OOC=APPLICATION OF EDICTUM

[rebellions]

Player: Lycoris
Contact: psychelocks | psychelocks @ discord
Age: Old (30+)
Pronoun: she
Timezone: GMT+1
Current Characters / Invited by: n/a / mod invitation

Character Name: Ragna the Bloodedge
Character Canon: BlazBlue
Canon Point: Post BlazBlue: Centralfiction.
Age: Not stated; estimated to be around 23.

Crime:

Destroying the world

In his canon, Ragna is the Destroyer of the World, which is exactly what it says on the tin: it means he's destined to destroy the world. Explaining how or why it's that way would take a lot of time, but long story short, the world itself considers him a threat and will do everything in its power to get rid of him, much like an immune system would react to an infection. Ragna himself has no interest in pursuing the total destruction and genocide, however (well, ~90% of the time, at least), and one of the main themes of his story is going against his pre-determined future. Due to the nature of repeating time loops, he ends up failing hundreds of thousands of times, turning into the Black Beast and killing all of humanity, though not of his own volition. In an ironic twist, at the end of the series the world does get destroyed, though not by his hand - instead, Ragna is the one to sacrifice himself to rebuild it and free it from its fate once and for all.

... So that's the main one, but it's by no means his only crime; Ragna is the most wanted criminal in his world's history, responsible for, in no particular order:

• terrorism,
  
• murder,
  
• manslaughter,
  
• destruction of public property and government facilities,
  
• assault on public officials,
  
• obstruction of justice,
  
• conspiring to overthrow the government,
  
• theft,
  
• fare evasion,
  
• dine-and-dashing

... the list goes on. He made it his life mission to destroy the organization ruling the whole world, which doesn't exactly lend itself to living his life as a law-abiding citizen. He's not proud of the more petty entries on that list (listen, the dine-and-dash incident was not intentional...), but he has no regrets about the more extreme ones.

Background: Wiki link

CRAU from expiationlogs:

Having put a lot of effort into making sure he dies for good, Ragna did not take kindly to being forcefully brought back to life. He quickly adapted his usual MO, doing his best to not get attached to anyone so when he'd have no regrets when he inevitably died... and he failed at it just as quickly, developing bonds and attachments that he'd totally deny being a thing. So joke's on him. He then proceeded to make life more difficult than necessary for everyone, mostly by committing acts of terrorism (like blowing up the city hall) and constantly going against any authority imposed on him by the world… and overseeing the local church. At the same time, he sympathized with the AI running the place (in addition to not being fully convinced it's not the same one who'd run his own world), so eventually he decided to try and find a way to both save that world from being stuck in that uncertain state and protect the people he cared for.

Which sounds nice on paper, but is a lot harder to accomplish when your very existence threatens to turn into a giant, world-destroying monster, which of course did happen when an arm he lost came back as the Black Beast. Naturally, Ragna rushed to sacrifice himself to protect others, though it did little to help the world as a whole in the long run...

Since he will not retain the detailed memories of Expi's plot, he won't remember the parts about the AI beyond the vague feeling that he was supposed to do something important… and the suspicion that the whole Black Beast fiasco might have caused the world to reset, as had been the case many times in his own canon. So he'll blame himself for this mess, but don't expect him to disclose that any time soon ─ he's still stubbornly doing the "trust no one and be an asshole" thing.

Personality:

Let's talk about first impressions, because Ragna the Bloodedge fails to make a good one. Grumpy, rude, sardonic, foul-mouthed and generally unpleasant ─ that is likely going to be your experience with him. He's quite a malcontent on top of that, constantly voicing his displeasure with one thing or the other. It doesn't help that he's got an extremely short fuse ─ it's almost laughably easy to rile him up, and he'll always be the first to pick a fight with others. Not just verbal ones, because Ragna tends to be liberal with the use of violence, too. He rarely plans ahead, and instead charges into things blindly, which gets him into trouble more often than not. He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, either; he's never been a book-smart type and doesn't give things much thought, which combined with his hair-trigger temper only makes it easier for others to drive him over the edge. Overall, Ragna comes off as an aggressive jerk.

Given all that, it's little wonder Ragna makes a rather poor team player. In fact, he's more of a lone wolf who actively avoids human contact and tries to keep people at an arm's distance. He's not eager to trust anyone, and it can take a long while for him to warm up even to the nicest of people. Being stubborn as he is, Ragna finds it near impossible to accept help from other unless he has no other choice ─ and even then he's more likely to scoff at the person lending him a hand rather than thank them. Not only because of his distrust, but also because he's too proud to admit he might need assistance, seeing that as a sign of weakness. But most of all, Ragna is a strong-willed individual. It doesn't matter whether everyone tells him the situation is hopeless or he's been beaten to a pulp and can no longer stand up ─ he simply refuses to give up. His rebellious nature means he will stand up to anything or anyone he disagrees with and won't accept defeat. While admirable, being so driven isn't always a good thing; after all, at the beginning of the series Ragna was motivated by his hatred, rage and desire for revenge, leading him to become quite ruthless and indifferent to other people. At the same time, it means that once he finds things or people worth protecting, he will do anything in his power to keep them safe, even at the cost of his life. He's a man of his word, after all, so once he makes a promise, you can be sure he will keep his end of the bargain.

Beneath all that grouchiness, arrogance and anger management issues, however, Ragna really isn't a bad person. In fact, he's a surprisingly kind individual to people he likes and won't hesitate to go out of his way for their sake. For someone who's killed hundreds of people in his pursuit of revenge, he can be quite compassionate, too, and although he doesn't forgive easily (if at all), he eventually learns there are other things other than vengeance that are worth pursuing. He's nothing if not generous, too ─ he often agrees to treat Tao to meals, even if he usually ends up spending the money he doesn't have. He cares deeply for those dear to him, especially his little siblings, Jin and Saya. He's always been very protective of them and valued their happiness and well-being far more than his own. They mean the world to him, which is why losing them caused him to become consumed by his grief and rage ─ and why in the end, he was ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of creating a world where they could be happy. His goodwill extends beyond his family, too, and in many cases he truly does mean well ─ he's just really bad at expressing it and is likely to offend someone he's trying to help. While he tries to appear tough, his heart is way softer than he'd like to admit.

So what does that all amount to? Sure, Ragna is a perpetually bitter and ill-mannered person, which doesn't make him a desirable companion ─ and as far as he's concerned, that's for the better. But under that thick layer of grouchiness and sarcasm, one will find a strong, determined man with a heart of gold that will stop at nothing to protect the people he holds dear (even if he's an asshole about it). He may be short-tempered and impatient, but even he can act like a decent, civil human being. Sometimes. And even when he decides to throw death threats around like they're going out of style, his bark will always be worse than his bite.

Abilities:

Ragna is a very skilled and experienced fighter with sharp senses, so while it's not impossible, it's difficult to slip past his guard without him noticing. He's well-versed in hand-to-hand combat, as well as an expert swordsman, though his fighting style relays mostly on brute strength rather than any elaborate strategy. His weapon of choice is a huge sword named Aramasa, which can also be wielded as a scythe; in spite of it being a big, heavy chunk of metal, Ragna can swing or even toss it up effortlessly, evidently making him stronger than an average person.

The main source of his combat prowess, however, is the Azure Grimoire in his possession. Despite its name, it doesn't take a form of a book, but rather replaces Ragna's right arm that he lost. Described as "the strongest Grimoire in existence", it allows its wielder to tap into the power of the Azure ─ the source of all knowledge, existence and the power to make possibilities possible. Essentially, when activated, the Azure Grimoire (aka BlazBlue) enhances the user's physical strength, endurance, speed and other abilities by drawing the power from the Boundary (a world connected to the BlazBlue universe via the gates called Cauldrons). Thanks to the Grimoire, Ragna has also gained the ability to use Ars Magus ─ a combination of magic and science that allows one to utilize seithr (a substance originating from the Boundary, present in the air in the canon) to activate a variety of spells, such as barriers for defense, picking locks, camouflaging one's presence or even sending messages. Furthermore, he's acquired a Drive ─ a unique ability developed by those whose souls are close to the Azure; Ragna's one is called Soul Eater and as the name suggests it allows him to absorb parts of other people's souls and use them to heal himself if needed; later in the series, Ragna uses it to absorb people's dreams and memories as well. Soul Eater attacks manifest in shapes of dark, beastly claws and jaws. His Overdrive, Blood Kain Idea, serves as a further enhancement of Soul Eater. Finally, the Azure Grimoire gives him incredible healing ability ─ Ragna can recover from most wounds, even those that would otherwise be fatal, such as being impaled or falling to the ground from great heights. In fact, the healing factor is so absurdly strong that poisons have no effect on him. However, it should be noted it by no means make him immortal or indestructible, as even the Grimoire cannot help him regrow lost limbs, and it might take it considerable time to heal damage done directly to his soul, such as that caused by magic.

Needless to say, such amazing power comes with many drawbacks. As the Grimoire itself is a Cauldron, it constantly devours the souls of those around, so touching it or even staying at Ragna's side for an extended period of time may have terrible consequences, thus making his lonely lifestyle not only a choice, but a necessity. The Grimoire requires seithr to function, and while it usually isn't an issue due to it being connected to Boundary, which is filled with limitless seithr, some circumstances, such as the presence of Celica A. Mercury, may cause the flow of seithr to stop; in such case, not only does Ragna lose all Grimoire-connected powers, but even the ability to move his right arm or see with his right eye. However, he has since received an upgrade that allows him to counter the effects of Celica's presence, but since it's tuned to her specifically, other things can still distort the Grimoire's functions. Furthermore, the Grimoire has some nasty side-effects: namely, using Soul Eater shortens the user's lifespan, which means that fighting with it slowly kills Ragna. On top of that, the Grimoire itself is eroding, which manifests by its black color spreading over his torso, and eventually face. It is implied the erosion will have ill consequences and that Ragna "doesn't have much time left". Finally, there's a matter of Ragna's control over the Grimoire ─ should he lose it, the Grimoire would go haywire, turning Ragna into the Black Beast ─ a giant monster that seeks to devour every living being in its vicinity, which had once killed half of humanity and threatened to destroy the whole world. On top of that, it is nearly invincible, as most weapons had no effect on it in addition to its abilities to regenerate itself and travel across large distances by seemingly seeping into the ground itself. It doesn't help that chopping off a part of the beast creates the risk of said part growing into a separate, smaller version of the monster. Although creating a complete Beast requires fusing an Azure Grimoire with a Murakumo Unit, even an incomplete one is a formidable foe capable of wreaking havoc and killing most of its opponents. The Grimoire usually goes out of control either as the result of Ragna abusing its powers, or in response to Ragna's strong emotions; it can also be achieved by a third party, such as when Izanami forcibly turned Ragna into the Black Beast at the end of BlazBlue: Chronophantasma.

Lastly, Ragna possesses a Life-Link shared with Nu-13; simply put, a person with a Life-Link cannot die as long as the other person they share it with remains alive. Even if they were to receive mortal wounds, they would simply revive after some time. The only way to override it is to kill both parties at the same time. Considering Nu-13 isn't present in the game and death works a little differently here anyway, I'm gonna say this won't apply in the game.

Speaking of things that require tweaks, let's address the elephant in the room that is the whole "turning into a mindless killing machine monster that destroys the world" part: obviously, even if Ragna were to turn into the Black Beast in the game, it would not be capable of the destruction on the scale presented in canon, nor would it be anywhere near as durable. Should it come to that, I would contact the mod team about the details, but for the time being, it's safe to assume there will be no world-endangering shenanigans for the foreseeable future. unless you want it to be

Inventory: The clothes on his back and his sword-slash-scythe, Aramasa.

Samples: sample #1 | sample #2

Questions: 👀