Once again, welcome back to The Demigod Idea part 3! Enjoy this post, and stay tuned for The Demigod Idea part 4.
The Bloodmage (Assassin, Force of Darkness)
Amongst all the races of man that existed throughout the land, the Rokenh were a peculiar faction. Living somewhere among the famed Valley of Life, they lead a very secluded existence. Such is their seclusion that only scholars and historians can only hint at the existence of such a race.
Though they appear no different than any man, a closer inspection would reveal blood-shot eyes and a pale skin; the typical Rokenh. This is the result of the river in the Valley of Life, as the Rokenh depend on it as their only source of water. Throughout their entire lives a Rokenh is expected to be robed from head to toe, showing no skin except where the eyes should be. This is to protect them from unnecessary harm, no matter how small, so that they will not accidently shed blood.
It is Rokenh belief that they are the children of the Blood God, the giver of all life, and that in each living things the Blood God invested a miniscule portion of his essence. It is thus that blood is a sacred commodity in Rokenh culture. To shed blood, their own or others, in anything other than the offering to the Blood God is sacrilege beyond comprehension.
But like any religion, compromises can be made concerning the shedding of blood. When a Rokenh commits a crime that demands death penalty, the Rokenh in question will usually be drowned and, after death, be stripped of all his blood and offered to the Blood God. While some of the traditionalist believe that returning “foul blood” to the god is a disgusting practice, the newer generations insist that all blood must be returned to the Blood God, no matter how foul it may be.
There are those, however, whose crime is so great that the criminal is sentenced to beheading. Many a Rokenh have ceased their criminal activities at the threat of a beheading, which is considered worse than death, as the blood who are beheaded are rejected by the blood priests as sacrifice to the Blood God, and left to dry on the ground on which it was spilled.
Despite the rigid belief of the sacredness of blood, there are those amongst the Rokenh who casually disregard ancient tradition and cares not whether they accidently shed blood or not. Some even insist that blood has nothing to do with sacredness, resulting in banishment or execution for most. The most infamous of these radicals is Blod Narkoman. Narkoman was once as devote to his blood as any other right-thinking Rokenh. The blood priests even considered him as a quality choice to join their ranks of priesthood.
One day, when Narkoman was out by the valley gathering the rare herbs for his potion master, he came across a rare reptile he had never seen before nesting beside a herb. Curious, he crept closer to the reptile until he was close enough to smell it. Hesitantly, he reached out his hand to touch the reptile. Before he could react, the reptile lashed at his fingers with his sharp tail, cutting both his glove and his finger. Turning around, the reptile leaped off and left the cursing boy alone.
Doing his upmost best to stop the bleeding, Narkoman held his hand against the wound and prayed for forgiveness for shedding blood involuntarily. As he chanted he noticed that some of his blood splattered on the herb the reptile was beside. Suddenly the blood burst into flames, burning the herb down. Shocked as he was, he was also sickly curious. Finding another plant, he rubbed a speckle of his blood on the plant. As did the other plant it burst into flames, only in smaller degree.
Narkoman soon discovered that he could perform miracles, or so he believed, with his own blood. He is only limited by how much blood he shed. Over the next few days when his potion master would send him out to collect herbs he would spend his days sitting by a rock to experiment the abilities he could do with his own blood. He could not do it every day, as he would risk bleeding himself to death. That problem, however, was solved as he soon discovered he could bleed other animals and add their blood to his own.
It was only a matter of time before he was discovered by a fellow apprentice of the same potion master. Curious as to why it takes Narkoman hours to gather herbs when even his most incompetent apprentice could gather them in half an hour, the potion master sent one of his apprentices to follow Narkoman. When the apprentice saw the sacrilegious acts that Narkoman was committing in secret, he ran all the way back to town to tell his discovery.
When Narkoman arrived back in town he was immediately confronted by a angry crowd of Rokenh and a council of the blood priests. They demanded Narkoman to account for what his fellow apprentice had claimed he had seen. Narkoman tried to use this opportunity to show what he had discovered, going so far as to show the spells that could be achieved by their own blood. This act was regarded as a sin against life itself, the council proclaimed, and an unanimous vote demanded that Narkoman be beheaded.
The next day Narkoman was brought onto a wooden stage for all Rokenh to see. With an executioner at his right side the blood priests began to recite the crimes he had committed, some were real and most were fabricated. All they serve was to convince the crowd to show no mercy to Narkoman for turning his back against his people and his god. When they were done they signaled the executioner, and the executioner brought his axe high in the air and let it drop with his might.
At the last moment, just before the blade severed his neck, Narkoman moved his neck to the left, just enough so that the blade cut his neck, but not enough to kill him just yet. Before anyone could respond Narkoman raised his bonded hand to cup as much of his blood in his hand and tossed it onto the crowd. In an instant the blood burst into a torrent of flame and tempest, engulfing most of the crowd.
Using this as a distraction he ran out of the town and never looked back. To the survivors of the incident he was known as the thrice-cursed Narkoman the Perverse, but to the rest of the world he was known as Narkoman the Bloodmage.
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To make Narkoman unique, he has no mana and twice the amount of starting life any demigod should have. The reason behind this is that every time he uses a spell he sacrifices a portion of his health to cast it. Here are some of his abilities.
[Range] Melee (to offset the fact he has a fat load of health).
[Appearance] A pale young man with blonde clean-cut hear with bloodshot eyes. He wears the same traditional Rokenh robe tunic with gold lining (as a result he has very little armor to begin with) and carries a bloody sword as his weapon. He also has a belt buckle with potions lining all the way around him. If you really want to be detail-wise he has a scar on the left of his neck. He walks (yes, walk. Not fly, float, or flounder) with the attitude of a man eager to get into the thick of battle.
[Mottos] Let the blood-shedding begin!
Hmm, I seem to be running out of blood. May I use yours?
Blood for the Blood God!
I require your blood immediately, so please don’t’ resist.
[Instant] Leach – Draining the life out of his foes, the Bloodmage gains 5%/10%/15%/20% life steal.
[3.0] Drain Life – Blood casting gives one a serious appetite you know? Drain 300/500/700/900 life from target enemy. 13 sec cooldown.
[Instant] Blood Boil – Burning the blood in his veins gives him a much needed boost in combat. While Blood Boil is active, Increase Damage, Attack and Movement speed by 8%/16%/24%/32% and drain 4% of his health every second. 2 sec cooldown.
[2.5] Bloody Ignition– Burning an enemy from within is much fun that without. Drain 7% (or 10%?) of his life. Deal 150/300/450etc damage and an additional 500/700/900etc damage. 6 sec cooldown.
[3.0] Blood Spike – Forcing the blood-soaked ground to form spikes and drive them up the enemies bunghole. Drain 8%-10% (Somewhere around that) and deal 500/800/1100etc damage in X radius from X distance. 10 sec cooldown.
[Instant] Blood Phials – Carrying spare blood around helps keep the cost down. Reduce the life drain from casting spells by 1%/2%/3%etc.
And of course there’s the stats thing.
As you can see, life is a very important to the Bloodmage for him to cast all of his spells. While I’m not certain if this will make an unbalanced character, we have to consider that he’s gonna get pounded (a lot because he’s melee) and casting a spell can drain 10% of his life too (may even want to set it to 15% if I’m feeling evil) so I’m confident he’s decently playable. This means that life steal, health potions and whatnot would be very invaluable to the Bloodmage.
Don’t hesitate to leave a comment/suggestion/praise or insult, and I’ll see you guys in The Demigod Idea part 4. Cheers!
