Merlin, Keeper of Secrets [Approved 0-5]

Basics

Name: Levin
ALIAS: Merlin, Secret Keeper
Gender: Male
Age: ~170 Years
Height: 1.75m
Weight: Lightweight

Personality: Merlin is an imposing figure – when he wants to be. He has that specific voice and manner of speaking that  makes others listen to him – always wise, always knowing and intelligent. He values knowledge and the ability to keep information hidden until it is needed, but absolutely despises deceit and lies. The fine line between the two is always highly important to him.
Many know Merlin to be a very warm and friendly person. He never seems to let anything keep himself down – even in the face of the worst calamity, he will smile and press on. His determination is insane – not many can compete with it. He always pushes forward, and always tries to find the optimal solution to each problem, even if it puts himself in danger. Especially if Witches or the Outsider are involved, he'll always risk everything he has to protect the innocent.

However, Merlin never truly feels at home anywhere. Even when otherwise seemingly happy and joyfull, a certain sadness always hangs around him like a cold breeze. Constantly drifting, he refuses to really settle down anywhere, even if he could. Constant travels and battle hardened him to the road, and he won't complain when camping out in a storm or blizzard, but instead make the best even out of those situations. His wanderslust also makes him knowledgeable of many of the greater and more dangerous beasts in the world of Aurora, especially if those creatures seem to have magical abilities.

He also has a habit of joining in conversations uninvited, interrupting people, or simply appearing quietly like a ghost. He's a bit of a trickster in that regard. While friendly, he also likes showcasing his intellect and general knowledge, and can be quite embarassed whenever he doesn't know an answer straight away, and asking a question he can't answer is one of the few ways to get him to keep quiet for longer than a few minutes, as he can seem almost hyperactive.

Furthermore, Merlin has no sense of personal space, authority, or rank and order. He's quite the chaotic element, and because of his age and wisdom, feels a bit superior over most people. It's not as if he wants to disrespect people, but even with his wisdom of magic, he lacks basic social skills, such as a sense for when to treat someone as his superior. When around other contractors of the Outsider, he acts like a mentor, still not truly respecting any privacy, but being highly supportive and kind to them.

Which brings us to the Outsider itself. The puppeteer, the evil white thing that steals souls in exchange for half-baked wishes. Merlin absolutely, positively despises the Outsider like no-one else. Some say he's the 'only one the Outsider fears', and their animosity reaches back decades. The Outsider is always trying to hide from Merlin when they are both in the same area, with Merlin attempting to ruin any chance of it obtaining new contracts. If he could, he would kill the Outsider outright, even on the risk of possibly killing himself and all other Magical Girls by doing so.
Furthermore – Walpurgisnacht, the ultimate Witch and enemy of the Outsider. If anything, Merlin feels sorry for the creature, but if he ever got the chance of destroying it, he would – for the Grief Seed of Walpurgisnacht might be the only artifact powerful enough to release all contracts of the Outsider, allowing the other Witches and Magical Girls to die peacefully.

Another point is his birth name. Merlin started calling himself 'Levin' at a certain point in his past, and only tells his true name to a few trusted friends and allies. This is mostly because he thinks that 'Levin' was nothing but a scared child, one that took the contract with the Outsider without thinking – the 'Levin' in himself isn't someone that Merlin can show to people, or even admit to himself most of the time.
Because Merlin is, without a doubt, a broken man. He has lost EVERYTHING time and time again, and always kept on fighting, despite the odds. He has seen many die, and even more suffer a fate worse than simply dying. As such, he cherishes life as much as he can, and preserves it, to ease the pain in his undead heart.

Appearance

Appearance:

Under the Hood:

Of note: always carries a jewel around his neck, even when otherwise naked. This is his Soul Gem, called the Levin Amber.

Magic

Type: Magical Boy
Description: Enslaved Soul Play – The Amazing Spellsword

Levin once made a deal with the Outsider, many years ago, when he was still a child, which makes him... a magical girl. Or in his case, boy. This ripped his soul out of his body and bound it to the gem he carries around his neck now, while enhancing his natural Sorcerer-abilities to their current level.
To use his Sorcery, Merlin encloses his gem within the right or left hand. It transmorphs according to his will, forming a zagged, sharp one-handed sword out of his arcana, brought into physical form. The gem itself remains on the end of the hilt. When transmorphing his gem into the 'Levin Sword', his outfit doesn't actively change, but he is known to remove his coat through magic if he fights seriously. This means that his normal clothing is fully made out of his arcana, making it his 'magical uniform', leaving him without a true 'civilian' outfit.

