Billy Sovereign

The Wrongful King

A character from Lest Ye Become.

Arcs and Resources

• Arc: Wounded Angel 3
• Current Arc: Wounded Angel
• Emotion XP: Shock and Horror [When you casually say something so terrible everyone just stops and stares at you.]

• Normal Health: 2
• Tough Health:1
• Divine Health: 7 [6 Wounded]
• Will: 8
• MP: 5

Skills

• Sense Weakness 3: You can really get under people's skin.
• Assert Strength 2: You're in charge here.
• [Magical] Changeling 2: You have a mystical ability to be the worst thing people expect, and you have never questioned how you got it.
• Long History 1: You have history with half the people of Fortitude, most of it bad.
• Empathy -1: You honestly have trouble remembering that other people are people sometimes.

Perks

• Bond: The Bully. You are a bully, plain and simple, and the universe supports this. This is generally tied to your Calling, as long as it's based around dominance or power, but if you're an NPC it's probably tied to the Hero rating of whomever opposes you.
• Extra Health Level: You have an additional Divine Health Level.

Miraculous Abilities: The Wrongful King of Fortitude

So, we have a bit of bad news for you, at this point. You might want to sit down.

You're dead. Leonardo Da Montreal set you on fire, and no mortal boy could survive that, so you died. And he felt guilt, and so he let himself forget that you died, and everyone else forgot too, and that should have been the end of it.

But it wasn't the end of it, because as your frenzied, furious ghost drifted slowly away, a piece of magical glass became tangled in your soul, and you tore yourself free from the Outside and gathered your death and made it into a Knight to suffer in your place. And as your power has grown, you've learned to tear out anything that can reach you and do the same. This is not a healthy way of dealing with your insecurities, but on the other hand, you aren't technically dead any more. You aren't technically alive, either. You're just Billy Sovereign.

The Bully [Imperial]

Wherever people suffer, you are there to prey on their weakness. You may use this power whenever someone does something that hurts them, that weakens them, that makes them suffer. After that event resolves, you appear to mock their pain. (You don't technically have to mock - sometimes you just watch with a smirk, and if you got over yourself you could even set about trying to fix things. But generally - you mock.)

The Wrongful King

You are the Wrongful King of Fortitude, and you will be obeyed. When you use your Assert Strength skill in Fortitude, you have a +1 Tool bonus; if at least two of your Demon Knights are present, the bonus increases to +2.

Divine Health

You have +4 Divine Health, but it's all tied up in your Knights right now.

The Ghost World Beckons [Imperial]

You are neither living nor dead, and you exist in a dangerous balance. Whenever you lose your last Divine Health level, the Outside splits open the region to draw back your soul and destroy it forever. This process is obviously not good for you, but it's not great for the surrounding area, either. Ghosts will be consumed utterly, spirits will fade, people will die if the portal isn't forced shut. Fortunately, the Ghost World rarely beckons for long (see below), but it is nasty while it lasts. When it finally does close, if you haven't restored yourself, you will be lost for all eternity.

The Demon Knights [Imperial]

Once per book, when you are injured, you have the ability to sacrifice one of your Divine Health Levels to give that injury a physical form. You scream, and feel the pain or the trauma or the guilt, and then you sigh, and your breath takes the shape of a boy or girl of about your age, or a little younger, and you forget what the pain or the trauma or the guilt ever felt like. You remember it existing, but you can deal with that. (You can do this a second time in a book, but it'll cost you 4 MP.)

All of your Demon Knights have roughly the same sort of powers. They are as follows:

• The ability to leave your knights to sleepwalk through their lives. In this state, they do not remember being Demon Knights.
• The ability to spend 1 MP to activate a Demon Knight from anywhere, reminding them of their purpose. In this state, you may spend your Will on their behalf, using your Assert Strength Skill to back up anything that they do. Their activation lasts for one chapter, or until you end it.
• The ability to spend 2 MP to make a miraculous attack (which is not Imperial, incidentally) through the Demon Knight, as long as they are active. The exact nature of the attack varies depending on the Demon Knight.
• The Imperial ability, once per book, to die and transfer your soul to one of your Demon Knights, which obliterates them forever and heals the injured Health Level they were crafted from. Doing this a second time in a book costs 4 MP.

