DGRank: Duelist
Wins: 11
Losses: 7
Medals: 2
Character 1:Name: Mortis Blackwraith
Age: Several millenia
Appearance: Mortis is over 6 feet tall, black haired, and a very imposing figure. He has glowing crimson eyes, and, though rarely bared, he also has fangs. Mortis always wears a suit of armour, very strange in its construction. Mostly it is a traditional suit of plate-armour as used in the middle ages. However, it is made of a distinctly modern alloy of titanium, chromium, and steel, making it lighter than its technological ancestor, and therefore allowing it to be thicker, giving decent protection against firearms as well as bladed weapons. Mortis recently remodelled the armour to be entirely black, except for the gauntlet on his left hand, which is silver. Beneath the metal is padding of kevlar bulletproof fibres, replacing the leather undershirt usually worn under such armour. The two main things that strike the observer most as most strange are the large armoured gauntlet on Mortis' left hand, and the multi-barreled gatling gun mounted on his left shoulder. The gauntlet has an electronic control panel on it, definitely not something you'd usually expect to see on a suit of armour...
Since his encounter with an Angel of Death, Mortis now contains that same dark spirit within him. Though his appearance is the same as always, there is a strange aura of blackness surrounding him and his armour. It is as if light finds it hard to reach him, despite there being no obstacle to its progress. This is of course beneficial to one of the undead such as he.
Personality: Despite his undead form, Mortis is not the bloodthirsty monster you might expect. He fights mainly to test out his inventions and hone his skills, not for the pleasure of killing. As such, he fights tactically, using a wide range of weapons and equipment to his advantage. Honor is not something he is concerned with. His own safety certainly is.
Background: Blackwraith is a strange character indeed. He has an abiding interest in science, especially molecular bioscience and genetic engineering. This science has not existed for long, and in the many centuries before its invention, Mortis spent his time studying anatomy and physics. Unfortunately this required him to become a grave robber... something which was hard to conceal from the public. As if being one of the undead wasn't bad enough...
Mortis is a vampire, almost impossible to kill without decapitating him, or putting a stake through his heart.
Realising these weaknesses could be eliminated, he used his knowledge of anatomy to implant armour plating into his body, encasing his heart entirely in steel, and armouring the spinal cord in his neck, making decapitation certainly a lot more difficult, if not impossible.
Weapons: Relatively recently, Mortis developed a new weapon. Far more than a mere weapon, in fact. He had obtained a sample of metamorphic alien flesh from a secret Russian military laboratory. That is to say, the flesh of a shape shifting being. Using his knowledge of genetic engineering, Mortis developed from the genes of this creature a second organism. This new creature was not sentient, but rather depended on programmed instructions or a direct nervous link to another being. Mortis was to be that being. The result of his experimentation was a protoplasmic mass of black material, liquid in its natural state, yet able to take on almost any form imaginable. Mortis chose to use the creature as a living suit of armour. Normally appearing to be a relatively normal set of clothing, similar to black bike leathers, the symbiotic armour reveals its true nature when Mortis sends out the right nerve signals. The armour is in fact connected directly to his nervous system. The symbiosis arises because the creature lacks the intelligence to feed by itself. It survives because Mortis instructs it to feed. Mortis survives because the armour protects him. But it is capable of far more than that.
The symbiote can not only form hardened armour plating, but can also spawn smaller creatures as living weapons, reanimate the corpses of dead enemies, and take on the form of biological weaponry. Some recently used examples included forming biomechanical cannons capable of firing bone spikes at tremendous velocity, and a multi-purpose "flamethrower" weapon also capable of launching globs of micro-organisms and chemical compounds, including but not limited to a flammable petrochemical gel.
The symbiote can grow by feeding upon organic matter of any kind, and depending on the mass taken up, is able to take on various forms, based on the DNA of creatures previously encounted by Mortis. Also possible are hybrid forms created by genetic manipulation. The suit is still a recent invention so its full capabilities have not yet been seen in action.
The following is a description of the weapons, armour and equipment previously used by Mortis. Although no longer needed, he does still possess this equipment and could use it in a duel if needed:Using his knowledge of the sciences, learnt throughout his long life, or rather.. undeath, Blackwraith has created several unusual weapons, most of which are either integrated into, or controlled by the armoured glove on his left hand.
