A few worldbuilding and character notes I came up with while brainstorming last night, along with some in-depth character developments I've made to flesh them out. I want to deepen the reader's understanding of the characters and within the narrative, but it helps to set in stone the kind of characterization I'm going for. Y'all are getting the inside scoop.
SOLDIER is set up pretty much like the Spartan VI program, with some differences; each individual group is assigned to a Unit, which often consists of up to fifteen or twenty operatives. There's universally at least one First-Class SOLDIER who presides over the team, but often there's two or three. Between the First-Classers in a Unit, there's no official leader; however, they usually defer to the most senior operative.
As an example, Alalonn, Etechnia and Sophron share responsibility and are viewed as equals, but Etechnia, being the youngest, will often look to the other two for orders. Sophron usually gives Alalonn the wheel since Sophron is a bit of a loner and prefers study and experimentation to military operations. They call Alalonn "Commander", but he doesn't have an official rank within Shinra.
First-Class SOLDIERs have a lot of leeway when it comes to deployment; they can make battlefield decisions and deny orders (though they assume responsibility for the outcome of such choices), and they can requisition weapons, armor, supplies, and even Shinra troopers to reinforce 'em.
Certain First-Classers will forgo the unit structure altogether and act alone; Alalonn and Sophron used to do this before they started building their own unit from the ground up. Most First-Classers do this for one of a couple reasons: They're glory hogs, they're dangerously antisocial, they're bad leaders, or they genuinely work best without anyone to question their methods.
Units are often fluid; First-Classers will trade Second and Third class SOLDIERs in and out of their units as they see fit.
Second and Third-Classers sorta have to go with the flow; they're subject to being pulled for security jobs and other missions, and only have as much freedom as the First-Classers in their unit allow.
Our protagonists belong to 21st Unit, known as Heimdallr. They're known for two reasons; they're the smallest official unit, and they're monstrously strong relative to their size. Thanks to Alalonn's brutal training, even the seven Second-Class SOLDIERs in his unit are dangerous even relative to First-Class. Entering Second-Class alone is an achievement; the majority usually get stuck at Third-Class their entire lives, making up three-quarters of the force. Second-Class promotion is a sign that someone thinks you're worth consideration, and you might make First eventually.
First-Class SOLDIERs are also given liberties with their uniforms; they can add onto the official uniform, or wear whatever else they want. The official color for their uniforms is black; Alalonn wears a black outfit. Sophron wears most of the uniform, but dons a red overcoat and doesn't bother with the armor and suspenders. They also get full autonomy when it comes to weaponry.
Second-Classers are bound to the typical uniform, but have a little wiggle-room with uniform color; they can wear dark-blue, red (the official color), or magenta. Some Second-Classers are allowed to use personal weapons if their leaders allow it; Alalonn does.
Third-Classers are stuck wearing bright blue, and can only use standard-issue broadswords.
It's pretty much universal that SOLDIERs use melee weaponry. Like Sangheili, Batman, or the Jedi, they're taught that rifles are clumsy and random, taking no real skill other than pointing and shooting. It takes a real warrior to get up close and defeat an enemy with grit alone, or to incinerate opponents with carefully applied magic. Plus, it drives home to the public that Shinra's Elite are strong as hell.
The helmet acts as an earpiece, and provides a light HUD; it's kinda like an ODST helmet. It displays compass data, tracks Mako sources, or identifies targets. There's also a light communications array for troop movement and unit chatter.
SOLDIERs are paid decently well; part of the reason certain members of the 21st joined was to get out of poverty. You also get a free cell phone as a SOLDIER, so that's nice.
On to characters. Starting with the star of the show, Etechnia. She was trained by Alalonn for years, and has the power to show for it. People refer to her as the "Paladin"; she's a deft swordfighter, and specializes in Barrier Materia.
Her Buster-Sword is a legendary artifact among SOLDIERs; it gets passed down to a different taker every time the previous user is killed in action. Alalonn considered using it himself for a while, but even with his insane brute-strength, he never felt like it was his thing; something told him to save it for someone else. He made the right choice giving it to Etechnia; by his own admission, she uses it better than he could.
Rather than using raw strength to flail it around, she treats it like a dance-partner, using its momentum and weight to flow between targets, keeping it tight and close for defense. She's a very careful fighter, and can use it as a shield at a moment's notice. Between her skill making dynamic barriers and her huge sword, she's damn-near invincible to most enemies.
