[Suzerain of Sheol]

In fiery flight, we would leave this hall.
The holy house, the House of God, will fall.
To death they go with music and song,
but our dread simply must go on....

OOC Thread (Character info goes here.)

THREAD-WIDE MATURE CONTENT WARNING

Introduction

It should have been the end of the world. All the signs were present: the Beast came from the sea to sack Rome, the angels sounded their trumpets and went to war, the dead roamed the earth in ravenous hordes... but something went wrong.

The fallen angel, Semyaza, who once stole the knowledge of the Name of the Almighty, put that knowledge to use, and commanded the Almighty to destroy himself. He has left the world a devastated ruin, overrun with demons, insane angels, and legions of the living dead.

But humanity has not gone extinct, and they will do all they can to survive the Eschaton.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Setting Information

Introduction

It should have been the end of the world. All the signs were present: the Beast came from the sea to sack Rome, the angels sounded their trumpets and went to war, the dead roamed the earth in ravenous hordes... but something went wrong.

The fallen angel, Semyaza, who once stole the knowledge of the Name of Almighty, put that knowledge to use, and commanded the Almighty to destroy himself. He has left the world a devastated ruin, overrun with demons, insane angels, and legions of the living dead.

But humanity has not gone extinct, and they will do all they can to survive the Eschaton.

World Organizations

The Beatified Legion: The saints who once dwelt before the throne of the Almighty, now exiled to Earth. They have rallied beneath Saint Georgius and taken up arms against the various enemies of mankind. They make their headquarters in Avignon, France, but they have chapters all over the world. They numbered 10,000 originally, but have lost members over the years since the Calamity and now stand at just under 8,000.

The Aery Alliance: A remnant of the world's militaries joined together to provide transportation and protection to mankind. They maintain bases in most of the surviving major cities of the world. They field only armored gunships, given the number of powerful winged demons who can strike unwary vessels. They are also one of, if not the only remaining institution in the world both in possession of nuclear weapons and with the ability to use them.

The Artificers: A scientific brotherhood dedicated to enriching the life of the survivors of the Calamity. They employ psychics and theurgists who mingle their magicks with the brotherhood's knowledge of science and engineering to produce technology unheard of before the Eschaton. They have no formal headquarters, but instead are dispersed throughout the world in small research teams, so that they can never be completely wiped out. They were responsible for launching the Aether satellite that permits the technomantic communications network, Amorpha, to function.

Forces in the World

Theurgy: The power that pervades the Empyrean Heaven. With the weakening between planes, it can be channeled by mortals who are particularly in touch with the heavenly world. It also has a dark reflection, in the essence of Sheol, the Realm of the Dead, which can be likewise channeled by those with the will to withstand its horrors.

Psychosis: With the bonds of reality so tenuous, many humans have manifested psychic abilities since the Calamity. All other-worldly creatures possess these, usually to very high degrees. This skill can be learned by anyone, but natural Talents are much more adept at manipulating their mental energies.

The Amorpha Network: An information database maintained by the Artificers, powered by the psychoactive Aether satellite. It holds the entire accumulated knowledge base of pre-Calamity mankind in it, as well as a growing encyclopedic registry of information about the post-apocalyptic world. It is essential for communication, and can be accessed either through specialized terminals (small enough for personal transportation and use) or directly through a psychic interface.

Spiritual Realms

The Empyrean Heaven: The desolated realm that was once the holy dominion of the Almighty. It is now nearly empty, save for those few angels who have remained true to their faith.

Perdition: The Prison of the Damned. Once the realm of demons, fallen angels, and condemned souls, its gates are now open and its denizens may walk the earth at will.

Sheol: Realm of the Ancient Dead, also called Hades. It was the resting place of the souls of mankind (save for saints, who were permitted entry to Heaven) before the Calamity. Now, its borders are open to the earth and the dead escape constantly to haunt the living, most joining Abaddon's legions beneath Sinai.

Environmental Features

The Moon: The moon now shines with its own light and paints the night sky the color of blood.

The Sun: A third of the sun has gone black, and it hangs like a broken vase in the sky. The days are a third shorter, but hotter, while the nights grow terribly cold.

Wormwood: Much of the Earth's water is poisoned by Wormwood and will kill any who drink it. It must be purified (either by science or theurgy) to be safe to drink.

Places

Alexandria: One of the few cities with remaining infrastructure, despite the cataclysms that were called down upon it by the Witnesses of Woe. They are there, still, hiding in the devastated slums, helpless and hunted for the destruction they unleashed upon the city. Alexandria is the headquarters of the Aery Alliance, the only surviving air-travel agency in the post-apocalyptic world. Compared to the destitute conditions of most remaining settlements, Alexandria is a paragon of civilization. It is also the site of a large chapter of the Beatified Legion, with over 100 of their knights stationed there.

Babylon: The City of Corruption. It was struck again and again by the wrath of Heaven and is little more than a burnt-out wreckage. Despite this, it is home to several thousand people, all followers of the Sibyl, Jez'ebel.

The Infernal Sea: Once, the Black Sea bordering northern Turkey, it was transfigured by the Wrath of the Almighty into a bed of magma. It constantly spews clouds of ash, making air-travel over it impossible. The fumes it emits are lethal for miles around, making travel in the area extremely difficult. It is speculated that it is a portal to Perdition, given the high numbers of demons that infest the surrounding regions.

Megiddo: An ancient fortress that has stood for over 8,000 years. More generally, Megiddo refers to the vast plains surrounding the fortress where Armageddon was fought. It is now the headquarters of the Sons of Megiddo who serve the False Prophet, and they have transformed it from a decaying ruin to a nearly impenetrable fortified bastion.

