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Handle: Michael Noire



Full Name: Anthon Michael Noire
Original Name:Unknown
Background on the Name: In a world not unlike our own, a young boy lost his family to violence amidst political revolution. The boy sold everything he owned, traveled across the Ocean, and attempted to reunite with distant relatives. Unknown to the boy, his parents were united in forbidden love, their two families being mutual bigots of the others' heritage. Cast out in the streets as a worthless half breed, the young boy wandered to the coast and north to the deserts whereupon he began to grow thin, his sun burned skin cracking and bleeding, already ill from weeks subsisting on rats and insects. Shortly before perishing, the young boy was seized by a malevolent entity, possessed by a being that consumed and merged with his soul. This being had been imprisoned since the time of the Old Ones, who thought they had managed to destroy it before their first conquests began aeons ago. Weeks passed and the soul of the boy, bitter and lonely, empty and driven, began to rise to the conscious surface of the maelstrom of souls.
Meanwhile, a traveler wandering down from the mountains to the North East came across the apparent corpse, and kicking it, discovered a living, nearly mindless being suitable for servitude. The boy was carried on the traveler's shoulders for several miles to a monastery, where he was cleaned, bandaged and fed. Shortly afterward, he began his long career of training in the art of political assassination. Day and night he trained his physique and psyche, and very quickly developed an interest in obscure techniques passed down from the time of Tibetan masters. His instructors initially attempted to balance out his training, but discovered quickly his lust for pain.

Eventually his ability to manifest secret techniques began to rival elder students, and the normally harsh demands for balanced training waned until he performed his first successful mission, killing a man with pure thought. There could be no accounting for his rapid ascent, nor a comparison among the students. Only the ancient master and the woman traveler could rival him, and even she was beginning to be surpassed. At this point, the time line splits in two radically different directions. While returning from one of many recent missions, the young man, calling himself Anthon Noire, was suddenly struck down by a force beyond his comprehension. An immeasurable entity of apocalyptic reckoning, primordially familiar yet rendering even that first possession a mere whisper...

It was Destiny. His Destiny, and darkness shone as light in its shadow. Far beyond the reaches of space and time, in a realm beyond reality and reckoning, sitting upon a void crudely outlining a throne of bones, was the Dark Man. Surrounding him was the endlessness of oblivion, and encapsulated in his countenance was every memory of every soul in every world - worlds whisked out of existence. Great and Noble souls, divine and infernal entities. The insane, and the erudite. Primitive and primal, powerful and impotent. Dependents, lovers, and warriors. Nothing, no purpose, no reason, no intelligence. It was as if the grand purpose of the infinite cosmology had come crashing down into a single transfixed point and fulfilled its purpose, and now there was nothing.

Even as Anthon began to be sucked into the oblivion of the figure in the vision, his myriad souls screaming in agony, something happened. The vision began to simultaneously expand outward and reverse. Only it did not stop with the presence of the spectator, whose' presence was as naught. Anthon's vision of events suddenly took the first person of the throned figure, as their memory unwound revealing every Perception and every action the figure had experienced. The shock was incalculable. Worlds without number, universes upon universes, dimensions shredding back into existence, the rules of reality appearing as mere sketches on a piece of glass, writing, rewriting, erasing. Bodies running backward with tidal waves settling into rivers on planets uncreated and obliterated, reforming into distant gas giants and asteroid belts cycling in a wicked pattern. Personality surrounding his awareness, personifications of evil, death, love and hate, personifications of justice, mercy, and faith. Incarnations of immortality dancing around dining deities on the ship set sail upon a stellar ocean. Stars blinking back into existence after being un-destroyed by a dreadful sentient city whose future had yet to be written yet now unwound into the past.

Visions of the past, present and future, visions of place near and lightyears beyond, expanding universes contracting, infinite possibilities shining in the reflection of his eyes, and then,

unmade.

Anthon Noire woke, the bleeding eyes opened, and a whirlwind danced where his mind once rested. The possessing entity was no more. His perception of self was no more. His anger, and ego had vanished with his memory, consumed in the whirlwind. After some time, he began to be able to recall what had happened in his own life - his parents, the riots, a long journey across the sea. He recalled being abandoned by his grandmother, and the woman who carried him across the desert to the Monastery. But he also had a strange sensation of dread. He now understood. He could see the path he was on and realized what he was.
'In the end, we are choice'
He decided not to make a bad one. With that decision, the whole of existence would forever be changed, for the Dark Man had been written out of history... No, that's not quite right. It is far more accurate to say, the Dark Man had reached back, and written himself out of existence.

Anthon Noire had a brother, and from the endless hurricane of what was once his memory, he drew the name. Michael. Taking the name initially as his Middle name, he later dropped the Anthon, marking a distinction between the two paths. Was the entity completely erased from existence? Could such a being, - beyond the concept of god and man, truly be erased? Michael Noire never desired to find out. Something about the new Path contained potential that one never had. Potential latent with hope and promise for something better. Hope for something more promising than oblivion.

