Phalanx The Automaton

"It's ironic. I'm a cold, nonliving peace of metal, yet I am more of a man than the heathen who seek nothing but bloodshed with no rhyme or reason."
==Appearance==
Phalanx is an ancient Mobian robot, so he is not built like the myriad of other robots that still function. He lacks any kind of armor and looks like a Mobian skeleton made of copper. His body always seems to be in motion, even if he is standing still. The gears in his head literally turn, his steam powered heart beats with puffs that come out an exhaust port on his back, and the blue orb floating in his chest glows like a star. Despite his unorthodox appearance, he has all the limbs and appendages of a normal Mobian, save for a lack of pinkie fingers and ears, and instead of a muzzle and mouth, he has a built in microphone made for verbal communication.
Phalanx is a creature is modesty. To make him look more like a person, he wears a white long sleeved button-down polo with a black suit vest and loosened tie. To accompany them, his lower body is covered by black trousers. Strangely, though, he lacks any kind of footwear.
==Personality==
Unlike many other robots, Phalanx has a soul, and he is proud of it, making sure it is never tainted by any evil thoughts attempting to make its way to his thought processors. He has dedicated his existence to making sure evil falls and stays down. Specifically, he is after those who do acts deemed inhumane and still pretend like their acts are in the right. He shows no mercy, which is the only character trait he shares with a soulless robot. Phalanx will outright kill anyone he sees committing a terrible act of injustice.
To the people that fight evil alongside him, though, he respects and admires. He will give his life for them, if need be. This has made him a team player, often constructing strategies that cover the weaknesses and enhance the strengths of he and his allies.
When not fighting crime, he likes to hang out in crowded areas with any friends he might have made. His hobbies include bowling, shooting on the local firing range, and attacking enemy strongholds.
==Story==
It all starts hundreds of years ago with an old man and his dream, a dream to see the planet in absolute peace and prosperity. No conflict, no reason to fight, no death. He did all he could to try to make his dream come true, even if it was just setting up a number of events that may lead to peace beyond his lifetime. After decades of attempting this, he discovered that the quest for peace is not found in beginning peace, but ending war. All he saw were nations in arguements that costed human and mobian lives by the thousands. It was then he decided to give the people of Mobius another option rather than standing behind a flag waved by warmongers: he was to make his own symbol, a symbol of hope for everlasting peace. That is where the concept for Phalanx came from. 
This man was intelligent, for he understood robotics more than anyone in that time, so he spent the last quarter of his life designing and building the symbol for peace, manifested into a mobianoid robot. After he completed the robot, he attempted to turn it on. The gears only turned for a few seconds until it broke down into shambles. It was determined that he needed a stronger power source to active and sustain the machine for prolonged use. He needed a soul.
A soul would be the greatest choice for a power source. Not only did it power the achine, but it gave Phalanx an organic personality of its own. Recently this kind of sorcery was discovered and outlawed soon after. Things such as petty laws didnt stop this old man. He gathered the ingredients: a mobian heart from a shallow grave recently buried, an alchemy circle drawn on the floor, and his own blood cut from the palm of his hand. As with most rituals involving once living parts of a being, it did not end well. He was visited by a spirit from the afterlife and cursed. The old man was robbed of his body and it was his soul that was trapped inside the robot. 
Imagine being thrown into a world which you know nothing of while using an old machine as a body. That is what happened to the old man. He awoke in the ruins that were once his home. Confused and dumbstruck, he went searching for answers. He was greeted by early 1900s culture and a lot of shocked individuals suprised to see a machine like Phalanx existing. He tried to integrate into society the best he could. He dressed in the suits, spoke the language, and learned the history. He was griefstriken to discover that he was asleep while millions of soldiers died in wars he could've stopped. He set about trying again, but the change in the times and culture impeded him greatly.
