Name: Kuja.
Nickname: “Mysterious Man.” Angel of Death, if applicable. Lord King in Treno.
Age: Kuja was created 26 years ago, so it is fairly safe to say that he is 26 years of age. However, he was created, physically, as is – with the body of an early- to mid-twenty-year-old. His body will not physically age, even if he does.
Gender: Male.
Species: Genome. The existence and purpose of this race is explained more in the History section.
Position: It is difficult to say. It is certain that part of his alignment is Chaotic; however, whether Evil or Neutral is up for debate. True, he was the epitome of Chaotic Evil during his reign of terror over Gaia – but, he also had changed, and saved his hated enemies because maybe he didn’t hate them so much after all. But now, with darkness blooming in his heart, will his route take a more Evil turn yet again? For now, it is safest to say that he is Chaotic Neutral.
Powers/Abilities/Techniques/Skills: Magic
**When navigating this section of his profile, there are a few things to keep in mind. The first is that a “turn” references a round of posting, with the first turn being when Kuja casts the spell. A turn comes to an end when it is Kuja’s next turn. (Ex: Turn 1 is Kuja, Person A, Person B, Person C. Turn 2 is Kuja, Person B, Person A. Turn 3 is Kuja, Person C. The length of an actual turn is quite flexible; it only ends when it is Kuja’s turn yet again.)
The second thing to keep in mind is this profile’s definition of “post.” A post can be made by anyone. So, if a spell of Kuja’s takes 3 posts to cast, he begins casting on his turn. The next post counts as his first casting post, and the next counts as his second casting post. On the third post after he begins the spell, then, is the one he could potentially cast the spell in. However – what with posting orders and whatnot – those 3 posts are only the bare minimum. So if another person posts before Kuja posts saying that his spell has finished, he is still in the casting stage. But it can be finished casting any time after those 3 posts. If he ends up having to post before those 3 posts are done, he simply spends one post saying that he is still charging that spell. If he casts another spell during that time, then the spell he was previously charging loses all of its charge and he must power it up again if he wishes to use it.
On that note, Kuja can only cast one spell per post. So, if he wants to cast Glide, that is the only spell he may use in that post. (However, Glide is a little different, in that he doesn’t have to keep casting it; he just has to use 1 MP per turn in order to keep himself in the air.) If he is charging a spell, he may not cast any other spell during that charge period, or else he forfeits the powered-up spell and must repower it in order to use it again. Why is this? Well, first of all, it takes concentration to charge spells, and second off, spell-casting isn’t some willy-nilly art. It’s dangerous, as you are about to discover.
Kuja starts off with exactly 100 MP. (This number may be slowly increased if he “levels up” as time passes.) Outside of battle, if his MP is not at his max, he regains MP at the rate of 1 MP per post. During battle he gains no MP, unless he is in his cooldown phase (in which he gains 3 MP per post; the specific effects of the cooldowns are mentioned later). In threads of completely new days he starts off with all his MP.
((Now I know that an MP counter is not a particularly “realistic” way to explain his skills. But I thought it was sufficient, with clear drawbacks and limitations – namely, MP loss. Think of MP as sort of his… energy. No matter the situation, if it isn’t all the way full, he’s not at his full energy. In this sense, MP sort of takes the role as vitality. Health, then, would be his physical condition, like cuts, bruises, and other hindering effects – and both health and MP are taken into account if he is to win a battle, or faint, or etc.))**
Kuja is an extremely gifted mage, possessing strong and powerful magic unique to him. As a trade-off, however, he has absolutely nothing in the way of physical prowess, and can’t wield any weapons.
Glide – using 1 MP per turn of upkeep, Kuja can almost effortlessly float himself above the ground, traveling through the air rather than allowing his dainty feet to touch the ground. This is his preferred mode to be in during battle, avoiding Earth damage and dodging physical attacks.
Thunder – low-level Lightning spell, used for damage. Short range in that it crashes down one lightning bolt per opponent, and is almost useless against more than one foe. Costs 6 MP. Instant, due to its ease in casting and low-level power.
Thundara – medium-level Lightning spell, used for damage. Wider range, considering that it is a spray of lightning down on one or multiple opponents; it is much more effective on groups than the previous spell, and on one person, it’s positively frying. Costs 12 MP. Charges for two posts. It takes a bit more time to cast, considering it’s a little more powerful than Thunder.
Thundaga – powerful Lightning spell, used for damage. Long range, and targets the field instead of single individuals; lightning rains down from the heavens, possibly causing property damage. Costs 24 MP. Charges for four posts – due to its high power, it takes longer to cast than the lower Lightning spells. However, it is not nearly as powerful as harsher attacks, like Holy and Flare Star… though don’t be counting it out by any means.
Ice and Fire Elemental Spells – not unlocked.
*
Cure – Low-level healing spell. Costs 5 MP. Instant, due to its ease in casting, and it only heals small cuts and bruises on the receivers of the spell. It is hardly useful as a ranged spell.
