#Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

valiantwarriorsquadroncomic · 1 year

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MISSION 5

Joseph sat there, letting the giant, Iron crossed shaped medal spin on its velvet necklace. Its golden border twinkled as it spun like a a top, unwinding, and then rewinding itself again. Head in hand, his gaze met to fritz, who was completely awed by the anime OVA had invited joseph to watch. The 1995 classic “BIO-MENACE ALICE” continued to blare on Fritz’s large, flat screen television. It’s not like joseph wasn’t disinterested in this classic that almost got banned in Germany for its intense gore and dark themes. This was the first time joseph saw fritz from his own personal perspective. Within his plush, cozy room on the Harris, was his own cushy, king sized bed with satin comforter and silk bedsheets. A personal desk with a high-tech laptop that joseph only saw in cutting edge tech magazines. Multiple journals and sketchbooks were neatly piled upon the desk, arranged from barely touched, to worn and completed. A small, golden choir trophy sat proudly on the front of his desk. Yet the one thing that distracted joseph most of all was a small section of wall, covered in photos of Fritz’s personal life. They enshrined a large oil painting of Fritz himself, dressed in medieval German armor with a very large sword. He struck a majestic looking pose while clutching a helmet with bat ears. The photos surrounded fritz detailed a very large, monstrous and bat-like woman who looked like an almost spitting image of veronica, cradling fritz, who had a large bandage set on the middle of his giant forehead.

“FRAU GARTNER, BLESSED BY GOD ALMIGHTY, HAS HAD A SECOND CHILD” was written under the photo. Next, was a 4 year old fritz sitting on the knee of a grim looking white man with a mustache as an 8 year old veronica stood by his side. Despite the scars and the sunken cheeks, the grim looking man’s eyes seem to twinkle with soul. A warm, inviting smile stood immortalized within the photo. Joseph recognized the man as the two sibling’s uncle. Another photo caught Joseph’s eyes as Fritz began standing up and cheering as the genetically altered main character Alice had cut a “private security type 23 cyborg” in half with their tattered blade that looked more like a giant paper cutter. The gore was rendered explicitly, even the severed tendons were given detail is they snapped under the blade. Joseph’s gaze returned to The photo depicted fritz, smiling and crying as he received a degree from a middle eastern man with a tall fur hat and black trenchcoat. A small handwritten note was embroidered in a golden frame. “Happy 20th birthday.” It read in its oddly lavish container. Joseph continued fiddling with the splendorous medal he was given at yesterday’s ceremony. Compared to the standard VWS medal he had received after surviving his first mission , its splendorous, golden borders twinkled as it spun. As it came to an end of its spinning, he quietly recited the motto on its back.

“ONLY GIVEN TO THOSE WHO RISKED THEIR OWN LIVES TO RESCUE A GERMAN CITIZEN IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE, GERMANIA GIVES HER THANKS. PRAISE CHARLEMAGNE, MAY HE WATCH US REBUILD HIS EMPIRE AS HE OBSERVES US IN HEAVEN.” He put his necklace back in his pocket. Both his iron cross necklace and second iron cross were much more fanciful than the CNGS medals and the large red star medal he received for assisting in URSA’s rescue.

“Is something wrong?” Joseph snapped out of his trance as fritz paused the movie.

“It’s nothing.” Joseph said. The two continued to watch the main character, ALICE, screaming towards the sky as she held the lifeless corpse of her only friend, a homeless man amidst a city that had been razed to the ground. “You know, my pal Logan and I got in trouble for showing this to our anime club.” Fritz broke his gaze with the credits as he continued to listen. “The guy who ran the club got super mad, calling it gross, violent schlock and that we were bad people for liking it.” Fritz was taken aback. “He said we had “toxic masculinity problems” and we’re going to hurt someone for liking a fucking anime”

“To think that such childish notions towards art aren’t isolated. He said as he prepared to skip to BIO-MENACE ALICE OVA 4: WITH BLOOD, WITH AGONY. “One of the HCA superiors dragged me off by the ear after he saw me watch the skull explosion scene.” He crossed his arms. “Told me that Japanese animation was disgusting drivel destroying young people’s minds.” Joseph became suddenly animated.

“How can they HATE the SKULL EXPLOSION SCENE?!” joseph cried as he began becoming passionate about BIO MENACE ALICE.

“EXACTLY, Its so LOVINGLY, EXQUISITELY DRAWN!” Fritz continued as he skipped back to a scene where an antagonist’s head explodes from a missile. “NO cgi, no digital ink or paint, that was all done by hand, like a REAL artist!” The two cheered as the skull explosion scene played, the antagonist's head going up like a fire ball as blood and brains smeared the walls. “Why can’t we get more tributes to THIS scene instead of that god forsaken scene from toshio’s journey with that guy sliding briefly in a car?!” Joseph laughed.

“I remember seeing that scene with Logan, it was the COOLEST shit ever.” Joseph said, sitting up and stretching after being almost still for an hour and a half. Fritz was a bit surprised that joseph opened up about his own life, as he didn’t even mentioned his other friends had perished in the northern Iran bioweapons disaster.

“I’m sure if he was still around, I’d be good friends with someone who can get that emotionally invested in art like BIO MENACE ALICE” Joseph did a double take.

“No, he’s still alive.”

Fritz’s ears shot up in embarrassment. “Oh…I’m terribly sorry…I just thought he was-”

Joseph held up a hand. “It’s no problem, man, this film brought back some memories of him.” As the film came to a close, the Japanese word for END had scrolled up from the bottom of the screen, with a still, painted shot of ALICE in her monstrous form, still cradling the deceased, nameless homeless man in her arms. “I think he’s stationed somewhere on a CNGS-American base near Corsica.” Joseph stated as the lights began to slowly illuminated the once dark room. “He once told me the main villain, Christopher Benton reminded him a lot of his own dad.” Joseph smiled as he reminisced, the rare sight of joseph being happy made Fritz’s face blush and his heart flutter. “He said that once as a joke and we both laughed so hard, I almost puked.” The dour fritz also began to smile, even if it was guarded and stifled.

“I can hardly imagine having a vile snake like Benton as a dad.” Joseph’s slight laughter turn to sighs.

“He used to tell me his dad was a good man, but just put pressure on him from time to time. Fritz frowned as Joseph’s own smile turned back into his usual sad scowl. “One time I did catch his dad yelling at him, that he needed to act like a real man for once in his life.” Fritz became more troubled as joseph seem to dig up the bad times with the good. “He had been drinking, and then for some reason he began ranting about South Africa was once the jewel of Africa before the ninties-” He suddenly stopped when a booming voice on the intercom blared.

ATTENTION, AT 12 AM SHARP, ALL ACTIVE VWS ARE TO MEET IN THE RENOVATED MEETING ROOM, QM AND HCA PERSONNEL WILL BE PRESENT IN THE MEETING VIA VIDEO CALL.” As the crackled died, Fritz crossed his arms.

“Would it kill these people to communicate this to us in a timely manner?” Fritz grabbed Joseph’s hand and proceeded to drag him towards the meeting room as the clock hit 11:40 pm.

“I think we have some time before the meeting.” Joseph noted to Fritz’s manic attitude.

“It NEVER hurts to be punctual, even if it’s a meeting with those Marxists.” Fritz stated matter-of-factly. A short while later, the two friends almost reached their destination.

“So, guys have some history with these…QM guys?” Joseph asked.

“Since my superiors, The Holy Charlemagne Assembly , are recognized as “allies to global security”, we’ve been involved in diplomacy with QM with some time. Fritz said as he neatly prepared pads for notes. “The CNGS had declared the group a terrorist organization for some time, but began to soften as it had declared war against the ALA and all its non American factions and splinter cells.” Fritz brought out a good pen before continuing. “The CNGS had become strangled by its own foreign policy and paperwork, so they allied themselves to groups who recognized CNGS borders, did not interfere with CNGS affairs, and provided active and passive support when requested.” He was amazed and flattered as joseph continued to listen intently, as everyone else he explained it to seemed to just get bored. “ the “Allies to Global Security” grants certain organizations and independent countries special diplomatic immunities and privileges as long as you’re willing to play nice with the CNGS politicians.” He shook of his sudden feeling of coyness around joseph to finish. “The CNGS appears to be making serious amends with this collaboration and ceasefire with QM especially.”

As the two rounded a corner, fritz walked a little too fast, being too invested to infodump on joseph. In his lecture, he accidentally bumped into a rotund figure. He looked up to find himself staring face to face with another large monster woman, who was taller than laleh. Joseph was in awe at the 8 foot tall woman who looked like a furless, mangy badger. Fritz was frozen in fear, still pressed into the woman’s large stomach, her tight catsuit hugging her bust and large hips. Her intimidating gaze was made all the more terrifying as she looked directly into his eyes with her horizontal pupils. A gnarled, wicked grin curled a cross her lips, revealing her sharp teeth, but it was somewhat mitigated by her gaze becoming more softened and warm.

“It seems even the stick-in-the-mud prince is bewitched by my striking beauty…” she teased, making a provocative pose. Fritz’s entire face turned almost blood red as he quickly jumped back.

“I’m extremely sorry, madam.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem at all.” She said, looking at herself at one of the reflective mirrors. “Not many men can resist my godlike physique and gorgeous face.” She said, flexing in the mirror, attempting to suck in her large gut. Fritz and joseph shot confused looks at each other.

“We’ll be more careful next time, ma’am, we were in a hurry to get into the meeting.” Joseph explained as she exhaled, letting her physique return to its rotund, but muscular shape as she cheerfully ran her hand over her stomach.

“Great, let’s go together!” She sang cheerfully, clapping her hands. “As a senior captain in the VWS, it’ll be great to learn about my two junior officers~!”

“I didn’t know there was a rank higher than captain.” Said joseph as she clasped both of her hands on each of joseph and fritz’s shoulders, walking them to the room. Upon hearing Joseph’s lack of an explanation, the large woman’s gaze became severe and frightening.

“Once again, I have to do Nathan’s job of relaying important VWS info to the juniors. She growled as her muscles tensed and bulged. Her gaze softened again “not to worry, I’ll gladly answer…” her eyes shifted towards the woman with the metal arm walked past her. “Most…of the questions you have about the VALIANT WARRIOR SQUADRON, SENIOR OFFICER CORPS.”

Joseph was in awe at the good meeting room. A long, polished wood table rested in the middle of the room. A long row of expensive looking swivel chairs adorned each side. A large projector, sleeker, shiny, and obviously more maintained, was attached the ceiling. The gang was ushered by ERASURE UNIT guards to sit on one side, as the senior officer members where ushered to sit across from the on the other side. “What, are they too good to sit with the lower rank guys?” joseph thought, noticing the clear intent of separating the seniors from them. As everyone got seated, they were greeted with Cpl. MacMillan, and the senior officer’s CO, as he sat at the head of their table next to Nathan. The room got dark as the powerful projector clicked and projected on three separate screens at once, each screen dedicated to a different faction. One was of Andrew Norman and several unknown CNGS politicians and military advisors. The middle screen, noticeably the more tarnished screen, was QM. Mrs. Q and a small bevy of QM’s higher ups had just gotten seated. The final screen had the chancellor, a man with an eyepatch with a coat of arms that adorned the star of David, and several HCA authority figures. On QM’s side, the masked woman with the dragon medal peeled off her mask to reveal her shocking red hair.

“My name is BEIRA, field commander of E-12’s counter-imperialist strike force.” She announced as she re-adjusted her beret. “From what I understand we were all brought here for an important debrief regarding a prison rescue.”

Andrew Norman was done sipping tea from a fine china glass that was adorned in Vietnamese iconography. “Correct, miss BEIRA, as the ALA continues to lose territory, they’ve been forced to consolidate prison space for several important POWS.” Another projector clicked, showing a dilapidated building surrounded by armed guards, surrounded by mountains and ruined buildings. “This makeshift prison facility is within the more dangerous parts of Prospera, where prosperan chapter of the ALA, MUERTE BLANCO still hold territory.” The projector clicked to tired and injured MUERTE BLANCO soldiers were struggling to unpack rounds of ammo and other equipment. “They have been suffering terrible losses after their leader and the last dictator of prospera, SGT. GUSTAVO JESUS RODRIGUEZ, went into hiding and has been radio silent.” Another clicked show a group of white European ALA members with a disorganized group of white mercenaries. “As a result of their crumbling chapter, ALA high command is demanding more auxiliaries from the united states, Argentina, and south africa, as well as using mercenaries and volunteers as canon fodder.” A slide clicked to an all female battalion of ALA soldiers.

