[Other FULL] Vale Institute of Magic [M] [OOC/SU]

[Yamagi Sosuke]

Awesome, thanks for letting me know. Now I'm making a light character lol.

 

[disciplish]

Been writing this for a while, so no hard feelings, Yamagi. Friendly rivalry is always good for the soul, eh?


Name: Sytano Morgan

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Element: Light

Spells:

Photosynthesis- A basic spell which converts light into energy, allowing Sytano to not worry as much about food or energy when provided a light source- usually the sun. However, he has no choice but to use the energy for himself, since he currently has no method for transferring the energy to other things, or people. The spell is generally passive, and Sytano has no idea how to take it off. Additionally, the energy stored from this spell can create some bursts of "light laser things," [generally accepted to be a "Photosynthetic Wave" or something] which after a great amount of repeated uses will leave Sytano out of energy- in other words, hungry. Each beam can only cause a small amount of damage, but can be used in rapid succession, and with little notice. Each one is fired from his open palm, and Sytano. Over extended use, his hair has turned white the power, and therefore does not absorb light anymore- light must be absorbed from other sources, such as his skin. It does not attract light.

Photosynthesis cannot heal.

Light Trace- A variation of an old spell, Flame Trace. Sytano inherited the Morgan family spell- Flame Trace- but when Light took over it became a variation of it, known as Light Trace. When Sytano is provided with an object, he can find the source of said object- for example, if he found a leaf, he could trace it back to the tree it originated from. From there, he can attack it with light energy in the form of small spheres which would be pointless, since it's a tree, or illuminate the area around it. There is a limitation, however- Sytano must have a general idea of what the source may be. Additionally, sometimes Sytano will trace a source further- or not far enough- than necessary, in other words targeting the wrong object. And finally, the light energy stops attacking within five seconds after the spell is cast, which makes it useless over a bit of time.

Shining Barrier- A barrier which Sytano learned to create as to keep himself safe when training. The spell creates a barrier of solid light energy to protect the user, and can be manipulated to have spikes, wedges, become thicker, or whatever is necessary. Additionally, light spells that go through it are amplified- however, they will only be amplified if they begin passing from Sytano's side of the barrier. The downside to it is that the original barrier must be flat and it is currently unable to curve. Therefore, Sytano is still open if an enemy were to go around the barrier.

Luminous Gauntlet- The spell creates gauntlets made out of hard-light, which can expand depending on how much light is provided by Sytano [via his Photosynthesis] or the room. The gauntlets cannot expand past the length of Sytano's lower arm, and cannot only expand in one direction- the gauntlets will always stay directly proportional in any direction to Sytano's arm, with the sole exception of staying tight enough for Sytano to still wield them comfortably. The gauntlets themselves can usually be broken by Sytano himself [but enough force can break them], but usually Sytano is drained when no longer using the spell. The spell also drains himself enough so that he can't use any spells after it's over.

​

Appearance:

Spoiler:

Yeah, sorry, it's kinda big. All credit goes to the original artist.

Sytano is 6' 2". Sytano's hair is naturally white, but for some reason he's not sure why- his parents didn't have the hair he did, although apparently he had a blonde great-great-grandfather or something. His weight is undisclosed, but it is assumed it's 180 lbs or so. He's wiry and not too muscular but can take quite a few punches, and he has burn scars on his upper arms as well as on his left foot- generally covered by bandages since they're not exactly "pretty."

His mother gave him a necklace that seems like a... dream catcher or something. He has no idea what it is, and neither does she. He keeps it on person, thinking that if it is a dream catcher, it'll keep his dreams okay. If not, well, it's a good luck charm. The rest of his attire is "meh." He's very carefree about what he wears, but light blue shirts and shorts tend to do nicely. Besides that, he's hardly descript about his attire- nor does he care. After public decency is solved and he doesn't look like a beggar, there's nothing he really needs to add.

Personality:

Generally outgoing and likeable at first, Sytano seems to show interest in those around him. Ever since he was more or less isolated when he was homeschooled, his general interest in people exploded. Due to this, he's cheerful and generally seems to be like a good person to be around with, even if it makes him look shallow. Which it does. Generally, this leads to nothing happening to him in terms of friends- they become friends, and congratulations. Sytano has accomplished the entirely possible, and he's left no satisfaction. His friend and him remain friends, and not much really happens. Sytano's issue has always been going past "just a friend. Like not even an important one." After making friends, he has no idea what to do.

Of course, he does actually know. Sytano is thoughtful beyond the cheerful barrier, but he doesn't show it off much. He's quite proud of his thoughtfulness, but his willingness to act that way wasn't accepted. Every time he did, he just seemed to be "spouting crap" at school, and since he wanted to make friends he shut his mouth and pretended there was nothing beyond the shallow, perhaps a sprinkle of emotion here or a bit of remorse there but nothing easily noted. The difference, of course, was that at home it was accepted. His mind's general association with night and home as well as school and day has generally led him to produce a bit of an arching persona, where he seems to be much more calm and introverted for the night, reduced to reading and not as easily approachable due to being used to a life of tranquility and acceptableness at home. If anything, at night, he seems easily approached for philosophy, or emotion, as well as the usual cheerfulness, but at daytime he tries to be the optimist that he's made himself to be. This system, of course, is going to be broken by dorm life- but please, let's just leave the fun for later, shall we?

Beyond that, Sytano generally also doesn't get angry easily, but is annoyed by most things that insult him in some way- as anyone would be. He's also very protective about his room's organization. He keeps his room- and the rooms of others, if necessary- clean and tidy, due to him liking his things together. [Everything else can be a mess.] So of course, if someone messes it up, Sytano won't exactly be happy about it either. He cares about his friends and will stick up for them too, but some more than others- he cannot bring himself to equalize everyone.

He loves cuisine, and if anything everything he eats is cherished. He has a fast metabolism, but that's hardly why. Photosynthesis takes away his appetite, so when he does have an appetite, he makes sure to thoroughly enjoy anything he eats. When he does eat, he makes himself seem like he's concerned about table manners, but in truth he's just taking it slow. Slow, and painful. For the food. Sytano loves fruit and meat specifically, so generally that's what he'll snack on- jerky and an apple are always hidden somewhere in his bag.

He isn't gullible, but he is somewhat oblivious to romantic advances that don't outright state a person feels for him. Which means he's not good with the less obvious hints.

He's impartial towards his magic, and uses it more as a daily tool than really much else. It's not really a big deal for him- it's there, great. He wouldn't have an easy time adjusting to life without it, though.

