Angus
| Angus McAlpine | ||||||||||
| Player: @mauler00 | ||||||||||
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| "Do ya really think that there's a bigger picture? Some higher power guiding the events? Wrong. Life is all accident and coincidence, kid." | ||||||||||
| Biographical Data | ||||||||||
| Real Name: | Angus Malcolm McAlpine | |||||||||
| Known Aliases: | Mad Rune, Scotty, Gus, Red | |||||||||
| Gender: | Male | |||||||||
| Species: | Demigod | |||||||||
| Ethnicity: | Caucasian/Frost Giant hybrid | |||||||||
| Place of Birth: | Edinburgh, Scotland | |||||||||
| Base of Operations: | Millennium City, Vibora Bay | |||||||||
| Relatives: | Angelica May McAlpine (Granddaughter - deceased) | |||||||||
| Characteristics | ||||||||||
| Age: | Approx. 100 years | |||||||||
| Height: | 6'3 | |||||||||
| Weight: | 226lbs | |||||||||
| Eyes: | Blue | |||||||||
| Hair: | Red | |||||||||
| Complexion: | Scarred, Pale | |||||||||
| Physical Build: | Athletic Slim | |||||||||
| Physical Features: | Missing Left Eye, Numerous Scars, Laser Tattoo Removal scars. | |||||||||
| Status | ||||||||||
| Fame: |
Recluse | |||||||||
| Alignment: |
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| Identity: | Public (Unregistered) | |||||||||
| Years Active: | On and Off Approx. 60 | |||||||||
| Citizenship: | Dual: British and American | |||||||||
| Occupation: | Head of the Department of Metaphysics at the East Briar Institute | |||||||||
| Education: | Self-taught Master of the Arcane Arts | |||||||||
| Marital Status: | Eternally Single | |||||||||
| Known Powers and Abilities | ||||||||||
Master Wizard
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| Equipment and Paraphernalia | ||||||||||
Magical Foci:
Misc.:
And MANY MANY OTHERS... | ||||||||||
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| MaekadaBoxSlim created by @Maekada | |||||||||
Humble Beginnings
Angus Malcolm McAlpine, was born in Edinburgh, on the April Fools Day, 1918. The eldest child of Malcolm and Anna, Angus was a difficult child, prone to bossing his siblings around and possessing an incredible knack for getting himself in trouble. Despite his mischievousness, young McAlpine's early years were largely uneventful. Until the year 1938, when he was drafted into the British military that his life appeared to show signs of unnatural interference - he suddenly found himself incredibly lucky in games of chance, his health markedly improved and he began showing first, barely notable signs of his soon-to-be-lifelong affinity for cold. Up to the point of his disappearance in 1944, Angus achieved the rank of Sergeant in Her Majesty's Royal Navy.
What the Scottish wizard was never aware of, was that he was born an Ymirson, a member of a long line of demigods descended from the Frost Giant Ymir. It wasn't until 1944 that Angus first truly manifested his powers. 6th of June was a special day in the history of the world. The D-Day, the Normandy Landings, the Allied Counter-offensive. It was also the day Angus McAlpine began a long, restless journey that would eventually earn him the moniker of the Mad Rune of Niflheimr. Countless young men regretted taking part in the offensive. Angus was one such man. Unlike the young people, so many of them dead, Angus' feet never actually touched the sands of Normandian beaches. Instead, mere minutes before his vessel arrived at its destination, the young sergeant's fear, stress and regret over joining the war that might see him dead somewhere in a foreign country, Angus McAlpine just disappeared. Amusingly enough (for himself anyway,) one Sergeant Angus McAlpine of Her Majesty's Royal Naval Forces figures as Missing In Action on the official records to this day.
When McAlpine's powers manifested, he was ripped from Malkuth and into the Lower Astral. He awoke, indeterminate time later within a strange land. Where he ended up was not France, but Asgard, the land of the Norse Gods of Myth!
Student of Magic
In Asgard, Angus was initially thought to be a spy of the Frost Giants, (reasons of said suspicions became clear decades later,) and in the beginning imprisoned in a cell.
