Name :: Marquis Jean-Alexandre Garnier de Moselle (Alex for short)
Age :: 19
Gender :: Male
Alignment :: Chaos, which is a natural bedfellow of darkness
Homeworld :: Provincial France (Beast's Castle)
Class :: Dark Knight, but with none of the sorrow and regret. Outside of combat, he's a tinkerer, philosopher, and, as he calls it, chess master.

Abilities ::
Swordplay: Alex was trained in fencing as well as sword combat. Munny allowed him some of the best trainers in the land, and some with rather odd styles.
Speed: More that strength, Alex's combat style is based on speed and agility. He moves and strikes fast.
Dark Vision: A bit of a play on words, Alex both sees best in the dark, and can see the darkness inside creatures and people.
Dark Magic: This includes spells that drain the opponents power, health, or magic. Some of these transfer the stolen power or health to Alex. It also covers a special mix off offensive magic such as dark elemental black magic. In short, the element is infused with darkness, and, while it deals a little less damage, it has the potential to inflict a negative status on opponents (sleep, confuse, poison, slow, blind, something else you make up in the roleplay). The attack of Dark always inflicts these as well as damage.
Moves:
Darkside Reveal:This is an attack Alex can preform at various levels of intensity. It is fueled by inflicting damage on himself and his own heart in order to infuse the darkness with more power. Excessive use could require days to recover from, if, indeed, his heart survives.
Darkness Fall: This attack calls on the shadows to cover the field of battle. Effectively, the area becomes pitch black. Those without dark vision are blind. In addition, it drains a good amount of MP. It can be dispelled with a fire spell of any kind (this will momentarily daze him).
Shadow Step: This ability can be used both in and out of combat. It allows Alex to step into one shadow (including his own) and come out another. This works in the darkness as well, as it is, in effect, one giant shadow. He cannot step out of another person's shadow, so if there are no objects casting shadows in a space, he cannot use this ability.

Weaknesses::Light too bright effectively dazes him. This includes spending too much time in mid-day sun or a flare of fire in the pitch black. Even a very brightly lit room causes him some problems.

Having no healing abilities of his own, and relying on health consuming attacks to deal his highest damage, Alex often has to flee before the end of a fight if he runs out of healing items. Cure spells only cure him for 2/3rds of the normal amount as they are light based magic.

Weapon :: Hearts Eclipse, his keyblade, is formed from a sword forged for him at birth. Unlike other keyblades, its keychain is bound into the rest of the blade and cannot be changed. Its strengths can only be changed with items fused into it.

Appearance :: Alex is small, but well toned. He is short for a man of 19, only 5'5", but he carries himself with such an imposing presence that he seems taller. The illness that struck him at age 6 also took away all color in his hair, which began to grow in white. His eyes, too, lost color. Their current red hue is due to the magic which allows them sight. He wears slightly tinted glasses for any close reading. When left to his own devises, he tends to dress well, and in darker colors. He is a fan of leather gloves, but finds leather in other clothing cumbersome unless used for armor.

Personality :: If Alex were to be asked for his singular motivation, he would tell you without a moments hesitation that he is here to upset the status quo. His goal is to jostle and cause unrest. His joy lies in nothing more than causing people's world order to topple from bottom to top. He loves devastation, but not just simple destruction. The sadistic pleasure comes not from simple loss but from hate and anger, sadness and a feeling of hopelessness that comes from being unconsciously complicit in your own undoing. He sees each system as a puzzle and the perfect solution is the one that upsets it the most.

Jean-Alexandre is a text book sociopath. He does not feel remorse or sympathy. He does not emotionally empathize with anyone. He sees people as smaller systems and approaches them with the same goals in mind. The truest proof of understanding is the ability to break through every defense. There is no trick that Alex considers off limits. He befriends his targets, works as a common laborer, lies, cheats and steals. He creates mayhem and then gets bored and moves on.