*
Cura – Medium-level healing spell. Costs 10 MP. Two post charge, due to its higher power level than Cure. On multiple people, will heal deeper cuts and bruises, but on one person, it will put them back on their feet.
*
Curaga – Powerful healing spell. Costs 20 MP. Four post charge, due to it being the highest level Cure spell Kuja has available. When ranged, it heals a few major injuries – but on one person has the capability to heal deep gashes and even broken bones (so long as they’re previously set, or else the bone will heal in an awkward place).
*
Reflect – Reflects magic attacks back upon the caster. Costs 6 MP. Only used on one person per cast, as it is not a ranged spell. Instant, due to its ease in casting. The spell itself lasts for 3 of the receiver’s turns.
*
Holy – an extremely powerful Light-elemental spell. Costs 36 MP. Six post charge, due to its high power. This spell, despite its power, cannot kill anyone. White light fills up a smaller targeted area until it explodes in a burst of White Magic. Very powerful against Heartless, but typically weak against people of the Good alignment. (
Holy in action)
Flare Star – Kuja’s most powerful attack outside of his Trance abilities. Non-elemental, it ignores Reflect and is not able to be blocked. Costs 50 MP. Wide-range. Ten post charge, due to its extremely high destructive power. Typically this spell does not do enough damage to kill someone – but it can surely bring one to their knees. Beads of light surround the targeted area – about Holy’s range – until they home in on the life forms in that area. When the light gathers together, it explodes in a smaller explosion reminiscent of Flare. (
Flare Star in action)
Trance
Using his newly-acquired powers of darkness, Kuja can access Trance once per thread, if even. Trance is only brought on under extremely stressful and emotional circumstances – especially if those emotions are negative. Trance can last anywhere between 4 turns to 8 turns, depending on the cause of his transformation. However, the longer Kuja stays in it, the longer his cooldown will last (as a dangerous Trance is a lot to recover from). A Trance of 4 turns has 1 of Kuja’s turns as a cooldown; 5 turns, 2 turns as a cooldown; 6 turns, 3 turns as cooldown; 7 turns, 4 turns as cooldown; and 8 turns, 5 turns as cooldown. The more Kuja uses Trance, the higher risk he also has of his heart being swallowed by the darkness… so he must use this ability carefully, conservatively… and perhaps it would be better if he never used it at all. You see, Kuja’s Trance comes to him unnaturally, as he was never supposed to have one. Before, he just used the corrupted soul of the dead Queen Brahne, but after his defeat, he let the soul go. Now, he uses the powers of darkness to inadvertently power is Trance (as Trance typically comes on with blind emotion).
In Trance, his MP and health momentarily restore to full. The following abilities become instant casts: Glide, Thunder, Thundara, and Thundaga. Flare Star only takes 5 posts to cast. All MP costs are halved, and Glide takes absolutely no MP at all, as it is an innate ability of his Trance. Along with that power boost, Kuja briefly gains two new abilities that are otherwise inaccessible.
Dark Flare – the upgrade from Flare Star. A spell intending death and destruction, its range is huge and its effects are disastrous. Non-elemental, it ignores Reflect and is not able to be blocked. It costs 60 MP to cast and has a post charge of six, due to Kuja’s insane power boost. Be careful around this one; it’d probably be better to run, or else risk getting knocked out. Its range is a lot bigger than Flare Star; it begins much the same, but the resounding explosion takes up much more space. It also takes the form of darkness exploding – since this is a reborn spell of Kuja’s old Flare attack, reborn into darkness. This spell typically takes a huge chunk off his own health if he casts it.
Dark Ultima – the most powerful attack in Kuja’s arsenal, deadly to all foes – and himself. It proves that this kind of power can only lead to one’s own destruction. Originally, he had a spell named Ultima that he could access only in Trance that would bring any party to its knees (and indeed destroyed the
entire world of Terra). However, after become comatose for a year, regular Ultima was locked and he could not access it, even as he slowly gained the rest of his abilities, because he had lost his Trance. When the Heartless invaded his home, his emotions became so great and negative that the darkness from the incoming Heartless powered his Trance – and gave him a new form of Ultima, Dark Ultima. This spell takes all of his MP to cast, no matter what his MP is at. It has a post charge of seven, and then it releases holy hell on basically the entire surrounding area, leveling buildings and possibly brutally damaging civilians. No matter what turn he’s on, Kuja immediately comes out of Trance after casting this spell. All of his MP is spent by this point, and his health is pretty much completely gone. There is no cooldown after a spell of that magnitude, especially with the darkness – he simply faints, the spell having eaten away at his mortality a bit more. He would need medical attention ASAP – perhaps an entire other thread of bed rest to regain his strength. The more he casts it, the more likely it is for him to not come out of it alive. Dark Ultima takes the form of dark purple energy that he shoots from his palms that nearly destroys everything it touches. (
Ultima in action)
If Kuja comes out of Trance without inciting the power of Dark Ultima, he still loses all his MP – the price of his briefly terrifying power. He comes out a lot weaker than he was going into Trance, and no amount of cooldown will put him back in top condition for the rest of the battle – if there is still a battle by this point. If Kuja was in Trance for an entire 8 turns, then it is very likely that he could be out cold for one or more of his cooldown turns. The purpose of the cooldown, anyhow, is to gain back his MP (so he cannot use any magic at all during the cooldown phase); if he lets his body rest for the amount of time mentioned earlier, his MP will come back at 3 MP per post, and at the end of his cooldown he should have enough to cast a Cure spell – perhaps the lowest-level one – to give him enough strength to flee… if he even has the chance by that point. (But once the cooldown stage ends, his MP stops regenerating, even if he runs out again.)
