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[ application: original characters ]
IMPORTANT! We are officially in endgame until August 31, 2020. Applications are on a rolling basis. There is a small "block" period from the 1st through the 4th of every month to allow a bulk of apps to be submitted, and then applications can be submitted at any time during the month. Notices will be sent out all at once after the first "block" period, and then between 24 hours to the end of the weekend depending on how many and our schedule. Applications are guaranteed to be processed during the weekends.
IMPORTANT: Only the following types of original characters are allowed to be applied for—
The following would not be allowed:
Before applying, please be sure to read the following:
We have compiled sample applications from our players to show what the mod team and the application moderators are looking for in terms of writing quality and depth. We hope you find these samples useful!
⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player:
Contact: Journal/Plurk/AIM — anything to help identify since someone might share your name handle.
Age: You must be at least 13 years old to apply.
Current Characters: If a new player, just put "N/A"
⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character:
Age:
OC Type: Indicate whether this OC is a Pure, MMO, or Blank Protagonist type of OC. If it is a Blank Protagonist, indicate the canon here.
Point Taken: A sense of time when the character is taken. More applicable to MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs.
World Building:This is separate from the character's personal history. This section is to provide us with information about the character's “canon” in general. We will have no idea what kind of world that the character is coming from, and this is the only place we can learn about it. We don't want an encyclopedia, but we will need to know important details about it so that we can understand the culture the character is coming from and how that will affect how they think and behave. What countries are important? What kind of geography or political climate? Are there any social conflicts that would impact the character or would influence how they view others? For MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs, linking us to wikis will suffice, but feel free to add more to it.
Backstory: While we don't need a play-by-play, what we would like to see includes how the character lived, what choices they've made and why, what events occurred that developed them, and other important facts that will help us understand the character. For MMO OCs: Most MMORPGs will have a set storyline that the player character has the opportunity to play through. Keep in mind that rather there being a singular "Great Hero," all MMO OCs are to be seen as a part of a large group of heroes if you choose to follow the main storyline. Also keep in mind that all MMO OCs will have to follow their game’s canon lore. For example: A character could not save the NPC that canonly died, nor could a mission fail if it is set to succeed. However, your character could have died and or had difficulty fulfilling the mission. It is also possible that your character had no part in the overall game's story and had their own adventures in the world instead. Finally, there can be no romantic or familial relationships with named NPCs.
Personality: We're looking for how they think, why they act the way they do, their strengths, their weaknesses, their thought processes, their opinions, their conflicts, what makes them feel the way they do, their significant traits. When writing your character, be careful! We want to avoid characters that are the super invincible almighty hero that can do no wrong. The one who can charm anyone with a smile, can easily trick and deceive, has the power to bend wills with ease. All characters have flaws—no one is perfect. But more importantly, such infallible characters are not interesting to play and interact with. In short, the character should be realistic, balanced, and well thought out. If we feel that your character does not meet this standard, then we may ask for a revision or reject if it cannot be changed.
Abilities: If there are any particular abilities the character has supernatural or otherwise, list them here. Referencing to a wiki list is acceptable if applicable. However, if there are any particular abilities that need to be weakened or removed, note them here.
Alignment: Please refer to the Alignment entry to choose which alignment your character would most likely fall under. Include a brief (a couple of sentences max) just to help explain why you think your choice is the best fit.
Other: Anything else you'd like to mention.
⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample: We have two sample requirements.
General Sample: We should see examples of the character's dialogue as well as some introspection or additional narrative to further show how you intend to write the character. This is the most important part of the sample and where most of the weight will be.
Emotion Sample: This is our "game setting" requirement. Essentially we want to ensure that you have a basic grasp of the game's premise, especially with the use of emotions. It can be a small scene, even incidental to the main sample. A reminder that apathetic characters will also create effects, such as loss of color, surface distortion, holes forming. This section doesn't have to be lengthy, but the effect must be clear for us to see.
The emotion sample can be part of the general character sample. If so, please link directly or directly quote that portion so that it's easier for us to quickly find it.
The samples can be "written" in three different ways and you can choose which one will work best for you:
Format wise, you can use either [ brackets ] OR narrative prose. We do require that the writing at least be coherent, have proper sentence structure, and is mostly grammatically correct (we realize that writing styles can be loose/creative in [ bracket ] form so we're giving a bit more leeway). One last suggestion we have is try to have the character interacting with the environment and try thinking of the sample less of a narrative piece but more like a post or thread prompt you might make in the game. That will help the sample show not only how you will write the character, but also how you will play them in practice.
Questions: If you have any questions, ask them here.
Clean copy and paste form here:
IMPORTANT: Only the following types of original characters are allowed to be applied for—
- Pure OC. These are the typical kind of OC that everyone is familiar with. They are characters that are the player's own creation with their own world that is also of the player's design. There is zero relation to any pre-existing canon.
- MMO OC. MMOs, or Massively Multiplayer Online games, particularly those with a lot of roleplay and character build-up, have existing world building and lore that they have to follow. These characters are created by the player and can have their own story, but they have to follow the rules of the game lore. We consider "main hero" characters as those who are one of many in a great group that influenced the storyline, rather than the singular Great Hero character. This is to help multiple MMO OCs from the same game to have stories that mesh well together. In the sake of fairness to current FFXIV OC players and consistency with previous mod teams' decisions, we do not currently allow FFXIV Warriors of Light.
