ainmhian application.

[judicatus]

PLAYER INFORMATION

NAME: Valya
AGE: 28
CONTACT: futuristics
CHARACTERS PLAYED: n/a
RESERVED? no

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Gabranth
CANON: Final Fantasy XII (CRAU)
CANON POINT: In canon: Just after his defeat by Vayne, after he's been left by the main party on the deck of the Sky Fortress Bahamut. In his previous game, Zhautas: Just after an event in which a massive portal brought in vast numbers of visitors from other worlds, and just after an unexpected encounter with Ashe which left him wounded.
AGE: 36

HISTORY: wiki!

PAST GAME MEMORIES:
As Gabranth lay dying on the floor of the Sky Fortress Bahamut, a pair of extradimensional travelers came to him: representatives of the interstellar corporation Zenith, who sought his aid in an initiative which would save not only his own world, but every world across the entire multiverse. With neither the time nor the ability to fully consider the veracity of their words, he agreed, figuring that if his life was already forfeit, then he could lose nothing by joining their cause, and that it might even be the only morally just option left to him in this world.

It wasn't long after he arrived in this distant world, Zhautas, and the idyllic tropical island upon which Zenith was conducting much of their operations, that he began to realize not all was as it seemed. For starters, the representatives had neglected to inform him that the experiments in which he would be expected to participate were of an invariably sexual nature, and had also failed to warn him that a chip would be implanted in the base of his skull which would allow Zenith's resident AI, R.O.S.I.E., to communicate and even interact with his physical form in ways which he immediately considered incredibly invasive. Even exceeding that, however, was an incident which occurred at the welcoming dinner thrown for all of Zenith's volunteers, in which a starship approaching the planet while hailing clear distress signals was instead shot down under orders by Zenith's head of staff, Professor Quintalian. A token effort was made to search for survivors of the crash, and Gabranth readily volunteered, though the beasts he and others encountered on their expedition gave him cause to wonder why Zenith was willing to risk the lives of volunteers instead of sending out trained personnel.

Things calmed down in the few weeks that followed, during which time Gabranth gradually adjusted to his new life on this strange new world. Though his nature lent itself to solitude and reticence, he resolved that it would be in his best interests to cooperate with Zenith's stated goal of saving the multiverse — or, at least, making himself appear as such — and in this spirit, he started to reach out and make some lasting connections with his fellow volunteers. Significant among these were Connor, a peculiar android, and Matt Jamison, a young mage.

More uneventful days passed, up until Zenith sponsored a fun scavenger hunt which Gabranth, in spite of his new resolution to be more cooperative, fully blew off. After a wildly emotional public message issued by Quintalian, during which he initiated something called the "tether protocol," the scavenger hunt list was updated to include a number of gruesome finds, including body parts both organic and mechanical. Gabranth continued to blow the whole thing off, now with even more reason to refuse to participate — but what he didn't realize was that the "tether protocol," issued by the implant in his head, had already begun to affect him, and that these effects would continue to worsen until he turned in an item from the scavenger hunt list. While at first he attempted to isolate himself, still refusing to play Quintalian's game, his symptoms grew worse and worse: first manifesting as physical illness, then graduating to terrible hallucinations of those he'd left behind in Ivalice. Soon enough, he was sufficiently maddened to seek out the one person he knew with certainty could provide him with an item from the list — Connor — and he struck him down without hesitation or mercy, prising a biocomponent from his chest. It wasn't long after that he encountered Matt as well, but luckily, Matt was able to talk him down from his maddened state and guided him through the rest of the incident without further violence.

(It's worth noting here that death is an impermanent condition on Zhautas, thanks to Zenith's advanced technology, and after his recovery, Connor immediately sought out Gabranth and, in spite of Gabranth's insistence that he take vengeance upon him instead, forgave him for what he'd done. This cemented something like a relationship between them, though neither of them possessed the emotional intelligence to fully realize it.)

In the aftermath of this event, and in the aftermath of subsequent experiments in which Gabranth was once again a target, he could no longer bring himself to ignore the idea that Zenith's intentions were nowhere near as altruistic as their mission statement made them seem. This was only further cemented by Connor coming to him in a state of uncharacteristic distress, both suspicious as to the nature of these recent experiments and concerned that he may have been tampered with during his reconstruction. Adding to this cloud of worry was the sudden arrival of the Ivalician sky pirate Balthier, who seemed overly keen on snooping into Zenith's affairs... And then came an announcement that all of the volunteers would be going on a field trip to a distant nation, Nevrione.

