Reflection

APPLICATION, REFLECTION RPG

Part I: General Information

Name: Relia. Errr, again.

Email address: aurorajasper@hotmail.com

Part II: Character Information

Character Name: Baides Augusts Noladet ("bailes/baidities" from latvian, n./v. 'dread, fear,' "augusts" from latvian, 'superior,' "noladet" from latvian, v. 'imprecate, curse'). Together, something about curses that inspire surpassing ph33r.
Character Position: Sentry Ragana, he who meddles with forces you cannot possibly hope to understand.

Birthdate and Age: November 29th, placing his Sun in Sagittarius. November 29th is the Day of the Instigator, and the zodiac's got him pegged right there. Baides is nineteen years of age, thank you ever so much.

Profile:
Bloodtype: The...the red kind.
Likes:

Baides Augusts Noladet: He's his biggest fan!!! The power of hubris compels him, really, it does. It's not his fault he's so damn special and it's not your fault your piddling brain isn't capable of realizing it. Seriously, though, it's not so much he's busy tooting his own horn all the time -- he doesn't REALLY think he's the coolest thing since sliced bread -- it's that he's very defensive about other people trying to pick on him. Okay, no. Defensive is the wrong word. The word I'm looking for is paranoid. He is his own knight in shining armor.

Praise: He wouldn't have to tout his own brilliance so often if other people would do it for him. .^_^. Proud as the day is long, his head is easily turned by flattery. In fact, he gauges your intelligence by how often you gush about how cool he is and how special and important the stuff he does is. Your keen perceptions of others must reflect upon an advanced intellect. (Read: Of course I'm special! How clever of you to notice -- two Intelligence points for you. ^_^)

Secrets: Baides absolutely loves to be in a position where others are forced to acknowledge his importance. Knowing something you don't know allows him to retain a sense of superiority and of indispensability. After all, it's one more way in which he's smarter than you. He can hold onto a secret for some time, especially if it's something he can gloat about, but usually eventually likes to divulge the information, just to prove that it was Important and he knew it and you didn't.

Personal space: Perhaps as a corollary of his Seance Circle ability (see special skills), or perhaps because he doesn't want to breathe the same air you're breathing, Baides values his personal space. Forget PDAs, Baides is likely to become annoyed if you so much as infringe upon his space cushion (two car lengths ahead, two behind, and one to either side? .^_^.). So stay out of his general area. And don't ruffle his hair, he HATES that.

Pranks: As in pulling them. .^_^. It's sort of a "get them before they get you" thing. ...no, scratch that. It's really more of a just plain liking to pull pranks thing. The stuffier you are, or the more you boss him around, the more likely you are to be on the receiving end of one of his pranks...unless, of course, you're a Royal, because heck, Baides isn't stupid. Jumis is his absolute favorite target, and though he always gets in trouble with the Captain, that's never stopped him. (I will not hex Jumis's henshin music to play 'Dude Looks Like a Lady.' I will not hex Jumis's henshin music to play 'Dude Looks Like a Lady.' I will not hex Jumis's henshin music to play 'Dude Looks Like a Lady.' I will not...) At times he is able to find co-conspirators for his tricks, but sometimes everyone around him is too straight-laced to loosen up and just play a little joke on the Captain, so they have to serve as unwitting accomplices instead. His practical jokes really are pretty harmless, perhaps mildly embarrassing, but nothing of major inconvenience. Baides isn't trying to be cruel or anything, he's just having a little fun. Jumis didn't think pouring black ink into his tea was fun? What a stick in the mud.
Dislikes:

Humble Pie: Everyone makes mistakes, but Ragana really hates being called on his, especially since he works so hard to present an air of omniscience to the world. It's not that he doesn't *have* shortcomings, it's just that he hates for them to be pointed out, as they have been ever since childhood. Drawing attention to his flaws is enough to make him snippy and defensive like a wounded animal, and is more than likely to earn you a spiteful malediction. Along this vein, you will find that Ragana CANNOT TAKE A JOKE. He absolutely cannot take the slightest dent in his self-image, it comes as a severe blow to his pride. From a close friend, this is just something which sort of hurts him, but if he believes there is the slightest hint of genuine malice behind your joke, he will become a cold, bitter, venom-spewing Sun-Kingdomer if you make fun of him. He does not like being talked down to, no sir.

Being Disliked: Baides really just doesn't get it. He has a fatal problem recognizing a difference between friend and adoring fan. It's not that he doesn't want to have friends -- honestly he does -- it's just that he tends to take it personally when they don't agree with him on something. If you disagree with Baides, it means you dislike Baides, which means you are obviously not Baides' friend. Baides may act like a bastard, and he knows he acts like a bastard (most of the time he knows it, anyway), but he's hoping that suddenly all his foes will pull complete 180's and put him up on that pedestal where he hopes to be.

Being Left Out: Baides doesn't like not knowing where his niche is in every situation. He needs to know that's he's important, that he's needed. He hates being excluded or being made to feel expendable. Attention-monger that he is, he doesn't want to get forgotten, as much as he may pretend that he just wants to be left alone.

