Welcome to the official Among the Stars (ATS) page! This serves as a guide to everything ATS related, from worldbuilding to in-depth lore and all the way to character info. If you're not sure where to start, check the FAQ page.
A little background info about me (the creator of ATS):
-I go by the name Shima online. I use she/her pronouns!
-I'm an artist, writer, and novice video game maker/hacker
-I graduated college in 2019 with a degree in Digital Animation
-I've been drawing and creating original characters and stories since I was a kid. It's my life's biggest passion, and ATS is my most ambitious original project ever!
-On top of creating original content, I'm also involved in a lot of fandoms and love making fan content. Making new AUs is a weekly thing for me.
-My main interests revolve around anime, video games, and cartoons, which all serve as a huge inspiration for ATS. My current biggest interests are Pokemon (+PMD and Pokeani), One Piece, BNHA, SAO, Senyuu, and Genshin Impact!
ALL ART AND ORIGINAL CONTENT (UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED) BELONGS TO ME. You are more than welcome to create fan characters for the ATS universe (read more about the details on the OC template tab), but taking this work as your own is absolutely not permitted. Thank you for all your support!
★ CHARACTER INFO ★
Click on a character's name to read more about them!
✦ TEAM STAR ✦
The main squad of the series. They're currently members of the Amethystus Guild, with Shima as their team leader. The ten of them make up the current generation of Rulers.
✦ SPINELROSE GUILD ✦
Amethystus' sister guild. Their town is heavily focused on the invention and innovation of magic-infused elemental gear and engines.
✦ ASTERSTONE GUILD ✦
A very easy-going guild lifestyle on the surface, but underneath, they are actually keeping tabs on the dark, underworld side of society.
✦ EMERAUDE GUILD ✦
A newer guild, whose main focus is making it into the spotlight among their more experienced and highly regarded peers.
★ NEXT GENERATION ★
Taking place 20 years after the main story arc of ATS ends, the Next Generation focuses on the offspring of Team Star and their many friends.
✦ AMETHYSTUS GUILD ✦
The guildmasters of Amethystus are now focused on training their daughter to succeed them, but she's too busy getting involved in an evil uprising and rescuing elementals forced under their control.
SHIMA HOSHI
Age: 16-17
Hair color: Reddish-brown
Eye color: Lavender
Element: Stars
Birthday: December 15th, Sagittarius
Our main character and the star of the show! After waking up on a burning island with no memories as a child, she was rescued by a young Riku, who took her to live with a better suited guardian by the name of Pax. She and Riku grew up together under Pax’s care–however, Shima was never really allowed to interact with other people that much, and was kept hidden away in a life of seclusion due to both Pax and Riku’s apparent dislike of associating with the outside world. Because of this, Shima really never got to experience what it was like to grow up in a community. She didn’t have any friends her age besides Riku and lived in complete solitude, finding company only with her two companions. As Shima’s elemental magic began to grow and develop, Pax and Riku both decided to train her how to use her abilities better so she could use them to protect herself when necessary.When Shima turned 14, Pax decided that both she and Riku were old enough to handle themselves on their own, and left to investigate what was going on in the Great War. Shima is mildly upset about this, but Pax explains that his role as her guardian was only meant to be temporary and that he did it as a favor to Riku, but he did get attached to them both along the way. He tells them both to take care and disappears, and the two of them don’t hear from him again after that. Shima automatically assumes the worst, but Riku reassures her that Pax is probably doing everything in his power to put a stop to the war. The two of them continue to live by themselves in seclusion, and Riku grows more overprotective of Shima since Pax isn’t there to defend them. Shima dreams of finally getting out and seeing the world, but her attachment and loyalty to Riku prevents her from really reaching for that goal. She’d been informed at some point that both Pax and Riku are special and have a lot of bad people chasing after them, so she knows that venturing out is dangerous and could get Riku into trouble if he’s caught. She resolves to stay with Riku and get strong enough to protect him if they’re ever found out. During this time she and Riku become even closer, and Shima starts to find more about his personal issues and lasting trauma from an event long ago.Several months after her 16th birthday, Shima and Riku are suddenly ambushed by several of Topaz’s Maligo Army underlings, and are separated. Shima ends up washing ashore on the beach of Amethyst Town, frightened beyond belief because she’s never wandered further than the borders of her own home, and because she has no idea if Riku’s okay or not. Luckily, Amethyst Town local Fyonn steps in and helps her get back on her feet (literally), exposes her to the culture of the town, and offers her a temporary place to stay while she recovers from the shock. After a while though he begins to grow attached to her and offers her a place at the Amethystus Guild—a facility designed for exploring, rescuing others, fighting outlaws, retrieving items, and countless other miscellaneous missions! Completely starstruck by this new world she’s stumbled into, Shima agrees to join him and form a guild team named Team Star along with his childhood friends Colin and Celeste in order to find out more about what she’s been missing all her life, become stronger, and possibly attempt to start searching for Riku.After adapting to her new life and learning about pretty much everything she wasn’t exposed to as a child, Riku finally finds her and they are together again at last!! After a tearful reunion, Shima explains all that she’s learned and how much she’s grown just by being able to take part in society. Riku admits he’s proud of her and he’s glad she was able to make it on her own. However, he brings up the subject of the Maligo Army, and is eventually forced to reveal their target: himself, and the rest of the Rulers. After explaining to Shima that Riku himself is a Ruler, and that she is also one of the chosen Rulers along with her new friends who were all drawn together by fate, they decide to put all their focus into honing their elemental powers, stopping the Maligo Army’s reign of madness, and doing all they can to locate the remaining Rulers.The biggest secret about Shima’s past and her entire existence revolves around another Ruler named Shizu—who was the original Ruler of the Stars around 1000 years ago, who took part in Lord Arkeun’s grand competition and was slain in the elemental massacre. He looks like a carbon copy of Shima—and that’s because he is her. Rather, he’s Shima in a past life! Along with that revelation, Shima finds out that Riku was involved in the grand competition as well, and that he was the first Ruler to be crowned all those years ago. She discovers that Shizu was a first generation Ruler, and that he was Riku’s best friend before he was killed in the massacre. Occasionally, he appears to Shima in her dreams or when she’s involved in a dangerous fight and gives her valuable strength and advice. Shima is beyond shocked when she discovers that she’s the reincarnation of Shizu, and doesn’t speak to Riku for days after that, since he’d known the entire time and hadn’t spoken a word about it to her. Everything suddenly seems to make sense—the real reason why Riku took her in, why he’s so paranoid about her safety, and why he treasures her so deeply. Because Shizu’s been given a second chance to live as her, and Riku’s gonna fight with all he’s got to make sure Shizu gets to live the life he was supposed to. Eventually Shima is able to forgive Riku for keeping it a secret for so long, and they realize their already developed feelings for each other! Shima realizes why she’d felt so upset about her connection to Shizu, because she was terrified that Riku only saw her as Shizu and not as her own person. Their regular friendly habits suddenly feel much more romantic as time passes, and the rest of Team Star keeps rolling their eyes at how stupid they are lmaoAs Team Star grows and as they go on more adventures, they start to get more involved with the Great War conflict, and eventually begin to have regular battles with Topaz’s top generals. The closer they get into the tangled web of conspiracies, the more dangerous things get…! And when they finally come face to face with Topaz for the first time, Shima and Riku realize that everything they’d known up until that point had all been a lie.
Personality Traits
✦ Kind and caring, she has a compassionate heart and a deep empathy for others
✦ She’s always willing to see the good in people and give them a second chance
✦ Always helps others when she’s able to
✦ A bit impulsive and rash, she has a habit of rushing into things before thinking them through
✦ Despite her previous life of seclusion, she’s very adaptable and ready to jump into new adventures. She lives for exploring the world and learning something new!
✦ Endlessly determined and free-spirited, it’s hard to get her to give up on something…she’s also very stubborn in this aspect.
✦ She beats herself up over her failures often and lets things go to her head
✦ She holds grudges. It’s hard for her to let them go
✦ Because of her secluded childhood, she’s often immature and insensitive to others
✦ A great leader and someone willing to take charge. People usually go to her for advice, even if she isn’t necessarily a pro at giving it. She’s honest and straightforward with her advice, which others appreciate
✦ Ridiculously clever and perceptive, she’s able to pick up on things others might not get right away
✦ Anxious and impatient at times. She’s also greatly self conscious with things she isn’t sure about
✦ Willing to learn from her mistakes and grow as a person
RIKU PROMETHERA
Age: ??? (+1000 technically, ~19 actually)
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Black
Element: Land
Birthday: July 21st, Cancer
Shima’s best friend and guardian! He was the one to find her on the island, name her, and shelter her with Pax for many years. He’s very fond of her and cares about her very much, to a degree that he’s extremely overprotective of her and paranoid about her getting hurt. However he eventually comes to recognize and respect her strength and leadership, and is more than happy to step down from his previous leader position to let her take the reigns.As mentioned above, Riku was the first Ruler to ever be created by Lord Arkeun for the competition—and, subsequently, was the first one to “win” the competition and gain his Ruler status, giving him some pretty special gifts and privileges. During the competition he sort of unconsciously filled in that leadership role, making him the go-to guy for all of his other teammates and fellow Rulers regarding important decisions and their plans for the future. Sadly not long after Riku and the others were granted their Ruler statuses the majority of them lost their lives during the war against the humans. Riku was the only one to escape, being drawn away from the larger conflicts by his biggest enemies, which ended up saving his life. However the toll was too great and after seeing Shizu get killed right in front of him, he collapsed into a state of total agony and grief and lost control of his powers, killing many people (villains and innocents alike) in the process. Unable to deal with the guilt and suffering of his friends’ death, Riku sealed himself away into a deep sleep for a thousand years, and allowed his powers to sink into the land and cultivate it while he was unconscious. Due to this, everyone thought that all of the original Rulers had perished, including him, which reduced them to nothing but a legend.When Riku awoke a millenia later, he immediately set out to see what had changed during his time away. This is when he meets Pax for the first time, and rescues him from a bad situation. Pax comes to respect Riku despite his young age, and tells him that he owes him a favor for Riku’s rescue. Riku continues on his journey and eventually discovers Shima on the island. When Riku realizes that Shizu had been reincarnated into Shima, he sees it as nothing short of a miracle and vows that he’ll protect her with his life. He believes that keeping her away from society is the best choice, and that once she is strong enough he’ll be confident enough to let them both venture back out into the world…but at this point, he barely knows how to take care of himself having only been “conscious” for a few years at most, and since Shima is close to him in age, he honestly isn’t sure if he’s the best person to raise her, as he’s still practically a child himself. This is when he calls in Pax to repay his debt, which Pax laughs and says “This is a bit much for an owed favor, don’t you think?” but he does it anyway because Shima and Riku are both baby and Pax isn’t cruel enough to force them to try and make it on their own.Pax and Riku do know about each other’s secrets, with Riku’s Ruler status and Pax being…well, that’s still a secret. ;) But Pax actually keeps Riku in the loop about the war situation, and often leaves on long trips to investigate and take care of personal business. When Pax says he has to leave, Riku immediately understands and thanks him for everything he’d done for him and Shima. After Pax leaves, Riku loses the strong sense of security Pax’s presence has brought about, and has a hard time dealing with the trauma he went through. PTSD is a bitch especially if you’re Riku and decided to yeet into a coma to run away from your problems. Despite Riku being very tight-lipped about why he’s having bad nightmares and is constantly on edge, Shima’s there for him throughout it all and does her best to comfort him, and Riku comes to treasure her even more for that. Of course, all of this is ruined when Topaz’s minions show up and he’s separated from Shima, and he begins his desperate search to find her, knowing that she could be a potential target (even tho she hasn’t received her Ruler status yet).During this search Riku is pretty set on finding her, enough so that he unintentionally acts cold and rude to people he comes across. Throughout his journey he wears nothing but black, which gives him a sort of intimidating feel, and people approach him often to battle. Soon enough he gains an unbeatable winning streak and word spreads of his abilities—people begin to call him the “Black Comet” because of his cloak and the unbelievable speed he has when he fights (he doesn’t even use his elemental powers most of the time, preferring to use his weapon, a scythe, instead). Baby builds a reputation!After reuniting with Shima, Riku is visited by Lord Arkeun in his dreams, and the god tells him of the Rulers’ second coming. Riku is gifted with a prophecy regarding the Rulers’ rebirth, starting with him and Shima, and Riku realizes that the rest of Shima’s friends were drawn to her by fate, and are also chosen to be Rulers. That sets off one of the big quests in the story—everyone banding together to locate the rest of the Rulers and complete this prophecy!Riku does physically age like the rest of the Rulers do, but this can always be stopped so he can have an eternal youthful appearance if he so wishes. Due to the fact that he was created, not born, he physically popped into existence as a young teen, but he’s only actually “existed” for about 17-18 years. His Ruler power is land, but since he was the first one to win the competition, he gets special privileges outside of that! He can temporarily borrow other Ruler’s powers and cancel them out, making him quite the terrifying foe.Riku is a very kind-hearted person by nature, and it’s pretty difficult to piss him off since he has a very mild personality. He’s supportive of Shima in whatever she does, and is fond of the rest of Team Star. He’s still a bit reluctant to be in the outside world after living in seclusion for so long, but he’s grateful for the opportunity and eventually warms up to the idea. Despite not being part of society in ages, Riku is scarily intelligent, knowing a lot about the history of the world and the important figures in the elemental hierarchy. He’s one of the most experienced fighters on the team and uses techniques from ancient times as part of his fighting style. He and Shima are extremely close, so much so that it unsettles the rest of the team lol;; They know each other so intimately that it’s almost a bit terrifying. He and Shima will just do things together that the rest of the team are shocked at, like sleeping in the same bed (they’ve done that since Shima was a kid, whenever either of them had nightmares). It’s weird to everyone else but for them it’s totally natural! They’re able to read each other like open books so when Shima finds out about Riku’s past and her connection to Shizu she becomes very upset with him.Riku was in love with Shizu once upon a time, so of course as Shima grows up Riku isn’t really sure what to think of his relationship with her. He isn’t willing to let go of his best friend yet, and feels guilty for loving Shima the same way he loved Shizu. However, eventually he comes to accept that they aren’t the same person, Shima is herself and Shizu is Shizu. After he’s able to sort out his feelings and come to the realization that yes, he can love more than one person, and it’s okay for him to love Shima as he once did Shizu, he’s finally able to let go of Shizu/come to terms with his death and follow his heart!
CELESTE MYLLID
Age: 16
Hair Color: Pink
Eye Color: Pink
Element: Time
Birthday: April 22nd, Taurus
Shima’s closest female friend, and the Ruler of Time! Celeste has a lot of spunk, especially for someone so small. She doesn’t take shit from anyone, especially people who think she just relies on her boys (Fyonn and Colin) to always come save her. Nope, she can take care of herself perfectly fine! And she revels in the fact that she’s adorable and cute and can easily charm anyone. She’s very excitable and is pretty much up to any sort of task she’s given, showing that she’s a very determined and take-charge sort of person. Her and Shima had a bit of a rocky start because Celeste thought Shima was trying to con her friends (especially Fyonn), but she eventually comes to trust her and become really close with her!Celeste has a massive crush on Fyonn, and trust me it is obvious. Everyone around her is well aware—besides Fyonn himself, unfortunately. However Celeste is very patient and doesn’t mind waiting for him to realize. She adores him and is constantly inspired by him! But a years-long crush definitely takes its toll sometimes, and she becomes a bit hopeless waiting for Fyonn to figure it out. She’s extremely brave, but confronting Fyonn about her feelings is the one thing she’s terrified of. On top of this, she gets jealous super easily, and is prone to lashing out at anyone who tries to get close to him;;As a child she lived with her parents, who were extremely rich. She used to talk to Fyonn through her garden fence. She still shows signs of her heritage in that she can be a little snooty, but she’s got good intentions and is definitely a person you can count on! She’s also a major fashionista and loves the color pink. Team Star goes to her for all of their outfits, since she can also make clothes like a pro.Being the Ruler of Time, she can control time at will, time travel, change history by editing the past, erase certain memories, and stop time. Of course there are limits to her power (as there is with the rest of them). But since she has the ability to mess with time, after their enormous journey is over, Celeste is able to tamper with the ages of her friends, allowing them to stop aging if they so wish.
