CVnU Amaranth Faction: Arcani, Leader of the Flock
Rank: Strix
Real Name: Amaranth
Gender: Male
Hair Color: White
Weight: 312lbs
Age: 291,246
Eye Color: Violet
Height: 7'1
Identity: Public
Known Aliases: Harbinger, Lord of the Sword, Titan of War, Mutant Messiah, Tiger of Babylon
A mutant blessed, or perhaps cursed with immortality. Born in the distant future into slavery he was the result of a mutant eugenics program. Bred to be a immortal investment for his owners, an undying warrior who would earn them hundreds of fortunes fighting for the bloody amusements of humans.
Eventually he escaped as part of a mutant uprising, which would inevitably fail. In desperation the few remaining free mutants scarified much to travel back in time to the first appearance of man. All that is known of those days is that a horrible tragedy occurred and the immortal Amaranth refuses to speak of it.
For many millennium now he has battled in the name of mutant kind, a legendary warrior in the cause.
As the centuries have gone on the burdens have accumulated upon his shoulders. Friends lost, families outlived, dreams crushed and goals thwarted. Nonetheless he has soldiered on bearing his growing grief and weariness with a stoic resolve.
Originally born with the mutant gift of eternal life the Court altered his X-Gene on several occasions to imbue him with additional mutant powers.
[[ Everything after this is in the process of being reviewed and re-written. Many parts are unfinished or confused at present. ]]
The Tiger of Babylon Born with the mutant ability to recover from any wound, and live forever thousands and thousands of years of training and experience have made Amaranth into something more then a man. Perhaps he is an example of what a man could one day become.
Enhanced Senses: His senses are the absolute peek of what a human body could ever achieve. Millenium of experience and training have given him such close awareness of his surroundings that his senses seem to be flatly superhuman.
Hearing: His hearing is keen enough to hear a heartbeat over twenty feat away, or listen to a whispered conversation through a sound proof wall. The slightest brush of fabric, tensing muscles, or bodily processes are all detected with ease.
Sight: Of all his senses it is his eyesight that is the most advanced. He is capable of seeing in multiple spectrums of light, allowing him infrared and ultraviolet vision, as well as having eyesight comparable to highly advanced optical systems found in satellites.
His eyes focus far faster than any normal humans eyes, and this combined with his enhanced cognition and reflexes allow him to view events that would be too quick for a normal human, such as the paths of bullets through the air. It is theorized that this is what allows him to evade gunfire with such ease, and even dodging bolts of lightning, although no one knows for certain.
Touch: Amaranth can feel the presence of others by detecting their body heat, or the pressure changes in the air caused by the motion of others around him.
This has allowed him to track a flying foe through a jungle by following the trail of his body heat through the air, and once allowed him to fight while blinded and deafened by a grenade, simply tracking his foes motions through the air currents and temperature.
Scent: His sense of smell is sharp enough he is able to identify people by their scent alone, and he is capable of sorting through a wide variety of smells. This has allowed him to track his foes over vast distances.
Additionally it also warns him of imminent threats or deception. The chemical changes in someones body as they lie, or prepare to attack are often detected by Amaranth. The scent of other chemicals can also warn him, such as the smell of gunpower, acid, or a myriad of other dangerous scents.
Kinesthetic Sense: The kinesthetic sense is the subliminal perception that allows human beings to close their eyes, yet know where the different parts of their bodies are. If you didn't have this sense, you couldn't pick your nose or wash your hair if your eyes weren't open.
With thousands of years of contentious combat, acrobatics, and intense martial arts training Amaranth has a kinesthetic sense that is beyond anything that has ever been developed before. This gives him a grace, agility and perfection of motion that is flatly superhuman. He can causally walk across a tightrope, perform acrobatic maneuvers that seem impossible with ease, and fight with godlike efficiency in the heat of violet battle.
Physical Abilities: Amaranth's X-Gene does not impart any physical enhancements. Instead hundreds of thousands of years of training in the Arts of the Arcani have given him a body capable of preternatural feats.
His skeleton has been augmented by a weave of living zythium. It can heal, grow and adapt along with his biological body. This has come at a terrible cost however, the strain of continually repairing the cellular damage the radiation deals has greatly strained his immortality, and in a grim irony are likely an eventual death sentence.
