Black Iron Derick

## Information

A Black Iron knight who was most known for his strategy, both as a tactician and a fighter. he acted as a family figure to Alexander, and had an understanding/dynamic with Escelara that hasn't been match by any outside her immediate family.

## History

### Pre Cannon lore

Derick grew up in the city of Berenike, being told tales of the first flame and Gwyn's war against the dragons by his grandfather, said stories supposedly having been passed through the generations. Upon growing up, he married an engineer named Seraphim, and became a Berenike Knight, working his way through the ranks enough that he eventually became a Black Iron Knight, working directly under Black Iron Tarkus. Around 3 Pre C, Tarkus led a group of Berenike and Black Iron Knights to Lordran so that they might link the flame and end the undead curse, Derick being one of the knights who accompanied him.

Many knights fell or were separated from the party on their journey towards Anor Londo, until only Derick and Tarkus remained together. With Tarkus's help, Derick managed to slay a black knight, claiming its halberd for his own in the process. eventually, the pair of them made their way to Anor Londo; they attempted to make it to the cathedral via the ceiling beams in the painting room, but a the throwing knive from a painting guardians caused Tarkus to lose his balance and fallto his death. Derick was forced to retreat, but he vowed vengeance against those who had robbed him of his master; he retreated to the New Londo Ruins, undertaking magical training from Blacksmith Rickert of Vinheim, so that he might eventually gain the power needed to reclaim his master's lost honor.

### Quest for Vengeance

While in the New Londo Ruins, he would meet and befriend a knight named Brifard, who agreed to accompany him on his crusade against the painting guardians. the two made their way back to Anor Londo, meeting up with the bounty hunter Tiarith, who also agreed to assist, for a price of course. When the day came, Derick entered the painting room, Tiarith holding back the painting guardians while Derick fought the Priestess of the painting room, Heagyth. he eventually won, making his way past her and setting fire to the painting, destroying it, claiming his vengeance. The painting guardians had mixed responses to this, many being happy they no longer had to guard the painting, but fearful as to what Anor Londo would do to them for failing their assignment. It was at this point that the priestess went through a mental breakdown, stating that she'd murdered Brifard in cold blood prior to the fight. as she'd admitted to murder, Derick and the painting guardians attempted to kill her, but through the assistance of Antrok/Tarkon she escaped. His original score settled, Derick made peace with the painting guardians, promising to make sure they weren't persecuted for their failure.

Upon leaving the painting room, he met up with a child named Alex, who was crying as a dark copy of a goddess known as Descelara had killed one of his friends. Not wanting one so young and vulnerable to have to deal with avenging said friend, he agreed to kill Descelara on Alex's behalf. A team was assembled, and he journeyed off, meeting Descelara in the Abyss. after a long fight, Derick prevailed, shoving a silver pendant into her chest and activating it to all but annihilate her. unbenounced to Derick she had been carrying a lordsoul fragment, which one of Derick's teammates, Darathas, picked up and went away with.

Derick would return to Anor Londo, informing Alex his friend had been avenged. He would then go to the archives to study potential locations of the lordsoul fragments, until the went out across Anor Londo. By the time he made it to the Cathedral, Escelara had apparently killed the goddess Gwenevier, and was just finishing killing the goddess Abula; and while Derick had no love for ether, he could not let a god's death go unavenged. He fought her alongside Darkmoon Cephas, who when injured put the rest of his lifeforce into a devastating attack, weakening Escelara but killing himself in the process. Not to waist an opportunity, Derick finished off Escelara, though moments later she would rejuvenate, weaker still but back from the dead. before Derick could strike her down again, her bodyguard, Ofilis burst into the room, using his great hammer to launch Derick out a window, sent hurtling to the rooftops over a hundred feet below.

### The hunt to link the flame

Using fall control, Derick would barely survive this fall, being rescued by Darathas and healed by Darkring. after thanking them both, he would go back to Anor Londo and make peace with Escelara, clarifying he had no actual grudge against her, and was just acting to maintain the honor of the gods she slew. with that done with, he soldiered towards the catacombs for Nito's Lordsoul. on his way, he met Mythic and his posy, a group also searching for the lordsoul fragments. With the intel Mythic had on the defenses of the catacombs, Derick made a plan that allowed most of the party to breach through the tomb of giants, while he held off its primary defender, Kaizer. after fighting him to a standstill, the rest of the party returned with the lordsoul, and Nito's blessing to leave with it, causing Kaizer to back down. Derick and the group were stopped by Crossbreed knight Markus on their way out, who they handily defeated, before being confronted by Darkring, who reveled that Mythic sought to put out the flame rather then link it. Derick of course held objection to this, so when the rest of the party had left accept him and Mythic, he struck him in the back, taking Mythic's lordsoul fragments for himself.