“Some ALA high command members have been forced to abandon their highly patriarchal and backwards standards for soldiers, and getting a concerning amount of volunteers from the women they’ve employed for sabotage, espionage, and intel gathering.” BEIRA described as the all women battalion charged E-12, seeming to target WRAITH. They are guarding 17 POWS, many of which are important CNGS, QM, and HCA personnel.” BEIRA clicked something to show a 20 year old man, with pale skin, black hair, and a warm smile. Joseph was hit with a wave of horror and despair. “This young man, Logan Crawford, is also in this prison facility, Fort Gimlé.” Joseph’s eye twitched. He was disconcertingly silent. MRS.Q, who was informed about Logan’s dilemma, struggled to speak.

“I wish this was some sort of cruel joke.” She sighed. “This poor young man and his mother had no idea their father was an ALA informant, feeding CNGS intel to ALA spies within the CNGS-American armed forces.” Fritz and Laleh gingerly begged joseph to sit back down as he returned to his seat, almost paralyzed with grief and bewilderment. “To gain an authoritative role within the ALA, he had sold out his son to be altered into a super soldier under his complete control.” Joseph simply sat still, looking forward unflinchingly. A picture flicked to show a soldier in a skull like helmet, a crest adorned the mask like structure, a single, red mechanical eye adorned the white mask. Two red hoses slinked out of each side of the mask’s “mouth”. Mrs. Q fell silent as she allowed Andrew to continue.

“You five, with Senior Captain AKROPOLIS, are tasked with infiltrating the facility and rescuing him.” He took another sip. “QM’s special forces, E-12, will be tasked with rescuing the rest of the hostages.” He turned to Joseph. “Normally, I would not assign a soldier with intense emotional connection to this sort of mission, but taking you off a search and rescue mission of this sort would be unwise.”

“I understand sir, I’ll make sure to save him.” Joseph said quietly.

“I’m very much sure you will.” Andrew replied.

“I feel it’s a large task to ask of us.” Said a QM higher up, his face masked with a black box. His garbled tone a clear sign his voice was being disguised for anonymity. “We have no qualms about striking against the fascists, and liberating prisoners, but we feel we are being submitted to the most dangerous tasks.”

Andrew held up his hand. “Your concern is understandable, MR.O, which is why are we are also entrusting you with one of our senior officer corps members and our own Seargent to accompany your forces.” He nodded to the Japanese man and Vietnamese woman that sat parallel to Nathan. “EQUINOX and DEATH LOTUS shall not fail you.” Andrew wiped his mouth with a fancy napkin. “You also needn’t worry about facing a a large enemy force, hopefully you haven’t forgotten our combined forces will also be distracting the ALA away from the facility as we destroy their anti-aircraft as a team.” The QM side burst into hushed whispers. Joseph could see that even their allies weren’t quite as trusting and united, even during active collaboration. “Not to mention, that Senior Captain HECATE will also be guarding ALL of our diversionary forces, including yours.” He gestured towards the other enormous monster woman that sat next to AKROPOLIS, both of them 8 feet tall, and slightly stockier than laleh. HECATE was pale white as a ghost, and wore the skin tight catsuit made of plastic and other artificial fibers. A harness hugged her chubby, muscular body tightly as she sat up and saluted in stone-faced Stoicism. “Let’s just say we’ve given her a new little toy to assist in aerial and ground targets.” AKROPOLIS playfully bumped into HECATE with her bulging hips, prompting HECATE to roll her eyes and cross her arms. “Our combined diversionary forces will wreak havoc away from the facility, forcing the ALA’s attention while your rescue team will snatch up the POWS as the ALA panics and crumbles even further.”

“Our air division is still assigned to destroying remaining ground targets, as well as enemy aircraft, and QM destroys the anti-aircraft weaponry on the ground, correct?” asked the chancellor, adjusting his gloves

A quiet smile crept across Andrew’s lips, making the VWS’s lower ranking members uneasy. “That is correct, Chancellor. For a moment, Hecate’s eyes briefly, nervously darted towards Andrew’s disquieting smile. “Before we wrap up, I’m also happy to announce that we have located both George Smith and Sgt. Gustavo, and we’ll soon have them facing good old fashion American justice.” Andrew always wore the the same blank expression, and now he seemed to cheerfully revel on the oncoming death and destruction that would soon transpire…

As everyone vacated quickly to their respective departures, joseph was still unnervingly calm. Laleh was quite upset that her friend was clearly bothered as this Logan person was quite close to him, as he had divulged a very close secret regarding him to her. “Hey…did you need to talk?” Before she could put her hand on his shoulder, nathan butted in.

“You need to make sure you’ve got proper medical equipment, the ALA treats his prisoners like animals.” Laleh looked back at her captain fearfully. “I got this.” He said with a smile.

“Right away, captain.” She said with a sigh.

Nathan turned towards joseph, clearly enraged. “Hey buddy, let’s just have a little talk about…uh…your friend.” “I can tell you have a lot to get off your chest.” The two made their way to an empty conference room, with Nathan shutting the door. “MacMillan, I’m handling a potential code yellow, it’ll be just five minutes.” He said as turned off his communicator as joseph sat in the chair. Nathan took off and showed his ear-piece was dead silent. “No one else can hear us.” Joseph looked up at Nathan in a dead stare. “I swear on my life, just let me have it.”

Joseph was borderline screaming as his vitriol came out like a wave of water from a burst dam. “Why in GOD’S NAME did LOGAN HAVE TO BE DRAGGED INTO THIS?!” Nathan stood there quietly. “IT’S NOT ENOUGH THAT THEY KILL PEOPLE, BUT THEY HAVE THE BALLS TO JUST SNATCH PEOPLE UP AND UPROOT THEIR ENTIRE LIVES FOR THEIR OWN GAIN!”

“I’m really sorry buddy…believe, I wish I could-”

“Issac, you piece of SHIT…” he said clenching his fist, his scars flaring wildly. “God DAMN IT ALL!” “I KNEW there was SOMETHING so OFF when you went off about south africa becoming a dystopia after the nineties!.” Joseph banged his fist on the flimsy desk. “I thought it was just because you were stressed, or something, but there was other SHIT I should’ve picked up on.” He suddenly became limp in his chair. “He was practically waving a red flag in my face…I just didn’t think he’d be a crony to those fucking monsters…”

“That’s the saddest damn part about extremists, they don’t need fancy weapons or walking crimes against nature to brainwash people to their side.” Nathan sighed. “They apparently had a bigger influence on the American public than we thought, and in places we never thought they’d breach.” Joseph slumped back in this chair, rubbing is face.

“I still feel like shit, but it beats feeling like I’m about to explode.”

“Good, and improvement is an improvement, even if it’s minuscule.” Nathan replied. Joseph and nathan left the room to rendezvous with the others. Laleh had finished preparing supplies for the most certainly emaciated, and mistreated prisoners as joseph walked up to her. “I hope you’re doing better.” She told joseph.

“A lot better than I was a little bit ago.”

“We’ll save him, I know we will” said Laleh reassuringly. Joseph smiled back at his friend, now in a better and determined mindset. Only laleh knew the extent of the situation regarding him and Logan. Many times he would regale her of amusing stories when they went to the same high school together. Laleh was just as much as a close confidant to him as Logan, as he went so far to explain that he and Logan were secretly dating in highschool, and they vowed they’d return to each other’s side when they left active military service. Joseph simply wasn’t going to rescue his friend, but his boyfriend. Once the clock hit 4 am, During the suit up, Fritz and Laleh had dawned their combat armor and helmets in preparation for an intense battle. AKROPOLIS was preparing a large bevvy of explosives, pliers, and tools alongside the rest of the VWS.

“A combat engineer will invaluable to our infiltration.” Fritz spoke up as he noticed her packing her pink bag with a cartoonish illustration of herself, but fully furred. “We’re very lucky to have a senior captain assisting us.” He had donned combat armor with a masked helmet just like his sister. However, the “horns” which protected his large ears curved slightly backwards.” “Damn straight, I can’t wait to knock down that shitty little facility.” She said while flexing, her enormous muscles seeming to bulge even more.

“HELL YEAH!” replied veronica, as she also flex next to the senior captain. Joseph was in the room behind the gaggle of monster soldiers, cleaning his carbine in dead silence. The usual banter he’d share with the rest of the gang suspiciously absent. Laleh was finishing preparations for several medical evacuations, and Veronica was busy running diagnostics on the RISENFLEDERMAUS. “Is uuhh…the new guy alright?” AKROPOLIS asked, bumping into fritz with her large body to his attention. Fritz quietly walked up to joseph as he double checked his magazines.

“I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now, but I want you to know I’m here for you.” The scarred young man looked up with a forced smile.

“Thanks, I really appreciate that.”

The VWS and AKROPOLIS soon touched down near the prison facility, QM soldiers soon swarmed the jet to guard it. The VWS were greeted with near dead silence outside of the QM scouts contacted their superiors about successfully reaching “the bat.” Laleh nervously side-eyed the unbreaking gaze of the soldiers, both impressed and frightened by the speed, mobility, and coordination of how they quickly found and surrounded their jet. Nathan clicked on his headpiece.

“MACMILLAN, WE’VE TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE CAGE, WHEN WILL THE FIREWORKS BE STARTING?” he asked.

“IN ROUGHLY 2 MINUTES.” MacMillan answered. Meanwhile, AKROPOLOIS pulled out what looked like a small drone and threw it with great force over their path. The drone clicked to life, the top popped up like a lawn sprinkler and assumed flight on its own. AKROPOLIS pulled out a PDA which beeped and produced several areas covered in red exclamation points.

“Yep. Bastards have some minefields up.” She announced as she pulled out some large gun-like device with an overhand carrying handle like a minigun. “CLEARANCE LASER CHARGED.” The gun said in an automated voice. “The minute the bombs go off, I’m clearing the mines.” As the VWS continued to follow AKROPOLIS, joseph snapped out of his trance, becoming self aware of his surroundings. He looked around to see the destroyed buildings in the distance.

“I thought the polluted river was bad, but this place is like the war never stopped.” He said, viewing the carnage. His gaze met with a billboard on top of a ruined building. It depicted a picture of SGT.Gustavo Jesus Rodriguez, triumphantly pointing upwards, his hand on his hip as a large arrow pointed upwards on a graph. “SGT. GUSTAVO: JOB MAKER OF PROSPERS.” Read the words. The condition of the board, however was in stark contrast. The words “Soy el diablo” were smeared in red to his left. To his right, a vicious caricature of him as the devil was smeared on the right, the words “il mostro.” The giant arrow pointing up was vandalized by a red arrow going down. A the other bit of graffiti was sprayed over Gustavo’s image. “WHAT DID YOU DO WITH OUR AUTISTIC FRIENDS AND FAMILY, YOU MONSTER”. Nathan soon got the green light, signaling the squad to their positions. Joseph loading his carbine as everyone held their breath for the enormous explosion.

Sure enough, a large explosion went off a quarter mile away. The facility went into high alert as ALA soldiers poured from the facility to combat the combine CNGS raid. AKROPOLIS smirked behind her balaclava. “That’s my CUE!” she bellowed before pulling the trigger. A small, piecing laser shot out into the darkness, causing several mines to explode. She continued to move forward, sweeping the area. She had accidentally stepped on one, causing a loud bang and debris to go flying beneath her. With the exceptions of some scratches on her vest and helmet, she didn’t seemed upset or hurt at all. “That tickled.” She said in a bemused tone before continuing her sweep. The ALA forces soon flooded from the facility to stop their anti-aircraft from being damaged. Nathan once again received new orders.

“Several QM spies from in the facility have confirmed that we are free to continue our raid into the facility.” He ordered, pointing to the building. AKROPOLIS led the charge, her large, plump body absorbing automatic rifle and submachine gun fire. She brought up her laser again, and unleashed a literal hellfire onto the front of the facility. Soldiers screamed as their flesh charred or were engulfed in flames.

“If these assholes weren’t neo-nazis, I’d feel kind of bad for them.” Joseph said internally, counter sniping several marksmen. He began to have a psychic vision. “TRAVEL THE SERPENT’S BACK.” Said joseph suddenly. The gang stopped confused until they noticed a small stone trail that snaked around the prison. Nathan suddenly grabbed Veronica, who head tread a bit too far while crawling through the untended area. Her eyes widened as she was 2 inches away from an anti tank mine covered in grass and litter. Nathan motioned his team to take the stone path as the fighting seemed to intensify. More and more of the ALA operatives rushed to the other side of the base, weakening their rear defenses. While the American and European members were well kept, MURETE BLANCO snipers looked disheveled, the same chocolate chip camo coated in sweat stains. Large black bags under their eyes alongside their visible cheekbones gave them an almost zombie like appearance. As joseph shot back, the snipers and fallen one by one, many losing heart and fleeing. Several beat up electric vehicles began to travel down the prison’s vehicle bay towards the VWS’s position.