After lengthy deliberations, The All-Father Odin decided to properly have someone investigate the soon-to-be-wizard. Once it turned out that Angus appeared to be an ordinary mortal, yet unaware of the power within him, he decided to do the next most reasonable thing - make sure that the raw magical talent of the young man doesn't lead to an emergence of yet another supervillain, in a time and age where superpowers were still very much a novelty on Midgard (Earth.) Ir was also the All-Father who nicknamed Angus Einarr Midgardson, a name that Angus proudly uses to this day, especially when interacting with beings from any of the Nine Realms.
Time passed, and the young Scotsman, first tutored in the basics by whoever was willing to mingle with a mere mortal, soon became something of a minor celebrity among the Aesir. Well-liked by some, loathed by others, it was decades later (years in the Material World) that the Allfather himself decided to oversee McAlpine's tutelage, becoming his mentor and great influence in Angus' later approach to magical studies.
Of course, being taught by Gods did not come for free. In return for gaining the knowledge from Asgardian masters of mysticism, Angus was sent on a number of errands, ranging from retrieving stolen objects, and going as far as assisting in diplomatic missions amongst the various Pantheons in Faerie.
It was at this time that Angus met his confidante, lifelong friend, sometimes lover, full-time therapist and the mother of his child, the Valkyrie Igridt
The Turn for the Worse
Angus' official apprenticeship to Odin ended on the day of his first Astral Walk, a trip that changed the wizard for years to come, and which resulted in being called "Mad Rune of Niflheimr", a nickname he hated, but never quite managed to shake.
During Angus' first attempt at consciously projecting his Astral Form outside of Faerie ended in the wizard being indirectly and briefly targeted by the malicious entity known as the Dragon - the metaphysical manifestation and source of humanity's dark, evil impulses. This brief contact, having lasted less than it takes to draw a breath, was enough to, after a few years, render the Scottish magician insane.
A short time after his insanity began manifesting, Angus fled Asgard, giving neither reasons nor informing the gods of his sudden departure.
For years, Angus, now calling himself Frost of Niflheimr, scoured the Earth and the Imaginal Realms in search of powerful relics of mystic power, performing heinous rituals, causing the deaths of dozens of people. Hungry for power, driven paranoid and progressively more and more deluded, Frost began seeking out sources of evil power, so dramatically at odds with his Runecraft - the art Angus McAlpine considered one of the 'purest' forms of magic. It wasn't until Frost came across a grimoire written by no other than the terrible villain Archimago that the newly-minted warlock formulated his terrible plan - to make true what no man believe possible. Angus McAlpine-- no, the Frost of Niflheimr was going to make himself a God.
The Doomed Endeavor
On the night of Samhain, 1980, Frost gathered up all of his magical resources, every twisted artefact and doomsaying grimoire in one place to perform a ritual that would forever doom his soul and haunt his every thought. The Dark Ascension, a simultaneous sacrifice of dozens of innocents, combined with the power of the evil artefacts released a subtle wave of dark energy that was supposed to 'sneak' the mortal shell of Angus McAlpine into the domain of godhood.
It was that moment that Odin was waiting for. Having seeked out the help of Queen Mab and the demon lord Abaddon, the trio of powerful creatures shut down the ritual with a mighty blast of divine energy that rend Angus' soul asunder, locking it away in four separate shards, each held by a single participant in the 'intervention.'
For a following decade, the Rune mage was locked away deep in Netherworld, in the realm of Niflheimr. His actions, while heinous, never caught attention, shattering the uncontrollable ego of the wizard. Angus was a nobody in the Mystic World, and after his stunt he became even more anonymous.
Only later, it was divined that his fall to darkness was caused by the agents of the Dragon. He was eventually cleansed of the evil influence, but left with the memories of the horrible deeds that the Frost of Niflheimr was responsible for. Memories that would haunt him in the form of ceaseless, horrific nightmares. But it is said that once "you hit the rock bottom, there's no way out but up." It took time for Angus to regain the trust of Odin and the Asgardians (something he never managed to achieve with Mab, leading to the Winter Court of Fae being hostile towards the wizard for the rest of his days.)
The Exile
With a blessing from the holders of shards of his soul, Angus left, on a self imposed exile, into the Middle Astral and far away from the evil influence of the Dragon.
He furthered his studies of the Arts Arcane, seeking out ways to learn more benevolent magics, as well as searching for ways to shield his mind from the influences of others (this was achieved by studying under the naturally psionic species know as Gath'rull, a form of insectoids native to a Hodian world of Gath'gzzt.)
