Lord of Nightâs End
âSome things are best kept in the dark where they belong.â
âSome things are best kept in the dark where they belong.â
Five Finger Death Punch || Cold
Gemini Syndrome || Basement
Celldweller || Kill the Sound
Celldweller || The Last Firstborn
âSeek you a summary of my nature? You would sooner paint with air.â
âNicknameâ
[ Most know him only as Lord Nishant, or Sir Nishant. Precious few are allowed to use his first name. ]
âAgeâ
[ Appears 25 ]
âGenderâ
[ Male ]
âSpeciesâ
[ Half-Demon || Appears Human ]
âRoleâ
[ Luciferâs Heir ]
âFace Claimâ
[ Lancer | Fate/Zero ]
âI should think the armor makes my appearance rather irrelevant, no?â
âHair Colorâ
[ Black ]
âEye Colorâ
[ Gold ]
âSkin Toneâ
[ Moderate ]
âHeightâ
[ 6â5â ]
âWeightâ
[ 200 ]
âPhysical Descriptionâ
[ Cyril cuts an imposing figure, being just about six and a half feet tall, as well as broad and muscular enough to be easily intimidating. It helps, of course, that he never goes out in public unless he is wearing a full suit of black armor, helmet included. The only person who has ever seen his face is the Queen herself, and presumably whomever trained him, but even that retains an element of doubt, since no such person has ever been found. Regardless, the face he shows before the world is not a face at all, but the visage of the Black Knight, stalwart defender of Elysia and its foremost warrior. The armor itself is exceptionally-well-made, with the appearance of being much heavier than it actually is, constructed magically from a lightweight, disproportionately strong metal. It is, as his name suggests, entirely black, save that he usually wears a red cloak with the crest of the house of Nishant upon it, the crest itself being in black.
Underneath the armor, he is perhaps only fractionally less intimidating in stature. His shoulders are broad, his body muscled efficiently and carrying an appearance of lithe, graceful strength, though he is a bit more than lean. There is power in his form, and it is not difficult to see. His hands are quite large and callused from the years of weapons and hand-to-hand training heâs been through, a sharp contrast to those belonging to other houses of nobility and sure evidence that he is a knight first, a lord only second, however prominent his family may be.
On the rare occasion his face is uncovered, it is not difficult to see that he is what most anyone would call a very attractive man, though there is a certain edge to that quality, a bit of dark charisma in the lines of his jaw and cheekbones. His face as a whole is comprised of sharp angles and thick lines, the strength of the rest of him carrying through his jaw, aquiline nose, and brow. His hair is very thick and very dark, usually for convenience pushed back to trail to the nape of his neck, though there is a stubborn strand of it that tends to fall in front of his nose. As a whole, his hair is wavy and soft, the texture almost feathery, like the ravenâs wing the color evokes, with its highlights of deep blue and indigo.
His eyes, exotically-slanted for one supposedly from Elysia, are a bright, liquid gold color, an extraordinary hue rarely, if ever, seen in the human population. It does crop up occasionally in Dorthonion, which is where House Nishant originated many generations ago. Being at least partially a demon, Cyril like any of them has a more monstrous form, but he has only taken it on once, and never in the company of anyone else, so nobody can say what it looks like. To all outward appearances, then, he is nothing but human. ]
âMore than one person has tried to tell me what I am and what Iâm meant to be. The only thing I have care to be, however, is a knight. And so that is what I am. I should like to see any of them try to stop me.â
âPotential Interestâ
Indifferent: Cyril, it seems, is a rather reclusive person, one devoted entirely to his duty as a knight of Elysia and the personal protection of its heir. This is a duty that, by necessity, he shares, as like anyone, he does have to sleep on occasion, but for the most part, he is the princessâs very large, very dark, very frightening shadow. There is little room in a life like that for anything else, and so his personal relationships are few, and his romances nonexistent. He has never particularly seen the appeal of such things anyway, so he doesnât feel that heâs missing much.
âSkillsâ
- â
Weaponry || Cyril is, hands-down and widely-acknowledged, the most skillful knight in the realm, at just about any skill one would expect a knight to have. This includes weaponwork, and while his most apt mastery is with swords, he actually tends to prefer lances, plural, for their superior reach.
