Character Name: Maxwell Tendas
Nickname (Optional): Max
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Species: human
Society Position: good
Battle Theme: Shadow of the Colossus - Wanderer on the Offensive(Remix)Major(Boss) Battle Theme: Two Steps from Hell - He Who Brings the NightDefeat Theme: Shadow of the Colossus - Snowfall on Forbidden Lands(OC Remix)Character Theme: Indestructible - DisturbedPowers: Hydrokinetic Parasite - He is able to control the element of water though a kind of magical parasite that hasn't been encountered in anyone who wasn't born in the Kingdom of Strife. Though occasionally this parasite can take control of water on its own, it bends to the will of its host, who in this case is Max. He is not able to create water out of nowhere. The water must already be there for him to control, although he can pull moisture from the air in order to have something to fight with. However, when doing this, the amount of water he can get to use can be limited by the environment, as well as other factors, such as someone adding heat to the environment(as seen in Max's battle with Lea in Disney Castle) Anything that can remove(or add) water to the environment in some way will affect his ability to control water. Even in the best of circumstnaces, the amount of water he can get will likely be limited, unless he happens to be near some body of water.
He is able to control water on a molecular level to compress it into a solid. When he does this, it isn't able to hold a cutting edge, but is able to physically stop attacks, etc. by making a wall or some kind of obstacle out of solidified water which makes it good for shielding himself. However, he cannot shield himself from non-physical attacks with water. This includes projectiles comprised of magic, but not things such as magically controlled fire.
Since his Awakening, his powers have changed somewhat. He is able to not only control water in its liquid form, but also its solid and gas forms as well. The ice he forms this way can hold a cutting edge, unlike water he compresses to a solid state. He can use this to form weapons should he ever find himself disarmed. He can also turn water to its gaseous form in order to create shrouds. When he does this, he can "feel" where things are in the mist through his power's connection with the water.
LIMIT(Avatar) - the magical enhancements Merlin made to his armor unlocks this ability of Max's whenever he is wearing his armor. It allows the parasites that give him his hydrokinesis the ability to aid him of their own will, although it only happens in the most dire of situations, and cannot be called at will.
Max's Avatar takes the form of a large lion. In this stage, Max is unconscious and actually contained within the large form of the lion that his power forms from water. This lion is significantly larger than an actual lion, measuring a little over 6' from foot to shoulder. Once the threat to Max is ended, the lion dismisses itself and he is returned to consciousness, though severely exhausted(he may have trouble standing, for instance)
So far as fighting is concerned, the Avatar can control water just like Max does. It can turn water to ice(including itself, though it cannot move until it turns itself back to water), compress water, etc. It can also fight like any lion does, with claws and teeth of water. The avatar is unlikely to fight unless forced to, due to its nature as a "survival" ability.
It should be noted that, as of now, he cannot activate this ability at will. It merely activates when he cannot, under normall circumstances with his normal abilities, remove himself from or neutralize a threat to his life(could include a fight, flood, etc). As such, the avatar will attempt to remove him from this threat. If it is necessary to fight to do so, it will. Otherwise, it is much more likely to run away.
Lasts X number of posts, and takes 2 posts for every post it is active for Max to recover(Ex, if the avatar was active for 3 posts, it would take Max 6 posts to recover, etc). Can activate activate twice per thread, and last for a maximum of 10 posts per thread. X = number of posts until Max is out of danger(does include the post that it activates and deactivates in).
Ability Enhancing Armor - His armor was modified by Merlin to help augment and strengthen his water controlling abilities, allowing him to use it more easily and for longer periods of time before tiring than he could have previously. The enhancements also are what allows him to access his power's avatar, though not exactly at will. If he were to ever get separated from his armor, or if his armor was ever destroyed completely, he would be unable to access it.
Spearman - Max is a trained military spearman, and was usually placed in units on the flanks of the main army to protect against flanking cavalry charges. As such, the units he was in had more primarily defensive roles. Naturally, this leant Max towards learning a more defensive style of fighting with his spear. Though at the core his style of fighting is still defensive, consisting of holding opponents off at range with his water controlling abilities and running them off further away with his spear when they get close, he is still very skilled with the weapon, and has learned to be much more offensive lately, due to no longer fighting with a large unit of men at his side.
Weapon(s): Max carries with him a special spear made by Rellen, after he rescued her from the Dark XII on Disney Castle, that at Max's will produces a shield from its tip to protect him. The shield lasts for a maximum of two posts(Max can disable it sooner with the push of a small button), and there is a cooldown of 1 post before it can be used again.