This device is called the IWSC (Integrated Weapon Systems Control) Gauntlet, or just The Gauntlet for short.
It comprises mainly of a dart launcher and a magazine containing samples of several different biological agents, contained in darts designed to shatter on impact. Most of these agents are bacteria modified to grow at an incredible rate, producing a large colony in seconds, which might, for example, produce a cloud of choking spores, or a large sticky area on the floor. In some cases a large multicellular organism may form and attack Mortis' opponents, and him, alike. It all depends on the dart fired.
The weapon can also fire tranquiliser darts and lethal neurotoxin darts, though these seem to be ineffective against some of his opponents, who seem to be more than partly supernatural in origin.
Finally, it contains a set of twin metal prongs, razor-sharp, and linked to a tazer (electric stun-prod)
The control panel on the back of the Gauntlet is for selecting the ammo types, arming the tazer, and for controlling the weapon mounted on Mortis' shoulder. The actual firing of the Gauntlet's weapons is controlled by moving the fingers in a certain sequence.
Mortis' left shoulder has extra-thick armour plating, to which is fixed a .22 rimfire minigun on a swivel mounting. It has a heat tracker and lazer sight mounted on it, and the Gauntlet is used to control the target locking and firing system.
Mortis has a .45 "Grizzly" Winchester magnum semiautomatic pistol, in a holster, as a backup weapon.
Image of weapon Finally, he has a sword. A double-handed broadsword made from a single huge chunk of obsidian, black volcanic glass. Obsidian is the sharpest material on earth, sharper than any metal blade. Though the blade looks mishapen and unwieldy, it is a truly lethal weapon. The hilt is made from titaneum-steel, and the blade is coated with a special resin to prevent pieces of the glass from being chipped off on impact. Only the cutting edge is actually exposed directly to the air.
Mortis has recently made a very significant modification to this weapon. Metal encases the sword on its flat sides, and pipelines extend to a twin nozzles, each side of the blade-tip. The sword is effectively now a flamethrower, with a one-way fuel valve that connects to a fuel-line on Mortis' armour when he uses the weapon.
If the weapon is swung while activating the flamethrower, a jet of fire blasts out of the tip of the blade, immolating everything in its path.
These used to be Mortis' only weapons. No longer is this the case. Since his possession, his symbiosis with the Angel of Death, he has gained one other...
Apocalypse, the blade of death. Named after the four mythical horsemen of the apocalypse, the sword embodies the characteristics of the mightiest of their number. It sucks the life from any living thing that nears it, and extends the same power throughout its wielder's body. They become a life stealing vortex, a source of death to all who touch them. Death is far from instantanous, the effect being more of a slow and steady drain of energy. Nevertheless, the weakening of an opponent in combat is significant. The weapon is not strictly physical. It seems to be made from a strange black "light", misty and unsubstantial, but still able to parry. Instead of being sheathed, it instead emerges from the wielder's body as a black mist before taking on its true form. It can also be merged with other close combat weapons to add its effect to them. The sword seems to exude a strange sickly green light when wielded, a light which seems somehow unearthly, somehow
wrong.
CHARACTER 2:Name: Carnifex Deum (The Executioner of God)
Qui ducet haec ferrum Carnifex Deum fiet
He who draws this sword will become the Executioner of god.So read the inscription upon the scabbard of the weapon that lay before him. The heavily armoured warrior was enthralled by both the promise and the dark beauty of the thing itself. The power to destroy gods would be his! He had never dreamt to find such a treasure, but its power was undeniable. The very air in the room seethed with an unseen maelstrom of magic. Strange whispers could be half-heard all around, and the weapon itself was enveloped in an aura of crimson energy. Reaching out, the warrior started to laugh with a mixture of joy and malice. His enemies would soon know fear…
No sooner had his armoured gauntlet seized hold of the hilt than his entire body was wracked with agony. The warrior screamed for what seemed like hours but in reality was mere seconds. Then everything went black. And stayed black, forever. All around him, he could hear the whispers, now audible. They mocked him. They pitied him. They told him of their own folly. He was not the first to fall victim to the sword. When he knew the truth, he also knew that he was damned for eternity. He had no true voice with which to scream. He had no eyes with which to see. He had no body, had nothing but his own black soul, now trapped forever within the prison he had found for himself.