History:

Sytano was born to two parents, horrible students at Vale who weren't bad at studies, but at execution. Their powers weren't too great, and they were limited in terms of arsenal as well. Due to this, they didn't do very well at the school, and once they left they resumed a normal life, with no trace of a history at Vale left besides the name of the institute on their resumes.

In fact, most of Sytano's aunts and uncles who went to Vale didn't do so well. Few were mediocre, and none were exemplary. If they were memorable, it was due to their failure. Sytano's mother seemed to have a similar issue- she was mediocre at best. Thus, when Sytano was born, he was thought to be "meh, okay" at the most. His parents, still young, passed him on to his grandparents due to their inability to handle him. His grandparents, disappointed with their many failures, recalled the reason their children weren't so good- they had no foundation. They of course meant no offense to others who knew little of their power when they went to Vale, but their own children seemed to know little of what to do without a foundation.

They took it upon their own hands to train Sytano to not mess up like his predecessors. They taught him about his powers when they thought he was mature enough- 11. Of course, they didn't have the best judgement. Sytano wasn't calm- although he could be quiet and gentle when indoors, if let outside he was carefree and very prone to running around. ("Like a plane," he had claimed when he was younger.). Since they lived far from town as well, he wasn't always in interaction with other children, and was homeschooled at 11 as to keep magic on the down-low. [It was at about 14 when he returned to school.] In continuation, his handling of the powers wasn't great. Being born a fire mage, he burned stuff. And more stuff. And almost a house (saved by quick movement). His grandparents preached responsibility, and slowly he subconsciously used it recklessly less and less, to the point that when he burned the top of his foot he became more careful overall. When he eventually learned to control his "flame" and such, he returned to school. His grades were okay- not excellent by any means, but not bad at all either. He also became very much interested in reading, and writing [but to a lesser extent]. Acting was great to him as well, but math became an annoyance. Magic was his prime interest, but it was only practiced at home.

At around fifteen he took a nap. A long nap. It was a very good nap, but at the end of it he was at a hospital. Apparently he had been asleep for four days, and his grandparents had gotten worried. His grandfather simply looked at him and muttered "huh" under his breath when he woke up, seemingly deep in thought about something he wasn't letting Sytano in on. He returned home "without problems" and when he arrived home, his grandfather asked him to perform Flame Trace on a leaf and the plant it came from, which was potted. He expected the plant to burst into flames.

Instead, the space around it grew brighter.

His grandfather, again, simply muttered "huh." His grandmother was a bit shocked, but she was okay. Sytano was generally confused and disoriented, and had a bit of a "what happened expression" on his face. His grandfather simply shrugged, putting his hands in up slightly as he did, and said "you're special, kid." He explained the LDS elements, which he had only mentioned in passing. Sytano wasn't really as astonished as he thought he would be. He actually would rather be darkness, claiming he'd be a "surprise Dark mage."

Regardless, Sytano then honed his skills according to light. Of course, his skills in Light were more limited than those he once had in fire, but he adapted his fire spells to Light spells as to make it easier. Then, he attempted to manipulate his light in other ways as well, leading to the current spells he has now. Slowly, however, he began to see a change in his eating habits. Not only was he abnormally gaining energy, a lot of times he felt full, and uncomfortable. He deduced it had to be during the day, too, since at night he became hungry easily. Maybe that was the mood-swingy thing they had spoken about in all of those "puberty health sessions." Then again, he wasn't entirely sure mood swings affected his appetite. He also learned how to make "light energy beam things" at the same time, although he wasn't sure if they were connected.

Eventually, he came to conclusion that there was a spell doing all of it, a passive spell that he couldn't exactly remove. Photosynthesis was his answer, although it was a halfhearted one. He seemed to gain energy from the sun, and he released it through using magic... or something. Annoyed by Photosynthesis and the stomach cramps that later came with it- due to the light becoming energy and making him full- he tried to release light energy at night, not really thinking that anyone would notice that he was doing so, his logic being that it wouldn't recharge then. He attempted to seclude himself in some woods near his grandparents' house, thinking that no one would be nearby.

Eventually, this attempt in seclusion failed, and he was discovered by someone who seemed to be... another mage, maybe? The mage acted as if he knew nothing, but eventually he received a letter. From an institute. His grandfather claimed it was a sham, as well as claimed it only wanted to "show a mage's place in the power hierarchy," but his grandmother pushed him to accept. A few weeks later, he packed his bags. Maybe he would figure out how to turn off Photosynthesis. Maybe he would make some new spells or something. Or maybe... nah, he had no idea.

So he just went to Vale, deciding that it was better than nothing. Besides, he'd probably have better luck with Light there than he did at home.

Other:
Strangely, none of his spells work at the speed of light, instead working at much lower speeds. He's tried doing the speed of light thing, but he can't get to it yet. He's gotten to extremely high speeds with Photosynthetic Wave though, so blinking isn't recommended.

His parents visited occasionally, but they seldom even hinted at Vale's existence. They never took him back- although he visited on vacation a few times, around fifteen they moved overseas and they haven't seen him since. They call on occasion. He has a great deal of affection for them, but he does occasionally get annoyed that they don't visit more- and now, haven't visited for a long time.

Due to it's nature, I'll count Photosynthesis as two spells. It would consist of, technically, [Photosynthesis] and [Photosynthetic Wave].

He has a secret weakness for potato chips and explosions.

 

[Yamagi Sosuke]

Challenge accepted, DL :) Also, I'm finished with my sign-up guys.

 

[doge]

Hi! My SU is done and in the spoiler. But I'm also wondering if abilities like using wind as a basic pushing/pulling force and being able to make reasonably sized objects float or glide are implied for air users, or would they have to be listed under spells?

Spoiler:

Name: Nasrin Nouri
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Element: Air
Spells: //

Atmospheric Exertion -
Nasrin can amplify the amount of pressure on air particles in a certain area. The more pressure she wishes to exert the less control she has over the location of where she is applying the pressure. If she pushes the amount of applied force to deadly levels, where certain particles start to become toxic or past the limits of the human body, she will lose control and begin to inadvertently put pressure on not only herself, but other unintended individuals. At the moment she can only exert force that can potentially leave someone sick or feeling considerably uncomfortable or sore for a couple of days if she wishes to remain in complete control. Using the same method of applied pressure, Nasrin is also able to increase the quality of air in the surrounding environment. Inversely, Nasrin is also capable of decreasing the amount of air pressure in an area, making it possible to reach levels that optimize respiration for the human body.

