Name: Calico



Apparent Age: Frequently assumed to be in her teens, and is therefore often treated as such. In reality, she’s in her early twenties.

Gender: Female

Nation: Grado

Class: Shaman

Weapon Mastery: D

Level: 2

Background: Everyone in Calico’s family has been in the service industry. Her mother, Camilia, is a maid. Her father, Klaus, is a butler. Heck, even her younger brother Kiel works as a stable boy at the palace. Calico knows what an honor it is to have a position as a serving girl in the palace, but she’s been working at the palace for as long as she can remember, and honestly? She’s never been particularly assertive, but she dreams of a life where she doesn’t have to curtsey to everyone she passes in the hallway.

As a young girl, Calico was considerably more headstrong, often sneaking out of the palace at night to meet with her best friend: Aiden, the gardener’s son. However, one night, they ran into a thief attempting to steal a rather expensive bust of Emperor Rioga. They rather foolishly attempted to intervene, but since both of them lacked any combat experience whatsoever, they were pretty much useless. By the end of the encounter, Aiden was badly wounded, and a guard (named Vincent) who had come running when he heard the commotion was killed in the scuffle. Traumatised by the experience, Calico quickly withdrew from Aiden’s company and became extremely wary of danger. Despite this, she still secretly longs for adventure.

After experiencing complete helplessness at the hands of the thief, Calico quickly developed an interest in dark magic and shamanism. With the help of the expansive castle library, she began to practice magic in secret. Though she never really spoke to Aiden again, with the confidence that her newfound magical abilities gave her, she quickly began to excel at her job… until Jehanna invaded Grado, of course.

Plot-Susceptive: Yes!

Equipment and Items:
Flux (x1)
Vulnerary (x1)

Personality: Despite her tendency to be slightly reserved, Calico is generally a friendly and cheerful person. Growing up as a servant girl, Calico has been raised to strongly respect any kind of nobility or royalty. She is extremely cautious in almost every aspect of her life, and tends to play it safe more often than not. She would much rather kill off an enemy from far away than engage in actual, direct combat, for example, and tends to shy away from making any kind of confrontation in her personal life.

Ability Assessment: In terms of stats, Calico is heavily magic and defense based. As a very cautious person, Calico hates to take risks and therefore strives to minimize the damage that she takes. She has very mediocre speed: as a fairly unathletic person, while she’s not afraid to move quickly, the fact of the matter is that she simply does not run very fast. Her physical strength is appalling, and her clumsiness means that her skill stat is also kind of pathetic. For these reasons, she tends to rely on tomes, and won’t even consider using anything else. She very much prefers attacking from a distance (or at least while standing behind someone else), because she’s a little afraid of direct combat, but she’ll do it if she has to. Maybe.

Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other:
- Despite being a serving girl, she’s actually incredibly clumsy. How does she avoid spilling things on people? Some very cleverly used dark magic, of course.
- She's terrified of chickens. Once, in her younger days, she and Aiden snuck into a farm with the intention of seeing a newborn cow. However, they were attacked by a particularly fierce hen, and were forced to flee.
- Calico is strangely stoic in the face of all manner of evil spirits, black magic and insects. However, this is perhaps slightly less surprising when one considers the fact that she’s a secretly practicing shaman. It’s impossible to freak her out with a ghost story, unless it involves chickens.
- She can't sing to save her life. In fact, her singing is rumoured to sound like the dying wails of a thousand tortured souls.

R-button Summarization: A friendly young serving girl from Grado with a secret fondness for dark magic.

Name:
Archibald

Appearance:

Standing at 6' 0" with emerald gentle eyes and sandy brown hair framing a handsome face, Archibald's is seemingly locked into a relaxed smile at all times. His long hair cascades over his right eye, and indeed, the majority of the right side of his face, giving him a mysterious, if somewhat unkept air about him, almost as if he's hiding something... Wearing a mix of form fitting linen underclothing, leather straps and pads and animal furs under a forest green cloak, it takes little wonder to guess what his home environment is. A tattered black and red bracer over his left arm protects it from his own bowstring while weathered brown leather boots afford him comfortable movement.

