Ancestral
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| The Ancestral | |
| Player: @FredrikSvanberg | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper |
| Security Level: | 27 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Confidential |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | Confidential |
| Height: | 6' 4" |
| Weight: | 210 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Unknown |
| Hair Color: | White |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Confidential |
| Occupation: | Witchhunter |
| Place of Birth: | Confidential |
| Base of Operations: | Confidential |
| Marital Status: | Unknown |
| Known Relatives: | Unknown |
| Known Powers | |
| Spiritual conduit | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Anthropologist. | |
| Equipment | |
| The Blade of Whispers, Blackwand, Sands of Mu | |
| No additional information available. | |
Contents |
Affiliations
M.A.G.I, The Legacy Chain, League of Justice
Personality
Before he found the sword he was prone to day-dreaming and seeking out escapist entertainment like movies and games about sword-wielding warriors, magic and monsters. Now he is far more serious, about everything. Fortunately he didn't have many close friends who could notice the shift in his personality but some of his co-workers have mentioned that he finally seems to take the job seriously, often working late when everyone else goes home. Azuria sometimes asks him if he's trying to steal her job, and then she will wink conspiratorically.
Powers
The Ancestral's powers are provided by spirits bound to an ancient sword.
The Blade Of Whispers
This sword forms a link between the wielder and the spirit world. The spirits of the previous owners of the sword are connected to it and their memories are stored within it. The skills of a thousand ancient masters are granted to its rightful owner when he draws it.
The sword itself doesn't look very remarkable. The blade is a dull grey and almost looks as if the surface has some kind of oxidized layer. Whispering voices seems to emanate from the sword, too quiet and distorted to be understood. Scholars have tried to interpret the whispers but only a few scattered words in several archaic forms of chinese dialects have been recognized.
Spirit Armor
The spirits that congregate around the blade and its bearer form a spectral shadowy mist that has several interesting properties. The shadows protect the wielder from all forms of damage and keeps his mind clear and focused. They can also swarm nearby enemies and damage them through mysterious means.
Teleportation
The blade is capable of cutting the thin veil between the material world and the spirit world. These cuts quickly seal themselves but can be used to move at an instant to another place in the material world, seemingly without crossing the distance between them. By cutting at the right angle The Ancestral can cause an enemy to fall through such a gate to reappear next to him. Since there is always a chance that the target gets stuck in the spirit world he doesn't want to risk this trick with an ally yet.
Abilities
The rightful owner of the sword can tap into the collected knowledge of the spirits and use the skills they knew in life. The spirits are not well versed in modern matters but can among other things grant the ability to speak, read and understand many languages, some of which are long since dead. Other available skills include horsemanship, archery, smithing, calligraphy, pottery, embalming, among many more.
The Ancestral himself is an anthropologist specialized in the occult. His job has given him great experience with magical artefacts and the use of various spells to protect him from curses or possession or other hazards of the workplace. The day-to-day routines at the M.A.G.I vaults are a lot more exciting than people think.
Weaknesses and Limitations
The spirits in the blade are usually benevolent but may sometimes grow angry out of lack of respect or due to repeated failure to live up to their strict ideals. At such times he can suffer from nightmares, hallucinations, depression and various other afflictions until he can repent and regain the favor of the spirits.
If The Ancestral for some reason loses the sword for more than a couple of minutes the connection with the spirit world will gradually fade away. He will lose his spiritually enhanced physique and any skills granted to him by the spirits. The connection can be reestablished immediately when he draws the sword again.
Equipment
The Blade of Whispers and a magical staff. He has liberated these and other artefacts from the M.A.G.I vaults, sometimes for his own use and sometimes for other members in the Legacy Chain. His civilian job as a files clerk responsible for the registration of new items into the vault makes it almost too easy.
As an unregistered hero The Ancestral is an outlaw but the influence of the Legacy Chain stretches far and wide. Its members are often found in positions of power where they can make sure that their secrets remain secret. He carries a false Hero ID which will in fact point to a record in the registration office's database, but the name and other information in this entry is entirely fake. The electronic signature that shows who entered the information is also false and points to a user who had been dead for two years when the record was created.
Character History
Working as a clerk in M.A.G.I's Atlas Park office, the man who was destined to become The Ancestral was in the perfect position to find the ancient sword known as the Blade of Whispers. Since it was his duty to catalogue and register any new artefacts to be stored in the vault nobody noticed when he removed the sword and took it for himself.
The sword had called out for him to pick it up and he had found himself unable to resist its lure. Once in his grasp the whispers emanating from the sword became louder and clearer until he could hear them speak directly to him. They were the guardian spirits of the sword, the souls of the previous owners of the sword, bound to it by honor and magic. They wanted him to use the sword to continue their great work.
Mesmerized by the spirits' stories of great battles, heroic deeds, honor and duty, he accepted their offer. He cut his palm with the blade, sealing his fate and bond with the sword in his own blood. The sword seemed to absorb his blood as it flowed along the edge, forming the connection between the land of the living and the dead. Spiritual forces swirled around him, transforming his at best average physique to a more heroic form. Finally, strands of spectral matter wrapped around his limbs and torso creating a suit of ghostly chainmail armor.
It wasn't likely that anyone would recognize his now much taller and more athletic form as the skinny file clerk but he wasn't going to take any chances. He grabbed a mask from the stash of items that he hadn't registered yet. It had once been worn by a villain and looked like a stylized skull but the spirits assured him that it would be quite appropriate for his task.
The Legacy Chain
A group of vigilante mystics. They were perhaps the only ones who knew about the Blade of Whispers, where it had been and how it had suddenly disappeared. They knew this because they were the ones who had planted the sword among the other artefacts to be registered and put in the vault that night. Their theories had been proven correct, the file clerk was the rightful owner.
The spirits told him how to find them. He was initiated into the Legacy of the Sword and was given his title, The Ancestral. Unlike most members of the Legacy Chain he would continue working in Paragon City, putting an end to the use of dark magic, seeking out those who would corrupt the very fabric of magic itself with their evil ways; Skulls, Hellions, the Circle of Thorns... they are legion.
Unknown to the current carrier of the blade, but very well known to some of the Legacy Chain's leaders, is the fact that the wielders of the blade inevitably go insane and die. The demands of the spirits are so extreme that no mortal can live up to them at all times. Eventually the mortal will falter, angering the spirits who withdraw their aid as punishment. If the Ancestral is involved in combat at that moment he will usually be killed. If not, the spirits will possess him and force him to kill himself so that his spirit can join their ranks. The leaders of the Legacy Chain who know about this considers it a sacrifice they are willing to make in order to reap the benefits of the Ancestral's war against evil.
Further Adventures
Dark Astoria
The spirits demand that he returns to this accursed place again and again to cleanse it from the Banished Pantheon, Tsoo and Circle of Thorns that seem to invade it in endless numbers. Every time he draws the sword and transforms into the Ancestral the spirits cry out to him, and they don't go silent until he has destroyed several hundred of the walking dead and the evil shamans who control them. For every zombie he decapitates, a dozen more rise from their graves. He wonders how much longer he can keep going, but the spirits won't let him rest.
Trivia
- This character is a remake/reconceptualization of one of the first characters I made on Virtue which was called Blade Of Whispers - that character was in fact the sword, who possessed anyone who picked it up and used the wielders to hunt down and kill various people. The Blade of Whispers itself was a magical item I created for a pen-and-paper Mage game ages ago.
