Cecil Ithin
Basic Information
Name: Cecil Ithin
Player: Tony
Caste: Dawn Caste
Concept: Solar Demon-Hunter
Motivation: Build the power necessary, specific or plentiful, to shape Creation into the next age.
Political Affiliation: None.
Anima: The Kraken - Cecil's anima begins with the roar of rushing water which accompanies the corona of blue essence that surrounds him before his totemic levels. As his anima reaches totemic levels a flowing rush of water and white capped waves rush from his body and the surrounding blue energy. As the waves continue to rush the mighty tentacles of The Kraken burst from the water and flail dangerously until the dark eyes and sharp beak of the Kraken appear marking the heights of his anima's power.
Theme Song: Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare
Cecil: Character Sheet
Background
Humble Beginnings
Cecil was born into the northern barbarian culture of The Zalvenesh Divers, a small community of well organized barbarians who live on the coast of The White Sea. Their name stems from their well known tendency to dive deep into the waters of The White Sea in search of lost treasures. Just off their coastline the once great wonder of The Spidersilk Dam once stood, now it has been destroyed and sent to the bottom of the sea. Despite the wonder having long sense sunk into the sea there are plenty of minor and the occasional significant artifact finding, the Zalvenesh are best known for their artifact trading. Outside of the artifact trade almost no one visits the small community. Those who do not make their living diving into the freezing waters of The White Sea are either traders or fishermen, Cecil's father was a fisherman. His mother stayed in the town on the coast and raised Cecil along with his brothers and sisters; once Cecil was 12 years old he was brought out on the fishing boats to learn the craft. As the oldest of his siblings he was expected to take up his father's craft, though he was never all that interested in fishing.
Cecil had been an exceptional child, though rarely motivated by the simplicity of their communal society. The Zalvenesh enjoyed swimming and sailing or working tirelessly to better their modest lives on the shelves of ice along the coast of The White Sea. Cecil found it rather boring, and instead of applying his many talents to something productive he often applied them to trouble making or testing his limits. When his father took him out fishing he hoped it would help to quell the boredom that drove his son to cause trouble and on several occasions run away. Maybe it would have, but Cecil never had the chance to learn.
Early in his fishing experience his father had led their fishing boats further out than normal, it was summer in the north and the slight increase in temperature had melted some of the ice that often prevented their boats from sailing as far as they might like. They were in search of a whale, a large catch that would let them relax their fishing on the waters closer to home. This was fairly typical practice, however something very unexpected happened on the trip. The Zalvenesh fishing boats were attacked by a large dark vessel that Cecil remembers as hardly more than a shadow, it appeared suddenly and seemed as surprised by their presence as they were by it. However, the surprise did not help them as the ship turned out to be heavily armed and highly hostile to the fishermen who had accidentally stumbled across it. The Zalvenesh had nothing but fishing spears and never stood a chance against the heavily armed vessel, but when Cecil's boat was struck and sinking a flash of light blinded him and a boom voice spoke. Cecil received his solar exaltation as he struggled to stay afloat, the voice of The Unconquered Sun spoke to him but was cut off after only a brief statement.
The vessel the Zalvenesh had stumbled across happened to be a part of The Silver Prince's armada in search of the very artifacts that had made the Zalvenesh a successful culture. Though the Silver Prince had little interest in the trinkets the Zalvenesh typically found he was well aware of the greater treasures that were still likely to be buried deep in the ocean floor. What his treasure hunting expedition returned with he would never have imagined. His captain had returned without a single first age relic, but in his cargo bay was a heavily subdued solar exalt. An incredible rarity at this time, before the disappearance of The Scarlet Empress, there were rumored to be only a handful of solar shards free and one was just delivered to The Silver Prince's hands.
Cecil had spent most of the trip on the edge of consciousness; he was constantly beaten, tortured, and starved during the long trip back to The Skullstone Archipelago. When Cecil arrived he was hardly a beaming beacon of power and light, rather a confused and broken child. The Silver Prince took him in and immediately improved his treatment, he was given medical attention and lavish food and drink he could not have imagined. However, The Silver Prince was not used to entertaining human guests and the feeling of the entire affair seemed odd to Cecil, though he was in no position to argue or fight back. To The Silver Prince's surprise he found Cecil had not been broken on the long ride to his island, quite the opposite as the solars will seemed as hardened as could be. Unsure of what exactly to do with him he was kept close to the Deathlord for a long time, he was studied and questioned constantly but was treated fairly well. Despite his lavish treatment he was never allowed much freedom, he was a glorified hostage here. Again the youth tested his limits but found that he was ill equipped to escape the tight prison he was kept in.
Years would pass as he was raised by the Silver Prince and his many attendants (or alternate identities of the Deathlord) and he had grown accustom to his lifestyle, he eventually was given more and more freedoms as he was indoctrinated into the thought processes of the Silver Prince. Though no amount of indoctrination could gain the Deathlord's trust, and likewise Cecil never fully trusted the being he now called Master. When Cecil's brethren returned to Creation everything changed.