Strength: Strength training sense before the pyramids were built have crafted muscles that utilize every iota of their full potential. Mastering the secrets of hundreds of martial arts have allowed him to access deep reservoirs of strength, and a lifetime of experience grant him access to his adrenal glands on demand.
His Khuenaten technique allows him to access every iota of his bodies power. In the hands of a normal human it would transform a scrawny lad into the physical peek of humanity. In the hands of an immortal warrior it transforms his strength to something truly monstrous. By achieving the rank of Grandmaster Amaranth is capable of bench pressing two tons.
Absolutio, the complete mastery of the body in search of biological efficiency further enhances his power- allowing a master such as Amaranth three tons of striking strength.
Quickness: His highly enhanced muscles give him an unheard of strength to mass ratio, and his incredible life of experience grant him reflexes that border on the impossible. He has evaded point blank gunfire, attacked faster then the eye could follow, is capable of running a full mile in slightly less then a minute and leap nearly forty feet into the air without a running start. With a running start he has made sixty yard long jumps.
The combination of reflexes, agility, and raw speed would make him a deadly fighter alone, but when combined with thousands of years of combat experience and martial arts training he is staggeringly fast in combat even to those with superhuman speed. Having successfully blitz attacked foes with meta-human speed, often moving so fast that people suspected him of teleportation.
It is suspected that his KHUENATEN techniques are what allow his most impressive feats of speed, but the details of the technique are so secret this has never been confirmed.
Toughness: A combination of his mutant immortality healing him, his Zythium Nth Alloy laced skeleton, and a will forged in a million battles make one of the toughest men to ever live. His nano-carbon armor renders him fully capable of fighting toe to toe with metahumans possessing great degrees of superstrength.
His regeneration is not what it once was, but is enough to heal him of minor wounds within moments, and allow him to recover from even terrible wounds that would prove instantly lethal to another man. Perhaps its most useful attribute is its negation of fatigue toxins, in the past this has allowed him to fight for 76 hours solid without rest, although as he goes longer and longer without eating his healing factor grows slower and slower until he collapses into a coma.
The living zythium weave that laces his skeleton is exceptionally durable, yet flexible and light. It generally bends rather than breaking when under the godlike forces some metahumans are capable of delivering. This particular alloy can be cut by metals such as adamantium, vibranium, or other equivalents however itt takes a blow of exceptional strength, and generally does not sever clean through typically deflecting off and leaving a significant crack or deep cut but enough blows will hack through it.
Lastly his armor made of advanced nano-carbons provides exceptional protection and light weight against the myriad of threats that the ancient mutant crusader must face as part of his daily struggle for mutant rights.
Like all his other physical abilities it is suspected this is amplified by his mastery of Khuenaten.
Gifts of the Arcani Eons of experimentation by the Court Arcani have enabled them to modify the X-Gene of certain mutants. A dangerous and painful process followed by great difficulties in learning to control new powers.
Amaranth was one of the first to be so altered, and it has taken a dreadful toil upon him. His mutant immortality has been disrupted, and now, slowly yet inevitably he ages. Amaranth is now growing closer and closer to death each day. He has begin to doubt he will ever see the mutant promised land which he has struggled so valiantly for.
Molecular Control: By altering the properties of molecules Amaranth is able to change his bodies interaction with the world around him. A power of tremendous complexity it took him over a millenium to gain his current degree of control and ability. Daily mediation is required to maintain his ability to control such a complex power.
The thousand years of work has paid magnificent dividends for he is capable of using his abilities with ease even in the heat of battle.
Intangibility: By altering the spin of his electrons to match that of objects around him Amaranth can 'phase' through them. The type of object involved is irrelevant, he has phased through everything from sand to adamantium to magical blasts, and even force-fields. Any object he touches can be brought along with him.
Thus far he has been able to maintain his intangibility indefinitely having once walked into the side of a mountain and out the other side almost a week later. The only limits are those of his physical body, eventually he will fall into a coma if he goes for too many months without food or drink.
Destabilization : Through subtle changes in the molecular structure of an object Amaranth can cause its molecules to destabilize and disintegrate with explosive results. He must make physical contact with the object, or make contact with something touching it. The greater the distance and density of intervening objects the more difficult this is for him.
