Title

Grand Duke Rocco Deparle,Demonslayer, Lord of the Legion, Bane of the Blues, Elemental Champion, Elf-Friend, Dwarf-Friend, Defender of the Oppressed, Bane of all that is Evil &c. a.k.a. LORD ROCK of Rockport.

Description:

Commonly known as Lord Rock, Grand Duke Deparle is a 1/2 steel-dragon 1/2 human. He stands at 5’11” and weighs 152 lbs with a stocky but athletic build. Despite being completely hairless and having a steel-grey, armoured skin, he retains a great deal of charisma and attraction. He has ice-blue eyes capable of either inspiring or flustering any he looks upon. Lord Rock has a remarkable presence that inspires and/or awes people around him. Lord Rock is renowned for always wearing fashionable practical clothing. He often wears sunglasses and a black leather jacket with a steel dragon oroborus emblem - his family symbol - on the back. He does not carry or wear any symbol of his title or authority other than a steel ring inscribed with his family symbol.

Who is Grand Duke Rocco Deparle?

Before earning the rank of Grand Duke and the realm of Rockport, Grand Duke Deparle was known as Captain (2nd class) Rocco Deparle, or more publically as CAPTAIN ROCK. He is a founding member of the SILVER KNOT, the premier super-team of the World of Mystery, working with them when they were based in Mythtropolis of the Wild Lands. Grand Duke Deparle is the grandson of the famous and beloved President "Snake" Deparle of Edge City), grand-nephew to Lataremyr the Steel Dragon of Edge City, and cousin to both Ironthorn of the Westshire and King Pelops II of Haranlarche. Grand Duke Deparle married his True Love, the Lady Lyddia, during his period of recovery from wounds suffered at Rochesse in the Zombie War.

Service in the Zombie War.

In the initial phase of the ZOMBIE WAR 1101 YAC, Captain (2nd class) Rocco Deparle (at the time living in Mythtropolis) was drafted to serve as a submersible captain of a squadron of resurrectees in the Royal Haranlarche Navy. While initially unwilling to serve Captain (2nd class) Deparle took his position and led his squadron, the "Filthy Five", in the Dread Sea naval campaign during the Zombie War.

ROCHESSE.

Cpt Rock fought at the battle of Rochesse, the largest battle of the Zombie War at the time, and the turning of the tide. As the forces of the Enemy attacked the Free Forces command fractured and control of the battle was lost by the Free Realms forces. The Free Realms forces present, outnumbered by odds of 6 to 1 and deprived of their leadership, began to rout. Eregorian the bard inspired them with verse. Cpt Rock took over the combat-leadership of the Free Realm forces. The great goddess Sard heard the speech of Eregorian and showed him her favour. Eregorian's speech and Cpt Rock's action rallied the Free Realm forces. Captain Rock's leadershp skills and magical powers enabled the Free Realm forces to fight the Undead. Then the forces of the Free Realms fought they struck with Goddess's favour. The Undead force's leader, a Mithmorgar then sought out and challenged Cpt Rock to single combat. Cpt Rock won, destroying the Mithmorgar's physical form. (The destruction of a Mythmorgar in this fashion was a feat not repeated during the entire course of the Zombie War.) The Undead army was destroyed. The battle was won and the tide turned back towards the Free Realms. As a result of the battle Cpt Rock was granted the territory of Rochesse, now called Rockport and the title of Lord of the Legion was bestowed upon him by the survivors of the battle, now commonly known as the Rock Legion and fiercely loyal to their heroic commander.

Click HERE to see a sketch done of Lord Rock posing over a skull of one of the 18 bone dragons he slew at the Battle of LaRochesse. (Picture by James Versace.)

Personal History in Brief.

Grand Duke Rocco Deparle grew up in Daggerford in the Westshire to the north of the Wild Lands. After running away from home aged 7, Rocco was taken in and cared for by Myth the Master of Mysterious Magicks, a member of the 1030's super-team the YOUNG BLADES. Myth saw to Rocco's training at the Daggerford Academy for Gifted Youngsters as an Urban-ranger and as wizard. When his sweetheart was murdered by a fellow pupil, Rocco ran away to the sea. He joined Throg's Shipping Company and quickly became the captain of the HMV Maven II. In 1101YAC Rocco and Blackfoot formed the SILVER KNOT to fight the Dread Sisters plaguing the Kingdom of Crossroads at the time. In 1101YAC Captain (2nd class) Deparle resigned from his position as captain of the Maven IIa to work full-time with the Silver Knot.

POWERS. As a meta-human, Lord Rock possesses several powers and abilities beyond those of normal mortals. His other skills are also listed here.

- General fitness - Lord Rock is a practioner of Spider Monkey Kung Fu and an active adventurer. His body is in near peak condition and he is an international level athlete. While he does not possess super-strength he is as strong as anyone of his height and build would be who engages in structured regular intensive physical exercise. Due to his half-dragon heritage Lord Rock will continue to grow in size and strength as he ages.

- Warrior skills - Lord Rock has combined his martial arts and streetwise upbringing to become a deadly “all in, hands dirty, two-fisted” street fighter. While he is an accomplished fencer, his technique is far from beautiful, and is quick and brutal. He is also trained to find an enemy’s weakness in either technique or physical form, and to exploit it.

- Sea Captain skills - Lord Rock is skilled in leading and inspiring those around him. His presence alone will inspire those around him, such as team-mates and allies, to fight harder and longer. Lord Rock is also trained in skills of navigation, seamanship and other skills of a merchant sea-captain, including a familiarity with Sea Magics. These skills were developed through his time serving as a merchant-ship's captain and during the Zombie War as a submersible squadron leader. Of course now he employs and develops these skills every day.

- Education - Lord Rock was educated at the Daggerford Academy for Gifted Youngsters by experienced heroes and sages. As a result of this schooling he obtained the equivalent of a Masters Degree in Humanities and Magic with majors in history, theory and practise of heroism, and situational analysis.

- Mage skills - Lord Rock was given in depth training by a skilled and experienced wizard. As a result Lord Rock is highly trained in magical practises and has forged his own version of High Magic within the catch-all School of Eclectic Magics. Lord Rock's brand of magic channels his monstorous willpower into each spell or spell effect he casts, removing the need for material components and making his spells more effective, deadlier, and harder to resist.

- Armoured skin - Resembling steel reinforced stone, Lord Rock’s skin grants him unearthly resistance to attacks; immunity to normal weapons, and bestows complete immunity to petrification. Lord Rock is master in using it to minimise any damage he takes.

- City Weaving - Lord Rock is able to interact with and attune to the mystical nature of civilisation as it is expressed in the form of cities. This allows him to generate effects which include the following: Regeneration, Power Weapon, Tentacles, Teleportal, Psychogenesis and Armour.

- Willpower - Lord Rock’s willpower is prodigious, and boosts all magicks he wields to a great degree. This is a man who cannot be broken and who will not bow down.

- Prodigiously Vigorous Health - Lord’s Rock’s body is extremely tough and resilient, allowing him to shrug off most injuries. His endurance is also such that he regenerates from most wounds and needs to sleep only a few minutes each 24 hour period. He has even been known to come back from the brink of death and shrug off the most devastating of attacks.

- Fashion Sense - Lord Rock has an extremely finely honed innate sense of colour and style coordination. In matters related to fashion, costume and appearance, the character is considered to be as able to detect hidden or out of place things as a name-level Rogue.

Weaknesses

Lord Rock has no specific weaknesses to any items, weapons, materials or spells.

His weaknesses are psychological for he was not always a super-hero. He was once a shy little hairless boy with funny skin who was laughed at and rejected for his strangeness. He was never normal. While now he is admired and loved by literally hundreds of thousands of souls, every man is grown from a child and a fear of not being loved is still Lord Rock’s greatest weakness. His vanity, his materialism, his suspicious and violent nature are all based upon this one character flaw, a chink in his armour.

