Lancaster Black

Lancaster Black (ランカスター ブラク, Rankasutaa Buraku) who's real name is Lancaster Stahlhane, was formerly the Jarl of Trade within the Circle of Seven, the governing body in the city of Ilmarinen. He was also the Director of Mining Operations and Research & Development in the Forbidden District. He defected from the city once he was discovered performing illegal dangerous operations and experiments involving Lacrima mined from the mountains.

He has since taken on the name of Lancaster the Black Heart, and became the leader of The Dreadnaughts. He is a very powerful dark mage with an insatiable hunger for power and may have performed experiments on himself to further enhance his magical abilities and acquire new ones, such as Black Magic. He is the main antagonist of the Wings of Red Arc.

Appearance
When walking into a room, one can't help but feel intimidated by his presence. He is a tall man whose muscular frame defines power. Lancaster is also quite handsome with sharp features and a stare that depends respect. His eyes are an icy blue whose gaze sends chills down a person's spine, and has thin black eyebrows. Lancaster has matching icy blue hair swept back which tails off in the back and has long bangs that frame his face and reach past his chin.

His attire consists mainly of black clothing with assorted accessories, such as jewelry and large buckled belts. Lancaster mainly presents himself in a dignified manner, either wearing suits with long coats or stylish casual attire that is quite expensive. This makes him appear as a political figure of sorts or a celebrity.

Underneath his clothing, Lancaster possesses a rather large scar that spans across his entire chest to his left shoulder, branching outward. He received this scar after experimenting on himself by surgically implanting Lacrima into his body.

Personality
Despite his villanous status, Lancaster is surprisingly polite, soft-spoken, intellectual and charming. Even when confronted, Lancaster attempts to draw out conversation, favoring small talk and allowing his opponent an opportunity to either flee or join his cause. This is not be confused with compassion or weakness. Underneath that charm, Lancaster is absolutely ruthless, calculating, apathetic and willing to use anyone to further his own goals, even himself and his own Dreadnaughts. During his time as Director of Research & Development, he willingly used himself as a test subject when experimenting with Lacrima. He also suffers from a certain god-complex, feeling himself superior to all around him. He boasts a tremendous amount of confidence in himself and his abilities, showing absolutely no signs of surprise or shock when plans seemingly fall out of place. Despite his amazing physical prowess, Lancaster regards his intelligence as he greatest asset. Even amongst all the scholars within Ilmarinen, Lancaster was regarded as the most intelligent, putting him years beyond any around him.

Lancaster is also a master at subterfuge, able to deceive his targets into believing what he wants and infltrating well guarded areas. He favors planning and preparation, and often lays out elaborate plans well in advance so as to not be caught by surprise. Though, he does recognize the occassional "odd variable" that makes his way into his calculations. During these times, he still remains calm and collected, never showing signs of distress or anger. Others often judge him as being overconfident, but with his genius intellect, power and experience, Lancaster is a deadly opponent who can easily exploit a person's weakness and manipulate events into his favor. He's also an exceptionally patient man, organizing years of preparation until finding the opportune moment to enact his plans.

His main goals are to reshape the world in a new image, feeling the current one has strayed too far from the perfect image he sees. Disgusted by the ever increasing factions and guilds, as well as the growing threats to the stability of the kingdoms, he wishes to unite the world under a single authoritative power beyond the Magic Council. He shows spite against them for allowing the world to crumble around them and not reacting quick or stern enough. He's grown tired of their inability to actually protect those around them and wants to rid the world of such weakness. One could view this as some form of world domination, but he would openly disagree with any that would state that. Instead, he views himself as a savior, freeing the world from the tyrannies of current weak men, and replacing them with a force that actually has the power to govern. He believes in this cause so vehemently that he is willing to use anyone and anything if the means justified the ends. Lancaster isn't even above using his own Dreadnaughts as pawns to further his goals and would eliminate anyone in front of him if he found it advantageous in any way.

History
Not much is known about Lancaster prior to his life as a Jarl of Trade within the Circle of Seven. Known as Lancaster Stahlhane at the time, he had an illustrious career as not only a powerful mage, but also the Director of Mining Operations within the neighboring mountains of Tuska, and the Director of Research & Development. Overseeing its operations, Lancaster discovered precious jewels that contributed to the city's wealth, as well as the more rare Lacrima that was being harvested for magical research.