Race Half Asian - Mother's Side, from the Fujiwara clan; half Caucasian - Father's Side, descendant of Kiliaen van Rensselaer. His mother and father were forbidden to marry and fled to a Neutral country, where they specialized in Art and Design. Anthon was the older of two boys, by two years. As mentioned previously, his mother, father, and brother were killed during a riot. As both of his parents were disowned, he is forbidden to contact relatives from either side of the family.

Age Michael Noire will be 31 years old next Summer, although he typically looks half his actual age.
Height 5 '11
Weight 122 lbs (body mass index of 17)
Physical Description and Conditioning Michael Noire has the body of a svelte supermodel. This figure was developed by a mix of heavy isometrics, making him incredibly quick, sword work, and thousands of hours training in water, at high velocities and impacts, meaning his palms can crush bones, shatter steel, and explode boards His resilience is also sufficient to drop from great altitudes on hard surfaces and land unharmed. He experiences a similar resistance from blunt trauma. His skin is a super pale olive closer to color of the palest Kashi wood of the East, almost the color alabaster. His eyes are the color of shimmering pomegranate and his hair is a raven black A-line clipped in Visual Kei style with Tanzanite reflections.
Clothing Description Noire typically wears an elaborately embroidered martial arts Gi constructed of heavy spider silk, sufficiently resilient enough to stop most firearms and bladed weapons. His Hakama (also spidersilk) is embroidered white, with translucent patterned silk in the form of Lotus Blossoms.
Weapons & Equipment Noire is familiar with the traditional use of several martial arts weapons ranging from Escrima sticks to Samurai swords. He is also familiar with the tools and implements of political assassinations both classical and modern. Primarily, he chooses to wield a White Oak Bokuto from Japan, having retired his Purple Heart Bokuto for personal reasons. While he could wield a more solid impact grade hickory bokuto, or some exotic composite weapon, he chooses the Shiro Kashi blade for its reliability. He also has a blade folded 1,000+ times, although there appears to be nothing else extraordinary about it, despite the Hebrew Engravings. It is typically this weapon one refers to if assuming he is wielding a lethal weapon.
Skills and Style Michael retired from his duties as an assassin before Lu Bu was first built. He has trained and worked on the development of Jitsu-No-Ken for over Five years. Unlike many martial arts, Jitsu - No - Ken (Kenjitsu) is not a derivative art form, but the practical results of a completely new system of Philosophy. Like the philosophy, Kenjitsu is still in development, but several aspects of the form have already been codified:

• All Truth is consistent with itself. Every Lesser Truth leads back to some greater Truth. Anyone who has known real Truth can recognize it again. Thus if some idea is brought to his attention, Noire can riddle out whether the principle is true or false, one by one unraveling the mysteries of the universe, such as the Hindu Siddhis.
• As Truth in Kenjitsu is equated with ultimate, immutable reality, no technique is less than a permanent fixture in the cosmos, meaning nothing done in Kenjitsu registers as a paranormal, illusional, psionic, supernatural, or impossible action. In d20 terms, they classify as Extraordinary Abilities (Ex).
• Practitioners of this discipline master the principles governing addictions and attachments, Freeing themselves. By the same means used to overcome addictions, attractions, grudges, lust, and envy, they also overcome aversions including hatred, phobias, and the general principle of Fear.
• Completely devoid of attractions and aversions, the mind is also without priorities, inventing decisions as they happen. This makes the individual virtually impossible to predict, and completely invisible to the hand of Destiny.
• Kenjitsu students may predict the actions and decisions of opponents with a probability of success dependent on the intensity and number of attachments the opponent possesses. An opponent with no priorities, phobias, manias, or other vices cannot be predicted in this way.
• A master of truth can recognize deception as a stain upon white silk. In other words, arts relying on deception, including bluffs, stealth, hidden features, illusion, disguise, and most forms of strategy fail outright.

Special Abilities
(reference abilities below, based on Psionics if the above abilities are too confusing)

Cosmic Awareness - allows Noire to perceive all things that are occurring within sight. Gifted with X-ray vision that extends Into the astral and ethereal
planes, he sees all inanimate features within his vision; he can see what is on the other side of the hill, detect hidden caves, see secret doors and traps, and even detect lodes of unusual minerals or other geological phenomena. In addition to inanimate objects, he also perceives forces— - winds, water currents, or spell effects such as glyphs of warding, areas of reversed gravity, and so forth. All living creatures larger than a microbe are perceived. Cosmic Awareness also detects invisibility, detects evil/good. and detects magic without fail. Illusions are perceived for what they are. Creatures who are shapechanged or polymorphed are noted and their true forms understood. Ethereal, astral, phased, ectoplasmic, or gaseous creatures are seen as well. Details of the creature’s equipment are detected down to the number of gold pieces in their purses. He also hears all sounds and detects all smells within the area.

