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Save The App Earth - wait hold on
OOC Information:
Name: Rex
Are you over 15? Yes but I still get carded :/
Contact: AIM (koolsnowball)
IC Information:
Name: Umbrael | reincarnation name: Oswald Doyle (Umbrael is his screenname though)
Canon and medium: OC
Age: preincarnated: literally a living dinosaur | reincarnation: 29 so basically the same
Preincarnation Species: Something called a Kheliosaur, which is a shapeshifting magic dinosaurish thing. Just work with me on this one.
Preincarnation Appearance: Natural form: A therapod-ish reptile, with a long neck and tail, sharp teeth, a ridge of red spikes down his spine, long claws, lots of teeth. Scalewise - uh, I'm shit at estimating, so uh here he is pictured with an average human of oh let's say ~6ftish
(for good measure let's throw in a bust shot too) Can 'stand' and 'walk' on his back legs, though with a hunched over posture, but was most agile on all fours.
Shifted form: He's gone through many in the years, but his last one is a human of 6-foot-something of ambiguous race (leaning closer to whichever is the majority where he is), about late twenties by appearance, red eyes, pointed ears, and black hair with a red shine to it. Dressed like he walked out of the trenchcoat fad in the nineties/early 00s (his world was about 2013 so yes he is out of touch).
Any differences: Reincarnated Umbrael leans a little closer to boring white guy - he's less totally ripped, his hair is plain black/dark brown with no fancy shine, his eyes are brown, and they have bags under them. Other wear-and-tear from living is visible on him since this is his real body now, and not just a form he shaped for himself. For a similar reason he's got to shave, even though he'd have a hell of a time growing a beard (that doesn't look patchy and gross).
His fashion sense is about the same though.
Preincarnated History:
World Outline:
It's a world very similar to ours, except dragons are real. And they are more like magical dinosaur-shaped elemental spirits. Which we will call kheliosaurs for the sake of looking a little less ridiculous.
Umbreal is the last of their ancient gods, the one representing darkness and shadows.
Because territory became limited with the expansion of the human race and clashes between them and kheliosaurs became more frequent, Umbrael decided to make his kind retreat, in a way, by developing a way for them to shift to a smaller form and appear human. That way, as human settlements grew closer, they could avoid notice and live in relative peace. Also, human-sized things take up less space than magical dinosaur-shaped things.
On a surely unrelated note, his species is dwindling in the modern age - his kind reproduces at the end of their life, and it's becoming rare for a pair to produce more than one child. Their long life-spans are only delaying the inevitable, at this point.
Minor note, there were some humans in the old, pre-humanshape days who had their own magic abilities, including shapeshifting, and blah blah blah years later we get were-animals, and given they opposed dinosaurkin historically and what-not, Umbrael's not too friendly to those (but he stole/studied their their methods to create the shapeshifting magic for his kind).
And with that context out of the way,
Personal History/Big Events Important To Umbrael:
The creation story for this world goes that there were six great spirits, one to each element: Light, Fire, Air, Earth, Water, and Shadow. For ages, they simply lived on the planet, watching life develop without the aid of magic. But, the living things around them began to die. Survival was difficult, an extinction was coming. The spirits discussed amongst themselves what could be done, and ultimately they decided the world needed their lifeforce more than they did. At dawn the next day, they sacrificed themselves to preserve the life around them -- except for the spirit of Shadows. He stayed and watched as the others faded away, and while storytellers inject their own theories as to why - cowardice, greed, spite - the real answer is that, in compared to the rest of the spirits, he was a little kid at the time. He didn't entirely understand the plan, and when he saw his family disappear he simply panicked and didn't go through whatever process they did.
And after that, he's never really worked up the will to follow them.
It would be many years later when he saw one of the effects of his family's sacrifice - smaller versions of them - but not quite. More numerous, shorter-lived, and far less powerful, the kheliosaurs were his family's descendents, in a way. And being the oldest and most powerful one left, he took it upon himself to (and justify his continued existence by) acting as their caretaker. Then, as their leader. Their king. Their... Umbrael tries to avoid "the 'G' word" in most conversations about the subject, but after this long? He essentially is that to them. (He usually brings it up to settle arguments.)
Most of these 'descendants', he could trace the origins of their essence through colouration and the abilities they expressed, even if it came out as a mix between elements (electricity was a combination of air and earth; ice a combination of air and water, and so on). And after establishing nesting areas, it was obvious where the young came from -- except for one.
One day, Umbrael discovered a plain, grey kheliosaur baby, with no sign of where or who it came from. As he grew, the kheliosaur exhibited the ability to heal things, which was a power that had not yet appeared in their extensive history. None of the other spirits had been able to do it. This grey kheliosaur, Zoiel, would also outlive the others, and that and the unique powers confirmed Umbrael's suspicious that he was another great spirit type - though why a new one would appear, he's not sure. As Zoiel became the only constant in Umbrael's long and seemingly unending life, it was easy for Umbrael to accept him as a brother.
