Ean Eromalc

"I have felt true loneliness. It is when you lie awake at night and hear nothing but your own breathing, wishing you had someone next to you. It is when you walk home at night, wishing there were friends to talk to, and when travel you wish you had someone to go with. No one should ever have to feel this."

Theme song: Colony of Birchmen by Mastodon

History
Ean Eromalc was born the son of the leader of the clan of frosts living in the highlands of the continent of Cryos, the Eromalc clan. He, as all frosts are, was born with the ability to create ice out of thin air and mold it to his own will. He started out with unwieldy powers, normal for young children who were his age. At two, he was taught how to control his powers without freezing an entire building. Around this time, the kitsune Scarr attacked his village, and he witnessed the sealing of his new brother's powers. When he turned five, he made his first real object out of ice with his bare hands (an eagle sculpture). As he went through his life of being the son of a clan leader he picked up skills such as an interest in swords, which were what his father used along with martial arts on the battlefield.

Ean progressed in his skills with ice spells and was good enough to form weapons and other miscellaneous objects with speed and ease. Right about the time he turned eleven, maybe twelve, he found that he had hit a spot where he could not figure out how to perform any spells or techniques higher than he could already do. He tried as hard as he could, refusing all help offered to him, until one day, he noticed an ice-maker, a woman about her twenties, perfectly making anything and everything like a pro. Which she was. He gathered up the courage to ask if she could teach him how she created such works, and she indulged his curiosity. After walking away with the knowledge of a senior ice-maker, Ean had new skills to use, so he went looking for some sort of dangerous animal. He happened upon a large razor-back wolf, and engaged the beast in battle, easily overtaking it with his new techniques which he had developed under the supervision of his teacher. He came back with some of the teeth that the wolf almost ripped his arm off with and made a good luck charm out of them.

A few months later, Ean was taught by his father how to use a sword, specifically, a rapier. He wasn't especially good at it from the beginning, getting numerous cuts along his chest and right arm specifically, and it took him about two years before he got good enough to beat some of his friends. One day, he had an idea. Why not use ice spells along with his sword? It could work, and it would definitely increase his effectiveness on the battle field if it did. He tried it out with one of his friends, another ice-maker, and he successfully defeated him without a scratch on him. Ean continued to use and create ice-sword techniques until one day, his one and only sword broke. He was fighting a demon which was especially annoying to farmers, as it was killing crops without touching them. He backed the monster to a secluded area to avoid any more damage being incurred, and went in for the kill, but when he touched the demon's hide with the sword, it broke. He had to rely on ice magic to survive, until he and the demon fell down a mountain shaft seemingly created by repeated weathering, but when Ean looked closer, he noticed that tool marks were on the walls, implying that it was dug, not a natural occurance. He saw a sort of mound ahead, with what appeared to be steps and some cross in the middle. Upon closer examination, it was more of a shrine, with a sword in the middle, specifically a rapier, with old Cryosian writing on it. Upon it was the crest of the frost race, and when Ean touched it, it began to slide out of the holder in the ground that kept it in it's upright position. As he pulled it out, he looked at it, it shined in what little light there was, and it seemed to have a familiar feel to it. Luckily, he heard the demon lunge at him just as he relinquished the blade from it's seal, and instinctively thrust at the demon's face, plunging it thoroughly into the monster. It evaporated, leaving only the jewels that were its stars, and Ean set to work finding a way out of the hole.

The history of the blade from the clan archive revealed it to be a very old sword, around five hundred years old. Ean was surprised it didn't break like his other one, it should've been old and rusty too. But the passage went on, saying it was a magically enhanced metal, attuned to the element of ice, granting the user synchronization with the blade if they were attuned with ice, obviously meant for frosts. So Ean kept the sword until his death(happens in a different timeline).

Mysterious Travelers
Many years of fighting with other clans in the highlands and fending off demons(which there had been a rise in appearances of) later, Ean had grown to be a great swordsman and ice caster and he was now part of the gate watch, and he happened to be on shift when two figures appeared on the horizon. The two appeared to be wielding swords, and Ean and Scarr stepped up to the two to ask why they had come and why they needed to get inside the village(recently the clan wars had led to distrust towards anyone outside of the family). The first one introduced himself as James and the other as Parren. Neither of them knew the two, so they were not allowed entry. The first one bargained to get in, but Ean did not budge. So, James made a bet. If he could knock Ean's sword out of his hand, then they would be let in. If not, they would turn around and go somewhere else. Ean agreed, and the two backed away from the gate so as not to draw attention. As soon as Parren said go, James was gone, then two feet in front Ean, his sword in a perfect and lightning fast bind, and before he knew it, Ean's sword was plunged into the ground some yards away from where the two were standing. True to his word, Ean (begrudgingly) let the two in. After that night, Ean approached James to ask if he could teach him how to handle his sword like he did back at the front gates, and James obliged, of course. So, during the time that James stayed at the Eromalc village, he, along with Parren, taught Ean how to handle a sword in the best way they knew. Ean came out with over twenty new scars to tell stories about and a fractured rib, but he gained insight on swordsmanship in a way that he never looked at the profession before. As a parting gift, Parren, who Ean had grown a liking to, gave him a completely white stone, almost pearl-like, and a map of the world. All that Parren said was 'When that stone turns completely red, go to the location marked on the map and wait for one of them to show up there.' To compliment this puzzling information, James added an edict to train as if Ean were to be fighting a full army on arrival. Using the extra books that James and Parren lent him, Ean learned even more about his sword and how to use it's particular style in ways long forgotten.

