Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2014 21:05:57 GMT -8
Name: Cain Magnus
Age: 29
Class: Swordmaster (15)
Appearance: Very tall and with a muscular frame, Cain's gives off a strong vibe of strength, both internally and externally. He may not be the biggest of men, but the strength that lies within he and his sword is all that's required. These waves of intensity may be invisible to the eye, but those around him can feel his inner strength of character and can either feel they're safe around him, or afraid. However, that leans more on the respect side of things, as Cain does not use his appearance to intentionally scare away friends or acquaintances. Building a strong outward appearance for himself is mainly used as both a defensive mechanism from his foes...and a blatant warning for them to not take him lightly. While he knows he isn't the strongest man in the world, he allows his appearance to play a small role in speaking for his skills, even though he prefers to show, not talk. However, his rough exterior is also a result of the way he lived his life up until this very day.
Since his fighting style requires very swift movement and dexterous attacks, his clothing of choice may appear to be a little on the weighty side, but they are made of very lightweight material. The shoulder pads aren't for show, but they're just...there, for basic protection. He feels that since his personal fighting style focuses on the offensive, he didn't need anything bulky slowing him down...and just avoiding and parrying attacks was easier than taking them head on like some overgrown bear. As such, he made sure that his clothes were both comfortable and would look good on him, which they indeed do. Since he's the leader of the small Magnus clan, he needed to also have clothing fitting of a powerful leader.
Personality: Cain is...well, he's far from a delicate flower, but he's not as rough around the edges as he seems. Still really rough though.
While he has a strong exterior and holds a tone of strictness in his words, he is a very respectful man who does not turn a blind eye to anyone in need, even if he can't help them directly or immediately. The time of his foolish youth taught him how to make rational decisions, both for himself and his clan members. His words hold strong convictions behind them, but also uses them to help those around him to be at their very best, just as Cain himself strives to do. Around his friends and clan members, he's kind and a very good listener...however, around his foes, his merciless instinct kicks in and he only gives them a single chance to come to compromise before deciding to cut them down where they stood. He has a family to protect, so he's deadset on keeping them from harm's way while staying at their side until the day comes that he will perish...whether of natural age limits or fighting to protect them all.
He brings a very level-headed and decisive personality to the table and applies that to his leadership. Since his family needs a strong leader to protect them, he's a quick thinker and knows how to cool off to think properly when times get rough. However, once his temper finally flares, he does not hold back the angry beast inside of him...figuratively, of course. Cain does not take kindly to heinous acts done around him or tolerates betrayal. Once that line is crossed, it's quite difficult to regain his trust and respect. It doesn't even have to be his own people or friends that are harmed. He left no potential life he could save out while still prioritizing the ones he love, even though he has a large enough history of both succeeding and failing. The strength and resolve he gained from back then up to this day was due to the determination he held to save as many as he could. He knew he couldn't protect everyone, but he needed that mindset to keep himself going.
He still holds that same mindset today, knowing that he still can't save every single person that needed help that crosses his path. People will die and tragedy seems like it will never go away, but he wanted to at least reduce the amount of tragic events that occur. Since his clan is a small, yet fairly experienced band of sword fighters trained under his fighting style, he knew that any stronger outside force could wipe them out without a guardian there for them. Anything that stood in his path of becoming a stronger leader than he is now was going to be cut down to clear the way. No exceptions.
Backstory: The Magnus clan has always been a family of hard workers at what they do and wish to achieve. While their numbers consist of siblings, cousins and other family members, there were enough of them to have their own small village. Not too many outsiders ever go there, as their home turf was ducked off behind a hill in Central Elibe, Arcadia being the closest city to it a mile away. Since most of the attention is aimed towards there, they didn't have to worry about outside interfere too much, despite not caring about it. The village wasn't intentionally hidden, as any traveler or adventurer could find it with relative ease. There was a mix of just normal civilians and sword fighters in the family. Those who couldn't fight were protected by the swordsmen and women of the village, and all of them being protected under the leadership of the family's best fighter with the sword. The family was never one to choose a leader based on who was the most important of blood, but who had the best combat and leadership skills. And choice by blood was somewhat impossible since...you know, they're all related outside of the spouses that were outsiders that married into the family.