- Blank Slate Canon Protagonists. For our criteria, these types of characters are those which you control throughout the game and essentially make the player the main character. They may have a name and a couple of personality traits, but everything else is up to the player to interpret. Examples of these are most of the main characters from Dragon Age, Skyrim, Pokémon, etc. Important: Please note that this category ONLY pertains to the protagonists of canons. This does not allow side characters or other support NPCs as they have set stories and personalities. This section has nothing to do with how much headcanon is used and is only about the purpose and design of the protagonist character.
The following would not be allowed:
- Fanon/AU OCs. Characters that are based off pre-existing canons or an alternate version of the canon. We would not allow these OCs not because we are against them on principle, but it could cause unwanted confusion and complications with current existing casts. This type of OC would have needed to be allowed from the very beginning so players would know what they were getting into.
- Game Native OCs. Currently the game is not ready for such a type of character, as it would introduce other complications and worldbuilding that the interested player would have to be aware of. In addition, it would require more close connection with us the mods than we are currently ready for.
Before applying, please be sure to read the following:
- Read the Rules and the Game Information.
- RETURNING PLAYERS! You only need to submit any old application. Does not matter how long ago, as long as it was accepted and you have good standing (ie, not banned), it will be valid.
- Suggestion: Find some character sheets that have questions directly related to character building. These will help flesh out your application and give some guidelines as to how to write about your character.
- Feel free to use the most recent test drive both for practice as well as to use for samples. IMPORTANT! If you submit threads as samples, you must submit the application with that character journal. This is the only way we can ensure that the samples are from you and not someone else.
- Linked samples must have been made within the past year.
- You may apply for up to two characters per cycle.
- Do not plagiarize. If we find that the information provided was directly taken by either another player or some other source material, the application will be rejected immediately. If we find this after processing the application, we will revoke the application and have you removed from the game with potential ban.
- Reusing your own applications from other games is allowed. We only ask any original written samples to conform to our game. That is, we don't want to read samples that are set specifically for another game's premise. Note: this does not apply to threads linked from other games used as samples.
- If you are rejected, you cannot reapply for the same character for two weeks. However, you can apply for a different character in that same period.
- Those accepted must fill out all of the required entries within a week to be considered part of the game. Otherwise, we will consider it a revocation of the application.
- Fill out the form and comment to this entry! All applications must be posted directly to this entry; no linked-in applications allowed.
We have compiled sample applications from our players to show what the mod team and the application moderators are looking for in terms of writing quality and depth. We hope you find these samples useful!
- Sun Wukong (RWBY)
- Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
- Goro Akechi (Persona 5)
Player:
Contact: Journal/Plurk/AIM — anything to help identify since someone might share your name handle.
Age: You must be at least 13 years old to apply.
Current Characters: If a new player, just put "N/A"
Character:
Age:
OC Type: Indicate whether this OC is a Pure, MMO, or Blank Protagonist type of OC. If it is a Blank Protagonist, indicate the canon here.
Point Taken: A sense of time when the character is taken. More applicable to MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs.
World Building:This is separate from the character's personal history. This section is to provide us with information about the character's “canon” in general. We will have no idea what kind of world that the character is coming from, and this is the only place we can learn about it. We don't want an encyclopedia, but we will need to know important details about it so that we can understand the culture the character is coming from and how that will affect how they think and behave. What countries are important? What kind of geography or political climate? Are there any social conflicts that would impact the character or would influence how they view others? For MMO and Blank Protagonist OCs, linking us to wikis will suffice, but feel free to add more to it.
Backstory: While we don't need a play-by-play, what we would like to see includes how the character lived, what choices they've made and why, what events occurred that developed them, and other important facts that will help us understand the character. For MMO OCs: Most MMORPGs will have a set storyline that the player character has the opportunity to play through. Keep in mind that rather there being a singular "Great Hero," all MMO OCs are to be seen as a part of a large group of heroes if you choose to follow the main storyline. Also keep in mind that all MMO OCs will have to follow their game’s canon lore. For example: A character could not save the NPC that canonly died, nor could a mission fail if it is set to succeed. However, your character could have died and or had difficulty fulfilling the mission. It is also possible that your character had no part in the overall game's story and had their own adventures in the world instead. Finally, there can be no romantic or familial relationships with named NPCs.
Personality: We're looking for how they think, why they act the way they do, their strengths, their weaknesses, their thought processes, their opinions, their conflicts, what makes them feel the way they do, their significant traits. When writing your character, be careful! We want to avoid characters that are the super invincible almighty hero that can do no wrong. The one who can charm anyone with a smile, can easily trick and deceive, has the power to bend wills with ease. All characters have flaws—no one is perfect. But more importantly, such infallible characters are not interesting to play and interact with. In short, the character should be realistic, balanced, and well thought out. If we feel that your character does not meet this standard, then we may ask for a revision or reject if it cannot be changed.
Abilities: If there are any particular abilities the character has supernatural or otherwise, list them here. Referencing to a wiki list is acceptable if applicable. However, if there are any particular abilities that need to be weakened or removed, note them here.
Alignment: Please refer to the Alignment entry to choose which alignment your character would most likely fall under. Include a brief (a couple of sentences max) just to help explain why you think your choice is the best fit.
Other: Anything else you'd like to mention.
Sample: We have two sample requirements.
