Name: Cadenza Ovatra D’Concerto [“Donna Toro”]
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Appearance: 'Sup?Personality: If there was a poster child for “hot-headedness” Cadenza would be a strong contender for the title. With a mind that runs at miles a minute, Cadenza comes across brash and impulsive, jumping into the fray with little to no evident forethought or planning. Though most of the time her “fight first, talk later” ideology seems to work itself out to the best results, it has a propensity to create backlashes amid more delicate situations. In the heat of conflict and combat, she follows quick-thinking, improvisational style, and generally has the wits and psychological fortitude to engage multiple opponents up close.
She can be short-fused, easily rallied to action as one seeking conflict might be. If one can restrain her physically, talking her down becomes a manageable task. But, if she is allowed gain momentum, the prospect of pulling her back into a docile becomes significantly more unlikely. Once engaged into a the midst of an altercation, Cadenza is unlikely to back away unless she either emerges victorious or is rendered incapacitated… or worse.
Though her physical appearance may be less than impressive to the naked eye, her raw vitality and fiery disposition tend to make up any lost ground, and then some. She abounds with an excess of pride and self-confidence, which, when she’s on the up and up, provides her a formidable advantage. Yet, as with many good things, too much can be problematic. Her confidence has a glass-canon element, being handily shattered in the moments during which real adversity and defeat hits. As such, it often takes Cadenza a longer period to psychologically recover when an endeavor doesn’t pan out in her favor.
Brief Backstory: Cadenza grew up close to the hostilities between Embria and the Alvadian Empire, specifically at the Embria-Alvad border, where the coalition of resistance fighters from Imperial lands and the standing armies of Embria centered the command for its counter-offensives. Her father, Solo D’Concerta, was among the ranks of the resistance, and reasonably respected among the Embrians and resistance fighters that knew him; such was his reputation that the Embrian military honorarily bestowed upon him the rank of Sergeant.
Cadenza lived with her father within a militant community, which the residents of simply referred to as “The Compound.” In her time there, Cadenza absorbed much of the combatant lifestyle. Whether through her father, other residents, or the occasional drifter, she developed a knack and a passion for fighting that just about only someone raised by fighters could have. As a youth, she would play war games with other children on The Compound; as a teenager, she would tag along with her father to observe military training exercises.
The war came to an end just as Cadenza began arranging to join her father in the war efforts, getting so far as to equip herself with weapons and armaments. Disappointed in the missed opportunity, she argued with her father, until, after a course of nearly a month, she relented to his directive to return home and assist the rebuilding effort.
During the following five years, Cadenza spent much of the daylight hours playing the role of homemaker, repairing both the house she and her father had once lived in and those in the surrounding community. By night, however, she found a stand-in for her itch for fighting in the form of an underground combat ring, within which she competed in (often excessively violent) matches against both young adults with similar backgrounds to herself and younger ex-militants looking to feed their conditioned proclivity for bloodshed. In a fashion not unlike her father, she garnered the respect of the ring, being dubbed by her innermost circle as “Donna Toro.”
Solo was rarely home, having dedicated his post-war life to mercenary work with the goal of ensuring stability as the newly formed Republic of Alvad established itself. His visits home were brief, and Cadenza often saw him only once or twice: as he arrived, and just before he departed. He knew nothing of Cadenza’s double life.
However, nearly five years into the post-war era, Cadenza received troubling news: her father had been mortally wounded by Imperial sympathizers while in the line of his mercenary duties. Distraught and angered, Cadenza caught the first transport she could to her father’s station. Her itinerary was short, simple, and sweet: paying her last respects, taking up her father’s mantle, and exercises hard justice on those responsible for putting her father on his deathbed.
Skills: Cadenza is a survivalist to the extent that she has conditioned herself to perform optimally for extend periods of time off between sustenance; she go longer than the average person between eating or drinking water. Her true forte, however, is in her aptitude for combat, particularly at close range. She’s dexterous, strong, and resilient, particularly when faced with physical assaults; intensive magical onslaughts prove to be a significant adversity, as do ranged assaults if she cannot quickly close the gap.
Abilities: Cadenza has tapped into her inner vitality to bolster a baseline of enhanced physical performance. Her developed magical prowess revolves around spells that further draw upon her fighting spirit. “Haste” improves aspects of her speed of mobility; “Gain” increases her attack strength. She is further able to impart her spirit and will unto those around her through “Cheer.”
Limit: Battle Cry – Vicious Strike; an instantaneous, and short-lived outflux of strength and speed propels Cadenza with ludicrous speed towards an unfortunate adversary. The resulting blow is enough to cause fatal damage to weaker foes, typically defeating them in a single hit; when used against near-human sized enemies, the impact may also be enough to ripple and cause minor residual damage to others nearby with no discrimination between friend and foe. Pushing her body this far results in need for either a period of recovery, or an urgent application of healing magic from an ally (whichever comes first).
Equipment: Impact Bracers – Designed and manufactured in the years following the war, Impact Bracers are a line of hand weapons for those that like to let their fists do the talking. Inspired by Gunblades that rose into popularity during wartime, Impact Bracers implement the same concept into the form of an adorned armament. The design is that of a pair of armored gauntlets that cover from the hands in their entirety to halfway along the forearms. Engineered within the palms of the gauntlets are mechanisms activated by way of clenching of the fists that that release a light to moderate kinetic vibration that resonates through the surfaces struck by the gauntlets, amplifying concussive force.
Cadenza’s present armaments consists of a pair of Standard Impact Bracers, which function as described. A more advanced model has recently hit the market though: the Type-M, which include Magitech conduits that channel energy from pre-loaded Lumo Crystals through Impact Bracers, enabling the added effect of spell-like effect to be implemented. Cadenza presently longs to bring in enough of an income to invest in a pair of Type-M Impact Bracers.