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The-Marquis
01-24-14, 06:11 AM
Name: Marquis Aesh Fallow of Hellsburgh

Nickname/Alias: The Marquis

Age: 130

Race: High Elf / Anklyosaurus

Height: 6’ 9” (see appearance for specifications on anklysaurus)

Weight: average

Occupation: Black Market Dealer and Amateur Alchemist

Personality:

(( OOC:Done this in character, because why the hell not. ))

Firstly the personality of an aristocrat should not need to be asked. Indeed, I am all that an elf of my standing should be - keen-eyed, chivalrous, honest, gracious, merciful - all those associated with men, and the few women, of my rank.
In truth, however, I am proud, as any man who was raised as I was might be. I know my place in society, it was bred into me by my strong-willed father, I have little expectations of the world except that I be respected. The few of us true aristocrats who remain have a duty to uphold the honour and traditions of our station - some call me old fashioned, but I prefer the term nostalgic. In other terms, in business, beneath the facade that is my estate, I am a man not to be trifled with, I have many guards and I know I am powerful. By night I am an amateur alchemist and I hope, one time or another, my dreams may be fulfilled of being able to sustain my estate on nothing by the gold I have created for myself.
Upon the last point, being my infliction, my feelings are of anger and bitterness. I try to avoid it in conversation and will abruptly change from controlled and polite to brutal and rude. I am a man, not the beast, and when it comes it is not me, I swear.

Appearance:
Tall almost albino elf, slight and not muscular but looking graceful. Has very pale long light hair, and almost white skin. Comes from an ancient line of pale elves, supposed to be “blessed by the sun”, but he is particularly pale. Has one very pink eye and the other is copper. Wears long dark robes, black or dark blue, red or green, often with a purple sash. Does not smile much, stares a great amount and prefers to remain silent, listening, before speaking.

As the “beast” - from nose to tail he is ten metres in length and seven and a half feet tall and is rather wide, at the broadest part of his shell around four and a half metres. At the back of his mouth, a jaw of 30 inches long and 35 inches wide are huge molars, but at the front, unlike the dinosaur, are sharp teeth capable of ripping flesh. The entirety of the back is covered in fused armour plating made of bone like a crocodile that cover all of his body minus the underside of his jaw and belly. At the end of his tail is a huge club capable of splintering bone with one swing, and spikes protrude around the jaw line and back of the head. The colour in this state is a muddy brown, though his eyes are the same colour as he is in human form.

Skills:

Bartering and Trading - After years of dealing with black market traders Aesh has found a way to be charming as well as getting rather good deals for his items. He has become known as “The Marquis” in this world, a man to contact if you want something - from talismans to illegal drugs. He has never touched the business of assassination, thievery or human trafficking but is not a stranger to piracy or smuggling.

Ettiquette - Similar to Fencing (see Abilities), in his childhood Aesh learnt how to hold himself in society, to be able to shift easily from respective, to proud and back again. Also with this skill he knows how to be polite, yet also how to use this to cover his true feelings. In situations his face becomes a mask, and the truth of them are rarely seen. He is a typical aristocrat who wields much power, and knows that he does. Though he sometimes can come across as arrogant most of what he does is to sustain his family’s name and good reputation, in memory of his father. Similarly he never talks about his brother, and pretends much of the time that Severte does not even exist, after what happened.

Alchemy - as an amateur alchemist Aesh has begun to learn the ancient arts of turning anything into gold and has managed to start with the base and abundant element of fools gold. With this money he sustains his brothers’ mercenary army, also called the Hellsburgh Mercenaries. At the moment all he can transform is fools gold but this (hopefully) can be expanded upon as he levels up to get to using lime and so on, and other elements.

Black Market Trading - During the Corpse War Aesh worked within the Black Market, and established many contacts there. He had a brief spell after his initial transformation into the “Beast” when he did not work in it, but slowly he is gaining back power. His own magical power is very weak but he is wily and clever at bargaining and travels once a month (at least) to other countries for this business.


Abilities:

(LOCKED for now) The “Beast” - Transformation into a form of anklyosaur (see specifications of size in Appearance) whenever he scents and smells his brother's running blood. Dried blood has no effect. What occurs is the essential death of all his systems apart from his nervous system, magically sustained to keep him alive but in immense pain. The entire transformation takes roughly ten minutes to complete and once done he is no longer in pain, and becomes an unthinking rage machine of destruction. His strength is enough to battle against a small army of ten men, however is not fast and can be awkward with his legs, running at a pace of 10 mph. He will only stop once he has killed a being (animals do not count) and has had a break after this of half an hour. If he sees/scents his brother's blood in this time he will remain in the anklyosaurus form. During transformation he is helpless, but very little can pierce the anklyosaurus armour - however magic can be used against him.
Note: His brother is hardly ever around, and the first transformation will only occur when Aesh reaches level two. His main fighting ability will be his rapier.

