Franco Domenico

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"*Almighty God, I demand the strength needed for this battle.*"
—**Franco's intro quote**
Franco Domenico is the main protagonist in Epic Blades.

In Epic Blades and Epic Blades II, Franco's rival is Malombra.

### Inspiration

Franco is presented as the Siegfried Schauffen of Epic Blades, whereas Malombra is like Nightmare from SoulCalibur. Like Siegfried, Franco is a knight and he has struggled with his demons before.

Despite not being a martial arts centric game series like Brutal Fists, it is easy to say that Franco is the Ryu to Malombra's Akuma, as Malombra wants Franco to be just as bloodthirsty as he is, similar with Akuma's deal with Ryu in Street Fighter.

## Bio

* **Epic Blades:** - *"Franco Domenico is a soldier in the Knights of the Templar Order. As the son of a Templar Knight, Franco has started early in the Crusades in his adolescence. He has served the Holy Vatican and its army well, until one thing occurred to him in one of the many crusades of the time. He has witnessed countless foreign civilians in the Middle East being slaughtered even by his fellow warriors. He decided that enough was enough and that he's rather resign from the knight's Order, much to the dismay of his peers. Now he seeks for an alternative to solve the conflict between the knights and their enemies."*
* **Epic Blades II:** - *"Franco Domenico is a knight from the Templar Order. For decades, he has served the Vatican's forces well, but he also began to feel disgusted with all the bloodshed he had to partake in during the crusades, in which even foreign civilians had been victims of his fellow soldiers' murders. Things have gotten worse as these horrific instances from his crusades began to haunt him. He could no longer stand the barbaric antics of his allies and he wants to atone for the killings he's been involved in."*

## Gameplay Info

### Special Attacks

* *Hovering Cross* - Franco slashes upward, making a purple energy projectile shaped like a crucifix as it hovers its way towards his opponent.
* *Light Crescent* - Franco swings his sword horizontally and makes a yellow glowing energy crescent that hurdles at his opponent.
* *Shield Beatdown* - Franco bashes his opponent with his shield
* *Templar Strike* - Franco zips towards his opponent with a downward slash.

### Finishing Moves

#### Vanquishment

* *Deus-Vult!* - Franco starts by horizontally slicing through his opponent's upper body, thus cutting off the arms. Then he splits the opponent in half vertically and then rams through him/her with his shield, trembling the butchered opponent.

#### Quick Deaths

* *Light Crescent* - The opponent gets decapitated by the energy crescent
* *Templar Strike* - The opponent is diagnally sliced in half.

## Storyline

### Epic Blades

"*The Crusades, religiously-motivated campaigns spearheaded by the Roman Catholic Church dating back to Pope Urban II. The Crusades are where Christian soldiers known as the Knights Templar would set off to the Middle East, more specifically Israel where the capital of Jerusalem is home to, and reclaim the holy land due to its connection with Jesus Christ, the messiah of humanity. However, during those crusades, things like sacking and bloodshed caused things to go to far, especially for one Knight Templar named Franco Domenico. Unhappy with all the brutality going on where he was battling. He came to join his brothers in arms in reclaming Jerusalem from a group of people they viewed as too alien to the land of their divine savior, but he never came to slaughter random people in the land who got in their way. To make things right, Franco sets off to figure out a way to end the crusades so that everyone, Christian and Muslim, will get along and never kill eachother again.*"
—**Franco's prologue**
*to be added later...*

### Epic Blades II

"*The Knights Templar were a Roman Catholic order dedicated to battling their non-Christian enemies and reclaim the Holy Land due to its affiliation with their lord and savior Jesus Christ. These missions were called The Crusades, dating back to Pope Urban II who spearheaded the campaign in the first place. Franco Domenico is one of these Templar knights for his family lineage was involved as well. Despite serving the Vatican and the Templar Order well, he has grown a distain for all the killing in The Crusades and no longer wanted any part of it. Things took a turn for the worse when he lately encountered a demon knight named Malombra, who revealed himself at some point to be his former uncle when he was once human. Haunted by all of the horrors he has endured, Franco is set to atone for the bloodshed he partook in during The Crusades. With the Sphere of Wonders on the rise once more, he may be able to forget all about the suffering he and his fellow Templars caused onto their foreign enemies, but he must first get to that sphere.*"
—**Franco's prologue**
Franco is still haunted by the demons of his past, where he and his fellow templar knights have killed countless people from foreign land, and he wants to forget all about it. Meanwhile his friend Adolfo has been excommunicated for physically harming his bishop out of rage. So he goes to find the Sphere of Wonders again.

Despite his victory against Be'al-Zebos, Franco could not erase the memories from his mind and attempts suicide in Hell, only to be rescued by Metatron and retrieved back to Earth. There, he meets a beautiful maiden named Alberta Emiliana.

## Trivia

* The Crusades portrayed in Epic Blades is morally grey and complex. Similar with Dante's Inferno's portrayal of Templar Knight, the Templars are portrayed as amoral and brutal at worse and that despite being Christians, the act they commit will likely land them into Hell.
	+ This can be viewed as sprite-genius's historical commentary on the Crusades. However, sprite-genius, a Christian who respects all faiths such as Islam, has revealed that he is on no one's side and, in an artist's description for Malombra, implied that Muslim soldiers in Epic Blades are just as morally questionable as their Christian enemies.
	+ Some may argue that the idea of such a portrayal of Templar Knights stem from the game Dante's Inferno or the movie Season Of The Witch, where the main character is disgusted by all the violence committed upon foreigners by their fellow templars.
* While Franco and Malombra are presented as the Ryu and Akuma of Epic Blades, their bitter family relationship is similar to that between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader from Star Wars. The only difference is that Malombra is his uncle from before Franco even knew he had an uncle.

## External Links

* http://sprite-genius.deviantart.com/art/Epic-Blades-Franco-Domenico-460274441
* http://sprite-genius.deviantart.com/art/Epic-Blades-II-Franco-Domenico-585859465