks or even managing enough Heroic Willpower to use Telepathy to warn those sharing their blood of what they will do or of weak points regarding themselves or other in their army.
- Abilities: Each soldier in the Endless Army possess the same abilities as when they were mortal; a wizard or witch who wielded Elemental magic, Summoning, illusion, matter manipulation or healing powers will still have them. Master warriors will still retain their skills at whatever weapon they to wielded. However magic-users among them can now cast spells that would have resulted in deadly Magician's Fatigue and warriors or Gunslingers use DangerousForbiddenTechniques that would result in severe or even career-ending injuries with impunity. The reason for this is because their souls are now standalone objects, and no longer need to maintain the balance of anima necessary to sustain their human bodies. The mechanical bodies of all Endless Army soldiers are incredibly tough, resistant to bullets, blades, explosives and destructive magic. However they are not invincible and can be broken or even destroyed. Because of this, they contain nanobots which work to repair injuries, though the most they can do is repair a lost limb and are useless if the soldier is blown to pieces. Even if reduced to scrap metal, the soul is still bound to the pieces and fully aware
- Weaknesses: Though their unlimited ability to cast and maintain magic is formidable, magic-users among the Endless are limited in the fact that they cannot learn new spells, nor can they improve on ones they already know. They are frozen at the moment when their souls were torn from their bodies. This also applies to warriors, gunmen and martial artists though not as blatantly obvious. They are also very much a Keystone Army, and should anything happen to the caster maintaining the spell keeping their souls bound to the metal bodies, they will either cease to be able to move or be released to cross over to the afterlife. Likewise, if the caster is distracted by something, they may be able to break free of her control temporarily.
- Goals: The personal goal of each "member" of the Endless Army is to be free. However because they have no control over themselves, their goals coincide with their controller, Elena Raines.
During the Second Enchanter's War, their job is to swell the ranks of Nadia Denashel's Purist Movement forces, adding both number and muscle to her army. They are to kill any member of the Iron Legion/Conclave alliance and hunt for the young Erzarian Mia Scarlteen and capture her. However Elena's real agenda is to snatch Mia right out from under Nadia's nose. Thus the Endless are instructed to fight alongside Nadia's Purist Movement forces, but if they locate Mia, they are to abandon their mission in favor of bringing her to Elena. Then they are to turn against Nadia's soldiers and the alliance alike, causing mass confusion and death on the battlefield.
- Motivation: It's kind of hard to say "no" to someone who is controlling your body like a puppet and can take over your very soul, erasing your conscious will even if you do manage to fight against the physical manipulation.
- Role in the story: Elite Mooks for the Legenada side of the war. Each is a Tragic Monster for all who encounter them.
- Backstory: The concept of an army of disembodied human souls came to Elena Raines during her research into an ancient and virtually unknown spell known as chrim. The spell was for separating one's soul from their own body and sealing it into an object, with the intention of granting immortality to the caster. She was reluctant however to try this on herself due to the unpredictability of the ancient text and its incompleteness. Elena gradually located the missing pieces of the spell's instructions through various means. After she had acquired all the pieces, Elena took to tinkering with the spell in the same way she did machines, altering it and trying to make an "improved version", and used many victims for this, binding their souls to random objects. However the process was always temporary; the souls moved on due to the spell not being made for use on those besides the caster. However Elena strengthened the bindings and having been in the weapon-selling business for a long time an idea occurred to her. She would create mechanical soldiers and seal the souls of warriors and magic-users within. These would have no need for rest, food, or payment and would be entirely under the control of a single commander. But in addition to being practical, they fulfilled a far larger and older dream of hers: to fuse magic with technology, something she had wanted since she was a child. Elena set about abducting magic users, warriors, martial artists and gunmen from various places across The Haven. Nationality, allegiance, gender or even age made no difference; all she wanted was the skill. Though she had many failures, eventually her army numbered over 500,000 strong. Now all she needed was a war in which to demonstrate its prowess and gain battle data...
- Relevant tropes
- Ammunition Backpack: Endless soldiers who wielded guns in life are equipped with several large backpacks filled with ammunition for their weapons. Even worse, the mechanical bodies of these soldiers contain several storage slots for extra ammo once these run out, ensuring that running out of bullets won't be a problem.
- Anti-Villain: Strictly Type 2. They have no desire at all to be fighting in the war, however they have no choice in the matter. To make matters worse, because almost all of them come from nations that are either allied with the Conclave or Iron Legion, and the two world powers are allied for the first time in history, it means that most of them at some point will encounter loved ones fighting against them and not be able to do anything about it.
- And I Must Scream: Due to the warped nature of the Soul Jar spell used to bind them to the mechanical bodies, the souls of the Army are in constant metaphysical agony as their instinctive drive to move to the afterlife is blocked by the magic's binding. Furthermore, while they are perfectly conscious and aware, they have almost no control over their own bodies and are little more than frightened passengers who watch in horror as they fight and strike down others—sometimes even their own loved ones. Worse, if Elena "loosens" the control, they are free to pick whatever spell/attack they will use, but they have to do something. Meaning that they are even more culpable in a death than usual. In fact, her Villain Override in which she erases their minds completely is probably the most merciful thing to do.
- Also even if they are damaged beyond what their limited Healing Factor can repair, they will still remain perfectly conscious. This extends even to being blown to bits and scattered around the battlefield; they are simply aware of their existence spread across each individual scrap.
- Antagonistic Offspring: Elena captured Marvelo Leisben's thirteen year old twin daughters after they had become separated on a mission to raid a forbidden magic-users gathering. At first she was going to hold them for ransom to either remove the price from her head or force the Iron Legion to protect her from her old colleagues in Legenada—and then she remembered that the Legion's laws were responsible for her mother's death. She then transformed Beth and Theodora into members of her Endless Army, hoping to invoke this trope by sending them to their father to kill him, letting him know what they had become just before he died.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!
- Anti-Magic: All their bullets and swords are Cold Iron, capable of wounding or killing any warrior, but worse for magic-users due to its Energy Absorption effect on magic. If they shoot a magic-user with an iron bullet, it effectively takes the person out of the battle for weeks until they can regenerate their mana anima—if they survive the wound.
- AIISA Crapshoot: Apart from Elena's fanatical desire to merge magic and technology, this is the reason they are powered by human souls. Elena knew that that creating pure robots to fight in battle would be a problem, due to the massive technological expertise wielded by the Iron Legion—in other words someone would hack into their programming and turn them against her or just shut them down.
- Apologetic Attacker: Many of them plead for forgiveness as they lash out at their "enemies", or attempt to warn them or just scream at them to run away. However they are incapable of speech due to not having any vocal cords and so the warnings go unheard except by each other. However they can use telepathy on blood relatives, and several have managed to maintain desperate communication with fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, etc.
- On the other hand, a few of them due to the circumstances of their transformations (such as a few who were rendered unconscious and sold to Elena by companions in need of money like the earth-witch Rosalie Thompson and the Cold Sniper Milgun Farstin) have nothing but disdain for both their controller and pretty much everyone else and take the tactic that if they’re going to be taken down, those they’re fighting will have to work hard for it.
- Armor-Piercing Attack: What is needed to even damage them, as their hard exoskeletons shrug off most blades and small arms fire like nothing. It took a high caliber sniper rifle and even higher caliber machine guns to drive them away from the Fost Cost when the Legion was stranded without Conclave backup.
- Armor Is Useless: They are extremely strong due to their mechanical bodies, thus barehanded grappling with them equals mess death nine out of ten times. What’s worse is that armor can only do so much, so taking a punch from one in the chest while wearing armor is more likely to result in your ribcage coming apart, a catastrophic injury in a fight where speed makes the difference between life and death.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: When Daniel forces Elena to break the spell binding them to the metal bodies, their souls are allowed move on to whatever lies beyond. This is represented as white balls of light (the souls) floating upward from the collapsing bodies of the metal soldiers. At one point, the skies over The Haven are filled with thousands of glowing white lights like stars. Bernadette's sisters take their moments before leaving to impart their goodbyes, as they were unable to do so earlier.
- Bare-Handed Blade Block: They do this many times during the war. Justified as they are made of metal; blocking a blade for them is simply like clashing one weapon against another.
- Beam Spam: Six of them were able to use a spell to collect the light from the sun and focus it into a powerful blast of solar radiation that burned through anything it touched. The spell normally can only be cast once a day by a powerful wizard or witch, but due to their ability to repeatedly cast dangerous magic, this trope comes into play, with devastating effects.
- BFG: Both averted and played straight in the case of the gunslingers among them. Those who specialized in small arms in life are given similar or improved guns than they had before, while rank-and-file soldiers with no special skill in any one department are given extremely powerful Gatling Guns in order to mow down large amounts of enemy opposition.
- BFS: Similar to the above; with the exception of those sword-masters whose techniques required thinner blades, every soldier who can wield a sword is given a massive weapon that would normally require two hands to swing. Again, this is intended so that they can cut down the maximum number of enemies before being inevitably taken stopped themselves.
- Black Swords Are Better: All the swords wielded by the Endless Army are jet black.
- Blank White Eyes: Their eyes are nothing more than empty metal sockets filled with the white glow from the souls trapped within. When Elena takes complete control over them, their eyes become blood red.
- Black Magic: To create an Endless, the caster must take a living human being, kill them in a way that is tortuously slow to avoid the soul escaping too quickly and then preform the soul transfer into the mechanical body at the instant they breathe their last. In a world where magic—even magic that is used to kill, maim or torment people—is considered just a tool guided by the intentions of those using it, the spell that created the Endless Army is considered the "foulest, most unforgivable magic".
- This "exact moment of the last breath" part is a large part of why Elena had so many failures even after she got the mechanics of the spell correct. There are 500,000 soldiers in her army. Imagine just how many times she failed and outright killed someone for each one of those.
- Came Back Strong: Played straight and subverted at the same time. The Endless do not tire, can spam spells that would ordinarily require a period of rest afterwards or can perform attacks that would otherwise cripple a regular warrior. However they are frozen at the moment their souls were removed from their bodies and cannot learn new attacks. This means that while some of them have been missing for years before being unleashed on their comrades as mechanical abominations, those comrades have progressed further and learned new magic/techniques or strengthened the ones they already had at their disposal.
- The Disembodied: They are souls torn from their bodies at the moment of death and sealed into mechanical forms. Part of the immense suffering they endure comes from their soul’s instinctive drive to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence, but the restriction of the binding is compared to “struggling through a net of razor wire” only on a metaphysical level. This might be part of why Nadia is so disgusted with their creation; being a disembodied soul possessing an artificial body herself, she is in a similar situation. However hers is by choice and entirely free of pain—or any other sensation really, due to the spell being properly cast.
- Elemental Powers: They have users of all four elements able to be controlled with magic on The Haven.
- Dishing Out Dirt: The earth-users within the Army. A significantly large number of them, combined with earth magic-users on Nadia's side actually reshaped the land beneath the city of Mezolod, allowing for them to simply walk beneath the city’s heavily defended walls and pop up in the middle of its central plaza, resulting in mass casualties, both soldier and civilian. Worse, they can undermine and manipulate the ground beneath the feet of entire platoons, meaning that unless they themselves have an earth wizard or witch with them, they’re pretty much screwed until they can take down the enemy.
- Blow You Away: Many of them use wind-magic and Elena had at least one wind-user assigned to each platoon of Nadia's Purist Movement in order to scatter enemy lines by blowing them backwards with hurricane force winds or ripping through the enemy lines with Razor Wind for the more powerful users.
- Making a Splash: These act like high-pressure fire-hoses to knock down enemy soldiers, drowning them with unnaturally increased rain or even some of the more creative members of the Endless created water-bubbles around their opponents heads to watch them drown. An entire battalion of Iron Legion soldiers were wiped out in this manner.
- Playing with Fire: These are used in the same manner as any other fire-user in the Conclave’s armies: like living flamethrowers to destroy the environment—and the enemy. They are worse in many ways because they can blast continuous streams of fire, fireballs and call up pillars of flame from beneath the enemy’s feet while taking continuous punishment from their opponent’s weapons and not flinching.
- Even Evil Has Standards: While all of them are in the same boat, not all of them were innocent people. A large number were ruthless killers themselves in their former lives. However the one thing all of them agree on is that the spell that was cast on them should never have seen the light of day and Elena should not be allowed to get away with this atrocity.
- While not evil per se, the Conclave and the Iron Legion are not nice organizations and both have committed countless crimes against humanity over the centuries in order to maintain the supremacy of magic-users and Muggle Power respectively. Their similar orders that Elena be summarily executed when found and all her research notes burned to ash is more than just a practical idea of how to end the Endless Army’s threat.
- Feels No Pain: Their bodies are mechanical and therefore blowing off their limbs, stabbing them with an Absurdly Sharp Blade, or blasting them with a a hail of bullets isn’t going to do much besides push them back. At most it will render them nonfunctional (temporarily or permanently) but pain will not be on the list of afflictions.
- Subverted in that their souls suffer continuous torment from the binding spell.
- Fearless Undead: Whether they are undead or not is up for debate but their condition makes them all too aware that nothing on The Haven can possibly be worse than what they are already experiencing. Besides, they are literally Made of Iron, have a limited Healing Factor thanks to repair nanites and even if they did feel fear, they couldn’t disobey orders anyway.
- Foreshadowing: During the launch of the Army, Elena's words to Nadia in order to assuage her doubt foreshadow the method Daniel uses to defeat her and free them.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate
- Implausible Fencing Powers: Sword-wielders among them are able to perform ridiculously complicated moves that at times defy what normal humans would be able to do. An example includes one of them lunging towards a group of fire-wielding wizards from the Conclave and slicing through their magical flames with an iron blade, doing this to the attacks on all sides by rotating his upper body around. Almost all of them are, more or less, able to dodge bullets and close the speed between them and opponents with dangerous ease, often resulting in a Diagonal Cut.
- Marionette Motion: When overridden entirely by Elena's mind control they move like this, startling already badly shaken enemies. Justified as Elena is exerting her entire mental force on them, and isn't exactly bothering with smooth movements like before.
- Mecha-Mooks: Subverted. Though they look like robots, they are really steel golems with human souls embedded in them, the energy from the soul used to animate the limbs and cast magic.
- Perpetual-Motion Monster: They will not stop coming; the only way to permanently deal with them is to either blow them apart (which, due to being Made of Iron is extremely difficult) or the marginally easier way of simply restricting their movements like sealing them underground or paralyzing them with magic.
- Poke in the Third Eye: While we never know what their souls look like while being sealed and tormented by the binding spell, only seeing balls of white light as they are released, we do have the horrified reactions of Seers who glimpse them with their ability to see souls. Many of the Seers look away in horror and the Seer Lucon who watched the army of them launch said something similar to "What in the name of all that is holy is this?".
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Their eyes are usually glowing white sockets, but when Elena takes complete control over their souls by tightening the binding spell, their eyes become a hideous glowing red and they begin to exude a terrible cold from their bodies, actually freezing any condensation that happens to be clinging to the metal and dropping the ambient temperature around them.
- Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Subverted; damaging their heads will do next to nothing to stop them. Even blowing one's head off from a distance with a high caliber sniper rifle merely rendered it blind, thus slowing it down. And then the repair naninites inside of it just reconstructed that head.
- Staking the Loved One: This invariably happens as many of the Endless encounter loved ones on the opposing side. Bernadette Leisben was forced to do this to her thirteen year old twin sisters Beth and Theodora. Though she managed to form a complex strategy due to her knowledge of their sword-skills (she helped train them) and finally had earth-users seal them in rock, she had a complete breakdown after the fight was over, showing she was Not So Stoic. Interestingly enough both Beth and Theodora desperately wanted to be defeated, horrified at what they had become.
- SkeleBot 9000: They are hulking nine foot tall mechanical constructs and are actually quite broad. However their faces are essentially metallic human skulls with glowing white sockets for eyes.
- Telepathy: They can use the "silent voice" to contact those they share blood with. Thus it is really bad news if you are missing a family member and one of them suddenly speaks to you. The Endless use this in a variety of ways, some trying to get closure for their missing family and to offer what little assistance they can.
- Weapon Across the Shoulder: This is the default “non-combat” position for those wielding blades; one of the swordsmen among them, a former pirate named Rain Ferguson complains that it clashes with his favorite position to hold a sword when heading to a fight. Of course there is nothing he can do about this, due to complete lack of control over his mechanical body.
edited 25th Dec '13 7:44:25 PM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Sir Night, Wayward Hunter-Angel
Well, that was the idea. I wanted to deconstruct God Is Evil-why the Creator despises her creation, when she made it that way. I decided that, besides being fairly unstable to begin with, she had no idea what she was doing for a long time and made much of the cosm (to steal a term from TORG) under the impression it would be an idle fantasy. From there, it was mismanagement and the free will of the inhabitants that caused her to decide her creation was irredeemably flawed, and by extension herself. And yes, the Meaningful Name was deliberate.
