Post by Griever on Jun 29, 2010 21:29:09 GMT -5
Name: Rheis
Nicknames/Alias: None
FF: FFX
Age: 34
Height/build: 6'1", muscular
DoB: November 14th
Weapon: Longsword
Level: 45
Strength: 135
Special Skill(s): Highly skilled in sword combat. Capable of summoning aeons.
Magic: Basic, low-level healing and black magic, but prefers physical fighting
Summon: Ixion
Appearance:
Personality:
History:
Nicknames/Alias: None
FF: FFX
Age: 34
Height/build: 6'1", muscular
DoB: November 14th
Weapon: Longsword
Level: 45
Strength: 135
Physical: 67
Magical: 26
Agility: 42
Special Skill(s): Highly skilled in sword combat. Capable of summoning aeons.
Magic: Basic, low-level healing and black magic, but prefers physical fighting
Summon: Ixion
Appearance:
Rheis is a tall, powerful man, his strength evident in the ease with which he swings his sword. His time spent as a Crusader has left its visual mark: he almost always keeps some form of light armor over his clothing, though whether it is more for protection or out of habit is unknown. There is deep scarring across his upper body, a remnant of the past he prefers left unseen. His hair, ash-brown in color and matched with grey eyes, reaches between his chin and his shoulders to brush his neck.
Personality:
There is something a little bit rough about Rheis, brought about by his battle-filled life. He treats everyone the same, regardless of status, something that carries over to his work. No matter the nature of a job, he does them all with the same simple efficiency, something that has gained him quite a reputation among potential clients.
While he doesn't shun conversation, Rheis is somewhat reserved. He doesn't like to talk about himself, and is prone to changing the subject if asked. On the rare occasion he is recognized as a former summoner, he denies the fact, having a strong dislike for the reverence some continue to show them.
Partly because of his past as a Crusader, and partly because he was forced to watch his closest friend die, Rheis can be incredibly protective, even at the risk of his own life. This is especially true when it comes to the people he considers friends, but it is so automatic for him that he would be just as likely to defend a stranger.
History:
Growing up in Kilika, Rheis watched Sin's destruction firsthand. Even during the Calm, people found it difficult to rest, and as long as Sin was in the sea, fear hung constantly over the village. It seemed everyone talked of the summoners, but their pilgrimages were carried out far from his home - it was the Crusaders, working directly with them to fight Sin and keep the fiends away, that he looked to even before the Calm that lasted through his childhood ended. His views were shared by much of the village's youth, and it came as a surprise to no one when both he and his closest friend Caiden joined them as young teenagers.
The two of them soon learned that battle was completely different from their idealized images of it, but their drive to protect not only their home, but all of Spira's people, pushed them to continue. They grew steadily stronger, and eventually were put to the test when Sin returned, several years later.
It was Sinspawn they began to fight, not fiends, and then when the attacks grew worse, Sin itself. For all of their preparations, neither had been truly ready to face it. They watched friends fall and die, without beginning to come close to victory. Once again, it was the summoners they turned to, and this time Rheis found himself praying to Yevon the same as everyone else. By this time, he knew what he hadn't as a child, that a summoner's success meant their death, but it was the way things were. If they were prepared to die to rid Spira of Sin, was it truly so bad to hope for their success?
Braska's Calm finally came, countless battles and many losses later. Joy spread across Spira, with the thought of the loss of the High Summoner far from most minds. Rheis, however, had come to a decision after facing Sin in battle. When it returned, he would become a summoner himself, and he would be the one to defeat it. Despite Caiden's efforts to talk him out of it, his mind was set, and eventually his friend came to a decision of his own: if Rheis was willing to give his life for Spira, then he was willing to give his life for him.
Ten years later, Sin returned. Rheis left the Crusaders for the temples, with Caiden as his only guardian. Returning to Kilika, he was met with hope and well-wishing, and then with celebration: he had obtained his first aeon.
The warrior-summoner's pilgrimage continued with little incident. He set out from Kilika almost immediately after becoming a summoner, traveling first to Besaid, and then to the mainland and Luca. Wherever they went, the people gave their support, always requesting that Lord Rheis defeat Sin and bring the Calm. And despite knowing the price he would have to pay for it, he promised every one of them that he would.
They made it far, gaining the aeons of Djose and Macalania along the way. For all their efforts, however, their journey came to an abrupt end: not far into the Calm Lands, they were set upon by fiends of a ferocity they had never seen before. Both of them fought as hard as they could, but with only two men, they were quickly overpowered. Fulfilling his duties as a guardian, Caiden protected Rheis over all else, and though he couldn't stop him from being deeply injured, he managed to save his life - at the cost of his own.
When Rheis next woke, he found himself in Bevelle, his body scarred and his will and his faith shaken. His friend for as long as he could remember was dead, the image of it happening wouldn't leave his mind, and still there were those who urged him to go on and defeat Sin. In those moments, he decided that summoners and their guardians meant nothing to Yevon or to Spira's people. Defeat Sin, and Spira would celebrate, blind to the sacrifice made. Fail, and though they would never admit it, be no more than the one who had let them down. Their lives were nothing more than tools to be thrown away. He abruptly quit his pilgrimage, and as soon as he was able, left the city, returning to the Calm Lands. He performed Caiden's Sending himself.
For a time he wandered in something of a daze, taking down fiends when he met them, hardly knowing where he stopped for rest. And then came Lady Yuna's Calm, the Eternal Calm. Not only had she succeeded where he had failed, she had gone farther than he had ever dreamed possible. Yevon fell alongside Sin, the truth of its lies and twisted history coming to light, and he found himself glad of it. No one else had to die for them.
Yuna's success made it easy for him to put the name of Lord Rheis behind him, and soon enough, it was forgotten almost entirely. He was content to fade into obscurity, making a living by selling his sword. Fiends and bandits were still problematic, and people would pay good gil to be rid of them.
Then the Merge happened. Rheis found himself in an unfamiliar place, but he soon discovered that it wasn't only Spira's people that had need of a sharp blade. He fell completely into the mercenary life, taking on odd jobs, but retaining enough honor to be selective about what he would accept.
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