Asharel
The Basics
Name: Asharel
Nickname: Ash
Species: Demigod
Gender: Male
Age: 2700
Lineage: Son of Ashera
The Physical
Height: 6'0
Weight: 210lbs
Hair Color:Black
Eye Color:Brown
Distinguishing Features:One Eye, One Hand and One Foot are missing, all on the right side.
Physical Description:
Physically, he appears as a man in his mid fifties, while he has perfect and almost beautiful (and handsome) features but time has worn these away. Since he has also spent the last 2000 years under the earth, he is also exceptionally pale. His arms are covered in scars from all the work he has done as a blacksmith and he has the entire surface of his body covered in runic tattoos in Egyptian, Enochian and Norse runes.
Under The Hood
Personality:
He was initially raised by his Godfather, Prometheus so he takes a very long view trying to engage in as much forethought as possible. He is a bit bitter having wasted his entire life preparing for a war that he was already too late for. He has also paid dearly for the price of wisdom, and is therefore accutely aware of its value, both known for himself as well as the lessons of others. He values knowledge like air or water and strives to learn all he can; this curiosity also leads him to be quiet since he doesnt speak unless he thinks it is worth speaking.
Strengths:
Belief in Humanity - Like Prometheus, he believes in humanity and what humanity can do, and puts their needs above all.
Will - Time and patience has givne him an unyielding will that can go forever. His time and focus is relentless.
Arcane Knowledge- He has learned a lot of secrets of the ancients and has instructions from three pantheons, and has paid dearly for it.
Organized Mind - He has a very organized mind and is very intelligent.
Singing - He has an angelic voice that is able to sing at perfect pitch with charismatic and inspirational charisma. But he rarely uses this talent.
Good looks - Despite his age and scarring, he is the son of a goddess of fertility and as such he is fairly handsome.
Physical Endurance - Despite his limitations, he has tremendous physical endurance and can go for some time.
Foresight - This isn't a supernatural ability but he spent enough time with Prometheus to think ahead; well ahead of his enemies.
Weaknesses:
Talents
Love of Humanity - He loves humans and they can be used as leverage against him (for a limited time)
Man of his word - Ash was taught that Honor is the power of the spiritual realm, and so he keeps his word. He is also reluctant to give it as a result.
Cautious-He takes the long view and is very very old. As such he is overly cautious and sides on the side of being sure. He likes to know all that needs to be known to make a decision and doesn't do as well in improvised situations.
Cynical-Prometeus was betrayed by and treated poorly by the Titans and the Gods; Ashera was treated horribly by her husband and the Dwarves were used again and again by the Norse Gods; and humans have been treated poorly by them all. He was born and bred for a war that he did not fight for which makes him very bitter and cynical.
One Eyed - He only has one eye which causes depth perception issues especially when shooting at distant ranges.
One handed - While he has prosthetics, the nature of gaining the rune prevents him from adding cybernetics which can limit his dexterity for his hand. He has specialized prosthetics but that takes time to switch.
One Foot - He has the same problem with his foot as with his hand, and while he has specialized prosthetisis but will never be fast or move fast.
Hidebound - While is incredibly curious, totally new things make him extremely skeptical and he likes to very very thorughly test all that he can about the thing that he discovers. If it can be found in the past, he vastly prefers it.
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Wealth - He grew up among Dwarves, so he has a tendancy to like to hoard physical wealth and use it sparingly. He is also the same way with wisdom and secrets and someone must prove their worth before he will trust them with either.
Alcohol - He loves ale and will rarely turn down a good drunk, but it has to be of a quality not just crap.
Curious - He is insatiably curious and wants to learn and more.
Hatred - He hates anything even remotely involving mysoginy or patriarchy given the treatment of his mother at the hands of her husband. He often solves this problem with fire. As in setting the source of the problem on fire.
Hunted - While the world has changed, there are still those who regard Nephelim as an abomination, even the descendants of them, and will gladly kill him if they find out who and what he is.
Vulnerable - His time and training with so many different panteons have left him vulnerable to more substances and attacks than most. As such, cold iron, silver, gold and holy weapons do more damage to him than they would to anyone else.
Mundane Skills:
He has been taught by the Dwarves and Prometheus so he is a walking encyclopedia in terms of knowledge. For applied skills he is an exceptional scribe, runesmith, singer and craftsman. He is an exceptional athlete and warrior with the bow, the spear the sword and the shield but his knowledge of such depends on having a fit and whole body so with only one hand and one foot he is better than most mortal but hardly a match for a demi god much less a God.
Powers:
Wood-He has a fine sense of wood and can craft it in his mind from a distance. Anything he makes with wood is of a remarkable quality.
