Character sheet

History

Mushamee Potemkin was born in 978 in the province of Kotan. He was first- born of a family of four children, two boys and two girls. His father was a decurion in the Imperial Legion, his mother the third daughter of a merchant (his maternal grandfather only wanted a son, so greatly neglected his daughters; when the fourth child was finally a boy, he practically forgot about his daughters and let them married who they wanted). Mushamee's older sister died when she was still young.

At the age of 16, he joined the army as a simple legionnaire and was assigned to a century stationed near the border of the Kotanese province. He rapidly realized most of his comrades where Monarchists, people who wished for the independence of Kotan and the re-establishment of the Kotanese monarchy. His decurion, a pure-blooded Monarchist, eventually try to convince him to join their group. Infuriated, Mushamee slew him and his two acolytes.

Because he had killed a superior officer, Mushamee was put on military trial. Common judgement was he would probably be sentenced to torture and death, the usual punishment for mutiny. But in his defense, he exposed the Decurion's past as a Monarchist, saying he was asked to betray the Empire. Other members of his century came forward and confirm that they also had been approached by the decurion to betray the empire.

As a result, Mushamee was absolved of all wrongdoings. In addition, he was instantly promoted to the position of decurion by the Tribune responsible for the trial, so impressed was he with Mushamee's loyalty to the Empire (which is kinda rare in the conquered provinces).

From age 18 to 23, he was a Decurion in the 2nd Legion and rapidly became known for his leadership abilities. In particular, he learned songs that he would sing with his troops as they went into combat, songs that boosted his troops' morale and made them fight with passion and pride. As a result, his century quickly became one of the best in the entire Legion. The Legion's Tribunes were also impressed by his vast knowledge of the Empire's military history. Reports about him described him as a true "Hero of the Empire". This lead to his promotion as a full centurion of the 2nd Legion at the young age of 24.

His success didn't stop there. He accumulated victory after victory for his Legion. After campaigns and battles too numerous to list, he was promoted to the position of Primus Pilus of the 2nd Legion.

Lately, after having been bounded by the Inquisitors, he was named Primus Pilus of 1st Kapital Legion, probably because of his lack of political ambitions. He then left Kapital with his 1st Cohort when Pavlo Ruinas took control of Kapital, and joined Emperor Vasili in Roma.

Description

Physically, like most Kotanese people, Mushamee's features are close to the Eastern Asian (Mongoloid) type. He keeps his hairs short and once in a while, he will shave his head. Most of the times he wears a military outfit with at least one sword. He does not usually bother with weapons other than his short swords and shield; daggers are just smaller swords, two handed weapons won't let him use his shield, and he feels that ranged weapons are too impersonal because the connection between the weapon and its bearer is lost when the blood is drawn. He fights efficiently, disabling his ennemies as fast as possible; he doesn't play with his adversaries nor does he insists on killing them. As long as they don't pose a threat to him or his mission, he will leave them be. Still, he is a cold-blooded soldier who kills without pity when the need arised.

While he respects the proper chain of command of the legion, Mushamee will sometimes "bend" the rules to gain recognition, promotion and fortune. In order to gain those, he figured he has to be the best in his field. He trained extensively with his sword and shield to defeat the ennemies of the Empire, not because of his devotion to the Empire, but mostly to gain promotion, thus a better pay and better chance to put away some treasure. Mushamee does not seek the glory of the victorous side, only the plunders.

Mushamee likes the pleasures of life and hopes to retire wealthy. He does not believes it is worth dying old if you're not surrounded by beautiful women, multitude of children and grand-children, good wine, good food, and enough gold not to care about the money he routinely loses at one of his passion, gambling.

Update (Chapter 38): After returning from Teclá, he is named Legate of the First Legion of Roma.

Update: To seal the alliance between the Amazons and the Empire (and because he likes powerful, beautiful women), Mushamee took Queen Hyppolite as his wife.

