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OOC

Name: umi
Age: over 18
Contact: PM this journal
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IC

Character Name: Shanoa
Canon: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Canon Point: post-game Good Ending with all villager quests completed
Character Age: 20
History: fandom wiki link

Division: Security
Shanoa is a warrior. It's writ in the dna. Weeks after having her mind wiped she regains the competency to go battle monsters. Another trait that endures is her altruism. We get to see this through her interactions with the villagers, who the game tells us are unnecessary to rescue in order for Shanoa to retrieve the stolen Dominus. Through her interactions with them, many grow as people while others gain peace of mind. These aspects are cornerstones of who Shanoa is, stable enough for her to stand on when she thinks she has lost everything else. Let her protect people!

Edict: The Last Pilgrim or The Sorrowweld
The Last Pilgrim seems to fit nicely given Shanoa's whole deal is pretty much about continuing to move forward after incredible loss and in the face of impossible odds. The game ends with dawn breaking, clouds lifting, the sun cresting on a new day. After bowing her head, Shanoa faces forward and runs off screen. One journey ends and a new one begins.

The Sorrowweld is interesting because I feel like it could want her, if that's a thing that the Edicts can do. After all she is the sun come to vanquish the night. She killed Death. She is the blade to banish evil.

Mod's choice?


Powers:
Preternatural Sense: Shanoa is able to sense magic and also living beings.

Mind Points: Fuel used to cast spells and magic. Shanoa has a limited amount but regenerates quickly.

Glyph Magic: "We tap the power in all things, great and small, to forge Glyphs through Ecclesia's secret art." Glyphs themselves are artistic symbols that create an effect when channeled with magic and intent. Shanoa's body is her medium for Glyph Magic. She is naturally able to absorb Glyphs, and casts them through marks on her shoulders and back. Along with adding to her own repertoire, by absorbing Glyphs she can end spells or other effects, gain new information, empower Glyphs she already knows, and more. She gains some mysterious attribute from the villagers imprionsed by Glyphs which she absorbs to break them free, and later picks up an entire soul along with a Glyph.

I'm splitting the Glyphs found in game into these categories: Conjuration, Enhancement, Summon, Transformation

Conjuration Glyphs make something. Weapons, shields, wings, demon dog heads, and elemental spells. These Glyphs create a tangible effect in the world.

Enhancement Glyphs boost Shanoa's attributes or grant another magical effect such as passing through solid objects, or gaining a strong magnetic field, or enabling faster movement, or restoring health.

Summon Glyphs call forth familiars of many shapes such as skulls, bats, owls, zombies, flying skeletons, and spiders that can aid in various ways.

Transformation Glyphs are shapechanging magic that change Shanoa's body completely. In-game she is finds Glyphs to transform into a werebat, a werecat, and an automaton.

Not sure if this goes here, but it could be cool to find new Glyphs in space!


As the Ascendants deemed your character worthy of being on this exploration voyage, what qualities did they observe in your character that they found appropriate for the mission?
The most impressive quality about Shanoa has got to be her fortitude. She suffered soul-crushing betrayal when it turned out the purpose she shaped her life around was a twisted scheme meant to accomplish the exact opposite. She had her memories stolen. She had to kill the man who raised her. She had to kill her brother, and couldn't even cry for him. Does she linger, does she waste time feeling sorry for herself? No. She waltzes into an extradimensional castle, kills Death incarnate, marches through the gate to Hell, sasses Dracula, and then wipes him from the face of the planet.

She is a warrior trained from childhood, and she is both graceful and adaptable. Throughout her journey she acquires a wide variety of abilities and is able to leverage them as situations demand. On multiple occasions she faced enemies against whom her attacks were ineffective, requiring more creative solutions to be dealt with. Against the crab with a too-tough carapace, Shanoa bided her time until she found an elevator to drop on its head. Against the invulnerable Wallman, she stole his magic and let him become one with the castle.

An integral and yet more subtle quality is her curiosity. When she is misled by Barlowe to believe Albus stole her memories and gets sent after him, she asks without provocation, why did he do this? And when she does confront Albus, she asks it to his face what his motives are. She doesn't want to just complete a mission assigned by her master, she desires understanding and is willing to seek out those answers for herself.


What is your character's best quality, what is their worst, and how do these two qualities affect each other?
Shanoa's best quality is her altruism. The concern she has for others is immutable, and she is saved by it. By absorbing the imprisoning magic when she frees the villagers, she takes in some trace aspect of them that allows her to later learn from her brother's spirit that she has been lied to and used so she can finally put a stop to it. This life-changing course correction is not even all she gains from helping the villagers. Through her various relationships with them, we witness Shanoa begin to heal from her loss of self by connecting with her own point of view, with some more intentionally than others.

Shanoa's worst quality is her low self-esteem as a person. She tells a villager that words don't bother her, but when Laura starts to praise her looks she politely yet firmly puts a stop to it. This is the only time she doesn't let a villager yap to their heart's content. She tells another villager that dresses don't suit her, even though she wears them.

The combination of these leads her to be self-sacrificing and reckless in her labor toward others. Glimpses of this recklessness can be found in-game. Before one boss fight begins, she unknowingly walks up the monster's back and gets thrown across the room into a wall for her lack of caution. A smith in Wygol Village comments upon the state of her armor that she can't just take every hit.

At the start of the game we get this juicy piece of dialogue when her brother tries to stop her from unwittingly killing herself, "You're wrong. I'm as much a member of Ecclesia as you are. Our sole purpose is to destroy Dracula, so people can look to dawn without fearing the darkness." If that doesn't sound like someone who has something to prove. Shanoa's desire to help others is clearly twisted up with her own lack of self-worth here. She clings to purpose like it's all that she has. While she is now no longer the same Shanoa who said this, the underlying qualities that led her down that road are still present.


Your character's Edict appears in front of them, and agrees to grant them one wish: what does your character wish for?
Shanoa's wish would depend. Is there an immediate problem in need of resolution? Space rabies ravaging the crew? Are they dead in the proverbial water? Maybe hurtling toward a black hole? She'd be much more inclined to use her wish for others' sake, even for just an individual if she is close and knows she could grant something they really want.

If there is absolutely no pressing need and she's free to wish just for whatever she wants, Shanoa would wish to let Wygol Village know she is alive, and to thank her friends there for everything, for more than they know, and also to please not hold any grudges against the man who imprisoned them because what he did was for Shanoa's sake.

Now, I also think there is some small part that absolutely, desperately wants to wish her brother back to life. Even though she was able to send him off the way he wanted, she didn't want him to leave her. There's also her experience with the undead to put her off the idea. There's no way to really know who or what she'd be wishing into existence. I think she'd have to be in a dark, low place to make this wish.


The Theorem has broken down, and is drifting toward a black hole. There is very little hope of outside rescue. What does your character do?
Shanoa would do as she always has in a time of crisis: whatever is in her power to do. Given that spacefaring is well outside her areas of expertise, she will most likely wind up rendering aid to anybody with the hope and a lead to repair the ship. In the role of assistant, there's little Shanoa wouldn't do if she thought it could help.

If the solution finding falls on her shoulders, she starts by identifying issue. Even if she might not have an understanding of how a mechanism functions, she might still be able to discern the purpose behind their existence, and in this way reach more actionable steps.



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