The most common use of this is to cause an object to explode violently. The greater the mass of the object the longer is required to destabilize it, however the greater power the resulting explosion will have.
A less common but equally useful method is to induce a very slow rate of destabilization. This generally causes an object to glow or hum with energy output as it disintegrates into a very fine dust.
Solidity : An inversion of his other two uses of his power he is also capable of making anything 'solid' on the molecular scale. For example he frequently runs in empty air by turning patches of the air into solids which he can step on. Other uses have included wielding a solidified arch of electricity, and throwing blades of razor sharp water.
Often underestimated as this is his least flashy power, it is perhaps his most versatile and deadly ability for its uses are nearly unlimited.
The Eternal Warrior Hundreds of thousands of years of brutal combat experience would make Amaranth a terrifying fighter by itself. Yet he has never rested in his quest to improve his skills and abilities. Not only is he a master of very nearly every martial art on earth but he has mastered thousands of styles which have been forgotten.. or destroyed.
Not one to be content with even the most extreme level of skill, or to be trapped into fading ways Amaranth turned his focus to firearms as soon as they were developed. Today he is one of the most accurate marksmen alive, capable of making seemingly impossible shots with his custom Arcani firearms.
Having mastered hundreds of thousands of styles from over the entire world, and through all periods of recorded history Amaranth is completely incapable of learning them as separate entities. Instead each style is simply added to his personal combat style, creating a massively complex and intricate martial art that combines brutal physical ability with interwoven use of his powers, all focused through a mastery of technical skill.
Ways of Mars: His own personal style, developed through nearly three hundred thousand years of combat, martial study, and dedicated practice. While many martial artists turned toward mystical powers such as chi Amaranth focused upon the absolute mastery of his mutant gifts.
There is no difference between martial arts and mutant powers to Amaranth. Both utilize the bodies natural abilities, and he seamlessly weaves them together. The result is a style of combat where the sum is greater then the whole of its parts.
While most styles are composed of 'moves', memorized motions which are repeated over and over to perfect muscle memory Amaranth has mastered virtually every move the body can perform. His style is something more, it is a style of combat principles, of martial concepts and the arts of strategy blended together. The style expresses itself in the form of techniques to be utilized when appropriate.
SETI-NEKHT : The True Skill
What is the most fundamental thing in martial arts? To hit without being hit. It is toward this end that the majority of martial artist devote entire lift times. Amaranth has studied this fundamental truth for thousands upon thousands of years, and in that time he has written seven complete tomes upon the subject. Among the treasures of the Arcani they are rated highly, although two have been now been lost.
Generally his deep understanding of this fundamental concept allows him to predict the moves of his foes, and react to them with surprising speed, as well as simply outmaneuvering them in the chaotic melee of battle.
ZADKHIAU : The Shatterpoint
All things have a weak point. In some things this is a physical location that is relatively simple to divine, such as the throat of a human. Other times it may be incredibly difficult, such as the cure for cancer. Additionally these weak points are mobile in time and space. They may only exist for a single moment, or may move from place to place.
Through long study of the quantum secrets of reality itself Amaranth can detect these fleeting moments in space and time, and in a single decisive moment accomplish the impossible.
The most common use is to strike a physically critical cluster of molecules driving destabilized hydrogen molecules into them and inducing a chain reaction far more powerful then the strike itself.
At times however this ability seems more far reaching, killing a single critical person or breaking the will of a mighty hero with a single word.
NA-AU: Void of Body and Mind
Interwoven flawlessly into his combat style is his mutant intangibility. Flickering in and out of reality as he fights, bullets, mystical attacks, and more flying harmlessly through him. Even as he fades through blocks, bypasses various force-shields, and leaps through barriers, using his mutant talent to its maximum potential for both offense and defense.
KAANKH: The Shell of Life
His ability to render any substance solid is fluidly demonstrated by this technique. Its most common and simple use is to create dozens of ablative layers of paper thin air over his body and armor. Crystal hard these shatter as they are struck, absorbing much of the force of an attack before it even impacts his armor. Subconscious routines replenish these automatically.