New Jerusalem: The city/fortress of the False Prophet, which rests upon the resting pit of the Beast. Its walls are crafted from precious jewels and the buildings within are made from a radiant golden glass. And yet, for all its beauty, it is a place of woe. Empty hangs eternal over the dominions of the city, and it is fed by rivers and fountains of blood. The people who live there are wracked by horrible skin diseases. Instead of rain, flaming hail periodically falls from the sky, burning any caught without shelter. The lands for miles around are lifeless and desolation, the great rivers empty troughs of scorched clay. Within the great temple from where the False Prophet rules, a hideous, animate icon of stone speaks the will of the Beast. Outside the walls of the city, the Sons of Megiddo patrol the desert relentlessly, killing any they happen upon.

Rome: The Mother of Cities, which suffered the wrath of the Beast when it first crawled from the sea. It has been completely destroyed, its buildings leveled and its ancient walls thrown down. However, it is often the haunt of looters and treasure hunters seeking the vast wealth of the Cathedrals and the sacred artifacts they once houses.

The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse: Seven churches in what used to be western Turkey, each given an artifact from the Almighty as reward for their faith through the Tribulation. They are:

Ephesus: Sanctuary of the Fruit of Life, ruled by Abbot Ezra Divinitus, who has eaten of the Fruit since the Calamity and is now immortal.

Smyrna: Sanctuary of the Crown of Eternity, ruled by Prior Jethro Pontice, who wears the Crown since the Calamity, but is trapped in a dreamless sleep.

Per'gamum: Sanctuary of the Whispering Stone which is scribed with a mysterious Name, ruled by Friar Melech Alvah, who obsessively guards the Stone and has been driven nearly mad by the temptation to speak the Name written upon it.

Thyati'ra: Sanctuary of the Iron Rod of Morning, ruled by Prelate Zaccheus Celestrine, who wields the Rod as a sovereign dictator and has gathered a large army to his service through its power.

Sardis: Sanctuary of the Chastening Raiment, not ruled but instead a monastery of ascetic monks who take vows against every earthly province and worship the Raiment, dedicating their lives to one day becoming worthy of wearing it.

Philadelphia: Sanctuary of the Pillar of Solomon, ruled by Nicodemus the Vicar, who has made it the purpose of his life to build a temple worthy of the Pillar, which once held up the Holy of Holies in Old Jerusalem. The Vicar is thought by many to be the spirit of Solomon come again.

Laodicea: Sanctuary of the Burnished Icon, ruled by Shemaiah the Confessor, who has closed the Church to all pilgrims, claiming that only the worthy may look upon the Icon. As a result, the precise nature of the Icon is a mystery.

Sinai: The fabled mount where the Commandments were passed down to mankind. Now, it is the domain of Abaddon, the Angel of the Abyss, and he makes him home in its cavernous depths, which house a portal to Sheol. The mountain is aswarm with the Dybbbuk, Abaddon's great armies of the slain, as well as his mighty Rephaim.

World Map

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Important NPCs

(Image-heavy)

Abaddon

The Angel of the Abyss, Lord of the Living Dead. He reins from the broken peaks of Sinai and sends hordes of his undead servants ravening across the deserts. He holds the Key of Hades and means to turn the entire Earth into a Necropolis.

The False Prophet

Formerly endowed by the Dragon to lead mankind astray during the Eschaton. Now, after the Calamity, he has seized power for himself and installed himself as a divine regent in New Jerusalem. He still withholds the power to work false miracles and is a psychic of tremendous potency. He also holds the key to waking the Beast from its slumber. His followers all bear his mark, the Affixion (DCLXVI) upon their hands and foreheads.

The Four Horsemen

The four heralds of the Eschaton. Their purpose was long ago fulfilled, but still they ride the Earth, sowing ruin and anarchy in their wake. They usually travel alone, but they have been known to join together at times, often to the ruin of civilizations. They are:

Nikao: The White Horseman. He carries a bow strung with the hair of angels that fires poisonous arrows. He never commits to battle, merely announces himself with a volley and then rides away, to let the fruits of his plague ripen.

Tpomelos: The Red Horseman. He carries a sword red glad that drives any who look upon it into a murderous frenzy. Against those who can resist its power, he puts the sword to more traditional use. He is a warrior without equal and revels in the berserk chaos he inspires.

Limos: The Black Horseman. He carries a golden scale which sows strife wherever he goes. Crops wither, water turns foul, animals grow sickly, oil becomes sludge, and hordes of insects infest the land. His direct presence often passes unnoticed; only the ruin he leaves in his wake marks his passage.

Thanatos: The Pale Horseman. He carries nothing and rides a dead horse. Where he rides, the dead crawl from their graves and devour the living. To look into his empty eyes is to die. His voice slays all those who hear it.


Jez'ebel

Called by her enemies the Whore of Babylon, and by her followers the Sibyl, she claims to be an oracle and has organized a large cult loyal to her in the ruins of Babylon. She once had many children – both natural and adopted – but they were all killed in the Calamity. She has drank the blood of saints and martyrs, gaining great theurgic power. She is also a psychic of notable ability.

Semyaza

“He Who Saw The Name”. A fallen angel who was exiled from Heaven for siring children with human women. He was banished to Earth and lived in hiding for thousands of years, biding his time, keeping always the secret that he, and he alone of all the angels, knew the Tetragrammadon, the Name of the Almighty. When the Eschaton began, he put this knowledge to use, using the power of the Name to slay the Almighty and interrupt the Eschaton. This event is known as the Calamity. However, in so doing, Semyaza has lost most of his own power and is no longer a force in the world, living in fearful seclusion. Also, his children, the Nephilim, have been released upon the world, further adding to the chaos of the Calamity.


Saint Georgius

The beatified Dragon Slayer, patron saint of warriors, commander-in-chief of the Beatified Legion. He lives officially in the Legion's headquarters in Avignon, but he is often on crusade, coming to the aid of cities besieged by demons or undead.

