C&C

[swornprotector]

PLAYER
NAME: Andy
JOURNAL: Private
IM: darthmodok
E-MAIL: stevevader at gmail dot com

[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Goliath
FANDOM: Gargoyles
CHRONOLOGY: The end of Season 2 of Gargoyles the series.

BACKGROUND:
Goliath is a Gargoyle, a race of winged creatures that evolved with humanity, a being whose main purpose in life is to protect his home and those he cares about... and over 1000 years ago, when superstition and the sword ruled, his charge was Castle Wyvern in Scotland.

Goliath's clan lived in relative peace with the humans of Wyvern, although most of the humans disdained them for being 'unnatural creatures.' They consistently aided and turned the tide in battles against invading armies of Vikings and the like, with no thought of reward beyond being protected themselves during the day.

The clan lived in isolation from their human charges, save for a few sympathetic soldiers grateful for their help. They kept their eggs in a secret rookery and during the day, they would all become stone statues adorning the castle, and would only awaken by night. Goliath had chosen a life-mate in a female Gargoyle named Demona, and the two shared a deep, passionate love for each other, but it was not to last.

The Viking hordes attacked during one sunset, and the gargoyles drove them off with sheer force and fear. The leader vowed to return and forces within Wyvern that viewed the Gargoyles as a menace drove their staunchest ally to plot with the Vikings and concocted a conspiracy against the princess and her attending Magus. Demona was in on this scheme and, since she was fed up with being treated as pariahs by the humans they risked their lives to protect, tried to get the Gargoyles to leave Wyvern when the next Viking attack came. Goliath refused to leave the castle unguarded, and took his elder and former clan leader Hudson with him to investigate reports of the advancing Viking army... only it turned out to be a decoy, and it kept Goliath and Hudson away from Wyvern long enough to trap them in stone far away.

The resulting Viking attack was a slaughter. They stormed the castle, its defenders weakened by betrayal, and without remorse, they smashed nearly all of the clan into rubble while they were stone and helpless, killing them - which went against the conspirator's plans. Vikings are jerks. Once the sun set again, Goliath returned to howl in anguish at the decimation of his clan and the presumed death of his beloved Demona. The few remaining gargoyles regrouped and, in a fit of righteous anger, hunted down the Vikings who had mercilessly killed them.

The princess and the Magus of Wyvern were taken hostage by the Vikings, though... and when the clan hunted them down to root out the betrayers and exact revenge. When it turned out that the betrayer was the one human Goliath trusted above all others, his righteous rage was inconsolable, and the battle was fierce. The resulting confusion caused the Magus to believe the princess had been killed. So upon the clan's return to Wyvern with the Magus, he cast a spell on them out of grief-striken anger, declaring that they would be frozen in stone until Wyvern was lifted above the clouds, and all save Goliath fell victim.

When Goliath returned to find this, he was enraged... and when the princess was determined to be alive, the Magus felt tremendous guilt. Goliath, in depression, made the Magus and the princess swear to protect the rookery, where the remaining Gargoyle eggs were kept... and then demanded the Magus cast the spell on him as well, so as to join his clan in what they believed to be certain doom.

So, for a thousand years, they hibernated... the Magus and the Princess took the eggs to Avalon to protect them, and Wyvern stood unguarded, the gargoyles assumed to be simple stone carvings. But when tycoon David Xanatos airlifted Wyvern to be his own personal trophy atop his skyscraper... it broke the spell, as was his intention. Goliath and his clan awoke to find themselves in modern-day Manhattan, in a world vastly different from the one they knew. Xanatos quickly proceeded to take advantage of their gratitude by manipulating them into corporate thievery, so he could compile information enough to create his own clan of robot gargoyles, once Goliath's clan proved too difficult to control outright. Luckily for them, Detective Elisa Maza of the NYPD had befriended them, proving to be the one trustworthy human in their lives... and as such, the only one that stood a chance of helping the clan overcome their angry paranoia over being betrayed and find their way once again.

Another reason they found themselves able to trust a human came from the shattering of trust in one of their clan. Demona revealed herself to be alive, having survived on her own for a thousand years and having fostered a psychotic hatred of humanity - and yet she worked with Xanatos to manipulate Goliath, even revealing her complicity in the disaster that led to the death of their clan. She blamed the humans for being untrustworthy, and would not hear of it when a heartbroken Goliath told her that none of this tragedy would have happened without her. This led to an insurmountable rift between Demona and her former clan, and would result in repeated attempts on her part to either take control of the clan from Goliath, to convince them that her anger was righteous and just, to subvert them to her will, or to simply destroy them. Each subsequent conflict would drive Goliath deeper into heartache for the one he once loved with all of his soul.

They were eventually driven from their ancestral home thanks to Xanatos' betrayal of their trust and possession of Wyvern, so the small clan took roost in the clock tower above Maza's police precinct, where she worked to keep their presence as secret as she could, although their dedication to fighting crime and protecting the innocent meant they would show their faces enough to become urban legends of rumor and exaggeration. Xanatos would continue his attempts at manipulation and self-interest, until his scheming began to spiral out of his control, and new enemies arose to force the Gargoyles to work with Xanatos from time to time to save themselves and each other.

After many adventures in Manhattan, a problem came up during which Goliath was separated from his clan, instead traveling with Elisa Maza and his beloved pet gargoyle Bronx into the mystical mists of Avalon - the legend of which says that "Avalon does not take you where you want to go. It sends you where you need to be." Thus, one adventure stretched into many throughout time and around the world, helping solidify the deep bond between Goliath and Elisa, as well as introducing him to his daughter Angela, a young gargoyle of sound heart who had come from the last batch of rookery eggs that the Magus and Princess Katherine had protected on the island of Avalon.