Despite the change of scenery, Gabranth remained on his guard in Nevrione...for all the good it did him, as he quickly found himself subjected to one humiliating incident after another, from overindulging at the local tavern to being swept up in a city-wide orgy as part of the local harvest festival. Even more harrowing than these trials was the arrival of his brother, Basch, with whom his relationship could at best be described as fraught even after their last parting. It was with the specter of a possible reconciliation looming over his head that he found himself caught up in yet another unfortunate incident: an outbreak of infectious hormones among the volunteers, hormones which induced physical changes and hypersexual, bestial urges in those afflicted, to which Zenith responded by locking everyone up in the local inn until the whole thing blew over.

It took only a matter of days to blow over, and soon afterwards, Gabranth was subjected to a bizarre dream involving R.O.S.I.E., from which he awoke with blood-red tears in his eyes — but he scarcely had time to convene with Balthier to investigate the matter before trouble struck once again. A powerful Nevronian artifact had been stolen and used to rile up the local forest gods, which also had a maddening effect on the local citizens. Gabranth set out with Balthier and Basch to deal with the forest gods directly, and despite an incident in which Balthier succumbed to the gods' mental influence and attacked Basch, they were able to combine their efforts with another group in order to slay one of the gods. Unfortunately, this went over extremely poorly with the people of Nevrione after all was said and done, and it was under a cloud of resentment and uncertainty that they finally returned with the rest of the volunteers from Nevrione to Zenith's home base.

There was no returning to idyllic days after that. Connor had disappeared, leaving behind a distorted message for Gabranth which included a video recording of the very same dream that he had seen in Nevrione...and despite Zenith's assurances that those volunteers who left the program were simply returned home, Gabranth had so far been given no reason not to believe that their actual fate was death, or worse. Soon after that, interdimensional portals began to appear all over the island which pulled anyone nearby into distant worlds, and Gabranth was no exception; he found himself in a twisted, alternate version of his own Ivalice, in which Vayne Solidor had triumphed over all and ruled with godlike power. He found an escape from this world quickly enough, back into Zhautas, but he soon found that the reality to which he returned had somehow grown worse in his absence. Matt had gone through another portal with their mutual friend, Garrett Hawke, into Thedas, and in that world had been captured and subjected to punishment as a mage, being made Tranquil — stripped of both magical ability and all of his emotions — a condition which was not reversed even after Garrett rescued and brought him back to Zhautas. This revelation, combined with the loss of Connor and the thought that he had failed to stop what had happened to either one of them, nearly broke Gabranth where he stood, but Garrett assured him that they were working to find a cure.

As it turned out, this was not to be. Matt was the next one to disappear, and Garrett followed soon after. The spate of small portals had ceased, but now a gigantic one loomed overhead, and through it came a vast number of unwitting visitors from other worlds — but neither of these developments mattered much in Gabranth's mind, not after all of the loss he had just suffered. Now bereft of almost all that made his life worth carrying on in this world, he could think to take no other course than to fall back on his old instincts, to lash out and seek vengeance against those he thought responsible for his misfortune, no matter how impossibly high the cost. It was in this state of mind that he armed himself and began to wander the facility, without any particular direction in mind but sure that the correct path would show itself to him in time...only to encounter the princess of Dalmasca, Ashelia B'nargin, one of those newly arrived from beyond the giant portal. A tense standoff ensued, ending only after he finally provoked Ashe into attacking him and was stabbed in the shoulder for his efforts. Basch intervened before things could escalate any further, and as he began to cast a healing spell on his wounded brother, Gabranth fell unconscious.

He couldn't have known it at the time, but this would be the last Gabranth would ever see of Zhautas, and so his memories of that other world end here.

PERSONALITY:
There are three traits that primarily define Gabranth’s character: his ruthless determination, his priority of honor above nearly all else, and his steadfast loyalty to and pursuit of the people and things that matter most to him. Together these traits make for a well-rounded primary antagonist, but they also tell the story of a broken man who is both chained to his past and driven to regain his honor at any cost.

Throughout Final Fantasy XII, he is shown to interact with most others in a stoic, calm, sometimes aloof and often calculating manner, whether it’s reporting to the Solidors, dismissing an unruly bangaa bounty hunter, or discussing the safety of his charge with fellow Judge Magister Drace. But his true colors show when he confronts his brother Basch, or even when the subject of him comes up in conversation. The grudge Gabranth holds against him for abandoning Landis is one he’s carried for years, and the depth of his hatred shows through in nearly every interaction he has with the player party, and even beyond that. In Basch’s flashback to the night of Raminas’s murder, when Gabranth looks down at him, seeing his twin brother for the first time in many years and in the act of framing him for regicide—essentially sentencing him to death—he regards him with a smirk on his face. Atop the Pharos, he tells him “When you abandoned home and kin, your name was forever stained with blood,” and even after being defeated there, he accuses him of “leav[ing his] debts unpaid”.

