Amen
03-07-10, 03:49 AM
Name: Marcus Book
Age: Young Adult (Date of birth unknown)
Race: Human
Hair Color: Very Dark
Eye Color: Dark (See Appearance)
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 220 lbs.
Occupation: Marcus is a member of a militant semi-religious order devoted to the eradication of diabolic sorcery and its ilk, and the end to any influence from what some call lower planes.
Personality
Early trauma and a youth devoted to training for a stark line of work have produced a flawed individual in Marcus Book. Though not offensive or even socially ungraceful, Marcus has trouble understanding some basic social mores and common but complex emotional cues. At the surface he seems to be a reserved man, simple and low-key but well meaning. Those that attempt to get closer to him find that he is a firmly closed book, and will begin to notice an inability to empathize with the deeper, softer side of the emotional spectrum. If pressed directly, he will readily admit that he cannot remember ever feeling honest joy or peace or the intense swell of affection most people are at least capable of.
Internally, Marcus has long known that he is not a normal - or good - man. He sees himself as an unwavering soldier in the war against the darkness and feels absolutely no temptation to stray from his rigid path, and the ease in which he accepts that path is the problem. He is incapable of mercy for those that deal with devils, even those that do so out of ignorance, and he feels no intrinsic, moral compulsion to defend the innocent. No demoniac charmer can give him pause, not with offers of wanton bodies, infinite wealth, or endless life and comfort.
Marcus lives for the hunt, and wants nothing but to feel iniquitous bones snap beneath his boot. Unlike his peers in The Brotherhood, this stems not from righteous fervor but from Marcus’ own inner darkness.
Appearance
Book has a notable presence for any number of reasons, and is difficult to overlook. He is broad-shouldered and prodigiously muscled in a way that suggests constant and intense strength training. He is a somewhat stout man, with short, thick-thewed legs and a long torso to compensate.
As a result of a Fallien grandmother on his mother’s side, Marcus naturally has olive skin and dark hair and eyes. Knights in The Brotherhood ritually shave their heads every three weeks, and so Marcus’ hair is rarely more than swarthy peach fuzz on his scalp. His countenance is severe and grave by default due to dark moods, intense eyes, and a heavy brow, though he makes a conscious effort to affect friendliness and softness in polite company. He has a strong jaw and a tendency toward thin facial hair, and so remains clean shaven whenever possible.
Marcus’ eyes are worth a special note, as are those of all the members of The Brotherhood. Any being that channels energy from The Source seems to develop an arresting golden glint in his or her eyes. At first one might mistake this glint for the reflection of some distant fire, but a light-touched person’s eyes will glint and glow even in pitch darkness. This mark is especially prominent in Marcus’ eyes, being that his eyes and features are naturally so very dark, and because his brow is particularly heavy. Should even the slightest shadow play over his face, Marcus’ eyes instead seem to be twin sparks dancing in unison in the deep voids of his eye sockets.
Though it is an uncommon practice for knights so young, Book opted to have his left arm tattooed with a network of large, austere angelic symbols that run from his upper bicep down to the back of his hand. These tattoos were done with a special ink mixture that glows intensely when Source-energy is channeled through it. Since Source-light runs through the body constantly and unconsciously, Book’s tattoos always produce at least a little light and he must concentrate if he wishes to dull it.
Though it is easy to miss, Marcus has a thin scar just beneath his ribs far to his left side, running about two and a half inches long.
History
Little is known about Marcus Book before he was taken in by The Brotherhood: an order of men and women who have devoted their lives to rooting out and destroying supernatural evil and iniquity. His earliest memories are vague impressions of the ocean and the sway the sea imposes on large ships. Though The Brotherhood’s scribes paint an exciting picture of his early childhood that he knows to be true, Book has no recollection of the events that placed him firmly on the path he treads today.
Marcus was, the scribes tell him, the happy offspring of a successful merchant from Salvar and an exotic beauty he met and married in the slums of Fallien’s trade quarter – herself the illegitimate daughter of a native Fallien maid and an outsider. The scribes don’t know when Marcus was born or where, and believe it possible that he was birthed at sea. It is certain that the first few years of his life were spent in transit from one port to the next.
When he was very young – no older than five – the Book family and their ship was attacked by pirates operating out of Corone. Though the pirates were repulsed, Marcus’ father gave his life to shield his son from the thrust of a sword, which passed through the elder Book’s body to give the younger a scar he still carries. Even today, despite not being able to remember that early brush with death, Marcus finds Coronic accents grating.
