Xavion Stratus
A vigilant soldier and sailor born in Alliria. He's spent around a decade of his life studying auras and the Elemental Arcane in order to enhance his combat skills and improve his exploration capabilities.
He serves Alliria as a soldier, even now that he operates as a sailor for a shady organization that guides his father's crew to seek out new lands and mysterious artifacts.
Appearance
Usually dressed in some form-fitting variation of his uniform and armor, which is usually a dark navy attire with light blue accessories and accents. If he's wearing armor then it's usually not much more than a slim pair of silver gauntlets, pauldrons, and greaves.Xavion's vanilla blonde hair is often kept short and tidy, with bangs that are long enough to nearly reach the tip of his nose. He has sharp handsome features, with the slightest hint of a point at the tips of his ears. Due to the rather physical upbringing he's developed an extremely athletic body, with large sculpted muscles on his lithe frame.
He's often seen with a longsword at his hip, a spear across his back, and a light blue cape. Usually tucked away from view in one of the greaves is a fine elven dagger. When diving he usually doffs the armor, cape, shirt, and sword, leaving just his pants, dagger, and spear for underwater exploration.
Skills and Abilities
Gale Step: By using his aura to alter the wind or an underwater current, Xavion can accelerate his movement in a quick burst to suddenly traverse short distances. He's honed this ability in order to make it less of a drain to utilize, but the cost to do this can still be rather taxing if there is no natural source such as wind or a current available to draw upon. He's only able to travel a short distance without straining himself, and can't go fast enough to create a sonic boom without knocking himself out in the process. This ability can also be used in reverse, allowing one to decelerate in the case of falling; this should only be attempted in a single burst meant to soften a short fall, such as from atop a ship's mast, and is far too costly to safely use in succession.Torrent Spiral: Though this is possible to do with the aid of wind, this ability is much easier when surrounded by water. The caster can use staves or polearms to assist in casting this ability by spinning the weapon like a propeller towards their target. This creates a short to mid-range elemental vortex depending on the cost supplied time spent channeling it. The intense torrent created by this attack is capable of damaging and pushing or pulling average-sized creatures caught in the attack. One may also cast this ability around themselves, turning the area around them into a small whirlpool or whirlwind that can push or pull around creatures and objects not much heavier than the caster at an increased cost and strain on them, which can easily leave the caster winded and vulnerable for a short time.
Tempest Strike: By channeling an electrical current through their weapon or fist, the caster can augment a single attack to blast a target upon impact like a lesser strike of lightning. This can be used with an increased cost and charge time to strike a target with slightly more power or range in the attack. Depending on the weather the caster can generate and charge the electrical energy for this attack a little easier. In addition, if there is a stormy sky or similar atmosphere then one can aim this attack skyward above their target to summon a more natural bolt of lightning capable of chaining to more nearby targets at increasingly more dangerous costs to the caster. When channeled to these greater degrees the user will often be left winded and vulnerable for a fair amount of time afterwards.
Surge of Breath: This technique can be used to quickly gain a full breath and recover from being winded by an attack or impact that knocked the wind out of the user. However, this also has the risk of causing them asphyxiation instead if used while near-death, or if it's used during the vulnerability period of one's own magic-based technique. Therefore, this ability should never be used to recover from the cost and strain of another technique. This technique can also be used to amplify the amount of oxygen pulled into and held within the lungs so the user can hold their breath for up to twice the amount of time they'd be capable of normally. It should be noted that using this technique with hazards such as water or gases around the mouth or nose will cause the user to rapidly inhale those hazards to a dangerous level. One must also be careful not to inhale or compress too much oxygen at once, or else they risk damaging their own lungs in the process.
Personality
Xavion is often serious, but can be sarcastic from time to time. He's diligent and confident, protective and inquisitive. Xavion would gladly go out of his way to step into the middle of a fight in order to defend someone, especially citizens of Alliria or Falwood.He can be empathetic and understanding, and is usually driven by a lawful sense of honor when discretion isn't necessary. He's calm and collected in most situations, but sometimes shows an intense passion when things get dire.
Biography & Lore
Son to a human sailor from Alliria and an elven scholar from Falwood. Xavion's mother, the scholar, dedicated the last few decades of her life to studying the Elemental Arcane. His father, the sailor, helped her travel across the seas with his crew and ship, until the spark of love led the pair to settle down in Alliria for a short time.Xavion was born several years later, shortly before his father returned to hunting treasure and chasing artifacts across the seas for an obscure organization that largely remained unknown by the rest of the family. The mother diligently continued her studies of the arcane arts, and eventually started her own little college with the help of several colleagues. Each year she would lead the family to visit her homeland and see Fal'addas.
Up until his mid teens, Xavion bounced back and forth between living with either parent, diligently learning what he could from both before he eventually joined Alliria's standing army to help protect the city. He served with the guard for several years, gaining a small amount of renown for his quick learning and talent for martial skills before his father went missing during a hunt for a mysterious artifact.
Tasked with replacing his father by a superior he'd never met before, Xavion reunited with his father's old crew, and set sail for the Akiva Sea.