EMPATHEIAS APP

[scythegun]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Redd
Contact: pokerap | AIM: writersblockredd
Age: 27
Current Characters:

Ryuunosuke Uryuu | Fate/Zero | greatestcool
Frank Archer | Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) | sadisticwarfare

⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Yeager
Age: Unknown, but presumably around the same age as Raven, which would put him in his mid-thirties. Headcanonly he's 34.
Canon: Tales of Vesperia (XBox 360 version, see below)
Canon Point: Post-death.

Background:

Tales of Vesperia @ Wikipedia | Yeager @ Tales Wiki | In-depth summary of Yeager's appearances (IT'S REALLY LONG THOUGH)

Yeager's canon has been listed as the XBox 360 version of the game due to the differences between them. The PS3 version of the game was only released in Japan and comes with a few upgrades including more boss battles, replayable boss battles and cutscenes/skits, and two new party members. This changes the story a bit with the inclusion of Flynn and Patty as playable characters, but for the most part the main story stays the same. The biggest difference here is Yeager's voice and accent - in the PS3 version (and the Japanese version of the XBox 360 game), Yeager occasionally speaks in English, while in the translated XBox 360 version he has a thick German accent and uses German words on occasion. I will be playing this version as opposed to the Japanese version and will be following the XBox 360's sequence of events.

I've provided a summary of Yeager's appearances in canon since he's not mentioned at all in most game summaries. It's very long but I believe it covers everything. I'll try to cover everything in the app so you don't need to go read that, but if you have any questions about the timeline that should answer it! I can answer any other questions you have about the story as well, and I apologize for just how long this app is.

Personality:

Yeager seems to be a pleasant man; he's smooth-talking and he's almost always smiling. Nothing seems to get under his skin. He's the sort of guy that's easy to get along with. He seems like a perfectly ordinary man; there really isn't anything all that special about him aside from his accent.

And then you realize he's orchestrating a war between the Empire and the guilds, running two guilds, selling arms and blastia under the table, and posing as a completely different person all at the same time. Yeager is a very busy man.

The charming personality isn't an act, however. He wouldn't get very far if he wasn't a good salesman, and considering just how far Leviathan's Claw (Yeager's main guild) reaches within the game, it's safe to say Yeager is very good at what he does. Leviathan's Claw is a guild that covers a good amount of things - selling blastia and arms, working as mercenaries to protect wealthy (and often evil) clients, and assassinations being the most frequent assignments. Yeager runs everything on top of handling Ruin's Gate, another guild and one that is considered very influential. Ruin's Gate is a guild focusing on archaeology and excavation - which is where Yeager gets the blastia from. Regaey is the leader of Ruin's Gate, and given the backwards name, it's obviously just Yeager in disguise. Regaey looks absolutely nothing like Yeager and acts nothing like him, right down to losing the accent and stuttering almost constantly. Regaey is very soft-spoken and hesitant, lacking all of Yeager's usual confidence and charm. Yeager's acting skills are exceptional, which plays into how he presents himself to potential clients and enemies alike.

Speaking of enemies, Yeager might act like he's the easiest person in the world to get along with, but there are very few people who actually like him. In fact, Yeager is attacked by Don Whitehorse, the leader of the guilds, and someone Yeager actually likes. Don claims the world would be a better place without Yeager in it, which is entirely true. Yeager isn't offended by this or by the attempt on his life and strangely enough, he shows up to Don's funeral. It's the one moment of the game where Yeager actually seems genuinely bothered by something, even if it's only for a few brief moments. His relationship with Don Whitehorse is never explored in game, but Yeager clearly does feel the loss of the leader of the Guild Union, just as everyone else does. Despite the fact that Don attempted to kill him earlier that day. He's a complicated man.

Aside from this once instance, Yeager almost never shows any emotion other than mild amusement. He never gets angry. He never gets scared (though he can portray fear very well as Regaey). This blasé attitude is not something Yeager puts on as a front, however. This is how Yeager always is, and there's a reason for his carefree attitude towards literally everything. Ten years ago Yeager served the Empire as a member of the Imperial Knights and fought in the Great War against the Entelexeia. It was during this conflict that Yeager died. He was brought back to life by Alexei - the Commandant of the Imperial Knights - through the use of a special Hermes Blastia. This gave Yeager a second chance at life, but unlike Schwann Oltorain, Yeager chose not to ally with Alexei and left the Empire for the guilds. Since those who join the guilds are no longer under the Empire's protection, this was a safe move. Ten years later, Yeager's entire world view is so warped by having a second chance at life he can't genuinely care about much.

This is particularly notable when it comes to Gauche and Droite, his adopted daughters. Despite caring for them in some form, Yeager usually utilizes them as a means to escape. They show up and throw smoke bombs to cover his escape several times and even fight for him at one point. They're members of Leviathan's Claw and the people Yeager is closest to, but they still can't get into his base without being questioned by Yeager's minions, the Red Eyes. Yeager does care for them, but ultimately his version of "caring" is so subdued it's outweighed by his distrust. With all of that said, while he doesn't appear to care for them very much during the course of the game, it's obvious that he does care enough to put his life on the line for them. He's pressured into working for Alexei using both Gauche and Droite as well as the orphanage they came from (that Yeager still funds) as leverage. This ultimately ends in Yeager's death and he refuses to tell anyone why he did anything.

There is no one Yeager trusts more than himself. He does everything on his own and when he absolutely cannot get himself out of a situation, he has Gauche and Droite nearby to jump in and cover him. If Yeager trusted anyone else, he wouldn't be doing everything on his own - he's doing a lot for one person to handle, after all. During his final battle with the party Yeager chooses to fight alone. Gauche and Droite are nearby, but they flee after Yeager dies and do not interfere with the battle at all, because he ordered them not to. Even at the very end Yeager won't tell the party why he was doing everything he did, because he can't trust anyone. This extends to Alexei of course, though Yeager did die trying to defend Alexei due to that nasty blackmail mentioned above. Yeager continues to have difficulties with authority figures, news at eleven.

Despite his laid-back attitude towards almost everything, Yeager does have emotions. He was upset at Don Whitehorse's passing and during his final battle he's obviously manic and thoroughly enjoying pushing himself to his limit in one final rush. There is another side to Yeager that conflicts heavily with the arms dealing, warmongering asshole Yeager presents himself as to the party. Yeager adopted Gauche and Droite, which is odd enough, but he also sends a good amount of money to the orphanage the girls lived in. Yeager's payments kept the orphanage from going under entirely and after his death there is a sidequest the party can take on to fund the orphanage. While one good act certainly doesn't make up for all the terrible things Yeager has done (and tried to force others into doing), it is a surprising gesture of kindness from a man who shows none throughout the game. Yeager's a complicated man, but ultimately he is human with the same good sides and bad sides as everyone else. The bad heavily outweighs the good here, though. Funding an orphanage is nice and all, but it really doesn't balance out wanting to start a war for profit.

Yeager is a powerful and influential man with both the Empire and the guilds and his efforts ultimately pushed both sides entirely too close to war, but in the end it was really something Yeager did simply because he needed something to do with himself. His apathy has gotten so bad over the past ten years that he truly believed death to be preferable to continuing to live when he should have died in the Great War. Despite his bitterness at the world in general, Yeager puts his all into everything he does and when he dies, it's not on his terms, but he takes as much control over the situation as he can. He led the party to Zaphias knowing they would confront Alexei and eventually face him. Never mind the fact that his daughters watched him die and the party - consisting of several teenagers and young adults - had to kill him to get through to Alexei, who was trying to activate a superweapon. The only thing that mattered was everything going according to Yeager's plans. This selfishness is an extreme example, but Yeager will ultimately choose his own happiness over everyone else's. That includes his daughters.

Despite this fatalistic world view and the desire for everything to finally be over, Yeager can find happiness, even if it is in brief amounts. He genuinely enjoys his work, he cares for his daughters, and even when things don't go as planned, it gives him a chance to improvise. He loves challenges and the chance to really push himself, so his final battle with the party was an incredibly emotional moment - he finally had a chance to go all out and see what he could do with the blastia keeping him alive. Unfortunately for him, he was pulled from before the battle could conclude and he could die, so that's going to be difficult to adapt to. Yeager does pride himself on his ability to adapt, however, so he'll work himself out as quickly as he can.

While he comes off as a very casual, laid-back man, Yeager is a complete mess who focuses on living in the moment. Ultimately, he doesn't find as much meaning in the second life he was given as he'd want. Unlike Raven - the party member Yeager serves as a foil to - Yeager does not overcome this and chooses to allow himself to die. He might not have wanted to die so soon, but with Alexei's interference Yeager has little choice but to fight the party. He might as well make the best of it though, and he'll try to take as much control of the situation as he can.

Abilities:

List of Artes | Caress of Death (Yeager's Mystic Arte) | Hermes Blastia

Yeager is a Tales character, which of course means he has ridiculous combat potential. Yeager's battles take place against the party, which consists of four powerful characters at any given time. Naturally Yeager can hold his own against them because he's a boss. Yeager uses a really odd weapon, even for a Tales game: his weapon is part-gun, part-scythe, part-whatever it wants to be at any given moment - including a sword, shield, and a crossbow. This means he can attack at both close range and from further away, so Yeager controls the battlefield exceptionally well. He's equally good with close range and long range attacks and no matter what shape his weapon takes, he can utilize it perfectly. This weapon is never explained in-game, but it isn't magic and is probably one-of-a-kind. The perks of being an arms dealer, I guess. The list of artes he has access to is above, but the majority of them involve shooting or slashing his opponents.

Perhaps the most important thing to note is how Yeager uses his arts. In Tales of Vesperia artes can only be used if a person has a blastia. This is done by using aer (a natural part of the world) to grant the user power. Blastia come in all sorts of forms, but to shorten an incredibly long explanation, Yeager has a Hermes Blastia attached to his chest. Most people wear blastia as accessories, but Yeager is special because ten years ago, he died in the Great War. The Hermes Blastia given to him brought him back to life. Hermes Blastia are exceptionally powerful and this is how Yeager is capable of using all of his abilities. The downside is that it is connected directly to his lifeforce instead of aer. That said, using a ton of abilities will apparently not kill him, since both he and Raven can be completely reckless with how much they attack and neither of them suffer much for it. Using nonstop attacks like that will tire Yeager out, however.

The Hermes Blastia is not the only way to kill Yeager, but it does make him much more resilient than he has any right to be. Raven survives being (presumably) crushed to death, so it's safe to say it would take a lot to kill Yeager. Destroying the blastia is a surefire way to kill him though, and since it's so large and located in the middle of his chest, that's a definite concern.

Finally, as an arms dealer Yeager has an extensive knowledge of both weapons and blastia. His own weapon is unique and it doesn't appear to be easy to handle at all. Yeager has a good deal of knowledge at his disposal which makes him both an excellent salesman and very dangerous. He's smooth-talking and can be relatively charming as well, so it's usually quite easy for him to manipulate people and get what he wants from them.

Also worth noting is Yeager's ridiculous ability to disguise himself. He spends a bit of the game masquerading as Regaey (yes, no one notices that it's just his name backwards) who looks nothing like Yeager and sounds nothing like Yeager. Regaey is quiet and soft-spoken, constantly stuttering and sounding unsure of himself while Yeager is the exact opposite. Being able to drop his accent and fool everyone into thinking Regaey is a completely different person is a pretty impressive skill, though not something Yeager can pull off normally and not something he'll attempt here (most likely). Yeager was also capable of running two guilds (Leviathan's Claw and Ruin's Gate) and trying to instigate a war, all while selling arms, handling blastia sales, and overseeing excavations at dig sites as Regaey. He's been a busy man and clearly he's capable of a good amount when he's actually motivated.

Alignment:

Peromei. The past decade of Yeager's life has been striking a balance between hope and despair. He loves what he does and worked hard to get to where he is, but his hope for the future ultimately couldn't outweigh the despair brought on by his past. He's much more likely to hit despair, but he has the potential to hope again now that he's on a third life here.

Other:

Yeager will be arriving in Verens with the clothes on his back, his ridiculous weapon, an Alexandrite (an accessory that boosts HP and TP, which will be useless here), and a Splash Bow. While he can use the bow to fight, he prefers his own weapon, so he'll always default to using that. The Hermes Blastia in Yeager's chest will still be powered, since it relies on his life force and not aer. This means he can still use his abilities, though it will tire him out faster than he's used to due to this world not relying on Tales of Vesperia mechanics like TP. Overusing the blastia could potentially lead to death, but Yeager knows his limits and will not push them unless absolutely necessary.

The majority of this app is exactly the same as when it was accepted in January - the only differences are the canon point and the alignment. He'll be remembering everything from his previous stay in Verens.

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample:

In game sample #1 | In game sample #2

(This is the original sample used for the app; taken from prompt E of January's test drive.)

"Thundersnow" is an interesting name for the weather phenomena currently tearing through the city. It's certainly the sort of thing Yeager doesn't want to be out in, but there are circumstances that have led him to being trapped in a shop with only the owner; she's a bit irritated by the storm but otherwise used to this.

Perhaps that's why his reaction is coming across as strange.

"How beautiful, what a powerful storm!" Yeager's staring out the window despite having been cautioned to stay back. "Wunderbar! How fantastic! Do you experience such storms often?" Apparently they don't, at least not to this extent, which only makes Yeager clap his hands, delighted. "Marvelous! What a stunning introduction to your beautiful city, ja?"

A particularly loud thunder crash gets the shopkeeper to jump but Yeager returns his attention to the storm. "This is something I've never seen. This sort of power...!" If only it could be weaponized. Would it be possible to recreate effects like this through emotions?

Speaking of emotions, Yeager's actually getting a reaction - something that hasn't happened much since he arrived a little over a week ago. He's glowing, literally. The light is a soft golden color and while it might seem a bit subdued in comparison to some emotional effects otherworlders display, Yeager's enthusiasm tends to cause the glow to lead to sparks when he's worked up.

Unfortunately, the storm passes through quickly and by the time the shopkeeper is saying it's safe to leave, Yeager's enthusiasm has died down. The glow is gone, the sparks are gone, and he's back to smirking because that's his default expression. "Thank you for allowing me shelter during such trying times." He says to her, his left hand placed over the blastia in his chest. "I appreciate your generosity, my dear."

The shopkeeper turns pink and stumbles over her words for a moment before Yeager waves her off with a soft laugh. "I must be going, liebchen, but I won't forget this little place. Perhaps I'll be by later, ja?" Despite the lack of emotional effects implying happiness or... anything else, the young lady is easily charmed. "Perhaps we'll get caught in a storm together someday. But until then, keep me in your thoughts." He throws a wink in her direction, fully aware of just how ridiculous his words are, and he's not surprised when she doesn't come up with a response before he steps out of the store.

The effects of the thundersnow are surprisingly disappointing. It almost looks like a regular snowstorm passed through. "How disappointing," He muses aloud as he picks his way through the streets carefully. While it might be nice to stay out after such a storm, he doesn't want to risk causing any problems with the blastia in his chest, so staying out in the cold is out of the question.

"If only it had left a bit more destruction in its wake..." It isn't often Yeager gets excited, after all. There aren't any emotional effects at all now, despite the fact that he's still smiling and seems just as charming as he was during the storm. "Still, that sort of power is certainly fascinating. What is it about this world that causes such unique weather?" He's perfectly fine speaking aloud to himself, though it's in an undertone and as he goes he slips into his native language. "It would be fascinating to possess that sort of power..."

Despite how pleased he seems with the idea, Yeager's gone back to feeling nothing again. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.

Questions: N/A!