Arion Starblood

### Aliases

The Black Rose's Apprentice, The Watcher of Lustrum, The Whisperknife, Captain of the Stormblade Ranger Corps, The Monster of Glen Pike

### Affiliation

Henry Silverwater (Mentor)Stasia Rose (Mentor)

## Appearance

A looming, vaguely unsettling monolith in a cloak. His face is hard to make out in the shadow of his cloak cowl. The cloak itself shimmers and ripples with dull green and grey colors, and objects behind him occasionally appear on the surface of the cloth. A quiver and bow are slung across his back, and on his left hand there seems to be some kind of gauntlet. Under his cloak, he seems to be wearing a thin breastplate and dark brown clothing.

## Personality

While wearing his cloak, Arion is a very reserved person. He speaks in a low and monotone voice, and keeps to himself when he has the opportunity. Conversely, when outside of the cloak, Arion is far more amicable. He's still kind of a quiet person, save for when he gets drunk, but he's much friendlier.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

Arion’s *animus* is built from an unlikely union of vampiric traits from his mother, and a wielder of the Light, his father. The polar opposites churn inside him, manifesting in unusual capabilities.

* **Vampirism** - As Arion's mother was a vampire, he was born with the animus signature already part of him. These powers manifested when he was about 15. This vampirism provides him with increased durability, strength and reflexes. After feeding on blood, Arion briefly gains a healing factor, making him very hard to put down.
* **Dualistic Nature** - All of Arion's supernatural capabilities stem from the duality of his *Animus.* He can control the energy his soul generates to an extent, which has drastic effects on his body. He is able to control most aspects of his vampirism, heightening or decreasing them as he needs. He's capable of retracting his fangs, a feat no other vampire so far has been able to do. He can also eat normal food in addition to drinking blood, and sunlight does not weaken him as much as an ordinary vampire.
* **Theoretical Immortality** - Despite being a hundred and thirty years old, Arion doesn't look much older than his twenties. The forces at play inside him seem to preserve him, causing him not to age, or at least age negligably.
* **Heightened Senses** - Arion’s senses of hearing and sight are far above that of the average human. His sense of smell is also magnified greatly, especially to the smell of blood. He can also see in near-zero light environments.
* **The Light** - Although it happens very rarely, Arion has tapped into the other side of his animus’ duality before. In one circumstance, he summoned a blast of radiance to destroy a Nightmare attacking Arcia, but the amount of strain he endured channeling that form of magic left him nearly unconscious and without any powers for days afterwards. As a result, he doesn't consider it an option under all but the most hopeless of circumstances.

### Abilities

Arion's abilities come from a combination of practice, mentorship and experience.

* **Uncanny Precision** - Arion has extensive training with a longbow, and is able to accurately strike a target at a range of nearly half a mile on flat ground. His speed is not limited by his accuracy, and he can have multiple arrows in the air at once.

* **Zhi-Tai Mastery** - Arion was trained in the art of Zhi-Tai, a form of martial arts originating from Kya’to. This martial art is a weapon art, teaching the use of a Zhi, a short stick-like weapon with a curved blade on the end, to disarm opponents and strike vital points, as well as deflect blows made with larger weapons.

* **The Art of Non-Existence** - Most of Arion’s training in his younger years consisted of practicing moving without a trace. Along with his already extremely refined techniques, his cloak helps him become nearly invisible. Upon activation, Arion’s cloak bends light around it, rendering him all but a faintly shimmering outline.

## Equipment

* **The Cloak** - Arion was given a special cloak embedded with magical technology by Henry. This cloak bends light around it, allowing Arion to hide in plain sight from even the most perceptive eye. When inactive, the cloak appears as a plain, camouflage-pattern that secures with a pin around the neck.
* **Compound Longbow** - The longbow Arion fights with is made of a reinforced alloy crafted by Henry, making it nearly weightless compared to other bows, and giving him incredible maneuverability. The bow's arms collapse into the body, allowing Arion to hide while carrying his bow effectively.
* **Special-designed Zhi** - Arion possesses a specially crafted pair of Zhi built by Henry, which can retract or extend their blades, can be used as grappling hooks, and can emit stunning electrical pulses with the press of a button. These weapons allow him to more efficiently carry out missions where lethal force may not be necessary.
* **The Gauntlet** - When Henry created the Interdimensional Tear Generator, he created a smaller subsystem and embedded it in a lightweight metal gauntlet that doubled as a shooting glove. This subsystem allows the user to instantly warp through the Etherium and back to Ikarthia when activated. As the device itself is pretty uncomfortable and can make you violently ill after using, Arion tries to reserve it for emergencies.

## Trivia

Despite the fact that Arion's eyes are naturally purple, he generally makes them look brown instead, as vampires were thought to be extinct in modern Ikarthia.

Once, Arion was left for dead after being thrown off a cliff into a massive pit of icicles, but his foes underestimated his healing factor.