Ragna

Ragna is a fictional character appearing in the Gaian War universe, a Role Play by fans of the fantasy RPG genre. His original model and name were derived from the Blazblue universe but have since shifted to a more original theme with heavy influence from the Fate/Stay Night series, The character is controlled by co-GM Najirra and has played a vital role in the story's progression, acting as the main focus in the plot surrounding Gaian War 2 and having a yet to be revealed goal in upcoming story events in the ongoing Gaian War 3.

Concept And Creation
Ragna's original name and concept are derived from the Blazblue universe where the character's owner drew inspiration to create his Gaian War counterpart. Also taking on several of his original model's skills and abilities, as well as several character traits along the way. he kept this look during the course of Gaian War 2 but somewhere along the way has given up his original model's sword and adapted more traits from his new Fate/Stay Night counterpart, namely Archer. he has been given a new model and set of skills to go along with his more peaceful demeanor, which has taken over since the events of Gaian War 2 came to a close. The character is still continueing to grow through the course of Gaian War 3.

History
Ragna's past is tragic at best, being born from majin descent several millenia ago, he has had his fair share of pain to deal with through the course of his long life. Being cursed by immortality since the great fall, he has dealt with the loss of his family at the hands of his own brother, living in a dimensional prison for several decades and being sent out to deal with an ancient threat when he was edging on despair. It was not until his crossing to Gaia that his life took a turn for the better and one could say he is the most tragic character in the world of Gaia. nevertheless he remains optimistic and laid back most of the time, taking whatever comes at him with his usual grin and being able to see life from a different angle than most people do due to their limited lifespans, he gives thaught to the smaller subtle beauties of his life's long journey and sees what others fail to see, however this also gives birth to his cruel demeanor when he enters the battlefield, having served as a mercenary for the better part of his career he also becomes able to acess what is needed for victory on a much more realistic scale than others can, and will stop at nothing to achieve those ends regardless of morale or conscious.

Ragna's story begins 3268 years in the past, when the world was still ruled by the Majin empire, Ragna was firstborn of a pair of twins in a rather respectful family that produced first class officers among their sons. As such, Ragna and his brother Jin were decided from birth to enlist in the army and were raised to be warriors since the day they could walk. Their childhood didn't go without the natural mishief and disobedience to their house's many rules however and during one of the times they managed t sneak out of the manor grounds, they met and got acquanted with a commoner girl named Nagisa. They quickly became friends and spend their childhood together, years of bliss until they finally reached the age of 16 and were forced to enlist and undergo army training. When the twins finally graduated and had become grown men, they returned home, now full fledged officers.

Their reunion with Nagisa also took place soon after and their relationship soon transformed into a love rivalry, wich Ragna eventually won after a duel with his brother, an event wich marked the beginning of Jin's fall into madness later on... However, tragedy struct first when Ragna's engagement fell on deaf ears when anounced to his family, Majin tradition stated that noble blood should never mix with that of comonners and Ragna's household saw it no different, hence his request for taking Nagisa into the family was denied. After many hardships, Ragna eventually decided to give up his status as officer and cut his ties to his family in favor of his love for Nagisa, and proceeded to marry her soon after, now a comonner himself, he joined the army as a regular soldier in order to support his wife and was enrolled in his brother's reaper squad, a career wich would later reflect his unmatched battle potential.

Soon after, Nagisa caried the crystalization of their love inside her, and eventually gave birth to a daughter, Nayuki. Ragna had found more happiness than a man could wish for, against the expectations of his now distant family, continueing his army career without much trouble, life seemed to smile upon him. However... tragedy struck yet again a few years later, when his family was brutally murdered by his own brother, an act wich changed his life entirely and caused his current state of mind towards the aspect of family. Out for vengeance, Ragna quit the army and decided to use every single piece of skill he had acquired over the years towards finding and making his brother pay... But fate had other plans for him in the end. Several years later, tragedy struck yet again, and instead of on a personal level, this tragedy involved the fall of an entire race in a single night.

being cut off and seperated from Gaia due to the dimensional shift caused by Armagus, ragna was now trapped and imprisoned, his bars taking the form of blackness all around him, a prison of solitude without escape or even granting him the relief of being able to exact revenge on his brother, who escaped into Gaia before the Armagus incident. Spending centuries in wait, honing his skills and waiting for the oppertunity to escape his prison, Ragna grew ever bitter. The only comfort he had was the occasional visits of his sister, who was born several years after the incident, her upbeat personality and desire to spend time with her only brother gave Ragna a new reason to see a life other than revenge, but deep down his desire for it never wavered, and before long, an oppertunity was pressented to him.

