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Player Information
Name: Alex/Replica
Age: 27
AIM SN: namedalex
email: namedalex@aol.com
Have you played in an LJ based game before? yes
Currently Played Characters:
Marluxia
Conditional: Activity Check Link:
Conditional: Official Reserve Link:
Character Information
General
Canon Source: Final Fantasy XII
Canon Format: Video Game
Character's Name: Larsa Ferrinas Solidor
Character's Age: 13
Conditional: If your character is 13 years of age or under, please clarify how they will be played. Larsa might be young, but he is experienced beyond what one might expect out of a tween. Considering that he was being groomed to become a child emperor, he is quite intelligent, poised, and capable of working harder than most adults. He would have no problem math and scientific fundamentals, but he would likely enroll himself in university classes in order to learn more about history, literature, and chemistry and physics classes so he could better understand what kind of world he’s living in. I could imagine him going to school and sweet-talking his way into some sort of job like bookkeeping in order to make money for himself.
What form will your character's NV take? Something akin to this. (Courtesy of ilounge.com)
Abilities
Character's Canon Abilities:
Larsa is a trained swordsman, and within an adventuring party, can keep his own in a battle. In keeping with his relatively pacifistic mindset, his attacks are designed as much to end conflict non-violently as they are meant to kill. He fights with a long sword in his right hand, and a sword breaker in his off-hand, which acts as something of a shield specifically against other swords, causing the blade to get hooked within the notches, and ideally, weaken and snap under the pressure.
Like any educated person in Ivalice, he is also trained in the use of magic and special skills called Techniks. He is much more proficient with Techniks, preferring to use them over magiks, of which he had only just begun to learn. As such, he is only capable of casting a few spells. As of the time he left Archadia to come into Siren’s Port, he knew:
Techinks:
@Shades of Black: He can cast a black magic spell of any kind at random, including ones he doesn’t technically know. He cannot control what he does cast, and it takes him longer to do it than if he were casting a reliable spell. This is a benefit to him if he’s “weakened” (0 MP) or if he’s been silenced in some way.
@Telekinesis: He can manipulate his sword at a distance. It is not a powerful as his actual physical attack, but if he cannot reach an enemy, it helps him cover a short distance (30 ft).
Magiks:
@Cure: Restores a little bit of health. It closes cuts and speeds the healing of bruises.
@Poisona: Removes Poison status. In the Port, he could use it to heal poison illnesses only. It would not work on true diseases.
@Vox and Blindna: They remove Silence and Blind statuses. I doubt he would ever use those, since they remove temporary magical statuses, and not the conditions based on injury or defect.
@Aqua: Douses the target in a painful deluge of conjured water that evaporates quickly.
(Note: His abilities are outlined in the international version of the game, and while I haven’t played the international version, it makes more sense to me to take this version of abilities. In the American version of the game, Larsa did not use magic at all, balancing out his relative lack of special skills by throwing potions whenever they were needed. He had an unlimited supply of the items, and was rather generous with throwing them, causing the sections where he joins your party to be much easier than they should have been, considering that he could basically heal as well as any of the other party members, faster (since items had a faster loading time than magic), and without any penalty. While that made the sections with him pretty awesome, it doesn’t make a lot of sense in a “real world” setting. Since I am taking Larsa from the epilogue of FFXII, where he is a year older, I’m assuming that he learned some of this stuff over the course of that year. If that’s not okay, I can reduce him to where he was when he was a party member {Telekinesis only.})
Conditional: If your character has no superhuman canon abilities, what dormant ability will you give them?
Weapons:
Long sword Joyeuse, and the sword breaker.
History/Personality/Plans/etc.
Character History:
Larsa is the youngest son of Emperor Gramis Solidor of Archadia, much younger than his three brothers. Because of this gap between his age and the ages of the others, he was a child when his brother Vayne enacted his plot to secure more power for their Empire, at war with the empire of Rozarria.
Larsa was ten when Vayne ordered an attack on the Kingdoms of Nabradia and Dalmasca, conquering them both. In that attack, Nabradia was utterly destroyed by some great and terrible force which ultimately twisted environment of the kingdom to a twisted version of what it once was. Dalmasca, on the other hand, fared better, in that their king, Raminas, had attempted to parlay with Archades in order to keep some of the sovereignty of the nation. Before he could sign the treaty that would end the war, he was assassinated by a member of his own army, a trusted general named Basch. The lone witness was a soldier who died of wounds sustained by attempting to fight Basch just after the King was slain. The Empire took this opportunity to seize the Kingdom without condition, the traitorous Basch was executed, and the Princess Ashelia, heir to the throne of Dalmasca and wife of the heir to Nabradia, committed suicide. Officially, anyway. In reality, Basch had a twin brother, Judge Gabranth, and it was he who had slain the King to frame Basch, ruining their peace treaty. The twins had once been soldiers of a different republic, which had been won by Archadia. Gabranth pledged his loyalty to his new rulers, while Basch had fled their rule. Ashelia, on the other hand, had been erroneously declared dead by her uncle, Marquis Halim Ondore of Bhujerba, at Vayne’s behest. Ondore thought to protect Ashelia, but in reality, he had made it impossible for her to attempt to reclaim her throne. She went into hiding for the next two years, attempting to build a resistance force under the name of Amalia. On the surface, it would appear that the Empire was doing what Empires tend to do: claim territory to grow stronger, but there was something hidden under the surface of events, particularly regarding the events of the destruction of Nabudis in Nabradia on that fateful night.
Unbeknownst to Vayne, Larsa watched events with growing curiosity. Once Vayne travelled to Rabanstre, the capital of Dalmasca, in order to be coronated as Consul of the territory two years after the end of the war, Larsa took this
opportunity to flee Archades to visit the Lhusu Mines of Bhujerba unannounced. It was his poor luck that when he arrived, the mines were closed due to an infestation of monsters too dangerous for the local security force to handle. He was at the Aerodome, thinking about his next move when he happened to overhear, to his now good luck, a party of adventurers talking about the mines. Larsa immediately recognized Basch, Gabranth’s twin brother. Wisely, he did not mention that when he approached the party, asking if he could tag along. While Basch did not recognize who he was, another party member, Archadian citizen Balthier, recognized the crest of House Solidor, and suspected that Larsa was not merely the commoner “Lamont”. The party travels into the mine, and Larsa picks up a sample of Nethicite in order to study it. It is at this point, alone in a narrow chamber with no escape, that Balthier makes his move, cornering the boy and demanding to know the truth as to why he was here in Bhujerba. Their argument is interrupted by B’Gamnan and his crew of headhunters, the reason that the rest of the party was in the Mines in the first place. B’Gamnan had kidnapped Penelo, a member of the party, in order to lure Balthier out of hiding so he could claim the large bounty on the Sky Pirate’s head. While distracted, Larsa creates a diversion and runs away from both headhunters and Sky Pirate, while running into Penelo, who had been cut loose and left to die in the Mines by B’Gamnan and caught by the security force that had been employed to protect him. He immediately took a liking to her, and offered her safety at the estate of the Marquis Ondore, where he had been staying. He told her the truth of his heritage, even knowing that she was a Dalmascan and would hate him for it, but Penelo did not blame him for the destruction of her family and of her homeland. This helped bolster Larsa’s belief that if the Archadians offered an olive branch in peace, that the Dalmascans would ultimately respond in kind.
The Judge, Ghis, takes Larsa and with him, Penelo, onto the Dreadnought Leviathan, one of the greatest ships in the Archadian air fleet. Knowing that Ashe, who had been captured by the Imperials while attempting to assassinate Vayne at his coronation ceremony in Rabanstre, would be taken up to the Leviathan to be taken back to Archadia, he bided his time, waiting for the right time to aid them. Once Ashe was reunited with Basch, Balthier, and the others, as well as with Vossler, her knight protector in the Resistance, they fled the ship. Vaan, a Dalmascan youth who was orphaned by the war, had been fated to join together Ashe, Basch, and Balthier by breaking into the Palace in Rabanastre on the same night as Ashe and Balthier, looking to steal treasure. The ability to sense Mists were strong in Vaan, even though he was never consciously aware of the fact. When he broke into the treasure room, a magical stone called to him, hidden within the face of a statue. He stole it, and managed to keep it with him, despite having been caught and thrown in jail with Balthier. It turned out that Vaan had stolen the greatest treasure of Dalmasca, a stone that had been given as part of the birthright of the rulers of her land, from their progenitor, the Dynast-King Raithwall. He was given three stones by the Gods, and he used them to bring great peace to all of Ivalice, as well as found the kingdoms of Nabradia and Dalmasca. When it drew near to Ashe, in the presence of Ghis, it activated, proving that Ashe was indeed Ashelia B’Nargin Dalmasca, the lost princess. Ghis, however, was more interested in the stone, confiscating it from Vaan and taking it into the Leviathan’s core to be tested, while throwing Ashe and the others in the brig. They escaped, heading for the escape ships to flee the Leviathan, running into Larsa and Penelo on the way.
Larsa, wanting to aid their escape, let Penelo go with Vaan, in exchange for taking Vossler with him to help him secure a ship to escape. Before he let Penelo go, he gave her a lump of Manufacted Nethicite in order to protect her, which it ultimately did when she was attacked by Ghis for trying to flee the ship. He followed them as far as Bhujerba, but left them, as he had to continue to see his plans fall into place. Ashe, on the other hand, met back up with Vossler and went to find King Raithwall’s tomb, in an area where ships could supposedly not reach. Within the tomb lie a third stone, like the one given to Nabradia and Dalmasca; the Dawn Shard. That stone could also prove Ashe’s birthright, now that the Dusk Shard was captured and presumably sent to Draklor Laboratory in Archades for testing. They were ambushed outside of the Tomb by the Leviathan, which had been bolstered by technologies stronger than those thought possible. They were captured and taken into the Leviathan once again, the stone taken from them and taken to the ship’s engine for testing, while the party is sent to the Shiva to the brig. Before they can be taken to that ship, the Dusk Shard, being tested in the engine, starts to suck out all of the energy from the ship, causing it first to fail, and then ultimately to explode. The party is warned of impending danger by Balthier’s partner Fran, a Viera warrior who is far more sensitive to the changing of the Mists than Vaan, but at the same time, a prisoner of it. The output of the Dusk Shard proves too great for her to handle, and she flies into a rage, finishing only when she is spent. Sensing danger on the winds, the party takes to the skies and flees, barely making it out of the path of destruction that destroys the entire massive fleet in a cataclysm of epic proportions, literally erasing the entire 8th fleet, and everyone aboard, from existence.
The destruction of the 8th fleet impacted Larsa in several ways. Upon hearing of the destruction of the fleet, as well as the cause, he immediately went to Jahara, land of the Garif, both to learn of the legends of the Deifacted Nethicite, and to await Ashe and her party, knowing that they would also eventually arrive there to learn of the stones as well. His plan was to take Ashe to Mt. Bur-Omisace, the holy mountain where the Grand Kiltias resided, so that not only could the Kiltias declare her the true heir of Dalmasca and legitimize her struggle to reclaim her throne, but also to have her meet with Al-Cid Margrace, the Rozarrian counterpart to Larsa in that he is an heir to the throne this is more concerned with peace than with territorial expansion. Once Ashe was restored to her throne, the Resistance struggles of her people could end, and then Rozarria, watching Archadia’s struggles with first the Resistance, and then with the destruction of the 8th fleet, would have little pretense of starting an all out war with Archadia. With Dalmasca restored, an uneasy peace would form. Once they arrived, he took the Manufacted Nethicite back from Penelo, worrying for her safety and regretful for having ever given her something so dangerous in the first place. At Penelo’s insistence that it was not as dangerous as he thought, he keeps it on his person.
Meanwhile, the Archadian Senate is eager to jump upon Vayne’s failure, as he was ultimately responsible for the destruction of the fleet. He is recalled to Archades to stand before his father and the Senate to answer for his actions. He suspects that this is an attempt by the Senate to strip him of his right to claim his father’s throne, as the Senate long feared his ability and his ruthlessness in regards to protecting his family line. Officially, when he gets to Archades, Vayne kills his father and dissolves the Senate. Behind the scenes, the issue is not quite so clear. Gramis may have asked Vayne to assassinate him and take responsibility for the Empire in this time of chaos and turmoil in order to protect Larsa from the Senate, and to keep the House of Solidor from crumbling. Vayne, having had already slain his other brothers, did not have the clean hands necessary to restore peace to Ivalice, but Larsa did. If he took over as Emperor from the very weak and sick Gramis, he could use his sword for however long he could to cut down the Senate, leaving the throne open for Larsa in order to restore order for the world. It is with that mindset that Vayne slew his father and dissolved the Senate by framing one of the senators and murdering him as well. Vayne knew that for Archades to know peace, that they must first be as powerful as possible in order to protect it, and to that end, he would drive the Archadian war engine as hard as he could, to attempt to obtain as much power for the Empire as possible. It would be this end that would drive him to attempt to collect the Nethicite instead of destroying it. He was declared Emperor by some of the Judge Magisters, elite legal guards and the protection force of House Solidor, with Judge Bergan solidifying his own power within the organization by declaring his total fealty to Vayne, while other Judges, notably Judge Drace, attempted to have Vayne brought up on charges. Bergan, strong with Nethicite, fights Drace and wins handily, and she is killed off by Gabranth, who must prove his loyalty to Vayne, who knew that he was the one who was telling Gramis about his nefarious schemes. In order to protect Larsa, Gabranth executes Drace, who had been one of his allies previously. She allows him to do so without a fight, knowing that he needed to do so lest Larsa have no one loyal to him to protect him from his predatory brother. Once the deed was done, he went with Bergan and Judge Zargabaath to collect Larsa from the Mountain.
The news of Emperor Gramis’ death reached the ears of Al-Cid before Larsa. With the death of his father, the hope for a peace treaty is dashed. Larsa, discovering that his Father was dead, could not hold back his grief, and was rendered utterly mute while Al-Cid, Ashe, and the Grand Kilitas discussed plans around him. The others leave him behind while they attempt to find the Sword of Kings, the sword that can destroy Nethicite at the Stillshrine of Miriam. While they are gone, the fleet arrives to pick Larsa up. Despite the Mountain being a holy site where refugees go to in order to seek asylum, the Judges attack the defenseless site, burning down the settlement. Bergan, determined to wrest control of Ivalice out of the hands of the gods, slays the Grand Kiltias and attempts to steal the Sword of Kings away from Ashe, so that the only method of destroying the Nethicite would be in their grasp. His inhuman strength, the strength that he used to weaken Drace in front of Vayne, comes from the same stones that Larsa had found in the Lhusu Mines, only refined in order to give the same god-like power that the Gods had bestowed on the Humes to all. While Deifacted Nethicite was given to King Raithwall, the ancestor of several of the rulers of small republics, of which Dalmasca is one, the Manufacted Nethicite was the under the control of Archadians alone. Ashe, being the lone survivor of his blood, offended Bergan and the new world order that he hoped to help Vayne move along, and he attempted to destroy her completely, only to fail. Meanwhile, in hopes of preventing all of this, Larsa quietly went with Gabranth, leaving Al-Cid to leave a message for Ashe:
“The differences of our two lands will fade before the shared dream of men.”
Now with the Empire’s considerable military might under his sole purveyance, Vayne prepared to wage war on Rozarria, while the Resistance, led by Marquis Ondore, prepared to fight them, and Rozarria prepared for a pre-emptive strike. As matters stand, once all of his enemies are lured onto the field of battle, Vayne could crush and destroy them, silencing is foes and thereby ushering in peace for whatever of Ivalice remained. Once returned to Archadia, Larsa sought to convince his brother that starting a great was not the way to strengthen the Empire and to obtain peace. Vayne, in an effort to forestall the argument, orders Gabranth to spy on Ashe, in order to determine whether or not she is planning on restoring her kingdom peacefully. If her plans were to wage war on Archadia, he was to put her to death.
Gabranth would go on to help shape the course of Ivalice’s future when he confronted Ashe on top of the Pharos of the Ridorana Cataract. Confronting her with the truth of the murder of her father and the end of her kingdom, he hoped to convince her to take her revenge on him, and then end her once and for all. Ashe chose, however, to instead destroy the Sun Cryst, the great treasure that was on the top of the Pharos, the greatest power of Ivalice and given to those chosen specifically by the Gods in order to protect its history. After Ashe defeats him, Dr. Cid, the head researcher of Draklor Laboratories, and the man responsible for much of the technology that the Archadian army uses, arrives in order to attempt her to stop from destroying the Sun Cryst, calling Gabranth a traitor and shaming him off with the aid of Venat, a traitorous God who wanted to see mankind in control of the creation of Nethicite. In an attempt to keep Ashe from being able to destroy the Sun Cryst, both Cid and Venat challenged them to a fight, which whipped the Cryst into frenzy, making it impossible to destroy the Cryst without also being consumed as well. Ashe was ready to lay down her life to destroy its power when Reddas, a member of the Resistance and a former architect of the destruction of Nabudis, gave his own life to destroy it instead.
Meanwhile, Rozarria, joined with Ondore’s Resistance forces, battled with an Archadian fleet over Nabradian airspace, going against orders of Rozarrian officials. Ordained by Rozarria or not, it was as good as a formal declaration of war. Unless something can be done to defuse the situation, the war would wage directly over Dalmasca. Even though Vayne did not have the Dusk Shard any longer, the true purpose of Dr. Cid travelling to Ridorana was to awaken Bahamut, the greatest and most powerful airship ever created. It was so powerful, that no normal power sources were capable of allowing it to fly. The magical Mists that poured out of the Sun Cryst before it was destroyed managed to activate it, giving Vayne and Archadia a superior tactical advantage. Once activated, Vayne took Larsa on board in order to keep his eye on him, and to show him the might of Archadia, so that he might one day wield it. Over Rabanastre, a fight between the Bahamut and a Resistance Heavy Cruiser ended in surrender by the Resistance. Instead of accepting the surrender, Vayne instead opted to shoot it down, in order to show off the power of the Bahamut to everyone. He is now guided by Venat, who had come to him after the death of Dr. Cid in the Pharos. He was determined to show the Resistance no quarter, hoping to draw out all comers and destroy them all. Larsa, sickened by his brother’s callous display and his absolute lack of compassion for the Dalmascan people, challenges his brother, stating that there is no true way but for cooperation. Vayne disregards his brother, implying that if Larsa wants to end the war that he would have to depose him first. The Resistance, seeing that surrender was not an option, attempted to fight with all of the strength they had, only to lose their biggest ships to the Bahamut’s mighty canons. Ashe and her party arrived soon after, preparing to board the Bahamut and to assassinate Vayne, using Balthier’s trick voice changer to make Ondore believe that Larsa was on board and aiding the cause directly from the side of the Resistance.
Larsa, meanwhile, accompanied Vayne to the place on the ship that would become the final battleground for the war for Dalmasca. Vayne wanted Larsa to witness what happens to those who are too weak to rule by destroying Ashe himself. Larsa instead took up his sword against his brother, even though he knew that he did not have the power to fight him down and joined Ashe and her party in battle. Once defeated, Vayne collapsed to the ground, dying. Larsa, overcome with love of his brother, even in spite of the fact that he stood against everything that he believed in, charged to his side to comfort him, and was rewarded by a force of magical energy knocking him unconscious and transferring some of his life energy back to his brother. The perfect storm of the Mist energies that charged the Bahamut, the Manufacted Nethicite that he had bound into his very bones, and the life force he stole from Larsa caused him to become an brutal monster, slowly losing his humanity the more he lost to Ashe, which is ironic, considering that Manufacted Nethicite was meant to return the reins of history to Mankind. Vayne did not ultimately kill Larsa, because he still needed his brother to maintain control, should he ultimately fail. He ordered Gabranth, who had tried to stop Ashe earlier from reaching Vayne and Larsa, to protect the young Lord from the fighting. Gabranth instead turned his sword upon Vayne, declaring that the only way Larsa would be safe were if Vayne were dead. He was immune to the shame of betraying his Emperor now, after talking with Basch about what it meant to be honorable, even if one failed in his duty. Casting aside his blind allegiance with the Empire, he instead devoted himself to protecting Larsa fully, even at the expense of killing Vayne. Vayne, unsurprisingly, did not take well to this interpretation of his order, and tried to kill Gabranth off, only to be stopped by Larsa, who had regained consciousness and used the Nethicite that he had taken from Penelo to nullify his magical attack. Vayne takes this opportunity to flee, having Venat cover his exit, leaving Larsa, both physically and emotionally drained, behind with Penelo, Basch, and the dying Gabranth.