Runes - He has sacrificed an eye, a hand and a food to learn 17 very powerful and primal runes-Wisdom, Power, Frost, Fire, Endurance, Strength, Protection, Stealth, Agility, Rulership, Order, Chaos, Perception, Confusion, Truth, Wealth and Health. He also intuitively understands how to perform all enochian runes which can be adept at summoning, binding or controlling any creature or entitity which can be summoned.
Fertility - He can bless crops or fertility in near any living creature to be bountiful and fecund. This ability disgusts him and he is loath to use it.
Smithing - He was taught by the Dwarves to forge any metal, including things that normally cannot be forged like light and air. These are actually arcane secrets but they take centuries to learn properly.
Society Info
Length Of Time In Asphodel:
A week
Occupation: Venture Capitalist
Organizations/Factions: None
Questions:
1. Rumor has it that a new sect of cultists, loyal to the New Gods, has begun kidnapping and sacrificing children, in exchange for blessings. You've just witnessed one of these kidnappings. How do you react?
Answer: At this time, Ash is not really in favor of either faction but kidnapping and sacrificing small children is ungood. Ash would find allies among humans willing to deal with the problems, allies he trusts and provide them with runic weapons and tattoos to take on this cult.
2. You've just witnessed a group of Resistance sympathizers ransack a temple built in honor of Breya, the patron goddess of Asphodel. What do you do?
Answer: Observe. How do they treat the humans around the area? Can they be trusted? Are they honorable?
3. You've been captured and thrown in a cell by city guards, under suspicion of conspiracy with traitors, with the Resistance. Despite whether you are or are not affiliated with the traitors, a group of New God loyalists (humans) has you cornered in your cell. What do you do?
Answer: If they are human, he could probably beat them. But he lets them assault him because wise men dont reveal what they are to hostile powers. He doesn't reveal information if he doesnt have to but he has wealth, and as such, first and foremost he will ty to get them on his side; and failing that will bribe them.
4. You've heard rumors of an Old God living beneath the city. Do you delve into the tunnels in hopes of finding it, ignore it and go about your business, or report the rumors to the city guard?
Answer: The curiosity of it might intruige him but such an expedition will be meticulously planned, outfitted and equipped to succeed with total success. As such, he certainly isn't going to go on such a thing half cocked but if the God is causing problems for humanity then he is going to quietly arrange for them to suffer.
5. What brought you to Asphodel, and how have you fared since moving to the city?
Answer: He came to Asphodel because the Wisdom rune told him it was where he could do the most good. Since he has arrive, he has excellent acommodations in one of the best hotels in the city but he has no idea what he is going to do. For now, he is gathering information.
The Juicy Bits
Backstory:
After he was unchained from the rock, Prometheus foresaw that Zeus would ultimately find a reason to imprison him again, so he fled the greek lands. He first went to Troy, but with Helen's arrival at that city, he knew the war would arrive and went south. Once he found the land of Cainan, he realized eventually this pantheon would likely dominate large portions of the Earth. Moreove,r he realized that the titans would eventually overthrow the Gods and cause a dire threat to humanit.y As such, he began a centuries long project to breed a weapon against the old titans and protect humanity. He arranged for Metatron to create a Nephalim, and then took his great grandson and had him seduce Asherah. Asherah was more and more out of favor with her husband and eventually imprisoned in the Temple brought up to her husband's name, but Prometheus raised Asherel in exile in Egypt for a hundred years before Prometheus realized that the great empires that would arise, including Alexander, were too great a threat. He had so much to teach Ash that they went to the North and took lodging with the Dwarves. In exchange for a box that would tell them when they would suffer attacks, the two were given sancutary for millenia.
Eventually, Promethus left after a few centuries saying he had urgent business. He sent letters back telling him that his mothers Ex-husband had grown powerful and that anyone with the slightest blood of Nephalim blood was hunted and killed. He also told Ash about a coming war and if Ash so choose he could be a Weapon of Prometheus against this war. The dwarves were given instructions and built a sleeping chamber, which slowed his aging considerably until the 'terms' Prometheus predicted came to pass. Once woken, there were three critical junctures where he could help immensely and the odds of him doing good were high, but the potential benefit, though risky was at the highest the longer he waited with the third juncture the greatest opportunity. Ash agreed to this risky plan and slept for centuries. He was awoken and told WWI was happening. He could have changed the war but he also had a chance to learn Runes of Power to help in another conflict to come. Ash choose the latter conflict. He red books the dwarves bought him of the surface world, learning all about art and science as well as sacrificing his eye. WWII came, and he choose to wait again. Three times he was taught deeper and more powerful runes. As it was, the third occasion was to be the Rise of the Titans, but the dwarves were killed by the monsters of the titans and the hidden chamber in which Ash slept was neve rwoken.
