Invictus file 04 Andrew Clay

Origin
Well this’ll be at once easy, at his core Andy is a normal human being. Nothing physiologically extraneous about him whatsoever, he’s a six foot six inches tall two hundred eighty pound white boy from Savannah Georgia circa 1829. Born to wealthy farmers who owned a huge plot of land and enough slaves to work it Andrew was immediately marked as different because he had a problem with the concept of people owning other people as property. This would be a constant sticking point between Andy and his old man, his mom just tried to keep the peace between the two. Andrew’s abolitionist leanings saw him do a number of things with the slaves, treat them as human beings, pay them under the table from his allowance so they could buy their freedom, and what got him kicked out of his home teach them how to read and write. When he was kicked out he was twelve years old, he made his way north settling in Illinois where he found work at a textile factory. Even at a young age Andrew had a formidable amount of charisma and a way with words that let him connect with anyone. His parents seeing him taught by the best had a lot to do with that. He managed to become the foreman of his factory by age sixteen, wound up in politics by age eighteen, and was a representative by twenty. During his political days he was involved in numerous bare knuckle boxing matches, a southpaw he was reputed to “have a right hand that could fell a horse.” He vigorously fought for equal representation for all under the law, even going so far as to suggest women get the right to vote, Indians not be purged from their lands, and other ideas that were radical at the time. It wasn’t long before he joined the civil war, considering that his efforts to see the united states actually live up to its credo was thwarted at every turn. He felt he could do more good in the union army and he wound up a field officer before long, and though most of his men distrusted him due to where he came from he proved himself a capable leader. He was nicknamed “the blue mercy” for the way he conducted himself opting to take prisoners whenever possible. He had a little known feud with William Tecumseh Sherman after the Georgia campaign, I guess when some guy rips your home apart and kills anyone that gets in the way you may have a problem with that. According to Andrew he had no problem with waging war on his own hometown, it was how Sherman prosecuted it was the issue. Regardless after Georgia the south didn’t have a whole lot of steam left and the Union seized the initiative with a series of campaigns after that infamous march to the sea. It was during the Red River campaign where Andrew’s luck ran out, he was mortally wounded and was abandoned by his men at the battle of Mansfield, an unremarkable death in the midst of a Union fiasco that only prolonged the inevitable. It’s no wonder America forgot all about Andrew, something that would serve him well later on. After being mortally wounded he ascended to heaven where he was told he was “chosen”. Andrew an atheist laughed openly at the notion of heaven choosing him for anything, to which heaven responded with “if we could use anyone else we would.” Thus began decades of what Andrew describes as the most grueling physical, mental, and spiritual trials he has ever faced. He was returned to the earth at the turn of the century where he helped rally feminists, jews, union workers, and black activists into a cohesive political force that fought jim crow, corporate exploitation, and for women rights. Naturally the folks who ran the country didn’t like that one bit. Andrew has spent the whole of the twentieth century fighting the inherent bigotry not just in our country but all over the world as well. Naturally because of that Andrew spent the entirety of the twentieth century on the world’s most wanted list. As anyone who stayed awake during history class may know Andrew’s efforts have yet to succeed given that bigotry is still well interwoven in our lives. All of the megacorps have spent tens of billions of dollars suppressing, bribing, killing, and smearing anyone who would try and rock the boat. The outstanding bounty on Andrew’s head saw him hunted wherever he went simply for trying to do the right thing. Andrew’s most notorious appearance was during the “Triumph” incident, something most of us still remember to this day.

