Uli Kathandros

[Uli Kathandros]

[align=center]"Everyone is afraid", he thought. He had awoken to a world of fear. These times of change were so... unsettling. From the shards of tattered dreams he rose, unwilling. Tossed upon tides of pain that left him searingly awake and more revoltingly... alive. Yet even that was a change from the dead flesh he had carried with him. Death was such an easy escape. He awoke to the pain of a new existence, in a dark womb of nothing, blinded by his own heresy. Shades cast no shadows, and by that logic, he was a being that never saw the sun."



[Theme -- Soulfly, Jumpdafuckup!]
[Theme II -- Delirium, A Poem For Byzantium]
[Theme III -- The Sandowski Files, Low Man's Lyric (Metallica Cover)]
[Fight Theme -- Nightwish, Ghost Love Score]
[Fight Theme II -- Godsmack, Voodoo II]
[Fight Theme III - Nightwish, Planet Hell]

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::Schematics::[/u]

Tria Nomina: Lucius Valerius Verus
Praenomen: Lucius
Agnomen: Verus
Gens: Valerii
Alias(es): Uriel Kaethandragses, Uli Kathandros.
Visual Age: Early twenties.
Factual Age: Approximately two centuries.
Birth Month: August.
Birth Sign: The Lover.
Direct Lineage: True Comnenii, Son of August.
Classes: Warrior, Priest.
Occupation: Thanatos.
Alignment: Neutral Evil.
Marital Status: Single.
Status: The Rebirth of August; the return to ancient days.

::Divine Traits::

Pantheon: Comnenic.
Titles: The Weeping God, August Reborn, the Snow Prince.
Symbol: A skull, with a scythe and a shortsword crossed beneath.
Home Plane: An Saelor: Comnenic; translated roughly as Of Heaven. As a Comnenic deity, this is his 'native' plane, and thus, where he will return when his time is over. As the Shepherd of the Dead, however, he maintains his own demiplane, a dreary place of snow and gray skies.
Alignment: Neutral Evil.
Portfolio: Death, suffering, Comnena, snow.
Worshippers: Uli's existence is not widely known, and even less know of his true nature - yet those that do worship him fervently, with the most pious of devotion.
Domains: Cold, Death, War, Wrath.
Salients: Alter Reality, Alter Size, Annihilating Divine Strike, Control Undead, Divine Blast, Divine Shield, Fast Healing, Hand of Death, Know Death, Life Drain.
Favored Weapon: Gladius.

Dogma: Unlike some deities and creatures whom hold dominion over death, Uli is not particularly malicious, or hateful, towards those whom pass into his dominion. Death, he is wont to say, is the lot of all mortals; the thing that sets them apart from deities, and it must be accepted, and even embraced. He is also quick to point out that death is not necessarily an end, but can be a beginning. Though he cannot personally visit all of those within his domains that perish, he does so for as many as he can, often utilizing a Proxy when he is otherwise occupied. With each visit, he is prone to speak the same mantra. It is not necessarily malicious, but not entirely benevolent. Those that choose to embrace Death, as Uli has, are invariably born again within his dominions; as his creatures. Uli also knows the repercussions of a revelation as to the truth of the Cycle of August; of how Sheune was indirectly Nerull. Thusly, the truth is kept hidden from the majority of The Empire, and popular public opinion holds that Emperor Renatus - known as Revan Constantine - was the reincarnation of August. He has done nothing to dispel this notion.

"The very nature of mortality speaks to us constantly, whispering in our minds the undeniable fate we each have before us. Sometimes it weeps and we tremble at its fear, the creeping fear of the ultimate unknown. It is these whispers that are studied, these secrets that are revealed by your fears and the fact of death.

Go forth and receive the blessing of Sheune. Seek the glory only he can give. Find the purpose to your life you have been searching for since your first breath of air; that original question and primordial fear that escapes everyone's' lips at one time in life: Why must I die? My answer is simple: it is what makes you human. Embrace that fear and you will understand that what you truly fear is absence of existence. Go forth to be with Him, with Sheune Invictus; or come with me and I will show you that death is not necessarily an end to existence. It is an end to weakness and failure. I hold the key for you to the door to eternity."