The Witnesses of Woe

Twin brother and sister, one blind, the other mute, sent by the Almighty to mete out the judgment of Egypt. Forsaken by Heaven, they hide in the ruins of Alexandria, hunted by those whose homes they called the Wrath of the Almighty down upon. They still hold much knowledge of the mysteries of Heaven, but their great powers have fled them, and mere survival is a constant struggle for them.

Creatures

(Image-heavy)

The Beast

At the advent of the Calamity, this creature crawled from the bowels of the Mediterranean to destroy Rome. It afterward left a trail of carnage stretching all across Europe and down the Middle-Eastern coast, until it finally came upon Jerusalem, where it burrowed deep in the earth beneath the city and sleeps their yet. It has seven heads and ten horns, and upon each horn, it wears a black crown.

Cherubim

Once the Living Beings sitting before the Throne of the Almighty, now exiled to Earth in the wake of the Calamity. They number Four, and rarely venture into human lands. They appear as six-winged lions with four hears: one of an ox, one of an eagle, one of a lion, and one of a man. They wield many powers, but they are most known for their true sight into all things, embodied by the thousands of eyes decorating their wings.


The Dragon

The Divine Enemy, slain by the Arch-Angels. Somewhere, his ruined carcass lies, ever bleeding, though life has long since fled him. In the pools of his blood, the dominions of Hell can be witnessed and, where enough of it has collected, demons may enter the world.

Dybbuk

The dead, released from Sheol by the Key of Hades. They are mad spirits, incapable of reason, possessing corpses and killing indiscriminately. They are powerless without a lifeless body to use as a host.

Emim

Wraiths escaped from Sheol, wholly divorced from the physical world. They are the spirits of psychics long dead whose powers prevented them from losing consciousness in the afterlife. Millennia of imprisonment in the realms of the dead has left them cruel and ruthless, though unlike the Dybbuk, they can be reasoned with. They still command their formidable powers, in addition to emitting a field of supernatural horror. They are completely invisible to normal vision and can only be detected by psychic perceptions.

The Locusts of Abaddon

Horrible creatures the size of horses, covered in armor-like chitinous plates. They have crowns of horns upon their heads and great manes. With their jaws, they can tear a man's head from his body whole. Their tails are barbed and contain deadly toxins. The beat of their wings is enough to cause dust storms.

Nephilim

The Sons of Semyaza, half-human and half-angel and corruptions of both. No two look alike, but all are hideously deformed in some way. The only trait common to them all is the legacy of their celestial father: inhumanly beautiful faces. They are frighteningly powerful and are resistant to most weapons. Many are potent psychics.

Qlippoth

Demons. The denizens of perdition. They come in a multitude of shapes, and with varying abilities and powers. The most powerful are threats to entire cities on their own, being immune to nearly all forms of attack. Regardless, they all possess psychic abilities, and most are extremely physically powerful as well.

Rephaim

The chief servants of Abaddon, called the Murmuring Titans. Long banished to the bleakest pits of Sheol, they were born in rituals of necromancy, compiled from the bones of the greatest warriors to ever live. They constantly whisper in a hideous fiendish tongue, and prolonged exposure to their voices can lead to permanent psychic damage. They are supremely powerful physically, with skin like tempered steel, often wielding swords or axes to match their gigantic stature. Despite their size, they are deceptively fast, this trait enhanced by the hypnotic effect of their voices.


Sariel

The Reaper Angels. Rather than slay themselves in despair or attempt to remain true after the Calamity, they have taken up arms and donned the black robes of judges, to bring retribution to the world for its iniquities. They retain all of their theurgic powers and use them to horrific effect. They carry swords that absorb light in all spectrums, as well as psychic assaults. Being primarily spiritual, they are immune to most weapons, making them among the deadliest creatures walking the world.

The Sons of Megiddo

Warrior servants of the False Prophet, numbering 200,000. They wear blued steel breastplates and have been anointed in the Fires of Perdition. They are heavily armored and difficult to kill, and their breath is a poisonous, hallucinogenic smoke. They ride demonic horses with serpents for tongues and tails, whose poisonous bite deadens nerves and atrophies muscle.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Player Characters

Serra Britt

Name: Feenai Leornica
Class: Psychic
Abilities: Mental shields, minor telekenesis
Items: Purification Filter, Succor Capsule x25, Six magazines worth of obliteration rounds, Four dispersion grenades, Three cronostatic grenades, Weapons-grade laser, PPsh-41 submachinegun
Picture:
Physical Description: 26 year old female, long dark hair, usually kept tied up in a loose bun to keep it neat. Pale skin. 5'4" Small features and lower than average musculature.
Background: One of the many born since the apocalypse, her parents brought Feenai up to be independant and trusting. However, she developed psychic powers at age 16 and her parents did not know what to do about it. Feenai did not want to worry her parents and therefore never used her psychic abilities near them, and never really trained herself aside from minor telekenesis. She did, however, spend a lot of time connecting to the Amorpha Network and learning a lot of things about the world.

Sage RETIRED

Name: Jeanne Benoit
Class: Theurgist
Abilities: Theurgical healing/purification
Items:
Sensory Enhancement Visor x1
Succor Capsule x30
Incendiary Laser x1
Picture: [/QUOTE]
Physical Description:
Jeanne is twenty-one years old. She has green eyes often hidden by tinted goggles, boyishly short brown hair, and tanned skin with a strong jaw. While she isn't 'beautiful' or 'delicate' in the conventional sense, she is not unattractive. She is fairly tall for a woman, around 5'10", and very thin. She wears heavily layered, scavenged clothing which hides her figure. She is often mistaken for a boy, which she has no problems with.
Background:
Jeanne grew up in the same household as the rest of her family; older brother, younger sister, parents and grandparents all shared the responsibilities of their small farm. However, Jeanne and her brother Jacques would often go on camping and hiking trips in the nearby mountains together, and in the last few years began to bring along their sister Mireille as well. From these expeditions she formed the basis of her practical survival knowledge.
When not on an expedition, Jeanne learned many things from her family. Her father, a traveling preacher before he met her mother, helped her develop theurgical ability. Combined with her grandmother's pre-apocalyptic medical skills, she learned to heal wounds and purify toxins, although it took significant time on her part to do anything major with theurgy. This training also transferred to traditional medicine, although it was not her forte and she didn't spend much time on it.
Jeanne's formulaic way of life ended when she was twenty. Her brother had left the year previously and she seemed to have mastered the material her family had given her. There was no question of her ability to survive, and so her family gave her several items and their blessing.