He would begin performing questionable, and often, illegal experiments that could further enhance a person's magical power and unlocking previously ancient magic. Lancaster was soon consumed by the desire to become more powerful and experimented on himself. It slowly twisted his perception of the world and wanted to reshape in his own image. When it was discovered what he was doing, he fled and abandoned the city to places unknown.

Ten years later, Lancaster would form the dark guild, The Dreadnaughts.

Plot

 * 003. Making an Entrance
 * 004. Breaking up the Band

Magic & Abilities
Ever since he could remember, Lancaster knew that he was destined for greatness. Throughout his life, he's spent its entirety in maximizing his own potential and exceeding it wherever possible. This dedication has made him one of the deadliest mages within Fiore, as well as a physically powerful combatant. The true limit of his power has yet to be identified as he has not found a worthy enough adversary which required such an effort but prior to his Lacrima enhancements, Lancaster was regarded as the most powerful mage within Ilmarinen, who possessed not only tremendous physical potential, but the most ingenious mind within its history. With his limitless determination and ambition, there is very little Lancaster cannot do once he sets his mind to it.

Physical Abilities
Photographic Memory: One of his most useful skills, especially in conjunction with his Memory-Make Magic. Also known as "eidetic memory", Lancaster has the ability to recall images, sounds and objects in memory with extreme precision. This allows him to retain vast amounts of information, more commonly spells that he's witnessed or studied, and applies them to his powerful Memory-Make. Over his years studying as a mage, he has collected various archived pieces of information from battles taken place in tournaments or that he's witnessed personally, and has stated knowing over 100 different spells. This could be an exaggeration used to mislead or intimidate opponents, but given the vast amounts of power at his disposal, it should be taken as fact. He can recall with perfect precision complete pages from books he's read only once and recall events with perfect clarity to analyze it to pull whatever useful information may come from it. Time doesn't seem affect his ability to recall it as he can hold the information for years without it effecting the quality in which he remembers it.

Genius Intellect: As Director of Research & Development, Lancaster boasted a genius level intellect, holding degress and even doctrines in several fields including mathematics, science, biology, history and engineering. He's also known to experiment with Lacrima and other assorted magical jewels for various effects. His experiments led to enhancing mages beyond their normal capacity by surgically implanting these Lacrima in similar fashion to Dragon Slayers. These experiments often led to enormous boosts in magical power that would otherwise be impossible to achieve through regular means, or even grant access to lost magics. Within the Circle of Seven, he's been described as the most intelligent among them, even outside his own ministry, and served as an honorary counselor with the other Jarls. Within Illmarinen, his intellect is second to none, and he's recognized as a true genius by scholars and professors, alike. He's known to approach any problem or obstacle in a scientific manner, thinking calmly and analytically. He can decipher complex magical spells by simply observing them in action, and combined with his Memory-Make, able to unleash the same spells with similar effect. He's stated that despite his physical abilities, his intelligence is his most deadly quality.
 * Master Strategist and Tactician: With his genius intellect and capacity to formulate plans, Lancaster is able to devise incredibly detailed plans that have nearly zero percent fail rate. This is because he takes every possible scenario into consideration and automatically devises a method to counteract it. While he admits that not every scenario can be planned for, due to physical limitations or the occassional "odd variable", he's still capable of adjusting his plans to compensate for this momentary obstacle. While in Ilmarinen, he was able to perform his experiments for years without anyone knowing, and when exiled began plotting his revenge by securing the Sampo deep within the Forbidden District. When devising plans, he equates many of his strategies to games of chess, where each piece has a designated function and can be sacrificed if it gives one side a strategic advantage. He'll manipulate events to ensure that individuals are placed in a position that will lead to their demise and counter with an appropriate force.

