Tu Shanshu - App
Jul. 21st, 2015 01:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stainedglassreflectionsPlayer Information:
Name: Samm
Age: 24
Contact: AurianEnasni @ AIM, radiantwingedone @ plurk
Other Characters Played: Duke Pantarei (Tales of Vesperia
Most Recent AC Link: Link!
Character Information:
Name: Sion Astal (+Asruld Roland)
Canon: The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Canon Point: Vol 11's Interlude About Eternity. Sion and Ryner avoid working themselves to death and reminisce on "before shit happened" ideals and how they've changed. (basically a bit after Sion's Note)
Age: 20 (Asruld is at least 12407. He might be older, because Time isn't terribly important when you don't need food.)
Reference Links: Wiki link that I honestly don't know where they got their information, because some directly conflicts with the Light novels..
Setting:
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes has a dual-plane setting, and just to make things worse, they both have the same name. Very little about either settings is much like Earth.
The Menoris that existed first is actually the massive back of a dead God, named Menoris. This dead God is being slowly devoured by multitudes of beings known as Goddesses, and the title applies to male and female beings. These Goddesses have strength that matches how hungry they are - more power to the ones with greater hunger.
Asruld Roland was the name of a Goddess, who was eating the dead God as usual until a 'pitch black consciousness' formed in his mind, then devoured anything to him that made him him. This consciousness studied itself - it wanted to destroy things - then studied the world about it. Finding the world disgusting, it decided its desire was right. A short conversation had this consciousness deciding it might as well use the rough identity of the body it was using, and so began to refer to itself as Asruld Roland, and he.
Just in time to be attacked by the conversing Goddess. Then the Goddesses turned on each other and the surviving one, Milk Ephillet, decided she liked hanging around this new thing, and convinced Asruld to not kill her, and head to the south to find his new partner - because if she wasn't his partner, there had to be one out there for him! The partner she thought of was a being known as Ryner Eris Reed, otherwise known as All Formulas or The Lonesome Demon, who was imprisoned in the south.
220 some years later, Asruld is now a young adult in shape, has golden blood, and Milk looks the same as she had. Her plan to get Asruld to meet All Formulas was to chuck him into that prison with the being, and Asruld objected violently.
So when he finally met All Formulas, he was three quarters dead and mad with bloodlust. All Formulas didn't seem to mind, but worried his first friend would cause himself to die via using up his life as power, so he made him sleep until he was healed.
Another two hundred years later, Asruld wakes up, doesn't remember attempting to murder his prison mate, and thinks All Fornulas is a bit insane. But it doesn't matter that All Formulas isn't a Goddess, Asruld wants to destroy everything. All Formulas just kinda agrees that he could die, if it would make his new friend happy.
Only he decides that maybe it would be best not to die, about the time that Asruld has stabbed him through the head, and it causes Asruld to have a breakdown and demand to be killed. All Formulas explains this - that is what Asruld's existence is programmed as - kill set number of Goddesses, run into one too strong, give up all hope.
All Formulas doesn't want this for his friend, and so he splits himself into two - Solver, who is Lonesome, known as Ryner Reed, and Weaver, the Demon, who is Eris Reed. Solver offers himself to Asruld, offering to alter the rules of Asruld's existence if Asruld devours him. Asruld doesn't really get it, but the chance to kill more things? He takes Solver's offer, rewrites his existence, and busts out of the prison with Weaver.
Asruld doesn't get much time free to slaughter Goddesses before all the Goddesses power is pulled into a new spell. Asruld and Solver (who is more alive than the original Asruld is within the current Asruld) discover they can't take apart this new spell - which is starting to imprison Asruld and Weaver - because the spell is on a different plane, and fights back.
Solver spends a couple thousand years studying this spell after it traps them, and discovers he can't take it apart, but he found what binds it together. But none of them understand that binding, so he needs to figure a way around that. After all, Solver knows only Loneliness, and Asruld knows only Destruction. How could they know Love?
The answer is that they will copy this binding spell, but give it more Love than the others, and it will be bound to their minds. That extra Love will spread to others, and they can weaken the original spell that way. But, as their minds are bound to this spell, they will feel everything as it does. They will crumble, and they will regret.
Asruld doesn't understand what Regret is – only vaguely aware of Loneliness due to devouring Solver, he has a limited ability to understand emotion.. He wants to destroy and anything that will get him able to destroy is okay. And so the first Human α was born.
This is where the second Menoris really comes into play. This is the Human's Menoris, which is vaguely like the world as we know it. Animals are normal, there are humans, who range from nice to horrible monsters, and there is magic. Thus the horrible things humans can do to one another got worse. Some humans, although only those with black hair and eyes, can be born with Magic Eyes – called by normal humans as Cursed Eyes, and by some of those with the eyes as God's Eyes. The effect varies, but all of them have a brilliant red patter than usually lays dull and dormant in their eyes. The most common is Alpha Stigma, and is usually considered the weakest of the lot, although normal humans still fear and hate them. Alpha Stigma bearers can see a spell and immediately cast it as if they had already known it, however if they are emotionally traumatized, they go insane, devastating their surroundings. Iino Dwoe devour magic to heal themselves, and so are immune to magic, but unable to cast it. The main Iino Dwoe bearer also finds human flesh appetizing. Ebula Crypt allows the bearer to see random people's dreams. Torch Curse allows the bearer to see the future, at the cost of their body and lifespan, and is the rarest. Wilno Heim bearers see the strengths and weaknesses of others, at the cost seeing themselves as lesser.
And as the Human α is not of the goddesses, the world turned on them. The first human α lived perhaps half a day.
And then it turns out that the world had a lifespan of a thousand years. It reset, and the human α would have to spread Love again.
It took a very long time, and eventually, eventually, the human α bearing Asruld's mind and hearing him urge them on finally made it to what he demanded - the center of the world, with a lot of people that were bound by his Love. And then the demand changed. Devour everything that Loved him, complete the spell. This human α managed to get through everyone, except for the last person. His wife, who held Solver and was the last part needed to free the divinities.
