• A day in the life of Captain Tenma Iscariot
    Warning: may contain shenanigans

    This story takes place in the skies above the Salarian Plate on the planet of Numanria. A soft wind blows caressing the cheeks of a dark clothed man. He stands upon the deck of one of the greatest airships the Sky Lords have to offer. A majestic vessel sails beautifully in the skies above the Salaran plate, to many onlookers upon the ground one could assume that they were looking at a true feat of technological brilliance, the vessel looked like any other Lightning Guard ship. But with one major characteristic, on the surface of the ships hull and sails arcane and tribal depictions of lightning bolts were painted. The paintings were designed to inspire fear in the enemies that this ship fought. The contrasting colors of lightning blue and sparkling yellow with the shadow of deathly black worked well upon the vessels general image. Though it was a forboding image the ship was going for many of the Salaren plate citizens looked upon this ship with both joy and admiration.

    This vessel was known as the “Storm”. A powerful ship that has stood against the enemy of the Sky Lords for as long as many of the citizens could remember. A heroic vessel where warriors of great honor were aboard, each of them fighting with the just cause of defending the people of the Salaren plate. But to many citizens the Storm was only a symbol, an instrument to the true hero of the Sky Lords. The man generally known as “The Man amongst Men” this hero was officially called Tenma Iscariot. A war hero who has fought in countless engagements against the enemy of the Sky Lords and through these campaigns earned the right to captain this wonderful vessel. This legend among men stood atop his vessel on the main deck looking out into the horizon, his captains jacket barely on his shoulders. Tenma let the wind blow through it creating an image of a cape billowing behind him, in his mind he believed that he looked really really cool.

    Below on the deck worked the soldiers under his command, in his opinion these men were amongst the greatest fighters he had ever recruited. Each of them fiercely loyal and preserved their honor by following the laws of Chivalry. And to boot each of these fine young men were good looking, Tenma could not abide to be on a ship with really ugly and smelly soldiers. If he could make the effort to look decent then his men should too. As he stood there watching where the Storm was going one of his soldiers approached him saying, “Captain Tenma, I am just curious why are we on this patrol? I mean we are the Storm after all. We don’t have to go on patrol at all, we can get any lesser ranked officer and his vessel to do it.” Tenma turned to face the young man and gave him a soft smile. “Young rap scallion, do you know that it is absolutely divine out here? Why be cooped up in an office when we could be sailing the skies and enjoying the view? Besides you young men deserve a break from the hum drum of daily training, I am sure wielding your blades and what not can bore you after a while.” laughed Tenma as he turned to watch the beautiful scenery once again. The blue skies and the neverending fields of green below, it was this that Tenma joined the Lightning Guard. The young soldier grunted softly and replied, “Sir my name is Adam not rap scallion, and the reason why I am complaining is because the Commodore will be upset to have one of his captains suddenly disappear on a patrol run without authorisation.”

    Sighing softly Tenma turned to face the young man again and said, “Adam rap scallion, I will deal with the commodore about this not you. How about you and your buddies down there finish up the rest of the preparations and take a break? Why don’t you have a picnic down there! OOOH! If you have a picnic call me down will you! I would love to share biscuits and tea!” The young soldier shook his head and laughed softly saying, “Sir, you truly are very relaxed, we are on patrol here and you are talking about having a picnic on deck. Well if we do set it up we will be sure to call you. We can’t leave out the legendary Captain Tenma now can we?” As the soldier disappeared Tenma turned back to face the beautiful sky around him and said softly, “Well even the greatest warriors need time to relax, this is my gift to you my wonderful soldiers. Your loving captain will always look out for you.” Tenma truly felt like a father that day as he stood there looking into the distance, in his mind he could see how awesomely cool he looked and he was close to screaming out a manly quote.

