[OOC] Profile
PLAYER INFORMATION
Name/Nickname: Pie
Contact: Contact info can be found under profile
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Canon Character and Series: White Knight Leo fromg Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
In-Game Name: Major Leo de Alkirk
Age: 22 23 24
Gender: Male
Position & Ship: Helmsman on the Victoria II Amestris
Appearance: Leo is a blue-haired demihuman. His ears and nose resemble those of a feline, and his teeth are quite sharp, particularly his fang-like canines. Patches of his skin are dark brown. With his clothes on, the patches that can be seen are a large stripe on each cheek, the backs of his ears, and part of his arms and hands; under all his clothing one would see that his back and shoulders are also darker than his chest and stomach. He has a horn on his forehead which has a metal ring around its base, similar to how some others might get a piercing or tattoo. He does not, however, have a tail, so don't look for one.
He wears a white military coat with a high collar. Over his coat he wears a blue sash, to which the scabbard for his sword is attached. Over that he wears a red cape, pinned at the shoulder with a metal brooch shaped into the symbol of Althena. And to top it all off, he also wears a cravat. His pants, also white, are tucked into tall boots which have metal guards over his knees. He wears plain metal bracelets on his wrists. As his alterego Mystere, he wears the same outfit, but wears a mask on his face as well.
He is of fairly average height and has a lighter build than one might expect for someone of his strength. However, he maintains an authoritative posture, and can easily give people the impression that he is larger than he actually is. He is a man of action; in the middle of conflict, he acts and reacts quickly, though his grace seems more the practiced grace of a swordsman than the natural grace of a cat. When he has nothing to do, he seems to grow restless easily. If he tries to stand still, he can usually be seen with his arms folded, foot tapping and ears twitching.
Personality: Leo is exactly what you might expect from an overly zealous knight, or perhaps a paladin, complete with the enormous stick up his ass. He does not merely follow orders, he executes them with determined ruthlessness, becoming incredibly single-minded in his task. He is loud, overbearing, stubborn, and does not respond kindly to insults. He's the sort of man who will charge at the most dangerous of foes with his sword drawn, prepared to slay them or die with honor. He's also the sort of man who, if necessary, will attack women, children, or even the people he loves most, and strike them down in the name of justice. In the middle of a good battle he can be heard screaming things like "Victory is mine!", "Kneel and perish!" and "Discipline feels good!"
The entire reason he works this way is because he has a distinct sense of honor and is very proud to consider himself a trusted servant to a greater power. He honestly believes that every order he receives is serving all that is Just and Good and Right. He sees himself as a true knight in shining white armor, defender of the weak and innocent, servant of the righteous, an honest-to-god hero in a dark age. He simply would not be able to accept himself as less.
And, unfortunately for him, a seed of doubt has been planted in his mind by a young man named Hiro. This treasure hunter refused to hand over a wanted criminal called Lucia the Destroyer, and aided her in escaping Leo and his men time and time again. Whenever the two crossed paths, Hiro insisted that Leo's superiors had lied to him, and Leo was hunting an innocent woman.
Much to Leo's frustration, to this day he has not been able to shake the thought. It couldn't be true... could it? If it was, what other lies has he believed in wholeheartedly? How many innocents had he arrested? How many had he slain? Part of him has realized that he has lost his sense of justice in the very pursuit of it, but the thought of this overwhelms him with such disgust and horror that he makes every effort possible not even to consider it. To cope, he commits himself further to his duties.
In fact, this has created a crack in his mind. The crack can be seen in a few rare moment where he simply cannot rationalize following orders, since they go against everything he believes to be right and just. When this happens, he lapses into an alternate identity called Mystere (which is, essentially, Leo wearing a white mask that doesn't hide very much; it hasn't fooled anyone yet). Only when he is this masked vigilante can he feel comfortable taking any actions that disobey his orders. The first time it happened, he released Hiro and Lucia from jail, and was lucky enough to not get caught in the process. Appearances by this alterego are rare, because his tunnel vision usually prevents him from spotting the true motives behind any orders.
When off duty, he can be surprisingly amiable. Assuming it's not an enemy he's addressing, he will speak easily even with people who are far less lawful and righteous than he. He is honest and chivalrous, and he strives to inspire others to do their best. He even has a sense of humor, provided the joke is not on him. However, thus far his relationships with other people have been purely platonic, and any romantic or sexual advances will likely confuse him or put him on the defensive. He does not have many people he considers particularly close, and time and circumstance have pushed away the people who mean the most to him.
