Meleagant

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Setting:

Very similar to Earth, although magic and fantasy elements are simply an accepted part of reality. These never disappear, but become less prominent from age to age. The degree to which magic becomes less a staple of life waxes and wanes. But no matter what since early times, mankind has had to defend itself from those mystical creatures that are often evil or destructive.

History:

The very basics of Meleagant's story are thus:

-The third born prince of the kingdom of Avalon, Meleagant was unlikely to become a king. However, he was an extremely good and just person who wished to do good without a hint of ambition. Living during a medieval period of swords and sorcery.

-At a young age he joined a respected order of warriors who crusaded against the forces of darkness. He soon proved himself an extremely effective warrior with a keen mind for magic and battle. He also formed a closed friendship with another warrior his age, who would later become the first hero to defeat him and the finest combatant of the age.

-As a sensitive soul, he became traumatised when he came across a horrendous scene of slaughter at a village and believed it to be caused by evil forces, but in reality had been caused by the warriors of good. Feeling that good could so easily become evil, he became fascinated with trying to find a way to remove evil from humanity.

-Secretly experimenting with the dark magic used by some of their opponents that was powered by evil deeds, he devised the Evil Idol, a mystic statue designed to absorb and seal evil instead of use it as a power source. After testing it on a village under his protection, it erased the minds of the test subjects and they became barbaric beings. Realising in order to complete the statue it would require a huge amount of evil to guide it, he set in motion a scheme. Arranging the deaths of his father and brothers, he ascended to the throne and used his new position to send his friend, the warrior of superior skill to him, to face some legendary monsters using a device of his own devising. The gauntlet that would absorb the evil so it could be used in the Idol.

-As he committed more sins in the name of greater good and the as the Idol was filled, Meleagant began to delve deeper into madness. Eventually he activated the Idol only to have it once again go wrong, creating a demonic being of pure destructive chaos. Once that was defeated by his friend, Meleagant revealed his intentions to keep trying and the pair battled. When he was killed by the same weapon he created, he was absorbed by the Idol and took control of it. That form was in turn destroyed, but this resulted in the evil nature of the Idol becoming unbound by physical form, now a force of pure malevolence that fed on human evil and sought to end the battle between good and evil once and for all. The gauntlet changed too. Containing a fraction of Meleagant's power and retaining the last vestiges of his goodness, it became the only weapon able to defeat him whenever he manifested. Those who wore it could manifest the power of their own soul, maximising the power of any weapon they wielded and, thanks to their unique relationship, could penetrate Meleagant's defences.

-Every time he appeared, always with the goal of destroying humanity, the gauntlet would be used to defeat him. But it came with a price. Any who used it were denied entrance to any sort of afterlife. They would instead be sealed within it. There was also a risk to it. If Meleagant were to ever gain the gauntlet, he would be invincible.

-Meleagant appears every few generations, with a couple of exceptions causing early or late resurrections throughout the centuries. Every time period since his transformation has had him appear in some way, seeking to corrupt and destroy humanity. Sometimes defeated before he causes major upheaval and sometimes utterly devastating the world and being active for decades at a time. Eventually, in the far future, he successfully conquers the entire planet Earth, whilst mankind flies into space in search of the gauntlet, banished to prevent Meleagant from gaining it when a would-be hero failed to defeat him.

-Meleagant's eventual final defeat is caused when the gauntlet is destroyed, releasing the souls of the prior heroes. Although their time is only brief to act, they successfully destroy Meleagant's ethereal form as well as his physical.

Personality-

Although originally an extremely gentle and sensitive soul, who wished to eradicate evil in the world, Meleagant has been utter corrupted by evil beyond human limitations. His good heart proved to be fragile and can no longer be repaired.

Meleagant has two goals of completely equal priority. The total corruption of every living being towards evil or the utter destruction of the same. He will choose whichever goal is the most practical to complete at the moment he sets the wheels in motion.

