Scholar of Studied Carnage's page

Trucido appears as a human man nearing his middle age. His weary eyes glow brightly blue with a barely contained power softened by his weary and tired features. Bearing archaic looking heavy armor and a wicked looking pole arm there's little else to suggest anything about him as anything but some kind of warrior with a slight magical bent if his eyes are any indication. Yet, despite his stony face bears no scars, no signs of battle.

If Trucido, The Scholar of Studied Carnage ever had a real name it died long ago with his original home along with all his family, friends, and anything remaining of his past washed away in a wall of blue fire that wiped out all traces of life from it.

Ever since Trucido does not speak of his original homeworld only that it was a place ruled by arrogance and petty hatred empowered by far too much magic.

For the past several centuries Trudio has been a student in the arts of war. Magical, technological, psychic, electronic, Trucido has dabbled in or studied deeply of all. His mastery over the Stair grants him unparalleled access into numerous alternate realities and timelines where he can witness the same fight over and over again with slight variations to ponder and consider his theories about combat in all forms.

In that time he has served as something as a mercenary joining or commanding armies of such staggering size and logistics that petty kings in other realms would simply surrender under the sheer vastness and speed with which he would strike.

Yet, he holds no power of his own. He simply joins causes he finds just or takes part in conflicts merely to end them more quickly, or study some aspect of them to gain knowledge for himself, rarely he takes arms as his own side gathering his own army to do away with tyrannies or rulers who he feels require destruction.

Often the only answer he gives, if any, for why he does anything is that he is paying some form of great penance for the lives of billions.

Trucido is stalwart and stoic without being off putting. He simply finds little use for words unbacked by the promise of action. Threats, for him, are meaningles without strength to back it. Friendliness too, is a thing all too often given unsincerely, and punished all too often. These truths have made him somewhat of a cynic expecting the worst and preparing for disaster at all times.

He also is fairly reluctant to express the full range of his capabilities or strategic mind knowing that any information unknown to his enemies is a poisoned dagger hidden up his sleeve.

That being said. Having taken so many lives, he understands the value of each and every one. Through his studies he has seen how a single survivor might go on to lead an army, build an empire, how veterans can go on to garner a stronger and stronger generation of warriors and mages.

Trucido's only real fault as a soldier is that the has no end goal, no victory condition. For now e simply wants to preserve that perfect world that so clearly mirrors his own and direct any conflict or force that might threaten it away if not stop it entirely.

Beyond this he simply seeks mastery of all forms of combat. This is a remnant from his past life as a mortal man but a goal that has served him quite well. Sometimes, reputation alone has forced diplomacy. Other times, demonstrations have helped enforce this reluctant peace.

Trucido's homeworld is a barren ashen wasteland home only to arcane horrors, phantoms, and mutated monsters all vying for dominance underneath green clouds of corrosive necromantic power. Trucido rarely comes home and only does so to remind himself of the horrors of total warfare and the importance of quick conflicts.

It used to be a world known as Aidan. A world of incredible high magic where thought could be the same as action. Where gesture and word were the same as power. Enlightened, empowered, and emboldened were its people. However all of this was under a veil of oppression against the natural world of the planet. Civilization had pushed the fey and their allies to brink of extinction, and when they lashed out with the very power they were born with a war erupted across the planet that crossed over several generations embroiling each side in so much hate and disgust that peace became a forgotten concept. Nine mages, each Lords and Prime in their chosen form of the Art, developed a ritual that would erase the intelligence inherent in nature effectively lobotomizing the natural world and returning it to a more primal, and more controllable state. The fey would cease to exist and nature itself would be calmed.

None of those mages foresaw the betrayal from within their own inner circle. Nor the full scope of consequences of their actions.

Where Aidan was the civilized, warring, arcane infused world. Daiken is its mirror, a land of natural beauty where its people adn the natural world coexist in harmony rather than in conflict. The magic remains as strong as ever but in a calmer less passionate form. In this alternate realm Trucido finds something resembling peace observing from afar or in disguise he witnesses how life for his home could have been rather than what it is. He cherishes this image, and the people within it and wants to know for certain whether it could ever go down the path his people chose. As such he while he refuses to interfere in its internal affairs, those forces from other parts of the stair that could threaten it are viciously defended against.

The event that destroyed Trucido's world also infused him with untold amounts of magical power. He's not exactly how much of it he has but he does know that disciplines and powers previously unknown to him, perhaps to any, are his to command. Indeed he suspects that whatever fleshly body he had was consumed in the wave of energies that annihilated his home. That what he is is an embodiment of pure magic given intelligence and will.

Lord Arkaos: The only other survivor of Aidan is a lich and ancient terror known as Lord Arkaos. A being from Aidan's distant past the destruction of the world revealed his ancient tomb where he was still imprisoned. Discovered by Trucido during one of his visits to his old home the lich was revived from his deep slumber by his incredible presence. Though the exchange was polite and civil Trucido saw no purpose in releasing the old tyrant from his tomb.

Time and imprisonment has done much to harden his patience. He will wait long eternities, long enough for the rest of the planet to crumble if necessary to be free. That being said he bears no ill will towards Trucido. Indeed all his old enemies are long since dead and gone. What he plans should he become free, however, is anyone's guess.

Widowmaker Aya The polar opposite to Trucido. Where he embraces a calm defensive strategy that punishes an enemy, she embraces raw aggression that gives the enemy no foot hold.

Not a true gossamer lady she relies on artifacts and other means to walk the stair. Regardless her reputation is on par with that of The Scholar of Studied Carnage. Sometimes, they cross blades. Others, they fight on the same side. But it is always with a mutual respect. Two people on the same side of a warriors coin.

Archdruid Kylar Trucido's mirror opposite on Daiken. The same man though born under completely different circumstances. Where Trucido uses violence Kylar chooses peace and negotiation. Still, he is the only one that Trucido has revealed himself to and the only time he has violated his own rule of non-interference.

They speak often, bouncing ideas off of one another, speaking of pursuits both military and diplomatic. Kylar doesn't unerstand the point of violence where Trucido doesn't see any weight of talk without without strength. Still, both men are intrigued by one another and bettered by their interactions.