Earthen Vessel
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Earthen Vessel | |
| Player: | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Defender |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Noah Nilson |
| Known Aliases: | No |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 18 |
| Height: | 5'5" |
| Weight: | 150 |
| Eye Color: | blue |
| Hair Color: | black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Student |
| Place of Birth: | Wichita Falls, Texas |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Biological - Mother: Seraphim Skies; Father: Kyan Dentarus
By birth - Mother: Jeanette Nilson |
| Known Powers | |
| Empathy/Dark Blast | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Confidential | |
| Equipment | |
| Confidential | |
| No additional information available. | |
- “In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours.”
Earthen Vessel (aka Noah Nilson) is a teenage hero coming to grips with his mystical abilities. Once he uncovered his unusual heritage, he moved to Paragon City in May 2008 to work through some of his issues and find guidance for his journey. Ultimately he hopes to make a place for himself and discover a purpose for his life. In keeping with this goal, he's delved into the mystical community in the city and over the past two years has become somewhat of a student of the arcane.
He is an Empathy/Dark Blast Defender Archtype currently at security level 50.
Contents |
History
Synopsis
Noah Nilson is the son of an Immortal White Witch of Dolselea and a mortal Netherwalker named Kyan Dentarus. In an epic struggle between the two, they inadvertantly unleashed the Keeper of Darkness from his eternal prison by mingling their powers with a powerful relic called the Rifter. In a final blow against the Keeper, the White Witch thrust herself upon the Rifter, piercing her pregnant womb. She sacrificed her life, but in that act she suffused her unborn child with Dark and Light Magic.
Her sister witches in a final act to save the baby, sent him to the mortal world of Earth and planted him safely in the womb of unwitting Jeanette Nilson. The child grew up unaware of his mystical heritage, but after a chance encounter with a psychic at his state fair certain truths were revealed to him. These truths only created more questions and he set out for Paragon City for answers.
Origin
Prophecy (author unknown) Year 474 Cycle 7
- "The Light and Dark divided be,
- Though love forbidden threatens thee.
- United Life and Death entwined,
- Conceiving there the mortal mind.
- As all that is ordered comes unhinged,
- Chaos beckons, and all worlds singed,
- The bound up Keeper unleashed once more,
- Steps unbidden through Nether door.
- The Sacrifice of one does bring,
- The Sacrifice of two does spring,
- Life’s Death once more builds hope’s trestle
- And sealed the rift in an Earthen Vessel."
The Immortal White Witch, Seraphim Skies shouldn’t have been in pursuit of the Netherwalker in her condition. Barely out of her first trimester, the wielder of the Life Flame should have been protecting herself far away in Dolselea. But her duty drove her on…deep into the shadow. Not only duty, but also love. For though it was forbidden, she could not forget her love of the Netherwalker.
Kyan Dentarus was his name. From birth, he’d been trained in the Dark Arts – a mortal man granted the ability to walk in Immortal Realms. The Circle of Thorns granted him the powerful Rifter when he was young and he’d been finding ways of tapping into the dark crystal’s powers since then. Always close behind him, the Immortal woman plagued his purpose. He sought to bear the title ‘Keeper of Darkness’ wrested from the Dark Lord himself.
Falling in love had never been part of either of their plans. But plans and destiny have a way of undoing one another. The child growing in Seraphim’s womb was proof of the unlikely pairing, and of a destiny neither could have foretold. Despite her pleas, Kyan could not give up the Nether call on his soul. Passing from the world of the living to the dark places, he left her in search of the Keeper.
The epic battle they waged when finally she caught up to him illuminated both worlds, living and dead. Her Immortal Flame surged as tears wet her cheeks. Casting dark shadows at his love, Kyan pressed on, his warped sense of morality impressing on him the need for success.
Wielding the Rifter, Kyan struck out towards both the Keeper and his love. His black power mingled with the Eternal Light Seraphim hurled at him. The Keeper seized his opportunity, stripping both powers unto himself and focusing it on the Rifter… The star-crossed lovers unwittingly gave the Dark Lord all the tools necessary for him to escape his prison and draw the world into chaos and eternal black.
The Well of the Dead opened its maw and threatened the living world. All life drifted precariously close to obliteration. Teetering on the edge of oblivion, Kyan realized his mistake and accepted his vanity. Seraphim had been right all along…
In Dolselea, the White Witches sensed the threatening doom and began the Prophesied Rite. It was for this moment that their Order had been created millennia before. Seraphim was the key, however, and without her powers all would be lost.
In an act of fatal sacrifice, Kyan thrust himself at the Keeper and into his Death Maw, giving Seraphim her opportunity to reseize her Life Flame. The struggle between all three lasted an eternity and no more than a second. All the Realms of creation rocked back and forth between salvation and destruction. Hope fled from Seraphim’s heart as she realized there was no turning back the flow of power they’d released. Dark and Light Magics danced and twirled around her set free by the Keeper and bound to the Rifter.
