Edison Reece

Edison Reece
Appearance
Age	20
Species	Human
Sex	Male
Height	1.95m
Weight	70kg
Background
Series	Final Kingdom
Combat Styles	Gun Ranger
Hometown	A world lost to darkness.
Group	Unaffiliated
Occupation/Job	Wandering Ranger
Force:	Forces of Restoration
Theme Song	Liberation of Gracemaria - Ace Combat 6 OST
Quote
"I couldn't stop the madness back then, but now, things will change."

History

In a certain world located... somewhere, there were people capable of special things. Summoning the power of their own spirit to form armors and weapons, these people, helped their settlements by keeping wild animals and brigands away, taking an apprentice as they grew older and transmitting the knowledge to ensure that the villagers of the next generation would have a protector as well. Some called them shamans. Others believed them to be touched by the gods. They just named themselves 'Rangers'. However, everyone has a darker side, and soon enough, the Rangers saw themselves hunted by people who craved their powers, or decided to use their powers to subjugate people.

Realizing the danger of such occurrences, a group of Rangers formed an organization, the Guild, to keep track of known Rangers and the problems associated with their powers. And for roughly one thousand years, as humanity advanced and survived through wars and famine, they kept most Rangers together, protecting and preventing them from going astray. Of course, mercenaries were allowed. In fact, many famous Generals were Rangers as well, and some Rangers chose the life of a mercenary to make sure their family or their village was fed and protected. However, after one thousand years, a great schism broke the ranks of the Guild in two factions, who proceeded to fight against one another for many years. The reasons of the schism itself are lost to history, although many theorized that it was related to the independence of the Guild from any realms, as a rising power of the moment, the Sunhill Empire, could be a potential sponsor.

The initial fight of that silent war was fought on the very heart of the Guild, the Longhouse, which ended up razed to the ground, and the members who were loyal to the Guild fled north, to a land some called the White Death Valley, due to the extremely low temperatures and constant snowing. Those refugees would eventually build a second Longhouse, but never took up the name of the Guild again, instead calling themselves the Loyalists. The others, who supported the union with the Sunhill Empire, were welcomed by the Sun Emperor, and formed what would be called the Black Knights, the Emperor's Elite Guard.

Time went on, and Loyalists and Knights kept fighting out of contempt for the other group. In the meanwhile, the Empire had been replaced by the Union, with the blessing from the Knights, and controlled almost half of the planet, being only stopped by the fact that they had to stretch themselves to assure that all the Union's dominions were kept under their rule. Technology had reached a point where beam weapons existed along with solid ones, and humanity was reaching to the skies with airships with space capabilities. In this day and age, the Ranger's capabilities were easily written off as some kind of new technology. Once again, Rangers could hide in plain sight, as their armors and weapons were similar to what a soldier or mercenary would wear to fight.

This is where Edison's tale begins. Born in the capital city of the Union, Sunhill City, and son of two members of the Knights covert ops division, the Wraiths, he lost his parents when he was only two years old, being raised after that by the Wraith division commander and his wife. From an early age, he showed great aptitude in harnessing spirit powers, specializing in bladed weapons. However, what could be an easy promotion through the Knights' ranks was stopped cold by a motive: he had second thoughts about the Knights. He always doubted that what they did was right, mainly when it came to ruling the Union.

Normally, this would mean the recruit would either be dismissed or 'silenced' to prevent them from going to then Loyalists, but the Wraith commander, owing a debt to Edison's parents due to them saving his life on an operation gone wrong in the past, sent him to a distant outpost in the northern tundra, removing him as a problem while ensuring that he would stay alive. At that outpost, Edison, by then a 15-year old cadet, was often sent on long range patrol missions, where he learned the skills of a survivalist and furthered his studies in the arts of the spirit. He also worked on the outpost's hangar, learning to fix vehicles and airships that were used to ferry supplies and personnel from the central bases.

During the five years he was stuck on that place, Edison's thoughts about the Knights did not change one bit: He still wasn't sure that they were doing the right thing, especially after seeing the methods the Union used to handle dissenters: kill them all with extreme prejudice, even if they did nothing to warrant such a brutal response. It sickened him that the Knights helped in said actions, but he kept his head down and his mouth shut, trying to find a way out.

One day, as he returned for yet another week-long patrol, he discovered the outpost under attack. Initially believing that the attack was perpetrated by Loyalists, he was soon proven wrong when he saw the origin of the problem, a large crate, bearing the Knights' crest, containing an alleged weapon, who spewed creatures of darkness with eerie, yellow eyes, in uncountable numbers that consumed everything in sight. Edison joined the fight with the outpost survivors, but eventually even they fell to the Darkness, leaving an injured Edison with the sole option to retreat to the frozen lands further north. Too tired to use the flight capabilities of his armor, he grabbed the first vehicle he found and sped away from the place, driving until his fatigue and his injuries drove him to unconsciousness.

