App for high_seas

[kingkilvas]

[Name]: Pookie
[Age]: 21 22
[Contacts]:
♦ DW: chefpookardee 
♦ AIM: Pookie776
♦ Plurk: chefpookardee
[Timezone]: EST
[Other Characters]: None!



[Name]: Naesala
[Canon]: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
[Age]: Unknown, most likely over one hundred at least. Looks to be in his 20's/early 30's.
[Gender]: Male
[Canon Point]: Radiant Dawn, after betraying the Laguz Alliance and joining with Apostle Sanaki.

[History]:
Link to his wiki page. Just to clarify a couple terms and some things that happen before canon that his wiki page doesn't specify;

The continent of Tellius is home to beorc and laguz. Laguz are a species that has the ability to transform into large animals, and keep some animal traits in their humanoid form (cat ears and tails for beasts, wings for birds, etc.). They have long been oppressed by the racist beorc, who call the laguz "sub-human". In return, laguz tend to refer to beorc with their own spiteful, derogatory term - humans.

Of the three kinds laguz come in - beast, bird, and dragon - Naesala is a bird-type, specifically a raven.

During his childhood, Naesala was good friends with Reyson and his younger sister, Leanne, both members of the heron laguz royal line. It is made apparent the three were very close, and Naesala was the one who looked after them.

Twenty years before canon, an incident occurred in the neighboring human country of Begnion involving an assassinated empress. Its citizens set fire to the herons' homeland, Serenes Forest, after falsely accusing the herons of committing the deed. The event was appropriately named the Serenes Massacre as only a handful of heron laguz managed to survive. At the end, three days had passed, Leanne was presumed dead, and Reyson and his sickly father fled to Phoenicis, home of their hawk laguz bretheren. The fact that Reyson chose the hawks and their king, Tibarn, over Naesala himself was the start in driving a wedge in their once close friendship.

At an unspecified point, a plague began to circulate around the country of raven laguz, Kilvas. Its king was tricked into signing a contract with one of Begnion's immensely powerful senators, Lekain - specifically, a Blood Pact. This type of contract causes a mark to appear on the signer's wrist, and forces them to do the holder's bidding or face dire consequences. Should an order be backed out on, a curse is inflicted upon the signer's country. The raven king had backed out of Lekain's terms, and the contract was activated. The first day, the plague claimed one death; the second day had two; the third had three, etc. At the end of thirty days, 465 citizens of Kilvas were dead, and the king had enough.

But Lekain hadn't - despite apologies and begging, the corrupt senator punished the king further and kept the plague going for one hundred days total. Over five thousand raven citizens were dead, which was over half of the already tiny island country's population. With his family claimed by the very contract he signed, the king presumably didn't last long after the plague ended. Because laguz choose their kings by strength rather than family lines, having so many of the citizens dead meant Naesala was suddenly first in line to succeed the throne. In doing so, the Blood Pact's terms and the burden of having to bend to Lekain's - and by extension, Begnion's - whims fell to him, no matter how much he already despised Begnion and the humans for the fate of the heron laguz.

Not only did he have to deal with the previous king's foolish decision, there was the matter of the devestated population and overall poor economic state of Kilvas. Without any other choice, Naesala began having his soldiers pirate ships that pass his island nation, and he also began doing business with Begnion nobles in order to earn money to help with his country's finances. Noticing this, both the now human-hating hawk clan and Reyson started to view the ravens with disgust and contempt, effectively ending what little good tied between them.


[Personality]:

"Of course I'd take the blame! My first priority is my people. As long as they're safe, it doesn't matter one whit what the rest of the world thinks of me."

Throughout both games, Naesala's main motivation is the welfare of Kilvas and its citizens. Thrust into leadership at a time when his country was in ruins, he made it a primary goal to make Kilvas a name to remember; to ensure it wasn't a poor island nation forever. Even if in doing so, he was forced to do business with the humans he hated so much, and even if it meant severing the friendship with Reyson he once held dear. In the few times Naesala has a death or retreat quote in-game, his first thought is of Kilvas and what will become of it if he's unable to return. Being king was always top priority, as was making sure the Blood Pact's curse continued to remain unactivated until the day he could rip it with his own two hands and tear Lekain to a bloody pulp.

Because of this immense devotion to Kilvas and his fellow raven clan, and the fact that he'd do anything to further his goals, Naesala comes off as a slimy, greedy weasel. And in most cases, this is not untrue. Attacking every human ship that sails past simply for its loot is something that the Kilvas ravens became notorious for. Loyalty to any one person or group can be bought out with only a bigger handful of coin than the competitor. Backstabbing and switching sides is not only common, it's to be expected. In Path of Radiance alone, Naesala goes from aiding the enemy country Daein, to betraying Daein soldiers in favor of loot, then selling a friend to Begnion, contracting with Daein again, betraying Daein again on behalf of the friend he had previously sold, rescuing another friend held captive by Daein, and eventually joining with the forces of good to help take down Daein's antagonist ruler once and for all.

