Cerealia Application

[shadows_edge]

Applicant Info

◎ Name: Katar
◎ Journal: robokatar
◎ Contact: robokatar

Character Info

◎ Character's Name: Faize Sheifa Beleth
◎ Character's Canon: Star Ocean: The Last Hope
◎ Character's Age: 18
◎ Canon Point: Just before entering the Purgatorium on Roak to save Sarah
◎ Background/History: The Last Hope on Wikiepedia, Faize on the Star Ocean wiki
◎ Is the character a hacker and/or do they have a sixth-sense? He does not have a sixth sense but yes, he is a hacker. Though not in the malicious sense. He's NOT the kind of hacker that's going to write up viruses and destroy your servers, but he IS the sort of hacker that's going to get into your system and find all the info that he wants if you haven't slapped a shitton of protection on it. He's a tech savvy genius and has shown in canon that he can make his way through computer systems of alien species he's never even met before. He displays this several times with the Cardianon systems, though there was a highly protected file he was unable to open with the time he had.

◎ Personality:

Faize Shiefa Beleth is an Eldarian, and you better believe he's going to make sure you know about that fact from the first moment that you meet him. What is an Eldarian, you ask? Well they're an alien species hailing from a planet called Eldar. Aside from their pointed ears, there is nothing about them (internally or externally) that is notably distinct from Earthlings. Their society, however, is another matter entirely. Eldar is a very old planet. So old, in fact, that it's nearing the end of its life cycle. In 160 years, it will be gone entirely, but it will be completely uninhabitable in a mere 60. Which is, understandably, kind of a problem for the people who live there. Thankfully, owing to how old their culture is, Eldarians are very technologically advanced. They have been searching space for some time to try and find a new homeworld, which is probably what eventually lead them to contact with Earthlings. During World War III, Earth's surface became completely uninhabitable due to unchecked nuclear warfare and pollution. As a result, a ceasefire was eventually called and Earthlings instead banded together, setting their sights on space. Instead of fixing Earth, they decided to try and find a new planet to live on. Since both races had a similar goal in mind, it probably comes as no surprise that they would form friendly relations. But that's enough background information, let's focus on this elf kid instead.

Faize is something of a complicated individual. He is a kind and intelligent young man, absolutely brimming with untapped potential. He's polite, talented, and generally pretty likable despite how blunt he can be and how terrible he is at socializing. He's an incredibly loyal individual and a hard worker, though he is, perhaps, a touch too innocent for anyone's own good. He's the sort of person that you can't help but expect great things of, only to have those hopes yanked out from under you like a magician pulling a tablecloth out from under a bunch of fancy china. Only the magician is terrible and can't actually do the trick because suddenly there's broken glass everywhere and you're asking yourself how this could have happened. But when you look back on the steps leading up to the great broken dishes debacle, it suddenly all makes sense. Because, wow, that magician really wasn't all that professional now was he? I mean he had a copy of "Magic Tricks for Beginners" sticking out of his back pocket, there are definitely marks on the cards now that you look at them, and you're beginning to suspect that he made his costume the night before. But despite the fact that he just shattered all your china and this is upsetting because the set belonged to your great-great grandma, your heart can't help but go out to the guy. This is exactly what Faize's character arc is like.

To offer a little more background, Faize is a genetically created Eldarian. Owing to the harsh living conditions on the dying Eldar, the natural birthrate leaves a little to be desired so the Eldarian government uses a method of DNA management to supplement it. The results of this process are incredibly talented individuals who are raised in government care. They are raised solely with their fellows, who are the closest thing these individuals have to family. They undergo rigorous training and education meant to groom them for a life serving in the "nucleus of Eldarian society." In other words, these people are expected to go on to use their immense talents for the betterment of society. This process, while good in theory and likely in practice (to an extent) is not without its faults, however. For one thing, it's a giant socialization no-no because these people are rarely, if ever, outside the company of their fellows while growing up. They have little experience with people who share drastically different viewpoints from their own. In addition, Faize exhibits a somewhat bizarre quirk which seems to indicate that the genetic tampering had an unintended side effect on his psychological makeup in addition to his physical and intellectual one. When trying to suppress strong or stressful emotions, his eyes change colors. While normally a bright purple, they will actually start glowing red if Faize is faced with difficult emotions that he can't handle. However, in the early stages, this change isn't permanent and he'll switch back and forth between the two. But he suppresses those feelings for too long, eventually they'll stop alternating and change to a deep, non-glowing red.

While there are lots of traits important to Faize's character, perhaps the two most core ones are his intelligence and his kindness. The former is extremely evident from your first meeting with him, while the latter is slightly less in your face about it. Faize's intelligence likely stems in part from his DNA modification, since it's described as "management" as opposed to "engineering". They aren't so much creating people out of nothing as they are being selective about which genes are used in a person's makeup. The aren't trying to breed superhumans, but rather create talented individuals with lots of potential that still remain within the realm of reason. There is no denying that Faize is intelligent, you can just tell by listening to him talk that he knows what he's talking about. He's usually the one giving the technical, space jargon-filled explanations of how things like warp travel or time travel work. And just the way he words things in and of itself makes him come off as Smarter Than You but he's not really Rubbing It In Your Face Or Anything, it's just a fact. He has also designed a spacecraft, called the Sol which is actually used by the Eldarian fleet for space exploration. Not only is it capable of warp travel, but it can actually sync to the user's brainwaves, allowing the craft to be controlled remotely. He is also a skilled alchemist, capable of creating potions and transmuting common ores into rare minerals. He's also incredibly logical, and it's not at all far-fetched to say that his sense of logic is what defines most of his world view. When things or people are unreasonable or illogical, Faize has the tendency to get frustrated or even lash out in the case of people. When he meets Lymle for the first time, he is unable to believe that such a young girl could possibly the best symbologist (magic-user) in the village because of her age. Not only does he not believe it, but he actually laughs at her and accuses her grandfather of playing a joke on them. Lymle makes him eat his words about five seconds later when she summons Cerberus, a flaming demonic dog, but it's really not hard to see how he would find the notion hard to believe. While his people are gifted technologically, they are not as advanced in symbology as the people of Lemuris (Lymle's home planet). Eldarians are capable of using symbology, but it's a much rarer occurrence and oftentimes takes years of study. Faize himself is capable of using symbology and is even considered to have a knack for it since he can use high-level symbols without as much study (likely due to his DNA alteration). So to hear that a girl who doesn't even appear to be half his age (she's actually 15 though) is likely even better than he is just doesn't make sense and is also maybe just a bit of an insult to his pride. Another example of this devotion to logic occurs when the party seems to find themselves on Earth in the year 1957. Faize immediately and flat-out denies that this can be possible without so much as a second thought. Time regression is impossible, so there has to be another explanation beyond "we went back in time". He's not sure what that explanation is just yet, but he's absolutely positive that there is one, despite what everyone else says.

Though he sometimes doesn't seem like it thanks to his bluntness, Faize is and incredibly kind and caring individual. While he is somewhat slow to warm up to people, once he does, you will likely not find a more loyal friend. He will do anything to protect even people he doesn't know all that well. And not just a person's well-being, but Faize also aims to protect a person's happiness, or rather, ensure that they can even find happiness. This trait is so strong in Faize that it actually ends up becoming his downfall. About halfway through the game, Faize reaches such levels of despair over his inability to protect the things and people he cares about, that he actually ends up becoming the final boss. He attempts to destroy the entire universe, not out of hatred, but out of a deep love and desire for everyone in existence to find happiness. The main antagonist throughout the entire game is a deep-space entity known as the Missing Procedure, which wants to wipe out the current universe in order to recreate a new one in which "all who are one" is the guiding principle. In the new universe, there would be no sense of individuality and everybody would be equal. When put that way, it's almost too easy to see how the despairing Faize was pulled down the wrong path. If the entire universe was equalized, if "all" was the same as "one", then nobody would ever attack others, people wouldn't have to die needlessly or live in fear and basically everything would be great. Everyone would be happy. And so, Faize becomes a part of the thing he spent the first half of the game fighting against, part of the very thing that was actually responsible for destroying the two things that threw him into despair in the first place: a girl he had a crush on, and his home planet. All because he wanted to erase suffering from the universe and replace it with happiness. He was partially possessed, sure, but that possession didn't change his viewpoint or his feelings. All it did was intensify them to dangerous levels. When the party defeats him and shatters the Missing Procedure's hold on him, he returns to himself and realizes that he actually made a huge mistake. Interestingly, while he acknowledges that his actions were wrong and asks where exactly it was that he messed up, Faize never explicitly asks for forgiveness. Perhaps it's because nobody actually ever put him at fault for nearly destroying all of existence. In the end, the entire party still considers him to be both a friend and a good person. He was just horribly, horribly misguided and his innocent nature made it all too easy for him to be taken advantage of.

The thing that Faize is most lacking in is experience...in a lot of areas, to be brutally honest. He is full of all kinds of potential thanks to his "birth," but lacks the real-world experience necessary to fully utilize many of his gifts. Study can really only get you so far, after all. In addition, thanks to his upbringing, he doesn't really have a lot of experience with different kinds of people. He was raised around people who were just like him, likely leading to a rather homologous outlook on life. So when he's thrust into a group of people who are not only radically different from himself, but radically different from EACH OTHER, he's oftentimes not exactly sure how to deal with it. During conversation, he has the tendency to remain in the background, only speaking when directly addressed or when a topic is is particularly knowledgeable/passionate about comes up. This never comes off as shyness, however, as Faize is actually a rather friendly and personable individual. He's just somewhat stiff and awkward, as though he's not exactly sure how to handle himself in certain social situations. When he does talk, however, he has the tendency to be incredibly blunt. If you think he's going to sugarcoat his opinions to spare your feelings, you've got another thing coming. Because despite his politeness, Faize Sheifa Beleth speaks his mind. He's also downright terrible at dealing with his own emotions. When he's upset (for example, after the girl he had a crush on and her entire tribe are slaughtered) he tries to suppress all emotion and bottle it up inside instead of talking about it with somebody. Aside from Faize, nobody in the party even knew about the Black Tribe's fate until he told them as the Apostle of Creation. And nobody, save for Lymle, ever picked up on the fact that Faize was upset about this fact or even acting strangely until it was far, far too late. But Faize has the tendency not to show much strong emotion at ALL, (upset, happy, or otherwise) this is somewhat understandable. He's not really a true apathetic line-face character though, as he does have very strong and intense emotions. He just absolutely sucks at actually expressing those emotions. In an early private action (basically a free time event/social link/video game bonding experience) with Edge, he seems surprised when Edge asks him why he looks so giddy, asking "Hah, does it show on my face? Yes, I must admit I’m a bit excited."

Faize is the first party member you get beyond the two main characters (Edge and Reimi), and one of the main reasons he is assigned to work with them in the first place is to obtain experience in battle and the in the world outside his own personal bubble. Before the day he joined the party, Faize had never been outside the Eldarian solar system. Which...may not sound like a huge deal until you remember 1) how advanced his civilization is and 2) he's part of an exploration team trying to find a new homeworld. He very quickly comes to admire Edge for his strength, something which Faize sees himself as lacking. This admiration manifests almost as hero worship at times, and Faize constantly insists that he has much to learn from Edge, which baffles the Earthling because he's really just some guy, calm down Faize it is okay friend. Like, he'll spar with you and show you some sword tricks but that's really all he's got, sorry. Faize's perceived lack of personal strength also plays a role in his eventual turn to the dark side. He sheds his name, becoming the "Apostle of Creation" and by the time the party reaches him, he is completely unrecognizable. His true identity is eventually revealed, however, but after he explains why he's doing this, he tells the party never to use the name "Faize" to refer to him again. Edge, being the protagonist, continues to do so anyway, which prompts an actual explanation behind the request. Turns out, Faize thinks that by joining with the Missing Procedure and becoming the Apostle of Creation that he has obtained true strength. That he now has the power to conquer irrationality and ensure happiness for absolutely ever living thing. And so he can no longer truly be considered Faize, because the old Faize was a weakling who couldn't even protect one girl or any of his brethren.

◎ Powers/Abilities:

• Genetic Modification: Owing to the very harsh conditions on Eldar, all Eldarians undergo at least minor genetic modification in order to survive on their own planet. Canon never actually specifies what this entails, but it's probably safe to say it's probably things like being able to survive extreme temperatures, needing less food to survive, and boosted immune systems. Some Eldarians, however, are completely created through careful genetic selection in order to make individuals who are incredibly gifted in addition to resilient. These individuals are raised and educated by the Eldarian government, groomed to one day serve as the nucleus of Eldarian society. Faize is one such Eldarian. He is highly intelligent and very talented, though almost slavishly logical because of this.

