Player Name: Maruah
Player Contact(s): maruah
Are you over 18? Yes
Do you have any other characters in game?: No
Who invited you?: N/A

Character Name: Soma Cruz
Canon: Castlevania (Akumajou Dracula): Aria/Dawn of Sorrow
Canon Point: 2037 (Post Dawn of Sorrow)
Age: 20
History: One History!
Is this character an AU?: No


Personality:

Soma is your average twenty year old guy when melted down past the outrageous, supernatural life or death battles he's had to go through to maintain his identity over the past few years. It's only 2037 (barely a decade from now!) and he's been living in Japan steadily for a few years, plus an implied childhood experience through his connection with Mina Hakuba.

Usually he's pretty well grounded, has a good, positive outlook on his future and while he probably thinks about the serious things like future career and what he wants to do as a working adult- not so far away now- he also appears to be in no particular stress or rush over it. The young man just wants to live his life, be with his childhood friend and almost certainly love interest, and his other friends, in a largely normal and not anything to do with becoming the Dark Lord way.

He also gives the air of some affluence; that is to say he doesn't have to particularly worry about money or debt. And while he might not be part of the elite rich or act like he can goof off, there's a comfortable sort of vibe about him that suggests he feels he has a safety net to fall back on.

What we do learn is that he can be very impulsive. While some of this is clearly his youth- the dark events in his life did start when he was eighteen after all- there's also a strong indication that as much as Soma can think up a plan, he doesn't do so for long. Improvisation, impulse and the overall traits of someone that will rush headlong into a fight without thinking overmuch about the consequences (such as that's exactly what the cultists WANT YOU TO DO SOMA) are shown when he drops everything to rush after the cult that threatened Mina and him.

While he'll recognize the issues in hindsight, Soma is also incredibly stubborn about solving his own problems. Fortunately, he'll also listen to older, wiser heads when they give advice and support. Maybe they won't be able to contain him- or and probably don't want to risk a worse outcome if they try- but it's clear if he trusts someone or has no reason not to trust someone, he'll at least give their words the benefit of the doubt. This latter option has gotten him surprised a few times when the obvious bad guy turns out to be... a bad guy. Though Soma's gotten a little more cautious over the years, he can still be a little too open minded.

The young man can also be very forthright and verbal about his opinion. Doesn't like the way Arikado does things? Soma is sure to tell him about it emphatically. But that doesn't change the part where he recognizes certain necessities and the benefits of some manipulations, even if he 1000% did not like the method. This goes as much for friends he has far more of an uneasy bond with as it does for the mentors and guardians in his life. One exception is possibly with his bond to Mina which is absolute, but he struggles to be open with all that he's dealt with. Perhaps a part of him doesn't want to draw her in to the craziness of his darkest secrets. And maybe, though perhaps unfairly to her, Soma wants to keep his relationship with Mina as normal as possible. But another huge part of that is a more healthy desire to protect the ones he cares about. This does lend to helping others or inserting himself into problems he finds right in front of him, but he wouldn't actively go out of his way searching for trouble.


Unfortunately, Soma doesn't always think straight when he gets angry. And a way to get him angry is to directly threaten those he cares about- Mina most of all-. While getting stopped to calm down for a bit does work, the intense need to do things himself or be apart of something that directly impacts him, even when it's a trap, drives him forward. He's not lacking for courage. Maybe a little common sense.

Though that lack of common sense at least lets him adapt readily to many scenarios. Like awakening powers within him was a shock, but he soon adapted and made use of it to his advantage; an arguably very disturbing trait to find as natural as breathing. While Soma mentions how troubling this is, it won't stop him from using those skills to fight against any fates that others want to press on to him.

Soma is aware that he has the potential to be a very dangerous threat to the world, if the evil spirit of the Dark Lord were ever to awaken enough to take him over. But his strength of will and overall determination keep him from sinking into despair. Of course one can argue that it's because despair and anger and hatred can lead to it. But there's something in the boy, even before he was aware of all this, that keeps to the positive outlook. He can defy his fate. More importantly he has, twice over. And that has only led to further resolve to move forward and look forward.

He's got a whole life ahead of him. And as long as people don't bother him, he won't get in their way either.