General Sample: We should see examples of the character's dialogue as well as some introspection or additional narrative to further show how you intend to write the character. This is the most important part of the sample and where most of the weight will be.
Emotion Sample: This is our "game setting" requirement. Essentially we want to ensure that you have a basic grasp of the game's premise, especially with the use of emotions. It can be a small scene, even incidental to the main sample. A reminder that apathetic characters will also create effects, such as loss of color, surface distortion, holes forming. This section doesn't have to be lengthy, but the effect must be clear for us to see.
The emotion sample can be part of the general character sample. If so, please link directly or directly quote that portion so that it's easier for us to quickly find it.
The samples can be "written" in three different ways and you can choose which one will work best for you:
- Test Drive. You can utilize our test drive to cover both requirements of the sample. So long as there is enough character portrayal and a scene with an emotional reaction, be it within the prompt or done during the thread, then it can be used for both.
- Link out + Written. You can link to threads/entries from other games, memes, or museboxes to show character portrayal, and then write an additional short scene for the emotion portion of the sample.
- Original Sample. You can write a complete sample that shows both character portrayal and a scene involving emotion use. This can be one sample or two separate samples. If you opt to write an original sample, you are welcome to use any prompts from any of our Test Drives, Intro Logs, Task Board, and even past events. You are also free to change things up and are not restricted to any of these prompts. They are just here to help offer ideas.
Format wise, you can use either [ brackets ] OR narrative prose. We do require that the writing at least be coherent, have proper sentence structure, and is mostly grammatically correct (we realize that writing styles can be loose/creative in [ bracket ] form so we're giving a bit more leeway). One last suggestion we have is try to have the character interacting with the environment and try thinking of the sample less of a narrative piece but more like a post or thread prompt you might make in the game. That will help the sample show not only how you will write the character, but also how you will play them in practice.
Questions: If you have any questions, ask them here.
Takato Wakahisa | Original Character
Player: Levy
Contact:
Age: 26
Current Characters: N/A
Character: Takato Wakahisa
Age: 212 but looks around early 20s
OC Type: Pure OC
Point Taken: After the demons are fought out of Sprensonne Academy.
no subject
It should be noted that the world which Takato comes from is Earth. More importantly it is Earth as of January 2010 and contains many of the similar factors and political personnel that the actual Earth does. However there is a magical aspect hidden within his world. Basically it’s Earth with mythical creatures inhabiting it and some are rulers of nations like America. Mythologies are something of an underground sort of existence; not thoroughly believed in, but there are some people who know and work alongside them. Magicians for example are some of said people, however many magic users within this world don’t like mythica. The reason for this is because they are still feared for being so powerful despite their being trapped on Earth. For each mythica and its similar kin there are famous families. For instance for vampires the Dracula family is quite well known and powerful. Takato on the other hand is a simple spirit and not very well known on his own. His species, tsukumogami, however are very well known myths and fairytales. So while Takato and other minor spirits of his kind aren’t exactly famous they still have decent power residing within them.
Most mythological creatures walk the Earth under the guise a human being. They interact much the same way as ordinary humans do and are separated into their respective clans. Mythological creatures in this world are beings from a 4th dimension. The 4th dimension is a plane that exists outside the realm of human sight. You can equate it to something like heaven or Mount Olympus and usually the beings within it can cross back and forth between their plane and the plane humans inhabit by feeding on human belief. These beings came across Earth because of the potent magical energies Earth was giving off. They typically, and used to in the past, lived outside the realm which most people could see. They derive their energy on the strength of belief from these creation myths they made for humans. In return they taught people how to harness magic. But that makes one wonder as to why the mythologies would paint themselves in such ways? They were lost in translation due to fear and liberties taken by others, thus making them differ, sometimes greatly, from the original stories.
As the years and times changed people stopped believing in the old stories. Mythica, who so desperately sought to return to their home plane, were now trapped on Earth because they lacked sufficient power to cross back over. Many gods and goddess were prey to this and many of them could only muster enough strength to take on the form of human beings. An example would be Takato who, while being a spirit of a well-known myth, cannot exactly cross back over into the plane which he and so many other mythologies inhabit. This only increased tensions between mages and mythica, but there was one place that humans, mages, and mythica could coexist: Sprensonne Academy where Takato and many other stray and wayward mythologies have gone to in the past.
no subject
Takato is from a previous OC's history that I've played. He comes from an Earth where many things are similar, however, they have a magical and mythological twist to them. Hidden within this Earth are many magical aspects including Takato himself.
Takato's mirror was created during the Edo period (1603-1868 AD) around June 19th, 1798 AD by a famous mirror maker of the time. In order for him to inhabit the mirror, he had to traverse through the 4th plane down to Earth. Like many mythica at the time, he was somewhat powerful but not enough to traverse back and forth between Earth's plane and the 4th dimension. Upon running into another spirit, at the time of his descent to Earth, Takato fought for his life. The spirit was malicious and wanted to use the mirror for harm, and Takato didn't want that. So he fought the spirit, defeated it, and due to the lack of energy couldn't return back to his own plane of existence. The battle caused him to stay dormant within the mirror for some time upon his inhabiting it.