For the most part, he's on whatever side will pay the most (and therefore the most beneficial to his country), or the side that appeals to his only other weakness (the heron laguz and their propensity for getting into danger). However, sometimes even the latter is not immune to his greed. Mentioned earlier, Naesala lured Reyson to his former home in the now burned and decrepit Serenes Forest and sold him to a Begnion noble obsessed with the beauty of the herons. He sold an old friend to what is essentially the most hated enemy of the bird laguz for nothing more than gold. Granted, later, he claimed intentions of rescuing Reyson as soon as possible - though the fact remains that a transaction was completed and his friend treated as an object to be sold.

That's not to say, taking the devotion to his country out of the equation, Naesala isn't inherently selfish on his own. If a job doesn't have a reward, it's not worth his time. He feels little kinship for other laguz - not including the herons, of course - and even those of his fellow raven clan that have chosen to leave Kilvas aren't of immediate importance.  His narcissistic side also counts in this regard; his appearance is something he takes great pride in, and isn't afraid to show it off or draw attention to it. Flattery from most will usually incite a response of "Yeah, I am pretty great, aren't I?"

And when it comes down to it, gold isn't the only thing he amasses - the king has many, many secrets. While the Blood Pact is one of them (kept secret for the welfare of Kilvas, no less), it also includes piracy close to the hawk and dragon clans' borders without their consent, as well as whatever blackmail his raven spies can dig up on the human continents (especially in the Begnion nobility). Having these secrets close at hand is better than having to rely on others for support, so most are kept in order to ensure having the upper hand if it's ever needed. And it's almost always needed. 

Being manipulative is second nature to the raven species as a whole, and the king of them all is no exception. The skill not only keeps secrets safe, but helps fuel his Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, as well as evade combat - both physical and verbal - with his fellow laguz. Which is good, because no matter how much pride he takes in himself, he knows the other laguz kings have the ability to take him down. However, his "fight or flight" (no pun intended) instincts are unclear. Given ample time and preparation, facing down a bigger, stronger opponent is something he can do, but not necessarily would want to do. Outside of physical confrontation, he might take the coward's way out - pushing the blame onto others, backing down out of responsibility to someone else, etc. While it may save him from taking the blame (and even that's not always likely), it certainly doesn't give him any good marks with his peers.

But keeping up with the greedy "crow" king reputation itself is something that's important to him. For all his posturing and preening, he's not as bad a guy as he'd like people to think (of course ego may play a big part as well). An example; during the course of Path of Radiance, Leanne is found to be alive and well, but is captured by the enemy late into the game. To make up for Reyson's earlier kidnapping, hawk king Tibarn tasks Naesala with rescuing her. Normally this would be something he would have an aversion to ("I prefer to keep my life intact, thank you.") and it seems to be a job without a reward. But for all his talk of Kilvas first and gold at any cost, the heron clan still means a great deal to Naesala. Having Leanne safe was its own reward; in the act of rescuing her, he makes it apparent just how glad he is she's been proven alive after twenty long years.

But as soon as he's back in the company of Tibarn and the others, he makes sure to let them know this was only repaying a debt and nothing more than that. Tibarn made him do it! He's got a reputation to keep, after all, he can't be getting soft on everyone.

The situation also sheds light on his true feelings for the heron clan. Years spent taking care of and being very close to Reyson and Leanne still have an impact on him, and no amount of his responsibility to Kilvas nor business conducted with the humans can erase those feelings. There's a (huge) red mark on the record, of course - having sold Reyson at one point - but the aftermath of that event can also be used as an example. The next time they meet is on the battlefield after Reyson's been rescued - by a human army fighting against Daein, no less - and after Leanne has been proven alive. Once Naesala has been filled in, he seeks out Reyson on the field and asks for forgiveness. He admits his wrongdoing and apologizes. It's the only time he's seen doing any such thing, and Reyson is most likely one of a tiny handful of people Naesala would care about being forgiven by. Not only does it work, but Reyson convinces him to pull back his troops from Daein's support, meaning he convinced Naesala to lose the very, very large sum of gold that was riding on the outcome of this battle. Losing that much money isn't something he usually takes lightly, and he sacrificed it for Reyson alone.