Veronica squinted in confusion. “Is that some sort of dinky little van coming after us?” She scoffed, insulted that MUERTE BLANCO’s fighting vehicles were jury-rigged civilian vehicles more suited for picking up children after a school day rather than defend a military base. Small platoons of MUERTE BLANCO soldiers charge the vws with tattered carbines and civilian semi automatic rifles, the rest only had handguns. “This is so fucking sad.” Nathan grimaced as his powerful hand gun punched a hole right through the electric engine of an armed civilian pick up truck. The occupants screamed in horror as they fled the flaming vehicle before it exploded. The one truck that wasn’t taken out or simply stopped functioning from poor maintenance.

“Apparently the ALA administrative have no problem letting their useful idiots die in waves with faulty equipment.” Muttered fritz as he finished off the rest of the poorly trained ALA snipers.

“Either they’re more evil than I thought, or they’re just running out of competent soldiers.” Replied Joseph, reloading his carbine as he dashed towards the prison block door.

“I assure you it’s very much both.” Said AKROPOLIS as she prepped plastic explosives around a large iron door. The VWS didn’t need to be told to find over as AKROPOLIS finished. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!” she screamed, blasting the doors. Laleh prepared herself to act as a living shield as veronica loaded her machine gun. Nathan prepped his handgun as the smoke cleared.

“YOU TWO!” Nathan barked at veronica and fritz. “USE YOUR FLASHBANGS AND SWEEP THE AREA.” Two nodded, their masks would protect them from the heavy smoke and dust of the poorly constructed building.” Fritz and veronica threw multiple flash grenades into the gaping hole in the wall. Fritz went in first, submachine fire and screams echoed from the wreckage. Veronica unsheathed her large machine gun, chasing after him. Joseph could sense Logan’s presence.

“I’ve got a lock on him, just tell me when to lead the way!” joseph told Nathan. Nathan gave him a thumbs up as he signaled AKROPOLIS to take point. The VWS followed joseph through empty, dilapidated cells and the bodies of white American and European mercenaries. Joseph’s scars flared. “EVERYONE STOP!” he bellowed prompting everyone to halt, including veronica and fritz, who were on the walkways parallel to them. Sure enough, fritz clicked his mask to infrared, and saw a mass amount of trip wire towards Logan’s position.

“Guess some of these fascist idiots have at least some competent members.” Veronica said. Nathan was receiving information from MacMillan and the QM spies.

“Take a right, and straight ahead.” Nathan explained. “There’s another door to Logan!” soon, several ALA soldiers barged from another door. All of them where white American and European women with shaved heads. The let out a cacophony of screams as they charged the VWS. The gang easily dispatched them, as they rounded the corner. Laleh quickly shielded Joseph and Nathan from gunfire, as one of the female ALA soldiers limped towards them, her hand over the wound on her abdomen, but still opening fire with her handgun before finally collapsing.

“Jesus, these sociopaths simply do not understand when to quit.” Fritz snorted as he took point. On the south wing of the complex, a woman wearing red ALA combat armor and a hood was continuing to set up tripwire, her soldiers rushing into the facility.

“IT WAS A TRICK!” she hissed in a robotic voice. “Those CNGS bastards drew our firepower away from the facility.”

“It is YOUR responsibility to guard the prisoners.” Said a voice in a south african accent.”

“I HAD NO CHOICE!” she screamed. “IT WAS EITHER LOSE THE PRISONERS OR LOSE OUR ANTI-AIRCRAFT TO PROTECT THE BUNKER!”

“And now…it appears you’re losing both, ARACHNEA.” ARACHNEA’s fist clenched as she saw HCA aircraft destroy their aircraft in the sky, CNGS special forces destroy their anti-aircraft and SAM missiles mean to protect the bunker where George smith was being kept under custody. “Every since you failed to kill one of the HCA’s HOMO CENTONIBUS experiments with that rocket launcher trap, your performance has gone downhill.” Another explosion went off at the opposite side of the building. She shut off her intercom as she had another disaster that she’d be forced to face alone.

Before the VWS got to the door where Logan was held, joseph noticed it had a giant sign on the placard, its description in an almost boasting tone; RM V. It was all guarded by poltergeist commandos, who all made an improvised barricade out of gurneys and dead heavy abominations. Inside the lab, medical workers were finishing preparations for their masterpiece, RM V before they were to flee the cell. He was equipped in a light, dull red vest, and heavy armor. A Skull mask that had a large crest with a single robotic lens placed in the middle.

One of the scientists connected him to an IV fluid bag filled with a clear substance. Suddenly,WRAITH,dropped from the ceiling. The scientists panicked, bringing out hand guns to shoot the intruder. To their shock, she threw down several flash bangs and tear gas grenades, and the scientist they’d been working with for over 4 months proceeded to climb into the open shaft during the chaos. The ALA scientists were all viciously dispatched by WRAITH’s hand to hand combat skills, their weapons confiscated. RM V’s holding harness, freeing him from the restraints. Realizing they had been tricked, and at the mercy of a super solider while their vision and motor skills were impaired, they all threw up their hands in surrender. A giant flash of light burst outside the door, and the gunfire from down the wing went silent. A familiar voice rang out from the Operative that freed RM V .

“WRAITH, IS THE TARGET SECURE?” asked BEIRA. A raspy voice answered in kind. “AFFIRMATIVE.” WRAITH turned towards RM V. “ALL QM SPIES HAVE BEEN RESCUED, AND I HAVE 4 ALA SCIENTISTS WHO HAVE SURRENDERED.” Nathan held up her hand to the younger soldiers.

“HOLD YOUR FIRE, THE E-12 OPERATIVES GOT THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL.” The lab door opened with 4 scientists with their hands still visibly up in the air, WRAITH offering a shoulder to Logan, who was now maskless.

“Why…?” Said Logan.” his voice was filled with repressed sobbing. "Why would he do this to me…?”

“LOGAN!” cried out joseph, putting his gun away. Logan, upon hearing his real name, was in utter shock.

“No…they told me you died in Iran.” Logan broke free from WRAITH’s grasp, his once wobbling gait turned into a thunderous sprint. Joseph and Logan embraced in a tender hug. "My dad…” Croaked Logan as he gripped joseph tighter. “He…turned me into thisss…” Joseph only looked towards the door, his scars pulsating in anger, he knew Cpl. Issac Crawford had shit to answer for, but he never expected him to do this. Not in his worst nightmares.

“It’s okay, you can explain later when we get you out of here.” Joseph assured him, and Fritz immediately leapt to their side, his submachine gun illuminating the hallway as several poltergeist commandos attempted to advance towards them. As joseph gazed upon fritz, he began to have a revelation. “Things really aren’t going to be normal in my life ever again…have I just been so deep in denial?”

“Hey, uh Nathan?” Whispered veronica as she saw Logan rip an assault rifle away from a dead ASSASSIN abomination. “I think we got company.” Nathan adjusted his radio as fritz was holding off a hoard of POLTERGEIST commandos while he and the rest of the gang took shelter behind AKROPOLIS and the mass of dead abomination soldiers. Nathan’s ear-piece clicked again as he listened to the orders.

“HEAD OUT THE WAY WE CAME, WE’RE HEADED BACK TO THE FLEDERMAUS!” he commanded. joseph and the rest of the team dashed from the lab, laleh in the back taking the brunt of the fire and using Flashbangs and Smoke grenades to disorientate their pursuers. An ASSASSIN dropped from the ceiling with a combat knife, and began chasing down the gang. Before leaping on joseph, he was killed when wraith disarmed him and cut his throat with his own knife.

“I didn’t think you’d go out of your way to protect a coalition dog.” Sneered veronica.

“No, I’m making sure a man of color isn’t murdered by neo nazis or their boot-licking sellswords.” WRAITH spat back.

Everyone excluding WRAITH began to quicken their steps in a panic. Joseph noticed Logan began lagging behind. “I…just wanted to make him proud….” Logan muttered in a despair filled tone. “It’s because I kept on disappointing him…why do I deserved to live…if I can’t make him happy…” Joseph slowed down to his pace with a determined look.

“You have a lot more worth than what your dad dictates, and I don’t give a shit about what awful things he called you, and neither should YOU.” Logan was taken aback by Joseph’s curt and confident tone. “I know you’re in a dark place, and recovery is going to fucking suck, I won’t sugarcoat it.” He continued as he fired at the poltergeist commandos. “But I know you will HEAL from this and find happiness outside of your dad and this shit he did to you.” As The poltergeist commandos began to get closer, Logan’s pace began to pick up once more, Joseph’s words piercing the veil of his sorrow and despair as the morning light pierces dusk. Laleh was shocked, as he was almost using the same words she used to console him in his quarantine.“I might not be with you everyday” Joseph concluded “But I’ll be by your side when I can,I will keep you in my thoughts and you will always have worth to me.” Upon these words, Logan turned around to the wall above Joseph, shooting in five specific places. Five poltergeist commandos then crashed down from the ceiling ahead of the gang, all shot in the head and chest.

“You’ll…always have worth to me, too.” Said Logan, as he changed his weapon’s magazine. “Some days…were harder than others…they stuck me with needles or beat me…but I thought about how you wouldn’t want me to give up…” Logan proceeded to fire back into the crowd of Charging poltergeist commandos, killing multiple ones at the same time as they grew closer. By the time they reached the outside of the complex, several QM members were waiting with armored vehicles to take them back the the RISENFLEDERMAUS as the ALA began to regroup. The VWS, now with Logan, stood their ground and fired back at the poltergeist commandos as they used the labs windows as improvised cover. Joseph made sure to cover Logan as he sluggishly reloaded his rifle again.

“You always did stand up for me…didn’t matter if it was a 9th grader, another soldier, or even my own dad…” AKROPOLIS stepped out again with her laser weapon. She stepped from cover clicked a switch on the side of her weapon.

“WARNING, THIS SETTING IS FOR IMMEDIATE EMERGENCIES ONLY.” A short, but powerful laser stream cut into the base of the front office, causing it to partly collapse. The poltergeist commandos screamed as they were immolated or fell from the windows,collapsing into rigid heaps. QM’s escape vans opened up, ushering the VWS and WRAITH to flee.

“Guys, I got good news from our forces on the second raiding team, all of the POWS have been rescued and they’re hauling ass out of this place.” On the opposite side of the prison, an ALA helicopter opened fire on the second team, only for another laser weapon to fire and knock it out of the sky. “Looks like I owe my Sargent a drink when I get out of here.” AKROPOLIS chirped as she took another hail of assault rifle fire.

Joseph and fritz collapsed with relief, sitting together on one side of the van. In another, Laleh was tending to Logan, hooking him to an IV for his dehydration as GOLEM gingerly inspected him for wounds. Laleh nodded to joseph before GOLEM closed the van. The VWS was soon at veronica’s jet and airborne.Logan was in a secure medical gurney, in a bad condition. Joseph strained to look at his dear partner in a terrible state until Laleh put her enormous hand on his shoulder.

“He’ll be okay, I promise.” She said reassuringly. Joseph nodded, knowing that of all people, SHE would make sure Logan would survive his ordeal. As the gang made their way to the HARRIS, an enormous aircraft passed them.

“What the hell is that?!” Veronica cried as her cameras picked up the aircraft that resembled a giant robot out of an anime, but much MUCH smaller.

“That’s the thing Charlotte pilots.” AKROPOLIS said flatly. “She thinks she’s all that just because she gets to fly an experimental aircraft never thought possible to be designed and produced by human hands.” She snorted, crossing her arms. Veronica noticed the red stains on the aircraft’s “hands”. Its large frame riddled in bulletholes and seared metal. The VWS touched down to the Harris, and prepared to get logan to immeadiate medical care.Meanwhile on a highly guarded area of the Harris, VWSSOC secretly brought several enemy POWS to a confidential interrogation room. One of the pows wore the same red fatigues as the abomination soldiers, but his mask was torn and bloodied, and his arm band barely legible from the blood smeared on it. The second pow was a prosperan man in a regular FPU uniform in combat fatigues. The third POW was a white man with an ALA mercenary company tattoo had scabbed over from a vicious cut. SGT Nguyen grabbed the man by the throat.

