Marl Picus

Weapon
Marl's weapon is called the 'Eye of Navius', and is classified as a Pump-Action Dust Polearm, or PADP. At first glance it appears to be a long, slender golden staff, though its most notable feature is the eye-shaped hub at the top of the staff, level with Marl's head. Small containers of dust are affixed atop the eye like eyelashes and can be swapped out for cut crystals of dust if needed. Where the containers meet the outline of the 'pupil' there are five valves that release the dust for use. The pupil and iris of the eye will glow faintly depending on the type of dust being dispensed.

The eye of the polearm can be used as a bludgeon. If the outline of the eye is grasped and pulled away, it reveals a tub of collected dust. When pushed back in with enough force, the dust fires out of the end of the staff, similar in use to a cane gun.

Semblance
Marl's aura is a marbled mixture of blue and red, appearing purple.

Marl's semblance is called '''Dice Are Loaded. '''He reaches into the pouch at his side and retrieves ten hollowed out dice. As he holds them, the insides begin to glow the same color as his aura, indicating that the dice are, indeed, loaded. Marl then chucks the loaded dice into the air above his head, where he can then choose where to send each die.

Each individual die has the impact of an average cherry bomb, though Marl can separate and shoot them in different combinations, allowing for flexible explosion sizes. He could potentially charge the dice for longer for more impact, but doing so to 10 whole dice would probably be dangerous and even knock him out if used too long.

They also create a brilliant purple flash when making impact, which creates a distraction as well and can be useful when fighting Grimm as well as others.

The radius and strength of the effect is flexible, though all ten dice being hurtled at one target could knock down a 200 lb enemy.

Background
Marl was born into one of the unluckiest families in the kingdom of Atlas, no doubt. The Picus family hadn't always been so infamous, however. Marl's great-great grandfather was a war hero and was eagerly celebrated by Atlas at the Great War's conclusion. He'd been known for his stealth and knack for disappearing when not having a careful eye kept on him. Their streak of bad luck began when x2 Grandfather Picus died after falling asleep in the bath of all places and drowning himself, earning his widow and children half-hearted condolences masking cruel jokes.

Somewhere along the line, the family's main issue stopped being mockery and started being pure unluck. Marl's grandmother married twelve times, ten of which ended in divorce just a few months later, and one of which ended with the groom disappearing the day before the end of their honeymoon. The Picus' migrated around Atlas often, as house fires and floods and giant gaping chasms seemed to threaten them constantly, with many of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the family growing slowly more paranoid as time went on.

When Alvis met his current wife, he'd seemingly created a system to prevent bad luck: constant change. He lived in halfway homes and on benches for the majority of his adulthood, and would eat certain foods in set cycles to prevent accidentally being poisoned or something. Andraste likes to believe that she helped cure some of this paranoia, but he's clearly antsy from being kept at home and sometimes disappears for weeks on end, something Marl learned to accept growing up.

As a result of this paranoia from his father, Marl grew up very organized and meticulous. He was surrounded by superstition and still wears the same charms he wore as a child.

His purpose for entering the Academy at age 13 was to prove his family was worth more than some cheap laughs. Also, he wants to prove that he can break the 'curse' on the Picus family to his father, though whether or not that will work is up in the air.

Trivia

 * Marl's Name:
 * Marl: A lime-mud stone, one of the primary ingredients in Opal
 * Picus: From Picus, the Roman god of farming and augury, a type of fortune telling.
 * The Picus family's unluckiness stems from the belief that Opal is an unlucky gemstone, and many of the unfortunate events in his past are stemmed from these superstitions.