Lutece | Magister, Third Class (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dungeoneer) wrote2015-10-01 12:29 pm
dungeoneer) wrote2015-10-01 12:29 pm
Entry tags:
( fakeout application / info sheet. )
Player
Name: DJ
Age: 23
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
biomagnet / aim psitaniums
Other characters:
Recent AC:
Character
Name: Lutece
Canon: Original ("Inside the Veil")
Canon point: Chapter Two ("Kannin Has His Own Team Now?!"), Year 799
Age: 18
OC history: Born in a middling settlement with dreams of growing larger, Lutece's childhood was not what one would call typical. That's hard when you sense a growing softness in the veil around you and your brain is simply too fast for such a tiny body. From a very young age, Lutece was a troublemaker and a crier, sometimes falling into days-long temper tantrums as the situation of the veil in the village decreased and he had no way to express it or explain what he was feeling. When the first monster came through right in the village center, it was a disaster and the settlement was immediately abandoned; many residents fled for larger, established cities while some branched off and made a much less ambitious village this time around. Lutece's family was one of those few.
Many soon came to realize that Lutece had a connection to the veil and labeled him as the girl who tried to save them, garnering favors from the older residents and a bit of fear from the ones around Lutece's age who didn't really understand what the horrible attitude was all about. After some particular fussing where Lutece's parents tried to dress up a very-not-having-it three year old Lutece for a party, he ran away from the house and bumped into another child slightly older and ended up clinging to him for protection from the annoying adults who just wouldn't listen. This boy was Nataliano Alphonse Fresquire, later to be nicknamed Nate at Lutece's insistence, and they soon became fast friends. Although Nate was something of a pushover to Lutece's intelligence and ego, they got along well and fitted themselves together where no one else seemed able to really make headway.
This continued well into their young adulthood, when eight year old Lutece struck out for Aquafira and applied for an official position as Dungeon Master with the High Royal Academy. Laughed out by his peers, he took burgeoning-sorcerer Nate and the one mercenary he could afford to hire with his savings into a nearby dungeon — recently sealed, so not terribly dangerous — and added further seals and protections before returning and telling them to investigate. Once reports came in of the strengthening barriers, Lutece was accepted into the Academy on the condition that Nate join him unconditionally, in his own field of study at his own pace, but that they would not be separated. At the age of twelve, Lutece attained the lowest class of Dungeon Master, [rank], Fourth Class and officially entered the Royal Army as a unit leader. While occasionally leading local missions along with other [rank] DMs, Lutece often returned to the academy to work on furthering his studies and be close to Nate. By age 18, Lutece had advanced through three full ranks up to Magister, Third Class at an unprecedented rate that put him as the youngest Magister in the Academy's history. Now an accredited unit leader with Nate as his only official, constant team leader, Lutece journeyed far and wide to deal with larger scale veil-softening and other military incidents.
It was around this time that the High Magister, Second Class, headmaster of the High Royal Academy, assigned a fifteen year old Monster Tamer by the name of Kannin Briske to Lutece's unit. He, too, was some sort of tamer prodigy, rarest of the rares, and the officials thought their similar ages would make teaching him in the field to be the most practical choice. By following Kannin's instinct, Lutece was assigned increasingly odd cases of dungeons with minimal monster activity and highly dangerous enemies, or spots that were about to burst without the gradual weakening that usually indicated the birth of a dungeon. Each one was resolved via the taming of the monsters in charge of the areas, even if the monsters themselves didn't understand what caused the oddness of their invasion into the physical world once they could be communicated with. All of the monsters turned out to be female, overemotional and highly clingy. Lutece could hardly stand them, and Kannin only could do so much in controlling them. This led to heated incidents where a mercenary that Kannin hired tried to intervene in battles simply because she felt it was too risque to be hitting cute girl monsters or becoming so intensely involved that the monsters nearly landed some fatal strikes. In one of his less than stellar moments, Lutece slapped the mercenary and told her to never again interfere on the battlefield where lives are at risk no matter what it looks like they're fighting. It was professional disgrace, plain and simple, and Lutece would not suffer that for the wellbeing of his team.
After several missions in this vein of oddness and recruitment, Kannin was assigned his own unit with a more rookie Dungeon Master to accompany him as a Magister on team with a Monster Tamer with near-alarming progress in defending himself and others was "overkill" and their talents would be better put split up. Lutece was fine with that. However, his curiosity into the specific instances around Kannin caused him to keep his eye on the Tamer while looking into deeper historical archives on any similar incidents that may have occurred in the past. Currently, this is the second arc of the story after the prologue and "tutorial" first chapter wherein the overpowered NPC teammates (Lutece and Nate) have been removed for gameplay purposes.
