Name: Zaniel
Alias: The Angel of Luck, Pankration Prodigy, The Last Spartan, The Fallen Son of Olympus, the Olympic Champion, Eternal Warrior
Alignment: Heroic
Height: 6'0
Age: Immortal
Affiliation: Olympus
Species: Angel
Birthplace: Olympus #1 #2
Gender: Male
Personality
Zaniel, the Angel of Luck, or as others have rudely ushered his name, the Angel of imprudence. Cast aside from Olympus over four centuries ago, his crime? The illicit intimacy with an abstaining Goddess whom he had mischievously seduced, and broken her seemingly sempiternal purity. After an official court hearing with all of the Gods and Goddesses attending had heard the crimes, the council of the Gods had decided upon a single punishment, Zaniel was chastised for his crime in the form of (temporary) banishment under the conditions he would reside upon the Earth and regain his lost honor while proving himself himself to be the Angel he had always been prophesied to be.
Zaniel has always been a....Reckless Angel. Truly uncaring of the consequences of his crimes, of his actions, and really, of his affairs with multiple people who span across the heavens and even earth. Having once broken up with Zoe, even after a shortly lived romance in which he had probably broken her young heart. Soon after meeting his first earthly (or angelic) friend AA, who helped Zaniel learn that being an Angel was more than the divinity going to your head. AA had taught him how to be a hero, and how to be resilient even in the face of impossible odds. This moral grounding is what helped guide Zaniel to become a more grounded, and stable angel, as opposed to his promiscuous and recklessly imprudent past.
Zaniel is still a habitual flirt, and occasionally, an egotistical narcissist. But these mannerisms are only past showcases of his previous life having never truly left, only masked with his "new" heroic persona. At heart he has always been innately a good person, due to him being an Angel. He was never the smartest of the angels, he was learned, of course, but never an academic protegee unlike many of his kin who roamed Olympus. Although compared to the average human, through sheer age alone his intellect is rather gifted. Zaniel is no stranger to battle either, having fought in the Spartan army for around 200 years prior to deserting for Olympus.
The Olympic Champion
Having once been banished from the heavens, Zaniel spent thousands of years trying to reclaim a place within his home. It did not come easily but the Fallen Son of Olympus eventually ascended back to Olympus and lived among the Gods once more. During this time he ascertained and unlocked power that had been long lost to him, increasing his strength, heart, and overall essence to that of divine levels. Zaniel has also honed his magical abilities; unlocking a variety of new incantation's and divine abilities.
Powers and Abilities
Passive Luck: Naturally imbued with the passive power of Luck, due to being the Angel of Luck, Zaniel often finds himself escaping tricky situations generally unharmed (or merely alive) which would have killed anybody else. It is uncountable in the amount of times Zaniel has been on the losing side of a battle, yet instead of being executed, was imprisoned (and somehow escaped or let free soon after) due to his luck having played a part in his survival. It also gifts him an advantage in battle, an opponent may accidentally swing less precisely than usual or their gun may jam out of nowhere, nothing drastic but subtle, game changing occurrences. It has also been known to help pacify situations which are highly volatile, or allow him to talk himself out of harm’s way. Without being the Angel of Luck, Zaniel would have most certainly died hundreds of years ago. However, one of the major rules of this power and how it is regulated means Zaniel, no matter how lucky, is unable to persuade somebody to do something they would not normally do under their own volition, it may simply coax them into seeing his side of things, but it cannot force anybody to do anything.
Angelic physiology: Zaniel is an Angel of Olympus and due to being an angel, is granted certain gifts and abilities which normal humans simply do not possess, he has enhanced strength, speed and durability, able to lift and sustain a divine amount of weight, fight for days on end without tiring and can run at speeds rivaling sound with footwork alone, it has been suggested by Zaniel that he can be struck by a train moving at full speed and walk it off, although this may be hyperbole. His skin is tough, able to easily resist a slash from a razor sharp sword or even resist a high-caliber gunshot. Mentally, Zaniel can think far faster than usual, he has deflected bullets out of mid-air with his sword and has been shown to react to opponents who are physically faster than him through sheer instinct alone. He has retained many other angelic abilities, such as:
- Intangibility: When Zaniel transcends Earth and enters his families noble homestead on Olympus, he must transcend the metaphysical barriers of reality, this sounds complex, but simply, those angels who are born to Zaniel's particular bloodline possess the inherent ability to pass through solid matter, energy, and anything else which stands in their way. An ancient ability used to cross between realms, rarely used however, due to Zaniel being banished from the Heavens, although, it is a very useful ability during battle. Perhaps one of the more useful uses of this power is that it allows Zaniel to turn other objects (such as his sword) intangible.
