Mancer
Abilities:
Mancer is an immensely talented magician. His wand, the Nova, contains within it a hypercompact star called the Preon. This arcane singularity, incredible dense, siphons off the energies around it, including life forces, though the conversion rate and slowness of this drain means that it'll never have much of an effect on anyone but Mancer. Long story short, the Preon core feeds of the energy of things around it and will never run out of magic.
Mancer has a wealth of spells to use. The more basic ones require only thought to manifest, which are scorching flame, weak telekinesis, electric shocks, iceballs, and space portals called Holes. Mancer's more complicated spells require incantation, are as follows:
Spoiler (Click to Show)
Cold Snap – a brilliant blue flash from the Nova's tip that instantly freezes anything right in front of it. This is effectively Mancer's shielding spell as well, since it can freeze or at least snuff out many projectiles.
Avalanche – as long as Mancer channels this spell, a floating block of ice builds above his wand. This can be thrown or dropped with great force.
Dark Repulsor – creates a teal blast of magic that exudes a deep purple aura as it flies through the air. This sizable projectile will seize anything it passes through and carry it with it to explode against an impassable surface. Being one of Mancer's stronger spells, DR requires some time to charge.
Drown in Darkness – creates a pool of liquid shadow on a flat surface that living things will partially sink into, trapping them.
Join Me – manipulates light to create a hologram. Can assume any form smaller than a horse and can move of its own accord, but is intangible.
Gorgon's Glare – green flash that turns a living thing to stone. In actuality, it holds them within a rock-hard, millimeter-thick coating of stone. More effective than Cold Snap, but a building light before the spell goes off means that it can be avoided by looking away. The coat breaks off if struck.
Return to Dust – fills the air with dust that makes both seeing and breathing a chore.
Flash Flood – a continuous stream of water is expelled from the Nova's tip as if it were a hose. This water, while rather warm, is fairly harmless.
Gravity Flux - reorients Mancer's gravity to whatever surface the Nova is touching. This spell allows him to walk on walls and ceilings.
Diminish – a crimson beam that shrinks the victim. Depending on how close they were to the wand, they're shrunk more. If actually hit by the wand, the victim will become a fifth of his or her original size, which is the limit. Can work on objects. Wears off over a short period.
Engorge – a yellow beam that grows the victim. Rather than growing all parts of the victim equally, this spell only affects their adipose—that is, their body fat. Again, distance from the wand determines how effective this spell is, with the limit being twice the original weight. Only works on living things. This is a spell that Mancer learned more of as a prank than as anything else, though it's decent at disabling opponents. Wears off over a short period.
Morning Star – a relatively slow-moving orb of brilliant golden light that grows in size the longer it's flying. Upon hitting something, it explodes in a blast of dazzling light, searing pain, and pushing force. A powerful spell that's good for finishing off someone disabled by another spell. If used when Mancer is not emotionally involved, the light will enter its target rather than detonating against it, and can erupt later on.
Heartseekers – creates three arcane bolts that home in on the nearest person that bears Mancer ill will. Upon contact, they act like knives. Great for finding someone who is hiding.
Ablution – a self-cast spell that absorbs magic afflicting Mancer into the Preon. This is the spell that saves his life when too much decay is built up inside him, though a downside to this spell is that it causes minor bleeding to compensate.
The Huntress - a summoning spell. A green mist spews from the Nova and quickly forms into the shape of a hooded woman wielding a bow. For a time this archer will fight on his side, employing incredible skill. The Huntress is relatively easy to destroy, and since doing so means the bow's enchantment is nullified and will have to be redone, Mancer is cautious in her use. Mancer crafted this spell by enchanting the bow he obtained from his battle with the huntress Kodi Melton.
