Sephiroth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
prideinthefall) wrote2013-06-25 09:54 pm
prideinthefall) wrote2013-06-25 09:54 pm
Application: Maison de Portes
Character: Sephiroth Crescent
Canon: Final Fantasy VII
Version: AU
Canon Point: A few months after Sephiroth makes SOLDIER 1st Class
Age: 18
Gender: Male
History:
Sephiroth's history diverges from the game canon very early at age three. At this point he was in the Nibleheim mansion laboratory under the supervision of Professor Hojo. His life, such as it could be called, consisted of remaining in his room when he was not undergoing tests at the hands of ShinRa technicians and Hojo himself. Sephiroth thought his mother was a woman named Jenova who had died in childbirth and his father was unknown. Well partly unknown. As a baby, Sephiroth still received Mako injections (he would require them up until his fourteenth birthday) and the side effects could be quite extreme. Because of these side effects he was often placed in a Mako chamber, nestled in the arms of his father, Vincent Valentine who was undergoing experimentation as well. Vincent did not know his son and vice versa, but the stories told by Vincent's hoarse voice murmured to the baby in Wutainian were locked away in the child's mind.
This was Sephiroth's life - experiments, side effects, and living as 'specimen' and not a human - up until he reached age three. Before leaving for a meeting in Midgar, Professor Hojo injected Sephiroth with the highest dose of Mako he'd used to date. When Sephiroth's condition steadily deteriorated as a result, one of the lab technicians got the only person in the facility that might have been able to help: Lucrecia Crescent, Sephiroth’s real Mother. The mother he’d never seen; the mother who hadn’t even been granted the simple joy of holding her son when he was born.
This moment is the keystone; the one that changes Sephiroth's destiny forever. He did not know her as his mother, but she was kind to him in a way that no one else had been. His pain mattered to her and not just as a way to measure his healing, his resistances, or the effects of an experiment. Feverish and confused Sephiroth soon fell asleep, but Dr. Crescent as he knew her was now cemented in his mind.
Time and circumstance saw both him and Lucrecia transferred to Midgar about two months after she gave birth to Loz after making a deal with President ShinRa – she would work for him, but her boys would no longer be Hojo’s test subjects. Up until then, Sephiroth spent as much time with her as he could and Lucrecia tried to lessen the impact Hojo had on the boy. In this new place Sephiroth and Loz would live with her under the guard of the Turks. He still had to go to the laboratory and endure some of Hojo's experiments, but he knew that he would get to go home and stay with her and that was what was important. She taught him whatever he wanted to know and understood that his mind needed to be stimulated and challenged. Sephiroth helped her in the kitchen and in her private lab under the watchful (but kind) eye of Veld and other Turks. He didn't understand what they and the woman he'd come to care for were up to, but he knew something was going on.
At age five, Veld took the family now comprised of Sephiroth, Lucrecia, Loz, and Yazoo – still a baby - to meet the renegade scientist, Professor Gast. Years before Gast had fled Shinra with the Ancient Ifalna when it became clear that Hojo was pushing President Shinra to begin a breeding program with the woman. The two fell in love, married, and had a daughter, Aerith. She was just two when the families met and there Sephiroth discovered, by accidental words from Professor Gast, that Lucrecia was his Mother and not this 'Jenova' of whom Hojo always spoke.
It took him several months to overcome the sense of betrayal, but ultimately he was glad. Not only was his Mother alive, but she loved him and had done so much for him. It also meant that he now had two brothers in Loz and Yazoo. Where Sephiroth had taken care of the boys before and had protected them from Hojo when he could, his sense of protection doubled and even tripled. This was his family and he'd never had that before.
The boys grew and all of them had to undergo Hojo's lab even though Lucrecia kept them from the worst of it. This infuriated Hojo who felt that she was destroying every bit of his work and eliminating whatever potential the boys might have had. She'd become important to ShinRa though and not just for the children but her research as well. Still Sephiroth never liked the sad look in his Mother's eyes and became worried when she was pregnant again. She'd been sick with Loz and bed ridden for a long time with Yazoo. At age seven he could only imagine the worst of the strain it might put on her body.
However the surprises for the Crescent brood did not end there and this time it was Sephiroth who would surprise his Mother. They'd left him alone in the lab which wasn't unusual; Sephiroth was, after all, a very well behaved child. What was unusual was the filing cabinet they left unlocked and Sephiroth being both a child and high distrustful of the company and Hojo took the chance to rifle through them. They didn't know how fast he was nor his already well developed skills with materia and it was a combination of those two things that allowed him to snatch a single file from the cabinet that looked more worn than the rest.
In the recovery room, he tucked himself in a corner outside of the line of cameras and read his find. The folder read Vincent Valentine and what it contained, Sephiroth didn't fully understand. Yet he committed every word that he could to memory before putting it back. Something in those pages was significant, he knew it even if he couldn’t pinpoint what. That night he asked Lucrecia about the Chaos Project and Vincent Valentine. She cried soft, silent tears and it was Veld who asked Sephiroth where he'd heard that name. Without hesitation, for Sephiroth had come to trust the Turks that had protected them for so long, he told Veld everything he'd read in the file, including the most crucial part - that Vincent Valentine might very well be alive.
