Age: Hellgates have a naturally longer lifespan than typical humans. Mael is 100 years old, making him barely an adolescent in the eyes of his people.
Hair Color: Raven
Eye color: Amber
Height: 5’10, Holgurd are tallest of the nine. Mael, however, is smaller than other members of his family.
Unique Marks: Each Hellgate possess a birth rune. A unique emblem carrying a special boon. It is most common for birth runes to be visible. Mael's birth rune only manifests fully in duress or intense passions when his psychic abilities are the most powerful. It takes an ethereal form when visible, burning with intense psionic power. While dormant, it is a single diamond in the middle of his forehead.
Parents: Cheria(lost) Vaal Holgurd-Father(Alive) Reina Holgurd-Stepmother (Alive) 4 older siblings(Alive)
Order: Human
Personality: Mael is the shy young heir of a minor house within the Holgurd family, of which he is the 5th successor with four older siblings before him. Mael is not the type to readily squish a bug but would relatively safely guide it outside as he believes life is a gift, and no one has the right to take it from another. He is mainly diplomatic and would instead use words than first to solve a problem
He is well-mannered and soft-spoken, with a knack for sculpting, particularly ice sculpting.
Mael is a natural pacifist but genuinely disdains injustice, particularly bullies. The only time he has been seen lifting a finger against another being is in defense of another—never even himself. This results from the constant antagonism he faces from his siblings and his inferiority to them. When, in truth, his potential is beyond anything they could ever dream of…he doesn't know it yet.
And if he keeps sleeping every chance he gets, he might never realize it. His dreams, though, that is his favorite place to be. There, he travels unabated, able to astral project and travel the Dream Scape- A realm that exists in the unseen. The only place he can see is the face of his deceased mother. He is often found napping in the most obscure places, but when he sleeps in a place with a robust residual presence, he can relive the moment that took place there—often gaining inspiration for his art while he travels.
He is obsessed with the constellations, feeling each one a take from a story of an age long past, and hopes to learn all kinds of things about the vastness of the realm beyond. In particular to him is the constellation under which he was born, inexplicably drawn to it.
Pillars
Central: Hope of his family rest on his back. Aptitude for divining the stars. BlUnquestioningptimism is his magic. He searches for answers in his dreams.
Contrast: Stargazer with a crux for unintentionally reading minds. Scared to attempt his Quest of Mastery, he was even more afraid of letting his father down again.
Crossing: Mael is the kept secret of the Holgurd Household, and though he has foreign blood, he is presented to the world and treated as a full member of Holgurd nobility. Save for his stepmother and siblings, who treat him with ire.
Aside from his family, he is a student of Ars Haven and has made friends and connections within the school.
Active: For as long as he can remember, Mael has been enamored with learning and the stars. Mael's fascination was born from the stories of his mother told to him by his father. How his mother, too, loved the stars and was very well-read concerning astronomy. Whom, to his knowledge, is no longer among the living. The tale of his birth and the constellation under which he was born are his only leads and are the driving force for his focus on astrology
Faction: Hellgates; Holgurd Family
Elemental Nature: Ice/ Earth
Anthem
Name: Hellguard
Stage: Ava
Description: Holgurd can create powerful barriers from Naten. However, this is just the lamen definition. In truth, the Holgurds are prolific Abjurers, practitioners of Abjuration, a branch of magic rooted in the creation of wards, protective barriers, the dispelling of magic, and in some cases, the banishing of beings to other planes. Because of the mutation he inherited from his mother, Mael's anthem has adapted to his psionic heritage, forcing his power to evolve and assimilate his Hellgate birthright under the umbrella of his supernatural prowess. Granting him the ability to turn Naten into psychic energy using his mind, allowing his judges to be powered by this energy.
