Post by Tidal Champion on Jun 10, 2013 19:49:33 GMT -5
Basic Information
Xue Hyetaru AKA “The Tidal Champion”.
- Age: 31
- Height: 6’4”
- Weight: 220 lb
- Gender: Male
- Appearance: A muscular water tribe huntsman, the most notable thing about him is how he dresses. Despite his heritage, he does not wear the typical blue dyed hides and furs, at least not throughout. Instead, he wears a sturdy and bright orange armor. This thick leather mail has the same pattern, texture, and coarseness as sharkskin. This suit covers his entire person, but is only visible from the waist up, as he has, stretched over his body suit, the typical dark blue trousers and fur boots, except that the dye has been stained and faded to a more green-black, due to an unusual amount of time in the sea (when you live at the south pole, you typically try to stay out of the water, to avoid hypothermia and certain death; Xue is an exception). The outfit is by far the most outrageous part of his appearance. He has short (though messy) black hair and beard, which is also unusual, for a water tribe citizen (long hair is a way to keep warm in the polar regions). Beyond that, however, he is nothing special to look at; dull blue-grey eyes, strong square jaw, and broad shoulders, if not for his outfit, he would easily fit in among a Water Tribe Warship.Character Quirks
- Personality: Known as the best hunter in his (admittedly small) village, through a series of random events he became a bit of a local hero, and he absolutely has let it go to his head. He sees himself as an adventurer and a champion to the weak. His personality is best compared to that of a 1950’s superhero, flamboyant and camp, full of energy and confidence, often bellowing out what he thinks to be witty banter before a battle (despite his opponents typically being wild animals), and there is nothing he enjoys more than regaling friends, family, and random passerby, of all of his previous adventures, most of which he has rehearsed thoroughly, for maximum awe-factor.
- Alignment: Neutral Good. Don’t mistake his arrogance and pride for greed; he didn’t become a hero to his village for the glory of it, saving lives always was, and always will be, his primary goal… however, if there is glory to be had, he may as well milk it for all its worth… right?
- Nation: Small backwater village somewhere in the southern continent, part of the Southern Water Tribe.
- Affiliation: None in particular. While he sees himself as a protector to the people of his village, he is not a part of any official law-enforcement agency. His village is too small to even have any official law-enforcement agency. Or any crime, for that matter.
- Goal(s): Once he protected his village from a major threat, but with the danger passed, his desire for adventure has gone unfed for far too long. While he has no definitive goal in mind, he intends to wander the world, righting wrongs, proving his valor, and being a hero.
- Brief History:
“Let me tell you about my very first adventure. Imagine, if you will, me, standing at the edge of a giant glacier, a plethora of deadly jagged rocks hundreds of feet below. I was in dire straits, my friend, my feet caught in a crevice in the glacier, and my trident lay in the ice well out of my reach. And there, in front of me, stood the most deadly villainous creature you can think of… This is the tale of how I found myself in that dreadful situation. And more importantly, how I managed to fight off the beast with my bare hands! HUZZAH! I call it… ‘THE ADVENTURES OF THE TIDAL CHAMPION - THE COLOR OF CARNAGE!’”
That’s how he tells it, anyway. The truth was a lot less glorious than he makes it out to be. To put matters simply, his village was dealing with a major famine; for some unknown reason the seallions simply were not migrating back into local waters anymore. At least, that’s how it started. At first the hunting parties would come back empty handed, but, one day, they didn’t come back at all. The immediate response to this was panic. How could a group of four fully grown, trained, well-bodied men have just vanished like that? Up until this point, the disappearance of the seallions was attributed to a shift in the currents, or something minor like that, but overnight it seemed that everyone in the entire village had formed a new consensus; something was out there, and whatever was killing the seallions was also responsible for what happened to the missing tribesmen. These fears were confirmed when a survivor managed to crawl his way back into the village, covered in blood, and spouting random dribble. Most thought he was traumatized, delusional, as he claimed his entire team was destroyed by what he called “an orange demon”. Still, delusional or not, this story struck fear in the citizens, and the entire village was soon living in terror, afraid of what should happen if they run out of food, or if the demon decided to attack the village. It was a tiny place, with no actual defenses, and help from the Southern Water Tribe was at least two days away... Everyone was on edge. Everyone, that is, except Xue. Rather than being deterred by what had happened to his fellow huntsmen, he was excited by it. He had always known he was the best hunter in the village (all seventeen of them), and most people he knew would agree with him… but never before had he been presented with an opportunity to PROVE it. But if he could take down this beast, where the others had failed, then there would be no doubt. Not to mention avenging a few friends, protecting the village from future deaths, and, most importantly, ensuring that the village doesn’t starve in the coming winter. And so, with his head filled with thoughts of glory, heroism, and saved lives, he left to find this beast.
