"It smell like broke in here." - Upon arriving in the Earth Kingdom
Character Age: Fifteen Character Gender: Female Character Race: Fire Nation Bending: By admission of her father—who she had been learning from since the age of six—Zara is "pretty good" at Firebending. It's a mark of pride for her. Skills: Having grown up on a rugged, volcanically active island, Zara is rather athletic for a girl her age. Between the rigors of every day life and the exercises that accompanied her bending training, she has built quite the pool of physical stamina, especially in regards to aerobic tasks. The remoteness of her home has also instilled her with fairly sharp survivalist skills; she is capable of finding shelter and forage for herself and others in most non-extreme climates, though her talents are most at home in tropical regions. Weaknesses: To put it plainly, Zara isn't a very good people person. It's certainly not for lack of trying—she genuinely enjoys social interaction—but simply a result of poor social skills. She's awkward, lacks for manners at times, and is prone to letting her excitement get the better of her. Combine this with the naivety born from her tribal upbringing and it's rather easy to manipulate her good-nature with simple placation and faux kindness. Possessions: A remaining few pieces of golden jewelry & a wicker backpack containing a large, black egg. Biography: Where did they come from? What made them who they are? Supporting Cast: Are there any NPCs of note in their story? If so fill out their details here!
L O C A T I O NLower Manhattan, New York City. 12:14 am
T A G S
For the length of the journey between the academy and the minor clan quarter, Mitsuko remained as she usually was—silent. It was for the best, as she had little to say in response to Shunpei's absentminded inquiry as to her apple like complexion's origin. She was already ashamed enough to break her composure in such an uncontrollable way in front of their sensei, and the teasing that followed from Tsume did little to abate that feeling. Devoid of meaningful contribution, she cast her gaze towards the ground and opted to follow closely behind her nascent squad, led by the intrepid Hatake into parts that, for someone of her relatively high station, were totally unknown. She had never enjoyed much freedom to explore the village, remaining within the confines of the Hyūga compound when she was not at the academy.
It went without saying the new surroundings did not do much to help the anxiety of the day, but it provided a somewhat welcome distraction from her embarrassment. It was easy to surmise that this portion of the village was where the less well-to-do members of the population lived; the buildings were not so large or well-crafted, the streets were left to standards of cleanliness far below what she was accustomed to, and the people themselves fell marginally beneath the high aesthetic standards of her clansmen. It made her nervous, in truth. She felt like more of an outsider here than she normally did, and that feeling did not leave her even as they approached their apparent destination. For the first time since they passed through the gates of the academy, Mitsuko rose her head to steal more than a passing glance, and looked upon the dingy restaurant Shunpei had decided on.
"It's, uhm... quaint." She murmured to no one in particular, uncertain how to politely phrase her trepidation. She didn't have the opportunity to indulge in restaurants back home, though mother occasionally allowed her to buy snacks from the push-carts that set up within their quarter during festivals and celebrations. While Shunpei expressed his shock at their sensei's presence—something Mitsuko had oddly not paid much mind to, in spite of her hyper vigilance during the journey—the young Hyūga looked worriedly at that run-down ramen stand, then back to her team mates.
Would the food be safe? Surely the sanitation standards in this part of town couldn't be that high... Shunpei was familiar with it though, so surely the food couldn't have been too dangerous. How would she pay for it? She hadn't received an allowance in all her years, and they hadn't yet begun to take missions. Was Shunpei going to pay for them? How could he afford such extravagance if he lived in this part of the village? Ramen had meat in it, didn't it? Did they serve any food without meat in it? Meat was a luxury, and as such was rarely featured in her home. She didn't much like the idea of eating animals anyway, and the thought of a cute little pig having to die to sate her opulence made her almost as anxious as the food vendor in front of her did. When she noticed her team mates making to take a seat, she steeled herself against the cacophony of thoughts swirling in her mind and swallowed hard.
"Gambaro, Mitsuko." She whispered to herself, and pushed past the curtains separating the street from the counter, taking a seat on one of the many stools next to Shunpei.