He inhabited a mirror, which was as a gift to a family in Japan, and this is where he would stay for quite some time. Within this family's shrine is where Takato first obtained his ability to manifest. By using the power of the rituals around him Takato absorbed and stored the magical energies within the shrine to regain some of his lost power. Also, the spreading of stories and myths about tsukumogami aided in his increase of power. Alongside his companion, a fox spirit named Kaito, they talked and spent a good portion of their time together. Takato ends up in the sea when a storm destroys a portion of the shrine. Thought to be lost forever he resided within the ocean's murky depths for several years. Takato wound up being caught in a fishermen's net where he was brought back into town to be polished and restored. Takato was sold for a large sum of money to a prodigious family known as the Anabuki family.
The Anabuki family were skilled magic users and were able to manifest Takato as a sort of shiki. They asked Takato to aid them in their private dealings with spirits. Takato agreed and used much of what he saw as a way to understand and learn more about humans in general. He was enjoying his life with the Anabuki family well into the Meiji period (1868-1912 AD) with little issues or cause for concern. Throughout this period, Takato met and learned from many spirits of his nature, and he learned of other Japanese mythica as well. Takato thought he would stay with the Anabuki family forever. But, one day, they were attacked and killed on their way to their summer home, Takato loses everything including the Anabuki family. Lost in the struggle a Wakahisa family servant finds Takato some years later. Takato, wrought with grief at being unable to protect his precious family, remained dormant until the late Showa period (1926-1989 AD). Left in the hands of the Wakahisa family Takato would remain there until the present day.
He materialized one day on December 8th, 1965 causing alarm, and panic within the Wakahisa estate. Thinking he was some sort of malicious spirit Gendou Wakahisa along with another priest attacked Takato in an attempt to seal him away. The ritual reduced Takato’s powers and energies to practically nothing leaving him dormant for a long time. Partially exorcised, but not fully destroyed due to his immense power, Takato is only sealed. Due to this, his body shape changes into its current form of a young man. Then after 14 years Takahiro Wakahisa awakens Takato again.
It's around 1979 that he finally meets his last caretaker and they begin their life together. Initially reserved about Takahiro, due to his prior run in with Gendou, Takato’s mind is changed when the man treats him kindly and like his own son for a long time. Takato's treatment within the household is reminiscent of his time with the Anabuki family. However, even during this time period, mythica are wary and trying to keep a low profile after the witch hunts, which decimated many mythica families. The Wakahisa household was a place where mythica could find some reprieve from their travels throughout the world. Takahiro, unlike the previous family heads, is open towards such creatures. Throughout their time together they visit and speak to many mythica within Japan and Takato finally finds a place to call home.
It's not until Takahiro's son, Sano, is born in 1982 that things begin to change. Sano begins to develop an intense hatred for Takato the older he gets. It’s mainly due to his father's disregard for Sano in general. Sano’s jealousy deepens further the longer Takahiro indulges in meeting and speaking with mythica of all types. But Sano begins to direct his anger at the one person easiest to target: Takato. Takahiro then passes away in the year 2001, leaving Sano as the family head. This event changes Takato's life forever.
Abuse, slavery and other horrible things befall Takato at the hands of Sano. He banishes and closes off the house towards all mythica in general and locks Takato away from the world for a long time. But not before Takato heard rumors of a school opened to teach mythica alongside humans. Takato refuses to attend due to loyalty to the Wakahisa family.
Instead, he stays behind and is tormented and tortured by Sano. Sano began to use people's cultish fascination with mythica as a way to earn money. He would have Takato perform acts and favors to the Wakahisa family’s friends. Around 2004, Sano’s shiki captures Takato trying to escape. As punishment, Sano damages Takato's mirror by stepping on and cracking off a small portion of it. The damage done to his true vessel leaves Takato with a permanent injury to his left eye.
Then, in 2006, Sano drunkenly beats him with a broken glass bottle, until Takato instinctively uses his powers, and reflects the broken beer bottle back on his abuser. The bottle stabs Sano through the heart, killing him instantly. Takato tries to escape, but shikis around the house try to stop him, but then an old friend comes to his rescue, Kaito. His long lost friend who is now a great fox spirit rescues Takato and brings him to his shrine to heal. Kaito urges Takato to go to Romania to Sprensonne Academy.
With nowhere else to go Takato agrees and arrives at Sprensonne Academy in 2007, where he meets Helios Sprensonne. Upon arriving Helios explains his vision and the rules of the Academy to Takato. He goes on to explain something called Legame di Credenza, or Bond of Belief, this is the school's main principle. It states that mythica couldn't expose their true forms to human students until a certain bond is achieved. The more humans began to believe in certain myths the more they would be able to see a mythology's true form beyond even the Mirage Ring's powers. The Mirage Ring is a ring that cloaks a mythica's true form with a human guise. The ring was implemented prevent mass panic, and with the idea that humans would become friends with mythica despite what they looked like.
While in the academy Helios personally works with Takato in private to get him acclimated to working with humans again. Takato attends classes as a student, with many other mythica, but he spends most of his time alone. Takato gains the attention of one student, Jessica Avery, and her interest in Takato marks a new beginning for him.
When rogue demons attack the school is probably the most prominent instance in which Takato slowly begins to trust and accept a human into his current life. The demon's mission was to kill Helios. As they had heard from a legend that beneath the castle is a wonderful mass of pure magical energy, a ley line. The story states that with one taste of a ley line it could turn a mythica into an extremely powerful individual. Takato, separated from the other mythica during the demon attack, decides to protect and escort a stray group of students outside the castle because they would die otherwise. Takato, injured by a demon, gets left behind until one of the students, Jessica, steps forward and drags him to safety.