Being an illegitimate child and having only cursory knowledge of sailing vessels and commerce, Marcus’ mother had no means to support herself or her injured son. She liquidated her late husband’s assets and fortuitously found support in the mysterious Brotherhood. They healed Marcus’ wounds and arranged safe passage for his mother back to Fallien, and after a great deal of soul searching she entrusted her child to their order.
Thus, Marcus began a life of intense training and discipline, preparing for an endless war against the shadows. The scribes taught him to read and write, and then they taught him about foreign cultures and their strange traditions, and then they began to teach him about their enemy – about dark rites and black sorcery, about the many brands of undeath, and about demons that would stop at nothing to torture and destroy him and the best way to end them first. The knights forced him to harden his body and his mind: to work the land on days both blistering hot and freezing cold, to stand resolute under the crushing rush of small waterfalls, and finally to fight with mace and sword. And the monks taught him to reach out to and channel the power of The Source – an inestimable well of celestial light and power and righteousness.
Marcus Book’s life has been a series of trials designed to forge him into a weapon for the light, a never ending process of self-surmounting and preparation – and now it’s time for him to fight the war. As with all squires his age, Marcus was recently apprenticed to a seasoned knight, and now he prepares to venture into the darkness.
Skills
Martial Training:
Maces
Marcus is of average skill with one-handed maces and similar tools.
Bastard Swords
Marcus is of average skill with bastard swords and similar tools.
Shields
Marcus has only a basic understanding of shields and their proper application. His skill level with a shield is below average.
Athletic Prowess
Marcus can lift and carry 1.5 times his bodyweight with strain.
Channeling:
Meditation
Marcus can place himself in a meditative state in which he focuses on nothing but channeling The Source. Spending at least three hours in this state negates the need to eat or sleep for twelve hours, and confers all the benefits of a good meal and a deep, restful sleep.
If Marcus can meditate for at least three hours beforehand, his enhanced focus and spiritual fulfillment will allow him to react 1.5 times more quickly than he normally would for twelve hours after meditation ends.
Marcus will only meditate when he needs to prepare for some strenuous activity or when a battle is foreseen. Channeling The Source so completely alienates one from his or her humanity, and the righteous fervor it produces can be damaging to one’s mental stability.
Light-Touched
Marcus’ eyes and other senses have been altered by exposure to The Source’s light.
He can see through low-level illusions, especially those intended to mask some unholy or extraplanar nature.
He can “feel” when iniquitous or extraplanar energies are nearby.
Because his eyes produce a slight glow, he can see much better than a normal human being in both natural and supernatural darkness.
Hellfire
Marcus can focus The Source’s light through his body, causing intense “flares” of supernatural heat and light.
Marcus’ tattoos glow as a result of his channeling the light, which can provide illumination.
Marcus can currently confer the light’s heat through touch. Hellfire consumes unholy energy, impurity, and wicked sorcery to fuel its celestial flames. Hellfire is agonizingly painful, but does not usually burn the victim physically. It can kill in the right circumstances, however: the pain of being consumed by hellfire can become too much for a mind and body to handle and thus cause death, and a being sustained by unholy sorcery might find its magical reserves utterly burnt away. Because demons and those with demonic parentage are anathema and veritably built from the forces hellfire consumes, it can cause physical harm to them in the form of painful burns that are slow to heal.
Because hellfire does not cause physical harm to most beings, it can be used to eliminate infection and cauterize open wounds, and can counteract the effects of weak poisons and disease. The process is still usually very painful, as only celestial entities are without some intrinsic darkness. The healing properties of hellfire obviously only apply to non-demonic, living beings.
Marcus must currently touch a subject to ignite it with hellfire, which will then spread and burn based on the target’s nature. Marcus must maintain physical contact with the target, or hellfire’s flames will instantly subside.
Equipment
- Marcus is currently dressed in basic clothing: a white cotton shirt that has grown a bit tight across the chest and arms, patched and loose brown trousers, a tattered leather belt, and heavy leather boots in good condition. He also owns a very old, light leather jacket. A pair of trinkets hangs from a thin silver chain worn around his neck: an iron cross representing The Brotherhood and a rather small but elaborate symbol of Suravani carved from basic but sturdy Fallien glass.
- Marcus carries a basic, crude, and particularly heavy iron bastard sword. It is kept in a well worn scabbard on his back. It is showing early signs of rust about the edges, and its durability is in question.