While Umbrael isn't sure why Zoiel appeared when he did - if you asked his 'subjects', they might say he was sent to rein in his adoptive older brother. As the kheliosaurs and the world around them grew up, less and less of them were willing to accept Umbrael's decisions unquestioning. Others, further away from their king's watchful eye, would start trouble with humans - or there would be rule-abiding kheliosaurs who would be hunted down by humans without provocation. Umbrael's patience grew shorter and shorter - and often he would settle disputes with violence. As the strongest being around, it was certainly the easiest solution - it's hard to cause trouble when you're dead, right?
Zoiel, either through (relatively) youthful naivete, or through enduring empathy to others, had something of a problem with this. He began by trying to talk Umbrael out of his actions - until he would being to directly defy him by healing whoever he hurt. At first, Umbrael didn't care - because hey, they could go and tell others about the horrible pain they suffered for defying the lizard king! Everyone won: Umbrael got to take his anger out on something, and they got to live! But healing was a gift meant to be used when necessary, and the toll healing fatal wounds was taking became apparent on Zoiel. Umbrael told his brother - ordered him, even - to stop. Zoiel told him no.
Faced with the one creature he couldn't kill - even without the healing powers - Umbrael finally had to relent and compromise. After that, the brothers began to work on Umbrael's... Anger management and diplomacy skills. And grudgingly, he learned the value of not following through on threats, or killing one's subjects. With great power, yadda yadda.
Despite what progress they made, Umbrael remained unsurprisingly unpopular. Fortunately, he wasn't running a democracy - and there still wasn't anyone else strong enough to depose him (though there were one or two close calls). He didn't care about that, though. Umbrael's diplomacy stopped being for the approval of his kind - it was for the approval of his brother... And to reduce animosity towards their kind, sure, but mostly it was for his brother.
The rest, he didn't care about. He knew he had to make unpopular decisions - everyone has to, and the more important they are, the more riding on them, the more likely you'll be hated for making the tough one. Umbrael would at least come to see his power and position as the one who was capable of making those calls and following through on them - he was one of the most powerful things in the world, and certainly the oldest of their kind. He had the experience and the ability to back it, so why shouldn't he do what was best for his kind, even if they couldn't see it that way?
What helped him stop caring about the opinions of his species, was that he had a more popular successor lined up: Zoiel, of course. Who could hate the healer, after all? Especially when he was the voice of reason, and the one to undo some of the damage Umbrael left. So, Umbrael's actions would shift, slightly - he'd still be harsh in his decision-making and actions, but he'd leave Zoiel out of the really gritty stuff. He'd quit trying to look good to his kind, and leave that to Zoiel - whether his brother was aware of it or not.
The reason behind this fatalist thinking? Umbrael had been alive for a very, very long time. If his end wasn't coming naturally, it would come either through his own kind, rallying to stop him, or some outside force.
More likely, the latter - kheliosaur numbers were dwindling, and there was no clear cause to why, though Umbrael had his theories.
It was supposed to be all six of them sacrificing themselves, wasn't it?
The theory Umbrael feels is most likely - is that his essence has to be out there, too. He's not confident enough in this to sacrifice himself immediately, however - there are plans out there should he die suddenly, but Umbrael isn't going anywhere without a guarantee that his kind will not go extinct.
Other significant things in his life that I couldn't smoothly fit into that history section:
- One time he almost died - barely saved by his brother. He made Zoiel promise to never bring him back if he's that far gone again.
- He employs the help of a kheliosaur with an affinity towards electricity and technology to serve as his personal tech support assisstance. Hey, the world's changed fast in the last five hundred years, compare that to the rest of his life and that's a lot to take in!
-- Tech support guy is also the only other one that can get away with backtalking Umbrael. Mainly because he's the only one with those abilities, so killing him would cause more problems than they'd solve. Also, he's good friends with Zoiel (they bond over complaining about Umbrael behind his back).
Reincarnated History:
Umbrael has a much less fancy life as Oswald Doyle. He did well enough in school, and had a healthy imagination as a kid. He got into roleplaying in his preteens, and then teens, and then - totally grew out of it and in no way continues this hobby for dumb babies.*
Doyle's an only child, but that's fine, he prefers to be alone. He was kind of the odd one out as he got into the later years of school, and not too great at making friends. But he doesn't mind that, either. People just rub him the wrong way, and he has something of a short fuse when he feels like he's talking to people who aren't as smart as him. Or who act smarter than him. Or who are smarter than him, or more charming, or more smug, or taller, or...
Well, he doesn't like people much, on a personal level.
This could be his personality, or it could be him landing job after job in customer service, culminating in a technical support position. Couldn't have happened to a nicer overlord, really.
Nowadays, his life is go to work, try to maintain his blood pressure, go home from work, interact with a minimal amount of people on the way, and then sit at home and try to relax before doing it all over the next day. To what point? He doesn't worry about that. He's fine just existing.
When he's not desperately repressing a stress-aneurysm at work, he's either being a smug asshole in the nearest hipster coffee shop (or starbucks), or he's a smug asshole online at home. His favourite things to browse are sites showcasing the weirdest and saddest people of the internet, because Doyle likes feeling superior to others for some reason. Or at least like he has his life more together.
