Name: Alric Ælfwine
Age: 21
Race: Human (descended from Grendel, descended from Cain)
Gender: Male
Hair: Messy and slightly curly red hair, somewhat long and bushy. He also has a small, short beard and mustache.
Eyes: Left bright blue, right bright green.
Weight: About 230 lbs.
Height: About 6.5 ft.
Weapons: Hrunting, the magical sword once wielded by Beowulf. The iron blade is enchanted with an ancient magic and is unbreakable. The only time the blade has ever failed anyone in battle was when it failed Beowulf to defeat Grendel's mother. The greatsword is quite heavy, and quite large. It measures in at just about six feet from its pommel to its tip and weighs about seven pounds. The pommel is shaped like a heart. He carries it on his back in a black scabbard decorated with silver, and a black leather strap to hold the scabbard on his back.
Alric also has a black leather bullwhip, which he's skilled enough with to warrant calling it a deadly weapon. This is usually the first weapon he uses in battle, and only uses Hrunting when he actually does intend to kill.
Though, if he really feels like killing, he just pulls out his silver Beretta 92 semi-automatic pistol. It fires 9mm Parabellum rounds, and holds 15 rounds. He has magazines with both full metal jacket rounds and with hollow-point rounds, depending on the situation.
Armor: Alric, when he does wear armor, wears hard leather armor, dyed black. This includes a leather cuirass, helmet, gloves, boots, greaves, and gauntlets. Over his armor he usually wears his green bridge coat with two rows of five shiny silver buttons and blue-gray cargo khaki pants with dull brass zippered pockets.
Strengths: Alric Ælfwine has more-than-average human strength. He could flip over a large vehicle if he felt the need to. He can wield his seven pound (about 3 kilogram) broadsword with ease. Were he to be in the proper time period, he could easily wear heavy plate armor and still fight as well as without. He's exceptionally skilled with his sword and with his bullwhip, and he has precise aim with his firearm. He doesn't fear much, if anything, and can remain calm and composed in situations that many average people would not be able to. His size and strength protect him in instances where most smaller and weaker people would be injured (he survived being hit by a car at 25 miles per hour once, completely unharmed save for a scratch and a large bruise. The owner of the car sued for damages.) He can also be persuasive and quite intimidating. Given enough time he can persuade, or intimidate, anyone to give him what he wants. He also has great endurance, and can perform physical activities for a considerable amount of time before growing tired.
Weaknesses: Alric would hardly be mistaken for swift, flexible, or agile. While his long stride makes for a fairly fast run, he can't exactly move quickly, such as in the instance of dodging. He can't jump very high or far, climbing and swimming aren't considered strong points of his, and he can forget about hiding in small spaces. He makes for a large target, and his leather armor isn't exactly bulletproof, or even blade-proof for that matter. He also has a bit of a temper and can be provoked to anger pretty easily. He fights a bit more fiercely while angry, but also much more carelessly.
Skills/Magic: Alric doesn't have any notable skills beyond sword, whip, firearm, and hand-to-hand combat training. However, of note is his considerable strength, which is somewhat superhuman. Also important to mention is his acidic blood, which can melt through steel in moments. He doesn't usually bring it into combat, but if he has to he will. He would carry around vials of it, if not for the fact that it burns right through them. His blood looks like anyone else's, save for being maybe a little darker in color. He is also immune to this and similar acids, which will fail to burn his flesh.
Appearance: Alric is a very large person. He is over six and a half feet tall, and two hundred and thirty pounds. He has thick bones, and muscular limbs. His skin is tan, marked here and there with various scars. He also is marked on his forehead, a black mark which looks somewhat like the letter Y. His eyes are each a different color, the right one being a bright green color and the left one being a bright blue color. Though not quite ugly, he isn't exactly the most handsome person either.