“Very clever of you steal one of the hostage’s clothing and make your escape off the base, Corporal Johnson” the white american man gulped as his eyes bulged in fear. Using her free hand, Sgt.Nguyen tore off one of his sleeves. His neck was seemingly free of any blemish or body hair. However, upon closer inspection, a large, flesh colored bandage began to peel off from the sweat. Sgt.Nguyen ripped off the bandage. Covered in a transparent, sticky adhesive, as a large tattoo that was bordered by an SS waffen style lightening bolt. The tattoo was three letters followed by a mix of letters and numbers. “WNM6” SGT Nguyen’s metallic arm rotated and clicked, causing her finger reveal two metallic pincers. Electricity violently surged and sparked, illuminating the darken room, causing her and the other senior member, EQUINOX, become more severe and threatening.

“Looks like we caught one of the ALA’s low ranking puppet masters, now tell us everything you know before things get violent.” The VWSSOC medic, EQUINOX stabbed Johnson with a syringe.

“The cyanide and any other poison in your body has now been neutralized. There is no escape.” Johnson let loose a blood curdling scream, silenced by the room as Nguyen began her interrogation.

TO BE CONTINUED IN VOL 6.

#projectvaliantwarrior #valiantwarriorsquadroncomic #valiantwarriorsquadron #monster man #monster woman #military

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seasidesprout · 1 year

Text

Found a list of name ideas for the past golden guards when going through my notes app thought yall might like em

Abstinence (against sin)

Adam (the first man god made)

Alexander (defender)

Azazel (scapegoat)

Barnabas/Barnaby (son of the prophet)

Battalion (army of god)

Benjamin (son of the right hand and Jacobs youngest son)

Chase

Dependence

Ebenezer (stone that marked victory over the Philippines)

Enoch (cains son)

Ezra (prophet)

Fidelity (to trust)

Gideon (he who cuts down, hero who uses strategy to win battles, a group who puts bibles in hotel rooms)

Hariph (gatherer)

Harlow (rock, army)

Issac (god told his father to sacrifice him)

Jeremiah (prophet)

Kemuel (raised by god)

Lazarus (revived by jesus)

Lechery (lust)

Malachi (messenger of god)

Matthias (apostle that replaces judas)

Michael (archangel of soldiers with flaming sword)

Miles (gracious soldier)

Nathaniel (gift of god)

Obed (worshipness, short for obedience)

Persecution

Peter (rock to build Christianity on)

Presley (priest)

Redemptus (to redeem)

Reuben (was Cursed by his father for sleeping with his concubine)

Roland (nephew to charlemagne, he was killed in battle)

Seraphim (order of angels with 6 wings)

Seth (cain and abels brother)

Silas (wood)

Simon (carried the cross for jesus)

Smith (to smite)

Thomas (twin, martyr)

Uriah (gods flame)

Ward

William (protection)

Woodrow

#the owl house #toh #golden guard #yeah i know i put my own name in there but it fits meaning and time wise #religion tw #christianity tw #i have so many feelings about the ggs you guys #grimwalker

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thelovesofthegods · 11 months

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♡･ﾟ: * 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐄 !

List your fav characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people.

Dionel, Lorsan, Talene - AFK

Azazel, Cait Sith, Catoblepas, Hecate, Goemon, Quantum, Thunderbird, Tsukuyomi - Tokyo Afterschool Summoners

Achilles, Asclepius, Ashvatthaman, Bedivere, Charlemagne, Constantine XI, Cu Chulainn variants except Cu Alter, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne variants, Hajime Saitou, Izou Okada, Mandricardo, Nagayoshi Mori, Percival, Prince of Lanling, Taigong Wang, Toshizou Hijikata, Voyager, Yan Qing - Fate

Chongyue, Fiammetta, Goldenglow, Jaye, Mostima, Qanipalaat, Totter - Arknights

Ichimonji swords, Kasen Kanesada, Nagasone Kotetsu, Okinawan swords, Osafune swords, Sadamune swords, Samonji swords, Tonbokiri, Yamabushi Kunihiro - Touken Ranbu

Clive Rosfield - Final Fantasy

Fuxi, Lu Xun, Yoshitsune Minamoto - Musou

Blathers, Kabuki, Kid Cat - Animal Crossing

Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, Takumi - Fire Emblem

Jake, Ravenpaw, Squirrelflight, Yellowfang - Warrior Cats

#arcade corner | dash game

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demon64 · 2 years

Link

Anybody else ever hear of something and then go look for it, and when you find it, you wish you found it sooner. Like, who would have imagined Christopher Lee would make not one but multiple metal albums.

#Chrisopher Lee #bloody verdict of verden #music recommendation #youtube link #rock & metal #concept album #blood of the saxon men #Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross #why didn't I hear of this sooner?

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metaljedipirate · 5 years

Video

youtube

a look at the christopher lee metal albums

#christopher lee #christopher lee metal albums #Charlemagne #By the Sword and the Cross #omens of death

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rubycubix-alt · 3 years

Audio

This does actually slap.

#music #christopher lee #by the sword and the cross #charlemagne

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nanshe-of-nina · 3 years

Photo

Favorite History Books || The Black Prince: England’s Greatest Medieval Warrior by Michael Jones ★★★☆☆

The Prince’s martial exploits were the stuff of legend even in his own lifetime. On 26 Au- gust 1346, at the age of sixteen, he fought heroically with his father in an army that crushed the French at Crécy. Ten years later, on 19 September 1356, by now a commander in his own right, he turned the tables on his numerically superior opponent, capturing King John II of France in battle at Poitiers, one of the great English victories of the Hundred Years War. In 1362, he became prince of Aquitaine, holding a magnificent court at Bordeaux that mesmerized the brave but unruly Gascon nobility and drew them like moths to the flame of his cause. Five years later, he led a great Anglo-Gascon army across the Pyrenees into Spain (crossing by the mountain pass at Roncesvalles, where Count Roland had fought a valiant rearguard action to save Charlemagne’s army seven centuries earlier), winning a stunning victory against the odds at Nájera that restored to the throne King Pedro of Castile, who had been ousted by his bastard half-brother. Edward’s meteoric military rise captured the imagination of Europe. The chronicler Jean Froissart saw him – at the outset of his career at least – as a model of chivalric virtue.

Edward became known to posterity as the ‘Black Prince’, a soubriquet that was not in existence when the Chandos Herald wrote a long poem (circa 1385) on La Vie et Faites d’Armes d’une très noble Prince de Wales et Aquitaine (The Life and Feats of Arms of the most noble Prince of Wales and Aquitaine), a tribute to a man seen as a paragon of chivalry, and in fact was used only from the sixteenth century. It is found in notes of the antiquary John Leland in the early 1540s and first appeared in print in Richard Grafton’s Chronicle in 1569. More than twenty years later, in William Shakespeare’s Henry V (Act 2, Scene 4) the French ruler Charles VI says that his countrymen fear King Henry because of his ancestry, his ‘heroical seed’... That ‘black name’ is now the standard way of describing the man. Some have suggested that the ‘Black’ is an allusion to the black armour that he wore at his first battle (although the evidence for this is scanty); others, that it is derived from the cruel way he waged war in France. When I inspect the tomb itself, I notice that the heraldic backdrop to his tournament badges is black – the colour forms part of a show of jousting prowess. Whatever the explanation for this knightly soubriquet, it was synonymous with a single-minded dedication to the warrior ethos, and the fighting fraternity of Europe’s elite.

In 1688 the antiquary Joshua Barnes wrote a historical biography of Edward III and his son, the Black Prince, praising the prince’s feats-of-arms; some seventy years later David Hume, in his History of England, also extolled his martial virtues. Indeed, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries this ‘Black Prince’ was seen in straightforward, heroic terms. On 16 September 1903 a mounted statue of the Prince was unveiled in City Square, Leeds, proclaiming him as ‘the flower of England’s chivalry’. However, modern scholarship has been more critical of him, criticizing his lack of administrative ability and also his failures of political judgement. He is seen as fixated on his military career, inflexible in his approach to government and limited in his broader abilities. As I gaze on the tomb, I wonder if French manuscript collections, many of them underexploited, can cast fresh light on this fascinating figure.

The chronicler of the abbey of Moissac, Aymeric de Peyrac, for example, showed that the Prince could be engaging, humorous and pleasingly direct. He recalled the Prince asking one of the monks, who was famed for his melodious singing voice, to take Mass. At its end, the Prince greeted the man, thanked him and said: ‘I am sorry so much misfortune has be- fallen you – and that your good friends are no longer with you.’ The monk looked a little surprised and asked him why he had said that. ‘Well,’ the Prince replied, ‘I noticed that in the service you rushed through the Office for the Living but seemed to spend an eternity on the Office for the Dead.’ The monk looked at the Prince for a while, smiled, and then said: ‘I feel that the living can more easily look after themselves; it is those souls trapped in purgatory who really need my assistance.’ This was an age of violence and frequent visitations of the plague, a horror that struck communities rapidly and without warning; an age that demanded the warrior should prepare to face death, at any time or place. For a moment the Black Prince seemed lost in his own thoughts. Then he smiled back, and thanked the monk for his answer. The two men became friends.

The last years of the Prince’s life were blighted by sickness and he was only able to attend his final military engagement, the siege of Limoges, in 1370, carried on a stretcher. According to the chronicler Jean Froissart, the Black Prince – increasingly frustrated by his own debilitating sickness and the deteriorating war situation – sacked the town and put its civilian population to the sword. This striking image of a chivalric hero falling below the standards that had made him admired throughout Europe has lodged itself in the popular imagination, but I find myself wondering whether it really happened in the way that Froissart described it. Whatever the truth of Limoges, there was now a cloud hanging over English fortunes. The Prince relinquished his duchy of Aquitaine due to ill health and spent his last years con- fined to his sickbed. He died on 8 June 1376, aged only forty-five. Nine years later the Black Prince’s magnificent tomb was completed by his son, now ruling the kingdom as Richard II. There was no more appetite for foreign war; the realm was divided by internal dissension and unrest. The Prince’s memorial at Canterbury became a memorial to a bygone era.

#historyedit #litedit #edward the black prince #medieval #house of plantagenet #english history #european history #history #history books #nanshe's graphics

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docpiplup · 2 years

Text

@asongofstarkandtargaryen the interview I told you about. And the release date of the film is on 18th November. Although it will be during the Sitges Film Festival (6th-16th October)

Here's the link to the interview, but it's in spanish so I've translated to make it easier. It's from February, but it has some interesting info.

Paul Urkijo: "Mari is the most powerful character in Basque mythology"

Paul Urkijo is in love with mythology in general and Basque mythology in particular. His films drink from those sources that fill the narratives of ancient legends. The director from Alava has finished 'Irati', his second film after Errementari.

Irati is a fantasy of medieval Euskadi, and Paul Urkijo places the action in the 8th century. The plot revolves around a group of Christian and Muslim warriors who enter the Basque Pyrenees in search of a lost treasure of the Emperor Charlemagne. And it is supposed to be in a cave, according to the locals, guarded by the goddess of the lands, Mari. The group of warriors, led by Eneko, is led by a mysterious young woman from the area named Irati. The film stars Eneko Sagardoy and Edurne Azkarate, and the story begins in a comic by Juan Luis Landa and Joxean Muñoz. Talking with Urkijo means immersing yourself in a world of swords and witches

You studied Fine Arts. Was your idea the audiovisual world?

I originally got into this career to do illustration, and my intention was to go into comics or animation. That was what I thought from my way of making and creating stories. I discovered the audiovisual in Fine Arts. Until then it had never crossed my mind that I could make movies, and even less so here; at least, not the kind of cinema that I liked.

Why did you think you didn't have that chance?

Because the cinema that I like is the fantastic genre. When I was 18, I didn't consider those kinds of possibilities. That yes, the cinema is what I have liked most in life, since I was a child, but at that time what I did the most was draw. In Fine Arts I began to discover the audiovisual world because I had several film subjects, and little by little, making short films, I realized that this was going to be my way of telling stories.

And drawing?

It was also included. In the pre-production of a film there is a lot of drawing, so I was immediately hooked on the audiovisual world. At first I made short films with friends to have fun where we used a lot of ketchup, a lot of tomato.

It seems you like it bloody.

Ha, ha, ha. It has its appeal. Every time I was doing more complex things. Little by little I became a professional, and they were no longer just stories with friends to have fun. I wanted what I was experiencing to be my profession. I took a 3D course, I got an award at EITB Kultura and with 2,000 euros I made a short film, El pez plomo, my first work that can be considered semi-professional.

And Errementari arrived

Well, not so fast. Before I did about fifteen shorts. It was a while before he launched me into making a feature film, and that was big words. It seems that he is a big fan of Barandiaran. Of course, and I can also be very monothematic. I have always been a fan of the fantastic and mythology on an international level. Monsters have fascinated me ever since I was a child. I like the meaning of stories and everything behind them. It is a very nice way to describe ourselves, a way to talk about our darkest things and our brightest moments. I am from where I am and from a very young age I have been deeply touched by Basque mythology. I had stories, I went to the mountains a lot, I visited caves... My aitas (aitas=parents in basque) took me to very interesting places and told me stories.