Jeanne is driven by the search for information and learning. Wary of people who she doesn't know well, Jeanne doesn't talk a lot under most circumstances. She is generally a reserved person who prefers to be in control of herself at all times.

CupcakeDolly RETIRED

Name: Ruebella Amaranthus
Class: Psychic
Abilities: Empathetic and telepathic psychosis, sexual allure, and the ability to speak directly to certain family members through psychic connection.
Items: Purification Filter, Medial Interface Device, Mercury-alloy Blade (fencing sabre passed down as a family heirloom).
Picture:



Physical Description: 22 year old Rue is 5' 7", and weighs as much as a thin woman who rarely eats is likely to weigh. She sports exaggerated curves which she sardonically calls her "tools of the trade." Her hair is dark reddish-brown and her skin, while not too pale, is still surprisingly light for the world she must live in. She has a tattoo of a heart on her upper left arm which often starts bleeding for no apparent reason.
Background: Through the Eschaton and the years following, the Amaranthus lineage was unsurprisingly resilient in their survival. Having been loyal worshippers of the Son of Perdition for centuries prior, many members of the self-proclaimed black-blooded family had already developed weak theurgic and psychic abilities. With the arrival of the end of the world, their strengthening powers and loyalty to the Son and the Sibyl kept them safe and hidden within their vast underground home near the ruins of Babylon.

The first member of the family to leave their underground haven since the end of the world, Rue is the weakest of her clan physically and the strongest mentally. She is adept at fencing and to a much lesser extent a highly defensive form of martial arts. Her uncanny ability to sense the thoughts and intentions of her relatives was amplified upon the surviving non-magickal humans of the upper world - most especially, it seemed, in the case of human men.

Rue is at once an idealist and a realist. Her aspirations are purposely raised higher than she believes possible, and at the same time she is able to realize and accept that they will likely never come to fruition. She shamelessly uses whatever means possible to complete her goals, including her own body. Nobody has ever heard the details of what she hopes to accomplish through her pilgrimage into the dying world. Rue treats everyone with disdain and caution, and sees them all as tools meant for her personal use. For the people she trusts, she shows complete and utter honesty and loyalty, but those particular people come around rarely, if ever. Rue has only been in love once in her life, and anybody who might ask for details about it would likely find themselves on the end of her blade.

Suezrain of Sheol

Name: Shealtiel Avshalom
Class: Servant of Sheol
Abilities: Spiritual senses, command undead, animate dead, exorcise undead and demons, heal wounds, fear aura, body regulation, death magicks (all powers inflict some degree of bodily strain, proportional to the power of the spell.)
Items: Purification Filter
Physical Description: 57 years old, 5' 9” with hunched shoulders, sickeningly thin. Thinning white hair which he wears long; he shaves the top of his skull where he has begun to bald. Faded green eyes. Dresses only in gray, usually in a woolen robe. Wears a heavy dark violet mantle and carries an ebony walking stick.

[/QUOTE]

Background: Before the Eschaton, Shealtiel (though he went by a different name, then) had just completed schooling in theological studies. Born in Acre, he came from a well-off family and was raised to be shrewd, doubting, and critical. For most of his life before the End Times, he was an acolyte of the ancient mysticism of the Qabalah and a deeply spiritual individual.

When the False Prophet came, and when the Beast razed Old Jerusalem, Shealtiel's family were all killed in the carnage, or were later lost in the nuclear chaos of Battle of Armageddon. He had been studying abroad in Greece at the time, and was spared the brunt of the catastrophes.

Since then, he has renounced his previous faith and become terribly bitter. He mourns for his family and the life he once had. When he heard the whispers of Sheol calling to him, he heeded them eagerly, hoping to commune with the spirits of his loved ones, but to his dismay, they were not within the Realm of the Dead.

Too late to escape the chilling clutches of Sheol's magicks, Shealtiel instead embraced them, and has taken to wandering the desolate earth, fighting against Abaddon's hordes wherever he finds them. He has lost count of how many spirits he has sent shrieking back into the cold darkness.

But this private war has taken its toll on him, body and soul. He is aged beyond his years, and finds no joy in life. Trust comes slowly to him, and he usually avoids large settlements, as he is able to sustain his body with his magicks for months at a time without needing to eat or drink. When he does venture into cities, he always makes himself available to the local militia, should an attack occur.

His name, which he chose upon forsaking all he once knew, means “Asked God for Peace”.