*A NOTE: Cure, Cura, Curaga, Reflect, and Holy CANNOT be cast in Trance. They are spells of White Magic, and his power during this unnatural Trance is drawn from the darkness. He is also not invincible in Trance; indeed, while he may be at his strongest point in Trance, he is also at his most vulnerable, as he does not possess healing powers to counter any damage he may receive. He is extremely weak to Holy at this point. Also, the more often he uses Trance, the higher risk he has of losing his White Magic spells for good, due to Trance’s darkness. After using Trance once, Holy will no longer be available to him. Two times, Reflect is gone. Three times, Curaga; four times, Cura; and finally, after his fifth Trance, his last healing spell will be gone, leaving him with just an arsenal of destruction. If he uses Trance any time after that, he will become completely corrupted by the powers of darkness – either losing his heart, or his life.
Other Abilities
Kuja’s other abilities center more on his personality. He can be quite the charming smooth-talker, which he uses to further his position in society – or whatever his goals may be at the time. He is definitely not lacking in intelligence (though he tends to prattle on and on about himself), and is quite well-read in literature and educated in the fine arts, which he appreciates. His acting is quite astounding, and is good at manipulating “pawns” to do his bidding.
He possess very little physical prowess, finding physical fighting vulgar and beneath him (and unwilling to admit that he has no talent for it whatsoever). In fact, he is quite weak and fragile in this sense – especially since his life span isn’t nearly as long as most humans. It is implied that he is already close to the end of his mortality.
Weapon/Items: Kuja carries no weapons, nor does he have any items on him at the time. (This could change, of course, as he progresses through RPs and picks up Ethers and whatnot – but as of right now he is empty-handed.)
Picture: HeadshotFull BodyTranceAlternate OutfitAppearance: Kuja is – physically speaking – extremely effeminate. He has smooth, creamy white skin, and his complexion is naturally clean and pretty. He is a little shorter than average height for a man of his stature – 5’7” – but the conspicuous feather in his hair gives him a few more inches, as well as the heeled boots he wears. He is also very light, due to his slenderness, only weighing between 135 and 140 pounds.
He is very aesthetically pleasing to the eye, with a beautiful, slightly curvy body that marks his decided androgyny. His long, flowing locks are not the usual color for a Genome (dirty blond); instead, his silky hair has a silvery-white sheen, not unlike the feathers he so loves. His eyes are a cold violet blue – almost like lavender ice. He has a thin, lovely face, with thin lips that will sometimes be curled into a mocking smirk. (He also sometimes applies light purple lipstick and a hint of mascara to darken his nearly invisible eyelashes. Metrosexual? I think yes.) He’s not afraid of showing off his body – so while his garments are always regal in nature, they are often very, shall we say,
revealing. Due to his Genome heritage, however, he also possesses a monkey tail – but while in his normal form, he hides it, due to his shame at his birth.
However, due to his degrading health, Kuja’s pretty pallor has begun to look slightly unhealthy. There is a certain deep sadness to his eyes that was certainly never there before – as well as dark bags underneath them that show of troubled times. His hair’s started to wilt slightly, and to his horror he’s discovered the occasional strand falling out.
When in Trance, Kuja loses some of his clothes – but fur the color of blood grows on his legs, his feet, his chest, his shoulders, and his arms. His sleeves become ripped and ragged. His hair turns the color of his fur, as do his eyes. His monkey tail is visible for the only time. However – due to his new, unnatural Trance – Kuja also supports an aura of darkness that seems to radiate from his very limbs, turning his body darker.
Personality: The things that drive Kuja the most are his feelings (though he would not care to admit it). Despite considering himself to be a very logical human being, he puts a little too much stock into his intelligence – though he is an extremely smart man – and he does not place much emphasis on his own feelings. That is because when he was created he was told that he
had no feelings; thus, when he developed them, he was sadly out of touch.
His feelings are, in turn, driven by his most basic fear: that he has no personal significance.
When Kuja was created, it was intended that he would be a soulless, heartless doll, and bring nothing but destruction. But Kuja refuted those beliefs and was immediately struck for a desire to be
different than the rest of them; he wanted to be somebody that mattered… and it didn’t matter to him how he achieved that. If that meant he had to rule both Terra and Gaia for him to
not be a pawn, so be it.
