Naberius (WIP)

[IamLEAM1983]

Name: Naberius \ Christopher Naber
Age: several thousand years old as demon, shell is 57 years old
Gender: male
Species: demon, shell is an anthro Welsh Springer Spaniel

Strengths: called the Steward in the Lesser Key of Solomon, Naberius is also referred to as Kingmaker in Tom's summons. This defines the core of his abilities, as he serves and protects practitioners of an exceptionally rare pedigree, frequently assisting them in the creation or re-establishment of royal bloodlines. He also holds the power to confer the marks of royalty to someone of worth but of no recognition, a change which is purely protocol-based at most. Holding access to the Court of Solomon does grant the lucky practitioner access to a painstakingly curated knowledge base, as well as to the most sizable basin of opponents to the Princes outside of Pandemonium. A secretive and heavily guarded bunch, the Court typically confers exceptional marks of safety to worthy creditors and asks for very little in payment, compared to the likes of the Pit's rulers.

A pedagogue and guardian with thousands of years of experience, Naberius alone is able to determine who is and isn't worthy of receiving the Court's assistance. Being the man Ahriman himself sometimes cites as inspiration for Pandemonium's more humane designs, he spent long decades serving Solomon's own dynasty. To that end, it'd be fair to consider him as part supernatural manservant, part butler, as well as part spy and one-man commando. A veteran of hundreds of armed conflicts under seemingly unassuming and foppish airs, his lithe frame hides his expertise as a bodyguard. You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but he knows how to take a punch and how to give one as well. Pair that with more than commendable teacher-like dedication when faced with young ones, and you earn yourself a solid anchor onto which to rest your family and friends.

On a practical level, the Steward can cover all school grades from kindergarten to Postgraduate studies in a few select fields, as well as constitute and manage professional security details. A more-than-adequate rifleman, fencer and hand-to-hand combatant, he packs enough tactical know-how to surprise veterans several centuries in the making. Other clerical tasks typically left to the headmaster of a house can be assigned to him, as well, from financial matters to the handling of appointments and meetings.
Weaknesses: having operated in a time during which Humanity frequently meddled in affairs Heaven judged it wasn't meant to know, no amount of respect can mitigate the fact that aggressive displays of faith will be harmful to the Steward. Being the first of the Damned to have believed that mortals deserved a shot at wrangling Hell's own forces to suit their own ends, he's incited the anger of the Princes as well as that of hardlining mortal believers. Some elements of various clergies still believe that Humanity should have remained ignorant of the theoretical and practical applications of Infernalism. To these people as well as for several self-styled paladins or more zealous members of the Order of Saint George, the only good demon is a dead demon.

Those who followed in Naberius' footsteps would also find themselves targeted on all sides, which would lead the group to found the Court – a reclusive structure to which only Solomon and those worthy to succeed him have ever had access. Safety is only guaranteed in anonymity, so only a few copies of the Lesser Key contain true ciphers leading to the Court.

Of course, the twenty-first century's world contains a lot less instances of martially-inclined sorts rushing to defeat rebellious Damned on sight, but it does harbor plenty of ill-advised plunderers of Solomon's wealth and wisdom. It takes a lot of research to figure out in which forms it currently exists, but Naberius has been forced to protect every coin earned, every statue commissioned and every scroll ever penned by the Levantine Archmage in his lifetime. Wealth is an asset, but it also is an obvious weak point once properly identified.

As can be expected, the needs of a demon's existence on the mortal plane come with some drawbacks. He can sustain his physical shell for an indefinite period of time, but sufficient damage done to it would make efforts to repair it mostly moot. The body being as limited as you'd expect, anything between disease and a bullet to the brain could compromise his ability to interact with denizens of the mortal plane.
Appearance: originally appearing as a nonspecific canine entity clad in late nineteenth-century garb, the needs of a prolonged existence on Earth have since pushed Naberius to use Angel Time in order to groom a body for himself.

Going back fifty-seven years prior to his meeting Meris, he selected a stillborn anthro Welsh Springer Spaniel out of a Cardiff hospital's Neonatalogy department. Back in the present, he now presents himself with the expected luxurious fur and russet patches over a white base, the whole of it faded by advancing years while still impeccably groomed. His Old Country phlegm shows in the sometimes heavy droop of his golden-brown eyes, blacks and sedate greens usually making up his Business Casual palette. Wire-frame glasses are typically found perched on his snout, the whole of it giving the impression that he's some sort of office-based dandy that's never laid eyes on a firearm before. Assuming this would be a grave mistake.

If you were to shave his chest and face down to the skin, you'd find a webwork of scars indicative of a former career soldier's tribulations. Poke under the white shirt and you'll find UKSF dog tags dangling from a chain, placing Christopher as a squad leader in several post-Elysium battlefields, especially during the Hopeverse's War on Terror – between 2001 and 2015. Everything points to his having been groomed for an executive position in the British Navy, only to toss it all aside in what seems like a sudden desire to change his career path. The truth is that as he already knew he'd meet Meris and declare her a Heiress of Solomon in 2025, so he'd elected to abandon martial pursuits in favor of clerical training and a stint in the Netherlands' International Butler Academy.