In addition to the above, despite his apparent awful personality traits, Naesala does indeed know right from wrong. All those secrets mentioned earlier are kept secrets because he knows his fellow laguz wouldn't approve. Especially not his neighbor hawks - who he already resented not only because of Reyson's choices, but for their annoying, virtuous attitudes. Even after making up excuses over having been hired out to the enemy, by the end he joins the right side and stays on the right side, for no other reason than he'd already resolved to protect both him and Leanne. If he left, surely they would be disappointed. At that point, the two herons took just as much priority as his country did. And if chosen to do battle with the final boss, the king of Daein, he outright says it's insane to try and fight him (not only is the man a monster, but, y'know, he's not getting paid for this either) - but he stays, and he fights, because he knows it's the right thing to do.

Three years later, the Blood Pact comes into play again, and it sheds more light on Naesala's situation and personality. The hawks and ravens, as well as the beast tribe of Gallia, form the Laguz Alliance in order to finally confront Begnion over the Serenes Massacre. However, Lekain forces Naesala to betray the Alliance, pull the raven troops from its ranks, and relay their plans to Begnion all under threat of the contract's plague. Tibarn's army is distracted in the process, allowing Begnion to move in on the hawk country Phoenicis. All fighting-age males are completely slaughtered. Tibarn and Reyson - and by extension, all allied with the laguz - only know that Naesala has betrayed them yet again and fled like a coward. 

But deep down, the guilt eats away at him. He knows Phoenicis is almost destroyed because of his actions. He knows the humans now have the upper hand over the laguz and the armies that support them. He knows that though his own reputation won't be marred (it couldn't be any further, let's be honest), but the raven clan's would be, and it's all because of him. Naesala is forced to flee to Begnion, where he catches a break and is able to work directly under the current Apostle, Sanaki, who unlike the rest of the Begnion senate, is vehemently opposed to the oppression of the laguz. This not only circumvents Tibarn when next they meet, as he'd have to go through her to tear the wings off of Naesala - but also Lekain, as the apostle is the highest member of the government in Begnion, so he's technically not going against the Blood Pact's terms. It's only a very, very small consolation on his conscience, but it does nothing to appease the guilt.

After events that result in most of the region's inhabitants turning to stone, Sanaki and Naesala meet up with the Alliance and the human armies, which includes Tibarn. The herons being in peril is the main thing that saves him from being torn feather-from-feather at that moment - they're collapsed unconscious on the floor right now, after all, and there's a whole mess involving a couple goddesses, and we should probably take care of that first, right? As he's unable to admit to the contract (and Sanaki cannot herself, either), it once again looks like lowly cowardice. The crow backing down and avoiding blame like the spineless creature he is. He'd clearly rather use excuses than face the consequences, just like always, and so that's what he does.

His true shame continues to grow in spades. He has no choice but to continue thinking on it, when surrounded by so many of the people he's betrayed. When confronted by a beast laguz at base camp - Skrimir, next in line for the beast country Gallia's throne - he outright admits what he's been thinking all along. He feels like he deserves to die. All the terrible, horrific things he's been a part of should sign his death sentence. He's got no right to be alongside the real do-gooders, the ones who take responsibility outright without dancing around the subject. The ones who fight battles even when there's no reward; the brave ones who work to fight the cowardly villains like him.

Had Leanne and his old caretaker, Nealuchi, not intervened at that point, Naesala would have let Skrimir have at it. But protecting those he still held dear - and likewise, most likely the two people left in the world who still truly cared for him - took priority. No one else needed to be brought down because of his choices. And although his guilt and shame remain, the almost-attack snaps him out of his reverie and he's back to slinging snarky wit in front of those who don't know his true feelings.

Later, when Sanaki asks him about it, he tells her not to do a thing. It proves he takes full responsibility for everything he's done, without even using the Blood Pact as - what would rightfully be - an excuse. He doesn't want an excuse for this. He wants to feel the guilt and the shame because he doesn't deserve to be forgiven. And even after he takes the Blood Pact and rips it in two and Lekain is dead at his feet, the burden of protecting Kilvas might be lifted but the weight of the past still cuts deep. And he knows he has to atone.


[Abilities / Strengths & Weaknesses]:

Strengths
For starters, Naesala can turn into a big raven, approximately the size of a human. In addition, he has wings in his humanoid form as well, and has slightly better hearing and sense of smell than the average human. Being a laguz also grants him longevity (birds such as hawks and ravens live ten times longer than humans), and flying is as natural as breathing to him.

