[CHAR] World of Light: the Endless Now (The Ultimate Videogame Crossover)

[Chevaleresse]

The Warrior of Darkness, the Unrelenting, the Stalwart Sword, the Unforgiven, and about twenty other things

Name: Yayama Yama
Origin: Final Fantasy XIV
Appearance: Yayama is a short, stout-looking humanoid clocking in at just under three feet tall, with the short limbs and rounded features that often make individuals unfamiliar with Lalafellin looks confuse the enterprising race for children. By the standards of her own species, Yayama is still short and well-proportioned, with prominent triangular ears (and a consequent aversion to solid headgear she should otherwise be wearing into battle.)

Her hair is a soft pink, tapering to white at the ends in its natural state. She wears her hair gathered loosely at the back of her head save for her bangs.

One of her eyes is a light violet, with the protective membranes of the Dunesfolk concealing both her pupils and reflecting a small, but noticeable amount of light (consequently her night vision is somewhat poor.) The other is pale and tinged with a sickly green, almost looking more like it belongs to a corpse than a living, breathing person. She can see out of it, but not particularly well, and favors monocles to correct it somewhat or eyepatches to obscure it entirely depending on the situation, as most find it unsettling to look at.

Her typical garb is a heavy, round suit of armor that many of her friends affectionately refer to as her "tin can," painted in a gloomy purple color with brassy decorations. The armor over her extremities is somewhat lighter, giving her enough freedom of motion to perform surprisingly acrobatic maneuvers.

Dark Knight

She does, however, own several carefully-crafted outfits, each of which she takes pride in. Her previous outfit is one tied to what would be some rather dark and depressing memories. An "outfit to die in," as she called it, the outfit consists of lighter armor colored purely in whites and golds, save for the occasional glowing blue crystal.

Champion of Light

Personality: A boisterous individual who's retained her good nature and fiery personality through great hardship. Yayama is a person always inclined to help, whether it be applying her tremendous strength to dangerous creatures and ne'er-do-wells or helping mediate a lovers' quarrel. To say she has a wild side would be a bit of a misnomer, as it would imply that it wasn't her default state. Yayama is a person who, absent other factors, does what she pleases, when she pleases, with little regard for propriety and a great ability to withstand any consequences of her reckless behavior.

Despite this, when needed, she tends to be a source of stability and sense to her friends. While she'll never be the disciplined, "no fun allowed" Flame Captain she was once upon a time, that side of Yayama has never ceased being a part of her, and a need for cooler heads is never far away. She's perfectly capable of putting away her usual behavior (sometimes described as "feral," among other things) to work on an important project, make sure paperwork is filed away, ensure that everything is taken care of while her partner recovers from the last series of world-saving escapades, or reassure said partner that despite it all, they're both still the same people.

She's also got a bit of a megalomaniacal streak. Nobody has figured out to what level this is just her sense of humor, and what amount is untapped supervillain potential. It's probably best not to worry about it and simply let Yayama continue referring to herself as the Warrior of Darkness.
Background: Yayama is an experienced veteran of many, many, many battles, great and small. Originally the daughter of an Ul'dahn noble house, she desired to do more than follow in the family's footsteps and become Sultansworn like her brothers, a decision that led to her joining the Immortal Flames and, eventually, a not-so-secret organization known as the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. To make a very long story short, alongside them, and their champion - one Petra Stelle, better known as the Warrior of Light - she engaged in numerous world-saving escapades, growing closer with said champion all the while. Along her journey, she fought gods, made peace with her inner darkness, befriended dragons, got entirely too immersed in Hingan culture, hopped dimensions on her own two feet, bonded her soul to a voidsent for mutual survival, and absorbed a dead version of herself from another possibility before confronting despair itself as a seemingly-final foe. Of course, what seemed to be a peaceful retirement from all this apocalyptic nonsense was cut short once more, as the world was torn asunder and reborn in light once again. . .
In the Now: Yayama Yama is a wandering Warrior of Light, serving to protect the World of Light from ne'er-do-wells that would see it and its people harmed. Based out of Meridi-at-Han, she has recently taken a trip to Esaka to participate in the tournament there, and demonstrate her prowess in combat.

Not long after arriving in Esaka, she was Friend Hearted by a group of Seekers after a spar with Sakura. She joined the Seekers immediately.

Job: Dark Knight
Specialty: Tank, All-Rounder
Inventory:

• Various alternative outfits, accessories, bits of armor, et cetera. She's always hunting for more to add to her collection.
• A shapeshifting greatsword/scythe/katana she calls Churro. Actually the voidsent she bonded with, Churro can also manifest as an adult Hyur male in a butler outfit.
• A set of goldsmithing tools and various miscellany needed to cut, polish, and set gems.
• A miner's pickaxe and corresponding sledgehammer.

