Author Topic: Stygia Ariti  (Read 2736 times)

Dr. Gustave

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Stygia Ariti
« on: January 20, 2020, 03:17:41 AM »
CHARACTER

Name: Stygia Ariti

Age: 15

Species and Gender: Error Nonbinary

Symbol: Stricken



Occupation: Pharos student

Appearance:
Error Number: 0x80040707
DLL Function call crashed: GetHostnameDLL.GetHostname

Setup will now terminate.


History: Stygia was born the sixth child to Mavi and Atro Ariti in 66 AC in the Valish countryside. While many smaller farm settlements and agricultural subsidiaries of the capital were under the risk of Grimm incursion, the Ariti family farm’s proximity to the city itself and its position along one of the main roads leading south meant that the more dangerous Grimm had learned to stay away, leaving only the weaker Grimm to occasionally attack the farm.

Their life as the sixth child to an ever growing family was comparable to many other children of large families, especially those that were more traditional like Stygia’s, the parenting usually fell on the shoulders of their older siblings with the only meaningful interaction with their parents happening during their work hours on the farm. Stygia often found themselves left by the wayside as farm work took priority over caring to each individual child. While this was a common feeling among the younger kids, most of them just took it as the way things were supposed to be, it was what they were taught by their parents in the short brushes with actual parenting. Their lives were to be spent on the farm, farming provided food for the family and food to send to the capital, the capital provides money and safety for the family and the family uses that money to maintain the farm. It’s how it had always been, it was how Stygia’s parents grew up and it was how their grandparents grew up during the twilight of the Greyed War.

But Stygia had made a point to be out on the roads as patrols, envoys, and trade caravans rode past the farm and they made sure to talk to the people, giving them fresh food and water in exchange for knowledge. Stygia knew about families, actual families. Found families. They heard stories of huntsmen teams, of how close they became during their years of school and out on the field. They dreamt of having that closeness, those connections and friends. Their life on the farm was limited in so many ways, stuck in a family that didn’t pay attention unless work needed doing, forced to live feeling like something they weren’t, never feeling like it was something their family would accept, they were traditionalists to their core after all. They couldn’t just sit on the farm and work themselves to death like the rest of their family but they could stick around until they knew enough to make it in the capital.

The next two years went torturously slow, Stygia would commit to working on the farm, taking double hours to get stronger and more resilient, and then once or twice a week they would head out to the main road to meet and greet the passersby. Two years spent learning to endear the traders and passing huntsmen to them learn more about life in the city, how they could find somewhere to live and how to get into a proper school. Two years of waiting up every night and watching their siblings fall asleep around them, feeling isolated from the people they were supposed to be closest to.

The day they had planned for eventually came and their plan kicked finally kicked off. Days prior, they had spoken to a trader traveling between the Capital and a larger settlement further south, one of the traders that Stygia had endeared themselves to over the years. He told Stygia that he was off to a large settlement to the south for a few weeks and that he’d be coming back to the capital as soon as he was done. He also told Stygia that he’d be passing by in the middle of the night. At the end of their last day on the farm, they looked around at their sleeping sibling-- some still children and toddlers and some full grown adults-- and they left. No note explaining where they were going, no tearful goodbyes, just off in the night.

Arriving at the capital was a major culture shock for Stygia, they’d been outside of the farm before-- mostly to settlements in the south-- and they’d seen Vale and other capitals on the CCCT network but they had never been to something so massive and expansive as the City of Vale. Stygia parted ways with their trader friend and headed straight toward Pharos Academy. They had looked into Signal Academy, it was larger and more prestigious than Pharos, but it was also on the island of Patch. Stygia wanted the city. It took some doing but they eventually got their way into the school system and even got themselves a shitty , one bedroom apartment close to the academy. As it turned out, there were a lot more benefits to being an agricultural subsidiary of the capital, even a small one, than just money and protection. They received a right to housing, a monthly stipend of lien-- a fraction of what the farm received but enough to survive on--, and since they were a minor, weekly check-ups from a social security worker. Life was finally bearable, it wasn’t sitting in a cramped room with twelve other people trying to sleep and then waking up before the crack of dawn to work their body into exhaustion. School was tough, having only learned from their older siblings before now, but it was so much better for Stygia than the farm. They met friends-- humans and faunus-- they were learning to fight, they were starting to feel less and less claustrophobic about life each and every day.

While born Error, they came out as nonbinary during their second year at Pharos. It could have gone better. Their friends never told them off or disregarded their choice but they were teens, whether they just didn’t understand or didn’t like it, they slowly became more and more distant from Stygia over the weeks and months. There were still those that chose to keep being friends with them but it was a fraction of what it had been. The days of hanging out with friends after school still shortened, though, and the friends that did stay with Stygian were less likely to flaunt it while in school around other kids. The connections they had wanted for so long were slowly dissolving after only a year.


In a moment of desperation, or maybe hope, they sent handwritten letter back to their family, a letter was much more likely to get looked at by her parents, telling them that they were okay, that they’re enjoying their life and they’re finally getting to be open about who they are even if it cost them some friends.


Three weeks later, Stygia got a response. Another handwritten letter, penned by one of their older siblings with just eleven words, “Mom and dad don’t want you to contact us anymore.”

Stygia sat in their apartment staring at the words for a long, long time. The scroll rang, night fell and the street lights outside flickered on to life outside and the sun peeked in through the dirty curtains, the lock clicked open and the social security worker opened the door, looked around and called Stygia’s name, and pulled out their scroll. The scroll beside Stygia rang, the woman came to their little study desk and picked up for a moment before setting it down. She turned to leave and suddenly swung her head back toward Stygia, paused, and repeated it once more. They turned away and investigated the bed and bathroom while still calling their name, constantly glancing back toward Stygia as she went along. She muttered something about long hours and made a call on her scroll as she left the shitty apartment. Later in the day, a uniformed man and woman entered the apartment along with the worker and all together kept glancing toward Stygia but never acknowledging her. They turned around in their chair and saw the workers looking right through them.

The next few months were extremely stressful and draining, Stygia had to put classes on hold as any hands on classes were made impossible, they spent hours every day of the week inside a test facility rotating through different hunters and huntresses to no avail. Eventually they came to the conclusion that Stygia’s semblance blocked anyone from being able to acknowledge them, consciously or subconsciously, as long as they were in someone’s field of view. Stygia would be able to attend classes as long as they aren’t directly hands on-- no combat classes-- and it was understood that “no cheating” would be an honor rule, and they’d have more constant-- if indirect-- meetings with the social worker. Alternatively, the disability presented by the semblance meant that Stygia qualified for free care under the watch of the semblance testing facility. They’d be put in what amounted to an asylum with others whose semblance made normal life impossible and they’d be cared for with no worry for payment, completely government funded. The choice was obvious for Stygia, go to a new prison or keep trying to live their life with a few more restrictions.

In order to keep living on their own meant two necessities: As long as they were a minor they would need to stay in school or find an official job in order to have records on them in the system and they would need to keep a roof over their head and be able to provide the living necessities for themselves.

Finding a job was impossible with their state. Of course the testing facility was willing to provide a well paying job to continue coming to the building for scientific purposes. Another trap, a prison with a paint job. Providing for themselves seemed easy at first, especially considering the new income of disability pay, but as it turned out it was a glass house proposal. Due to their disability status, a message was required to be sent to their parents. It being over the CCCT network and not being physical and it being in regards to Stygia meant their father probably wouldn’t bother with paying much attention to it but it also meant that he had more reason than before to pay attention. More reason for him to pull the rug out from under them and cancel the agricultural subsidiary funding and free housing they were getting. No stipend and no housing meant nowhere to live and not enough money from their disability checks to afford a place to live and afford food, it meant being forced into the care of the testing facility.

The years of Stygia’s life, if many are left, would promise to be an uphill fight for every inch and every minute.

Personality: Stygia before awakening their semblance and Stygia after their semblance are almost two completely different people. Where the past Stygia was outgoing, brash, bold and confident, Stygia now is reserved, quiet and cautious. They spend their days talking behind and around people because it’s what they have to do. They spend their time outside watching others go about their day and trying to avoid accidentally being bumped into on the street. A lot of emotions swirl around in them on a daily basis, sadness, resentment, anger, hopelessness. Feeling so lost from everything and everyone else, being made at her families-- found and otherwise-- for not just being okay with who they are, anger at the world and themselves for being in their position, dreading the fact that this is just how their life is now.

