App for SRWU
Jul. 11th, 2013 11:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
empress_without_a_thronePlayer name: Steam
AIM contact: wyverncakes
Alternate contacts: seed.d.cagalli@gmail.com
Character name: Mizuki Onodera
Source canon: Dawn of Miracles SolSavior (OC)
Community tag: Mizuki Onodera
Do I want a HMD: Sure
Notes: Writing the character and canon background in reverse just because it's easier to follow that way.
Original canon background: SolSavior's got a large chunk of backstory that's more it's own thing, but the basic rundown of it was that there existed an anti-Sun known as the Great Black Void. Jealous and hateful of its nonsentient counterpart and the world the Sun supplied with life, the Void plotted and plotted since ancient times to seize Earth for itself. However, its own denizens, contained inside, were reflections of life on Earth.
However, as humanity began to develop large robots and achieve reliable travel into space, the Void could create beings that could accomplish the same things as well. It created a force known as the Kingdom of Darkness meant to conquer and destroy life as it existed on the world... only for said Kingdom to be thwarted by a machine of the Sun: SolFighter. The Void had not gone unnoticed by ancient astrologers, and as the attacks began, humanity looked back on these notes about the Void to find a way to fight back. Thus, they turned to the power of the Sun to fight the Void, and for tenseasons years the Void's efforts were thwarted by Solaris and its machines, with like every single mecha trope ever covered in that span. But in the twilight of the tenth year of the "Sol/Void War", the unthinkable happened as SolCrusader, the last and strongest of the machines, took the fight to the Void's creations inside of the Void itself: the Void itself was destroyed. There'd been so much power escalation that SolCrusader's strength was too much for the Void itself to endure, and the anti-Sun was destroyed.
It left, however, three beings behind: the only members of an eleventh batch of Void beings it had intended to use for the next phase of the war. The pilots ultimately decided to return to Earth with these three, and Solaris was left with the question of just what to do with itself. Its purpose had been fulfilled and its sources of financial support dried up quickly. Before long, pretty much everyone who had anywhere to go had left the virtually defunct Solaris for various avenues. Those who stayed pretty much worked to help out other groups who needed help, and though the organization became a shell of its former self it was always willing to help.
Ten years after the Void's defeat, the Unity Group comes into being/SRW Uni starts proper, and Solaris's director sees this as a means to resurrect the failing group. A genuine alliance between groups, and a chance for Solaris to get the support necessary to get back on its feet. There were still threats to the world, and the remaining members of the group had stayed because they'd best be able to help the world by helping Solaris stay afloat. And through the support it would receive and the support it would give, Solaris would once more find its place in this world as defenders of justice.
Background: Created for the express purpose of destroying humanity and giving the Great Black Void control over the Earth, the Abyss Empress's life got derailed almost as soon as it began. The Void was destroyed while in the process of creating her (leaving her in the form of a ten-year-old child) and she was taken back to Solaris HQ with her two fellow Abyssians, General Salanshiel and Grand Vizier Zangango... their sworn enemies ironically becoming the people in the world they could best relate to. They were given living conditions as good as Solaris's strapped coffers could afford and could leave in relative peace, and in return they'd help Solaris in researching Void energy and Void beings in general. There'd never been an opportunity to study live ones before, and the Abyssians were fascinating in that their very bodies were living generators of Void energy.
Thus the Empress -adopting the name "Mizuki"- grew up amongst her enemies. Salanshiel and Zangango became surrogate parents, rather than simply being underlings. She made friends amongst the members of Solaris, including even the Director's own grandchildren. Thanks to the researchers, she managed to learn about her powers (reduced because of the destruction of the Void but still present). And most notably, she began to feel that in spite of everything, this was for the best. She had a home, and the freedom to choose what she wanted to do with her life. If she'd just been the Abyss Empress, then her purpose in life would've been defined by the Void. And naturally, she wanted to help out the people who'd become her extended family.
When the Director announced that Solaris would be assisting the Unity Group, there was still a question about how much they could really do without any machines or pilots to send. The catch was though... they did have a pilot and a machine to send. Now a young woman, Mizuki was capable of calling forth her own personal mount, a machine that had originally been meant to be used as a weapon against Solaris and its heroes... how ironic that the machine, dubbed the "DuskBird" would be the first step to Solaris's rebirth.
Personality: Mizuki's a testament to the powers of nurture over nature, having grown into someone markedly different than the evil overlord she was meant to be. She's a strong and vocal supporter of Solaris and determined to see that the group rise from its vestigial existence, and is on very friendly terms with its members. This comes from her searching for a place for herself and Solaris, and defending the world from threats to it.
She's someone who has a great deal of understanding for people who are trying to do their own thing, willing to encourage them even if their way of doing things differs from hers. However, she has little patience for stupid blunders, let alone ones where someone still tries to act as if they did the right thing when it's obvious they didn't. She also loathes people who inconvenience her for stupid reasons, for instance pulling pranks on her or shoving her aside to play hero.
Her criticisms of people in these situations are often biting and venomous, but at the same time she's a big softy in the end. She can only rag on someone who's absolutely miserable and feeling ashamed of themselves before she herself switches from bad cop to good cop, trying to offer them advice or help. Those pranks and foolish moments of heroism mentioned above? Yeah she'll think they're stupid and be angry about it, but if they actually worked the way they were supposed to, she won't hide the fact she's impressed.
In short, even when she's angry at people she knows or at least has no massive beef with, she might get angry but reigns it back in before doing something she might regret. Just don't be a complete idiot who ruins everything because it has to be done Your Way, because then she's not going to hold back.
Mizuki's also plenty capable of forgiveness and giving people a second chance. Solaris's efforts are all about a second go at protecting the world from all sorts of evil, and Mizuki herself knows that just because you are or were meant to be something evil doesn't mean you have to be. That said she's not naive and she doesn't fall for baseless sob stories and crocodile tears, rather if you want to change but think it's too late for you, she's going to argue against that... though she won't hold back until you stop fighting.
