Iosepp (Crossroads)

Early Life
He was born towards 1197 BC, in the city of Thebes, in the New Kingdom of Egypt, under the reign of Siptah, succeeded by Queen-regent Tausret, who would later leave place to Setnakht, a pharaoh who would soon be replaced by Ramesses III , whose reign saw the upbringing of the man who had been given the nickname “Menes” and the downfall of the united Egypt. Closing the entrance to Iosep's life is this parallel between who is considered the founder of Egyptian dynasties and the one who witnesses their destruction&mdash;it's very short and it doesn't seem like much but it reintroduces the main dilemma of the first version and the theological concepts of testimony and the destruction of all that previously existed to rebuild upon it until the day it no longer will be rebuilt, this also being represented from a historical point of view to truly showcase the themes of this character in all of its past glory. What's good about having to rewrite this character from scratch is that it fully makes even the page itself into the incarnation of the message transmitted by it, and my experience of the past article sets the tone for the new one&mdash;but it probably isn't gonna differ much, from a moral standpoint, because it's the point of the message, to be immovable even with parameters who we, as mortals, think could change something to it, when the curse of immortality allows to understand that these are only details that will fade away before being able to even scrape the barrier. All in all, this single figure of speech recreates, alone, the character, the message and the theme, while still staying open to interrogations, being so true but so naive and ignorant as well. It shows our lack of understanding of ourselves when confronted to a situation we can all agree upon, yet that we can not comprehend. It would be possible to go on until the end of times and after about this, and given our current state, humans such as us could not find a concrete meaning to such a message, yet they could think of it (as I just did.) It's a message we can use but never understand. It's a peculiar thing I like to define as quantum philosophy, because we have the same relations to it as quantum physics. I do not have the intellectual level to dare pretend I could define such a thing, but I hope for someone more qualified to be able to explain it better than I do. It is also worth noting that the Upper Egypt is in the south, and the Lower Egypt in the north. Thebes was the capital of the Upper Egypt, and Memphis the capital of the Lower Egypt, it's an allegory from his lifestyle going from luxurious to poorer, but also, since his path goes up, it's a very literal metaphor for the downfall of Egypt, and it acts as a foreshadowing of how Egypt falls and how he leaves it behind him, going upwards as time goes.

His father was a smith, a teacher in the art of forging meteoric iron into jewelry, bronze into solid weapons and copper into fine chisels, whilst his mother, aside from her matronage, was also known for her talents as a weaver and a musician, respected for her mastery of the ney and the kanun&mdash;thus he was raised in luxury, yet taught the values of humility and knowledge. After fifteen years of education, he moved on to the capital of the twentieth dynasty, Memphis, where he became farmer, whose wheat he turned into flour himself, to make smoother bread for himself and his fellows. When his ground didn't need work, he was an embalmer, an experience which helped him discover the human body, of which he tried to draw a map very early using a set of reeds, with ends cut in half and then blunt for them to not tear the papyrus.

He was respected by the population but he had the reputation of being very silent and observant, which wasn't that much suspicious, at that time. Years later, circa 1177, the Sea People try to invade the land, but the Pharaoh manages to push them off with ease to the east of the Nile Delta, where the agriculturist heads with a boat in which is engraved the word “Iosep,” armed with a khopesh, an improvised spear, and a set of daggers: it is no surprise that the Sea People lose the battle, and whilst the army of the Pharaoh is acclaimed, the legend of Iosep echoes through the habitats. But at the issue of this fight, his soils have been flooded one last time, and after embalming the last of his friends, Iosep flees the land by water, his jagged staff serving as his only mean of orientation. As he leaves, so do the fleeting remains of the Sea People's failure, upon which will be built the city of Tanis, which will become the capital of Smendes, first Pharaoh of the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt, a century later.

As the boat was drifting through the sea, he had left himself go and lied in, leaving his fate in the hands of Yam. What he had not anticipated was the shifting of his boat's direction towards the east, which didn't wake him up. The day after, the heat was striking harshly upon his body, crabs were covering the boat and the resting man, who seemed almost dead, woke up, to notice with great surprise that his boat wasn't moving. As he drove his hand outside of it, he felt the sand, and left the boat. It was in too much of a terrible state to be of any use.

Upon leaving, he notices most peculiar buildings in the distance, towards which he walked before stumbling upon a very familiar animal, an ibex, originary from Nubia and well known of the people of Thebes. This desert-dwelling animal was accompanied by a human who was, much different than anything he had seen before. It was a woman, with burning red hair, piercing blue-green eyes and a fair skin coupled with an olive complexion only embellished by the powerful éclat of the sun. She was a fascinating specimen for even he couldn't have dreamt of such magnificence. She tried talking with him, but he couldn't understand. As he tried to talk with her, she wouldn't understand either.

