(no subject)

[ruin_mania]

NAME: Anarin
JOURNAL: starlit_dragon
EMAIL: anarin@gmail.com
AIM: Zeteram
WIKI NAME: Anarin
CHARACTERS: Freelancer York/Delta


CHARACTER NAME: Raine Sage
FANDOM: Tales of Symphonia
CANON: Tales of Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New World, chapter 8, the night before they enter the Ginnungagap.

LINK TO PREVIOUS APPLICATION: part 1 part 2



PARADISA HISTORY:
Raine arrived at Paradisa when it was still enclosed by a bubble-barrier about a day's walk out. Though it was nearly Christmas, the weather was picture-perfect as any summer's day. Both of these changed shortly, as on New Year's Day there suddenly appeared both mountains in the distance and snow. Raine was immediately interested in exploring, but the snow was a bit of a deterrent. She was also fascinated by everything in the castle, from the library to the residents to using her powers to protect people from vampires (Jasper on a loss, James taking advantage of an opportunity).

Soon enough she got a real taste of the castle's power during her first world change, when Paradisa visited Kanto and she had the joy of discovering friends of the Pokemon nature. She returned to the castle with a Delcatty in tow and was very happy...until she discovered her loss. Knowing she was supposed to have a brother depressed her for some time, until she was distracted by turning into Korean pop superstar Rain for a week. She was fine until the embarrassment of accidentally temporarily falling in love at Valentines Day, though that was short-lived.

Longer-lasting effects came from a strange black Marker that fell from the sky, which corrupted and twisted her into losing her sanity and participating in a disgusting ritual sacrifice of four people. This shook her confidence badly, though it also reinforced her resolve to both help people and to try to understand the castle in order to avoid anything else like that again.

What helped bring her out of this shell was the first expedition. In those days, the edge of the Dead Zone was a mere day's travel away. The journey took weeks, and many new areas outside the castle were discovered for the first time: the Pillar Fields, the Wanderer's Yard, as well as the new species she christened Bison paradisensis, the eyeless buffalo. She returned to the castle refreshed, and things proceeded smoothly until the world changed once more into the Wild West. Despite being human and magicless, she was pleased to return to her former occupation of teacher.

This good mood lasted until a frightening new "resident", Dr. Cabot, began killing resident after resident...including her. Though they were all gone for two weeks as normal, it was later discovered from a recording of Raine's own murder that it was actually a false murder, and she had never actually died (which is why she has no tombstone in the Paradisa graveyard). She tried to keep a brave face for her brother arriving, but it was terribly difficult for her--as was being stabbed and left for dead by a friend on a loss (fortunately managing to get to the clinic in time).

Once again a journey helped her. With the Doctor's help, she led a small group to the Pillar Fields and managed to somehow find a switch that expanded the Dead Zone far beyond its former limits. As if this were not monumentous enough on its own, she was immediately contacted over her journal by Ian Malcolm, a resident of a temporary world change from over six months ago. She was astonished to learn they had journals - which explained why Whip and Reno, in the Wild West, had had them. This mystery renewed her vigor up through her next loss, when she thought she was a member of Aselia's Renegades, a half-elven organization under the command of Yuan, another castle resident. As both friends and enemies went home, and after Christmas passed, Raine found herself not only with the companionship of her Quagsire from Kanto but an eyeless buffalo named Allen and a mongoose-dragon once belonging to Azula as well. These were to serve her well on her next expedition, to a place marked only as The Fog on the maps--but not until after another world change, this one to Los Angeles of the twenty-first century. She was again a teacher here, and enjoyed the chance to learn about a culture familiar to so many residents.

The next expedition, much as the last, came with its own revelations. In the middle of the fog, Raine and her group found something only a few people recognized: the site of an old "world change", Paradisa Town. Everything was identical to how it was remembered, down to the cockroaches in Allen's house. This new theory - that these so-called world changes were possibly taking place somewhere else in the world of Paradisa - was extremely exciting. The eight-legged sheep and Doctor Fog were their own interesting discoveries, but the rescue of Roy Harper - a First Gen, by all accounts - and the use of one of Tony Stark's stolen iron suits in the Dead Zone were both very interesting as well. How did its user power the suit in what was supposedly an area dead to all powers? How did Roy Harper get there, and were his memories truly gone as he claimed?

Soon enough, though, the castle provided her with yet another welcome distraction: being suddenly a mother. Though she had been out in the Dead Zone the previous year when the castle had given out children seemingly at random, this time she was paired up with Yuan and given a son, Kieran. She found it frighteningly easy to take care of the child, and grew very fond of him in the short time they were together. She also began to realize certain awkward feelings for Yuan at this time, but neither of them acted on it out of politeness (she was also rather convinced he was uninterested because of accidentally catching him kissing Kratos a few months earlier, not to mention that he had been engaged to Martel).

Little happened after Kieran left for a while, although she did help rescue captives from and explore Riful's manor. She did follow along on the expedition into the Spider's Swamp, discovering a new type of fruit and riding her Quagsire through the marsh, as by this time she trusted her Pokemon far more than she trusted any boat. She was uncomfortable about the results of this mission, though, as it did reveal more about some "native" Paradisans (being the Spiders), but not nearly as much information as she would have liked. It was enough curiosity that she chased after Joy's murderers some time later, ultimately fruitlessly.

The next change Paradisa went through had the castle and town turned medieval and Raine turned into a little fairy. She delighted in this, not only having healing fairy dust but seeing magic as a completely different form than the mana she usually sensed. She wasn't as affected by the terror due to her new form, which was probably just as well. Once returned to her normal form, Raine helped map out the Insolitus and explore the Lost Room, finding a bar of soap with the logo she once again recognized from Jurassic Park. There had also been some books in the library authored by John Hammond that had gone missing, inviting her to investigate even more. This was eased by the construction of the outposts, which provided not only an excellent place to start off from, but an environment to study the effects of the Dead Zone as well.

Paradisa changed once again, only this time Raine got to fully enjoy her role as a teacher, since most of the other castle residents were turned into high school students. Beginning as extremely strict, she oddly became very lax and laid-back...because she was possessed by an alien race. (She was again terrible embarrassed by this.)

Her last journey in Paradisa was to Mineas Well, prompted by an odd act where castle residents were transported out into the Dead Zone overnight and had to walk back. One of them saw a sign for Mineas Well, so Raine went along and met the first friendly First Gen they'd met, Flora. She explained the use of power crystals, and a little more about the World Beyond.

And shortly afterward, Raine disappeared....

Her stay in Paradisa changed Raine in several ways. Thanks to the extreme diversity in the castle, she's not nearly as ashamed or shy about being a half-elf as she was before. She's also focused her studies and interest slightly from ruins to general Paradisology (partly, admittedly, to the general lack of ruins; she would be thrilled to learn about Libet). She's had several strong crushes on other residents, though never anything that progressed farther than that, and she's become very fond of the various creatures she's encountered, especially her Pokemon companions. She's still a rather motherly personality and vested in teaching the younger residents, as well as documenting and describing Paradisa's wonders for future generations. She has high expectations for her friends and tends not to underestimate her enemies, believing that a researched weakness is an advantage she won't regret the time spent investing into it. That much has only been reinforced by her stay.

Her reaction to returning would depend a little on the manner of her return. She'd probably be a little angry at having been deceived for so long, and guilty for leaving her friends. But once she got over that, she'd be glad to be back and studying the castle's mysteries again - this time with even more firsthand experience.



WHAT THEY ORIGINALLY LOST: Memories of her brother Genis. In addition to the awkwardness of dealing with her castmates around this issue, she lost most of her memories of actually caring for a young child and being responsible for him, as well as the sense of family and companionship that came from that. As her father is dead and her mother abandoned her, losing memories of her brother made her believe she was isolated and alone except for the few friendships she managed to form - many of which were based upon lies about her background and bloodline.

SECOND LOSS: The Unicorn Horn. This mystical artifact obtained at Lake Umacy allows Raine to access her most powerful healing spells, such as Resurrection and the ability to transform monsters back into normal people.



INTENT: I originally dropped Raine for two reasons. One, I was feeling too pressured OOCly - there were a lot of anon comments about how people only felt they could go on expeditions/explore the world if Raine was involved, and that was never my intent. Now that several expeditions have been made without her, that should no longer be the case. Secondly, I was beginning to need a break from her. A little over a year is long enough of a break. I'd like to start up some IC interest in the mechanics of Paradisa and find some more answers. Older players seem uninterested in finding anything and new players don't know where to start, so I think Raine will be a good influence or inspiration in this area.