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THEMIS DATABASE: ALISTAIR MORDECHAI
Feb. 12th, 2014 02:00 amALISTAIR MORDECHAI
BIOMETRICS
FULL NAME: Alistair Mordechai
KNOWN ALIASES AND TITLES: Alistair Mordechai, the Seer of the Searing Wind; Inquisitor Alistair Mordechai, Malice King; Godhand Alistair Mordechai, First of the Brotherhood
DATE OF BIRTH: May 5, 1601 (current – and last – reincarnation); original date of birth unclear
AGE: 462 (registers as 45 to most sensors)
NATIONALITY: Irish
DISTINGUISHING MARKS:
HUNTER DOSSIER
CLASS: Rivers Hunter (Favored Enemy: Fae)
HOME COMPACT/CONSPIRACY: Zangyaku
RANK: Oni-Tsukai {Ten}/Gyoseisha {Ten}/Nami {Ten}/Daishonin {Ten}
POSITIONS HELD:
AFFILIATED COMPACTS/CONSPIRACIES:
OTHER AFFILIATED GROUPS:
TACTICAL DESIGNATION: Saboteur, Tactician, Scout, Investigator
FAVORED WEAPONS: Firearms (particularly snipers and similar heavy weapons) and blades (particularly short blades)
COMBAT ASSESSMENT: Tactical, long-ranged fighter; prefers to engage enemy with guerrilla tactics, favoring long distances for sniping and liberal employment of traps. More than capable, however, of holding his own at close quarters, or with smaller firearms. Deadly at all ranges; does not shy away from using his abilities.
HISTORY
Like his older brother Maes, Alistair Mordechai holds the distinction of being the first mortals to develop techniques and supernatural abilities that are now attributed to the different lineages of the Rivers Hunters. Alistair followed Maes’ lead in order to aid Maes in his quest for revenge, and keep his older brother stable: the Gentry had ruined Maes’ family, and had nearly driven Maes mad with grief. Becoming a Jack Ketch, then, was as much about ensuring that Arcadia stayed out of the World of Light for Alistair as it was for watching his brother’s back.
Accounts of the activities of both Mordechai Brothers disappear from the records from between that point and another in the 10th Century: Maes and Alistair’s first encounter with Aidan Clayce – the Last Dragon – founding of the Brotherhood of Violence. Records state that while the two of them were chasing down a mark that was harassing the villages close to their home, the Mordechai brothers stumbled upon the Voidseeker Aidan Clayce, and his then-Kindred companion, Riley Falner. Aidan and Riley had come to the British Isles in search of the Well of Souls, a powerful Magience device from the Fourth World. Alistair and Maes agreed to help the pair recover the machine.
The accounts are vague from there, and asking the four point blank about the occurrences of that night yield close to nothing. However, what is common knowledge to the Methuselah and the Brotherhood (and now, to Netsach and Zangyaku) is that the Well of Souls, in an act of self-preservation, melded itself into the Pattern of the Fifth World. The device had originally been used to purify the souls of the dead, purging them of their memories and ensuring that they returned to the karmic cycle. The fall of the Fourth World had corrupted the machine, making it indiscriminately pull souls – dead and living – into its depths. Aidan and Riley had planned to destroy it: they were wanderers in the Fifth World, and wanted to redeem themselves in whatever way they can by removing any remaining trace of the Fourth World from Creation. What made this task difficult was the fact that destroying the device in its current state would put the Pattern of the Fifth World into jeopardy.
At that point, it is said that Yahweh – the Creator of the Fifth World – descended upon the four as they debated upon their next course of action. Yahweh allowed the Voidseeker to remove the taint within the Well of Souls by bringing it into himself, but forbade the four from destroying it; instead, the Well of Souls could enter His Creation, and take its place within the complex workings of His universe. Nevertheless, because of its nature, the Well of Souls was vulnerable: it needed protectors. The Mordechai Brothers agreed to take this role of their own volition; both of them believed that Aidan and Riley had their own mission to accomplish, especially since the two were developing the Methuselah as a conspiracy that sought to preserve the Balance. This pleased Yahweh, who conferred His personal blessing upon them both… and, by extension, anyone who wished to share in the Sacred Covenant of the Four.
Beyond the Gift of Faith, Yahweh imparted another blessing upon the Mordechai Brothers: the Gift of Long Remembrance. The pair would die, yes, and they would reincarnate as befitting of any of Yahweh’s Creations, but they would live for centuries on end, and possess a unique connection with their first lives – that way, upon every reincarnation, Yahweh would see to it that the pair would come to remember themselves, provided that they continued to believe. Furthermore, it would help them spread the word of the Lord, and watch over the congregation they wished to create in defense of the Well of Souls.
At this point, the paths of the Mordechai Brothers began to diverge. While both of them became recognized Malice Kings under Aidan’s command, where Alistair decided to follow the Dragon wherever he might walk while spreading the Word of God, Maes elected to stay within Europe and its surrounding continents in order to watch over the flock properly. Alistair was comfortable with leaving Maes to his own devices at this point because it was clear to him that his older brother’s new cause was enough to ground him, and he no longer needed a watcher. Furthermore, Alistair had come to admire Aidan and Riley, and did, by then, view the pair as friends and men that were more than worthy of his respect.
Alistair applied himself to his new duties as a Hunter of the Methuselah with fervor. When he wasn’t finding more potential operatives for the Brotherhood of Violence, he was the Voidseeker’s explorer, investigator, liaison and enforcer on call, traveling the far reaches of the world and accomplishing any assignment that came his way in order to allow Aidan and Riley to focus on building the conspiracy. Within a century, he was one of the finest Keepers of the Vigil that the Fifth World had ever seen, and certainly the greatest Hunter within the Methuselah’s ranks, second only to the likes of Aidan, Riley, and Orin. Many were certain that Alistair was going to remain unquestionably loyal to the Methuselah’s cause until the end of his days. Things changed completely for Alistair in the year 1201, on the day that he accompanied Aidan and Riley to the ancient Japanese kingdom of Yamatai.
