The Roman Law
Thank heavens for small Mercy
Thank heavens for small Mercy
The Roman Law
Player: @TalenLee
Origin: Magic
Archetype: Brute
Threat Level: 9
Personal Data
Real Name: Roman Law
Known Aliases: None
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Height: 7'2"
Weight: 550 lbs
Hair Colour: Red
Eye Colour: ?
Biographical Data
Nationality: Dual Citizen American/Russian
Occupation: Terrorist and Paramilitary Operative
Place of Birth: Confidential
Base of Operations: Confidential
Marital Status: Not Single
Known Relatives: {$relatives}
Known Powers
Thunder and lightning manipulation
Known Abilities
Infiltration and counterintelligence training
Equipment
None
No additional notes.

"You know, Roman, sometimes I think you are the very definition of 'Friendly Fire'."
- Operative Drummond, Longbow (Deceased)

The project didn't even have a name, as far as its dutiful soldiers know. They accepted, the obeyed, they trained. And when they were rejected - for reasons of genetic impurity, or organ rejection, or any of the other reasons - they were cast aside. You could accept a quiet brain-scrub and lobotomisation to keep the project's secrecy… or you could accept a dark depth in which to die.

The details of the escape are unecessary. What matters, at the core of it all, is the success - the errant, straggling members of the Eclipse making their way into the Rogue Isles to escape Longbow, and perhaps, just perhaps, gain revenge against the hollow ideal Longbow gave them.

Roman Law was designed to be a lynchpin, a social center point. When I was working on creating the Eclipse Wing (at that point unnamed), using origa's Rise as a template. Of course, it was understandable that this brought with it baggage, the history of Ghost In The Shell. That whole paramilitary style - and it has so very much style.

In the pseudodiscussions we had at the beginning of the Wing, we made some assumptions and postulations, based on our experience with Project Corona. One of these is that while Invulnerability and Regeneration were okay sets for a primary melee damage dealer, that was when they were backed up by the kind of carpetbombing that Bec Querel and Thermal Sink could provide. Therefore, Roman was originally built to be a Fire/Fire Brute, giving him a few AoE attacks and a strong damage aura and self-heal, with the potential, in the end for high Fury, Fiery Embrace and Burn tripling up to kill off AVs if necessary.

Of course, what I didn't realise at the time is, the reason those powers are so desirable is because they remove the need for things like accuracy socketing and damage enhancements. In essence, I was 'winning more', and wasting the potential of the Project.

With this weakness in mind, the plan at this stage is to reboot Roman as an Elec/Elec brute. Additionally, this can provide a more crystallizing influence for his powers - a second half to the god of winter represented by Officer Gromoviti's Perun.

Roman is a gigantic and affable man, whose motif of relationships inside the Wing could best be exemplified as a big brother. He treats his friends as soldiers in whom he has absolute trust, and has nothing but respect for any of them and their abilities. His influences as a character are wide-ranging, but the three biggest ones are Connor and Duncan Murphy from The Boondock Saints, Spawn from the early parts of the Spawn cartoon, and Deadpool - all of them committing criminal acts, and in some cases, downright evil acts, and yet, being generally seen as the the good guy for any particular scenario. In a more interpersonal sense, he could be seen to be inspired by Mori, from Ouran High School Hosts Club, with a wild and unrestrained nature.

Affiliations

Roman feels, to himself, as the social centre as well as the tactical leader of his cell of friends, a group that could be kind-heartedly referred to as freedom fighters. Roman himself sees his role as that of the Agent Provocateur - infiltrating the inner workings of Operation: Destiny and simultaneously taking the opportunity to strike out against Longbow. Within the group, Roman asserts a big-brotherly position to each of his friends.

Officer Gromoviti

Sufficient unto the day, Grom!

Grom is, in Roman's mind, a craftsman, and a planner; Roman is the element of time, the one who calls Grom's attention to the more immediate, provoking him to action rather than just indefinite plans. As Roman is fond of reminding Gromoviti, a grand plan is a fine thing, as is a strategy towards a goal, but life is otherwise composed of many temporary measures, strung together.

The Leszi

Run riot, little thorn!

The Leszi and Roman share one particular trait; velocity. Roman and Leszi usually fight alongside one another in pitched, chaotic scenarios, and it is this that forges them together as friends. Leszi's irrepressible nature and refusal to behave works just fine with Roman's distrust of authority and zeal. In this case, Roman is the kind of big brother who steals you beer and buys you dirty magazines.

Dasha

Keep safe, Flower.

Roman is more protective of Dasha, knowing the boy is both shy and restrained. Roman's affection for Dasha expresses itself in the simple and absolute trust he has in his ability - and the terrifying rage he exhibits when Dasha is hurt. Roman is the classic warden to Dasha; protecting and shielding his little friend from all that might harm him, but still giving him room to blossom.

Radiant Bastet

When ready, Blue.

