(no subject)
[nick / name]: Jenny
[personal LJ name]: ”assula”
[other characters currently played]: n/a
[e-mail]: assula@gmail.com
[AIM / messenger]: CriticalCold
[series]: Tales of Vesperia
[character]: Estellise Sidos Heurassein
[character history / background]: Estellise is a princess, born on Terca Lumireis, in the capital city of Zaphias. Terca Lumireis' people rely on the technology of an ancient civilization called blastia. The knowledge of how to create blastia has been largely lost, and thus they are incredibly valuable. Blastia do everything from provide fresh water to power ships to create barriers around cities to keep monsters out. In Terca Lumireis, monsters run rampant, meaning few people ever step outside of their city's barrier and leave their hometowns. A special type of blastia, called bodhi blastia, is also used to enhance abilities in combat as well as cast spells called artes. All blastia is powered by aer, a natural substance that can be fatal to humans in large doses.
Estellise's parents died when she was young, and she was raised by, as she puts it, "pretty much everyone in the castle". She is one of the two heirs to the throne, the other being a young man named Ioder, though the only way someone can ascend to the throne is by acquiring a special treasure called Dein Nomos. However, no one has known where it is since the end of the Great War between the monsters and the Empire around ten years before the start of the story, so the Empire has been without a ruler for just as long.
Estellise, being an heir, was not allowed to leave the castle for the most part, and when she did, she was surrounded by knights and guards. She spent most of her time with her books and was also taught how to defend herself and use a sword by the Knights. Soon, she met a young knight named Flynn who told her of his life in the Lower Quarter, the section of Zaphias where the "poor people" live. A summary of the events of the game can be found here.
[character abilities]: Estelle fights well with one-handed swords and rods. She excels defensively, but attacks slowly and doesn't do as much damage with each hit as Yuri. Where Estelle really shines, though, is her magic. She uses mostly healing artes, and can revive others or heal even severe injuries very well. In the world of Tales of Vesperia, a substance named aer is needed to fuel blastia, objects which people need to use magic and protect themselves. Estelle, however, is a Child of the Full Moon, and can use artes and spells without a blastia. She simply converts the aer to magic directly. It also makes her very good at using various types of magic, but the way she converts aer to magic is very inefficient, and uses far more aer than blastia. This throws the world's aer out of balance, and threatens to summon the Adephagos, a giant monster that could destroy the world, who feeds on the unbalanced aer. Rita and Estelle, however, use Estelle's power to turn the cores of the blastia into spirits, beings which convert aer into mana, a much safer substance. These spirits also keep Estelle from using too much aer when she uses magic. An experienced healer in the game points out that Estelle is incredibly talented, but a bit "rough around the edges".
[character personality]: Estelle is an eighteen year old girl, and a contender for the throne of her world. She grows up in relative isolation, being unable to leave her castle in the capital of Zaphias. As such, she has few friends in the beginning, and spends most of her time studying and reading. This makes her very, very book smart, but not very accomplished at applying this knowledge in real world situations. Eventually, a talented young knight named Flynn comes to stay at the castle, and he becomes her only friend. When he leaves for his pilgrimage, Estelle discovers that there is a plot against him, and attempts to leave the castle to warn him. This is how she meets Yuri and the others, who have a drastic affect on her outlook.
Estelle starts out kind, naïve, and constantly looking out for others. She can heal others, which she does at every opportunity. She is rather unsure of herself, and at first often asks Yuri what he thinks she should do. He teaches her to make her own decisions and do what she thinks is right. Eventually, through their travels, they meet an Entelexeia, a super intelligent, highly powerful monster. He calls her an “insipid poison of the earth” and tries to kill her. Despite this, Estelle enlists Yuri and the others' help to hunt him down and find out who she is, and why she deserves to die for it.
Learning that she is a Child of the Full Moon forces Estelle to rethink her outlook on many things - whether she deserves to live, despite endangering the world, whether she wants to continue journeying with Yuri, and whether she truly wants to be empress. Throughout the game she grows into a confident, courageous young woman.
