Neloth

Appearance

Neloth possesses shapeshifting abilities. These abilities are bounded by what is naturally possible for a kobold to look like, with one exception: He cannot alter his eyes.
When they're disabled, willingly or not, he will assume his normal appearance.

His scales are a solid silvery gray. Neloth's build is, strangely, reminiscent of an otter; slim and lithe with large eyes, framed by heavy ridged eyebrows. Tahr-type horns, short and thick, curve backwards from above small bat-like ears.

Info

Personality: Neloth is full of paradoxical traits. Childish in some ways, mature in others; his real personality rarely sees the light of day, often disguised with a mask for one reason or another; seemingly so open and eager to speak his mind, seemingly so closed off. The line between illusion and reality has long been lost. He is the mask and the wearer. Is there an end to the masks? Is there a mask at all?
Likes/Dislikes: Does not appear to have real, meaningful likes or dislikes outside of fundamental, animalistic traits - like the need for food and freedom - or childish tendencies.

Backstory

Neloth was born without form, without thought, and without a name to call his own.
Neloth was born a tool, without sentience or cognition itself.
Neloth was born beneath even the lowest beasts of the earth.
No life, no death; being deprived of both, there was no rest for him.
Back then he was only a nameless spirit.

The creator is long since dead and dispersed. The creator went to the rest which the spirit was denied, long before the current age. He left the spirit to wander the earth. And wander the spirit did, leaving a trail of chaos and destruction in its wake.
It could be killed, but not forever. At some point or another the spirit always returned to wander once more. Legends of a mad djinn can be found across Eiyora; ancient legends. Knowing the age of it is impossible. Maybe it's been here from the start, wandering, rampaging, dying, and reforming in perpetuity.
This could not go on forever.

It was the winter of 772 AE, temperatures in Northern Eiyora were nearing some of the lowest ever recorded. Severin Seioul, 30 at the time, was part of a cursebreaker group en route to deal with a recently unearthed tomb. While en route, Severin and his group encountered an "unknown compelling force." This would later be identified as a demon.
Several of the group perished in the ensuing chaos before Severin was able to seal the demon into himself, saving himself and the rest of the group. The seal was deemed stable when inspected by other experts. After the quarantine period, he was cleared to go home. They never caught the fault in the seal.
Within the containment of the seal and the magical structure it gave, the spirit was fundamentally altered, it began to think but also, it had access to all the memories of it's host.
It was the summer of 776 AE when Severin Seioul or, more accurately, the demon inside him was incarcerated into Cerberus Keep. The demon took control of his body, killing his wife and—at the time, it was presumed—his infant daughter.
17 years later, he would break out during the fall of Cerberus Keep. He has evaded recapture ever since.

After his escape, he wandered without direction. Maybe, to anyone on the outside looking in, that's what he's always been doing. He did whatever he wished whenever he wished, unchained by law, morality, or sometimes even sense. He has no plans to change that any time soon.

✦ Magic Name: Chasing Eternity

Overall place in type triad: Defense

¶ Elemental Properties:

Dark || Bone (Earth) || Underworld
Obdurate (Conceptual, Earth & Underworld)

¶ Description

Obdurate is the element of unchanging, stability, and permanence.
Neloth started on the path to realizing it within a scroll stolen from the Hawthorne library, and he found what he had been chasing from the moment he'd gained sentience. He found what he'd had all along.

Neloth's expression of Obdurate is bounded by several rules:

• Spells using Obdurate consume their entire mana cost before the spell is cast.
  If the spell is interrupted and fails, the channeled mana is lost.
• Spells using Obdurate cannot be "dismissed" or ended prematurely.
  Spells with a continuous drain are impossible because they would kill the user.
• Obdurate shares the same Planar Elemental matchups as Underworld, as it composes part of Obdurate.

¶ Techniques

» Meshokyo (Self || Dark)

Translated literally as "Presence Erasure", this technique has been closely protected by the Akerr government for many, many generations. Now it's in the hands of a demon.
Meshokyo has multiple forms the first of which is Primary. First Form Meshokyo functions as such: Neloth can hide his magical presence from B+, borderline A- rank sensory abilities. This effect is so potent he can maintain it while using other magics; this depends on how much energy it expends. Subtle magics will avoid disrupting the effect, while more grandiose acts will dispel it entirely.
Neloth has the ability to extend the effect of Meshokyo & its subspells to up to 2 willing others.
µ Meshokyo: Major (Self || Underworld)

Major Presence Erasure grants Neloth the ability to disappear entirely from the perception of others. It is quite possibly the most advanced Meshokyo developed in many generations of Akerr magicians.
Activating it requires him to become completely motionless for 3 turns.
For as long as this technique is active, Neloth cannot move quickly. His movement speed is capped at a relaxed walking pace. Any use of magic will disrupt it; as will physical contact with any person. He cannot attack during it, nor use any magic for four turns after stopping it. For as long as it is active, he has the defenses of a nonmagi.
However, for as long as Meshokyo Major remains active, Neloth cannot be perceived by any living thing. All senses fail before this technique.

