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Author Topic: Mephisto, Club Owner {WIP}  (Read 482 times)

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Nascent

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Mephisto, Club Owner {WIP}
« on: January 27, 2014, 02:30:13 pm »
T H E M E     M U S I C
Hell Arrives
by Blue Stahli



__________________QUICK STATS
Name: Mephistopheles
Nicknames: Mephisto
Aliases:
-Asten Giles (gun runner)
-Reymond Descartes (Black Sapphire club owner)
-Van Tashren (money laundering and "persuasion")
-Kentahes Ji (general black market trader)
Age: Uncertain; appears to be in his late thirties
Gender: Male
Species: Demon
Ethnicity N/A
Height 6' 4"
Occupation Owner of the 'Black Sapphire' nightclub
Residence Cancer

__________________IN-DEPTH STUFF

Physical Description



Mephisto, far from appearing like an otherworldly murderous monster, comes off as a man of sophistication and taste. He has long free-flowing dark red hair that hangs down all the way to the small of his back, a tall and broad-shouldered build, and a simple yet stylish taste in clothes. He seldom ever goes out without some kind of long-coat or trench coat on and always wears the same style of elegant tall leather boots. His face is framed by a carefully maintained goatee -- he takes great pride in his appearance, knowing full well the power of perception -- and has a set of strong, sharp crimson eyes... eyes that, when angered or using the full extent of his powers, radiate a white-hot light.

Personality
Mephistopheles, or 'Mephisto' as he prefers to be called, is fairly complex for a man and doubly so for a demon. He presents himself as a "gentleman's devil", seeming for all intents and purposes to be purely human at first glance -- this, combined with his charismatic persona and devilish good looks, is a strong asset for him in the varied and oftentimes subtle and nuanced tasks he undertakes in pursuit of his ambitions. Mephisto is a silver-tongued serpent who can weave his way into unsuspecting hearts and minds with great ease. His "natural" charisma is actually the result of centuries worth of experience combined with his demonic affinity towards, and thus sensitivity to, the emotional energies of mortals. He can rapidly evaluate the emotions of even complete strangers, getting a general idea of personalities in short order. Most of all, however, he has a talent for sniffing out fear; as one who specializes in corruption, the desperation which comes with strong fear is one of his favorite tools.

When not involved in some carefully constructed plot of corrupting influence, Mephisto is typically to be found relaxing in his club or idly touring one part or another of the space station Cancer. Having been dead since ancient times he also frequently occupies himself with studies on history, art, culture, science, and the countless developments since the early ages of mankind.

Magic/Abilities

[Beyond Human]
Though human in appearance, Mephisto is in truth something else entirely. His physical strength and agility (though not foot speed, curiously) surpass human limitations, though not by much. His punches can dent steel and fracture stone and his body can survive injuries that would surely end a mortal man, such as extreme blood loss. For all the brute force dominance he could exert Mephisto still prefers to operate through subtlety however, as he is just as sly and devious as the most cunning of mortals.
Being demonic in nature, Mephisto is innately vulnerable to holy power but resistant to mortal magics. Unfortunately he is entirely immune to life magic and cannot be healed magically (not in any traditional sense, at least). Mephisto has an additional weakness, a secret which he keeps very close to his chest: silver. The mere touch of silver burns him like fire, and silver weaponry is one of the few things he truly fears. A silver blade or bullet to his sin-blackened heart would almost certainly be his end.

[Soul Hunter]
Mephisto is not considered a devil without due cause; as one would imagine he partakes in a steady diet... of mortal souls. This is perhaps his chief power as a demon: upon killing someone, Mephisto can extract their soul from their body with merely a wave of his hand, resulting in a tiny glimmering orb of light that he then swallows whole. Every soul devoured feeds the dark, unnatural hunger within him. Additionally, consuming a soul while injured causes Mephisto's body to rapidly regenerate for a short period of time, even allowing him to grow back a lost arm or leg if the soul is potent enough. As a general rule, souls with exceptionally strong will or a talent for magic serve his needs best... and every soul devoured grows his dark powers gradually over time.
As one who devours souls, Mephisto is uniquely attuned to their nature, resulting in a twisted form of psychic empathy. His mind can "feel" the emotions coming from others around him -- fear, anger, hate, desire, lust, despair, frustration, sadness, joy, relief, etc. This gives him an "impossible talent for reading people" -- not quite mind reading (he can sense emotions, not thoughts) but a potent radar with which he can not only find living individuals within a mile-wide radius but judge their disposition, evaluate their reactions, in general both to hunt them and take advantage of them as he whims. Untold years of experience means he doesn't need to suppress his talent when in large crowded places like cities and is able to pick out a single spike of emotion in a crowd rather easily.
Animals and persons with either no capacity for emotions at all or strict mental discipline to block out emotionality do not show up on Mephisto's "radar" at all. Strangely, the presence of a Mordecai can blur and muddle his unnatural senses, an an Adhara creates a literal 'dead zone' wherever they go that he cannot sense anything within. The closer Mephisto is to a person the more clearly and precisely he can read their emotional state.
Additionally, the consumption of especially powerful souls can cause Mephisto's powers and abilities to grow beyond the current list, though it has been quite a long time since he's eaten anyone really noteworthy.

