Revision as of 23:00, 19 April 2013

Caran Steel
Age	18
Species	Hume (Ramuha)
Sex	Male
Height	5'8"
Weight	150 lbs
Background
Series	Final Fantasy Act: Class
Combat Styles	Red Mage, The Black Blade
Hometown	Chocobo, Galianda
Group	Alexander Academy
Occupation/Job	Red Mage / Ascended Fanboy Adventurer
Force:	Forces of Restoration
Quote
"I'm a Warrior of Light and I'm here to save you!"

History

Caran Steel was born to an upper middle class family living on Chocobo. While they didn't live in a mansion or anything, they never wanted for anything important or even most things convenient. Talented in a wide variety of areas but a bit of a loner, he lost himself in fantasy worlds and turned away from the real one. His talents led him to assume he'd become some kind of mage, though he didn't really have a clear picture of what his adult life might be like. After several years of school and getting good grades with ease, he was urged to at least attempt entry into better academies of learning, and so he joined the Alexander Academy's Medusa Class the following year. (His older brother, not to be outdone, applied as well and gained entry into the upper classes). But despite new surroundings, Caran continued much as he had, skating by on talent with his head in the clouds and no real vision for his own future. Not really interacting much with the other students or making friends. This annoyed some people, but didn't become an academic problem until his grades began to fall in Gigas Class as the school's demands finally began to require actual work from him. The following year, he made promises and half-hearted starts to improve things, but... without a real drive or a goal of his own, he continued to falter. He'd only come to Alexander Academy because family urged him: 'You're talented, you should try to get in!' Not because of any personal dream it would help him achieve. Completing school, whether Alexander Academy or elsewhere, was, after all, just an expected thing you /did/. His parents did, his older siblings did, it was just part of life. You have to eat, you have to wash, you have to sleep, you have to go to school and later when you're older you have to get a job.

Finally, though, Caran realized how people saw him. And he /knew/ he had great talent and ability. He'd just never really used it on anything practical. He determined not just to complete school, but to show them all that he /was/ something special. He delved into the Academy libraries, searching for magics that were supposedly difficult and powerful. There were difficulties and false starts. He learned to summon a familiar, and other esoteric spells. And then he got into things truly dangerous. One careless spell backfired, turning his hands into scaly claws. Determined, he hid them with wrappings and pressed on. Finally, he found something: The Gigas Rave, a spell that temporarily created a crude, giant sword of pure nothingness that ate away at everything it touched -- including the caster if they weren't careful! More cautious now, he modified the spell into a weaker, but more stable version to attempt first -- it could form a normal-sized sword of nothingness that could be sustained for more than a few seconds. Pleased at his success creating the Black Blade, he pressed on towards the Gigas Rave. He would demonstrate both to the Academy, and then they would see what he could do! At last, he successfully cast it--

And then the world ended.

At first, he was terrified that he had, somehow, made the spell far more powerful and destroyed everything... but he found himself in a new world, meeting new people not from his own world, and heard of the Heartless and the darkness that had been spreading for a longer time now, and learned that this was not his doing but a far greater threat, to which his own world was just the latest casualty. Everything was gone. He and his familiar were the only ones left. It was just like the start of one of his beloved stories. He grieved his loss, the world he never appreciated, but... life continued. With his skills, he found himself helping people and fighting heartless. Indeed, it was like the /beginning/ of one of his stories. People needed him. He could help them. There was much to do. His loss was great, but at least the darkness had a silver lining: If this was one of his stories, then he could be the hero.

Personality

Caran didn't really get along with his peers as a child. He wasn't as interested in the fine details of socializing, and he spent his younger days mostly reading and practicing swordplay. His appetite for knowledge led him to read all sorts of books, including stories and tales with which he became enamored. He began to absorb the ideals of the stories -- although modern life was pretty safe, so there seemed less call for applying them. While he knew he would probably never be a great hero himself, they were still a model to look up to and idealize. His peers came to see him as a bit strange, but harmless.

He didn't care how other people saw him. Or at least, that's what he said. In truth, he always had at least some people among his family that saw him positively, and he consistantly got good grades in school. When he began to mess up in Gigas Class, his self-image faltered. Wasn't he the talented genius who everything came easy to? He really /was/ smart, right? Having to actually apply himself was new, and difficult, but he did it eventually...

And then the world ended.

When he began to get over his despair, and saw people and worlds that needed help, that needed great heroes like the ones in his stories... he stepped up to the role and never looked back. Beginning a new life, he is determined to save the world... and while the stories say that the heroes will be successful, he knows that making that come true will be a difficult task, requiring all of his talent and skill. While one might think his idolization of the heroes in stories would lead him to 'play hero', he understands that the heartless and the darkness enveloping the world are quite real, and finding a way to save the other worlds, even if his own cannot be restored, is the most important thing to him above all else. At long last, he has a purpose.

The loss of everything he knew, after months of working with strange magics, may have taken a slight toll on his mind, however. Obviously, some aspects of stories /are/ real -- this is a world of heroes and villains, and people in stories must act at least somewhat like real people, etc... But sometimes, he seems to think this extends beyond that, and every now and then he refers to a genre convention or game mechanic as if it is just as real. Ah, no wonder we had trouble figuring out what to do next, we had to trigger the event flag first...

Caran's familiar, Ketan, is his only friend, and the link they share has made Ketan tend to think the same way as his master -- he shares and supports the belief that this world is a story come to life and Caran is one of its heroes.

Skills

Not Red Mage Statskowski, Grew Up In A Fantasy World And STILL Obsessed With Fantasy, Ascended Fanboy, Zero To Hero, Living The Dream, Or Is It A Nightmare?, Awesome Hat, What's A Giga Slave?, We're Light Warriors And We're Here To Save You!

Abilities

• Red Mage - Caran is skilled in black and white magic as well as swordsmanship.
• The Black Blade - A refined version of the powerful destructive spell, the Gigas Rave, Caran can focus his magic power into maintaining a powerful magical sword.
• Sorcery - Caran has studied the strange magic of sorcery, searching out powers beyond the standard magics of battle in his quest to prove himself. Most notably, he can teleport short distances by opening ethereal doorways, and call a magic flying chocobo to ride upon.
• Ketan - Caran's familiar is a flying cat that can talk and use basic healing magic.

Soundtrack

• Soundtrack pending

Relationships

Logs

Cutscenes