While E-mun Ra and several angelic students deal with the demon threat, Jessica and her friends aid Takato and his injuries.
The same demon finds them again and, this time, Takato exposes his true self to the students in an attempt to protect them. He uses his power of traversing through mirrors to bring them to safety. They ask about it, and Takato explains what this school actually is despite the principle in place. They believe him, without a lot of convincing needed, because as of that moment not to would be silly. They continue to tend to his wounds until another teacher finds them. Once the demons are out of the castle, and everything goes back to normal, the students who Takato helped remain ever loyal to him thereafter. This marks a successful outcome to Helios' experiment within the school, but also a fresh start for Takato. Most of their conversation is about mundane things and Jessica even talks a little about her own family. She asks Takato about his own, but Takato never really speaks about it in the end.
Takato spends much of his time recovering with them, and though the rest of Jessica’s friends aren’t aware of it, she notices that Takato’s demeanor changes in the presence of humans. She asks him about it, but he doesn’t tell her the truth. A few days after the incident Takato goes to seek Helios’ aid. He tells him what happened, and Helios is actually happy about it. It shows that Takato is growing and developing trust in humans again, which is exactly as Helios intended. But Helios urges Takato to tell Jessica more about himself because it’s a sign of friendship and the bond with her can only strengthen. It's also a sign of Takato not allowing his past to hold him back, and that it would be important for him to learn about humans once again. His master, Takahiro, would have wanted him to grow alongside humans without fear.
Takato agrees that Takahiro would have wanted this, and so, he tells Jessica his story just before coming to Verens.
no subject
First and foremost, what is apparent about Takato is that he’s very shy and quiet. Due to the latter half of his life being tortuous and spent as a slave to Sano these traits are more profound than others. Another byproduct of his time under Sano is that he’s extremely submissive and should he make a mistake he apologizes vehemently for it. Takato was always soft-spoken due to his nature, but his time with Sano made it worse. Suffering physical, verbal, and emotional abuse, coincides with Takato's current disposition of being submissive and jittery.
Another trait of Takato's, that isn’t too easily recognized, is that he has a massive thirst for knowledge. Takato is willing to learn everything he can about the world and its advancements. This is mostly due to his time in isolation at the hands of Sano. His curiosity about humans, though muted and wavering, is still there as well. His brutal relationship with Sano did make its mark on his thoughts about humans, but he knows that it’s not right to think of all humans as someone like Sano. His studying and care under both Takahiro, and recently Helios, only fueled his curiosity further. His time as Takahiro's son, before Sano was born, nurtured him into a caring and loving spirit. Takato shown and taught many things during his time spent with Takahiro helps fuel his curiosity even more. Takahiro’s wife also gave Takato books at the time of his imprisonment, and that acted as a means of escape for him at the time. His love of books started out genuine, but due to his imprisonment became a coping mechanism and remains as such even now. Should he ever find himself in the presence of loud, stressful, people he often retreats into a corner with a book in hand. He's also awkward, with men mostly, as Sano's effect on him has made him wary of them. Even if he tries to hide it Takato's feelings of awkwardness and nervousness around men are very palpable and easily recognizable. Being around male figures makes Takato stutter and he’s unable to concentrate.
Despite what Sano puts him through he harbors a tremendous amount of guilt as the killer of his own master. As a spirit given life through human belief, he is extremely hard on himself for this fact. His guilt leads to another trait, self-deprecation. He knows that it's his fault and that he can't undo things that happened in the past, and he hates himself for being unable to fix things. He sees himself as a burden, and as a creature whose previous masters have all died because of him, making him feel unworthy to receive help or compassion based on his past. Takato is ultimately broken in more than one way, but he hides this under a false guise of normalcy. Because of this, he doesn't mention his past to others. He feels it’s not a topic savory for conversation, and he doesn’t want to burden people with his own issues. But his recent reveal to Jessica has slightly swayed his thoughts on this matter. Jessica willingly tried to protect him, and that has torn away some of his own initial wariness around humans. It's slow going, but he is beginning to return to his old self.
Another of Takato's traits is that he's very loyal to those he considers family. This is a self-destructive trait given what it has cost him in the past. He never left Sano because he was afraid of being alone and ownerless again, which highlights another trait of his: loneliness. Takato is an extremely lonely individual, having seen and been lost to many masters in the past. Being sold, left forgotten in the ocean, and the killing of the Anabuki family scarred him. The Anabuki family's death planted a seed of needing to be there to protect and help the ones he loves. Since humans are so fragile, and easily killed, he felt it his duty to try and protect them. Given all the tragedy in Takato's life, it's no wonder that he latched onto the only family he had at the time, Sano.
It’s easy to understand his loyalty, especially to spirits, since they make him feel safe and comfortable, and so, he would risk everything to ensure something close to his own fate did not befall them. Jessica and her friends are slowly becoming people he considers family too. This is seen when Takato helped them and was injured for it. It's important to note this because he has only really sympathized with humans such as the Anabuki family and Takahiro. His time with Sano left Takato mentally, emotionally and physically scarred. The torture caused him to distrust and fear humans, and these feelings slowly overshadowed the trust he had towards humans for a long time. What shows he is growing and healing from his time with Sano, is that he's starting to sympathize with humans again. This is all based on the fact that he speaks with Jessica about his past.
