Name: Basil Ampere Nickname /Alias: Basilikos (Literally: king. Calls himself this out of pride.) Age: 30 Apparent Age: 27 Sex: Male Race: Human Height: 5’ 0” Weight: 123 lbs. Eye Color: Alternates between brown and yellow (explained below) Hair Color/Style: Light Brown, very neatly combed and parted on the right side. Skin Color/Complexion: White, but with a tinge of yellow in it. Theme Songs:Dancing Mad and Power-Hungry Fool
Appearance: A short, thin man, to put it plainly. His thin frame belies wiry muscles, though one would never guess his average strength and speed from looking at him. His face is almost always seen in warm smile, with a Greek nose, wide mouth, thin eyes, square facial structure, and overall very neat and clean-shaven appearance.
The man dresses in brown shoes, loose blue pants held up by a brown belt, and a blue long-sleeved shirt. Over this is a fine yellow vest, buttoned up the front, letting a bright red bowtie attached to his collar show. On top of everything else, Basil wears a long blue collared overcoat, with many pockets on the inside. This is where he keeps his tome and money. When traveling, on his back is a large woolen backpack, stuffed with wares and supplies for his journey.
Weapon(s): A thunder tome, called Fulgur. In its pages are written various methods for casting moderately powerful thunder spells, mostly utile in a combat situation. It is old and worn, but still durable and potent. It looks like this, with a small, solitary depiction of a lightning bolt.
Carried Possessions: Fulgur. In his leather money purse, he usually maintains a healthy balance of gold ($700 USD), fruits of his salesmanship. In the large backpack: some hunting knives, a skin flask of water, a small supply of food, various trinkets and fake bottles of potions, a tinderbox, explosive-making supplies, along with an old-looking, empty book that has “Potion Recipes” written elaborately on the front.
Powers/Magic:
Spoiler:
All of Basil’s spells require him focus immensely on casting. These spells are written down in Fulgur for referrence, but unfortunately for him, he currently is only capable of using Quickbolt and Dead Man’s Volley, anything else is too advanced or difficult for him to muster at his skill level.
Bolt from the Blue: Fulgur provides him the ability to call forth powerful bolts from the sky, regardless of the weather, though the weather directly affects the strength of the blast by around a million volts. This is his most powerful attack, and requires over ten seconds and considerable focus to bring forth. The blast is a literal lightning bolt, containing massive destructive properties.
Quickbolt: He can use his body’s own electric current to generate excess amounts of electricity, gather it into his hand, and launch it at his enemy very quickly, either in a single bolt or fanning out in a ferning pattern. This attack is not affected by weather, and can be summoned within five seconds, though good focus is still required. The maximum amount of power he can generate using this method is 10,000 volts, directly related to how hard he concentrated.
Dead Man’s Volley: Much like Quickbolt, Basil forms a charge in his hand, but creates a ball of it, which he then can hurl at his enemies. It doesn’t require much focus, but doesn’t travel nearly as fast,. This attack creates a maximum of about 6,000 volts, depending on how long he charged it up and how much focus he put into it. (1,500 volts per second of focus)
Shield of Tonitrus: Using the same body currents, he can form a temporary defensive sphere of lightning (8 ft. wide) around his person. It stops any conducting object or electricity from penetrating the sphere, unless the mass is bigger than a small boulder, or the strength exceeds 30,000 volts, respectively. In the event of a large amount of electricity coming in his direction, he can re-purpose the sphere to redirect the electricity around him, where it will continue moving in the same direction it came. This technique requires intense and prolonged periods of focus, with increasing difficulty when redirecting/absorbing lightning, or stopping projectiles. It takes about three seconds to conjure, and Basil cannot move while the field is in effect.
Field of Tonitrus: A modified version of the above technique. Rather than focusing the sphere into a defensive perimeter, he can concentrate it into a powerful ball, and release it over an area. The area affected is directly related to how long he charged the blast, with three feet per second of charging after the initial seconds. He can add power to the attack, but Basil prefers to keep the level low, because this spell will affect him if released. (7,000 volts and 3 ft. radius increase per second of charge)
Ionic Enucleation: By far the most difficult, mysterious, and unorthodox spell in Fulgur. The caster can cast instantly, but must maintain absolute focus for extended durations of time or the effects will cease; effects produced are not immediate, as it is a lengthy spell unintended for combat. Electricity within the target (or the caster himself) can be manipulated over time to produce two effects:
1. The target is healed of internal injuries or disease, even if said disease or injury is typically incurable. A very effective, if ridiculously difficult, method of healing.