Unsurprisingly, he didn't go through with it. And neither could the next few human α.
The previous human α and his world cycle made it to the end, but didn't have enough power to destroy the Human spell. Instead, he did devour his childhood friend bearing Solver, and used his power to make an eternal hell for anyone who was devoured on the next Human Alpha's path to freeing the divinities. He was the first soul to dwell there.
And then the world reset again.
Sion Astal was born to his commoner mother after the current, insane king of Roland decided he liked the look of her. Hated by all the nobles - many of them his older half siblings - for something he had no control over and his mother didn't ask for, he grew up in the slums. And then when he was old enough to fend for himself, his mother commuted suicide.
He somehow survived until 17, where he was dumped in a school for teaching common and criminal children to be soldiers so nobles did lose their children to war, and started gathering talented students about him in effort to eventually gain strength and fix the country.
Only Roland went to war with Estabul to the south, and almost all of Sion's friends were slaughtered. However, due to his friend with the Alpha Stigma, a boy named Ryner Lute, the battle resulted in Estabul surrendering to Roland.
Sion felt he had nothing left – his surviving classmates were Ryner, who was to be in jail indefinitely, and Kiefer, who couldn't stand to stay in Roland any longer – and so he accepts the head of the Eris Clan's offer. Should he pass the test, Lucile would back him in becoming king – the strongest swordsman in Roland would guard him. If he failed, Lucile promised that Sion wouldn't feel a thing as his head departed his body. Sion passed, and so accepted the Mad Hero, becoming the new Human α. Or at least most of the Human α – his father, the mad king, had the rest of the Hero.
Eventually Sion became King through rebellion, killing his father and becoming the new Human α in full. It took a little under two years to get to that point, and he eventually frees Ryner, only to send him and Lucile's younger sister Ferris, out searching for 'hero relics', which were magical artifacts of great power, so Roland wouldn't be preyed upon by other countries.
Sion is involved in homeland politics – fending off assassins, being unable to punish his corrupt nobility because they have more supporters than he did, and eventually gaining creepy underlings who would murder the corrupt lot for him, taking all the blame for the actions. He works on stabilizing Estabul.
Eventually Ryner and Ferris return, only for Ryner to run off without either of them. Sion doesn't have time for more than a small panic attack at the thought, because an insane 'alpha stigma bearer' has attacked the combined Estabul and Roland army. He has to rush off to help with that – and only ends up putting his foot in his mouth, as the Iino Dwoe bearer convinces Ryner to leave with him.
Back to struggling to keep his country afloat when war is brewing in the north. Sion's orders slowly get shadier, and his health slowly gets worse. He finally snaps at the crazy subordinate after Ryner returns, using the Hero's powers for the first time. He's already not really human anymore.
Sion keeps Ryner close under the usual torment of making the man help him with paperwork. Ryner can't run off again, because in order to save this world, Sion needs to devour the Solver. However, if he devours Solver, he will be sending his best friend to eternal hell. Ryner can't leave, because Sion has to kill him to spare him from that. Now just to actually manage it.
Personality:
The Hero King of Roland, Sion Astal, is the young man he is due to his past; he fights corruption and the nobility as hard as he does because his father, the previous king, decided he liked the look of a married woman, took her, and then dumped her outside when Sion was born. He grew up surrounded by the hate that can only be born from those who feel someone rose above their place; his mother may not have wanted the attention of the king, but she got it—and a son—anyway. From a young age, Sion wanted to change the country—to take this corrupted system where just because one had power and status, they could murder, rape, and otherwise crush those without power—or had less power—with little or no consequences. A place where everyone is judged on merit, not on bloodlines, is what he wants to create.
This is why when Sion manages his rebellion and takes the throne—and his father's life—the common people start calling him a Hero King. Not only was he a hero due to a short war with the southern country—where the trainee, the people were told, managed to defeat 50 Magic Knights (soldiers who are generally more insane and violent than the standard soldier)—but he was working on taking the system and turning it into something great. He mentions to Ryner at a later point—after having the throne for two years or so—that there is still much to do; education, health care, technological developments. He wants to make a world where fighting isn't necessary, where lives won't be lost for gain. Where people won't have to suffer, or kill. A world where afternoon naps could be taken, where no one would cry, where no one would have to feel the pain of loss.
Of course, not everyone is pleased with him. The nobles who find their wants blocked by this young man call him a 'tyrant', as well as older insults like 'mongrel'—the child of a lowborn common woman as well as their king. While this could technically be accurate—Sion does not want to share the power with the nobles, he desires control so that he can change the system—Sion is not the stereotypical tyrant that his father was—do what you want, so long as it doesn't bother what I want. However this is mostly due to them wanting to do what they want—Sion fits no other part of the definition.
For the most part, Sion is very much a beacon of hope and change to his country. The narration remarks on it fairly often—how he is a bright light, or a light of hope. How he's young, and full of willpower and determination, with charming good looks or smiles like an angelic youth that is hard to look away from. There is a point where he goes to visit the Emperor of Nelpha, and it describes that ruler—that the man was old enough that wisdom and experience showed in the lines of his face, and that the expression in his eyes was gentle, kind... "He could be said to be someone completely opposite of Sion."
As Ryner puts it during one of his many irritated moments with his friend the king, "Like a traveling player, he acts the part of hero convincingly. That whole nice-guy demeanor and champion of justice attitude endear him to the people, they don't see the arrogant, crafty slave driver behind the façade." He knows that his people want to see someone kind, caring, and looking out for them all, so that is the side he chooses to show to them. Those who get closer get the edges of his tongue, to deal with him more or less cheerfully blackmailing them into what he needs done. To be fair, most of these are because Ryner and Ferris are not particularly motivated by patriotic feelings, but the man is definitely a firm believer in 'using all of your intelligence is not cheating', even if it means finding out the deployments of other teams in a eliminate-the-other-team exercise prior to the event, and hunting them down that way. This he does quite easily—his 'angelic smiles' often shift to 'demonic' ones in the span of a few comments.
