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OOC INFORMATION

Name: Rynn
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact: [plurk.com profile] chaneystarr
Other characters: n/a
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IC INFORMATION

Name: Sylvain Gautier
Canon: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Age: 25
Gender: male
Species: human
Appearance: armored casual. Sylvain has a thick muscular build from a lifetime spent honing himself for both seduction and war. Stands about 6'1 and has vibrant red hair, a staple of his bloodline that makes him stand out. His eyes are brown/amber and he has a smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose and cheeks.
Scars:
    ▶ Stab wound in his side where he took a spear in defense of a friend.
    ▶ Jagged line down over his ribs from a blade.
    ▶ Rake of a wyvern's claw down the back of his left shoulder.
    ▶ Several other smaller various scars scattered all over his body, as well as several small arrow punctures.
Canon point: Sylvain will be coming in from Verdant Wind (the Golden Deer route) somewhere around Chapter 17, just before the Battle of Gronder.

History: Sylvain's Wiki

Personality answers:
1. Who in your character's canon influenced the most growth in your character? What do they think about this character?
    It feels like cheating to say "Byleth" here but it's true. Byleth is the pivotal point for many of the storylines and character arcs, and in the route I'm bringing him from especially. He switched Houses for her, joining the Golden Deer instead of remaining with his childhood friends from the Blue Lions. Although his feelings for her at the beginning are... complicated, to say the least. In one of his earliest conversations with her, he expresses anger and resentment because she somehow managed to grow up her whole life without being crushed under the expectations that come with having a Crest. "You know what? I'm a bit jealous. The whole time you were growing up, you never knew you had a Crest. You were free. Nobody pretended to like you. I kind of hate you for that." He even goes so far as to threaten her over it, but then laughs the line off as a joke - as he does with so many of the things he says and really means, but doesn't really match up to the lighthearted persona he so frequently wears.

    But as he gets to know her, and what's more, she actually sees past his bullshit to the him he always tries to hide, he starts realizing that his method of keeping everyone at arms length for his own safety isn't actually keeping him all that safe, or making him happy. He's miserable, because of his own choices, and because he thought he had no other options. But Byleth's arrival opens possibilities he hadn't known existed and, allied as she is with Claude and his own radical ideas and plans for Fodlan, he might have a future to look forward to that isn't completely ruled and defined by a broken system he hates.
4. What does your character think about physical appearances? Are they the sort to meticulously primp themselves, or could they not care less?
    Sylvain learned from a very young age that his looks, his body, was a weapon to be honed and wielded, just like his lance. Although he knew his real draw was his Crest and his position as the heir of Gautier, his looks and charms were an extra line of defense to protect himself from all the hungry and ambitious people who vied for him for their own reasons. Wanting to possess him, or use him to lift themselves to a better position in life. Seeing himself as basically a stud whose entire existence was there to continue the Gautier's precious bloodline, it gives him a very jaded and cynical outlook on people and their motivations for wanting to be close to him. And considering he most often wears the mask of a shallow, flirtatious playboy, his looks become just one more tool in his toolbox. He's perfected the art of that casual roguish charm, always ready with an easy smile and a playful wink, or just mussed enough that he might have just tumbled out of someone's bed (which he possibly had).
8. What would it take to truly upset your character, enough that they would act upon their feelings? Are they the sort to forgive?
    Sylvain will actually suffer through a lot of misfortune, malice, and vicious gossip aimed at him without flinching much. He laughs most of it off and just rolls with it, even when his friends occasionally get mad on his behalf. Or get mad at him, for landing himself in some stupid mess in the first place. He never admits it, but I play him as someone who thinks he must deserve some of it at least. He carries a lot of guilt and terrible self esteem, and while he knows he's a terrible person to the people who pursue him, his motive has always been "use them before they can use me" and he doesn't seen any other way out of his unwanted fate.

