Otonashi Shizuka

Cricket

Japanese

Shizuka has short green hair and green eyes behind thick glasses. Some say she looks a bit boyish. Shizuka is on the short side. Shizuka generally wears her uniform or more modest, old-fashioned clothing when she's outside. At home she typically wears sweatshirt and sweatpants (totally an otaku)

Despite her ambition, Shizuka is actually kind of a coward and just wants to get along with everyone. She puts too much value on what other people think of her, giving her a desire to please others, which makes her susceptible to being bullied and exploited. She tries to find someone who she thinks will be nice to her and gives her attention to whoever she latches onto, becoming something of a lackey. She can come off as serious but is easily flustered. She is afraid that her love of computers will make people think she's an otaku (she really is).

Shizuka grew up as a low-level Esper in Academy City, having been sent there by her parents at a young age, along with her older brother. When her brother was in high school, and herself in elementary school, her brother started using the notorious Level Upper performance enhancing audio file. He shared it with Shizuka and both of them noticed a boost in their ability in using their Esper powers. When Kiyama Harumi, the creator of Level Upper used the Level Upper AIM network to hijack the powers of all the Espers using the network, both Shizuka and her brother went into a coma and after they were brought out of the coma by the Level Upper treatment program, they were apprehended as Level Upper users, in effect, they were branded as criminals. Due to her young age and due to having been influenced by her brother, Shizuka was acquitted, whereas her brother had to go through a long and arduous process to be released. He was also sent away from Academy City since he had lost his powers as a result of Level Upper.

Though Shizuka resents what Kiyama Harumi and Level Upper (and by extension, Academy City) did to her brother, the pressure, shame and powerlessness of being a low-level Esper combined with an insatiable curiosity for the level of power she had experienced when younger has pushed her to experiment on herself with synesthesia; as a manipulator of sound, she attempted over and over again to recreate and modify the original audio of Level Upper. It is perhaps this daring to break past her limits through unconventional (and potentially dangerous) means that has gained her acceptance to Kaigunsaka Academy.

Ideally, Shizuka unlocks Level Upper and not only power trips pretty hard, but becomes helpful to those around her. She has never been popular or well-liked, so this could cause her to fall in with the wrong crowd who might try to prey on her desire to be useful in order exploit her ability. Either she'll meet people who appreciate her regardless of her ability or shy nature, or she goes down a dark and abusive path.

Lonely Orchestra (獨單樂隊 - Tandoku Gakutai) (Acoustokinesis): Level 2 (Level 4 when under the influence of Level Upper)

Detection and emission of audible and inaudible frequencies and amplitudes of sound. This includes being able to figure out the resonant frequencies of various objects and materials by listening to the sound it makes when struck, and imitating voices. Shizuka's ultimate goal is to recreate Level Upper for herself, which she calls, "Level Upper Private Server". This will push her to Level 4 when she is actively using Level Upper on herself. Depending on what the GM allows, this may be a buff to herself only, or an area-of-effect buff to all Espers within range of hearing her, which may or may not come with the advantages and disadvantages that having a small AIM field network brings. The details of how this particular skill manifests can be tweaked since Shizuka may not actually end up making an exact copy of the original audio.

Hamza Hazmat

Hasidin619

Syrian

Hamza has dark skin, dull, red eyes, and short, white hair that he puts no effort into maintaining. Hamza often wears a tired, expressionless visage; an impenetrable poker face to those who don't know him. Most of the time, he is seen wearing a loose, baggy t-shirt and similarly loose jeans, with slightly worn out tennis shoes. Hamza tends to pick comfort and familiarity, and likes how loose clothing obscures his physique. Hamza often keeps his hands in his pockets.

Hamza is focused and cautious. Disciplined and serious, he acts older than his age. His mind is filled with memories of the oppression of his people, and to end it is his chief motivator. He is suspicious and distrustful, but is himself not a great schemer. Hamza has a tendency to fly into fits of rage when encountering an insurmountable obstacle, and will often unreasonably demand more from himself and his body in an attempt to overcome said obstacle. He trusts only in his own mind, and wishes his body and emotions could be a perfect vessel, a perfect slave for his mind, but the more he wishes this were so, the more he denies the control his needs and desires have over his psyche.