What one must understand is that Kuja is an individualist, first and foremost. All his desires come from him wanting to be unlike the crowd. His narcissism stems from placing himself, pretentiously,
above everybody else – especially above the worthless pawns, like the Genomes or the Black Mages. People like monarchs both interested and repulsed them; how dare they think that they had some
divine right to rule when people like him had to claw their way to the top.
Kuja is a man of many faces as well. He is an excellent liar and actor, and is a top-notch manipulator. He prefers to work behind the scenes rather than take center stage, as it were; he knows when it is time for him to take the lead, and possesses high quantities of patience to that effect.
He is well-read, aristocratic, and refined; he enjoys a life of luxury, is almost always incredibly polite (even if it can be rather mocking at times), and has a love of theatre and the fine arts. Often his references to people and events are rather elegant and dramatic; he called Queen Brahne the “elephant-lady” and Princess Garnet a “canary.” He can be caught in monologues about himself, however. Kuja – despite his intense narcissism – is actually hiding a deep-seated insecurity about himself and life in general. Terrified of dying, he once strove to escape death at all costs – and when it seemed he couldn’t do that, his individuality got to his head and he claimed that if he could not live, then no one could. He has this intense envy of
everyone (as he sees so many awful things about himself and traits he desires he sees in others), as well as a feeling of shame and guilt that he typically pushes out of the way when committing more sadistic acts. He doesn't mind hurting others so long as he isn't close to them - but if he does, he feels a bit more conflicted - more than he used to.
Recently, solitary, individualistic, jealous Kuja has forged attachments to people that can only be labeled as friendships. His time in the Black Mage Village allowed him to grow very fond of his little “sister,” Mikoto, as well as Vivi before he stopped and then disappeared. He also has a grudging respect for Zidane, since the boy came to save his older “brother’s” life – and Zidane also taught him what it is to truly live, instead of live in fear.
But the darkness is back in his heart again, twisting his desires to be more selfish. With the end of his drastically short lifespan approaching, and his appearance in a strange new world, Kuja is – at best – uncertain about what to do. Should he try and find a way home? Or… should he attempt to tackle mortality again…?
Original World: Terra. If we are speaking in Kingdom Hearts terms, Terra and Gaia can be considered two parts of the same whole, so Terra/Gaia.
Current World: Traverse Town.
Movie/Video Game(s): Final Fantasy IX.
History: Once upon a time, the newly born, peaceful world of Gaia was in trouble.
An older planet by name of Terra – which had the tradition of assimilating newer worlds in order to keep itself alive – had set its sights on Gaia for its next assimilation. The Terran people attempted to fuse their world crystal with Gaia’s and overtake the planet. However, Gaia’s own world crystal was too strong for them, and it resisted the assimilation – thus, Terra was warped inside of Gaia, and its moon became Gaia’s second moon. The merging process was a failure, so the Terrans put their own souls to sleep to be watched over until the time was right to try and retake Gaia.
A man named Garland was created to watch over these souls. Garland also created Genomes – soulless, empty vessels that would be occupied by Terran souls when the takeover happened. In order to speed up the takeover process, Garland used the malignant Iifa Tree to stop cycling the souls of Gaia, sending out a vile Mist that hardened people’s hearts and drove them towards war. The more death and destruction, the more Garland could insert Terran souls into the cycle and slow Gaian souls – and the more Gaian souls Garland stopped from cycling, the more Mist was created, and more death and destruction happened. This was to go on 5,000 years.
But the sleeping Terran souls grew impatient, so Garland hatched a plan.
Twenty-six years ago, Garland created a fully-grown Genome. However, it was not just the nature of this Genome’s creation that was different – Garland gave this one a soul. Garland’s plan was to send out this particular Genome into Gaia to speed up the death and destruction. However – due to this Genome being created as an adult – he would have no access to Trance, as Trance develops from young emotions growing up. In order to counter this negative effect, Garland imbued his creation with the gift of powerful, dangerous magic – all the better to incite war. This Genome’s nickname was the Angel of Death. His real name was Kuja.
It became clear within a few years of training that Kuja strove for individuality and self-purpose – a dangerous thing in a vessel of war, and one that was supposedly conscienceless. So Garland set to work again, and between missions he had given to Kuja he managed to create another Genome, a more perfect Angel of Death in comparison to what he believed the failure that was Kuja. In the meantime, Kuja went to work inciting war; twelve years ago, he completely decimated the Summoner village of Madain Sari on Garland’s orders. The old Terran feared that the Summoners’ powers over Eidolons could prevent the future assimilation of Gaia. However, Kuja found the power of the Summoners very interesting indeed…
While on Gaia, Kuja typically lived in his home beneath the sand dunes, the Desert Palace – a luxurious place. However, he knew to visit other places instead of seeking solitude – since solitude doesn’t exactly lead to war. Treno drew him in greatly. Also, in order to satisfy Kuja’s need to travel to other places, Garland gave him a powerful Silver Dragon that would serve as Kuja’s vehicle and accomplice. At one point, in his later years, Kuja stole the airship the Hilda Garde I, accidentally kidnapping Hilda – the wife of Cid Fabool IX, Regent of Lindblum – in the process. He showed her no harm; rather, he kept her in a luxurious setting and talked to her often.