Weak Magic - as an Elf Aesh was born with magical ability, but this is very weak when it comes to him. He can perform simple spells that are associated with light, such as making a pulse light that lightens a room, or a flash of light that could be used as a short-range stun, but he prefers to use his rapier in a fight.

Fencing - as an aristocrat he was given an education as such, and learnt ettiquette, riding and so on, but excelled in fencing. His skill in weaponry is confined to the rapier and parrying dagger. He mainly uses this in self-defence only.

Equipment/Weapons:

Often Aesh is found carrying an elaborate golden-sheathed iron rapier and parrying dagger, though he also has a copy that is purely ceremonial and looks identical. His equipment as such is carried by his servants - he has a trusted butler and Aide, Chaucer, who wears around his neck a vial of poison, in case Aesh’s rampaging gets out of control. Although he cannot work the magic Aesh also carries around a Voodoo doll of his brother, Severte, just in case the opportunity ever arises to kill him.

History (sorry this is so long):

Born the eldest son of Akvell Fallow the third, Aesh was born to a life of privilage and nobility. Akvell, being one of the few remaining noblemen left after the Corpse War in Raiaera, was not so much getting old in years as getting weary of life and the family's declining situation. Many of the old Elvish families, of noble titles and style, were wiped out, some completely, in the War. Those that survived did so but either turning Dark or through money and bribery.
At first the Fallow family of Hellsburgh opted for the latter, using vast amounts of their accumulated wealth to assemble a private army and defend their lands and also bribe others to avoid them. They extended their business contacts to one of darker and darker accord until they were deeply in the black market to the point of holding a considerable amount of power. Akvell's younger son Severte took care of the armies and killers whilst Aesh invested his time into the black markets. The years passed, and each measure found its use, however with the death of family members, including Aesh and Severte's mother more interest was put to the mercenaries. Soon enough the house of Fallow was taking an active part in the aftermath of the War, not in an aggressive way but for defensive purposes only. The black market ventures were all but abandoned, Aesh was called back home on the eve of a defense against an assault by the attackers.
Akvell was away that night from where the army was stationed, near the family estate, and Aesh was to wait for his father's return. Silently he went into the small house there and was served tea upon a silver tray. For a few minutes he watched the birds flitter outside the window and waited in the cool summer breeze. Yet his father did not send news. Instead Severte charged through the door into the room and stopped, short, to stare madly at Aesh.
"You."
Aesh curtly nodded. "Me, brother. Now where is father?"
Severte remained silent and still for some time, almost glaring at his brother accusingly. Aesh found this unamusing. He raised an eyebrow, blinked simply.
"Father asked me here. I would appreciate it if he was alerted to this fact."
Severte paused, then slowly shook his head. "No brother," he said in a cold slow voice. "He didn't ask you. I did." He quirked a smile, then angled his body back towards the door, gesturing for Aesh to leave first. "Please. Follow me."
What occurred next could be described as a betrayal, in Aesh's opinion it is unforgivable. Elves, it is known, have magic, but the limitations of that magic is still unknown. The ability to distort the elements and change the nature of something is difficult indeed but very possible. And within this society in a situation as desperate as theirs the mercenary army of Hellsburgh restored to a magical measure far too dangerous for others to even consider. Aesh was taken to a room, or rather a vast cellar underneath the building the mercenaries had taken for their base. He entered with caution, uncertain as to what this was exactly, yet apparently not enough. He was besieged, then and there, by a small army of twenty elves, unexpectedly set upon. He fought valiantly, in fact he threw three unconscious, unarmed and defenceless as he was, and roared at his brother who stood to the side, amused and power hungry.
"Bastard!" He yelled. "What the hells is this?"
Severte only shrugged slightly and nodded as his brother was forced to the ground, his arms drawn up behind his back. He was then subject to immense amounts of pain as the professional magicians, members of the mercenary army, gathered around the eldest son of Akvell Fallow and heir to the Marquis-dom of Hellsburgh and forced upon him a series of dark magics and transformation magics. From what Aesh saw through the four long hours of pain it consisted of a summoning circle, drawn around him, runes of Dark Elvish magic, and words in a language that was older than the first elves.
He was left, weakened and shaking, curled up in the foetal position in the centre of the summoning circle. None entered to help him, none even offered any source of pity, and it took him another hour to pull his weary body across the floor, unknowing where he was headed but at least away from the circle, to come to the planted feet of his brother. Looking up at him in horror Aesh begged to know precisely what was going on, but his brother smiled again - then drew a blade across his own palm.
The precise transformation Aesh went through that first time, and has since gone through numerous times, consists of more pain. Shifting from one form into another of a much larger size where the heart is attempting to compensate as it grows and all the bones to reconstruct themselves into a body much larger and completely differently balanced than before essentially causes Aesh to die, the majority of his systems to begin to fail, before he can shift into the anklysaurus.
Aesh as the dinosaur, what he terms as the “beast”, raged for a while on that first time, but was confined in such a small space that he pretty much destroyed one of the walls and ever since the building has been weak in its East Wing on the foundations. It was found by the magicians that only after one of them was killed by the beast that Aesh was able to calm and return back to his original form. His rage was high, he tried to kill his brother, but in a situation where he was a lone force against Severte who controlled an entire army he was quickly subdued, essentially arrested, and escorted back to the family estate.
When his father came back to the estate, Aesh attempted to tell him of his brother’s “crime”. Akvell was confused, and refused to believe that one of his blood could force such a burden on another family member, and it was not long before Aesh was once more witness to seeing running blood. Unable to control himself he rampaged around the estate as the beast, and was only calmed when he finally killed his father, the only one brave enough to stand against such a monster. It became clear that as running blood began the transformation, a death calmed it down and Aesh took to becoming a hermit in his house during the time of funeral for the past Marquis.
There was a problem, thus, to sort out. Aesh was due to inherit the title, but never would if it was discovered that he had killed his own father. True, he could have blamed his brother, but nobody of any of the Raiaera Elves would dare stand against and accuse the man who commanded the now very large mercenary army of Hellsburgh. Aesh was at a loss and silent in those days, with little way to maneouvre, but Severte stepped in. He forced those who had seen the killing of Akvell to remain silent, claimed Akvell’s death as an accident, and eased the way for his brother to take the title of Marquis.
Aesh took it, uncertainly, but could do very little otherwise. He later tried to argue with his brother, but still found him highly protected. Every time he got violent and tried to kill him Severte raised his hand and a blade close to it and threatened to send Aesh into the transformation. In essence it was quickly and unspokenly established between them that Severte controlled his brother, through bribery and the fact he was proud he had successfully created a beast. Over the next few years Aesh was, on various unexpected times, kidnapped by the mercenary army and sent into the battlefield, upon which he commonly, as a beast of uncontrolled and unstoppable rage, won the battle for them. When at home he threw himself furiously into two skils - first, trying to re-establish the Black Market trade he had worked in during the earlier years, and secondly into amateur alchemy in an attempt to find himself a cure.
So far his skills in alchemy have been able, through his weak but otherwise present, magical ability, to create a version of gold from fools gold, that supports his estate and keeps it alive through the crumbling Raiaera society. Also around one third of it is sent to the mercenary army, begrudgingly but needingly. Aesh managed to reconnect to many of his old contacts in the black market and travels once a month to various other countries, mainly Salvar and Corone to take shipments and so one, and to buy and deal in arms and drugs and so on. He has, over the past ten years, now expanded his connections to begin dealing even with the Dark Elves, and is a trader in small and weak dark magic talismans and so on.

Max Dirks
01-24-14, 09:56 AM
Hey Phi,

It sounds like the beast mode makes Aesh stronger and faster than normal. Can you specify how much? For example, you say the hammer on his tail can smash a tree in one swing, but I need to know if that's function of the hammer or his strength (or both). Also, you say that Aesh is in immense pain while in beast mode, but the beast appears able to function (and function well) until it makes it's kill. It seems to me like there would be no limitations due to the pain until you won in a 1 v 1 battle. Can we flesh this out a bit?