A task that, as it turns out, was remarkably easy. The skies were clear, and the sun was out, and as far as the eye could see there was nothing but white snow and blue skies. About three miles out from the village, less than an hour of travel, a great orange speck appeared on the horizon. This was both exciting and unsettling. How’d the beast come to be so close? As Xue approached the answer became clear… the monster was, in fact, a Tigershark (not to be confused with real world tiger sharks). A true monstrosity. 30 feet long, 5 feet tall, and easily 2 tons, this beast was a horrifying sight to behold. Sharp sandpaper skin stretched over it, like a shark, but it was brightly colored, like a tiger, it stood on four massive webbed paws, each as large as a man’s torso, and it’s feline jaw was lined with several rows of serrated sawblade-like teeth. Basically the deadliest animal ever. You may want to get a change of pants ready, because here is an artist’s rendering of the monster…
Skipping past the most epic horrifyingly gruesome fight sequence ever, that spanned several miles of icy plains and ended with Xue chasing the beast into the sea (where it had an incredible advantage) and beating it into submission with cunning and trickery, the day was eventually saved, and Xue returned with enough tigershark meat to feed the entire village for weeks. By the time the meat had run out, the seallions had returned. Xue had successfully saved the village from starvation. While still caught up in the rush from his victory and heroic return, he tanned the Tigershark's skin into the orange sharkskin armor he wears, and has since become known for. It was also at this time that he first took a new name for himself, as The Tidal Champion.Combat Marks - Stat System:
Physical Ability: 5
Weapon Mastery: 5
Bending Proficiency: 3
Speed: 2
Intelligence: 2 - Weapons:
--The Trident of La. Named for the ocean spirit, this trident is... well, it's just a trident. The name means absolutely nothing, it was just Tidal Champion trying to make himself and his equipment sound more impressive. There is one unusual thing about this trident, however, inside is a moderately sized flask of water, to be used in emergency situations, or potentially in combat.
--Plate of the Deep. Not technically a weapon, and not technically plate mail either, The Tidal Champion's "Plate of the Deep" is simply his orange leather armor. The name is, once again, a meaningless attempt to sound impressive (though in reality it just shows how little he knows about armory). However, unlike the trident, this armor does actually provide him with one unintended benefit. The thick blubber protects him from cold temperatures, allowing him to swim in the arctic, without dying instantly of hypothermia. - Occupation: Huntsman/Hero
- Abilities:
Tier 1:
Tier 2:
Tier 3:- Last Words
- Other:
--NOTE 1: Yes, in case you hadn't figured it out yet, this entire character is one giant rip off (or homage, whichever is less offensive) of the DC Superhero Aquaman. His personality, outfit, and combat abilities will be more or less taken straight from Aquaman, except, obviously, he will not have any superpowers aside from maybe unusually large lung capacity. Mostly intended as a comic relief character, I can still see him being involved in some serious plots (just look at Sokka). For those interested the personality is based loosely off of Aquaman as he appears in Batman: The Brave and The Bold, though I've added some other traits to it.
--NOTE 2: The name Xue is Chinese, it means Ice. And Hyetaru is a transliteration of the English word hyetal, which means "of, or pertaining to, rain". Essentially his name literally means Icy Rain. That's not really important to anything, I just thought you might find that interesting.
--NOTE 3: In terms of combat, I intend for the character to be like 90% physical, 10% bending, using waterbending only for on-the-fly healing of wounds, and as a way of propelling through water quickly to make surprise attacks and stuff. I think it'd be a pretty cool gimmick for him to an under-water brawler (which is pretty freaking neat, and very fitting to the Aquaman theme).
