Application

[reallyfeelingit]

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: Caleb
ARE YOU AT LEAST 16 YEARS OLD?: Yah
IF UNDER 18 YEARS OLD, PLEASE STATE YOUR AGE: N/A
CONTACT: bloodeagles @ plurk
CHARACTERS PLAYED: N/A

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Shulk Franklyn (last name made up for game purposes)
CANON: Xenoblade Chronicles
CANON REFERENCE:
http://xenoblade.wikia.com/wiki/Shulk
http://xenoblade.wikia.com/wiki/Xenoblade_Chronicles_(plot)

AGE: 18
GENDER: Male
YEAR IN SCHOOL/FACULTY POSITION: Shop Class Teacher / X-Man
APPEARANCE: Heyooo

PERSONALITY:
The first thing you always have to start with when it comes to Shulk is his want to make sure those he cares for are safe and sound. While protecting them does take a priority, it doesn't mean he wants to take them out of the fight. However, in canon, after a fight, he will comment on the safety of his party members, even if they point out how tight his own situation actually was. It's a selfless attribute that spawns from not only being a good person but the loving environment he was raised in with Dunban and Fiora. The care they showed Shulk, someone who is not even a family member, is reflected back to those Shulk finds in his care. In fact, losing Fiora even though he was able to predict her death is what drove him on his quest to begin with, so no others would have to suffer. He takes it very personally whenever someone around him is hurt, as he feels he could have prevented if it he had worked harder.

Still, Shulk is someone that wants to be a leader. Not only that, but he finds it easy to rely on others and others find it easy to rely on him. Despite being leader of the party, he never hesitates to take advice from others nor does he turn down help when it's offered. Even more telling is when his friends believe him instantly when he says incredible things. When he tells Reyn that he can see the future, rather than react in disbelief, Reyn tells Shulk to inform him of these visions so he can personally prevent any tragedy from happening. While it does lean a little on how Reyn acts, it's also telling for Shulk on how dependable he normally is, that his friends would never even think of doubting a word he says. Even during a climactic moment where Dunban was in a murderous rage, the man who killed his sister helpless before him, Shulk managed to talk him out of slaughtering him and Dunban was prevented from doing something he would have regretted in the future.

Despite that calm and control, Shulk can get enraged. Of course, killing people Shulk holds dear will blind his judgement quite a bit, as seen by when Metal Face struck a mortal blow on the High Emperor of the Entia. It was a plot point that unlocked the new form of his Monado but he never would have been able to achieve that ability without the anger that boiled within him. But, if given even just a little time to think, Shulk will come up with a more rational, reasonable way to handle things. Which is why he made sure Dunban didn't kill Metal Face when he had the chance. It also folds into the fact that Shulk does not like killing humans at all. When he discovered that the faced Mechon were piloted by humans who had been modified into cyborgs, his policy of destroying them all took a hit. In fact, when he found out, he often took steps to make sure that they weren't killed outright, in hopes that could be saved from serving the Mechon anymore. Which, again, rolls back into how he wants to protect others.

In a normal situation, though, Shulk can almost always be found reading and researching. Books are knowledge are life. Shulk falls very much under the idea of 'physically fit nerd'. He puts in nearly endless amounts of work for the colony he lives in, designing and creating weapons and, most importantly, researching the Monado. Seeing as he was found with the Monado as a child in canon, it's no exaggeration to say that his entire life revolves around that weapon. And he has dedicated most of his time researching both it and ways to defend against the Mechon. It's a strong point when nearly every bit of official art of him either has Shulk holding the Monado or holding a book.

In the end, Shulk still has the air of a teen who has had his head stuck in a book. His social skills are decent enough but sometimes he doesn't take hints and romance isn't entirely his forte. Other than his close relationship with Fiora, when someone like Melia showed an interest in him, it tended to fly over his head and land right in the area of friendship. Whether it was accidental or intentional, it's unknown, but there was an air of ignorance there. And outside of the typical JRPG protagonist profound statements, Shulk ultimately enjoys the things he does and wants to live a normal life. In fact, in the end, when told he could become a god, shape the world how he wanted, and essentially end conflict, Shulk instead gave up all sense of godhood and left the world as is. As a normal person, he would help everyone work together and get along and that is the core of his character.

You could say that he's.....really feeling it.

POWERS/ABILITIES:
Shulk’s main and only power is his super intelligence. He learns incredibly fast and is able to connect two far distant points to create a singular idea that will work. Most of his knowledge lies in practical fields that can be applied physically. It’s not flashy or special but it can result in things that are flashy and special.

Namely, Shulk’s magnum opus, the Monado. After finishing school, he devoted a huge portion of his life working on this weapon for his personal use. It’s his peak of science and, as such, it’s almost a black box of powers. Shulk knows that it hasn't reached its full potential as of now and he’s not aware of what it CAN do. What he does know about it is as follows.

