{{Characterbox|
  image = http://dreamscape.sonitus-online.com/pesmerga.jpg
| caption = Pesmerga the Black Knight, from ''Suikoden''
| character_name = Pesmerga
| aliases = The Black Knight, He Who Chases Death
| source = ''Suikoden'' (series)
| tournaments = [[Survivor XVI]]
| sponsors = [[Lucent]]
| related = [[Yuber]] (hunted by)
| abilities = Superhuman strength and durability, limited magic
}}

'''Pesmerga''' is a character from the ''Genso Suikoden'' game series. Always present during major conflicts and wars throughout history, the dark knight silently hunts down the black knight [[Yuber]] for unknown reasons. He is a physically powerful and stoic character who harbors a great inner darkness.

== Character Background ==

Little information is known about the Black Knight, as he is often dubbed. He has appeared throughout history in his world at the site of great battles, flocking to them like a crow to a field of carrion. He speaks little about himself, often answering questions with curt answers and terse words. As such few have learned about his history.

Of what little has been learned of the Black Knight, mostly from secret investigations into his background during his appearances in major conflicts, the most obvious is that Pesmerga is a man who is driven by a personal quest; a life-sworn vendetta to hunt down and presumably kill the black knight [[Yuber]]. To this end Pesmerga has travelled across the known world in search of his elusive prey.

Pesmerga's past, some believe, dates back to the Kingdom of Aronia, a massive Empire that ruled nearly all of the Northern Continent centuries ago, and became the Holy Kingdom of Harmonia after the war of succession lead by the priest Hikusaak. Few records of Aronia exist in the current era, though it is believed that the unique sigils that arodn both Pesmerga and his counterpart's armor are the symbols of the Aronian Kingdom. This facet of Pesmerga's history, however, has never been confirmed.

In recent recorded history, Pesmerga's first appearance was in Solis 453-457 where word of the vampire ''Neclord'' being given mayorship of the Lorimar region of the Scarlet Moon Empire began to spread to the outlying nations. Pesmerga traveled to the Empire to meet with Neclord, as he and Yuber had dealings in the past through the sorceress Windy.

Pesmerga, however, arrived at Neclord's castle shortly after his defeat at the hands of Tir MdDohl, the bearer of the Star Zodiac Sword Viktor, and Flik the Blue Lightning. Pesmerga encountered these three not long after Neclord's defeat, and offered his services as a mercenary to them for no cost or obligation. He knew that by following the current of war, he would eventually encounter his quarry, who also was drawn to the heart of battle.

Pesmerga soon came to learn, by working with the Toran Liberation Army, that Yuber was indeed under the service of the sorceress Windy and the employ of the Scarlet Moon Empire. This information lead, invariably, to a brief conflict between the two, culminating during the final siege on the capitol city of Gregminster in Solis 457.

{| style="float: left; clear: left; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;"
|-
!style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom;">|
http://dreamscape.sonitus-online.com/pes_yuber_duel.jpg
|-
|
|}<noinclude>

During the siege of Gregminster, Yuber conjured a vast army of monsters from the ''World of Emptiness'' to battle the Toran Army. Only the intercession of the great sorceress Leknaat and Pesmerga's driving assault against Yuber stemmed the tide of the battle. However, during their confrontation, Yuber managed to escape the fight, leaving Pesmerga to begin his search anew.

Pesmerga did not abandon his post at the side of Tir McDohl, however, and followed him into the great palace of Gregminster (the former capitol city of Aronia, coincidentally) to do battle with Emperor Barbarosa Rugner and the '''Sovereign Rune''' that he had control of. Pesmerga's dutiful service in the Toran Liberation army ended with Barbarosa's death after falling from the highest tower of Castle Gregminster.

During the collapse of the castle, held together by the power of the Sovereign Rune, Pesmerga disappeared in the chaos having fulfilled his mission. For some time Pesmerga wandered much of the Northern Continent, heading west into Tinto, and then north into the Grasslands and Zexen territory before sweeping back town into Jowston when he heard word about Yuber's resurgence.