[SHADOW DAGGERS :: THE SEEDS OF PERDITION]
Mephisto can, at will, generate foot-long double-edged daggers of black metal from his own sinister energies. These daggers are strong enough to block and parry with most other kinds of weaponry and can be used both in melee and as throwing weapons. This, however, is not their true strength. For these weapons are the Seeds of Perdition.
When stabbed into any surface -- the ground, a wall, someone's chest -- the daggers can warp the very nature of what they touch to create a "seed" from the tip of the blade, a tiny ball of twisted life energies that triggers a terrible growth from wherever it is "planted". This growth takes the form of thick thorn-covered tendrils of whatever materiel the dagger is stuck in: for example, a wood floor would produce wooden tendrils, a stone wall would produce stone tendrils... and a living body would produce flesh tendrils. No matter what the base material the tendrils' thorns are the same black steel-like metal as the shadow daggers. The tendrils can move and twist freely like living appendages, whipping out to slash at or squeeze Mephisto's foes; they do his bidding, as they are part of his essence. The longer the tendrils are allowed to grow the bigger they will become, starting out as pencil-thin vines and, if given a full hour or more to grow uninterrupted, will become as thick and rugged as tree trunks and even larger as time passes. Pulling out the dagger will cause the tendrils to rapidly wither up and die, and the merest touch of silver will cause a tendril to bleed and wither. Mephisto can also "banish" the tendrils at will by dissipating the dagger producing them, allowing him to create a new dagger if he has enough energy.

[WHAT'S IN A NAME?]
As an old proverb warns, "speak of the devil and he doth appear". In Mephisto's case, there is a grain of truth in this terrible admonition. His full name, Mephistopheles, has power when spoken out loud; regardless of distance, whether whispered or shouted, this dark individual is instantly aware of being "summoned" by someone through the mere mention of his name. What's more, a foul "soul connection" is established between the self-styled demon and the speaker which can last for up to ten minutes after utterance -- provided Mephisto doesn't sever the connection, which he can do at will. This can be used as a conduit for long-distance telepathy (speaking mind-to-mind, not mind reading) or, more terrifying (and useful), as a means for Mephisto to transport himself bodily from wherever he may be to the speaker's location in the blink of an eye. Though this can be seen as a type of summoning ritual, Mephisto is by no means compelled to appear just because someone wants him to -- that remains his decision to make. However, he cannot establish this connection himself; someone else MUST call upon him in order for the old devil to instantly teleport in such a manner.

[Demon Mist]
Mephisto may at will shift his physical form into a cloud of black mist, enabling him to move with a speed and subtlety that no mortal being could ever hope to achieve. The mist form is also useful for infiltration, letting him slip through even the tiniest cracks in walls and evade notice, as well as in combat where it can be used to confuse and disorient an opponent. He still has all the same vulnerabilities while in mist form, though the dispersed nature of the form means that he receives less damage than he would otherwise (except for spells or attacks effecting a large area). Additionally, Mephisto cannot attack while in mist form; he must revert to his physical form before he can cause any damage.