Clergy and Temples: Uli has no official Clergy dedicated to him. The only ones that pay obesciance to him are those whom have already passed into his realm, or those whom knew him personally prior to his ascension, or became privy to the knowledge after the fact. Mostly, this encompasses the men of the old seventh legion; the 'Blood Riders' who shared his curse. Other, more obscure theologians whom have guessed as to his existence also pay tribute to the Weeping God in private. He possesses no temples, but all Temples of Sheune built during Renatus' reconstruction of The Empire bear a small plaque behind a small altar, declaring that all men must remember what others have sacrified for them. These altars always bear a burning candle.

::Apotheosis::

[align=center]Rage! Sing, O Muse, of the rage of Lucius of the Valerii, of he known as Uli Kathandros, murderous, mankiller, fated to die, sing of the rage that cost humanity so many good men and sent so many vital, hearty souls down to the dreary House of Death. Sing, O Muse, sing of the rage of death itself, so petulant and so powerful waiting in its ghastly home of the Necromanteion, of the rage of those fallen Comnenii; the last scions of Comnena, dead and gone though they might be, and of the rage of they few left, desiccated and macabre as they may have become.

And sing, O Muse, sing also of the rage of those thoughtless yet sentient, tormented and pain-wracked souls; the crying of those fallen children of August; out there dreaming under the ice of Carceri, dying in the sulfur-ash of Gehenna, and being born in the cold folds of pain.[/align]

Comnena: a realm of heroes. Across oceans and beyond mountains, is the land where the eagle soars. A proud animal, with prideful calls that carry on the wind, wreaking nothing of wrath or ruin; but merely the stalwart, invincible majesty of the eagle. Yet the glory of the eagle is matched wholly by the men who walk the earth below, made of such fine and tempered steel. A glorious people, from a land of heroes and war: a people whom from the very cradle had been conquerors and soldiers. Not warriors. Soldiers. Imperium Comnenum. The Comnenic Empire. Comnena.

This particular story begins at the very dawn of Comnena's dominion over man; nearly fifteen hundred years and twenty Emperors before the man who would become Uli Kathandros was born. It begins with a man whose divinity was never in question; a man at whose beck and all there arose from sleep the first True Comnenii. His name was August Comnenus, the man from where all Comnenii take their name. August's deeds, so puissant, are legion - it was he whom brought Comnena to the zenith of early power, and paved the way all conquests to come. It was he who gave until the Comnenii his blessed sword, named after a nearby river - An Sælor: a name which would over the years become contracted, slightly altered into the third of the Tripartite: Ancelon.

August led the Comnenii - his Comnenii - to victory after victory, for nearly one hundred years. Yet, he would not stay - he could not stay. He was last seen by his Legion during a feast after winning a great victory over the North Gethrans, where it is said that August climbed onto the table to give a speech, but froze. After a long silence, where it appeared that he was overcome with a vision, August Comnenus fell to his knees, then turned and issued hushed instructions to his most faithful retainers. He simply announced to his loyal brothers that he would be leaving, and his last recorded words were;

"Listen but closely brothers, for my life's breath is all but spent. There shall come a time far from now when our glory, our soul itself is dying, even as I am now being drawn away, and our foes shall gather to destroy us. Then my children, I shall listen for your call in whatever realm of the all eternity holds me, and come I shall, no matter what the laws of life and death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For the souls of our children. For the Soul of All Comnena."

Here, with prophecy, is where the tale of Lucius Valerius Verus - of Uli Kathandros - truly begins. Fifteen hundred years before his birth, was Uli Kathandros fated, destined for martyrdom and justice. This prophecy, held so holy by Sheune and August's priests, omitted several truths. Terrible truths, that if known, might shake the faith of the Comnenii in their Creator and Father. It was not malice on the part of Sheune and August, simply practicality - a white lie, an omission. The universe must have balance, must have order at all times - it is said that without the long night, there can be no dawn. Without the darkness, there can be no light. Such would be the relationship that came eventually, between Uli Kathandros and the Dead God, Nerull.

Now, we shall flash forwards. Through the blur of history, did Comnena ascend and prosper. For fifteen hundred years, the mighty Empire of August's Sons marched across their world, adding dominions and swatting aside transgressors. The dominions of the Augustan Emperor in Comnenopolis straddled the entire world, bringing to his realms peace, tranquility, law, and order. It was into this world, a world of serenity and peace, that Uli Kathandros was born. Fourteen hundred and thirty four years after August's disappearance, the wife of Senator Drusus Valerius Sanctus, Lady Levinia Aemiliana Aria Valeriana, gave birth to a son - he was given the name Lucius Verus, of the House Valerii.

