Cliff and Snake

Cliff and Snake are characters in Sublime Showdown.

Weapons/Abilities
Cliff’s sword, like almost everything he’s ever touched, has a rather unfortunate name: in this case, Something Something of Death. In conversation he refers to it as Sosod. The sword was bound to him before he was even old enough to hold it, and the ritual that magically connected them had to be rushed slightly, so any hope of a good name was thrown out the window in order to keep everything else working well. The blade is black, with a light blue hilt to match Cliff’s armor, and is normally meant to be wielded with one hand—it can get larger, however, if Cliff places both hands on the hilt and concentrates. Within the blade is a very small, self-replenishing cartridge of magic: in this world, a sand-like substance. Despite the fact that it can ‘reload’ a supposedly infinite number of times, this takes a while and therefore magical swordplay is mostly restricted to one spell per battle. Also, the amount of magic that it can hold at one time only allows for small spells to be cast, such as the size increase it may undergo. It is also worth noting that spells used may only affect the sword itself directly and temporarily, such as making it sharper, more durable, or hotter (it can reach a surprisingly high temperature)—and Cliff could not, for example, use the magic in the sword to project an energy shield or launch a fireball… even if the fireball were leaping from the tip of the blade. Cliff has a good level of experience wielding Sosod, and though it has been used to kill before, and though it has ‘death’ in its name, Cliff would only resort to killing if nothing else worked. Also, his armor is enchanted to be slightly more durable than it looks—nothing remarkable, though it will provide more effective protection against high falls and bludgeoning than stabbing weapons. As a final note, Snake is able to wrap around his waist as a belt. This does roughly nothing for him beyond aesthetics, but Snake herself is better protected in this position.

Cliff was born with an extra organ in his body that has a somewhat-self-replenishing-but-not-really supply of magic. If he casts a small spell, he’ll probably get the magic back, but if he does something much larger, it will permanently scar this organ, which will possibly spread and cause other organs to fail, eventually leading to his death. This wouldn’t be a problem in Amna or Neo-Ras, where he could simply have it removed, but out in the battle that probably won’t be a possibility. As with the sword, all of Cliff’s spells are temporary modifications to himself. Increasing the duration of a modification takes no more magic, but it does take more effort and concentration. In order to make something permanent, he would need an additional amount of magic at the outset, and whether or not concentration would be required to keep it present would depend on whether it is a physical or a magical modification. He’s not the strongest hero out there, but he’s fast and agile, and as mentioned he is fairly resourceful. As an Amnan, his metabolism is the product of an environment where food is scarce—from an evolutionary perspective, since Amnan civilization has advanced enough to make this mostly a non-issue. Anyway, this means that Cliff can go longer without food than most other humans. He’s used to living pretty well, though, so he’ll be pretty uncomfortable going several weeks without food, but he will survive.

Snake, as a Lesser Ouroboros, has a few abilities uncommon to her fellow serpents. Foremost, she can effectively freeze herself in time by biting her own tale. In this petrified state, she won’t age, and she is quite a bit more durable, though she can’t move without the aid of a strong wind. She isn’t a constrictor, and her venom isn’t lethal, but it does induce sleep or lethargy in most animals if she can penetrate their flesh with her fangs. She shares with the rest of her species an all-liquid diet, and as such her fangs are able to siphon up nearly any liquid—and most will suffice, as the main function of her venom is to combine with ingested liquids in order to create something safe for consumption. She prefers animal blood, but she could go for some time on a diet of plain water or other substances. And because she’s that smart, she’s managed to get around her limited ability to speak: because her link to Cliff is magical in nature, and that is always present, she can potentially gain the ability to speak and the sense of sight at any time through intense concentration. When her eyes glow, it is the only time she has a functional sense of sight, and everything is tinted yellow.

Together, they share a Bond of Familiarity—Cliff’s bond with Sosod makes him the only one who can use its magic, and makes it slightly harder for other people to wield it. The Bond of Familiarity is more powerful than that. This bond allows the two to communicate telepathically (to an extent, more through emotions than specific phrases) and inherently know each other’s relative locations. Normally, killing one Familiar would drive the other insane, but through intense training of mental stamina they believe that oe would still be able to function if the other was killed, though they might experience moderate-to-severe memory loss. This training was the result of an agreement that they would be able to avenge each other’s deaths, and may make them resistant to psionic attack—though in their world, that isn’t really a thing.

Description
Of only slightly-above-average height, Cliff is thin enough that he appears, from a distance at least, to be nearly a head higher. Like all Amnans, his skin is rather dark and he is completely bald. His clothing is of a cyan material which resembles leather in texture, and leaves essentially only his head and hands bare. Also, it’s thinner at prominent joints, and exposed near the ankles. His sword is in a scabbard on his back at all times, and his hands tend to twitch slightly while he isn’t holding it. His posture isn’t that great, and he tends to continuously survey his surroundings. When speaking to people, he is usually calm, though he’ll often seem distracted. In tone, his voice is fairly deep, though average for a young man of his height. Although communication isn’t often an issue in these things, I should mention that he was brought up speaking Amnan, which has long, rounded vowels and soft edges, and he has trouble covering his accent when speaking the sharply enunciated, tight, and conservative language of Rassic. He is still fluent in both tongues.

Snake is dark grey in color, and not particularly long or thick. As a snake, she has no eyelids, but unlike most of her brethren, she also lacks eyes… most of the time. In the presence of magic, bright yellow light emanates from her empty sockets, and she becomes able to speak. Her voice at this time is predictably raspy and whispery, but in a way that’s honestly more obnoxious than foreboding. She understands both Amnan and Rassic through a psychic link between her and Cliff, but more on that later. She is most often found either wrapped around Cliff’s waist or slithering next to him.

Cliff began as a brash young adventurer, and is still brash and adventurous now, but to a lesser extent. He is torn between a longing to see the world and a longing of equal passion to return home to Amna. He’s a bit hyperactive, and he twitches when not occupied by anything. Also, some ambushes and assassination attempts have made him paranoid, and he looks around constantly. Despite this, he has learned to stay focused on a task, and will see a task through to the end if he starts it. He is quite loyal to people who’ve earned his trust, but that’s gotten harder over the years—he can be quick to judge, especially sorcerers and non-humans. His entire view of the concept of heroism is based around self-sacrifice, so he’s been known to act drastically in dire situations and put his life on the line even when it might not have been necessary. Overall, however, he considers himself more of a wanderer than a hero, taking on adventures for money—though lately he’s been more than willing to take payment for just traveling somewhere and mapping the place, worn down by nine-and-a-half years of combat-heavy adventuring. He isn’t quite educated, but he is smart and resourceful, and can figure his way out of a tough situation.

Snake is a bit sore about her name, and doesn’t enjoy being addressed, but other than that is actually very approachable. Though she can only speak in the presence of magic, she is quick to comfort or defend any who appear in need if she believes they deserve it. Also, despite being Cliff’s familiar, Snake is surprisingly independent, and if anything she’s the more social of the two. Most of the time, Snake can hold a conversation for longer than Cliff, as she is better able to adapt to the personalities of others. She tends to function as Cliff’s voice of reason as well, and has on multiple occasions prevented him from getting into a fight with another over matters of human politics—something which Snake really doesn’t care about.

Errata
Cliff was born in the highlands of Amna and, during one of the earlier ceremonies and celebrations following his birth, it was discovered that he had within him a magic-generating organ. Realizing that it would probably stop working with age, all later ceremonies were dedicated to making sure he would remain capable throughout his life of creating his own power. As a result, his naming rite was rushed, and he was left with the unfortunate moniker of Clombd. At the age of eight, during a rite which would bind him to a sword (as was common for the children of warrior families like his), it was discovered that, despite their best efforts, they had failed to prevent his magic generator from deteriorating. They thought that giving him a magical sword would help, and had to—again—rush the blade’s naming ceremony in order to fit in the magical additions. Two years later, they discovered that this still wasn’t working, and bound him to a creature that reacted strongly to magic, again rushing the naming ceremony for reasons that young Clombd would never understand (maybe they were just so used to it by then). Oddly enough, this appeared to be the trick, and at the age of twelve Clombd and Snake left Amna for the city-state of Neo-Ras before Clombd’s family could do any further damage. Too ashamed of his birth name, Clombd insited on just being called “That Guy from the Cliff,” which was eventually shortened to “Cliff.” Taking on menial jobs at first, Cliff became an adventurer-for-hire after three-and-a-half years, once he became mostly fluent in Rassic. This is what he’s been doing since, taking on various missions for any individual who would pay what he thought was sufficient. As such, he’s seen much of the world and made quite a name for himself, and not all that much surprises him anymore. And if you don’t want to do any math, he’s roughly twenty-five right now.