µ Meshokyo: Second Form ((Self || Dark, Bone(Earth)))

After remaining still for three turns, Neloth can camouflage himself to his surroundings. He can do this through two ways: Enshrouding himself in shadows, or mimicking his surroundings like a chameleon. These methods are not mutually exclusive.
Meshokyo: Second Form also benefits from the powers of First Form and Major but compromises on their effectiveness, most heavily on the latter. Neloth becomes much harder to sense while Enshrouded by Second Form, maintaining his ability to work lesser magics, and minorly harder to notice. However in turn, Second Form is the most taxing of the Meshokyo forms. At maximum, Neloth can maintain Second Form for 16 turns. Maintaining it for 4 turns will consume a quarter of his max mana.

» Immolation (Self||Bone)

Neloth's ability to create and manipulate bone. It is most potent when using his own skeletal structure as a catalyst, however, he can create bone from the earth itself if he so chooses. Both manipulation and creation have a maximum range of 12 meters, in a radius around his heart. The manipulation of foreign living skeletal structure is impossible, because the latent mana within rejects his control.
Foreign dead bones do not share this, but hold the most power when used within the context of ritual magic.

µ Dead Devil Barrier (Defense || Bone, Obdurate)

Neloth concentrates for three turns before stomping and channeling Obdurate into the ground. Six bone spikes rise from the ground in a circle, covered in runes. The resulting barrier is cylindrical, up to 9 meters in diameter and 9 meters tall, with a roof but no floor. There are two possible configurations: whatever side of the barrier the spikes are on is considered the "hard" side.
The hard side is the protective side. The opposite, "soft" side is permeable to magic and physical objects alike.
The barrier is indestructible so long as all six, relatively fragile, bone spikes persist, weakening with each destroyed spike. So long as 5 or less spikes remain, the barrier is destructible. When all 6 are destroyed, the barrier will cease to exist; if the barrier is destroyed directly, any remaining spikes will turn to dust.
If the barrier is allowed to remain, it will crumble by itself after 8 turns.

µ Carapace (Defense || Bone)

Neloth must remain motionless for three turns and direct considerable focus to the spell. Over the course of these three turns, Neloth will develop a defensive exoskeleton, and once it is finished the resulting carapace requires no continuous upkeep.
While Carapace provides incredible, all-purpose defensive utility, it is a costly ability — it requires a quarter of his maximum mana to create. Once it is destroyed, Neloth will usually not be able to create it again within the same fight: due to the demanding cost, and if not, the setup time.

» Wardcraft (Defense || Earth, Dark)

Neloth's warding skills rely on physically written runic systems, meaning these skills require extensive time to deploy. However, if Neloth has the chance to decide where a fight happens ahead of time, they can be incredibly powerful. How far the script extends depends on the ward; generally, the more script there is, the more powerful the ward. However, more script also requires longer to set up and can be more susceptible to damage, which means even more time is needed to build in failsafes and safety measures.

• Reinforcing Wards
  Used to fortify pre-existing structures. Will typically be able to defend against four to six Mid-B level attacks before the wards fail. Undisturbed wards, unpowered by a Wardstone, will typically last a week without upkeep before they begin to unravel.
  The inclusion of a Wardstone vastly upgrades their defensive capabilities. When powered by a Wardstone, they become a permanent structure and will not unravel over time. The Wardstone also allows them to gradually recharge over the course of a day or two; they can now also defend against six to eight Mid-B level attacks.
  
  
• Obfuscation Wards
  Used to prevent a location or structure from being found by unwanted guests. This doesn't hide the location or structure from sight, rather, it prevents the location from being noticed. A building hidden by an Obfuscation ward will appear entirely normal, and just unnotable enough to not warrant investigation. Though not impenetrable, Neloth knows how to avoid making them obvious.

µ Wardstone Creation (Defense || Earth, Dark)

The art of Wardstone Creation is equal parts Witchcraft and magical formula.
Wardstones grant permanence to ward structures by acting as a conduit, battery, and mana generator simultaneously. By acting as a central conduit, the maximum complexity of a ward structure is increased; by acting as a battery, the ward is better able to endure spikes in mana drain; by acting as a generator, wards are allowed to endure and regenerate.

Balancing the power of Wardstone Creation is its complexity and cost. A simple stone requires minimum one week to plan and craft; as complexity increases, the time requirement rises exponentially. Material cost will also rise exponentially with quality.

A completed Wardstone, until destroyed or otherwise removed, becomes a permanent feature of its location. A quality wards can last anywhere from 6 months to multiple years.

» Earthworks (Self || Earth)

Neloth's ability to bend soil, rock, and cement to his will. This is tied to his physical ability: to move the earth he must move his body. He can manipulate earth consistently within 3m of himself. Any increase in distance beyond this will increase the required effort exponentially. While using Earthworks Neloth cannot concentrate on other spells.

While he can suspend earth in the air this can, very quickly, become quite taxing on his body and his mana reserves. Re-shaped earth may be affected by the wards and spell formula at Neloth's disposal.
It should also be noted Neloth's proficiency with this ability can be described as "below average"; even C rank Earth magi may be able to wrest away control of his Earthworks.

