The Return of the Soul Guardian
((Migration of approved profile from Althanas 3.0.))
((Changes from Level 2 will be in red. Section headings that are in red have been completely rewritten or heavily edited. This is due to the two years IC that have passed. Please let me know if you have any questions. Level 2 is found here.))
Name: Kryos
Age: 26
Race: Dwiilar
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Crimson/Silver
Height: 5’ 11â€
Weight: 168 lbs
Details:
Occupation: Wanderer, Soul Mage
Personality: Kryos is driven by the desire and wish to unravel the mysteries of the soul. His upbringing as a Dwiilar, a race gifted with soul magic, served to set the stage for his desire and the way in which he goes about it. He has turned away from his kind’s historical approach of observing from afar, and now has no qualms with directly getting involved in the current events that are shaping Althanas. As such, the line between good and evil is barely discernable in his eyes. What matters to him are souls, and preserving the balance between life and death.
Experience robbed him of innocence years ago and left him with the knowledge that life is cruel. Methodical and usually soft spoken, he prefers taking action in order to overcome obstacles, rather than sit around and talk about it. Yet his insights, when he does voice them, show wisdom beyond his mere twenty-six years.
Kryos keeps his emotions to himself, and rarely makes attempts to develop close relationships. The guilt he carries of his betrayals, failures and mistakes have taught him that to get close is to become vulnerable. As such, he would rather be considered cold and indifferent, even a villain, than add to that weight. Revenge has long since ceased to be a major motivation for him. Now, he walks the hard path toward redemption.
Since losing parts of his memory, many of which are key pieces of his identity (one of which being his last name), he has delved into many paths that he otherwise would never consider. He takes the view that the ends justifies the means, and if his hands are to be dirtied in the process, so be it. While he does wish to restore his memory, he isn’t going to let missing memories prevent him from moving forward or hinder his personal development.
Appearance: Kryos’ most distinguishable features are his eyes. During daylight, the crimson hue, as red as freshly-spilt blood, seems to burn with the fire of determination. In the darkness of the night, they are stained silver and speak of cold calculation. No matter the time, his gaze is sure, piercing through darkness and guile alike, even to the depths of the soul. When invoking his powers, his iris’ glow with even stronger brilliance. His eyes are set in a strong, narrow face that many would consider handsome. His fair complexion is framed by his short, dark hair. Forgotten blues and deep indigoes can be seen amidst the black in certain light, or if the wind catches the feathered, free strands just right. His ears are rounded, rather than pointed like others of his kind. Despite this, those who meet him are never sure if he is one of the mortal races or of the fair folk.
His voice is in the range of a baritone, with and occasional deeper resonance. When he speaks, he has near perfect articulation.
Kryos is well built; his body has been honed and crafted through his upbringing among his people as well as through surviving the Corpse War. While he possesses multiple scars across his body, most have healed so well as to be barely discernible. Beneath his fair skin, strong muscles cover his body, but they are of the shape and strength befitting the elves, and he carries himself with similar grace.
Most of the time, Kryos wears comfortable clothing that allow him full range of motion of all his limbs. He prefers shirts and pants that are the deepest shade of twilight—black with a hint of blues. If inclement weather arises, he has a thick, heavy cloak that is trimmed with white, and has often been the only means by which he has kept warm through cold nights. His two swords are kept in simple, dark sheaths. When travelling, he prefers going light and relying on his survival skills rather than a lot of equipment. At times, however, he has a small pack that he wears over his left shoulder that he uses to carry money, his journal and writing supplies, and a spare set of clothing.
Belongings:
Weapons:
- Kryos owns two swords, the longer of the two usually finding its home strapped diagonally across his back with the hilt at his right shoulder. This steel sword is of elven make; its blade is approximately 40 inches in length, double edged, and has a standard guard and haft that allows him to wield it with either one or both hands. Its sheath is plain black. Kryos found this sword in the ruins of Trenyce while working alongside the Dread Lord and found it to be to his liking, and has since made it his own.
- A steel short sword with blade measuring 20 inches in length of unknown origin. This blade is single edged and has a slight curve, with a small, circular guard measuring 2.5 inches across. This weapon was also obtained in Trenyce, found buried in the remains of a tavern along with its sheath which Kryos subsequently dyed black. He carries this sword on his lower back and able to be drawn easily with his left hand.
Armor and Clothing:
- Two pairs of standard clothing, including cotton shirts, pants, as well as wool socks. They are black in color and easy to replace at local markets if they become too worn.
- A thick cloak with hood. It is dark indigo in color with a trim of pure white.
