Reign of Nezuel Application - Ivo Galvan

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The above art was drawn and colored by , who did an amazing job on short notice!

Hi! I’m new to DeviantArt, but I was invited by my good friend , with whom I’ve RPed a lot in the past. I’m not an artist, but I love to write and RP and I’ve always enjoyed the commissions that my friend has gotten of his character Reize, so I’m hopeful I can join you all in chat and on the forum!

AEJIS: 1
CLASS: Warrior (Intended Path: Champion)

TITLES
None

Name: Ivo Galvan
Pronunciation: Eee-voh
Age: 20
Birth Sign: Joro, the Maiden
Gender: Male
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Black
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 140 lbs.
Build: Slender
Race: Human
Region: Ulrien
Magicks: Gravity, Lightning
Pet: N/A
Weapon: Orbital Blade ‘Hauteclare’
Job: Knight-Errant
Hobbies: Training in the sword dance, seeking out new books and food, butting into other people’s business as charmingly as possible, guessing what will happen before it does
Likes: Being surprised, reading, appealing aesthetics, self-respecting people, fiery personalities
Dislikes: Cowards, bullies, and other irresponsible people; small-mindedness or inflexibility masquerading as conviction; failing to protect others
Personality Keywords and Traits: Serious, open-hearted, loyal, thoughtful, insightful, untiring, curious, proud, absent-minded, useless with practical matters, occasionally melancholic
Quote: “As anticipated… more or less.”

Theme Song: ‘Daily Life,’ from the Nora and the Time Studio OST – [link]
Battle Theme: ‘Touched by Courage and Pride,’ from Seiken Densetsu ReBirth – [link]

Fighting Style: The sword dance of the Orbital Blade, passed down to Ivo from his recently deceased father – Gilbert Galvan, a knight and swordsman of some small repute in Vingard – is a peculiar and difficult-to-master technique which relies upon tremendous precision and cunning and can offer the overwhelming advantage of surprise. Hauteclare is a normal, if extremely well-crafted, longsword in the hands of an average wielder, but it is forged of a highly conductive metal and, most importantly, it is possible through a hidden switch in the pommel to detach its blade from its hilt.

Through Gravity magic, Hauteclare’s blade may be suspended in midair and allowed to dance separately from the hilt; through Lightning magic, it can simultaneously channel electrical energy through it with each stab. This requires great concentration and endurance, which Ivo, with his high Intelligence and Stamina, possesses in spades. At his best, Ivo can even fight along with his sword, punching with the hilt while the blade attacks from another direction. But he tends to fight normally until finding the right opportunity to surprise his adversary with his Dancing Blade, as using it hastily can expose him to very strong or very swift opponents, who might be able to smash through or sneak past his technique.

Thus, he tends to be a patient fighter, using counter-attacks and reversals and trying not to be overwhelmed until he can unbalance or expose the weak point of his opponent, and then strike with devastating accuracy. Furthermore, though Ivo’s magic is limited to a specific set of techniques, these arts serve as building blocks for a variety of creative combinations; though this is an inefficient use of magical energy and would quickly exhaust a normal adventurer, he is not talented enough with sorcery to do better, and he can rely upon his surplus of vitality and willpower.

Base Tier Abilities

1. Dancing Blade – Gravity - Atk Power: | Mag Power:
The signature technique of the Galvan sword dance, Ivo uses Hauteclare’s hidden switch to detach its blade from its hilt and then send it whirling and dancing about him, stabbing from impossible angles. Extremely difficult to predict or dodge if an enemy has entered close quarters, but can be immediately defeated if Ivo’s concentration is interrupted.

2. Shocking Blade – Lightning - Atk Power: | Mag Power:
Ivo channels electricity through his conductive blade to supplement his physical attacks; since it’s an inefficient use of magical energy, he tries to do this only when he’s confident he’ll connect. When he goes all out, though, he can combine this technique with his Dancing Blade, and shock adversaries from afar!

3. Gravity Well – Gravity - Atk Power: | Mag Power:
Stretching out his off-hand and clenching his fist, Ivo releases a ripple into the fabric of space-time, increasing the force of gravity in a nearby location about three meters in diameter up to ten meters away. While it emits an oppressive sensation, it’s not too powerful, but he can use this either to pin a single opponent in place or drag multiple opponents together toward each other.

4. Demon Fang – Lightning - Atk Power: | Mag Power:
Slashing his sword upward, Ivo casts a shockwave toward his opponent, sending a surge of electricity shooting across the ground to slam into his adversary’s legs; if it connects, the shock can both knock them off their feet and briefly paralyze them. He will also sometimes use this tactically, such as trying to force his opponents to jump or dodge in a certain direction.

5. Burst Lunge – Gravity - Atk Power: | Mag Power:
Propelling himself with a sudden pulse of force from behind and freeing himself from the burdens of gravity, Ivo, normally a slow-paced fighter, hurls himself forward at break-neck speed to abruptly close the distance between himself and his adversary, hoping to catch them by surprise with the flurry of attacks that will follow. He can also use this to propel himself backward in a desperate dodge, to double-jump, or to suddenly redirect himself mid-air, but it’s currently impossible for him to use it more than once before landing, so he won’t be flying around or anything.

Example Ability Combination Attacks

These are some of the effects that can occur when Ivo links two or more of his five abilities together.

Orbital Storm – Dancing Blade + Shocking Blade
An area attack capable of toppling a crowd of weaker adversaries and splintering any surrounding obstacles, Ivo allows his sword to whirl about him while channeling surges of lightning in every direction, shocking and cutting at anyone and anything in the vicinity. He is careful not to use this technique while any friends are nearby.

Deadly Dance – Dancing Blade + Burst Lunge
A cunning and vicious technique invented by Ivo’s steely-willed father, only usable by those unafraid to shed blood in the name of their beliefs. First, Ivo will thrust forth his sword while out of range, while suddenly causing the blade to leap from its hilt; either the opponent will be surprised and impaled, or dodge or deflect the attack. Either way, Ivo will immediately Burst Lunge, closing the distance despite his lack of a sword, and repeatedly punch his opponent with his hilt and buckler in the gut and head. Then he will draw his hand back, summoning the blade back to the hilt with his Gravity magic. Either it will tear from his opponent’s body, dealing heavy damage – or it will flip back toward him from the ground, and stab his enemy from behind!

Ravenous Demon Fang – Gravity Well + Demon Fang + Burst Lunge + Shocking Blade
Ivo’s most devastating single-target assault, and a supreme feat of timing and stamina. After pinning an adversary in place with a Gravity Well with his off-hand, he slashes up with his sword arm to emit a Demon Fang. Right as it darts toward his stunned opponent, Ivo activates his Burst Lunge, chasing his own attack, and just as the Fang hits his enemy’s legs and begins to topple them, Ivo catches them with a fearsome combination of slashes and thrusts imbued with electrical energy. Used as a finishing move, as after this, he is usually spent.

Personality: As an aspiring knight and successor to minor nobility, Ivo is exceedingly responsible and ultimately quite serious, and on the whole his speech is eloquent and his manner is self-possessed; nevertheless, despite his diligence, he is much more indulgent of others and open to different personalities and experiences than most people with his sort of personality and upbringing, and as a result he has a charmingly straightforward quality that most aristocrats lack. Rather than seeming aloof or pretentious, Ivo’s first impression is sincere and oddly laidback, though even just talking to him for a little bit will reveal his passion and determination.

Ivo is always up to something, whether it is training or reading or simply wandering the streets in search of nothing in particular, and so he is never bored, but he is particularly attracted to people who promise to make his life very interesting, whether for better or for worse. He is that rare sort of person who is both ethically and aesthetically-minded – who loves truth as much as beauty – and though he is thus sympathetic to and curious about all walks of life, he will not countenance what he sees to be evil.

Strategic and insightful, Ivo is skillful at gauging people and predicting future events, though he couples this with an inexplicable tendency to forget about his immediate surroundings or about necessary, if trivial, tasks. Indeed, his haplessness with practical matters has nothing to do with his refined background; despite his best efforts, he is incorrigible when it comes to boring tasks like setting up a tent properly, not because he is above them but simply because he’ll begin to space out and think about something more interesting, making a dignified contemplative expression even as his tent collapses on top of him.

He has a good sense of humor about all this, tending to play his inevitable errors off with grace and a straight face, but very occasionally Ivo’s disposition will turn dark – even if the matter is minor – and he will attempt to isolate himself so as not to inflict his bad mood on anyone. In fact, he holds himself to a very high standard, hoping to resurrect the legacy of his deceased father and honor his long-deceased mother, and his deeply-buried but fierce pride and inability to tolerate his own weakness is his weakest point, though difficult to expose.

Background: Born and reared in Vingard, the jewel of Ulrien, Ivo was raised to be proud of his family name, yet spent enough time on the streets of this diverse and multi-faceted city to avoid acquiring an inflated sense of his own importance. Indeed, being of extremely minor nobility, he has only had the opportunity to personally interact with the Baroness Hildr twice: once at his official reception to the court as a boy and squire, and then a mere month ago, when he was accepted as a candidate for knighthood and tasked with traveling Ulrien to prove his worthiness and defend the people. At the first occasion, both his beaming father and loving mother were present; at the last, neither yet lived.

Ivo’s father, Gilbert Galvan, had both achieved his title and won his lovely wife through sheer talent and feats of arms. A master both of swordplay and Gravity and Fire magic, the tale of Gilbert’s epic quest to forge Hauteclare and thereby maximize his abilities is by now forgotten, but the Galvan sword dance, which he invented himself, became a legendary and nigh-invincible style in his hands while he remained in his prime. A tightly self-controlled but explosively passionate man, Gilbert was famous for his overwhelming presence, the sort of man who could keep a perfectly straight face while his eyes blazed with terrible fury. His Blazing Blade could carve through almost anything, and he accompanied his detachable dancing blade with a devastating and relentless boxing style, able even to imbue his punches with flame.

A man of such strong and unwavering feeling would fall in love only once, and methodically and relentlessly pursue the woman of his dreams for years. Ivo’s mother, Isolde, the daughter of nobility herself, felt great affection for the almost-comically intense Gilbert from the beginning, despite the terror her well-bred friends experienced in his vicinity; her family, however, would have none of the rough-edged swordsman, thereby initiating a life-long quest for respectability for Gilbert. Indomitable and diligent, Gilbert learned to temper even his own personality, and returned to Isolde’s family a champion of numerous competitions and an exceedingly refined individual. Isolde’s will, as it turned out, was as strong as his own; she had refused countless suitors, confident that he would return a superior man. She was right, and all of Gilbert’s dreams came true – including the birth of a talented son to whom he could pass down all the secrets of his style.

Having pinned so much of his life to her light, however, and being so confident in his strength, Gilbert was devastated when Isolde passed away while Ivo remained a boy, finding himself powerless to cure her of a sudden and terrible illness with even the best doctors and sorcerers in the land. Ivo’s father changed that day, for while his iron-clad mien and blistering temper remained, the core of his passion flickered and died. He ceased to fight and refused to train even Ivo, turning his fury on the boy who, for all his seeming competence, would continue to make minor and sloppy errors out of sheer absent-mindedness. Putting this down to a lack of determination, Gilbert would never acknowledge Ivo’s true resolution, not realizing that though he could not learn directly, Ivo would watch him execute his sword dance in secret, learning all through observation.

While Gilbert was a natural with Fire, Ivo, more eager and curious than smoldering or heated, developed a tendency toward Lightning magic, and though his skill with sorcery remains limited, he seems to have the potential to become a masterful Rune Knight just like his father. Tragically, Gilbert did not live long enough to witness Ivo at last display his talents before the court in proof of his readiness for knighthood; having become an isolated and curmudgeonly old man, his reputation mostly forgotten, Gilbert died after having driven all but his faithful butler away.

Yet the habits Ivo developed in his efforts to become as great as his father continue to serve him well. Like Gilbert, he has strong ideals and little tolerance for small-minded people, but is pragmatic in his search for strength. He leads a slower-paced life than his father ever did; open-hearted and curious, he is confident that inspiration can be found anywhere with the right eyes to see. Though he understands that it was Gilbert’s personality in part that destroyed him, because of his great admiration for his father as a self-made man, Ivo is naturally attracted to fiery and original people who refuse to back down on their dreams, however improbable. As a result, he is not unduly limited by his own fundamentally serious and responsible personality.

It is perhaps inevitable that deep down, somewhere, Ivo resents his father for the burdens he now bears: compelled to uphold the honor of Galvan, yet lacking real direct training from his style’s master, proof enough that his father disdained him; a secret but insurmountable intolerance of his own silly mistakes as the cause of that disdain, which he has learned to deal with gracefully while quietly grinding his teeth in frustration. Ultimately, however, Ivo respects himself and what he has achieved, and has not in any way succumbed to self-loathing; while a part of him will always yearn for his father’s absent affection, his passion to improve is sincere, and his dreams are his own.

Relationships: None yet, but soon to be acquired, I hope.

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Thanks for reading! Let me know if there’s more I should do.