History of the Champions
According to the secret histories Andrew provided gods used to grant humans divine power for praying properly, unfortunately humans abused it. It got to the point where people would commit acts of unimaginable cruelty just because of its ease. The gods selected a few mortals Enoch being one of the most recognizable to a sort of council as to how to address the situation. The mortals all agreed that giving everyone the power to smite folks with a simple request was a terrible idea, and that perhaps only a few of the most devout mortals should be granted such gifts to champion the causes of their respective deities. Unfortunately this just led to a series of holy wars that made the crusades look like a school yard tussle. According to Andrew “acts of cruelty that even the most depraved of demons would find unacceptable were perpetrated daily.” It was then that the gods decided that only one mortal would wield divine power at any given point. That said Champions have led solitary, rough, and tragically violent lives as they try to fight the good fight. Champions normally had a few ticks up their sleeves with one really potent bit of divine magic called a miracle. Each champion got a few ‘gifts’ or passive effects that helped them out and one “miracle” one ace in the hole that can get them out of a real big jam. Divine champions were meant to unite humanity, but given our world’s history I’d say they’ve failed pretty hard. Champions have always been outside of any organized religion, have always operated in the shadows, and have never founded any of the world’s religions though they may have followed them. Andrew isn’t unique in the fact that he is an atheist divine champion, rather he’s unique in the fact that has been given unprecedented amounts of divine power. Everything about Andrew’s situation reeks of a desperation play, the gods stopped trusting mortals a long time ago but to entrust Andrew with such power makes no sense otherwise. According to Andrew my suspicions are right, he’s essentially a divine hail mary (the football play before you ask). In his own words, should he fail mankind will spiral down a dark road that it will never recover from. One that would make our old world of corrupt politics and suffering look cuddly by comparison.

Gifts
From what he’s told me Andrew doesn’t have just the normal one or two gifts that the champions normally get but all of them. Gifts are passive effects that help a champion endure his or her life without dying miserably. In Andrews case these are amplified ten fold, for instance despite being active since 1900 andrew still looks like he’s in his late forties/early fifties, that’s because he ages at a reduced rate 1 per 10 years by my estimates. Animals won’t harm him under any circumstances, hell they even bring him food when he’s out on the streets or in back country. He has many gifts that allow him to communicate effectively with people regardless of language barrier, move without being noticed or harassed, heal from crippling injuries in days, and so forth. Most famous is his truth aura which prevents anyone within his presence from lying to themselves or others. This makes Andy extremely unpopular as people start looking at themselves under the harshest of microscopes. He’s incredibly resistant to magic of all forms any spell under B- rank fails outright, doesn’t seem to have to worry about temperature extremes, people feel at ease just talking to him (assuming they don’t run off to reevaluate their lives because of that truth aura), he has the entirety of every faith’s history and tenants burned into his memory, and many others I’m sure I’m missing. Andrews gifts alone allow him to survive (albeit far from comfortably) anywhere on earth while he carries out his appointed task. He can make himself understood, and understand foreign languages but he can’t truly speak them (though he learned many before his calling). He has a probability field that serves as a potent defense against firearms, and ranged attacks. He has to rely on his reflexes and training up close however. The field also has a tendency to put him in the right place at the right time (or wrong time depending on your point of view.) Andrew’s mere presence can banish all but the most powerful extradimensional beings and spirits within a dozen miles around him (B class and below), most of the undead simply crumble in his presence (B class and below), and he can break all but the most powerful curses and enchantments with a few moments of concentration (B+ and below). More powerful magics however require the use of miracles to nullify. Andrew through his gifts can hit crowds of people and disappear, go weeks without food or water, he even recovers from injuries at an astonishing rate and is immune to poison and disease. In addition Andrew can “render judgment” making a person suffer all the pain they’ve caused to other people. This scales with andrew’s power the higher he is on the miracle scale the more blistering the judgment. In addition Andrew can get a vague idea of the sins people have committed on sight, the more severe the sin the clearer the vision. Petty theft may barely register, but murder or selling people into slavery is as clear as day. This sin vision takes into account people harmed by the actions or lack thereof from the subject so a murderer might not be as clear as a white collar crook or vice versa. In addition Andrew can also see the virtue in people.

Trials
Even being considered for the role of divine champion is an accomplishment in and of itself. According to Andrew one must be cognizant of the evils of one’s time and work to reject them. You must be willing to sacrifice everything to confront and face this evil as well and that's just step one.