(*-Blatant lies)
First Echo: Somewhere in his teens, when he wanted to make an online handle for himself and/or the name of an rp character - he futzed around, and figured 'iel' was like 'god's ___' and 'umbra' was shadow and wouldn't it be cooler if it was 'ael', and since it was a christianity-less fantasy world anyway he could just use the 'ael' ending as 'really powerful spirit', yeah, and then --- Umbrael was created again as an overpowered fantasy character.wait no i mean
Having gone through a similar process as his predecessor in choosing a name ('Umbrael' is more of a rough translation from draconic growling) triggered the first echo, which along with a string of numbers would also give Doyle the feeling that he's really a part of the world around himmoreso than your average teenager, anyway; like he's someone undercover or in hiding.
Preincarnation Personality:
Being alive for many years leaves you very... Bored. And not in a languished, airy sort of way. No, Umbrael has seen it all in some way or another, and it's just not surprising for him anymore. It's also ruined his patience for what he perceives as bullshit, repetitive, easily-solvable or easily-avoidable conflicts. Land disputes? Trying to get tribute from the local humans? Encroaching on something's territory and demanding support when it fights back? Requests to stop playing around and just conquer everything? Demanding that he step down and end his tyrannical rule? All of it old, and all of it very easily solved by threatening their lives, if not outright ending them. Even with 'just kill them' off the table, he's likely to take the quickest route to solving a problem.
As powerful as he was, he became used to being unopposed. Well, directly unopposed. He knows he's not popular amongst his kind, even after his brother talked him down to a less deadly and more diplomatic way of problem solving, but he doesn't care. He's prepared to make hard, brutal, unpopular choices if they're in the best interest of his kind (which sometimes also means himself).
On a more general front - Umbrael tends to be very blunt. It's one part he's old enough that the formalities of conversation are just a waste of time for him, but also because no one can really reprimand him for being rude. His patience is short towards those who are 'pretentious' or who are being needlessly coy and cryptic, people with an unwarranted sense of importance, and so on. People who are nervous, fidgety, or just shy don't grate on him nearly as much, it's the ones he actually has to hear that evoke his wrath.
He doesn't get close to others emotionally, and that's as much him outliving nearly everything in his world as it is his discomfort in trusting others to know about his inner thoughts and feelings. The only one in (relatively speaking) recent times to get that close with him is his brother, who he would trust with his life.
Despite his old-age-boredom and abrasiveness, he's very plainly emotional. He's fiercely protective, even territorial over the things he cares about (his brother, his species, his world), and any threat to them is met with fury and force. Some might say more than necessary, but Umbrael feels he always uses the appropriate amount of brutality towards anyone who threatens him and his. He also has a hell of a temper, which again, is partly because his old age has given him ample time to get tired of dealing with petty things, and partly it's just how he is. Combined with his defensiveness, and you have something very few people want to recklessly anger (but might by accident anyway).
Umbrael's territorial protectiveness can cross into straight being possessive, however, since he's lost a lot throughout his life. When it comes to his species as a whole, especially - they're descendents of his siblings, and watching them die out(after he got through that 'kill anyone who disagrees' phase) is like failing them again. He's especially protective of his brother (in the few situations where he may be under threat) because Zoiel has been the only constant in his life, and is he's the only one he trusts, and Umbrael isn't sure he can deal with that void in his life.
Now that he's a little wiser than he was in his earlier years, he does, in fact, feel regret for some of his actions. Mostly, though, he hates himself, for his past impatience, his failures (and there are plenty without mentioning the ongoing one of his species dying out), and just at how good he's been at being unlikeable to his own kind. Thing is, though, old habits die hard, and his are ancient. He makes attempts to change his ways, but he feels that he'll never really manage anything significant.
Any differences:
Overall, while Doyle shares many root traits (impatience, short temper, difficulty opening up to others, etc) as his preincarnated self, they are more subdued. Or, rather, they're about a normal level for a person, instead of extremes resulting from years and years and years of dwelling on something and holding grudges.
That said! There are areas where he differs more from his past self:
- Instead of taking unusual or supernatural differences in stride due to jadedness and old-man-boredom, Doyle will fly into denial or straight freak out (or both) when confronted with something that doesn't make sense that he's not equipped to handle. As a result, he's less confident and cocky in his confrontations. (Being unafraid to call out bullshit is something he's still unafraid to do, however, unless whoever he's criticizing is right in front of him and likely to retaliate with stronger force).
- Also contrary to his ultimate-crotchety-old-man way of things, Doyle is able to work with modern technology to a functioning, dare we say competent degree. He even enjoys it a little! He may have a short temper still, but Doyle has the patience to try to work through or around a problem instead of ragequitting after a minute.It'll at least take him ten minutes to get to that point!
- While he still has a low frustration threshold, he does not immediately jump to 'kill it' as the solution to his problems. That's just insane, alright? While he'll fight for his life and that of bystanders, he's not going to use that to end a petty argument.
- Hey on that note bystanders enter into his thoughts! At least, as more than numbers. And humanity is something he technically feels positive towards, even if he's a grumpy bastard 90% of the time.
