SO ive been making this new group called the church of the lightbringers, which is centered around hunting evil creatures in order to make alternia a safer place. their war against darkness has been spanning centuries, but the church itself isnt very well known, and most who do know about it would just consider it a strange, but ultimately harmless fringe cult
their main enemies of the church are these strange, shadowy creatures that typically have sadistic or power-hungry tendencies, called umbral entities (or umbras for short). they have all sorts of varied abilities, but typically are all able to turn into and swim through shadows, can absorb a weaker being's essence to make themselves more powerful, and can alter and solidify shadows for various uses. umbras are not their ONLY target though, as they'll hunt any kind of dangerous monster, like zombies, werewolves, and vampires
the current members i have are lucius adagio and xamael akatsu, and theyre often helped out by a non-church member, laeven malady, also known as the shadowsbane
(character info under the cut)
lucius adagio (design by @dirgelwch) is an experienced member of the church, and one of the few priests who were granted powers by the lightbringer himself. these powers are a holy light that can manifest in the form of weapons or spells that heal trolls, and harm umbral entities and other undead
lucius, or as most people call him, father adagio, always has his heart in the right place, and despite his faith in the lightbringer, is not afraid to think for himself. he tends to turn a blind eye to monsters who he believes deserve a second chance, and spends a lot of time healing and helping people as he travels around alternia. he isn't afraid to put himself in harms way in order to protect people, in several cases, even going as far as to defend monsters and umbras from both his overzealous companions and other entities
while there are plenty of church members that agree with his more nuanced take on the war between light and dark, there are more that believe he is sabotaging the church due to his naivety. those above him certainly can punish him for acting against their wishes, but luckily, he cannot be dismissed, due to being one of the lightbringer's chosen
father adagio is friendly with laeven, an umbra that joined the side of light after speaking with him. they often work and travel together. he also sometimes works with xamael, another priest from his church who is a little less concerned with helping people, and more concerned about destroying monsters. though they don't always see eye-to-eye, their relationship isn't too poor, and they can work effectively together under the right circumstances. they really just wouldn't call each other friends
xamael akatsu (design by @norts-trolls) is another priest of the lightbringer church. he isn't chosen like adagio is, but honestly, what would being chosen even do for him? he doesn't need some fancy powers when he's got a pair of talking, enchanted weapons that temporarily take on powers from the blood they draw
naoto and masaya are a pair of, what xamael calls, "magatta ken", or crooked swords, that he inherited from his ancestor, who had also been a part of the church before his untimely death. they each have their own personalities, naoto being the more serious, level-headed weapon, and masaya being the more eager, passionate one. naoto is the weapon adorned with the symbol of the lightbringer, and he speaks with a quiet, even, but definitive tone. masaya is the bare one, and he speaks loudly, and very roughly, without much thought behind it
the two almost act like guides to him, naoto trying to train his patience, diligence, and resourcefulness, and masaya trying to nurture his fervor and trust in his own instincts. they had done the same with the penumbra, his ancestor, who had been a high-ranking member of the church in his time
xamael, in contrast to father adagio, is a little cold to people's individual plights. he believes fighting the darkness is important, and that he's got some kind of sacred obligation here. he WAS raised with the chruch ideals in mind, after all, but his favorite part is simply getting to kill monsters. to him, violence is its own reward, and it's just a bonus that he gets to further the church's goals and continue his ancestor's legacy
laeven malady was one of the umbral entities the church had set out to kill, but father adagio saw some good in the dark spirit, and swayed them to his side. it wasn't without complication however, as laeven's wicked brethren turned on them the moment they expressed remorse over what theyve done in the past, and considered staying out of the war altogether
the other umbras were furious, and father adagio stepped in before they could attack laeven, something no one had ever done for them before. following that fight, laeven did indeed turn their back on the dark, but instead of running from the war, they decided to start fighting on the side of light. or at least, on the side of father adagio
while the church could never know about laeven without their safety being jeopardized, they still work with father adagio on his various missions, and also on their own
in order to lower suspicion over their origins, their appearance has been magically altered to resemble that of a troll. while they can't change their blood color from it's black hue, some clown facepaint makes them into a pretty convincing everyday purple... so long as you don't listen to their nonexistant heartbeat, touch their cold, stringy hands, or look into the black, inky void that makes up their eyes, so deep and abyssal that you feel as though you could fall right into them...