On the other hand, his subordinates—the ones who went through the revolution with him, but aren't considered best friends—mostly worry about his health. With good reason, however; Sion regularly spends days awake—at one point, it was thirty hours since he last slept, and he was then woken by an emergency involving his general and assassins. Later, it is mentioned that Sion keeps Ryner and Ferris up with him for five days or so—only to realize how long it has been, and mention 'oh, I had better sleep'. Some of these are humorous—Iris, the younger sister of Ferris, gets convinced that sighing three times in a row will result in death. Thus she tips Sion's chair to prevent third sighs. Some of his subordinates resort to mild emotional blackmail, calling upon the name of a secretary who was murdered to convince him to eat, something he forgets to do while working. And they have odd hints to keep their worries founded—Sion occasionally blacks out for a day, or will spend time spaced out kneeling somewhere. Or forgets where or how he got to a place.
However, as his friends find, Sion's sense of humor is most definitely one with a mocking edge. Anyone who makes comments about finding thanks from another male discomforting will find themselves half hit on, complete with odd threats of 'you better live. If you die, you'll make me cry.' He greatly enjoys telling embarrassing story-secrets, thus often ruining first impressions, and he has very little pity for people who can't stay up as late as he can. This does bite him from time to time; his friends have trouble believing when he wants to do nice things with them, so he usually ends up following along with their fears—usually of more paperwork.
And while everyone sees the light to him, Miran Froaude sees something else. He sees that Sion gathers bright people to him—good, strong people, but good people none the less. He sees that Sion is a bright light of hope—with immeasurable darkness within him. Sion holds greater tolerance than Froaude, but he also holds a greater capacity for darkness. Sion sees power in others, and despite their dangers, he is willing to make use of them for as long as he can make use of them. Even when faced with overwhelming power—the sort of 'killing intent' that left him with no doubt that if he even twitched a finger, he would be dead before he knew it—Sion is filled with a want for that power. He needs strength on his side so he can change the country, even if that strength is such that it all but paralyzes him. Even if taking that strength means that he might die, means that his mind would be pushed to the point where he literally cannot move from what he is seeing, even if it means letting in an ancient being so that he can gain the support of the strongest fighter in the kingdom, the one clan that always guards the Kings of Roland.
However confident the man is, however long he stands there smiling, there will be a mention of 'a face like he wanted to cry'. Sion is wracked with guilt that he cannot do more, that he cannot save them all. He starts to realize that his choices are those of 'right hand lives, left hand dies', and exactly how much power he has. Because of him, people die. Because of him, people live. That power scares him, inside. But he still wants to save people, even if he feels that his hands and his voice can't reach anyone, can't save anyone. It's in these moments that his mother's words—that he was a kind child—come back to haunt him the most. Because with those kindness alone, he can't save anyone. Because with those hands, all he could hold onto was darkness. Fear that even though he has all this power, he still can't save everyone. Or anyone that matters to him. That he reaches one hand out to aid, and signs orders to kill with the other, and nothing will change about that. Is he making the right choices? Will he actually be able to save anyone?
However, despite this, Sion moves forward. He wants to. He has to. Moving forward means that he can do something, that he can change this world. It also means he doesn't have to spend a great deal of time studying his failures. He has a path to take, and he must move forward. After all, if he doesn't, Lucile will kill him, and place a new king on the throne. Sion is, he must be, strong enough to trample everything dear to reach the end of his path, if it becomes necessary.
Sion, for the sake of saving as many of his people as possible, to expand his influence further into the continent, starts to resume the projects he abolished after gaining the throne. He starts human experimentation back up, he orders and allows Froaude to incite the nobles that hate him so that he can murder those who oppose him and a unified government in one blow. He moves further down that cruel path that was laid before him, prepared to trample all that he needs to. He became Human α, after all, and all the world cannot abide his existence, nor the existence of those who fall under his influence. The Mad Hero compels him to—to move forward, to reach the center of the continent.... then to devour everyone and break Human with the power gained. To devour the Solver and the Weaver, just as the Mad Hero devoured the Weaver, so that the Mad Hero and the Lonesome Demon could be freed. The thorniest part of this path of his is that last part—that the Hero must devour the Solver and Weaver, as Solver is Ryner Lute. This is the thing that Sion struggles most with—he promised Ryner, after all, to make the world Ryner wanted to live in. The one where afternoon naps could be taken, where no one would cry, where no one would have to feel the pain of loss. One that Sion cannot create, and have Ryner live in it, as its creation would require Ryner's death—and Ryner to be cast into an eternal hell. The only other option is for Sion to kill Ryner prior when he needs to devour him—so that the new Solver would not be someone he's attached to.
He has to.
Asruld Roland, the Mad Hero / Fallen Black Hero, is rarely at the front – and when he is, he is generally convincingly enough like Sion that no one notices. This is partially because he can tap Sion's "sleeping" consciousness for information, and partially because the Hero is old.
When Asruld is being himself, the most obvious difference between the two is that Asruld is very harsh. It might seem like the deeper 'extremist' side of Sion is at the fore, or perhaps that he's just well and truly pissed off. This is because of Asruld's basic nature; he was a consciousness that formed with the intent to do nothing more than destroy. Destroy everything that he could, because in destruction he could fix what was wrong. Asruld is far more likely to take the violent options—kill the assassin, shut up or I'll have you drawn and quartered. He doesn't understand the worth of 'one or two', so long as he does keep the majority alive.
Because Asruld knows what he is to do. Asruld has to save as many people as possible—infect as many people with Love as he can, and make his way to the center of the continent with the Solver and the Weaver. It is through his attempts at quelling and assimilating Sion that Sion knows as well—or at least, that Sion is aware at all—but Asruld also is more aware of the price of failure. Because he has. So many, many times.