The little Genome that Garland was taking care of at that point was a little boy with a soul, and one that was able to experience childhood so that he would learn Trance. Kuja became jealous of Garland’s attention over the young boy, and he felt threatened by the Genome’s future abilities – and, above all, Kuja was terrified he would be discarded the second the young boy came of age. So, in a shallow moment of spite, Kuja kidnapped the child (six years old at the time) and dropped him off in the colorful world of Gaia in the hopes that he would die there.
How wrong he was.
It was at this point Kuja stopped going back to Terra for Garland’s instructions, preferring to do things his own way and receive his orders telepathically from Garland. For many years, Garland did not interfere with Kuja, as the first Angel of Death was doing just as he was designed for – causing death and destruction in his own way. But little did Garland know that Kuja was only loyal to Garland on the surface; the elegant man was planning his own way to usurp Garland’s power – namely, using the Eidolons that he so admired. Kuja was desperate to hang onto his individuality at all costs, and he knew that the moment he was no longer needed, Garland would rip his soul from him so a Terran soul could take its place – becoming a soulless vessel like all the other Genomes.
Kuja was never going to let that happen.
He partly moved into Treno – a city he both despised and admired – and masqueraded as a mysterious noble by name of Mr. King. Politics, bribery, blackmail, and money got him places in that city; soon he became known as the mysterious Lord King, the owner of the esteemed King Auction House. On this throne he had fashioned for himself, Kuja waited for the right time to plunge the world into chaos – and in the meantime, he researched everything he could about Eidolons. He saw fit to control the strongest one of all – the dormant Alexander, for which the kingdom of Alexandria was named. The crystal shards that controlled Alexander, however, were hidden within the four different kingdoms: Burmecia, Cleyra, Lindblum, and Alexandria. The way Kuja saw it, he would have to destroy these kingdoms to get to the ultimate prize.
His chance to dominate came when Queen Brahne of Alexandria lost her husband. He arranged an audience with her and made sure he was made her personal advisor. Sensing darkness within her, he quietly twisted her grief-filled mind into something a lot more greedy and sinister, and soon Brahne was exclaiming how much she wanted to conquer the other kingdoms. Kuja took on the guise as a weapons designer, and sold Brahne “recipes” on how to make soulless mages… a recipe that he had learned from Garland long ago, though with his own twist. Thus began Brahne’s secret manufacture of Black Mages.
Once Brahne trusted him enough, she let him in on a secret: Her daughter – the beautiful Princess Garnet til Alexandros XIV – was actually not related to her at all. She was a stray that she and her husband found off the coast of Madain Sari after their own daughter had died, and there was reason to believe that she had Summoner blood. They adopted her as a replacement Princess. Kuja revealed, in turn, his own discoveries to Brahne – that at sixteen years old, a Summoner’s Eidolons can be extracted for others to use. Brahne greedily and eagerly awaited Garnet’s sixteenth birthday, excited at the destruction Kuja offered.
But Garnet was kidnapped on her sixteenth birthday – two years ago – by a troupe of thieves by name of Tantalus. (Little did Kuja and Brahne know that she had actually
wanted to be kidnapped.) Irritated but unruffled, Kuja suggested going ahead with their planned attack on the rainy kingdom of Burmecia.
With the Black Mages by their side, they overtook the rat kingdom with ease. However, they did not so easily find the King of Burmecia – who was concealing one of Alexander’s crystal shards, which was Kuja’s main prize. During their search for the King, three unexpected people stumbled upon them – who had been intent on saving Burmecia. The three of them fought Alexandra’s finest general, Beatrix, but lost, and Kuja examined their weakened bodies. There was a female rat, which was not surprising; an old prototype Black Mage that seemed to be thinking for itself, which was interesting, but made Kuja’s skin crawl for some reason; and the third figure had dirty blond hair and a
tail. He was none other than the Genome that Kuja had dropped off in Gaia years ago, and had begun going by the name Zidane Tribal.
The game was about to get very interesting indeed.
Undeterred, Kuja and Brahne returned to Alexandria. Garnet – the little canary – had finally found her way back to them, and Brahne took Kuja’s advice and began the Eidolon extraction process. They actually used one of the extracted Eidolons – Odin – to obliterate Cleyra, taking the shard of Alexander that they held there and taking the one from the Burmecian king who had gone into hiding there. Little did they know that the troupe that had tried to fight them before – Zidane, Freya the rat, and Vivi the Black Mage – stowed away on the Red Rose to save the Princess. At Alexandria, they teamed up with the Princess’s knight, Steiner, and Beatrix turned on Brahne and Kuja after coming to terms with the fact that what they were doing was wrong. Zidane, Vivi, and Garnet escaped – but Freya, Steiner, and Beatrix (who had bought them time to escape) became prisoners.
