09-06-2013, 05:37 PM
The ebony man continued to watch as events unfolded in front of him. He didn't speak a word, he knew the power of words and didn't wish to grant anything that wasn't wholly necessary. Who was he? Well, in his timeline, he had been born a significant amount of time ago. He had been born in a time when stone pyramids were being brought together to form triangular constructs in which foreign kings housed their relatives and ancestors and, some day, themselves. Although Maximillion's homeland had been several hundred miles from this, much of his younger years had been spent learning about these foreign men employing the aid of slaves.
Following this age, a significant amount of time after, finding that he had outlived not only his brothers and sisters but also his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he found himself in an age where man had begun to research the goings-ons of the human body, the musculature, and some cultures had even begun to worship the human body. In this age, man had begun finding ways to use fire to smith the ores and minerals in the ground into sharp objects they could stab and cut each other up with. Of course, they would feed into their primitive desires for conquest, and each country, each continent, would strive hard to become more powerful, more capable of killing, than their neighbors. However, there would come another age in which the metal ores were smithed into small, sharp objects adorning the heads of sticks, with feathers at the end, and could be propelled through the air by the use of another stick with a flax string drawn along it, called bow and arrows. Then, some clever bastard came up with the idea to set the gizmo where it could be triggered by simply pressing down on a metal device, where the user could get much of the same power as they had been using, but with far less effort, although the items loaded into these devices, these bolts, were a great deal more durable, and were fired in greater succession during hunting and warfare.
Then came heavy iron constructs that could, with the use of an oiled fuse and gunpowder, propel balls of heavy-laden led that could smash into an enemy, or their ship, called a cannon.
And still, mankind was not satisfied.
More ages like this one had come to pass, and he had seen horses be tamed and used not just for practicality, but also for convenience. Once, they had drawn carriages. Then, they had been replaced altogether by these monstrous constructs, constructed entirely of metal, that would belch out smoke when people got inside the construct's head and began turning this wheel of sorts inside of it, usually a combination of metal and leather. They called these monsterousities cars, and the first amongst them was called a Model T Ford.
For all Maximillion cared, they could've been called horseshit. He didn't trust them, and he didn't like being a sitting duck, as he often felt like when getting into any kind of vehicle. It gave him less maneuverability, and if the thing he was riding in had been sabotaged, there was little he could do to prevent harm from befalling him.
Then time had continued to pass like this....bringing with it technology using solar energy, harnessing it into these 'pistols' mankind was fond of, and firing those beams of light out of the guns....
Then, just like in ages past, mankind learned how to make a bigger version of their latest weapons, a cannon that also fired light out of it. Then, as time went on, a select few human beings began to discover that other races occupied their planet, such as Vampires, Demons, and these things called 'Mutants', which Maximillion had long suspected himself of being.
Well, that was until he had learned that his father's premature death, death by pyre, had been brought about because the townspeople had suspected him of being a Warlock. Truth be told, he would meet his father's father, who dropped on him the revelation that his father had indeed been a being called Vampire, but one that could walk in the daylight, due to being a 'Pureblood'. This was, of course, back when Maximillion was a young man who didn't give a damn about such things. He would later learn of those who were born with parents of mixed lineage like him, but who devoted the entirety of their lives towards some obsession or another, whether it was trying to pass as the lineage of only one of their parents, or trying to kill those of the same race as one or both of their parents. Extremism, Maximillion had always thought. Yes, he was of dual lineage, but he identified as: Maximillion. No more, no less, just....Maximillion.
So on and on he lived, always wondering when he would begin to wrinkle up, have his hair go from it's normal raven black to a lighter gray, then white, and die; it never happened. Time would continue to pass, and he would continue to live. He took turns from being a passive observer to involving himself in the affairs of the mortal populace around him, but he felt no particular inclination towards them, or anyone else for that matter. He had admitted it countless times: he was a whimsical man, prone to flights of fancy. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, and that often just involved studying things, experimenting with one element or another (whether it was people or things), and then interacting with the people he saw to see how well they reacted to his existence. Then, when enough time had passed, and enough people had come to live and then pass away, he would depart from his late next, go find another country or continent to inhabit, and repeat the process. For some unknown reason, he was occasionally zapped from one Timeline or Dimension to another, usually after meeting someone who actually had the power to do such things. In the most recent timeline, before he came here to the Nexus, he was sucked into a Dimension where he was a young boy raised by renegade Samurai fighting against an alien race referred to as Amanto. Much of his knowledge from the other realms, many of the powers he had in a few of the other Dimensions, did not work here. Here, he was an ordinary human being - more or less - and had no more power to him than the other human beings there.
Of course, that didn't stop him from using his intelligence, and his knowledge of combat, tactics and strategy to make the best use of even his human-level capabilities. He would fight, exploit knowledge he had of their alien technology to get a leg-in during battle, and would off his foes in ways they never saw coming.
Yet, in the end, even that hadn't been enough; his intelligence was significant, his cunning too....but even he had his limitations, and he had been killed in the line of duty.
Yet, Omni had found significance in him, and had brought him to the Nexus. Yet again, Maximillion was living another life, in another Plane of Existence, this time with all of the knowledge and skills from his past life, save for various abilities he'd been born with, such as the power to manipulate energy and various elements. However, something instinctual told him that, given time, he would be allowed to use this resource, this Omnilium, to regain the powers he'd once had, and use them with the same efficacy he had in times past.
He had a new lease on life, and he didn't want to go and spend his life doing reckless, careless, impulsive things; at least, not if it didn't amuse, entertain, or stimulate him in some way.
So, standing at the Fountain of Infinity, he would remain there, stoic and silent, observing those there, seeing how they all reacted to one another, bickering and fighting as he had seen countless centuries of Mankind doing, behaving no differently than the humans of every timeline, every dimension doing, fighting amongst themselves because they lacked whatever faculty it took to unite their powers, and forge a more desirable existence for themselves.
Until, suddenly, at the movement of the woman beside him, who had the odd scent of Death about her, he found a certain question piquing his curiosity. Waiting until she was some distance away, toying with the portal that had vines wrapped around it, Maximillion would take a few steps forward.
"Which path brings with it the promise of the most learning?" He asked, his voice deep, rich, yet spoken a bit low, as though he wasn't used to using his voice that often. His stoic expression wouldn't change, and his accent - Babylonian in nature, which was (in one realm) a realm called Iraq - was fairly thick. His eyes, odd as they were, showed heavily of a deep intelligence, a constant gleam of curiosity about them that indicated he was the type of person who had to constantly be learning something to be satisfied. When he spoke, it would be made clear that he wanted to learn, he wanted things to study, to analyze, and he wanted to be as close to the densest hub of diverse activity so that he could study it all, at whatever level allowed him the most access, and allowed others the most reach in his direction.
"One will lay claim to power, another to numbers. One will lay claim to a greater purpose, another to freedom. But which path has, within it, the most to learn? Which has knowledge, and information, dating back centuries, if not longer, for a diverse number of people, groups, organizations, races and cultures? And which will bring with it access not only to archaic magicks I can study, but also advanced levels of technology I can play with, dabble in, and learn about to the utmost?"
He was a verbose man, this much would be made abundantly clear as he spoke. However, he articulated his thoughts well, and although he was a bit on the long-winded side, he had no problem conveying his thoughts so that others could more or less understand them.
This would be no easy sell, should anyone even feel inclined to bother trying to accommodate him....which, to be frank, most wouldn't. They typically only dealt with those who were easy to lead, easy to satisfy, and easy to manipulate.
He knew well that whomever might try and bring him with them may try to manipulate him, to use him towards their own ends.
He knew this well, and so long as his own needs were met, he didn't care.....
Following this age, a significant amount of time after, finding that he had outlived not only his brothers and sisters but also his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he found himself in an age where man had begun to research the goings-ons of the human body, the musculature, and some cultures had even begun to worship the human body. In this age, man had begun finding ways to use fire to smith the ores and minerals in the ground into sharp objects they could stab and cut each other up with. Of course, they would feed into their primitive desires for conquest, and each country, each continent, would strive hard to become more powerful, more capable of killing, than their neighbors. However, there would come another age in which the metal ores were smithed into small, sharp objects adorning the heads of sticks, with feathers at the end, and could be propelled through the air by the use of another stick with a flax string drawn along it, called bow and arrows. Then, some clever bastard came up with the idea to set the gizmo where it could be triggered by simply pressing down on a metal device, where the user could get much of the same power as they had been using, but with far less effort, although the items loaded into these devices, these bolts, were a great deal more durable, and were fired in greater succession during hunting and warfare.
Then came heavy iron constructs that could, with the use of an oiled fuse and gunpowder, propel balls of heavy-laden led that could smash into an enemy, or their ship, called a cannon.
And still, mankind was not satisfied.
More ages like this one had come to pass, and he had seen horses be tamed and used not just for practicality, but also for convenience. Once, they had drawn carriages. Then, they had been replaced altogether by these monstrous constructs, constructed entirely of metal, that would belch out smoke when people got inside the construct's head and began turning this wheel of sorts inside of it, usually a combination of metal and leather. They called these monsterousities cars, and the first amongst them was called a Model T Ford.
For all Maximillion cared, they could've been called horseshit. He didn't trust them, and he didn't like being a sitting duck, as he often felt like when getting into any kind of vehicle. It gave him less maneuverability, and if the thing he was riding in had been sabotaged, there was little he could do to prevent harm from befalling him.
Then time had continued to pass like this....bringing with it technology using solar energy, harnessing it into these 'pistols' mankind was fond of, and firing those beams of light out of the guns....
Then, just like in ages past, mankind learned how to make a bigger version of their latest weapons, a cannon that also fired light out of it. Then, as time went on, a select few human beings began to discover that other races occupied their planet, such as Vampires, Demons, and these things called 'Mutants', which Maximillion had long suspected himself of being.
Well, that was until he had learned that his father's premature death, death by pyre, had been brought about because the townspeople had suspected him of being a Warlock. Truth be told, he would meet his father's father, who dropped on him the revelation that his father had indeed been a being called Vampire, but one that could walk in the daylight, due to being a 'Pureblood'. This was, of course, back when Maximillion was a young man who didn't give a damn about such things. He would later learn of those who were born with parents of mixed lineage like him, but who devoted the entirety of their lives towards some obsession or another, whether it was trying to pass as the lineage of only one of their parents, or trying to kill those of the same race as one or both of their parents. Extremism, Maximillion had always thought. Yes, he was of dual lineage, but he identified as: Maximillion. No more, no less, just....Maximillion.
So on and on he lived, always wondering when he would begin to wrinkle up, have his hair go from it's normal raven black to a lighter gray, then white, and die; it never happened. Time would continue to pass, and he would continue to live. He took turns from being a passive observer to involving himself in the affairs of the mortal populace around him, but he felt no particular inclination towards them, or anyone else for that matter. He had admitted it countless times: he was a whimsical man, prone to flights of fancy. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, and that often just involved studying things, experimenting with one element or another (whether it was people or things), and then interacting with the people he saw to see how well they reacted to his existence. Then, when enough time had passed, and enough people had come to live and then pass away, he would depart from his late next, go find another country or continent to inhabit, and repeat the process. For some unknown reason, he was occasionally zapped from one Timeline or Dimension to another, usually after meeting someone who actually had the power to do such things. In the most recent timeline, before he came here to the Nexus, he was sucked into a Dimension where he was a young boy raised by renegade Samurai fighting against an alien race referred to as Amanto. Much of his knowledge from the other realms, many of the powers he had in a few of the other Dimensions, did not work here. Here, he was an ordinary human being - more or less - and had no more power to him than the other human beings there.
Of course, that didn't stop him from using his intelligence, and his knowledge of combat, tactics and strategy to make the best use of even his human-level capabilities. He would fight, exploit knowledge he had of their alien technology to get a leg-in during battle, and would off his foes in ways they never saw coming.
Yet, in the end, even that hadn't been enough; his intelligence was significant, his cunning too....but even he had his limitations, and he had been killed in the line of duty.
Yet, Omni had found significance in him, and had brought him to the Nexus. Yet again, Maximillion was living another life, in another Plane of Existence, this time with all of the knowledge and skills from his past life, save for various abilities he'd been born with, such as the power to manipulate energy and various elements. However, something instinctual told him that, given time, he would be allowed to use this resource, this Omnilium, to regain the powers he'd once had, and use them with the same efficacy he had in times past.
He had a new lease on life, and he didn't want to go and spend his life doing reckless, careless, impulsive things; at least, not if it didn't amuse, entertain, or stimulate him in some way.
So, standing at the Fountain of Infinity, he would remain there, stoic and silent, observing those there, seeing how they all reacted to one another, bickering and fighting as he had seen countless centuries of Mankind doing, behaving no differently than the humans of every timeline, every dimension doing, fighting amongst themselves because they lacked whatever faculty it took to unite their powers, and forge a more desirable existence for themselves.
Until, suddenly, at the movement of the woman beside him, who had the odd scent of Death about her, he found a certain question piquing his curiosity. Waiting until she was some distance away, toying with the portal that had vines wrapped around it, Maximillion would take a few steps forward.
"Which path brings with it the promise of the most learning?" He asked, his voice deep, rich, yet spoken a bit low, as though he wasn't used to using his voice that often. His stoic expression wouldn't change, and his accent - Babylonian in nature, which was (in one realm) a realm called Iraq - was fairly thick. His eyes, odd as they were, showed heavily of a deep intelligence, a constant gleam of curiosity about them that indicated he was the type of person who had to constantly be learning something to be satisfied. When he spoke, it would be made clear that he wanted to learn, he wanted things to study, to analyze, and he wanted to be as close to the densest hub of diverse activity so that he could study it all, at whatever level allowed him the most access, and allowed others the most reach in his direction.
"One will lay claim to power, another to numbers. One will lay claim to a greater purpose, another to freedom. But which path has, within it, the most to learn? Which has knowledge, and information, dating back centuries, if not longer, for a diverse number of people, groups, organizations, races and cultures? And which will bring with it access not only to archaic magicks I can study, but also advanced levels of technology I can play with, dabble in, and learn about to the utmost?"
He was a verbose man, this much would be made abundantly clear as he spoke. However, he articulated his thoughts well, and although he was a bit on the long-winded side, he had no problem conveying his thoughts so that others could more or less understand them.
This would be no easy sell, should anyone even feel inclined to bother trying to accommodate him....which, to be frank, most wouldn't. They typically only dealt with those who were easy to lead, easy to satisfy, and easy to manipulate.
He knew well that whomever might try and bring him with them may try to manipulate him, to use him towards their own ends.
He knew this well, and so long as his own needs were met, he didn't care.....