application for Mostly Harmless
OOC:
Name: Crin
Are you over 16?: yes
Personal LJ: world_chaser
Email: ontheline@gmx.com
Timezone: CST
Other contact: AIM || Entropyflight
Characters already in the game: none
How did you find us?: fresh_debonair dragged me into this invited me
IC:
Character name: Noah 'Gabranth' fon Ronsenburg
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Timeline: Slowly bleeding his life out abroad the Strahl, but still fixable.
Age: 36
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths:
Noah doesn't have many magical abilities, other than the fact that he is immune to most effects of the status-affecting magick "spells" available to FFXII (Blind, Sleep, Stop, etc). I'd assume the same resistance would work against other similar types of magic, though to less effect, as it is from a different origin, and thus of a different construction. He can also heal himself with the quasi-spell "Restore". Similar to Basch, though, his real combat strengths rely on his weapon skills (he can use just about anything you can find on a D&D weapons chart, with specialties in swords and staff/pole-arm/battle-pike-type weapons) and physical attacks and defense. He isn't much of a magic user.
Noah also is very intelligent and has the memory of a… super computer or something, but that isn't so much magical as it is Noah being a boss.
I suppose living life seeming perfectly normal like your mind wasn't a minefield of psychological problems could be considered magical, too.
How would they use their abilities?:
He'd just use it to avoid trouble and serve his lord. And probably help people, if his brother dragged him into it. He doesn't particularly favor using his battle skills to muscle his way through problems, and much more enjoys using subtlety and political maneuvering. He's the (former) head of intelligence; his preference lies in outwitting, out-maneuvering, and sidestepping his opponents and problems.
Appearance:
Noah is a moderately tall (5'11"), well-muscled man with blond hair and blue-hazel eyes, who wears ridiculously heavy plate armor. So, basically he looks like his identical twin brother, Basch, with minutely better fashion sense and less scars in visible places. Basic silver/black and all that. His skin is paler, due to walking around in aforementioned full armor and and helmet all the time.
Background/Personality:
Just a warning, this is going to be a mish-mash of head-canon and game-canon, simply because there are huge spans of time that occur that canon references with maybe an eight-word sentence. Personally, I don't think I've read an eight-word sentence that could eloquently describe a roughly twenty year time span, but that could just be me.
Noah fon Ronsenburg, younger twin to Basch, was born in 670 according to the Old Valendian calendar, to a Landissian father and an Archadian mother. (It is implied that his mother held some sort of rank or nobility.)
His father presumably died rather early on in their lives, leaving Basch and Noah as the men of the household.
Despite this, the twins' youth seemed to be a good one, alternating between taking care of their sickly mother and training as warriors. (The twins prowess and canonical events of them going from essentially washed-up and displaced persons to Captainhood [Basch] and Four-five star general Equivalent [Noah] indicate they were fighters or career soldiers). It's a whole different level of skill and dedication: less about fighting because my country needs it and more because this is what I do.
All of this, of course, goes straight to Famfrit in a handbasket when the Archadian Empire decides to expand their borders and subjugate the Republic circa 687.
The Landisi, of course, are quite aware that they are going to lose. It is from the decisions made in light of this that the trouble begins. At age 17, Noah and Basch were in the regular army, fighting to preserve Landis. As it grows more apparent that this is a hopeless fight, Basch makes the decision to leave Landis for Dalmasca in hopes of gaining better training (and possibly allies) so that he may return and liberate Landis. Noah considers this treason and desertion, and the brothers part on the worst terms possible.
Landis falls soon after and is fully assimilated into the Archadian Empire. Landis is now the remains of a war zone gone horribly horribly wrong. Kind of like Nabudis, only with survivors. Needless to say, it's rather traumatizing.
Noah, as a former soldier with nothing left to him and an Archadian mother (like of some not-inconsiderable status) who is only deteriorating in health, moves with her to Archadia, takes his mother's maiden name (Gabranth) as his own, and (with coercion and glaring) enlists into the military.
Noah's skill and experience helped him rise swiftly in rank (despite his Landissian heritage) to Senior NCO (Noncommissioned officer), i.e. the highest enlistment rank achievable, and he was "mentioned in dispatch" very frequently, catching Emperor Gramis's attention (likely through a Judge Magister, say, Zecht): and with the Emperor's backing, he becomes a Judge (Archadia's elite officer corps.), and later a Judge Magister (the four/five star general ranking in the US Army; for example Patton and Ike/Eisenhower).
