Aegus

Promethean (Or Promitarre) Aegus  is a High Echelon Promethean of the Worshippers of the Dragonkin. Standing as one of the strongest tactical minds and physical brutes of their society, Aegus stands as an example of what Worshipper youth should aspire to become.

Early Childhood
Aegus was a child born to two Hephaestian smiths in the Worshipper city of North Chaele. His mother a skilled Smeltress, and his father a strong smith, Aegus didn't realise he was set to be a battle-mage from this combination. Learning to walk and talk, Aegus was raised surrounded by slaves, constantly reminded he was superior to them. He took this as a form of entitlement, building upon an arrogant personality he'd one day develop.

By age five, Aegus was sent to basic education at the hands of Hadeans and Atinaese, soaking knowledge in combat and history of the empire like a sponge. This didn't limit Aegus' creativity, however. The young boy exterminated a small hellcat infestation. He baited the traps, made from wooden crates with rats pinned by their tails to the back, a simple but effective box trap. As the cats ran into the boxes after the rats, Aegus used a sharpened stick to stab them, repeatedly, through a hole in the crate. An angry child, the Hadeans took notice of this talent, but saw it needed proper refinement. On his seventh birthday, Aegus was sent to join the Epimethean Rate as a trainee.

The Beginning
Early on, Aegus was sent to work with other Epimethean Trainees. Some of them were extremely strong, some fast, and some smarter. Aegus went from being one of the best in his city, to being average. He couldn't stand it. His arrogance and pride resurfaced, forcing him to push himself forward to his limits. While the others swam in the cool streams feeding into the West side of the Lum, Aegus swam in the hot waters coming from the Volcano until his skin was raw and pink. While the others fought in spars with goat-leather padding, Aegus made himself go barechested, wearing only a belted kilt. He ran barefoot on the rough soils, and hunted animals twice his size. Aegus even spoke to Hadeans to learn potential ways to make himself far stronger, eating the hormone-rich parts of out of the beasts he hunted. Brains, hearts, and various other sources of hormones became a main staple of Aegus' meat intake by age nine.

Once Aegus was ten, he and his class of similarly aged boys and girls had the real training. All of them were to shed their protective padding, swim in the hotter streams, and run barefoot on the jagged rocks. Aegus had done this before, which pushed his limits beyond the other youth. While they struggled, he excelled due to his conditioning in the environment already.

Top of his Class
Now tall, strong, and proving himself, it wasn't long until Aegus was tested in a real scenario, though the circumstances were not as expected. The Atinaese training the Epimetheans had a wake-up call, pounding upon a war drum as a group of bandits charged the training camp. Aegus grabbed a hatchet, choosing not to form up with the others, cleaving it into one's leg. Ripping the leg loose, Aegus left it on the ground before smashing the bandit's skull in with the blunt side of the tool. Not expecting the brutality of a camp of Epimetheans, the bandits fled, leaving Aegus with a dead bandit, and his split leg. As a trophy, Aegus removed the femur from the bandit, glassing the end into a twisted, gnarly club. Other students began to fear Aegus, and not without reasoning!

Aegus kept moving through his class, his arrogance becoming a self-defence in and of itself. His cocky stance and attitude tended to make people not want to fight him, even if they could win if they did fight. By age 14, Aegus was organising tactical formations, including devising a way to use the Dragonwolf-Riding Cerberites in a brutal tactic against any organised formation.

Moving back to Vulcan's Lament for further training, Aegus soon saw a rather lovely girl by the name of Karme. Karme was a Pyromancer, only a few years younger than him. During his lessons with the military, Aegus grew close with her, learning fire magic alongside her from their teacher. Acting a little more than friends, Aegus was soon pulled away from Karme to learn from the Labour caste. Working metal, Aegus became fascinated with Mithril. So durable, yet so light... He figured it was the best metal for armour possible. Aegus moved toward the Religious, where he learned more on the faith as well as finer, honourable arts such as sword-work. A final stop, Aegus had to go to the Specialists, using his knowledge with traps to further prove himself.

Done rotating with his studies, Aegus was considered for the final ascension to Promethean at age 18.

The Helmet
The goal Aegus worked his entire life over was soon within his grasps. Donning the helmet of a Promethean, Aegus began his final ascension. Part of this entailed Aegus training even more brutally. Weapons went from blunted training ones, to razor sharp. Nights jogging turned to entire days. Needless to say, Aegus spent almost all his time training, sleeping, or eating to maintain his physique. What little humanity he had left was stripped away, leaving a weapon. A cold, calculating killing machine.

Their trainer, Promitarre Achilles the Untouched, was known for running into battle with arrows barely hitting him, by pure luck. He was a tough trainer, teaching many of the older Prometheans among the Worshippers into what they are, the Elites who led the charges to Misthalin.

