Nexus Character Directory

[DJ Yung Crunk]

No New York

Gender: Male

Race/Species: Human

Age: 67 (Technically this refers to his current host, the 'No New York" entity is ageless and eternal)

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Class/Profession: Wizard/Summoner

Power Rating: A+

Description: No New York, in his current host, is a human Caucasian of advancing years. He has a small stature and a slightly hunched, deflated posture. He looks like he's been through hell. At a rare glimpse of his eyes behind his glasses you'll find they're glazed, milky and bloodshot and seem to be staring into the distance regardless of what he's actually looking at. Large, heavy bags trace under his eyes and over his cheekbones. His face, in general, is worn and creased and seems to be held on to its skull by tape.

No New York's hair is long, grey and frazzled as it flows out in jagged waves. His beard, though much shorter, is similarly colored. When he speaks his voice is gravelly and sounds as if he's straining against every word. His voice is mostly calm and monotone but has a vaguely threatening and malevolent edge to it. He speaks with a calm and casual authority and is similarly under animated. Even his combat style is understated and businesslike. What he lacks in physical attractiveness he makes up for with his powers of expression and commanding character.

Equipment - General Attire: No New York's eyes are generally obscured behind impenetrably thick and dark tinted prince-nez glasses which he is rarely seen without. Over black pants and a black longsleeve shirt No New York's current host wears an extravagant and excessive white fur coat. It's a few sizes too large, it seems, and appears to swallow No New York's entire spindly frame into it. Poking out from under this monstrous robe are narrow-toed leather shoes of a stark black. Similarly black are his leather gloves, only the fingers of which appear out of the sleeves.

Equipment - Equipment Slots:At the moment No New York only possesses the following three pieces of equipment. More may come in the future.

• The Staff of New York (Left and Right Hands)
  Taken from one of the limbs of the tree of life, it was once called 'The Staff of Atlantis' and passed down by each of the sunken city's high priestesses. It has since been corrupted by No New York's dark magic and been renamed after its wielder.
  
  It appears to be just a very long branch of thick oak. As it was not "forged" in the technical sense it doesn't conform to any sort of design. It twists and juts at random and finally curls into a vague hook at the top. White ink spirals around it and glows vaguely when it channels magic. Painted by the Atlanteans it's edges are starting to taint black under No New York's influence.
  
  Though once a Druidic artifact it has been remade into a tool of the Arcane under the ownership of its new wielder. Though no more powerful than any other staff for seven of the magic schools it is a powerful artifact for conjuring and amplifies the effects and duration of summoning magic by a significant amount.
• The Ark of Transcience (Accessories)
  A refractive lens of crystal worn around No New York's neck by a mundane silver chain. Like the staff it amplifies the effects of conjuration magic but also has distinct applications of its own. It's able to collect ambient, low level magic from its surroundings and store it. No New York can discharge it on a person and afford them extra uses of an expended spell. Because of its slow recharge rate this ability can only be sparingly used (once per week generally, though it differs depending on his exposure to environments with ambient magic energy)
  
  Looking through the lens reveals a "hypothetical present". The Ark shows, on the other side of its lens, an alternate version of present history where significant events were altered. This parallel Nexus is a terror filled dystopia under the thumb of some reclusive dictator. For example, one might look at a brick wall through the lens and it would reveal frayed and tattered propaganda posters that adorn it in this alternate present.
  
  Though he claims to have nothing to do with this universe No New York is ceaselessly fascinated by it. He seems motivated and persuaded by events that happen within it. But in what capacity he is not eager to reveal.
• Leather Bound Diary (Accessories)
  A small, unassuming, leather bound book. About 150 pages, at a cursory glance. Pretty worn out, looks like it's been used a lot. The text within is cryptic and mostly appears to be poetic nonsense. Babbling and narratives by some articulate joker. Written in blue ball point pen. The front reads "No. [Blank] - NEW YORK" in faded embossed gold letters. Following "No." part of the title has been scratched out. The leather there is scarred and split. Other than that, though, it's just a leather bound dairy. Nothing fancy or special about it.
  
  It's also the greatest and most unnatural travesty in the known universe. There must never again be a book like this.

Abilities: To be filled later (I've been writing this for far longer than I thought I would and I don't plan on using him right off the bat anyway)

Backstory: No New York is the Earthly manifestation of predestination and recursion. He is not a 'he' so much as an it. A curiously unassuming leather bound book. Deep within the labored and poetic prose of its text is hidden the wisdom of the multiverse written, apparently, by someone who was there for the whole thing. The book has, twelve times now, survived the end of the time and re-emerged at its rebirth carrying with it the knowledge of the previous universe.

Theoretically speaking, any wizard capable enough of decoding the text can predict every major event in the development of the Nexus as it has been written in past tense by the previous 'host'. It's accuracy, though hit and miss, makes the person who wields it capable of striking foreknowledge. As it inevitably falls into the hands of a high powered, unethical and ambitious wizard this foreknowledge has been exploited time and time again. With each exploitation the universe alters and shifts, struggling to sustain the changes made by these contradictions. First in subtle ways and then in significant ones. Such changes necessitated each host to acquire the Ark of Transcience to glimpse the previous universe and contrast with the alterations.

Currently the book is being held by Dexter Schwartz, a pioneering conjurer. Like the past eleven hosts he has willingly surrendered his identity to the cause of the book's predictions. To help drive this point home has taken up the moniker "No New York", in tribute to it. Dexter Schwartz is, of course, merely a pawn of the book' now and his personal history is largely irrelevant, though he does provide a personality, a voice and face for it in this universe. Additionally it is the first host to specialize in summoning.

The destruction of Atlantis is a significant moment in this incarnation's life, however. With the disappearance of Atlantis a pivotal moment in history, according to the texts, No New York set about correcting its continued existence by proactively conquering it himself. With his powers over the physical realm he contorted and warped the edges of the city so they would fold back in on itself. People crossing this threshold would then emerge on the other side of the city. With no way to the outside world Atlantis eventually withered away and died until only the age defying high priestess remained. She was dispatched, however, and No New York took possession of her staff.

With her dying breath she recited a proverb that denied the notion of predestination. It suggested that No New York was not persevering through the end of time but, rather, that his blind devotion to seeing it through was the cause of its destruction. This was called 'The Proverb of the Great Wheel'. Disturbed by it No New York followed its origins back to the Nexus, where it is common folk knowledge with the intent of disproving and stamping it out as well as to propagandize the concept of destiny.

Miscellaneous: Told you it'd be OP