Azrael Nightstar

Names

Full name: Azrael Nightstar
Aliases: Karkus, used in public for several years upon his arrival in the Dragon Court, to conceal his true identity from possible pursuers
Mage Sigil: A mountain formed by three lines, the center line reaching just short of the apex of the other two, the right curving up at the bottom to form a valley, a line of smoke rising behind, and a small square cross at the upper left, arms horizontal and vertical, representing a star

Titles

Order of the Shining Star: Master of the Order, Grand Marshal, Lord of Nightstar Keep
Titan: Archmage, Master of the Mount, High Councillor, Former General, Former Leader
Nobility: King of Artrisia

Race

Azrael began life as a mortal (if very magically gifted) human, but centuries of exposure to awesome magical forces and numerous self-enhancing spells have irrevocably altered his physical form, such that he can no longer be described as human. Though his outward appearance remains consistant with his birth race, Azrael is immortal and has unique abilities, immunities, resistances and weaknesses understood fully only by himself. For all intents and purposes, Azrael is now the only member of his own unique race.

Military Division/Rank

Titan Mages, Archmage (Master of the Mount)

Character Overview

This is a short description of the character, usually one or two paragraphs.

Ability

Leadership Abilities

Azrael is an experienced statesman and leader. He had a hand in shaping Titan into the most powerful organization the realm has ever seen, and later led that organization with great success. His rise through the ranks was thanks to natural political talent, which eventually solidified and grew as political skill over years as clan official and advisor to Titan's High Council and generations of leaders, beginning with clan founder Menttal. Because of this wealth of experience and his natural talents, Azrael is one of the most experienced politicians and leaders in the realm. He also has political connections, though these have dwindled somewhat with time and inattention.

Military Abilities

Azrael received a great deal of strategic training as a young man, and later was given opportunities to test his mettle against the Lords of Celyydon Rose as a lieutenant to Menttal and the Evil Uprising as Grand Marshal (at that time "High Commander") of the Order of the Shining Star. Both campaigns were highly successful. He served as the General of Titan for a time, reorganizing the Army during and subsequent to the incident with the "Seed group". His most recent campaign was the Order's bid to liberate Azrael's homeland of Artrisia from the forces of Vardath.

This training and experience have made Azrael a competent military tactician, capable of leading many and varied troops in battle and on campaign.

Combat Abilities

Azrael is a skilled warrior, and a particularly formidable opponent when he is in his element. He is capable of fighting with a wide range of common weapons, including swords, daggers, staves, bows, maces, and lances. He prefers and is quite masterful with a bastard sword, usually wielded without a shield, and often along with a staff. Other weapons he uses less frequently, and thus he is less skilled with them.

Magical Abilities

It is here that Azrael truly excels, and where his true power lies. He has been a student of the Arcane Arts since his boyhood long, long ago, and has continued his study actively since then. He has perused the extensive libraries of Titan, amassed a library for the Order of the Shining Star, journeyed far and wide, including numerous excursions to other planes, and conducted magical research, all to the end of learning new information and magic.

After decades of the realm's eminent mages dying or moving on to other lands, Azrael is now probably the most powerful wizard in all of Dragon Court. The full extent of his powers have yet to be tested, as he has not fully expended himself in many decades, and his abilities have grown considerably since then. Because of this, not even he is entirely sure what he is capable of. What is certain, though, is that there are few opponents he could not defeat one-on-one, and little that he cannot do if he truly sets himself to it.

Appearance

Azrael appears to be a human of an approximate age of 25-30 years. He is 6'2" tall, weighs about 200 pounds, and is of medium build. He has dark brown hair which he keeps short, and deep, piercing blue eyes with pupils rimmed in gold. He wears a short, well-kept goatee and moustache and is always immaculately groomed. He normally wears flowing black robes, hood down. Starshine, his enchanted bastard sword, hangs scabbarded from a simple, thick leather belt and never leaves his side.

Historical Summary

Azrael was born to the royal family of Artrisia, a land to the west of Salamander. He lived happily as his land’s Crown Prince with his parents and younger sister until a sudden, overwhelming attack by orcs which took the kingdom. Azrael’s parents had him flee, so that their bloodline might continue and perhaps someday he could return to liberate Artrisia.

The land he fled to was the Dragon Court, where he encountered Clan Titan, who took him in after his difficult journey. For their high ideals and the kindness they had shown him, Azrael joined Titan. He adventured and studied, becoming stronger, and also worked his way up the ranks of the clan. He founded the Order of the Shining Star to fight evil in the realm, which Titan did not do due to its position as a neutral clan. Shortly after Titan’s war with the Lords of Celyydon Rose, during which Azrael served as a High Councillor and General, Menttal, the Founder and Leader of Titan, retired. Firestorm led the clan for a short time, but soon stepped down, and Azrael came to power. He served in this position for many years, eventually retiring to his studies. He has since remained a key figure in Titan politics, serving in various positions including another term as Leader of the clan.

Azrael has continued his work with the Order as well, most recently leading its armies to the liberation of Artrisia and taking his rightful place as his homeland's king. During the campaign, he was reunited with his sister Arianna, who had escaped the orc attack and led a small but effective resistance movement for many years.