NOZOMI MIZURIS
Age: 18
Hair Color: Blonde (with teal highlights)
Eye Color: Aquamarine
Element: Water
Birthday: May 25th, Gemini
Meet Nozomi! AKA Team Star’s sweetest member. There’s not a bad bone in her body. The resemblance between her and Colin are pretty obvious, since they have the same mother. Despite the fact that Colin is taller than her and looks older, Nozomi is actually the older sibling. Colin was born about a year after Nozomi was. However, their mother left her first husband and had another child (Colin) with her second. Colin and Nozomi didn’t actually find out about each other until they were much older. Even so, Nozomi treasures her half-brother and she sorta coddles him (the rest of the team are unable to do so because it makes Colin angry lol). They get along really well despite their parents’ strained history. They’re equally as overprotective of each other. Nozomi takes pride in being the older of the two and she hangs this over Colin’s head all the time!When Nozomi’s mother left her and her father, her father fell into despair. Nozomi practically had to raise herself. She was forced into doing extra work and built defensive walls around herself. She was pretty much a distrustful teenager who lashed out at everybody. Eventually, she faced her father and told him her true feelings before leaving to make it on her own. Which leads to her current and much nicer personality/exterior! She’s come to embrace her true nature and vowed from that day on to never be like her father and treat people unkindly or badly. So, she’s willing to see the good in everyone—including Dusk, who was originally working under Topaz. While Colin was unwilling to give Dusk a chance, Nozomi could see past his rough exterior and could tell that he was sorta stuck in that position with no way out. She’s very perceptive when it comes to emotions and can sorta tell what goes on between everyone in the team (so, whenever something important relationship-wise happens, they all jokingly say “Don’t give hints to Nozomi” since she figures that stuff out super quick lol).Nozomi is a brilliant cook! It’s her main sorta hobby and she really enjoys doing it. She’s always searching for new ingredients and with Colin’s help, plants her own garden and tends to all the different things she can put into her meals later on! The entire team loves her cooking and always look forward to her meals because they’re super tasty.Nozomi is the Ruler of Water, meaning she can control water at will and shape it the way she wants, creating a broad range of uses and attacks. She can go large-scale and create tsunamis or swift water currents to wash her opponents away. She’s also capable of creating large water domes to trap her enemies in and render them unmovable. Another skill allows her to manipulate water inside of it, so she can breathe underwater if she likes! Despite her gentle exterior she is a fierce fighter, so don’t underestimate her abilities!
DUSK TENEBRIM
Age: 18
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Dark Blue
Element: Darkness
Birthday: September 7th, Virgo
Previously one of Topaz’s underlings, Dusk was sent after Riku to confirm rumors about his Ruler status at the beginning of Shima’s story in ATS. He did not join Topaz’s Maligo Army voluntarily; it was something he had no choice in because he didn’t have anywhere else to go. Begrudgingly carrying out the duties his higher ups give him, Dusk targeted Riku and Shima, causing them to be separated.Eventually, after many fights and encounters with Team Star, Dusk is forced to see the error of his ways thanks to Nozomi. Since she’s such a kindhearted individual she managed to slap some sense into him and make him switch sides, so now he’s a part of Shima’s team! Dusk developed feelings for her after seeing that she still cared for him despite him being her enemy. After switching sides Dusk comes to terms with his huge crush on Nozomi and it’s the most adorable case of puppy love in the universe, bless his heart. This is also part of the reason why Colin dislikes him so much, since he has his sights set on his sister! Another reason why he always gets into fights with Colin is that Colin has a hard time trusting him after all he’s done. The others are more forgiving so they don’t bother him about it as much as Colin does. That and when they encountered in battle most often than not it was Colin VS Dusk, so they have a good reason to dislike each other lolWhen he worked for Topaz, Dusk didn’t have any glasses! He actually received a severe head injury that ruined his sight after returning from an unsuccessful attempt to capture Shima and her friends to study them and possibly absorb their powers. After switching sides, Nozomi notices how he squints and sometimes bumps into things. She suggests he gets glasses, to which he’s embarrassed but grateful for.Despite his strict exterior and no-nonsense persona, Dusk is actually a huge nerd underneath all that. He’s a huge bookworm and loves to read. He soaks up knowledge like a sponge, earning him the honor of being Team Star’s smartest member! Usually when he isn’t seen fighting with Colin or following Nozomi around he’ll be reading. During these times Nozomi has to act like a mom by making sure he eats and sleeps because he’ll get so engrossed he forgets to take care of himself. Dusk actually has a very gentle personality, and he enjoys the intellectual challenge of bickering with Colin. He cares for his teammates deeply (especially Jonni, who’s been with him through everything) but he isn’t afraid to point out their flaws or suggest certain things to change situations when they aren’t going well. Dusk is quite good at studying battle techniques as well, so he usually has something to say regarding his opponent and is very flexible and adaptable in a fight. The rest of the team usually come to him when they need particular battle advice.Dusk is the Ruler of Darkness, meaning he can manipulate darkness at will, control shadows, use shadows as a weapon, and enshroud places in complete darkness. He can also animate people’s shadows and use it against them, and slip into/totally disappear into a shadow and move around intangibly! Even though his vision isn’t that great he can actually see better in the dark than he can in the light, and can sense things around him easier when it’s nighttime. Despite his dark past, he’s an awesome teammate and friend.
ELIAS
Age: 19
Hair Color: White
Eye Color: Purple
Element: None
Birthday: March 17th, Pisces
Elias is your friendly neighborhood mechanic, inventor and tinkerer! He’s the go-to guy for fixing anything broken. He has a fascination with robotics and magic engines, and is always seen fiddling with something, either a new invention or his own arm.He was found as a baby and taken into a guild known as Spinelrose. Elias grew up with his caretaker Ignis, who’s also an inventor, so he was surrounded with machinery and engines all the time. He fell in love with tinkering and experimenting, and now he’s the guild’s official mechanic! Elias aspires to be just like the legendary inventor and sorcerer Elymas. Elymas created hundreds if not thousands of inventions back in the day that are still being used now, by combining his talents of inventing and elemental magic (this is a very very hard thing to accomplish). He’s a freaking genius, and Elias adores his work.Elias has to put up with the constant flirting and affections of newcomer guild member Gifre–and it isn’t easy, since Gifre is a charmer! But eventually they do become very close, and Elias ends up getting caught in a confrontation from the underground crime organization Gifre secretly works for–Python’s Blood. In the process Elias loses his arm and discovers that he’s an invention created by Elymas. So…it’s an inbetween sort of thing, and a bit hard to explain, but he functions just like a human and acts like a human, so nobody was ever able to tell the difference. Python’s Blood wants to take a sample of Elias and use it to create their own artificial humans, so they cut off his arm as the sample, and that’s how he loses his arm.Later on, Gifre goes on a journey of self-discovery after breaking ties with Python’s Blood, leaving Elias alone. During his year away Elias creates a robot called Gifre-bot, Gi-bot for short. Eventually Gi-bot begins to sense Elias’ attachment to him and realizes it stems from his feelings for Gifre, so he tries to act upon these feelings (basically he surprise kisses Elias!) Elias lets him for the first couple seconds but then he totally flips out. (Keep in mind, Gi-bot is a fully functioning AI who is sentient and can make his own decisions outside of his core programming! So he can feel human emotions like love and jealousy and all that. Also, Elias isn’t entirely human either–remember he was created by Elymas. So we have like…two-half robots here.) Elias explains to him the whole thing between him and Gifre, and he thanks Gi-bot for trying to fill the gap inside him that Gifre’s absence left. They don’t get into a relationship of course, though they would be capable of that–Gi-bot just becomes an extremely close friend that Elias can rely on. (They cuddle together a lot, Gi-bot has an internal heating system so he’s always really warm.)At the very end of his story arc, Elias creates another robot called Eli-bot for Gi-bot to be with. After a crazy adventure in another world known as the Mirrorplane, Elias and Gifre start dating and they live together at the guild, working on inventions and having a merry life together.
GIFRE
Age: 22
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Greenish-yellow
Element: Space
Birthday: February 10th, Aquarius
Meet Gifre! He’s a space elemental capable of shapeshifting, but the only thing he can change is his right hand. He usually transforms his fingers into giant claws that he uses to slash enemies. He can also portal jump in order to escape from any sticky situations he gets himself into. He actually works for an underground crime organization known as Python’s Blood and was ordered to infiltrate Spinelrose (but that plan horribly backfires when he starts crushing hard on Elias lolol).He goes through several changes in his story arc, from hunting down members of Python’s Blood during his year away from home, to traversing a parallel world known as the Mirrorplane to rescue Elias and ends up becoming horribly injured–so much so that he loses the ability to speak. Thankfully Elias crafts him a special machine that attaches to his throat that connects directly to his brain, allowing his thoughts to be projected through it!
JASPER
Age: 22
Hair color: Gray
Eye color: Pale blue (He’s blind)
Element: Sky
Birthday: December 29th, Capricorn
Jasper’s been blind ever since he was born. Originally he was born as a non-elemental with no powers, but miraculously he was granted the powers of sky by someone several months after he was born (and keep in mind that only all-powerful beings can grant other people elemental powers–not even Rulers are capable of this).Jasper grew up honing his abilities and using them to help with his blindness. It’s a lot easier now that he lives at the guild and knows his way around really well. It’s easier for him to avoid bumping into living beings than inanimate objects, since people move and shift and he can detect how they move by sensing air currents!Jasper is…well, he’s really sarcastic and sassy and sort of an asshole, lol, and while he pretends that he isn’t sensitive about his impaired sight he really is. Let’s just say he gets ticked off when people make fun of his blindness, especially if they say he’s useless and can’t do anything without help. That is what really pisses him off. So he gets into spats often with people who don’t understand his point of view. But he’s proven himself many many times in a fight, so the guild doesn’t really worry about him since he is very capable of kicking ass when he needs to.Jasper keeps to himself most of the time, but he’s the type of person to attract attention so there are always curious people following him around and asking questions. Misto, one of the other guild members, has a younger sister named Mouna, and she is the sweetest person in the whole guild, and also the only person who Jasper is able to open up to and be himself around and not be guarded or anything. They get along really well!
NEX
Age: 19
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Blue
Element: Darkness
Birthday: June 14th, Gemini
Nex is a darkness elemental! He’s always been very frail and sickly for the majority of his life. His mother died giving birth to him and his name itself means “death”, so he was pretty isolated and alone as a child since nobody wanted to go near him.The other guy there is Ebony!! He happened to stumble upon Nex when he was getting bullied really badly one day, and after scaring off the bullies they had an amazing connection and Ebony ended up becoming attached to Nex’s soul! This greatly enhanced Nex’s darkness powers, so Nex has the ability to use shadows as a weapon, and Ebony usually protects and fights with him during battles.Nex decided to name him Ebony, and he actually really likes the name. They’re not really able to be too far apart from each other otherwise their souls start to corrupt and basically make them feel agonizing pain. At first Nex wanted nothing to do with Ebony but after the realization that they are literally stuck together, he got used to him and eventually becomes super fond of him. They’ve been together since Nex’s childhood, a very long time!
KIYO
Age: 29
Hair color: Green
Eye color: Brown
Element: Stars
Kiyo, the Guildmaster of the Asterstone Guild! He only took up the position recently and has had the Guildmaster title for about a year and a half. He was the previous record holder for youngest Guildmaster until that title was stolen by Taku. (Kiyo holds a grudge about it but it’s playful.)Kiyo, just like lots of other characters in ATS, was taken in by the Asterstone Guild at a young age. He’s similar to Shima in that he has no previous memories before showing up outside the guild one day, battered and bruised. (That marks three characters in this series with amnesia now! Wrow) He grew up under the watchful eye and tutelage of the previous Guildmaster, and because of how attached to him she’d gotten, it wasn’t long before he began to express desires to take over the guild once she retired. After a lot of thought and contemplation she eventually handed over the position to him. This initially resulted in a lot of outrage from the guild members because they did not think Kiyo was suited to be the Guildmaster, but he eventually proved them wrong once he stepped up to the plate and showed them he could act like a true leader!They did have good reason to be nervous about that, though, as Kiyo is normally a very laid-back and carefree person and is strictly non-violent. This has lead into lots of situations where he’s opted out of fighting, leading his guildmates into lots of trouble when they needed a hand, and they labeled him as both a coward for avoiding necessary battles on missions (which is practically a requirement for a guild member going out on dangerous quests, you sort of have to have a battle prowess to take on any foes) and lazy for not participating when he should. Initially this bothered Kiyo a great deal, but the previous guildmaster assured him that not everybody is suited for battling others, and that he can still pave his own way to success in a non-violent manner. While Kiyo may not have a liking for fighting, he has an extremely smooth tongue and is very capable of talking himself out of sticky situations (mostly by bribing. He is VERY good at that lmao). He has a talent for manipulating others into doing what he wants them to, though he rarely uses this on people he considers friends. When Kiyo’s able to complete a mission and win the day without resorting to using their elemental powers in a fight, his guild members have to stop and think for a second like. Hold on. He just did that so easily, he made it look so simple, we really need to stop underestimating him and calling him totally useless (Kiyo: Hey. HEY).Kiyo’s pretty close to all of his guildmates despite their constant ribbing—the one person he’s close to that adores him completely is Lacie, because he was the person to bring her into the guild (she was around 10, he was 17), and being the first person to genuinely show her kindness that wasn’t for ulterior motives, Lacie became very attached to him. Kiyo acts like an older brother to her, and Lacie supports him in whatever he does. She was thrilled when he took on the Guildmaster position, and he has a very soft spot for her :’) She always sings his praises to anybody outside who will listen, and gets angry at Emrys the one time he called Kiyo incompetent.After becoming the guildmaster, Kiyo actually does a good job at taking charge despite the general opinions that he wouldn’t. He’s still very casual about it though and is a bit more flexible with how the guild is run, preferring to let the guild members do things their own way and be less strict about the overall rules. He’s basically got the “Do whatever you want!” and “Just wing it!” outlook, and while a lot of the members don’t like this attitude, a lot of them do. At the end of the day they all do respect him, though! While he isn’t a fighter he’s very good at giving orders and keeping things in check around Asterstone lolDespite Kiyo’s insistence on staying out of battles, he’s actually an extremely skilled fighter, and is probably the strongest and most dangerous person in the entire guild. The issue with this, though, is that whenever he gets into a fight, he tends to get too “serious” and starts going off the walls, treating the battle as a game and something fun and entertaining. This leads into him not knowing when to stop, and nobody else being able to stop him, so he’s seriously injured other people without meaning to—revealing that he’s actually terrified of violence because he loses himself in it, and why he prefers to stay on the sidelines. It’s only when Kiyo gets really serious in battles that a darker side comes out, and where the star mark in his eye appears. It’s only been seen a few rare times throughout his life at the guild, so nobody really thinks much of it or notices it. It’s only after the star mark appears that Kiyo passes out afterwards, having exerted a lot of power and extremely skilled battle prowess nobody has ever seen before. However, after a grand guild tournament where Kiyo faces off against Taku and gets too into it, revealing his star mark and almost slicing Taku’s head clean off, one of Kiyo’s advisors at the guild starts to look into it out of concern for both Kiyo’s safety and that of others.In the middle of all this mess, Kiyo meets Toru, and after nearly forcing him to join Asterstone, the two start growing closer 👀 Toru joins the squad of not putting up with Kiyo’s bullshit, but that’s only after he gets over his starstruck fanboy phase. Because Toru is newer to the guild and because he’s a non-elemental not suited for fighting, Kiyo instantly becomes attached to him, finding similarities in their preferences and backgrounds. While Toru does think Kiyo’s an idiot sometimes he treats him very kindly, and is usually the first to defend him when the other members playfully tease him, so Kiyo’s just like you are an angel sent from heaven just for me and I adore you. Still though with Toru being a non-elemental Kiyo stresses about his safety CONSTANTLY, even after Toru gets official training in self defense. If Toru’s in danger Kiyo will blow off literally everything else to go rescue him first, which the other members have to get used to as it happens more often than they’d like akdasbmladsLater down the line the guild is caught up in something terrible, and find themselves being targeted by a descendant of a great inventor and sorcerer (not Elymas this time tho lol). She’s apparently seeking what’s known as the Velle Nova, and has reason to believe Asterstone is in possession of it. After Kiyo’s forced to fight and unleashes the power behind his star mark, the descendant reveals that Kiyo has the Velle Nova, and then the truth finally comes out…Kiyo remembers everything about his past. Years ago, his town had been caught up in a great disaster, and he was the only survivor. He was forcibly taken in by several scientists, one of them being the ancestor of the girl descendant. They were attempting to recreate the Velle Nova, one of the great sorcerer Elymas’ inventions, which is said to grant any sort of wish imaginable. They wanted to claim that power for themselves and possess the powers of the universe itself. However every attempt had failed, and without the real Velle Nova they couldn’t achieve what they were after. So they decided to pour all of their research into Kiyo instead, and try to create the weapon inside of a human being. This ended up making a twisted, broken version of what should have been the Velle Nova. But Kiyo couldn’t contain its power—it was going to unravel the universe itself and either destroy everything or alter it tragically into something unimaginable. One of the scientists working with the group realized how awful their experiment was and, being a Time elemental, decided to erase Kiyo’s memories (with some help) and send him centuries into the future so that the rest of the group couldn’t get their hands on him. Hence Kiyo winding up outside of Asterstone with no memories, and the truth behind his star mark. It had been granting Kiyo his wish the whole time—the longing to protect the things he cares about by being able to defeat any threat in his way. Of course with the unstable power that he can’t control, it usually leads into disaster;;Kiyo, now having recovered his memories, realizes that the same thing is going to happen again, and decides to seal himself off to protect Asterstone and the world before the universe unravels. Cue an epic PMD-esque goodbye scene where he bids farewell to Toru, gives him his trademark scarf, and vanishes, escaping into a dimension between time and space where his power can be contained. Starts playing I Don’t Want To Say GoodbyeToru, absolutely devastated by Kiyo’s farewell, decides he’s going to break time and space to save his man, except there’s one small issue…nobody else remembers that Kiyo even existed, and Toru only managed to by some miracle (and also maybe bc Kiyo handed him his scarf idk some magic soul connection thing). But after a while…a long while, maybe like a year or more…they finally unlock the key to finding Kiyo!!Toru and Kiyo share a tearful reunion, and Kiyo cries a lot because it had been so lonely sitting in that black hole all by himself for so long. Toru begs Kiyo to come back, and suggests that Kiyo separate himself from the Vella Nova in order to live a normal life, but Kiyo informs him that he and the Vella Nova…are the same. They’re the same combined entity! Kiyo says that if he tries to unfuse, he’ll just end up destroying himself, because there’s nothing to separate, being one singular existence. So Toru points out uh hey since you’re the same thing, don’t you get a say on how your power is used? “It’s your power, Kiyo” yes we’re referencing Tododeku here we goKiyo’s like hmm uh yeah I guess you have a point;; so we went through all that for nothing huh. And Toru tells him you’re a fucking moron and Kiyo’s like ahh yes but you loved this moron enough to come rescue him from the void ;) And they kinda sorta confess but not really? Kiyo’s too nervous and Toru’s too distracted trying to figure out how to get them out of there but no worries they sort it out later. Kiyo tells him that hey I’m still dangerous and I could lose control at any given moment and Toru’s just like well I guess we’ll just have to stop you and bring you back to yourself. So with the knowledge that he’s got a whole guild of awesome people backing him up and a boy who broke the laws of the universe to save his ass, Kiyo and Toru escape the rift and finally return home together 💕 And that’s pretty much how their arc ends!
