Aethelnoth Thorodan Maelyss

Aethelnoth Thorodan Maelyss is and was several things. But in essence, he is an ancient demon lord in charge of commanding the Dark Crusade and creator of their kingdom, The Underworld.

Biology and Brief History
He is a considerably complex being, biologically speaking. Throughout his lifetime, he has had several changes in his state of being, making his present form a mix of all those.

Initially, though unknown to anyone but the man himself, Aethelnoth was a black dragon, under the name of Nesenth. In this state, though possessing considerable intelligence, his primal instincts ruled over logic, making him attack small settlements to feast upon its inhabitants in order to survive. Always keeping his strikes at the borders of countries, Nesenth managed to become a growing concern in any of those communities, who didn't have the defenses of larger cities to deal with the beast.

Later on, after Nesenth's soul, along with several other, weaker souls were bound into the sword Nethermist, the dragon lost his identity for a long time.

It was only when the human, Aethelnoth Dragonheart, touched Nethermist for the first time that Nesenth awakened again, taking over and adjusting himself to his new body. However, not being anymore in a dragon's body, he was free of the instincts that dampened his logical side, and allowed him to become more human in behaviour. Not wishing to retain his draconic name, the man then took upon himself the name of Aethelnoth Thorodan Maelyss.

Ages passed until the next biological change took place. It was upon the death of his host, Aethelnoth Dragonheart, that he had to opt to using dark energy and his armor to maintain a physical form, though that slowly turned him into a Phantom. As such, his soul was bound to the armor. Events unfolded while in this form, namely while under the service for the Dark Army, which forced Aethelnoth to commit suicide.

Having his soul then sliced and unintentionally saved by Naitbas, the three parts of the phantom's soul went to different directions. One part, the power, was absorbed by the blade, Nethermist. The other, the memories, entered Althalos Dragonheart's soul. And lastly, the personality, possessed a darknut named Thorne. During the time his soul was split, the spirit of Aethelnoth stayed in a state between life and death.

It was only upon his return by the gathering of his soul shards that his present nature began forming. Though he assumed the hollow armor form of his phantom days, his soul was now bound to the unholy blade, Nethermist. That confered the black knight apparent immortality, since the destruction of his mortal coil, the armor, wouldn't necessarily kill him, and he'd gain a new body whenever someone took hold of his sword.

What further developed his demonic nature was gaining the Triforce of Power, which allowed him to at last put his plans into action. He began modifying his self, creating a fake dark body under his armor, afterwards he let himself gain more control over his armor, being able to modify its shape and use metals to reinforce or regenerate it, highly increasing his survival chances compared to that of a phantom.

He still retains that same biology in his current state, and ever since there haven't been any changes in that form.

Alternate Forms
Not only did the crusader suffer several changes in his normal form, but he has had several alternate forms during his life.

Snake Form - One of the first and most often used transformations. Turned him into a large metallic snake that emanated shadow energy. It was a form that allowed swift movement combined with size and power.

Arbiter Form - A rather different sort of transformation that allowed the knight to dual wield blades and empower them with a highly concentrated shadow energy to cut through most materials. Also generated a slight change in personality, making his decisions more neutrally aligned.

Dragon Form - Though not precisely Nesenth, Aethelnoth could transform into an armored dragon that had the ability to fly and shoot out shadow bolts from cannons located on the sides of his head.

Circe Form - Mostly a disguise that also seemed to changed his gender and essence, this form wasn't exactly Aethelnoth. Circe was a living person cursed into turning to a spell. Therefore,whilst in this form, the black knight simply controlled the sorceress' actions rather than turning into her.

Syndellius Silversong - Not copying any essence, but rather creating this form by purging his soul of all dark energy and storing it elsewhere, Syndellius was created. He looks younger than the black knight's original form and despite sharing the immunity to aging, he is mortal in the sense that his body is subject to pain and can be slain through natural means. Though he shares the same awareness as Aethelnoth, he acts relatively different.

Knowledge
Aethelnoth, despite being known to few, is very knowledgeable when it comes to understanding, modifying and creating arcane structures and tampering with its magic. Ancient places such as the City in the Sky are filled with such sort of architecture, and he, unlike many, has the tools to understand its inner workings and how it maintains functionality even with the passing of ages and lack of maintenance. Wasn't it for his understanding of the subject and his wish to create several new mechanisms using it, the Order of Elemental Knights would have never had their infamous Airships, which were based on the crusader's blueprints.

For safekeeping of such knowledge, however, his studies are all written down in a dialect known as Maelyssian, a language originated loosely on the dragon's tongue and used naturally only by Kotharvyth, the demons of the Dark Crusade.

Aside from the theoretical understanding of the Arcane, Aethelnoth knows how to create entire new races, as demonstrated when he created the Kotharvyth and the sub races, defined as 'tribes', that subsequently originated from it. However, his knowledge on the subject seems limited, as his creations always seem to require existing souls and magical power sources to stay alive.

By researching more on the race he created, however, he started to find himself researching more and more on demons, and eventually started to gain knowledge of their origins, the Dark Realm, once the black knight got involved with the Revival of Demon King Malladus. Such a knowledge is valuable for those who face the consumption of realms by the Demon Army, but sadly, due to his involvement in the Nexus Siege, eventual death and disappearance of his soul, none can get to know what he did as he left no written report on it.