Application @ trans_9
Name: Tara
LJ: gaignun
E-mail: stormwaltzing at gmail.com
AIM: stormwaltzing
Character's Name: Yzak Jule
Character's LJ: zaftard
Character's Canon: Gundam SEED/Destiny
Personality: "Awkward kindness and sincerity that's honest to a fault" is how Yzak is described in one form of canon. Which is a pretty good summary of his overall personality, once you know how exactly he expresses himself. These traits, while still recognizable, are wrapped up in an exterior of that of a prickly, hot-headed and short-tempered man. Yzak is blunt with words, forward and never afraid to give his opinion or say what's on his mind.
His feelings are rather easy to read because of the way he acts, yelling and carrying on when he's angry, focused and serious when he's dealing with something important. These traits make him perfect for being a commander, especially when he's well aware of when to stay level-headed in a battle. Though he's tough and loud on the outside, he's also passionate for what he believes in, and doesn't simply order his soldiers around, but rather works with them and respects them. With his leadership, his team comes off as one that works together for an ideal they all fiercely believe in. It's clear that despite his rough exterior, his team all trusts in him, and vice-versa.
Yzak hates feeling useless and out of control of situations, and especially doesn't like to be second best to somebody else (his primary rival, Athrun, who tends to out-do him in many situations is one of his most trusted friends. Yzak clearly wouldn't hate somebody for a petty reason like that, as much as it frustrates him). That's because Yzak is serious about what he does. He strives to be the best he can be to make a difference with the power he has. And even though he'll get angry if he's overshadowed, it also serves as a driving force to try that much harder. He doesn't get discouraged and never gives up, being a loyal soldier and to his people and friend to those he knows.
History: Yzak goes through many changes throughout the 100 episode (+ lots of side-stories and spin offs) mecha series, all the while never losing those outstanding traits that make him who he's always been. A prideful Coordinator (genetically enhanced humans), Yzak starts out as ... a total blowhard, really. In a war started because of the differences between Coordinators and Naturals (normal humans), Yzak was a good example of an extremist Coordinator. He didn't care about Naturals, and was ready to go to war and kill'em all, viewing them as inferior. This view added with a nasty attitude, loud mouth and penchant to disregard his orders and rush into battle as he pleased left Yzak a force to be dealt with-- ... only, not so much on the battlefield. Yzak's recklessness more often than not left him defeated, which began a cycle of anger -> reckless battle -> defeat. Eventually, he screwed up so badly and wound up with a huge scar across his face, which only fueled his want for vengeance against those who humiliated him. As the series went on, through circumstances of death, promotions and going missing, Yzak ended up by himself. Around the same time, operations were planned and carried out by both Naturals and Coordinators. Operations that made it clear that both had their dark sides, and Yzak took note of this, though he stayed in ZAFT and continued following orders. He started to question his own peoples' actions, and little did he know his own commander was one of ZAFT's own dark sides.
Eventually, Yzak met up with his best friend, Dearka, who he thought had died. He learned that Dearka had joined up with the same battleship they once pursued so ruthlessly. "I wonder which one of us is really being deceived, here." Dearka's words stung Yzak, leaving him lost and confused, because his eyes still weren't completely opened to the reality of the situation, and the idea of becoming enemies with those who were once his comrades scared him. As the war came to a close in a frenzy of death and destruction, Yzak found himself helping Dearka, as well as people he never thought he'd help before. He finally learned in the midst of the chaos what he should be focusing on, and more importantly fighting for and protecting. At the war's end, Yzak became part of his peoples' governmental council. As well as removed the scar that was only kept as a mark for revenge.
Two years later, a second war broke out and Yzak returned to the frontlines, donning the commander's uniform. With his own squadron and battleship to command, he tried to save Earth when a group of rebels tried to drop a space colony onto it. Still a fiercely loyal soldier to his people, he explained that his reasoning for remaining in ZAFT was because he had gone through so many hardships in the first war. In the words of their new leader, because they went through what they went through, they should be the very ones to carry the future of the Coordinators. He believed he could make something of that, for the sake of his home and his friends who had perished. Through the second war, he protected his home, and as the war went on and much like the first, revealing that not everything was what it seemed, Yzak made decisions based on what he believed was for the good of the future as a whole, rather than just the future for Coordinators.
At the end of the second war, Yzak returned to his homeland's government council to continue to help make a difference, and try to steady the always shaky relationship between Naturals and Coordinators.
Sample post:
It felt pretty creepy to touch something that resembled the inside of an eyelid, though Yzak was not only still too overwhelmed to care, but it was the only way he could see the truth for himself. The stars and the galaxy - whatever galaxy they were in at the moment were unrecognizable to him. For a pilot and space-dweller who knew the sight of his own galaxy too well, it was a sure enough sign that he wasn't just not home, but far, far away from it. He heard footsteps behind him, but didn't didn't turn his attention away from the window until a voice broke the silence.
"Well?"
"Fine," he curtly responded, voice low and determined. "Tell me everything again, and then tell me what I can actually do about it." One thing Yzak hated more than anything was feeling useless. It was bad enough that he apparently could do nothing to prevent his world to meet the fate that it did. But if this was all real, if his home was really gone and this was the only possible way to get it back, then he didn't need to think twice. At home, he had joined the military to protect, to fight for the sake of his family, friends and comrades both living and passed. A situation no different than the one he was in right now. Despite the slight familiarity, he knew he'd have to mentally prepare regardless. War was never something enjoyable. War was just death and destruction, blood and strife and desperate fighting through gunfire and huge, destructive lasers in the form of brilliant flashes of light in space that would look almost beautiful from a distance if one wasn't aware of the horrors that they really possessed.
Yzak would fight. He'd do everything in his power to jump straight into those horrors again to fight and save the home he's always so desperately tried to keep safe.
Non-human special abilities: The line is a little iffy about the two differing types of abilities for this character, so. Yzak is a Coordinator, which is a genetically enhanced human. Coordinators are physically and mentally stronger than a normal human - able to learn so much more at a speedier rate, basically immune to disease, have heightened senses and quick reflexes. They can jump higher, run faster, punch harder, and endure many things that are normally considered harmful or deadly (one example of this is falling into Earth's atmosphere, and surviving the climbing temperature of the cockpit that would otherwise kill a normal human).