It was not my hand that wrought this abyss. wrote:Name: Konrad Coruscare Dreizack
Nickname/Title: Depths Haunter, Kinslayer, Lightless Penitent, The Red Fathoms, Marquess Nostromo
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Birthplace: Fiscal City #13: Nostromo (formerly Nibelungen, sealed)
Family: Vladimus Dreizack (Father, Duke Nostromo), Astor Dreizack (Mother, deceased), House Dreizack (Family, dishonored)
Trainer Orientation: Lawful Evil
Trainer Class: Lord, Traitor, Water-type Specialist
Starter Pokémon: Piplup
A partner at hand to share the thrill. wrote:League [Male Empoleon]: League began life in Konrad's care as a Piplup, bearing a deep red color rather than the rich blue of a normal Piplup. The city had, for centuries, produced water Pokémon in abundance. With conditions what they are, the dark depths of Nostromo only allowed those who were strong and smart to succeed. The rest were prey, waiting to be killed by those who were their betters. As such, only truly excellent Pokémon were tithed to the interim Regent Family of Nostromo. Konrad was not a compassionate trainer through League's life, forcing the Pokémon to harden by involving it in his bloody sport as he hunted random citizens through the twisting halls, docks, and sewers of the city, and challenged other promising combatants to vicious deathmatches for his personal recognition. As such, Konrad has zero compulsion to prevent it from taking lives and reveling in proving its superiority. It is haughty and insufferably cruel towards those it does not consider superior or equal to itself.
Carmilla [Female Haunter]: Carmilla was a recent addition to the previously two-man team of Konrad and League. Previously two-man because the earlier third Pokémon on Konrad's roster had been killed by League for weakness and insubordination at Konrad's behest. That previous Pokémon had, in fact, been the Lapras that wound up becoming a Gastly after her death. That Fate saw fit that she later be once more enslaved to Konrad seemed like cruel providence to her, but her transformation into a soul-stealing Haunter in the years twixt had actually done more to dull those inhibitions she'd had in harming the weak and strong alike, making Konrad more satisfied with her performance this time around. Over time Carmilla has come to accept her place and takes a sort of grim pride in carrying out her tasks.
Dress in black and red to hide the stains. wrote:Konrad stands at 5'6", a modest height for one with his family's former allegiance. With almost powder-white skin, a thick shock of black hair and oddly silver eyes, Konrad appears every bit as noble as his family still believes itself to be. His build is relatively slight and fairly feminine, forcing him to be quick and decisive or to rely on esoteric means to come out ahead of his enemies.
He tends to wear flowing, almost royal robes of deep crimson, made in the same style as his forebears. Just so, the cloth seems to flow off his form as if water or blood, with his set's coloration, each time he made even the slightest movement. This outfit comes complete with an Empoleon-like crown as a face mask. At other times he can be seen wearing a combat panoply, crimson breastplate, smoked-black light pauldrons and gauntlets visible, his lower body veiled by a long black skirt.
What is a man? wrote:Konrad is a very accurate judge of character and motive, something that helps him excel as a hunter of men and Pokémon. He can be seen as quite evil, while he might not revel in the pain and misery he puts others through, he is very excited about what challenge they might bring him or the quantity of blood they can reward him with in exchange for his time and efforts. Thus it is easy to peg him as a self-centered sociopath, for which one would be completely correct.
At the same time, Konrad has a deep and abiding loyalty to the House which his own had previously sworn itself to in centuries past, and had sealed off their prosperous home. While his family raves about being their own masters in this lightless world while depending on somewhat-modern updates from the above world of light and warmth, Konrad is all-too-thankful for the environment that shaped and honed what he is today. He views any slights against the House of Two Lights as tantamount to heresy, especially that which landed his House in this position in the first place.
He can be very diplomatic with those worth the effort, but those he views as primitive are instead treated to the stiffness of his royal standing and cruel aristocratic bearing, beneath his notice. These either wind up snubbed entirely, or enter into the mental list of his prey, to be hunted down when time and fancy coincide.
They shy from me. Do they care that they made me what I am? wrote:Raised as a noble exemplar of an excommunicated House living in shame and imprisonment for centuries, Konrad had a very twisted view of the world from the get-go. No member of House Dreizack had seen the sky in so long that such things were thought of as fairy tales. Even light itself was a rare thing, to the point that it was harmful to the eyes of those who lived in the sealed Fiscal City of Nostromo. With the city's history as shipyard and dock-fortress, the self-contained city-state continued a very water-based theme that the Dreizack family wasted no effort in espousing the value of constantly, instilling all their knowledge of the ways of water both worldly and otherworldly upon their newest heir to the Blasted Throne.
Raised on the knowledge of his family's sordid history, and the glorious leader that they betrayed, Konrad took a unique and possibly more pure understanding of the message conveyed. Where others in the city of learning, especially those of the Nostromo 'royal' family of Dreizack, looked at the tale as a reason to be full of rage and rebellion, Konrad believed else. All things have a master, and in that knowledge a universal hierarchy exists that was divine in nature - for at its apex stood the Master of All Things, either the Creator or whatever was strong enough to replace it. In the darkness of Nostromo, his family committed sin after sin against the natural order, reveling in their own imagined greatness as their prison-fortress withstood the test of time better than its occupants: pale and weak, able to see in the dark, all different than the humans of the stories.