Vayne fled to the outside of the Bahamut, disappointed with the realization that he would not succeed in his goals, and that he had failed Venat. He begged Venat to go find another to realize his goals, but the God assured him that he had indeed achieved what he had desired with the end of the age of the Gods, with the destruction of the Sun-Cryst. Vayne had managed to accomplish everything Venat had wanted of him. As he walked to the edge of the ship, the Manufacted Nethicite in his bones burned with a fire, sending bolts of flames outwards that destroyed anything too unfortunate to pass nearby. Bolstered by his words, he let the change take him fully, and became fully one with the Nethicite. He fused partly with the ship, turning into an angelic, clockwork paragon of the dawning age of Mankind. Ashe ultimately got the better of him, and he was defeated for good. Larsa did not witness his brother’s demise, as he was inside of the ship tending Gabranth, but he could feel his absence, the sudden change in the Mists as his brother no longer drew breath.
Killing Vayne was all well and good, but in order to make lasting peace, Ashe and Larsa had to make it out of the Bahamut alive. They took Gabranth onto the Strahl, Balthier’s airship. It was there that Gabranth died, asking that Basch take his place as Judge Magister in service to Larsa, in order to protect him from the potential factions within Archadia that might mean to strike down the new Emperor while he was wracked with grief and confusion within the Empire was abundant. Immediately taking control of himself, because he knew that the world rested on his shoulders, Larsa immediately demanded that all Archadian ships ceased fire, as Ashe asked the same of the Resistance. Everyone agreed to the ceasefire, but there was one remaining problem: The Bahamut, without Vayne and the Nethicite, was beginning to lose power. If allowed to do so, she would crash directly into Rabanstre, destroying the entire city and everyone inside, leaving nothing more than a smoking ruin of airship and paling. Judge Zargabaath, the only remaining Judge Magister aside from Gabranth, demanded that he be allowed to fire upon the Bahamut to direct it away from the city so that it be saved. The idea would have been suicide to everyone within the Bahamut, and likely to many of the other ships in the sky. Balthier, meanwhile, had snuck out of the Strahl with Fran in order to restart the failing anti-gravity rings that were slowly losing power. He successfully managed to give the Bahamut enough power to move it away from the city and into the wastes that surround it, but being rescued from the ship seemed unlikely. While he promised that he would return, he gave his ship to Vaan. While the Bahamut managed to land vertically, saving many of the lives on the ship, Balthier and Fran were feared lost.
The events of the game pick up a year later, in the form of a letter from Penelo to Larsa, indicating that while he returned to Archades in order to lead his Empire and cement that shaky, hard-won peace, the two remained very close. She mentions that she hopes to see him at Ashe’s official coronation, implying also that the ties between Dalmasca and Archadia remained as diplomatic as they were supposed to be, and that Dalmasca had indeed been restored to its former glory. Finally, she tells him that Balthier survived the crashing of the Bahamut, and that they would likely cross paths with him again one day. The future never looked brighter.
Point in Canon: the Epilogue of FFXII
Conditional: Brief summary of previous RP history: N/A.
Character Personality:
Should Larsa survive into adulthood, he would most certainly be the sort of Emperor that would be remembered for centuries to come for his intelligence, wisdom, and commitment to all the peoples of Ivalice as well as his own. It was clear from his very early years that he was indeed going to be a special child, blessed not only with intelligence, but with a benevolence that his older brother Vayne necessarily lacked. He has the qualities of a great warrior-king; compassion, wisdom, and bravery, all at such a young and tender age. Vayne wished to be the Dynast-King, the great King of old who created unity for the people of Ivalice with stone and sword, but Larsa, in his own way, succeeded where his brother had failed, being the architect of the peace that pervades over Ivalice now.