It was into the third month of Lucrecia's pregnancy when he saw Vincent Valentine for the first time outside of the stasis chambers. He knew without understanding how that this man was his Father. Maybe it was because Lucrecia ran past him and straight for the man that she could barely look in the face. Maybe he just remembered that cool, deep voice speaking to him as a child. Veld took him and the boys to the park only stating that Lucrecia and Vincent had a lot to talk about.
They were together, they were a family. Even if the presence of Vincent was just one more way for ShinRa to have a hold over Lucrecia, it was more than any of them could've ever asked. What Sephiroth also knew even though no one mentioned it in his presence was that they could not stay here. Never had he possessed so much, and never had he possessed so much to lose. It was a concept the child understood all too well.
One night Veld, Vincent and Lucrecia sat in quiet conversation after the boys had all been put to bed. She'd recovered from her pregnancy with Kadaj and the youngest of the brood could now walk. That wasn't what ultimately decided them though. It was the look in Hojo's eyes when Kadaj's first test results came back higher than either Loz or Yazoo’s had. The professor knew that he'd lost Sephiroth forever. Yes, the boy followed orders, but where he'd been docile before, he no longer was and anyone trying to do anything to his brothers that was not approved by Lucrecia (and he knew it all down to the finest details) was met first with his denial and when they pressed - as a few foolish ones did - with hostility.
Perhaps they shouldn't have started his martial training so early after all.
Sephiroth listened just outside of the door. His hearing was beyond good enough to pick up the voices even through the closed door. At ten years old, Sephiroth was no longer the sickly boy he'd been. It seemed that the potential of his body was finely catching up with the potential of his mind and rapidly. Finally he opened the door, walked in and informed all three of them in no uncertain terms that he would help.
The family fled to Wutai where the reach of ShinRa did not yet fall. There they no longer endured the uncertainty of experiments, only Lucrecia's careful monitoring.
It became apparent rather quickly that Sephiroth had a keen mind for military tactics and fighting. He took to the sword as if he'd been born with one in his hands. Lucrecia wasn't entirely happy about it – ShinRa had wanted a weapon after all - but it was Vincent who reminded her that this was just Sephiroth, not anything ShinRa or Hojo had done to him.
As a whole, the family flourished in Wutai, but you don't run off with ShinRa's most prized creations without consequences.
When Sephiroth was seventeen, ShinRa began the invasion of Wutai.
He and Vincent worked with the Wutainian army while Lucrecia and the younger boys went into the palace with the rest of the civilians. The campaign against Wutai lasted six months, but it was a brutal affair. ShinRa had never given up its SOLDIER program and while the ones they faced were not as powerful as Sephiroth, they were better than the standard Wutai infantry. Losses mounted on both sides and, after conferring with the Generals, Sephiroth's plan to strike a decisive blow against ShinRa was approved.
Faking a retreat, they drew ShinRa into a position that gave advantage to the Wutai sharpshooters and, with a handpicked contingent behind him, Sephiroth came in behind the ShinRa forces. It worked flawlessly and decimated the ShinRa troops. Of course the fallout was that he caught the attention of ShinRa's military leaders and even Hojo smiled with pride when he watched the feeds from the battle.
Project Sephiroth, he deemed, was a success.
Sixth month later a missive came to him from the Director of SOLDIER inviting Sephiroth to join the program. It was all very polite, but he understood the inherent, unwritten threat. In the end, Sephiroth went to see the President of ShinRa himself, content in the knowledge that he could more than likely fight his way out of the entire building if he had to. He offered the old man a deal; he would join SOLDIER but there would be no tests, not even monitoring, and he would not undergo any experimentation. Those were his terms and at eighteen, Sephiroth informed the President coolly that this was a one-time offer and any further attempts to harm his family or Wutai would result in mass casualties - for ShinRa.
Sephiroth did not really want to do this and it was several long talks with his parents both separately and together later before he convinced them that while this wasn’t a good thing, it was the right thing. It was a chance they might never have again to finally get ShinRa out of their lives forever.
He made SOLDIER 1st Class in less than three months.
Personality:
It would be easy to compare, or rather contrast this Sephiroth to the one that we see in canon. At first glance it would even be easy to say that they are completely different aside from their genetics. However that wouldn't be entirely true. Whether it be the presence of Jenova, or something inherent to Sephiroth himself, there are similarities. Perhaps ones that shed light on why one went insane and the other did not. No matter where he is from Sephiroth is a creation, a force, a consciousness that is different - at times even vastly so - than a human. However it was his Mother, Lucrecia, who kept him from becoming inhuman.
The first thing that anyone is likely to notice about Sephiroth is his unearthly appearance. Long white hair, an ageless quality to his features, and a stature befitting some bygone emperor, he is striking to look at, yet seems by those very qualities to be untouchable. A thought that is reinforced by his often cool and standoffish attitude with strangers. He is quiet, thoughtful, but can show the impetuousness of his youth at times. Yet beneath that aloof exterior lies an unconscious charisma as well. He can with a faint smile draw others to him because of the strength and purpose that radiates in every motion. He is decisive and once he dedicates himself to something, he does it fully.
At this point in his life, Sephiroth has yet to fully realize his abilities to lead. In fact dealing with other people is one area where his youth shows. Sephiroth still possesses a very leery disposition towards anyone new. This is likely because in his early life 'new person' most often meant someone else who would see him as an experiment and use him accordingly. As such his 'social graces' often seem stilted until he quells that instinctive reaction. Single word answers are common at first as if he's cautious about revealing too much.
Sephiroth is a person of incredible will power. While he hasn't developed it into what it can be, it has already started to emerge as shown in both his designing and leading the final assault on ShinRa at Wutai and his meeting with the Shinra president. This will makes up the core of him around which his strength, love of family, and devotion are built.
It is the devotion that should give most people pause. Well if they see the potential depths of it. If Sephiroth devotes himself to a cause, he doesn't do it halfway. He will use any means necessary to achieve it. Thankfully much of this has been tempered by his family and the complete love that he has for them. However the potential for that kind of complete drive does exist.
In fact Sephiroth can be utterly ruthless. Perhaps spending three years in such an environment as the ShinRa labs caused it, or maybe it's just part of who he is. Whichever answer is correct, one thing is certain, when he has the right motivation, Sephiroth can and will heartlessly go after those he perceives as an enemy. However, he rarely classifies someone as such a threat to require that level of conflict. In fact it would most often require a direct threat to his family or those he cares about. He enjoys battle, but killing is something that is a fact of war to him; Sephiroth takes no pleasure in it.
It's a bit difficult to get past his inclination to keep people at an arm's length, but once someone does they'll find a slightly different man. His smiles are still sparse, but they're real and there is a warmth about him nurtured by his Mother. He is easy to get along with though his humor falls more into the dry and sarcastic category, and due to his experiences with his brothers, he’s incredibly good with children. One only has to look at Sephiroth with his Mother, Lucrecia, to know that he is capable of a great deal of love. It was his relationship with her that also roused his rather strong protective instincts and once he places someone in that category, he will go to the limit (and beyond) to keep them safe.
Yet for all of his strength, that indomitable will, and driven nature exists a very real uncertainty about himself. The Jenova cells in his body are the source. He knows what they are and how they could be used by this 'being' to take him over. They provide him with abilities that no human can replicate, but they are also the one part of himself that he feels he has no control over and he wonders if the day will come when ShinRa will use that against himself and his brothers.
That is one reason why he agreed to join SOLDIER anyway. You see, Sephiroth means to destroy the remains of Jenova and the research around it to protect himself and his family. If that means he has to obliterate ShinRa as well, then he's prepared to do that very thing.
Fears:
At first, second, or even third glance one might think Sephiroth is an entirely fearless being. It's even correct to an extent. In part due to his youth, and due to his phenomenal drive, Sephiroth will meet new situations even bad ones with caution and views them as something to be assessed and dealt with accordingly. In FFVII it's usual for characters to run into monsters of all shapes and sizes from dragons to the undead so I don't think that would immediately be frightening to him. However Sephiroth's greatest fear is very much centered around his family. Losing any of them, especially his Mother is the one thing that can truly shake him to core. It is safe to say that he would be the same over anyone that he developed close ties with.
Even deeper than that is the uncomfortable knowledge that he isn't fully human. While everyone believed that Jenova was an Ancient for a long time, the Crescent-Valentine family's long association with the Faremis' has shed let light on the true and terrible legacy of what Jenova really is - the Destroyer, the Calamity from the Skies. It is damn unsettling to know that in you resides something of this creature who tried to destroy the world. At this point in his life he doesn't fear it because he has yet to have anything bad happen because of the Jenova cells. However it's not unreasonable to think that it's something he could come to fear.
One thing he does not like at all is being restrained. His reaction would be immediate and violent. Not being able to free himself for an extended period could result in fear, rage, or some very dangerous mix of the two. The why is simple: the worst of the experiments, the most painful ones, always started with him being strapped down.
Keeping him from protecting those he wants to protect? That would be very bad.
Weaknesses:
The Jenova cells in his body are arguably Sephiroth's only physical weakness. The being known as Jenova was an extraterrestrial life form who would land on a planet, assimilate and destroy the population, suck the planet dry, and then use it as a vehicle to find the next. From this we know that Jenova was an incredibly durable being who could inject its cells into another being and use them to take that person over. Once Jenova had conquered a planet's population it would then 'recall' its cells which was, in canon, named the Reunion and meant that all those affected were drawn to her. Sephiroth was the only character in canon to ever master the Jenova cells within him until he was able to subvert even Jenova's will. However at this age, Sephiroth doesn't have that kind of dominance over them and, as they were in canon in Nibelheim, could be used against him.
Mentally, Sephiroth is still young and still finding out who he is and who he wants to be. His family life is highly complicated even though Lucrecia and Vincent tried to keep it as normal as possible. He was once thought of as an experiment and as such can often experience a disconnect with other people. He can be made to feel uncertain and that is almost as bad as death to him. Sephiroth is also highly confident because he has yet to experience true failure. Every task he's ever attempted he's been able to accomplish and brilliantly so. While he was never spoiled, he lacks a certain grounding that only experiencing failure can bring.
Not prone to trusting other people easily, he'll refuse help more often than not. While he's lost a bit of this due to the Wutai war and his introduction to SOLDIER, it's certainly not gone. He can be a team player, but his natural inclination is to lead and he'll do any joint effort on his terms.
If anything happened to his Mother or his brothers, Sephiroth would be devastated. His need to protect them is a defining factor in his life that began with Loz's birth and has carried through every day ever since. With Vincent his relationship at this point has evolved past that almost obsessive need. They've fought together, been wounded together, and Sephiroth understands the necessity of it. However Lucrecia is his Mom and the person that pulled him out of his life in labs of ShinRa. His brothers are all younger and still vulnerable; maybe once they grow up he'll shed some of that over protection.
Mundane Strengths/Abilities:
Genius Level Intellect: Sephiroth is highly intelligent with an affinity for martial pursuits and military tactics, and is nearly a master tactician.
Swordsman: As a highly skilled swordsman, Sephiroth is able to wield a six feet long sword as if it were nothing.
Marksman: Hey, Vincent Valentine is his Dad. However Seph prefers to use a sword over firearms.
Basic Survival Skills: He can light a fire, pitch a tent, and hunt if he has to.
Sensitivity/Magical Ability:
Jenova Enhancement - The Jenova cells in Sephiroth's body provide a plethora of physical enhancements. He is much stronger, faster, durable, and agile than a human. Sephiroth can survive things - such as complete immersion in the Lifestream - that would kill a human. Jenova cells have also increased his sight, sense of smell, and hearing. Sephiroth can levitate which is likely tied to the Jenova cells. He can also 'communicate' with anyone else containing Jenova cells. Right now it's more like empathy with some telepathy. In its most extreme form he would be able to control the thoughts, emotions, and even bodies of others, but this requires a mastery of them that he doesn't yet have. There are several abilities that Sephiroth could have if he were to master the Jenova cells in him, but at this point he doesn't know they exist.
Supply List:
In FFVII weapons and armlets have slots in which materia (magic stones) are places for the user.
• Masamune/sheath - This six foot sword that is made out of an incredibly durable material that when combined with Sephiroth's strength allows him to cut through even layers of thick metal. It has six materia slots: Fire lvl3=All lvl2 Ice lvl2=All lvl1 Lightning lvl1 = All lvl 2
Fire Materia: Level 3: Bigger fire balls than level 1 or 2
Ice Materia: Level 2: Can cover a significant area in ice
Lightning Materia: Level 1: Base lightning spell
All Materia: All materia allows the user to cast a spell on multiple targets and level dictates how many times they can do a multiple cast before they have to rest the materia. If mastered, they can multi-cast indefinitely. All must be linked to magic materia for it to have any effect.
• Dragon Armlet - This armlet is worn on Sephiroth's right arm. It provides partial immunity to ice, fire, and lightning as well as increased endurance to physical attacks. It has six linked materia slots:
Restore lvl2=All lvl2 Barrier lvl2=All lvl1 Time lvl1=Heal lvl1
Restore Materia: Level 2: Stronger cure spell
Barrier Materia: Level 2: can cast a magic dampening barrier as well as physical attack dampening barrier. However they must be cast separately.
Time Materia: Level 1: Haste - speeds up the user
Heal Materia: Level 1: Poisona - helps to counteract poisons.
• His clothes
• A picture of his family
• Jem Ring - resists abilities that would cause paralysis and petrification.
Game Transfers: N/A
Sample RP post:
Though he'd so far found little need to draw Masamune in this strange house, its unsettling nature ensured that his right hand never strayed far from the hilt of his sword. It was a calming sensation; the grip curved perfectly into his gloved hand as it had so many times before. He knew the sword; it was an extension of him. It also reminded him of home and the people he wanted to see again. This place had taken him away from his family and for that alone Sephiroth could never forgive whatever strange forces controlled this place.
However impotent anger would get him nowhere and his Mother and Father both had instilled a sense of practicality in him when it came to his emotions. With a sigh, Sephiroth stepped deeper into the strange bedroom with the domed ceiling. However this time, he did not close the door behind him as he normally did in order to protect his back. This door locked from the outside and he did not like the implication of that little fact.
The bed drew his gaze with the pile of blankets and their specific placement. It resonated deeply with memories that never dulled. How many times had he sat still on his cot and fought the need to hide under it when he heard the lock wiggle? His uneasiness grew and Sephiroth took a moment, keeping one eye on the door to calm himself. This wasn't the lab - no matter how similar it seemed - and he wasn't a child anymore with no defenses.
(But he'll never forget. Never.)
Setting his jaw and pushing his budding agitation aside with admirable efficiency, Sephiroth set about testing the drawers and cabinets one by one.
"Locked. Why am I not very surprised?" His voice echoed dryly in the silence of the room and he tilted his head to the side, contemplating whether or not he should attempt cutting them open.
A sudden crash down the hallway caught his attention and immediately his thumb pushed against Masamune's guard, freeing part of the blade as he took hold. A growl brought about the narrowing of his eyes and quietly Sephiroth edged back towards the door, listening for any indication of just what might be down the hall. It's the scream that drew a sharp scowl.
He didn't know these people. He didn't owe them anything, but he remembered his Mother and her smile. If it were her trapped here, Sephiroth would want someone to look after her. With a sigh he set off down the hall and Masamune arched behind him; a wicked promise glinting in the dim light.
Canon: Final Fantasy VII
Version: AU
Canon Point: A few months after Sephiroth makes SOLDIER 1st Class
Age: 18
Gender: Male
History:
Sephiroth's history diverges from the game canon very early at age three. At this point he was in the Nibleheim mansion laboratory under the supervision of Professor Hojo. His life, such as it could be called, consisted of remaining in his room when he was not undergoing tests at the hands of ShinRa technicians and Hojo himself. Sephiroth thought his mother was a woman named Jenova who had died in childbirth and his father was unknown. Well partly unknown. As a baby, Sephiroth still received Mako injections (he would require them up until his fourteenth birthday) and the side effects could be quite extreme. Because of these side effects he was often placed in a Mako chamber, nestled in the arms of his father, Vincent Valentine who was undergoing experimentation as well. Vincent did not know his son and vice versa, but the stories told by Vincent's hoarse voice murmured to the baby in Wutainian were locked away in the child's mind.
This was Sephiroth's life - experiments, side effects, and living as 'specimen' and not a human - up until he reached age three. Before leaving for a meeting in Midgar, Professor Hojo injected Sephiroth with the highest dose of Mako he'd used to date. When Sephiroth's condition steadily deteriorated as a result, one of the lab technicians got the only person in the facility that might have been able to help: Lucrecia Crescent, Sephiroth’s real Mother. The mother he’d never seen; the mother who hadn’t even been granted the simple joy of holding her son when he was born.
This moment is the keystone; the one that changes Sephiroth's destiny forever. He did not know her as his mother, but she was kind to him in a way that no one else had been. His pain mattered to her and not just as a way to measure his healing, his resistances, or the effects of an experiment. Feverish and confused Sephiroth soon fell asleep, but Dr. Crescent as he knew her was now cemented in his mind.
Time and circumstance saw both him and Lucrecia transferred to Midgar about two months after she gave birth to Loz after making a deal with President ShinRa – she would work for him, but her boys would no longer be Hojo’s test subjects. Up until then, Sephiroth spent as much time with her as he could and Lucrecia tried to lessen the impact Hojo had on the boy. In this new place Sephiroth and Loz would live with her under the guard of the Turks. He still had to go to the laboratory and endure some of Hojo's experiments, but he knew that he would get to go home and stay with her and that was what was important. She taught him whatever he wanted to know and understood that his mind needed to be stimulated and challenged. Sephiroth helped her in the kitchen and in her private lab under the watchful (but kind) eye of Veld and other Turks. He didn't understand what they and the woman he'd come to care for were up to, but he knew something was going on.
At age five, Veld took the family now comprised of Sephiroth, Lucrecia, Loz, and Yazoo – still a baby - to meet the renegade scientist, Professor Gast. Years before Gast had fled Shinra with the Ancient Ifalna when it became clear that Hojo was pushing President Shinra to begin a breeding program with the woman. The two fell in love, married, and had a daughter, Aerith. She was just two when the families met and there Sephiroth discovered, by accidental words from Professor Gast, that Lucrecia was his Mother and not this 'Jenova' of whom Hojo always spoke.
It took him several months to overcome the sense of betrayal, but ultimately he was glad. Not only was his Mother alive, but she loved him and had done so much for him. It also meant that he now had two brothers in Loz and Yazoo. Where Sephiroth had taken care of the boys before and had protected them from Hojo when he could, his sense of protection doubled and even tripled. This was his family and he'd never had that before.
The boys grew and all of them had to undergo Hojo's lab even though Lucrecia kept them from the worst of it. This infuriated Hojo who felt that she was destroying every bit of his work and eliminating whatever potential the boys might have had. She'd become important to ShinRa though and not just for the children but her research as well. Still Sephiroth never liked the sad look in his Mother's eyes and became worried when she was pregnant again. She'd been sick with Loz and bed ridden for a long time with Yazoo. At age seven he could only imagine the worst of the strain it might put on her body.
However the surprises for the Crescent brood did not end there and this time it was Sephiroth who would surprise his Mother. They'd left him alone in the lab which wasn't unusual; Sephiroth was, after all, a very well behaved child. What was unusual was the filing cabinet they left unlocked and Sephiroth being both a child and high distrustful of the company and Hojo took the chance to rifle through them. They didn't know how fast he was nor his already well developed skills with materia and it was a combination of those two things that allowed him to snatch a single file from the cabinet that looked more worn than the rest.
In the recovery room, he tucked himself in a corner outside of the line of cameras and read his find. The folder read Vincent Valentine and what it contained, Sephiroth didn't fully understand. Yet he committed every word that he could to memory before putting it back. Something in those pages was significant, he knew it even if he couldn’t pinpoint what. That night he asked Lucrecia about the Chaos Project and Vincent Valentine. She cried soft, silent tears and it was Veld who asked Sephiroth where he'd heard that name. Without hesitation, for Sephiroth had come to trust the Turks that had protected them for so long, he told Veld everything he'd read in the file, including the most crucial part - that Vincent Valentine might very well be alive.
It was into the third month of Lucrecia's pregnancy when he saw Vincent Valentine for the first time outside of the stasis chambers. He knew without understanding how that this man was his Father. Maybe it was because Lucrecia ran past him and straight for the man that she could barely look in the face. Maybe he just remembered that cool, deep voice speaking to him as a child. Veld took him and the boys to the park only stating that Lucrecia and Vincent had a lot to talk about.
They were together, they were a family. Even if the presence of Vincent was just one more way for ShinRa to have a hold over Lucrecia, it was more than any of them could've ever asked. What Sephiroth also knew even though no one mentioned it in his presence was that they could not stay here. Never had he possessed so much, and never had he possessed so much to lose. It was a concept the child understood all too well.
One night Veld, Vincent and Lucrecia sat in quiet conversation after the boys had all been put to bed. She'd recovered from her pregnancy with Kadaj and the youngest of the brood could now walk. That wasn't what ultimately decided them though. It was the look in Hojo's eyes when Kadaj's first test results came back higher than either Loz or Yazoo’s had. The professor knew that he'd lost Sephiroth forever. Yes, the boy followed orders, but where he'd been docile before, he no longer was and anyone trying to do anything to his brothers that was not approved by Lucrecia (and he knew it all down to the finest details) was met first with his denial and when they pressed - as a few foolish ones did - with hostility.
Perhaps they shouldn't have started his martial training so early after all.
Sephiroth listened just outside of the door. His hearing was beyond good enough to pick up the voices even through the closed door. At ten years old, Sephiroth was no longer the sickly boy he'd been. It seemed that the potential of his body was finely catching up with the potential of his mind and rapidly. Finally he opened the door, walked in and informed all three of them in no uncertain terms that he would help.
The family fled to Wutai where the reach of ShinRa did not yet fall. There they no longer endured the uncertainty of experiments, only Lucrecia's careful monitoring.
It became apparent rather quickly that Sephiroth had a keen mind for military tactics and fighting. He took to the sword as if he'd been born with one in his hands. Lucrecia wasn't entirely happy about it – ShinRa had wanted a weapon after all - but it was Vincent who reminded her that this was just Sephiroth, not anything ShinRa or Hojo had done to him.
As a whole, the family flourished in Wutai, but you don't run off with ShinRa's most prized creations without consequences.
When Sephiroth was seventeen, ShinRa began the invasion of Wutai.
He and Vincent worked with the Wutainian army while Lucrecia and the younger boys went into the palace with the rest of the civilians. The campaign against Wutai lasted six months, but it was a brutal affair. ShinRa had never given up its SOLDIER program and while the ones they faced were not as powerful as Sephiroth, they were better than the standard Wutai infantry. Losses mounted on both sides and, after conferring with the Generals, Sephiroth's plan to strike a decisive blow against ShinRa was approved.
Faking a retreat, they drew ShinRa into a position that gave advantage to the Wutai sharpshooters and, with a handpicked contingent behind him, Sephiroth came in behind the ShinRa forces. It worked flawlessly and decimated the ShinRa troops. Of course the fallout was that he caught the attention of ShinRa's military leaders and even Hojo smiled with pride when he watched the feeds from the battle.
Project Sephiroth, he deemed, was a success.
Sixth month later a missive came to him from the Director of SOLDIER inviting Sephiroth to join the program. It was all very polite, but he understood the inherent, unwritten threat. In the end, Sephiroth went to see the President of ShinRa himself, content in the knowledge that he could more than likely fight his way out of the entire building if he had to. He offered the old man a deal; he would join SOLDIER but there would be no tests, not even monitoring, and he would not undergo any experimentation. Those were his terms and at eighteen, Sephiroth informed the President coolly that this was a one-time offer and any further attempts to harm his family or Wutai would result in mass casualties - for ShinRa.
Sephiroth did not really want to do this and it was several long talks with his parents both separately and together later before he convinced them that while this wasn’t a good thing, it was the right thing. It was a chance they might never have again to finally get ShinRa out of their lives forever.
He made SOLDIER 1st Class in less than three months.
Personality:
It would be easy to compare, or rather contrast this Sephiroth to the one that we see in canon. At first glance it would even be easy to say that they are completely different aside from their genetics. However that wouldn't be entirely true. Whether it be the presence of Jenova, or something inherent to Sephiroth himself, there are similarities. Perhaps ones that shed light on why one went insane and the other did not. No matter where he is from Sephiroth is a creation, a force, a consciousness that is different - at times even vastly so - than a human. However it was his Mother, Lucrecia, who kept him from becoming inhuman.
The first thing that anyone is likely to notice about Sephiroth is his unearthly appearance. Long white hair, an ageless quality to his features, and a stature befitting some bygone emperor, he is striking to look at, yet seems by those very qualities to be untouchable. A thought that is reinforced by his often cool and standoffish attitude with strangers. He is quiet, thoughtful, but can show the impetuousness of his youth at times. Yet beneath that aloof exterior lies an unconscious charisma as well. He can with a faint smile draw others to him because of the strength and purpose that radiates in every motion. He is decisive and once he dedicates himself to something, he does it fully.
At this point in his life, Sephiroth has yet to fully realize his abilities to lead. In fact dealing with other people is one area where his youth shows. Sephiroth still possesses a very leery disposition towards anyone new. This is likely because in his early life 'new person' most often meant someone else who would see him as an experiment and use him accordingly. As such his 'social graces' often seem stilted until he quells that instinctive reaction. Single word answers are common at first as if he's cautious about revealing too much.
Sephiroth is a person of incredible will power. While he hasn't developed it into what it can be, it has already started to emerge as shown in both his designing and leading the final assault on ShinRa at Wutai and his meeting with the Shinra president. This will makes up the core of him around which his strength, love of family, and devotion are built.
It is the devotion that should give most people pause. Well if they see the potential depths of it. If Sephiroth devotes himself to a cause, he doesn't do it halfway. He will use any means necessary to achieve it. Thankfully much of this has been tempered by his family and the complete love that he has for them. However the potential for that kind of complete drive does exist.
In fact Sephiroth can be utterly ruthless. Perhaps spending three years in such an environment as the ShinRa labs caused it, or maybe it's just part of who he is. Whichever answer is correct, one thing is certain, when he has the right motivation, Sephiroth can and will heartlessly go after those he perceives as an enemy. However, he rarely classifies someone as such a threat to require that level of conflict. In fact it would most often require a direct threat to his family or those he cares about. He enjoys battle, but killing is something that is a fact of war to him; Sephiroth takes no pleasure in it.
It's a bit difficult to get past his inclination to keep people at an arm's length, but once someone does they'll find a slightly different man. His smiles are still sparse, but they're real and there is a warmth about him nurtured by his Mother. He is easy to get along with though his humor falls more into the dry and sarcastic category, and due to his experiences with his brothers, he’s incredibly good with children. One only has to look at Sephiroth with his Mother, Lucrecia, to know that he is capable of a great deal of love. It was his relationship with her that also roused his rather strong protective instincts and once he places someone in that category, he will go to the limit (and beyond) to keep them safe.
Yet for all of his strength, that indomitable will, and driven nature exists a very real uncertainty about himself. The Jenova cells in his body are the source. He knows what they are and how they could be used by this 'being' to take him over. They provide him with abilities that no human can replicate, but they are also the one part of himself that he feels he has no control over and he wonders if the day will come when ShinRa will use that against himself and his brothers.
That is one reason why he agreed to join SOLDIER anyway. You see, Sephiroth means to destroy the remains of Jenova and the research around it to protect himself and his family. If that means he has to obliterate ShinRa as well, then he's prepared to do that very thing.
Fears:
At first, second, or even third glance one might think Sephiroth is an entirely fearless being. It's even correct to an extent. In part due to his youth, and due to his phenomenal drive, Sephiroth will meet new situations even bad ones with caution and views them as something to be assessed and dealt with accordingly. In FFVII it's usual for characters to run into monsters of all shapes and sizes from dragons to the undead so I don't think that would immediately be frightening to him. However Sephiroth's greatest fear is very much centered around his family. Losing any of them, especially his Mother is the one thing that can truly shake him to core. It is safe to say that he would be the same over anyone that he developed close ties with.
Even deeper than that is the uncomfortable knowledge that he isn't fully human. While everyone believed that Jenova was an Ancient for a long time, the Crescent-Valentine family's long association with the Faremis' has shed let light on the true and terrible legacy of what Jenova really is - the Destroyer, the Calamity from the Skies. It is damn unsettling to know that in you resides something of this creature who tried to destroy the world. At this point in his life he doesn't fear it because he has yet to have anything bad happen because of the Jenova cells. However it's not unreasonable to think that it's something he could come to fear.
One thing he does not like at all is being restrained. His reaction would be immediate and violent. Not being able to free himself for an extended period could result in fear, rage, or some very dangerous mix of the two. The why is simple: the worst of the experiments, the most painful ones, always started with him being strapped down.
Keeping him from protecting those he wants to protect? That would be very bad.
Weaknesses:
The Jenova cells in his body are arguably Sephiroth's only physical weakness. The being known as Jenova was an extraterrestrial life form who would land on a planet, assimilate and destroy the population, suck the planet dry, and then use it as a vehicle to find the next. From this we know that Jenova was an incredibly durable being who could inject its cells into another being and use them to take that person over. Once Jenova had conquered a planet's population it would then 'recall' its cells which was, in canon, named the Reunion and meant that all those affected were drawn to her. Sephiroth was the only character in canon to ever master the Jenova cells within him until he was able to subvert even Jenova's will. However at this age, Sephiroth doesn't have that kind of dominance over them and, as they were in canon in Nibelheim, could be used against him.
Mentally, Sephiroth is still young and still finding out who he is and who he wants to be. His family life is highly complicated even though Lucrecia and Vincent tried to keep it as normal as possible. He was once thought of as an experiment and as such can often experience a disconnect with other people. He can be made to feel uncertain and that is almost as bad as death to him. Sephiroth is also highly confident because he has yet to experience true failure. Every task he's ever attempted he's been able to accomplish and brilliantly so. While he was never spoiled, he lacks a certain grounding that only experiencing failure can bring.
Not prone to trusting other people easily, he'll refuse help more often than not. While he's lost a bit of this due to the Wutai war and his introduction to SOLDIER, it's certainly not gone. He can be a team player, but his natural inclination is to lead and he'll do any joint effort on his terms.
