[Subtleknifewielder] Argroth

Personal Information

Name: Argroth

Alias(es): His public face is known as Arron Roth, his underground criminal persona is The Dealmaker. He has several other guises he uses for various tasks, but these two are the primary ones.

Age: Approximately one millennium old

Gender: Generally asks to be called something appropriate to his current form, though base form is male

Race: Demon (The kind that comes from Hell, specifically--or one version of it, anyway)

Pitch: Want a thing no one else can get for you? Argroth is your demon, if you're willing to sign an unbreakable contract. Bend its words, but break them at your peril. He seems friendly enough--though he is nakedly ambitious. Might be why he's declared an intent to run for mayor.

Genre:



Affiliations: Argroth's only true loyalty is to himself, though he maintains discreet connections to as many existing factions as possible, and leads an organization known as The Union, composed of a myriad of professionals to hire for different services, legal and otherwise. Escorts, secretaries, debt collectors, spies, assassins, you name it, The Union has what you need--not that it publicly advertises the shadier sides of itself. Nor do the more upstanding professionals know about the illegal half, as a general rule. It is through them that Argroth carries out the terms of many of his deals. The legal professionals have different public branches for various job types, open to customers walking right in as needed.

Background:
Spawned, or a damned soul twisted by the torment of Hell (a means that produces many new demons over time), Argroth no longer remembers how he came to be, and he doesn't particularly care, as it's not really important anymore. What matters is what and where he is now, and making the best of what he is and can do. He came to be in a time when Hell was in chaos--or well, more chaos than usual. Their angelic foes, tired of the demons constantly outnumbering them due to exponentially greater birth/spawn rates, enacted a bold plan that shook Hell to its core--a simultaneous strike at all major demonic leadership, from the princes on down to the mighty captains and even promising lieutenants. It was costly to the denizens of Heaven, but it worked, and beautifully; all known demonic leaders were dead or too weakened to be what they once were, having to once again fight for their old positions.

Demons, being demons and typically chaotic evil, naturally hate and mistrust one another, and constantly scheme to bring others down out of spite or for their own advancement. Hell was fractured into thousands upon hundreds of thousands of petty, squabbling factions (some say even more, as to know the true scope of Hell is difficult) that turned the afterlife into a bloodbath of staggering proportions unimaginable to the human mind. A few notable, powerful individuals managed to carve out strong empires in the seemingly endless civil war, but angels kept a wary eye on those, and struck them down too when possible, drawing out the chaos as long as possible.

However, after centuries of internecine warfare that saw numberless billions upon billions of demons extinguished, there soon came first one lord, then another, then a handful more, that grew too wily to let themselves be destroyed like their predecessors. Of course they still fought one another, in great, bloody battles and long, drawn-out sieges, though against them the smaller factions stood no chance, falling in line with one or another of the new greater powers or being annihilated, hell slowly coming to be dominated once again by a few great princes rather than a thousand thousands of feuding lordlings.

Argroth served one such would-be Lord of Hell, Kazu'ud, who evaded the initial strike on his domain once he reached a certain point. During the chaos of the raid, Argroth, unsuccessfully, schemed to assassinate Kazu'ud himself and take his place, and nearly lost several limbs and his life in the process. Fortunately for his existence, the lord was actually completely unaware of his plots, distracted with a rich prize he had obtained--the capture of a live angel to experiment on and corrupt. Unfortunately for his prospects of promotion within the ranks, Kazu'ud's chief lieutenant Malaz did know of his scheme, being the one to stop him, and used it as blackmail against the younger, weaker demon, holding back Argroth's advancement and even demoting him, keeping him under the lieutenant's thumb long past the point where Kuzu'ud probably would have cared--if he had known.

Malaz, of course, constantly reminded the failed demon that he had only spared his life because he found him useful, wanting to lord it over the would-be schemer and 'remind him of his place.' However, instead of learning his apparent place, Argroth learned a different, more valuable lesson from his tormentor/patron. By holding his tongue and observing Malaz, he learned the value of patient plotting, rather than quick, short-sighted schemes, because patience was something Malaz was particularly good at. Argroth learned to wait quietly, and observe; he listened where other demons would have made brash declarations or boasts of their prowess; he watched where others would have grown bored and found their eyes wandering; remembered, where their thoughts would have strayed to their own petty desires of the moment and quickly forgotten the insights they could have gleaned. No detail was too unimportant for his quick mind to grasp and hold, now that he had learned the value of such things.