Most of his time in the Middle Astral is undocumented (or Angus simply refuses to discuss, out of fear for brining unwanted attention to his friends and allies.)
The only, other than the Gath'rulls, beings that Angus is known to have contacted was the Netzachian Lord of Chaos, Akhdrath the Contradictor, on his home demesne of Akh-Andu, a wild jungle world so abstract that Angus often says that the time spent there has lent itself to his lifelong problem of episodes of crippling migraines.
Despite the secrecy surrounding his exile, there's a number of spells and charms that Angus uses, which are not a part of any Earthly magical tradition, hinting that there has indeed been more than just the Gath'rull and Akhdrath that tutored the Mad Rune in the Arts Arcane.
The Prodigal Magus returns
On a quiet January night of the first year of the new, twenty-first millennium, the city of Edinburgh found itself under the attack of a man claiming to be a direct descendant of the infamous Vampire Lord, Vladic Drakul. The undead supervillain, calling himself Baron Bloodtide nearly succeeded in his plot of overtaking the Scottish capital. The local heroes managed to keep Bloodtide away from the thicker populated parts of town, while the Baron, nearly unopposed, marched up the historic Royal Mile and towards the Edinburgh Castle. It's not completely clear as to what exactly happened. The most prevalent story depicts one of the local tenants stepping out of his house and, unafraid, squaring up to the vampiric terror and his squad of lieutenants. Then, in a matter of seconds, the mysterious man dispatched the Baron's personal retinue, one by one, leaving the villain to watch the one-sided fight in utter astonishment.
The man claimed to be nobody, a vagabond born in the city, repaying an old debt towards it.
Baron Bloodtide was not heard from for a while after the incident, having fled the British Isles completely, vowing revenge on the meddlesome interloper who made his fearsome army look like a bunch of inept children.
Angus was back. Now ginger (his original hair colour was blond,) and sporting a beard, he took part in a couple of minor adventures, going by the name of Rune, using his vastly improved mastery over cold and creative use of spatial magic, he came to blows with the likes of Black Paladin, Witchfinder, and Baron Bloodtide (again, forcing the vampire to flee in a manner of minutes.) It was roughly at this time that Angus met and befriended the immortal Scottish mutant, a free spirit and occasional supervillainess by the name of Cateran.
Currently
In early 2000's Angus decided to pack up and move his assets to the New World. He first settled in Mexico for six months, studying the various native arcane practices of the Mesoamerican 'Indians,' before moving to Vibora Bay, Florida, where his contact with the All-Father and other Norse Gods began waning considerably.
During his stay in Vibora, Angus got acquainted with the local mystical hero, Dr. Ka. The two men became friends, with Angus keeping their acquaintance a secret, for fear of any trouble befalling the popular hero, as well as his reluctance to gain any sort of recognition in this new, different place.
It was half a decade later, in 2009 that the surly wizard first set foot in The Millennium City, mostly to help with the rebuilding after the Qularr attack orchestrated by Shadow Destroyer. After the initial bad impression of the city, he returned to Vibora, becoming increasingly aware of the dangers of his soul being misused. It was around that time, that Angus decided to regain the pieces of his soul, in order to keep them safe from falling into the wrong hands (which, by his own admission, was any pair of hands that weren't directly attached to his own body.)
Around 2011, due to several sightings of Baron Bloodtide in Millennium City, McAlpine rented out a penthouse in the city, to use as a secondary Sanctum. He located Bloodtide within a few months of moving into the City of Tomorrow and defeated him, once again sending the vampire on a run. But ultimately it was the Baron's presence in Michigan, (as well as an ill-fated first encounter with Bloodstone of the Crowns of Krim,) that drove the Scotsman's decision to settle there, at least for the time being.
While reasonably active in the superhero community - particularly it's more arcane-oriented part - The Mad Rune remained relatively anonymous among the local population.
It was a year later that Angus made a lasting acquaintance with MC's superheroes, when he struck a fast friendship with the powerhouse Azunai on one of his many visits into the infamous Club Caprice.
It was Azunai that introduced Angus to the Respond and Protect initiative, a communications frequency where heroes could discuss the happenings in the city, as well as request help whenever such was necessary. While generally vocal in the R&P, Angus has so far been reluctant to request help or take too active a part in the various adventures of the other participants in the initiative, chiefly out of concern for any unwelcome media attention the wizard might bring upon himself.
