Post by Guts Blackhound on Sept 8, 2013 3:00:55 GMT
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The Basics
Name: Guts Blackhound
Nickname/Other names: The Black Swordsman, The hundred man slayer, Commander of the Hawks raiders, Struggler, Mr. Blackhound.
Gender: Male
Age: 22
Hometown: Midland
Canon: Berserk
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The Outside and the In
Face Claim/PB
Since plated armor isn't standard fare in this new world, Guts has been forced to adapt to the changes in style as well as values. While he isn't happy with the new arrangement he has tolerated it by wearing a small variety of mostly plain clothes. However, he has taken mostly to wearing a charcoal grey business suit with a black long sleeved shirt underneath and a black,red,white stripe tie. On his feet he wears a pair of black boots, thus creating a strange disconnect with his otherwise sophisticated attire. He has also taken to wearing a pair of red lens sunglasses over his eyes in order to cover up his missing eye in so he can blend in with the new world he finds himself in.
Personality: A man from another time thrust into the future, Guts is a man from a darker world now forced into one he simply doesn't understand. At first glance one would be hard pressed to mistake him as anything more then just a mindless goon or a common thug, and while there is little denying his incredible physical prowess he is not stupid. He may not be able to recite the periodic table backwards or have any clue what Algebra means, but he is rather good at most matters involving combat. Being a normal man against demons has meant that Guts has had to think of how to turn the tide of battle and while he is by no means a master strategist or planner, he is good at reading his opponents and observing how they fight, thus making him able to form a strategy in order to defeat them. He is also quite prepared to fight dirty if he has to, not finding anything wrong with using unseemly tactics to win due to his mercenary upbringing.
His predisposition to violence means that he does, at times, have a rather short temper which can be linked once again back to both his upbringing and life experiences. He has mellowed out slightly compared to his days as the Black Swordsman, but if he is pushed to far he will throw a punch. If pushed far enough he will be completely consumed by anger and only stop once he either loses consciousness, or he's utterly eliminated all threats to his person.
While he is all to eager to jump into a fight and prone to being easily angered, Guts isn't completely without morals. He will usually help out someone in need if it's on the way, but will usually only leave it at that and try to not involve himself unless he has no choice. And whilst he doesn't trust others easily, when it is gained he will stand by the person through thick or thin. If that trust is broken though, it is almost impossible to regain. He's also prone to slight snarkiness on occassion, and is mostly a rather indifferent person that keeps to himself. Even if he is intimidating Guts doesn't lie very often, usually being honest to those around him...almost brutally so. This isn't out of a moral desire to hold himself to any code but simply because, for the most part, he see's lying as pointless. He may not tell a person everything, but he doesn't tend to lie unless he absolutely has to.
Of final note is Guts' determination and his unconscious need to struggle against any "Roadblocks" that fate puts in his path. He doesn't believe in destiny, fate or any higher powers and thus thinks that anything can be overcome. He won't make any grand speeches about never giving up, neither will he urge anyone forward with anything else then a brief few words: He simply does, because actions speak far louder then any words could.
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Right Up to that Key Moment
History:
Warning: The following will contain spoilers for the series “Berserk”. So, if you havn't read/watched it do be care- Ah, who am I kidding? Nobody's gonna read the series anyway so go ahead and spoil it.
”Guts...”- Shisu
Guts has an incredibly large and often troubled history, which was strange even from the moment of his birth.
For reasons unknown, Guts' mother was executed by hanging from a tree with other corpses when she was still pregnant with him. By some stroke of luck, she gave birth just before death, leaving Guts to lie below her in a pool of blood and corpses. He was found by a mercenary band lead by Gambino and his lover Shisu. Shisu, who had just recently lost her own child and discovered Guts to be alive, scooped the infant into her arms. Taking the boy in, she chose to raise him as her own. The other Mercenaries took this as a bad omen, along with Gambino himself, but they allowed Guts to remain amongst them: His presence calmed the grieving Shisu, therefore Gambino would tolerate him.
However, when Guts was only three, Shisu was killed by a plague. Gambino, who immediately chose to believe Guts to be at fault for being a “Cursed child”, was left to raise the boy on his own.
From that moment on, Gambino trained Guts in how to fight properly with swords. However, as they didn't have any 'childrens' swords, Guts was forced to learn how to fight with swords that were much bigger then he was. This meant it took a bit longer for him to wield his sword properly, but meant that he built up a vast amount of strength later on in life. For because he was only used to using swords bigger then him, Guts just scaled up his sword sizes when he got older. In actuality, the reason Gambino trained him like this was to make Guts' life all the more difficult and not out of any true long term goal but for the boy to hopefully meet his end.
To further accelerate this Gambino placed him on the battlefield to get “Experience”, having Guts fight alongside him and his men. Unfortunately, during one battle, Gambino was injured by a canon due to being distracted by Guts, creating further bitterness towards the boy and also putting an end to Gambino's fighting career.