The Levin Sword is a constantly sharp and fast weapon, as light as a feather to Merlin. Through it, he channels his arcana. This channeling, known as the 'Spellsword' technique, is unique amongst those that use the powers of the Outsider, but not necessarily unique amongst Arcanists in general. This channeled energy grants Merlin the ability to control the four basic elements through his blade – fire, water, lightning and earth. The most simple application is to coat his blade in the element or use it to strengthen it, such as applying a lightning charge, setting it on fire or hardening the structure. The truly amazing feat, though, is that he can 'release' the channeled elements into various spells. While not incredibly devastating on his own, he can chain together various spells to create 'combo' effects of the elements, such as using water before a wind-induced lightning bolt to increase destructive power.

Before we go on to the spell list, there are multiple advantages and disadvantages to Merlin's position as a user of the Outsider-granted magic. His body ages and develops at a highly slowed rate, and as long as his gem remains undamaged, his body proves highly resilient to attacks and damage, healing very fast. This causes him to appear as a young man despite his actual age. Destroying his heart or brain would probably still kill him, though. If his Soul Gem is ever destroyed – which isn't easy, it is quite sturdy – he will die INSTANTLY. Without it, his body is only an empty husk. If his Soul Gem is stolen or otherwise moved out of the direct vicinity (around 20 feet) of his body, then Merlin will fall into a death-like state, where his body lacks any signs of life. He can stay in this state either until his gem is broken – killing him for real – until his body rots away to a skeleton – killing him by making his body uninhabitable – or until the 'glow' of his gem runs out, which would finalize his descend.
All of Merlin's powers are channeled through and controled by the Soul Gem, which holds almost all of his arcana and self. The more he uses it up, the more the light vanishes from within the crystal. If his arcana ever runs out completely, turning the gem dark, Merlin WILL suffer a fate worse than death. He will turn into a Witch, robbed of his humanity, will and sense of self, becoming a true monster.
The only way to avoid this is for him to claim the Grief Seeds of Witches, which restore his arcana by 'taking away' the dark taint within the Soul Gem. Other possibilites of recharging arcana have little to no effect on him or his Soul Gem, but might keep him from turning into a Witch for some time at least.
This process is also directly linked to willpower and state of mind. The stronger the will of Merlin, the slower his arcana actually depletes, defying the normal logic of Arcanists and the relation of energy to spellpower. Furthermore, if Merlin falls into despair, his gem will darken at an enhanced rate, even when he doesn't actively used his arcana. This forces him to always keep a positive outlook, or he'll face a fate worse than death. He'd even prefer destroying his own Soul Gem to turning into a Witch.

Spell List:

• Dancing Flare:[/u] Merlin spins his blade around in his hand, and the arm holding it around his entire body. Small, dancing fires will engulf his entire form, before shooting outward as a ring of fire.
  
  
• Aqua Lance: Merlin conjures the primal force of water around his blade, swinging it in a circle in front of himself. He then stabs through it, sending out a sharp piercing blast of water as a ranged attack.
  
• Igneous Crush: Swinging his blade at the opponent, the expelled earth-energy from the blade produces giant stone fists to attack the opponent. This attack conjures two smaller 'arms' first to smash through the guard of an enemy, before a gigantic earth fist tries to uppercut the enemy into the air.
  
• Guardian Field: A slightly different spell. By stabbing his blade into the ground and summoning up his arcana, Merlin raises an energy shield out of arcana in a small area around himself. Any allies inside of the shield will also experience a slight healing effect.
  
• Heartseeker Bolt: Shooting out multiple lightning bolts from the blade by stabbing it skywards, Merlin creates a 'charged' artificial black cloud above the battlefield. At any point afterwards, he can 'call down' this lightning towards his own blade, no matter his or the sword's current position. The cloud is stationairy above the point where Merlin summoned it in the first place.
  
• Lavos: Merlin coats his sword in fire. The flames then spread out, over his arm and entire body, turning his figure into a firey ball of doom. Using expelled flames to shoot into the sky, he then crashes down as a meteor.
  
