Difference between revisions of "Darin Prentiss"

Latest revision as of 09:33, 28 April 2007

Darin Prentiss
name (rp world)	Darin Prentiss (Gaera Main)
birthdate (birthplace)	11th of Ashura, 1290 Prandia
current residence	Doma Castle, Doma Capital
occupation	Time Mage; Enchanter
family	Archangel Christopher (father), Justine Prentiss (mother; deceased)
race	Half-celestial (Justice)
physical description	Roughly 5' 8", with a medium build and very pale skin; deep violet eyes; coal-black, waist-length hair; enormous, white, feathery wings.
typical clothing	Typically wears white or grey robes with purple accents; Darin also typically wears brown or black leather boots.
personality	Darin has been described as “the least offensive person in the entire world.” Meek and extraordinarily shy, Darin is usually almost excessively polite to everyone he meets. When he finds himself in a position to offer someone his assistance, he does, willingly— often without being asked. Generally speaking, Darin is self-sacrificing beyond normal human limits, giving largely because he considers the lives of others to be more valuable than his own. Hakaril and Darin were good friends in school, but the mage often found Darin's self-degradation and meek manner obnoxious—habits the mage sought to break the half-celestial of without avail. Darin's level of courtesy, however, is usually respected by those he meets, even if it is not always completely understood. When angered, however, or forced to defend himself and his friends, Darin unleashes his magical powers with little consideration for the results. He has no personal qualms against hurting or killing legitimate enemies, though he often feels some remorse if he feels that the situation might have been avoided. Generally speaking, Darin tries to avoid fighting until the last possible moment, but if there is no other option, he holds nothing back.
fighting style	Gunnir Type III Defensive/IV Strategic combination.
religious beliefs	Darin does not revere any particular deity, but being a celestial affiliated with justice, he has some respect for Mithra. However, Darin's beliefs about the true nature of justice are very uncertain.
drunk type	It typically takes quite a large quantity of alcohol to make Darin even slightly tispy, so no one has any idea, even himself.
other	Darin is presently involved in a vaguely romantic relationship with the healer Tassi Wells.

Background

Darin is a half-celestial, the product of a (hypothetically) sacred union between a celestial and a lower mortal. In the case of Darin, the father figure happened to be the powerful and influential Archangel Christopher, a personality that deserves a description all his own. Darin's mother is largely inconsequential; the history books have lost her name, but the Archangel will always remember Justine, the woman he loved so dearly. Unfortunately, Darin missed out on the opportunity for a normal childhood. His mother, living in Prandia at the time, refused to hand the infant Darin over to the Prandian government for study. The Prandians, wanting the half-celestial child in order to raise him as a super soldier and military commander, murdered his mother and kidnapped the child. Unable to intervene directly, Christopher exiled himself from the greater portion of celestial society, living for years in isolation in a small, detached corner of the celestial plane that had been dubbed “Despair in Paradise.”

Prandian Upbringing

As Darin grew up, it became clear to him that he was not a normal child. From a fairly early age, he was able to manifest strange magical powers; most notably, he exerted limited control over the flow of time, speeding it up or slowing it down with a bit of effort. Generally, however, Darin's influences on the time stream were wholly inadvertent, and nothing came from them, aside from Darin's occasional boredom resulting in a few hours of instructional lessons going by in a percieved instant without his realizing that anything unusual had happened. A quiet child, and a bit of a loner, Darin was usually ignored by his apparent peers, giving him lots of time to think, contemplate, and learn. Knowing nothing of his mother, his father, or his celestial nature, Darin was very stunned by the strange visions and dreams he had as he matured, visions of angelic figures that called out to him in his sleep, beckoning for him to come and join his fellows in the celestial world. A celestial innocent of paradise, what Darin eventually came to realize was that his heritage was certainly not purely human. A little research and snooping in the Prandian record archives taught him the truth, and, not entirely certain why secrets had been kept from him for so many years, Darin decided that the best course of action was to say nothing.

