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[Playable CA Race] Dark Servitor


squakhawk
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Overview

 

Dark Servitors, men bound to their armor through a ritual of Mysticism or Bloodmagic, are guardians of unyielding will, immense endurance and great fortitude. They are rightfully encumbered by their armor and weapons, as appropriately as it would encumber a person in full plates- their strength and stamina rivaling an Olog, the speed withered due to the decay of being undead. They are susceptible to the throes of undeadism, alongside mundane weaknesses such as armor-breaking weaponry and trapping, which cause them to be felled easier than a pummeling of fireballs or flurry of blades. 

 


Creation


To Create a Dark Servitor, a Bloodmagician or Mystic must have a living subject (Willing, or unwilling) in or around a full suit of armor, with at most a face visor for an opening.

 

A Mystic will use their Eidola liturgy, without the aid of a wight, to bind the soul of the flesh to the armor, through their ritual. They require a “Sacrifice” subject aswell, to complete the transference of the soul from the direct body to the armor entirely. 

 

A Bloodmage will etch a rune of metal into the person, which would stay permanent, and would constantly bleed from then on. They would than etch a rune of flesh onto the armor of that same person, along a rune of power. They will finally put a rune of binding upon both, then permanently binding the soul of the person to the armor, while the flesh inside a husk that they still act of, but isn’t what makes them “living”. This requires a sacrifice to provide the spare blood needed to manipulate the soul to transfer it to the armor.
 


Appearance

 

Dark Servitors are formerly considered “living” men and women bound to armor of varying design and runes which are imbued with a saturation of ectoplasm -- the ethereal substance of close relation to spectral entities. During the end of the eidolon liturgy a Mystic perform upon a person, their freed soul is bound to the to-be Dark Servitors armor and locks them within the metal.  Their soul then harnesses the abundant ectoplasm and is anchored amongst the spectral soup within and shapes the construct; by having no form of design or limitation beyond the usual structure Dark Servitors follow, the end product -- the Dark Servitor -- is unlike any previous or to be entity born from the process. In the case of Bloodmages, they perform a ritual of binding between the two, along with applying other runes and effects. The person’s soul is transferred from the body within the armor, to the armor itself. Their souls fabricate the new body and accompanying weapon out of their own identity, meaning one Dark Servitor may be birthed with large, bulbous plates with a misshapen and asymmetrical framing alongside an unruly and bent club while another may be birthed with keen, sharp, and many-layered plates in a scale-like manner alongside two lengthy and jagged falchions. The aesthetic of the armor may be of any design but the Dark Servitor will never be undressed of their armor, and if such were to happen - or such were to break, they would shatter and their soul would escape to eternal damnation; their armor is forever a constant, the shackles that keep their soul tethered to this plane.

 

While made of metal, Dark Servitors are drenched in ectoplasm. This gives them their spectral traits, including a dull, glowing aura as a byproduct of Gleaming just as any ghost or Graven may experience. For Dark Servitors, their Gleaming does aswell often bring about a look of rot and decay, to the skin beneath the armor. They aswell would give off a vile scent of decomposition and would often have carrion feeders surrounding them, such as maggots or flies. They also make noises similar to that of a walking corpse aswell, with constantly cracking and snapping bones that accompany their movements. Dark Servitors softly glow with an azure-blue to teal and lime to sage-green. This churning texture can, unlike most other phantoms, be subdued and suppressed at will. A knight may willingly lose their glow as they wish in order appear as mere metal, a harrowing statue of suffering. Alongside a usual motionless and appropriately stoic demeanor, losing their glow allows knights a degree of stealth, but suffers from the fact a dark silhouette in armor is lurking beyond the shadows.

 

As flesh-filled metal, Dark Servitors have no inner light and are subsequently shadowed within as normal armor. This is unless The Dark Servitor has undergone a armor-transference ritual, would would cause them to have uninhabited armour.

 

Due to their physical nature, tangible additions to a Dark Servitors armor is possible. Some may choose to adopt furs, coats, cloaks, drapes, robes, and other such cloths and hides to obscure or decorate their bodies. Chains, sashes, satchels, and other such accessories or utilities are also potential items for knights to add to their person. They aswell may have a visor in their helm, but such would not be the greatest due to their decomposing internal body. Any other significant openings in armor would cause immediate death as the soul would escape the bound armor.