• Lavos Onslaught: Possibly the highest raw destructive power in Merlin's arsenal. He charges up his Lavos energy, but instead of shooting into the sky, he flies right at his opponent with the flames as propulsion, executing many explosive and highly dangerous slashes at his enemy. Attacking for more than a few seconds with Lavos Onslaught will quickly drain Merlin's reserves of arcana, and is thus incredibly dangerous to use.
  

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Combat

Equipment: His own Soul Gem, as well as a few functioning Grief Seeds. He also always has a single Grief Seed with him that has lost it's ability to absorb darkness, yet he refuses to throw it away.
Skills: Highly skilled with the sword after using it for so many years. Also has an incredible memory and ability to recall information, together with superior investigation skills.

History and Roleplay Sample

History: The oldest currently known 'servant' of the Outsider might just be his greatest enemy today. But who exactly is Merlin – and where did he come from? Well, you certainly won't find any old documents regarding his person, mostly because Merlin is not his real name.
He was born as 'Levin' in Brauk. From a very young age onwards, he had always been a really weak kid – his immune system and body just didn't seem to develop right. Even arcane healers were without any clue as to how to help him, and nobody expected him to live even past his fifth year – not even his parents.
But even as a young child, Levin didn't give up. He clung to life like no other, and was nearly always happy – even when yet another bad infection caused damage to his spinal cord and confined him to his bedroom. He was around 12 years old when his body finally started to fail more and more – not even slight bruises would heal any longer. But still, he didn't want to die – he wanted to live, to see the world. When he had almost faded from this world, a weird creature snuck into his room, unnoticed by the doctors and his parents. It sat down on his chest, making his already hard breathing become weaker. Big, red eyes seemed to look right into his soul, anchoring him in Aurora for just another moment or two.
„I will make any wish of yours come true, in exchange, you'll fight evil for me. If you accept, then tell me your wish!“

Of course, Levin had only one wish in this situation – and of course, the Outsider counted on that to make sure he'd get another Magical Girl – or in this case, Magical Boy – for cheap.


With those words, the contract was forged. The people in the room noticed the Outsider only now, when a bright light filled the entire room and drove them back from the bed. The Outsider sunk the big ear-like apendages on it's head into the chest of Levin, pulled SOMETHING out – most likely, his soul – and encased it in a new form, one in the same color as the eyes of the young boy. Bright amber, the gem rested down on his chest, attached around his neck by a chain.
With the soul bound into the newly formed gem, the Outsider fulfilled both parts of his contract at once. From this point onwards, Levin would forever remain a 'servant' of him – and by making him into a partially magical being, he also cured and restored his body with cosmic energy, giving him the strength and the life he never had before.

When the light receeded, the people in the room were stunned. None had ever seen any arcane art like this, or as evidently powerful – especially since the Outsider chose not to appear to them, being invisible to their eyes while talking within Levin's mind.
The change was pretty much immedeate. Power flooded Levin like never before in his life – he could breathe normally, his heart was beating strong, and his entire body seemed like new. He shocked one of the doctors enough for the poor guy to faint when he simply jumped off from his bed with a wide grin on his face. On the advice of the Outsider, Levin simply said that nearly dying activated hidden arcana within him, which rejuvinated his dying body, while actually using his newfound magical powers to make his Soul Gem invisible for the time being. Life finally seemed to become better for the boy.
But of course, this was actually the start of his true suffering, and in his worst nightmares he couldn't imagine the terrors that awaited him.

He wasn't even a Magical Boy for a full day yet when the Outsider notified his newest child soldier of a nearby Witch, the first target. Of course, Levin didn't know about the greater implications of both Witches and his own Soul Gem – he had no idea of what would happen if he didn't hunt them down regularly to restore his arcane power. He just assumed doing so would revert him back to a broken, almost dead boy, so he decided to immedeatly use his newfound powers to destroy this 'Witch' creature!
But what the Outsider didn't tell him was that the Witch had settled quite near to his own house. And that the kiss of this Witch was already on Levin's own family.
The battle was, in short, messy. Levin had no experience in fighting at all, not even with brawling with other kids his age, thanks to the weakness earlier in his life. Sheer luck, a will not to give up, and a lucky shot involving lightning and a sword were subsequentially the deciding factor of a fight that went on for roughly half an hour. The boy claimed his first Grief Seed, a black jewel that could restore his powers until it lost the black glow from within, or so the Outsider claimed. He'd from now on have to search out Witches on his own, using the enhanced senses given by his Soul Gem, and with those words, the Outsider left Levin in the wreckage of the 'pocket dimension' of this Witch that disappeared.

