Acantha/TwilightShadowServant

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The Twilight and Shadow Servant

Yes, I do hate myself, thank you.

This is more of a project in finding out just what does happen to an Abyssal that redeems? So for lack of a better example, here is The Twilight and Shadow Servant, who gains resonance whenever his best friend (a Solar, of course) calls his name. As you might expect, he gains a lot of resonance. Here he is at the beginning of his Exaltation, as a starting Abyssal.

(He's in 1ED until I figure out how to convert him relatively painlessly.)

Description

The Twilight and Shadow Servant is a young man with stark white hair and pale skin. His eyes are washed-out blue that are alternately kind and cruel. He wears a tight-fitting red-and-black bodysuit and soulsteel armor, and carries a soulsteel reaper daiklave at his side.

Personality

Ambitious and cruel, the Servant spends most of his time brooding over what he lost when he forsook the land of the living for the power of the dead. He still finds himself thinking about his youth with his close friends on an island far to the West with some regret, but knows he can never go back. Now, finding himself in internal as well as external conflict, he is willing to sacrifice his very soul for a taste of the power that will let him survive in the cruel world outside.

History

Born an only child in a small, close-knit community in the West, the Servant spent his childhood in a virtual paradise, separated from the outside world by miles of ocean. However, wanderlust soon consumed him, and he planned to build himself a small boat and find out what lay beyond the ocean in front of him.

However...

An odd storm approached, too quick and too loud to be ignored. No one understood where it came from, or who sent it; most thought the Fair Folk were playing their games, their islands being perilously close to the Bordermarches already. The boy who would become the Servant was one of only three that went out to meet the storm, while the others huddled inside their homes, praying for help.

In the midst of the dark, cold storm, a vision appeared before the Servant. It was a woman, tall and oddly-colored, dressed in black robes and bearing a raven. She promised him worlds beyond the tiny islands he knew, power unimaginable, and best of all, freedom from his static, unending future. He accepted. The darkness swirled around him, and the last thing he saw before sinking into the Labyrinth was the image of his best friend Cheerful Sky reaching for him, glowing with the light of a brilliant sunrise.

The Servant has wholeheartedly accepted the darkness, to the point of declaring his best friend his mortal enemy and working against him at every turn. His one weakness, however, is a young woman, Light of the Sea, whom he cares for deeply; the storm, sent directly from the Labyrinth, swept her away to the Servant's side, and she sleeps perpetually under his watchful gaze, a living creature slowly fading under the influence of his shadowland Manse.

Statistics (1ED)

Name: The Twilight and Shadow Servant
Caste: Dusk
Nature: Survivor
Anima: Swirling, dancing shadows
Concept: One who gave himself to darkness

Attributes
Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4
Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 5
Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 3

Abilities
Athletics 4 (when jumping +2), Dodge 4 (versus multiple opponents +2), Endurance 3, Linguistics 1, Lore 1, Martial Arts 2, Melee 4 (reaver daiklave +2), Occult 3, Resistance 1, Ride 1, Survival 2, Stealth 3, Thrown 2
Languages: Sea-tongue, Old Realm

Backgrounds
Whispers 3, Leige 4, Abyssal Command 1, Artifact 3, Necromancy 2, Underworld Manse 2

Charms
Melee: Furious Blade, Savage Shade Style, Blade Summoning Gesture, Void Sheathing Technique
Occult: Shadowlands Circle Necromancy
Athletics: Raiton's Nimble Perch, Shadow Races the Light
Dodge: Flitting Shadow Form, Fivefold Shadow Form
Stealth: Concealing Distraction Discipline

Spells
Shadowlands Circle Necromancy: Piercing The Shroud, Soul Brand

Virtues
Compassion 3, Conviction 2, Temperance 1, Valor 3
Resonance 3

Willpower 6

Essence 3
Personal: 15
Peripheral: 36

Merits and Flaws
None.

Notes

Expanded Backgrounds

Artifact 3

The Twilight and Shadow Servant has exclusive access to the following artifacts.

Antithesis of Light

A soulsteel reaver daiklave. Living creatures killed by it are bound to the wielder as shadowy, ghost-like shades until they next see the sun, after which they are free to seek Lethe or Oblivion as they wish.

The Dark Fate of Princes

Soulsteel reinforced breastplate. Those that stare into it long enough find themselves looking at a dark shadow of their own bodies, broken by the weight of living.

The Morning Star Guide

As E:AB, p257

Underworld Manse

The Servant's Underworld Manse is located in a secluded area of the West. It is built to resemble a child's playground, with living trees twisted into dark shadows of what they once were and the watery fountain drawing from the Sea of Shadows itself. The Servant keeps Light of the Sea here in a perpetual sleep, often watching over her and speaking to her as though she still walked among the living. He sets the Manse's Hearthstone into his reaver daiklave's hilt.

Necromancy

The Servant has learned the Shadowlands Circle Necromany spells Piercing the Shroud and Soul Brand.

Abyssal Command

At any time, the Servant may summon up from his shadow several shadowy ghouls, the remnants of his daiklave's work.

In case you haven't realized

The Twilight and Shadow Servant is based off of Riku from Kingdom Hearts. Once I get my act together, I'm giving him XP and then Redeeming him into a Solar so he can go off and save Creation with his best friend Cheerful Sky and his two Lunar buddies.

Now with More Angst!

You can see the Servant after several months of dark worship (and 200xp worth of angst) here.