Beware of Generic Doomsday Villain, though given how she's not the main one, it's not that large of an issue.
...Okay, that's awesome. Awesomely tragic and awesomely cool, as well as a good way to really hate the main villain when it becomes clear what an atrocity the Endless Army is against humanity, especially themselves.
To continue:
(To quote Dagran Birnasdottir, one of the Trimurti: "Yep. Someone's been havin' more than his fair share of the rum ration.")
Of course, if you've been reading the spoilers, the above line was more of an act, albeit a subconscious one: Judge Paradox acts the part of an evil overlord because that's primarily how Sophia expects an evil overlord to act. As her awakening approaches, he becomes consciously aware of his true purpose and becomes far more subdued and focused-more of a real person and not a stereotype. His only real loyalty is to his other half, and the ultimate goal of fusion and rebirth.
To understand who Sophia is, one has to understand the person she was once-Sophie Callahan, a young girl who fate seemed to despise. Born with a neurochemical imbalance that led to long and protracted periods of depression, Sophie had the even further misfortune of being born in the worst possible kind of community for the mentally ailing-deniers of mental illness in the controlling environment of extreme fundamentalism (the religion in question is sidestepped, as I want to imply that Sophie's home cosmos may or may not be Real Life Earth). Thus, Sophie's mental problems not only were untreated, but were regarded as evidence of her sin in being recalcitrant and mopey. This, combined with her parents being absolutely no help (indeed, part of the problem), gradually caused her to retreat to a fantasy world inspired by the few bits of media she was able to sneak past the Moral Guardians net-Super Robot shows and fantasy novels. She was also a Shrinking Violet as well, easily frightened by other people and again, because of the community she grew up in-xenophobes do not lead to particularly good social lives, eventually resulting in the creation of an Imaginary Friend-Officer Herring, a cop with four eyes, as opposed to her glasses.
Eventually, things boiled over, and the community-a cult, really, by the end of its life-was raided by the government and the leaders arrested and charged, while Sophie was taken from her parents for their incompetence and cruelty. In the orphanage, her depression and forming borderline personality was discovered, and she was sent off for treatment by one Dr. Ralph Richardson, a highly-competent child psychiatrist and general All-Loving Hero. Her fantasy world became part of her treatment, as she was taught to externalize her doubts and self-consciousness as monsters for the heroes of her world to fight, with herself leading the way. Herring changed to accommodate, becoming the captain of the ship she served on. For a while, things were looking up.
If it were only that way forever. Unfortunately, the governments of her world are, in fact, aware of how worlds are formed...and slowly, her imagination began to spin substance from nothing as the laws of her universe were ironed out, and the proto-cosmos began to help its Creator shape it into a real place, someone detected the growing connection between her and the protoverse. Someone named Dr. Allen Colby.
While technically a secret project meant to research other universes and their uses in energy and resources, the so-called "Ouranos Initiative" (officially named Project Pillbug, but even the top brass thought that sounded stupid-it was chosen for stealth, not awe) was more or less entirely run by Colby, a genius physicist studying the relationship between perception and the uncertainty principle of quantum physics. He made the discovery of other universes almost by accident when he noted that certain, highly imaginative individuals with serious mental problems observing the particles in his lab (he never actually viewed the insane's perceptions as any less valid than the sane-only pitied them for how it destroyed their social lives) almost invariably correlated with a sudden appearance of Gaugue bosons, the particles that carry fundamental interactions in nature (electromagnetism, radiation, etc.), with no apparent reason as to why. Eventually, he decided to examine these "phantasmic" bosons in more detail, putting them in a particle accelerator...and opening a portal to one of his patients' proto-verses, a "sea of glass", as he called it. Amazed and awed, he published his findings, was accepted after he convinced the understandably skeptical peer-review board to watch his experiment, became a household name, and was going to retire and rest on his laurels when the government hired him to study these protoverses (Ha, you thought I was going to go the They Called Me Mad! route, didn't you?).
Thus, when Colby discovered a new "communication event" in his observations, he decided to study it himself, hiring another psychologist to help with his new theory that the observer effect created these parallel universes, based on the fact that they seemed to fit the patients' own mental worlds. Unfortunately, that was a Dr. Richard Milgram-a enormous Control Freak and misanthrope who viewed his patients as experiments, nothing more.
More out of laziness than anything, he had Sophie transferred to his own clinic, a run-down, dilapidated mess with abusive staff and little money, and treated her to a cocktail of drugs meant to provoke her imagination into overdrive, with deleterious effects on her body and mind. Her depression came back in full force, and, thanks to Colby blindly trusting Milgram, only seeing the results of his experiments studying the forming world, which became darker and darker as the nightmare of that place further unhinged her. She died there, of an overdose-possibly deliberately engineered.
And with her death, the cosmos she made struggled to find its own feet with the then absence of its Creator-and found it, its history and origins becoming true retroactively, trillions of years of history in an instant. And in the new/old cosmos, Sophie opened her eyes to her retainer and guide to the universe she made-Officer-Captain Herring.
(will continue-this computer needs updates, and I have homework.
edited 16th Nov '13 12:37:13 PM by Leliel
What rises must fall, what falls may rise again.
Sir Night, Wayward Hunter-Angel
(Continuing)
For a few decades, Sophie was happy. She had an entire universe to herself, free of her birthplace and that awful hospital. Soon, she realized she both had an intuitive sense of the cosmos' laws, and could use the proto-energy, which she came to term Binah, from the Void Between Worlds to accomplish amazing feats of creation-one of her achievements was a planet-sized palace, orbiting a pink star and a brand-new alien race, the Netzach, to serve her personally. In time, she decided she wanted to explore the cosmos she made, and made a mighty starship to protect her and her direct living creations-one now known as the Emperor's Crown, the court of the Ophanim who govern the Confederation of Light. She made her way to her cosmos' Earth, eager to see what the protagonists of her world, the Confederation, had done with it-she never nailed down exactly what happened to Earth in her world, and she had long realized the universe itself filled in gaps in her story.
On the way, she encountered the monsters she had made as a metaphor for her anxieties, the so-called Outer Beings-and that the universe had filled in their motives and lifecycle, previously unmentioned for lack of need, in the worst possible way. They were, quite simply, evil, and Sophie saw many atrocities they committed. Horrified, Sophie constructed a mighty anti-Outer weapon-the Chokhmah, her own mech, unlike anything her world had seen before-the first Solomonic Familiar, the cyborg archdemons piloted by those of great will.
And in so doing, forgot that she made the Confederation to fight demons, marking her out as an ally of demons to watching Confeds. Herring let himself be captured to let her escape, and soon she soon raised an army of Netzach to reclaim her friend. This strange, alien army of strange, alien mecha would go down in Confederation history as "the Legion of Megiddo, besieging and crushing entire sectors in Sophie's search for her friend and guide.
She found his body, at least, and it still lived-but, thanks to Confession, Herring was...gone. There was nothing left but a Pentient, a self-loathing mutant eternally repenting for deviating in form from the norm. A Pentient, which Sophie had created as a fantasy of being accepted despite being a freak by her birthplace's standards. A Pentient, who shot at her on sight for the wings she had given herself marking her as a heretical mutant. A Pentient in her first and truest friend's body, her most beloved creation destroyed by the people she made to be heroes.
And standing on the smoking husk that had once been a planet, Sophie first accessed a paradox almost by accident as she tried to find some way within the laws of her universe to bring her friend back from the dead, and through the Paradox World, she saw the full process of the birth of universes, the method by which the mad made worlds to reign over...and how often they screwed up, and hurt those closest to them. There was nothing in the multiverse that could avoid the cycle, no way to avoid the pain of your fantasy becoming a private hell that the innocent suffered with you.
Sophie knew true despair.
And slowly, Sophia Paradox began to rise on unsteady feet...and laugh.
When the Netzach marched again, the siege and destruction of worlds was the goal rather than an unfortunate side effect. Sophia had long decided that the only way that she could help anyone was to alter the nature of existence itself, but that would require vast amounts of Binah, and while that stuff can literally be anything, it can only be brought into a stable universe through venting of other forms of energy into the Void and using the vacuum to suck the Binah in-Law of Conservation and all that. Thus, she had to break apart the laws of her universe, using the flaws to create a Reality-Breaking Paradox and transform all that exists within her cosmos into undifferentiated energy and then exchange it all for Binah, effectively absorbing the entire universe to augment her powers-not yet enough to create a new law of the multiverse, but certainly enough to begin traveling to and absorbing others until she had enough. Besides, by that point, she had long decided her universe could not be saved, and the few remaining good people deserved a quick end.
She underestimated the Confederation though-they were able to trick her into attempting to dissolve Earth before she was prepared for their counteroffensive. With the sacrifice of seven legions, Sophia's connection to Binah, along with her identity as the Creator was separated from her, Chokmah's organic parts instantly decaying off his metal ones in the process, leaving only a scared orphan girl of 14 or so, completely amnesiac and seemingly normal except for her inability to age and her tendency to reappear on distant but habitable planets after her death, away from anything resembling war. And so the husk of Chokmah, partially fused to the wreckage of a Confederate cruiser, drifted off into the infinite void, the Netzach dead without their mistress to give them purpose, his pilot forever sealed within her own mind...
Until the Malandanti's shipwrights discovered Binah, and brought some of it into the universe as a power source of an experimental ship called the Jeoseung, awakening the fragment of her destructive will within him. He couldn't even remember his own name, but he knew he was a Paradox...and he was meant to Judge.
(trope page coming up.)
edited 16th Nov '13 10:22:32 PM by Leliel
What rises must fall, what falls may rise again.
Just...wow. To say that you have a detailed backstory thought out for this poor creature is the understatement of the millennium. Though she was already well fleshed out, I found myself having one opinion of her to having a completely different one. It's not a bad or good thing, just different. It is jarring to see that she really isn't an almighty deity, not really she's "just" the person who created a universe. It's a rather new take to see a being who should and really is the god of an entire universe not really have much control over it. I'm anxious to see just how this whole problem is resolved, as she is certainly the kind of villain who I will feel bad for if/when she is defeated.
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Sir Night, Wayward Hunter-Angel
That was the idea. She's a deconstruction of a particular strain of God Is Evil, because the God in question decides its creation is flawed. If that's the case, then obviously the God wasn't as adept a creator than it would like to be, and in Paradox's case, that's because she honestly didn't understand she was doing and because her creation filled in the gaps. Also a deconstruction of what would cause the Creator to turn against the Creation-she was badly hurt by it, and never recovered.
Trope Page Note that "him", refers to Judge Paradox alone, while "her" refers to Sophia and her sealed form.:
- A God Am I: In complete denial about how powerful he actually is. Drops it after his awakening, and while Sophia is, technically, an actual god, she's lost so much faith in her abilities that she refuses to address herself as one.
- Anti-Villain: She's honestly more broken than evil, and honestly believes her way is the only way to avoid the suffering of infinite amounts of people.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Is subject to one about her plan to alter the universe through Binah: "What makes you think you'll ever have enough?" This begins her Heel Realization.
- Affably Evil: After his "full awakening" caused by Orphan Sophie's beholding part of the cruelty of the Confederation that turned her into such a misanthropic mess in the first place. Sophia is to negative and bitter to qualify.
- Apocalypse Maiden: Orphan Sophie, who honestly doesn't know she's the sealed form of Sophia, and initially has nightmares about her suppressed real self. Changes after the deterraforming incident, when more of her personality awakes and she begins to fantasize about destroying the Outer and Confederation.
- Ax-Crazy: Subverted. She's moody and depressive, but the only real person her madness poses a direct threat to is herself.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Why she decides to spare the Trimurti during her initial resurrection despite trapping them in a Paradox World-she wants to repay them for their kindness and because she's convinced she'll be able to woo them to her side.
- Berserk Button: Calling him out on his grandstanding. Loses this button after his awakening and develops a new one he shares with Sophia-the Confederation and the Outer's continuing existence and abusing innocents.
- Big Bad Wannabe: He's more comic relief than the judge of the universe. Of course, he's just The Dragon to the rest of himself. Sophia's the real Big Bad.
- Bishōnen Line: The Judge's awakened form is a lot more streamlined than his original Sentinel version, and he becomes outright angel-like upon becoming Chokhmah again, while Sophia turns from a fourteen-year-old Shrinking Violent Meganekko to a woman in her early twenties with angel wings...and differently shaped glasses, because she likes those things.
- Card-Carrying Villain: "You shall know DESTRUCTION, for I am DESTRUCTION...ITSELF!" Even he admits he was over the top post-awakening.
- The Chessmaster: Subconsciously at first, but does it deliberately after being awakened. By fighting the Trimurti and being in their way, he pushes them into greater and greater conflicts to jog Orphan Sophie's mind more.
- Cuckoos Nest: Not her direct intentions, but the Trimurti are, at one point, almost confessed, at which point Orphan Sophie instinctively accesses her Paradox World and sends them through the memories of her institutionalization, transfer, torture, and death to get them out of the booth before it can properly begin.
- Death Seeker: Brought up by Raziel, another member of the Trimurti: "If she's anything like the way I was, I think that being destroyed in the process of breaking her own world isn't something she'd quarrel with.
- The Eeyore: When she's not hamming it up or angry, she's depressed. And she's usually not angry or hamming it up.
- Eldritch Location: Paradox Worlds, flaws in the cosmos she's blown open to create a chaotic void that is essentially a manifestation of her mind, over which she has complete control-figuring out a way around these and her ability to stow herself and important parts of her war machine away in them is the main thrust of the final act.
- Evil Counterpart: To all of the Trimurti, whose primary difference is their challenges made them stronger rather than breaking down. Baron Vetala's mistakes and oversights hurt several people close to him, Dagran was rejected and scorned by her community, Raziel was used and abused because it was convinient, and all of them had a moment where it felt like they couldn't go on anymore. Unlike her, they had other people to carry them through the dark times, and emerged better for it.
- Evil Overlord: He claims to be one. It's doubtful, to say the least. More of a Hive Queen than a true Overlord after Sophia is reborn though, though-see that trope for more.
- Freudian Excuse: If I wrote her correctly, a very good one.
- Friendly Enemy: The Awakened Judge and Sophia to the Trimurti. Having gotten to know her sealed form, the latter's feelings are mutual.
- Fighting a Shadow: Judge is an aspect of Sophia's personality, and ultimately exists to serve her.
- God Is Insane / God Is Inept: And she hates it.
- Heel Realization: A huge one after she realizes the Trimurti have become Creators like her despite being sane, because their stormy friendship is their element of chaos needed to make a universe. This begins a chain of logic that ends, after her defeat, with realizing her entire mission was founded on faulty premises. This leads to Talking Down the Suicidal as the Trimurti convince her that she's not the monster she thinks she is and that her mistakes aren't irredeemable. From there she becomes The Atoner, working for the rest of her existence to repair the flaws she made in her universe as a guardian and architect of the cosmos.
- Hive Queen: In a roundabout way to the Netzach-their only purpose is to serve her, to the point where they instantly died after she was sealed.
- Necessarily Evil: She recognizes what she does causes pain, but not nearly as much as existing within the warped laws of the multiverse.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The first sign of Judge's awakening is him suddenly speaking normally.
- Reluctant Psycho: She knows she isn't quite all there in the head, and hates herself for it. Deconstructed, as this is also part of the reason she's so depressed and self-loathing.
- Soul Jar: Orphan Sophie and Judge are this for each other, hence why he suddenly runs on an occasion where she is killed. So long as the other is alive, the dead one will instinctively use the other as a reference point to dissolve and then rebuild their bodies, atom by atom.
- Voice of the Legion: Sophia tends to speak with her voice normally, the Judge's voice when making threats or verbally beating herself up, and both when being especially dramatic.
- Walking Spoiler
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: You read her backstory, right?
edited 17th Nov '13 7:44:11 PM by Leliel
What rises must fall, what falls may rise again.
Fantastic job. I've been waiting for you to bust out the tropes, as I could think of several that fit her/him/them. Paradox/ Sophie reminds me of some of those ancient gods and goddesses (though specific ones elude me right now) who have multiple identities, multiple aspects. Oh, I know, and it's fitting 
. The Hindu goddesses Kali and Durga are both very different entities, one an aspect of destruction and the other maternal. However they are both the same entity. While Paradox is different (both sides are rather screwed up) I hope you understand what I mean. I'm glad to see that She isn't dead (or at least I didn't see anything about her death when I read it); the poor kid seems like she could use a break and you're right—she is very much the Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
- Name: Serena Validus
- Age: 18000
- Personality: Serena Validus is easily one of the most well established villains of New Dawn, having lived through three Ages of different heroes. This is deeply entrenched as part of her character, in that she is such a Chessmaster because she has seen so much and gone through so many ages she can predict human behavior amazingly easily. A vain and manipulative woman, she conceals her inadequacies behind a veil of cruelty and innate malice. Easily taking inspiration from the various fairy tale queens of Disney, she is a potent blend of vinegar, honey and arsenic, going from sweet to deadly in record time. However, as is made clear when Sharon used a spell that inadvertently connected their minds, Serena wasn't always like this; she has had a very, very long and difficult life. She feels that she has been betrayed by the world too many times to count, and was essentially feared and cast out off and on for almost five thousand years as a witch or a demon, until she finally just said Then Let Me Be Evil. She has a deep hatred of tradition, despite her age, viewing it as a justification to keep people in line. She has a fascination with the idea of becoming all powerful enough to force revolution upon the world without sparing a single man from the revolution's effects.
