Varanthe (Demon)

Varanthe is a scout in the Demon Order and a fullblood member of Clan Rikan, the thirty-ninth clan in the Order.

Physical Description

Despite being one hundred and twenty years old, Varanthe has the body of a Mobian eight times younger, often passing for fifteen on his scouting trips onto Mobius. His preferred form is that of a Mobianised dragon, complete with tan skin and shiny jade green scales over the majority of his body. The one exception to the jade coloration on his body is the amethyst purple, which starts out in a thick patch on the crown of his head, crossing over somewhat onto his forehead, then running down his back in a thinning band from the top of his spine to the tip of his tail.

His eyes, however, are not a traditional reptilian orange, but instead are a cold gray, often compared by those fixated in an angry stare to be the gray of an "impending blizzard".

Attire

Despite having the body of a fifteen-year-old, Varanthe typically dresses in a more militant style, with a charcoal gray & blue-gray camouflage theme, the military colors of the thirty-ninth clan. This is mostly confined to the flak vest and jacket he wears, both of which bear the urban camouflage in those colors, while the charcoal gray pants and black boots simply round out his more special ops. type appearance.

History

Early Life

Varanthe was born in the No-Time Zone, the Demon home realm since the end of the end of the Demon-Celestial War thousands of years ago. He was born into the thirty-ninth clan, Clan Rikan, to two bloodnamed members. This granted the infant access to the family's wealth and power as he aged, although he bore no genetic skill to truly exemplify that. Nor was the young demon, with a preference to take the form of a dragon, viewed by the elders as particularly deserving of the bloodline techniques of the clan. Instead, they expected the poor child to grow into another soldier, just another demon fighting for the clan, and if required, the Order itself. Of course, he didn't end up filling their expectations - he surpassed them.

Being devalued in a clan that values unorthodox tactics, Varanthe began to look into creating some of his own. First point was learning the areas he would specialize in. Even before he turned twenty, still an infant by demon terms, he had a clear affiliation with the element of Water, which he could work with quite easily. He could move quickly, hit hard with his hands, and over time learned how to secrete wax from his scales to help defend himself, as well as generate weaponry for him to work with. Finally, at the age of fifty, alongside the other youths in the clan ready to choose their path, he surprised the elders. He never planned to be a soldier, but instead has his eyes set on a more dangerous role altogether - scout, exploring Mobius and assisting teams from their clan and it's political allies on missions by finding and helping to disable targets. His parents were surprised, but supported the young one's decision, and the elders found the idea intriguing. It was settled. Varanthe, or Varan Rikan, as his Mobian identity would be known, would be trained as a scout for the clan.

Training

As with most scout trainees, Varan's training was split between the No-Time Zone, where he would study combat, powers and history under the elders, and the undercity of Asphodel, under the command of Hades, member of the Overclan and brother to Rageik. In Asphodel, he learned about the different areas of Mobius, different environments, and how he could alter his fighting style and powers to suit the changing environs he was in. For the most part, the demon spent fifty years in this method, as all scouts would. He made friends from other clans, as well as rivals and enemies. Then, it came. Despite resembling a fifteen-year-old Mobian, due to the altered aging that differed between each demon, he was deemed as "physically mature" at the age of one hundred. The age of sexual maturity over all demons was a major point in their development, and Varan was no exception, bursting out of the tunnels in Asphodel into Mobius itself on his first day as a full Demon Order member.

Trial

Despite being a scout, and getting to spent eighty percent of his time on Mobius instead of in the No-Time Zone, Varanthe wasn't given a quest for many years, instead exploring and reporting what he found. Of course, that didn't last. After nineteen years, he was called upon by the clan elders, who revealed that he was being sent to Mobius to find a mystery killer, and then assist a squad of soldiers to capture or kill the being. As it was, at least ten demons had been killed, with the genetic identity of the attacker showing a different ancient demon each time, despite the fact that all of the beings believed to be attacking the newer demons, bar one, were either dead or sealed, and the one that was free was Rageik. However, the leader of the Demon Order was never suspected - the most common method of killing was literally crushing and breaking the neck with a clawed hand. While Rageik certainly had the strength, he was rarely violent towards other demons, and when he was, he preferred to keep the fight at a reasonable distance to overwhelm his opponent with the might of the Chaos Force at his command.

