Post by mm007mk2 on May 19, 2011 20:10:19 GMT -5
Hey, Red XIII's player here. This account is for my second char, my planned OC.
I have assorted ideas for Blues, here are just a few, but they’d require GM permission. Please read through and provide comments and ideas for the bio as well as plot ideas. It's not really here for submission/approval yet as much as input.
One possible plot idea is that Project A fiends, imperfect beings, or even other Cetra appear…possibly as allies or enemies depending on if they are loyal to Hojo. Those escaping Hojo may or may not be able to hear the Planet. I haven't fleshed this out heavily though.
The excess Mako in Blues’ body that keeps him from communicating smoothly with the Planet may be drawn into one part of his body and form a Materia. This Materia could be various things; like a unique spell, a powerful summon, or something plot-based. Barret threw out the idea of a new Holy, but don’t know if that’d work or not. Thoughts?
I have assorted ideas for Blues, here are just a few, but they’d require GM permission. Please read through and provide comments and ideas for the bio as well as plot ideas. It's not really here for submission/approval yet as much as input.
One possible plot idea is that Project A fiends, imperfect beings, or even other Cetra appear…possibly as allies or enemies depending on if they are loyal to Hojo. Those escaping Hojo may or may not be able to hear the Planet. I haven't fleshed this out heavily though.
The excess Mako in Blues’ body that keeps him from communicating smoothly with the Planet may be drawn into one part of his body and form a Materia. This Materia could be various things; like a unique spell, a powerful summon, or something plot-based. Barret threw out the idea of a new Holy, but don’t know if that’d work or not. Thoughts?
Name: Blues Arnoul
Alignment/Affiliation: Unaligned to start
Age: 13
Birthdate: April 5, 1998
Race: Cetra
History/Background: In early 1992, Ifalna and Aeris managed to escape Professor Hojo, after which Ifalna died. Hojo wished to reclaim Aeris, but President Shinra's plans for locating the Promised Land using Cetra were stalled by the outbreak of the Wutaian War and the resources allocated to it -- even if Aeris were captured, they couldn't use her as planned during wartime. Hojo, fortunately or unfortunately depending on one's point of view, had enough success with his Project S and Sephiroth's record during the war to keep various resources geared toward genetic modification and Mako infusion. Without official Shinra support, he attempted to use these resources for his own Project A.
A project not officially supported by Shinra, Project A (for Ancient) used Project S' resources. Like Projects G and S, it was geared toward creating an Ancient -- the difference being that G and S falsely assumed Jenova to be a Cetra. It was hoped that with the conclusion of the Wutaian War, Hojo's efforts would put him well ahead of other researchers just restarting the efforts to make a Cetra and resume the search for the Mako-rich Promised Land.
Unfortunately, Ifalna's death had damaged a fair number of her egg cells before they could be removed and frozen, resulting in a line of failures over the next half-decade. Many were efforts to splice Jenovan and Human DNA into their genome to replace the damaged genes; resulting in miscarriages, stillborns, the deaths of surrogate mothers, and mutated fiends. The few that survived could not hear the call of the Planet, much to Hojo's ire. As a result of Ifalna's eggs being unsuitable for cloning or direct fertilization due to their degraded state, a sample of Aeris' blood was necessary. Hojo eventually used Shinra’s authority to seize a sample of her blood from a medical doctor who’d given her a check up. He then set to work.
Hojo didn't wish to settle for a 1/4th Cetra, so attempts at outright cloning were made, but Hojo also saw fit to take DNA from other sources – albeit as little as possible so as not to dilute the Cetra lineage and abilities. What of Ifalna’s DNA was shown to be usable by trial and error and by analysis of the Cetra genome was also used to maximize the percentage of Cetra DNA – though Aeris remained the chief contributor. Blues was born on April 5, 1998 as the seventh prototype of this series, with an unidentified father for a donor and an unidentified surrogate mother. The better percentage of his DNA was Cetra-based, and the human DNA used was used in places where Cetra and Human genetics were the same as far as Hojo could determine. Unfortunately, the Planet simply refused to communicate with any of his creations, even if they were viable. The idea that the Planet was a living and conscious entity that could hinder his progress didn’t occur to Hojo until several years later. Still, Blues was among the most stable children produced by the project, so he was permitted to live for later experimentation.
The surviving experiments’ infancy and early childhood were in a sterile environment and detached from the Planet, causing many of those with Cetra blood to suffer intense depression from their lack of any connection to it. Many perished or lost the will to live, effectively weeding out the weakest of the group. Hojo actually intended this from the beginning.
