Post by High Priest Thomas Ravenfall on Mar 2, 2010 23:07:54 GMT -7
High Priest Thomas Ravenfall
Character Basics
Nationality: Nation of He Without A Name
Leader Character?: Yes
Playby: Claudio Sanchez
Custom Title: The Avatar of He Without A Name
Age: Mid-30s
Nickname(s): The Walking Fear
What Makes You Tick?
National Traits:
- Black Magic: As the Earthly avatar of He Without A Name, High Priest Thomas Ravenfall has mastered nearly all forms of black magic. Using the dark arts, he is able to return the recently killed to life as mindless slaves of his own, is able to cast spells with purposes purposes including draining the life forces of others, increasing his own strength/speed/endurance, and creating potions of various uses, mostly to amplify his own abilities, or to slowly poison his enemies.
- Fear Mongering: Where the average wielder of the fear monger ability is able only to cause a sense of lost confidence or creeping dread, the High Priest exudes an aura of pure fear. Any normal man, outside of the Cult or the other world leaders, to see the High Priest, would succumb to the greatest fear they had ever known. To look directly onto the High Priest would cause one to feel paralyzed by fear, to stare too long would lead others to suffer from lasting paranoia and, perhaps, complete madness.
- Shadow Walking: Like many of his nation, High Priest Thomas Ravenfall is capable of traveling through shadows, able to travel into any location, provided there is shade. This allows him to rapidly travel throughout the world, without the need of boats, planes, or other modes of transportation, unless he so chooses.
- Shadow Fighting: As part of his role as High Priest, Thomas was trained for a time by Black Monastery Monks. While studying under them, he learned the basics of Shadow Fighting, and, with a great deal of concentration, is able to wield his shadow as an extension of his own body in close quarters combat. This would include the shadows of weaponry he holds.
- Shadow Healing: As the High Priest of He Without A Name, Thomas is more than capable in the art of Shadow Healing, able to heal himself, and his any allies he may have with him, from the brink of death, in his own darkness.
- Immunity to Fear: As are all members of his nation, Thomas is more than immune to the feeling of fear, reveling in the suffering it causes others.
Unique Qualities:
- Aura of Darkness: A trait unique to all High Priests of He Without A Name, Thomas' body projects darkness out from itself, radiating from him. Through this, he is able to maintain his Shadow Healing in dire situations, and, when necessary, is able to use it to move in total secrecy. This ability can not create darkness in daylight, except in his home nation which experiences little light, and allows him to see perfectly in the dark.
- Charismatic Leader: Thomas, as the avatar of his dark God, is a very charismatic leader for his people, able to sway them to his views, as well as being a surprisingly charismatic presence in diplomatic meetings, using his charisma to prove the benevolence of his people.
Weaknesses:
- Light: Though he radiates darkness, Thomas is still susceptible to the illuminating power of light, especially considering that powerful lights will dispel his darkness. When traveling outside of his country, he often wears his robes hood fully obscuring his face, to protect his eyes in case of sudden brightness.
- Water: Though the most powerful representation of his country's national strengths, he still finds himself unable to swim, and unwilling to be submerged in water for any purpose other than bathing. While he can travel the world via his shadow walking, he refuses to go anywhere he has not been before without it being scouted ahead of time, so as to avoid being tricked into a watery grave.
- Fire: Aside from the obvious concern over illumination, Thomas has a great hatred of fire, due to it having been the cause of death of the previous High Priest, who was burned for treachery. Avoiding it almost as thoroughly as he does water, it seems that thanks to his traditional robes and his hatred of water, he has no defense against the flames.
Personality: The High Priest does everything in his power to lead his nation into prosperity. Where previous High Priests focused on returning He Without A Name to the world, Thomas seeks instead to spread their word, refusing to risk another catastrophe like the raising of Atlantis, which had ended in the previous High Priest's death. Seeing his religion as more than a cult, he believes they truly seek to make the world a better place, free from suffering by showing all the Dark Path.
As a political leader, Thomas works deftly to seem friendly with all other world leaders, regardless of their treatment of himself. He, however, is very slippery, more than willing to send his army to invade a country in secret, as he meets on his own turf with the other nation's leader. While publicly claiming to uphold deals and to only attack when forced, he is truly a devious leader, sending strike teams wherever he feels is a threat to his nation, having no qualms ordering a secret 'preemptive' strike. On the occurrence that this tactic fails him, Thomas always turns away from the failure, branding the squad as treacherous separatists, calling for their murder, so as to avoid conflict with the leader of the nation he had secretly attacked. He never allows his soldiers to carry orders directly from him, in case of this situation, forcing things to come down to the word of the High Priest against the word of accused terrorists when worse comes to worse.
History: Born during the reign of High Priest Edward Crom, Thomas was taken from his parents at a young age, and began training not as a monk, but as a priest, in the Black Monastery, due to having shown an affinity for the training process. Trained at first with the expectation to work in the Sanctuary of the Dark Center, he rose through the ranks quickly.
Becoming one of very few priests allowed to train with the High Priest, Thomas was announced to be the successor to the theocratic leadership at the young age of fifteen. Helping High Priest Edward Crom in studies meant to bring forth He Without A Name, Thomas bore firsthand witness to the rise of Atlantis, brought about by a miscalculation on Edward's part.
Since Thomas had, on numerous occasions during the studies, warned the High Priest that he wasn't doing things as they should be done, he found he was fully ignored by his superior. Seeing the rise of Atlantis as proof of his predecessor's foolishness, Thomas became the leader of the claims of treachery brought against High Priest Edward Crom, fully supporting the idea of executing the High Priest in public.
Accepting the mantle of the new High Priest as Edward was prepared for execution, Thomas' first act was to ban research into unleashing He Without A Name, opting instead to focus on spreading the word of their God, seeing it as a means to give their lord what he sought, without risking another Atlantis-like incident. Surprisingly, this proved a worthy tactic as Thomas has become closer to their Lord than any High Priest before him.
On the day of Edward Crom's execution, the newly christened High Priest Thomas Ravenfall watched on as his mentor was burned to death. The image of another High Priest flailing in the flames burned into his mind. While he didn't fear it, he loathed the idea of being killed in such a way, seeing it as far below what a man of his stature deserved. From that day, he avoided, at all costs, flames.
Since gaining the title of High Priest, Thomas has proven a well liked leader, seeming to care as deeply for his people as he does his religion. As the serpent he is, he works closely with anyone he feels will prove useful at the time, though he has no qualms turning on 'allies' as long as he is assured he'll get away with it.
Due to the current alliances, he looks upon Atlantis and the Barren Wastes with utter distaste, viewing the Atlanteans as arrogant fools, and the vampires and lycans of the Barren Wastes as barely registering above any other wild beast that should be stored in captivity. His current allies, The Experimental Vaults, he has treated with respect, showing no signs, as of yet, that he plans to turn on them. The eternally neutral Realm of Enlightenment they views as being misled by their own philosophies, seeing their enlightenment as nothing more than themselves shrouding themselves in the very illusions they claim to be rid of. Of course, in diplomatic meetings, he will always act kind to other leaders, so as to keep up appearances.
About You!
Name: The Tommy or maybe High Priest Tommy
Anything Interesting?: I'm your head Admin. Also, I lead a cult in real life, too!
