Talisman and Tribulation

by **Proarden (Gravity Man)** July 18th 2020, 2:15 am

Talisman Upgrade: Entropic Solaris
Character Advancement Description: The Talisman of Tribulation was forged and Gravitas turned to Alpha and began to work on biologically upgrading and perfecting the piece. While Alpha initially only managed a minor upgrade, through teamwork and the inspiration of Luke Masters (Eta), Gravitas began the idea to forge this new addition to the Talisman. The Genome was implanted and imprinted by Alpha, while the rare Entropic radioisotopes and darkmatter needed were harvested by a RISE operation to subdue the Lych.
Character Advancement Powers: Consuming three charges, the Gem has a corporeal form created around it, summoning from the realms of the dead and defeated a cold, chilling black and violate flame that takes form of a sentient bodyguard for Gravitas.

Talisman Summon:

The Black Dragon
"For every Phoenix that resurrects from ashes, there's a Dragon to reduce it back!"

Basic Biography

Real Name: Andrew Pettiglio
Alias: Drew Brady
Villain Name: Holocaust
Title: "The Ashborn Dragon"
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Race: Caucasian
Hair: Black
Eyes: Green
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 172 lbs.
Blood type: O-

Character Apperance

Spoiler:

Character Profile

Alignment Justification:
Holocaust has alweays been Chaotic, and moreover he's always been evil. If there is such a thing as "Law" to him, it's always been the law of whatever he feels like at that moment in time. While to him it may seem pretty lawful, to others it is an ever-changing case by case thing. Despite his overall lack of respect for authority, he is perfectly aware of knowing and following laws when it gets him that which he desires, or finds it the best means to do so.

Personality:
Reborn from ashes. A dragon only truly learns humility just as it's soul fades away. The Black Dragon rose and brought with him a fire as cold, lifeless and empty as he was. The quiet systematic psychopath was sent to his grave at the behest of his own universal counterpart. But when it comes to the echoes of the dead, nothing could be more clear.
Death changed Holocaust. No longer is he a silent psychopath, but rather a very dedicated and serious one. Whereas he once believed the world to belong to him, he sees now only the orders and obligations he owes to the one whom "put him back together" and allowed to the Black Dragon to be reborn of ash, just as a phoenix.

Where once was an arrogant man, there is a very persistent one. While his hubris has been curbed, he still sees even the most powerful of foes to be ants to the new heights he can rise to, having been pulled from the realm of Death itself. Holocaust knows when to feign sympathy when he needs to, including showing some sort of care towards the other people and Rise members if it would get him what he desires.

His death and rebirth have granted him new purpose, and in his mind, are solidified as law. The Lych itself returned him from Death into the gemstone that sits within The Talisman of Tribulation, and whomever holds that gem holds Holocausts unwavering allegiance.

History:
Holocaust, The Black Dragon and the Destroyer of Earth. Andrew Pettiglio was born not to our dimension alone, but a mirrorverse as well. This version of the beloved "Phoenix" was powerful and mighty Black Dragon. He grew up as any American child could have wished. Two incredibly loving parents and an annoying sister. It was an almost a happy order to his world, something he grew to be content with. Of course there's no fun in that. Around middle school when he found himself at the mercy of some high school bullies. The same old bullies one would find in your average school. Calling him derogatory slurs. Calling him a Faggot, saying they fornicated with his mother, told him to stop inbreeding with his sister. Poor fools didn't know what they were getting into as they punctured a knife into his arm. The act of violence seemed to change him. Not only physically did these dark flames manifest but something within in his mind snapped as well. Whatever it was, Andrew was never the same since the fateful day.

Frozen teenagers standing amongst the alleyway, appearing to be nothing more than human boys turned into snowmen. As the police investigated, and hilariously enough someone sneezed and that's when they realized that what they just stumbled upon was not simply snow, but ash. But what happened to these boys was nothing in comparison to what was unleashed upon the world. An entire school, two hundred people. Then a town, seven hundred people, and then...
...an entire world brought to it's knees.

Now typically when a child gets stabbed in the arm there's police called, the child gets therapy and after copious years of mismanaging his depression he becomes an alcoholic. But not him. No, the boy seemed to hold no actual concept of depression, or even remorse for what had happened. It was actually quite alarming, but no one thought anything of it, until much later. No, Andrew felt nothing for being harmed and now he actively embraced his metahuman abilities to harm others without any shred of human decency. Without a single shred of regret. Now in the beginning it was true, he masked it well. Sure we know he's a psychopath but to everyone else, he was just a poor, broken little child. He didn't mean to hurt those boys. He didn't know what had happened. Now under duress and mental anguish the poor boy couldn't seem to get a handle on his powers, or so the official story would say. Later on in the week though, he touched the family dog and as it let out a single yelp. It seemed to envelop in a quick black flame, but there was no heat. There was only a chill lingering in the air, as the features of the dog appeared to have burned away, leaving no detail just the clumpy ash in the form of a dog. The ashes of the quadrupedal friend were all that remained, Andrew playfully swatted them and smiled as they carried to the wind.