 

Just as the body may scar, so may the mind; and where there is not much of a body -- only the mind present -- harm comes in stranger forms. Dark Servitors may take on scars upon their armor such as chips, cuts, cracks, and so on even after they lose their armor and replace it through ritual. This is because of the experience of battle and what it leaves upon a Dark Servitor’s metaphysical cranium; traumatized or mentally wounded by battle and suffering, the present state of the Dark Servitor’s mind reproduces their new armors with potential damage and flaws. A Dark Servitor can take on great physical trauma so long as their entire soul does not escape. But the more of their soul that escapes, the more susceptible they are to issues mentally. Their sanity lowers, and they’re far more prone to taking on cognitive distortions as a way to make up for their ever scarring mind.

 

Dark Servitors vary in height according to the race they were previously, as their souls are still inhabiting their old body. Their armor will obviously have to fit them, and any new armor set will have to fit them if they perform a ritual to replace such. They require a full descendant soul to inhabit the armour.

Dark Servitors also have two different possible origins. Such, gives them different, subtle traits that note to their origin. 


Creation by a Mystic gives them their ectoplasm, which gives a small and dim glow that comes with The Ethereal. This however can be, with willpower, dispelled for a time. Along with this, they may give off a small, barely noticeable smoke or wispy air that flows from cracks in their armor. This is from remnants of the sacrifice soul that remain throughout the armor, whether from the original ritual or replacement. Mystic-created Dark Servitors will often adhere to their creator’s behavior, as more observant individuals. They often will bear trinkets and baubles originating from their mystic, having a fascination in carrying those small creations. 

Creation by a Bloodmage gives them red hues and greyed skin, more pallid than that of a decomposing corpse. They also often will be seen with minor bleeding from their creation wound leaking through their armor, and will have small deposits of crusted, dried blood along their armor and skin. Their armor aswell, somewhere, would bear the rune of binding used in its creation. A bloodmage-created Dark Servitor will often be incredibly brutal and risktaking, driven by raw impulse on breaking their enemies morale by terrifying them with sheer force, should it come to such. 

 

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Behavior

 

Just as any phantom, mental disorders permeate the race of spectral undead and perpetuate numerous forms of insanity amongst their ilk. The severity and nature of this disorder can vary greatly, however common ones list: identity conflict, clinical depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, and dementia; depression and identity conflict are the most common of all. Dark Servitors are also beholders, where upon sight of another Dark Servitor- lose all senses.

 

Dark Servitors, as creations of Mysticism or Bloodmagic are prone to dreary, gloomy, and disgruntled dispositions. Knights are often completely joyless, and filled with regret and pain. They are eternally bound to service their creator, and lose the luster of life, then only having a purpose of existence, rather than a fulfilling one. If a Dark Servitor kills another, this greatly disturbs and effects the Dark Servitor’s mind, causing them to take up another Curse. Upon taking up all three, the Dark Servitor must show extreme pronunciation with multiple of the above listed mental disorders.  The steady mind of a Dark Servitor requires a degree of social interaction from other damned souls, whether it be Klones, Mystics, Wights, or Undead in general. Such allows them to cope with their everconstant torment of existence, and without it they give in further to mental instability.

 

In the face of command, Dark Servitors are greatly irritated- only if it is their creator. They are eternally bound to their creators order and will, and because of such, are driven to avoid them at all costs, and to try and bend their rules as much as they’d allow. A Creator of a Dark Servitor has complete control over a Dark Servitor to a point, and such drives the Dark Servitor to despise them- as they were deceived with a promise of power, and given a disgusting existence of decay and undeath.


In combat, Dark Servitors are often terrified. Few things will drive them to combat due to fear, as they can so easily be killed - potentially, one mortal wound would mean their demise. Such would cause them to be extremely cautious about combat, and oftentimes even craven if the fight looks increasingly against them.
 

Socially, knights are despondent. Like most other phantoms they are not keen on tavern-going or tea-party-having. By free will a Dark Servitor will not take on a friendship with a child or assist a band of brigands in raiding. The company of a good mortal kind makes Dark Servitors uneasy, unsettled, and maybe even disturbed. The company of the punished or the depressed-- especially those like soldiers, criminals, or the grieving -- relieves Dark Servitors and allows their hearts to settle. The discomfort offered by nearby “good” life and foreign entities drives Dark Servitors to avoid them if possible or, if good is increasingly attaching to them, more aggressive action.


Dark Servitors are burden-bearers, often taking up many aspects upon their creation from their creator. They bear up to three, curses, always having at least one.