Three years after the Gate Rune Wars that destroyed the Scarlet Moon Empire and brought about the rise of the Toran Republic, Pesmerga joined the New City-State Army upon hearing of Yuber's appointment to general in the Highland Army. It was not until the final stages of the war in Solis 460 that Pesmerga joined the New City-State Army to hunt down Yuber, and by this time the army numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Several of the generals of the army, having served in the Gate Rune Wars (including a wandering Tir McDhol who offered his help to Dunan) recognized Pesmerga as a skilled soldier, advising the leader of the forces, Riou, bearer of the '''Bright Shield Rune''' to grant Pesmerga his own brigade to command. Riou agreed to the advisement of his peers, and Pesmerga was granted command of a brigade of soldiers alongside the captain of the Maximillian Knights, and one Georg Prime.

It is during the last days of the Dunan Unification War when Pesmerga meets Georg Prime for the first time, having heard legend of the swordsman's skills across much of the Grasslands and knowing that Georg once served as one of the Great Generals in the Scarlet Moon Empire. The two had a strong, but very unspoken friendship during the war, working together to circumvent the Highland forces up until the battle at the highland capitol, L'Rennouile, where Yuber once again awaited the Black Knight.

This time, however, as the New City-State Army drew in to demolish the Highland forces, Yuber retreated with a majority of the Harmonian reinforcements, leaving Pesmerga to once again finish his obligations in the war before continuing his hunt. Pesmerga alongside Riou, Georg, Tir McDhol, Viktor and the sorceror Luc defeated the incarnation of the '''Beast Rune''' which in turn destroyed the L'Rennouille castle, and once more the Black Knight vanished during the chaos to continue his hunt for Yuber.

Pesmerga's [[Survivor XVI]] portrayal begins after this point.

== Skills and Abilities ==

Pesmerga is a consummate soldier, a heavy-armor clad myrmadon who carries into battle an enormous broadsword called ''King Crimson''. Pesmerga's combat capabilities are beyond that of a normal human, his physical strength and durability are nearly unsurpassed by warriors of his world. He has served in two recorded historical wars, and is believed to have fought in dozens more all while hunting down Yuber.

Aside from his swordsmanship skills, Pesmerga is a strong general and tactician. Though he is often considered to be harsh by others, Pesmerga's methods are not without merit. Soldiers under his control have considerably enhanced offensive tactical capabilities as well as the benefit of great defensive measures.

In sword combat, Pesmerga is a man who worries little for finesse or form. His style of swordfighting relies on his brutish strength and the impossible sharpness of ''King Crimson'' and its ability to rend nearly any object in twain if given enough force. Pesmerga has also augmented his sword ''King Crimson'' with a '''Rage Rune''', a fire-based rune that grants his weapon flame properties, from being sheathed in a cyclone of fire to heating the blade to cut through steel. The drawback to ''King Crimson's'' fire properties, however, is that it does less damage to creatures that take less damage from fire-based attacks.

As far as magic goes, Pesmerga is a middle-class rune user. He has access to higher-level rune magic via the '''Rage Rune''' imbedded in his right hand, however he has very few uses of the magic, limiting their use in prolonged battles without sufficient time to recharge. The following list below are the Rune Spells that pesmerga has access to via his '''Rage Rune''':

{| style="float: left; clear: left; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;"
|-
!style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom;">|
http://dreamscape.sonitus-online.com/fire.gif
|-
|
|}<noinclude>

