High Seas App

[knightlydiary]

[Name]: Bennu
[Age]: 31
[Contacts]:
♦ DW: himewako
♦ AIM: mofunari
♦ Plurk: himewako
[Timezone]: EST
[Other Characters]: Motochika Chosokabe, Lea, L-Elf, Ja'far



[Name]: Ringabel (Alternis Dim)
[Canon]: Bravely Default
[Age]: 23 (or 18, see notes)
[Gender]: Male
[Canon Point]: After defeating Ouroboros, before choosing a world to return to

[History]: On the FF Wiki

[Personality]:
You sometimes wonder what would happen if you found yourself with amnesia. Would you change? What of your personality would remain? One wonders if a young dark knight named Alternis Dim ever asked himself these questions and just how mortified he'd be to know what the answers are. In every parallel world the heroes of Bravely Default travel to, Alternis is seen to have essentially the same personality. He's very serious, almost to a fault, brooding, obsessively devoted to the Lee family (and to Edea Lee especially) and very much the sort who gets quite attached to people, but is unable or unwilling to let them know, bottling everything up until it all eventually explodes out in times of stress. He faithfully records his daily life in his journal with language a bit more flowery and sketches a bit more charming than one might expect from someone who seems so no-frills. Really, the journal gives the only hint of the side of him that will remain after he loses his memory.

Because if there are words that can't be used to describe Ringabel, they're “serious to a fault, brooding, undemonstrative, no-frills, and reticent.”

One wonders what exactly was going on in Alternis' brain that would lead a little memory loss to change him from a brooding dark knight to an irrepressible flirt who laments people “getting bumpkin all over his feral bikini woman fantasies.” Maybe he just repressed a lot, maybe somewhere deep down he was always a bit of a dork, or maybe falling off an airship and through the fabric of reality kind of messes with your head. Whatever it was that actually caused it, it's indisputable that Ringabel is a very different man than he was pre-amnesia. He retains his obsession with Edea, but without proper context, he seems to see it as purely a romantic thing. Edea shoots him down repeatedly (and he deserves it), but his will is indomitable and it's not until he begins to regain his memory that he begins to back off a bit and finds himself back in Alternis' old position of not quite being clear whether he sees her in a romantic light or as part of his surrogate family. Or both. The obsession is a little creepy at times with its intensity on Alternis' end. Ringabel, through his time traveling and bonding with Edea, seems to see her as more of a person and less of an ideal. A person who tells him to shut up every time he opens his mouth. But, ah, no doubt it is how she shows her love. Or something.

Where Alternis was fixated on Edea, Ringabel doesn't discriminate. His heart is open to all the lovely ladies of the world and he won't hesitate in trying to share it. He's an incurable flirt and romantic whose number one priority is finding the prettiest girls in any place he travels and trying to win them over. When Fiore DeRosa's ability to win over all the women of Florem leads Ringabel to question his technique with the ladies, he's despondent about it for quite some time, only snapping out of his funk when he realizes that DeRosa's “technique” involves some seriously shady business. He's not focused solely on his own romance, either. He's quite interested in the romantic dreams of others, actively encouraging Tiz's pursuit of Agnes (that Tiz isn't exactly aware is going on) and asking for a bit more information than he should probably be entitled to in regards to it. He's also the only one who can tolerate Yulyana's general lechery, which kind of gives you a sad glimpse into his inevitable future as a dirty old man.

When someone can rein him in or when the party is in the field and he's removed from any opportunities to woo the ladies, Ringabel is actually a useful and valuable member of the team. He's upbeat and outgoing, usually the one who takes in on himself to go around gathering information from the townsfolk and no doubt making quite a few friends in the process. He has a reputation for being a bit of a strange duck in Caldisla, but no one seems to dislike him. He's almost always in a good humor and genuinely enjoys being around people. This was true of him pre-amnesia as well, but it seems like losing his memory and the restrictions of his identity as an Eternian soldier relieved him of a lot of his inhibitions when it comes to connecting with people. In addition to his outgoing nature, Ringabel also tends to be the brains of the outfit, though he doesn't often show it right away. He's the one who keeps the in-game encyclopedia updated with his observations of the people, places, and things the party encounters. He's also frequently the one who steps up with a plan when the rest of the party is a bit lost as to what to do. Surprisingly, he seems to be the kind to think things through thoroughly before speaking of them. For instance, when his memory begins to return and he becomes suspicious of the reasons for their entire quest, he keeps his thoughts to himself until his memory returns entirely and he has a clearer idea of what needs to be done. He's cautious and canny, which is a great asset to a team that is otherwise very naïve and prone to acting on emotion.

[Abilities / Strengths & Weaknesses]:
Ringabel is one of the people in his world capable of making use of mystical artifacts called Asterisks. Equipping one and gaining enough experience using it allows you to acquire all of the abilities inherent to that particular Asterisk. You can only use two “jobs” at once, having access to the passive abilities of one and the active abilities of both. You can also use a few passive abilities from any other jobs you have mastered. There are 23 total Asterisks and 24 jobs counting the default job of “Freelancer.” I don't think there's necessarily a need to break down what each asterisk does (more thorough explanations linked here), but I'll provide a general overview.

Magic-centric Asterisks (White Mage, Black Mage, Time Mage, Summoner, Spiritmaster, Arcanist, Vampire, Spell Fencer) – These asterisks impart the general JRPG spellbook of elemental attack spells, healing spells, defensive spells, and status effect spells. Most magic relies on the character's inner reserves of magical ability (MP), so once that runs out, these abilities cannot be used until the character replenishes their reserves with rest or recovery items. There are also some abilities that take a long time to pull off and so decrease how fast a character can act (BP).

Support Asterisks (Performer, Conjurer) – These asterisks provide abilities that increase the party's capabilities in battle. They either draw on magical reserves (MP) or the character's ability to act quickly (BP).

Physical-centric Asterisks (Monk, Knight, Valkyrie, Swordmaster, Pirate, Templar, Dark Knight, Ranger) – These asterisks focus on physical attacks, abilities that increase physical attacks, and defenses against such. Some of the special abilities draw on the user's health (HP) to power them and can result in the user falling unconscious if used too often. They are also usually centered on a specific weapon that job is tailored to (bare fists for Monk, katana for Swordmaster, axe for Pirate, etc.)

The Rest (Salve-Maker, Merchant, Red Mage, Thief, Ninja) – Some of the Asterisks don't quite fit into the above categories. Red Mage allows use of lower level black and white magic while not sacrificing the user's ability to deal physical damage. Thief imparts the ability to steal. Ninja raises evasion. Merchant uses money to replicate spell and item effects and to deliver damage. Salve-Maker combines items to create various effects.

Without a job equipped, Ringabel is a decent fighter who's a bit speedier than most. He starts out equipped with a spear, though presumably most of his weapon training was with katanas.

In addition to his skills in battle, Ringabel is observant and intelligent. He keeps track of the things he encounters in his journal, which is written in an engaging, descriptive style which he could probably publish as his memoirs if he was so inclined. Not only is he a decent writer, but he's no slouch as a pilot, either. As he scrapes together more and more of his memories, he shows his skill in sailing the Eschalot as an airship and as a sailing vessel and then really shining at the helm of the huge Grandship that the party acquires later in the game.

Ringabel's biggest weakness is the ladies, of course. He even pursues Kikyou when she's going full ninja and climbing on the walls and doesn't think twice about it. Nor does he think that maybe this is something strange that needs to be brought up to the party, even though knowing a ninja was around might have prevented all the chaos Kikyou later causes in her subquest. It seems to be a blindspot of his, because he's quite thoughtful when it comes to most other things. He's not as suspicious of DeRosa as he should be, either, despite how shady things clearly are in Florem and how involved the Bloodrose Legion seems to be in the goings on there. No, ladies are involved, so all he focuses on is how he's striking out with them. This predilection of his tends to grate on the nerves of the women who have deal with him on a regular basis, too, especially Edea.

[Limited Powers]: His powers probably don't need to be limited, considering you can be level 99 with all asterisks mastered and still get curbstomped by random encounters on Normal difficulty if you're not paying attention in the game. However, I could limit how many asterisks he has access to if necessary. (He'll have Dark Knight no matter what, though.)

[Other Important Facts]: Bravely Default had several things changed in localization. One was names, another was ages. I played the game with the Japanese voice track on, so that's what I'm basing my characterization off of. However, I'm sticking with the localized names and ages unless I somehow happen to acquire castmates who want to go the other way with it.

[Samples]:
♦ Thread: One Two
♦ Post:
Just as a note, when the lovely ladies of Malihini tell you that you look good enough to eat, it seems that they mean that quite literally. I myself barely escaped being roasted like a hog over a splendid bonfire. While it was quite flattering to be chosen as nourishment for so tantalizing a bevy of beauties, I felt continuing to live was a higher priority than staying in their good graces.

I would, however, recommend stopping by the island for a visit! Cannibalistic though they may be, the women of Malihini are very much the ideal scantily clad island women of any seafarer's fantasy. One must simply vacate the premises before such a time as they decide you're worthy of upgrading from dinner date to just plain dinner.