Lucius' early life was good, and almost model by Comnenic standards. As soon as he was of a ready age, he began training to join the army. Young, handsome, gallant (as almost all Valerii tend to be), by the time he was seventeen, Lucius had fallen in love with Helena Constantiana Alba, one of Emperor Constantine's many nieces. Their engagement made him, in theory, a Prince. When he was eighteen, Lucius was placed in command of the Seventh Legion, stationed in the Zinthar Gap, between the Empire and the neighboring Celestial Kingdom of Zinthar. It was here, on his watch, that the Zintharites broke the Perpetual Peace and attacked with numbers that might have seemed astronomical. Despite his inexperience, Lucius did well. He defended The Gap ferociously, relying on his more experienced subordinates - Centurions and Merearchs - to help him plan his dispositions. For near two weeks, he held the enemy at bay, commanding a sturdy dyke of iron and blood against the Zintharite tide. On the thirteenth day, while personally repelling a Zintharite breach in the pallisade fortifications, Lucius was struck by a vicious, nearly mortal wound to the face; an enemy blade ripped open a great gouge in his cheek and neck, scarcely missing his eye. He was immediately evacuated, and treated, but the scar that marked him out as Lucius Verus of the Zinthar Gap would always remain. On the fourteenth day, reinforcements under the command of the great Generals Belisarius and Adventus arrived, and the day was saved.

Several months were then spent in blessed tranquility and peace, upon the picturesque fields at the side of the mighty Selor. Lucius recovered from his wound in the midst of his comrades and Legion, whom had returned to their mustering grounds in the heartlands of Seloria to rest and train new recruits. Despite such restive serenity, this idyll soon came to an end; as the mighty Belisarius came calling. Alexius Vaelus Belisarius was inarguably Comnena's greatest hero. He had rose to prominence in the days of the Pantheist Heresy, as a deputy and aide to the Magnus Domesticus, the Supreme Commander, General Setonius. Despite Setonius' brilliance in the field, his age was beginning to tell upon him, and Belisarius took responsibility for more and more of his duties, until he was practially commanding the army himself. The final battle, the much-lauded Siege of Bal-Ur, was conducted almost entirely under his direction. After the war was concluded, Setonius retired, and Belisarius was his replacement as Comnena's Grand Domestic. Even before his tenure as the Supreme Commander, Belisarius was already the stuff of legend. He had won innumerable victories over Comnena's enemies, with woefully inferior numbers; triumphing through superior tactics and his characteristic 'oblique approach' to battle, always considering a scenario 'at an angle'. The annals of his campaigns against the Gethran Empire were required reading at the Imperial War College.

When Belisarius came to Lucius, he had just finished telling Emperor Constantine that he had received a vision. A vision from Sheune, so he said - warning him of great danger and great peril, and that a pilgrimage to distant shores was necessary. The Emperor, never lacking in wisdom, dispatched him to go immediately, as well as detailing General Adventus to accompany him. Never having forgotten Lucius' courage and stout resistance at The Gap, Belisarius called upon him to come as well, and to supply the small party with escort - fifty mounted legionaries, in this case. The party journeyed across The Empire, from Seloria, through the winding Ginthis mountains and the mighty citadel of Kairn Ginthis, down into the wild deserts of North Gethra. Across these lonely sands they journeyed, until they reached the shining metropolis of Sirilezah - a bustling city second only in population to the Imperial Capitol of Comnenopolis. There, Belisarius commandeered for them one of the Navy's dromons, under the command of a plucky North Gethran by the name of Garmat. With the wind behind them, they saled to the east, to a land Comnenic traders and merchants knew only as Eden.

There is no recorded statement of what Belisarius, Lucius, Adventus and there soldiers saw upon those foreign shores - whispers circulated of towering, crystalline structures, on whose faces flashed visions of a dead world. When the dromon returned, it landed at the Farodic city and capitol of Port Farod. There, Belisarius called on the local Legionary Legate and military governor, Felix Septim Agathius. Despite the general mistrust of the gens Septimii as a whole, Agathius was swiftly brought into the trust of the trio, and couriers were dispatched throughout The Empire, bearing only one order - prepare for war. Agathius took his legion, The Twelfth, on campaign against the berserker tribes of Farod, putting the detriment to Imperial power in the region to the death in one swift stroke, while Belisarius and Adventus hurried to the capitol to inform The Emperor and coordinate the grand muster. Lucius returned to the Seventh Legion, still in Seloria, her new recruits trained, and old wounds having healed.