- Abilities: Her innate magic makes her seem like a vampire; indeed, she can drink the life energy right out of people with a touch. When it developed in the womb, her mother essentially died giving birth to her. As she grew, her abilities diverged, and she became very, very difficult to permanently harm, gaining the high level Dark Magic Superbia, which came itself with the ability to let her travel between shadows, bind people to her in deals, corrupt and enslave people, and a huge variety of spells. She also developed a wide range of Warping the Aether level psionic abilities, including Forced Empathy (linking two people together, one feels what the other feels), Compulsion, Forced Attraction, and "Human Puppetry".
- Weaknesses: Her Fatal Flaw is her vanity and her need for her acts to be seen and reacted to. Otherwise, her powers can be countered very well by Regalia, though the same also holds true.
- Goals:
- Goal 1: Finish the job on Adrigath.
- Goal 2: Seize Sharon Tate Roman's position
- Goal 3: very violent revenge wreaked on the anti-magic faction and all who support it.
- Goal 4: Seize incredible power.
- Motivation: Her Freudian Excuse; namely, the fact that for a large portion of her life, she was cast out and villified by everyone for factors beyond her control.
- Role in the story: She falls into a role I call "Steadily Encroaching Threat". She becomes a bigger and bigger deal with every book. She seizes control of the Blackfire Alliance by the end of Book III, and by IV, there was little choice but an Enemy Mine with her, because her faction was the biggest and strongest around.
- Backstory: Serena started life as one of the people in the First City of Atlantis, before she was born with the Life Drinker magic, which drained the life out of her mother as she was born, and her first look into the world was into the horrified expression of her father. She was villified and exiled by the age of ten once the goodwill ran out, due to the fact she drank some of the life force of a powerful citizen's son while sticking up for someone. She roamed the world, rejected and alone, and for a long time, she tried to understand why? Why did this happen to her? In the process, she became known as the Second Vampire. She met a young Barbarian Hero while traveling, who was fighting a Neo-Viseilian Sorcerer named Adrigath. The two decided to join forces and fight against Adrigath when he tried to kill the young hero. She journeyed with him across the deserts and through the ancient world, slowly finding herself attracted to him. This despite telling herself she could not afford to fall in love with anyone at this juncture. The two of them would fight through Adrigath's personal forces, and through his brainwashed legions, before they finally struck Adrigath down. While the young hero was hailed as a divine lineaged hero, she was still thought of as the vicious queen of the vampires, and only teamed up with the hero to eliminate a rival. However, he believed in her and secretly met with her numerous times, until their relationship turned from simply friendly to a sexual one. She was swiftly thrown out when she lost control amidst the act, and half-turned her lover into something like her. This was implied to be Adrigath's last curse upon her. She roamed the world yet longer, finding every place had a rumor or legend detailing her villainy and depravity. Deciding to give the ancient world what it apparently so desperately wanted, she destroyed an ancient city ruled by a collective of oligarchs when they tried to make her give them immortality, playing into the backstory of the Eckart Family, which was brought out of this by the last remaining person to escape this purge of the city. Somewhat later, she found her way to Ancient Rome, and decided to throw her power behind a young military officer named Antonis. She tried to convince him to become more politically formidable, and she would bump off his opposition. This worked for a while...until she was seen by a particularly apt guard. Antonis was arrested, and she became desperate to intervene, seeing the whole thing as her fault. She took a bizarre approach to atoning for her crime, being that she Turned Antonis, and to cover his escape, she started a fire in Rome as Emperor Nero played his music. However, she lost track of Antonis in the chaos, and decided that this was an object lesson in how to run things. She spent the next millenia or so gathering her cabal together, and making her power base for when she would become truly powerful, once the larger factions had exhausted themselves.
- Relevant Tropes:
- Antagonist in Mourning: When it came to her attention that Matthew was horribly, almost fatally injured, she donned a mourning outfit, and prepared the Blackfire Alliance for war.
- Casting a Shadow: Superbia is a very nasty, life draining shadow power. Most report that standing next to it makes you feel ill.
- Unrealistic Black Hole: It can summon a "Mana Black Hole" that can Life Drink en masse...or just crush people inside of it.
- The Chessmaster: Definitely; absolutely nothing surprises her, she has a countermeasure for short of everything, and she's been in the game for a very, very long time.
- Devil in Plain Sight: Wears a lot of black and gray, pale, long black hair, black nails likened to claws a lot, lives in a mansion that looks like its from a modern day version of Bram Stoker's Dracula...yep, Vampire. Evil Vampire.
- Enemy Mine: Matthew had no choice in the matter but to work with her Blackfire Alliance and attend regular meetings with her due to how things went in Book IV.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Her current Dragon also doubles as her boyfriend.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Refused to work together with The Harpy, though this has some Pragmatic Villainy to it too. She also will not abide by people in her Circle scheming against one another, and she abhors a racist.
- Evil Tastes Good: Tries to convince Matthew of the fact. It doesn't work. Though it does embarrass him.
- Evil vs. Evil: She is a life drinking millenia old sorceress vampire who has terrible designs for the world. That said, she also helps fight the Anti-Magic Faction.
- Finger-Lickin' Evil: She licks her fingers off in a certainly rather erotic manner after plunging them into the neck of a soldier before enacting a Mook Horror Show on his entire company.
- Genre Savvy: Through multiple millenia of life, she has come to be very, very savvy to tropes evident in life.
- Dangerously Genre-Savvy: She approaches this at certain points.
- I Gave My Word: She said she was going to come to Matthew's defense with "as much force as she could bring". So she did.
- Legion of Doom: Hers is actually called this by Matthew until they take over the Blackfire Alliance. Matthew came up with codenames for them, which they actually later use, funny enough.
- Life Drinker: Her main power; she can drink the life out of others to power a spell or heal her injuries.
- Manipulative Bitch: Played absolutely everyone in Book II like fools. Only Sharon and Matthew really suspected anything, and by the time they were sure, it was too late to stop her from getting what she wanted.
- Mook Horror Show: A company of soldiers from the PMC are invited to go drinking with Serena. She disappears into a shadow...and then the fucked up stuff starts happening. As one guy tried to run, his own shadow ate his achilles tendon. She then took them out one by one, in slow, torturous fashion.
- Mooks: Her minions simply called The Bitten. Not very smart, but hard to permanently kill.
- Elite Mooks: The Devout, a group of nasty enforcers who take Greco-Roman names.
- Mugging the Monster: A group of guys from a local fraternity think to bring her to a party, try to drug her up and have some fun. The drug doesn't work on her, and she lets them think they've got her...and then she has her shadow gnaw off someone's arms. She gets up, locks the doors and says "I'm gonna have a little fun of my own now, thank you very much, boys, for such a discreet location."
- Our Vampires Are Different: Very different; she has next to none of the classic vampiric weaknesses, except a detest of flowing water and certain holy symbols.
- Our Zombies Are Different: At one point, in return for a young telekinetic avenging her minion Whisper's against a group of rich brats, Serena decided to revive said telekinetic's brother, who had died a year ago in a car crash. He came back...poorly.
- Psychotic Smirk: Shows a mean one when freaking out Wesley in the library, blatantly flirting and or threatening his life and soul, and then leaving him there.
- Reality Ensues: How does she kill one of the head Generals in Elijah's hired PMC's? Does she go over the top with a spell? No. She simply strides up behind him and stabs him through the back when the opening presents itself.
- Time Abyss: She was around since the day of the Vohnic Atlantis, one of the first people to get Innate Magic, and one of the first truly powerful Psionics.
- Vain Sorceress
- The Vamp: A much, much more successful one than my previous villain. Even the mostly celebate Matthew admits it.
- Villain Cred: Has some of the highest standing in the underworld, both magical and mundane. Hence why she was able to gather the people she has around her.
- Villains Out Shopping: Matthew sees her, and her entire circle of minions buying stuff for Black Friday at one point.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Her backstory is full of hurt and betrayal. Hence, she decided to make her own new world order and screw the way the world is.
edited 18th Nov '13 7:36:37 PM by NickTheSwing
Whew! Another refreshing villain from you, and I like her. Her backstory was really sad but at the same time so full of adventure that I was captivated reading it. You make me want to read your stories just because of the sheer amount of badassery all around. Like Mr. Spices, she seems cool (if MUCH more sympathetic) and one of those people you just want to read about to see what they will do next. The fact that she's from Atlantis is even more interesting. I feel like I want to know so much about the world you've constructed with these characters.
edited 18th Nov '13 9:38:13 PM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
- Name: Bartholomew Harper
- Age: 74
- Personality: As a boy Bartholomew was a wild child; rebellious and unruly, he loved nothing more than pulling pranks on those around him, a fact that often resulted in harsh discipline from his older brother. He openly despised the Elect and did nothing to hide it, refusing to live in fear of the magic-wielding nobles. Though he gained wisdom and far more empathy after maturing and enduring the deaths of his brother, Bartholomew remained Hot-Blooded and became a charismatic leader, allowing him to recruit many to his cause of overthrowing the Elect. He cared a great deal about those under his command and felt the loss of each one like a personal blow. Later in life after losing his entire group due to a betrayal and falling under Nadia's sway Bartholomew became calm, serious, methodical and detached. He believed that The Haven had been ravaged by the misuse of magic and was dedicated to his goal of keeping it out of the wrong hands. This dedication led him to commit or order horrific acts—including the murder of his childhood friend and only survivor of his rebel group. Bartholomew assured himself that these were necessary sacrifices for the greater good.
- Abilities: Bartholomew has been noted several times to perhaps be the most powerful sorcerer to exist since Archmage Ramellen Gloria/Andrew Denashel. He has a nearly inhuman amount of anima, allowing him an immense endurance for sustained magical combat before having to rest. The nature of Bartholomew's magic only adds to this power. Bartholomew can freely manipulate gravity, controlling the powers of attraction and repulsion. This allows him to hurl objects and people away from him at fatal speeds or pull them in close so he can impale them with iron rods he carries with him in a large case. Bartholomew can even create projectiles out of pure attractive force, sending orbs of compressed gravity which kill their target by pulling in any part of them that they hit, creating large holes in their bodies. However Bartholomew's most dangerous attack is a spell known as "Newton's Sphere". Casting this spell allows him to manipulate the gravity within a certain radius, depending on how much anima he has. Within this sphere he can create a black hole, sucking in everything for miles around and crushing it into unrecognizable rubble. Bartholomew is also capable of a power unique to him called "Soul Synchronicity", which causes him to meld his anima with a willing partner's, allowing them to temporarily share a body and power—as well as minds to communicate back and forth during battle.
- Weaknesses: For all his terrifying power, Bartholomew is starting to feel the effects of age. Due to his increasing frailty he usually uses Soul Synchronicity with his apprentice Rand in order to take on enemies. Many of Bartholomew's spells also cost immense anima and while he is a master at outlasting his opponents in a sustained magical duel, he is unable to endure direct physical assaults.
- Goals: To confiscate magic from those he deems unfit to use it so that it will never again be used for immoral and destructive ends, and give the power solely to those who will use it for humanitarian and defensive means alone.
- Motivation: Bartholomew was born within a city-state where the nobles possessed the secrets of magic and refused to allow the common people to learn, making it a capital offence to even try. He watched they and their favored servants commit heinous crimes using magic without anyone intervening. When he eventually led a successful rebellion and took over the city, he saw that the world outside was in an even worse condition, magic and technology clashing in brutal and bloody wars that devastated entire nations.
- Role in the story: Big Bad, Sorcerous Overlord to the city of Enirtlah, Disc-One Final Boss
- Backstory: Bartholomew was born in the Underground Kingdom of Enirtlah, a city-state that existed beneath the ore-rich Valiste Mountains in a section known as Dunsten. Dunsten was one of the biggest mines in the city and all who lived there contributed in some way or other. Bartholomew’s father had died before he was born, working in the horrible conditions, with his mother dying soon after due to complications from childbirth. His brother Klaus quickly took over as guardian and raised Bartholomew as best as he could, though he often left Bartholomew with a seamstress named Anna while he worked and the boy soon became friends with Anna’s daughter Lacienega, creating a relationship that would last years. One day Bartholomew accompanied Lacienega and her mother so that they could drop off supplies to the mine, just in time to watch Klaus being beaten by one of the overseers for talking back. Furious, he threw a rock at the man striking his brother, hitting him in the head and shattering his skull. Though he was shocked to have killed someone in the employ of the Elect, he knew what it meant—as did Klaus. Klaus recovered quickly and took his brother away from the mine and hid him within their shack. However Klaus was blamed for the murder of the overseer. He was tortured horribly, his body at last being left to hang above the mine as an example. The horror of this loss spurred Bartholomew’s hate for the nobility and he began to plot against them. By the age of fifteen he had assembled a group of like-minded people and led them to destroy the Dusten mine, giving the citizens a choice of fleeing or coming with him. To his relief, Lacienega followed him and the two formed and even more intense friendship. Bartholomew named his group the “Legenada Knights” after a tale of a spirit known as Legenada who protected the innocent and punished the guilty. The group soon became the most successful of all the pockets of rebellion. However Bartholomew’s idealistic nature did not take into account human failings. Lacienega after two years of brutal fighting gave up and left the Legenada Knights and fled Enirtlah entirely, looking for “something better” . But the most devastating betrayal came when one of his men, a man named Trevor Sloan sold them all out to a man named Duke Gerard in exchange for healing magic for his infant son. Captured and imprisoned, Bartholomew was offered a choice: either die together or he could leave—if he executed all of his comrades himself. Though the young man was horrified and demanded to die along with them, the remaining members of the Legenada Knights insisted that he be the one to end their lives, knowing that they were doomed anyway and hoping that their leader would be able to stir up rebellion again. Bartholomew executed his comrades in arms. With those deaths, hatred clouded his dreams of equality and replaced them with the desire for revenge. Tracking down Trevor, he broke into his betrayer’s house and murdered his son as he forced Trevor to watch before turning upon the traitor and killing him as well. As the lifeless body of Trevor slumped to the floor,he heard the voice of Nadia for the first time. Assuring him he was not insane, she soothed away his lingering guilt at killing his former comrade and his son. Ordering Sebastian to Bartholomew’s side, she tasked the golem with supporting him in every way as he gathered a new force around himself, restarting his rebellion with a far more ruthless veneer than before. With Nadia’s advice it was not long before Enirtlah was his. Bartholomew’s first action after being victorious was a far cry from what he had imagined when he had sent out on this path. He executed all the Elect regardless of age, from the oldest adult to infants barely days old. After this, Bartholomew appointed himself "Master and Protector" of Enirtlah, decreeing that magic would be shared freely among people as it was in the rest of the world. Despite the reforms he brought to the nation, he himself had been made cold and cynical from the years of hardship, and he thought of the current system of magic as corrupt and evil. Having seen the atrocities perpetrated by those with the power, Bartholomew rejected the Archmage’s teachings of “magic for the people”. He thought it was better to control magic, taking it away from those who were not worthy to receive it so that it would never be used for evil. Nadia preyed upon this dream in order to advance her plan.
- Relevant tropes:
- Accidental Murder: He reveals that he did not mean to kill the overseer when he struck him with a rock, thus beginning his problems, he simply wanted the man to stop hitting his brother and struck out at him in a moment of childish rage. It's implied that the rock really was nothing more than an ordinary stone, but that his powers were manifesting even then, causing the rock to be heavier than usual.
- A God Am I: Played with. While Bartholomew certainly doesn't think of himself as a god, he believes that he and his two apprentices, Rand and Rose, exist on a higher moral plane than the rest of humanity. Thus everything they do is ultimately for the greater good no matter how awful it may seem at the moment.
- Affably Evil: He dislikes murdering innocents, though he is perfectly willing to do so if it accomplishes his goals. When he attacks Evermerry he holds a perfectly polite conversation with its leader Lady Jocelyn Raiza, asking her to hand over the Vessel in order to stop the destruction of her city and even tries to persuade her to stop and think of the men and women who are dying and suffering because of her refusal. Unfortunately Bartholomew utterly destroys the city when she accidentally pushes his Berserk Button.
- He also took in two young Street Urchins, Rose and Rand after they held him at knifepoint and gave them a stable and loving home and taught them magic, raising them like grandchildren. Even though Nadia ordered him to put himself in their path and take them as his apprentices, due to their magical potential it doesn't mean he loved them any less.