Unbeknownst to him, he had driven right in the direction of the Loyalists' Longhouse, who dispatched their own forces to check who entered their territories on such a desolate land. Being a Knight, they could have just left Edison there to die, but instead they took him into the Longhouse, having the (correct) impression that he could explain why did the horizon become so dark. Edison was taken by surprise when he woke in the infirmary, being tended to by the ones he (reluctantly) saw as enemies. Questioned by the Loyalists, he realized how bad things were: the Darkness had spread all around, and it seemed that only he knew who was behind it. Disgusted, he renounced to everything that made him a Knight, and told the whole truth of what he saw at the outpost, offering to help them in whichever way he could. He expected them to distrust his testimony, but to his surprise, they believed he was telling the truth, and accepted his help. For the next few months, he aided the Loyalists as an independent, fighting losing battle after losing battle, as the Darkness threatened to enter the Valley itself.

It was then that in a desperate move, a Loyalist fleet of airships, filled with all their remaining forces, charged towards Sunhill itself and the Knights' HQ, hoping to cut the infestation at its source. The two forces were roughly equal to each other, but eventually the attackers made their way to the main room. It was there, even as the leaders of the two factions faced each other in combat and Edison himself was fighting against the man that raised him, asking what drove the Knights to use such vile allies, that their world finally fell, plunging all into oblivion.

Somehow, Edison survived. Picked up by a spaceship, he found himself on Traverse Town, knowing nothing of how did he end up there, what happened to the others, or why was he still alive. These questions were quickly joined by the shock of realizing not only his Armor, but also his weapons changed in nature. Staring at the gun he now held in his hand, he felt overwhelmed by all the changes. For a week, he roamed through the town, asking questions, trying to understand. And then he found another of those dark ones. A 'Heartless', people called them. Suffice to say, the life expectancy of that Heartless was reduced to almost zero as a very angry Edison went after it.

Surprisingly enough, he now had reasons to move forward, if only for the fact that Heartless still drew breath. He spent the next month growing familiar with his new weaponry, remembering what he learned during Basic training before feeling ready to leave Traverse and enter the World of Ruin, travelling from town to town and helping people with small jobs, be it cleaning out an infestation of goblins or escorting a merchant to the next town. He found himself realizing that he was living up to what he believed a Ranger should be: helping, not dominating like the Knights did. He also seeks other Rangers, trying see if someone else lived though the Fall. If Heartless come across his way... too bad for them.

Personality

Edison was raised to be an officer, and even after he was displaced to the outpost, his demeanour did not change. Always polite and composed, Edison works by his own code of conduit and his beliefs on what his role should be: to aid, not dominate. He firmly believes that while people should have the freedom to choose their own path, they also need some kind of connection to a state for protection. However, he draws the line in the point where the state's influence becomes repression, knowing what happens in such situations from his past experiences.

He does not fight for personal glory, nor he does clearly understand what motivates someone to fight for it, at least outside a contest. Why would one fight for the sake of glory? Some fight for money, others for a country, an organization, or just for what they believe in. He can understand that. Now, to fight just to be known? That's a foolish motivation, which could be dangerous to the people that surround the glory-seeker. There's no telling when he might want to bite off more than he can chew, and drag other people into his mess.

Given the events that led to the fall of his world, he holds a grudge against Heartless. A big one. He sees them as an abomination, something to be purged with no mercy, anyone he finds fighting alongside Heartless or summoning them is a valid target and someone to hold under contempt. Those things destroy worlds. If the people who work with them enjoy destruction so much, they should find a way to destroy themselves first and leave everyone else alone.

Abilities

The Armor of a Ranger is a reflection of his own nature, as it draws from the user's spirit power, which also means each and every one is unique. The amount of spirit energy one can draw is limited, and as the user learns more about his nature, his control of the Spirit Energy becomes more efficient. Someone who just learned to summon their armor, or someone who had his nature change as a result of a great change, has an incomplete armor, called by Rangers a 'Neophyte Armor', which does not manifest the full potential and abilities of the user. Once they reach full knowledge of themselves, their armor reaches its 'Master Armor' state, with its full abilities, including hover and flying capabilities, as their efficiency in using their powers reaches its peak.

Logs

Shinryu Investigation: Phantom Forest	March 8th, 2014	This is what happens when you have Reize being the only person who saw the map for investigating the darkness. Reize leads Avira(much to her chagrin) and a few other folks to what was presumed to be the Crater where Shinryu was at...
Seven: Dreams Go On - Waking Dream	January 18th, 2014	Seith's curse comes to bear. Cinderella falls asleep. As do many of our other heroes. This is the story for those who escaped the curse's grasp.
Seven: Dreams	January 5th, 2014	Our heroes enjoy a ball and learn some of the secrets that the Castle of Dreams holds. But what's more... there is a dark omen that meets our heroes late into the dance.
Seven: Night Before Dreams	January 4th, 2014	In preparation to the big Castle of Dreams ball, the villages are the area are having a pre-feast feast!
Seven: Off With Her Head	November 9th, 2013	The Queen of Hearts comes to the World of Ruin, seeking a young girl named Alice. As such, she and a full deck of cards have come to Castle Tycoon while its own princess is out: For rumors go that a suspicious blonde girl has been imprisoned there. One demand echoes through the halls of Tycoon Castle, as its soldiers reach out for help against this strange enemy force that has infiltrated their castle; OFF WITH HER HEAD!

Cutscenes

No logs submitted yet.