Lord Shaxx - Awoken

Full Name: Shaxx

Nickname//Former Name : Lord Shaxx

Age: 300+

Gender Identity: male

Sexual Orientation: pansexual

Illnesses/Health Issues: none

Race: Awoken

Class: Titan

Faction: Crucible Handler (Vanguard)

Marital Status: Single

Family: none

Face Claim: Joe Manganiello

OOC Account Name: Nightwing

Purchases: None

Canon or Non-Canon: Canon

Anything Else? ---

Eye Color: Silver

Hair Color: Black-Blue

Notable Scars: Numerous scars across his body

Tattoos: None

Piercings: None

Prosthetics: None

Character Height: 6'7"

Physical Description: Shaxx is a behemoth of a guardian, towering in at 6'7". He's a wall of muscle and he knows it. His natural stalwart build, large height, and Titan background make for a terrifying opponent (particularly when one sees him shoulder charging at them). Scars litter his body from his numerous battles and he wears them with honor. As is common for all awoken, Shaxx has incandescent eyes, his being a vibrant silver color. His skin is a pale, almost washed out gray-blue and his hair is raven black, appearing azure in certain lighting. He prefers to keep his hair short, as he finds longer hair not only tactically disadvantageous but just plain irritating to deal with.

With his bulky build, it's only natural he has a boisterous voice, well-known among Guardians for his narration of Crucible events. Broad shoulders and chest lead to a strong waist and thighs that, as Cayde-6 once said, 'could crush at least six Warlocks'. There is nothing small about the man and he could easily be the poster child for the Titan class.

Bold, proud and fierce are the words that could best define Lord Shaxx. Next to Zavala, Shaxx is a perfect exemplar of the Titan Guardian. The Crucible handler is completely dedicated to the mission in preparing the Guardians for whatever force the Darkness brings, acting as a tough but encouraging mentor to them. He praises those who perform admirably or put up a decent fight while being harsh to those who fall short, normally berating them to do better. Despite this, Shaxx doesn't see a match lost as a failure but as a lesson to learn from, as he explained to the children he trained during the Dawning. In addition, Shaxx normally looks for ways to create new challenges in the Crucible, either in new maps or match types, as he doesn't want the Guardians to grow complacent to the regular matches.

Shaxx takes his responsibilities in the Crucible very seriously but is aware of how most look upon the Crucible as a glorified arena and how the Consensus factions and Weapons foundries use it to further their agendas. For this reason, he is uncompromising on how he runs it, refusing to let others try to influence it or even cheat. Another reason he's distrustful of the Consensus is how they launched the mission to reclaim the moon from the Hive, despite his loud protests on learning more about their enemies, resulted in nothing but the slaughter of countless Guardians.

Lord Shaxx also possesses a nearly unbreakable will, as he simply refuses to give up on any obstacle, whether it is in battle or researching a difficult weapon like the Swords. Even when the Last City fell and Zavala began to lose faith, Shaxx never faltered in their chances in defeating the Red Legion and reclaiming the Last City.

At times, Shaxx can be prideful, as he refuses to back down from a challenge, even from Cayde-6, which led to him losing a bet. Even so, he honors his end of a bet, as Shaxx agreed, albeit grudgingly, to train a few children in a game of dodgeball, in a manner similar to the Crucible.

It's not uncommon for Shaxx to get amusement in messing with others, as is evident when the little girl he trained later threw the dodgeball at Cayde's head and he laughed about it. He also found it highly amusing when Lady Efrideet threw Lord Saladin like a javelin at a Fallen Walker. He's got a volatile, somewhat dry sense of humor. Some don't realize when he's joking as he can often time deliver said jokes with the most even of tones.

While most of the other individuals in the Tower have respect for at least one class of Guardian, Lord Shaxx respects them all, normally finding the best qualities in each and never favoring one over the others.