One night when Gambino was drunk, he went into Guts' tent and tried to murder him, blaming the boy for everything that had gone wrong on his life. Guts killed his step-father in self defense and was soon discovered by the other mercenaries, who believed that Guts Murdered Gambino in cold blood. The mercenaries chased him out of the camp until Guts fell from from a cliff. Believing him dead, they returned to camp. However, Guts survived the fall and was found by a merchant caravan who briefly took him in.
”From now on, he is a member of the Hawks!”-Griffith
Guts wandered until he reached the age of fourteen before being forcibly conscripted into the Band of the Hawks. He had lost a battle against the charismatic Griffith, a common man who had founded a mercenary band and had his eyes set on attaining a kingdom of his own. Despite initial misgivings, particularly with Griffiths second in command Casca, Guts soon found a place amongst the Hawks. Befriending a scout Judeau, strong man Pippin, the young savant Rickert and the world weary Corkus, Guts found something he had spent almost his whole life searching for: A home. He fought many battles beside his comrades, during which time he earned the title of “Hundred Man Slayer” for single handedly fighting off a hundred soldiers, survived a battle against the demonic Zodd the Immortal and took part in the sack of Castle Doldrey.
Things all came to an end when he overheard Griffith speaking to the then Princess Charlotte about what he considered to be a friend, finding that he fit none of the requirements that his commander saw for a friend. Disenchanted with himself, he chose to leave the Band of the Hawk and only return when he believed himself to be a man worthy enough to be seen as Griffiths friend. With this single act, Guts had inadvertently set in motion events that would change his life forever.
One year later he overheard that the Band of the Hawk had been made outlaws and that Griffith had been imprisoned. Deciding to help his comrades, Guts eventually returned to them. He arrived just in time to save them from an ambush by mercenaries, forcing a reunion between himself as his former comrades. He also fostered romantic feelings for Casca, the two sharing a romantic moment during their reunion and begun making plans for a life together. Hearing that they planned to rescue Griffith from the Midland dungeon, Guts offered to help his friends out one more time in order to save Griffith. Before embarking on his mission though he was visited by a strange figure clad in metallic skeleton styled armour. The being warned Guts that if he continued fourth to save Griffith he would suffer for it and only to trust his sword in the “Coming Storm”.
Ignoring the beings words, he set fourth to aid his allies in rescuing Griffith. The attempt was a success despite the difficulty and Guts fled alongside the rest of the band of the Hawk, but another problem soon arose.
Griffiths time in captivity had not been spent peacefully. He had been horrifically tortured which left him unable to speak, walk, or even continue living without aid. Distraught, the band of the Hawk realised that their time had come to an end and most chose to leave. A few offered to remain behind to care for Griffith in his helpless state, deciding to turn to banditry to support their fallen commander. Or they would have had fate not had other plans.
That day a solar eclipse, a once in a 216 year occurrence, was witnessed and with it's appearance the Band of the Hawk were transported from the physical world and into the nightmarish world of the Godhand: The demonic entities that controlled the world and had power over fate itself. Surrounded by hordes of demons, the Hawks begun to question their own sanity when they called Griffith fourth. Guts tried to reach his commander, hoping to save him from the beings before they could do him harm. In truth, the Godhand had other plans for Griffith: To turn him into one of their own. They had seen Griffiths ambition and had observed his prowess as a tactician, a leader and a warrior, and thus believed he was worthy enough to become the fifth member of the Godhand. But, there was a price to his ascension. He had to sacrifice the lives of the band of the Hawk, including Guts.
Griffith, now broken in body and realising he had the choice of Godhood or life as a cripple, accepted the Godhands offer.
Branded for sacrifice the Hawks quickly fell. All that Guts had known and everyone he had loved died around him, all but himself and Casca. Fighting with everything he had wasn't enough and, for his folly, Guts lost both an arm and an eye to the denizens of the netherworld. Casca, however, suffered the loss of her Sanity at the newly christened Femto, the demon that was formerly their friend Griffith. Before they could be slain however, Guts and Casca were saved by the intervention of the skeletal being that had warned him before: The Skull Knight. Charging into the Eclipse, he saved both Guts and Casca from their fate.
Waking up almost a week later, Guts was distraught by both the loss of his friends and Casca's newfound insanity. In spite of his injuries he fled from the blacksmiths home that the skull knight had dropped him, moving further into the forest in the midst of despair.
Discovering that his brand would, at night, attract the spirits of the dead and even demonic beings to him he sunk further into depression. Over time his sadness soon turned into anger and his anger, in turn, gave way to hatred. Hatred for Demon kind, hatred for the king that had betrayed them, and above all: A hatred for the man who he believed a friend that had sacrificed him and his comrades, Griffith.
