John Walker [Approved; 0-4]

Basics

Name: Archangel Johnathan Saint-Walker
Title: Patron Saint of Heroic Sacrifices, Rescue, and Protection
ALIAS: John Walker
Gender: Male
Age: ~220 Years
Height: Around 2 meters
Weight: Around 100 kg

Personality: Johnathan Walker is a slightly odd fellow who 'acts old, yet young' most of the time. He likes cracking jokes and making references to older things that younger people sometimes don't get, but is always a good sport about it. Just in general, he's a nice guy - if you run into him on the street, he'd apologize to you, that sort of behavior. His friendly smile and nice mannerisms make him very approachable, even to students during his newfound job as a teacher. He loves teaching in general - be it teaching a young magic user how to fight, or to give someone advice about life in general. For those who have lost their way, he'll often extend a helping hand to lead them back on track, with whatever troubles they face.

John always enjoys a good drink, and has fine taste for good beer and stronger alcohol, but not a good nose for wine. He's always rather chatty about the subject when it comes up, and loves giving recommendations, especially when working in his bar. For food, though, his taste is a lot broader - he prefers western food, but that's about it. Of course, he tries not to be insensitive about it when he can, but he just doesn't have the taste for gourmet food.
And despite his love for drinking, he advocates people to be careful about it. He definitely won't give alcohol to those below drinking age, and would never allow someone to drink and do anything remotely dangerous.

Following from the above, John is a bit of what you could call a 'boyscout'. People should be excellent to each other, and villains need punishing, so he is there to do so. However, John refuses to be called a hero, mostly because of lingering feelings towards the one person who calls him a hero mockingly. The word simply has a sour taste for him due to his feelings, at least when it is applied to himself. However, he always wants to find the 'next big hero' and help him or her grow into a real defender of justice and the world - a protegee, a student that he can put his trust into.

Perhaps due to his own race, he is not exactly a fan of demons and vampires, and often assumes the worst of them. When proven otherwise, it will still take him a while to warm up to them, but not for a lack of trying - it is almost instinctive to dislike them for him. Not that he likes most stock-up Angels any better, and he's probably the only Archangel who DOESN'T think the Aether is superior to Aurora.

When it comes to combat, Walker is very confident and sure in his own ability. That's not to say he feels invincible, but he often has troubles with recognizing threats too great for him to face alone. He might just charge three enemies alone and outgunned if he feels up to it, but he's not ENTIRELY suicidal - he knows when running away is a superior tactic to staying and dying horribly, for one. His general confidence in himself allows John to disregard fear in a big way - it's not that he doesn't feel it, but that he can overcome it and overpower it with hope.

In battle, he can be quite inspiring to his allies. He is devoted to being 'hope', and to showing the bright light of all that is good and right in the world, so that his allies may continue the fight. However, these antics also serve to inspire and remind himself of what he fights for, and of the true goals beyond a simple fight. His intense focus on doing the right thing leads to John often not taking spars and friendly battles not seriously and refusing to use his full ability, feeling such displays of power to be misplaced and unnecessary. He won't bug someone else for using more power, but he wants them to respect his own decision to hold back just as well. The only times he gets serious during training is whenever he is training a potential candidate for being the 'next big hero', for they will need the determination to continue fighting even in desperate times, much like John himself would never give up hope.

Appearance

Appearance:

Contract

Contractee: Former Duke of Cieria
Contract Fulfillment: Restore the Blighted Vale and Darkhaven back to their former glory and beauty
Contract Reward: ??? (Secret kept by John)

Abilities
Racial Abilities: Self-Healer: This gives an Angel the ability to heal themselves at a rapid rate, but cannot heal any other creature whether friend or foe. (Cannot Be Used With Healing Hands)
Other Abilities:

• Flight: John can use his wings to fly through the air with perfect maneuverability. If his wings get restrained and he is unable to move them, he will start to fall.
  
• Feather Fall: Even when in free-fall, John's falling speed will not exceed a slowed down rate, so no fall, no matter the height, can hurt him. He can disable his own Feather Fall by granting it to someone else, granting them up to ten minutes of slowed falling, but he loses Feather Fall for the rest of the day if he does that.
  
• Glamour: A simple illusion magic that John can layer over himself. Unlike other angels, he can't actually make his wings disappear, but with this spell he can make them invisible. His blond hair is also an illusion deviating from his actual appearance. In theory, he can layer enough illusions over himself to appear like a completely different person. The magic only changes outward appearance without affecting the reality of things - he can still knock something over with his wings by accident even with them invisible, and someone can touch them as well.
  
