Post by Azari on May 22, 2021 21:06:17 GMT
A brief list of titles and nicknames: The Pale King, Wyrm, Pale Wyrm, The Ashen Exile, Ashen, Thoughtbringer, Willgranter, Fork, Everglow, Pearl, Pale.
Race: Ascended Wyrm/Higher Being of Free Will, Light, Magic, Knowledge and Sapience.
Gender: Somewhat loosely masculine, answers to he/him but would also accept they/them or it/its.
Height: Around 6ft with the horns, closer to 4ft without them.
Personality: As the Pale King, he was confident to the point of being blinded to his own faults, sure that he could handle whatever challenges rulership threw his way. It was exciting, being able to raise a kingdom from scratch, alongside another Higher Being he had grown to adore with a similar passion to that he held for learning and creating new things. Now, while the core of who he is hasn't changed, he carries a heavy weight of guilt and grief, no longer considering himself fit to rule or deserving of the company of those he cared for. Tired and somewhat emotionally wrung out, he no longer knows what to do with himself, and as far as he knows, there's no way back.
Combat:
Some strengths:
Some weaknesses:
True name, given only to a trusted few: Lumen.
Most recently used name: The Ashen Exile
Race: Ascended Wyrm/Higher Being of Free Will, Light, Magic, Knowledge and Sapience.
Gender: Somewhat loosely masculine, answers to he/him but would also accept they/them or it/its.
Age: Adult.
Orientation: Pan/poly.
Height: Around 6ft with the horns, closer to 4ft without them.
Appearance:
Personality: As the Pale King, he was confident to the point of being blinded to his own faults, sure that he could handle whatever challenges rulership threw his way. It was exciting, being able to raise a kingdom from scratch, alongside another Higher Being he had grown to adore with a similar passion to that he held for learning and creating new things. Now, while the core of who he is hasn't changed, he carries a heavy weight of guilt and grief, no longer considering himself fit to rule or deserving of the company of those he cared for. Tired and somewhat emotionally wrung out, he no longer knows what to do with himself, and as far as he knows, there's no way back.
Other information: His status as an exile is self-imposed, a condition stemming from a realisation made.
Though he was far more resilient against void-tainting than mortal bugs under his command, he was not immune to it entirely. After a while, enough built up in his system that he began to be able to hear the young Hollow Knight through the void. Learning that they were alive and a child trying hard to pretend at an emptiness they didn't possess came as a shock. Given what he thought he knew about the void and its effects on living bugs, the Wyrm had believed the vessels would be undead from hatching, possessing no true identity or life. Clearly, this was not true - and with that knowledge, it was evident that the vessel plan was doomed from the start.
The plan had never been a first or even second resort, more a last desperate attempt to find some way to preserve his kingdom. It didn't sit well with he or his mate, but everything else they'd tried had failed, their kingdom dying around them. Surely, they had thought, using Higher Being eggs not yet hatched would provide at least a chance at a vessel both empty enough and sturdy enough that the source of the infection could be contained, while any that didn't seem quite hardy enough could be left to their undeath in peace. If they weren't undead though, if they were alive... Suddenly what had seemed to be a heavy but bearable cost was no longer that, and all for nothing.
In something of a panicked attempt to salvage what he could, he ordered an evacuation. Let the Radiance keep whoever wouldn't heed the call, but preserve what he could of his kingdom elsewhere, ingrain the same magic that permitted them their sapience and give the Hollow Knight (now named Hallow) to his mate to raise since the plan was in shambles. Then, returning after leaving a note explaining what he couldn't bring himself to say aloud, he unsealed the Abyss in hopes that the other vessels had simply entered some form of hibernation, as he had not actively struck them down. In the back of his mind though, he already knew what he was going to find.
Surrounded by the evidence of his greatest mistake, if there were any survivors, he didn't notice them in the process of attempting to hurl himself into the dream realm to act as a barrier and hopefully keep the Radiance from following where his kingdom had gone. Whether because of his void-tainting or some other cause, that wasn't where he ended up, but rather in a completely unfamiliar realm.
Combat:
- Prefers to use magic, but possesses a Hallownest equivalent of the Bloodborne Whirligig Saw – essentially a buzzsaw on a stick
- Uses a variety of mostly buzzsaw-based attacks with a few conjured greatnails in for good measure
- Will try to dazzle with bright flashes of light
- Can and will burrow
- Can and will attack/evade from the air
- Might sometimes predict a foe’s actions, but doing so takes time just as Focusing does.
- Powerful sonar and loud shrieks both options for sonic attack
- May conjure a magic construct based on his old form to fling at his opponent
- Greater urgency may lead to ditching set attack patterns
- Avoidance – Plan A for dealing with sufficiently intimidating foes is seduction/temptation, may involve a dance-based display. This may also be used as a distraction mid-combat.
Some strengths:
- Qualifies as a god
- Can use extensive magic and enough sonar that it can mess someone up a bit close range (kinda like a sperm whale’s)
- Can awaken creatures to sapience
- Passively generates magic and soul just as a ground state of being, he’s not going to run out
- Can self-heal
- Hard to kill due to being a higher being
- Limited foresight
- Extensive knowledge (from his own world)
- Expert parkour/freerunning equivalent (Path of Pain was his personal gymnasium)
- Has enough void in his system due to inhalation to communicate with vessels through the void
Some weaknesses:
- Weighed down by guilt/regrets, stress and sleep deprivation
- Prone to overthinking and/or missing crucial details
- Foresight is limited
- Has some void in his system due to inhalation, can cause pain/disorientation depending on circumstance
- Reckless/thrillseeking (Path of Pain was his personal gymnasium)
- Kind of wary of orange and moths at this point.
Trivia:
- Constantly emitting at least a faint glow
- If he becomes flustered, rainbow hues start to enter that glow, and his wings may buzz a bit
- Enjoys puzzles and lore
- His relationship with the White Lady was never one of strict monogamy on either side
- Obligate carnivore but can digest most edible things anyway
- Will sometimes eat rocks. These not only aid in the digestion of anything too hard-shelled, but also provide the basis for pale ore forming in the Wyrm’s stomach. It grows colder as it forms, and eventually becomes uncomfortable, necessitating that it be regurgitated. The chilly ore can then be used to help preserve meat, or maintain coolness in the summer. After a time though, the chill becomes minimal, and the ore is passed on to smiths.
- Was granted one of the fruits termed Isma’s Tears by the knight they were named for. This confers acid resistance.
- Has a previously broken Crystal Heart he picked up to soothe himself by tinkering with it, and has since discovered the nyooms.
- Wyrms may potentially be distantly related to bobbit worms.
- While his speaking voice is usually expressed light and soft, he’s quite capable of getting quite deep and quite loud. Singing, the closest human comparison for the sort of range and notes he can reach may be Geoff Castellucci.