- Heat manipulation (with touch): Once again, Zaniel is gifted a particular ability due to his family bloodline, his family were historically blacksmiths, and to make it easier, they were able to manipulate the heat of metal with touch alone. Zaniel can reduce steel to liquid with touch and melt the toughest metals, with enough focus, he has even super-heat adamantium and turn it into a liquid state once more, he can "half-heat" a metal, and whilst thermally super-heated, wield a sword. For example, he could thermally super-heat a bronze blade and use it to effortlessly slice through steel like a hot knife through butter even though the sword should theoretically melt with standard physics.
- Enhanced senses: A simple ability, Zaniel has enhanced senses, his vision is perfect, and can naturally zoom in on any incoming threats (such as an army) in great detail, whilst his hearing is significantly boosted, allowing him to hear a drop of a pin. His touch is greatly increased, rendering him more sensitive and his taste buds are more potent. He can smell the scent of an enemy approaching from a mile.
- Angelic foresight: Although not an ability which Zaniel possesses for himself, due to being an angel, Zaniel is able to project possibles future of others into an individuals (willing, or unwilling) head to avert them from making reckless mistakes. This is due to his angelic side being inherently made to help people, although, the Angel of Luck has not used this power in centuries.
- Flight: Due to being an angel Zaniel is naturally gifted with flight, he can choose to use wings, or choose to fly without wings, naturally being able to triple the speed of sound with flight, and if strained, he could go a little faster. Although he can go intangible (thus rendering gravity, air friction, and a variety of other factors null) and fly far faster than usual, even going five, or six times the speed of sound due to his weightlessness. His wings can be used to defend against magical attacks.
Peerless swordsman
Known through of the lands of Olympus as the greatest swordsman alive, Zaniel's peerless skills have been documented through countless battles over the ages. Having fought God and mortal alike with ease, enemies and friends both regard the Angel of Luck as an undisputed master of swordsmanship, a natural aptitude, which Zaniel regularly shows off and displays. He has an extensive amount of training due to being a Spartan, having partaken in a countless number of wars and trained with the Ancient Greeks of over 200 years, although, even before he was an official warrior, the young Angel far surpassed his kin with an inherent mightiness with any blade. Swordplay was to Zaniel as physics was to Einstein and painting was to Michelangelo. It has also been known that Zaniel carries a separate dagger in his jacket to surprise attack an opponent if they get too close, or locked in a sword scuffle.
Memöir: The Essence of War
In times long lost to the mists of history the preternatural group known as the Strigidae were born. This group an eternal organization devoted entirely to the liberation of mutant kind and their eventual mastery over earth -- A mastery which the Strigidae has regarded as their evolutionary birthright since the dawn of the mutant.
At some point a tyrant named 'Zythium' rose to power within the Strigidae ranks and concocted a rather sinister scheme to rule the group. Zythium was a titan made of a living metal, a titan that eventually went insane. Mad with the lust for power.
Zythium was capable of absorbing vast amounts of energy; Eventually absorbing enough energy, fueling his desire to take over the Strigidae once and for all. There was a mighty civil war yet Zythium was struck down, defeated, his name was left in ashes, his legacy never born. Time passed, and the Strigidae engaged in another long forgotten and ancient war; one against an enemy of almost celestial, divine might.
The Strigidae was forever fractured and many forced to flee to Earth. Millenniums came to pass before the warrior known as Amaranth was created, alongside his brother, named simply Pyro for his fiery personality. The two were genetically gifted (or cursed) with immorality, made to serve, and amuse their human masters in a gladiatorial ring for all eternity. The brother to Amaranth was granted a powerful weapon; forged out of Zythium's remains. This new metal, no longer a living metal such as Zythium, was named Xanthium.
It was said the Xanthium hammer awarded it's wielder the power to slay God's and the might to defeat all who stood in their way. However, wielding the hammer did not come without it's cost. The tyrant Zythium was forever charged by all of his claimed energy -- Binding the energy into his body in space and time, and once the hammer was created, the energy was imbued into the Xanthium metal. This energy is also what drove Zythium insane.
