Yuri Lowell (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
protagerrant) wrote2015-12-24 09:01 pm
protagerrant) wrote2015-12-24 09:01 pm
Mask or Menace Appliction
〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Lei
AGE: 25
JOURNAL: whywolf @ dw
IM / EMAIL: praecipitanter @ gmail
PLURK: praecipitanter
RETURNING: Y; just one, Mikura Kazuma
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Yuri Lowell
CHARACTER AGE: 22
CANON ORIGIN: Tales of Vesperia
CHRONOLOGY: post-game by a few months
CLASS: Hero/Vigilante. Saved the world, also murdered some dudes who were bad.
HOUSING: Anywhere but Heropa! And I would like roommates.
BACKGROUND: Yuri is the protagonist (sort of) of a j-rpg. I say sort of because really, Estelle, the requisite princess is more the actual traditional protagonist; she’s the one growing into adulthood and self-determination and discovering her destiny. Yuri’s already adult, and the beginning of the game makes it clear that he’s already been chewed up and spit out by The System. Once, he was a fiery, pugnacious idealist intent on reforming the corrupt plutocratic society with his best friend, Flynn, by climbing rank through the law keeping/military institution of the Knights--whose upper ranks usually consisted only of nobles. He quit after three months, unable to handle the hypocrisy and blind eye necessary to be a Knight (the Knights are really goddam corrupt, okay). Three years later, at the canon’s start, Yuri is jaded, frustrated, and turned in on himself with his inability to affect any actual change for the impoverished community he grew up in--they remain subject to negligent or even outright abusive peacekeeping from the knights, disdain and and a refusal to share vital resources (like clean water) from the nobles.
Yuri doesn’t want to go haring off with this determined Princess but he gets roped into it due to shenanigans and he ends up being the somewhat unwilling party leader charged with herding a bunch of independent cat-types. They save the world and all that. Yuri’s personal plot kicks in when he finally manages to make a concrete change in his country’s corrupted political situation: he fucking murders some evil rich guy. He does this a few more times and kind of has a minor crises over it but he gets over it/the plot takes over. More on this below.
PERSONALITY: Despite never seeing much of it growing up, Yuri has a keen sense of justice and a keener sense of injustice. He was raised on the dichotomy of his caring community who took care of him as an orphan and the dispassionate cruelty of the upper class, including law enforcement. At his heart, Yuri is a good person, an idealist who wants to protect people and do the right thing. Being forced to constantly witness good people suffer for profit filled Yuri with determination to change the system, but in the end he was too much of an idealist. He couldn’t stomach working within a corrupt system to change it. After failing out of the Knights, things churned into a vicious cycle: Yuri would get into some kind of scuffle against authority while attempting some good deed, he’d suffer the consequences, and frequently those close to him would as well through various forms of harassment. Out of guilt, and his own strong sense of justice, Yuri would throw himself recklessly into more situations and the cycle would begin again. He became trapped by his guilt, his increasing frustration, and his growing belief that he was not and would never be a good person because of his failure to protect his people. Not being a good person is a pretty solid part of his identity before the game even starts. Compounding these feelings are the inadequacy he feels compared to his best friend, Flynn, who did stay in the knights and three years later, is even pretty successful.
But that’s all very under the surface. To most people, Yuri is a comes off completely as the cool older-brother type. He always seems calm, in the know, and ready with a carelessly sarcastic retort. His constant air of aloof unconcern regardless of the situation makes for a cool head under pressure but his casualness frequently comes off as flippant--an attitude that’s gotten him into trouble more than once. So has his eagerness to cross blades; Yuri loves a good fight, whether it’s a friendly duel or a hoard of monsters.
Despite how much he clashes with authority/other strong personalities and how uncommunicative he is about himself, Yuri is pretty good at being social and knowing when to support people or when to push them. He honestly cares, despite how hard he pretends not to, and it shows through his unwillingness to leave anyone suffering or lost. Jaded as he is he’s never so jaded that he doesn’t try to help when someone is in trouble. He is really pretty good at being supportive, and he helps party members Estelle and Karol find a path in life they can be proud of. His care is also evident in the fact that he always shows a keen interest and understanding of the politics going on around him--Yuri’s not ignorant by any stretch. He’s got a sharp mind to match a sharp tongue, though he could care less about book learning.
