MOTIF: THE WARDEN
Introduction
Taelian is the Warden of a single door, imbued into his Rune, known as the Lychgate. While his Rune prevents him from accessing additional portals, his Lychgate - often called his Ward - offers him a level of persistence that alters not only the way in which Taelian fights, but the way he lives. The Warden is a motif of mastery over versatility, sacrificing much of the combative applications of Transposition in order to shepherd his own unique style from beginning to end.
Collision - Expert
As Taelian cannot Blink, he loses the ability to Mirror. In exchange, his Rune appears to have opened the door to a new ability: Collision, the ability to Reverb others, or multiple things at once. The node meant to collide into the other will appear surrounded by a teal blue aethereal radiance, emanating from it at a radius of around ten feet. This is an opportune time for escape from the radius of the ability, if one recognizes they are about to be pulled. After around two seconds since forming, Taelian is able to draw all of the objects within the radius towards the second node, propelling them at a similar pace to Reverb. Collision then has two alternative paths: he can either will the objects to move forward in a parallel direction, preventing them from impacting one another upon arrival, or he can force them to all simultaneously converge with likely lethal results.
Taelian now carries the visage of his portal upon his right shoulder, eternally spinning with its spark-like edges. In addition, the fiery edges of his irises appear to light with the same teal shape of his portals whenever he actively utilizes aether, resulting in a mesmerizing and unnatural stare.
A Warden's Folly - Master
Taelian's Rune becomes intrinsically bonded to not only the Lychgate, but to doors; archways, gates, all forms of enclosed entrances or exits with clearly defined boundaries. The Rune of Transposition draws from the Beacon and learns to interact with the Black Sigil: he learns of another method of powering portals, perhaps from the concept of his slow drain upon surrounding the surrounding flux. He learns that he can imbue specters and souls into doors, and turn them into the wardens of their own gates, powering portals. While one can maintain a portal for a small period of days, entangling many souls together in an ectoplasmic weave allows Taelian a method of crafting nearly undying portals, the drain on each individual soul whittling them slowly enough to where they appear capable of powering the door for a long span of time. When they have begun to wither, Taelian must return to the door and re-dedicate them, allowing the wilting specters to rest before drawing more to act in their place.
This allows Taelian to create a network of portals without the usage of World Magic, but with each portal starkly easy to destroy, vulnerable to collapse at the mere disturbance of the door's edges. These portals are grim when spoken to, particularly those with more souls, whispering to him as a haunting and somber chorus of captivated wraiths. When he views the Dead Realm with Searing, he is capable of communing with them and learning of what they have seen. Each soul is essentially bound to his will as the Warden of them all, prisoners tied to a cell of elegant shape. The appearance of these portals is one that is faded, with a generally opaque black background and an overlay of swirling teal energy that appears to pulse as if breathing.
Taelian is capable of informing the specters of who he wishes to allow the privilege to cross, though he may only do so via Searing. Any others who attempt to cross will simply phase through the portal and to the other side of the door it was dedicated upon, unable to even notice the difference between the portal and a regular door.
Backlash - Master
The destruction of any of Taelian's portals results in the aethereal tether between the Anchor (in the form of his Rune of Transposition) and the portal launching back at him, gathering the remaining aether of the portal and directly assaulting Taelian's Rune through what appears to be a beam-like ray of energy. His Rune will spark uncontrollably for a few seconds, the Siltori visibly regressing due to the immense pain. For around a minute after this, Taelian's Rune of Transposition becomes unstable and any portals created will either collapse prematurely - if not instantaneously - or will expand rapidly beyond Taelian's ability to regulate them, rapidly draining his aether before closing. Whatever the case, any usage of Transposition during this time becomes extremely dangerous if not lethal in certain circumstances, and so must only be used in desperation. Even if Taelian does not use Transposition during this time, the physical damage to his Rune-holding palm can prove severe to his performance in battle.
Taelian permanently acquires lit, aethereal patterns along his feet and calves, similar in appearance to sandals but with a certain Elven-like artistry to them. This appears to be due to the fact that his Rune is drawn to frequently stepping through space, reducing the limitations of his mobility like through Reverb, his ectoplasm-powered portals and the Lychgate which grates far less on him than other portals may.