- Black leather boots that have withstood the abuse of the road exceedingly well.
- A pair of comfortable, black, leather gloves that allow full range of motion of the fingers and serve equal purpose of protection, style and warmth.
- Currently, Kryos has no armor of his own.
Accessories/ Miscellaneous:
- A black, leather-bound journal with silver inlay that Kryos obtained after he began his research in Trenyce. It contains all of his research notes concerning souls, necromancy and his own magic. It also serves a secondary purpose as a chronicle of his travels and experiences.
- An enchanted silver ring which he wears on his right middle finger. It has a Dwiilarian symbol engraved on one side, the meaning of which is unknown. It has a master level passive enchantment that protects his body from necromantic energies, diseases and plagues, as well as most poisons. It also has the ability to purify food and drink twice a day in the amount of a small meal. The ring is the only possession he still has from before he lost his memory at the end of the Corpse War. The Death Lord Maeril Thyrrian enchanted it shortly after his arrival to Trenyce.
- A medium sized travel pack that is large enough to store an extra pair of clothing, his cloak, a small towel, journal and writing instruments, and his hunting knife, with room to spare for anything else he may pick up on his travels.
- A decent sized, all-purpose knife that he uses primarily for cleaning game, but is able to be used for whatever else he may need it for.
The Dwiilar:
Soul guardians, watchers of the spirits, and the peacekeepers of the dead. These are just a few of the whispered rumors used to describe the rare and secretive race of the Dwiilar. While they prefer to remain in the shadows and myths of history, their actual home lies hidden in Orodrim Lomei, the Mountains of Dusk, in Raiaera. After the events and devastation of the Corpse War and subsequent Aleran invasion, the Dwiilar have scattered across Althanas as individuals or in small groups or families.
The Dwiilar are often mistaken for humans or elves as they are very similar to both in anatomy and physiology. Their average lifespan is between 140 and 160 years, with the elders living beyond 200. What sets the Dwiilar apart, however, is their innate power over souls and their ocular abilities.
A Dwiilar’s eye color changes during the transition from day to night, and with it so do some of his abilities. This transition is called the Transient State, and during it the Dwiilar are not able to use the abilities that are tied to their eyes. In addition, the quality of their vision is significantly reduced during this time. Outside of this time at sunrise and sunset, their eyes grant them incredible vision in terms of clarity and distance, as well as vision in darkness, that is superior to that of high elves and dark elves alike.
The eyes of the Dwiilar give them the ability to see the souls of both those living in Althanas, as well as the souls of those who have died and moved beyond to the Realm of Souls. Within this realm, there are multiple levels, or depths, that the Dwiilar are able to see and, essentially, explore. This ability is called Fargazing. In addition, the Dwiilar wield a powerful soul magic that stems from mastery over their own soul. As no two people are alike, the manifestation of this magic is unique to each Dwiilar. This magic allows the Dwiilar to directly affect the souls of others, whether in the Realm of Souls or in Althanas. While Fargazing, the color of their eyes glow with increased brilliance.
Not only does the Fargaze allow the Dwiilar to see souls, but it also blesses them with increased physical abilities that are dependent on eye color. These “Gazes,†as they are called, range from physically improving speed and reaction time, to being able to blend almost perfectly with shadows. There are six in all, three for the colors of daylight (sapphire, emerald and crimson), and three for those of the night (violet, gold and silver).
Using soul magic does not cause significant strain to the Dwiilar. However, Fargazing takes considerably more effort. Like their soul magic, mastery of the Fargaze will improve with training and experience.
Skills:
Inquisitor: Naturally curious, and driven by his pursuit of knowledge and truth in the world, Kryos does his best to learn as much as he can from any given situation. This allows him to do most any job he takes a fancy to, and could be called a Jack-of-all-Trades. His fluency in Dwiilarian and Common has been a great asset to him, and he has begun to study Elvish as well. These studies have benefitted him in that he has above average proficiency for one who is not a native speaker. From traveling the world and his conversations with others, he has a good knowledge of the geography of Althanas, and the main peoples within. He prefers to experience life first hand rather than sit and learn from pages and pages of ink.
The Art of War: The training he received during his upbringing before his self-banishment gave him the guidance and discipline to continue his study of combat. He is an expert when it comes to his skill of swords, both two handed and one handed. However, when it comes to other tools of war, he is of average proficiency with daggers and is below average with ranged/projectile weapons. He is also below average when it comes to heavy weapons such as hammers, battle axes, halberds and spears.
Kryos has become above average in hand to hand combat. He utilizes his increased speed to deliver effective hand strikes, kicks, and grappling techniques in order to gain the advantage over his opponents.