Miracles
I gotta admit seeing these bad boys in action is pretty damn impressive, according to Andy miracles don’t come for free, or rather they can but there’s a significant price to be paid in one’s sanity. Being too close to the divine invites a madness that is more infections than the common cold, or at least so I’m told. The safest way to utilize miracles is to earn them, and Andrew does this by accomplishing tasks relevant to his mission. Andrew might help an old lady across the street but that generally doesn’t’ grant him any of what he calls “favor”. As I understand it favor is the currency which is exchanged for miracles, or rather the part in divine magic which substitutes using one’s own energy or the planet’s, or some other near plane of existence. Miracles vary in intensity and effect dependant on how much favor Andrew has earned, and Andrew earns favor by following the champion’s dictate. Sheltering the oppressed and stricken, healing the sick, giving alms to the poor (actually bettering their lives not just handing them a twenty), opposing bigotry and hate, and so forth. As a staunch abolitionist Andrew cannot abide exploitation of any sort and so human traffickers and corrupt politicians and public officials tend to get the lion’s share of his and our attention. Andrew’s miracles are active effects that change the world in dramatic ways, healing the sick and wounded, resurrecting the dead, pillars of fire, and hosts of angelic beings are just the tip of the iceberg for what Andrew is capable of. I’ve seen Andrew do some pretty crazy shit with miracles and from what he’s said the potential of them is limitless, it just requires enough favor. More often than not Andrew only uses his miracles to even the odds in a fight, or help a stricken people or person out of a rough patch. Furthermore gaining steps up the miracle ladder increases his physical capabilities as well. I’ve classified miracles for ease of reference

0: Zero level miracles include easing minor suffering and pain like a bruise or over stretched muscle. Andy has access to zero level miracles at all times.

1: level one miracles are the basic instances of miracles you find in the bible and work within the bounds of plausibility, healing minor injuries, curing common ailments ect. He can use these sorts of miracles to erect wards and barriers that will protect groups of people from minor mishaps (environmental hazards like rockslides) and enhance objects to perform a little longer than their specifications would allow. (for instance a phone with five minutes of battery life would last eight minutes.)

2: Level two miracles are a little heavier and kind of stretch the limits of plausibility, at this point Andrew can keep serious injuries from getting worse effectively stabilizing people. The minor injuries mentioned earlier can be healed instantly. Item enchantments get a little more oomph (the aforementioned battery would last fifteen minutes as opposed to five). Andrew’s protection miracles can shield people from more immediate threats (gunfire and the like) though not reliably. At this level of favor some people can sense something off about Andrew.

3: Level three miracles start to leave the realm of plausible behind serious injuries become minor injuries and the item enhancement takes on an impressive turn (the aforementioned battery would last a whole day for example and a rusted butter knife suddenly cuts like an HF blade.) Andrew’s protection miracles extend to huge groups of people and can effectively neutralize non automatic fire and some explosives. At this level even normal people notice something up with Andy and certain sensitive people can see Andrew’s eyes change color from their normal color to dead white.

4: Level four miracles start getting crazy, Andrew’s healing abilities can make people good as new instantly, even if they had one foot in the grave. Item enhancement gets ridiculous (the battery would last a week or the aforementioned knife would be able to cut a hole in a fortified bunker) and his protection abilities can make weapons with even the most blistering rate of fire miss even the largest group of people. Normal people can note the change in Andrew’s eyes and the mystically sensitive can see symbols and scripts from every faith covering his coat.

5: Level five miracles get freaking astounding the recently dead get brought back to life, even custom diseases get cured, object enhancement gets Arthurian, and protection abilities make folks all but impervious to harm for a brief period of time. Even the most spiritually insensitive of people can see Andrew at this point as he sprouts wings and starts glowing with power whenever he calls upon even the simplest of miracles. Andrew can make biblical punishments look tame and put them on whole cities at this stage.

6: I’ve only head Andrew talk about what he calls “the power of the demiurge” but if he ain’t bullshitting me it’s nothing to be played with. I have yet to see him use it, but from what he’s told me he rarely uses it because of the sheer toll the ability takes on reality. I surmise Andrew used a miracle of this level during the incident in Triumph South Carolina. A particularly rotten brand of fanatics stole his abilities and damn near committed an act of genocide against anyone who wasn’t a W.A.S.P. in a town called Triumph in south Carolina. The South Carolina National Guard joined these fanatics and started distributing weapons to the populace and there was talk of the whole state seceding. In the end Andrew along with Preatorian Securities and a team from the D.O.D.S. had to put down a state wide riot. Eye witness accounts said Andrew passed judgment on the whole town returning after he found the person responsible for it and in his own words “removing his name from the book of life.” In this form andrew’s face is reported to be covered by a glowing mask with seven eyes and he sprouts two extra arms and eight spectral wings. From footage I’ve seen during the Triumph incident the very fabric of reality strains under the sheer power of this form, I suppose having total power over creation has that effect.

As far as healing goes Andrew has another means to fix people up, he can subject himself to their wounds as a form of empathic healing. This heals the person completely and immediately while subjecting Andrew to the full extent of their injuries. He can cure mental illnesses this way as well but has to essentially fight his way through the psychosis of the person suffering a process which can take days. Andrew doesn’t just get at a level and only get one use of a miracle, rather he stays at a level and then it either deteriorates until he returns back to normal or earns more favor and gains access to heavier powers. Using miracles causes levels of favors to deteriorate faster meaning Andrew must use his miracles wisely.

Judgement
Andrew can also render judgement upon people causing them to suffer all the pain they’ve caused intentional or not throughout their lives. At different favor levels the judgement does different things. Each of the punishments however tend to fit the crime, a thief will experience nightmares until he returns what he stole, a rapist will have boils and warts on his or her genitals until they confess to their crimes to everyone, a murderer typically gets blinded as a start. Rendering judgement can see Andrew gain favor and with each increase in favor judgements become more noticeable as does the penance for them. When someone Andrew judges atones sufficiently they stop suffering but that typically involves throwing themselves at the mercy of those they’ve wronged at bare minimum. Andrew can only pass judgement for real sins theft, murder, rape, assault, generally anything that results in the physical or emotional harm of another human being or being needlessly cruel to animals not for eating meat on a Friday or swearing. In addition Andrew can get a general sense of someone’s sins just by looking at them as well as their true name. People who have done truly awful things stand out to Andrew like star light on a clear night sky.

Skills
Andrew is an incredibly skilled public speaker and speech writer, able to sell complicated concepts to crowds of people simply by telling them the truth. Andrew’s charisma takes the form of reverent and somber, the kind of guy you listen to and consider not because he’s particularly charming (though I suspect he can be) but it adds a considerable amount of weight to his words. Andrew’s foray into politics wasn’t just a passing interest, he has kept up on the latest in the political world allowing him to second guess and outmaneuver even the most seasoned political strategists. He is an incredibly skilled bare knuckled boxer and cane fighter, a southpaw styled fighter he was reputed to have a right hand that could knock out a horse, his left was reputed to have felt like a getting hit by a cannon shell. His skill with a cane is sufficient enough to deflect bullets as send several men sprawling with one swing. Andrew has worked with Niran extensively to further refine his skills at unarmed combat, now he’s able to handle more than a hundred regular people at once on his own with nothing more than his fists. Andrew is also a master pistol marksman a holdover from the various pistol duels he found himself in during his time in the senate. Andrew has limitless (yes limitless) willpower and conviction rendering him completely immune to any form of mind or emotion control influence, or manipulation including possession. In fact his will is strong enough to physically hold his body together and operate at peak capacity despite catastrophic damage. He can literally furrow his brow and pin his bones and muscles back into place. He’s not invincible by any means, bullets still punch holes in him (when they manage to hit) and blades still cut but he just keeps going. He says this was due to the trials he endured when he was chosen to be the champion. Furthermore encyclopedic knowledge of every religion is burned within his head, he knows things about every religion that date back to their founding. He can recall the most inconsequential detail about any religion with perfect detail. Andrew is an incredibly capable leader not because he’s a brilliant strategist, but because he can get even the most antagonistic group to trust each other and him. He leads by inspiration and example and it works surprisingly well, it isn’t to say he doesn’t have a grasp of tactics and strategy he was a successful field officer for years but he’s not good as certain members of the Templar (me for example). Of course when it comes to political strategy Andrew is second to none. He managed to organize every minority and suppressed group into a cohesive political force, and it only fell apart because of consistent and prohibitively expensive smear campaigns, bribes, information overloads, and assassinations. A seasoned politician himself he has kept himself up to date on every aspect of politics, to the point where he can direct our efforts to have real lasting change in the regions we operate. Andrew like Niran is the only one of us with any real efficacy with people beyond intimidation or lying. People listen to him and find it hard to spin his words, and they remember them pretty clearly too. Andrew by necessity is a skilled survivalist both in urban and wilderness environments; though he has help when he’s on his own any who travel with him aren’t so lucky so he has on occasion had to forage for other people. Andrew is also a preternaturally skilled jailbreaker, having escaped from the most secure prisons planet earth has to offer often with other people in tow.


