FR Application

[mistifying]

RIFTER APPLICATION

PLAYER

Name: Dragonfly or DF
Age: 25
Contact: dragonflyinsilver@gmail.com
Other Characters: NA
Interests: Given that Fran is a Viera I would be interested in exploring cultural diversity, not only among races, but nations as well.

CHARACTER

Name: Fran
Canon/OC: Final Fantasy XII
Canon Point: In Giruvegan when Ash disappears to meet with the Occuria and recieves the Treaty-Blade.
Journal: mistifying
Age: unknown (all we know about Fran’s age is that she is older than 50, she would have to be around 80+)

Canon World

The world of Ivalice is an amalgamation of classical and modern with a smattering of futuristic elements giving it a steampunk vibe. Essentially the world of Ivalice is divided into three continents (Valendia, Kerwon, and Ordalia) and a chunk of land in the sky (Purvama). Most of the game is spent in very specific regions so you are never exposed to the entire world of Ivalice in XII. The world is terrestrial much like the world of Dragon Age.

The world is, essentially, guided by beings known as the Occuria, large floating specters who are the most powerful beings in Ivalice, though they are widely unknown to the population. They guide world, manipulating the Ivalice and everything in it, taking power out of the hands of man. One Occuria named Venat disagrees with the others and becomes an ally to the series’ two main antagonists (Cid and Vayne) wanting to help give mankind power to determine their own destiny.

Aside from the Occuria the inhabitants of Ivalice are many and diverse. There are Humes which are humans, there numbers tend to be greater than other populations. There is the Baknamy (a goblin-like race), the Bangaa (lizard like race), the Garif (large hairy creatures with bird-like facial features), the Helgas (tall humanoid beings that communicate telepathically with elongated features), Moogles (small, rabbit-like, covered in fur), Nu mou (small, hunched over beings with dog-like features), Rev (cat like beings), Seeq (squat, pig-like creatures), Viera (possibly the most humanoid of the bunch aside from their rabbit ears, and the shape of their feet).

The Viera culture is also diverse, you have regular Viera and the short-eared Rava Viera. Rava Viera are considered abominations to the rest of the Viera population given their mixed blood and tend to be outliers. Viera in general live by the Green Word which can be viewed in one of two ways, a law and the voice of the Wood in which they live. As a law, Viera are forbidden to leave the Wood in which they were born into, but the Green Word can also be interpreted as the voice of the Wood that the Viera can here…unless a Viera leaves the Wood. Once a Viera leave they are cut off from hearing the Green Word.

Like the Garif, Viera also live in gender segregated societies, with male Viera living separately from female Viera for territorial and competitive reasons.

A few more concepts that are key to the world of Ivalice are Magicks and Mist. Mist could be compared to the Fade in such a way that it is the source of Magicks. Magicks can be accessed by anyone and it is not an inborn trait, it just takes skill, and it doesn’t require a conduit to focus it. More details about Majicks can be found below.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Ivalice_(Final_Fantasy_XII)
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Races_of_Ivalice

History

Final Fantasy XII does leave you in want for character history, but here is what we do know:

• Fran was Born and spent and unknown number of years in Eryut Village located in Golmore Jungle (the jungle is a sacred place and it is alive, the Viera refer to the jungle as the Wood in spite of it being a Jungle).
• Some 50 years ago Fran decided that life in the wood was not the only path that there was (she was not ‘bout that life anymore).
• She left the Village and the Wood not only cutting off her ability to hear the Green Word (Golmore Jungle completely disowned her) but creating friction between herself and her older sister Jote (leader of the village who has to uphold the rules) and leaving behind her younger sister (Mjrn).
• At some point after that she met the Sky Pirate, Balthier, and the two struck up a partnership.
• In many of their expeditions, Balthier might be the leading man, but Fran is the backbone of their operations. She is the one who does most of the repair work for the Strahl, she is the pilot, and whenever they are in a bind it is often her keen sense that gets them out of bad situations.

Beyond these points little is known about Fran’s past.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Fran

Personality

Fran’s prolonged lifespan has honed within her a reserved kind of serenity, not easily moved to anger or quick to lose her calm she is often the cooler head that prevails. This is not to say that Fran doesn’t get angry on occasion, or irritated, she simply doesn’t express it in the same extremes as one normally might. When insulted, as she was when Vann asked about her age, she simply gave him a cold look and walked away. The only time her composure was truly shattered was when she was exposed to high levels of Mist. When Viera encounter Mist in excess they tend to go into a frenzy, losing control over their senses they can rend metal armor to pieces..

