rekindle app;

[for_altea]

OOC Information
Player Name: Shar.
Player Age: 23
Player Contact: plurk: Sharlayan.
Player/Character HMD: here!
Other characters in game: N/A

IC Information
Character Name: Marth.
Character Canon: Original Universe. FE 12.
Character Age: 19.
Character Gender: Male.
Canon Point: Prologue 8: Assassination.
Character Canon History: here!

Character Personality: The first thing to strike anyone about Marth is his kindness. The long and short of it is that Marth's a pretty exceptional person and a humanist through and through. He's well learned, noble blooded and of a very strong kingdom of knights, but he displays nothing akin to arrogance, conceit, and can identify and speak to anyone as equals - be them dukes, barons, foreign nobility, or even farmers. It is for this reason in the Akaneia Saga can rally such a variety of different characters and different personalities to his army, why he is beloved by the people, why he can have enemy units seek to join him on the battlefield and turn against their own, and why Tiki wishes for him to never leave her.

Marth is a prince which cares deeply about those around him, whether they're members of his royal guard, his tacticians, his family, or even common people living in nearby villages whom he's never held a conversation with before. He speaks to all with sincerity, humbleness, politeness, and friendliness, and truly believes that those around him are more than comrades, associates, or people which are there because they have to be - because their objective is the same or they owe him loyalty as his subjects. It's not that at all. To Marth, they're his friends, and the most important people to him (Next to his sister.) Even allies which have betrayed him and took to the battlefield against him are still important to him - it is extremely rarely (and in exceptional circumstance) that he will cut them down. Even then, he will always, always try to reason with them first.

Marth displays a pride in his homeland and a noble demeanour which is very much the picture of a prince - bearing the (affectionate) nickname of the prince of light from all of the people. He shows an unshakable sense of duty and reverence toward Altea, later all of the continent of Akaneia, and strives to protect it and it's people. Notably, Marth's pride doesn't lead him to vainglory. He doesn't boast of Altea's strength idly, instead preferring to use it to rally his comrades. As the Altean prince, surrender is never an option for Marth - it's unthinkable - and he shoulders an enormous burden as a Royal That Actually Does Something but he will never buckle underneath the pressure placed upon him.

Marth is dutiful and noble in all respects, and even though he is idealistic, he possesses a serious attitude beyond his years which even impresses his enemies, most much older than he. Most importantly, Marth appears to understand and respect his lot in life. When it is revealed in Shadow Dragon that he has to do far more than retake Altea - that he has to save the world from the reawakening - Marth accepts this destiny without question and without any complaint, the same way he accepts less world-shattering duties such as protecting villages from bandits. Put simply, he'll never whine and moan about too much work or work being below him. If faced with a situation he can do something about, he's there - fighting for the weak.


Despite all of these positive traits, Marth has a killer of a bad one. He's got a huge aversion to death. Notable examples include early on in the events of Shadow Dragon. Marth is forced to watch as one of his knights dons his clothes and acts as a decoy so he and a paltry company of surviving Altean knights can escape Altea after it has fallen to the neighbouring nation of Gra. Initially, Marth pleads for there to be some other way, and is adamant that he will find a way where no-one has to die in order to permit an escape. When it becomes apparent that is not on the cards and it's quite impossible, Marth then blames himself for the entire situation even though it's not exactly his fault Gra want him dead.

Heroes of Light and Shadow focuses far more on Marth's aversion to death, with multiple instances of Marth confiding in the MU about it as well as Jagen's statement that he indeed understands, and knows, how Marth feels about sacrifice and death in general. He hates it. Notably, death's been around Marth for a very long time, but he doesn't ever really get used to it. He hates it all the more, the more it happens, and he blames himself all the more, the more it happens. At every sacrifice within Shadow Dragon and heroes of Light and Shadow, Marth almost begs Jagen/the MU to do something to make sure that sacrifice simply doesn't have to happen, and depending on player performance, he openly laments deaths within the army or commends the MU on no-one dying that day. Making sure people he sees as friends don't have to die is easily his number one priority next to, you know, actually winning battles. However - if the worst happens, Marth does manage to move past things in order to honour the fallen and give their sacrifice purpose yet loss is still a very devastating thing to him, and can't be understated. He simply hasn't the heart to willingly allow one life to be traded for everyone's, and must have his hand forced by his advisors even after he's used to war.

Elice, Marth's sister, puts it perfectly when she tells the MU that behind Marth's heroism and his affectionate names of "the prince of light" and "the hero-king", he's actually an idealistic child that can't bear to see a single person die. She states that "He truly thinks that he can save everyone. In war, losing just one companion is unbearable for him... He suppresses his feelings with all his willpower, but I know that inside, his heart breaks and bleeds..." and also that most people accept their limitations and know they can't save everyone. Marth doesn't- because deep down, underneath every mask he puts upon himself in order to be the prince he's expected to be, he's still very childish at heart.

Another downside to him as a character is that Marth has a deeply trusting nature. He is not above allying enemy forces to his side, and tends to be non-judgemental regarding circumstance. Marth knows that he fights on the honorable side, and if anyone wishes to do the same, his ranks are open. When the battle is done, he doesn't send said person on their way either. Marth allows them to join the ranks of his army, which is both an advantageous thing but extremely risky. He leaves himself wide open for betrayal based on this, and simply put, without his friends around him (such as Jagen in particular) to make the more savvy decisions for him, he wouldn't last five seconds on honour and faith. He's as white as driven snow, but those around him aren't and he never seems to learn that. He states in the beginning of Light and Shadow that without others, he is absolutely nothing, and the statement holds true for a number of things, but this little fact the most.

Character strengths / weaknesses:

+ A noble, forward thinking attitude.
+ Ability to cope with pressure.
+ Unselfish, very kind.
+ Tactical nature plus physical strength.
+ Compassion for those around him.

- Trusting nature.
- Huge aversion to death.
- Naiveity, idealism.
- Needs the people around him to be decent.

Character Abilities: Marth doesn't have any superhuman abilities.

Other than a far better than average skill at swordsmanship, Marth's actually got nothing. He's unskilled in magic and goes as far as to say he's actually pretty terrible at it in Heroes of Light and Shadow.

Judging by Marth's ingame stat growths though, he's strong, suffers from poor defense but has extremely good evasion. Meaning he's a glass cannon. If you can hit him, he'll feel it - but he will tend to dodge and parry far more than your average blue-haired lead with a shiny shiny sword. Nothing superhuman, but pretty damn exceptional.

Character Inventory: Rapier: A well made rapier that pierces armor.
Steel sword: A steel sword.
Vulnerary 3/3: a potion that restores health.

Interaction Sample: here!
Third Person Sample:

The prince had risen early that morning. It was around 4am when his eyes had opened - all around Altea castle was dark, and the sun had only just begun to rise in the east over woodland - shooting bolts of blue throughout the sky. Normally, getting up at this hour was unthinkable. But up he had got, shaking away the odd kind of shivers which one tended to get while being awake at this hour. When he was a boy, he had been told by an elderly nursemaid - Rhea - yes, that was her name - that these shivers were the kind one felt when someone walked over your grave in the future - the experience so awful that it sent tremors all the way back in time, always manifesting when the sun rose, for that was the opposite of twilight. He had entertained the stories - of course he had, it was rude not to - even though he had been schooled well enough to understand otherwise. But whenever he felt them, he thought back to that kindly old woman and her superstitions.

Perhaps there really was something in it - some small particle of truth which had been distorted and twisted throughout the years and years of retellings and retellings to every child which had been like him, slack-jawed, wide-eyed and trembling when they'd allowed themselves to get into the feel of what was being said to them. They certainly stayed with him even after he'd dressed, put a thick cape about is shoulders, and pulled on his boots, exiting the room cautiously, in order to not bring the royal guard upon him, should they have found slumber within their posts in the early hours.

He attempted to stay as quiet as he could as he walked down the long corridors of the Altean palace. And for what it was worth, he wasn't all that bad at it. He'd just about managed to reach the main gate before a figure with keenly sharp eyes despite his advanced years stared at him from a shadowy guard post. Truthfully, the shock of someone there made him jump - but he shouldn't have. It was Jagen, and this was the latest of a long list of uncountable times he'd been caught in this very way. Of course it was Jagen. He'd never fall asleep on duty. Never.

"Off out, sire? It's early."

"Yes." He responded, almost tentatively doing his best to suppress another shiver.

"Where, might I ask? Your highness might think he's going to avoid brigands by going out this early, but you'll likely find wolves to be just as much of a concern."

His response was measured. "I wish to go to the burial grounds of those which fell in the war of shadows."

A white eyebrow raised, and the paladin seemed to consider something. Perhaps Jagen was thinking him morbid. Marth really didn't know - but something seemed to change in the veteran knight's face. Yes. It was about this time all those years ago that the war had started and the King - Marth's father - had been betrayed on the battlefield and fallen.

"Would you wish for company, sire?"

"...Yes, if your watch is not almost over."

"Hah. Nothing close to it. If anything, the journey might make some feeling come back into these old bones..."

"Thank you."

Asking for his company was easy. Of course it was - more than anyone, Jagen knew. It didn't even have to be stated to him. But that was what one got in the company of someone which had known you since the day you were born - entire and complete understanding. And it was everything - it was the world, and in the place of everything which had been, had gone, and everything which was stolen, he clung to it with his everything as well.