When he's prepared for combat of any sort, he wears his hardened black leather armor. His armor covers his hands and forearms, his chest and back, and his lower legs. He also wears heavy black leather boots with rubber soles and steel-capped toes. On his head he wears a hard black leather helmet, which covers the entire top of his head and has three flaps that protect the sides of his head, and the back of his head. His red hair is barely visible under his helmet. He also has red hair on his face, a short beard and mustache.
Over his armor he usually wears a warm faded chartreuse green bridge coat, which has two rows of five bright silver buttons. The buttons each have different symbols on them. From top to bottom, starting with the left row, the symbols are: a flame, a skull, a starburst, a pentagram, the Hebrew letter vav (ו), a wave of water, a hand print, an eye, a heart, and the Greek letter omega (ω). He usually wears cargo pants, of a blue-gray khaki material, the zippers of brass. When it's cold out he also wears a thick blue-gray scarf. On his back is his six foot sword, sheathed in its black scabbard. The black leather strap goes over his left shoulder and crosses over his chest. Looped over the scabbard is his long bullwhip. Under his coat he has his Beretta on his left hip, as he tends to favor his left hand.
Personality: Alric has a short fuse and is easily provoked to anger; he has a bit of a temper. Sometimes he gets a bit violent as well. He can't stand people who try to wrong him, or are persistently annoying. If you were to ask if he were "good" or "evil" he wouldn't be able to give you a straight answer. He doesn't choose sides, and does what he feels is best for him. This isn't to say he's completely devoid of morals, but he's also not one to follow rules just because they're rules. He doesn't really have many friends, but he's fine with that. He has no qualms with killing people if he feels it necessary, and probably wouldn't risk his life in some elaborate rescue mission either. However, given the chance, he would save somebody's life. As mentioned, he does have a heart. He doesn't see the reason for innocent people to suffer or die if he can stop it.
Biography: "Long have our kind lurked in the shadows, hiding both from and among your kind. Our history is not a pleasant one. It is filled with violence, hate, and murder. First of all is Cain, the ancestor from which all of our kind descend. He was the first murderer, and killed his own brother in jealousy, because Yahweh favored his sacrifice. He was cursed, along with his bloodline, and given a mark to forever remember this curse by. From there it gets worse. Much worse. However, not much is written about it. You hear the occasional tale about ogres and trolls, but nothing too specific until the tale of Beowulf.
"Beowulf is quite clear when it describes the creature Grendel's origin as being descended from Cain. In fact, I'm pretty sure Grendel and his mother are somewhere in my family tree. Anyway, Grendel was evil at heart, and had something against Hrothgar's people. He murdered them all the time, sometimes taking as many as thirty lives. Beowulf showed up to stop him, and killed him by tearing off his arm...with his bare hands, supposedly. However, Grendel was not alone, and his mother came to avenge her son. Beowulf attempted to kill her with Hrunting, but the blade was useless against her. He had to use a giant Jotun-made sword to kill her. Somehow, probably through murder of some sort, our kind ended up with Hrunting. It's been passed down for generations after that, and now I've inherited it.
"Ever since Grendel, back in Beowulf's time, our kind has become somewhat more...human. It's true that the old epic is quite exaggerated in many instances (who could really rip off somebody's arm with their bare hands?) but Grendel was a large creature, and a violent one at that.
"We now live among everyone else, and no one would really know much of a difference. We really aren't that different from you, actually. There aren't very many of us, and we'll eventually go extinct, or at least our bloodline will become so thin as our kind interbreeds it might as well be extinct.
"We have done our best to keep secret our true nature, our violent and hateful one. We've even had to eliminate a select few of our own kind in order to keep them from eliminating even more of your kind. Such is the price we pay for our ancestor's mistakes. Here we are now though, just like you and your kind.
"And here I am, Alric Ælfwine. Your typical not-so-typical human."
Alric's parents were quite large people. They were both descended from Cain's bloodline as well, and it's debated as to whether his father is related to Grendel. Either way though, what can be said is that they both bear the mark of Cain on their forehead.