• Higher Purpose: destroy all undeads and demons.
• Weapon Master (shortsword and shield).
• Extra Attack x2
• Magic resistance +5
• Cannot be raised as undead once dead.
• Empathy.
• Possibly the best swordsman on the planet.
• Smooth Operator talent.
• Serendipity.
• Unaging.
• Extremely quick (Basic Speed around 9 or 10, Move 14 unencumbered)

• Tassels of Su
• Demonslayer
• Complete set of orichalcum armor and shield.
• Belt of Su.
• Arrow-deflecting shirt.
• Spirit Knife

Character sheet

History

Recnam spent all his childhood into the Temple of Necros in Kapital. He appeared one day, a little naked baby, in a Temple room during the celebration of the Smert festival (festival of the dead). The priests suddenly heard cries coming from behind a pillar, and there he was. When the patriarch saw him, he said the baby could very well be the Son of Necros, as foretold by an old prophecy. The prophecy also said he was destined to raise an army of undead under the Temple and will form one side of a three-sided power struggle in the empire. For security reasons, the existence of the Prophecy has been kept secret from Recnam and anyone outside the Temple. Until recently.

His reclusive life came to an end when he was summoned by the Inquisitors on New Year Day. Since then, he has met the Serpent Queen who gave him the power of Magery and gave him a manuscript on the Magical Path of Necros. Recnam also gained other artifacts, of note the Bone Staff from an undead priest in the Holy City, the Scroll of 17 Afflictions, and Necros' Fang from the Sun Temple (this item gives a bonus to all spells in the Path of Necros).

His late actions and his role as the Son of Necros made him climb the hierarchical ranks of his Church quite quickly, and he has been promised even more by the Patriarch. Since his life is what keeps the undead army "alive," the Patriarch has asked Katya Markhova, the leader of the Night Guards, to beef up security around him. She in turn has hired Vinz to be the bodyguard of the priest.

Recnam is a wimpy man of slightly smaller build than normal. His two distinguising features are his ugly scars in his face (that he inflicts on himself to get bonus for his magic) and his strong smell of death (that had diminished a lot for a while but came back stronger than ever since he became half-undead). He always dress in the black ceremonial robe of the temple of Necros and is covered with death symbols used in rituals. He talks like an old dying person and has a lot of difficulties interacting socially with other people, complaining often how the dead are easier to reason with than the living. He always has some dust or ash under his nose. He prefer spending his free time alone in old libraries studying books written before the empire even existed. He sometime disappears at night thought nobody knows what or where he is going. He seems quite agile for a priest and can use a staff quite effectively in combat. He is fascinated by death and all its aspect and thinks it is just another state of existence, like life.

Even before meeting the restored Serpent Queen, he was already beginning to show some strange powers against the undead. He can prevent undead from approaching him and can talk with the soul of dead people, although mostly at night. The Serpent Queen gave him the power to use Magic as well as the Scroll of Necros. He is now getting better at manipulating magical energy but still has a lot to learn. He can make someone see the instant of their death, and can now create zombies and skeletons. Finally, he can talk from time to time to the Serpent Queen in his dream.

On the more normal side of things, he is a really good doctor, physician and surgeon. His numerous book readings gave him a good knowledge of the occult and magic, and he has a knack for sniffing out any kind of conspiracy. He's trying to learn to use a sling, but for now keeps to his staff.

Update (Chapter 42): Recnam sacrificed himself to bring down the Isle of Sorcery. He was brought back to life by the wish of Rufus. For his own wish, he got all his limitations for using the power of Necros removed, and gained the Spirit Empathy advantage. He also saw his needs for sleep, food and drink diminish by half. The only drawback is that at night, he now takes the appearance of a skeleton.

Update (Chapter 79): Following our discovery of the Inquisitors' identities (and their death), Recnam has been promoted to the rank of Prelate by the Patriarch. He is now the second most important man in the church of Necros behind the Patriarch.

Update (Chapter 97): After leaving the rest of the group earlier, Recnam reappears as a charismatic, handsome prophet, a form that will be more useful in a world post-Ritual.

Update: following the death of the old Patriarch, he is now the new Patriarch of the Church of Necros.

Update:

• Magery 2; knows six or seven paths of magic including the Scrolls of Necros, the Path of 17 Afflictions and the Path of the Summoner's Lore, but has mostly abandoned the role of Wizard to concentrate on his priestly powers.
• Patron: Necros.
• Can communicate with the dead, who have a good reaction toward him.
• Spiritual Ally (Serpent Queen - also his lover)
• True Faith: can repel any undead and demon by winning a quick contest of will (works automatically on mindless undeads).
• Spirit Empathy.
• No blood, need only sleep three hours per day, only need food and drink once a week.
• Emits an aura marking him as the Prophet of Necros.
• Really high Will (around 25).
• Night Vision.
• Blessed.
• Extraordinary Luck
• Power of Necros:
  • Innate Attack: can generate a black scythe up to four yards long at will that he can also throw. It does 3d(3) of damage, and is based on Will.
  • Can generate some kind of Force field around him.
  • Can stun opponents with his Words of Power
• Necrophiliac.

• The Mask of Necros
• Wand of the Summoner
• Mail of Su
• Pertha Whistle
• Spirit Knife

Character sheet

Vinz was born 23 years ago in the city of Tenosia, capital of the Imperial province of Tenosia. Like all Tenosian, he was sent to the army training camp at the early age of 6. Although male, he quickly discovered that his sexual gender was not important to him, and he liked to disguise as man or woman. At the age of fourteen, this lead to an unfortunate "accident" with a bunch of drunk army men who took him for a real woman and tried to have "fun" with him. This ended in a barracks fire that "killed" him and his three assailants. Of course, the three guys were already dead at this time, and nobody would miss the homeless guy who died with Vinz's clothes on him.

One thing Vinz didn't know is that the Mercenary Guild was always on the lookout for good assassins. They had their eyes and ears in many places, including the army, and they had already noticed him. After the fire, they were the only one who puzzled together what really happened and started a search for him. They finally found him in a village near Tenosia and offered to train him as an assassin. Vinz accepted.

He spent the next five years training in many of the Guildhouses throughout the Empire. He finally completed it by killing Imperial Senator Mihushi and his two bodyguards in 996 in the Empire's old capital. From 996 to new year's eve, 999, he went from place to place, using various identities, and picking up assassination contracts from time to time. He is a full member of the Mercenary's Guild.

All that changed at the tick of the new year, when he was "summoned" by the Inquisitors in the middle of the desert. In the following weeks/months, he discovered he was the reincarnation of a legendary assassin in time long past, when magic was active. He was in fact the personnal assassin of the Serpent Queen. She took him again in her service and gave him the first level of Magery.

Vinz is 5'10", 150 pounds. He has a slightly androgenous look, but is still somewhat attractive. He is quite agile and really bright, and his constant use of poison gave him some resistance to it. Mentally, his previous experiences have made him more or less oblivious to the need of others, but he knows how to fake compassion when necessary. He does have a strong sense of honor for his work, however, always fulfillin the contracts he takes and never betraying his employers. He is an expert at impersonating others. He also has the curious quirk of changing his appearance and name regularly, and maintains a list of standard personalities he likes to use. For now, there is Reina, a young female merchant and now new acolyte of the Temple of Necros, Regis, a generic clerk, and Maryse, a prostitute in her 40s and way past her prime.

Although preferring sniping techniques for taking down an opponent, he is also quite deadly in combat, being a Weapon Master with his sword. Contrary to Mushamee who prefers to go with brute force, he prefers to use finesse, using maneuvers like Feint, Hit Location and Disarm. He almost always goes for crippling/killing strikes.

One thing Vinz discovered after finding out his real identity is his ability to "remember" new skills just by meditating on them. This meditation counts as normal learning hours, with no teacher needed, and covering normal as well as cinematic skills.

Update (Chapter 42): Vinz used his wish at the end of the Isle of Sorcery mission to absorb some of the magical energy coming out of the place. As a result, he gained the second level of Magery and three extra fatigue points.

Update (Chapter 43): In a vision he got, Vinz learned that his previous incarnation participated in the wars of the last Age of Blood and Iron. When the Gods ended it, he was cast out, without knowing why, with the Mad Things outside time and space, where he was told he would be tortured for the next 1000 years.