    The Storm continued on patrol for what seemed to be a few hours. Tenma who finally got tired of standing on deck looking like a champion donned his captains jacket properly and moved down to the lower decks. Seeing as it was late afternoon Tenma realized he was getting quite hungry. He watched on as his men worked dilegently in their chores to maintain the ship, giving each man he passed a wave and a nod Tenma soon found himself standing next to Yonaki Azuthan, one of the men that served under him. In truth Tenma was impressed by this man, even though he was insanely tall he was a very good looking man. And Tenma does not abide by ugliness of any kind. All of the men on this ship have to be beautiful, for the Storm is the flag ship of the Sky Lords.

    Seeing a young soldier Yonaki enjoy the flock of Pegasi flying near the ship Tenma leant against the railing saying, "Beautiful isn't it? Its days like this that make me fully appreciate joining the Lightning Guard." The man of men looked up at the silent giant and gave him one of his trademark cheesy grins. Laughing loudly Tenma playfully patted the man on the back saying, "Come now don't look so serious! We are here to enjoy ourselves! Very soon we are going to sit down and enjoy some rum and some food and have ourselves a jolly picnic! Speaking of which...MEN! BEGIN PICNIC PREPARATIONS! CODE RED! I'M HUNGRY!" As the men began scurrying around to set up what the captain ordered Tenma turned to face Yonaki again and said, "You there stop looking serious and loosen up, remember a smile is far more manly and beautiful than a frown."

    Tenma walked off laughing loudly, his infectious good humor soon found its way to the men working as they began to tell jokes and stories. Tenma who was actually now helping the men laughed even louder when one of the stories involved a ladies panties and a mans loss of his pants. Even if he was the captain of this ship Tenma always helped with the labor, he felt that even though the title of captain was bestowed upon him he saw everyone here as an equal. To him they were his brothers and brothers always help each other. As the picnic on the deck finally got set up Tenma declared, "MEN! PICNIC MISSION COMPLETE! LETS GOOO!" With that declaration the men of the Storm roared in reply, which signified the beginning of the picnic.

    As the picnic and shenanigans raged aboard the decks of the Storm the ship wheeled towards the south. During one of Tenma's drunken shenanigans he moved up to the top deck and steered the ship in that direction. The reason why he did this was, "I remember there were nice cookies down south somewhere! I WANTS COOKIES!" As the men drank and enjoyed the assortment of pies and sandwiches Tenma carrying a bottle of rum went from group to group sharing his retarded stories of how he almost slept with a lady. His men never judged their captain, even though it was quite clear the man was obviously scared shitless of a pretty woman. Some of the soldiers couldn't believe how such a eccentric man had such a strange fear.

    Looking around it was clear that most of these men were not in the frame of mind to remember anything beyond a few hours ago, the large amount of rum that suddenly appeared on deck was clear evidence of that. But strange as that maybe these soldiers along with Tenma were trained professionals, even with alchohol in their systems these fighters were amongst the best and should any fool attack the Storm they would regret it immediately.

    Evening had settled above them as the Storm continued to sail south. They were flying just above the cloud cover to see the beautiful night sky. Looking up Tenma couldn't help but laugh as he said, "Men...do you remember the stories of our homeworld? I wonder...are the people there still alive?" A strange sad expression crossed his face as he looked up at the starry night sky. At that moment Tenma looked far older than he often claimed he was. But as soon as that thought passed from his mind he smiled once again assuming that strange youthfulness he always had shouting, "Alright! We should enjoy this! We just had a picnic and we are sailing through a beautiful nightsky. We should find a lightning storm soon so we can gather some energy, for selling purposes mind. Its not like we need energy...well I hope not!"

    The captain laughed with good humor as he turned to face his men. "Alright you beautiful bastards! Its night time so that means some of you should sleep. Decide amongst yourselves who is going to rest and who is going to keep guard up on the decks. I trust you guys to do this civily." commanded Tenma. Turning towards the top deck the Captain ascended to his usual position. Even though some of his men may rest tonight Tenma decided not to. He saw himself like a father to these men, and his children deserved the best. Looking over the soldiers who were now deciding who was going to sleep through rock, papers, scissors game Tenma could only smile, he hoped days like this always stayed in the memories of his men. For a sense of foreboding was falling across his mind, Tenma had a feeling that rough times lay ahead of them.

