Blood Mage Gladiator - fierce and ruthless.
Viktori
Age
27
Gender
Female
Race
Half-Elf
Class
Blood Gladiator (Warrior + Spellsword)
Blood is the source of all life. To be proficient in Blood Magic is not a feat all magic users are capable of. It requires an inner strength to keep demons and spirits at bay, to keep one’s own mind sane. To acquire more blood, there is no better place than a battlefield – or as city peasants would call it, the arena. To be a blood mage and gladiator was to put on some of the most gruesome shows. Showers of red, the smell of iron and sweat, the cheers of the drunk crowd in an intimate duet with the screams of the gladiators’ croaked voices. As any spellsword would in the fatal arena, a Blood Gladiator has the possibility to use the blood of their opponents and use it to replenish those they are assisting. They must also learn how to fight off the other spellswords, all the while supporting the main gladiator and providing entertainment. The more coins they brought in, the less likely they would be fed to fighters out of their league. This requires an extraordinary amount of concentration, stamina, and brute strength. Many more experienced spellswords would argue that being flashy drains more energy than necessary, and it is true – without proper sleep and food, a Blood Gladiator does not do well in the arena and thus risks stumbling upon their own death. They rarely strike to kill, but instead to wound and this can cause for bad surprises.
In summary:
Blood Gladiators are gladiator-born spellswords who have mastered the magical art of blood magic. The more blood there is that does not belong to them, the better they perform. They may also use their mana for other minor spells. They are cruel with a blade, but not deadly.
Appearance
Viktori has the slender build of an elf, but she is relatively tall. She has surprising force for someone her size, and under her lean muscles there isn’t much fat to be found. Her feminine curves are not easily distinguished under her armour because of that, though if she were to wear female civilian clothes, there would be no doubt she was a woman. Her hair is long and black, reaching the lower part of her back. She keeps it up in a high bun, foreign strands held back by her leather headband. Many scars can be found on her body, a result of a slave’s life and being in the arena for so long. Her face is surprisingly spared, and one would say that she has a savage beauty, with dark green eyes that are never tender. Though she tries to hide those most of the time, Viktori’s ears are a constant reminder of her elvish heritage.
Equipment
• Short sword
• Large iron ring with an empty gem-like hollow stone.
• Arena battle garments: tough leather top, sleeveless; tough leather pants. Leather boots that reach to her knees.
• Outside battle garments: linen coat toughened with a leather layer, with furs sewn to make a hood. Same leather boots and pants. Light leather gloves.
• Worn, filthy leather headband.
• Dirty silk sash, red, worn around her waist almost at all times.
• Traveling backpack containing: an unfinished map of Elliria, with a focus on the Republic of Sotis and Morcrest; waterskin; clean linen strips; written proof of her liberation; flint; whetstone; few days’ worth of rations.
Position on Magic
Pro-Magic, strong supporter of profane magic
Time with the Wardens
2 months
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Mana Pool
Low
Blood (Major)
Keep on Living | Using the blood of enemies, opponents, or simply people she does not like, Viktori will restore the life force of those she is supporting. She cannot support more than two people at once.
Bloody Heart on a Sleeve | Using most likely the blood of her foes, Viktori can amass a large amount of it to create a permanent shield of coagulated blood. It isn’t a hard surface, so any swords or arrows will remain stuck in it and only she can control the mass to push the items out of it. She can either create one large shield (that sticks to someone’s arm) and is three feet wide/long, or three smaller shields for three different people, no larger than 12 inches in diameter.
Illusion (Minor)
Death Welcomes You | As an illusion spell, this one causes the recipient to no longer fear death: it dampens the fear of dying for no longer then one hour. How they react is not part of the spell however. It can cause some people to be desperate and try their hardest to survive, or it can cause some to be close to suicidal. Viktori does not use this spell very often, unless she knows how the other person will react. It can only be casted on one person at a time.
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Strengths | | Weaknesses
+ Iron Will | Even though she practices profane magic, Viktori has trained for years on keeping an iron grip on her mind. She will still be more vulnerable to possessions compared to other arcane magic users, but will be better at resisting it than full practitioners of dark magic.
