(Original art found at http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25931374/)

Physical Description

Aureus is an anthropomorphic fox, his main body fur color is a sandy golden color, and his accent colors are white. His accent colors occur on his lower face and front of his neck (typical of a fox), his chest and belly, and handpaws and digitgrade feet. His eye color is blue.

Clothing and Equipment

He wears the classic wizard hat, as well as a set of robes. The sleeves have green trim at the cuffs and are embroidered with arcane text in the cuffs. His robes and hat are a sky blue with green trim. His green waistsash has a few pouches attached and hangs down and covers the front robe opening. The hat has a band at the base of the conical top that is also green. His digitigrade feet are usually bare unless specific circumstances call for footwear. He carries a tome, though it is usually used more for personal notes than actual spells; as a sorcerer, his spell knowledge comes from within rather than a wizard’s spellbook. He also carries a simple flute with which to play simple tunes he has learned, and keeps some musical scores in his tome.

Preferences and Personality

He primarily uses magic of the ice variety, but also has a strong grasp on wind-based magic, which is necessary for some of his favorite spells and effects. The tome was a customary accessory for Guild members. He often keeps the pretense of being a wizard over a sorcerer, as it’s easier to explain, as well as more common.

[Alignment: Neutral Good] He has a tendency to help those in need(see backstory relating to his brother). While he respects law in general, there are times in which he will discard the word of the law to pursue some deed he perceives as more important, or if the law seems to be in place merely as an inconvenience or as a cover-up, usually in pursuit of a truth. This occasionally gets him in trouble, but his intentions are for good.

While generally respectful of those around him, some habits will cause him to be less respectful or even rude, such as malicious racist behavior or blatant unfairness. His manner of speech is fairly casual as a result of his lower-class upbringing, and it often surprises others to hear that he is positioned in his society just below a noble’s, often with disbelief. He often speaks bluntly, as he believes in forward honesty, especially those he is familiar with, but has learned to speak more carefully when necessary as a result of his diplomatic training, and usually only so. He has a generally approachable, friendly nature.

His weapons of choice are swords and staves. He has an interest in double sabers, but finds himself unable to wield them effectively. They never fail to catch his eye, though.

Signature spells:

Ice shards: A spell developed by Aureus himself, and the basis for many of his more powerful spells. Aureus can quickly summon hand-sized ice shards which will follow around him. At 4 shards, they will begin to circle him in a weak cyclone effect. At 8 shards, the weak cyclone becomes stronger in order to maintain the higher quantity aloft. Enemies that come within range of these shards may suffer damage from collision. At 14 shards, he will no longer be able to properly maintain awareness as much of his focus is on maintaining control over the shards, his movement speed is seriously impaired due to the concentration, and the cyclone becomes a miniature tornado. The upper limit of shards he may maintain at one time is 17.

Ice Lance: by quickly fusing 3 or 4 shards together, Aureus can make an on-demand projectile of solid ice that can be launched at a target of his choosing. The projectile can either be shattered on impact, creating ice shrapnel, or he can attempt to impale the target full-force with it. If he has sufficient shards available, he may make more than one lance at a time, each with different targets. A 4-shard lance has more overall power than a 3-shard lance.

Frozen Weapon: Aureus can make a makeshift weapon out of shards to use in the event he or his allies have been disarmed in some way. Larger weapons require more shards. A longsword-sized weapon would require 3 shards to produce. The weapons are still cold to the touch, and react unfavorably to heat. When thrown, they can explode into ice shrapnel. This can also be used as an alternative to Ice Lance (example, Aureus can launch ice swords or axes instead of simple icicles). Though shaping the weapon takes slightly more time, it can result in a more focused or effective strike than Ice Lance.

Ice Armor: Aureus can manipulate and reshape the shards into a protective ice coating that attaches (freezes fast) to garments (not metal armor or bare flesh!). Various parts of the body will require different amounts of shards, and larger creatures will require more, if he is armoring a target other than himself. To armor himself, his torso requires 7 shards, legs 6, arms 6, and his head can be protected by 4. As ice is translucent, he shapes it so that his vision is not affected, and his eyes are covered. As a result, he becomes immune to effects that would seriously impair his vision or concentration by hurling matter into his eyes. Particularly strong force can still shatter/damage the ice, and oppressively hot environments can weaken the armor, but the armor provides a cooling effect while it persists to help stave off heat stress.

Flash-Freeze Cannon: Through a number of rather dangerous experiments, arcane research, and trial-and-error, Aureus managed to develop what amounts to a high-powered wide laser that creates a field of extreme heat-displacement and frost particles. With no fewer than 5 shards, Aureus can create a stationary, hovering focus lens out of 2 shards, and no less than 3 channeling shards that orbit said lens. The base charge speed is 20 seconds. Each of the orbiting shards help him channel more power into the lens, with more shards accelerating the rate, and when fully charged, unleashes a devastating beam of frost and cold forward from the lens. Anything caught in the blast is instantly frozen solid, and anything unable to withstand the force of the blast shatters. The charge is autonomous once started, but will take some focus away from Aureus while it is working, depending on the number of shards used. If Aureus uses a full 17 shards to create the cannon, the charge is near-instantaneous, the blast’s power is higher, and the freezing effect is strengthened. Aureus is sure the effectiveness of this spell could be magnified further, but he lacks the strength to channel more into it…

Backstory and resulting quirks

Aureus Seitaro hails from the city of Terwinder in Vularia, a primarily anthro-fox city known for its Magister Guild, which is its primary military force. It is also the source of many of the city’s other self-interest personnel, including diplomats, researchers, and government-funded explorers, as they are very capable of protecting themselves with powerful magic. This places all members of the guild at a city social status just below nobles, though generally members do not hold themselves in excessively high regard as many come from modest upbringings and are simply pleased to be a part of something with a great history, though like anything else there are exceptions that tend to be fairly obnoxious. Aureus has personally filled all of these work roles a number of times during his time at the guild, and is a respected member.

The city itself is multicultural, and has been for an extremely long time. The city gains its strength from the multiple races working together, combining their strengths and covering up their weaknesses. Racism does exist within the city, but usually only in the form of light-hearted jokes with no malintent that no one takes seriously. Some serious cases of hate exist, but it is heavily scorned by the general population and those responsible rarely climb far in the social ladder. The city has been sieged many times but never falls; its’ mages and fighters far too powerful and skilled for most assaults. Aureus has participated in only one of the city’s siege defenses, which was a resounding victory. Aureus knows the strength of group diversity firsthand and cannot abide irrational racist hatred as a result. (there are still certain things that might be thought to fall under this category that would be accepted, such as a race that has never had a single recorded peaceful interaction, because this falls under rational)

Aureus hails from a lower-income family, but his talent for magic was discovered by the library curator as he worked one day. He was enrolled in the guild’s school shortly afterward. He initially struggled with certain tasks, and even accidentally ignited his own fur one day with a fire spell(resulting in a strong distaste for fire magic), but he found incredible ease in anything relating to ice magic or its various sub-forms. He also developed a fondness for wind magic as it tended to mesh well with his ice-based forte. “It’s quite interesting how quickly someone flinches when hundreds of small, sharp shards of ice are flying toward their face.”

It wasn’t until after a particular expedition that he learned of his inherited talent as a sorcerer. It is unclear where in his family line this originated, or how a sorcerer’s blood even wound up in a low-income family. As a result of his inclusion in the Magister Guild, his social status was elevated quite a bit rather quickly and unexpectedly, and his mannerisms don’t often reflect his status. While he is away often, he never forgets to make sure his parents have enough to eat when he is back to the city. He can’t do anything about their standing, but he can certainly help.

He has an older brother, Rapidus, presumed dead (he’s not) by both him and his family, who went missing after a kobold raid on his family’s farm goods wagon. They were both very young at the time. The kobolds were only interested in the food. Aureus followed his parents instructions and hid, but Rapidus tried to see what was going on. He was caught and dragged off, being a smaller target, and his parents were too overwhelmed to rescue him in time. Aureus has particularly negative emotional response to kobold presence due to this event.