app; toale nelphi; haven

[illegitimately]

Name: January
Contact Info: snowesque
Other Characters Played: Santa | 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors | distrusts
Preferred Apartment: None.

Character Name: Toale Nelphi
Canon: The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Canon Point: After parting ways with Ryner, Ferris, and Kiefer.
Background/History:

In a continent often torn apart by war, the country of Imperial Nelpha has been at peace for years, due to its current ruler, Gread Nelphi. Under his rule, the country, while perhaps not prosperous (and still possessing its share of corrupt nobility), does fairly well for itself. Unfortunately, it still has its dark spot: his son, Prince Starnel—who, simply put, is a douche. Though his less than pleasant personality is more than apparent to his father, his worse deeds are hidden by the nobles who support him.

Fortunately, he has his good counterpart in the form of none other than his son, Toale. Specifically, his eldest illegitimate child of fifteen bastard children, as Starnel has a tendency to sleep around. Excelling in his studies and beloved by the people, Toale is hated by his father and legitimate siblings, and so has been kicked out of the house and forced into a single manor with his fourteen younger siblings, whom he takes care of. In spite of this, Toale does his best to help the country, with officials associating with him behind his father’s back and Toale bringing members of the corrupt nobility to justice.

It’s because of this that the people of Nelpha support Toale, hoping for him to inherit the throne instead of his father, but Toale himself has no desire to become king. Rather, all he wants is to live a simple life, taking care of his younger brothers and sisters.

And so, of course, he can’t have that.

The stone begins to roll when he has a fateful encounter with Ryner Lute and Ferris Eris, two travellers. While near the private library he frequents, Toale and two of his siblings are targeted by a group of thugs. Ryner, who happened to be trying to enter the library at the same time, easily saves them in an attempt to protect the book Toale’s sister is holding. Though Ryner and Ferris initially reject Toale’s wish to repay the favour somehow, they quickly change their mind upon realizing that he knows the master librarian and is thus able to grant them entrance into the library. Afterwards, Ryner and Ferris freeload off of Toale at his house because they’re lovely people like that.

With Ryner and Ferris come two more companions—namely, Ferris’s little sister, Iris, and their friend, Sion Astal, who just so happens to be the king of Roland, from where they hail. Under the guise of Ryner’s cousin, he… also freeloads off of Toale for a bit.

However, Sion’s arrival marks the presence of a decidedly less pleasant individual—a subordinate of Sion’s named Miran Froaude, who decides that Toale is a potential threat. While Toale and his siblings are asleep, Ryner and Ferris fend off Froaude, before deciding to leave without another word the next day.

A year later, Nelpha’s peace ends when Roland invades. Overwhelmed by Roland’s power as its army carries out a massacre against the Nelpha people, Nelpha’s fate is sealed. In an attempt to save his country, Gread offers a proposal: in return for his and Starnel’s life, Roland will accept their surrender. Unfortunately, the plan goes awry when Starnel, to save his own life, kills his father and moves to flee the country. To buy some time, he sends an army of ten thousand soldiers to stall Roland.

This is where Toale comes in. In order to save those soldiers, Toale heads to their location to lead them away. In the process, however, they believe that Toale has arisen to fight off Roland. Furthermore, Toale begins to unintentionally earn followers in the form of citizens, nobles, and even bandits in the area. This rather complicates things for him, as he intends to try and follow through with Gread’s plan—that is, he’ll offer his own life to Roland in hopes that they will accept Nelpha’s surrender. With an army like this, though, he can’t expect them to believe that he has peaceful intentions. Not only that, but with this many people under him, it’s only a matter of time before Roland (or his father, for that matter) finds him and kills him.

It's unknown what happens to his siblings at this point. At the very least, Ryner and the others don't know if they found refuge or were killed before they reunited with Toale. As to whether Toale himself knows or not has yet to be mentioned.

Either way, backed into a corner and trying not to break down from the stress, Toale receives a beacon of hope in the form of his old friend, Ryner. After sending a message ahead of time to notify Toale (via Ryner’s friend, Kiefer, whom Toale falls for), Ryner appears to save Toale, in spite of being Sion’s best friend. Though Toale is initially suspicious and interrogates Ryner, he decides to trust Ryner, not having much of a choice in the matter. Sadly, the plan that Ryner came up is ruined when it turns out that he underestimated how far Sion is willing to go in this war—and an attempt to rectify this obstacle is further ruined when the Roland army uses Rule Fragments (i.e. weapons of mass destruction) against them. In the chaos, Toale is fatally wounded while protecting Kiefer, as a third of his body is destroyed.

Despite the Anti-Roland Coalition—led by an acquaintance of Ryner named Vois Fiurelle—coming to help with Derunio, a Rule Fragment that heals wounds, Toale’s life still begins to fade away. He manages to hold on long enough for Ryner to wake up so, so that he can pass on a message to Ryner: look after his people after he dies. Assured that Ryner will indeed do so, Toale dies with a smile.

—Except he doesn’t stay dead. As it turns out, Vois purposely stopped Toale’s breathing and heartbeat in order to hold his life hostage against Ryner. After negotiations go smoothly, he returns Toale’s life to him. However, as Toale’s right arm and leg were destroyed beyond repair, he’s forced to use prosthetic limbs in their place.

In the aftermath, the Nelpha refugees are taken in by a nearby country and the army is integrated into the Anti-Roland Coalition. Soon, they become allied with the Geihlficlant Empire, and so end up in a fight against the Gastark Empire, who are intent on conquering the continent. During the battle, Toale frequently butts heads with Vois—particularly when Vois’s subordinate is fatally wounded protecting Vois, and Toale insists that he use Derunio on her. Vois apparently decides to shut Toale up via a very final way—that is, having another subordinate kill him. Fortunately, Ferris and Ryner step in at this point, protecting him and forcing Vois to rescue his dying subordinate. That said, this doesn’t stop Toale from later saving Vois’s life by kicking him out of the line of fire.

Eventually, Ryner is killed. However, it turns out this was a part of Vois’s plan, as Ryner’s death allows his true powers to awaken. He is then brought back to life and fends off Gastark’s final, most powerful attack, saving his friends in the process. Following that, Ryner falls unconscious for several days, with Kiefer and Ferris nursing over him during that period. That said, Toale is the one by his side when Ryner finally wakes up. He and Ryner then banter for a bit, before Toale confesses to Ryner that he likes Kiefer, but knowing that she has eyes only for Ryner, won’t pursue her.

Later, while Toale is standing guard, a sleepiness spell is cast upon the Anti-Roland Coalition by Ryner’s father, allowing Ryner to meet with him in secret. As morning approaches, everyone awakens. Toale and Kiefer quickly meet up with Ryner (and Ferris), where Ryner has Toale tell the army not to worry, though he doesn’t offer an explanation. Afterwards, Ryner, Ferris, and Kiefer go on ahead to their destination, while Toale stays behind with the rest of the army.

Personality:

'That was why, this was definitely a suicidal journey. A suicidal journey where salvation would start with Toale's execution.'

For the most part, it doesn’t take much to figure out what kind of person Toale is. Kind, courteous, and selfless—he’s the resident “nice guy” in a very cynical world. He does his best to be a good person, going out of his way to help others and repay favours, as seen when he insisted on paying Ryner back for saving him and was clearly disheartened at Ryner’s repeated refusal. Part of it is to set an example for his younger siblings, but most of it is just who Toale is. Protect him from thugs? He’ll do whatever you want (within reason) and let you crash at his house. You’re a relative of someone staying at his house? Feel free to hang around. He’s already got fourteen other mouths to feed, so what’s a few more? All in all, he gives off the impression of being an upstanding young man, between his genuine niceness, the way he looks after his many siblings, and his excellence in his academics. In short, the sort of person you’d want your child to emulate. Helpful, hard-working, and almost always polite to others—it’s no wonder as to why Toale is beloved by his people.

Personally, though, Toale could do without some of that love. While his people may place him on a pedestal and declare him their hope and next king, Toale would rather not have anything to do with any of that. Ultimately, all Toale wants is a normal life. Perhaps it’s selfish of him to desire that, when he has the potential to make such a difference, but as Toale himself comments, he’s happy with the way things are right now (or at least was and were). Though he can’t ignore his influence entirely, given that he still participates in politics, he makes it clear that he’s fine with a life just taking care of his brothers and sisters. Frankly, he doesn’t even truly think himself to be king material. After all, royal blood or not, he was raised a commoner.

In the end, however, Toale’s kind nature prevails above his desire to lead a simple life. As said, he can’t ignore the fact that he’s a prince completely, for, when push came to shove, he rose up and (however inadvertently) led his people. It’s because of this, though, that Toale starts to break a little. Even now, he doesn’t want to be some kind of hero or someone great. He leads his people because, to him, it’s the right thing to do, as he can’t simply abandon them—but he takes no particular satisfaction in what he does. When you see him for the first time after the war begins, Toale is clearly exhausted in more ways than one. He’s stressed out with nowhere to run and no one to confide in, because as a leader—as a beacon of hope—Toale doesn’t actually seem to have any real friends before Ryner. And so, he feels that he has to keep his spirits up to maintain his people’s morale, as he has no one to turn to when he’s the one who feels like breaking down. Still, Toale lives for his people. In his eyes, anything he suffers is nothing compared to what they’ve had to go through.

Along those lines, Toale is a rather self-sacrificial person. In a combination of his kind personality and his status as a prince, he has difficulty placing his own interests above others. He won't hesitate to sacrifice himself to save others, as seen in both his intentions to protect Nelpha and when he shielded Kiefer—a trait that tends to bring exasperation to those around him (namely, Ryner). As Ryner even notes, dying to help others is a fate that might even please Toale, as he's "that kind of people-loving idiot".

All things considered, though Toale may seem naïve, trusting, and idealistic, that’s only when he has the luxury to be such. Under the pressure of war, who Toale is underneath the surface arises. He is, in reality, fairly practical (if not cynical at times) and cautious. Initially, he doesn’t believe that there’s anyone who would help him when there was absolutely no value in doing so, and even upon hearing that Ryner was coming to save him, he remained reserved. He was glad, certainly, but not so quick to accept Ryner’s intentions at face value. He’s also the most blatantly suspicious of Vois and his motivations, making it clear that he does not trust Vois, to the point where he implies that Vois is bordering on being an outright enemy. Though Toale can be soft—a fact that he himself acknowledges—he’s not as much of a pushover as he usually is when his people’s lives are at stake. Toale knows that he can no longer simply be an individual, as he's now responsible for others. Whether they live or die depends on him, and that burden is a large part of what wears him down.

Furthermore, contrary to what you might expect from him at a first glance, Toale can actually have a rather dry sense of humour. He and Ryner frequently banter in a friendly manner, helped by the fact that Toale is immune to Ryner’s more abrasive and, well, tsundere behaviour. He's the type of person who doesn't get embarrassed easily and thus can say things that others would be too shy to. The fact of the matter is that one of Toale’s default expressions is a smile. Not necessarily a happy one, mind you, but often a wry/tired/etc. one. By this point, Toale is too weary to even hide his tiredness, save for when around his people. Even in the face of bad news, he can still smile, as by now he’s too broken down to react with distress to everything, even if it would be appropriate. Overall, while it's not impossible to provoke him (messing with his people is a sure way to make him indignant), Toale is a very even-tempered person, if not a bit worrisomely so. He’s fairly good about remaining stoic, not even crying when Ryner dies and not showing the same amount of delight as Kiefer or Ferris at his revival, though he’s presumably upset/overjoyed inwardly.

