Nero is the oldest of four brothers, the heirs to the Xanthos family legacy. Apart from Nero, twins Nolan and Nicodemus are the middle siblings, and the youngest is Newt.
The brothers are students at the Queensmouth Academy in Misthaven. There, Nero studies the occult and the arcane along with other aspects of a classical education.
In many ways, he may be the most balanced of his siblings, with a serious, steady nature balanced by a sense of fun and adventure. He carries a particular affinity for the air element and mental magics.
Background
Nero Orpheus Xanthos was born the oldest of four sons, legacies of a long line of mages with a strong sense of familial loyalty and tradition. When they were young, each of the Xanthos children showed an affinity for a particular type of elemental magic, which they continued to study and develop as they got older. Nero's element was air, though it didn't always come as easily to him at first as it did his brothers. Nero tended to be a responsible and serious boy, always looking after his younger brothers, which made it hard for him to embrace the lighter, more flexible ways of air magic. This required him to train heavily to master the magics associated with his gift, from intensive mental discipline training to physical training in gymnastics and martial arts. His chief toy became a boomerang, as it helped him to focus his gifts. In time, though, this intense training paid off, allowing him to achieve similar potential to his brothers--he's just had to work harder than, as far as he can tell, the others did.
Nero has always worked hard to meet and even exceed his parents' expectations. Traditional and affluent, they had very definite ideas of what their boys should grow up to be. In what free time he had, between trying to look after his brothers and master his own challenging abilities, Nero learned to cook and began to study healing arts and alchemy. He made certain to always achieve top grades, though he avoids academic bragging as he's afraid it would make things harder on his younger brothers. Despite all this, since reaching his twenties, Nero has begun to finally loosen up and learn to embrace his more playful side in addition to his more responsible nature.
Studying at Queensmouth, Nero is getting a classical education and a strong background in sorcery and occultism. Perhaps more importantly, though, he's learning to explore more about himself. While it's unlikely that Nero will ever stop being his brothers' keepers, he's finally also learning to do things to please himself. As with so many things in life, he's learning more and more that it's all about balance.
SKILLS
Academics - Competent Level
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Nero has received a classical education at Queensmouth Prep and now at Queensmouth Academy, which focuses on history, literature, logic, sciences, philosophy, and occult studies. He is an exceptional student and maintains top grades in all his classes, though he does not always advertise this fact.
Alchemy - Competent Level
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Brewing potions is one of a witch's signature abilities. By combining various reagents, herbs, and other ingredients according to mystic recipes and using magical practices, witches are able to produce magic in a bottle, salve, or other such preparations. A major strength of potions is allowing a complex effect to be prepared ahead of time, then rendered portable for quick enactment at the time of need. This means that one of the great strengths of a witch is being able to brew up magic in advance, removing any need for casting or incantations when they are put to use.
Much like his brothers, Nero is highly athletic. He is adept at running, jumping, climbing, and various sports. He has a particular talent for gymnastics and acrobatics, and he has become an expert at using this skill in combination with his magical talents to be very mobile and agile, indeed.
Having a natural inclination to mentalism, Nero learned to control his mind long before he ever learned to start doing mind-magic. As a result of this he has exceptionally keen mental awareness and focus.
Charisma - Competent Level
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Nero is reasonably charismatic. Often, he's more straightforward and friendly than cunning and manipulative, but he can be forceful, persuasive, intimidating, or smooth when called to be, and is generally good at using his voice, body posture, and other emotive techniques to display exactly what he wants to.
Nero is very capable in the kitchen, whether cooking meals or baking various treats. He doesn't think of himself as anything like a gourmet chef, but he's very good at inventing and preparing recipes, and he's skilled enough that he could operate professionally if he were so inclined.
Legerdemain - Competent Level
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Nero has cultivated having quick hands and a light touch, originally as part of his training in aeromancy. Over time, it's become a skill unto itself, and he keeps his fingers nimble, because you never know when that kind of thing might come in handy, and besides, there's something just fun about a mage who can also pass for a magician, so to speak.
Nero has classical training in music, including singing, piano, and the flute. He is not a highly dedicated musician, but studying music is something that his family encourages, and so he has made it a point to gain at least passing skill in that area.
The occult Craft includes herbalism, spellcraft, research, the preparation and performance of rituals, awareness of the supernatural world, and more. A practicing witch is competent and versed in all these things, understanding the properties of plants and their role in magic, knowing a variety of spells and how to use them, and certainly knows how to seek out information they don't already have. Whether based on their own knowledge or using a grimoire, they are able to recognize, analyze, and counter spells, and even come up with original spells or alter existing ones.
Nero is highly skilled at moving with grace, care, and silence. He's also very skilled at using this skill in combination with his powers to move quickly and with discretion via teleportation or similar magical means with his Warping talent.
Thrown Weapons - Competent Level
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Nero has not widely studied much about combat with weapons, but he has been wielding boomerangs since he was a kid. It started as a hobby and a way to play with his powers, but over time he has become a highly competent wielder of such weapons. He is particularly practiced with the bladed, metallic boomerangs that he once used to practice wind and electrical magics.
Unarmed Combat - Competent Level
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In learning to control his wind magics, Nero found that training was essential. While he had to train his mind the hardest and for the least practical effect, he trained his body more moderately but to much greater effect. Despite that oddity, he has learned to be a highly competent practitioner of martial arts, particularly as a method of using and focusing his magic.
ABILITIES
Innate: Awareness - Enhanced Level
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Nero was born with an especially keen mystic intuition and awareness. This includes sharp, enhanced senses, but more than that it gives him a kind of extrasensory perception that makes him especially good at detecting and deciphering spells, enchantments, or other mystical effects or perceiving and understanding magical creatures, mystical effects, and the ebb and flow of magical energies. He is also adept at scrying, seeking, and other forms of magic sensory projection and observation. It is unusually difficult to fool his senses or to hide things from his awareness.
As the firstborn of his siblings, Nero is particularly attuned to his younger brothers. He lacks anything like the strength of the Twin Link held by Nolan and Nicodemus, but Nero is almost able to feel a general empathic sense of his siblings, alerting him to their emotions, general state of being, and some sense of their location.
Innate: Immortal - Supreme Level
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During his exploration of the Otherworld, Nero came in contact with a very curious thing: an ancient god of storms whose soul had been wounded in the fight with a great beast of corruption. The god was unable to heal himself, suffering and immortal. Nero, moved by the god's plight, offered his help, and a pact was struck. Nero sacrificed his own gift for elemental magic to restore the god's powers, and in return the god, restored to his full glory, nurtured some of Nero's other magical talents, awakening other abilities in him, as detailed on the rest of his sheet. The god also bestowed upon Nero a tiny spark of divinity, enough to ensure that his body and mind would heal from any injury over time, that will would be strong enough to resist nearly any harm or intrusion, and that he would never age or fall ill.
Magic: Mentalism - Enhanced Level
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Nero has a natural talent for mentalism. He has developed this talent enough to become quite accomplished at telepathy and mental communication. He is sensitive to others and can, with focus, read unshielded thoughts or emotions or pick up on ambient or imprinted psychic energies.
With greater focus and exertion, Nero can also influence other minds. His focus is less on compulsion or memory alteration, though he does have the ability to do those things. Instead, he focuses on what he terms "mesmerization," or manipulating perceptions, conjuring mental illusions and then giving them ethereal psychokinetic "substance," enough that they will seem very real to anyone without at least Enhanced-level perceptions of some kind.
Nero's ability in mentalism, coupled with a naturally strong will, also gives him enhanced-level resistance to mental coercion, intrusion, attack, or other influence. Along with this, he has quite the iron will and is an expert at resisting compulsion or thought manipulation.
Innate: Speed - Enhanced Level
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Though his speed is modest by the standards of a Superia super-speedster, Nero is still capable of moving at blinding speeds. He is able to move at up to around 250 miles per hour, and he has reflexes and the ability to complete tasks at roughly fifty times the speed of a human in optimal physical condition. Moving at increased speed taxes him just as much as it would a normal person, however, so if he's running around at maximum speed, he'll become just as tired as if he were sprinting. Thus, in practical terms, he can only move at top speed in bursts of about 5-10 seconds before he has to slow down and pace himself. Continuous exertion at more moderate levels also still tires him, much as it would a marathon runner--so after a few hours of speed exertion, even when pacing himself and keeping to lesser levels, he'll be completely tired out.
Magic: Warping - Supreme Level
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Magicians have often been said to vanish "into thin air," and Nero has learned much the same trick. He has expanded this into a general talent for spatial manipulation, allowing him to teleport people or objects up to intercontinental distances. He can also use this power to create wards or barriers that will not only keep out attacks or prevent one from passing, but that can also prevent teleportation or portal effects within them. With great focus, he can even appear in multiple places at once. With the right preparation or an unusually strong source of power, he can even create temporary "reality fragments," which are are essentially tiny pocket realms. At present, these realms can take the form of spheres up to about 100 yards in diameter. These exist outside of normal space-time and can be used to store objects, hold creatures, or simply escape to a private location for a while.
Magic: Witchcraft - Enhanced Level
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Born with a talent for magic, a witch can accomplish quite a variety of effects through spellcraft. These range from conjuring, enchantment, transformation, warding, or illusion to the summoning or banishment of spirits or creatures, to a variety of other effects. For thematic, role-play, and plot purposes their abilities are nearly endless so long as they have the right spell available. For practical purposes, their castings all operate at the Enhanced level in most instances. With ritual preparation these may all be expanded, but any exceptional use would have to be approved by staff.
Nero is especially skilled when it comes to magics of the mind, including telekinesis. On the other hand, he finds directly performing elemental magics more challenging. He is also adept at using magic to enhance the abilities of others, so while he would struggle to personally conjure a storm or a bolt of lightning, he could lend his strength to augment another doing so.
ADVANTAGES
Nero owns a variety of magical paraphernalia, including a respectable alchemy set, various herbs and reagents, and assorted other occult and mystical items. He makes certain to keep enough on hand to share, since he considers himself personally responsible for supplying his younger brothers with all their own various magical items and resources. This includes a set of master-crafted metallic boomerangs. These can fold up like a fan for easy storage, and they are quite durable and sharp, making them highly effective thrown weapons.
Nero comes from a long line of traditional mages. They have a lot of expectations that they place on their children, the legacies to that line. But, at the same time, they also provide a support structure that makes sure that the boys want for very little. A home, a safe place to go, an education, an allowance, and a healthy trust fund are just a few of the benefits of being a Xanthos.
Nero has refined the use of his warping magics well enough that he has a permanently established pocket realm. It is not the largest he is capable of making, but it is stable, allowing him to access it at any time, even when he is otherwise mystically exhausted. As it exists wholly outside normal space-time, this realm is extraordinarily difficult for anyone to locate, let alone enter, without Nero's permission.
The doorway to this realm resembles a standard single door in size, and it can be summoned at his location in the physical world at any time. Once the door is closed, it vanishes; it's more like a bridge or corridor that must be created between the physical world and the realm, as opposed to a locked door that can be forced open. From within the realm, the door may be re-opened anywhere within one hundred miles of where it was previously opened in the physical world.
The realm itself is the size of a small studio apartment and roughly made up like one. Comfortably furnished, it offers all of the amenities of such an apartment. He's even managed to set up a few effects to ensure electricity, running water, and indoor plumbing. He keeps it stocked with food, a supply of magical supplies and reagents, plenty of healing items and supplies in case of emergencies, and various small personal items as well.
Witches are well known for the "Power of Three." That is, they are especially adept at combining their individual strengths in order to cast much more powerful, impactful magics. Some of the most powerful spells a witch can cast require a circle of others to cast, and a circle is usually formed out of triads of witches, each wielding the Power of Three. Power of Three spells can be done by any three witches, but they have to have the same focus on their goal and ideally be on the same page. Witches who are at odds with each other may even have the spell fail or go wrong. For even greater effect, various groups of three can assemble into larger circles of nine or twelve, and a circle of thirteen is particularly potent.
WEAKNESSES
Nero is complicated. One one hand, he's an oldest brother and a disciplined student, so he has steady, responsible qualities. On the other hand, he tends to have a more playful, free, easygoing side. These two sides of his nature frequently exist in some opposition to one another, which can be the source of some challenge and frustration in his life.
There are a lot of familiar expectations placed on Nero. He comes from a long line of mages and his parents have aspirations for their children. There is a constant pressure to live up to them. As the oldest of his brothers, he feels this pressure very keenly.
Nero was born with a strong connection to the air element, and for his youth and adolescence he trained extensively to gain mastery over his ability to channel air and command weather. During a journey to the Otherworld, Nero came in contact with potent magics, and he found his abilities transformed. While his abilities no longer have much to do with manipulating air, he still thinks a lot like an aeromancer, and so he is still in the process of retraining some of his reflexes and instincts. Having since lost his elemental focus, he also finds magic that pertains to the primal elements much harder to do, and such spells no longer come to him naturally.
Nero does consider himself his brothers' keeper. It's partly a question of being the oldest and, thus, feeling responsible for them, but he also genuinely loves his brothers and has an intensely close bond with them. As a result, he will do anything that he feels he should in order to protect them and look out for their best interests, up to and including doing things they may not always like or acts of self-sacrifice.
