The Almighty Lancer

 is a Rider that appears in the Riders of Discord DLC featured in Monster Hunter Stories Ultimate.

Description
The Almighty Lancer is a young man clad in Cerambus gear who wields a Cerambus Lance. He is taller than average, has a stocky build, dark skin, brown eyes, and short, black hair. His signature armour is both spiky and stocky in terms of design, having large horns on the pauldrons, gauntlets with spiked ends, sturdy greaves and sabatons, and frills on the waist and gauntlets. The armour is primarily pale blue in colouration, with navy blue highlights on the gauntlets, greaves, gloves, sabatons, and belt, and the frills and horns are silver.

Personality
The Almighty Lancer is an analytical combatant, studying the movements of his opponents and forming his decisions based on their movements, and because his analytics can be foiled by opponents who win through dumb luck or cowardly tactics as opposed to legitimate strength or skill, he despises combatants that resort to them to win, considering victories gained through them to be illegitimate. Despite his role as the Rider of Discords’ current boss, the Almighty Lancer tends to be aloof, going off on his own to hone his own strength without much notice, but when he is present, he effectively maintains order, believing it to be necessary to honing his own strength and the strength of others. He has a way with herbivorous monsters, with them quickly accepting him as their master, and exhibits a strong love for them, especially his Cerambus, who was with him since he was a teenager. Despite what his distant nature would suggest, he is actually a kind Rider deep-down, forming friendships with a variety of Riders, with the most notable ones being The Illustrative Swordsman, Ravenous Berserker, and Slothful Bludgeoner, and can potentially befriend the player as well.

Background
Developed his hunting style by watching experienced Hunters in action, and moved to Val Habar to begin his hunting career, with him proving to be a skilled hunter, and chose the Lance as his weapon due to it revolving around durability and exploiting weaknesses as opposed to flashiness and strength. Found an abandoned Cerambus egg in the Everwood one day, with it hatching in front of him and the baby imprinting on him, and while he’s not keen on the baby following him around at first, he grows to accept it and tries to raise it as his own. Upon learning about the Riders of Discord, he seeks to join them. Although it takes some time to get the higher-ups to trust him, he eventually gains their trust, and proves his worth by bringing down an invading Deviljho in tandem with the Cerambus. Despite becoming one of them, he would often come and go, heading off to far-off lands to hone his skills and add more Monsties to his team, and would eventually head off to the New World.

Born and raised in Dundorma Town, the youth who would eventually be known as the Almighty Lancer longed to become a hunter due to wanting to experience the thrill of facing down a variety of powerful monsters and the prestige that came with it, for hunters were highly respected in his region, but was not offered any positions within Dundorma due to his lack of experience, as well as the fact that many of the monsters the town’s hunters were tasked with hunting were too powerful for a rookie to take on. To get a sense of how a skilled hunter would conduct themselves in battle, he would follow the town’s hunters and watch them in action, observing each and every movement they made and jotting down notes for future reference, and upon witnessing enough hunts to form an idea on how he should conduct himself, he decided to move to Val Habar and begin his hunting career there, for the region was an effective starting point for beginners, with the most notable one being a legendary hero who was known as ‘Doodle’ and ‘Kindred Hunter’ by the Capital C Caravan, who frequented the spot during the hero’s travels. Upon receiving his hunting license from the Guildmaster, he chose an Iron Lance as his weapon, for its focus on defense and exploiting weaknesses appealed to him more than the flashiness and power found in other weapons did, and set out to prove himself as a worthy hunter. While not particularly noteworthy, he showed himself to be competent, for his analytical style of hunting allowed him to efficiently observe a monster’s weaknesses and take advantage of any holes in their fighting styles, allowing him to steam through predictable monsters like Great Jaggi and Rathian. His methods were not without weaknesses themselves, however, as an opponent that resorted to cheap and cowardly tactics could easily bar him from observing them, which was best shown when he was out hunting a Cephadrome for the first time; the Piscine Wyvern repeatedly fled from him and would often attack him from behind and from below, preventing him from observing its strategies and causing him to fail the quest due to running out of time, filling him with an unending hatred for the species. To better himself after his humiliating loss, he went into the Everwood to hone his abilities for when he’d have to face it again. It would be this event that would change his life forever.

While he was training in the Everwood, the Lancer came across an abandoned nest holding a Cerambus egg, and struck in awe of what he witnessed, he went in to observe the egg so he could sketch it in his notebook. Upon him approaching it, the egg hatched, and the baby Cerambus, viewing him as its parent, began to imprint on him, nuzzling him and following him wherever he went. Fearing that its parents could be nearby, he attempted to shoo the baby and scare it away whenever he noticed it following him around, and when that failed, he would lure it back to the nest with strong-smelling herbs before taking off while it ate, but the baby would not stop following him no matter what he did, so he reluctantly accepted it as his new partner. Deciding that its parents would never come and not having the heart to let it starve or get picked off by predators, he chose to bring the baby Cerambus back to Val Habar with him, and believing that the Cerambus could be an essential partner with the right training, he went to the Gathering Hall to try and find a guide on how to raise them. In addition to the Scelidian guide, he found a discarded book about Riders, hunters that form bonds with monsters and ride them in battle, and this book contained a chapter dedicated to a distant society of Riders called the Riders of Discord, who formed their own community within a distant archipelago, shared their stories and monster guides with each other, and engaged in friendly competitions, and impressed by what he read about them, he vowed to prove himself worthy of the title and make him and the Cerambus a proper team.