Roman's relationship to Bastet is much more of the iconic Big Brother and Little Princess. Bastet's catlike traits - such as regarding the rest of the Wing as something that resembles her staff rather than her unit - mesh well with Roman's indolent indulgences to her behaviour.

Fatae

She is… she is //human - so very, very human.//

Roman keeps a close eye on Fatae, and tries to ensure that he's by her side as much as he can. It is not for fear of what might happen to her that he is concerned about what she might do to the world around her.

The Schwarzstrom

No, no, no, you hit this bit first…

Roman and Nasya converse the same way most brothers do with their gay half-sisters. They sit around, drink beer, check out girls and talk Guy Stuff. At least twice, numerous vehicles around Cap Au Diable have been disassembled for parts when they got a bit tipsy.

Personality

Roman Law's personality seems utterly at odds with his military training and terroristic tendencies. He is a squad commander and an authority, and yet he acts recklessly and is ambivalent to authority figures himself, his respect needing to be earned. He moves with his friends in combat like an intricate dance of violence and carnage, yet he seems to be a slightly clumsy giant in most dealings.

The fact is, Roman is a flexible person; he sees other people as beings as important as himself, and he therefore makes sure to see that his behavior accommodates them. He is perceptive and kind, even though he makes his money twisting people's heads off in a whirlwind of chaos.

Roman shifts his stance for those he is around; around pretty girls, he puts himself in the persistent 'goof' area, taking the opportunity to provide honest compliments on their appearance whilst ensuring his advances are not taken seriously. Around the egotistical and hypocritical, he deflates egos and points out lies, even as he himself seems to be foolish.

Roman sees no need to be sad. He is saving all his sorrow and misery for the day he dies, since he reasons, once he is dead, he will have plenty of time for crying.

Powers

Roman derives his powers from the now-dead Slavic God Perun, just like Gromiviti. While Grom derives his power from the ancient warded-with-symbols arcanism of an ancient time, when you marked your life in winters because surviving winter was a remarkable feat, Roman carries with himself the vibrant zest for life that Perun held. The Perun that empowered Gromoviti was a cruel and harsh shepherd, who culled the weak and saw grant numbers - the Perun that empowers Roman was a brutal, laughing maniac on the battlefield, represented by the falcon and the sword.

To this end, while Gromiviti brings the inexorable cold of winter and the wracking hollow of thunder, Roman is the laughing lance of lightning, tracing patterns across the surface of the world, leaving behind wreckage and raw chaos in his wake.

Abilities

Roman Law is a battlefield commander and tactician of the highest order of skill, and more important than his ability to give orders is his ability to take them. He does not brook the authority of his friends, knowing full well that if any of them has an order or suggestion to make on a battlefield, it is the considered opinion of an expert.

Roman has also been trained in handling explosives, firearms, improvised weapons, statescraft and reading battlefields. He's been trained to counter-agent against Arachnos and, thanks to being trained to do so by Longbow, is also very well informed in fighting them. The worst kind of terrorist and rogue agent, Roman Law is almost the perfect spy, if not for the fact that he's so very distinctive and so very emotional.

Roman is a naturalised half-Russian half-American, and a perfect bilingual; speaking Russian he does not have an American accent, and speaking English he does not have a Russian accent. He can fake either, but his default tone is that of a man with two voices in two languages, something a trained listener could recognise as a result of being raised around both languages constantly.

Weaknesses and Limitations

Roman's relationships give him such strength that it's rare to see them as a weakness, but it's true. The Wing stick together, which means they are willing to stand together, and fall together. Many times Roman has fallen in the battlefield retaliating when one of his allies has been seriously harmed.

Roman is the first to engage, and therefore, often the first to fall. His sheer strength of will and determination has proved to protect him in some truly ridiculous situations, but he can only get lucky so many times before he falls again.

Trivia

  • Roman's name is both a real Russian-American Name ('Law' is a common surname in America, and 'Roman' is not an uncommon Russian name), and a reference to an old quote from The West Wing, in which it was mentioned that merely being a Roman Citizen was enough to guarantee safety, as the military and retaliatory might of the Roman Empire would be brought to bear on anyone who hurt its members. This seemed very fitting for Roman as a leader.
  • Roman has spoken in ways that indicate he has read and internalized the teachings of Machiavelli's The Prince, significantly, "Do your enemy no small harm." Operations Roman and Gromivit enact have a tendency towards being utterly debilitating - even those they leave alive are often left with permanent injuries of some variety.
  • In his first incarnation as a Fire/Fire, Roman's frailty was such that during one session 'dying because I didn't run away when I could' was referred to as 'Doing A Roman'.
  • Roman, despite his large and generally red thematics, and almost communistic community attitude, does not consider himself a Communist, and finds it utterly amusing when people assume he is. He's actually a Liberterian, believing that the free market, regulated and kept from monopolisation and corportionism, can provide better and more elegant service than any government can.
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License