Hamza was born in war-torn Syria. Orphaned at a young age, he was picked up by a group of individuals whom he believed followed a deviant Muslim sect that dabbled in witchcraft. However, over time, he realized that mysticism had always been an integral part of Islam, no matter what the sheikhs and scholars wrote in their rulings. Over time, he learned that magic was not mutually exclusive from faith, and practiced both his religion and his mystical techniques. Of course, their intention was to train him as part of the next generation of Islamic mystics, but he often heard them lamenting the dominance of Christian magic, and the overwhelming power of science. He saw these two colonizing powers as the reason that Muslim lands were in such a bad state. Some of his teachers preached that this was simply their destiny, and part of Allah's plan, while others preached that this was a test from Allah to see who could rise to the occasion and take down the oppressors once and for all.

Hamza turned his ear towards those who sought to enact change, but kept his non-violent teachings close to heart, lest he turn to violent extremism. He heard out his elders and discussed strategies with them. He heard rumors about ancient Egyptian sites being desecrated by an individual, and signs pointed to Academy City, the Capitol of Science. Hamza infiltrated the city to find out as much as he could about the inner workings of the city, but soon the allure of Kaigunsaka, and the promise of hybrids drew Hamza towards the academy. After all, science had flourished during the Golden Age of Islam, ultimately leading to the European Renaissance, and by extension, the Industrial Revolution, so Hamza saw the unification of science, magic, and faith as his true calling.

Hamza is a fish out of water, not only because he is a magician in a city of espers, but also because people in Japan generally only recognize Christian (or Christianity-derived) magic and Shinto magic. He strives to become a hybrid in the hopes of showing that magic and science are not incompatible, and by extension, that Islam and modernity are also not incompatible. He believes that the world is intolerant of his beliefs so learning that there are open-minded and compassionate people in the world from all walks of life will do a lot to help him open up.

Islamic Mysticism, primarily relying on Hasad (The Evil Eye of Envy), the Khamsah (symbol of an eye in a hand to ward against the Evil Eye), Sihr (belomancy, ie. divination by arrows), and the earned title of Hafiz (Protector)

Kagami, Nero Etheldreda

Lapsus021: “To Present Oneself and Correct the Error”

Half-Greco-Sicilian, Half-Japanese

Age: 17
Gender: Female
Height: 162cm
Weight: 54kg
Birthday: January 30th

An incredibly studious appearing individual, Nero tends to come off as the sort that one might expect to be within some sort upperclassmen that one would look up to. Cool, collected, and often able to reconcile the difference between others before conflict arises.

This is just their surface personality though. In reality, Nero is a useless, selfish individual who does everything in their power to hedonistically enjoy themselves while placing forward the least amount of effort in any given situation to look as presentable as possible. They often intelligently go about any scenario they find themselves in order to expend the least amount of mental and physical energy while still presenting themselves as a self-proclaimed “Cute, reliable senpai” to her cohorts and friends.

Even if Nero would rather sleep the day away, if there was something that currently caused her inflated sense of justice to peak, she would do anything in her power to provide at least respite to the lost lambs before her with a friendly smile, but secretly finding the whole situation to be a waste of her time in her mind. Likely due to likely missing one of her television programs.

​Nero Etheldreda Kagami was orphaned at a young age when her parents, her father being an international trader from Japan and her mother being a fortune teller from Cagliari, were on a trip in Northern Scandinavia. The boat they were on was hijacked and they were killed in the process by a band of pirates. There were no relatives that could take the young girl in, her parents having made enemies of their family after their marriage was disapproved by both sides.