Abuskhau ABUSKHAU : Hurricane of Blades
His second use of the power is to create solid objects, or destabilize any substance. In combat this often manifests itself as a hurricane of razor sharp and solid air flying from his body with every twist, blow, or leap. Precision targeted for jugulars nerve clusters, eyes and other weak points these alone can leave dozens dead in a single spin.
Just as frequent is his ability to charge objects he touches. His retreats are often traps, the charged dirt below his feet exploding in torrents of violet destruction, and weapons that pierce his body often detonate in their wielders hands.
UAEM-KAU: The Stairs of Glass
By using his ability to force objects to become solid he can transform the air under his feet into solid disks. This allows him to run in mid air, by pushing off the disks below him. However he cannot stand, or walk in mid air, as the disks do not fly, only provide him a point of leverage. This works on any type of glass, and even on liquids.
Additionally it is by this method he runs through objects while intangible rather than falling down through the ground. Merely turning a thin sliver of matter under his boot intangible to the rest of the world, but tangible to him, and using that for leverage.
KHABA: Shade
Khaba Long ages of training and refinement have allowed Amaranth to control his intangibility with incredible precision. He is capable of becoming intangible only to a specific type of matter or energy, remain solid to the rest of reality.
Using this ability he often becomes intangible only to light, photons passing completely through him without reflecting off any part of his body. This allows him perfect invisibility.
Additionally he can use this to evade detection from radar, sonar, and so forth. So long as he knows what type of energy he is attempting to evade he can become intangible too it, allowing him to avoid even metaphysical types of detection such as chi, magic or cosmic powers.
KHUENATEN: Glory of the solar disk[[ Coming soon. ]]
Tools of Destiny Over the ages many Court magi, alchemist and now scientists have devoted years of their lives to ensuring the most noble warrior of the Arcani is equipped with the most suitable equipment.
A small but skilled group of Arcani craftsmen forge his equipment using skills passed down from generation after generation. This ensures each piece functions perfectly, because it fits his needs and desires perfectly.
Armand Armand: An old blade, as old as Amaranth. Worn, ancient and grey like Amaranth himself. It has been a constant companion a true friend for millenia now. The number of foes who have fallen to its blade are like grans of sand upon the shores. Epic deeds performed with its edge, like the stars in the sky.
Forged of true adamantium it is virtually unbreakable, and capable of cleaving through nearly anything. The scars and nicks in the weapon speak to eons of titanic struggles, to an unending war fought from the sea to the skies.
His truest friend, Armand has become an extension of his body in more ways than just figurative. He is capable of manifesting his powers through the blade with greater focus and control than he can through his own hands. As such he has adapted many of his techniques for use with the blade.
Tsafento : Swinging the blade through the air in an arch, forming the air into a solid barrier in its wake. A shield of solidified air, hard as a diamond. Although the barrier is exceptionally hard, it can be shattered by a powerful blow. This is typically used to defend himself against a barrage of projectiles.
Less frequently this is not a shield, but rather a razor sharp, diamond hard blade of solid air that his sent slicing through the air by a powerful swing. Before the invention of firearms this was one of his most frequent ranged attacks, cutting down waves of foes in gore filled sprays of flying air-blades.
Parushta: The intangible blade. Making the blade intangible to escape from disadvantageous positions in swordplay, avoiding being disarmed or having his weapon pinned. Additionally this is often used to bypass a block or parry, simply turning the blade intangible, passing through the intervening object, and tangible again.
Its most lethal use, however, is to simply phase into an object he is unable to damage. Although Armand can cut through most substances in this universe and beyond some things are simply to hard or tough. When faced with these Amaranth phases his sword through them, before re-solidifying it inside his foe. Perhaps his most feared technique, for it is capable of killing seemingly any foe.
Ratamus: Channeling his power to charge objects to violent explode, or disintegrate them through his blade he can perform a variety of effects.
The first is generation of light caused by the controlled destabilization of a few molecules long the edge of the blade. He can use this to light the way in darkness, or to blind his foes with a brilliant flash of light.
Secondly is destabilizing objects to explode violently. This is often the air, his swordplay is frequently accompanied by tactical thunderclaps of air. At times this is the weapons of his foes, often leaving maimed warriors behind him, clutching the ruined flesh of arms blown apart by exploding weaponry.
