❧ high seas app

[srslynotguy]

[Name]: Ai-chan
[Age]: 27
[Contacts]:
♦ DW: madderskies
♦ AIM: tatsumi owns you
♦ Plurk: alraune
[Timezone]: EST
[Other Characters]: n/a



[Name]: Flynn Scifo
[Canon]: Tales of Vesperia
[Age]: 21
[Gender]: Male
[Canon Point]: Before the final battle...

[History]:

The world in which the events of Tales of Vesperia unfold is Terca Lumireis. Its lands are divided between two major factions, the Union which is comprised of independent guilds and which have no real governmental hierarchy, and the Empire which is a monarchy and lead by the Heurassein family. Magic and other technologies are made possible in Terca Lumireis because of blastia and it is a mechanism that the very civilizations within Terca Lumireis are built on. In addition, its is blastia that make it possible for people to live in peace as it allows them to live within magical barriers that protect from the powerful monsters that roam the land.

Flynn Scifo is the young Commandant of the Empire. At the beginning of the game, Flynn is a lieutenant serving under an unnamed Brigade and stationed in the capital, Zaphias. His contributions to the Empire, especially in the prevention of a full blown war between the Union and the Empire, however, eventually earn him the title of Captain and the leadership of his own brigade. Later, and after the coup d'etat led by then Commandant Alexei, Flynn assumes the role of Acting-Commandant and rallies the knights still loyal to the Empire in order to bring order once again to the Empire. After those events, Flynn is officially made Commandant. He is also instrumental in the founding of a new settlement in the Hypionia continent, Aurnion, towards the end of the game.

Flynn is also the childhood friend of Yuri Lowell, the main character of Tales of Vesperia. In the 360 version, despite never joining the game party save for one occasion, Flynn works towards their dream of reforming the Empire through the avenues provided by the Empire's laws in the sidelines. He serves as a foil to Yuri by contrasting Yuri's tendency for deviating from the law and conventions with his zealousness to uphold the law and known rules.

♠ Aselia Wiki ♠

[Personality]:

Flynn's personality isn't all that complicated. Much of what he shows isn't that far off from what he really is. He's polite; someone who thinks before he speaks most of the time. He's friendly and humble; he never once boasts about his achievements and even insists that Yuri take responsibility for his part throughout the game, especially since it helps Flynn rise up the ranks. He values loyalty, is loyal himself, and respects people with the same ideals as him.

Those who are just will live lives of prosperity

Flynn possesses many traits of an ideal knight. He is upstanding and law-abiding. He values the importance of upholding the laws and solving problems through the right channels. He takes responsibility for his and his men's failures rather than placing the blame on scapegoats and, in turn, learns from those failures. He is hard-working and extremely passionate about protecting people, of defending the oppressed and working towards creating just laws. He is loyal and able to treat people equally regardless of their social position or nationality. Because of this, Flynn inspires the confidence and utmost loyalty of his subordinates, sometimes to bitter ends as Sodia demonstrates when she tries to kill Yuri for the dangers his friendship brings to Flynn.

His experiences from growing up in the lower quarter alongside Yuri and the injustices he's seen inflicted upon the less fortunate have shaped Flynn to become how he is today. "Didn't we swear on our swords when we were kids? We would fight to make people smile," Flynn says after you defeat him in battle and these words put his goals in simple terms. Flynn's desire is to see the Empire changed so that people from the lower quarter would be treated equally and without prejudice, especially in the eyes of the law. To achieve these goals, Flynn and Yuri enlisted in the knights with dreams of one day rising to ranks high enough to have a part in rewriting those laws that favored the rich and influential. Where Yuri gives up though and, later on, chooses to deal with the Empire problems with vigilante justice, Flynn perseveres. He does so because he believes in the importance of solving the Empire's problems through the right channels. "If the laws are at fault, then fixing those laws comes first."; to Flynn, the law is an important tool that must be respected if it is to be effective at all. While Flynn cannot fully regard Yuri's actions towards Ragou and Cumore as being completely bad, Flynn knows that Yuri's action sets a dangerous precedent: After all, if someone like Yuri can carry out his own brand of justice, what's stopping others from doing the same to more disastrous results?

You've been nothing more than a damn puppet on Alexei's string.

While Flynn may appear faultless to many people around him, Flynn does have his own faults. Chief of this is his trusting nature which blinds him to people's true intentions. This is shown with how it takes Estelle being kidnapped and the whole Imperial Guard staging a coup for him to realize Alexei's true nature. Because of how much Flynn idolizes Alexei (by virtue of Alexei being a commoner himself as opposed to most knights being nobility), he fails to notice the warning signs even when Alexei has effectively ordered a martial law on non-Imperial territory, a breach of territorial rights. It is also shown when he fails to realize where Sodia's resentment of Yuri may lead to, despite being Sodia's direct superior; this is presumably because of the high regard Flynn holds Sodia to.

