Application for SCORCHED
player name: Michi
player livejournal: fantacination
playing here: N/A, but that will hopefully change!
where did you find us? Uh, I think the Durarara community.
are you 16 years of age or older?: Yes.
In Character Information
character name: Balthier a.k.a Ffamran Mied Bunansa
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII and related (Ivalice Alliance, I think it’s called)
Timeline: After the ending of Final Fantasy XII, before Revenant Wings
character's age: 22
Note: Further details available here: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Balthier
powers, skills, pets and equipment:
Fairly good with technology; an engineer-inventor-mechanic of sorts.
Can pilot an airship, though likely irrelevant.
With good speed and stamina, he can use most weapons, but has a particular fondness for and skill with guns. His aptitude for magick in general is very low, in the game, and so it is nonexistent in Anatole.
Balthier’s Quickening (or Mist-Knack) http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Quickening (a limit break, applicable only in combat or emergencies) may or may not be effective with Anatole’s version of Mist.
Balthier has the following equipment on him when he arrives:
Light Fingers, an ability that allows him to let his hands and anything of a reasonable size that can be picked up in them become immaterial (ostensibly makes for easier pickpocketing.) Immateriality may make these hands invisible and well, ‘not there’ until they are. This can let Balthier slide his hand inside anything, take something that can be or can nearly be enclosed in his hand, and slide his hand with the item back out.
Open Skies, an ability that allows Balthier to fly (more like levitate, with directional support) up to a few thousand feet in the air for periods of time (it gets progressively harder to maintain it after fifteen minutes, and is very tiring), will develop slowly, and will most likely manifest itself at first as prolonged aerial jumps when, say, running away from a scene and leaping across a set of stairs.
canon history:
Born the third son to the noble family of Bunansa, Balthier spent a precocious 16 years in Archades, becoming a judge, though not a judge-magister, before his father’s slow spiral into insanity (and perhaps many arguments besides) prompted him to run away with the prototype frame of the Strahl. Little is known about the period of time wherein he became a proper Sky Pirate, but he met Fran and made a name for himself as a Sky Pirate in this time. Enough to earn the notice of one Ba’Gamnan, who seems to have a grudge against Balthier. There are many references about the bounty on Balthier’s head throughout the game.
In 704, Balthier and his Viera partner, Fran, tried to break into the palace in Rabanastre in order to steal the Dawn Shard, but met a Dalmascan street urchin instead and subsequently followed him into and broke out of jail (and another besides). This prompted a spiral into an epic adventure to prevent war, rescue a dishonored knight, and regain the throne for an embittered princess. Although he originally wanted payment for his and Fran’s services by way of a ring from the princess and kept his loyalties foremost to himself and Fran, he eventually committed himself fully to their grand adventure, even when it led to the confrontation with his father, who was now clearly possessed by Venat, and killing him. His father died very nearly in his arms, with no reconciliation beyond that Cid acknowledged that Balthier was a Sky Pirate in this exchange:
Balthier: Was there no other way?
Cid: Heh. Spend your pity elsewhere. If you are to set on running, hadn't you best be off? Fool of a pirate.
At the end of the game, Balthier nonchalantly stole away from the Strahl, staying behind on the Sky Fortress Bahamut himself to try to fix the glossair rings before it crashed straight into Rabanastre, the capital of Dalmasca. He was successful, but the fortress crashed into the desert near the city, instead. Leaving the Strahl to Vaan and promising that ‘the hero never dies’, he disappeared for a year from just before the Fortress crashed, though the epilogue tells us that he eventually reclaims the Strahl from Vaan and Penelo a year later, signifying his survival from the crash.
---------
Pre-Arrival, non-canon:
He carried Fran into a strengthened inner room in the structure he remembered from when his father had designed the plans for Bahamut, unfortunately, the supercharged blast of Mist from the Bahamut’s engines separated him from Fran before he could fully close the door and sucked him into the gateway of other dimensions into Anatole.
personality:
Witty, cocky, and with a taste for freedom and a moderate amount of danger, Balthier seamlessly slips into his self-claimed role as the ‘leading man’-with overtones of debonair Sky Pirate. His silver tongue and noble-bred sense for tact, politics, and manners make him an effortless charmer, when he wants to be, especially of women.
In fact, Balthier has a casual fondness for drama and theatre, using analogies like ‘leading man’ or ‘exit, stage right’. His first line in the game is, in fact, ‘quite a performance.’
Although generally refined and eloquent of speech, Balthier has had enough experience in the slums of Ivalice to imitate even their coarse manners, picking up and expressing more casual or rougher speech, from time to time. This notably came out when they were fighting Seeqs after being imprisoned by Vayne.
He is fastidious about his appearance, usually careful about getting them dirty. His clothes seem to be chosen with much care, with the elaborately tooled leather vest, fine linen, and tight leather trousers. He also has earrings on both ears and colorful rings on his left hand. Notably, he also has one of the best postures in the party, riding even Chocobos with a nobleman’s poise and bearing.
As the prodigy-son of one of the most brilliant minds in Ivalice, there can be no doubt upon his intelligence - and he knows it. A sense of superiority lingers about Balthier’s person, equal parts relic of his Archadian past and his innate intelligence. Not that there isn’t anything to preen about. With his clever hands, he reconstructed a prototype airship into something of his own, repaired a fortress’ glossair ring engine in the nick of time, and skillfully wields his guns. Added to this, his quick wits and calm logical deduction enable him to see the underlying threads in the plots and politics that happen throughout the game, allowing him to assess the situation and the best way to handle it.
But just as all who possess a certain degree of intellect, Balthier also tends to be cynical, his wit tending towards sarcastic. Rarely fazed, he takes even capture and imprisonment calmly and with an edge of sardonic amusement. He also maintains a healthy skepticism of almost everything, even rumored-kingslayers.
This is entirely understandable, given that he ran away at 16 with little more than the Strahl, he would’ve experienced many harsh realities about the world outside his former circles, never mind his time in Archades with its highly structured and political atmosphere and his progressively more insane father, whom he had loved.
Although slightly prickly, Balthier has a good heart and his own brand of honor (as any pirate would have), although he would rather not head to mostly-certain death, nor go looking for unprofitable trouble, he gives Vaan advice and even teaches him how to pilot the Strahl, when the time comes, calms down hysterical girls, and sticks with the party for the entire show (for the price of a ring he returns). Once he has warmed to you, he tends to be loyal. Fran, his Viera partner, is one case in point. The entire party had, by the end of the game, bonded to the point of exchanging friendly jokes on their way to save the world. And he stayed behind to fix the engine of a crumbling Sky Fortress in order to save Rabanastre.
However, with the exception of Fran, Balthier tends to cut loose, his spirit restless. Perhaps a relic of teenage rebellion and independence, but this is definitely what pushed him to become a Sky Pirate, a role he embodies to his very bones, though perhaps with more flair and honor than some. This seems to be an innate part of his nature, from his exchanges with Dr. Cid, his father, and with Fran, who says, when telling him to leave her, “Shouldn’t you best be off? That’s what Sky Pirates do, isn’t it? Fly.”
why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting?
BECAUSE HE’S THE LEADING MAN AND THE LEADING MAN NEVER DIES.
Hailing from Ivalice, Balthier’s more than used to old-world feel meets technological anachronisms, Mist, monsters, and much more besides. As a sky pirate who ran away from a cushy life of a prodigy nobleman in Archades, he is also definitely used to suffering hardships and surviving. He even survives the crash of a many-ton Fortress . Being in bleak areas with hostiles such as prison have not fazed him, and after the many supernatural and dangerous adventures he had getting the Dalmascan princess Ashe back on the throne, Anatole is likely to be old hat.
Danger and adventure, would, in fact, be much more interesting. Especially if he should ever get wind of any treasure to be had.
That aside, I think Balthier would be able to flourish in Anatole, the entire world just like any other port, albeit less attractive without his trusty Viera partner by his side.
Writing Samples
Network Post Sample:
[Audio]
[There is a low, somewhat pensive mutter, hard to hear over the ambient noise in the background.]
I’ve seen chamberpots more advanced than these ‘Forges’. Ah, there’s a switch… about as ancient as I’d suppose.
[The voice gets stronger, revealing the calm, cultured tones of a man not much older than twenty.]
Right, then. I’m in need of assistance in locating a certain woman. She’s quite tall, silver-blonde, and distinctly rabbity around the edges, though I’d not say as much to her face, were I you. You don’t see very many Viera around here, I’d think, but when in doubt, the ears on top of her head ought to give you a hint. The mean left kick and an arrow in your face may just about cinch it.
Verified information on her whereabouts will be rewarded as due. I will await any informants at the largest tavern in the city, most evenings. Ask for ‘Balthier.’
Third Person Sample:
It took a full minute of sunlight batting down on his eyelids for Balthier to wake up.
The roof and bed were unfamiliar, but not quite a matter for concern when one was a Sky Pirate. And particularly when one was Balthier. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d slept on something approaching a bed. Was it at Balfonheim?
Which brought up an interesting question, really. Where was he?
Sitting up, he rolled his neck, working the kinks out and letting his eyes survey the dark room with its one window of light. The tiny, rather dank room had mold growing on the walls.
“Cheery. Certainly has that lived-in feel to it. Though I’d rather not name what used to.” Particularly since some of the tenants were likely still in occupancy. Under the bed, for example.
Standing fully, he dusted off his clothes. There was a tiny pang of annoyance at having been forced to sleep in his full gear, though not enough to stop him from automatically checking his pockets and pouches. There were few things more ignoble than a robbed Sky Pirate. Fortunately, all of his gil and personal effects were still on his person, along with his shots and Fomalhaut, resting quite innocently on a dresser that had clearly seen better days a full century ago.
In fact, there was something else on that dresser. A device of some sort. Balthier considered it thoughtfully as he hefted Fomalhaut in one hand, checking her smooth mechanisms for tampering.
That the device was trapped or connected to explosives were unlikely possibilities, given the situation. The window was too big for a prison and who would bother to leave a trap where a good length of steel on an unconscious skull would do the job properly? Or leave the prisoner a large gun, for that matter. Whatever had deigned to put him here was clearly not openly hostile.
More notably, Fran was missing.
All he could remember was a hazy memory of the Mist surging around them as he closed the door to the stronghold he had carried her into within the Fortress-- and then a moment of gut-wrenching disorientation before he had landed on hard stone cobbles and blacked out. Those had certainly not been part of any ship Cidolfus would have designed.
Mist and Fran were not on good terms, but she was nothing if not a survivor. Sky Pirates had to be. He would have to trust her on that. At least, until they found each other once again. Several reinforced inches of steel around the air-locked shelter would help, too.
“The Mist strikes again, it seems,” Balthier murmured as he picked the device up, examining rather uninspired controls and a surprisingly readable keyboard.
“But what would a leading man be without a little adversity?”
Alternate third-person post done before I read the FAQ properly orz.
Anything else?
Uh, is this okay? Powers and such. Particularly the Quickenings, I guess. I'm not sure how it'd work out, but I don't mind losing them. I just thought it was pretty interesting since it's a 'Mist-knack'. I’m fully amenable to cutting some of them out.
I linked the misfire in case you needed another reference for his voice, though the circumstances in it are wrong after I properly reread the FAQ. I hope what is here is okay, since Balthier is one of those characters who really only shines when he’s conversing with other characters or being a know-it-all, alas.
I may not be able to be fully active until my semestral break, two weeks from now. Will that be okay? I'll try to post/check in if I can, but RL can be sporadic.
------
Balthier: Ah! The prison repository of wrested relics and raiments.
Vaan: So our things are in here?
Balthier: That’s what I said.
player livejournal: fantacination
playing here: N/A, but that will hopefully change!
where did you find us? Uh, I think the Durarara community.
are you 16 years of age or older?: Yes.
In Character Information
character name: Balthier a.k.a Ffamran Mied Bunansa
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII and related (Ivalice Alliance, I think it’s called)
Timeline: After the ending of Final Fantasy XII, before Revenant Wings
character's age: 22
Note: Further details available here: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Balthier
powers, skills, pets and equipment:
Fairly good with technology; an engineer-inventor-mechanic of sorts.
Can pilot an airship, though likely irrelevant.
With good speed and stamina, he can use most weapons, but has a particular fondness for and skill with guns. His aptitude for magick in general is very low, in the game, and so it is nonexistent in Anatole.
Balthier’s Quickening (or Mist-Knack) http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Quickening (a limit break, applicable only in combat or emergencies) may or may not be effective with Anatole’s version of Mist.
Balthier has the following equipment on him when he arrives:
- His equipped gun, Fomalhaut.
- A mini toolkit he’d been using to try to fix the Bahamut’s Glossair Rings.
- And fannypacks- er belt pouches with some unfortunately useless gil, a bootknife, some personal knickknacks (including a handkerchief and a comb), and his shots/ammunition. (This can be seen in his artwork, though the contents are my own speculation)
Light Fingers, an ability that allows him to let his hands and anything of a reasonable size that can be picked up in them become immaterial (ostensibly makes for easier pickpocketing.) Immateriality may make these hands invisible and well, ‘not there’ until they are. This can let Balthier slide his hand inside anything, take something that can be or can nearly be enclosed in his hand, and slide his hand with the item back out.
Open Skies, an ability that allows Balthier to fly (more like levitate, with directional support) up to a few thousand feet in the air for periods of time (it gets progressively harder to maintain it after fifteen minutes, and is very tiring), will develop slowly, and will most likely manifest itself at first as prolonged aerial jumps when, say, running away from a scene and leaping across a set of stairs.
canon history:
Born the third son to the noble family of Bunansa, Balthier spent a precocious 16 years in Archades, becoming a judge, though not a judge-magister, before his father’s slow spiral into insanity (and perhaps many arguments besides) prompted him to run away with the prototype frame of the Strahl. Little is known about the period of time wherein he became a proper Sky Pirate, but he met Fran and made a name for himself as a Sky Pirate in this time. Enough to earn the notice of one Ba’Gamnan, who seems to have a grudge against Balthier. There are many references about the bounty on Balthier’s head throughout the game.
In 704, Balthier and his Viera partner, Fran, tried to break into the palace in Rabanastre in order to steal the Dawn Shard, but met a Dalmascan street urchin instead and subsequently followed him into and broke out of jail (and another besides). This prompted a spiral into an epic adventure to prevent war, rescue a dishonored knight, and regain the throne for an embittered princess. Although he originally wanted payment for his and Fran’s services by way of a ring from the princess and kept his loyalties foremost to himself and Fran, he eventually committed himself fully to their grand adventure, even when it led to the confrontation with his father, who was now clearly possessed by Venat, and killing him. His father died very nearly in his arms, with no reconciliation beyond that Cid acknowledged that Balthier was a Sky Pirate in this exchange:
Balthier: Was there no other way?
Cid: Heh. Spend your pity elsewhere. If you are to set on running, hadn't you best be off? Fool of a pirate.
At the end of the game, Balthier nonchalantly stole away from the Strahl, staying behind on the Sky Fortress Bahamut himself to try to fix the glossair rings before it crashed straight into Rabanastre, the capital of Dalmasca. He was successful, but the fortress crashed into the desert near the city, instead. Leaving the Strahl to Vaan and promising that ‘the hero never dies’, he disappeared for a year from just before the Fortress crashed, though the epilogue tells us that he eventually reclaims the Strahl from Vaan and Penelo a year later, signifying his survival from the crash.