- When he murders Veil's father in front of him to extract information about Mia, he sincerely tells him that it is a shame he has to die because his son is being stubborn.
- Anti-Magic: Bartholomew has a nasty habit of impaling his enemies with iron rods he carries around with him in a large wooden case slung over his shoulder. This completely shuts down their magic due to Cold Iron's Energy Absorption properties against magic, as well as inflicted crippling injuries. By the time the victim has pulled out the rod and is trying to regain their anima, it will be too late.
- Anti-Villain: Bartholomew is an odd fusion of Types 1 and 3. He abhors needless cruelty and feels nothing but disgust and anger towards the actions of his subordinates the six Red Cloaks as well as the millions of thieves, contract killers, pimps, slavers, and assorted criminals employed by Legenada as well as mourning what his once noble organization has become. That said, he will do anything to achieve his goal of gathering the two Vessels so he can summon the Source and remove the magic from evil humans, and will murder innocents if he thinks it will speed things along. He views creating a criminal syndicate and recruiting a crew of insanely powerful psychopaths as a necessary component of that plan and justifies the countless lives taken and ruined by his organization as "sacrifices".
- He is also noticeably non-hypocritical about this, as the spell to summon and control the Source requires his death to achieve. He views his own life as fodder for the plan to change The Haven for the better, and trusts that his apprentices will use their higher moral character be the arbiters of who receives magic and who does not after he is gone.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: The Elect, who turned Enirtlah into a caste state consisting of them and their devoted servants and the "Unworthy", who were never allowed to learn magic and were put to death if attempts to were discovered. They treated the Unworthy like slaves and tortured them using magic for minor offenses. Bartholomew explains that his utter genocide of their families, including infants barely days old was to wipe out not only them, but their ideals and anyone who could spread them like a disease.
- He believes this so fervently that when he appointed himself ruler of Enirtlah, he refused any sort of noble title and instead called himself the "Master Protector" of the city, viewing himself not as their lord but as the guardian of the nation.
- Avenging the Villain: Averted twice. He cares nothing for the Red Cloaks and other subordinates Veil and company kill while protecting Mia so he doesn't even think of trying to avenge them (though he does say all the right things to keep his minions going). When Rose (the Red Cloak Sorrow) is killed, he is filled with true sadness and anger. However he does not attempt to avenge her and scolds his other apprentice Rand for his continual pleas to do so. Bartholomew that Veil was simply doing what he had to do, and their agenda is higher than revenge. If they have to kill Veil and his friends, then they will, but it will not be in response to Rose's death.
- Besides, he also understands that Rose was a Death Seeker due to the terminal curse that had been slowly killing her since she was ten and her fight with Veil was very much Suicide by Cop.
- A World Half Full: Bartholomew knows that even if he takes away much of the magic in the world, there will still be wars and violence due to the legacy of bloodshed between nations. However he knows that with the Conclave losing much of its power (both politically and literally) the Iron Legion will absorb much of its rival's holdings, uniting the nations under one banner and perhaps ending the truly horrific catastrophes of the present era when magic and technological weapons clash and reduce entire cities to wastelands.
- Badass: He was able to command the respect of men and women both his own age and many who were much older when only fifteen. Not only that, but he was able to actually lead them and be an effective enough strategist that he started taking chunks of the city away from the Elect.
- After he awakened his gravity magic, he killed Duke Gerard's entire army of 16,234 by himself, walked into the man's mansion and crushed him into paste with a black hole.
- He created a criminal syndicate that stretches across the entire planet, and is whispered about as a mysterious mastermind of organized crime, able to keep his identity a secret even though he's a world leader.
- The way he finally reveals his affiliation to Legenada to the other nations is by brutally and publicly killing the Conclave's ambassador to his country, who happens to be his own childhood friend.
- He then goes about bringing the entire city of Evermerry to its knees with only himself and his apprentice, eventually wiping the city-state off the map entirely. Yes that's right he destroyed what is basically an entire country by himself.
- Badass Grandpa
- Badass Baritone: His voice is described as deep, bass and unaffected by age.
- Badass Longcoat: Bartholomew wears a long gray coat with armored elbow and shoulder pads and Spikes of Villainy—though these are quite small, suited for inflicting injury if he has to elbow someone rather than anything over the top.
- Bald of Evil.
- Beard of Evil: He has a long, gray goatee that he keeps impeccably groomed.
- Benevolent Boss: Zig-zaged. Bartholomew is feared by his underlings in Legenada and those at the very bottom rungs of the organization (such as low-level enforcers and hired muscle) whisper of him in fear as much about him is shrouded in mystery. However to those on the higher levels who interact with him, he is generally nice and reacts to failure with disappointment and maybe a tongue-lashing but never more than that—though he is powerful enough that none take him lightly. Subverted in that he hates almost every one of his subordinates and when he obtains the Source, he intends to strip them all of their magical abilities so that they will no longer have means to harm anyone else.
- Berserk Button: Calling his organization evil or labeling them as terrorists and criminals doesn't bother him—he believes it himself. However, implying that Legenada was this from the start will set him off as it implies that all his dead comrades in the Legenada Knights were scum and their sacrifice was meaningless. When Jocelyn Raiza calls Legenada terrorists, he asks her if she thought that's what they always were. When she responds with a resounding yes, that's when he decides to annihilate Evermerry and all its citizens. In her defense however, he was asking her several leading questions, and she had no idea of the history behind Legenada, so there was no way she could have known.
- Bartholomew also despises betrayal of any kind. When the former Red Cloak Elena Raines left his organization and attempted to look into the Vessels for herself he had her fledgling group hunted across The Haven, killing many and enslaving or torturing others in the search for her. Justified, as it was Lacienega's abandoning him and Trevor's selling out the Knights that resulted in the deaths of everyone he knew.
- Blood Knight: In his younger days after the death of his brother Klaus. He formed the Legenada Knights in order to take on the Elect without any real idea of what he was going to do once he actually defeated them—he didn't even know if he would be able to win over them with their magic and Conclave-supported armies. He just wanted to spill some blood on their side and avenge his brother.
- Lest you think he's mellowed out in his old age, after he kills Arkenley River and gives Veil his "lesson", he seems less than disappointed when the boy lunges at him/Rand in fury. As the two of them engage in battle, he taunts Veil on his inability to protect his clan or his city and his insistence on clinging to the ways of the Conclave and Archmage. He even compliments Veil's Sedna spell before he redirects it into a mountain and urges him to send something he'll have a harder time deflecting before the fight grows boring.
- Break the Cutie: Seeing his brother horrifically tortured and then hung above the entrance to the mine where he would have to pass every day shattered whatever childhood innocence he had growing up in his city. His entire backstory is this really, whether it is his brother's death and shaming or being forced to execute his own comrades, one by one.
- Big Bad: He seems like this at first; he is the leader of Legenada, he is manipulating his powerful subordinates into a plan that will change the face of the world, and he is more powerful than any wizard or witch alive. Then it turns out that he is taking orders from Nadia who has been pulling the strings from behind the scenes in Legenada for fifty nine years and that his plan (which he concocted with her help) is nothing more than a lie she made up because she needs him to gather the Vessels so she can use them for an Evil Plan older than The Haven itself.
- Big Bad Friend: Bartholomew is this to Lacienega, the mother of Magister Alonzo and the grandmother of Angelica. When she hears that the Lord Protector of Enirtlah is involved with Legenada, she travels there and confronts him, horrified to see what her old friend has become. Bartholomew is..not happy to see her again and eventually kills her.
- Big Bad Ensemble: He shares the spotlight of main villain with Elena Raines for a while, but he was always far more of a threat than she ever was, even with her heinous experiments. It quickly comes to a head after Elena's antics almost allow her to get her hands on the last Vessel, Bartholomew orders her group (as well as all the citizens on the island she took over) slaughtered and her head brought back to him.
- Breaking Lecture: He delivers several extremely harsh and brutal ones to various characters, but perhaps one of the worst and most piercing is the one he speaks to Veil during their battle.
- "You cry and curse me for the sake of your city; it's a natural, human reaction to when we are stripped of something we love, especially when the loss is violent, unexpected. Did you know that the fountainhead of the magic that turned your city to rubble and its people into mist lies within the body of a child? Yes, a small child who currently sleeps imprisoned and sealed away. One of the two Vessels who is the Source of all magic—one of the two people you and the Conclave have shed blood to protect. The magic that tormented my brother until he gave his last breath is based within your Erzarian friend, the one you sacrificed your own father's life to save. My brother—your city, and your father. All of them destroyed by magic when used for the wrong ends. You may fight me, and believe me, I want it! I want to see what the boy who calls himself the Successor to the Archmage has to offer! But no matter what the outcome of this fight, I want this image to be seared into your mind. The crying children, the ruined buildings and the knowledge that those you loved are dead. And every time you raise your staff and magic in defense of your Vessel friend, understand that because you kept her safe for a little while longer, someone else experiences this very same torment."
- Cast from Lifespan: His sensor curse spell is Elder Magic, therefore not "covered" by the current laws of magic that replaced the old ones when the Archmage rewrote the magical arts with the Keys. Thus casting it consumes almost all of one's anima. Bartholomew casts it as a Heroic Sacrifice after his Heel–Face Turn, while running on basically nothing anima-wise. Needless to say he dies.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Bartholomew's brother Klaus was tortured by having a wizard wielding manipulation magic mess with his mind to give him the impression that he was burning alive—while he was already impaled by several iron rods to the top of the mine entrance in real life. He eventually died of exposure and starvation while screaming at things that weren't there.
- During his rampage through Evermerry, Bartholomew continually snags random citizens or peace officers and interrogates them as to where Mia Scarleen is, assisting the questioning by impaling limbs with his iron rods, snapping bones with gravity or hurting loved ones in front of them.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Pretty much anyone that goes up against him due to both his Gravity Master status and his tremendous reserves of anima that allow him to cast overwhelmingly powerful spells.
- Vs Lacienega: The battle was over the moment it became clear her water magic wasn't going to even connect once he redirected every attack she had. What made it slightly challenging for Bartholomew was that she was very adept at hiding and striking out where he least expected it. Besides, he was using his own body instead of Rand's at the time and so two elderly magic-users fighting it out was a strain for both of them.
- Vs the Peace Officers of Evermerry: The military/police force of Evermerry was trained for physical and magical combat with soldiers and magic-users to a point. A man who can control the power of gravity itself, tear down gates with a single swing of his hand and hurl entire groups of people backwards by just walking forward—to start with is a little above their pay grade.
- Vs Veil (and later Mia): Veil was the first challenge he had faced in a long, long time, especially when Veil figured out a way to dismantle his Soul Synchronicity spell and leave him without a young body, a partner to talk strategy with, and an increase in magic power. However even by himself he almost destroyed Veil and was only holding back because he wasn't entirely sure the limits of Mia's immortality and didn't want to accidentally kill her.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Bartholomew had not one but three separate ones. The first was his brother's death that transformed him from a willful child into a angry, Hot-Blooded but competent leader. The second was his childhood friend and budding love interest pretty much saying Screw This, I'm Out of Here! and telling him she was going to leave the city for "better things". The third and worst was one of his trusted lieutenants selling him out in exchange for healing magic for his son, leading to the deaths of all the people he had grown close to and battled alongside. It was this last one that truly destroyed him and cemented his belief that magic's predominant role in today's world was to threaten, bully and destroy people.
- The Chessmaster: Bartholomew rebuilt his former freedom-fighting organization as a vicious criminal syndicate because he knew criminals were easier to entice and far less ethical. He then gathered the six most depraved and violent witches and wizards he could find, all of them quite powerful and told them the plan to find the Vessels and control the Source. He altered the goal of the plan to holding magic ransom, forcing nations to pay if they wanted their citizens to be granted magical power. They fell for the lure of endless money and power, and all he had to do was sit back and watch them cause mass murder, mayhem and destruction as they delivered the Vessels to him.
- Unfortunately he was also being played by Nadia, who used him similarly to the way he used his own followers.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Lacienega and Bartholomew's relationship is...complicated. They were friends first and foremost, but did have several romantic encounters and she remained his right-hand woman all throughout his campaign to wrest control of Enirtlah away from the Elect. When she left him it sent him into a deep depression as well as causing him to desperately pick someone to be his new lieutenant. Unfortunately this person happened to be Trevor Sloan who, while a good fighter and tactician, had loyalty issues. Bartholomew blames her for the deaths of everyone in the Legenada Knights, especially when he finds out that she married a man high up in the Conclave and that her son is a Magister. That and the fact that she has a large and happy family and seems to have forgotten entirely about her past fifty nine years ago is intolerable to him. Which is why he kills her when she arrives in Enirtlah to talk to him after so long.
- Darkand Troubled Past
- Dark Skinned Blonde: Though what hair he has left has long ago gone gray.
- Doomed Hometown: Subverted; the city-state of Enirtlah is still standing and he rules it. He did however burn down his sector, Dunsten, with his own two hands as a gesture of defiance, as the Elect depended on it to export mineral and metal resources to fuel their expensive lifestyles, so doubles as Where I Was Born and Razed.
- He later invokes this on Veil River by destroying Evermerry with a black hole that crushes the entire city under an immense blanket of gravity, killing almost everyone.
- Determinator: After the Elect murdered his brother, nothing would stop him from bringing them down. Not being outnumbered by their loyalists, not his own people having misgivings, not his childhood friend leaving him for the wider world. Even the deaths of his entire rebellion at his own hand only temporarily stopped him; he just came back with another army and with an ancient undead witch backing him from the shadows.
- He will do anything to summon the Source of all Magic regardless of how unethical or immoral in the hopes of creating a better, more peaceful world.
- Easily Forgiven: Subverted. Though Veil does eventually forgive Bartholomew, it is anything but easy, and during the battle between the two of them, they are both planning to kill one another with Bartholomew fighting coldly and methodically while Veil is raging and screaming at him in anger and pain, throwing spell after random spell. However as he finds out more of Bartholomew's backstory and understands the context behind some of his words, he begins to have slightly different opinions. Even then he barely stops himself from killing the old man after he is down and opts instead to leave him to Conclave justice like any other criminal. Of course things don't go that way, but still...
- Energy Absorption: This is the fate of magic that he doesn't simply repel or deflect; he summons miniature black holes to absorb the attack completely, canceling it out.
- Energy Ball: Sort of. He can fire balls of compressed gravity that suck at whatever they touch, though his limit is two at a time. One of them hitting a person's torso will appear to blast a hole clean through them, because the gravity absorbed their insides.
- Evil Sorcerer: In addition to his rare gravity magic that can only be used to its full potential by someone with his superhuman Mana levels, he is also proficient in several Elder Magic spells he learned from Nadia, such as the Four Points Extraction spell which extracts things sealed in humans and requires several human sacrifices to use.
- Evil Old Folks: He is seventy four years old and freely admits that he isn't as spry or even as healthy as he used to be. In fact much of the reason Veil and Mia were even able to touch him was because Veil dispelled the magic that allowed him to share his apprentice's younger, healthier body. Had Bartholomew been at full strength it's unlikely they would have had a chance.
- Fallen Hero: While he was already aware of the evil in the world and willing to kill to win, his plans were originally to simply oust the Elect from power and let someone else take over. After losing his entire team and listening to Nadia, he executed them all, wiping out entire clans and families in his haste to make sure their ideas never spread—and his revenge. Part of why he is so ruthless is because he saw the success his harsher methods caused and became even more willing to commit atrocities if they will ensure a better future.
- Glass Cannon: He is arguably the most powerful magic-user in all the world—and yet he cannot take a large degree of punishment due to his elderly status. Veil manages to win his fight against him by clocking him in the jaw with his weakest spell, Poseidon Strike (which is literally just his fist coated in water).
- Hero Killer: He murders Lacienega, Angelica's grandmother and the woman who taught Veil water magic, utterly destroys Evermerry and massacres thousands of civilians as well as Veil's father right in front of him as a punishment for withholding information.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrifices his life to cast the sensor curse on Sebastian when Veil finally get through to him after their battle.
- Implacable Man: During the Evermerry battle when he is synchronized with Rand. The combined duo shrug off basically anything thrown at them, smash through barricades and kill hundreds of opponents with ease.