After training to grow used to his newfound disabilities, he made the decision to wage war upon all of Demonkind and slay Griffith for the sake of avenging his comrades. With the aid of Rickert, who had been away from the band of the Hawk when they had been offered as Sacrifice and had thus avoided the horrible fate of the Eclipse, he gained a prosthetic replacement arm for the one he had lost: It was incredibly crude, only able to grasp metalic objects due to having magnets placed into the fingers to help it grip objects, but it also housed something else. A miniature black powder canon that could blast opponents. He was also granted a bandolier of throwing knives, a dagger, and a repeating crossbow. With some assistance from a blacksmith named Godo he gained black plated armor and finally his sword. It was more akin to a slab of iron then a sword, a weapon forged for the purpose of killing dragons: The Dragonslayer.
And thus, the Black Swordsman was born.
"Hate is a place where a man who can't stand sadness goes." - Godo
For three years Guts devoted himself to hunting down demons, losing himself entirely to the darkness of his own heart and his own rage. Becoming just as sadistic as the monsters he fought, it became hard to consider Guts anything other then an avatar of vengeance. In more modern terminology one would say he embodied all the worst parts of a Nineties action anti-hero. However, despite how monstrous he had become he still held onto the smallest slither of his humanity that was kept alive by one thing: Puck. An elf (aka. Fairy) that Guts had come across during his fight with the Snake Baron Apostle, Guts tolerated the annoying creature for his ability to heal injuries. However, his presence was what allowed Guts to hold on to the smallest parts of his humanity.
After a meeting with Griffith, discovering that he was hopelessly underpowered against the newly annointed demonic God, Guts received a vision of Casca being burnt at the stake. Worried for her safety Guts abandoned his quest and returned back to the blacksmith Godo, with whom he had left Casca, having a reunion with Rickert. Discovering Casca had run away, he reprimanded the boy for losing the woman he loved and not taking better care of her. It was then that Guts was, in turn, blamed by Godo and Erika: He had abandoned Casca to go off on a suicidal quest to try to get revenge, and was thus just as much to blame as Rickert. Realising at last how much of a fool he was, Guts decided to try to find Casca and forget his vengeance. With everyone chipping in to repair his equipment, he was soon off again: This time to save lives, not take them.
"In this high pressure situation, he was the one who didn't fall back... the only person who stood up and faught." - Farnese
Following the last known Direction Casca had gone in, Guts eventually arrived in the Tower of Retribution just in time to Save the woman he loved. However, whilst Casca was saved he was unable to save or even predict that the city was to be destroyed in order for a once in a 500 year ritual to take place: The incarnation of a member of the Godhand into the mortal world. Already fearing who it might be, Guts fought his way through the Maelstrom into the early hours of the morning, saving Casca and a few other citizens from a horrible fate. However, Griffith had returned into the world and Guts immediately became conflicted about whether to follow his vengeance or protect his lover. After a moment of inner turmoil, he chose the latter.
Setting off on a quest to heal Casca's mind, he followed the suggestion of his elven companion Puck to go to the homeland of the elves: Elfheim. Braving a civil war, Guts traversed the landscape of his horrifying world once again in order to find the fabled Elfheim. Along the way he gathered up a new group of companions. The three survivors he had aided in the Tower of Retribution named Farnese, Serpico and Isidro along with a witch of the Forest named Schierke and her own Elven companion Evarella.
After a number of adventures, during which Guts had a fatal confrontation with the Godhand member Slan which forced him into the Berserker armor for his own continued survival, they eventually reached a ship and left to set sail for the elven homeland. However, as the civil war reached it's climax, the Skull Knight attempted to strike Griffith down with the Sword of Resonance, a blade capable of cutting through dimensional barriers, only to have it be redirected to the recently deceased Emperor Ganishka. This action caused the world to be engulfed in light and served as the Catalyst for Guts to be transplanted from his world into this one.
Key Moment: When the merging of the Astral world (Demon dimension) and physical plane occurred, due to the Skull Knights strike being redirected, a rift between worlds opened and Guts was sent flying through, thus becoming a shifted.
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A Roleplaying Shift
RP Sample:
Guts looked towards the light on the horizon, bringing his non-prosthetic hand up to cover his eye. He winced, sparing a brief glance back to his comrades. All of them had managed to make it out of the city unscathed, and better yet they had managed to get ahold of a ship to take them across the sea's. If Puck was correct, and he hoped for the elves sake he was, then his homeland would hold the key to returning Casca to sanity.
How long had it been since she had last been with him? He still remembered the days he had spent with the Band of the Hawk as though they had happened yesterday. Casca had always been the more serious one, always concerned for the well-being of the group as a whole and always chastising him when he ran off into battle on his own. They had been two completely different people, as close to enemies as one could be while still able to work for the same person. And yet, against all odds, that had made them closer. She had been the first, and the last, person he had ever opened himself up to completely. She was the only one he wanted to keep safe and to keep by his side, and yet despite how close they were she was so very far away now.
Who was he kidding? Casca hadn't been with him for well over three years. The woman before him was remarkably like her in appearance, but the childish mind was not the Casca he had known. Was she even still in there, or had that faded entirely? Would the elf king be able to heal her? And, more to the point, would she even still want to remain with him?
"What you want may not be what she desires". The Skull Knights words were clear in his mind as he considered everything that had happened, and what may happen in the future...
