Overview
Renaissance Heroes features eight characters. When you begin playing Renaissance Heroes, you must choose your initial character to begin gameplay. Choose wisely, you will not be able to switch to another character until you unlock an additional character slot. To assist you with your choice, we have highlighted the characters and their inherent bonuses and specialties.
Prologue
After a lifetime of research and invention, Leonardo da Vinci finally perfected his greatest creation, the ‘Da Vinci Machine’. Designed with the knowledge of the occult and the secrets of alchemical creation, the machine was set to become something more powerful than ever imagined – something capable of unlocking powers that could bring about extraordinary changes in the world.
However, during the final stages of testing, problems arose and the machine became unstable, exploding into fragments, and with it, the hope for the unimaginable. In the chaos that ensued, thieves ransacked the laboratory and stole fragments of the machine, along with blueprints for its creation.
Now holding within their grasp the key to unlocking this unknown power, the thieves find themselves pursued by our heroes; heroes who have set off to search far and wide across the barren wastelands of the world, to the farthest corners of distant kingdoms with one goal in mind… Retrieve the fragments of the machine and its blueprints, secure the hope that still lies in the power of the machine, and battle those that wish to claim it for their own!
Rossi
- Rifle Attack Bonus
- Increased Max Ammo
Rossi grew up in a poor merchant family in Milano. When Leonardo da Vinci worked in Milano, Rossi was enlisted to be his servant.
Leonardo saw potential in the boy and would teach him about science and logic. During his years with Leonardo da Vinci, Rossi learned a great many things and began to see the world in a new way. Leonardo eventually returned to Firenze, but he left behind an inspired boy who dreamed about a new world being ushered in by the science and inventions of the near future.
Rossi finally received a message from Leonardo with instructions to meet him in France. However, when Rossi arrived as he had been instructed, he discovered that his teacher was already dead.
A disappointed Rossi returned home to a letter that Leonardo had sent before he died. The letter encouraged Rossi to pursue his desires and included a part of the blueprint for the ‘Da Vinci Machine’. Reinvigorated, Rossi is now on a quest to find the rest of blueprint in order to realize his teacher’s dream.
Barossa
- Headshot Defense
- Special Weapon Attack Damage Bonus
Barossa comes from a Tunisian merchant family that had a business running trade ships. In his late teens, Barossa and his two brothers were attacked while sailing one of their trade routes. The unprovoked attack came at the hands of a navy ship belonging to Knights Hospitaller. All three brothers were captured and taken as prisoners.
The three brothers were accused and convicted of fabricated offenses against the Catholic church. The subsequent torture they endured left them with scarred bodies and disfigured, unrecognizable faces. If that weren’t enough, the brothers were then split up and sold as rowing slaves to the merchant marines.
Barossa lived as a slave for years until, one day, he managed to make a dramatic escape while his ship sank during an attempt to sail through a violent storm. Barossa strongly believed that his escape was an answer to his unwavering faith and prayers. Once he returned to his home, he made a vow: to find his lost brothers and reunite his family.
To complete his plan, he disbanded the crews of his family’s trading ships and re-organized them into a pirate crew. He then carved messages of faith all over his body and bound his face in an iron mask. Barossa’s final step was to capture a battle ship and a merchant vessel. With his ships and crews assembled, Barossa set out to find his brothers.
Years of piracy brought Barossa infamy and he was feared throughout the Mediterranean. It did not, however, bring him any closer to discovering the whereabouts of his siblings. Weary from his lack of success, Barossa decided to anchor his ship in a harbor for a much-needed rest.
The relaxation was short-lived as he happened to overhear a story about blueprints to a Da Vinci Machine. Thoughts of the power of this Machine renewed Barossa’s hope in finding his long lost brothers and he has returned to his journey.
Aisha
- Crossbow Attack Damage Bonus
- Increased Max HP
Aisha’s beauty has been her claim-to-fame since she was young. This notoriety intrigued the Sultan and he requested that she come to live with him in the palace.While she lived in the palace, Aisha was cherished and adored by the Sultan, but her life of luxury did not last forever. In 1511, Aisha made a nearly fatal mistake that resulted in her expulsion from the palace and imprisonment.
The Sultan’s initial response was to have Aisha executed, but her beauty tempered his anger. Rather than have her die at his hand, he sentenced her to be assigned to a death squad.There, she would be trained by ruthless men to become an assassin. If she survived the training, that is. Aisha managed to complete her training by harnessing her fear of death and her relentless desire to complete her missions.
Once her training was complete, Aisha decided to use her skills as a dancer to offer her protection and ease of travel throughout the empire. Her travels resulted in finding employment with the western Republican power. It was they who assigned Aisha to assassinate the core members of the royal family and the church. She tracked her targets throughout the western regions of the empire and eventually eliminated them.
However, her travels put her in contact with many scientists, artists, merchants, other explorers of free thought. Socializing with such strong minded and influential people had a profound influence on Aisha. She found herself emerging from the shadow of fear that had dominated her for so many years. She longed for a new life; one where she was not the tool of death for others.