Of course next we know what happens. First it's the dog and then it's his parents. But this time it's a bit different. He pulls his mother aside and begins refining his power. Slowly trying to bring it under control. He helps her in with the groceries but as soon as the poor woman sits down, he grabs her feet from the beginning. Her feet freeze, the life taken from them, and as she attempted to jump to her feet to run, they scattered like ash, as she stumbled and fell, unused to such nubby legs. Next he would take her arms, listening and actively relishing in the screams. The pleas for him to stop, his mother's final words being that she loved him as he gripped her throat and watched as the life left her body. Her head scattering as a clump of ash. Then his father was due to came home. Now Andrew felt a little playful. He took flour from the pantry and scattered it and mommy's ashes everywhere. Writing messages on the wall, as if they were written by his mother. Well needless enough to say, Daddy actually seemed to fare much better. You see, Daddy had powers of his own, he tended to keep it real quiet. Andrew took his father by surprise, jumping from the other room to grip his arm. The warmth radiating from his father seemed to almost burn as his own coldness seemed to leave it's mark. Andrew looked down to see the flesh on his hand a bright red, skin completely blistering off already, while his father's arm turned to ash.

In the savagery of the moment, in primal fear. Andrew attempted to run, barely evading the fire his father shot out. In the end, Andrew's father would pursue him, and Andrew would get ahold of his father, draining the heat from him with his own, black flame. Not before, however his Father grabbed his neck, leaving a scar not only on the boy's hand, but on his throat as well.

Now the thing that truly shocked everyone was how he stayed up all night, keeping an eye on his sister. He told her over and over again what was going to happen. Tomorrow they were going to school. Then he was going to kill everyone. She was told how she didn't need to worry, she had always loved making snow angels. Well he told her now he had the power to make that happen. They'd all be angels, angels of snow and ash. But he had to make sure she didn't warn them, it would spoil the surprise. Of course the next day comes and they get on the bus, they make their way to the school and immediately he holds his sister close, walking to the center most point that he could find of the building. He held his sister close, hugging her tightly as he could. The small tinge of fear and remorse quickly was released. He felt his power welling as he brought out a surge of this power, the emotion. Upon his parents he practiced restraint and control. Not here, no now he practiced full brutality and uncontrolled torrents of power.

He felt cold. He opened his eyes and the world around him felt so...still. Empty. Cold. He opened his eyes slowly and looked as there were charred marks. The shadows of people walking etched into the walls. Pillars-no statues of the snow-like substance. Ash standing tall, formed as people, walking amongst their mundane, pointless lives. He couldn't help but smile at what he had done. All this power, and not a soul could stop it. He didn't feel empathy or remorse. No, his friends, his neighbors and classmates. They were pointless. Their lives empty, devoid of reason. But here, like this, they were made as a memorial. He looked down to his sister, the one in his arms. He shifted slightly, seeing some of the ash shifting in his arms. She had not been spared. He tried to hug her close, but the ashes crumbled to the ground, coating him. He stepped into them and looked to the world around him. The entire world made grey, scorch marks from his Blackbane flame charring the wall, the outlines of innocent people unaware of their nearly instant demise, as the flames died down, leaving black crystals in it's wake.

"Look Angie..." He said with a little bit of laughter escaping his shaking voice, as a single tear rolled down his cheek. The last trace of the kind boy named Andrew dropping from the face of a monster and joining his sister's ashes upon the ground. "Look at all the angels."

With his power it didn't take long to bring about a group of metahumans under his command. The Talons were born, and he was their literally fearless leader. The world surrendered to them and their might. Deathwave joined him as his second in command, and then following that was Deluge. These two were the only ones he would ever call his friends, though he was always more partial to Deluge. When the opportunity arose, Holocaust saw the chance to bring a new, flourishing, world crumbling down. Truthfully, he had never been so elated. Bringing his forces from his own universe he left the "Reverse Dimension" and came to our world, where the Dark Talon's fought their doppelgangers from this world.