    It wasn't long until the Storm actually rode into...well a REAL storm. Lightning and thunder roared around them as droplets of rain began to fall on the deck. Tenma stood by the wheel on the top deck looking out into the black chaos that surrounded them. The Storm (vessel) extended its wings according to normal lightning collecting procedure, and as expected stability on the ship was lessened as the winds of the storm (real storm) blew against it. Tenma and the soldiers were all professionals and this sudden loss of stability did not faze them at all. Though Tenma was slightly irritated about the fact he was getting wet, a wet manly man isn't exactly something he wanted to be right now. He wanted to be a dry manly man.

    Underneath and along the wings of the vessel were steel poles that attracted the lightning of the storm. Within the lower decks of the vessel energy tanks were present so that the lightning collected could be stored in them. Though the exact schematics (sp) and design of the ship escaped Tenma at this moment. All he knew that his ship was capable of collecting and using the lightning force as a means of selling, moving and actually using it as a defense weapon. Unlike other vessels in the Lightning Guard the Storm (vessel) actually could use Lightning as a force to be directed as a weapon. Though the use of it is strictly last resort as it drains away the ships energy, and that energy was used to keep the ship moving and maintaining certain life systems needed by the crew.

    Tenma moved to the railing of the top deck and bellowed out, "I don't want to be in here any longer than I have to! Someone go down below and check if the energy tanks are close to full! This weather is seriously cramping my style!" Not caring who went below to check if the tanks were close to being full Captain Tenma returned to the wheel and began to maneuver through the storm. Seeing lightning strike the steel rods designed to attract them Tenma began to recall certain memories of when he had to fight within storms like this. As he held the wheel steady his mind began to wander...

    Tenma and several soldiers looked towards starboard. The young man could not believe that a wind raider ship was in the storm with them collecting lightning. What the hell was the navigator and scouts doing? The wind raiders were also surprised at seeing a lightning guard vessel so close to their own. As the cannons from both ships began to fire the Captain ordered a full attack on the wind raider vessel. As the two ships finally got close enough Tenma and a few other soldiers sailed across using ropes and capes...though at this point only Tenma wore a cape. As he landed on the other vessel the young warrior immediately began to battle. His fists were a blur in the rain as he instantly smashed an enemy into the deck. The fool thought he was an easy opponent because he had no weapon, big mistake.

    The other soldiers all had swords, staffs and even axes as they fought each other. Tenma was the only man using his bare hands in combat. As he moved quickly into the enemy mass the unarmed warrior moved like lightning snapping necks and breaking faces with his monstrous strength. His inhuman speed in dodging attacks also saved him as many swords and axes just missed his face and arms. Even in this rain Tenma was like a tornado. His body moved like liquid lightning as he continually killed enemy after enemy. Looking around he focused his gaze towards the top deck of the ship. Staring right at the Captain of the windraider ship Tenma knew that this man was no ordinary foe, with grim determination he advanced on the Captain...

    As lightning flashed once again Tenma's mind returned to the task at hand. "Ahh...that was so many years ago..." murmured the Captain as he maintained the ships stability with the wheel. In this storm stability was always an issue, if it wasn't for Tenma's ridiculous strength when holding the wheel the vessel might have overturned already. Looking down at the lower decks he wondered if anyone had gone and done what he asked, he waited patiently for anyone to tell him about the levels of the energy tanks below.