Shaking his head he tried to dispel the thoughts he was having. He'd come this far, there was still hope that everything could work out. Even as the light engulfed him he struggled with the thoughts that were flashing through his mind, the glow obscuring everything as though he had just walked into a mid-day sun from a dark underground cavern. But, just as the light reached it's peak and the black swordsman felt as though he would find himself permenantly blinded, everything went black.
As his vision begun to clear, Guts looked around to find that he was not . Beneath his feet was concrete, when before there had been solid wood. Where the fresh smell of the open ocean had overwhelmed his senses, now intoxicating fumes and rancid odors overwhelmed him. The way ahead was narrow, lined with metal cans that were topped by some strange lid. A cat sat itself ontop of one of them, licking at it's paw but otherwise he saw nothing.
There was something missing. He had no idea how he got here, and he also felt as though his memory had gaps. Last he remembered he had travelled into the village of Enoch, with a young witch named Schierke, in order to guard it against an army of Trolls. The beasts had been rushing towards him, down the narrow path leading to the church. He had put both his hands on his mighty blade, reached back and...nothing. No town, no trolls, no witch in sight, no comrades-
And immediately, panic overwhelmed him. No comrades in sight...Casca was nowhere to be found!
"Puck!" He roared out, slowly walking down the alleyway."Isidro, Farnese, Schierke...Serpico!" His pace picked up, going into a jog as he continued yelling out."Casca!" Breaking into a complete run, he continued calling out names in the vain hope that they had landed nearby. He wasn't normally one to worry but when he had been the only thing standing between a troll army and a church filled with both townsfolk and his beloved, he was well within his rights to panic if he suddenly got teleported.
His run slowed when he saw a figure approach. Clad in black clothes he looked far to sophisticated to be in a place like this, looking more like a nobleman from the ball that he had attended with the Hawks so many years ago. His brand didn't sting with pain, although he did put a hand to the back of his neck to check for blood, meaning that this man was no Apostle or demon. However, who was to say he wasn't working with the ones responsible for bringing him here...
"Sir? Are you-" Without another word Guts charged forwards, pulling back his left arm and swinging it at the mans face. This place was too cramped to swing his sword, and thus he would have to make do with pumelling this man into submission. The iron appendage made contact with the mans face with a notable crack, sending him onto his back with a pained scream."I-I think you broke my nose!" Grabbing him by the neck with his right hand, Guts wasted no time in slamming him up against the nearby wall. He figured he could end this right here and now, but he wanted answers first.
"Where's Casca!? What have you done?" He tightened his grip just slightly, to show he was serious."Answer me!"
"S-s-sir calm down! I had nothing to do with the circumstances that placed you here, so please...let me go and i'll take you to someone who can explain everything to you." He gasped weakly, still struggling against the black swordsmans grasp."I'm not your enemy. Let me go, and we can put this unpleasantness behind us. I'm here to help you."
"Help? You think ripping me out of a fight when I'm the only thing standing between a village and certain doom is helping? You've got one messed up notion of that word." Guts let the man go, watching him drop to his knee's before taking a step back."Start talking, and make it quick." As if to punctuate his point, Guts place a hand on the sword resting on his back, drawing it part way up. Not enough to draw it but enough for the man to see it's size, and to know that if he tried anything that he would find himself scattered across the pavement.
"What's your name?" The suited man sat up, massaging his neck before producing a hankerchief. He covered his nose with it as he waited for an answer, as if hoping to numb the pain of the first strike.
"I'm Guts."
"Guts who?
"Just Guts. Although the black swordsman will do to if you want a title." He shrugged, looking down at the man as he slowly stood.
"Well it's fitting if nothing else." Wiping his nose he tentatively hobbled along out of the alley, using the nearby wall as support, gesturing for Guts to follow. Knowing he had no other lead, The Black Swordsman merely followed him, replacing his sword in it's sheath again as he walked."I'm willing to chalk this incident off as a result of confusion from the sudden displacement. It's not uncommon for people to react violently sometimes when scared, although not all of them punch you in the face with a metal hand either. If you don't mind me asking though, what's this Casca you keep referring to?"
"Someone i need to find." His reply was blunt and to the point, the agent merely giving a nod as he continued along. However, the suited man merely sighed as he resumed walking.
"Why do I always get stuck with the crazy ones?"
Member Name: Call me Joss
Member Age: 20
Other Characters: None
Tell us a Little About Yourself!: Not much to tell. I work doing odd jobs around my hometown, usually heavy lifting produce down at the nearby store. Apart from that I'm a big manga fan and also have delved alot into video games too, Doctor who is also something i hold dear. I also adore apple pie, because it is amazing.
The Basics
Name: Guts Blackhound
Nickname/Other names: The Black Swordsman, The hundred man slayer, Commander of the Hawks raiders, Struggler, Mr. Blackhound.