The loneliness hits the strongest. It’s the thing that ties old Stygia to current Stygia. They so desperately want connections with others, to feel like they matter and feel like they exist, but at the end of the day they can’t bring themselves to start forming connections-- always waiting for someone else to step up to the task and reach out to them. They’re so afraid of being rejected, abandoned, ignored, or lost that the idea of reaching out is worse than the feeling of being alone. But they’re both still there, constantly swirling against one another in their chest.

Even when someone does reach out, even when someone who understands their situations tries to help them and tries to connect to them they’re likely to only get guarded, short responses and little help forming those connections. Stygia hates that they’re lonely, hates that they aren’t willing to reach out, hates that they make it so hard for others.

Aura and Semblance: Stygia's aura is Error and it shimmers Error. Their semblance is unnamed and significantly powerful. While before Stygia awakened their semblance their aura was very strong and useful for tanking heavy hits, whether because of a change in soul or because the semblance is constantly draining aura, their defenses now are very weak by comparison.

Their semblance does not allow for any other sentient thing to acknowledge Stygia, to consciously or subconsciously, as long as Stygia is in their field of view. It is unknown whether it not this affects Grimm but it does affect animals. As soon as Stygia moves outside of field of view they know that Stygia, or someone, was just in front of them but they won't be able to come up with any identifying details of Stygia other than it was a person and they were there a second ago. If Stygia re-enters their field of view then they once again are unable to acknowledge them.

If the affected person knows of Stygia then they will innately know it was Stygia that they saw but still not be able to come up with details, if they don't know Stygia then they will just feel like there was someone there a second ago.

The semblance partially works through pictures and videos, if someone who has never been affected by Stygia's semblance before sees a picture or video of them they will be able to acknowledge Stygia in the photo or video and be able to describe details. However, if they later are affected by their semblance, they will no longer be able to recall the details from the photo or video. If a person who has already been affected by Stygia's semblance looks at a photo or video, they won't be able to acknowledge their existence in the medium, even if others point directly to them.

Their semblance works retroactively as well, if someone were to have known them since they were born and then was affected by their semblance after it had been awakened, they wouldn't be able to recall any identifying details about Stygia.

When Stygia is in the field of view of someone, they are not invisible, the affected mind just doesn't pay attention to the area where Stygia is and "sketches in" the details other than them. If Stygia were touch, move, or bump someone else while in their field of view, the affected would just think they bumped into someone else or chose to move in the way that Stygia made their move. Even if in an empty space, they might just rationalize it as them tripping or choosing themselves to suddenly stop. Likewise, anyone who saw someone bump into Stygia would rationalize it in the same way that the bumped person rationalize it. Any attempt to manipulate the affected person will be rationalized away.

Stygia's semblance doesn't work on themselves, thankfully, and they can see themselves when they look down, in a mirror, at a photo or watch themselves in a video. They can describe themselves to others but any physical descriptions won't be able to be recalled if they are affected by their semblance. Their power doesn't work over live video, unless the person on the other end has seen them in person before, and is the only real way to see Stygia face to face. Unfortunately, his also has limits, if the person is nearby Stygia they will still be affected by the semblance. This will all be erased if they meet in person, of course. They can still talk and communicate with others as long as they aren’t in their field of view but any mention of what they look like, if the person has already been affected by the semblance in the past, is essentially ignored by the brain.

Combat Behavior:  Before the awakening of their semblance, Stygia was a prime example of a close quarters combatant, fighting to get close and stay close. They would get in close and focus on swiping at openings and trying to hook away opponent’s weapons so they could get a shotgun blast in and force them further back.

Of course, with them so early in their combative career, they are still extremely inexperienced and that is basically all they know, anyone who was actually trained or grew up fighting would mop the floor with them.

They have not been able to attempt any sort of sparring since their semblance awakened.

