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[kaius]

Caius Ballad

ooc information.

Player Name: Odie Age: 40 Plurk: cloistered AIM/: radarclusters Email: N/A

canon information.

Character Name: Caius Ballad Fandom: Final Fantasy XIII series Canon point: End of Lightning Returns AU: N/A Age: Between 2300 to 2500 years-old. Heart's Desire: He wants nothing more than for Yeul to be happy. Abilities: Caius has a wide range of abilities that range from knowing when a person is about to die by reading the Chaos that is inside the person, to time manipulation. Since Chaos itself is a binding energy that resides in all living things, Caius is the embodiment of this energy. Outside of the Chaos itself, he is just as much flesh as anyone else with one major difference: He feels no pain. He can feel things should he choose to but pain isn't something he registers. His body is formed through his own memories and the memories from Yeul herself. He cannot die, does not need to breathe, eat, sleep or need anything any other person needs. Should a person touch him, his skin feels dead and cold. He is death embodied and like the Grim Reaper of his world, he also has no need to socialize on a regular basis. He only does so for appearances and the same goes for sustenance. Otherwise, he never bothers with it. He no longer uses his sword to deal heavy damage to his opponents nor does he need it to protect himself. As Chaos itself, he can shape anything he needs through his will alone. If he needs a weapon, he creates it. If he needs clothes, he wills them. Human needs are not his anymore. As a god, he does what is necessary without abusing the powers he has been given through Yeul, the goddess of death. Chaos itself has no alignment. It's neither good nor evil. It's the unseen substance that creates emotions, gives living things purpose and gives humans their free will, what is also known as spirit. Caius uses the Chaos in several different ways and the power is limitless. Dark Wave: Caius uses the Chaos that he has inside of him to send out a stream of dark energy to blow his foes back. In doing so, whether from his own hand or through his will alone, he can use this energy to push back hard. Absolution: This is more a spell than an actually ability and it deals heavy damage. He takes the energy around him and condenses it to a singular mass until it reaches critical and blows outward. Anything caught in the sphere is crushed instantly and violently. Gravity: It's similar to Absolution with one major difference, he can change gravity around them within a hundred feet to weightlessness or so heavy that it crushes anyone that steps foot in it. It's symbolized by a black, circular pattern on the ground. It vanishes by his own will. Time Shifts: He can stop, speed up or slow time down at will. It lasts as long as he needs it to last and most times he chooses not to use this ability since it does take a toll on him physically. He can speed up time enough to render any living thing into dust. He doesn't abuse this power for the sake of proving his ability and it is only used when he has no other option. The same with stopping time or slowing time down. Teleport: Caius uses the Chaos to transport himself from one spot to another instantly. Usually, it's indicated through wisps of the black substance of Chaos mixed with light energy. Chaos Maelstrom: Caius can manipulate the Chaos to create a massive tornado to sweep up and expel anything that comes into range of it. He uses this mainly to be rid of an obstacle or simply to throw around whoever steps into his space that he doesn't want present. Weapon Summon: As explained above, Caius can create anything of his own will through the use of Chaos that he can change into physical form. This includes clothing as well. However, since Yeul willed him into his current appearance, he cannot change his physical body unless she wants him to. Shapeshifting: This ability only works when Yeul releases the block she placed on him through her will by verbal command. He can then change from anything that is living and found in nature or any creature that exists in nature on other worlds which includes dragons, griffons, fae-folk, merfolk, or lycan. This ability is not done through his own will. Soul Binding: Due to the nature of his powers as a reaper-like god, he can bind souls to a specific area or release trapped souls. However, due to the mechanics of this game, this ability does not work. Death Sense: Caius can sense when a living thing is about to die and will release the soul at the moment of death to be harvested and returned to Yeul in order for that soul to be reborn. Due to the mechanics of this game, in order for this ability to work, it is done on a permission basis only. Curse: This is a Death Touch type ability that drains a living creature of their life-force. In doing so, he absorbs the life energy that is being drained into his own body. He uses this when he wishes not to be disturbed or if he feels a threat to Yeul in some way. Elemental Spells: He can cast any elemental spells. Quake, Lightning, Ice, Storm, Tornado, Hurricane, just to name a few. These spells don't take long for him to cast and the only indication is a snap of his fingers. Creature Summon: He can call any creature within range almost instantly. Insects arrive in swarms causing plagues, rodents in droves and the like from birds to herding animals. He can pick and choose which to call and there is no limit to how many. He rarely uses this ability simply because there hasn't been a war since his ascension to call them. Negative/Positive Energy Absorption: This ability is as it says. He can absorb both types since he has been neutral in nature just as nature itself. He can remove depression, anxiety and other forms of ailments by touch and absorb it into himself. The same goes for those that are expelling positive energy. He can drain away a hyperactive person to calm them down. What matters most to your character?: Intelligence What element do you choose?: Dark Introspective Personality: Caius is a Guardian to the Seereess Paddra-Nsu-Yeul. He is driven completely to protecting her through her short life. He is described as strong, steady, stalwart and stoic though he is also seen in private as sensitive, caring and willing to do anything in his power to make Yeul happy while she lives. He takes his task as Guardian very seriously at