Here's my character. Do let me know if I've messed anything up.<br/><br/><strong>Name</strong>: Unfettered Joy of the Final Darkness<br/><strong>Age</strong>: 34<br/><strong>Sexual Orientation</strong>: Uninterested (Formerly Bisexual)<br/><strong>Caste</strong>: Dusk<br/><strong>Motivation</strong>: Destroy the impurities and changes forced upon his mind.<br/><br/><strong>Description</strong>: Short and lean with a cheerful smile eternally plastered across his pleasant if intermittently scarred features and a stance that radiates surety to a truly stunning degree, Joyous Edge hardly seems the kind to advocate (and commit) the violence that is second nature to any deathknight. Unusually for a Dusk caste, he lacks the blatant trappings of militancy, instead preferring to hide his weapons until they are needed. To aid this, he wears heavy, concealing clothing in all but the hottest of climates, tucking small weapons into long sleeves and folded furs.<br/><br/>Indeed, the massive bulk of clothing covering every inch of his skin (with the sole exception of his face) serves as the greatest warning of his nature. Though impressive in its bulk and density, it is usually made up of a ratty collection of scavenged rags, cloaks, robes and vests, all torn in places and bearing suspicious stains. A large, circular shield of soulsteel lies strapped to his back, though he wraps the shield in cloth on any occasion when its material might raise the ire of others.<br/><br/><strong>Personality</strong>: Surprisingly, Joy’s apparent personality usually lines up decently with his omnipresent smile. He’s unflinchingly cheerful, brave and occasionally quite charming, even under the most stressful of circumstances. For people whom he considers sufficiently innocent and pure, he can be a great help, even if it often ends up being in a manner they don’t anticipate or full appreciate. Great injustices and infractions against natural laws (whether of the Underworld or Creation) can occasionally raise his ire, but for the most part, he remains quite pleasant, even while explaining why someone has to die.<br/><br/>But, then again, he is one of Oblivion’s champions, so this display couldn’t possibly be more than a ruse.<br/><br/><strong>Background</strong>: Aen Tark was the spitting image of the romanticized bandit lord, a happy-go-lucky fellow who stole from the rich, skillfully seduced hostages without the slightest hint of coercion and extorted only a tiny sum in return for the protection he offered. He did not so much terrorize his tiny corner of the Scavenger Lands as playfully rule it from outside the law. And for a while, it worked, due in no small part to a natural penchant for leadership, peerless skill with a sword and sheer, insane courage.<br/><br/>Restraint, however,  was never Aen’s strong suit. He loved drink and drugs and women and all manner of indulgences unfit for polite company. While he did not gamble often, an objective observer would most likely say this was more due to massive losses whenever he made the attempt than any ability to rein in his desire for risk and pleasure. While a level of generosity with his men kept him afloat for a time, eventually even his closest companions could not help but take advantage of their leader’s weaknesses to coax greater shares and privileges from him.<br/><br/>Ultimately, they brought about his doom. During one of Aen’s drunken binges, an ambitious friend convinced him to take his work to a higher level and attack a Guild caravan. Previously, Aen had wisely rejected such targets, knowing that a couple dozen brave, greedy mortal men were unlikely to overcome the Guild’s hardened mercenary guards. Even once sober again, he refused to go back on his word, lest he look dishonest, pliable or weak, not knowing that his secret had slipped through his fingers long ago.<br/><br/>The “friend” in question was more ambitious than Aen had estimated. He promptly sold Aen out to the Guild, giving them every detail needed to crush the bandits thoroughly enough that they would never recover. Aen died in the Guild’s counter-ambush, along with the bulk of his men, flesh pierced by arrows and rent by sword blows.<br/><br/>Despite the fact that he shares most of his history quite freely, Joy does not discuss what the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears said to him as he laid bleeding and broken amid the scattered ruins of his ambitions. Some guess that he finds shame in whatever bargains and oaths she forced him into or that he cherishes the moment for some reason or another. Whatever the cause, the nameless new deathknight rose again, shedding wounds like water and turning on his would-be killers with mad glee. As an additional token of his new loyalty, he spent another week or so rooting through his former territory and murdering his former friends.<br/><br/>He traveled to his new mistress’s side himself, suffering through the now-abhorrent deluge of life essence and forcing himself to abstain from any more killing for fear of leaving an easily-followed path of corpses. His indoctrination went well, at first. He accepted the five Understandings quickly, kept up up with all of the Lover’s edicts as well as his relative inexperience would allow him and eagerly accepted the bizarre indulgences she granted him. Then it was time to present him to the Neverborn.