Gender: Male
Age: 22
Hometown: Midland
Canon: Berserk
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The Outside and the In
Face Claim/PB
(Gerard Butler)
Appearance: Standing at 6'3, Guts is a well toned and scarred man. While he appears to be in his 30's, in truth he Is only in his early twenties but looks older due to a lifetime spent fighting and the horrors he faced in the eclipse. He lacks a right eye and a left hand, due to losing them to a demon. However, h His hair is jet black and done in a short spiky manner, with some strands forming slight bangs. While part of his hair did turn white from exposure to the Berserker armor, he was able to cover it up again thanks to the magic of hair dye, thus returning his hair to fully black. Most notably of all is that he has a scar running across the bridge of his nose, which seems to add to the intimidating aura that already surrounds him. If one looks at the back of his neck they will find the brand of sacrifice, one of the more notable amongst his plethora of scars.Since plated armor isn't standard fare in this new world, Guts has been forced to adapt to the changes in style as well as values. While he isn't happy with the new arrangement he has tolerated it by wearing a small variety of mostly plain clothes. However, he has taken mostly to wearing a charcoal grey business suit with a black long sleeved shirt underneath and a black,red,white stripe tie. On his feet he wears a pair of black boots, thus creating a strange disconnect with his otherwise sophisticated attire. He has also taken to wearing a pair of red lens sunglasses over his eyes in order to cover up his missing eye in so he can blend in with the new world he finds himself in.
Personality: A man from another time thrust into the future, Guts is a man from a darker world now forced into one he simply doesn't understand. At first glance one would be hard pressed to mistake him as anything more then just a mindless goon or a common thug, and while there is little denying his incredible physical prowess he is not stupid. He may not be able to recite the periodic table backwards or have any clue what Algebra means, but he is rather good at most matters involving combat. Being a normal man against demons has meant that Guts has had to think of how to turn the tide of battle and while he is by no means a master strategist or planner, he is good at reading his opponents and observing how they fight, thus making him able to form a strategy in order to defeat them. He is also quite prepared to fight dirty if he has to, not finding anything wrong with using unseemly tactics to win due to his mercenary upbringing.
His predisposition to violence means that he does, at times, have a rather short temper which can be linked once again back to both his upbringing and life experiences. He has mellowed out slightly compared to his days as the Black Swordsman, but if he is pushed to far he will throw a punch. If pushed far enough he will be completely consumed by anger and only stop once he either loses consciousness, or he's utterly eliminated all threats to his person.
While he is all to eager to jump into a fight and prone to being easily angered, Guts isn't completely without morals. He will usually help out someone in need if it's on the way, but will usually only leave it at that and try to not involve himself unless he has no choice. And whilst he doesn't trust others easily, when it is gained he will stand by the person through thick or thin. If that trust is broken though, it is almost impossible to regain. He's also prone to slight snarkiness on occassion, and is mostly a rather indifferent person that keeps to himself. Even if he is intimidating Guts doesn't lie very often, usually being honest to those around him...almost brutally so. This isn't out of a moral desire to hold himself to any code but simply because, for the most part, he see's lying as pointless. He may not tell a person everything, but he doesn't tend to lie unless he absolutely has to.
Of final note is Guts' determination and his unconscious need to struggle against any "Roadblocks" that fate puts in his path. He doesn't believe in destiny, fate or any higher powers and thus thinks that anything can be overcome. He won't make any grand speeches about never giving up, neither will he urge anyone forward with anything else then a brief few words: He simply does, because actions speak far louder then any words could.
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Right Up to that Key Moment
History:
Warning: The following will contain spoilers for the series “Berserk”. So, if you havn't read/watched it do be care- Ah, who am I kidding? Nobody's gonna read the series anyway so go ahead and spoil it.
”Guts...”- Shisu
Guts has an incredibly large and often troubled history, which was strange even from the moment of his birth.
For reasons unknown, Guts' mother was executed by hanging from a tree with other corpses when she was still pregnant with him. By some stroke of luck, she gave birth just before death, leaving Guts to lie below her in a pool of blood and corpses. He was found by a mercenary band lead by Gambino and his lover Shisu. Shisu, who had just recently lost her own child and discovered Guts to be alive, scooped the infant into her arms. Taking the boy in, she chose to raise him as her own. The other Mercenaries took this as a bad omen, along with Gambino himself, but they allowed Guts to remain amongst them: His presence calmed the grieving Shisu, therefore Gambino would tolerate him.
However, when Guts was only three, Shisu was killed by a plague. Gambino, who immediately chose to believe Guts to be at fault for being a “Cursed child”, was left to raise the boy on his own.
From that moment on, Gambino trained Guts in how to fight properly with swords. However, as they didn't have any 'childrens' swords, Guts was forced to learn how to fight with swords that were much bigger then he was. This meant it took a bit longer for him to wield his sword properly, but meant that he built up a vast amount of strength later on in life. For because he was only used to using swords bigger then him, Guts just scaled up his sword sizes when he got older. In actuality, the reason Gambino trained him like this was to make Guts' life all the more difficult and not out of any true long term goal but for the boy to hopefully meet his end.