the risk of his own personal safety. He had, at one time, gave his life to protect Yeul by doing the one thing that is considered taboo among l'Cie and that was by fusing with his Eidolon, Bahumut. His love for Yeul runs deep. He is seen more like a father to Yeul in some ways where he not only protects her, he also retells the prophecies from all the other Yeuls that he has watched over the centuries. He serves as a living record for Yeul and through these memories also leads to madness due to his immorality granted when he inherited the Heart of Etro that grants him the powers to control Chaos. Unable to die, Caius stands as Yeul's eternal Guardian and he is not only powerful, but he is also intimidating with a merciless method of enacting his strikes. He presents himself as cold, distant and cruel and he has every reason to be. He protects himself from heartbreak and suffers alone each time Yeul dies. On the other end of this chaotic spectrum, when it comes to Yeul, he knows her emotions through subtle hints that she gives either through her eyes, subtle changes in her speech and through her body language. He obeys her commands alone and rarely needs prompting even if those commands are simply through a phrase that no one else may catch but Caius. It is this subtle way they know each other that words do not need to be spoken harshly or with demand for him to listen. This can also be said for the people he comes in contact with should they speak to him in this way though he won't be able to pick up on the cues until he knows them better. Strangers are kept at a distance while he is with Yeul. He is never far from her side which makes him a wall in order to get close to her. (Forget dating her, boys. He'll make your life a living hell almost literally.) This can also be said for anyone he chooses to protect, children especially, providing they can understand him and not just through speech. Caius has a commanding voice that demands attention along with his presence. Standing at 6'6", he's hard to miss. He speaks clearly though his pitch is a rich baritone with sultry notes. He doesn't generally speak much and is a man of few words unless he finds it necessary to say them. Usually, he is sincere when he compliments and he will even do so in battle. He handles problems personally and will not fight any opponent that cannot defend themselves. He rarely engages in verbal confrontations since he views them a waste of time when he has more important duties to attend to. Caius is rarely distracted and is seen as single-minded. The moment he sees their weakness in his opponents in battle, he will use this to his advantage and will strike them down. His only reason why he would engage in combat so that way he can be bested and finally rest. If Yeul commands him to stop the battle, he will do so willingly and walk away. Caius is a very proud warrior and it shows in the way he carries himself in his stance and in the way he presents himself when he chooses to show himself. He will not just fight by anyone's side. They have to be worthy. Lightning is a good example of one person he will ally himself with since she is equal to him in battle. Noel Kreiss is another though he still views Noel as weak for not killing him when he had the chance. He will not ally himself to those that want to exploit Yeul or himself by any means. Blackmail, kidnapping or any cowardly show of force will bring the worst out of Caius in an instant. He is noble though his arrogance can be off putting. He will not speak unless he is spoken to or if the subject matter pertains to him or to Yeul. He will always be present at Yeul's side due to his bonded ties to her as her primary caretaker. Every time Yeul is reborn, he spends his time finding her and has to remove her from her birth family the moment she speaks her first word. He is a traditional man with high values to life though this later becomes warped as the centuries pass that causes him to become obsessed and single-minded on his goal equating to death. He views children as precious and will not harm them. Women are the same unless they show prowess in battle. This comes from his Hunter's upbringing. He is a brutal fighter when he does engage in battle meaning that he will use every tactic possible to gain the advantage. This also means running someone through from behind. While this act isn't seen as honorable, this action is mostly due to his madness. The reason for this is simple. A turned back to an enemy means death. Caius doesn't make friends easy due to his ruthlessness whenever he is alone. Most of the time, his reputation precedes him through the legend of Caius of the Ballads, the man who had taken out legions for the sake of protecting Yeul. This also stands the reason why he cries each time Yeul dies. This never ending cycle of death and rebirth for Yeul has left an indelible mark that his death is the only way to release them from their curse and taking his own life is out of the question. At one time, Caius believed in Etro and defended her causes justly. He was a faithful follower of the goddess. Once he had become l'Cie and died, he was reborn with the power of Chaos bestowed by the goddess herself due to his willingness to sacrifice his own life to save the Seeress. In time, he became embittered and hateful of the goddess for forcing him to stand by and watch as the child he raised died over and over again. It was as if his heart had ripped from his chest each time. He remembers every single Yeul that lived and there are hundreds of them. He remembers their hopes, their dreams, their hobbies, and even their desires. As each parting happens, his rage takes hold and in some cases violently. Even with his desire to die, he is not suicidal. He has a manner of speaking that is eloquent in spite of his barbaric appearance. He is sometimes described as the calm before the storm. In this, the meaning is constructed to paint the picture that he is often silent before he strikes. He gives no warning other than his silence. -The beginning of Caius' career as a Guardian set the stage for the rest of his undying life. He became Yeul's Guardian through a ritualistic tradition that formed a bond between Seeress and Guardian. In order for a Guardian to be chosen, they engage with their mentors in combat. The defeated Guardian then passes on the Sacred Pact. Originally, the Sacred Pact was the Mark of the l'Cie that