Throughout the game, Yuri struggles with deciding his own values. He finally finds a model in the figure of Don Whitehorse, a guild leader who explains the ways of guilds to Yuri: making your own laws and following them no matter what. It’s intensely appealing to Yuri, who’s had to suffer under unjust laws his whole life. Following in the Don’s footsteps, Yuri finally starts to build a life he can be proud of, starting a guild with his young party member Karol as the leader. But during this time he’s also dealing with murdering some really evil rich guys in cold blood--guys so rich the law couldn’t touch them. Yuri’s own feelings about this remain ambiguous, never really being resolved in game. He keenly feels the weight of these murders, but while he never calls them right, he can’t quite call them wrong, either. He’s made a certain amount of peace with being a murderer, but he still carries the tension of becoming a criminal when he once idealistic enough to think that things could be changed through justice.
POWER: 1. Magic Swordsman (canon): Yuri can use techniques called “artes” which are basically magic-bolstered sword techniques. A couple of them have an elemental edge but mostly it’s just his sword (or fist) + some extra kick in the form of plain energy. He can also project energy blasts--not very far and not very powerful, just enough to trip someone. Yuri honestly doesn’t rely on magic too much; most of his punch comes from being a top tier swordsperson with natural aptitude and a lot of experience. His sword technique is particular crazy as it involves a lot of acrobatic nonsense, flips and handstands and the like. He has a very minor short-range area heal (might keep someone from dying but won’t bring them out of critical condition) and his Mystic Arte which is just a Super Good Ultimate Sword Technique that will fuck his opponent up extra hard. This all comes with some physical stat boosts--speed, strength, dexterity, etc. This by no means makes him invulnerable or even superhuman, it just means he’s stronger than he looks and can take more of a beating.
I would like to make his inventory a secondary branch of this power. Inventory is exactly what you’d expect: a hammerspace where items go. You cannot put living creates in the inventory but it makes grocery shopping much easier.
2. Psychometry (non canon): The ability to read emotions and memories of an object by touching it. At first Yuri will only be able to pick up on VERY STRONG stuff, like the memory of a murder off of the murder weapon. Eventually he will get better at picking up subtler emotions and memories. He will be able to share the memory/emotion with another person as long as they are both touching the same object. The ability will eventually also extend towards things like scars and other sites of physical trauma on the human body.
NAME: Lei
AGE: 25
JOURNAL: whywolf @ dw
IM / EMAIL: praecipitanter @ gmail
PLURK: praecipitanter
RETURNING: Y; just one, Mikura Kazuma
〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Yuri Lowell
CHARACTER AGE: 22
CANON ORIGIN: Tales of Vesperia
CHRONOLOGY: post-game by a few months
CLASS: Hero/Vigilante. Saved the world, also murdered some dudes who were bad.
HOUSING: Anywhere but Heropa! And I would like roommates.
BACKGROUND: Yuri is the protagonist (sort of) of a j-rpg. I say sort of because really, Estelle, the requisite princess is more the actual traditional protagonist; she’s the one growing into adulthood and self-determination and discovering her destiny. Yuri’s already adult, and the beginning of the game makes it clear that he’s already been chewed up and spit out by The System. Once, he was a fiery, pugnacious idealist intent on reforming the corrupt plutocratic society with his best friend, Flynn, by climbing rank through the law keeping/military institution of the Knights--whose upper ranks usually consisted only of nobles. He quit after three months, unable to handle the hypocrisy and blind eye necessary to be a Knight (the Knights are really goddam corrupt, okay). Three years later, at the canon’s start, Yuri is jaded, frustrated, and turned in on himself with his inability to affect any actual change for the impoverished community he grew up in--they remain subject to negligent or even outright abusive peacekeeping from the knights, disdain and and a refusal to share vital resources (like clean water) from the nobles.
Yuri doesn’t want to go haring off with this determined Princess but he gets roped into it due to shenanigans and he ends up being the somewhat unwilling party leader charged with herding a bunch of independent cat-types. They save the world and all that. Yuri’s personal plot kicks in when he finally manages to make a concrete change in his country’s corrupted political situation: he fucking murders some evil rich guy. He does this a few more times and kind of has a minor crises over it but he gets over it/the plot takes over. More on this below.