Powers and Abilities:


Power of Domination

The foremost of Soma's powers, he is capable of absorbing the souls and harnessing traits and powerful abilities. This has widely been used on demons, monsters, spirits and other supernatural things but there has been one example of a human soul. This may have been an exception based on circumstances but Soma also isn't unredeemably evil and definitely avoids killing humans so this isn't ever tested. It's definitely easier on monsters. He has also absorbed souls he's found sealed away so the main factor seems to be 'fight and defeat' or 'break the seal'.

Despite there being some overlap in his two adventures of what he's fought, sometimes the abilities he harnesses differ. This indicates there are multiple ways for him to learn how to use the soul's power though because of time and circumstance, he tends to not have time to explore that. In Unlib he will likely have more downtime to figure things out. (For instance, something that gives him an immunity to curses, he may eventually learn how to use it to remove curses from others).

He can also hold on to multiple 'copies' of the same soul (for instance, many souls of an animated skeleton). To a point the number of the same soul attributes to the strength of some skills- such as those of healing, self-enhancement and attack but there's a point of diminishing return where the excess doesn't do much to strengthen him further.

While he can pretty quickly find a soul, the world doesn't pause through the power of game menu. So he keeps a balance of souls affecting him 'at his fingers' and needs a bit of time, brief though it might be, to access another. (Some souls are 'always on' and don't apply here)

Soma also isn't sure how to release a soul on his own, but he has seen how Yoko manages it and will work on it, especially if it becomes A Problem through his time in Unlib.

Extra Note: Discussed with Mods on the Contact page about how to handle this ability in Unlib's setting. Will follow that guideline. And any changes/improvements/new souls, will work with mods beforehand! Reference: here. At the end of the powers section, I will have a details tagged dropdown of souls he currently has and their effects.


Fighting Skills

It's unclear if Soma had earlier training with martial weapons. But he's described as a 'natural warrior' and he obviously adapts to the effective use of a variety of options presented to him in the castle, from knife, sword, and spear to guns and grenades. This may also have a connection to the centuries old soul of Dracula hes inherited but he is more than capable by himself without that soul being awakened.

Two years of those life and death fights with people who can use magic and weapons competently themselves have been the main honing and honestly he probablly did a little training in his downtime between adventures since he does acknowledge he has to protect himself and Mina when crazy cultists come looking for him. So consider him pretty competent with some training and a prodigal sense for battle that shores up a lot of the finesse to match up against someone with a lifetime of mastery. You know, and have a chance of holding his own and/or winning.

Soma seems to have obtained some things from his first foray, including 'dashing back', slide-kicking forward, and doing a drop kick like a pogo stick while midair. Just you know. Little things that stuck. Clearly.

Also he doesn't hold back on using soul abilities.

Dracula's Reincarnation

Soma's soul was once Dracula's. When Dracula was killed during the Battle of 1999, his powers seemed to spread to various people, but the power of Domination and the soul itself was reborn as Soma Cruz a few decades later. Dracula as the evil spirit and ancient nemesis of the Belmont clan is very very dormant. There are circumstances that would awaken it, including a trauma so deep that Soma actively welcomes or attunes to that hatred and darkness and evil to awaken. He's been exposed to these circumstances before, fought that fate and won. But unless he conquers it, the awakened spirit will eventually overwhelm him and he'd become the Dark Lord.

(Whether that means he'd be the new Dark Lord or simply Dracula himself is unclear. Not even Soma really knows other than the feeling that one way or another, he wouldn't be himself anymore. At least the self he wants to be. )


Magic

Over the course of his two adventures, Soma has learned some magic. Mostly a series of increasingly powerful sealing spells for enemies he can weaken through the time honored tradition of beating them down to an inch of their remaining HP. So he's capable of learning magic outside of what he gets with the Power of Domination. He can sense magic and magic presence, particularly that of dark, 'evil', or chaotic stripe. Buuuut since he doesn't go out of his way to do much self-study, most of his training has been on the fly options taught to him during his life-or-death escapades.

Things he can't do but has seen include synthesizing souls into weapons to make stronger weapons. He may or may not pursue learning more about this during his time in Unlib.

Senses

Outside of anything he gains from souls and the fact that he is magically gifted, Soma is mortal.... enough to be considered your basic human. He absolutely can sense magic things and beings and he's twenty years old so fundamentally young and fit. If the spirit of Dracula is awakened in him, he may have extra, acute senses but in that situation there's a whole other kettle of worms going on.

