Simon Sixkiller
History
I Stared Into the Abyss
In 1986, when Simon was 18 years old, he was abducted by the members of the DEMON cult. Simon was one of many that were chosen to be human sacrifices in Luther Blacks first attempt to open the door to the Qliphotic realm. Simon was tortured and subjected to unspeakable degradation. His sanity clung precariously to reality when the ritual was stopped and he was saved from death by a squad of Viper soldiers. He was turned over to Redactors of the Trismegistus council who attempted to suppress the psychic damage done to him. But the ordeal had awakened latent psionic abilities in Simon and the redactors knew they would never be able to fully heal him because of it.
With the actual memory of the event suppressed, Simon was returned to society where he was almost immediately plagued by bizarre nightmares that drove him away from his family. He eventually joined VIPER, having some recollection of good feelings toward them, and spent the next 10 years in their employ becoming a seasoned and skillful combat veteran. His psychic abilities gradually manifested themselves in small ways, allowing him to know vaguely how people felt about things, to know when they were lying or telling the truth, and eventually into more overt abilities. Although he tried to hide these abilities, his general morose demeanor, and creepy knack for catching liars, began to isolate Simon from the rest of VIPER operatives. The isolation and nightmares drove Simon to try narcotics to relieve the pain but in a short time the drugs drove him into what the Viper physicians diagnosed as the onset of Schizophrenia. In reality the drugs were the final ordeal needed to open Simon's third eye so that he could witness the mystic reality surrounding us everyday. And on the winter solstice in 1997, it also opened his memory to the horrible experience perpetrated on him by DEMON. Again Simon was pushed to the brink of insanity.
And It Stared Back
In the hospital maintained by a VIPER front corporation, Simon met a young nurse named Gwendolin. Gwendolin's aura, which Simon could see, was a beautiful golden corona of healing light that would always calm Simon when she was near. Gwen wasn't quite as psychically aware as Simon, but felt drawn to his suffering and they eventually fell in love. With her calming influence Simon was able to recover enough to return to duty. But Simon's recovery was not all due to her help, he also had learned to turn his fear and anxiety into hatred and loathing. Hatred for DEMON and the otherworldly entities they seemed intent on serving. Simon knew that VIPER maintained a small division whose sole purpose was the surveillance of DEMON. He volunteered for duty with this group for the express purpose of learning enough about them to destroy them. Simon began to make secret personal raids on DEMON activities as he learned more about them and more about how to use his psychic abilities against them. But he very quickly realized that when confronted with actual demons, his mundane weapons and training were of little help. Simon began to confiscate magical talismans to use in his growing campaign. But far from helping his mental state, his continued witnessing of vile rituals and slaughter only made him more withdrawn. Eventually he was fired from VIPER for dereliction of duty, but Simon had amassed enough resources to continue on his own.
But in time even Gwendolin could no longer tolerate his absences and downward spiraling emotional state. She left him. Simon's last anchor to the real world was gone and he then became an unholy scourge, openly raiding and killing DEMON dens and acolytes. He became more reckless and blood thirsty, and so failed to realize that DEMON began to anticipate his actions and finally set a trap to deal with him once and for all. Simon learned that DEMON's chief magi were going to attempt another opening of the Qliphotic gateway on the winter solstice in 2001. He also heard that all of the top magicians and necromancers would be there to participate. Simon's mental state was at an all time low, he saw only death and revenge, and armed himself with enough weapons and power to destroy a small city, with the intention of never coming back. At the site of the supposed ceremony, Simon began his assault only to realize that it was not what he had expected, instead of the throng of DEMON followers he found only a small group of supplicants and one master, preparing to sacrifice a woman to a slavering demon already there and waiting for her. Simon saw that it was Gwen. He let out a blood curdling cry and threw himself at the demon, hacking at it with a silver hatchet and flinging small grenades into the acolytes who had begun to converge on him. The master was ready for him, he grumbled and gestured and and the ground beneath Simon and the creature began to open up and vile sinewy tentacles reached up for them. But Simon had not gone in there completely unprepared. As he had intended to end his fight tonight he had ringed the secret den with large explosives. The charges went off in the middle of the ritual and obliterated the the Magus and his spell circle, casting Simon and the demon beyond the grasp of the unholy creature below and out into the worlds beyond this one. As he plummeted through the veil, he felt a burst of strength and love come from Gwendolin, her aura bathed him briefly and some small bit of sanity returned.