Synergy: Kryos strives to continually improve upon his skills, especially in combat. As such, he is a firm believer that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. To this end, he constantly seeks ways to utilize all of his abilities during fights, utilizing unarmed techniques with swordplay while simultaneously Fargazing and using his soul magic. Results are varied at best, and this is an area that Kryos recognizes he can improve in.
Abilities:
Racial Abilities: Kryos, like the rest of the Dwiilar, has physical abilities matching the elves, rather than humans. As such, their speed and grace is equivalent to 2.5x the average human, and their senses are 3.5x that of humans. However, because of their advanced eyes, their eyesight is better than both elves and human: approximately 5x that of humans at their best.
Soul Mage: Kryos’ research alongside necromancy has given him unprecedented control over his own soul for one his age, and as a result, has expert level soul magic. This magic is unique in appearance and different from one Dwiilar to the next, although there are common characteristics in its manifestation. These include the color of the magic being black or white or an assortment of both, as well as an almost flame-like quality. Kryos’ magic takes the form of slowly unraveling spirals that fragment as the ends of the spirals get further from the point of manifestation. A good description of his magic can be found here (see first paragraph).
It is easiest for the Dwiilar to summon this magic to their own body, but with training are able to channel to weapons they wield and even across space to objects beyond their reach. At this point, Kryos is able to channel his magic through the weapons he owns, with the material of the weapon affecting that extent as normal.
Due to his proficiency and knowledge of the soul through his recent research, Kryos is a very dangerous foe for the undead. He is able to sever the ties between soul and the plane of Althanas in most undead with ease, resulting in effective death. Difficulty scales with the intelligence of the undead, so Kryos would have difficulty trying to do so to the undead of higher rank. Trying to sever the soul of a Death Lord would certainly get him killed, as he would have to put all of his effort into it for a sustained time, during which he would be defenseless to magic or physical attack.
During his time with the Dread Lord Maeril Thyrrian, he has learned how to enhance and augment the souls of the Corpse Horde. As a result, with assistance from necromancers, he has been able to give never before seen skills and abilities to undead minions. However, Kryos is not able to create undead warriors himself, or call them to his aid, as this lies in the realm of necromancy. At most, he is only able to pacify hostile undead threats, although it is usually simpler for Kryos to simply sever their souls and return them to the state of death.
Not only this, but Kryos is able to manipulate and affect any soul which he is able to see through Fargazing, including the living. However, because of his lack of living research subjects during his work with the undead, he hasn’t been able to fully explore or develop this application of his magic. At this point in time, he prefers to deal with living opponents with his other skills and abilities.
Fargazing: Kryos has greatly improved his ability to Fargaze in Althanas and use his associated Gazes. This is due to the last two years of effort in researching souls and augmenting the forces of the undead. His ability level is best described as adept, although he lacks more of the practical experience of using his Gazes. At this time, he is able to sustain the Fargaze for two continuous hours in Althanas during which he is able to see the souls of those around him and possibly learn of their nature from observation. Kryos is able to do this twice per day, with a period of rest equal to at least two hours between the two. Using the powers associated with his specific Gazes reduces the time he is able to Fargaze.
- Blood Gaze: The second rarest Gaze, available during the day when his eyes are crimson, allows Kryos to read the motion around him with almost perfect detail. This is extremely useful in combat, where this ability has an effect that is similar to slowing down the passage of time to the point where Kryos can read the moves of his opponents and counter them almost as well as if he could read their minds. In rare instances, he is able to learn the moves he analyzes, thereby adding them to his knowledge of combat prowess. Kryos is well aware, however, that even if he can see incoming attacks, that doesn't mean that he has the physical ability to avoid or counter them.
While Kryos is no master at the Blood Gaze, he has significantly improved his ability in it. Currently, his can use this Gaze at two different levels that are determined by the amount of focus he uses when activating it. The low intensity level allows him four minutes of increased perception that is equivalent to seeing things at half speed. With a great amount of concentration, he is able to enter a hyper-state of awareness which allows him to read movements almost as well as if he had read the minds of the one he is analyzing. However, he can only maintain this state for 15 seconds. Once Kryos begins the Blood Gaze, he cannot shift between these two levels. At this point, he is able to activate Blood Gaze twice per day with rest between them, or once per battle.
- Second Wind: An adaption of the Blood Lizard sheer strength, Kryos can summon enough primal determination to force his body to continue to perform for five extra minutes beyond his normal limits. Using Second Wind leaves him completely exhausted, unable to walk or move well for several hours. Kryos only uses this as a last resort. Adapted from Lexxum Vordic in the Lindequalmë.
