The Austrander

Character Name: The Austrander
Real Name: Gaunt Kindel
Character Race: Austrander (looks like a Half-Elf)
Home Realm: New Austrand, a galactic nexus-city where several dimensions overlap
Tech-Level: Galactic Nexus (based on Cynosure from the comic book "Grimjack")
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Combat Style: "Practical" (cobbled together techniques)
Favored Tactics: The Austrander has experienced close-quarters combat from dozens of different cultures across space-time. He has developed what he calls a "practical" approach to combat. Prefers non-lethal tactics, but also not afraid to kill an opponent that will certainly pose a future threat.
Combat Equipment: 

• Main Arm: "Jaksaber", a magic sword that changes size based on The Austrander's rage level. The angrier he gets, the bigger the blade gets. The Austrander has trained himself to focus his rage into several different sizes, ranging from "small fruit knife" to "medium-sized surfboard". If thrown to the deepest depths of his uncontrolled rage, the sword has been known to get as big as a medium sized guard tower.
• Side Arm: "MBX-14 Pushblaster", a relic from the remains of a futuristic utopia world. It's a musket-sized device that shoots fist-sized blasts of concussive force up to 100 feet away. Virtually no kickback, so The Austrander uses it one-handed as a way to hit and kick people from a distance. Solar powered, with a 12-hour backup battery. Only lethal at point-blank range against an unarmored target.
• Armor: The Austrander straps a thick plate of armor, front and back, over his heart and organs. He then dresses in light clothing with lots of pockets. Over this, he dons a wide-brimmed hat and a cape.
• Other Items: 
  • Tendril Harness: A demon artifact that produces shadowy tendrils up to 25 feet in length. They aren't much good for lifting things but they are nigh-indestructible and prehensile, making them ideal for grappling. Worn around the waist.
  • Bangers: Golf-ball sized concussion grenades from a high-fantasy magical dimension. They pack a bigger wallop than the Pushblaster, but only within about 8 feet of the explosion. Typically used to flush opponents out from cover, although in sandy or dusty environments they can also kick up a lot of cloudy dust. No shrapnel or heat, so they cause little collateral damage.
  • Nova Wisps: Fantastic sprite-like creatures from an etherial dimension. They possess minimal intelligence but can be trained, and their training is inherited by their offspring. The Austrander has trained a hive of them to live in a pouch that he keeps in one of his pockets, and they freak out within seconds of being removed from the pouch, flying quickly in whatever direction they are thrown in and exploding in an intense light display when they hit something. Used as "flash-bangs" to temporarily blind opponents, but the pouch itself can also be used as a light source.
  • Mask Of Lom-Gibboth: Once paid to usurp a "dark god" in a savage dimension, The Austrander discovered that the "god" was in fact an extraterrestrial charlatan using hallucinogenic gas to keep the locals in check. His mask turned out to be a hermetically sealed breathing apparatus, making it ideal as both a gas mask and as a device for breathing underwater.
  • Morphtool: An artifact from a futuristic dimension. The Morphtool is a flat wallet-sized chunk of silvery metal that can change into a variety of simple tools.
  
  

Iconic Finishers: 

• Boost Breaker (Potentially Lethal): The Austrander shoots the ground with his Pushblaster, which propels him high into the air. He then swings the Jaksaber with maximum rage, as a comically oversized blade crashes down on his opponent.
• Boost KO (Non-lethal): The Austrander tosses his opponent into the air, then hits the opponent with the Pushblaster so they get propelled even further. He then shoots the ground and boosts himself into the air, colliding with the opponent on the way down. This knocks the wind out of the opponent. From there, The Austrander grabs the opponent around the waist in a bear-hug and hits the ground, which typically results in the opponent getting knocked completely unconscious.

Iconic Tactics:

• Tendril Slam: Uppercuts the opponent into the air, uses the Pushblaster to give them a little extra height, then slams them into the ground with the Tendril Harness.
• Clashing Appeal: The Austrander knows how important it is for a gladiator to play to the crowd, but also kind of detests it. His compromise is to form the Jaksaber into a blade that matches his opponent's blade size, them meeting them blow-for-blow in a series of parries and blocks that looks more amazing than it actually is. He concludes the display by suddenly getting VERY angry while the blade is pointed at the opponent's most heavily armored part of their body. This causes a dramatic spark and the opponent to fly as the blade's sudden growth pushes them away violently.
• Everybody Gets One: The Austrander has a reputation of being "painless" (in truth, he has a high tolerance for pain but not nearly as high as his reputation suggests). He maintains this reputation by allowing his opponents to get at least one blood-drawing attack in, usually in a highly visible but otherwise harmless place (such as across the face or the shoulder). This is so he can theatrically touch two fingers to the wound and lick his own blood with a menacing look on his face.

Motivation: Gambling on REGAL Arena events has become popular in New Austrand, which means certain criminal elements are entering The Realm-Entire to try and "fix" matches. The Austrander is a mercenary-for-hire currently on retainer with the NAC (New Austrand Constabulary) to find and thwart these attempts. He accepted the job because he also has a personal reason - to find the person or persons responsible for enslaving his nephew, who died horribly during a fixed arena fight that The Austrander knows damn well he could have easily won.

Character History: The city of New Austrand exists in a pocket dimension which connects dozens of larger realities. Its residents have become accustomed to being in and out of phase with a variety of other realities, from nightmarish demon realms, to futuristic utopias, to magic-rich high fantasy dimensions, and everything in between.

Gaunt Kindel was born and raised in this city, and practically BY this city. He was orphaned at an early age, and forced into local underground gladiatorial arenas, where he learned to fight and survive against a variety of opponents. When he became of age, he earned his freedom and became a member of New Austrand's military, where he protected the borders from malicious denizens of the less savory dimensions. He was the key person central to thwarting two invasion attempts (one from demons and another from insectoids), so when he was discharged he became a show-in for the NAC.

Years later, after internal corruption forced him out, Gaunt became a mercenary-for-hire, successfully using the gimmick of his war record and "celebrity cop" status to get jobs. It was during this time that New Austrand came in phase with The Realm-Entire, and the broadcasts of their REGAL footage became popular. Underground arenas were all but completely abandoned in favor of this more colorful and entertaining form of combat.

The criminal elements who once forced children and slaves to fight for their amusement, now looked for ways to take advantage of REGAL. They began sending their slaves (as well as members of their organization disguised as slaves) to The Realm-Entire, so that they could "fix" key matches. This is typically accomplished through the discreet use of poisons, which is how Gaunt Kindel's nephew was killed in his first fight.

Shortly after having to watch his nephew get conned and murdered on New Austrand television, Gaunt was contacted by Sargent Gozer, his old handler at the NAC. Gozer felt that Gaunt's experience in gladiatorial arenas, as well as his work against organized crime, would make him an ideal candidate for infiltrating the REGAL gladiator pool and flushing out the criminals responsible. Gaunt accepted the job, and is determined to make those responsible PAY for what they've done.