Together, they walked to the city of Ashdod, a part of Philistia, ruled upon by the Sea People. She understood what they were saying yet their dialects were different from one another. No one seemed able to understand the language spoken by the man, but an elderly friend of hers, capable of comprehending a few basic expressions employed. Yet all that was known of the man was his naufrage. At the end of the day, the elder hosted the two in his house for the night.

At the crack of dawn, the two left the city and walked eastwards until the sun set. As the man stayed behind, he noticed a strange fruit, and, not knowing it, he used one of his daggers to reach it, but after picking it, it noticed a strange white matter escaping from it and threw it away. It was decidedly not edible. But being through trying to talk and understand each other for so long, the two joined a new city called “Ir David,” where finally they could stop. That is, not to rest, but to meet with a savant who could have a better understanding of his language than others did.

For a year, the man was named Yosef, and taught the language of the people he was with. During this period, he was housed by Orpah, the woman who helped him accustom himself to the city and its inhabitants, and he became a carpenter and a merchant for another two years, whilst teaching the art of blacksmithing to people wanting to help the army without sacrificing themselves. One day, Yosef came to Orpah, with a desert tulip, singing a declaration of love, which would resonate through the city...

"“Beloved of Shapash, Yarikh, and myself, You made the back of my neck bend to admire your beauty, With a skin shinier and a heart more valuable than all the gold Râ can bear, My love for you is unlike this flower, eternal. As the end of me comes, all I need is for you to be happy, my queen, For the sight of your visage is better for me than to eat or drink. ”"

After this ode, the two lovers, indeed sharing a reciprocal sentiment, withdrew from the city to celebrate their “honeymoon,” far from any interference.

They woke up suddenly in the early morning, a sandstorm was promising to be quite unhelpful in the near future&mdash;they then hurriedly came back to the City, not for the better: Inhabitants had been killed by the disaster, and some buildings were dispatched, following the hypothesis that Yosef had cursed the city and left it because he knew of the sandstorm. As punishment, he was taken to be drowned, and his wife forced to watch. He was rid of his weapons, and brung to the closest large expanse of water, where he fought off one of his executioners, who, in retaliation, reached to his dagger and aimed to stab Yosef, who pushed the dagger upwards, and into his shoulder. He then stopped fighting, and his head was driven directly in the hypersaline water, which infiltrated his eyes and caused immense pain. Then he was thrown into the water, but he didn't seem to sink, which led his executioners to believe he cursed the water as well, instead of referring to the law, and brang him back, to decapitate him with his own khopesh. Lucky for him, the executioner had no knowledge of this weapon, so foreign to the population, and tried using the dull side of it, leaving enough time for Yosef to take out the dagger in his shoulder (which he had driven there intentionally for this moment) for it to pierce the headsman's liver, he then took his weapon, and cut his first assailant's head right off. After that, he kicked the body of the bleeding headsman off the coast and into the water, for the salt to force its way in the wound, and he took off, taking back his weapons and using his staff to walk back to his wife, who... Wasn't there anymore, he then rushed to one of the executioners' horse, and flew back to the City, before he noticed she had been taken&mdash;he galloped south, following the trails of another horse and found the kidnapper, taking a steady trot. Orpah wasn't defenseless either, and not hopeless anymore: As she saw her husand cantering towards them, she slipped her arm off of her bounds, and, dagger at hand, she pierced her offender's heart, and fell off the horse. Yosef, trying to catch her but almost already blinded by the torturing waters he was drenched in, fell alongside her, both were in pain.

Aside from the physical pain, the hurt caused by almost losing each other for eternity left them there, lying, crying, and thinking about what else their bond would be submitted to. But this couldn't last long, for now, they had to go, for they couldn't lament their way back into civilization, they then left south, for days until they could find life. At first, they had thought it was a city, but upon closer inspection, it was in fact a part of the road constructed by Pharaohs centuries ago across Sinai. But the people they saw weren't Egyptian, yet seemed very familiar. Indeed, they were Philistines, part of the Sea Peoples, planning to attack on the Egyptian capital once again, whom he had met years before in Ashdod, but they remembered too. They then proceeded to attack the couple, who fled southeasternmost, but they catched up to them, as they were left in an impasse, a cliff, more precisely. The time was for retaliation&mdash;they were an easy match, for their inexperience in combat and lack of knowledge made them simple targets, but one of them was smarter than the bunch and, not taking kindly to his defeat, threw himself towards Yosef, tackling him, and throwing himself off the cliff, hoping to take his opponent with him, but in doing so, he made him stumble on Orpah, pushing her over the edge. She could hold on for a few seconds, before being rescued by her husband, who held her arms, exhausted, and tried to get her up, while the remaining assailants were fleeing, and she let go of the grip. Nevertheless, Yosef prevented her from falling by holding on to her forearms, and in a single breath, brang her back on the safe side of the cliff.

