Post by Akio Naito on Dec 30, 2018 22:15:55 GMT -5
Let us face it, some of us have at times wondered "What if [Insert character here] had made different choices in life?" or something similar to that effect, at least once when they take the time to look at a character and see what made them become what they are now. Everyone is shaped by their past to some degree, after all. And that shapes the future of others.
Seeing as I am selfish enough to ask about what is running around in the heads of some of you for the joy and amusement of the others on this forum, feel free to use this thread to theory-craft what would happen if they had become a different race of spiritual, if they had been drafted into a different faction, or if they'd simply never met a certain person. So the thread is just for fun. But who knows, you might learn a little more about your own characters, though that is not a requirement.
To avoid a moment of "Silly Rabbit, you can't start a thread like this without giving an example." I'll start working on one the moment after I post this.
Akio Naito
From
Artificial Quincy - Soul Specialist - Unaligned
to
Shinigami - Gadgeteer - Squad 12
Description:
With the completely unmodified and worn to code uniform of a Shinigami, Akio is even less conspicuous, even in what appear to be his mid-fifties. His Zanpakuto has a distinctive blade resembling aged bronze, but it is otherwise nondescript.
Alternate History:
This version of Akio never lost his first ability, and thus never developed an interest in geomancy, or a habit of giving his spiritual abilities away. He achieved a deeper emptiness, and lived his life completely evading encounters withhollows, excelling at a simple office job, and eventually fell ill and died unceremoniously, moving on to the Soul Society. After taking a few years to decide that poverty in an outdated heaven was unpleasant, he made it his goal to become government bureaucrat, or something similar.
The only job available was through the academy Where he passed with grades that were above average, but not perfect. Consistently so, as he put in effort until he was noticeably skilled in any subject, and then gave up on furthering it, simply claiming he "Had enough". He joined squad twelve based on an available opening, and keeps mainly to administrative duties, building prototype equipment only when his paperwork is ahead of schedule.
Alternate Powerset: "Wind, Haguruma." In Shikai, Akio's Zanpakuto changes into an unusually large and thick greatsword. The bulky blade is actually made of interlocking plates of brightly colored glass, and tiny filaments of black metal in a patterned array. When swung with worthwhile speed or pressure, Haguruma expands slightly, the blade opening to reveal thousands of interlocked gears within, held in check with tightly wound springs and a crystalline framework harder than spiritual steel.
In battle, Haguruma's gears whir and tick, devouring momentum to wind itself. The weapon makes sudden turns and stops, and strikes blows that leave unusually shallow cuts for the amount of force that went into them. This stockpiled energy is what fuels the Zapkauto's techniques, which cost very little reiatsu, but scale in proportion to the amount of stockpiled winding that is used to power them.
In addition, he wields unique clockwork he develops as part of his research as a member of squad twelve. The more mundane of these devices simply recreate Shinigami techniques for use by those who have yet to learn them properly, while the more advanced works duplicate the abilities of other races. Somewhat Terrifyingly, he has been working on a set of plug-and-play style modifications to his Shikai, including an artificial bankai that channels a fully wound Haguruma as a sort of "Hylic Chainsaw". He is loath to use it however, as it takes several hours of twirling his unwieldy Zanpakuto just to get a few minutes of activity out of it, and it usually falls apart afterwards.
Akio Naito
From
Artificial Quincy - Soul Specialist - Unaligned
to
Hollow - Empath - Unaligned
Description:
An abstract hollow, a pure white, flat hexagonal being with it's hole at the center of eight stripes or 'spokes', each bearing a blank white mask, facing away from that central point. They speak in a collective voice, and moves through midair with no discernible means of doing so, although the many spindly, multi-jointed arms trailing from their reverse side tend to curl around nearby objects as if to anchor them.
Alternate History:
This version of Akio was killed by the backlash when his self-modifications eventually failed, and his chain of fate was immediately shredded by the full brunt of the fallout.
Alternate Powerset: Akio's ability as a hollow has many forms, and all of them are terrifying.
