"If one is saved, one is abandoned, and with that shatters the hope." -Archer
Basics
Character Theme:
Name: Archer (EMIYA) True Age: His age can no longer be measured in years like a mortals. Gender: Male Element: Blades Personality: ~Anti-Social~ Archer is not someone you would invite to a party - not only because he wouldn't show up anyways, but because of how cold he acts. Not caring for anyone, always alone, if you get a chance to see him, he looks like a lone statue facing the greatest storms in history. It's rare to see Archer smile at all, but a confident smug look can sometimes be seen.
~Broken Ideals~ Once, Archer followed the ideal to save everyone. After an unknown event shattered all of his hopes and dreams into peaces, he fell into a deep depression that holds him until this very day. He doesn't believe in ideals anyone, and those with strong ideals will usually have to face Archer as their worst enemy - he claims to be the enigma they can't defeat, the power that crushes their dreams and lifes to show them reality. The warrior claims it is mercy that he shows by doing that - beating down an idealist is better than having him live until his ideals betray and backstab him, for he knows that pain. His ideal from way back was simple - to save everyone, no matter the cost. How exactly it was shattered is not known.
~Cynism and Sarcasm~ One big point anyone who ever talked with Archer knows is his gigantic sarcasm and cynism. His voice seems to be permanentlsy annoyed and mocking partially, often pointing out the fails of a person. One of his most memorial quotes is "Take your meaningless pride to the dogs", which he said to a Shinigami that died by refusing to eat dog meat as a human before fighting and killing him. Enraging his opponents, he is often able to calmy analyze them. He also is not above hurting peoples feelings with his words, often mercilessly beating someone down with words only.
~Anti-Hero~ Despite his usually 'evil' actions and methods, Archer actually still believes in his ideal - at least a bit. His methods have changed to where he would kill one person to save another, but it still actually pains him to see someone die.
~Big Sofite~ Under that thick, anti-social and 'badass' shell, Archer can be a real sofite. He's always questioning himself and his ways, and how to change fate. He is quite the warrior poet, and has a soft spot for weaker people trying to protect what they love. Also, Archer is a very, VERY good cook and housekeeper, although he doesn't brag about it. This soft side also allows him to be a sweet person at times, although he can quickly get irritated and snap back into his cynical self.
~Living Ideal~ It is a paradox, really - Archer hates ideals like his old one, but parts of it still resonate within him. As he gave himself away to make his ideal a reality in his own past, he can't resist the urge to help people.
General Appearance
Appearance:
Archer is a tall man, with slightly tanned skin and completely white hair. His eyes are in an unusual grey, looking as if they are actually metal instead of pupils, but they are actually normal. His black clothing consists out of a shirt that shows off his well-build body, and black pants. His red clothing on the upper body is held together by a metal plate on his back, and the sleeves end in gem-like objects that help reduce the force Broken Phantasm puts on Archers hands. Without them, they wouldn't be useable by now anymore. Like the lower part of a mantle, the red cloth is held by a metal belt around his waist. On his feet, Archer wears black boots. Height: 1,90 meters Animalistic Traits: None Appearance Age: Around the mid 20's Weight: Average
Natural Abilities
Techinques:Analyzation For normal objects, this skill is a special scan with the use of ones own spiritual energy, analyzing the structure, weakpoints and even estimating the time until the destined death of an object, with enough focusing on it. This allows for easier use of Reinforcement Magecraft. However, when Archer just looks at a bladed weapon, an enhanced Analyzation comes into play - he is able to read out information even about sealed blades, understanding the process of them, and saving that memory in his heads storage, the 'Unlimited Blade Works', for later use. No blade that is physically visible can hide from his view and understanding of them.
Mind's Eye (True) Archer is able to see through battles with incredible calm of mind and clearance, which allows him to even turn a only 5% chance of victory into a bigger chance just by being in the battle. Effectively, this makes it nearly impossible to confuse him by normal means like dirty tactics or trash talk. Since he is no perfect being, though, certain circumstances can even break his calm Mind's Eye.