Aidan’s reasons for going to Yamatai were simple: he had been in contact with Setsuna Shinta, Fatespinner of the Fifth World and citizen of Yamatai, and his communing with the Void had made him aware of the fact that Setsuna’s younger brother Hikaru was in possession of the Godslayer, a necessary component for the Methuselah’s Deux ex Machina Project. Riley, on the other hand, had come to Yamatai in order to assist Aidan, and because of his interest in Marrigan Crowe, the so-called “Storm Queen” of the kingdom and a powerful vampire of the Fifth World. Alistair was not interested in any of these matters: he only wanted to assist Aidan and Riley, as he understood the importance of the Deus ex Machina for the Methuselah. He was, in fact, one of the Project’s strongest supporters, and had even more faith in its goals than Aidan himself did.
Suffice to say, Alistair’s first encounter with 15-year-old Hikaru Shinta was about as explosive as Aidan’s had been. The two of them did not see eye-to-eye in the slightest, especially since Alistair doubted that Hikaru could serve as an ideal vessel for the Project and simply could not see why the Godslayer had chosen the boy in the first place. He did not approve, as well, of Hikaru’s “blind” loyalty to the Storm Queen, someone whom Alistair viewed as a loose cannon that was not worth Riley’s time. This only began to change when Alistair saw, for himself, how much Hikaru was willing to sacrifice in order to free his older sister. Hikaru had become the General of the Stormguard and allowed Marrigan to use him as she pleased in the hopes that having the Storm Queen’s ear would eventually mean buying Setsuna’s freedom. Furthermore, the boy did not hesitate to join the Methuselah and become the Project’s first experimental subject: the trade-off was that Aidan and Riley convince Marrigan to release Setsuna from her prison, and have Setsuna “exiled” from Yamatai in order to protect her from the wrath of their people.
After a year of preparation, the Methuselah initiated the God Slaying Ceremony with Hikaru and the Godslayer serving as the center point of the ritual. Alistair was there to witness it personally, as Aidan and Riley’s representative. This meant that he was there to see, firsthand, the damage that Deus Ex Machina ended up doing to the boy. Nevertheless, the Project appeared to be a “success” even if it had gotten every operative assisting in the ceremony killed (thus making it next to impossible to replicate the God Slaying Ceremony for any other potential vessel), and getting Hikaru cursed by the entity whose power he had absorbed.
Alistair stayed in Yamatai in order to train Hikaru and monitor his progress for the Methuselah. He aided Hikaru with finding Sumire, his bloodsinger; the both of them believed that combining a Bladian’s abilities with Hikaru’s newfound immortality would be nothing but beneficial to the Methuselah’s cause. The two of them started going on Methuselah engagements together within the Asian continent as a means of testing the powers at Hikaru’s disposal. It was not too long before Hikaru began to view Alistair as his mentor and friend; Alistair, in the meantime, began to see Hikaru as his charge and surrogate younger brother.
In 1206, a Yama King manifested off of the coasts of Yamatai. Hikaru rushed to rally the Stormguard and the armies of his Queen, and defend his homeland. Prior to that point, no other Keeper of the Vigil beyond Aidan, Orin and Riley were capable of taking such a creature on. However, both Hikaru and Alistair were confident that the latter would win, especially in light of the strength that he now possessed because of Deus Ex Machina and his contract with Sumire. Suffice to say, the failure of the Project came out, clear as day, with Hikaru’s death.
Guilt over Deus Ex Machina’s failure, coupled with the grief he felt over losing a friend, drove Alistair to distraction. Aidan intervened at that point, and forced Alistair to take a sabbatical from the Methuselah and his duties as a Malice King. He returned to Ireland, and focused on aiding Maes and the Brotherhood of Violence. This was where he met Fianna Walsh, then a member of Maes’ Seven and one of the few recognized Sisters in Violence at that point in the compact’s history. Fianna fell in love with Alistair first, and helped him get back on his feet. Alistair eventually started to return her feelings, and the two of them were married by Maes in 1216. Their union was a happy one, and their love for each other only deepened at the beginning of 1226, when it became obvious that Fianna was with child.
Fianna’s pregnancy was difficult, and there were several instances within those nine months where Alistair was genuinely concerned about her survival, and the survival of their unborn child. The delivery itself, in fact, nearly killed Fianna – were it not for Setsuna’s intervention, the woman would have slipped away immediately after giving birth to Seth, their son. The couples’ troubles, however, had barely begun. It was obvious, in less than a week, that there was something strange about Seth. He had violet eyes, just like Setsuna. Aidan was the one who raised the possibility that the Project may have succeeded, and that Seth was actually Hikaru. Alistair, however, refused to believe it. This was partially due to the fact that acknowledging its success meant living with the possibility that Seth would recover the memories of his past self and change, which also meant that Alistair would have to deal with his guilt all over again.
Both Alistair and Fianna focused on raising Seth properly. Both of them avoided the likes of Setsuna, Aidan and Riley, believing that the trio was a threat to their happiness and the stability of their family. They also chose to ignore how things became increasingly difficult with every passing year, as it was painfully obvious that Seth’s physical health was declining even as he continued to grow up due to some malignant force within him. Everything fell apart when Seth was 12, a year that culminated in the boy’s violent awakening as Hikaru Shinta. Sumire’s presence within him had been eating him up inside, as the bloodsinger had been driven half-mad from the nature of their contract and the interference of the Project – she had been prevented from moving on to a new host, and was permanently bound to Hikaru’s soul.
In spite of this, Alistair continued to refuse the help of his old friends and attempted to do what he could for his son. At the end of it all, the Seer’s efforts amounted to nothing: Hikaru died at the age of 15. Losing the boy all over again affected Alistair deeply, and drove a wedge between him and his wife. He turned his back on Fianna, and returned to the Methuselah in order to immerse himself in his investigations. He hoped that by reverse engineering what little was left of Project Deus Ex Machina’s research, he would be able to find a way to find Hikaru and reverse the effects of the God Slaying Ceremony.
Alistair spent the next sixty-four years of his life wandering through the Realms and the Fallen World in search of answers. He used all of the resources that he had at his disposal, and stubbornly continued to extend his own lifespan through the use of the magic that he possessed as a Mordechai Rivers Hunter. During this period, specifically in the year 1268, he found Hikaru again, but was too late to save the boy’s life. That loss pushed Alistair to work even harder, yet he failed to save Hikaru yet again in 1305. He and several members of the Malice Kings during that period journeyed to the Middle East in order to destroy a powerful mark that exhibited the characteristics of an amrita. He realized, to his horror, that said mark had actually been Hikaru mere seconds after landing the killing blow.
