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Noxus Darkwood

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 6:09 pm
by PenitusVox
Name: Noxus Darkwood
Race: Elven
Age: 64
Height: 6 feet, 7 inches
Weight: 136

Appearance:
Sharp in the face, with eyes as black as night, Noxus Darkwood is young by Elven standards.
Never having quite enough to eat, Noxus is even thinner than most elves; his hair, brown with streaks of black, is unkempt.
His right leg has a wooden brace on it, though he still walks with a limp on that leg.
His skin is a grey-white color. He had never quite been able to maintain a tan, something he attributed to his elven heritage.

Personal Items:
Runed staff - A steel staff. A gift passed down from father to son for many a generation, Noxus keeps this staff close to him at all times. Runes are engraved in a pattern resembling a spider web.

Leather Clothing - He wears a complete deerskin outfit. Most of the leather has been dyed Red and Black.

Summoner's Box - A box containing all that is needed to summon creatures from the Astral Plane. These things include vials of blood and tissue, chalk, candles, and a small book containing contracts with various spirits and sprites.

Noxus' Journal of Sprites and Spirits - A journal describing all he knows about the various Sprites and Spirits he has summoned so far.

Map – A map of the area around Marn and Shim, given to him by Alexandros.

Powers:

Noxus has a natural talent for contacting the Astral Plane. He can summon sprites and non-sentient spirits through way of a Contract. A contract is formed via an Arcane Circle, each unique to the specific sprite, spirit, demon or mote. Every contract requires a sacrifice, that being from the exotic to the mundane.
Taken from Noxus' Journal of Sprites and Spirits, the current Astral beings Noxus can contract are:

- The Motes, essences of magic. They can increase the power of magical items for as long as the contract binds them. They can also be used similarly to Magic Missiles, though they don't pack quite the punch.

- The Sprites, evolved versions of Motes taken to humanoid form. These evolved motes take a position regarding elemental magic. There sprites for each type of elemental magic, forest, earth, fire, lightening, water and air.
* Forest sprites are who can shape wood and spawn seeds.
* Earth sprites are similar to forest sprites in that they can shape and bend earth to their will.
* Fire sprites aggravate the atoms around them, constantly creating flame around their bodies. They can also intensify their blaze to a nice blue flame, useful in forges. They can also extend their will slightly and start small fires.
* Lightening sprites are similar to fire sprites in that they constantly exude an electric aura. They can power machines that require electricity. The lightening sprites gain power during lightning storms.
* Water sprites can create orbs of water, levitating them.
* Air sprites are nearly invisible, almost completely integrating themselves with the air around them.

- The Lesser Animal Spirits, these are the spirits of dead animals which retain their abilities in death as they had in life. So far Noxus has gained the ability to control only two lesser animal spirits, the Toad Spirit and the Rat Spirit, both he used to scavenge for food while on the streets.

Strengths:

The Darkwood family has had the gift of Night Sight, the ability to see even clearer in darkness than in light. However, Noxus’ mother was from another elven branch and his Night Sight is diluted. His sight is clearest in day, though much stronger in darkness than an average elf or human.

Noxus has the ability to contact the Astral Plane and contract entities there. Currently, he can summon Motes, the weakest form of creature in the Astral Plane that consist of pure magical energy, Sprites, set above motes only slightly, these creatures are Motes who have attained a humanoid form and aligned themselves with an element in nature. Spirits work much like they had in their living life, a Rat spirit may have an acute sense of smell and scavenging ability where as a Hawk spirit may have great sight.
High ranking animal spirits, Demons and other high rank Astral creatures are above what he can control, as of yet.

He is determined to gain control of the creatures of the Astral Plane for tormenting him in his dreams in whole life.

He is extremely loyal to friends and to his city.

Weakness:

Time on the streets did not treat Noxus very well, he is feeble from Malnutrition.

His Achilles tendon in his right leg was damaged when ambushed by elf-hating humans while he was leaving his home. He has had a slight limp ever since.

Due to being extremely loyal, Noxus is sometimes very naive when following those he is loyal to.

Noxus is optimistic about the future, pessimistic about the present.

The sentient creatures of the Astral Plane whisper to Noxus in his dreams, coaxing him to draw them out. As a result, he has Insomnia as well as a creeping Paranoia.