The-Marquis
01-25-14, 06:43 AM
My dear Dirks,
Reading over I realise how this can be misconstrued. I meant that the ten-minute transformation causes immense pain, after this there is no pain.
The function of the tail is a mixture of the muscle and the tail itself, it has been proved that it would naturally smash a tree trunk (this is after extensive documentary watching on my part).
If this is too confusing or too over-powered in your opinion, I can create a sort of levelling. The whole idea is he becomes a sort of brainless force of chaos, he can't even remember the episodes after. I was thinking as levels go up he can gain control over it, very very steadily though.
Ideas for limiting it -
Could change it to at the moment only his brother's blood works for making him go into the transformation. His brother would not be around much, and this is easily done by tying it into the magical process.
Also, easily I can add a time limit on it. Say, he can only transform once per thread.
Could also tie it into he has to see blood as well as feel an immense amount of emotion - such as fear, so it comes more as a reaction.
Could have him starting off as half-size (but this would not go with the whole him being kidnapped sort of stuff)
I also tried to keep his other abilities limited so that it would balance out.

Edit - In general, the idea of his brothers' blood being the only source of transformation seems the only way. Time limit, I was thinking, say every five posts, and not until he reaches level two. Only mention this idea.
As far as strength goes, he is exceedingly strong as the anklyosaurus, due to muscle strength mostly and the sheer size. How strong precisely I really can't say because there is no evidence but I can reduce the tail-club idea to be able to splinter bone, say a hip.

Philomel
01-25-14, 09:21 AM
Also here is a picture of an ankylosaurus to go by :D
Rawr in Dinosaur means "I love you". (http://3219a2.medialib.glogster.com/media/23/2327f47a4efc0764be82afbdfe741b16f645991a15aec1ac23 c33934c355d721/ankylosaurus-jpg.jpg)

The-Marquis
02-03-14, 03:04 AM
Went ahead and edited:

Firstly I reduced his size:

As the “beast” - from nose to tail he is seven metres in length and seven and a half feet tall and is rather wide, at the broadest part of his shell around three metres. At the back of his mouth, a jaw of 25 inches long and 30 inches wide are huge molars, but at the front, unlike the dinosaur, are sharp teeth capable of ripping flesh.

And then was more specific in the transformation as the "Beast":

Transformation into a form of anklysaur (see specifications of size in Appearance) whenever he scents and smells his brother's running blood. .... The entire transformation takes roughly ten minutes to complete and once done he is no longer in pain, and becomes an unthinking rage machine of destruction. His strength is enough to battle against a small army of ten men, however is not fast and can be awkward with his legs, running at a pace of 10 mph. He will only stop once he has killed a being (animals do not count) and has had a break after this of half an hour. ...
Note: His brother is hardly ever around, and the first transformation will only occur when Aesh reaches level two. His main fighting ability will be his rapier.

Max Dirks
02-12-14, 08:53 AM
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I had to think on this.

Right now, even the limitations of only transforming at the scent of his brother, the long transformation time (with associated pain) and the reduced speed does not mathematically offset the strength and defensive boost of the transformation. That said, the 10 minute cast time essentially makes the ability useless in most battles (save for maybe a Gisela type battle). If you drop your character's basic fire magic for now, I'll approve the transformation as is with a special instruction to monitor you closely for powergaming in battles. Does that work for you?

The-Marquis
02-12-14, 11:37 AM
Max.

It might be easier anyway, if this is too hard to figure out, if I just drop this character.
I ended up making "Djinn" anyway, to go with the Duke/Master's Abel as part of an honourary to Black Butler. That one is me, yup.

I realise that the Marquis is pretty difficult to control and so on, and I don't really want to limit anything, so if it makes it easier I might just remove him totally. Sorry if you spent so long reading his stuff, but I feel awkward and bad in a way for making an over-powered character. The whole idea was more looking into the personal struggles of Aesh, not the transformation itself.

I might just start writing a book about this guy. That might be the simplest way forwards.

Max Dirks
02-12-14, 11:41 AM
Generally the RoG is just a construct to create a level playing field for other writers. We can definitely get Aesh within the constructs of level 1 if you want.

If you want to archive this thread, please give me a final go ahead and we can do it.

The-Marquis
02-13-14, 06:55 AM
Max, placed this instead:


Weak Magic - as an Elf Aesh was born with magical ability, but this is very weak when it comes to him. He can perform simple spells that are associated with light, such as making a pulse light that lightens a room, or a flash of light that could be used as a short-range stun, but he prefers to use his rapier in a fight.


How does that suit? I have also said that the "Beast" is Locked for now, until level two or I get permission (reason will be his brother is away at war)

Max Dirks
02-14-14, 11:32 AM
Sounds good. We'll have to evaluate the beast again at level 2, but until then have fun!

Approved!