[Splendorocity / Application]
Player Information:
Name: Ashka
Journal: ashka-chan
Method of Contact: e-mail: ashka_chan@wp.pl
Previous characters: n/a
Character Information:
Full Name: Ruca Milda
Series: Tales of Innocence
Canon point: Right before heading to the Tower of Dawn to stop Mathias
Age: 15
Species: Human (Avatar to be exact, but he is still a human)
Appearance/PB: Silver-haired boy with bluish-green eyes. 168 cm (5’6”), weights 56 kg (123 lbs).
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x142/Ashka-chan/Ruca.jpg
Appearance upon arrival: The same outfit.
History:
Previous RP memories: none
Bringing someone along?: Spada is already there
Character History:
There’s not much about his history anywhere, so...
Ruca was born in a rich merchant family from the Imperial City Regnum. Being the only child and thus the only heir he spent most of his time studying so one day he’ll be able to inherit and lead his father’s company, just like his parents wished him to do. He was the top student of his class, but due to his timid nature he was always being bullied or teased by his classmates. Because of this, he became quite introvert and preferred to spent most of the time in his own room reading books, believing that he is only causing trouble to people around him.
For a rather long time Ruca saw himself in his dreams as an arch-demon Asura, the general of Sensus, a person that ruled all over the Heaven (Devaloka). Asura was a magnificent leader, fearless and invincible what made Ruca wish he could be someone like that too.
Ruca’s life suddenly changed when he met Iria, a girl, who ran away from her village, chased by a religious organization, Arca. The leader of Arca, Mathias, believed that Iria knew where the power known as Manifest is, but Iria herself denied it. When Arca believers tried to kidnap the girl, a strange power awakened within Ruca, allowing him to save Iria. It turned out that the power was the Devic Artes, that only Fallen could use. The problem was, Fallen were feared greatly by other people and so Regnum established a law to catch them. Since Ruca used his powers to stop Arca, he couldn’t stay in Regum anymore and had to escape before the soldiers came after him. Later it turned out that Iria is also a Fallen, or actually, an Avatar (as they call themselves). Iria explained to Ruca that Avatars, in their past life, were those who lived in Devaloka, the ones known as Devas or gods. Devaloka was destroyed in the Fall, causing the world to lost its balance and Naraka (Earth) to slowly fall apart, devastated with catastrophes and wars. The Fall was also the reason why Avatars started to appear. They were souls of Devas reincarnated on Naraka. The strange dreams Avatars had were scattered memories of their previous life, which also meant that Ruca used to be Asura in the past. According to what Mathias told Iria earlier, the key to find the Manifest lies within Iria’s past life memories (to Ruca’s great shock Iria was Inanna, Asura’s lover) and that power of Manifest is necessary for Arca to create the Utopia. In the end Ruca and Iria decide to travel together in order to look for other Avatars and try to find out more about the Manifest.
The journey to Naos, where Iria wanted to meet with a rumored “Holy Maiden” ended with both Iria and Ruca caught by strange people, who called themselves the Grigori and had the ability to seal Devic Artes of Avatars. Unable to fight back Ruca and Iria were transported to Avatar Laboratory, where they met two other Avatars, Spada and Chitose. While Chitose willingly decided to join Arca, because it grants protection to all its followers, the other three (or actually mostly Spada and Iria) refused and were taken to see Oswald, surprisingly, the high officer of Regnum’s military that also seemed to have connection with Arca. Seeing that Ruca, Iria and Spada (who turns out to be Durandal, the sword of Asura, in his past life) are capable of fighting, Oswald forced them into the military, sent them to the battlefield and ordered to defeated Garam’s troops. Soon, Regnum’s camp was set on fire and attacked by mercenary Ricardo. After short battle he let Ruca and others escape, even though, being the Avatar, he was Hypnos ,the enemy of Asura. Ricardo stated that he is not interested in his past, which made Ruca hope, that if they ever meet again, they might be able to convince the mercenary to help them.
After escaping from the camp they headed to Naos, only to find out that the Holy Maiden Ange was taken to Naos Base, because she tried to save the Church from bandits and used her powers, destroying the Cathedral in the end. Upon leaving Naos to search for Ange Ruca had some second thoughts about being Avatar. At first he was happy that he became powerful and met his comrades from the past, but he realize that the memories could take the better of him and made him forget about who he is right now, just like it was with Avatars-soldiers from the battlefield. The memories from the past became a burden to him. Because of being an Avatar he couldn’t came back home, there was no place in this world that could accept them. Despite this, he still felt homesick, but after talking to Iria and Spada about their reason for continuing this journey, he understood, that he can’t just whine about how miserable his life seems to be to him. He promised Iria that he’ll stay by her side and do everything he can to help.
Inside Naos Base they found something horrifying. Captured Avatars were used there for experiments with some kind of new weapon. As it was later revealed, their lives where energy source for it. The thought that someone could use Avatars like that made both Ruca and Iria angry. Later, it turned out that Holy Maiden Ange was also used in the experiments, but they manage to save and convince her that she shouldn’t be blaming herself for what happened to the Cathedral in Naos. Eventually Ange joined them, revealing that in the past she was Orifiel, the strategist.
They tried to escape from Naos base, but they were stopped by Ricardo, who this time was sent to bring Ange to a person named Albert. Ange persuaded him with valuables and so Ricardo joined the group as Ange’s bodyguard.
After some time they headed to Regnum again to look for more information. Splitting up, Ruca was to search in the house district. As he approached his home he heard his father threatening the soldiers who came looking for him. Soon soldiers left and Ruca heard how much worried his parents were about him and that they believed he had a reason for not coming back, yet they wished he would return. For the very first time Ruca realized how much they actually loved him. He was then approached by Eddy and Nino, his classmates that always bullied him. To Ruca’s surprise they also were worried about him and even helped him escape from soldiers. Unfortunately, this caused a commotion and Ruca had to hide in Spada’s base, in the sewers. In there he met Hermana, a little girl orphaned because of the war. The group was soon back together and while helping Hermana they found a memory circle, a device that could return the memories of their past. After stepping on it and witnessing a scene from Devic Era, Hermana also turned out to be able to see it, stating that she is Vrtra, the dragon who raised Asura.
Traveling all over the world they tried to find other memory circles, but with each one they had even more questions than answerers. What Ruca knew, was that Asura tried to reunite Devaloka and Naraka and for some reason he needed the Manifest to do so. Everything they learnt led them to believe that it was the Overlord, leader of Sensus and Mathias’ past life who destroyed Devaloka, using the Manifest. This caused Ruca to blame Mathias for making lives of Avatars the way they were: lonely, miserable and without the place that would accept them. After encountering Chitose in Ashihara, she said it was in fact all Inanna’s fault and that Inanna betrayed Asura, but Ruca refused to believe that and protected Iria from Chitose’s attacks, saying that he doesn’t trust neither Arca nor Chitose.
Soon Ruca started to have even more doubts, wondering who actually was Overlord and what was his connection to Asura, or how he obtained the Manifest. To make things worse, first Ricardo betrayed them in favor of his older brother from his past life, then Ange, swallowed by Orifield’s guilt for not being able to protect his student Himmel, tried to make it up to Albert (who was Himmel) and even fought against Ruca and others to protect him. Even though she knew Albert wanted to sacrifice her to unleash the power of the Manifest. Ruca believed that both of them had their own reasons. He forgave Ricardo, after the mercenary saved them and realized that his brother is not the person he used to know. Ruca also tried to make Ange understand that she shouldn’t be blaming herself and suffering because of something that happed in her past life.
After some time it was revealed that the Manifest is hold into the Sky Castle. The party tried to get there before Mathias, but unfortunately they were too late. Moreover the truth behind the Fall was revealed. Believing that uniting Devaloka and Naraka will cause chaos and wars, Inanna took Durandal and stabbed Asura in the back, when he was about to activate the power of the Manifest. Betrayed by his beloved, Asura in his rage broke Durandal in two and killed Inanna, the three of them died together and became the statue in Sky Castle. It seemed that the power of Manifest no longer controlled by anything, destroyed Devaloka.