The Foray into Unknown
In 2013, Angus, along with his familiar, Cider, vanished, on a supposedly routine trip into the Upper Astral. So far Angus has refused to discuss what has happened during his six-month absence. The only visible side-effect was a vast improvement in his magical ability, particularly the inclusion of his now-signature teleportation spells into his arsenal of skills.
What really happened is anyone's guess. The most likely scenario, especially given events that followed, is that Angus returned to Alhdrath's Ever-Shifting Glades to finish his studies under the Netzachian entity. It is also fairly likely, that it was at this time that Akhdrath made Angus aware of the existence of cosmic, dimensional threats, such as Tyrannon the Conqueror and Skarn the Shaper.
Eye for a Life
Shortly after his return, Angus became aware of a quasi-spiritual illness eating away at his best friend, extradimensional ork-like chronomage Bareth. With little time to spare and his friend's life slipping away, Angus decided to strike a bargain with an unknown Netzachian entity - the entity would purge Bareth of his spiritual infestation, in exchange for something of Angus'. The ritual was largely successful and, soon, the ork was back to full-health. Angus on the other hand, walked out of the ordeal with a terrible curse placed upon him. He lost his left eye and in the empty socket gapes a black, depthless void which seems to devour anything that touches it. Unfortunately, that also includes Angus' own life force.
The Scottish mage quickly began withering, suddenly his years beginning to catch up with him, as if the half-Jotunn was a mortal man.
On the 12th of November, 2013, Angus McAlpine succumbed to the curse, dying at his Sanctum in Vibora Bay.
In a last ditch effort to save his erstwhile student, Akhdrath the Contradictor sent a blast of extradimensional energy, aiming to revive the wizard but Angus did not move. For all intents and purposes, he has passed on.
Life for Madness
In the early days of 2014, what appeared to be Angus McAlpine made a return to Club Caprice. Now sporting an enchanted eyepatch, the being began acting increasingly obnoxious and seemingly straight out insane. This 'new' Angus wreaked havoc on the lives of his friends, both former and current, as well as, on two separate occasions, the civilian population of Vibora. Thankfully none of the incidents resulted in casualties and Angus' friends, with the help of a powerful psionic, managed to peer into his mind, finding inside a malicious entity, referring to itself only as It.
After a long battle with the entity, the psionic managed to repel the entity, forever banishing and locking it away in the darkest corners of the wizard's psyche.
Angus returned, feeling even more resentful, once more for actions he was not entirely responsible for. He became bitter and angry with himself and those that saved him instead of permanently cutting short the existence that proved so troublesome time and time again.
From that time onwards, in an effort to make sure the entity remains safely locked, Akhdrath himself, would come down and take control of the wizard's body. Arguably, Akhdrath sometimes did it for the sheer joy of interacting with creatures that were not as beholden to him like the inhabitants of his home dimension were.
The whole ordeal, ironically enough, was the reason the Trismegistus wizards began referring to Angus as the Mad Rune Mage.
At around that time, Angus' bitterness over the Trismegistus Council offering no help yet again, he decided to take matters into his own hands, and begin laying groundwork for an independent coalition of like-minded individuals, tasked with stopping mystical threats long before they become a big enough problem for the Trismegistus to notice.
New Job, Newer Trouble
From the altercation with 'It' until the late 2016, Angus resigned himself to a quieter life, chiefly focusing on expanding his company, Rune & Rhyme as well as assisting other heroes in matters of mystical nature. This semi-retirement was brought to an abrupt end when an unknown party (likely member of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon,) through a web of intrigue and subtle manipulation, caused the company and a majority of Angus' assets, to disappear, or be otherwise lost.
While still maintaining a healthy little fortune, Angus never quite recovered from the blow of losing the company.
At some point during the year, in largely mysterious circumstances, the wizard managed to retrieve the Pieces Four - four magical amulets, each holding a fragment of his shattered soul.
The next again year, in the first weeks of 2017 Angus decided to change careers. Instead of a craftsman and mystical consultant, he decided to join the staff of the prestigious, Michigan based East Briar Institute as, first a Head for the Department of Applied Metaphysics, and later (after a great big misunderstanding/accident, involving a Voodoo Loa and Clone R) the Department of Magical Studies. To his own chagrin, the school is also the institution where the infamous Snookii clones attend in large numbers.