Still, no one knew what Belisarius had seen, of what omens on foreign shores might have given cause for such a rising. There was no enemy in sight - Gethra had been conquered for three hundred years, and Zinthar checked and wounded behind The Gap. Surely, there was no cause for alarm?

Not but a week later, Larec Astrophel's subversion of several Ignobilii legions began the civil war that would become known as The Cataclysm.

War raged across The Empire, submerging tranquility into chaos, and life into death. The fires of war burned brightly from city to city, all across The Empire. Comnena's fortresses became steeped in blood, as Belisarius found himself locked in struggle with the man whom would soon be known as the devil-King; Larec Astrophel. All Ignobilius rose in rebellion, as across the Yabeck, the Gethran satrapies whispered of a return to power and Empire of their own. For two years, conflict raged. In those months of war, Lucius found no respite, no peace. His legion marched with Belisarius, Adventus and Agathius, fighting, and winning battle after battle. Yet, Larec's numbers and command of foul magics would eventually spell their doom. The devil-King had turned the hoplites of Ignobilius to his side, and had welded the allegiance of three Comnenic legions to him as well. It was in the south of Far-August, on the banks of the Iberus River, where fate was decided.

Larec succeeded in outmaneuvering Belisarius, having successfully placed his own army between Belisarius and Comnenopolis. With Astrophel in a position between the Army and the capitol, Belisarius had no choice but to attack the devil-King - on ground of his own choosing, a fact that Belisarius was dreadfully aware of. It was the greatest battle of the age, with six Legions under the command of Belisarius, including Lucius' own twelfth. Hundreds of cataphracts marched beside them, their hooves stomping thunder in the earth. The pennants of Comnena's soldiers filled the sky, crying their allegiance to Sheune, August, Ancelon, and Emperor. Across the field waited the twisted hordes of the devil-King, whose foul march trampled flowers under heel. As the horns sounded advance, Belisarius dismounted and led the infantry charge personally.

The result was both victory, and defeat. Adventus was killed leading a cataphract charge that shattered the enemy right. Belisarius' charge held the enemy in place, allowing the cavalry (now under Lucius' command) to wheel about and charge their flank. Carnage and bloodletting occupied the entire afternoon, and finally, it seemed that the enemy was broken, and in retreat - indeed, Larec fled the field. Yet, he left as his mark nearly fifteen thousand dead Comnenii. Worse, Belisarius was nowhere to be found - yet, neither was his body. The General's fate is the subject of a prophecy in it's own right. With the death of Adventus, and Belisarius missing, command fell to Lucius. Swiftly, he placed Agathius in temporary command of the army and made for Comnenopolis in the company of the surviving men of The Seventh, whom he had mounted and outfitted as cataphracts.

It was here, as they finally arrived at the heart of their Empire, that damnation began. The city had fallen - had been under siege for nearly a month, while Belisarius had been forced to maneuver against Larec in the south. For nearly a month, had the mighty walls survived the incessant battering of nearly a million of the enemy. Yet, in the end, there was nothing. Emperor Augustus had been killed some days prior, and the Dynastes, the Crown Prince Renatus, had retreated to the hallowed ground of August Hill, with the remnants of the Imperial Guard. In that moment of terrible revelation, as they idled their horses on a hill above barren and pillaged Seloria, Lucius became Uli. His mind opened, and the beginnings of prophecy were fulfilled. There, Uli heard the whispers of the macabre deity he would come to know as Nerull. Nerull offered Uli and his soldiers a contract, of sorts - he would bestow upon them terrible, terrible powers, enough to make right the wrongs that had fallen on Comnena, to enact their vengeance on the enemy. In return, they would serve as his harbingers - dealing death and taking away life where he Nerull saw fit.