Kuja was not particularly ruffled, however; they’d extracted enough Eidolons to use another against Lindblum. Kuja and Brahne teamed up again and, with the power of the Eidolon Atomos, defeated Lindblum’s forces and Kuja swiped the shard of Alexander they had.
Kuja knew, however, that Zidane’s little party had started to figure him out, and guessed that they were headed to the Iifa Tree. Some time after Zidane defeated the SoulCage in the tree – which had been a device that had helped stop the flow of Gaian Souls – Kuja went out to meet them on his Silver Dragon, boasting about how it didn’t matter. Brahne followed him out there with her fleet of airships, her army of Black Mages and her stock of the extracted Eidolons. She declared that she no longer needed him, and Summoned Bahamut.
But Kuja had yet another trick up his sleeve. You see, he had access to the old Terran warship, the
Invincible – and little did the pathetic mortals of Gaia know that the red “eye” on its underside had the ability to raze the ground with flames – and enslave Eidolons. Kuja wasted no time in placing Bahamut under his control, turning it upon Queen Brahne and devastating her entire fleet – and killing her in the process. Her soul was then absorbed into the
Invincible, squatting there until it would one day come of use.
Not long after Garnet assumed the role of Queen of Alexandria, Kuja returned to the kingdom – as he had left the shards of Alexander there. But, instead of outright attempting to claim the shards, Kuja Summoned Bahamut in an attempt to get the two Summoners he knew were lurking in Alexandria – the Queen Garnet and the little stray Zidane picked up, by name of Eiko – to Summon Alexander for him. The two girls brought together the four crystal shards – the one from Burmecia, one from Cleyra, one from Lindblum, and one from Garnet’s own Alexandria – and did just as Kuja desired: Summon the most powerful Eidolon in human history. Alexander beat Bahamut without much trouble, so Kuja – delighted at its enormous power – called upon the
Invincible again.
To the Angel of Death’s fury, Garland was at the controls of the airship. Garland had grown wise to Kuja’s attempts of rebellion, and instead enslaved Alexander himself. Using Alexander’s power, he decimated Alexandria – and then forced the most powerful Eidolon in history to commit suicide, so that Kuja may never have its power. Furious, Kuja vowed to find another Eidolon even
more powerful than Alexander.
He headed back to his Desert Palace – but he made a quick little side trip first. He stopped by the Black Mage Village (a little village of Black Mages who had stopped being mindless dolls), by then fully aware of Black Mages growing consciences. Kuja knew, also, that Black Mages had a ridiculously short life span (and at the end of their life span, they would die, or “stop” in their terms), and he lied to them by promising them that if they helped him he’d elongate their lives. Foolishly, the sentient Black Mages chose to go along with him and help him, afraid of their own deaths.
Kuja was not surprised at all when Zidane’s little troupe found his Palace. He sent Zidane on a mission to Oelivert to retrieve the Gulug Stone (an artifact he would need for his next plan), and while he made another promise to not harm Zidane’s friends, he attempted to kill them once Zidane and his party of three others were gone. Lindblum’s Regent Cid – who had been captured along with them and, due to some past mishaps, was in the shape of a frog – managed to free everyone, however, and Zidane returned in time for their whole group to take on Kuja. But Kuja got his hands on the young Summoner Eiko and kidnapped her, spiriting away to Esto Gaza and up to Mount Gulug – which was accessible now that he had the Gulug Stone.
In the depths of Mount Gulug, Kuja used the magic of Queen Brahne’s old stooges – Zorn and Thorn – to attempt to extract the Eidolons from Eiko. But Eiko was not yet sixteen, so the attempt was a failure. In order to protect her ward, Eiko’s friend – the Moogle Mog – entered Trance and became the summon Madeen. Kuja witnessed the power of Trance and devised a new plan; instead of Summoning a powerful Eidolon,
he would become the powerful one.
He was going to enter Trance.
Garland – in the meantime – had created a third Angel of Death, with the intent to take Zidane’s place should he fail like the first Angel of Death. The first female Angel of Death, her name was Mikoto – and despite her having a soul, she seemed rather cold and unfeeling. Kuja was completely unaware of her existence.
Kuja returned to Terra around the same time Zidane did, in order to claim the
Invincible from Garland. Due to Garland being busy with Zidane, Kuja found no resistance, and took the warship with ease. He witnessed Zidane fighting Garland and realized that Zidane had probably discovered the truth about his birth. Kuja intervened when it seemed Garland was on his last legs – only to kick his maker unceremoniously off the edge of a cliff.
During the ensuing fight with Zidane, Kuja finally engaged Trance. He brought them all to their knees using Ultima, and explained to Garnet the secret behind why he got Trance: He used the soul of Queen Brahne – which had still been within the
Invincible. Even in death, she was still suffering under Kuja’s darkness.