Personality

Azrael is a wise and ancient man, but maintains much of his youthful liveliness. He is friendly most of the time, though often curt with opponents or enemies. His outward attitude doesn’t always reflect his true feelings; he interacts with people as will be most beneficial to his causes. He possesses a keen wit and a good sense of humor, and very much enjoys trading jabs with friends and respected clanmates. It is with somewhat less good humor, but equally keen wit, that he exchanges jabs with enemies. Azrael realizes he possesses power few mortals will ever know, but seldom acts accordingly. The exception to this is when his position is challenged, something which greatly offends his strong sense of pride. His normal genial demeanor has been known to disappear under such circumstances, replaced with a righteous arrogance, and those foolish enough to continue pushing have often found themselves on the receiving end of a spectacular show of power intended to "teach them a lesson". Seldom has such a show failed to have the intended effect.

Azrael is a good man and a force for what he thinks is right. This includes such usual ideas as defending the weak, telling the truth, fighting the aggressive, and forgiving the remorseful. That said, Azrael is far from a saint. He is a master of plots and deceit and does not fail to use them to get what he wants. He also believes in his goals, and tends to believe that the ends justify the means, even if his methods must sometimes compromise his preferred morality. This is a fact not generally known and different from Azrael's past practices, and he maintains this disparity between public knowledge and actual practice, as it often proves useful in his intelligence-gathering endeavors.

Key Possessions

Starshine

Background: In Artrisia, Azrael's homeland, it was customary for a young man's parents to give him either a sword or a bow when he reached maturity, at age 16. Azrael's father, Minziel, intended Starshine to be Azrael's 16th birthday gift. About a month before this day, though, the Artrisian Palace was besieged, and Azrael was forced to flee. Minziel gave his son Starshine upon Azrael's departure so he might defend himself. Without it, Azrael would have died before he reached the lands of the Dragon Court. It hasn't left his side since.
Appearance: Starshine is a bastard, or hand-and-a-half, sword. Its grip is tiered, with a thicker section at the crossguard and a thinner one at the pommel, to better facilitate the sword's use with either one or two hands. The pommel is of brass, as is the guard, which curves slightly toward the blade side. The long, elegant, mirror-polished blade has a single fuller for balance, and the double-edged blade tapers gradually until reaching the sword's sharp tip.
Abilities: Starshine is a powerful weapon. It is perfectly balanced for either one- or two-handed use, and has kept its razor-sharp edge over the decades of use Azrael has put it through. It is heavily enchanted, able to wound any creature, and does substantially more damage than a mundane sword. It is also enchanted for use against evil, weakening evil creatures near it and inflicting additional damage to them in the same way as a holy weapon, though to a lesser degree, as Starshine is a weapon of good rather than an actual holy weapon. Finally, Starshine glows in the presence of evil beings and beings with evil intent for Azrael. He can suppress this ability if he desires.

Staff of the Wayward Prince

Background: Azrael's staff is the most recent addition to his arsenal. He built and enchanted it himself shortly before the Artrisia campaign, where it served him well and earned its name, derived from Vardath's taunts of Azrael during their final battle. Many spells are laid on the mithril staff, making it an extremely useful item.
Appearance: The staff is a shaft of satiny silver metal about an inch and a half in diameter and 5 feet tall, with swirling designs carved into it. At the top is set a polished purple amethyst, which glows with a soft pulsing light.
Abilities: The staff's powers are many and varied, but for the most part fall into a few general categories. Each effect uses a portion of the staff's power depending upon its power, with the least effects such as light and detect magic spending none (the staff draws mana from around itself to replenish the small amount used for such effects) while the most powerful and costly spend a significant portion of the staff's capacity.

Detective: While carrying the staff, Azrael can detect nearby good, evil and magical beings, objects and sources and undead of any type. The staff also notifies him of attempts through any means to scrye on him (such as through the use of a crystal ball), usually allowing him to immediately foil such attempts.
Protective: When Azrael wields his staff he is protected from the strikes, spells, and other attacks of magical creatures and characters. It also deflects any non-magical missile attack (such as unenchanted arrows, crossbow bolts, or sling stones and splashes of acid or poison). This ability does not function on projectiles which could not harm Azrael (items tossed to him, snowballs, spilled drinks, etc.) or of extraordinary weight (such as an avalanche, boulders from a rockslide, or falling masonry in a collapsing building). Finally, it nullifies any effect which would limit his movement (web, flesh to stone, and hold spells and the like).
Utilitary: Whenever he wields the staff Azrael can see in the dark as well as an elf or dwarf. Alternatively, it can provide a light source if Azrael is travelling with companions. It can unlock almost any mundane lock and many enchanted ones, or can brace doors, gates etc. magically, greatly increasing the force necessary to breach them. Azrael can also use the staff to read and speak any language, identify the properties of most magical items, mentally lift and move 500-pound loads over a distance of as much as 50 feet, and turn himself invisible.
Transportative: Azrael can use his staff to more easily teleport over great distances, open passageways through stone, earth and unfortified walls, and fly for a few hours at a time.
Defensive: The staff allows Azrael to erect a number of types of magical walls, including those of fire, ice, and stone. If he falls a dangerous distance, it allows him to feather fall to avoid damage, and this ability will even work automatically if he is unconscious or incapacitated. Most importantly, by concentrating and doing nothing else, Azrael can use his staff to absorb magical energy directed at him, and in fact this is the only way to replenish the staff's power. He must take great care not to absorb energy beyond the staff's capacity, however, as doing so would result in a magical explosion of cateclysmic proportions.
Offensive: The powers which drain the greatest amount of energy, the staff can cast a variety of common offensive spells, including fireballs and lightning bolts of various strength, area-affecting fire and ice storms and earthquakes, and various wind-related effects, from a gentle directional breeze to direct smoke or gas in a desired direction to the formation and control of devastating whirlwinds.