To further accelerate this Gambino placed him on the battlefield to get “Experience”, having Guts fight alongside him and his men. Unfortunately, during one battle, Gambino was injured by a canon due to being distracted by Guts, creating further bitterness towards the boy and also putting an end to Gambino's fighting career.
One night when Gambino was drunk, he went into Guts' tent and tried to murder him, blaming the boy for everything that had gone wrong on his life. Guts killed his step-father in self defense and was soon discovered by the other mercenaries, who believed that Guts Murdered Gambino in cold blood. The mercenaries chased him out of the camp until Guts fell from from a cliff. Believing him dead, they returned to camp. However, Guts survived the fall and was found by a merchant caravan who briefly took him in.
”From now on, he is a member of the Hawks!”-Griffith
Guts wandered until he reached the age of fourteen before being forcibly conscripted into the Band of the Hawks. He had lost a battle against the charismatic Griffith, a common man who had founded a mercenary band and had his eyes set on attaining a kingdom of his own. Despite initial misgivings, particularly with Griffiths second in command Casca, Guts soon found a place amongst the Hawks. Befriending a scout Judeau, strong man Pippin, the young savant Rickert and the world weary Corkus, Guts found something he had spent almost his whole life searching for: A home. He fought many battles beside his comrades, during which time he earned the title of “Hundred Man Slayer” for single handedly fighting off a hundred soldiers, survived a battle against the demonic Zodd the Immortal and took part in the sack of Castle Doldrey.
Things all came to an end when he overheard Griffith speaking to the then Princess Charlotte about what he considered to be a friend, finding that he fit none of the requirements that his commander saw for a friend. Disenchanted with himself, he chose to leave the Band of the Hawk and only return when he believed himself to be a man worthy enough to be seen as Griffiths friend. With this single act, Guts had inadvertently set in motion events that would change his life forever.
One year later he overheard that the Band of the Hawk had been made outlaws and that Griffith had been imprisoned. Deciding to help his comrades, Guts eventually returned to them. He arrived just in time to save them from an ambush by mercenaries, forcing a reunion between himself as his former comrades. He also fostered romantic feelings for Casca, the two sharing a romantic moment during their reunion and begun making plans for a life together. Hearing that they planned to rescue Griffith from the Midland dungeon, Guts offered to help his friends out one more time in order to save Griffith. Before embarking on his mission though he was visited by a strange figure clad in metallic skeleton styled armour. The being warned Guts that if he continued fourth to save Griffith he would suffer for it and only to trust his sword in the “Coming Storm”.
Ignoring the beings words, he set fourth to aid his allies in rescuing Griffith. The attempt was a success despite the difficulty and Guts fled alongside the rest of the band of the Hawk, but another problem soon arose.
Griffiths time in captivity had not been spent peacefully. He had been horrifically tortured which left him unable to speak, walk, or even continue living without aid. Distraught, the band of the Hawk realised that their time had come to an end and most chose to leave. A few offered to remain behind to care for Griffith in his helpless state, deciding to turn to banditry to support their fallen commander. Or they would have had fate not had other plans.
That day a solar eclipse, a once in a 216 year occurrence, was witnessed and with it's appearance the Band of the Hawk were transported from the physical world and into the nightmarish world of the Godhand: The demonic entities that controlled the world and had power over fate itself. Surrounded by hordes of demons, the Hawks begun to question their own sanity when they called Griffith fourth. Guts tried to reach his commander, hoping to save him from the beings before they could do him harm. In truth, the Godhand had other plans for Griffith: To turn him into one of their own. They had seen Griffiths ambition and had observed his prowess as a tactician, a leader and a warrior, and thus believed he was worthy enough to become the fifth member of the Godhand. But, there was a price to his ascension. He had to sacrifice the lives of the band of the Hawk, including Guts.
Griffith, now broken in body and realising he had the choice of Godhood or life as a cripple, accepted the Godhands offer.
Branded for sacrifice the Hawks quickly fell. All that Guts had known and everyone he had loved died around him, all but himself and Casca. Fighting with everything he had wasn't enough and, for his folly, Guts lost both an arm and an eye to the denizens of the netherworld. Casca, however, suffered the loss of her Sanity at the newly christened Femto, the demon that was formerly their friend Griffith. Before they could be slain however, Guts and Casca were saved by the intervention of the skeletal being that had warned him before: The Skull Knight. Charging into the Eclipse, he saved both Guts and Casca from their fate.
Waking up almost a week later, Guts was distraught by both the loss of his friends and Casca's newfound insanity. In spite of his injuries he fled from the blacksmiths home that the skull knight had dropped him, moving further into the forest in the midst of despair.
Discovering that his brand would, at night, attract the spirits of the dead and even demonic beings to him he sunk further into depression. Over time his sadness soon turned into anger and his anger, in turn, gave way to hatred. Hatred for Demon kind, hatred for the king that had betrayed them, and above all: A hatred for the man who he believed a friend that had sacrificed him and his comrades, Griffith.