And when Kuzu'ud went on to become one of the new reigning Lords of Hell as the Exemplifier of Pride, with Malaz a mighty captain under him, Argroth finally was promoted beyond a simple squad leader, made a lieutenant in his own right. At last, he was once again moving up in the ranks. At last, he could really start scheming for the long-term. His end-goal, of course, being to become an Exemplifier himself, but along the way another goal is definitely to see to putting Malaz in his place, for holding Argroth back for so long. And then making use of him in a manner similar to how Malaz used him--as an errand boy for every menial task he'd wanted done but didn't feel like doing himself.

To those ends, he came to Buster City, the crossroads of countless worlds, some time ago to work his schemes and gain souls, as well as power of all types--political, monetary, arcane, spiritual--all types that can aid him in his rise through the ranks. No one can say for sure how long he has been here now, but no human alive can recall a time when he was not--or they wouldn't if they even knew more than his public guises, anyway. And along the way, he has picked up an appreciation for the finer things of mortal life, too. Music, art, language, food, clothes, and so much more, in the process working hard to obtain a public image as an upstanding member of the upper-class with a reputation for honesty and ethical practices--a citizen that even the members of the lower, working class can trust and respect. Few, if any, suspect the real truth of who he is and what he wants.


Appearance

Profile:


Description: In his natural base form, Argroth is an imposing sight, with a muscular physique that stands at a full six foot six and weighs 253 pounds. He peers out at the world through piercingly intelligent amber eyes, and his skin is primarily red, broken up by infrequent and uneven bands of gold and black, while his short hair is an even deeper, glistening black with faint lavender highlights. Scars clearly inflicted by sharp weapons, but made faint by age, can be found in many places over his body, mementos of past battles and duels, but the largest concentration can be seen over his arms, back, and cheeks, one coming perilously close to the corner of one eye, another to the joint where one of his wings attach to his back, that last a particularly vicious-looking one that extends from there all the way down to the back of his right knee. The bat-like wings, if unfurled, would resemble huge, red kites letting him soar through the sky, but when wrapped around him resembling nothing so much as a silken velvet cape. Even in his natural form, however, these wings can be banished/hidden at will. Lastly, there are eight horns in a ring around the edge of his skull, jutting up through his hair and placed fairly equidistant from one another. Each is two inches long, pointed straight up, and completely red in color.

Of course, it would be unwise to run around looking like a stereotypical demon. His public guise of Arron Roth looks much more human. He has the same size and body build, strong and powerful looking, but his skin is a paler Caucasian tone, with several tattoos in the shapes and colors of 'mythological' creatures and beings, but none in places that can't be covered up by the suits and other fine, sophisticated clothing he prefers. His taste for the fine things shows, as well, in the jewelry he wears. He frequently has one or more rings on his fingers, usually made of either gold or silver, gold cufflinks on his sleeves, and a watch with jeweled band on each wrist, one set to the local time, one set to some foreign time only he knows. His horns, naturally, are gone, and in place his hair, just plain raven black now, is thicker and fuller, kept immaculately combed. The one concession to true oddness in his appearance is his amber eyes, but in a place like Buster City, that's not going to raise many eyebrows.

His last guise, as the criminal mastermind Dealmaker, is the most ambiguous. The only clear details is that it is on the shorter than average side, and his eyes are brown. Most other details about him are cloaked under a hood and baggy clothes, in shadows, or just plain thick coverings over his face and body.


Abilities

Gear
Cell Phone: What modern businessman would be complete without a way to keep in contact with business partners, employees, and potential customers? His cell phone is generally the newest model possible, though it oddly has very few contacts recorded in it--perhaps because he's already memorized most of them. The only names and numbers in it are the ones he can be absolutely sure are aboveboard. Like his bracers, it is enchanted to be sturdier and repair itself over time if damaged, though not being armor, it is a lot easier to destroy.

