Taniel is a retired Colonel in the Adran Army, the former Second Minister of the Adran Republic and an accomplished powder mage. He is the son of Field Marshal Tamas and Erika. His adopted siblings are Privileged Bo and powder mage Lady Vlora Flint.
A celebrated hero of the Fatrastan Wars of Independence, Taniel gained the name Two-Shot due to his considerable abilities with powder magic. He became particularly skilled at killing the Privileged mages of the Kez Royal Cabal, whose members he partly blamed for his mother's death. During his time in Fatrasta, Taniel met and became the protector of a young mute girl named Ka-Poel who practiced Bone-Eye magic. However, the roles became reversed as Ka-Poel's magic proved to be very effective at protecting Taniel.
After Taniel's father, Field Marshal Tamas, overthrew the monarchy in their native country of Adro, Taniel returned to his homeland with Ka-Poel where he was tasked to hunt down surviving members of the Adran Royal Cabal. These hunts made Taniel stumble onto a conspiracy by ancient mages allied with the Kez Royal Cabal to summon Kresimir, the founding god of the Nine Nations. Alongside Ka-Poel and his Privileged best friend Borbador, and the soldiers of the Mountain Watch on South Pike Mountain, Taniel holds off the Kez army and its Privileged for months but fails to stop them from reaching the sacred city Kresimir had built at the mountain's peak. Taniel's renown grows during this battle when he shoots Kresimir in the eye, an act which causes a cataclysm which levels South Pike and plunges Taniel into a coma.
Appearance[]
Taniel has dark hair, and his clothing is often referred to as unkempt or sloppy, most likely due to his constant involvement in combat. When he does wear his dress uniform, he feels uncomfortable and out of place.
Personality[]
Taniel has a sort of whiny persona, especially when dealing with his father. Despite his occasional immaturity, he is a level-headed officer, a steady leader, and one of the world's greatest Powder Mages. He can be serious as well. He often clashes with his father, seemingly unable to see past the prickly exterior.
He has a short temper, but is loyal to his friends, and has a complex understanding of good and evil, ultimately deciding to look past his prejudices against the Privileged in order to work with them.
Biography[]
Taniel was born to Tamas and Erika ja Leora. His mother died on a mission to smuggle powder mages out of Kez. She was beheaded by Duke Nikslaus when Taniel was a small child, he doesn't remember her well, growing up with nannies. Due to his mother being half Kez, he is a quarter Kez, speaking the language well but fully identifying as Adran, hating the Kez for murdering his mother and hunting powder mages.
He befriends a street boy named Bo who is then adopted by Tamas making them siblings. Some time after that Taniel meets Vlora when she helps him fight two street bullies on Hrusch Avenue. They become friends and she is adopted by Tamas (#0.5 The Girl on Hrusch Avenue). (When they take Vlora in, Tamas declares her Taniel's and Bo's baby sister making them promise to look out for each other when he won't be around anymore. Taniel tells Vlora this before making good on that promise by aiding Vlora to slaugher a Dynize army.) When Bo is found to be a Privileged and taken to be trained in the royal cabal, Taniel and Vlora get closer and eventually become lovers for some years.
Taniel is sent to Fatrasta by Tamas to get some perspective and world experience leaving Vlora behind at university in Adro. When war against the Kez colonial power breaks out he joins the militia to avenge his mothers death in a way and builds his legend, picking off Kez Privileged in the Tristan Basin, where he also meets Ka-Poel (#0.7 The Face in the Window, #0.8 The Ghosts of the Tristan Basin). After protecting the city of Planth together with Mad Colonel Ben Styke and his Mad Lancers he returns home to Adro to find Vlora in bed with another man. He breaks off the engagement, causing a deep cut in the entire family relationship. Eventually he falls in love with Ka-Poel, whom he later marries and is connected to and protected by her blood magic.
Powers/Abilities[]
Powder Mage[]
Taniel is said to be a very powerful powder mage, especially after the battle in Kresim Kurga. The god Adom states that he is the powder mage equivalent of a Predeii. He spends most of his time in a powder trance and is most likely addicted to gunpowder.
In addition to the natural abilities of a powder mage, sensing and ignition of gunpowder by thought and entering a powder trance (enhancing strengths, dulling pain and sharpening senses), Taniel has the ability to alter and prolong a bullet's trajectory in midair. To do so with two bullets simultaneously has earned him the epithet "Two-Shot". One of his most notable feats is simultaneously killing two Privileged with two bullets fired in the same shot. This makes him a formidable marksman.
Combat abilities[]
Taniel is said to be a formidable opponent even with his bayonet and in hand-to-hand combat. His father Tamas notes that he has the hand-to-hand skills of a skilled infantryman and can hold his own against most.
Third Eye[]
Taniel dislikes using his third eye because it gives him headaches. Despite that, it is moderately powerful.