If anything happened to his Mother or his brothers, Sephiroth would be devastated. His need to protect them is a defining factor in his life that began with Loz's birth and has carried through every day ever since. With Vincent his relationship at this point has evolved past that almost obsessive need. They've fought together, been wounded together, and Sephiroth understands the necessity of it. However Lucrecia is his Mom and the person that pulled him out of his life in labs of ShinRa. His brothers are all younger and still vulnerable; maybe once they grow up he'll shed some of that over protection.
Mundane Strengths/Abilities:
Genius Level Intellect: Sephiroth is highly intelligent with an affinity for martial pursuits and military tactics, and is nearly a master tactician.
Swordsman: As a highly skilled swordsman, Sephiroth is able to wield a six feet long sword as if it were nothing.
Marksman: Hey, Vincent Valentine is his Dad. However Seph prefers to use a sword over firearms.
Basic Survival Skills: He can light a fire, pitch a tent, and hunt if he has to.
Sensitivity/Magical Ability:
Jenova Enhancement - The Jenova cells in Sephiroth's body provide a plethora of physical enhancements. He is much stronger, faster, durable, and agile than a human. Sephiroth can survive things - such as complete immersion in the Lifestream - that would kill a human. Jenova cells have also increased his sight, sense of smell, and hearing. Sephiroth can levitate which is likely tied to the Jenova cells. He can also 'communicate' with anyone else containing Jenova cells. Right now it's more like empathy with some telepathy. In its most extreme form he would be able to control the thoughts, emotions, and even bodies of others, but this requires a mastery of them that he doesn't yet have. There are several abilities that Sephiroth could have if he were to master the Jenova cells in him, but at this point he doesn't know they exist.
Supply List:
In FFVII weapons and armlets have slots in which materia (magic stones) are places for the user.
• Masamune/sheath - This six foot sword that is made out of an incredibly durable material that when combined with Sephiroth's strength allows him to cut through even layers of thick metal. It has six materia slots: Fire lvl3=All lvl2 Ice lvl2=All lvl1 Lightning lvl1 = All lvl 2
Fire Materia: Level 3: Bigger fire balls than level 1 or 2
Ice Materia: Level 2: Can cover a significant area in ice
Lightning Materia: Level 1: Base lightning spell
All Materia: All materia allows the user to cast a spell on multiple targets and level dictates how many times they can do a multiple cast before they have to rest the materia. If mastered, they can multi-cast indefinitely. All must be linked to magic materia for it to have any effect.
• Dragon Armlet - This armlet is worn on Sephiroth's right arm. It provides partial immunity to ice, fire, and lightning as well as increased endurance to physical attacks. It has six linked materia slots:
Restore lvl2=All lvl2 Barrier lvl2=All lvl1 Time lvl1=Heal lvl1
Restore Materia: Level 2: Stronger cure spell
Barrier Materia: Level 2: can cast a magic dampening barrier as well as physical attack dampening barrier. However they must be cast separately.
Time Materia: Level 1: Haste - speeds up the user
Heal Materia: Level 1: Poisona - helps to counteract poisons.
• His clothes
• A picture of his family
• Jem Ring - resists abilities that would cause paralysis and petrification.
Game Transfers: N/A
Sample RP post:
Though he'd so far found little need to draw Masamune in this strange house, its unsettling nature ensured that his right hand never strayed far from the hilt of his sword. It was a calming sensation; the grip curved perfectly into his gloved hand as it had so many times before. He knew the sword; it was an extension of him. It also reminded him of home and the people he wanted to see again. This place had taken him away from his family and for that alone Sephiroth could never forgive whatever strange forces controlled this place.
However impotent anger would get him nowhere and his Mother and Father both had instilled a sense of practicality in him when it came to his emotions. With a sigh, Sephiroth stepped deeper into the strange bedroom with the domed ceiling. However this time, he did not close the door behind him as he normally did in order to protect his back. This door locked from the outside and he did not like the implication of that little fact.
The bed drew his gaze with the pile of blankets and their specific placement. It resonated deeply with memories that never dulled. How many times had he sat still on his cot and fought the need to hide under it when he heard the lock wiggle? His uneasiness grew and Sephiroth took a moment, keeping one eye on the door to calm himself. This wasn't the lab - no matter how similar it seemed - and he wasn't a child anymore with no defenses.
(But he'll never forget. Never.)
Setting his jaw and pushing his budding agitation aside with admirable efficiency, Sephiroth set about testing the drawers and cabinets one by one.
"Locked. Why am I not very surprised?" His voice echoed dryly in the silence of the room and he tilted his head to the side, contemplating whether or not he should attempt cutting them open.
A sudden crash down the hallway caught his attention and immediately his thumb pushed against Masamune's guard, freeing part of the blade as he took hold. A growl brought about the narrowing of his eyes and quietly Sephiroth edged back towards the door, listening for any indication of just what might be down the hall. It's the scream that drew a sharp scowl.
He didn't know these people. He didn't owe them anything, but he remembered his Mother and her smile. If it were her trapped here, Sephiroth would want someone to look after her. With a sigh he set off down the hall and Masamune arched behind him; a wicked promise glinting in the dim light.