But Levin wouldn't return home that night. Because his home was nothing but a burnt out ruin by the time he came back. The kiss of the Witch he had just killed caused his entire family to comitt mass suicide by fire before he could destroy the creature. The incredibly empty feeling in his stomach, the tears, and the utter helplessness are vivid memories of Merlin to this very day.

The young mage avoided any contact with authorities and relatives, instead drifting into one of Brauk's major cities. One of the few clues he still had was that Witches liked big cities, and while he didn't know the specifics of the kiss, he did know that Witches were pure evil. Surely, these evil creatures were at fault, and had to pay. He was still just a child, filled with rage and sadness over events beyond his direct control – and only because he was not alone in this city did he survive this stage of his life.
Once at his new 'home', he met multiple other Outsider-contract holders – who were all very surprised to see a boy use these powers of 'Magical Girls'. Quickly, a small group of them became close friends, working together – and while Levin never spoke of his past, these new friends slowly filled the gap in his heart, slowing down the corruption of his Soul Gem before it became too fast to counteract with Grief Seeds.

As the only male of the group, Levin became sort of a big brother for them, even though he was younger than some. This caused him to learn something – because of how much he had lost right away, he knew how to deal with loss. Being a Magical Girl was tough – Witches were powerful, you had to hide your secret identity, and still keep up with a normal life. Levin had no normal life left, so he helped the girls of his group out as good as he could, and became a whole lot wiser as a result of learning how to deal with a magnitude of problems.
But there was one girl who was different, and who didn't join their 'group of Magical Girls... and one Boy'. A single Magical Girl with sad, empty eyes, who just said they'd see why she was so depressed all the time one day. For some reason, this intrigued Levin, since he had felt incredible depression by himself before.

It took a long time, but finally, she began to open up to him at casual conversation. She had been a Magical Girl for over ten years now, her body barely aging at all. She had a group of friends once, but they all died, one way or another – some killed by Witches, some 'disappeared', as she put it – and a few even killing themselves by destroying their Soul Gems. This of course explained her dark outlook on the world, but she became a mentor for Levin, who had accidentally become a sort-of leader of his own group. She tought him how to fight properly, how to conserve arcane power, and how to push through every hard opposition – and how to still care about people.
For every Witch was a potential threat to civilians. She told him about the kisses of Witches, and of the depression they were spreading – so to protect people, Levin and his group became even faster in striking down the Witches as they appeared. At least until THAT happened.

One day, a power surge alerted Levin and his friends to the strongest Witch ever. It was a force so primal and destructive that he couldn't even believe it was real until he saw it high in the sky, without any Pocket Dimension. The despair-devouring creature known as Walpurgisnacht was attacking his new hometown, causing mass madness and depression simply by EXISTING, before her familiars began storming the city. Transforming into his battle outfit, he brandished his sword at the side of all of his friends, even his Mentor, and with a reassuring smile and nod, they stormed into battle for their home.

It was an absolute massacre. Walpurgisnacht put all normal Witches to shame with a flick of the wrist. Levin felt his spine crack as he was slammed into the ground, paralyzed, unable to continue fighting as his friends fell around him. Some, killed by Walpurgisnacht herself or by her minions. But the worst part were two others, who lost all hope in this fight, their Soul Gems turning black. The metamorphosis was almost instant, warping the two Magical Girls into monstrous witches.
Levin would've died then and there, but one other survivor – his mentor – managed to drag him out of the battle and escape. Their city was in ruins.

Thanks to the regenerative abilities granted from the Soul Gem, Levin recovered from the paralysis of a broken spine in due time. Still, he was crushed – his friends had died for no reason, some turning into monsters right in front of his eyes. But his mentor snapped him out of it – reminding him that now HE, the leader, had to carry their wills on his back. If he gave in to despair, he'd turn into a Witch just like them.
And so, instead of breaking – he pushed on. Levin, the innocent little boy who took this power to live on, died that day. Instead, he became Merlin, the great wizard, keeper of secrets. But simply hunting Witches wouldn't do. Instead, the two survivors took on the ultimate challenge... They'd find the Outsider, and kill him. Without the Outsider, there would be no more Magical Girls, no more Witches, and no more despair spread by him! By now, years had passed since Merlin saw the creature the last time – but he'd find him again. If he was able to instinctively find Witches, then he'd also instinctively find the Outsider trying to get new Witch-hunters out of little girls and sometimes boys. Even if his body had barely aged, Merlin was now a true warrior.

