Character Base

• Character Name: Alder Daragh.
• Age: 27.
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: Original, 2020.
• Items Coming Along: A flaming sword.
• Content Warnings for Character: Parent death, religious themes.

Character Background

• History: Some world info: for about seven years and some change, Heaven and Hell were embroiled in a bitter war, waged in the human realm of Earth. Earth had previously only a little "warning", so to speak, of the war and even the existence of Heaven and Hell. It was previously a place much like our own Earth in 2020. Humans were pulled into this war on the side of Heaven, with a few outliers siding with the demons in Hell.

This war was bloody and cold, claiming many lives on all sides, but ultimately ending up with Heaven as the victors. Demons were killed, jailed for their war crimes, or banished to the war-ravaged Hell with no chance of escape.

The story that Alder is a part of takes place 40 years after the war, in a human realm that is struggling to heal its wounds. Humans and demons suffered the most losses, and Heaven seems to be just fine even though its representatives paint a picture of continued hardship in their realm.

God and Satan are nowhere to be seen or heard or felt, and the hunt to find them for answers, for peace, for safety, is on.

The story mostly follows Noble, a half-angel/half-human that is married off to an angel prince named Caius ( who Alder hates very much ).

Alder Daragh was born to an angel mother ( Dessa ) and a demon father ( Mnemni ) that loved him dearly. Their union was a forbidden one, and therefore this child was hated by most besides them. It was a life, for the first few years, of running away from the angels that sought his parents. When he was seven years old, Alder saw his mother die trying to protect him from the same angels that she called comrades in the war.

Mnemni brought Alder to a friend, another comrade, who knew about him and was trusted deeply. That friend was Orion, a celebrated war heroine, who had severe PTSD and agoraphobia. She raised Alder until he was ten, until he ran away. He didn't want to be a burden on her and he believed that he was just a reminder of his mother — who Orion was deeply in love with.

Mnemni was nowhere to be found, but Alder housed himself with a pack of were-hellhounds who kept him safe. That's where he met Atlas, who would come to be his partner in crime. Alder felt bitter about how demons were treated, and he grew to become outspoken and loud about championing demon rights, now disguising himself as a full demon so as to not attract the attention and wrath of angels.

Eventually he became well-known in his city and even beyond, demons talking of a "chosen one" and angels calling him cursed. He's been working to liberate demons from the secret horrors they face at the hands of those angels that say that demons are merely sent back to a war-ravaged Hell, or that they're "rehab'd". In reality, demons were being killed.

With Atlas as his right hand, Alder has grown his group — called Seventh Circle — from the ground up. They give shelter to demons and bust up angel facilities where they can, and seek to tell the truth about the horrors that Heaven puts demons through.

At Alder's canon point, tensions between himself and those seeking to kill him are threatening to boil over. He's calm and cruel when he meets Noble, by chance, at Orion's greenhouse; he happens to be there because Caius' parents are war comrades of hers and he takes a liking to the peace in her home. They don't get along, really. At first, anyway.
• Core Relationships:

ATLAS — The were-hellhound that believed in Alder from the start, convincing the rest of his pack to take him in in the first place. He believes Alder is a sort of chosen one himself, but doesn't really put him up on a pedestal — he treats him as he would the head of another pack, and Alder treats him as a beloved comrade in kind. They're pretty close, the two of them and two more — Aitne and Amaryllis — and care immensely for the displaced demons they've appointed themselves in charge of.

AITNE — Aitne is another were-hellhound, and one that Alder clashes with on occasion. They're hard-headed and stubborn and not afraid to challenge him. Despite the two of them butting heads from time to time, they still love one another immensely. That's why Alder was completely horrified when Aitne ended up going missing — no note, nothing. He's certain that the Angels hunting him had taken Aitne in their search for him, and this has given him a fair bit of trauma and anguish. He's vowed to never give up, no matter how dicey the hunt for them gets.

