Post by DreadLasagnaArchduke on Jun 1, 2018 2:49:11 GMT
Mage App:
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Nationality: Chinese-American
Appearance: Wei can be described as being fairly tall, standing at 5'11 with a fair amount of muscle behind him. His blue eyes that he inherited from his American mother are about the only physical trait that makes his mixed-race status obvious, as his facial features are very close to his Chinese father. Wei's black hair is shaved on the side, with longer hair on top (Very similar to this hairstyle as a reference: i.imgur.com/fjqnXyD.jpg). He has no beard or mustache to speak of. As stated before, Wei is fairly muscular, to the point that he could probably play your typical top-heavy action hero without anyone saying he's unfit for the job. He would have to look sterner than usual though, as while Wei is quite capable of looking serious when the time calls for it, his usual expression is one of casual confusion at the strangeness that surrounds him. He was even more muscular when he was in his 20s, but even as a 37-year old Wei keeps in great shape and is in excellent physical condition that surpasses the average person.
As someone who likes making sure that he's reasonably well-dressed, Wei tends to wear a maroon blazer with matching pants, along with a white shirt and black shoes to complete the look. This is, of course, his appearance if he FEELS like being somewhat orderly. When he's at home, he tends to be shirtless and wear sweatpants instead, especially when he's exercising.
Personality: What is there to say about Wei Jenson that doesn't initially make him come across as having somewhat skewed priorities? Perhaps honesty is the best policy. Wei is a person who constantly worries about incredibly minor things for little to no reason. He is a middle-aged magus who is the very epitome of an adult who definitely has NOT figured life out yet and probably thinks that everyone else is lying about figuring out life because it seems impossible. This is the type of person who will do something if it is vitally important, but procrastinate on random minor things and will grumble about doing it, though he will get around to it at some point. Wei, for reasons explained in his backstory, has a rather strong hatred of being in debt and is very careful about how much money he spends. He's not completely stingy, but he'll avoid big purchases. Most of the things he owns are things that he had before he acquired his debt.
As a Magus, Wei is fairly well-read in magical theory and legends, in addition to history. With that said, he isn't fond of reading at all because it takes up a lot of energy. He is the type of person who will literally go to Wikipedia first to try to look up who the enemy Servants could possibly be, and only turn to his books and other resources when that inevitably fails. If he can take any kind of shortcut, even if that shortcut is likely to fail and therefore waste his time, he will take it. His ideal lifestyle is one where he works hard for a couple of years, and then somehow retires comfortably forever. Though for various reasons, this ideal lifestyle now seems very impossible for him to ever attain, so he’s more or less given up on it.
Something of a pragmatist, Wei is willing to use any amount of trickery he can come up with to get any kind of edge in a fight. At the very least, he wants to survive the War even if victory proves impossible, and that's something that he's going to be very stubborn about, though whether he succeeds or not depends on how events unfold. Honor is usually something that he doesn't particularly care for, barring some weird extreme circumstances. He is nowhere near as witty as he likes to think he is. He can get out a couple of decent one-liners or snarky comebacks, but he will believe that all her comebacks completely destroy anything else anyone has to say.
Backstory: Born to a working-class family, Wei has always been the type who tried to take life in stride. Always momentarily getting really nervous about any difficulties that arise, but always managing to persevere in some way or another. While his distant family has a number of talented magi, his direct family was comparatively lacking in much magical ability... Except for Wei himself, who quickly proved to have a gift for it. Due to his parents not being skilled magi themselves, much of Wei's early life was spent building up his own physical athleticism and studying the theory of mana, rather than having actual direct practice. It was only when he was 18 that he was able to move in with a distant cousin and actually get in a lot of the practice that he had missed. If you guessed that his cousin lived in Dust Springs, you would be very correct.
After picking up one specific spell that allowed him to repair clothes, Wei made his living as a seamster, advertising that he could fix up anyone's clothes. This job proved fairly good at making a living, though Wei never began to approach what one would call rich. He was just glad that he had acquired some sort of skill that he could use, as the town of Dust Springs isn't exactly known for much more than modest growth. Still, for a while, he was content living with his cousin, helping pay the rent, learning magic, and indulging in his hobbies.
It was when he was 25 years old that Wei ran into trouble. More specifically, his family in general did, as the changing economy meant that his parents and his distant family in general were having trouble affording things, and got more and more into debt. Years later, the cousin that he had lived with was hospitalized following a seizure, and as if fate itself was playing a cruel trick on his family, his parents would also be hospitalized. Due to the inadequacies of the American healthcare system, Wei was forced to borrow money from shady loan sharks that had connections with gangs. This is a story with a predictable conclusion: Wei was able to pay off his family's medical debts, getting them the treatment they needed, but now he lives hounded by loan sharks. He managed to pay off the interest, but at the rate he's paying off his debt, he'd be stuck paying it off for the rest of his life, barring some kind of miracle.