* '''Rage Rune'''
** ''Flame Wall'': This spell creates a blazing curtain of fire twenty feet high and sixty feet wide that rises from the ground in a close proximity to Pesmerga. This wall can also be shaped as a ring to surround Pesmerga as a protective (or at the least hampering) barrier. ''Pesmerga can use this spell 4 times before needing to rest and recover his energy.''
** ''Dancing Flames'': This rune spell conjures a surging field of flames in a sphere that burns over an area roughly 300 feet across with leaping and twisting snakes of fire and a low ground-covering inferno mixed with rippling waves of heat, smoke and burning embers. ''Pesmerga can use this spell 3 times before needing to rest and recover his energy.''
** ''Explosion'': Like ''Dancing Flames'', this spell conjures a shorter-lived blast of concussive force and fire that appears at first as a seething sun-like sphere of fire high in the air. The sphere radiates out flat rings of flame before pulsating and dropping to the ground like a comet where iit releases a detonation of force and fire like a bomb that blasts to a 200 foot radius. ''Pesmerga can use this spell 2 times before needing to rest and recover his energy.''
** ''Final Flame'': The most powerufl of all fire magic outside of a True Rune, Final Flame conjures forth a great sea of flames that wash over the rune bearer (who is unaffected by the fire) and surge like a tidal wave in a three-hundred foot wide and six-hundred foot long swath. In this same area enormous serpents of fire leap and spring forth from the sea of liquif flames, and small comets of bright yellow-orange fire streak from the skies to impact the ground. This spell causes considerable collateral damage and Pesmerga uses it very sparingly. ''Pesmerga may cast this spell 1 time before needing to rest an recover his energy.''

{| style="float: left; clear: left; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;"
|-
!style="text-align:center; vertical-align:bottom;">|
http://dreamscape.sonitus-online.com/firesealing.gif
|-
|
|}<noinclude>

Pesmerga's other rune is a '''Flame Sealing Rune''' imbedded on his left hand that grants him immunity to fire, heat, and all associated forms of heat-based damage (as evidenced by his invulnerability to Blaster Fire in SXVI's Star Wars round).

== Tournament Appearances ==

{| width="100%"
|- style="border: 1px solid #7577B7; color: #000000; background-color: #E4E4F2"
!width="25%"|Tournament
!width="15%"|Iteration
!width="20%"|Status
!width="20%"|Sponsored By
!width="20%"|Eliminated
|- style="border: 1px solid #7577B7; color: #000000; background-color: #E4E4F2"
||[[Survivor XVI]]
||SUI00108
||Sponsor
||[[Lucent]]
||Round 5
|- style="border: 1px solid #7577B7; color: #000000; background-color: #E4E4F2"
||[[Survivor XVIII: The Xi Test]]
||SUI00108
||Sponsor
||[[Lucent]]
||Finals
|}

== Tournament History ==
===Survivor XVI: Kingdom Come===
Pesmerga's tournament history begins in [[Survivor XVI|Survivor XVI: Kingdom Come]] when he was recruited by the fallen Eternal Ceriseth after the conclusion of the Dunan Unification war to participate as a soldier in a grand conflict. Not knowing the true scope of the war, or that it would take place off of his world, Pesmerga allied with Ceriseth to serve the Void-King [[Vire Agraumar]] in his quest to destroy the [[Eternals]].

Pesmerga began dutifully fulfilling his mission, hunting down creatures of power for Lord Vire and fighting those who would be opposed to his reign. However, Pesmerga began to become sidetracked from his duties following a journey into the city of Coruscant in the Star Wars universe, when he slipped under the influence of the Dark Side, becoming like the very demon he hunted. During this time, Pesmerga came to despise a woman named Arioch, a chaotic and bloodthirsty woman that reminded him more of Yuber than his Dark-Side suffused self did.

Finally realizing what he had become, Pesmerga set Arioch free and went to the side of Lord Vire to battle Bossk the bounty hunter in a climactic battle atop Bossk's shuttle in the skies over Coruscant. It was revealed at this time that Pesmerga bore in his left eye, the [[Hachifusa Rune]] or a portion thereof when he lost his helmet.

