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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Davies" data-source="post: 8900692" data-attributes="member: 30538">The Erlking<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-gBLc44P/0/3a299d83/M/treebeard_2002_01-M.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />There is a romantic notion that the further one goes back in time, the more that people of that time had respect for the natural world. From a certain perspective, that is true ... but only if one confuses respect for fear. In the world lit only by fire, most people regarded the world beyond their village palisades with suspicion and mistrust, and even those cast out beyond their protection typically came together in smaller communities, for a human being alone in the wilderness was sure to become a victim of it.Except when they did not, as did the man who became the Erlking. Even in his earliest mortal life, in the Jutland of the 9th century, he was someone who rejected his own humanity and sought to live in the wild. In part, this was due to his disgust and disdain for other humans, but there was also a part that could be explained by his psychic connection to plant life. Had he been another, more empathetic person, his story might have been a different one.As it happened, he was to become part of the story of the man who became Merlin. Just how their paths crossed is something that neither of them chooses to discuss, but if (as seems likely) they initially met in battle, they reached an understanding of sorts that kept it from becoming a terminal affair. Merlin claims to have been impressed that the man, despite lacking any real talent for magic, had learned enough to manage some limited feats. He decided to show him how to do more in the expectation that he would become a menace that would-be heroes could overcome, expecting him to be destroyed by one of them eventually.And the Erlking did indeed become such a potential threat, notably crossing paths with the Jutish chieftain Amleth at one point, but he proved more resilient than Merlin expected and more talented. As with Merlin, he found a way to bind his soul into the substance of another plane of reality and become immortal. Also as with Merlin, this proved to be his last act before falling into a deep sleep that would last up until the current year, when he was awakened by the Dreamdancer.The Erlking despises the world into which he has awakened. There are so many people now, and they no longer tremble in the darkness but light up their nights. He is not, as one might expect, angered by the environmental situation, as the modern view of nature as something fragile and in need of protection is not something he is intellectually or emotionally equipped to accept. Even if someone were to explain the goals of the environmental movement to him, he would reject them as something designed to allow humans to continue to prosper. He does not desire the respect of humans but rather their fear.His primary agents in his misanthropic aims are his "daughters", smaller plant creatures who present as human females. (It takes him roughly a month to grow one of them, so they are not Summoned minions as such; however, they are plants and can be used as mediums for his Greenbond.) He has dispatched several of them to spy on human communities and find ways to sabotage and destroy them, with some of them playing the old trick of luring vulnerable humans into the woods to be murdered and used as fertilizer for more daughters. One of them, however, has come to develop a certain sympathy for humans, specifically the nature-loving group into whose company she has fallen, and has taken the human name Manon Kilde. This betrayal infuriates the Erlking, but the fact that it happened at all means that the other daughters might do so as well. His paranoia forces him to keep an eye on all of them, and so he has been unable to devote as many resources to destroying the traitor as he would like.The Erlking -- PL 13Abilities:STR 9 | STA 8 | AGL 3 | DEX -1 | FGT 10 | INT 3 | AWE 2 | PRE 0Powers:Ascendant: Ascendant: Immortality 5 (one day), Only When On Home Plane; Immunity 1 (aging); Movement 1 (dimensional travel to home plane), Reaction (death); Movement 2 (dimensional travel to mystical dimensions), Standard Action - 10 pointsGreenbond: Remote Sensing 5 (Auditory, Olfactory, Visual; 30 miles), Medium (plants), Simultaneous, Subtle 2; Senses 4 (postcognition), Limited to while in vegetation - 20 pointsJust A Tree: Continuous Morph 1 (tree) - 6 pointsLarge Plant: Elongation 4; Permanent Growth 4 (14 feet; Strength +4, Stamina +4, Intimidation +2, Dodge -2, Parry -2, Stealth -4), Innate; Immunity 3 (need for sleep, starvation & thirst, suffocation); Protection 6; Regeneration 10 - 36 pointsPlant Influence: Array (52 points) <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Pollen Cloud: Perception Range Cloud Area Affliction 13 (Resisted by Fortitude; Fatigued, Exhausted, Asleep) - 52 points</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Rapid Growth: Continuous Create 12, Moveable, Subtle - 1 point</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Root Shift: Accurate Extended Teleport 13 (30 miles/8000 miles), Easy, Medium (plant life) - 1 point</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Tanglevines: Selective Burst Area Cumulative Affliction 12 (Resisted by Dodge, Overcome by Damage; Hindered and Vulnerable, Defenseless and Immobile), Extra Condition, Limited Degree, Indirect 3 - 1 point</li> </ul>Sense Immortal: Senses 2 (ranged detect immortal) - 2 pointsAdvantages:All-out Attack, Chokehold, Equipment 5, Improved Grab, Improved Smash, Ritualist, Startle, Tracking, Trance.Skills:Athletics 2 (+11), Close Combat: Grab 2 (+12), Expertise: Magic 10 (+10), Expertise: Survival 8 (+11), Intimidation 6 (+8), Perception 8 (+10), Stealth 10 (+9).Offense:Initiative +3Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 9)Grab +12 (Close Grab 13)Pollen Cloud -- (Perception Range Cloud Area Fortitude 13)Tanglevines -- (Burst Area Affliction 12)Defense:Dodge 10, Parry 12, Fortitude 11, Toughness 14, Will 10.Totals:Abilities 52 + Powers 129 + Advantages 13 + Skills 23 + Defenses 20 = 237 pointsOffensive PL: 13Defensive PL: 13Resistance PL: 11Skill PL: 6Complications:Misanthropy--Motivation. Paranoid. Unfamiliar With Modern World or Technology (or environmentalism.)Daughters of the Erlking -- PL 8/MR 7<img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/My-First-Gallery/i-Q5JXBZ5/0/36f2c122/S/62df2e0137cf8754ce37eeb4e945ea2d-S.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Abilities:STR 4 | STA 3 | AGL 2 | DEX 1 | FGT 4 | INT 0 | AWE 3 | PRE 2Powers:Human Disguise: Morph 1 (human form) - 5 pointsPlant Creature: Immunity 3 (need for sleep, starvation, suffocation); Impervious Protection 6, Noticeable; Regeneration 10; Visual Concealment 4, Limited to while in vegetation - 28 pointsAdvantages:Daze (Deception), Fast Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Taunt, Tracking.Skills:Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+7), Deception 6 (+8), Insight 3 (+6), Investigation 6 (+6), Perception 6 (+9), Stealth 4 (+6).Offense:Initiative +6Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 4)Defense:Dodge 5, Parry 7, Fortitude 7, Toughness 9, Will 6Totals:Abilities 38 + Powers 33 + Advantages 7 + Skills 13 + Defenses 13 = 105 pointsOffensive PL: 6Defensive PL: 8Resistance PL: 7Skill PL: 4Complications:Obedience--Motivation. Secret (inhuman.) Others as Needed.Note: Manon Kilde is a non-minion Daughter with Acceptance as a Motivation, and the additional complication Friends.</blockquote>

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