After training to grow used to his newfound disabilities, he made the decision to wage war upon all of Demonkind and slay Griffith for the sake of avenging his comrades. With the aid of Rickert, who had been away from the band of the Hawk when they had been offered as Sacrifice and had thus avoided the horrible fate of the Eclipse, he gained a prosthetic replacement arm for the one he had lost: It was incredibly crude, only able to grasp metalic objects due to having magnets placed into the fingers to help it grip objects, but it also housed something else. A miniature black powder canon that could blast opponents. He was also granted a bandolier of throwing knives, a dagger, and a repeating crossbow. With some assistance from a blacksmith named Godo he gained black plated armor and finally his sword. It was more akin to a slab of iron then a sword, a weapon forged for the purpose of killing dragons: The Dragonslayer.
And thus, the Black Swordsman was born.
"Hate is a place where a man who can't stand sadness goes." - Godo
For three years Guts devoted himself to hunting down demons, losing himself entirely to the darkness of his own heart and his own rage. Becoming just as sadistic as the monsters he fought, it became hard to consider Guts anything other then an avatar of vengeance. In more modern terminology one would say he embodied all the worst parts of a Nineties action anti-hero. However, despite how monstrous he had become he still held onto the smallest slither of his humanity that was kept alive by one thing: Puck. An elf (aka. Fairy) that Guts had come across during his fight with the Snake Baron Apostle, Guts tolerated the annoying creature for his ability to heal injuries. However, his presence was what allowed Guts to hold on to the smallest parts of his humanity.
After a meeting with Griffith, discovering that he was hopelessly underpowered against the newly annointed demonic God, Guts received a vision of Casca being burnt at the stake. Worried for her safety Guts abandoned his quest and returned back to the blacksmith Godo, with whom he had left Casca, having a reunion with Rickert. Discovering Casca had run away, he reprimanded the boy for losing the woman he loved and not taking better care of her. It was then that Guts was, in turn, blamed by Godo and Erika: He had abandoned Casca to go off on a suicidal quest to try to get revenge, and was thus just as much to blame as Rickert. Realising at last how much of a fool he was, Guts decided to try to find Casca and forget his vengeance. With everyone chipping in to repair his equipment, he was soon off again: This time to save lives, not take them.
"In this high pressure situation, he was the one who didn't fall back... the only person who stood up and faught." - Farnese
Following the last known Direction Casca had gone in, Guts eventually arrived in the Tower of Retribution just in time to Save the woman he loved. However, whilst Casca was saved he was unable to save or even predict that the city was to be destroyed in order for a once in a 500 year ritual to take place: The incarnation of a member of the Godhand into the mortal world. Already fearing who it might be, Guts fought his way through the Maelstrom into the early hours of the morning, saving Casca and a few other citizens from a horrible fate. However, Griffith had returned into the world and Guts immediately became conflicted about whether to follow his vengeance or protect his lover. After a moment of inner turmoil, he chose the latter.
Setting off on a quest to heal Casca's mind, he followed the suggestion of his elven companion Puck to go to the homeland of the elves: Elfheim. Braving a civil war, Guts traversed the landscape of his horrifying world once again in order to find the fabled Elfheim. Along the way he gathered up a new group of companions. The three survivors he had aided in the Tower of Retribution named Farnese, Serpico and Isidro along with a witch of the Forest named Schierke and her own Elven companion Evarella.
After a number of adventures, during which Guts had a fatal confrontation with the Godhand member Slan which forced him into the Berserker armor for his own continued survival, they eventually reached a ship and left to set sail for the elven homeland. However, as the civil war reached it's climax, the Skull Knight attempted to strike Griffith down with the Sword of Resonance, a blade capable of cutting through dimensional barriers, only to have it be redirected to the recently deceased Emperor Ganishka. This action caused the world to be engulfed in light and served as the Catalyst for Guts to be transplanted from his world into this one.
Key Moment: When the merging of the Astral world (Demon dimension) and physical plane occurred, due to the Skull Knights strike being redirected, a rift between worlds opened and Guts was sent flying through, thus becoming a shifted.
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A Roleplaying Shift
RP Sample:
Guts looked towards the light on the horizon, bringing his non-prosthetic hand up to cover his eye. He winced, sparing a brief glance back to his comrades. All of them had managed to make it out of the city unscathed, and better yet they had managed to get ahold of a ship to take them across the sea's. If Puck was correct, and he hoped for the elves sake he was, then his homeland would hold the key to returning Casca to sanity.
How long had it been since she had last been with him? He still remembered the days he had spent with the Band of the Hawk as though they had happened yesterday. Casca had always been the more serious one, always concerned for the well-being of the group as a whole and always chastising him when he ran off into battle on his own. They had been two completely different people, as close to enemies as one could be while still able to work for the same person. And yet, against all odds, that had made them closer. She had been the first, and the last, person he had ever opened himself up to completely. She was the only one he wanted to keep safe and to keep by his side, and yet despite how close they were she was so very far away now.