- And as stated above, having not had millions of years to stew and dwell and so on, he's not as angry and self-loathing as Umbrael. He doesn't go completely out of his way to isolate himself emotionally and socially, and certainly not by acting out until others leave.
- Doyle hasn't really lost anyone or anything major in his life, so he doesn't have the level of possessiveness and territorial behaviour and issues as Umbrael, either. There's nothing he's really protective of, other than his computer and stuff, maybe? But he's not going to get crazy violent or dependent on anyone until the echoes start rolling in.
Abilities:
The big one was Umbrael's control over darkness and shadows. Hell, he was the ancient spirit of darkness and shadows - such control and even the element itself could be part of who he was.
He could pull shadows off of their surfaces and shape them into weapons. But his preferred way of doing things was just peeling them off wherever they laid around his target, shaping them into spikes, and just stabbing whoever offended him with their own shadow. They could be tendrils, he could shape a functioning hand from them, he could turn them into a spear or a sword or a shield with equal ease. The darker the shadow, the more 'solid' darkness he had to work with - the larger the shadow, the more 'material' he could use. The best way to negate his powers would be several lights casting dim shadows. A single bright light would give a dark shadow - a lightless room is just submerging him in his element.
Being an ancient magical god, he's picked up a few other tricks along the way, the most important of which is the ability to shift. He (and some handpicked assistants) developed magic items that would change the form and appearance of his subjects into something humanoid. While Umbrael could make use of such items himself, he was powerful enough that he didn't need mechanical help. This shapeshifting is limited to going from giant-lizard-form to reasonably-sized-human-form and back. That said, he does have a magical earring that he can use to shapeshift - it's there as a back-up in case he's in a spot where he can't work up the power to hold a form, or if he doesn't want to split his focus when using his shadow powers in human form.
(I understand this is completely overpowered though, and any of these abilities he'd get back would be gradual, and lacking the lifetime of experience, he would be massively unskilled with them.)
Roleplay Sample - Third Person:
By his remains, he had been yellow-green and pale blue. Had the ability to teleport. Air-based - much like the wind, he could travel anywhere quickly, and one of the few who could get there without needing his destination in view.
A good leader might have a moment of silence to reflect on the loss, to remember his name and remember his dedication. They might be upset - sad, or angry, maybe they'd even vow to avenge the loss of their loyal assistant.
All Umbrael could think was: Well, this is inconvenient.
This kheliosaur - ah, what was his name this half-century? Swish? Whirlwind? Travlen? It was Ambul at some point, he knew, but much like his element, he never stayed with one thing for long. That was mildly inconvenient, too.
More importantly, and more pressingly, he had been Umbrael's way back to base, so to speak, and someone went and killed him. Not that he couldn't walk there eventually, but it was a bit of a hike from an east coast city to the center of the continent, even for a sort-of-technically-god. Not to mention the reinforcements he wanted to bring in were not as hardy as him.
See? Inconvenient.
He wasn't alone - there were 'saurs here that were loyal to him, mostly, but they weren't exactly the elite crew he wanted to help him - 'negotiate' - his way to a resolution with the latest arrogant nutbag wannabe. Another Kheliosaur, of course, which was just embarrassing for all of them. He didn't care about what humans and weres thought of their species as a whole - it just made 'talks' more annoying if they went in assuming every lizard was bent on dominating humans and taking control of a city or land or whatever it was this week. Ignoring how utterly annoying and stupid humankind was, they as a species had something a little more important to worry about instead of territorial pissing contests.
And yet, here they were. Kids, today.
Umbrael stood straight, shaking his head. Human form was better for getting close to the evidence without blowing it everywhere. Their kind didn't leave bodies, just scattered scales and crumbling bones. But, he was finished with the remains, now. He flicked his hand - and with that simple gesture, fine tendrils of shadow rose from the grass and rocks on the ground and swirled, sweeping the remains of Ambul (close enough) into the wind.
Which was somewhat appropriate, in retrospect. He was more concerned with cleaning up the evidence, though.
He watched the last of the dust disappear, waited another minute, and then turned away, back to the city, where his makeshift 'team' unknowingly waited for his orders. Those arrogant nutbags weren't going to beat sense into themselves! (Though if only they would...)
Roleplay Sample - Network: It doesn't last long, but uh, here's AU Umbrael giving tech support to someone. Though I'm obviously just getting a hang of the setting, so uh just in case, here's a post sample, too:
[000 - Voice Post]
... So let me get this straight, you're saying they're literally putting flouride in the water?
[He sighs. Out of sight of whatever he's posting with, he's massaging his temples]
Right, right what's next? Reptiloids?
[Said sarcastically. You could almost imagine the roll of his eyes by voice alone.]
I don't know what I hate more: that I just fell into this so easily, or that moronic government conspiracies are coming true. Or are true already, whatever.
Which hey - reminds me, I got a question about those - pulsewhatevers...
[He hesitates.]
... But I'd rather do it in private. It's kind of weird, and I am way too tired and way too sober to talk about it right now. All right? Great.
Keep it up with that red-string crap, I guess.