AMARYLLIS — Mar, as she's known, is the last of his officers in Seventh Circle. She mostly takes to the children and the disabled among their number, and he's incredibly grateful for her and her drive and certain brand of love and care. She's the mother to a little pup named Poe, who she had with Aitne. He feels guilt when he looks at Poe and Mar — thinking only of Poe's other parent, Aitne — but this has given him stronger drive to bring Aitne back to them.

ORION — Orion is sort of like a parent or aunt figure to him, despite being an Angel who had fought for Angelkind in the War. His mother and father trusted Orion enough to appoint her Alder's godmother, and that's enough for him. He visits often as he can, and genuinely loves being around her and helping her out in her greenhouse. He doesn't tell her what he gets up to, and she doesn't tell him about her past in the War. Instead they talk of the future, and on occasion, his parents. It's a nice arrangement.

Character Personality Through Key Moments

(2+) Positive Experiences:

ONE — Being welcomed into the hellhounds' pack by Atlas. As a frightened and hated ten year old, Alder was starving and scared when Atlas found him. He saw his horns and golden eyes — his eye color marking him as a demon that came from the deepest layer of hell — and brought him to the rest of his pack, stating he needed help. When he awoke, the rest of the pack was a little reluctant to allow him to stay as he said he might need, but Atlas insisted it was a good idea. He said he'd been waiting for a friend, and ever since then, they'd been tight. Alder was taken aback at the time, having seen the ugly side of humans and angels and even some demons that refused to help him. This kindness was never forgotten, from Atlas or the pack that eventually came to love and support him as one of their own.

TWO — Taking a flaming sword from an enemy. It wasn't the first time that someone was sent to kill Alder, but it was the first time he had to kill someone else. At age 13, a rogue angel had heard of him and sought his company and Alder came to trust him. However, his ulterior motive was soon known when he pointed a soldier's flaming sword at his chest and declared him dead. Alder quickly killed the angel he had thought was his friend, and took his sword. Just as the kindness from Atlas was never forgotten, neither was this; it hardened his heart quite a bit to angels, and he would never fully trust another one again — outside of Orion, of course.

(2+) Negative Experiences:

ONE — Dessa's death. He, unfortunately, bore witness to the death of his beloved mother when he was young, at four years old. It was horrifying to see his mother fight and even more horrifying to see her be torn apart by the angels she had called comrades in the war. It was because of him, he would realize years later — because she had a child with a demon, she was hunted and killed. This realization understandably messed him up quite a bit and was part of the reason he ran away from the safety of Orion's home in the first place. Even now, he finds himself still haunted with memories of her wings being torn from her body, her grace taken.

TWO — Aitne going missing. While still considering themselves on the run after a particularly bloody raid on an angelic soldier encampment, Aitne and Alder had taken to stay in a small apartment on the rough side of town. They took every precaution and were planning on leaving the next morning, before dawn. Alder had to leave rather quickly on the tip that Orion was out in public; he went to find her and tail her a bit, having to see it to believe it, as her agoraphobia was truly terrible, and he wanted to keep potential trouble off of her back. He didn't find her, and when he came back — Aitne was missing as well. No sign of forced entry or a struggle, nothing in the way of anything being disturbed at all. At first, he wasn't sure if it was some strange prank in bad taste, but when the rest of Seventh Circle hadn't heard from Aitne either, and they didn't show up after days, weeks ... He grew more frenzied and disturbed. This led to quite a few angel murders, and certainly a great deal of horror and anguish for Alder.

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers: Alder has demon abilities and angel abilities both; he tends to favor his demon side. He also has the unique ability to shift and take on the appearance of either a demon or angel; the demon appearance is his "default", with golden eyes and ram horns and claws. The angel appearance is rare for him to take, with white wings sprouting from the bottom of his ribs, glowing blue eyes, and a general lighter aura.