Who was he kidding? Casca hadn't been with him for well over three years. The woman before him was remarkably like her in appearance, but the childish mind was not the Casca he had known. Was she even still in there, or had that faded entirely? Would the elf king be able to heal her? And, more to the point, would she even still want to remain with him?
"What you want may not be what she desires". The Skull Knights words were clear in his mind as he considered everything that had happened, and what may happen in the future...
Shaking his head he tried to dispel the thoughts he was having. He'd come this far, there was still hope that everything could work out. Even as the light engulfed him he struggled with the thoughts that were flashing through his mind, the glow obscuring everything as though he had just walked into a mid-day sun from a dark underground cavern. But, just as the light reached it's peak and the black swordsman felt as though he would find himself permenantly blinded, everything went black.
As his vision begun to clear, Guts looked around to find that he was not . Beneath his feet was concrete, when before there had been solid wood. Where the fresh smell of the open ocean had overwhelmed his senses, now intoxicating fumes and rancid odors overwhelmed him. The way ahead was narrow, lined with metal cans that were topped by some strange lid. A cat sat itself ontop of one of them, licking at it's paw but otherwise he saw nothing.
There was something missing. He had no idea how he got here, and he also felt as though his memory had gaps. Last he remembered he had travelled into the village of Enoch, with a young witch named Schierke, in order to guard it against an army of Trolls. The beasts had been rushing towards him, down the narrow path leading to the church. He had put both his hands on his mighty blade, reached back and...nothing. No town, no trolls, no witch in sight, no comrades-
And immediately, panic overwhelmed him. No comrades in sight...Casca was nowhere to be found!
"Puck!" He roared out, slowly walking down the alleyway."Isidro, Farnese, Schierke...Serpico!" His pace picked up, going into a jog as he continued yelling out."Casca!" Breaking into a complete run, he continued calling out names in the vain hope that they had landed nearby. He wasn't normally one to worry but when he had been the only thing standing between a troll army and a church filled with both townsfolk and his beloved, he was well within his rights to panic if he suddenly got teleported.
His run slowed when he saw a figure approach. Clad in black clothes he looked far to sophisticated to be in a place like this, looking more like a nobleman from the ball that he had attended with the Hawks so many years ago. His brand didn't sting with pain, although he did put a hand to the back of his neck to check for blood, meaning that this man was no Apostle or demon. However, who was to say he wasn't working with the ones responsible for bringing him here...
"Sir? Are you-" Without another word Guts charged forwards, pulling back his left arm and swinging it at the mans face. This place was too cramped to swing his sword, and thus he would have to make do with pumelling this man into submission. The iron appendage made contact with the mans face with a notable crack, sending him onto his back with a pained scream."I-I think you broke my nose!" Grabbing him by the neck with his right hand, Guts wasted no time in slamming him up against the nearby wall. He figured he could end this right here and now, but he wanted answers first.
"Where's Casca!? What have you done?" He tightened his grip just slightly, to show he was serious."Answer me!"
"S-s-sir calm down! I had nothing to do with the circumstances that placed you here, so please...let me go and i'll take you to someone who can explain everything to you." He gasped weakly, still struggling against the black swordsmans grasp."I'm not your enemy. Let me go, and we can put this unpleasantness behind us. I'm here to help you."
"Help? You think ripping me out of a fight when I'm the only thing standing between a village and certain doom is helping? You've got one messed up notion of that word." Guts let the man go, watching him drop to his knee's before taking a step back."Start talking, and make it quick." As if to punctuate his point, Guts place a hand on the sword resting on his back, drawing it part way up. Not enough to draw it but enough for the man to see it's size, and to know that if he tried anything that he would find himself scattered across the pavement.
"What's your name?" The suited man sat up, massaging his neck before producing a hankerchief. He covered his nose with it as he waited for an answer, as if hoping to numb the pain of the first strike.
"I'm Guts."
"Guts who?
"Just Guts. Although the black swordsman will do to if you want a title." He shrugged, looking down at the man as he slowly stood.
"Well it's fitting if nothing else." Wiping his nose he tentatively hobbled along out of the alley, using the nearby wall as support, gesturing for Guts to follow. Knowing he had no other lead, The Black Swordsman merely followed him, replacing his sword in it's sheath again as he walked."I'm willing to chalk this incident off as a result of confusion from the sudden displacement. It's not uncommon for people to react violently sometimes when scared, although not all of them punch you in the face with a metal hand either. If you don't mind me asking though, what's this Casca you keep referring to?"
"Someone i need to find." His reply was blunt and to the point, the agent merely giving a nod as he continued along. However, the suited man merely sighed as he resumed walking.
"Why do I always get stuck with the crazy ones?"
Member Name: Call me Joss
Member Age: 20
Other Characters: None
Tell us a Little About Yourself!: Not much to tell. I work doing odd jobs around my hometown, usually heavy lifting produce down at the nearby store. Apart from that I'm a big manga fan and also have delved alot into video games too, Doctor who is also something i hold dear. I also adore apple pie, because it is amazing.