Enhanced Respiration -
This spell allows Nasrin to perform more efficiently and longer in physical, bodily demanding activities. By manipulating the aero environment, Nasrin is able to direct the flow of air in and out of her body without the need to consciously breathe. In doing this, Nasrin is able to keep the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in her bloodstream balanced and secured. This allows her body to perceive anaerobic and quickly fatiguing activities as mere aerobic like movement, allowing her to perform at high levels of intensity for much longer than even most mages. While she does not feel regular fatigue during or after this state, if Nasrin uses Enhanced Respiration for longer than a hour, or activates it again with less than a whole day's worth of rest in between, not only will she fail but she will cause serious and irreversible damage to her lungs. Nasrin actives Enhanced Respiration by holding her breath and forcibly exhaling the rest of the air left in her lungs out and deactivites it by manually breathing.

Sensory -
Nasrin has an ability similar to that of echolocation, and uses her senses of touch and hearing to interpret sound waves in the air, which allows her to gain a rough mental picture of her surroundings and beyond. The farther she tries to see the hazier the images appear in her head. At the moment she can only see upwards to 100 meters. Even when Nasrin is concentrating at her full extent, her echolocation will occasionally be jammed or interfered with by the presence of other sounds.​

Appearance:
Nasrin stands at a fair height of 5'5 and weighs roughly around 120 pounds. Her pale-olive skin tone tans easily in the sun. Nasrin keeps her long, dark brown wavy hair, which reaches down to her shoulders, parted to the left and covering her ears. Her eye color is similar to that of her hair, but a tad shade lighter. The rest of Nasrins face is marked by her long eyebrows, prominent chin, and full lips.

If her life back in Iran had made any lasting impressions on Nasrin, it'd be her preference for comfortable cloth. In the short time Nasrin has so far spent in the States, she has found skirts and dresses to be her clothing of choice. She prefers her dresses in lighter colors, such as tints of white, pink, yellow, etc., while she prefers her skirts and tops to be that of darker colors, like grays and blacks. Nasrin's chosen footwear is always a pair of sneakers, colors ranging from white, red, or black. She also wears leggings underneath her skirts and dresses, especially if the day happens to be breezy or a bit colder than she'd like.

Personality:
Nasrin is a careless individual. She goes about life in a very reckless and selfish way, often showing little remorse for her actions and little regard for consequences. A lot of this can be attributed to her young age; Nasrin is still maturing and certain things such as empathy and responsibility of actions have yet to make a lasting impression on her mind. That's not to say Nasrin has never done a selfless deed in her life. Her loyalty to her parent's religious charades are if anything an indication that she at least has the capability to act in consideration of others. Still if one were to try to convince Nasrin to do something, it would certainly be easier to convince her if they mentioned the task would benefit her.

While's Nasrin's age may affect some portions of her personality, it holds no bearing on others. Nasrin is not gullible, even if she is young. Playing along with a lifelong sham has led her to doubt nearly everything. That being said, she does not go about challenging the authenticity of every single person she meets. She may take someone's words for face value, but doesn't allow herself the expectation that it will turn out true. In doing so, Nasrin is also not easily influenced nor swayed from a position. She can be hardheaded and unwilling to compromise, a sign of her young naivety. This stubbornness can easily rub people the wrong way, and has incited arguments and incidents which have exposed Nasrin's short temper; she is as hotheaded as she is hardheaded. In these moments Nasrin has a habit of becoming quite mouthy, which has earned her a swift strike or two in the past.

When it comes to her education, Nasrin is a completely different individual. She loves learning, whether it be about science, literature, history, whatever it may happen to be she enjoys. In the classroom she is incredibly attentive, lively, polite, and considerably less stubborn than her usual self. She has a certain respect for esteemed teachers and those with considerable amounts of knowledge. Schooling in Tehran had become a bore to her because of the constant task of hiding her magic, faking her faith, and the dull learning material. She has high hopes that Vale will rejuvenate her love for learning. Strangely enough, although she has an affinity for learning, Nasrin is insecure when it comes to her own intelligence and amount of knowledge.


History:
Nasrin was born in Tehran, the capital of Iran. When Nasrin was conceived, her mother and father were quite young; her mother was 21 and her father was 23. With the responsibility of raising a daughter looming over their heads Nasrin's father, fresh out of university, furiously seeked out employment opportunities. Despite his efforts he was turned away at nearly every corner, left with employment offers in two jobs that even if done in tandem, would've only barely kept them afloat. There was though one offer that although promised nice pay and could certainly keep them well enough, deeply troubled his conscience and morals. It was something he had shown little interest to on a whim; he had no intention of actually taking it up, until now of course. So at the age of 23, Nasrin's father, one of the most secular men in Tehran, joined the ranks of Iran's military. Although he was not Muslim, his recruiters had not known, and he had no issue creating and enacting a persona of him that was. It was, after all, for the sake of his daughter. Nasrin's mother made her own sacrifices as well, carrying Nasrin to term, taking breaks away from her love of university to properly attend to and raise their daughter, and disguising their small secular family as a Muslim one.

It confused Nasrin, especially when she was younger, the constant switching of personas that came with leaving and entering the privacy of their own homes. To the outside world she was a proper Muslim child but in the walls of her home she was raised to be a secular Iranian. For a long time Nasrin could not understand why her mother insisted so on acting as a Muslim in the public view of others, or why her father, a non-Muslim man, spent so much time away from home defending the Islamic state.

As Nasrin got older, she started to understand, but the act of pretending to be something she simply was not drained her mentally. Being in school or even hanging outside with friends, things she once loved and enjoyed to do, were increasingly becoming chore-like to her. She found comfort in her home, in her family's small and cramped apartment, where she no longer had to endure the burdens her mother and father had accepted for her sake, the same burdens that consequently had made their way in her own life as well. In this apartment was where Nasrin could study to her heart's content, a quality she took after her mother, and sometimes when alone, even practice her magic.

Nasrin discovered her ability for magic, air magic, at the age of 6. Although at that age, she knew little of what she was truly doing. Even so, Nasrin was fascinated with her new found powers and her child like curiosity only amplified her fascination. She played with her powers as often as she could, but really only doing minor and insignificant things, like whisking a strong gust of wind through the window curtains or keeping objects afloat midair. For years she kept it a secret from her mother, and her father during the slight stints he would be home. To Nasrin, this magical ability was her secret, and her secret only. At that age she had a certain resentment towards her parents for their ingenuine way of life because she didn't quite yet understand that it was for the betterment of her own life.

Sometime after Nasrin turned 10, around the same time she started to understand her parent's reasoning, she decided, after much deliberation, to share her secret with her mother. But still at such a young age, Nasrin did not consider how others' reactions may differ from her own. Her mother screamed, cursed, rose her hand and almost struck the child. Her mother was terrified, not at Nasrin, but at what would happen to her in a society like this if anyone were to ever discover her capabilities. Narin's mother urged and pleaded with her to keep her abilities strictly to herself, to never share or show them to anybody.

At first, Nasrin complied. But the more she practiced in privacy, the more confident she grew with her abilities and thus the less caution she took to hiding them. She began to use her magic to play harmless but amusing pranks and tricks on others whether they be teachers, schoolmates or even just odd strangers. The bolder she became with her tricks, the more she opened herself to the opportunity of being exposed. Close calls were becoming ever so frequent but in all of her naive youth they did little to dissuade her from so recklessly using her magic.

Eventually, Nasrin's recklessness got the better of her. In this particular incident, Nasrin was with her mother and father at the airport, welcoming the return of some family friends. She had wondered off just slightly and in searching for her parents was approached by a rather grotesque looking stranger. After ignoring him, the stranger scolded Nasrin on the looseness of her hijab, a cloth which she tolerated more for parents' sake than for her nonexistent obedience to the regime. The tone and subject of which he used to speak to her brought her to a breaking point. Nasrin could feel herself gaining a tight grip on the air around them, compressing it down against the man's body. His eyes widened in shock as he clutched his stomach. Suddenly, Nasrin felt her grip on the air loosen against her will and the man fell to his knees, doubling over in pain. She scanned the room before locking eyes with a man dressed in professional business like attire. His stone-faced expression was unwavering and it elicited fear in Nasrin's core. She ran from the scene and to her parents, who had just began to search for her. After that, Nasrin seldom used her magic in the public eye.

A month later, Nasrin's parents received an invitation for Nasrin to come and attend the Vale Institute of Higher Learning. The memory of her daughter's witchcraft had long been forgotten at this point, passed off as a one of her mother's crazy dreams. Nasrin's parents were simply ecstatic, joy-jumpingly happy that their daughter had been given the opportunity to further her education in Western society. At the same time, Nasrin received a letter of her own, one explaining the true nature of Vale. The offer to both practice magic and attend school in the states was far too promising of an offer for her to pass up.

Other:
Nasrin grew up learning both English and Farsi so her accent when speaking English is minuscule but because she rarely used English in conversational senses idioms and figurative speech will confuse the hell out of her.

 

[Songbird]

@Yamagi: You tried to copy Zane's Vector Shift, and... screwed it up. No offense.

Vector Shift: Zane's body becomes light for a fraction of a second. This allows him to travel very short distances of two to three feet. While using this spell he is technically not moving, but simply shifting his location. If this ability is used repetitively over an extended period of time the user becomes liable to suffer internal hemorrhaging.

Shimmering Revolt | A spell that acts as a absolute defense against a fatal move. His body, for a fragment in time, changes its anatomy to the particles that make-up light and makes him invulnerable to damage. While it is useful, it has a terrible cost for staying between planes for too long. Anymore than 10 seconds will warrant his body being drained of natural elements that helps it operate. This usually leads to one of his internal organs failing or his heart weakening to the point that it can no longer pump blood. Causing for immediate medical attention

Other things: You didn't finish your sentence, and last ditch efforts do not look good, especially when there are things specifically made for the sake of last ditch efforts. I've used last ditch efforts before. They still didn't look good. They sucked. They break immersion and the flow of fights, even if it's just about to end and the guy using an LDE still loses.

If you use Chrome or Firefox (or one of the myriad variants based on them), and I hope you do because Internet Explorer sucks, I'm going to highly suggest getting the "After the Deadline" extension as I did with DreamOrDestruction.

Second, you have some misconceptions that need clearing up. When you turn into something, you aren't "going to another plane". You're changing in composition, like from water to ice. What plane of existence would you possibly be on if you're still controlling your body? He should also be a lot more useless if he's made of light. Zane, for example, can only use it to blink, but the way you wrote it tells me Marcy can use it and still attack while in that state, and even withstand use of up ten seconds at a time without repercussions. Just three or four times times for less than a second each would give Zane the risk of rupturing something, and Marcy can use it for ten seconds straight before he feels any problems.

Third, you use "force of will" a lot. By default, mages will the elements under their control. You do not need to specify this, not even once, because only Spirit mages literally turn willpower into tangible effects. It feels like you just ripped it off the OP because it sounded cool.

Fourth, where are these names coming from? "Imperial Garnish Dragons"? I have no idea whatsoever of what it's supposed to do, but when I read the description, I see this: "Marcy rams his opponent like a train, but not as funny or powerful. Oh, and something to do with dragons, I guess."

There's just no significance to the names. They don't even really mean anything. I have no clue, through any form of reasoning, what any of your spells do when I look at their names.

On "Crest Persona": I hate everything about it, and this explains exactly why.

On "Imperial Garnish Dragons" again: What is this?

Don't answer that.

On "Greater Force": SHIELDS!

Radiant Guard: A circular shield of light that can have its size altered is formed in front of Zane's palm. This shield takes on the appearance of a plain buckler, and is completely constructed of hard-light. Normally, the shield is only about a foot long in its circumference to allow flexibility in Zane's movements. Zane can alter the shield's size to make it larger, but it requires him to completely stop any movement or spells.

Lastly, "Dark Prince" makes me want to kick you in the face. Everything that could possibly be implied by "Dark Prince", especially on a light mage, makes me want to beat you up. It is painfully cliché with absolutely no remaining impact as a literary concept, and I hate it. It's not actually something wrong with the sheet in itself, and I still don't want to offend you, even though I most definitely am doing so by now; but seeing that in the Nickname section ruined the entire character for me, and I needed to make it known. I am sincerely sorry if this is offensive, but this is the nicest way I can express my distaste to keep from outright cursing.

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@Mu Mu: Sytano seems like he'll be able to transition well from the old Vale, and even across elements, but there are some things that I'd like to bring up.