Stories that you now turn into movies.

Ha, ha, ha. Yes, it can be said that from those stories later came others that have become shorts and movies. At home we had an edition of Barandiaran's Complete Works, and I also bought books, although more modern. Little by little I became interested on a deeper level. I saw in those stories what I needed and wanted to tell.

What did you see in Errementari

A fantastic genre story, fun, but dark and with demons; an imagery that I love, so developing all that, I knew it was perfect. I had a really good time making that movie.

Between Errementari and Irati

Yes. I had always wanted to make a fantastic film, with a historical genre and Basque mythology. I was in love with the idea of doing something sword and sorcery, and this comic had enough ingredients to make the movie that I wanted. He had certain nuances that made me go headlong toward him. It drinks directly from Basque mythology and has the perfect excuse to be able to combine history and mythology. I was inspired by the main characters, but I went to the origin.

Did it go off script?

In a way. Yes, I passed a little on the aesthetics, the tone, even the narration of the comic, and in the end I have done something totally different. People who expect something similar to comics will not find it in Irati. It is a much more adult narration, which delves much more into what for me is Basque mythology. It gets a lot into the symbology of those telluric characters related to nature and the beliefs that pagan people had, as opposed to other religions that came later.

It has dropped a lot, from the 21st to the 8th century.

I am not a historian; I am a fan of history and my profession is to tell stories, especially fantasy genres. I use historical settings and periods to immerse the viewer in the lives of my characters, and the 8th century is a fascinating time.

Although seen from a distance of thirteen centuries apart, it seems like a very dark time.

There is no documentation at all. There are very few engravings, there are very few codices, there are very few writings, but in every dark age there have been lights. Christianity has not established the iconography that we are going to see later in the churches. We meet pagan deities who are later transformed into Christian deities. It is a game that is very present in the stories of Barandiaran, where there is always a game between the Christian and the pagan.

Irati is one of the main characters, but many will think that the title refers to the Irati jungle, in Navarra.

I play with that idea. The protagonist is Eneko, a young Christian and nobleman who aims to be the leader of the area, while she is a pagan girl. In order to complete his mission and be the Jaun (lord in basque), Eneko will need the help of Irati. With it you will immerse yourself in that inhospitable, magical and dark jungle that we call Irati.

You have fulfilled your fantastic goals with two films like Errementari and Irati

Ha ha ha. I would love to, because those movies are much easier to produce. I have current stories and projects planned for the future, but right now, what comes to mind is from the period and in complicated locations, with swords, with monsters. After this film, which has been a great epic at the production level, I would like to do something simpler, to rest.

What is the Basque territory that treasures the most mythology?

It is difficult to choose and they all share mythology.

You have chosen Mari.

And Mari is in all herrialdes. Language unites us. Mythology comes to us through oral transmission, and in Basque. There are many studies linking Mari to a matriarchal goddess who was part of a religion that was all over Europe.

What is your favorite character within the mythology of Euskal Herria?

Mari, so we go back to her. It has a power so deep that it is part of all of us. It represents Amalurra, the mother of all creatures. It is fair and terrible in equal parts. Mari is the most suggestive and powerful character in Basque mythology. It is exciting in all the forms it can take: fire, storm, gold, skeleton, snake and all possible animals. It is a unique character that is within my dreams.

And your dreams are about monsters, witches, storms, darkness. A nightmare?

Ha ha ha. No. When I think of monsters, I dream of empathizing with them. They are not a nightmare. I like them because I try to see the other side, because I see the incomprehension that exists in this world towards creatures that are different.

How long has the filming of your film lasted? Eight weeks

Is it a lot or a little?

For what is usually done in independent cinema, it is a lot. We have had the help of the Basque Government, EITB, TVE, the Gasteiz city council. Many people have helped us. Thanks to all of them we have been able to produce a fantastic genre film in Basque. This has been a very complicated project, but I am very stubborn. It's been four or five years of development. Today, making an eight-week film is very complicated. Normal is between four and five.

What route do you think Irati is going to have?

We're in post-production and thinking about the fall festivals. We want to treat the film in the most traditional way possible.

Cinemas?

Exactly, and then it will go to platforms, that's the world we're in. We want it to go to cinemas, festivals and everywhere possible. It is a film that I have tried to make as big as possible. I have wanted to make an epic film so that it can be seen on a cinema screen.

Can you tell who finds Charlemagne's treasure?

No. For that you will have to wait and see the movie, and that is if Charlemagne's treasure exists.

What does a filmmaker like you live on when the cameras are turned off and the story is already finished?

There were times when I had to work doing everything. I've been a waiter, I've been on assembly lines, as a drawing teacher. Of everything. When you go to feature film and make a movie you try to save up to last the time it takes to get to the next one.

In this case, five years, how much does it stretch the money?

Ha ha ha. That valley is usually usually tricky. Let's say that the illusion is what pushes you and you have to cling to it a lot so as not to get sidetracked thinking that you have to pay the flat.

Is Basque cinema in fashion?

I think we're doing pretty well. There have always been great Basque films, but perhaps since Aupa Etxebeste! our cinema has taken off. From a certain point, films have begun to be made in Basque that are consumed nationally and internationally.

Handia was about to go to the Oscars.

The Moriarty production company is the spearhead of Basque cinema. What others do affects us, just as what I do affects others. I think that in Basque cinema we feed off each other, and all at the same time we are creating an increasingly professional, increasingly stable industrial fabric, and that is why we have more and more work in the Basque Country. For example, it is very difficult to find technicians for a film. When we went to do Irati we had a hard time, because they were in other series and other movies. We have a good outlook.

Would you like to make non-independent cinema?

Yeah, of course. Maybe you don't have as much creative freedom, but at an industrial level you can make very big, contrived and fun movies, it wouldn't be bad at all. It is also true that I make films because I like to tell my own stories.

Do you think that in the end we will end up seeing all the movies on platforms?

I think and hope not. People, with this pandemic, have stayed at home and have gotten used to watching movies there, but I think the time will come, if it hasn't already, when people once again have the need to share the films in larger spaces, where the experience is different. I am hopeful that theaters will be strong again.

And with popcorn included, right?

That of course. A good movie and a good carton of popcorn. We will return to it and we will see the cinema as we have always seen it, in theaters. It is true that I have also gone less because of the situation we have been through, but I have tried to go to a room every week.

In your first film you used three dialects of Basque. In this one?

A dialect of Basque, Latin and Arabic. These last two languages are brushstrokes that we have put. Basque is Navarrese with a very old nuance, but totally understandable. All this will help us immerse ourselves in that time, the 8th century.

Does your movie has age restrictions?

No, my film is immortal. Seriously, it's an adult movie, I haven't limited anything, but totally understandable. All this will help us immerse ourselves in that time, the 8th century. Is your movie old? No, my film is immortal. Seriously, it's an adult movie, I haven't limited anything, but I think it's a movie that everyone could see. It is an adventure story, entertaining, with its dark moments, with violence. I'm not going to be the one to categorize it. Hopefully the younger ones will see it too.

**********

About the director...

Age: 37 years old (June 22, 1984).

Place of birth: Gasteiz.

Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts.

Career: Once he discovered the audiovisual universe in college, he launched himself into the world of short films. His works in this field have won 85 national and international awards and have been selected for festivals some 400 times. In 2016 he wrote the bible for his first feature film, based on the Basque story Patxi Errementaria. With this film he has won numerous awards, including the award for best film at the Terror Week in San Sebastian. Five years later, he has returned to command to make his second feature, Irati, an epic story that will travel through the autumn festivals.

#irati 2022 #irati #interview #period dramas #fims #paul urkijo alijo

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beyond-crusading · 4 years

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A non-exhaustive list of barely credible anecdotes about Christopher Lee's life

(Long post but I can assure you it's worth it)

- He volunteered to fight with Finland against the Soviet Union in 1939, but was never sent to the front line because, in his own words, he "knew how to shoot, but not how to ski"

- As soon as he got back from Finland he volunteered into the British army and received training to become a RAF pilot. The day before his first solo flight, he suddenly had a failure in his optic nerve and was told he could never fly again.

- He then became an intelligence officer in the British army and took part in the Allies' attack in North Africa and Sicily.

- While spending some time on leave in Naples, he climbed Mount Vesuvius, which erupted three days later.

- As he spoke fluent French, Italian and German, he was tasked with helping tracking down Nazi war criminals.

- After the war, he began an acting career, but was told he was "too tall to be an actor" and played background characters for 10 years.

- After his critically acclaimed role in Dracula (1958), he reluctantly played a number of sequels. In Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1965), he has no lines, he merely hisses his way through the film. Lee claims it is because he refused to say the stupid lines that were written for him.

- In 1951, he was recruited to play a Spanish ship captain because he knew how to speak Spanish and fence.

- He auditioned for a part in the film The Longest Day (1962), but was turned down because he did not "look like a military man."

- Lee appeared as the on-screen narrator in Jess Franco's Eugenie (1970) as a favour to producer Harry Alan Towers, unaware that it was softcore pornography, as the sex scenes were shot separately.

I had no idea that was what it was when I agreed to the role. (...) When I had left Spain that day everyone behind me had taken their clothes off !

- He played a role in the TV series La Révolution française (1989) as the executioner, Charles-Henri Sanson, who beheaded King Louis XVI, Maximilien de Robespierre, and others.

- In 2010, he released Charlemagne: By the Sword of the Cross, a heavy metal album retelling the life of Frankish King Charlemagne, which was critically acclaimed. He became the oldest heavy metal performer ever, at age 88.

And I haven't even mentioned the witchcraft...

#christopher lee #cinema #horror #dracula #saruman #dooku #charlemagne #heavy metal #witchcraft #history #world war ii #ww2 #historyblr

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a-god-in-ruins-rises · 3 years

Note

2, 5, 17, 40

2. what would you name your future kids?

lol i have a running list of baby names that i've been adding to and subtracting from since i was like 12 years old. the list is pretty long and sometimes a bit cheesy, so i'm not gonna post the list in full. but a few of my ideas....

for boys...francis, frederick, roderick, charlemagne, emmerich, orion, orestes, ambrose, havelock, evander, lysander, barrett, theodoric, ulysses, etc. i'm going for more....classic/timeless names, and especially names that have versatility. like...charlemagne obviously seems like a lot. but on the day-to-day he could go by charles or something. theodoric could go by theo. francis, frank. but i like names that give you the option of having something with a bit more....flair. and obviously the names for my boys would be strong, powerful, masculine names. either in meaning or in sound or association.

for girls...euphemia, clementine, aurelia, celeste, penelope, sibyl, cassandra, eleanor, odessa, artemis, victoria, minerva, calista, ostara, thalia, adelaide, genevieve, etc. so again, trying for more classic/timeless names for the most part. less focus on versatility, but there's still some. obviously, more emphasis on beauty and elegance and divinity in meaning/sound/association.

5. is there anyone who can always make you smile?

lol yes. my gf. constantly. idk what it is. just the way she says things -- even mundane things -- fills me with joy.

17. opinion on insecurities.

in general? everyone has them. best to deal with them, lest they become easy targets. reinforce them so they're not so insecure anymore, or just embrace them and be really open and devil-may-care about them.

40. favourite memory

this is really hard because i have really shit memory and a really shitty life, so it's hard for me to pinpoint any specific memory. but i do have a collection memories of a time in my life that are collectively my "favorite" memory. i've talked about it before. but it was one summer. i was maybe like 12 years old? but it was just this one summer that was so fucking good. it was so packed with everything. it was like such a cliche "coming of age" summer. that one summer probably had more life packed into it than every other summer i've ever had since. and it's fitting because that was the last summer where me and all my friends at the time spent together. because after that summer a lot of my friends moved away, and the few that remained drifted away. but we just did everything you could imagine. from the moment i woke up, to the moment i passed out from exhaustion, we were constantly doing something. playing video games, watching movies, playing pretend, playing yugioh, going swimming, going to the beach, wandering around town, crossing the town to go to the moving theater, exploring the sewers, ding-dong-ditching and tp-ing and egging houses. god we were little assholes. it was me, my older brother, his friends, and my friends. we got into paintball that summer and we'd paintball peoples' houses. there was this one weird guy that my brother hated and we were constantly harassing him all summer long. we got into fights. we had injuries from stupid jackass-like stunts. we were just a bunch of punk kids tearing up the neighborhood. had scavenger hunts. flew kites. water gun/water balloon fights. played street football (tackle). went to skate parks (i never skated but i'd hang out). went to the arcade. played laser tag. ate tons and tons of pizza. had sword fights with real swords (we wore mail) etc etc etc. the mischief and adventure just never seemed to end. and then it ended. and like i said, everyone went their separate ways. and i've never experienced a summer like that since.