"Cursed? You have me mistaken. The only one here who bears a curse is you—the curse of my ire."
| 𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐑 𝐀 𝐂 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑 𝐈 𝐍 𝐅 𝐎 𝐑 𝐌 𝐀 𝐓 𝐈 𝐎 𝐍 |
𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄 | Aldwin Howe 𝐀𝐆𝐄 | 22 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 | Male (He/Him) 𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 | Human 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍 | Circle 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊 | Acolyte 𝐇𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐎𝐃𝐄 | #BDD8DA
| 𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐑 𝐀 𝐂 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑 𝐀 𝐏 𝐏 𝐄 𝐀 𝐑 𝐀 𝐍 𝐂 𝐄 |
𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 & 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐃 | Five foot ten inches, with a lean musculature. 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐎𝐍, 𝐄𝐘𝐄 & 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑 | Fair of skin, with chestnut brown hair kept short and deep cerulean eyes. 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐒 | His eyes are a deeper, darker shade of blue than most, akin to looking into the sea rather then the sky. 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐅𝐈𝐓 | Aldwin typically bedecks himself in the styles of Ferelden; tunics and trousers of blacks and browns, with leather boots and gloves to keep his appendages safe. Atop it he wears an olive green surcoat, with the symbol of the Wardens having been recently stitched in. A strap of cracked brown leather is used to secure his staff to his back when it isn't in use, and a similar belt around his waist holds the hilt that marks him as a Knight-Enchanter, ready to be drawn and channeled at a moment's notice. Though his clothing flows and breathes like the robes so many mages wear, they are not robes, and he has a great disdain for the garb of his brethren. 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐌𝐒 | Despite having spent more time a mage than a nobleman, Aldwin holds himself with a posture of pride and authority. He carries a certain unfitting severity on his otherwise gentle features, as if to command respect from those he interacts with. His eyes are expressive, and he tends to wear his emotions on his sleeve in spite of his best attempts to remain stoic and aloof. He has a bad habit of fiddling with his hands when nervous.
| 𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐑 𝐀 𝐂 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑 𝐈 𝐍 𝐍 𝐄 𝐑 𝐖 𝐎 𝐑 𝐊 𝐈 𝐍 𝐆 𝐒 |
𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 | The Grey Wardens are a means to an end for Aldwin—he is a scion of the Vigil, and his place was not to remain in a Circle for the rest of his days, rotting under the disdainful gaze of the Templars. He seeks glory and honor, something the Wardens in their prestige can provide him, and in return offers the boons of magic he has carefully cultivated over the years of his imprisonment. 𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 |
Honorable: Aldwin conducts himself with honesty and integrity—he is not the kind to lie or act underhandedly.
Courageous: It cannot be said Aldwin is a craven. He will risk life and limb to do what he must.
Empathetic: It is perhaps because of his captivity that Aldwin is a man sensitive to the feelings and desires or others, and tries not to trample upon those.
𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐒 |
Impulsive: Aldwin is a man who is quick to act and this often bites him when patience would serve better.
Stubborn: Once he's dug his heels in on a position, you'll have an easier time coaxing a mule than you will convincing him otherwise.
Temperamental: Aldwin is quick to anger and prone to let is show.
𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐒 |
Pretty girls with pointy ears.
𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐓𝐇 | Righteousness. Aldwin wants to be remembered like the heroes in the story books, who dispensed justice and remained true to themselves and their creed even against the worst of adversities. He will always try to do what he thinks is right, no matter the consequences, to live up to this self-inflicted expectation.
For Aldwin, the way of the Knight-Enchanter is more than just a simple specialization of his skills as a mage. It was his salvation from the maddening doldrums of the Circle. It was an outlet for his energy, something he could dedicate his body to in favor of the bookish learning so many of his fellows engaged in. It was a way for him to remember where he came from, to fight in the front like his father's knights. It was the way he could turn his curse into a boon, a boon worth being wielded by the man he wanted to be. To be a Knight-Enchanter was to be more than a simple mage to be tolerated, but a warrior to be respected.