He is also not as perfectly rigid about upholding the law as most people think he is. Though he refrains from going to extremes, Flynn is, at times, capable of bending the law or abusing loopholes to his own benefit. He requests that Yuri create "a distraction" so that his knights will have reason to inspect Ragou's mansion, for example. And, at Dahngrest, he states plainly that he expected Yuri to break him out of jail and accepts it willingly, albeit while Yuri sits for him, for the chance to fix things after he becomes (the unknowing) party to inciting a war between the Empire and the Union.

He is stubborn, not just determined, and not only does he still try to recruit Yuri back to the knights here and then (and not all jokingly), he also doesn't give up on cooking. The latter is something he's stated as having a "gift" for making people pass out with.

He has a streak of recklessness in him, as well, and an alarming lack of self-preservation for a man of his position. He commandeers a fleet of ships to ram a war ship in order to divert its blast from Zaphias. And, more than once, he pushes Yuri out of danger and takes on the brunt of an attack on his own. The second time this happens, he takes a full-force blow to his chest and, unfortunately for him, this pushes his second-in-command to take drastic measures to keep him from having the reason to do this again. (read: Kill Yuri)

I must be the light when you're in the dark

In the 360 version, Flynn's interactions with other members of the cast is very limited. Mostly, we see him interact with Yuri, his childhood and closest friend. According to the game, when they were younger, Flynn and Yuri made a promise to "make people smile" no matter what, even if they choose different paths. Flynn holds Yuri in the highest regard because of their friendship and it is because of this that Flynn may actually give Yuri some preferential treatment. For one, he hasn't been shown to put arresting Yuri for the murder of Ragou and Cumore on high priority, presumably because he sort of believes that though Yuri's methods are wrong, Cumore and Ragou did, somewhat, deserve what Yuri gave to them. Or maybe it's just because he's best friends with Yuri, and who would want to see your friend tried for murder? Flynn claims to know Yuri "more than anyone alive".

Flynn holds Alexei to high regard because of the ideals Alexei supposedly held before: Alexei believed in equality, the importance of living just lives and in upholding justice. In fact, Flynn paraphrases (or quotes) his ideals during an argument with Yuri in order to explain why he hadn't realized what Alexei was up to until that moment. As a commoner himself who rose to the rank of Commandant through hard work, Alexei was someone Flynn aspired to be like. Up until his betrayal, Alexei was the ideal knight for Flynn. Even after the reveal, Flynn is shown to have some difficult dropping the "Commandant" title from Alexei's name and, when they're faced with him at Zaude, even tries to reason with Alexei again. Ultimately, however, the weight of Alexei's actions against the Empire (and Ioder and Estelle) has Flynn eventually resenting Alexei.

His relationship with Estelle is one that isn't shown openly, but is implied to be rather close. Estelle, for one, escapes Zaphias Castle for the express reason of warning Flynn of an attempt to his life. And Flynn even speaks with Estelle privately in one occasion. Another thing is that Flynn seems to have spoken to Estelle a lot of times about Yuri; this leads me to believe that they have a rather close friendship. Flynn is also very protective of Estelle.

Flynn holds Ioder to a high regard. He calls the royal, "Master Ioder" and seems to have high hopes for what Ioder's reign will bring. When Yuri berates him for being blind to Alexei's intentions, Yuri asks if it's because Ioder believed in Alexei unquestioningly. This, I think, shows just how plain Flynn's regards of Ioder is plain to everyone else.

As for Sodia, Flynn's second-in-command is someone he trusts with his life. To Flynn, Sodia is someone who shares the same goals, the same ideals, and is able to understand what he's thinking and/or planning by extension. It's for this reason that Flynn never dreams of Sodia acting on her animosity towards Yuri and, as of the end of the game, hasn't found out about her part in Yuri's disappearance at Zaude. If he ever finds out about her part in that, Flynn will likely suffer from the same trust issues he did with Alexei, at a lesser extent....

Finally, Flynn's interaction with Raven/Schwann is next to nothing in the 360 version of the game, but I assume that because Schwann is commonly known as a commoner knight as well, Flynn will also hold him him in high regard (read: idolize him) regardless of his part in Alexei's schemes. To support this is the fact that it's Flynn who suggests to Ioder that Raven be given a uniform customarily given to Commandants (and at that time, Flynn is Commandant) instead.

You have achieved the title "Nightlife Emperor"!

We don't see Flynn much during non-plot-related events in the 360 version, and when we do, he's usually doing his duty as a knight. This gives the idea that Flynn is almost always in-control, and serious. The only time we see his cool exterior rattled is when he realizes he's been played by Alexei and the former Commandant has been behind the scenes of a lot of the schemes he's helped stamp out with Yuri. Even in the scenes with Yuri where he drops some of that knightly rigidness, Flynn is still very much composed. However, in the PS3 version, we're shown that Flynn is, in fact, quite an adorable and, in some ways, vulnerable character.