Meleagant is largely an idealist, who tends to philosophise about the nature of things and is extremely conversational. He does monologue endlessly if given the chance but usually keeps a cool head. He often finds himself feeling oddly close to his greatest foes, as they are the only people he can debate and speak with as equals, sometimes expressing a desire to corrupt them as he can have a lieutenant that can also be a companion. He very rarely succeeds, although it has happened. Occasionally he disguises himself as an ally, always to manipulate them but he does enjoy the façade of friendship.

His early schemes usually lack in pragmatism, but largely due to the huge scope of his goals. He often wishes to achieve everything all at once instead of in smaller increments. As time passes, he becomes much more practical.

Very skilled at manipulation, Meleagant believes the best way to achieve something without an opponent realising it is to have them do it themselves. Often his involvement in a plan will not become apparent until very late in the proceedings, although he uses the threat of his imminent return (whilst his opponents are unaware he has already done so) or a more obvious scheme to put pressure on his foes and distract them routinely.

He enjoys his work and indulges in petty sadism as much as grand genocide, inflicting torment whenever it seems appropriate to him. He is however, usually quite kind to his own followers. He gives those that fail him a second and occasionally third chance, but these attempts at redemption often come with a price.

Meleagant believes in preserving his identity, his ego, as much as he can. He stands by his admittedly twisted beliefs firmly and refuses to relent. Partially this is due to the fact he knows he is aware that, as a single mind drawing power from endless sources, he could collapse and lose his identity, becoming a mindless beast. But it is also simply because he wishes to feel proud of what he is and who he is. In fact his pride is one of the few things that can cause him to lose his cool. Whilst insults and threats roll off him easily, when insinuated to be ineffective at his role or worse met with indifference he becomes deeply enraged with a cold burning anger.

Abilities-

Meleagant was, as a human, a very skilled warrior who often fought superhuman creatures to defend mankind. His skills in mundane methods of combat have not dulled with the loss of his humanity, making him a dangerous swordsman. Although he can hold his own against the most talented of each generation, he never exceeds them. He generally retains an advantage over them in terms of physical might due to his choices of body, always seeking ones that outstrip human capabilities.

Following his transformation into an abstract being constructed from evil itself, Meleagant has found a form of immortality. If his current physical form is destroyed he continues to exist as an ethereal entity that is similar to, but is not, a soul. Creating a body suitable to contain him for more than a few moments requires a long time and without unusual circumstances will take him several decades, even centuries. Once a vessel capable of withstanding him is formed, found or provided, Meleagant returns to the world in order to plague it once again.

A very talented magic user as a human, his horizons have expanded beyond human understanding in both intellect, knowledge and power sources. Because of this, he can perform feats of magic that could be called miracles were they not so disastrous. Typically this power is used indirectly instead of as a means of combat, using mystical techniques of a smaller scope when fighting.

Meleagant cannot alter freewill. Although he can dominate directly to control people's bodies under the right circumstances, he is unable to change the way people think and must corrupt them more indirectly. People must choose his way, although his talent for influence is vast.

No matter what body Meleagant takes, he is always nigh indestructible thanks to the power of evil restoring and protecting the physical form so long as a scrap is left. The exception to this is a weapon wielded by the gauntlet he created, which damages the power of darkness directly. Because of this, there are two methods to destroy him. Incredibly overwhelming force to a degree very rarely seen (but still entirely possible) or the gauntlet's powers. Attempts to seal him can be successful, but are typically much more short lived than destruction.

Meleagant is very good at manipulating his appearance and often uses the form of a knight clad in skeletal looking armour as a 'traditional look', and this is the form most often associated with him.

Finally, when put under intense pressure Meleagant can invoke a transformation into a 'true form', manifesting his ethereal self into the material world. This form is vastly more powerful and dangerous, but should it be destroyed Meleagant's accumulated evil power is reset to zero and he must begin again, delaying his return considerably. Thus he only invokes this ability when there is no other choice. This ability proved to be his downfall in the far future, when using it also materialised all the heroes locked in the gauntlet at once. This shape changes in very generation.