[hider=The Skydiving Prince of the Air]
[color=5D8AA8][h3]Behind the Scenes[/h3][/color]
[color=5D8AA8][b]Name:[/b][/color] Emile Forsyth
[color=5D8AA8][b]Age:[/b][/color] 37
[color=5D8AA8][b]Gender:[/b][/color] Male
[color=5D8AA8][b]Bio:[/b][/color] Childhood, such an important part of life, is destined to fade away.  Even in his teens, Emile looked back on his younger, more immature self with loathing, but all memories of his early self faded away the year he turned nineteen and, filled with pride in his country, followed in his family's tradition of joining the Royal Navy.  He steeled himself like all the others during the long days of training and drills, and when the time came to perform his duty, he went with his former fear squared away into the very corner of his heart.  Putting his brains and brawn to use as an engineer in the bowels of the ship to which he was assigned, Emile spent months at sea at a time.  Friendship with his comrades came easily, despite the trouble he'd once had socializing with others, and his life seemed like smooth sailing for so long he forgot that his ship was patrolling dangerous waters.

One day, the crew pulled a refugee from a lifeboat.  Incoherent and gravely wounded, she babbled on and on about human traffickers, and was admitted to the on-board clinic.  When it came, the helicopter attack was unexpected.  A patrol cruiser wasn't prepared for aerial bombardment, and somehow the pirates knew just where to hit it.  Emile's ship barely rattled off a distress signal before its engine was targeted and exploded, turning it dead in the water.  Several of Emile's coworkers died in the blast, and he himself was sandwiched between debris.  The pirates ultimately possessed too little firepower to board and take the ship, so by the time the coast guard arrived, they had already cleared off with whatever they could get their hands on.  Emile was among the rescued sailors, but his right leg was in such a bad shape that the doctors were forced to amputate at the knee.  When he awoke, it became clear that it wasn't just his leg that the freak incident had damaged.

Coming home after that was like traveling to a different world.  For weeks, Emile lived and moved as if in a dream, sluggish and unresponsive.  His worried family did what it could to help, but they were too poor to make a difference, and the awaited checks from the government never came.  After a time, Emile's depression did start to break, due to the efforts of his young niece and her dog.  This girl, the daughter of his older sister, was a ray of brilliant sunshine that reached out to him through his misery.  Her dog, a friendly and empathetic Burmese Mountain Dog who chose to be Emile's constant companion, warmed his heart as well.  To distract himself from a reality where he was crippled, jobless, and seemingly forgotten by all but his relations, Emile accepted Liana's invitation to a video game that she enjoyed.  It had been a long time since he'd played anything, but Yggdrasil seemed to click instantly, and his trained reflexes surged back.  For a time, he played only with his niece, and the two worked together to create a few NPCs to keep them company.  Eventually, however, Emile connected with some of his old comrades via the game, and playing together with them proved fulfilling.  Little by little, the man broke out of the shell he'd made for himself, even going on to secure a job at a nearby mechanic's.  He never stopped playing, however, and dedicated a lot of his time to the game.  Though he needed the escapism less, he never stopped enjoying it, and eventually began to speedrun raids and boss rushes with his own little guild.  Though lacking the nerve for ultra-competitive PVP, he made a name for himself in the realm of PVE, and when Yggdrasil's developers learned that a disabled veteran was not just dedicated to but also excelling at their game, he and his friends were offered a place on the officially-sponsored guild Project Vicarious, a group of people like him.  There, Emile felt less lonely and more engaged than ever before.

Life went on.  Like many, even among the most dedicated to Yggdrasil, Emile's interest waned, but when he learned that there would be a grand celebration, he could not stay away.  He and Liana, now sixteen years old, returned for the final few hours to reminisce about days gone.
