faesphere | Mikleo | songerein app

Player: Akai
Age: 37
Contact:

fontech
Current Characters: Kisara

Character: Mikleo
Canon: Tales of Zestiria / post-credits, between Rose's funeral and the epilogue
Age: looks 18, actual age is ambiguous (at least 200 years)

Background Information:

Mikleo's history
Game history

Mikleo grew up in Elysia, a small, secluded village inhabited by seraphim and Sorey, the only human who can see them. He and Sorey were raised together from infancy by the village elder, Zenrus, whom they consider to be a father/grandfather. The village itself is protected by Zenrus, who has blessed the forest outside of town to make it near-impossible to navigate to their town, thus protecting it from invaders.

In Elysia, life was peaceful, and Mikleo spent his days reading books, listening to stories about the world, and exploring ruins with Sorey to learn as much history as possible. This changed when, while checking out a nearby ruin, they found the human Alisha inside. Sorey brought her back to town, but she was unable to see any seraphim and assumed he lived alone. After she left, encouraging Sorey to visit her hometown for a festival later, a monster known as a hellion (a name given to creatures or objects consumed and altered by malevolence) attacked the village, and it had been so long since hellions breached their territory that Zenrus allowed Sorey and Mikleo to leave town so they could determine the state of the world.

They encountered more hellions outside, and discovered that the world's state was actually pretty terrible. In order to properly fight the hellions, Sorey pledged himself to the seraph Lailah, and became the Shepherd, who is basically a warrior who bridges the gap between human and seraphim and can purify hellions. Eventually Mikleo became sub lord to Lailah to gain the power of purification as well, surrendering his freedom so he could help Sorey on his journey. Since then, they've been traveling around the world, exploring ruins, learning the history of the Shepherds, and cleansing each territory of malevolence.

At his current canon point, their long journey has ended with the defeat of Heldalf, the Lord of Calamity, but Sorey has fallen into a long sleep in order to purify Maotelus, one of the Five Lords, a great seraph who has been corrupted by malevolence. Purifying him will help purify the land and resolve the widespread hellion problem. During Sorey's absence, Mikleo spent the first century helping Rose battle hellions as a sub lord, or working on a number of solo research projects related to sealing off malevolent areas and protecting the source of Maotelus' purification, such as when he separated from the group in the Alisha DLC. After Rose's death, he explored the world first with Zaveid, then alone, finding ruins to share with Sorey when he wakes and researching ways to mend the world faster, and that's currently where he's at. The anime and endgame cutscenes imply a similar fashion, architecture, and technology to where they started out, and most humans cannot yet see seraphim, so for the most part not a huge amount has changed at a glance. And since he's mostly removed from society, he wouldn't have much detail about politics and such, so I can limit assumptions to the minimum.

Personality:

Mikleo is typically a pillar of reality for his comrades, quick to curb Sorey's enthusiasm before he gets ahead of himself. However, given the right topic - ruins and research, for example - Mikleo can be just as prone to lose himself in excitement. The two of them have a tendency to egg one another on. He can be skeptical, sarcastic, and a bit of a wet noodle. Because of his attitude, the rest of the party is fond of giving him silly nicknames, which reveal another fault of his personality: he is very easy to rile up. When someone says something objectionable, he's often the first to lose his cool and snap at them, no matter how often it's pointed out that he steps right into the teasing.

For a seraph, he's still quite young, when the species can live for thousands of years and do not seem to die of old age. His inexperience shows in how ignorant he is about many aspects of the world. While he's not as clueless as Sorey is in the beginning, and has learned a lot since their journey began, there are plenty of things he doesn't know about the human world as well as the nature of seraphim, despite being one himself. He is sharp and analytical when it comes to subjects he's passionate about. He loves books and can often get sidetracked by the various ruins, histories, etc. that the party comes across. He loves to learn so much that he can forget about his surroundings- Sorey scolds him for reading books in a city because it would appear to humans that a book is floating in the air. Sometimes he can be obnoxious about what he learns, depending on the way it's taught to him (such as giving Edna attitude when she mocks him for not knowing that it's better to use a weapon of a weaker element to one's own), but he still absorbs the information with some gratitude.

Mikleo is incredibly protective of those he cares about. He is frustrated by his weaknesses and seeks to become stronger, willing to push himself to his limits in order to avoid becoming a burden or a cause of worry for his friends. When Sorey tries to push him away from the Shepherd's journey or stop him from pledging himself as a sub lord to Sorey's bonded seraphim, Lailah - which would essentially tie him to Sorey for an unspecified amount of time and force him to dwell inside Sorey instead of travelling freely with him - Mikleo has to fight for recognition and the right to decide for himself what he wants to do. He is willing to sacrifice his freedom for the sake of the world, as well as to help the person most important to him. The rest of the group acknowledges that Mikleo is much more likely to get emotional in situations that involve Sorey, which is expected when the two have been so close their entire lives. Sorey is both best friend and rival to Mikleo, and it shows during both the difficult, emotional times and when the mood is more lighthearted. They often partake in friendly bets and challenges, and have been pretty much responsible for each others' entertainment for their entire lives.

This isn't to say that Sorey is the only one Mikleo shares a connection with. He can be kind and empathize with people even without fully understanding them: when attempting to recruit another human, Rose, as a squire to Sorey, he recognizes that he and the other seraphim can't support him the way that another human might, because as close as they are, they're still different species, and a seraphim doesn't know what it's like to be human. He can acknowledge that there are some things that he can't do but others can, and shows a degree of maturity beyond the bratty kid that some have teasingly dubbed him.

Because Mikleo grew up in an isolated village knowing only one human, he has a natural caution around humans, especially those who are either ignorant or critical of seraphim. Circumstances force him to work together with humans like Alisha and Rose, whom he gradually comes to trust and call friends, but his contact with other humans is mostly only through Sorey's interactions with them, since the vast majority of them can't see or hear him. As such, his understanding of humankind's needs, culture, and attitude is pretty limited, though he has substantially more experience in the years between early canon and now, so it's fair to assume he has grown a fair bit. His already brash attitude can come across as even more abrasive and disrespectful at times. He doesn't hate humans, but when the second human he ever meets, Alisha, is in his territory, he's as uncomfortable as the rest of the seraphim, scolding Sorey for bringing her there and urging him to get her out as soon as possible. (Her presence was unwanted due to the link between humans and malevolence, which can corrupt and sicken seraphim- thus, he has good reason to be concerned, but even so.) On the flipside, however, he does understand Sorey's desire to get to know other humans, so he stands up for his friend, buying him a couple of days to get to know Alisha. He does this even under the assumption that Sorey would likely leave the village and their peaceful life together would be lost, maybe forever. He is loyal to a fault, stepping up and defending his friends even if their reasoning might be flawed due to biases.

He's often disgruntled and has a solid poker face, but being raised alongside Sorey means he's kindhearted and naive in much the same ways. He's stubborn and is difficult to budge on the teachings he's grown up with his whole life- that humans and seraphim don't mesh well, and Sorey is an exception. This is something he's had to overcome when he and Sorey begin the Shepherd's journey, where the goal itself is to purify malevolence in the world through the cooperation of humans and seraphim. He does bear fondness for the dream of uniting the human and seraphim worlds- after being told multiple times that he can't become a sub lord because it isn't his dream to purify hellions, he tells Sorey that it is in fact their shared dream to create a world where humans and seraphim can live together. He acknowledges his stubbornness as a flaw but also uses it as momentum to push himself forward and earn his place in the group.

Regarding the changes in his personality since the end of the game: he's had a few centuries of experience and time without Sorey to mellow out a little, but he's also done his best to focus on what's important and remain as close to his old self as possible, to avoid being unrecognisable to Sorey when he wakes. He is a little more sad, relaxed, and thoughtful than his younger self. Less prone to overreacting, though it is still inevitable under the right circumstances. He's more world-wise, but still too isolated and young to be considered an expert in anything.

Abilities & Inventory:

As a seraph of water, Mikleo has:
-the power to control and manifest water and ice (seraphic artes) in a variety of forms
-powerful healing artes (though he can only heal one person at a time)
-the ability to dwell inside a human and fuse with them in a process known as armatization, where the two can fight in one body temporarily. (Since he is already linked to Sorey, this would only work with him, or Rose if one should ever app in.)
-Spectral Cloak: the ability to create a water barrier/illusion around himself and a group, to render them invisible for a brief period of time (about 10 seconds or so, but recharges quickly)
-Windstepping: the ability to boost the speed of those around him temporarily (lasts about 30 seconds, but recharges quickly)

Overall, his abilities aren't any more powerful than your average RPG party member. A full list of his abilities are here.

Species-related abilities include the power to infuse man-made objects with their essence, which can then make the objects invisible as long as the seraph is in contact or proximity, and the ability to dispel or summon said objects once they are a part of the seraph. Mikleo is shown doing this with his staff, and the divine artifact (his bow) that he uses when armitized with Sorey. He can also create curative gels/magic bottles and ability-enhancing snacks, and is a wiz at detecting nearby treasures or curative herbs. As a seraph he does not need to eat or sleep, technically, though he is in the habit of doing both after having grown up with Sorey.

This isn't so much an ability as his very nature, but seraphim are invisible to most humans. Only those who have enough spiritual resonance can interact with him- either a natural affinity, or prolonged exposure to his presence. (Sorey can also act as a medium, but that's only useful when he's around.) Animals, and those with animal instincts, can also sense the seraphim. To combat an aspect of his character that could make him near-unplayable, I'd like to give him the ability to make himself visible to people when its required, with enough focus, until he starts making connections with others. Canon already supports this as possible, but very difficult (and typically needing a mirror), so both the nature of this world and dreamotion magic will make it easier. The journals should also work for him. I have outlined his permissions here, as discussed with mods here.

Because of his hammerspace magic his item list could be substantial, so I'm limiting it to the following:
-his staff (always has it with him)
-his divine artifact bow (always has it)
-his circlet (always wearing it)
-his feather charm (used as his portable vessel without Sorey around)

Suitability & Plans:

I will be honest and up front with the first reason: Sorey is here and I want to play with him/the player. We have a good history and I have a lot of fondness for both of them. Having a Berseria cast is a wonderful bonus. That said, a cast is not strictly necessary, as Mikleo has spent his more recent years exploring alone, so is used to making his own way through the world without anyone else in particular to rely on.

Otherwise, I am excited to throw Mikleo into a new scenario. Songerein being a dreamworld offers more opportunities for him to interact with a mortal population, something he hasn't had much chance to do in his canon. He is an explorer by nature, and he loves adventure, for all his grumbling. He is good, realistic foil for anyone who gets a little too over-enthused with seeking out danger, and god knows every game can use a few of those. He's great for exploration and digging his fingers into all sorts of interesting research/history/etc, but he's also excellent at settling down and enjoying slice of life, because of his seraphic nature- they can very easily miss the passage of time, and a month could pass with him hardly noticing, so he's well suited for both downtime and busier events.

Test Drive Sample: Sample

Questions: N/A