Hearing all of this Ruca broke apart. He could no longer hear his friends’ voices, swallowed by the feeling of betrayal and guilt. He could think only about that it was his fault that the things looked like that, that the world was the way it was now. Completely broken he came to Mathias’ side, but he didn’t actually listened to her and soon his own power gone wild, causing the Sky Castle to fall apart. A wish to disappear was stuck in his mind.
When he woke up, Ruca saw a dark space with the Overlord and Asura standing before him. After listening to both of them for a while (mostly to Asura) he came to realization that he has his own life now and the bonds he formed with his friends were not something that was created because of the past.
When Ruca woke up, he saw injured Chien (previously a member of Arca) that helped him to get to Sania village, where Ruca’s friends were. Chien wanted to leave, but Ruca, worried about his injures told the boy to come with him. As they approached Sania Iria welcomed them. Ruca apologize to her for everything and told her it was all his fault, but she refused to take his apology, saying that he never did anything to apologize for. Reunited with his friends they decided to head to the Tower of Dawn to stop Mathias from using the Manifest to destroy the world.
After they left Sania, Hermana remembered that in fact Devaloka wasn’t destroyed, but it was not completely reunited with Naraka. The reason was that both Asura and Inanna killed someone they loved the most, the sacrifice activated Manifest, but since they wished for the opposite Devaloka was only in half united with Naraka. When Iria started to say that it was her fault after all, Ruca cheered her up and said the exactly same words she told him when he felt it was his fault. They all agreed that those memories where actually something to help them fix the mistakes they did long ago, but they couldn’t forget that they are completely different from their past life now and they shouldn’t be bound to it.
Personality:
Ruca is a shy, kind-hearted and good-manner boy from a rich family. Being an only child, his parents (especially his father) expect him to one day inherit the family company, while in fact Ruca’s true wish is to become a doctor in the future. Regardless of which he actually chooses in the end, Ruca has to study a lot. And he loves to study, to the point that he thinks school and tests are fun. Oh, did I mention his hobby is reading books? Also, as expected from the top student he is, he has no problem grasping the current situation, or talking about complicated things, or even explaining everything in his own worlds. He can also remember a lot and even keeps track of all the battles the group fought. However, when it comes to sports or running he is definitely lacking.
Another thing is, that due to his timid nature he was always bullied and teased by his classmates, leading him to believe that they actually hate him and he is nothing but troublesome to other people. This caused him to became introvert as he stared to isolate himself from others (in fact he was completely unaware he’s doing that).
It was Iria who made him realize that he was the one always pushing everyone who cared about him away. She brought him out of his isolation and became his first friend.
Also, at the beginning of the game Ruca believes that everything he does has an impact on others and often apologize whenever someone around him is angry (thinking that he is the one responsible for it). Since he didn’t make any friends before his journey, he has somewhat vague idea about ‘friendship’ (at one point he even says that the word ‘friend’ sounds awkward to him), but as the time progresses he starts to understand the meaning of it. He is also very quick to take the blame on himself and has a tendency to stay in the back, as well as being somewhat selfless. He is always trying to consider feelings of others.
Ruca is very awkward around people, especially strangers. He’s usually polite with everyone and, having a rather passive nature, he rarely argues over anything. He also might be a bit too quiet, because he thinks more that he speaks. Or it would be better to say that he sometimes thinks too much about something to the point that in the end, he can’t bring himself to simply say it (like when he tried to think of a nickname for Iria only to eventually came to conclusion that “it’s rude to suddenly give a nickname to someone”). As the time progresses though, influenced by his friends, he starts to be a bit more open.
Ruca doesn’t think too highly of himself, believing that he is rather troublesome and weak. He admired Asura and for a really long time he wished he could be as strong and powerful as him, until he understood that he should focus on the life he has right now instead of always trying to chase after his past life’s shadow. On the side note: the fact that he uses a broadsword is also because he wanted to be more like Asura.
Ruca is a also very accepting and forgiving person. No matter how badly he would be treated by anyone, he would never hate them. He is also willing to forgive a lot and believes that people have their own reason for acting the way they are. His kindness and the fact that he was raised in a wealth, makes him also a bit naïve and dense, especially when it comes to dealing with people (the best example of it is when Hasta - the psycho murderer - asks him to step closer, because there’s something he wants to tell him).