The howling laughter of the Keeper echoed about the darkness with earsplitting force. As he recovered from Kyan’s blow Seraphim knew this was her one opportunity. With one final thought of love cast towards her lost Kyan, she flew at the Keeper with all her strength impaling herself on the Rifter. The Mingling Magics were captured in her womb. And as her Immortal Life Flame began to flicker, she smiled at the Keeper. Knowing he’d been beaten he withdrew into the Nether to await another opportunity.
The White Witches of Dolselea acted quickly pulling their Queen through space and time, porting her back to safety. But of course it was too late. She would die. The Witches knew this as the Prophecy played itself out before them. Ancient mysteries became clear. Riddles lost to the ages were solved.
The baby must be saved. Without the Life Flame of the Queen, Dolselea would age and crumble. Even now the ground beneath them quaked. As Seraphim Skies died, so did her Realm. With the last of their failing magic, the witches built the bridge into the mortal world and sent the unborn baby through. With little time for counsel, they chose the first mortal woman they could find and bound the child to her womb…
As their world died, the White Witches surrounded their queen. Their destiny had been fulfilled. And as the Immortal Flame went out they chanted the final phrase of the Prophecy…
“And sealed the rift in an Earthen Vessel…”
Early Life
"To achieve, you need thought. You have to know what you are doing and that's real power."
Jeanette was a virgin when she found out she was pregnant. At seventeen years old, she was ill prepared for the news and coped with it as best she could. Her parents were disappointed but supported her. They didn't believe her claims that there was no father. But when Noah was born the joy of a baby overcame both her parents disappoinement and her own confusion.
It didn't take long for the boy's abilities to manifest, however, and fear accompanied that manifestation. As a toddler, his temper often resulted in Jeanette bearing unexplained sores on her arms where he would touch her. Then as he became calm, his touch would soothe and heal her wounds. As he grew, so did his powers.
Most of the events were overlooked by his family, until he revived the family pet from death during his second year in school. Then the calls from teacher's came. Although he claimed he never touched the 'mean kids' at school, they still bore black eyes and bloody noses. His own confusion isolated him from budding friendships and he locked himself away behind a wall of self-inflicted solitude.
In adolescence, he subconsiously learned to stifle his abilities, shutting them away. High School seemed to be going well at the outset. But after a car accident killed his best friend everything changed. Because his best friend didn't stay dead...
Shunned as an aberation, he once again found solace in isolation. He took multiple trips to the hill country and spent hours on the river, kayaking to soothe his aching soul. The canyon lined rivers and rushing white water brought out a part of him that he revealed no where else. Driving back home after a particularly pleasant river expedtion, Noah threw caution to the wind and stopped in at the Texas State Fair.
His illusion of normalcy was crushed by a chance encounter with a psychic in a tent, who chanted a prophecy to him. Something about her words scared him, and rekindled lost feelings and wisps of memory. She went on to tell him bits and pieces of his forgotten history and how he came to be born of Jeanette Nilson.
Scared out of his mind he fled the fair and after returning home, began his quest for the truth.
Recent Events
"The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it."
Paragon City... A magnet for the supernatural, preternatural, and meta natural. Noah thought that if answers were available anywhere, it would be here. Upon arriving in the city however, he found himself alone and without direction. After two failed attempts at joined local academies for 'gifted youth' he struck out on his own. He struck up a loose connection with the mysterious Komturei, but still bears no real knowledge of the group. Although he maintains a room in their enclave, he has no true relationships with the enigmatic group.
For two years, he's lost himself in study. In the catacombs of the Midnighters Club he's wiled away countless nights poring over ancient texts and obscure writings about his 'home' plane.
Personality
- "People create their own questions because they are afraid to look straight. All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it - walk."
Noah is an innocent with a hard edge. Although he is relatively shy, he has a good and kind heart. Wit and sarcasm are often his defense mechanism of choice and oftimes his wisecracks cover the truth of confusion he wrestles with. Despite his awkward and unassuming demeanor, he does have the ability to make friends. Though not argumentative, he would assert his strong beliefs if questioned. He doesn't see many shades of grey as most things are black and white, right and wrong, from his perspective.
Goals and Motivations
- A desire presupposes the possibility of action to achieve it; action presupposes a goal which is worth achieving.
To find himself! To know who he is and why he is. To right wrongs and find his place in the world.
Hobbies and Interests
- "The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live."
Although often found reading and studying in various libraries of magic (and non-magic for that matter), Noah does not consider study to be a hobby or interest. Of paramount importance to him is the discovery of who he is and where he comes from. And although he shuns interpersonal realtionships in favor of research, this passion is not one of pleasure or leisure.
His one true hobby is kayaking. Only the isolation and solitude of paddling through calm cool rivers grants him moments of true peace. And only the battle to master white water gives him true exhileration and pleasure.
Notable Sayings
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.
There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.
Appearance and Physiology
Noah Nilson appears as a normal eighteen year old young man most of the time. He has dark hair and blue eyes. He speaks with a distinctive yet not overbearing southern accent with a vernacular all his own.
Although early on he manifested simple magical auras when using his abilities, his appearance began to change as his power and knowledge of his heritage grew. When times are particularly hard, or when he siphons too much spiritual energy he shifts more into the image of immortals who sired him. He does maintain a cape and tights for normal patrols as hiding his face behind a scarf got old early on in his 'hero' career.
