application for acatalepsy

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OOC INFO;

NAME: Shay
AGE: 28
CONTACT: antiquating
CHARACTERS IN GAME: N/A

IC INFO;

CHARACTER NAME: Horō
AGE: Approximately 20
CANON Toukiden: Kiwami
CANON POINT Post-Game
HISTORY: Wiki link
Additionally, the page for the Player Character contains a little more information about the main plot of the game.
PERSONALITY: Horō has always had a single highest-priority order: to defeat the Oni, the demons that destroyed her world and countless others, at any cost. This directive has controlled her entire existence from her creation to the present, shaping her personality and her interpersonal relationships completely.

Despite her combat skill, she has very little common sense. Poorly socialized and knowing little about the times and places she ends up in, she behaves oddly in normal situations, sees things very clinically, and is ignorant to a lot of customs, mores, or traditions others might take for granted. This lack of emotional intelligence is compounded: Her origins in another, technologically advanced world far different from any other, her constantly skipping forward in time, and the effect of being forgotten by all eras she once lived in all roll together to create one walking social disaster. She butchers idioms, calls people “dear friends” within five minutes of meeting them, and ends serious conversations by announcing how hungry she is (she is, after all, a voracious eater). She has no problem talking to Tenko, the sprit foxes that hang around the village, as if it were completely normal, and she has a habit of clinically analyzing everything she encounters.

More than a few of these bizarre behaviors can be traced back to the long-buried memories of her origins. Her desire to become fast friends with everyone she meets stems from her relationship with Obito, the first Great Unifier (“Annointed Innovator” in the Wiki, which is a more direct translation from the original Japanese) and one of the first demon Slayers. She met Obito soon after arriving in his world; because she was a foreigner and he was sequestered away because people feared his powers, they were each an early kind face for one another. Obito became Horō’s first friend, and she hasn’t forgotten the importance of friendship, even when amnesiac. Because Chitose, the other original Slayer and Horō's "little sister," taught her how to talk to Tenko, she loves the small fox creatures and believes that all living animals deserve respect and identity, even going so far as to insist the protagonist name theirs something.

Some of her “weirdness,” however, is completely innate. Frankly, while Horō is sweet and friendly, she isn’t pleasant to deal with sometimes. Privacy tends to deteriorate in her company as she will walk into anyone’s house at any time if she needs them. Inappropriate advances are typically lost on her, making her quite gullible and susceptible to suggestion—and very awkward if you’re trying to flirt with her. Her speech is sometimes difficult to understand because of its formality and calculated tone. Beyond that, she tends to overindulge whenever presented with luxury, so even though she’s dedicated, she can be a little lazy.

Though some of Horō’s bizarre behavior might be initially attributed to her bad case of amnesia, multiple characters refer to her as strange even after her recovery, and her out of tune responses and behaviors earn laughter and incredulity among her compatriots. Their bonds are already close to unbreakable despite this, and Horō, for her part, is unquestioningly loyal to them in return. In general, the closer she gets to others and the more accustomed she gets to their mannerisms and culture, the more relaxed and less mechanical her speech becomes. She is an eager, curious learner, turning to the expertise of her fellow Slayers in subjects like cooking, world history, and languages.

A pragmatic fighter, but a self-sacrificing one, Horō is capable of making very cruel decisions for the sake of saving the world. In some ways, she needed to ready to make the ultimate sacrifices in pursuit of the only mission that mattered. That was why she was created, after all. It’s never made quite clear to what extent Horō is engineered, but she’s at least in part the Slayer she is today because of modifications to her body. Given her multiple references to “the reason [she] was created” and the fact that she once calls herself “a hollow doll,” she’s probably at least partially artificial. At the very least, Horō carries within her a dangerous mechanical trump card, a physical modification to her body. The modification that allows her to consume and draw power from souls makes her, more than any other slayer, a demon who hunts demons (demons themselves grow more powerful by consuming souls; this is a ‘fight fire with fire’ power). While the scientists who gave Horō her objectives assumed she would be easily able to sacrifice human souls if it meant saving the world, history played out differently.

Horō’s love for humanity eclipses her pragmatism. In all previous encounters with the Metagnost, she chose not to take any souls and instead chased the demon through 1000 years of Japanese history, becoming lost and forgotten every time she moved on. And that’s what’s most important about Horō’s determination and what sets her apart from the demons she slays. She will save the world, no matter the cost, but her empathy means that she’ll find a “cost” which sacrifices herself before it sacrifices others. This attachment to humanity is what ultimately allowed her to aid the game’s protagonist in defeating this dangerous threat once and for all. It is her love for others that stayed her hand before she could absorb their souls, and her own tears—maybe even the first tears she’d ever cried—showcase just how deeply she comes to feel for those she considers friends.

With her long journey is finally over and her first-priority order no longer applicable, I imagine it may be a little difficult for her to readjust her sense of purpose in life. That said, she still has something worth fighting for. During the plot of the game, she was determined to defeat the demons alongside the Slayers, no matter how long they needed to fight, but she envied their commitment, unable to quite understand her own. Eventually, she concluded that everyone fights to protect something they “like” or “love,” and that she must be the same: She likes her friends, and the village, and food, and so will fight to protect them. Therefore, even with the primary threat to her world gone, I believe that she is happy to live her life to its fullest, guarding those things important to her at any cost.

CANON POWERS: As mentioned above, Horō’s body has a mechanical modification that allows it to absorb the souls of humans (thereby killing them) in order to increase her own power. This is a failsafe and the monster it was supposed to defeat is long dead, so I plan to leave this dormant even if powers are reactivated for a world jump.

She has the ability to jump forward – only forward – in time. Again, in the event that characters regain canon powers at a point, I plan to keep this super-nerfed and am happy to work with mods on how to incorporate it if it’s something you are interested in using for plot purposes. Otherwise, it can stay gone.

As a slayer, she can also use four spiritual Support skills, activated by praying to commune with her Mitama (the soul of a dead hero bound to hers that allows her to fight demons):

- Altruism, which buffs defense and attack for anyone near her.
- Diffusion, which shields others from damage and mitigates wounds from severe to minimal.
- Sacrifice, which prevents everyone around her from taking any damage; however, Horō is hurt constantly by having this skill active and takes continuous damage.
- Recovery, which is a very minor self-heal skill.

These Support powers come from her Mitama, which is actually the soul of her good friend Obito. He is able to provide her with magical “boosts” (only 4 at one time) that in turn empower her, giving her buffs extra power or increasing her own parameters. While many of them are game mechanics specific and fairly general, I’ll write them down for a sense of what sorts of abilities might be available to her if powers are regained. They are as follows:

- Novice Destroyer: Builds up power for a special attack faster.
- Altruism + Amplify: Makes the altruism buff stronger.
- Altruism + Destroy: Attack capacities of Altruism’s attack power boost stronger.
- Diffusion + Destroy: Diffusion buff includes an attack power boost.
- Sacrifice + Reduce: Reduces the amount of damage she takes from her sacrifice ability.
- Recuperation 2 Increases her rate of healing from minor injuries.
- Heroes’ Rally: Lets her use her skills more often.
- Lifesaver: When reviving an ally, they get more health back.
- Protection of Heroes: Sometimes grants another chance to use an ability.
- Piety: Makes it easier to purify a demon’s remains. So, useless here.
- Altruism Stock +2: Altruism can be used an additional two times before being depleted.

- Heroes’ Guidance: A permanent skill. It increases the wearer’s chance to attract Mitama, the dead souls of lost heroes. It’s obviously fairly useless even if regained in this setting.

OTHER: As mentioned above, Horō is heavily suggested, but never confirmed, to be some sort of artificial being like an android or homunculus. I do play her as if she were not entirely human; however, I don’t use that to sneak in super strength or any other physical advantages. It’s basically all about how I interpret the way she fits into the world, but I thought it was worth mentioning since it’s partially headcanon!

Horō also appears in Warriors All-Stars, a Samurai Warriors style hack-and-slash game, with a couple other characters from Toukiden. The game has its own canon story, but it’s sort of an AU offshoot, so Horō is not aware of those events. I do however occasionally pull some personality influences from that game, as her history is the same!

Finally, I'm not sure if she would have her Mitama still inside her upon arrival or not. Since it's like. A soul. Bound up in hers, it's not exactly an item and more like a part of her.

GAME INFO;

CRAU INFO: N/A
MAGIC ABILITY: Variety is the Spice of Life:

This is a food buff power!

In short, foods that Horō eats will imbue her with special abilities depending on their flavor. She really is a support-class fighter! To keep things simple and non-game breaking, the buffs will be limited in scope and time. I’m going to say that each food item can only provide a buff based on its main flavor profile. And since Horō eats like a horse, the buffs also have a limitation on how frequently they can be activated.

- Spicy Foods give a five-minute fire-breath buff. Campfire-level of heat and flame production. Can only happen once a day.
- Sour Foods give a five-minute levitation ability. Can only happen once a day.
- Sweet Foods give an increase to speed & agility for 1 hour. Can only happen once a day.
- Savory Foods absorb the damage of a single attack. Can only happen once a day.
- Salty Foods give a strength boost for 1 hour. She can probably life a car Jean Valjean style or thereabouts with this active. Can only happen once a day.
- Umami Foods will heal one wound up to something moderately severe. A broken bone can be healed, but not a missing appendage. Can only happen once a day.

Of course, this leaves plenty of room for growth over time and I understand if the limits need to be tweaked!
ANY WEAPONS/MAGICAL ITEMS?: Her rifle, the Phantom Rifle. This is an 8-chamber weapon that can fire piercing and explosive rounds. She can probably create the ammo herself from raw materials if they are available.

Shots from the Phantom Rifle can also be used to detonate bombs that Horō carries if she throws them at an enemy. But she will not be bringing any bombs with her!
ANY PETS?: No : ( While she’s very attached to the protagonist’s Tenko in canon, I thin we’ll have to say that it does, in fact, belong to the protag themselves.

SAMPLE;

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