The order decided that Varanthe, in his Mobian cover identity, would be the best choice to find the killer. However, within two days of arriving into the most common area of killings, despite introducing himself as a Mobian, the young demon found himself being watched quite keenly by another teenager - a young black fox who locals said arrived around a month before - roughly the same time as the killings started. Finally, with the team informed of his potential lead, Varan began to leave, and that's when she struck.

Just outside the exit to the city, the fox girl was waiting for him, and in front of his eyes, she shifted in form, taking on an older, more refined look, although still female - that of an ancient demon from the war, one he knew had died in the Battle of Green Hill from the stories he was told - this one was a legend of his clan. She told him her name, Curse, and told him of why she existed. She was an artificial creation, derived from the recent successes in the Ultimate Lifeform program, and was known by her creators as "Experiment 1.108", alongside her name. She was one of many such Lifeforms, now being activated for revenge on the race that tried to drive the Technomage race to extinction - the demons. She was coded with their own DNA, and was a product of mutations of that very DNA. She was, to all reasons, a purebred demon, but with alterations. Her elemental mastery was toned down, and instead, her shapeshifting was no longer tied to possession, but instead to her will. Likewise, her physical strength was superior to a natural demon, with the exchange being speed, moving slower than the average demon. Finally, there was her healing factor - at least on of her targets had inflicted serious wounds to her, but these had healed completely on their own. She was designed to be a 'curse' on the demon race, hence her name. Finally, her spiel over, she charged, but as she had stated herself, she was slower than he was. Almost instantly, the demon was backing up, using his skill in wax secretion to create armor around his limbs and torso, although leaving his head, neck and major joints free of armor for movement. As Curse charged, she changed further, her fingers sprouting the claws that had been seen on the other killings, before she lunged. One hand managed to penetrate his wax armor, and it seemed over for him. Then, at that moment, he infused his skill in water into the wax, converting it into a semi-liquid state as it transferred over her hand. Startled, the artificial lifeform flexed her hand as he froze the new mixture into a form of restraint, although she managed to shatter it within seconds. By that time, though, his reinforcements had arrived, and as she raised her head to glare at him, a ghostly fist struck her in a nerve cluster at the top of the spine, knocking her unconscious. The figure was revealed to be one of the elite soldiers of the clan, a demon over two thousand years old with thousands of missions under his belt, but he had nothing but praise for the fast-thinking scout, and promised that the greater portion of the reward for her capture would go to the young scout while he rested and healed in Asphodel. At first, Varanthe was confused. He didn't think he needed to heal, and then he looked down. The girl had done more than just penetrate his armor with her claws, but had punctured his body too, although nowhere near as deeply as she could have. Almost immediately, he passed out, his first major wounds sustained, and the exhaustion and injuries taking their toll.

Within two weeks, while healing in Asphodel, a package arrived for him. Within, there was two small items and a letter. One was a new vest to replace his damaged one, with a new emblem etched onto the left-hand side, a clawed hand. The other one was a formal jacket, made from a fine black cloth which took him a moment to recognize - it was made from the very fabric of the clothing the young woman had been wearing. The letter, written by an elder of the clan, confirmed that Curse was a prisoner of the Order, but that the execution they had planned for her was offset by bickering in the Council of Elders. Apparently, some of the clans thought that she could be gradually indoctrinated and turned into a true demon, or at the very least a slave or part of the breeding stock. In fact, that debate was almost at a stalemate, so the chance that he would receive a traditional reward of a weapon made using her soul was unlikely, although the elder doubted that such a weapon could be tamed. With pleasure written over his face, Varanthe filed the letter away, and stored the vest and jacket in the wardrobe he had in his apartment. When he needed them, he'd collect them, but not before.

Abilities

As with all Demons, Varanthe, better known as Varan Rikan to non-Demons, is an insanely capable fighter, with super strength, super speed, the ability to possess Mobians and omnikinesis, amongst other things. His primary elemental focus is on Water, as one of his innate skills works closely with that element, but his skill in all the other elements is still reasonable.