Why did Photosynthesis turn his hair white? Doesn't really make sense. Flowers don't all have white petals. Still, it's a creative way to use the element, even though there's not really a way for him to physically refuel himself since he doesn't have the same cells a plant does. He could use it to store as energy to release as a PSW or for one of his other spells later, but he can't really keep from going hungry with it. Also, Colony wanted to ask, "If Zane used his Vector Shift and got absorbed by Sytano's Photosynthesis, which one would die?" I hope the answer is "both".

You can separate Photosynthetic Wave from it. Give it some more focus since it seems like he'll be using it quite a bit. Repulsor ray, pew pew.

Flame Trace was much better as a fire spell. It makes a lot less sense as a light spell in its current form. Maybe turn it into something like a vision-granting "third eye" kind of spell instead of trying to keep it offensive?

Shining Barrier = Giant Magnifying Glass that Happens to Be a Shield. It has its use, but it lacks potential when you try to diversify something that already has a rather obvious purpose. Either the magnification effect is negligible, or the Mighty Morphin' Power Shield really isn't as useful as it's made out to be.

More on Shining Barrier: MORE SHIELDS!

Greater Force | Bending the light around him and molding it using force of will, he creates several small shields around himself in the shape of hexagons. It uses little magic and is capable of deflecting small spells and holding physical forces back.

Radiant Guard: A circular shield of light that can have its size altered is formed in front of Zane's palm. This shield takes on the appearance of a plain buckler, and is completely constructed of hard-light. Normally, the shield is only about a foot long in its circumference to allow flexibility in Zane's movements. Zane can alter the shield's size to make it larger, but it requires him to completely stop any movement or spells.

Luminous Gauntlet, from the name, made me think of Vi, and I was severely disappointed when I noticed that it has nothing to do with actual power gloves. The way you worded it just makes them "clothes made out of solid light". Power gloves would be way cooler, and genuinely useful for more than covering your junk in the gym shower. Hell, why not make it a full-body armor? It'd be freakin' sweet! Since you have light magic, you can even color it to make it look like real armor!

Sytano is literally Bakura now. Why?

Honestly, I'd have liked to see Sytano stay a fire mage with expanded abilities, instead of trying to remake him into a light mage. Aside from Flame Trace, he's kind of unrecognizable from a glance.

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@Both of you: The rest of your sheets will be covered in Colony's next post, since I complain a lot and make posts longer than my IC posts over tiny details that really shouldn't take that much to complain about.

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Also, I'm kind of sad. We're allowing people to use Nature as an element, and not a single person has even remotely expressed interest in it. It's times like this that I'm jealous of this spider. (Warning: picture contains very strong language. Not recommended if you're arachnophobic or against drugs (or going through withdrawal).)

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@-Sam, air being used as a basic physical force is an implied ability, but you'd have to use a spell slot for things like flight since it would be considered quite a powerful spell in a technical sense.

"Aria"... okay.... First name's fine, though.

Atmospheric Exertion feels a lot slower to me than you probably want it to be—actually, your spells in general look like they're made for longer, drawn-out battles. Fights are mostly going to be rather fast-paced, so Nasrin likely wouldn't get the prep time she needs for A.E. to have its desired effect. Consider giving it some beneficial effects in addition to its harmful applications, such as clearing the air of harmful gases to allow better oxygen flow to herself and nearby allies.

Volatility has the same potential to be an awesome spell, but suffers from the same issue that it clearly needs a lot of prep time in an ideal environment to actually be useful. It's also more of a "vapor" spell than it is a basic air spell, since Nasrin will be manipulating gaseous molecule composition instead of airflow. In this case you could simply have a vapor mage converting inhaled air into smog. If you'd like to use smoke and other visible and dangerous gases more freely, you don't lose your base element when you learn the advanced version.

Enhanced Respiration is good. I love it. However, keep in mind that mages have much higher endurance and energy efficiency than normal humans thanks to the fact that they have to withstand using magic. If she were in a normal school without Enhanced Respiration, Nasrin would still generally last a lot longer than any of her peers, and someone could match it in practice through extensive meditation and breathing exercises like a monk. While there's nothing wrong with this, it would undoubtedly fall off much faster when dealing with other mages.

Perhaps make it so she can absorb oxygen into her bloodstream without the need to actively breathe through her mouth and nose? It would bring the same trouble of deteriorating lungs, but still allow her to have a much higher efficiency than basically everyone.

There is literally nothing wrong with Sensory. I can't even say it's a rip-off of anything; it's such a simplistic ability that literally anyone could have it through their own elemental version, and it's even a sound-based spell instead of "reading the flow of the air" or something like that. I love it.

As with Yamagi and DLMuerte's characters, the rest of your sheet will be covered in Colony's next post.

EDIT: Turns out Colony has no complaints about the rest of your sheet. I have none either, to be honest. Everything's well worded, and it's easy to read through. It complies with the concept of secrecy and has cultural significance without making it all about the culture, and you did it all without drowning her in drama. Most importantly, it's believable; it makes sense. So, a few spell edits to give her more viability and she'll be good to go. :D

 

[Colony]

@Yamagi Sosuke: I'm gonna be honest with you, Yamagi. There are quite a few problems with Marcello. Songbird already has the spells covered, which are arguably the most significant problems, so that leaves the appearance, personality, and history.

Appearance: The appearance starts off fine, but it quickly delves into unreasonable adjectives, layered upon each other for something that only distorts the final product. Phrases like "kingly unkindness" and "very real ascendancy or domination" are both examples of uncomplimentary wording. Other questionable factors of the appearance include his "innate aggressiveness," even though he has a rather feminine appearance. My suggestion would be to not attempt to add personality to an appearance, and to leave personality in the personality section.

Personality: I would like to state my personal opinion of Marcello's personality before I actually move on to actual problems. Marcello should go jump in a well and die a slow, painful death. Now that that's out of the way, time to be serious.

I'm not quite sure if intimidating is a good word to describe Marcello. You can't really throw one word out and not explain its reasoning. At least give examples of him actually displaying the behavior, which brings up another problem. I've noticed that some of the examples are displays of completely different traits, instead of what they're intended to be. As a matter of fact, most of what you use as examples don't really line up with what you listed. When I read through Marcello's personality, I see these traits (in order of their appearance): Arrogance, conceitedness, speech-impairment, indecisiveness, impulsiveness, delusional, irrational. I would continue, but you break into a massive red flag issue when you say "he has a cliché… traits." Honestly, I can't help but see Marcello as an outright jerk that has nothing good whatsoever going for him.