Setting: Lutece's world is rife with monsters, sitting on a precarious balance between the physical and the spiritual. Many settlements are either small villages with a low population, or thriving city centers filled with culture and history. Most villages don't survive growing into cities, as the veil between worlds is rather fragile and the coming-together of so much energy must be handled with care lest a soft spot be created and turn the village into a dungeon. "Dungeons" being the term for any monster habitat, most commonly being caves, forests or abandoned cities.
Monsters are creatures from beyond the veil whose true forms are so completely inconceivable to humans that they take the form of scantily clad, animalistic moe children. That's just how it works, no matter the actual mind perceiving it. As a result, there are those who cannot bring themselves to harm monsters or even wish to try and form treaties with them: more often than not, this becomes disastrous as monsters are a chaotic breed of creature, and must be handled as things not-quite human. Only a certain, rare class of people can get away with civility with monsters: Monster Tamers. These tamers have the ability to use themselves as an anchor and bind monsters to the physical world, wherein they become "pets" for the duration of the contract or the tamer's lifespan. Whichever lasts longer. Most tamers rarely live past childhood due to their inherent connection to the spiritual world, making them more likely to create soft spots or pull them to dangerous areas or even tame monsters before they can control them. Assuming the pet can find something else to bind to in the physical world, they can become permanent native and begin aging at their own rate. Theoretically, children of humans and civilized pets are possible but no one has yet to any (under recorded history, at any rate).
As dungeons can become more and more dangerous over time, the Royal State employs people called Dungeon Masters who have an inherent connection to the veil in order to strengthen it and keep the population of monsters within controllable levels. These Dungeon Masters use a sigil-based magic in the language of barriers to achieve various effects, although smaller differences spring up between user to user depending on their specific trait; sigil magic is the most trait-influenced discipline currently discovered. These Dungeon Masters tend to act and are trained as squadron leaders thanks to their necessity to every unit dispatched into dungeons. High Magister, First Class is the highest rank possible, with second, third and fourth class being reserved for generals of armies in times of dire invasion, with ranks and titles descending from there. Golden rivets are a sign of station on Dungeon Masters, not a sign of rank. Anyone not a Dungeon Master who would wear golden rivets could be fined or jailed for impersonation of a Royal Officer.
Where normal society and learning exists, there exists a special branch that attend Royal Academies in order to further their class-learnings and become warriors to aid Dungeon Masters, who also attend the Academies. Warriors are any sort of offensive or supportive class often found on the battlefield. Any Academy is run by a headmaster who is generally either High Magister, Third or Fourth Class. While the curriculum does go over some more mundane subjects, Royal Academies are closer to trade schools where one goes to ensure a specific career. Those who graduate can either join official units around the world, apply for advanced learnings or higher ranks via a combination of further schooling and field work, or become teachers themselves at whatever Academy has an opening. Trades taught at Royal Academies are as follows: Swordsmen; Lumberjacks; Javelineers; Archers; Rogues; Sorcerers; Enchanters; Merchants; and, of course, Dungeon Masters. Other managerial duties can be learned as electives to those who would continue working at Academies rather than joining field duties. Due to the low frequency of discovered Monster Tamers, they are taken into Academies on a case-by-case basis.
Anyone has the capacity to learn magic. Elemental magic is the easiest to learn, the trade of sorcerers, and very difficult to master once one ventures into the deeper territory of complex spells. As elements are firm, physical things with specific laws, this magic relies very little on a person's trait affiliation in order to function. Enchanters use more ambient magic for the benefit of their group, yet still draw from nature and are the second-least affected class. Physical type warriors use a mixture of elemental manipulation harmonized with their traits to determine their specific skill trees, with rogues being the most trait-oriented and lumberjacks the least. Dungeon Masters, who draw upon the nonphysical and use the one-dimensional element of barriers, are most effected by their own trait when drawing their sigils. Monster Tamers generally use entirely physical means and are not affected by elements or traits unless borrowing from their pets as support. Traits are like a person's personal alignment that modify their specialty depending on class and come in flavors such as: might, illusory, supportive, destructive, evasive, and reactive.