Aisha’s dream could only be supressed for a short while. While on a mission to retrieve a piece of the blueprint for Leonardo da Vinci’s “Machine”, Aisha recognized the importance of the device to both the Turkish empire, and to her own ambitions. Rather than return as she was instructed, she disobeyed her orders and kept the blueprint for herself. Aisha has now begun her new life. She is no longer the weapon of power hungry men. She has turned her sights to more self-serving means and is searching for the remaining pieces of Da Vinci’s blueprint.
Medici
- All Weapon Firing Rate Bonus
- Increased Starting Ammo
Filipo de Medici had been born into a powerful family, but even within such a family there are powerless members. He knew his cousins, his aunts, his uncles. They all spoke pretty words to his face, but behind his back he knew they ridiculed him if they thought of him at all.
One day, he would rule the family. He would be one of the powerful scions, with those same aunts and uncles and cousins lying at his feet. He took the money his father left him and invested. Over time, he had more than tripled the family’s wealth.
In 1512 he found favor with Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici, by far the most powerful member of the family thanks to his position as pope. Pope Leo X, as he was known, ruled the Vatican and much of the rest of the world, for that matter. Filipo’s clever eye and shrewd investing had caught the man’s attention. Pope Leo made Filipo the leader of the church protectors with a mission to destroy the “New Republic” and all its members.
The more Filipo learned of the New Republic and their science, the more concerned he became. The Church needed a weapon of equal weight to combat the New Republic and thoroughly crush it. Thus did the Church begin to accept and sanction specific alchemists, all upon Filipo de Medici’s suggestion.
By the year 1515 Filipo had more than proven his worth. He had routed significant threats to the Church, leaving it free to expand its power unimpeded. It was that year, in the course of his work, that Filipo first heard of the Da Vinci Machine.
Once he understood the potential of such a thing, he immediately re-evaluated his own goals and realized they were child’s play in comparison to this. Certainly, he could become powerful within the Medici family and the Church, but with the ability to traverse space and time in any way he pleased he could rule the world.
Bart
Increased Rifle Critical Ratio
Melee Attack Damage Bonus
Bart never knew his parents. The world began for him in a monastery in a mountain village in Toscana. He had been abandoned, as far too many children are, and taken in by the monks. The first words he heard were prayers.
It was no surprise when he became a monk. It consumed him–serving God on earth and fighting against all blasphemies. All of the monks of the St. Gregory monastery were committed to the battle, but he above all. Every choice he made was in pursuit of that goal. H e prayed, he labored long hours in service, he self flagellated to cleanse himself of sins, and he spent a great deal of time thinking upon his mission. He forsook all other things, becoming the most extreme of the ascetics in the monastery.
He set out to see the world in his twentieth year and found himself in Rhodes, fighting side by side with the Hospitallers against the Ottoman heathens laying siege to their city. It was a horror. The world was dirty and disgusting, rife with sin, rife with blasphemy. Bart took comfort in the thought of his brother monks in the monastery. They understood. They were dedicated to the same battle as he.
He returned to the mountains of Toscana in the year 1510, and found only death and destruction. The monastery was in ruins. In his absence, the Vatican had changed its doctrine. Instead of preserving divinity within the world, the Vatican was focused on colonizing the New World. When the monks of St. Gregory’s spoke against these changes, the Vatican simply excommunicated them. The monks committed suicide.
That’s when the fury began to build in Bart. He would set the world right. He would avenge his fallen brothers and continue their mission. He would challenge the Vatican itself.
Bart fasted and prayed for guidance. How long he prayed in the ruined monastery, he didn’t know. Weeks. When he came out of holy trance, his body was emaciated, but his eyes were clear and his vision sound. He knew what he needed to do.
He traveled to the fields of Sicily and there used a forbidden rite to raise the spirit of a long dead crusader. That spirit, Jaque, was bound to do what Bart willed. And Bart willed the deaths of blasphemers. Artists, philosophers, scientists, politicians, merchants… Anyone who challenged God’s rule must die.
The discovery of the da Vinci Machine changed everything. Instead of a slow battle of attrition, Bart could travel back to a holier time. He could warn them. He would make sure the Church stayed true.
Jaque
- Increased Defense
- Increased Max Armor
Jaque was born into French royalty. In 1147, he participated in the Second Crusades as a member of the Knights Hospitaller. As a result of his exceptional service, he was granted territory in Sicily, and used it to amass a large fortune through transit trade.
Although he was wealthy, Jaque never let go of his faith. He prayed daily and vowed to continue the Lord’s work for eternity. He was mortally wounded in the Battle of Montgisard in 1177. Jaque’s body, clad in knight armor, was laid to rest in a quiet area of his land in Sicily.
In 1510, Jaque was returned to the world by the monk, Bart. His body was gone, replaced by Bart’s poorly constructed robot figure made of armor, wood and rope. Bart approached the resurrected crusader and muttered, “Servant of God, it is time to keep your vow.” Bart used Jaque to carry out his plans of purging the world of sin. All Jaque wanted to do was return to the warmth and love that he felt in death.