Aldwin's usage of his powers follow this trend; he summons forth his razor thin blade of magical energy and wades into battle with the others, conjuring walls of force and barriers to keep him safe where plate could not. With his magic he bolsters himself and his comrades, endowing them with vigor unnatural and imbuing their blades with fire and ice and lightning all. He is a protector as much as he is a killer, a healer as much as he is a bane, using his abilities for the good of his allies just as often as he uses them to cut down his foes.
𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 | 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐔𝐑𝐆𝐘
Novice ► Journeyman
You can treat wounds and illnesses. Novice: You have trained in the art of chirurgy and your aid is swift and sure. Journeyman: You have the hands of a healer. You can provide life-saving healing at the moment.
𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏
Novice
You are a skilled rider and can handle horses and other beasts of burden with ease. Novice: You can jump into the saddle quickly. Mounting a steed requires no effort.
𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐄𝐒
Novice
You react to threats speedily and instinctively. Novice: You can prepare yourself for action in an instant. You can ready your weapon/magic without anyone noticing.
𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐒 |
Arcane Lance: A bolt of arcane energy flung from the mage's hands or staff. All mages have this ability.
Arcane
Arcane Shield: The mage conjures a protective aura that deflects incoming attacks for as long as this mode is active.
Barrier: The mage or an ally is enveloped in a telekinetic field that repels significant damage.
Elemental Weapon: While this spell is active, the caster's staff channels its base elemental power across the entire party, enchanting the weapons of allies to give them additional elemental damage.
Creation
Heal: The mage imbues an ally with restorative energy, knitting flesh and mending bone.
Heroic Aura: The mage enhances the party's aptitude in battle for as long as this mode is active.
Haste: The mage imbues the party with speed for a short time.
Knight-Enchanter
Spirit Blade: The mage creates a blade of solid magic to make melee attacks against nearby enemies.
| 𝐄 𝐐 𝐔 𝐈 𝐏 𝐌 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓 & 𝐁 𝐄 𝐋 𝐎 𝐍 𝐆 𝐈 𝐍 𝐆 𝐒 |
𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 |
Acolyte Staff (Fire)
Spirit Blade Hilt
Lyrium-infused Silver Ring
Traveler's Clothes
Riding Horse?
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 |
Dagger
Health Poultices
𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐏𝐀𝐂𝐊 |
Backpack, water skin, flint & steel, sleeping roll
Medical supplies
Miscellaneous herbs and plant matter
A signet ring, bearing the symbol of the Howe family
A suspicious book titled Dalish Darlings
| 𝐑 𝐄 𝐋 𝐀 𝐓 𝐈 𝐎 𝐍 𝐒 𝐇 𝐈 𝐏 𝐒 |
CHARACTER NAME| Your character's opinion. Copy & Paste as many times as needed.
Noriaki has always been someone ruled by his emotions; he is a passionate person by nature, with all the advantages and pitfalls that comes with. He is courageous, audacious, and possesses a strong sense of personal justice. His hotblooded temperament leads him to be in equal parts reckless, tempestuous and prone to outburst. Following his expulsion from his previous highschool and the stain it left on him, he finds himself ever more struggling to contain his fiery temper, and increasingly disillusioned with his peers, leading him to lash out in stubborn defiance—another strong trait of his.
Noriaki's transformation isn't especially dazzling. His eyes lose their natural, bright blue hue in return for a vibrant, slit-eyed violet coloration. Complete with devilish fangs and a dark, black and purple jacket like something out of a JRPG, he looks more like an anti-hero than the righteous rabbelrouser he might like to pretend he is.
ＷＥＡＰＯＮ
Longsword
ＨＩＳＴＯＲＹ
The circumstances of Noriaki's birth are, mercifully, uncommon enough. Born to a single mother just old enough to have graduated highschool, his early years were nothing to be envious of. His mother worked hard to provide a meager life for them, often leaving him with friends during work nights until he was old enough to fend for himself in their tiny Osaka apartment. It wasn't a bad life—he never went hungry, nor unloved—but it wasn't a fair one either. He hated seeing his sole parent work so hard just to scrape by, seeing the scorn society seemed to feel for her just because his dad wasn't in the picture. These early experiences shaped who he was. He learned to fight through struggle by example, and learned that the world wasn't a perfectly just place despite what his grade school teachers said. Perhaps most importantly, he learned that he didn't like that.