He also carries with him a special longsword, named Quicksilver, with a thinner-than-usual blade. It has an ornate design, with a black steel blade. The hilt is silver colored with gold trim.
Picture (Optional): None
Appearance: He stands at about 5'7" tall, has dark brown hair and brown eyes. His body is of medium build, and he is lightly muscled. This belies his true strength, which is greater than many would expect from one of his size(though by no means superhuman). He wears a simple set of chainmail and light armor. He wears a shirt of chainmail over his normal cloth shirt, with a padded leather vest over that. The leather vest has the emblem of Dryden, a gold dragon clutching a golden sword and shield in its talons inside of a golden circle, emblazoned on the chest. On the left shoulder he also wears a leather pauldron to help protect that shoulder, since it is more vulnerable than his right. He wears regular, dark blue colored pants with light boiled leather greaves to protect his legs. On his feet he wears a pair of heavy, black leather boots and on his wrists he wears a pair of leather bracers to help support his wrists. His armor was modified by Merlin to help augment and strengthen his water controlling abilities, allowing him to use it more easily and for longer periods of time before tiring than he could have previously. In addition, this armor is very well and sturdily made. It does not break easily, and has been treated to be resistant, though not impervious, to corrosion.
Personality: Max is the kind to not let much bother him. He merely takes what happens, and deals with it. Most from The Kingdom of Strife had to be the same way, due to the harsh nature of life there due to the constant warfare. Though before, he did this by joking around with his friends more, the fact that he no longer travels with the army of Dryden in his old unit has changed his coping mechanisms greatly. Though he will still laugh and joke with whatever friends he has nearby, he now more tends to go into a kind of brooding state immediately after something happens. He gets quieter, and sits there and thinks about what happened.
In difficult and trying situations, Max tends to move into action without thinking. If he sees someone being attacked by the Heartless, he doesn't sit back and think first, but instead rushes in to fight the heartless back from the person. On the same note, he is the kind of person to face his problems head on, face-to-face, rather than through other, sneakier methods. He has a strong sense of honor, which also compels him to take this mentality to how he fights as well. He refuses to stab somebody in the back, but instead prefers to face them head-on in an even challenge.
Max has a rather volatile temper, though he generally is able to keep a good handle on it. He can get frustrated rather easily, depending on what he's doing. It can take quite a bit to make him lose his temper. However, when he does, he becomes very reckless, abandoning his usual defensive fighting tactics for blind offense, which is something he is wholly unfamilliar with and leaves him open much more. He also hates the Heartless with a passion, and is more likely to lose his temper with them much quicker than he would with anyone else.
He is usually a rather kind person, even if he does seem somewhat callous due to how he deals with his experiences. He will usually try to help someone in need, when he can. He is, in general, a good guy.
Original World: The Kingdom Of Strife
Current Residing World: N/A, he is a wanderer.
History/Background: Max was born to a poor family in the world named The Kingdom of Strife, in the central nation of Dryden. Because of their location in the world, Dryden was almost constantly at the center of one war or another, as many of its neighbors were jockeying for its strategic position. Because of this, many homes, like Max's, were left destitute. They all managed to make a living and cope somehow. Max coped by running around the town with his best friend and partner in crime, Donovan Erot, another boy of a por family. They would run around the town where they lived and get into all shorts of trouble. Then, at the age of 8, their elemental abilities manifested: Donovan was able to control fire, and Max water. They began experimenting with using it, and eventually ended up play fighting with it. By the time they were 12, they had started seriously sparring with their elemental abilities, Max gaining several small scars from burns, due to Donovan's fire. When Max was 13, they were both sent to the military academy for training in the use of their powers, and taught how to become soldiers.
While they were there, Max soaked up everything they were taught like a sponge. He gave it his all, both in the training yard with weapons and with his powers. He became known as a vicious fighter who would fight to exhaustion in the yard. There were times where his opponents yielded the fight, not because he had actually bested them, but because he had exhausted them by not staying down when they knocked him to the ground. He was trained to fight with his powers, and with many common weapons, including swords, spears, cudgels, maces, and various others. He showed great promise with the spear and sword, and so when he graduated the academy at the top of his class, he was assigned to a unit of spearmen, and sent off to fight the rebels who were attempting to overthrow the current Drydenian government at the age of 18.