The inscription was a lie. The promise was false. And yet… it was not.
Had the warrior examined the hilt more closely before taking hold of it, he would have noticed a second inscription. The hilt bore two simple words.
“Carnifex Deum.”The Executioner of God was and always had been the sword itself. He who drew the blade had indeed become the Executioner of God, but not in the way he had intended.
Even now, the weapon had taken possession of his now reanimated corpse, and was making its way out of the tomb the warrior had so recently desecrated. Little had he known that this tomb was the final resting place of another poor fool like himself. It had not been easy to destroy the undead horror, now nothing but dust in an urn. When the process was complete, his destroyers had walled the cursed sword in with its owner. Of course in truth the sword was the master, the wielder the slave.
The Carnifex and its new puppet left the tomb that had been its prison for centuries. The warrior’s mount waited outside, not a horse, but instead a huge and barely tamed bear. Barded much like a warhorse, it was the traditional riding beast of his tribe. It knew its master. It knew that this being that stood before it was something else, something wrong. The beast attacked, but was slain and resurrected by the evil blade, becoming another slave to its will. The warrior’s walking corpse mounted the resurrected steed, and the Carnifex Deum rode away into the night, ready to unleash its power upon the world once more.
Centuries have passed since that day. The Earth has changed immeasurably. And yet the hideous revenant still rides in the dark places of the world.
The Carnifex itself is a darkly beautiful weapon. When sheathed, and when wielded normally, it takes the appearance of a jet black straight-bladed sword, between 3 and 4 feet in length. Both hilt and scabbard are decorated with gold leaf and inlaid rubies. The blade is constantly enveloped in an aura of crimson light that flickers and wavers not unlike a flame. Some say that it IS a flame, not of this mortal coil, but of hellfire. Considering the true nature of the weapon, they may be right…
It is far more than a sword. The Carnifex has a sentience of its own, not to mention its own dark purpose known to none other than itself and its masters, whoever they may be. It can change its shape to form other weapons. The physical size is limited, but the form is limited only by whatever twisted imagination the weapon possesses.
The name Carnifex Deum quite literally means “The Executioner of God". When read by a greedy adventurer, it tells them that to hold the weapon is to hold power over the gods themselves. When read by the wary, it tells another story altogether. The weapon and its slaves carry out the will of a dark god of whom no sane man would ever speak, let alone worship. The Executioner does as its name suggests, ending the lives of those its master wishes dead.
Whether the weapon is a transformed daemon, a dark angel, a demigod, or an inanimate object given life by unknown means, none can truly say. What is known is that throughout history, the sword has possessed more than one host. It seems that the dissolution of the reanimated dead cannot be postponed indefinitely. Thus, other than endings the lives of those it is commanded to kill, the Carnifex has another purpose. It seeks out powerful warriors in the hope of finding a fresh host. Its choices are limited, as its physical abilities depend on those of its host, and it can only take possession of one whose soul is corrupted beyond hope.
Its current host body is that of the warrior who recovered it from the tomb, centuries ago. No longer does he resemble a living human. His flesh is rotting, skin peeling, and his strength waning. His steed shares this fate, the result being a rotting zombie riding upon a similarly decaying undead bear. Both rider and steed are heavily armoured, the bear in plates of steel, the rider in an enchanted suit of half-plate. The chain mail helps to hold his corrupted body together, while the plates add extra protection from impacts. The enchantment allows the armour to repair itself slowly over time, and has stopped it from rusting while its owner rots away inside. The armour of the warrior is as black as the soul he lost.
Aside from the Carnifex itself, the warrior is armed with a second strange magical artefact. A pair of matching armoured gauntlets, named the Grip of Despair. They are far more than normal gauntlets or gloves. Although there is clearly no physical space for its storage, the gauntlets nevertheless seem to contain great lengths of razor-edged chain. The wearer can fire up to 5 lengths of chain from each gauntlet, and even control the chain to an extent. Essentially the Grip of Despair is named so because it lets the user strangle and otherwise harm his opponent from a distance. Not to mention that if the opponent manages to get close enough to engage the wielder, the gauntlets also contain several spring loaded claws and spikes, easily capable of maiming an enemy. The touch of the gauntlets and chains is debilitating, seeming to draw the life from whoever is gripped by them. Though not lethal, it can weaken an opponent greatly, leaving them at a great disadvantage should they not free themselves rapidly.