[hr]
[color=5D8AA8][h3]The Avatar[/h3][/color]
[color=5D8AA8][b]Name:[/b][/color] Carreau
[b]Appearance:[/b] Tall and slender, Carreau's body is fully masked by his clothing, most notable of which is a storm-gray longcoat with gilded edges, a high collar, exaggerated shoulders.  With a sky-blue lining, it has the look of thin cloth lengths layer like paper.  He also wears a black silk sash, ivory-and-bronze shinguards, and ordinary shoes.  [url=http://orig14.deviantart.net/0dac/f/2015/195/b/b/raziel__angel_of_mysteries_by_petemohrbacher-d919sdx.jpg]This[/url] is a good reference.  Were he to remove his crested helmet, it would become obvious that he is a Strigiforme, or owl man, of the Great Bubo variety.  His features are like [url=http://kids.sandiegozoo.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/animal_class_hero/great_horned_owl3.jpg]such[/url]
[color=5D8AA8][b]Race:[/b][/color] Demihuman
[color=5D8AA8][b]Gender:[/b][/color] Male
[color=5D8AA8][b]Character Level:[/b][/color] 90
[color=5D8AA8][b]Alignment:[/b][/color] 100
[color=5D8AA8][b]Racial Class:[/b][/color] 
-Strigiforme
-Great Bubo
[color=5D8AA8][b]Job Class:[/b][/color] 
-[i]Comet Chaser[/i] (3)
-Air Raider (10)
-Spellsword (10)
-Outlaw (15)
[color=5D8AA8][b]Fighting Style:[/b][/color] In short, versatile damage.  He can flex between melee and ranged, DPS and burst.  His signature weapons provide ample melee DPS when in physical mode and ranged DPS in magic mode.  Using an 'ingenius' combination of class abilities and skills he can inflict extreme melee burst when flying around with Aether Wings, and after filling the battlefield with slow-moving magical projectiles can send them all toward a marked target at once with Brand of Destiny for crazy burst.  Ultra-high mobility, used in combat for swift strikes and evasion, defines his fighting, and his game plan is the targeting and elimination of squishy casters and supports while his allies keep the tanks and warriors busy to build up for an Airstrike
[color=5D8AA8][b]Strengths:[/b][/color] Carreau's highest stat is his Speed, and he moves and fights at a blistering pace even for foes higher-leveled than he.  It allows him to negate vast amounts of damage by dodging, at which he is highly proficient.  Coupled with his ability to fly, he can cover vast distances in very little time and outmaneuver the vast majority of enemies.  Of course, his Skill is nothing to scoff at.  Quick, accurate strikes are his bread and butter, supplemented with hand-to-hand combat.  He can also parry, deflecting an enemy's melee strike before unleashing a deadly counterattack.  All of these, taken along with his tricky offensive abilities, make him a nuisance at a variety of ranges, and give him the tools to build up enough momentum to take on most situations.
[color=5D8AA8][b]Weaknesses:[/b][/color] Due to his race, Carreau has a weakness to arrows (as well as similar forms of high-speed piercing attack) and lightning.  Most obvious is his lackluster defense and HP pool, which can be wiped out quickly if his speed is somehow impaired.  Flexibility in terms of magic or physical damage also means that neither is quite as high as it could be.  While he has a host of gimmicks and strategies, none are too substantial in and of themselves, and a quicker-thinking and observant foe can force him to fight cautiously.  Arguably his worst weakness is not one in the game: he doesn't have a hyper-competitive spirit and can lose nerve in PvP battles, up to and including panicking
[color=5D8AA8][b]Equipment:[/b][/color]
[url=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/fa/41/5f/fa415f8dce4bcfcdc34eadf0dec50d6f.jpg][b]Euphoria[/b][/url] – a pair of sabers that appear ordinary at first glance, save for the flawlessness of the gleaming, silvery blades.  However, Euphoria is actually a type of divine-class item known as a Possessed Weapon.  It was part of a set of fifteen, given to Project Vicarious by Yggdrasil's devs as both a symbol of the veterans' resolve to overcome all the challenges thrown at them -both in the game and in real life- and a challenge in and of itself.  Possessed Weapons start off as simple knives that, when used on another weapon in the user's inventory, eat that weapon and gain its value.  They start off as useless, but possess extreme potential, and Carreau put in the time and patience to cultivate his.  Euphoria's first meal was the treasured pair of dual swords he'd used and upgraded since early game, which gave it its shape, and from then on Carreau fed it every high-quality, lightweight sword he came across.  Eventually he started adding magic catalysts to it, and after a while it came to possess the Transmute enchantment, which allowed the blades to switch from physical to magic damage on the fly, and the Air Razor enchantment, which enabled it to create wind slashes, tornado discs, and even twisters while in magic mode. [i]Eat or be eaten—the law of nature.  Demonic tools known as Possessed Weapons destroy and devour weapons they come across, growing and evolving with each meal.  Like living things they accumulate strength and character, invariably becoming weapons of legend[/i]
[url=https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/d7/22/ca/d722caba7c415ba293b077a285e7416a.jpg][b]Galecycler[/b][/url] – a repeating crossbow with a revolving barrel magazine that, once made to spin, is able to magically take in and compress atmospheric pressure and create somewhat slow-moving but explosive bolts.  It was a random drop from a high-level dungeon raid, very unique but not too powerful, and since then Carreau's put a lot of resources into upgrading it into a powerful part of his arsenal. [i]Once a magitek marvel, this repeating crossbow, able to replenish its own ammunition has been made brittle by overuse[/i]