Unamimously, they accepted. And, transformed into powerful, bloodthirsty immortals, they charged their fallen city. Every soldier of the enemy they found was ruthlessly slain, and dragged to the walls to be crucified. Anger was only steeled by sorrow, as one-by-one, they found their loved ones, slain and defiled. For Uli, it was no different, and he wept freely over the body of Helena. However, his memories would ultimately betray him. For the years to come, he would recall that he had found Helena already dead. The reality, however, was much less sacred - she had been alive, when he had come. Yet, she had recognized the monster he carried within him; and, unable to live with such a foul and vile transmogrification, she leapt at him - and in reflex, he stabbed her. It was a reflex Helena had known would happen, and as she died, she smiled and thanked him. Uli, for his part, whispered of their love, letting her pass away with a smile. Then, sorrow, and rage, and dismay and everything associated with the revelation of what he had become took hold. He promptly suppressed the memory, and replaced it. Uncaring, he returned to bloodletting.

When Uli and his soldiers left their shattered home, they left thousands of crucified bodies perched upon the city walls. It was a message - to both their enemies, and themselves. For the next years, they busied themselves in hedonism and debauchery and sanguine brutality. For Uli, his psyche became shallower, almost bored with his malice. The name of Valerius was all but forgotten, and Uli occupied himself with all manner of diversions - slaves, mostly - in between his service to Nerull. When called upon, he and his faithful soldiers would ride and pillage where ordered, doling out the murder so precious and joyful to their Master. He allied or gave himself to the service of various evil despots, most notably Judas von Drecht of the Nightshade Empire, but always retained his ultimate allegiance to Nerull. In the service of these evil tyrants, Uli and the Blood Riders, as his oldiers became known, raped and burned and terrorized their way across portions of the realms of Ayenee and Delteria.

Despite the length of time Uli devoted to the unquestioning service of Nerull, very little of note actually took place, outside of the debauched routine. And, indeed, as time bore on, old feelings surfaced within him. He spent more and more time away from his soldiers, brooding in his personal corner of the planescape; a demiplane shaped in the image of fallen Comnenopolis. It was to this place that Uli Kathandros came when he retired from the mortal realm. He sat upon his throne, in an empty villa in an empty city that existed only because he made it so. His trusted second-in-command, Marcus Perennius, was in command of his legion when he came here. He came to the Comnena of old to ponder and to think. To question, to absolve. It was within this place that he had complete security over everything. There was not a single aspect of this place that he could not control. Anyone whom entered he could instantly assail with all manner of forces. He could reshape the world around them, surpress their own abilities - all of it. It merely afforded him an elaborate sanctum to shape and mold.

He played with probabilities - he warped the existence of the plane itself to create scenarios from the past. He altered the scale of the city so each building was as of an ant, and watched morosely the sack of his city in exquisite, grandoise detail. He reassumed his form past, and made it so he and his men had arrived in time. It never mattered - there was always, always too many of the foe. All he loved burned down around him whilst he faught. The flames would flicker and he would stand at the breach, his sword soaked with blood as his friends and comrades fell around him, until he too, would fall. Then, he would merely dismiss the entire scenario, and begin it again. Gradually, Uli's feelings of submission to Nerull turned into a quiet loathing - both of the Dead Deity, and of the monster that he had become. These feelings were only exacerbated by the news that far away, in Comnena herself, The Dynastes had survived, and waged war to reunite The Empire.

The discontent seethed and grew, until Uli openly held himself in contempt of his Master. Once, where there had been dedication, there was only admonition and contempt. Uli smiled through all of this, feeling the trial that was growing closer, and closer. He spoke truthfully of his feelings to his soldiers, many of whom openly cried at the redemption that seemed so close. He said good-bye to trusted friends, and then went to face Nerull. In the direct presence of the greater deity, deep within the frozen halls of the black citadel of the Necromanteion, Uli mustered his will, his power, his hate, and severed the connection between Proxy and God - a luxury almost entirely reserved for the greater of the partnership. In doing so, he consigned and banished himself to a black, endless realm of sorrow and recollection. It was here that he finally recalled what he had done, and how Helena had seen what he had become. It dawned on him, at last, the terrible truth of what he had become. A good man, once, was Uli Kathandros - was Lucius Verus. A man seduced by his own intentions, led willingly down a path of darkness by whispers of power, tempting him to even greater and greater acts of wickedness until the shadow of a monster he had used for vengeance had come home to claim him.