After deciding that continuing to travel on land would result in more risk, they gained the coast and found a boat, which they used to get to another land, a little more hopeful than what they had experienced. But the fatigue caught on to the both of them, and they fell asleep faster than they would have noticed. Yosef was woken up with a start, and orientated the boat rightwards, hoping to find land there, which they did; they were welcomed by Ethiopian communities and stayed there for about a month. After that, Yosef had noticed something: Orpah was drinking much more water, got easily exhausted, and was often ill, and after checking, she noticed marks on her belly, concluding that his wife was pregnant. When Orpah learned the news, she was quite happy, but mostly worried for her child, thinking about the environment of his venue. To make sure the child would come in the best place, the couple delved farther into the continent. They stopped the next day, in the middle of the hills, where they met new people, with whom they worked on building a better haven for the current inhabitants. While Yosef, named Yūsuf by the inhabitants, taught them what he knew, and worked on his own, Orpah was spending her time weaving, and preparing for upcoming events.

Eight months in, she barely could withstand the constant pain applied to her by the child, and had to lay down, for nobody knew how to help her. Desperate, Yūsuf asked some of the tribe's people to surveil her while he searched the land. It was not known when he would come back, if ever, but at that point, he had a quest to fulfill and nothing would have to get in his way.

Powers
Drinking from the Holy Grail allows for eternal life, a burden that impacts greatly Iosepp's mentality, but which also helps him thrive through his challenges. He can be ridden of this power by being killed or having someone else drink from the chalice&mdash;the first option is probably the easier. Eternal life isn't all that the Holy Grail provides: Indeed, it provides the benediction of self-sustenance, which allows for the lack of any physiological need&mdash;eating, drinking, sleeping, breathing&mdash;none of these are obligations anymore, and they are not to be missed either. Through meditation, Iosepp hasn't only encountered good things; after a moment, he managed to personify his spiritual self which allowed for a distinct, yet not complete, separation of the two bodies. But his soul was cursed with all the torture and emotional shock from the past, present and future of Iosepp, and his entourage, making it a much more powerful, deviant and unwell part of his psyche, always feeding from all trauma and only waiting to get out, something Iosepp tries his best not to allow. Alternatively, his second form allows for more tactical usage as well. Indeed, this separation allows for very brief and short teleportation, which allows going through small walls, or recovering from a high-speed chute without crushing every bone of his. By extension, this teleportation allows for facilitated dodging, but it must be known that Iosepp's reflexes, due to high concentration, are very acute, and even more so when coupled with tense combat, dilating his perception of time. By extension of his alternate form and concentration as well, he can predict an opponent's next strike, but also a passer-by's next step or destination, a driver's next eye-blinking, and pretty much any other element of his surroundings, which is also due to his dilated perception of time, allowing for rapid and concise analysis of everything.
 * Immortality
 * Self-Sustenance
 * Alternate Form
 * Teleportation
 * Super Reflexes
 * Precognition

Alternatively, and on the longer term, the Holy Grail, when held, helps its user foresee and foretell events, it does not always succeed, as the reality shown by the Grail can fluctuate, but coupled with a very fast analysis, it may be of importance. From his deep state of meditation, Iosepp is capable of embracing a certain amount of fluctuating spiritual energies by channeling them through experience, trial, or more meditation. The ones that define him are as follow: Meditation is yet the most sophisticated way for him to reach a higher amount of power, though a deep level of concentration is needed for it to work, which doesn't always come when needed, yet, it allows for Iosepp's spiritual combat to stay within. The most primitive way to feed his insatiable alter ego is to experience devastating moments, anger being the fiercest of all emotions, it takes upon him to torture himself, to fight against his inner self to avoid it from taking over. It doesn't empower Iosepp himself, but rather the manifestation of his soul, which he may embrace in rare life-threatening situations. Speaking of experience, his chivalrous attitude is alimented by the glory of combat&mdash;The more tense a combat gets, the more Iosepp can enter a state of trance during which he can concentrate and meditate at high speeds whilst continuing to fight. It increases his tactical ability and his durability. Finally, as time goes on, every one of these factors grows stronger and time itself constitutes a possible way for Iosepp to empower himself, resulting in almost superhuman abilities. The water of the Holy Grail flows forever in his body, helping him regenerate from important wounds, but if a limb was to be severed or a wound too grave, Iosepp would not be able to recover so fast. Since the Holy Grail allows for eternal youth, its user can not suffer the damage of age, and will retain any experience as unmoving.
 * Empowerment
 * Patience Empowerment
 * Anger Empowerment
 * Combat Empowerment
 * Age Empowerment
 * Regeneration
 * Geriatric Perfection