2. Immense damage is caused to internal organs while the target undergoes excruciating pain, resulting in horrific disease or death. Recovery is rarely possible. A terrible method of torture.
Limits: His magic is directly limited by his focus, and capacity for channeling. If he overcharges a spell, or loses his control over the lightning bolt, he could be seriously injured and probably killed. Most of his spells take a few precious seconds to conjure up, as well, leaving him open to attack or distraction. The magic is not accurate, either, and easy to dodge if one knows what he is doing. Conductors or objects with an opposite charge can redirect or absorb his spells from the intended target, and leave him defenseless against them.
Side-Effects: Electricity being as it is, anyone who uses it runs the risk of being electrocuted themselves, or even bringing harm to their allies. It is very difficult to focus, because the lightning tends to behave as natural lightning does, and go for conductors or oppositely charged surfaces. He is also immune to weak electricity’s ill effects, as his body has been altered to conduct charges (up to 25,000 volts) over the years through use and possession of the tome.
Interestingly, each time Basil uses his lightning spells, his eyes turn bright yellow, and seem to gain subtle luminescence, along with strange markings (Lichtenbergmarks) forming on various areas of his body, and growing larger the longer he uses his magic. His eyes revert back to brown immediately after ending usage, but the marks remain for hours, or even days, correlative to the power of the spell he used.
Skills: Skilled pickpocket, able to take or hide things from wary people without alerting them with ease. A veteran con man, Basil knows how to manipulate simple individuals or groups of people to do practically whatever he wants or needs them to do, and feel good about doing it.
Knows a bit of surviving in the wilderness, such as foraging and trapping of small game, learned from his time as a traveling peddler.
Battle Strengths: Quick-witted and intelligent, Basil prefers to outthink, outmaneuver, or outplan his enemies. He is good at plotting out events ahead of time, and his plans rarely fail. A master manipulator, he also would rather recruit or dissuade an opponent than confront them directly, though he is not afraid of resorting to swift, decisive violence with a knife; with these he has much experience but no training. In such cases, striking first or ambush are his greatest allies. In a pinch, he can use spells in Fulgur to stun, incapacitate, or kill enemies.
While not his greatest allies, his mediocre strength and speed on his feet can take foes by surprise, though not for long whatsoever.
Battle Weaknesses: Small and relatively weak, he cannot withstand much physical damage. If a plan fails, and he is left with no recourse but to fight, an opponent will find him lacking in skill and options. His knowledge of lightning anima magic is also poor, and the spells he does know are usually too weak or slow to harm a worthy adversary.
If angered, Basil loses some of his ability to think clearly, and will act far more rash and foolhardy, occasionally abandoning his plans.
Personality: Basil is an intelligent man, always thinking and plotting mind games. The man takes pride in the schemes and webs he builds, but does not boast of them openly, choosing to act modest and humble to keep up appearances. He hides behind a mask of friendliness and cordiality at most times, wearing an endearing smile and talking sweetly in order to take advantage of those he comes across, and never indulging his true thoughts and feelings.
He has no qualms about stealing from or tricking others; his one and only concern is his own benefit. Morals are lost on the man, and he sees little point or virtue in them, save the ones he adopts to make himself a success in his highly social life as a con man. To his customers and those he deals with, he is the epitome of kindness and patience. Underneath, though, he always has an ulterior motive. Interestingly, he will not resort to murdering someone unless he believes it to be the only solution to his problem. This way, he potentially has the opportunity to take advantage of the person again.
If sufficiently irritated or angered, Basil will lose control, and shift into a rage-filled mindset, where he loses decency and reason, becoming murderous and unpredictable. These fits never last for longer than five minutes, but leave him tired and with a headache.
His true feelings are those of self-centered hatred for the world and prideful entitlement, as a result of being disconnected from relationships for the vast majority of his life. Really cares for nothing else but himself. The persona he uses masks his true nature, though, and he refuses to grow attached to anything. Thus, few will ever know him beyond a peddler that took more money from them than he should have been able to get away with. It would be an accurate assessment to say that Basil is an example of what happens to children who are denied proper guidance while growing up.