While he keeps his emotions close to the chest, he does indeed act upon them, though always keeping his wits about him. Death pains him, both as an abstract idea (“That ship was full of people that didn’t deserve to die!”) and when it touches him personally, such as when he was notified of the death of his father or when he held Gabranth as he died. He does not, however, let his grief consume him. He is advised by his sorrow at the suffering of others, making him a ruler with great compassion and empathy for the suffering of his people. Larsa is also not fully reserved around the people he cares about, allowing his sentiments take shape when they are appropriate. He is not shy in admitting his fraternal love for Vayne, and that the course his brother took pained him. He also has something of a crush on Penelo, one of the members of the travelling party that aided him in stopping his brother. While he treats everyone with respect, he seems to be warmer towards her than the others, promising her that he would protect her under any means at his disposal. He gave her specifically his shard of Manufacted Nethicite as a means of protection. While it might have seemed as if he gave Penelo the Nethicite because he knew that she and Ashe, the person he knew he had to protect in order to create peace through the land, would be together, and that she would be far more likely to accept something from him than the former princess, it seemed that he gave the Nethicite to Penelo specifically in order to keep her specifically safe. The Nethicite would have been just as easily given to Basch and would have had an even better chance of protecting her from harm, since he couldn’t be certain that Penelo and Vaan would stay on with Ashe after the pair were reunited.
He would likely never tell Penelo of his true feelings for her, likely in part because he must leave himself open to marriage as a means to seal political ties, but it would be noticeable when his guard slips down when he is with her.
Even though he seems to be like an elder statesman, he is at heart a young man, still largely a child. He enjoys discourse of all sorts, including playful banter with people he might consider confidants. Because of his cloistered upbringing, he seems a bit stiff and awkward at that kind of conversation, being a little too serious, but he is more than happy to join in. He is also a little strange around kids his own age, because while he might be a child, he did not exactly have a normal childhood, even for a member of a royal bloodline.
Additionally, since his next youngest sibling was 15 years older than him, he was, even if he wasn’t being trained to become a little emperor, the only child in a world of adults. As a result, he learned how to talk to and relate to adults. He is much more comfortable around people older than he is and is more likely to enjoy having a conversation with one rather than other children.
While rare, given that the people who know him know that he is not to be trifled with, when someone does treat him like a child, he tends to brush such rudeness aside with slight annoyance and a lot of willful ignorance, such as how he interacts with Al-Cid, who tends to disrespect him with inappropriately affectionate gestures such as ruffling his hair instead of shaking his hand.
The most important thing one should take away about Larsa is that he treads the razor-thin line between optimism and naivety as if he were an acrobat. He believes the best possible of everyone he meets, but he is also not trapped by blind insistence that the best possible will come to pass from everyone. He feels it his responsibility to bolster the best out of others, putting his life on the line in order to make it happen. He devotes all of his great intelligence and drive into what he wants to succeed.
Conditional: Personality development in previous game: N/A.
Character Plans:
Larsa would definitely join the Newcomers party in hopes of fostering an understanding between Newcomers and Natives. He is a born politician and diplomat, with the conviction that it is his duty as a member of the Solidor household and as a citizen of Archades to behave in a valorous manner and to attempt to uplift the situations of all of those who draw breath in this world in order to achieve peace and harmony and build a brighter future. This includes attempting to stop corruption in all its forms, which would put him at odds with many of the denizens of Siren’s Port.
He would also like to attempt to research the Core. The idea of some physical object that was drawing people in against their will would not strike him as terribly different from some sort of Deifacted artifact yet undiscovered and unstudied, and he would be petitioning to get more productive research done on it.
Finally, I as a player, would love to see the kinds of different CR that Larsa could develop with other people. Unlike Marluxia, he's friendly and genuinely interested in cooperation and learning from different viewpoints. For example, should he get in, Natalie and I have already planned on having him and Pickles meet and try to mesh.