He is very worn down. Asruld has been exposed, repeatedly, to emotions that he didn't have the capacity for, over several cycles of this world's existence. Once only capable of knowing Destruction, he has been exposed to and felt the full range of human emotions. He has been Human α at least eight times*, he has married, loved, then told forced to feel the pain as he was urged to devour the one he loved. He has failed, he has failed, and he has cursed the world because he failed. It is partially because of this that he manages to convince Sion that this time, he can save the Ryner they care about. Sion is far more likely to have just killed and devoured Ryner as he was commanded, but due to the previous Sion*, there is that hell. It is Asruld that thinks he has the strength to kill Ryner early, let another be born with the Solver's power, and devour that one. He is almost desperate to do so.
Like Solver had said, he regrets this.
Appearance:
Sion's about 5'9", constantly described by his shining silver hair and golden eyes. He is almost always in that floor length robe. Sion's bodily fluids have become some sort of shining, golden liquid, and as no one can tell just from looking at him, it's assumed that he still looks normally pinkish in the places humans are almost always normally pinkish. He'll look horrible if blushing or bruised.
Asruld Roland looks almost exactly like Sion – if anyone was to end up able to see Asruld and Sion in Sion's head-space, they are identical. If for some reason he should actually manifest, the only difference is that Asruld wears black armor that appears to be made of blood. Note that Asruld's link has naked female torsos in it. Both Sion and Asruld are silver haired and golden eyed, with gold blood.
Abilities:
Sion is a rather poor mage – he has used two spells – Izuchi (a lightning blast), and Kuen (Lets you drift to the ground rather than falling). He's only really good at the second.
Despite being a deskperson for the last two years, Sion is fairly strong. He can lift a protesting overweight, middle-aged man by the neck to a good angle above him, or two unconscious assassins by a head in each hand. He predominantly is a swordsman when he does have to fight. Most of the time, he's a tactician.
Insanely high pain tolerance – Sion is constantly in pain, due to absorbing Asruld. "headache like his head would burst", "blood felt wrong, as if poisoned", "nausea like if he threw up, all his organs would come up" has become the state of being for him. It's not much surprise that he punches walls and bloodies his knuckles or bites through his lip without noticing…
Due to having Asruld, Sion has magic charisma. It's hard not to like him when you first meet him. Knowing he holds the Mad Hero might make this effect fail. Not being human means it simply won't effect them, as does not being capable of emotions. THIS IS GOING TO BE NUKED. This ability exists due to him being Human Alpha, which spreads Love to the Humans. Unless someone apps a castmate, there will be no other Humans of the sort he's meant to be infecting with Love, so no one will be hit with it.
Asruld can summon black swords. These swords are moved by will, and summoned with a simple "sword". When summoned through Sion, they don't deal physical damage, but seem to be involved in a more spiritual sense. They are used for the transferring of Hero Powers, and generally just deal pain like they actually got hit by a sword, just without the blood and tissue damage. The shown max has been five.
However, again, if for some reason Asruld himself is there, there is changes. Such as hundreds of "Sword", and Asruld has quick healing, so long as he isn't terribly injured. A detached arm will connect back to him within a few minutes, but being horribly mauled and straining himself to fight back took him 178 years to recover in a magical sleep.
Inventory:
Clothes on him
A pen or two (ink-well style)
Suitability:
Unstable political climates? This is practically what he lives in. He's quite firmly in Well Intentioned Extremist territory, so he will either need to learn not to be quite so drastic, or cover his tracks better. He's suited, in that he's used to it, suited in that he might try things differently. But he also might make things into a terrible mess, which is suited in another way..
Exploration is something he might be into in person, or into through others. He's a tactician more than an explorer, but he's been getting letters and reports of his friends exploring for nearly a year now, he might want to try it. It would be a change, and change is good, right?
Soul Gem:
Marbled black goldstone with regular goldstone, on an hand flower / slave bracelet.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person (Prose):
A city on the back of a slowly sinking turtle… he would like to say that it wasn't particularly strange, but it really was. Giant crystals on the countryside, normal. Magical artifacts that can wipe out armies in a swing? Scary, but there's a lot of them. Still sort of normal.
"Giant turtles…." Sion leans back, watching the sky. "… do they have giant parasites?" He probably shouldn't wonder about these things aloud in public, but… The image that he's a silly young man wouldn't be too bad to build. Absent minded, says what is on his mind, honest and earnest?
… Although, that was a lot like his hero king image. But… "… This really isn't Menoris…" The Hero's uneasy silence and stillness confirmed that – the divinity didn't quite know how to deal with not being home, but not being free. It was new.
Which honestly meant he might be freer than… he'd ever been. Sure, he still hurt, but so long as the Hero was there, that wouldn't change. But there was no half-siblings remaining, there was no angry nobles, there was no Gastark, or even Lucile breathing down his neck. No assassins tailing him.
… No Ryner, or Ferris. "… Well, even boring would be a change. … Aha, the biggest change would be not having paperwork. Should I just nap all day? I could see if I can master Ryner's technique, get fifty hours of sleep in a day…"
… It probably still is an impossible dream, Ryner's world. But then again….
Sion's expression switches from absent and thoughtful to slightly devious. "Well, if I can make it work here…." The young king pushes to his feet, shakes his robe out, and goes for a walk. How did the politics work here? He remembered something about snakes, metalworkers, woodsmen… And gangs.
Let's see what kind of power he can collect here. In this impossible reality, let's make an impossible dream real.
Network:
[ A cheery young man is on the screen. Another of the white haired foreigners, although he would protest that it's silver.
He looks rather innocent as he waves at the screen. ]
So, I've been told that I need a job! And you know, I've never really had to go looking for one before. And I'm not sure I'm good for much! Unless anyone needs paperwork done? That's just about all I'm good at… [ Also a lie. He's just usually surrounded by terrifyingly strong people, he's a capable fighter. ]
I mean, my handwriting is a little less than neat, but that's because I go for speed… [ Because someone never learned to delegate.
He looks startled for a second. ]
Ah! If anyone needs help like that, my name is Sion!