As Aegus reached the first ascension trial, he was set with teams of two to find a dragon dagger in a set of ruins. Dionytes brought four chained dragons there, setting two free. The two, in anger of capture, slaughtered many of Aegus' class. From the weakest to the strongest, Aegus had to fight with his partner, while allies burned across the ruins. Aegus' partner went to grab the dagger, while Aegus himself began hurling magic to distract the dragons. When his partner returned, they went to gather their friends' bodies. Of the four teams of two, Aegus' was the only with no losses. One team suffered an immediate death and eventually fatal injury, another had a permantly crippled man and a plethora of bloodlost, while the last team had an Epimethean ripped into two pieces, a friend of Aegus', burned beyond recognition. This experience was horribly traumatic, only further hardening Aegus' lack of humanity.

Aegus was eventually pulled from the classes by the Atinaese Promethean himself, given a final challenge to earn what should be his. Aegus was to lead a group of assorted Worshippers into the Fremennik held Daemonheim, a frontline charge from the North by sea. Building rafts, Aegus' squad of twenty landed there and wreaked pure havoc, fire magi burning tents while Aegus himself fought with little more than a bone club. Taking a smith hostage, Aegus managed to also convince the man to defect to the Worshippers, making steel for them rather than rot in chains as the other Fremennik would.

Promitarre Aegus
To be written.

Promethean Hide Armour
Royal Dragonhide armour, two or three layers made for Aegus depending on the temperature around him. The armour is made to be highly protective but also allow more flexibility and magical capacity than platemail. With dragonbones on the chest for ornamentation and large, mithril pauldrons and greaves, Aegus is made to be a heavy hybrid fighter.

Promethean Helmet
Worn by all Prometheans, the helmet is steel with dragonbone pieces thrown into it, to reinforce the structure of the steel. In addition, shards from broken dragon metal, the corrupted gear that was not as well kept within the cache, adorns the helmets of the High-Echelon Prometheans with pride, the gear of their ancestors whether it was decayed or not. The menacing visage it bears hides emotion, while wider eyeholes allow for visibilty. Some variants have thinner slits for more melee-based fighters, but Aegus personally prefers the wider holes his carries.

Dragonwolf bracers
After killing a stray dragonwolf, Aegus had the horns placed on his fists in place of the dragonbone, the harder material of the beast serving much better for his punches and deflecting techniques. Covering his arms, the hide finds more mithril, further acting to help deflect incoming swords out of harm's way.

"Aegus" Shield
A shield of Aegus' own design, input from his Fremennik Smith and Karme Heiligfeuer led him to a powerful tower shield. Made from magic logs, black dragon hide and mithril rimmed, the shield has a large orb in the center to conduct and send fire magic through. In defensive formations, this makes a very hostile front-line attack, while also able to block and cover most of Aegus. This shield has since been made for other Prometheans, notably Ataleus.

Dragonsteel Longsword
Metal forged by Aegus' smith, his piety draws him to the weapon. A Fremennik Style blade, rather than use ground human bone in it's crafting, it uses dragon bones. A Wing-shaped hilt ripples out of the blade in a crucifix form. While not much better than a standard steel blade metal wise, the longsword makes an excellent side-arm for Aegus to carry.

Mithril Hasta
Aegus' main weapon in serious battle, the Hasta is made to be cost-effective and durable, while also deadly. After years of training with his bladed staff, Aegus' Hasta feels like a feather.

Bladed Staff
A twisted, glowing weapon with two pronged axe blades, the Blade Staff is a decent chopping weapon and stabbing weapon, mainly used for parrying. Through physical strength, Aegus demonstrates lifting it and using it with one hand, though in a serious situation he will use it two handed, unlike his hasta. A heavy weapon, the spear point at the butt of the staff does not disapoint. Crafted by Karme Heiligfeuer, she carries a similar weapon.

Bone Club
Aegus' preffered weapon for execution, the bone is an enamled human femur, ripped from the first man Aegus killed. A grisly trophy, markings cover the part of the club Aegus holds to show how many he has killed with it. Often, he beats his targets bloody before breaking their necks to put them out of their misery.

Seidonian Orb
A Fiery red orb carried by Worshipper Magi, this is Aegus' preffered sidearm when fighting with his bone or sword, if he actually uses a sidearm. Similar to the orb within his shield but more maneuverable and with better range, Aegus' brutal ability with fire magic shines with this weapon. This is a standard issue item.

Amulet of Fury
An Onyx gem is not easy to come by in the Wilderness. A mage to enchant it is rarer. Some of the High Echelon of Prometheans feel they'd rather earn a "Kinsfury Amulet" than a dragon weapon, considering the weapons are harder to find than even the onyx. Aegus is one of these, passing up his first chance at a Dragon Weapon for ceremony in favour of his gem. His amulet functions like other amulets of fury, increasing his strength in all forms of combat at the cost of his temper.

Red Dyed Cloak
A ceremonial cloak, Aegus prefers this over the typical Promethean one, making him stand out in a group of them. Dyed a brutal red, it helps keep him warm in cold weather, and acts as a distractionary tool in battle. However, it's main use is to distinguish his rank above even other Prometheans.

Personality
To be continued.

Trivia

 * Aegus draws inspiration from Greek Mythology for combat, but Bane, Megatron, and Vegeta for personality.  A large influence on both, however, was Sandor Clegane.
 * Aegus is a name mixed of Argus, the hundred eyed guardian of Hera's, and Aegis, the feared shield with Medusa's visage blazoned upon it.