Profile Post
Name: Albel "The Wicked" Nox
Canon: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Race: Elicoorian
Age: 24
Description: Albel is 6'1", slim, and more athletically muscled than heavily built. His hair's dark, fading out lighter toward tips; there's a layer kept scruffy off-the-shoulder short that's most easily visible. The majority of his hair is almost ankle length, kept in two long, thin braids down his back that're typically cloth-wrapped and are over three feet long. His eyes are dark crimson, and he does have slightly pronounced canines.
The first major detail that most people notice is his left arm. The actual arm is so badly burn-scarred and withered that there's not much left but some scraps of burned muscle stretched over bone; these remains are protected inside a gauntleted prosthetic that covers his left shoulder and the entire arm. Each finger and the thumb of the gauntlet ends in a razor-sharp three inch blade. The prosthetic is somewhat enchanted; he has perfectly normal dexterity with it, although his sense of touch is half-dead through it and the claws limit what he can do with it regardless.
He tends to dress fairly flamboyantly, with modesty and normalcy very, very low priorities.
Background: Albel was the son of the previous commander of Airyglyph's Dragon Brigade, raised military around the most prestigious and visible unit in the nation and; he grew up being trained to inherit the post one day, and was perfectly happy with that, working towards it as his own goal as well, to one day lead the unit of dragonriders in the semi-continual wars that went on between Airyglyph and its neighboring nation of Aquaria. He excelled in most of his training, and when he came of age and was eligible to attempt an Accession of Flame, he had no hesitation and was downright cocky about the challenge. (The Accession being a Glyphian tradition dating back to an old pact with the dragon races; involving the prospective dragonrider travelling, alone, into the volcanic mountain ranges where the speaking and non-speaking dragons make their lairs, then challenging one of the dragons - if the trial is passed and the dragon yields, the dragon enters into a lifelong partnership...if the trial is failed, the candidate typically ends up a scorchmark on the floor, and surviving...well, the Accession is very much a "With your shield or on it" tradition.) The teenager was completely unprepared, and unaware that his father had tailed behind in worry; after the dragon beat the crap out of him, his father pulled him out of the way, taking the brunt of the dragon's fire breath. Albel survived, with the injured arm to show for it.
In spite of the shame that went with failing the Accession, Albel refused to retreat from military service, entering into the Black Brigade cavalry at the bottom. He managed to earn barely enough distinction in service and skill to balance out the black mark of the failed Trial, and from there worked his way through the ranks. He managed to earn enough of a reputation on the battlefield that, when the previous Black Brigade general died, the King of Airyglyph promoted Albel out of the other candidates to take over.
Albel took over and took the post seriously; he was a canny enough strategist to take care of his own troops, but held them to very stiff standards, and any backtalk had damn well better have been posed very respectfully and be damn well thought out. He became known for swift, vicious tactics geared to break down an opponent as quickly as possible and ensure there wouldn't be enough left for a return assault, as well as psychological intimidation stunts. The Black Brigade under him was feared, and he became known as "Albel the Wicked". His relations with the other generals were spotty - while there was a grudging, never admitted respect for the older General Woltar, he clashed incessantly with Duke Vox, who had gained the leadership of the Dragon Brigade and service at the King's side. There was somewhat more to it than simple clashes of egos; Albel was only barely deferential to his superiors and had little patience for politics and power-plays, Vox was working to gain as much power and control over the kingdom as possible, often working to sway the mild-tempered King. Not only was there some tension over issues with Albel's family history and background, and Vox holding the position he'd have otherwise inherited, but Vox had bought the loyalty of several Black Brigade officers that had been set to lobby for the general position who were beat out by the younger Nox, going counter to Vox's agenda and frustrating him and the men he'd promised to set up in positions of higher authority. Albel continually frustrated Vox's best attempts at discrediting him by being overly competent.
Everything changed when a starship-skiff crashed in the middle of the capital city.