He is very religious, and prays to Althena, a goddess of light, magic and music. Like other followers of Althena, he does not believe her to be a creator of the world but a protector of its inhabitants, and one who supposedly sent four dragons to Reial to watch over it in times of great crisis. If he were confronted by what he believed to be a holy being, he would likely put its orders above that of any mortal superior. Thankfully for those around him, he does not preach or try to convert nonbelievers, though he may look down his nose at infidels. When feeling doubt or in need of console, he looks to the stars and prays.
Abilities/Weapons: Leo is a highly skilled swordsman. He's trained in a variety of bladed weapons, from little daggers up to full bastard swords, but his weapon of choice is Dyne's Sword, which was once the sword of a hero of legend. He carries it in his scabbard, and it has helped him through many battles. Don't even think of asking him to borrow it.
He has some spells, but they pertain directly to solid earth, meaning they aren't very useful in the air. He might be able to summon a rock and throw it at someone, but that's about it. On the ground, his magic is strong enough to create a localized tremor. It's likely that, if there's any solid land below Reial, Leo's spells would be significantly more powerful down there. He also has magical abilities that he can channel directly through any sword, making it glow with a golden holy light or crackle with lightning. His most distinctive technique is called the Earth Prayer, which can temporarily harden and strengthen his flesh as if to turn it to stone.
Though he was former captain of the Dragonship Destiny, he actually does not have much experience with ship-to-ship combat since the Destiny had only a single cannon and was designed for fighting people, not other ships. However, he has a large bulk of experience in plotting a ship's course and manning its helm. The Dragonship moved along the ground in a rapid, scurrying manner, and needed constant course adjustment to accomodate for uneven or rough terrain. Few of the crew had the finesse to keep a smooth and steady course, and so Leo often took the helm himself and steered the Destiny through many of its rough and wild rides. Compared to that, airships are fairly easy to handle.
Leo's senses are slightly more acute than those of a typical human, particularly his hearing. Those big twitchy ears are not just for laughing at. He also has good balance, being well-adjusted to ship turbulence and the tremors of his own spells.
How well can your character hack?: "I can hack through infidels extremely well with my blade! ... wait, electronic journals? Do what with them? You can't be serious!"
No. Just... no. It doesn't matter whether or not he could figure it out, and indeed he would probably not have trouble learning at least some easy hacking. However, he thinks of it as dishonorable and will have no part in it.
Weaknesses: Leo is gullible and bad at reading other people, and anyone who has authority over him knows it. No matter how stupid, dangerous, or crooked his orders may be, all his superiors have to do is make him believe he is serving justice and he won't think twice about following it to the letter. This also makes it easy to outsmart him, despite him being a fairly intelligent man, since he thinks about things in a very straightforward manner and has a hard time seeing through deceptions. It's made him the butt of many pranks and once led to him getting locked in a cell on his own ship.
Inversely, he simply does not have a poker face. His eyes and ears will always betray his feelings, and his words are transparent. He finds outright lying difficult, and he'll only try it when he has no other option. Usually, if he has something to hide, he will avoid the subject.
His temper is short and his expectations for himself are unrealistically high. All it takes is to remind him that he is flawed, that he's made mistakes, that he is dreck to get under his skin. And whatever you do, don't mention that "Hell Mel was a pirate" (see: History). He takes insults to heart, and doesn't forgive or forget them quickly.
Because of his intensity, it's common for both enemies and allies alike to think that he's a nutjob and have trouble taking him seriously. It's also common for people to resent him for being very good at his job and a "pet" of his superiors. It is uncommon for him to make friends, and he's simply never had any relationship that was closer than a friend, because he's basically married to his work.
He internalizes a lot of doubt, guilt and struggles. There are a lot of things which trouble him about the past, and for someone who's such an open book he has a lot of skeletons in his closet. Asking him about things like family, friends, Raculi, Azado, plagues and fires will likely be met with a heavy silence. Even if pressed further, Leo will try to walk away from difficult conversations about his personal life rather than answer. He sees the past as full of pain and regrets, and tries to ignore it by setting his mind completely on the future.
