Damon
Family Name: Xylander
Age: 29
Race: Human
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Class: Psionic Vanguard
Profession: Artifact Hunter
Martial Status: Single
Appearance
Damon is, through and through, a traveler. His life is one of freedom, and it's what he lives for - it's been this since his arrival on Gaia. It's due to this, that his body is shaped as it is. Open road and fresh air have allowed him to grow to stand just under six feet tall, something rather uncommon in his family. Because of his daily routine of physical activities, Damon is built for speed and endurance. He's spent so much of his life walking, hiking, swimming, running and fight that he has lean muscles on every part of his body. His bare skin is has an almost naturally light tan, due to constant exposure to the sun. To wrap up the image of a traveler, a collector, a warrior, Damon's body has numerous scars, the most notable being a long horizontal jagged marring that runs from his right hip to his left breast - the end of a zweihander having left a permanent mark.
Damon's dirty gray is kept at chin ear-length, a little longer in the back to cover his one and only tattoo, with many layers of cuts, from the knife slices - signs of his attempts at keeping his hair manageable by his own means. His eyes are a light blue color, but change between the blue color and the gray. His face is distinct, with a thick jaw line and gruff features. Damon can't grow a lot of facial hair, so he looks naturally clean shaved.
His sense of dress is more functional than fashionable. Preferring comfort in most environments, Damon wears a white tee that hugs close to his body to prevent snagging and thick gray cotton pants with deep pockets (useful for holding little things he finds or carry his money). Though not a part of his casual dress, Damon owns a pair of black gauntlets, which he wears on his arms in order to parry incoming attacks, and a dark vest underneath his shirt to prevent deadly attacks on his chest and abdomen. He makes no attempts to hide his armor underneath his clothing.
Personality
Damon spends most of his time trying to learn as much as he can about himself and everything around him - the biggest reason he became a traveler in the first place, and never settled down in one place for too long. He is unyielding and relentless in his pursuit of understanding and knowledge, or a solution to whatever problem he is faced with. He can be almost single-minded in his pursuit of whatever his mind is focused upon. This determination carries over to every aspect of what he does, making him a hard man to beat or discourage. Coincidently, it also makes him an incredibly stubborn person and hard to reach. Inflexibility is a weakness in him.
Though widely considered a brilliant, composed man, Damon is not short of his share of internal struggles. Deep down, Damon is a sensitive man, that feels his emotions very intensely. A major problem with this is that his psychic powers are influenced by his state of mind, and too intense an emotional strain can make them run out of control and cause great damage. Therefore, Damon strives to remain calm and collected no matter what the situation, so that he may remain in control at all times. Meditation helps him greatly, not only focusing his psionic powers, but his mind as well.
When not putting work into his hobby and job as an artifact collector, Damon enjoys socialization with others. He is actually considered very charming and suave. His level-headedness and friendly demeanor leave those around him with a good impression. While he may appear to be a natural born leader, being intelligent and experienced, Damon is not highly charismatic. He prefers to work alone, or as an upper-level underling if he has to be a part of a group. Taking responsibility for other peoples lives and well-being is a bit too stressful on him.
As a warrior, Damon is a tactician, and a superb one at that. He balances delicate planning with ruthless aggression, attacking only at the most opportune time and with overwhelming force. Drawing out battles leads to more chances for the enemy to gain a foothold on him, and he will attempt to disable them early and disrupt their plans of attack. This is not to say that Damon cannot be surprised or impressed in a fight - on the contrary, he watches every aspect of how his opponent works, learning things and adding them to his own extensive knowledge of battle. Damon is a firm believer that there is always room to learn and improve. Damon's mentality would also make him a natural assassin.
Equipment
Black Scarf: What looks like a regular black scarf is in reality an artifact that Damon collected during one of his ventures. The fibers that compose the black scarf regulate temperature, keeping the wearers head cool in the summer and warm in the winter. When wet, the fibers tinsel strength increases and the material becomes unbreakable.
Gauntlets: Iron gauntlets that give Damon's hands and forearms protection during hand-to-hand combat. They have a built in knuckle-duster. When the hand is bunched into a fist the backhand protection becomes pronounced from the fist just above the knuckles, this allows Damon to utilize the gauntlets as melee weapons while still protecting his hand from damage when punching. Etched into the metal is an elemental symbol that protects the user from electrocution.
Combat Vest: A thin vest made from fibers with high tinsel strength. While the vest provides little protection from blunt-force trauma, it does prevent a blades edge from slashing into, or piercing into Damon's torso. Useful when having to deal with opponents that rely heavily on swords or hidden edged weapons.