    What will make him upset is anything negative or cruel aimed at one of his friends, or someone he believes is innocent. He has a deep sense of loyalty and justice (about everyone else except himself) and he will not hesitate in leaping to their defense. One of the best examples of this is his friendship with Dedue, whose people, the Duscar, are hated and blamed for the slaughter of Faerghus' former king. Sylvain doesn't see how that's possible however, and is one of the only few shown to question the accepted story and the racism that comes with it. He refuses to let people talk badly about Dedue or his people and gets upset when he hears anything of the sort. He's a staunch defender of the other man and his unwavering loyalty to their prince, Dimitri.
10. What would be your character's lowest, darkest moment they've lived through? How did they respond to their troubles and face their demons?
    Picking just one for him is pretty hard, actually. But most of them revolve around his family - especially his father, who's strict expectations he can never seem to live up to, and his older half-brother, who hates him for the sheer fact that he was born with a Crest, thereby disinheriting him without even trying. Sylvain was five the first time Miklan tried to kill him, and there were countless attempts throughout Sylvain's childhood. It's glossed over a lot, but there are a few hints as to how bad it got, although Sylvain laughs it off, as he does so many of the things that cause deep pain for him. The rumors that he was a "clumsy child" seem pretty at odds with the young man we come to know later on.

    So there's little love lost between Sylvain and his brother (and the complications of the fact that their father didn't put a stop to it for years) but despite that he didn't hold a grudge. In fact, he confesses, "Even as a little kid, I understood why he was like that. My mere existence stole everything from him." But when Miklan's hatred finally has him stealing the Gautier relic, the Lance of Ruin, and raiding innocent villages at the head of a band of bandits, Sylvain knows he can't just avoid the confrontation. The battle is terrible and what's worse, when Miklan tries to wield the Relic weapon without the protection of a Crest, it transforms him into a hideous demonic beast, his humanity destroyed in an instant and leaving only a monster behind. Sylvain is forced to slay his brother, ending the lifelong rivalry he never wanted, with no chance to find another outcome. He knows he did the right thing, the only path left to him, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel guilt over it, and over the fact that part of him might be a little relieved his brother is finally gone for good.

Inventory: 1) his armor/clothes (shown in appearance images), 2) his lance (the Lance of Ruin), 3) a tea set with a tin of bergamot tea, 4) a small carved horse figurine

Powers/Abilities:
Combat:
    Sylvain has been training to be a knight and a warrior all his life and has a range of experience in various weapons, hand-to-hand, and battle strategy and tactics, as well as a surprising understanding of magic. He excels at combat in teams or acting as support with fellow soldiers and is versatile and quick to adapt to unexpected circumstances.

    He's coming in classed as a Paladin, which is the FE tactical way of saying he's trained in moving swiftly over longer distances, isn't slowed down by difficult terrain, has extensive practice with lance (mastery level), sword, and riding, and is adept at evading both ranged attacks (from archers, etc) and magical/spell attacks. He's had training over the years in multiple classes/styles of fighting to give him a wide range of battle experience and knowledge.
Magic:
    Sylvain's experience and understanding of magic is rudimentary, at best, but he does have some low level training in both Faith (healing/white magic) and Reason (black/offensive magic).
    ▷ Faith Skills (Rank C)
      Heal. basic Faith spell that heals an adjacent ally
      Nosferatu. Faith spell that restores health equal to 50% of the damage the spell does to a foe.
      Physic. Faith spell that can restore health to a distant ally.
    ▷ Reason Skills (Rank C)
      Fire. basic black magic used to attack with flames; launches a fireball at a target and does light damage
      Bolganone. superior black magic used to attack with flames. When cast, this spell will forcefully open up a fissure into the surface of the earth, and trigger an eruption to occur, burning the selected enemy target.
Crest:
    Sylvain possesses a minor Crest of Gautier he inherited from his bloodline. Gautier was one of the original Ten Elites who first possessed a Crest in the war between Seiros and Nemesis and possessing a Crest is a requirement to inherit the title and seat of Margrave, due to the House's constant defense against the incursion of the northern warlike clans of Sreng, as a Crest is required to safely wield their ancient relic, the Lance of Ruin.

    Sylvain's Crest also has the added effect of being able to increase his might/strength in a fight and the damage he creates when using certain attacks, although this isn't something he can control and seems to happen at random.
Samples: Here & here
Player Goals: Sylvain comes from a game where there's a lot of possibility in the characters but it's sometimes not explored or executed very well. His story is one that hit me very strongly in wanting to explore his mindset and motivations, because he's very much a character trapped by his position in life. It's been a delight to take him out of the mire that is his situation and letting him explore and learn who he really is, without being wholly defined by his name, his Crest, and people's perceptions of him. This game in particular drew my attention with the transformation aspect, the different effects that brought along with it, and the possibility of the imprinted bonds with other characters, since he shares so little of himself in his canon.
Soul Choice: I'd like to make him a Carnivora, I think I'd like to lean into the fox/kitsune theme for him!

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