Any Questions?
None presently! disregard that, i got one:
As he's not only an OC, but an obscenely old one, how would echoing things that aren't on this app work? At least, using echo-triggers based on situations I haven't brought up... Is it pretty much the same, or do I have to provide more information?
Name: Rex
Are you over 15? Yes but I still get carded :/
Contact: AIM (koolsnowball)
IC Information:
Name: Umbrael | reincarnation name: Oswald Doyle (Umbrael is his screenname though)
Canon and medium: OC
Age: preincarnated: literally a living dinosaur | reincarnation: 29 so basically the same
Preincarnation Species: Something called a Kheliosaur, which is a shapeshifting magic dinosaurish thing. Just work with me on this one.
Preincarnation Appearance: Natural form: A therapod-ish reptile, with a long neck and tail, sharp teeth, a ridge of red spikes down his spine, long claws, lots of teeth. Scalewise - uh, I'm shit at estimating, so uh here he is pictured with an average human of oh let's say ~6ftish
(for good measure let's throw in a bust shot too) Can 'stand' and 'walk' on his back legs, though with a hunched over posture, but was most agile on all fours.
Shifted form: He's gone through many in the years, but his last one is a human of 6-foot-something of ambiguous race (leaning closer to whichever is the majority where he is), about late twenties by appearance, red eyes, pointed ears, and black hair with a red shine to it. Dressed like he walked out of the trenchcoat fad in the nineties/early 00s (his world was about 2013 so yes he is out of touch).
Any differences: Reincarnated Umbrael leans a little closer to boring white guy - he's less totally ripped, his hair is plain black/dark brown with no fancy shine, his eyes are brown, and they have bags under them. Other wear-and-tear from living is visible on him since this is his real body now, and not just a form he shaped for himself. For a similar reason he's got to shave, even though he'd have a hell of a time growing a beard (that doesn't look patchy and gross).
His fashion sense is about the same though.
Preincarnated History:
World Outline:
It's a world very similar to ours, except dragons are real. And they are more like magical dinosaur-shaped elemental spirits. Which we will call kheliosaurs for the sake of looking a little less ridiculous.
Umbreal is the last of their ancient gods, the one representing darkness and shadows.
Because territory became limited with the expansion of the human race and clashes between them and kheliosaurs became more frequent, Umbrael decided to make his kind retreat, in a way, by developing a way for them to shift to a smaller form and appear human. That way, as human settlements grew closer, they could avoid notice and live in relative peace. Also, human-sized things take up less space than magical dinosaur-shaped things.
On a surely unrelated note, his species is dwindling in the modern age - his kind reproduces at the end of their life, and it's becoming rare for a pair to produce more than one child. Their long life-spans are only delaying the inevitable, at this point.
Minor note, there were some humans in the old, pre-humanshape days who had their own magic abilities, including shapeshifting, and blah blah blah years later we get were-animals, and given they opposed dinosaurkin historically and what-not, Umbrael's not too friendly to those (but he stole/studied their their methods to create the shapeshifting magic for his kind).
And with that context out of the way,
Personal History/Big Events Important To Umbrael:
The creation story for this world goes that there were six great spirits, one to each element: Light, Fire, Air, Earth, Water, and Shadow. For ages, they simply lived on the planet, watching life develop without the aid of magic. But, the living things around them began to die. Survival was difficult, an extinction was coming. The spirits discussed amongst themselves what could be done, and ultimately they decided the world needed their lifeforce more than they did. At dawn the next day, they sacrificed themselves to preserve the life around them -- except for the spirit of Shadows. He stayed and watched as the others faded away, and while storytellers inject their own theories as to why - cowardice, greed, spite - the real answer is that, in compared to the rest of the spirits, he was a little kid at the time. He didn't entirely understand the plan, and when he saw his family disappear he simply panicked and didn't go through whatever process they did.
And after that, he's never really worked up the will to follow them.
It would be many years later when he saw one of the effects of his family's sacrifice - smaller versions of them - but not quite. More numerous, shorter-lived, and far less powerful, the kheliosaurs were his family's descendents, in a way. And being the oldest and most powerful one left, he took it upon himself to (and justify his continued existence by) acting as their caretaker. Then, as their leader. Their king. Their... Umbrael tries to avoid "the 'G' word" in most conversations about the subject, but after this long? He essentially is that to them. (He usually brings it up to settle arguments.)
Most of these 'descendants', he could trace the origins of their essence through colouration and the abilities they expressed, even if it came out as a mix between elements (electricity was a combination of air and earth; ice a combination of air and water, and so on). And after establishing nesting areas, it was obvious where the young came from -- except for one.
One day, Umbrael discovered a plain, grey kheliosaur baby, with no sign of where or who it came from. As he grew, the kheliosaur exhibited the ability to heal things, which was a power that had not yet appeared in their extensive history. None of the other spirits had been able to do it. This grey kheliosaur, Zoiel, would also outlive the others, and that and the unique powers confirmed Umbrael's suspicious that he was another great spirit type - though why a new one would appear, he's not sure. As Zoiel became the only constant in Umbrael's long and seemingly unending life, it was easy for Umbrael to accept him as a brother.