Aside from her skill in battle, Etechnia is relatively mild-mannered and socially awkward; she didn't have friends as a kid. She gets defensive and locks up quickly, is slow to open up, and views everything as a win-loss scenario.
Her Second-Class buddies get frustrated with this; she avoids chances to hang out with them, questions whether or not they view her as a friend, and she'll sometimes backpedal and negatively rationalize their friendly overtures as tests of her leadership. Alken straight up idolizes her as a hero, and believes she's his best friend, even though she's kind of a dork.
She's a good leader, but doesn't know it. She's the type to second-guess herself a lot. Once you get passed all her insecure bullshit, she's super nice and just wants what's best for her peeps, and is genuinely heroic. Fortunately, on the battlefield all her insecurities fall away. She's downright lethal, and an inspiration to her Second-Class peers.
She has a lot of talent with cooking, and sometimes uses it for evil; she tends to study people's tastes, and will zero in on their ideal comfort food in order to get them to do her favors. Kinda like Scooby Snacks.
Alalonn's favorite is burgers with bacon cooked into the patty. Sophron has a weakness for her specially made vegetable soup.
Next up are Alalonn and Sophron. Before Etechnia joined SOLDIER under Alalonn's wing, they didn't have a unit. They watched each-other's backs, and fought on their own discretion.
Alalonn is regarded as second-to-none in terms of pure physical power. Peeps refer to him as the "Dragon Slayer", because he hunted and took out a dragon that had been plaguing rural areas for years. He's a borderline flying-brick superhero; he can tank small caliber firearms with nothing to show for it but small bruises, he can run down trains in short bursts, and he can lift a fuckload of weight.
He tends to favor fire and gravity magic; he often uses gravity to assist his feats of strength, leaping over buildings or nullifying the weight of objects just enough to toss cars like pillows. When he casts fire, he does it from his mouth; it helps him aim, and it looks terrifying. Imagine Blaine with a sword breathing literal fire-breath; shit's scary.
His true strength comes from inspiring others, and zeroing in on latent talent; his students might have been Third-Classers if Alalonn hadn't recognized their abilities and amplified them with constant training. He doesn't take all the credit though; he views his student's talent as one in a million, and only takes those with real potential under his wing. He packs simple, well maintained longsword.
Sophron is a loner. He's driven by a lust for knowledge; most importantly regarding the ancients. He can feel something bad coming (maybe he read the script) and thinks it regards the Cetra; an ancient race that used to rule the earth, but supposedly disappeared.
He knows something doesn't quite add up regarding Jenova, the last supposed Cetra specimen, and has been relentlessly studying the creature's cells and their effect.
Sophron is ultimately friendly, but he's very no-nonsense and doesn't entertain whims often. He rarely stops to eat or rest. He considers Apatet a useful lab assistant; she's the only one allowed into his study.
They call him "Sophron the Black" because of his destructive capabilities with magic. He's incredibly versatile, favoring no element and switching Materia for every job he undertakes. His most valued skills are summoning, and body augmentation through magic.
When he has to get serious, he coats himself in a black haze of destructive magic, with only his eyes being visible. In this state, he's bound to get a bit...overzealous. No enemy has ever seen his "Black Cloak" and survived. He can rend things to pieces, freeze, melt, or disintegrate anything he touches, and he moves like a demon. Alalonn is a match for him in this state, but it'd be a toss-up.
He uses a double-sided trident that's lined with a magic-conducting, rose-gold Mithril.
Now onto our John-B069; Alken. He's a very nice guy. Laid back, follows the rules, unselfish. Everybody's go-to when it comes to favors. He used to live out in the country with his father until he was orphaned by a dangerous and powerful monster. He was relocated to Sector-Seven by rescue forces, but the troopers who loaded him onto the train died while keeping the monster back. This led to him being forgotten about when he reached Sector Seven, and nearly starving to death. Thankfully, he met Lioke who pulled him from the brink; she wanted a partner in crime, and was a bit disappointed that he wasn't the criminal sort. However, she softened up to him and the two became lifelong friends.
After living as a pair of street rats, the two joined SOLDIER together; Lioke wanted a better life with a roof over her head, and Alken wanted to be a hero. Despite their inherent differences, the two fell in love.