Lord Rock has led a violent life. His friends, crew members and loved ones have been killed and murdered. He has been tortured physically and psychologically by the foulest of evil beings. He has seen evil and violence and terror. He has been beaten, hacked, slashed, cut, stabbed, burnt, electrified, blasted, shriven, withered, chilled and poisoned. He has been hurt to the point of death and even beyond. But Lord Rock always comes back, always gets up, always fights on. It is not in his nature to yield, even to death. But on some days, when the stygian evil reveals yet another new and terrible face, you will see Lord Rock’s broad shoulders slump and his bright eyes close as he lets out a sigh and wonders why the fighting never seems to stop.

Favoured Items

- Stylish Clothes - Lord Rock always dresses in fine stylish clothes. He has an incredible level of skill for picking out fashionable stylish practical clothing. He is conscious of always being in the limelight and always dresses to impress.

- Black Leather Jacket - Lord Rock’s jacket is made of toughened leather. The symbol on the back is of a steel dragon oroborus, the symbol of his line of the Deparle family and of his pride in his family. He almost always wears it and matches his outfits accordingly.

- Sunglasses - More than just a piece of fashion, these glasses allow Lord Rock to see into different spectrums such as the ultra-violet and infrared spectrums. And they look cool.

- Moonboots - These boots were given to Lord Rock by one of his childhood heroes, Commissioner Eoch, the Manteeran Manhunter. They allow Captain Rock to shift his personal gravity making him heavier than a tonne or as light as a silk shirt. Lord Rock has trained to use these boots in combination with his armoured skin in combat, allowing him to "punch above his weight class" and hold his ground with far larger and stronger foes.

- Myth’s Patented Quick Release Adventurer’s Harness - Designed by Lord Rock’s mentor, this nifty item allows Captain Rock to safely store potions, similar small items and weapons about his person so that they can be accessed quickly. The harness was originally designed by a hero for super-heroes and is very tough, able to withstand a lot of punishment before being rendered useless, thus protecting the stored items from harm. Aside from being incredibly useful the harness serves as a constant reminder to Lord Rock of his much missed mentor.

TEMPORARY ALTER EGO -- Monstrous Form

Lord Rock was transformed into a monstrous form as a result of his battles with the Dread Sisters in mid-1101YAC. This form, while far more powerful than his true form, was unstable, ugly and distasteful to Lord Rock. Lord Rock fought most of the War of the Elements in this monstrous form before being changed back to his true form after being blasted by The Source of All Magic. While this lessened his power considerably, Lord Rock was pleased to be his old self, quipping that while this meant he was less physically powerful, it meant he would have to get more cunning to keep punching in that weight class. So far he has been true to this jest.

In his monstrous form Lord Rock possessed incredible strength and resilience. The damage he was able to deal out and stand up to the equivalent of modern artillery shells. His form weighed over a metric tonne and he trained himself to use this weight in combat, making him even more deadly. Lord Rock’s fight with Mr Snow was conducted in this form, allowing the hero to trade blows with the super-villain. It is a testament to his training and skill that he can now employ different fighting moves to perfomr similar feats of strength power and toughness as he did when 3 times his current size.

Personality

Lord Rock is a hero. Not because he wants to be, but because he knows he is and knows that he needs to be. He was raised with a strong sense of Duty and of Right and Wrong. He was also raised with the knowledge that he was different from most of the world in that he had gifts and powers beyond mortal men, and that he had a duty to use them well to protect and to inspire others.

Lord Rock is no saint, and the flaws of his soul - vanity, materialism, and a suspicious and violent nature - sometimes boil to the surface, but never for long. For while they are a part of who he is, they are in no way the characteristics that define him or make him the man he is.

Lord Rock`s outlook changed when he became Grand Duke Deparle. Instead of a wandering hero he had a home and a people to shepherd and protect. The same selfless attitude which helped him form the greatest team of super-heroes of the age has helped him form a tight community of willful courageous settlers and soldiers. He is authoritarian but willing to be guided by those around him.

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