Post by Luciano Bradley on Mar 26, 2013 23:56:47 GMT -5
THE BASICS --{Name}-- Luciano Alfonso Bradley --{Alias}-- Vampire of Britannia, Genius of Homicide --{Age}-- 25 (DOB: 19 April, 1992 ATB) --{Gender}-- Male --{Race/Nationality}-- Britannian --{Occupation/Rank}-- Knight of Ten |
APPEARANCE & BEHAVIOR --{Physical Description}-- Luciano is by no means a man who could blend into a crowd. The reasons for this are manifold. For starters, he towers over most other people, standing at 6'6" tall. He has one other feature - physically, anyway - that prevents him from appearing normal: his hair. Fiery orange in color with a series of purple highlights bordering his forehead, Luciano styles his hair into a variation of the mullet. The hair at the top of his head is styled into a tall pseudo-plateau while enough strands to form a single bang hang between his violet eyes. Now that the insanity is out of the way, we can get on to the more normal aspects of Luciano's appearance. Luciano weighs in at 190lbs. The percentage of that weight that is well-trained muscle is considerable. That being said, his build could very well be described as lanky due to his height. On the few occasions when he is out of uniform, he enjoys allowing his sculpted musculature to show in order to disprove that opinion. On the topic of apparel, Luciano is rarely seen outside of his formal uniform. It is very much like any other Knight of the Round's outfit: a white formal suit with a dark undershirt, black knee-high boots, and a cape. Unlike the other Knights, Luciano's cape is a vibrant orange with a violet inner lining. His Devicer suit is much the same, with the only change being the addition of gloves. --{Personality}-- Aggressive and homicidal, Luciano Bradley is essentially an avatar of the concept of “violent hedonism.” While he is capable of finding joy in numerous activities, there is only one that makes him truly happy: violence. There is nothing that Luciano relishes more than the pure excitement of a life-or-death struggle. It is in pursuit of this high that Luciano continually finds – or invents – reasons to kill. Born into a minor noble family rapidly declining in status, Luciano has come to blame most of his family’s problems on the Aristocrats above him and the commoners below. As such, he has little consideration for either group. The Aristocracy, he holds in contempt for their general attitude of dismissal to the lower ranks, and he detests commoners as being beneath his notice. Thanks to his relatively untouchable position as a Knight of the Round, Luciano has taken to calling out his supposed “superiors” whenever possible, especially in cases where he feels that considerations have been given due to societal placement rather than merit. More than either group, though, he despises the Numbers. More than a bit stereotypical for a Britannian, but it’s how he grew up. Aggressive almost to the point of self-damage, Luciano is extremely confrontational. In his constant search for new targets for his urges, he is willing to attempt to pick a fight with nearly anyone. If, and when, the fighting does break out, he does not hold himself to honorable standards. Luciano will use any means necessary to assure his victory, even in what is supposed to be a fair fight. On occasions when he does lose, he responds poorly, lashing out at anyone or anything that falls into view. As far as loyalties go, Luciano has placed his entire faith in one person: himself. He may fight in the Emperor’s name, but his real reason is himself. Concepts such as honor, chivalry, and even climbing the societal ladder have little meaning for him so long as he may continue killing. Whether those who end up his victims are friendly or hostile is of little consequence. After all, you don’t get the epithet Genius of Homicide for nothing. |
BATTLEFIELD EVALUATION --{Knightmare Frame}-- Name: Percival Model Number: RZA-10JS Height: 5.13 meters Weight: 9.07 tones Physical Description: An in depth description of your Knightmare. Equipment:
Armaments:
Notes:
--{Weapons}-- Throwing Knives: A set of highly-stylized red and black knives, Luciano carries these weapons on his person at all times. Perfectly balanced for throwing, Luciano regularly uses them in and out of combat and has been known to get unconventional in their use. There are five total in the set. Royal Arms H2010 Handgun: The standard issue Britannian sidearm. Fires 10mm caseless ammunition at subsonic speeds. While easily deflected or stopped by armor, it is extremely effective against soft targets. Luciano carries one fully loaded on his person at all times, just in case his knives don’t do the trick. --{Equipment}-- --{Special Skills/Abilities}-- Knightmare Devicer: As a Knight of the Round, Luciano’s skills as a Devicer are unmatched by most other pilots. His abilities as a pilot are what have allowed him to reach the rank of Knight of Ten in a mere three years. Knives Whether throwing them or using them for fighting, Luciano is fond of and highly skilled at using knives. Thanks to countless hours spent practicing the art, the Knight of Ten is able to throw most knives – balanced or not - at blinding speeds and with laser-like accuracy. |
