Name: Zephyr
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Species: Tamerran
Race: Aeristocrat
Position: Chaotic Neutral
Powers/Abilities/Techniques/Skills:[/b]: Zephyr comes from a world of summoners who use etched symbols as Gateways to call forth "Guardians" to fight their battles for them.
These Guardians reside in Tamerra I, also known as the "Spiritual Realm", which acts as a sort of alternate reality to Tamera II [think of the Sacred Realm or Golden Land (a.k.a. Dark World) from Zelda: A Link to the Past]. Guardians can leave the Spiritual Realm on their own or when their Gateway symbol has been activated by their Summoner. Symbols are specific to each individual Guardian and Guardians will bond with their Summoner, creating a psychic link between the two. This psychic link allows the Summoner and Guardian to have a sense of their counterpart's location, as well as the ability to read and share emotions privately. This does not mean they can communicate telepathically. No Summoner that lacks a bond with a Guardian will be able to call that Guardian, and if the symbol is lost or forgotten then the Summoner will lose the ability to open the Gateway.
As it takes a good bit of power to open a Gateway, it is difficult for a Guardian to traverse dimensions on their own. Summoners have an easier time as the Gateway resides within their own realm. Gateways are opened using reserves of mana, and as more powerful Guardians possess more intricate symbols, more mana is required to open the Gateway. Once the Guardian has arrived the Gateway remains open, allowing the Guardian the ability to return to the Spiritual Realm with minimal effort.[/ul]
[/b]: Zephyr has a very basic ability to control small wind currents, mostly to aid her in flight.[/ul]
[/b]: As a blacksmith, Zephyr is proficient in wielding all manner of weapons, with the idea that it is hard to create something if you don't know how to use it properly. However, this is not to say that Zephyr is a master swordsman or anything of the like—she just won't stab herself when given a halberd or naginata. Besides, she prefers her hammer more than anything else, and with her physical defense as low as it is she would much rather not engage in melee fighting at all if she can help it.[/ul]
[/b]: With her world destroyed, Zephyr will find that access to her Guardians will have been all but cut off from her. Her ability to summon will be extremely limited but as time progresses the act of searching for her Guardians will become easier, and she will be able to "unlock" summons previously restricted from her. Furthermore, in order to increase her summon list, Zephyr will have the opportunity to go on "hunts". The concept of hunts is as follows:
When Tamerra II was consumed by darkness, a piece of the world remained intact, taking refuge in Zephyr's heart. It is within this piece that Guardians reside, providing isolation and sanctuary as Zephyr travels the worlds. It is only when Zephyr's heart is exceptionally strong—such as during highly emotional times—when the piece of world heart is bright enough for Guardians to traverse realms, leaving the broken plane inside her heart to materialize on whatever world Zephyr is currently occupying. The only clue that Zephyr has of knowing when a Guardian has left the plane inside her heart is a sudden drop in her mana reserves (as Guardians borrow mana to help to activate the Gateway) and a bright Gateway symbol that forms nearby. It is at this point the Guardian materializes and Zephyr has the ability to hunt the creature down, forge a bond, and acquire its Gateway symbol.[/ul]
[/b] As mentioned before, all Gateways require a certain amount of energy to open. Zephyr does not recover energy quickly, especially when she is not actively resting. If she is not careful a quick succession of summons will tire her out, resulting in exhaustion and fatigue.[/ul]
Weapon/Items: [/b] Other than using her Guardians as her main mode of attack, Zephyr possesses a large hammer in the event things get too close. Her hammer can be described as thus: the head is a squarish, iron block and has a wooden handle wrapped in off-white fabric. It is defunct of magical attributes; nothing more than a tool and a weapon.[/ul]
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Picture: LinkageAppearance: While not explicitly human, Zephyr comes from a world consisting of four races of humanoid beings, with each race having their own distinguishing characteristic. Being from the sky realm Zephyr is designed to be light and fragile, wearing minimal clothing to keep from weighing her down and to make flying as easy as possible. She also possesses a pair of large, angelic wings. They appear white, but when caught in a certain light give off a very faint blue hue. The girl prides herself on her wings and can be found more often than not ruffling her feathers just to bring attention to them.