Holocaust's first order of business was to murder the family of this "Phoenix" and give the hero a display, or rather a taste of "The Black Dragon". He occupied Phoenix a bit, while his orders to Deluge and Paine prompted the murder Phoenix's family. However the deed itself was only done by Holocaust himself. A blazing blast of black fire crippled his father, leaving him mortally wounded, though he would be the last to die. Holocaust quickly killed Angie, looking into her eyes with a spark of sadness for only a moment as he realized...this was the reason. This was the reason she had to die, and she had to die first. He then sent a beam of black fire into the head of Andrew's mother, leaving her corpse intact for him to view. His father's death was another matter entirely, he was the last to expire from his wounds.

In the end, he would learn humility, defeated and destroyed by Phoenix. An apparent self-sacrifice as the dimensions closed. While The Realm Walker spared Phoenix, Holocaust was not so fortunate. He was left to drift within the void, when a large smiling hound of blue ghostly eyes came before him. He was offered a choice. To accept a peaceful, quiet end or to fight, or flee if he could. Of course he chose to flee...

He had perished and in a painful last attempt to survive, he was ripped to the afterlife, left in an eternal and empty darkness. That was until Phoenix's ashes were collected, and the Talisman of Tribulation was created. Then it was charged and augmented by the entropic energy of Death itself, the concept and the man. The Lych. In his empty, dark, cold nothingness there had come a spark as The Lych appeared. The Skeletal form of Death approached his soul, offering a very simple deal. Serve as a champion to whomever hold the Talisman of Tribulation, and after 5000 years of service, he would be given new life as a Collector of Souls under The Lych's employ, and entire realities would be the target of his psychotic wrath.

A deal, that Holocaust accepted eagerly...

The Powers

The Blackbane Flame: Holocaust has the power to create and control unique type of fire. Unlike regular fire this flame is black that fades to violets and greys. Unlike regular fire, the Blackbane is painfully cold to the touch of living hands. It does damage similar to the fire but it feels absolutely cold. It still melts ice as if it were fire, but will freeze water. He is also capable of converting normal fire into this black fire as well. He is able to increase a small black flame to incredible sizes for his convenience, or compress and solidify it into a compressed crystalline form, where it is rendered inert and unable to be manipulated any longer. His fire bringing about death to people reduces them to an ash-like state. Although while killing people turns them to ask, unlike ash it maintains its form more akin to snow. His body is immune to the effects of Blackbane fire.

Blackbane Brutality: Holocaust has an incredible strength of 40,000 tons with the durability to match it.

Dance of the Dragon: Holocaust possesses incredible fighting reflexes and skills. He possesses the reflexive power to incinerate bullets to ash before they leave a gun barrel and reach his face, as well as several fighting styles instilled not just by how he learned to fight, but the knowledge of those granted to him by The Lych.

Dragon's Rage: Holocaust's body gains regenerative properties. His speed is increased to Mach 5, and his strength and durability are doubled. His body is wrapped in an intense Blackbane flame.

The Weaknesses

The Law of The Oath: Must obey the Talisman wielder's commands AS HE CAN BEST INTERPRET them. This will often times override his free will, and anyone whom possesses the talisman can make him do whatever they please.

Destruction is NOT the best Medicine: Holocaust now possesses an almost hilarious degree of Thanatophobia. He fears dying again, and though he knows that he can always be resurrected from the gem, he will do whatever possible to avoid taking any risks that will bring harm to himself, unless directly ordered to by the Talisman bearer.

Change you, Like a Remix: Holocaust holds a personal vendetta Phoenix. Whenever Phoenix is around and available to be attacked, Holocaust's soul manages to overpower the oath of the Talisman and he may immediately attack Phoenix. Doing so causes him to enter Dragon Rage.

Raging Weary: Dragon Rage causes Holocaust to become weary and exhausted. He picks one person and when that person is defeated, Holocaust loses the benefits of his Dragon Rage, he also cuts his baseline strength and durability in half. In his exhaustion he can only walk at a staggered pace and also loses all ability to react quickly. He is essentially removed as a threat from the topic.

The Frenzy: Dragon Rage removes his ability to use his Blackbane flame other than to maintain his dragon-like features and produce a flame breath that reaches out in a 60-foot cone. Otherwise he loses the ability to use the Blackbane flame at all while in Dragon Rage. I addition anytime he can prioritize his target over others, he must do so, unless attacking another is a sure-fire way to grant him an opening on his marked foe.

The opposite of Elements: Earthen Element is an enemy to fire but also an enemy to the utility of ice and cold. The Geokinetic abilities quickly extinguish his flames where water normally will not. In addition, whenever he is hit with elements of earth double to the capacity of what would normally be done. A rock thrown at 100lbs will hit him and harm his body as if it was a thrown rock of 200lbs.