While in the study room of a merchant he had just killed, Jaque discovered information about the existence of the “Da Vinci Machine,” and realized the blueprints he had been gathering had been for this Machine. Jaque’s mind was immediately flooded with thoughts of how he could use the power of this machine to free himself from Bart and return to his peaceful slumber.
Sika
- Crossbow Easy Shot
- Easy Head Shot
Sika’s family was one of minor nobility, in Provence. It was a beautiful, peaceful area. Her home was surrounded by vast grassland and they had an immense vineyard. It was simple and joyful upbringing.
Sika’s family was in particular respected in the region because they were descendants of a great alchemist. Indeed, most members of the family were still alchemists. In addition to the standard attempts to make gold, her family also focused on making medication to help their neighbors. Because of this they were well loved.
Young Sika studied alchemy from her early childhood on. She was by far the smartest and most talented child of her generation, and so became her grandfather’s favorite grandchild. This meant the old man spent extra time with her teaching her advanced alchemy.
In the year 1516 the family received a letter from the Vatican. It was cleverly worded, but it was clear that the request was in fact an order and if they did not comply, the Vatican would destroy them. The letter asked that they work for the Vatican and in exchange the Vatican would protect them. They would be church sanctioned alchemists, something hitherto unheard-of.
It was an offer they could not refuse. Sika’s grandfather chose to send her to serve the church. She was clever enough to protect herself while working for them and she might be able to carry out a secret task for him.
He gave her this note:
Our family has been studying alchemy for over 400 years. Even during the years of the church’s greatest power when we were persecuted, we hid our studies and continued. The Holy Preservers who now promise to protect us, once killed every alchemist they could. Do not trust them.
Through it all we have done our job and we look to you to do so. In those 400 years of study we have searching for something known only as the Salamander. I have reason to believe that there may be records of Salamander in the Vatican Library in Firenze. That is the true reason I have accepted the Vatican’s offer.
It falls to you, Sika, to continue the hunt the legendary Salamander. The power it promises we can guarantee a safe future for every one of us, free of Church persecution.
For the next three years, Sika worked for the Vatican, frequently traveling between the Medici palace in Firenze and the Vatican in Rome. Whenever she could, she searched for records of the Salamander.
She found only fragments and faint traces of it in church documents.
In 1519 Sika accidentally stumbled upon letters referring to a Da Vinci Machine. She had never heard anything about this in the entire time she worked for the Vatican. Instinctively, she knew this was dangerous information. She swallowed once and then began to read.
The Da Vinci Machine could control both time and space.
This could change everything. With this machine, her family would be safe. The church wouldn’t be able to touch them. It might even help them find the Salamander. This would make her four years of service of the Vatican worthwhile.
There was a piece of parchment with complicated lines crisscrossing it as well as alchemical symbols drawn on it. This must be part of the blueprint. Sika took the parchment and hid it in and inner pocket.
She left the Vatican Palace immediately, but acted as if she was merely going to see de Medici in Firenze. What Sika didn’t realize was that there were more pieces of the blueprint hidden in the Vatican.
Alphon
- Increased Starting HP
- Increased Starting Armor
Alphon had been born to a fisherman’s family in Spain. Unlike the rest of his family, though, Alphon had no desire to be a fisherman. He hungered for the open sea and adventure.
His childhood was a time of discovery in the world. Ships were sailing off to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope. The Pacific Ocean was discovered and explorers dreamed of circumnavigating the globe by ship. Alphon dreamed of being among them.
In 1512, Alphon joined the crew of a ship sailing to India. In the five years he served on that ship he learned navigation, map reading, wind prediction, managing a crew… When he joined, he was the lowest ranking member of the crew but by the return trip, Alphon was the First Mate.
In 1518 the Captain died of a disease he picked up in India and he left his ship to Alphon. Which meant Alphon had everything he needed to become the explorer he’d always dreamt of being. Except… What would he discover? Columbus discovered the Americas, Vasco da Gama pioneered the sea route to India, Magellan circumnavigated the globe… what was left? How to become not only a great explorer, but the most famous explorer in all of history?
The Garden of Eden. Alphon would find the Garden of Eden! The Church might call him impious, but even they would be in awe of him if he found it. So Alphon started a rumor that he was embarking on the search for the Garden of Eden.
As expected, the Church and the royal families of both Spain and Portugal contacted him. However, when they realized he didn’t actually know the location of the Garden of Eden, they ridiculed him. He was unable to convince them that he would find it.
Alphon became a laughing stock for the whole world to ridicule.
In 1519 Alphon took work carrying freight to the south of France, near Marseille. Even there, people ridiculed him. He took to drinking heavily. One night as he staggered into an alley, he saw what looked to be a suit of armor leap down from atop a building and attack a man. Then it leapt back to the rooftops.
He rubbed his eyes. Surely this was hallucination. But no, there was a man bleeding to death in the alley. Alphon ran to the fallen man. The man pressed something into Alphon’s hand. A piece of parchment.
Alphon stared at his little piece of parchment. This… this could make him famous. With this machine, he could find the Garden of Eden! Let everyone laugh at Alphon, they’d all regret it one day.