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➵ character (WIP)
People say I'm not very noble. That's a compliment, right? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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My dream, in truth, is a selfless dream. But I require power to make it a reality. So I'm chasing that dream. To the bitter end, if need be. BACKGROUND"I'm Claude von Riegan. I'm from the ruling house of the Leicester Alliance, but don't worry too much about all that madness." Claude is introduced to the player, Byleth, after a failed assignment near Remire Village with Edelgard and Dimitri. The three of them flee bandits that are trying to kill them and approach Byleth and their father for assistance. After defeating the bandits together, the three nobles recognize something special in Byleth try to recruit them. Claude convinces Byleth to choose him and the Leicester Alliance. Together, they make their way to Garreg Mach Monastery where Byleth is made a professor at the Officer's Academy. The Officer's Academy is an elite school located at Garreg Mach. Many nobles attend it along with some privileged and fortunate commoners. It is run by the Church of Seiros and tasked with preparing the future generations of Fodlan to lead and protect it. It's revealed that Claude is the heir to House Riegan, the leading house of the Leicester Alliance and one of the three future leaders of Fodlan along with Edelgard and Dimitri. At the Academy, he is the House Leader for the Golden Deer, the class which all students from the Alliance attend. Unlike the other houses which consist mostly of nobles and knights, the Golden Deer is a mix of nobles and commoners. The Golden Deer have the most commoners of the three houses. Claude remarks that the house is rowdy and not particularly unified and that it's a house where commoners and nobles work along diligent students and slackers. Edelgard: Don't try to change the subject, Claude. We're talking about secrets. Yours. Who is your father? And why did you appear so suddenly, as if from nowhere? Duke Riegan's eldest son died in an accident. Having tragically lost other family members as well, he was without an heir. The Alliance would undoubtedly have been shaken if House Riegan had lost its position of leadership. But then you showed up. Why did you return to House Riegan? What brought you to the monastery? Claude doesn't speak much about himself to Byleth and it becomes obvious that he's the same with others. He's considered a mysterious and somewhat controversial person. Claude is the grandson of the current Duke Oswald Riegan. The previous heir was Claude's uncle, Godfrey, who died suddenly in an accident some years ago. Left without an heir, the House Riegan faced a crisis and the leadership in the Alliance was shaken. The Alliance began to consider other leaders but Oswald was able to find an heir… That heir was Claude who appeared from seemingly no where. No one knew where he came from or who his parents were but he possessed undeniable proof that he was a Riegan— he had the Crest of Riegan. A Crest is a blessing from the Goddess granted to her saints and heroes. Possessing a crest grants special powers to their bearers such as enhanced strength, magic proficiency, and so on. Crests can be inherited by blood but being descended from a hero doesn't guarantee Crest inheritance. Crests manifest randomly with some generations having multiple Crest bearers and others having none. In Fodlan, Crests are incredibly valuable. To have a crest is a sign of prestige and respect. Nobles will desperately try to obtain a Crest as proof of their nobility and have been known to marry or adopt individuals of lesser houses to secure Crests. Nobles have also been known to abandon or completely disregard children who don't have Crests and favoring children with Crests which has resulted in generations of suffering and misery. In Claude's case, he possesses the Crest of Reigan, proving that he's descended from the Elite Hero, Riegan. His Crest allows him to occasionally heal himself. It also allows him to use Failnaught, the treasured bow of the Riegan family. At first, Claude claims he is from an off-shoot of the main family and after his Crest manifested, he was eventually accepted into the main family and made heir a year before the events of the game. This is immediately discredited due to the fact that the Riegans are a very prestigious family and they would immediately accept any child with a Crest as one of their own. Claude: I officially joined House Riegan only last year. Before then, I lived with my father. [...] House Riegan is on my mother's side of the family. When I learned that my mother was the daughter of an Alliance noble, I was so surprised I thought the whole world was pulling a fast one on me for a week. Eventually, Claude reveals a little more of the truth. His mother is actually Lady Tiana, Oswald's long lost daughter. Tiana ran away from home many years ago to elope with her lover, Claude's unknown father. After her brother died, Oswald went looking for and found her. It was then that Claude learned about his mother's identity and the truth about this "strange power" he had. Tiana refused to return home but Claude decided to go in her place. After promising his parents that he would never reveal their secrets, they allowed him to leave. With his mysterious past and identity, Claude was the subject of intense scrutiny and gossip. Many people wondered who he was and where he came from. Some Houses hired mercenaries to find more information about him and others opted to just keep a very close eye on him to see who they could learn and if they could catch him making any mistakes. While fully aware of the eyes on him, he carries about his life normally while keeping his secrets close to him. Claude barely talks about his family, especially his parents. He mentions that his father was a larger than life and extravagant person and that he admires his mother who is brave, strong, and fearsome. Otherwise, he speaks briefly about his grandfather who took him in. His father is strong but elderly and his health is failing with age. Claude occasionally gets called away from school to assist his grandfather back at home. "My dream, in truth, is a selfless dream. But I require power to make it a reality. When I learned about the power of my Crest, I knew I had a chance. So I'm chasing that dream. To the bitter end, if need be. Over time, it is also revealed that he enrolled at the academy to find power and information to make his dreams come true. He snoops around the school searching for things to support him. He finds this in the Golden Deer house by allying with the future leaders of the Alliance and other promising students. He especially finds this person in Byleth whom he comes to respect and admire greatly. While looking for more information, Claude also learns more about the history of the Church and Fodlan, becoming involved with the complex conspiracies of Fodlan. This leads to him becoming distrustful of the Church and suspecting there's more to the history of Fodlan than what everyone is taught. In particular, he runs into a mysterious organization that experiments on people and seems to be manipulating the different powers in Fodlan. Uncovering these secrets with Byleth results in the two of them coming closer and Claude gradually opens up more to them, revealing small hints about his past such as the fact that he "didn't grow up in the lap of luxury" and that he's always been an "outsider of sorts" who was 'resented and hated." Never fully explaining his past, it's still obvious that he had a difficult and sad upbringing that resulted in him becoming the distrustful and scheming person he is now. "This may sound impetuous. Perhaps irresponsible. Almost certainly impossible. But we're gonna do it anyway. In exactly five years' time, let's promise to meet again, right here at the monastery." After opening up to Byleth, he makes a promises to share his dream and ambitions with them. He also makes a promise along with the rest of the Golden Deer to meet again after they graduate— in 5 years. After nearly a year at the academy, just when Claude is beginning to really uncover the truths of the world, war breaks out in Fodlan. After the battle at Garreg Mach, Byleth and the Archbishop go missing. Claude returns to Leicester to lead the Alliance on his grandfather's behalf. PERSONALITYFriendly Curious Compassionate Idealistic Diplomatic Reliable Resolute Nonchalant Secretive Scheming D̷̺̕͠ī̶͎̥s̴̻͍̀t̸̑ͅr̵̰͗̕u̴͖̠̍s̴̮̠̕ț̶̓́f̸̩͇͗͗u̴̯͈͝͝l̸̻̱̈́͝ l̸̞̞̖̝̳̈́̒́́̈̚͝ȯ̷̘̂ͅn̶̢͎̜͍͕̓̊́ͅḙ̶̛̞͎͛̉͛͊͘͝l̷̲̈̉̆y̸̧͎͎̌͌̄̏̌̽ LIKES Tactical scheming, planning feasts, long rides, archery, poetry, topics of curiosity DISLIKES Blind reliance on gods, leaving things to chance, being bound by common sense ASK BOX Question: I see it all the time. Someone falls for a scheme and then gets angry about it. But rather than being mad at the schemer, shouldn’t they be busy plotting their revenge? ABILITIESPERSONAL ABILITY: Leicester Lineage - Multiplies experience earned by 1.2x ADDITIONAL ABILITIES: Charm - Allies within 1 space inflict +3 damage in combat. CREST: Minor Crest of Riegan - Sometimes restores HP equal to 30% of damage dealt when using Combat Arts TALENTS:
EXTRALOST ITEMS Leather Bow Sheath: FAVORITE TEAS Almyran Pine Needles: LIKED ITEMS Riding Boots: DISLIKED ITEMS Book of Sheet Music: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||