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isolaradiale · 4 years

Text

Lost in Space 23

Hello, Isolans! We have conducted an activity check for the month of August!

If your character isn’t on this list, make sure to check this page to see how many stars that character has earned this month! Stars can be used for purchases at the marketplace.

The blogs that were removed from the Isola Radiale masterlist are under the cut. Note that both blogs with broken links and deactivated accounts will be included both at the top of this list and in their proper categories.

If you were removed in error, please simply send a re-application message. Several different people work on the activity checks, so it’s possible there are mistakes! If this happens to you, you will be able to keep everything you previously had, you just may be placed in a different residence.

Our general activity rules regarding checks are as follows:

Make at least three in-character posts during a calendar month (for instance, if the activity check is for January, have three in-character posts between the 1st and 31st of January).

Only one drabble and/or meme response of 300+ words counts as activity.

One-liners or minis not tagged #isola mini also do not count.

Please Note: If you are removed during two consecutive activity checks, you will not be allowed to re-apply as that character for two calendar months.

Additionally, anyone removed during the activity check will have a 12-hour window from the time of posting to re-claim their character. Any character not reclaimed during that period will be open to the community at large.

Please send in your reapplications from the account of the character that was removed.

Broken URLs:

Caster (Scathach=Skadi) (FATE)

ANIMAL CROSSING

Redd (CONDO 418)

ARKNIGHTS

Ch'en (HOUSE 130)

ASSASSIN'S CREED

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad (CONDO 416)

Jacob Frye (HOUSE 129)

Shay Cormac (TOWNHOUSE 220)

BLASPHEMOUS

The Penitent One (HOUSE 114)

BLAZBLUE

Azrael (APARTMENT 311)

Nu-13 (TOWNHOUSE 211)

Tsubaki Yayoi (TOWNHOUSE 218)

BLEACH

Ichigo Kurosaki (APARTMENT 365)

BLUE EXORCIST (AO NO EXORCIST)

Amaimon (CONDO 428)

BUNGOU STRAY DOGS

Chuuya Nakahara (TOWNHOUSE 217)

Lucy Maud Montgomery (CONDO 469)

Nikolai Gogol (TOWNHOUSE 235)

CARDFIGHT!! VANGUARD

Kai Toshiki (Aichi's House [Cotes])

CASTLEVANIA

Richter Belmont (TOWNHOUSE 208)

CLOSERS

Wolfgang Schneider (APARTMENT 306)

COOKIE RUN

Vampire Cookie (CONDO 424)

CRITICAL ROLE

Yasha Nydoorin (HOUSE 119)

DANGANRONPA

Gonta Gokuhara (APARTMENT 360)

Nanami Chiaki (HOUSE 110)

Takumi Hijirihara (APARTMENT 336)

DC COMICS

Damian Wayne (HOUSE 117)

DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN

Leo Manfred (TOWNHOUSE 220)

Markus (APARTMENT 369)

DISNEY

Honey Lemon (CONDO 468)

Rapunzel (CONDO 467)

FATE

Assassin (Okada Izou) (APARTMENT 316)

Avenger (Antonio Salieri) (APARTMENT 371)

Caster (Scathach=Skadi) (HOUSE 171) *BROKEN URL

Ruler (Sherlock Holmes) (APARTMENT 321)

Saber (Charlemagne) (CONDO 420)

FINAL FANTASY

Rain (TOWNHOUSE 208)

Warrior of Light (Red Mage - Faris Helmold) (CONDO 428)

FIRE EMBLEM

Byleth (M) (APARTMENT 309)

Lewyn (APARTMENT 347)

Linhardt von Hevring (CONDO 469)

Lucina (Lucina's House [Archimedes])

Mercedes von Martritz (APARTMENT 366)

GANGSTA

Nicolas Brown (APARTMENT 337)

GHOST TRICK

Yomiel (TOWNHOUSE 208)

GRANBLUE FANTASY

Siete (HOUSE 132)

HELLTAKER

Azazel (APARTMENT 369)

HOLLOW KNIGHT

Pure Vessel (APARTMENT 301)

HOMESTUCK

Hearts Boxcars (APARTMENT 326)

HUNTER X HUNTER

Feitan (APARTMENT 315)

HYPNOSIS MICROPHONE

Doppo Kannonzaka (CONDO 424)

KINGDOM HEARTS

Aqua (TOWNHOUSE 240)

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

Jinx (HOUSE 124)

LEGEND OF ZELDA

Octavo (CONDO 402)

LETHAL LEAGUE

Switch (CONDO 463)

LOBOTOMY CORPORATION

Laetitia (TOWNHOUSE 235)

THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES

Mike Crew (HOUSE 126)

MARVEL

Clint Barton (Hawkeye) (Clint's House [Golden])

MO DAO ZU SHI

Jiang Cheng (APARTMENT 370)

Jiang Yanli (CONDO 402)

MY HERO ACADEMIA (BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA)

Dabi (The League of Villains' Mansion [Cotes])

Jin Bubaigawara (Twice) (CONDO 434)

Shouta Aizawa (CONDO 465)

NARUTO

Itachi Uchiha (Sasuke's House [Cotes])

Sasuke Uchiha (Sasuke's House [Cotes])

ODIN SPHERE

Oswald (APARTMENT 308)

ONE PUNCH MAN

Tatsumaki (HOUSE 107)

ORIGINAL CHARACTER

Carina Aegir (APARTMENT 305)

Cecil Tenebrae (APARTMENT 327)

Italma Meridian (HOUSE 123)

Jounoichi Nakahara (HOUSE 150)

Revenant (HOUSE 139)

Riku Haruna (HOUSE 122)

Speckles (CONDO 465)

Wabbajack (TOWNHOUSE 213)

PERSONA

Ryoji Mochizuki (CONDO 423)

Takuto Maruki (TOWNHOUSE 211)

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Erik (The Phantom) (TOWNHOUSE 220)

POKEMON

Leon (TOWNHOUSE 236)

PROFESSOR LAYTON

Alfendi Layton (HOUSE 174)

RWBY

Adam Taurus (Adam's House (Cotes))

SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER

Entrapta (HOUSE 103)

SHOVEL KNIGHT

Mona (APARTMENT 325)

SPIRITED AWAY

Haku (TOWNHOUSE 201)

STAR OCEAN

Precis F. Neumann (HOUSE 172)

STAR WARS

Anakin Skywalker (CONDO 412)

Obi-wan Kenobi (APARTMENT 321)

SURGE CONCERTO

Earthes (HOUSE 102)

Ionasal.kkll.Preciel (CONDO 401)

SWORD ART ONLINE

Alice (HOUSE 129)

TALES OF

Anna Irving (HOUSE 122)

Martel Yggdrasill (APARTMENT 360)

Mithos Yggdrasill (HOUSE 105)

Yuan Ka-Fai (CONDO 435)

TEAM FORTRESS

Medic (CONDO 421)

TOKYO AFTERSCHOOL SUMMONER

Protagonist/Wanderer (APARTMENT 303)

UNTITLED GOOSE GAME

Horrible Goose (OUTSIDE)

VANITAS NO CARTE

Noé Archiviste (HOUSE 134)

VOLTRON

Keith Kogane (TOWNHOUSE 239)

THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU

Joshua Kiryu (APARTMENT 363)

#modnote #activity check #lost in space 23

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missysmadhouse · 4 years

Text

Tall, Dark and Menacing: Horror Icon Sir Christopher Lee

Source: Birth. Movies. Death

"I hate being idle. As dear Boris [Karloff] used to say, when I die I want to die with my boots on."

- Sir Christopher Lee on retirement

Sir Christopher Lee is probably best known for his many performances as the Count Dracula of Hammer horror movie infamy with his imposing statuesque frame, blazing eyes and sharp fangs. Lee's tall, imposing presence and deep, rich voice left a lasting impression on audiences in a film career spanning decades. He portrayed many other famous characters from Frankenstein's monster to one of James Bond's many nemeses, Francisco Scaramanga, in "Man with the Golden Gun" and another nefarious nobleman the Star Wars universe, Count Dooku.

His voice lent itself not only to very memorable characters but to music as well. Not surprising, Lee musical accomplishments included recording many opera pieces and, surprisingly, heavy metal. Lee released two heavy metal albums, "Charlemagne: The Sword and the Cross" in 2010 and "Charlemagne: The Omens of Death" in 2013. Lee was presented with the "Spirit of Metal" award st the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards ceremony.

Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee was born on May 27, 1922. Lee did not grow up with any theatrical aspirations. His mother, Estelle, was an Italian contessa and his father, Geoffrey, was an officer in the British Army. He was educated at Wellington College, London until leaving school at age 17 for unspecified reasons. Lee worked as a city clerk.

During World War II, Lee served as an intelligence officer in the Royal Air Force in North Africa and Italy. Lee ended his service with a unit investigating war crimes with the rank of lieutenant. However, a mishap training prevented Lee from ever becoming a pilot.

Source: Classic Monsters

Nicolo Carandini, a relative of Lee, suggested that Lee consider acting. Carandini, president of Alitalia Airlines at the time, happened to know the head of a movie studio. Carandini's friend, Filippo del Giudice, was head of Two Cities Films. Lee ended up with a seven-year contract with the Rank Entertainment Group. The Rank Entertainment executive who was involved in the process was unimpressed by Lee and remarked that Lee was too tall to be an actor.

However, Lee's 6'5" frame coupled with a deep, rich voice would enhance his performances. His height specifically lent to the menacing presence to Count Dracula. His deep voice lent a commanding presence to the many kings and noblemen he portrayed, including James I of Aragon in 1986's "The Disputation" and Ramses II in 1995's film "Moses."

Rank Entertainment sent him to acting class, where Lee studied method acting. His first attempts as an actor were in live theater. After a mishap not intended to be comedic caused the audience to laugh, Lee quit theater to concentrate on film. Lee accidentally put his hand through a "window" on stage. Swordplay was also part of his education and it's a skill he would use in many of his roles.

The first 10 years of Lee's film career were less than stellar. He played a series of small roles in many British b-movies, starting with "Corridor of Mirrors" in 1948. The 1958 Hammer film, "Dracula" would be a turning point in Lee's career as well as introducing him to Peter Cushing, who would be Lee's costar for a total of 22 films.

Lee would also form friendships with fellow horror icons, Vincent Price and Boris Karloff.

Lee with.Peter Cushing and Vincent Price. Source: Amazing Stories

After stepping down as Count Dracula, Lee went on to play the nefarious "supervillain" Fu Manchu five times. He not only worked in British and American cinema but also lent his talents to Italian, French, Spanish and German films.

Lee expanded his acting experience beyond horror movies to action fillms. Besides James Bond's nemesis in "The Man with the Golden Gun," Lee portrayed a western outlaw, pirate and a Nazi officer.

Lee didn't start appearing in American films until after 1974's "The Man with the Golden Gun." It was filmmaker Billy Wilder who suggested Lee bring his talents to the U.S. Lee worked with Wilder in 1970's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes." Lee took an unexpected comedic turn, hosting Saturday Night Live and played a Hell's Angel biker in 1980's "Serial."

Lee published an autobiography in 1977, "Tall, Dark and Gruesome," which was re-released in 2003 under the title, "The Lord of Misrule."

Lee as Frankenstein's monster in "The Curse of Frankenstein;" Source: The Telegraph

Lee continued working in the film industry in multiple countries as well as in Britain and the U.S. He appeared in five of Tim Burton's films, Peter Jackson's Tolkien adaptations as well as the Star Wars franchise.

Lee has been presented with many honors: a lifetime achievement award from the Bafta fellowship in 2011, a BFI fellowship in 2013, commander of arts and letters in both France and Germany, was made a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 2001 and knighted in 2009.

Sir Christopher Lee passed away on June 7, 2015 at the age of 93. He was survived by his wife, Gitte Kroencke, who he married in 1961. The couple have a daughter, Christina.