Between his father being a nice guy and the sacrifice the troopers made to save him, he really wants to ensure that nobody goes through the bullshit he went through. He doesn't have a hero-complex; he recognizes his limitations and learns quickly from stronger fighters, and just wants to do his part as a SOLDIER.
He's brave, even by SOLDIER standards; it's incredibly rare for him to back away from an opponent. He specializes in short-swords and unarmed combat, and is viewed as one of 21st's strongest physical fighters. People call him "The Fighter" due to his capabilites with his bare hands.
Inkeeping with the tradition of John-B069 dual-wielding, Alken's personal weapons are a pair of short-swords; one that's single sided, and one that's double-edged. He usually goes with the single-sided one, using it to deflect attacks and destroy weapons while he closes in to attack barehanded. He only ever uses both when he explicitly aims to kill a foe.
He's a fairly cool customer, and makes for an excellent Good Cop to anyone else's Bad Cop. He's known for reliably taking enemies alive for questioning, and for his healthy mix of speed and attacking-power. He's also well known for his innate ability to bounce back; the harder you beat him down, the more powerful he seems to return once he's had time to heal. He's crawled back from the brink of death more than once, and he always seemed stronger for it.
Now to Lioke. She's the Yang to Al's Yin; abrasive, clever, and more than a little mean. She grew up in an orphanage, but bailed when things got crowded and lived on the street. She stole to survive, hit people with lead pipes when they chased her, and was a general menace to any community she was in. She met Alken, decided she could use a partner in crime, and eventually joined SOLDIER with him.
The idea of being a member of the most elite fighting-force on the planet really appeals to her; she's very confident, and a brutally effective sword-fighter. She uses a katana, but often borrows Alken's double-edged blade when she wants to wield two swords at once.
Lioke is fast as hell. Her casual speed is almost as fast as Alalonn's full sprint; when she really ups the juice, she can even leave him in the dust. Her stop-and-go motions are fast enough that it looks like she's vanished to an untrained eye. It's not uncommon for her to zip over, cut off someone's weapon-wielding arm, then return to where she was while holding it. She's a big fan of the "You're already dead" move where she runs past someone, strikes, then sheaths her sword and lets them die.
While her moves are fast, most combatants worth their salt can see her and react; a Third-Classer or an average trooper might be completely helpless against her, but her teammates would have a chance of blocking and fighting back. She has a preference for lightning magic, using it to peg enemies from afar or kill them at point-blank. They call her "The Rabbit", which she isn't particularly a fan of; fast as she is, she thinks rabbits are meek creatures.
She's easy to anger, a bit of a kleptomaniac, and likes to scam, prank, or otherwise terrorize people. She is friendly with her unit, though. She often hosts movie-nights. She has a knack for gambling (and cheating at gambling).
Next up is Hybria. She's physically the biggest of her peers; a northerner from a line of raiders and mountain-folk. She came to Midgar alone as a little girl, and when a pair of operatives tried to capture her for the SOLDIER program, she killed one. Even as a child, she had the killer-instinct to murder a trained adult. She came willingly once the other revealed that joining the program would give her a huge boost in power.
Tough, intelligent, and bearing physical power second only to her superiors (Alalonn and Etechnia), she's the most powerful Second-Classer in her unit, and possibly in all of SOLDIER.
She's known as "The Berserker" for good reason; she has uncanny battle sense, and a potent mixture of speed and strength that dwarfs even Alken's. She favors a huge ax, crushing and rending foes to pieces with it. Despite her violent, direct approach, she's incredibly cunning; in the absense of the First-Classers, Hybria is often in command of her teammates. She refers to her friends as "brother" or "sister", viewing her teammates as fam.
Hybria's hard on her teammates; she trains with them often, usually kicking their asses in sparring matches. At first glance, she seems like a mean older sister to her fellow Second-Class members of 21st. However, she's also a good listener, a protective friend, and loyal as a person can be.
As strong as she is, she only steals a kill when her teammates are under pressure; as much as she values glory, she's heavily invested in the growth of her teammates. She often sits on the sidelines without stepping in until it's clear that her weaker teammates need her help. She believes in her team, and loves to see them win.
She's very magnanimous, and quick to admit when she's wrong. Hell, if you point out a flaw in her, she'll thank you for it and work in it. She's huge into self-improvement.