Age: Young Adult (Date of birth unknown)
Race: Human
Hair Color: Very Dark
Eye Color: Dark (See Appearance)
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 220 lbs.
Occupation: Marcus is a member of a militant semi-religious order devoted to the eradication of diabolic sorcery and its ilk, and the end to any influence from what some call lower planes.
Personality
Early trauma and a youth devoted to training for a stark line of work have produced a flawed individual in Marcus Book. Though not offensive or even socially ungraceful, Marcus has trouble understanding some basic social mores and common but complex emotional cues. At the surface he seems to be a reserved man, simple and low-key but well meaning. Those that attempt to get closer to him find that he is a firmly closed book, and will begin to notice an inability to empathize with the deeper, softer side of the emotional spectrum. If pressed directly, he will readily admit that he cannot remember ever feeling honest joy or peace or the intense swell of affection most people are at least capable of.
Internally, Marcus has long known that he is not a normal - or good - man. He sees himself as an unwavering soldier in the war against the darkness and feels absolutely no temptation to stray from his rigid path, and the ease in which he accepts that path is the problem. He is incapable of mercy for those that deal with devils, even those that do so out of ignorance, and he feels no intrinsic, moral compulsion to defend the innocent. No demoniac charmer can give him pause, not with offers of wanton bodies, infinite wealth, or endless life and comfort.
Marcus lives for the hunt, and wants nothing but to feel iniquitous bones snap beneath his boot. Unlike his peers in The Brotherhood, this stems not from righteous fervor but from Marcus’ own inner darkness.
Appearance
Book has a notable presence for any number of reasons, and is difficult to overlook. He is broad-shouldered and prodigiously muscled in a way that suggests constant and intense strength training. He is a somewhat stout man, with short, thick-thewed legs and a long torso to compensate.
As a result of a Fallien grandmother on his mother’s side, Marcus naturally has olive skin and dark hair and eyes. Knights in The Brotherhood ritually shave their heads every three weeks, and so Marcus’ hair is rarely more than swarthy peach fuzz on his scalp. His countenance is severe and grave by default due to dark moods, intense eyes, and a heavy brow, though he makes a conscious effort to affect friendliness and softness in polite company. He has a strong jaw and a tendency toward thin facial hair, and so remains clean shaven whenever possible.
Marcus’ eyes are worth a special note, as are those of all the members of The Brotherhood. Any being that channels energy from The Source seems to develop an arresting golden glint in his or her eyes. At first one might mistake this glint for the reflection of some distant fire, but a light-touched person’s eyes will glint and glow even in pitch darkness. This mark is especially prominent in Marcus’ eyes, being that his eyes and features are naturally so very dark, and because his brow is particularly heavy. Should even the slightest shadow play over his face, Marcus’ eyes instead seem to be twin sparks dancing in unison in the deep voids of his eye sockets.
Though it is an uncommon practice for knights so young, Book opted to have his left arm tattooed with a network of large, austere angelic symbols that run from his upper bicep down to the back of his hand. These tattoos were done with a special ink mixture that glows intensely when Source-energy is channeled through it. Since Source-light runs through the body constantly and unconsciously, Book’s tattoos always produce at least a little light and he must concentrate if he wishes to dull it.
Though it is easy to miss, Marcus has a thin scar just beneath his ribs far to his left side, running about two and a half inches long.
History
Little is known about Marcus Book before he was taken in by The Brotherhood: an order of men and women who have devoted their lives to rooting out and destroying supernatural evil and iniquity. His earliest memories are vague impressions of the ocean and the sway the sea imposes on large ships. Though The Brotherhood’s scribes paint an exciting picture of his early childhood that he knows to be true, Book has no recollection of the events that placed him firmly on the path he treads today.
Marcus was, the scribes tell him, the happy offspring of a successful merchant from Salvar and an exotic beauty he met and married in the slums of Fallien’s trade quarter – herself the illegitimate daughter of a native Fallien maid and an outsider. The scribes don’t know when Marcus was born or where, and believe it possible that he was birthed at sea. It is certain that the first few years of his life were spent in transit from one port to the next.
When he was very young – no older than five – the Book family and their ship was attacked by pirates operating out of Corone. Though the pirates were repulsed, Marcus’ father gave his life to shield his son from the thrust of a sword, which passed through the elder Book’s body to give the younger a scar he still carries. Even today, despite not being able to remember that early brush with death, Marcus finds Coronic accents grating.