â Hand-To-Hand || Of course, it is equally important to be prepared for any situation whatsoever, and to that end, Cyril is also versed in barehanded combat, so that, even should his weapons be broken or stolen, he is still more than capable of dealing with his foes.
â Bodyguarding || It is a unique set of skills, separate from simply being good in a confrontation. To bodyguard is to be able to do that all while protecting another, and it requires vigilance, constant attention, loyalty, and decisiveness, all of which Cyril has in spades.
âAbilitiesâ
- â Null || Inherited from his father, Cyril has the ability to nullify any and all magic used on his person, though this does not seem to extend to the ability to cancel all magic period. That is something only Lucifer himself is able to do.
â Augmentation || All demons are much stronger, faster, and more durable than human beings. This is simply a fact. They can also all heal their own wounds, which enables them to survive blows that would be fatal to a human constitution. Cyril has inherited these traits on par with the three demon generals, and they have seen more use than his appearance would suggest.
â [Locked] || Something stirs in his blood, something he cannot explain. For now, it is only a stirring, but in timeâŠ
âHabitsâ
- â Silence || Cyril infrequently speaks unless spoken to, and for a man in full plate armor, he moves remarkably quietly, almost as if he were flowing or drifting over the ground rather than walking as other people have to.
â Practice || He never does so where other people can see, but Cyril believes that practice is the best way to keep his skills sharp, and so devotes time every day to keeping himself in form. Itâs probably the only thing he has that would qualify as a hobby, except perhapsâŠ
â Song || It is something that nobody would ever guess about him, but Cyril has a singing voice that borders on hypnotic. Perfect pitch, and from somewhere, excellent musical training. It is a much gentler side of himself, and understandably does not surface in the company of others. That said, sometimes when heâs by himself, he wonât see as much of a need to conceal it for the sake of his public image.
âLikesâ
- አReading || As any nobleman, Cyril was well-educated, and can read and understand basically any language. Heâs also surprisingly well-versed in magical lore, though of course being demon, blooded, he cannot cast himself. He simply finds it useful to know the ways it may be used against himself or his charge.
አGardens/The Outdoors || Cyril somehow prefers being outdoors to being inside. In fact, the biggest downside to his self-imposed armor prison is the fact that he never directly feels the sun on his face or the breeze against his skin. These are sensations that he misses a great deal. But he cannot feel them again, not considering what that would allow. So he contents himself with the visuals of the outdoors and enjoys them whenever he can.
አThe Royal Family || The Queen has given him a second chance to live his life on his own terms by giving him something to do, and the princess, well⊠to Cyril, at least, watching over and protecting the princess brings him a sense of peace. He is grateful to the both of them, though to the latter at least, he would not express his gratitude, for fear of it being mistaken for something else.
âDislikesâ
- â Demons || He is not especially fond of his fatherâs kind, perhaps because he understands their nature better than most people do. The distaste he has for them does not generally extend into hatred, and it rarely if ever affects his demeanor, given his stoicism, but nevertheless, he is not particularly fond of them, and wary in their presence.
â Threats || Any insinuations against the lives or health of the royal family irritate Cyril greatly. The genuine ones, ones made with sufficient power to back them up, may well be the only thing capable of igniting his fuse. He is definitely a very protective person, and one who takes his duties especially seriously.
â Court Politics || He has little taste for people who lie and scheme and manipulate one another. That, at lest, has never been in his nature, though he is capable of telling a lie with a perfectly straight face. He simply chooses not to. His house, while powerful, has always been made up of Crown loyalists, and everyone knows to expect this very same thing of Cyril like every previous lord or lady Nishant.
âStrengthsâ
- ⊠The Heir of Inferno || Cyrilâs demonic pedigree is second to none, to be perfectly frank about it. Granted, Lucifer is only one of his parents, and who his real mother was, before he was given to the Nishants, is something he does not know, but⊠he can certainly feel the effects of his heritage, whether he wants that infernal power or not.
⊠Stoic || It is basically impossible to seriously rattle Cyril. Even in anger, he is cold, controlled, precise, and rational. Causing him to express any kind of emotion at all is extremely difficult, and even if someone does manage, they may never know, because the armor hides his face, making it impossible to see his expression. His extreme discipline and self-control was not easily won, but he has managed it all the same.