The considerable level of destruction that Hikaru’s latest reincarnation had caused led the Wiseman’s Committee, in the year 1307, to rule in favor of tracking every instance of Hikaru’s return for the sole reason of destroying him before he could become a threat. Alistair spoke out against this, and – when it became clear that no one was going to listen to him – the Seer left the conspiracy altogether, and took his research with him. He returned to the Brotherhood of Violence, paid his respects to Fianna Mordechai’s grave, and settled down to wait for Hikaru to come back. When this did occur in 1322, he was ready. The Seer took Hikaru away from his parents when he was still a baby, and retreated to the Black Cathedral with Methuselah Hunters in hot pursuit. He then proceeded to raise Hikaru for himself within the ranks of the Brotherhood, with Maes’ full support: Maes had decided to relinquish his position within the Methuselah in order to aid his brother. Fortunately, because Aidan did not think that the Methuselah could risk coming into conflict with the Brotherhood, the Voidseeker convinced the Wiseman’s Committee to leave the trio alone.
It may be said that it was during this period that Alistair was at his happiest, even after Hikaru awakened to his “true state” at the tender age of 12. He had managed to prove the reliability of his research by recovering Hikaru successfully at birth, and was also able to protect the boy in an adequate fashion while atoning for his sins. Unfortunately, even with the Gift of Long Remembrance and his own abilities as a Rivers, Alistair was well past the limit of his current life cycle. He died when Hikaru was 18, and his loss would lead to the horrendous chain of events that dragged the future Blade King into Arcadia.
Alistair’s next significant reincarnation occurred in 1601 – the reincarnations prior to that point had been spent “in limbo”, as he was unable to remember who he was during those life cycles in spite of Yahweh’s blessing. It took him about twenty years to recall who he was and what he had been doing through the Gift of Long Remembrance, and – out of loyalty to Aidan and not to the conspiracy itself – he rejoined the Methuselah and took his place among the Malice Kings once again. He saw how Hikaru had also left the Methuselah and created Zangyaku, which, by then, was rapidly becoming the “main” conspiracy of the Asian continent through the Brotherhood of Violence’s assistance. His own guilt over abandoning Hikaru for so long, however, made Alistair hold back on approaching the boy sooner. Another thing that stopped him were the reports that Hikaru had married a woman named Katherine Stiles, and appeared to be happy. He contented himself with his duties as a Keeper of the Vigil, pursuing his research on a “cure” for Hikaru, and monitoring things from a distance.
Circumstances beyond Alistair’s control forced him to re-enter Hikaru’s life earlier than planned in 1697. An experiment of Zangyaku’s had “induced” Hikaru’s awakening, and the effects of the ritual had dealt permanent damage both to the boy’s physical health and to his psyche. Alistair approached Zangyaku at that point in the hopes that the research he had managed to compile thus far would pull Hikaru away from the edge. He stayed at Hikaru’s side for the next seven years, all the way until the Blade King died, virtually insane, at 21. Riddled, once more, with guilt, Alistair joined Zangyaku, and became a member of the Searing Wind within three years: just two years before Hikaru reincarnated again.
The period after that (between the years 1709 and 1838) were the hardest for Alistair. For one, this was the first time where he was actually around to witness Hikaru die; this occurred seven times, and on two separate occasions, the boy ended up perishing well before the age of 10. For another, in the year 1731, Hikaru confessed that his love for Alistair, and Alistair – saddled by all of the heavy emotions that he had been bearing since their first lifetime as friends – rejected him. He went on to witness the beginning of Hikaru’s relationship with Liandrin Delacroix and the end of it, looked on helplessly as the Unseelie Court of Izanagi ruined Hikaru’s life all over again, and participated in the first major campaign that the Keepers of the Vigil had ever run against Arcadia as a response to Izanagi’s need to take revenge on the Blade King. The pair managed to sort out their differences when Hikaru was 14, two years after awakening to his “true state” within his 20th life cycle.
Alistair continued to remain at Hikaru’s side, and served as the Wolf’s official liaison to the Methuselah. He became a Warden of the Wolf, and served as the Blade King’s right hand man and guardian, continuing Hikaru’s work whenever he was too young or too weak to do it himself. At the same time, Alistair balanced his duties as one of Aidan’s Malice Kings, and made it a point to be particularly active for the Dragon in Europe, the United State of America, and Asia.
Serving Hikaru in this fashion aided Alistair with coming to terms with his own feelings, and allowed him to process most of his guilt. As such, by 1913, he finally responded to Hikaru’s affections, and the pair pursued a romantic relationship that remained stable, in spite of everything that ended up happening (both within the Vigil and within their own lives), all the way until 1998.
Alistair had noted that Hikaru’s 25th and 26th life cycles had not quite fit the pattern that his research had established. Something was drastically affecting the Wolf’s condition, causing increasingly violent “awakenings” that damaged not just the people around Hikaru, but Hikaru himself. Things came to a head in Hikaru’s 27th life cycle, after the boy awakened at 10 years old and fell into Rapture almost immediately, thus tearing down an entire district of Tokyo and resulting in the death of Akihiko Aoi, his 27th father. Hikaru’s emotional condition declined sharply from that point, and Alistair was forced to step in each and every single time that the Wolf tried to commit suicide. This was ultimately what pushed Alistair to approach Aidan, in the early half of 1999, and ask the Voidseeker to make him a fixed point in time: he wanted to make sure that he would never have to die, and could then solely devote himself to the Blade King and finding a way to “fix” him.
The Seer’s decision ended up driving a wedge between him and Hikaru all over again. Hikaru did not want to constantly put Alistair through the hell of standing by and watching him wrestle with whatever was inside of him, nor with the burden of constantly seeing him die. Alistair, on the other hand, believed that he was fully prepared for the possibility, and refused to allow Hikaru to self-destruct. The two of them only managed to sort out their differences in 2012, with the help of members of the Pack and future members of the blade, Wolf’s Choice.