With help from the Scelidian guide, the Lancer figured out which plants were appropriate to feed the Cerambus for optimal growth, and to train it in battle, he would engage various monsters in battle and give it orders to attack them, rewarding it with fresh berries upon success. To his surprise, the training went relatively smoothly despite a few rough patches, with the Scelidian obeying his orders and unleashing barrages of electric blows onto its enemies when it wasn’t distracted by shiny objects and sweet-smelling herbs, and upon completion of the training, he went back to the Dunes to exact revenge on the Cephadrome that humiliated him. Although the Cephadrome initially got the drop on them with its cowardly and cheap tactics, it ultimately could not keep up with the duo, for the mighty roars of the Cerambus would overload its sensitive hearing and leave it vulnerable if it hid in the sand, forcing it to fight above the sand and leaving it at the mercy of the Lancer’s analytical tactics. Relieved that the humiliation was finally over, he was able to continue with his hunting career, going through quest after quest with his Cerambus before returning to the Everwood for one last training session before going to the Discordant Isles.

Upon arriving at the Everwood, the Lancer came across a troubling sight: a Cerambus infected with the Frenzy Virus was rampaging in the area and killing everything in sight. Remembering that this was the area where he found the egg alone and abandoned, he concluded that this individual was in fact the Cerambus’s parent, having gone off to feed before falling victim to the virus. Feeling sorry for the monster for the suffering it was enduring thanks to the virus, he decided that it needed to be euthanized, and with help from his trusted partner, who appeared to realize that there was no way to save its parent, he took it on. The duo fought long and hard to stop the monster’s rampage, but it proved to be a difficult task, as the monster was considerably stronger than the ones fought before it and was able to match its smaller counterpart blow by blow. Nonetheless, the duo persisted despite their injuries, and with their combined strength, they slew the mighty Scelidian, ending its suffering once and for all. Following the infected individual’s death, he took what materials he could from it, for he did not want such a majestic creature to go to waste, and decided to craft himself a new Lance and armour set with it. What he could not take, he chose to bury, for he believed that just leaving it out in the open to rot would be an act of disrespect to the creature that gave his trusted partner life. Seeing himself as having mastered the art of Monster Riding following this event, he and his Cerambus decided to board a boat to the Discordant Isles so he could prove his worth.

Upon him arriving at the Discordant Isles, the Lancer was met with skepticism by the Riders of Discord’s higher-ups, for he was still relatively new to Monster Riding despite having a powerful and normally difficult to control Monstie on his side, and the Riders, being a small and somewhat obscure community at the time, wanted would-be members to have verifiable proof that they were worthy of holding the title of Rider of Discord, with them nearly rejecting him because he was too much of a greenhorn for their tastes. With some persuading from the Ravenous Berserker, The Illustrative Swordsman, and the Slothful Bludgeoner, who saw potential in him for managing to control the Cerambus on his own, the Discordant President agreed to let him join their ranks on the condition that he could take down a Deviljho that invaded the isles and was venturing too close to the base, and wanting to prove his worth, he challenged the Brute Wyvern. The Deviljho was a formidable and intimidating opponent, for the monster’s strength was greater than what he and his Cerambus experienced beforehand, but the duo refused to give up, and with a combination of the Cerambus’s electric strikes, which the Deviljho was weak to, and the Lancer’s analytics, which allowed him to counter its strong, but predictable attacks, the Brute Wyvern succumbed to its wounds. Impressed by the teamwork the duo showcased, the higher-ups allowed him to join their ranks, but due to feeling like he didn’t properly show his potential back in that harrowing fight, he would often venture out to far-out lands, including the New World, to hone his skills and collect more Monsties.