The skiff was initially interpreted as spies from a more technological nation that was distant and isolated; the two inside, Cliff and Feit, were imprisoned and interrogated in the castle. They were rescued by one of the highest-ranking Aquarian spies, Nel Zelphyr, and Albel was part of an effort to kill or recapture the two men and Nel before they reached Aquaria and the foreigner's knowledge of technology was contributed to Aquaria's artifact-weapons. The two aliens slipped by, taking out a couple of Vox's lieutenants along the way. While Albel was in the field pursuing (and in the field recovering from being beaten down), his second in command, who was also the one Vox'd initially promised the General post, took advantage of the capture of two of Nel's subordinates to set a trap for Zelphyr, hoping to gain credit for actually catching the Aquarian and the two foreigners while Albel was indisposed. Albel returned in time to both be aware of the treachery and get to see the rescue-mission succeed at killing off his treacherous lieutenant...
And chose to shrug and pretend he hadn't arrived until after they'd left, since they'd just destroyed a plot against him.
Vox took this as an opportunity, convincing the King that yes, Albel HAD been present in time to have stopped them, and getting Albel accused of high treason and allowing them to escape as part of a deal with Aquaria. Albel was stripped of his rank and thrown in the dungeon, whiich was basically staffed by subordinates of Vox.
While Albel was in the dungeon, the alien Vendeeni arrived on Elicoor seeking an ancient relic which was treated as a holy artifact, and pursuing one of the previous alien arrivals as well. Their first act was to send a warship to the battlefield where the Glyphian military, led by Vox, was fighting against the Aquarian military, newly equipped with a powerful runic-energy cannon. The Vendeeni warship wiped out most of both armies, including Vox and half the Dragon Brigade, until one of the alien-arrivals had an uncontrolled power-outburst that destroyed it.
A hasty plan was cobbled together to get the aid of the Lord of the Speaking Dragons in using the runic-cannon to fend off the alien attackers, with an equally hasty peace treaty as Airyglyph and Aquaria recognized the alien assault as a greater mutual enemy. Woltar, who had been a friend of Albel's father, managed to get Albel nominated as the Glyphian representative in the expedition to meet with the dragon.
Lord Crossell put the diplomatic expedition through a joint Accession, then managed to help use the cannon to hold the Vendeeni off long enough for the friendly starship Diplo to arrive and finish the job. Albel and Nel both ended up travelling off Elicoor with the ship; Albel's status and rank were in question even with his name cleared, and between disillusionment with the Glyphian crown and a new grudge against the Vendeeni and other alien intererence, Albel chose to leave.
The larger problem turned out to be even more of an outside threat than anyone anticipated - the entire known universe was little more than an incredibly complicated artificially created reality set up as a game setting by an outside race; as some events in the universe had proven it was little more independently alive than its creators liked, it was slated for shutdown and destruction, setting the group Albel had joined with up with the task of using a gateway to the "real world" of outside-space to save their existence, one way or another.
Fairytale AU: (Subject to some detail-changes pending touching bases with Wicke and Xhan, mainly) Main differences: Airyglyph and Aquios existed as neighboring, feuding nations with several others on their borders; the war, as on Elicoor, was a long-standing holy-war and feud between the two kingdoms, with Albel considered by Aquaria to be one of the most hated and feared - and dangerous - Glyphian generals. Albel's own scouts and spies caught wind of some information on a nation that, at the time, was distant, small, and nonthreatening, who had recently undergone a change in power... the information being that the new King was working on some very unpleasant magics that were meant for large-scale destruction and conquest, had been summoning demons, and was setting up agents in foreign kingdoms even further out than Airyglyph.
So when he returned to Kirlsa to find his second in command about to die at the hands of Zelphyr rescuing a couple of her agents who he'd been ignoring after being tipped off to their presence and that they were tracking agents of Locelot...he made a similar "Eh, I won't be here for two hours yet, get lost." decision.
And was, similarly, thrown in prison for high treason after Vox used it as an opening to accuse him of plotting with Aquaria.