Alex will tell you that he comes to all this from a philosophical point of view. People, he will say, hold so tightly to meaning and order that has no value or worth. Everything comes from chaos and darkness. Our short, little lights are just enough to let us see how dark everything really is.

The only person he cares about is his brother. His brother is the only one who has proven his worth, as far as the young Marquis is concerned. Perhaps if someone else managed to prove themselves in the brief time they have around him, Alex might care about them, too.

History :: Alex was born to the late Marquis Garnier de Moselle and his slightly later wife. Despite, the title, the family had little land under their control. They worked as consultants for other nobility for generations and the title was more of a courtesy that made marriage easier. His brother Paul-Jacques was born two years later and his mother died while pregnant with a sister who was never born. When the boys were 5 and 3, their father was killed accidentally on a hunting trip. They were raised being told he died in combat, but Alex never really believed that. As per their father's will, the brothers were raised by the councilman Fredrick and his wife Marta, who, though legally the children's guardians, call them "sir."

A year later, both boys were struck ill with an infection that left them both weak and blind. Alex's dark black hair began to grow in white. He refused to let the illness stop him and learned to navigate the castle by counting steps and memorize the books he had his servants read to him. He even ordered Fredrick to teach him fencing. Within six months, Alex's strength had improved, though he was still sightless. His brother fared much worse, but survived. Alex lived blind for two years, training, learning, and making sure no one pitied him for it. One night, two guests showed up at the door. Despite Fredrick's insistence that he deny them entry, Alex invited them to dinner without so much as asking who they were or what they looked like. The next morning, he woke up with much of his sight restored. One of the visitors had been a sorceress and had rewarded him for his kindness. His eyes had turned from a blinded blue to a deep red, a tribute to their magical restoration. He learned to read and write, learned to aim and strike based on what his eyes told him. His new magical vision worked better in the dark than in the bright light, but it opened up a world of new possibilities.

On his thirteenth birthday, as per family tradition, he was presented with the sword forged for him at birth. Every male in the family had such a sword. As the hilt was placed in his hands, an aura surrounded it and a bright purple light flew outward, stunning the whole room. When the light succeeded, the sword had been transformed into Heart's Eclipse, his keyblade. After that night, Alex was struck with incredible Wanderlust. He began traveling to other parts of his world, seeing different customs and learning new things. He'd return with a caravan of scrolls and new technologies, then lock himself in a room for a week or two, leaving only if his brother called him.

The more he learned about people the more disillusioned and cynical he became. By the time he turned fifteen, Alex had become a cold, cruel young man, driven only by a desire to disrupt the calm and break people who claimed to be strong. He became popular with the other lords, who valued his views on the most practical approaches to dealing with problems. Though his means were seen as evil, no one could best him in a debate as to their merits. He openly invited anyone to do just that. But he was bored, beset by ennui. It was a strange cloaked traveler in the forest who first gave him a way out.

The figure saw him training with his keyblade and promised him an escape from the bureaucracy of his current life. It was just what Alex loved, a disruption in the status quo, a way to upturn all he knew. He agreed with no hesitation. With a wave of the figures gloved hand, Alex felt the darkness stir in his heart. He met the figure several times before he was offered a corridor out of his world. Alex sent his messenger hawk home with a simple message for his brother, to be read to the blind boy on delivery. "I bequeath the throne to you, dear brother. I expect it was made more for you than for me. Know that I love you always and that, one day, we will meet again, men filled with the knowledge of experience and the wisdom of more years." He sealed the note, and opened a portal into the darkness for the first time.

Since then, he's been traveling the World, testing his mental and physical strength.

Theme songs :: Dark Horse on the Wind - Malinky (taken it the most cynical sense)
Battle Theme

Miscellaneous :: In keeping with his nihilistic philosophy, Alex has a hobby of building relatively useless machines.

Though he lacks any real human empathy, Alex is a huge fan of classical music and has crafted several intricate music boxes. He plays the piano quite well, too.

Alex is ambidextrous.