All Paths Lead Home
Simon awoke in a strange landscape of luminous pathways and floating land masses set in a purple sky. He felt strange here. It was quiet, calming, his psychic torment was abating. He sat and rested, noting that there was no apparent trace of his arrival, no way to find his way back home, but he knew he must try, for Gwendolin's sake. Simon eventually met and befriended another former earth man who called himself Lord Xanadu. Lord Xanadu was an accomplished psychic who was able to greatly improve Simon's emotional state, and to teach him how to finally take control of his own abilities and use them to protect himself. They eventually found their way back to Earth, and though Simon was now in full control of his faculties, he vowed to continue his fight against the evil of DEMON and to search for Gwendolin.
Simon has heard rumors that Luther Black himself has returned and will soon try again to open the gate to Qliphotic realms. This time Simon will be ready and will take the fight directly to the vile entities to end their influence on earth once and for all. Beware the Demonflame.
Equipment
Excessum
Aside from the various melee weapons, Simon also uses a highly modified and enchanted revolver that he has named Excessum. When Simon was lost, wandering the inner planes, he passed through an area being plagued by a small gang of demons feeding on travelers just like him. During his flight from them he chanced upon a small hole leading down to an apparently forgotten chamber. After entering, Simon realized he had trapped himself. There was no way out, and the only thing holding the demons back was the size of the entry, which they were rabidly widening to get at him. As Simon drew back to the rear of the chamber he stumbled upon the remains of several humans. One of which was sitting up against the rock wall and in both his hands he held what vaguely resembled 2 western revolvers, one gold and one silver. The scene struck Simon as very odd and he was momentarily captivated by the remains of the man sitting before him. But the howls of the demons snapped him back to reality and he gently, but urgently, checked the 2 guns. The gold one was empty but the silver one had 2 bullets in it, there were 3 demons after him. He checked the shells, they were intricately etched with runes and seemed to be made of silver. Simon contemplated suicide at this point, not wanting to waste the opportunity the 2 shells provided but gazing upon the remains, a man who had obviously died fighting, Simon resolved to face his attackers.
He felt a sense of vicissitude, as he coolly turned to face his pursuers just as they broke in and lept for his throat. Simon fired the pistol and hit the first demon square in the head, it fell in a limp pile at his feet. The next 2 hesitated slightly as they saw their comrade fall and then lept forward again . Simon grimly fired the last bullet and closed his eyes, prepared to feel the fangs of the last demon bite into his flesh. But both demons fell at his feet. Simon stood there stunned, looking down at the gun in his hand then back at the previous owner, who seemed now to have fiendish grin on his skeletal face. Simon replaced the golden gun in the hands of the dead man, as an act of reverence, and took the silver one with him.
Later, after Simon had been rescued from the planes by Lord Xanadu, it was determined that the gun was indeed enchanted, though it seemed to be waning. Lord Xanadu was able to reforge it, combining it with several other weapons just like he did with Angring, making it much more potent and extremely effective against demons. It is chambered to fire .55 caliber shells that Simon makes himself. He has a variety of projectiles ranging from simple silver to enchanted and runed spent uranium. Aside from the rounds on his gun belt, Simon keeps 3 loaded cylinders with alternate ammunition with him at all times, including one with mundane ammunition for use against normal humans. (No need to waste ammo that takes a considerable effort to make.)
Kaz Boch
After killing the demons with his now empty gun, Simon realized he needed a weapon, one capable of killing demons. He had learned during his time with VIPER that the handiest thing to kill a demon with, was part of a another demon. Much like diamonds cut other diamonds. Simon found a small rusted blade among the detritus and set about creating a weapon he would continue to use to this day. The cavern he was in was as good a place as any to hold out for awhile so he took his time and fashioned a kind of two pronged pilum from the bones of the dead demons. After he was finished he called it Kaz Boch 'The Bone Fork'. The weapon has no other enchantment other than it's demonic origin and after returning to Earth, aside from strengthening it's construction a bit and adding leather grips, Simon decided to leave it that way. He has found it to be especially useful against entities he needs to keep his distance from. He is careful to only use it against true demons, it would be far less potent in other situations.
Kataramenos
After returning to Earth with Lord Xanadu, Simon made plain his plans to again oppose DEMON and search for his beloved Gwendolin. He already had a cache of magical weapons and talismans ready but many of them were tainted with dark magic that Simon was reluctant to trust. Lord Xanadu offered to make a wholly new weapon for Simon so that if worse came to worst, he would have steel he could depend on. Lord Xanadu spent 13 days forging the sword, in the final stages Simon assisted so that the blade would respond to only him. Xanadu still lacked the exquisite craft of Elven smiths, but he wrought as well as he could. Though not quite aware, the blade was imbued with a hunger for demonic blood and during battle it entices demons to come closer that it might taste of them. Simon will occasionally dual wield it with Excessum. If demons are left wounded, he uses Kataramenos to dispatch them so that it may feed. When facing true demons, Kataramenos bursts into blue-white flame.