- Missy Dawn

Sources:

Christopher Lee obituary, by Alex Hamilton, The Guardian, June 11, 2015

Christopher Lee by Richard Pillardy, Brittanica.com

"Sir Christopher Lee Dies at the Age of 93," by Natalie Caron, June 11, 2015, SyfyWire

youtube

#horror movies #classic horror #horror icons #sir christopher lee

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militant-holy-knight · 5 years

Link

On a fall day in the early 8th century, somewhere between the French cities of Poitiers and Tours, a Muslim army crashed into the serried ranks of a force led by a powerful Frankish noble: Charles, Mayor of the Palace and son of Pippin of Herstal. In the ensuing battle, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi — governor of the Muslim territories in Al-Andalus (Spain) — was slain, and his troops were routed. This confrontation between two Dark Age warlords echoed through the ages and acquired a potent symbolism, all despite the fact that medievalists know relatively little about the principal protagonists and the respective orders of battle, let alone how the fight actually unfolded.

We do actually know sufficient details about everything in regards to the battle and considering the author used a BBC link (from an outlet infamous for historical revisionism) to prove his point, I really shouldn’t take what he claims seriously. And even if any of these things are true... Should they be dismissed? There are important battles whose details are still obscure like the Battle of the Cataluniuan Fields where the Romans fought Atilla the Hun, but no one knows who won. Yet no one ever complains about it because it isn’t a thorn on the author’s skin. But again this is pointless because we know how the battle played out.

youtube

Edward Gibbon famously speculated that, had Abdul Rahman prevailed at Poitiers,

“the Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet.”

The French romantic writer Chateaubriand made the equally dramatic claim that, “if it were not for Charles Martel’s valor, we would all be wearing turbans.”

“Oh yes, how I wish these Islamophobes had just bowed down their heads and let the Arabs walk over them, violate their wives and daughters, destroy and desecrate their churches. Europe would have been so much more tolerant than today.” - Iskander Rehman, the author of this piece of shit.

Perhaps most importantly, Charles Martel has become an enduring icon of fascist and far-right movements, in France and other Western states. The Vichy regime, for example, reveled in its warped reading of Charles Martel and of medieval French history more broadly. The francisca, an early Frankish throwing axe, featured prominently in Vichy iconography and propaganda, and Charles Martel was presented alongside Joan of Arc as an embodiment of pre-revolutionary Catholic virtue. Meanwhile, a notorious division of French volunteers to the Nazi SS was named the Division Charlemagne after the great Carolingian Emperor and grandson of Charles Martel. In the years following France’s bitter war in Algeria, a far-right group — the Cercle Charles Martel — conducted a string of terror attacks against Algerians and citizens of North African descent in France. More recently, the founder of the French Front National party, Jean-Marie Le Pen, reacted to the Charlie Hebdo killings by proudly claiming “Je suis Charlie Martel,” in defiance of the more republican and inclusive slogan “Je suis Charlie.” “Je suis Charlie Martel” has since become one of the rallying cries of French far-right activists.

This sinister historical crush extends far beyond France. Anders Breivik, the Norwegian neo-Nazi who slaughtered 77 people in 2011, claimed in his online rants to have “identified” with the figure of Charles Martel. In the United States, a group called the Charles Martel Society funds the publication of a pseudo-intellectual and deeply racist journal, The Occidental Quarterly. Charles de Steuben’s famous 19th-century painting of the Battle of Poitiers flashes through one of Richard Spencer’s slickly edited “alt-right” videos, providing a brief and jarring backdrop to a long stream of nativist gobbledygook.

These two paragraphs can be summed up as “Racists, bigots and hate groups love Charles Martel, so you cannot too or else you are one of them”. The irony in all of this is that Adolf Hitler hated Charles Martel for defeating the Arabs because he felt that if they had won, they would have brought Islam to Germans and they would have become unstoppable, since he felt Islam was a more appropriate religion for the Nazis.

Most modern historians are skeptical of the notion that the battle of Poitiers constituted such a watershed moment. While the defeat of the Andalusian army by a Western European force was certainly significant, it was not unprecedented. Only a few years prior, Odo of Aquitaine crushed another Muslim army outside Toulouse, but this battle never acquired the same mythological symbolism of the battle of Poitiers.

The difference is that Odo’s victory was merely temporary while Charles’ stopped any more invasions - that is exactly what makes it decisive. If Arabs had retreated back to Spain after the Battle of Tolouse, you’d be writing this same article except condemning Odo of Tolouse instead of Charles Martel. The Battle of Poitiers happened because Odo asked Charles for his help and in exchange he’d swear his allegiance to him.

The academic consensus now appears to be that Al Ghafiqi’s foray into what was then referred to as Northern Gaul was a long-distance raid or “razzia” motivated not so much by an ambition for conquest as by a desire for plunder. Indeed, we are told that the prime target of this raid was a wealthy religious sanctuary located at Saint Martin de Tours and filled with gold and precious fabrics. Hugh Kennedy has noted that the defeat seems to have had little resonance in the wider Arabo-Muslim world, and he views it as one symptom of many that marked the steady decline of the Syrian-based Umayyad Caliphate. Others have pointed to the Caliphate’s overextension into Spain and to the growing tensions between local Arab and Berber forces as well as rival tribes and clans.

A lot of Islam apologists use this argument of “plunder” to whitewash it’s militarist expansionism and not name it what it actually was: colonialism. There is no such thing as being there “just” for plunder when Arabs are actively settling the region and governing over it (Septimania was already occupied by this point). The Vikings were motivated solely by plunder and didn’t care about ruling their victims (the Danelaw over England being the exception). I love how he uses “academic consensus” because that is dogwhistle for “what me and my SJW friends agree with”, as well as “Arab Muslim world didn’t care for this battle, but I am so mad about it I am going to write everything I can to discredit it”

Although the destruction of Al Ghafiqi’s field army depleted the Ummayads’ local reservoir of military strength, Moorish troops lingered in some southern French cities such as Narbonnes for two and a half more decades. Meanwhile, Muslim raiders continued their “ghazawat” across the Pyrenees for at least another a century, long after the fall of the Ummayads.

Minor skirmishes don’t mean a whole lot if they can’t even launch another full-scale invasion again.

It would be reductive to present the battle of Poitiers as the military manifestation of some age-old existential struggle between Christendom and Islam. Charles Martel’s Europe was a continent of many faiths and philosophies, not a religiously bipolar system.

OMFG. You actually went there, you son of a bitch.

Religious differences could cut across tribes, kingdoms, and ethnicities. For example, along the Pyrenees resided the fiercely independent Basques, some of whom were Muslim, some of whom were Christian, and a portion of whom practiced more ancient forms of belief. The “Song of Roland,” a medieval ballad familiar to all products of French middle schools, recounts the cowardly ambush of one of Emperor Charlemagne’s retainers, the noble Roland, by enemy forces in a narrow mountain pass. For centuries, schoolchildren were told that the Carolingian knight had been killed by “Saracens” — Muslim forces based in Spain. It is now believed that Roland — whose prolonged death scene famously inspired Boromir’s in Lord of the Rings — was actually killed by Basques, rather than by Arabs or Berbers. This historical gaffe provides yet another indication of our tendency to overlook the rich tapestry of political and religious actors in early medieval Europe in favor of more binary models.

Admittedly, the Song of Roland is very historically inaccurate - this is obvious to anyone who reads it since Muslims worship Muhammad the same way Christians do with Jesus - but this is explained due to an unfamiliarity the people at the time had with other religions. Rehman expect us to believe that Europe was like this bastion of religious tolerance when the authors of the Song of Roland can even get other people’s religions right.

I am honestly done, this guy is beyond retarded and I feel like genocided more braincells than I should have trying to refute his bullshit. I strongly mulled on whether or not to post this, but I feel like it would have been a waste of time to not expose this shit. Iskander Rehman is the kind of guy who would criminalize celebrating the Battle of Poitiers, the Siege of Vienna or any “triumph of the cross over the crescent” battle (even an obscure one, like the Battle of Vaslui) if he had the power to do so.

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blooddrinkingbartender · 5 years

Text

My Type of Guy | Pokemon Profiles

Below you will find Pokemon Verse Profiles for Bill, Leofric, and Antonio. Please be aware that there will be mentions of Sword/Shield Pokemon and locations, due to Bill and Azrael both being from Galar. It’s also long, hence the cut. This will be added to the verses page shortly.

Bill Goodwin

Name: Bill Goodwin (former name was Lord William Godolphin IV)

Age: Over eight hundred years old.

Birthday: 7th December 1171 (Star sign: Sagittarius)

Gender: Cis Male (he/him/his pronouns)

Sexual Orientation: Pansxual.

Species: Vampire (died and turned the year 1203)

Powers and Abilities: Mesmerism (able to force people to obey his commands, entrance them, or forget that they encountered him, it’s arguably his strongest skill, but it works a lot better when he’s also applying physical contact), flash steps (he can move at abnormal speeds. He can cross a long distance in a literal blink), heightened senses, forming very long claws, regeneration (the time it takes depends on the severity of the wound and how long it’s been since he last fed). Able to create his own shadow weapons of sorts, such as using them to create tendrils to grab/damage opponents, and he can smell lies ‘like when someone rips ass in a car’.

Weaknesses: Can’t enter a place without being invited (however, that doesn’t stop him using his mesmerism to force people to invite him in), some people can naturally see through the glamour and/or resist his mesmerism, fire (kills all vampires), sunlight (surprisingly, it doesn’t kill him, but it still burns him to the bone, leaves him in horrible pain, and makes him wish he could die), can’t utilise his super speed if he’s being watched (he can move quickly while you blink though), cannot consume normal food or drinks without vomiting them up again soon after (he still has eaten or drank normal things for the taste), the sap and juice of fresh plants burns him like acid, and holy symbols repel him (as long as the wearer/user knows this and/or has faith that it will. If it works, in his point of view, the symbol glows in a blinding light and he feels the sensation of something pushing him back.)

Ethnicity: White.

Current Residence: Travels a lot.

Former Residence: Galar. His old massive estate has now become a Pokemon sanctuary for orphaned and abandoned Pokemon.

Nationality: Galarian.

Current Pokémon Team:

Gilli the Flapple (after the Cornish Gilliflower apple, just for a fun fact there.)

Sly the Thievul

Morgowr the Lapras

Divine the (Authentic) Polteageist

Flurry the Frosmoth

Princess the Gardevoir

Divine (named after the art of divination through tea leaves) has been with Bill since he was a child and his later turning into a vampire over eight hundred years before. He’s able to drink Divine’s tea without being sick as well. He’s glad to have at least one team member be able to live all these years with him. The rest of the Pokemon have been caught recently or are descendants of previous team members.

Princess is also able to sense when Bill is soon to enter an episode and warns him accordingly. Gilli, Flurry, Princess, and Divine are all female. Sly and Morgowr are male.

Mother: Glanna Godolphin (deceased)

Father: Lord William Godolphin III (deceased)

Siblings: None

Height: 6′3″

Weight: 200lbs

Body Type: Mesomorph/Muscular

Hair: Ginger, as is his beard.

Eyes: Very pale grey with slit pupils and red sclerae (Regular grey with normal pupils and sclerae when glamouring)

Languages: Kalos, Kantonian, Galarian Sign Language (GSL) and Unovian Sign Language (USL).

Distinguishing features: He has major burn scars on the right side of his abdomen, chest, part of his right arm, and just above his butt. A hunter managed to set him on fire. Luckily, before it could kill him, he managed to put himself out. That Hunter paid with her life. He can see himself in mirrors, despite popular belief. He’d be very sad if he couldn’t. The same goes for photographs. However, he doesn’t cast a shadow. If he doesn’t drink blood for a long time, he starts to age. Drinking blood reverses this effect.He has three scars on his chest that are either from arrows or crossbow bolts. They’re all under his left pec muscle. He can only assume that that was how he died before he became a vampire; someone had shot at him three times and at least one of the projectiles had killed him. He has a birthmark on the back of his left hand that’s shaped like a crescent. He often jokes that it’s because one of his ancestors was a werewolf. He also has a tattoo of a Cornish Heath plant snaking around and down his outer upper thigh.He usually is in a ‘glamour mode’ of sorts in order to blend in with mortals a lot more easily. He can turn this on and off as he wishes, but some people are able to still see through it when it’s on. When he’s ‘glamouring’, his fangs look like normal teeth, his skin looks more like a healthy pink than the deathly white veiny visage it actually is, and his eyes look a warm grey with regular pupils rather than yellow with slit pupils and red sclerae.

Hobbies and Interests: Video games (yes, he got into them as they came out), dancing, astronomy (might as well enjoy the stars if you’re nocturnal), vlogging (yes, he got into that too), origami, drawing, mythology (he has met some figures of myth, or so he claims), and smithing. He’s also pretty good at playing acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric violins, a lyre, the harmonica, the ocarina, and the accordion.

Occupation: He streams videogames, playing his instruments, andvlogs for money for the most part. However, he also works as a barman wherever work finds him.