Update (Chapter 55): Following an extended period of mediation, Vinz remembered that his using a Sword of Su was what caused his last incarnation to be sent away with the Mad Things. At this time, neither he nor the Serpent Queen knew about the effects of the Swords of Su. One day he came into possession of one, and as he discovered its healing properties, set aside his own NightFand to use it almost exclusively. As a result, he gradually became more and more a demon himself, enough that by the time the Gods sealed the demons in another dimension and created the time loop, he was thrown out with them. There, he was captured and tortured for close to 1000 years, until something caused him to die and be reincarnated in his current body.

Update (Chapter 74): Following his almost-death from using magical energy in the Temple of the Sun in Shag, his heart was destroyed and replaced by the Blood Wand.

Update (Chapter 82): Found his original Night Fang sword in the Dream World where the Serpent Queen was keeping it.

Update: Cured his missing sexual pieces using the Restoration spell.

• Is the re-incarnation of the Serpent Queen's Master Assassin; can remember all kind of skills, mundane or otherwise, by meditation.
• Magery 3; knows many paths of magic, its most useful being the Secrets of Ali Baba, the Path of Morpheus, the Restoration of Isis, an the Secrets of the Sage.
• Can sense immediate danger.
• Knows many esoteric skills: Power Blow, Breaking Blow, Blind Fighting, Meditation, Breath Control, Body Control, Mental Strength, Auto-Hypnotism, Hypnotism, etc.
• Weapon Master (full version).
• Wild Talent/1 (with Retention), and Wild Talent x2 (spells only, no retention)
• Can channel spirits of the Dream World
• Lots of fatigue points (24).
• Impersonator talent
• Resistant (+8) to Metabolism Hazards
• Extraordinary Luck
• Silence x2
• Inner Balance Power
• Inner Balance Talent
• Regeneration (Slow)
• Metabolism Control x2
• DR 2 (Hard Skin)

Known Magic Items in possession:

• Gem of Energy
• Night Fang
• Blood Wand (incrusted in his chest)
• Bracers of Su.
• Spirit Knife

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Leif is a young man from the northern Barbarian lands. He was born in 982 in a small village on the island of North. His father is the spiritual leader of the village, and he has many brothers and sisters.

He had a good relation with his grandfather until the old man got killed by a demon. His father became the new shaman, and encouraged him to follow in his steps. Leif was not really interested in becoming a shaman, however; he was much more interested in becoming a warrior. He did went as far as completing the purification ceremony, but something, we don't know what, made him break out of the ceremonial house in the morning, go to the armorer, buy a sword and armor, and leave his village for good.

He went south, in the Imperial land. That's where he met Mushamee for the first time and got into his service.

After a long relationship with Diandra, he married her when he learned she was pregnant with his child.

• Incredibly strong (ST 30) and tough (36 HP)
• Has an extraordinary sense to detect anything "demonic".
• Can heal people (Healing power).
• Ridiculously lucky (1 per 10 minutes).
• Can contact his grandfather (which was killed by a demon when he was one) for advice.
• Has the ability to shapeshift into crow and triton form.
• Can speak to animals.
• Can jump between our dimension and the spirit dimension.
• Great perception: Discriminatory Smell, Subsonic Hearing, Vibration Sense
• Great at tracking, stealth, and outdoorsman skills in general. Does a lot of Recon work.
• Not too bright, though.
• Likes good-looking girls with big boobs.
• Is considered a Demon Hunter.
• Can talk to Elementals, and is highly thrusting of them.
• Outdoorsman talent.
• Is now "mentally" strong (no, we don't know what it means)

• Helm of Su
• Sash of Preservation
• Bow of Su.
• Spiritual Rapier of Necros

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Character sheet

Update (Chapter 42): following his wish to bring Recnam back at the Isle of Sorcery, Rufus had his Hand of Necros replaced by a regular flesh hand.

Update (Chapter 55): Got married to Helena, daughter of a Roman general and niece of Senator Lucius Gordianus.

• Has an extraordinary sense to detect anything that is "supernatural" (Detect {anything supernatural}).
• Can access the memory of all his dead ancestors for information.
• Eidetic Memory (1st level)
• Psychometry (usable from a distance)
• Mindprobe
• Married to Helena
• Had his left arm regrown by Necros, first as a skeletal arm, then as a normal arm.
• Serendipity
• All his attributes at 15

• Salamander Amulet
• Cuirass of Su.
• Shield of Su.

