Kristoph Langusten

Kristoph Langusten
Nationality	Merinian
Organization	PHIA Phorce, House Langusten
Species	Human
Height	6'7"

Kristoph Langusten is a young noble of House Langusten - one of the floating provinces of the water world of Merin. Since he was a child, he was raised as a nanomage, an individual augmented with a neural interface allowing for telepathic control over clouds of nanobots that can be manipulated to form different shapes and be moved at different speeds. He projects himself on the planet Yeddo using a vrNet avatar made of hardlight where he attends the University of Oraulan.

Kristoph started to be a tutor of Alphonse Reefwood, a young Merinian and a former member of a Merinian administration he used to be part of named Blacktide, where he taught Alphonse how to command and use the nanobots for a few years. Kristoph first met him while he was talking with the people from Blacktide itself.

Appearance

Kristoph is a tall, thin man. He is clean shaven with medium-length wavy brown hair and blue eyes. His usual attire is a fitted astronomy-patterned blue robe and a large, pointed brimmed hat with goggles sitting atop them. He also wears large brown gloves and boots.

Personality

Kristoph is very intelligent and articulated. While he prefers to keep to himself and his studies, he is otherwise very polite and cordial towards others - exhibiting a calm gentlemanly demeanor at nearly all times. Despite being very reserved, he maintains a clever, if not a little dry, sense of humor. He is still haunted by his experience in the Virtual Wars, and he prefers not to talk about it, rather focusing at the task at hand.

While starting his new life as a researcher, he eventually came to enjoy his studies as a virtuoarchaeologist. While he regrets not having started it earlier, he is more than happy to continue to engage with the topic. Particularly, he is enthusiastic about the intricacies of the vrNet that allow him to project himself on Yeddo. He hopes to one day come to Yeddo physically, but he is unlikely to do so until the Dark Mage is caught.

He has a peculiar affinity for sweets, especially chocolate. Because his primary abilities involve using his thoughts to control nanobots, he craves any sort of sugar very frequently.

Being quite the looker, it is not uncommon for Kristoph to encounter women who will casually flirt with him. However, he is rather oblivious to their advances most of the time much to their dismay.

History

Origins

Kristoph was born aboard the MRS Odyssey, a fishing ship part of the fleet of House Langusten on the planet Merin. As the MRS Odyssey was frequently deployed to remote locations, he never quite stayed in the same location for very long growing up.

At the age of eleven, Kristoph began showing an aptitude for mathematics and spatial awareness. He would soon be selected for the nanomage program where, after undergoing specialized training, would become augmented with the ability to telepathically control nanobots with his mind. He would enter a boarding school hosted at the Mage's Tower where he would learn to use his newfound powers.

Virtual Wars Ground Zero

Although Kristoph excelled in his studies, the political situation in Merin had grown worse during the early 2010s AB. Tensions with the rest of the Federation of Stellar Systems were at an all time high, and the other noble houses were on the verge of war. At the time, Virtuoso had recently introduced the technology of consciousness backups to the Federation, the ability to preserve a person's mind as digital data. All the different houses were discussing using the technology to create clones of their nanomages to raise an army or perhaps to have a way rudimentarily bring back lost soldiers from the dead. Kristoph was hesitant about it due to the potential of it being misused, but due to mandates from the nanomage program, he was forced into doing so. The clones were not yet produced into physical entities just yet, but the data of various nanomages was recorded for later use.

In a hope to ease tensions, the Federation chose to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of its founding across the galaxy by having simultaneous festivals across the vrNet. Kristoph took part in the festival being held in Merin and had the chance to wind down after the tensions of the nanomage program. The festivities, however, were shortlived when Mithran Aquarius, the king of Merin, was assassinated. With House Oberon threatening to forcibly seize the throne, the other noble houses deployed their fleets for combat. In response, Kristoph volunteered himself to join the Merinian Navy in hopes of defending his home. Though he was nervous about it, he knew that it was what he signed up for after becoming a nanomage.

Kristoph took on a support role during the initial stages of the war. He would be assigned to protect fishing ships and other civilian vessels from the crossfire as House Oberon engaged in direct naval combat with House Titania. For the most part, Kristoph managed to stay out of the frontlines although he did have an encounter with some pirates that tried to seize control of a fishing vessel. Using his nanobot powers for the first time in a live environment, he manged to ward them away.

The Dark Mage

During the course of the war, the database containing the consciousness clones was breached. The Merin Kingsguard managed to apprehend the hacking group, and they ordered the destruction of the database to prevent any further harm. However, one particular entry in the database remained unaccounted for. There was no record of Kristoph's consciousness clone actually getting deleted. While the Kingsguard assured him that it was taken care of, he remained skeptical.