Alistair was one of the major players within the Vigil during 2012. He grew close to Wolf’s Choice (particularly to Tala Vega – the Key, and a girl that Hikaru had jokingly adopted as their daughter without ever realizing that she would end up meaning a whole lot to them both), and continued to search for a way to “cure” Hikaru. Thankfully, he appeared to have found individuals as driven as he was towards fixing Hikaru’s condition in the members of Wolf’s Choice, the Pack, and the Rockin’ Rollas.
Later on, Alistair defected from the Methuselah out of disgust when they ruled that Hikaru had to be destroyed, and joined Netsach, once more, out of loyalty to Aidan and the other Malice Kings. He was a major player in Netsach’s first joint operation with Zangyaku, and personally assisted the two conspiracies with the defeat of Death and the recovery of the Blade King. Unfortunately, while the middle of 2012 was the period when he and Hikaru were the closest, the tail end of it saw the two of them breaking apart with Hikaru’s sacrifice on the 195th floor of the Unnamed Tower. In retaliation, Alistair’s sacrifice involved permanently removing himself as a Warden of the Wolf, thus destroying the one thing that provided him with abilities that were perfectly suited to finding Hikaru after every reincarnation and allowing Alistair to watch over him. However, in light of Nyx’s descent upon the Fifth World, the pair was forced to set aside their personal issues with each other as best as they could in order to focus on the fight. They both played major roles during Operation Nyx: Alistair was, in fact, the Commander of Stormwall, the unit primarily charged with providing fire support for the main attacking force of the Vigil within the Broken City.
Alistair approached Hikaru on Christmas Eve of 2012, and the two of them had their first real talk about the state of their relationship and their future plans in months. They both came, albeit reluctantly, to the same conclusion: while they did love each other, they were also too dependent on each other, and with the way things were looking, they could not afford to let their dependency continue to get in the way of doing their jobs. It was for this reason that Alistair packed his belongings and left. Officially, he was under orders from the Wolf of Zangyaku to serve as the Searing Wind’s overseas agent, handling missions in areas that Zangyaku had difficulty reaching and gathering information for the conspiracy. In reality, however, he left because he needed to find himself, and keep his distance from Hikaru lest he fall back into his old, unhealthy routine.
Because Alistair had practically gone dark to all of the conspiracies that he had ties with for the entirety of the Breaking of the Veil, the First Reforms, and the Darkest Vigil. The only people who knew precisely where he was at any given moment were Kasumi Aoi, Tala Vega, Aidan Clayce, and Maes Mordechai. He often met with Inquisitor Anton dela Cruz and Thrones Number 561 (Nikolai Malthus) during his travels, and the trio made it a point to assist in any Zangyaku, Netsach, Methuselah, Thrones and Brotherhood of Violence operations that they happened to stumble across. He was a solid but ultimately invisible presence to his friends and allies, and there was not a single anti-Grendal operation that did not pass without his direct or indirect participation.
CURRENT STATUS
The years appear to have treated Alistair well, and the few who have been in close contact with him since 2012 say that he’s a changed man because he’s finally starting to learn how to live for himself. This may be one of the reasons why he’s been increasingly visible since the Armistice at Blaece, and has re-appeared on the GeistNET and other conspiracy information networks.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE
Alistair is incredibly cold and distant, and displays a single-minded determination with regard to Hikaru Shinta that defines everything he does, inclusive of his decision to distance himself from his cause. His devotion to the Blade King borders on obsession, with a great deal of complex emotions that go well beyond the level of love. It may not be too far to suspect that Hikaru has become his raison d’etre, his sole reason to keep on going. This may be due to Alistair’s own real propensity to completely immerse himself in pursuit of worshipping a higher power or cause beyond himself. His behavior prior to his first encounter with Hikaru proves this on several levels: his decision to become a Rivers Hunter in order to support his older brother Maes, in how perfectly he devoted himself first to Yahweh as a Brother in Violence and then to Aidan Clayce as one of the Voidseeker’s Malice Kings, and then to the Vigil as a whole in pursuit of preserving the Balance.
Prior to the events of 2012, Alistair was a man that had been utterly crushed by previous feelings of guilt and helplessness. Close associates believe that he, rightly or wrongly, blamed himself for everything that has happened to Hikaru. Interestingly enough, the Blade King’s full assimilation with the entity of Death in the Fifth World has not really changed this for the Seer; it simply transferred the source of his internal conflict, leaving him focused on regretting his decision to end their relationship.
At the end of it all, Alistair defines himself by his principles and his work; failure is something that he simply cannot accept, and every bad call made on his part is something that he is next to incapable of handling in a productive fashion. It is entirely possible that Alistair will be unable to find peace until he believes that he has corrected the mistakes that he has made in the past.
THREAT LEVEL
CONSIDERABLE/FACTOR (2%). Beyond the fact that he was one of the Fifth World’s first Rivers Hunters and thus possesses a great amount of power and an unprecedented amount of knowledge and experience, Alistair’s actions in the past have shown that he is willing to set aside everything and do everything in order to follow through with his beliefs or the ones he has decided to care for. Furthermore, he is the man who is closest to Hikaru Shinta. Their personal issues notwithstanding, harming him will definitely bring down the wrath of the Blade King upon the unfortunate party who decided to face Alistair.
ELIAS’ NOTES
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BIOMETRICS
FULL NAME: Alistair Mordechai
KNOWN ALIASES AND TITLES: Alistair Mordechai, the Seer of the Searing Wind; Inquisitor Alistair Mordechai, Malice King; Godhand Alistair Mordechai, First of the Brotherhood
DATE OF BIRTH: May 5, 1601 (current – and last – reincarnation); original date of birth unclear
AGE: 462 (registers as 45 to most sensors)
NATIONALITY: Irish
DISTINGUISHING MARKS:
- Has a full montage of a golden Chinese dragon in a dark celestial scene spread across his back; part of the montage spreads further, with the tail of the dragon wrapping itself about his right arm.
- Has a full montage of thorns and blades wrapped all around his left arm.
- Has a full montage of a wolf rendered in a style that blends Native American art with ukyo-e across his chest and belly; the wolf is stalking through a forest under the light of the moon, with ravens in the sky.