Espy

Name: Lucifer Dante Kaan(goes by Dante)

Class: Survivor

Abilities Basic first-aid, skilled in combat (both hand-to-hand and with firearms), and an almost superhuman capacity for movement (he can scale walls as easily as if he was walking on flat ground)

Items:

Purification Filter x1
Medial Interface Device x1
Courage Capsule x6
Water of Eden x1.5
Succor Capsule x23
Fuuma shuriken
Bichawa x2
Flashbang x10
Compound bow

Handgun x2
Pocket Knife x1
Medkit
Motorcycle (solar-powered, of course. Who in the world would even THINK of using a gas-powered one? -cough-)

Picture (optional):
Physical Description: 25 years old, 6'0". Long-ish silver hair that he usually ties back, and tanned skin. Physically blind, but is able to sense people's aura to some degree. Decently strong.
Background: Learning from his friends, who had joined the military, he is skilled with firearms and all sorts of physical combat. He refused to join his friends, instead staying near home. His parents were killed in the rioting in the ghettos that followed in the decades after the Eschaton, and Dante himself was injured and blinded as he sought to protect his younger brother, who died a few years later from poisoning. Dante, though much more bitter now, is still overly protective of whatever or whomever he feels close to, as well as the memories of his family. He retains his fighting skills, and works as a mercenary and bounty hunter, living day to day off what he makes from the richer folk. He also has kept his witty sense of humor, though it has turned somewhat cold and sarcastic in recent years.

Salone

Name: Lev Gurevich, Lev of Tsavo

Class: Soldier

Abilities: Borderline supernatural resiliency, able to ignore physical pain, superior marksmanship.

Items: 1x Mosin-Nagant bolt-action(7.62x54R)(battered)
1x Model 99 "Revelation" revolver (.22)
1x PPsh-41 sub-machine gun(7.62x25)

Picture : *To be uploaded.

Physical Description: Lev has a hard-edged face framed in sooty black hair, marred by burns and scars. His right eye seems to open further than his left, giving him a look of feral alarm at times. He wears a long brown overcoat to protect himself from the elements. His most striking feature is the stake driven permanently through his left palm, permanently affixing a revolver to his hand. He looks to be in his late twenties, although even he couldn't tell you what age he was.

Background: Lev Gurevich had the misfortune of being born in the Tsavo region of Africa. He was a child soldier in countless conflicts, growing up in war-torn villages and slave camps. Death was a fact of life, and many he was forced to fight beside died. Lev always seemed to survive though, and he was forced to carry on into his adulthood. However, he wasn't exactly lucky One battle eventually got the better of him, and he was marked for execution after being taken prisoner. Nailed to a cross with a revolver still in his hand, his crucifix was set on fire. This was not the only time Lev had suffered though, and he miraculously survived being burned off the cross.
Unable to remove the stake that pinned the revolver to his hand,

Lev was forced to keep it as a permanent branding. Some have refered to him as The Man with a Gun in his Hand, and his prowess with said gun is phenomenal. Others who know his origins have called him Lev of Tsavo, in reference to the slaughter and his survival. Word has spread of his deranged exploits. Stories tell of fatal wounds, stabbings, even shots through the head failing to stop him. However, stories are easily made up. But if it serves his purposes, Lev has no objections to letting these stories continue.

Lev himself is a fractured personality. He knows that everything in life is futile, and yet he persists. He becomes intensely curious about people that don't try to kill him, then suddenly shuts them out. Having lost the developmental years of his youth, he finds it hard to socialize or relate to people. Lev becomes quickly defensive and disagreeable when pushed even slightly on any matter, not really knowing how to 'compromise'. He has no unique place in the world, as there are hundreds of soldiers, and he himself is a somewhat broken one. He secretly suspects that he is in fact dead, and the earth he walks today is his own hell. He knows he has survived many things he should not have, and wonders if maybe his body never left the cross at all.

Funkduder

Name: Michael Haydn
Class: Artificer
Abilities: High-end engineering repairs, Physic contact to the Aether Satellite, Decent Marksmanship, Average Athletic Abilities, Major Psychic Block
Items: Thermal Insulation Gear, Purification Filter, Succor Capsules (1 pack of 30), Interdiction Badge (wrist), Weapon Grade Incendiary Laser, Transrespiration Implant, Courage Capsule, (other (rarity 0?): Rucksack, Canteen, 1 week’s worth of plain rations, clothes, journal)
Picture (in a general sense):

Physical Description: 22 years old; Male; thin and lanky; 5ft 8in; white hair; silver eyes; dark skin
Outfit: Wears a grey lab coat over a white button down with blue denim jeans over his insulation gear; his incendiary laser is off, but concealed inside of the holster in the inside pocket of his lab coat.
Background (in a basic, flexible form): Being adopted by parents for his natural psychic abilities, Michael was pushed hard to train his psychic ability to try to impress the Sibyl, who they nearly worshipped like the new god of the realm. On his eighteenth birthday he was presented to Jez’ebel and she pried into his mind, mentally scarring Michael. After a meeting with the first Artificer he had seen in his life, Daniel, he devoted his life to the cause, researching a way to form a shield around the mind so that no man may have their thoughts invaded by any being in the universe.

Quiet Man Cometh

Name: Dara
Class: Survivor
Abilities: - small arms marksmanship.
- can purify water for one person without filter.
- able to change/suppress aura. Immune to the effects of other aura's that encroach on her own. (Aura essentially has outward pressure).
- some psychic resistance.
- does not die from mortal ailments but still suffers from them.
- living things within her aura do not die but will still age and dwindle.
Items: Thermal insulation gear, 22. rifle with 10 round clip, 30 succor capsules, buck-knife, 2x Water of Eden, rifle scope.
Physical Description:- 16 yrs old. brown, ringlet hair; amber eyes; pale skin.
- 6 fingers and toes instead of five, missing one on her right hand.
- doubled shoulder blades, "outer" set deformed.
Background: Dara's background is nothing special, from a middle class rural family endowed with no special assets or abilities. Her parents died as a result of the calalmity and the roaming hoardes of undead and she has since been wandering around, doing little else but surviving. Dara has not been affected as much as one might think from the death of what was left of her kin. Many of her neighbours in the Southern regios of the alps in Norther Italy had already met a similar fate.

So far she has had little trouble besides the daily need for food and water, as she has proven especially adept at avoiding all manner of trouble. It seems as though she is easily ignored by any strange creatures or beasts that now walk the lands, slipping by even dangerous undead as though she were of no consequence to anyone.