The continent's capital is named Aquafira. It is a city on multiple levels, held aloft over a large lake, that uses canal systems as its main transportation with a few roads along the higher tiers. On the highest tier sits the High Royal Academy, essentially the courtyard to the Royal Palace of Her Highness Queen Rebeka, where Lutece and Nate attend. Architecture is a mix between steampunk and early European with brass fittings, circular patterns and carved wood and stone structures. Greenery grows out of the lake, up trellises and stairways into the city proper in order to promote its lively feel. At the bottom of the lake is a gigantic sigil maintaining the strength of the veil around Aquafira, powered by the plants and people inside; as it is the most populated city on the entire landmass, no one really feels the drain at all. The world's level of technology is to the point of radio waves being in common use for entertainment and black and white (er... sepia) televisions finding use in higher-end facilities, although most travel is done on foot or in carriages.
In reality, the entire world acts as a balance between the physical and the spiritual. The role of monsters in the spiritual world is to promote recycling of energy, which in turn allows new resources of all sorts to be grown in the physical world; humans are meant to cultivate those resources and progress through technological and theological advances while maintaining harmony with nature. This natural give and take was maintained by the powers already in charge of the greatest border of the known universe, night and day. Sun and moon recycle the energy gathered and harmonized by ten different ley lines throughout the planet making the entire world into a sigil itself. This balance was disturbed eight hundred years ago when the first Queen bound herself to the sun and determined to destroy the spirit world in a fit of self-important delusion that the humans did not need to rely on the monsters' blessing; in response, the king of monsters sealed himself inside of the moon to save the world which results in the moon being completely out of sight during nighttime. He assigned several monster lines to guard the ley lines over the years to ensure the world remain as balanced as possible. Although not a perfect situation, the planet continued to spin and live in an overflow of spiritual energy nearly forcing the resources to stop producing except for the most simple things: crops, animals and humans.
Personality: Being a gifted prodigy and one who never quite understood people besides, Lutece has an ego that is hard to curb. Although he cares for those under his command and especially for Nate as a platonic life partner, there are some things that completely pass him by when it comes to social graces and with all this other work on his plate, he isn't particularly interested in learning it all, anyway. People can deal with themselves, and he'll deal with himself. For all of that, Lutece is merely oblivious rather than unkind and sees no reason to lessen any of his own traits for the benefit of others. If he can deal with everyone else in their own obnoxiousness, clearly they should be able to do the same!
His lifestyle is one of rough tasks, difficult assignments and judgmental peers. Lutece takes all of it as a challenge and would never give any of it up: from hardship rises greatness, and there is nothing more that Lutece wants to do than be great. His ultimate goal is based off the confusing and heart-wrenching childhood where no one could understand the effect they were having in wearing down their local barrier, and he fights to educate the masses and someday make it safer for all citizens to live in peace however they choose to do it. Monsters are not the problem as he sees it, being living monsters with as much of a right to have peaceful lives, but their combined effect on each other and the world needs to be resolved in whatever way possible if anyone is to move forward in their society. To that end, Lutece is a consummate professional while on the job, and a lazy layabout in any free time he gives himself. He particularly appreciates trawling libraries and bookstores for short novels or trashy fiction to devour rather than trying to move at an even more accelerated pace as he likely could do with more effort. It's his world into the regular life without the constant fighting or strife or political conflict that lets him turn his brain off and just enjoy something.
Returning to those judgmental peers, Lutece's age often marks him as an easy target for those of similar ranks or ranks underneath him that feel jealous. Some higher ups see him for the prodigal that he is, but think that he should slow down or act more wisely rather than knowledgeably, while others are content to give Lutece the run around in meaningless or mundane tasks. Lutece, however, doesn't mind and does whatever work comes his way and puts all of his effort into whatever it is. Work is work, and furthering the Academy's agenda of a peaceful world is worth following along for. That doesn't mean that the lazy or judgmental adults don't then owe Lutece a favor later, of course. That's only fair. Despite this fiercely practical view of the world, Lutece does have a rigid moral compass and fights for the side of good and right even if it means being more pragmatic than many of his more emotionally-attuned peers. Most tend to call him a jackass who makes lucky calls.
Born as a girl, Lutece doesn't identify as either male or female and has recognized this alienation from a very young age. Simply put, neither of those feel correct and so Lutece refuses to conform and feels happiest for that. Although there isn't a word for such in current society, Lutece powers on regardless and uses male pronouns for the sake of his teammates and simplicity. When questioned on having fair looks despite being a growing boy, or what is up with his odd behaviors, the usual answers are "that's just how I am" or "Lutece is Lutece" (from Nate) because it really is that simple. Anyone who makes a deal of being led by someone who can't be "straightforward" is someone that Lutece immediately drops and forwards to disciplinary review; no one has time for those who can't accept other humans as they are in this fight against monsters.