Despite his lineage, he is a born and raised Holgurd and a defensive fighter. This manifests in his ability to create incredibly powerful force fields of telekinetic energy. Mael is a psychic with unprecedented potential, and it is under close observation just how that potential will develop. Currently, the bulk of it is sealed behind a myriad of mental barriers unknowingly to him. Because of this, his overall pool of naten is smaller than that of his family. But his precision and knowledge are still prextravagant and he has an intrinsic knack for maximizing his available energy.
Arbiters
Name: Birth Rune; Czar's CrownStage: Bea
Description: Considered to be the medium for his Psionic prowess, his birth rune manifests itself as a rune crafted from psychic energy that centers in the middle of his forehead. This "Crown" drastically increases his psychic output, most notably his telepathic and telekinetic, to potentially disastrous proportions, risking becoming a danger to him and anyone around him unable to resist his psionic pressure. ToFoureals were placed within Mael's mind to mitigate this risk, which was inhibiting his connection to the crown. However, in moments of duress or when his life is in danger, his power elevates so that even the seal cannot hold it all, allowing him brief but incredulous feats to use his arbiters at a level.
The keepers of the seals are the current aces of Ars Haven as well as the Holgurd crown.
Name: Holgurd Family Seals
Stage: Ava
Description: a set of mudra unique to the Abjurers of the nine. These hand seals determine the three critical factors of crafting their abjurations. Target(Who the barrier is targeting) Location(Where it will manifest) Purpose( What ability the spell will possess). Unless his birth rune is activated, Mael must abide by these mudras when using his anthem.
Name: Ice Magic
Stage: Ava
Description: One of the things that connects Mael and his father is their shared love of ice sculpting. Mael is creative, has a vivid imagination, and is a visionary, as is his father. His father decided to tutor him personally because he had a knack for ice magic. Handing down his in-depth understanding of it. Mael is quite adept with ice magic, and it is often his first go-to in a fight and primary expression. Though he is inhibited as far as his psionic powers, his innate talent for ice magic remains unhindered. He has lightly begun making a name for himself as a potentially prodigious practitioner, though his proficiency is tied to his artistic infatuation with the beauty ice can embody.
Name: Telepathy
Stage: Bea
Description: A gift he inherited from his mother and is his most prominent psychic gift. Despite the overall power being contained, he still has to actively avoid reading minds by mistake. When his birth rune is roused, his telepathic presence can completely overwhelm and even dominate his target's mind. If the psyche is too fragile, he could shatter their mind coaltogetherIf forced against a will equal to or stronger than his own, he risks his mind as well as theirs.
b]Traits[/b]
Name: Inherited MasteryType: Hellgate Trait
Description: Hellgate passes on their Aptitude and knowledge seamlessly to their children, making it easier for their descendants to learn their parents' Arbiters, fields of study, and traits. He has inherited his mother's latent psychic traits, most notably her telepathy and much of her astrological knowledge. From his father, he is proficient in ice magic.
Name: Knowledge of the Occult
Type: Hellgate Trait
Description: The vast majority of Hellgate's are casters; their study of the arcane grants them incredible elements, magicks, and a wide variety of psychic abilities.
Sixth Sense: Hellgate's are deeply connected to all of nature; this includes the Astral realm. Granting them a passive sensory perception. This is commonly referred to as a sixth sense. Some experience this intrinsic knowing visually, like the Vesta, but the flora experience this through touch and smell. Mael's sixth sense manifests as Psychometry, also known as Trace Scrying, the ability to perceive residual presence on an item through touch. Mael can glean a litany of information from touching objects that have enough residual influence on them. Through a ritual, he can even find people connected to the object with enough time and focus.