Kinetic Control - This is the power of absorbing. storing. and redirecting kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion—the energy contained in the
swing of a sword. the fall of a rock‚ moving water or air‚ an animal running. or any number of other forms. Noire can remove kinetic energy
from one object by touch, stopping it instantly. and bestow it on another object immediately or at some point in the future. While he maintains this power‚ he is immune to all physical impacts. A sword slash stops instantly when it touches his skin,‚ arrows drop harmlessly at his feet. and monsters’ talons and fangs can’t harm him. He absorbs the damage of the blow and saves it for later use. Note that he can still be harmed by attacks that inflict
their damage by contact. such as the energy-draining touch of an undead creature or the slow crushing attack of a giant python constricting its
coils. Using the stored energy requires Noire to make a physical contact. He can deliver any damage he has absorbed previously by touch. Punches, or even through a hand-held weapon such as a sword. If he hits his opponent, the absorbed damage is added to any other damage he causes.

Regenerate - With this power Noire can repair permanent injuries that natural healing could not restore. Severed limbs can be regrown. blindness or
deafness repaired. and even paralyzing injuries to the brain or spinal cord can be healed. Noire is capable of healing such injuries in himself
as well as in others if the need arises. Regeneration is a slow and tedious process. It requires ten minutes to repair minor damage such as the loss of a finger‚ a broken bone‚ or nondestructive loss of eyesight or hearing. A Half hour is required to heal a badly broken, bone or regenerate a mangled hand or foot; and as much as an hour to regenerate an arm severed at the elbow or eyes that were physically destroyed. Regeneration can be used to repair the damage caused by a disease, but cannot cure a disease. It can also restore lost Constitution, Dexterity‚, etc. that may have been lost to the ravages of disease or injury. Regenerate can’'t improve a person beyond his original condition, So growing extra arms. for example‚ is not possible.

Cell Adjustment - Allows Noire to heal wounds and cure diseases. Any sort of wound can be healed, although the more serious the injury, the longer it takes. Noire can heal from the most serious combination of injuries within an hour's span, assuming it does not require the regeneration of tissue (see above).

Wormhole - With this power. Noire can open a door between two points, no matter how far apart they may happen to be (at least theoretically). It resembles dimensional door, but on a much larger scale. Noire must open one end within 20 yards of himself, although the portal may have any orientation and be any size up to 10 feet by 10 feet square. If he wishes to, he can try to make the wormhole larger; each doubling in portal size adds an additional 10% probability of failure. The other end of the wormhole will be of identical size and can be placed at any point he has ever seen. It can also be positioned at any place he can reference from where he currently is —for example, "10 miles east of where I am now"- whether or not he has ever actually been there.

Dimensional Screen - This power allows Noire to wrap a dimensional door around his body to protect him from his enemies’ attacks. The screen is a shimmering cylinder that surrounds him at a range of two feet. Any missile or hand-held weapon that strikes the screen is instantly transported to a corresponding point on the other side—so arrows and spears pass through the space occupied by Noire without harming him, or even being impeded in their flight. The protection of the screen also applies to creatures trying to attack with tooth or claw, or other characters trying to grapple him.
They pass through the screen‚ emerging on the opposite side. Most forms of energy, such as lightning bolts or flames‚ will also be diverted by the screen. The dimensional screen has two limitations. First. the he can’t pierce his own screen with any weapon or form of energy (although some powers may be used to mount indirect attacks on opponents outside the screen). Secondly, the screen fails if an object larger than the screen moves into contact with it-so he can’t run through a mountain, or ignore the charge of a raging rhino. Clever opponents may find ways to attack him inside his screen. Some magical spells project no energy. Some powers also may penetrate the screen, as described above.

Subjective Reality - Belief is a powerful thing. With this power‚ Noire can ignore the reality of an object or category of objects and make them have no existence for him. He could convince himself that an enemy’s sword could not harm him—and the sword would simply pass through his body without
effect.
He can only disbelieve inanimate objects or effects with this power, since he finds it impossible to ignore living creatures. Some possible uses of the power include:
• Disbelieving a type of weapon, such as hand-held weapons, bows and crossbows, or hurled weapons. No weapon of that type can harm him while he maintains the power.
• Disbelieving an entire type of magic, such as priestly or wizardly magic.
• Disbelieving a manifestation of an element, such as a bonfire or a rock-slide.
• Disbelieving any one object, regardless of size (large or small), such as a boulder, an enemy’s armor, or a magical item in an enemy’'s possession.

Psychic Transparency - Noire's psyche doesn't register. It is as if he is non existent in the mental, intellectual, and spiritual world. Some believe he is psychically invisible, others argue he doesn't have a "mind" due to some obscure principle of renunciation. He cannot be detected mentally, magically, or psychically, because that which is detected does not exist. Likewise, he cannot be targeted mentally, psychically, or magically (for non physical effects) for the same reasons. People who have had conversations with him often forget he ever existed. Unlike the previous effects, This effect is always active.