Gunnir Exchange Program

When Darin was approximately 16 years old, he was sent as a “foreign exchange student” to the Gunnir Academy for the Arcane Arts in Igala, where he became Hakaril Silvar's roommate, replacing Masahiro Katachi. A side-effect of Darin's half-celestial nature was that his emotional inputs were severely dampened, allowing him much greater control over the way he behaved. Partly due to his natural shyness and partly due to his unfamiliarity with his surroundings, Darin had become quite the introvert. Hakaril, of course, intended to break him of his meekness, but never quite succeeded. Darin's natural aptitude for time magic, however, came in quite handy when Hakaril decided he needed an alarm clock in his dorm...

Catastrophe in Prandia

Eventually, after his graduation, Darin returned to Prandia for military service. Still unaware of what the Prandian government had done to his family, Darin trained faithfully. He rose quickly in rank, and all seemed to be proceeding splendidly until one day when a fateful accident occurred. During an experiment with a powerful new version of a haste spell, a poltergeist-like spirit intruded into military's arcane laboratory and overpowered the enchantment, causing the test subject, one of Darin's officers, to die almost immediately. Blamed for the incident and pronounced a traitor, Darin narrowly escaped capture and execution. Armed with his trusty telescoping scythe and his innate magical talents, Darin killed several dozen Prandian soldiers over the course of his escape, earning him the nickname, "The Reaper of Time." Frightened and uncertain, the half-celestial fled to Doma, hoping he could find and seek refuge with Hakaril, wherever he might have gone.

The Prandians, of course, pursued Darin—he had caused them a lot of trouble, and they wanted to return him to Prandia for a military trial and execution. In the process of tracking him down, they hired the infamous Valthi mercenary, Zeke Mazuo, to bring back Darin Prentiss...dead or alive. After several thwarted attempts, the Prandians eventually decided that pursuing the “murderer” internationally was neither worth the effort nor worth the potential diplomatic ramifications. This may have had something to do with General Silvar sending the Prandian government a very curt letter suggesting that they call off the search; Darin, naturally, was never informed of Hakaril's action in the matter. What he did learn, on the other hand, was his family history. Thanks to a little digging from Hakaril, Darin filled in the hole in his past, learning the truth about what happened to his mother.

Christopher's Return

One otherwise peaceful day in Doma, Darin was spending time in the castle library when his quiet and solitude were disrupted by the sudden appearance of a very stoic Archangel Christopher. Having never met his father before, Darin was in total awe; he hoped that the return of his father to his life would mark the beginning of a brighter era.

Unfortunately, Christopher had not come to bring peace or happiness to his son. The archangel began to speak less to Darin and more at him, announcing that he had returned to the mortal plane to undo that which he erroneously created. Explaining that Darin was clearly a mistake, and expressing his belief that the mortal world would corrupt Darin and turn him against the ideals from which he was birthed, Christopher announced that he planned to destroy his only offspring, leaving Darin stunned and in total disbelief. Darin prepared himself for death, kneeling before his father and holding back tears while he awaited his imminent destruction. Clearly, he did not deserve to exist, for he was a threat to both himself and to the mortals that knew him; Darin's believed that his best option, then, was to accept his father's words and allow his life to come to an end before he accidentally hurt someone he cared about.

Luckily for Darin, Hakaril happened to be dropping by the library to pick up a book he had misplaced earlier, and as soon as the archmage saw Darin before Christopher, he immediately demanded to know what was going on. Christopher's reticence left Hakaril with few details, but when the celestial drew his weapon and moved to strike Darin, Hakaril physically interposed himself between Darin and the archangel, shoving him out of the way. Fully prepared to fight the archangel, even to his own death, Hakaril screamed every curse in the Celestial tongue at Christopher. Ultimately, Christopher withdrew, promising that he would return.

Celestial Essence

During a later event, Darin's half-celestial essence extracted itself from his body; prior to this event, he did not have the wings he currently sports. The essence was eventually hunted down, reclaimed, and rejoined with Darin.