Appearance/PB: Wikia Link
Writing Samples
First Person Sample
[Larsa clears his throat. There is a slight bit of hesitation, but only because he is not certain if this is how one properly uses this kind of device. It looks Archadian to him, and it seems rather user-friendly, but ultimately, like the world around him, the device feels a bit “off”.]
Please pardon my ignorance and allow me to introduce myself. I am called “Lamont.” It has come to my attention that I have been brought here by the auspices of something referred to as “The Core.” While the Greeter who met me out on the field was most helpful in many regards, I should like to know more about it. I should like to investigate in libraries, but I am curious, has any among us, who has access to this communication channel, actually witnessed The Core at work? I am to understand that it is dangerous, but I am certain that if it were possible to see, that at least one of our number would have tried to witness it, regardless of any danger.
[He rests his chin on his palm, watching the screen bemusedly.]
That is all. I thank you for your time in advance.
Third Person Sample
The chill of the air froze the breath that left his lungs, clinging around the young Emperor’s head like Mist before fading away. He shivered slightly, adjusting to the sudden cold of the baseball diamond. The frost bitten ground crunched under his shoes convincingly, but at the same time, he still felt numb, as if he were walking through a dream. He had been out of sorts for the past day or so. He had first noticed the strange sensations the day before, when he had first gotten up that morning so that he could attend to the senate and review new legislation to enact within the Empire. Basch had seemed to notice something off about him as well, but of course, did not mention it outside of simply asking him if he was all right and letting it go at that. Basch knew better than to pry too deeply. Even if he had wanted to trouble his guard with this feeling, he couldn’t really find the words to describe the sensation. It was like something was pulling at him. At first, the tugging had only been an emotional nagging, which had started after he had finished Penelo’s letter. This was not the first letter she had sent him, and he was unsure as to why he felt so differently this time. After all, he did indeed plan on supporting Lady Ashe by attending her coronation. They had both worked so hard to put her back into her rightful place, and he wanted to see all of Ivalice recognize her for it. Penelo too, he wanted to see again. Of course, he wanted to see Vaan as well, the lot of them he considered dear friends from all of the time they spent together, beyond fighting for their shared cause. Despite the pain that the Empire had caused them, they both opened their hearts to him, and he was loathe to let that go so easily, Penelo especially. She was truly a ray of light in his life, and even if he never saw her again, he would think on her with the utmost fondness.
But of course, he was going to see her again. Why was he thinking such strange thoughts?
The nagging didn’t subside through the day, though he did his best to bury it under his work. Indeed, it only grew worse, as if someone was actually tugging on his clothing to get his attention. He ultimately retired early that night, and Basch said nothing, a concerned look in his eye. To be true, Larsa was concerned as well, wondering if he was going mad.
When he awoke the next morning, he slipped out of bed as normal, dressing himself. He had never liked being dressed by others, ever since he could do it himself. Once properly dressed, he headed to training, to work on his swordsmanship. While he might have already been an accomplished fighter, doing well to hold his own within a group, he still had much to learn, and needed to keep his blade honed sharp. With the Joyeuse and the Sword breaker tucked into his belt, he opened the door from his chambers and into the cold gray morning he found himself in now, practically through the portal, which promptly vanished as he stepped unwillingly through it. Squaring his shoulders, he walked slowly, not out of fear, but out of great care, so as to allow himself to take in every detail. There were buildings, tall and stark close by, with more, an entire city further off. Wherever he was, he would likely need to start at those closest buildings. He shivered less now as he walked, getting used to the cold and the slight drifts of snowflakes that fell from the sky, fat and crystalline when they fell on his hair and clothes, only to fade away against the heat of his body. All of his previous thoughts and concerns were on hold now as he began to take in every detail of the Port, absorbing and recording mentally for later analysis. He supposed he should have been scared, but he wasn’t. He was not sure what to feel at the moment, which may have well been for the best. He needed answers first, before he could decide upon anything else. With that goal, he walked towards the two towers in the near distance, heedless of his footprints on the frozen grass.
Edited 1/4 to fix formatting errors.