Sunflash
Manin Sunflash Erratu |
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Age: 31-ish |
Race: Hylian |
Status: Alive |
Affiliation: None |
Backstory
Origins
Born in a moderately sized, if rural town in a Hyrule, Manin Erratu was the latest first son of a family of priests to the Goddesses of Hyrule. Without fail for the last twenty-odd generations, every first son of this family had been selected and tutored for various high-importance priestly positions throughout the Kingdom of Hyrule. This seemed like less of an issue for Manin than it may first sound, as there are multiple stations of high regard that would fit most varieties of personalities, so the family had never had any issues over the years of someone shirking the responsibilities and thereby damaging the family name. As part of his early training, Manin was introduced to various rules and aspects of spellcasting, and how part of the reason the family was so important was that all Magic had to come from the Goddesses, and therefore only those Priests so trained could any kind of magic safely.
And then Manin came into his early teens.
At first, Manin did as he was expected to do. He followed the rituals, the tasks, the assignments. It wasn't too long however before his independent streak started to develop into a full-blown aspect of his personality, and began to clash with his responsibilities. Eventually an argument escalated, as they sometimes do with teenagers, into a small fight. The actual context was meaningless, but the side-effects of how the fight ended was life-changing --- Manin summoned magical effects without the supposedly required prayer and ritual.
Due to his upbringing, Manin was as scared of the result as the family was concerned for what it might mean. They immediately sent for a powerful priest from the capital for advice and instructions on what do to next. An old family friend by the name of Shamorn answered the summons, and after some investigation decided the best thing for both Manin and the family was to enact a rare ritual. The crux was that it was a long-term combination memory and, for lack of a better term, personality suppression effect. Manin, for his part, didn't quite like the sound of it; but he was also a scared kid who was led to believe it was the best path forward, so he agreed to undertake it. The effect worked pretty much as expected; Manin lost what little natural magical ability he had and was once again only able to conjure such effects through prayer and ritual.
While the details of original incident weren't really well known, what was widely known was that the new Erratu had done something weird and wrong, to such a degree that he had managed to gain some amount of distrust and disbelief that he would be able to do his assigned duties. This weighed on him to such a degree that he began to feel like he had everything to prove. From the perspective of his studies, this wasn't a bad effect. However, it also led to Manin pushing himself to "prove" people wrong. In fact, it became such a driving force that one day; Manin and one of his few long-time friends by the name of Beuki Rauyun, decided to go attempt to cleanse a recently corrupted crypt without waiting for their teachers to assist.
As one might expect, this didn't go anyway near as planned. There was a much more powerful-than-expected Stalfos that was able to disrupt their rituals and very nearly killed the two Hylians. This effort was thwarted by Manin somehow overcoming his suppression ritual and unleashing a powerful blast of magic to destroy the undead monster. Typically, this happened just in time to be witnessed by their teachers, and the resulting inquiry began to lead to problems for both Manin and Beuki that they both felt was extremely unfair and just generally not right.
So, naturally, they ran away at the tender ages of 17.
Cleft-bound
Between Manin's freshly returned spell-casting ability and Beuki's talent with both swordplay and social navigation, the pair managed to sneak and lie their way around Hyrule and avoided any real complications. They continued their evasion of the few agents of Manin's family, firmly believing they were better on their own than trying to deal with their familial expectations. After about a year, they eventually learned that not only was the capital far more forgiving of non-priestly magic but it also had an entire school-like system for up and coming mages to study at.
It took some fibbing and forging of names, but by now they were more than comfortable with lying about who they were that it was almost second nature. They were admitted with minimal effort, and soon become known as a pair of very good students. Eventually they were tested beyond their mundane intellect and while Beuki was determined to be a more than acceptable mage, Manin's results were somewhat unique. He was determined to be a type of mage known as a Spell-Twister. In short, he was able to take any known ritual-based spell and twist it into doing whatever he desired it. A spell for conjuring flame could be Twisted into a bolt, an explosive ball, a simple campfire, a roaring wave, or anything similar he could envision.
Of course, the fact that a nobody from the outskirts of Hyrule was found to be an uncommon type of mage bit sorely into some of the more traditional mage. Eventually, as Manin's skill grew and he began to experiment beyond the standard concepts for spell-casting; he found himself accused of various misdeeds and ethical transgressions that taxed his ability to overcome. After roughly three years at the college, one of the more outspoken highborn opponents of Manin had managed to dig deep enough to find out that both he and Beuki had lied about their origins. This promptly led to their eviction from the college. The opponent, one Hylian by the name of Sidaron, didn't believe it was far enough, and ended up pursuing them in an effort to arrest them or something along those lines. What resulted was Sidaron chasing the two across the city until he cornered them a library and ended up fighting to such a degree that both he and Beuki were slain, with Manin left heavily wounded.