Living off the streets for a few years of her life in her home of Sicily, being called a street urchin and all kinds of insults, the young lady was taken the Catholic Church due to her natural power, even before becoming a mage, to feel the thrum of the spirits, which she tended to “feel” were not malicious, though there were malicious spirits she had met and that she avoided.

Serving years under the banner of the Catholic Church, Nero eventually, due to her rather useful set of skills, was selected to be part of a virtuous mission to infiltrate the heathen stronghold of Academy City, though within recent months has seemingly gone dark. Of course, this is due to the fact that she currently is unable to pry herself away from the pleasures and conveniences of modern civilization, seemingly unwilling to return to a hermetic lifestyle.

To figure out why her parents were murdered.
To live a quiet life.
To feel accepted by her peers

Lapsus021: “To Present Oneself and Correct the Error”

A variation on spiritual possession; the ability to intake oneself upon the “frequencies” of the aether. To rewrite the “self” with “something”. In that sense, it is also a means of self-modification utilizing temporary states of existence to fulfill a purpose. In Nero’s case, this takes effect as the ability to channel “spirits” into oneself. Similar to the Nympholepts of ancient Greece. To possess oneself with a “spirit”; a frequency dialed in. However, with the introduction of Christianity to Greece, the meaning of this had been muddied through the shared foundation. In Nero’s case, they are able to “feel” the thrum of the spirits beside her and “accept” this thrum into oneself.

In other words, the ability to have a “spirit” affect oneself and to take on the characteristics provided by said spirit. Though the body is kept, it becomes “tainted” by the addition of “others”, and after a while causes irreparable changes, becoming the new “self”. Classification for what constitutes a spirit simply is an existence that is able to grant access to their frequency for the duration of time.

Currently, Nero has contracted the four existences of pure elements: Sylvestris Gnomus, Undina, and the Vulcanus, better known as the Sylph, Gnome, Undyne, and Salamander as proposed by alchemist Paracelsus; the “pure” definition of those elements.

Nero is also known to have the ability to contract with existences such as wraiths in order to obtain information, obtain greater strength, or obtain knowledge of subjects, though wraiths require an agreement to be forged between herself and the residual existence. If she has the means to focus their desire towards something, she can truly shine in this regard.

The body of Nero is inked with various tribal-looking tattoos that, while the color of her normally milky skin, while in use take on a sprawled inky blackness that takes over the majority of her form. These symbols, lettering, and runes correspond to given contracts of spiritual origin, akin to a type of geas between two parties. In Nero’s case, these symbols refer to the primordial elements she has attuned to herself, though other symbology can be had so long as she contracts with spirits.

The current contracts held by her spirits to give her their powers are as follows:
Salamander: To be bold in the face of injustice.
Undyne: To take your dreams and manifest them as truths.
Gnome: To be unflinching as adversity strikes.
Sylph: D-Do I really have to wear that!? I don't want to feel like this!

This can also be used to enforce contracts between living individuals so long as both parties agree to the terms in said contract, though Nero tends not to use it in this way.

In addition to this, Nero carries with her a deck of tarot cards left as a memento from her parents. While the object itself is not magical, she is able to use the items for divination arcana, often telling the “potential fortune” based on the energies attuned to the possible outcome of a given situation, individual, subject or place also known as the “fate” of said object or event. While she is not able to understand the complexities of a given scenario, through a minor ritual, she is able to come up with a “general feeling” based on the pulled tarot.

An absolute neet with little redeeming qualities, though they are rather skilled in terms of technology compared to the average mage as an unfortunate side effect.

Well-versed in history and magical foundations, primarily focusing on Western (European) Thaumaturgy and history.

Can clean well, given that was one of her primary jobs as a Sister in the monastery. This extends minorly to her cooking, which could be considered “above average” in most cases, like a budget maid who doesn’t seem to enjoy her job.

Rather snappy when it comes to quips and figuring out plans during stressful situations, though would rather not be in that situation, to begin with.

Skilled at reading and creating maps along with understanding the lay of the land, though due to their insistence on not going outside, this skill is hardly used.