- By merit of the blessing he received from Yahweh (a boon that Elaine, the new Creator, has chosen to retain), Alistair always retains the physical features he had during his first life cycle.
- Because of his decision to become a fixed point in time in 2012, Alistair has been physically frozen at the age of 45.
HUNTER DOSSIER
CLASS: Rivers Hunter (Favored Enemy: Fae)
HOME COMPACT/CONSPIRACY: Zangyaku
RANK: Oni-Tsukai {Ten}/Gyoseisha {Ten}/Nami {Ten}/Daishonin {Ten}
POSITIONS HELD:
- Warden of the Wolf (former)
- Wolfborn
- Magistrate of the Wolf’s Ward
- Magistrate of Kibo
- Member of the Searing Wind
AFFILIATED COMPACTS/CONSPIRACIES:
- The Methuselah, pre-2012 (Inquisitor of Yugao and the Pariah Special Forces Division; Member of the Malice Kings)
- Aegis Kai Doru (Master Spear; Operative of the Labyrinth in Dublin)
- The Brotherhood of Violence (Godhand of the White Lions of St. Joan of Arc {the Cathedral of the Twenty-Six}; Founding Member of the Brotherhood of Violence; Blackguard of the Well)
- The Methuselah (Senior Operative of Perses and Themis {Anino})
- The Midnight Riders (Senior Myrmidon of the Southeast Asian and Western Europe Chapters; Dullahan)
- Netsach (Inquisitor of Behemoth, Arcanum and Cerberus {Liyab/the Falner Estate}; Malice King)
- The Thrones (Honorary Number {Regardi Estate})
OTHER AFFILIATED GROUPS:
- The Autumn Court of Lady Utsusemi
- The Winter Court of Jack Frost
- The Japanese Cartels
- The Chinese Triad
- The Irish Mafia
TACTICAL DESIGNATION: Saboteur, Tactician, Scout, Investigator
FAVORED WEAPONS: Firearms (particularly snipers and similar heavy weapons) and blades (particularly short blades)
COMBAT ASSESSMENT: Tactical, long-ranged fighter; prefers to engage enemy with guerrilla tactics, favoring long distances for sniping and liberal employment of traps. More than capable, however, of holding his own at close quarters, or with smaller firearms. Deadly at all ranges; does not shy away from using his abilities.
HISTORY
Like his older brother Maes, Alistair Mordechai holds the distinction of being the first mortals to develop techniques and supernatural abilities that are now attributed to the different lineages of the Rivers Hunters. Alistair followed Maes’ lead in order to aid Maes in his quest for revenge, and keep his older brother stable: the Gentry had ruined Maes’ family, and had nearly driven Maes mad with grief. Becoming a Jack Ketch, then, was as much about ensuring that Arcadia stayed out of the World of Light for Alistair as it was for watching his brother’s back.
Accounts of the activities of both Mordechai Brothers disappear from the records from between that point and another in the 10th Century: Maes and Alistair’s first encounter with Aidan Clayce – the Last Dragon – founding of the Brotherhood of Violence. Records state that while the two of them were chasing down a mark that was harassing the villages close to their home, the Mordechai brothers stumbled upon the Voidseeker Aidan Clayce, and his then-Kindred companion, Riley Falner. Aidan and Riley had come to the British Isles in search of the Well of Souls, a powerful Magience device from the Fourth World. Alistair and Maes agreed to help the pair recover the machine.
The accounts are vague from there, and asking the four point blank about the occurrences of that night yield close to nothing. However, what is common knowledge to the Methuselah and the Brotherhood (and now, to Netsach and Zangyaku) is that the Well of Souls, in an act of self-preservation, melded itself into the Pattern of the Fifth World. The device had originally been used to purify the souls of the dead, purging them of their memories and ensuring that they returned to the karmic cycle. The fall of the Fourth World had corrupted the machine, making it indiscriminately pull souls – dead and living – into its depths. Aidan and Riley had planned to destroy it: they were wanderers in the Fifth World, and wanted to redeem themselves in whatever way they can by removing any remaining trace of the Fourth World from Creation. What made this task difficult was the fact that destroying the device in its current state would put the Pattern of the Fifth World into jeopardy.
At that point, it is said that Yahweh – the Creator of the Fifth World – descended upon the four as they debated upon their next course of action. Yahweh allowed the Voidseeker to remove the taint within the Well of Souls by bringing it into himself, but forbade the four from destroying it; instead, the Well of Souls could enter His Creation, and take its place within the complex workings of His universe. Nevertheless, because of its nature, the Well of Souls was vulnerable: it needed protectors. The Mordechai Brothers agreed to take this role of their own volition; both of them believed that Aidan and Riley had their own mission to accomplish, especially since the two were developing the Methuselah as a conspiracy that sought to preserve the Balance. This pleased Yahweh, who conferred His personal blessing upon them both… and, by extension, anyone who wished to share in the Sacred Covenant of the Four.
Beyond the Gift of Faith, Yahweh imparted another blessing upon the Mordechai Brothers: the Gift of Long Remembrance. The pair would die, yes, and they would reincarnate as befitting of any of Yahweh’s Creations, but they would live for centuries on end, and possess a unique connection with their first lives – that way, upon every reincarnation, Yahweh would see to it that the pair would come to remember themselves, provided that they continued to believe. Furthermore, it would help them spread the word of the Lord, and watch over the congregation they wished to create in defense of the Well of Souls.
At this point, the paths of the Mordechai Brothers began to diverge. While both of them became recognized Malice Kings under Aidan’s command, where Alistair decided to follow the Dragon wherever he might walk while spreading the Word of God, Maes elected to stay within Europe and its surrounding continents in order to watch over the flock properly. Alistair was comfortable with leaving Maes to his own devices at this point because it was clear to him that his older brother’s new cause was enough to ground him, and he no longer needed a watcher. Furthermore, Alistair had come to admire Aidan and Riley, and did, by then, view the pair as friends and men that were more than worthy of his respect.
