Iron Scale

Iron Scale is a Unicorn Mercenary who uses Tassomancy a somewhat documented but scarcely practiced art that allows the practitioner to manifest laws and edicts as spells or physical effects. due to the knowledge of the world's legal systems this requires, he is also the semi-official lawyer of the IDMC

Who I am
Iron Scale typically has a no-nonsense personality, and more often than not seems vastly more strict than he actually is, due to his most common place of residence (and occasionally sleep) being in or near court and government buildings.

it is public record that Iron Scale has had an almost 100% success rate, largely due to the nature of his own Tassomancy, (which can compel against perjury), and in districts that will allow it, his own testimony, as he is often on Sorties that the charges in question are usually charged because of

What I've Done
Iron Scale was born in a small village in the badlands, his parents essentially kept as cattle under the reign of Gaarosh the Willful, a titanic red dragon with a penchant for plundering and keeping books for his horde. to mark them as his own, Gaarosh required their names to incorporate a draconic concept

For the majority of his youth, Scale was able to keep his parents from eaten by virtue of his service, organizing Gaarosh's horde, sorting huge libraries of books into neat shelves and piles around the walls of his mountain cave.

As he did, he picked up more magical and worldly knowledge, eventually learning to create an invisible servant to do his duties for him so he could devote more of his time for study. in those studies, he learned the art of Tassomancy, the fact that Gaarosh's territory was technically skirting on the edge of Equestria's border with the village being in it, and the legal code of Equestria. a slightly outdated version, but it was current enough to work.

When Iron Scale returned home, he gathered his family in their hut of residence, asked them if they would want to start a new life where they weren't under the thumb of a dragon. with that, he cast his first full Tassomantic spell, evoking Equestria's Writ of Asylum, expecting it's need for approval to take several days. As it turned out, Equestria's open door policy allowed refugees to be processed as soon as a request was filed, the family was instantly teleported to the gates of Canterlot castle, with the noticeable addition of Iron's Cutie mark.

this was also a small point of shock for the town guards, the incident being reported in the Canterlot Star as they verified their citizenship.

Given his new-found abilities, Iron scale was the only one in his family not to change his name

After his accelerated passage through law-school, He signed on to the Iron Dawn Mercenary company after learning they were Instrumental in a raid that secured many ponies, fitting in with his magical practicality and legal know-how, only really picking up any form of weapon skills much later

My Abilities
Iron is a Skilled Legal mind and Tassomancer, A capable mage, and a strong swordspony

SPECIAL
For the SPECIAL score.

the bonuses in brackets are a direct result of Iron's Tassomancy

POWERS
Tassomancy: Iron is a Tassomancer, which allows him to practice Law Magic as well as he practices law, which is extremely well given his case record. if he is in a territory with it's own legal code, his magic is bound to the laws of that territory. if he is in an area claimed by no government, he has the option of either requesting Agency, Heraldry, or Diplomatic Immunity from one or more states if the "spells" granted by his status of bailiff aren't going to cut it.

Iron is also contemplating asking the equestrian requisitions board for both Sovereignty and Extraterritoriality for the IDMC's base in the Everfree Forrest to experiment with what making a legal code can mean for his art

Unicorn Magic: Iron has a knowledge of magic that philanders between basic and deep, preferring to use almost exclusively Force spells for the offensive power his Tassomancy rarely provides. he also tends to blank when asked to preform a non-law spell on the fly, so he has created a small rack of scrolls that fits neatly under his armor in case of emergency.

Swordsponyship: Despite his apparent nature of combat ineffectiveness, it is often assumes that Iron Scale's sword, Ultima Ratio [Short for Ultima Ratio Regum "the last argument of kings", often foreshortened more to simply Ratio] is simply a form of Tassomancy catalyst. while this is true during his channeling of Griffin Kindom legal code, he is also an extremely skilled Veneightian Fencer, a skill that benefits him greatly when using Tassomancy spells involving honor duels.

[Ultima Ratio Regeum] A blade custom forged with the help of Basalt Crown and the Forgemaster of the Iron Dawn, Hammerstroke, Ultima Ratio Regeum is an exceptionally strong Mithril blade, integrated with small chunks of artifact Mithril found and scuttled away by the company after it was sent to destroy the possessing sword Foesmiter, an operation all three played a part in.

It keeps an almost impossibly keen edge, any cursed nature the material may have kept, unlikely as that may be, has been long since forcefully removed by the layers of Tassomantic enchantment on it. due to that same enchantment, the blade cannot dull, degrade, chip or dirty [baliff bylaws state a baliff's weapon must be fully sharpened and polished before and during duty] harm innocent civilians [even with a stab or bash, it would crumple like paper until resheathed] or be taken out of it's scabbard without the explicit permission of, much less be used against Iron himself

[Iron's Robes] outside of his lightweight armor, Iron Scale's most iconic equipment is his partial robe, bearing a motif of what has been seen by some as a mancatcher, or by others as a blue omega with a line coming from the top. those very well oriented with history know it as the symbol of the Dawnbreach Council, the set of ponies that finalized the legal code of Equestria, firmly establishing the monarchy of the sisters in a way favorable to everypony. it is because of this reason Iron is somewhat nervous about having a case go too high, as he has no idea about Celestia or Luna's actual opinion of them. hopefully, their magically re-enforced construction would help to some degree if said opinion was sour

Creator Notes
Iron scale is surprisingly enough, a mostly original character, with next to no features cribbed from any of my previous characters/incarnations. any resemblances to the Azorious (or other law-mages) are a bug, not a feature, as they themselves borrow heavily from common legal motifs.

As for URR, he's not a law-mage without some gratuitous latin.

He's actually a pretty fun guy when he's out of the courtroom, which also unfortunately, is very infrequently