application: songerein

[shithogs]

Player: Christine
Age: 36
Contact: necrofancy or PM
Current Characters: N/A

Character: Kainé
Canon: Nier. Canon point is near the end of Act II of NieR: Gestalt, after witnessing the destruction of the Aerie, along with a CRAU from Ill Met by Moonlight (illmet).
Age: 20


Background Information: Kainé @ the Nier Wiki

Kainé is coming in as a CRAU from Ill Met by Moonlight, a game based on fae lore where characters served a particular fae court and underwent physical changes in order to adapt to the game environment. Overall, Kainé was only in the game's setting of the Hedge for a couple of short months (in game-time), but bringing her in as a CRAU means she will have largely adapted to the idea of a world away from home. Her basic personality has not changed, but her time in Ill Met has offered her some perspective and will help her to be more willing to engage and cooperate with other characters in this new setting, as opposed to imposing self-isolation like she would be inclined to straight from canon. The physical changes she had undergone in Ill Met are now gone (she had taken on a number of deer-like traits and started developing earth-oriented magic), leaving her grateful to be back in her own body as she knows it best, which is also a step forward for her considering she usually views herself as monstrous.

Personality:

CW: Bullying and abuse, largely related to gender identity.

The first impression that Kainé leaves on most people is that she is foul-mouthed, short-tempered and violent. She is reckless and has a lust for blood, partly rooted in her desire to exact revenge against the Shade that killed her grandmother, but largely influenced by Tyrann, the Shade she shares her body with. Tyrann himself is cold, cruel, and sadistic, traits that bleed over into Kainé's own personality as a result of his long-term residence. He often offers unwanted commentary on her experiences, intended to encourage her towards violence, resulting in Kainé herself being irritable and on-edge. Kainé's temper flares quickly, and she often vents it through excessive swearing, whether it's during heated conversation or yelling obscenities at the monster she's currently engaged in combat with. Tyrann's own bloodlust also forces Kainé to crave violence, and as bloodshed is his price for her maintaining control over their shared body, she channels that need into hunting whatever she feels needs to be hunted, though she is very clear about not using her blades on people.

When her temper isn't at its peak, Kainé is seen as cool and reserved, keeping others at arm's length or turning them away at every opportunity with a short, clipped response. We see in her dreams and memories that she was shy when younger, but as an adult, the calm between the angry or violent bouts is something more carefully calculated. Having been born intersex, Kainé has been targeted, bullied and ostracized by others since childhood simply for being different, with cruel adults afraid of what they did not understand telling her that she was cursed and thus responsible for her own parents' death. She faced ridicule and physical assault from other children, as well, and so from a very young age, she was forced to learn to protect herself. Her prickly nature is born of self-defense, a desire to reject other people before they can reject her, to keep them away before she has the chance to care or get herself hurt again. She expects only cruelty from others, and therefore presents herself as hardened and unfriendly to keep people at bay.

Kainé's self-loathing originally stems from the same place as her fear of rejection. As so many people told her when she was a child, she felt that she was cursed, that anything bad that happened to those around her was because she herself was an abomination. It was Kainé's grandmother that taught her to accept herself, and she credits her grandmother with having taught her to live with her "mutant body" and to ignore the hateful words of others. The way Kainé dresses is a reflection of this, as she overcomes her own doubts and what she dislikes about her body by dressing in provocative clothing that accents her feminine features, forcing others to view her as a woman without question.

While she no longer hates the things she cannot control, such as how she was born, she made choices following her grandmother's death that lead her to a new cycle of self-loathing. In order to avenge her grandmother's violent death at the hands of a powerful Shade, she allowed the Shade Tyrann to take up residence in her body, changing her physiology and making her part-Shade in an attempt to make herself strong enough to take on her grandmother's killer. Kainé openly admits to hating what she has become: she has sacrificed her humanity to become a monster, one that could lose control of her body at any given moment, and the price of that is constant bloodshed. She loathes what she has become in her quest for vengeance, and as a result, once she does destroy her grandmother's killer, we see that she has no regard for her own safety. She's reckless, throwing herself into peril without question of whether or not she'll make it out again, and constantly carries with her the knowledge that sooner or later, she'll need to be killed. She's more monster than human, and with her purpose already achieved, she is a danger to others and does not consider herself to be worth saving or protecting, despite the insistence of her companions.

Because of all she's had to go through, Kainé is unfailingly determined. It takes determination to survive as she has, forced to fend for herself in every way. She is stubborn and refuses to accept defeat until there is no other choice, and once she sets her eyes on a goal, she will pursue it without pause. She spent years hunting Shades and biding her time until she was able to track and destroy the Shade that was responsible for killing her grandmother, going so far as to turn herself into a monster to do so. She does the same when she befriends Nier, swearing herself to his cause though her own goal has already been met, despite the fact that she's convinced her own life has no value— he convinces her that her life is worth living for just a little longer, and she finds herself moved to help him meet his own goals, for as long as her body will hold out. Once passionate about something, whether a cause or a person, she will dedicate herself to it and never waver.

Kainé's friendship is hard-won at first, but she has grown to show a great capacity for both love and loyalty. Once it has been earned, she is unfailingly loyal, willing to do anything to help or defend the people who have chosen to place their trust in her. As mentioned above, she is passionate about helping others meet their goals— those that she cares for, those who have earned her trust in return. Despite her expectation for others to be cruel or hateful thanks to her own experiences, we see her extend kindness to others in need several times throughout the course of the game. She helps those in need without question: she saves a young girl from certain death in the desert and asks nothing in return, and also assists Nier in defending his hometown even though she's not welcome there. She acts with little regard for herself or her own safety, but wants put her abilities and the time she has left to good use.

Her own displays of kindness are often subtle and without fanfare, with no demand for thanks. Despite her hard exterior, she does what she believes to be right, what she wishes other people would do for one another, rather than being spiteful because she herself has experienced so little kindness in her life. Emil accidentally "exposes" her softer side by sharing that he enjoys camping outside of villages with Kainé because they tell stories and roast marshmallows, but she quickly cuts him off and tells him that she has an "image to maintain," and is embarrassed whenever accused of doing something nice for someone else. She admires compassion in others, as well, though it often comes as a surprise to her. She expects the worst of people, but is always glad to be proven wrong.

Abilities & Inventory:

Canon Abilities
➤ Kainé is a very skilled close-combat fighter, both armed and unarmed, though she prefers the use of blades. Even without the boost in strength from being Shade-possessed, she has spent a number of years honing her body and her combat abilities through experience.
➤ In canon, sharing her body with Tyrann means that she is able to regenerate/quickly heal well enough to come back from some injuries that would otherwise be fatal. She won't be able to do this in Songerein, but Tyrann himself will still be along for the ride since they are intertwined, which just means he'll be offering her unwanted commentary.
➤ Considerable strength and stamina, both lending themselves well to manual labor. She spent her earlier years living and working on a farm.
➤ Hunting and tracking, both in that she hunts Shades/monsters but is also skilled at hunting for game.
➤ Strong outdoor survival skills, since she lives in a tent on the edge of civilization and has been forced to fend for herself for years. She's used to providing her own shelter, food and other necessities. Overall very independent and resourceful, able to make due with very little.
➤ Very basic magic skills, used for the occasional projectile attack or to raise a magic shield for herself.

Inventory
➤ Her twin swords with serrated blades.
➤ Her clothing.
➤ The Lunar Tear flower she wears in her hair.

Suitability & Plans: Kainé is a resourceful character who, despite being very prickly about it, is able to adapt to whatever setting she is put into. Her entire life has been focused on either survival or revenge, with the former serving the latter, and so wherever she ends up, she finds a way to make things work. As of her current canon point, she has undergone a lot of development and learned to open herself up to others and live for something other than vengeance, having now experienced true kindness (a rarity in their world) and acceptance, but her time with her found family is cut tragically short for a number of reasons. Playing her in a game will allow her the opportunity to actually form relationships with people (beyond Nier, Weiss and Emil) and experience a life that isn't entirely soliarity for the first time— it's a chance to grow and to find a way to live beyond pledging her swords to a given purpose.

Though coarse, she is extremely independent and flexible, and often very practical, so she will be able to come into this world, see what needs doing and set herself to doing it once she gets over some initial aggravation about being yanked around by someones unknown. With her current outlook, she will also be eager to seize the opportunity to make use of "borrowed time" in this place, as she is well-aware of the fact that outside of it, she is quickly running out of time as the Shade she is possessed by grows closer to taking over her body for good. Because she is self-motivated, she will fit into the setting well, with the added bonus of Nier often using dreams as a storytelling vehicle adding some especially nice flavor.

Test Drive Sample: Top-Level, Thread

Questions: None!