Alistair applied himself to his new duties as a Hunter of the Methuselah with fervor. When he wasn’t finding more potential operatives for the Brotherhood of Violence, he was the Voidseeker’s explorer, investigator, liaison and enforcer on call, traveling the far reaches of the world and accomplishing any assignment that came his way in order to allow Aidan and Riley to focus on building the conspiracy. Within a century, he was one of the finest Keepers of the Vigil that the Fifth World had ever seen, and certainly the greatest Hunter within the Methuselah’s ranks, second only to the likes of Aidan, Riley, and Orin. Many were certain that Alistair was going to remain unquestionably loyal to the Methuselah’s cause until the end of his days. Things changed completely for Alistair in the year 1201, on the day that he accompanied Aidan and Riley to the ancient Japanese kingdom of Yamatai.
Aidan’s reasons for going to Yamatai were simple: he had been in contact with Setsuna Shinta, Fatespinner of the Fifth World and citizen of Yamatai, and his communing with the Void had made him aware of the fact that Setsuna’s younger brother Hikaru was in possession of the Godslayer, a necessary component for the Methuselah’s Deux ex Machina Project. Riley, on the other hand, had come to Yamatai in order to assist Aidan, and because of his interest in Marrigan Crowe, the so-called “Storm Queen” of the kingdom and a powerful vampire of the Fifth World. Alistair was not interested in any of these matters: he only wanted to assist Aidan and Riley, as he understood the importance of the Deus ex Machina for the Methuselah. He was, in fact, one of the Project’s strongest supporters, and had even more faith in its goals than Aidan himself did.
Suffice to say, Alistair’s first encounter with 15-year-old Hikaru Shinta was about as explosive as Aidan’s had been. The two of them did not see eye-to-eye in the slightest, especially since Alistair doubted that Hikaru could serve as an ideal vessel for the Project and simply could not see why the Godslayer had chosen the boy in the first place. He did not approve, as well, of Hikaru’s “blind” loyalty to the Storm Queen, someone whom Alistair viewed as a loose cannon that was not worth Riley’s time. This only began to change when Alistair saw, for himself, how much Hikaru was willing to sacrifice in order to free his older sister. Hikaru had become the General of the Stormguard and allowed Marrigan to use him as she pleased in the hopes that having the Storm Queen’s ear would eventually mean buying Setsuna’s freedom. Furthermore, the boy did not hesitate to join the Methuselah and become the Project’s first experimental subject: the trade-off was that Aidan and Riley convince Marrigan to release Setsuna from her prison, and have Setsuna “exiled” from Yamatai in order to protect her from the wrath of their people.
After a year of preparation, the Methuselah initiated the God Slaying Ceremony with Hikaru and the Godslayer serving as the center point of the ritual. Alistair was there to witness it personally, as Aidan and Riley’s representative. This meant that he was there to see, firsthand, the damage that Deus Ex Machina ended up doing to the boy. Nevertheless, the Project appeared to be a “success” even if it had gotten every operative assisting in the ceremony killed (thus making it next to impossible to replicate the God Slaying Ceremony for any other potential vessel), and getting Hikaru cursed by the entity whose power he had absorbed.
Alistair stayed in Yamatai in order to train Hikaru and monitor his progress for the Methuselah. He aided Hikaru with finding Sumire, his bloodsinger; the both of them believed that combining a Bladian’s abilities with Hikaru’s newfound immortality would be nothing but beneficial to the Methuselah’s cause. The two of them started going on Methuselah engagements together within the Asian continent as a means of testing the powers at Hikaru’s disposal. It was not too long before Hikaru began to view Alistair as his mentor and friend; Alistair, in the meantime, began to see Hikaru as his charge and surrogate younger brother.
In 1206, a Yama King manifested off of the coasts of Yamatai. Hikaru rushed to rally the Stormguard and the armies of his Queen, and defend his homeland. Prior to that point, no other Keeper of the Vigil beyond Aidan, Orin and Riley were capable of taking such a creature on. However, both Hikaru and Alistair were confident that the latter would win, especially in light of the strength that he now possessed because of Deus Ex Machina and his contract with Sumire. Suffice to say, the failure of the Project came out, clear as day, with Hikaru’s death.
Guilt over Deus Ex Machina’s failure, coupled with the grief he felt over losing a friend, drove Alistair to distraction. Aidan intervened at that point, and forced Alistair to take a sabbatical from the Methuselah and his duties as a Malice King. He returned to Ireland, and focused on aiding Maes and the Brotherhood of Violence. This was where he met Fianna Walsh, then a member of Maes’ Seven and one of the few recognized Sisters in Violence at that point in the compact’s history. Fianna fell in love with Alistair first, and helped him get back on his feet. Alistair eventually started to return her feelings, and the two of them were married by Maes in 1216. Their union was a happy one, and their love for each other only deepened at the beginning of 1226, when it became obvious that Fianna was with child.
Fianna’s pregnancy was difficult, and there were several instances within those nine months where Alistair was genuinely concerned about her survival, and the survival of their unborn child. The delivery itself, in fact, nearly killed Fianna – were it not for Setsuna’s intervention, the woman would have slipped away immediately after giving birth to Seth, their son. The couples’ troubles, however, had barely begun. It was obvious, in less than a week, that there was something strange about Seth. He had violet eyes, just like Setsuna. Aidan was the one who raised the possibility that the Project may have succeeded, and that Seth was actually Hikaru. Alistair, however, refused to believe it. This was partially due to the fact that acknowledging its success meant living with the possibility that Seth would recover the memories of his past self and change, which also meant that Alistair would have to deal with his guilt all over again.
Both Alistair and Fianna focused on raising Seth properly. Both of them avoided the likes of Setsuna, Aidan and Riley, believing that the trio was a threat to their happiness and the stability of their family. They also chose to ignore how things became increasingly difficult with every passing year, as it was painfully obvious that Seth’s physical health was declining even as he continued to grow up due to some malignant force within him. Everything fell apart when Seth was 12, a year that culminated in the boy’s violent awakening as Hikaru Shinta. Sumire’s presence within him had been eating him up inside, as the bloodsinger had been driven half-mad from the nature of their contract and the interference of the Project – she had been prevented from moving on to a new host, and was permanently bound to Hikaru’s soul.