History:
Noxus' mother died in child birth, leaving him with his father, Railth Darkwood, who was also his last of kin. Noxus showed signs of magical talent at the age of 4, when he successfully summoned a Mote. He was immediately sent to be registered. Ever since he had summoned that first Mote, the beings of the Astral Plane saw him as a portal to the real world. While he was more vulnerable to the Astral Plane, while dreaming, they filled his mind with arcane circles and magical runes and whispering to him, for him to free them. After years of the torture, Noxus seemed to see demons and spirits in every shadow.
Instead of fleeing toward religion or other means of cleansing like that of a sane being, Noxus sought to conquer the demons the tortured him so. He started two books, one to keep at his bedside for writing down the various arcane circles and runes that they haunt him with and another for cataloging his successes.

While helping his father run the General Store his father owned, Noxus trained himself to summon the beings of the Astral Plane. After mastering the art of summoning Motes and studying them, their every possible use, he moved on to the next Arcane Circle. He based the circles on complexity, the simpler the circle was the higher the chance that a simple creature will pop into existence. This worked well for a time, he was able to master the Fire Sprite, which was a great help to a blacksmith friend of his. The Lightening Sprite was quite easy for him to master as well, however, once it came to the Water sprite, things seemed to spiral out of control. He couldn't understand the being's tranquil ways, how it simply flowed. He skipped that circle and moved on to the next one which happened to be the Air Sprite. This is where he encountered the same exact problem. It seemed to fade in and out of existence; his orders to it seemed to have only been half understood. The frustration almost caused him to lose his sanity. As he was failing in his quest, still the dreams came like the demons and spirits were taunting him. It was then that he stopped caring about safety, the complexity of the circle or not, and cared more about his developing skills and research. At the age of 32 he began his unbridled exploration into the summoning of Astral creatures.

A decade and a half later, he was secretly assisting a young carpenter-to-be by the name of Alexandros Dragesus by summoning a Forest Sprite. The Sprite could warp wood into beautiful, organic shapes and Alexandros was given quite the pretty Bishan for pieces of such quality. Noxus had all but given up on his quest for power by this time. It had cost him his father’s life and the home he once had and for what? Nothing. Only the clothes on his back, his family's staff and a few new simple creatures to boss around.
Even so, he recorded the arcane circles, as new ones came to him every night still. Recently he had come to understand the way of the Water Sprite. It's calming soul seemed heal his own, damaged one. Though he still didn't understand what it's point in existence was, what it could do, he simply didn't care anymore.

Years passed, young Alexandros grew up and followed his brother into the honorable guard and Noxus was once again alone with his dreams. The arcane circles were ever growing in complexity, the aura they gave off, while he was asleep, was dark and chaotic. He swore to only use such contracts in cases of life or death, not knowing what abomination might come into being.
It was winter and Noxus had recently turned 63, he had made an alley in the residential district his home for the time being using the Rat Spirit and Toad Spirit to search and bring food back for him, to survive.
He was studying his Journal, contemplating the Water Sprites when Guardsmen headed by a Battlemage descended upon him. He and his belongings were quickly seized and he was thrown into prison on many counts of Theft, Summoning of Astral Beings, and Possession of Arcane Texts.
It has been a two weeks since he had be captured, the white stone walls of the cell seems to burn into his eyes. Though he was completely alone he felt like he was being watched at all times. He hadn't slept in days, which he attributed to a magical spell. Still, he tried. When the lights above were shut off he would lie down on the cold marble floor and shut his eyes. Truly, it was a relief, not much of a cruciation for someone who had been tortured his whole life while sleeping.
Noxus had been been laying on the floor as usual when the cell door opened, the light in front of his being the only one alight. He stood up and walked to the back of the room, fearing what would happen if he were to walk out of the cell. A woman soon arrived at his cell clad in plate armor and the red gloves differentiating her as a Battlemage. She told Noxus to follow her, which he did. They arrived at a dark room with only a wooden seat in the middle. Upon closer inspection, after being told to sit down, the seat featured restraints, which wrapped themselves around his body the moment he was settled. It was then that the real torture began.
Noxus was sent into a trance-like state. In this state, he felt as though someone was prodding around in his memory. He felt the barrier to the Astral plane weaken and sensed the creatures that within.
And they spoke to him. Never before had this happened. They asked to let him in, into his being. It was just then that the prodding was reaching closer to in incident with his father and he panicked. He agreed to the deal. The last thing he remembered before losing consciousnesses was a gasp from the Battlemage.
Noxus awoke refreshed. Never before, in memory, had he had a fulfilling sleep devoid of arcane circles and magical runes. He was, however, disoriented. He was still restrained to the chair. He heard whispering; only catching something about a magical blockage. When they realized he was awake, three Battlemages including the woman from before entered the room. They scrutinized him for a moment before releasing the restraints. The woman Battlemage helped him up and lead him to a locker containing everything he had other than his two books and the vials of blood and tissue.
The only thing he really missed was his books, which he assumed destroyed. Though he could, once released, write most of it again, the more complex circles would be nearly impossible to remember. It was better to not even try.
Still shaken from what happened in the dark room, he was lead out of the Justice Hall and released. Noxus still felt as though he was being watched days later and decided it was time to leave the city. Leaning on his runed staff for support, he started the trek to Shim.