All in all, despite his sufferings, he doesn't hate humans entirely and he even forgives Sano for what he did to him in the past. As a kind and loving spirit, he wishes that he could have had another way to make amends with Sano prior to his death. He also wishes to get over his fear of humans, and not have his past dictate his future any more than it already has. For this reason, he supports Helios’ dream and the goals of his school.
no subject
Takato’s powers aren’t terribly extensive and mostly deal with mirrors and defense magic. As an ungaikyo tsukumogami he is capable of a few basic powers. One is that he knows how to create other tsukumogami with his energy. However these tsukumogami do not harbor the same sentience as he or other tsukumogami do. It also leaves him drained given his powers being quite dampened.
Another power of his is reflective defensive magic. Just as it states, this ability allows him to reflect back most things including magic. Some things that he can't reflect are curses and exorcism like spells due to him being weak towards those types of spells in general. His barrier's strength is dependent on his fatigue levels. The more tired and fatigued he is the easier the barrier can be broken. This also affects the period of time he can keep the barrier up. When fully healthy it can remain up for 5 hours or for as long as he remains conscious and has energy. Depending on the extent of his injuries the barrier can only last for a few minutes or more. Takato basically creates a barrier around himself. Its diameter is around 5ft wide and he can move while he has his barrier up. The barrier can also be made to keep people in or out depending on what he wishes.
He also has an ability to create illusions with or without his true form. He has two distinct types that he can create. Large illusions or smaller ones. The larger illusions are able to be touched and interacted with. However, this type of illusion is extremely hard for Takato to create. His large illusions can only last for around 10 minutes tops and they are incapable of actually hurting anything. They feel real but they can't do a great deal of harm towards the person stuck within them. For example: Takato creates an illusion of lava around his target. The lava feels hot and the person can see the lava but they will not burst into flames or melt. Instead they will just feel an uncomfortable amount of heat and hopefully be distracted enough for Takato to get away. The large illusions often lead to him collapsing in exhaustion afterwards; so he tends to not use those unless the situation is dire. He typically uses smaller illusions, which are simpler and not as powerful. In this case these illusions are not physical and they can be walked through like a hologram. They are easy enough that he can create up to 10 different illusions at one time. Anymore then that and he runs the risk of collapsing from using too much energy.
His other ability is being able to traverse through mirrors. However, he can only traverse through mirrors that are large enough to fit him and anyone else he takes with him.
Lastly is the issue of his true form. His true form, like all tsukumogami, dictates his health and well-being. It's basically the container and object to which their life line is connected. Should his true form be damaged or broken, Takato will die or receive injuries to his person. Consequently, any injuries he sustains to his physical form will also mark his true form.
Alignment:
Piphron. Takato fits Piphron mainly because he struggles with accepting and trusting humans again. His overall wariness and uncertainty around humans definitely fits into Piphron's emotional alignment.
Other: I know his tdm says Takako but I changed his name due to issues brought to my attention about his current name!
Sample:
Sample 1
Sample 2: Emotional Sample (using Prompt G from the current TDM!)
[ Fear is something Takato knew well enough. This sort of thing often happened to him. Being faced with his former master, Sano, yielded the most fear he'd ever succumb to. Seeing the man before him now only made the emotions of fear, sadness, and guilt deepen within him. So the darkening clouds overhead from where he stood was readily apparent. To anyone else it would just seem like he was afraid of empty air. But for Takato it was an apparition that sparked a visceral fear within him. ]
I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't...I didn't mean t-to do it. [ 'It was all your fault' is the whispers of Sano as he steps closer. The clouds around Takato only get darker. A violent clap of thunder and a flash of lightning exposes more of the fearful expression painted on Takato's face. ] P-Please d-don't...c-come cl-closer.
[ He doesn't say anymore as he trips backwards and falls to the floor, a soft drizzle of rain now falling as well in the small space he occupies. ] I'm s-sorry...
Questions: N/A
Revision
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Backstory:
Takato is from a previous OC's history that I've played. He comes from an Earth where many things are similar, however, they have a magical and mythological twist to them. Hidden within this Earth are many magical aspects including Takato himself.
Takato's mirror was created during the Edo period (1603-1868 AD) around June 19th, 1798 AD by a famous mirror maker of the time. In order for him to inhabit the mirror, he had to traverse through the 4th plane down to Earth. Like many mythica at the time, he was somewhat powerful but not enough to traverse back and forth between Earth's plane and the 4th dimension. Upon running into another spirit, at the time of his descent to Earth, Takato fought for his life. The spirit was malicious and wanted to use the mirror for harm, and Takato didn't want that. So he fought the spirit, defeated it, and due to the lack of energy couldn't return back to his own plane of existence. The battle caused him to stay dormant within the mirror for some time upon his inhabiting it.
He inhabited a mirror, which was as a gift to a family in Japan, and this is where he would stay for quite some time. Within this family's shrine is where Takato first obtained his ability to manifest. By using the power of the rituals around him Takato absorbed and stored the magical energies within the shrine to regain some of his lost power. Also, the spreading of stories and myths about tsukumogami aided in his increase of power. Alongside his companion, a fox spirit named Kaito, they talked and spent a good portion of their time together. Takato ends up in the sea when a storm destroys a portion of the shrine. Thought to be lost forever he resided within the ocean's murky depths for several years. Takato wound up being caught in a fishermen's net where he was brought back into town to be polished and restored. Takato was sold for a large sum of money to a prodigious family known as the Anabuki family.