At the age of 37 years old, Wei lived alone in his cousin's former house (his cousin was still hospitalized). He thought about the best way to pay off his debts, debating between three very extreme options: Buy life insurance and pay off his debts with his own life, use his magical talents to fight the debt collectors and try to force the debt to be null and void, or otherwise run and go into hiding to the best of his ability. All options that he hated. To him, the choice seemed like a farce.
That was when he got the miracle that he had craved for so long. A certain marking appeared on his hand. A tattoo, perhaps? He had never had any. But realization dawned on him as all his knowledge of the Holy Grail War came to mind. He never imagined that he would be chosen to participate, but this was something that he couldn't just ignore. If he could win the Holy Grail War, he could wish for money to pay off his debts. Or perhaps he could get more creative with his wish, or perhaps his Servant could help intimidate the loan sharks that haunted him. The possibilities seemed endless. With a renewed sense of hope, he does his best to prepare for the War.
Magical Abilities: You can expect a lot from Wei's skills as a fighter... And as a magus, you can expect something less than that. This isn't to say that Wei is a terrible magus or even a mediocre one. You could definitely describe him as fairly skilled. But his main talents rely on his own combat style, utilizing a metal fan in order to directly hit and combat the enemy. Still, he's a human, not a legendary hero, so his own skills at fighting need to be carefully utilized. In other words, expect him to do well in combat that involves him supporting his Servant, fighting off another Master, or fighting a defensive battle to stall for a bit of time. Barring any exceptional circumstances where he fights a weakened Servant and takes them off-guard, there is little chance that he could defeat a Servant in direct combat. Still, being a skilled combatant in his own right is a boon. He can switch between utilizing his metal fan, using his bare fists, or just using whatever happens to be on the ground.
Wei's own magical talents are a bit limited, and he'll be making use of a few skills in particular to make up for a lack of variety. A favorite skill of his is to fortify himself with mana, allowing him to survive attacks that would normally result in mortal wounds, as well as a similar skill that results in his strikes doing a lot more damage than normal. The primary issue with that bit of magic is that using it for too long is extremely draining on him as a magus. Other than that, he has the skill to control his own Servant's Mad Enhancement to a limited degree. Since his Berserker's Mad Enhancement defaults to a level where his Servant can still speak simple words and formulate (very simple) strategies, it's an option for Wei to raise Mad Enhancement's rank temporarily. This results in Berserker losing much of his remaining ability to strategize, and instead live up to his class namesake by attacking with greater fury than before. This does make him harder to control, however, and the risk of collateral damage increases. If he wants to support Berserker in a safer way, then he also has the ability to perform a fairly weak healing spell, that while not particularly strong can be cast from a fairly wide distance (if he's closer to whoever he's healing, it gets stronger, though even if he's literally touching someone the healing can't fix mortal wounds barring some exceptional circumstances, such as being supported with something else). Finally, his overall most valuable skill that has little if any combat use is the ability to use his own magic to patch up torn clothes, even if they're completely shredded. He considers this extremely important because he doesn't want to further decrease his resources to pay his debt off.
Other: I wasn't sure whether to put this as a magical talent or not, but Wei's metal fan can be freely summoned to him in combat (so he doesn't have to carry it everywhere), and it can also be summoned away fairly easily.
Motivation for Fighting: Wei wants to find some way to escape his debts. If he finds himself unable to win the War and incapable of finding some alternative way to acquire the money, then he'll probably try to escape the city and go into hiding.
Servant App:
Heroic Spirit: Li Kui (a character from Water Margin, one of the four great classic Chinese novels)
Age: Physically appears to be around 30 years old
Gender: Male
Appearance: An extremely muscular man standing at about 7 feet tall would intimidate most people, one would think. If that wasn’t quite enough, then the fact that he's usually carrying twin axes should do the trick to make most people very careful around Berserker. He has a dark complexion and tends to be shirtless, as most clothes tend to rip very easily on him, and armor is inefficient for him since his natural defenses are good enough without it. He does cover the lower half of his body with something resembling a black combat skirt that seems somewhat anachronistic for modern times. This is the only article of clothing he regularly wears, aside from a matching helmet that he uses more as a weapon to headbutt people than for actual protection.
He has a reddish-yellow unibrow, with a beard, mustache, and short hair that all match that color. He will sometimes dress more appropriately, but he literally has to be commanded to do so and will probably complain about it a great deal. His specific muscular build can be described as stout, a great deal of muscle along with a good amount of fat. He remains incredibly fast and agile, able to intimidate other people very easily. When he's in combat, he has a very serious expression. Regardless of whether he's in combat or out of it, Li Kui tends to reek of alcohol. His body is covered in scars, with his back in particular being more scar than tissue.