Eventually, they returned to the clan after many trials and much hardship, although another great mystic challenge awaited them - the threat of Oberon, who wanted to take the newly born child of Xanatos for his own. The fact that Goliath and the gargoyles came to the aid of their longtime enemy and actually succeeded in staving off this abduction (and subsequently a plot by Demona to exterminate humanity) gave Xanatos a change of heart. Oberon had destroyed their clock tower home, but Xanatos reinstated the clan to their ancestral home of Castle Wyvern, still atop his mighty skyscraper. It was there, about to begin the next chapter in their lives, that the emotionally secretive Elisa finally confessed her feelings for Goliath, and he to her. They'd shared a brief kiss right before his stone sleep, and he awoke to find himself teleported to the City...


PERSONALITY:
Goliath is a very stoic gargoyle. He is noble to a fault, with a spirit and resolve unparalleled by modern standards. He will fight for what he believes is right and just until the bitter end, and his courage knows no bounds. He is still occasionally naive about this new world he inhabits, and he still has much to learn, but his humble, instinctive and staunch heroism is almost a throwback, but a welcome one in his dark day and age. He is somewhat quick to anger, prone to hasty outbursts over injustices real and imagined, and his temper can be quite nasty to witness, but he is also patient, understanding and kind whenever he can. He can be quite stubborn and set in his ways, adhering to clan tradition strictly, and that can lead others to get annoyed with his antiquated methods at times, but he always has the interest of justice and decency at heart.


CLASS: Hero
SUPERHERO NAME: Goliath
ALTER EGO: You character’s civilian name and job!
POWER: > Goliath's power will be the ability to shapeshift between a new human form and his natural Gargoyle form, in which he has super-strength, heightened invulnerability and endurance, wings with which he can't fly, but can glide upon wind currents, powerul claws and a regenerative stone sleep that starts every sunrise and ends at sunset.


COMMUNITY POST SAMPLE:

This... is a strange and terrible place. Filled with depravity the likes of which I have not seen for a thousand years. Cretins and demons roam the streets in search of blood and mayhem, and its protectors have abandoned it to its wretched decay without thought to the innocents left defenseless. A golem of iron is programmed to abduct unwilling victims to press into service, regardless of morality or even simple logic. Stealing us away from our homes and our very families! It is madness!

...

Still.

I have seen that protectorate clans are being formed to remedy the lawless nature of this city. I have witnessed of acts of bravery and selflessness that give me hope that all is not lost. It is of these noble souls that I must make a humble request. I find myself in need of a protector of my own, for reasons which I do not wish to share over such a public network. As I have not yet mastered this device, I would ask that all who would be willing to assist me to respond over an encrypted channel.

For trust in this new world does not come easily.



THIRD PERSON:

The night yet glimmers with streaks of day, so the stone sleep has not yet broken. Allowing Goliath a few moments more to live within his dreamscape.

He most often has one of two dreams, with occasional variance.

One is of the past. The purest joys of a once-promising life, which only remain so in sentimental escapism of the unfettered mind. A scarlet-haired beauty, radiant in the moonlight. Gliding over the Scottish countryside side by side with his angel of the night, whose eyes bore him a love that was meant to be eternal - and without the deluded malice they greet him with in the present. There was strength in her - her occasional impatience was always tempered with compassion. She owned his very soul, and he gladly offered it to her, cherishing his half of the Phoenix Gate that she freely given him, even if it was a mere token exchanged in emulation of human marriage ceremonies to signify their commitment. Such a stalwart warrior, she had such honor and grace... and these old delusions make for bittersweet dreaming.

The other is of the future. One so much different than he ever could have imagined back when they guarded the towers of Castle Wyvern from invading hordes. The modern world of automobiles and skyscrapers - Manhattan, his island protectorate. A raven-haired beauty not of his kind, but who has proven herself time and time again to be worthy of his clan. There is such strength in her, as well as boundless patience, understanding and true compassion. Her wisdom is as seemingly vast as her wits are sharp. In her eyes, he sees that love once again - the kind of love he had feared he'd lost for all time. In reality, however, it is a love left uncertain and seemingly impossible... which is why his fantasies of her so often feature her having become a gargoyle herself - the way she did so briefly during one of Puck's chaotic excursions. Seeing her transformed thusly was the first moment he was truly struck by her - before that moment, she was a stalwart and trusted friend that he cared deeply for. After that moment, he could look upon her with nothing but love and the ache to become one with her, heart and soul... and these impossible fantasies make for bittersweet dreaming as well.

Cracks appear in these images passing through his mind, just as they do in the stone skin covering his body, now that the sun has finished gathering up the colors of the day. The shattering of his dreamworld is met with the cold reality of another night in this strange, nameless city, far away from either of the loves of his life, separated from his clan and his island. As alone as he was back in 994, when his people were slaughtered, and the last remnants of his clan had been frozen in stone by the Magus. As alone as he was when he effectively committed suicide by asking the Magus to doom him to the same fate as his clan.

In this place, however, there is no Magus to end his suffering. There is no home to guard. There is no love, no companionship, no kinship to be found. There are only monsters on the streets, and they will soon be met with the monster in the sky. A gargoyle can no sooner stop protecting than breathing the air. If there are innocents to be found here, Goliath will work to defend them in the night until he can find his way back to the world he left... although he remains uncertain that it is a world in which he actually belongs.