Awareness:6
Naten:4
Dexterity:2
Speed:0
Stress:5
Output:3
Durability:7
Strength:1
Bio:
Birth of the Slumbering King
Hellgates, no matter how young or old, are bound by their blood to pursue perfection in some way, shape, or form. And though the Holgurd place within the nine is that of teachers and soothsayers. The obsession with perfection did not skip them. Contrarily, the fuel immolates all of what the Holgurds embody and what they pursue. Knowledge. And the ability to transcribe that knowledge into wisdom that would better service the tribe. Family, yes, family was everything. Blood defined all. In particular, Mael’s household. He is the youngest of 5. All with their eye on the head of household and, by extension, a wish to represent the Holgurd in the nesuccessiverown. A wish that has been the root of his father's’s ambitions for hundreds of years. To produce an alpha…to produce a crown.
This was an ambition that Mael himself did not share, for though he was of noble blood, his nobility was not always known. Before he was born, his mother was the handmaid of the current headwife. A woman of great beauty but even greater humility, she had served the royal house faithfully.
One day, soon after the birth of her fourth child, the duchess grew ill(later believed to be a curse) with a sickness that nearly took her life. She survived; however, it was discovered that it left her unable to bear children. VaalMael's’s father, who though loved his four children and was appeased by how proficient they were, could not let go of his desire to sire an alpha. And so…he and his wife decided to take another wife to bear his children until Reina could be cured. But only one she approved of.
The search seemed endless as Reina rejected all of the potential prospects( for a myriad of reasons. If they were prettier, more talented, or powerful, she would not risk him loving them more than her.), leaving the head at hiwit's's end and pressed her to make a choice or she would force his hand to do so.
ThenMael's’s mother, Cheria, volunteered on hemistress's’s behalf iReina's's private dwelling. Reina was resistant at first, for Cheria was a Holgurd not by blood but by name, having been taken in by the nine after her parents perished in The Fall. However, she was always exceptionally loyal to Reina and always by her side without flaw. Somehow uncannily knowing what she needed without Reina ever uttering a word aside from this, she had no real talent to speak of. For these reasons and viewing her as inferior, she chose Cheria, knowing her husband could not refuse but could never grow to love her nor reveal her to the public, let alone expect a true heir with someone born on foreign soil. Leaving her children to be in line for head of household.
And for a time, it seemed her plan had succeeded. Vaal despised Cheria and barely touched nor talked to her at the beginning of their marriage. Though Cheria never lashed out, she did not lie down and take his prejudice. She was especially well-read and would debate his views often. Eventually, after a decade, The HlurHead's’s defenses came down, and he found himself in love with Cheria, and she became pregnant. As it is customary for each child that would be born into the Holgurd family, a divination is evoked to gauge thchild's's latent potential by divining the star would be born under. It was revealed that not only woulCheria's's child indeed be an alpha but also possess power greater than anything the Holgurd had seen before. Being born under the star constellatio" "The Slumbering Kin" A star under which no Holgurd sees had ever been born, but it was said to belong to a King among Kings. Finally, his father would have the heir he dreamed of.
Reina, who, for the most part, enjoyed the decade of fruitless marriage. When she learned that Cheria became pregnant and was not only pregnant but was to give birth to a child of prodigal potential, it infuriated her beyond belief. So much so that she orchestrated an incident that ended with Cherie and her unborn child disappearing from the manor with nothing but a note saying she could not bear the weight oHolgurd's's expectations and took her child somewhere it could have a normal life.
Vaal was hysterical! He searched high and low for his wayward love but to no avail. He grew withdrawn, becoming a changed man in the wake of his lost love and the promised seed that would see his dream realized both gone. It was not until the day of his promisechild's’s birth that Vaal hearCheria's's voice call out to him from his dreams" "Our child…your son… lives. Under the Crown of the Slumbering King of Stars does he sleep? I…will not make it till I see your arrival, but know this… our boy is incredibl "…"
With but a fleeting passage of visions showing a vicious icescape, he divined on his own that they were somewhere in the Azure Alps. Without a single moment of hesitation, he took nothing with him but his steed as he set out to find them. The Alps were raging with an ice storm unusually violet for this time of year. Using his anthem to muster through the perilous storm, he heard the piercing cry of a child, not on the howling winds of the snowstorm but in his mind.