Varan, despite rarely using weaponry, is an innately skilled fighter with most melee weapons, with a personal preference to swords. However, this is mostly due to one of his subskills, to infuse the element of Water into items he is in physical contact with. As such, when forced to arm himself to fight armed opponents in close or confined spaces, he can still work in his natural element to assist him in the fight. However, these situations are rare, with his hand-to-hand combat skill ensuring that events that would force this situation never occur.

His other aptitude is more interesting, considering most Demons learn how to channel elements. It is the ability to generate wax over his body before shaping it into whatever he needed. Typically, he uses this power to create armor, or occasionally enhancements to his normal fighting style such as claws or studs on the base of his feet, although he has been seen creating both basic and complex items from his wax, from weaponry to clothing.

As a scout, he is trained in navigation and his memory skills, as he is typically called upon to either perform or assist in quests, he is required to be able to memorize details. Likewise, as a member of Clan Rikan, he is inventive and fast-thinking, making him effective in a fight with his spontaneous strategies.

However, despite being an omnikinetic, he often struggles to face off against masters of Darkness, with his command of shadows weaker than any other elemental power at his command, by the same factor that Water is his strongest.

Water Abilities

• Aqua Ring
• Aqua Slash
• Aqua Tail
• Cosmic Cyclone
• Hydro Reflect
• Hydro Shape
• Monsoon
• Numbing Water
• Sea Foam Healing
• Splatter
• Surf
• Water Gun
• Whirlpool

Fire Abilities

• Cosmic Blaze
• Crater Mouth
• Ember
• Firestorm Blades
• Flame Tail
• Molten Strike
• Relentless Flames
• Steady Firebreathing

Dragon Techniques

• Dragon Dance
• Outrage

Napalm Techniques

• Firebomb

Ice Abilities

• Algorstorm
• Blizzard
• Frost Blades
• Ice Fang
• Ice Gate: Antarctic Blizzard
• Ice Seal: Ice Armor

Stratos Techniques

• Arctic Javelin
• Energy Grid
• Frozen Flash

Electric Abilities

• Deleting Gaze
• Electric Spindash
• Ion Hammer
• Lightning Slam
• Lightning Slash
• Shock Tail
• Thunder
• Zap Palm

Black Lightning Techniques

• Shock Nova

Light Abilities

• Light Palm
• Lightspeed Headbutt
• SolarBeam

Solar Techniques

• Sun Gun

Dark Abilities

• Shadow Hell

Wind Abilities

• Aerial Ace
• Air Lock
• Brave Bird
• Defog
• Gust
• Sky Heal

Earth Abilities

• Metal Crusher
• Mud Shot

Metal Techniques

• Guard Press
• Metal Bomber
• Steel Swing

Nature Abilities

• Cotton Guard
• Energy Assist
• Energy Ball
• Leaf Storm
• Natures Flow
• Seed Storm
• Sleep Powder
• Vine Whip

Poison Abilities

• Poison Gas
• Sludge Bomb
• Smog
• Smogscreen

Elementless Abilities

• Bounce Attack
• Double Scratch
• Down Draw
• Natural Gift
• Peck
• Pound
• Round
• Sweet Temptation
• Tackle
• Wrap

Chaos Powers

• Chaos Burst
• Chaos Conservation
• Chaos Kill
• Chaos Hype
• Chaos Lance

Psychic Abilities

• Energy Kiss
• Future Sight
• Hypnosis
• Psycho Cut

Personality

Varanthe, due to his reasonable inexperience on Mobius, has an open mind and approaches each new experience with grace and keen interest. Unlike a lot of the elder Demons, he is by no means "grim" or worn down, and instead seems almost upbeat when on Mobius.

As a member of Clan Rikan, creative and inventive thought was encouraged in him from a young age, prompting Varanthe to have key skills in problem-solving and memory tasks, as well as the ability to create new strategies and plans reasonably quickly, as shown in his fight with Curse, using his ability to secrete wax to both save his life and temporarily immobilize his assailant.

Allies & Enemies

Friends

Allies

• Demon Order - As a scout and member of their army.

Rivals

Enemies