• Heaven's Bow: Johnathan summons an angelic composite bow with a simple thought. The weapon disappears when not wielded by him, so it can't be handed to someone else, and disarming Johnathan is virtually impossible as he can just call the weapon to his hand again instantly. The aether within the bow accelerates and strengthens every normal arrow fired with it, and John is skillful and strong enough to fire dozens of arrows in a short time.
  
• Black Shot: John draws back his string without a notched arrow and creates a jet-black arrow, which phases in and out of the material world. A shot fired with this black arrow pierces any conventional armor, and can only be stopped by protective magic circles, magic-repellant armor or Mithril. Only one Black Shot can be fired in a single post.
  
• Smiting Shot: A brilliant golden arrow is created and notched into the bow before aim it taken and the shot is fired. Evil targets are tracked by the arrow, giving it homing properties, together with enhanced damage. A smiting shot causes a small explosion on impact, and evil outsiders - meaning every being from either the Nether, or any perhaps unknown realm filled with evil beings - will take double damage from each Smiting Shot. Only one Smiting Shot may be fired in a single post.
  
• Tracking Shot: A quickfire arrow made out of energy. A target hit will take minimal damage, but as long as they stay within ten miles of John, he can track their location and follow them. A strong purging magic pulse or repellant can remove the tracking.
  
• Last Breath Shot: An arrow to be used on an ally. Someone mortally wounded, but not yet dead, can be hit by this attack. The merciful Aether energy within will close their wound and stabilize them, but continued fighting will be impossible for them. They still require immediate medical attention.
  
• Merciful Smiting Shot: Same effect as Smiting Shot, but can't kill the target hit, only knock them out. Useable once per post.
  
• Energy Shot: An arrow out of white Aether energy is fired instead of a physical shot, it shares all qualities of a normal arrow, but is not affected by gravity as strongly, allowing it to fly further. These shots can be fired at the same rate as normal arrows.
  
• Light Rain: A brilliant energy arrow is fired into the air, and a target area is pelted with a rain of projectiles from above, making it perfect for avoiding cover and flushing out enemies.
  
• Flurry of Shots: John takes direct aim at a target and fires off shots so rapidly that it seems almost impossible. Up to six arrows fly at nearly the same time, clustering up into an incredible impact. Has a two post cooldown.
  
• Flurry of Blows: Six melee attacks are made against a nearby target, executable with hands, feet, elbows, the head, or any other part of the body useable for martial arts.
  
• Sacred Fist: John charges his body with Aether. Each close combat attack he executes deals extra damage, and as long as he actively blocks, he can deflect cutting edges and even projectiles, but only by actively attacking them, it does not grant any passive defense.
  
• Final Shot: Johnathan super-charges a single shot with his bow, creating a brilliantly shining projectile out of gold and white Aether. The projectile is incredibly fast, breaks thin sheets of anti-magic materials, and pierces normal armor like butter, before causing a huge Aether explosion after impact. The charge-time of this attack is VERY high, and the telltale sign of an incredible rising energy warns those nearby. Only one Final Shot may be used in a thread.
  
• The Crystal Seal: With his master mortally wounded, John encased them in a crystal made of condensed Aether. This keeps his contract intact, but reduces his effective power, by redirecting some of it to maintaining the crystal. To regain his full power, he'd require a new contract to bind himself to Aurora. All powers following after this one are considered LOCKED - John will only be able to access them with a new contract. Using them without one will break his old contract and leave him two weeks to find a new one, or he'll be forced back to the Aether.
  
• Angelic Twin Blades: This spell influences his weapon directly, shifting the form of the metal that makes up the bow into two separate items - paired swords used for melee combat.
  
• Challenge Evil: John declares a challenge in the language of angels towards an enemy. His strikes and arrows will deal increased damage for the remainder of the fight, while also granting him higher defense against the challenged foe. All other enemies will deal more damage to John for the remainder of the fight, even if the target of the challenge has already died or fled the fight.
  
• Boomerang Throw: John throws both of his curved swords at the enemy in an arc, causing them to attack from both sides of the opponent, before spinning through the air again and returning to his hands. If they are stopped from returning, they disappear and need to be resummoned.
  
• Imbued Blades: John focuses the powers normally given to his arrows into the blades, attacking with them instead. Each blade holds half the power of the original spell, so both need to hit to deal the full spell effect.
  