A month or two after the masters' departure, the stone felt warm in Ean's pocket, and he pulled it out to find that it had turned completely red, a dark wine color. He assumed this was what Parren was talking about, so he told his family and friends that he was leaving for someplace, probably coming back, no idea when. He packed enough to get himself to the mark on the map and off he went, traveling for about two weeks, riding a mastodon-like animal half of the way there. As he arrived at the top of a mountain, he looked at the map to find that he was where he was supposed to be. So he sat and waited for one of the two travelers. As he looked out on the horizon, he noticed that the view was especially good, and he took a moment to bask in it's beauty. That was when Parren walked up behind him from out of nowhere and scared him off his seat. He was told to turn to the rock face, which Parren stuck his hand in, and pulled on what appeared to be a lever. The side of the mountain crumbled away to reveal a giant crater, large enough to hold a small city, which looked to be what it's intended use was. Parren walked inside the giant gate to the city-in-progress and Ean just stood there, mouth hanging open at the site of such a large group of scaffolding and construction. Then, a man strode up next to Ean, seemingly out of breath, and looked up to see what the other guy was looking at, and also left his mouth open. Soon Ean snapped out of it, and looked over to the other guy. He was black, with shaved hair and nothing but a rucksack and the clothes on his back. Ean hesitantly set a pace into the crater and was followed suit by the other man, snapped to attention by Ean's sudden movement. The two saw Parren ahead at the end of what was the main street in the growing city, standing next to a billboard of sorts. When the two arrived at the billboard, James was also with Parren, looking at the contents of a clipboard. James gave some directions and Parren flashed away in one step. James turned to the two and was surprised to see them both here so close together in their arrival time. He explained to them why they were invited here and inquired if they might be interested in killing demons for a living. They both nodded yes and James replied that they can do that by joining his organization the Guardians, or going home to live their normal lives, never to return to the HQ. Both were taken aback by the sudden seriousness, but they answered yes anyway. At that, James told them to wait, there would be two others coming that day. When the two arrived, Ean was expecting more guys who have scars and maybe a lost limb, but who came through the gates were women. The other guy, who's name Ean found out was Gaston, was also surprised, but for some reason couldn't take his eyes off the redhead. Ean noticed James was back and he explained to the girls the same thing he had told them, and they both answered affirmatively. With that, James left them to their own devices and they went to set up shop in their respective districts.

Skills
Ean has practiced with James, who uses a saber, many days and nights to improve his technique, but never seems to beat him. His main weapon, a rapier with an affinity for ice, is always held in his right hand, and his secondary weapon, a wakizashi with an affinity for fire, can be held in either his left or right hand. As you can probably tell, since the rapier's affinity for ice matches his, he is normally stronger by just using the rapier. The fact is, in order to seal his frost side, which is normally an uncontrollable side of his personality, he uses the wakizashi before he draws his rapier, which would just make the frost side more prominent and most likely break the barrier between his mind and his body. Since he has an affinity for ice, he is a master of ice-type spells, even being able to perform one of the Great Declarations.

Ean is known to have extremely high levels of control on his usage of energy, and as such can perform a large number of spells before he becomes tired. This fact is helped along by his ability to defend himself for long periods of time with his swords alone, occasionally incurring damage along the way. A large hole in this plan however, is there is a major gap between the overall effectiveness of his sword fighting and magic use. He likes to combine these two forms of attack together, but he is far easier to take down before he does so. If one pushes him so far as to release his frost side, he will become blood-thirsty and reckless, ignoring most injuries that aren't mortal or debilitating. His defensive capabilities are considerably lower in this state and it is even easier to defeat him with exact planning and execution.

Ean's frost side is a fairly violent and extreme part of his personality, a mental occurance in all frosts. When a frost is born, they have two personalities. One is the normal everyday person that the world sees and the other is locked away into the recesses of the brain. This is basically caused by the two personalities fighting over the brain for the first months and sometimes years of life, which is the explanation of the fits and tantrums that are normal for frost children. When a personality wins the fight, it becomes the dominant one, and the other is pushed back, rarely seen. In Ean's case, his two personalities were a calm and coolheaded intellectual and a violent, bloodthirsty warrior. Obviously the former was the victor, and the latter was pushed back. Now, when a frost is in a state pf deep emotional or physical stress, the recessive personality becomes more prominent, taking over the thoughts and actions of the person. This happens most when Ean is in a dangerous fight, sometimes when he is exteremely upset. Ean's frost side, as mentioned before, is a bloodthirsty killer, and as such has the instincts and fighting skills and style of one. When in this state, his strength becomes far more sturdy and his technique goes from refined to crazy. He often kills mercilessly while in this state and he gives no heed to most people or attacks, once blocking a giant fireball with his bare hand. When he is with another captain and his frost side emerges, the captain is ordered to bring him down before he does something he might regret or causes any unnecessary damage.

Appearance
he is almost 6' tall with brown hair and noticably fit. He often wears khaki cargo pants and a champions shirt along with a custom jacket once owned by his grandfather(it has his code-name in the military on the front) that also doubles as armor.one of his most noticable features is the long scar on the left side of his face.

When he is on duty in the middle of a fight that might compromise the safety of his facial features, he wears a special mask. This mask looks to be made of stainless steel, and has features that give it a slightly sinister look, once Scarr has commented that it reminds him of a smiling snake. This mask, among with others issued to those with enough experience by the research and development department, has many other features on it, such as sensors that pick up energy signatures. These show up on the interface in an infrared style format, radiating a dark purple for less energy and a bright red for more. On top of this, the mask can record certain videos, often used for surveillance. Finally, it has the protective qualities of a bullet proof vest, being able to withstand thousands of newtons, and even being able to take a bullet without a scratch.