--NOTE 4: For those of you who call bull on my description of Tigersharks, claiming that neither tigers, nor sharks, are anywhere near that large, I would like to site three examples from the series; Moose Lions, Badger Moles, Lion Turtles. All three of those creatures are far larger and far more fearsome than their individual parts. Also, yes, I did mean seallions, not sea lions. - RP Sample:The power of email. It was a wonderful thing, to be able to contact people from across the face of Gaia in an instant. It was a shame that not many countries in the world had the technology. Oh, but those that did… Lorenzo could keep in contact with any one of literally billions of people, from Esthar to Midgar. Balamb and Galbadia were a bit weird, though… they had the technology of the internet… but they did not have the technology of live television. Or, rather, they intentionally banned that technology, for some reason or another, during the Sorceress War a few decades before. Lorenzo never really understood why. But then again, he grew up in Esthar, he was the “enemy”, at the time. So he wasn’t really supposed to understand it. Though, of course, that was just one of several things that Lorenzo didn’t quite understand about the Sorceress War. For example, Esthar is, without a doubt, the single most technologically advanced force on the planet, with the Shin-Ra Corporation being a very distant second place. Galbadia wasn’t even on Esthar’s radar in terms of technology, what with Esthar’s space-faring technology and flying cars (that work on science, not magic), and moon bases, and skyscrapers, and weapons that could tear a continent to shreds. And, Esthar also beat out Galbadia in terms of population. Esthar soldiers during the Sorceress Wars outnumbered Galbadian soldiers three-to-one. By sheer numbers, Glabadia was assured to lose that war. And then there was the fact that the Sorceress… the immensely powerful being, and the person who started the Sorceress Wars… was fighting for Esthar, not Galbadia. No matter how you look at it, Galbadia was fighting a losing war. And how did they react to their imminent doom? They banned live television broadcasts, and stopped using radio waves all together. How’s that for a winning strategy? By all accounts, Galbadia ought not to exist anymore. So how did they survive? Luck. Esthar just happened to undergo a violent revolution at around the same time; a coup de tat. And, with the Sorceress overthrown, the new President-for-life Loire, wanting to put an end to the fighting, but fearing retaliation from the Galbadians, went and, using their advanced technology, hid themselves away. Esthar literally vanished off the face of the planet.
Growing up in the hidden country, the scientific and economic Utopia, Lorenzo had learned plenty about the Sorceress Wars and about Galbadia and Balamb, and all those other countries that Esthar had once considered enemies. But, all of his history classes treated the rest of the countries of the world almost like children. Technologically backwards, and insignificant. And so, it came as a bit of a surprise when Lorenzo received an email from a man in Balamb. Balamb, while not technically part of Galbadia, and neutral during the Sorceress Wars, was still heavily reliant on Galbadia for all of their technology. Yet, Lorenzo was being contacted by someone from this backwoods island country. It was odd, to say the least. Not only because he didn’t fully expect Balamb to have internet access… but also because it meant that someone, somewhere, had heard of him. Lorenzo, the witch hunter. Either that, or the man was just sending out mass emails to anyone who’d listen. That was the more likely scenario. Either way, Lorenzo was now on a trans-continental train to Balamb. The under-sea tunnel that ran between Balamb and the larger western continent was impressive, a feat of architecture… though not so much technology. It would likely be more impressive, and more entertaining to the passengers, if the tunnel was made of glass, so that the people on board could look out upon the sea floor, and watch the fish, like a mobile aquarium. But alas, it was not, and so, the view from Lorenzo’s window was pure blackness. Blackness and silence. The architecture was impressive, yes, but at this point Lorenzo would have preferred it if the train had instead run across a long bridge. At least then, he could watch the flocks of seagulls and all the little boats whisk by. It likely would have been infinitely easier to build, as well. Essentially, this tunnel was a failed attempt at showing off. An attempt so pitiful, in fact, that it made Lorenzo curious as to who built it. Was it a Balamb initiative, or a Galbadian one? The tunnel linked the two countries, and was likely built by both of them, but who was the urban planner? Because that guy deserved a kick to the balls.
Lorenzo sat, his head pressed against the window, trying to see any light in the distance, but to no avail. He had nothing to focus on except the darkness, the silence, the dim train cabin light, and the rocking of the train… He awoke with a start when a ticket collector prodded him. ”Ser, we have arrived.” Lorenzo groaned as he stood up, stretching. It was fortunate that all of his belongings, save the spear, could fit in his jacket’s many pockets, as he did not very much feel like carrying a heavy bag around. He rubbed his eyes with his not-weapon-toting hand, as he walked past the train man without a word. Stepping off the train and onto the platform, he was met with the sweet-salty smell of the sea, which seemed to overpower the noxious coal-smoke fumes one would ordinarily smell in a train station. As he walked out of the tiny station, tiny because it only housed one train, the train he had just gotten off of, the smell became much stronger, and was accompanied by the sound of gulls and pelicans, and other beach-y sea-faring birds. The town itself was about what one would expect. Old, yet surprisingly well kept. Everything was clean and pleasant, Balamb seemed to fancy itself a tourist beach resort, though Lorenzo doubted that it could compete with Costa Del Sol. Even so, the people here were all pleasant enough, and the streets seemed spotless. Not a single overflowing garbage bin could be seen. Lorenzo continued to talk around the city, looking for the hotel bar where he was supposed to meet his contact. It really wasn’t at all difficult to find. The city was relatively small, and, still in-line with the beach resort theme, the Hotel was easily the largest building in town.