Aside from being a calm character Fran is not one to engage in overly garrulous conversation with those she does not know very well. It’s not that she’s impersonal or uncaring, she’s naturally curious which is emphasized by her knowledge in things that are ancient and unknown to her other companions. It stands to reason that she has gone out of her way to learn as much about the world that she lives in as she possibly could because of her curious mind. She does not, however, waste words on frivolous things, but her choosing of which conversations to engage in and who she wants to engage in those conversations with are not wasted. It can make her seem cold and stand-offish, but Fran shows a great deal of warmth towards her family, towards her partner, Balthier, and towards Penelo.

When it comes to her family, and ultimately those that she cares about, Fran takes on the role of sacrifice. Leaving her village was an act of rebellion, because she believed there was more than one path and one way of living than the restrictive way in which her kind did. In doing so she gave up much, her clan, the Wood and her ability to hear the Green Word, and ultimately her sisters. When Mjrn wished to join her and leave the village as well, instead of letting Jote look like the bad guy for enforcing the rules as she must, Fran told Mjrn that she was no longer a Viera, nor was she Mjyn’s sister, that living in the Wood would be better than the solitude that came from breaking the Green Word. It is clear that Fran loves her sisters and that this pained her to say, but she is happy to know that Jote still cares for her and that Jote as shown when Jote lied about the Wood missin her.

While leaving the Wood was of her own will it is clear that she experiences a lingering loneliness, that isn’t to say that Fran is without a sense of humor. In fact she has an aptitude for being snarky and will engage in banter, but not unless she’s being poked first. It tends to happen in her interactions with Balthier - when he mentioned how she lowered herself to partner with a hume, she shoots back that he, as a sky pirate, lowered himself when choosing to escape through the filthy sewers.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Many of Fran’s strengths are ultimately her weaknesses, because many of them relate to her senses: heightened sight, hearing, and smells…but as one could imagine there are drawbacks to having superior senses.

Sight: She can at a distance of nearly seven miles, it makes her an excellent bowman and increases her visual awareness, but bright lights can present a problem.

Hearing: While Fran can no longer hear the spirit world she can certainly hear for great distances, this ability enables her to tell the difference between friend or foe just by the sound of their footsteps. Though it takes more focus in order to separate what she wants to hear from what she doesn’t want to hear.

Smell: They have a heightened sense of smell as well, something good for tracking and sensing poisons, but Viera’s can be vulnerable to enemies that have an awful smell. She is not going to appreciate dog stink very much.

Mist: I doubt this is going to be an issue, unless there is an equivalent, like the Fade or Lyrium might be close to Mist. Too much exposure to Mist can send Fran into a frenzy that would vastly increase her strength, enabling her to rend metal and kill an induvial while completely unarmed. It’s a brief state and it leaves her vulnerable afterward.

Bow: The interesting thing about FFXII is that there are no gender roles concerning classes, your healer or magic user doesn’t have to be a woman, your tank doesn’t have to be a man. So Fran can wield a bow as easily as she could a sword or magic.

Sword: Same as the bow, Fran could wield a claymore as easily as she could wield a bow or magic.

Mechanic: She is pretty handy with tools doing most of the Strahl’s repair work and also piloting most of the vessels.

Magicks: Again, probably not an issue, but Fran has the ability to use magic, or Magicks in her world because, again, Magicks are a byproduct of Mist. In true FF fashion magic is divided up into categories: white, black, time, green, and arcane. White magic is like your curing/healing/cleansing magic. Black magic is your elemental stuff like fire/thunder/blzzard etc. Time magic is like your haste/slow/stop/bleed category. Green magic is your basic stats magic, sleep, poison, protect. Arcane magic would include spells like dark, gravity, drain and confuse.

Arrival Inventory

Broadsword
Bow
The clothing on her back

'Human'ization

She is a Viera so she differs from humans in a couple of ways, though I’m not entirely sure how much would need to be changed. If very little would need to be changed she would at least learn, early on, how to hide some of her more striking features. So Viera have rabbit-like features - ears and the shape of their feet. Her ears she could easily hide, but her feet are not so easily disguised. Viera have elongated feet that resemble the back paws of a rabbits and they stand on the balls of their feet. Their feet also come equipped with claws something no shoe could mask. Other than that I can’t say she’d be any more or less startling than a Qunari. She also speaks with an Icelandic accent which is diffrent from any of the accents in Thedas.

Fit

Fran might not act as a foil in particular, but she will certainly sympathize with elves and marginalized groups given that in her own world Humes are the dominate race and that they tend to hold more dominion over Ivalice. She certainly will not understand the harm in magic given how useful a tool that it really is and it might be a point of contention with her even though she will no longer be able to use Magicks herself (unless there is a way to substitute mist for something else, it would be interesting to see Fran lose her cool in a frenzy if nothing else). In addition to that, should Fran be allowed to keep some of her Viera traits then it would be interesting to see how she adapts to this world with them. She can also handle herself as well as any rogue or warrior, she would just have to wear the appropriate clothing.

SAMPLES

Something of a two for one and this and this

If you need more let me know!