Diamondfire

Personality

Kota is a friendly, warm-hearted, and soft-spoken young man defined by two things: his iron will and his bravery. His willingness to leap into life-threatening danger to save just one more person and his seeming inability to just give up has left many thinking he is either insane or suicidal, but this couldn’t be further from the truth; Kota values life and is willing to push himself past his limits to preserve it. In social settings, Kota is quite shy and fidgety; a sharp contrast to the demeanor he adopts as "Diamondfire"; when on the battlefield, Kota speaks with confidence and authority, while still doing his best to nurture the strengths of his teammates and encouraging them to improvise. 

With all this in mind, Kota is also quite naïve, socially-awkward, and (to his chagrin) not all that bright; he takes quite a lot of things at face value and struggles to understand metaphor/other figures of speech at times, leaving many irritated with his slowness; Kota’s lack of intelligence and the judgement he receives from it has left him struggling with his confidence, and he is utterly TERRIFIED of failing to live up to the expectation put upon him. He also has an unfortunate habit of judging on first impressions, and his lack of tact or social skills often leads to moments of insensitivity; he thus has a lot of issues with maintaining his interpersonal relationships. However, despite his flaws, Kota is determined to ensure a future where the world can sleep without an eye open; his kind nature and determination to see his dreams through have made him not only an excellent example of what a hero should be, but also an ideal candidate for the bearer of the Sentinels’ power. 

•  Hair Color  Brown 
  
  
•  Eye Color  Light blue 
  
  
•  Skin Color  Tanned 
  
  
•  Height  5'9 
  
  
•  Clothing Style  Armor 
  
  
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•  Skinny  Curvy 
  
  
•  Short  Tall 
  
  
•  Fat  Muscular 
  
  
•  Groomed  Messy 
  
  

Appearance

Kota is a relatively tall and muscular young man with tanned skin, light-brown hair, and large blue eyes. He has two prominent splotches of freckles under each eye, giving him a rather boyish look. 

Kota’s armor is quite detailed, with a color scheme of various gray shades, light teal, and some green; the chest/abdomen portion features prominent shoulder guards and a large, decorative green gem over his heart; he wears light brown gloves and his belt has several pouches filled with survival tools and emergency rations. The leg portion of his armor has several teal markings and dark brown boots, and his pants are visible through the chinks in his armor. Kota’s helmet is perhaps the most noticeable part of his outfit; it covers his nose with a guard while exposing the rest of his face, has two decorative diamonds over his eyes, and three decorative spearheads are attached to the top; one is pointed directly upwards while the other two are positioned at opposing 45-degree angles. Underneath his armor, Kota wears a dark purple t-shirt with a fire symbol on the front and light blue jeans. His equipment includes a large, simple shield and a magical broadsword with sharpened diamond etched into the blade; this sword is christened Steelfire. 

Toolkit: Divine Empowerment

Dakota Hartigan/Diamondfire’s trademark broadsword Steelfire is, in reality, the Timepiece of the fire goddess who once protected Universe: Alpha, Diamondfire’s home universe; wielding it gives Kota access to the immense power the goddess holds, but he still hasn’t unlocked the true potential of the ancient weapon and one can only imagine the results if he succeeds in actually doing so. Usage of the Steelfire allows Kota to produce and manipulate incredibly powerful blue flames; they are hot enough to melt through tungsten and, if Kota is not careful, can inflict irreparable destruction with nothing but sheer pressure alone. Using the sword grants Kota himself complete immunity to the heat of the flames and it appears he is able to control their temperature as well. 

The Steelfire also allows Kota to fly at high speeds in a manner similar to Thor’s hammer, by pointing it in a direction and using bursts of pressurized flame emitting from his boots. The sword also grants him enhanced strength, durability, agility, and stamina, allowing him to fight for incredibly long periods of time and otherwise perform feats that exceed the peak of human capability. 

Being deprived of the weapon reduces Kota to a mere man with nothing but his fists; as detailed in Fighting Style, Kota has prepared for this possibility. Also detailed in Fighting Style are the unorthodox ways he uses the Steelfire’s flame power. 

 Backstory

Dakota Hartigan was born to guardsman Norman Hartigan and his wife Alexis in the Nightlight community, a walled-in cluster of villages situated in the southern backwater of the continent Osix (also popularly known as the Grand Lands of Atlas). Despite the landscape’s astounding natural beauty, nighttime would bring swarms of vicious, man-eating monsters called Ferals; this necessitated the construction of 16-meter tall walls and the residents having to use their own townsfolk as guards, as the community’s distance from the capitol left it impoverished and unable to afford more effective protection. Norman and Alexis managed to give their son a relatively happy childhood despite this; Kota grew up with an adventurous spirit and an incredibly deep love for mythology; it was this passion that led to him developing a desire to explore the universe at an early age. He was also introduced to the family heirloom—a sword christened Steelfire—at a young age, and was told he’d inherit it at 20. Kota would often sneak into the room where the sword was kept and admire its beauty; it was these visits that formed the foundations of his future love for swordfighting. 

At the time Kota was born, the Grand Lands of Atlas were going through a severe economic crisis, denying Kota the chance to receive a good education. He was homeschooled for the first few grades, then was moved between schools for the next few; he was violently bullied for his beginnings in a backwater community, and he eventually snapped and fought his tormentors; he was expelled afterwards. Alexis, impressed at her son’s tenacity, encouraged him to build on the strengths he has while working around his weaknesses. Kota took his mother’s advice to heart, and began to live his life with that philosophy in mind; at some point, he found his passion in swordfighting, and he practiced first by using sticks and then eventually the weaponry stocked in the guards’ cache. Sadly, just when it seemed like Kota would find joy in his life again, tragedy hit; a few days after Kota turned 9, Norman joined his wife on a mining trip for unknown reasons, only for both to disappear in an unknown accident. Kota was adopted by the Kennetts, family friends to Norman, but the loss left its mark; he simply emotionally withdrew from everything and avoided socialization, once again making him an easy target for bullies; the most persistent was his former crush Jessica Winfrey. 

Kota managed to enter college by age 19, where he soon found himself feeling even more isolated. By now, his past experiences were catching up to him in the worst way; his childhood desire to see the universe had faded to a mere speck. Though he managed to just barely graduate college with a degree in history and mythology, the rest of his grades tanked, leaving him unable to find employment in fields that required them. It was this failure that made him fully give up on his dream and resign himself to a life in the backwater, and he returned home to the Nightlight and joined the community guard, where he inherited the Steelfire and continued honing his fighting skills until he turned 23.

 Present Day

In the present, Dakota Hartigan works as a guard on the defensive wall surrounding the Nightlight community; his job is to man the defensive cannons situated at the top of the wall, but many believe his swordsmanship could be incredibly beneficial in direct combat with Ferals. Despite giving up on his childhood dream of seeing the universe, he still sometimes spends his evenings alone atop the wall, thinking about what’s out there. Perhaps a group of strange, human-but-not-human people with bizarre abilities arriving on his doorstep could give him the opportunity to see for himself…