Combat
Andrew can push himself harder and longer than any human being on the planet and some superhumans. Fearless, driven, and tenacious Andrew can rely on sheer grit to get him through just about any fight he may encounter. Andrew says it is because he supplants his physicality with his faith in other words basic chi manipulation to surpass standard human limits straight into the E range. Andrew is in excellent shape, a life on the run and years of training saw to that. As mentioned earlier Andrew is an exceptionally skilled bare knuckle boxer of the south paw style. To get into it further Andy’s style is that of a “slugger” in boxing parlance, he doesn’t block in favor of exploiting the opportunity to strike while his opponent does. Andy has a hell of a chin on him, limitless pain tolerance and courage lends itself well to that style of boxing. It’s not to say Andrew is unkillable but he can endure more punishment than any human being on the planet while remaining conscious. Andrew’s combat style isn’t as detrimental as one might think, the sheer force of Andrew’s personality seems to rattle all but the most hardened people into only land glancing blows against him. Of course not all poor hits are equal and I’ve seen Andy sent flying by many a brick type super. I’ve clocked Andrew’s right hand jabs at 1423 pounds, full force with his left he hits at around 4215 pounds more than enough to send someone flying. Andrew also occasionally uses a cane both to enhance his abilities and to block knives and blades up close while using that left hand to put folks down for the count. Andrew never strikes to kill people, everything he does in a fight is to render someone unconscious or to make them a non threat. Sure he bruises folks but he’s only ever killed in one instance, that asshole responsible for the Triumph incident was removed from existence but I’m not sure that counts. Andy may not fight to kill but he fights to win, no marquis of Queensbury rules he goes to put someone down by any means necessary. Andrew is an expert marksman owing that to his time in the union army, though proficient with a variety of firearms he prefers the pistol whenever he actually feels the need for a firearm. An expert field leader Andrew can get even the most contentious groups to work together toward an objective, something he owes to his charisma as much as his experience as a field officer. As mentioned earlier Andrew only uses his miracles as a last resort or to even odds during a fight. He can use 4th level miracles to suppress superpowers and 5th to remove them temporarily it would theoretically take 6th rank miracles to remove them permanently. Most conventional wisdom in war states that being unseen is the way to go, Andrew does not cleave to that wisdom as he is one of the most visible things in any combat zone. Despite his interesting choice in combat tactics Andrew is capable of handling a city wide riot on his own using noting more than his words and his fists if need be. He can single handedly take on a mob of a hundred people and win handily, even small groups of c class supers aren’t much of a match for Andrew. That said even on his own Andrew is a formidable opponent, with the rest of us well let’s just say I’ve taken pains to make sure our reputation doesn’t precede us.

Notable incidents

Bon Secours Mother and baby home June 15th 1939
A negligent facility for women and children in Ireland the reputation of this place read like a horror story, mass graves and slave labor were the most pleasant things I could dig up about this place. You could bet that a place like that would draw Andrew’s attention, reports were hard to come by, from what I understand spectral hounds and a guy who looked like a man with antlers accompanied Andrew in clearing the place out. What remained of the Irish government did its best to dole out hush money to the families to keep them quiet. Andrew likely had a hand in making sure nothing came back to those who still lived.

Weltall facility 83 March 22nd 1940
A nazi deep science facility dedicated to the refinement of its trademark super soldier serum, it was mere moments away from perfecting a refinement process that would turn anyone injected with it into an S ranked superhuman with a variety of powers. Located deep in desert this facility was set to pump out an army of S supers that would have turned the tide of the war, until Andrew showed up with a Soviet mutant shock army and a detachment of U.S. army airborne. They leveled the place, left it a burning wreck leaving no survivors or research.