As a new judge, Noah was placed into the Ninth Bureau, at the time under Judge Magister Zecht. With the subtle support of the Emperor (who, at this point, is essentially grooming Gabranth to be his right-hand man), Noah is taken under Zecht's mentoring wing and grows to be his second.
During all of this, he is playing a dangerous game, hiding the existence of his twin brother who is Captain by this point, while letting the Empire lead him around by the nose with Landis (and his mother until her death during this time span).
I'd assume the pattern went something along the lines of this: Gramis gives Gabranth an assignment that more morally upright men would have burned, Noah completes it like a good boy, Gramis gives him a fatherly pat on the head, and Noah receives a report on the acceleration towards self-determination and reconstruction in the Northwestern territories *cough*Landis*cough* the next morning.
It is also likely that within this time is when Noah first gains contact with baby Larsa, the emperor's fourth son, and becomes his pseudo-guardian after a fellow Judge Magister, Drace, who is also his best friend forever (because she is an amazing woman and the boys are all lame anyways).
It is under Zecht that Gabranth eventually reaches the rank of Judge Magister. Close up to the two years immediately preceding FFXII, this huge important secret thing about Judge Magister Gabranth having an identical twin brother who happens to be the Captain of the guard in little old Dalmasca (a region that currently holds both Rozzaria and Archadia's interest) is not so secret anymore. Noah is not pleased. The Emperor is not pleased. Someone gets into a whole lot of trouble, and that leash around his neck tightens.
However, the Solidors (Emperor Gramis and his sons), now have something even better to dangle over Noah's head. AND Vayne (Gramis' eldest living son after he killed his two older brothers), who is seriously stretching his political power, finds a key to conquer the city of Rabanastre (the Dalmascan capital), so to speak. Noah goes along with the plan to overtake Rabanastre because it means that Basch will still be alive at the end of it (and, frankly, he could care less about the Kingdom that stole his brother away as long as they weren't utterly slaughtered a-la-Landis. No one deserved that.).
There is a lot of planning/plotting and Noah slowly picks up Bach's mannerisms and styles for Vayne's plan.
In Valendia 704, shortly after political unrest in Nabudis, Nabradia's capital, said capital is blown up by Zecht, who had no idea what it was going to do. Zecht ditches his post and flees to Balfonheim after he does so, out of guilt, giving Noah a Klingon Promotion into head of the Ninth Division. (Keep in mind that the Empire is not stupid. Zecht isn't flying free like a bird, no great empire is going to let their head intel officer up and run. Noah and Zecht are on rather good personal terms, and thus Noah has maintained contact with Zecht, now going by the name Reddas. With Basch to reign Noah in, Gramis is content for now.)
At the battle of Nalbina fortress in 704, a little after Zecht blew up Nabudis, Noah does his part in Vayne's plan to gain control over Dalmasca by imitating his brother and killing the Dalmasacn monarch, King Raminas (and a decent number of statesmen and soldiers in the process). He encounters Basch for the first time in seventeen years (oh, ironic symmetry) and defeats him. Basch is then secreted away for political reasons (and, they can't exactly have two Captain Basch fon Honourfaces skipping about, can they now?)
For Regicide and High Treason (plus provoking the Archadian Invasion) "Basch", in a trial where everyone and their grandmother was under the heavy influence of magical meddling and half-high out of their minds, is sentenced to death, and is 'executed'.
In truth, Basch remained in the Oubliette of Nalbina Dungeons for political leverage against neutral countries (and to flagrantly taunt Noah, but Basch didn't know about that part.)
In the two years that followed, whenever Noah could scrounge together a few free moments out of his busy schedule (which he surprisingly managed to do quite a lot) of running all of Archadia's intelligence operations and catering to Vayne, who was now Consul of Rabanastre, he would visit his brother to check on him and see how he was doing taunt him and subtly pry for information that Archadia wanted. Occasionally, when Noah was sure that Basch was not going to be conscious for several hours, he would cast Sleep on the man and take him to a private room and heal him up. (Because Noah wasn't a total bastard all the time, however much he may seem like a vegetarian mass-murderer.)
There is more plotting and some resistance-crushing that follows (because there is a mole) and political ladder-climbing, none of which is particularly relevant to Gabranth personally.
It's after one of these visits, two years later in 706 (coincidentally, after Gabranth meets Vaan, brother of one of the soldiers he'd killed impersonating Basch, for the first time the evening before), that Basch manages to escape with the help of former-judge and now sky pirate (and leading man) Balthier, the bunny-woman (Viera) Fran, and the aforementioned obnoxious blond brat, Vaan.
Gabranth tells Vayne that Ondore, a Marquis of the neutral country Bhujerba that Basch was being kept alive to be leverage for, is pulling shenanigans and likely funding Bhujerba's resistance and the like. He also goes snooping with Vayne for information regarding something with the power to do a lot of bad things, that Vaan had already stolen.
When Gabranth finally returns to Archadia (as Vayne has been called back by the Senate), he reposts on Vayne's actions to Emperor Gramis, outlining all the little plot strings because Gabranth knows his intel.
Gramis asks Gabranth to protect Larsa from Vayne's influence and to preserve Larsa's sweetness and idealism from Vayne's evil. Or something.
Later, previously mentioned fellow Judge Magister Drace tells Gabranth her own worries for Larsa's safety because the Senate favors him and wants to use him as a puppet.
Then Vayne tells Gabranth to look over Larsa and protect him from the Senate, and to preserve his innocence.
HE'S REALLY GOT THE POINT BY NOW THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Vayne kills Gramis and pins it on a Senator so that he has a reason to dissolve the Senate and get his father out of the picture. None of the Judge Magisters challenge the decision, except Drace, who draws her sword to attack Vayne. She is restrained then accused of High Treason.
Because Vayne is mean, nasty, and heinous, and suspects that it was Gabranth who has been snitching on him to Gramis, he forces him to kill Drace. Which he does with much reluctance and inner angst. She tells him (with her dying breath, no less) to guard Larsa in her place. He promises that he will.
(This whole patricide debacle, interestingly enough, places Noah as the 2nd most dangerous man in Ivalice, and 3rd most powerful in Archadia-and, through extension, likely Ivalice as well-as the ranking of Succession is Vayne-->Larsa {who is sweet and precious and not dangerous at all}-->Noah/Gabranth)
Vayne then sends Gabranth off to figure out what the hell Ashe, princess of Dalmasca and daughter to that King he killed two years ago, and the good guys (comprised namely of his brother, Balthier, Fran, Vaan, and Vaan's girl-buddy Penelo who smiles a lot) are up to, and whether or not Ashe intends war.
Gabranth confronts Ashe at the Sun Cryst-a big shiny crystal thing that can do a lot of damage- and confesses that it was he who killed her father and tries to goad her into using the Cryst's power. (thus declaring war and doing exactly what Vayne wants her to do).
She ultimately refuses, so he attacks her and the party/good guys, and gets his butt handed to him. Dr. Cid (Balthier's father and a crazy-mad scientist, go figure) shows up and badmouths Gabranth, (but Cid badmouths everybody and is a few eggs short of a dozen anyways) and Gabranth tries to strike him down but is rebuffed by Venat, Dr. Cid's crazy acquaintance who also happens to be a pseudo-God. Figures. After that debacle, Gabranth retreats to report back to Vayne.
Gabranth goes to the Sky Fortress Bahamut with Vayne after sharing his knowledge with him, and is sent into the lower levels, still wounded, to slow the party down and confront them again.
Gabranth doesn't understand Basch's continued upholding of his honor and pride (though, by this point, Noah has run out of his endurance and is starting to hit that third stage of stress, meaning he is really headed towards a mental and physical burnout. Given that it's take him nineteen years to get to this point, with a constantly increasing level of stress added onto the crap he's already dealing with, it is distinctly impressive that he's made it this long) and engages the good guys again.
After all, he considers getting the ever-loving snot beat out of him his just desserts. (Also, he is rather a masochist, if his life choices are anything to go by).
Basch is all mushy-gushy brother pep talk and the party then leaves Gabranth to go confront Vayne.
Noah, now in superbly awful shape, stumbles his way up Bahamut and witnesses the battle of the good guys against the bad. Vayne is defeated once and then saps power out of Larsa through Nethecite (that big bad glowy/shiny crystal of evil thing) or something. Noah confronts Vayne and then aids the party (because he's gotta protect Larsa). At the end of the battle, Noah strikes "Vayne Novus" when he's vulnerable and practically runs him through. Vayne repays him with a one-two punch that busts the armor on his face and sends him flying across the rather large room. Basch cradles his brother in his arms and Vayne makes as if to finish Noah off, but is stopped by Larsa, who uses his own Nethecite to absorb the magic attack. Vaan uses this distraction to pick up Noah's fallen sword and delve the fatal blow to Vayne.