It wasn't too long after, though, when the Heartless showed up. They came from the Twilight Cape, where the god and goddess of their world resided. Before anyone knew what was happening, the Heartless had completely overrun Dryden's easternmost neighbors, and all of a sudden she was fighting a war on two fronts against the Heartless and rebels. Most of the forces that had been assigned to fight the rebels, who until this point had been on the defensive, were taken to fight the Heartless. At this point, Max and Donovan were reunited, and fought alongside each other against the Heartless. This fighting quickly became known as the Heartless Wars, and Dryden was losing. Having to fight the rebels on their western side, and the Heartless to the east was straining the army to the breaking point. They kept being pushed back further and further on both fronts until, eventually, the only plot of land that remained to them was Fort Sentra, which was where the keyhole for their world resided(though this was unknown to them). The strain was too much for Max's childhood friend Donovan, who ended up losing his sanity when they encountered a group of heartless on a scouting mission. He attacked the others in the team, and Max himself had to kill him. They stayed in Fort Sentra for a while as the Heartless spread across the world like a plague, consuming nearly the entire world before Fort Sentra finally succumbed to the lengthy seige the forces of darkness had laid on it. As his world was destroyed, Max found himself fighting off large groups of heartless, and then...
He woke up in a strange town, which was constantly in a state of twilight. He eventually would learn that he had been deposited into a world named Traverse Town by a strange twist of fate, delivering him from the destruction of his home world. Stuck in this new world, Max began working for a mechanic who worked on a rare kind of transportation, known as gummi ships. He helped the mechanic, who took him in and gave him a place to live in the second district until, one day, Heartless attacked the place they lived. Max got separated from the mechanic, and just barely managed to escape to the safety of the first district. After a while, he managed to make his way back to where he had been staying with the mechanic. Though the place was deserted, he waited there, to see if he would show up again. When he didn't show up after a week, Max took the last gummi ship that was left in his shop and decided to start trying to find a way to bring his world back. Since he did not know how to pilot the ship, the ship's AI, Ciraph, did everything for him.
Shortly after obtaining this gummi ship, he began to explore the other worlds outside of Traverse Town. As he did, he stumbled across a world called Twilight Town, where he met Mikhail Rutherford and Erika Monika, both of which he would eventually make good friends with. He ended up fighting alongside them, as well as others, to run off strange white creatures that had suddenly appeared. After they ran them off, Erika agreed to help Max find a way to restore his destroyed world. And so, the two traveled across the worlds, searching for any information on how to restore a world lost to the heartless. On the way, they encountered many different people, including a strange humanoid Heartless that seemed to retain its intelligence, a man who could manipulate shadows and use them to fight, and one man who even used his very bones to fight. During one excursion into Disney Castle, while fighting Heartless, Max began to go through his water abilities' awakening, which caused him to lose control of them while at the same time strengthening them. Though it lasted for only a week, it was a very harrowing week, and one he and Erika were both glad to see the end of.
During an excursion to the underworld to save a friend they had made during their travels, Rubix, Erika sacrificed her own life to save their friend's. With the loss of the girl who had become one of his best friends, Max tried to bring things together and continue his search. However, with each world he visited, he continued seeing the horrors that the Heartless wreaked everywhere, and so along with another one of his best friends he'd made since his world's destruction, Mikhail, he formed a small group that dedicated themselves to defending the worlds from the Heartless, and hoped to one day do away with them completely.
It wasn't long afterward that he'd ended up being attacked by a large group of Heartless, and was gravely wounded. Luckily, he was found by an old man named Merlin, who managed to help him recover, with the aid of magic, in just a few months. Upon his awakening, Max found Mikhail had come to find Merlin at his house, where Max was, just as the soldier got out of bed for the first time in a week. Merlin tested both of their abilities, and then sent them on their way. Max went to Traverse Town, where he'd been attacked by the Heartless that had nearly killed him, to look for his missing spear. Once he retrieved it, he managed to stumble across Mikhail and his new mentor, Jadis the White Witch. Jadis charged Max with finding an associate of hers, a young woman skilled with locks named Rellen, and bringing her back to Traverse Town safely. Max accepted her quest and left, leaving for the place he was told to look for her at: Disney Castle. What he saw when he arrived there, though, was not what he expected.
He arrived in the throne room of the castle to see a pair of powerful Heartless, from the Dark XII, both attacking Rellen, who had brought a shield up to protect herself. One of the Heartless, named Elaeus, left, leaving the other, a fire weilder named Lea, to deal with Max. The soldier of Dryden barely managed to hold the Heartless back and escape with Rellen before he was dealt any serious blows. Once aboard his gummi ship, Rellen thanked him by synthesizing improvements for his spear, which allowed him to create a magical shield at the tip to defend himself.