Also he does still seem to retain some strange, not-quite-normal abilities that may or may not be connected to his soul absorption or general dormant Dracula status.


College Exchange Student in Japan

He is in college and has been studying in Japan for a few years. While it's unclear what his country of origin is, he's obviously not Japanese. It's also not clear what he's studying. But he has good enough grades for an exchange program, speaks fluent Japanese and probably English.

Probably the Power of Rich

Unclear how affluent this boy is, but given he can casually spend years studying in Japan and seems to dress is very nice clothes as well as be able to hare off to some random and unspecified European village to chase after cultists at the drop of a hat, Soma has probably not had to live with much money worries. We're not even going to talk about all that cash he farmed out of his adventures.

Soul List

IMPORTANT: With the exception of the first category of 'always active' souls, souls in the same category can't overlap as far as things go with Soma and his foreseeable ability over this power. Hence Soma can't turn into a bat AND summon his familiars at the same time. Some 'bullet' spells can be still playing out if he uses his Doppleganger soul to switch to another set. So for example he can conjure up some zombies to send out, use Doppleganger, then toss some daggers. But they wouldn't be able to be cast at the same time either way.

The 'downtime' to manually switching out spells will need a significant break or pause and generally in fights? That isn't happening. Well most fights. Especially since Soma tends to charge in on the front lines. Similarly souls giving passive 'buffs' or nullifications can't be active at the same time. He might be immune to poisons but he won't be immune to curses at the same time.

So while this list is long, it has restrictions on how the souls can be used simultaneously. I have grouped them according to... well, color. The loose rule is that only one 'color' of each can be active simultaneously. Except the always active. He also probably had 'all the souls' from his last adventure, but fiat has caused some/many to be removed and easily explains any others he might need to 'buy back'/regain later through the game.


Always Active (Gray/White/Ability Souls). These guys are just... as is. No magic needed, they're always on unless Soma actively chooses to turn them off.

Rahab - The ability to move underwater, stay underwater without needing to come up for air.

Malphas - 'Double Jump'. Soma can jump another time midair.

Balore - Soma uses this to shatter ultra hard/dense ice blocks; likely good at breaking up similar material.

Mud Demon - 'Prevents loss of mobility in sand.' (In game this is effectively making it so he can move at normal speed through sand, probably mud too. )

Procel - 'Prevents loss of mobility in water.' (Same as sand, except Soma loses no forward speed wading or swiming in water.)

Doppelganger - Soma uses this for 'equip-set changes'. You better believe after two misadventures he has a set of fighting gear on the fly. It also 'stores' an 'at the fingers' set of souls for quick change.

Hippogryph - Allows for a super high jump. How high? Possibly a few stories or until a ceiling gets in the way.


Guardian/Blue Souls. Generally activated and sustained by gradually draining magic reserves, letting Soma do other things while these work semi-independently.

Bat - summons at least one bat Familiar but up to three. We love them. They're adorable. They can viciously attack things that threaten Soma and look otherwise cute. The drain of magic to sustain their summoning is the same regardless of bat numbers (it is an affect of how many bat souls Soma has).

Ghost - Soma can separate his spirit from his body and conduct sneaky ghost recon. ...For a short distance.

Bat Company - Not to be confused with a group of bats. This soul lets Soma turn into a bat himself.


Black Panther- perform (forward) dashes with concussive waves. Not to be confused with back dash!

Bone Ark - Summons a panaquin made of bone. Carried by skeletons. Points for style.

Devil - Allows the temporary formation of a demonic contract to drastically increase strength.

Flying Armor - Reduces the speed of falling.

Medusa Head - Stops midair while maintaining this power. More or less a hovering thing.


Bullet/Red Souls. Generally short/instant casts or attacks. If they have a 'lasting' component it is independent of Soma's control. For instance slow moving orbs or zombies that mindlessly attack until they run out of mana and can't be redirected or sustained.

Paranoia - This allows Soma to visit a 'paralell world' on the other side of mirrors. This can be used in a variety of ways, including going through obstacles that are 'reversed' in the other world, or fighting someone's 'true nature' or even something that might be possessing them, rather than harming the main body directly. The mirror has to be large enough for Soma to go in or out of, though he can probably learn to 'reach through' or address someone through something smaller.

Abbadon - Hellfire; Dracula's traditional three fireballs/two really huge balls of ROLLING MAGMA SPHERES. Probably fine in a library

Puppet Master - He can throw a puppet and substitute himself with it.