"Luckily" for him, the messenger informing Kirlsa Fort that Albel had been stripped of his rank was one of the casualties of the undead army assaulting Airyglyph; Albel escaped during the fall of the castle, fought off the temptation to make a suicidal lone assault on the undead army, and rode back to Kirlsa with the news that Duke Vox had sold out the entire kingdom of Airyglyph, allowing Locelot's army to sweep across the land unchallenged and swearing his own loyalty to the new King in exchange for dominion over the territory that once was Airyglyph.
He has since been holding Kirlsa as the last remaining unconquered place in Airyglyph, cautiously rallying the other still-loyal Glyphian forces there, and using the natural terrain and the aerial capabilities of the handful of dragonriders that did not follow Vox in treachery to fend off attacks. The invaders have changed tactics to cut off supplies and trade, forcing Albel to lead raids - preferably on military caravans, but they can't always afford to be fussy - for basic food and necessities. As of when Albel gained some memory of his alternate self, they had ended up having a raid on a caravan train-wreck into other resistance forces, with his Brigade taking down the dragon of one of Vox's lieutenants; and has/will volunteer Kirlsa Fort as a base of operations for the other resistance efforts against King Locelot, including a rescue-mission to save one of Nel's captured subordinates.
Personality: Albel has been raised his entire life for the battlefield, and it shows - he's eminently predatory, and in some ways is as honed and focused on violence and warfare as any sword-blade. He was born, raised, and molded as a weapon, he knows that it is his area of greatest expertise, skill, and talent, he's proud of it and he enjoys it. He tends to take failure and defeat personally, as something wrong on his part that needs correcting - and from there, will drive himself harder to overcome whatever weakness or failing caused it. As hard as he is on himself internally, he's worked hard enough to overcome the black marks and behind-back whispers from his failed trial and his (albeit false) accusation of treason; insults and criticism are met with either dismissal and ignoring it, or flat-out taking it as a challenge to silence and/or prove wrong. He's aware that he's not capable of perfection, but goes as far as humanly possible to allow himself no weakness, and tries to show even less than he allows.
His social skills are maladjusted at best - he doesn't even particularly bother or care whether other people like him; his main goal is to be respected, and it doesn't really matter to him if the respect is out of fear and intimidation or more "noble" higher reasons. For all that he doesn't tolerate being treated or seen as a weakling or someone to be taken lightly, he also has acquired a complex about not giving a fuck what others think of him or what they want from him. He does have people he cares about and takes his responsibilities very seriously, but has an allergy to making it too clear that he's that stable and reliable. When it comes to what he wants, his goals, and his whims, unless it's something that would be detrimental to more important goals, he's all too happy to go with temptation, social standards be damned. He has a strong, if quirky and skewed, sense of ethics, without any patience for corruption and betrayal, value on protecting his "people" - whether it's people he's been made responsible for or people he's decided he cares about - and personal independence... but he is well aware that one of his greatest strengths in dealing with others sometimes is control of people's expectations, and that being known as "The Wicked" makes some things much easier and means people are afraid to get funny ideas about pulling shit on him. He prefers to be seen as dangerous and willing to go to any lengths - because while he does have limits (a bit further out than most people's, but there), if people believe he DOESN'T, they're less willing to risk pushing their luck.
The combination of fighting off people LOOKING for excuses to look down on him and playing up his reputation has given him an almost instinctive tic, that anything contrary to that image will be phrased in some kind of roundabout way to throw people off and keep them properly afraid of him and off-balance.
He also has basically no prior experience with anything more fluffy or socially normal than a very hotshot special-forces military unit.
Powers: Albel is an excellent swordsman, and has adapted his style to include his claws fully. While he's not a runologist, he's also learned some form of minor magic, using some vague talent mixed with and channeled through the enchantments on his claw for a few more supernatural tricks, including energy bolts and a defensive "wall" of his own spiritual energy capable of burning on both physical and auric levels, going as far at times as manifesting his energy in the form of dragon-images.
He's also a very canny tactician and perfectly capable of shifting his usual hellion demeanor into something more befitting a high-ranking military officer, with a perfectly good "aura of command".