Gauntlets: Disguised as those rings and fancy watches he wears most of the time, the jewelry all reverts to his chosen form of armor when needed--a pair of gauntlets. They are sturdy enough to, with minimal damage, deflect high-velocity bullets if he is quick enough to intercept such projectiles, and even resistant to both holy and infernal weapons. If they do get damaged, they slowly repair themselves over time unless utterly destroyed.

Scroll: An enchanted scroll. He writes a contract upon it, and when he is satisfied with the wording, the text appears on another medium--a sheet of paper, another scroll, even a digital contract upon an electronic device--but whatever form it is transferred to, it becomes unbreakable once transferred and signed. He does not need to do contracts this way, but it is handy if he needs to ponder the wording before finalizing the contract, or for holding on to a standard template as needed. The wording can be magically erased and rewritten as many times as needed while still on this scroll, similarly to a Word Document.

Various Weapons: Argroth is a connoisseur of many human things, but none so much as their means of killing one another. He's collected a variety of weapons from all periods of history, from simple melee weapons like clubs and maces, to blades, to sophisticated weapons like compound bows, crossbows, and guns. He generally has one or more weapon on him for self-defense purposes, what kind is dependent on the situation or situations he is anticipating being in.

Wallet: Another essential of being wealthy, his wallet is full of money, credit and debit cards, and the ID of his primary human guise, as well as other small, assorted things one might expect to see in it.


Abilities:

Combat Experience: A lifetime of surviving combat will ensure something sinks in. He's not a master tactician, but he has some experience strategizing. He's not a master soldier, but he has moderate experience with a variety of medieval-style weaponry, and he's trained a bit with more modern handheld weapons like rifles, handguns, and grenades. He is also decent at improvising weapons.

Demonic Physiology: Being a demon inherently bestows a variety of strengths--and weaknesses too.

• Flight: (Strength) In his natural form, and a few select others, he has wings with which to fly. He cannot fly without wings.
  
  
• Fire: (Strength and POWERFUL WEAKNESS) All demons are capable of summoning and manipulating Hellfire, to a greater or lesser extent. This fire is not any more or less potent against non-spiritual entities when it comes to physical damage, but it is very effective against angels and moderately effective against dead souls and other demons. It does have one notable psychological effect when touching a mortal--it makes it harder for them to resist their baser impulses until they heal from its burns. On the flip side, possibly the biggest weakness of a demon by far is Holy Fire. It is the most drastically effective thing in all existence against them. Burns given to a demon by holy fire are very, very difficult to heal from, taking a long time or a lot of power to do so. Demons are immune to ordinary fire, though their items, should they have any, are not.
  
  
• Gift of Tongues: (Strength) Argroth, as any demon, is naturally able to understand and speak any mortal language on top of the infernal tongue, without needing to learn it first. After all, how can you tempt a mortal without first understanding their desire and being able to promise it to them in speech they understand? This would be the last gift to go for a malnourished demon.
  
  
• Holy Symbols/Ground: (WEAKNESS) If a place or thing is specifically consecrated against evil, it will cause Argroth (and other demons) great pain and actual physical harm (in the form of burns) to touch them, proportionate to the level of sanctity and the size of the item--this includes holy water. The more effort and sincerity was put into the ceremony, and the more legitimate faith put into the thing that was blessed, the more it hurts to be in contact with the item of faith or to be on the hallowed ground. In the case of consecrated ground, he can fly over it, but at roughly an equivalent height to the square size of the area, and the effect is weaker near the edges. The strongest consecrations can form something akin to a firmly physical barrier to his kind, regardless of their willingness to abide the pain and damage.
  
  
• Physical Prowess: (Strength) While not capable of the mighty and terrifying physical feats a demon of Wrath could pull off, Argroth is a demon, and is thus many times more physically fit than a normal human. He is capable of lifting several times what even the best Olympic weightlifter could match, shrugging off blows from said weightlifter, and regenerating at least three times as fast as any known human ever could from even serious wounds, and faster if he is well-nourished on the spiritual level. As a demon he is also immune to human illnesses and natural poisons (including acids and bases), and can remain physically active near indefinitely without tiring, nor does he need to sleep, or consume physical nourishment (though he is capable of enjoying food or drink if he wishes).
  