Where Nate is concerned, Lutece is incredibly attached. His protector and confidante, friend and most precious thing. They go together like peanut butter and jelly, their differences only highlighting their closeness; whereas Lutece is rather egotistical, sometimes abrasive and definitely oblivious, Nate fills the gap with being down to earth, smooth-talking and able to chastise Lutece. Lutece refuses to go anywhere without Nate in tow and is often breaking confidentiality rules in Nate's confidence if only because he trusts that Nate would never tell beyond the two of them. They're simply too close to keep secrets from, and too close for romance to develop when they almost require each other to be themselves at all. Lutece is fully capable of functioning independently, but without Nate, he tends to default into a more formal behavior and act on a hair trigger for insults or slights against his capability; with Nate there, he trusts Nate to pick up actual cues and signal their annoyance or otherwise keep Lutece from overreacting. Some might call them soul mates. Some might also be incredible saps. Who knows? It is a mystery for the ages.
Appearance: Lutece is a young adult with Caucasian features, striking blue eyes and raven hair that devolves into waves if it gets too long. Standing at 5'11", tends to overshadow peers of similar ages and meet those older of similar statures. Lanky and not all that impressive, Lutece often wears the formal attire of a light breastplate with royal robes over it, custom tailored to include a hood from which golden rivets hang on short tassels for spellcasting. Lutece is female-bodied gender neutral and goes by male pronouns in conversation, or the singular 'they' and 'Magister' in official reports. Played-by is protagonist/Hibiki Kuze of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2.
Abilities: Something of a complete and total genius, Lutece has a problem with attention span. Once he's learned something to his own satisfaction (based on how much he uses the subject in his daily life), he merely moves on rather than master it or continue interest. This means he's very knowledgeable for a number of different subjects and could pretend to be an expert on any of them based on conjecture with the rudimentary skills he's already acquired. Technology is his second-highest interest under his career as a Dungeon Master, and although he isn't a tinkerer, he does tend to doodle out schematics in times where his hands are free but his mind is not. Of course, people have never been of interest enough to Lutece to study them; he likes them well enough, wants to help his fellow man, but they're simply too mysterious for him to understand where to start. Better to put his energies somewhere more efficient.
As a Magister, Third Class, Lutece is an extremely prodigal Dungeon Master with quite a few field missions under his belt as well as the required higher learning. Being a Dungeon Master means he has a connection to the veil on a spiritual level and can feel ripples, breaks and soft spots innately, as well as read the language of barriers on an instinctual level. He uses standard sigils with proper timing, speed and hefty precision to get the most out of his spells to make up for the fact that he has very little physical prowess at all. Lutece's trait is Might, and his golden rivets are woven to the back of an intricate hood which lifts and extends as necessary for drawing magic. Low capacity for elemental magic such as standard fireballs, electric currents or frozen blasts.
His sigil spells are as follow:
- Engage Circle within a circle. Creates a barrier on the ground which prevents any participants of battle from easily fleeing.
- Locate Circular pattern utilizing several swirls. Another ground sigil in which the Dungeon Master walks that acts as a compass toward the softest veil-spot in the area.
- Power Angular pattern with swirls accenting. Sigil that places itself on a supporting member's strongest limb in order to augment their attacks. Fades after a short while.
- Protection Geometric with angular accents. Creates a thin secondary skin to soften blows until destroyed. Can be used on one ally's body or placed on the ground for a diminished, wider effect.
- Entice Swirling pattern surrounded by blocky pieces. Draws a monster's attention to whatever ally it is placed on. Does not work if placed on the monster's own party.
- Reclaim Geometric with swirling accents. Allows heightened passive healing. Can be used on one ally's body or placed on the ground for a diminished, wider effect.
- Strengthen Geometric with circular, swirling patterns highlighted by angular lines. Used to restore power to a soft spot, or cleanse a single ally of status.
Inventory:
- Royal Academic Robes (breastplate with patterned robe and pants underneath denoting station)
- Dungeon Master Hood (attached to robes, can be shifted to another article if necessary)
- Various breads and herbs to heal allies
- Camping gear
- About five trash novels at any one time
Suitability: Although the initial days will be rough without Nate, Lutece is nothing if not gifted and will adapt rather quickly to his lack of presence. That doesn't mean he won't have trouble with people, reading them and/or dealing with them, but he'll be better about waiting for Nate to show up and all that. Slice of life gives him the perfect opportunity to look into this new world and possibly research connections to the duality of his own; plot-related things are just up his alley, his magic and experience as a leader both giving him a head start in reacting and absorbing whatever twists come his way.