- I Have The High Ground: Overlaps with Not Quite Flight. He is able to use his gravity control to levitate at quite high distances, and during battle flies high into the air to rain compressed gravity balls down at his enemies or creates black holes near them while remaining a safe distance away.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Bartholomew has two of these moments back-to-back when Veil and Mia reveal that Lacienega had spent her entire fifty-nine year career within the Conclave campaigning for the closer monitoring of their territories so that monstrous injustices like what happened in Enirtlah are never allowed again, and that she had been constantly appealing to those on the outside to not interfere with Bartholomew's rebellion—it was why the Conclave never sent help to the Elect and why they never removed him from power after he won the war. Furthermore Veil explains that there is no way to "take magic away" from certain people, and that all Nadia's words to him were a lie. Horrified at what he has done and what he has allowed to happen because of his need to believe in the possibility of a better world, Bartholomew casts the sensor curse on Sebastian, preventing him from ever locating Mia or Veil for Nadia.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His assault on Evermerry is the wake-up call the Iron Legion and Conclave needed to realize that while they had been fighting one another for millennia, other unaffiliated and dangerous groups like Legenada had been gathering strength. Thus by the time Nadia appeared and declared the Second Enchanter's War, the wheels were already turning for a Conclave/Iron Legion alliance for the first time in history.
- No-Sell: He spends the majority of his fights utterly deflecting or just plain absorbing attacks thrown at him due to his ability to create miniature black holes and control repulsive force. He was never hit once while operating in conjunction with Rand, and during the fight with the "real" him, he was struck only when he had to recover from casting particularly powerful magic.
- Orcus on His Throne: He spends the majority of Archmage Reborn sitting in his throne room or walking around his palace deep in Enirtlah, taking care of the day-to-day affairs of his nation like any word leader would or alternately conferring with his Red Cloaks and issuing orders for the rest of Legenada's vast criminal empire via encrypted video messages or live communications. The only time we see him really active is when he presides over the extraction of the Key of Manipulation and Summoning from the First Vessel.
- This changes after Lacienega drops in on him and he purposely kills her in public, revealing that he is far more than an elderly world leader and war veteran. After this he pretty much goes on a two-man rampage looking for the Vessel, as he knows he doesn't have long before the Conclave begins a manhunt for him.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Similar to the woman pulling his strings, Bartholomew will rarely Kick the Dog or perform acts of evil that do not directly advance his plans. Even destroying Evermerry while extreme and done out of rage, still counts as this: He knew that the Vessel is immortal and can heal from any wound. He simply destroyed the city she was in and killed everybody; therefore the person who came back to life was the target.
- Storm of Blades: During his battle against Veil and Mia after being forced to fight them himself, he uses his gravity magic to pick up fallen weapons from the peace officers of Evermerry and uses them as projectiles, hurling hundreds of blades at them from the high mountains around the city.
- Squishy Wizard: This is the reason why he resorts to sharing his apprentice's body during combat; while his immense anima levels allow him to spam high-level gravity magic, he is on the frail side and a truly powerful physical blow is enough to end a fight in an opponent's favor.
- Superpower Lottery: His gravity control magic seems like this, though theoretically anyone could learn it. What really qualifies is his tremendous magical stamina and amount of anima allow him to repeatedly cast complex and dangerous spells that would have killed anyone else.
- Tranquil Fury: He rarely becomes overtly angry; the only time we ever see him actually break into outright shouting rage is when Veil debates with him about the morality—and even reality—of his plan after he has been defeated. Even after Lady Jocelyn unwittingly insults his dead comrades he never once descends into shouting. In that case he simply nods, tells her that because of her status as Lady of the City her position of noncompliance is the people of Evermerry's position as well and levitates away to utterly destroy the city by air.
- Unwitting Pawn: Bartholomew actually thought of Nadia as his Dragon; when concocting the plan to reunite the halves of the Source and use it to deprive evildoers of their magic, she slanted the conversation in a way that made him think he had come up with the idea. Likewise, she gave him just enough autonomy in controlling Legenada that he came to believe that he was the absolute ruler and that she looked up to him as her "hero" having awakened her from a four thousand year slumber. In reality Nadia hadn't been asleep at all, she fed him a bunch of lies with only enough truth in them for him to be useful at the job she needed, and planned on using him as the sacrifice to summon the Source and then absorbing it into herself.
- Unflinching Walk
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Played straight and subverted all at once. Bartholomew doesn't believe a world where only the good are able to use magic will be a utopia. That said, he does think that it will be better than the Crapsack World The Haven is now.
- Villain Has a Point: Much of what he observes about the horrors magic has unleashed on the world are true. He also harshy criticizes the Archmage, who many view as The Messiah, for freely distributing such dangerous powers to the entire world. However even in this he doesn't truly rage but instead says that Andrew Denashel was just a man, nothing more who acted out of desperation and idealism and did the best he could—just like he is doing the best he can to restore the world to some semblance of order and progress. In fact, though he is defeated, his words haunt Veil long afterwards and change much of how he sees the Conclave and Iron Legion and his mission for the former.
- Would Hurt a Child: Bartholomew doesn't like it, but he'll do it in a heartbeat. Quite a few children of all ages were among the Elect families he executed during his takeover of Enirtlah, he has often ordered the destruction of countless towns and villages which obviously have kids present. Furthermore, the First Vessel is a four year old child, and he presided over the agonizing extraction of the First Key without feeling anything but satisfaction that a part of his plan coming together. He also killed countless children when he crushed Evermerry out of existence with a black hole.
edited 20th Nov '13 11:54:10 AM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
...Is he an expy of Elijah Gibbs? Both are Evil Old Folks involved in the cause of Anti-Magic, and both are feeling the effects of the frailty of old age. Though your guy is kind of less bad about it.
Altogether, a pretty solid villain. I Like him.
- Name: The Prince of Demands
- Age: Considering he's The Harpy's father, and Harpy was Grand Duchess and ancient when Woe just got his start, he's pretty damn old. Next to nobody except Balmunc knows how old he is, and Balmunc ain't telling.
- Personality: The Prince of Demands seems to be a constantly present force of evil in the books, though not necessarily of ruthless evil. He hanged heavily over the protagonists in the first book, but never emerged from hell. He remains seated on his throne by choice, and seems to dislike people who make him get up, unless they can handle his fury, in which case they get his respect. The Prince is a rather odd Noble Demon, being Ein Woe's immediate superior, he is long suffering with Woe's strange ideas for evil deeds, and he tries to make sure the various factions don't start a war. He is a certainly odd peacekeeper, that's for sure. He's very devoted to the idea of a business deal, and views it as sacrosanct, heavily punishing his fellow demons who try to cheat their dealmakers "We're not Wall Street. Down here, we keep to our deals exact terms." He's not above Exact Words, but outright swindling someone out from something outside the deal is not tolerated by him. He seems to enjoy a very very high Villain Cred, and is very proud of this. When The Prince of Demands calls a Villain Team-Up, lots and lots of people show up, telling of a very commanding personality. How, exactly, he got to be what he is is a mystery, and he hasn't told it to many people. While he and a mostly memory-lacking Balmunc are rivals, they do show signs of an odd friendship. After Matthew deflected his ambitions in Book I, he instructed Woe to watch Matthew in books two through five, explaining that ever since then, Matthew has been someone he's been very interested in, and wants to make sure he can continue observing him.
- Abilities: The Prince of Demands has the ability to create strange, incredibly sharp flying energy discs in his hands, which seem to explode while cutting into the enemy. Otherwise, he has extremely high base abilities, being made of extraordinarily stern stuff, and hitting extremely hard and fast. His personal magic preference is for black energy called "Dark Matter", which is almost always lethally explosive when it touches something. As a whole, his magic seems to be very diverse, and somewhat "all over the place" including Highest Level Wind Magic, Solar Ray Magic, Catastrophe Magic, and several others.
- Weaknesses: Sacred Mana, as with all demons, is his weakpoint...though beware auto-using it if he goes One-Winged Angel.
- Goals: Very ambiguous, and not really defined. He does a lot of scowling and stating he intends to rule the Earth in book I, but is absolutely unaffected when this plan is rebuffed. Otherwise, his plans and goals are generally mysterious.
- Motivation: He's apparently been trying to conquer earth for a long time, and he just wants to finish what he started, apparently. This too is left very ambiguous, when it is shown he didn't care that this new plan failed. Whatever his motive is, he keeps it secret.
- Role in the story: Outside-Context Villain / Noble Demon / A sort of evil side Reasonable Authority Figure.
- Backstory: Very little of his backstory is really known, except he fathered The Harpy at some point, and is married to a giant six headed female dragon.
- Relevant Tropes:
- Anti-Villain: Surprisingly so. There are even a few occasions when he's called upon as part of a team up against a worse evil.
- Badass in Charge: He leads not just the infernal forces, but a group of the eight most powerful Demons, which includes Ein Woe in it. Only his fellow Princes can challenge his position. And to stay relatively on top this long speaks volumes of his power levels.
- Biblical Bad Guy: Subverted; Prince of Demands isn't Satan, and he in fact states that the current alignment of Princes was constructed due to Satan being "gone".
- Card-Carrying Villain: Described without irony as "The Great Prince of All Evil."
- Deal with the Devil: Several individuals in Book II make a deal with him. They come back in III as members of the "Devil Corps", having died...and become Demands' newest allies.
- Demon Lords and Archdevils: He is actually specifically called "Archdevil and Prince of the Third, Fifth and Ninth Fiery Lakes."
- Even Evil Has Standards: He was horrified by the Body Horror that Wes went through at Zachaia's hands, and tried to make a very lenient Deal to reverse it.
- It says a lot that even Demands didn't like the direction that The Heretic took the Ephas Abjuration after Hector's Heel–Face Turn, and how The Heretic basically made it a cult of blood sacrifice in obscene amounts. "Every day he spends at the head of my sect, I am filled with revulsion."
- His entire relationship with Caryna speaks of this and Pet the Dog.
- Evil vs. Evil: Elijah Gibbs really made it personal by basically launching a nuke at his domain. Considering most demons are by and large basically "humans with horns and / or natural skeletal looking armor somewhere", it also functioned as Nightmare Fuel.
- Five Bad Band: The Dark Circle
- Big Bad: The Prince of Demands, the strongest of them, and the most tactically astute. His leadership is recognized through his wicked cunning, though he is, as described, not a very proactive force.
- The Dragon: Ein Woe, a fearsome creature of envy, jealousy and anger, he strikes at those he deems "beautiful", in jealous rage for his own deformed visage.
- The Brute: The Leviathan, a great sea-demon, and the only one who is almost as old as Prince of Demands. Not as intelligent as Woe, nor as powerful as his boss, despite the size advantage. Often associated with a serpentine appearance and a temper as hot as hellfire. The job could also go to Damack, one of the less intelligent creatures associated with the Dark Circle.
- Evil Genius: Zeraheld, the chief planner and coordinator of the group. Alternately the Evil Genius title could go to Perganos, who is explicitly described as a fiendish, arrogant strategist.
- The Dark Chick: Ammi, the youngest and most temperamental of the bunch. His emotions often get the better of him, and most even know of him better as "the kid".
- Sixth Ranger: Moloch, the off and on member of the club, usually bringing fellow Sixth Ranger Ba'al with him.
- Friendly Enemy: Unlike others like Damack and Leviathan, who curse Matthew viciously on all their meetings, Prince of Demands is unusually cordial and calm, always describing Matthew flatteringly, and showing respect.
- Historical Domain Character: He interacts with a few of them. He reminisces about his contact with the likes of Elizabeth Bathory and Count Vlad Tepes, and apparently gave Gilles De Rais a Spellbook. While he personally disliked De Rais' child murders, there were advantages to partnership.
- Large and in Charge: Easily twenty feet tall, and he makes a living commanding evil demons, and refuting attempts to gain his authority.
- Legion of Doom: Comprised of a lot of the Legions of Hell, Demands forces include demons, monsters, Fae, evil humans, bad spirits, Fallen Angels, vampires and Lichs.
- Noble Demon: Despite his position, its made very clear he has a code of honor. He refused to buy a young girl's soul when he learned why she wanted to sell it and instead had her sell him her sense of fear in exchange for a way out of her abusive, fundamentalist family.
- One-Winged Angel: He has a secondary form he can turn into, which makes him even bigger, and gives him seven subordinate dragon heads. It resembles the Beast of Revelation, and each Crown and each Head gives him a different ability. One of said abilities, The First Crown, is negation of Sacred Mana.
- Orcus on His Throne: He very rarely does anything, apart from giving the Dark Circle orders.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When your response to learning your domain had a nuke slung at it and your subordinates are howling for blood is to shout for a calm and organize an alliance against the Anti-Magic Faction, you deserve this title.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers an acidic one to a psychotically fundamentalist family trying to exorcise their autistic son, who hadn't been possessed at the time. He possesses the father and immediately says;
- "You lot wouldn't know Christianity if it hit you in the face. Repeatedly. You wield your faith like a weapon, shame those who do not match you, and pridefully bully anyone who does not fit your ideal of what an American is. I have seen empires and states rise and fall, your treasured America is none different than any of them. Take the knowledge to the grave with you that you will never enter heaven's pearly gates, for there art men in hell more virtuous than you."
- Red Baron: Occasionally called Skaaburai, which in Old Atlantian means "Conquering King of Fire", which indicates he used to be more active than he currently is.
- Villain Cred: He has a lot of it. When Prince of Demands calls for a Legion of Doom, people listen.
- Villains Out Shopping: He occasionally takes a brain-dead body for a ride, mostly to see what these new fangled Holidays are all about.
- Villainous Friendship: He, Mamon, Moloch and Ba'al form a very odd group of friends. Apparently, they "grew up together".
And heck, why not Damack?
- Name: Damack, Viscount of the Blackblade Collection
- Age: previously 14, not six years ago. So, he's actually around 20.
- Appearance: Damack is a very odd looking creature; he's apparently a black and red hybrid of an iguana, a chameleon, and a western style dragon, mostly evident in his ears. His face seems to have a blank silver plate with two bulbous areas at the front, his muzzle concealing knife-like fangs. His eyes are chameleon-like, the two bulbous areas opening to show standard Uh Oh Eyes; red and black eyes, though in opposite patterns to his body's scheme. His tail ends in a crescent shaped blade, and the whole tail almost seems segmented. While he can stand on two legs, he prefers stalking around on all fours. His fingers end in long, bright red blade nails.
- Personality: Damack seems to have a lot in common with movie demons; he's very, very cruel to his host bodies, he for some reason always selects women, and usually selects ones who are above average in looks, and brutally disfigures them. His demeanor when confronted, however, suggests a rather uncertain personality, and an individual who is nervous about a lot of things. Given his rash of luck, he seems a lot like an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain; he knows he's not exactly the most formidable monster in the world, and seems very self-deprecating. He usually begs the exorcist to leave him alone rather than fight back too intensely, for some reason. However, there are very evident signs of a very intense temper lurking in the cautious, somewhat cowardly Damack. Ignited properly, it makes him orders more dangerous. He does have a large number of more comical traits, including messing up very, very simple names. He managed to think "Matthew" was "Matahana", and he seems to have a strange detest for beaches and swimming pools. The Prince of Demands, above, is one of the few that Damack explicitly trusts, as he's always rattling off conspiracies he thinks people are up to.
- Abilities: Damack possesses most of the standard demonic abilities, including enhanced strength, speed and endurance, though his speed and strength make him a zippy Fragile Speedster (if he's angry, though, he becomes a Lightning Bruiser), he can, as with most of them, focus Mana both Internal and External into a deadly, highly destructive beam simply called Demon's Cannon. He mostly specializes in a quick firing, Beam Spam version. His strongest ability is The Black Mist, which lets him move even faster...he just has trouble seeing anything more than vaguely defined blurs in this. He can also generate electricity on his tail or limbs, effectively turning any grapple he does into very painful electric torture. He can also turn very hard to see effectively, called "Almost Invisibility".
- Weaknesses: He cannot take hits all that well normally. He's got the Sacred Mana weakness, and he's also a rather cowardly sort. If he sees he's not having a good time of it, he'll try to do something to make that so, and if he can't, he'll probably try to run unless someone else is watching. that is, unless he's chasing his target.
- Goals: "Become a badass Duke of the Dark World." His own words.
- Motivation: At first he seems like a standard Blood Knight or For the Evulz type, but the truth is his backstory and Freudian Excuse cover motivation pretty well.
- Role in the story: Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain / Hero Killer / Big Bad Wannabe
- Backstory: Damack's backstory is one he doesn't like sharing, but... he was originally a very scrawny, four foot eleven young man living in a household with a physically imposing Jerk Jock cousin, and a pair of parents whose parenting methods could be used as horror stories. Damack lived through this experience and tried to be the better man, the nice person, the bright ray of sunshine...until Jerk Jock cous revealed Damack's girlfriend was stringing him along, and she was his all along - in one of the most callous, horribly cruel ways possible, and then forced to all sorts of degradation. Damack summoned Ein Woe that night, and outright sold his humanity and any vestige of niceness to Woe in exchange for becoming a member of the Legions of Hell. He murdered his mother, his cousin, his girlfriend's friends, his girlfriend's Bully-like father and mother, and placed a particularly vengeful Curse on his "target"; she would draw homicidal demons to kill all young men around her, and drive all young women around her insane, but they would never touch her - she was reserved for torment by Damack himself. And if that wasn't enough, when he - one day - decides to kill her, she gets the Your Soul Is Mine! deal - and a permanent stay in Hell. Well, when he's not "hunting", Damack definitely seems to be one of the Prince of Demands most trusted, if most comical minions, most of the time. His tenure as a Dark Realm Lord being the shortest of Woe's group, he invariably ends up interacting with Matthew the most, a job he doesn't particularly enjoy.