Moving on, Apatet is second only to Sophron when it comes to Materia usage. I decided to nix her time-powers, but she's got a nack for magic and science. She's Sophron's favorite; a stickler for rules, has a steady hand, and a seemingly bottomless well of magical stamina and imagination.
She's very opinionated and critical, but she means well. When you screw something up that she knows about, she's quick to correct you. The members of her unit have a running tally on the amount of times she's said "actually" at the start of a sentence; it's in the quadruple digits and climbing.
Like any SOLDIER, she's decent with a sword, though she rarely uses one; her weapon of choice is a Vajra made of the same material as Sophron's trident. She uses it as a wand to cast spells, or a dagger to cut and stab enemies in close quarters.
Physically, she's the weakest of her teammates; weak being relative here, since she could best any Third-Classer in melee combat. She's often underestimated for that reason. Her speed and power with magic make her the team's big gun; they cover her while she destroys shit from afar or changes the terrain in her favor.
Next up is Kydomis. Though Hybria has the group beat in terms of physical power and skill, he's the strongest and most durable of the group. A hearty, friendly guy, he's always pumped up and upbeat.
He was born to a single mom, the two running a bar together. He'd bus tables while she made drinks for the sorry schmuck regulars. Kydomis joined SOLDIER to give his mom a better life, and used most of his paycheck to refurbish the bar; thanks to him, it's got a functioning staff and a shitload of customers.
He's a gifted technician and a bit of a greese monkey. He can work with anything from vehicles to robots. He likes the idea of using combat-droids for training, but he hates it when Shinra tries to replace live troopers with automaton replacements; the technology is buggy, and the combatant series of droids will sometimes target civilians.
He's known for his sheer durability and power; the weight of his strikes are impressive, and he can tank a shitload of abuse without budging backwards. He seems to have feet like suction-cups and bones like brick; he's even tanked punches from Alalonn without backing down or falling.
He likes dishing out dirt with Earth Magic, firing rocks or creating shockwaves with his stomps that trip up or bury opponents. His preferred weapon is a blunt longsword; it hits more like a club or a hammer than a blade, leaving anything he strikes utterly crumpled. They call him the "Templar".
Now, we have Anaideian. Quiet, focused, and often under the radar, Annie was raised to value deeds above words. She spends the most time training out of her peers, keeping her body and mind in top form. She spends the least amount of time socializing; she has a cycle of training, eating, and sleeping that's hard to break.
She grew up in Cosmo Canyon. There were a few humans there, but she was raised by a species of lion-like sentient creatures. Though she didn't have fangs and couldn't run on all fours, she adapted and kept up with them, using her fists at claws and her knives as teeth.
The team's stealth expert, she uses a pair of twin daggers. While she's no slouch in open combat, she's most at home hunting and assassinating foes quietly. When she wants to blend in and move quietly, it's hard to detect or catch sight of her.
She's rather small, the shortest person in the 21st. She and Hybria have a thing going on; Hybria likes short, sexy people, and Annie is attracted to tall, powerful people. Annie often acts as Hybria's yes-man, which Hybria appreciates. The two train together often.
Last but not least is Gaeira. One of the few members of the 21st who came from money, Gaeira is the son of a blueblood from District zero; an important and dangerous weapons developer. Gaeira didn't get along with his father in the least; they had incompatable values, and Gaeira was unwilling to go into the family business. After several attempts to emancipate himself, Gaeira joined SOLDIER and finally slipped his father's yoke.
Gaeira is rather lazy, but insanely perceptive and intelligent. He's amassed a fair bit of wealth out of his salary via smart investments. He has a keen mind, and has a knack for cutting to the heart of a person's motives.
In battle, he's incredibly precise and perceptive, using a light rapier and pointed strikes. Detecting weaknesses and exploiting them quickly is his specialty, and he'll often report an opponent's limitations to stronger fighters. He's wise when it comes to minimizing risks, is a master strategist. He prefers binding magic, holding opponents down for the kill or breaking their momentum by quickly binding a limb and making them stumble.
That's all I got! Any in depth analysis of the final main character, Nemsis, would probably be a straight up spoiler, so I'll keep that to myself.
Boy, that was a lengthy one. My next post will probably set in stone the physical appearances of the characters.
Later!
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