Solomon Lancaster
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Player: @Emacia | |
| Origin: | magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Brute |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Solomon Lancaster |
| Known Aliases: | Professor Lancaster, Sol, Solly |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 89 |
| Height: | 6'5 |
| Weight: | 240 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Grey |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Archmage, monster hunter |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City/St Martial |
| Marital Status: | In a relationship |
| Known Relatives: | None |
| Known Powers | |
| Super human strength and durability | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Sorcery | |
| Equipment | |
| Assorted sorcerer's materials | |
| ' | |
And Solomon rose and bared his sword,
And swift as tongue could tell,
The Dark spewed forth a painted horde,
Like shadows out of hell
--Robert E Howard, The Return of Sir Richard Grenville
Contents |
Bio
((Work in progress))
Solomon Gabriel Lancaster was born on November 14th, 1927, and was the eldest of three brothers. Both his mother and his father were staunchly religious disciplinarians and quick to correct their sons with lash and verse. None more so than Solomon.
From an early age, Solomon displayed strange powers. He could conjure elements, make things move through the force of his will alone. His parents thought he was an instrument of the devil and would discipline him severely. As a result, the strange occurrences around him ceased.
In reality, Solomon merely gained a degree of control over the magic that naturally coursed through him. From that point on, Solomon would practice and refine his abilities in secret, away from the scornful eyes of his parents.
On his seventeenth birthday, Solomon went to war. He was drafted into the army and sent to fight on the European front, his first taste of combat being the crucible of Omaha Beach. Solomon’s put his talent to use fighting the enemy and keeping his unit from harm, earning the nickname “Wizard” from his squad mates.
After the war, Solomon was tapped for a special joint program between OSS and MI6. The program was called the Merlin Initiative, and was intended to train spellcasters in the art of war. Over the next year, Solomon and his compatriots trained to better their talents and fought the remnants of the Axis’ occult forces. Solomon’s natural talent and affinity towards the arcane made him one of the premier students and soldiers within the Initiative.
One night, there was a failed demon binding within the Initiative grounds which resulted in the demon dragging Solomon back to Hell as he was banished.
In Hell, Solomon was sent directly to the Arena, where he was to fight the worst of the worst. Nightly, he was torn apart and brought back to life by infernal magics and healed, only to be thrown back into the arena the next night. Over time, these magics seemed to strengthen his body, making it more durable. Slowly, he began to win more and more matches. The crowd adored his fights, whether it be to cheer on the underdog, or simply bet against who would be the one to kill him for good.
It was this popularity that lead to Solomon catching the notice of a demoness named Sthlathziel, who bought him as a slave and became his patron. She used her position as his patron to her advantage, climbing the ladders of social and political power.
Sthlaziel's ambition was outdone only by her hubris. She made him a contract: Sixty victories in the arena, and he would go free. With this the only path to freedom, Solomon became resolute. He fought hard, felling opponents one by one. With each victory, Sthlaziel grew more and more outraged, even going so far as to attempt to sabotage his matches, but to no avail.
With his sixtieth victory behind him, Sthlaziel did all in her power to persuade him back under her banner. When he refused, she tried to kill him. If she could not have him, no one would. Solomon, now able of free will, cast a curse on the demoness, binding her to a throne of stone, and he made his escape.
Solomon arrived back on Earth sixty years after he was dragged to Hell. His family was long since dead, and he had no compatriots to speak of. The world of today was not his world.
Despite the world being so different than it was, there were several things familiar. There were still dark and mysterious powers , and there were still wicked men who would use them to their own ends. There were still strange things lurking just beyond the periphery of the ordinary world, waiting to strike.
To that end, Solomon has once again taken up the cause. Using his knowledge of sorcery and the occult, he stands vigil against otherworldly threats and things that go bump in the night.
His Darkness
When Lancaster was in Hell, and property of the demoness Sthlaziel, she protected her investment by replacing half his heart with a construct of Hell-forged iron. The Hell Heart allowed Solomon to summon a suit of infernal armor to protect him in the arena. However, the suit had a price. The Heart seemed to develop a sentience of his own, growing into a symbiotic relationship with its host.
The heart seems to feed of the more primal and base emotions: fear, rage, and lust for example. It constantly tugs at his mind and soul, ever the devil on his shoulder. It can, at times, speak to those outside of him, if he has strong emotional ties to them.