He returned to the Darkmoon tomb to inform Alex of the recent developments, only to find Alex missing, and Gwyndolin by all appearances having been assassinated; knocked out of one of the windows by someone. He conferred with Escelara and Offilis about the matter, and while Escelara had no information on the matter other then that she had nothing to do with it, Ofilis proposed Mythic as a possible suspect, a theory that Derick agreed with. Still, he chose not to hunt down Mythic, his path of vengeance over. Instead, as Escelara was the new defacto ruler of Anor Londo, he asked that she exonerate the painting guardians, attempting to fulfil his promise to them. when she granted it, he headed off to the painting guardians to share the good news. while there, he learned that from their room, they'd seen Ofilis enter the Darkmoon tomb and heard him fight Gwyndolin, rather then Mythic. He stormed out, and upon finding Ofilis, (who happened to be fighting the now Tarkon infused blood knight Heagyth,) He stabbed him in the back with his halberd. Escelara was shocked at first to say the least, but upon Derick's explanation, and Offilis's evasiveness when asked about it, she used her mental link with him to extract the truth; Offilis had indeed fought Gwyndolin behind her back. While the DArkmoons present wanted to kill Offilis outright, Derick prevented them, citing that as his commanding officer, Escelara had the right to be the one to punish him. after her punishment however, Ofilis's dishonorable discharge from the phoenix knights, Derick let them do as they would.

He moved on to attempt to find Gwyndolin's corpse, but upon arriving in the streets he met up with Heagyth, the former priestess once more. she challenged him to a duel, and after a short fight, admitted defeat, choosing to ally with Derick for the moment. she assisted him in tracking Gwyndolin, and they found that not only had he survived the fall, but he had re-located to the valley of drakes. After questioning Gwyndolin, and learning that Alex was not actually dead, he journeyed with heagyth back to Tarkon's base in order to try and take his lordsoul fragment. a few attempts to goat him into assisting with the further collection of lordsouls later, REX broke in, terrifying Tarkon into a jibering mess. While Derick did stay and fight for a short time, he soon found it to be pointless, and left with Heagyth in tow, an enemy now having become friend.

### Late Game

Derick would later appear to assist in the fight against Metalia, a robot made with the lord soul Descelara had held. After a difficult fight, he ended up being the one to destroy her once more, using the same Silver pendant in the chest trick he'd used on Descelara to finish her off. in her dying words she beeged that she be given a new body that wouldn't be under Darkring's control, and against his better judgement, he allowed it, letting Luner take the part of her soul that contained her consciousness, while he took the lord soul part of it. shortly after, Heagyth would speak of reforming the crimson knights, causing Derick to lead an assult on her and Antrok, who had recently infested the corpse of Black Iron Tarkus. Upon felling Antrok, he collected his half lordsoul, and took Tarkus's body, bringing the latter to an actual place of rest.

having now collected 3.5 of the four lordsouls, he was running into the issue that the last lordsoul was possessed by Tarkon, who upon a previous defeat had retreated his consciousness into one of his followers, who was being held under lock and key by Darkring. He would end up fighting as one of Anor Londo's defenders during the duel dragon attack, coming out of it with the belief that Darkring was attempting to stall out the flame linking effort, his belief only further substantiated when REX started ravaging firelink for no apparent reason. needing to end this once and for all, he sought out a corpse of one of Tarkon's followers, taking a vail of Tarkon's blood that had been stashed in the hilt of its corpse and pouring it into a fresh wound he opened, allowing Tarkon to enter his mind. Seeing this as an easy escape from Darkring, Tarkon fled into Derick's mind, and began corrupting him. Using a bonfire, Derick made his way to the kiln of the flame, and before Tarkon could stop him, leapt into the lord vestal, delivering all four lordsouls to it, destroying both him and Tarkon in the proccess.

## Armor and Equipment

Derick wore a combination of Black Iron, Havel and Giant armor, carrying a tower and havel shield, a black knight halbered, Descelara's Halberd, and a catalyst, which he could cast Fall control, hidden body, hush, and crystal homing soul mass with. he also wore the artorius ring and carried a silver pendant, making traversing the abyss a cakewalk for him.

## Personality and Traits

He started as as an honorable if overconfident man distaste for those with ‘unearned’ power; while he for the most part paid gods their due homage in their presence, he had no particular love of them or their positions.

## Trivia

* Derick, by technicality, was a Crimson Knight, though only for the hour before his death.
* Derick was all about the linking of the flame, not because he wanted a new era of gods, but because he believed that linking the flame would produce the best era for men; at least for a time.
* In multiple 'what ifs,' Derick has ended up Adopting Alex in some way, shape or form.