City-tier Power Level, Mystic Theme, Breathtaking Comics sheet, Masks sheet
Armiger
A modern knight wielding a fragment of Excalibur“Nobody here is gonna get hurt. Not today. I swear.”
In the age of myth and magic, the Grail Knights banished demons, fought dragons, and battled other threats to human life. They wield a fragment of Excalibur - the weapon of kings. These are not just physical swords, but metaphysical shadows, reflections, or echoes of a larger mystic reality. Each fragment bestows powers on its wielders, based on their relationship with the sword and what it represents. These days, the order functions more like a private paramilitary organization. They don’t recruit, though - the sword chooses its wielders.
A year ago, William Eddison was a student with average grades, much ambition, but no direction. He had a crush on Shirley Skinner, but doubted he’d have a chance. When demons attacked her one day after school, he instinctively threw himself into defending her. At that moment, the sword presented itself to him. With its power, he won his first sword fight.
The sword was new to him, but not her. She introduced him to her father, Edric Skinner, himself a former Grail Knight. Though the old man thoroughly disapproved of young Eddison, he had to train him in swordplay and tactics. Shirley took on the role of William’s physical trainer, seeing to his exercise and diet. She’s quite critical of him, but every so often William gets the feeling there might be more. He battles evil with the courage of a knight. Will he show that same courage in matters of the heart?
Playing Armiger
Armiger’s motivation is to uphold honor and justice as a king-in-waiting, like all Grail Knights - to fight, to lead, to rule, wherever and whenever necessary. The sword will empower him to realize those dreams, but he must still do the work.
His inspirations are Adonis Creed (a young fighter, constantly training to prove himself), Thor (wielder of a mystic weapon), and Green Lantern (a member of a corps of do-gooders).
Plots
- Defeat an eldritch or otherworldly threat
- Safeguard a mysterious magic or dangerous relic
- Protect civilians from such dangers
Dialogue
“Every combat starts with a question. What am I up against? You answer that question with light sparring, taking the other fellow’s measure, and you hold your own cards close to the vest.”
“The sword doesn’t solve my problems. The sword puts me in the problem’s weight class. I still gotta win the match.”
“That the best ya got, ya ugly bellend? Come at me!”
Comic Book Panels
Surrounded by armored attack drones or animated magical constructs, Armiger swings a seemingly ordinary broadsword in a series of sophisticated slashes. The blade effortlessly cuts through even the strongest such adversary.
Armiger can’t open a heavy reinforced security door, so he rams Excalibur through, point-first. Then he teleports to the other side of the door, emerging with his hand touching the blade’s point. He cannot be separated from the sword against his will, and he uses this to his advantage.
Armiger throws his blade in the air, distracting an enemy for just a moment. He darts, ducks, and dodges out of the way, then conjures the sword back into his hand to deliver a blow outside the enemy’s field of vision.
Position: The Frontliner
- You blow up the team’s more peaceful options
- You escalate the violence of a situation
- Your solution is aggression
Past: The Unwitting King
- Inexperience causes you to make mistakes
- Honor demands you make a hard choice
- You misjudge your own chances
Personality: Born Hero
- You leap into battle without a plan
- You make a declaration you can’t back up
- Someone older and wiser distrusts your youthful exuberance
Powers: Wielder of Excalibur
- You depend too much on the sword over your own strength
- Your courage falters, and the sword won’t help
- You almost - almost - acted dishonorably
Problems: The Contender
- You need to test yourself against a rival or enemy
- You let yourself get baited
- You brag about your exploits
Background
Who are you?
“I’m a newly minted Grail Knight - well, Squire - well, aspirant really. I carry this holy sword, which is a fragment of the true Excalibur. And I train and practice every day, to make myself worthy of wielding it.”
When did you officially become a part of your legacy?
See the description above.
What’s the greatest achievement of your legacy?
“The Grail Knights cleared out the monsters you read about in storybooks. Something come along and eat up the peasants? Knights were on it. You don’t hear about them much today. That’s what the Knights would call their biggest achievement.”
How does the public perceive your legacy?
