Charles "Penguin" Blanc

**Charles Blanc**, also known as "Penguin", "The Florida Man", and "The Moist Man", is an agent of The Snake Tong and part of Unit 13, the "Spellblades". An unconventional prodigy in Water Magic and imbuing the element into both mundane and magical items, Charles gained notoriety in the Arcane Order's Terra Nova Covenant in his younger years, creating artifacts and magic items that served little purpose to a magus and were mostly made to sate his curiosity and desire for fun. After an incident involving a "Magic Fleshlight Assault", he was kicked out of the Arcane Order and ended up working for the Snake Tong after a period of freelancing as a magecrafter. His unique talents in magic has made him a valued member of the Tong's Arcane Assault team, and he is seen in many places were his talents are needed along with his squad, who have gotten used to his eccentricities.

## Background

Charles was born in Florida, to eccentric magi that didn't exactly follow most of the normal magi traditions. Not much is known about his childhood, and he personally says he had a "weird" upbringing. At the age of 16 he was sent to study with the Grand Order of Magi's Terra Novum Covenant by his parents. He spent his early years aimlessly taking classes, trying out different specializations, but he grew bored of the more political side of the Covenant. He was kicked out of the Covenant, and and even threatened to be killed for 'accidentally' using one or his weapons, the aptly named "Fleshlight assailant" on a higher up. He escaped assassination thanks to the help of Mathilde "Quebec" Philippe, a close friend and colleague who also left the Order after being disgruntled with the Covenant, her entry into the Veil constantly rejected due to people who view her as a rival and constantly torpedoed her bids for promotion.

The duo would take freelance jobs in the States and in Europe before Quebec eventually learned that the Snake Tong was looking for members. The salary was more than enough for Charles and he followed Quebec to the Philippines. He eventually grew bored of just workshop jobs, and began asking for fieldwork like Quebec, who immediately got a combat role . This in turn introduced him to hellish training reserved for members of the General Affairs Division. After a year of training, he was given his first field assignment, which was to be a contracted spy in an Antarctic expedition sponsored by the Grand Order. In order to blend in, he had his face temporarily altered and assumed the name of "Torvaltz Vortivask Avagantamos", since most notable European magi had fucking weird names. He seemed to have thought up of the name after shuffling through the memories of the weirdly named people he met at his old Covenant.

The job was going smoothly, he collected all necessary intel needed, but treachery within the expedition happened. One of the Order magi, probably a saboteur from a rival action, altered with the insulation equipment during a very nasty blizzard. According to Order reports, the entire expedition died due to severe weather conditions and malfunctioning equipment, but Charles managed to escape the expedition team base and survive by salvaging equipment and artifacts, turning them into makeshift comm devices and sources of heat, and somehow surviving on a diet of penguins and ice.

When Unit 9 came to his rescue, they found him feasting on a kebab of penguins, and when he recounted his dreadful experience, he earned the alias of "Penguin", much to his initial chagrin. He remains an active field agent, usually a spy or a mystic code specialist. Due to his experience in his first job, he decided to never work alone, and at least have a partner in jobs, especially in dangerous environments. With Quebec's recommendation, he was reassigned to Unit 13. He was extremely glad to be assigned to a team to a point that he dotes on the newest member to the team, Asuka Hazuki, who he proudly views as 'my precious Kouhai, the padawan to my Jedi master'. Although not the best in combat, he has proven his resourcefulness and versatility when it comes to supporting his team with a variety of Water Magic, from healing to scouting with living water, and fixing them up with equipment and enchanted gear.

## Personality

A man with a bizarre and dry sense of humor, Charles is known amongst his peers to use verbose and vulgar descriptions and curses on a regular basis. Words like "nipples", "chocolate starfish", "pussyfart" are just few examples of his colorful vocabulary. This has led some people to dislike it when he starts speaking vulgarities. Other members, the not-so-serious and usually irreverent ones, seem to enjoy his shenanigans. Oddly enough, he is rather creative and his lexicon is rather expansive, if only most of the words that come out his mouth wasn't usually absurd. He does have his serious side, where people comment that his deep baritone voice and appearance would present Charles as an intimidating magus, if only he didn't say stuff like "This is wacky" or "How dare you have the gall, the hutzpah to do this!".

He is rather proud of his achievements and all his creations, despite the latter not actually receiving much value or attention. He seems to be proud of being an extra in the Hunger Games movie when he was a teenager (even though the scene that he extra'd in was cut from the movie). He is deathly afraid of cockroaches, mostly likely due to the fact that his family kept giant cockroach familiars as assassination tools. Although he is sometimes jokingly ridiculed for his height, he seems to have accepted the fact that a peak male towers at a whopping 5'6. He is rather open about sharing the size of his 'wiener', even when people don't ask him about it. One of his famous quotes are "My schlong is 6.5 inches of steel, bravery, and courage". His team had the misfortune of learning this about him, even though it was the last thing they needed to know. He seems to write as a creative hobby, and has self published a children's book under the pseudonym 'Genghis Swan'. His old poetry could be located in the fringes of the internet, it seems.