Escaping the Shadow
When the Solars returned to Creation Cecil's life and destiny changed radically, it seemed that Cecil would no longer be the favored son of his master. The Silver Prince was suddenly handed a handful or more servants of equal but more usable power. The master's new abyssal servants provided all the new toys he could pay attention to for a short while, furthermore one of Cecil's brethren fell into the service of The Silver Prince. Moray Darktide was not so different from Cecil, but unlike Cecil he had not turned The Dark Lord's offers away. Without the calling of a higher purpose that Cecil could never shake, Moray quickly joined the ranks of the Deathlord. Unlike Cecil, Moray was given a ship and kept far from the Isle and from the secrets that his lord feared he might turn against him. In the chaos and excitement of all his new powerful servants, Cecil was left on his own more than ever before. Again he grew restless.
Cecil had spent years contained in the lavish prison The Dark Lord kept him confined in, during that time he had been anything but idle. His power was not left untrained and when brought to bear it was more than the unattended guards were able to contain. Cecil managed a brief escape and to explore far more of The Prince's Palace than he ever would have allowed were he not distracted by his other interests. Eventually the lord and his servants caught Cecil before he could escape the Isle, but not before he'd been where he never should have. Though he discovered nothing major, Cecil was badly punished.
After his punishment, which left him several scars that would forever remind him what comes of crossing a Deathlord. Afterwards The Silver Prince was reluctant to keep the Solar exalt near his Palace and his more important secrets, as a solution he sent the young solar out with his more loyal brethren. Cecil was assigned to join Moray Darktide aboard his vessel in the southwestern seas. The Dark Lord hoped Cecil would learn his purpose serving alongside Moray, and knew that neither would attempt to truly escape under threat of punishment. Unfortunately for The Silver Prince other powers had learned that his two Solar servants would be in a single place.
The upper ranks of The Gold Faction had learned of both Moray and Cecil, furthermore they had learned that they would be aboard the same ship and far away from The Skullstone Archipelago. The Gold Faction was certainly worried about the two servants of The Silver Prince, but worse yet they feared that The Bronze Faction would learn of both servants and use it as a point against them. Brilliant Tsunami Masked by the Tower was the Gold Faction Sidereal who was assigned to the very discreet task of eliminating the two Solars. Officially she was on vacation, but of course she was doing anything but resting. With her high position in The Bureau of Natural Disasters she arranged a maelstrom to swallow the ship, destroying the vessel and it's crew.
Unfortunately for Brilliant Tsunami neither of the two solars was killed by the terrible storm, Moray found himself on a life boat and left. Having never liked Cecil he left Cecil for dead, hoping to eliminate his competition for The Dark Lords favor. Cecil did manage to survive the storm though, floating to a small nearby desert isle. Exhausted and with little hope of rescue so close to Lintha Pirate territory he was laying on the sand banks when Brilliant Tsunami approached to finish the job she started.
However, Brilliant Tsunami pitied the young solar exalted and was unable to deliver the finishing blow to the exhausted solar. Her Gold Faction affiliation struck a cord that prevented her from delivering the killing strike to the helpless boy. Instead she disguised herself as a traveler and rescued him from the isle, taking him aboard her small craft and tending to his wounds as they traveled to The Lap. When they arrived she quickly had to return to her duties in Heaven, but she set him up at a Gold Faction safe house where she asked him to stay until she could return and further explain the events leading up to this point. Cecil, owing her his life, agreed.
The Journey to Destiny
His time at the Gold Faction safe house was an enlightening period of study and education, before then he had known very little about the world around him. He was raised in the dark palace of The Silver Prince, he had spent his entire exalted life in service and his education had been carefully molded. Cecil did not always take kindly to what he learned however, it was drastically different from what he'd learned previously. His master's view did not agree with that of The Gold Faction, coming to terms with this and discovering which to believe was difficult. He struggled with his choice to stay at the secluded location, but he owed Brilliant Tsunami his life (he didn't know yet she was responsible for nearly ending it) so he paid his debt and remained until she returned several months later.
When Brilliant Tsunami returned she and Cecil had a long talk where she attempted to convince Cecil to join The Cult of the Illuminated, however Cecil was too unsure of what he'd learned here to accept. Instead he expressed his desire to return The Skullstone Archipelago and discuss what he had learned with his master. Brilliant Tsunami reluctantly agreed, knowing that if Cecil returned to The Silver prince with the info she'd gave him access to she would be betraying her own faction as well as sending Cecil to his death. Explaining this task was difficult, so she told Cecil she would arrange travel for him back to The Skullstone from Yane if she would travel there with her. Cecil was more than capable of getting his own passage, he was a Solar Exalt after all, but he agreed to her final request. He soon discovered she had tricked him into agreeing to walk from The Lap to Yane, no short journey by foot, but they both knew Cecil was unlikely to go back on his word.