Clairvoyance Honed skill and magecraft have increased Archers eyesight to levels where he can easily see for large distances where others would need a scope to even spot a single dot that could be his target. Needless to say, this is quite usefull for an Archers fighting style. His vision is developed to the point where he can see through small walls, and cloaking technology has no effect (spiritual cloaking techniques are at least weakened too). In order to keep track of an enemy, he can 'lock on' to them and thus instinctively know where they are.
Archery As expected from someone with the name 'Archer', he is very skilled at bow-shooting. He can make Arrows out of thin, glowing blue metal, which have a bit more strength than a regular Quincy arrow. Furthermore, he can use...
Broken Phantasm With a traced weapon (see below for more info), Archer is not able to bring out the full power of any weapon besides his favorite pair of twin swords. Using Broken Phantasm, Archer discards a weapons durability for enhanced power, which, together with Alteration (once more, see below) turns the weapon he traced into either an explosive arrow, or an arrow that has the ability to unleash the true full power of a Zanpakutō or Sacred (Bankai, full Zenou, Kyuu Kyou) for one strike only. This requires the same amount of energy as making the weapon in the first place, and Archer has to forge them again in his mind if he wants to use them again.
Bone of the Sword Archer has the ability to channel a former wielders or actual wielders knowledge. In practice, it makes him able to use a weapon that is not originally his with almost the same amount of skill as the original user, but he will always be inferior to the original by at least a little bit.
Sword Body The body of Archer is incredibly durable, much like steel. His bones and internal organs can withstand a lot more punishment than what should be logically possible, and if he is wounded, his flesh will 'knit' itself by turning partially into swords that merge into one another and forge themselves together, before turning into flesh and bone needed to continue on. Smaller wounds are healed so fast that it's practicially impossible to even see the process. Gaping wounds or severed limbs, on the other hand, will take up to an entire post to forge themselves back together.
Flawless Training Archer has been training his body for what seems to be an eternity by now, and has reached the pinnacle of what his average Sugiura body can do - his physical prowess (strength, speed and defense) are all high above average, though none of them reach the masterful levels of physical juggernauts. He is still able to hold his own amazingly well in a physical confrontation by simply having perfected what little he had.
Magic: Archer is especially proficent in Boundary Fields, being able to use all of them. Normal Magic of the Sugiura is useable by him, but he is not able to use Shinkai. Rho Aius, though, is one of his strongest spells. Furthermore, Archer knows three forms of 'Magecraft', magic only useable by Magus type Sugiura, and the last of them is Emiya Shirous very own magic embedded into their very being, unable to be used by others, even if they would spent ages trying to learn it.
Reinforcement The hardest to use Magecraft of them all - because it adds to something already complete. Analyzing an object, the user channels Reiatsu into an object, filling out weak spots, repairing damaged parts, and generally strengthening something in multiple ways. This magic needs careful application, and is hard to master, since a wrongly done Reinforcement will either break the object or don't do anything. Reinforcing another persons body is the hardest, since their Reiatsu will repell invading Reiatsu. Reinforcement can't be used on Projected objects (see below).
Alteration An offspring of Reinforcement, this magic is more complex, but easier to use. It works by 'adding to what is complete', just like Reinforcement, but it alters the original item, making it 'better' at a certain aspect - a sword could grow in length and cutting strength, a shield could be made larger, and so on. It basicially alters whatever it is used upon. After all the Reishi stored inside of the object is used up, it returns to the original state.
Gradiation Air Gradiation Air, or Projection, is the art of creating something out of ones own spiritual energy. While not the hardest magic to use, it is the most expensive usually - the bigger the item produced, the higher the cost grows expotentially, and the item will disappear after a maximum of one hour, being erased by the world not allowing dreams to be real. Also, special effects of Projected items are not present. This Magecraft is seen as useless for anything but magic rituals which require rare ingridients. However, Shirou and Archer have their own version of Gradiation Air, directly linked to the 'Reality Marble' of their mind. Analyzing blades which a simple glance, both Shirou and Archer can make a near-perfect replica of an item. They lack the strength to completely draw out a weapons potential (Bankai/Kyuu Kyou for example), and the weapon will generally be weaker than the original. Still, the most important part is how fast this magic works. The process is broken down into a few steps by them in their mind: 1. Judging the concept of creation 2. Hypothesizing the basic structure 3. Duplicating the composition material 4. Imitating the skill of its making 5. Sympathizing with the experience of its growth 6. Reproducing the accumulated years 7. Excelling every manufacturing process This would normally take long to do, but this is where their Reality Marble kicks in. It provides all necessary resources and tools to replicate each and every earthly weapon - only completely alien things like Ea can't be traced. Tracing is the name of this special Projection, and it has multiple stages and variations, but in general, each and every Projection done by Emiya is not 'creating out of nothingness', but 'creating inside of Unlimited Blade Works', and 'pulling it out' of his mind into reality. This is what makes his Projection unreachable by others. Trace On: Usually the incarnation to copy a weapon someone is holding and to instantly project it, also spoken at the beginning of the fight to 'mold' himself into the fighting mind and be able to instantly project weapons recorded previously. Can be skipped for single weapons by Archer thanks to his insane skill at Projection. Trace Off: Used to signalize the 'pulling out' of multiple weapons made in Unlimited Blade Works at the same time, sometimes Trace On is spoken before it to enhance his speed at copying and manufacturing them, depending on the amount of blades made. These blades are shot out like bullets and arrows, with top speeds of Mach 10. They can also be controlled by light telekinesis by Archer - while he can't make them fight on their own, he can change their direction while they are flying slightly, and make them rip out of the ground and fly to him into his hands should he miss. Full Trace, Continuus Fire: Emiyas strongest move besides Unlimited Blade Works, this sends out an instantly traced storm of copied blades, previously and newly recorded ones. This move works much alike to the Gates of Babylon, and is the natural enemy of the storm of blades it produces.
Unlimited Blade Works Besides being the source of Tracing, Unlimited Blade Works is a Reality Marble, a world within ones mind. Since their inner world was defined before they obtained Guardian Beasts, Emiya is an individual that can't wield an own Sacred. Unlimited Blade Works of Archer looks like a barren wasteland, with embers and smoke flying up from countless hills, gigantic constructs moving in the sky, and a red, clouded over and dark sunset. Scattered through this rust and brown collored world, countless swords are stabbed into the ground, the objects recorded into Archers mind, who is an owner, not a wielder of weapons - one who can use all, but master none. The true path of the Faker, nothing in this world is his own. Unlimited Blade Works can be summoned outward, and acts much like a full release of other Sugiura. After incarnating the spell, a ring of fire that can't hurt anyone expands from him, turning the world into Unlimited Blade Works. Instantly, all swords of his mind are projected here, and the reality marble takes constant supplies of energy to continue existing. Archer can leviate the blades here freely, and summon them into his hands instantly. He can also more easily reforge broken blades in this dimension. The spell is the following: I am the bone of my sword Steel is my body, and fire is my blood I have created over a thousand blades Unknown to Death, nor known to Life Have withstood pain to create many weapons Yet these hands will never hold anything So, as I pray... Unlimited Blade Works!
Small addition: Transformation swords can't be copied. This includes things like Resurreccions from Arrancar, or Otoyas Dark Kiva transformation, but a simple wardrobe-change won't hinder Tracing a blades abilities. Copied transform-types only grant the sword skill of the original wielder and no special moves normally, unless they can perform those naturally.
Sacred Weapon: Archer is a Magus Type Sugiura, thus he has no Sacred.
Recorded Weapons: These are the weapons recorded in the Unlimited Blade Works, and their abilites when traced. Besides these weapons, Archer can 'make' countless blades in different shapes, even axes and spears, but they'll all lack powers. They are mainly for ammunition made out of steel flying at mach 10 speeds.