Money Mississippi January 1st 1956
Andrew helps to gather a coalition of blacks, union reps, feminists, jews, catholics, and more to rally for the cause of civil rights. It was something no one had ever seen before and frankly scared the crap out of the men who ran the country. As the champions of civil rights gathered behind Martin Luther King Jr. the folks who opposed them found themselves getting a huge boost in manpower and funding. Andrew would be in the shadows undermining the political support for the Klan, disrupting the FBI and NSA surveillance civil rights leaders.

Shanghai China October 19th 1960
A human trafficking ring found itself getting Andrew’s attention, it was a model of efficiency at the time. Dope up some strangers and sell them to unscrupulous buyers overseas for labor, untested drugs, and other experiments. The profits were used by mao’s regime to paper over some of the less well thought out aspects of the great leap forward. That is until Andrew showed up and with a legion of terra cotta soldiers burnt the entire operation to the ground.

Moscow September 19th 1965
An arms shipment of old soviet weaponry bound for the golden triangle of southeast asia was intercepted and destroyed by Andrew. The value of the cargo would be worth hundreds of millions of rubles something the soviets likely would have sunk into its warchest. The soviets were understandably pissed about the event.

Florida School for Boys March 29th 1968
An incident that got swept under the rug with the help of millions of dollars in bribes and payouts Andrew happened upon the school in the spring of 68’. The Florida school for boys was a reform school where parents sent there kids if they were being troublesome. In truth these were all you can eat buffets for any sadist and kiddie rapist out there that had a nice little federal stipend and no oversight. Hundreds of kids wound up dead from inadequate care, thousands more were raped or crippled. From what I could find through redacted reports from guards and children Andrew hit that place like a mailed right fist from the heavens. He beat the ever loving shit out of the guards and faculty, freed and healed the kids, and even got the kids back to their parents. According to one of the surviving children Andrew called down “A great pillar of fire to scourge that wretched institution from the earth.” That particular patch of Florida was quarantined right up until the invasion of ’95.

February 1971 Regime change in Burundi
Andrew was responsible for establishing a joint parliament in Burundi made of the hutsi’s and tutsi’s. Not sure how he managed it but he did. Burundi isn’t the happiest place on earth by any means with a number of folks from the new commonwealth and the European federation poking around for resources.

October 9th 1992 The formation of the Muslim Commonwealth
After intercepting a starter package for a mutant breeding program meant to supplant Saudi Arabia’s post human non existent super human detachments Andrew led a successful overthrow of the Saudi royal family, the royal family ceded power to a parliamentary system and completely abolished the clergy’s version of sharia law from public law. A movement came into being that would become an ideological counter to soviet controlled Afghanistan. The newly formed Muslim commonwealth would dedicate itself to humanitarian causes around the world even after the invasion. They weren’t necessarily antagonistic towards Afghanistan or the soviets but it was an alternative for muslims who saw Afghanistan turn enthusiastically soviet.

November 10th 1994 Triumph South Carolina
*classified*

Equipment
As part of his charge as champion Andrew has been entrusted with a number of mythic artifacts from all faiths throughout time. The sword of kusanagi, bhudda’s sutra, the first copy of the kabbala, a lock of samson’s hair, the sword of damoclese, the monkey king’s staff et all. He keeps them in the larder of verrick’s manse safely tucked away. He typically carries his trademark cane an enhanced oak cane capable of withstanding and deflecting bullets his coat is about as resilient as a standard suit of body armor.


The mission
Andrew was the one who set our mission which quite simply is to free the oppressed, and fight for those who can’t defend themselves. To that end we commit ourselves to fighting human traffickers and corruption wherever we find it. As an abolitionist Andrew has us going against human traffickers quite often, we even take on self styled world leaders who terrorize their people, corporations who exploit their power at the expense of the people. As Andrew states it “we are templar and this world is our temple”. That said we don’t just remove a dictator and leave people to fend for themselves, we take into account the political fallout, who to get into power, how to get things back on track ect. We’ve often found that societies aren’t inherently corrupt, they just have a few people taking it off the rails and we set ourselves to righting that. With my brain and Andrew’s probability manipulation and savvy political know how we managed to smooth over the transition of power in Detroit after the war with the invaders without any sub-factions popping up. When we go after human traffickers we make sure the victims get out of the circumstances they were in, either as refugees to other countries with jobs lined up or improving the circumstances of their home country. Other types of human traffickers the folks who try to smuggle people out of warzones typically get help from us. We don’t ignore street crime, organized crime, or white collar crime either in fact part of our operations typically involves neutralizing any major criminal faction or white collar corruption we come across. Our process typically goes as follows.