He is also in the possession of a Glyphian major relic - a sword known as the Crimson Scourge, said to be able to split the sky itself. The Scourge adds its power to his, and is itself a living thing, as well as a strong magical weapon. If anyone besides him tries to handle it, it -may- consent to being picked up and carried if the purpose is something like returning it to him or moving it from a floor to a table so it doesn't get tripped over... otherwise, it will either outright energy-attack the person, giving them a nasty shock, or subject them to its usual test of if it SHOULD respect that person, subjecting them to a very sudden trial by fire against all of their worst fears and the worst weak points in their willpower trying to break them.
Strengths: Besides being fast and deadly on the battlefield, Albel's very stubborn and nearly impossible to truly break; particularly after going through the trial of the Scourge, even things that hit hard on "Issues" of his tend to only contribute to his conviction to improve himself past/overcome whatever challenge or weakness was just hit, and maybe piss him off in the process. He's a level-headed and pragmatic tactician, well aware that victory is gained by not allowing emotions to cloud judgment one way or another and maintaining or gaining as much control of the situation as possible - for all his temper, it's very controlled and focused, and even when lost is more focused into victory than just into charging in a rage. He's also very well capable of sitting on that if indulging it would be a tactical blunder, waiting for a better opportunity. He's also VERY good at throwing people off-balance, in fighting style, tactical planning, and verbal exchanges.
Weaknesses: Albel is very hard on himself and very stubborn; he doesn't really rest when there's a goal in front of him or something he feels he needs to work to overcome, and will drive himself into the ground. When it comes to social exchanges that aren't political or military in nature, he is at best clueless how to handle them, and at worst badly maladjusted. The concept of allies that are actually "friends" is a very new one to him, and he still hasn't quite learned that he doesn't need to keep up "The Wicked" role towards such, even though he has people he's grown attached to in that way. His sense of what's attractive in the opposite sex is someone that's capable of keeping up with him and challenging him... which ends up making it somewhat suicidal. His entire life has been dedicated to military service; if he were forced to do something different with his life, he honestly would not know what to do with himself.
PS: He kinda has violent tendencies. Just a little. Teeny bit. Small smidgeon.
Random Trivia: As dangerous as Albel's prosthetic is, he's lived with it long enough that not destroying things or causing injury when he doesn't want to is a reflex. While a good handful of his scars are accidentally self-inflicted from the adjustment period, he has no troubles with avoiding further self-injury, can interact with people without accidentally injuring them, and it's been a long time since he's accidentally damaged inanimate objects or buildings. (For the overly curious, he doesn't really toss much in his sleep anymore, and the claw basically locks when he sleeps. Of course, he's also a light sleeper.)
He does have a number of scars from the battlefield, but none of them particularly stand out much. For further confusion, even he's probably lost track of which nicks and cuts are actually battle-scars and which are the legacy of the months he spent adjusting to having three-inch-blades on one hand.
Albel insists that he can cook just fine, but very few other people can eat what he comes up with. It's possible that he technically CAN cook just fine, but his tastes when given free reign aren't that palatable to anyone else. (Among the few things he's glommed to that I've encountered is a Hawaiian fish-salad called Poke'e made with chunks of raw tuna, sesame oil, chili powder, cracked pepper, and cut-up chunks of onion. Go figure.) He'll eat fruit, but getting him to eat just about any other plant-matter is unlikely; he has a carnivore's tastes in food. He has been known to almost make himself sick on sugar, particularly chocolate; make PMS jokes at your own risk.
Go near him with a needle and you might lose a hand. He's a HORRIBLE patient and the terror of medics. He also, indeed, will be the sort to try to be up and about and going full speed as soon as he can move, and has landed himself back on his ass before by aggravating injuries that -had- been healing.
Jokes about his default canon costume aside, Albel is actually a straight male. He can be distracted by the female figure, although most women aren't likely to manage more than a second or two of "Oh hey" before he goes back to whatever he was doing. This is because his sense of what is actually -attractive- includes clauses about being able to keep up with him and keep his interest...which means the women that honestly catch his interest are also the ones most likely to stab him.
Albel is agnostic, and cynical-snarky about organized religions to the point of sacrilege and heresy. If Blip ever celebrates Easter, he -WILL- call it Zombie Jesus Day.