Story:ORPGS/Beclem
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Author Notes - Table of Contents / List of Chapters - Appendix |
Beclem
OOC Info:
- Username: Renmiri
- Name: Renmiri
- Gender: F
Character info:
- Name: Beclem
- Age: 21
- Gender: M
Additional Details
- Home: Beclem has been in the Crusaders since he could lift a sword. He is an orphan and has no family so he has always lived at the place the crusaders sent him. After Sin was killed he joined the Youth League and lived in the Mushroom Rock barracks for a while until he was sent to Besaid to train some recruits
- Occupation: Drill Sargent. In spite of having excellent combat skills and being very loyal and efficient Beclem never gets promoted. His bad attitude holds him back.
- Description: Beclem is tall and fit, and an excellent blitzball player. He uses a mask covering his forehead and the top of his nose, to cover a deep scar he got while battling Sin. He has a blue long sleeved shirt on, covered by a red vest with yellow trims. His pants are white. He has brown hair and green eyes
- Personality: His life is the life of a workaholic. Beclem is always driven like an arrow, always on a mission, and has little time for frivolities. Curiously enough, he is not very successful at his work. The demons of his past make Beclem moody and angry at the world in general so he is always saying what he shouldn't. Although he is very respectful of his superiors in the league, he usually mistrusts authority. His respect has to be earned, but after Beclem respects you he will be extremely loyal. His biting sarcasm and and his tendency to insult hot shots are notorious. One of the many pet peeves he has is his hate of "posers", i.e. people who do not deserve the post or reputation they have. He has a talent to get on everyone's nerves and uses his gruff sergeant persona even when not training his men, which doesn't win him any friends. He mistrusted the Yevonites even before Yuna unmasked them and now he despises them. He has a particular hate for Yuna because of something he saw after Operation Mi'hem
- Weapons: Beclem's weapon of choice is the gun. He occasionally uses the standard gun from the Gunner Dress-Sphere, but he has his own modified gun that he uses in his Gunners Gauntlet challenge. His special gun is capable of killing multiple enemies at the same time, of killing a large fiend with just one shot and even killing several large fiends with a single shot. The main drawback of his special gun is that it needs ammo. Every shot depletes his stash and he needs to extract energy from dead fiends to replenish it. When Beclem runs out of ammo he favors close range combat with a knife or using grenades, bombs and the like. Being a drill Sergeant Beclem can yield a sword or any other weapon and he does so while training his men but he prefers his own special gun and his trusty knife, plus his big stash of items to blow up enemies.
- Alliance: Good. Beclem is a Youth Leaguer through and through. He doesn't even own civilian clothes besides the ones he uses for his infrequent time offs. He hates anything related to Yevon's church and deeply mistrusts any religion. Oddly enough, his commitment to helping build a new Spira, one free of "Yevon and other superstitions" consumes him with a fervor that is almost.. you guessed.. religious
- Personal possessions: Beclem owns the Gunner dressphere, his special gun, a knife, his mask and a few clothes. Everything else he takes from what the Youth League issues to him for his missions. At Besaid, soon finding himself with no friends after insulting Yuna and Wakka he befriended Kiki, a yellow dog that roams around the village and belongs to one of the young ladies in there.
- Strengths: Beclem is very determined, can execute tasks with incredible concentration and is an excellent warrior and marksman. He is also very calm in the battle field, contrasting to his hot temper outside it. He has excellent endurance, agility and very good physical strength. He is so good at blitzball that he has played on the league as a free agent. He also has an excellent Tenor voice, being able to sing as beautifully as Ifrit's fayth. It matters little as he has no time for Blitzball or anything else but his work
- Weaknesses: Beclem's main weakness is hot temper combined to his chip on his shoulder: he resents Yevon's Church, Summoner's, hot shots that don't deserve their reputation, etc.. and he usually lets everyone knows about his contempt which gets him a load of trouble. Being very good at combat his smart mouth doesn't get into many fights but it does make him have very few, if any, friends and keeps him stuck at his post of Master Sergeant. He has no magic skills except the ones provided by inventory items, i.e. using a darkness grenade he can cast darkness but not without it. Also he has no exceptional shielding, just your standard run of the mill shielding that he may complement with an inventory item. But Beclem is not an Alchemist, i.e. his speed at using inventory items is normal
- History: Beclem, born Kyou, lost his entire family 16 years ago when Sin attacked the outskirts of Bevelle. His mother, father and older sister died in the attack. He was saved by an older warrior monk who later took him to Bevelle's orphanage, run by Bevelle's monks. he was an orphan when he was just 5 years old.
His time at the orphanage was riddled with events that left a mark on his psyche. After getting attached to the elder warrior monk that saved him he had the heartache of seeing the old man sent away due to politics and intrigue. At 6 he had already lost his family and his protector.
At 7 Beclem befriends his music teacher, who notices young Beclem has a good voice and teaches him and helps him develop his voice. Singing transports Beclem to a world without Sin's violence, without intrigue and politics, a world just for him, a world were he never feels alone. Pretty soon he joins the church chorus. Eager to fit in he dedicates himself to being the best he could, practicing for hours on end. Aided by a devoted, talented teacher he gets very good at singing the hymns of the church. People notice that young Beclem can sing like an angel and he starts singing solo or leading the chorus in certain pieces. That is when his problems start. Another boy, a Maester's protege gets jealous of Beclem's crystal clear voice and does everything he can to make Beclem's life miserable and to take Beclem's place as the lead child singer.
At 8, disappointed at learning that being good is not enough to get him to fit in, quite the opposite, Beclem thinks about leaving the orphanage. Beclem tries out for the Crusaders. Ever since his parents died he wanted to take his revenge on Sin and the legendary crusaders are just the place to be to do that. He gets accepted but can't join them: His voice is in high demand to sing the church's hymns to the faithful, even though he is not the lead singer anymore. Beclem is forced to stay at the orphanage. He starts hating his gift and everything about Bevelle's church. The only good thing about being left behind is that he learns blitzball and now tries to spend any time that he is not required to sing at the orphanage's new Blitz pool.
At 12, when his voice starts to change he gets the opportunity to leave. He deliberately sings flatly and off key to fool the monks into thinking he is loosing his voice. He doesn't fool his music teacher but the old man stays mum. Finally Beclem is able to leave the orphanage and join the crusaders. Of his time on the orphanage all that Beclem is left with is a particular sore spot for anything related to Yevon's church and for "posers", i.e. people who occupy posts they don't deserve like the Maester's protege that gave him so much grief.
At the Crusaders lodge Beclem grows into an extremely good warrior and an excellent blitz player. Again eager to fit in he spends hours on end perfecting his combat skills, trying to learn how to be more efficient, a better soldier, etc.. To relax on his days off he plays blitz. At 17 he is already respected by all around him and is promoted to Sergeant. One of Sin's attacks leaves him with a deep scar in his forehead and he starts wearing a mask o cover it and to make him look more mature. Also at 17 his new adult voice is finally developed. Destiny's irony gave him an even better adult voice than his childhood voice. Beclem is now a powerful tenor but he keeps his singing to himself after all the trouble it got him in Bevelle. When he is particularly sad or troubled he looks for a secluded spot where he can sing without anyone hearing. The music provides him an escape to the disappointments of day to day life.
And those he did have! His hate of everything Yevon and of posers, combined with a cocky attitude about his good warrior skills make him pick up fights with civilian hot shots or any undeserving high ranking official. He creates a lot of trouble and annoys the hell out of his superiors. At 19 he is still a lowly Sergeant in spite of many victories in battles and exceptional performance in battle tournaments.
Beclem tries to find himself a place to go if his career with the crusaders stays stalled and registers himself as free agent with the blitz league. He plays for half of the season with the Guado Glories who needed a good scorer. He scores even against the year's most respected team, the Besaid Aurochs who has just defeated the Luca Goers at master Mika's tournament. Unfortunately the Aurochs are just too good and their new player has an unbeatable shot. Beclem tries to copy that back flip, knock two opponents shot of the new guy but fails, no mater how many times he tries it still eludes him.
Operation Mi'hem provides him the chance to redeem himself at the Crusaders. Beclem gets a squad of 50 men to command during the beach assault. He drills his men mercilessly. He wants a perfect performance. He requests the riskier assignments for his men, right at the battle front, confident in their skills and his daily drills. But after Sin attacks Beclem is the only one left alive. When he wakes up his all 50 of his men had perished and his leg is broken in 3 places. In one single attack Sin destroyed both his blitzball career and his last chance at the crusaders.
Beclem spends the next 12 months healing his leg and getting back into fighting shape. When Sin is defeated and Yevon's church crumbles like many in Spira he decides to reinvent himself. Beclem changes his name from Kyou to Beclem and later joins the Youth League
Beclem spent the last two years after operation Mi'hem hating High Summoner Yuna who he saw at the beach laughing like a scoolgirl, in front of all those bodies, some of them from his own squad. He did not use to believe Yuna defeated Sin. In his hate for her he imagined that Sir Auron did the fighting and that Yuna took the glory. Yuna was, in his view, an empty headed poser. He also developed a strong contempt for Wakka. Prior to arriving at Besaid he had even begged to be assigned to Besaid just to meet Wakka, the legenday guardian who dismantled Yevon's Church. Seeing Wakka so fond of Besaid's temple and respectful to old traditions was a deep dissapointment for Beclem.
More recently he has realized it is not Wakka's fault that he is not what Beclem wanted him to be, but after all his shouting matches and insults Beclem is unsure of what to do to make ammends. He has also found out that Yuna is a lot stronger than she looks so he has started treating her a little better. He still despises her for laughing at the sight of his dead comrades torn in half or utterly obliterated by Sin.
- Special Requests: How often do I have to post ? I sometimes get pretty tied up at work and may dissapear for a week or two. Also, I have never done this before (Beclem's profile came from my fan fiction about him) and will need all the help you can give me in the beginning.
- Sample post:
--- Youth League Tournament
"Elite fighting team!", Beclem snorted when they arrived at the trail's last turn scowling, and told Yaibal that he could bet Rikku and Paine did the fighting and useless Lady Yuna did the posing for the video spheres!
- "Lady Yuna a poser ? After what she did 2 years ago ?" gasped a shocked Yaibal
- "Certainly Sir Auron, did most of the work!" answered Beclem . After all the legendary Yevon Warrior Monk / Guardian , was the former Commander of Yevon's Warrior Priests and the Crusaders and was truly a legend among legends
- "The guy was good, I grant you that, but no warrior in Spira could do what she did without a Summoner! Don’t you remember Mi’hem ?" asked Yaibal angrily
- "Well, yeah, Lord Braska was certainly a big part of Sir Auron's team. But Summoner Yuna ? She was useless at Mi’hem!" Beclem sniffed in contempt.
- "Take those words back immediately or I'll feed you to the resident Tomberries" said Yaibal hotly, already looking at the cave mouth where the green fiends used to show up to attack the League people passing by
- "All I'm saying is that any team that had Sir Auron had a huge advantage! After all, the man once led both the Warrior Priests and the Crusaders on the battle for Bevelle making Sin retreat, and then proceeded to defeat Sin with Braska!" said Beclem
- "Humph! You got a point there, but don't you ever call Lady Yuna names in my face again!" said Yaibal hotly, jumping into the machina lift
As they went up the lift Beclem was fuming angrily. He wondered for the 1,000th time why the Spira people couldn't let go of their superstitious reverence to those Summoner leeches.
What he had told Yaibal was true, Sir Auron had been an amazing warrior, he was one of the very few who had managed to stop Sin from destroying a city. Unfortunately, not before the beast killed many Bevellians on the outskirts of town, including Beclem's entire family. Sir Auron had then left the Yevon order to guard an underdog Summoner who had only one Aeon. It was a stunning move at the time, but nowadays the conventional wisdom was that Sir Auron may have had a good motive to leave the order to take part on a pilgrimage. Bevelle of 15 years ago was a viper's nest and Sir Auron's impressive skills and honorable ways would have surely attracted attention and stiff competition from ambitious monks on their way to the top of Yevon's church ruling council.
As an orphaned child in Bevelle's care, Beclem had been privy to the details of the story, so he started to tell it to Yaibal as they walked up Mushroom Rock, to appease the angry Sargent:
- "Peace Yaibal! Growing up in Bevelle I bet I know a thing or two about Auron and Braska that you don't" said Beclem
- "Yeah ? Like what ?" said a mollified Yaibal turning around and waiting for Beclem
Beclem proceeded to tell Yaibal how as a grieving young boy he had been fascinated by his attendant priests tales of bravery and valor. He had wanted to learn everything he could about being a warrior, to avenge his family. From the priests Beclem learned that Braska was anything BUT an underdog. . People seemed to forget that Lord Braska's first Aeon was Bahamut the towering behemoth not that wimpy Valefor dragon from Besaid, Beclem said.
Very few Summoners STARTED their pilgrimage at Bevelle. Bahamut with his 20,000+ points overdrive attacks and powerful 3-4,000 strength punches was not something to underestimate.
Beclem explained to Yaibal that most Summoners started off with a weaker Aeon, and then brought that Aeon - or several Aeons - to battle and tame Bahamut, the mighty Aeon at Bevelle's temple. Braska's years of training with the Al Bhed and his countless battles with the desert fiends must have forged him into a formidable battle mage, or he would not have attempted it, Beclem said
- "Lord Braska was trained by the Al Bhed ?" asked a surprised Yaibal
- "Why yes, he even married an Al Bhed! Your precious Lady Yuna is part Al Bhed!" said Beclem and then it hit him: Rikku and Brother were Al Bhed! Could Yuna and the siblings be related ?
- "Hey wake up! How does the story go ?" said Yaibal interrupting Beclem's daydreaming
Apparently, continued Beclem, the Yevon priests were about to deny Lord Braska's request to battle and tame Bahamut, despite Bevelle's tradition of leaving those kinds of decisions to the Summoners. Having Bahamut kill an overconfident apprentice wouldn't look good, particularly in the service sheet of the priests and Maesters who authorized the trial. That is when Commander Auron got wind that a certain Summoner apprentice had requested to battle and tame Bahamut without possessing any other Aeon. Legend says Auron burst into the meeting, immediately volunteering to be present at the trial, admired at Braska's courage.
There had been 5 years of incessant Sin attacks, and no other Summoner looked promising enough to be a sure bet at getting Sin this year, said Beclem, telling the story just as the old priest had told him long ago. Yevon priests were getting anxious. Commander Auron's assurance that he would contain the Aeon if things got out of hand appeased them and they allowed the trial to proceed. To everyone's surprise, including Commander Auron's, Braska defeated Bahamut, winning the Aeon's undying loyalty. ..
- "They say Lord Braska was amazing at that battle, and that he could heal himself very quickly. Rumor says that he got that skill in his desert exploits, that Braska had faced and survived an encounter with an Angra Mainyu ghost" Beclem said
- "A what ?" asked Yaibal
- "It is a Sin sized desert fiend that existed a very long time ago. Al Bhed legend says his ghost still hounds the desert, killing the ones it encounters with ease" said Beclem
- "Very few people survive an encounter with that enormous ghost of a desert fiend, but Al Bhed legend says that if you are able to hold out long enough and prove your valor in battle, the beast will not kill you. It will vanish and award you a prize - a very powerful magical treasure: a bottle of all healing MegaElixir potion - for having the skills to endure his attack during 20 turns" explained Beclem to Yaibal
He had added the bit of that legendary desert fiend to the story, just as the Yevon priest had done. No one knew if Braska had met it. No one but the Al Bhed even knew if the Angra Mainyu legend had any basis or how many turns it took to get the prize! But it was his favorite part of the story. He almost could see himself and the attendant priest putting him to bed on those first painful nights. The old priest pushing away the little orphan's enormous grief with his tales, the amazing stories of the heroes at the mighty Bevelle temple, telling to a mesmerized Beclem the stories of valor and battle and legendary magical prizes that awaited those who decided to take their destiny on their hands. It was like a healing salve to a confused boy who had just lost everyone he knew.
- "Wow! Really ? A bottle of MegaElixir ? I could certainly use THAT today !" said Yaibal interrupting Beclem's memories
- "If I had something that healed my entire party fully both in energy and in magic points, I'd have a shot at defeating Lady Yuna's team" said Yaibal wistfully
- "So what else ?" asked Yaibal
- "Braska's courage, determination and skill also won Auron's respect and loyal friendship. Both left the temple soon after, joined in their pilgrimage by a crazy drunkard that had been found on the Bevelle's shore and arrested for his sacrilegious boastings that he was from Zanarkand. And the rest is history: Lord Braska, Sir Auron and Sir Jecht, the former drunkard defeated Sin nine months after, and brought 10 years of Calm to Spira... telegraphed Beclem, quickly wrapping up the story now that they were entering the Youth League headquarters
- "Cool! So Sir Jecht really was a crazy drunkard when he started the pilgrimage ? I had heard rumors.. You have to tell me this story, Beclem! I may even forgive you for offending Lady Yuna if you do a good job of it" whispered Yaibal in his ear, while the fort's attendant directed them to meet Commander Lucille at the Observation Deck at once
His telegraphed delivery of the last part of the story didn't do the old priest's justice thought Beclem as he and Yaibal rushed up the stairs of the deck. The old man had literally saved his life finding him alone at the burned up bakery and protecting him from the Sin spawn until the Bevelle's soldiers arrived. He never even managed to learn the old man's name, Beclem lamented.
After Sin died, a recently promoted Maester, the so called genius who had seen Braska's potential, proceeded to expunge the temple of all the people who liked Sir Auron or had fought with Sir Auron, as soon as he could. The greedy Maester quickly got a hold of the old priest and transferred him away from the city, despite the old priest's advanced age. Of Sir Jecht and Sir Auron's whereabouts no one knew. They had completely vanished, leaving another guardian , a Ronso, to escort Lord Braska's only child to Besaid.
Edited by: Renmiri at: 1/26/06 12:55 am