Natural Abilities
Snap Reflexes: This refers to Damon's ability to react to a situation as fast as it is presented to him. There is no 'lag time' between outside information and his mind/body responding to it. This is due to his psionic powers increasing his brains ability to process information. On rare occurrences, Damon can see an entire battle in 'slow-motion.'
Compulsion: Psionics are unpredictable and, for the most part, an unstable power. Though it is uncommon, Damon's psychic powers can activate of their own accord in times of great duress. The magnitude of this force are directly proportional to the amount of emotion or stress Damon is feeling in the present moment. In situations where Damon has lost his inhibitions (drunk/high) his powers go out of control, resulting in random psionic phenomenon. It must be noted that this only happens if the duress or effects of alcohol/drugs are long lasting and have been happening for some time.
Powers
Damon possesses the power of psychokinesis, the ability to move and control external matter and energy with nothing more than his mind. Psychokinesis is not a single power in and of itself, but is rather a bunch of psionic disciplines. Many of which Damon has already gained a firm understanding of.
Telekinesis: Damon can manipulate objects with his mind up to a range of 20 feet, and has a maximum lifting capacity of 500 pounds. He can choose to life one, single large object of any shape, or a number of objects, so long as he does not exceed the 500 pound mark. However, the more objects Damon attempts to lift, the less he is able to control the object in motion. Damon cannot hold objects indefinitely, his powers tiring like muscles of the physical body tire.
Flight: More or less, an improvised telekinetic move. Damon can choose to lift himself up into the air and fly around using his mind like a hand to carry him. He can also choose to levitate through the air to avoid a big fall, as well as hold himself up on unstable and liquid surfaces. Flight is not as easy as simply lifting oneself up into the air, it requires great balance not to go tumbling off into the wind and an excellent sense of coordination. All of which Damon possesses. Flying requires almost no energy whatsoever to maintain, allowing Damon to stay in the air for hours at a time.
Kinetic Blasts: Damon can opt to hit an opponent with a raw field of psychokinetic energy, stunning them or killing them depending upon the amount focus he places into the attack. These blasts act like large fireballs that radiate with an ethereal white glow when they are launched. When a kinetic blast hits a target, it has an immense concussive effect that can blow that target away along the trajectory the blast was traveling.
Kinetic Barriers: Damon doesn’t always find practically in offense, falling back onto kinetic barriers when pushed into a tight spot. A kinetic barrier is formed by creating a wall of dense, solid psychokinetic energy in front of the body. These walls of force can stop anything that doesn’t exceed five hundred pounds of pressure on impact. The barriers can also be condensed into smaller fields to protect specific limbs, with the same five hundred pound rule applying regardless. A barrier requires a steady amount of focus and energy, making it very hard to go on the offensive while using a barrier.
Psychic Enhancement: By focusing and directing his psychic energy internally, Damon can strengthen his physical abilities. This comes at the cost of all his regular telekinetic powers, such as lifting objects, force attacks or creating barriers. The increase in physical prowess is relative to the amount of energy and focus being used, likewise is the drain on his stamina and mental energy. While he won't go around throwing cars like toys, Damon's strength and durability are increased enough to keep up with supernaturally powered foes. Once 'deactivated' this power leaves Damon very fatigued, thereby it is only practical to activate it once per day. Damon can remain in this state for one hour per day, and is still vulnerable to raw magical attacks. (This does not include spiritual attacks or elemental attacks, though they can still deal reasonable damage.)
History
Birth and Early Life [0-18]
xxxxxxDamon was born on Earth, in a small town on the East Coast. He lived a fairly normal life, finishing high school with high marks and generally enjoying life as it came to him. Little did he realize the immense powers that slept deep within him, just waiting for a chance to awaken. When his mother became sick and died, it unleashed the vast amount of repressed psychokinetic energy within him. It was so powerful that it tore a rift in space time, sucking him through to another world. A world the likes of which nobody ever thought possible.