In the end, after many, many years of trying to make peace by gathering followers who eventually left him, he gave up. He was a suffering old man who deserved nothing else but to be trapped in the machine for the rest of his days. By then, his travels took him to Saari during the second war. He watched in great sadness as both sides slaughtered each other and were eventually decimated by a barrage of missiles.
As all hope for peace seemed to be becoming nothing but a memory, while relaxing at a car parts shop, he saw breaking news on the television: a local Mobian saved the city of Jericho from the evil clutches of Doctor Tangent. As the bobcat spoke to the reporter, every word gave Phalanx hope for the future. This young bobcat was only one of many people who fought for peace. Phalanx decided to join the fight for prosperity once more.
Equipping himself with an array of weapons, he traveled far and wide stopping those who would try to start the next war. He was at first, something to be feared, a vigilante with no place in society. After people realized he was trying for peace, they called him a hero. He was now slowly becoming the symbol of hope he always dreamed of being.
===Battle at Twilight===
When Phalanx was on one of his solo missions, killing a trafficker and turning him into a pile of mush on concrete, he met Saren Arcturias, who was searching for a relic so he may unlock infinite power and become Darkness incarnate. The two fought after Phalanx learned of Saren's motives and, despite his tactics and durability, his first battle with Saren ended when Saren created corrosive rain and escaped through his shadow.
As Phalanx was aiding civilians and getting them to safety, Saren watched and was eventually brought back into the fray after Phalanx called him out into an open field. As the two fought and Saren started using his dark relic to gain power, Phalanx discovered the crystal that held his soul was a relic of light. In fact, it was Saren's dark relic's polar opposite. This put the two on even ground, and throughout the fight, both Saren and Phalanx grew stronger with the powers of darkness and light, respectively. A combination of machinery and light proved to be incredibly effective against Saren and his dark hatred for everything. In one, final rush, Saren charged at Phalanx brandishing a dagger made of an unknown dark energy. Phalanx held his ground and the two clashed. As Phalanx was about to end Saren with a jack-powered knee to the gut, Saren used the power of twilight and summoned spears to come out of both his and Phalanx's shadows. Saren impaled himself as Phalanx escaped by disconnecting his arms and jumping out of the way.
As he died, Saren died, he insulted Phalanx one final time, putting a piece of his soul in the relic that housed Phalanx's own soul. Phalanx reattached his arms and decided that the only way to stop Saren from having any chance of coming back is to destroy the dark relic. As it cracked in his grip, Phalanx's relic also cracked in the same location. Phalanx then realized both relics were twins, and that destroying one would destroy the other. In his final moment, Phalanx crushed the dark relic, both it and his soul gem turned to dust, and Phalanx's machine body laid lifeless.
===Return===
After his death, Phalanx went to the underworld. While he was down there, he met another lost soul, Vedash The Overlord. The two went on a murder spree, ending many evil souls as well as saving even more lost souls. Phalanx was then proclaimed to be a redeemed soul and given a new flesh and blood body along with the ability to manipulate holy light. Soon after his return to the surface, he met Xavek the Techno-Organic, Arashi_the_Electric_Slayer, and Neo Miyagi Sakura. After a little adventure, they formed the Mobian Raiders and he now spreads the message of freedom while destroying oppression.
==Special Abilities==
*Damage resistance- Immunity to most physical attacks made by the average human or mobian. Can also withstand damage from gunfire.
*Super Speed- Up to 20 km/h
*Super strength- Utilizing deployable jacks that give more stability to his legs, he can lift up to one ton and toss it up to 40 feet
*Enhanced sight- can magnify his vision to see long distances
*Deployable weapons- can change his hands into deadly blunderbusses.
==Trivia==
*For not wearing boots or any kind of footwear, he is on Barry The Badbleep's "Bleeplist", albeit far from the top.
*His design is based off a Steampunk automaton.
*The thing he hates most about being a nonliving organism is that he can't enjoy food anymore
Category:Males
Category:Robots
Category:Heroes
Category:Lawful Good
Category:SFW Award Winner
Category:Characters