PERSONALITY: Despite never seeing much of it growing up, Yuri has a keen sense of justice and a keener sense of injustice. He was raised on the dichotomy of his caring community who took care of him as an orphan and the dispassionate cruelty of the upper class, including law enforcement. At his heart, Yuri is a good person, an idealist who wants to protect people and do the right thing. Being forced to constantly witness good people suffer for profit filled Yuri with determination to change the system, but in the end he was too much of an idealist. He couldn’t stomach working within a corrupt system to change it. After failing out of the Knights, things churned into a vicious cycle: Yuri would get into some kind of scuffle against authority while attempting some good deed, he’d suffer the consequences, and frequently those close to him would as well through various forms of harassment. Out of guilt, and his own strong sense of justice, Yuri would throw himself recklessly into more situations and the cycle would begin again. He became trapped by his guilt, his increasing frustration, and his growing belief that he was not and would never be a good person because of his failure to protect his people. Not being a good person is a pretty solid part of his identity before the game even starts. Compounding these feelings are the inadequacy he feels compared to his best friend, Flynn, who did stay in the knights and three years later, is even pretty successful.
But that’s all very under the surface. To most people, Yuri is a comes off completely as the cool older-brother type. He always seems calm, in the know, and ready with a carelessly sarcastic retort. His constant air of aloof unconcern regardless of the situation makes for a cool head under pressure but his casualness frequently comes off as flippant--an attitude that’s gotten him into trouble more than once. So has his eagerness to cross blades; Yuri loves a good fight, whether it’s a friendly duel or a hoard of monsters.
Despite how much he clashes with authority/other strong personalities and how uncommunicative he is about himself, Yuri is pretty good at being social and knowing when to support people or when to push them. He honestly cares, despite how hard he pretends not to, and it shows through his unwillingness to leave anyone suffering or lost. Jaded as he is he’s never so jaded that he doesn’t try to help when someone is in trouble. He is really pretty good at being supportive, and he helps party members Estelle and Karol find a path in life they can be proud of. His care is also evident in the fact that he always shows a keen interest and understanding of the politics going on around him--Yuri’s not ignorant by any stretch. He’s got a sharp mind to match a sharp tongue, though he could care less about book learning.
Throughout the game, Yuri struggles with deciding his own values. He finally finds a model in the figure of Don Whitehorse, a guild leader who explains the ways of guilds to Yuri: making your own laws and following them no matter what. It’s intensely appealing to Yuri, who’s had to suffer under unjust laws his whole life. Following in the Don’s footsteps, Yuri finally starts to build a life he can be proud of, starting a guild with his young party member Karol as the leader. But during this time he’s also dealing with murdering some really evil rich guys in cold blood--guys so rich the law couldn’t touch them. Yuri’s own feelings about this remain ambiguous, never really being resolved in game. He keenly feels the weight of these murders, but while he never calls them right, he can’t quite call them wrong, either. He’s made a certain amount of peace with being a murderer, but he still carries the tension of becoming a criminal when he once idealistic enough to think that things could be changed through justice.
POWER: 1. Magic Swordsman (canon): Yuri can use techniques called “artes” which are basically magic-bolstered sword techniques. A couple of them have an elemental edge but mostly it’s just his sword (or fist) + some extra kick in the form of plain energy. He can also project energy blasts--not very far and not very powerful, just enough to trip someone. Yuri honestly doesn’t rely on magic too much; most of his punch comes from being a top tier swordsperson with natural aptitude and a lot of experience. His sword technique is particular crazy as it involves a lot of acrobatic nonsense, flips and handstands and the like. He has a very minor short-range area heal (might keep someone from dying but won’t bring them out of critical condition) and his Mystic Arte which is just a Super Good Ultimate Sword Technique that will fuck his opponent up extra hard. This all comes with some physical stat boosts--speed, strength, dexterity, etc. This by no means makes him invulnerable or even superhuman, it just means he’s stronger than he looks and can take more of a beating.
I would like to make his inventory a secondary branch of this power. Inventory is exactly what you’d expect: a hammerspace where items go. You cannot put living creates in the inventory but it makes grocery shopping much easier.
2. Psychometry (non canon): The ability to read emotions and memories of an object by touching it. At first Yuri will only be able to pick up on VERY STRONG stuff, like the memory of a murder off of the murder weapon. Eventually he will get better at picking up subtler emotions and memories. He will be able to share the memory/emotion with another person as long as they are both touching the same object. The ability will eventually also extend towards things like scars and other sites of physical trauma on the human body.