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Name: Richard
Age: 25
Race: Human
Gender: Male

Appearence:
He stands about 5' 10'' With black hair, and black eyes. Can't tell the pupil from the iris kinda black.

He wears 2 outfits. His casual outfit is simple grey slacks with a matching shirt, color depending on the day. He wears black gloves, and black boots.


His battle attire consists of soft Black boots which hold Knive sheathes. His legs are also clad in black, a skin-tight ordeal with 2 more black sheathes strapped to his outer legs. Those usually cannot be seen due to the large black cloak he wears over his Black skin-tight shirt. The cloak contains many pockets on the inside, as well as 2 racks of 10 throwing knives apeice. His Hip sheathes house his unique weapons with their circular hilts visible whenever his cloak is thrown back. The cloaks hood adds to the effect of total blackness as it covers his head.

His voice remains one of a soldier, used to shouting out "yes sir" and "No sir" and "How high sir!?" His walk suggests that of one who, against all probabiltiy, moves with an easy and speed despite wearing clothing that appears to be heavier than someone twice his size could carry.

If you don't want to know about your enemy before you fight him, turn back now. Below is just some History, but it might reveal things that would ruin the surprise of your battle with him.

History: Richard was a humble boy working in a machine town. Mischevious as always, he ran around playing happily. Pilfering from random people as a kid does. Working on the machines and making things go. But then... things started getting out of hand. Richards mischious sticky fingers began to net him rare treasures that people had kept in a place that was, for all intense and purposes, inacessible. When Richard managed to steal the mayors bra without her noticing in public, the townsfolk knew something was up. A passing Blackmage was pressed with the question of what to do with him. Recognizing Richard as a young, untrained, but highly powerful Dark Magic user, more powerful than himself even. Clapping an Inhibitor Ring on Richard and telling him it was the source of magic powers beyond his comprehension, This dark mage trained Richard in the uses of shadows, planning on using him to further his own plans. When that magic user foolishly tripped and fell into his own prison dimension, Richard ran away and began his life as a Trained Thief. His magic quickly gained him renown and he quickly pilfered his way to a life of leasure and pleasure. His life in the high life was stopped when he made a trip to Imperium to enter a contest with the hopes of finding his late master. Unfourtunatly for him, his late master was nowhere to be seen and his powers earned him enough notice to be "forcefully drafted" into the ranks of the Evil Empire. Rising quickily, Richard was a high ranking officer and trusted member of the Emporer himself. While out on Recon duty one day, due to some order from Lord Griffon, the portals to Imperium where shut by Imperium herself. Now an outcast once more, Richard seeks to find a way back to, what now, is home. And maybe line his pockets with magic weapons and jewels on his way. (A chronical of his adventures can be found in the comments section of this post)

Listen up folks! The above informaiton is all you need to know if you are going into a battle against this person without knowing what he can do. If you are a seasoned roleplayer and can know your opponent out of character without letting it affect your in character roleplaying, than continue. If not, then please only read farther for reference. Any move below will be referenced in battle, but will NOT be explained.

Abilities: Richard is a Class 2 Dark Magic User. Due to an Inhibitor ring, he Remains blisfully unaware and untrained in most dark arts other than what powers the ring has allowed him. These would be shadow manipulation. These can be used in many ways, and Richards distinct abilities are as follows.

Bend Shadow: Richard can bend his shadow in any way/shape/form. His own shadow is as maleable as clay to him, and does not dissapear in any form of light.

Bind Shadow: A shadow of anything with an Ethreal signature (basically anything living) that is completly surrounded by Richards Shadow becomes binded to thier body. Bascially, The person stops like they've run into a wall if their is an opstical in the way of their shadow. Since the requirements for casting are being SURROUNDED by Richards shadow, this can render a character immobile if they are too close to Richard.

Shadow mass: By being within a certain radius of any shadow, Richard can create any kind of mass and pull it fowarth from said shadow. This can be used to call fowarth weapons or obsticales. Even articals of Clothing or Complex machinery. The mass cannot be cut, or broken by any physical means. The exception would be light. Depending on the strength of the shadow from which the mass was created, and its surface area, the mass will deterorate in bright light. The brighter the light, the quicker the deteroation. Any kind of magic that produces light will cut through this Mass like a knife through butter.

(A note on Shadow mass: Richard can pull this ability off using shadows within other human beings. Touching someone once with eitehr his body or a projection of his body (a shadow puppet controlled by him, or a weapon linked to his soul) will allow him to cause the area touched and all body within a 3 inch radius explode violently due to holding more mass than the skin will allow. This, and several other shadow mass summons require physical contact.)

