Bastian Hoffnung

[Aeternus]

Bastian Hoffnung

Generalities

Name: Bastian Hoffnung
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Race: Half-Blood
Faction: New Order of the Templars
Squad: Fourth Division
Role: Cavaliere Lieutenant

Rank: D
Red Orbs: 1000
Blue Orbs: 0

Character Description

Physical Appearance(s):
Standing at six feet tall, Bastian cuts a lean and almost lanky figure that belies a body full of wiry muscle. Deep black hair with a shock of white in the front is kept neatly swept backwards, and a well-groomed beard frames a sharp, square jawline. His eyes are a pale grey in colour. He sports sleeve tattoos on both arms consisting of carefully drawn occult symbols and geometries.

Personality:
To describe Bastian as wearing his heart on his sleeve sometimes feels like an understatement. He is passionate, prone to outbursts of righteous anger in the face of adversity and injustice, and very much an adherent of knightly ideals of conduct; qualities that have found him a welcome home in the ranks of the New Order. Never one to shy away from standing up for the downtrodden or putting bullies in their place, he maintains a dedication to seeking and uplifting the best in people in spite of his grim line of work. In the line of duty, he is likened to the eye of a storm, carrying himself with intense focus while radiating a cold and pure air of violent intent. Off the field, he is a lover of music and easy drink – bring him a bottle of a good fruit cider and you’ll be his best friend.

Backstory

Born in London and of German descent on his father's side, Bastian is the scion of the venerable family Hoffnung. Behind their public face as an esteemed lineage of philanthropic entrepreneurs putting a fortune in old money to shrewd use, the family have been equally venerated in occult circles the world over for generations as scholars of the unknown - and hunters of the threats that lurk there. Deep in their ancestral home on the outskirts of Cologne, they maintain a carefully guarded library of esoteric knowledge and artifacts relating to the frightful other worlds that border the human realm. Rumours abound that even the legendary Abraham van Helsing once visited this ancient archive to learn from its keepers.

Bastian's supernatural powers manifested young, as his parents knew they would, and he was taught to conceal and carefully hone them in secrecy. Though neither his mother Constance nor father Klaus were demons, there was potent demonic blood in Klaus' lineage which he had known might show itself in his children as it had for him. As Bastian's tuition began, Klaus revealed the family's long-kept secrets little by little; behind their public affectations as champions of business, they had long served as guardians against evils not of this world, and Bastian would be prepared to take up the mantle by his sixteenth birthday. Sworn to secrecy by magic of the blood, Bastian began quietly shadowing his father, availing himself of the ancient knowledge kept at their Cologne home, and learning everything Klaus could teach about the hunt.

While the family's dealings had always been reclusively focused on German soil for the most part, with occasional journeys abroad in pursuit of more elusive prey, it was around the time of the first Tearing of the Veil in Florence that they collectively decided that it was time to forge a greater global presence. Klaus believed he had seen signs of the coming breach in the months that preceded it, in fact, and taking it as a grim sign that his son needed to be far more ready for the coming darkness, brought him back to Cologne on a self-imposed sabbatical to teach the young man the oldest and most dangerous of the family's secrets: the martial art of Merjutsu, devised and perfected by immortals to lay low all enemies that would stand in their path.

Klaus' tutelage was intensive and cruel, as a tutor of such deadly arts must be. He pushed Bastian's not-quite-human body to its limits on a daily basis, with demonstrations of technique that often turned into uncompromising beatings intended to temper his son's potential so that he could grasp the deeper secrets. Drills and exercises were soon replaced by intense daily sparring matches; Klaus held back little, showcasing glimpses of Merjutsu's devastating capability and challenging Bastian day after day to drag his beaten body back to his feet and keep reaching for the heights set before him. Eventually the pain was immaterial, and Bastian embraced the thrilling promise of mastery of such a power to the very core of his soul. By the time the Veil tore open, Klaus was satisfied that he had forged his son into a worthy novice in the art of Merjutsu, with a grasp of the fundamentals that left him fully prepared for future lessons. For the time being, however, there was much work to be done abroad.

In the years since that fateful day that changed the world, Bastian has distinguished himself on the European stage as a demon hunter truly deserving of the name. Forging a path for himself in the ranks of the New Order of the Templars, he wields a keepsake from his father, the occult blade Balmung, which yet has secrets waiting to reveal themselves to a worthy wielder. As he grows into greater power, he hopes to grow his mastery of his family's ancient arts hand in hand, and cement his place among the mightiest hunters in the world.

Traits

Healing Factor
Bastian’s body enjoys the archetypal regenerative healing of most half-bloods. Though naturally most active when he is at rest, a regimen of intensive training has left him quite accustomed to its effects.

Improved Perception
Sharpened by intense training, Bastian possesses both keen eyesight and exceptionally quick reflexes, which lend themselves well to his fighting style focused on evasion and swift counterattack.

Equipment

Name: Balmung
Description: An inheritance from Bastian’s father, the occult blade Balmung takes the form of an unusual katana, with a slim circular tsuba and a 32-inch-long, flat-tipped blade that looks as though it were chipped into shape from a great slab of obsidian rather than forged of metal.
Rank: D
Traits: None

Combat Foci

Name: Merjutsu
Description: Bastian is harshly educated in the fundamentals of Merjutsu, an ancient and deadly martial art whose secrets are preserved and closely guarded by his family. It is thought to have its origins in the life’s work of a demonic swordmaster who, through the dedicated study of countless martial styles from across the human world and beyond, sought to conceive a perfect sword style built upon his mastery of hand-to-hand combat. In the simplest terms, Merjutsu teaches the practitioner to establish a strong defensive posture and then aggressively seize on every opportunity to counterattack, combining brutally direct hand-to-hand and blade strikes to dominate and neutralise the opposition swiftly. This is of course a crude simplification, merely the basis for Bastian’s current understanding; true mastery of this art of slaughter is far ahead of him.
Rank: D
Aspects: None

Techniques

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Description:
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[Aeternus]

Orbs Gained

(Character Approval) [Gained 1000 ]

Orbs Spending

(Trait Rank D) Healing Factor [Spent 0 , Spent 0 ] [Gained 0 ]

(Trait Rank D) Improved Perception [Spent 0 , Spent 0 ] [Gained 0 ]

(Devil Arm Rank D) Balmung [Spent 0 , Spent 0 ] [Gained 0 ]

(Combat Focus Rank D) Merjutsu [Spent 0 , Spent 0 ] [Gained 0 ]