The next two decades were spent by the two hunting the Outsider across many lands. Quickly, all legends of the Outsider came to include his arch-nemesis – the raging, but kind wizard Merlin, always hunting down the creature, together with his accomplice, the sorceress Morgan. The two also helped those that they couldn't save from the contract to at least get started on a possibly longer life as Witch-hunters, but never stopped anywhere for longer periods of time.
During their time spent together, Merlin and Morgan grew very close. While they had started out as student and mentor, both the gap in experience and age became more and more insignificant between the two. Love was between them for years during their journey, having grown naturally between them. The light, happy emotions seemingly fired up their Arcane Arts even further. But eventually, the Outsider became tired of running from his own creations... and set a trap for them.

Through some sort of elaborate spreading of despair, he lured both the magical duo and at least thirty Witches to the same place, hoping the Witches would destroy Merlin and Morgan for good. To make matters worse, the two barely had arcane power left, not having found any Witches lately. But still, they wouldn't go down without a fight. As thirty Pocket Dimensions warped into each other, and all the Witches unleashed their powers, the duo began what seemed to be their last and final dance.

It was a brutal and relentless fight. Because of how many enemies plus familiars they had to fight, there was no logical chance of winning... Until  Morgan landed the luckiest shot of her life, striking the Grief Seed of a Witch directly. Destroying the creature, she took hold of it – but the Witch had been weak. This Grief Seed only had enough power for one usage. They were both nearly out of power – either she or Merlin would for sure suffer a fate worse than dying today.
Merlin was completely ready to accept that fate, to die for the woman he loved. But the feeling was mutual. Before he had any chance of stopping her, Morgan threw the Grief Seed right against his Soul Gem. The artifact absorbed the power of the Witch, restoring Merlin's power to full... but also condeming Morgan, whose Soul Gem turned black at the exact same time. She was only able to hold on long enough for a last goodbye.
„Always remember, Merlin. Them, me... Remember...“

A 'hole' was an understatement for the depression that befell Merlin almost instantly. Using his restored arcane power, he destroyed the other Witches one by one, claiming all of their Grief Seeds – while avoiding the monster that his beloved Morgan had turned into. When finally, she was the only one left, he tried to do the unthinkable – to reverse the process which turned her into a Witch. Immobilizing the creature with magic, he combined all of the current Grief Seeds he had just claimed, trying to absorb the despair out of the Soul Gem – trying to turn this creature into Morgan again. But no amount of absorbtion helped. The soul within Morgan's gem was gone – the only thing left was a fragmented shadow, a carricature of the woman he loved. And so, Merlin eradicated the Witch of Morgan. Till this day, he carries her Grief Seed with him, as a constant memento as to what the Outsider has taken from him – his one true love, as he claims.

This was over fifty years ago. Since then, Merlin has always traveled alone, striking down Witches and continuing to fight the Outsider. Since his last attempt, the Outsider never tried putting a group of Witches to his own use against Merlin – maybe because he is unable to do so, maybe because he fears what Merlin could actually accomplish by using the power of that many Grief Seeds against the Outsider directly, instead of 'wasting' their power trying to turn a Witch back into a human being.

As he wanders, the world knows Merlin as an ageless, wise man of modern legend – but he knows that his time is limited. Even if his body wasn't aging, it wouldn't be able to live forever – nothing lasted forever, besides maybe the elder dragons. But before his end, he'd carve his legacy into the world – so even if he is unable to end the Outsider, someone else will carry on the torch of righteous vengeance, and avenge all the poor souls lost in a meaningless war.

• Name [x]
  
• Appropriate Age [x]
  
• Gender [x]
  
• Appearance Present [x]
  
• Appearance Described in Appropriate Length OR Picture is Visible [x]
  
• Appearance is Not Claimed [x]
  
• 15 sentences for personality [x]
  
• History is 10 sentences [x]
  
• Powers are not Godmod/Overpowered [x]
  
• Powers are described reasonably enough [x]
  
• Application is not in First Person [x]
  

Comments/Notes: Alright, good. Looks fine to me.
Tier: 0-5

Classification changed from Sorcerer to Magical Boy. No other issues--app still approved.