❹ History ❹
There was once a time of war and chaos that stretched across the Lands Below, a time so far in the past that even legends have almost forgotten it. It was in this time of endless strife that the mortal Aribrandt was born and raised as a warhorse of a long-lost empire. Since the time they were strong enough to walk, he and his bretheren were trained to be the perfect companions to the warriors that would be riding them into battle. They learned the commands of their two-legged counterparts and how to defend them. How to fight with them, whether their warriors were on their backs or amidst the chaos around them.
One day, their training took a strange turn. The young, trained warhorses were lined up in front of a set of somewhat scrawny two-leggers, many of them wide-eyed in either awe or terror. A large, authoritative man shouted out something, a string of commands that Aribrandt didn't understand. The line of two-leggers did, however, and they timidly began walking towards the warhorses. After some inspection, some horses were pulled from the line, led away by a two-legger. Others were led away after some discussion with the trainers. But Aribrandt was left standing in the dwindling line. "Too big," many of the two-leggers said when they approached. "He's huge!" they said. Aribrandt did not understand their words, but he understood what was implied by them; he was unsuited to those two-leggers. Eventually, rejected by all of the new recruits, the trainers led him and the other remaining warhorses away. Training resumed, with the occasional break to be shown to the new two-legged recruits. Three more rounds of displaying left Aribrandt riderless--the only warhorse from his group to be so. Even the trainers seemed unsure what to do with him after the fourth rejection.
The fifth batch of recruits finally saw a change in Aribrandt's situation--a drastic change. Whereas he was gawked at but ignored the previous four times, this last time saw a tall, lanky recruit stroll right up to the behemoth stallion. "This one," the two-legger declared. The other recruits...
[Under construction]
❹ Powers ❹
ⅳ Aggro ⅳ
A permanent radius of conflict surrounding Aribrandt. Those near him become inexplicably agitated, often to the point of aggressive or violent behavior. The negative emotions tied to this agitation vary between victims, but the most common is anger. The more negative emotions the victim has to begin with, the more strongly and quickly they will be affected. This power's strength is also determined by proximity: the closer the victim is, the more potent Aribrandt's power is. As far as Aribrandt knows, he is unable to turn it off.
ⅳ General's Grant ⅳ
Aribrandt is able to give a portion of his strength (physical strength, stamina, etc.), skills, or knowledge (i.e. battle tactics or strategies) to others. However, there are drawbacks for both Aribrandt and the receiver of his power. In exchange, Aribrandt takes the weakness of mind or body that he replaced with his power, and both Ari and the receiver of his power experience the fatigue, pain, etc. associated with the gaining of that power. Aribrandt can only give skills and knowledge pertaining to war or conflict.
For example, Aribrandt grants a stallion with quicker reflexes. Aribrandt's own reflexes become slower, and both experience the training that Aribrandt undertook to sharpen his reflexes.
The effects of this grant are permanent, but he cannot give multiple grants to a single individual.
ⅳ ??? ⅳ
???
ⅳ Torment ⅳ
Aribrandt's Torment is "peace deprivation"--the inability to be at peace. His war-stained soul has been barred from obtaining the peace that he fought endlessly for, despite his inability to comprehend the concept. While he is still able to feel positive emotions, he is continually bombarded with restlessness, uneasiness, and dissatisfaction, making it impossible for him to truly relax. Sleep is tormented by nightmares of war and massacre, and his waking hours are spent dealing with the aggression that he causes in others. He is forced to experience the conflict of those around him--both dead and alive--which draws him further from his distant goal of peace.
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