Philsys Data

Spells and Techs

• [Innate]Celestial Glow - Darin is capable of glowing, emitting a pale visible aura that enables him to function as a sort of living light source bright enough to somewhat illuminate caverns etc. This may be activated or suppressed as a free action.
• [Innate]Celestial Properties - Darin's half-celestial nature renders him somewhat more resistant to holy-based effects and somewhat more vulnerable to attacks of a shadow-elemental nature. He takes 50% damage from holy attacks and double damage from shadow sources. He also possesses large, feathered wings that can be used for flight; his maximum flying speed is equal to his Flight rank*3 in yards per turn.
• [Channeling=1]Use Focus (2 TP) - Darin recieves a +rank bonus to all spellcasting rolls for one round. This is a free action, but it can only be used when Darin is armed with a polearm or staff.
• [Channeling=4, M-Theory=4]Share Spell (5 TP) - Casts one of Darin's single-target Benediction spells of a rank equal or less than his Channeling rank on a number of targets equal to his rank.
• [Time Magic=1]Chronometer (0 MP) - Determines absolutely to the second the time of day. At rank 4, it can be used to determine absolutely the day of the year. At rank 6, it can be used to determine the year starting from some specified point that is indicated as the "beginning of time."
• [Time Magic=2]Detect Age (2 MP) - Determines the age of a subject down to the second as defined from a specified starting point. Typical starting points are the time of a subject's creation (in the case of an object) or birth (for living creatures). This spell can be "reverse engineered" to determine a subject's birthday without asking.
• [Time Magic=4]Slow (10 MP) - Disrupts the flow of time, slowing down a target's metabolism, aging, and movement. If successful, a target enemy's turn is delayed until the end of the combat round for 1d4+rank rounds, and they will suffer a -2/-2 AT/PA penalty, a -2 missile evasion penalty, and have their movement speed reduced by 1/4.
• [Time Magic=4]Metabolic Disruption (16 MP) - This spell deals damage by increasing a target's metabolism to insane rates. The result is that the target burns energy extremely quickly for a short duration, upsetting their metabolic processes. This attack deals 12+rank*4+2d6 points of direct damage and 1d2 points of temporary STA damage. For each point of STA lost, a creature loses 5 HP. A creature with less than -5 STA is unconscious, and a creauture with less than -10 STA is dead. This STA is recovered after sleeping or resting for a few hours.
• [Time Magic=5]Intuit (14 MP) - Grants the a boon of minor precognition to a target. The target gets a +1 bonus on all rolls because of its enhanced knowledge of the future; however, the target may choose to voluntarily end the spell's effect at any time to gain a major insight into very soon-to-be events. If the subject does so, it gains a +rank bonus on one specific roll, and the bonus ends.
• [Time Magic=6]Temporal Regeneration (24 MP) - Selectively increases a target's natural healing rate exponentially while avoiding interference with other functions. For the next four rounds, the target will regain 25% of its maximum hit points every round. However, after the fourth round, the spell wears off, and the target is physically exhausted; at the beginning of the fifth round, the target will lose 50% of its current hit points. If this would drop the subject below 25% of its maximum hit points, the target collapses from exhaustion until other magical healing is administered or a duration determined by the GM. This spell cannot restore more than rank*20 HP with a single casting.
• [Time Magic=8]Stop (20 MP) - Attempts to freeze a target in time for 2+1d4 rounds. This target's aging and metabolism stop completely, and the target will exist permanently within the moment they were stopped. Therefore, they will not observe or have any knowledge of anything that happened after they were stopped, or even know they WERE stopped. If circumstances are dramatically different (the target was stopped indoors, then carried outdoors and left there), the target may realize what has happened, or at least realize that they were affected by a spell. A stopped character or monster cannot move or act, and suffers a -10/-10 helplessness AT/PA penalty. Casting a Haste spell on an affected target nullifies Stop.