Apparent Age:
Early twenties teenager

Gender:
Male

Nation:
Lawless, but Grado.

Class:
Archer

Weapon Mastery:
Bows: C

Level:
4

Background:
Most people would call Archibald a bandit, a thief, a scoundrel, an urchin, and all other manner of unsavoury names, and yet others would call him a saint, a saviour and a hero. He himself considers himself none of these, simply a person going through life trying to make it better for others...by redistributing the wealth of other people. Among Grado's officials and investigation force, his name is a byword for poaching, and yet he is low on the priority list. This is most likely due to the fact that compared to the other roaming bands of bandits out there, Archibald and his merry misfits are relatively peaceful, having caused extremely few human casualties in their operations. While it may seem that he simply does this out of the kindness of his heart, he actually does this as a form of petty spite.

Years ago, Grado underwent a famine which hit specific areas harder than others. With each county ruled by a lord or an equivalent, they were meant to send relief supplies out to sustain the outlying villages as they attempted to resow the failed harvest. Only, it didn't happen. For days Archibald's village waited for the telltale clacking of a horsedrawn cart but the roads remained clear and silent. People starved in the streets and in their homes, resorting to eating rodents and poisonous weeds. Finally, having had enough, Archibald's father took him to the big city to ask for aid, his father confident in the better side of mankind. What they saw in the Lord's castle instantly crushed all hope. A corpulent blob was seated on the velvet throne, mocking all those who appealed to him, throwing half chewed bones at him and his father as they pleaded. The area around the castle was lush and filled with pheasants and the like. And yet he refused to send supplies. Disheartened, he and his father left for the village once more to deliver the news.

Headstrong and unwilling to accept this, Archibald snuck out one night with his father's bow and entered the lord's forest during the darkest time. Avoiding the torchlight of the guards, he proceeded to poach not one, not two but three pheasants, shooting them out of their roosts in the treetops. Growing greedy, he approached his fourth only to have a hand reach out and grab his back firmly. In less than a second he felt a searing brand slap him across the face, searing hsi flesh and melting it like wax. Though he screamed, the pain didn't stop. The guard drew a dagger to finish the poacher off but as he slashed Archibald pivoted, the blade running through his cheek and scoring his eyelids before slicing off a portion of his face, leaving him permanently disfigured. Leaving with two pheasants in hand, he stumbled away into the forest, blood dripping down his mutilated head.

When he returned home he came upon the realisation that he would most likely be hunted and, knowing the personality of their lord, would most likely have his entire village be executed for his actions. Leaving the two pheasants at his parent's door, he stole some bandages and proceeded to steal his way into the night. Come morning, he inspected the damage to his face. The right cheek was almost entirely missing, revealing a disturbing rictus grin and the white of bone. His eye bore a vertical scar that almost bisected both of his eyelids, with his sclera turning red from damage. In short, he looked like a terrifying daemon out of his village's storybooks. Committing himself to exile, Archibald accepted that he would never look normal again...but he could make the ones who made him like this pay. Gathering a group of like-minded people, they began to raid forests and farms owned by selfish lords, redistributing the food to those less fortunate. Covering the mutilated side of his face, he began to become something of a folk hero to the local villages who were just starting to recover from the famine, and a pain in the arse to the local garrisons.

Fast forward to current time and Archibald has become a giant prick in the side of Grado's aristocrats who regularly have caravans raided at bowpoint. Half of the wealth is removed and given to the less fortunate. Unable to ignore the plight of the downtrodden, Archibald bears a distinct hatred of nobility and the like, even more so when they are unable to defend themselves.