Experiences on Gaia [18]
xxxxxxAwakening in a strange forest with absolutely no memory of who he was or what had happened previously, he proceeded to wander around in utter confusion and fear. Eventually he was come upon by a young man clad in armor and wielding a gigantic sword. The armored youth asked Damon his name, and the only thing that came to mind was, “Damon.” His surname was long since forgotten. Nodding and introducing himself as Balmung Shinken, the youth drew out his sword and challenged Damon to a fight, explaining that he was on a battleground called ARENA, located on Gaia. Powerful energy coursed through his body as his adrenaline began to fill his blood stream. Damon accepted the challenge.
xxxxxxAs the battle began, Damon realized his new opponent had the ability to use magical air-based attacks. But he also learned that he had the equally strange power to send out concussive blasts of glowing force, and lift objects into the air. He used this power to his advantage throughout the fight, but was eventually defeated - having never been in a fight like this up till now. Instead of killing him, the youth allowed Damon to surrender, and he fled into the woods. There he took shelter and recovered from his wounds, marveling at his own new found powers and the new, magical land he had somehow woken up on.
Ingvale [18-19]
xxxxxxSometime after resting up from his battle, Damon managed to find his way out of the woods and into a village called Ingvale. There, the friendly villagers patched him up and gave him a small, empty house on the edge of town. Damon spent a lot of time in Ingvale, getting used to Gaian’s and trying, in vain, to remember exactly who in the hell he was and where he had come from. Most of all, he began to train himself to fight and use his new powers, considering how dangerous he learned that Gaia really was. He eventually got so good at using his powers that he was given a job as a bodyguard to the mayor of the town. A job, focusing on honing his new found powers, these were all better alternatives than simply going mad. The opportunity to test his mettle came when a small-time assassin attempted to kill the mayor, being stopped by a sound beating from Damon.
Back to ARENA [19-21]
xxxxxxOnce he got strong enough, Damon returned to ARENA, wanting to find Balmung and challenge him to a rematch. He never found the young knight again, but he did come across many other, equally powerful adversaries. Damon lost more fights than he won, but managed to survive nonetheless. Eventually he began to win more and more fights, as he continued to hone his fighting abilities and learn how to better control his psionic abilities. His greatest victory came to him when he defeated the champion of ARENA, an elder vampire named Forbidden. With this accomplished, Damon knew that he was ready to venture out into Gaia and explore. Perhaps he would learn something more about himself?
Killing a Rival [21]
xxxxxxDamon learned a great deal about the anarchistic culture of Gaia and its many thousands of different races and cultures. He continued fighting as a way to keep his powers strong, but began to enjoy exploring more than battle. Damon almost convinced himself that settling down would be a better way of life than traveling around and fighting, till he heard a rumor that a knight with wind-magic was slaying demonic invaders in another city not far from where he was. Realizing this could be his one chance to have a rematch with the first warrior he had ever encountered, Damon made haste towards the city.
xxxxxxWhen he arrived, he found most of its demonic presence had been crushed. He picked off a few stragglers and eventually found Balmung. Something had changed about the knight, he had become ‘tainted’ himself. In the following battle, Damon and Balmung unleashed the greatest powers either of them had ever known. In the end, with Balmung on the losing end, he attempted to kill himself and Damon with one final attack. Damon managed to escape, while Balmung got caught up in his own explosion of magic and was, presumably, killed. From that time on, Damon gave up on settling down and continue to roam about Gaia.
The Battle Arena & Lu Bu Dojo [21-24]
xxxxxxAll journeys must have a destination. It just so happened that Damon believed he had reached his when he came upon the Juliano Manse, aka, THE BATTLE ARENA. Damon settled in and got accustomed to fighting in many different arena’s, against all sorts of opponents. Even competing in a tournament here and there, with mixed results. He never gained a lot of notoriety. One battle, though, would be the turning point in Damon’s life.
xxxxxxFighting against Sieg Ecstuffuan, a visiting martial arts master from Lu Bu Dojo, proved to be a pretty big mistake. Damon was defeated soundly and in quite a short amount of time. Here he had faced all these otherworldly opponents, and he was beaten by a single man with no powers to speak of beyond his pure skill. The psion became greatly interested in learning the martial arts Sieg wielded. To do so, he traveled to Lu Bu Dojo and trained under the martial artist, learning everything thing that he possibly could.
xxxxxxBy the time Damon felt strong enough to return to the Battle Arena, he discovered, with dismay, that it had fallen to Griff Morivan in a short and brutal war. With nowhere left to go, and feeling no need to remain at Lu Bu dojo, Damon once again vanished into the vastness that was Gaia’s open world.
A Time Away [24-27]
xxxxxxFor the next three years, Damon roamed aimlessly around Gaia, getting into a business of collecting magical artifacts for people. Being a land completely bathed in ancient, mystical items with various powers and uses, Damon had no shortage of customers and eventually built himself a small fortune. These ventures also helped him learn a lot about the history of the world he had landed in some time ago. It was also a nice break away from Gaia's chaotic fighting scene, even though there were plenty of battles to be fought in his new found trade. It kept him sharp and broadened his horizons - and bank account.
