⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉Player: Luna
Contact: ![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
LunaHoshinoAge: OLD ENOUGH. (Over 30)
Current Characters: n/a
⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉Character: Richard
Age: 20
Canon: Tales of Graces ƒ
Canon Point: Post-future arc in f, after Fodra Queen has been defeated and everyone is returning home to their respective countries.
Background: Have a wiki, or, alternatively,
if you're feeling REALLY masochistic...Personality:An important note here: throughout a large part of the main story of the game, Richard is possessed by a being named Lambda, whose presence alters his personality drastically. Lambda is no longer inside of Richard's body by the Future Arc of f, so I'm going to be detailing the real Richard's personality here, not his personality when hosting Lambda.
As a child, Richard is initially withdrawn and suspicious, and for good reason-- he's accustomed to people trying to use his status as prince to advance themselves or gain favor. Asbel is the first person who has ever treated him as a person rather than a title. He's polite and knows proper manners, sure, but he's awkward when it comes to how one behaves towards friends at first, as we see when he attempts to repay Asbel for trying to save his life by giving him his signet ring. That entire event serves as a major turning point for Richard; after that he becomes somewhat more open and trusting towards Asbel and the others.
Young Richard is a seemingly contradictory mix of idealism and realism. He tells Asbel that he wants to create a world without conflict, and in the same breath says that he fully expects someone will try to poison him as well once he becomes king. But he also accepts Asbel's offer to come and help him if he's ever in trouble, even knowing that Asbel wouldn't be able to do much of anything, showing that at least for now his hopeful side is winning out.
Seven years later, Richard has grown up into a fine young man and a splendid prince, a far cry from what he was like when he was younger. Despite his royal upbringing, however, Richard is about as far from spoiled or stuck-up as you can get-- instead, he is very down-to-earth and kind. While he has a cultured air about him that shines through in both his body language and his behavior towards others, most notably his politeness, he isn't particularly formal (even going so far as to tell Asbel to stop using such formal language with him and just address him as he would an equal), which makes him seem friendly and approachable. In short, Richard is a very amiable person.
Richard is also a very honest, straightforward person, though not in a thoughtless or cruel way. On more than one occasion he voices aloud what he knows Asbel is thinking but won't say: for instance, when Asbel is telling him how he called the new Sophie "Sophie" because he met her in the same place but wasn't sure if she was the original Sophie or not, Richard says, "I think it's her. They have the same... feeling about them. You must sense it too. That's why you gave her that name."
The one thing Richard is rarely honest about, however, is his own feelings. Asbel is the only person he opens up to about those matters, and even then he doesn't share the true extent of his emotional turmoil. He writes Asbel a letter during the seven years that they are separated and talks about how he would like to see Asbel again and how he snuck out of the castle to go see him, but even then he can't bring himself to say just how much he misses his friend. He keeps the pain of people using him to gain status and influence and the constant political feuds occurring in the castle hidden under his cheerful, kind facade; it is revealed later that this pain is what made it easy for Lambda to take control of him, and why he was not able to sway Lambda's mind (the two of them were too alike, and Lambda sympathized with Richard's pain).
Seven years of political dispute and assassination attempts (at least three by the time he is 19) have jaded Richard and made him somewhat less idealistic than his younger self. He is still very much a pacifist, but at the same time he recognizes that sometimes fighting is necessary (IE, taking Barona back from Cedric and his men). That doesn't mean he likes it, however-- in one skit the thought of having to fight his own countrymen causes him to feel ill. He also spends many skits ruminating on the entire political mess, clearly troubled by it.
Those seven years have also given him the ability to remain calm and collected under almost any circumstances. He is amazingly composed for someone whose father was just murdered right in front of him and who was almost killed as well. Even when he's lying injured in the tunnel after having just escaped from the castle, he keeps himself together enough to know exactly what he has to do and where he has to go to get help. He is then able to help come up with a plan to infiltrate Wallbridge and regain control of it to allow his and Dalen's men to storm Barona, even offering to be a part of the infiltration party himself. That's not to say that he isn't affected by these things-- he simply hides it all from the outside world.
This and his charisma are part of what make him a natural leader. It's easy to see how he earned the love of the people of Windor, as he has no trouble getting up in front of a hastily-assembled army and giving them an inspiring short speech. He also takes initiative to help design the plan to infiltrate Wallbridge and use the system of gates and bridges to their advantage against Cedric's army.
Though he doesn't get many opportunities to show it, there is a playful, teasing side to him as well, the side that is amused at being dubbed "Big Brother Tiger Festival" and that pokes fun at Asbel not realizing that throwing a message in a bottle into a lake is a useless endeavor. Most of this teasing is directed towards Asbel; he seems to enjoy ribbing his best friend. If he's able to keep his sense of humor intact even immediately after going through what he did (an assassination attempt and seeing his own father killed), it stands to reason that he'd probably be even more playful when not in such stressful circumstances.
Perhaps the most important thing that Richard has learned from all of his experiences is the true meaning of friendship. Lambda's influence caused him to doubt Asbel-- in the Strahtan desert, he speaks half to himself and half to Lambda, trying to convince himself that Asbel and the others would never betray him because they are his friends. But to him at that moment, Asbel's actions seemed like a betrayal. Still, deep down he trusted Asbel all along and believed that he would come to save him. That trust is finally rewarded when Asbel does rescue him, just as he promised, and Richard realizes just how strong their friendship is. He no longer doubts Asbel or any of his friends-- his trust in them is complete and absolute. He tells Asbel that even while they were fighting, he was wishing that Asbel would save him, and is touched that Asbel would still call someone like him a friend even after everything he has done.