Being an illegitimate child and having only cursory knowledge of sailing vessels and commerce, Marcus’ mother had no means to support herself or her injured son. She liquidated her late husband’s assets and fortuitously found support in the mysterious Brotherhood. They healed Marcus’ wounds and arranged safe passage for his mother back to Fallien, and after a great deal of soul searching she entrusted her child to their order.
Thus, Marcus began a life of intense training and discipline, preparing for an endless war against the shadows. The scribes taught him to read and write, and then they taught him about foreign cultures and their strange traditions, and then they began to teach him about their enemy – about dark rites and black sorcery, about the many brands of undeath, and about demons that would stop at nothing to torture and destroy him and the best way to end them first. The knights forced him to harden his body and his mind: to work the land on days both blistering hot and freezing cold, to stand resolute under the crushing rush of small waterfalls, and finally to fight with mace and sword. And the monks taught him to reach out to and channel the power of The Source – an inestimable well of celestial light and power and righteousness.
Marcus Book’s life has been a series of trials designed to forge him into a weapon for the light, a never ending process of self-surmounting and preparation – and now it’s time for him to fight the war. As with all squires his age, Marcus was recently apprenticed to a seasoned knight, and now he prepares to venture into the darkness.
Skills
Martial Training:
Maces
Marcus is of average skill with one-handed maces and similar tools.
Bastard Swords
Marcus is of average skill with bastard swords and similar tools.
Shields
Marcus has only a basic understanding of shields and their proper application. His skill level with a shield is below average.
Athletic Prowess
Marcus can lift and carry 1.5 times his bodyweight with strain.
Channeling:
Meditation
Marcus can place himself in a meditative state in which he focuses on nothing but channeling The Source. Spending at least three hours in this state negates the need to eat or sleep for twelve hours, and confers all the benefits of a good meal and a deep, restful sleep.
If Marcus can meditate for at least three hours beforehand, his enhanced focus and spiritual fulfillment will allow him to react 1.5 times more quickly than he normally would for twelve hours after meditation ends.
Marcus will only meditate when he needs to prepare for some strenuous activity or when a battle is foreseen. Channeling The Source so completely alienates one from his or her humanity, and the righteous fervor it produces can be damaging to one’s mental stability.
Light-Touched
Marcus’ eyes and other senses have been altered by exposure to The Source’s light.
He can see through low-level illusions, especially those intended to mask some unholy or extraplanar nature.
He can “feel” when iniquitous or extraplanar energies are nearby.
Because his eyes produce a slight glow, he can see much better than a normal human being in both natural and supernatural darkness.
Hellfire
Marcus can focus The Source’s light through his body, causing intense “flares” of supernatural heat and light.
Marcus’ tattoos glow as a result of his channeling the light, which can provide illumination.
Marcus can currently confer the light’s heat through touch. Hellfire consumes unholy energy, impurity, and wicked sorcery to fuel its celestial flames. Hellfire is agonizingly painful, but does not usually burn the victim physically. It can kill in the right circumstances, however: the pain of being consumed by hellfire can become too much for a mind and body to handle and thus cause death, and a being sustained by unholy sorcery might find its magical reserves utterly burnt away. Because demons and those with demonic parentage are anathema and veritably built from the forces hellfire consumes, it can cause physical harm to them in the form of painful burns that are slow to heal.
Because hellfire does not cause physical harm to most beings, it can be used to eliminate infection and cauterize open wounds, and can counteract the effects of weak poisons and disease. The process is still usually very painful, as only celestial entities are without some intrinsic darkness. The healing properties of hellfire obviously only apply to non-demonic, living beings.
Marcus must currently touch a subject to ignite it with hellfire, which will then spread and burn based on the target’s nature. Marcus must maintain physical contact with the target, or hellfire’s flames will instantly subside.
Equipment
- Marcus is currently dressed in basic clothing: a white cotton shirt that has grown a bit tight across the chest and arms, patched and loose brown trousers, a tattered leather belt, and heavy leather boots in good condition. He also owns a very old, light leather jacket. A pair of trinkets hangs from a thin silver chain worn around his neck: an iron cross representing The Brotherhood and a rather small but elaborate symbol of Suravani carved from basic but sturdy Fallien glass.
- Marcus carries a basic, crude, and particularly heavy iron bastard sword. It is kept in a well worn scabbard on his back. It is showing early signs of rust about the edges, and its durability is in question.