Seth Rivien

[Raziel Sarafin]

Seth Rivien

Name: Seth Rivien
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Weapons: Barret "Light Fifty" Sniper Rifle, Unique Soulbound Colt SAA Revolver
Powers: Gravity Manipulation  

[Raziel Sarafin]

Details

Personality: He bears a very cold demeanor. He is a peerless mercenary leader, ruthless and efficient to the Nth degree. He is all about making sure the job gets done quickly and cleanly, though he does gain a certain sadistic edge when he is in a situation he dislikes. He carries himself with a great deal of pride, and no slight bit of arrogance, but his ever-growing retinue of allies has humbled him somewhat. He has grown rather jaded, but keeps going regardless of whether he's seen it all before or not. He is fiercely loyal and highly protective of his friends, but anyone else is a mark, nothing more. And though he tries to keep his word, a hint of special profit can make him drop his pretenses to any short of his friends.

Pet peeves: Clinginess, losing money or control.
Favorite food:
Thoughts about food: "God, I vish this stuff vere cheaper!" He sees food as alternatively an annoying necessity and a thoroughly enjoyable experience, depending on his mood.
Breakfast:

Greatest fear: Losing the Corps.
Abnormalities (physically, emotionally, etc…): He finds intimacy difficult, because he thinks of relationships as meaningless and temporary, unless they are allies or business partners. Aside from these, Seth has few others in his life. Business and battle are his two constants, and he forms his bonds that way.

Weaknesses: Environments without gravity, situations that he doesn't understand.

Strengths: Tactical battles, situations where he has the upper hand, long range observation.

Idiosyncrasies: He only ever uses his hand gun. No other will do. Rifles may come and go, but his gun is HIS.

Quirks: He has a secret weakness for certain types of plants, and maintains a secret arboretum in the bowels of the base where he houses a number of different trees and plants from the Rift worlds. He has it buried in the ground in natural soil, and he has a secret skylight that magnifies natural sunlight to provide nutrients for the plants.

Philosophies: Money is the object, goal, and reward.

Insight into abilities/powers: He uses the power of his mind to manipulate gravity, so he needs no gestures or words. His wormhole manipulation stems from his near-death experience in a Rift, where he was launched into the Rift Nexus, allowing him to visualize and better understand the networking of the Rifts.

Family history: He came from a fairly normal background, with a brother and sister, and a mother and father. They taught Seth how to hunt and shoot, and gave him his SAA. They were wiped out in the same Rift that almost got Seth.

Personal history: After he turned eighteen, he finished school and joined military. However, his lack of discipline and odd tactical decisions got him dishonorably discharged. He had come to know a certain clever group of soldiers who were also discharged, and with them he formed the first Mercenary Corps. However, when he had a falling out with the Corps when his powers emerged, and departed the group. The group's de facto leader became the head of Solaris, and later re-established contact with Seth, becoming friends again. He set up a "Special Account" with them, becoming their personal enforcer and Rift explorer. When he fell into the Rift.

Best memories: His first triumph with the Corps, pushing a Data Lich back into the oblivion with a simple code change.

Worst memories: His first truly epic defeat at the hands of the Crimson Inquisition, in which he lost three of his lieutenants; Richter, Joshua, and Remus.

Sleeping habits: He takes special pharmaceuticals that allow him to operate without sleep for months at a time. However, his powers occasionally cause him to lose conciousness, so those help to make up the difference.

Dreams (when asleep): Rift Monsters, mountains of gold, and really large weapons.

Aspirations: Staying in the black.

Grooming habits: Nanites keep his appearance tidy at all times.

Favorite things to do: Pop noggins, balance his books, and study new means of manipulating his power and learning about the other Rift-Worlds. He also has a great appreciation for the Cthulu Mythos, and a number of other authors whose opinions have proven true beyond the Rifts.

Least favorite things to do: Search for things that he isn't sure where they are.

Musical preference: He's a big fan of classical chamber music, but he can listen to just about nothing.

Personal style (this includes clothing, interior, and exterior decorative preferences): He has a number of Nazi SS uniforms, of various make and model, but he also has many other types of outfits. His casual attire is cargo pants and a camo sleeveless shirt, and his high-danger battle gear is an armored jumpsuit with slight mechanical assists.

 

[Raziel Sarafin]

History

Early Life

Seth's story begins at a fairly normal pace. He was born and raised in Oregon, where he learned to hunt and shoot on his family's land. It wasn't a farm exactly, but they grew some corn and tomatoes, enough to supplement the food they bought at the grocery store. Seth had excellent grades in his classes, all the way up to high school. He showed particular development in history and science. Once Seth finished high school though, he discovered quickly that college wasn't his style. He dropped out, much to the awe and shame of his family, and joined the military.

The Military

He blossomed there, growing and learning more than he thought possible. He formed a group of friends there, and his three closest companions were a trio of brothers, named Remus, Joshua, and Richter. The three of them were in the same squad, and they grew close rapidly. The battlefield felt like a library to him, and he threw himself in headlong; unfortunately, the commanders weren't Seth's style either, and he was disciplined several times for uncalled for bravado, disrupting the chain of command, and refusing to follow orders. He was dishonorably discharged, and Remus, Joshua, and Richter soon followed. They grew increasingly dissatisfied with life, unable to go to the VFW or even the local training centers, and eventually turned to criminal ventures to gain their livelihood.