Eventually, he came across a sight that both broke his heart and filled it with pride. Unlike anything he had ever witnessed, a barrier kept a storm such as this at bay. A child. When he approached it, he was allowed in to find Cheria had given birth, albeit nearly at the cost of her life… It was his son, who, despite sleeping his focus, created this barrier to protect him and his mother, with a powerful rune manifesting on his forehead."
"Oh, my son…please forgive me. Your mother… should'veve been here. How pure must your soul truly be…to stalwart defend the woman who gave you life. You will be called Maelstrom, my little prince. My star child, my slumbering kin"."
Vaal returned to the manor with both of them and was greeted by Reina, who gave her the nastiest stare to signify that he knew what she had done. Cheria had becom" "Los"," a term given to one who, though their body lives, their mind may never recover. A permanent state of stasis. She is given to the healers who care for her to this day. The Holgurds are about saving face, and Vaal would not let such a gross abuse of power get out into the public, but his feelings towards his wife and their other children changed.
And they blame Mael and his mother for it.
The Slumbering King awakened
In his very early stages of life, Mael showed an incredulous promise. Though his psychic powers had not manifested again to the extent they had since his birth, he could still use them with his Anthem to produce barriers with his mind alone. His Naten control was immaculate, and he could craft some of the most powerful psionic fields and warding spellthey'd’d ever seen.
His ability to grasp and understand literature and the arcane was uncanny; he could recite entire texts after reading them once and recreate spells with ease, sometimes his first time seeing them. He excelled in almost everything, proving to the soothsayers that divine his prodigal nature to be true. However, they even failed to realize the extent of his powers. All of them had. One day, Mael, at the young age of 10, saw another kid being badly beaten up by the other children.
He watched in horror as he begged them to stop, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. What happened next changed the course of his life forever. Just as the boy was about to be struck, he cried out for someone to help him. Before Mael knew it, his birth rune manifested, unleashing a storm of Psionic naten that brought all action in all sentient beings(except those strong enough to resist)within 5 miles of him to a halt. His indignation was so great he focused his telepathic grasp on the bullies, forcing their minds to collapse under the weight of his psychic pressure, placing the kids in comatose states.
The child he saved screamed, snapping his focus and releasing his hold on everyone. Legions of people gathered around him, in awe and fear of his power, not all friendly. It was commonly known that Hellgate possessed innate psychic sensitivity ranging widely, but they had never seen anything like Mael. They ran tests on him and his mother to discern for certain the font of his powerThat's’s when they learned that Cheria was the latent descendant of a powerful psychic bloodline called th" "Cza"." Beings so rare they were thought to have died out eons ago. But studies of his blood and his mother now confirmed that she possessed their DNA. A mutation that is capable of skipping multiple generations but bestows incredible psionic power to its inheritor.
That, however, was the extent oanyone's’s knowledge concerning them. With no one else but a child who could not control his psionic ability and a woman whose mind was shattered as the last living remnants of a lost past, the tribe deemed him a danger to the nine and so sentenced him to be…contained. By decree of the Holgurd crown, Mael was to have his memories erased an" "barrie" s" (seals) placed within his mind, limiting his access to his powers. Until he could learn how to control his powers and complete his Quest of mastery. This handicap severely hampered his access to the deeper pool of his Naten, inhibiting his abilities. However, it would make it safe for him to attend Ars Haven, where he could learn to potentially master his gifts and lead the normal life he deserves. As much of a normal life as a telepath can have.
Once considered, the future of his household is now viewed as defective. Despite all of this, Mael is still a caring soul who will place himself iharm's's way to protect another. Though he is ridiculed as a foreigner despite living with the tribe his entire lif"," he is proud to bear the Holgurd name and takes his place as one seriously. Though hdoesn't't desire the crown, he does want to prove that he is not a failure and can become prove everyone around him wrong.
Quest of Mastery
Soon to add**
The team