Skills:

• Expert Marksman: As befitting of a primarily ranged fighter, John has the eyes of an eagle. He's incredibly skilled with the bow and highly accurate, able to shoot freely while standing, flying, falling, and even able to go from a sprint straight into an aiming position, fire his bow, and continue running.
  
• Heightened Endurance: Regulated breathing, conservation of energy, self-healing and knowledge over his own body combine to give John more endurance than most humans can ever hope to reach. He can run for hours on end or fly at high speeds, not to mention fight effectively even when outnumbered and outmatched for quite some time. His tenacity allows him to continue fighting even when exhausted completely, causing his body to take continuous damage until he takes time to recover and heal.
  
• Excellent Flier: Almost all angels can fly. Almost all of them are good at it. Johnathan isn't just good in the air, he's DAMN good, even with only two of his original four wings remaining. He can do gravity-defying stunts in mid-air - loops, quick rolls, the entire set, all while being in combat, too. His sense of direction is finely honed, allowing him to keep track of his spacial position even when dashing through the air like a madman. This causes him to be somewhat uncomfortable in tight quarters, since he's so used to the freedom of three-dimensional movement.
  
• Linguistic Knowledge: John has used his time on Aurora well, and can speak all languages, including common, fluently. He always has a slight, strange accent that nobody can place.
  
• Accurate Striker: Since his raw physical strength doesn't exceed human levels normally, John relies on accuracy in melee combat instead of strength, aiming for the weakpoints of anatomy to take out his opponents. His movements are known for being very graceful and flowing.
  

Equipment: A small pendant made out of white gold, with the symbol of Cieria engraved into it. It allows access to the royal treasury in Cieria, and is a symbol of connection between him and the former duke. Inside of the pendant is a small, almost completely faded picture of him together with his master. John carries the pendant around his neck at all times and will protect it with his life if he has to, since it has a lot of meaning and memories attached for him. He has access too, but doesn't always wear, a set of lightweight armor to be worn underneath normal clothes, made of finely woven metal rings. While not enough to deflect a strong blow from a sword, it may deflect an arrow or two. Heavier armor would impede his ability to fly.

History and Roleplay Sample

History: How does someone like an Archangel end up on Aurora? That story begins over two hundred years ago, back in the Aether. There, a young angel was being trained by his family, a high ranking elite of angels - they expected him to be just like them, arbiters of justice and cold, hard facts - they were known for their harsh, but always objective rulings, and were often summoned to Aurora to serve as judges in difficult trials, and never had a single one requested to stay for good in the world of mortals - they instead saw it as their duty to help with cold justice, clear logic and deep thought. They were not warriors, either.

And that one young angel would change this forever. John Walker... was NOTHING like his parents, brothers and sisters. He was emotional, impulsive, and naturally gifted in battle. Any attempts to reign him in, seemed to fail - cold facts did not work well with his quick, impulsive mind. But he still had a sense of justice, for sure - his deductions were almost always correct, despite the fact that he relied on instinct and gut feelings instead of actual research. Quickly, the former prodigy for his incredible aether powers became an object of shame, and he grew to resent his family for how they looked down on him and the fact that he simply wasn't like them.

When he finally had enough of them to last him another twenty angelic lifetimes, John began to research - and to shut himself in. His family thought him finally calmed down and reigned in, but no - he was simply playing the long game now. What he was researching were not old cases to become a better judge - he researched the methods of his family, uncovering every time where their methodical method had caused more harm, he found out the few cases of corruption that were clearly hidden under the numbers and hard facts, and when he had enough material, presented it to the leaders of the Aether. His family was horrified, as they lost a lot of their good standing, and kicked him out - just what he always wanted.

Now without a family to fall back to, John joined the forces training for combat - and quickly rose to one of the top positions. His adherence to justice and quick decisions made him a natural leader and fighter - within a few years, he became a high ranking officer, but it would've still been at least one hundred years before he'd be even considered for the honor of being called an Archangel, let alone a Patron Saint.

But when a rebellion rose in the Aether, he was right at the forefront of defense. In the fight, he held the line of an important fort on his own, allowing his soldiers to escape to safety, fully expecting to sacrifice his own life in the process. When reinforcements arrived together with his formerly escaped soldiers, they found him alone, with terrible wounds, still fighting the aggressors.

It took John months to recover from his injuries, but somehow, he pulled through. His endurance and willingness to die for what was right had turned an important battle in the war, and eventually lead to their victory. As one of the youngest angels to obtain the honors, John Walker was renamed Archangel Johnathan Saint-Walker, and he became the Patron Saint of those mortal heroes who would act like him. At this point, he was around 25 years old in Auroran time.

