cerealia app

[enlightning]

Applicant Info

◎ Name: Kaito
◎ Journal: kaito
◎ Contact: kaitodoushi or PM

Character Info

◎ Character's Name: Yuan Ka-Fai
◎ Character's Canon: Tales of Symphonia
◎ Character's Age: 4000+
◎ Canon Point: While Lloyd's group was getting ready to infiltrate the Tower of Salvation and go to Welgaia for the mana fragment.
◎ Background/History: Written by me, but here.
◎ Is the character a hacker and/or do they have a sixth-sense? No to both!

◎ Personality: The first thing most people spot in Yuan is a strong bad attitude. From complaining about helping humans during his travels with Mithos to him clarifying that helping Lloyd's group didn't mean he was their friend, he's often pessimistic when it comes to other people. This is likely related to his experiences growing up as a half-elf in a world that heavily discriminated against them, though his negativity isn't limited to just humans. Yuan's given reason to join Mithos was to "prove his hypocrisy", and he later admits to Lloyd his initial dislike of the Yggdrasills attitudes such as finding Martel's altruism cloying. He appears to keep most others at a distance, which would be why he had a very calm and business-like reaction to his right-hand Renegade Botta's death in front of Lloyd's group. Additionally, he can be very condescending to others. When Lloyd finally draws an accurate conclusion about one of his explanations, he directly tells the boy he's not as stupid as he seems.

After all of this, it may be a bit surprising that another common quick observation about Yuan is that he's a good leader. The feat of making captain in Sylvarant's army despite his race is good evidence alone, but there's even more to illustrate just how skilled he is. He managed to be a leader in two secret organizations while one was trying to stop the other, and of course there are reasons why he's capable of this. Yuan is very confident in his abilities and ideas. If something doesn't go his way, like after losing his battle to Lloyd, brief surprise is quickly replaced by talk of looking at different ways to fulfill his goals. He's also able to plan things well in advance. Considering the Renegades existed for 800 years and he had been disagreeing with Mithos long before that, most of his major moves were easily given much careful consideration. At least to Lloyd, he also only gives as much explanation as is necessary to see to it that it gets done. Many inquiries for more details are dismissed as being unimportant by him during the game. He is also the sort who won't let much get in the way of his goals. Yuan has admittedly tried to manipulate people, such as when he explained why Rodyle was making the Mana Cannon. Some of his tactics can be quite ruthless, from taking hostages to assassination attempts. He even tried to emotionally beat down Kratos outside of Altessa's house by blaming Anna's fate on him, all the while ready to physically strike him down if he wouldn't comply.

As dark as he's beginning to sound, one of his real major aspects is growing clearer. Yuan is incredibly stubborn and this shows up in a variety of ways. He's a very hard worker who doesn't quit easily, and given all the circumstances he would have to be in order to do as well as he manages to. This, of course, can get him into trouble. He was too focused on being able to get mana to the Great Seed to listen to Kratos' warnings that it would go out of control once its protection was gone, for example. But it also serves as a major reason that despite so many hardships and setbacks in his long life, he still won't give up. He can bounce back from failed plans very smoothly as alluded to before. A very good instance is after he learns Mithos knows of his connection to the Renegades. Shortly after that he founds ways to help Lloyd's group, who were by then his best hope of saving Martel.

This is now starting to get us into the creamy center of Yuan's bitter outer shell. Despite his attitude and questionable tactics, he really just wants to make things better. This also stands out in many ways. While he will kill when he needs to, he's just as willing to find ways to assist people as need be. In the scenes revealed in Tales of Fandom 2, we see him easily agree to have Kate escorted safely once Kratos complies with him. Much earlier than that, he grew to care about Mithos' group and supported their ideals of a discrimination-free world. His aforementioned stubbornness led him to doggedly complain about things like helping humans, but his companions could tell that he did want to do something to aid them. The love he developed for Martel could be the biggest contributor in his decisions to save and better the world, though. It's very evident that his work against Cruxis was for the sake of what he knew she really wanted and to end her suffering. Botta even caught on to this, as his final statement was that she needed to be given her eternal rest "for Yuan's sake as well."

