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empatheias
Player: Aly
Contact:
Age: 27
Current Characters: N/A
Character: Regal Bryant
Age: 33
Canon: Tales of Symphonia
Canon Point: Just before the Flanoir decision scene.
Background: canon general; Regal
Personality:
It only takes watching him a bit closer and actually speaking to the man to realize how much more there is to him than that. He’s a man who carries himself with grace and dignity, he’s well-spoken and largely polite to a fault. He’s not the type to go out of his way to insert himself into situation and problems unless he feels his input is useful or necessary, but his mind is sharp and he’s extremely observant. Growing up as a noble, becoming the president of the Lezareno Company, and even carrying the title of Duke in Tethe’alla all contribute to the way he carries himself. Though he is a criminal by title and a single action, he is no thug.
Regal often takes a backseat to other characters in the story in part due to his nature; he’s not the type to be intrusive, especially because of his past indiscretions. As he began to learn of the party’s actions and what they were fighting for, he was polite in his request to aid them. Even though his reasoning for permanently following Lloyd and their group differed, he had a plethora of reasons all his own to want to stop the wrongdoings of the world. Many of those reasons tied into his own sense of responsibility. Regal is the sort of person who can own up to his mistakes—whether it’s contributing to the state of the world by mining Exspheres in the past, or the life he took with his own hands out of necessity and the better of everyone, he doesn’t run from his problems. He faces his conflicts head on, no matter how much it may hurt him, though all the same, he knows not to be reckless about those things. The earlier parts of his story, he fails to discuss who he is beyond a criminal, not willing to unload his burdens on others. Further, he didn’t wish to reveal much of his history with Presea’s sister, Alicia until he could both confirm Presea’s identity and be sure that she would understand and fully grasp the fact that he’d done something unforgivable. Even then, though, when he does confess, he owns up to his actions and never really expects to be forgiven for it. This is expanded on in the (non-canonical) OVA and manga, though it remains true to his character that he’s unwilling to fight back when Presea lashes out at him.
The guilt he has from killing Alicia is something he struggles with a lot. She was the woman he loved regardless of all the other factors that worked against him. Despite being a noble, he never had any qualms with falling for someone who worked for him, it never once mattered that she was of a different class, or that he could “do better.” Regal followed his heart and refused to do anything but commit himself to Alicia; he even made that clear to her by offering to go to her hometown of Ozette with her. That never came to fruition as she was taken from him, and the notion of what was being done made his anger palpable. Even as she transformed into a monster before his eyes, it was difficult for him to bear, and when the remainder of Alicia’s conscious thought begged for him to kill her, he did so only with a heavy heart. He confessed his crimes and swore to never use his hands to harm another again; despite the fact that years have passed since that time, Regal is still weighed down by his own actions. He continues to wear the shackles as visible punishment for his sins, and only agrees to remove them once Cruxis and the Exsphere situation has been taken care of once and for all.
In many ways, the heavy burdens Regal bears keeps him distant from the others; though he’s shown to care about the others in his own way, it’s usually by way of watching over them quietly and involving himself directly only when needed. He does attempt to reach out to Presea at times, but all the same understands her bitter feelings towards him. He gets along with Raine well enough as a fellow adult, but it’s largely Lloyd who can have one of the biggest effects on Regal. The boy’s ideals are ones that plant seeds of hope in his mind, and as they grow close, Regal treats Lloyd like a younger brother, imparting wisdom and offering perspectives that he may not have been able to see on his own. In turn, Lloyd’s interpretation and spin on those words can often help Regal as he slowly works through actually moving past his pain (rather than wallowing it in eternally).
There are other times and ways he can be shaken, too. During a trip to the amusement park in Altamira, if Lloyd chooses him to go on the rides, he gets visibly a bit surprised and even flustered, stating that he never rode the rides before—despite having been the one to fund and build the park to begin with. That’s about as far as it goes though, save for sharing a liking with Presea of Noishe’s paw pads. Which is just awkward for everyone involved.
For the most part, though, Regal remains even-keeled. His demeanor seems outwardly very serious, even in more lighthearted situations, and he isn’t one to lose his temper often. Very few things will actually make him get angry; Vharley, being the shitlord that he is is one of those things. But one of the only other documented moments of Regal getting noticeably annoyed is when Sheena tries to insist that she can help him remove his shackles—something he doesn’t want help with at all. Though he does express other emotions, he’s largely very calm and rational about things, which makes him a good asset when it comes to analyzing situations and getting perspective on things.
A few other things to note about Regal: he doesn’t find it any sort of real inconvenience to live with his wrists shackled. He states clearly that it doesn’t get in his way of doing things; he’s far and away the best cook in the party, despite the fact that he logistically shouldn’t have an easy time with that or much else that way. He also has a sense of humor… albeit a dry one that goes right over Lloyd’s head (see: him joking that he does cooking with his feet, and Lloyd being wary about this even after Regal called it a joke). He’s also a man with taste that fits his noble upbringing; he has a great love of tea and has no shame in denouncing coffee as “a contemptible brew of muddy water.”
Abilities:
Exspheres also aid in improving other physical aspects of a person, increasing their resistance to damage (therefore being able to take bigger and harder falls) as well as jump higher than a human with no Exsphere. In addition, with the help of EX Gems, Exspheres can further augment Regal’s abilities through a variety of EX Skills, aiding him in things like better counter hits, gradual strength increases, and the ability to guard attacks better.
All of Regal’s fighting is done with his feet; he equips greaves as his weapon. Though as seen on Welgaia, he is very capable with his hands if he so allows it—he managed to break them out of the jail with a kamehameha/hadouken-like blast of chi energy from his hands. He can also use a similar sort of energy to perform a couple of small-scale healing artes.
A full list of Regal’s artes can be found here, while a full list of his EX and Compound EX Skills can be found here.
Other: Nothing I can think of.
First Person Sample:
[the businessman in him is definitely considering how viable this is from all perspectives.] Pet-sitting, monster eradication, delivery assistance—it does look like it runs the gamut in a way a board like this may not normally would. [which gets a small nod of approval. if tethe’alla had something like this, it could help even the poorest people in meltokio’s slums prosper at least a bit. he does frown at some of the things he’s seeing though.] It doesn’t look like it’s immune to oversights, though. Rewarding someone for thievery for petty reasoning… shameful. If this is well monitored, it should be filtered a bit better than this.
Still, it’s not a bad idea. An imperfect system could always use improvement, but the idea is a good one. [and now… to decide what sort of job he should actually take. no use in wasting his time being some sort of otherworldly freeloader when he can put his abilities to use somehow.]
Third Person Sample:
It was the sort of thing he could appreciate well enough, and Regal didn’t really want to squander the few moments of peace that remained before they continued on. While the others sorted out who would stay in Flanoir for the night and who would go back to Altessa’s, he elected to take a few moments for himself. He’d already felt it best to stay behind anyway, so what was the harm in sorting out his own thoughts otherwise? As he strolled the streets, he caught the curious gaze of residents; some were wary (and understandably so, he reasoned), while others were simply curious as to what the many bearing shackles was doing meandering their sleepy town.
His feet carried him to the highest point in town, just outside the Church of Martel. From there, Regal had a clear view of the city, and in it’s own way, brought him a sense of peace. The snow fell at a steady rate, and the light breeze was cold enough to cut right through him, but Regal didn’t seem to even flinch. Instead, he viewed the scenery and considered what came next. They knew what they had to do, of course. Would they succeed? What would come of a world that didn’t rely on the Exspheres for their every move? And at that… would they be able to reunite the two worlds that had long since been separated? Each question played in his mind, and before they would repeat, his lips turned upward into the slightest smile.
It was nice, in a way, to have something to fight for, he realized. There was a goal to attain, and retribution for the past to seek—but now he could do it without strictly feeling a need for vengeance to those who wronged the ones he cared for. There were clear goals in mind, ways to better their circumstance despite the hardships they’d have to face, and a means to be able to let go of sins past. There was no way of telling what would happen, or exactly where the roads would curve as they followed their path, but there was one thing he was certain of: He trusted Lloyd. Regal knew that Lloyd would never waver, nor would he give up until he found the best solution for everyone.
And that gave him hope in a way that nobody else had been able to since Alicia’s death. It was something Regal needed—something he hadn’t even realized he needed. So while he had no idea exactly what would happen, he knew planting his feet here in Flanoir for now and trusting the determination of a boy with bright ideals would somehow free him from the burdens he’d long been carrying.
Questions: Nope!