Notes: Alexandros Dragesus agreed to be featured in my bio. If need be I can always edit that bit out.
Technically, he only has one very versatile spell.

Re: Noxus Darkwood

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 12:36 am
by Stella
I definitely like the idea of his character and his abilities are interesting. The government would be very intolerant of someone like him because not only does he perform and study magic, but he writes things down, and books about magic are very strictly illegal. unless they pertain to how evil it is, so he would certainly be imprisoned for that.

Escaping from Justice Hall is no laughing matter, but I'll allow it in this circumstance because he had help from a Guardsman. Just understand that it's really serious and the government of Marn would be after him. Once they stop searching Marn, Shim is the next place they're going to look. Since Shim is small and the people there are simple and it's not exactly a lawless place, Noxus is going to have a really tough time avoiding their eyes.

I'm curious as to how he still has his journal if he was imprisoned and then released by someone from the government. Did Alexandros find the journal? Why didn't the government destroy it immediately after its discovery? DId Nox start a new journal after his release?

There appears to be a gap in his history between when he worked for his father at a store and when his father died. "It had cost him his father’s life and the home he once had" is the only clue you give. It's fine if you want to keep how he died a secret, but it's really confusing to read. How did he lose his home and his father? Was it related to his power?

Re: Noxus Darkwood

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 3:19 am
by PenitusVox
Thank you. I added "Possession of Arcane Texts" to his charges.
Indeed I know it is very serious amd that he would be hunted.

To answer your first question, I wrote it under the assumption that everything a prisoner had on him when captured, was stored. Also, I have no knowledge of them burning books. However, if need be, he can write it again. I have no doubt that he would have memorized most everything to do with the summons.

And to the question regarding his home and the death of his father, I intended to keep it mysterious. It did have to do with his pursuit for power. Honestly, part of the reason for keeping it mysterious was to keep Noxus off the chopping block.

Re: Noxus Darkwood

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:16 am
by Stella
I talked a bit to Frug about your profile. How serious his charges were would depend on what they suspected him of doing and what was in the book he was carrying. If it was describing powerful or potentially dangerous magic, then they would have taken it away from him almost certainly. They would have kept it in the library of Justice Hall and not given it back to him, because why would they do that? If he wants it back, good luck. Breaking into Justice Hall is almost impossible. If it didn't have much in it, it's conceivable they might have given it back if it was just drawings and gibberish. It's also conceivable they would have taken it and thrown it out just because. It's up to you, since it depends what was inside.

That being said, breaking out of it or escaping as Nox did is also almost impossible, even with a Guard's help (I know this negates what I said before). That would be because of two things: Guards don't deal with magic or even Justice Hall much, and The Porter is an overpowered keeper of inmates in the prison.

However, you have to remember that Justice Hall sees a lot of Marnian citizens all the time, and they have more rights than outsiders. Since Nox was born and raised in Marn, he would have more leeway with the Judges. Theft and using magic are two different charges, and using magic depends on the kind of magic he was using/suspected of using at the time. If it was something trivial, then they probably would have just slapped him on the wrist. If it was something they thought was more serious, they would have imprisoned him but it's likely that with Noxus' limits, they would have released him after a month or two (but not before torturing him a bit).

Anyway, all this is up to you for the most part. But basically I don't think I can let you have him be an escaped prisoner; the prison system in Justice Hall is just too nasty for that.

Re: Noxus Darkwood

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:30 pm
by PenitusVox
I tried again, this time with a rather big wall 'o text. The changes start after "Years passed".

Re: Noxus Darkwood

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 12:01 am
by Stella
Approved :]

It looks like you're going to figure a plot out with Alexandros so I'll leave you to it.