Parzifal
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Art by SicilianValkyrie. | |
| Parzifal | |
| Player: @Morvani | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper/Tank |
| Security Level: | 49 (Unclaimed 50) |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Parzifal, Adam Phillip Astor |
| Known Aliases: | Parz, Parzy, Phillip |
| Species: | Presumed Human |
| Age: | 29 |
| Height: | 6'0" |
| Weight: | Confidential |
| Eye Color: | Green |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Confidential |
| Occupation: | Carpenter |
| Place of Birth: | Cornwall, England, and Astoria, Paragon City, RI. |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, RI |
| Marital Status: | Widowed |
| Known Relatives: | Terrence Astor, grandfather |
| Known Powers | |
| Confidential | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Confidential | |
| Equipment | |
| Confidential | |
| No additional information available. | |
This is one of my boys. My first boy, actually, made in early 2005, I think. Originally, he was created to get a character on my husband's account that could get to 50 quickly. I made him Broadsword/Regen, figuring that'd rip up the levels. Then I discovered I wanted to RP him.
I took up Mercedes Lackey's general offer to help hash out character backgrounds, and although ultimately I didn't go with what she suggested, I'm still pretty content with how he turned out. So much so that I wrote a novel about him November 2006 as my first NaNoWriMo project. It's unfinished, although the bulk of the story is there, and I did exceed the 50k word requirement. There are some people who aren't in it, who probably should be, but I didn't think they'd thank me for the inclusion, and as I didn't chatlog at that time, I didn't want to misrepresent them or inaccurately portray them. Admittedly, a good deal of the background of Parzifal was influenced by the Wolfram von Eschenbach version of the Peredur/Parzival/Perceval tale.
After I discovered I wanted to RP him, I soon realized that if my husband was playing on his account, I couldn't. So, I created another version of him on my own account. I didn't want to play another broadsword/regen, though. That would have been dull. Unfortunately, at least for character consistency reasons, there aren't regen/* tanks, so I had to go with making the new version, Parzival, an invuln/mace.
This put me in a bit of a quandary. How to rationalize a character having both regen and invulnerability at the same time? Well, maybe some people could, but looking at Parz and who he is, I realized I really couldn't do that, and be true to him. So entered Parsival, broadsword/invuln. Which means what I had was three different versions of the same character, only two of which I consider to be 'true', but the one who has the character's actual, 'real' name wasn't one of them. Weird, huh?
I have, through the agency of the character rename function, given the broadsword/invuln version of Parz his proper name of Parzifal. The original broadsword/regen is now Peredur. There is also now a dual blade/invuln scrapper version of him named Parz.
Contents |
Affiliations
Parzifal is currently a member of The Sodality. He also has a secondary membership in the Knights of Astoria.
Physical Appearance
Actor Exemplar: Paul Gross
Parz is fairly average in appearance and height: 6'0" or so with dark auburn hair, moustache and beard, all neatly clipped and fairly short. He wears casual street clothing at all times, eschewing the flashy tights or heavy armor that seem to be preferred by Paragon's heroes. There are no obvious scars or identifying marks visible.
Personality
Parz rarely smiles fully, or looks anyone directly in the eyes, save those with whom he is close. Instead, he tends to avert vision, glancing to the ground or off to the side. He is soft spoken and somewhat introverted, though is friendly when greeted, offering a slight bow of his head and a quiet 'Hello'. He has an aversion to profanity, and can sometimes be caught flinching when someone uses foul language or blasphemy around him.
Powers
As a boy, Parz seemed to have instinctive ability in using improvised weapons. As a knight, he swiftly learned use of the broadsword, though due to the circumstances surrounding his arrival in Paragon City, extensive physical therapy and training was required to help him regain his former facility with the weapon. He has also learned to use the war mace, and is currently learning to fight with a longsword and dagger combination. (Broadsword, War Mace, and Dual Blades powersets.)
Parz resists quite a bit of damage in combat, which he attributes to the powers he gained as steward of the Grail. Despite the fact that he is no longer steward, and in fact has no idea where the Grail might be, the powers have remained. Phillip was without them for a time, though, due to events in 'Gos hag Ascorn', which suggests that the auras of invulnerability are linked to Parzifal alone. (Invulnerability.)