History: Leo's history begins with that of his family. Decades ago, "Hell" Mel de Alkirk was well-known as a vicious pirate. However, he abandoned his life of piracy to defeat a powerful sorceror called the Magic Emperor. He and his three allies, Lemia, Ghaleon and Dyne, were hailed as heroes for their triumph. Afterwards, Hell Mel settled down in Ivona to help govern Abantiare and to raise his young daughter, Jessica. His decision is one that has governed the rest of the de Alkirk family's fate, including Leo's father, who likewise turned from piracy and settled in Ivona.
Leo grew up with his little sister Mauri in a town in southern Ivona called Raculi. It was a small farming village bordering the Badlands that was losing fertile land with each passing year. The village was also prone to monster attacks, one of which claimed the life of Leo's father shortly after Mauri was born. What kept Raculi alive was the faith and healing of a Sanctuary to the north called Serak Palace. His mother was a priestess there, and Mauri studied there along with Leo's best friend, Ronfar. Ronfar and Mauri fell in love at a very young age, and the three were very close in their early life.
When he was old enough, Leo left Raculi and headed north to Bellcius. With what little money and family influence he had, he was able to enroll in Belarus Academy. While diligently studying here, Leo wrote letters home to Ronfar and Mauri as often as he was able.
A few years later, a deadly plague swept through Raculi. When Mauri started to show the early stages of the illness, Leo put his studies at the Academy on hold to rush home. By the time he arrived, Mauri was bedridden and no magic would heal her. Willing to try anything, Leo and Ronfar gave Mauri a strange potion from Serak Palace that was said to cure any illness. She made a full recovery, and Leo hailed it as a miracle from Althena herself. However, Ronfar noticed that the once kind-hearted Mauri had now become cruel and sinister, as if possessed. He could not accept what she had become and blamed himself for being unable to heal her. Despite Leo's requests for him to stay, Ronfar abandoned everything to live as a low-life gambler in Vohemar.
Leo returned to Belarus Academy, and in time he graduated with high honors. Afterwards, he found himself reporting to Ghaleon, an old demihuman Captain of the Grindery and one of the four heroes who had fought against the Magic Emperor. Ghaleon was surrounded by dark rumors, particularly because he was decades past his prime and yet had shown no loss of his considerable skill with both sword and magic. Leo saw Ghaleon as a role model, and Ghaleon was amused that he would be commanding a young relative of Hell Mel's. He saw promise in Leo and always gave him the most difficult of orders, and Leo would strive to go above and beyond what was expected of him. Ghaleon found himself quickly promoting Leo, and was even so impressed that he presented Leo with the sword which had once been wielded by the great swordsman, Dyne.
Leo quickly reached the rank of Lt. Commander, and was placed in command of a small, specialized ship called the Destiny. The Destiny was a new type of ship called a Dragonship, designed to adapt between ground and air travel. It was small and fast, had no weapons except a magitech cannon mounted on the front, and required little crew to run besides a skilled helmsman. The purpose of the ship was to track down, corner and capture Ivona's rogue criminals who were traveling on foot and trying to flee through the Badlands and into Vohemar. Leo was given the full authorization to execute the most dangerous of these criminals, save for those who surrendered and submitted to a trial. Many, however, were the sort who would rather die free than submit to Leo, and were slain by his hand on the deck of the Destiny.
On the last mission of the Destiny, Leo was ordered to find a woman called "Lucia the Destroyer" and kill her on sight. In the Badlands, the Destroyer managed to find assistance in the form of a treasure hunter named Hiro, an annoying flying cat named Ruby, Leo's old friend Ronfar, a dancing gypsy named Jean, and a greedy mage named Lemina. This gang of rogues managed to escape and outsmart Leo and his men time after time, all the while insisting that Lucia was no Destroyer.
He eventually caught them in the small town of Azado. However, after the Destroyer had been safely locked away, fires started breaking out all over the city. Hiro and Ronfar assisted Leo in saving the town from burning to the ground. Soon after, Mauri appeared on the Destiny, revealing that the fires were her handiwork. She declared that the Destroyer and her heathen companions must burn. Despite his orders, Leo defended the Destroyer by threatening to kill Mauri if she interfered with his mission. She backed down and left Azado, headed back to Ivona.