WEAPON

Name: Headache


Primary Form: Headache is a singular name for a pair of lever-action shotgun splitting-hatchets, each measuring two and a half feet long. They can each be loaded from the underside of the hatchet and each can be loaded with three buckshot shells at a time. After the trigger is pulled and the buckshot is fired, the lever is flipped forward the empty shells is ejected off to the left or right depending on the hatchet and the next is ready to fire. The axe-heads themselves were specifically designed with a sharp curvature at the bottom so that they could be used to hook other weapons.

Dust Functions: Stygia was able to procure a very limited amount, only ten, of fire-kinetic mixture dust shells  in preparation for their first fight with Grimm. The fire-kinetic mixture turns the shotgun blast into significantly more of a handheld explosion at close range but it has an even shorter range than normal buckshot, reducing the normal 35 yard effective range to a 5 yard effective range.

History: Crafted their first year at Pharos, they had grown accustomed to chopping wood at the farm during the winter and it was an easy transition to making it a weapon.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2020, 11:52:23 PM by Dr. Gustave »
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Vox Machinae

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Re: Stygia Ariti
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2020, 08:46:51 AM »
Okay, nobody has weighed in yet, and there wasn't any opposition to what I said in the review channel. Fuck it, I'mma do some work.

Appearance:
Error Number: 0x80040707
DLL Function call crashed: GetHostnameDLL.GetHostname

Setup will now terminate.

Veteran leniency only goes so far. Do your appearance descriptions.

Aura and Semblance: Stygia's aura is Error and it shimmers Error. Their semblance is unnamed and significantly powerful. While before Stygia awakened their semblance their aura was very strong and useful for tanking heavy hits, whether because of a change in soul or because the semblance is constantly draining aura, their defenses now are very weak by comparison.

Their semblance does not allow for any other sentient thing to acknowledge Stygia, to consciously or subconsciously, as long as Stygia is in their field of view. It is unknown whether it not this affects Grimm but it does affect animals. As soon as Stygia moves outside of field of view they know that Stygia, or someone, was just in front of them but they won't be able to come up with any identifying details of Stygia other than it was a person and they were there a second ago. If Stygia re-enters their field of view then they once again are unable to acknowledge them.

If the affected person knows of Stygia then they will innately know it was Stygia that they saw but still not be able to come up with details, if they don't know Stygia then they will just feel like there was someone there a second ago.

The semblance partially works through pictures and videos, if someone who has never been affected by Stygia's semblance before sees a picture or video of them they will be able to acknowledge Stygia in the photo or video and be able to describe details. However, if they later are affected by their semblance, they will no longer be able to recall the details from the photo or video. If a person who has already been affected by Stygia's semblance looks at a photo or video, they won't be able to acknowledge their existence in the medium, even if others point directly to them.

Their semblance works retroactively as well, if someone were to have known them since they were born and then was affected by their semblance after it had been awakened, they wouldn't be able to recall any identifying details about Stygia.

When Stygia is in the field of view of someone, they are not invisible, the affected mind just doesn't pay attention to the area where Stygia is and "sketches in" the details other than them. If Stygia were touch, move, or bump someone else while in their field of view, the affected would just think they bumped into someone else or chose to move in the way that Stygia made their move. Even if in an empty space, they might just rationalize it as them tripping or choosing themselves to suddenly stop. Likewise, anyone who saw someone bump into Stygia would rationalize it in the same way that the bumped person rationalize it. Any attempt to manipulate the affected person will be rationalized away.

Stygia's semblance doesn't work on themselves, thankfully, and they can see themselves when they look down, in a mirror, at a photo or watch themselves in a video. They can describe themselves to others but any physical descriptions won't be able to be recalled if they are affected by their semblance. Their power doesn't work over live video, unless the person on the other end has seen them in person before, and is the only real way to see Stygia face to face. Unfortunately, his also has limits, if the person is nearby Stygia they will still be affected by the semblance. This will all be erased if they meet in person, of course. They can still talk and communicate with others as long as they aren’t in their field of view but any mention of what they look like, if the person has already been affected by the semblance in the past, is essentially ignored by the brain.

Mind-affecting semblances without saving throws are bad, mmm'kay?