[b]Sylphic Visor[/b] – Carreau's distinctive crested helmet, which contains enchanted eyepieces that enhance his already-splendid Strigiforme vision.  In particular, the left eye can cast Discern Enemy, and give a readout on the lens of an enemy's level.  The right eye can cast Life Essence and give a readout of an enemy's HP.  A magical crafted item made by one of Carreau's guildmates during an attempt to make a visor that could cast the spell Identify to tell what magic enemies are using, and subsequently thrown away when it didn't do what he the guildmate wanted. [i]Forest sprites have more than their fair share of secrets, and while artifacts like this helmet may leak to the outside world, their knowledge never does[/i]
[color=5D8AA8][b]Abilities:[/b][/color]
[b]Comet Chaser[/b] – a class that becomes available to a character of a winged race who can complete the high-level solo quest On Top of the World and ascended to the dark, starry realm called Outer Heaven.  Becoming a Comet Chaser involves a massive infusion of aether, the undiluted magical essence of space, which at a base level grants increased MP Regen, increased Luck and offers other bonuses based on attunement to the individual's core element.  [i]If those bound to the earth dream of flying, what do those with wings dream of?  Many have brushed against the starry, sorcerous void above the sky, but few dare to go even further beyond[/i]
[b]Aether Wings[/b] – one of the bonuses granted to Carreau by the attuned aether of a Comet Chaser.  His wings become magical energy, able to be summoned or dispelled at will, and freely changed in size.  Using them, he can fly with the speed and force of a comet, launching off the ground to blaze through the sky.  Striking with the black wings themselves, or a part of his body while empowered, inflicts physical damage, and he leaves a green-blue magic trail behind him while flying.  [i]Only the freest and most tenacious of spirits ever reach Heaven, and once there, may find themselves rocketing through the skies like the brilliant skylights they once admired[/i]
[b]Aether Body[/b] – one of the bonuses granted to Carreau by the attuned aether of a Comet Chaser.  His aether forms a cushion around his body, and if he suffers damage, an amount of the aether is broken off and turned into wind orbs according to how much damage was dealt.  No magic below Super-tier, or spells made to penetrate barriers, can deplete the Aether Body and Carreau's HP in one go; in all other situations, the barrier's destruction prevents any damage from bleeding over.  [i]Reaching Outer Heaven does more than awe the mind; its aether fills the body like a parasite, sacrificing itself to offer defense and retribution against those who harm its 'host'[/i]
[b]Air Superiority[/b] – a skill inherent to Carreau's Air Raider class that grants him bonus attack against other fliers and bonus evasion against aerial projectiles.  [i]Any kind of pirate, driven to the untamed sky by restless ambition and tenacity, quickly learns how to handle its inhabitants[/i]
[b]Flying Guillotine[/b] – a skill inherent to Carreau's Air Raider class that gives his main weapons the Boomerang trait, allowing them to spin through the air when thrown, flying with exceptional precision, and to return to Carreau afterward.  [i]Flashy combat is a tried-and-true mainstay of Air Raiders, who differentiate themselves from everyday pirates with a unique blend of style and skill[/i]
[b]Brand of Destiny[/b] – a curse native to the Spellsword class, manifest in a magical dagger cast from the palm, that leaves a mark upon a hit target that, for 1 second, sets the victim's Luck stat to 1 and adds double the stolen Luck to the caster's.  So long as the victim isn't extremely unlucky or low-leveled, this effect invariably causes all of the caster's preexisting projectiles to immediately pick up speed and home in on the target, and the homing effect persists even after the Luck is restored.  Carreau calls the annihilation of a target with projectiles scattered through a fight an 'Airstrike.'  [i]Spread too thin among their different attributes to really specialize, Spellswords fall back on all many of tricks to maximize their lethality.  Brand of Destiny, able to send all of one's spells toward a hapless foe in a single destructive finale, is a favorite[/i]
[b]Rally Spectrum[/b] – an upgraded ability from Carreau's old Bandit class, gained after 300 uses of the temporary stat boost 'Rally' Bandit ability as party leader.  It allows Carreau to choose a stat to increase by 20% for his entire party, lasting for 20 seconds.  [i]Being a leader is more than being the first to charge forward; it's knowing your allies, and how to evoke in them what is needed to secure victory[/i]
[b]Camaraderie[/b] – a passive holdover ability from Carreau's old Bandit class that increases physical vulnerability on a struck enemy for 5% for every ally targeting that enemy alongside Carreau.  [i]Teamwork is essential to thieves who rely on numbers, rather than stealth, to shake down their targets[/i]
[color=5D8AA8][b]How a normal human would view me:[/b][/color] A normal human, looking at Carreau, might see him as an eccentric rogue or foreign mercenary.  Many might treat him with suspicion, but he does not give off a bad vibe
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