[ Another cheery wave. ]
Name: Samm
Age: 24
Contact: AurianEnasni @ AIM, radiantwingedone @ plurk
Other Characters Played: Duke Pantarei (Tales of Vesperia
Most Recent AC Link: Link!
Character Information:
Name: Sion Astal (+Asruld Roland)
Canon: The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Canon Point: Vol 11's Interlude About Eternity. Sion and Ryner avoid working themselves to death and reminisce on "before shit happened" ideals and how they've changed. (basically a bit after Sion's Note)
Age: 20 (Asruld is at least 12407. He might be older, because Time isn't terribly important when you don't need food.)
Reference Links: Wiki link that I honestly don't know where they got their information, because some directly conflicts with the Light novels..
Setting:
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes has a dual-plane setting, and just to make things worse, they both have the same name. Very little about either settings is much like Earth.
The Menoris that existed first is actually the massive back of a dead God, named Menoris. This dead God is being slowly devoured by multitudes of beings known as Goddesses, and the title applies to male and female beings. These Goddesses have strength that matches how hungry they are - more power to the ones with greater hunger.
Asruld Roland was the name of a Goddess, who was eating the dead God as usual until a 'pitch black consciousness' formed in his mind, then devoured anything to him that made him him. This consciousness studied itself - it wanted to destroy things - then studied the world about it. Finding the world disgusting, it decided its desire was right. A short conversation had this consciousness deciding it might as well use the rough identity of the body it was using, and so began to refer to itself as Asruld Roland, and he.
Just in time to be attacked by the conversing Goddess. Then the Goddesses turned on each other and the surviving one, Milk Ephillet, decided she liked hanging around this new thing, and convinced Asruld to not kill her, and head to the south to find his new partner - because if she wasn't his partner, there had to be one out there for him! The partner she thought of was a being known as Ryner Eris Reed, otherwise known as All Formulas or The Lonesome Demon, who was imprisoned in the south.
220 some years later, Asruld is now a young adult in shape, has golden blood, and Milk looks the same as she had. Her plan to get Asruld to meet All Formulas was to chuck him into that prison with the being, and Asruld objected violently.
So when he finally met All Formulas, he was three quarters dead and mad with bloodlust. All Formulas didn't seem to mind, but worried his first friend would cause himself to die via using up his life as power, so he made him sleep until he was healed.
Another two hundred years later, Asruld wakes up, doesn't remember attempting to murder his prison mate, and thinks All Fornulas is a bit insane. But it doesn't matter that All Formulas isn't a Goddess, Asruld wants to destroy everything. All Formulas just kinda agrees that he could die, if it would make his new friend happy.
Only he decides that maybe it would be best not to die, about the time that Asruld has stabbed him through the head, and it causes Asruld to have a breakdown and demand to be killed. All Formulas explains this - that is what Asruld's existence is programmed as - kill set number of Goddesses, run into one too strong, give up all hope.
All Formulas doesn't want this for his friend, and so he splits himself into two - Solver, who is Lonesome, known as Ryner Reed, and Weaver, the Demon, who is Eris Reed. Solver offers himself to Asruld, offering to alter the rules of Asruld's existence if Asruld devours him. Asruld doesn't really get it, but the chance to kill more things? He takes Solver's offer, rewrites his existence, and busts out of the prison with Weaver.
Asruld doesn't get much time free to slaughter Goddesses before all the Goddesses power is pulled into a new spell. Asruld and Solver (who is more alive than the original Asruld is within the current Asruld) discover they can't take apart this new spell - which is starting to imprison Asruld and Weaver - because the spell is on a different plane, and fights back.
Solver spends a couple thousand years studying this spell after it traps them, and discovers he can't take it apart, but he found what binds it together. But none of them understand that binding, so he needs to figure a way around that. After all, Solver knows only Loneliness, and Asruld knows only Destruction. How could they know Love?
The answer is that they will copy this binding spell, but give it more Love than the others, and it will be bound to their minds. That extra Love will spread to others, and they can weaken the original spell that way. But, as their minds are bound to this spell, they will feel everything as it does. They will crumble, and they will regret.
Asruld doesn't understand what Regret is – only vaguely aware of Loneliness due to devouring Solver, he has a limited ability to understand emotion.. He wants to destroy and anything that will get him able to destroy is okay. And so the first Human α was born.
This is where the second Menoris really comes into play. This is the Human's Menoris, which is vaguely like the world as we know it. Animals are normal, there are humans, who range from nice to horrible monsters, and there is magic. Thus the horrible things humans can do to one another got worse. Some humans, although only those with black hair and eyes, can be born with Magic Eyes – called by normal humans as Cursed Eyes, and by some of those with the eyes as God's Eyes. The effect varies, but all of them have a brilliant red patter than usually lays dull and dormant in their eyes. The most common is Alpha Stigma, and is usually considered the weakest of the lot, although normal humans still fear and hate them. Alpha Stigma bearers can see a spell and immediately cast it as if they had already known it, however if they are emotionally traumatized, they go insane, devastating their surroundings. Iino Dwoe devour magic to heal themselves, and so are immune to magic, but unable to cast it. The main Iino Dwoe bearer also finds human flesh appetizing. Ebula Crypt allows the bearer to see random people's dreams. Torch Curse allows the bearer to see the future, at the cost of their body and lifespan, and is the rarest. Wilno Heim bearers see the strengths and weaknesses of others, at the cost seeing themselves as lesser.
And as the Human α is not of the goddesses, the world turned on them. The first human α lived perhaps half a day.
And then it turns out that the world had a lifespan of a thousand years. It reset, and the human α would have to spread Love again.
It took a very long time, and eventually, eventually, the human α bearing Asruld's mind and hearing him urge them on finally made it to what he demanded - the center of the world, with a lot of people that were bound by his Love. And then the demand changed. Devour everything that Loved him, complete the spell. This human α managed to get through everyone, except for the last person. His wife, who held Solver and was the last part needed to free the divinities.