Two years after becoming an Archangel, Johnathan did something that would forever change both himself, and the people in the Aether who looked up on him. A request for help was made towards the Aether and Nether at the same time, from someone who didn't care which side of the coin came to help them. Such requests were often done out of desperation, but this was a request made from long preparation, and a request for something considered impossible, even by the forces of the Aether. A request was made - to restore the Blighted Vale of Cieria, one of the darkest, most dangerous places in the known worlds. It was said that an Angel would have a longer life expectancy within the Nether compared to the center of that corruption. Naturally, nobody answered the call... at first. Until one of the Archangels stepped forward, his light burning brightly, his four wings spread out, as he took the leap from the heavens down to Aurora. An Archangel so moved by the request made with such conviction and earnest desire that he could not ignore it.

On that day, Archangel Johnathan Saint-Walker was summoned to Aurora, against the wishes of the other Archangels and leaders of the realm of light. With his recent ascension came a belief that he could do anything he wanted, without consequence, and that no challenge was above him in difficulty. He'd complete the mission that none of the other angels could.

"Once I save the Blighted Vale with you... you will..."
"I accept your contract... My Master."

The world Johnathan entered was nothing like his home... And he quickly came to love it. The mortals of this plane were so different from the angels in many ways - passionate, driven, full of purpose. Together with his master, the Archangel assembled an elite army of incredible ability and promise. It was the largest army seen in the Cierian lands since the large wars of the past, and the other countries were on alert for a possible ignition of a new war started by the nation of monster hunters - but that was not the reason for this assembly of talent and power.

Many generations ago, the Magocacry of Cieria destroyed their original hometown in an attempt to ascend beyond humanity, but the corruption from whatever they unleashed still bled out, into the Blighted Vale, one of the most dangerous places even in Cieria. Their goal was simple - reach the city now known as Darkhaven, find the portal to this corruption, and force it closed. Surely, they'd succeed, and become great heroes - rich rewards and fame awaited everyone. Or so they thought, anyway. At first, John had trouble fitting in with his human compatriots besides his master, but it only took him a few weeks to be swept away by the general good and joyful mood amongst the forces, and so he became more than just their commander - he became their friend, and for the first time, Johnathan actually HAD friends, instead of just brothers in arms, commanders and subordinates.

Their travels through the Blighted Vale turned into a nightmare on the same day as they set out. The malicious plantlife and twisted, horrible creatures descended like locusts, separating small fractions of the army before slaughtering them - the forests, water, animals, even the GROUND was against them, but they marched and fought on, no matter what stood against them. When they finally reached Darkhaven, three days later than planned, only a third of the force remained. Refusing to have his friends die for nothing on the way here, and unable to guarantee a way back to Lighthaven without sacrificing even more of them, Johnathan, his master and their remaining force pushed open the city gates, and stormed inside.

To this day, Johnathan will not speak of what he saw through the portal. Some assume he saw the Nether itself - others assume it was a twisted part of the Aether, just a collection of wild, uncontrollable arcane energy within those ruins. Others speculate he saw something even BEYOND that, beyond mortality, beyond fear, beyond hope. But whatever he saw, it changed him fundamentally.

Two days after the gates were pushed open, a bloodied angel, cradling a broken and almost dead body, crashed into the plaza in front of Lighthaven's castle. His two lower wings missing, his bow shattered, his master almost dead, Johnathan did the unthinkable and broke all the laws about magic using the blood of angels and mortals in tandem. By combining his own blood with the blood of his master, and focusing his Aether through it, Johnathan created the Crystal Seal around his master. The white, partially translucent crystal was hidden away in the treasury, as Johnathan slowly recovered from his grievous wounds only because of his angelic self-healing ability.

Since that day, Johnathan has been searching for two things: The heroes to surpass his legacy and his old, dead friends, to lead them to Darkhaven and save both the Blighted Vale, and possibly much more... And secondly, he has been searching for someone so powerful in the healing arts, so amazing with magic, that they could save his master, for once the Crystal Seal is removed, the time remaining in this world would start ticking again for his master... and their death would come within seconds.

Within Cieria, there is a certain legend of an angelic hero, saving lives and mending wrongs, while encouraging young adventurers to follow their dreams and become better at everything they do. Now, the man at the center of these legends is moving towards his endgame...

• 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/RP Sample is not in First Person [X]
  

Comments/Notes: I hope you don't mind that I deleted the "finished" post. I felt it unnecessary when I was grading it. Looking forward to RPing with this guy. I like him.  
Tier: 0-4