The Curse of Loyalty: A Dark Servitor is loyal and commanded by everyone, unless told by another. They will follow meek orders from any others, such as ‘Go away’ or ‘Step over there’, or even ‘Get me a drink’ and are compelled to do such unless it directly endangers their life (Such as falling off a cliff, falling on their sword, or taking off their armor) or unless they were first ordered by another person. This also causes The Dark Servitor to be compelled to never betray, and never lie due to their dark and deceiving creation. They can recognize they are doing wrong but find it extremely hard to betray and deceive, but not impossible.

The Curse of Solitude: A Dark Servitor gets increasingly on edge if in a situation for an increasingly long time, conversations that often people sit down during give them paralyzing (metaphorically) anxiety, and unbearable paranoia that causes them to become more irritable and irrational, and gives them a greater and greater desire to leave the situation. This can apply in combat aswell, if they are somehow evenly matched. The knight will also often enjoy activities that they can do alone, and get anxious when they have people watching them, often leading to a fearful confrontation with the person where the knight will act irrationally, as if this person has been stalking them for a great amount of time.

The Curse of The Obsession: A Dark Servitor will often become incomprehensibly obsessed with certain things or people, for short amounts of time. They will become incredibly, indescribably, obsessed with things like organizations, people, or ideas, and cannot help but constantly reference and follow such religiously. If a person, they will often stalk them or be incredibly comforted near them. If a organization, they will become devout to such and devote themselves to such for the time. Their main goal, is to achieve recognition or have a sense of achievement. This can range from rising ranks, to compliments. These last typically a couple of years, rarely lifelong.
 

 


Traits and Magical Weaknesses

 

As phantoms, Dark Servitors bear weakness to anti-undead magics, shamanistic spirits, and Alteration, any other form of mana draining, but not entirely aurum weaponry- only getting a dull throbbing sensation from great impact of such. Anti-undead magics purge their very being by the will of an Aengul or Daemon, spirits of shamanism are among a similar state of being and may physically tear apart the spirit of the Dark Servitor. Malflame would have a similar effect, the same going for an Azdrazi’s flame. Alteration may drain the mana from their ectoplasm and cause them to ‘decompose’ and lose their anchor, but for aurum weaponry to strip the lifeforce from their ectoplasm they must strike a tangible form and the Dark Servitors lack that. through this, a Dark Servitor must have their armor penetrated by aurum to allow damage to occur- the soul being put through intense searing pain, fit enough to cause any creature to act irrationally and enraged- but not subdued. Any of these methods will reduce a Dark Servitor far more efficiently than a sword or arrow; without inhabited flesh to singe or maim, servitors typically come rumbling into a situation, in the case of a mystic-created Dark Servitor. Dark Servitors created by Bloodmages are often susceptible to more mundane things such as blunt and piercing weaponry, cursed by their slowness and often clumsiness. 

 

A warhammer, pickaxe, or other blunt or piercing weapons would work well against a Dark Servitor’s armor so long as the strikes are strong enough to crack and eventually shatter magical plates. A few volleys from Heavy Crossbow or a well placed Arbalest shot could render a Servitor defenseless and damaged aswell, the same goes for traps of all mortal kinds – pitfall traps, crushing traps, arrow traps. Often enough, attacks that do not hurt a Servitor will annoy it, causing it to become more rash in combat.

 

Fire and air evocation only suppress Dark Servitors and do not outright harm them. Earth evocation (boulders, gravel, etc.), water evocation (ice), and electrical evocation (lightning bolts) pose much larger threats; beatings from large rocks, freezing limbs or joints, or stunning bolts could each be used to battle a Dark Servitor.

 

Dark Servitors are without blood and cannot be felled by venom or abuse by blood magic. They still however are as susceptible as any other creature, with blood upon them, or drawn from their inhabited corpse.

 

The strength and endurance of a Dark Servitor rivals that of olog whose stamina is somewhat akin to such, however, due to the throes of undeadism they cannot move as fast, nor for as long as a regular descendant. Knights are capable of crushing men and enduring exceptionally long travels or carrying large weights. They may use unusually large or dense weapons because of this, but carry the clumsiness that comes with it.