<br/><br/>The event that granted Joy his new name also shifted his mindset radically. He still loves She Who Must Be Obeyed, but it is not the same slavish devotion as before. He obeys the maddening murmurs of the Neverborn first and foremost and his mistress as a distant second. More disturbingly still to the deathlord and her other, more powerful, servants, he seems to fear them less and less every day. He now rejects the same grotesque pleasures he had happily accepted before. If anything, he seems subtly disgusted by them.<br/><br/>Still, he has maintained his near-perfect obedience and competence when under the gaze of his mistress or her minions. The Lover planned for this eventuality, however, and continues to manipulate him. Whether a enthusiastic hedonist or self-righteous ascetic, faithful slave or foolish rebel, she will see him serve her until the end. For now, it suits her to act as though she has little control over him, and so Joy receives very little support from his mistress.<br/><br/><strong>Attributes</strong><br/>Strength 3        Charisma 4        Perception 2<br/>Dexterity 5      Manipulation 2   Intelligence 2<br/>Stamina 3        Appearance 3     Wits 3<br/><br/><strong>Abilities</strong><br/>Dusk           Midnight               Daybreak      Day                  Moonshadow<br/>Melee 5     |Integrity* 5         |Lore 1          |Athletics* 3   |Linguistics 1<br/>Thrown 3  |Presence* 3         |Occult* 2     |Awareness 1<br/>War 3       |Resistance* 5                           |Larceny 1<br/>|Survival 1<br/>*notes a favored ability<br/><br/><strong>Backgrounds</strong><br/><br/>Whispers 3 - The Neverborn rent great holes in Joy’s psyche and they continue to guide him through these wounds.<br/>Artifact 2 (Soulsteel Daiklave: “Mercy’s Caress”) - His sole gift from the Lover, Joy guards this blade jealously, often keeping it hidden in nonexistence so that none might take it from him.<br/>Manse 1 (Memorial Iron Hearthstone) - Joy stole this from a mortal thaumaturge he killed while doing some work for a Daybreak caste comrade during his training, it is now set in Mercy’s Caress.<br/>Artifact 1 (Soulsteel Breastplate: “Agonizing Continuance”) - A reward from the same Daybreak for pacification of a troublesome infestation of spectres during which Joy nearly died. He keeps it safely hidden under his heavy, bundled clothing whenever possible.<br/>Artifact 2 (Soulsteel Thunderbolt Shield: Unnamed) - A gift from the Daybreak caste The Catastrophic Engineer of Infinite Agonies, Joy has yet to name or receive a name for the artifact shield. While it is a bit large to conceal under his rags, he does his best, anyway.<br/><br/><strong>Virtues</strong><br/>Compassion 2<br/>Conviction 3<br/>Temperance 2 (Broken Virtue)<br/>Valor 5<br/><br/><strong>Essence</strong>2<br/><br/>Personal: 14<br/>Perphirial: 22 (34)<br/>Commited: 12<br/><br/>Willpower 8<br/>---------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/><strong>Combat</strong><br/><br/>Soulsteel Daiklave (Mercy’s Caress) Speed 5 Accuracy 15 (+5) Damage 9L (+6L) Rate 3<br/>Knife** Speed 5 Accuracy 11 (+1) Damage 5L (+2L) Rate 3<br/>Knife (Ranged)** Speed 5 Accuracy 8 (+0) Damage 5L (+2L) Rate 3 Range 15<br/>DDV: 6 (3 without Thunderbolt Shield)<br/>PDV: 9 (6 without Thunderbolt Shield)<br/>Soak: 9L/9B (Soulsteel Breastplate +8L/+6B)<br/>Hardness: 3L/3B<br/><br/>**Joy usually has at least four reasonably aerodynamic blades concealed tucked away on his person, though this depends heavily on what he can scavenge.<br/>---------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/><strong>Social</strong><br/><br/>Intimacy: Love towards the Lover Clad in Raiment of Tears<br/>Intimacy: Hateful awe and obedience towards the Neverborn.<br/>mDDV: 8<br/>mPDV: 4<br/>Langauges: Old Realm, Riverspeak (Native)<br/><br/>----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/><strong>Health</strong><br/>-0 (Bruised)   : []<br/>-1 (Hurt)      : [][][]<br/>-2 (Wounded)   : [][][][]<br/>-4 (Crippled)   : [][][]<br/>Incapacitated    : []<br/>----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/><strong>Charms</strong><br/><br/>Bonus: First Melee Excellency (1m/die)<br/>Bonus: Elegant Flowing Deflection (2m)<br/>Bonus: Vengeful Riposte (3m)<br/>Bonus: Death-Deflecting Technique (3m, Temperance Flaw)<br/>Eye of the Tempest (5m 1wp)<br/>Blade-Summoning Gesture (1m)<br/>Void Sheath Techinque (1m)<br/>Savage Shade Style (1m)<br/>First Presence Excellency (1m/die)<br/>Poisoning the Will (10m 1wp)<br/>First Integrity Excellency (1m/die)<br/>Heart of Darkness (6m)<br/>Lesser Horrors Scorned (5m)<br/>Scathing Cynic Attitude (3m)<br/><br/><strong>Bonus Points</strong><br/>Valor 3 (3 pts)<br/>Valor 4 (3 pts)<br/>Valor 5 (3 pts)<br/>Melee 4 (1 pt)<br/>Melee 5 (1 pt)<br/>Resistance 4 (1 pt)<br/>Resistance 5 (1 pt)<br/>Integrity 4 (1 pt)<br/>Integrity 5 (1 pt)<br/><br/>(Edited for a proper Abyssal motivation.)<br/>(8-28-10 Edit: Added Soulsteel Thunderbolt Shield and modified appropriate stats.)