Unknown to Dara, her apparent stealth is really the result of innate abilities that she possesses, thanks to her angelic soul. By divine accident, the sould of a deceased angel was born into her mortal body. The result is her slightly deformed form which has extra digits and bone protrusions beneath her skin that make some movements awkard. Dara gives off an aura that resembles that of a divine being but twisted somehow. Without realizing it, Dara can suppress her aura and go undetected by creatures sensitive to such things. She is completely unaware of her divine nature, and assumes she is simply human. She has picked up a collection of survivial skills and has always been an excellent shot with firearms small enough for her deformed limbs to handle, and always carries her well looked after .22 rifle.

Lethe: Dara's horse that has been travelling her as long as she's been on her own. Not young to begin with, Lethe is near death but remains. He can't carry much more than Dara and her small collection of possessions and moves at a trot at most. Lethe's continued existance is another affect of Dara's aura caused by her angelic soul. Should Lethe leave Dara's company for more than a day, the horse will die.

Arsis RETIRED

Name: Innon Aibbel
Class: Theurgist
Abilities: Rifting (short ranged teleportation)

Items: Perdition Flamethrower, Thermal Insulation Gear

Physical Description: Relatively small build for a male. 5’11 weighing approximately 150lbs. Has deep narrow features, darkened and charred. Skin is an odd ash-dark pale complexion. Singe marks and scars cover the details of his facial structure. His hair is dark brown with long blond tips, bleached from radiation and heat, obviously dead. His physical frame looks drained and tired, but somehow remains relatively reliable.

Background: Innon, named after an angel, died. In heaven, he realized what he left behind, the love of his life. Innon made a pact with God to bring back as many souls as he could if God allowed him to venture to Earth to save his love, but discovered that she too had died but she was unsaved, and was left to her abandon. Using the God given ability to rift, a form of short ranged inter-dimensional teleportation using dimensional triangulation, Innon chose to pursue her, despite angelic intervention, and ventured into the abyss. However, in his journeys, his vices overtook him; his heavenly favor abolished, and was lost in Sheol. During this journey, he encountered fallen angels, demons, and devils. Overcoming all obstacles with God forsaken fury burnt deep into his heart, and his self condemned soul forbid himself sanctuary in heaven, he fought his way through the knee deep denizens of the land of the dead. Eventually, they were released, as was he...

Arrikanez

Name: Andarel
Class: Psychic
Abilities
-Empathy
-Mind-reading
-Psychokeniesis
-Mild Precog [Only the most dangerous of situations]
Items: None
Picture (optional):
Physical Description:
Andarel ["Andy"] is a half-demon, half-angel - he retains deer-like hooves, and a long, whippy tail from his demon father, and gray-tinted wings from his angel one. Other than that, he has small horns, which are easily hidden by soft brown-red hair. Bright blue eyes gaze out from a pale face, and gently pointed ears just peek out from underneath his shaggy mop.

In body, he is slender and slim, not one ounce of fat on him - mostly, this is from hunger and abuse growing up, that continued into his teen years. He looks to be about sixteen or seventeen - still young enough to be a child. His hooves are seated at the end of normal-looking legs, where the only digitigrade part of them is where a human's heel would begin. The tail extends from his tailbone, and is about the length of both his arms combined. It is also prehensile, and half of it is red, just as his horns are red. The rest is skin-colored.
His mouth holds sharp teeth, save for a few human-looking molars.

Background:
There were no qualms in Baraquel's heart as he bedded a gender-shifted Ornias in mutual lust, if not love, in order to bear a child. But as soon as the child was born, Baraquel turned fickle, and left the male demon with the baby - Ornias, in turn, granting the child to the first demon who passed by with a fairly human-looking appearance. He wasn't a high level demon, and did not even have a name until Ornias granted him one - but Andarel never knew it. From the time he was 'adopted', he was the plaything of the other demon children, often being teased for how human he looked, and the wings on his back. Teasing, for demon children, meant a fair deal of injury to the physical form, although all in places that would be later covered by clothing. Because he was a pretty face, he also had his fair share of lechers hunting him, as well as demons who sought to get a leverage on Ornias by 'threatening his son'. But somehow, Andarel grew to be the age he is now without getting completely murdered.

Although his life was not kind to him, he learned valuable lessons while in hell, such as how to control the power he was granted because of his mixed blood. He found that moving stuff with his mind was fun, it was prudent to know what his peers were thinking, and being able to feel what his father was feeling resulted in a whole of lot long, sleepless nights due to fear. But eventually, the powers evened out, and he had some semblance of a grip as to how to recognize and control his own talents. True to the 'psychic' method, he spent far more time in his early days honing his mind rather than his body, so he did not gain the corded muscle of the other demons, nor the superhuman healing rate, and brute strength. He is still capable of extreme strength when push comes to shove, but he has always been more of a docile than an aggressive.

Sometime between meals in "Andy's" household, his father-demon decided that it would be kinder by far to allow Andarel to live in the human world, ruined though it was. He may not have been overtly fond of his foundling, but he did feel a responsibility for him as the one in charge. He packed for them, and started the long trek toward the surface, and the portal - the Black Sea, now titled the Infernal Sea - was the portal he would use to deposit the child safely onto shore, in hopes that some kind couple who didn't care too much for appearances might pick him up. Even demons knew that humans were survivors - and there was kindness even among those survivors. However, Andy's father failed to calculate just how deep the portal lay under the ocean. When he began to swim upward with the boy, the current proved to be too strong, sweeping the father-demon back into Hell, and Andarel far out into the Infernal Sea - struggling the entire way.

The current carried him past the islands, and into one of the rivers off of the Infernal Sea, whereupon he simply lost the strength to continue fighting anymore...