Angus is a tall, middle aged man, of slim, athletic physique (akin to that of a swimmer or marathon runner.) Despite the 'fit' build, Angus gives off a vibe of a man stricken with an illness, and perhaps even undernourished, a trait that he owes mostly to his unhealthy pallor and a crisscross of scars gained from numerous battles as well as surgical removal of body-wide net of tattoos that used to cover his neck, arms and torso. And due to an old injury, his confident stride is often time broken up by a limp in his right leg.
A closer inspection only furthers the illusion of ill health haunting the Mad Rune Mage. A mess of spiky, barely contained fiery, ginger hair stands in stark contrast to the pallor and gauntness of his face. Deep set eyes, one of which is missing (the empty socket covered with a simple leather eyepatch,) are always framed by dark wrinkles, adding sleep deprivation to a list of suspected ailments troubling the wizard. His nose and lips each possess thin scars, going across the bridge and framing the left corner of his mouth, respectively. Formerly sporting a thick, fiery beard, Angus' sharp jaw and chin are left clean shaven, only accentuating the triangular shape of his face.
And yet, all the health-worries seem to dissipate as soon as the Scottish wizard speaks. His voice, a gruff, booming baritone, gives a good idea about Angus' long-lasting smoking and drinking habits, while somehow managing to give the man an air of authority, whenever it is necessary.
Snarky, sarcastic and straight-forward, Angus has more than enough to have earned himself the moniker of 'Grumpy Wizard.'
Despite that initial impression, it quickly becomes obvious that the complaining and the brusqueness are nothing more than an act, a decades-old con, which Angus has meticulously worked on pulling on people around. Because it is only when one sees through the solitary, gruff façade that can they see who the Mad Rune Mage really is. And for the most part, the real Angus is a deeply introspective, coldly calculating man, his affinity for stone-cold logic so at odds with his perceived 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later' attitude.
Another important aspect of his personality is Angus' deep seated paranoia, that stems from both his nigh-psychotic sociopathic traits as well as a form of hyper-awareness the wizard was born with. Which means that Angus is slow to put trust in people, as well as chronically difficult to deceive (or even sneak upon.)
When in the company of strangers, Angus can come off as arrogant, ready to spout off his own ideas at moment's notice, sometimes even criticize those he believes to be in the wrong. And given Mad Rune's love for sowing the seeds of discord (mostly harmless and for the sake of his amusement.) he will often confront people who Angus sees as easy to 'get a rise out of.'
Friends
NPC Contacts
- Dr.Ka - A Vibora Bay-based mystical hero, Dr. Ka, is one of the few people Angus trusts. He met with the Mad Rune while thwarting a plot by the New Shadows gang, and the two men have been on friendly terms ever since.
- Dweomer - While it's difficult to call them friends, the Mad Rune and the Irish mystic Dweomer have cooperated on at least one occasion, with Angus contacting Dweomer on numerous occasions, asking for council on mystical matters he couldn't quite fathom on his own.
- Trismegistus Council - Over the years, Angus' relations with the Council changed their nature numerous times. For the time being, Angus appears to be in severely strained but not antagonistic relations with the elusive group. It's thanks to them, that Angus has come to be known as the Mad Rune.
- Gath'allak of the Gath'rull - a shaman belonging to a species of insectoids that Angus came across in Hod when traveling the Middle Astral Planes. Gath'allak taught the Mad Rune a number of mystical spells that protect the mind from unwanted intrusion. (More info found in The Power section.)
- Akhdrath the Contradictor - a Lord of Chaos Angus encountered in Netzach and one of Mad Rune's only known extra-planar arcane instructors. The rare occasion of Angus casting dimensional spells, he draws the power from Akhdrath's domain, the Evershifting Glades, Akh-Andu. (More info found in The Power section.)
- Tobias "The Toad" Vandaleur - a world-renown occult source of knowledge, the Toad has been contacted by the Mad Rune on numerous occasions. Whether Angus is aware of Vandaleur's true appearance is unknown.
Player Characters
Foes
"Ymir is not the lord of Primordial Cold, that is Kigatilik" --Marcus Asiman, being oblivious to the value of dramatic monologue.
"Him told us to put the iron in the lockers.. Hissy McToothface just have to find another napping spot." --Clone X-243L
"But then again, he is a butcher of the Great Art. But he does have a lot of common sense. But he is an old school mage."
A -butcher-?
"Yep." --Artifist & Angus