- Relevant Tropes:
- Break the Cutie: See Freudian Excuse, and his Backstory above. He then proceeded to do the breaking on Laurie. A really, really nasty breaking.
- Berserk Button: He really, really, really hates all mention of high school.
- Combat Pragmatist: No sense of fair play here, just like his liege lord.
- Cowardly Lion: A villainous example.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He might not be as pleasant, but in Hunting Mode, compare his showings, and he almost killed Matthew in Hunting Mode, compared to getting Curb Stomped in the opening events of the Blood Feast.
- Demonic Possession: The demon doing the possessing.
- Despair Event Horizon: That night did a number on him.
- Freudian Excuse: Parental Abuse, a sociopathic Jerk Jock cousin, an equally sociopathic - at first -, manipulative and cruel girlfriend, intense bullying at school, and his biological dad, one of the only persons who was ever nice to him, is dead, "replaced" by a horrible man his mother married for his looks.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: From a first glance, he's a goofy, mostly quite cowardly sort with little bravery, and a large number of comedic quirks.
- Jump Scare: He can deliver these by decloaking suddenly, in unexpected places.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Descriptions of him completely change when he's in Hunting Mode. All the comedy about him goes away. "I found you again, Laurie. You're getting very, very sloppy." -said from behind her, as she's hiding in police custody. As in, where she expects to feel the most safe. There's also his original angry "break", wherein some of the descriptions of things he did wouldn't sound out of place in Berserk.
- Literal-Minded: When told to kill a vampire via a Wooden Stake, he takes to throwing "Wood 'n Steak" at the vampire.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: After his cousin's prodigious strength is shown ineffective against Damack, he beats his cousin so horribly one of the guy's eyes pops out, outright throwing him around the room like a ragdoll.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Even before getting angry, he's more competent than you'd guess. After, hooboy.
- Only Sane Man: Seems like it...and is, most of the time. Except if you mention high school or the name "Laurie" around him. That throws his Only Sane Man status out the window.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Unlike most demons, he has one form - a horrible lizard-like form with a long tongue.
- Shout-Out: After killing his way through one family already, he stalks three teenage girls through a house while dragging his claw along the wall.
- Split Personality: Almost; he's aware of what he does, but it seems he has two different ways of acting, which are drastically different.
- That Man Is Dead: "Timmy sold his soul to the devil. He is not here."
- Undying Loyalty: To Ein Woe and Demands. He even punctuates everything he says in their presence with "Yes, Lord Ein Woe!" / "Yes, Lord Prince of Demands!"
- Walking Spoiler: While he does show much of his character early, a lot more of his character is hidden and is much less pleasant than what we knew.
edited 23rd Nov '13 1:27:50 PM by NickTheSwing
I don't know if you've read or even heard of the manga Berserk but Damack's story could be something right out of there, and it's amazing. His story could be the end result of every pain-filled person who lives in misery and just wishes for revenge. A greatly compelling character, in some ways more so than Prince of Demands—although his name is amazing and he sounds pretty cool. As someone who personally went through a similar situation in my second year of high school and just wished for someone or something to get me out of it, by whatever means possible, his story hits eerily close to home.
Yes, a Reasonable Authority Figure Arch-Demon does bring a smile to my face. His goals , as you said, a little vague but I find that his powers and general disposition towards being more "honorable" than your average demon makes him likable. Once again, revealing your characters all from this universe makes me want to find out more about the story setting in general. I am especially interested in what you mean by Satan being "gone"...
edited 23rd Nov '13 11:27:35 AM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Yeah, I've read Berserk, and as I went through a similar period to what you describe, I found writing him to be surprisingly stress relieving. So, do you think I should have Damack catch up to his target soon? Or has she suffered enough for what she did?
I'll add it to the story's worldbuilding thread soon, but the Fallen Angel Lucifer / Satan as he was called basically disappeared a long time ago, as a result of something else that was going on. Without leadership, the demonic old guard scrambled to find individuals able to fill the position. When no one strong demon emerged, they decided on an Oligarchy.
A group of eight to ten powerful Princes of Hell who would theoretically keep the demons going the Demonic Invaders route. However, differences in opinion resulted in a young Prince of Demands rising to prominence with Belial's support.
I'm honestly not sure, though I'm leaning towards it being enough for what she did (though if anything it's a shame innocent people had to die for something she herself should have been punished for, but hey life isn't fair). If you do decide to go the route of saving her life—and soul—I think that it should be a very close call, enough for her to cry and beg and plead for forgiveness before something interrupts him from ending her life and taking her to hell with him.
- Good to know; I was sort of wondering where the Devil went in this story. Again, with all the characters you've put on here, both in hero and villain sections, it makes me wonder just what is going on in this universe.
- I did think about Elijah when I was putting Bartholomew's character sheet up here, though he's not really against magic; he just thinks he knows what's best for everyone by taking it away from those who use it for evil. Funnily enough there is another Evil Old Folks villain who leads the Anti-Magical Faction of Archmage Reborn, though he's overcome the "frailty of age" part through technological modification. I might put him up here next, who knows.
- I did think about Elijah when I was putting Bartholomew's character sheet up here
edited 23rd Nov '13 6:31:19 PM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Name: Sebastian Gears
Age: 4,004
Personality: Sebastian is unique among the golems due to his personality. Because he is the First Golem, created by the Archmage four thousand years ago, Sebastian is quite unlike the bland, order-following creatures that are the current-era's magically created servants. He has distinct likes and dislikes, views on things around him, and perhaps most importantly can think for himself in quite an advanced manner. Despite this, he is still a golem and a good deal of his behavioral traits come from the ancient commands he was given by his creator, Andrew Denashel. Because of Andrew's command to protect his sister and her family, Sebastian has been by Nadia's side for millennia. Though he appears to be blindly devoted to her cause, his real loyalty isn't to the plan but to Nadia herself—if she decided to abandon her millennia-old plot to become goddess of magic and exterminate all non-pureblooded magic-users, he would comply in an instant. Sebastian's devotion to Nadia manifests in more than mere obedience. He cares deeply for her, valuing her emotional health as well as physical. During the course of their four thousand year relationship, the two of them have formed a deep friendship, often discussing the fate of the world they plan to "cleanse". It is because of his sentience and their long-term acquaintance that Nadia views him as a true partner and often asks his opinion. Sebastian is cautious around things which could potentially harm Nadia. Though he knew it would benefit their "Pure World" plan to procure the dying Ara Talbot as a backup sacrifice in case Bartholomew failed, he still warned Nadia against it due to the young man's Conclave ties. Likewise, he thought it was better to simply kill Elena Raines rather than ally with her, due to her knowledge of Nadia's Soul Jar and the understanding that her Endless Army could turn on them if Raines gave the command—however after voicing these concerns he went along with Nadia's decision without further complaint. While Sebastian is devoted to Nadia, he cares very little about other humans. Not even his mistress's allies are exempt from his disregard and he will only protect them if Nadia orders or if he feels they have some value to her. He is a ruthless, intelligent and resourceful killer if the situation calls for it, his always-polite manner making his assaults even more terrifying. Sebastian holds great envy for the Vessels, as they are the descendants of Andrew's two adopted children Anita and Neal, and he gets a sick satisfaction at seeing them suffer.
- Abilities: Sebastian's true power lies in his ability to manipulate his shadow and a Pocket Dimension he refers to as the "Underside". Anything touching Sebastian's shadow will be inexorably transported to the Underside. This is his main form of attack. By enlarging, contracting or even creating tendrils of shadow to lash out at his enemies, Sebastian is able to simply teleport parts of them, resulting in fatal PortalCuts. He can also use this power non-lethally to simply absorb people into the Underside and hold them helplessly prisoner, as the dimension is an entirely separate and unreachable space. Furthermore, Sebastian is able to transport himself into this dimension as well, effortlessly navigating it to appear in other places no matter how far away, though this requires another shadow for him to emerge from. However Sebastian's most terrifying power is perhaps is ability to "sync" himself with the shadow of another human being. By standing within someone's shadow for ten minutes, Sebastian can "memorize" the feel of their anima, allowing him to travel through the Underside and emerge from that person's shadow no matter where they might try to hide. Due to his small, childlike form, Sebastian is also adept at espionage, as most adults will not watch their words if a small servant boy is in the corner of the room. This has allowed him to spy on important conversations and assassinate unsuspecting targets.
- Weaknesses: While all magic is weak against Cold Iron, his powers are completely invalidated by it; he cannot absorb or "cut" anything made of the metal. Due to his childlike body he has exactly the same physical strength of a particularly determined eleven-year-old-boy, making it fairly easy to overpower him in a battle of raw physical strength. Because he was created by Andrew, it means that he is subservient to anyone who bears his master's anima—which means that people like Veil River who has inherited the Archmage's Empathic Weapon can bind him with a command, though it takes a great deal of concentration and he will fight viciously against it. However Sebastian's greatest weakness is that the anima Andrew infused into him to give him "life" is slowly draining away and unlike a living human he cannot regenerate it. Thus after four thousand years, he is slowly dying. Using his powers accelerates this process, though he hides it from Nadia, afraid that her worry for him will hinder her effectiveness at carrying out her plans and cause her pain.
- Goals: Sebastian's one goal in his "life" is to protect Nadia from whatever may harm her, whether it is emotional or physical. If it will make Nadia happy, then he will gladly do it.
- Motivation: He was created to be a servant and follow orders. His jealousy and personal hate for the Vessels comes from the understanding that Andrew abandoned him for his "new creations".
- Role in the story: The Dragon to Nadia's Big Bad—possibly Co-Dragons with Ara Talbot once the former guardian abandons the Conclave. The Consigliere somewhat, though Nadia is very much a Diabolical Mastermind on her own.
- Backstory: Sebastian was created four years before the devastating First Enchanter's War by Andrew Denashel. Cutting a piece of flesh from his right hand and surrounding it with earth and dust. By pouring a tremendous amount of anima into the entire mixture, he was able to fashion a humanoid being from it, the creature growing older with each infusion of power. However Andrew's stamina wasn't enough for adulthood and it instead became a child—in fact it was all but a clone of him when he was that age. Though the creature's creation was something unprecedented, Andrew's reasons were very mundane: he didn't want to pay for a secretary and used the strange bond he had with his "son" to make him is servant. When Andrew's sister Nadia was married to her husband, Andrew gave Sebastian to her as a wedding present, ordering him to guard and protect the family. When the Enchanter's War swept the world, Sebastian was separated from his charges and spent years searching for them. He felt that Galien and George had died, but Nadia still lived, and he cut a bloody swath through the city, killing magic-users and Muggles alike in his quest. Nadia was overjoyed to see him again, a reminder of better days. Within months, the two of them had raised an army of witches and wizards from all over Britain and Wales to her side, drawing them with the hope of striking back against those who had destroyed everything they loved. After Andrew killed Nadia and became the host of the Source, Sebastian was brought to The Haven with all the other "debris" that were lifted from the Earth. From that moment on, Sebastian became a wanderer around the new world, communicating with Nadia's disembodied soul and carrying out her will, and acting as her hands and feet. Sebastian tracked down the descendants of Nadia's surviving followers and inflamed their purist leanings, painting Andrew as evil and demonic and Nadia as a goddess who had been struck down moments before her victory in purging the world of Muggles, allowing the impure to steal magic for themselves. Hundreds of years of this manipulation created the Purist Movement with Sebastian as Nadia's "prophet". Furthermore, Sebastian was an invaluable asset in Nadia's manipulations of key players throughout history, assassinating targets, delivering information, and many other functions, the last of which was assisting Bartholomew Harper in his battle against the Elect.
- Relevant tropes
- Absurd Cutting Power: Played with; being lashed with tendrils of his "shadow" will slice a person apart similar to the effects of Razor Floss. In reality Sebastian simply transports anything touched by the shadow into the Underside, making these injuries Portal Cuts instead of sharpness-related wounds.
- Alien Blood: His blood is strange even for golems, if it can even be called blood at all. A strange mixture of dust and flakes of dried human blood issue from his wounds during the few times we see him cut.
- And I Must Scream: His Pocket Dimension, the Underside is an endless, pitch-black abyss. Those trapped there are deprived of sight, sound, touch and hearing. Thus even if multiple people are present, there is never any sense of solidarity because no one can locate anyone else due to the total sensory deprivation. Worse, there is no escape, and one can be held there for months at a time without suffering any serious physical effects such as starvation or dehydration. When he absorbs Annie and Aaron Giles to take them to Bartholomew for interrogation, the two of them are already on the edge of madness when he lets them out and while they get better after being rescued, they are never the same people afterwards.
- Antagonistic Offspring: Sebastian has a love/hate relationship with his creator Andrew. He looks up to the Archmage as his "father" and genuinely misses him (though he would never admit such a thing in Nadia's presence). However he despises the fact that he gave him away to Nadia's family without even looking back and chose to lavish his love and affection on Neal and Anita, going so far as to turn them into the cornerstones of the world's new magical system. He gleefully explains that his only personal stake in Nadia's plan, besides making her happy, is to see Neal and Anita's descendants suffer the agony of having the Keys torn out of them, and their respective tribes die in droves as the The Haven is turned into the Pure World.
- Apologetic Attacker: Veil temporarily stops Ara from burning the city of Rioan to the ground by commanding Sebastian to restrain his former friend. Because Veil carries Andrew's staff and some of his power, Sebastian had no choice but to obey and absorbed Ara's fire with his shadow while forcing him back. Played with in that he doesn't even think to apologize to Ara; he instead mentally begs forgiveness from Nadia for allowing himself to be taken unaware.
- Artificial Human: Sebastian was created from dust and ash coalescing around a piece of Andrew Denashel's flesh. It is never really stated why this worked, especially when it had never been done before, but because Wild Magic ruled the Earth in those days instead of the Functional Magic of The Haven, it is possible that it only worked because Andrew wanted it to happen. Stranger still, though the spell that created him is now widely used in The Haven to create golems, none of them show even the slightest bit of sentience and are little more than fleshly robots, and certainly none possess his abilities.
- Armor-Piercing Attack: Armor—as well as any other shield really—is useless against him due to the fact that he just teleports away the guard.
- Faux Affably Evil: A strange non-purposeful example of this trope. He was created, originally, to be a sort of secretary/office assistant for his master Andrew. That necessitates being polite to others, and so he retains a semblance of cold politeness at all times, even when mutilating and killing his enemies.
- Bad Powers, Bad People: He is an amoral golem with the ability to slice people and things apart by teleporting small slivers of them into a Pocket Dimension and he can drive people incurably insane by trapping them within that same dimension. He is also extremely skilled at stalking and hunting others by syncing with their shadows and following them wherever they go.
- Blood Knight: During the Second Enchanter's War he takes on Magister May Simpson and her entire unit by himself and manages to hold them off. When Nadia suggests that he temporarily retreat, he's downright disappointed and complains that he was enjoying the pitched battle, though of course he obeys.
- Casts No Shadow: Like all golems he doesn't cast a shadow when light shines on him. Except when he's...
- Casting a Shadow: His inter-dimensional portal resembles a shadow but instead of extending from beneath him, it actually emerges from his back and flows across the ground—or if he's in combat it will simply fly out from his body as a myriad of black tendrils.
- Combat Commentator: Sebastian spies on several battles throughout the story, mostly because he enjoys the sight of people clashing against one another. However when he spies on Ara's battle against Malice, he took his usual observations Up To Eleven with in-depth analysis of Ara's spells and fighting methods—justified, as he was scouting the young man out as a possible replacement for Bartholomew in case of an emergency.
- Creepy Child: Sebastian looks like any other eleven year old servant boy one would find around the palaces of nobles, except for his garnet eyes and strangely mature and soft-spoken manner.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: All of Sebastian's powers drain anima from him, and because he can neither regenerate or receive infusions of power from his creator, any use of his dimensional abilities takes a large toll on him.
- Dark Is Evil
- Dangerously Genre-Savvy: After he discovers to his horror that Veil (and to a lesser extent Mia) can compel him due to the remnants of Andrew's power within them he uses this weakness to his advantage by syncing with the shadows of countless soldiers on various battlefields and then activating his power to pull them one by one into the Underside. After trying in vain to stop him, this forces the Conclave to consider letting Veil and Mia out onto the battlefield—where the Purist Movement and Endless Army would be waiting for them.
- The Dragon: To Nadia. He is the only person she regards as something more than an expendable puppet and she considers him a comrade in a joint endeavor. Even after Ara joins their small cabal, he remains her right-hand man, with Ara becoming something like a vicious attack animal on a leash rather than a real partner—plus the two of them were planning to sacrifice him anyway.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Sebastian's powers could make him a seriously dangerous opponent if he didn't need to conserve his energy to delay his death. He is then slapped with another one when Bartholomew casts the sensor curse on him, completely destroying his ability to sense those whose shadows he's synced with.