• [Time Magic=4, Malediction=4]Temporary Aging (14 MP) - This spell accelerates time for a single target, causing them to age rapidly. Against most mortal targets, particularly humanoids, this will weaken them. All humans and other such species recieve a penalty of -4/-4 AT/PA. Against creatures such as dragons, which only strengthen with age, apply bonuses as appropriate.
• [Malediction=1]Deteriorate (8 MP) - Corrodes a target's armor, reducing its effective AC by rank*2 for rank rounds.
• [Malediction=2]Weaken (8 MP) - Reduces a target's attack strength. All physical attack damage dealt by that target is reduced by rank*2 for rank rounds.
• [Malediction=3]Cripple (8 MP) - Numbs a target's reflexes and makes it more difficult to move to defend. The target's PA is reduced by rank for rank rounds.
• [Malediction=4]Lesser Desalination (20 MP) - Rapidly drains he target's body of large quantities of salt. This results in hyponatremia, or lack of sodium, and may cause fatigue, nausea, weakness, fever, seizures, coma, lack of coordination, and tissue swelling. The affected creature will recieve 8+2d6 points of damage from fatigue each round and suffer a -4/-4 AT/PA penalty. After 4 rounds or (target's STA) rounds, whichever is less, the affected target must make a Difficulty 10+rank STA check or fall unconscious.
• [Malediction=5]Fumble (10 MP) - Reduces a foe's ability to land accurate blows. The target's AT is reduced by rank for rank rounds.
• [Malediction=6]Apoptosis (22 MP) - Initiates cellular death routines in a target, gradually dealing damage. An affected target will take 12+1d6 points of damage per round for rank rounds.
• [Benediction=1]Sharpen (8 MP) - Boosts the damage of a weapon by +rank for rank rounds.
• [Benediction=2]Fortify (8 MP) - Boosts the AC of an armor by +rank for rank rounds.
• [Benediction=3]Center (10 MP) - Boosts a target's PA by +rank for rank rounds.
• [Benediction=4]Align (12 MP) - Boosts a target's AT by +rank for rank rounds.
• [Benediction=5]Shield (15 MP) - Boosts a target's MBlock by +rank for rank rounds.
• [Benediction=6]Bolster (16 MP) - Boosts a target's MAtk by +rank for rank rounds.
• [Enchanting=1]Enchant Item (X*5 MP/day or X*10 MP) - Imbues a nonmagical item with a magical property. This property can be any Benediction, Malediction, or similar spell known by the caster. These enchantments can be removed by means of a Dispel Magic spell or similar effect. This spell's chance of success is based on the strength of the spell to be placed on the item. Multiply the required skill ranks of the spell to enchant the item with by 3--this is the target difficulty rating. Make a spell check vs. this difficulty to determine success or failure. Enchantments can also be temporary, and the cost will be paid per round of effect or per day of effect. X is the cost of the spell being used to enchant the item. Permanent enchanting does not have to be done all at one time, but using the item in between enchanting sessions will undo all magical work put into it.
• [Enchanting=2]Imbue Aura (5 MP) - This enchants any item with a magical aura that has no immediate functional benefit (no combat bonuses or other improvements). However, this aura responds to magic and astral scanning as an ordinary aura would, and thusly, can be used to fool less skilled mages, creatures who are attracted to magical items, etc. Items enchanted with this spell can be moved with the Astral spell "Astral Throw."
• [Enchanting=3]Lock (8 MP) - Locks doors, gates, purses, coin pouches, zippers, buttons, hooks, fasteners, whatever, magically. This enchantment can only be dispelled by a Dispel Magic effect. Otherwise, the locked item cannot be opened. This does not stop brute force totally (i.e., a door locked in this manner could still be burned or busted down).
• [Enchanting=4]Dispel Enchantment (10 MP) - Attempts to forcefully dispel magical enchantments of various types.
• [Enchanting=6]Alchemical Method (X MP) - Turns plain, pure water into a potion that can be imbibed to grant the power of any single Benediction spell Darin can cast. This costs 4x the spell's cost in MP, and the spell only has half the effect that it would if it were cast by Darin personally.

See Also

• List of Archmage's RP characters.