Updating information.

[Leon]

Hello everyone!

I wanted to drop a line here letting people know that I am indeed alive and thinking of all of you.

The intent of this post is to let people know that I am going to be revising some of the information regarding our beloved assassin Leon. For those of you who may not know, I'm currently in the midst of writing a novel! It takes heavy inspiration from a lot of Canon that I've created over the years (with no small help from the members of our little community no less!) and previous characters who I've used in different instances and settings before.

As a small sneek peek, the setting of the book combines contemporary science fiction with traditional fantasy, and a couple of other bits and pieces I've learned over the years. It's proving an interesting challenge throwing out lovable assassin into a 14th century setting where he comes from around our time!

I'll answer a couple more questions if people are interested, but I wanted to let people know that I've adjusted Leon moderately. Seeing as he's quickly becoming a multiverse traveling character, I think it's appropriate to update his information on here to reflect the changed I've wrought on him. I'll follow up this post with the information that has changed, with the indulgence of Xeno and Rel, as it will probably be the dreaded double post!

Anyhow! Please let me know if you have any interest in the plot or whatnot of the book. I'll answer to a certain extent, bit I won't reveal all my cards haha.

Cheers and salutations to you all, and I hope to work with all of you soon in the future!

[Xenoxice]

You're good to double post if you need to in here Leon . Appreciate the warning before hand.

[Leon]

Hello everyone!

Sorry for how long this took, but being an adult has kinda consumed my life for the last... forever.

Anyhow, here's the updated information for Leon's "redesign". It took a while (totally didn't write the mainstay of this at work during a lull in the work), but I hope it gives people an idea of some of the things I have planned in the future.

Event Change:

One note of an event change is how Leon's eye was changed and given the ability to draw upon a victims terror. Instead of the accidental exposure during the process of his transformation into a super-soldier, the change happened during his first meeting with Lloyd, who will now be known as Donovath (I've changed up a lot in the course of the novel, such as the backstory of the knights Donovath is a part of, the overall history of the world and such.) The event in particular was when Leon first visits a different world. During the jump from one side of the portal to the other, Leon is briefly brought through the “plane of darkness”. It's a primeval realm, left after the formation of the universe and the ordering of magical nature. Much like the multiverse nature of Dungeons and Dragons, with its various planes of energy and magic, the universe in this story is similarly separate, however you need to overlay a multiverse theory on top of a planar one. (Basically, there's infinite parallel realities, but each is sandwiched between an infinite number of reflected elemental and magical planes of existence. Trust me, its a lot simpler in the book because I don't go into esoteric descriptions.)

Another main change is Leon's transition from human to super-soldier. According to all records from the facility that did the operation, the military came down like the wrath of God on the scientists for using such... Loose standards in order to make a more perfect soldier. After a military tribunal and subsequent investigation into the practices and methodology of those in charge of the program, it was decided that the program should be halted and all planned experiments should be canceled. All subjects were to be recovered and destroyed by any means necessary.

As we're keenly aware, however, Leon is perfectly alive and well, having to scraped past the searches for remaining subjects of the experiments. All I will say is that some people went to great lengths to ensure that it “appeared” that everything was accounted for, the right number of bodies were buried, and the material was “destroyed” completely. There's totally no way that someone who was leading the project totally didn't make copies and store them somewhere, and totally didn't fake their own death to continue on with the experiments in secret... Totally not. And there's totally no way that Leon will have to face people who are similarly re-engineered like he is in the future of the books. No... totally not.

Overall appearance:

The only real change to Leon's overall appearance is his left eye. Instead of being reminiscent of a cat's eye, wreathed in flames, it now is a black pit. The design, once one sees it, and when he chooses to unveil it, begins to change and warp to the viewer. It in-of-itself does not actually change, but to the beholder, it warps and changes, bringing them wholly inside the black teeth of terror. This phenomena is caused by the inwardly held terror of the victim, as the inherent nature of the realm of darkness fosters terrors and fear. It then “reaches out” and grabs a hold of the observer, feeding and growing on their fear until they are all but consumed by it, or simply expire due to the shock to their system. Leon has no control over this phenomena, but strangely, he is immune to the effects himself. Its almost as if there was a bargain struck when he crossed between realms...

Equipment changes:

As we all remember, Leon has a penchant for guns and explosives, but he is categorically seen with his two swords on his belt. Well. I've gone and changed that too. Instead of two, he has four now! The idea was instead of having two blades with the names and similar nature to two of the horsemen of the apocalypse, why not represent the whole band? So, I've done so. Now, Leon carries two katanas, one a traditional katana, the other a tachi. These two are Famine (The katana) and the other Pestilence (the Tachi).

Famine, in styling of a katana, has a unique guard. Instead of the traditional circular handstop, the guard is now in the likeness of Oroboros, a Snake eating its own tail. Ironically, instead of meaning perpetuity, I thought that the imagery was ironic, because a creature eating itself will never be fully satisfied, always looking out for something other than itself to consume so that the pain stops. After studying the effects of malnutrition and starvation, and the sheer pain that individuals who go through it suffer, the idea came to me. So, the effect of the blade, when it is unsheathed and ready for use, is to begin to desiccate the life around it. The air becomes dry, things begin to shrivel and wilt. Energy and fuel for metabolic processes is siphoned away, all to feed the ever consuming hunger that famine brings. Victims of the blade are often dried out and sometimes turn to dust, the water and fuel for their bodies consumed by the voracious hunger of the blade.