His home of blackness became a prison of flames, with the inferno beckoning him to enter. The exact nature of the prison was unknown, save that its walls were his own doubt, and its exit was his true ascension. In the end, Uli walked into the fire. The allegorical flames consumed him, burning to forgotten ash the parts of him that had been warped beyond repair; destroying the tainted connection he held to Nerull. He was burned alive and reborn instantly, not unlike the phoenix from the flames.

Now, prophecy was about to be fulfilled.

There, within the depths of some forgotten realm of eternity, a battered, fallen Lucius Valerius Verus was awakened by August Comnenus. Comnena's Messiah faced Her soon-to-be- savior, and spoke to him frankly. August described the Cycle that has since then, taken his name. About how, when he was summoned elsewhere on that fateful day by Sheune Invictus, Comnena's test began. It was a test that the Sons of August passed until the fateful days of The Cataclysm. He told Uli of how the being he knew as Nerull was, in a way, a being born by Comnena's own slow, progression as a people. In the beginning, they had been pious to the point of fanatacism, but as time bore on, their zeal slowly lessened. It was this slow, inexorable loss of faith, that had given birth to the Foe Of All Life. Even more, Nerull was, in a way, a 'face' of Sheune Himself. The All-Father had no control over such a twist, for without the power of Comnena's worship; he, too, was in a way, powerless.

"You are the blood of my blood," August told Uli. "You were born as Valerius, yet in your heart, and in your soul, your name is Comnenus."

Thus, the prophecy was truly fulfilled. August granted unto Uli his powers as Sheune's Son, the blood of his blood. They replaced the command of darkness that Uli had gained from Nerull and lost when he passed through the fire. August's gift finally allowed the First Comnenii to pass on, his spirit going to join Sheune, his vow finally fulfilled. So armed, Uli went to war with Nerull. He summoned his followers to his side, and in a ghostly apparition of Seloria, they charged against their bane. Energized by the power of August, by the unfettered divinity of Sheune, Nerull was struck down by August Himself, Reborn. In that instant, the souls of the Comnenii that had fallen during The Cataclysm were given final release, and passed on to be with Sheune. The curse that had held Uli's legion in bondage for so long was lifted, and it was with joy that these once damned soldiers returned to their home, to Comnena, to wage war at the side of Renatus. The Empire was soon born again, in piety and steel: Comnena's flag once more flew proudly from the walls of a revitalized Comnenopolis.

For Uli, the portfolio of Nerull was his. He held the powers of August, and likewise, the dominions of death. He became, at Sheune's silent beckoning, the same thing that his former Master was - The Reaper. It was a necessary evil, and thusly, Uli's duty to reap those whose time had come, consigning them either to the hallowed heavens of An Saelor, or to the cold frost of his own realms. Only his followers knew of his terrible journey, and of his redemption and final apotheosis. Uli took the throne that Nerull had once sat upon, becoming The Reaper. He became Nerull's successor, a task carried out with a cold, grim efficiency. The love of Death as a concept, as not an end, but a beginning, was one that had burned itself to his mind, taught, perhaps, by experience. His initial disposition is placid; neutral - yet woe to those whom arouse the ire of The Weeping God, for his wrath is more puissant than ever.


::Relations::

Ancestry:
--Father: Drusus Valerius Sanctus. (deceased)
--Mother: Levinia Aemiliana Aria Valeriana. (deceased)
Siblings: None.
Spouse: Helena Constantine (deceased).
Allies:
--Marcus Perennius
--Darqcyde Vae Victus
--Judas von Drecht
--Renatus Constantianus Pelagius
Liases:
--Tayana Syri
--Belle Deveroux
--Bryna McCoy
--Liliana Targaryen
--Enayla Van Walraven
Survived By:
--Janus Kathandros
--Mikhail Kathandros
--Victoria Deveroux

::Attributes::

Height: Five foot six.
Weight: One hundred and seventy four pounds.
Hair Color: Brown; with odd silvery highlights here and there.
Hair: Soft and downy, perpetually unruly.
Eye Color: One green and one black.
Eye: Occidental.
Nose: Normal.
Mouth: Straight; though perpetually sneering.
Handed: Right handed.
Finger nails: Elegant, well-kept.
Skin Tone: Undeathly pallor.
Skin Condition: Dry, desicatted.
Physical Condition: Zenith.
Voice: Soft, cold. Purposeful.
Diet: Omnivorous, in every sense of the word.