While Umbrael isn't sure why Zoiel appeared when he did - if you asked his 'subjects', they might say he was sent to rein in his adoptive older brother. As the kheliosaurs and the world around them grew up, less and less of them were willing to accept Umbrael's decisions unquestioning. Others, further away from their king's watchful eye, would start trouble with humans - or there would be rule-abiding kheliosaurs who would be hunted down by humans without provocation. Umbrael's patience grew shorter and shorter - and often he would settle disputes with violence. As the strongest being around, it was certainly the easiest solution - it's hard to cause trouble when you're dead, right?
Zoiel, either through (relatively) youthful naivete, or through enduring empathy to others, had something of a problem with this. He began by trying to talk Umbrael out of his actions - until he would being to directly defy him by healing whoever he hurt. At first, Umbrael didn't care - because hey, they could go and tell others about the horrible pain they suffered for defying the lizard king! Everyone won: Umbrael got to take his anger out on something, and they got to live! But healing was a gift meant to be used when necessary, and the toll healing fatal wounds was taking became apparent on Zoiel. Umbrael told his brother - ordered him, even - to stop. Zoiel told him no.
Faced with the one creature he couldn't kill - even without the healing powers - Umbrael finally had to relent and compromise. After that, the brothers began to work on Umbrael's... Anger management and diplomacy skills. And grudgingly, he learned the value of not following through on threats, or killing one's subjects. With great power, yadda yadda.
Despite what progress they made, Umbrael remained unsurprisingly unpopular. Fortunately, he wasn't running a democracy - and there still wasn't anyone else strong enough to depose him (though there were one or two close calls). He didn't care about that, though. Umbrael's diplomacy stopped being for the approval of his kind - it was for the approval of his brother... And to reduce animosity towards their kind, sure, but mostly it was for his brother.
The rest, he didn't care about. He knew he had to make unpopular decisions - everyone has to, and the more important they are, the more riding on them, the more likely you'll be hated for making the tough one. Umbrael would at least come to see his power and position as the one who was capable of making those calls and following through on them - he was one of the most powerful things in the world, and certainly the oldest of their kind. He had the experience and the ability to back it, so why shouldn't he do what was best for his kind, even if they couldn't see it that way?
What helped him stop caring about the opinions of his species, was that he had a more popular successor lined up: Zoiel, of course. Who could hate the healer, after all? Especially when he was the voice of reason, and the one to undo some of the damage Umbrael left. So, Umbrael's actions would shift, slightly - he'd still be harsh in his decision-making and actions, but he'd leave Zoiel out of the really gritty stuff. He'd quit trying to look good to his kind, and leave that to Zoiel - whether his brother was aware of it or not.
The reason behind this fatalist thinking? Umbrael had been alive for a very, very long time. If his end wasn't coming naturally, it would come either through his own kind, rallying to stop him, or some outside force.
More likely, the latter - kheliosaur numbers were dwindling, and there was no clear cause to why, though Umbrael had his theories.
It was supposed to be all six of them sacrificing themselves, wasn't it?
The theory Umbrael feels is most likely - is that his essence has to be out there, too. He's not confident enough in this to sacrifice himself immediately, however - there are plans out there should he die suddenly, but Umbrael isn't going anywhere without a guarantee that his kind will not go extinct.
Other significant things in his life that I couldn't smoothly fit into that history section:
- One time he almost died - barely saved by his brother. He made Zoiel promise to never bring him back if he's that far gone again.
- He employs the help of a kheliosaur with an affinity towards electricity and technology to serve as his personal tech support assisstance. Hey, the world's changed fast in the last five hundred years, compare that to the rest of his life and that's a lot to take in!
-- Tech support guy is also the only other one that can get away with backtalking Umbrael. Mainly because he's the only one with those abilities, so killing him would cause more problems than they'd solve. Also, he's good friends with Zoiel (they bond over complaining about Umbrael behind his back).
Reincarnated History:
Umbrael has a much less fancy life as Oswald Doyle. He did well enough in school, and had a healthy imagination as a kid. He got into roleplaying in his preteens, and then teens, and then - totally grew out of it and in no way continues this hobby for dumb babies.*
Doyle's an only child, but that's fine, he prefers to be alone. He was kind of the odd one out as he got into the later years of school, and not too great at making friends. But he doesn't mind that, either. People just rub him the wrong way, and he has something of a short fuse when he feels like he's talking to people who aren't as smart as him. Or who act smarter than him. Or who are smarter than him, or more charming, or more smug, or taller, or...
Well, he doesn't like people much, on a personal level.
This could be his personality, or it could be him landing job after job in customer service, culminating in a technical support position. Couldn't have happened to a nicer overlord, really.
Nowadays, his life is go to work, try to maintain his blood pressure, go home from work, interact with a minimal amount of people on the way, and then sit at home and try to relax before doing it all over the next day. To what point? He doesn't worry about that. He's fine just existing.
