(no subject)

[firstsoldier]

Player: Rune
Contact: PM please.
Age: Over 18
Other Characters: N/A

Name: Sephiroth
Canon: Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis/Crisis Core
Canon Point: The very end of Ever Crisis or the very beginning of Crisis Core; it's kind of .. the same approximate range. Right after saving the troops in the way of Heideggar's carpet bombing.
Age: 20sish.

Backstory: A link. Only Early Life and part of SOLDIER First Class apply, as he's at the beginning of Crisis Core, approximately.
Personality: The mask of calm confidence is almost absolute in public, or really around anyone not Angeal and Genesis, the only two people allowed to see the mask crack without it being seen as a personal failure. A lifetime of abuse and outright torture at the hands of Hojo and his cronies mean he's learned self control young, and doesn't show what he doesn't intend to most times. Fear, rage, guilt, pain, grief - none of these are allowed to be shown, whether or not they're felt. It's forbidden, and he can't ever falter. Anything that isn't what's expected of him is simply bottled up and shoved away. He's ruthless in his efficiency, willing to threaten and terrorize if it means avoiding unnecessary killing; he'll try to de-escalate if violence ISN'T needed, but if it comes to killing, he doesn't hesitate and always goes for a clean, fast kill. It's the only mercy he knows. He views himself as a weapon and acts accordingly most times, though his unusual strength and skills have made him uneasy since childhood.

That said, he's very, very good at combat, and not at all good at anything like socializing. Sephiroth was raised by scientists and practically in isolation, it's left him awkward at best off the battlefield, awkward about navigating all but the most basic social interactions. This discomfort is masked by carefully maintained neutrality that makes him often seem cold or outright callous, but it's mostly just not being really sure about what he should be doing even now. His very few friends are guide and guard in this, and he takes his cues from them - without Angeal and Genesis, he's forced to manage on his own, and he does ... albeit not well.

He has no use for so-called heros and chafes at being labeled one, knowing damned well he is anything but. Anything that reeks of idealism is met with skepticism at best; idealism never helped him at all, and practicality and logic got him through rough times where dreaming did not. If he'd ever had any dreams and hopes of his own, they've long since been crushed under Shinra's relentless efforts to mold him into the perfect obedient weapon, and even the efforts of his two dearest friends hasn't shaken that. Angeal's speeches about honor and dreams are viewed with a kind of affectionate derision, as is Genesis' almost obsessive fondness for LOVELESS and dreams of being The Hero. Bitter experience means he follows the cynic's track, expecting the worst and planning accordingly, even though he has a strong impulse to kindness and a lot of consideration for those around him, adapting to their needs, their strengths and their weaknesses as best he can. He's always known his life is special in some way, but it simply means he has the tools to at least try to do some good, and save lives instead of just take them.

The most important things to him are integrity and loyalty - sometimes the only things keeping him working for Shinra, aside from it being all he knows. He's long since given up on almost anything like dreams or hope, but devotion to his friends and misplaced loyalty to the company that designed and raised him keep him in his place, appropriately subordinate to .. most .. of the President's wishes. But once Sephiroth gives his loyalty to someone, it's for life, and it will require the other person breaking it badly for him to reconsider, because otherwise he never will. This leaves him open to being hurt terribly by those he does give his trust to and they prove unworthy of it. He fears harming those he cares for, and will avoid it at any personal cost. He has nothing of value that can be taken from him including his own life, but that of his friends? That's another matter entirely. There isn't anything he wouldn't do if they simply asked it of him, and the surest way to provoke something like rage or terror in him is to threaten them. Right now, this is only Genesis and Angeal, with perhaps a touch of Lazard as well, but in their absence he could find new friends, and apply the same unwavering devotion to them. It's with these specific people he reveals who he is under the mask, and even a subtle sense of humor favoring irony and gentle teasing.

It should be noted somewhere that he's never really gotten over either losing the locket with his mother's picture in it or ever being able to meet her - convinced she's dead, the closest thing he has to dreams is imagining what his life could have been if she was still around, a distant and mostly forgotten thing at this point. Cynicism has taken over this as well .. but should he ever encounter her, or what he thinks is his mother.. all bets are off.