⊠Discipline || Put simply, growing up the untutored child of the demon made for a large number of mishaps, from the harmless to the devastating. Thereâs a legend in Elysia that about fifty years ago, an entire town disappeared. It wasnât destroyed or leveled, there was no slaughter to findâeverything and everyone simply vanished off the map without a trace. That⊠was Cyril, unfortunately. He has since learned to master his powers a little more, and he currently keeps them contained with an enchanted suit of armor made for him by the Academyâs Headmaster, one of only two people who knows his secret, though they have never been face-to-face, per se.
âWeaknessesâ
- ⯠Conflicted || A demonâs nature is a difficult thing to contain, especially in a body that is only half-demon. It means that, unless Cyril retains excellent control of himself and his emotions, he risks accidentally discharging some of that power, and it tends to manifest in strange ways, for a demon. Certainly in destructive ways.
⯠Stubborn || It is difficult for Cyril to see past the things he knows to be true, things that have been repeatedly drummed into him by a lifetime of experience. His powers are evil. Heâs a reprehensible being, worth only what he has left to give the Crown. Demons are never to be trusted, and he is not either. He doesnât waver in his views, which, when it comes to his self-perception and so on, makes it very difficult to
⯠The Past || There are things that you just canât escape from, and Cyril feels especially chained to his past. He doesnât like to talk about it, or think about it, but it is always there, informing his actions.
âOtherâ
- It is known to the Asura Generals and the Four that Cyril is Luciferâs son, and indeed, to Cyril himself, but other than that, only the Queen and the Headmaster know. Who his mother is is a detail known only to Lucifer himself.
âIâm a little bit of everything, even when Iâd rather not be.â
âPersonalityâ
Stoic | Dutiful | Serious | Dark
Itâs really hard to get an idea of what Cyril is thinking. This is something that pretty much everyone who has ever met him will confess. Part of it is just that he wears a concealing suit of black armor, and therefore it is impossible to read his expressions. The occasional flash of golden eyes can be seen, but other than that, it is a complete mystery what he looks like, and therefore in large part what he is thinking or feeling. His voice, slightly obscured by the helmet, is nevertheless plenty loud and clear when he wants it to be, a resounding, authoritative baritone but one that nevertheless modulates little if at all. Unsurprisingly, his stoicism and refusal to be provoked does not sit especially well with politicians, who bank on the ability to manipulate people by doing so.
The one thing about him that is obvious to anyone who bothers to think about it is his unflinching loyalty to the crown. Where other guards in the past have become frustrated by the Princessâs desire to slip away for instance, Cyril simply patiently tracks her downâand he always seems to know where she is. He does not reprimand her, for that is not his job, nor does he question the orders of the Queen whenever they are given. He, like a loyal hound, simply obeys, relying on them for the moral compass he himself does not seem to possess.
For there is something dark in Cyril, something that he can only explain by reference to his heritage. The desire for battle, for death, to be lord and master of everything around himâthese are things he feels quite strongly. That darkness, those inhuman urges to tear flesh and destroy life, they are strong in him, but he resists them at every turn. He is demonic enough to have them, but not so demonic to accept them about himself. One could say that the middle is a very uncomfortable place to be, indeed.
âSome stories are better left untold.â
âHistoryâ
The circumstances of Cyrilâs birth are unclear, as well as his parentage. All that is known by even the most informed is that he is the son of Lucifer by some unknown woman, and that eventually he was given to the house Nishant, where he was raised in seclusion for several generations. It was not an easy process, and indeed, he made many mistakes of varying seriousness. It was about ten years ago that he was named the official heir of house Nishant, for that generationâs Lady Nishant never married nor had children, and saw fit to name him in the stead of her nephew, who would have been unsuited to the position.
She died shortly after, and Cyril ascended to the head of one of the most powerful houses in Elysia. From there, he swore his loyalty to the Queen, as all heads of house do when they ascend to the position, and, given his unique proclivity for combat, he joined the Elysian order of knights, the Crown of Thorns. His rise through their ranks was quick, and he now heads the entire order, meaning that his position is the Queensknight, the direct servant of Her Majesty. By tradition, that would make him the Queenâs personal bodyguard, but Queen Dianthe prefers his talents be put to use guarding the most precious thing in her lifeâher daughter Calliope.
And so, for the last two years or so, that is exactly what Cyril has been doing: faithfully, loyally, and without a single complaint.
âMy nature will not constrain me. I am the only one who will do that.â