Before Kuja could deliver the finishing blow, however, Garland’s spirit spoke to Kuja, warning him that his life span was almost up. Jealous, insecure, individualistic Kuja could not bear to hear those words, and in a fit of rage began destroying the entire world of Terra using Ultima. Zidane and his friends escaped with the Genomes and Mikoto – dropping off the vessels in the Black Mage Village (which had become repopulated again once the Black Mages under Kuja realized he was lying and could not extend their life spans) – and Kuja fled the world, too, before it was completely destroyed… forever.
Due to the death of Terra, the excess souls were spat up by the dead world and the Iifa Tree, covering the world in evil Mist. Kuja flew to the Iifa Tree, summoning a legion of dragons to fight anyone who dare follow. He entered Memoria – a world created above the Iifa Tree by the memories of the expelled souls – and headed all the way to the beginning of time, to the Crystal World… and to the Mother Crystal, the source of all life, with the intent to destroy it. Zidane and his friends followed Kuja there, and in an epic battle, finally defeated the insane, narcissistic mastermind.
But little did they all know that Kuja’s despair and hopelessness in life had bounced off the Mother Crystal and created the god Necron, whose desire was to destroy all life. It was because of him that death was born. Zidane and his friends fought valiantly until they beat the god.
Kuja – during the fight – had a few revelations about life as he listened to Zidane. He realized that he had been too selfish, too willing to hang on to any dream about immortality, that he had never truly lived his life. This caused him great sadness, and the guilt that had been bubbling in him ever since he was created finally rose to the surface. After Zidane’s triumph, Kuja used the last of his strength to teleport them all down to the Iifa Tree – and he teleported himself inside the dying, monstrous tree, intending to die there himself.
But Kuja could not resist one last narcissistic maneuver, one last ploy to realize who exactly had saved their lives. He sent out a telepathic message to Zidane, saying a simple
Farewell… Little did he know that Zidane would, moments later, decide to take it upon himself to save his “brother.”
Zidane reached Kuja at the core of the Iifa Tree – and the latter was prepared to die, even if he was dreading each passing moment. After a brief conversation, Kuja closed his eyes, ready to give up.
Those eyes would not open for another year.
When he finally did come to awakening, he found himself in the care of Mikoto in the Black Mage Village – weak, but alive. She explained to him that she had heard his and Zidane’s awareness in the Iifa Tree, and had concluded that the two were still alive. (This third Angel of Death seemed to be able to tell where her two “brothers” were.) She led a team of Genomes and Black Mages to the then-dead Iifa Tree in order to dig the two of them out. The process had taken a few days – but by then, Zidane and Kuja had both been nearly dead (indeed, Kuja had only been kept alive in a comatose state due to the Potions Zidane had shoved down his throat). Mikoto, the Genomes, and the Black Mages carried the weakened two all the way back to the Black Mage Village, where Zidane had rested up before taking the long journey back home; first to Lindblum – too seek out Tantalus’s help – and then to Alexandria to see his beloved Queen. Kuja was left in the care of Mikoto – who watched him throughout every day of his unique slumber.
As he was recovering after his year of coma, Vivi the Black Mage would come to visit him once in a while – first, because of his dislike coupled with interest, and then later because they had a few things in common. Kuja grew reluctantly fond of Vivi, in much of the way he had started to respect and care for Mikoto. Once in a while he would enquire as to Zidane’s well-being, having a grudging respect for that “brother” of his.
And then – not long after Kuja woke up – little Vivi stopped. (This was around the time Kingdom Hearts II happened
, so it wouldn’t be unrealistic to say that Vivi could have re-woken up on Twilight Town with no memory of his past life, due to the interesting magic the Black Mages had, and the strength of heart that Vivi himself possessed.)
For the first time in his life, Kuja felt sadness at the loss of a life that was not his own. He used his own recipe to create “clones” of Vivi in an attempt to get him back – but, alas, they were not Vivi. Due to the Mist having completely vanished, Kuja had to use some of his dormant magic, and made – by accident – quite a few more than were necessary. He – and the rest of the village – started calling them “Vivi’s sons.”
As Kuja regained his strength, he found himself enjoying the quiet solitude of the Black Mage Village. They had all come to terms with their mortality in this village; indeed, many Black Mages had stopped within the last year, and were definitely coming close to extinction. But they embraced their lives in a way that made Kuja jealous – as it was a way he would never experience. For, even as he regained his strength, he could feel that his body was close to the end of its lifetime; Garland probably never planned on having Kuja see past the age of twenty-five, let alone thirty.
However, the desire to access his other, stronger magic was a strong one – though, for a while, he forbade himself from doing it, out of fear of becoming a destructive maniac again (as his narcissism and individuality was still very much intact). He never lost his ability for Glide; in fact, he used that often, as he was in too weak of health to walk early on but his magic power allowed him the strength to Glide. But there were monsters in the woods that would injure the wandering traveler once in a while – and not a soul in the village had access to White Magic. As a result, Kuja quickly unlocked his White Magic again – Cure first, then Cura, then Curaga. Reflect came next and, in a fit of defending himself, Holy was unleashed. It appeared that Kuja had become a White Mage.