The Carnifex itself has magical abilities, including necromantic magic and the control of the elements of fire and lightning. The powers are often cast through the host body, but the magic belongs to the sword. It is also capable of repairing some of the damage suffered by the host in battle, though this is limited to magically physically reattaching dismembered limbs, fixing broken bones, etc. As such it cannot be used to prevent the host body from eventually crumbling to dust and leaving the Carnifex without a body. Nor is such “healing” a rapid process.
The reanimated warrior has no voice. Firstly his body is far too rotten to be able to speak, and secondly his soul is no longer within that body. The Carnifex itself seems to have no voice either. The damned souls within it, however, are far from silent. Some merely whisper. Some warn opponents to flee, though these are rare given their evil nature. Some cackle with insane laughter, driven completely mad after millennia trapped within the evil sword. And sometimes, more disturbing than any other voice, the voice of the armoured warrior can be heard, sobbing and wailing in frustration and pain. For although his soul no longer resides in his body, and although he no longer possesses the sensations of touch, taste, sight, or hearing, one last sensation remains to him. He feels every broken bone, every cut of a blade into his decaying flesh. As his body decays, he feels the agony of his flesh rotting away. He has suffered so for centuries, and will do so until the blade finds itself a new victim…
Character 3:Name: Dr Erik Kaufmann, "Der Scharfrichter" (The Executioner)
History:It began in the winter of 1938... The project known as Der Scharfrichter. Originally intended to produce the ultimate bodyguard for Adolf Hitler, it comprised of human "volunteers" being surgically attached to robotic frames in an attempt to create the ultimate warrior. Yet the experiments were failures without exception, the subjects dying, incapable of integration into the machinery. Later, as the war progressed, Hitler's obsession with the black arts spread to his followers, and the scientists resorted to arcane means in order to further their failing project. Instead of surgical attachment, black rites were carried out, creating portals into hell into which the subjects were inserted. Metal became literally melded into flesh by the demonic energies of that dark realm. The human brain was combined with a computer mind designed to control the resulting war machine and furnish it with instructions and tactical readouts.
Yet still, the test subjects died in their dozens, mostly going insane and suffering a haemorrage soon after, or merely suffering instant brain death upon exiting the dark portal. Finally, one of the scientists in charge of the experiment decided to perform the procedure upon himself. He theorised that the deaths occured because the subjects' minds were not sufficiently advanced to withstand the transformation. His own mind would doubtless be more suitable. And surely the führer would greatly reward him for taking such a risk...
The experiment was a success, and more than a success. It not only melded his body to the robotic shell, it also had unforseen consequences...
While in the alternate dimension known as hell, the scientist, a Dr Erik Kaufmann, attracted the attentions of a greater demon. It reached out from the portal, its evil powers sucking the souls from everyone in the room beyond, hellfire scorching everything. Yet for some reason, it decided to spare Kaufmann. Yet it did not leave him unmolested... Perhaps seeing a way to create an instrument of absolute destruction upon the Earth, it mutated his body, changing his human flesh partly into that of a demon. The very metal of his battle frame was also transformed in places, becoming like metal in properties, but like black demonic flesh in appearance. The transformed metal seemed from then on to be heated from within by some horrid energies. Various strange mutations overtook Kaufmann's body, body parts transforming into something that could not even loosely be called human. Even part of his brain was changed, instilling within him forever the traits of his demonic creator. Finally, his body ejected from the portal, Kaufman was left a hideous amalgam of machine, man, and something so horrible that his mere appearance threatens the sanity of men. The lab was a ruin. The doctor slowly worked out how to control this terrifying new body of his, standing, learning to walk, and finally ripping the door from its hinges and emerging into the outside world.
Long and far he wandered, his brain touched by insanity, yet he lived on. It was beyond his addled mind's capabilities to realise that the war was now over. It was over 50 years since he had entered the portal, yet for him, the war would never end. Programmed to serve his führer, the computer part of his brain ensured that he would forever fight, his torment neverending. His mission, to destroy or disable any threat to his leader, the living weapon being incapable of accepting that he died long ago. Nothing would stand in his way.