Physical Enhancements: Through years of experimentation, he found the correct sequence of Lacrima that could boost his already impressive physical capabilites beyond their original levels. Before he artificially increased his abilities, Lancaster was a physically powerful individual that rivaled all within the city. His superb abilities included: strength, speed, agility, endurance, coordination, reflexes, dexterity and stamina. This means that he was what would be considered an olympic level athlete in every field. Now with his enhanced abilities, Lancaster is seemingly an individual without equal. His levels are so high that one-on-one combat is all but impossible and requires a combined effort and strategy to challenge him. Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Even during his time as a child, Lancaster was a highly formidable and dangerous combatant. He was able to engage in unarmed combat against opponents nearly twice his size and remain victorious. With his photographic memory and physical ability, he was able to master his own personal form of fighting at a young age and was considered the greatest warrior in Ilmarinen. He was branded as undefeated during his time within the Circle of Seven, and still holds that title to this day. His fighting style has been described as graceful while preserving his great speed and strength. He's able to easily dodge an opponent's attack and counter with his own in one fluid movement. He's also known to be quite methodical with his attacks, targeting vital areas of the body to increase the damage and momentarily stun them. Lancaster deploys a large array of attacks that utilize punches, kicks and grapple techniques to defeat his opponents. His fighting power is high enough that he commands the Dreadnaughts without opposition and defeated Royce in combat. While Royce's style follows similar principles, Lancaster's is much more refined and focused, allowing him to use his full potential. His style is described as a perfect balance between offense and defense with minimal openings and no wasted movements.
 * Immense Strength: Lancaster boasts a tremendous amount of physical strength, even before enhancing them through magical means. His strength allows him to pick up large weights over his head effortlessly, as well as punch through solid rock, fold metal sheets, snap binds and knocking opponents back with a simple attack. His strength is easily the highest among The Dreadnaughts, with all others fearing him. His strength is enough to overpower Royce Blixtrande, a mage known for his great strength, and eventually defeat him combat, with one occassion knocking him out with an elbow to the back of his head. When striking a target with a punch, one could feel the force of the attack, sending vibrations throughout their bodies and releasing a small wave of force, before ultimately launching them backwards in the process. This can lead to extensive internal damage with the potential to crack bones or rupture organs. Its not uncommon for him to cuase others to spit up blood when struck with a single attack. Lancaster's increased leg strength also allows him to leap great heights over his targets or avoid incoming attacks while remaining unscathed. A kick is capable of knocking over a full grown tree, while striking against the support pillar of a building can cause the entire structure to shake from the force. When Royce was his prisoner, he lifted the large lightning mage with a single arm without any signs of visible effort. Even when striking against a solid surface, he can transfer the force through the object and project it as a wave to hit another target behind it. It is known that he can increase his strength through a yet unknown magic derived from his Memory-Make, meaning measuring his exact levels of strength is difficult to do.
 * Immense Speed: Even for a man of size and stature, Lancaster's speed isn't hindered in the slightest. When moving, his speed is depicted as being so fast that can almost instantly disappear and reappear in completely different location in seemingly the blink of an eye. Because of this, opponents have extreme difficulty in following his movements, let alone keep up with him if engaged in a chase. Combined with his strength, he can deliver an attack and knockout an opponent before they have time to react. His reflexes are also similarly enhanced and he's able to dodge with almost lightning speed from seemingly point blank attacks. This makes it nearly impossible to engage him in melee combat. He was swiftly able to appear behind Royce Blixtrande before he could react and deal a knockout blow. From a standing position, he can grab an arrow fired from next to him in less than 15 feet, as well as pluck them from the air if fired at him. His speed allows him to engage with multiple opponents and still maintain the upperhand.
 * Enhanced Agility: His agility is also increased to nearly unmatched levels. Regardless of his tall frame and muscular physique, he's able to move with near perfect acrobatic prowess that he uses in conjunction with his speed and strength to completely overwhelm a target. He also boasts impecable hand-eye coordination and dexterity combined with perfect balance. This allows him to walk on ropes, scale walls, increase his ability to dodge and parry through acrobatic maneuvers and perform actions that would otherwise prove difficult to most. His agility allowed him to outclass Royce in combat and avoid every spell that was directed at him.