    To Tenma it seemed that only minutes had passed, riding out in this storm getting drenched did strange things to manly men. Making them remember past battles and past loves...though in Tenma's case he didn't have a past love. Calling those lonely nights in a dark room with nothing but his hand to keep him company was not really regarded as a first love. Revealing that fact to his warbuddies several years ago in a tavern while drunk was not really the wisest idea. The end result of that mistake ended up becoming the Tavern burning down and Tenma being arrested for beating the living crap out of twenty or so men, his friends included in that count. But to everyone outside Tenma's rather insane mind an hour did pass. As a soldier made it up to the top deck Tenma turned to the man and said, "So good man what are the levels?" The soldier who was only slightly shorter than him saluted the Captain and then said, "Sir we are only half-way full. It turned out that our ship had low energy as well, if we had flown anymore today without finding a storm we probably would have crashed." Captain Tenma, who was known for his quick mind drew a complete blank and laughed nervously at the man. Giving him a thumbs up and a cheesy grin Tenma said, "Good work man! Now off you go and do your duties!" The soldier knew full well that when you got a cheesy grin and a thumbs up from the captain that was a fair indication that you should get out of there before he either hit you or entered into one of his never ending rants about manliness. He saluted the captain and left immediately.

    As the soldier disappeared to the lower deck Tenma noticed that most of his men wore a distinct uniform whilst on board. It was a simple blue overcoat with blue pants and a white shirt underneath. The overcoat had minimal armor underneath to ensure some degree of safety. The soldiers walking on the lower deck had either staves or swords as weapons, some of course had battleaxes. Tenma shook his head and wondered how the hell those men fought with axes on a ship, axes were so big and cumbersome that one mis-stroke could kill you. Then his gaze fell upon Yonaki. That unusually tall man wore his own uniform standard, which actually made Tenma happy. A truly beautiful individual was unique to the rest of the herd. But what tickled Tenma's mind was...what the hell was Yonaki anyway? He seemed human but then again he most certainly did not smell like one. His unusual tallness also denoted some outside race theory but what particular race? Realizing that this was quickly becoming a boring subject to think about the Captain quickly transferred his thoughts to how manly he looked in this storm. He decided that even though he was soaking, a man holding onto the wheel of a magnificent vessel, struggling against a real storm and shouting insults at it was clearly....magnificently awesome.

    Thus began the never ending tirades of Captain Tenma that the soldiers grew to both love and hate. Though in this particular case they loved it because it provided entertainment on their shifts. Raising his head towards the Storm Tenma began his verbal challenge, "Is this it! Is this the best you got! Ah HA! I Captain Tenma Iscariot! Voted the manliest man of all manhood come here to challenge you to a battle of endurance and manliness! And to what! To find that this is the best you have got to offer! I laugh at you natural storm! I laugh at you til tears come from these manly tear ducts of mine! Prove me wrong! Prove me wrong!" As if offended by Captain Tenma's words the storm around them roared with thunder, shaking the very ship in its fury. Unperturbed by the Storms response Tenma roared in response, "How dare you call my mother a sandwich! She isn't delightful snack you can eat on a picnic or a lazy afternoon! She is a human you dirty wet fart fluff that the Gods decided was worth existing! I sneeze in your direction good sir! I sneeze!" And right on cue Captain Tenma sneezed in the direction of the starboard, as if to fulfill his promise to the storm.

    Thus continued the endless of rant of Captain Tenma, until the energy tanks below were full he would continue to rant and challenge the storm in the most ridiculous of ways. The men working on the deck below found it odd that whenever Tenma stopped his rants the storm would actually either roar with thunderous response or actually zap the ships lightning rods with its furious lightning strikes. "Haha! That is weak good sir! I could actually fart harder than that and still not stain my breeches with accidental leakage! I demand recourse! Whatever that means!" Then in an act of pure idiocy Tenma unbuttoned his Captains jacket and showed the storm his manly chest shouting, "Here! You may cry upon my manly busom storm! For you are a pathetic excuse for a natural occurance! Cry upon this manly chest and know that I am superior!" Thus once again the cycle of insanity continued, well until the energy tanks below deck were full anyway.

    What will happen to the rest of Tenma’s day?
    Well you can find out by joining the struggle for the skies! Find out what happens to the inhabitants of Numanria when the Sky is torn