When he's not desperately repressing a stress-aneurysm at work, he's either being a smug asshole in the nearest hipster coffee shop (or starbucks), or he's a smug asshole online at home. His favourite things to browse are sites showcasing the weirdest and saddest people of the internet, because Doyle likes feeling superior to others for some reason. Or at least like he has his life more together.
(*-Blatant lies)
First Echo: Somewhere in his teens, when he wanted to make an online handle for himself and/or the name of an rp character - he futzed around, and figured 'iel' was like 'god's ___' and 'umbra' was shadow and wouldn't it be cooler if it was 'ael', and since it was a christianity-less fantasy world anyway he could just use the 'ael' ending as 'really powerful spirit', yeah, and then --- Umbrael was created again as an overpowered fantasy character.
Having gone through a similar process as his predecessor in choosing a name ('Umbrael' is more of a rough translation from draconic growling) triggered the first echo, which along with a string of numbers would also give Doyle the feeling that he's really a part of the world around him
Preincarnation Personality:
Being alive for many years leaves you very... Bored. And not in a languished, airy sort of way. No, Umbrael has seen it all in some way or another, and it's just not surprising for him anymore. It's also ruined his patience for what he perceives as bullshit, repetitive, easily-solvable or easily-avoidable conflicts. Land disputes? Trying to get tribute from the local humans? Encroaching on something's territory and demanding support when it fights back? Requests to stop playing around and just conquer everything? Demanding that he step down and end his tyrannical rule? All of it old, and all of it very easily solved by threatening their lives, if not outright ending them. Even with 'just kill them' off the table, he's likely to take the quickest route to solving a problem.
As powerful as he was, he became used to being unopposed. Well, directly unopposed. He knows he's not popular amongst his kind, even after his brother talked him down to a less deadly and more diplomatic way of problem solving, but he doesn't care. He's prepared to make hard, brutal, unpopular choices if they're in the best interest of his kind (which sometimes also means himself).
On a more general front - Umbrael tends to be very blunt. It's one part he's old enough that the formalities of conversation are just a waste of time for him, but also because no one can really reprimand him for being rude. His patience is short towards those who are 'pretentious' or who are being needlessly coy and cryptic, people with an unwarranted sense of importance, and so on. People who are nervous, fidgety, or just shy don't grate on him nearly as much, it's the ones he actually has to hear that evoke his wrath.
He doesn't get close to others emotionally, and that's as much him outliving nearly everything in his world as it is his discomfort in trusting others to know about his inner thoughts and feelings. The only one in (relatively speaking) recent times to get that close with him is his brother, who he would trust with his life.
Despite his old-age-boredom and abrasiveness, he's very plainly emotional. He's fiercely protective, even territorial over the things he cares about (his brother, his species, his world), and any threat to them is met with fury and force. Some might say more than necessary, but Umbrael feels he always uses the appropriate amount of brutality towards anyone who threatens him and his. He also has a hell of a temper, which again, is partly because his old age has given him ample time to get tired of dealing with petty things, and partly it's just how he is. Combined with his defensiveness, and you have something very few people want to recklessly anger (but might by accident anyway).
Umbrael's territorial protectiveness can cross into straight being possessive, however, since he's lost a lot throughout his life. When it comes to his species as a whole, especially - they're descendents of his siblings, and watching them die out
Now that he's a little wiser than he was in his earlier years, he does, in fact, feel regret for some of his actions. Mostly, though, he hates himself, for his past impatience, his failures (and there are plenty without mentioning the ongoing one of his species dying out), and just at how good he's been at being unlikeable to his own kind. Thing is, though, old habits die hard, and his are ancient. He makes attempts to change his ways, but he feels that he'll never really manage anything significant.
Any differences:
Overall, while Doyle shares many root traits (impatience, short temper, difficulty opening up to others, etc) as his preincarnated self, they are more subdued. Or, rather, they're about a normal level for a person, instead of extremes resulting from years and years and years of dwelling on something and holding grudges.
That said! There are areas where he differs more from his past self:
- Instead of taking unusual or supernatural differences in stride due to jadedness and old-man-boredom, Doyle will fly into denial or straight freak out (or both) when confronted with something that doesn't make sense that he's not equipped to handle. As a result, he's less confident and cocky in his confrontations. (Being unafraid to call out bullshit is something he's still unafraid to do, however, unless whoever he's criticizing is right in front of him and likely to retaliate with stronger force).
- Also contrary to his ultimate-crotchety-old-man way of things, Doyle is able to work with modern technology to a functioning, dare we say competent degree. He even enjoys it a little! He may have a short temper still, but Doyle has the patience to try to work through or around a problem instead of ragequitting after a minute.
- While he still has a low frustration threshold, he does not immediately jump to 'kill it' as the solution to his problems. That's just insane, alright? While he'll fight for his life and that of bystanders, he's not going to use that to end a petty argument.
- Hey on that note bystanders enter into his thoughts! At least, as more than numbers. And humanity is something he technically feels positive towards, even if he's a grumpy bastard 90% of the time.
- And as stated above, having not had millions of years to stew and dwell and so on, he's not as angry and self-loathing as Umbrael. He doesn't go completely out of his way to isolate himself emotionally and socially, and certainly not by acting out until others leave.