She stands at about 5'5", her body slender but fit, built to accommodate the arduous labor of working in a forge. Her attire is not exactly what one would call modest. She wears a bright yellow string bikini bottom and a banded halter top. Two long rectangular veils hang down at her front and back, sitting at her hips and connected by strings. It is the same bright yellow color but has cerulean streaks that arc and crisscross randomly. Clothing like this is commonplace in her society, and while she may be sporting more skin than most others, this style of dress has been accepted as the social norm on her homeworld. Numerous accessories on her person do a fair bit to offset this light clothing, including necklaces, arm bands, and bangles. Each piece has an inscription of the Gateway symbol for each summon, and glows a burning white color when activated.
Zephyr wears a pair of large leather gloves with metal plates affixed to the back of the hand and on the first joint of each finger. Her shoes are tannish, appearing like moccasins, except for the large tongue that extends upwards to cover the bottom of her shins. A metal plate covers the top of each foot while light grey fabric wraps loosely around her shoes at the ankles, giving the appearance of knee-high socks that have been pushed down because they were too itchy. On the heels are colorful butterfly wings, attached by emerald buttons for a splash of color.
Her complexion is light, and her eyes large and bright with irises a mysterious light purple. She is often giving a whimsical look as her mind is generally known to wander, but also to allow her eyes to lose focus on her surroundings. Zephyr suffers from acute myopia (nearsightedness), though due to the ridicule she received as a child, she hardly ever wears glasses. As such, once you have her attention she usually gives the appearance of being standoffish, though her narrowed eyes are really just her squinting to get a better look.
Long violet hair—the color you might see in the sky during a sunset—extends all the way to her calves. It is cropped in a multitude of layers to cast the best effect when caught in a good breeze. A pair of goggles sit on top of her head to keep her hair out of her eyes and despite having prescription lenses she only uses them during extreme situations, such as while forging or when in flight. They have leather straps with the lenses a deep cobalt color.
As a blacksmith, a large utility belt is strapped across her waist containing tools of the trade. Below her left hip is a large mallet which she uses for forging and doubling as her only weapon. It has a wooden handle that is wrapped in off-white fabric, and contains a heavy iron block for a head. It weighs down the belt, causing it to sit at an angle to create maximum cuteness.
Personality: True to her namesake, Zephyr is just like the wind: airy, light, and unpredictable. Generally a sweet person, she's cheery, happy, energetic, and usually out to have a good time. However, it is quite easy for her to work up a good fury, and if something upsets her she will not hesitate to show her displeasure. Zephyr can and will hold grudges for quite an extended period of time.
Like all Aeristocrats, Zephyr is a very vain person and arrogant about herself and her abilities. Her unnatural handicap has made her rather self-conscious, and as such she is constantly looking for ways to prove she's better than others. This causes her to take unnecessary risks even if the odds are stacked high against her favor, and in the event that she doesn't pull through, well, if the sun hadn't been in her eyes….
As a blacksmith, she's quite passionate about her work, constantly evaluating her pieces against others and seeking ways to improve her skill. When she's not in her forge working, she's usually out on various excursions with the intent of selling her wares or getting her name out for commissions. She views the world with a blacksmith's eye, one that believes the solution to any problem can be solved with a few good whacks with a hammer.
She is very often found in a dreamy state as life in the heavens has allowed her mind to wander even during extreme situations. She is prone to ramble and can be rather absentminded at times, but don't let her obliviousness fool you. Zephyr is a sucker for confrontations, and more often than not will instigate conflicts just to rile everyone up.
Zephyr is extremely claustrophobic, and cannot stand small rooms and large crowds.
Original World: Tamerra II
Tamerra is a world ruled by the four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. Long ago, when the elements lived in harmony with each other, the world's shepherd, man, tended to the land. One day, the people sought to control the elements, dividing themselves into four groups with one group devoted entirely to the study of one element.
As time passed and the Ancestors' mastery of the elements grew, the people started to morph, their bodies taking on certain traits of their elements: those that studied air grew wings and learned how to control the air currents; those that studied earth grew fur and learned how to talk to nature; those that studied fire grew something and learned how to manipulate light; and those that studied water grew gills and learned how to shapeshift.