• Swordplay: Faize's weapon of choice is a rapier and he uses a left-handed style that's somewhat reminiscent of Earth fencing. It relies on very quick footwork, rapidfire jabs, and sweeping arcs delivered from the sides. Eldarians do not choose their weapons, but rather are tested at an early age to see what type of weapon they show an aptitude for. So Faize has been in training for quite some time and is fairly skilled with his blade, however it is only after joining the crew of the Calnus that he's had to start putting his training to actual real-combat use. So he's still learning and constantly improving.

• Physical Prowess: While his small frame does not make him overly strong, Faize is very agile and acrobatic. Not only can he run very fast, but he can jump fairly high and is capable of performing mid-air flips and spins. But the most impressive part of all this is that he does it while wearing platform boots that have to have at least a three inch thick sole.

• Symbology: A special art that is achieved through the combined use of written symbol and spoken incantation. It's basically your standard RPG magic/spell-casting. In order to be used in combat, the symbol must be inscribed somewhere on the user's body, unless they happen to be lucky enough to be one of those species that has it written on their DNA. Eldarians are not one of those species, so Faize is the tattooed variety spellcaster. He specializes in earth, ice and darkness element magic, but also learns a few other spells as well. A full list of his spells can be found here, but since his canon point is in the middle of the game as opposed to the end, he'll only know the following upon arrival:

‣ Earth Glaive: Single target earth spell. Creates a giant, triangular stone blade from beneath the enemy's feet, propelling them into the air.
‣ Antidote: Single target healing spell. Cures the target of poisoning.
‣ Ice Needles: Single target ice spell. Creates nine incredibly sharp shards of ice from thin air and launches them at the enemy.
‣ Stone Rain: Area effect earth spell. Opens up a wide hole in the space above the target's head and makes a shitton of rocks fall down on them.
‣ Shadow Needles: Single target darkness spell. Creates a creeping shadow that approaches its target from behind and spits out eight rapid-fire needles once it's in range.
‣ Enlighten: Single target support spell. Temporarily boosts the target's intelligence stat by 30%. In non-RPG stat terms, it makes attack magic do more damage.
‣ Deep Freeze: Area effect ice spell. Freezes all enemies standing in the target area from the ground up.
‣ Vampiric Blade: Area effect darkness spell. Creates a thin, sharp disc that radiates out from the caster's body, absorbing the MP (mental power) of all enemies in range. This replenishes Faize's MP, allowing for more spell casting.

I'll leave it up to the mods whether or not he can learn the others in game or if he'll have to wait for a canon update.

• Alchemy: The Star Ocean series utilizes a system of item creation, allowing the player to create a variety of different items and equipment for use in the game. In The Last Hope, this is achieved by putting your party members together in groups to create recipes, which are later used to make the actual items themselves provided you have the materials the recipe calls for.Each party member has a specific area in which they specialize, making them necessary part of the creation group for ALL recipes in that category. Faize is the alchemy specialist, capable of transmuting a variety of rare minerals and stones. Most of these can later be synthesized into equipment to give special effects, though some are just rarer minerals that are needed to create other items (for example turning silver into gold and then later using that gold to make some armor). He can also create a few potions, as well as faeries (which can also be used in item synthesis.

• Engineering: Though Alchemy is his item creation specialty, Faize is also a fairly accomplished engineer. He is responsible for designing a shuttlecraft known as a Sol, which is in mass use by the Eldarian fleet. He seems to be more of a theoretical engineer though, as it never says that he actually BUILT a Sol, just that he designed it.

• Space travel: Faize is capable of piloting his Sol (which does have a traditional control system in addition to the brain-sync controls) and is also the navigator of the Calnus.

◎ Weapons & Other Special Inventory:

1. Eldarian Rapier
2. Icicle Rapier (adds water element to attacks)
3. Rune Saber (increases power of earth symbols)
4. Onyx Saber (adds darkness element to attacks)
5. Black Tribe cloak
6. An extra uniform
7. A flashlightt

CEREALIA-Specific

◎ Element: Earth
◎ Sense: Hearing; it's possible that those pointed ears give him better hearing than the average Earthling but we just don't know for sure. Even if it doesn't though, Faize is more often than not a listener as opposed to a speaker and a follower as opposed to a leader. He takes the words of others to heart, sometimes even if those words happen to be kind of terrible advice.
◎ Seven Character Traits: [ loyal, intelligent, determined ] | [ innocent, inexperienced, overly-logical ] + kindhearted

Samples

◎ First-Person Sample: a post from when I played him in route_29!

◎ Third-Person Sample: I play Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu in-game already!

◎ Is your character retaining any previous game memories? nope!