He also has some meager ability to manipulate ice and negative energy, due to events that occured within the 'Gos hag Ascorn' storyline. (Dark and Ice Epic Pools.)
Character History
Parz' history is really the story of two different men: Parzifal, the knight of the Round Table and Grailkeeper of legend; and Adam Phillip Astor, his many-times great grandson, student at the University of Connecticut.
Parzifal
Parzifal was born to the widowed Herzeloyde, whose husband, the mercenary Saxon prince Gahmuret, was lost to treachery in battle while serving his Saracen lord. Griefstricken by the loss, she swore that her son would never be a knight. In darkness, she stole away from her home, taking the infant Parzifal with her and raising him in the wilds, out of human contact.
When he was a teen, he came upon a pair of knights on horseback watering their mounts at a stream an hour's walk from his home. He showed no fear of either, and as a reward for his boldness, one of the knights told Parzifal how he may become one of their number, by petitioning King Artur. Parzifal vowed to himself that he would attempt to find his way to Camlan as soon as he could, without his mother's knowledge... once he found proper raiment and steed, of course.
So it was on his mother's swaybacked ploughmare that Parzifal rode into Camlan, wearing one of her pots as a helmet, and a straight branch, stripped of bark, as a spear. The first knight he encountered was Sir Kay, who was darkly amused, yet annoyed by the audacity of this ragged scarecrow of a boy, demanding to become a knight. Kay told him that he would be accepted into their number if he would defeat the Red Knight Ither, on Artur's behalf.
Thinking this would mean a quick end to the irritating boy, he was astonished and furious when Parz limped into Camlan's great hall, bloodied but unbowed, bearing the head and helm of Ither. Artur was chagrined when he learned of Kay's deal, but as he had stated that the word of any of his knights was as good as his own, he was forced to take Parzifal in. The boy sorely needed teaching, though, and was sent to Gurnemanz, another knight.
Gurnemanz was an old man, and impatient with the inquisitive boy. Finally, reaching the end of his temper at all the questions, Gurnemanz demanded that Parzifal be quiet, and accept commands without question. He did so, and was soon returned to Artur's service.
While in service, he met the woman who would be his wife, Condwiramurs, as well as finding the Grail and entering the teaching of Anfortas, its guardian. He was once kidnapped by Morgause, who attempted to sway him into serving her, to no avail. When it became clear her temptations were not working, she hung him from a tree to die. Parzifal is uncertain who rescued him from that fate, but remembers seeing Artur's face... except the hair was black, not gold.
On his return to Camlan after this, he became involved in the battle that eventually resulted in Artur's death. Parzifal returned to Anfortas and his wife, Condwiramurs, as well as their two sons, Lohengrin and Kardeiz, and became the steward of the Grail at Anfortas' passing.
Parzifal's own passing was rather sudden and unexpected. He was drugged at a tavern while on a trip around the countryside, murdered by having his own sword, imbued with dark magics, driven into his back while he lay helpless. The magics stripped his spirit away from his mortal frame, drawing it into the sword. His body was tossed in a nearby bog. Parzifal himself has no idea who did this, or why.
Through the ages, somehow, the sword found its way into the hands of the family of Evelyn Anjou, unknowing descendant of Parzifal through Lohengrin. An ordinary citizen of Paragon, she worked as a nurse at St. Elegius in Astoria. While in her possession, she noted the sword had a strange quality... no matter what she did, the sword did not harm her, and felt warm to her touch. She discovered that anyone related to her by blood experienced the same thing, though to others, it felt and acted like a normal, albeit ancient iron sword of Saxon make and design. It became a treasured object in her family, which over the centuries had been whittled down by an inexplicable series of bizarre and suspicious accidents, murders, and disappearances.
Phillip Astor
Adam Phillip Astor was born in the Astoria neighborhood of Paragon City, son of Robert Astor and Evelyn Astor nee Anjou. He also had a sister, Daralis, born when he was in his early teens. At around the age of two, Adam manifested a stutter. It was quite severe, leading to teasing and isolation during his elementary and high school years. As a result, he tended to be shy and bookish, spending more time reading than anything else. Speech therapy enabled him to control this condition by the time he reached college. He attended the University of Connecticut with the intent of going into veterinary medicine, but soon discovered he didn't have the grades, or the temperament, for that career. Phillip (as he preferred to be called) changed his major to Medieval Studies, becoming a solid B student. He also joined the lacrosse team, performing reasonably well in the position of midfielder.