Pestilence is an interesting one, however. A tachi, according to the research that I was able to do on it, is distinctly different from a katana because of the degree of curvature of the blade, the length of the blade, and how it was worn by samurai. Typically, the tachi was longer that a katana, but this is also a case by case point. Depending on the needs of the warrior and the length required of the blade for whatever war they were dedicating themselves to, the length of a “katana” could be similar if not exactly the same as a tachi. Circumstances non-withstanding, the idea of a tachi is different in intent than that of a katana, spcifically in the curvature of the blade itself. A tachi is typically more rounded that a katana, and this is evident in Leon's sword. The handstop of this weapon is the atypical rounded stop, so its distinction is evident between the two. When unsheathed, however, the similarities end. A miasma of heavy air clouds around the sword, leaking into the area around Leon. Decay and rot begin to take hold of the environment, and things begin to break down organically rapidly. The sound of millions of flies hums just on the verge of hearing, and to those subject to the miasma, the stench of decay is powerful. After striking a blow with the weapon, those subject to the wound begin to decompose. Its rather graphic to describe, but just imagine things decomposing really, REALLY quickly.

In addition to the two Japanese style swords Leon carries, he has one more on his belt. This one is Death. It is in the style of a simple long sword, its handle and pommel wrapped in worn leather. The cross-guard is stylized as a flared cross, and the blade is surmounted by a long fuller. Of all the swords, this one is the most powerful, though its appearance is hardly worth noting. That's because death is ever present. Death comes in myriad ways, and we as humans are more accepting of a final demise. Death has always been a concept for us, so having something so plain is typical for the intent of the weapon. When drawn, however, the effect of the blade and its enchantment (more so the possession of the spirit of death itself) is blindingly prevalent. The air around Leon and for quite some distance takes on a biting chill (I.E. the chill of the grave) and the movement of air ceases. Sound deadens, and fatigue wraps its arms around those in the effect of the blade. Plants and animals in the area, if caught by the aura of the blade either flee in the animals case, or wilt and die outright. Silence, the quite of the grave enfolds all, and final peace is felt. Victims of the blade simply begin to outright necrotize. Skin flakes into dust, muscles atrophy, and bones become brittle. Depending on where the wound is, the victim can watch themselves assume the form of centuries dead, as it crawls up their form until final death takes them.

This idea came a while ago from, and I laugh to admit it, the show Bleach. One of the characters, later on in the story, turns into a skeletal creature whose power over death causes a slow and creeping demise. This kinda kicked the idea into my head, and I refined it in the book.

The last blade is one that is probably the first thing that everyone sees. Leon carries a massive blade on his back. I'm talking bloody massive, like as tall as he is, and half a wide. The idea was from Siegfried from Soul Calibur. The name of the weapon type is a Zweihänder, and it literally translates to “Two-hander” in German. These were swords meant to de-horse people, typically knights on a battlefield, and interestingly enough, were often discarded after their intended purpose was fulfilled. Foot troops would typically be arrayed with pike-men and spear-men out front, followed by a troop of men wielding these behind, to stop mounted charges. Knights were typically schooled in how to fend off pikes and spears, but when you have a large slab of metal coming in at you, its kinda hard to deflect something big and heavy when you're on the back of a horse.

My ideas for this weapon were three main points. One, war is always big and nasty, so a big and nasty sword for War was more or less the obvious choice. Two, I needed something distinctly different from the other three that would make Leon to be markedly more interesting. Seeing as he has been modified to be many, many times stronger than the average human, I wanted something that, while he could wield with no difficulty, it would be awkward to swing and use. It would force Leon to become more precise with his utilization of the weapon, and to be able to switch up his combat style depending on the situation. Three, and this one is again an image reference, but I really liked the Darksiders games. War, in the first Darksiders, always wielded a monstrous double sided sword. Fire was typical of many of his attacks, so I wanted something similar to that.

War, in addition to its monstrous size, is charged with the energies of raw conflict. Flames wreathe the blade from tip to hand-guard, and the taste of blood and fury fills the air around Leon. The flames cannot be quenched, as the flames of war consume all and are ever burning. The edge is keen beyond mortals ability to sharpen a blade, but the blade cuts and rends foes in ways that the bleeding cannot be staunched. Blood must flow when this blade is unleashed, as war is hungry for souls and blood. Screaming is oft heard on the wind behind this black blades swings, and carnage is its payment. The sword has the strongest will of the four, as it ever tries to pursue its lust for combat, and as such, Leon is not really keen on letting it out of its scabbard.

Aside from these changes, Leon remains more or less the same. He's tight lipped about his adventures in the multiverse, because... duh. Well... its more like he's not allowed to talk about them without the permission of the knights who may or may not be watching over him at all times, making sure he doesn't drop too many hints at things he's not supposed to have knowledge over.

I'm looking forward to the end of the book honestly. It's been a long time coming, and honestly, I don't know when I'm due to arrive there. The writing process has taken a severe pause because of adulting, and my writing style has changed so much over the TEN YEARS I've been writing this thing. I've gotten a lot of encouragement from my peers at work, and i've always appreciated and enjoyed working with all of you here on Noct and on SO. So, here's to working with all of you in the future, and a hope that I'll actually have this book bloody done some time in the next year or so.

Until then, I hope you all are well, and I am eager to work with you all!