Due to the incredible instability and battling within a Dark Servitor’s mind, this causes them to be incredibly unstable when it comes to things such as Mental Magics, or mental connections. Weaker mental mages (T1&2) may have difficulty establishing a stable connection within the mind of a Servitor, likely causing self-harm by an overwhelming amount of information that may overload them. A middling mental mage (T3) would be able to establish a connection but would clearly go noticed as an exterior voice, and likely would cause The Servitor to go into a fit of rage as they are invaded from within, considered an assault – unless, by any mean, such was consensual. A expert mental mage (T4&5) would enter the mind stably and unnoticed, their practice then free to inflict whatever they may wish upon the weakened and forlorn mind of a Dark Servitor.

 


Dark Servitor Duties

 

A Dark Servitor is bound to certain duties and restrictions that limit them and their actions.

A Dark Servitor is a tormented soul, living in ever constant pain that causes them to often regret committing such acts. This leads to them being reluctant to kill, without justified reasoning. Reasons could be orders from a creator or their obsession, for example, or an act of irrationality due to their mental instability. However, Dark Servitors will never kill without justified reasoning, as it almost certainly would compromise them. However, undeath does not come so painfully. A Dark Servitor, if it does kill, will almost always find a use for the body. Such leads to their Dark Servitor duties.

The Duty of Glamour - A Dark Servitor will take the corpse, and scry ritualistic runes and circles upon the corpse, absorbing their lifeforce. Such greatly invigorates the Dark Servitor, but causes them great distress and torment due to the horrific nature of the act. This leads to their internal body, becoming more human like rather than undead. Such reverses the effects of decay and rot, and if they have a visor, can make them appear a normal human, and even stave off bone crackling and the stench of death.

The Duty of Tribute - A Dark Servitor will take a corpse, and give it proper burial and funeral rites, in private. Dark Servitor's often do this in the same spot, leading to small, harrowed grounds of graveyards created by individual Dark Servitor's as a means to respect the dead. This brings them some peace, but extreme shame and guilt over the atrocity.


The Duty of Justice - A Dark Servitor will return the corpse to a relative, friend, or commander of the killed, and will lie about its death- again, bringing them great shame and dishonor, but bringing them some peace as they’ve properly returned the dead. They will often be incredibly anxious when pried for details or offered a gift, or to stay with the person they are returning the body to, and will leave as soon as they can because of such, and will be of very few words. The Dark Servitor will sob uncontrollably if the relative, friend, or loved one does.

 

The Duty of Shame - A Dark Servitor will offer the body to their creator, who may use it as they will. The Dark Servitor will have a great state of depression, grief, and anger after such and are uncomfortable to be around any undead or dark magic for some time, and will threaten such if they are repeatedly approached by one, perhaps even killing if persistent enough.
 


Control


The Dark Servitor is controlled directly by their creator, who they begrudgingly hate. This is not full and direct control, as the Servitor still has their own will, wants, needs, desires. Ultimately, they are just controlled by their creator. Therefore, they can be extremely nitpicky. The Creator can deliver direct orders, but The Servitor, unless specifically instructed, will carry out their orders as they interpret them.  The Servitor, as stated before, despise their creator, and will do all in their power to avoid them. If The Servitor is ordered an annoyance, such as “Stand there until I say so.”, will only follow such until the creator is out of eyeshot- then, they will leave in a hurry. 

The Dark Servitor, while hating its creator, in a sense needs it. The Creator ultimately gives purpose as it is a link to the life they once had. If or when their creator were to die, they would be lost. They hated their creator with every inch of their being, but in a begrudging sense, they gave them purpose. Because of such, a Dark Servitor would slowly mentally degrade and depress as they’ve lost their creator, and would be able to find another, or be bound to another because so. Without a creator, the Servitor would slowly, but surely, mentally degrade at an increasing pace. Their once angered and irrational personality would be that of a more somber, lost man, in a catatonic state.

If a creator is to show complete neglect or to have gone missing, The Servitor may find another master to bind themselves regretfully to. The ritual takes up to three weeks, and involves trying to find a way past the metaphorical binding and grip the creator has upon his creation. It can be stopped, should the original creator stop it through means of reaffirming his grip upon the Servitor, or even directly assaulting the new-attempted creator to stop this process of unbinding. 
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Physical Damage


Damaging a Dark Servitor can greatly affect the soul trapped within the armor. There are many things that could cause quick-death, such things could include dismemberment of limbs such as arms, legs, or even the head- or a breach in the armor large enough to have the original weapon pass through without trouble. 

 

A slow death could be caused by small punctures, caused by warpicks or knives, which would cause the soul to weep and bleed from the armor. These are wounds that would need patching and are generally nothing to worry about.