Personality: A man of few words due to being summoned as a Berserker, though like a few other Berserkers, he is still able to speak in simple sentences and maintains a semblance of reason, albeit reason that is guided primarily by his own desires without thinking. He exemplifies the difference between fearlessness and bravery, as he never shows any signs of being scared, but this can result in him being brash when the situation calls for retreat (he requires direct orders or another target to even consider retreat). With a love for gambling and drinking, there can be no mistake that Li Kui lives a hedonistic lifestyle, with all the positives and negatives that that entails. He has very few issues with taking actions that most would find objectionable, seeing nothing wrong with killing and even taking joy in it, treating it like sport rather than the end to someone's life. He also sees absolutely nothing wrong with cannibalism, though for obvious reasons, that won't be on display in the RP.
If you'd like some positive qualities, it should be noted that he is loyal to those he's pledged allegiance to and who befriend him. He also does find it far more interesting to fight genuinely evil opponents rather than virtuous ones, so he can be heroic in the sense that he'll combat people more evil than he is. While considered a hero in his origin, it's very easy for modern-day people to consider him an anti-hero, or even worse than that. The few moral standards he DOES have are very fiercely held, however, and he has a deep respect for family and filial piety.
Backstory: As one of the most infamous characters in Water Margin, Li Kui's backstory in this RP is very much the same as how that book went. A primer of the important points: Li Kui fled his hometown after killing someone there. Ironically enough, he soon found work as a prison warder. He would soon find himself in many adventures that would tie in with the other characters from the novel as one of the 108 Liangshan who fight as an army of outlaws. While he would be among those who died in the campaign along with many others, he would be satisfied with the fact that his fellow friends managed to find victory after all of their struggles.
This is simplifying it a very great deal for the sake of brevity, but that's about what's important. The only key difference from the Water Margin and this version of Li Kui is that this version is more exaggerated in physical skills, build, and height in order to fit in with the Berserker class (he already fit in with it, but now he fits in even more). A few traits are toned down to account for keeping this RP on-track (see Personality).
Weapons and Abilities: Li Kui carries two twin axes with him to battle, both identical to each other and fairly unremarkable except for their size. Rather than being two smaller axes that could easily be dual-wielded, the twin axes are both huge, each one looking like the average person would have trouble lifting it with both of their hands. Apart from that, Li Kui doesn't have much in the way of gear. If you count it as "gear", then Li Kui is often seen carrying at least a bit of alcohol, as despite what one might think he actually fights even better when he's drunk. Of course, being drunk has the side-effect of making his combat style more inaccurate than usual in exchange for added ferocity. If left on his own, he will basically always choose to get drunk, but if accompanied by his Master, he will listen to his battle tactics, though he will complain about it if he's told to abstain from alcohol.
He has a couple of skills as a Berserker. What he lacks for in quantity of skills he makes up for in how strong they are. They are as follows:
Mad Enhancement - The archetypal skill of a Berserker, granting an increase in overall parameters in exchange for reasoning capabilities. At the level that Li Kui is at, he's able to speak a few words and listen to orders, but it's next to impossible to hold extended conversations and he is entirely focused on his own desires, getting angry if forced to talk about anything else. He isn't able to come up with complex plans and relies on his Master's orders for any tactic that isn't charging wildly at someone.
Battle Continuation - An ability that grants the power for Li Kui to continue fighting long after he's suffered from mortal wounds without any kind of decrease to his combat ability. It should be noted that this does not make him invincible. In canon, Heracles and Cu Chulainn both have this ability, if you need an example. He won't stop until the final decisive blow is struck that ends his life.
Noble Phantasm: Black Whirlwind - Li Kui's most powerful technique does not come from his own strength alone, despite his Noble Phantasm being named after his own nickname. Upon activating his Noble Phantasm, the spirits of his companions, the other 107 Liangshan heroes, imbue his twin axes with their strength. Li Kui is then able to spin his axes and create a literal black whirlwind that envelopes the surrounding area. As it impacts a large area, this Noble Phantasm needs to be used cautiously. To give a more specific example of how this would go: The 107 other heroes would show up as ghostly spirit, shouting words of encouragement before entering Li Kui’s twin axes and making them glow with power. Li Kui would then toss both of his axes at his target, the resulting spinning axes creating a black whirlwind. For an idea of how destructive it is, it could easily destroy an entire building, but wouldn't manage an entire street. This can be used offensively to hurt someone, for some kind of environmental advantage, for retreat purposes, or to daze the target. As it's an area of effect attack, it doesn't do as much damage as a single-target NP would, but it's still a lot. A normal human definitely wouldn't stand much of a chance, at least, though most opponents aren't going to be normal humans.
Other: If he ever puts on a shirt, expect him to rip it without thinking about it.
Motivation for Fighting: Li Kui fights for the sake of it, basically. His love for fighting is great enough that he'd probably take part in the Grail War without the motivation of the Grail itself. And considering this is a gathering of legendary heroes, this is basically perfect for him. While he's at it, he can also eat a lot of food, gamble, and drink the best alcohol that he can get his hands on, basically enjoy material pleasures while he can. His reasoning is admittedly very simple, but they can't all be complex, can they?