Appearance/weapons: Kaufmann's human form is nearly unrecognisable within his cyborg warframe. His face remains half human, though hidden within a metal casing, only the eye visable through an extremely thick armoured glass lens, his eye left human because there is simply no better optical sensor than the organic eye. The glass has a computer read-out that projects upon it for tactical read outs. The other side of his face is a daemon's fanged skull, demonic flesh and metal combined to form a hideous visage, somehow able to move although utterly lacking muscle or flesh of any kind. A baleful crimson eye lurks within the socket.
His body is no longer human in form, now being over 8 feet tall and mostly made of metal. His arms and legs still exist, or at least partly... The left arm is entirely replaced by a mass of hideous black tentacles, their demonic flesh melded into metal, forming an extremely hard material, practically impossible to destroy. Even if cut off, a tentacle can regrow, given time. Covered in vicious spikes and claws, these tentacles can be used to rip and slash at enemies as well as for holding and manipulating objects in place of Erik's original hands.
Erik's right arm is mostly normal down to the wrist, though its armour plating is black and has changed form to perfectly fit the limb, allowing greater movement. From the wrist down, it is another story. His hand is entirely missing, its stump fused to the butt of an STG44 assault rifle, the original precursor to the AK series. Underslung on the barrel of this weapon is a viciously barbed blade, about three feet long, and, rather than a traditional bayonet, it has the blade and long spike of a halberd, of black metal, and almost certainly daemon-forged.
Kaufmann's right leg is normal, heavily armoured with the original suit's metal plating, and servo assisted. His lower left leg has been replaced by a demon's limb. A brass cloven hoof tips a black skinned limb, the flesh of which is as tough as armour, the top portion melding into Kaufmann's more normal plating.
Both of the doctor's legs were broken at the knee joint during the surgery to integrate him into the machine, the bones and muscles replaced with multidirectional metal joints and servo motors. Other such replacements throughout his body allow it to fold into distinctly unnatural shapes, in order to transform as is the secondary purpose of the robot frame.
Attached to Erik's back are four long, thick, multi-segmented metal limbs, several metres long, and each tipped with a gripping claw. Within each of these are hidden multiple weapons systems of various types. The tips of two of these metallic arms can split open to reveal chainsaw blades. Another contains a high-powered electric drill, the centre of the drill bit hollowed out to form a nozzle, capable of shooting any liquid from liquid nitrogen to napalm, or even corrosive acids. The final limb opens up into a primitive linear magnetic accelerator cannon, also known as a railgun. The weapon fires a hail of thousands of tiny metallic needles, shredding organic targets.
This is not The Executioner's full arsenal, not by far.
In his chest, his armour and flesh are melded together into some kind of unholy amalgam, and out of this looms a hideous malformation, a fanged monstrosity known in legend as the hydra. Seven snake-like heads, each with the power of regeneration, protrude from his chest, each with a mind of its own, and a hunger for human flesh.
Upon his shoulders are mounted two MG42 heavy machine guns, on swivel mounts, controlled by the computerised portion of Erik's brain.
Finally, Erik's entire metallic body can be electrified as a last ditch defense to repel assaults in close combat.
Transformations: Erik's body is segmented and capable of undergoing conformational changes. The metal claws on his back can be used for more than mere slashing and shooting. Erik can split the arms into eight, and place four of those limbs beneath him as spider-like legs, which can be used for fast movement and for climbing walls.
His body also contains numerous small weapons turrets containing small machine guns, or shotguns, and a series of nozzles which allow him to spray liquid napalm all around him. Armour plates must be folded aside to allow these weapons to be put into use, which does increase Erik's vulnerability somewhat. Various other devices, grasping claws, grappling hooks, and such things, can be utilized by transforming sections of the robotic frame. Even limited flight can be achieved by the use of a concealed booster rocket.
By fitting together the reverse edges of each of his giant claw arms, Erik can form the barrel of a large cannon, firing 100mm anti-tank shells. This is slow to use, however, usually accompanied by a transformation into a tank-like shape, caterpillar tracks included.
Yet another posible transformation is the heavy support configuration, where several panels in Erik's armour plating slide aside to reveal a large number of Panzerfaust rocket propelled grenade launchers, a couple more concealed within his metal limbs. This obviously leaves Erik vulnerable due to the lack of armour at this point.
Mod Edit: Jun 16, 11 by DG