 

An instant death would be rather hard to provoke of a Dark Servitor, but should would include a grand hole being formed- likely through obliterating the chestplate, which would allow the gaseous soul to flow through and easily out of the body, whereas it would take seconds to perhaps even a minute or two, were limbs severed.

 

In the case of a disabled yet wounded Dark Servitor, Azdrazi’s flame (Meaning, not Alchemic, Natural, or Voidal) would burn and enflame the soul of The Dark Servitor, expelling at a rapid pace and making for a quicker death. The same would go for piercing with an aurum weapon, or aurum directly exposed upon the leaking soul. Weaponry or magic otherwise potent against undead would excel at cleansing and purging the soul from the mortal plane as it was exposed against the pure form of it through an exposed wound. 

 

While the soul of a Dark Servitor is finite, the saturation within the armor is not. The more soul that is expelled from a Dark Servitor has a greater impact, or toll, upon the mind and behavior. 


 


Redlines


-A Dark Servitor’s armor can only hold one soul at a time
-A Dark Servitor, if having a “significant” opening within their armor (Such as a great cut, that would normally mortally wound someone- or ruin the armor) they have to retreat immediately, else they lose their soul, which results in death. They must manually patch their armor for a temporary time, until they can get their armor replaced.

-A Dark Servitor is under a PK clause that if killed, and their soul fully escapes their armor, the Dark Servitor is considered dead. However, this does not apply to if the defender calls PVP or rolling as their medium, unless The Dark Servitor chooses to go through with an optional PK.

-A Dark Servitor is not weak to aurum unless it directly penetrates the armor, through the means of Slayersteel as an example.

-A Dark Servitor can only be controlled verbally or somantically, but not mentally by its creator.

-To replace a Dark Servitor’s armor, the creation-ritual must be repeated with a new set of armor, and a fresh corpse to work with. The fresh corpse is gotten from another player who dies for the sake of the ritual specifically as sacrifice. This does not enforce a PK onto that other player. The other player may not be a throwaway persona, or OOC’ly motivated to do such- if such is found, the Dark Servitor is to be PK’d, and all players involved blacklisted from such characters or magics.

-To create a Dark Servitor you require T3 Mystic or Bloodmagician. To replace The Dark Servitor’s armor, you require a T3 Bloodmagician or Mystic. This ritual is taught and not inherently learned in any way whatsoever. 
-When replacing a Dark Servitor’s armor, screenshots of the roleplay must be posted onto the CA, alongside screenshots of the new skin (armor) being used by an ST member
-A Dark Servitor’s strengths are defined as having armor of Steel-Plate quality or higher. Their dexterity is that of an Olog, hindered due to their heavy armor, weaponry, and further due to the curse of undeath. They carry the strength of a Olog alongside such, and a weaker endurance.

-Dark Servitors are completely ineligible to use magic, and if the Dark Servitor was a magic user before, will drop all MA’s and TA’s.
-Dark Servitors can run in combat, albeit at a slower pace than the average person- making more for a steady pace.
-A Dark Servitor cannot be Kloned

-The armor of a Dark Servitor is to strictly be made of mundane metals. Such including Ferrum, Steel, Bluesteel, or Black Ferrum.

 


Purpose

 

The purpose of this piece is to revive Paleknights and Dreadknights, two genres of character long gone, and repurpose them into something greater that has more potential for roleplay rather than abuse and clique-ing. They’ve been given different strengths, weaknesses, and behaviors making them significantly different from dreadknights with keeping the identity people liked, and adding things that both make them more lore-compatible and responsible, far harder to abuse. Undead are an interesting concept and with the current policy of restricting holy vs dark things, it allows for a lot of potential to still have them weak to things that harm undead, but allow room as their intentions are not purely evil- they are not driven by exterior conflict, but by interior conflict. I’ve allowed different avenues and options for roleplay within the piece, along with reasonable strengths and varying weaknesses that aren’t too generic or too specific, but something near everyone has an option to do.

 


Credits


Zarsies, for using aspects of his original Paleknight piece, alongside concept- a decent amount of writing was originally his, heavily modified.
Myself (Squak) - Writing, Creator
Frott - Consultation, Advice
Archipelago - Consultation
Aesopian - Consultation
Flamboyant - Consultation, Advice
Mordu – Consultation, Advice

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You're ballsy for writing a construct for two shelved magics

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Hello @SquakHawk

Post is here to confirm that you have gathered all the feedback necessary for your lore and wish to proceed with the reviewing process.

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