Kanshou and Bakuya
Kanshou and Bakuya (干将・莫耶) are "married" twin swords representing yin and yang encountered by Archer at some point during his lifetime and added to the numerous weapons recorded and stored in Unlimited Blade Works. They are his favored weapons to project, having become his symbols after wielding them all his life. He and Emiya Shirou find the craftsmanship of the blades, rather than what they represent, to be extremely captivating and beautiful, and the swords suit their natural style of fighting. Despite not having a wielder in the legends, they are still Conceptual Weapons crafted by the blacksmith Gān Jiàng, whose wife, Mò Yé, gave her life in order to melt the metal used to create the swords during the Spring and Autumn Period. They were crafted more for the sake of crafting, as if questioning the meaning of the swordsmith, than for any real idea behind their creation. They were created without vanity, and lack a sense of purpose found in other swords. They contain no fighting spirit to defeat others or competitive spirit to beat other weapons, and they contain neither the desire to be famous nor the faith to accomplish great deeds. They are identical in shape with the only difference being their color. Kanshou, the black Yang sword, is covered in a hexagonal pattern, and Bakuya, the white Yin sword, has less of the shine of a polished metal in its ore than it has the haze of a cloud. Their quality as swords is high due to being made with the best materials and a human sacrifice, and they have shamanistic and ritual aspects as enchanted weapons. The quality of the grips, which are quite big and heavy, are more important than their ornamental value. They are rather low ranking compared to other Conceptual Weapons, but the duel-wielding style, their experience, and their tracing time make them very reliable. The main ability of the swords is their strong bond with each other, which not only allows them to attract each other, but it is also said they will return their owner even if events cause them to be lost. If one is thrown while the other is held, the thrown sword will return to the wielder much like a boomerang. This works well with projection, allowing an already projected sword to identify a new projection as its partner sword. When both are wielded, magic resistance and physical resistance improve. It also represents Crane Wing Three Ream (鶴翼三連, Kakuyoku Sanren), a strategy that is the cumulation of Archer's use of the swords, the true meaning behind them, using three consecutive pairs traced ahead of time and the pair of swords' attraction to each other to deliver a fatal attack by projecting them when necessary. While using this technique of the weapons, an incarnation has to be spoken while performing it. Without the incarnation, the technique lacks the Overedge. Spirit and technique, flawless and firm Our strength rips the mountains Our swords split the water Our names reach the imperial villa The two of us cannot hold heavens together —Two great men, sharing a life. In Archer's version, the first pair is thrown at the enemy with the purpose of being deflected, while the second is prepared for close range combat. While the enemy is off guard, he slashes with the second pair, and the thrown pair returns and hits the enemy from behind. Finally, the third pair is modified through reinforcement, called Overedge, which makes them twice the size and covers the blade from the ridge to the edge with feather-like splinters, and he performs the final strike with them. If Archer succeeds in fully executing Crane Wing, and his enemy doesn't find a way to escape it, the result can easily be fatal.
Cadalbolg
A Conceptual Weapon Archer encountered during his life at some point. It has incredible attack power, but also requires a lot of energy to trace and use. It is formed like a drill, and besides being great at piercing Hierro and similliar armor, it's main use lies in Broken Phantasm. A Broken Phantasm arrow of Cadalbolg reaches the power levels of a Cero Oscuras used by an Arrancar on Archers level, at times surpassing it.
Hrunting
Another Conceptual Weapon that Archer got to see during his lifetime, it has the curse of hitting an enemy engraved into it. It makes slashing at the enemy much easier to do, but it's main use, like Cadalbolg, is as an altered Broken Phantasm arrow. Reaching the strength of a Gran Rey Cero of an Arrancar on Archers level, this move can change directions and follow the enemy until either hitting a large obstacle or being deflected and nullified, constantly dodging won't do a thing.
Alter Form
Alter Appearance: N/A
Alter Personality: N/A
Alter Powers: N/A
Past & Roleplay Sample
Character Background:
Blood of Fire:
A long time ago - at least for Archer himself - there was a boy who had lost everything in a fire. With his dying breath, his whole world and heart had gone empty, a horrible state of being for anyone. But then, he was saved - by the power of an ancient artifact and through his father. That day, the boy changed. He had only been around ten years old on that fateful day, but he was an 'empty human' now. To fill the emptiness that made up his heart, this weak boy took on an ideal that his father had lost to years ago, and given up on. He promised to be a true hero, one that saves everyone. An inheritely flawed and borrowed ideal, but the boy didn't mind that. Instead, he embraced this ideal with every bit of his being.