Another thing is that even thought Ruca doesn’t want to worry anyone, it is pretty easy to tell if there’s something bothering him. He often sighs when worried or drops his shoulders when he feels defeated. He’s easy to make cry and prone to get homesick. He’s also a bad liar. Oh, and never allow him to tell jokes. They’re all pretty bad.
Despite all the weaknesses, if Ruca puts his mind into something he will do it. He just needs a bit cheering up sometimes.
He also doesn’t like to fight and resolves to using force when there’s absolutely no other way.
Ruca developed a serious crush on Iria, since the two of them where apparently lovers in their previous life. He somehow desperately tries to get close to her and doesn’t understand why she gets angry at him so often. They also sometimes argue with each other. Despite this, the two seems to be pretty close. Ruca admires Iria for her strong will and wishes to protect her.
He also shares a close bond with Spada, even though at first they don’t get a long too well, but after a while they become a really good friends. Spada is also the one who tries to cheer him or gives him advices and whenever Iria is angry at him, Spada always takes Ruca's side.
Whenever he has a more complicated question, Ruca will either ask Ange or Ricardo. In fact he can talk with Ange about difficult things for long hours to his friends’ (especially Iria’s and Spada’s) dismay.
Extra:
Character Abilities: Ruca himself doesn’t have any special abilities, apart from a very good memory and large book knowledge. However since he inherited the power of Asura, underestimating him would be a big mistake. When it comes to fighting Ruca uses a heavy broadsword. He’s slow, but his attacks are very powerful, inflicting heavy damage on his opponents. He can also cast fire based magic like Fireball, up to unleashing a Meteor Storm at his enemies and support his allies with spells like Sharpness and Acuteness to give them strength . He can also slightly heal himself with a skill called Center.
Additionally, in his awakening state (or rather during his Mystic Arte) he takes the form of Asura to perform a devastating attack, that can damage his enemies pretty badly.
A list of all his skills is here.
Possessions: Oversized Broadsword. And his clothes. That’s it.
Anything else: He’s very easy to make cry and bully.
Samples:
Action/Communication thread/post sample:
Iria? Spada? Ange? Ricardo? Her? Anyone...
[He waited for a longer moment, but there was no reply. Nothing. He looked around once again, clearly worried, confused and lost.]
What should I do...?
[How did he got separated from others in the first place? What happened? He didn’t seem to recall anything. Just a moment ago he was aboard the airship and now he found himself in the middle of a strange town.
He took a deep breath. It was better to calm down and think everything over, right?]
...I have to find everyone first.
[As much as he wanted to stay here and wait, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be the best thing to do.
And so, he walked through the streets, trying to find either his friends or someone that could tell him what really happened.]
Log/Prose sample:
They had to hurry to the Tower of Dawn, there was no time to lose. The fact that Mathias could use the Manifest to destroy everything...
Mathias. She really hated this world more than anything else, didn’t she? She fooled Avatars into believing she wanted to create a perfect world for them, while in fact that was nothing but a lie. She needed them only to use them as tools to obtain the Manifest.
Ruca couldn’t forgive her for that, yet, for some reason he felt more sad for her than angry. Mathias was completely consumed by hatred and by the memories of betrayal, she had from her previous life. She was like a shadow of the past that wished for nothing more but a revenge. Nothing more than that.
It was impossible to change her mind, though. There was no helping it, they had to defeat her and put an end to this.
And even if they’ll succeed, perhaps nobody will ever find out who saved the world from destruction. But it’s not like he cared about being a hero. All he wished for was a peaceful world where everyone could live, free from their past memories, free from the war. And so he was planning to use the Manifest to wish for the world to come back to what it once was. To completely unite Naraka and Devaloka.
And by all means, it wasn’t because it was something Asura would do. It was Ruca’s own decision.
But still, all the battles that awaited them in the Tower of Dawn. It wasn’t going to be easy...
No, he couldn’t think like that. They had to win. And they will. For everyone.