Plot-Susceptive:
Yes

Equipment and Items:
Iron Bow X 1
Vulnerary X 1
Door Key X 1

Personality:
Archibald can best be described as a lazy free spirit. Carefree and easy going, he would rather nap in the bough of a tree than chase a caravan...and yet he chases it for the benefit of others. He does whatever he likes to do whenever he wants to regardless of social conformity, whether it be patting a fair maiden on the head as he passes or kneeing a particularly annoying lordling in the groin as he berates the 'bandit' for taking his dowry. And then, of course, his personality shifts if he parts his hair the opposite way. Becoming a demonic force with the fury of a snake pit, his arrows seem to grow barbs as he fires, leaving his enemies squirming in agony. Thankfully he tends not to do this for fear of ruining his image and seems to be a voluntary shift more than anything else.

Ability Assessment:
As a skilled archer, Archibald has high skill with his bow, allowing him to pick out, hit and eliminate targets with precision. Factor in his speed and you have an efficient long range assassin capable of felling any foe not wearing a suit of plate armor. Of course, Archibald is not a jack of all trades. With low defense and resistance, Archibald is something of a glass cannon, and with his right eye covered he actually has a very narrow field of vision, but anything within that field is very likely about to be peppered with arrows. This means taht Archibald usually enjoys company to watch his back.

Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other:
- He's a boy in his early teens...he's quite interested in the opposite gender, but most usually run away when they push his hair aside. However, he must admit that he does enjoy terrifying his friends and new recruits alike. (Note: Actually quite shy when interacting with the opposite gender)
- Has voluntary bipolar
- Enjoys chewing a sweet, sticky resin that hardens into a gum that is found in trees native to Grado. Has a jar of this resin in his pouch
- Dislikes authorities and authoritarian characters, particularly nobility.
- Speaks with a lazy drawl
- A little scared of the occult. By a little I mean he's terrified of ghosts and the like

R-button Summarization:
A friendly poacher who wanders around Grado with his merry band of bandits. Has a hidden dark side.

Name: Ret




Age: Looks to be in his early 30s.

Gender: Male

Nation: Villager, Caer Pelyn

Class: Mage

Weapon Skill: Anima Magic D

Level: 3



Ability assessment:

Personality:

Plot Susceptive?: Indeed.

Items and equipment: Thunder (labeled "Retario's Forecaster")
Vulnerary (tinctured herbs)

Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Others:

R-Summarization: A Mage from the rural mountains of Caer Pelyn, uncivillized yet seemingly the honorable sort.

Name:
Lexa

Apparent Age:
Late teens, although her slightly small stature and the remnants of baby fat in her cheeks make her seem a bit younger. She remains hopeful for a very belated growth spurt.

Gender:
Female

Nation:
Frelia

Class:
Pegasus Knight

Weapon Mastery:
Lance - D

Level:
2

Background:
It was the castle stables of Frelia she called home. Lexa had parents once upon a time, but they had long since succumbed to the temptations of irresponsibility. That is to say, they abandoned Lexa after they realized she would be doing nothing but drain their already meager resources for quite some time. She had only been six years old then. At the very least, her parents had been strategic about where they left her. As shoddy peddlers, they have swindled their fair share of the Frelian population, and they came to know which were amongst the most gullible. It just so happened that the royal stable boy topped that list, and it was with him that they left their precious daughter—in their defense, they loved their daughter dearly, just not as much as they loved gold.

And so their plan came into fruition. The soft-hearted stable boy found Lexa in the stables, playing with the pegasi, a note clipped onto her dress describing her circumstance (it read: please watch over little Alexandra. thanks.). He took her in immediately, just as her parents expected, and with many of the castle staff pitching in to help, he would raise her as his own.

It didn't take long before Lexa became an honorary servant of the castle. She mainly helped at the stables, where her affinity for animals worked wonders with the pegasi, but she also liked to poke her nose about the castle. It was like an entirely different world, she thought, full of wonder and glamour. Lexa mooned over princes and kings who sparkled in her eyes and marveled at the grace of the princesses and queens. When she was younger, she had even taken to following Princess Natalia wherever she went, often with a barrage of questions at hand. The princess found a confidante in her, and they talked about everything. Lexa loved hearing about her escapades with the princes, and often wondered who it was, if it ever came to it, she would end up with.