Usurper's Fingers - a dark spell that caused semi-aware tentacles to sprout from magic circles placed on surfaces. These tentacles are thick, black, and pointed, and act pretty much on their own to maim anything that comes within their reach except for Mancer and his summons. The biggest ones can be summoned from Drown in Darkness pools. When Mancer is very corrupted, this spell will create six thin but deadly tentacles coming from his own back, which are particularly violent. Needless to say, this spell didn't turn out so well. Mancer crafted this spell by hexing the severed tentacle he obtained from his struggle against the Usurper King Omega.[/Spoiler]
All of Mancer's spells increase in power according to his emotional state, but they are also more difficult to control. More emotion means more magic means more entropy, which means more decay.
Given the right materials and enough time, Mancer can create his own spells using an experimental method. Using this process, he can't control what he makes, and one of the materials -the 'semblance' determines what the spell does. This semblance, a physical item, must be taken from another individual, most often defeated enemies. Performing this rite does not affect Mancer's entropy.
Also, getting smacked with the wand would probably hurt given its core's ludicrous density.
Weaknesses:
While Mancer has a lot of spells at his disposal, none are particularly devastating and require the use of his intelligence to wield effectively, not just spamming power.
Mancer is physically weak, and will fold in no time if assaulted in close quarters. As such, a very strong offense will be effective against him.
Use of his magic -particularly in conjunction with emotion- causes entropy to build around him. This, in turn, allows his decay to fester and spread, which has numerous bad effects. If too much decay builds up and Ablution isn't used, Mancer can quickly die by melting to nothing or, worse, become a brain-dead zombie.
If disarmed, Mancer is forced to use his own magical power rather than that of the Nova. Doing so instantly raises his emotional state to very high, and makes his magic wild and dangerous. If not reunited with the Nova and forced to use magic, he'll succumb to decay in a matter of moments.
About/Story:
Spoiler (Click to Show)
Among the crinkly lexicons Meng toiled for weeks in a constant struggle to get adequate oxygen to his brain, delving deeper and deeper into the untouched archives as he sought something, anything interesting. *At last, he chanced upon what appeared to be a misplaced spellbook. *However, it turned out to be no more than a bare few pages full of unknown runes and a single illustration: a black square that seemed to ripple and tremble of its own accord. *The instant Meng prodded it to sate his curiosity, a sudden force yanked him into an inky dark void. *As he fought his panic, Meng became aware that the darkness was fading, but the moment his sight was restored his instantly and instinctively knew that something was wrong. *He found himself in a world of islands suspended in a ghostly green sky full of twisted plants and drab, lifeless land. *He had appeared in a Dead Age, an uncharted dimension to which the deceased spirits of some alien world escaped to.
Immediately he sought a way out, but without a Linking Book -a lifeline to the world he came from, like a metal coil pushed down and ready to spring him back- he was trapped. *Over the next few hours he grew increasingly worried; every essence of his being seemed to cry out against every essence of the Dead Age where he fundamentally didn't belong. *All revenants he found in his path fled before he could draw near—that is, all but one. *A horrific one-eyed shade that styled itself Escre whispered to him of a wand with the power to take him back to his own dimension. *After securing the ghost's undeniable verification of the existence of this astral scepter, Meng began his quest with a new nickname to hide his identity among the dead: Mancer. *Mancer spent a forlorn year wandering the Dead Age, becoming infected with the Age's decay, growing every more skeletal and monstrous himself, only to return a changed and dejected man to where he first began his journey. *Escre appeared, laughed hollowly at Mancer's corruption, and produced the Nova wand before dropping it at Mancer's clawed, blackened feet. *Stunned, Mancer tried to attack only to find himself alone with the wand, which he balefully accepted and used to travel through a portal back to the earth. *Though home, he was distraught to find himself alienated once again. [/Spoiler]
Personality:
Before his ordeal, Mancer was adventurous, outgoing, and friendly guy, but any vestige of that optimistic soul has been corrupted along with his body. In his new existence, Mancer lives in a perpetual state of fear. He is afraid of others, what they think and might do to him particularly if intimidated by him, but more dreadfully he is afraid of himself. Mancer is painfully aware that the Nova's Preon is the only thing keeping his mind intact, and is obsessive over it almost to the point of insanity. Fighting others helps dissolve some of the immense stress he lives under day to day, and there are very few others releases for it; even though he still resembles and acts like a human, Mancer thinks of himself as a monster, and eschews social interaction. When fighting, he must be careful not to let his emotions get the better of him, or the aberrant energies within him will take over. He approaches more situations with intelligence, caution, and pragmatism.