Soul gem:
Samples
Third-person:
First-person:
Name: DJ
Age: 23
Contact:
Other characters:
Recent AC:
Character
Name: Lutece
Canon: Original ("Inside the Veil")
Canon point: Chapter Two ("Kannin Has His Own Team Now?!"), Year 799
Age: 18
OC history: Born in a middling settlement with dreams of growing larger, Lutece's childhood was not what one would call typical. That's hard when you sense a growing softness in the veil around you and your brain is simply too fast for such a tiny body. From a very young age, Lutece was a troublemaker and a crier, sometimes falling into days-long temper tantrums as the situation of the veil in the village decreased and he had no way to express it or explain what he was feeling. When the first monster came through right in the village center, it was a disaster and the settlement was immediately abandoned; many residents fled for larger, established cities while some branched off and made a much less ambitious village this time around. Lutece's family was one of those few.
Many soon came to realize that Lutece had a connection to the veil and labeled him as the girl who tried to save them, garnering favors from the older residents and a bit of fear from the ones around Lutece's age who didn't really understand what the horrible attitude was all about. After some particular fussing where Lutece's parents tried to dress up a very-not-having-it three year old Lutece for a party, he ran away from the house and bumped into another child slightly older and ended up clinging to him for protection from the annoying adults who just wouldn't listen. This boy was Nataliano Alphonse Fresquire, later to be nicknamed Nate at Lutece's insistence, and they soon became fast friends. Although Nate was something of a pushover to Lutece's intelligence and ego, they got along well and fitted themselves together where no one else seemed able to really make headway.
This continued well into their young adulthood, when eight year old Lutece struck out for Aquafira and applied for an official position as Dungeon Master with the High Royal Academy. Laughed out by his peers, he took burgeoning-sorcerer Nate and the one mercenary he could afford to hire with his savings into a nearby dungeon — recently sealed, so not terribly dangerous — and added further seals and protections before returning and telling them to investigate. Once reports came in of the strengthening barriers, Lutece was accepted into the Academy on the condition that Nate join him unconditionally, in his own field of study at his own pace, but that they would not be separated. At the age of twelve, Lutece attained the lowest class of Dungeon Master, [rank], Fourth Class and officially entered the Royal Army as a unit leader. While occasionally leading local missions along with other [rank] DMs, Lutece often returned to the academy to work on furthering his studies and be close to Nate. By age 18, Lutece had advanced through three full ranks up to Magister, Third Class at an unprecedented rate that put him as the youngest Magister in the Academy's history. Now an accredited unit leader with Nate as his only official, constant team leader, Lutece journeyed far and wide to deal with larger scale veil-softening and other military incidents.
It was around this time that the High Magister, Second Class, headmaster of the High Royal Academy, assigned a fifteen year old Monster Tamer by the name of Kannin Briske to Lutece's unit. He, too, was some sort of tamer prodigy, rarest of the rares, and the officials thought their similar ages would make teaching him in the field to be the most practical choice. By following Kannin's instinct, Lutece was assigned increasingly odd cases of dungeons with minimal monster activity and highly dangerous enemies, or spots that were about to burst without the gradual weakening that usually indicated the birth of a dungeon. Each one was resolved via the taming of the monsters in charge of the areas, even if the monsters themselves didn't understand what caused the oddness of their invasion into the physical world once they could be communicated with. All of the monsters turned out to be female, overemotional and highly clingy. Lutece could hardly stand them, and Kannin only could do so much in controlling them. This led to heated incidents where a mercenary that Kannin hired tried to intervene in battles simply because she felt it was too risque to be hitting cute girl monsters or becoming so intensely involved that the monsters nearly landed some fatal strikes. In one of his less than stellar moments, Lutece slapped the mercenary and told her to never again interfere on the battlefield where lives are at risk no matter what it looks like they're fighting. It was professional disgrace, plain and simple, and Lutece would not suffer that for the wellbeing of his team.
After several missions in this vein of oddness and recruitment, Kannin was assigned his own unit with a more rookie Dungeon Master to accompany him as a Magister on team with a Monster Tamer with near-alarming progress in defending himself and others was "overkill" and their talents would be better put split up. Lutece was fine with that. However, his curiosity into the specific instances around Kannin caused him to keep his eye on the Tamer while looking into deeper historical archives on any similar incidents that may have occurred in the past. Currently, this is the second arc of the story after the prologue and "tutorial" first chapter wherein the overpowered NPC teammates (Lutece and Nate) have been removed for gameplay purposes.
