APPLICATION

[chevaliered]

PLAYER INFORMATION

PLAYER: becks
ARE YOU AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD?: yup
CONTACT: PM my journal!
CHARACTERS PLAYED: None.

CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME: Crow Armbrust
CANON: Trails of Cold Steel
CANON REFERENCE: here are a couple of links. The wikis have different levels of information, and one seems to stop providing information post Cold Steel 3.
CANON POINT: Just before the final arc of Cold Steel 4– after the night spent at the theme park.
CRAU HISTORY: N/A
AGE: 22
APPEARANCE: here
CONTRACT PAYMENT: The end of the Great Twilight, and to save his own life.
QUESTIONNAIRE:

What is the most frightening thing you've ever done? What part of you did it test the most?

Honestly? Making the choice to stay with, trust and support Class VII. Crow has people he trusts to an extent – his direct reports in the ILF are all people he cares for and trusts, but it's a bit complicated in that he trusts them to do what the ILF stands for. What that entails is up to him, and doesn't necessarily mean he's trusting them with himself, as much as he's trusting them to cause chaos and get their own revenge.

Class VII are different, in that they know Crow. And equally importantly, they refuse to give up on him. While he claims otherwise, Crow shows more of himself to them than he probably meant to. It's very much a “becoming the mask” kind of moment, where the game implies Crow's real self is somewhere between the flippant joker he presents himself as at Thors Academy, and the serious and focused leader of the ILF. And he's really used to deflecting, not letting people in and keeping a distance so it's easy to drop and run, and then suddenly he has this group of people he quite literally betrays... only to find they've all burrowed under his skin (some more than others) and formed very genuinely attachments with him.

Due to circumstances and plot reasons, it takes until the final game for him to properly rejoin Class VII's ranks – and even then it takes a lot. Crow is more willing to vanish than rejoin them, implied to be out of a sense of guilt among other things like his own complicated feelings about essentially undead, so it's a lot for him to realise how far they'd go for thim, especially Rean, and accept that. When he says he's rejoining them, he's basically giving them the rest of everything he has – his time, his energy, what's left of his life until it runs out, and that's a truly terrifying thing for someone who's been running for so long to do.

An enemy of your faction has asked for a meeting, proposing a truce of sorts to deal with a greater threat. On one hand, there is indeed a threat at hand, but on the other, this person double-crossing you is just as likely an outcome. Do you agree to the meeting? Do you trust them?

Crow's the kind of risk and reward person. He'd agree to the meeting, but he wouldn't trust them.

Sometimes you have to take a risk for a greater benefit – his school class, Class VII, are big on the idea of taking a third path even if it's riskier and less likely to have a guaranteed outcome. So, he'd consider himself stupid not to agree to the meeting and potentially gain an alliance and support. But he's also not stupid enough to walk in thinking everything would be all sunshine and roses – he'd carry a weapon; he'd look into the location of their meeting and plan escape routes; he'd tell people he did trust when and where he'd be at the location and how long to wait until they provide assistance if he doesn't emerge again.

He can and will defend himself when he needs to, and he'll do so without fear. But he also knows how to optimise his own survival. He wouldn't be too bothered about offending the faction enemy either – why should they expect blind trust from him? Are they going to show the same to him? If it helps him walk out unscathed with a shiny new truce under his belt, then why shouldn't he take every precaution?

What is your favorite diversion? Hobbies, indulgences, vices? Would you put off important things for that diversion, or would you be more strict about how you spend your time and/or money?

Crow loves games of logic and chance. And, essentially, gambling. He's not someone who's addicted to it and has a pathological need to be gambling at any given moment – they're just a natural part of what he enjoys, and something he has fond memories of.

His grandfather, the only family he had left, taught him how to play games like chess and cards when he was little, and Crow gets a lot of his all-or-nothing risk taking from his grandfather's teachings. Aside from his bitterness and fury at what happened to his grandpa, he has a pretty level outlook on situations because of it. He understands that when you bet big in an all-or-nothing gamble, you really risk losing everything and you're prepared for that outcome.

As such, he enjoys the thrill of gambling and the nuances that go with it. Clawing his way up when he's at a disadvantage, keeping a cool head and bluffing his way through someone; even just the fun of sitting at a chess board and thinking three steps ahead in a game. They're all things he greatly enjoys. In canon, he's actually the one that introduces Rean and by extension all of Class VII to a new card game on the market called Blade. This ends up becoming the mini-game system for the first two games, that later becomes a different, updated game called Vantage Masters in the third and four games. As soon as he's back with the team proper, Crow takes an immediate interest in this too.

He does know how to manage his time and his enjoyment for games though. There's a running joke that he's probably going to beeline for the races when given the chance, but he rarely if ever lets it get in the way of what needs to be done. In fact, he uses these games as more of an ice breaker – and a way of opening up and talking about serious issues. So it's something he enjoys, and also something he can use to relax a situation and even bring himself to open up.

What are your greatest regrets, if you have any? What would you have done differently?

Interestingly, Crow's biggest regret is not assassinating a beloved chancellor of the Erebonian Empire, and kickstarting a Civil War that threw Erebonia into bloody chaos for a month. It's very clear when he talks about it that he doesn't regret shooing Osborne, and Erebonia was teetering on the brink of all out internal fighting anyway, all he did was give it a shove. He does bear responsibility for it, and is acting to clean up his own messes. But regret it? No, not really.

What he does have regrets about though is what he put Class VII, and more specifically Rean through in the process. This is clearer in CS4, when he rejoins and fully throws his support behind Class VII with the time he has left. They're people who, despite everything, still believe in and love him, even if he threw them into a lot of chaos and betrayed their trust a few too many times. Crow himself genuinely thinks they're a bit touched in the head for accepting him as readily as they do, but their support is everything to him. He wouldn't do anything differently, if he had a chance to do things over though.

That would mean keeping his distance – not letting his friends get under his skin and wriggle into his heart, so he wouldn't have to betray them later on. And, selfishly in a way, Class VII and his smaller extended friend group mean enough to him that losing that would be terrible for him. He'd rather go through all that again himself, and put them through that again, than never know them. But the fact he did put them through that eats at him, even with their reassurances that he's forgiven.

POWERS & ABILITIES:

Arts & Combat Links

Crow is one of smallish group of people that can use a system known as the ARCUS. The ARCUS itself acts like a communication device for most people, but for those who can fight they can choose to outfit it with special items called orbments. Orbments are aligned to different elements, and different strengths and once equipped the user can cast Arts.

Arts range from offensive attack and debuff spells, to defensive spells and healing spells, allowing each user to craft their own skill set specifically according to their strengths and weaknesses. As an example, Crow is aligned with Water and Time orbments naturally, meaning his ARCUS system is outfitted to take advantage of that, with more spaces that allow for special Water or Time based orbments. However, without the ARCUS, Crow cannot use Arts.

The other battle related function that the ARCUS provides is the Combat Link system. This is a more nuanced system that only a few people are able to access, rather than the orbment and Art system which is more universal. Combat Links allow people to attune with each other in battle and provide back up for each other – healing spells, a support boost when casting an art, follow up attacks, etc. The closer the bond between two individuals using the Link system, the more powerful their follow up attacks and support will be.

Awakener

Crow is something called an Awakener – an individual who underwent a series of challenges and earned the respect and trust of a Divine Knight. Basically a Divine Knight is a huge, powerful ancient mecha. Again, I am so sorry Cold Steel is the way it is.

There are seven of these mecha in the world, created by two very powerful clans by fusing two very treasures for the purpose of sealing away a great evil. Within Erebonian myth, the Knights are mythical figures, with rumours that they appear in various eras when there is great conflict and they are needed. Throughout history, they continually engaged in battle to prepare for “The Rivalry of the Seven” that would occur during an foretold apocalyptic event known as the Great Twilight.

Divine Knights and their Awakeners share a bond that allows only the Awakener to pilot them, and only the Awakener can decide who benefits from the abilities the Divine Knight possesses – such as traversing mana paths, etc. This bond also extends to functional immortality. As long as the bond between an Awakener and a Divine Knight still exists, if an Awakener is killed they won't actually pass away. Their heart stops beating, and most of them stop ageing, but they can continue to “live” as long they are still an Awakener. As an example, one of the Divine Knight pilots is around 250 years old at the time of the Cold Steel series. As Crow himself is dead, this bond is still in play at the time he was taken from the game to come to Jigoku, albeit with a few complications. As everyone's “dead” in Jigoku, this wouldn't be too much of an issue to circumvent either way.

General Battle and Tactical Skills

Crow's a trained fighter, in both close range bladed combat (the Dual Saber he uses is noted to be very difficult to master, and rare enough as a weapon of choice that when hiding his identity in Thors Military Academy he chooses an entirely different weapon to specialise in) and long range pistols and sniper rifles.

Not only is he military academy trained, he also ran a group called the Imperial Liberation Front for a number of years as well as their leader and planner. This was the terrorist group he created to slowly pick at and undermine Osborne's rise to power, and his political plans. He figured out the best way to hit him where it hurts, and varying ways to throw wrenches into his expansionist plans and policies. Crow's grandfather taught him how to play cards, and chess and games that required application of logic. All of this he put to use in a very long game of proverbial chess against Osborne, just for the chance to kill him.

SUITABILITY:

Crow's had a very complicated and difficult life, so there isn't a lot that truly phases him other than the potential loss of people who matter to him. He dealt with a lot of loss and injustice from a young age – his parents died when he was too young to remembered them, and when he was about 13 years old, his grandfather was ousted from his position as mayor of Crow's hometown, Jurai. A combination of being set up for something he didn't do, and the greed of his own cabinet led to Crow's grandfather losing his position as mayor, and essentially giving up on life. He died six months after he stepped down, and Crow was left to fend for himself. Crow himself is vague about how he survived on his own – fandom has theories, but it's not hard to imagine a young teenager being involved in petty theft to keep himself fed.

Crow's also pretty ruthless – he founded a rebel organisation when he was in his teens to try and bring down Giliath Osborne, the man who set up his Grandfather's fall. And by rebel organisation, I mean terrorism. He purposely sought out people who had suffered due to Osborne's aggressive expansionist policies and devoted his time and all his bitter, angry energy into ruining and eventually ending Osborne's life. This group, the Imperial Liberation Front, has done some very legitimately terrible things – things Crow is still working to atone for currently.

He's a military academy graduate (sort of. Technically he didn't graduate but he did attend for two years), so he has active knowledge of combat and from Cold Steel 2 onwards has been part of an active war movement. He's also an Awakener, someone who has earned a bond with a Divine Knight (basically a mecha. I'm so sorry Cold Steel is the way it is.), which made him a valuable and highly active piece of a civil war movement. He was only about 19 years old when Erebonia collapsed into civil war (which he helped to cause but, y'know).

And he also died. But not really. It's complicated, but he did legitimately get killed in front of his friends at the end of Cold Steel 2 – he has a circular impalement scar going from the front to the back of his torso from where he was killed, although due to his Divine Knight he was able to cheat death for the moment. A lot has happened to Crow, and there's very little that phases him. He's also fairly cavalier about his own well being and safety given that he's, well, dead. So there's that as well.

FACTION SUITABILITY:

Shuten Clan

In terms of physical strength, Crow has a lot he could offer to the Shuten Clan. He's a physical fighter, and a very good one as well; and as I mentioned he specialises in multiple types of combat. He has experience working in a group with a hierarchy, even if he was at the top of that hierarchy previously, and has military knowledge of rank and respect. He'd be able to blend in rather well, and understand the sort of influence and expectations a group running on a strict might and honour code.

He's also a gambler by nature – he enjoys gambling games as standard. Horse races, card games, coin flips, you name it and Crow has probably experienced it or knows well enough how it works. This bleeds into his high risk high nature nature in other aspects of his life as well. He'd be entirely up for running a casino style venture, amping up business, making sure no one's counting cards because he'd know what to look for, anything that was needed.

That being said, one big issue with this clan would probably be that Crow is a lying liar who lies. It takes a long time to get the truth out of him about himself and his past, although he does open up when he trusts someone. And he spends the entirety of the first game undercover and lying to everyone around him about who he really is and what his goals are. This is a part of him that's unlikely to change around strangers, not until he gets to know them properly.

Tamamo Clan

Well, Crow's not horny exactly, but he is pretty flirtatious even if he is doing it casually, and doesn't have any issue rolling with heated situations and playing along for fun and purpose. He's the kind of person who's quick to charm and offer a grin and a wink, so he'd probably get by well in the Tamamo's clans restaurant businesses – especially if there's a bar involved. He does love a drink.

He's also a tactician, a planner and very much in the “try to be ahead of the game” category of schemer. The ILF were leaps and bounds ahead of Osborne's own police and security systems in terms of throwing people off their trail and never letting on their end goal of taking Osborne's life until it was too late. Crow's sly and cunning when he has to be, and while he doesn't necessarily want to, he will deceive the people he cares about the most if he has to. To put things into perspective, Crow knew damn well his plans to kill Osborne would hurt his friends and destabilise the entire Empire, but he went ahead with it anyway because his revenge meant more to him. He's a good enough person to take responsibility for it and try to pick up the pieces afterwards, but he never thought of stopping for someone else's sake.

And honestly? He'd probably enjoy not having to hustle and fight too much. Knowing the clans goal is to offer indulgences and a good time would be a refreshing change.


Sutoku Alliance

Crow would do pretty well in a group if information brokers. He has connections, and knows how to filter a good lead from a bad one and act on it. He doesn't trust easily, and tends to prefer knowing the plans and happenings of people he considers an enemy so he can monitor and work around them. This is the kind of skill he'd be willing to extend within the clan as well – digging up leads and knowing who to keep an eye on. If they had a plan in made, he'd be able to look over it, pin point flaws and sub in his own information to make it more foolproof.

He's also used to being the underdog – how does one guy go from orphan to leader of a wide-reaching terrorist group after all? He can be a little flippant about himself, but with a goal and a drive he can fight his way up and do what he has to to keep on top and could use that to the Alliance's advantage

However, he wouldn't be the best at keeping up with the piety or asceticism the group values. He's not a total hedonist, but he drinks and gambles and flirts a slightly more than normal amount – the drinking and gambling part especially. He wouldn't particularly care about upholding appearances, but he'd get frustrated if it was held against him.

The Department of Enma

In all honesty, I struggled somewhat to think of how Crow would fit in here.

While the Enma value order, Crow is very much a chaos kind of person. He's a good person at heart, and does choose to and want to help people – but he's more likely to see a system exerting too much influence over people and want to tear it down than support it. That's essentially what he does in Cold Steel itself – Osborne's policies and plans essentially boil down to “not great, and questionable things, and too much influence exerted for a greater good that no one can see but him”, and Crow spent a third of his life trying to rip that policy into shreds with his own hands because it wronged him personally.

He's more likely to see the system, and want to tell it to take a hike than go along with it.

That being said! He is fully willing to use underhanded tactics to reach a goal if he agrees with it. There may be some morals questioning on a personal level as he is trying to be a better person and make up for his past wrongs... but he still could do it, if it was needed and if he felt personally it was the right thing to do. He could take up a role of a peacekeeper and stick to it if he felt he was doing good, and he'd be good at it too. Despite everything, it is in his nature to help people.

SAMPLES

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