Name: Gloria
Age: 17
Nationality: Mongrel
Place of origin: Unknown, somewhere around Middle East
Noble Arm: "Magnanimous Unbound Sun", an unranked (E+ provisional Rank) Tattoos Adaptation/Enhancement-type Arm.
Height: 210 cm
Build: Athletic
Eye and hair color: Gold
Complexion: Tan
Notable features: Faint pattern of scars covering her whole body
Voice: Clear, crisp and deep, deeper than most of other girls. She would make lower ranges of mezzo-soprano if she would sing, maybe even contralto.
Style: Minimalist and somewhat rough, with short-cropped hair and nails, no makeup whatsoever and hard posture devoid of feminine grace.
Clothes: Usually some variation of sand- or green-colored t-shirt, army jacket and cargo pants in urban or universal camo patterns, with jacket sometimes being substituted for tactical vest and t-shirt being substituted for an army combat shirt, depending on the weather and Gloria's mood. On clear days she wears patrol cap and/or sunglasses, which she stores in one of the pockets while indoor. She owns pair of sturdy gloves, but almost never uses them, and her footwear of choice is army combat boots - lately, she got one pair for hot climate. She's never seen without container of some sort - usually haversack, but she's been known to employ knapsack or even backpack when in need of carrying more gear. The reason behind her adherence to the military gear is sipmle - it's a lot easier to find something large enough for her at the surplus store than search normal ones - that and military gear tends to be durable and functional. She does have some "nice" clothes though, those being dark green turtleneck and somewhat scuffed roomy dark grey jeans....she keeps army boots, though. She almost never wears them. Her "combat" clothing is either her usual day-to-day or sports bra and track shorts, without footwear: she wears as little as she could get away with to be decent in public so that her clothing would not get in the way of Painted Wooden Swords' constructs with which she armors herself.
Noble Arm Name & Appearance:"Magnanimous Unbound Sun" is a set of faintly glowing tattoos which cover her head to toe in the beautiful, swirling patterns that seems to accentuate her build or follow her body meridians, with different flower- or sunburst-like patterns on the intersections, with the most prominent (and brightly glowing) on her brow. Brightness of the glow intensifies with the amount of power she uses, until it starts to leak out from her in the visible halo-like effect, so bright it becomes painful to stare at her directly.
Noble Arm Abilities:
Magnanimous Unbound Sun’s ability is called “Excellence in Ten Thousand Things” – conceptual mastery over the concept of “excellence”, the quintessential ability to endure and prevail over any setback or foe. Theoretically it offers its wielder an inexhaustible well of unformed potential to be put to use in further achievements, in practice human mind could not even start to grasp at the full majesty of notion that “everything is possible”, so most of it are safely locked away by the failsafes.
Instead, it deals in discrete abilities called “Edges” or “Charms” by Gloria. When she’s under heavy stress and proves unable to deal with it, or when she accumulated enough experience in trying to further her ambitions while struggling against obstacles, small sliver of potential begins the process of coalescing into the new ability, which is usually suited to the task at hand – Gloria could try and semiconsciously influence the process, but only to a degree(also, her level of experience in one or other way of resolving problems seems to influence the probability of her manifesting the Edge that helps her in that way – her Arm plays to her strengths, not covers her weaknesses).
Each time her Arm is called upon, it manifests full realized panoply, so if Gloria wish to acquire new “Edge”, she has to find a way to challenge herself in some new form or quality, so that her existing “Edges” would not provide easy(or even moderately difficult) solution. Moreover, the process is far from instanteous, so she often has to retreat and wait until it finishes setting before she could use the new Edge.
Her currently active Edges include:
Painted Wooden Swords – Tools is one of the advantages man has over most other species – where our own abilities prove insufficient, we reach out and take from the world something that could give us necessary leverage. Gloria developed this Edge from the endless frustration of shortages of gear in her wanderings.
It allows Gloria to reach out and take the tool necessary from the world, shaping the light itself into convincing facsimile in the swirl of multicolored sparks. Gear shaped this way looks like almost real, except for the faint glowing outline which is easy to miss on the clear day if you don’t know what to look for. It functions almost as a real example, too – it interacts with the world as if made with the best of materials or techniques known to Man, or very slightly better than that: knife would cut, piece of metal on the rope would serve as a counterweight, etc. Gloria, however, could ignore some or other properties of their “reality” – she could lift and swing the greataxe created by this Edge as easily as children lift twigs while playing pretend, for after all said and done, all gear summoned that way is just an apparitions of light and color given form and function, and as she does their nature as such becomes apparent to anyone watching as they briefly become nothing more than semitransparent shapes of solid light, though no less real in other ways for that to the other world. This also gives her something of an intuitive aptitude with an object in question – since she could evade most of the difficulties normally tied to using it, it’s a lot easier for her to do what she’s envisioned.
There are some limitations to this Edge, however: Gloria needs to have a very good understanding of properties of piece of gear she wants to summon that way and focus on them while calling for an object for it to become “real” to the other world; hence, summoning complex form requires intimate understanding of its workings and intense concentration. As such, Gloria limits herself in the stressful situations (such as a combat) to the simplest of forms and several forms which she trained to concentrate on so long it became a rote action to do so; he current peak of achievement is composite greatbow – which she still has to spend dozen seconds or so recalling in the sufficient details to properly imagine all moving parts. For that reason, she cannot currently summon any complex mechanism or anything that requires chemical reaction to work. She could, however, “scale” simple object to some fairly impressive proportions if given some time to prepare. It also bears noting that nothing summoned with this Edge is permanent – as the objects are merely the hardlight duplicates of real ones, they wink out of existence the second Gloria stops manifesting her Noble Arm. She could, however, decide to dissolve some of them prematurely.
Enter the Dragon – One of the soldiers that taught Gloria how to survive on her own once said that if she’s got teeth, then she got weapon. Trailer for one of the classical old films she watched on the battered videotape player inbetween missions on a base in the middle of nowhere, too, promised to show her how the heroes overcome being challenged with one of the most ancient and formidable weapons of all: human body. There are also countless records of people performing stunning feats of prowess – stuff of legends, like there. Gloria was fascinated by this, and thus this Edge was formed.
It amps up her body to the peak of supposed human prowess – or even slightly better than such. With it, Gloria gains the potential to perform any feat that was ascribed to a human being in some story somewhere. There are two limitations to this Edge, however: first, it can only duplicate feats that have not been enabled by some form of supernatural assistance – she cannot replicate invulnerability of Achilles, for example; and second, it does not give her any actual skill to do so – physical capabilities, reaction speed, aptitude or talent, but not actual skill to do the deed – so in practice, she is limited to feats of raw physical strength, speed and endurance in most cases. It gives her an excellent aptitude for learning new tricks, however – some of which carries over to her unpowered state.
Ship of Theseus – No matter how mighty the hero, no matter how vigorous or keen or able, sands of time eventually claims everyone. It’s one of the laws of the universe, see – everything ages and turns to dust, whether people, their works, even stories of their achievements perhaps. It is said that even mighty gods could not outfight the Reaper. Reaper, however, could be, even if only temporarily, outraced. There’s a legend of an old ship which was a trustworthy companion to the hero in his great quest to the far lands, left upon the shore as a tangible memory, reminder of its days of glory. It withered, boards rotting off one by one with days, but people cared for it and replaced them as that happened, keeping the ship’s appearance pristine. One day, there was not even a single board left in that ship that belonged in the original one, yet it still stood there, legend materialized.
Legends, it is said, never die. So, too, this Edge constantly repairs any and all signs of damage or wear and tear as they occur in Gloria’s body, mind or soul: flesh knitted whole and reinvigorated anew, feverish mind soothed and bolstered, soul reinforced again and again. It does more than simply restoring her, however – you could never win the race if you won’t try to get ahead, after all – and so, this Edge subtly improves on her each time it affects her, compensating for an injuries with changes to make her more resilient, more vigorous, more capable of overcoming them, pushing her to some inscrutable ideal one small modification at a time. Some changes are already evident: where once she’s been tall, but lanky girl now is a picture of athletic perfection, her bones, and skin are tougher than normal for humans, harder to break, she could withstand much greater g-forces than normal people, on the level of trained pilots, she’s outright immune for many diseases and some of the drugs out there – opiates, for example; though she’s not sure why this Edge changed her eyes and hair to the color of molten gold – apparently, it is part of some “platonic ideal” it pushes her to. She’s a lot more confident than she was too, worries and traumas of her past swept away and replaced with undying resolve to make better tomorrow come to pass after all.
Rage Against the Dying Light – Gloria always was hot-blooded child, not content to lay down and let the situation take its course. Nether would she flee – instead, she would dig her heels and fight to the bitter end, her blood coursing with adrenaline. Such is a way to have a good life – fighting for it against all odds.
This Edge exemplifies this way of life, sending her powers into overdrive each time she takes a wound serious enough to cause her pain or weakness and compensating for them. It gradually amplifies her Edges with each wound taken as a form of automatic response, and powers down when she unsummons her Noble Arm, resetting to the baseline level after that.
Not Today – The concept of “runner high” or “second wind” is widely-known phenomena. So, too, the concept of “second chances” – when you have not succeeded at first, try again later. However, a soldier don’t always has time to retreat, recover and rest. Gloria developed this Edge when she had to rescue her unit on the last vestiges of her stamina, and it saved her hide several times since then. Put simply, it’s her “second breath”. When running out of stamina, staggering with wounds which even her regeneration could not heal over in time, or otherwise pushed in the corner, she can call upon this Edge to open up its reserves. In an incandescent display of power, her body, mind and soul are restored to their peak condition, fully healed and refreshed. During the process she’s usually lifted up in the air and strong light flash and concussive wave issues from her body, as excess power bleeds off into the world around her into the towering pillar of radiance the size of a lighthouse above her. She could do so only once before recharging those reserves, however, and calling upon them puts heavy strain on her body and mind, rendering her anemic and confused for about two days after she dismisses her Noble Arm and putting her at a severe risk of burning out if she would summon it during that period.
Instead, it deals in discrete abilities called “Edges” or “Charms” by Gloria. When she’s under heavy stress and proves unable to deal with it, or when she accumulated enough experience in trying to further her ambitions while struggling against obstacles, small sliver of potential begins the process of coalescing into the new ability, which is usually suited to the task at hand – Gloria could try and semiconsciously influence the process, but only to a degree(also, her level of experience in one or other way of resolving problems seems to influence the probability of her manifesting the Edge that helps her in that way – her Arm plays to her strengths, not covers her weaknesses).
Each time her Arm is called upon, it manifests full realized panoply, so if Gloria wish to acquire new “Edge”, she has to find a way to challenge herself in some new form or quality, so that her existing “Edges” would not provide easy(or even moderately difficult) solution. Moreover, the process is far from instanteous, so she often has to retreat and wait until it finishes setting before she could use the new Edge.
Her currently active Edges include:
Painted Wooden Swords – Tools is one of the advantages man has over most other species – where our own abilities prove insufficient, we reach out and take from the world something that could give us necessary leverage. Gloria developed this Edge from the endless frustration of shortages of gear in her wanderings.
It allows Gloria to reach out and take the tool necessary from the world, shaping the light itself into convincing facsimile in the swirl of multicolored sparks. Gear shaped this way looks like almost real, except for the faint glowing outline which is easy to miss on the clear day if you don’t know what to look for. It functions almost as a real example, too – it interacts with the world as if made with the best of materials or techniques known to Man, or very slightly better than that: knife would cut, piece of metal on the rope would serve as a counterweight, etc. Gloria, however, could ignore some or other properties of their “reality” – she could lift and swing the greataxe created by this Edge as easily as children lift twigs while playing pretend, for after all said and done, all gear summoned that way is just an apparitions of light and color given form and function, and as she does their nature as such becomes apparent to anyone watching as they briefly become nothing more than semitransparent shapes of solid light, though no less real in other ways for that to the other world. This also gives her something of an intuitive aptitude with an object in question – since she could evade most of the difficulties normally tied to using it, it’s a lot easier for her to do what she’s envisioned.
There are some limitations to this Edge, however: Gloria needs to have a very good understanding of properties of piece of gear she wants to summon that way and focus on them while calling for an object for it to become “real” to the other world; hence, summoning complex form requires intimate understanding of its workings and intense concentration. As such, Gloria limits herself in the stressful situations (such as a combat) to the simplest of forms and several forms which she trained to concentrate on so long it became a rote action to do so; he current peak of achievement is composite greatbow – which she still has to spend dozen seconds or so recalling in the sufficient details to properly imagine all moving parts. For that reason, she cannot currently summon any complex mechanism or anything that requires chemical reaction to work. She could, however, “scale” simple object to some fairly impressive proportions if given some time to prepare. It also bears noting that nothing summoned with this Edge is permanent – as the objects are merely the hardlight duplicates of real ones, they wink out of existence the second Gloria stops manifesting her Noble Arm. She could, however, decide to dissolve some of them prematurely.
Enter the Dragon – One of the soldiers that taught Gloria how to survive on her own once said that if she’s got teeth, then she got weapon. Trailer for one of the classical old films she watched on the battered videotape player inbetween missions on a base in the middle of nowhere, too, promised to show her how the heroes overcome being challenged with one of the most ancient and formidable weapons of all: human body. There are also countless records of people performing stunning feats of prowess – stuff of legends, like there. Gloria was fascinated by this, and thus this Edge was formed.
It amps up her body to the peak of supposed human prowess – or even slightly better than such. With it, Gloria gains the potential to perform any feat that was ascribed to a human being in some story somewhere. There are two limitations to this Edge, however: first, it can only duplicate feats that have not been enabled by some form of supernatural assistance – she cannot replicate invulnerability of Achilles, for example; and second, it does not give her any actual skill to do so – physical capabilities, reaction speed, aptitude or talent, but not actual skill to do the deed – so in practice, she is limited to feats of raw physical strength, speed and endurance in most cases. It gives her an excellent aptitude for learning new tricks, however – some of which carries over to her unpowered state.
Ship of Theseus – No matter how mighty the hero, no matter how vigorous or keen or able, sands of time eventually claims everyone. It’s one of the laws of the universe, see – everything ages and turns to dust, whether people, their works, even stories of their achievements perhaps. It is said that even mighty gods could not outfight the Reaper. Reaper, however, could be, even if only temporarily, outraced. There’s a legend of an old ship which was a trustworthy companion to the hero in his great quest to the far lands, left upon the shore as a tangible memory, reminder of its days of glory. It withered, boards rotting off one by one with days, but people cared for it and replaced them as that happened, keeping the ship’s appearance pristine. One day, there was not even a single board left in that ship that belonged in the original one, yet it still stood there, legend materialized.
Legends, it is said, never die. So, too, this Edge constantly repairs any and all signs of damage or wear and tear as they occur in Gloria’s body, mind or soul: flesh knitted whole and reinvigorated anew, feverish mind soothed and bolstered, soul reinforced again and again. It does more than simply restoring her, however – you could never win the race if you won’t try to get ahead, after all – and so, this Edge subtly improves on her each time it affects her, compensating for an injuries with changes to make her more resilient, more vigorous, more capable of overcoming them, pushing her to some inscrutable ideal one small modification at a time. Some changes are already evident: where once she’s been tall, but lanky girl now is a picture of athletic perfection, her bones, and skin are tougher than normal for humans, harder to break, she could withstand much greater g-forces than normal people, on the level of trained pilots, she’s outright immune for many diseases and some of the drugs out there – opiates, for example; though she’s not sure why this Edge changed her eyes and hair to the color of molten gold – apparently, it is part of some “platonic ideal” it pushes her to. She’s a lot more confident than she was too, worries and traumas of her past swept away and replaced with undying resolve to make better tomorrow come to pass after all.
Rage Against the Dying Light – Gloria always was hot-blooded child, not content to lay down and let the situation take its course. Nether would she flee – instead, she would dig her heels and fight to the bitter end, her blood coursing with adrenaline. Such is a way to have a good life – fighting for it against all odds.
This Edge exemplifies this way of life, sending her powers into overdrive each time she takes a wound serious enough to cause her pain or weakness and compensating for them. It gradually amplifies her Edges with each wound taken as a form of automatic response, and powers down when she unsummons her Noble Arm, resetting to the baseline level after that.
Not Today – The concept of “runner high” or “second wind” is widely-known phenomena. So, too, the concept of “second chances” – when you have not succeeded at first, try again later. However, a soldier don’t always has time to retreat, recover and rest. Gloria developed this Edge when she had to rescue her unit on the last vestiges of her stamina, and it saved her hide several times since then. Put simply, it’s her “second breath”. When running out of stamina, staggering with wounds which even her regeneration could not heal over in time, or otherwise pushed in the corner, she can call upon this Edge to open up its reserves. In an incandescent display of power, her body, mind and soul are restored to their peak condition, fully healed and refreshed. During the process she’s usually lifted up in the air and strong light flash and concussive wave issues from her body, as excess power bleeds off into the world around her into the towering pillar of radiance the size of a lighthouse above her. She could do so only once before recharging those reserves, however, and calling upon them puts heavy strain on her body and mind, rendering her anemic and confused for about two days after she dismisses her Noble Arm and putting her at a severe risk of burning out if she would summon it during that period.
Personality:
*Likes: Good food, good fight and good people around her. Showing off, but not when that interferes with business. Seeing new sights, learning new tricks. Helping out people, depending on how much she likes said “people” in particular.
*Dislikes: Petty or untrustworthy people. Boring, repetitive tasks or waiting without something to do. Being told what to do without a way to meaningfully express her opinion on the matter. Going without any challenge for too long.
Fears: Being crippled permanently, in a way she could not heal from or trapped in some way she could not escape.
Defining virtue: Generous
Defining vice: Brutish
Quote: "Surely you could hit a girl?"
Bio:
Gloria hails from somewhere around the Middle East. She’s not sure from where – her town of birth was sacked by the local branch of Hammer of Masters when she was five – her parents was in the town’s militia and was executed for resistance, leaving her orphan with nowhere to go to. She was “adopted” by the branch, alongside with other children, and raised as a future soldier of the cult. As it stood, one of the leaders revived the time-honored tradition of making the guard of orphans of slain enemies, or something like that. Reasoning was simple – raised from young enough age as a soldiers of the cult, without any loyalties outside, such soldiers would gladly give their lives on command.
Well, apparently Mongols knew what they did when they killed everyone taller than the cart’s wheel. Gloria – Number Five then – was always rather tall, taller than most of her peers. And though she went through motions and routines and prayers and made her sacrifices like everyone else, faint memories of her childhood were always with her – no matter how brutal or merciless were beatings, no matter how sweet were prayers or what they were made to take before them – she carried it with her as an another life – with doubts, but she persisted still. Perhaps camaraderie would have helped her with those memories, perhaps she would have been content with her new family after all these years….
Perhaps not. She was a clever child, with initiative and ambition and drive to always be the best. Instructors promised her the position of the sergeant – maybe even leutenant of the guard, when previous would have fallen in the battle. Never captain, though – that position was reserved for someone with a mighty Noble Arm only, and though she could have competed with someone low-ranking, what mortal could compete with someone who could be described as a living demigod?
Too, as the initiation rite drew closer, she began to hear rumors. Apparently, someone questioned her drive and fire. She was appointed to the extended rite, one of the “special honors” – where the body of initiate were to be etched with psychedelic, poisonous ink which would render them numb to pain, harden their will – and, as rumors went, utterly stomp out their ambitions, or something to that end. Camaraderie proved to be a double-edged sword, after all. Nevertheless, Number Five went to the initiation – how could she not? It was all she had in her life. Still, her grief and rage at something that was a perceived betrayal after all those years of dedication and hard work and blood on her hands for the glory of the cult were heavy on her mind. So when she was etched with poisonous ink and sat between the censers spewing heavy, soporific smoke and someone asked her to close her eyes and abandon herself, she did unexpected: she refused.
Golden threads swirled around her form and etched themselves into her skin, crisscrossing every inch of her skin in the lattice of the most beautiful ornament she had ever seen. She felt the burning power swelling inside her and purging traces of poisons inside her. Something blossomed inside her mind – and she remembered everything. Everything taken from her by the time, by the drugs, by the things they did to her to make her forget. Many people died that day.
She wandered the world for some time. Made few friends, a lot more enemies(not many of which are under the sun by now) even some money to her name. Learned a lot of new things, too, some new tricks and edges with her weapon, new ways to survive, broadened her perspective on the life. Apparently, in this world someone with her abilities was a valuable commodity, and she would not go without a roof over her head or a food on the table if only she wanted to market her skills, her experience and, more importantly, her Noble Arm to the right people. There were, however, some things that would greatly improve her lot and make it more pleasant: allies, reputation contacts in the various power structures….accreditation as an Arms Master, since that would lift the stage of proving her worth in a lot of cases. Most of that could be gained by completing the courses in one of the specialized schools for Noble Arms wielders. After that it was only a matter of choosing one that was easier to get into – that school in the Philippines took damn near anyone, and scholarship options for the refugees(she even got an ID under the name of Gloria) were good enough for her. If she could find some actual friends along the way? Even better – it’s sometimes lonely and boring to wander alone.
Well, apparently Mongols knew what they did when they killed everyone taller than the cart’s wheel. Gloria – Number Five then – was always rather tall, taller than most of her peers. And though she went through motions and routines and prayers and made her sacrifices like everyone else, faint memories of her childhood were always with her – no matter how brutal or merciless were beatings, no matter how sweet were prayers or what they were made to take before them – she carried it with her as an another life – with doubts, but she persisted still. Perhaps camaraderie would have helped her with those memories, perhaps she would have been content with her new family after all these years….
Perhaps not. She was a clever child, with initiative and ambition and drive to always be the best. Instructors promised her the position of the sergeant – maybe even leutenant of the guard, when previous would have fallen in the battle. Never captain, though – that position was reserved for someone with a mighty Noble Arm only, and though she could have competed with someone low-ranking, what mortal could compete with someone who could be described as a living demigod?
Too, as the initiation rite drew closer, she began to hear rumors. Apparently, someone questioned her drive and fire. She was appointed to the extended rite, one of the “special honors” – where the body of initiate were to be etched with psychedelic, poisonous ink which would render them numb to pain, harden their will – and, as rumors went, utterly stomp out their ambitions, or something to that end. Camaraderie proved to be a double-edged sword, after all. Nevertheless, Number Five went to the initiation – how could she not? It was all she had in her life. Still, her grief and rage at something that was a perceived betrayal after all those years of dedication and hard work and blood on her hands for the glory of the cult were heavy on her mind. So when she was etched with poisonous ink and sat between the censers spewing heavy, soporific smoke and someone asked her to close her eyes and abandon herself, she did unexpected: she refused.
Golden threads swirled around her form and etched themselves into her skin, crisscrossing every inch of her skin in the lattice of the most beautiful ornament she had ever seen. She felt the burning power swelling inside her and purging traces of poisons inside her. Something blossomed inside her mind – and she remembered everything. Everything taken from her by the time, by the drugs, by the things they did to her to make her forget. Many people died that day.
She wandered the world for some time. Made few friends, a lot more enemies(not many of which are under the sun by now) even some money to her name. Learned a lot of new things, too, some new tricks and edges with her weapon, new ways to survive, broadened her perspective on the life. Apparently, in this world someone with her abilities was a valuable commodity, and she would not go without a roof over her head or a food on the table if only she wanted to market her skills, her experience and, more importantly, her Noble Arm to the right people. There were, however, some things that would greatly improve her lot and make it more pleasant: allies, reputation contacts in the various power structures….accreditation as an Arms Master, since that would lift the stage of proving her worth in a lot of cases. Most of that could be gained by completing the courses in one of the specialized schools for Noble Arms wielders. After that it was only a matter of choosing one that was easier to get into – that school in the Philippines took damn near anyone, and scholarship options for the refugees(she even got an ID under the name of Gloria) were good enough for her. If she could find some actual friends along the way? Even better – it’s sometimes lonely and boring to wander alone.
*Current Goal: None aside from "acquire more resuources and maybe find some friends".
Student Rank: 1850