Kaašādu
During the battle with the Unstable Inquisitor, Simon was pulled into the mental construct and separated from his compatriots. Here his life long battle with sanity was put to the test. He found himself seemingly defenseless against the dark minions that attacked him, since he was cut off from the real world none of his weapons were available to him. He fought tooth and nail but was losing, badly. Suddenly the ground shook and his attackers ceased their assault, puzzled by the unexpected interruption. From out of the ground rose a golden revolver, it split the air with an awful shriek, as if it were clawing it's way into the world itself. Simon recognized it immediately. It was the golden twin of Excessum that he had left behind in that lost cavern years ago. It's power radiant in the shining darkness, Simon took it into his hand and stood. One of the insane phantoms charged him and Simon pointed the gun and fired. A screeching report sounded as a burst of spectral force shot from barrel and obliterated it's target. He let out a laugh, not from insanity but from relief as he dispatched all assailants, till at last he faced the Unstable Inquisitor himself and brought him down. When Simon awoke from the mental assault, he found that the weapon was gone. None of his compatriots and had a similar experience, they all had had their own powers to draw on. But Simon knew one thing for sure, the name of the weapon had been whispered in his ear, Kaašādu.
Kaašādu was the mirror image of Excessum, before it was transformed and augmented by Lord Xanadu. The only difference between the two originally was their color. However, when Simon first encountered Kaašādu it appeared to operate like any other firearm, requiring bullets. But in the mental construct Simon paused long enough to check the cylinder and found the chambers were filled with crystals, and that the hammer also had a crystal fitted to it. Just touching seemed to have no effect, but when the hammer was pulled back and then allowed to strike, it caused a burst of spectral force to be fired, apparently with prodigious power. Whether Kaašādu was real and appeared of it's own accord, or if it was merely Simon's subconscious saving itself, remains to be seen.
Hammer Thorn
This weapon Simon acquired from a fellow slayer of evil creatures whose luck had run out, Luther Von Grüne. Simon not uncommonly was following a tip from a concerned but inexperienced source who thought that some sort of demonic activity was taking place in an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the west side of Millennium City. The source had confused Undead with Demonic, a common mistake. Simon did not have any particular interest in undead creatures, since most of them were simply victimized humans, either cursed by someone or attacked by some other victim. Instead of the disgust and rage he felt for demon kind, Simon usually felt pity for the undead. But he was not above dispatching them if he came across them and had just decided to move into the warehouse further when he began to hear the sounds of battle. Inside Simon found a lone man facing off against a number of vampires that were standing between him and a tall gaunt figure in the middle of a summoning circle. Simon's blood turned hot when he saw that the figure was just completing the ritual and a Kandaarian demon burst into the room, a sickly slavering beast that pawed at the ground and bellowed it's rage at being yoked. The figure made a gesture toward the beast and it lept at the other man who fired his gun repeatedly into the beast seemingly to little effect. Simon knew the man was in trouble and unholstered Excessum and took aim just as the demon slammed into the vampire hunter and flung him into a pile of crates. Simon aimed and fired, striking the demon in the head, making it explode. Gouts of vile acidic blood spouted from the wound as it fell dead. Simon quickly turned his gun on the tall figure in the circle but it was already fleeing. Simon fired and hit the figure in the right arm, blowing it clean off. The figure cried out in pain and fell but was already getting up again when the rest of the vampires fell upon Simon. He put away Excessum and summoned his Javanese camphor wood javelin and went to work.
After the battle was finished Simon found the other man barely alive, he was very old and seemed to be clinging to life by sheer determination. The man introduced himself as Luther Von Grüne, and told Simon that he and his ancestors had been undead vanquishers for nearly 100 years. His grandfather had commissioned the creation of the gun he was now using, a powerful and elegant weapon and had passed it on when he died. Luther also explained that he had no son of his own and asked Simon to take the gun and carry on his work. Simon at first refused, instead insisting that he call for medical help. Luther refused and handed him a silver amulet and then laid back and asked Simon to place it on the dying mans forehead. Simon did as asked and Luther suddenly went slack as the last strings of his life were cut. Simon decided that although he felt no need to hunt undead creatures, he did feel a need to hunt down and destroy that summoner and so took gun, Hammer Thorn, and the silver amulet and started hunting.