Personality Traits
✦ He has a really short attention span so this makes things painfully hard on mission briefings, which leads to Kiyo usually screwing up the mission one way or another
✦ He often charges ahead without thinking and is the first one to become a target in a bad situation. Nobody really feels bad for him though because most of the time it’s his fault for walking right into it LMAO
✦ He can be very childish sometimes and most of the time he does it on purpose. His guildmates complain that their leader is a whiny, immature brat
✦ He is an expert on how to annoy people do not test him oh my god
✦ He can be incredibly selfish;; He’s gotten better with it during recent years, but he got scorned for it a lot when he was younger. He’s also very emotional, and you can read what he’s thinking like an open book! When his friends can’t read him that’s when they start getting worried.
✦ He has no experience in romance whatsoever and it’s the one (1) thing that can get him flustered. Nobody at the guild has ever seen Kiyo get mildly embarrassed or caught off guard, so they begin to think it’s impossible to make him blush. Then Toru shows up and ruins everything lmao
✦ He has a great sense of humor and can always make others laugh! He’s also very mischievous and sometimes plays pranks on other members of his guild.
✦ He’s very stubborn when he wants something and not in a good way. He also pouts a lot when he gets like this
✦ He loves his guild and his guild members man :’( If any of them are ever in any real danger he’s quick to offer himself up first as a target. He’s protective of his friends and will do anything to keep them safe!
✦ A very very affectionate person. He mostly shows this through physical acts like hugging and generally touching other people. In return he also craves affection and gets very soft when it’s given back to him. I’d probably say he’s a little touch starved despite being in close contact with others all the time lol
EMRYS
(Or Em for short)
Age: 23
Hair color: Golden orange
Eye color: Red
Element: Lightning
Emrys is from the Mirrorplane, the parallel world to ATS. His kingdom is caught in a huge power struggle between all the other kingdoms, and Emrys’ mother, a queen who only seeks power from others, is leading them straight into ruin. Emrys is destined to receive the Crest of the Crowned, which is basically a huge emblem of power, as soon as he’s officially crowned as the king. Except that the queen plans to utilize the emblem’s power to start a grand war, which. Is not good!! The night Emrys finds this out, he plans to escape the kingdom along with his childhood best friend Lixin, a regular human who’s basically being used as a pawn to be married off to Emrys’ younger sister in order to create powerful elemental children. Yikes! Emrys is also engaged to a princess from another kingdom, but it’s an arranged marriage, and he doesn’t have feelings for her (so there’s another good reason for him to leave). Lixin is caught during his escape, and Emrys leaps to his rescue, but in the scuffle things get tense and he accidentally kills the guards sent after them. Hands stained with blood, Emrys stumbles into a portal leading to the other side of the Mirrorplane.Emrys decides that he might as well stay there since he doesn’t know how to get home and he probably shouldn’t go home–he’ll be safer here, and this way his mother can’t use him to start a war. This goes alright for a couple months as he adapts to a world that isn’t constantly fighting with each other, until he realizes that his mother somehow sent people to come look for him and capture him so he can be dragged back home. He also hears word that Lixin is in this world as well. Emrys goes on the run, never sticking around one place for long, and tries to search for Lixin along the way. This is when he meets Lacie!If it weren’t obvious by now Emrys is a loner and therefore hates guilds and being associated with them. So naturally, after running into Lacie, he treats her with a lot of attitude and snark, which she retaliates against. After Lacie helps him chase off a couple thugs that he stole stolen goods back from (not the people actually chasing him), she somehow coerces him into the guild for a couple days, and he’s unsettled yet warmed by the friendly atmosphere. Emrys eventually admits he has to stick around town for a while to make some money, so Lacie offers to help him out by going out on official guild missions. Emrys is like I don’t need or want your help and she’s like alright fine then try making money on your own, guild missions pay WAY better and you can’t do one without an official member escort. So he’s like. Jesus fine okay I’ll go on the damn mission with you LOLThey go on a couple missions together and start getting close. Emrys is like oh no this is not what I want so he panics and tries to leave town, but Lacie catches up to him and yells him for leaving without saying anything. Unfortunately during this whole mess the trackers sent to follow Emrys find out where he’s hiding. He and Lacie go out on one last goodbye mission together and they get ambushed. They’re horribly outnumbered and even when Emrys resorts to actually fighting his hardest, Lacie gets terribly injured. Emrys manages to fight off the attackers, getting his hair cut off shorter in the process (which is why it’s shorter and in a cute little half bun in the second pic), but Lacie’s losing so much blood at this point–so he stumbles into the closest building in the closest town and GUESS WHO’S IT IS.YEAH. IT’S THE ROBO FAM!! (Take note that this is like, 2-3 years after they return from the Mirrorplane themselves, so they’re around 25 at this point.)Elias and Gifre are enjoying a nice evening prosthetic check date when Emrys stumbles into the mechanic shop, covered in Lacie’s blood, and begs for help before passing out. Both of them go OH SHIT and immediately leap to the rescue. As Elias, Gi-bot, Ava and Ignis (who were called in) work on patching up Lacie’s wounds, Elias realizes that her arm is too far gone to be saved. And this is kind of a sad moment for him since you know. He also lost his arm. So he can relate. Ava’s like you’ll just have to make her the best goddamn prosthetic in the world then and he’s like alright yeah, so they have to remove Lacie’s left arm and it’s. Not pretty.Emrys wakes up several hours later to find that Gifre treated his wounds. When he asks where Lacie is and Gifre shows him, he immediately breaks down, because she got hurt SO badly because of him and this is why he didn’t want to get close to her in the first place. He laments over dragging her into his mess, and Gifre gives him a nice long Pep Talk, coming from a similar situation with dragging Elias into his personal issues with Python’s Blood. It helps a little, but Gifre can tell Em’s gonna be blaming himself for this for a WHILE (hence the guilt complex comment).As Lacie recovers and gets used to her new prosthetic (and keeps smacking Emrys whenever he looks guilty about it), the two of them become closer despite Emrys’ attempts not to–but Lacie is stubborn and refuses to let him distance himself. They also get really close and bond a lot with the robo fam, having bunked with them for a while. The main part of the story is just these domesticity moments with the robo fam and their two new dysfunctional houseguests LOLEventually Emrys does find Lixin and decides to return to the Mirrorplane to sort things out with his mother, and that brings up a whole bunch of crazy drama, but the robo fam and Lacie come with him (and by that point he’s gone Full Tender and leans on them a lot for support so it’s NICE and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT), so things get sorted out one way or another. There is a point where he and Lacie have a huge fight because Lacie…finds out something about the Mirrorplane that she does not like, and it nearly shatters her entire relationship with Em, so that’s a big oof. But they get it all sorted out and it’s fine. The reason why their fight hurts even worse is because at this point they’re full on in love with each other but are both too awful at romance to actually say anything. They’re stupid and they can’t communicate and I love themYes they end up together because points at self I’m a hopeless romantic loser. Lacie becomes a princess of the Mirrorplane which is WEIRD as hell to her but she gets used to it. Also they actually don’t stay there, Emrys hands the kingdom over to his younger sister, who’s always been better at handling royal affairs, and comes back to the regular verse with Lacie to live with her there. They get a house in Spinel Town near the robo fam and LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER THE END
Personality Traits
✦ Has a hard time trusting people in general. Refuses to get close to people in fear of them getting hurt. Because he’s on the run and is a target he tries to keep to himself. A very lone wolf type. Doesn’t want other people to get dragged into his problems so he tries to handle everything alone
✦ Very quiet, observant, INCREDIBLY intelligent–gets really absorbed in books when given the chance. One of the few times his facade falls and he gets Soft and passionate is when he’s immersed in reading/studying. Loves absorbing knowledge from this world since it’s different from the Mirrorplane
✦ Makes scathing remarks often. Doesn’t get riled up even when people tempt him. Is able to keep a very cool head most of the time. When he does get angry he gets STUBBORN. Refuses to let people try to talk to him or calm him down. Brushes people off and ignores attempts at support
✦ You know that he trusts you when he teases you or pokes fun at you
✦ Very wary. Always keeps an eye out for an escape route
✦ Careful around people. Knows his strength so he tries not to hurt others
✦ Deep down tho he’s utterly selfless, unbelievably loyal to the people he cares about, and is a truly kind and generous person. He would sacrifice anything, even himself, to keep his friends safe, and beats himself up constantly if one of them gets hurt. Once he learns to open himself up to others he becomes Tender and is able to express himself easier. He’s truly a gentle person at heart
✦ Is awful at romance because he has no experience (even being engaged) and gets flustered easily when it comes to anything with romantic intent. This is like the one thing he has zero confidence in. Lacie usually has to take charge in this department because he’s too hesitant and nervous to figure anything out himself, so he tends to follow her lead, which sometimes leads to disaster but they figure things out one step at a time!
✦ Was attracted to Lacie immediately but didn’t want to get close to her bc he knew she’d get hurt because of him. WELP
✦ Develops a huge guilt complex after Lacie loses her arm
Elemental Abilities
Lightning elemental: Uses a thin sword/rapier to fight. Is VERY fast and agile. Usually starts by hitting pressure points and jolting them with electricity to numb the nerves. Doesn’t really like using his lightning directly so he tries to stick to the rapier as often as possibleHe’s not a huge fan of fighting so he’d rather avoid conflict if necessary (especially after he killed someone on accident before). However he should not be underestimated in battle–he’s been trained how to fight from a young age so he knows what he’s doing. He uses a lot of tactics and smarts to get himself out of sticky situations
LACIE
Age: 21
Hair color: Gray/silver
Eye color: Brown
Element: Metal
Lacie’s parents died when she was very young, so she was sent to an orphanage shortly after. Her parents were bandits, labeled as outlaws, so a lot of the kids teased her and ostracized her. This caused her to hold a grudge against both them and her parents, even though they’d only resorted to thievery to provide for her and themselves. There was, however, one person who reached out to her there–an older girl named Gwendolyn. Gwen was very standoffish and didn’t care what the other children thought of her. She was the first person to treat Lacie normally, so Lacie grew attached to her. However, Gwen used Lacie and treated her as a tool to do what she wanted, but Lacie, too terrified of losing the only ‘friend’ she had, never spoke up about it. Gwen did care about Lacie, and there was a genuine friendship there, but that was overshadowed of her tendency to manipulate Lacie.Gwen eventually hatched a plan to escape the orphanage and strike out on their own. Lacie agreed and together they snuck out in the middle of the night. (Sounds familiar? Wow, parallels!) The next day, Gwen tried to steal from a person in town, which ended up being a member of the guild nearby. Gwen managed to get to Lacie before getting caught and shoved the stolen items onto her, making her a target. Lacie realized how awful this was and finally gathered the courage to yell at Gwen. The guild member caught up, saw their interaction, and took Gwen in for questioning. He escorted Lacie to the guild, where she was pretty much adopted by the members.Lacie grew up with the guild and learned compassion and how to forgive her parents. As an adult she’s a very kind, friendly and confident person. She is still burdened by her past but she tries not to let it get to her.
Personality Traits
✦ Not the most polite person since she doesn’t really have a filter
✦ VERY curious. Somewhat naive. Asks a lot of bugging questions if she doesn’t know something
✦ Hot-headed and stubborn. Gets riled up easily, but can control herself when she’s angry. Argues a lot but isn’t fond of it
✦ In reality, a very kind person who cares for her friends and would do anything to protect her family. Spirited and determined
✦ Can be kind of silly, especially when she’s trying to cheer others up. Emrys finds her amusing and calls her a dork
✦ A leader type character…one that can take charge of the situation when everybody else is losing their heads
✦ Willing to step out of her comfort zone and dive into new adventures without hesitation. She lives for the thrill. Is spontaneous and willing to take risks/chances. Drags Emrys into her fun a lot bc he’s so sheltered as a prince lmao
✦ Self confident on the outside, insecure in reality (a lot of this comes from the emotional abuse she went through as a kid). But not enough that it’s crushing–just enough to make her second guess things sometimes, ESPECIALLY when it comes to Emrys because he’s a rubix cube of emotions and she’s always afraid of overstepping her boundaries–this is only when she finds out more about him tho. She doesn’t mind being an ass to him when they first met because he’s kind of a jerk so her first instinct is to lash out at him
✦ Isn’t necessarily a rule breaker until it’s brought up, and then she gets excited about doing daring things. Is almost too enthusiastic about it sometimes
Elemental Abilities
Metal elemental: Uses throwing knives infused with magic to fight. Being a metal elemental, she’s able to control their trajectory and can toss them around and have them zip right back to her like boomerangs. She mostly uses these to unbalance enemies and strike them hard enough that they get too dizzy to stand. After she loses her arm, she also utilizes the metal it’s made out of to temporarily transform it into usable weapons.
TORI
Age: 23
Hair color: Pink/orange
Eye color: Purple
Element: None
Tori, Asterstone's resident tactician and inventor! Normally she's a very outgoing, cheerful, and friendly person who is beloved by all of the guild. She gets along great with kids and is great at handling a room, no matter what the situation. She's brilliantly talented and smart, and is able to tame even the meanest of souls. However, underneath all that she's extremely depressed, and has almost no self-worth. She hides behind smiles and prioritizes everybody else's happiness over hers. She views herself as a very twisted person, and is scared to let anybody know the "real" her.Everything changes for her when Kiyo, the Asterstone Guildmaster, appoints Tori as a contact for the guild—so basically, it’s her job to go out and meet their client and get any important updates about what’s going on behind the scenes. This client turns out to be Mara, who was unwillingly roped into being an informant for the guild due to his many connections in the underground crime world.So yeah!! Tori is assigned to go meet Mara. She doesn’t know what to expect but when she meets him for the first time she just acts like her cheerful and bubbly self; this is very unusual for him and it really catches him off guard so he’s not sure at all how to feel about her. Mostly he’s just annoyed because she’s WAY too sunshiney for his liking, since he’s very used to all sorts of gruff and downright cruel people. Tori takes him to a local sweets shop to discuss the info he has and manages to win him over tho he’d never admit it :’D He’s got a secret sweet tooth so she got REALLY lucky in that regard!Eventually Tori starts to open up to Mara, which terrifies her because she doesn't want him to know what she's really like. However, despite everything, Mara fully accepts her, noting that he's well aware of how twisted humans can be and doesn't think any less of her, especially since she's fighting with depression and not basic morals. Through many twists and turns the two of them grow closer, and Tori finally feels comfortable with herself.
MARA
Age: 25
Hair color: Gray
Eye color: Brown
Element: Time
Mara is the informant for the Asterstone Guild, which Kiyo runs! He was roped into it by Kiyo (very unwillingly might I add LOL). Mara’s basically got a foot in almost every crime organization around the region—he’s not affiliated with any, he just knows his way around the so-called underground, so he has a lot of valuable information!! Once Kiyo finds out about this he decides to recruit Mara to get inside info on all the nasty crime groups out there. He appoints Tori as Mara’s contact for the guild—so basically, it’s her job to go out and meet Mara and get any important updates about what’s going on behind the scenes. This is mostly to avoid suspicion because if Mara waltzed into a “goody two shoes” guild like Asterstone it would raise a lot of red flags for the bad guys who know him.Normally a very grumpy sort of person, Mara's got a soft spot for Tori, who managed to worm her way into his heart. Mara is very cunning and intelligent, and generally looks down on people who he views as too "slow" to keep up with him. He's the type of person to say what he means and not care about the consequences; he's lived his entire life being associated with crime so he's got the "survival of the fittest" mentality. However this ends up being a problem later on when he gets attached to people he cares about, leading to lots of situations where he hurts his friends due to his sharp tongue and no nonsense outlook on life.Mara is a time elemental, who uses his powers to make time flow slower around him. This gives the illusion that he’s either teleporting around or just moving too fast for people to see. He doesn’t really like to use his abilities much—usually only when he’s in a real pinch he utilizes them to make an escape :’)
ILARI
Alias: FennAge: 27Hair color: OrangeEye color: Red/pinkElement: Forest
Ilari’s story mainly focuses on him and his childhood friend, Azra. He lived a relatively normal life in a small village, and he and Azra grew up together. Their parents were good friends, so they’ve practically known each other since birth. The two of them were very close—best friends with an unbreakable bond. Their village was mostly comprised of older couples and the elderly, so there weren’t really any other children for them to play with, another reason for their closeness.All of that came to a sudden end when Ilari’s parents passed away :’( This was when Ilari was around 8-9 years old. They were caught in an accident on a trip out of town, and unfortunately neither of them survived. Ilari was absolutely devastated;; he was really close with his parents, and being an only child made it so much worse. Without any other relatives to take him in it seemed like he’d have nowhere to go, but Azra’s parents immediately soothed any worries about that by taking Ilari in. Naturally they’d never abandon their dear friends’ child, and since Ilari was already so close with Azra they didn’t really have to think twice about it. Azra was thrilled to be able to be with Ilari more often, seeing this as the best thing ever (minus the whole uh Ilari’s parents being dead thing). Before their deaths, Azra was actually supposed to go live with his aunt for a while—his parents thought it would be a good experience for him to get out of the village and take part in guild life, since his aunt is part of a guild. Of course Azra had been dreading going, not wanting to be separated from Ilari, but now that’s no longer a worry because of Ilari suddenly having to move in with them. So, Azra’s relocation was called off.With Ilari around, things in Azra’s household changed quite a bit. Ilari helped Azra through his transition (yes he’s trans!), and with his charm was able to soothe any worries Azra’s parents had on the matter. (They aren’t like, inherently transphobic or anything, just very traditional, so they were unsure on how to really take it.) As the years passed and the boys grew older, things started to change between them too. They’d grown even closer than ever, and started dreaming about going out to see the world and maybe joining a guild someday. It was pretty much inevitable that they’d fall in love with each other—and once they realized their feelings, it didn’t take long for either of them to confess.Their new relationship blooming, Ilari and Azra decided to leave home and travel around for a while. Being stuck in their village their entire lives, every step outside was like a new adventure. They spent the next several years moving from place to place, never really staying put in one town for long, since they wanted to see everything the world had to offer. Their next destination was a city of water that they’d both dreamed of seeing for ages; Ilari took this chance to propose to Azra, so that they could get married in the city and maybe settle down there for a while. Azra more than happily accepted.Of course, all good things must come to an end…both of them started out towards their wedding destination, riding the high of being new fiancés, completely oblivious to the tragedy awaiting them. Along the road they were suddenly attacked by a strange group of bandits. Ilari quickly puts the pieces together that they’re a group of elite purists, obsessed with the concept that elementals should be the only group of humans to exist, and those not blessed with magical abilities should be culled. The group has been traveling around, targeting non-elementals and killing them without mercy all in the name of their ideals. Unfortunately for the couple, while Ilari is a forest elemental and is spared from their judgment, Azra is a non-elemental, and he is not so lucky. Ilari is strong, but not strong enough to pull off a defeat against such high numbers, so he can do nothing but watch as Azra is captured in front of him. Ilari struggles against the people restraining him, but is unable to break free, and watches in absolute horror as the purists slaughter Azra without a hint of mercy.Seeing the love of his life get hurt breaks something within Ilari. His power surges, and he’s able to free himself while his assailants get caught up in his attack. The remaining purists are impressed and shocked at the strength of his magic, seeing as it just overpowered half their members. They make a hasty retreat, but Ilari is too distracted by Azra to follow them.Ilari gathers Azra into his arms and realizes that he’s too late. Azra has already bled out, growing weaker by the second, and is completely unresponsive. Ilari begs him to wake but he never does…and like that, Azra dies in Ilari’s arms. Ilari sobs in despair and lies there for hours in agony :’(Once he’s tired himself out, Ilari, fueled with rage and a thirst for revenge, vows to hunt down every last member of the purist group and wipe them out. Losing the only important person in his life is the thing that breaks him completely, so he loses all sense of judgment, morality and even rationality. It’s easy for him to become twisted after witnessing such a tragic thing 😔Over the next year, Ilari follows up on his promise and tracks down the purist group using a variety of connections and…other various sketchy methods. At this point he’s become a full-fledged vigilante, having gained the skills and smarts to be able to sneak around and do all the dirty work without leaving a trace behind. This results in the brutal deaths of many of the purists, because at this point Ilari has nothing to lose and doesn’t feel a shred of mercy towards the people who killed Azra for fun. He almost grows numb to the killing, having gotten over the guilt of it a long time ago.At long last, Ilari finally tracks down the leader of the group, who just so happened to be the one he ran into with Azra all that time ago. Ilari makes him watch as he slaughters his men (as an intimidation tactic) and then entraps him in vines before forcing him to drink poison of his own creation—something that stems from his own elemental magic, which a lot of people have looked down on him for. (Forest elementals who have the ability to make poisons are generally ostracized by others and are given a bad reputation, mostly bc of how obviously deadly it is.) Ilari tells the leader that he doesn’t even deserve to be killed by Ilari himself, and that this slow, agonizing and indirect method is the perfect end for someone like him.After leaving the leader’s base, Ilari breaks down in tears. At long last he’s exacted revenge on Azra’s murderers, but it doesn’t make him feel any better—in fact, he just feels worse knowing that all of it was for naught, because Azra is never coming back. And now his hands are permanently stained with blood and the knowledge that he made the conscious decision to become a killer himself.Emotions a complete mess, and not really knowing what to do with himself now that his only goal has been completed, Ilari drifts from town to town, doing odd jobs and struggling to keep himself afloat amidst his depression. During a visit to a local bar, Ilari overhears some of the patrons discussing a strange woman known as “The Contractor”, who apparently has the power to grant wishes of any kind. Eager to know more, he asks a couple questions, but is immediately warned that the Contractor is not one to be easily trifled with. Apparently with her power people’s wishes DO come true, but at a very very steep price—some rumors say that people have even regretted making a deal with her because the tradeoff was even worse than they could have imagined. But Ilari’s already at rock bottom, so things can’t get worse for him, right? At this point he’s desperate to have any sense of normalcy in his life again, and he wants to see Azra so badly that it aches.With that knowledge tucked under his belt, it doesn’t take Ilari long to locate the Contractor…or rather, for her to locate him. He’s met with a very eccentric woman, whose eyes appear to have seen beyond the stars themselves and hold an ancient power. Even her very presence is intimidating, something that whispers of eldritch abilities. Ilari immediately realizes that the rumors were true, the Contractor is not to be handled lightly. The toll for her granting wishes is always heavy, the price too high. But Ilari’s willing to risk it anyway.The Contractor introduces herself and says she always comes to those who need their wishes granted most, almost like she can sense their desire. She asks Ilari what wish he wants granted—and Ilari tells her he wants to see Azra again, no matter what the cost. She warns him, gravely, that the result may not be exactly what he was hoping for. Ilari questions her then, accusing her power of being fake if it can’t grant the exact wish, and the Contractor explains how her wish granting actually works: through her, the person making the wish actually makes a deal with fate itself. She has them sign a contract and weaves fate in order to fulfill their desire. However, fate is fickle, and even she is not its master, so she can’t predict how things will turn out. That’s why it’s so high of a risk. She tells him that she is merely a vessel of fate, that she can’t bend it to her will, only give the option to temper with it in the first place to try to achieve the results people want. And the only people who ever sign her contracts are the ones who are absolutely desperate to change fate, change reality, no matter the consequences. But that’s why she appeared to Ilari in the first place: he’s one of those desperate few, the one willing to step forward and risk it all without knowing what will happen.Ilari doesn’t take long to mull it over before agreeing to her terms. She warns him once more that he may come to regret his decision, but Ilari tells her he already has too many regrets, and that he can face any problem as long as he can be with Azra again. And so, Ilari signs her contract, and the Contractor begins to pull the strings of fate…Ilari awakens to find himself in a room by the sea. Peering out the window, he recognizes the town as the one Azra was initially supposed to go to to live with his aunt all those years ago. The possessions in the room definitely belong to him, and with one glance he can tell that he’s apparently lived here for a while and has settled in. Naturally he’s confused, but he figures this has something to do with the contract he signed and fate being changed. And with that he immediately starts to look for Azra, because it had to have worked, right? Azra has to be alive, right? Maybe the Contractor had changed fate so that Azra had never died that day. Ilari rushes downstairs to find out.The first thing he sees is Azra’s back in the kitchen. The shock of seeing the love of his life after so long hits Ilari hard, and before he knows it he’s bursting into tears. Azra is absolutely shocked and rushes over to comfort him. Ilari breaks down and Azra has to hold him while he sobs and pours his heart out—the first time he’s ever really let himself break down and express his emotions since Azra died. Ilari loses himself in Azra’s embrace and releases all of his pent up feelings that he’d kept in for the better part of a year.When he finally comes back to himself, Ilari realizes that they aren’t alone. There’s another girl there, who has joined their embrace, and is also whispering soothing words of comfort to him along with Azra. Azra expresses concern over Ilari’s actions, since he isn’t really the type to cry in the first place, and the girl agrees. When Ilari asks who she is, the two of them laugh awkwardly and ask him if he’s joking—her name’s Iori, of course, come on, Ilari, you know Iori! One of your closest friends, a member of the local guild, Azra’s fiancé—And that is what truly shocks him, right down to his core. Ilari shakily asks them to repeat themselves, and yes, he heard that right, they’re fiancés. Suddenly the Contractor’s warning makes so much more sense and Ilari quickly excuses himself, running out of the house and leaving the stunned pair behind.Ilari runs with no destination in mind until he tires himself out, and when he finally finds a place to rest, the Contractor appears. She looks grim, like she’d already seen what happened and is prepared to face his wrath. Ilari asks her what’s going on, so she sits him down and explains all of the differences that fate has brought them.The true reality of the Contractor’s ability is revealed. She’s actually a time elemental, and through her powers of making deals with fate, she can alter timelines through contracts people sign. In this timeline, Ilari’s parents didn’t die until much later in his life, so he got to be with them more. However, because of this, there was nothing to prevent Azra from going to live with his aunt, so Ilari and Azra didn’t grow up together like they should have. Azra fell in love with guild life and being able to spend time outside of their little village, so he essentially started to “study abroad” there. Because Ilari wasn’t there to directly influence Azra’s parents’ opinion on his transition, things between them grew strained, driving Azra away and making him want to stay with his aunt more and more. Eventually Azra only came home during the summer, making the time Ilari could spend with him very small compared to the everydays they’d spend back in the original timeline, so they weren’t as nearly as close. And during all this, Azra fell in love with someone else—Iori, who was also a member of his aunt’s guild. By the time they’d reached adulthood, Azra had moved permanently to live with Iori, who he’d proposed to. And not long after that, Ilari’s parents passed away. Azra and Iori pushed back their wedding to tend to Ilari, who didn’t have anyone else to turn to. Despite Ilari’s objections they convinced him to move in with them, just for a little while, which led to his current living situation. But, because Ilari and Azra never went traveling together in this timeline, they never ran into the purists, so Azra wasn’t murdered: the only true upside to the whole thing.Ilari finally understands the consequences, the way too high price of signing a contract. While Azra was alive in this timeline, the price Ilari paid for it was an entire lifetime of memories with him, their childhood, their mutual attraction, all of the time they spent together, gone. He’s the only one who remembers now. And isn’t this just absolute torture? The love of his life is alive, but is engaged to someone else, and won’t look at him the same way ever again. All of their promises, their secrets and their exchanges of affection don’t exist here. Ilari starts to wonder if it was worth it. Is it better for Azra to be dead and still have everything they shared intact? Or is it fine to leave things like this, for Azra to be alive but not remember how much they loved each other, how they promised their entire lives, their future to each other?The Contractor looks genuinely remorseful, and she apologizes for putting him through more pain. She leaves to let Ilari grieve in peace. At this point, it almost feels like he’s lost Azra all over again, like he’s died a second time. The Azra that exists here is a completely different person, one who’s been shaped by different experiences and relationships, someone completely foreign to Ilari. Azra’s alive, but at what cost? Ilari’s lost more than he’s gained.Ilari doesn’t get much time to really let it sink in, though, because Azra shows up, apparently having been searching for him all over town. Azra admits he’s really worried about Ilari, mentioning offhand that he hasn’t been the same since his parents passed. But this Ilari lost his parents a long, long time ago, and has already accepted that. He decides then that he’ll just act as normal as possible around Azra, so he doesn’t notice the discrepancies in Ilari’s behavior.
Ilari expects himself to feel nothing but hatred for Iori, but realizes he can’t find it in himself to despise her. Just by being around her and Azra he can tell that she makes Azra really happy, and it just so happens she’s probably the sweetest and most selfless person Ilari’s ever met. Basically, she’s an angel and Ilari’s almost angry that he can’t dislike her. Why is she so Perfect. It’s super frustrating. Every time he even thinks about being nasty to her she smiles at him or does something super sweet for him and he’s like GOD DAMMITIlari gets used to living with the two of them after a while, but it’s still emotionally exhausting. Seeing them so happy together never ceases to make his heart feel like it’s being torn in two, but above all else all Ilari wants is Azra’s happiness. He slowly starts to realize that maybe things between them weren’t super ideal. Azra seems much more open and sociable in this timeline, probably as a result of him growing up in a guild rather than stuck in a village with just Ilari as a friend. And Azra’s happy, truly happy, almost glowing—making Ilari feel sick to his stomach. Maybe he’d been holding Azra back all that time. Maybe things were better this way—maybe this was meant to be after all, the way things should have played out for them. It’s a poisonous mindset to have, and as Ilari falls deeper into his own self-deprecation, he decides that he can’t taint Azra’s life any further. Especially since the two of them have already pushed their wedding back for him, several times, too concerned about his mental health. Ilari feels like he’s nothing but a burden to them. So now he’s got survivor’s guilt, a guilt complex, self esteem issues, AND depression! A cocktail of mental disorders!Ilari breaks the news that he’s planning to move out. Azra and Iori immediately refuse, begging him to stay, but Ilari insists that this is something he needs to do. He plans to travel around again—maybe seeing the world with fresh new eyes and without the responsibilities he used to have, Ilari can come to terms with everything that’s happened and move on with his life. But for now, staying with them is too painful, and every day he can feel himself getting worse, so he reasons that getting out is the best option. The couple eventually relent and let him go, but not before they throw him a little goodbye party and send him off with lots of hugs and the promise that he’ll return for their wedding.Before long Ilari falls back into the comfort of traveling. It’s something that’s been constant no matter the timeline, so it soothes his nerves and starts to help with his downcast mood. Besides, there’s tons of places he never got to see in his original timeline, so this is a good chance to visit them all. Along the road he ends up bumping into Kiyo, who, due to his absentminded personality, ended up getting lost on the way home. Ilari offers to guide him back to town, and the two end up bonding on the way.Kiyo senses immediately that Ilari’s a bit of a lost soul, a traveler with no end destination in mind, so he persuades him into staying at the guild for a while. Ilari had mentioned that he’d never been part of a guild before, so Kiyo figures guild life will be good for him—getting to meet new people and open himself up a bit more might help his depression. Ilari’s very hesitant at first, not used to being around anybody else but Azra, but he eventually warms up to the guild. The pain in his heart begins to ease, just a little, as he spends time with the guild members and finally makes new friends. The entire guild is enamored by him (also bc he hides all of the dark parts of his past), and they all take care of him. Kiyo’s a moron at the best of times and Ilari finds the fact that the guildmaster is completely incompetent absolutely hilarious (but it’s all in good fun).Several weeks into living at Asterstone, Ilari happens to overhear a conversation mentioning that a non-elemental was attacked a few towns over. It’s like a bucket of ice cold water descends on him then, because he remembers the other thing that happened in the other timeline that didn’t happen in this one: the purist cult is still around. Ilari knows that he can’t let them continue to do as they please, or the same thing will happen again, whether to Azra or some other innocent non-elemental. Ilari decides to leave the guild for the time being and go after them. At this point he’s unsure whether or not he wants to fall back into how things were before: should he save the lives of countless others, at the cost of becoming a cold-blooded killer again? He feels himself teetering dangerously on the edge of becoming who he was in the original timeline, and it terrifies him. After finally knowing what it’s like to be happy again, to feel warm and safe, he’s scared of doing his vigilante work because he knows he might lose himself again—and he doesn’t want to be that dark person, he doesn’t want to be a killer. But he’s the only person that really knows what the purists are like, having done research and following their movements relentlessly for over a year.Ilari goes straight to the purists’ main base and is shocked to find it empty. He’s sure this is where their base of operations was—but it looks as if the place hasn’t been touched in years, like nobody was ever there at all. Before he can get too confused, the Contractor appears and warns Ilari that in this timeline the purist group is much, much larger and more dangerous than before, due to some sort of butterfly effect that made their numbers skyrocket. Ilari feels a mounting sense of dread. This is more than just a ragtag group, they’re an elite force now, with more knowledge and power than ever. The Contractor tells him that the purists had spread their philosophies using the Elemental Massacre from a thousand years back to spur more hatred towards non-elementals (and if you don’t know, that massacre was basically the reverse of what the purists are doing now, non-elementals targeting elementals in large groups and killing them due to feeling inferior). Ilari realizes that this has grown way too big for him to handle alone, and despite his hesitance, knows he has to ask for help on taking the purists down.He returns to the guild and even though he’s terrified, opens up a bit more to Kiyo and explains the situation with the purists. Kiyo agrees that something needs to be done about them, because he’d been hearing rumors of attacks happening for the past couple months. Ilari says that disbanding the group is his main goal and he’ll do anything to see it through—but this time he’s going to do it the right way. He resolves not to kill anybody this time, just punish them appropriately for their crimes. Kiyo agrees to help him, but they need to come up with a plan, because if word gets out that the guild is looking for information, that’ll be too obvious and force the purists into hiding. They’re awfully slippery so they need to handle the situation delicately.Kiyo tells Ilari that the guild actually does work with an underground informant (hiiii Mara <3) and that he can definitely get them some info and connections to help them start researching the purists whereabouts. However, having Mara be their sole informant isn’t enough, they need a bigger network of information coming in and out: but again that’s the issue with having the guild involved, people underground don’t want to be associated with a goody-two shoes organization like that.Ilari proposes the idea of opening up a shop, one that isn’t affiliated with the guild, that acts as a front for a meeting spot for informants. Everyone involved agrees, and with the help of the whole guild, Ilari opens his very own floral shop in town! (Flower shop AU REAL.) He decides to adopt an alias for safety purposes, so he starts going by the name of Fenn during his time working at the shop (and those who knew him as Ilari before start referring to him as Fenn too). Ilari, being a forest elemental, creates a mixture of herbs, remedies, flowers, and other concoctions to sell to customers. He meets up with Mara, who agrees to help, and Mara spreads the word that Ilari’s place is a spot for informants to head to without being under the watchful eye of the law. Through this method, they’re able to gather and trade information about the purists with other vigilantes, thieves, and general do-no-gooders, creating a vast network of informants. Of course, having sketchy people constantly coming in and out of your shop definitely makes rumors fly, so eventually Ilari’s shop starts to get a…sketchy reputation around town. (Not that he necessarily cares either way, as long as he’s getting what he needs out of it.) People start to avoid shopping there (except for the guild members who know Ilari is a good boy) and Ilari starts to hear urban legends about his own shop, which he finds endlessly amusing. (So does the Contractor, who still drops in every now and then to see how he’s doing. He and the Contractor are…friends? Acquaintances? They’re certainly SOMETHING lol)Things settle down after this—it’s pretty much just a game of patience at this point as Ilari and the guild slowly start to gather information and intel. During this, Ilari ventures outside during a rainy day to harvest some herbs for his shop and wanders across an injured bird. Ilari scoops it up and takes it back to his shop to tend to it. He quietly muses how he and the bird are similar; both loners with injuries, whether it be physical or emotional, who nobody seems to pay any mind to. But then he says that since the guild took care of him, he’s happy to care for the bird, making it a whole full circle “there’s still hope for us after all” kind of thing. Unbeknownst to him, this bird is actually a shape-shifting elemental, who hears Ilari’s kind words and gestures of care and is like 😳Several days later, Ilari wanders into the back of his shop and is shocked to see that the bird has transformed into a human. He’d saved a human!! The human introduces himself as Mio, and quietly yet sincerely thanks Ilari for his compassion and care. Ilari asks where he came from, and while Mio seems closed off, he admits that he came from a port town south of them, and that he was being chased by pirates.SADLY this is all I have written so far, but yes Ilari will end up with Mio, who is probably just as messed up as he is lmao so they’re really perfect for each other. Are they unhealthily codependent on one another? Yes. Does it work for them? Yes. Ilari doesn’t think he’s worth saving but Mio goes to all the lengths to prove otherwise, even going so far as to cut the strings of fate himself, which is DANGEROUSSSS. But it all works out ;)
Personality Traits
✦ He’s very self conscious of his flaws, so much so that he constantly second guesses himself when it comes to taking steps in relationships. He always asks permission before doing anything with Mio, and is very careful whenever he does initiate anything :’)
✦ He’s very impulsive and tends to jump into situations without thinking;; it’s just an involuntary gut reaction. But he’s smart enough to get himself out of said situations most of the time
✦ Normally very bright, cheerful, and friendly. He’s able to get along with practically anybody he meets. He’s also quite the charmer 👀 But he’s very sincere with his compliments, which is why he’s so likable.
✦ Despite this, the only person he’s really ever been “close” to is Azra…until Kiyo and the guild came into the picture and forced him to open up more towards others.
✦ Super physically affectionate with people he’s fond of. He’s known to cling to others if he’s really in need of attention
✦ He’s not afraid to be blunt—in fact, he’ll usually keep a cheerful smile on his face while he blatantly (yet politely) tells things as they are. Nobody really knows how to counteract this lmao
✦ He’s so bad with feelings. When people start confiding in him he freaks and loses his cool (hence his negative reaction to Mio confessing his feelings. THEY WORK IT OUT THO).
✦ He can’t take compliments and he refuses to believe in the fact that anybody could like him because he has zero self-esteem 😔 He wasn’t this way before, but after killing so many he truly thinks that he’s too stained with blood to be worthy of anybody
✦ When he loses his smile you KNOW you’re in trouble. He rarely ever shows his serious side but when he does things get scary
✦ He haaaates showing his nasty side to Mio and to Azra;; Sometimes he’ll slip into that persona unconsciously and he always feels awful about it afterward (especially since he doesn’t mean it most of the time). But he’s usually quick to catch himself when he’s being cruel, and apologizes straight away.
✦ He’s a self sacrificial moron. If anybody close to him is in danger he’ll offer himself up immediately and take the fall no matter what the consequences. This ties heavily into his own negative self worth which is why he’s so quick to take the bullet for others. He’s got that “better me than them” mindset and it’s so UNHEALTHY, this boy needs THERAPY
✦ Rarely gets overly emotional (and by this I mean like the crying kind of emotional) but when he does oh man. Everyone loses their minds trying to comfort him
✦ At this point he’s only used to Azra’s flirting so whenever Mio starts doing anything romantic he gets flustered as hell 😏
TAKU
Age: 23
Hair Color: Dark Blue
Eye Color: Green
Element: Sky
Birthday: July 15th, Cancer
Taku founded the Emeraude Guild! It’s not a very big guild, it’s on the lesser-known scale and as of right now doesn’t have very many members but Taku’s Big Dream™ is to make a name of the guild and have it be as popular and well-known as Spinelrose or Amethystus, for example. Luckily he’s already gotten word around about it since he’s the youngest Guildmaster in history–most Guildmasters don’t receive their titles/licenses until they’re at least in their thirties, sometimes even older, so the fact that he’s ~23 and officially recognized as a Guildmaster is a huuuge achievement!! And, to be a Guildmaster, you have to be extremely powerful to even get the license, so yeah he’s pretty damn tough. The thing is though, Taku’s got some old friends at the guild and one of them is nearly as powerful as him and she chases off potential guild members if she doesn’t think they’re strong enough so Taku’s fighting to have the guild be bigger and more widespread while she just drives all the customers away. It’s pretty hilarious, they get into spats about it a lot.Taku’s a sky elemental, so with the common things one can do with air, i.e. form it and use it to attack or fly, Taku’s also able to completely erase his presence with his elemental magic. So, he’s able to sneak around as easily as a breeze can! It’s sorta like invisibility but not entirely–if people bump into him or are able to sense him it breaks the spell. So he’s gotta be careful with it!Like Jasper, Taku was granted his powers of sky from one of the Grandmasters, so before then he as a non-elemental. Unlike Jasper though, Taku actually sought out the Grandmaster of his own free will when he was a child (while Jasper was given those abilities as a baby and therefore doesn’t remember it). His elemental powers are special because their strength increases whenever he uses them to protect people or to help people other than himself (so, it requires him to be selfless in battle!) This is difficult to put a lid on since most times it ends up making him far too powerful–he’s killed people with his ability before, so he hates going all out in a fight because he’s terrified of what the end result will be. He’s scared of his power. It’s what qualifies him to be a Guildmaster but it can also cause destruction if he doesn’t use it properly. And when he uses his full strength he sometimes falls into trances and doesn’t snap out of them until everyone and everything around him are destroyed RIPAs for Taku’s personality, it was mentioned above that he’s playful, mischievous, proud, and super childish most of the time. After sorta falling for Liliah he pulls all these ridiculous stunts trying to “officiate” their relationship, like offhandedly mentioning he’s going to marry her and threatening any guy who comes near her. He’s a moron lmao. But he’s sooo determined to make Emeraude Guild one of the best!! He gets really emotional whenever new people join and honestly he’s a crybaby. Like, an exaggerating one he’s a total attention hog lmfao
VARIN
Age: 22
Hair Color: Brown (with white streaks)
Eye Color: White
Element: Time
Despite Varin’s outer confidence and playfulness he is actually a very very negative person;; That’s bc of his childhood, he’s been experimented on and tampered with even before he was born so growing up he was only known as a toy or an experiment to his father. His father wanted to make him into a more powerful time elemental so he continued to modify Varin’s body. Varin eventually escaped his father before the experiments were finished so he’s seen as an “incomplete” product, which greatly affects his powers.As a time user Varin can stop time completely–most time users can only do this for a few seconds at most but he can do it for minutes, if not longer. This is of course because of the experiments performed on him, which allows him to bring out the full strength of his power when he so wishes. Unfortunately because he’s incomplete if he stops time for too long it backfires, causing his body to break down–this usually results in him coughing up blood and passing out for hours or even days afterward. He doesn’t care though, he usually pushes himself as far as he can go bc he doesn’t care if he dies or not. Before he meets Sirion he only views himself as a research subject and not a real human being (thanks to his shitty dad). Bc of all the experiments that also gave him vitiligo since his dad liked to fuck around with his immune system //shakes fists That also explains why his eyes are so light, they were originally a darker pinkish-red color but over time they gradually lightened to the color they are now. Along with this he slowly began to lose his vision/his vision deteriorated so those goggles he wears are specially designed to enhance his vision so he can actually see shit lmao he’s pretty blind without them. And, on his arm there’s a scar–that’s usually where his dad implanted stuff into his body;; that eventually wrecked his wrist so sometimes it aches really bad and he can’t move it but he pretends not to notice most of the time (eventually, Sirion takes him to Elias and Elymas upon suggestion and Elymas fixes a lot of the shit that’s wrong with his body. THANKS ELY)On the outside he’s super cheerful and mischievous, and he teases everyone at the Emeraude Guild all the time. However beneath all that he’s extremely pessimistic and highly convinced that nobody will ever love him or see him as a real person, bc he thinks he’s some fucked up monster that doesn’t deserve to be a part of this world due to all of the experiments performed on him…this causes some tension with Sirion bc when Sirion confesses to him, Varin immediately rejects him because 1. He’s terrified and he’s never been in a relationship, 2. He thinks Sirion deserves someone better than him, 3. He refuses to believe he’s capable of being loved, especially by someone like Sirion (who he’s secretly liked for like. FOREVER). Also he’s very VERY self-conscious of his appearance even tho he pretends not to be, he thinks he’s very unattractive and he usually tries to cover up every patch of his skin bc well. The vitiligo :(However once Sirion manages to convince him that yes, he is actually worthy of being loved and that he’s human and real and alive and not some monster or research subject, he turns into the most doting and affectionate person ever. He LOVES Sirion and would do absolutely anything for him, even giving up his own life. He’s very flirty with Si and freaks out any time Sirion does something cute. Since he has a whole rose theme going on the gloves Sirion wears were made by him!! Once he gets past all of his issues he’s just a total goofball who jokes around a lot and enjoys getting/giving affection! He also loves his guildmates and will always protect them (especially Taku, who took him in and gave him a place to stay, and Finn, who’s sorta kinda his best friend lol).
GINNI TEIRE
Age: 17
Hair color: Pink
Eye color: Blue
Element: Combat
Ginni takes after her mother in that she’s very stubborn, cheerful, sociable and also a combat user! She like to spar with her mother and father sometimes to test her skills. She’s not afraid to fight for what she believes in and take action when nobody else will, making her a truly inspiring person capable of moving others c: Ginni’s nonbinary and uses she/they pronouns! She’s fine with either.Ginni was actually ordered to be captured by the Novune Forces by Kaz, though he actually had no idea who she was, he was just following orders. After being under Kaz’s supervision for about a month and a half Ginni started to pick up signs that despite being a captain Kaz was not treated very well by his superiors, and would often come back from meetings or battles totally bruised and beaten. While all of the people under Kaz’s jurisdiction highly respected him and were honestly a bit terrified of him, Kaz was labeled as someone who could never be good enough or do good enough, and Ginni was tired of seeing him get hurt without him realizing the people who raised him were just exploiting and abusing him. Slowly during the month they spent together Kaz warmed up to Ginni, and started sharing things with her he never shared with anyone else!Eventually Kaz started to realize that keeping Ginni captive wasn’t right, and that she was becoming weaker due to not seeing the sun or exercising or eating well during her stay with him, so he decides to set her free. And of course, Ginni convinces Kaz to abandon the Forces and come with her :’) Inspired by the idea that he can actually be free and see the world without any repercussions, Kaz decides to take the risk, so he and Ginni escape together and eventually return back to Ginni’s guild!Some of Ginni’s weaknesses is how easy she gets riled up by things, and she sometimes doesn’t think things through, so she stumbles into trouble pretty often. She’s a type that gets offended quickly and takes action immediately. If she doesn’t get her way she tries to make it so, even if it means disobeying orders or hurting other people without meaning to. She’s very determined in that aspect!She loves being outside and seeing the sun, and walking around town and interacting with her friends! She’s actually really close to Vedia and Kyran, and she become very close friends with Kaz too! She treasures him very much.
KAZ (KAZUTO)
Age: 18
Hair color: Orange (with a teal streak)
Eye color: Gray (with rings of blue)
Element: Lightning, Metal, Dragon (?)
Kaz, the incomplete experiment… He was taken into the Novune Forces as a young child and has grown up there, so he doesn’t know anything of the outside world or how to act around others. He was simply raised to follow orders and do everything to perfection—maybe as a way to make up for the fact that the experiments done on him to enhance him for the Forces’ purposes never really worked out.He started as a dual user of just lightning and metal, but the head of the Forces decided to try to make him into a tri user, so they had experiments performed to see if Kaz could awaken within himself a third elemental power. Note that there’s only ONE other tri user in existence and that’s Astraeus, one of the Grandmasters! Unfortunately, the experiments failed and left Kaz with just remnants of a Dragon user’s power in the form of the marking under his eye and the streak in his hair. Eventually he is able to unlock the Dragon’s power because Ginni’s in danger, but his power is very unstable and defective since it’s not “pure” and was something he was injected with, not born with. So usually after using it he goes out of control and passes out immediately afterwards;; while it is extremely powerful it’s also very dangerous and damaging so he doesn’t use it unless he absolutely has to. When he’s in his “dragon mode” he gets little scales on his cheeks and his teeth become sharper (they’re already p sharp to begin with tho haha), and his eyes change color. Kaz also uses two rapiers in battle that he charges with his elemental magic!! A dual user who uses dual weapons ;)Due to having parts of dragon elemental magic, his senses are enhanced, as most dragon elementals are as well! His nose is very keen and he can scent things other people normally can’t lol so it’s really helpful. He finds Ginni’s scent to be the most calming thing, because she smells like water lilies and the ocean back home.Kaz didn’t originally have a name when he was part of the Novune Forces—everybody just referred to him as “Captain”. Obviously this made Ginni super upset since they’re all sorta treated like objects there, so she decided to give Kaz his name (Kazuto is his full name, but Ginni rarely ever calls him that, she prefers Kaz!)Kaz is very very quiet most of the time, and his speech is very formal, so it’s rare to see him talking casually with anyone (besides Ginni, but even that takes a while). He doesn’t emote that often and prefers to keep his emotions bottled up, but Ginni slowly teaches him how to express himself better! He’s a pretty stern character, really no-nonsense, but he does loosen up after escaping. He doesn’t have a lot of anxiety over his superiors treatment of him because to him it’s normal, something that everyone in the Forces goes through, so he thinks if he makes mistakes he’s well deserving of punishment for them. He’s completely devoted to the Forces’ cause—until Ginni barrels in and ruins everything he ever worked for.Kaz cares about Ginni a LOT. More than anybody else. He would put his life on the line for her in an instant, and doesn’t care about what happens to him as long as Ginni is safe. She’s pretty much his savior and the reason he’s able to actually live, so he feels like he owes her everything. He isn’t really comfortable around anyone else besides Ginni (and one of his subordinates, but their relationship is a bit rocky and strange). Kaz would rather die than do anything to upset Ginni or threaten their friendship;; Eventually he falls in love with her but it’s very confusing and frustrating because he doesn’t understand his feelings that well, having been taught to ignore his emotions for most of his life, so it’s a rough time lol. But once he realizes it he uses that knowledge to become stronger and protect Ginni with everything he’s got!! He’s really bad with romance tho lmao he gets flustered super easily whenever Ginni does something alluring and trips over himself trying to please her on occasion. He’s very dumb in the romance department but he tries!Since Kaz grew up pretty much ignorant of everything else he can be really insensitive at times and offend others without realizing. He’s also fairly clueless about the world outside, so he finds fascination even in the smallest things! He’s also really really intelligent. Not when it comes to social interaction he fails fantastically at that, he’s really awkward around others lol but anything else goes! He’s very fond of reading and learning new things whenever he can, so being in the outside world is like a treat to him.
OLIVIA
Age: 18
Hair color: White (with pink/purple streaks)
Eye color: Green
Element: Fire
When she was born, Olivia was very weak, and most healers feared that she would not make it—similar to how weak and frail Jasper was when he was born. Because of this, Jasper and Mouna are both fiercely overprotective of her (Jasper more intensely) so she was sort of suffocated by their attention. She grew up within the Spinelrose Guild and was treated more delicately by the rest of the guild members, especially because of how slow her development was and how often she was ill as a child. She originally had a difficult time making friends because Jasper was so afraid she’d get into trouble and get hurt, and the other kids didn’t want to accidentally put her in danger. Olivia was pretty isolated from her peers as a kid, and that frustrated her, because she didn’t want to be treated differently from everybody else just because of her fragility. Unfortunately she was never really strong enough to make her point, and just ended up being coddled by the guild as a result.As she developed into a teenager, Olivia eventually outgrew her sickly physique and started to become stronger, both mentally and physically. She started to speak up about her parents’ treatment of her more—she knows that they just want to keep her safe, but she feels smothered by their hovering tendencies. Mouna eventually realizes how important this is to her and starts to back off, realizing how strong her daughter has become. Jasper, however…it’s harder for him to let go lol because she’s his only child and he knows how difficult it was to grow up as the weak link, the one who got ostracized because of their general health and well-being. It doesn’t help that Olivia is very clumsy and gets into little accidents all the time, which just makes his stress skyrocket.Even worse, Olivia is a fire elemental, which is considered to be one of the most dangerous simply because of how destructive it is without proper control. When Olivia was a kid Jasper forbade her from practicing any of her magic, too worried that she’d end up hurting herself. Of course, Olivia has a bit of a rebellious streak, so she tried it once by herself and inevitably ended up burning the side of her face with her magic. (By now the scar is almost faded, but you can still see it.) Both of her parents flipped their lids, and Olivia was so terrified that she decided to never use her magic again, viewing it as a curse. Mouna tries to tell her that her magic is a blessing, something that encompasses life, and that she just wasn’t ready to use it so freely without any training. But Olivia is insistent—scarred both in the literal and metaphorical sense, she refuses to use her magic, scared that she’s going to hurt herself again, or worse, somebody else.As the years pass Olivia starts to feel more and more unsatisfied with her current life—she likes the guild, likes her friends and her family, but she feels as if there’s more she could be doing with her life. Since she’s refrained from using her magic all these years, and because of how much of a klutz she is normally, she’s not really a strong fighter, and is pretty useless on guild missions. Seeing the rest of her guildmates put their all into what they do, and being able to succeed in it, drives her to eventually seek escape and try to start off with a clean slate. When she turns 14, Olivia decides that she’s going to leave the guild and travel to someplace new in an attempt to be more independent and maybe find a purpose for herself.Of course she realizes that if she tells her parents this they’ll probably refuse her, so she corners her uncle Terrence instead. Seeing her drive, Terrence decides he’s going to escort her to make sure she arrives safely. Olivia initially refuses because this is something she wants to do on her own, but Terrence warns her that the world is a dangerous place, and since she doesn’t know how to fight or use her magic the trip would be near suicidal if she went on her own. Terrence tells her the best option is going to stay with Spinelrose’s sister guild, Amethystus, and receive proper training in order to hone her magic and her fighting skills. That way she’d still have a direct line with Spinelrose in case something goes wrong, but she’d be far enough away to be independent.Olivia prepares to sneak out in the middle of the night, but she gets caught by both Jasper and Mouna (because Terrence is a good uncle and he told them lmao). Fearing that they’re going to stop her, Olivia stands up for herself and makes it clear that this is something she needs to do. Much to her shock, Jasper and Mouna encourage her to follow her dreams and come home a new woman. It’s a very soft moment when they all hug each other goodbye, and there’s lots of tears :’) Olivia leaves home knowing that her parents are worried, but they’ll support her decisions because they love her.After their crazy trip (where Olivia second guesses herself a million times and wonders if she can really survive out in a world this chaotic), they finally arrive at the Amethystus Guild! Olivia literally bumps into Ginni and from there, they form an instant close friendship. Ginni respects Olivia’s desire to be independent and is somewhat envious she made the decision to leave her guild in order to become stronger. Olivia admires Ginni’s confident personality and her fearlessness. Together they get into LOTS of trouble, mostly led by Ginni who is a notorious troublemaker within the guild, with Olivia just along for the ride.During all this, Olivia meets the guild’s official blacksmith and, upon seeing the incredible things he can create by using fire magic, starts to rethink her opinions about her own “cursed” fire magic. The blacksmith, normally a very closed off, grumpy, and rude person, notices Olivia’s conflict about fire, and decides he’s going to train her in order to help her overcome her fear. Through a lot of practice and very intense sessions, Olivia is finally able to confront her trauma and move past it—leading to her discovery that she’s a talented natural at using elemental magic, finding that it comes very easy to her and is something she can control without thinking too much. This is a rare skill, for normally it takes an elemental years of practice and training to have perfect control over their magic. On top of that, her fire is very pretty and beautiful to look at, a reflection of her soul. Her master berates her from hiding something so beautiful and pure for so long lolOlivia finds passion in blacksmithing, and trains under her master in order to create beautiful and powerful weapons. She does get burned a few more times during this, leading to some relapses, but her master tells her it’s part of the job and something that every elemental will come across: they aren’t always the perfect masters of their magic, and sometimes can hurt themselves without meaning to. But being able to understand what went wrong and how to fix it will make her stronger. Within a couple years Olivia flourishes and evolves into one of the guild’s most fiercest fighters, with an excellent handle on her abilities!Olivia and Ginni grow up together in Amethystus, and are pretty much inseparable. When Ginni gets kidnapped by the Forces and is missing for several weeks, Olivia is beside herself with worry. After Ginni returns with Kaz in tow, Olivia is one of the first people to accept him and trust him fully, because she believes in Ginni more than anybody else. (Kaz develops a soft spot towards Olivia because of this, and is forever grateful for her support.) Over time Olivia starts to realize just how awful Kaz’s life at the Forces was, and grows very sympathetic towards his situation. She understands wanting to start over somewhere new with a clean slate, though Kaz’s circumstances are much worse than hers, because she still has a loving family and home to return to someday. Olivia becomes determined to make Amethystus a home like that for Kaz, as well as Hiro, who they discuss recruiting to their side from the Forces. As Kaz continues to reveal more of his past, as well as Hiro’s, Olivia and Ginni both get very gung ho about going to fetch Hiro LOL because they both want him to be safe (though Kaz assures them Hiro isn’t in any sort of danger, being the colonel, as well as too intelligent to put himself in trouble).Kaz meets with Hiro, who was actually sent out on a mission to fetch him, and they negotiate Hiro acting as a double agent for Amethystus to spy on the Forces. Hiro had already been planning on leaving the Forces at some point, so he sees this as a perfect opportunity to get back at them for years of mistreatment. Over the course of the next several months, Hiro routinely reports back to Amethystus of the Forces’ plans, their current hideouts, and everything he knows about the higher ups. During all this he and Olivia meet, and at this point Olivia has started to refer to the colonel as ‘Hiro’ in her head, because it’s too confusing for her to call him the colonel, and she reasons that since Ginni gave Kaz his name she might as well give Hiro his. (Also because she believes that he’s a true ‘hero’ for enduring all of that suffering for so long, so it fits.) She calls him Hiro by sheer accident, but luckily he takes to the name well and they start to grow closer. Hiro comments on how close Kaz and Ginni have become and the two start betting on when they’ll get together.Eventually Hiro’s position as a double agent is discovered by Mallary and so he finally breaks away from the Forces (and Mallary’s manipulation) and starts living permanently at the guild. Olivia’s pretty happy about this. She can’t explain why but she feels very safe and at ease around him, and she’s the person he’s the gentlest and softest around—unbeknownst to her, this is because he’s fallen in love with her, but she’s completely oblivious to his feelings. She’s pretty dense when it comes to romantic stuff like this whoops. Olivia finds Hiro’s intelligence incredible and likes that he’s such a skilled fighter despite not being that strong physically. Hiro likes watching her do her blacksmithing duties and always has expert things to say on her craftsmanship. They get along very well! Olivia’s never felt more at home than with Ginni, Kaz, and Hiro, and likes the tight knit little group they’ve formed. She becomes very fond and protective of them and, upon realizing how important they are to her and how much she’s changed because of them and because of her decision to join Amethystus, she decides to cut her hair as another sign of her growth as a person, and as a sign of change! She finally discovers what she wants to do: become a master blacksmith, and work alongside her friends to protect everything they can, including taking down the Forces to set free all of the people forced to work for them, and bring peace to the land.When the time comes to finally take down the Forces, Olivia starts to develop feelings for Hiro as well, though it takes her a while to figure out because she’s never really been in love before, and mistakes a lot of her attraction for simple admiration. As Hiro continues to put his life on the line for their group and do anything he can to protect them, Olivia starts to discover that maybe she wouldn’t mind spending the rest of her life with him. There’s a point where Hiro gets injured so badly in battle he’s certainly going to bleed out, so he pleads for her to use her fire magic to cauterize his wound. Olivia’s trauma comes crashing back in and her worst fears are confirmed: her magic will end up hurting the people most important to her. Hiro tells her that by doing this, she’s going to save him, that her magic is life itself. Encouraged by his words, Olivia burns Hiro to save him, though it’s an extremely painful thing for her to do :’( But it’s at this moment she realizes that she definitely is in love with him, and would sacrifice anything for him.Not long after that, Mallary attacks, enraged, and accuses Olivia of stealing everything important away from her. It’s a really emotional battle;; Mallary basically vents out about being the one left behind, the only one who couldn’t find a happy ending, and who had the only people she cared about taken. She says some really nasty things to Olivia about Hiro lol and this really makes Olivia mad, so they basically duke it out over Mallary’s twisted feelings for Kaz and her perceived ownership of Hiro. And Olivia’s just like. Bitch you don’t own him!! He’s not an object or a toy for you to play with!! Yeah. It’s nutsAfter the grand battle with the Forces comes to an end and everything is resolved, Olivia decides to confess her feelings to Hiro, but it doesn’t…really go as planned. Hiro gently rejects her, but Olivia takes it the wrong way, still not realizing how head over heels for her he is. Shortly after this, Hiro and Kaz part ways with the guild, deciding to go on their own personal journeys of self discovery. During the year they’re gone, Olivia laments over her feelings for Hiro, miserable that she didn’t realize how she felt until it was too late, and miserable because she might never see him again. Eventually she tries to move on from that, but Ginni repeatedly tells her that Hiro is literally holding a torch for her lmao and that she shouldn’t let it go so quickly. Olivia protests constantly and strives to work harder to become a better blacksmith and stronger guild member, trying to put her feelings aside and ignore them.Of course, when she and Ginni eventually reunite with Kaz and Hiro, Olivia realizes that shit I’m still in love with him and my feelings haven’t gone away, they’ve just grown stronger during the year we were apart;; luckily for her Hiro’s gone through a lot of self reflection and feels ready to be in a relationship with her, so, after a rocky road of awkward confessions and pouring out their feelings, they FINALLY get together.The four of them go on a journey together! There’s some problems when Hiro runs into his childhood friend and first love, Lorelai, but in the end he shows he’s pretty damn dedicated to Olivia and it’s super soft. I just. I just love them so m u c h //shakes fists
Personality Traits
✦ Very compassionate and caring about others—she’s a very motherly type. She’s able to get people to open up to her easily because of how friendly she is. She also settles disputes within the guild often, being the mediator between arguments
✦ A social butterfly. Probably the most social one out of the group, and the one most used to conversing with other people
✦ She’s got a lot of self-esteem issues because of her upbringing (and really, I promise Jasper is not a bad parent!! He’s just concerned), but she’s learned how to handle it better. She’s definitely way more confident than she was before!
✦ Tends to be very indecisive when it comes to big decisions, and is hesitant about fighting—though she will put her all into it if the stakes are high. She CAN whoop your ass
✦ Super passionate about blacksmithing! It’s her true calling, and something she throws herself into fully. She’s very artful with her work and makes gorgeous pieces, and tends to ramble on about the specifics even when nobody understands lol
✦ A bit oblivious and airheaded sometimes. She’s completely unaware of several of the guild members’ feelings for her, including Hiro’s.
✦ VERY affectionate. Because she was isolated from other kids as a child, she’s very touchy feely and loves expressing her affection through casual touches. And lots of hugs!
✦ Since she’s the sweetest and nicest person in the group, she is terrifying when she’s angry. She’s super protective of her friends and won’t hesitate to leap into action to keep them safe, often getting very fierce when she does so
✦ She hates being alone. Being raised in an atmosphere with so many people around, she isn’t used to being by herself, and her instant source of comfort is being near others
✦ Isn’t afraid to tease her friends or state her opinion when it really counts
HIRO
Age: 17
Hair color: Orange (with a white streak)
Eye color: Pink
Element: Psychic & Forest
Before he was born, the Novune Forces approached Hiro’s parents because they knew that he would be born as a dual elemental. Part of their goal was to raise several dual type children to become human weapons–they targeted dual type babies specifically because they’re said to be more powerful since they can use more than one elemental type.It was the perfect opportunity for Hiro’s parents because at the time they were not ready for a child despite agreeing that they were going to have it. Ofc the Forces did not reveal their plans so to them it turned into a nice surrogate parent situation where Hiro’s mother would give birth to him and he’d immediately be given up for adoption afterwards. It was definitely hard for them to part with him but they trusted he’d be in good care. Well. That turned out great, as you can probably tell.Hiro, along with Kaz and Mallary, became the Forces’ iconic trio, with Hiro considered to be the golden child and the most dangerous between the three of them because of his high intellect and skill in combat. He grew up under a very strict regimen and would spend hours each day dedicated to training both his mind and his elemental powers. He’s an extremely gifted psychic elemental and took to his abilities almost immediately–he’s able to read his opponents movements and set up traps before they can even get to him. He’s usually airborne for most battles he’s in; he finds it easier to strategize from a higher vantage point, and he also just likes to float around and dodge enemy attacks and act like an ass lmao. He’s a pro at immobilizing his enemies so they can no longer move, ending his battles swiftly and cleanly. Physically he’s not very powerful so he uses a magic staff to fight. His intelligence more than makes up for his lack of super strength!He has a special power like Kaz’s extra dragon typing (and, like Kaz, he has a streak in his hair from the experimentation)—Hiro gets visions of death, basically predictions of the future, and his visions are never wrong. He’s able to see who dies in battle and the Forces use this to their advantage so that they can prepare around any casualties. Hiro hates getting these visions because he doesn’t like seeing people die, he witnesses their last moments and it’s certainly traumatizing for him;; and like Kaz, this power was something he only unlocked through lots of experimentation on him, so he usually passes out for hours after getting a vision since it’s not a “natural” ability he was born with.As for his second typing, it was something he never really clicked with. Forest elementals have to be very attuned to nature and are generally more kindhearted and gentle people, but since Hiro grew up in a base with only limited access to the outside (and because he’s forced into acting as an antagonist), his forest elemental powers were repressed over the years. He’s already powerful enough as a psychic elemental so he doesn’t feel the need to resort to a second power, especially since his superiors viewed his second typing as useless and he never received proper training on how to use it. He’s already a huge threat as he is so they said good enough. The Forces believe that if something is useless, throw it away, so they eventually abandoned any hope of him succeeding in bettering his forest powers, and focused solely on enhancing his psychic abilities and making his death visions clearer.Before Hiro became the cold-hearted and snarky colonel that the Forces know him as, he was actually a very kind child with an aversion to violence, and cried often. That got forced out of him pretty quickly though–he learned right away that disobedience means punishment and the only way to pay for his mistakes is by verbal and physical abuse. Poor baby :’( He and Kaz and Mallary go through a LOT of unfair shit as kids. The event that really drove home his intense determination and flawless record was the first mission he was ever sent out on.This happened when he was around 13. Usually members of the Forces don’t get to go out on solo missions unless they have a high position or are old enough to, but he was the exception because of his talent and because it was an experiment to see if he could handle it. His mission was to infiltrate a small, family run guild and basically gather intel and find out what their agenda was, as there were rumors they knew of some of the Forces’ plans. Upon Hiro’s arrival to the town where the guild was situated, he ends up rescuing the Guildmaster’s daughter, Lorelai, who is around his age. Unknowingly, he triggered his forest elemental powers, which caused them to land in a field of flowers he’d bloomed. Because of this, Lorelai starts to call him Flower, since he couldn’t come up with a codename in time and he doesn’t have a real name anyway.A couple weeks pass and Hiro spends more and more time with the guild, growing closer to Lorelai and being lulled into a false sense of security. He becomes extremely jealous of how the guild lives, and is very emotional at how much of a family they are, and how sweetly they treat him. Hiro starts to ponder over whether or not he should be sneaking around behind their back, when one day the guild is attacked while he’s out. When he returns, the village is set ablaze, and when Hiro demands what’s going on, his superior informs him that he was merely a decoy to get their defenses down, since apparently the Forces had definitive proof that they knew of their plans. His superior orders Hiro to search the village and kill anybody who was left.Hiro, panicked, searches for Lorelai, and finds her hiding in the forest nearby. He apologizes to her and has a mental breakdown, blaming himself for all of her misfortune. Lorelai realizes that he’s being kept in the Forces against his will and begs him to run away with her. Hiro knows that he’ll be hunted down if he does, and Lorelai could get hurt, so he tells her he has to stay with them. In the midst of this, they are confronted with the current colonel of the Forces, who encourages Hiro to kill Lorelai. Hiro refuses, and the colonel calls him out for insubordination. The colonel then decides to kill both of them in order to get a promotion. Hiro leaps to defend both Lorelai and himself, and in the scuffle, receives the scar on his head, and accidentally kills the colonel. Traumatized, bloodied, and terrified, Lorelai is the one to apologize to him as he cries his eyes out. Hiro numbly reassures her and tells her to run while she can. Lorelai admits that she loves him and bids him farewell, hoping that they can meet again, and that she’s sorry she can’t do more for him.This is when Hiro decides to become the perfect agent—dangerous, cruel, and flawless, so that something like this never happens again, and so that he can have enough power to make the decisions rather than just following orders to mindlessly kill people. From then on out he does what he’s told without any complaints and has a record for never failing a single mission the Forces have given to him. Any enemy considers him to be absolutely ruthless because he does not hesitate in battles and will neutralize with no questions asked. He’s a cocky little bastard around enemies lmao he loves to snark them and tease them. He’s strictly against killing after what happened to the colonel, so instead, if it’s a high risk operation, he erases the memories of his targets to reduce the threat. Because he’s so uncomfortable with the thought of death in general he reasons that losing your memories is better than dying, and that makes it easier on the Forces as well since they’ll leave less of a trail rather than just killing people left and right.Growing up, Hiro didn’t interact with Kaz very much, and they usually just saw each other in passing. However they both respect each other a great amount, and they sympathize with each other, being in the same sort of situation. Both the Hiro and Kaz hate their upbringing and hold a grudge against their superiors for their treatment and experimentation on them;; As for Mallary, Hiro became enamored with her because she reminds him a lot of Lorelai (who he later admits to being his first love). He finds her strength captivating and the way she doesn’t give a shit about other people’s opinions admirable. Hiro eventually falls prey to her manipulation and falls over himself to please her, which bothers Kaz because he knows Mallary’s just toying with him.After the Forces’ plan to kidnap Ginni and use her as a hostage blows up in their face, Hiro finds out that Kaz had escaped with her, and commends him on the extremely smart decision to do so. He wonders if he should start considering leaving the Forces as well, seeing as he’s mature and responsible (and smart) enough to make it on his own. He’s ordered to retrieve Kaz which was a HUGE mistake on the Forces’ part because they didn’t realize Hiro’s loyalties lied more with people on the outside. Hiro meets up with Kaz and Kaz eventually convinces him to desert the Forces and work with him to stop their plans. Hiro agrees to work as a double agent for a while, leaking all of the Forces’ information to Kaz, Ginni, and the guild. In the midst of all this, Hiro meets Olivia, who pretty much calls dibs on him and she’s like “Listen Ginni got to give Kaz his name so can I give the colonel a name?? Please???” So she starts calling him Hiro! And finally baby boy smarts up and starts crushing on a girl that actually gives a damn about him and god dammit it’s the cutest fucking case of puppy love since Dusk/Nozomi. Hiro absolutely adores her, but he’s too nervous to actually do anything about it because he’s got huge abandonment issues (thanks again bad parenting! And Mallary!) and doesn’t want to ruin one of the only genuine friendships he’s ever had. But he is head over HEELS for Olivia and it’s so……softe.Mallary finds out that Hiro’s acting as a spy, and retaliates. Hiro realizes just how awfully she’s treated him and defeats her, allowing him to escape and officially join up with the guild.After that it’s a whole bunch of crazy action stuff as plans come together and they get to take down the Forces. Hiro falls harder and deeper for Olivia while she remains oblivious (at least, for a little while, until she finally starts noticing). He grows closer to Kaz and Ginni as well, and begins connecting with Kaz on a deep level because of their shared history. (They’re kind of like brothers, and Hiro considers him to be his best friend :’) )Once the Forces are defeated, Hiro and Kaz both decide to go on a journey of self discovery in order to better themselves and learn more about the world they haven’t seen due to being locked up for so many years. Kaz and Ginni are already on the verge of forming a relationship, but with Olivia and Hiro it’s still tentative since she’s unsure and he still feels inadequate as a romantic partner. Olivia admits that she likes him and Hiro is so happy he’s ready to burst, but then he realizes it’s not the right time for them to be together so he gently rejects her. (Olivia takes this as an actual rejection tho not a “I’m not ready to be in a relationship with you yet tho I WANT to” and Ginni’s like YA’LL ARE SO DUMB I S2G).Hiro and Kaz go their separate ways, and Hiro travels around for a while! He eventually settles in a lovely little village where he learns about his forest elemental powers and how to use them better. He’s finally able to connect with other people and essentially becomes way softer around the edges, revealing the true personality he had when he was a kid. A year or so passes and suddenly Kaz, Ginni and Olivia show up to reunite with him, and not long after that Hiro and Olivia FINALLY get together and start dating 😔👌 (Ginni: TOOK you look enough, god)At some point the four of them go on a journey together and Hiro runs into his biological parents again…!! And he finds out he has a younger sister and they all reconnect and it’s SO EMOTIONAL
Personality Traits
✦ Hiro’s sarcasm and snarkiness is a defense mechanism to prevent anybody from seeing his vulnerable side, and also a way to trick the fear inside of him. Kaz is the one to point this out actually lol
✦ Despite that he does enjoy teasing people lightheartedly and being sassy, once he gets comfortable enough with them! There is a difference between his snarkiness towards enemies compared to that towards friends
✦ Is EXTREMELY loyal to the people he cares about. At first he tends to act prickly and kind of standoffish towards people he doesn’t know well. Over time he becomes more open to trusting others. Once you earn his trust and he deems you worthy of his friendship he instantly becomes softer and kinder haha, it’s like a switch
✦ Often dismisses people that he thinks aren’t worth his time or aren’t smart enough to hold an intelligent conversation with him
✦ Spends a lot of time reading and gathering knowledge. He is very book smart—but not very people smart :’D He and Kaz will spend hours in the guild’s library, since they’re both very thirsty for information outside of what they studied during their time in the Forces
✦ Touch starved as FUCK. He flips his shit every time somebody touches him in a friendly way, and will melt into a puddle if he gets hugged
✦ He can be very nosy and insensitive sometimes, prying into other people’s personal affairs if he thinks he can solve the issue
✦ Absolutely a tactics expert. He calculates all of his moves very carefully, and uses prediction tactics to leave no room for error. He enjoys coming up with mock battle situations to challenge himself.
✦ Very self-sacrificial;; he views the lives of those he cares about to be far more important than his own. He’ll lay his life on the line for his friends in an instant
✦ Is the person in the group who is the least fond of violence. If he can find a way around injuring someone, he’ll do it. He prefers to restrict his enemy’s movements or slow them down so they can’t fight back. He is VERY good at neutralizing opponents before they can even register it
✦ SUPER speedy. Due to his small size he’s very quick, most people don’t see him coming
✦ He’s really sensitive about his height fjmaksldmas he snaps at people who make fun of him for it
✦ Tends to levitate when he’s in deep thought. Olivia finds this very cute
✦ Blooms flowers when he’s happy/embarrassed
✦ He’s actually. A very talented dancer :0 During his year away from the guild he learned a lot of folk dances at the village he was living in, and when the others witness it they get really starstruck because it’s super mesmerizing!! He blooms flowers as he dances
✦ At his core he’s a very compassionate character!!
✦ After escaping from the Forces, he’s able to express his emotions more openly, and goes back to the way he was as a child. He’s a crybaby :’) He cries whenever someone he cares about gets hurt
✦ The only person in the group with the fucking brain cell, and the most rational one. Unless Olivia gets involved, then he gets stupid and flustered lmao
★ FAQ ★
★ What is ATS about?To sum it up, ATS is a fantasy world comprised of people with elemental powers that are a part of guilds and take on tons of different missions. Of course there’s much more to it than that, with lots of history surrounding the immortal figures in that world, the ties Shima, the main character, has to them, and lots of other stories to be told from different character POVs. The complete summary/backstory of the universe and characters can be read about on the character info and lore tabs!★ So who is the central figure/main character of ATS?That would be Shima! (AKA the character I named myself after/self project onto lol.) The story is all about her discovering the dark secrets of her past and her connection to the Rulers of that world, all while exploring all over and making tons of new friends on her quest to protect the region from the evil forces of the main antagonist, the Legendary Beast Topaz. However, while Shima is considered the main protag of the ATS universe, she is not the only one. There are many side character arcs that also take precedence and are important to the overall story in some way! A lot of the other characters have different stories to them and character arcs/developments outside of the main story, but are equally as vital.★ Is there representation in ATS?If you’re referring to LGBTQ+ rep, yes! While I am not a professional on the LGBT world in any means and can only go off of my personal experience of being bisexual, I try to include as much rep as I can in the ATS universe. So there are tons of characters who fit onto the spectrum, and I’m working to get all sorts of different types of sexualities and genders in as I can! I truly believe that everyone should be able to see themselves in a particular character regarding whatever aspects of themselves they choose. Again I am nowhere near a professional and only go with whatever knowledge I have (and there is still a lot of research for me to do to be able to represent a certain trait correctly and in a non-offensive, totally accurate way) so, if there happens to be anything that offends you about a certain character, please tell me immediately and we can talk about it! Please don’t be rude about it though, stay polite! If I don’t know something, I don’t know something. Don’t personally hold it against me. I’m here to learn from both myself and from you, so if there is any offending material, point it out to me nicely and we can discuss it in a civil manner! ATS is my own personal creation, yes, but all of you should be able to partake in it too without having to worry about me showing something incorrectly or in an offensive way.★ How long have you been working on ATS?I’d have to say over ten years now, I don't know the exact date I came up with the concept. Ever since I was a kid I’ve been thinking about this universe. I didn’t really start developing it thoroughly until high school, though. So it’s been with me a long, long time!★ What inspired ATS?Lots of things, really! I've always been super into the fantasy genre and seeing kids going on adventures with wacky powers sparked the idea for my own story like that. As a kid, PMD2 made a huge impact on me and still remains my favorite game of all time, so the majority of Team Star and the idea for the guild aspect was taken straight from it. I'm a sucker for found family tropes you see in media with guilds (like PMD and Fairy Tail) which ATS has a LOT of. I get inspired to make new ATS characters all the time from watching anime and playing games. My mind's always revolving around that "Okay but what if" question, and usually the brainstorming starts from there!★ Going off of that, how do you gain inspiration for creating characters?Usually I’m inspired by other characters/character traits I’m really fond of and I just implement those into the creation of my OCs. I try to have that "I love and/or hate this character because" mindset, which helps me pick traits I'd want my own characters to have. And from the previous answer, I'm always brainstorming and asking myself "What if"! I’m a very creative person so thinking of character personalities and their backstories comes easy to me. Just do whatever you feel, don’t feel limited by anything! I went wild with making my OCs how I wanted to and I have fun with it and that’s the most important thing to remember!★ Who was your first ATS character?It’s between Shima and Riku, they’ve been with me the longest. And while their character designs have certainly transformed and evolved over time, they’ve been with me since the start! So those two have a very special place in my heart above all the others <3★ Do you plan on doing anything with this universe like making a book/webcomic/etc.?Yes, someday! It's pretty much my lifetime dream to make some kind of official form of media for ATS. At the moment I don't have it in my plans to start drafting up concepts for a webcomic, but hopefully in the future when I'm at the right place I can start to work on it. I just know it'll be a massive project so I have to prepare very thoroughly :')★ What do you use for reference for creating character designs/outfits?Pinterest boards, DeviantART, Google Images, anything I can get my hands on! DA in particular has a lot of wonderful and creative artists who make fantasy character adoptables that I like to look at for inspiration. My style of outfit creation in particular is usually very intricate, so one of my go to searches for ideas are Genshin Impact characters, both official and fanmade.★ Can I participate in this universe my making my own fan OCs/guilds or writing fanfiction?YES, ABSOLUTELY! I have no qualms with that, you are more than welcome to contribute to the ATS universe! Of course there are a couple rules with that, most importantly being if you’re going to share your ATS creation with other people please credit me (either my main tumblr @shima-draws or my ATS specific blog, @star-ruler-shima). People need to know that while your creation is original it’s part of my universe and that’s something you don’t own, all the rights go to me for that. Please don’t make me have to report you for not being respectful, crediting is super easy and simple and it takes like two seconds.There's more info about creating your own ATS character under the OC Template tab, so head over there if you want to know more!★ What do you draw with/what art programs do you use?I have an Intuos Wacom tablet and use Paint Tool SAI primarily, and Photopea for any extra effects.★ Do you take commissions?Yes! I have a website for that as well, you can check out all the info here!★ Do you do art trades and collaborations?Yes! But only with friends, mutuals, or people I know/have talked to before, sorry!★ Are your ATS characters on Art Fight?They sure are! If you click the home tab, there's a link to my Art Fight page from there.★ Can I repost your ATS art?No, absolutely not. DON’T REPOST MY ART. ANYWHERE. UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. If any of you happen to see my art on any other site besides my Tumblr or Instagram page, i.e. Facebook, Pinterest, DeviantArt, etc. PLEASE TELL ME so I can report the person who reposted. This is non-negotiable; I’m not going to be nice about this. This especially goes for my ATS universe. Especially that. It’s very personal to me, I worked hard on it and I treasure my characters a lot, so I’m highly uncomfortable with anybody posting them to other sites.★Can I use your art as a reference, redraw, etc.?Using it as a loose reference is perfectly fine, but please don't trace or straight up copy my art.★ Can I use your art as an icon?My regular art is fine but as for art of my ATS characters, nope, sorry. Unless you have special permission from me to use my ATS art as an icon, it’s not allowed.★ Can I ask you more questions about ATS (or anything in general)?Of course, I love answering questions about ATS, anytime anywhere! The easiest place to get in touch with me is through my main tumblr (@shima-draws). I'm very active there and check my inbox regularly (which is open 24/7) so hmu if you're curious about anything!If there's anything else you want to discuss, don't hesitate to reach out! I love you all, thanks so much for all your support and love for my silly universe!
★ LORE ★
The world of ATS spreads across various regions (and worlds!). Humans, known as non-elementals, make up the majority of the population. After that are elementals, people born with special abilities that can use elemental magic. And lastly, there are elemental creatures/monsters as well. Most monsters aren’t overly intelligent or sentient, and are usually hunted for food, sport, or farming for magical power.Elemental magic has fifteen distinct types, and most people are born with one specific type! However, they differ from person to person, so there’s a broad range of how they’re used. One water elemental can use the ocean tide to their advantage, while another may prefer freezing water and using ice-based attacks. There’s a countless number of ways an elemental can use their power—just use your imagination! The elements are divided into different categories: natural, environmental, spiritual, and universal. The natural elements are water, fire, land and sky, the four basic elements. The environmental elements are forest, metal, dragon, and lightning–they pull from the environment. The spiritual elements are darkness, light, psychic and combat. All of these have to do with the body and mind, and can also draw power from the surrounding areas. And lastly, universal elements are considered the rarest and arguably the most powerful—this being space, time, and stars. Being able to utilize these elements is difficult since they’re on such a large scale.There are some special cases where people are born with two elemental abilities. They’re known as dual users! However, they’re extremely rare and meeting one is considered a miracle. And, legend says that there exists one person who can use three elements—but this is just a myth, nobody knows if it’s really true or not. (Hint: it is.)People within the ATS verse worship one common deity, the person said to have created all life. He’s known as Lord Arkeun, and along with shaping the land and conceptualizing the elements, he also gave birth to the mythically fabled Grandmasters who are the “pillars” of the world and keep the land thriving. The myths say that the Grandmasters are immortal, all powerful, and are gifted with two elements each, making them all dual users. Legends state that if one were to be killed, the entire world as we know it would just collapse–without the pillars to guide it and uphold it, the land cannot survive. The Grandmasters have supposedly existed since the beginning of their world’s creation, and conceal themselves from people in order to protect themselves. Thus, most people haven’t even heard of them or doubt they even exist—but they do! They just live in hiding, or in plain sight, since they can take on the appearance of humans. They are a very well-kept secret, for if enemies were to find out about their existence it could cause worldwide havoc.Several millennia after the world and the Grandmasters came into existence, unrest and fighting began to break out between the non-elementals and the elementals. There was an obvious tip in the power balance between humans and elementals, with humans being at a clear disadvantage. Greedy elementals began to flaunt their power and oppress humans, causing a great amount of unrest. Resentment towards elementals began to rise, with regular humans being outraged that they were treated so unfairly and weren’t as revered as the elementals, and were frustrated that they weren’t able to be gifted with magical power (not to mention that they feared elementals for their power, leading to the huge power imbalance). Large bands of humans began to gather together and target elementals, creating an enormous uproar that soon led to violence and eventually mass murder and massacre. Humans were hellbent on getting the justice and equality they deserved, so they began to kill as many elementals as they could. Eventually this escalated so much that war was breaking out around every corner, leading to worldwide chaos. Both sides lost many people during the war, and Lord Arkeun decided to break his “No intervention” policy and create a subset of the Grandmasters, known as Rulers!Rulers aren’t as nearly as powerful as Grandmasters, of course, but they were specifically brought about to protect the world out in the open (unlike the Grandmasters who cannot reveal themselves) and end the war. So, they aren’t really figures to be messed with! Lord Arkeun decided to put a limit on how many Rulers there would be in order to keep things better organized and less violent in the end, so he held a grand competition for a relative amount of people (30, two of each elemental type) to see who would emerge victorious and claim the title of “Ruler”. There were only 10 slots, meaning only 10 people in the competition would come out on top and have their element recognized as one of the “gifted”. In the end, the 10 people who won the competition received their Ruler status and immortality. These 10 elements chosen were land, sky, water, fire, forest, darkness, light, space, time, and stars. As for the five remaining—dragon, psychic, combat, metal, and lightning—Lord Arkeun took these remaining elements and later on created what’s known as the Legendary Beasts. Similar to Rulers, just not as well known and not really viewed as the “heroes” of the world, they live up to their namesake and disguise themselves in human form occasionally as well. One of these Beasts, Topaz, the Beast of Combat, becomes the main villain in Shima’s story arc later on!After the Rulers were crowned, Lord Arkeun gave them their mission: to stop the war between the non-elementals and elementals, by any means possible. However it was more difficult than they originally thought it would be…while they were successful in stopping the war, many of them got caught up in the fighting and were killed in battle. Still inexperienced and not fully trained, they were unable to survive. Only their leader, the original Ruler who was labeled as the “true winner” of the competition and was granted his Ruler status first, survived.Almost 1000 years later, a catalyst was set off that eventually leads to the main conflict in Shima’s story arc. The Beast of combat, Topaz, was once known as a respected, wise, and powerful leader who respected his region’s wishes for peace, but he suddenly turned primal for no apparent reason and began to wage a war with whoever he encountered. Over the years he has continued to build up his Maligo Army, intent on destroying the land and its very foundation by tearing it apart with war and bloodshed. He began what’s known as the Great War, which is still going on in the current timeline.
✦ TERMINOLOGY ✦
✦ Elemental: A human being born with one of the 15 types of elemental magic.✦ Dual-type Elemental: A human who possesses two types of elemental magic. They are incredibly rare and are regarded as a miracle.✦ Guild: An organization dedicated to serving the population, made up of members who take on mission requests. These requests can range from simple assistance to locals or massive manhunts for criminals with large bounties on their heads. All mission requests come with a reward, so most people involved in guilds can make an honest living this way.✦ Guildmaster: The leader of a guild. They oversee all of the guild's activities and members. One must undergo intensive training in order to even qualify for the Guildmaster position, which can take up to ten or more years. Guildmasters possess astonishing strength, and are considered the top of their class when it comes to using elemental magic.✦ Chief Assistant: The assistant of a Guildmaster. They are normally the ones running the guild, and must be able to take over the Guildmaster position in case of an emergency. There can be more than one chief assistant in a guild. Not all of them take over the Guildmaster position once they are qualified, but it isn't unusual for one to succeed their Guildmaster once they have retired.✦ Guild Member: A member of a guild. Once they are officially instated, they can take on any manner of requests at their own discretion. Guild members vary in age range and skill, and can rise up the ranks to take on more difficult mission requests. Senior guild members are among the most respected and are go-to people for advice, and rookie members are always looked after by other guild members.✦ Guild Team: A group of guild members who like working together on missions. This group can be comprised of friends, family members, or just people whose elemental skills work well together. Closely knit teams usually have a name of some sort to be addressed by.✦ Mission Request License: An official license stating that you are allowed to take on a mission request from a guild. These can be obtained even by people who aren't guild members (i.e. freelancers), so anybody is capable of doing missions. People under the age of 16 receive a minor license and must be accompanied by an adult on missions until they're old enough to handle requests on their own.✦ Grandmaster: A mythical and legendary figure who is said to be "A pillar of the very world's foundation". Seven of them exist in total, and they are said to hold the full power of elemental magic. They are truly eldritch beings who have existed since the world's creation, and disguise themselves as humans in order not to be detected.✦ Ruler: A subset of the Grandmasters, Rulers are skilled elementals with extraordinary abilities whose sole purpose is to protect humanity out in the open. Unlike the grandmasters, however, Rulers are human, and were gifted their power by Lord Arkeun himself (they are also noticeably weaker than Grandmasters, who are considered the Gods of Elemental Magic). There are always ten of them in total, and each holds the power of a separate magic element. They are naturally drawn together by fate.✦ Legendary Beast: The remaining five holders of powerful elemental magic. They are moreso regarded as local deities rather than public figures like the Rulers are. Each of them have a human form and a beastly one, and serve humanity from the shadows.✦ The Elemental Massacre: The massacre that occurred 1,000 years ago due to the conflict between humans and elementals, where elementals were the main target. The slaughter was immeasurable, and eventually things escalated so much that the Rulers had to be created to put a stop to the fighting.✦ The Great War: The conflict taking place in the current day, brought on by the Legendary Beast Topaz's corrupt hunger for power. Compared to the Elemental Massacre, the Great War is on a much smaller scale, but there are still plenty of towns and cities caught in the crossfire.✦ Maligo Army: Topaz's followers, and the main group causing so much destruction and bloodshed. They are dedicated to their master and carrying out his orders. Within the Maligo Army's ranks are an elite group of elementals in charge of the whole operation.✦ Novune Forces: Years after the Maligo Army's demise, the Novune Forces rise up to take their place and finish what they started. They're specifically focused on the experimentation of dual-elementals and bringing out the full potential of their power.✦ Python's Blood: An underground crime organization which harbors all sorts of shady characters. They run a network of illegal elemental gear trade, gambling, and fight rings. The group was later forcibly dissolved by one of their own members, though many of them still remain in hiding.
✦ ELEMENTAL ABILITIES ✦
This is a list of some basic abilities each elemental has. Keep in mind that the majority of elementals only have 2-3 of these skills (unless they're absurdly powerful), so choose wisely when making your own ATS OC! Also, this list is not all-encompassing, so if you come up with something that is absent on the list, feel free to use it!
Natural Elements
Land
✦ Can burrow beneath the earth
✦ Can turn the ground into quicksand
✦ Use powerful vibrations to stun enemies
✦ Create earthquakes, fissures, and mudslides
✦ Can create gems and various crystals
✦ Powers of geomancy
✦ Petrify enemies by turning them into stone
✦ Have a seismic sense so they can detect movement on the ground
✦ Create shields of magic
Water
✦ Can create, shape, and manipulate water
✦ Use gas or steam to cloud surroundings
✦ Freeze water and form it into ice for ice-based attacks
✦ Summon rainstorms or blizzards
✦ Breathe underwater
✦ Can walk or skate on water
✦ Heal others using water with healing properties
✦ Enhanced combat inside bodies of water
✦ Water absorption
✦ Form weapons out of water
Fire
✦ Can burn or melt through objects
✦ Summon lava/magma from within the earth
✦ Heat absorption from both animate/inanimate objects
✦ Create smokescreens
✦ Breathe out flames through the mouth
✦ Pyrotechnics (fireworks)
✦ Heat manipulation (AKA different colors of fire: different intensities of heat)
✦ Create explosions
✦ Fire absorption
✦ Fire propulsion (i.e. Used for combat techniques such as hovering, dodging, running, jumping, etc.)
✦ Welding objects together using intense heat
Sky
✦ Ability to fly or hover
✦ Suck out all the air in a room or specific space
✦ Create air bubbles to breathe in places inaccessible (i.e. in water)
✦ Create mini storms, tornadoes, and hurricanes
✦ Use powerful wind currents/gusts
✦ Detect air currents around objects and people
✦ Manipulate air currents so that the user is undetectable
✦ Enhanced senses (hearing, smell)
✦ Enhanced speed
✦ Control air pressure to crush enemies or cause vibrations
✦ Manipulate air quality to either purify or poison it
Environmental Elements
Forest
✦ Grow/wilt all manner of plants and herbs and control them
✦ Create poisons out of poisonous plants and mushrooms
✦ Utilize specific plants to attack and maneuver (i.e. vines for binding foes, roots and tree branches for tripping up opponents, using seeds as magical bombs, etc.)
✦ Heal others using the power of nature
✦ Grow different kinds of flowers
✦ Can communicate with nature to better detect their surroundings
✦ Typically have a close relationship with magical creatures and can "tame" them
✦ Use sap or amber to ensnare and set traps for opponents
✦ Use pollen to cloud surroundings. Also slow down enemies, put them to sleep, or choke them
✦ Can camouflage well in plant-themed environments
Metal
✦ Can manipulate all types of metal into distinctive shapes and forms
✦ Liquify or solidify metal
✦ Form metal into usable weapons
✦ Harness and use the power of rust
✦ Form a shield over one's own body of metal for high defense
✦ Able to negate certain types of elemental magic (i.e. lightning)
✦ Can apply magnetism to certain objects and people
✦ Petrify enemies by turning them into metal
✦ Use metals that are considered poisonous to deal with enemies
Dragon
✦ Ability to fly or hover
✦ Can manifest dragon-like qualities (i.e. wings, horns, tails, claws, etc.)
✦ Have an enhanced sense of smell and/or sight (especially at night)
✦ Can detect the presence of others
✦ Breathe magic to attack (similar to fire) and produce blasts of draconic energy
✦ Heal others using draconic energy
✦ Sense the flow of energy in living and non-living beings and direct that flow
✦ Enhanced strength and/or speed
✦ Repel/shield attacks with dragon scales (AKA enhanced defensive tactics)
Lightning
✦ Can harness and control lightning/electricity
✦ Can cause powerful reactions with static
✦ Summon thunderstorms
✦ Discharge large amounts of electricity to shock and stun opponents
✦ Completely paralyze enemies and render them frozen
✦ Can burn enemies or objects with quick lightning strikes
✦ Create electric fields and detect motion through them
✦ Temporarily gain control of someone through their own electrical fields
✦ Can redirect and absorb other sources of electricity (AKA a lightning rod)
✦ Give others an energy boost using an electric charge
✦ Use electricity to greatly enhance speed, almost to the point of teleportation
Spiritual Elements
Psychic
✦ Ability to read minds
✦ Levitation
✦ Can speak with others telepathically and broadcast their thoughts
✦ Able to read/predict the movements of others
✦ Psychic visions of the past/future
✦ Astral projection
✦ Telekinesis
✦ Can project their mind into somebody else’s consciousness to see things through their eyes
✦ Memory manipulation
Combat
✦ Superb combat abilities
✦ Power/strength enhancement
✦ Defense enhancement
✦ Mobility/reflex enhancement
✦ Excellent weapon proficiency
✦ Can summon weapons from an elemental magic pocket
✦ Physical invincibiliity
✦ Able to sense other people's presence
✦ Can counter or cancel out physical/magical attacks
✦ Can detect opponents' weaknesses
Darkness
✦ Become intangible and slip into the shadows
✦ Control others through their shadows
✦ Imitate others by using their shadow
✦ Completely enshroud a space in darkness
✦ Use shadows as a weapon to attack and defend
✦ Have enhanced eyesight in dark areas/when it's nighttime
✦ Can cause a "blackout" in another person, making them lose one of their senses (i.e. sight, hearing, etc.)
✦ Use shadows to act as platforms or hiding spots
Light
✦ Ability to turn invisible by reflecting light
✦ Enhanced vision
✦ Create any manner of light to fight enemies (i.e. balls of light, large bursts of light, pinpointed rays of light, etc.)
✦ Heal and/or purify others
✦ Can blind opponents by completely bathing an area in light
✦ Provide defense by using shields of light
✦ Create simple illusions by bending light
✦ Subdue others by reducing their life force
✦ Enhanced agility (due to going "light speed")
Universal Elements
Space
✦ Can store items in pocket dimensions
✦ Shapeshift (most space elementals can only shift certain parts of their bodies, only truly powerful ones can fully shift)
✦ Can open portals to different parts of the world and travel between them
✦ Gravity manipulation
✦ Are able to warp the space of multiple things, from something as small as a coffee mug to as large as an entire room
✦ Can see into alternate realities/timelines (time users can do this as well)
✦ A spare few can actually travel between alternate realities/timelines
✦ Instant teleportation
✦ Create small objects out of matter (mostly used for attacking/defending)
Time
✦ Stop time (this involves manipulating people or objects frozen in time. It doesn't even have to be on a broad scale, either, time users could freeze one object in time while everything else continues around them.)
✦ Rewind time
✦ Go forward in time
✦ Make time progress faster
✦ Make time progress slower
(These involve accelerating or decelerating motion itself)
✦ Visions of the future or the past/foresight
✦ Create time loops
Stars
✦ General cosmic themed attacks surrounding the use of mini planets, comets, and stars (i.e. Meteor summoning for aoe attacks, controlling trajectory of comets for fast strike attacks, starbursts for blowback damage, etc.)
✦ Can create black holes to suck things into
✦ Gravity manipulation
✦ Floating/flying ability
✦ Using healing stardust
✦ Can create specific orbits around objects or people
✦ Can read the stars to predict the future (so, fortunetelling, but actually accurate)
✦ Have an excellent sense of direction due to being connected with the stars (and "true north")
★ ORIGINAL ATS CHARACTER TEMPLATE ★
Here is a basic template/guideline on creating your own ATS OC! Now that you have all the worldbuilding knowledge under your belt, you can make your own guilds and elementals to your heart's content.IMPORTANT: If you do share your ATS OC anywhere online you MUST credit me by either linking back to my main tumblr (@shima-draws) or the official ATS tumblr (@star-ruler-shima). Participating in the ATS universe is more than welcomed, but please be courteous when doing so.If there's specific things that need more explaining, or if you're confused about any of the terminology, the basic terms listed here are discussed more in length on the lore tab. So head there if you have questions!As a general rule of thumb most canon ATS characters are human, but you can absolutely make an OC of another species. I adore seeing any and all ATS fanworks, so please tag me on any of my social media sites if you want me to see your creations! 💕
General
Name (a lot of my ATS OCs don’t have last names so don’t feel the need to give your OC one if you don’t want to):Age:Gender:Sexuality:Eye color (Reminder: Dual types usually have heterochromatic eyes):Hair color:Any distinguishing features?:Birthday/Sign:Relationship status:Background info (this can be anything from backstory to relationships to other characters, any family ties, etc. You are more than welcome to tie them into canon characters as long as you don’t alter any canon character backstories/canon relationships!):Timeline
Currently situated (either the main series timeline/arc–the Chosen Star arc, or 20 years after the main arc ends and all of Team Star has grown up–the Next Generation):Magic
Elemental type (Note that there are 15 types in total, and keep in mind that dual types are extremely rare. There are no characters with more than two elemental types. The fifteen elements are land, sky, water, fire, forest, lightning, dragon, metal, psychic, combat, darkness, light, space, time, and stars. You also have the option to make your OC a non-elemental):Elemental abilities:Main weapon (nothing modern (guns specifically), if you need to pick from a list, there are swords, rapiers, knives/daggers, axes, scythes, clubs, hammers, maces, rods/staffs, spears, bows, whips, etc. If your character is not a fighting type, you can list their weapon as N/A. If they only fight with elemental magic, you can list their weapon as magic):Affiliation
Guild (feel free to make your own! Most guilds are named after gemstones, though you can always put a twist on it. Some canon guild name examples are Emeraude, Asterstone, and Spinelrose. If your OC is not part of a guild you can fill out this section with N/A):Role in guild (Guildmaster, Chief Assistant (there can be more than one, and they have to be capable of taking over the Guildmaster position for brief periods of time when needed), Healer, Star Rank Guild Member (basically higher class, more powerful guild members capable of taking on difficult missions in the field), Guild Member):Are they involved in an evil organization? Which one? (Python’s Blood: Underground crime organization, Maligo Army: Main timeline antagonists, set on achieving power, Novune Forces: Next Generation antagonists, inspired by the Maligo Army to finish what they started, or you can make your own! N/A if your character is a good kid and not involved in evil):Personality
Basic info:Likes/dislikes (this can be in general or regarding their morals):D&D Alignment (Lawful good, neutral good, etc.):Positive character traits:Negative character traits:Bonus fun question, what seven deadly sin are they?:Extra
Any extra information you’d like to share? (Hobbies, secrets, goals, favorite foods, height, weight, hairstyle, favorite season, etc.):