[CORRUPTION]
As mentioned, Mephisto is a hunter of souls; he is also a corrupter, a dastardly fiend with a particular gift for dragging people into the depths of depravity. Corruption is a gift of euphoria and power from Mephisto to those who would accept it, leading them steadily down a dark and dangerous path. It is, of course, a gift with a cost.
Those who accept Mephisto's gift of corruption's power (it is always a choice; corruption cannot be forced upon anyone) benefit from it greatly in the short run. The user of this power feels an incredible rush of energy and delight fill their body, granting them enhanced speed and strength as well as a hyper-alert, almost twitchy state of mind. All sensation of pain and fear is greatly diminished while using corruption and magic users will find that their powers have a bit more intensity than normal and the ability to fling demonic black flames from their hands at will. This state lasts only a short while, ten to fifteen minutes at most, wearing off quickly thereafter.
At the outset, corrupt power is something Mephisto must grant to a person -- for the first two uses a character can only enter a 'corrupt' state (and gain its benefits) if Mephisto offers it and they accept. After the second time, however, a corruption user begins to be able to use the power on their own; at this point, corruption has truly set in. From the sixth to the tenth use a character may only call upon corruption once per in-story day; from the eleventh use onwards a character can call on corruption freely. However, the power has the nature of a drug addiction -- after the third use withdraw symptoms begin to develop, along with a physical and psychological craving for the elevated state of body and mind that corruption induces. At first the effects are comparatively light -- lessened physical energy and ability to focus, the occasional sleepless night -- just enough to "set the table" for later addiction. After corruption moves into the internalized stage (uses 6 through 10) the symptoms become persistent, with corrupt power offering a reprieve of about an hour or so. Mephisto also gains the power to lessen or worsen the symptoms at this stage, giving him leverage over a corrupted individual to assure their "loyalty". When corruption enters the final stage the addiction becomes utter and complete, threatening on the verge of madness, and the corrupt power isn't enough anymore -- addicts are driven to steal, murder, blackmail, commit every kind of vice that comes to their minds, and drag others down into their depravity as well because "being bad" gives them that momentary euphoria and rush that they've become numbed to. Mephisto still has power over the addiction at this stage; if anything, the more corrupt someone is the greater control over their addiction he possesses, and in the final stage he gains yet greater influence. With but a thought he can know where they are at any given moment, and when they sleep he can slip into their dreams at will.
Escaping corruption is far more tricky than gaining it. If someone wants out, Mephisto will typically require them to do him a rather large favor of some kind in order for him to remove the corruption from them. An old devil like Mephisto is seldom willing to let someone in his grasp slip away, after all.
It is worth noting that none of the benefits gained from corruption can be effectively used against Mephisto, as he can cancel them out without even a thought.

Relationships

History
There are some things that, for one reason or another, simply must be.

Woven into the tapestry of the cosmos, these elements recur over and over, time and time again, as though brought into being at the behest of an overriding will. Some are familiar to us -- the brazen young hero, the wise old sage, the wily trickster and the terrible guardian-beast. These immortal ideas shape not merely our minds and societies but our world and seem, indeed, to cross the very boundaries not only of culture and circumstance, but also time and space.

One such idea, reborn over and over again... is the demon.

Mephisto would not tell you his own origins, not honestly at least. To be known and understood is little different from the 'true names' of lore -- when known and used authoritatively, the name gives absolute power over the named, and so Mephistopheles shrouds his origins in stories and shadows. Was he once mortal, his soul corrupted or possessed by powers darker still than he? Did his essence spring from the depths of hell, a flame of sin manifest in flesh and blood? Was a sin so heinous as cannot be spoken committed and the act somehow catalyzed his birth? A spirit, perhaps, fallen from the heavens' grace? Or does he exist simply because he must, because the world needs always have a demon to walk it and bring forth the darkness in mortal souls?

He'll tell you stories. Some may be true, others mere fiction. But Mephisto will never, as a rule, reveal anything that might threaten his ambitions. He would sooner watch his own blood spill upon the thirsty ground.

While his past is a guarded secret and his future mystified with plots and schemes, Mephisto's present can be clearly known. Having 'died' (no, seriously, he did) roughly five thousand years in the past, Mephisto's spirit has been drawn back from the void beyond due to circumstances not entirely understood by himself or others. Lost and confused in a future where the earth is a distant, heavily polluted sparkle in the dark reaches and mankind ferries themselves between the stars with metals and fires spun from a science beyond his reckoning, the elder devil nonetheless has managed to do reasonably well for himself. Using his talent for influence and corruption he founded the Black Sapphire, a high-end nightclub in one of Cancer's more well-off zones -- a front business for his growing list of black market contacts and other illicit underworld business. Seeking to reestablish himself in an era that has long forgotten about his existence, Mephistopheles begins once more to quietly extend the dark tendrils of his influence... all with a wary eye on the mega-corporation of Thanatos, whom he deems to be the single greatest threat to the existence of himself and his kind in this space faring age.

In addition to his nightclub and underworld work Mephisto is ever on the lookout for souls to be corrupted and deals to be made. Perhaps, if you're unlucky, he'll take an interest in you...

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