He is relentless in most everything he does, but this ruthlessness and drive is particularly evident when it comes to anything concerning Basch. In Gabranth’s mind, the only thing that could absolve Basch of his sins is his death, and he will stop at nothing to deliver it to him. He says this much to Emperor Gramis himself, and it also shows in his interactions with Basch in the latter parts of the game. After his defeat at the Pharos, he still doesn’t lay down his swords until Venat violently incapacitates him; when he later encounters them on the Sky Fortress Bahamut, even though he’s still disgraced and heavily wounded from their previous encounter, he picks a fight with Basch anyway and doesn’t give up until he can no longer stand.

For all his hatred and begrudging of his brother, though, Gabranth’s resentment does not lie wholly with him. Even years after the fact, and despite all that he has accomplished in his service to Archadia, he is still wracked with guilt over joining the empire that conquered his homeland. He feels as though his honor was lost the day Landis fell, and his dignity continues to be broken down throughout the course of FFXII, after Vayne forces him to kill Drace and Dr. Cid condemns him for breaking Larsa’s trust; even though both of these instances were only partially his own doing, he blames himself for both and slips deeper into self-loathing. He believes the only way he could possibly lay claim to honor once again and atone for his own misdeeds is by somehow avenging his fallen homeland, which becomes clear when he addresses Ashe at the Pharos: in provoking her to battle, he tells her “we cannot escape the past,” and asks if her subjugated kingdom and fallen subjects do not demand revenge.

The fact that no vengeance can change the events of the past is something that Gabranth cannot bring himself to recognize, whether he’s too stubborn for it or simply unwilling to admit that all he has struggled for in his quest for honor has been for naught. When he finally is forced to come to terms with that reality, he doesn’t accept it easily; for all the shame, humiliation, and despair he has inflicted upon his brother throughout the years, all in the name of punishing him for abandoning his family and home, Basch still manages to maintain his own honor and dignity, which both vexes and enrages Gabranth. At his lowest and weakest point, he confronts Basch on the Bahamut: “You failed Landis, you failed Dalmasca—all you were to protect, yet you still hold onto your honor! How?”

Of course, Basch’s answer—that he has kept his honor by protecting the princess Ashelia, as Gabranth protects his lord Larsa—isn’t something he easily accepts either. He has spent so many years blinded by his hatred, resentment, and self-loathing that he has somehow failed to recognize what truly renders him an honorable man: his steadfast dedication to the protection and welfare of Larsa Solidor.

While he is one to double-cross others without much second thought should his orders call for it—as evident in his framing of Basch, as well as his reporting on Vayne’s doings with Dr. Cid—when he is truly loyal to someone, he is loyal to the very end. After assuming his father’s throne, Vayne uses and orders Gabranth like his own personal hound, but it’s clear that Gabranth’s true loyalties lie instead with Vayne’s younger brother Larsa, and it is that true loyalty that stirs him to battle once more. Despite his resentment of the empire, and despite the wounds and shame he’s suffered from his defeat just minutes prior, he raises his sword once more in open defiance to Vayne for the sake of protecting Larsa and the future of Archadia. In doing so, he is shown to be willing to ultimately put the lives of those he values above himself and above his own pain, no matter what the cost, and in giving his life to do so, he finally manages to prove himself an honorable man.

POWERS/ABILITIES:
Of Gabranth's abilities, his most notable would be his prowess with battle and swordsmanship. The position of judge is inherently military in Archadian government, and so his ascension to the rank of Judge Magister was propelled by more than mere politicking. Nevertheless, his skill with the ins and outs of Archadian politics is not one to be considered lightly. Despite the disadvantages and discrimination he undoubtedly faced as a foreign Landisian in Archadian society, the fact that he was able to attain the lofty office of Judge Magister at such a relatively young age is a testament to such skill. Beyond that, his position as head of the Archadian military's Ninth Bureau, charged with all matters concerning intelligence and espionage, indicates that he is well-versed in the art of gathering information through any means necessary, particularly means that are underhanded and at times brutal, and dealing with it however he must. To this end, he is shown acting as a double agent on at least one occasion, as he secretly investigates Vayne Solidor's affairs by the emperor's will.

Returning to his physical ability, his favored weapon — a pair of large swords that can be joined at the pommel into a double-headed lance, both signature of and unique to each of the Judge Magisters — is further evidence of his martial prowess, as its apparent unwieldiness attests to his skill. He has only a very basic proficiency in Ivalician magicks, and this basic proficiency consists solely of protective buffs, such as the aptly-named Protect and Shell. However, he does have command over a variety of technicks (special skills, usually combat-oriented, that are unrelated to the use of magicks), which may also provide him with similar protective buffs, or may help him gather Mist to power certain attacks.

SAMPLES: prose sample, and action spam. (do note that both of these are screencaps due to the nature of zhautas as a locked game, and consent to share them has been obtained from the other folks in these threads!)

ANYTHING ELSE? idk what else to put here except that I am very sorry if this app ran overlong, I'm sorry!!!