Appearance:
Before his odyssey through the Dead Age, Mancer was a black-haired, goatee-sporting, physically fit young man of Asian ethnicity. Now, though, his skin is somewhat calcified, cold and rough to the touch, and it is a patchwork of normal, white, and gray. The fingernails on his hands and feet are a lot more like claws, and his eyes have become slitted. A small horn protrudes from the left side of his head, but is is normally hidden beneath his snow-white cloak. The rest of him is covered by drab brown robes, with a few stylish tassels here and there.
When the decay starts to spread through him, his skin is overgrown with a milk-white corruption and grows small spines. The horn on his head grows larger and a second on the right side of his head appears.
Demo:
Spoiler (Click to Show)
This time, however, Zander awoke with perfect clarity, only a little disoriented. Yawning, he sat up and looked around. While the cushy, enveloping whiteness surrounding him looked much like a pillow, nothing else reminded him of his cozy bed. “Hm...” he murmured, turning his head to peer into the cloudy expanse. His gaze fell upon the sleeping frame of a familiar figure: Zoe, the angel that had fallen into his life a year ago. After a few seconds spent absorbing every minute detail on her serene face, he forced himself to look away. Either it was fear or virtue that kept him so chaste around her; any other senior guy would have found satisfaction in a such beautiful, subservient, utterly stupid girl. Maybe that was why he, an inexperienced, confidence-bereft geek, had found her instead.
Leaving her gentle snored to continue, he pushed himself to his feet. For the first time he noticed the state of the clothes he was wearing. While the garb, a simple pair of nylon pants and a pocketed green t-shirt, didn't register with him, he stared quizzically at a rip in the shirt about where his heart was. Though the cloth was ripped, nothing marred the surface of the skin beneath.
A slight cough caused him to look up suddenly. Having been acting as if he was in private, he was somewhat startled to discover that he was not alone. The cougher proved to be easily located; in the infinite white space, anything stood out blatantly obviously. This cougher in question stood behind a plain wooden podium, and wore a white robe whose shade contrasted the background as brightly as snow contrasted the murky winter sky from which it fell to earth. From within the man's hood (he was obviously a man, given his stature. Anyone more worldly than Zander would have been able to surmise that this man had spent many hours laboring in his life) came a soft yellow glow, just enough to slightly obscure his skin and features but leave the shape of his head intact. A downy beard, the same radiant glow as the man's face, drooped from his chin over the robe. His eyes were brown, and the irises white. Though Zander couldn't place where it came from, he felt a powerful awe sweep over him emanating from the man. He stood for a few moments, really unsure of what to do.
The man waited patiently, the spirit of a smile playing upon his lips. Zander approached slowly, and as he did his elder leaned forward on his podium, as if to listen. The boy felt obliged to give him something to listen to. “Hi,” he quavered. He mentally cursed himself--great job, brave Zander. He's only the kindliest old man you've ever met. Hasty to make up for it, he followed up with a question. “Who...are you?”
Zander found he could not describe the man's voice. It seemed at once congenial yet commanding, tranquil yet serious. “Try again,” he intoned.
Another moment seeped by as a bewildered Zander searched for a response. “Uh...”
“Ask another question,” the old man beseeched, more amused than impatient.
“Um, where...where am I?”
“Ever hear of Purgatorio?”
The boy shook his head.
“No use explaining it then. Next question, my child.”
“Why am I here?”
The twinkle left the old man's eyes, and his shining skin shone solemnly.
“Sin.”
Silence.
Zander's voice, tremulous at the hint of understanding, broke it. “Mine?”
“Yours would have been addressed at a far later date. It is the sin of another that brought you here.”
Two and two came together with a grievous r