The Anabuki family were skilled magic users and were able to manifest Takato as a sort of shiki. They asked Takato to aid them in their private dealings with spirits. Takato agreed and used much of what he saw as a way to understand and learn more about humans in general. He was enjoying his life with the Anabuki family well into the Meiji period (1868-1912 AD) with little issues or cause for concern. Throughout this period, Takato met and learned from many spirits of his nature, and he learned of other Japanese mythica as well. Takato thought he would stay with the Anabuki family forever. But, one day, they were attacked and killed on their way to their summer home, Takato loses everything including the Anabuki family. Lost in the struggle a Wakahisa family servant finds Takato some years later. Takato, wrought with grief at being unable to protect his precious family, remained dormant until the late Showa period (1926-1989 AD). Left in the hands of the Wakahisa family Takato would remain there until the present day.
He materialized one day on December 8th, 1965 causing alarm, and panic within the Wakahisa estate. Thinking he was some sort of malicious spirit Gendou Wakahisa along with another priest attacked Takato in an attempt to seal him away. The ritual reduced Takato’s powers and energies to practically nothing leaving him dormant for a long time. Partially exorcised, but not fully destroyed due to his immense power, Takato is only sealed. Due to this, his body shape changes into its current form of a young man. Then after 14 years Takahiro Wakahisa awakens Takato again.
It's around 1979 that he finally meets his last caretaker and they begin their life together. Initially reserved about Takahiro, due to his prior run in with Gendou, Takato’s mind is changed when the man treats him kindly and like his own son for a long time. Takato's treatment within the household is reminiscent of his time with the Anabuki family. However, even during this time period, mythica are wary and trying to keep a low profile after the witch hunts, which decimated many mythica families. The Wakahisa household was a place where mythica could find some reprieve from their travels throughout the world. Takahiro, unlike the previous family heads, is open towards such creatures. Throughout their time together they visit and speak to many mythica within Japan and Takato finally finds a place to call home.
It's not until Takahiro's son, Sano, is born in 1982 that things begin to change. Sano begins to develop an intense hatred for Takato the older he gets. It’s mainly due to his father's disregard for Sano in general. Sano’s jealousy deepens further the longer Takahiro indulges in meeting and speaking with mythica of all types. But Sano begins to direct his anger at the one person easiest to target: Takato. Takahiro then passes away in the year 2001, leaving Sano as the family head. This event changes Takato's life forever.
Abuse, slavery and other horrible things befall Takato at the hands of Sano. He banishes and closes off the house towards all mythica in general and locks Takato away from the world for a long time. But not before Takato heard rumors of a school opened to teach mythica alongside humans. Takato refuses to attend due to loyalty to the Wakahisa family.
Instead, he stays behind and is tormented and tortured by Sano. Sano began to use people's cultish fascination with mythica as a way to earn money. He would have Takato perform acts and favors to the Wakahisa family’s friends. Around 2004, Sano’s shiki captures Takato trying to escape. As punishment, Sano damages Takato's mirror by stepping on and cracking off a small portion of it. The damage done to his true vessel leaves Takato with a permanent injury to his left eye.
Then, in 2006, Sano drunkenly beats him with a broken glass bottle, until Takato instinctively uses his powers, and reflects the broken beer bottle back on his abuser. The bottle stabs Sano through the heart, killing him instantly. Takato tries to escape, but shikis around the house try to stop him, but then an old friend comes to his rescue, Kaito. His long lost friend who is now a great fox spirit rescues Takato and brings him to his shrine to heal. Kaito urges Takato to go to Romania to Sprensonne Academy.
With nowhere else to go Takato agrees and arrives at Sprensonne Academy in 2007, where he meets Helios Sprensonne. Upon arriving Helios explains his vision and the rules of the Academy to Takato. He goes on to explain something called Legame di Credenza, or Bond of Belief, this is the school's main principle. It states that mythica couldn't expose their true forms to human students until a certain bond is achieved. The more humans began to believe in certain myths the more they would be able to see a mythology's true form beyond even the Mirage Ring's powers. The Mirage Ring is a ring that cloaks a mythica's true form with a human guise. The ring was implemented prevent mass panic, and with the idea that humans would become friends with mythica despite what they looked like.
While in the academy Helios personally works with Takato in private to get him acclimated to working with humans again. Takato attends classes as a student, with many other mythica, but he spends most of his time alone. Takato gains the attention of one student, Jessica Avery, and her interest in Takato marks a new beginning for him.
When rogue demons attack the school is probably the most prominent instance in which Takato slowly begins to trust and accept a human into his current life. The demon's mission was to kill Helios. As they had heard from a legend that beneath the castle is a wonderful mass of pure magical energy, a ley line. The story states that with one taste of a ley line it could turn a mythica into an extremely powerful individual. Takato, separated from the other mythica during the demon attack, decides to protect and escort a stray group of students outside the castle because they would die otherwise. Takato, injured by a demon, gets left behind until one of the students, Jessica, steps forward and drags him to safety.
While E-mun Ra and several angelic students deal with the demon threat, Jessica and her friends aid Takato and his injuries.