One of the least harmful forms is launching spikes of energy that track their targets slowly, constantly homing at a casual walking pace. They ignore all defenses, unblockable, undodgeable, and entirely harmless. The intangible projectile simply phases inside the target and ceases to be without any effect. They are a weapon of fear, a teacher that defending yourself is either pointless or unnecessary, and ultimately leads its students to self-destructive behavior.
A more advanced method of his is to launch a seemingly powerful attack that does only superficial damage to his immediate target, the true force of the blow rattling through the victim with such force as to resound within the hearts of their allies. The second method is a weapon of compassion, a teacher that saving another requires hurting them, and ultimately leads its students to see no difference between friend and foe.
If their willpower is less than outstanding, all who witnessed the attack fall under the impression that the target has been consigned to something worse than mere death, or at the very least, a death worse than most others. They also come to understand that the only possible mercy for the poor soul is a quick death by some other means. Witnesses who hated, or cared little for the victim are still subject to the non-sensory illusion, though not compelled to any particular action. Those who actually care for the target, who would naturally desire to save them from any other pain and suffering, or felt the need to defend them, suffer a simple, natural compulsion that directs them to kill the target in a more humane way.
The third method is a weapon of self-reflection, a teacher that continuing on isn't worth it, and ultimately leads its students to seek their own death. The technique itself if nothing more than a dismissive gesture, and a short verbal rebuke against a victim, but it fatal more often than not. It impacts with a great psychological force, slipping into existing wounds and flaws, and raises uncomfortable questions tailored to the particular person.
If the target’s mental defenses prove insufficient to ward off the approach, they do not submit, nor crumple on the spot. The victim’s next action will be an attempt at self harm or suicide, however simple or complex they feel necessary, with no regard for consequences until they've gone too far to reverse the decision. Ignoring the compulsion costs nothing other than giving up on defending oneself for the remainder of the battle. It may only be used against a given target once in a single thread.
All of these techniques are the horrifying results of a single concept. 'Bodhisattva that tells of unavoidable suffering.' A sort of title the hollow is given against their will, that is the source of the ability, and result of it, in perpetual circular logic.
Seeing as I am selfish enough to ask about what is running around in the heads of some of you for the joy and amusement of the others on this forum, feel free to use this thread to theory-craft what would happen if they had become a different race of spiritual, if they had been drafted into a different faction, or if they'd simply never met a certain person. So the thread is just for fun. But who knows, you might learn a little more about your own characters, though that is not a requirement.
To avoid a moment of "Silly Rabbit, you can't start a thread like this without giving an example." I'll start working on one the moment after I post this.
Akio Naito
From
Artificial Quincy - Soul Specialist - Unaligned
to
Shinigami - Gadgeteer - Squad 12
Description:
With the completely unmodified and worn to code uniform of a Shinigami, Akio is even less conspicuous, even in what appear to be his mid-fifties. His Zanpakuto has a distinctive blade resembling aged bronze, but it is otherwise nondescript.
Alternate History:
This version of Akio never lost his first ability, and thus never developed an interest in geomancy, or a habit of giving his spiritual abilities away. He achieved a deeper emptiness, and lived his life completely evading encounters withhollows, excelling at a simple office job, and eventually fell ill and died unceremoniously, moving on to the Soul Society. After taking a few years to decide that poverty in an outdated heaven was unpleasant, he made it his goal to become government bureaucrat, or something similar.
The only job available was through the academy Where he passed with grades that were above average, but not perfect. Consistently so, as he put in effort until he was noticeably skilled in any subject, and then gave up on furthering it, simply claiming he "Had enough". He joined squad twelve based on an available opening, and keeps mainly to administrative duties, building prototype equipment only when his paperwork is ahead of schedule.