Surprisingly, there was one person that she came to idolize even more than the sparkly royalty she loved so much. The Captain of the Pegasus Knights was incomparable in her eyes. She was not of noble descent, but she might as well be. As graceful as a rose with her winning smile and gentle nature, but not without her thorns. She often saw her at the castle, and for the longest time, she even mistook her for the queen. Lexa sought to emulate her, and it was no one's surprise when one day, she theatrically announced that she would enroll in the training academy.

Her first assignment as an official Frelian Pegasus Knight was to escort a court emissary to Grado Keep. It was supposed to be easy: they would be in and out within a day. She couldn't have known there would soon be entirely different problems at hand.

Plot-Susceptive:
Yes yes yes!

Equipment and Items:
- Slim Lance
- Goddess Icon

Personality:
If someone were to bottle sunshine, what they would have is the very essence of one blonde pegasus knight. Lexa is an unflinching starry-eyed dreamer who will find a silver lining where there is none, even if she has to make it herself. She thinks anything and everything is possible so long as one is willing to work hard and push through all the way. Unabashedly herself, Lexa is also genuine to the point that it may actually cause secondhand embarrassment. She's the type that can say the sappiest thing without batting an eyelash, and wholeheartedly mean it, too. Lexa also tends to get swept up in the moment, which usually doesn't bode well for anyone involved. Giving a stirring speech in the beginning of a battle is probably the best way to up her motivation by 200%, and it doesn't even matter if it makes sense.

But make no mistake: just because she smiles like an idiot doesn't mean she is one. At least not completely. Lexa is passionate and resourceful; once she sets out to do something, it's as good as guaranteed, even though the way she goes about them is probably quite unorthodox.

Ability Assessment:
With her small and slight frame, Lexa doesn't exactly pack the strongest punch. She isn't the sturdiest of people either, and a couple of powerful blows can easily knock the wind out of her. This makes her a rather vulnerable target, and it's only exacerbated by the fact that she's flippant in the face of danger and tends to heedlessly swoop in the thick of battle.

On the flipside, Lexa is extremely fast. Her boundless energy is never more apparent than when she's zooming through the skies. She and her companion move in the air with nigh perfect synchronicity, almost as though they're extensions of each other. The trust between them is palpable and both are willing to risk their lives for each other. Quick on her feet, but even quicker on her pegasus, she relies on agility and natural skill to dodge blows and get in as many hits as she can. She has an innately high tolerance for magic as well, and is able to withstand a great amount.

Quirks/Talents/Aspirations/Other:
- Lexa met her constant companion the day she was abandoned. Of all the pegasi in the stables, only one had not taken an immediate liking to her. In fact, the ebony fledgling seemed to have outright despised her. Nightmare, as he was so aptly named, had taken to bullying her. He was disobedient to begin with, but he'd never been as downright evil as he was with Lexa. Their relationship was wrought with rivalry and tussles that always ended with her littered in bruises, but at the end of the day, there was no one Nightmare responded to besides Lexa. What's more, every time she was in some sort of trouble, it was always Nightmare that came to her rescue.

- As everyone who knows her can attest to, Lexa is a hopelessly hopeless romantic prone to falling hard and quick. Among her ever-growing list of people she's attracted to is the charming Sky King, the King of Red Sands (but she had to put him on a time out because of his recent actions), the Frelian blacksmith with the most dazzling smile ever, and sourpuss extraordinaire, General Nero (she'd only seen him once, but she liked his frowny face).

- Animals seem to like her a lot. It's probably because she's so simpleminded.

- She has absolutely no sense of direction on land. It's too different from when she's in the sky.

R-button Summarization:
A jaunty young pegasus knight from Frelia. Often has her head in the clouds.