In the PS3 version, for example, Raven takes Flynn to a bar at Dahngrest. During this event, Flynn is shown to be hopelessly oblivious to women's advances (though, no less charming). "Yes, it would've been perfect if Yuri could've come too", he even adds when asked about that night, thoroughly failing to come to the implication of his statement. That's not to say Flynn doesn't know a thing about romance and the like, but this event shows how he doesn't come to that conclusion because he doesn't really expect that and often settles for assuming the most innocuous possibility instead.

Flynn is also shown to be quite torn between his duties as a Captain and his desire to see things through personally. Whereas this is shown in passing in the 360 version and quickly glossed over as something Flynn easily overcomes, there are several instances in the PS3 version where Flynn seems to almost plead to be allowed to step away from his duties as an Imperial Knight Captain to accompany Brave Vesperia in their mission. The first is when it is revealed that Estelle has been taken to the Shrine of Baction and the second time is right before Yuri and Co. storm the aer-stricken Zaphias. In the first instance, driven by his guilt for failing to realize what Alexei had been planning beforehand, Flynn asks Sodia and Witcher to watch over Prince Ioder in his place. In the second, still driven by that guilt and failure to protect Estelle, Flynn seems to hesitate just as he did back in the first instance, but only refrains from accompanying Yuri when something more important comes up. These instances show how Flynn isn't a stranger to inner conflict and can be quite affected by them. It also shows how, while Flynn is well-suited for leadership, he does have moments where he isn't quite the perfect leader because he would rather see things through personally. It's not a bad thing when you're an individual and aren't in a position of leadership, but there's a conflict of interest when you are. Flynn is, no doubt, well aware of this, but, as the PS3 version and the fact that he does become a permanent member in the last quarter of the game, can choose to ignore this fact.

As I'm playing with the 360 canon in mind, these have been included as a sort of extra to Flynn's character: None of the events listed here happen (exactly) in the 360 version, but I believe that Flynn's action in them show another dimension to his character that should be included.

Other tidbits according to the PS3 version are: Flynn hates squids, Flynn loves meat and steak, and Flynn is -- according to Yuri -- someone whose brain is almost always "on"....

[Abilities / Strengths & Weaknesses]:

Flynn is a skilled swordsman and magic user. His swordsmanship style is somewhat by-the-book, which reflects his character, but regardless the game has shown that he's skilled enough to easily rise to the top of the Colisseum tournament for a mission. Also, in the world of Terca Lumireis, bodhi blastia allows normal attacks to have elemental properties and Flynn is adept at this: A good number of his attacks (or artes), especially his mystic arte, have fire or light-magic effects.

As for straight-up magic (the type that actually requires chanting), Flynn has access to mostly healing and light-based magic.

♠ Flynn Artes List • youtube vid ♠

Additionally, he has a talent for making horrible food look beautiful. His cooking has been said to be like a Russian roulette: sometimes unspeakably great, other times mind-numbingly deadly.

As for weaknesses, it could be said that Flynn's near single-minded drive to protect others and to do what is right is one. On more than one occasion in the game, Flynn has been shown to be fully willing to put his life on the line all for the sake of justice and the protection of others (or Yuri Lowell, more importantly). Flynn pushes Yuri out of harms way and takes the brunt of Alexei's attack at Zaude, for example. He also commandeers ships and recklessly rams the Heracles with them in an attempt to keep its line of fire away from Zaude.

He also has a weakness for people he admires and tends to put his faith in people's capability for goodness rather than distrusting them on the get-go. As a result, Flynn might just be a bit gullible, especially against people who know how to 'play nice'.

[Limited Powers]: Under normal circumstances, Flynn wouldn't be able to go into overlimit. I'd like to leave that option open, if possible, but like... it's only activatable as a last ditch effort/near-death situations and after he does it probably wipes him out completely because the blastia he's equipped with can no longer really work with that kind of output without adverse effects.

[Other Important Facts]: Flynn doesn't like seafood. Or squid. If possible, keep that squid outta his menu B|

[Samples]:
♦ Thread: exsilium log thread for Flynn!
♦ Post:

It seems that I have enough for a ship, at least. A ketch if I wanted to spend everything I woke up with, or a sailboat if I want to keep some on reserve. With the rumors about the Piedra Roja, it might be a worthwhile pursuit to search for its shards. The only matter now is to look for a crew, someone familiar with this world's seas. I don't suppose the ships here run on blastia either...

The locals were nice enough to help me out with temporary lodgings but have been reluctant with other things. I don't think I have much of a choice between staying here and sailing out.

I hope the progress in Aurnion hasn't been hindered by my absence. I must find a way back to our world soon.

[ After this, he realizes there are responses to his 'journal entry' after he writes on the book... ]