He's also well-known for holding grudges endlessly and being incredibly stubborn. Despite the many years that's passed, he still refuses to reconcile with Lord Saladin, despite the Vanguard's numerous attempts. He'll carry a grudge to his many graves. He is spiteful and, as some would say, 'salty'. Contrary to those traits, he's also known for being incredibly supportive and downright enthusiastic when it comes to training Guardians and dealing with those he likes.

Shaxx's past is largely unknown but during the first years of the City Age he traveled to the famous camp that would eventually become The Last City, helping to build the city alongside people such as a younger Speaker and Zavala. Shaxx also fought alongside Zavala and Saladin Forge during the Battle of Six Fronts and participated in the construction of the Last City's Wall and the Towers.

Trained alongside Zavala by Saladin Forge, Shaxx later fought in the Battle of Twilight Gap, leading the counterattack that routed the Fallen from the City's walls. Though despite his renown in driving the Fallen away, Shaxx and Saladin had a falling out over Shaxx leading the counterattack which led to their strained relationship which continues despite others making attempts to mend it. After so many Guardians had fallen, Shaxx recognized the need for a tough training program so that the next generation of Guardians would be ready for whatever came next. So he created the Crucible, in an attempt to hone Guardians in preparation for another battle as tough as Twilight Gap. He plans to return to war when that day comes. In the meantime, he deploys squads of Redjacks assisted by Guardians to claim new Crucible and SRL sites.

Shaxx is also highly cautious and tactical but equally fierce when it comes to dealing with the Last City's enemies, more so than most would admit. An example being the aftermath of the Battle of Burning Lake, the first battle with the Hive. Knowing the need to know more about their foes to develop countermeasures against the Hive Knights Light-stealing swords, Shaxx boldly entered the Consensus Hall to get them to call off the invasion to reclaim the Moon, believing the City isn't prepared to face such forces. Despite his fierce protests and attempts to convince Zalava of the danger, his pleas were discarded. The resulting battle to reclaim the Moon ended in complete failure, even called the Great Disaster, as thousands of Guardians perished at the hands of Crota, Son of Oryx and his spawn. How Shaxx reacted to this is unknown but no doubt he was saddened at the deaths of so many Guardians but became more determined to prepare the Guardians to face such evil.

Shaxx takes his duties very seriously, as he sees the Crucible as less of a glorified arena and more of an intense training ground. He often laments that the current batch of Guardians don't measure up, and wishes that Commander Zavala would return to the Crucible to show the new recruits how it's done. He also laments having to jockey with the different factions of the city, stating that they're "not in charge of the Crucible. I am." Although he is a Titan, he shows a lot of respect for the other Guardian classes.

Lord Shaxx is also an expert on swordplay, and plays a critical component in aiding Guardians in crafting their own swords in The Taken King. His interest in swords began with the battle of Burning Lake, where the Guardians first fought the Hive and learned of their Sword-Logic the hard way. He'd taken it upon himself to learn of how to reverse-engineer the Hive's swords to make them into weapons of light.
During The Dawning, Cayde-6 conned him into loosening up to mingle with the City's children after Shaxx failed to outrun his Golden Gun in a bet, a feat that Shaxx grudgingly accepted once he started training two kids in the ways of the Crucible. He was vindicated when one of those kids discreetly hit Cayde with a ball. On the way back to the Tower, he once again bet that he could beat the Golden Gun, and Cayde happily accepted.

During the invasion of the Last City, Lord Shaxx aided in the evacuation of civilians in the Tower and gave Guardians access to his personal armory to fend off the Red Legion. Upon the fall of the Last City, an enraged Lord Shaxx retaliated by hijacking some of the Cabal's capital ships and converted them into Crucible arenas. Even though he couldn't coordinate the Crucible from the Last City, Shaxx refuses to close it down and so for a time, he organizes new matches from The Farm.

He was a part of the strike team lead by Zavala to free the Traveler from Cabal hands, but was separated along with Arcite 99-40 and other Guardians from Zavala and Suraya Hawthorne when the Cabal blocked their path with an Energy barrier. Once the Last City was liberated from the Red Legion and the Traveler awakened, Shaxx moves from the Farm and once again organizes Crucible matches from the Last City in the new Tower.