The Law of Undeath: While he is in a deal for his resurrection, while he is tied to the talisman he is considered an undead. That being said he cannot heal by any means other than rituals of necromancy or by the regeneration of his Dragon Rage. Powers that normally allow for the healing for living things will harm him as if it were acidic, and many cases will reduce his durability's effectiveness.

Angie's Angels: An area that possesses effigies of angels are areas that Holocaust attempts to avoid. There's psychological trauma related to them that he no longer remembers. Laying eyes on an Angel makes him freeze up, sweat and then desire to get as far away as possible. If forced to look upon the effigy of an Angel he freezes up. This freezing up affect becomes less effective in a thread the more he is forced to acclimate to it in a thread.

Psychosis: Whenever any of his weaknesses are utilized for the first time in a thread, there is a chance that his brain will shift, or miscommunicate the orders that was given to him. In doing so, whenever a weakness is utilized against him, there is a 1/6th of a chance that his orders are completely jumbled and he is left inert, like a lifeless puppet. There is a 1/6th chance that the orders are replaced by the next order given to him by any individual he can hear, that isn't Phoenix.

Primeval Awareness: While Holocaust is a psychopath, it does not mean he in incapable of being disturbed, put-off or otherwise alarmed. He is bold, uninhibited and holds impaired levels of remorse and empathy. But he is also fundamentally aware of those that are "Darker fish" or perhaps even more crazed and insane them him. He is generally very cautious of the people and prefers to get away from them as quickly as possible, and will even feign subservience in order to do so.

A caustic state of mind: Holocaust is mandated to attend Therapy by the one whom will employ him one day. Not to change his mind, but to allow them to understand the driving force and inner workings of his mind. People whom try to understand Holocaust, or examine his behaviors outwardly run the risk of either infuriating him and sparking his direct ire and the full force of his attention. This of course even goes against Holocaust's better judgements. If they do not become the instant subject of his attention, it will spur his narcissistic personality, and he will actively prolong whatever he is doing to stroke his own ego.

Blitz-Option: Holocaust has Fighting Skill that allows him to make short and subtle reactions fast enough to keep himself defended against those with inhuman speeds. Unfortunately, doing this requires the entirety of his concentration. When he decided how to defend himself from a fast moving opponent he cannot change the nature of his defense. If he defends himself using his blade, he must use his blade for all defenses as long as he's engaged against the speedster. If he's defending himself with his power, he cannot use his power for any offensive purposes, nor draw his blade while defending against a speedster. Any foe with a speed beyond Mach 3 will require his undivided attention to defend against, making him incapable of keeping track of the battlefield as he normally may be able to.

Unstable Psychology: Holocaust's therapy sessions have caused further instability in his mind. This causes breaks in his mental defenses that keep others out. It allows others to read his mind without the need for permission.

The Mechanics

Therapy: Holocaust is required to be in Therapy once a week, and to miss these sessions comes with consequences that supersede all mundane concerns.

Black Dragon Fang: Holocaust has the ability to solidify his Blackbane flame into a single sword, a sword notoriously used to kill Phoenix's sister.

Wealth and Resources: Holocaust typically serves as an enforcer to Gravitas and The Lych, granting him a nearly endless lifetime's supply of wealth and resources.

Fighting Skill: Holocaust's fighting skills and reflexes are finely tuned enough to allow him to face off against opponents with super human speeds, however he lacks the ability to lash out or strike at foes with such speed.

Unstable Psychology: Holocaust's therapy sessions have caused further instability in his mind, disassociation beginning to form between himself and his actions, as he seems to gradually become more, and more unhinged. This makes it incredibly difficult to control his mind, but allows others to read his mind without the need for permission.

The Arsenal

The Minions

(All characters can be as powerful as they want, as long as they are balanced with proper weaknesses.)

Character Priorities

Character Priorities

Agility

Endurance

Mental

Reaction

Strength

Character Trivia

Holocaust made his original debut in the "Reverse Dimensions" Arc, concluding with the thread Destruction is the best medicine.
Holocaust was originally played by a different member of the site for the purposes of serving as an Arc boss. The player (Pat) has given permission for his creation to be reused.
Holocaust is a fan of several sports, however he always deemed them "Too safe". Thus is why in the dimension he came from, he forced entire leagues of people to upgrade the nature of how they play. American Football incorporated spiked shoulder pads, while Basketball incorporated a bouncy ball with a hand-grenade inside.
Holocaust hated all drugs, prescribed or recreational. He believes that they cloud his mind from appreciating the act of siphoning the life from someone with his powers.
Holocaust continually wears scarves and driving gloves to mask his scarred, unhealing hand as well as the large handprint on his throat.