Difference between revisions of "Ivo Galvan"

Revision as of 11:57, 15 September 2012

Ivo Galvan
Dashing? I'm in no hurry.
Age	20
Species	Human
Sex	Male
Height	5'10"
Weight	150 lbs
Background
Series	Original
Combat Styles	Galvan Sword Dance
Hometown	Cosmopolis
Group	Unaffiliated
Occupation/Job	Knight-Errant
Force:	Wandering Force
Theme Song	Dawn of Mana OST - The Fool's Dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7beJUxkXkYo)
Quote
"As anticipated... more or less."
Recent Events
His world consumed by Heartless, Ivo is thrust into Traverse Town, shaken but intrigued.

Blue-cloaked swordsman of serious mind and playful countenance, Ivo’s curiosity and fundamental kindness belie both the determination with which he pursues the shards of worlds lost to darkness and his ambivalence toward the prospect of finding his own. Once the young governor of a lower-tier borough within the spiring city Cosmopolis, military academy graduate in the magical sciences and scion of a family which won its nobility in war, his duties and titles have been swept away like so many brittle leaves scattered from the dying tree which once upheld his people’s last citadel. Seemingly having set his past aside, he puts his talents to use to protect his friends and forge his own path, wielding the Orbital Blade Hauteclare in the gravity-defying style his father once mastered. Yet though outwardly urbane and often easy-going, he is troubled by his own dispassion toward his cause, and in his darker moments wonders if his world’s sad fate was not, after all, what he had always wished for.

HISTORY

For a world in constant flux, there can be no history. There, above the earth’s dizzying spiral, a single city defiantly rose, a monument to those who face futility unflinching. Yet this place too was a teeming mass of lives atop lives, in which the present devoured the past and the future became impossible. For those who thrive on continuous change, that world was a paradise. But for those condemned to strive to make their mark only to watch as the passing moments ground it away, Cosmopolis was constant agony.

Long ago, the Forgotten World had a name, and a long and illustrious tale replete with worthy heroes and villains. With the Advent of Proliferation, however, the plants and beasts grew great and overwhelming, and the planet took its revenge against the hubris of human civilization. Vibrant jungles swarmed over once-mighty edifices; inexplicable dead zones caused the waters to dry and the soil to crumble. The world had gone mad, and the people fled their lands in desperation toward the last bastion of memory: a city carved out of a mountain, nestled between forest and sea, anchored by a vast tree and crowned by a great steel warrior. Ruled by the Sage King, who governed the development of the magical sciences, and his sorceress queen the Potentate, the political force of their Celestial Court, the world’s last city welcomed all within its borders, building upward and working to repel the earth’s advances. The city had once had other names, but as it took on the peoples of other lands and became the city to end all cities, they spoke of it only as Cosmopolis.

Integration, of course, was not always easy, and as Proliferation swept across the world and the hordes of the displaced moved toward the city which splits the sky, armies of age-old rivals clashed and schemed to seize humanity’s last habitation for themselves. These conflicts were known as the Wars of Convergence, although, as with all else, the events which took place were never properly recorded amidst the chaos. Nevertheless, it was in the Second War of Convergence that Gilbert Galvan, swordsman and mercenary, distinguished himself as fearless in battle and commanding in mien, an iron-faced leader of men with a rare mastery of the strange weapons which the still-nascent magical sciences produced. The prototype he wielded, the Orbital Blade, was deemed an awkward armament too challenging for most warriors to handle, with the power to separate its blade from its hilt and defy gravity by striking from a distance, yet with an unfortunate tendency to lose control or get stuck in surrounding objects.

The Sage King foresaw that the rapid growth overtaking civilization – unleashing bizarre beasts upon the populace and consigning once-great cities to oblivion beneath masses of vegetation – would only quicken while exiled rulers and tribes warred around and for Cosmopolis. Even with mighty warriors like Galvan in his service, he could not bring an end to the bloodshed, and none would consent to surrender their arms. Thus did his wife the Potentate persuade him to devote all resources to the further development of the magical sciences, particularly one project: a massive suit of armor which would henceforth become, along with the great tree Magnarbor, the definitive sight of Cosmopolis on the horizon. This armor was forged, yet the experimental procedure intended to animate it failed, and briefly, all seemed lost. In the midst of the decisive battle, however, as monsters closed in on all sides around humans too much at war with each other to respond, the Steelgod awakened and laid waste to the fiendish hordes, striking terror into the rival armies and intimidating them into surrender. Upon its success, the majestic armor knelt by Magnarbor and, gazing toward the ocean as branches and leaves slowly entangled it, never moved again. The Sage King forever vanished on that day, and henceforth, the Potentate would rule Cosmopolis.