Asasiah

Name: Asasiah

Class: Theurgist

Abilities: Power over fire, poison breathe, resistant to earthly ailments, extremely hard to damage because she is constantly regenerating, can fly but usually doesn't and seems to have an endless supply of Theurgy(not that she will necessarily use it for your benefit).

Picture: see avatar for now.

Description: She has long abyssally black hair. She keeps most of it tightly braided but she wears bangs that frame her face. Her skin is pale ivory, making her dark hair stand out and while her right eye is a beautiful bright blue her left has a scar that extends from near her hairline down to about her chin, covering her other eye like a red snake. That eye shines a demonic red and seems to be a replacement for her human eye. Otherwise flawless in appearance, she stands about 5'7" with a curvy athletic body. She seems to produce her own eerie glow that makes it hard for humans to look at her for too long (while appearing beautiful and flawless shes also a little creepy to look upon). While she doesn't look like your general angel, when she gets mad ethereal wings appear behind her and darkness and light surround her.


Background: Once a human orphan born after God died, she was taken to the Heavens by Metatron. In a word, she is a experiment meant to mix the power of an angel and demon. Having taken Uriel the archangel, Metatron folded him into her being, basically rebirthing Uriel. He later enslaved the demon Amaymon and tried to combine them. Being a slightly failed experiment, while she has both the power of Uriel and Amaymon, Amaymon did not integrate into her id as Uriel did and is now a being all its own in her head. She seems to refer to Amaymon as 'May' and can seen be talking to herself. While she can be summoned by the name Uriel, she is no longer of God, but of Metatron, and she chooses not to be called that name any longer, taking the name Metatron gave her, Asasiah. Because she is extremely unstable before Metatron disappeared he had her locked away, but she was released after being summoned by the Cult of Metatron. Taking a sick joy in being on Earth, she decides to stay and look for 'daddy' (aka Metatron). No one is quite sure where her loyalties lie and while she doesn't let others insult 'daddy' she openly gets blasphemous. She also seems to enjoy eating humans or other angels.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Holy Corinth stands three miles from the once-thriving national port of the Peloponnesian Peninsula, built over the ruins of Ancient Korinthos. It is walled city, home to 4,500 survivors of the Calamity. It is policed by a militia 600-strong and houses a small Artificer factory and an air base where the AA maintains a presence of 110 soldiers. In addition to these mundane defenses, a council of psychics and theurges provide safety and guidance for the people of the city, and two Saints of the Beatified Legion, Saint Acacias and Saint Typasius. The city's welfare and infrastructure is maintained by its mayor, Galena Demitriou, who maintains a cordon of deputies who organize projects and events throughout the city.

Holy Corinth is a haven for travelers in the area, being the best-defended settlement within a hundred miles and possessed of a sound economy with provisions to spare. Many who arrive looking only for a brief respite from their travels find themselves settling down in the relative safety of the community. The city has not suffered a major assault since it was founded a decade after the Calamity had passed, and the roads leading from it are well-policed and free of bandits and raiders.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Watching a patrol pass down the street -- half a dozen armed civilians, two ex-soldiers, and a middling psychic -- Shealtiel tried to imagine them looking so self-assured if it ever chanced that they had to defend the city's order from more than the occasional brawl or property dispute. These people seemed to think they were still living in the old world: in the complacent peace of secular civilization and overbearing government. Just what would these... "guards" do if a Sariel took it upon itself to pass judgment on their precious city? If one of the Horsemen just happened to be passing by? Were they counting on those two sanctimonious imbeciles to save their pitiful lives? The bottom scrapings of the Legion, those two, barely worthy of the title "Saint".

There's me, he supposed. For now. And though he would never be so brazen as to think himself equal to any, or even most threat of the post-apocalyptic world -- especially on his own -- he knew he'd pull more weight than their entire militia combined if trouble came calling while he was enjoying the comforts of their prosperous little wasteland enclave.

Sighing, he leaned against the building to his back and turned his attention shifting to the other people making their way up and down the street. He could feel the Mediterranean sun heating his heavy robes, but the warmth went no farther, could not touch his frigid skin.

[CupcakeDolly]

Clothing slipped on over Rue's body, silently and carefully. The girl sat on the edge of the bed, her complacent face almost hiding the maelstrom of anger within her if it hadn't been for her burning eyes.

Good riddance.

The man lying on the bed behind her could have been anyone. His face had taken on the universal mask of death, and the evidence in his wounds told a strange and highly false story. The simple truth was that he had lied, and when it became clear from his sealed lips and grabbing hands that he had nothing of import to share, Rue had silently retracted her offer with the use of her beloved sword. His loud and disgusting thoughts had been well worth silencing, and without a deep and intricate investigation, nobody would have been able to tell for sure what had happened to the poor bastard. Not that Rue was worried about silly things like getting caught.

With her boots pulled on, a voice suddenly came into Rue's head, and she winced at her mother's whining tones. It was the usual - "Where are you? What are you doing? Why won't you come home?" - laid over thickly with false worry. The girl straightened up and blocked the voice in her head until it became not much more than white noise. She brushed off her perpetually dirty traveling outfit and gathered what little she had, then waited.

When the old whore finally ceased and there was quiet in her mind once more, Rue stepped out of the tiny hovel of a home as casually as she had stepped in, leaving the useless dead man behind. Whoever it had been, she was positive nobody would miss him.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Still leaning against the wall in the shade, Shealtiel notes the sudden death, the man's soul fleeing from its lifeless house. He is weak, too petty and pitiful to linger or return. A slow eternity of wasting darkness awaits him. He will not be missed.

He, of course, betrays no hint of what he has noticed, keeping his face an impassive mask. Death is hardly an oddity in these times; often one like this will not even result in an investigation. And yet... something strikes him as unusual about this death, likely no more than baseless suspicion. Still, though, when no one is looking, he surreptitiously slides back his voluminous sleeve and activates the MID on his wrist, scanning for psychic signatures. He picks up the familiar wisps of the city's resident talents, barely worth the radar's notice, but there is also another presence, much stronger, and near to where the death just occurred.