Ripper - Throws (conjured) knives.

Succubus - Regenerate by drinking blood. Yup, fangs appear and everything. It's probably fine. Soma doesn't want to talk about it.

Frozen Shade - Summons blades of ice that can be thrown

Malachi - Summons a slow moving sphere of dark energy. Powerful and big but slow.

Killer Clown - Throw sharp, conjured playing cards as weapons. Do not explode.

Witch - ...Magic missile. It's basically a homing magic missile.

Waiter - Delicious Curry. No, I'm not kidding. Soma can summon curry. It can be used as a weapon. It can be dropped and left as a distraction. I don't make the rules.

Yorick - summons a skull that Soma can kick like a ball as a weapon. Also can kick other skulls as weapons no doubt.

Rycuda - summons a chain lightning attack

Zombie - Summons zombies (there does not need to be dead bodies. They will not turn people into zombies) Once they're sent out, Soma can't redirect them; they'll aim for whatever's nearest and shamble toward it. They can't be fed more magic to sustain. Eventually will dissolve once they run out of juice.


Enchanted/Yellow Souls - Souls that maintain a passive and non-mp draining effect such as strength boost, nullfying poison or regeneration. Support self-enhancements mostly.

Peeping Eye - can discern walls that might have hidden passages on the other side. More importantly walls that can be broken through to get to said passages. Probably can also find hidden chambers.

Golem - Significantly raises strength.

Ghoul - Can eat anything without the predictable side effects.

Killer Doll - Nullifies curses

Giant Slug - Nullifies poison

Ouija Table - Sit in a chair and slowly regenerate health.

Draghignazzo - Minimizes the knockback or 'flinch' and need for recovery when struck by attacks.

Dead Pirate - Engage backstabbing! Basically allows for a chance to cause more damage by attacking from behind, if the foe has an exploitable weakpoint/would sustain more damage if struck from behind.

Inventory: Soul Ring (increases the chance a soul will appear to be absorbed), Chaos ring (enhances self (stat boost) and gives a very quick mp recovery- definitely not at the speed in game). A soul-enhanced long sword (would be considered magic and able to strike ghosts and the like), some sturdy bits of armor (again magic-esque in the sense that it enhances the wearer's 'stats' and is actually effective in supernatural situations) and a combat knife. Weapons and armor are tucked away on his 'doppelganger' trait for quick access. He will come in looking like a guy wearing clothes for a cold season- long coat, jeans, black turtleneck and some bling around the belt. He has a purple pendant around his neck. He probably has a random snack, cash and maybe a couple of trinkets. Definitely wearing Mina's talisman that's only benefit is that it suppresses dark spirits.

Sample: TDM #4

When presented with a choice, is the character more likely to stick with tried and true methods? Or make something new up on the fly?

This young man is the epitome of going with the new thing on the fly. "Hey Soma, monster's regenerating too fast? Quick use this seal you're seeing for the first time in your life!" 'OKAY ON IT!' 'Oh looks like I can just SPONTANEOUSLY ABSORB THE SOULS OF MY ENEMIES and use their abilities. This is a problem but I'll roll with it for now.' 'Sling Curry that harms foes or charm/distracts enemies? DOING IT RIGHT NOW'


What is more important to your character, preserving the past or forging a future?

Absolutely 100% about forging his own future and deciding his own destiny. Sure he's wondered 'okay so what if the world does need a Dark Lord' in the philosophical or literal sense. But Soma definitely wants to live his own life that he chooses, not some 'predestined fate'. And he really doesn't want to become the Dark Lord.


How does your character influence their own story? What about the stories of others?

I'm not sure what 'the stories of others' means exactly. But we have two games and a cameo of Soma absolutely wrecking anyone's dastardly expectations of him becoming the new Dark Lord/Dracula because he wants to live life on his own terms. He'd prefer a peaceful life, true. But dang if the cultists don't sometimes come after him. Or worse, after Mina. As for others' stories, he's mostly live and let live.

Except when they mess with him or the ones he cares for. If they hadn't threatened Mina, Soma might not have torn off to the cultist village to punch the ever living lights out of them. But they did. And he did. While the young man won't turn a blind eye to an injustice or something going on in front of him, he doesn't go out actively looking for a fight.


Are you alright with your character’s canon being used as a Recommended Reading?: Sure!