Alternate Powerset: "Wind, Haguruma." In Shikai, Akio's Zanpakuto changes into an unusually large and thick greatsword. The bulky blade is actually made of interlocking plates of brightly colored glass, and tiny filaments of black metal in a patterned array. When swung with worthwhile speed or pressure, Haguruma expands slightly, the blade opening to reveal thousands of interlocked gears within, held in check with tightly wound springs and a crystalline framework harder than spiritual steel.
In battle, Haguruma's gears whir and tick, devouring momentum to wind itself. The weapon makes sudden turns and stops, and strikes blows that leave unusually shallow cuts for the amount of force that went into them. This stockpiled energy is what fuels the Zapkauto's techniques, which cost very little reiatsu, but scale in proportion to the amount of stockpiled winding that is used to power them.
In addition, he wields unique clockwork he develops as part of his research as a member of squad twelve. The more mundane of these devices simply recreate Shinigami techniques for use by those who have yet to learn them properly, while the more advanced works duplicate the abilities of other races. Somewhat Terrifyingly, he has been working on a set of plug-and-play style modifications to his Shikai, including an artificial bankai that channels a fully wound Haguruma as a sort of "Hylic Chainsaw". He is loath to use it however, as it takes several hours of twirling his unwieldy Zanpakuto just to get a few minutes of activity out of it, and it usually falls apart afterwards.
Akio Naito
From
Artificial Quincy - Soul Specialist - Unaligned
to
Hollow - Empath - Unaligned
Description:
An abstract hollow, a pure white, flat hexagonal being with it's hole at the center of eight stripes or 'spokes', each bearing a blank white mask, facing away from that central point. They speak in a collective voice, and moves through midair with no discernible means of doing so, although the many spindly, multi-jointed arms trailing from their reverse side tend to curl around nearby objects as if to anchor them.
Alternate History:
This version of Akio was killed by the backlash when his self-modifications eventually failed, and his chain of fate was immediately shredded by the full brunt of the fallout.
Alternate Powerset: Akio's ability as a hollow has many forms, and all of them are terrifying.
One of the least harmful forms is launching spikes of energy that track their targets slowly, constantly homing at a casual walking pace. They ignore all defenses, unblockable, undodgeable, and entirely harmless. The intangible projectile simply phases inside the target and ceases to be without any effect. They are a weapon of fear, a teacher that defending yourself is either pointless or unnecessary, and ultimately leads its students to self-destructive behavior.
A more advanced method of his is to launch a seemingly powerful attack that does only superficial damage to his immediate target, the true force of the blow rattling through the victim with such force as to resound within the hearts of their allies. The second method is a weapon of compassion, a teacher that saving another requires hurting them, and ultimately leads its students to see no difference between friend and foe.
If their willpower is less than outstanding, all who witnessed the attack fall under the impression that the target has been consigned to something worse than mere death, or at the very least, a death worse than most others. They also come to understand that the only possible mercy for the poor soul is a quick death by some other means. Witnesses who hated, or cared little for the victim are still subject to the non-sensory illusion, though not compelled to any particular action. Those who actually care for the target, who would naturally desire to save them from any other pain and suffering, or felt the need to defend them, suffer a simple, natural compulsion that directs them to kill the target in a more humane way.
The third method is a weapon of self-reflection, a teacher that continuing on isn't worth it, and ultimately leads its students to seek their own death. The technique itself if nothing more than a dismissive gesture, and a short verbal rebuke against a victim, but it fatal more often than not. It impacts with a great psychological force, slipping into existing wounds and flaws, and raises uncomfortable questions tailored to the particular person.
If the target’s mental defenses prove insufficient to ward off the approach, they do not submit, nor crumple on the spot. The victim’s next action will be an attempt at self harm or suicide, however simple or complex they feel necessary, with no regard for consequences until they've gone too far to reverse the decision. Ignoring the compulsion costs nothing other than giving up on defending oneself for the remainder of the battle. It may only be used against a given target once in a single thread.
All of these techniques are the horrifying results of a single concept. 'Bodhisattva that tells of unavoidable suffering.' A sort of title the hollow is given against their will, that is the source of the ability, and result of it, in perpetual circular logic.