The Black Sand Bar [27]
xxxxxxWhile on an expedition, Damon got lost at sea -not being much for sailing in the first place - and wound up on the ebony shores of Black Sand Island. His first day there he got drunk and passed out on the beach, getting a terrible sunburn the next morning. Over the next year and a half, he became friends with the owner and operator of the island, Rhoslyn Vernal, and Unseelie fey. The two became pretty good friends, and fought many battles together against the various primal races of the island, and aided a rebel faction against a tyrannical government. Damon's business went on the backburner as he became a full time mercenary under Rhoslyn's "command."
Heaven or Hell 09 [27]
xxxxxxWhen the annual world-wide tournament Heaven or Hell rolled around during the "winter" months, Damon took it upon himself to look for a team and compete. Unfortunately, he was a bit late and most of the teams had been taken. At the last second though, he managed to find a spot on Team Lu Bu. The team leader, Tres Ecstuffuan, was the son of the renowned martial artist, Sieg Ecstuffuan, so Damon expected plenty from him. Only to be disappointed by the boy's poor outlook on life and his lazy approach to martial arts.
xxxxxxDamon also clashed heads with the teams resident evil-doer, Darious Kaiq. The two had a mutual hatred for each other, and eventually ended up fighting each other in a private duel. Damon won, easily defeating Darious in martial combat.
xxxxxxWhen registration rolled around, Lu Bu found itself short a member. Damon took it upon himself to look around a few dojo's here for a fourth spot filler, eventually stumbling a young female samurai named Saya Sagara. He challenged her to a hand-to-hand fight in order to test her skills, it started off with Damon having the advantage, but the fight ended abruptly do to unforeseen circumstances.
xxxxxxThe first round of Heaven or Hell saw Lu Bu face off against a new team called Britain. Though Damon defeated his opponent soundly, even stealing one of the other teams axes, Darious and Tres poor performances cost the team the first round win. In the second round, Damon took the lead once again against Team RS, facing off against its captain, Cristopher Rienhart. Fighting inside a volcano proved to be a challenge for the psion, and he was at a disadvantage, but through sheer creativity he managed to defeat Reinhart. Tres and Saya tied with their opponents, with Damon's victory giving Lu Bu its first win of the tournament. The third round proved to be swift, seeing Damon face off against a guy with a hammer on a rooftop. He effortlessly defeated the man by hitting him over the head with a brick. In the same manner as the previous round, Lu Bu won because of Damon's victory.
xxxxxxIn the fourth and fifth rounds, Damon faced off against his greatest challengers yet. Dragosani Kain, a fire devil an old acquaintance from the Juliano Manse, and Brendyn Rogel, an assassin. Though it took a lot of work and plenty of creativity, Damon managed to defeat Kain, blowing the devil's jaw apart and cracking his sternum. Unfortunately, Damon lost in the fifth round against Brendyn Rogel, despite being the more skilled martial artist. Most of the team had abandoned the tournament at this point anyway, therefore, Lu Bu was knocked out of the tournament. Despite all the drama and stress from the tournament itself, Damon and Saya, over the course of the tournament, developed a love for one another. He planned to settle down with her once the tournament ended, but was shattered when Saya broke it off and left without warning.
Between Black Sand & Barton [27-29]
xxxxxxAfter the end of Heaven or Hell, Damon went back to the Black Sand. However, he had grown discontented and burnt out from fighting in the tournament and wanted to settle down for a little while. Leaving the island, Damon bought a house in Barton Town and planned to live out his days there in harmony. On many occasions, Damon reflected about his time spent on Gaia and pondered whether or not it would be worth it to try and return home. Would he even be able to fit back into that mundane society? It was doubtful, humans on Earth were notorious for wanting to destroy something that was radically different from them.
xxxxxxReturning to his business as an artifact collector, part time, Damon started to live a normal life. No more fighting on a daily basis and no more stress having to deal with women or his emotions. Things didn't go exactly as he had planned though. One day, he received a knock on his door. A monk had a small two year child, and explained to Damon that the girls name was Aashi and that she was his daughter from Saya. She had asked for him to take care of her. At first, he was very reluctant, not knowing the first thing about a child. But later reconsidered, figuring that it would be unfair for her to grow up without even knowing her family. Not having any shortage of money, he now raises his daughter in Barton Town, cutting his adventuring time down to a handful of occasions.