Lastly and most destructively he often detonates the bodies of his foes. Most famously against they alien cyber dragon Noxiafothus, whose massive body shrugged off the wounds of Amaranths blade. At last phasing his sword into the dragons skull with parushta and blowing his entire head and shoulders into mist with ratamus .
Ostracon: His can focus his powers to a far greater degree when they are focused through Armand. As such he has learned to amplify his ability to disintegrate matter by breaking down molecular bonds. When he uses his hands this process is fairly slow, at best he can tear through light weight materials or slowly take apart a dense one. But when focused through his blade he is capable of tearing apart the molecular bonds of any substance, instantly, upon contact with the blade.
This allows him to slice through any substance by breaking it apart at the molecular level.
Innert Zythium Shield: [[ Coming soon ]]
Way of the Gun Amaranth has made use of the firearm from the days of crude chinese paper rockets. The wheel lock, flintlock, lever action, bolt action, revolver, machine-gun, semi-auto, and more have all found their way into Amaranth's hands. And he has dedicated thousands of hours to mastering each and every weapon.
As the centuries marched onward Amaranth found himself involved in millions of gunfights. From dueling pistols at dawn, to six shooters at noon, to submachine guns in the dark, Amaranth has fought nearly every type battle imaginable. Drawing upon that knowledge he has created a formal style for the use of firearms, specifically twin pistols.
Panoply of the Titan Nano-Carbon Armor: Made from interwoven layers of buckypaper, an aggregate of carbon nanotubes. Roughly five hundred times stronger then steel and at one tenth the weight it provides a lightweight and sturdy protection in a world of superhuman strength and mystical blades.
Nano-Carbon Armor Heat resistant to an extreme degree, and well insulated it helps protect him from fire based attacks, or being exposed to high temperatures such as being trapped in a burning building.
Some areas of the armor are flexible cloth and others are thick rigid plates, providing him a combination of agility and toughness in his armor.
Hammer Magnum: A pair of custom made revolvers. Eight shots of .357 in a titanium alloy frame. Each round is a custom made projectile, crafted by a group of Arcani craftsmen who's entire duty is to hand forge perfect rounds.
Solidified Air: A frequent disadvantage to revolvers is reloading time and limited ammo. Amaranth circumvents both these difficulties by using his hands contact with the pistol to alter the air inside an empty chamber. The air is transformed into a diamond hard bullet of solid air, and the very rear of the bullet molecularly destabilized to explode upon impact with the hammer, providing the explosive propellant.
Generally these bullets are solid, heavy rounds that are several times faster than even the most advanced .357 rounds due to the power of his molecular charge. Because they are roughly as hard as diamonds and strike with great speed they penetrate most armors exceptionally well.
There are times, however, when he modifies these rounds. For example he has used his powers to create tiny fault lines in the diamond hardness of the air, causing the bullet to fragment into a spray of razor sharp flechettes as it exits the barrel. This can function as an impromptu shotgun, needing only a thought to create this is quite useful to Amaranth.
Unstable Osmium: Osmium is the densest naturally occurring metal. This allows it to explode with the greatest possible force. A long period of meditative molecular alteration is required, to finely tune these rounds to rapidly destabilize and violently explode after being fired, yet remain safe and stable when in storage.
Staggeringly powerful a single round can flatten a house. When they detonate inside a foe even superhumans can be obliterated in a red mist.
Phased Timed Titanium Flechettes: Alloy rounds for hardness and durability these razor bladed rounds are hand crafted for sharpness and balance. Amaranth carefully focuses his abilities to ensure the round becomes intangible after leaving the barrel, but transitions back to tangibility after passing through the surface of the target.
These are particularly deadly against durable supers. Amaranth personally killed Captain Jupiter by firing one of these rounds through his invulnerable skull, and into the soft brain matter behind it. The bouncing razor round turned his brains into mush, the divine blessings of the gods upon his body were of no use.
Utility Solids : He carries a vast assortment of solidified materials, ranging from solid sunlight and solid holy water to solid electrical arcs, and Bose-Einstein condensate to freeze foes solid along with almost everything in between. Generally designed to lose their solid form upon impact and spray the substance in all directions, although sometimes other configurations are used.
These provide him with frequently life saving versatility allowing him to deal with a wide variety of foes. Given preparation time he can use the Court's resources to acquire virtually anything to be solidified and used as a projectile.