When Cain was born into the family, he was the son of the co-leader at the time, Abel Magnus. Co-leaders were usually the family's second in line for leadership in case something happened to the leader, and are the main ones to stay behind in the village to defend it if the leader is temporarily absent. But because of this, the leader and co-leader's family (respectively) butt heads with each other plenty of times, strong competition running through them all. Abel was never one to waste his time on such things and was more interested in raising his son after his wife was killed in a monster attack, and the rest of his siblings were more focused on duking it out with the others while going for leadership. He made sure to teach his son to never follow in the footsteps of those who wants to fight over a title, and be his own man. Unlike the stereotypical problem child, Cain was quite obedient as opposed to rebellious. He greatly respected his father and always took his sound advice. After all, being your own man was something to look forward to as he grew up.
One day, when Cain was thirteen, he and his father were just arriving back home from a small trip to Arcadia when some of the family members of the leader's approached Abel, one volunteering to take Cain back home as Abel was suddenly called in to meet with the leader for a private conversation. Abel decided to answer right away since he and Stella Magnus, the current leader of the time, actually got along pretty well. As a good boy, he went on home with the escort, but he couldn't shake off this bad feeling he had as he parted with his father. By the time he and escort made it to he and his father's home, he waited patiently for hours with the relative, both wondering what was taking so long. More time kept passing by briskly as nightfall eventually rolled around.
It wasn't until another Magnus knocked on the door and storming in telling them that Abel was in critical condition from a sudden assassination attempt on Stella from an enemy she made outside of the village. Abel saw the attack on her coming and barely jumped in the way in time to take the hit for her, though Stella managed to kill her enemy regardless. When Cain learned of this, he stormed out of their home and headed towards the central and largest building of the village: The leader's small manor. By the time he got there, he saw the dead body of the assassin and Stella holding a dying Abel in her arms. The swordswoman noticed Cain approaching, gently lying the near-death co-leader on the ground, a soft "I'm sorry" escaped her as she was giving them their space. When Abel was sitting there, short on breath, he broke it down to his son to stand strong and strive to be the best he could aspire to. By the time he gave Cain his katana, his most trusted weapon, he drew his final breath before passing on in his son's arms.
Following the event, Stella decided to take Cain under her wing as per agreement to a dying request Abel gave before Cain arrived. He didn't want his son around his siblings to teach him things he shouldn't learn, and since the young woman was quite independent with her values as well, she could teach him just as well in his eternal absence. Years followed as Cain tried to move on and be strong instead of dwelling on his father's death. Even though Stella was an older cousin of his, she filled the role of a motherly figure Cain lacked in his life. When times rolled around when he eventually moped over his failure of staying at his father's side, Stella was there to remind him of the same words Abel spoke that were meant for hope for his future. And to further help him, she allowed Cain to tag along with her and a group of sword fighters she takes with her when time called for her to travel a few areas of Elibe, as the Magnus were peacemakers that wanted to help out worldwide, the leaders personally embarking on these journeys to reach out to others outside that they considered friend or make new ones.
During his time traveling the world with Stella and their small group, Cain had the crazy, but sound idea of wanting to create something unique to him, to both follow his father and Stella's wishes for him to be at his best, and for his own personal accomplishment. A lot of battles on the outside word gave him fair experiences of success and failure, saving some lives while the rest he wasn't strong enough to save. He wanted to be stronger to prevent more failures and he felt like that current fighting style he used at the time may have shared some blame. At the age of twenty, he finally took the time to break down a whole new fighting style unique to himself as he learned from his countless battles alongside Stella, and defined the basic principles behind his style over the course of time. As another year passed, Stella noticed this when he took his fighting style out into the open in a battle against some bandits, as there weren't any Magnus that dual wielded in that particular...way. Most of the time, he still fought with one sword, but then he'd bring the second sword out as either a defensive move or add a little more punch to an assault.
...Cain was somewhat surprised Stella was able to break down most of the fighting style easily, but she did miss a key point in the style as he joked around with her telling her it was a "secret", and as long as she couldn't figure it out, it meant he was finally being successful with it being unique and his most powerful asset in battle. He continued to work on it for more years to follow and he was finally beginning to show himself as a very worthy swordsman. Eventually, he began jumping up there to the more elite levels (not as in an actual "Elite" class, but among the Magnus themselves) of sword fighters in the family. The amounts of battle experience he gained while helping many different people he's encountered played a crucial role in developing further and refining his style.