But the individualist inside Kuja complained loudly that he was above the commonplace White Mage. So – while defending the village from a monster raid – he accidentally-on-purpose cast a low-level Thunder spell. The village became slightly suspicious, but the time for complaining was behind them, as most of their Black Mages had stopped by this point, and none of the Genomes knew any magic – not even Mikoto. (Garland had probably avoided giving Mikoto the sort of powerful abilities he had bestowed in Kuja in order to avoid another failure.) Soon, Kuja would venture outside the village’s borders to level up his Thunder magic – all in the name of protecting the village, of course.
It seemed that Kuja could never fit the peaceful lifestyle as much as he desired to. So, in the dead of night, he would sneak away and try to unlock Trance. However, without another’s angry soul to power it, the ability remained unavailable to him, despite the human emotions he felt; he had missed the stage in his life where Trance would develop. In fits of rage, he accidentally cast Flare Star – the highest-level ability he had unlocked. He kept that a secret, however, for he feared the village would kick him out – and he was beginning to consider it a home.
Kuja’s spell Flare Star became unlocked almost a full year after he had awakened from his coma – and two years after his fall from power. The darkness of the spell, however, also unlocked the darkness in his heart – and it was this that finally drew the Heartless to Gaia.
It was nighttime when they arrived, slinking through the shadows of the forest and gathering around the Black Mage Village. Since Kuja’s dark heart was there, that was the first place they targeted. Their numbers were too many for the peaceful inhabitants of the village to fight off, and Kuja spent a lot of his energy to make sure his friends weren’t hurt. But the darkness around him and inside him caused him to feel a lot angrier and more negative – and soon the darkness was powering up his Trance.
He had reached another unnatural Trance – but one that corrupted his heart more than he was willing to admit. He took out wave after wave of Heartless – but burned his village to the ground in the process. When Trance finally ended, he blacked out…
… and woke up in a strange, new town, covered in snow. The signs all around him stated that this was called Traverse Town.
Now, Kuja – with the stench of darkness in his very skin and death coming ever closer his way – must figure out what he should fight for – a way home, a way to survive, or perhaps follow the dark road down to immortality.
After all, he was never expected to live to see thirty.
Role Playing Sample: “Uh…ungh…”
“Hold on,” a voice whispered from far away. Kuja stirred, but the darkness pressing against his eyelids did not let up. His body felt racked with aches and sores – and above all, unbearably cold.
Mikoto?
“You will wake in due time… You’ve been sleeping for a year now.”
Oh, he would, would he? How delightfully vague. He tried to move, to twist, so see if he could roll into a different position – but his attempts were insufficient and futile. A whole year he’d been asleep, hm? How strange. The sense of déjà vu swept over him, rendering his thoughts momentarily frozen.
Another voice floated through his subconscious. “Will he live, Mikoto?”
“Yes, I’m sure of it. His will to live… it’s strong.”
But that is odd, Kuja thought idly, the cold making him very uncomfortable, and therefore hard to think. I… remember this conversation…
His eyelids flickered. He could feel his body shifting, as though he was finally coming into a tangible appearance. He moved, sucked in a breath – and his eyes flew open.
The first thing the delicate man noticed was the sky. Dotted with thousands upon thousands of stars – had he ever seen so many? – it was swept through with the darkness of night. Whether or not it was an eternal night was another story… was this some sort of afterlife? A dream? A hallucination, made of reality’s playful phantoms? As he blinked, a star winked out – and then another, in his peripheral vision.
Wincing, he pushed himself up to a sitting position. The immeasurable cold he’d felt was suddenly explained. Blanketed across the streets, on buildings, on lights, on his very person, was endless snow. Kuja could not suppress a wrinkle of his nose. How he hated the cold. This was a person who’s home had been underneath a desert. A more temperate climate he could fathom. But this winter “wonderland?” Hmph.
As he examined the place, the voices he’d been hearing earlier came back into his mind – and he was greeted with the memory of his awakening from a year-long coma. Of course. Those voices had been nothing but phantoms, and he had latched onto the familiarity, seeking comfort from the unknown and potentially dangerous. Tch. Perhaps he’d gone soft, then, all that time in the Black Mage Village. But then he’d never been one for conflict anyhow.
Kuja rose gracefully to his feet – but his eyes were squinting in pain. Whatever had happened… however he’d gotten here… he felt so incredibly weak. There was a strange pain in his chest, as well, and he placed a palm over his heart, sucking in a deep breath, the world spinning momentarily.
Mysteries must be saved for later, no matter their intrigue, he reminded himself. If I allow myself to stay out here pondering much longer, I will surely… die.
He did not linger on that unpleasant though – but his mind immediately threw up another. Where was Mikoto? Where was anybody? What had happened to them…?
Another pang hit his chest, and he was briefly surprised; the pain seemed to come from the thought of his erstwhile companions’ welfare rather than his own.
Strange, indeed.
He began to walk - slowly, laboriously, ruggedly. But he was walking all the same.
Questions/Comments/Suggestions? I cleared my history with Zidane Tribal's RPer (Roze) so that we have our consistencies down.