Unsurprisingly, he didn't go through with it. And neither could the next few human α.
The previous human α and his world cycle made it to the end, but didn't have enough power to destroy the Human spell. Instead, he did devour his childhood friend bearing Solver, and used his power to make an eternal hell for anyone who was devoured on the next Human Alpha's path to freeing the divinities. He was the first soul to dwell there.
And then the world reset again.
Sion Astal was born to his commoner mother after the current, insane king of Roland decided he liked the look of her. Hated by all the nobles - many of them his older half siblings - for something he had no control over and his mother didn't ask for, he grew up in the slums. And then when he was old enough to fend for himself, his mother commuted suicide.
He somehow survived until 17, where he was dumped in a school for teaching common and criminal children to be soldiers so nobles did lose their children to war, and started gathering talented students about him in effort to eventually gain strength and fix the country.
Only Roland went to war with Estabul to the south, and almost all of Sion's friends were slaughtered. However, due to his friend with the Alpha Stigma, a boy named Ryner Lute, the battle resulted in Estabul surrendering to Roland.
Sion felt he had nothing left – his surviving classmates were Ryner, who was to be in jail indefinitely, and Kiefer, who couldn't stand to stay in Roland any longer – and so he accepts the head of the Eris Clan's offer. Should he pass the test, Lucile would back him in becoming king – the strongest swordsman in Roland would guard him. If he failed, Lucile promised that Sion wouldn't feel a thing as his head departed his body. Sion passed, and so accepted the Mad Hero, becoming the new Human α. Or at least most of the Human α – his father, the mad king, had the rest of the Hero.
Eventually Sion became King through rebellion, killing his father and becoming the new Human α in full. It took a little under two years to get to that point, and he eventually frees Ryner, only to send him and Lucile's younger sister Ferris, out searching for 'hero relics', which were magical artifacts of great power, so Roland wouldn't be preyed upon by other countries.
Sion is involved in homeland politics – fending off assassins, being unable to punish his corrupt nobility because they have more supporters than he did, and eventually gaining creepy underlings who would murder the corrupt lot for him, taking all the blame for the actions. He works on stabilizing Estabul.
Eventually Ryner and Ferris return, only for Ryner to run off without either of them. Sion doesn't have time for more than a small panic attack at the thought, because an insane 'alpha stigma bearer' has attacked the combined Estabul and Roland army. He has to rush off to help with that – and only ends up putting his foot in his mouth, as the Iino Dwoe bearer convinces Ryner to leave with him.
Back to struggling to keep his country afloat when war is brewing in the north. Sion's orders slowly get shadier, and his health slowly gets worse. He finally snaps at the crazy subordinate after Ryner returns, using the Hero's powers for the first time. He's already not really human anymore.
Sion keeps Ryner close under the usual torment of making the man help him with paperwork. Ryner can't run off again, because in order to save this world, Sion needs to devour the Solver. However, if he devours Solver, he will be sending his best friend to eternal hell. Ryner can't leave, because Sion has to kill him to spare him from that. Now just to actually manage it.
Personality:
The Hero King of Roland, Sion Astal, is the young man he is due to his past; he fights corruption and the nobility as hard as he does because his father, the previous king, decided he liked the look of a married woman, took her, and then dumped her outside when Sion was born. He grew up surrounded by the hate that can only be born from those who feel someone rose above their place; his mother may not have wanted the attention of the king, but she got it—and a son—anyway. From a young age, Sion wanted to change the country—to take this corrupted system where just because one had power and status, they could murder, rape, and otherwise crush those without power—or had less power—with little or no consequences. A place where everyone is judged on merit, not on bloodlines, is what he wants to create.
This is why when Sion manages his rebellion and takes the throne—and his father's life—the common people start calling him a Hero King. Not only was he a hero due to a short war with the southern country—where the trainee, the people were told, managed to defeat 50 Magic Knights (soldiers who are generally more insane and violent than the standard soldier)—but he was working on taking the system and turning it into something great. He mentions to Ryner at a later point—after having the throne for two years or so—that there is still much to do; education, health care, technological developments. He wants to make a world where fighting isn't necessary, where lives won't be lost for gain. Where people won't have to suffer, or kill. A world where afternoon naps could be taken, where no one would cry, where no one would have to feel the pain of loss.
Of course, not everyone is pleased with him. The nobles who find their wants blocked by this young man call him a 'tyrant', as well as older insults like 'mongrel'—the child of a lowborn common woman as well as their king. While this could technically be accurate—Sion does not want to share the power with the nobles, he desires control so that he can change the system—Sion is not the stereotypical tyrant that his father was—do what you want, so long as it doesn't bother what I want. However this is mostly due to them wanting to do what they want—Sion fits no other part of the definition.
For the most part, Sion is very much a beacon of hope and change to his country. The narration remarks on it fairly often—how he is a bright light, or a light of hope. How he's young, and full of willpower and determination, with charming good looks or smiles like an angelic youth that is hard to look away from. There is a point where he goes to visit the Emperor of Nelpha, and it describes that ruler—that the man was old enough that wisdom and experience showed in the lines of his face, and that the expression in his eyes was gentle, kind... "He could be said to be someone completely opposite of Sion."
As Ryner puts it during one of his many irritated moments with his friend the king, "Like a traveling player, he acts the part of hero convincingly. That whole nice-guy demeanor and champion of justice attitude endear him to the people, they don't see the arrogant, crafty slave driver behind the façade." He knows that his people want to see someone kind, caring, and looking out for them all, so that is the side he chooses to show to them. Those who get closer get the edges of his tongue, to deal with him more or less cheerfully blackmailing them into what he needs done. To be fair, most of these are because Ryner and Ferris are not particularly motivated by patriotic feelings, but the man is definitely a firm believer in 'using all of your intelligence is not cheating', even if it means finding out the deployments of other teams in a eliminate-the-other-team exercise prior to the event, and hunting them down that way. This he does quite easily—his 'angelic smiles' often shift to 'demonic' ones in the span of a few comments.