Lv: 6
EXP: 39/60
Abilities:

• Echo - Yayama is possessed of the unusual ability known as the Echo, allowing her to communicate soul-to-soul with others and occasionally see visions of their past. It allows her to bypass spoken language barriers (although not written - most mediums for writing don't have souls), provides a measure of protection against corruptive and mind-warping influences, and, in her case, provides her a limited ability to directly sense the emotions of people around her.
• Grit - Dark knights do not wield shields, as a dark knight is a shield for the weak and the downtrodden. Yayama can fortify herself or a teammate with a barrier skill called The Blackest Night, and naturally draws more enemy attacks while taking less damage from them.
• Red Magic - A school of sorcery based on recirculating aether through one's own body in order to cast spells without needlessly taxing the environment. Yayama is not a career red mage, having picked up the discipline for what is effectively physical therapy, but is still proficient enough to sling a wide variety of useful spells. She may cast Vercure, Verraise, Jolt, and Impact. Casting spells requires MP, which she has a finite, but regenerating, amount of, and cannot be done while executing physical attack

Skills: (Passive abilities, outstanding ‘stats’, and talents/proficiencies)

• Tank Expertise - Yayama is possessed of great physical strength and durability, able to take blows that would fell lesser mortals in an instant and keep fighting.
• Inventory - Yayama has the ability to carry far more than she really ought to be able to, and stuff things into sacks that really, really, really should not fit into them. Don't worry about it too much, as it rarely means she can carry anything extra of real consequence (unless carrying it would be bad for her, of course.)
• Traveller's Expertise - Yayama's travels have exposed her to a variety of different combat techniques both mundane and supernatural, which she weaves into her "traditional" dark knight arts to provide additional options and surprise foes with swift scythe or katana strikes when they expect hefty greatsword blows.
• Barkskin - Reduces all incoming damage by 1% * Yayama’s level. Slightly increases her natural affinity for animals and plants, making it less likely to be considered a threat, and making her more comfortable in natural environments, slightly increasing healing and MP regeneration speed

Weaknesses: (Practical limitations, detrimental ‘stats’, and deficiencies. Include at least three)

• Unforgiven - This is not the first time Yayama has been overtaken by Light. The scars from her near-transformation in the past are deep and persistent, meaning that any metaphysically light-based attacks or effects will have a significantly more debilitating impact on her should they cut through her defenses. This also applies to assaults that work on the principle of somehow stilling or freezing the energy within the target, as her own internal aetherial circulation is still sluggish despite her best efforts in her recovery.
• Poor Vision - While her vision is sufficient for everyday life, and even precision tasks given the correct tools and time, her eye injury is only about two years old and comes after a wealth of experience fighting; her depth perception and therefore ability to accurately gauge distances quickly in combat is impaired. Additionally, her night vision is naturally poor, causing her to struggle in environments suffused with mundane darkness no matter how much she goes on about being the Bringer of the Night.
• The Blackest Knight - A life full of hardship has made Yayama strong in many ways, but with it comes many ways to exploit the memories that have shaped her into the hero she is. Yayama is terrified of losing her friends, prone to deep rages over this fear, and still not quite over a suspicion of food and drink brought by people she doesn't already have a well-established relationship with, leaving her generally more vulnerable than expected to tactics that would exploit these various traumas.

Spirits: (Any spirits your character possesses should be listed here with their type)

• Spirit name - Type

Rapport:

• Amaterasu (3/5 REXP) - Nothing yet.
• Primrose (4/5 REXP) - Nothing yet.

Inactive Skills/Abilities

• Delirium - Yayama can channel her aether into ever-more-powerful strikes, consuming a greater amount of energy to execute Scarlet Delirium, Comeuppance, and Torcleaver..
• Blackblood - A dark knight lives to strike down evil, the tyrant who grows fat off the labor of others, the noble who thinks in his decadence that he is above the justice of cold steel. Yayama can channel her aether and the pain of taking blows for her teammates into a powerful attack called Bloodspiller. She also has a wider-area version of this attack, known as Quietus.

[TruthHurts]

A True Gentleman

Name: Hershel Layton
Origin: Professor Layton
Appearance: "Every puzzle has an answer."

Personality: Professor Layton is first and foremost a gentleman. He strives to embody all that title suggests - he's polite, amiable, soft-spoken and eloquent, humble. He treats those around him with compassion and empathy, even the more unsavory or tactless sorts, and is always willing to offer his help to anyone that may need it... though even he has limits to what kinds of personalities he'll endure. Layton keeps a cool head in all matters, maintaining a calm and collected presence that others can rely on. Only in the most dire of circumstances does his demeanor shift, particularly when those he holds dear are concerned.

Background

Professor Layton’s life is one full of adventure and intrigue, and of immense loss. Raised in a sleepy village, Hershel, in his teen years, lost his close friend while exploring a series of ancient ruins. He took up his friend’s passion for archeology and puzzles partly in remembrance, setting a course for his future he couldn't imagine.