When the armor is summoned, Solomon the man is pushed to the back and Solomon's Darkness steps to the fore to become a thing of unbridled primal fury.
The darkness within Solomon has recently been driven out. Through a complex ritual involving another dimension's version of himself, near death experience, and the dimension hopping rogue known as Million Dollar Maxx, the demonic symbiote was forced into another body and took its leave. The half Hell-Heart is still a part of him, though. Whether it will have any adverse effect on his being remains to be seen.
Character Trivia
1. He loves weird fiction. Authors like Algernon Blackwood, HP Lovecraft, Robert E Howard and Arthur Machen. He has a rather extensive collection of these authors' works.
2. Is a rather skilled ballroom dancer, and loves to waltz
3. Solomon is aware of past lives. Though he does not know the details, his being a warrior-wizard of some sort is a recurring theme.
Tropes!
Demonic Possession: Semi-averted. Solomon's darkness is more of a symbiotic relationship than an actual possession.
Dark World: Played straight. Grim guardian, alone against the darkness, etc etc.
The Dark Side: Played straight. His symbiote is the sith to his jedi, the Hyde to his Jekyll
Dark is not Evil: Played straight. Character believes that, with a few very rare exceptions, magic is not inherently good or inherently evil, but rather dependent on the one wielding them.
Black Magic: Played straight.
Awesome McCoolname!: Played straight Over the course of his life, Solomon has earned a few deed-names, such as Lancaster the Reaver, and Solomon Half-Hearted
Knight in Sour Armor: Played Straight. His experiences have left him generally cynical, but he will forever stand between man and the darkness.
Notable Equipment and Powers
1. Magic: He's a sorcerer, specifically an Archmage.
2. Longevity: The demonic magics used to rebuild and heal him after being slain in the arena seemed to have the curious side effect of an unnaturally long life span. It is uncertain whether he is truly immortal or simply long lived.
3. The Raven Key: Always at his side is a decorative gladius seemingly made of obsidian and bronze. Though not an actual weapon, the sword is the key to Ravensword Keep.
4. Runestaff: Like many wizards, Solomon uses a staff often to help channel energies while performing magic. His staff is hewn from the wood of a white ash tree, inscribed with various runes and sigils, and topped with a shard of blood coral.
His Praetorian
The Praetorian Solomon Lancaster never went to Hell. As a result, he aged normally. When Emperor Cole began purging Praetoria of magical practitioners, Solomon was forced to take refuge among the Midnight Squad in their mansion. Like the majority of the Midnighters, his life was brought to an end when Master Midnight took his revenge upon the order who mocked him so.
Though dead, Solomon's spirit has been seen wandering the endless dark of Night Ward.
Notes
1. Character is more than available for storylines that may require a sorcerer, wizard, ritual magics, or one well versed in the occult and supernatural.
2. Solomon's bloodline can be traced all the way back to Atlantis, before it sunk. This has not ensured all of his lineage magical capability, but it has ensure those who have had the Talent are particularly potent at it.
3. The demonic portion of his aura is all but gone, lingering only the faintest of traces. However, his aura as a wizard seems to shine brighter and more potently than ever before.
4. When viewed on the astral plane, Solomon generally takes the form of an infantry in WWII era fatigues, coated in grime and dirt
5. Is highly resistant, but totally invulnerable to mental probing.
6. His tattoos, when visible, may be recognized as demonic script
7. Has garnered a bit of a reputation as a hunter and killer of monsters and other supernaturals
OOC notes
My main influences for Solomon stem from a variety of occult themed characters from comics, movies, and other games. First and foremost, he is a loose amalgam of my three favorite traditions from White Wolf's Mage: The Ascension; the Akashrics, Euthanatos, and Order of Hermes. Throw in healthy doses of the Midnight Sons, Hellblazer and B.P.R.D. comics, a dash of the Dresden Files and Sandman Slim novels, then some Buffy and Angel for spice, and there you have it.
My largest inspiration for his personality comes from his namesake, Robert E Howard's Solomon Kane.
Character is powerful. That's all there is to it. If you prefer your RP to be street and mid level power-wise, more power to you. I got tired of that and wanted to make a character that could feasibly operate on the incarnate level and play it straight lore-wise, near demi-godhood and all. If that makes the character a Mary Sue in your eyes, so be it.
Stories
Work in progress!
What others think
((Feel free to post your character's thoughts on Sol here!))