The World Kingdom/The New Moon Kingdom: He dislikes the two kingdoms more on principle than anything else. Showing his jingoistic side, Baides is certain that the other kingdoms are way less cool than the Sun Kingdom, just based on what he knows about them, never having visited either. It's not that he's saying the other two Kingdoms obviously suck, it's just that there's no way they could be better than his homeland. (The World Kingdom is too big. The New Moon Kingdom is too small. But the Sun Kingdom is juuuuuust right. .^_^.)
Hobbies:

Showing off: Yes, obviously because he so adores the praise and it makes him feel loved. But more than just that, he is a good boy and he does like that warmfuzzy feeling from being needed and helping others. Please remember to give him his gold star. .^_^.

Pouting Like A Stricken Martyr: Okay, we won't pretend he doesn't love attention. He needs constant reminding that he is loved, appreciated, needed, special, wonderful, et cetera et cetera, and he will sulk and become mildly whiny if that's what he has to do to get some hugs and words of praise.

Discovering: Baides is not as interested in researching as he is in pioneering. Sure, it's important to be well-researched, but he's not so much interested in studying the discoveries of others as he is in making his own discoveries. Perhaps because he wants the praise and credit and recognition of his specialness, but really Baides does like pushing the envelope, he wants to be quite the vanguard. .^_^. Fortunately as there are relatively few other people capable of pioneering the study of channeling, malediction, and such, he's got ample opportunity to excel in the study of...himself and things that relate to himself.

Seancing: Baides has friends, they're just dead people, that's all, and too bad for you if the voices only speak to him. If Baides is of a mood to speak to his buddies beyond the grave, or if he just wants to pointedly ignore you, he'll go off somewhere and draw a circle around himself so he can be alone for a while with the spirits of the dead. And NOT YOU. Because YOU are a BIG FAT MEANIE. So THERE.

Practical Jokes: See above in likes, but yes, Baides loves to work his craft for purposes like making itching powders and potions to give Jumis a high-pitched voice. Such a naughty little boy.

Reading: Actually, Baides can be something of a bookworm when the subject interests him. He tends to think that most of what's written down, whether fiction or not, has some basis in fact, and he feels there's something to be gleaned from that. Believer that he is, he likes to read old myths and puts a lot of stock in old wives' tales and superstitions. (When you believe in magic... o/~) The tendency of his malediction ability to support such superstitions doesn't help, either, because while such myths may have no substance behind them normally, it can lend them false credence to them when Ragana declares them and they then come true. He hardly ever dismisses things he reads as mere fiction, and he likes it better that way. Reading is more interesting with a little suspension of disbelief.
Description: This should be a general description of what this character looks like; please include not only hair and eye color but also general facial features, usual clothing, and build. You may enclose an image if you desire; however, there ought also be text here for the image-impaired. How else are you going to Amass Fanart (TM)?
Hair: Fine and silky, his hair is easily ruffled by wind, and aside from being parted down the center, his hairstyle boasts no particular styling beyond whatever hairstyle the wind might shape it into. In color, his hair is a very light, dusty grey-green, with a moderately anime-appropriate gloss to it. As for length? Sure, he cuts his hair regularly. Sometimes you need hair, it has especially high restorative properties which manage not to lose much substance when boiled. Because he's responsible for the state of his coif, it hangs somewhat long, about to his mouth in front and lower in back, not exactly boasting one even length.
Eyes: A near-whitish grey, fading to a dusty periwinkle at the edges of his irises, giving them the look of an empty vessel, waiting to be filled with some color...which indeed they are. When personally channeling magical energy, his eyes can in fact take on any color in the spectrum. His eyes are small, but gently rounded to give them an often wide-eyed, expressive look. When heavy-lidded, they can seem aloof or forbidding; when narrowed, they convey a strange and secret sense of foreboding, as when he's about to utter a malediction.
Face/Skin: Warm, healthy, slightly tan, his complexion is certainly not pale, but does not fall into the exotically dark category, either. It is, errr, normal. In fact, altogether he looks perfectly normal, kindly and sociable, and if you don't make sure to check your references first, you might mistakenly believe all of those perceptions to be accurate. Many people mistake Ragana for the most mundane and approachable of the Dvesele sentries because the rest of them seem much more obviously weird...unfortunately Ragana takes this as a personal affront, because they clearly have not realized that he is no plebian, and are incapable of comprehending the very important things he does. He absolutely hates being thought 'unspecial,' and makes every effort to look somehow important, whether through intimidation or through flaunting his Very Special Powers.
Build/Carriage: Baides tends to stride around everywhere with a secretive look on his face and confidence in his stride as though in some mysterious, spiritual way, he owns the place. It's like you've just walked straight into /his/ home and begun rearranging the furniture, so non-deferentially does he stroll about. No, more appropriately, it's like he's the part of the CIA and he answers to no one except for the President himself, which is of course Dievs. He treats the other Royals and senshi like the foreign dignitaries and ambassadors that they are, with a highbrow sort of deference that so many U.S. government workers seem to have in abundance. He tends to settle himself wherever he pleases, and immediately becomes seemingly as impossible to budge as though he is haunting the place, especially when he falls into the statuesque posture of a Seance Circle (see special skills). It's as though he is the permanent resident of his own Personal Space, and although you need to keep out of it, he can park this personal space wherever he damn well pleases, except where President Dievs is concerned.
Voice: Always fully loaded. In contrast to Dievs' empty, hollow tone, Baides speaks with a voice perpetually heavy with meaning. Words uttered by Ragana are very much weapons and tools, and he wields them with as much expertise. Keenly precise with his phrasing, he may sometimes speak bluntly, but if so it is because he means to be exactly that, blunt. In terms of sound quality, Baides speaks with the very richest high baritone, potent and impressive in its resounding timbre. His words are incantations and somehow you can tell it from the way he speaks. He can convey a sense of grave ominousness with his voice which would put James Earl Jones to shame.
Clothing: Generally close-fitting but unrestrictive, the important thing to Baides is that nothing gets in the way of the Very Important Things he does, and it would be especially embarrassing to him if what got in the way turned out to be something he was responsible for...though of course he would never admit it. For this reason, he never risks flowy capes which might trip him or long sashes which might get caught on door handles, that sort of thing...