Dark Matter Control: Any Shadow Mass (Dark matter) Created By Richard can be controlled via his mind. The laws of phsyics do not neccisarily apply, as they can by psychically hurled, redirected, even stopped mid air. Strong gusts of wind and/or physical surfaces can affect their flight, and a strong person can match their physical strength against Richards mental strength. Richard can only control about 50 pieces of Dark matter at any one time. When considering the number of pieces it requires to replicate a human or piece of complex machinery, this can be a hazard as it distracts him from important things. When being a matter of a hurled shadow dagger, it's quite usefull.

Shadow Armour: By combining Shadow Mass, Dark matter control, And his maleable shadow, Richard can wrap his entire shadow around himself. This turns his very skin black and makes him almost invulnerable to all physical and magical harm. When wrapping around himself, his shadow moves very sluggishly, and takes usually 1 turn to complete. It also takes a turn to dissipate. While like this, Richards shadow cannot be used for anything else. Richard can use a lighter form of this ability using only parts of his shadow to increase performance on certain body parts by combining mental power along with physical power. (so he can wrap shadows around his feet and jump higher or run faster. It's possible to wrap his entire shadow around his feet and go about 16X the normal human, but at that speed he's liable to suffocate with extended use)

Shadow Folding: Basically a Shadow Warp. Richard can instantaniously move from one shadow to another (called Folding) so long as the shadow is large enough to pass him through it. There is also a certain darkness of shadow required for him to fold like this. Richard Cannot fold into his own shadow.

Shadow Portal: By Folding halfway between two shadows and playing with things a bit, Richard can open a portal between them. This portal can be used by anyone whether they control magic powers or not. The portal appears as a shimmering black circle in the air, and the destination cannot be seen. The portal is 2 ways. It can be closed by force via physical means (although it's exceedingly difficult) or magical, unless a complex rune spell is cast on it by Richard. Richard can also use this ability to transport his own personal belongings through shadows from a great distance.

Earth Control: The earths crust is composed of rock which, for the most part, contains no light. Incorperating this theory, Richard can raise and lower the landscape around him, creating barriers, obsticals, or even fortifacations through the use of Dark matter.

Other Non-Shadow Abilities:

Prison Dimension: By consolidating a large amount of Dark Energy, Richard can open a portal to a Shadow demension complete with 4 sticky tenticales to drag his opponent into said demension. In this Prision Dimension, Animation is suspended and All magical powers supressed. The only way out is to have someone else from the outside world acess that demension again at that spot. Location spells are availble, but knowing just WHO exactly is on the other side of that demsnion ( a fluffy bunny some apprentice was practicing on, or a 10th level deamon from hell) is another matter. Richard can only keep this portal open for a limited time, as one of the components is a web of Dark mattter which will begin to decompose.

World Portal: Being From Imperium, a Nexus world of great power, Richard has the ability to open a portal between worlds, planes of existance, demensions, etc. at will. If it is possible for Richard to live/survive in that world, he can open a portal there. He cannot cross between worlds while teleporting via any other means, or fold during world crosses. He arrives in the same physiacl location, just a different world.

Portal Hold: This spell requires a basica knowledge of Runes granted to Richard from Vrag Blades. By carving out a few Runes and placing them on/in an open portal, Richard can hold said portal open indeifnatly against magical and physical attacks. The runes must be used almost immediatly after crafting, and can take a half an hour to craft, so it requires beforehadn planning.

Dark Flames: Ricahrd can call fowarth an Icy black fire using Dark Energy. Being of a dark discipline, this spell (as all others that don't deal with shadows) is very draining to his magic as long as the inhibitor ring remains on.

Dark Void: By attaching a large amount of dark energy to his shadow projecting from his hand, Richard can maintain a Void of Darkness that can absorb... well.. everything. Any/everything touching it that possesses either magical or physical presence will be sucked in and absorbed. Energy as well. This drains a HUGE amount of energy from Richard, and can only be attempted and sustained momentarily once per day. Usually richard is unconscious after use. This is assuming the Inhibitor Ring remains intact.

Richard is also trained in physical combat using knives and swords. He is exceedingly Agile.

Items: (All of Richards items are available in his Battle outfit only, with the exception of his Black Silk Hankie.)

Casual Outfit: Richard carries about his casual person a 10ft square handkerchief made of black silk. He keeps it compactly folded, usually in a pocket in his slacks. It's designed so that it doesn't take up that much space, and isn't really visible when folded and concealed. When unfurled, this cloth can easily conceal Richard from all light sources, and can be used with his Shadow Portal to change into his Battle outfit in almost no time at all. Richard also has tiger claws, which he can summon onto his gloved hand thanks to the gloves already there. They are used primarily for protecting himself against sword-strikes unarmed.

Flare Grenades: Richard carries 6 flare grenades on him at all time. These grenades have variable timers, and can be shadow controlled from a distance, so they go off at Richards own timeing. When detonated, they absorb all light in a given radius (Also adjustible, within limits) and redirect it in an adjustible beam. This lasts anywhere from 5 seconds to 1 minute long. These items are not carried with Richard when entering non-technological based Worlds.

