Soul Campaign application

[timelessummoner]

[ PLAYER INFORMATION ]

Player Name: Huudel
Age: 20
Timezone: Eastern European (GMT +2)
Personal Journal: huudel


[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]

Name: Raidou Kuzunoha (Birth name is Jouhei, but he rarely uses it)
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
Timeline: End of the first game, right after defeating the final boss but before returning home with Kaya.
History: Raidou's page at the MegaTen Wikia
Further information regarding the characters and plot of the gam
Character Personality:

The first thing people usually notice about Raidou is his controlled appearance. Constantly alert, he speaks in a low and quiet voice, observing his surroundings with calm precision. It takes a lot to catch him off guard; as someone who deals with dangerous and unpredictable demons on a daily basis, he has been taught to be ready for anything and thus barely blinks when something unexpected happens. Whenever something needs to be done, whether it’s stopping a criminal or doing his boss’ laundry, he focuses diligently on the work and doesn’t get distracted easily. While his polite and calm behavior generally leaves a good impression on people, the apparent emotional detachment doesn’t always encourage others to become more than acquaintances.

If Raidou does seem detached, it’s not out of lack of caring. On the contrary, he is completely devoted to protecting others and has no qualms about putting his life on the line to help someone. Though Devil Summoners are expected to use their demon familiars strictly as weapons to be discarded when necessary, Raidou tends to grow attached to his demons and form mutual feelings of loyalty with them. Likewise, as his strict upbringing and summoner training left no room for emotional ties or friendships as a child, the bonds he has since created are all the more important to him. His closest friends – his mentor Gouto, his boss Narumi, and their mutual friend Tae – are the first people to not put pressure on him the way his family does, and they genuinely like his company despite his lacking social skills. This is something Raidou is immensely grateful for.

Raidou has been trained to become a Devil Summoner since he was very young. While the heavy focus on duty has made him strong in some ways, it has hurt him in others. For one thing, he was lonely for a very long time, becoming more familiar with demons than fellow human beings. For another, the harsh training and high expectations have caused him to become rather repressed. Emotions, desires, doubts, sexuality – everything that could become a hindrance is shoved to the back of his mind and locked away. It never occurred to Raidou to question the necessity of this when he was younger; after all, it was all he knew. Working with Narumi and meeting people and demons outside of his home village, witnessing their struggles and their hopes, Raidou has lately become more aware of himself and what he wants. He’s still not quite ready to outright question his family or the Yatagarasu, however, as the purpose of his entire life until now has been to serve them. On a subconscious level, Raidou has a deep fear of failure; failing to live up to the expectations placed on him would, in his mind, mean that he failed as a Raidou Kuzunoha, which he believes is the only reason for his existence. The conflict between his sense of duty and his personal feelings is a difficult issue for him, particularly since he was never really taught how to deal with such emotions.

Another downside to Raidou’s upbringing is that he is not used to dealing with people outside of work. Investigating and questioning he can do; small talk and casual conversation, not so much. Spending time with Narumi and Tae, both of whom are very sociable and outspoken, has made Raidou better at picking up on people’s moods, but he still more likely to stand near the walls and let others do the talking, chiming in only when he has something to say. One-on-one conversation can sometimes lead to awkward silence.

Although Raidou has seen violence and cruelty during his time as a detective and a Devil Summoner, he generally thinks well of people. He tends to gravitate towards people who fight for what they believe in despite hardships – Tae, who works hard to be acknowledged in spite of her gender; Narumi, who despite his usual laziness risks his life to stop Munakata’s plan; Satake, a yakuza boss who protects civilians from the army without any fear of what kind of trouble that will get him in – simply put, Raidou has witnessed the strength of human heart persevere in harsh and dangerous situations. It was the faith in people and the bonds he had created that finally gave Raidou the power to cross time and space to rescue Kaya Daidouji. He is also quite tolerable to those he doesn’t know that well, to the point that he’s willing to make pacts with demons who tried to kill him just a moment ago.

The one way to truly earn Raidou’s distrust and anger is to put his friends in danger. He still holds a grudge towards Sadakichi (and the Herald of Yatagarasu, though that one is harder for him to acknowledge) for holding Narumi hostage to make him co-operate – and he admittedly took some pleasure from breaking a sake bottle over Rasputin’s head after everything the man had put him and his friends through.

Character Abilities:

Raidou has been trained to a katana from a young age, and his skills have since been honed through almost daily fights against different kinds of demons. He is in excellent physical condition and has enough stamina to handle consecutive battles and a lot of running around doing legwork for Narumi. His reflexes are fast – after all, slow reactions have been the end of many Devil Summoners. He is also a good shot with a pistol, which he usually carries many different kinds of bullets for, enhanced with various elemental affinities. While sword and gun are his main weapons, he is capable of fighting unarmed, well enough to take down two yakuza bodyguards.

Raidou’s true power, however, comes from his ability to summon demons. Ever since he was a child, he has been able to see and interact with various supernatural deities (which are referred to as demons, even if they are gods or angels and the like) that are invisible to normal people. After capturing a demon inside a special tube, of which he has twelve at the moment, he can then summon the demon to fight by his side. Summoning drains some of his magnetite, but the more loyal a demon becomes, the easier it is to summon it. Demons come in several different types, each with their own specialty – physical attacks, elemental magic, healing spells, you name it. Once a demon has gained enough experience, it can perform a Combination Attack with Raidou, such as enhancing his sword or gun with magic for a powerful attack or casting a spell to block some specific attack type. If the demon gets cornered, Raidou can summon it back to his side instantly.

Demons are not only for battles; they also aid Raidou in his detective work. Since they can’t be seen by regular people, they can sneak into areas Raidou can’t get to and eavesdrop without being noticed. Some demons can influence human minds – for example, they can calm down an agitated person, rekindle someone’s spirits and even read some of their surface thoughts. Flying demons can scout the area for enemies and electric demons are good at finding nearby hidden objects. There are a few that can make the target temporarily infatuated with Raidou, though he prefers not to use that particular skill if he can help it.

As a detective, Raidou is observant and can usually put two and two together quickly. Since he often has to fight while keeping track of how his demon is doing, all while trying to think of the best possible strategy to use, he is used to paying attention to several things at once. Raidou is focused and not easily distracted, and definitely not easy to scare. Once he has set his mind on something, he doesn’t allow himself to be deterred, no matter how dangerous things get.

On a less serious note, Raidou is used to doing Narumi’s laundry and cleaning at the agency – and he makes pretty good coffee, too.

Character Weaknesses:

While Raidou is strong, he has the limitations of a human body and can only take so much beating before he goes down. In battle, he is heavily dependent on his demons. A big chunk of his firepower comes from them, and since he can’t actually cast magic himself, he is restricted to a sword and a gun – the latter of which, while useful for hitting elemental weaknesses, doesn’t do much as in terms of pure damage. This means that facing bigger and more powerful enemies by himself will give him a lot of trouble, and large groups of enemies can become too overwhelming for him to handle.

Outside of work, Raidou isn’t very skilled at socializing and can be awkward and blunt without meaning to. He’s not used to dealing with his own emotions other than by locking them away, which can lead to feelings being bottled up, unaddressed. It is also worth noting that Raidou is still young and inexperienced, and has a tendency for recklessness; if he feels it becomes necessary to fight, he won’t think twice about going into a battle without any idea how strong the opponent is. In general, Raidou often neglects his own well-being in favor of his duty, and when he does fail, he tends to beat himself up for it even if there was nothing he could really do.

[ SOUL CAMPAIGN SECTION ]

What are the abilities that your character will retain in Soul Campaign?

Skills with sword and gun, mental skills.

What are the weaknesses that your character will lose or gain in Soul Campaign?

Demons lost, meaning he has nothing to summon even if he could.


[ MEISTER ONLY SECTION ]

Why your character should be a Meister:

As a Devil Summoner, Raidou uses demons as his weapons – wields them, if you will – and is used to looking after them by commanding them in battle, keeping them safe and training them to help them learn new skills. Because of this, it would be natural for him to be the one who directs a Weapon in battle and helps them grow into a Death scythe.

Meister Ability:

Soul Summon: This is pretty self-explanatory; Raidou is a summoner, and can call his demons to his side from a distance in-game as well.

[ SOUL INFORMATION ]

Soul Description:

Devoted, brave, loyal, determined, calm, restrained.

Soul Appearance:

Raidou’s soul is dark grey, and the shapes of his hat and pointy sideburns are visible. The face has a fairly neutral expression, something like this:  (:|)