While most people in Alric's family tree had just mounted Hrunting on their wall and left it there as decoration, Alric wished rather to train himself in swordplay with it. So, when he was but 15 he began to take classes in sword fighting (of course, he started with a much smaller and lighter blade...) He was also interested in his father's bullwhip, which had been from when his father lived on a ranch in his childhood. He trained himself in its usage, but in a more combat-oriented manner.
Taking training in various manners of combat didn't really worry Alric's parents. In fact, it was quite normal for their kind to be interested in combat skills, because of their fierce and violent nature. Alric's father, in fact, used to be a professional wrestler, but was forced to retire when he accidentally killed someone he was fighting. Now they just live on his savings, which is plenty of money.
There aren't any pure-blooded descendants of Cain anymore. This is unavoidable. However, there still are enough bearing the mark that they form a small and secret community. Their website looks just like a blank page to whoever doesn't have the passwords, and they meet in various places to simply fellowship or discuss various things. They take their community seriously, even having a small hierarchy going on. Mostly they're concerned with keeping their kind in check. They have a history of violence, so sometimes they have to...quiet a couple dangerous individuals. Alric's father is fairly high in the hierarchy of this community, and attends meetings once every month.
Alric Ælfwine now lives by himself, on the top floor of a 10 story apartment building. He also has a truck, a black Ford F-450, and a pistol, a silver Beretta 92 semi-automatic.
Alric awoke to a knock on his apartment room door. He quickly rolled out of bed and fell onto the floor. He stood up, flattened his hair a bit with his hand (which didn't really do much, but he does it out of habit) and answered the door. He was wearing a white shirt and black sweat pants, which is what he normally slept in. His bare arm revealed the omega tattoo on his upper left arm.
At the other side of the door stood Alric's old high school friend, Benjamin Jacobson. He was one of the few outsiders who knew about the descendants of Cain. While Alric hadn't seen Benjamin for over a month, they communicated regularly over the Internet.
"Benji, you're here early." Alric said, with his deep voice.
"Early? Dude, it's 11:35. Don't tell me you were sleeping 25 minutes before noon!" Benjamin said. Benjamin Jacobson was small compared to Alric, only about 5'10'' and 125 lbs. He was slim and lanky, and had raven black hair. His skin was also much paler then Alric's.
"I meant early as in before you said you'd arrive. And yes, I was sleeping. It's Saturday after all." Alric said, letting Benjamin into the apartment.
"You need to clean up in here, man! Anyway, so, how do you feel about adventure?" Benjamin asked, as he worked his way through Alric's messy apartment to sit on the couch.
"What do you mean, Benji? 'Adventure' of what sort?" Alric asked.
"Well, I looked into what you told me that one time, you know, about the buttons on your coat." Benji said, reaching in his jacket for a sheet of paper.
"What about those?" Alric tried to look at the paper.
"The symbols, they stand for something right?"
"Yeah, sorta, the ten legendary artifacts. Why?"
"Well, wouldn't it be cool to find those artifacts? I mean, you've been here for what, three years? Doing nothing. Doesn't life just get boring after a while?"
"What, we don't actually know if the artifacts even exist though, let alone where."
"Well, yes, that's why I researched. I'm pretty sure I know what they all are, and I have a general idea where most of them might be. Besides, like I said, wouldn't it be fun to take a trip, an adventure?"
Alric thought about it. "Yeah, I guess it would be," he said reluctantly. "One of those artifacts is the sword, right?"
Benjamin looked at his paper. "Yeah, Hrunting is indeed an artifact."
"Yeah, well, one down."
"Nine to go! Come on, I already got tickets to our first destination."
"What, already?"
"It's not like you've got plans, right? Get packing! We're going to Ireland first of all."
So thus did Alric's adventure begin, but little did he expect what he would find ahead of him...
Alric was an interesting idea of mine. I don't even remember where I came up with such a strange (and original, I might add) idea. Descendant of Grendel? What in the world?
Yeah, so if you don't understand some of the mythological references, you really should read Beowulf. Seriously. It's a good epic story.
While I could approve this myself, I want someone else to look at it and give me their opinion first.