The same demon finds them again and, this time, Takato exposes his true self to the students in an attempt to protect them. He uses his power of traversing through mirrors to bring them to safety. They ask about it, and Takato explains what this school actually is despite the principle in place. They believe him, without a lot of convincing needed, because as of that moment not to would be silly. They continue to tend to his wounds until another teacher finds them. Once the demons are out of the castle, and everything goes back to normal, the students who Takato helped remain ever loyal to him thereafter. This marks a successful outcome to Helios' experiment within the school, but also a fresh start for Takato. Most of their conversation is about mundane things and Jessica even talks a little about her own family. She asks Takato about his own, but Takato never really speaks about it in the end.
Takato spends much of his time recovering with them, and though the rest of Jessica’s friends aren’t aware of it, she notices that Takato’s demeanor changes in the presence of humans. She asks him about it, but he doesn’t tell her the truth. A few days after the incident Takato goes to seek Helios’ aid. He tells him what happened, and Helios is actually happy about it. It shows that Takato is growing and developing trust in humans again, which is exactly as Helios intended. But Helios urges Takato to tell Jessica more about himself because it’s a sign of friendship and the bond with her can only strengthen. It's also a sign of Takato not allowing his past to hold him back, and that it would be important for him to learn about humans once again. His master, Takahiro, would have wanted him to grow alongside humans without fear.
Takato agrees that Takahiro would have wanted this, and so, he tells Jessica his story just before coming to Verens.
Personality:
First and foremost, what is apparent about Takato is that he’s very shy and quiet. Due to the latter half of his life being tortuous and spent as a slave to Sano these traits are more profound than others. Another byproduct of his time under Sano is that he’s extremely submissive and should he make a mistake he apologizes vehemently for it. Takato was always soft-spoken due to his nature, but his time with Sano made it worse. Suffering physical, verbal, and emotional abuse, coincides with Takato's current disposition of being submissive and jittery.
Another trait of Takato's, that isn’t too easily recognized, is that he has a massive thirst for knowledge. Takato is willing to learn everything he can about the world and its advancements. This is mostly due to his time in isolation at the hands of Sano. His curiosity about humans, though muted and wavering, is still there as well. His brutal relationship with Sano did make its mark on his thoughts about humans, but he knows that it’s not right to think of all humans as someone like Sano. His studying and care under both Takahiro, and recently Helios, only fueled his curiosity further. His time as Takahiro's son, before Sano was born, nurtured him into a caring and loving spirit. Takato shown and taught many things during his time spent with Takahiro helps fuel his curiosity even more. Takahiro’s wife also gave Takato books at the time of his imprisonment, and that acted as a means of escape for him at the time. His love of books started out genuine, but due to his imprisonment became a coping mechanism and remains as such even now. Should he ever find himself in the presence of loud, stressful, people he often retreats into a corner with a book in hand. He's also awkward, with men mostly, as Sano's effect on him has made him wary of them. Even if he tries to hide it Takato's feelings of awkwardness and nervousness around men are very palpable and easily recognizable. Being around male figures makes Takato stutter and he’s unable to concentrate.
Despite what Sano puts him through he harbors a tremendous amount of guilt as the killer of his own master. As a spirit given life through human belief, he is extremely hard on himself for this fact. His guilt leads to another trait, self-deprecation. He knows that it's his fault and that he can't undo things that happened in the past, and he hates himself for being unable to fix things. He sees himself as a burden, and as a creature whose previous masters have all died because of him, making him feel unworthy to receive help or compassion based on his past. Takato is ultimately broken in more than one way, but he hides this under a false guise of normalcy. Because of this, he doesn't mention his past to others. He feels it’s not a topic savory for conversation, and he doesn’t want to burden people with his own issues. But his recent reveal to Jessica has slightly swayed his thoughts on this matter. Jessica willingly tried to protect him, and that has torn away some of his own initial wariness around humans. It's slow going, but he is beginning to return to his old self.
Another of Takato's traits is that he's very loyal to those he considers family. This is a self-destructive trait given what it has cost him in the past. He never left Sano because he was afraid of being alone and ownerless again, which highlights another trait of his: loneliness. Takato is an extremely lonely individual, having seen and been lost to many masters in the past. Being sold, left forgotten in the ocean, and the killing of the Anabuki family scarred him. The Anabuki family's death planted a seed of needing to be there to protect and help the ones he loves. Since humans are so fragile, and easily killed, he felt it his duty to try and protect them. Given all the tragedy in Takato's life, it's no wonder that he latched onto the only family he had at the time, Sano.
It’s easy to understand his loyalty, especially to spirits, since they make him feel safe and comfortable, and so, he would risk everything to ensure something close to his own fate did not befall them. Jessica and her friends are slowly becoming people he considers family too. This is seen when Takato helped them and was injured for it. It's important to note this because he has only really sympathized with humans such as the Anabuki family and Takahiro. His time with Sano left Takato mentally, emotionally and physically scarred. The torture caused him to distrust and fear humans, and these feelings slowly overshadowed the trust he had towards humans for a long time. What shows he is growing and healing from his time with Sano, is that he's starting to sympathize with humans again. This is all based on the fact that he speaks with Jessica about his past.
All in all, despite his sufferings, he doesn't hate humans entirely and he even forgives Sano for what he did to him in the past. As a kind and loving spirit, he wishes that he could have had another way to make amends with Sano prior to his death. He also wishes to get over his fear of humans, and not have his past dictate his future any more than it already has. For this reason, he supports Helios’ dream and the goals of his school.
Accepted!
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