Hojo’s irritation with his lack of progress grew after the Wutai War ended, and he tried more radical experiments. An experiment with Blues and some others the following year involved Mako infusion, in hopes of allowing the experiments direct contact with part of the Lifestream. Often, the Mako simply took the souls of those created back to the Planet, but a few like Blues were strong enough to endure in spite of their young age, and Blues was ‘rewarded’ with the ability to hear the Planet. Unfortunately, the Mako in his system magnified the voice of the planet so greatly and jumbled it so horribly that it was often hard to interpret and caused pain when heard. It was noteworthy that Blues’ eyes stayed bright green instead of becoming Mako Blue.
The four year old Blues may have been disposed of at this time, but why the Planet chose him to speak to and not the others was something that wasn’t understood. Furthermore, these experiments happened in late August 0002 – the month before Sephiroth destroyed Nibelhiem. SOLDIER was at an all time low in regard to strong members. After this point, Blues was trained from early on in combat, in hopes that he would one day become useful as a weapon as well as to guide Shinra to the Promised Land.
The Mako infusion did enhance Blues’ strength and stamina, and he was trained from this point on as a fighter. The idea of a person raised by Shinra and completely loyal to Shinra above all things was an attractive idea given the defection of SOLDIER’s forces over the years – especially after the blows of Genesis, Angeal, and Sephiroth. Blues’ still developing body also adapted to the Mako better than an adult’s, though the low odds of a child surviving the initial Mako infusion process prevented wide scale use. Aside from the headaches caused by the Planet, Blues proved to have potential as a combatant and particular skill in the use of Materia. He was raised in a competitive environment, where those who did not produce results had no reason to live, and where Shinra was everything…but the Planet’s cries constantly reminded Blues that there was something more out there, painful as they were. He accepted the harsh training Shinra had to offer, pushing his gentle nature down within himself and preparing for a day he could break free of the limited world presented to him.
Blues would eventually be assigned a mentor, a SOLDIER Second Class by the name of Kunsel under a sort of apprenticeship – though in reality Kunsel was his handler to ensure Blues’ loyalty as well. Kunsel had moral misgivings about using child soldiers, but knew the boy’s fate should he fail to meet the standards set for him and agreed to train him. Things continued like this for a time; until Kinsel learned of Shinra’s betrayl of his friend Zack Fair. This brought Kunsel’s lingering suspicions regarding SOLDIER and Shinra to the forefront, and made him start to teach the boy about the outside world and cultivate that which Shinra neglected and tried to hinder in hopes of allowing him to escape at some point.
Kunsel and Blues were eventually assigned to help drop the Sector Seven Plate and blame it on AVALANCHE, the final straw for Kunsel. Rather than help drop the Sector Seven Plate in an amoral and cowardly act, Kunsel managed to allow Blues to escape Midgar. Hojo captured a superior specimen in Aeris in the Sector Seven Plate Drop operation, and did not pursue Blues, but Aeris later escaped. Between the death of President Shinra, the unofficial status of Project A, and the subsequent operations against AVALANCHE taking precedence, Blues only had to contend with what forces Hojo himself could deploy to locate and fight him. He never had to try particularly hard to evade Shinra itself, as the Turks and SOLDIER were very much occupied at the time. He evaded capture until Meteorfall, when Blues would have an excellent view from the mountains of the Lifestream emerging from the Planet to stop Meteor. He stayed far from Midgar after that point, at least until the Geostigma was cleared two years later.
After Shinra’s collapse, he started scavenging in Shinra’s old locations and properties, routinely eating old rations, finding ammunition, and obtaining Materia to keep or to resell. He does a lot of salvage work, and has a basic knowledge of mechanics and electronics, enough to tinker. Sometimes he still tries to locate surviving facilities under Midgar that may have survived, though he is unaware of Deepground. He would also do odd jobs in various places, as he wandered the Planet for the years since he escaped Hojo’s clutches with Kunsel’s aid. Routinely, the Planet has tried to call him, but the pain makes him reject the Planet’s cries. While other Cetra in the past searched the Planet to hear it and to reach the Promise Land, Blues wanders aimlessly to escape the painful cry, and to find a place in the world. He doesn’t know his mother’s name – only that she is dead, and that the project routinely referred to her as ‘the Flower Girl’.
Appearance: Blues looks a great deal like his mother. His skin is fair and his hair is brown, while his facial features and hairstyle are also reminiscent of his mother. He has the same bright green eyes – though he often hides them behind sunglasses to avoid notice since they stand out so much. The boy has a light shirt, black pants, boots, and gloves. He also wears a harness on which to carry his weapons, and a bracelet for defense and Materia slots. He also wears a green cloak to shield himself from the elements. His staff and machine gun both can be bound on his back.