On the other hand, his subordinates—the ones who went through the revolution with him, but aren't considered best friends—mostly worry about his health. With good reason, however; Sion regularly spends days awake—at one point, it was thirty hours since he last slept, and he was then woken by an emergency involving his general and assassins. Later, it is mentioned that Sion keeps Ryner and Ferris up with him for five days or so—only to realize how long it has been, and mention 'oh, I had better sleep'. Some of these are humorous—Iris, the younger sister of Ferris, gets convinced that sighing three times in a row will result in death. Thus she tips Sion's chair to prevent third sighs. Some of his subordinates resort to mild emotional blackmail, calling upon the name of a secretary who was murdered to convince him to eat, something he forgets to do while working. And they have odd hints to keep their worries founded—Sion occasionally blacks out for a day, or will spend time spaced out kneeling somewhere. Or forgets where or how he got to a place.
However, as his friends find, Sion's sense of humor is most definitely one with a mocking edge. Anyone who makes comments about finding thanks from another male discomforting will find themselves half hit on, complete with odd threats of 'you better live. If you die, you'll make me cry.' He greatly enjoys telling embarrassing story-secrets, thus often ruining first impressions, and he has very little pity for people who can't stay up as late as he can. This does bite him from time to time; his friends have trouble believing when he wants to do nice things with them, so he usually ends up following along with their fears—usually of more paperwork.
And while everyone sees the light to him, Miran Froaude sees something else. He sees that Sion gathers bright people to him—good, strong people, but good people none the less. He sees that Sion is a bright light of hope—with immeasurable darkness within him. Sion holds greater tolerance than Froaude, but he also holds a greater capacity for darkness. Sion sees power in others, and despite their dangers, he is willing to make use of them for as long as he can make use of them. Even when faced with overwhelming power—the sort of 'killing intent' that left him with no doubt that if he even twitched a finger, he would be dead before he knew it—Sion is filled with a want for that power. He needs strength on his side so he can change the country, even if that strength is such that it all but paralyzes him. Even if taking that strength means that he might die, means that his mind would be pushed to the point where he literally cannot move from what he is seeing, even if it means letting in an ancient being so that he can gain the support of the strongest fighter in the kingdom, the one clan that always guards the Kings of Roland.
However confident the man is, however long he stands there smiling, there will be a mention of 'a face like he wanted to cry'. Sion is wracked with guilt that he cannot do more, that he cannot save them all. He starts to realize that his choices are those of 'right hand lives, left hand dies', and exactly how much power he has. Because of him, people die. Because of him, people live. That power scares him, inside. But he still wants to save people, even if he feels that his hands and his voice can't reach anyone, can't save anyone. It's in these moments that his mother's words—that he was a kind child—come back to haunt him the most. Because with those kindness alone, he can't save anyone. Because with those hands, all he could hold onto was darkness. Fear that even though he has all this power, he still can't save everyone. Or anyone that matters to him. That he reaches one hand out to aid, and signs orders to kill with the other, and nothing will change about that. Is he making the right choices? Will he actually be able to save anyone?
However, despite this, Sion moves forward. He wants to. He has to. Moving forward means that he can do something, that he can change this world. It also means he doesn't have to spend a great deal of time studying his failures. He has a path to take, and he must move forward. After all, if he doesn't, Lucile will kill him, and place a new king on the throne. Sion is, he must be, strong enough to trample everything dear to reach the end of his path, if it becomes necessary.
Sion, for the sake of saving as many of his people as possible, to expand his influence further into the continent, starts to resume the projects he abolished after gaining the throne. He starts human experimentation back up, he orders and allows Froaude to incite the nobles that hate him so that he can murder those who oppose him and a unified government in one blow. He moves further down that cruel path that was laid before him, prepared to trample all that he needs to. He became Human α, after all, and all the world cannot abide his existence, nor the existence of those who fall under his influence. The Mad Hero compels him to—to move forward, to reach the center of the continent.... then to devour everyone and break Human with the power gained. To devour the Solver and the Weaver, just as the Mad Hero devoured the Weaver, so that the Mad Hero and the Lonesome Demon could be freed. The thorniest part of this path of his is that last part—that the Hero must devour the Solver and Weaver, as Solver is Ryner Lute. This is the thing that Sion struggles most with—he promised Ryner, after all, to make the world Ryner wanted to live in. The one where afternoon naps could be taken, where no one would cry, where no one would have to feel the pain of loss. One that Sion cannot create, and have Ryner live in it, as its creation would require Ryner's death—and Ryner to be cast into an eternal hell. The only other option is for Sion to kill Ryner prior when he needs to devour him—so that the new Solver would not be someone he's attached to.
He has to.
Asruld Roland, the Mad Hero / Fallen Black Hero, is rarely at the front – and when he is, he is generally convincingly enough like Sion that no one notices. This is partially because he can tap Sion's "sleeping" consciousness for information, and partially because the Hero is old.
When Asruld is being himself, the most obvious difference between the two is that Asruld is very harsh. It might seem like the deeper 'extremist' side of Sion is at the fore, or perhaps that he's just well and truly pissed off. This is because of Asruld's basic nature; he was a consciousness that formed with the intent to do nothing more than destroy. Destroy everything that he could, because in destruction he could fix what was wrong. Asruld is far more likely to take the violent options—kill the assassin, shut up or I'll have you drawn and quartered. He doesn't understand the worth of 'one or two', so long as he does keep the majority alive.
Because Asruld knows what he is to do. Asruld has to save as many people as possible—infect as many people with Love as he can, and make his way to the center of the continent with the Solver and the Weaver. It is through his attempts at quelling and assimilating Sion that Sion knows as well—or at least, that Sion is aware at all—but Asruld also is more aware of the price of failure. Because he has. So many, many times.