In the next excursion brought by Vire, Pesmerga found himself embroiled with in many difficult battles and brought to the brink of near death by a sentinel guardian ithin the ''Black Omen'' in the ''Crono Trigger'' world. There, however, Pesmerga found the legendary sword [[Forever Sin]] lodged inside the Mammon Machine where the red knife should have been. Taking up the cursed sword in hand, Pesmerga's path within the ''Kingdom Come'' story arc would forever change.

With Forever Sin at his side, Pesmerga's own inner darkness, resentment and turmoil to make him a more ferocious and embittered soldier. As the battles went on, Pesmerga's service to the dark side grew, until a culminating battle on the plains of [[Arcadia]] resulted in his snapping and turning against the Void King Vire alongside the holy paladin [[Torin]]. The two battled Vire, but Pesmerga was eventually knocked from the battle by Vire's indomitable strength and suppressio powers.

When the battle turned sour and Vire fled into Carpasia, the City of Dreams, Pesmerga followed him, though found himself sealed out of the Poend Cathedral where Vire had escaped to. Wandering the streets of Carpasia, Pesmerga encountered Arioch again, and apologized for his earlier behavior, though felt there was something strange about her. When Arioch proved to be nothing more than a tormenting figment of Carpasia playing games with Pesmerga's mind, the Dark Knight's resolve broke, and he went on a killing spree within the shadow city.

Only due to the brave efforts of the nightwalker [[Slayer]] stopped Pesmerga, whom had given in entirely to Forever Sin. After the battle which claimed Pesmerga's life, Forever Sin was taken by [[Mesdoram Elmdor]] and brought into the Poend Cathedral, where it rests to this very day.

After Pesmerga's death, it was revealed that his entire presence within the war was to bring Forever Sin to Poend and the waters of Zurvan. The entire arrangement was orchestrated by one of the [[muse|Muses]] known as [[Soelil]]. Freeing Pesmerga from his contract with Vire, Soelil returned Pesmerga's soul to life and returned him to his world, with ''something'' changed in his favor.

=== Survivor XVIII: The Xi Test ===

Not long after having had returned to his world following the events of [[Survivor XVI]], Pesmerga found himself in the western Zexen Confederation in an altered version of his iteration. When he had left his world, Zexen had been attacked and consumed by Harmonia during a war with the Grasslands, a war that Pesmerga took part in on the side of Harmonia to hunt down Yuber, and the Masked Bishop. However, due to Soleil's interference and her re-positioning of him in the timeline, Pesmerga was not present on Harmonia's side, and instead a new Flame Champion named Hugo arose in the grasslands to stop the Masked Bishop, Albert Silverburg and Yuber.

Pesmerga took to wandering the countryside for roughly a year, memories of the events in the Multiverse slowly becoming like a dream to him. When he heard that Albert Silverburg had been the one to summon Yuber during the Second Fire Bringer War he began to track down the prodigious general, only to discover that he had fled overseas to the Western Continent after betraying Harmonia at the end of the war, in order to curry favor with a foreign government.

After securing boat passage west from Vinay Del Zexay to the western continent, Pesmerga was fully prepared to continue his hunt for Yuber on foreign soil. However, fate would interfere in his plans yet again. During his ship journey, storms wracked the small sailing vessel he had brokered passage on, and when the storms became worse and seemed they would swallow the vessel entirely, Pesmerga vanished from the deck in a swirling column of light.

Pesmerga arrived, much to his disapproval, in a strange and foreign city (Midgard, circa Advent Children) in the heart of a terrible battle. Pesmerga, knowing that he was summoned to serve in the heart of battle once more, fought bravely and indomitably for the forces that chose him as their champion, as his code bound him to, but was furious that he was not asked for his services this time around.

During the course of this short battle, Pesmerga would come to reunite with the shadow-sorceror named Magus whom he had met briefly during the events of [[Survivor XVI]]. However, Pesmerga came to understand that he was not the same Magus, but an alternate version from one of the myriad of worlds within the Multiverse. Magus and Pesmerga made a tneuous alliance of necessity, working together to battle through the city of Midgar, on through to the fortress of Kyoji Mujo where he learned to harness the power of his alter--the Eight Devil Armor--a conjured suit of armor that resembles an enormous eight-armed demon with gleaming red horns and a single glowing eye of orange-white fire in the center of its head.