Personality: On the outside, Blues’ personality is that one might expect of a boy who had to give up his childhood to survive, one who was trained to fight and who fate dictated must outlive his handlers. He is also guarded, against not only other people, but the Planet itself that causes him pain. However, the constant knowledge that something better existed during his rough childhood allowed his original personality to survive – though Blues has yet to locate his true self fully amongst what he has had to become. He does not enjoy seeing others in pain, and strongly dislikes those who would cause pain or harm to others.
Abilities: Blues’ body, though young, has been enhanced by Mako infusion. As a result of this; his speed, dexterity, reaction time, and strength have all been increased to a degree, though not as drastic an enhancement as those infused with Jenova Cells. He is able to use full sized weapons and can match or surpass the average adult combatant in raw physical prowess. He can also hear the planet, but the pain this causes makes him consider it more a liability than a capability. He also has an inate ability to more easily and efficiently utilize Materia, not needing to use as much power to cast spells. While he can do some other things here and there, such as sense when he is the focus on someone’s hostilities or other intent, many Cetra abilities currently escape him due to a lack of training from a parent or the Planet. He also has survivalist skills, basic navigation abilities, and some mechanical/electronics knowledge from salvaging.
Blues’ abilities in combat are fairly diverse due to his training, training with both the staff and the sword. His custom weapon is a marriage of these two things, comparable to a naginata, and his experience with that weapon allows him to equip spears if necessary. He is also capable of using firearms, making him effective at multiple ranges even before considering the use of Materia.
Blues’ Limit Breaks are heavily developed, from fighting alone and having to endure more damage. He specifically trained on his Limit Breaks -- trying to fight the Midgar Zolom on lower levels and the Zolom’s Bite allowing him to achieve his Limit Break level quickly and use them often. He can theoretically use Healing Wind, Braver, Hyper Jump, Breath of the Earth, Meteorain, and Pulse of Life. He can’t quite access the Limit breaks of his mother due to his flawed connection to the Planet, however, and he has yet to find his final limit Break. As a result, he can only use Braver, Hyper Jump, and Meteorain to start.
Weapons: Inspired by things such as cane swords, the Staff Sword is a staff of his own design with three pairs of linked Materia Slots and a straight blade in one end that can be deployed or retracted by twisting the handle a half-turn. This effectively combined Blues’ staff and sword skills to permit the use of a simple Naginata-like weapon. It can also be used much like a spear, and is quite versatile. It is a weapon which the boy had to spend a fair amount of time working on, and finding cheap weapons with linked Materia slots to cannibalize. As such, he treats the weapon quite well and can repair it easily. He also hopes to upgrade it, after finding any flaws and re-engineering the design.
As a backup weapon, Blues also has a Shinra Infantryman’s machine gun which he took with him from Midgar four years ago. Though it lacks any Materia Slots and is not the most powerful weapon around, its ammunition and parts are common and cheap. This combined with its reliability and ease of maintenance has allowed it to outlive Shinra’s forces, even if it rarely succeeds in stopping more powerful enemies.
Bracelet: Blues’ current bracelet has just one pair of linked Materia Slots, but gives triple AP gain. Materia he wishes to more quickly level are stored in this bracelet, particularly Materia like All or spare Materia. Materia he obtains are also often put in here when he first obtains them, to level them faster. Blues often swaps the Materia in the Bracelet because of this. He still searches for a better armband, though.
Materia on Weapon:
Restore, Seal (Mastered), Fire (Mastered) liked to All, Ice (Mastered), Earth
Blues’ Seal, Bolt, and Ice Materia are the ones he has had the longest, being equipped with the same Materia as a SOLDIER Third Class by Hojo. As such, they’ve been Mastered.
Materia on Bracelet:
Sense, Gravity
A way Blues earns money is by putting easily Mastered Materia in the bracelet and leveling it up quickly. He particularly likes doing so with the Sense Materia because it does the same thing whether it is Mastered or new – meaning he can Master the Sense Materia, swap it for the new Materia that is formed, and sell the Mastered Materia without the loss of any abilities. He also uses this to level Materia that is newly obtained, which he wishes to bring up to par with his other skills. Due to this, he may often swap out Materia in the bracelet.
Spare Materia: Sense (Mastered), Chocobo Lure (Mastered), Chocobo Lure, Seal, Fire, Ice
OPTIONAL
RP Sample:
Everything else...