At the same time, he now carries a deep guilt for everything he has done while under Lambda's influence. He's hurt countless people and caused conflict, something he wanted to eliminate from the world. This guilt weighs heavily on him and he wants to atone for it; his very last lines in the main story of the game are him thinking to himself that he's going to do his best to be a good king. Though he's worked through some of it by the time the Future Arc rolls around, there are still several moments that make it clear that the guilt still haunts him and likely always will: in one skit, the rest of the party discusses Richard's worldwide popularity, and Richard's immediate reaction is to assume that they're implying that his efforts to eradicate the monsters are some sort of publicity stunt or an attempt to gain favor.
The Future Arc allows Richard's true personality to shine through far more clearly now that Windor is returning to normal and his life is no longer in constant danger. That playful, teasing side of him turns out to be Richard's actual, normal self-- he is a troll and a tease of the highest order, though never too malicious about his joking. Sometimes he'll come out with something that's so ridiculous it leaves the rest of the party wondering just what on earth he's thinking. Asbel left his stash of 500 gald hidden in the rafters of his old room in the Knight Academy? No worries, Richard will "disguise himself" with a sheet around his head and go sneak in to get it for him... only to bump into Asbel (who doesn't recognize him) on the way back, so he just rolls with it and claims to be "the Mask of Barona," acting on Richard's behalf to get Asbel his money back. Oh, except he forgot to get the money, so he just brought Asbel a dirty romance novel instead. (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmC_3YunLaY -- no, I am not making any of this up)
Richard has also matured somewhat overall and is taking a more active role in his own life as well as in the kingdom itself. He states outright that he wants to protect Asbel too rather than just letting Asbel protect him all the time. That confidence he projects is slowly becoming more genuine and less of a mask, though he still has a ways to go on that front. He also expresses a desire to become stronger and to atone for his sins himself, saying that he wants "strength like Asbel's" and the ability to trust others-- which he is learning how to do now that he has friends there to support him. All said, he's more well-adjusted emotionally, and while he's still a long way from being fine, he's on the right track now that he has the chance to actually LIVE instead of just existing.
Abilities:Richard is perhaps a true example of a Magic Knight type of character in the sense that he is equally skilled both in rapier-based artes and in long-range offensive magic, known as cryas artes. His physical attacks favor speed and multiple hits over brute force, and while he doesn't do the greatest amount of damage out of the party members, he's no slouch in that department either. His speed allows him to dodge many hits with ease despite his low defense.
Richard's cryas artes run the gamut from a spell that drains HP from the enemy and heals himself (Soul Reaper) and Antidote to an incredibly powerful offensive spell that shoots lasers across the entire screen and hits any enemy in its way (Shooting Stars), making him versitile on the magic front as well. His Accel Mode "Arcane Vigor" also halves his casting time when it is activated.
The Future Arc also demonstrates his ability to learn artes from his companions by fighting alongside them in battle and then in some cases alter those artes slightly to better suit his own purposes: for instance, he is able to learn the cryas arte Infernal Prison from Pascal, only unlike her version (which centers the arte around herself), his is centered on the enemy.
A list of his specific artes can be found
here. Artes is the generic term used in Graces to refer to physical and magical techniques (magic is called "cryas artes" in this particular game).
Alignment: Piphron. Having grown up as the prince and next in line to the throne, Richard spent the majority of his life being used by others for his status. Naturally, he grew to be suspicious of people, believing that others are only interested in getting close to him so that they can use him-- he even says as much out loud to Asbel when they first meet. While he's gotten over this somewhat by the end of the Future Arc, he's still quite guarded around other people and takes a long time to warm up to them enough to trust them; even then, the only people he trusts unreservedly are Asbel and Sophie.
Other: Richard will be coming in with his rapier and the outfit he's wearing in the Future Arc! He will also be remembering his previous stay in Emp.
⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉General Sample: A thread from his previous stay in EmpatheiasEmotion Sample: "Do not trust the City Guard."Of all the things Richard had expected to return to, this certainly wasn't one of them. Even though on some level he knew that human nature remained the same across all worlds, it had been so easy to fool himself into believing that things were somehow different here, that people weren't driven to commit outright
murder to further their own ends...
He didn't even notice that the air around him had dropped in temperature until the sharp bite of an icy wind cut right through the layers he was wearing, prompting him to shiver and wrap his arms around himself, though that did little to ward off the weary numbness that seemed determined to settle itself into his chest. Of course there was murder here; he had already known that much. That he had never had any close brushes with it didn't mean it didn't exist, and he knew full well that he'd had a remarkably lucky time of things so far compared to some of the stories he'd heard. People were people, here in Verens or back home in Ephinea.
But murder was one thing. Betrayal by supposedly trusted allies, however... that hit far too close to home for Richard, shattering that fragile sense of normalcy that he'd so carefully constructed. Even though he held no title here and possessed neither power nor wealth like he did in Windor, he couldn't help but fear that perhaps he had let his guard down too much, been far too trusting, and that it would somehow come back to bite him just as he had worried deep down that it might...
His footsteps slowed, then halted, though not of his own volition, the trail of ice that had sprung up in his wake now a frigid tendril curling up and around one ankle like a frozen snare that pulled his drifting mind back to the here and now. Frowning, he gave a sharp kick with his entrapped leg, and the ice disintegrated into sparkling shards that melted away almost as soon as they made contact with the pavement.
No. He couldn't go back to those kinds of thoughts. He couldn't disappoint Asbel like that, not after everything he'd gone through to make Richard see how wrong they were. What he could do was try to help the people here as best he could, and though he might not be able to do much, perhaps... perhaps that would be enough for now.
Questions: None!
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