Shutting it off and letting his sleeve fall, Shealtiel leans back once more, and closes his eyes.

[Salone]

Lev lay face down in a ditch just off a pathway, using it as a makeshift bed. He found the curvature of it comforting, the side of his head resting against his hand. It was relaxing compared to the mass graves he had hid in back home, and the small of death was much less prevalent. Still, it said something about his standards of living that he found a ditch mildly attractive.

He wasn't entirely at home, however. Lev knew that lying around in a ditch was not going to feed him, and the longer he idled in this city, the greater his chances were of never leaving it. It was time to find food and possibly work, and then move on.

He picked himself up slowly, revolver catching the eye of passerby. He opened his fingers and waved awkwardly with the gun still in his hand, trying to show that he was a victim of circumstances, not a deranged killer. Suddenly there was space around him where walking townsfolk had been; as if him stirring had created an area that the common man would rather not walk through. Lev dropped his eyes and slid his left hand in to a torn pocket, made wide enough for both stake and revolver. He trotted off as quietly as he could, disappearing into one of the less observant throngs of people milling about.

[Espy]

Well...this...is a busy place, Dante thought to himself, walking through the gate into the city. He felt strangely vulnerable in the noisy and crowded environment, where the two sense he relied on were failing him already. And they aren't strong, either...not like demons...or psychics...no aura at all, he grumbled. Steering his motorcycle to a slightly quieter area, bumping into several people on the way, he decided to give himself a rest. He'd be able to better see even trace amounts of aura afterwards, he knew.

Needing an explanation for running into people by accident, Dante fished out a tattered strip of cloth from inside his pocket, tying it neatly across his eyes. At least I won't be accosted by too many people now... He sank down into the shadows by his motorcycle, waiting out both the crowd and the headache that came with it. In his usual black outfit, he didn't want to venture back out into the sun anyways.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Watching from across the street, Shealtiel cannot help but notice the blind man guiding a motorcycle through the crowded thoroughfare. He checks his MID again, only to realize that this is not the presence he noticed earlier. And yet, surely here is a man to keep an eye on, as well. The way the stranger moves with such practiced ease despite his infirmity does not escape Shealtiel's notice.

[Serra Britt]

Feenai Leornica came off the transport weary from her first time travelling. She loved her family, but her parents' fear of psychics had finally taken it's toll. There was just so much she had found out from the Amorpha Network about psychics, so she had quietly left her parent's house one night and set off. It hurt, them being so afraid of what is possibly a great gift...

Feenai had spent most of the trip reminding herself to not pay attention to other's thoughts unless they were directed at her. If only her parents hadn't been so fearful, she may have been able to practice better. She was especially adept at completely blocking thoughts, she had been forced to learn rather than spend the last 10 years of her life listsning to the fear in her parents thoughts.

So preoccupied with her inner dialogue, Feenai accidentially bumped into someone. She mumbled a sorry and helped the person up, looking them over quickly. It was a rather young girl, with scraggly clothes and a dirty face. Even in such a well kept town, a poor element like this exists? She quickly read the young girls surface thoughts, letting her mental shields drop for a moment to do so. The young girl hadn't eaten in days. Feenai smiled at her, then handed her a few coins from her travelling expenses as well as one of her succor capsules.

"I hope you take care of yourself, young one," Feenai said gently to the young girl, smiling as she ran off. Feenai sighed, left the docks, and entered the city proper.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Watching the new arrivals from beneath his gaze, Shealtiel notes the young woman's selfless act. His thoughts turn then to the supposed Saints keeping peace in the city.

Hard to feed the hungry when you're sworn to poverty.

[Espy]

Dante turned his head slightly to one side. He was sure he'd just "seen" a glimmer of aura nearby, but he wasn't sure. Hm. This one is....different. Not confident and overly proud, not one of the ruling class's... He groaned at the headache that still had not gone away. Damn this noisiness...Time to find a place off the street, he muttered to himself, groping around for a ladder, stairs, a windowsill, anything he could use to get himself onto a roof where he could be alone for as long as he wanted.

[Sage]

Jeanne had been told that there was a city just over the horizon by a group of farmers, but their glowing description of the place was hardly accurate. Jeanne could tell that many of the people she passed on the outskirts were desperate. As she grew closer to the city, she pulled down her goggles and turned on the Sensory Enhancement. Unsurprisingly, there were multiple psychics and theurges nearby, and thankfully no demons.

Jeanne passed through the city gates without problems, and she immediately began to look around for a tavern. 'Succor capsules are fine and all, but I could really use a decent meal.' As she looked, a pair of laughing urchin children ran past her, accidentally bumping into Jeanne's side as they went. Instantly her hand went to the pack on that side; it was untouched. Turning her head around, she saw the same children picking the pocket of a wealthy-looking man. Not for the first time, she was grateful for her well-worn, patchwork appearance.

Her search proved fruitless - she suspected that she was in the wrong district - and someone new caught her eye. Walking through the gate was a young woman about her age with strong psychic strength (Feenai). Unlike those surrounding, she seemed more approachable. Walking briskly on an interception course, it didn't take Jeanne long to catch up with her. "Excuse me, but do you know where the nearest good tavern is?" she asked politely, hoping that Feenai was a native of the city.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Shealtiel hadn't payed the girl much mind before, but now, after feeling his senses light up at this newcomer's theurgic presence, and seeing her stop to speak with the girl, he give the situation more attention.

He'd have to move along soon, though. The sight of a haggard old man in a robe leaning against the side of a building and surreptitiously eying those who came through the gate was beginning to draw unpleasant stares from passersby.