It was a process of trial and error, with the Lancer winning some battles and losing others, and his most infuriating fights during his travels were caused by Yian Garugas, Coral Pukei-Pukeis, and Kirins, with the Yian Garugas overwhelming him with underhanded tactics like attacking him while he was stunned by their roars, the Coral Pukei-Pukeis winning through dumb luck (ex. a monster like Rajang invading the hunts and forcing him to divert his attention), and the Kirins being too fast to observe properly, but nonetheless, he persisted in his pursuit of getting stronger, citing this infuriation to be character-building. Through sheer determination, he found a variety of eggs in the regions he traveled to and formed a full-fledged team for himself, bringing down a wide variety of powerful monsters in the process, and upon him building up the newcomers, he was able to steamroll the monsters that previously gave him trouble through strength and skill combined. Amazed at how far he progressed in such a relatively short period of time for a Rider, the higher-ups of the Riders of Discord granted him the title of The Almighty Lancer, and upon the Discordant President announcing his intentions to retire from his position as leader and elect a new one in his place, he was promoted thanks to receiving the popular vote from the lower-ranking members, the President viewing him as a good fit for the team, and the other higher-ups declining the role. While he was happy to have finally been recognized as the hunter he was always meant to be, he would still venture out to far-out lands to train, because, in his eyes, a good leader never stops trying to better themselves, and although he was distant a lot of times, he was able to maintain his authority over the Riders of Discord, with them noting that he’s good at what he does despite his absences suggesting that he doesn’t do much. It would also be under his current rule that restrictions to additions to the team would be lightened, encouraging more Riders to join the isles and be more confident in their abilities, though he would still enforce the rules with impunity, and anyone who broke them would receive punishments deemed appropriate. One would-be joiner to the group following his promotion would be a notable Rider with a Felyne for a companion.

Abilities
The Almighty Lancer specializes in the Thunder Element, using it through his Cerambus-based Lance, and as a Lance user, he prioritizes high defense and exploitation of his opponents’ weak points as opposed to flashiness and power. His Monsties of choice are Gammoth, Diablos, Cerambus, Nergigante, Brachydios, and Namielle, with Cerambus being his ace. Despite what his aloof nature might suggest, he is a competent hunter and leader, and proved his worth to other senior Riders of Discord to the point where the Discordant President crowned him as the Discordant Isles’ new leader. He also exhibits a way with herbivorous monsters, taming them with ease.

Tropes that Apply to Them

 * Achilles Heel: Because the Lance’s fighting style primarily revolves around blocking and countering attacks as opposed to directly attacking enemies, he can be countered with repeated use of non-damaging moves, as he’ll use up Kinship attempting to block or counter something that can’t physically harm him, and thus won’t activate many of his moves’ effects. He’ll grow wise to it if the player attempts it too much, however, throwing more direct attacks in with his defensive moveset and increasing his item usage.
 * Ascended Fanboy: Started out as a fan of the early Riders of Discord before joining their ranks, even becoming their leader through appointment by the Discordant President following his retirement.
 * Awesomeness by Analysis: Developed his ability to hunt by watching more experienced hunters in action, adding their techniques to his own to improve his skill in battle, and bases his choices on what strategies his opponents display. This ability allowed him to become a Rider of Discord, and eventually, their new leader, in a relatively short period of time.
 * Berserk Button:
 * He despises Cephadromes, Yian Garugas, Coral Pukei-Pukeis, and Kirins, and if the player brings one into battle, he will become enraged, gaining a boost to Attack and a debuff to Accuracy.
 * Opponents who nullify his tactics through dumb luck and/or cheap and cowardly tactics like repeatedly running away and attacking from behind also bring out his wrath, believing these victories to have been gained illegitimately, unlike those gained from opponents who won through strength, cunning, or both. Experiences with these kinds of things are the primary reason why he can’t stand the sight of the Cephadrome, Coral Pukei-Pukei, and Yian Garuga.
 * Beware the Quiet Ones: Despite what his distant and largely silent nature would suggest, he’s a natural-born Rider, having become a skilled hunter through mere observation, tamed a variety of dangerous monsters, brought down a Deviljho that was threatening the Discordant Isles, and is quick to quell disaster when pushed, as evidenced by the time he immediately intervened when the Outlaw Chieftain attempted to slit The Crimson Enforcer’s throat during a heated argument.
 * Boring, but Practical: As a Lancer, his fighting style isn’t very flashy, primarily revolving around blocking and countering. However, it proves to be efficient, as his focus on defense can help bypass the frailty Riders have in comparison to their Monsties, provide buffs to his team if used right, and give him insight as to what kind of moves his enemy will use next.
 * Counterattack: Like other Lance users, he primarily focuses on counters to apply damage, striking back or buffing his team if directly damaged while under the effects of them.
 * The Leader: He’s the current leader of the Riders of Discord, organizing events within the Discordant Isles to increase their influence worldwide and showcase the skill and strength that can be found within its members.
 * Mercy Kill: Delivered one to his Cerambus’s parent after he discovered that it was infected with the Frenzy Virus, and describes the act as such.
 * Shock and Awe: He utilizes the Thunder Element through his Lance.
 * Stone Wall: As a Lance user, he prioritizes defense over offense.

Notes and Trivia

 * The Almighty Lancer was based on TheBrilliantLance, a user on the fanon wiki and its Discord.
 * His Birthday, Nov. 4th, is the same as TheBrilliantLance’s.
 * Him becoming the current leader of the Riders of Discord was based on TheBrilliantLance being appointed as a wiki Bureaucrat by the admins due to Setheo not having the available time needed to manage the wiki and wanting to appoint another member as a new Bureaucrat as a result, as well as him gaining the popular vote among the wiki's and Discord's users.