As he grew older he became an esteemed professor of archeology in London, his reputation preceding him as tales of "Professor Layton" spread throughout the continent. Stories of him besting giant shadowy monsters, unearthing lost civilizations, exploits from impossible cities to curious villages. Along the way he met several friends and allies, and even gained an apprentice, one Luke Triton who stayed at his side for years, forging an unbreakable bond between them. While much of London, and Luke himself, extol the grandeur of his adventures, Layton prefers to keep the small and personal details to heart; the family he's never known and yet still lost, the love of his life gone forever, the orphaned girl he now raises...

(Layton will be taken from after the end of Unwound Future and sometime prior to New World of Steam, before any events transpire that lead into Layton Brothers or Layton's Mystery Journey.)

In the Now

Ever since Galeem absorbed the London he knew, Layton's life has been... normal. He's still an archeology professor, situated up north in Edinburgh, under his old Dean Delmona as well. There was no shortage of ancient relics to find and mysteries that needed a look into, so for the most part he'd gone about his days as if nothing happened at all, teaching his classes some days and traveling to far-off locales on others, in search of historic finds and puzzles. The only thing that's been off, in his Gleaming state, is that he hasn't heard from Luke in a while, no letters from America like he used to receive and no reply to his latest message. Very unusual.

Job: Professor of Archeology
Specialty: Strategist & Tactician, Problem Solver, Duelist
Inventory:

• Professor's Trunk - a simple travel case, about twice the size of an ordinary attaché, where Layton keeps his essentials, as well as any useful odds and ends he comes across. It currently contains...
  
  • A Journal, and something to write with
  • A Tea Set
  • A Puzzle Index
  • Several changes of clothes
  • Spare Hat
• Hint Coins (x5)
• Traveling funds, in several widely-accepted denominations

Lv: 5
EXP: 0/50
Abilities:

• Hint Coin Collector - Wherever he goes, Layton is able to find Hint Coins, usually in out-of-the-way nooks and conspicuous areas. Their primary use is to be traded for hints for a given puzzle, though thanks to Galeem’s influence they can help in other contexts. In combat, Layton can use a Hint Coin to strike at an opponent’s weak point, inflict “critical” damage, or evade an attack that would otherwise land. They can also be used to increase Layton’s physical abilities for a brief moment, giving him bursts of speed, longer hang-time to make a jump, and so on. Hint Coins are physical objects, so he's limited by the number he can carry, and can only be used once per effect.
• This Reminds Me of a Puzzle - True to form, Professor Layton can spin just about any scenario into a puzzle, regardless of relevance. When the Professor presents a puzzle in this manner, it appears in the current surroundings (ie, a puzzle about matches would have the required matchsticks pop into existence on a nearby surface), and can even slightly alter space (ie, a puzzle of untangling wires can significantly reduce the amount of wires present) until the puzzle is solved or abandoned, in which case things return to normal. Mundane or minor actions affected by a Puzzle are "free", though any attempt to Puzzle anything of significance - disarming a bomb, navigating a storm, avoiding an ambush, etc - require a Hint Coin to be spent.

Skills:

• A Sharp Mind - Professor Layton's intellect is quite high. There's his knack for puzzles, obviously, and there's also the fact that he's very well-read, logical, and even quite technically minded, able to jury-rig equipment from things he has on hand (he once turned a slot machine into a machine gun). His knowledge has limits, as does anyone's, though he's quick on the uptake.
• A Promising Fencer - ever since he was young, Layton had practiced the art of fencing, and in his adult years he's become very proficient. He's capable of fighting with a long sword (or anything of similar length, like a pipe or branch), against armed opponents or groups, to the best of his abilities. Common sense trumps prowess, after all.
• An Athletic Build - despite his position as a professor, Layton leads a very active life. This affords him good physicality, being acrobatic and dexterous to an impressive degree. He won't be pulling off too many backflips or anything so outrageous, but it does give him an edge.

Weaknesses:

• "A true gentleman knows that violence is not the answer." - Layton is something of a pacifist. When facing off against living foes, he always seeks a peaceful resolution, and if forced to fight he only acts defensively, seeking to disarm or convince his opponent to back down. He never strikes to harm, and he never throws the first blow no matter the circumstances.
• "A true gentleman is never without his hat." - thanks to personal convictions, Layton is steadfast in his commitment to headwear. Particularly his own. He's never seen without it, and he never takes it off in any circumstance. He'll even avoid situations in which he may have to remove it. He always makes some comment to brush it off, though the insistence can raise eyebrows.
• "A true gentleman is still human, after all." - this is to reference both the physical limits that a human can't overcome, especially taking the current state of the world into account, but also to all else that can affect the average person. Layton isn't immune to manipulation, or to things that may alter his perspective or mental state, or even to having his emotions played with. He may seem unflappable, but at the end of the day he's as susceptible as anyone else to the maladies of life.

Spirits: N/A

Rapport: N/A