Sephiroth doesn't handle change well. Not normal change and absolutely not literally monster changes. Upheaval is inevitably negative, and though he adapts it's always with wary apprehension. He's spent a lifetime being trained to hunt and kill monsters, BECOMING one is an outcome he simply never planned for. Being thrown into a strange world without the backup of his closest friends will be difficult enough, turning into one of the things he's trained to eradicate will be horrifying in ways he had yet to ever truly consider. He is not the most mentally durable person ever to start with, the side effects of becoming a literal monster instead of a metaphorical one could do significant damage to his stability, especially in the absence of his friends.

Powers/Abilities:
SOLDIER enhancements: As a SOLDIER, Sephiroth is faster, stronger and more durable than any normal human can hope for.. and outstrips all other SOLDIERs in this as well. He's able to cross short distances in the blink of an eye, jump vertically dozens of feet with minimal effort, throw around vast weights like it's nothing and endure going without food, water or sleep for a week without any hindrance to his fighting capabilities. He can and has fought entire armies alone without stopping to rest. Mundane diseases and illnesses do nothing, as do most drugs and poisons including alcohol, and any injury he gains heals rapidly on their own even without medical intervention.
(I assume that these enhancements would count as separate powers, thus: Speed, ACTIVE; Strength, ACTIVE; Durability, INACTIVE; Resistances, INACTIVE; Healing, INACTIVE)

Masamune: A Cetra-forged sword of meteoric iron, Masamune is named after its crafter and is a mystical weapon with supernatural abilities; namely it is apparently unbreakable, and can be summoned and dismissed at will by its chosen wielder. It has six materia slots in three linked pairs. (ACTIVE)

Magic: He is capable of some spellcasting without the aid of materia, namely levitation, imbuing Masamune with non-elemental magic and using it to add even more cutting power to an already dangerous weapon or fire off magic projectiles and waves of energy as needed. With time and effort, the same power used to levitate or slow his own falling could be used to levitate other objects or even fly rather slowly; he doesn't currently know this. (INACTIVE)

Materia: Although they are nothing more than pretty marbles at this point, Sephiroth has several onhand. Revive, Heal, Wind, Fire, Lightning, Ice and Magnify. (INACTIVE)

Jenova: Although he doesn't know it, Sephiroth is part alien monster, which would, if he knew it and learned to use it, give him access to several abilities; he could control anyone who shares his 'mother's' cells through direct puppetry or merely influencing their decisions with his own willpower, cast illusions strong enough to fool even technology, and modify his own body to sprout a single black-feathered wing. He doesn't know this either, so it's mostly going here for completionism. (INACTIVE)

Skills: Sephiroth has been trained since infancy to resist torture, ignore pain, and fight with nearly any weapon he could get his hands on. Half his life has been spent on one battlefield or another, and his skill at massacring monsters or people is unmatched on his planet. Though he fights best solo he knows how to fight in a group and work around the strengths and weakness of his teammates.

He has no skills really that aren't obscene violence related, besides a truly disturbing strength of will that allows him to force himself to keep pushing on when he by all rights should have long since succumbed to wounds or fatigue.

Inventory: His uniform, seven materia listed above, Masamune (occasionally, see: Masamune in powers section), a standard-issue Shinra flip phone.
Game Plans: I have few direct actual plans besides Yay Monsters and unusual settings. My choice of his canonpoint is deliberate, since it's the most stable he ever is mentally his ENTIRE LIFE, and leaves the most avenues for trying to build cr. It's literally a whole new world, and the first time in his life he's been far, far outside of Shinra's reach. He's free. What will he do with it?

Monster Choice: Drakonis - ????
Volare - Harpy
Infernal - Demon

With a slight favoring of Drakonis as they have a few options for multiple animal species combos! (And fire breath to go with it, if that gets selected) I don't have any reason for picking these in specific, by way of meaningful connection to Sephiroth. I picked them because I felt they have the best chance to get me where I want to be at the end of changes, dinosaur flavored. Who doesn't love feathered theropods?

Vehicle Choice: A Shinra M939 troop transport truck. Fast quality.
Sample: Some here. A bit more.