Knives: Richard Carries 2 boot Knives, 2 knives on his legs, 1 knive hidden on his thigh, 14 knives in his coat, 2 knives up each sleave (for a total of 4) and 1 curved moon dagger tapped to his back. All of the above are Throwing knives with the exception of the dagger.

Capito & Insidor:
Twin Blades designed by the great forge master of Gazerak, and SoulCrafted by the Mighty Lord Griffon himself, Capitio and Insidor are Richards unique weapons. Their hilts are circular, with a single bar across each of them. Their blades extend 1 ft. from the Hilts and begin in a 6 inch thickness tapering to a needlepoint. Each blade contains its own form of consciousness, and they both contain all powers that richard possesses. They are, basically, extensions of his body that happen to be able to think. What makes them truely unique is that the Grip of these Blades is attached to a circular piece of metal within the Hilt, allowing them to rotate freely around The grip without Richard ever loosing his grip on his weapon. Not only are there mechanisms in place to stop the rotation at will, but Richard can also mentall controll the weapons rotation. This leads to a unique style of Swordplay, and most people do not live to see/understand these weapons special abilities as their unveilng is usually the deathblow. Unless seen rotating, the rotational abilities of the blades remains a mystery.

Miscilanious:
Richard usually keeps a good deal of random items with him in his cloak. Random nick-nacks like pieces of rope, ribbons, a spare shirt, a rare jewel or 2, pieces of gold and other currency, a snack, you never know. Richard can usually pull any kind of non-rare item out of his cloak that he might have nicked earlier that day.

APMR- Magus Rifle: Kept in a case about the size of a Clarinet Case, Richard occasionally carries one of these. Either held on a neck strap hidden behind his back, or carried like a saddle bag, This rifle can be assmebled using shadow power and fired in the same turn. The full stats for this rifle are housed in the Evil Empire weaponry thread, and are currently unavailble. It has full auto capacity and has ammo portals linked to a large ammo stockpile, allowing for continuous fire for 2 hours or untill the barrel melts, whichever comes first. The large number of modes (ranging from sniper to shotgun) along with the multiple rounds (Anti-magic/mage rounds Armour pierecing, and Depleted Magus explosive rounds (think grenade launcher)) makes it a versitile weapon. This weapon is not carried with Richard when entering Non-technological Worlds.

Technology: When in Technology allowing worlds, Richard carries with him a transmitter, and ears only radio wired directly into his brain, and an eyepiece which can be used to relay information such as enemy location or other usefull information.

Inhibitor Ring: Richard has yet to learn that the Inhibitor ring actually Inhibits his magic instead of granting him his shadow powers. When the ring is removed he has noticed that his eyes turn completly black (Even the whites) but he fears that this is feedback and has taken to taking off the ring only when forced. He has yet to learn that, should the ring be removed, his shadow abilities would increase in power 4 fold, and the drain from his non-shadow abilities would drop to 10%. Non-dark magic users will be unable to identify this ring as a magical artifact, and Dark-magic users not assosciated with Shadow will be unable to tell the effect of this ring. Shadow users will only be able to tell the true purpose of this ring upon careful examination. Richard has kep this a secret due to the fear of someone taking it and robbing him of his shadow powers.

Underlings:

Richard has 1 underling, and his own personal Body Guard compromising a 4 man spec-ops team trained by him personally. Their individual stats/skills have not been decided with the exception of his underling Natalie.

Natalie: Natalie is a strategist. Using her 16 probes, she can gather most any information as to the area, atmosphere, etc. Using the miniature Ethreal signature software, she can see maps of the area along with enemy troop placement. her strategic advice can be vital to Richard, and is linked to him via his ears only radio and his eyepiece. Natalie usually stays back in a secluded area far from the battlefield. When forced to fight, she uses her probes to create forcefields to protect herself and/or isolate (suffocate) the enemy. She possesses no magical powers whatsoever, and only follows Richard into tech-allowing worlds. Her brainpower is matched by non, and she's a mean chess player. She wears military issue green mini-skirts, Heels, Blazer, and hat. Her eyepiece stretches across her entire face and displays data, while her bracelets on each arm can be flicked into a keyboard being suspended from her wrists. Her hair is brown and she has Green eyes. she has no relationship with Richard whatsoever and becomes volitile towards anyone who suggests she is incapable or used her body to obtain her position underneath Richard. (Apparnetly she's the kinda girl who likes to be on top ^_~ Sorry, couldn't resist the pun)

And that's Richard. I ask that you do not comment, as comments will be where I place a journal of his continuing story as he travels across Gaia in search of the way back to Imperium.