History: Hmm, the best way for me to put this is that you have an extremely bad misconception of magic in Vale's universe. First, Spirit magic is an overtly rare magic, but that doesn't mean it exempts someone from the rules and regulations of magic agreed upon by the world. Marcello's father would've been killed for his outlandish decision to use magic to create an entirely new country. Magic is held as the most significant secret of the world, one that must be kept. Mikhail would've disregarded it entirely to accomplish what he's done, and would have most definitely died for it. No heir. No wife. No country. No nothing. No exception.

Second, LDS elements aren't inherited. You can be born with one, but it will not pass to the next generation, and it's highly unlikely that any of the LDS elements would ever show back up in their family. Zane is likely the first and last light mage in his entire family tree, past and future. They're rare for a reason.

Third, the LDS elements don't overwrite each other. Once you get one, it's yours to keep, unless you get spirit after birth, in which case chances are you're dead.

These three factors literally invalidate the entirety of the history and Marcy himself.

Also, I'm not exactly sure where you're getting your names, but there's no consistency in your naming conventions. You have a Russian father, a Japanese mother, and somehow that results in an Italian son.

Birdy: Who are his siblings, by the way? I want to say Sven and Brittany. /Birdy

---

@DLMurte: Sytano is pretty much fine in the personality and history sections. Personality is almost spotless, the primary source of problems being in his lack of hunger. Songbird has already addressed that issue in her spell review. The history section is pretty fine as well. Once again, the only thing that appears questionable is something caused by his Photosynthesis spell (his hair and lack of hunger), which Songbird addressed. Other than that, you're good to go.

Songbird also addressed my concerns with him being a light mage at all. Birdy, please stop doing that.

 

[Yamagi Sosuke]

:) Thanks for letting me know guys. I'm usually pretty good at taking criticism but I wasn't so good about taking this batch of comments. So to prevent myself from saying something I shouldn't, I'll be dropping from the RP.

I hope everyone haves fun, truly I do.

 

[doge]

Okay, so I've tweaked a couple of those spells around. Let me know if there's anything else!

 

[Songbird]

Nope! Everything's good to go! You're accepted whenever Colony decides to update the first post. :P

 

[Lucifer-san]

Heh I did a few tweaks to Infinity and Burning Cross and I am still working on the History section as I did some thinking about it after the comments and decided to redo most of it. Could I get some feedback on the alterations I've done to see if I'm on the right track? Thanks.

 

[Colony]

Finally made it back from Florida (I will never go back unless I'm paid).

@-Sam: I've updated the OOC to add Nasrin. Great job on the history, it was really well thought out.

@DreamOrDestruction: I want to start off by saying that your SU is very much improved. There's only one problem and one other question that we want to address.

Ignition Drive is still somewhat problematic. As I've explained before, the concept is a bit flawed in the sense that Michael is supposed to be heating up, but somehow also getting tougher (maybe tougher isn't the word you are looking for?). The spell is also mentioned as being defensive, but it seems rather supportive/offensive in my opinion, since it shouldn't really be touching his defense (except for the fact he's a living furnace, so the heat would kinda limit getting in close). Just to show you exactly what I mean, I've pulled a direct line from the spell's description: "In this state his body is toughened up a bit and his natural abilities increase slightly however the strongest point of this ability is the defensive capabilities." The laws of chemistry explain that when a substance heats up, it will get softer, not harder/tougher. Honestly, we're not entirely sure how to address this spell, and would like to note that you don't have to have five complete spells to be accepted. If you want to have five spells, then I'd be quite willing to work with you on either reworking Ignition Drive or developing an entirely new spell.

The history is looking a lot better now. I know it's not finished, but you are definitely on the right track with it. One bit of curious word choice though that I did find was Michael's family's "darker side." If you plan on explaining that further into the history, I just ask for it to be sensible and not melodramatic (not saying it will be). Drama is great when applied correctly, but it can be a slippery slope if it doesn't make a lot of sense. If it was a bit of oversight, then I just want to bring it to your attention. Other than that, you're on your way to a solid history and SU. Can't wait to see the finished project.

 

[Kanon Shirogane]

Can I reserve a sign up please?

 

[Songbird]

Since there are only three open/non-reserved spots left, we're no longer taking reserves, but you're more than welcome to make a character. I doubt three people will be instantly accepted before you finish your own character.

 

[Colony]

Due to the lack of progress observed, we must withdraw Tixen and Siiadams' reservations. Both are free to continue working on their SUs, but will now be competing for slots (not that there aren't plenty open). As a result of these new openings, Kanon Shirogane is reserved.

 

[Kanon Shirogane]

Due to the lack of progress observed, we must withdraw Tixen and Siiadams' reservations. Both are free to continue working on their SUs, but will now be competing for slots (not that there aren't plenty open). As a result of these new openings, Kanon Shirogane is reserved.

alright, thanks. I'll get plugging away on a sign up this evening.

 

[The warden]

This is still very much a work in progress but I'm going to post what I have so far for review:

Signup Sheet

Name: Sebastian Owens

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Elements: Air/Fire

Spells:

Jet booster:
Sebastian holds out his hands at arms length palm down and shoots narrow jets of fire from his hands to propel himself into the air like a rocket. If he reaches sufficient speed he is able to fly by controlling the air flow around his arms. He is able to perform amazing feats of aerial aerobatics but has no enhanced resistance against the extreme speeds or intense g-force beyond what any other mage would have. Using this technique drains Sebastian's magical energy rapidly so much so that he can only manage a few minutes of continuous powered flight. If he glides between burst of his jets he can fly for longer but will move in a slower and much more predictable motion. That said in an unenclosed area Sebastian is easily able to travel several miles before having to rest. He is also able to use this as an attack by pointing his hands at a target at close range but both Sebastian and his target would be blown backwards by doing so.

Slipstream:
Creates a short tunnel of low pressure air with a rapid flow that accelerates anything passing through. This effect can be used both by allies and enemies but only accelerates things travelling in one direction, anything going in the opposite direction is slowed down or even reversed if it is going slow enough. The boost is larger for objects that spend more time in the slipstream but smaller for heavier object.

Ember storm:
A blast of wind that carries embers to ignite anything in their path with small flames, which can cause minor burns. Embers can be drawn from any fire or from smouldering ashes. The air advances at pace that can be out run but the trick to avoiding the technique is to run to the side as it only moves in a straight line. Sebastian is able to start the wind anywhere within about one hundred meters and set it travelling in any direction but once started it continues on with out Sebastian's for about two minutes. Also Sebastian is is not immune to the fire from this technique, so he has to be careful not to end up causing problems for himself. As ember storm is quite a low energy spell Sebastian will quite often have multiple ember storms on the battlefield at the same time.

Complete combustion:
By increasing the concentration of oxygen in a region Sebastian is able to make any flames in a six foot radius burn much more violently. The flames change to a whitish-blue colour and give off much more heat. Anything caught by the flames is burnt completely at a fast pace but if the flames move outside the region the quickly return to normal. The heat given off by this technique is so hot that Sebastian himself is not able to withstand it if he stands too close, meaning this isn't a spell he would normally cast if an opponent was near him. It takes Sebastian a few seconds to cast this spell but the only indication he is casting it is a slight shimmer in the air as the heat increases in the target area.

Unstable flame:
Sebastian creates a ball of flame in one hand that is highly unstable and throws it at his target. After a set time or when it collides with a solid object the ball explodes in a cone of fire that continues in the direction it was travelling.

Appearance:
Sebastian stands at five foot eight and weighs 147 lbs. He has very little fat on his body and while he doesn't have a body builder's body he has good definition in his muscles. His appearance is Caucasian though he has quite a tan worm spending so much time outside. His hair is a sandy yellow colour and he has it up in short spikes. Sebastian's eyes are a earthy brown colour with small flecks of green.

Sebastian wears a pair of goggles to protect his eyes when flying at high speed. They have clear lenses with black frames and a black strap. Between fights he keeps these on his forehead where they sit under his hair pushing his fringe up. As a fire and air mage Sebastian feels most at home with the warmth of the sun and a soft breeze on his skin and his choice of clothing reflects this. He normally wears a sleeveless t-shirt, at least partially so he can show off his arms, he has a range of colours to pick from but he normally sticks to orange, black or white. He usually wears a pair of black tracksuit bottoms, so that he is able to move easily. Footwear is the one part of his outfit where Sebastian really spoils himself, he likes to wear brand name running trainers and not the discounted ones. He has a collection of over twenty pairs of trainers in all colours and though he switches which ones he wears regularly he will just as often wear his favourite white pair, with orange highlights. He finishes his outfit off with a single fire opal on a chain around his neck, it is a tear drop shaped gem and is a smoky semi-translucent white in colour but flashes orange when the light shines on it right.

Personality:

History:

Before Sebastian was born his mother, Laurene, was a well know air mage within the magical community and a member of the family of Leroy, which is noted in the French magical community for having a wide range of elements amongst it's members. Laurene represented the Leroy family interests in America, mainly transporting valuable magical goods around the country and maintaining good relationships with the America magical families. It was the intention of Laurene's father, Gérard, that she would marry the eligible son of one of the well know American magical families. However Laurene meet a young man, William, who she fell in love with. William had no magical abilities but the two started to have a romantic relationship with each other. They met each other in secret while Laurene continued to play along with her father's plans of marriage, all the while Laurene knowing that at some point in the future they would have to part.

And this is how it would have been if it had not been for Laurene falling pregnant with William's child. Laurene knew that her family would try to kill William if they found out and possibly even the child too, if it did not show signs of magical potential. So the two of them eloped, Laurene telling William a story not to dissimilar to the truth but leaving out anything relating to magic. They stopped briefly in Las Vegas where they married and Laurene adopted William's surname. They tried to enjoy a honeymoon while Laurene worked on covering their tracks. Adopting William's surname did a lot to hide them from Laurene's family as she had never mentioned William to any of them for fear of their rejection and this would keep them safe for several years. They settled in Los Angeles with Laurene retiring from the magical community. A few months after Laurene gave birth to Sebastian.

For the first years of his life Sebastian was raised as an ordinary human child, with no idea that magic existed or his mother's history. This however did not last forever, Gérard spend years and a small fortune trying to find his missing daughter and the reason for her disappearance, fearing that she had been targeted by his enemies in America. His search would have never have found anything had it not been for magic, he sought out a mage who was know to be able to find anyone, for the right price. Given an image of a person's shadow this dark mage could project the view point of that person's shadow in the present. Gérard went to the mage expecting to find out nothing but that his daughter was dead, but instead was treated to a view of he new life with a muggle husband and a child with no magical talent. He was furious that his own daughter would abscond with some muggle and focused his efforts on finding her so he could restore his pride. He spent the next few weeks visiting the mage to locate his daughter, until they were able to pin point the location as in Los Angeles.

Gérard entrusted his eldest son with the duty of visiting his daughter's home, killing her husband and child, and returning with his daughter. Sebastian's uncle broke into Laurene and William's house while William was out but Laurene and Sebastian were at home. Laurene fought her brother, a water and ice mage, valiantly but ultimately failed because of lack of practice. She was frozen in place by her brother and unable to fight back when the five year old Sebastian walked into the room, seeing his mother in distress he ran in front of her and through instinct used magic for the first time. Generating a wall of flame between himself and his uncle but passing out in the process. Though it wasn't enough to stop his uncle or even hurt him the fact Sebastian could use magic changed the situation and made Laurene's brother retreat to inform his father. Knowing that she had been found Laurene spent the next few days in constant fear but trying to keep either William or Sebastian, who had forgotten his use of magic to the point where his mother was able to pass it off as a bad dream, from noticing her change in mood. About a week after the attack happened something quite unexpected happened a letter from Gérard came to Laurene, explaining that he wanted to meet her and discuss her grand son's future. Laurene feared it was a trap but had little option to agree to meet him.

Laurene went to meet her father for the first time in years, who came to Los Angeles. Gérard said, much to Laurene's surprise, that he would allow her to live her life peacefully with her husband and child. There was one simple condition, that is Sebastian decided that he wished to become a mage he would have to join the Leroy family on his eightieth birthday and leave his mother. Seeing a way to escape her father's wrath Laurene agreed, pledging a silent vow to herself that she would protect her son from magic. Then Gérard left Laurene in peace to raise her son.

Another nine years passed without incident and Sebastian was raised as an ordinary child. He developed an interest in outdoor activities such as surfing and running. He seemed to have a natural affinity to the sun. He was forever wanting to be outside and unlike a lot of his friends shunned TV and video games, a fact that was not lost on his mother. Also he enjoyed athletic pursuits because he seemed naturally better at them than most his colleges at school, due to his mage ancestry. It was when Sebastian was fourteen that he rediscovered his powers, he got into a fight with another guy in his year and accidentally set him on fire. The fire wasn't particularity strong and only left the boy with a minor burn on his hand. Even though under normal circumstances the boy in question would never do this he went to the school with the accusation that Sebastian was some sort of freak. Of course the school didn't believe it and because the boy had been caught smoking before they put it down to a cigarette burn. This meant that Sebastian's parent's weren't told about the fire. In the following weeks Sebastian began to try to work out how to use his powers, and slowly over time began to develop a level of control over his powers.