---------
Pre-Arrival, non-canon:
He carried Fran into a strengthened inner room in the structure he remembered from when his father had designed the plans for Bahamut, unfortunately, the supercharged blast of Mist from the Bahamut’s engines separated him from Fran before he could fully close the door and sucked him into the gateway of other dimensions into Anatole.
personality:
Witty, cocky, and with a taste for freedom and a moderate amount of danger, Balthier seamlessly slips into his self-claimed role as the ‘leading man’-with overtones of debonair Sky Pirate. His silver tongue and noble-bred sense for tact, politics, and manners make him an effortless charmer, when he wants to be, especially of women.
In fact, Balthier has a casual fondness for drama and theatre, using analogies like ‘leading man’ or ‘exit, stage right’. His first line in the game is, in fact, ‘quite a performance.’
Although generally refined and eloquent of speech, Balthier has had enough experience in the slums of Ivalice to imitate even their coarse manners, picking up and expressing more casual or rougher speech, from time to time. This notably came out when they were fighting Seeqs after being imprisoned by Vayne.
He is fastidious about his appearance, usually careful about getting them dirty. His clothes seem to be chosen with much care, with the elaborately tooled leather vest, fine linen, and tight leather trousers. He also has earrings on both ears and colorful rings on his left hand. Notably, he also has one of the best postures in the party, riding even Chocobos with a nobleman’s poise and bearing.
As the prodigy-son of one of the most brilliant minds in Ivalice, there can be no doubt upon his intelligence - and he knows it. A sense of superiority lingers about Balthier’s person, equal parts relic of his Archadian past and his innate intelligence. Not that there isn’t anything to preen about. With his clever hands, he reconstructed a prototype airship into something of his own, repaired a fortress’ glossair ring engine in the nick of time, and skillfully wields his guns. Added to this, his quick wits and calm logical deduction enable him to see the underlying threads in the plots and politics that happen throughout the game, allowing him to assess the situation and the best way to handle it.
But just as all who possess a certain degree of intellect, Balthier also tends to be cynical, his wit tending towards sarcastic. Rarely fazed, he takes even capture and imprisonment calmly and with an edge of sardonic amusement. He also maintains a healthy skepticism of almost everything, even rumored-kingslayers.
This is entirely understandable, given that he ran away at 16 with little more than the Strahl, he would’ve experienced many harsh realities about the world outside his former circles, never mind his time in Archades with its highly structured and political atmosphere and his progressively more insane father, whom he had loved.
Although slightly prickly, Balthier has a good heart and his own brand of honor (as any pirate would have), although he would rather not head to mostly-certain death, nor go looking for unprofitable trouble, he gives Vaan advice and even teaches him how to pilot the Strahl, when the time comes, calms down hysterical girls, and sticks with the party for the entire show (for the price of a ring he returns). Once he has warmed to you, he tends to be loyal. Fran, his Viera partner, is one case in point. The entire party had, by the end of the game, bonded to the point of exchanging friendly jokes on their way to save the world. And he stayed behind to fix the engine of a crumbling Sky Fortress in order to save Rabanastre.
However, with the exception of Fran, Balthier tends to cut loose, his spirit restless. Perhaps a relic of teenage rebellion and independence, but this is definitely what pushed him to become a Sky Pirate, a role he embodies to his very bones, though perhaps with more flair and honor than some. This seems to be an innate part of his nature, from his exchanges with Dr. Cid, his father, and with Fran, who says, when telling him to leave her, “Shouldn’t you best be off? That’s what Sky Pirates do, isn’t it? Fly.”
why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting?
BECAUSE HE’S THE LEADING MAN AND THE LEADING MAN NEVER DIES.
Hailing from Ivalice, Balthier’s more than used to old-world feel meets technological anachronisms, Mist, monsters, and much more besides. As a sky pirate who ran away from a cushy life of a prodigy nobleman in Archades, he is also definitely used to suffering hardships and surviving. He even survives the crash of a many-ton Fortress . Being in bleak areas with hostiles such as prison have not fazed him, and after the many supernatural and dangerous adventures he had getting the Dalmascan princess Ashe back on the throne, Anatole is likely to be old hat.
Danger and adventure, would, in fact, be much more interesting. Especially if he should ever get wind of any treasure to be had.