Master Weapon Specialist: When mastering the different forms of magic that he has collected through his lifetime, it required a necessary level of skill to wield magically generated weapons. As with his hand-to-hand skill, Lancaster has honed his ability to wied any weapon with near perfection. He is also able to switch from one weapon to another almost seemlessly and can easily overwhelm an opponent if given any opening. Lancaster can effectively wield one-handed and two-handed weapons, and can dual wield them, as well. This makes him ambidextrious, with each hand possessing the same level of strength and speed.

Immense Magical Power: Before his own enhancements, Lancaster boasted tremendous levels of magical power that could be felt over great distances when vented. When releasing his magical power, it was able to destroy the immediate area around him and create a smothering effect to weaker individuals in his presence. Once he implanted the various Lacrima into his body, his magical power increased to monstrous levels and now took the shape of a black smoke-like energy. His immense magical power also allows him to generate exceptionally power spells, even if they are basic, and deliver them with devastating results. His magical power also grants him some immunity to spells that effect his perception or senses, though it is unknown if he is completely immune to it. Even among the more powerful members of the Dreadnaughts, his power is considered frightening.

Immense Endurance: The sheer number of magic that he possesses requires an extraordinary level of endurance and stamina. He can employ a barrage of magical spells in quick succession without any visible signs of tiring. Coupled with his immense magical power, Lancaster can unleash simple spells that can still yield devastating results. While the Lacrima in his body make him an exceedingly powerful mage, if pushed too far over a long period of time, or exerting himself too much, will eventually cause the Lacrima within him to overheat and produce symptoms similar to a heartattack. This seems to be his only visible weakness. That is why Lancaster has trained to increase his levels of stamina, similar to Royce, as avoid this scenario. During his battle with Royce, Lancaster not only fought against the talented fighter, he was matching him in both speed and strength, as well as casting spells intermittently throughout the battle without showing any signs of tiring. The exact level of his stamina is yet unknown as he's not been pushed to his limits since his time in Ilmarinen.

Immense Durability: His magical power saturates his muscles with so much energy that it makes his body much denser and tougher. This allows him to withstand attacks, even against powerful spells, while showing no visible signs of damage. Even against Royce, who had successfully landed a few blows, remained unharmed from the attacks. Instead, he simply carried on with his attacks. The exact level of his durability is yet unknown as he's not been pushed to his limits since his time in Ilmarinen.