It only took a few months for word of Sebastian's developing powers to reach Gérard, who sent his son once again to Los Angeles. This time Sebastian was approached directly by his uncle and though initially mistrusting of him, the temptation of learning more magic was too much. Through his uncle Sebastian discovered the under ground magical community in Los Angeles and was introduced to a group of mages about his own age who would regularly meet up to spar in secret. Amongst this group were a couple of his school friends. From the group he quickly began to pick up tips on how to use his magic, and one night a week he would sneak out to meet the others to spar. It was during this time that he also discovered that he was able to use air magic. In this group were a number of water mages who would often go down to a secluded beach at night and show off with the stunts they could pull combining surfing and water magic. Not one to be outdone Sebastian began to formulate a technique that he was sure would make their draws drop.

Alone he developed and practised his jet booster technique, until he was ready to give it a test flight. He snook out of the house and went to the secluded beach, where he began to use his jet booster to fly. Firstly he started slow short flights, but by the end of the night he decided to try one last flight. At high speed he skimmed meters over the surface of the water, until he was hit by a tall wave that extinguished his jets and disturbed his flight. He shot into the cold water with an impact that stole his breath. His speed carried him deep below the surface before he slowed to a stop. With too little breath to swim to the surface he tried to pull a bubble of air from the surface to his lips. But with each attempt the bubble burst before he could get so much as a single mouthful. For a moment he thought that he would die there until a bubble much larger than what he had been able to summon descended to him and enveloped him. The bubble then pulled him to the surface where he was able to regain his breath and swim to shore. Waiting for him was his mother, who was sitting by the water's edge looking exhausted. On the beach she explained he history, to Sebastian and her reasons for keeping magic a secret from him. He was annoyed to say the least but deep down was able to see that his mother had done it to protect him, even if he didn't want to forgive his mother for it. Then Laurene said to Sebastian that she would teach him magic because it was clear to her that an ignorance of magic was of much more danger to him that magic it's self. She also gave Sebastian the fire opal that he wears around his neck, saying that the white and orange colours represent air and fire.

Laurene trained Sebastian all that she was still able to do, but with out practising she wasn't able to teach him any advanced techniques. Instead she focused on improving his basics, simple things that she was able to demonstrate with her limited supply of energy. With his grandson well on the path to learning magic, Gérard arranged a place at Vale for Sebastian to study. Though she didn't agree with her father interfering in Sebastian's upbringing there was nothing more that Laurene could teach Sebastian with out getting back into the magical community. Also Sebastian himself jumped at the prospect of attending a magic school where he could hone his powers. Laurene reluctantly agreed to let him attend. William believes that the situation is that Laurene's father has made up with her and is paying for Sebastian to attend a private school.

Other:

 

[Lucifer-san]

I made some more edits here and there and I believe I finished up the History and I made a few edits to Ignition Drive, but it's still a work in progress maybe. Hopefully the history isn't really cheesy I wanted to add in something somewhat eventful to give a bit of depth and I hope I did it right. Could I get some feedback please to see if I need to make some more edits and thanks.

 

[Songbird]

@DoD, Colony will be taking care of your history again—it's a lot more dramatic than before, and that's not necessarily a good thing. There are also a couple—okay, a lot of things in it for which we really would have appreciated you asking about first, such as the usage of the Darkness element due to its exclusivity, and someone trying to reveal magic to the muggle world due to the fact that the U.N. has their hands on every piece of data available on magic, and having all developed governments of the world on their side really makes it difficult to publicly reveal something.

Anyway, on Ignition Drive, Colony still isn't particularly clear about the practical problems with the spell itself. He just threw some sciency stuff at you that can honestly just be hand-waved with some rewording.

Also, don't breathe that. He's an English major.

This is something I brought up with -Sam in an earlier post, but fights in Vale are going to be rather fast-paced, and if there's a notable skill difference the fight will be over in less than a minute of in-world time. Overall, Ignition Drive will be beyond useless with the relatively long charge time it has. It will literally do more harm to Michael than good to try using it.

Second, when you have Infinity and its hyper-senses, Ignition Drive's defensive boost loses any remaining statistical usefulness, with just as much (if not more) risk due to the potential for severe burns, and... y'know, probably melting his skin off. As hilariously awesome and grotesque as that would be, Ignition Drive amounts to a spell of high risk and no reward, and I can't recommend that it stay in his repertoire in its current state.

 

[Lucifer-san]

Since I was still on I made a few changes based upon what you said and created a new spell in place of Ignition Drive. With the History I decided to take away the parts that were pretty questionable and decided to think about it some more as my mind kind of drifts when I'm doing the History and it just acts on it my bad I guess. Hopefully I'm able to sort out the History section soon.

 

[Songbird]

• Why can it paralyze him if the blade is entirely external? There should be minimal electricity running through his body from it—if anything, electricity should be leaving his body to fuel it, and at worst his hand would be numb or burnt as with Burning Embers. Instead, concentration would honestly be reasonable, as much as physical injuries are reasonable collateral for explosive spells; not all spells are going to hurt the user, either, depending on how explosive they are, but I digress. Next bullet for an explanation.
• You aren't going to absent-mindedly shape electricity into a usable physical weapon, right? It should take a lot of his focus to keep it in the form he wants, or else it would dissipate through him into the ground. The requirement of concentration would also mitigate any physical injuries he could sustain, unlike being able to AFK build his Burning Embers and just throw that out whenever he wants.
• When he releases a lightning bolt from the blade, does it consume the weapon in the process? If he can't get into melee range and has to resort to this (and you should expect him to be resorting to this a lot), it would be an appropriate limitation for a sense of timing, and, y'know, using electricity. Use a charge, lose a charge. If he's continually charging it with his own energy to maintain the weapon after releasing a bolt, it could drain him like a battery, and leave him sluggish as a result, making it more difficult to use Infinity.
• This one's personal, but why a katana? A Zweihänder is so much cooler in literally every way, or even a naginata if you wanted to keep the Feudal Japanese reference for some reason.
• Is Michael a battery? Colony wanted to know.

@The warden, I'll pick up your sheet tomorrow when I get up, but right now this is all I have to say to you.