was commonly given by fal'Cie. In the case of Guardians, that was not the case. They were given by Yeul herself. His Focus was to protect Yeul at all costs and he took that Focus very seriously at the cost of his own life. -Before the War of Transgression began and about 5 years after his rise to Guardian, Caius was locked in battle with an opponent that wanted to become Guardian and challenged Caius to a duel. The duel was interrupted and the one that challenged Caius gave his life to protect Yeul. Out of respect for the fallen man and out of his love for Yeul, he took on the name Ballad as his own so as to not forget the brave deed that was done. Within that same day, Caius was mortally wounded and performed an incarnate summoning that fused him with Bahamut, his Eidolon, in order to protect the reborn Yeul. At the time she was 5 years of age. Caius was then granted immortality by the waning goddess Etro. She had given him her heart, known as the Heart of Chaos. The Heart erased his powers of the l'Cie, releasing him from his Focus though he still received visions of each new age that Yeul was reborn into. At this point of rebirth for Caius, his aging stopped and so too was the ability to feel pain. He was between 25 to 27 years old at the time. -Before Yeul was reborn the first time Caius was her Guardian, he had fallen in love with the Seeress since they were close to the same age. While Caius was still considerably larger in stature in comparison to Yeul, any chance of having a physical relationship with her was considered taboo. And so he chose to lead a monk-type lifestyle to refrain from having that kind of contact with her. He was disciplined harshly and reprimanded for ever becoming close to the Seeress by the High Priests of Paddra. He carried that with him for the rest of his days. -Yeul's death, while it was known through the edicts and through the City of Paddra as something that happens to her again and again, at first he was prepared to accept this as her fate and continued his task as Guardian. The more deaths he had witnessed through her ill-gained fate by a goddess that only wanted Yeul to never be alone, the Chaos often rejects her and she is reborn with the same face, same hair and most of the time with the same limp but she has a different personality. This is due largely in part with the parents she is born to. Each rebirth gives Caius new hope yet he is aware of her destiny to die again. He eventually closed off his heart to not allow himself to fall in love with her again but somehow that often never works. He is destined to grieve for her all over again, find her after she is reborn, raise her and then watch her die again in this endless cycle. -As the centuries rolled on to the next, Caius has witnessed his friends and what remained of the Farseers vanish before his eyes by either assimilation after the War of Transgression, disease, despair or simply bred out of existence. He later fell out of touch with humanity almost completely with Yeul and nearly completely forgotten by history. -The longer he lived, the more he was able to obtain knowledge. Technology is not beyond his capability and he is a quick study. With the ease of access in Augusta Tower in 300 AF, he learned quite a bit more than what scrolls or books was able to tell him. He also learned about the proto fal'Cie and found a way to exploit it by manipulating the AI to use it for his own purposes. This sparked the Duplicates to turn into fal'Cie themselves in 400AF which gave him the perfect window to formulate a plan of attack to destroy the knowledge contained in the tower to keep the New Cocoon from being built. This plan didn't work since the copy he had the AI create failed its mission to assassinate the ones responsible for creating the new Cocoon with Yeul dying as a result. -In 500AF, Caius had been guarding a very distant Yeul that was taught not to trust. In doing so, he had done everything in his power to stop the changes made and put an end to what was causing Yeul to die. He discovered that in order to stop Yeul's death, he must die himself though he hadn't voiced that option until much later. -700AF was the end of humanity. Caius had taken on two students, Yanny and Noel to take his place. He was training them to kill him so that he wouldn't be burdened to live in an empty world without purpose. He was a warrior and without a purpose and with no way to die even by his own hand he would be left to wander a world with nothing but his own insanity and despair. At this point, Caius was nearing 1800 years of age. With this training came a bond. Yanny's death hit Caius pretty hard since he had hopes for the boy and he was reminded of himself at that age. Yanny was 15 at the time of death and Noel grew angry from Yanny's death. Caius then decided to train Noel himself since he didn't want his only hopeful to die before his time. What he was actually preparing Noel for was to kill Caius himself. Noel refused and Caius eventually left just before the last Yeul died. Caius didn't honor his pact as Guardian with her since he knew that she was the last and never to be reborn, he allowed her to live free without his bond to her. He kept away from her so she would never have to see him to form that bond and instead she bonded with Noel. -Caius dies at the shore of Valhalla in an unknown time. This triggers an event in 500AF where the new Cocoon known as Bhunivelze, Cocoon, the Unseen Realm and Gran Pulse collided to become an entropic world known as Nova Crysalia. He is then transported along with the rest of the inhabitants of the dying world and he is then trapped inside the Chaos itself with Yeul as his keeper. -Around 6 days before the end of the world and 500 years later, Caius has given in to his despair and resigned himself to being nothing more than Yeul's company inside an ageless temple. He was cursed to hear the screams of the souls that were bound in the Unseen Chaos which becomes Yeul's domain. Unable to leave, unable to die, Caius' own soul had begun to rot away into nothing more than ash. -The end of the world, Caius and Yeul decide to take Etro's place and released Lightning from her deeds as the Goddess of Death. Alongside Caius were the many incarnations of Yeul and only one he released into Noel's care so she could live the life that Caius desired her to have from the beginning. History: Cleave this evil from me, if you can.

canon memory.

A 5 year old Noel used to come by Caius' campsite out of curiosity only to then run off out of fear and return the following day, the day after that and for several days to attempt to sneak up on Caius. Each time, he was discovered and Caius was left befuddled until one day he said, "I know you are there." Noel then came out from around the corner and said, "How did you know?" Caius' response was calm. "I can hear you breathing."

sample.

Time had its way of transforming. It was constant, flowing and like the waters, it eventually eroded things away until the surface faded away or unreadable. This was Caius. In the darkness of the Unseen Chaos, he stood watch over every Yeul he had known throughout time. There was no need for words. He had said everything there was in existence. He would risk repeating himself should he decide to speak. Purple eyes scanned the darkness just as the last of the souls left to be reborn in the New World. He knew he would never see those faces again. Not in this life. Perhaps when they returned to the Chaos to be reborn, he would see to it that they were guided safely. This was his new task. He jumped off the ledge and landed with grace and light as a feather as if gravity itself mattered nothing. The crystal shards jutted out of the ground around the now dead God of Light, Bhunivelze. He passed by the massive corpse without a second glance. The last of the fal'Cie are now gone. This was the realm of the dead now. There was nothing here but him, the dead Bhunivelze and the thousands of incarnations of Yeul. He inhaled deeply and waved his hand in front of him to bring into focus what the New World was like. It was a world much like the one they had left behind. It was a sad thought that he couldn't join them but he knew there was nothing for him there and he couldn't leave Yeul alone. Now, he certainly made that choice abundantly clear and he couldn't turn back with no door to go through. He instead watched from afar in the black abyss where time no longer mattered, where only the dead could roam, he was a part of this existence and forgotten by the rest. It was better this way. Those same purple eyes that watched the new world closed and so did the scrying window. A small smile tugged at his lips. "Can you feel them, Yeul? I sense them." His voice sounded soft in comparison to the hard life he lived through almost 3 thousand years. The Yeul he released to live on the new world was his only tie to a world that he would never see. It made him feel for the first time a freedom that she deserved most.