As a young man, he decided that it was his place to find out where he existed on this hierarchy and set out to test his potential against that of others. He became a hunter of men and Pokémon, stalking and ambushing unimportant citizens. He would often target those who were rebellious or lazy, unproductive, though at times he would seek out the strongest and most clever, to keep them from gaining power and test their advanced potential against his skills. He grew to despise those proven beneath him, provided they did not pay their due respect. His cruelty became legendary, even though few lived in the water-filled depths who knew his face. Tales and titles sprung up around him, to the amusement of his fellow nobles who thought it was good sport and could not conceive of the value he placed in such actions, the honor he captured for himself in penitence to the True Divine, the hierarchy of rulership.
The right to rule came through the strength of mind to know what to do with power, the strength of arms to enforce and capture that power, and the strength of soul to withstand that power and those who wished to take it from you. Lastly, the strength of self to acquiesce that power to one who would be the master. In his own way, the cold sociopath that was Konrad Coruscare Dreizack was more sane than most others within their lightless and waterlogged city, and he waited for the day to come where he could look upon the face of the one who would be his master, and recognize the skill he honed through purpose. One who might allow him to practice his own brand of the water-worship his traitorous family had given him. His sanguinary scholarship. Blood was an addiction for Konrad, the reward for his hunts. He studied it as a doctor and a scientist would, as an artist might. He found more and more creative ways to dispatch his prey so to the point that he could create beautiful displays with various weapons as brushes and bodies as his easel. Soon even his own water-controlling skills bore the crimson taint of his obsession. He needed, perhaps, validation for his desires, which pushed him deeper into the desire to find his place in the ladder.
Finally I can show them the way back to honor. We owe Her a blood debt. It is long overdue. wrote:Regular Abilities______________________________________
└-Skills, professions, knowledge and talents.
Artistic: Konrad works with blood from live victims to create objectively dazzling pieces of art. When creating more traditional pieces he mixes in paints on the canvas as the blood runs and works around it.│
Enhanced Perception (Observation): Konrad's ability to discern slight changes and the meanings behind movements and expressions is well-trained.
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Creative, Skill
└─Power Level: Journeyman│
High Society Training: The skills of high and noble society passed down by the Dreizack to each new scion born, including: art appraisal, gem appraisal, investments, courtly manners, heraldry, proper forms of address, and politics.
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Perception
└─Power Level: Journeyman│
Knowledge (Scientific Studies): Covering human and Pokémon biology, marine life, oceanology, and sea plants.
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Creative, Skill
└─Power Level: Expert│
Leadership Quality: Konrad rules through strength of personality, intimidation, and the lash. Rather than inspire and comfort those beneath him, Konrad motivates his servants and soldiers simply from standing at their backs, lest they have to turn and face him.
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Knowledge
└─Power Level: Master│
Stealth: Known as the Depths Haunter, this wicked appellation comes more from Konrad's legend than any great stealth ability of his own. He stalks his prey openly or chooses to ambush it using his sharp wits and ability to plan ahead.
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Knowledge, Skill
└─Power Level: Journeyman│
Swimming: Being born in and lived his entire life inside of Nostromo, formerly Nibelungen, Konrad is a natural born swimming master. Extends to diving.
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Skill
└─Power Level: Novice│
Tracking and Scouting: Konrad is skilled at reading the signs left behind by his prey. Despite not being particularly stealthy himself, prey almost never eludes him.
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Skill
└─Power Level: Master│
Wealth: As the son of the Duke of Nostromo, Konrad is entrusted with a great deal of managing the city's finances as well as his own Royal Stipend.
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Knowledge, Skill
└─Power Level: Journeyman│
Martial Abilities______________________________________
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Misc.
└─Power Level: Expert
└-Weapon specializations and fighting styles.
Dreizack Water Shaping: The Ki-centric art restricted to the 'Royal' Family of Nostromo, passed down for centuries when it was used by their honorable ancestors. It does not contain techniques, only training to meld personal Ki with nearby sources of water and then control it as an extension of the physical body. Inferior to a Water Plate's Aquakinesis.│
Knives (Throwing): A degree of proficiency in the usage of knives, with greater skill in throwing the knives in general and the use of knives specifically designed for throwing.
├─Classification: Ki
├─Category: Fighting Stylee
└─Power Level: Expert│
Lance, Spear, Trident: The ancestral weapons of his people. Konrad is equally trained with all three.
├─Classification: Physical
├─Category: Weapon Proficiency
└─Power Level: Journeyman│
Swordsmanship (Shortsword): The use of shortswords of various forms and styles, proficient with parrying and lethal counterattacks.
├─Classification: Physical
├─Category: Weapon Proficiency
└─Power Level: Master│
Unique Abilities_______________________________________
├─Classification: Physical
├─Category: Weapon Proficiency
└─Power Level: Expert
└-Powers unique to the character.
Nostromo Traits: Inhabitants of Nostromo are notoriously light-sensitive, to the point that moderate light sources (such as room lights) cause permanent damage to their eyes. This is due to having adapted to the lightless depths of their flooded home for the last several hundred years. Characters with Nostromo Traits can see almost perfectly in the dark, with the exception of color. Likewise, they have an enhanced sense of smell and receptiveness of touch. Due to this hypersensitivity towards touch they suffer twice as much pain from physical damage.│
├─Classification: Talent
├─Category: Misc.
└─Power Level: Inherent