  
• Spiritual Needs: (WEAKNESS) Every demon, from the Lords on down to the newest spawn and lowest peon, need nourishment beyond the physical. All demons draw energy from the cardinal sin that they represent, the sin that shaped them into what they are now. Pride, Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Wrath, Sloth--and Lust, which is the vice that created Argroth. They do not have to commit these sins themselves, rather, they need to be around those that commit those sins, whether their fellow demons--or mortals. It doesn't matter if the mortal is physically alive, or deceased and merely a soul, commission of these sins can sustain the demon. Nor does it have to be the cardinal sin itself, it can be something stemming from it--for example a miser would be guilty of Greed whether he acquires ill-gotten gains or refuses to give to charity. However, whatever the form it takes, without this sustenance, a demon begins to weaken over time, losing many of their supernatural gifts, whatever they may be. Without nourishment they become as weak as a human, though they will never fully die from this alone, only from the vulnerabilities it now brings (such as disease, acid, fire, and others). Conversely, if they have an overabundance of it, they can feel supercharged with energy and power.
  
  
• Supernatural Weapons: (WEAKNESS) While he is not invulnerable to human weapons, he is far more vulnerable to a weapon that has been infused with holy or infernal energy. To some degree any supernatural energy can make a weapon more potent against him, but holy or infernal energies are best.
  
  
• Wards and Summons: (WEAKNESS) Anyone of sufficient arcane strength and skill can summon a demon or ward an area against demonic intrusion without the benefit of holy magic, though a mortal summoner requires the demon's name (a fellow demon has different requirements for summoning others). Wards can hold a demon out, or in, depending on their design, though a flaw in the wards can result in them being eroded or outright useless--they must be drawn or etched flawlessly. A demon's name needs to be pronounced perfectly for a mortal magician to be successful in summoning and compelling a demon to action.
  
  
  
• Xenomorphing: (Strength) Not all demons are capable of altering their natural appearance, but shapeshifting is tied to three different cardinal sins--Pride, Lust, and Envy. While Pride can subtly alter certain details of themselves to enhance their appearance and appeal to their vanity, and Envy can become anything it suits their desire to be, Argroth's sin falls squarely in the middle. He is not limited in the subtle changes he can make like Pride, nor is he capable of the extreme beastly forms possible to Envy. Rather, he is capable of looking like any person he wants, or even making up an appearance--so long as the form he takes is humanoid or primate in shape. He does not actually take on the powers or physical characteristics of anyone he impersonates, merely their outward appearance and voice, and to to some extent their scent to fool those who have a higher sense of smell.
  

Magic: While in theory all demons could perform magic if they practiced, not all of them bother, and those that do, specialize. Argroth specializes in enchantments, blood magic, and summoning other demons--but only those weaker than himself to perform basic tasks he can't be othered with but doesn't want to delegate to an employee. Basically, if the magic requires a ritual, he's your demon.

• Contracts: The bread and butter behind most of his current power, with a touch of something coming directly from the signers (such as a pinch of their magic, blood, flesh, or life force), Argroth is capable of creating magically binding contracts that inflict a heavy toll on anyone who breaks them. Neither he, nor someone stronger than him, are immune to the consequences of breaking a contract, once signed. Depending on the severity of the breech and the nature of what was signed for, the consequences can be simple as dizziness, nausea, or mild pain, as severe as lifelong crippling pain or the loss of one or more senses, or drastic as a painful death in the worst cases. The only way to override this is to include a clause in the contract specifically stating the desired consequences of breaching it, rather than depending on the magic itself to decide.

Observant: Argroth is highly aware of his surroundings at all times, a natural consequence of having to fight for survival for centuries.

Polymath: A result of a combination of high intelligence plus many centuries, Argroth is learned in a variety of subjects--language, arts, sciences, and more. He may not have degrees for all the knowledge he possesses, but he can still hold forth intelligent conversations on a variety of subjects with people who are educated in those fields.

Silver Tongue: Charm, persuasion, guile, charisma. Call it what you want, Argroth has the gift of gab. He has convinced many a mortal (and even other demons) that he is their best friend, and that they can trust him enough to sign a contract with him--not to mention tricked even the wary into trapping themselves into a contract with him. It's not a supernatural gift for him, rather a skill that has been practiced and well-honed from close to a millennium of use.