He brought the Destroyer and company back to Bellcius to be tried for their crimes. When they arrived, Ghaleon himself was waiting to greet them. As a reward for their assistance in Azado, they were allowed to meet with friends in the city before standing trial. The group split up, with Leo and Ghaleon accompanying Lucia, Hiro and Ruby to the Bellcius Sanctuary of Althena. It turned out to be a trap, planned in part by Ghaleon and the high priestess of the temple. Leo watched as Lucia and her companions were seized from the public eye, thrown in jail to be executed without trial.
Leo found himself protesting in favor of the criminals, but all it earned him was questions about his loyalty to Ivona, to which he swore he was no traitor. He was thus given the order of watching over Hiro and Ruby in their cell. For the first time, Leo was struggling to obey, and when this feeling became too strong for him to ignore he became 'Mystere'. He released all of the Destroyer's companions, and reported to Ghaleon that "a mysterious stranger" had released them. He was immediately ordered to pursue them on the Destiny.
However, Lucia and her friends fled Ivona, and with the Badlands starting to declare its independence, pursuit on Leo's part could have been taken as hostile action from Ivona against the region. Thus, he was called off the chase, and for both his questionable loyalty and his overall failure in apprehending the Destroyer, Leo was been demoted back to Major. The Destiny was taken from his hands and returned to the government of Ivona. He was reassigned to the Victoria II as a trial by fire, to see if he was still a capable, loyal officer or if Lucia and her friends had changed him forever.
He served on the ship for about a year, performing his absolute best even despite the doubts that were still growing in his heart. In time, he came to regard the ship and his crewmates fondly, even if not quite as fondly as his old ship. This ended, however, when the ship cooperated with the Fiertia, and he met Yuri Lowell, a man he could not help but respect for much the same reasons as he had respected Hiro. Yuri was promptly arrested, and almost out of impulse, Leo decided to stay behind in Bellcius for a short period to assist in his rescue. He then patiently waited for the Victoria II to return to Ivona, and as if through some sort of twisted karmic justice, Leo did not learn until weeks after that it would never be coming back: the Victoria II was decommissioned.
He approached his superiors regarding his next reassignment, and found he would next be serving on the Amestris.
Name/Nickname: Pie
Contact: Contact info can be found under profile
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Canon Character and Series: White Knight Leo fromg Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
In-Game Name: Major Leo de Alkirk
Age: 22 23 24
Gender: Male
Position & Ship: Helmsman on the Victoria II Amestris
Appearance: Leo is a blue-haired demihuman. His ears and nose resemble those of a feline, and his teeth are quite sharp, particularly his fang-like canines. Patches of his skin are dark brown. With his clothes on, the patches that can be seen are a large stripe on each cheek, the backs of his ears, and part of his arms and hands; under all his clothing one would see that his back and shoulders are also darker than his chest and stomach. He has a horn on his forehead which has a metal ring around its base, similar to how some others might get a piercing or tattoo. He does not, however, have a tail, so don't look for one.
He wears a white military coat with a high collar. Over his coat he wears a blue sash, to which the scabbard for his sword is attached. Over that he wears a red cape, pinned at the shoulder with a metal brooch shaped into the symbol of Althena. And to top it all off, he also wears a cravat. His pants, also white, are tucked into tall boots which have metal guards over his knees. He wears plain metal bracelets on his wrists. As his alterego Mystere, he wears the same outfit, but wears a mask on his face as well.
He is of fairly average height and has a lighter build than one might expect for someone of his strength. However, he maintains an authoritative posture, and can easily give people the impression that he is larger than he actually is. He is a man of action; in the middle of conflict, he acts and reacts quickly, though his grace seems more the practiced grace of a swordsman than the natural grace of a cat. When he has nothing to do, he seems to grow restless easily. If he tries to stand still, he can usually be seen with his arms folded, foot tapping and ears twitching.
Personality: Leo is exactly what you might expect from an overly zealous knight, or perhaps a paladin, complete with the enormous stick up his ass. He does not merely follow orders, he executes them with determined ruthlessness, becoming incredibly single-minded in his task. He is loud, overbearing, stubborn, and does not respond kindly to insults. He's the sort of man who will charge at the most dangerous of foes with his sword drawn, prepared to slay them or die with honor. He's also the sort of man who, if necessary, will attack women, children, or even the people he loves most, and strike them down in the name of justice. In the middle of a good battle he can be heard screaming things like "Victory is mine!", "Kneel and perish!" and "Discipline feels good!"
The entire reason he works this way is because he has a distinct sense of honor and is very proud to consider himself a trusted servant to a greater power. He honestly believes that every order he receives is serving all that is Just and Good and Right. He sees himself as a true knight in shining white armor, defender of the weak and innocent, servant of the righteous, an honest-to-god hero in a dark age. He simply would not be able to accept himself as less.
And, unfortunately for him, a seed of doubt has been planted in his mind by a young man named Hiro. This treasure hunter refused to hand over a wanted criminal called Lucia the Destroyer, and aided her in escaping Leo and his men time and time again. Whenever the two crossed paths, Hiro insisted that Leo's superiors had lied to him, and Leo was hunting an innocent woman.
Much to Leo's frustration, to this day he has not been able to shake the thought. It couldn't be true... could it? If it was, what other lies has he believed in wholeheartedly? How many innocents had he arrested? How many had he slain? Part of him has realized that he has lost his sense of justice in the very pursuit of it, but the thought of this overwhelms him with such disgust and horror that he makes every effort possible not even to consider it. To cope, he commits himself further to his duties.
In fact, this has created a crack in his mind. The crack can be seen in a few rare moment where he simply cannot rationalize following orders, since they go against everything he believes to be right and just. When this happens, he lapses into an alternate identity called Mystere (which is, essentially, Leo wearing a white mask that doesn't hide very much; it hasn't fooled anyone yet). Only when he is this masked vigilante can he feel comfortable taking any actions that disobey his orders. The first time it happened, he released Hiro and Lucia from jail, and was lucky enough to not get caught in the process. Appearances by this alterego are rare, because his tunnel vision usually prevents him from spotting the true motives behind any orders.
When off duty, he can be surprisingly amiable. Assuming it's not an enemy he's addressing, he will speak easily even with people who are far less lawful and righteous than he. He is honest and chivalrous, and he strives to inspire others to do their best. He even has a sense of humor, provided the joke is not on him. However, thus far his relationships with other people have been purely platonic, and any romantic or sexual advances will likely confuse him or put him on the defensive. He does not have many people he considers particularly close, and time and circumstance have pushed away the people who mean the most to him.
He is very religious, and prays to Althena, a goddess of light, magic and music. Like other followers of Althena, he does not believe her to be a creator of the world but a protector of its inhabitants, and one who supposedly sent four dragons to Reial to watch over it in times of great crisis. If he were confronted by what he believed to be a holy being, he would likely put its orders above that of any mortal superior. Thankfully for those around him, he does not preach or try to convert nonbelievers, though he may look down his nose at infidels. When feeling doubt or in need of console, he looks to the stars and prays.
Abilities/Weapons: Leo is a highly skilled swordsman. He's trained in a variety of bladed weapons, from little daggers up to full bastard swords, but his weapon of choice is Dyne's Sword, which was once the sword of a hero of legend. He carries it in his scabbard, and it has helped him through many battles. Don't even think of asking him to borrow it.
He has some spells, but they pertain directly to solid earth, meaning they aren't very useful in the air. He might be able to summon a rock and throw it at someone, but that's about it. On the ground, his magic is strong enough to create a localized tremor. It's likely that, if there's any solid land below Reial, Leo's spells would be significantly more powerful down there. He also has magical abilities that he can channel directly through any sword, making it glow with a golden holy light or crackle with lightning. His most distinctive technique is called the Earth Prayer, which can temporarily harden and strengthen his flesh as if to turn it to stone.
Though he was former captain of the Dragonship Destiny, he actually does not have much experience with ship-to-ship combat since the Destiny had only a single cannon and was designed for fighting people, not other ships. However, he has a large bulk of experience in plotting a ship's course and manning its helm. The Dragonship moved along the ground in a rapid, scurrying manner, and needed constant course adjustment to accomodate for uneven or rough terrain. Few of the crew had the finesse to keep a smooth and steady course, and so Leo often took the helm himself and steered the Destiny through many of its rough and wild rides. Compared to that, airships are fairly easy to handle.