Gaian War 2
With the aid of century long research Ragna was able to cross the barier into Gaia at last, with renewed hope and armed with his trademark sword and a partner murakumo unit named Noel he set out to find his brother, but that wasn't his only mission... He would have to locate and destroy what was left of Armagus as well, as the device once again threated to engulf the world in darkness as it did so many years prior. After leaving Noel (whom he thought of as a burden) into the care of a family in a remote village he crossed on his travels, he proceeded to wander the earth for 12 years before finally ending up on the doorstep of Ashalla Lingaard. Physically exhausted and wounded from a previous attack, she nursed him back to health and developped a lasting friendship.

Continueing his travels, Ragna was eventually reunited with the red haired doctor and, disgusted at first by her desire to die in order to rejoin her deceased lover, proceeded to tell her his life's story and reveal the hardships he has faced for the first time in many years. Seemingly touched by his story, the two grew closer together but everytime, Ragna set out again in search for new clues in order to complete his mission and get his revenge. it wasn't until their third enounter that the two finally admitted to their feelings for one another and after consuming their love for each other, they decided that in order to save the world, they would have to work together if they were to get results. Joined by many others, Ragna seemingly sacrificed his own life at the battle of Shilo against the armies of Selena Haven, leaving his new found friends and lover questioning what they were supposed to do, only leaving a single clue: to head to chaos temple.

His death however was only a facade, an elaborate stunt Ragna pulled in order to get off Armagus' radar as he was the only one that Armagus saw as a threat. In order to give his comrades safe passage to chaos temple, he had to disappear, and in doing so took advantage to awaken an ancient power that lay buried within his soul. the power of projection. Rejoining his friends at their climactic struggel against demon lord Tadyr, now powered by Armagus excess energy, he displayed his newest ability by helping them get rid of of the demon lord once and for all. In the aftermath, Ragna was finally reunited with Noel, his long lost partner unit who had finally awakened and proceeded to use his final trick. A full scale recall by Ashalla, who was brought to the Omega Temple, Armagus' stronghold, by his brother.

Having finally penetrated into Armagus' location, a large temple floating in orbit around Gaia, they fought their way to the core where they were met with the physical manifestation of the creature U-DO, an interdimensional being wich was trapped inside the core. Omega Metempsychosis was finally defeated after a drawn out battle by yet another power Ragna had kept hidden. However, after the battle, Jin took advantage of the worn out warriors by pinning them down and claiming the power of Amaterasu for himself. leaving no parting words he left everyone else to die as the temple, now seperated from its power source, started plummeting towards Gaia.

Having a limited knowledge of the temple's facitlities, Ragna guided his comrades to an emergency escape craft and proceeded to bring them back home, Noel's revelation to him however struck another hard blow to his heart. she revealed to him that in order to create a Murakumo unit, a soul was needed to give it personality and a consciounce and the very soul inhabitting her was that of his long lost wife Nagisa. Taking it upon herself to keep Gaia safe, Noel gave Ragna a final parting kiss, and proceeded to head outside and destroy the temple's remains before it could impact on the world below. The craft landed safely, but it was a hollow homecoming for many, they had lost a special comrade and paid a heavy price for their freedom...

Ashalla however, overcome by sadness, was more distraught over the fact Ragna was nowhere to be found. Believing him to have vanished again, she was met with single white plume dartling down in front of her, a single plume wich became many over time as an angelic object darted down from the sky. Revealing itself as a huge mech like craft, Ragna emerged, Noel in his arms. Everyone was reunited and cries of victory were heard everywhere. The world was free from Armagus' threat, and Ragna... was told to learn how to change diapers.

Weapons And Abilities
As one of the last remaining Majin living on Gaia, Ragna is one of the few beings in existence who can manipulate darkness energy, an element wich the majin have a very strong affinity to. Destructive and powerful but also treacherous and considdered evil, as a former reaper he is quite formidable at controlling this element for various combat purposes. Ragna is a master in both armed and unarmed combat, with 3 millenia worth of training backing him up, he is unmatched when it comes to a fight, being able to wield any kind of weapon with ease, the only true advantage his opponents could have is either incredible numbers or Ragna in a weakened state. On top of drawing on the element of darkness, Ragna also posesses a Sankishing unit, a device capable of granting him divine power at the cost of his self control. Susano'o is the manifestation of the great Majin storm deity and hence, as the name implies, is capable of manipulating wind. A power rarely used by the warrior since it is powerful enough to level a continent and with the loss of control it is far too risky.

Ragna is in, in theory, also one of the most powerfull sorcerers in excistence, as it is every magician's common goal to ultimately make contact with the origin. Ragna, along with most of his kin who survived the fall fall under this category, but this is only in theory. Seeing as the Majin never truly trained themselves in magic and instead focused on element manipulation to further increase their physical prowes, one can not classify the majin as a sorcerer race. Due to his exposure however, he has gained some peculiar abilities that only those exposed could posess, nl. Mystic eyes, an ability wich enables the user to perceive things wich can't or shouldn't naturally be perceived by normal eyes. In Ragna's case, his eyes have been endowed with truesight, an ability wich enables Ragna to see into the soul of anyone who makes eyecontact with him. Allowing him to see the person's memories, thoughts and even going as far as enabling him to see what that person's next action will be. Recognizing the incredible advantage he posesses with this ability, Ragna has trained himself to use his mystic eyes without putting too much stress on his brain. a training wich he later used to save Sophie from certain death from her own mystic eyes. Another ability stemming forth from his exposure to Akasha, is projection, otherwise known as the pinnacle of sorcery because it creates something from nothing. Whereas regular conjuration and abjuration, even in their most advanced form require elemental conversion, Ragna is able to create limitless amounts of any kind of object he desires, an ability he later puts to use in order to create weapons from any dimension currently in excistence and developping a reality marble due to the vast amounts of energy supplied to him by the origin. However due to Armagus' destruction, his link with the origin has been cut off and being unable to generate the required energy needed to invoke the reality marble by himself, he has now lost this ability.

Ragna's primary weapons are great swords and long katanas, seeing as he is proficient in any type of weaponry however, it is natural he does not limit himself to these types all the time. Ragna first arrived on Gaia carrying a standard Nox Nyctores, a weapon developped using Majin technology wich acts as a conduit for the dark energies that the user invokes. Over the course of the game however, he receives a new sword handcrafted and customized for Ragna's use. Able to transform into a lance or scythe at will, the weapon is most suited to him when taking his proficiencies into acount. The ethereal blade Susano'o, wich manifests in the form of a katana as tall as Ragna himself, is ever at his side as well, and with his current nox nyctores acting as a supressor for the blade's immense power, he is now able to summon it at will without losing self control. That is as long as he chooses to. It is worth noting that whenever Susano'o is used, not only does Ragna gradually transform in unit's namesake, he also starts referring to himself in the plural. Meaning "I" becomes "we" and "my" becomes "our", this is a clear sign the unit partly posesses Ragna and both entities sharing one body are speaking.

Personality
Initially, Ragna was a kind and gentle young man, caring for his subordinates as an officer while earning their respect at the same time. It was the love for his family that made him the man he was, and also the man he is today. After his wife and child were brutally masacred at the hands of his brother Jin and after the initial depression that followed along with it, Ragna's personality took a turn for the worst, becoming a heavy chain smoker and a foulmouth to any and all, Ragna's demeanor heavilly differs from the days when his family was still alive. Uncaring for any soul that so much aproached him, his attitude finally changed when Maya first sought contact with him. Though never really regaining his gentle side he has grown consistently kinder towards the people who are important to him and even though his smoking habbit will most likely never die, his current life with Ashalla and his children have sure put more smiles on his face than ever before.

Relationship With Other Characters
Ashalla: His current wife and mother to his children Hana and Liena, Initially Ragna only saw her as a doctor and a tool to be used in his quest to avenge his family. However over the course of the second Gaian War, Ragna grew especially fond of the red haired doctor, wether this is due to Ashalla's likeness to his deceased wife or simply because she wouldn't stand for his cold demeanor is something even he doesn't know; Fact is, he loves her more than anything in the world and would most certainly do anything to keep her happy, even though he fails at this many times.

Hana & Liena: His little girls and angels, despite the difference in their personalities, Ragna loves his girls very much. Having lost his sense of being a father ages ago, when he learned of Ashalla's pregnancy he was overjoyed at the chance to set things right, and though they could never truly replace the daughter he lost, he treats them with the same love he gave her so many years ago. He trains the twins from time to time, much to Ashalla's chagrin.

Sophie: One of the few (and possibly the only angel) people he genuinely cares about. Having seen her hardships through the many memories of her past during her training, he has come to know about her tragic life. Sharing an inseperable bond with her, seeing as both saw each other's memories, he respects Sophie more than anyone on Gaia, aside from his wife and Noel.

Noel: Initially seeing her as a burden, after fighting her many years after dumping her in a village he passed on his travels, he has come to realize and acknowledge Noel's power, being an invaluable partner to him and possibly the only person who knows his full battle potential, Noel is the person he would most likely turn to when everyone else fails to see his point. Also, since Noel carries the soul of his deceased wife Nagisa, Ragna tends to see her not only as a partner, but a person he must protect at all cost in order to partly atone for his sin of not doing so in the past.

Maya: When they first met, Ragna actually threw her out, seeing his state of mind at the time this was to be expected. Ragna also didn't believe her to be his sister, but when she finally proved it to him through a duel, he gradually opened up to her. Since then Maya became a frequent visitor to his house, something wich her family didn't approve of since Ragna was considered an exile. He loves his sister, but hates her attitude, something Maya tends to supress whenever she's around him but the ocasional hicup can sometimes cause Ragna much aggravation.

Jin: Ragna's brother and prime object of his quest for vengeance, Ragna carries 3000 years worth of hatred for this man, the one who slaughtered his family for reasons Ragna can only guess. Ragna will stop at nothing to eventually find him and make him pay for his crimes.

Trivia/Allusions
For the most of GWII, Ragna shares many traits with the Ragna from the blazblue universe such as his name and apperance but also other elements:

- His weapon is called a "standard" Nox Nyctores, In Blazblue, Nox Nyctores is the name given to ten incredibly powerful weapons, some of which are wielded by playable characters, however, the Ragna in Blazblue does not wield a Nox Nyctores.

- Ragna had the ability to drain the life force of others, this is simular to BB Ragna's drive "soul eater" which allows Ragna to absorb a certain percentage of the damage done by his drive attacks.

- Ragna has a powerful attack called "Black Onslaught", which is the name of BB Ragna's astral heat, Ragna could also turn his weapon into a scythe, something which the BB Ragna does during Black Onslaught.

- In his duel with Noel, Ragna activates "Dark Install" which increases his powers and is simular to BB Ragna's "blood kain" which makes BB Ragna's drives more powerful.

- When Ragna is attempting to defend Shilo from the Armagus, he calls upon the ultimate defense, although this shield takes the form of a shield used by Archer in Fate/Stay Night, his referel to it as the "ultimate defense" could be a possible nod a the Tsukuyomi Unit from BB which is also called "the ultimate defense". In the game, Rachel Alucard uses it to defend Kagutsuchi from an attack from outer space by Take-Mikazuchi. Mirroring how Ragna attempted to do so against the Aramagus.

- During a battle with Kehl, he loses his weapon and arm, this is somewhat simular to what happened to BB Ragna before Calamity Trigger takes place, where Ragna has his arm chopped off by Terumi, Ragna loses his other arm in Continuum Shift, sacraficing it to turn Mu-12 back into Noel.

- Ragna's backstory is somewhat simular to BB Ragna's backstory, GW Ragna has his house burned down and his family killed by his psychotic brother, Jin, BB Ragna's home is also burned down by his brother, also called Jin, Jin also attempts to kill Saya, the only other remaining member of Ragna's family, due to these events, both Ragna's swore vengeance on their respective Jins.

-Ragna's unlimited blade works prayer that he says after returning is the exact same speech/prayer that is said in the anime fate/stay night by Archer during his fight with beserker.

Themes
thumb|300px|left|Ragna's Battle Themethumb|300px|right|Ragna Vs Noel thumb|300px|left|Ragna's Themethumb|300px|right|Ragna Vs Noel (Dark Install Activated) thumb|300px|left|Terra Vs Ragna thumb|300px|right|Terra Vs Ragna (Dark Impulse Unleashed)