Personality:

The most important thing to note about Baides is that he absolutely comes off as more of a jerk than he is.
On the surface, he is often seen as something of an unabashed lunatic, and it is this reputation which marks him as the "edgy" one of the sentries, both within the court and out of it. He is, somehow, dangerous, and it's not hard by half to pinpoint why -- the man displays no fear, or concern at all, for the opinions of others. Though his social upbringing would not normally bear him up well in the court of the Sun Kingdom, his attitude actually serves him very well there, giving him a good deal more power and maneuverability than he might otherwise possess. Azuolas is a fearsome figure in court because he is eternally smooth; Baides is fearsome because he is eternally sharp. He frankly doesn't give a damn if every person at court short of Dievs himself hates him with the burning fiery passion of a thousand white-hot suns constantly shining down on the Sun Kingdom. He is so perfectly secure and supremely confident that he becomes, in his way, uttertly invulnerable to the intrigues and barbs so common in the court setting.
Moreso than that, though, people tend to fear Baides because he is prone to being painfully, acidically mean. He is not the first mean person ever to walk the Sun Kingdom, nor is he by any means the only one, but he is the only one who's a retainer to Prince Dievs, as well as being utterly unfazed by any retorts to his insults. It also helps that he acts like a crazed lunatic a good part of the time. Baides will rant, rave, yell, flail, and get right up in your face if he damn well pleases, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, because he has no inhibitions about slapping a terrible curse on you -- in fact, he is just waiting for the excuse to. This is the reputation which he has strived to cultivate for some time, and which he happily perpetuates.
Baides is, as a matter of course, condescending and smug. He assumes a superior attitude with nigh everyone, putting himself on a pedestal to encourage others to do the same. He tends to be overly critical of...well, of everything, really. If you don't get the impression that Baides is probably talking down to you and is superior to your...inferiorness, the only reason for it is that you are somehow staggeringly oblivious, because if he is, he makes it patently obvious. He is not one for veiled insults; they're a little too *sane* for him, and you only hide behind two-faced words and cheap linguistics if you're scaaaared. Baides, of course, is not scared of anyone.
If Dievs has a long streak of temper as in moderation, Baides has a long streak of the other kind of temper. His ire is easily roused, his wrath easily and often permanently earned. Baides has a very short list of people he counts as friends, and a very, VERY long list of enemies, something he professes to be quite proud of -- just look at all these people he's too GOOD for. It doesn't take particularly much to set him off, usually anything from a direct insult to a mild insinuation that you might disagree with him on something will do it. He becomes something of a raving loon when he's angry, spouting irrational threats and scathing insults, because if you can't get them before they get you, you have to get them BETTER than they got you. In this sense, he is both paranoid and incredibly, terribly defensive -- any chink in his psychological armor may not be allowed to pass.
But then, in many senses Baides is paranoid and defensive, and it is these two qualities that make him quite the bastard that he is. After all, surely you were wondering how, if he's been chosen to bear a True Starseed, Baides could be so thoroughly cruel and loathsome all the time, and for no apparently reason other than that he's a psychotic jerk. Fortunately, the answer is that he's NOT thoroughly cruel and loathsome all the time, nor is he a psychotic jerk. What Baides IS is a younger sibling who's spent his whole life being picked on, and has no intention of being picked on again.
His childhood experience provided him with an out to this problem, in the form of turning the tables on those bullying you -- bully them instead. Therefore, if Baides feels threatened, and notice I said IF he feels threatened, he immediately goes into agressive bastard mode, and so help you if you're the cause of it. Baides lives his social life -- if it can be called that -- by the ideal that fear will keep them in line, and so he does his best to be terribly intimidating to others. Hey, it's what worked on his brothers.
Baides feels a sense of safety from scrutiny, persecution, and teasing when he has a sense of not being controlled, and so his freedom from being constrained and his ability to act without being under anyone else's power are both valuable to him. To this end, he strives to keep others from having any holds over him, and has perfected an air of ominous mystery. He is spooky as hell and purposely unpredictable. He LOVES it. Despite my earlier statement about veiling insults, Baides is in fact a very deliberate speaker, his words are chosen carefully and to the best possible effect -- for all that he is mean, you've got to give him credit for being a good speaker; he knows how to play his audience like a two-bit fiddle. He can create an air of foreboding in a split second with a look, a phrase, a hand movement. He is a master of cryptic speaking when he means to be cryptic, and a master of blunt retort when he means to be blunt. He is very good at arguing, which is fortunate, because he does it all the time. It is because he so despises the idea of The Man Keeping Him Down that he so appreciates Dievs, who has never so much as oppressed an amoeba without feeling terribly contrite about it, and even Acel, who lives to serve and would never consider getting into an argument with, well, anyone. It is also why Jumis is his chosen Arch-nemesis, whom he absolutely delights in playing pranks on.