Leo's senses are slightly more acute than those of a typical human, particularly his hearing. Those big twitchy ears are not just for laughing at. He also has good balance, being well-adjusted to ship turbulence and the tremors of his own spells.
How well can your character hack?: "I can hack through infidels extremely well with my blade! ... wait, electronic journals? Do what with them? You can't be serious!"
No. Just... no. It doesn't matter whether or not he could figure it out, and indeed he would probably not have trouble learning at least some easy hacking. However, he thinks of it as dishonorable and will have no part in it.
Weaknesses: Leo is gullible and bad at reading other people, and anyone who has authority over him knows it. No matter how stupid, dangerous, or crooked his orders may be, all his superiors have to do is make him believe he is serving justice and he won't think twice about following it to the letter. This also makes it easy to outsmart him, despite him being a fairly intelligent man, since he thinks about things in a very straightforward manner and has a hard time seeing through deceptions. It's made him the butt of many pranks and once led to him getting locked in a cell on his own ship.
Inversely, he simply does not have a poker face. His eyes and ears will always betray his feelings, and his words are transparent. He finds outright lying difficult, and he'll only try it when he has no other option. Usually, if he has something to hide, he will avoid the subject.
His temper is short and his expectations for himself are unrealistically high. All it takes is to remind him that he is flawed, that he's made mistakes, that he is dreck to get under his skin. And whatever you do, don't mention that "Hell Mel was a pirate" (see: History). He takes insults to heart, and doesn't forgive or forget them quickly.
Because of his intensity, it's common for both enemies and allies alike to think that he's a nutjob and have trouble taking him seriously. It's also common for people to resent him for being very good at his job and a "pet" of his superiors. It is uncommon for him to make friends, and he's simply never had any relationship that was closer than a friend, because he's basically married to his work.
He internalizes a lot of doubt, guilt and struggles. There are a lot of things which trouble him about the past, and for someone who's such an open book he has a lot of skeletons in his closet. Asking him about things like family, friends, Raculi, Azado, plagues and fires will likely be met with a heavy silence. Even if pressed further, Leo will try to walk away from difficult conversations about his personal life rather than answer. He sees the past as full of pain and regrets, and tries to ignore it by setting his mind completely on the future.
History: Leo's history begins with that of his family. Decades ago, "Hell" Mel de Alkirk was well-known as a vicious pirate. However, he abandoned his life of piracy to defeat a powerful sorceror called the Magic Emperor. He and his three allies, Lemia, Ghaleon and Dyne, were hailed as heroes for their triumph. Afterwards, Hell Mel settled down in Ivona to help govern Abantiare and to raise his young daughter, Jessica. His decision is one that has governed the rest of the de Alkirk family's fate, including Leo's father, who likewise turned from piracy and settled in Ivona.
Leo grew up with his little sister Mauri in a town in southern Ivona called Raculi. It was a small farming village bordering the Badlands that was losing fertile land with each passing year. The village was also prone to monster attacks, one of which claimed the life of Leo's father shortly after Mauri was born. What kept Raculi alive was the faith and healing of a Sanctuary to the north called Serak Palace. His mother was a priestess there, and Mauri studied there along with Leo's best friend, Ronfar. Ronfar and Mauri fell in love at a very young age, and the three were very close in their early life.
When he was old enough, Leo left Raculi and headed north to Bellcius. With what little money and family influence he had, he was able to enroll in Belarus Academy. While diligently studying here, Leo wrote letters home to Ronfar and Mauri as often as he was able.
A few years later, a deadly plague swept through Raculi. When Mauri started to show the early stages of the illness, Leo put his studies at the Academy on hold to rush home. By the time he arrived, Mauri was bedridden and no magic would heal her. Willing to try anything, Leo and Ronfar gave Mauri a strange potion from Serak Palace that was said to cure any illness. She made a full recovery, and Leo hailed it as a miracle from Althena herself. However, Ronfar noticed that the once kind-hearted Mauri had now become cruel and sinister, as if possessed. He could not accept what she had become and blamed himself for being unable to heal her. Despite Leo's requests for him to stay, Ronfar abandoned everything to live as a low-life gambler in Vohemar.
Leo returned to Belarus Academy, and in time he graduated with high honors. Afterwards, he found himself reporting to Ghaleon, an old demihuman Captain of the Grindery and one of the four heroes who had fought against the Magic Emperor. Ghaleon was surrounded by dark rumors, particularly because he was decades past his prime and yet had shown no loss of his considerable skill with both sword and magic. Leo saw Ghaleon as a role model, and Ghaleon was amused that he would be commanding a young relative of Hell Mel's. He saw promise in Leo and always gave him the most difficult of orders, and Leo would strive to go above and beyond what was expected of him. Ghaleon found himself quickly promoting Leo, and was even so impressed that he presented Leo with the sword which had once been wielded by the great swordsman, Dyne.
Leo quickly reached the rank of Lt. Commander, and was placed in command of a small, specialized ship called the Destiny. The Destiny was a new type of ship called a Dragonship, designed to adapt between ground and air travel. It was small and fast, had no weapons except a magitech cannon mounted on the front, and required little crew to run besides a skilled helmsman. The purpose of the ship was to track down, corner and capture Ivona's rogue criminals who were traveling on foot and trying to flee through the Badlands and into Vohemar. Leo was given the full authorization to execute the most dangerous of these criminals, save for those who surrendered and submitted to a trial. Many, however, were the sort who would rather die free than submit to Leo, and were slain by his hand on the deck of the Destiny.
On the last mission of the Destiny, Leo was ordered to find a woman called "Lucia the Destroyer" and kill her on sight. In the Badlands, the Destroyer managed to find assistance in the form of a treasure hunter named Hiro, an annoying flying cat named Ruby, Leo's old friend Ronfar, a dancing gypsy named Jean, and a greedy mage named Lemina. This gang of rogues managed to escape and outsmart Leo and his men time after time, all the while insisting that Lucia was no Destroyer.
He eventually caught them in the small town of Azado. However, after the Destroyer had been safely locked away, fires started breaking out all over the city. Hiro and Ronfar assisted Leo in saving the town from burning to the ground. Soon after, Mauri appeared on the Destiny, revealing that the fires were her handiwork. She declared that the Destroyer and her heathen companions must burn. Despite his orders, Leo defended the Destroyer by threatening to kill Mauri if she interfered with his mission. She backed down and left Azado, headed back to Ivona.
He brought the Destroyer and company back to Bellcius to be tried for their crimes. When they arrived, Ghaleon himself was waiting to greet them. As a reward for their assistance in Azado, they were allowed to meet with friends in the city before standing trial. The group split up, with Leo and Ghaleon accompanying Lucia, Hiro and Ruby to the Bellcius Sanctuary of Althena. It turned out to be a trap, planned in part by Ghaleon and the high priestess of the temple. Leo watched as Lucia and her companions were seized from the public eye, thrown in jail to be executed without trial.
Leo found himself protesting in favor of the criminals, but all it earned him was questions about his loyalty to Ivona, to which he swore he was no traitor. He was thus given the order of watching over Hiro and Ruby in their cell. For the first time, Leo was struggling to obey, and when this feeling became too strong for him to ignore he became 'Mystere'. He released all of the Destroyer's companions, and reported to Ghaleon that "a mysterious stranger" had released them. He was immediately ordered to pursue them on the Destiny.
However, Lucia and her friends fled Ivona, and with the Badlands starting to declare its independence, pursuit on Leo's part could have been taken as hostile action from Ivona against the region. Thus, he was called off the chase, and for both his questionable loyalty and his overall failure in apprehending the Destroyer, Leo was been demoted back to Major. The Destiny was taken from his hands and returned to the government of Ivona. He was reassigned to the Victoria II as a trial by fire, to see if he was still a capable, loyal officer or if Lucia and her friends had changed him forever.
He served on the ship for about a year, performing his absolute best even despite the doubts that were still growing in his heart. In time, he came to regard the ship and his crewmates fondly, even if not quite as fondly as his old ship. This ended, however, when the ship cooperated with the Fiertia, and he met Yuri Lowell, a man he could not help but respect for much the same reasons as he had respected Hiro. Yuri was promptly arrested, and almost out of impulse, Leo decided to stay behind in Bellcius for a short period to assist in his rescue. He then patiently waited for the Victoria II to return to Ivona, and as if through some sort of twisted karmic justice, Leo did not learn until weeks after that it would never be coming back: the Victoria II was decommissioned.
He approached his superiors regarding his next reassignment, and found he would next be serving on the Amestris.