Author Topic: Clara Meridiem  (Read 5245 times)

ReaperJoe

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Clara Meridiem
« on: March 08, 2019, 02:42:15 AM »
CHARACTER

Name: Clara Meridiem

Age: 17, born 2nd of Huā

Species and Gender: Female Human

Symbol:  A sword crossed with a staff.  Above it, a goblet pours out coins.  Below that is an infinity symbol.

Occupation: 1st Year Beacon Student

Appearance: Clara stands at 5’6” and has a slender build.  That is, save for her chest, which is rather ample to say the least.  She has dark, straight, shoulder-length hair, light blue eyes, and a tan complexion.  She has angular facial features, like her brother, though her lips are much less prone to frowning compared to his.

She wears a long, cyan, fitted coat that stretches down to her lower calves.  Underneath, she wears dark pants, a light blue blouse, and a pair of sleek boots.

History: Clara was born to two loving parents, a huntsman by the name of Lucien and a dust shop owner named Serena.  She also had an older brother named Lucas.  Unfortunately, her father died when she was very young, and as a result she has few memories of him. 

But many of her family’s friends did, and while she grew up she was constantly told stories of the courageous deeds her father performed and how much of a hero he was.  As a result, Clara grew up admiring her father, even though she never really knew him. 

However, her brother didn’t seem to share her opinion. For some reason, he seemed to hate their father, and Clara could never figure out why.  The two would argue almost daily, but, no matter how she tried, she could never convince Lucas of Lucien’s heroics.  Eventually, the two simply learned not to bring the subject up around each other.

Yet, this still didn’t sit well with the young girl, so she went to the only other person she could ask about her brother, her mother.  And Serena took the opportunity to introduce her daughter to her hobby of fortune telling.  She took out a deck of cards and rifled through them, before placing a card on the counter.

The card depicted an old man on a snow-covered peak with a staff in one hand and a lantern in the other.  Lucas, her mother would tell her, is The Hermit.  The Hermit represents solitude and wisdom, and his lantern acts as a guide post for those who are lost.  Lucas doesn’t travel the beaten path or follow conventional though, he forges his own path so that others can follow in his wake.

Naturally, after an explanation like that, Clara wanted to know what card she was, and her mother happily obliged.  For her daughter, Serena laid down a card depicting a man clad in red and white, standing before a table laden with various objects.  Clara was the magician, who was a master of the elements.  Her mother explained how Clara was talented and resourceful, how she could always find the right tool for the job. When she has a clear goal, there’s nothing that can stop her!

Her mother’s explanation was roundabout, but Clara gleaned insight from Serena’s readings, and would often come back to her for advice and to have her fortune read.  It was also thanks to her mother that she could make up with her brother, despite their differences.  She understood Lucas’s motivations a bit better, and she wasn’t absolutely shocked like her mother when he decided to attend combat school.

That being said, there was still an underlying ideological difference between them, and that difference only became more evident when Clara entered Sanctum.  She, like her brother, excelled in the classroom, and quickly proved to have a knack for manipulating dust.  Like her brother.  She found novel solutions to problems, and had little trouble thinking outside the box.  Like her brother.  She was constantly compared to her older brother, who had done incredibly well at preliminary combat school. It was frustrating, she felt like she was simply trying to escape her brother’s shadow.  Yet, the only thing she could do was simply live up to expectations.

Except for one area.  When given a tactical scenario wherein she was tasked with saving a group of civilians from a Grimm attack, she immediately chose to actively save the civilians from getting attacked, like her father.  It was the only class where she received a significantly lower grade than her brother.  She tried to impress on her teachers that she was defending people that couldn’t defend themselves, yet they would argue that she was merely putting herself in needless danger.  They told her what her brother would do, yet Clara could only see civilians left in danger while Lucas protected himself.

It was then that Clara finally decided she had had enough of living in her sibling’s shadow.  She wasn’t going to follow in his footsteps.  Instead of heading to Haven, where her brother would be constantly watching over her, she told her family she was going to study at Beacon.  Her mother was initially hesitant, but eventually relented, and Clara packed her bags for Vale to begin a story that hopefully wouldn’t be overshadowed by her brother.

Personality: Clara is a very intelligent woman, especially when it comes to dust.  At the same time,though, she can also be a bit empty-headed, and she’ll occasionally forget to eat if she’s engrossed in a project.

She’s also quite outgoing, and loves spending time with friends.  Those friends should be careful, though:  she might try to rope them into experiments, which can possibly lead to explosions.

Speaking of explosions, she gets a kick out of using her semblance.  If she launches an enhanced blast of fire dust at a pack of encroaching Grimm, she might yell obscenities at the monsters, or at the very least tell them to ”DIE!”

That being said, she’s generally cool-headed, even in the midst of battle (so long as she isn't thrown/forced into the midst of a heavy melee or under heavy fire).  As long as she has space to work with, she can be counted on to think for herself, which is a boon considering the variety of dust she keeps with her.  However, she can easily get flustered if she’s left in charge of an entire team, as there’s suddenly much, much more to consider in any given situation.

She also keeps a tarot deck with her in a small pouch, and she'll occasionally read her own fortune.  She might read other people's fortunes if she's close enough with them.

Aura and Semblance: Clara’s aura manifests in a cyan color.  Her aura level and control are typical for a student of her level.

Clara has named her semblance Burst!Burst!, in short, allows her to amplify the effects of the dust she uses in combat.  In more mechanical terms, she expends a “charge” in order to enhance the dust she’s using.  When the enhanced dust activates its effect, the effect is amplified (generally speaking, Burst! enhanced dust is three times more volatile).  What’s more, Clara can use her semblance on any dust she can get her hands on, so long as it isn’t protected by another individual’s aura.  However, if she tries to enhance a large amount of dust (say, an entire crate’s worth), there’s a significant chance the dust will activate immediately, causing potentially disastrous results.  Furthermore, she has to be close enough to touch the dust (or at least the container of dust) that she wishes to charge.  Because of this, Clara normally only uses her semblance on a small amount of her own dust reserves at a time.  (For mechanical clarity, if Clara uses her semblance on an amount of dust greater than 5% of her maximum reserve, the dust will almost certainly explode the moment it is enhanced.)

She can only use Burst! once every 30 seconds, however, and only about 10 times in an hour.

Whenever she’s about to use her semblance, her aura manifests and glows brightly, giving a clear sign to anyone watching as to what she’s about to do.  She has to channel her semblance like this for about three seconds, standing relatively still for the duration. However, once she completes the channel, she can “sit” on the charge for about 10 seconds before deploying the dust, if she chooses.  The cooldown begins once the charge has been expended, not when the initial channel completes.

Combat Behavior:  On the battlefield, Clara acts as a “blaster caster”, using dust to wreak havoc on enemies at medium to long range, be they human or Grimm.  With the variety of dust available to her, her tactics change depending on the situation:  she can choose to do as much damage as possible with fire dust, or she can decide to use ice dust to lock enemies in place.  If her team needs defensive cover, she can use earth dust to erect walls and barriers to block enemy attacks.  And this is only a short list of what she’s capable of.

Furthermore, she can add Burst! to her attacks, whose effects can easily shift the tide of battle in one fell swoop.  With her semblance, she can potentially do things like freeze an entire enemy team in place with ice dust, scatter a pack of Beowolves with wind dust, or just create a fiery blast by enhancing fire dust.

However, this versatility and power is reliant on dust.  In fact, all of Clara’s battle prowess is reliant on dust.  If she is deprived of dust, she’s stuck with nothing more than a glorified club and a soul-powered forcefield.

Even with dust, Clara’s fairly immobile.  She could use wind or kinetic dust to maneuver herself out of a pinch if she needs to, but if she’s constantly harried, she’ll crumble under the pressure.  Keep in mind she needs to stand still to activate her semblance.

Speaking of which, Clara’s semblance is powerful, but it comes with a hefty cooldown and a limited number of uses.  If she wastes a charge of Burst!, a huge chunk of her firepower is gone.  Furthermore, if an opponent manages to get up close, Burst! may be closed off as an option, as the enhanced effect may include her in the onslaught.

Finally, it’s worth noting that most of her dust-enhanced attacks will have a bit of wind-up (i.e., sparks coming out of the tip of the weapon when she prepares lightning dust, frost for ice dust, a flame for fire, etc.).  This can tell opponents what attack she’s planning on making before it’s fired, giving them more time to react.

WEAPON

Name: Torchlight

Primary Form: Torchlight is a staff that stands a little taller than Clara.  Near the top is a windowed, revolving cylinder with different chambers for her various types of dust.  Above the dust cylinder, the staff eventually comes to a sharp point, resembling a square pyramid.  This point isn’t sharp enough to be used as a spear, though the staff is durable enough to be used as a club if need be

Whenever Clara launches a dust attack with Torchlight in this form, she points the tip towards her intended target and the dust launches from there (think Weiss’s ranged attacks against the Nevermore in vol 1.), and has a max range of about 300ft.  Individual attacks use about 5% of her reserve of that particular dust type.

Primary Dust Functions:

Fire: When preparing a fire dust attack, the tip of Torchlight begins to glow red and ignite, before a red bead of energy is hurled out towards the intended destination.  On arrival, the bead explodes in a 10ft radius, dealing damage to those caught in the blast and setting flammable objects on fire.
With Burst!, the radius is increased to just under 20ft, and the damage is significantly increased.

Ice: When preparing an ice dust attack, the tip of Torchlight begins to accumulate frost, before a icy bead of energy is ejected from the tip.  Upon impact with an area, object, or creature, the bead explodes into an icy blast, causing whatever it hits to ice over. 
With Burst!, the radius of the ice blast is increased to about 15ft, and any ground affected by the blast becomes filled with icy spikes that can further impede movement.

Wind: When preparing wind dust, the tip of Torchlight starts to generate a small breeze, before a green bead of energy is shot out.  (Note: this wind up is difficult to see, giving it a small element of surprise)  When the bead detonates, a blast of wind knocks any nearby creatures or loose objects within 10 feet away from the center of the blast.  It doesn’t do much damage unless the blast knocks a creature into a wall, tree, or other obstacle.
With Burst!, the radius of the wind burst is increased to 20 feet, and the damage (both from the blast itself and from colliding with any potential obstacles) is also increased.

Lighting: When preparing lightning dust, the tip of Torchlight sparks with electrical energy.  However, instead of shooting out a bead of energy that detonates into a blast, a bolt fires out from the tip in a straight line, damaging the first thing it hits.  The bolt is very fast, difficult to dodge, and is effective at long range, making lightning dust a “go-to” option for Clara.
With Burst!, the bolt’s damage increases, and the bolt “arcs” to up to four nearby targets, dealing the same amount of damage.

Earth: When preparing earth dust, the tip of Torchlight seems to “leak” dirt for a brief moment, before a bead of brown energy is ejected.  When the bead detonates, a boulder is formed.  While landing the boulder could potentially do heavy damage if it connects, this dust is most often used defensively, usually to block off passages or create obstacles for Grimm to overcome.
With Burst!, the boulder is bigger.

Kinetic: Unlike every other type of dust, this dust has no unique wind-up.  This means the only warning opponents get that an attack is heading their way is the white bolt of energy coming towards them.  This bead is also fairly quick, and this combination of factors makes Kinetic another “go-to” dust type for Clara.  On hit, the dust does a decent amount of damage and knocks the target back.
With Burst!, the damage and knockback is increased.  This is the only dust type that is purely single-target.

Gravity: When preparing gravity dust, the tip of Torchlight glows purple for a brief moment before a bead of purple energy is hurled towards an intended destination.  On arrival, the bead pulls everything within 10ft directly towards it.  The effectiveness of this pull depends on the weight of the creature.  The pull itself does not do any damage, though any collisions that occur as a result of the pull might.
With Burst!, the range of the pull extends to a 20ft radius, and the force of the pull increases.

Secondary Form: The tip of Torchlight opens up, revealing a “Dust-thrower”.  Like the primary form, there’s a bit of a wind up before the thrower activates.  Also, while Burst! can enhance the potency of the thrower for a short time (generally 1 round or 5 seconds), the thrower can continuously spew dust for as long as there are resources to fuel it.  The thrower generally only reaches a max range of 15 feet though, and Clara’s semblance does not extend the thrower’s range.

Secondary Dust Functions:

Fire:  Before the thrower activates, the tip begins to glow red and small flames may ignite.  Pretty much acts as a typical flamethrower.

Ice:  Before the thrower activates, the tip begins to accumulate frost.  After activation, the thrower spews ice particles, which can quickly freeze over enemies and objects that stay in the cone for an extended period of time.

Wind:  Before fully activating, opponents will feel wind start to pick up within the cone.  During activation, anything within the cone will get blasted back.  At the same time, Clara can use this to blast herself in the opposite direction, making this a useful escape tool.

Lightning:  The thrower will spark with electricity as the thrower warms up until it finally starts to project bolts of electricity.

Earth: The thrower will initially start to leak dirt during warm up.  However, once in full swing, the thrower will spew “liquid earth” that quickly solidifies into a solid form.  Useful for creating more intricate defensive barriers if the need arises.

Gravity:  The thrower will glow purple during the warm up phase.  Once fully warmed up, the thrower will pull everything within the cone towards Clara.  This is useful in the occasion Clara needs to pull a teammate or civilian out of harms way, though she could end up pulling enemies toward her as well.

History: Torchlight was built during Clara’s time at Sanctum.  The overall design was based off of her father’s weapon, though the dust thrower and the cylinder more closely resemble her brother’s weapon.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2019, 02:32:05 PM by ReaperJoe »
Smokey Emberstone Beacon 1st Year and the Immovable Gunslinger of Team DASE "I've got more than enough firepower to beat you" "You've only got one bullet!" "Like I said, more than enough"

Aurelia Lumen Beacon 3rd year and the Warhorse of Team (TBD)  "Lay down your weapons, lest you wish to taste my steel!"

Wabul "Toast" Paka Shade 1st year and the Acrobatic Swashbuckler of Team (TBD)  "Hey, I'm gonna go jump off a bridge, who's with me?"

Lucas Meridiem Beacon 1st year and the Hermit of Team CLVS  "What's so great about 'bittersweet'?"

Clara Meridiem Beacon 1st year and the Blast Magician of Team (TBD) "No one likes just plain ol' bitter"

August Flare Beacon 1st year and the would-be ruler of the world "Join me, and witness the Brightest Future!"

Hexcodes:
515151
FFD700
E55812
CCE9AE
Cyan
FFA400

Kingnoname1

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Re: Clara Meridiem
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2019, 02:32:02 PM »
My favourite thing about female character profiles is how people describe their character's tits, it's always amusing.

On to the profile itself, I do feel there are a few contradictions that need to be ironed out first. 1). Clara is supposed to be quite 'cool-headed' in combat, outside of leadership situations, but she also seems to lose her cool quickly when pursued which you could imagine would happen a lot since Clara isn't exactly specialised in close combat. 2). 15 seconds isn’t a huge cooldown and definitely not an overly long one considering it allows Clara to ‘freeze an entire enemy team’ in one application.

Also, I feel that this character is likely to have number problems as the possible cap of ‘a crate’ leaves a lot of room for devastating amounts of damage multiplied by three.
No criticism is too harsh so hit me with your best shot.

Calen Shrike - ASTC - First Year Beacon.

Saffron de Cortez - SALT - Third Year Atlas.