Abilities
Iosepp fought for almost as long as he exists, and given his aforementioned powers, it is only logical that his training and experience allow for a much higher resistance to any obstacle. From the deceitfully hot and dry weather of the Sahara to the cripplingly cold and harsh winters of Siberia, Iosepp has seen it all and is capable of handling such climates. Though, if placed underwater or out of the atmosphere, he will probably die. He's not invincible. Iosepp always had the reputation to be silent and observant, and it's no lie&mdash;he is capable of examining his surroundings like very few others can, but his major flaw is that he collects a lot of crime evidence for the simple reason that “he likes them,” making the job harder for detectives alike, not that he cares about evading competition. His experience also makes him able to track any person or beast without the use of forensics, just by using deduction and previously found evidence. His important stature by itself plays a lot in the art of intimidation, but over the years, Iosepp has witnessed a tremendous amount of mentalities, and knows the psychological flaws to exploit over every one of his opponents, friend or foe. His alternate form also plays a big part in there. Iosepp is also capable of concentrating to achieve a state of trance; meditation takes a long time to master, but having all the time in the world and the next at his disposal, that is not a problem. It allowed him to embrace every single one of his powers and abilities and increase his capacity in all fields. As such, he is able to enter a state of slow thinking in order to examinate any type of situation, threatening or not, it notably allows him to predict a next move or to use his environment at will. Which he is very able to do, because even with his stature, he is stil relatively slender, and trained enough to keep a certain level of flexibility, allowing him to conquer most obstacles and move more freely. Iosepp is a very proficient martial artist, who can easily understand an art's precepts within, making him into a very powerful man, capable of beating even hordes of trained opponents, whilst using his alternate form as a suppport. His fighting style is a mix of many martial arts, and respects its own precepts. Iosepp can use his surroundings as a weapon remarkably well; his analysis makes him able to render any element in his fighting ground lethal, and as long as there's a ground to fight on, there's still something to be scared of. Even though common objects might be funny to use, real weapons still are necessary yet they require a certain amount of skill to use, which Iosepp has: Firearms, blades, artillery, there is none to can't be used against an enemy.
 * Enhanced Durability
 * Climatic Adaptation
 * Investigation
 * Tracking
 * Intimidation
 * Meditation
 * Tactical Analysis
 * Gymnastics
 * Fighting
 * Weapon Improvisation
 * Weapon Proficiency

Author's Note
Finally, I'm resurrecting this project which I held very dearly for a long time&mdash;my hommage to the team of Comic Crossroads, and with it my work of autofiction; it will be hard for me not to following the traces of my past work, but I shall try my best to get to a result I like. I don't want to disappoint anyone, but many points in the story of the first Iosepp will probably be reused here as well - speaking of which, I'm very happy to be able to use ideas I had previously scrapped, they ended up being very useful to the development of my character, and I hope my passion will be the same, if not greater. I would also like to restore my word on the older version as well, so, for those who haven't seen the first version, here's what you need to know of it.


 * “As you might already have noticed, this page means a lot to me, it's evident. First, it is a work of autofiction, which I have never tried, but you can easily understand how easy it is to get inspired when you talk about yourself, in a way. Secondly, Crossroads is a project I've been working on for a long time, actually, way before the Weekly Frenchy Talk, which is a fucking disaster, by the way. And I think what blows my mind about it is that I like to share knowledge with people, I just find that the best experience I can possibly have, and this is basically years of personal research, and thousands of years of human history that populates this page, and I don't think there's any way for me to be more proud of this concept. So, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, or are at least satisfied, I sadly can't write as good as I'd like to. You may also see some references to pages that do not exist yet. That is also normal, years of planning also mean loads of writing.”

What I like about this character is that allows me to express thoughts I've had for years, and to share something, share my understanding of culture and history, in a way, and because it makes me more able to speak freely and personally without delving too far either. I didn't want to write autofiction to boost myself, or to tell my uninteresting life, I'm trying to create something out of a real sentiment and out of a real passion for what I'm doing. Obviously, I may not do the better choices, and my execution probably won't change much from the older version, but know that even though it may seem a little redundant, or unsatisfying, I'm at least trying my best to not repeat myself. So, to whomever sees this; I hope I can share my feelings with you. &mdash; FrenchTouch

If any of you have any questions about what I'm going to do this time, feel free to ask them, I will answer those here.

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THE END