Desperate to fix things, and perhaps a little too hopped up on hormones and adrenaline; Manin applied his Spell-Twisting ability to a theoretical spell in an ill-advised attempt to force his way back in time. It did not work as he'd hoped, instead resulting in Manin being ejected into the Cleft of Dimensions somewhere nearby Viorar.
He spent about a year hanging out around Viorar, bothering locals and the wildlife. At one point during an incursion into Zigolis Swamp, he came face to face with none other than Tenor. The Immortal expressed an interest in the young wizard's innate spellcasting talents and saw in him a kindred spirit as a scholar, extending to him an offer of guidance and help in exchanging for the wizard promising to be more careful with what little temporal-screwing knowledge he had. Sunflash accepted.
Dark Machinations Arc
- The Immortal Tenor, the God of Day, sides against Jango, though more for his interest in protecting Sarai than for mortal benefit.
- Tenor names Sunflash his champion and bids him to head toward Truce, the center of Jango's actions against the Middle Realm.
- Coalition forms, mortals banding together who were determined to stop Jango.
- Headed up by Milo.
- Used abandoned Maverick Hunters base as headquarters.
- Never named.
- Jango destroys old Maverick Hunter base.
- The Immortal Sarai, Keeper of Hope, begins helping Coalition as best she can. Works openly, and closely, with Tenor against Jango.
- Meets with Milo.
- Begs Jango to stand down.
- The Immortal Ageatii, the Caretaker of Vitality, offers sanctuary from Jango to mortals.
- Testing mortals to see if there really is a threat.
- Depending on outcome, Ageatii would decide if he was to get involved.
- Knowing that he could not win on his own against the Upper and Middle Realms arrayed against him, Jango cuts his losses, takes Sarai, and abruptly retreats into the Upper Realm.
- There are no further actions taken against mortals.
Koopa Arc
It happened on what started out as a pretty average day. There was a slightly larger crowd than normal around the fountain, but that wasn't a big deal. It was actually kind of nice, having so many people to talk to. Then, of course, the peace was shattered by Bowser charging into Truce. Sunflash took part in the following chaos, crossing spells with Kamek himself at one point. As the story goes, everyone eventually fell back to Truce, and Milo started the Truce Militia. Sunny joined up as a 'do-anything' fellow, lending his spells to the defense of Truce.
Bowser's threat has subsided, and despite a brief scare from the dark immortal Jango, all seemed quiet. Naturally it didn't last, and when Milo got news of various evildoings around the Truce area, Sunny volunteered to check it out. One thing led to another, and after repeatedly proving his worth to General Milo, Sunflash found himself the new Colonel of Truce, albeit grudgingly. Who knows what challenges await the Spell Twister of Truce?
War Amongst the Gods Arc, Part One
The 'various evildoings' turned out to be a prelude to one of Sunflash's most aggravating times yet. After abit of digging around, it came to light that someone by the name of Bahamut was raising a moderate sized army south in Fa'Diel. After another period of time during which both sides pretty much ran around like cuccos on crack, the Milita commanders (yes, including Sunny) decided it might be prudent to setup a minor fort/watchpost in the Suflkasta pass south of Truce. While everyone else worked on getting it organized/approved/funded, Sunflash found himself assigned as a diploment of all things. More spefically, a diplomat to the small Moogle community living in the mountains near the pass itself. After one of his more spectactular displays of self-restraint
Abilities
Spell Twister
Sunflash has the ability to take any spell he knows, and 'twist' them to suit his purposes. IE; tractor beam becomes a grappling beam, or a jump boost. Halo becomes 'mirror image' or some such. The farther away from it's 'original' purpose a spell is, the harder it is to perform. Sometimes loses control, resulting in a wild cast.
Combat
Slightly-above average skill with short-swords and rapiers. He likes to vent frustration via smashing things, so he practices with swords from time to time. Enough to matter.
Mind-over-matter
Has the small ability to force his body to keep going despite pain or exhaustion. He can't do it for long, and it's highly limited. Kinda like a short burst of hyper-adrenaline.
Weaknesses
No glaring weaknesses, but he -is- just Hylian. The only super-human feats he'll do on a semi-regular basis would be magic-based. Shoot him in the head, and he'll die as easily as everyone else. Good luck catching him off guard though. ;)