Today, Naber feels like a more contemporary take on Archie – packing all of the Clank's discretion and none of his Victorian quirks. Distinction is traded for tranquil self-assurance, if it isn't simply expressed in more subtle ways. A suit might just be a suit, but it still looks like the attire of a lady's Employed Gentleman, when he wears one. A leather briefcase might accompany him during time spent assisting Meris and her friends while on the road, and any and all required documents can be found in it – along with a few pistol-grade firearms. He's lined said briefcase in steel in order to be able to use it as a last-ditch bullet-deflection item, but has no qualms about messing up his manucure during bouts of CQC.
Behavior: if the Krampus is what happens when a demon is soaked in Fae culture, then Naberius – Cerberus according to Classical naming standards – is what happens when one of the Damned is elevated beyond its initial status by a mortal soul of exceptional character.

To understand the Steward is, in essence, to understand Solomon himself. Christopher strives to uphold Solomon's ideals of justice, propriety, open-mindedness and constructive co-existence and to be as much of a nurturing entity as he can be. However, his first master's goals struck several Hebraic scholars and foreign priests alike as being heretical in nature, to the point where calls for Heaven to intercede were nearly as frequent as praises offered to him. Unfortunately, there came a time where running after little Rehoboam, Taphat and Basemath and teaching the boy and two girls in the needs and wants of their people just wasn't enough, as even marrying Naamah the Ammonite served as cause for outrage to some critics. However solid Solomon's reign proved to be, it was still considered contentious in form. Add hearsay and mean-spirited tongue-wagging to the mix, and you're left with the unfortunately “canonical” tales of a devil-worshipper and husband to several hundred wives.

Some chose to debate it with words, others took to their swords. In a sense, Naberius and Solomon alike could both be considered precursors of modern Progressives, having pushed essentially modern cross-species inclusion policies some two thousand years in advance. Unfortunately, Solomon wasn't able to repeat Iram's debatable success in Israel, and now only his Rod, Eye and Ring are left to tell the tale.

Cerberus' first few years in the king's service weren't rosy, however. It was a long time before kindness would wear out his racial contempt for mortalkind, before the binds that prevented him from doing harm to the king and his people would be tolerated, and later even cherished – a long time before they'd be entirely removed. The Steward obviously remembers his life before Solomon, but it isn't anything he enjoys elaborating over. It felt dry and barren, devoid of all purpose or interest; so the mortal plane is where he tends to assume his life truly begins. This probably explains Christopher's relative ease at thinking and operating on a mortal's scale, as even Tom has occasionally wasted a few lifetimes dithering about while assembling his plans. Not so for the Steward, who seems to actually prefer to reason in terms of months, years and decades rather than eras or centuries.

Considering, dedication to an ideal rather than to persons or aristocratic structures is what characterizes the Steward. The nobility he grooms might come to have wealth and political acumen over time, but he was especially taught to value and nurture nobility of spirit above all. Patience, self-sacrifice and careful deliberation are all traits he values immensely, as well as any other proclivities or quirks that might allow for the installation or preservation of a just society. He really does exemplify the best of what Tom is obviously hoping for, and could be placed alongside Delmar as being someone who recognizes that Meris' power is due to more than how many spells she's memorized. Wisdom plays a huge part in the later fate of most high-power practitioners; starting with the wisdom to avoid blowing themselves up and ending with enough wisdom to choose their magical applications with care.

Unfortunately, Naberius wasn't always able to be presented with as agreeable a candidate as Meris. Sometimes, arcane hotheads and magical bruisers tried their hand at summoning him, and sometimes they passed his tests by the faintest of margins... When that happened, the Steward found himself forced to serve people he'd rather have ignored. For as progressive and reflective of Solomon's own sage advice as he might be, this Infernal mutt has a tough time tolerating self-infatuation and self-serving goals. Neither of these aspects gave his first master access to an Archmage's trove of knowledge, and there's very little reason for anyone with a narrow-minded attitude to achieve the same graces. If power is its own reward for you, you'll find him to be oozing contempt from every conceivable orifice. He'll typically affect a bit of professional frost in public, but tends to warm up quite a bit whilst in the company of a suitable candidate, as well as said candidate's more tolerable friends and colleagues.

Goals: to see Solomon's legacy preserved, both on the ideological and material spectrums, and to possibly capture some of that old ordinary contentment he remembers from his days serving Israel's first royal family, albeit in a contemporary expression. Considering, he's very likely to see Meris' desire to save Nereus as a serious objective to pursue, and will do all he can to try and restore their child in his rightfully-owned body.

In his experience, a literal or figurative heir or heiress of Solomon would provide an extremely powerful arcane defense against further Infernal incursions. As God granted the old king power over demons as influential as Asmodeus and Belial themselves, anyone who owns the king's true seal could keep the worst of the Pit's forces at bay by sheer force of will alone.

History: