AMAURY ST. JOHN, black

Post by Amaury St John Yggdmillennia on Jul 27, 2014 23:57:41 GMT

i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j396/HopelessGeek/amaurysig.png
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[attr="class","charname"]Amaury St. John

[attr="class","charinfo"]TWENTY EIGHT
MALE
MASTER
BLACK
CHAOTIC NEUTRAL
NOTAN
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[attr="class","blackheading"]BACKGROUND
The enforcer could trace it all back to one simple line he'd put into a report three years previously. A line consisting of a single sentence, which would change his life forever.

"Target's child taken into custody."

It had been a simple job. The man had been a mage that had been given a sealing designation and had fled to hide in some American swamp, and he had been tasked with eliminating him and retrieving his research. The man's lover had attempted to intervene, so of course he had eliminated her too. When the door opened behind him and he turned to see the fifteen year old boy standing in the doorway staring at what were presumably his dead parents, the man had expected he would need to kill again.

He did not expect the boy to smile and offer him tea.

Perhaps there was some sliver of humanity in him that was touched by the now orphan boy's smile, as instead of leaving or disposing of him, the enforcer took him back to England, supposedly in order to interrogate him about his father's research. This was only an excuse though, and if anyone were to look into it they would find it to be a bad one; though the boy was naturally gifted, he seemed entirely ignorant of what his father had been doing, or even of the greater theories of magecraft altogether, instead favouring an admittedly fairly effective but patchwork style pieced together from a few notes, his mother's folk tradition of Hoodoo, and a few other less reputable sources.

Regardless of his training or lack thereof, the young Amaury was taken in by the enforcer. For the next three years, he became a part of the man's family, playing with his young child and helping his wife in the kitchen whenever he could. When he expressed and interest in becoming a part of the association, the enforcer agreed to teach him. Unfortunately he proved to be a poor student, or perhaps too good of a student depending on your point of view: he stubbornly refused to let go of the strange and outright unmagelike ideas that he had taken in during his childhood, and because of that the enforcer was eventually forced to admit that he would never be real mage. He told him as much, but still at the age of 18 Amaury attempted it.

He was naturally rejected. The enforcer wondered if that was what had led to this day.

"I am simply repaying a debt, mon ami" Amaury said conversationally. The enforcer struggled on the floor, attempting to get his useless muscles to listen to him.

"You have done me a great kindness by sparing my life and taking me in," the young man continued on, idly watching one of the butterfly familiars that he had used to incapacitate his mentor as it landed in his outstretched hand, "but that does not erase the evil you committed against me."

The enforcer tried to scream, but not even a whisper escaped.

"The only repayment for evil is evil in turn."

He couldn't even move his eyes.

"You took away my family."

He couldn't even look away from the corpses.

"So it is only natural that I take away yours, non?"

He couldn't even recognize his wife anymore. And that mess right beside her... it was just the right size to be...

"Don't worry, it was fairly painless for them. For their kindness I owed them that much."

And without any further explanation, only a respectful bow, Amaury St. John left, never to be seen for another ten years..
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[attr="class","redheading"]PERSONALITY
Tolerant Amaury is incredibly accepting of others exactly as they are, regardless of their personalities, past, or even current behaviour. Saints and sinners, the beautiful and the monstrous, all are equally worthy of respect and an offered hand of friendship in his eyes.

Vengeful Amaury is not one to let something go however. He subscribes the the rule "an eye for an eye", and when he has been personally wronged he will stop at nothing to strike back at the one who wronged him with as much force as they struck. He never seems to take things personally, however. Rather, he treats revenge as a matter of course, something that can be conducted civilly, and he never attempts to do greater harm that what was first inflicted.

Patient He was willing to wait three years to exact his revenge against the man who killed his family; there is apparently no end to the lengths he will go to achieve his goals.

Curious Amaury is as open to different ideas as he is to different people.

Unique Morality Amaury does not regard good as something to be universally praised, and neither does he hold evil as something to be universally reviled. Rather, he sees both as necessary components of the flow of life. Individuals may choose to be agents for one or the other, and the world may swing in one's favour for a time, but overall as far as Amaury is concerned there is a balance which is always maintained. He considers himself an agent of this balance, repaying good for good and evil for evil.

Fatalistic While he follows Hoodoo tradition of using the biblical psalms as incantations for spells, Amaury holds not true religious convictions. However, he does believe that the world is subject to a higher power of some sort, and that this higher power dictates the story of the world with such power that men are helpless in their attempts to change it.

Passive Very often reactionary rather than proactive, Amaury will wait and watch events rather than immediately get involved.

Theatrical When Amaury actually does get involved in things, he tends to do things with the flair and glamour of a stage performer.

Wish Due to his philosophy, Amaury has no true wish for the Grail. Rather, he fights for the Black team as an extension of his vengeful rejection of the Mage's Association for their own rejection of him (and perhaps because he feels he owes someone in the Yggdmillenia family). If it were to fall into his hands, he would simply wish for the world to continue on the course that fate has set for it.
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[attr="class","blackheading"]COMBAT
  • Non-Standard Magecraft Having never been taught proper magecraft by his father, Amaury had to develop his talents through whatever sources he could find. He ended up heavily utilizing his mother's Hoodoo traditions, as well as stolen notes from his father's study, some lesser known and liked superstitions, and even a little stage magic and sleight of hand. The end result is a style of magic that is entirely different from what one would usually expect of a mage, and therefore something that most traditional mages would not be able to counteract easily.
  • Butterfly Familiars Amaury's most prominent tools are his familiars, which he whimsically calls "his fairies". The creation of these familiars is fairly intensive, but not particularly mentally taxing; Amaury can produce rough ten a day maximum, and treats their creation as though it were a hobby. Each familiar is slightly more durable than an average insect, but still easily disposed on its own, making numbers their biggest strength. Due to the amount of time he's been working on them, they are nearly countless in number now, and Amaury has scattered them about the city so he is rarely without a small flock to aid him, though unless prompted by him they usually remain docile and harmless. Each resembles an ordinary butterfly at first glance, but upon careful inspection one would notice very distinct differences. Each familiar has, instead of the usual feeding mechanisms, tiny, hidden teeth that can easily cut through flesh. A flock of them can easily strip all the flesh from a man's bones in under a minute, but that is not their primary purpose. Rather, thanks to a numbing toxin and wings that can roll so that the whole familiar can condense itself into a needle-like shape, they are designed to infest host. Once they have infested, they lie dormant and are fairly undetectable. It only takes a quick command and small application of prana from Amaury to activate them, upon which they take effect. Apart from this, the familiars operate more on natural methods, producing synthesized toxins rather than magical effects despite being made through magic, making them harder to detect for magi. However, this also means that natural cures, or even ways to immunize a target, are possible.

    Amaury has produced four varieties of familiars, each with a specific effect and designated by a design on their wings resembling a playing card suit.
    -Spades: Possesses a stronger version of the numbing toxin that can shut down nervous function temporarily, inducing sensory loss or partial or full paralysis.
    -Clubs: Heightens nervous function, increasing sensory perception and reaction time. While primarily used to enhance himself and his allies, Amaury can make use of these familiars to overload a target's senses if no other options are available.
    -Hearts: Stimulates emotional states. (If you don't think that'll be useful in a fight, think about how hard it would be to throw a punch when all you want to do is curl up and cry)
    -Diamonds: Access the target's sensory information and feeds it to either Amaury directly or a secondary viewing device. The only familiar that uses actual magecraft in its mechanisms, and hence the easiest to detect.
  • Foot-Track Magic A set of unconventional spells that come from Hoodoo tradition. It comes in two forms: either a mixture is laid down and activates a negative magical effect upon being stepped on, or else a well defined and preserved footprint of a target is used to affect them. In either case, the effect is rarely heavily damaging, but result in a great deal of discomfort which can negatively affect the target's performance for short period of time.

    In general the effects of each familiar is proportional to the amount that have infested the target. A single familiar can only maintain its effects for a few seconds before falling dormant, but with multiple infested familiars working in concert, the effects can be extended to about ten minutes at a time.
  • Sleight of Hand/Stage Magic Though not as directly useful in battle, Amaury can make use of his exposure to sleight of hand tricks to great effect. He can pick pockets and use misdirection very well to avoid and on occasion deal injury in a fight.
  • Not Combat Specialized Overall however Amaury is not well suited to direct confrontation. While he can use his Club familiars to enhance his physical capabilities somewhat, against a truly skilled opponent he is still likely to be defeated.
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Post by Catharsis on Jul 30, 2014 9:23:35 GMT

Pending
Thanks for applying to Catharsis! We think your character's great for the site, but there's a few things I want to know more about:

1. How hard are they to make, and how easy are they to destroy?

2. How many will he likely have around him at a given time? Does he keep them all in a creepy ass basement, or is he actually accompanied by a countless number of flesh-eating butterflies 24/7?

3. Is the toxin actually a toxin? Meaning, are they more natural (or synthetic) poison than they are magically based? Would purging a butterfly's toxin require concocting an antidote, or would it require healing magic?

4. How long do the effects of the butterflies last?
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Catharsis
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Posts: 116

Post by Amaury St John Yggdmillennia on Jul 30, 2014 16:35:45 GMT

Thanks! I've edited the application already, but here's a summary of the additions/modifications based on your questions:

1. Making of the butterflies is pretty involved, but terribly mentally taxing. Think folding origami, just with magical familiars :P Right now he's gotten himself up to ten a day if he can devote the whole day to it. They'd be a little more durable than the average butterfly, but on the whole they're still pretty easy to destroy, they just pose a threat because of their effects and numbers.

2. Amaury doesn't keep them all on his person, rather he's scattered them throughout the city, so at any given time he'd likely have a few dozen on hand. I made it so that they need him nearby if he wants to issue specific orders, so that he can't put the entire town in a deathgrip (that's Death Slot Character territory if you ask me)

3. Yes, the toxin's actually a toxin. That's the other way they're a threat: apart from the Diamond familiars, they don't really use conventional magecraft heavily and thus are more difficult to detect for a mage. I'm not certain how wide ranging healing magic would be, but if someone could analyze the poison concocting a natural method of eliminating it is completely possible.

4. The butterfly's effects are proportional to how many have infested a target. One can only produce its effects for a few seconds, while the max that multiple working together could produce is about ten minutes.
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Tanz
OOC
I play Ying Zhemg, Li Xin, Wang Ben, Marcos Amuro, Luca Barany, Kiritsugu Emiya-Yggdm., and Jin.
Posts: 161
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