It is said any whom wield the hammer can tap into the leftover residue of the energy that drove Zythium mad.. vastly amplifying their powers but driving them into a berserk with rage. Neither friend or foe safe.
Upon attaining the hammer The Brick, Zaniel saw fit to imbue multiple divine enchantments upon it that are unable to ever be broken, save for one stronger than the God of all Gods, Zeus. Xanthium is almost unbreakable and enables the wielder a Godly amount of power, naturally, Zaniel is capable of lifting fifty tons, whilst possessing the Xanthium mauler, the Angel of Luck's true strength is amplified ten-fold. This is due to the energy within the hammer, the essence of Zythium, coursing through his veins and gifting him extraordinary amplifications. Other runes and enchantments have been placed upon the weapon, allowing Zaniel (with aid of the hammer) to control weather patterns even at a global level. It is also able to summon and cause deadly lighting strikes, not natural lighting, but Divine. Unlike standard lighting, these bolts are as though they have been thrown by Zeus himself, capable of wrecking havoc to the mightiest of foes. It grans the wielder the ability to transfer himself via teleportation to and from a location by opening up magical portals, and is enchanted to be held by the owner, and the owner only, it always returns no matter the distance to it's owner with a mere thought. Other mystical abilities of the Xanthium hammer include;
- Creating barriers of magical energies to act as force-fields, capable of containing explosions for example.
- It can track someone or act as clairvoyance, Zaniel merely has to slam the weapon upon the ground and any illusions are scattered, although this takes time.
- It will always return to his hand despite any intervening obstacles or distance, even traveling through planets to return to it's owner. When it has been dropped or set aside, it takes a fixed position, from which it cannot be moved by any sentient being except by Zaniel.
- Due to the Xanthium nature having been once a part of Zythium, it can absorb a limitless about of energy/or redirect that back to it's foe, rendering it a great defensive tool.
The Shield and Spear
An unparalleled grandmaster of spear based combat, Zaniel as a personalized spear-fighting system, one that opportunistically combines the elegant weapon's considerable reach with the Last Spartan's dexterous footwork and supreme physical swiftness to construct an armed fighting style of exceptional martial potency. A complimentary system of intricate principles that dictate that offensive and defensive capability are adjoined to the fighter's personal technical ability and martial philosophy. Zaniel prides himself on admirable versatility and deceptive deadliness, he is renowned throughout the lands for his ability to humiliate virtually any opponent.
Thrusts, sweeps, slashing maneuvers all comprise the style's offensive techniques while incorporating nimble footwork and acrobatic twisting of the body while executing attacks. Integral to the fighting style is the development of Zaniel's' flexibility, internal and external strength, speed, and stamina, with an equal emphasis on balance and coordination. Though the style itself is characterized by a transitional smoothness between it's vast array of techniques, it does not adhere to the tendency of certain martial arts to elaborate it's forms etc. beyond combat application. The necessary body mobility required for the proper employment of this fighting art in a bout requires the conditioning of one's tendons, muscles, and joints in order to appropriately execute the circular, spinning aerial movements of the style. Thankfully, due to his divine physiology, all came rather naturally.
The intensive acrobatic movements and rigorous athletic demands of the fighting style are endorsed by the Greek's superhuman physical attributes and infamous explosiveness. And though clearly a combat art of unrelenting physical demands, the techniques utilized impart an equal degree of importance on the mental aspect of combat. It is imperative that the Pankration Prodigy remain aware of the fact that there is no one method of commencing and terminating a bout with a spear. Only what he sees his adversary leave open to him in their stance or attack and how he opts to exploit it. However, he remains equally aware that such openings may be deceptive lures, and thus he too employs feinting and the art of deception.
Zaniel is does not often wait to be attacked, instead opting to seize and hold the initiative in order to force the adversary into a defensively reactive position, rendering them unable to form a strategy of attack other than flail or brute force. The Fallen Son of Olympus argues that if the opponent has the initiative, one should work to seize it from them as it is both a physical and psychological tool in that the adversary may be overwhelmed by one's attack and lose the will to resume the bout, prompting a flight response.
The Fallen Son of Olympus also boasts an authentic Spartan Shield, crafted from pure Olympian Steel. Capable of blocking some of the strongest attacks and dishing out devastating damage. Due to it's divine properties the shield repairs itself over time and does not succumb to the effects of aging -- Without enhanced strength, a normal human would find wielding the shield almost impossible.
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