Lord Xanadu has analyzed the gun and the ammunition and found some provenance to it's creation. The first mention of it appears in 1889 in Bavaria and this appears to be the time and place it's of creation. Besides the apparent mystical properties of it's construction it shows elements of extremely advanced firearm technology for that part of the 19th century. This combination of science and sorcery in that era has led Lord Xanadu to deduce that it was perhaps created by some sort of extraordinary league of gentlemen of virtuous intent that saw a pressing need to dispatch a large number of undead quickly and efficiently. Simon found only 27 rounds of ammunition in the gun, the extra dimensional space in the magazine seemed capable of holding considerably more but Simon has not been able to divine how those rounds were constructed. The bullets are a 6mm tungsten/silver composite surrounding an incendiary core of unknown origin, making it effective against vampires, ghouls, raised skeletons, liches and also werewolves and some types of demons that are susceptible to either fire or silver. One other quirk of the weapon is that it only fires when held in the left hand. These draw backs make it a rare choice for Simon to use, it serves mostly as a sniper weapon or a visual threat against undead informants until Simon can determine how to construct sufficient quantities of ammunition for it.
Armor & Cloak
Simon wears a suit of armor composed of pieces he collected either from DEMON or from various other adversaries and allies. It is strong protection against the various nasty things demons can do like flinging acidic bile or breathing fire. It is durable against modern weapons also, roughly equivalent to a flack jacket, and proof against bladed weapons not propelled by super human force.
The Cloak of Mists, allows him to travel to what appears to be an empty pocket dimension called the Swirling Limbo. Not only can he travel there physically but as long as he wears the cloak, he can also will objects and people in and out of it. Hence he keeps a wide array of weapons there that he can call upon at any time. Kataramenos and Excessum are the only weapons he actually keeps on his person. The spacial differential between our dimension and the Swirling Limbo also allows him to travel across large distances in our dimension quickly. The Swirling Limbo has no oxygen, or at least not enough to breathe, so Simon has to hop in and out of the limbo as he travels so he can breathe.
Powers and Abilities
Physical
Simon is an Olympic class athlete able lift(press) 300 pounds. He is also trained in endurance and able to complete a triathlon in world class times. He has completed armed and unarmed special forces training and has over 20 years of combat experience. He trained in archaic combat techniques and weapons, to gain mastery over the magical weapons he acquired over the years. He has a small stock pile of Draysha that increases his strength and endurance to near super human levels. In this state he is able to lift (press) nearly 1 ton. His senses and reflexes are also enhanced. This effect lasts for approximately 15 minutes.
Psionic
All human beings are endowed with latent or operant psionic abilities. In Simon's case these abilities were sub-operant. Human psionic power is generally broken down into 5 categories of varying degrees, telepathy, telekinesis, coercion, amelioration and the rather nebulous, "manipulation". All human beings are born with aptitude in one or more category. Simon's psionic powers were right on the edge of operancy. He had a a very limited type of telepathy which only gave him a sense of other peoples feeling and sincerity. The only other aspect he could access at all was a bit of Manipulation which allowed him to do things like generate small flames and occasionally make hard objects go soft like clay so he could mold them but this took a tremendous amount of concentration. These abilities confused and frightened Simon for most of his life.
He has since trained his abilities under the guidance of Lord Xanadu and has become more or less operant in very specific ways. He can now read the surface thoughts of non-operant people very close to him and can alter their perception of him so that he can appear disguised. This only works on small groups of people no more than 10 or so within 100 yards.He has developed his Manipulation talent so that he can generate full on flames which he sometimes coalesces into small fireballs he can throw. He has unlocked a small telekinetic ability so that he can push or pull objects roughly equal to his physical abilities. He can generate physical shields to ward off physical blows but he must concentrate and be still to do this. He has also practiced his 'sculpting' ability and creates small sculptures out of materials no harder than soft iron. One of his favorite mediums is bone.
Magic
Despite his psionic abilities and perceptive nature, Simon has shown very little vocation in magic. However, it didn't take him long to realize how efficacious a few enchanted items could be and decided that studying magic was not necessary. Still, he has learned a few minor chants and charms for effects such as warding an entryway or enchanting the ammunition used in Excessum. The most advanced thing he has learned is a circle of warding, one of the most important things to know when dealing with demons, but he doesn't stake his life on it.
Affiliations
Member of the new Sacred Order of the Chain
Associate of Lord Xanadu
Associate of the Trismegistus Council