Decades passed, and the world’s last city flourished. Gilbert Galvan, though grim and forbidding, was a man of intense passions, and deeply loved the Lady Isolde, a warm and intelligent woman as gentle as she was fiercely independent. Upon being awarded the minor noble rank of Baronet for his gallantry and appointed as district governor for a particularly diverse lower tier of the city, Galvan earned the grudging permission of Isolde’s family to marry her, causing a brief sensation amongst the lesser denizens of the Celestial Court. Soon she bore him a son, Ivo, who appeared to inherit the best qualities of both his parents. Surely, for Gilbert, life could not in any way improve.

Yet soon after Ivo’s seventh birthday, his mother abruptly passed away, for none of his father’s resources or abilities could discern or cure her illness. At that moment, some flame within Gilbert Galvan was extinguished, and the man he had been began to wither away. For all Ivo’s talents, the boy was a meandering and curious sort, lacking his father’s relentless dedication. What had once been a father’s frustration became an unforgiving fury. Gilbert refused to continue teaching the boy the strange techniques he had mastered so as to wield the Orbital Blade, determined that the Galvan Style Sword Dance should perish with him. Yet though shaken and humiliated by his father’s rejection, Ivo would observe his father’s regular practice in secret, absorbing all he witnessed.

Gilbert’s changes drove away most of his old friends and allies as he withdrew from public life, but his faithful retainer and butler Cezanne remained to care for Ivo, and as the boy grew he found ways to divert himself in the fascinating city in which he dwelled. Though calm and analytical like his father, his latent curiosity gave rise both to an urbane breadth of taste and a more relaxed personality, his constant wandering and ranging interests sometimes giving others the impression of frivolity. Deep down, however, his mother’s early influence remained, and though often motivated by the pursuit of aesthetic delights, Ivo never lost a fundamental desire to care for others and to protect the weak.

His mixture of intelligence and creativity made the younger Galvan a natural fit for the prestigious Lukion Military Academy’s magical sciences program, in which he trained as an engineer while refining his physical and strategic abilities. But on the eve of his graduation, Cezanne rushed to inform him that his estranged father had fallen deathly ill, and Ivo was forced to leave school to tend to him. Delirious in his last moments, Gilbert failed to recognize his son until the end – and even then, Ivo knew not how to read his father’s expression. Finishing the last of his coursework from afar, the only remaining member of House Galvan assumed a position that had long since become purely honorary: a Lower Tier Governor of Cosmopolis.

In the thirteen years since Gilbert Galvan had retreated from society, the citizens’ councils which arbitrated disputes between the multitudes of different factions in each of the city’s numberless neighborhoods had seized authority, ruling decently well but often consumed by petty politics and private grudges. Ivo, who had been well-liked in the district as a child and whose family name still commanded respect, concluded that he would in fact take up the duties allegedly assigned to him. Many warring sentiments motivated this decision: a sincere sense of responsibility; a resentment toward his father and a need to prove himself; confidence and pride in his ability; the opportunity to interact with new and intriguing people. But perhaps above all virtues and vices was one simple force: the desire to live a more interesting life.

As the months passed, Ivo Galvan began to seem a promising fellow, the resolution of one notable dispute even attracting the attention of the Celestial Court. Yet all activities in Cosmopolis were, for the reflective sort, plagued with a sense of futility, especially those of leadership. Every friendship or alliance he forged was soon swept away by the hectic pace of life. New communities arose and fell seemingly by the hour. His role was more than challenging: it began to instill a melancholy in him, and a doubt in his own motives. What was he really trying to prove, and to whom? In a city of endless diversion, could he not simply cast his identity away and be free if he sought only to avoid boredom? Living in his decaying childhood home, Ivo wondered whether this world meant anything to him at all.

He never found an answer: his world was taken away from him before he had the chance to cast it aside. The imbalance caused by the continuing Proliferation which the Sage King feared had come to pass, and the gates to the darkness opened. As though in retaliation for the life which overflowed in the Forgotten World, the Heartless came and devoured it all. Called like all knights to defend Cosmopolis, Ivo found his training useless against their nightmarish new foes. As the vitality was sapped from the great tree anchoring the city, amidst an endless rain of dead and brittle leaves, he fled back to his district in a desperate attempt to regroup. Cornered in his own manor, it was only once he unthinkingly took up his father’s sword, the Orbital Blade Hauteclare, that he was able to strike the Heartless truly. Emerging to rally the citizens he’d sworn to protect, the lessons he had internalized as a child awakened within him, and his dazzling displays of prowess kindled light in the hearts of others. It was, alas, for naught. Humanity’s last bastion was doomed to fall, the Steelgod unmoving, the whereabouts of the Potentate unknown.

But as he fell into the darkness, Ivo continued to fight, possessed of a frenzied defiance he had never before experienced.

