Finis Solomon

**Finis Solomon** is an Astellian businessman and the president and CEO of the Asterion Corporation, Astellia's largest biotechnical development firm.

## Appearance

A very tall man, with piercing blue eyes and black hair drawn into a ponytail that extends midway down his back.  He wears a well-tailored gray pinstripe suit with a dark gray shirt underneath and a red tie.

## Personality

Finis is a ruthless businessman and an even more ruthless human being, viewing those around him as either tools to further his ends or obstacles in the way of his ambitions. He excels at manipulation, both of individuals through money and of crowds through his boundless charisma.

## Biography

Finis was born into a very wealthy family in Astellia’s upper class.  He made it through his education like any normal person would, but there was always a thought lingering in his mind: if Astellia’s technology was so superior to that of the world outside, why did Astellia instead choose to sequester itself away from the outside instead of spreading its gift and sharing it all over the surface world?  Over time, however, this misguided and uninformed attempt at charity festered in Finis’ mind, warping into a further misguided insistence that he knew what was right for both Astellia and the Outside, and that it was everyone else, and not him, who was wrong.  Upon the death of his parents and Finis succeeding the family fortune and business, he set his plan into motion.

To put into effect his plan to plunge Astellia to the surface, multiple steps had to be carried out. The royal family had to be removed from the picture, of course—so when Amaranth decided to leave Astellia on her own, Finis seized the chance and bribed the Astellian Self-Defense Force, the ASDF, to get them to murder Amaranth by shoving her out of the plane she left on. He would then go on to do the same to Hana, Amaranth's brother, when Hana left to go look for his sister, as well as ordering Balrog, his personal "fixer," to sabotage the plane flown by Taka, a soldier of the ASDF, who was also dispatched to look for the Princess.

Once that was accomplished, Finis had the ASDF kidnap Queen Camellia before arresting King Aster, framing them as the culprits behind the "deaths" of Amaranth and Hana. With the royalty all but out of the picture, Finis cozied up to Yin, Amaranth's twin sister, and gained her trust, raising a motion to the Astellian Parliament to have Yin instated as acting Queen. Now all but in total control of the royal family, Finis had Asterion instated as the royal family's official military contractor, granting him official clearance to carry out whatever R&D he wished. Additionally, no longer having to bribe the ASDF to get them to bend to his will, Finis was able to use the Force as what essentially amounted to a personal army.

Of course, Finis' shenanigans, as it were, did not go unnoticed, and a small resistance group formed to oppose Finis' takeover of the country, quickly growing in size to become a rather sizable resistance effort. Foremost among the supporters of the Resistance was Felicia, the young General and Chief of Staff of the ASDF—however, these sentiments did not go unnoticed by Finis, who threatened her with the deaths of her soldiers and the immediate massacre of the Resistance should she actively try and oppose him.

With the arrival of Amaranth and her comrades—Avius and Diana—from the surface, however, a proverbial wrench was thrown into Finis' plans. He staged a celebratory feast to capture Amaranth and her friends, and although Amaranth herself was taken in after a heated struggle with Lessica, Finis' synth android, Diana and Avius escaped. Finis employed the Malik Squadron, a five-man cell of the most elite soldiers and mages at his disposal, to chase them down. In the process, they discovered that Amaranth's return had energized the Resistance, and one cell of Resistance fighters emerged from the shadows to oppose Finis. They aided in Diana and Avius' escape, but they were ultimately all but annihilated by the Malik Squadron.

Later, when Balrog led an assault on Asterion headquarters in a two-pronged attempt to rescue Amaranth, the death of a Resistance member triggered the reawakening of Balrog's psionic abilities. However, even this newly strengthened Balrog proved no match for Finis, who, after arriving unexpectedly on the scene, dispatched Balrog in but two swings of his sword.

## In Combat

Despite being a cunning businessman on the surface, Finis nonetheless displays overwhelming magical aptitude, specializing in reinforcement magic, which he uses to supplement his own already considerable physical prowess, allowing him to deflect most attacks naturally, increase his reaction and movement speed, and strengthen his attacks.

His primary weapon is the SDF-002 Megaload, a railgun apparatus condensed into the size of a handgun, but when he truly wishes to paint the town red, so to speak, he wields the Discalibur, a sword made of highly experimental technology that uses nanomachines and ionization nodes to forge air itself into steel for its blade. Coupled with Finis' reinforcement magic, the swings of Discalibur are fast enough to cleave the very air apart and create deadly vacuum waves.