To start with, the Monado is basically a metal looking beatstick with a fancy design. On activation, it splits open and pops out a blade of light. That blade of light can almost effortlessly cut through anything EXCEPT homo sapiens. It harmlessly bounces off of them. In short, Shulk can’t harm normal humans with his weapon. But by manipulating light particles (Ether in canon), research that Shulk has focused in, the weapon can form its blade and make use of special abilities. These abilities can't be spammed as the weapon must recharge for a short period of time after each use but the blade will always remain in play.

It also has four special abilities with it at the current moment in time.

Buster: For a single slash, the blade of light extends ridiculously, enabling Shulk to cut through multiple enemies in one go.

Enchant: With a sweep of his sword, the weapons of Shulk’s allies within ten feet of him gain the same penetrating capabilities that the Monado’s blade has by sharing light particles with them. Even individual bullets are granted this.

Shield: A yellow forcefield of light particles surrounds Shulk and allies that can withstand a single attack.

Purge: With a successful ranged attack, Shulk can prevent a single target from using telepathy, making them unable to read minds for a short period of time. (This is essentially what this power does in canon.)

As for the unknown, what Shulk hasn’t activated with his weapon (and will probably activate at certain game plot points) is pretty easy to describe also. First, the Monado CAN harm normal humans. That’s a plot upgrade for his sword. It also has a final form that can deal damage to higher level beings (gods and the like) but that’ll probably never come up. The still locked abilities are as follows.

Speed: Does almost as described. While Shulk can move fast, it’s in quick bursts that allow him to simply dodge attacks easily.

Armor: This forms a protective barrier of light particles around Shulk and allies that, rather than block attacks, reduce the incoming damage taken.

Cyclone: Sweeps light particles around Shulk, damaging enemies and tossing them on their backs.

Eater: Enemies in front of Shulk’s sword swing are subject to a corroding attack that inhibits healing and physical buffs/powers.


AU HISTORY:
Shulk was born in York, England to two happy, loving parents. Unfortunately, due to an accident, both of his parents were killed before Shulk even really knew their faces. A family friend, Dunban, took custody of Shulk and raised him along with Dunban’s younger sister, Fiora. Dunban raised the two of them well, as Shulk grew up to be a responsible young man.

Still, Shulk always had an advantage in mental growth. He learned to speak, walk, write, and do math at nearly record ages. It was pretty obvious that he was different from other children and his mind deduced early on that he was a mutant. As he became more mature, he made sure to keep that fact to himself. After all, there were other smart kids in the world and the only one who’d really know is Dunban. And Shulk completely trusted him not to do something bad with that knowledge.

He held himself back a little in school but still ended up graduating at the incredibly young age of 11 years. He applied to Cambridge University and was accepted, though he was given more than a few offers to attend Xavier’s School. His time there was full of his face being stuck in books and barely having time to do much else. At the age of 16, he graduated from Cambridge with a Doctorate in Applied Physics. His time there saw him creating many positive innovations for the world, all focused in manipulating particles of light. The job offers flowed in from Defense Contractors around the world but Shulk turned them all down, returning home to Dunban and taking up a spot in the basement.

Shulk’s abilities made him feel responsible for humanity as a whole. As a mutant, if he couldn’t protect humans, what else was he going to do? So he started working on a personal weapon for his own use. Two long years later, he finished it, still entirely unsure of what he had accomplished. But he named this weapon the Monado, dedicating it to protecting humans.

With his personal weapon prepared, he finally decided to take an offer to attend the Professor’s school. Not as a student but as a teacher and an X-man. While responsible and caring, Shulk knew he was inexperienced and young. So he expressly made sure that until he gained experience, he was to be placed in a team as opposed to leading one.

SAMPLES

NETWORK SAMPLE:
You know, it may not look like it but engineering is still an ever growing field of study these days. New ways to design things, new materials to create things out of. It's all pretty handy, when you think of it! Even if you don't believe me, think of 3-D printers these days. Ten years ago, this was just being proposed as an idea. But when things advanced enough, we have what we have today: the ability to make much of anything by loading a blueprint into a computer and having it 'printed' out.

[He's so drawn into this topic that he can barely contain his own excitement. Truly nerdom at its best.]

That doesn't mean we can look down on the past, though. The achievements made with what little they had in the past is amazing. Just look at any of the World Wonders or the roads and aqueducts of the Roman Empire.

That's why, for your homework, I've loaned you a computer program made for bridge building. Using your own ideas without looking on the internet, I'd like you to complete a bridge capable of standing up to 4,000 pounds per foot of pressure. ...it's a bit difficult to get used to American measurements but that's what I want. You have until the end of the week!

LOG SAMPLE:
Test Drive Thread