That boy's name was Emiya Shirou.
After some years had gone by, the boy finally learned how to use his natural tools given to him to be a hero. Magecraft, the art of the Magi, opened to him, even if only slightly - he was noted for being the possibly worst Magus of all time, even. But that didn't stop Emiya Shirou, a boy determined to reach any and all of his goals, no matter the pain it put him through.
Many things happened over the course of his quest for power. At one point, he learned how to use Projection - a normally useless Magecraft as nobody is able to use it effectively on a regular basis. However, the worst Magecraft and the worst Magus together were able to fight perfectly, and so he became a 'faker' that copied weapons to grow stronger.
At one point, he had a teacher. Without her, he never would've learned how to fight. And another teacher that made him better at managing his energies for Magecraft. Friends accumulated around him as well, and he even had a lover at some point. But at any given time, his ideal burning inside, to save everyone, never stopped growing. Nobody truely ever understood Emiya Shirou, but he didn't mind that, and didn't judge people based on it or anything else.
Then, a great calamity befell a group of people right infront of his eyes, and he was unable to do anything. They were all going to die - his struggle to be a hero would forever be tainted and wrong, he'd never truely reach his goal, and never be able to save anyone. In that decisive moment during the wars that were going to end his world, he prayed for the first time. To the one who held all the strings, the one voice of the eternal root.
"Akasha, I beg you... Make me one of yours. Give me... Unlimited Blade Works."
That was the final day of the boy named Emiya Shirou. What was left afterwards was not a Sugiura anymore, no - he was a Counter Guardian. One who had sold his soul to the root of all things, in exchange for power and the ability to change the world. His body of swords, the blood of iron and heart of glass, he became Archer.
Needless to say, after recieving the power of the root, saving the people was a mere trivial task to Archer. At the pinnacle of his power, he rose from being a mediocore Magus at best into being a true hero - brandishing his blades and will up high, he fought in the war threatening the lands many times. Over the course of that, he slowly began to lose those close to his heart... Friends turned into enemies, were slain in battle or simply drifted away. His lover found the end on the fields of swords. And at the end, the war never stopped - soon, the whole world was filled with blades, sticking out of the grounds like headstones. The last forests of all worlds turned into sand and dust. But never even once did Archer retreat, or asked for help. Not even once did he ask for a reward for his help, and slowly, even his allies became scared of how incredibly selfless he had become.
On the final day of this war, Archer faced his strongest enemy, and managed to win. The war was over, but the armies on both sides had yet to be ready to forgive one another... But thankfully, a convinient way out presented itself. Archer was framed that day and evening - to be the one behind it all, the one that started this war to live his own twisted fantasies of heroism. Seeing as nobody was able to understand the swordsman in red, they attacked him, and in his final battle, on the hill of swords, he died.
Left by them all, betrayed by them all, including the world itself. The man without a purpose for himself died - but with a satisfied smile on his face, not regretting his fate one bit. His hands, for the last time, closed themselves around a red magic pendant he had once recieved from the person most important to his heart. Truely, his body had been made from swords...
Heart of Glass:
Now, in death, being a Counter Guardian fully became all that there was to Archer. His spirit lifted from the body, a mind unbound by the laws of time or reality, he was now one of the stalwart defenders of existance - of Akasha. At any means necessary, he'd defend her - sitting in the Throne of Heroes amongst many other legends, he became the knight in red. At first, when Archer arrived, he thought his dream had fully come true - to become an eternal hero. But soon, the realization of why he was the 'knight in red' became clearer and clearer to him...