- Moon Gaze: The rarest of all Dwiilar Gazes, available at night when his eyes are silver, gives Kryos the ability to discern Truth. The application of this ability changes from person to person, and often changes and grows with experience. Some applications of this could be seeing through illusions to having an almost complete grasp on if someone is lying. For Kryos, Moon Gaze allows him to detect the presence of the souls of others in his immediate vicinity. While similar to what basic Fargazing does, which works off line of sight, Moon Gaze works irrespective of what may lie between Kryos and others. However, this does not allow him to become aware of those in other dimensions or parallel-realities or other realms. His current range is a 40 yard radial sphere. He is able to use Moon Gaze for one continuous hour.
Realms of Souls: For the past two years, not only has Kryos been missing key parts of his memory, but he has altogether lost the ability to see and enter the Realm of Souls. As such, he is unable to interact with or manipulate souls that are not already in the same plane as Althanas.
History:
Kryos Ralshyn was born in the capital of his people, Evalintal, in the year CP 1789. As a child, he was treated just as any other child. He grew up with friends and the loving care of his people. Of course, his two eye colors, crimson and silver, meant that he had the potential to become the more than just an individual, but no one could be sure. Then, when he turned eleven years old, he had a dream deep within the Realm of Souls in a place called the Birthplace. This proved his inheritance of a noble lineage of Dwiilar, not passed through blood, but by souls, which signified that he held hidden potential and ability.
His training of combat and Dwiilar abilities began immediately. Time passed and he matured in both mind and prowess. His life, though difficult and frustrating at times, was good.
Until that night when he was fifteen.
His best friend was brutally murdered before his eyes by others of his kind for reasons he has never discovered. Although he is unsure how he managed to escape, he blamed himself for being too weak to save him. His innocence was shattered and he ran. Away away from his people, his home, his duty. He ran in a blinded fear that kept him going, and through it all he refused to accept what had happened.
In the beginning, revenge drove him forward and he wasted five years chasing shadows. At this point, his experience had grown as he traveled to Alerar, Salvar and Corone. While not completely giving up on revenge, he changed his priorities to improving his own skills so that he could prevent something like that from ever happening again. He decided to go to Scara Brae, the land of new beginnings.
After living on the island nation for three years, it was time to move on. He set sail to the land of the elves, and set foot on his home continent for the first time in eight years. He arrived and, once entering the landlocked capital, immersed himself in the vibrant culture. Peace, however, was not to last.
Xem’Zund had returned, laying waste to the soil and people of Raiaera with his legions of undead. He knew that to stay would be tempting death, so he ran, intent on seeking refuge in Alerar. But before he could make it far, he met a group of survivors from Valinatal, now a crater in the earth. He agreed to help them and made for Anebrilith, but one of the warriors was killed before they made it. Anger in his heart at his death, he returned to the Obsidian Spire and solved his curiosity and satisfied his bloodlust, accepting the death of his friend.
Shortly thereafter, he found himself stumbling upon the remaining forces of the Legion of Light in the Emyn Naug. After they secured the first major victory at the Battle of Nenaebreth, Kryos parted from the Legion for a time to escort his ward, a elf youth named Anne Fallworth, out of the war-torn land. Once he had secured her passage to Scara Brae, he set out again across the battlefields in an attempt to catch up with the Legion of Light.
His chase led him to the underground retreat of the Forgotten One himself. While the Dawnbringers fought against the power of the Necromancer, Kryos struggled through the undead minions that filled the caverns and tunnels in an attempt to lend his aid. However, he was not swift enough. Xem’Zund was defeated and the Dawnbringers escaped, unknowingly forsaking Kryos as he lay trapped in the collapsed caverns a mere hundred feet from where the Forgotten One was destroyed.
All was not lost, nor did Kryos perish in that tomb. He was rescued by the Death Lord Maeril Thyrrian, who appeared a few days after the final battle. He found the Dwiilar with extensive damage to both body and mind and no memory of how he had come to be trapped. Judging his abilities over souls to be of worth, the Dread Lord took Kryos to his stronghold in the ruined city of Trenyce near the northern coast of Raiaera. It has been in these ruins, amongst the Plague Horde, that Kryos has spent the last two years researching the extents of his own magic as well as searching for answers behind his lost and fragmented memories.
Prologue
- The Last Night - Solo, in which innocence is lost and adventure begins.
The Corpse War (Raiaera FQ)
Remembrance
- Prelude to Souls - Solo, where a forgotten warrior sets out from the shadows seeking answers.