The Black Paladins

Seth's first foray into organized crime, the Black Paladins, had a fairly resounding success. Using their ex-military talents, they quickly moved up from petty street thugs to an actual, efficient syndicate of organized crime. They lived by a rather twisted form of military code of morality, meaning that they believed those too weak to defend themselves or too dumb to hide their wealth didn't deserve it. At first there were only the three of them, but their numbers grew rapidly as their notoriety increased. Using a system of bank robberies, extortion rackets, drug running, and various other "business ventures", the money flowed like a river, their influence spread to several cities, and unfortunately, the public eye soon centered on them too, bringing the police knocking. Seth, Remus, Joshua, and Richter handed the syndicate over to their underlings, and vanished into the night, taking their gains with them and moving to Texas. They lived off their earnings for a while, until the joys of luxurious living began to wear thin. Money was good to have, but without the thrill of the chase, life was empty. Two years after their disappearance, the Black Paladins returned in full force to the streets, waging a systematic block war for complete domination. They almost succeed too, but even the Black Paladins couldn't fight off the incredible bulk of the U.S. Military. Finally beaten into submission, Seth, Richter, Remus, and Joshua skipped town once and for all, their organization crumbling around them as they fled.

After The Paladins

Having left on much grimmer terms than before, the four were caught off-guard and were forced to abandon much of their loot. Escaping with only a few million apiece, they retreated to the deserts of Texas once more. Their old compound had fallen into disrepair in their absence, but they managed to patch it up in no time. They gathered their lieutenants together, and set up a much smaller, more subtle business. Covering their trail with the front of a private security firm, The Black Paladins became Horus Rising, and they began their first legitimate operations in years. Taking on code names to disguise their identities, Seth became Horus, Richter became Set, Remus became Osiris, and Joshua became Ra. However, the four soon discovered something rather interesting: The security companies could apply to be deployed in war zones. The four soon lost interest in guarding paranoid nobles and diplomats, and took on a new avenue of profit. Engaged in familiar war zones, and with previous military training, Horus Rising quickly swept all competitors out of the arena, becoming the U.S. Military's number one Private Military Company. However, as with all situations where money is involved, strife soon emerged.

Horus Falls

Having finally found the return to arms they craved, the four Paladins were content to serve their country for profit again. Unfortunately, Seth's greed had begun to get the better of him, and he was skimming more off the checks with each one that came in. The three brothers weren't happy about this, but they held their tongues out of loyalty's sake. One day though, Seth went too far; he claimed the check had been lost in the mail, and that was when the group had needed it the most. Calling his bluff, the three brothers knocked Seth out, and crucified him unitl he told them where the money was. Afterwards, they kicked him out of the corp, and Seth was on his own once more. He kept the name Horus to disguise his identity, but he was forced to return to his criminal origins on his own to survive; it was the only way he knew how to live. As far as criminals go, Seth was one of the best, but even the best can't work alone for long; on a getaway, Seth was severely wounded by several policemen. Though he managed to escape, he was dying slowly; six rounds had punctured his lung, his liver, and his pancreas. He was stranded in the middle of nowhere with no hope and no future, but Fate decided to take mercy on him that day; as he blacked out, he heard the sound of wheels nearby. When he awakened, he was back on his family's farm, and the clucking of chickens could be heard. Thinking he was dead, Seth checked his wounds and found them healed, much to his surprise. Several hours later, his father explained that he had been doing a cattle run when he found a drifter laying out in the middle of the road. His father had stopped, only to discover his son, shot to hell and bleeding out on the side of a road. He had taken him home, and fixed him up as well as he could, which was miraculously. Somehow, the father had fixed all his internal injuries, removed the bullets, and stopped the bleeding with only veterinary knowledge. At that moment, Seth decided that maybe it was time to go straight for once; as soon as he was better, he picked up the hoe and went back to work with his father, tending the family farm.

42, Minus One Determined a*****e

For almost a year, Seth returned to his roots, working with the family and catching up on the past. This cathartic period of his life helped to cure him of his criminal addiction, and he was finally progressing towards living a good life. However, as kind as Fate can be, sometimes she can be just as cruel... Nine months after Seth returned to the farm, something in the universe shifted, and the Rifts appeared: The very first one just happened to be right under the Rivien farm. As the world tore away from reality and the planes merged, Seth and his entire family were swallowed whole into the gaping maw of what is now known as the Oregon Fissure, the largest Rift in North America. As the family fell through the wormhole, Seth was forced to watch in horror as his father's soul was blasted from his body by a Rift Worm, and his mother slowly choked to death on the vacuum all around them, her eyes swelling to the size of ripe melons before bursting from her head, possessed by some wicked form of life. Seth had somehow gotten a gasp of air, and he miraculously survived the plummet, but when he arrived at his destination, he almost wished he hadn't: He was jettisoned directly into the Rift Nexus, the burning heart of the universe. As he was sucked through the Nexus, visions of times past and times to come flashed before his eyes, and strange pains wracked his body. His limbs twisted and contorted, and his mind was flayed by the sound and color all around him. Time slowed to a crawl as Seth passed through the center of everything, and as he came to a halt in the very center, his soul was shattered and his mind was broken... But Seth had died before, and he wasn't about to let this stop him. With a twist and a scream, he tore himself free of the Nexus' grasp, and was blasted out of the Nexus and back into the void of the Rift. His breath finally expired, and as he lapsed into shadow, he once more felt hands upon him: clawed hands...