Blatant evil, or evil pretending to act for any sort of greater good however, is something Mizuki just will not tolerate. She also won't tolerate any of that "I exist in the name of the balance between good and evil" bullshit either. If you have free will, you're responsible for the terrible things you do and she's going to punch your face in because someone has to.
Outside of battle and craziness, Mizuki's fairly easygoing and friendly. She has a tremendous love of seafood from the ocean's lower levels (since it's the only thing Earth-based food she can eat safely) along with other foods whose origins aren't traced back to photosynthesis.
Capabilities and Resources: As an Abyssian, and the intended ruler over them, Mizuki's body is markedly stronger than a normal human's and possesses other abilities as well. She possesses mild superhuman strength and agility (think like Captain America), and she can summon the DuskBird to crawl out from her shadow so long as she's conscious and hasn't gone too long without eating. Both she and the DuskBird also have extraordinary regenerative powers and so long as her vitals are kept stable Mizuki can recover from virtually any kind of injury no matter how severe.
Mizuki can also focus Void energy into her left hand. The energy -destructive enough on its own- is an anathema to Sol beings. Think of it sorta like her own, evil version of the Shining Finger or Lemuria Impact. Named the "Abyss Sanction", it requires Mizuki to act as though she were the evil villain she was meant to be. She works around this by making bold, villainous speeches while using it. Using the Sanction also causes her clothing to transform into a regal black and gold outfit befitting her original design. She's still the same person as ever though.
Mizuki is not without her weaknesses though. As a creation of the Great Black Void, she was meant to use the Void itself for sustenance. With the Void's destruction, Mizuki and her parents are somewhat boned in that regard and cannot eat anything that's part of a photosynthetic food chain for energy. Grass, birds, cattle, vegetables, it's all pretty much off the table for them since Sol energy served as that food's foundation. They won't die from food poisoning, but Mizuki will get very, very sick if she does eat food like that and it makes her extremely vulnerable to biological poisons. The inverse also applies to an extent: entities that extract life force will find her extremely icky "tasting".
The only foods on the planet that Mizuki and her parents can eat for nourishment are plants and animals found in deep-sea environments where no light has ever reached; places where the food chains started with chemosynthesis instead. Extradimensional life-forms such as the kaiju are also fair game for her though. She eats enough of this sort of stuff that she actually maintains a blog for it, which she also uses to help support her family.
Lastly, even standing out in the Sun or on holy ground associated to the Sun is physically irritating for Mizuki, and it's at its worst on bright, shiny days. Night isn't much relief for her though, since moonlight's just reflected sunlight. Fortunately, any means of protecting her body from direct contact with the light mitigates this and she often carries around an umbrella.
Type: Combatant
Unit Name: DuskBird
Unit Description:
Visual reference:
Mizuki's personal machine, and in fact as much her physical being as her actual body, enough so that it is primarily controlled by her thoughts and instincts. A 15 meter tall semi-sentient machine, the DuskBird can transform between three forms depending on the need: that of a humanoid, a bird, or a jet. Each is combat-capable and the DuskBird's plenty able of participating on missions without needing to combine into SolSavior.
First is Jet mode, which is the fastest and is ideal for hit-and-fade attacks. In this form, the DuskBird's six wings have a fixed, rigid formation to be aerodynamic and can be used to tear through unsuspecting targets. Its eyes can also release powerful rays of Void energy known as the Abyss Gaze to strike enemies from afar. The entire machine can also charge its form with a Void energy barrier, granting it additional protection but more importantly be able to smash straight into targets without harm.
Bird mode is similar, but sacrifices some speed for better maneuverability in an atmosphere. In this form the DuskBird is the most birdlike, flapping about and moving fluidly. It retains its eye lasers from before, but additionally can use its tail and claws to slash and tear apart enemies up close. A flap of its wings can also send a multitude of its feathers -razor sharp and charged with Void energy- at enemies. Just like Jet mode's best for quick attacks and then falling back, Bird mode's maneuverability makes best for dogfights.
Lastly is the DuskBird's humanoid form, where it assumes its full size and can use the full extent of its strength. The Abyss Gaze is still there, and along with it, Mizuki can use the Abyss Sanction as she can while on foot. When using it in the DuskBird's cockpit, the entire cockpit changes into a massive throne room much larger than the DuskBird's actual body. The Sanction can be used as Shining Finger-esque melee attack or as a long-range beam. Part of the DuskBird's tail also becomes repurposed as a prehensile whip sharp enough to pierce and cut through enemies if Mizuki so wishes. Like Bird mode, its wings can be used to launch feathers at enemies, or also used as a protective measure with the same kind of barrier that Jet mode has.
Size: M
Terrain compatibility: (Broken down into Jet/Bird/Humanoid modes)
Air: Yes/Yes/Yes
Ground: No/No/Yes
Water: No/No/Yes
Space: Yes/Yes/Yes
Favored terrain: Space/Air/Air
Upgrades: There's the issue of SolSavior itself, and its details are all right here.
Wingmen: Sara Harper.
Mizuki's best friend and the granddaughter of Solaris's Director, Sara's not the kind of person to just let Mizuki do all the work of helping keep Solaris afloat! A sociable person who makes friends easily, Sara's a real go-getter who likes to get stuff done and is enthusiastic about it, although also sometimes worries about how little people, even really influential people, can really do in the grand scheme of things. Surely this won't lead to everything going straight to hell.
Sara pilots the Solego, a small Lady Command-esque support ship with room for two. This means she can transport Mizuki to battles if Mizuki doesn't want to summon the DuskBird right away. The Solego also comes equipped with some missiles and a single Sol Beam attack.
She's also the intended pilot for the ShelLancer, but... well, stuff happens.
Mission requirement: Mizuki and company do not require missions for introduction. However, their machine, SolSavior, does and cannot be formed prior to the first mission due to authorization locks on it. Sara also needs to go missing (due to investigating a dimensional anomaly) prior to Dido's arrival with the ShelLancer... which should ideally be followed before too long by SolSavior's first mission.
Suggested Event List:
1. A New Light's Dawning: In the midst of a battle against one faction or another, dimensional anomalies similar to the ones Sara was lost in begin to occur around us. These ones stabilize much faster than the ones previously found though, and from them emerge a strike force that announces itself as the vanguard of the Indalph, led by Fateshifter Saturnia. Their terms are the usual "surrender or be made examples of", and Saturnia'll quickly be demonstrating her special brand of causality manipulation before too long as the fighting commences.
What she'll also wind up doing is make mention of a prisoner the Indalph already have and show us the trashed remains of the Solego; reason enough for Director Harper to authorize the formation of SolSavior. Saturnia's posturing and future-determining predictions also all fall flat when the power of the Abyss Sanction does a tremendous number on her; just because fate exists in the Uni-'verse doesn't mean people can't defy it (a concept lost on Saturnia). Thus the Indalph attack gets to be turned into a full-blown rout, with the SolSavior team intending to get answers about where Sara is from Saturnia. Unfortunately, Saturnia's still a threat to some degree with her powers, and we're forced to blow her away with a Sol Salvation.
Enemies: Fateshifter Saturnia, Praetorians, Part Troopers, Gazers
2. Its Name is EChaos: Prior to the start of this mission, either in a log or whatever, we get good news! Sara's been found by an allied or neutral group, and though she's seriously injured and recovering everything checks out with her. Arrangements are made to meet up one way or another; be it us going to the other guys' base, a transport bringing Sara to our own, or possibly Sara shows up as an allied reinforcement in another fight, bringing an escort along with her.
She's happy to see her friends again, along with SolSavior itself... though she's a bit disappointed they went ahead and formed it without her. Her story's also fairly straight and to the point: while investigating the anomaly she was drawn into the the realm of the Indalph, where they inevitably captured and tortured her for information. The death of Saturnia caused the Indalph to just go into a frenzy of disbelief and she used it to escape. Straight and to the point.
But at an opportune moment, she and her escort open fire on us. Revealing her new form and the dolphin-inspired EChaos, Sara goes on to correct her previous explanation. After Saturnia died, the Indalph were desperate for information about SolSavior and the Unity Group... and in that, Sara saw opportunity. They were a dimension-traveling, world-conquering force that could grant her nearly anything... a marked improvement from just being a pilot for Solaris, one who was actually replaced by a mechanic. Humans have limits, and if giving up her humanity frees her of that, then so be it. To remember the good times with everyone though, Sara promises that she won't have the Indalph kill any of us; just break us so we see things her way.
Sara's familiarity with our machines gives her a tremendous advantage, and before long it seems like she's poised to destroy SolSavior. However, Kenichi's developed-on-the-spot Shiranui Retsu Ken punch catches her by surprise (since she didn't know about it) and manages to damage the EChaos enough to drive her off, though she promises that the best is yet to come.
Enemies: EChaos (piloted by Sara), Indalph-infested mook machines.
3. The Enemy Is Our Reflection! SolEraser!: In the midst of another battle we're having, more of those dimensional anomalies that herald the Indalph begin to happen. And sure enough, before long plenty of Part Troopers come in, with the disembodied voice of Feith-Val, the current leader of the Indalph, speaking through them and greeting us for the very first time. Feith-Val gives us a little bit of insight into the Indalph, how their origin has become forgotten in the aeons that have passed since the group came about. Feith-Val himself was young when his dimension was attacked, and he chose the winning side, just as Sara has here. And look at him now!
This is also a message to our enemies too; Feith-Val promises assistance and if they wish, the Indalph will make kings and gods out of all of them. Either way they'll help, and the other guys can make up their mind when all is said and done. That said, the Part Troopers themselves don't make this much more difficult...
... Until SolSavior is suddenly hit by a really nasty sucker-punch of an attack from an unseen enemy. Feith-Val then takes the time to introduce to us the Indalph's answer to SolSavior: SolEraser. Created thanks to Sara's knowledge, Feith-Val assures everyone that SolEraser will live up to its name, its pilots eager to prove that as well as they join the fray. Like Sara, himself, and the Indalph's generals, they all chose the Indalph, and in defeating SolSavior the trio will prove themselves.
Due to the damage SolSavior's sustained, it's inevitably defeated by SolEraser. However, while delivering the final, fatal blow, SolEraser and its pilots hesitate, giving everyone the opening needed to force it to retreat.
Enemies: Part Troopers, SolEraser (piloted by Lord Siphor, Tiam St. George, and Azel Burroughs)
4. The Consuming Fortress: You know how those dimensional anomalies always herald the arrival of Indalph forces? Turns out when they're not being formed in the midst of a battle, they take much, much longer to fully stabilize and allow transportation between worlds... which is what's happening over Sendai (or any other disposable city if need be). This gives us enough time (hours if not days) to make a response team, and when the anomaly finally stabilizes...
... Out comes a gigantic golden battleship. Introduced to us as the "Last Shining" by its captain, Indalph general Saibok the Devouring Light, the ship's going to begin unleashing hell on the city and launching swarms of mooks too. The Indalph are emboldened by the Unity Group's less-than-stellar victories over them previously, and they're eager to finally pay us back for the death of Saturnia. To make matters worse, sooner or later SolEraser will sortie from the Last Shining as well, its pilots eager to finally settle things once and for all.
The battle rages, the city's going to suffer the worst for it, and SolEraser will finally set the stage for the last exchange using its gravity powers to set up a beam-of-war exchange with SolSavior, with dozens or hundreds of people poised to die if SolSavior breaks off from the attack or fails to overpower SolEraser's. And unfortunately... it becomes pretty damn clear that SolEraser's Horizon Buster attack is the stronger of the two before long, so the pilots declare they're the winner and move to just use gravity to crush everyone until Mizuki all but freaks out. With a defiant cry of "save them!" (and most likely a shitton of support attacks), SolSavior will essentially get overclocked to hell and back and its attack grows strong enough to completely overpower SolEraser's own attack-
- And SolEraser itself just gives up all too quickly, springs away, and all our attacks proceed to go on and completely demolish a huge chunk of the Last Shining and kill Saibok. The massive vessel's now falling to the city below and it'll force everyone to combine their efforts to destroy it before it crashes down. Everyone except SolSavior though, since Mizuki's little stunt has caused multiple parts of the machine to get blown out and it's put all its pilots in tremendous physical pain for some reason.
SolEraser makes its escape in the meantime too, though in the aftermath of the battle we'll hear reports about how after Saibok was killed, it had supposedly been destroying Indalph forces in the city. Weird.
Enemies: Last Shining (Saibok), SolEraser (Siphor/St. George/Burroughs), Gazers, Part Troopers
After this mission, we'll learn that SolSavior's failing to actually meet estimated projections for power output and fighting potential. Mizuki's last, overclocked attack by all rights should be the norm for what SolSavior can put out, but the marriage between Sol and Void energies is an imperfect one and SolSavior can't bring out its true strength without collateral: namely itself and its own pilots.
With the implication that she and the DuskBird are essentially holding SolSavior and Solaris back, Mizuki ultimately decides to resign from the team so that a replacement "DawnBird" can be produced and another pilot can be found. She'll still be a part of the Unity Group, but she won't consider herself a part of the SolSavior team any more and she'll refuse to form SolSavior on missions unless it's an absolute do-or-die situation. However, just as the DawnBird's almost done, she'll announce she's leaving the Unity Group as well since she's seen them through to her replacement's arrival.
5. Requiem for the Darkness: So. The DawnBird's nearing completion and a pilot for it's been found. That's great news! The bad news is Solaris HQ suddenly falls under attack from a massive Indalph force, Sara leading it! It wasn't hard to figure out what happened to SolSavior during Saibok's attack, and from there it was easy to perfectly figure out everything Solaris has done.
Accompanying her is the SolEraser team and the last Indalph general: Vantho the Swarm's Harbringer. The Eraser team are piloting their mechs separately though, it's not fair to finish off SolSavior's remaining components combined. The Indalph force's primary goal is the storage hangar that the DawnBird's being developed in, and Vantho and Lord Siphor will inevitably pull ahead and tear it open.
But one lone techie's not running from them, and as Vantho moves to crush them with the Monarch's mighty fist... from the mechanic's shadow emerges a pair of black hands that stop the attack cold. It's Mizuki, delivering an Abyss Sanction to the Indalph general. Solaris's members, Ken and Dido included, then reveal the ruse in full: they planned around Sara's knowledge of the group. Solaris isn't defined by strength and enemies it has to defeat anymore, and Sara made a critical mistake in thinking their guard was down.
... And who follows up the trickery than the SolEraser team! Siphor helps strike down Vantho while Tiam and Azel both attack and severely damage the EChaos, the team revealing to everyone they were hoping for an opportunity to destroy the Indalph's leadership. Their loyalties were always with us though, hence sparing SolSavior in the third mission and manipulating events in the fourth so that Saibok would be killed. Sara however, isn't anywhere near as beaten as they think and she uses her tentacles to infest Tiam and Azel, and it turns out that Vantho's gigantic form is actually just a poor, broken host as his true parasitic form latches onto the DreadVenom, takes control, and forms SolEraser one last time. All three of our potential friends are now fighting against their wills, and Sara retreats, looking forward to either see what comes of this.
SolEraser's stronger than ever due to the power of the parasites, but fortunately SolSavior forms once more to finally settle the score! But at the same time, there's the tall order of trying to kill Vantho and the other parasites while saving the Eraser team. Tall order to say the least...
Enemies: Monarch (Vantho), EChaos, DreadVenom (Lord Siphor) / DraCannon (Tiam St. George) / SlayHare (Azel Burroughs) -> SolEraser, Praetorians
Before the final mission, SolSavior also obtains the QuasArmor, which has regulatory systems to let the machine bring out its full strength.
6. Shine Tomorrow, Shine Forever: With the means to create the same kind of dimensional anomaly the Indalph had been using to transport in their forces, the Unity Group's able to take the fight to the Indalph at long last! Their home dimension, a space between realities, is all kinds of bizarre with innumerable connections they conquered one way or another. And of course, with how long it takes for an anomaly to fully mature, we have a big welcome party waiting for us.
Feith-Val from mission 3 makes his formal introduction, with countless Part Troopers forming together to form his gigantic personal machine Deep Red, with plenty more backing him up. Compounding that, Feith-Val has remarkable reality warping powers too, best described that since he is the leader of the Indalph and this place IS the Indalph, then it makes sense he can control it with his very thoughts. But before things get too out of hand though, our attacks against him get surprise backup from Sara of all people! But why?
Simple. Her ambitions won't settle for less than the best, and because the Indalph are conquest... if she wants to become their new leader, her first conquest must be the Indalph themselves! Feith-Val dies, actually in good spirits that someone could understand their beliefs so well, and the EChaos transforms into the superior Thousand Faceless, Sara eager to break each and every one of us since she's going to need new lieutenants.
The same reality-warping bullshit continues, but it slowly but steadily begins to falter, turning the tide of battle in our favor. And why? Just as in the first mission, where Saturnia's powers failed to work properly in the Uni-'verse, our entering the Indalph's realm has allowed our world's laws of reality to enter too, undermining Sara's complete control. With the everything on the line and the chance to free countless lives from the Indalph's tyranny, it's SolSavior and the Unity Group's last battle against their former friend.
Enemies: Deep Red (Feith-Val), EChaos -> Thousand Faceless (Sara), Praetorians, Gazers, Part Troopers
Sample Post: testrun-box.dreamwidth.org/71487.html
AIM contact: wyverncakes
Alternate contacts: seed.d.cagalli@gmail.com
Character name: Mizuki Onodera
Source canon: Dawn of Miracles SolSavior (OC)
Community tag: Mizuki Onodera
Do I want a HMD: Sure
Notes: Writing the character and canon background in reverse just because it's easier to follow that way.
Original canon background: SolSavior's got a large chunk of backstory that's more it's own thing, but the basic rundown of it was that there existed an anti-Sun known as the Great Black Void. Jealous and hateful of its nonsentient counterpart and the world the Sun supplied with life, the Void plotted and plotted since ancient times to seize Earth for itself. However, its own denizens, contained inside, were reflections of life on Earth.
However, as humanity began to develop large robots and achieve reliable travel into space, the Void could create beings that could accomplish the same things as well. It created a force known as the Kingdom of Darkness meant to conquer and destroy life as it existed on the world... only for said Kingdom to be thwarted by a machine of the Sun: SolFighter. The Void had not gone unnoticed by ancient astrologers, and as the attacks began, humanity looked back on these notes about the Void to find a way to fight back. Thus, they turned to the power of the Sun to fight the Void, and for ten
It left, however, three beings behind: the only members of an eleventh batch of Void beings it had intended to use for the next phase of the war. The pilots ultimately decided to return to Earth with these three, and Solaris was left with the question of just what to do with itself. Its purpose had been fulfilled and its sources of financial support dried up quickly. Before long, pretty much everyone who had anywhere to go had left the virtually defunct Solaris for various avenues. Those who stayed pretty much worked to help out other groups who needed help, and though the organization became a shell of its former self it was always willing to help.
Ten years after the Void's defeat, the Unity Group comes into being/SRW Uni starts proper, and Solaris's director sees this as a means to resurrect the failing group. A genuine alliance between groups, and a chance for Solaris to get the support necessary to get back on its feet. There were still threats to the world, and the remaining members of the group had stayed because they'd best be able to help the world by helping Solaris stay afloat. And through the support it would receive and the support it would give, Solaris would once more find its place in this world as defenders of justice.
Background: Created for the express purpose of destroying humanity and giving the Great Black Void control over the Earth, the Abyss Empress's life got derailed almost as soon as it began. The Void was destroyed while in the process of creating her (leaving her in the form of a ten-year-old child) and she was taken back to Solaris HQ with her two fellow Abyssians, General Salanshiel and Grand Vizier Zangango... their sworn enemies ironically becoming the people in the world they could best relate to. They were given living conditions as good as Solaris's strapped coffers could afford and could leave in relative peace, and in return they'd help Solaris in researching Void energy and Void beings in general. There'd never been an opportunity to study live ones before, and the Abyssians were fascinating in that their very bodies were living generators of Void energy.
Thus the Empress -adopting the name "Mizuki"- grew up amongst her enemies. Salanshiel and Zangango became surrogate parents, rather than simply being underlings. She made friends amongst the members of Solaris, including even the Director's own grandchildren. Thanks to the researchers, she managed to learn about her powers (reduced because of the destruction of the Void but still present). And most notably, she began to feel that in spite of everything, this was for the best. She had a home, and the freedom to choose what she wanted to do with her life. If she'd just been the Abyss Empress, then her purpose in life would've been defined by the Void. And naturally, she wanted to help out the people who'd become her extended family.
When the Director announced that Solaris would be assisting the Unity Group, there was still a question about how much they could really do without any machines or pilots to send. The catch was though... they did have a pilot and a machine to send. Now a young woman, Mizuki was capable of calling forth her own personal mount, a machine that had originally been meant to be used as a weapon against Solaris and its heroes... how ironic that the machine, dubbed the "DuskBird" would be the first step to Solaris's rebirth.
Personality: Mizuki's a testament to the powers of nurture over nature, having grown into someone markedly different than the evil overlord she was meant to be. She's a strong and vocal supporter of Solaris and determined to see that the group rise from its vestigial existence, and is on very friendly terms with its members. This comes from her searching for a place for herself and Solaris, and defending the world from threats to it.
She's someone who has a great deal of understanding for people who are trying to do their own thing, willing to encourage them even if their way of doing things differs from hers. However, she has little patience for stupid blunders, let alone ones where someone still tries to act as if they did the right thing when it's obvious they didn't. She also loathes people who inconvenience her for stupid reasons, for instance pulling pranks on her or shoving her aside to play hero.
Her criticisms of people in these situations are often biting and venomous, but at the same time she's a big softy in the end. She can only rag on someone who's absolutely miserable and feeling ashamed of themselves before she herself switches from bad cop to good cop, trying to offer them advice or help. Those pranks and foolish moments of heroism mentioned above? Yeah she'll think they're stupid and be angry about it, but if they actually worked the way they were supposed to, she won't hide the fact she's impressed.
In short, even when she's angry at people she knows or at least has no massive beef with, she might get angry but reigns it back in before doing something she might regret. Just don't be a complete idiot who ruins everything because it has to be done Your Way, because then she's not going to hold back.
Mizuki's also plenty capable of forgiveness and giving people a second chance. Solaris's efforts are all about a second go at protecting the world from all sorts of evil, and Mizuki herself knows that just because you are or were meant to be something evil doesn't mean you have to be. That said she's not naive and she doesn't fall for baseless sob stories and crocodile tears, rather if you want to change but think it's too late for you, she's going to argue against that... though she won't hold back until you stop fighting.
Blatant evil, or evil pretending to act for any sort of greater good however, is something Mizuki just will not tolerate. She also won't tolerate any of that "I exist in the name of the balance between good and evil" bullshit either. If you have free will, you're responsible for the terrible things you do and she's going to punch your face in because someone has to.
Outside of battle and craziness, Mizuki's fairly easygoing and friendly. She has a tremendous love of seafood from the ocean's lower levels (since it's the only thing Earth-based food she can eat safely) along with other foods whose origins aren't traced back to photosynthesis.
Capabilities and Resources: As an Abyssian, and the intended ruler over them, Mizuki's body is markedly stronger than a normal human's and possesses other abilities as well. She possesses mild superhuman strength and agility (think like Captain America), and she can summon the DuskBird to crawl out from her shadow so long as she's conscious and hasn't gone too long without eating. Both she and the DuskBird also have extraordinary regenerative powers and so long as her vitals are kept stable Mizuki can recover from virtually any kind of injury no matter how severe.
Mizuki can also focus Void energy into her left hand. The energy -destructive enough on its own- is an anathema to Sol beings. Think of it sorta like her own, evil version of the Shining Finger or Lemuria Impact. Named the "Abyss Sanction", it requires Mizuki to act as though she were the evil villain she was meant to be. She works around this by making bold, villainous speeches while using it. Using the Sanction also causes her clothing to transform into a regal black and gold outfit befitting her original design. She's still the same person as ever though.
Mizuki is not without her weaknesses though. As a creation of the Great Black Void, she was meant to use the Void itself for sustenance. With the Void's destruction, Mizuki and her parents are somewhat boned in that regard and cannot eat anything that's part of a photosynthetic food chain for energy. Grass, birds, cattle, vegetables, it's all pretty much off the table for them since Sol energy served as that food's foundation. They won't die from food poisoning, but Mizuki will get very, very sick if she does eat food like that and it makes her extremely vulnerable to biological poisons. The inverse also applies to an extent: entities that extract life force will find her extremely icky "tasting".
The only foods on the planet that Mizuki and her parents can eat for nourishment are plants and animals found in deep-sea environments where no light has ever reached; places where the food chains started with chemosynthesis instead. Extradimensional life-forms such as the kaiju are also fair game for her though. She eats enough of this sort of stuff that she actually maintains a blog for it, which she also uses to help support her family.
Lastly, even standing out in the Sun or on holy ground associated to the Sun is physically irritating for Mizuki, and it's at its worst on bright, shiny days. Night isn't much relief for her though, since moonlight's just reflected sunlight. Fortunately, any means of protecting her body from direct contact with the light mitigates this and she often carries around an umbrella.
Type: Combatant
Unit Name: DuskBird
Unit Description:
Visual reference:
Mizuki's personal machine, and in fact as much her physical being as her actual body, enough so that it is primarily controlled by her thoughts and instincts. A 15 meter tall semi-sentient machine, the DuskBird can transform between three forms depending on the need: that of a humanoid, a bird, or a jet. Each is combat-capable and the DuskBird's plenty able of participating on missions without needing to combine into SolSavior.
First is Jet mode, which is the fastest and is ideal for hit-and-fade attacks. In this form, the DuskBird's six wings have a fixed, rigid formation to be aerodynamic and can be used to tear through unsuspecting targets. Its eyes can also release powerful rays of Void energy known as the Abyss Gaze to strike enemies from afar. The entire machine can also charge its form with a Void energy barrier, granting it additional protection but more importantly be able to smash straight into targets without harm.
Bird mode is similar, but sacrifices some speed for better maneuverability in an atmosphere. In this form the DuskBird is the most birdlike, flapping about and moving fluidly. It retains its eye lasers from before, but additionally can use its tail and claws to slash and tear apart enemies up close. A flap of its wings can also send a multitude of its feathers -razor sharp and charged with Void energy- at enemies. Just like Jet mode's best for quick attacks and then falling back, Bird mode's maneuverability makes best for dogfights.
Lastly is the DuskBird's humanoid form, where it assumes its full size and can use the full extent of its strength. The Abyss Gaze is still there, and along with it, Mizuki can use the Abyss Sanction as she can while on foot. When using it in the DuskBird's cockpit, the entire cockpit changes into a massive throne room much larger than the DuskBird's actual body. The Sanction can be used as Shining Finger-esque melee attack or as a long-range beam. Part of the DuskBird's tail also becomes repurposed as a prehensile whip sharp enough to pierce and cut through enemies if Mizuki so wishes. Like Bird mode, its wings can be used to launch feathers at enemies, or also used as a protective measure with the same kind of barrier that Jet mode has.
Size: M
Terrain compatibility: (Broken down into Jet/Bird/Humanoid modes)
Air: Yes/Yes/Yes
Ground: No/No/Yes
Water: No/No/Yes
Space: Yes/Yes/Yes
Favored terrain: Space/Air/Air
Upgrades: There's the issue of SolSavior itself, and its details are all right here.
Wingmen: Sara Harper.
Mizuki's best friend and the granddaughter of Solaris's Director, Sara's not the kind of person to just let Mizuki do all the work of helping keep Solaris afloat! A sociable person who makes friends easily, Sara's a real go-getter who likes to get stuff done and is enthusiastic about it, although also sometimes worries about how little people, even really influential people, can really do in the grand scheme of things. Surely this won't lead to everything going straight to hell.
Sara pilots the Solego, a small Lady Command-esque support ship with room for two. This means she can transport Mizuki to battles if Mizuki doesn't want to summon the DuskBird right away. The Solego also comes equipped with some missiles and a single Sol Beam attack.
She's also the intended pilot for the ShelLancer, but... well, stuff happens.
Mission requirement: Mizuki and company do not require missions for introduction. However, their machine, SolSavior, does and cannot be formed prior to the first mission due to authorization locks on it. Sara also needs to go missing (due to investigating a dimensional anomaly) prior to Dido's arrival with the ShelLancer... which should ideally be followed before too long by SolSavior's first mission.
Suggested Event List:
1. A New Light's Dawning: In the midst of a battle against one faction or another, dimensional anomalies similar to the ones Sara was lost in begin to occur around us. These ones stabilize much faster than the ones previously found though, and from them emerge a strike force that announces itself as the vanguard of the Indalph, led by Fateshifter Saturnia. Their terms are the usual "surrender or be made examples of", and Saturnia'll quickly be demonstrating her special brand of causality manipulation before too long as the fighting commences.
What she'll also wind up doing is make mention of a prisoner the Indalph already have and show us the trashed remains of the Solego; reason enough for Director Harper to authorize the formation of SolSavior. Saturnia's posturing and future-determining predictions also all fall flat when the power of the Abyss Sanction does a tremendous number on her; just because fate exists in the Uni-'verse doesn't mean people can't defy it (a concept lost on Saturnia). Thus the Indalph attack gets to be turned into a full-blown rout, with the SolSavior team intending to get answers about where Sara is from Saturnia. Unfortunately, Saturnia's still a threat to some degree with her powers, and we're forced to blow her away with a Sol Salvation.
Enemies: Fateshifter Saturnia, Praetorians, Part Troopers, Gazers
2. Its Name is EChaos: Prior to the start of this mission, either in a log or whatever, we get good news! Sara's been found by an allied or neutral group, and though she's seriously injured and recovering everything checks out with her. Arrangements are made to meet up one way or another; be it us going to the other guys' base, a transport bringing Sara to our own, or possibly Sara shows up as an allied reinforcement in another fight, bringing an escort along with her.
She's happy to see her friends again, along with SolSavior itself... though she's a bit disappointed they went ahead and formed it without her. Her story's also fairly straight and to the point: while investigating the anomaly she was drawn into the the realm of the Indalph, where they inevitably captured and tortured her for information. The death of Saturnia caused the Indalph to just go into a frenzy of disbelief and she used it to escape. Straight and to the point.
But at an opportune moment, she and her escort open fire on us. Revealing her new form and the dolphin-inspired EChaos, Sara goes on to correct her previous explanation. After Saturnia died, the Indalph were desperate for information about SolSavior and the Unity Group... and in that, Sara saw opportunity. They were a dimension-traveling, world-conquering force that could grant her nearly anything... a marked improvement from just being a pilot for Solaris, one who was actually replaced by a mechanic. Humans have limits, and if giving up her humanity frees her of that, then so be it. To remember the good times with everyone though, Sara promises that she won't have the Indalph kill any of us; just break us so we see things her way.
Sara's familiarity with our machines gives her a tremendous advantage, and before long it seems like she's poised to destroy SolSavior. However, Kenichi's developed-on-the-spot Shiranui Retsu Ken punch catches her by surprise (since she didn't know about it) and manages to damage the EChaos enough to drive her off, though she promises that the best is yet to come.
Enemies: EChaos (piloted by Sara), Indalph-infested mook machines.
3. The Enemy Is Our Reflection! SolEraser!: In the midst of another battle we're having, more of those dimensional anomalies that herald the Indalph begin to happen. And sure enough, before long plenty of Part Troopers come in, with the disembodied voice of Feith-Val, the current leader of the Indalph, speaking through them and greeting us for the very first time. Feith-Val gives us a little bit of insight into the Indalph, how their origin has become forgotten in the aeons that have passed since the group came about. Feith-Val himself was young when his dimension was attacked, and he chose the winning side, just as Sara has here. And look at him now!
This is also a message to our enemies too; Feith-Val promises assistance and if they wish, the Indalph will make kings and gods out of all of them. Either way they'll help, and the other guys can make up their mind when all is said and done. That said, the Part Troopers themselves don't make this much more difficult...
... Until SolSavior is suddenly hit by a really nasty sucker-punch of an attack from an unseen enemy. Feith-Val then takes the time to introduce to us the Indalph's answer to SolSavior: SolEraser. Created thanks to Sara's knowledge, Feith-Val assures everyone that SolEraser will live up to its name, its pilots eager to prove that as well as they join the fray. Like Sara, himself, and the Indalph's generals, they all chose the Indalph, and in defeating SolSavior the trio will prove themselves.
Due to the damage SolSavior's sustained, it's inevitably defeated by SolEraser. However, while delivering the final, fatal blow, SolEraser and its pilots hesitate, giving everyone the opening needed to force it to retreat.
Enemies: Part Troopers, SolEraser (piloted by Lord Siphor, Tiam St. George, and Azel Burroughs)
4. The Consuming Fortress: You know how those dimensional anomalies always herald the arrival of Indalph forces? Turns out when they're not being formed in the midst of a battle, they take much, much longer to fully stabilize and allow transportation between worlds... which is what's happening over Sendai (or any other disposable city if need be). This gives us enough time (hours if not days) to make a response team, and when the anomaly finally stabilizes...
... Out comes a gigantic golden battleship. Introduced to us as the "Last Shining" by its captain, Indalph general Saibok the Devouring Light, the ship's going to begin unleashing hell on the city and launching swarms of mooks too. The Indalph are emboldened by the Unity Group's less-than-stellar victories over them previously, and they're eager to finally pay us back for the death of Saturnia. To make matters worse, sooner or later SolEraser will sortie from the Last Shining as well, its pilots eager to finally settle things once and for all.
The battle rages, the city's going to suffer the worst for it, and SolEraser will finally set the stage for the last exchange using its gravity powers to set up a beam-of-war exchange with SolSavior, with dozens or hundreds of people poised to die if SolSavior breaks off from the attack or fails to overpower SolEraser's. And unfortunately... it becomes pretty damn clear that SolEraser's Horizon Buster attack is the stronger of the two before long, so the pilots declare they're the winner and move to just use gravity to crush everyone until Mizuki all but freaks out. With a defiant cry of "save them!" (and most likely a shitton of support attacks), SolSavior will essentially get overclocked to hell and back and its attack grows strong enough to completely overpower SolEraser's own attack-
- And SolEraser itself just gives up all too quickly, springs away, and all our attacks proceed to go on and completely demolish a huge chunk of the Last Shining and kill Saibok. The massive vessel's now falling to the city below and it'll force everyone to combine their efforts to destroy it before it crashes down. Everyone except SolSavior though, since Mizuki's little stunt has caused multiple parts of the machine to get blown out and it's put all its pilots in tremendous physical pain for some reason.
SolEraser makes its escape in the meantime too, though in the aftermath of the battle we'll hear reports about how after Saibok was killed, it had supposedly been destroying Indalph forces in the city. Weird.
Enemies: Last Shining (Saibok), SolEraser (Siphor/St. George/Burroughs), Gazers, Part Troopers
After this mission, we'll learn that SolSavior's failing to actually meet estimated projections for power output and fighting potential. Mizuki's last, overclocked attack by all rights should be the norm for what SolSavior can put out, but the marriage between Sol and Void energies is an imperfect one and SolSavior can't bring out its true strength without collateral: namely itself and its own pilots.
With the implication that she and the DuskBird are essentially holding SolSavior and Solaris back, Mizuki ultimately decides to resign from the team so that a replacement "DawnBird" can be produced and another pilot can be found. She'll still be a part of the Unity Group, but she won't consider herself a part of the SolSavior team any more and she'll refuse to form SolSavior on missions unless it's an absolute do-or-die situation. However, just as the DawnBird's almost done, she'll announce she's leaving the Unity Group as well since she's seen them through to her replacement's arrival.
5. Requiem for the Darkness: So. The DawnBird's nearing completion and a pilot for it's been found. That's great news! The bad news is Solaris HQ suddenly falls under attack from a massive Indalph force, Sara leading it! It wasn't hard to figure out what happened to SolSavior during Saibok's attack, and from there it was easy to perfectly figure out everything Solaris has done.
Accompanying her is the SolEraser team and the last Indalph general: Vantho the Swarm's Harbringer. The Eraser team are piloting their mechs separately though, it's not fair to finish off SolSavior's remaining components combined. The Indalph force's primary goal is the storage hangar that the DawnBird's being developed in, and Vantho and Lord Siphor will inevitably pull ahead and tear it open.
But one lone techie's not running from them, and as Vantho moves to crush them with the Monarch's mighty fist... from the mechanic's shadow emerges a pair of black hands that stop the attack cold. It's Mizuki, delivering an Abyss Sanction to the Indalph general. Solaris's members, Ken and Dido included, then reveal the ruse in full: they planned around Sara's knowledge of the group. Solaris isn't defined by strength and enemies it has to defeat anymore, and Sara made a critical mistake in thinking their guard was down.
... And who follows up the trickery than the SolEraser team! Siphor helps strike down Vantho while Tiam and Azel both attack and severely damage the EChaos, the team revealing to everyone they were hoping for an opportunity to destroy the Indalph's leadership. Their loyalties were always with us though, hence sparing SolSavior in the third mission and manipulating events in the fourth so that Saibok would be killed. Sara however, isn't anywhere near as beaten as they think and she uses her tentacles to infest Tiam and Azel, and it turns out that Vantho's gigantic form is actually just a poor, broken host as his true parasitic form latches onto the DreadVenom, takes control, and forms SolEraser one last time. All three of our potential friends are now fighting against their wills, and Sara retreats, looking forward to either see what comes of this.
SolEraser's stronger than ever due to the power of the parasites, but fortunately SolSavior forms once more to finally settle the score! But at the same time, there's the tall order of trying to kill Vantho and the other parasites while saving the Eraser team. Tall order to say the least...
Enemies: Monarch (Vantho), EChaos, DreadVenom (Lord Siphor) / DraCannon (Tiam St. George) / SlayHare (Azel Burroughs) -> SolEraser, Praetorians
Before the final mission, SolSavior also obtains the QuasArmor, which has regulatory systems to let the machine bring out its full strength.
6. Shine Tomorrow, Shine Forever: With the means to create the same kind of dimensional anomaly the Indalph had been using to transport in their forces, the Unity Group's able to take the fight to the Indalph at long last! Their home dimension, a space between realities, is all kinds of bizarre with innumerable connections they conquered one way or another. And of course, with how long it takes for an anomaly to fully mature, we have a big welcome party waiting for us.
Feith-Val from mission 3 makes his formal introduction, with countless Part Troopers forming together to form his gigantic personal machine Deep Red, with plenty more backing him up. Compounding that, Feith-Val has remarkable reality warping powers too, best described that since he is the leader of the Indalph and this place IS the Indalph, then it makes sense he can control it with his very thoughts. But before things get too out of hand though, our attacks against him get surprise backup from Sara of all people! But why?
Simple. Her ambitions won't settle for less than the best, and because the Indalph are conquest... if she wants to become their new leader, her first conquest must be the Indalph themselves! Feith-Val dies, actually in good spirits that someone could understand their beliefs so well, and the EChaos transforms into the superior Thousand Faceless, Sara eager to break each and every one of us since she's going to need new lieutenants.
The same reality-warping bullshit continues, but it slowly but steadily begins to falter, turning the tide of battle in our favor. And why? Just as in the first mission, where Saturnia's powers failed to work properly in the Uni-'verse, our entering the Indalph's realm has allowed our world's laws of reality to enter too, undermining Sara's complete control. With the everything on the line and the chance to free countless lives from the Indalph's tyranny, it's SolSavior and the Unity Group's last battle against their former friend.
Enemies: Deep Red (Feith-Val), EChaos -> Thousand Faceless (Sara), Praetorians, Gazers, Part Troopers
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