+ Die Another Day | The woman has an extremely high tolerance for pain. She has above average athleticism and is capable of fighting for long periods of time or until she cannot see what she is doing.
+ A Blade Called Toka | Viktori’s small size prevents her from wielding big blades, and so she has taken to heart to master the use of her short sword, Toka. It was given to her by Gregnan and she has used it even since. Her agility with it is surprising, and it truly looks like the blade is an extension of her arm.
- Warm Hands, Cold Heart | Empathy, kindness, selflessness are not things that come naturally for Viktori. She can be harsh and holds high expectations for herself and everyone without exception. She is cruel to her enemies when fighting, and she will more often than not offer a messy death to those she has defeated.
- Eyes That Can’t See | With the extremely frequent use of her blood magic, Viktori has taken a physical toll of her efforts. The veins in her eyes are strained, and at times they will completely blind her after she has exerted a huge amount of magic and physical activity. On regular days, she can see just fine.
- Books and Bricks | She is highly uneducated. She cannot read, write, talk in other languages than the common tongue. She has no knowledge about etiquette or good manners, or honour for that matter.
Personality
Viktori is used to being in the shadows, on the sidelines. She is very aggressive, much like a feral cat, and has immense faith in her abilities. Her arrogance is pretty obvious, even for those who don’t know her, and that can easily be the cause of disagreements with other members of a group. The advantage of this trait, however, is how dependable Viktori is. She will never stop fighting, and will not leave behind her friends and family. She may come off as cold, but through her stoicism she cares immensely about those who have been nice to her. This tends to make her a bit naïve and she can easily mistake romantic advances for kindness, since she has never been with a man before.
Biography
Viktori was born a slave, like her mother before her. She doesn’t know who her father is, only that he might have been an elf, and a slave. Her mother was young, and died moments after the birth of her second child two years later – her brother, Ordeth. It was a few years before Viktori knew more about the world she lived in. They lived in the Republic of Sotis, part of a greater kingdom, Elliria. She was prejudiced against because of her smaller build, and it didn’t take long for her brother to overgrow her. Most of her younger years, she spent them being an errand girl for the family who had owned her mother.
Around her tenth birthday, Viktori began to display signs of magical abilities. Whenever blood was in her vicinity, she couldn’t control herself and would replenish her own life force. This quickly became very awkward for the ladies of the house, and soon enough Viktori and her brother were sold to the highest bidder. They were both relatively healthy and Ordeth was incredibly strong, which meant the wealthy enthusiasts of the arena would have been more than excited about the duo. They were bought by a kind man, Gregnan, and he trained them on the gladiator performance art. A mysterious woman, whom Viktori never learned the name of, taught her how to better make use of her magic, and how to access her small pool of mana. She learned how to keep her heart and mind focused, free of any kind of evil temptations.
After two years of training, Viktori was then thirteen, Ordeth and she went put through their first match. Since the fighters were mostly still teenagers and in training, they were not fighting death matches. This allowed the siblings to improve their skills and by the ages of 19 and 17, they had been scouted multiple times to finally be bought by one of the wealthiest owners in the arena. He was much less kind than Gregnan, and to this day she nurtures a profound dislike for the man. They trained and fought ruthlessly for years, and they slowly became the best breadwinners in the arena. Viktori and Ordeth were treated better than the other slaves, but the young woman was convinced she had earned this new respect. As it was getting to her head, her arrogance began to dig a steep gulley between her and her brother. It wasn’t until she met death face in the corner of her eye that she fell back down on her knees: she had overestimated her own remaining life force, and had tried to restore some of Ordeth’s, nearly killing herself and bringing her mind to the dark edges of another world.
A few months ago, she and Ordeth were offered their freedom by their owner… paid by the king himself. It seems he had some of his men watching the matches and scouting exceptional fighters, and it was reported that they would be a good addition to the King’s Wardens. They were a one-of-a-kind duo, unmatched in the arena. Viktori was grateful for another purpose in life, as gladiators did not live very long…