PERSONALITY

In Ivo as in many men, both light and darkness dwell. As a knight and successor to minor nobility, he has a strong sense of responsibility and is ultimately quite serious, and on the whole his speech is eloquent and his manner is self-possessed. Nevertheless, despite his diligence, he is much more indulgent of others and open to different personalities and experiences than most, and as a result he has a charmingly straightforward quality that most born to his station lack. Rather than seeming aloof or pretentious, often the first impression Ivo gives is of someone reliable and oddly laidback, all the more so now that he lacks a path to honor parents none outside his world know.

Yet he holds himself to high standards, and worse, he is unsure of what exactly those standards are, for he as is ambivalent toward the prospect of living up to his father’s name as he is confused about what that would mean given their profound differences. Though his curiosity and aesthetic interests render him lively enough, he is insecure about what he perceives as his lack of true passion and marvels at those with the conviction to pursue a single ideal. His deeply-buried but fierce pride and inability to tolerate his own weakness is his weakest point, though difficult to expose.

Ivo is always up to something, whether it is tinkering or training or simply wandering the streets in search of nothing in particular, and so he is never bored, but he is particularly attracted to people who promise to make his life very interesting, whether for better or for worse. He is that rare sort of person who is both ethically and aesthetically-minded – who loves truth and goodness as much as beauty – and though he is thus sympathetic to and curious about all walks of life, he will not countenance what he sees to be evil. But even the worst of people rarely inspire fury or indignation within him, and he is not so pure that he cannot be led to temptation.

Strategic and insightful, Ivo is skillful at gauging people and predicting future events, though he couples this with an inexplicable tendency to forget about his immediate surroundings or about necessary, if trivial, tasks. Indeed, his haplessness with practical matters has nothing to do with his refined background; despite his best efforts, he is incorrigible when it comes to boring tasks like setting up a tent properly, not because he is above them but simply because he’ll begin to space out and think about something more interesting, making a dignified contemplative expression even as his tent collapses on top of him.

He has a good sense of humor about all this, tending to play his inevitable errors off with grace and a straight face, but very occasionally Ivo’s disposition will turn dark – even if the matter is minor – and he will attempt to isolate himself so as not to inflict his bad mood on anyone. Memories of his father’s caustic dismissal of him as unserious about the sword still haunt him, and laxness in any aspect of his life remind him of the small errors he made as a child which condemned him. His easy-going demeanor is more than just a front; if anything, it is his truer side. But he needs only take up Hauteclare to be reminded how much he was never taught, and how far he has yet to go.

Ultimately, Ivo yearns to believe himself worthy of his parents and of the weapon he now wields. Whether he somehow satisfies this longing or not will determine whether hope or despair shall define his fate.

ABILITIES

The sword dance of the Orbital Blade, passed down to Ivo from his recently deceased father, is a peculiar and difficult-to-master technique which relies upon tremendous precision and cunning and can offer the overwhelming advantage of surprise. Hauteclare is a normal, if extremely well-crafted, longsword in the hands of an average wielder, but it is forged of a highly conductive metal and, most importantly, it is possible through a hidden switch in the pommel to detach its blade from its hilt.

Through the occult technology of Ivo’s home world and his own magic, Hauteclare’s blade may be suspended in midair and allowed to dance separately from the hilt. This requires great concentration and dexterity, which Ivo possesses in spades, as well as the endurance to maintain such unbroken focus. At his best, he can even fight along with his sword, punching with the hilt while the blade attacks from another direction; by cleverly attacking from impossible angles, he is capable of physically debilitating his foes in a variety of ways. But he tends to fight normally – with blade and hilt attached – until finding the right opportunity to surprise his adversary with his dancing blade, as using it hastily can expose him to very strong or very swift opponents, who might be able to smash through or sneak past his technique.

Thus, he tends to be a patient fighter, using counter-attacks and reversals and trying not to be overwhelmed until he can unbalance or expose the weak point of his opponent, and then strike with devastating accuracy. Furthermore, Ivo possesses a limited ability to channel the sorcerous energies of light and darkness and, due to his training with Hauteclare, can exert some control over the forces of gravity, but he lacks much native talent in magic, and has instead adapted those skills so as to further refine his ability to hinder his adversaries. By channeling the power of light through Hauteclare, he can purge his foes of beneficial magic, and by channeling darkness, he can seal their body’s capacity to be healed.

More generally, Ivo is a relatively gifted strategic thinker, and his inventiveness lends itself to innovations on and off the battlefield. In a predicament where usual tactics fail, he is often the first to think of a new approach to fighting and quick to inform his allies, helping himself and others to change mindsets swiftly when circumstances demand it. He is not above manipulating his opponents through provocation and misdirection, but though these are the moments when he is at his most playful, he takes no particular pleasure in making a mockery of his foes.

Outside of his own world, most of what he learned as an engineer of magical technology no longer seems to apply, and in some respects he has been forced to start from scratch, with many of his new experiments failing. Yet he retains the ability to learn different crafting techniques quickly, and over time his inventions – such as, say, one built to detect the presence of World Shards – will become more functional. Someday he might make a mean Gummi Ship.