Setting: Lutece's world is rife with monsters, sitting on a precarious balance between the physical and the spiritual. Many settlements are either small villages with a low population, or thriving city centers filled with culture and history. Most villages don't survive growing into cities, as the veil between worlds is rather fragile and the coming-together of so much energy must be handled with care lest a soft spot be created and turn the village into a dungeon. "Dungeons" being the term for any monster habitat, most commonly being caves, forests or abandoned cities.
Monsters are creatures from beyond the veil whose true forms are so completely inconceivable to humans that they take the form of scantily clad, animalistic moe children. That's just how it works, no matter the actual mind perceiving it. As a result, there are those who cannot bring themselves to harm monsters or even wish to try and form treaties with them: more often than not, this becomes disastrous as monsters are a chaotic breed of creature, and must be handled as things not-quite human. Only a certain, rare class of people can get away with civility with monsters: Monster Tamers. These tamers have the ability to use themselves as an anchor and bind monsters to the physical world, wherein they become "pets" for the duration of the contract or the tamer's lifespan. Whichever lasts longer. Most tamers rarely live past childhood due to their inherent connection to the spiritual world, making them more likely to create soft spots or pull them to dangerous areas or even tame monsters before they can control them. Assuming the pet can find something else to bind to in the physical world, they can become permanent native and begin aging at their own rate. Theoretically, children of humans and civilized pets are possible but no one has yet to any (under recorded history, at any rate).
As dungeons can become more and more dangerous over time, the Royal State employs people called Dungeon Masters who have an inherent connection to the veil in order to strengthen it and keep the population of monsters within controllable levels. These Dungeon Masters use a sigil-based magic in the language of barriers to achieve various effects, although smaller differences spring up between user to user depending on their specific trait; sigil magic is the most trait-influenced discipline currently discovered. These Dungeon Masters tend to act and are trained as squadron leaders thanks to their necessity to every unit dispatched into dungeons. High Magister, First Class is the highest rank possible, with second, third and fourth class being reserved for generals of armies in times of dire invasion, with ranks and titles descending from there. Golden rivets are a sign of station on Dungeon Masters, not a sign of rank. Anyone not a Dungeon Master who would wear golden rivets could be fined or jailed for impersonation of a Royal Officer.
Where normal society and learning exists, there exists a special branch that attend Royal Academies in order to further their class-learnings and become warriors to aid Dungeon Masters, who also attend the Academies. Warriors are any sort of offensive or supportive class often found on the battlefield. Any Academy is run by a headmaster who is generally either High Magister, Third or Fourth Class. While the curriculum does go over some more mundane subjects, Royal Academies are closer to trade schools where one goes to ensure a specific career. Those who graduate can either join official units around the world, apply for advanced learnings or higher ranks via a combination of further schooling and field work, or become teachers themselves at whatever Academy has an opening. Trades taught at Royal Academies are as follows: Swordsmen; Lumberjacks; Javelineers; Archers; Rogues; Sorcerers; Enchanters; Merchants; and, of course, Dungeon Masters. Other managerial duties can be learned as electives to those who would continue working at Academies rather than joining field duties. Due to the low frequency of discovered Monster Tamers, they are taken into Academies on a case-by-case basis.
Anyone has the capacity to learn magic. Elemental magic is the easiest to learn, the trade of sorcerers, and very difficult to master once one ventures into the deeper territory of complex spells. As elements are firm, physical things with specific laws, this magic relies very little on a person's trait affiliation in order to function. Enchanters use more ambient magic for the benefit of their group, yet still draw from nature and are the second-least affected class. Physical type warriors use a mixture of elemental manipulation harmonized with their traits to determine their specific skill trees, with rogues being the most trait-oriented and lumberjacks the least. Dungeon Masters, who draw upon the nonphysical and use the one-dimensional element of barriers, are most effected by their own trait when drawing their sigils. Monster Tamers generally use entirely physical means and are not affected by elements or traits unless borrowing from their pets as support. Traits are like a person's personal alignment that modify their specialty depending on class and come in flavors such as: might, illusory, supportive, destructive, evasive, and reactive.