Memory-Make
Memory-Make (記憶造形, メモリー メイク, Memorī Meiku) According to Mavis Vermilion, this Magic is a type of Ancient Spell. This spell grants Lancaster the ability to manipulate memories, to the extent of being able to memorize spells he's witnessed and cast them as his own. He is even able to create new magic spells by combining spells from other magics which the he has memorized before, allowing him a near infinite number that he can cast. This form of magic is Lancaster's main form of magic and wields it with almost near mastery. Unlike Rufus Lohr, Lancaster is able to summon his spells without having to place his fingers on the sides of his head for concentration. Before implanting the Lacrima within his body, Lancaster was only able to wield the basic form of this magic that allowed a limited number of spells. With his implanted Lacrima, Lancaster was able to remove this limitation and is now able to use a more powerful form to create unique spells with varying effects. He boasted as having knowledge of over 100 different spells created specifically through this magic.
 * Black Ice-Make (黒氷造る, Kuro Hi Tsukuru) Having memorized magic spells from Darkness Magic and Ice-Make, Lancaster is able to create objects of black ice used for various offensive and defensive purposes. This spells function much like Ice-Make with each constructs, but also possess the destructive power of Darkness Magic. This grants Black Ice-Make a secondary effect of detontating into explosions through mental command by Lancaster. When activating this ability, the ice constructs will begin to glow a pale green and then explode, engulfing its targets within the blast.
 * Black Ice-Make: Cadence of the Frozen Dead (凍結死者の鳴動, Shisha Touketsu no Meidō) By combining both Ice-Make: Bow and Arrow with Mina's Repose of the Dead, Lancaster creates a large crescent-shaped bow of black ice with several protrusions sticking out of it. From these protrusions, Lancaster is able to fire numerous small shards of arrow-shaped ice at a target at incredible speeds, skewering his targets and inflicting a great deal of damage.
 * Black Ice-Make: Impact of the Fallen Angel (堕天使の影響, Datenshi no Eikyou) Using the same bow of black ice created from the previous spell, Lancaster creates one single long arrow of black ice. He then fires it towards a target and once it makes contact, encases them in huge tower of jagged ice. Even if dodged, the target can still run the risk of being struck by the spikes as they form the tower.
 * White Flame Magic (白炎魔法, Shiro Homura Mahō) Having memorized magic spells from Light Magic and Fire Magic, Lancaster is able to generate white hot flames which he can use mainly for offensive purposes in the form of lasers. This type of fire produced burns hotter than regular fire and is delivered with blinding light that can pierce nearly any object in its path. Even if the beams don't cut through its targets, they can still be delivered with explosive effects similar to that of Fire Magic.
 * Scorching Sun (炎天, Enten) Producing white flames all around him, Lancaster is able to release a tremendously powerful omni-directional blast capable of incinerating anything within it's range in the form of a large dome of blinding light. At full power, it is known to clear out whole sections of a forest or reduce a small town to ash. While the effect is quite devastating to everything around him, Lancaster remains completely unharmed at the center of the blast, insinuating their is a safe zone around him. When Lancaster unleashed this spell, it created a perfect sphere of blinding light that completely disintegrated the ground underneath him, leaving behind a massive crater.
 * Zenith Halo (天心光輪, Tenshin Kourin) While floating in the air, Lancaster creates a large ring of condensed white flames that hovers above him, similar to an angel's halo. The halo itself can reach a diameter of 50 meters and glows very brightly, illuminating the surrounding area in white light. By chanting its release command, "Bathe in the rays of holy fire", the halo will then shatter into thousands of pieces and rain down white fire over the area, detonating upon contact. The resulting explosions can be quite devastating and difficult to avoid if caught at its center. This spell mainly utilizes the explosive effect of Fire Magic as its main source of damage.
 * Lightning Magic (雷系各種魔法 Kaminari Kei Kakushu Mahō lit. Various Lightning Magic): During his bout with Royce Blixtrande, Lancaster was able to copy his signature magic and manifest it as powerful bolts of blue lightning that had enough force to deal tremendous damage against the Wings of Archadia member. With a single powerful stream of lightning, Lancaster was able to inflict lethal damage against Royce's famously durable frame, and leave him a bloodied mess. Also, Lancaster was able to grip Royce and send a powerful surge of electrical energy to effectively incapacitate him with a series of shocks.
 * Lightning Stomp (席を蹴る雷光, Sekiokeruraikō) Although he did not state the name of the spell, Lancaster summoned one that greatly resembled Royce's own Lightning Stomp spell, even using the same gesture to cast it. Aside from appearing blue instead of yellow, Lancaster's was noticeably more potent and powerful, and swiftly knocked Royce unconcious.

Black Magic
Black Magic (黒魔法, Kuro Mahō) is a Caster Type Magic that is specific to Lancaster. It is not to be confused with Black Arts, which is a very different form of magic. This form of magic is fueled by his own apathetic state and allows him to corrupt any form of magic that he wields. Once Lancaster has acquired a magic or spell, it will now become black in appearance and become more powerful. It also has a unique ability to instill fear and despair in a target when struck. Only strong willed individuals are able to overcome the sense of gloom that tries to overcome them.
 * BlackWill.jpgBlack Will (黒意力, Kuro Iryoku) Allowing the Black Magic to overtake himself entirely, Lancaster takes on a form that literally represents his black heart. He now appears completely black with his eyes glowing yellow. While in this form, any attack directed at him will become corrupted by his black magic and eventually come under his control for a short period of time. This form can only be used for a short period of time as the amount of magical power Lancaster exerts to wield all his other powers become fatally taxing on his body.

Stats
Lancaster's statistics are listed to the left. These statistics are a close approximation of his baseline abilities. They do not reflect his full potential, and may vary during moments of stress or determination. As such, they are not to be taken as definitive stats, but merely as an overall indication of his level of power. His statistics are broken down to: Offense, Defense, Speed and Intelligence, with a fifth statistic specific to his character which is Evilness.

Trivia

 * Lancaster's appearance is based from on Mitsuomi Takayanagi from Tenjho Tenge. His personality are bits and pieces from Sosuke Aizen of Bleach.