Personality:

Starting out his life in a large coastal town in Galar, William Godolphin was the only survivor of the eleven children his parents gave birth to. His father was a lord and his mother was a blacksmith’s daughter who was married into the family.

William lived a fairly easy and unremarkable life with his loving mother, not-so-loving father and a few servants. His father made sure he worked hard however, not wanting to hand him everything on a silver plate, and told the same of his servants. That said, William was fairly well off, and spent his childhood and adult years getting ready to take on his father’s estate. On finding out his bloodline’s wealth and notoriety was founded on thievery, murder, extortion, he was not so willing to do so, but he was unsure of how to find a way out of it.

However, at the age of 31 years old, tragedy struck, and he was attacked and bitten while taking a walk. Despite being weakened by a draining of his blood, he was still determined to get home. But then he was shot and killed, reviving as a vampire soon after. He has no clue how he became a vampire, and who made him (although his maker would often speak into his head), and it did take him some time to get used to his new condition. However, after about fifty years or so, he managed to wrap his head around all of it.

He started out his unlife as a bit of a sadistic asshole, to be blunt, as a result of being puppeted by his maker. After the death of his parents (he hid his condition and they went to the grave never knowing what he became), he dismissed his servants to his father’s uncle’s house, took his inheritance, sold his old estate for a sizeable sum, and travelled. He struggled with his maker’s control, but his Pokemon, especially Divine, helped to keep him grounded.

During the mid-1500sm his maker died and he was free. He decided to try and use his abilities for good, targeting criminals like murderers or rescuing those who might have needed it. He knew he couldn’t bring back those he had killed or restore the minds he broke when he was still mastering his mesmerism abilities, but he could at least start doing better with his life and do his best not to hurt another person (within reason).

At this time, he changed his surname to Goodwin and went Unova to settle there, moving from place to place (although he visited other places and went back to England from time to time). Over 300 years later, during the 1850s, he changed his first name to ‘Bill’ (becoming Bill Cyrus Goodwin) and settle down, content to stay off blood for the rest of his immortal days.

But then he realised that that wasn’t what he really wanted to do. He got the spark to travel again after finding out that so many species of Pokemon had been discovered in all the regions. He decided to get moving on again, and is currently in Galar.

Leofric Lawford

Name: Leofric Lawford (nicknamed Azrael)

Age: Over a thousand years old.

Birthday: 10th December 867 (Star sign: Aries)

Gender: Cis Male (he/him/his pronouns)

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual.

Species: Cursed Immortal (stuck at the age of 35)

Powers and Abilities: Heightened sense of smell and hearing, phasing through walls, ceilings, and floors, knows when a person close by is soon to die or a disaster is soon to happen. However, he can resist the call and avoid showing up to it should he choose. His shout causes people to feel icy cold and numb, about to sprout massive black claws, super speed and strength. Able to temporarily paralyse someone with his glare.

Weaknesses: He has a permanent collar of chains around his neck that he cannot remove. This could potentially lead to him being exposed as what he really is, making him need to hide it under his clothing. Iron and silver. Salt also keeps him away. If you make a line or a barrier with salt around yourself, he can’t get to you. He can’t touch sage bare handed. Things like grepa berries, coffee and chocolate can make him feel sick as well.

Ethnicity: White

Current Residence: No fixed place of residence, nomadic. Does work as security and bouncers for various places.

Former Residence: Galar.

Nationality: Galarian

Current Pokémon Team:

Galahad the Corviknight

Percivale the Absol

Pembroke the Audino

Bloom the Comfey

Charlemagne the Aegislash

Wallace the Alomomola

Mostly healing types in his time, and most of them named after Knights, real or perhaps not. He also can be seen spending time with Mudsdales. Galahad, Charlemagne, Bloom and Pembroke are female. Charlemagne has been with him since before he was turned into immortal a thousand years prior.

Height: 6'5"

Weight: 240lbs

Body Type: Mesomorph/Muscular

Hair: Light brown, shoulder length, and wavy.

Eyes: Brown, white sclerae, normal pupils. (They glow red when he uses his powers)

Languages: He’s learned as many as possible.

Distinguishing features: He has many many scars from his days of battling. The most notable at the bite marks on his throat. They will never heal.

He has a slight beard. It’s not as full as Bill’s, but it’s definitely fuller than basic stubble. He rides a white motorbike.

He doesn’t smile very often. If you see him do it, take a picture; you’ll never see it again in your life otherwise.

Even though his job as a security guard in most places means he has a gun on hand, he refuses to use it. He hates guns; he believes they’re cumbersome and too noisy.

Hobbies and Interests: Reading, poetry, plants and botany (he also researches how to better weaponise them, and for healing), photography, history, boxing, and surprisingly, painting.

Occupation: No real occupation as yet. Does odd jobs for money, as well as battles.

Personality: As a normal human, he was rather stoic, and guarded, but still kind, brave and benevolent as a knight. However, the more heroic side of him was buried after he became immortal. He also had a knowledge of herbalism, using plants and the powers of Pokemon to heal and help others; something he still does if needed.

As an immortal, he is still brave, stoic, and still somewhat good, but now he is also cold, guarded, and quite judgmental to those around him. But he has a soft spot for humans and Pokemon, rescuing them and treating them with a distant sort of kindness. But he has killed humans that he has deemed to be sinful and in need in of ‘retribution’. This extreme treatment is usually saved for the most heinous criminals however. He has also subjected them to a ‘cruel mercy’, where it was more of a punishment to leave them alive.

He has dyslexia. It wasn’t identified until 1881, and then not coined until 1887, so he’s been suffering in silence about it. He also has some slight shortsightedness, but makes up for that with his other abilities.

He also prefers to be fair in a fight or a battle, giving his opponents a fair chance to defend themselves and fight back. That said, he believes underhanded tactics can be a tool to use only when necessary.

Without his Pokemon, especially Charlemagne, he would have completely burned up around his cursed state years ago.

Basic Backstory: Leofric was born in an older time. He was a brave, benevolent and chivalrous knight (not officially, but was considered one) who worked alone, helping the poor, the weak, and the defenceless from those who may threaten them. He was even known as The Silver Knight. It’s said that his Aegislash used to be a regular sword before it was possessed by a fallen friend of his. He has not confirmed or denied it.

He was suddenly killed and then revived as a cursed immortal by a a strange magic-user who was trying to employ the power of Xerneas (said sorcerer had been terrorising the village he had been living in at the time) after he was wounded during a battle with them.

However, this just fueled by his rage towards the man. He spent a long while biding his time and training his skills until he felt that he was powerful enough to challenge his maker again.

He indeed got his revenge in the end. But his hunger for revenge was never satisfied. In fact, it only seemed to grow and rot within him. It is sad but perhaps safe to say that his original personality, the brave, kind and generous knight, had been buried beneath his anger. Not gone, but repressed.

However, he has more reason and kindness than most would assume. His own team of Pokemon help to keep him in the real world and grounded, and stop him from falling off the deep end. This is also why he still has his empathy and compassion, often stopping to help or heal those in need.

While he travels, he has a tendency to get attached to a place and stay there for at least fifty years before moving on.

He has since gone back to Galar.

Antonio Lombardi

Name: Antonio Lombardi (former name was Enrique Giordano as you’re concerned)

Age: 38.

Birthday: 8th August 1981 (Star sign: Leo)

Gender: Trans Male (he/him/his pronouns)

Sexual Orientation: Homosexual.

Species: Human

Ethnicity: Romance

Current Residence: Travels a lot but has a fixed home in every region but Kalos.

Former Residence: Kalos.

Nationality: Galarian-Kalos.

Current Pokémon Team:

Adelaide the Greninja

Erickson the Hypno

Serena the Alakazam

Grace the Roserade

Venus the Milotic

Maria the Ninetails

Erickson is the only male Pokemon on Antonio’s team. The rest are all girls. They also like to help with his magic tricks and performances, as well as help him with his work and moving around.

Mother: Getrude Giordano - Currently not talking to her.

Father: Benito Giordano - Currently not talking to him.

Siblings: Emily Giordano(Older sister) and Sophia Giordano (Younger sister) - Currently not talking to either of them.

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 170lbs

Body Type: Ectomorph

Hair: Black, shoulder-length, and slightly curly.

Eyes: Green

Languages: English, Kalos, and Unovian Sign Language (USL).

Distinguishing features: A benign mole underneath his left eye, and a slash scar across his left cheek and down to his neck. He wears make-up to hide it. He also has faded scars from top surgery.

Due to scoliosis, his chest and back are slightly tilted to the side. This isn’t easy to see unless his shirt is off. It does cause him pain and also makes it harder for him to walk longer distances. He is considering surgery for the scoliosis, but he knows there are risks.

He uses a cane to get around. He actually owns three canes; one has a sword hidden inside of it, another is extendable, and the last is a normal cane. He weaponised them after a mugger attacked him, causing the scar on his face.

He’s a smoker. He always has a lighter and some cigarettes on him. He also a wind-up pocket watch which has a green fish, a red fish, and a yellow fish among a reef on the face which his main prop in his stage hypnosis acts.

He has habits of nodding his head, rhythmically tapping his foot or hand against the floor or the table, blinking at the same time as whoever he is speaking to, and gesturing with his hands while he talks.

He also has synaesthesia, seeing certain colours and shapes whenever he hears certain noises ‘connected’ to them. He also experiences smells on rarer occasions.

Hobbies and Interests: His magic skills. He has dabbled in sleight of hand, misdirection, and mentalism (including stage hypnosis), and he is very good at those too. He has also dabbled in Escapology, and is able to get out of most rope bindings, straightjackets, and pick locks. He also likes to read, cook, practise his tricks, and tend to plants.

Occupation: A magician who travels. He also does admin work and voluntary work.

Personality: While he’s on stage, Antonio speaks with confidence, authority, and even some glee.

Off-stage, he’s quiet, jaded, and very cynical. He prefers to just be left alone for the most part. He doesn’t have much faith in humanity. He also pretends to be a massive sceptic, and ‘holds’ the opinion that those who believe in ‘real magic’, the supernatural, God etc. are nothing more than fools.

That said, he isn’t a complete asshole. He secretly has a lot of compassion and empathy for other people. He performs at orphanages and hospitals for free and donates a portion of his earnings to charity.

If you can break past the guarded shell, you have someone a bit on the nicer side.

Basic Backstory: Antonio was born in August of 1981 to a Kalosian Father (Benito) and a Galarian Mother (Gertrude). They were loving, but distant and stern. He often found himself entertaining or at least occupying his own mind with various tasks. When he was a child, his first Pokemon was Adelaide, his Froakie, although now a Greninja.

He also grew up in a strict household, which he found himself hating as he grew older and it eventually put him off any kind of opening up. He found himself interested in magic tricks and illusions after one of his neighbours showed him a few. He soon met Milton (a Drowzee at the time) and befriended him.

He started to teach himself more magic when he was in teens and became very good at it, especially as he grew older, and also with Milton’s help.

He also realised he was gay, much to his dismay. Even now, he keeps that firmly under wraps. Eventually, at the age of 17, he had a falling out with his parents over his lack of faith and closed-offness. He went on a tirade on how their beliefs are, in his words ‘a big steaming pile of shit’.

After being told his synaesthesia was a sign that he was evil and he punched his father for it, he was essentially kicked out. Uncaring about that, he changed his name and went to Galar to make a name for himself, remembering his mother’s stories of when she lived there. He started very small at first. He was able to find a place to stay. He worked as much as he could and performed his magic on the side with Milton. He was eventually invited to bars to perform and that got him attention and more money. He met Maria, Grace, and Venus (a Vulpix, a Budew, and a Feebas at the time) while going through Galar and took them all in after he realised that Maria had been abandoned, Grace had been left to die after her roses were plucked off painfully (she gained them back and more after evolving), and Venus had been caught in some litter.

He also witnessed a vampire feeding on a person later on, and this terrified him. Said vampire came after him, but Maria scared it off with her fire moves. Even now, he tries to tell himself that it didn’t happen. When he turned twenty, symptoms of his scoliosis started to become prominent, coming with pain and finding it harder to walk or run for longer distances.

Luckily, this didn’t affect his magic shows too badly. At the age of thirty, he made his way up and officially became known as Lord Enigma when performing. He then decided to make his way to the Unova, where he met Serena the Abra and kept her long enough for her to evolve into an Alakazam.

He now has a place in every region, and a lot of his money from his jobs and performances goes to charities or Pokemon shelters for the most part. While he never believed he’d have a full team, he’s glad he does.

He still does magic and performances and voluntary and temporary work wherever he is, but as far as he is concerned, he is definitely never going back to Kalos.

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