Murdoch Miles

Murdoch Miles is a character in Grand Battle S3G1.

Weapon
A traditional magician’s wand (small black rod with white tips) the main difference being this wand is legitimately magical.

Abilities
Murdoch is a master magician; as such he has a massive array of spells at his disposal. Due to his self applied moral code (more detail below) he refuses to utilise his more ‘deadly’ spells.

Description
Murdoch Miles’ profile is that of a glowing man, pure white and constantly giving off light. The only details on him are two massive black eyes and a mouth. His body is shape of a standard human, with the exception of sharp claw shaped fingers. Murdoch wears a sort of dark blue clock/jacket, sporting coat tails at the back; it is very weathered and battered. Underneath he wears a white shirt sporting a bow tie. On top of his head lies a traditional top hat, not unlike an archetypal magician.

Murdoch is a Varalica, demi-gods that live underneath the ‘veil between life and death’, which is situated on Earth. They used to be human, before they are tricked into becoming one of them by another Varalica. All Varalica look wildly different to one another, Murdoch just so happened to keep a (mostly) human profile. The Varalica live biologically immortal lives, they cannot age to death, but they can be killed just as easily as a human. Most Varalica are cold, callous tricksters, playing with the human’s emotions and minds like puppets.

Murdoch Miles however is an exception; he is quite a polite and well worded individual (particularly to women), always preferring conversation to violence. He is a natural optimist, always trying to see the better side to things despite how grim they may be. Murdoch holds a self applied moral code that ‘he will never kill a man again.’ He has kept true to this over his long, long life.

Biography
Once upon a time there was a man named Murdoch Miles, a magician travelling with a circus across the country. He travelled with his wife and assistant, Emily Miles and performed in front of hundreds of audiences in hundreds of places. For a while, Murdoch was happy, except…

Murdoch felt empty, he knew deep down he was a fraud. He wasn’t just interested in magic; he was obsessed by it, and the occult that is often connected to it. He tore himself apart over his perceived failings, none of his magic was real, they were just smoke and mirrors, illusions.

Then, one night, under the light of a full moon, the broken silhouette of a woman heard Murdoch Miles anguish and simply said:

“I can give you power.”

Murdoch heard the Varilica’s words and was so effortlessly seduced by them. He was willing to do anything for such power. In secret, Miles began sacrificing people to his new ‘god’. At first it started with the homeless and prostitutes, people Murdoch believed no one would miss, but it soon escalated to members of the circus, even some of his friends, all the blind pursuit of power.

But the Broken Lady still wasn’t interested in such things, the Magician dropped to his knees and pleaded to the Varalica, what did she want? The Broken Lady saw the grovelling man and smiled a cruel smile: “Sacrifice your beloved to me, and the power you so desperately crave shall be yours.”

Murdoch didn’t even think. He simply returned to his wife and prepared her for her imminent death. Her screams and pleading for him to stop seemed muffled and distant, the Magician fought back the tears as he rose a dagger above her. “Forgive me.”

With the ill deed done, Murdoch Miles felt every fibre of his being shift and change, an intense pain ripped through him as he exploded in light. He gazed into the mirror and saw his metamorphosis, he had done it. The power he so longed for was now his own, no tricks, no sleight of hand, true magic was now under his command and it felt good.

Then he looked at his bloodied hands, no, his claws, he looked at his wife, now perfectly still and quiet, he looked at the Broken Lady, who cackled cruelly into the cold of the night. He asked himself: Was it worth it?

No. It wasn’t.

Murdoch Miles, the man no more, was cast under the veil and for what seemed an eternity did nothing. The guilt of his crimes had crippled him, he couldn’t even cry, he just stayed still, for 15 years.

A grand explosion ripped the veil to shreds, amongst it The Broken Lady laughs. “This world is too small to contain me. I shall rule not just the word but the very Cosmos itself!” The Broken Lady escaped through the rupture she had created, into the vast oceans of the Multiverse.

And Murdoch Miles followed her before the Varalica could close off the rupture, in the place he stood (which of sort of become a bizarre statuesque centrepiece for the veil) a letter remained:

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t so ashamed with what I have done. I have taken so many lives away, including the life of my beloved. Never again. No one deserves the pain of death, not even us.

I have mourned the lives I have taken and I know I will never be forgiven by anyone in the world. It is only natural that I take my leave to new worlds.

I have spent so long in a sad, sad way. I say no more, it is time to move on with my infinite life.

It’s time to have some fun.

Signed:

Murdoch Miles

P.S: If you are reading this Broken Lady, prepare yourself!

Because Mr. Magic Miles is coming for you!

Murdoch Miles has spent the last couple of centuries travelling to different worlds, finally moving on from his past and hunting down The Broken Lady. He was in the middle a rather intense game of ‘Extreme Dominoes’ with King Keaton of Siriak before being whisked away for battle.

Development
Generally he tried to keep the peace and unite the other characters against The Fool. Unfortunately none of them really seemed inclined to do so.

Death
Dissolved by a toxic gas. Ostensibly Jetsam's fault.