At the moment, you have six Demon Knights active. For some sample miraculous attacks, see below.

Recover

You can let one of your Knights dissolve normally, allowing you to start healing that Divine Wound, at any time. You can't imagine why you would bother, though.

Redemption

So. One last thing worth noting. Some day, you are going to meet someone. And despite yourself, you will feel empathy for them, and their sorrow will reach you, and when all is lost, and they have nothing left, you are going to save them. And when this happens…

It might be the end of Billy Sovereign. It could tear apart your fragile balance, because it is the one thing you won't be able to turn into a Knight. It might be your salvation, and you will find the destiny that you were meant to have - a seed of heroism buried deep and covered by a potent poison forged of neglect and power. It's up to you, the player, what will happen to you, the character, when Billy Sovereign finally finds something to care about - whether it will be an utterly terrifying alliance of monsters, or a glimmer of hope that even the most base creature can find someone to care for.

The Twelve Demon Knights

You are meant to have twelve Demon Knights, an honor guard of powerful beings that will guard you and prove to Fortitude that you are the true King, even though technically you aren't.

Right now, you only have six. You aren't sure if the other six are supposed to be more fragments of your being, or if you're supposed to actually recruiting. You have your eye on a few people, to be honest. If you can make them fall in line. A few of your demon-knights are:

Samuel Korban, the Crimson-Knight

Samuel is a young man who looks very much like you, but thinner, paler, and shorter, and also with a few more scars. His miraculous ability allows him to duplicate any one Surface or Serious Wound he or someone nearby is suffering from, and inflict it one someone else who is also nearby. He was born when you died, and holds your memory of what death feels like.

Tanya Bulevol, the Prayer-Knight

Tanya is a young exorcist living on the edge of one of Fortitude's graveyards. When sleepwalking, she forgets that she has no family, and talks about her uncle the gravekeeper who has just stepped out. Her miraculous ability affects anyone who joins her in prayers, and inflicts a Serious Wound that convinces them that prayer is extremely effective for coping with loss or making things better. She was born when you first saw one of your lackeys die, and felt grief. Fortunately, you don't have to feel grief any more.

Arkhip Akiyama, the Ravel-Knight

Arkhip is a fashionable young man who haunts the shops of Arcadia, working at a dressmaker's shop when he isn't learning secrets for you. His miraculous attack removes all confusion or uncertainty, straightening mazes or diving the truth in someone's heart. You gave birth to him when some of your targets trapped you in a maze, leaving you lost and alone. Now, you always know where you are.

Think of three more knights to add to your collection!

Your Starting Quests

Basic Quest: Witness Grief (Setting)

You're always around when other people suffer. Often this is because you cause their suffering, but the important thing is that you remind yourself that they are weak, and you are strong. Whenever you see someone else suffering, up to once per scene, you can say, "I'm above that", and take an XP.

Storyline Quest: A New Knight

You're looking for a new knight - a seventh Demon Knight to add to your retinue, someone who isn't just a projection of your own pain. This isn't going to be easy, because everyone hates you, but you have some thoughts. This quest runs using the framework of "Victims and Villains", from the quest set, "The Price".

Side Quest: A New Hobby [25 XP]

Look, you can't be a bully and a king all the time. You have other interests! In particular, you have recently developed a lot of interest in something. I suggest drawing, but maybe it's actually a musical instrument, or interpretative dance. It should be something that's kind of nice, something actually a little peaceful. Something to provide a counterpoint to your rather nasty life. When you complete this quest, you will develop that Hobby as a Level 1 Skill, which will help you round yourself out as a person. This could go anywhere, really.