With his charge and newly upgraded weapon in tow, Max made his way back to Traverse Town, where he delivered Rellen to Jadis and joined in on the Ulysses expedition to Atlantis. During the trip from Traverse Town to the mystical world, he helped defend the Ulysses fleet from attacking Heartless, but once they arrived on the world itself, they encountered a foe he didn't know how to fight. The Leviathan destroyed all of the main ships in the Ulysses fleet, leaving the crews to find their way on small, life escape gummi craft of their own gummi ships. Max, in his ship which he'd named after its AI Ciraph, did not make it out unscathed. During the escape, the Leviathan severely damaged his ship, which crippled it in the water. Knowing his only hope was to make it somewhere before he ran out of air in his ship, he used his water abilities to push the ship through the ocean, allowing the Leviathan to chase the others while it ignored him. He did get separated from the others, but he also managed to find a cavern he could survive in. He left his damaged gummi ship there and began exploring the caverns, eventually discovering the city of Atlantis itself. However, he was too late. It had taken him too long to get there, and the others of the expedition, had already come and gone.
And so, now, Max was stranded on Atlantis, among the Atlanteans, slowly salvaging whatever parts he could from the abandoned gummi ships the expedition had left behind to fix his own gummi ship so he could attempt to leave...
Role Playing Sample: Max brought down what had to have been the dozenth Heartless within the past ten minutes. Then again, it shouldn't surprise him. They fit in perfectly in a forest like the one he was in, all full of dead, gnarled, leafless trees. He'd lost track of how long he'd been in this forest. He couldn't even remember how he'd gotten here in the first place. His mind was so hazy he could barely think. All he could do was continue on and keep cutting down the heartless as they came up.
This entire task, though, was made much more difficult by the fact that Max didn't have his spear. All he had was that sword he'd gotten from that one guy a while back. He couldn't bring the man's name or face to mind, but he could bring up the basic memory. He'd abandoned the weapon, and just left it there. Max had decided it looked like a good weapon and decided to take custody of it until its original owner returned for it...which he never had. But, he'd done well enough so far, and so Max continued on through the path through the forest. Each time a heartless popped out of the trees, Max cut it down within seconds of it revealing itself. Even so, the Heartless continued coming after him. It was like they never learned, they had no sense of self preservation.
Max continued on like this for what seemed like hours, days, weeks, months, and even years. He continued on until his trek through the forest was all he knew, all he could remember. He could think about nothing else. Eventually, the Heartless began showing up in larger numbers, stronger Heartless accompanying the weaker shadows. He couldnt' explain how he knew how all of them were called. He just knew. It was as he was running, attempting to outpace the newest and largest group of Heartless yet that his path through the forest was cut off by the massive form of a Heartless he knew was called a Darkside.
Max slowly came to a stop as the massive heartless rose from the ground, more Heartless seemingly forming from its very body. He stood there, rooted in place, as it rose up to its full height and looked down at him. Gripping his sword in hand, Max took up a fighting stance. If he was trapped, then he would just have to fight his way through. That's all there was to it.
As the group of Heartless chasing him caught up, he struck out with his sword, cutting several of them down immediately. Soldiers and Shadows and Flying soldiers all fell. Powerwilds dissipated into shadow. Large Bodies, the big fat heartless which were impervious to damage from the front, only survived moments longer than their brethren. However, the Heartless kept coming.
They pushed closer and closer to Max through sheer force of numbers, all while the Darkside watched. EVentually, though, the Darkside grew tired of watching and decided to end it then and there. It brought its fist back, pumping its arm for a punch, and then brought it down, knuckles first, right on top of him....
********
Max jolted awake in the bed he had been laying in for...who knew how long? He didn't remember being in a bed. He didn't remember going to sleep. The last thing he remembered was being ambushed by a bunch of heartess and getting knocked out before he could do anything about it. He'd been too distracted by his thoughts about what he'd talked to Erika about. He hadn't paid attention to what was going on, and by the time he'd noticed the Heartless, it was too late. There had been nothing he could do.
But, that didn't answer any questions. How had he ended up here, in this little hut? He groaned as he started moving, his body aching still from the beating he'd received from those heartless. He pushed the pain aside, though, and stood up on the side of the bed and looked around. Where was he?
(roleplay sample is a post from the thread "A Soldier, A Wizard, and That Guy.....", w/ Mikhail Rutherford and Merlin Ambrosius in Radiant Gardens.)