Likes: Himself, gold, power.
Dislikes: Varies between indifference to or outright hatred against anything that does not benefit himself.
Fears: Death, poverty, helplessness.
Virtues: Wise due to experience and tries to be objectively practical. Not prone to foolish mistakes.
Vices: Moral corruption. Lives to serve one god: himself.
History: Basil was to a farmer in a backwater village in a far-off country, where he lived for his first few years, learning how to read and write, but little else.
Unfortunately, that village was in the path of invaders. The farmer and his wife fled with their five-year-old child, trying to escape the coming destruction. The invader’s cavalry caught up with them, however. They killed the farmer and his wife, leaving the kid to fend for himself; surely he wouldn’t last more than a day or two.
He continued down the road, crying. He didn’t know why this was happening to him. He didn’t quite know why they had had to leave the farm in the first place. Aimlessly following the road, he didn’t see the man watching him until he bumped into his cloak. An elderly lightning mage stared down and took pity for the lad. He took Basil, and fled into a country safe from the invaders, where they lived in a small town. The mage was a decent man, but waek, disinterested, and aloof, not really concerned with properly bringing the boy up. He would often give his adopted son anything he wanted, just to stop his whining, rather than teach him restraint and patience. The old man did finish Basil’s education, and taught him a few skills, including: drawing, public speaking, and explosives crafting. However, he never taught the boy magic, saying it was not a toy for the youthful. This became a point of heated contention, often leading to heated arguments.
But one day, during an argument about the matter, the old mage let the truth come out. He wouldn’t teach the boy magic, because he knew Basil wouldn’t use it for good. He had watched as the lad grew, turning into a power-hungry, conniving manipulator. Basil was incensed at the convicting indictment, and he flew into a rage, murdering the old man in cold blood.
Basil rifled through everything the mage had on magic, finding useless, dusty old books and treatises about its use. He came upon two that were of interest to him, however. The first was the powerful thunder tome, Fulgur. The second, an ancient scroll that told of the existence of the legendary Boanerges. It was a tome that, if one found it, it could give the user virtually unlimited mastery over lightning. Unfortunately, it gave no clues to the location, or even the continued existence of such a book.
But Basil would not be deterred so easily, the promise of such power became his obsession. He left the town, deciding on becoming a peddler to support his wanderings in search of the power. Through the years, he spent his days stealing, tricking, and conning people out of their money, by selling fake potions and knick-knacks, pick-pocketing, or even the occasional honest sale of genuine explosives. He has done his share of murders, usually when someone became wise to his shenanigans.
All the while, he has slowly increased his knowledge of how to use Fulgur as well. The surprising knowledge of magic has saved him from many lawmen, thugs, and angry villagers on his quest to become unstoppable.
NOTE: The power levels of his magic attacks are the best I could do with little frame of reference for how strong they should be. I am fully prepared (and expecting) to strengthen or weaken them if they prove overpowered or ridiculously weak.
And give me as detailed and hard an approval as you can.
So he can only use Quickbolt or Dead Man's Volley right now, correct? They are fine. Though I think I want to get technical and tell you not to use watts, use voltage. x3 Electric shock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Because googling around for how powerful those are (2000 watts) seems to be kind of confusing. For example a stungun transmits from 80,000-975,000 volts with 7-14 watts of energy. A taser transmits 50,000 volts with 18 watts of energy.
Even though you listed and described the other spells. Will he be able to use those later?
So he can only use Quickbolt or Dead Man's Volley right now, correct? They are fine.
Yes, those are the only two he is capable of using at this time. He will learn others as he becomes more proficient. So for now he has little option if forced to fight.
Because googling around for how powerful those are (2000 watts) seems to be kind of confusing. For example a stungun transmits from 80,000-975,000 volts with 7-14 watts of energy. A taser transmits 50,000 volts with 18 watts of energy.
I saw "watts are the electric unit of power" and went with that. It's really hard to find a reference point for the strength of a given number of volts or watts, but I'll change them to volts, adjusting things as need be. Apparently whatever reference point I found was very faulty, because I didn't intend for most of those spells to easily kill someone in one hit (and apparently they do right now). My mistake, I shall work on that immediately.
EDIT: Changes complete. I think the volt level is sufficient, if the amperage is at about 0.05-0.1 amps.
07-14-2012, 02:52 PM
