Post by Konaa on Jan 21, 2018 22:42:26 GMT -5
Raine Arden
Other Names: N/A
Epithet: N/A
Height: 5'9"
Build: Toned, lithe.
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Race: Sky Islander
Occupation: Pirate
Bounty/Rank: None
Total X-Poinz: 700 [300 from start, 400 from Devil Fruit slot]
Used X-Poinz: 600
Personality
Turbulent, to say the least. Raine is a creature of pride through and through, refusing to bow to the pressure of challenge and pushing forward when tested even to her own detriment. She doesn't believe in half-measures - If she's doing something, she'll give it 100%, no exceptions. Passionate and headstrong, she is difficult to deal with more often than not due to her self-assured nature.
Within, she has far less confidence than she claims. Raine's self-worth is very fixated on her success, and failure can hit her harder than most people. Though she puts on a very thorough show of bravado, often she feels lost and out of her depth. When encountering an unsure or anxious situation, she'll often put on a calm smile to mask her true feelings and project an air of nonchalance.
She has a certain emotional detachment from other people. Not only does she refuse to allow others to see her insecurities up close, she similarly avoids becoming close with others. In her mind, a leader has subordinates rather than friends, and a leader is what she wishes to be. This also prevents her from understanding the full consequences her actions can have on others, at times.
Raine is inherently ambitious, and her past has left her unafraid to make an enemy of the law in order to achieve her lofty goals. To her, there's no reason to ever shoot for anything but the top of the world. There's no point in settling for second best, or you can't call yourself a 'true' pirate. Her self-focused nature means that she has rather little regard for anyone she might trample over on her quest for glory.
Despite this, she has some things that differentiate her from a typical marauding pirate. Chief among them is a desire for a sense of order - Even though she disregards the laws of the World Government, Raine believes in her own code and holds it to be her own moral compass. She shows no mercy to people in her way, but spares those who flee from her or avoid her. Likewise, she has an appreciation for likeminded individuals, those who let their hearts guide them rather than law or greed. Rather than the chaos of a plundering horde, she wants the semblance and order of an army, one that she will hold together with her own force of will - and she is arrogant enough to aim for rule through strength.
Appearance
Raine cuts a confident figure at 5'9", always standing at her full height. Her most notable features are the two white wings emerging from her upper back, small and downward-pointing. Her auburn hair is cut short in the back, though it falls forward to cover her bangs. She has sharp and angular features to her face, as well as hard gray eyes.
Her build is narrow, but deceptively strong, with firm muscles indicating an active lifestyle. While most of her clothing is more practical than elegant - a thin black tunic and brown long pants - there's some flair thrown in as well, such as the navy blue longcoat she wears closed around her.
She goes armed as often as she can, with a saber and pistol hanging off her hefty belt.
Traits
Racial Trait
As a Sky Islander, Raine's body is used to breathing at much higher altitudes and with thinner air than that found on the Blue Sea. She is unhindered by such conditions and can hold her breath for much longer than the average person. This also grants her a greater reserve of stamina.
[li]Ash-Woman[/li][/ul]
Consuming the Hai Hai no Mi transformed Raine into an Ash Woman, a Logia-type Devil Fruit user. In spite of her appearance, her body is actually composed of volcanic ash, and is capable of shifting into that form for both attack and defense. All weaknesses Devil Fruit users have - most notably becoming paralyzed when submerged in water - apply to her.
[li]Enhanced Dexterity
[/li]
Starting Trait
Raine has been fighting for a long time under a variety of conditions and with a number of different means. She always keeps her footing in treacherous circumstances, such as hefty vegetation or the swaying of a ship's deck. This precision extends to her hand-eye coordination, giving her impressive aim with ranged weaponry and attacks.
[li]Heat Resistance[/li]
Starting Trait
As a side effect of the Hai Hai no Mi, heated environments and weapons have less effect on Raine. She isn't slowed down at all in conditions of extreme heat.
[/ul]
Fighting Styles
Name: Grey Scourge
Focus: Overpowering force, attacking from multiple directions, relying on Devil Fruit powers. Variety of weapons.