While battling against Mujo, Pesmerga began to have flashbacks of his service to Tir McDohl, about the battle in Gregminster and the defeat of the Sovereign Rune. All of these memories, combined with the struggle Pesmerga was having with Mujo were brought to a critical boiling point as Mujo nearly killed a young Scheris Adjani before Pesmerga's eyes. Seeing the loss of life of those absorbed into a time of war, Pesmerga could not hold back any further, and with a stunning series of attacks with the assistance of Magus--defeated Mujo and destroyed his alter and the fortress in the process.

In the wake of Mujo's defeat, Pesmerga assumed his battles had ended, but there was still one more confrontation to deal with. Pesmerga awoke to a familiar site, a place he had been after the events of [[Survivor XVI]] in search of Yuber, the ritual site where the Masked Bishop had died. Pesmerga had been brought ''back'' in time to his world to bear witness to the end of the Masked Bishop and the unbridled power of the True Runes. But more importantly, he had been brought back to confront Yuber--once and for all.

Fighting his way through the temple, Pesmerga came into conflict with Yuber, a battle that caught the chaotic fiend off-guard, and a battle that rocked thorugh the Ritual Grounds. But Pesmerga was caught off guard as he noticed that the Masked Bishop was none other than ''Luc'' the sorcerer he had fought side by side with in Gregminster so many years ago. Now with a stronger fervor for battle, Pesmerga assailed Yuber, launching into a brutal assault before being untimely pulled from the battle in the same fashion he had arrived in.

Pesmerga appeared on the shore of a beach by the driftwood of a ruined ship, feeling as though he had laid on the sands for days at a time. The knight's memories of his previous journey once again fading like a dream, but the power that coursed through him, the Eight Devil Armor had remained. Pesmerga felt empowered, he felt as though he had been granted a boon for this service. But Yuber had been pulled from his grasp yet again, a confrontation lifetimes in the making undone.

He had no idea who had brought him to those worlds, no idea why but only to fight. Bu he knew the call would come again, and now he knew in his heart that answering the call could bring him closer to the chaotic Yuber, and to the end of his very long journey.

== Canonical Differences ==

The Pesmerga portrayed in [[Survivor XVI]] and [[Survivor XVIII: The Xi Test]] has gained several differences from his canonical version. While his assortment of runes remains the same, Pesmerga was given a gift by the former Knight Arcana Ceriseth for his duty in Coruscant in [[Survivor XVI]], this gift was the lightsaber that belonged to Darth Vader, a gift that Ceriseth presumed fitting from one Dark Knight to another for his dutiful defeat of Bossk.

In the [[Survivor XVIII: The Xi Test|Xi Test]] Pesmerga learned to harness the power of the ''Other Side'' and conjure an armor from the depths of his soul to augment his powers. The ''Eight Devil Armor'' forms as glossy black plates of metal that wrap around Pesmerga's body like a second suit of protective mail. The armor looks distinctly futuristic, as it was discovered in the ''sCRYed'' world. The armor makes Pesmerga resemble a ten foot tall demon of black metal, with a samurai-styled helm bearing two sweeping horns of deep crimson. The armor's face looks like a one-eyed demon with an open jaw of blade-like teeth, with the single eye in the center of its forehead being a glowing circle of yellow-orange light--the Hachifusa Rune.

The Eight Devil Armor also gives Pesmerga eight arms with which to attack, four on either side of his body, each able to produce seperate blades made of pure fire five feet in length. On his back he carries a larger version of King Crimson, his broadsword. Pesmerga has not yet learned how to master this armor, however, as he has only used it once and never outside of the ''sCRYed'' world. It will take great duress to draw out the Eight Devil Armor from Pesmerga.
[[Category:Characters|Pesmerga]]