» Formula Expertise (Self || N/E)

Neloth's experience with spell formula is not to be trifled with. Though they take time to deploy these magic formula allow him to shape the battle to his whim. On the other hand, these formula can be easy to disrupt; safeguards and redundancies may be deployed, but take vastly more time.

• Creation of Storage seals
  Allows Neloth to store items, even arcane ones, inside storage scrolls or singular tags. The weight of these items while sealed is ignored, but only things up to a certain mass may be stored. The largest singular thing Neloth can seal is 80lb. The only things which cannot be sealed are items including other spell formula.

• Explosive tags
  Allows Neloth to create paper bombs. The strength limit of these is still untested, but magic demand increases. Complexity and size, and thus the time required to create, increase in exponential steps. Paper bombs become easier to sense the larger they are. May be detonated remotely up to a range of 20m, or created with a timed fuse.
  µ Hellish Rites (Support || N/E)

A collection of rituals which Neloth can perform. These can only be used outside of combat.

• Scry
  Neloth prepares a basin whose rim is marked with a magic circle before filling it with water. Once a basin is made it can be used repeatedly. With the correct incantation, Neloth can remotely view any location or person he has already seen; persons or locations which he has not seen will appear gray and featureless. This is, however, the weakest form of scrying for two reasons: It is easy for most magi to sense, and easy for any even remotely capable magi to block. With the inclusion of a DNA sample of the target person, it becomes harder to detect and block. The strength of the sample matters. The strongest sample is blood.
• Sealing Pact
  Neloth has the ability to make arcane pact with others. When doing such, he must verbally state the terms of the deal, and all other parties must verbally agree. This is sealed by a black flame enveloping his left hand before all parties shake.
  This Pact is magically binding, and all parties will be compelled to uphold their side of the deal. This compulsion is impossible for B rank magi and below to overcome without specialized abilities designed to erase such a condition. However when the Pact is broken, it will have consequences even under the best of circumstances. The best outcome is that the offending party's magic becomes hindered for 3-7 days, but may cause penalties as severe as debilitating sickness. (This relies on the character's author to determine a proper backlash.)

» Dance with the Devil (Offense || Underworld)

This spell occupies two slots.
At any time Neloth can choose to unleash his demonic power, which is usually curtailed by the seal binding him to his current host. When he uses Dance with the Devil to unleash his full power, Neloth changes from a Defense type to an Offense type. With the activation of the Dance, he gains access to its subspells.

So long as Dance with the Devil is maintained, Neloth experiences the following effects:

• Lowered base arcane defense (+4 turns post Dance)
• Damage to health over time (1/16th per turn)
• Mana loss due to seal leakage (1/16th per turn)
• Damage to seal over time (may lead to negative effects)
• Loss of access to Meshokyo & it's forms (+4 turns post Dance)
• Increase in physical strength and speed (by roughly one third)

µ Ablation of Limitation (Offense, Passive || Bone, Underworld)

Neloth's power over his bones increases dramatically during Dance with the Devil. Increases in the following can be noted: rate of production, physical strength, and range at which he can manipulate it. Range has increased to a 15m radius.
Neloth can utilize his own skeletal structure such that his every limb becomes a bladed implement. Spikes and bullets of bone may emerge from any point of his body, at any time, at incredible speed.

Neloth has, debatably, developed a unique martial art using this ability. Anyone entering CQC will find that this chaotic style will often make increased numbers employed against him a disadvantage.

µ Dissolution (Offense || Dark, Obdurate)

Dissolution must be prepared three turns before Neloth is struck by an attack. Once prepared, it may be held for two turns. When Dissolution is prepared and Neloth is struck by an attack, Neloth will explode into a cloud of black shards, negating the attack's damage. These black shard will strike the attacker at nearly imperceptible speeds, pass through them dealing internal damage, and then reform into Neloth. Dissolution will cause Zen attacks to fail, regardless of element.

Any Heaven attack will cause Dissolution to fail before initiation. However, any mage utilizing Zen techniques when hit by Dissolution's shards will take increased damage. Dissolution has a 6 turn cooldown.

µ Devastation (Offense || Dark, Underworld)

Devastation may be used at any time without preparation but only once a day. Once activated, Devastation remains active for 4 turns.
Neloth's left hand becomes enshrouded in a black flame, extending onto his weapon. The black flames of Devastation corrupt and corrode everything they touch, "burning" for 6 turns. They cannot be removed except by Holy techniques. The flames of Devastation will corrode and eat through Shield-type defensive techniques, poking holes through them which rapidly expand. When touching flesh these flames will only burn for three turns. When "burning" people, their magic control will become frayed and all spells become more expensive.

✦ Gear

¶ Basket-hilted Broadsword

Elemental properties: Bone, Underworld
Catalyst: Y

Neloth's weapon, used exclusively in his left hand. The entire piece, hilt and blade, are crafted from his own bone. In the event it is damaged, broken, lost, or entirely obliterated, Neloth can simply make one again.