But I should note a few things here. First, Baides has, shall we say, a mildly unrealistic worldview. Growing up with just his older brothers, his impression of relationships between people is that a true friend his someone who loves you, respects you, and showers you with the lavish praise you so clearly deserve and never got at home from your REAL siblings, not that he's bitter about it or anything. Oh, sure, he's developed plenty of affection for his older brothers over the last several years, but although he respects them and loves them as family, they are not his friends because they're not worthy of that honor. It is a similar relationship with his Captain -- sure, Jumis is his arch-nemesis, but Baides does respect him as a human being, and he is rather like a bossy older brother. Bossy older brothers make the best targets, because they can pummel you for gluing together all their boxers, but they've still got your back in a fight.
Now we come to the respect issue. It is one of Baides' better traits that he is a discriminating judge of character, something which his palmistry talents contribute a great deal to (see special skills). Very few people can earn his respect, and doing so can prove difficult, because Baides is not always the most, err, trusting individual. If you can manage to earn his respect, however, it is a lasting thing, and for two reasons. First, because Baides will absolutely not give you his respect unless he is one-thousand percent utterly positive you're worthy of it, and second, because he absolutely hates to admit he's wrong. As everyone knows, the best way to get around admitting you're wrong about someone is to never BE wrong, which is exactly what Baides tries to do. Having to reevaluate his good opinion of you for some reason will undoubtedly piss him off very badly, and that ain't pretty.
Once Baides has given you his respect, though, he is as loyal as the day is long. He has a remarkable capacity for good-doing in this, because his respect is as good as his pledge of fealty -- those few people he respects are so worthy of it that he would never think to abuse that. Those people he respects and trusts are indoctrinated into a sort of familial status, and he feels a close-knit sort of kinship with them, although he might never admit as much outside of a private setting. That would ruin his spooky, intimidating prick image.
The image is only part of the reason Baides can be so disaffectionate. As much passion as he shows in his anger, is as much ennui as he shows when expressing positive emotions. Deeply sensitive and emotive despite all impressions to the contrary, nonetheless Baides checks all his private emotions to safeguard his "mysterious" reputation, and to keep those outside his circle of friends from knowing anything personal about him, like that doesn't hate Acel nearly as much as he says he does. Best to keep such secrets from getting out, otherwise he's not so invulnerable anymore.
I mentioned "deeply sensitive and emotive," and he is; Baides cares about people a great deal. Because he often has a fundamental understanding of someone's character from the nuances of their palm, he has a near-reverential respect for the special revelation that that offers. Although I said that Baides is a damned mean lunatic bastard, I *did* say that he is not always damned mean, and he isn't. Baides never opens up a can of hex-ass on someone until they start it -- if he's mean to someone, it's because he really feels they were mean first. Until that happens, Baides can be polite, neutral, and well-mannered, if not kind and praiseful, because he DOES like people, and he likes to help people, and he wants them to like him, but the catch is being able to actually STAY in that first, neutral category. Baides is easily convinced that people are acting disagreeably towards him, and this is because they often are. His condescending attitude and offhand disparaging remarks tend to ruffle feathers rather badly, but I promise he doesn't mean to; he may spend five minutes cataloguing the reasons why your favorite hobby sucks, without meaning to insult you or even realizing he has. Although he's prone to stepping on toes, he doesn't want to hurt your feelings unless you hurt his first, which you will surely never know about.
Uunfortunately, as we know, Baides does not play well with others. Given the full confidence and support of others, Baides can truly shine in all that he does -- when he does something, he does it spectacularly, perfectly, and with some ado. Given anything less than the full support of his peers, however, Baides becomes self-righteous and damned recalcitrant, and of little help at all. He doesn't like to take on jobs he feels are significantly beneath his ability, and considers being assigned such tasks a personal insult. He needs to feel he's doing you a personal favor, or that you'll surely be full of praise for his assistance, and by rights you damn well ought to be. To his credit, given half a reason, Baides will assist someone, and there is no undertaking too large for him. He likes a challenge and loves being indispensible, so he can't possibly say no, nor does he often wish to.
Truly a boy raised among boys, Baides has a special talent for causing mischief, particularly where the Captain is concerned. Ominous threats, spiteful maledictions, and sly pranks are some of Baides' favorite things to indulge in, and there is no prank too funny for our witchy sentry. It can be, in a way, a familial show of affection, though people he values as friends, as well as just respecting them, are generally spared being the butts of his jokes, because they deserve a little more than that. Pulling jokes on others is the most outward show one is likely to get of Baides' happy, playful side. Because unless you're wonderful enough to stay in his good graces long enough to join in his teeny circle of friends, all you're likely to see is his raving bastard lunatic side, which everyone agrees is creepy.
History:
Baides grew up the youngest of three brothers, and for those of you who have had even one older brother, you know that that fact alone qualifies him as having had a Traumatic Childhood. His two older brothers were a year apart (Kaspars, and then Oto after him), and Baides was an additional two-and-a-half years younger than Oto. As is natural for brothers in such age gradients, the two older brothers took great joy in picking on their younger sibling. The butt of nearly all their jokes, Baides went from early youth's crying to mama, to later youth's taking it like a chump, to eventually turning the tables on his older siblings. But we're taking it too fast. By the time Baides was eight (Kaspars was 12, Oto was 11), it became apparent that he was not like other children...or even like other people. Baides began making absurd declarations along the lines of "Pudge controls the weather." Nonsensical statements and recipes for strange potions occasionally spouted from his mouth at random. His older brothers gave him no end of ridicule for such ridiculous babbling, and although his parents were less, errr, openly skeptical, they too found it cause for concern. Still, considering his relationships with his older siblings, it was perfectly normal for Baides to invent tall tales and enter a rebellious stage to gain attention, so his Mom and Pops thought little of it...
That is, until the day he mixed his first potion. Baides had claimed that two simple ingredients could be combined to form a mixture which, when applied to the skin, would cause the temporary growth of a layer of thick fur. After being teased to no end over this assertion, Baides went ahead and assembled the mixture himself, then proceeded to apply it to his own feet. Okay, so perhaps he hadn't thought that idea through so very well. His brothers were so pleased and so amused, that they thereafter made a point to refer to him as "Gorilla-boy," "Ape-man," and "Our Brother the Missing Link." Needless to say, Baides did not repeat this mistake twice. When his brothers tried to duplicate the potion and apply it to their younger brother's face, they found it had no effect, curiously enough.
But Baides' parents were astute enough to understand all that. The starseed of Sentry Ragana made its way through the Noladet family lines, but its progression did not follow a direct line of heredity; it was known to skip generations unpredictably. Grandpa Noladet had been the previous Sentry Ragana (and since he wasn't dead yet at the time, remained so), and now it was apparent to Mama and Papa Noladet that their youngest son had inherited the powers of the starseed. They, of course, contacted the Sun Kingdom's Royal Government and informed them of the situation, but it was agreed by all parties that Baides was still awfully young to come to the capital and begin any sort of formal training, so he ought instead spend a few years just training with Grandpa Noladet, who at that time took up residence a few houses down from the Noladet family's own dwelling.
It was a fine time for Baides, he was learning to fence, fight, anything anyone would...errr, whoops, wrong story. He learned a bit about herbal mixtures from Grandpa Noladet, who explained firstly that there were actually very few magical potions in the repertoire of Sentry Ragana, and secondly that sharing the recipes was an exercise in futility, since they would only actually work when prepared by Ragana's own hand. Though this was a direct offshoot of Ragana's Malediction ability, Grandpa Noladet wisely refrained from explicating that particular talent to his young protege, knowing that this would be a tool used to torment certain older siblings if Baides realized he was capable of it. During this time, Baides learned to perfect his small list of herbal mixtures, using Kaspars and Oto as his unwilling guinea pigs (a fact about which he was pleased and they were not).
Baides was thirteen when Grandpa bit the big one. Sensing his own imminent death, Grandpa Noladet spent the month up until that time teaching Baides how to create and function within a Seance Circle. Baides liked the idea of the Seance Circle very much, though it ended up taking him two years to master the subtle nuances of it. After Grandpa's death, Baides was finally sent to the capital city for training. Mostly this consisted of Baides seancing with Grandpa's spirit in a sterile, unfurnished room. Baides also became well-versed in court etiquette, the manners and pleasantries that one of Dievs' retainers was expected to know. But more crucially to Baides at this time, Spirit-Grandpa taught him Malediction.
Oh, THAT was great when Baides went home to visit his family. By the time he was fifteen, he had his older brothers soundly whipped. Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em -- and that's just what Kaspars and Oto did. Though they were all older, wiser, etc. etc., they still enjoyed pulling pranks on each other and on their loving parents, as well as....well, anyone else who happened across their paths. Plus, if the truth be told, Kaspars and Oto were actually pretty proud of their brother, though good luck getting them to admit as much. By age sixteen, Baides had completed full cycles of independent study in palmistry and physiognometry, as well as honing all his other personal sentry disciplines. He spent the next few years honing his stuck-up, high-falooting attitude, as well as finally getting to spend any real amount of time interacting with the other sentries and Prince Dievs. And when Baides was nineteen, Austras disappeared and the Dvesele went to consult the Cloistered Princess...

Part III: Soldier Information

Special Skills:
Malediction: Yes, Ragana has cursing as a special skill, you $%#@*!ing--errr, no, not that kind of cursing. Superstitious, childish jinxes, when spoken by Ragana, become that much more serious. Careful, don't mistake this as Laima's destiny sphere or Karta's bad luck; bad things happen because in predicting them, Ragana is calling an invocation to the Powers That Be to kindly smite someone, please. If he tells you "Step on a crack and you'll break your mother's back, (unless you happen to be Dievs or Neherenia, who have nothing to worry about) you may wish to be careful about where you're walking.
Seance Circle: As those close to Baides know full well, if he circumscribes a circle on the ground around himself, you do not interrupt his "me time." Baides will seat himself cross-legged in the center of this circle and fall still and silent. Make no mistake, however, because he's not meditating -- on the contrary, he is Engrossed in Conversation (TM), as though he were on a long-distance phone call. During his private little one-man seances, his attention is nearly impossible to divert, except by breaking the energy circuit created by the circle. The flow of power is instantly broken when someone disrupts the focused sanctity of his personal space, which is marked off at the edges by the bounds of the inscribed circle. So don't step inside the circle, okay? Because he will be snooty and indignant about it.
Focus: A magical attribute of Sentry Ragana, it is this supernatural focus which allows him to channel higher energies and dead people. Ragana can apply his focus to objects and to other people, but at high personal detriment - distributing his own focus, predictably enough, requires a high level of concentration on his part, and that can be easily disrupted. Further, passing off a large amount of Focus onto someone else taxes his own energy levels. Ragana will not readily admit such a shortcoming, but letting someone else utilize the full extent of his Focus is significant to drain him of magical energy for easily upwards of a day.
Palmistry/Physiognometry: Baides is a skilled palm reader, though in this case it's listed neither as a "like" nor as a "hobby." Experience has taught him that nearly everyone hates getting their palm read, partly because they don't realize just how much about themselves is written in the lines and mounts of their hands. Most people think "life line" seems to mean how long they're going to live and "love line" means they're going to fall in love, when not only are neither of these things etched into one's palm, but there is a great deal of other telling information that IS etched there, which most people would feel uncomfortable about if they knew Baides knew it. He does, however, have the habit of "sizing people up," based not only on their palms but on their entire physiological makeup, and sometimes finds himself studying suspicious palms out of the corner of his eye. Baides can be something of a presumptuous little snot, but he's not a cad and he realizes this can be a rather unfair invasion of privacy, so unless he reads something that particularly unsettles him and could cause concern for his faction, he usually keeps such information to himself. If pressed to interpret a hand by someone who knows he possesses the skill (family members, other sentries, etc.), he'll do so, but when doing a reading on a witting and willing hand, he becomes gentle and almost shy about it, usually mentioning less than ten percent of what he can actually read. This skill also tends to add to his "judgemental" attitude -- he may seem quick and judgemental and slow to change his mind, but in the long run, his judgements can be pretty much spot-on, unless they're something clouding his ability make a proper reading.

Powers:

Trance State:
What it looks like: Ragana rubs his hands together in that preparing-to-get-to-work sort of motion, and his eyes take on a glassy sort of cast, just before picking up a neon orange hue. He lifts his hands to about six inches out from either side of his target's head, looks said target right in the eye, his eyes practically burning holes through his target, the gaze is so intense, and chants, "Trance State" in a low voice. A small orange ring of energy, level with the horizon, makes a perfect circle around his target's head, glows brilliantly, and disappears. A Trance State can last anywhere from fifteen to forty-five minutes, depending on the amount of outside distraction attempting to draw the target out of his trance.
What it does: Benevolent ability! Trance State grants incredible clear-headedness to the person under its spell. While in this state, all one's mental energies are focused into a single, incredibly concentrated pinprick of clarity. This state allows optimum control of one's mental faculties, to the point that someone under this spell would likely even be immune to Sentry Auseklis's Dawnstrike Awe, provided they didn't *choose* to focus on it for some foolish reason. The upswing of this ability, though, is that while entranced, one has no awareness of distractions like pain. It's like a local anaesthetic. Blood loss and injury may still weaken you, but you're not going to be mentally distracted by these things. Unfortunately, this spell really is quite like a trance, in that the person affected really can seem quite empty and zombie-like if you're not that one thing they're focused on. Because of his Seance Circle ability, if Ragana casts this on himself, he can actually act as a medium for the dead. However, because Lopu's Collective Cosmic Consciousness is so...uncollected, none of the ghosts there have any knowledge of how to possess the body of the green-haired medium. Thus all benefits of that use for this ability are pretty much nullified. Local anaesthetic. Yes.
Restrictions: This ability can only be used on one person at a time, which, because it lasts quite some time, generally makes it a once-per-battle deal. Because it is a long-term spell, this one does tax Ragana's energy levels -- performing it three times consecutively would probably wipe him utterly -- meaning it takes about 30% of his energy reserves to cast it. We question why anyone would be blocking this ability, since Ragana has to get his hands around your HEAD to work it; it's pretty given that you're a willing participant. Same with dodges or redirections, why and how would you be trying to do so? Very strong psycho-magical shielding might be able to block this ability, but again, WHY?

Spirit Siphon:
What it looks like: Sentry Ragana stands, both hands clasped before him, and calls his attack phrase while lifting his arms. His left arm he brings level with the horizon, arm bent ninety degrees at the elbow to bring his arm across in front of his face - which, if we look at it like the camera tells us we ought to, bears a pair of intensely green eyes, bordering on the radioactive. He places the wrist of his right hand over that of his left, and points lightly at his target. A quick little green beam of light shoots from his fingertip, and if it connects with his target, jumps back into Ragana's left palm, open and waiting. The resulting spell lasts for the duration of the battle, or until Ragana's concentration is broken.
What it does: Spirit Voodoo Doll! A little green spectre of the person hit appears in Ragana's hand, about a foot tall, and will remain until Ragana becomes distracted. Ragana keeps three long straight pins in his Bag of Crap You Would be Priveleged to be Given; their only use is with this attack. He removes said straight pins, and can use them to poke the spectre with. Since it is a manifestation of the person it came from, this pins cause PAIN, good old voodoo owies. The bonus of this is that Ragana can continue jabbing his target with straight pins until he gets bored of it or someone stops him. The downside is that while there is a significant amount of pain inflicted, it can't cause any *physical* damage, the trauma is purely in the target's mind. There is the sensory perception of pain, but once Ragana ends the attack, the pain is completely gone, because there was no injury to begin with. Ragana can also attempt to restrict his target's ability to breathe by squeezing the little spectre with his free hand, or he can immobilize it, but that requires pinning the spectre's feet to his left hand, and he's not usually willing to stick himself if he hasn't gotta.
Restrictions: This is the only one of Ragana's powers he can use with any degree of impunity. Although he can only Siphon one person at a time, he can do so as many times as he can 'catch' someone's spirit. Unfortunately, this is the only attack he can perform many many times, and it causes no DAMAGE. Blocking this ability could be done if you've got a magical shield up, but dodging is your best option, if you can manage it. Dodging always works. Redirecting doesn't work here; once Ragana's pointed out his target, only that person can be affected by the subsequent light beam -- anything else physical that disrupts its path will have no effect, the beam will pass straight through.

Revenant's Malison:
What it looks like: Ragana quirks a brow meaningfully and looks down at his own feet. The implication is that everyone else looks with him, because the camera certainly does. Inscribed in pale violet light in the ground beneath him is some sort of archaically witchy-looking symbol, circumscribed by a circle. Little sparks of white light begin to shoot up from the flat plane on which the symbol is etched, and the camera cuts to Ragana's face, where - when he snaps his head back up - we can see that his eyes are now a very searing violet, and what's more, he's got that Spooky Face (TM) on. There are huge gusts of Impressively Ominous Wind (TM) swirling around him, which is fitting because from the time the camera first panned down it has also gone Strangely Dark (TM), a condition which holds even in the Sun Kingdom. His lips barely moving at all, Sentry Ragana mumbles his attack phrase, then raises one finger and, with as much grave portent as is dramatically possible without looking contrived, points straight at his target, violet eyes attempting to burn through your soul, then arches a brow again, and looks meaningfully at the ground beneath his target's feet. ...and they ALWAYS look down. There, just where you'd expect it, the circumscribed Symbol of Ill Omen has appeared, and BZZZOT! - whatever poor schmuck Ragana has picked to be standing beneath it falls victim to the Curse of the Revenant. The effects of the Revenant's Malison last anywhere from two to five minutes, which can be marked off either by watching the curse's hapless victim, or by watching for the violet to leave Ragana's eyes.
What it does: Status effect extravaganza! Revenant's Malison, the Curse of the Revenant, as it were, is a huge freaking mess. Any target struck by this attack finds themselves slapped with a number of really, really sucky status effects. They are:
Bloodlust: Your run-of-the-mill, berserker rage. There is no reasoning with this person, they're going to go in there and bust some heads and it doesn't MATTER what's what.
Confusion: No, this is not just limited to attacking allies as well as enemies, it extends to attacking particularly harmful-looking puppies and coatracks and that cloud up there that kind of looked like Francis Ford Coppola scowling at you. You're going to have a hard time sorting out what you just shot at. Just be thankful Vertigo isn't part of this attack, too.
Energy Burn: It's like a sort of poison backlash. You use your powers, you take damage along with it. The more you use your powers, the more of your life energy gets zapped off. A particularly foolish person could run themselves into the ground rather quickly on this one, though you'd go unconscious before it killed you.
Downsizing: Yes, it's true - the Curse of the Revenant turns you CHIBI. Being a miniature form of yourself, both your attack and defense levels are lowered, so in the end you're a cute little you attacking everything in sight and succeeding only in hurting yourself. It's really something to be seen.

Restrictions: This being Ragana's most demanding attack, it greatly taxes his energy levels. About 70% of his MP are spent casting this one, and unless he gets a big magical second wind from someone, that does make it a once-per-battle deal. Blocked, dodged, redirected? Blocking and dodging both have to be done while Ragana actually points at you, or not at all. Any sort of magical shield will buffer you from being Pointed Out, as the shield's magical power disrupts the ability of this spell to focus on you as a target. Dodging, similarly, must be done before you can be pointed at. If Ragana misses pointing at you, the spell won't affect you at all. Redirecting can more or less only be done if there's someone else standing behind you, and you jump out of the way just as he's pointing, or if you can pull someone else in front of you to be the pointee.
Uniform:
The sentry uniform starts with a silvery-white fitted shirt, long-sleeved, with a square neckline and split to one side down to over the tops of his thighs, and Ragana's uniform is no different. His trousers, black as pitch, are loose and bunched at the ankles over simple, soft black shoes. Over his shirt Baides wears a dark green, ahhhh, overshirt (smock?), hanging long and ruffly to his knees. The sleeves are rulled up over his elbows, and there are cut-outs in the fabric over either shoulder. A pale, steel blue sash is tied around Ragana's waist and over one hip, with long tails looped around the Bag of Crap You Would be Priveleged To Be Given, and a heavy three-pronged sort of leaf-shaped charm attached to one tail of the sash. The Bag of Crap You etc. etc. is made of a rose-gold colored fabric, as is the inch-wide band of cloth that forms a choker around his neck. Despite his being an arrogant bastard, it's a damn hot ensemble, because, well, he's Dvesele. It's required to look damn hot.
Just take my word for it and see the picture, okay? .^_^.

Items:
Bag of Crap You Would be Priveleged To Be Given: Knotted along his waist by the long tails of his sash when henshined, the small bag is likely to contain any manner of small object (no reality-warping interdimensional space-pockets here) which Ragana deems obviously very important, duh. If he's willing to give you something from his bag, he damn well expects you to be impressed and flattered because these things don't just grow off trees, you know, unless of course it's something that really did grow off of a tree and then these things don't just collect themselves, you know, so you'd better be grateful or he's sure to pout.
Focus Amulets: One of many items that might frequently be found in the Bag of Crap You Would be Priveleged To Be Given, Ragana spends time preparing these himself, and watches over them like a hen over her eggs. Because they do take him some time to prepare, he tries to dole them out sparingly. This can actually be somewhat difficult for him, as he does revel in showing off and would probably want to give them out at every turn if he thought it would be impressive. But what do they DO? Focus amulets are little, enchanted amulets, usually some sort of rock or mineral hung on a string. They are not remarkably attractive or anything, but these amulets can be used to supply some of Ragana's particular Focus. A Focus Amulet works to channel the holder's energy, and can be used over a longer period of time (a few hours) to focus one's mental or physical energy, providing greater concentration and discipline, or increased stamina. Otherwise, it's possible to channel magical energy using the amulet. This can be used for such things as focusing a weaker, wide-range attack into a stronger, narrower-range attack, or for channeling more of one's own energy/lifeforce into a spell, another reason Ragana really needs to be careful which martyrs he gives these to. However, channeling magical energy will use up all of the amulet's Focus, so it's best to make sure it's worth it before you go using up your amulet. Also, because the Focus in each amulet is an extension of Ragana's Focus, using it all at once in such a fashion is significant to disrupt his own magical flow somewhat, meaning if you use all your amulet's focus at once while Baides is seancing, it will break down his Circle and he'll have to start over. This is yet another reason why he's stingy with the amulets.

Henshin: Baides opens his palms outward and touches his thumbs to the tips of his middle fingers, looking for all the world like your stereotypical medium about to channel him some dead folk. On the words "Ragana Celestial Power," he tips his head back and a STAGGERINGLY CONVENIENT whoosh of green light breaks in a circle out of the ground beneath his feet and engulfs him in an impressive column of green light. The impressive and cool thing about this column of green light is that it hides any henshin I might otherwise have had to describe. When the column whooshes back down into the ground, Sentry Ragana can be seen for just a few seconds surrounded by three fluttering ghostie-types who may have been dressing him (XD) before they zip around and poof into thin air. Ragana is faced to one side, his head turned toward the camera, hands clasped behind his back, looking intense and sort of sk33ry.

Part IV: Other Information

Knowledge: 1) Do you hate Neherenia? Will you be complaining that she's not evil and trying to sling mud at her in the game? This is important because if so, I for one will not want to work with you.
I should think these answers might be somewhat obvious.

2) Are you up on all your 'canon?' That is to say, have you read all the information on all the pages of the site, as well as the character profiles? If not, that would be bad.
Again, yes, I think I can safely say I'm familiar with our 'canon.'

And finally, 3) Isn't Dievs pretty?
Beyond any reasonable doubt, hell yes.

RP Experience: Well, let's see. I play Neherenia-hime in THIS game.

Why you: Because if you DON'T accept my application.....your BABIES will be born NAKED!!!

Miscellaneous: Whooooo, Leprechaun King!