His Radiant Dawn in-game skills are as follows:
Strike, S-Rank: Using his beak as a tranformed raven in order to strike down opponents. S-Rank is only one rank below the highest. This is his greatest means of physical combat.
Formshift: Allows him to stay in his raven form indefinitely (as opposed to normal, non-royal laguz, who must shift back to their humanoid forms when it becomes too exhausting, or use a special band to get the same effect).
Maelstrom: If attacked out of range of his beak, he can use this attack, similar to wind magic. However, it is only as powerful as his strength stat.
Vantage: Allows him to attack first in all fights.
Tear: The mastery skill for hawk and raven laguz, it triples the strength stat and reduces the enemy's speed to half for one turn. Its activation relies on the speed stat.
(Also includes "Shove", which is a skill hopefully innate to almost everyone Fire Emblem or not, and "Canto", which just allows him to use up the rest of his movement after using a turn, due to being a flying unit.)

Naesala's greatest stat is undeniably his speed. It's his highest starting stat, aside from HP, and if it caps out he can be untouchable (relative to what type of opponent he's facing, of course). Because of this, his reflexes are quite good. Dodging blows both in and out of his raven form is something that comes naturally to him, especially when confronted with ground-bound humans with non-ranged attacks. He's also very quick with his beak, and given enough warning he can tear into someone with relative ease.

Non-physical, his strengths would be negotiation and manipulation. Having been doing transactions with humans for years, he knows what kinds of buttons to push and fake flattery to praise in order to get what he wants. He knows how to push aside his feelings for the greater good (or at least what he counts as a greater good), and he can put on a mask in order to conceal anything negative he might be experiencing.

Having been a part of the heron's lives for so long, he's become adept at suppressing inner emotions and thoughts in order to hide them from the herons and their soul-reading abilities. Given ample warning, those that seek to read his emotions would have a hard time doing so.


Weaknesses
Being a bird laguz, he suffers from extremely poor night vision (both in his raven and humanoid forms). If it's dark, he won't be able to see a thing. Nighttime traveling is impossible alone (or at the very least, he'd get lost, or hurt stumbling over/flying into things), and if caught off-guard in a dark or poorly lit area he'd be at a severe disadvantage. Fighting in that type of situation would be done, quite literally, blindly.

Another weakness attributed to being a bird laguz is a great weakness to wind magic, as well as airborne attacks, most notably bows and arrows. Both these weapons deal vast amounts of damage to airborne opponents (i.e., him), and if he's not quick enough to dodge then he'll be in worlds of trouble. In general, if someone has a bow strapped to their back, it's a clear sign to avoid the guy, or at the very least it's an enemy that requires sneaking upon instead of a head-first attack.

Out of all the laguz royals, Naesala is the weakest in terms of strength. His only weapons are his beak as a raven and his Maelstrom ability - laguz refuse to use anything but their own natural weapons for combat - so in the event that a fight lasts longer than his form shifting can take (especially with limited powers, below), he'd have to evade or face defeat in humanoid form.

Aside from the physical, Naesala's pseudo-cowardice is usually a problem. Unless there's a reward, he's being forced into something, repaying a debt, or it's of his personal interests (such as, if his close friends were ever in danger - something he worries about a lot), he'd rather stay out of it, especially if it's combat-related. It's not something that wins him big points with many people and he'd be the first to admit it.

Being called out on his past transgressions is likely to bring out his self-deprecating side, although that's more for people who already know him. Betrayal - the concept as a whole - is going to dig up bad memories, and it's not going to be a topic he wants to revisit. He doesn't deal well with anything guilt-related, and is more likely to stew in self-pity than try to work through it.



[Limited Powers]:

Nulling the Formshift ability so he can't stay in his raven form indefinitely (and any super-long period of time will be detrimentally exhausting).
Nulling the Vantage ability so any turn advantage in combat will depend on the opponent (and the muns involved, of course).
Tear can only be activated as a last resort, and only temporarily ups his strength.

Flying in and of itself will cause him to tire a little quicker (in both forms). So more breaks would be required than he's used to, what with how sparse the islands are compared to his own world. No flying island-to-island!


[Other Important Facts]:

He's got a single gold coin from his own world in his pocket, but other than that and his clothes, he's not bringing anything with him.


[Samples]:
♦ Thread: Dear Mun post & The eggs weren't so bad after all.

♦ Post:

[Voice]

[The journal's opened rather hastily - or maybe it's just because he's only using one hand - and there's the flipping of more than a few pages before he speaks.] I've procured-- [a groan from far away] Hold a moment. Still up and about?

[An undiscernable noise, a bird cawing, and the sound of a body hitting the floor. Another beat before he resumes.]

There we go. I've procured a rather ornate chest of gold from a group of quite...rowdy individuals. [A sniff, and then a shuffling of something moving against floorboards.] Or rather, what used to be rowdy individuals.

Honestly, the ships I'm used to raiding are much better trained than this sorry lot. There were so few of them, it's almost as though they weren't even trying to protect their loot.

Well their treasure's forfeit now. I believe this crew just got a bit richer, hm?



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Applied here.