- Deliberately Cute Child: This is what has allowed him to be both the perfect spy and assassin even when not using his powers.
- Death by Irony: Despite his loyalty to Nadia and genuinely caring for her, he dies alone as she abandons him in favor of personally killing every human of "impure" blood once Veil thwarts her plan to kill everyone descended from Muggles at the same time. Twisting the knife further, she does this both without hesitation and with the knowledge that due to her current Physical God status, she could rejuvenate him with a mere thought.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Sebastian spends a good deal of the story as a messenger boy in Bartholomew Harper's palace. Though it is clear he is a golem, there is almost nothing to point out that he is anything but that, the only oddity being that he is the only golem in a palace full of human servants. However once Bartholomew kills Lacienega, he reveals his true colors as the assistant and messenger of the mysterious "she" Bartholomew serves.
- God Guise: Not the guise of a god exactly, but he built himself up as a prophet of Nadia—who he did portray as a goddess, taking advantage of people who already had puristic leanings left over from their ancestors who followed Nadia. He used this to create a power base of fodder who would be willing to do anything for her should the need arise.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: As he dies Sebastian wonders whether or not Nadia ever really loved him the way he loved and cared for her. He then bitterly recounts how neither of the two humans he served ever had any regard for him as anything but a tool, even though he would have given his life for them...and even now he can't feel real anger or hate for their betrayals because they are his whole world.
- Lack of Empathy: He doesn't care about anyone except Nadia; even those who swear loyalty to her and her cause mean utterly nothing to him and he is perfectly content to watch them die unless Nadia orders him to protect them. Justified as he is a golem commanded to take care of one person.
- Mook Horror Show: When a gang of travelers discover one of the many subterranean tunnels that lead to Nadia's actual base of operations in an abandoned city in the desert, Sebastian first tracks them through the darkness and then kills them one by one, practicing psychological warfare in the extreme as the men could hear those around them being cut to ribbons in the pitch-blackness with long intervals of nothing in between.
- No Ontological Inertia: His existence itself is a subversion; when Andrew died he remained "alive" and able to continue that existence for over four thousand years. However when he does finally run out of anima due to overusing his powers in an attempt to protect a temporarily vulnerable Nadia his body begins cracking and crumbling until he disintegrates entirely.
- The Needless: Par for the course with golems; he doesn't need food, water, sleep or even shelter from the elements (though he is rather fond of the last one, as he hates rain).
- Oh, Crap!: He has a rather major one when Eric Pilkan manages to outrun his dimensional shadow and escape with the knowledge that Ara is headed for Erzaria. This is later compounded on by fury as he realizes that Eric was the boy from long ago who defeated Nadia and rescued the infant Mia.
- Subverted when he starts disintegrating from overusing his powers. Instead of freaking out, he merely acknowledges that the time has finally come and that he is happy Nadia has accomplished her goal and that he could live to see it. Tragically this example is played straight moments later when Nadia simply flies away without even looking back at him as he crumbles away, devastating him as he realizes that she no longer cares about him at all—and planting the doubts about if she ever did.
- Paranoia Fuel: He's almost the Anthropomorphic Personification of this in-universe. Just by standing in your shadow for ten minutes Sebastian can track you down no matter where you hide, and he is always aware of your location, even if he's not actively hunting you. The only way to be truly safe after he has "synced" with your shadow is to remain in a sealed room in blinding light for the rest of your life.
- Primal Fear: Again his antics during the Second Enchanter's War to lure out Veil and Mia.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He's basically Andrew when he was a child (at least physically), except for a few minor details.
- Tin Man: Though Sebastian himself claims he has very few he does have emotions such as happiness, sadness, jealousy, anger, pride, and he certainly takes delight in the pain and discomfort of others at times. However much of what he feels is tied to what Nadia does. He is happy when she is happy, angered when something has angered her or he simply enjoys inflicting pain on her enemies—who are therefore his. That said, he does feel independent emotions such as sorrow and hurt Nadia when abandons him at his hour of need in favor of her plans.
edited 21st Dec '13 6:29:10 PM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
The Silly Gloom
May I cut in?
Maybe it's only due to my lack of exposure to the genre in general, but I don't think I've seen many golems with actual personality (even if the 'golems' you mention actually being mechanical beings with human souls trapped inside). I like his Faux Affably Evil tendency though, and I can imagine him taking the Uncanny Valley to the whole new level by being amorally and inhumanly polite while teleporting people's entire chest cavity and whatever organs away.
I like him. Then again, I really have a thing for mechanical humans/humanoid machines (whatever they mean) who gleefully kill a lot of people and have a shade of Yandere.
Oh, and, mine. This is one of the villains in my current RP setting, which involves magic in post-apocalyptic faux-Victorian era world.
Name: Lady Aisel Kilimovich, Council Mediator
Age: 29
Personality: Pale skin, prematurely grey hair, small frame, deathly thin, unpleasant. No matter how one puts it, Aisel is the sort whose company is most certainly unwanted by nearly anyone this side of the landpiece. Not because she's repulsive, not for her lack of proper manners and such, but her deathly cold stare and polite yet dominating demeanor. She speaks softly, moves gently and slowly; overall a proper lady who looks at home in the halls of the Central Council of Sceinder or in a fancy manor. To those who knows her, however, she can be rather verbally and emotionally abusive, if ever so subtly, and radiates the aura of unease that sends the message of clear dominance over her conversation partnet. Quite a lot of people refer to her as a 'cold bitch' and many other choice words behind her back, but Aisel herself takes joy in the fact. She likes to be feared, after all. A quick thinker, Aisel always adapt to the situation at hand when facing obstacles in her scheme, and, while indeed a condescending hag, she never denies the possibility that there can always be someone emerging as a threat to her goal, and that even the smallest of threats can utterly undo her work. As many a councilman would say, she is an extremely dangerous woman. Mostly seen in her typical look, her attire including a black bonnet, a red redingote, black leather gloves, and black high heel boots. Also, bloody red umbrella.
Abilities: Not much to speak of. Aisel is a master of fire magic, and can invoke powerful fire spell almost at will, but compared to the other mages working for the Sacred Kingdom of Endeil, or the famous renegades from the Lerebys, the mages' secret society, her craft is unremarkable, certainly not the stuff of legend. She also utilizes the volatile Kij energy, drawn from the other realm, to fuel her magic, somewhat making her more powerful as a mage, though she only tends to draw this energy very sparingly, for fear of consequences. What makes her remarkable as a combatant, however, is the ancient handgun in her possession, the Philosopher. An artifact of an age past, it is a weapon made with the level of technology lost along with most of the world when Dissonance struck seven hundred years ago, and, unlike firearms of the present time, which utilize simple magical sigils to operate, and can only fire simple ammunition, the Philosopher is capable of firing pure magic, its effect ranging of devastating gigantic explosion to distorting the nature of the world and 'reality' itself. Of course, firing the thing with anything but basic ammunition can harm both the gun itself and the wielder, due to the world of the present day' lack of energy stability that used to be when the gun was crafted.
Weakness: Many. At the end of the day, despite having in possession one of the most powerful ancient weapons ever to be recovered by the Kingdom, and being a capable mage, Aisel is still very much just that; a mage. A gunshot from the cheapest rifle for use by the lowest rank of marksmen in the military can kill her as easily as the more powerful spells or artifacts. Her true weakness, however, is her fear of insects. Even the smallest of insects will distract her normally confident and self-assured facade.
Goals: At first glance, which is all most would willingly give her, for want of having nothing to do with the Mediator, Aisel seems to have a goal similar to that of a typical member of the Council of Foxes; wealth, and power. Of course she already has quite a considerable amount of those, what with her vast connection within the Council, and the fancy manor she refers to as her 'little home in the countryside', but for Aisel, it never seems enough. Despite the obvious, however, Aisel also has another goal, one which actually takes priority over the power and wealth, which is to bring down the Sacred Kingdom of Endeil, the one that she works for.
Motivation: To be at the top. Aisel's want for power is fueled by her desire to prove that, unlike her dead father, she will be the victor, and that she will not let anything, empathy, moral code, principle, absolutely anything, stand between success and her.
Role in the Story: It is rather unclear who she actually works for, despite being a council member. At times she would serve one councilman, then go on to serve the other councilman in the next conflict. It is as if she works only for herself. In reality, she is the Dragon to Argus Fairweather, leader of the Old Blood society, the Big Bad.
Backstory: An enigmatic figure, so much so that even the Swan Cadre, the Kingdom's secret police, doesn't know much about her, Aisel is from the House Kilimovich, a family of mages, her father being a minor officer in the Lions Regimen, the Kingdom's military. Displeased with her father's constant refusal to bloody his hand for the sake of promotion and favor from the higher-up, Aisel gradually became estranged from him as she grew up, and, when he died in a doomed exploration far into the heart of the unclaimed wilderness in search of ancient ruins, leaving her and her sickly mother little in terms of treasury, the dislike became full blown hatred. Aisel joined the Council as a clerk, but, determined as she is, quickly rose in prominence, using her feminine vile and her uncanny ability to be at the right place at the right time. Back then, it worked, because back then, she was a young lady of beauty, but ten odd years in her career quickly drove her to become what she is today. Along the way, though, she met a figure that changed her life entirely. That figure, a man by the name of Count Argus Fairweather, councilman, saw potential in her, and, understanding her lust for power and desire to prove her worth, convinced her to join his cause, that is, the Old Blood society. Since then, Aisel is pulling all the resources available to her to help further the Old Blood's goal, which is to bring down the Kingdom and establish a mage-ruled empire, like in the years far past.
Relevant Tropes
Abnormal Ammo: Her forte. Technically, it's not ammo, as the Philosopher basically does the incantations for her, but still... Things the gun can shoot include: chain lightning, armor piercing energy arrow, high explosive, projectile that nullifies all magical defense on hit, projectile that induces insanity (only temporarily), etc. The list goes on.
Aristocrats Are Evil: Quite the case. She's obsessed with being above others, being wealthy, and in general doesn't care what suffering her actions may bring to others.
The Chessmaster: As the 'Mediator', Aisel's job usually includes orchestrating conflicts where it will most suit her current master's wish, planning a permanent replacement of a political figure, and helping her current master in making deal with outside organizations, including the criminal ones.
The Corruption: The Kij Energy that she occasionally invokes is this. It's a powerful source of magic capable of effects traditional magic, or even ancient artifacts, are not, but it eats her from the inside, almost literally, every time she invokes it. Her look and personality as a whole also suffered quite a bit from it. After all, she was originally quite a fair lady, and quite a pleasant one, or at least more pleasant than what she is today.
Depraved Bisexual: Only a shade of this. Aisel doesn't show this at all in normal conversation, but those who know her on an intimate level know that she can at times be downright sexually dominating, and her habit of verbal abuse includes verbal sexual assault, regardless of whether she is talking to a man or woman. She's had many lovers, more of them female than male, but what makes her 'depraved' is her relationship and sexual encounters with people that are not her lovers. Aisel has a history of child abuse and rape, preferring young children of working class. The rape usually involves the Philosopher, her handgun. I shouldn't provide details beyond that.
Femme Fatale: What she used to be.
The Mole: Her true allegiance is with the Old Blood, and her true goal is to bring down the Kingdom that she serves.
Manipulative Bitch: Most people who work with her know by heart she's this, but many of them still fall for her scheme anyway. A few scathing comments and some unpleasant implication serve her well in driving people to do what she wants them to. Her current lover, Lamil Neige, a duelist under the patronage of Countess Julienne Goodheart, is subject to this, basically acting as her muscle when needed, and being her unwitting pawn in general.
In the Hood: In this case, bonnet.
edited 29th Nov '13 1:50:40 AM by Arreimil
On the foundation of glass a dream is built. And, like glass, it shatters.
An amazing villain! I'm always fond of master-manipulators and I find it slightly funny how even those aware of Lady Asiel's unpleasant nature and devious nature and still pulled into her schemes. However (and this may sound strange) one of the attributes that truly endears her to me are her weaknesses. I'm personally not very good with creating physically weak villains; the most I've ever been able to do are villains who are weak in comparison to those around them—in other words, people who would be insanely powerful in an average setting. But in this you've managed to create a relatively unremarkable set of powers (for your story's world) and give them to someone whose true gift is their ruthless, calculating mind. Great job.
edited 29th Nov '13 9:39:15 AM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Another writing assignment villain, this time one of a larger scale. He was originally a villain of a fanfic expansion to an RP here, but I repurposed the fic for my english class.
- Name: Michael Skye
- Age: 16?
- Personality: Michael is a genuinely kind young man, friendly, outgoing and relentlessly bright in the face of any kind of shortcoming. In spite of the fact that his family is basically dissolving at the seams, he is trying to keep it together. At school, he is a student in several AP classes, speaking of a high intelligence, and an apt mind. He has a particularly strong crush on a student two years his senior, Kaylie Stuart, and he seems to really, desperately want to get her attention. He has only recently started noticing odd things about himself - starting with the fact that ever since his sixteenth birthday, things have been flying around the house, pictures move, break and shatter, and people see shadow figures. Being a superstitious sort, he enjoys the idea of speculating as to the nature of what is going on in his house. He does, though, seem to have a hard time remembering too far into the past, so he cannot remember if anyone did anything there that might have invited something in. He is a very perceptive, verbal type of boy, noticing things quicker and more easily than others. He does have a strong yearning to see actual magic and wonders, even though he knows it probably doesn't exist. It is this, coupled with his own thought process that "there should be a happy ending", that leads him toward where he ends up. He is, however, also the type that is frustrated with the Status Quo, and doesn't think it should remain in place forever - especially if the status quo gets in the way of people being happy.
- Abilities: Michael might look like a normal teenager, but looks is all there is to it; he's a strange magical experiment, an attempt to create a powerful spirit or as it was called a "Fused Projected Artificial High Order Angelic Being". The attempt was wildly successful, but quickly went toward Gone Horribly Right - Michael's initial state was proving impossible to control. He became able to warp and distort reality, creating new reality and dimensions as he saw fit, manipulating powerful energy and even warping people's minds and memories. He was regarded as a dangerous failure, and his memories and powers were sealed away, his own belief making him, thus, into a powerless sixteen year old boy. This means his powers also encompass Your Mind Makes It Real and Clap Your Hands If You Believe.
- Weaknesses: At the start, he's just a teenage boy with some lofty ideas. Later on, his powers are limited only by what he thinks he can do. If you convince him his powers do not work on you, they won't until he thinks otherwise.
- Goals: "I want a happy ending".
- Motivation: Apparently, his family dissolving made him realize, with his great powers, he has the responsibility to use them to fix problems.
- Role in the story: Hero Antagonist Big Bad
- Backstory: Michael Skye was created as part of the SKYE Project, a dangerous magical experiment to try to create a celestial entity, the "chief sin" of the woman in charge of the "event". Michael grew out of control, initially, and was said to resemble eight concentric circles interconnected by glowing golden spears. He was turned down to a teenage boy by the efforts of his handlers, and given off to one of them, who had just lost her son not long ago to a deadly disease. Aside from his new appearance looking rather strange, there were no hints he was ever some sort of entity.
- Relevant Tropes:
- Amnesiac God: And a very, very, very powerful one at that. He's compared to the "evil kid from the Twilight Zone" once, but described as somehow being worse.
- Back from the Dead: A legitimate power in him - he can revive the dead as they were in life, which shows how this guy really is what the powers that be think he is. He does it three times, including once to try to cheer up The Hero by reviving his girlfriend. It backfires twice, but works well the last time.
- Badass Boast: "I don't have a choice - you people want your status quo to remain, I want it gone. I'll do what I have to!"
- Badass Finger Snap: Most often, when he uses his powers to let loose deadly golden lightning, he snaps his fingers to control its direction.
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: When Ramirez takes Kaylie into custody to try to force Michael into surrender, this triggers a defensive array Michael placed on her. The result is a pile of ash where a man once stood.
- Let alone his use of powerful lightning blasts in battle.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: What he suspected the Warper was doing when nobody reacted oddly to his new form, and in fact that bystanders seem to like him more. Michael himself contemplates it when he starts realizing he's got some incredible power at his finger tips. He tries it to make one particular person "happy and joyful", but he did not like the result, so he returned said person to normal.
- Energy Being: His true nature, or something like that. Whatever it is, its really hard to understand.
- God in Human Form: One solution he thinks of for how Kaylie's doing all this - she's a deity who got bored and decided to play with him. However, when the truth comes out, he never refers to himself as a God.
- Hero Antagonist: He's not particularly villainous. The worst thing he does is reconstitute someone's molecules - giving the unfortunate impression of him killing them temporarily - to make them unable to see him.