Rank: D
Description: Raine's fighting style almost entirely revolves around the power of the Hai Hai no Mi. Knowing that a Logia-type fruit is an enormous advantage - especially one well suited to destructive force - has lead her to make the most of it. While she makes use of a variety of bladed weapons and guns, her hardest-hitting moves involve smoldering clouds of ash striking into her opponent or spreading outward to cover the battleground. Defensively, however, she tends to leave herself open - Raine arrogantly believes her Devil Fruit makes her invincible, and has little experience fighting against foes who can actually hurt her.
Background
The only child of the noble Arden family, Raine was brought up spoiled and pampered. The Sky Island they called home was privately owned by a collection of rich families, among whom they were considered the least. Her parents ambitiously sought to expand the family's influence, teaching Raine to always aim higher. When she was thirteen years old, the opportunity they'd waited for seemed to finally arrive - they came into possession of a Devil Fruit through illicit means. Even better, one of the elusive Logia-class - such a fruit would sell for millions of Belli on the black market.
A deal was soon struck with a Blue Sea noble household, and her parents descended down to make the deal personally, taking Raine along as part of her education. Their ship carried them to the Araghast Archipelago, a collection of islands outside of the World Government's gaze. Their long-ruling dynasty had recently been ousted from power, and the local nobility waged constant war with one another to become the next King. Complicating matters were the masses of pirates and outlaws that frequently the various islands for their obscurity and wartorn state.
It was a dangerous place, but the Arden family were determined to obtain the riches they sought. The nobleman in question wished to purchase the fruit for the sheer military power its user would bestow upon his cause, as Raine's parents explained to her. Their two ships met at sea - it was a cloudy day, with a storm brewing, the exchange planned to be finished quickly.
Whether or not treachery was planned can't be said for certain, but disaster found the Ardens that day. Cipher Pol had tracked the Devil Fruit's trail through the underworld's channels and brought a detachment of Marines to the foreign archipelago's outskirts. An attack from the purchasing lord's rivals arrived at the same time, and abruptly the world was alive with cannon-fire and a rapidly expanding storm on the horizon.
The battle was long and fierce. Marines boarded the Arden family's ship - Raine's father pressed the box containing the fruit into her hands and told her to slip away to the rowboats. A servant rowed her to shore, and that was the last she saw of her family.
In the following months, Raine was forced to mature rapidly, caught in a civil war in a lawless land. She traveled from island to island, in search of shelter and around the outskirts of battle. Her wings did little to help, singling her out frequently as an oddity and a foreigner. Her family's servant vanished searching for food one night - leaving her alone with nothing but the Devil Fruit for company.
Undoubtedly her story would have ended had it not been for a certain crew of pirates. Surprisingly, upon discovering the little girl in the jungle, they took pity on her and brought her to the cove where they lay anchor. Rather than seek to claim the Devil Fruit, the rather superstitious Captain allowed her to keep it, believing the things to be cursed if eaten.
For a time, she found a surprising amount of civility among the outlaws, but a day came where the local lord's forces rooted them out. With the ship taking on water and no escape in sight, Raine made a desperate but conscious decision and consumed the cargo she'd been carrying for almost a year now - the Devil Fruit she knew to be named the Hai Hai no Mi.
Collapsing the pursuing vessel's mast in a cloud of ash, Raine took an undeniable pleasure in having finally overcome being powerless in the face of adversity. Joining the crew properly, she would spend the next five years a member of their crew - learning to fight and growing to shed the privileged shell her previous life had formed around her. It wasn't easy to become a fighter after such a beginning, but her Devil Fruit powers gave her the edge she needed to survive.
Eventually, the Captain perished in a raid gone wrong. The crew began to scatter to the winds, and Raine stood at a crossroads. Knowing that her family name was marked as criminals, she would never be able to return to her life of luxury. Nor, she realized, did she want to. The lesson of ambition from her parents was that wealth was worthless without power.
Thus, she resolved to amass that power on her own. Raine Arden set out to form her own crew - and conquer her own Empire out of the legendary Grand Line.