Not helping matters is that Toale is someone who has resigned himself to die. Aside from the fact that he’s naturally a selfless person, he was convinced that handing himself over to enemy was the best way to save his people. Even with the news that Ryner was coming to help him, that was more of a backup plan than anything else to Toale who, while not exactly wanting to die, is not afraid to. To him, it’s really only a matter of time, as he’ll inevitably die on the battlefield, sooner or later. Because of this, even on his deathbed, Toale can act the way he usually does—calm, accepting of the situation, and still able to joke around. He’ll smile, right to the bitter end.

With his lack of regard towards his own life, it should come as no shock that Toale can, at times, be self-deprecating. He knows that he’s far from perfect, in spite of what his people might believe—in fact, as he states himself, he’s only human. Toale easily admits to Ryner that he’s jealous of him, as Kiefer’s in love with him but will never notice Toale. He easily admits that, as mentioned, he’s too soft-hearted. He undermines just how much he’s endured, compared to Ryner, and is quick to feel guilt over anything he might hold some responsibility for. He is a prince and leader, after all—it's his duty to be as ideal as possible. Unfortunately, though Toale doesn't quite angst over it, he doesn't seem to feel like he lives up to that. Essentially, he’s the picture of modesty, considering his position.

That said, Toale really is only human. As said, you can provoke him, either by messing with people he cares for, being a blatant jerk with no regard for other lives, or acting like Vois Fiurelle (i.e. all of the above). Even he can’t help but drop the niceties when the situation gets tense, if not becoming a tad insulting towards Vois (again, given Toale's occasionally distrustful nature). He's also aware that he does prioritize lives—he freely admits that he does not view ally soldiers on the same level as the Nelpha soldiers. If it means protecting his own people, he's willing to sacrifice the lives of strangers. That's not to say that he doesn't care about others—as again, Toale has shown himself to be a very selfless person—but he understands war. It might come as a surprise, but Toale can be pragmatic if the situation calls for it.

'Then, with a smiling face, he would be executed. That miracle, so to speak... was sacrificing himself.'

Abilities/Powers:

Toale is capable of using Nelpha magic, which (as generally with all magic in his world) is invoked by drawing a magic circle and reciting the proper incantation. (Unfortunately, no cohesive list of known Nelpha spells exist, and it's likely safe to assume Toale knows more than just the ones that have been shown. As a whole, though, think typical RPG type spells.)

His artificial limbs are imbued with magic, allowing him to undo them easily and cause them to self-destruct, which can do a decent amount of damage.

Items/Weapons: A sword and his military uniform.
Sample Entry: Then I'm an idiot, I suppose.
Sample Entry Two:

There wasn't a day that went by where Toale didn't think of his people back 'home'. It might've seemed obsessive, but they were at war, and so it was only natural to be worried. Toale could joke around easily enough when his friends were around, but alone like this, he was hardly about to laugh with himself.

(For starters, he didn't think he was that close to snapping.)

Concern about his people aside, Haven wasn't that bad. Toale didn't find it a particularly pleasant place, and needless to say, he'd heard the stories—but Toale didn't have very high standards by this point. The basic niceties and comforts he'd been accustomed to as a civilian were a thing of the past. By now, he was used to the life of a soldier, as part of group that had travelled across two countries with barely any rest just to give their people some semblance of a home after their own had been taken from them. It was a group that was grateful even for tents and carriages for beds and shelter, since it wasn't as if they had anything better.

The things that Toale had never questioned as a civilian were luxuries in times of war—luxuries for people who had lost everything but one another. And even then, Toale could never forget the scene of his people dying around him, when Roland attacked. Screams and blood and death and the mourning after—there were some memories that never left a person, and his failure to protect his people was one of them.

"... Well, not like thinking about it can do much now," Toale murmured, rubbing his temple with his left hand. Without the war looming over him, he was technically getting more rest here than he had back home, but a part of him couldn't help but still feel exhausted. Danger was still lurking here, after all, and even more than that—

He had to find a way to return home, where his people were waiting.