1. Observe: This is the intel gathering phase of our operation, we look at what’s most problematic in an area and what needs to change. Typically the shadow team of the templar is most active in this part of the operation. Andrew typically has himself in a position to mitigate what damage is being caused in an area and gaining underground support. Lilly and Niran start making rounds working folks for information.

2. Asses: Exactly what it sounds like we take stock of persons of interest in an area, the folks who will help us, the folks who will stand against us, who can be spared, who needs to be killed or neutralized.

3. Conceive: This is where we start putting together a means to start handling what situation is in a particular country. That said this can take a while as we have to find the best possible means to achieve a result the plan itself can take even longer.

4. Commit: Arguably the most crucial part of any op this is where we set everything in motion. Andrew’s underground support becomes public support, any intel and dirt we gathered comes into play at this point key men in an organization’s infrastructure get offed or ousted, at this point chaos ensues.

5. Transition: At this point we make sure to deal with the fallout of the operation and make sure it doesn’t fall on the common people. We coordinate with local authorities and emergency services if there are any to make sure order is kept. Andrew works overtime making sure this part is as bloodless as possible.

6. Cleanup: Pretty self explanatory, we make sure that the folks we piss off can’t threaten us or anyone again by any means necessary. It is also in the phase we network with the locals or rather Niran and Andrew network finding the people we can trust to alert us if and when things go wrong, or to alert us to other problems.

Team Relations

EOD01: Brother Edward is undergoing a wondrous transformation, though most see a being of simple artifice I see a soul taking form within him. He will be freed of the chains hung upon him by his creators, a metaphor for us all in the end.

Serene: Most see brother Niran as a lusty boy, a half demon, or a warrior monk. He is far more than any of those things, one day he will surpass even my deeds and likely deliver us all from something more dangerous than what we face now.

Invictus: Brother Hector is burdened by guilt, and by the sacrifices he and others made holding off the Outsiders. Mark my words that brother Hector is the way forward for all who would fight the good fight.

Lily: Sister Lily seeks a fresh start both for herself and the world, her prophecy will come to pass but not in the way she suspects. I have tried to pierce the veil of the future to see what it will portend but as far as I can see it is a necessary step in saving our world.

Verrick: Say what you want about brother Verrick, there is a seed of redemption taking root in that black heart of his. Redemption is always a slow process but I have faith he will be a better being than he was in his “youth”.

Anya: Sister Anya has an enviable ability to balance the world of thought and instinct flawlessly. She is more receptive to our cause than I would suspect, in fact she often talks with me for the sole purpose of understanding why we do what we do.

Hecryn: Brother Hecryn is an honorable warrior and a surprisingly noble soul. His adherence to the dictates of honor likely arose after witnessing the senseless slaughter his master engaged in at the height of his empire. He is the most hopeful of his master’s redemption.

Appearance
Clad in his drover and hat, standing at six feet six inches tall and a solid two hundred eighty pounds Andrew Clay looks like a tall tale come to life. His black beard and moustache are peppered with grey and his hair is unkempt and long. His boots and coat are well worn but quite functional despite all they have been through, funny thing is that no matter how often Andrew gives up the clothes on his back he always winds up with them again. Andrew’s build is that of a life on the run, no gym muscle just bulk built from a rough life. Andrew is also a hairy motherfucker, his chest, his back, his arms his legs all have a decent amount of hair on them. Serene calls him a “holy teddy bear” and he’s not far off. Andrew almost always has a solemn demeanor, he rarely smiles, and laughter is even rarer. It’s not that he’s detached or unempathic, rather I’m told the weight of his mission is something that he constantly considers. Andrew’s hands are rough and calloused from years of meeting a variety of faces, but they’re always ready to lend themselves when needed.

Andrew Clay belongs to  gurlow
art by  lapinbeau