- Doyle hasn't really lost anyone or anything major in his life, so he doesn't have the level of possessiveness and territorial behaviour and issues as Umbrael, either. There's nothing he's really protective of, other than his computer and stuff, maybe? But he's not going to get crazy violent or dependent on anyone until the echoes start rolling in.
Abilities:
The big one was Umbrael's control over darkness and shadows. Hell, he was the ancient spirit of darkness and shadows - such control and even the element itself could be part of who he was.
He could pull shadows off of their surfaces and shape them into weapons. But his preferred way of doing things was just peeling them off wherever they laid around his target, shaping them into spikes, and just stabbing whoever offended him with their own shadow. They could be tendrils, he could shape a functioning hand from them, he could turn them into a spear or a sword or a shield with equal ease. The darker the shadow, the more 'solid' darkness he had to work with - the larger the shadow, the more 'material' he could use. The best way to negate his powers would be several lights casting dim shadows. A single bright light would give a dark shadow - a lightless room is just submerging him in his element.
Being an ancient magical god, he's picked up a few other tricks along the way, the most important of which is the ability to shift. He (and some handpicked assistants) developed magic items that would change the form and appearance of his subjects into something humanoid. While Umbrael could make use of such items himself, he was powerful enough that he didn't need mechanical help. This shapeshifting is limited to going from giant-lizard-form to reasonably-sized-human-form and back. That said, he does have a magical earring that he can use to shapeshift - it's there as a back-up in case he's in a spot where he can't work up the power to hold a form, or if he doesn't want to split his focus when using his shadow powers in human form.
(I understand this is completely overpowered though, and any of these abilities he'd get back would be gradual, and lacking the lifetime of experience, he would be massively unskilled with them.)
Roleplay Sample - Third Person:
By his remains, he had been yellow-green and pale blue. Had the ability to teleport. Air-based - much like the wind, he could travel anywhere quickly, and one of the few who could get there without needing his destination in view.
A good leader might have a moment of silence to reflect on the loss, to remember his name and remember his dedication. They might be upset - sad, or angry, maybe they'd even vow to avenge the loss of their loyal assistant.
All Umbrael could think was: Well, this is inconvenient.
This kheliosaur - ah, what was his name this half-century? Swish? Whirlwind? Travlen? It was Ambul at some point, he knew, but much like his element, he never stayed with one thing for long. That was mildly inconvenient, too.
More importantly, and more pressingly, he had been Umbrael's way back to base, so to speak, and someone went and killed him. Not that he couldn't walk there eventually, but it was a bit of a hike from an east coast city to the center of the continent, even for a sort-of-technically-god. Not to mention the reinforcements he wanted to bring in were not as hardy as him.
See? Inconvenient.
He wasn't alone - there were 'saurs here that were loyal to him, mostly, but they weren't exactly the elite crew he wanted to help him - 'negotiate' - his way to a resolution with the latest arrogant nutbag wannabe. Another Kheliosaur, of course, which was just embarrassing for all of them. He didn't care about what humans and weres thought of their species as a whole - it just made 'talks' more annoying if they went in assuming every lizard was bent on dominating humans and taking control of a city or land or whatever it was this week. Ignoring how utterly annoying and stupid humankind was, they as a species had something a little more important to worry about instead of territorial pissing contests.
And yet, here they were. Kids, today.
Umbrael stood straight, shaking his head. Human form was better for getting close to the evidence without blowing it everywhere. Their kind didn't leave bodies, just scattered scales and crumbling bones. But, he was finished with the remains, now. He flicked his hand - and with that simple gesture, fine tendrils of shadow rose from the grass and rocks on the ground and swirled, sweeping the remains of Ambul (close enough) into the wind.
Which was somewhat appropriate, in retrospect. He was more concerned with cleaning up the evidence, though.
He watched the last of the dust disappear, waited another minute, and then turned away, back to the city, where his makeshift 'team' unknowingly waited for his orders. Those arrogant nutbags weren't going to beat sense into themselves! (Though if only they would...)
Roleplay Sample - Network: It doesn't last long, but uh, here's AU Umbrael giving tech support to someone. Though I'm obviously just getting a hang of the setting, so uh just in case, here's a post sample, too:
[000 - Voice Post]
... So let me get this straight, you're saying they're literally putting flouride in the water?
[He sighs. Out of sight of whatever he's posting with, he's massaging his temples]
Right, right what's next? Reptiloids?
[Said sarcastically. You could almost imagine the roll of his eyes by voice alone.]
I don't know what I hate more: that I just fell into this so easily, or that moronic government conspiracies are coming true. Or are true already, whatever.
Which hey - reminds me, I got a question about those - pulsewhatevers...
[He hesitates.]
... But I'd rather do it in private. It's kind of weird, and I am way too tired and way too sober to talk about it right now. All right? Great.
Keep it up with that red-string crap, I guess.
Any Questions?
As he's not only an OC, but an obscenely old one, how would echoing things that aren't on this app work? At least, using echo-triggers based on situations I haven't brought up... Is it pretty much the same, or do I have to provide more information?