Time passed and eventually the races fell out of touch with their element. Without shepherds to make use of the elemental power, the world became unstable and threatened to collapse. It was at this point four scions, one from each race, gathered together and used their power to prevent the world from utter destruction, although what they really did was simply create an alternate reality of their world.
Thus began the mass migration to Tamerra II. Those that were left behind remained in Tamerra I, which became known as the Spiritual Realm. Some creatures were able to find access to Tamerra II, but access was always temporary and they vanished soon afterwards. The races that resided in Tamerra II began to recognize this link to their former world, and so learned the concept of summoning, sharing bonds between themselves and a "visitor" and reopening the Gateway symbol left behind once a "visitor" left. These visitors became known as "Guardians", as through this shared bond, Guardians acted as protectors of their Summoner.
Centuries passed and like before, the races grew away from Guardians, leaving their visitations as a sort of legend. Guardians, as well, began to forget how to access Tamerra II. Every so often, a Guardian would find access to the plane, but the races soon forgot what they were, and their visitations were treated as will-o'-the-wisps.
Zephyr is the first Tamerran to acquire a summon in over a hundred years.
Current World: Traverse Town
History: For the most part, Zephyr was shaping up to be a rather fine Aeristocrat; pretty, arrogant, absentminded, though there was a little bit of a spark in her that was rather unnatural for a race that spent their days lazing about on the cloud beds. In Zephyr's younger years life was good and enjoyable. It wasn't until her vision started deteriorating when things started going downhill.
With Aeristocratic eyesight the sharpest of all the races, it was strange not only to the other children, but the adults as well why this one girl was having so much difficulty trying to see. Zephyr found herself unable to play with children her age, which typically consisted of games that relied heavily on sight. By the time her parents had taken notice, it was too late and Zephyr had already become an outcast. Once the girl came back with a pair of thick glasses, she might as well have considered her life over.
This ridicule and ostracism became the basis that would shape the rest of her personality. Discarding her glasses because she saw no reason why she couldn't see just as well as anyone else, Zephyr set on a path of proving her worth. That spark inside her grew, and she began taking unnecessary risks and dares just to show she needed no handicap around others. Eventually she sought an apprenticeship at the local blacksmith's forge with the idea that if she were the one making everyone's tools and weapons, her peers would be forced to respect her.
However, a forge was no place for a girl with bad eyesight, and despite learning how to cope with her vision she was unable to pull the wool over the blacksmith's eyes. Taking pity on her, he took it upon himself to get her crafted a pair of prescription goggles. She spent the next few years of her life in the forge, building a strong bond with her master and learning the art of blacksmithing.
Years passed and life for Zephyr was good, despite the occasional fights she would get into. Her peers were incredulous at the idea that the local blacksmith had taken her on as apprentice, and it was during one such altercation, when a young man tossed a blacksmith tool he had stolen from her to the forest below, that Zephyr's life changed forever.
While searching the forest floor, Zephyr came across an ethereal being she had never seen before. Out of curiosity she followed the being, unaware that it was a creature of legend. However, Zephyr was not the only one that had taken interest. The attack was imminent, but Zephyr was quick enough to throw herself into the fray, defending the being from the wolf's ambush. Defeated, the wolf escaped, and the ethereal creature showed its gratitude by imprinting itself on Zephyr.
Enamored by the creature before her, Zephyr took a respite, tending to their wounds and completely forgetting why she had come down there in the first place. Being unable to manipulate wind currents at the time, Zephyr was unable to return home by herself, which was no big deal, really, as she ended up spending hours with the creature until long after the sun had set. Finding a hidden grove, she and the creature settled in for the night.
Zephyr awoke the next morning to the sounds of a search party, led by the blacksmith himself. All that remained of the creature was a scorch mark in the crook of her shoulder where the creature had slept. Confused by everything, Zephyr returned home, beginning her lessons of manipulating wind currents so as to avoid another event like before. During her studies, she was able to spent the next few months in the library, searching records, talking to Elders, trying to find any and all information she could of the strange creature that had visited her that one fateful day.