One day after a long journey and they were ready to travel back home to Central Elibe, the group of Magnus decided to make haste, as Stella suffered a very grievous wound that left her crippled, though her life was not threatened. It was unfortunate because a doctor she saw explained that while her wounds and broken bones would heal over time, her sword arm was permanently crippled and she wouldn't be able to wield a weapon in her hand ever again. That spoke a lot for their journey back home, as by the time they reached land, things began from bad to worse one night at camp. Home was merely a day and a half away and everything seemed like it was going fine...until Cain woke up out of instinct in the middle of the night as he felt like something was very wrong there due to how eerily silent the wilderness was. By the time he realized it, they all were surrounded by Mauthe Dogs from all corners. He shouted to wake them all up, pretty certain he couldn't fend off the beasts on his own.
A few moments passed as the ferocious and terrifyingly quick hellhounds were overwhelming them. It was looking like a grim situation, as while none of them had died up to that point, several causalities occurred and it was only a matter of time before someone got eaten alive. Still surrounded in all corners with only a few of the beasts slaughtered, it was beginning to feel like a hopeless battle to fight, as the Magnus' morale dropped to pessimistic levels, and with Stella in the center unable to fight at all and watch as her people suffer, Cain began to feel like giving up played in their predators' favor. If he was going to die here, he was going to go out protecting his family. So at that moment, he went for a bold move, drawing all the hounds' attention when everyone else had given up...he realized something during the fight. The ones that were killed, he remembered how fragile they were when they took hits, and if he could use that to his advantage, he could get everyone out safely, or at least buy enough time for them to escape while he sacrificed himself in the process.
It was a long and bloody battle, fending off the dogs' attacks as combined, they were overpowering him. But with how his fighting style worked, he had to be quicker than his opponents to win. He split them up, striking them in the process, but his attacks not meant to kill until he separated them enough to go for killing blows without another dog finishing him off from behind. He was forced to pick them apart one by one. And when the dogs would get smart and go after the others, he'd shout a command at them as if he were their leader telling them to get off their pathetic hides and protect themselves instead of waiting to die. So much time passed, and with guiding his family and his own actions combined, he managed to kill off the pack, but barely. He was a bloody mess at the end, and he collapsed in the grass afterward. They were fortunate enough that a village was near and they sought help there, dragging their injured and the dying Cain to the most ready cleric the village had to offer. By the time they all were healed, Cain was still out, seemingly in a short coma.
By the time the warrior finally awakened, he was resting in a bed in he and Abel's old home. But that wasn't the end of his problems. He only woke up to find that Stella's corrupted brother, Elric Magnus, took control of everything while she was gone. With her being unable to fight, the usurper was free to reign supreme as the leader without a worthy opponent. He was able to kill Abel's replacement as co-leader, further leaving him unstoppable. He led with fear as his number one strength and the village never seemed to be free from tension and drama. Cain had no choice but to sit aside and heal up as he took the chaos, but he held a strong desire to free his family from that menace of a relative. By the time a good few weeks passed and he was all healed up, he prepared himself to invade the small manor that now belonged to Elric. It pained him to harm his fellow family members that fought to protect Elric, but he at least fought them to the point where his encounters left them unconscious...and their spirits were mostly too broken to put up a fair fight anyway.
After breaking through his fellow family members, Cain and Elric finally met in the same room, where Stella was there arguing with her brother before Cain kicked open the door. The fire burned in his eyes as he was just about ready to rip the traitor to shreds, but the swordmaster was able to calm his nerves for the battle, as Elric was no easy opponent. It was yet another long and brutal fight, but Cain came out victorious as he cut the traitorous scum down and finally freed his people. It was then that Stella admitted that Elric was potentially more skilled than she, but his leadership and tactical skill was flawed and she was considered a better leader when they fought in the past for the title. He was stronger, but she was more cunning. And the proud swordswoman said Cain showed both of those traits, which was why he managed to win the confrontation. Ultimately, she passed on the leadership of the Magnus to Cain in addition to his deeds with defending their lives against those Mauthe Dogs. The man, twenty-seven at the time, didn't have any intention of leading, but the family needed a strong figure guiding them in their time of desperate need, so he accepted.
Two years passed after that fateful day and Cain had quickly became a very popular leader of the Magnus so far. He didn't think he was worthy of the title, but the people continued to prove his fears wrong until he became 100% confident in his leading ability. He even shared his fighting style and kept it a family secret to make his own niche in the Magnus history. The peace that Elric destroyed was finally restored and they were living much happier than before, and it made the newly appointed Magnus leader much more comfortable with his role. He still followed the tradition of expanding his help outside of the village and with Stella and many others cheering him on back at home, it was a warm feeling to finally return home after his journeys with a family that trusted him 100%. He needed to stay strong and keep getting stronger in order to keep that peace and trust.