::Intelligence::

Strength: Small-unit combat; theology.
Blood type: O.
Primary Residence: Carceri.
Primary Discipline: Man of the Cloth.
Sub-discipline(s): Poet, Warrior.
Special Abilities: Divine Salient Abilities, Divine Magic, Mark of Torment, Entropomancy.
Weapon of Choice: Gladius.

::Social Demeanor::

-- Morbidly jovial.
-- Sarcastic.
-- Silently repentant.

::Distinguishing Features::

-- Prominent scar, from the inside corner of the right eye across the right cheek, where it curls down and meets the base of the scalp.
-- One hand always covered by a black glove. When un-gloved, the particular hand is consistent of stretched, coppery and macabre skin, gaunt over the bone with a branded mark on each side of the palm.

::Attitude::

Likes: Uli is, at base, a hedonist -- he thusly enjoys all sorts of lecherous debasements. Despite that, he is also fond of more academic texts and esoteric learnings. Throughout his years of life he has become something of an existentialist; and despite first-hand encounters with divine beings, even more of a deist.
Dislikes: Through multiple terms in military positions, and a single stint as a feudal overlord, Uli has come to disdain incompetence. He views himself as a simple, methodical creature, and thus tends to frown upon ostentatious ornament -- though that doesn't apply to himself, of course.
Misplaced Adjustments; Quirks: Self-loathing in the extreme; though he'd never admit it. Even to himself.

::Specific Abilities::

Son of August -- Shard of Sheune: Lucius is of the House Valerius; one of the gens that trace their ancestry directly back to the founding, and August Comnenus himself. The Valerii, and thusly, all True Comnenii, are indirectly the offspring of Sheune himself, and thus retain small portions of His divinity. True Comnenii possess a keener mind and form than ordinary human stock, and almost double the lifespan - they are superior in nobility of spirit and body, and may retain peak fitness until the end of their days.

Rune of Torment: ""The flesh knows it suffers even when the mind has forgotten. And so you wear the rune always." Pain, Agony, Suffering, Torment. When the Rune is invoked, even the earth shall resonate its anguish. Torment of the mind. Torment of the body. Torment of the soul. All will be made clear when the Circle is drawn.

August Reborn: Comnenic (the land of Uli's birth) mythology and theology speaks of the prophecized return of August Comnenus, the 'Divi Filius' of their creator.  The return of August is said to be the event to save the souls of all Comnenii from destruction. In truth, Uli's actions in becoming the Proxy of Nerull were the first steps to fulfilling this prophecy, upon whose path he tread until ultimately, he became the very thing Nerull was, destroying the old God and taking his place as shepherd of the dead and damned.

Entropomancer: As spellcasters plumb the depths of divine power, some of the most advanced gain attunement to the great nothingness they say lies at the center of the universe. Entropomancers can summon and control a small shard of absolute nothingness similar to a sphere of annihilation, harnessing its power for a variety of magical effects. Most revel in destruction for its own sake, but some take a more nuanced approach to their terrifying discoveries, trying to understand the power of entropy that it might someday be controlled or even reversed.

::Proficencies::

--Sword: Downfall
--Length: Blade; 16", Overall; 20"
--History: Downfall carries several severe magical properties; the negative energy draining abilities native to its master, as well as an exsanguinating edge that resonates and cackles with mirthful hatred when sated.
--Classification: Gladius.
--Paragon: Viscera.

--Staff: Vitavidus (Comnenic, lit. 'Life Divider'.).
--Length: Shaft; 72", Overall; 72"
--History: Vitavidus appears as a six-foot long ebony staff, with a slight crook at the top. When gripped by its Master, the staff possesses the ability to project a thick, scythe-like blade of energy from the crook. This energy is imbued with both the power of August and Uli's signature negative energies.
--Classification: Brilliant energy scythe.
--Paragon: Multiplanar.

--Archery: Sufficient.
--Daggers: Sufficient.
--Maces: Learned.
--Firearms: Not compatible.
--Polearms: Perfected.
--Staves: Poor.
--Swords: Perfected.
--Unarmed: Sufficient.
--Projectiles: Sufficient.
--Whips: Extremely poor.
--Shields: Perfected.
--Hammers: Learned.
--Axes: Learned.