The walk to Yane took weeks instead of the days Cecil expected it to take, along the way Cecil bombarded Brilliant Tsunami with questions about a variety of topics. Further, she was able to do the same to him to come to a better understanding on what motivated him. Along the way she continued to attempt to recruit him, resigning not to let him ever return to The Silver Prince, even if it meant killing him rather than letting him leave Yane. He had learned too much to return to the service of a Deathlord. Cecil refused to join The Cult of the Illuminated the whole trip to Yane, however she had sparked his interest enough in gathering a different perspective he agreed not to return to The Skullstone as well. Instead he would journey home, revisiting the north and possibly his parents so that he might find himself and his purpose which The Unconquered Sun had never finished explaining to him.
Cecil set off alone on a journey to the north from the very distant Yane, Brilliant Tsunami was forced to return to her duties in Yu Shan. The journey took nearly half the remaining year, for the most part Cecil was left alone to his own thoughts, though Brilliant Tsunami stopped by from time to time for rarely more than a night. When Cecil finally reached the village he had grown up in, he discovered a very different and moderately depressing place. No one there recognized him, he'd changed drastically since he'd been gone and the village thought he was killed long ago. He discovered that his father and the fishermen who had been with him the day he exalted had been killed. Worse yet, the village had been having more and more trouble finding useful artifacts to trade from their old stockpiles. The home that Cecil had barely remembered no longer existed to the capacity that he remembered it, nothing kept him here and so he left without the enlightenment he had traveled her to find. That night the god that exalted him spoke to him in his dreams, his return to the village that birthed him brought back the vision that had started when he exalted and delivered his purpose.
The vision from The Unconquered Sun was a flash of the past and the future, visions of the many enemies of The Unconquered Sun and all of Creation flashed through his head and the booming voice of his god told him he was tasked with defeating them. Of course The Unconquered Sun didn't get more specific than that, and he certainly didn't let Cecil know how exactly he would accomplish this so he was left with questions, but at least a purpose. He left Fella without ever really staying there and instead headed further north and east, finding himself in The Hastlanti League. He found this society suited him well, the mix of civilized society and rough barbarian culture suited his upbringing and demeanor well, not many citizens dared challenge him to a duel.
After a short time he bounced back and forth between cities in The Hastlanti League until he found himself looking for work, naturally he ended up joining up with a prestigious mercenary company. The leader of the company was a grizzled veteran of war and a powerful air aspected dragon-blood who was quite surprised to find a solar exalt looking for work. The man was born and raised in The Hastlanti League and never cared for the Immaculate Faith or their practitioners and welcomed the so called Anathema. Cecil displayed great military prowess almost instantly and was quickly promoted to second-in-command of the mercenary company. He was only 20 years old but had been an exalt for 8 years already and was the only other exalt in the company, the old commander recognized that Cecil would soon be more than capable of inheriting the company completely.
When a particularly risky job came around to accompany a group of traders into the Border-Marches of The Wyld, the pay was too great for the captain to pass up. For the sake of the mission they split into two smaller groups, Cecil was given his first formal command of the secondary group for the mission. Unfortunately for them things went astray, the group ended up getting lost in The Middle-Marches of The Wyld and in a matter of days (or what felt like days) an army of Fair Folk was upon them. They weren't prepared for such an ambush and they had almost no chance of surviving, the primary unit and the caravan of traders were quickly destroyed. When Cecil led the secondary battle group into combat he faired better than the primary group had, but it was still a losing battle. Cecil and his men routed before they were all destroyed, but less than a quarter of his men remained and they were still lost in The Middle-Marches.
For several days the Fair Folk toyed with the lost mercenaries, even with Cecil's considerable skill they were unable to navigate their way out of The Wyld or defeat the army that continued to stay just out of reach. Their numbers were dwindling and it was only a matter of time before they came to finish them off, after a teasing attack on their camp Cecil figured that the following morning would be their last stand. He was right, the army came and Cecil and his men fought valiantly but they never had a chance, that was until an unexpected beast came to their aid. Adamant Frost Lord had caught the sent of humans while probing the Wyld with his former mentor, and while Diamond Ice Hunter wanted to leave them for dead, Frost tracked them and found them at their most desperate moment. With the addition of another powerful Celestial exalt the Fair Folk army was forced to route themselves, if only to regroup. Almost as important as the military prowess Frost offered was his ability to lead them out of The Middle-Marches, he quickly guided them to the border-marches where the fae we less likely to pursue. Frost urged them on until they finally escaped back into Creation itself, only a few had survived but that was at least an accomplishment for the two Celestial Exalts.
Frost and Cecil spoke well into the night while the men recovered from the journey, Cecil was less than inclined to restart the mercenary organization and wished to fulfill his destiny more directly. He and the men he had left would rally and form a small group that could combat the Creatures of Darkness that were beginning to overrun Creation. Frost told Cecil of the city of Covenant and the solars who now ruled the territory, advising him that they might be willing to help or at the very least give him a starting place. It wasn't a short journey but Cecil led what remained of his men there over the course of several months, from time to time Frost would stop by to ensure they were on track but he returned to his own quests for a majority of the time. Finally Cecil and his men arrived in New Covenant and he explained the events that had brought him there to Severnaya, Mnemon Chronus, and Ferem Haraku.
Motivation & Intimacies
Coming Soon...