“The Knights mostly faded from history. Superheroes, sorcerers, and anyone else in ‘the life’, will encounter them. Historians and mythicists remember them. Today they fight from the shadows, to preserve the peace.”
“There’s a lot of overlap between modern Grail Knights and special-forces soldiers, and they tend to organize and operate along military lines.”
“These days, anyone with a big sword just looks like a crazy person, so history hasn’t been kind. But you remember, at least when things get tense. You all remember.”
How does your legacy tie into your reasons for being a hero?
“I’m the Black Sheep of the order. They say I don’t respect how the Knights want me to operate. I mean, I buy into the mythos and pageantry and the stories of honor, definitely. But I gotta build my own bond with the sword, not just follow their rules.”
The Legacy
Hero Name: Armiger
Real Name: William Eddison
Look: man, Black, comfortable clothing, unique costume (“knight hoodie”), no insignia (other than the sword)
Abilities: Grail Knight; bearer of an Excaliber fragment (“divine armor, magic weaponry, mythic might”)
Labels: Danger +0, Freak +0, Savior +2, Superior +0, Mundane +1
When our team first came together: All things considered, we did well and impressed an established hero. Who was it?
TBD
Relationships:
- You once got caught doing something that shames your legacy with TBD.
- You trust TBD and told them an important secret of your legacy.
Influence: Give three teammates influence
Legacy Moves
I Know What I Am (Will is the eternal protector)
Words of the past (he has a contentious relationship with some of his mentors but listens to all of them)
The Grail Knights Legacy
Your legacy is an important part of Halcyon City. Name the different members of your legacy (at least two):
- Skinner is retired and quite judgmental
- Velasco, the Dread Moor, is the greatest opponent your legacy ever faced… and is still at large
Variations
Experience
- Armiger starts as an aspirant on the road to Knighthood. He’s training under a disapproving mentor, and that mentor is essentially in charge of his promotion prospects.
- Another option is to take Skinner out of the picture, and let Armiger either be serving under a senior Knight in the field, or act independently as a full knight.
- Regardless, Armiger is the foil to the Grail Knights as a whole. They’ll do certain things the traditional way, and he won’t. He should always be pushing on the boundaries of how things are done, because he’s committed to building a bond with the blade.
Abilities
- Grail Knights often cross-train in other weapons, either because of their background (many are ex-military) or out of necessity. Armiger might have done so as well, or he might stick to the sword.
- Either way, his ability to teleport the sword to him (or himself to it) gives him some ways to close the gap in ranged combat.
- In battling demons and evil sorcerers and such, he might also have picked up a few spells, incantations, or relics that would be useful in battle.
Notes
- The sword is the physical manifestation of a universal cosmic truth. It cannot be broken or taken away by mortal forces.
- A worthy wielder can teleport the sword to themselves, or themselves to the sword, at will.
- The sword is a tool of rulership. It gives a worthy wielder the power to uphold justice and fight evil.
- The sword can bend fate or manipulate reality to even the playing field between wielders and their enemies, but the wielder’s courage and skill is still needed to prevail.
- The sword’s powers are not under the wielder’s full control, but learning more about what the sword represents will unlock new powers or more control.
“I’m not carrying the real Excalibur. This sword here is more like a shadow, or echo, or reflection of the true sword. We call them fragments. The sword is unbreakable and has its own magic that nobody fully understands. Generally I just try to parry or cut or stab with it, and things happen on their own. It does have one important power: ‘the sword will never leave the wielder’s hands except by their will’. Most wielders think that just means they can call it back to their hand. They can, but I can also teleport myself to the sword.”
“The sword grows heavy as stone when not wielded, and only lightens for one who’s worthy. The ‘sword in the stone’ story came from that. My sword weighs about a hundred pounds. A typical fragment is five to ten pounds. That’s why the rest of the Grail Knights think I’m unworthy - because it’s still heavy.”
“There’s two reasons I like it this way. First, getting hit with a heavy sword really freakin’ hurts.”
“The second reason is that I learned the lesson of the sword, that other Grail Knights have forgotten. The sword shouldn’t weaken itself to match the wielder. The wielder must grow to match the blade. ‘The king and the land are one’. The land isn’t subservient. The king isn’t either. They’re just united. You get it?”