- Hero Killer: Despite his good intentions and merciful attitudes, he doesn't know his limits, so when he fights all out, he starts massacring named characters without seeming to really notice he was doing it. He doesn't particularly like how his powers are behaving.
- To be precise, More than 3/4 of the named characters in canon die to him. Only for him, at both endings, to bring them back.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Another of his powers - he removed one character's recollection of their encounter, and even removed said guy's ability to interact with him.
- One-Hit Kill: His lightning, usually, unless the target's got some pretty high order powers. Notably, when a group of people try to descend on him, he reflexively blasts them all with his lightning. None of them hit the floor after being struck - they were all reduced to ashes.
- Outside-Context Villain: His whole point as a character - there has been nothing even remotely like him before, and there probably won't be anything like him since. He's a radically different kind of character, and next to nobody understands him or his limitations.
- Physical God: Extraordinarily, monstrously powerful, he slightly changes reality around him the more aware he becomes. He's slowly projecting a field that could do some really bad stuff, starting with the fact that any unprotected Fae caught in it is hit with Ret-Gone. He's also capable of crafting entire new dimensions with living, sentient beings in them.
- Reality Warper: He is very suspicious at the start of the story of there being one of these in town, due to a large number of changes, last of which his gawky, unnerving appearance being changed to a more appealing one. Due to that last one, he suspected it was Kaylie who was the Warper. If you read the spoilers, you see that its Michael himself.
- Reality Warping Is Not a Toy: A harsh lesson for him. He starts learning this after a few temperamental incidents result in some people being "altered", odd effects resulting from his own dreams and wishes, and one particular nightmare releasing movie monsters on his hometown.
- Red Herring: There are a large number of alternative Reality Warper suspects, including Kaylie.
- Shout-Out: He's a big fan of comics, so his room is littered with posters and comics. One of his comics foreshadowing his role later is that of the opening issue of The Korvac Saga.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: His reaction to one Fae lecturing him about his limited human comprehension and how its a pipe dream to try to change things from the way they are is a simple "Shut Up", walking through all said Faerie's spells, and then reducing him to his atomic components for how he was roughly grabbing Kaylie earlier.
- Uncanny Valley Boy: He looks rather thin and wiry, his eyes are doll-like, large and way too like an anime character's eyes, his blond hair looks plastic, and his skin is very pale.
- Until he unconsciously uses his powers to change his appearance to a handsome, muscular young man. Though "something" remains a little off about his eyes.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: His other thought of what Kaylie might be up to. Michael himself starts to dip into this, though he rejects the Ends Justify The Means ideas. As far as he's concerned, regardless of what the Status Quo allows or permits, if it makes people unhappy it cannot stay. Given the setting of this fic, this is presented as more severe than it usually would be.
- Villain Respect: Michael has nothing but respect for heroic people trying to defend their loved ones. He'd really prefer not fighting them - "We can work together to make a better world!"
- Walking Spoiler: As you can see from all the spoilers, this is no Ordinary High-School Student.
- What If?: The story ends two ways - with Michael repairing the damage he dealt, and then leaving, or triumphing over the world order, completing his plan, and creating a peaceful new order on Earth - no Fair Folk, no demons, no monsters, no Eldritch Abominations of any sort, no vampires, no Gods, just humanity, with a new system regulating magic, and Michael himself living peacefully in a suburb with Kaylie and a pair of kids they adopted.
edited 29th Nov '13 3:06:28 PM by NickTheSwing
This guy...I honestly have spent twenty minutes just sitting here trying to think up an appropriate response for this. He's an amazing character, definitely one of the most powerful beings I've seen anyone create. Though he is a Hero Antagonist I also have to say he is one by far the most terrifying thing you've posted on here. The idea that someone can mess with the nature of reality itself in order to make you feel things you wouldn't normally feel, erase your memories, reconstitute your molecules...urrgh. But he seems to be well thought out and I'm curious about the universe of this story as well—or is this the same one as all the others?.
edited 29th Nov '13 5:18:55 PM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
No, its a fanfic of a different verse. I specifically chose to write about him due to the idea of it - this is a verse of magic that is usually pretty scientific in nature, usually limited in scale and function. There has been, as I said, nothing like him before.
Thus, I decided to experiment with how people and characters would react to such an Outside-Context Villain, someone so completely alien and with power levels previously unheard of, and with motives so incredibly human that he averts Eldritch Abomination by virtue of the fact that while he has an astounding amount of power, it is coupled with a regular, idealistic teenager's motivations.
Consider that he unconsciously made The Bully his best friend, completely overwriting the guy's personality and traits, co-opting his entire life and redirecting it into a different direction. And neither said bully nor Michael himself had any idea this even happened, and just thought Michael was his best friend the whole time and that they were never anything but best friends.
edited 29th Nov '13 5:50:04 PM by NickTheSwing
The Silly Gloom
Thanks. The problem with Aisel is that I'm still not even sure how her day job as a Mediator would even play out, as she seems too heavily focused on the double agent side of thing. I'm quite sure she's plenty creepy and disgusting enough, though, as of the current progress of my RP
Somehow, maybe obviously, he appears to me somewhat as a weird mix between Doctor Manhattan and Suzumiya Haruhi. The former, I really like, the latter, not so, but Michael being a hero antagonist may be what makes him different. I can't really say though, since I have a personal, rather irrational dislike for teenagers with reality bending power. Pardon me.
Figured I should post the opposite of the Lady
Name: Reinhardt
Age: Approximately 25
Personality: Imagine a duty-bound hunter whose violent enthusiasm takes him far above and beyond duty to kill, not only to fulfill any obligation, but to keep himself entertained. Reinhardt, for the lack of better adjectives to describe him, is insane. Whatever human quality and personality he once had has long been eroded by extensive isolation and mental torment/conditioning by his handler, Elder Marie. As is, the man barely speaks like a normal human being, instead opting to speak as if he is narrating a folktale. To most ordinary people, Reinhardt appears both childlike and animalistic. Unlike his fellow hunters of the Order of Glass, who are loyal, fanatical, and well organized, Reinhardt operates strictly on his own, without any code of conduct interfering, and will gleefully kill anyone; his target, people working for his target, people between him and his target, even people in proximity of his target, all fair games to him. This indiscriminate frenzy and nigh-uncontrollable urge to kill, however, renders him rather predictable, and Reinhardt never makes the point of being cunning or even creative. He's a beast, and any who understand the nature of beasts can, theoretically, best him.
Abilities: The only ability unique to him on a biological level is inhuman resilience. As a child, he might be considered a mutant, one who is born with magical defect. In Reinhardt's case, he was simply 'tougher' than others. His wounds heal much more rapidly, though not at the astounding rate, considering that healing magic can achieve much better results, with minimal efforts. Under the care of Elder Marie, however, he has had the Undying Rose artifact, an ancient crystal that forbids its wearer from ever truly dying unless it is separated from him, at the cost of constant pain, embedded in his skull. This allows him to withstand unbelievable amount of damage, and, combined with his natural ability, to perform acrobatic feats that are sure to break human bones and muscles. He also wields two extremely rare artifacts: the Gateway Dagger, whose already razor-sharp blade can, at the behest of its wielder, send whatever it touches to the chaos world of Kij, permanently, and the Coward's Cloak, a magical cloak that can temporarily shift its wearer out to Kij, and doing so harmlessy, allowing him to 'cease' to exist for a few seconds or mimic teleportation.
Weakness: Lack of tactical thinking. The best Reinhardt can come up with is a surprise attack from the shadow, and that's useless in a prolonged battle. He also takes to battle as playing a game or being in a folktale, meaning that he can't actually follow a more complex tactical decision made by his enemy, and can easily be tricked or lured into a trap. Physically, he is also particularly vulnerable against spells that directly manipulate artifact operations, since his life support system is basically an artifact, not to mention his primary armaments. And strong, albeit only truly strong ones, blows to his head can threaten him. Artificers are his bane.
Goals: To kill mages, as would be proper for a member of the Order. Reinhardt holds no delusion of grandeur. He only does what is fun to him, and that fun comes directly from killing as many mages as possible.
Motivation: It was originally revenge that had driven Reinhardt to kill. His family died at the hands of mages from the Lerebys, after all. Over time, it gradually became pure bloodlust. Now, he seeks nothing but to 'hunt', either until he dies, or there's no one left to kill.
Role in the Story: Psycho for Hire employed by the Church Militant to kill mages, and who does so indiscriminately.
Backstory: Reinhardt was born Wilheim Griffith, son to the Lion's Court Prosecutor Friedrich Griffith, Viscount. Unbeknownst to him, Viscount Griffith was also a member of the Order of Glass, an underground organization devoted to the worship of the Fifth Seraph, Nychia, the Angel of Punishment, and hunting dangerous mages, and, close to unearthing a scheme undertaken by the underground society of mages Lerebys, his manner was assaulted, him and his wife brutally killed, and little Wilheim was left for dead, only for the Order to rescue him in time. Under the care of Elder Marie, one of the four Elders of the Order, he was given the Undying Rose, and since then has been trained to be her personal agent. During this time, he was kept away from the society at large, unlike other members who are planted within the Kingdom, to be activated as needed. For a decade, he had practically vanished from the face of the earth, and when he reemerge at Merolin to conduct his first mission, where the result was nothing short of a very bloody massacre, he earned the nickname 'the Beast of Merolin'. Since then, he has been deployed by Elder Marie on missions that call for extreme violence, where the target must be eliminated at all cost. What he doesn't know, however, is that the people who killed his parents were not of Lerebys, but of the other secret society, the Old Blood. Not that he cares anymore anyway. He'd kill them all the same.
Relevant Tropes
Absurdly Sharp Blade: The Gateway Dagger is itself plenty sharp, and very strong, able to cut through normal plate armor even without activating its power. When fully activated, however, the Gateway practically transports any material touched by it to the chaos world Kij, effectively a clean 'cut'. It can do this to almost any material, alchemical or otherwise.
Artifact of Doom: The Undying Rose, an ancient artifact from the pre-Dissonance age. How it works exactly is unclear, but it prevents the wearer, or host, from ever truly dying. The only way to kill the host is to separate the crystal from the host. The price of the power it grants is in the form of constant pain, and, possibly, driving its host mad.
Ax-Crazy: Obviously.
Corrupt the Cutie: Subjected to this. As Wilheim, he's an adorable young son of a nobleman who didn't really understand the grand scheme of things or the ancient conflict between the Order of Glass and the mages. As Reinhardt, he was driven utterly insane by the Undying Rose and Marie's constant messing with his psyche, feeding him information regarding how his family was killed and why. The end result, a violent, psychopathic murdering 'Beast of Merolin'.
Expy: Of Painwheel, from Skullgirls
Healing Factor: Not to the extent of being immortal, but as long as he is not killed on the spot, which is something extremely difficult to do, he can be repaired and brought back. The Undying Rose artifact and his inability to distinguish between pain and pleasure also help to enhance this ability.
Psycho for Hire: He doesn't care much about the whole Order and mages thing, or even the affairs of the Kingdom. He's here because he likes killing mages.
edited 2nd Dec '13 12:11:46 AM by Arreimil
On the foundation of glass a dream is built. And, like glass, it shatters.
I know nothing of Skullgirls, so I'l have to take this character as it is—which is a good thing; I'd rather have my perception unclouded by the media he was inspired by, lol. You're definitely right he is the exact opposite of Lady Asiel. I like him; his Psychopathic Manchild tendencies are the perfect bit of dissonance between his hulking and monstrous physical power and his immature and insane perspective on the world. Somehow I just imagine him looking like Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine, with this high-pitched, breathlessly creepy voice and Slasher Smile. However he is not totally devoid of my sympathies; the idea that he fell victim to killers just because of something his father did is an appalling injustice, which definitely deserves to be avenged. I guess the people who attacked his family didn't know they were creating such a monster!
. As for the crystal implanted in him...ouch. Talk about Power at a Price. Like I said, he sounds terrifying, but at he does wring the old heartstrings at the same time. A good, very nuanced character.
edited 3rd Dec '13 3:51:44 PM by Swordofknowledge
Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace
Now: I do an actual, singular villain from where the Confederation of Light is!
Name: Judge Paradox aka Sophia Paradox, originally Sophie Callahan
Age: As old as the universe, if you believe him. Metachronically speaking, she's telling the truth-as far as Earth time goes, that's only about 9,000 years. Was 16 when she died in her native universe.
Personality: Condescending, arrogant, and intimidating, Paradox is a stereotypical Straw Nihilist Evil Overlord (a fact that is repeatedly lampshaded by the Trimurti, the main protagonists), acting very overbearing and megalomanical when not ranting about the "fallacy of existence" that fears an end to pain and treasures being over the innocence of non-being, his long-windedness matched only by his irrelevance. Really, he's just an annoying Space Pirate with a better-than-average Humongous Mecha, which is actually kind of impressive given how difficult it is to obtain one without backing (Paladins belong to the Confederation and their AI knows it, Solomonic Familiars can only be bound to one person alone and return to superspace after that person's death, and only the Maladanti know the binding rite. His mech is a "guardian" mech, a mass-produced version attached to the vanguard of a frigate and only capable of short flight from said frigate before running out of fuel).
After he suddenly Takes A Level In Badass and reveals a new Solomonic Familar and his ability to control Outer Beings, he starts to display a strangely compassionate element to his personality, comforting his defeats before he finishes them off with a quick shot, unless they are Outer, who he takes time out to destroy utterly. He also begins to respect his enemies more, firing off Combat Compliments and accepting defeat gracefully-such a complete 180 from his previous character that it spooks the Trimurti.
Ultimately, it turns out he is both of those mecha-more than that, a sort of "mental shadow" of one of the orphans the Trimurti bring onboard the Jeoseung...except, she's not really an orphan, but the sealed form of Sophia Paradox, the Judge's pilot and Creator of the universe the story is in-Judge Paradox turns out to be the manifestation of her bitterness towards her creations and self-loathing for making them that way. Once she enters the cockpit, the two sides merge, and she reveals her true nature-a pessimistic, angry, and despairing woman who hates everything about her creation-the cruel hunger of the Outer, the depersonalized inhumanity of the Confederation, the alien callousness of demons, the anarchic fanaticism of the Malandanti-but most of all herself, for making it that way, and the system that allows monsters like her to create other people to suffer their for their Creators' madness. She is, however, prone to immature insults when upset or flights of fancy when calm. Essentially, think a female Holden Caulfield as a supervillain.
After she awakens, Sophia becomes an outright Reality Warper capable of creating loyal fleets of starships and so-called "Da'at" mecha with enough time and a good power source, even a star system or three (and does so to create a home base). She's also an extremely competent pilot and sorceress, having codified most of the rules that govern both. The reborn Judge (Chokhmah) is no slouch either, combining all of its previous abilities with massive energy weapons and the "Qliphotic Render", a mecha-sized sword made from a spatial anomaly and quite possibly the sharpest of the sharp. Her real ability, lies in tearing holes in the fabric of the universe through paradoxes, places where the world is still unfinished and doesn't quite align-a planet having normal Earth gravity and days despite being bigger, for instance. If she has the opportunity, she can "create the void" out of it, a pocket dimension where only her will holds sway.
Sophia herself is easily upset and distracted, meaning taunting works, although she can stop herself from doing something really stupid. Above all else, she has to play by the rules of the universe she set outside of Paradox Worlds-and those aren't particularly common, since the universe has had 9,000 years to iron out the kinks. Quite simply, if the possibility of a fighting chance exists, it does, such as when the Trimurti figure out how to become the collective Creator of a new universe, using the fact that they are three people who cannot agree on anything as their chaos to give it life, thus nixing her Paradox World abilities (they can simply superimpose their universe's laws over it) and forcing her to fight like a mech pilot, albeit one with a very powerful mech and a lot of magic.
Sophia's motivation is one founded in her own failures and observations of the universe-she's found that the only way to become a Creator is to suffer from some sort of mental illness, as all universes need some degree of chaos to have self-will, and effectively believe in their own existence-a universe of perfect order is either an infinitely-large statue or disappears as soon as you stop looking. Thanks to her past (and the fact that her malfunction is a combination of clinical depression and Borderline Personality), she also suffers from no small degree of Internalized Categorism and believes that rule makes the multiverse irredeemable-all those like her do is cause pain. Ergo, she wants to fix that by making some degree of chaos Inherent in the System, hence removing the need of her existence to create new universes.
Once Sophia is reborn, her real goal quickly manifests: To reabsorb her creation, then use the energy to invade and absorb other universes into herself until she gains enough power to rewrite the laws of the universe so that the insane cannot become Creators. And then probably kill herself, as the only thing keeping her going is that goal, as she genuinely believes herself utterly worthless apart from saving the multiverse from people like her. No, she doesn't have a particularly high self-esteem, where did you get that idea?
(Will continue)
edited 16th Nov '13 10:51:07 PM by Leliel
What rises must fall, what falls may rise again.