It was a recipe for disaster, to say the least. Full of piss and vinegar and with a dire lack of guidance at home, young Noriaki found himself scuffling with other youths more often than not. He had no outlet for his temper, or the indignation he felt when they pitied him for his home life. He wouldn't find one until he enrolled into junior highschool. Just like his temper, he was big for his age, and when his homeroom teacher suggested he join the school's baseball team, he took to it like a duck took to water. He had the talent to be good, and the drive to turn that talent into something meaningful. It also didn't hurt that being on the team provided incentive to keep the worst of his impulses in check.
Baseball was the driving force that kept the youth on the straight and narrow, away from the worse crowds that his circumstances might have driven others into. He made it into a fairly prestigious highschool in the Osaka area by way of recommendation from his coaches, and found his stride on the team during his first year. By all accounts, he had a bright future in the sport—a year or two on the team, and a Koshien was almost assured. From there, maybe even a pro career, if his advisers were telling the truth. The potential to rise so far made his inevitable fall so much more tragic.
Towards the end of his first year, he snapped. To hear it told, he stormed into the locker room after practice and assaulted the club's captain with a bat, leaving him on crutches for the rest of the year after that bat broke not one, but both of his knees before the coach could get to them. The reasons were certainly the subject of rumor—jealousy at his position, mistreatment gone too far, a girl—but he wasn't privy to most of it, on account of the subsequent expulsion and introduction to the juvenile justice system. The whole affair robbed him of his last few months of freshmen year, his prospects, and his passion.
It was only by his markedly good behavior up until that point, and perhaps the oh so hated pity he was subjected to due to his familial situation, that he got off relatively light. They wanted to make sure his punishment didn't interfere with his education. So, he was allowed to attend school in the following spring after a stint in juvenile detention, albeit in another city after his mother insisted on getting a new start—the rumors hadn't just stopped filled school, but the neighborhood as well.
So his arrival in Kyoto was foretold.
ＭＩＳＣ
Works part-time at a convenience store on weekends. Really likes cats.
Name Seimei Keiko Age Eighteen Gender Female Occupation Apprentice Signkeeper
Mischievous Keiko is most defined by her impish nature. She is playful, sharp-tongued and always looking for ways to amuse herself. Her mischief never reaches the level of malicious, but she takes great joy in teasing her peers and cracking jokes at their expense. Her puckish nature has earned her few friends, but she insists it doesn't bother her, as those who can't handle a little naughtiness probably wouldn't be fun to spend time around anyway. Or so she tells herself. Impulsive In spite of her best efforts, Keiko is something of a wild child. Chock full of bravado, she is foolhardy and rash, often letting her temper and impetuousness get the better of her. Her uninhibited character often leads her to acting or speaking without thinking through the consequences, then using her quick-wit to justify her behavior after the fact and talk her way out of those consequences. Cynical For all bluster and glee she exudes, Keiko is a deeply suspicious person. She has, for as long as she can remember, been ostracized by her community in some form or another, and she has taken that distrust to heart. She jests and she ridicules as easily as she breathes, but she does not let others close enough to see her true feelings on a manner. She has a hard time trusting the intentions of others, and will almost always assume the worst of a person's actions if not given adequate evidence in short order—a dangerous combination when paired with her hot temper.