After the Antarctica Incident, he has never gone on a mission alone ever since, and as a result he is greatly affectionate towards his team, especially towards Asuka, much to their chagrin at times. Although he wishes that she doesn't hog all the action whenever combat starts. He learned basic Japanese from working with Asuka, although he still sounds like a baka gaijin when speaking the language. Quebec on the other hand is someone who he has a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship with, as they used to butt heads constantly when they both worked for the Arcane Order. He learned to speak French with Quebec just so she doesn't bad mouth him without noticing, same goes with Tagalog since a lot of the Snakes use it as a secondary lingua franca. He and Unit Leader Kabaylo have a strange friendship, bonding over their penchant for Magecrafting, and the two would constantly make several bizarre creations on their off days.

## Abilities

### **Martial Arts**

He initially took a HEMA based combat class back at the Order, but he dropped it after staying for three meetings. He did keep the textbook for it, though. He had basic familiarity of combat after this, but was only fully trained after becoming a field agent for the Shiai-shi. He was thought a mix of styles used by field agents, from Arnis/Kali to Judo, even though he rarely gets any action since the rest of his teammates usually beat him to it. Mathilda and Asuka are the ones usually sparring with him and keeping him competent in combat.

### **Magic**

Charles specializes in Water Elemental Magic, which he is a natural in. Another expertise of his is Magecraft, or Materia, the creation of magic tools and weapons. His time spent taking different classes and lessons on magic back in the Order made him realize the versatility of Water Magic and the Principles it could embody. The Nourishing and Restoring aspect of Water has given him access to Healing magic using Water, and at the same time he can use said healing as enchantments to items such as jewelry and other equipment. He can also create "Scrying Pools" if given the proper equipment and location to do it, usually in a dark room with a large enough basin or container of water, which allows him to scout far-away areas by making the pool project a scrying spell at long range using the Principle of "All-Encompassing" found in Water. He can also create and maintain familiars made of Living Water, usually small blobs of water that constantly shift their form, sneaking into areas and even acting as mini-assassins, striking with a surprising amount of force. For further offense, he can create blasts and jets of water as long as there's a source, and he carries liters of water on his person at all times using an enchanted vial that has expanded storage space. He can also help increase the lethality of his teammates by creating Water-Jet Cutters on their weapons, like their swords. Another deadlier spell is to dehydrate a person by draining their body fluids, although he only reserves such spell to those who deserve it. He calls himself the Moist Man thanks to his repertoire of Water Magic.

**Magecrafting**

Charles is capable of applying all the spells he knows as enchantments to items, with the potency of the enchantments depending on the quality of the materials the item is created with. While a single piece of paper can only hold a one-time spell that blasts a jet of water, while an ornate amulet can hold a healing spell that uses water to soothe a wound and even mend broken bones. Charles has the talent of being able to do this without relying on a workshop and elaborate tools and rituals. He can enchant items on the fly, but can also create items at a workshop for better quality enchantments. His mobile nature as an enchanter allows his team to utilize different equipment while on the field.

### Equipment

**S11 'BB' Bulletproof Body Suit**

Standard issue magic armor that Snake Tong provides its members. It is a black suit which was made to be bulletproof (tested with 9mm, 7.62, NATO/.308) and provides magic resistance, dispelling low level spells. It is considered to be one of the iconic uniforms of the Shiai-shi. Suit is made with a composite of multiple magical materials, a major one being Huohuan Bu Silk from a Spider Yaoguai. This makes the Suit durable (enough to withstand modern gunfire and magical projectiles), easily enchantable with magic, and has innate fire resistance. If the Suit was stained, one simply needs to burn the area with the stain and the mess will soon disappear without damaging the cloth.

**Snake Key**

A standard issue Shiai-shi Key, with the usual Balisong design. The blade itself was made with special materials that are not necessarily strong enough for heavy combat. The pride of the Pranaja Empu smiths, the steel during forging blessed the property to disperse mana. Since it disperses magical energy, the blade of the knife can't be reinforced with magic. However, the reason why it's named a key is because users can create holes within certain points of a Bounded Field. Since the blade merely disperses mana and not outright destroys it, it creates thinned and weakened areas in a Bound Field that is more susceptible of being bypassed physically without triggering an alarm for the owner.

It can also be used against an enemy using Reinforcement on his body. If the Key is stabbed onto the target's arm, for example, the magical energy of the reinforcement spell disperses to other parts of his body and his arm is now more weakened thanks to the lower amount of mana for reinforcement. Fang could then exploit this weakness and perhaps send in air bullets to enter his body from the arm, which is no longer as protected as the rest of his body.

**"Shroud Ties"**

Shroud Ties are standard issue magic armor and head protection, cleverly disguised as neckties that allow them to blend in with the Bulletproof Snake suit style. By pulling down the tie and channeling mana through them, the ties transform into balaclava masks that provide full coverage of the head and neck. The material is made to be as bulletproof as the suits and also provide the same magical protection. The Shroud Tie can be deactivated by the user removing the mask, and it will turn back into their necktie forms.

Charles has the standard mask design, save for a blue single tear drop on the right eye of the mask.