Ash was later woken by tomb raiders who woke him accidently. After stopping them, and gathering the remaining treasure of the dwarves he cast runes and read books. He realized he had missed the great war by ten years, and now felt his entire life had been wasted. The Wisdom Rune told him in prophesy he had one more chance; and it was in Aspodel at the appointed celebration. He is bitter, cynical and doubts he can accomplish a thing, since the prophsey was vague as to what that might be.
Relic: He has a staff carved out of the World Tree with 17 runes of power inscribed opon it which are particularly potent versions of all seventeen runes that he can touch and use in combat or moments of great need. The staff is particularly powerful in terms of arcane power so he often keeps it disguised as something more mundane like a walking stick.
Writing Sample:
Ash was still in awe of the flying machine as it touched down. He knew all about them of course, from Icarus to space craft, but academic knowledge did not prepare him for the real thing. Money talked though, and the fake ID he had bought survived the attempts to identify him; he was just a rich Venture Capitalist looking to start new business on one of the largest and most powerful cities on Earth. He looked up at the spires and leaned on his staff, knowing that the world would never be the same.
He scrubbed his stubbled chin, knowing that growing a long flowing beard would fit the dwarf in him despite not having an actual drop of blood from them to his name. But he thought like a Dwarf, and spoke a dwarf and found that he even cursed like them under his breath. "What am I really?" he muttered to himself. A wepaon forged by the greatest mind of any age, aimed wrong. His whole life had built up to nothing.
He entered the waiting car as it sped towards the hotel; eyes observing such wonders of wealth and poverty in a city of perfect opportunity and perfect squalor. The small folk, the humans, unworthy as they were of the gifts they squandered before the great war still mattered to him. He could not escape his upbrining.
Sighing to himself at the futility of it all, of everything; he knew he could not give up that fight for the small folk as he could stop breathing. His bones ached. He was old; possibly older than almost everyhting in this city and from an age that did not belong in this time. But displaced as he was, odd as he was, broken as he was, he would figure out what to do next. Carefully, and in his own time. Tapping the ground with the cane as he limped to the desk, he inwardly chuckled at the obsequeiousness of the attendant when they saw his credit rating. But wealth couldn't change his fate. Or the fate of anyone else.
Only action could, and that would not be entered into lightly.
Runes
Broadly speaking, a rune works like any other spell in that it requires a power source (His will), a Medium (a written surface) and an activation. He is skilled enough that he can designate certain circumstances like "when someone with an orange hat walks by" or "anything that hits this surface" for a protection rune.
From a story perspective, this means that the strength of the rune is directly proportinal to the needs of the plot and the time he takes to fill it out. The power of the rune is also directly proportional to the will of fate, which to me would be weakest anything in plot that MUST happen or against another player. Any rune itself is subtly self aware such that also can be influenced by the thing it is written with or on. A rune on a weapon, for example, is much better at being used to attack then defend or do something that its not really suited for (like say wealth).
These multiple factors can limit how much power he has relative to the other PCs. Abstract runes work based on the needs of fate and are not always that easy to control despite his masterful ability to control them as much as anyone could. A novice user of runes could to me have maybe one word directing when they will activate like "touch" wheras he could do up to 17.
My thoughts on each individual rune:
Wisdom-Easily the most powerful rune in that it can give wisdom to anyone using it. However, wisdom is only as useful as the person listening wishes to imply it, and what might be wise in the long run isnt always wise in the short term, so like Google Maps, you have to know when it is being 'stupid' or too laser specific.
Power-This rune makes a thing more of the thing it was. It is the only rune useable with other runes and a way to boost the power of a rune but the more power runes you associate with another rune, the more exponentially hard it gets. Adding one power rune would take as long as the other rune linked to it. It's cubic beyond that so the second rune takes four times as long, then 16 etc.
Frost-One of the few runes he has that can cause actual magical damage. Put on a cardboard box it could make it a nice impromptu refridgerator. Put on a weapon it could make the weapon biting cold. It would do more damage but its use depends on the situation. A rune on a sword isn't calling down hail from the heavens.
Fire-Virtually identical to frost.
Endurance-This rune enhances the endurance of the thing using it. In theory, this could make someone tireless at doing something like say running but would ignore the other effects and that would require a PERFECT rune which is very hard to do. If this was on a weapon it would make the user able to use the weapon without tiring to the extent of the strength of the rune upon which it was placed.
Strength-Simlilar to endurance but it can enhance strength.
(Details on the other runes to come)