Longsword Rifle: A fifty caliber anti-material rifle, hand crafted from an titanium-ceramic alloy, to create a rifle that can withstand the pressure of its powerful rounds, yet be light enough that it does not hamper Amaranth's mobility.
Longsword Anti-Material Rifle By means of a clever design the rifle telescopes out to its full size for firing, and can collapse back down to small folding frame for storage. Amaranth carries it in its folded on the small of his back the vast majority of the time.
The rounds themselves are highly complex, with designs that required decades to perfect. As such even the Arcani is unable to provide an unlimited number of them and Amaranth only uses them in the accurate sniper rifle, finding them much too valuable to be used in his pistols.
By use of advanced computerized algorithms linked to psyco-reactive crystals to guide his mutant powers he is able to imbue the rounds with more then one possible property. As such he is capable of firing a phasing round that proceeds to bypass any barrier, and then solidify before destabilizing.
A variety of combinations are carried in his ammo belt at all time, to numerous to list here.
Utility Belt: Around his waist rests a belt full of a vast assortment of gadgets and tools. Passed down from 'Strix' to 'Strix' as they die or retire and new ones inherit the position, the belt is themed after the mythological blood drinking bat.
The belt lives up to its name, containing a horde of miniaturized equipment. Virtually anything Amaranth could need is contained within it, from ammo, to a grappling hook, a small ball of yarn, to a computerized hacking tool, and even more.
Allies of the Ancient Albert Eostrix Albert Eostrix: A ancient member of the Choir, his dilapidated form kept alive through a combination of mutant healers, horrific science and his own burning contempt for death, this powerful psychic is permanently assigned to assist Amaranth in all his endeavors.
Born as part of a psychic breeding program and raised inside a hidden school for the Eostrix Choir his training is among the best. Few psychic's are trained at all, much less to the degree of an elite mind destined from birth to serve Amaranth.
At first he joined a Choir, a group of linked minds who together provided for Amaranth's psychic needs. As time went on they perished, one by one, until now, when Albert is the only one left.
Having worked with Amaranth for so long he shares an 'anchor' inside Amaranth's mind. This allows him to manifest his power anywhere Amaranth may be, even if he is across the galaxy or in another dimension.
Telepathy: Albert is a freakishly strong and cunning telepath. With hundreds of years of experience he's capable of contending with telepaths far more powerful than himself, although such being are rare.
The majority of the time he establishes telepathic links between Amaranth and his allies, or those he wishes to communicate with. He can transmit any thought, from words to pictures and even abstract concepts or feelings.
Other times he tears secrets from the minds of the unwilling, or takes control of their bodies. These violent intrusions are rarely pleasant and often leave their recipients mentally scared for life and in some extreme cases can render them brain dead.
The most critical use of his telepathic power is to protect Amaranth himself. Amaranth's mind is strong, tempered by nearly three hundred thousand years of experience, and he has studied methods to protect his mind from some of the greatest teachers, but against some threats even that is not enough. When that occurs Albert is there to ensure Amaranth's mind is protected, using every shred of his power and cunning.
Clairvoyance: Also known in some circles as 'remote viewing' this is the power to view something distant from oneself. Albert is a master of this ability, capable of attaining an eagle eyed view of his surroundings or even to look inside otherwise 'solid' objects.
As it does not rely upon light, or any of the five 'real' senses he is capable of any level of magnification. For example he can 'zoom in' until he is capable of seeing nanites, or zoom out until he has a panoramic view of an entire city.
Distance is likewise not a factor, it matters not where Albert is located relative to his target, he can, and has, viewed targets on distant planets.
Wolves of the West: Throughout history there are tails of a cadre of chosen warriors fighting by Amaranth's side. Few in number, often only four or five, they have fought side by side with Amaranth since time immemorial. Some have carved out their own legends. Others have died, forgotten and unmourned saved for Amaranth and the Wolves.
Wolves of the West For reasons unknown each of the Wolves possesses an arm of living zythium. The metal grows, heals and adapts just as flesh might, but it possesses all the advantages of the zythium metal. Several of the wolves also possess cybernetic eyes. Each of the Wolves is in outstanding physical condition and armed to the highest standard.
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