In spite of this, Alistair continued to refuse the help of his old friends and attempted to do what he could for his son. At the end of it all, the Seer’s efforts amounted to nothing: Hikaru died at the age of 15. Losing the boy all over again affected Alistair deeply, and drove a wedge between him and his wife. He turned his back on Fianna, and returned to the Methuselah in order to immerse himself in his investigations. He hoped that by reverse engineering what little was left of Project Deus Ex Machina’s research, he would be able to find a way to find Hikaru and reverse the effects of the God Slaying Ceremony.
Alistair spent the next sixty-four years of his life wandering through the Realms and the Fallen World in search of answers. He used all of the resources that he had at his disposal, and stubbornly continued to extend his own lifespan through the use of the magic that he possessed as a Mordechai Rivers Hunter. During this period, specifically in the year 1268, he found Hikaru again, but was too late to save the boy’s life. That loss pushed Alistair to work even harder, yet he failed to save Hikaru yet again in 1305. He and several members of the Malice Kings during that period journeyed to the Middle East in order to destroy a powerful mark that exhibited the characteristics of an amrita. He realized, to his horror, that said mark had actually been Hikaru mere seconds after landing the killing blow.
The considerable level of destruction that Hikaru’s latest reincarnation had caused led the Wiseman’s Committee, in the year 1307, to rule in favor of tracking every instance of Hikaru’s return for the sole reason of destroying him before he could become a threat. Alistair spoke out against this, and – when it became clear that no one was going to listen to him – the Seer left the conspiracy altogether, and took his research with him. He returned to the Brotherhood of Violence, paid his respects to Fianna Mordechai’s grave, and settled down to wait for Hikaru to come back. When this did occur in 1322, he was ready. The Seer took Hikaru away from his parents when he was still a baby, and retreated to the Black Cathedral with Methuselah Hunters in hot pursuit. He then proceeded to raise Hikaru for himself within the ranks of the Brotherhood, with Maes’ full support: Maes had decided to relinquish his position within the Methuselah in order to aid his brother. Fortunately, because Aidan did not think that the Methuselah could risk coming into conflict with the Brotherhood, the Voidseeker convinced the Wiseman’s Committee to leave the trio alone.
It may be said that it was during this period that Alistair was at his happiest, even after Hikaru awakened to his “true state” at the tender age of 12. He had managed to prove the reliability of his research by recovering Hikaru successfully at birth, and was also able to protect the boy in an adequate fashion while atoning for his sins. Unfortunately, even with the Gift of Long Remembrance and his own abilities as a Rivers, Alistair was well past the limit of his current life cycle. He died when Hikaru was 18, and his loss would lead to the horrendous chain of events that dragged the future Blade King into Arcadia.
Alistair’s next significant reincarnation occurred in 1601 – the reincarnations prior to that point had been spent “in limbo”, as he was unable to remember who he was during those life cycles in spite of Yahweh’s blessing. It took him about twenty years to recall who he was and what he had been doing through the Gift of Long Remembrance, and – out of loyalty to Aidan and not to the conspiracy itself – he rejoined the Methuselah and took his place among the Malice Kings once again. He saw how Hikaru had also left the Methuselah and created Zangyaku, which, by then, was rapidly becoming the “main” conspiracy of the Asian continent through the Brotherhood of Violence’s assistance. His own guilt over abandoning Hikaru for so long, however, made Alistair hold back on approaching the boy sooner. Another thing that stopped him were the reports that Hikaru had married a woman named Katherine Stiles, and appeared to be happy. He contented himself with his duties as a Keeper of the Vigil, pursuing his research on a “cure” for Hikaru, and monitoring things from a distance.
Circumstances beyond Alistair’s control forced him to re-enter Hikaru’s life earlier than planned in 1697. An experiment of Zangyaku’s had “induced” Hikaru’s awakening, and the effects of the ritual had dealt permanent damage both to the boy’s physical health and to his psyche. Alistair approached Zangyaku at that point in the hopes that the research he had managed to compile thus far would pull Hikaru away from the edge. He stayed at Hikaru’s side for the next seven years, all the way until the Blade King died, virtually insane, at 21. Riddled, once more, with guilt, Alistair joined Zangyaku, and became a member of the Searing Wind within three years: just two years before Hikaru reincarnated again.
The period after that (between the years 1709 and 1838) were the hardest for Alistair. For one, this was the first time where he was actually around to witness Hikaru die; this occurred seven times, and on two separate occasions, the boy ended up perishing well before the age of 10. For another, in the year 1731, Hikaru confessed that his love for Alistair, and Alistair – saddled by all of the heavy emotions that he had been bearing since their first lifetime as friends – rejected him. He went on to witness the beginning of Hikaru’s relationship with Liandrin Delacroix and the end of it, looked on helplessly as the Unseelie Court of Izanagi ruined Hikaru’s life all over again, and participated in the first major campaign that the Keepers of the Vigil had ever run against Arcadia as a response to Izanagi’s need to take revenge on the Blade King. The pair managed to sort out their differences when Hikaru was 14, two years after awakening to his “true state” within his 20th life cycle.
Alistair continued to remain at Hikaru’s side, and served as the Wolf’s official liaison to the Methuselah. He became a Warden of the Wolf, and served as the Blade King’s right hand man and guardian, continuing Hikaru’s work whenever he was too young or too weak to do it himself. At the same time, Alistair balanced his duties as one of Aidan’s Malice Kings, and made it a point to be particularly active for the Dragon in Europe, the United State of America, and Asia.
Serving Hikaru in this fashion aided Alistair with coming to terms with his own feelings, and allowed him to process most of his guilt. As such, by 1913, he finally responded to Hikaru’s affections, and the pair pursued a romantic relationship that remained stable, in spite of everything that ended up happening (both within the Vigil and within their own lives), all the way until 1998.
Alistair had noted that Hikaru’s 25th and 26th life cycles had not quite fit the pattern that his research had established. Something was drastically affecting the Wolf’s condition, causing increasingly violent “awakenings” that damaged not just the people around Hikaru, but Hikaru himself. Things came to a head in Hikaru’s 27th life cycle, after the boy awakened at 10 years old and fell into Rapture almost immediately, thus tearing down an entire district of Tokyo and resulting in the death of Akihiko Aoi, his 27th father. Hikaru’s emotional condition declined sharply from that point, and Alistair was forced to step in each and every single time that the Wolf tried to commit suicide. This was ultimately what pushed Alistair to approach Aidan, in the early half of 1999, and ask the Voidseeker to make him a fixed point in time: he wanted to make sure that he would never have to die, and could then solely devote himself to the Blade King and finding a way to “fix” him.