Not more than a few months later, the Kingsguard suddenly arrested Kristoph on the charges of piracy. He was being accused of not only stealing the MRS Macbeth but also causing the destruction of an oil rig, resulting in catastrophic environmental damage in a region that would eventually become the Toxic Ship Graveyard. These reports were based on eyewitness claims, but after further investigation, they discovered that it was actually a mysterious individual impersonating him. Despite Kristoph's name being cleared, the actions of this imposter were enough to drag House Langusten directly into the war as House Titania held them responsible regardless.

Kristoph was determined to track down the imposter himself. While the authorities warned him how to dangerous it could be, he decided to go anyway, traveling on his own. The path eventually led to him encountering the Oberon Pirates, a breakaway faction from House Oberon who was far more open to engaging in criminal activity and underhanded deals. These pirates were aboard the stolen ship, the MRS Macbeth, and among the crew was an individual that looked identical to how he did, a rogue hardlight construct that assumed his identity - a being known as the Dark Mage. While Kristoph had discovered who the imposter was, he was outnumbered and had no chance of winning against them.

Kristoph barely managed to escape. However, only a short time after he fled, he got word that the pirates destroyed the ship he grew up on, the MRS Odyssey, to spite him. While his family survived with minor injuries, his childhood home was gone forever. Blaming himself for this failure, Kristoph resigned as a member of the Merinian Navy and exiled himself at the bottom floor of the Mages' Tower. He didn't feel he could face his family again after what happened, and he knew he wasn't strong enough to ever defeat the Dark Mage.

University of Oraulan

Although Kristoph was harsh on himself, the truth of the matter was that his family forgave him what he did. Kristoph's mother convinced him he should start a new life somewhere, but given the unstable political state of Merin, it would perhaps be for the best to travel abroad elsewhere. Kristoph received a scholarship to attend the University of Oraulan on Yeddo as a reward for his service during the war. Despite technically being a noble, he had very little money to his name as House Langusten was not particularly wealthy anymore - the war caused the pollution of various major fishing spots which caused them to suffer financially. Therefore, he couldn't afford to permanentely move to Yeddo as the house market grew unstable following the war. Thus, the most practical option was to attend remotely by using a vrNet avatar.

Kristoph had recently became interested in virtuoarchaeology, not just from the mysteries of the Valerian Empire, but also from the mathematics involved with it. Not to mention, virtuoarchaeology was now considered a money-making field as the prospect of uncovering lost treasures was tantalizing. Thus, be began his first term in 2019 AB, ready to start fresh in a brand new world. Kristoph held hope that the authorities would eventually apprehend the Dark Mage, but at the very least, his name was cleared from whatever crimes the Oberon Pirates had been committing.

Joining the PHIA Phorce

Main article: Raid on the Cult of Kronos

Through a chance encounter, Kristoph met Sophia Delphi and Angela Harrison at the University of Oraulan's library. There, he found that they had improperly acquired a Valerian data crystal. He agreed to keep quiet about it on the condition that they let him in on what they learn about it. This eventually led through to a chain of events that eventually resulted in him teaming up with them along with Angela's father Joshua Harrison in stopping the Cult of Kronos, a cybernephrine dealing gang.

Skills and Abilities

Kristoph's primary skill is his neural interface to control clouds of nanobots which he keeps stored in a wand or staff that he carries with him. With the power of thought alone, he can think the nanobots to take virtually any shape he needs. For example, he can materialize platforms to step up on or to use as a barrier. He can also launch the nanobots as blunt objects or have them dissipate into gusts of projectiles that move at high speeds. The only limitation to this ability is his own creativity, the number of functional nanobots in his possession and the mental energy to form said nanobots into the shapes he requires. He can strain his mind if he pushes himself too hard, but over the years, he has gotten more mentally resilient. He can recharge himself with enough rest.

Performing the telepathic commands requires only his thoughts, but in practice, he usually performs hand movements to help focus himself and to keep his balance. The gestures he makes helps to guide the nanobots certain ways.

In most situations, he carries a wand though staves are used if he expects a more intense encounter - as staves can hold more nanobots. The nanobots also wear and tear after a long time of use where they become less receptive to commands. This can usually be remedied by either replacing his weapon or by allowing his wand/staff to perform its self-repair function on the damaged nanobots. In a pinch, should he find himself short on nanobots, he is also trained in using the wands and staves as blunt weapons.

Kristoph's avatar projection is also comprised of nanobots. As such, he can interact with the physical world even from lightyears away, and he can use all of his inherit nanomage abilities. The one thing he cannot do remotely is experience developed sensations. Due to bandwidth limits of the vrNet server he is using, certain sensory information such as smells and touch are severely limited. For example, while he can still eat food remotely, he derives no nourishment from it and experiences only a small percentage of the sensations from eating food in person.

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