Kratos Aurion (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
simulsimul) wrote2016-11-02 07:40 pm
simulsimul) wrote2016-11-02 07:40 pm
a thing; w/ ruinsprofessor & conductingresistance
canon
breached
confessed
dadly
future
grigori
mercenary
MEover
origin
reversal
titans
scenario list
canon: Kratos needs to stop running off
confessed: wing reflex
confessed: actual wingpull
confessed: turning Renegade
confessed: son meets father
dadliness: confrontation
dadliness: awakening
dadliness: illness
dadliness: a fundamental lack of understanding on the word 'abducted'
dadliness: updating parameters
dadliness: assassination assignation
mercenary: hiding in the library
mercenary: aftermath of librarian saviour
reversal: oracle destroyed
titans: storming the tower
titans: safety in the canyon
titans: night horrors
canon
- combo of Kratos and Zelos ending
- Zelos does the stupid thing, but not so far as his death, and is still the eighth member of the party to Derris-Kharlan.
scenarios
scenario one: Yuan tracks Kratos down at Dirk's.
breached
- canon right up until after Botta’s death
- no one uses Yuan’s name around Mithos so Mithos walks right into the Triet base with them
- cue an epic OH SHIT in which Yuan gets a lil bit beat up while covering the evacuation of the rest of the base
- until Kratos appears to intervene and have the Chosen group get Yuan out of there
- Mithos gets Kratos tho and he’s a bit mad cos, yanno, traitor and all
- time to be locked up and punished and need to be rescued
- kind of puts a crimp in the creation of the Eternal Ring plans
- mostly cos Mithos turns Kratos lifeless, with some armour to regulate his mana so he remains a seraph. can't have the seal becoming less powerful, yo
- it does mean he can only obey orders tho
- the first rescue fails miserably but at least no one dies and they know they need to reforge his key-crest
- the second rescue attempt (circumstances of canon-point under percolation) goes a little better, though Yuan almost gets killed by Kratos trying to attach the key-crest
- luckily that and the first telepathy in a while gets through and Kratos manages to break out a la Colette, and heal Yuan enough for Raine to get there
- after which, angreh father-son beatdown on Mithos.
scenarios
None yet.
confessed
- almost successful assassination lands Kratos as an injured stranger in Iselia (1-2 years pre-canon)
- recuperation leads to accidental-on-purpose 'holiday' in Iselia
- doubts result in a request for Dirk to make a key-crest like Kratos' own
- oracle room undergoes some stealth sabotage
- regeneration journey is slightly delayed, prompted by Genis and Lloyd being discovered at the ranch
- Triet is awkward. so very awkward. for the Renegades -- whose side is Kratos even on these days and why was he vanished for two years?
- initial overall journey similar to canon, save that Kratos is a bit less circumspect about advising Colette on how to cope with angel transformations
- there are more overt Dun Wanna Feelings
- then Luin, wherein things happen and the group is in town during the Desian attack. the others naturally want to fight but tis a mite difficult against an army and building-destroying magitech. luckily, angel on their side. unluckily, wingpulls in order to muster the power to cover the townspeoples' retreat
- questions and confessions ensue
- Colette rejects the key crest (for the moment) so there's still hopefully maybe ambiguity about Kratos's position re the last seal
- it wouldn't fit anyway, it's modelled for the hand like Kratos's is because he was a derp and did not specify otherwise, so Lloyd needs to make a thing to make it fit
- slow protective retreat toward Asgard.
scenarios
scenario one: Kratos confesses before Salvation; Raine wants to follow up.
scenario two: Raine's examination of an angel; and also Kratos realises how far he's put his foot in it.
scenario three: Kratos goes to taunt Yuan a little, and also ask for his help.
scenario four: in which Raine makes Kratos tell the children all the things, and Yuan takes too much amusement from it.
dadliness
- Kratos retires in Iselia under the name Irving to raise Lloyd after the death of his wife
- no exsphere. ageing occurs! so does a beard and a braid
- teaches Lloyd swordplay, but on the sly, to avoid the other villagers noticing. his daytime job is weaving
- Lloyd finds the box of their exspheres and wants details. after some prodding by Dirk, Kratos explains how exspheres are made and that one is Anna's life. Lloyd is too young yet, but when Lloyd comes of age (~15) Kratos lets him make his own decision re wearing it
- Lloyd chooses not to wear the exsphere
- Genis befriends Marble and Lloyd meets her, as in canon; this happens before the journey begins, with the fallout
- difference being that Colette is still in the village so they can't be too horrible, so they just demand Lloyd be turned over for a flogging
- Kratos stands in his stead because natch. luckily, they're only mooks and don't recognise the bearded weaver as anyone important
- gives Lloyd his guilt complex early tho
- the oracle happens much the same way except Botta doesn't quite recognise the weirdly familiar bearded swordsman
- he does when he's reporting to Yuan tho
'there was an exceptionally skilled human'
/brief physical description/
/did x other faintly recognizable thing/
and both he and Yuan are aware that Kratos has been awol for a while, so there's a moment of pure silence and dawning 'no, it couldn't be'
- but then obviously one of them has to go make sure
- cue an interruption just out of Triet.
scenarios
scenario one: Yuan feels the need to investigate; this results in Kratos injured and abducted.
scenario two: Yuan realises he can't kill Kratos with his own two hands; Kratos gets mothered.
scenario three: Kratos gets sick on the heels of his recovery. Yuan mothers him some more. Botta disapproves.
scenario four: Kratos recovers and makes an escape attempt. Sort-of.
scenario five: Kratos recovers more and talks to Botta, when not needling Yuan about his lack of preparedness.
scenario six: Sheena's contract takes a slight shift into undercover instead of assassination work.
future
- Aselia is Earth ~10,000 years in the past
- all is peachy-keen except the tree is now underground and the elvens/half-elves/some humans are in hiding in the centre of the planet, hidden thanks to the summon spirits
- Colette is working with humanitarian aid in various impoverished nations
- Zelos is a diplomat in West Asia / Middle East trying to keep the peace
- Yuan is a crotchety lecturer at Cambridge who's also HUGE into environmentalism
- Lloyd and Kratos are having family time in space
- occasionally the trio on Earth meet reincarnations of people they used to know
- but rarely at the same time and almost never in a position where they meet
- but then they start meeting them
- lots of them
- all in the same span of years
- they're starting to think something's hinky
- until the space-elves attack
- and then they know something is hinky.
scenarios
None yet.
grigori
- at some point significantly before canon, Kratos actually calls it quits
- the Church's institution calls him a fallen angel of vengeance
- really he's just going around trying to help people and avoiding being taken back to Cruxis
- assigns himself to the Chosen parties whenever he can, up to Colette
- ????? idk some kind of profit somewhere
scenarios
None yet.
mercenary
- when Yuan visits Kratos at the beach when Lloyd is 3 months old, he does not manage to escape before Anna and Lloyd return
- accidental attachment to this kidlet who likes pulling his hair
- three years later, Yuan can't stand to hold back while Kratos fights Kvar, so he throws caution to the wind to help
- Anna is still killed but they rescue Lloyd and Noishe and both are branded as traitors
- Lloyd is raised as a Renegade with Dad, Uncle Yuan and the extremely reticent Uncle Botta (how dare)
- meanwhile in Tethe'alla Yuan infiltrates the castle as the library archivist
- stays out of sight, mostly, but has a good ear around the politics thanks to recruiting Princess Hilda
- also happens to stumble on Zelos hiding in the library right after his mother's death
- look he's got a 'nephew' he can't just do nothing (even if all he meant was to recommend a book)
- unwittingly accidentally 'adopts' the Tethe'allan Chosen by virtue of being the only one who doesn't treat him like the Chosen
- sometimes Kratos brings Lloyd to visit and basically they're all separate pairs of exasperated bros
- by canon Lloyd and Kratos are wandering mercenaries, helping people on the sly while gathering intel to send back to the Renegades
- Yuan and Zelos are actively building resistance to the Church using inside knowledge
- the ninja are all Renegades
- Colette is escorted by Raine and by the priests
- yes the 'chain up the Chosen and drag her to every seal if necessary' priests
- she meets Lloyd randomly in Triet but Lloyd doesn't know her as the Chosen. they're a bit out of touch on the Journey of Regen timeline
- stuff happens and they keep missing each other up until Palmacosta, which is a warzone between the Desians (and Dorr as their figurehead) and the Renegades (with Neil as their leader)
- Colette wants to help; priests say no
- out come the chains
- Raine objects, but she has no exsphere so what can she do
- btw Genis got caught in the Iselian ranch and tossed in as a traitor to be made a host
- he gets sent to the Palmacosta ranch
- right after Neil manages to take the city, after Colette and Raine leave it, Botta takes the Palmacosta ranch and rescues Genis, among others
- Genis becomes his little shadow and is much preferable to Lloyd, in Botta's opinion
- Lloyd and Kratos are still trying to catch up to Colette to rescue her when they drop by
- Genis hears what they're trying to do and insists on coming along.
scenarios
scenario one: in which Yuan accidentally adopts a Chosen instead of a book from a library.
scenario two: in which Yuan is accidentally-deliberately adopted by the Meltokio Castle Knights.
MEover
- Mass Effect crossover someplace in the realm of 15,000 years after TOS canon
- except started before then, cos elves are really from Feros, planet of the cranky telepathic plant
- got decimated by the protheans trying to assimilate them into their empire
- elves objected, got killed a lot, fled Feros and got stuck in Aselia's orbit
- kinda forgot a few things but planted a seed from the Ferosian mother plant on Aselia
- Origin hasn't forgotten tho, kinda has a grudge against grumblegrumbleprotheansgrumble
- the entirety of TOS happened, and then some
- Kratos, Yuan, Lloyd, Colette and Zelos are the only ones left, but tis okay, they have each other
- somethingsomething natural space disaster, Aselia is destroyed but they manage to move Yggdrasill onto Derris-Kharlan and do a quarian by becoming a roaming ship
- mana is a variant of eezo lbr
- Derris-Kharlan's too big to use the mass relays, but c'mon it generates its own mass effect field so they develop tech to do hops on their own
- they're in no hurry tho, i mean lbr primarily angelic, elf and half-elf population
- so they're just bumming around their local clusters doing thorough investigations on all the things
- so much eezo on their ship
- so much
- suddenly the Normandy running from a reapers comes along to hide behind them
- reapers start shooting
- everyone on Derris-Kharlan objects
- JUDGEMENT IN SPACE
- so much profit and judging of reapers.
scenarios
None yet.
origin
- Kratos tells Lloyd the dad thing in Triet
- dad and son feelings ensue
- they culminate at the Tower of Salvation in Kratos stabbing Yggdrasill in the back
- unfortunately he does not quite die but impales Kratos against a wall and goes berserk on the Chosen party to the point of Yuan stepping in to help
- that is, by threatening to stab Kratos in the back while he's vulnerable (with Kratos's permission)
- Yggdrasill calls his bluff and fails, and Yuan does the thing
- while Yggdrasill is distracted the Chosen's group nail him but good and he retreats
- luckily while heart-stabbing happened, Kratos's cruxis crystal is still intact, and between Raine's healing and Yuan's mana transfusion he survives long enough to be taken to the Triet base and a refresher
- stuff happens in some fashion or other up until opening Origin's seal
- as it turns out, the mana tranfusion has fused the lock, so to speak, and Kratos can't unlock the seal even voluntarily
- only way to get Origin out at this point is to let him fuse with Kratos, so Kratos becomes Origin
- stipulation of this: Kratos refuses to let go of his humanity
- luckily Yuan already has a literal bond with him thanks to the mana transfusion, so with him as his summoner Kratos can keep his humanity, and only use Origin's powers when Yuan summons them
- commitment like woah for a literal eternity
- but hey, they messed up but good and it's the only way they can reunite the worlds.
scenarios
none yet.
reversal
~ 2000 years in, Kratos and Yuan conspire to kill Mithos and succeed, sorta
- he's stuck inside his exsphere, possessing people
- but he manages to survive and while Kratos and Yuan claim Derris-Kharlan for their base, he takes most of the angels as 'fallen', as well as the Eternal Sword
- most of his bases are hidden behind dimensional slips created by the sword - Iselia included
- Origin refuses to trust either Kratos or Yuan with the job, anyhow, and they don't have a summoner
- instead they're forced to fight Cruxis, embroiling the worlds in an angelic war between Cruxis and the new organisation of Chayim
- the Chosen bloodlines are more important to Cruxis than Chayim, but Mithos seals the seals so only the Chosen bloodline can flip the mana switch. Kratos and Yuan need someone to do that until they can reunite them, so the Journey remains an institution, just without compulsory death at the end
- there is angelification tho, if only so Chayim gets more soldiers and so the Chosen can defend themselves against Cruxis
- Kratos sends Anna and Lloyd to Iselia, because even though enemy territory, it's the safest place there is for them
- Anna get word to Kratos that the Desians are using Iselia as a long-term cruxis crystal cultivation location, and that the sword is held there
- her spy succeeds but is intercepted, and Mithos locks down the dimensional slip to prevent exit and access by angels for ~15 years
- Lloyd grows up in a town with a heavy half-elf population and believing he's training to help the good guys
- he has his own cruxis crystal as a host, but doesn't tell his mother due to the faith-based propaganda encouraging hosts not to bring it up or risk the powers not taking
- he wants to help though, so he steals a key-crest to ensure he can fight
- Yuan and Kratos plan to assault the town and shrine but Mithos uses the sword to interrupt travel between worlds, keeping Yuan in Tethe'alla and forcing Kratos to attack Iselia alone.
scenarios
scenario one: Iselia is attacked by Chayim to claim the sword, with the sword already gone
titans
- Yggdrasill captures Kratos before Kvar finds Anna and Lloyd, but after Kratos makes an Eternal Ring
- Yuan figures hell no and raises the Renegades to try and take Derris-Kharlan, rescue Kratos and solve the split-world problem
- the attack fails. a lot.
- Renegades are wiped out, Kratos is still in Cruxis's hands, but Yuan manages to escape with the Eternal Ring
- Cruxis follows him to Triet base, which gets destroyed and the few remaining Renegades scatter
- Botta is still around tho, helping out how he can
- mostly Yuan just goes searching for Lloyd and Anna
- doesn't manage to find them before Kvar does tho, and Kratos hears from Yggdrasill that they're dead
- this is slightly inaccurate, cos Lloyd still winds up rescued by Dirk in Iselia
- where Yuan eventually finds him, not knowing that he's 'supposed' to be dead
- so Yuan settles in Iselia for a bit to watch Lloyd and the Chosen
- cuts and dyes his hair, the whole shebang
- learns how to carpentry, invents a new use of magic
- winds up being Genis's role model just because scholar and magic-user and half-elf who can pass but also takes no shit from people
- is one of Colette's companions on the Journey when it starts
- he's been challenging their understanding of the Church's institution this whole time lbr
- Sheena is still a thing because the ninja have taken over the Tethe'allan base, which has survived, somewhat
- a grilling ensues
- sometime just after the Asgard Ranch Yuan does have to drop the bombshell
- about how the Journey is just a front, he and his bestie are angels, btw his bestie is Lloyd's dad
- how they're out to topple the institution of religion
- forget sacrificing Colette for the Regeneration, when they get to the seal they can do that without anyone dying
- and then move straight on to rescuing Kratos in Derris-Kharlan
- then they get to the Tower and realise Yggdrasill has Kratos under a Prometheusesque punishment a la 'impaled on the Eternal Sword to suffer the Seed's pain and watch the Chosen get murdered'
- luckily this does not happen, as they manage to rescue him and escape Yggdrasill instead, barely
- retreat to Botta's hiding-place in Asgard so Kratos can recover
- and also find out that Lloyd is actually alive
- the Chosen group goes around to make as many pacts as they can while in Sylvarant
- they get up to Aska when Yggdrasill sends his angels to attack Asgard
- cue Yuan and Kratos being unstoppable battle gods together
scenarios
scenario one: in which Yuan leads the Chosen's party to the Tower of Salvation to dismantle all the traditions ever, and find Kratos waiting for them in serious need of a rescue.
scenario two: in which being in safety reveals that Kratos is not precisely unscathed, but he's doing his best.
scenario three: in which Kratos is emphatically not okay, but with Yuan's help, could be.
no subject
I'm ...
[This is going to raise even more questions, isn't it? And yet after all else he's refused to answer, this is among the simplest, and potentially one that will have Raine leave him alone if only so she can mull over the implications.]
... about four thousand. I've -- lost count, a little.
[It's not exactly concrete, but it's the best he can do, and he's trying to be honest -- especially now these people are his only solid allies.]
no subject
[Raine's taken aback by the number, where little else has been able to genuinely shock her. Still, it only takes a few moments before her eyes are narrowed again, focusing and calculating.]
As a function of your angelic nature, I presume. Then...
[She puts the timespan together.]
You were born in the time of the Kharlan War.
[Two instincts war with each other: the drive to ask him everything about what's been lost from that time and the need to figure out how this figures in to what they're going to do to try to save the world. Worlds.]
Your-- Yggdrasill. Is he from that time, as well?
no subject
[Kratos pauses, trying to consider how to explain -- or if he should explain at all. This time, the option to not is secondary to the how; and he only realises afterward. That says something, though he doesn't know what. Still, if nothing else, context will help Raine understand the measures which need to be taken. Kratos can avoid the more ... personal history, he hopes.
[After a moment Kratos takes a seat beside her on the stone, letting his wings fade into the air. He doesn't look at her, though; and when he begins talking again, his voice has the cadence of a recitation.]
Once upon a time, there existed a giant tree that was the source of mana. A war, however, caused this tree to wither away, and it left behind it a Great Seed too ill to germinate. A hero attempted to save it from its fate by appealing to the rulers of the two kingdoms; but they blocked their ears from his plea.
Instead the hero appealed to the forces of nature themselves, and he made to them this vow: 'I vow to split the worlds asunder to ease the burden upon the Seed. When a century has passed, and the great motherland of Derris-Kharlan returns to shine its light upon the earth, the Seed will be germinated, and I will reunite the world.'
The hero was granted a blessing in the form of divine power and became an angel to watch over the Seed and the two worlds. When a century had passed, the two ancient kings were called to the Holy Ground of Kharlan, where they were to forge a treaty that would last an eternity.
[Kratos pauses then, and looks up at the clouds in the sky, his voice dropping out of rhythm and into a deep sadness.]
That's ... when everything went wrong.
no subject
[And then.]
You're speaking of Mithos, the hero. Aren't you?
[There's only really one person to whom Kratos can be referring, with that sort of a beginning, and Raine discovers a faintly creeping sense of dread.]
Did you... know him?
[The war was ended there. What could have gone wrong? And where is the mention of the goddess in all this?]
no subject
Instead of forging a treaty, the humans each attempted to take the Seed for themselves, and the hero's sister sacrificed her life to save it. With her death, the hero broke his vow to the forces of nature; he used their power to join her soul with the Great Seed, so that she might live on in a deep slumber.
On the ruins of his vow, the fallen hero made another, to his followers and to others like him. He would create a world as his sister desired, one without discrimination. He would find a girl, a Chosen One, whose mana matched his sister, even if it should take him countless millennium. He would lift her to divinity so that her soul could be traded, and his sister might be reborn in the body of the Chosen; and with her rebirth he would reunite the worlds.
But the hero obscured the truth. For if the Seed should ever germinate, his sister's soul would be forever lost ... and if she should ever awaken, both of the worlds would end.
[Now Kratos falls silent, still studying the sky and the way the pressure high in the atmosphere moves the clouds.]
no subject
[It takes her a few moments after Kratos goes silent to put all the pieces together. The sister of Mithos, the hero. A soul within the Seed of the Great Tree.]
[A life truly was sacrificed in order to take its place.]
...you're talking about Martel. She was... a person once, then. Not always a goddess.
[Raine feels almost ill. Kratos is implying the entire shape of the world -- worlds -- was caused by one person trying to resurrect his sister. At the cost of those worlds.]
How is this -- any of this -- even possible?
[Her tone is losing somewhat of her customary composure, despite her best efforts.]
no subject
[Kratos sighs and turns to look at Raine, finally, and while he might have seemed inhuman with his wings out, there is an age of sadness in his eyes now.]
Mithos and Martel were half-elves, exiled from Heimdall. Martel wanted a better world for her brother. Mithos wanted a better world for his sister. And I wanted to believe they could create it, on the strength of their vision alone. I was wrong.
[There was a process they used, obviously. There was a plan. But Kratos didn't question it often enough; and when he did, he didn't stand on his questions. He let the drive of others to drive him.]
no subject
Heimdall...
[Raine knows the name of the elven village, but it seems there's something she should remember, about being exiled from Heimdall. It doesn't come to her.]
[That, too, is at least partially a coping mechanism. She has known the story of the hero and the Goddess all her life, it seems. To hear now that they were so very like her? It shakes her, on a level she can barely name. Raine shakes her head.]
I hardly know where to begin. It's obvious, however, that Martel... cannot be allowed to awaken.
no subject
[It's a quiet agreement, that. Kratos has known it for a long time; known and denied it, known and accepted it, known and denied it again.]
But the institution of both worlds are tailored toward that task. Even an angel would have difficulty dismantling what he helped establish over so many years.
[Kratos exhales slowly and looks away. His hands aren't shaking, though they had before; he's turned off all his physical reactions, if only to get through this conversation. He looks toward Asgard instead, toward the dais.]
There is someone else who can help us. He was --
[Hm. No need to mention that, and Yuan wouldn't thank him for it.]
-- our companion as well. It was the four of us, against the world. Though he pretends to work for Cruxis, still, he leads the Renegades now, though he doesn't know that I know. He's been trying to lay Martel to proper rest for centuries.
[Best not mention the parts where Yuan is responsible for Kratos crash-landing in near-fatal condition in Iselia, and for Botta attempting to murder Colette.]
no subject
The Renegades... hm.
What made the difference, if I may?
[Obviously this other person has been making an active effort for some time, whereas Kratos... well, Kratos has said nothing, which is something in and of itself.]
In any case, it seems like he would be a great help, yes. [Another angel is a power that can't be discounted.] Especially if he has significant resources. Since we have established there is little point in pretending we're doing anything other than what we are, subtlety becomes something of a secondary concern.
Would it be best to wait on forming other plans until we know something of his?
{Raine is using the 'we' very deliberately, marking Kratos among their number.]
no subject
[It's easier to refer to Mithos by his second name, these days. Most days, Kratos prefers to imagine Mithos as the sweet young man with a thirst for equality, and Yggdrasill as the insane leader of a crushing world order.
[Kratos is looking up at the sky again, now, but he nods his agreement with Raine's presumption.]
Yes. He will need to continue to pretend, I think, if we're to have any access; but Yggdrasill has had no love for him for a long time. He'd have to tread carefully. We should consult him before we make any assumptions.
[Yggdrasill needs Kratos; he does not need Yuan. At the least Yuan ought to know that Kratos is alive, by now.]
But we should still tell the children something.
no subject
[Raine frowns a little at... most of this, honestly.]
How long have the ranches... no.
[As much as she's curious, this is one instance in which knowing actually won't change anything, and won't help.]
You'll handle your -- friend? -- then. As for the children...
For the moment, we can tell them that you're getting help and we're waiting for you, which is true enough. After that, if you are discarding the idea of pretending to betray us, then you can be more open with them on the details.
[Raine is not going to be explaining this for him. She does recognize that it's difficult, but-- they should hear it from Kratos. Especially Lloyd. And Kratos, too, will be better as the primary source.]
no subject
Very well. I may bring Yuan back so we can coordinate more completely. I would not be surprised if he knows Sheena is in Sylvarant.
Is there ... anything else you wished to know?
[Kratos hopes not, but if this will prevent a second 'examination', by all means.]
no subject
There's nothing else right now, no. I'm sure I'll have more questions eventually; but after all, you'll be around to answer them, won't you?
[It's a pointed question, for all that her tone doesn't change very much.]
no subject
That is my intention.
[His intention; not a promise. He does not have a good record with promises, and he won't burden Raine with that. But his intent -- yes, and that's more than he's given anyone in decades.
[So he rises, bringing his end of his cape with him in anticipation of Raine rising also.]
If we're done, we'd best return.
no subject
I'll accept that.
[For now. It will be a different story if he does not return.]
Yes, let's go back.
no subject
[Kratos pulls his cape back over his shoulders, and without speaking again, walks Raine back to the inn.]
~finis