That aside, I think Balthier would be able to flourish in Anatole, the entire world just like any other port, albeit less attractive without his trusty Viera partner by his side.
Writing Samples
Network Post Sample:
[Audio]
[There is a low, somewhat pensive mutter, hard to hear over the ambient noise in the background.]
I’ve seen chamberpots more advanced than these ‘Forges’. Ah, there’s a switch… about as ancient as I’d suppose.
[The voice gets stronger, revealing the calm, cultured tones of a man not much older than twenty.]
Right, then. I’m in need of assistance in locating a certain woman. She’s quite tall, silver-blonde, and distinctly rabbity around the edges, though I’d not say as much to her face, were I you. You don’t see very many Viera around here, I’d think, but when in doubt, the ears on top of her head ought to give you a hint. The mean left kick and an arrow in your face may just about cinch it.
Verified information on her whereabouts will be rewarded as due. I will await any informants at the largest tavern in the city, most evenings. Ask for ‘Balthier.’
Third Person Sample:
It took a full minute of sunlight batting down on his eyelids for Balthier to wake up.
The roof and bed were unfamiliar, but not quite a matter for concern when one was a Sky Pirate. And particularly when one was Balthier. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d slept on something approaching a bed. Was it at Balfonheim?
Which brought up an interesting question, really. Where was he?
Sitting up, he rolled his neck, working the kinks out and letting his eyes survey the dark room with its one window of light. The tiny, rather dank room had mold growing on the walls.
“Cheery. Certainly has that lived-in feel to it. Though I’d rather not name what used to.” Particularly since some of the tenants were likely still in occupancy. Under the bed, for example.
Standing fully, he dusted off his clothes. There was a tiny pang of annoyance at having been forced to sleep in his full gear, though not enough to stop him from automatically checking his pockets and pouches. There were few things more ignoble than a robbed Sky Pirate. Fortunately, all of his gil and personal effects were still on his person, along with his shots and Fomalhaut, resting quite innocently on a dresser that had clearly seen better days a full century ago.
In fact, there was something else on that dresser. A device of some sort. Balthier considered it thoughtfully as he hefted Fomalhaut in one hand, checking her smooth mechanisms for tampering.
That the device was trapped or connected to explosives were unlikely possibilities, given the situation. The window was too big for a prison and who would bother to leave a trap where a good length of steel on an unconscious skull would do the job properly? Or leave the prisoner a large gun, for that matter. Whatever had deigned to put him here was clearly not openly hostile.
More notably, Fran was missing.
All he could remember was a hazy memory of the Mist surging around them as he closed the door to the stronghold he had carried her into within the Fortress-- and then a moment of gut-wrenching disorientation before he had landed on hard stone cobbles and blacked out. Those had certainly not been part of any ship Cidolfus would have designed.
Mist and Fran were not on good terms, but she was nothing if not a survivor. Sky Pirates had to be. He would have to trust her on that. At least, until they found each other once again. Several reinforced inches of steel around the air-locked shelter would help, too.
“The Mist strikes again, it seems,” Balthier murmured as he picked the device up, examining rather uninspired controls and a surprisingly readable keyboard.
“But what would a leading man be without a little adversity?”
Alternate third-person post done before I read the FAQ properly orz.
Anything else?
Uh, is this okay? Powers and such. Particularly the Quickenings, I guess. I'm not sure how it'd work out, but I don't mind losing them. I just thought it was pretty interesting since it's a 'Mist-knack'. I’m fully amenable to cutting some of them out.
I linked the misfire in case you needed another reference for his voice, though the circumstances in it are wrong after I properly reread the FAQ. I hope what is here is okay, since Balthier is one of those characters who really only shines when he’s conversing with other characters or being a know-it-all, alas.
I may not be able to be fully active until my semestral break, two weeks from now. Will that be okay? I'll try to post/check in if I can, but RL can be sporadic.
------
Balthier: Ah! The prison repository of wrested relics and raiments.
Vaan: So our things are in here?
Balthier: That’s what I said.