It was a gradual process. Not because Archer was ignorant of the reality before him, but because of how being a Counter Guardian worked - one's true mind to be encased in the Throne of Heroes, the 'Archer' that was sent out was a copy of the real one, one that brought back experiences and feelings, but never memories. But finally, one version of 'Archer' broke that rule - he had grown powerful enough to burst the barrier with his memories. And from that point onward, Archer could never forget. Even though he always wanted to. Because the role of a Counter Guardian... is not one to be desired. An eternity that doesn't actually take place in any specific time - millions of years passed, yet not even a second passed, too - a paradox. This was his fate... Forevermore.
Countless Battles:
Even that would've been fine. Even an eternity trapped in the Throne of Heroes, as a true hero. But being a hero was denied to Archer, at least in the way he envisioned it. Because a Counter Guardian is not simply summoned into a time period to stop a great disaster. No, instead, the root sends out their guardians to slay all those that stand to endanger the existance - in other words, almost always people. Sugiura, human, Shinigami alike, all were brought before his blades. And that was when Archer realized why his white cloak had turned bright red.
The blood of the innocent ran through time, as Archer was forced to bring them down, again and again. Trying to do what was right, the same mistakes repeated themselves over the different timelines. Breaking out, the warrior fought to end wars without sacrificing the innocent, only to kill even more in the process - is flawed ideal crumbled. Franticially, Archer searched for a way to turn his fate into a blessing instead of a curse.
Never Retreating:
It all finally fell apart when Archer was summoned to a timeline he actually knew. His own one, after his death. Because even after his great sacrifice, even after the war had ended... the fighting never stopped. And finally, with their constant struggles, the people of all the worlds of that timeline managed to produce enough loathing and hate to release... it. The shadow of all beings, the end to existance. Angra Mainyu, the being inside of the Holy Grail - or how Guardian Beasts called him, Cubia, the Hidden One. The world that had now summoned him was a disaster - millions dying every day, and all the Counter Guardians combined still had trouble holding off the corruption that could even consume gods. Thanks to their connection to the root, they were immune to the taint for the most part, but seeing this world again 'broke' Archer. And as his resolve waned away, so did this world that had once been his - in the end, that reality got consumed completely, erased from existance. An entire timeline, gone forever - and he was all that remained. Emiya Shirou... no, heroic spirt EMIYA. The Archer, the Faker. And on that day, he swore revenge. Revenge onto his former self - before the timeline split, he would find himself, and do the impossible: free himself from Akasha.
Surely, his life was:
It took millenia. Countless summonings, fighting without end. Blood ran down in endless streams over Archer, his manlte now colored crimson red, stained with what he failed to protect thanks to the curse on him. But not even once did he lose sight of his true goal now. The memories of his life faded - only splinters remain today. With each passing summoning, the chance for his next destination to be the final one grew larger. And with each passing day, Archer's power grew, too. Soon, he was strong enough to potentially resist the call of Akasha, to break free of the rules binding him for some time... But he couldn't just rip himself out into a random timeline. So he waited, and dilligently slaughtered the masses in the name of the greater good. Trample the few to save the many. A hated, wrong ideal. The ideal of his father.
And then, it happened. There was one timeline in dire danger from many surces - the demon god, the evil overlord Kin, and many hidden shadows that all needed exterminating. So, Archer was summoned to that timeframe - our current, present day, and even stronger than he is now - as a full Counter Guardian. But it just so happened that this timeline was also the one he had been searching for. The timeline-split was right infront of him. And for the first time, Archer successfully resisted. With the help of a strange Magecraft also interfering with the normal summoning, he was ripped out of Akasha's plan for the meantime - without the gate, his power was cut, but still remains as Emiya Shirou on the zenit of his power.
And now he was here, to settle the score with the past version of himself once and for all. To kill what he had once loved, to end his ideal right then and there, his life would surely, for one last time, become...
Unlimited Blade Works.
Skididdlypop Grand Strategist
Posts : 473 Join date : 2012-11-27 Age : 30
Subject: Re: Archer [APPROVED 0-5; MAGUS] Sat Dec 15, 2012 4:17 pm
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Comments/Notes: With permission from Serenity, I am able to give this a 0 tier. Tier: 0-5