Malpercius

A mimic incarnation of 'Kudlak Malpercius'

Those designated with the last name 'Malpercius' are remnants from an ancient clan of Yokai-worshipping Occultists. This peculiar bloodline is endowed with a number of strange qualities, notably the power of 'Sacrifice', an inability to resist falling into Depravity while wielding Occultism, and unusually powerful Dark Magic. The Occult arts come to them naturally, though only in basic forms without training. Referred to as 'Malpercians' they are a rare clan still in existence only because of their obscurity, often living under different surnames than their true bloodline.

History

Over five centuries into the past, in the days of Arthor Pendragon in his peak, a Perfect Yokai arose and nearly destroyed the Valmasia. But as it rose and thrived there were those who followed the grisly fiend's shadow out of desperation, and some, for a strange and rare affinity to the Dark; these latter souls would later be the descendents of Malpercius, branded forever with his surname and scattered about Valmasia.

Originally conventional Occultists, they were humans mentally enslaved by the Yokai and later infused with their blood to produce enormously powerful minions. Seeing value in the rare few Occultists who survived the callous tactics of their masters, they noticed a trend of blood relation amongst these rare few, and a number of Imperfects subordinate to their single superior overfiend decided to experiment with their growing pool of Dark Magi by seeing what would happen if their descendents were permitted free will.

The results were staggering; these later, selectively bred Occultists were utter monsters. They ruthlessly sacrificed their fellow man to the Yokai and seemed to abandon all facets of humanity, developing devious intelligence and putting it to work in the research of Forbidden Magics steeped in Depravity. Fortunately for the present Valmasia much of their wicked creations in spellcraft were destroyed shortly after the demise of the Perfect Yokai at Excalibur's edge. But the clan had spread far as elite instruments of disaster beneath the Yokai, whom had imparted unto them their Occult secrets and blood.

A single human rose from their ranks as the Yokai became dissonant, squabbling and often disorganized; Malpercius himself. So many times had the generations of Occultists in this Yokai-tamed line been infused with their blood that a specific mutation occurred in them that distorted their right arms, bending the limb into strange shapes that eventually became entirely inhuman and outright monstrous, reflecting the depth of darkness within the bearer's own heart. The grisly curse as it would called allowed another to absorb nearly all facets of living energies, and in it's most severe stages, life and memory entirely; though at terrible cost.

Malpercius himself was an infamous Occultist in his time, though he ultimately perished to his own self-inflicted curses, choking on the purest ichor of Depravity before ordering his successor to kill him. But before losing his memory to the power of Sacrifice Malpercius sired many children, amongst others who could trace their bloodlines back to the forces of Occultists placed beneath the mighty Perfect Yokai. Some diffused into the populace of the world, others drew back and continued to fester on the fringes of society, but many pockets of these nefarious magi were purged in the waves of Exorcism that have risen throughout history.

Lingering effects of Yokai blood infusion make the qualities of any of this bloodline mingles with show through couplings with other clans, instilling an immense tendency towards Darkness, but also inevitable Depravity, though a pure-blood Malpercian is always superior in taint to their lesser relatives. Despite trait dominance however purely cosmetic as well as physical traits can vary wildly throughout this bloodline, though they are inclined toward purple hair and fair skin, as well as eyes of a similar coloration (Light purple).

Traits

Any of Malpercius blood are doomed to Depravity; no magi of this bloodline is without Dark Magic, and 68% of all Malpercians are Magi. No youth exceeds the age of twenty in this bloodline without some form of corruption, though what form it takes is almost unpredictable and just as varied as the individual. Known and prevailing traits are listed below.

• Natural Occultism: A Malpercian may exercise the most basic forms of Dark Magic with no training, and advance their arts from there.
• Depravity: There is no Malpercian that ages past twenty without becoming significantly Depraved in some facet of their being.
• Sacrifice: A cruel power that has ended over half of all Malpercians; it allows one to absorb all things pertaining to life at the cost of mutation, empowering an Occultist and manifesting only in Depraved users of Dark Magic. Only two stages are known, but there is said to be a third and vile form that entails a loss of vital components to one's own humanity.
• Depraved Magic: Malpercians are talented in spellcraft that goes against the lifestream, granting them great potential in Necromancy, Rift Magic, and other Depraved arts.
• Malpercian Necromancy: A grotesque distortion of Necromancy exceeding it's purpose and limitations, used to further the ambition of a vile Warlock.
• Human Aura: Upon achieving the second stage of sacrifice Malpercians have the potential to undergo a new development which reverts the mutated arm to paled and eerie but human state suffused with unnatural power. Consumed from the maelstrom of devoured lives within, a Human Aura manifests in a series of powerful visions of those one has killed, where the bearer of Sacrifice is forced to feel their every moment of despair and ire. While it endows enormous power it entails possession by the deposed Depraved, but acts as a beacon for humans abroad, drawing mana and morale from humanity itself for the purpose of combating destiny.