The continent's capital is named Aquafira. It is a city on multiple levels, held aloft over a large lake, that uses canal systems as its main transportation with a few roads along the higher tiers. On the highest tier sits the High Royal Academy, essentially the courtyard to the Royal Palace of Her Highness Queen Rebeka, where Lutece and Nate attend. Architecture is a mix between steampunk and early European with brass fittings, circular patterns and carved wood and stone structures. Greenery grows out of the lake, up trellises and stairways into the city proper in order to promote its lively feel. At the bottom of the lake is a gigantic sigil maintaining the strength of the veil around Aquafira, powered by the plants and people inside; as it is the most populated city on the entire landmass, no one really feels the drain at all. The world's level of technology is to the point of radio waves being in common use for entertainment and black and white (er... sepia) televisions finding use in higher-end facilities, although most travel is done on foot or in carriages.
In reality, the entire world acts as a balance between the physical and the spiritual. The role of monsters in the spiritual world is to promote recycling of energy, which in turn allows new resources of all sorts to be grown in the physical world; humans are meant to cultivate those resources and progress through technological and theological advances while maintaining harmony with nature. This natural give and take was maintained by the powers already in charge of the greatest border of the known universe, night and day. Sun and moon recycle the energy gathered and harmonized by ten different ley lines throughout the planet making the entire world into a sigil itself. This balance was disturbed eight hundred years ago when the first Queen bound herself to the sun and determined to destroy the spirit world in a fit of self-important delusion that the humans did not need to rely on the monsters' blessing; in response, the king of monsters sealed himself inside of the moon to save the world which results in the moon being completely out of sight during nighttime. He assigned several monster lines to guard the ley lines over the years to ensure the world remain as balanced as possible. Although not a perfect situation, the planet continued to spin and live in an overflow of spiritual energy nearly forcing the resources to stop producing except for the most simple things: crops, animals and humans.
Personality: Being a gifted prodigy and one who never quite understood people besides, Lutece has an ego that is hard to curb. Although he cares for those under his command and especially for Nate as a platonic life partner, there are some things that completely pass him by when it comes to social graces and with all this other work on his plate, he isn't particularly interested in learning it all, anyway. People can deal with themselves, and he'll deal with himself. For all of that, Lutece is merely oblivious rather than unkind and sees no reason to lessen any of his own traits for the benefit of others. If he can deal with everyone else in their own obnoxiousness, clearly they should be able to do the same!
His lifestyle is one of rough tasks, difficult assignments and judgmental peers. Lutece takes all of it as a challenge and would never give any of it up: from hardship rises greatness, and there is nothing more that Lutece wants to do than be great. His ultimate goal is based off the confusing and heart-wrenching childhood where no one could understand the effect they were having in wearing down their local barrier, and he fights to educate the masses and someday make it safer for all citizens to live in peace however they choose to do it. Monsters are not the problem as he sees it, being living monsters with as much of a right to have peaceful lives, but their combined effect on each other and the world needs to be resolved in whatever way possible if anyone is to move forward in their society. To that end, Lutece is a consummate professional while on the job, and a lazy layabout in any free time he gives himself. He particularly appreciates trawling libraries and bookstores for short novels or trashy fiction to devour rather than trying to move at an even more accelerated pace as he likely could do with more effort. It's his world into the regular life without the constant fighting or strife or political conflict that lets him turn his brain off and just enjoy something.
Returning to those judgmental peers, Lutece's age often marks him as an easy target for those of similar ranks or ranks underneath him that feel jealous. Some higher ups see him for the prodigal that he is, but think that he should slow down or act more wisely rather than knowledgeably, while others are content to give Lutece the run around in meaningless or mundane tasks. Lutece, however, doesn't mind and does whatever work comes his way and puts all of his effort into whatever it is. Work is work, and furthering the Academy's agenda of a peaceful world is worth following along for. That doesn't mean that the lazy or judgmental adults don't then owe Lutece a favor later, of course. That's only fair. Despite this fiercely practical view of the world, Lutece does have a rigid moral compass and fights for the side of good and right even if it means being more pragmatic than many of his more emotionally-attuned peers. Most tend to call him a jackass who makes lucky calls.
Born as a girl, Lutece doesn't identify as either male or female and has recognized this alienation from a very young age. Simply put, neither of those feel correct and so Lutece refuses to conform and feels happiest for that. Although there isn't a word for such in current society, Lutece powers on regardless and uses male pronouns for the sake of his teammates and simplicity. When questioned on having fair looks despite being a growing boy, or what is up with his odd behaviors, the usual answers are "that's just how I am" or "Lutece is Lutece" (from Nate) because it really is that simple. Anyone who makes a deal of being led by someone who can't be "straightforward" is someone that Lutece immediately drops and forwards to disciplinary review; no one has time for those who can't accept other humans as they are in this fight against monsters.