Amarant Lovis - (formerly of)ACCE - Headmaster of Atlas Academy

Ramalia - RASB - First Year Shade

ReaperJoe

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Re: Clara Meridiem
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2019, 03:05:51 PM »
Listen, I wanted a big tiddy goth gf, don't knock her knockers

Regarding point 1, I added a bit to clarify that she's cool-headed as long as she's given adequate space to work with.  She'll be a bit more panicky if actively harassed.  For Point 2, I doubled the cooldown on her semblance, it was a bit short.

Regarding the "cap", Burst! technically doesn't have one, but if she uses anything more than 5% of her total dust reserve at a time, the dust will probably explode in her face.  So, yes, she can triple the explosive force of a dust crate, but she'll also get caught up in the blast.
Smokey Emberstone Beacon 1st Year and the Immovable Gunslinger of Team DASE "I've got more than enough firepower to beat you" "You've only got one bullet!" "Like I said, more than enough"

Aurelia Lumen Beacon 3rd year and the Warhorse of Team (TBD)  "Lay down your weapons, lest you wish to taste my steel!"

Wabul "Toast" Paka Shade 1st year and the Acrobatic Swashbuckler of Team (TBD)  "Hey, I'm gonna go jump off a bridge, who's with me?"

Lucas Meridiem Beacon 1st year and the Hermit of Team CLVS  "What's so great about 'bittersweet'?"

Clara Meridiem Beacon 1st year and the Blast Magician of Team (TBD) "No one likes just plain ol' bitter"

August Flare Beacon 1st year and the would-be ruler of the world "Join me, and witness the Brightest Future!"

Hexcodes:
515151
FFD700
E55812
CCE9AE
Cyan
FFA400

Kingnoname1

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Re: Clara Meridiem
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2019, 06:30:58 AM »
In that case, I'd like you to be a little clearer then about the limits of Clara's semblance, there is a big difference between 5% of her capacity and a crate or at least I hope so.

Other than that no real issues.
No criticism is too harsh so hit me with your best shot.

Calen Shrike - ASTC - First Year Beacon.

Saffron de Cortez - SALT - Third Year Atlas.

Amarant Lovis - (formerly of)ACCE - Headmaster of Atlas Academy

Ramalia - RASB - First Year Shade

ReaperJoe

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Re: Clara Meridiem
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2019, 01:10:26 PM »
Added a quick sentence clarifying the limit
Smokey Emberstone Beacon 1st Year and the Immovable Gunslinger of Team DASE "I've got more than enough firepower to beat you" "You've only got one bullet!" "Like I said, more than enough"

Aurelia Lumen Beacon 3rd year and the Warhorse of Team (TBD)  "Lay down your weapons, lest you wish to taste my steel!"

Wabul "Toast" Paka Shade 1st year and the Acrobatic Swashbuckler of Team (TBD)  "Hey, I'm gonna go jump off a bridge, who's with me?"

Lucas Meridiem Beacon 1st year and the Hermit of Team CLVS  "What's so great about 'bittersweet'?"

Clara Meridiem Beacon 1st year and the Blast Magician of Team (TBD) "No one likes just plain ol' bitter"

August Flare Beacon 1st year and the would-be ruler of the world "Join me, and witness the Brightest Future!"

Hexcodes:
515151
FFD700
E55812
CCE9AE
Cyan
FFA400

Kingnoname1

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Re: Clara Meridiem
« Reply #5 on: March 12, 2019, 04:55:39 AM »
OK, I'm happy enough with this. +1.
No criticism is too harsh so hit me with your best shot.

Calen Shrike - ASTC - First Year Beacon.

Saffron de Cortez - SALT - Third Year Atlas.

Amarant Lovis - (formerly of)ACCE - Headmaster of Atlas Academy

Ramalia - RASB - First Year Shade

nathan67003

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Re: Clara Meridiem
« Reply #6 on: March 12, 2019, 02:33:45 PM »
Looked it over a bit on Discord, modifications were made as asked. Can't personally see anything else I can nitpick without actually nitpicking.

+1
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