With so many emotionally charged factors coming into light, now is probably a good time to note that Yuan is actually terrible at managing his stronger emotions. Initially he tried to hide his affection for Martel, but would quickly agree to her every whim even if he had just expressed his opinion against it. The situation was horribly clear to Kratos and Mithos, and the latter noted how much Yuan stinks at hiding his feelings. Most notably, he has particular trouble with his temper and is prone to snapping at people once he's annoyed. This becomes a further issue because it also makes him more likely to blurt out whatever he's thinking even if he wanted to hide it. When Colette tried to guess what Yuan was searching for, he became so frustrated by her bizarre ideas that he unintentionally confessed it was a ring.

On that note, his lack of stoicism does have some endearing affects on him. The ring was his old engagement ring to Martel, and he was willing to beg Lloyd to return it because it meant so much to him. While his plans to save her included defeating Mithos and killing Kratos, Yuan doesn't show as much animosity as one might expect toward them. When he had a prime opportunity to take out Kratos after Anna's death and Lloyd's disappearance, he couldn't bring himself to take it. His reaction to Mithos' initial demise shown in Tales of Fandom 2 is not one of joy, but has tones of regret and wondering what the idealistic boy of the past would say. Finally, he went so far as the save Kratos from the very death he'd sought before by giving him some of his own mana in a risky move that could have left both of them dead.

So really, Yuan manages to get beyond of all that anger and pessimism bubbling at the surface to function as a resourceful and arguably respectable person. He himself seems to go from an initial wariness to trusting those who deserve it. As illustrated by several points above, once you've earned that trust, it doesn't easily waver. It's gone badly for him like his initial support of Mithos after Martel was killed. For the most part, however, all of it makes this negative guy a positive influence on the world around him.

◎ Powers/Abilities: Yuan is a highly trained fighter and is very skilled at using his large double-ended sword. He has leadership abilities, as well. His time as a captain during the Kharlan War as well as being both a Seraphim in Cruxis and the leader of the Renegades exhibit this.

His Cruxis Crystal also makes him an angel, giving him purple mana wings that he can use to fly when he chooses to show them. Like most angels, he has enhanced strength, eyesight, and hearing while having incredibly less need to eat or sleep. He uses a special skill that slowed the aging of his body to allow himself to live for over 4000 years.

As both a half-elf and an angel, Yuan is capable of many magical attacks. However, he has never been seen using any angelic skills in battle, which means that although he likely can perform at least some, he chooses not to. The rest of his natural abilities focus around using lightning-based magic. He is able to use Thunder Blade, Lightning, Lightning Thrust, and Indignation. He also has two unique attacks, Thunder Explosion and Lightning Havoc which is too special to get a wiki page. Basically that one consists of him driving his weapon into the ground which causes lightning to shoot up in a straight line ahead of him for a yard or two (because that's totally how lightning works). In cutscene sprites, he is also shown making orbs of lightning in his palm that he can send outward toward a target.

Finally, just a note about something that might be taken as a power. Canon is very vague on the details of where Yuan's weapon comes from. In the games, he is typically not shown carrying it and whenever he needs to have it he just does with no explanation. The animation had him make the weapon appear almost like a hammerspace ability, and while that's not quite canon, the game actually contains a hammerspace explanation item called a Wing Pack. It's only used to cart around large means of transportation by the party, but the technology could theoretically carry over and may have existed during the Kharlan War when society was more advanced than they are during the time of the game. I've decided to go with this explanation, so that isn't a power just in case it confuses anyone.

◎ Weapons & Other Special Inventory:
- A wing pack containing his huge double-ended sword
- His Cruxis Crystal
- A very old and worn engagement ring
- One of his communication devices
- One Lemon Gel
- One Melange Gel

CEREALIA-Specific

◎ Element: Fire
◎ Sense: Sight. This isn't because his eyesight is much better than average, but because most of his actions are based on seeing out the world his companions had originally envisioned during the Kharlan War.
◎ Seven Character Traits: + (devoted, resourceful, confident) | - (temperamental, negative, withdrawn) | +/- (stubborn)

Samples

◎ First-Person Sample: Test drive post with threads, plus threads here and here.
◎ Third-Person Sample: I already play Alex from Golden Sun.
◎ Is your character retaining any previous game memories? No.