Eventually she came across the legend of Guardians, creatures that had remained to watch over the world during the Great Migration of Tamerra II. It was during one such discovery, the art of summoning, when Zephyr's research became an obsession. Taking the symbol that had been burned into her skin (long since faded but she had recorded it on some piece of paper somewhere), Zephyr crafted a Gateway on an amulet and discovered how to summon the creature she had saved from the wolf. Overjoyed at her rediscovery of a lost art, Zephyr began spending more and more time in the wilderness searching for these Guardians, learning how to coax them out of the Spiritual World and collecting their symbols as Gateways.
As darkness began growing within the world heart, Zephyr was one of the first to come across the heartless invasion. She understood immediately Shadows were not like regular Guardians. They appeared in a unique manner, and when they disappeared they failed to leave behind Gateway symbols. They were also exceedingly vicious, more vicious than any Guardian Zephyr had ever encountered before. Trapped in the shadows, it was not much longer before Tamerra fell to darkness.
When the world succumbed, however, a piece of the world heart survived, taking refuge in Zephyr's own due to the strong connection she held with the Guardians of Tamerra I. It is within this piece that the Guardians now reside, living in sanctuary and isolation on the broken plane in Zephyr's heart.
As the shadows pulled Zephyr down into the pool of darkness it was the strength of her heart, further bolstered by the piece of world heart within, that this young Tamerran was able to survive the world's collapse. Now, Zephyr finds herself in a brand new world, alone, confused, and afraid.Role Playing Sample: Click. Screee…The door to The Cloud's Anvil swung open, revealing a dark, cold room to the two beings standing before the threshold. Zephyr turned her gaze to the hinko perched on her shoulder and let out a quiet squeal, her face erupting into a bright smile. Jispo cocked his head and chirped in response.
The Aeristocratic blacksmith swept into her forge, holding her lantern aloft as she made a bee-line for the desk. Placing the lantern down, she opened the first drawer on the right, retrieved a lighting stick and attracted a small flame. Then, with a practiced purpose, she went to each wall sconce and lit its candle, filling the forge with a soft, natural light. When they had constructed her smithy, the city building commissioner had offered to install electrical lighting, but Zephyr would have none of that. There was something she didn't like about the light that came from electricity. It just didn't have the magic of pure fire. Besides, it was a blacksmith's forge; any other type of lighting would feel unfitting.
And it reminded her of home.
Walking around, she inspected her forge, lowering her goggles as she took note of each weapon, each piece of jewelry, each metal puzzle she had made. A finger brushed the surface of her anvil, collecting a thin layer of dust which she rubbed between her fingers. Everything was exactly as she had left it.
Her smithy was connected to the Moogle Synthesizing Shop, where they shared a forge large enough to accommodate both their labor. The moogle's side was still warm from the night before. Zephyr stood before the embers, basking in its heat before stealing a few to light her side, cold and sooty with disuse. Throwing a pile of coals on the embers, she opened the tuyeer and grabbed the bellows, feeding the fire until it was just short of raging.
Hovering to her CD player, one of the only electrical appliances she owned, Zephyr rifled through her collection, stopping at the sight of a
seedy-looking homeless man. Opening the case, she popped the disc in and pressed Play, moving her body along with the iconic guitar riffs. Nothing could get her into a forging mood like some good old Rock and Roll.
It was a few hours before she had to open shop—most of the lights in Traverse Town had not yet turned on, indicating early morning in the town's perpetual nightóbut Zephyr was too excited about her forge's reopening, and she couldn't sleep. So, grabbing an iron rod, she shoved it in the fire and went to fill the barrel with water, then retrieved her apron, pulling her hair into a tight bun along the way. Jispo watched from his usual perch by the heat of the flames.
It had been too long since the last time Zephyr had struck her anvil. Today was going to be a good day.
Questions/Comments/Suggestions? Made some changes since she was rejected. New original world, which I've spent quite a bit of time devising, so that's why it took so long to get it back up. I didn't want to just change some names and call it quits. I did reuse my RP Sample but if you want a new one I'd be happy to whip up another one! Let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!