Where Nate is concerned, Lutece is incredibly attached. His protector and confidante, friend and most precious thing. They go together like peanut butter and jelly, their differences only highlighting their closeness; whereas Lutece is rather egotistical, sometimes abrasive and definitely oblivious, Nate fills the gap with being down to earth, smooth-talking and able to chastise Lutece. Lutece refuses to go anywhere without Nate in tow and is often breaking confidentiality rules in Nate's confidence if only because he trusts that Nate would never tell beyond the two of them. They're simply too close to keep secrets from, and too close for romance to develop when they almost require each other to be themselves at all. Lutece is fully capable of functioning independently, but without Nate, he tends to default into a more formal behavior and act on a hair trigger for insults or slights against his capability; with Nate there, he trusts Nate to pick up actual cues and signal their annoyance or otherwise keep Lutece from overreacting. Some might call them soul mates. Some might also be incredible saps. Who knows? It is a mystery for the ages.
Appearance: Lutece is a young adult with Caucasian features, striking blue eyes and raven hair that devolves into waves if it gets too long. Standing at 5'11", tends to overshadow peers of similar ages and meet those older of similar statures. Lanky and not all that impressive, Lutece often wears the formal attire of a light breastplate with royal robes over it, custom tailored to include a hood from which golden rivets hang on short tassels for spellcasting. Lutece is female-bodied gender neutral and goes by male pronouns in conversation, or the singular 'they' and 'Magister' in official reports. Played-by is protagonist/Hibiki Kuze of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2.
Abilities: Something of a complete and total genius, Lutece has a problem with attention span. Once he's learned something to his own satisfaction (based on how much he uses the subject in his daily life), he merely moves on rather than master it or continue interest. This means he's very knowledgeable for a number of different subjects and could pretend to be an expert on any of them based on conjecture with the rudimentary skills he's already acquired. Technology is his second-highest interest under his career as a Dungeon Master, and although he isn't a tinkerer, he does tend to doodle out schematics in times where his hands are free but his mind is not. Of course, people have never been of interest enough to Lutece to study them; he likes them well enough, wants to help his fellow man, but they're simply too mysterious for him to understand where to start. Better to put his energies somewhere more efficient.
As a Magister, Third Class, Lutece is an extremely prodigal Dungeon Master with quite a few field missions under his belt as well as the required higher learning. Being a Dungeon Master means he has a connection to the veil on a spiritual level and can feel ripples, breaks and soft spots innately, as well as read the language of barriers on an instinctual level. He uses standard sigils with proper timing, speed and hefty precision to get the most out of his spells to make up for the fact that he has very little physical prowess at all. Lutece's trait is Might, and his golden rivets are woven to the back of an intricate hood which lifts and extends as necessary for drawing magic. Low capacity for elemental magic such as standard fireballs, electric currents or frozen blasts.
His sigil spells are as follow:
- Engage Circle within a circle. Creates a barrier on the ground which prevents any participants of battle from easily fleeing.
- Locate Circular pattern utilizing several swirls. Another ground sigil in which the Dungeon Master walks that acts as a compass toward the softest veil-spot in the area.
- Power Angular pattern with swirls accenting. Sigil that places itself on a supporting member's strongest limb in order to augment their attacks. Fades after a short while.
- Protection Geometric with angular accents. Creates a thin secondary skin to soften blows until destroyed. Can be used on one ally's body or placed on the ground for a diminished, wider effect.
- Entice Swirling pattern surrounded by blocky pieces. Draws a monster's attention to whatever ally it is placed on. Does not work if placed on the monster's own party.
- Reclaim Geometric with swirling accents. Allows heightened passive healing. Can be used on one ally's body or placed on the ground for a diminished, wider effect.
- Strengthen Geometric with circular, swirling patterns highlighted by angular lines. Used to restore power to a soft spot, or cleanse a single ally of status.
Inventory:
- Royal Academic Robes (breastplate with patterned robe and pants underneath denoting station)
- Dungeon Master Hood (attached to robes, can be shifted to another article if necessary)
- Various breads and herbs to heal allies
- Camping gear
- About five trash novels at any one time
Suitability: Although the initial days will be rough without Nate, Lutece is nothing if not gifted and will adapt rather quickly to his lack of presence. That doesn't mean he won't have trouble with people, reading them and/or dealing with them, but he'll be better about waiting for Nate to show up and all that. Slice of life gives him the perfect opportunity to look into this new world and possibly research connections to the duality of his own; plot-related things are just up his alley, his magic and experience as a leader both giving him a head start in reacting and absorbing whatever twists come his way.
Soul gem:
Samples
Third-person:
First-person: