Info: El Nysa

[baguablade]

THE CHARACTER

Character Name: Cain
Series: Granblue Fantasy
Canon Point: chapter 93
Character Age: 22
Background: series wiki and character wiki

Cain is the survivor of a ruined kingdom, a land destroyed by its own corruption. He fled to the neighboring kingdom of Idelva along with other survivors, one of whom was the fiancee of his brother — Abel, a fine, honorable soldier in their fallen kingdom’s army, well-respected by his men, and who Cain looked up to and still measures himself against in the present day story.

Following the fall of his kingdom, Cain joined the Idelvan army and with the help of his quick wits and unconventional tactics, rose through the ranks to become a general in charge of his own specialized unit that directly served the kingdom’s sovereign, Pholia. Cain became respected, and was sent on missions that required his unique brand of problem solving, becoming a trusted servant to Pholia and acting as something of a spy for her, though their relationship was not without exasperation for Cain’s eccentricities. During this time, Leona, Cain’s sister-in-law, followed him through all his duties, joining the Idelvan army along with him, determined to protect him at all costs in place of his deceased brother.

It was on one of Cain’s missions that he met the main characters of Granblue Fantasy. Cain was sent to Merkmal Island, one of Idelva’s territories, to stop a group of bandits from taking over the island. There he met the crew of the airship Grancypher (the playable character and party members) and enlisted their aid in routing the bandits (coincidentally also refugees of Cain’s former kingdom). This involved a complicated gambit using an ancient magical self-destruct switch for the bandit’s fortress, a standoff with the bandit king Reinhardtzar that ended in both him and Cain engaging in a series of bluffs but unwilling to sacrifice any lives but their own, and eventually taking Reinhardtzar into Cain’s custody and later his own unit in the Idelvan army.

Following the Merkmal incident, Cain joined the Grancypher’s crew, sent by Pholia to investigate the movements of the Rhem Kingdom, Idelva’s enemies. Leona and Reinhardtzar accompanied him as he and the main character searched for the Grancypher’s lost crewmembers across different islands, clashing with agents of the story’s antagonist, the True King, and finally coming to Bestia Island. There, the crew was attacked by rampaging primal beasts and Cain’s opposite in Rhem, Gilbert. Cain was knocked off a cliff, only to be rescued from a swift, gravity-induced death by a group of mysterious figures…

Personality: First and foremost, Cain’s life centers around regret. He regrets the fall of his kingdom. He regrets the bloodshed he’s witnessed. He regrets the lives that were lost, particularly the lives he couldn’t save. He regrets that he lived while his brother died. As a result, Cain is a creature of contradictions. He abhors violence, yet he’s a general in the Idelvan army, quick to draw his blade in the defense of others. He’s kind, compassionate, and values honor and justice, yet he’ll use underhanded means to achieve his goals if he thinks it'll better save lives. Cain is reckless and horribly self-sacrificing; he’ll put himself into the most dangerous of situations without a second thought for his own safety if it means he can save someone else. He places no value on his own life while holding the lives of others near-sacrosanct.

Cain is a man wearing a mask, presenting a laughing, too-flippant front to the world while hiding a hefty helping of survivor's guilt and a dangerous lack of care for his own well-being behind his smile. He acts an airheaded fool while using the persona as a front for clever, unexpected stratagems. Cain even pretends at ruthlessness when it’s required, acting like he’ll sacrifice lives in pursuit of the greater good, but when it comes down to the wire, he’s unable to actually go through with such a plan, revealing that the only life he can bring himself to put at risk is his own. He’s kind beneath the façade, and too caring for a soldier in an army, hurt deeply by every life — friend, civilian, or foe — that’s lost, but he’s also painfully aware that not fighting will only get others killed.

As a result, Cain takes everything onto his own shoulders, often striking out alone, even leaving behind his subordinates and refusing to burden others with the full knowledge of his plans so that any fall out won’t weigh on those he involves if things go poorly. This leads to difficulty trusting others, and Cain is often cagey and secretive, deflecting questions about himself and his past, though he considers it to be for others’ own good. In this way, Cain is quite callous of others’ feelings. He leaves Leona to fret over him when he strikes out without her, and her scolding and lectures has no effect on his penchant for throwing himself into danger despite how frantic with fear for him she can get.

In terms of combat prowess and cleverness, Cain is confident in his own abilities, even brash in thinking he can handle everything alone, but this can lead to him finding himself in over his head, paralyzed when caught out by someone else’s life being held hostage to halt his plans. Cain’s brashness hides a complex about his brother that he’s carried with him since the fall of his old kingdom, when his brother died in the fighting. To Cain, in comparison to the memory of his kind, strong, noble brother, he always falls short — he should have been the one to die instead so that Abel could be in Cain’s place, erasing Leona’s grief, helping others in ways that Cain doesn’t think he’s capable enough to.

Cain is clever and charismatic, friendly if eccentric while he both plays the fool and offers what knowledge and aid he can even to strangers. He doesn’t hide his intelligence, but he does hide his motivations and how desperate he is to keep those around him from coming to harm. At the same time, his reckless actions reveal this facet of his personality; for all that he’s a strategist with an analytical mind, he moves without thinking when it comes to blocking a blade aimed at someone else’s back, and his plans are often incredibly risky, albeit designed to minimize the number of possible casualties. And when he’s caught out and called out on his lack of regard for his own life, Cain grows uneasy, trying to dodge the subject rather than having to acknowledge just how careless with his own safety he is.

While Cain keeps himself at a distance, once his trust is earned, it’s absolute. He’s unflinchingly loyal to those he gives his allegiance to, but rather than showing this with a willingness to die for those he’s loyal to, he shows it with a willingness to trust them with difficult choices and dangerous situations. For someone willing to throw away his life for any passing stranger, that sacrifice means very little in the way of loyalty. Instead, Cain’s trust is shown by relying on others and allowing them to risk themselves at his side.

Though Cain carries his duties out responsibly, it’s a sideways sort of responsible. He can be counted on to accomplish his missions, and Pholia leaves him to his unconventional methods, but she considers him troublesome as a result of his eccentricities. To an extent, Cain can be childish, and not just as part of his jovial mask. While he doesn’t lightly hold a grudge, at times, Cain will sulk when he’s not allowed his way; when kidnapped by Idelva’s primal beast to keep him from seeing through Pholia’s trick and interfering with a test of the main character’s virtuous qualities, rather than gracefully wait in a cave for Pholia’s plan to unfold, Cain petulantly chooses to take a nap instead.

Yet despite this childish streak, Cain is still keenly aware of what’s at stake in his world and the things he continues to fight for. Despite his youth, he’s the farthest thing from naïve — but at the same time, he clings desperately to a painful sort of optimism, believing that there’s always a way to prevent bloodshed and save lives. He holds deep regrets, enough that he has no sense of value for his own life, but rather than let these regrets chain him to the past, they fuel him to seek a brighter future and to do everything in his power to protect the people of the present.

Powers/Abilities: Cain is a gifted tactician and a soldier in the Idelvan army, and boasts combat skill with both a sword and a pistol. He’s clever and quick-witted, able to figure out ancient-but-far-advanced technology with relative ease. Since he’s from a mobile game, Cain also has elemental powers tied to weapon arts that allow him to use earth-type attacks, as well as special moves that basically amount to higher dodge rates at lower health, withstanding a fatal hit, sacrificing defense for boosted attack, and boosting the combat stats of those in his party. For game purposes, these can just be played as being a risky fighter with high agility, and as more of a background magical bolstering type ability in the case of his party buff.

A pact with Percival has also given him limited flame powers but he's not so great with those, oops.

Plant powers - a medium-strength ability to create and grow plants. He can't have them overrunning the entire city, but he could, with great effort and a few hours' time, have them overgrow a room. (ACP)

Power Nerfs (if applicable): n/a

Inventory: His clothes (fancy military uniform) and sword.

Incentives: All Cain needs is the guarantee of safety for his sleeping friends and the others in stasis; he abhors any needless loss of life and would willingly spend his own in a heartbeat to prevent the death of even a stranger. He’d also appreciate information about the situation he finds himself in, the new world he’s in, and the storm. His primary concern is going to be the safety of others and how to combat the threat they face, while also searching for those he cares for and trying to learn if the Orbiters can really be trusted — he’ll play along for a while just to determine that.