It was during one of his final exams at UConn that news came of the Rikti invasion. The exam was immediately cancelled as students and instructors alike crammed into the nearest student lounges to watch what little could be reported on the event. Despite the EMP that knocked out most communication, some images managed to make their way into news broadcasts. In one of them, Phillip recognized the neighborhood of White Plains. Panicked at the proximity to his own home of Astoria, he drove all night back to Paragon, to find a terrorized city in ruins.
Still, it was easier to get in than to get out, and he -had- to find his family. Through trickery and distraction he managed to get into Astoria, already blockaded by the military and police forces. When he arrived at his home, his family was nowhere to be found, and the rooms in shambles, scorched clawmarks evident on a few of the walls. As he searched frantically, he grabbed the sword from the mantle. He encountered a group of Circle of Thorns, who by their actions had apparently been deliberately seeking him. They captured him, taking him to where they had been keeping the rest of his family.
The Thorns had indeed been watching his family for quite some time. Through their arcane books mapping out bloodlines, they knew what Phillip himself did not... that he was of the bloodline of the Grail Knight Parzifal, and as such a desirable sacrifice for their demon overlords, as his ancestors were. He, his mother, and his sister were all that were left of the bloodline, and once they were sacrificed, Phillip himself as last of the line would become a highly desirable sacrifice.
The Thorns eyed the sword with greed, too, as they could see the power it had, though they couldn't tell what kind. However, they couldn't take the sword from him, as it repulsed all their attempts. Phillip was too terrified to even think of using it, and as he was also held in check by their spells, they thought they would just deal with the sword after his passing, or put one of their own into his body to deal with it. The family was brought together one last time before the sacrifice.
In succession, Robert, Evelyn, and finally Daralis were offered to someone called Baphomet, as Phillip watched helplessly, bound and unable to move. He prayed for rescue for them, for him, but wasn't heard. Until...(will be continued later)
Gos hag Ascorn
(WIP... so far, the sole plot I've run for him. The title is Kernewek (Cornish) for 'blood and bone', near as I can figure.)
Trivia
Parz' original body is tentatively scheduled to be part of a touring museum exhibit of 'bog bodies'. He's not sure what to think about that. The scientific community, by and large, has no idea about this, and simply refer to the body as Carrick Man, after the location in Cornwall where it was discovered.
Phillip is a stutterer. The condition is congenital, but he has, over long years of therapy, learned moderate control. This control is gradually lost, though, when he is upset. He tends to have trouble with k, m, t, and s sounds initially, then all consonants. If the stress is great enough, he loses the ability to speak for a time.
He likes to sing to Japanese rock when he does chores around the house. Loudly. This is leftover from some childish 'self-therapy' when he was younger, using the songs to concentrate more on the sounds words make than their meaning. To this day, he doesn't know what the words mean, but he can speak them phonetically fairly well.
He does speak an old form of Kernewek, or Cornish, as that was his native language as Parzifal. He also knows, largely phonetically, a bit of 'church-Latin'. He doesn't know how to read or write Cornish or Latin, as he was illiterate in his first life... though as both can be written using the modern alphabet, he can make good guesses. (Player is relegated to using modern Cornish, though, as even those dictionaries can be hard to find, never mind the older ones.)
Parz has four cats, currently: Emerald, Blackberry, Keys, and Floyd. His pets as a child in Paragon, also all cats, were named Allie, Oreo, and Mackie.
Phillip once spent a summer with Habitat For Humanity to fulfill his community service requirement for high school graduation. As a result, he is capable of doing some house framing and drywall. This has led to a nascent hobby in carpentry. So far, he's made mostly box-like things, as they're simplest: Shaker-style cribs, linen chests, and the like.
He is a frequent viewer of icanhascheezburger.com.
Parz usually wears a pair of half-lensed reading glasses when he reads. Lately he has been trying to learn a little Latin, and has been seen carrying a copy of 'Winnie Ille Pu'. This is particularly amusing, as he has been heard to refer to himself as being a 'bear of very little brain'.
