Merlin (Dropped)

Merlin is not a normal Servant. He is classified as a Counter Guardian. This classification means that he is technically a Servant for the planet, bound and committed to helping to make sure that Humanity is protected from threats, including itself. To accomplish this, he has resistance to most basic magic, can shrug off magical debuffs quicker than average, and has superhuman physical capabilities.

Granted by his incubus lineage, and one of the required attributes of a Grand Caster is a high level of Clairvoyance, best described as the ability to 'see beyond possibility'. At lower levels, it can allow one to see great distances. At the level at which Merlin possesses it, he can see into the past and future possibilities of a location. This has several drawbacks. It requires Merlin focus beyond himself, so he must be stationary to use Clairvoyance, making him vulnerable when he's using it. The more foreign a world is to Merlin's home world, the harder it is to read and interpret the possibilities of the future and past. And Merlin cannot concretely see definite outcomes, merely the possibilities that fate allows people to walk on.

The field of magic that deals with manifesting phenomena, Merlin relies heavily on this field in battle. Using spells, he can conjure elements and use them to throw attacks at range. These are things such as ice blasts, cutting gales of wind, beams of searing light, or spheres of fire. The higher level applications of Conjuration allow Merlin to temporarily alter the terrain around him by creating walls of earth or stone, summon bolts of lightning, or create storms. These effects dissipate when Merlin stops concentrating on maintaining them.

Merlin is a highly-accomplished swordsman said to have trained King Arthur himself. Because he continually bites his tongue when he attempts the incantations for spells, he prefers to simply swing a sword at his problems until they go away. His swordsmanship cannot approach the Knights of the Round Table, but he is skilled in his own right.

Garden of Avalon: The Forever-Sealed Utopia is the Noble Phantasm of Merlin. It projects onto the area around him the Tower in which Merlin is sealed away. To him, Avalon is not a prison, but a utopia, and so by expending a great deal of his power, he can turn an area immediately surrounding him into a small fraction of Avalon. This is reflected as him creating a 'safe area' in which the sun shines impossibly, flowers bloom, and a feeling of calm and sanctuary wash over his allies. This area is summoned regardless of the environment in which the ability was used and can provide hope and calm in even the most dangerous situations. Those who take a momentary rest within Avalon can feel their wounds recede, their spirits bolster, and their strength replenish.

Merlin is most proficient at spells which trick the human mind. This is not mind control, but rather the projection of perceptions and obfuscation. Merlin can easily fabricate illusions which look, feel, even taste and smell as real as actual objects. He could fabricate a false village with a full population, but this would tax him greatly and he would not be able to do much else. With great concentration, Merlin can use his Illusion magic to induce nightmares in a sleeping subject.

Due to his training and upbringing of Arthur Pendragon in the legends, Merlin is viewed as possessing the qualities to 'raise a king', and is regarded as one of the most prominent kingmakers in the world. In the simplest definition: Merlin is capable of identifying those with unrealized potential and then helping them to realize it. He cannot instill potential in others, merely help them discover it themselves faster than they would without his help. Often, tapping into this potential will take the form of advice or basic training. However, with his magical prowess, he can also enhance the innate talents of others, bolstering their abilities and making them better at what they're naturally good at. These boosts tend to be temporary reflections of greater potential, fading when Merlin stops focusing on applying them to an individual. This makes Merlin capable of supporting someone in the short term, while fostering long-term growth.

As said, Alchemy is the use of magic to create or change objects using specific compositions. It is magical chemistry, in the simplest terms. Merlin uses alchemy at a very basic level to create potions that diminish pain and help heal wounds. At the upper limit of his skill, Merlin may provide an enchantment to an object or create a minor magical item. The level of effect directly contributes to the cost and effort of creating it, meaning that sometimes Merlin has to send people on quests for ingredients. Almost always, this involves strengthening the item, but it can also be a minor effect such as emitting light on command.

A monstrous feline, Cath Balwg is a force born from the planet to help keep humans from killing themselves and the planet. Depending on the common sense of humanity, its form is subject to change based on what can be described as 'The Common Sense of Humanity', meaning that the more humanity is likely to destroy itself and the planet, the more monstrous it appears. With the current state of Gaia, Cath Balwg has mutated to a more monstrous form and he helps Merlin attempt to bring the world back to a state where it can reasonably sustain itself. To accomplish this, it uses brute strength, fangs, and claws to kill en masse. It is the pinnacle of 'the ability to murder humans', and against mundane combatants it is almost undefeatable.

Merlin is fascinated by the human condition, but bored of individual humans. He does not view humanity, or the problems of humans, in the same scope as regular people. He acts as a Counter Guardian to ensure the perpetuation of Humanity, but this does not mean he cares about saving their lives. Rather, he acts both to protect humanity from internal and external threats, meaning that he will not hesitate to bring about the end of many humans to preserve the continuing of the entire race within reasonable limits. Simply put, Merlin views himself as a curator and editor for the entirety of humanity, wanting to cut out the unnecessary parts that weigh down the narrative and replace them with more interesting events. In his capacity of fulfilling this mission, he is willing to sacrifice a city to save a nation, or a nation to save the world. He takes actions that would seem immoral in the moment, but in the larger machination would result in a 'greater good' that he was aiming towards. This makes it difficult for him to form personal relationships, and often sets up people who expect him to act under 'human morals' for great disappointment.

Thanks to being stored away in the Tower of Avalon in isolation for so long, Merlin has developed a fascination for what most modern people would consider absolutely mundane. Cell phones, computers, and modern appliances truly delight him. Fast food restaurants and convenience stores are absolutely amazing. Merlin can become easily enamored by all the changes to the world he missed personally experiencing during his long isolation, making him a bit of a scatterbrain and very easily distracted from what he actually set out to do.

Merlin has been alive for so long and seen so much that he is less concerned with helping people and more concerned with alleviating boredom. One of the most severe aspects of his non-human mindset is that it is possible to persuade him to stand aside or allow something to happen 'for the sake of a good story' or 'because it will challenge people', so long as the action in question does not threaten the whole of human existence. He wants to see an interesting story get told in the end of things, and if that makes the middle of the journey a bit tougher for some people he knows, that is not his concern. Merlin's boredom and desire for intellectual stimulation only grows the longer he is alive and trapped in Avalon.

Merlin did not get to travel much during his life, and as such has only experienced British cuisine. Now that he has returned to the world, he is compelled to see what he missed while he was absent. Any time he travels to a new location, his curiosity demands that he set aside time to at least ask after any new dishes or foods he may try while he is there. He has no actual need to consume calories (though they do restore minor amounts of magic energy), but it is his natural curiosity and love of humanity that compels him to experience the differences of their cultures through cooking.