Clever While her demeanor wouldn't lead one to believe so, Keiko possesses an sharp-mind and an equally quick-wit. It makes her a fast learner and a gifted student, able to pick up new skills and tricks quicker than others her age. The acuity of her mind also allows her to come up with solutions to problems on the fly, or remember minuscule details that could be of help long after the fact. Sign Adept Possessing both talent and the privilege to learn at her mother's knee since she was small, Keiko is quite skilled with the usage of Signs. As the future Signkeeper of the valley, her repertoire is quite deep when compared to most inhabitants of the village, and she makes good use of what she knows, even going as far as to use multiple Signs in tandem to achieve more complex effects. Lightfooted As to be expected of someone with a trickster's nature, Keiko is especially light on her feet. She is swift, dexterous and most of all, stealthy. She has little trouble going unnoticed on the rare occasions that she wants to be, and has a tendency of slinking off during (occasionally manufactured) distractions to avoid the duties she would rather not handle.
Physical Description
Despite the larger-than-life persona she tries to project, Keiko is in fact quite the opposite. Standing at only five feet in height, she is shorter than most girls in the valley, and fittingly lithe. Her features are soft and child-like, accentuated by her large, chestnut colored eyes that twinkle with a usually playful mirth. Framing her curiously innocent profile is an untidy mane of dark, lustrous brown hair, always sticking up this way and that, just as wild as the girl who bears it. The thick locks help highlight the relative paleness of her skin by comparison, smooth and unblemished despite the dirt beneath her fingernails or the devil-may-care manner she carries herself—an indication of her scholarly background, and one of the few she bears.
In spite of her potential for beauty, Keiko does not consider herself to be especially feminine, and does not dress as such. Her wardrobe is typically comprised of loose, comfortable kimono of a subdued color paired with the typical, tucked hakama of the village's laborers. Knee length black tabi and accompanying straw sandals clad her delicate feet, and she usually dawns a long, sleeveless haori when out and about in the village, the mon of her adoptive family painstakingly sewn into its back.
Character Conceptualization
Keiko's story is one of an outsider. Having been born beyond the idyllic peace of the village, in a hamlet that as far as anyone knows—or will never know—befell some sad fate or another, Keiko was dealt the black mark of a stranger despite having only ever known the lake and fields of Heiseina. She was but a toddler when she arrived, brought home by the village's Signkeeper one chilly fall day and taken in as a daughter in spite of their lack of relation.
In all ways, she was raised as a Seimei, a respected family of lore keepers who had for generations carefully catalogued and disseminated the Signs that kept life in Heiseina running smoothly. Yet she was never quite afforded the respect of her mother or late grandfather. In a community so small and traditional, any external entity was met with suspicion. Suspicion which colored the young girl's view of the utopia she called home from the earliest years.
It made raising an already difficult little girl all the harder. Precocious from the get-go, Keiko proved herself to be a bright, willful child. One aware enough to recognize the scorn that was leveled her way and respond in kind. She quickly developed the reputation of a troublesome little nuisance, in spite of her mother's best attempts to keep her in line while simultaneously fulfilling her own duties as Signkeeper.
Acting out was all the young Keiko could do to rebel against the injustices she felt—Heiseina was a picturesque settlement, where everybody knew everybody and everyone got along. But nobody seemed to want to get along with her. Just as they rejected her, she rejected them, and her developmental years were marked by an ever growing divide as her own actions worked to further ostracized her from her peers and their families. It wasn't until she was ten or eleven years old—when she began her Sign training—that things began to change, however slightly. Rambunctious as she was, her mother had deemed that she should begin putting her excess energy into learning the family's trade, an excellent decision in hindsight.
Inquisitive and curious, Keiko took to Signcraft like a duck to water. It occupied her keen mind, and provided her an avenue for praise in place of scolding she had become accustomed to. More importantly, it also sent a message to the community; she would be a useful contributor to the village as a whole, and would one day succeed her mother in her capacity of Signkeeper. As she grew from troublesome girl to quarrelsome young woman, Signcraft became her outlet and safe haven, something she excelled at that gave her worth, and made others acknowledge her even if they had misgivings in accepting her.
But no longer is she a girl. Now a woman grown, Keiko must contend with a fast approaching future. One of responsibility and dignity, of finding acceptance and belonging among those she had subtly railed against her entire life. If only she knew just how important finding that acceptance would be, in the trials to come.
1x Laugh