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Son of a rich slave merchant, Vladimir Sepetski was born in the city of Maghlar in Khanistan, the door to the great slave hunting-lands of Indistan.

Growing up, he was attended to by large numbers of servants. He had so little to do, other than ride horses and visit with other young men (and women) of the local aristocracy, that he turned out to be quite the spoiled brat.

His father, concerned for his son's future, tried to get him started along several career paths, including the family business, but failed to do more than pique his curiosity about Indistan. An expert rider, Vladimir first accompanied, then eventually led several slave hunting expeditions. During these travels, he acquired a certain respect for the local populations he was plundering. It is also during this time that he discovered his father had been dealing behind the Emperor's back, withholding important information and cheating on his taxes.

Thinking he could finally come into some real money (and quick, too), Vladimir threatened to expose his father's scam. Unfortunately, he underestimated the power of his father's fortune and the complexity of the Empire's bureaucracy. He was cast out of the family and discredited in the eyes of the Empire. To get rid of him, his father had him drugged and sent to the Capital on a slave caravan.

There, he parlayed his knowledge of Togo and Uhuru -- the two main languages of Indistan, and thus of the slaves traded by his father -- into a day job as a slave driver. The nights he spent in seedy watering holes looking for work as a mercenary, but with little success.

However, his skill and upbringing meant he was soon running a large stable of slaves for a wealthy family. Everything was going well until a particularly crafty slave Vladimir had been keeping an eye on managed to stage a cunning coup. Invoking the help of his god G费, the liberator of the meek, he was able to put the entire household to sleep, except for the slaves themselves, who all escaped. In fact, one might say they disappeared, since there was no trace found of their whereabouts or of their movements.

Once again left with no future and a big chip on his shoulder, Vladimir convinced his boss to finance his participation in a mission to find the whereabouts of the slave band and to find ways to control the magical mayhem that was bringing chaos to the Empire.

• Can contact the Serpent Queen in his sleep.

None (left the group in chapter 12).

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Character sheet

History

Born into a Tenosian merchant family of some importance, Kaeso received the finest education the Empire could provide. He was an inquisitive boy and spent most of his time “experimenting” and trying things rather than learning from books, much to the dismay of his teachers. This approach was somewhat dangerous as Kaeso often got hurt, but that never stopped him; he always healed and tried again.

He was groomed to replace his father as head of the family business, but although he was rather ingenious at ship design, he never had much business sense. Instead of aiming for profits, he would try outrageous plans that, although grandiose, were never financially sound... and rarely what the customer actually asked for. Because of this, when his father died, the mantle of the family affairs went to his younger brother Decianus. Kaeso did not mind this decision much as he never wanted to run the family business. His brother did felt sorry for him, however, and sent him on a great journey across the known world to find business "opportunities". Of course, it was a failure in the sense that no new market was really found (Kaeso never actually looked), but his exposition to so many different cultures and ways of live somehow "inspired" him. Suddenly many things started to make more sense and his thrust for knowledge grew even more. Ever since, he's being building better and better things & devices. He still travels the world, looking for more inspiration.

• High Technology: TL3 (the rest of the world is TL2).
• Quick Gadgeteering allowing him to manufacture advanced weapons and armors.
• Gizmo X 4
• Weird Science: Can now play with the magical attributes of objects, combine them, etc.
• Has a flying disk he took from one of the Primordial Gardens, the one near Roma.
• Really good engineering skills.
• Highly intelligent, likes to mock people less intelligent than he is.
• Best alchemist in the world, combined with Weird Science
• Can improvise new alchemical potions on a whim.
• Do not sleep anymore.
• Silence advantage
• Extraordinary Luck
• Intuitive Mathematician

• Armor made of dragon scales
• Flying disk (bought as an Ally, really quick, tough, can now jump dimensions)
• Forge of Su.
• The Gun: TL3 advanced automatic crossbow, shoots once per second, extremely precise (use the end of a Spear of the Sun as a laser sight, can be used to shoot vials of liquid; technically not a magical item, but still pretty powerful)

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