DEMON: HEIGHTENED STRENGTH, ENDURANCE, AGILITY, AND SPEED:

He's about strong enough to lift a typically-sized bus with some effort, and can punch through walls and bodies just fine.

Alder can fight for what seems like days with injury and exhaustion piled on him; it's quite hard to take him down when he's determined. He could fight after losing limbs or with gunshot wounds just fine, for example.

He's fast enough to outpace human sprinting, though he can't keep up top speeds for terribly long.

FEAR MANIPULATION.

He's able to put fear, seemingly out of nowhere, into the hearts of humans, angels, and demons alike. He can tailor it specifically to specific fears they they have such as small spaces or water; making them feel like they're confined or drowning, etc.

This will be nerfed into just a general sense of fear and anxiety, and nothing near the level he could create back home. And only one person at a time instead of a roomful.

FIRE CONJURING AND CONTROL.

He's able to create flames and control them, though not to a great degree like, say, Lio from Promare, who is able to create weapons and forms out of flame. His is just hellfire he can brandish and grow.

ANGEL: FLIGHT.

He can fly with his wings, but he doesn't really like to.

EMOTION SHARING.

Alder can share his emotions — which are usually level and even — with others to calm them, or to feel what another is going through in order to really understand them. This is very intimate to him and not used often at all.

HEALING OF OTHERS.

Through his angelic grace, Alder is able to heal bodily injuries of others, though nothing considered mortal, and he's not able to attach missing limbs.

• Blood Type: Coldblood.
• Omen: A hellhound, which is basically a tall (hip-height for him) canine with a skull over its face, ram horns, and a tail made of flames.
• Blessed Day: 8/13. This is his canon birthday.
• Patron Pthumerian: Mariana. He'll want to learn all he can about her.
• Blood Power Manifestation: His blood powers will manifest in addition to his canon abilities, though his canon abilities will be a little weaker. He'll still have the blood-typical ( and demon-typical ) heightened durability and stamina and recovery, as well as better mastery of his fire-abilities, and minor ice and electricity abilities.

Writing Samples

One:

( As tough as Alder is, he's not invincible; this revelation was quiet and reflected on in recovery for broken ribs before. Sometimes, though, it seems like he forgets.

He's laid up in Orion's home, her cat Rue sniffing and examining the bandages around his chest. Orion has a mug of tea in her hands while she watches them both, wrapped in a quilt, drifting off. When he sits up, she comes to, waving a hand to urge him back down. )

Not yet. I wanted to say ...

( Her brow furrows and Alder pauses to try to find the words. He's typically well-spoken in front of Seventh Circle; being vulnerable around Orion, however, begets a different story. )

Ah. You should go to bed, votum.

( Its a term of endearment that makes her blink and agree, but only if he's all right. )

I wouldn't worry about me. Even though I know you're gonna.

( He teases gently, laying back down slowly through the ache. Orion makes to part from him, stopping only when he speaks up: )

Thank you ... Orion.

( The gravity of his voice gives her further pause. She tells him, "don't worry about it," which makes him laugh. Silence settles over the home once she finally gets to bed; Alder slips off to sleep himself. )

Two:

I could take on ten of you and be fine!

( He's training one of the younger ones, flaming sword drawn and forms worked through. They insist on playing most days, but since there was an attack on their camp, they've insisted on learning to fight.

Alder was quick to agree, though it hurt just a little. )

C'mon. You can do better!

( The small demon launches themselves at him, this time going for the eyes with a sort of war cry. He jerks back, taken only slightly off-guard with the unexpected fervor of their attack. A sidestep, a wrap of his arm around their form to swing and toss them down. )

See? That was good! Don't hold back, I can take it.

( They end up working through fighting steps and form for most of the afternoon, other children piling in to hear what Alder has to say and teach. This is more up Mar's alley, sure, but its nice in its own way when he can get through to them.

Maybe no more lives will be lost if they train up a bit ... )