The Seer’s decision ended up driving a wedge between him and Hikaru all over again. Hikaru did not want to constantly put Alistair through the hell of standing by and watching him wrestle with whatever was inside of him, nor with the burden of constantly seeing him die. Alistair, on the other hand, believed that he was fully prepared for the possibility, and refused to allow Hikaru to self-destruct. The two of them only managed to sort out their differences in 2012, with the help of members of the Pack and future members of the blade, Wolf’s Choice.
Alistair was one of the major players within the Vigil during 2012. He grew close to Wolf’s Choice (particularly to Tala Vega – the Key, and a girl that Hikaru had jokingly adopted as their daughter without ever realizing that she would end up meaning a whole lot to them both), and continued to search for a way to “cure” Hikaru. Thankfully, he appeared to have found individuals as driven as he was towards fixing Hikaru’s condition in the members of Wolf’s Choice, the Pack, and the Rockin’ Rollas.
Later on, Alistair defected from the Methuselah out of disgust when they ruled that Hikaru had to be destroyed, and joined Netsach, once more, out of loyalty to Aidan and the other Malice Kings. He was a major player in Netsach’s first joint operation with Zangyaku, and personally assisted the two conspiracies with the defeat of Death and the recovery of the Blade King. Unfortunately, while the middle of 2012 was the period when he and Hikaru were the closest, the tail end of it saw the two of them breaking apart with Hikaru’s sacrifice on the 195th floor of the Unnamed Tower. In retaliation, Alistair’s sacrifice involved permanently removing himself as a Warden of the Wolf, thus destroying the one thing that provided him with abilities that were perfectly suited to finding Hikaru after every reincarnation and allowing Alistair to watch over him. However, in light of Nyx’s descent upon the Fifth World, the pair was forced to set aside their personal issues with each other as best as they could in order to focus on the fight. They both played major roles during Operation Nyx: Alistair was, in fact, the Commander of Stormwall, the unit primarily charged with providing fire support for the main attacking force of the Vigil within the Broken City.
Alistair approached Hikaru on Christmas Eve of 2012, and the two of them had their first real talk about the state of their relationship and their future plans in months. They both came, albeit reluctantly, to the same conclusion: while they did love each other, they were also too dependent on each other, and with the way things were looking, they could not afford to let their dependency continue to get in the way of doing their jobs. It was for this reason that Alistair packed his belongings and left. Officially, he was under orders from the Wolf of Zangyaku to serve as the Searing Wind’s overseas agent, handling missions in areas that Zangyaku had difficulty reaching and gathering information for the conspiracy. In reality, however, he left because he needed to find himself, and keep his distance from Hikaru lest he fall back into his old, unhealthy routine.
Because Alistair had practically gone dark to all of the conspiracies that he had ties with for the entirety of the Breaking of the Veil, the First Reforms, and the Darkest Vigil. The only people who knew precisely where he was at any given moment were Kasumi Aoi, Tala Vega, Aidan Clayce, and Maes Mordechai. He often met with Inquisitor Anton dela Cruz and Thrones Number 561 (Nikolai Malthus) during his travels, and the trio made it a point to assist in any Zangyaku, Netsach, Methuselah, Thrones and Brotherhood of Violence operations that they happened to stumble across. He was a solid but ultimately invisible presence to his friends and allies, and there was not a single anti-Grendal operation that did not pass without his direct or indirect participation.
CURRENT STATUS
The years appear to have treated Alistair well, and the few who have been in close contact with him since 2012 say that he’s a changed man because he’s finally starting to learn how to live for himself. This may be one of the reasons why he’s been increasingly visible since the Armistice at Blaece, and has re-appeared on the GeistNET and other conspiracy information networks.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE
Alistair is incredibly cold and distant, and displays a single-minded determination with regard to Hikaru Shinta that defines everything he does, inclusive of his decision to distance himself from his cause. His devotion to the Blade King borders on obsession, with a great deal of complex emotions that go well beyond the level of love. It may not be too far to suspect that Hikaru has become his raison d’etre, his sole reason to keep on going. This may be due to Alistair’s own real propensity to completely immerse himself in pursuit of worshipping a higher power or cause beyond himself. His behavior prior to his first encounter with Hikaru proves this on several levels: his decision to become a Rivers Hunter in order to support his older brother Maes, in how perfectly he devoted himself first to Yahweh as a Brother in Violence and then to Aidan Clayce as one of the Voidseeker’s Malice Kings, and then to the Vigil as a whole in pursuit of preserving the Balance.
Prior to the events of 2012, Alistair was a man that had been utterly crushed by previous feelings of guilt and helplessness. Close associates believe that he, rightly or wrongly, blamed himself for everything that has happened to Hikaru. Interestingly enough, the Blade King’s full assimilation with the entity of Death in the Fifth World has not really changed this for the Seer; it simply transferred the source of his internal conflict, leaving him focused on regretting his decision to end their relationship.
At the end of it all, Alistair defines himself by his principles and his work; failure is something that he simply cannot accept, and every bad call made on his part is something that he is next to incapable of handling in a productive fashion. It is entirely possible that Alistair will be unable to find peace until he believes that he has corrected the mistakes that he has made in the past.
THREAT LEVEL
CONSIDERABLE/FACTOR (2%). Beyond the fact that he was one of the Fifth World’s first Rivers Hunters and thus possesses a great amount of power and an unprecedented amount of knowledge and experience, Alistair’s actions in the past have shown that he is willing to set aside everything and do everything in order to follow through with his beliefs or the ones he has decided to care for. Furthermore, he is the man who is closest to Hikaru Shinta. Their personal issues notwithstanding, harming him will definitely bring down the wrath of the Blade King upon the unfortunate party who decided to face Alistair.
ELIAS’ NOTES
- Approach the Seer re: latest investigations.
And maybe this time? He’ll finally come home.
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