PERSONAL INFO --{Family}-- Baronetess Alecia Bradley (Mother; deceased) Jacob Bradley (Father; deceased) --{Friends}-- The Valkyrie Squadron While it wouldn't be fair to call them "friends" exactly, the Valkyrie Squadron are the only people that Luciano really comes close to trusting. That is to say: he's willing to share his fun with them. --{Known Associates}-- The Knights of the Round Originally called the 12 Horsemen, the Knights of the Round is a group comprised of the 12 premier soldiers in the Holy Empire of Britannia, the Knights of the Round answer directly to the Emperor alone. Taking their name from the Arthurian Knights of the Round, these Knights operate outside of the standard Britannian military and enjoy greater privileges and authority than the rank and file, as well as much of the nobility, with the obvious exception of the Imperial Family. The Valkyrie Squadron Answering only to Luciano Bradley, the Valkyrie Squadron is an elite group of Knightmare Devicers. The Squadron is an all-female force, aged between 15 and 25. They are handpicked and trained by Luciano himself. They pilot personal Knightmares with pink/dark pink paint schemes. Due to their ages, looks, and how much time Luciano spends with them, it is often rumored that the women of the Squadron also serve as their commander's concubines. This is a rumor that Luciano has spent precisely no time at all dissuading or affirming. --{History}-- Born April 19th, 1992, Luciano Alfonso Bradley was the only child born to Baronetess Alecia Bradley and her commoner husband, Jacob Bradley. The event brought mixed joy and sorrow, however. Due to complications related to the pregnancy, Alecia did not survive the birth. As such, Jacob was wracked with grief on a day that should have been celebratory. To his mind, the best thing about Luciano's birth was that, thanks to his shared blood with the late Baronetess, the child was technically nobility. As Luciano's one remaining relative, Jacob argued to retain all of the newborn Baronet's lands and responsibilities in fief until the child came of age. More out of personal ambition than anything else, Jacob fought desperately for the duty and it was eventually granted despite his status as a commoner. While Jacob Bradley had high hopes of maintaining and even increasing the family's status as Aristocracy, he was poorly suited to the task. Luciano's earliest years were a near-constant downward spiral for the Bradley family. Over time, Jacob's demeanor grew more and more damaging. It was not long before the man began lashing out at anything and anyone he could; furniture, servants, animals. It wasn't long before his ire found a constant target in the 5-year old Luciano. The earliest abuses were, relatively speaking, rather mild. An errant backhand here, a neglected meal there. Luciano, being so young, was easily impressionable. Throughout the ordeal, he learned much of hatred and casual violence from his father. Since they were some of the earliest lessons he received, they are those that most shaped the man who he became. By the time he was 12, Luciano was already shaping up to be a singularly cruel individual. He constantly verbally abused what few house servants remained, and took great pleasure in striking back at his father in any way he could. While the majority of his retaliations were small, petty things, the conflict came to a head on Luciano's 15th birthday. Luciano woke up early that day - shortly before dawn - and sneaked into his father's bedchamber. Once there, he took one of his father's pillows and quietly and efficiently smothered the man. The deed done, Luciano stole back to his own room and went right back to sleep, not troubled at all by his actions. By the time a servant found Jacob's body some time later, Luciano had already fully developed his plan for the aftermath. When the police arrived, Luciano tearfully fed his story to them without a hitch. According to his testimony, he had seen one of the particularly resentful servants entering Jacob's bedchamber in the early morning hours. Thanks to his status as a Baronet, Luciano's testimony was the only one given consideration in the courtroom and the servant was executed shortly after the conclusion of the trial. As a result of Jacob's death, the judge of the case had no choice but to grant Luciano the full responsibility of his title. Despite his young age, Luciano proved a cunning, if dispassionate, head of the household. Within a few short months, he had brought his household out of the tailspin that Jacob had left it in. As one would expect, Luciano's formal education - to say nothing of his permanently damaged social skills - suffered for all the effort he had to put into rectifying his father's mistakes. It was due to his efforts that, by the time Luciano turned 18, he had very few options for gainful employment in the civilian world. His inability to get along in the corporate world left him with few options. Chief among those options were living out the remainder of his life doing little more than increasing his family's holdings and counting the days until he died, or joining the military. The decision was not a difficult one for the young man. After all, he had long since realized one simple fact about society: kill a man on the street and you're a criminal. Kill an enemy in combat and you're a big hero. In the spirit of that, Luciano joined the Britannian military shortly after his 18th birthday. The first year of his military career was fairly ordinary: early days, late nights, lots of yelling and running and exercising. By the end of Basic Training, Luciano had already been singled out as a hard worker and a candidate for Devicer training. A year later, he passed the course at the top of his class. But even the best actors break character every now and then. Following Luciano's assignment to a line unit at the end of his training, he was immediately deployed to combat in the Philippines. In the fighting, he earned a reputation among his comrades as a singularly cruel, if ruthlessly efficient, soldier. His skills with a Knightmare also caught the attention of the officers above him, who were already looking for an excuse to remove the self-styled Vampire from their chain of command. They were quick to recommend his transfer to other units. Luciano continually bounced from unit to unit during the entirety of his deployment, rarely spending more than two months with any one group. Throughout his constant transpositions, Luciano continued to effectively and horrifically destroy the Empire's enemies in the region. Who fought beside him was of no consequence so long as they proved useful to his continued fun. The final straw came the month before he was scheduled to return to the Homeland. Luciano, along with three other Knightmares, became isolated from the main body of their unit and were rapidly becoming surrounded by the enemy. While his allies bemoaned their predicament and tried to find some way for all four of them to escape, Luciano saw a one-of-a-kind opportunity. By damaging his allies' machines, he could lay an trap for the Filipino forces. By the time his targets arrived, Luciano had already disabled the other three Britannian machines and rigged their self-destruct mechanisms to a trigger within his own unit. He waited until the Filipinos closed in and detonated the Knightmares. The resulting explosion killed friend and foe alike. In the confusion, Luciano was able to break through enemy lines and return to base. He hadn't been back more than a few minutes before he was arrested and confined on fratricide charges. While Luciano did not deny the claims, he did point out that their deaths served a purpose beyond it sounded like a good idea at the time. His captors were unimpressed by his logic and were quick to send him back to the Homeland for psychological evaluation and a trial. The incident never made it to the trial phase, however, due to the results of Luciano's evaluation. It was discovered that he was a sociopath and valued human life at roughly the same level as, say, that of an ant. Luciano was admitted to a psychiatric ward in the hopes of rehabilitation. Luciano spent the next six months at the facility, undergoing rigorous therapies. Everything from counseling to drug therapy was attempted, but to little avail. Until, that is, he decided that he was bored with the place and started playing along. It wasn't long afterwards that he was released back to the custody of the Military Police, under the impression that his mental issues had been resolved. This was, as you can imagine, not the case. His trial for fratricide would have taken place a few days later, but fate intervened. The day before the trial, Luciano was visited by the Knight of Four, Dorothea Ernst. The woman made her disdain for Luciano perfectly clear, but also admitted to having a deep appreciation for his skills as a combatant and Devicer. It was in the spirit of this that she made a proposal: she would sponsor his audition for a position on the Knights of the Round so long as he at least attempted to minimize friendly casualties in combat. Luciano accepted the offer and was immediately acquitted of all charges. The his test for placement as a Knight of the Round was scheduled a month later, to allow him time to refamiliarize himself with Knightmare piloting. Despite the time he had spent away from the machines - and combat - Luciano was a quick study and it was not long before he had regained his place among the top Devicers of the Empire. The test itself, a duel between himself and Ernst, was a long and drawn-out affair, and was eventually determined to be a draw due to both Knightmares running out of power. Luciano's skills and tactical mind were applauded afterward, due to his using a mere Sutherland against the Knight's vastly superior custom Knightmare. Emperor Charles zi Britannia confirmed Luciano's promotion to Knight of Ten via teleconference the following day. Since then, Luciano's reputation has grown considerably. He has been deployed multiple times to foreign hotspots. While his acts in said hotspots were hardly peaceful in nature, pacification tends to follow hard on the heels of his murderous adventures. It was in the EU that Luciano's original nickname, the Vampire, transformed into the Vampire of Britannia. He was also granted the Genius of Homicide after razing a village to the ground as part of an ambush that resulted in the destruction of over half of Indochina's local command. The village wasn't a necessary target, perhaps, but its destruction did make for rather effective bait. Luciano is currently in the Britannian Homeland. While his current activities are highly classified, unverified reports hold that he is working very closely with the Britannian Special Research Division. It can be safely assumed that he is assisting them in upgrading his personal Knightmare, the Percival. --{RP Sample}-- Cracking his knuckles and heaving a sigh, Luciano relished the feeling of being inside a Knightmare Frame once again. It was something that had happened all too rarely of late. The vertebrae in his neck popped like a string of firecrackers and he punched in the Sutherland's activation code. The technician standing on the platform at the Knightmare's hatch peeked in. "Uh, sir? Are you alright?" He sounded... scared. It made Luciano smile. He initiated the mech's self-test and glanced over his shoulder. "I'm better than alright," he told the man in a calm voice. "I'm positively ecstatic. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I had a worthwhile fight? Since I had the chance to put lives on the line?" Luciano didn't really expect an answer. The technician knew his reputation; Luciano could hear the technician's attempt at gulping down his fear. "R-right," the technician mumbled. "Anyway, we've got a fresh Energy Filler installed and, uh, yeah. Per your request, the Lance is mounted on the right." Luciano considered pointing out to the man that he could, in fact, read the displays in front of his face. "Yes, yes. Just let me know when the Duel starts," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand as the hatch closed. Once it was locked, Luciano ran himself through a variety of small tests: Landspinner controls, Slash Harken targeting, the command that would make the Knightmare grab the rifle on its hip, and a few other small exercises. He had just finished when the garage-style door of the Sutherland's bay lifted up. Luciano rolled out into the sunlight and scanned the area. It was an urban environment. Rusting cars, shattered asphalt, crumbling buildings. It almost reminded him of some of the urban areas he'd fought in before his incarceration. The radio chirped for his attention. A few deft clicks opened the two-way communicator. The Knight of Four's face appeared on the screen. "Luciano Bradley," she said formally. "I am Dorothy Ernst, Knight of Four. I hereby challenge you to a duel. Will you accept?" Grinning, Luciano spun his Lance in an ornate and very difficult flourish. "But of course, m'lady," he replied. Ernst nodded on the screen. "Good. Now for the rules of-" "Rules?" Luciano spat back, cutting her off. "Do you really belive there could be any rule aside from victory at any cost?" "I see," the Knight murmured, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "Very well then. In that case, may the battle between The Vampire and the Knight of Four commence." The two-way communicator blinked off, but Luciano had already stopped paying attention to it. His entire focus was dedicated to the upcoming fight. he aimed his Slash Harkens at a nearby building and fired. A few seconds later, he was atop the structure, kneeling and scanning. The arena was small, only about 2 kilometers squared, but there was cover a-plenty. "Now then, my lady... where are you?" A flash of color was all the warning he got, but it was more than enough. Luciano's Sutherland executed a skillful backwards somersault and landed in the street in a cloud of pulverized asphalt. Within the cockpit, Luciano's smile had grown in size, but lost warmth. This was the smile of a man ready to kill, and perfectly pleased with that. - 2 hours, 43 minutes later... - Sweat poured down his face, mingling with the blood that pumped from a gash on his forehead. He had taken the injury when his head had bounced off of a control surface after one of the Knight's attacks. He had shaken off the wound, though, and managed to destroy one of her arms in return. Their fight had been like that ever since the beginning: blow for blow, neither of them giving an inch. The Knightmares had started the day in perfect condition, but now? Luciano's Sutherland was a mere shell of its former power. Its Landspinners were gone, blown off relatively early on. One Slash Harken had been lost in a feint. Half the mech's head was a charred ruin. The Knightmare bled hydraulic fluid and coolant from almost every joint. And, to top it all off, his Energy Filler was nearly out of power. "Well at least her Knightmare isn't in much better shape," Luciano lamented, his tongue flickering out to lap up some of the blood running past his mouth. He moved the Knightmare into a quick, graceful skip and bounced out from behind the building he had taken cover in. It was a nearly impossible maneuver in such a bulky machine, much less one so damaged and while carrying a heavy weapon like the Knight Lance. He spun at the end of the bounding, dodging a fresh volley of rifle fire from Ernst's machine. A quick spin built his momentum up to critical levels. The Lance in his hand benefited from the speed and left a trail of water vapor in its wake as it whistled through the air. It was followed shortly behind by his remaining Slash Harken. The Knight barely deflected the Lance by sacrificing an arm to slap its trajectory up and away from her Knightmare's body. It distracted her, however, from the Slash Harken. The missile took her Knightmare in the head, shattering the cervical vertebrae. The head rocked back with the impact, still connected by wires and cables, and slammed to a rest on top of the cockpit block. Luciano started closing in with a high-pitched laugh. "Oh, no," he taunted over the external speakers. "What's the matter, m'lady? Can't you see me?" He cackled again as he smacked the rifle out of her Knightmare's hand and crushed it underfoot. He started to reach for her arms, to rend them from her body, when the Sutherland's motions slowed. The arms began jerking as the faux muscles within failed. A glance at the power display revealed that the Energy Filler was critically low. Luciano cursed. In that moment, both of the Ernst's Slash Harkens took sudden flight. At this range, Luciano doubted if he could have dodged them even at full power. The point was moot, however, as the Harkens ripped through his shoulder joints. His arms slammed to the ground in clouds of debris and sparks. He harrumphed and clicked ineffectually at the Slash Harken button. Luciano had only pressed it two or three times when a booming voice sounded from his radio. "This is Bismarck Waldstein, the Knight of One of the Holy Empire of Britannia," the voice declared powerfully. Luciano could tell that this was a man who was used to having his orders followed without question. "I have been observing this duel from the beginning and now declare it a draw. I will hear no argument from either of you on this matter. Luciano Bradley, you will report to the Royal Conference Room on-base no later than 9am, tomorrow morning." Before Luciano could respond, the radio cut off. He leaned back in the seat. "Well, then," he declared simply as he ran his fingers through his sweat-slicked hair. "That was more fun than I expected it would be." |