He is very worn down. Asruld has been exposed, repeatedly, to emotions that he didn't have the capacity for, over several cycles of this world's existence. Once only capable of knowing Destruction, he has been exposed to and felt the full range of human emotions. He has been Human α at least eight times*, he has married, loved, then told forced to feel the pain as he was urged to devour the one he loved. He has failed, he has failed, and he has cursed the world because he failed. It is partially because of this that he manages to convince Sion that this time, he can save the Ryner they care about. Sion is far more likely to have just killed and devoured Ryner as he was commanded, but due to the previous Sion*, there is that hell. It is Asruld that thinks he has the strength to kill Ryner early, let another be born with the Solver's power, and devour that one. He is almost desperate to do so.
Like Solver had said, he regrets this.
Appearance:
Sion's about 5'9", constantly described by his shining silver hair and golden eyes. He is almost always in that floor length robe. Sion's bodily fluids have become some sort of shining, golden liquid, and as no one can tell just from looking at him, it's assumed that he still looks normally pinkish in the places humans are almost always normally pinkish. He'll look horrible if blushing or bruised.
Asruld Roland looks almost exactly like Sion – if anyone was to end up able to see Asruld and Sion in Sion's head-space, they are identical. If for some reason he should actually manifest, the only difference is that Asruld wears black armor that appears to be made of blood. Note that Asruld's link has naked female torsos in it. Both Sion and Asruld are silver haired and golden eyed, with gold blood.
Abilities:
Sion is a rather poor mage – he has used two spells – Izuchi (a lightning blast), and Kuen (Lets you drift to the ground rather than falling). He's only really good at the second.
Despite being a deskperson for the last two years, Sion is fairly strong. He can lift a protesting overweight, middle-aged man by the neck to a good angle above him, or two unconscious assassins by a head in each hand. He predominantly is a swordsman when he does have to fight. Most of the time, he's a tactician.
Insanely high pain tolerance – Sion is constantly in pain, due to absorbing Asruld. "headache like his head would burst", "blood felt wrong, as if poisoned", "nausea like if he threw up, all his organs would come up" has become the state of being for him. It's not much surprise that he punches walls and bloodies his knuckles or bites through his lip without noticing…
Due to having Asruld, Sion has magic charisma. It's hard not to like him when you first meet him. Knowing he holds the Mad Hero might make this effect fail. Not being human means it simply won't effect them, as does not being capable of emotions. THIS IS GOING TO BE NUKED. This ability exists due to him being Human Alpha, which spreads Love to the Humans. Unless someone apps a castmate, there will be no other Humans of the sort he's meant to be infecting with Love, so no one will be hit with it.
Asruld can summon black swords. These swords are moved by will, and summoned with a simple "sword". When summoned through Sion, they don't deal physical damage, but seem to be involved in a more spiritual sense. They are used for the transferring of Hero Powers, and generally just deal pain like they actually got hit by a sword, just without the blood and tissue damage. The shown max has been five.
However, again, if for some reason Asruld himself is there, there is changes. Such as hundreds of "Sword", and Asruld has quick healing, so long as he isn't terribly injured. A detached arm will connect back to him within a few minutes, but being horribly mauled and straining himself to fight back took him 178 years to recover in a magical sleep.
Inventory:
Clothes on him
A pen or two (ink-well style)
Suitability:
Unstable political climates? This is practically what he lives in. He's quite firmly in Well Intentioned Extremist territory, so he will either need to learn not to be quite so drastic, or cover his tracks better. He's suited, in that he's used to it, suited in that he might try things differently. But he also might make things into a terrible mess, which is suited in another way..
Exploration is something he might be into in person, or into through others. He's a tactician more than an explorer, but he's been getting letters and reports of his friends exploring for nearly a year now, he might want to try it. It would be a change, and change is good, right?
Soul Gem:
Marbled black goldstone with regular goldstone, on an hand flower / slave bracelet.
In-Character Samples:
Third Person (Prose):
A city on the back of a slowly sinking turtle… he would like to say that it wasn't particularly strange, but it really was. Giant crystals on the countryside, normal. Magical artifacts that can wipe out armies in a swing? Scary, but there's a lot of them. Still sort of normal.
"Giant turtles…." Sion leans back, watching the sky. "… do they have giant parasites?" He probably shouldn't wonder about these things aloud in public, but… The image that he's a silly young man wouldn't be too bad to build. Absent minded, says what is on his mind, honest and earnest?
… Although, that was a lot like his hero king image. But… "… This really isn't Menoris…" The Hero's uneasy silence and stillness confirmed that – the divinity didn't quite know how to deal with not being home, but not being free. It was new.
Which honestly meant he might be freer than… he'd ever been. Sure, he still hurt, but so long as the Hero was there, that wouldn't change. But there was no half-siblings remaining, there was no angry nobles, there was no Gastark, or even Lucile breathing down his neck. No assassins tailing him.
… No Ryner, or Ferris. "… Well, even boring would be a change. … Aha, the biggest change would be not having paperwork. Should I just nap all day? I could see if I can master Ryner's technique, get fifty hours of sleep in a day…"
… It probably still is an impossible dream, Ryner's world. But then again….
Sion's expression switches from absent and thoughtful to slightly devious. "Well, if I can make it work here…." The young king pushes to his feet, shakes his robe out, and goes for a walk. How did the politics work here? He remembered something about snakes, metalworkers, woodsmen… And gangs.
Let's see what kind of power he can collect here. In this impossible reality, let's make an impossible dream real.
Network:
[ A cheery young man is on the screen. Another of the white haired foreigners, although he would protest that it's silver.
He looks rather innocent as he waves at the screen. ]
So, I've been told that I need a job! And you know, I've never really had to go looking for one before. And I'm not sure I'm good for much! Unless anyone needs paperwork done? That's just about all I'm good at… [ Also a lie. He's just usually surrounded by terrifyingly strong people, he's a capable fighter. ]
I mean, my handwriting is a little less than neat, but that's because I go for speed… [ Because someone never learned to delegate.
He looks startled for a second. ]
Ah! If anyone needs help like that, my name is Sion!
[ Another cheery wave. ]