She is, overall, a sweet young girl who loves people and believes the best of them. Estelle constantly tries to help others, and though she is much more aware of the world than she once was, she can still be naïve. She loves to read, write stories and learn, and believes deeply in a sense of justice. At first, she follows rules and standards to a tee, but slowly begins to follow her heart and do what she believes is the right thing. She is still willing to put herself in harm's way to protect others, and comes to care about people very quickly. Estelle does have a habit of bossing and dragging others around when she finds something that interests her. If she has a new goal, she can forget about her old ones. She comes to discover what is truly important to her and what her passions are. Her royal upbringing makes her very polite and well-spoken, though she is very modest and sometimes views her talents as not all that special or impressive.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Right before the final boss battle.
[journal post]: Um, hello. Is it even recording...? My name is Estelle, and I seem to be... Lost. I've never seen a city like this, and... And if anyone could assist me, I would very much appreciate it! I seem to have been separated from my friends, as well... Yuri, everyone, if you can hear me, please respond!
[third person / log sample]:
The group had settled down for the night, and everyone but Estelle was asleep. Well, Estelle and Repede. She couldn't stop thinking about what they were about to do - hunt down Duke, their last ditch effort to save the world. The princess was a jumble of emotions - excitement, relief, even a little bit of sadness. Who knew when she would see Brave Vesperia again? She was certain, now, that she didn't want to be empress, but she also wasn't sure what exactly she did want to do.
Yuri, Judith and Flynn had always been so certain in their plans. She wasn't sure how they managed it. They had always known what they wanted to do, what the world meant to them. It was certainly a trait she admired, maybe was even a little envious of. She snuck a glance at Yuri, sleeping a few feet away. She didn't know how he managed it, keeping them all together and on the same course. He was a better leader than she'd ever be, and she'd been born to do so! Of course, he didn't quite relish his assigned role as leader, and she was sure it tired him at time.
Estelle sighed. It certainly wouldn't do her any good to dwell on such things and stay awake all night. But the longer she lay there, the more she thought. Her mind just wouldn't shut up, so finally she slid out of her sleeping bag, trying to be as silent as possible, and head over to Repede. Yuri's dog had certainly never been a fan of her, but they had been through so much together that she always had hope he would be friendly some day.
She sat down next to him, being sure not to make eye contact. Maybe he wouldn't mind terribly if she didn't bother him too much. The dog's ears twitched, but he didn't leave. Estelle smiled, sneaking another glance at him and whispering, “Hello, Repede.”
Repede, being a dog, did not respond. His ears pricked at the sound of her voice, though, and she took that as a good sign. “Are you having trouble sleeping, as well?” He didn't turn to look at her, but he didn't turn away, either, so after a second or so Estelle reached out to pet his head. The dog endured this for a moment, then let out a plantive whine, scooting away.
Estelle's heart sank, and she frowned at him. “Oh, Repede. Why don't you like me?” This time, his whine ended in a slight growl, and she sighed. “I wish I could understand you like Yuri can.” Repede turned away again, and Estelle pulled her knees to her chest, staring up at the stars. The tentacles of the great Adephagos still twisted across the sky. They were terrifying, of course, but strangely beautiful, too. And there, just past one looping arm, was the brightest star in the sky, Vesperia.
She wondered how they would talk sense into Duke, how they would convince him to join them. When she'd just left Zaphias, she probably would have planned out a speech, rehearsed and recited until it was memorized. Now, though, it seemed like a ridiculous course of action. People had surprised Estelle over and over again on this journey, and there was no way they would be able to reach Duke by being intractable with some silly speech. She wondered, if they were forced to fight them, if they could win. Part of her rebuffed this thought immediately - of course they could win! They were strong and brave and determined, and they would save the world no matter what it took.
But a tiny part of her wasn't so sure.