Vayne totters off and becomes a monster and the party follows him, leaving Noah laying there with Larsa for company.
The party wins, and as a result the Bahamut is falling and the party bring the dying Gabranth along with them as they hightail back to Balthier's airship, the Strahl.
Larsa and Basch (mostly Basch) angstfest over Noah, who charges his brother with protecting Larsa that the newly-gained, hard-won peace doesn't shatter into a million pieces.
And then some idiot technician in Draklor has to spill some substance or another and blow the bloody place up.
Now, personality:
Noah is a complicated man. He tends to come off as cynical, cold-hearted and rather ruthless,sometimes even downright malicious and cruel. In truth, he's a man dealt a bad hand by the fates, and he hides his opinions and emotions under a flat mask. With a firm sense of loyalty, he has tendency to fall into a 'my master, right or wrong' mindset. Part of this stems from his anger and hatred of himself and his perceived failings partnered with a preoccupation toward being the perfect servant (and, in essence, doing something /right/, even if it isn't exactly the morally kind of 'right').
He is one of those people who are quietly angry. Normally, you wouldn't notice a difference, his face subtly sets and he becomes more terse in his speech as the repressed feelings escalate. Noah holds himself to very high standards and, as a result, has an underlying self-loathing of himself and is prone to count his failures as inexcusable. This generates more hated and frustration and disappointment and self-loathing. His cold façade is a thin layer of crust with pressure steadily building up under it, and eventually he'll hit his threshold and erupt like a volcano.
Repression is his way of dealing with everything the world throws his way, from his parents' deaths, to Basch's leaving, to the takeover of Landis, to the actions he is forced to take. His adulthood has been little more than one huge regret, and he seeks absolution with the same tireless tenacity he fights to live.
When it counts, he puts others before himself and does indeed have a sense of nobility, even if he tends to be a mite more pragmatic (combat and otherwise) than Basch.
However, there is one big problem with all of this…
His façade and his coping mechanism of focus on the big issue that's about to doom the world isn't going to work any longer because, a) there isn't a world hurtling towards doom anymore, and b) his PTSD, C-PTSD, and the other loads of Psychological trauma problems that Square Enix decided to give him if finally reaching the level of "you seriously can't ignore the fact you have issues anymore".
This is evidenced throughout the game and comic canon, where, in the beginning, he is very stoic, calm, and-for the most part-collected. With each successive encounter with the party, he cracks even further, finally managing to pull himself together long enough to give his brother final instructions as he's dying.
His history tells us (even just relying on canon and common sense) that he has been in the psychological equivalent of the front lines of battle for at least 10 years straight. Human's cannot function like that without adapting in a way that seriously messes you up later when the world rights itself (and sometimes just messes you up. Period. No adaption.)
He's been manipulated and placed in high up (and eventually in charge) in a branch of military that does not necessarily find itself conducive to morality. Everything he values as important has been used against him. He's been forced to commit crimes and do actions that go against his moral principle. And due to his perfectionist personality and refusal towards self-failings, he will think that it's all his fault.
Messed up. Bad. End of story.
Why do you want to continue their history here: Because FFXII carefully dodges around the fifty million mental problems that are coming to a head, because he dies. I would very much like to explore this. Also, Basch needs his twin bro.
And, in all honesty? This place looks amazing, and I like to mess with my Noah-muse. He doesn't like this about me so much.
(As a note, I am not taking Noah from another game/community, he is drawn directly from canon. I just answered this question before I had been explained what this question applied to, but I rather like it so I hope you don't mind that I kept it. :3)
Have you read up on how the game works?:
As far as the guide plug-in, uh, FlamingFerret? I can't quite tell, 'xactly.
Three ways? Missions, freelance/private employment/business, and the most useful and absolute best….MOOCHING.
1st person sample:
[There's a long pause after the device is turned on; the screen has been blacked out, most likely by a hand. A shifting sound can be heard, and the device is moved (propped up?) against something. The hand is removed to reveal a severely injured man with short-cropped blond hair and blue-hazel eyes. A drop of dark-red is coagulating at the corner of his mouth.]
As I am to understand, I am not the only individual from Ivalice to find themselves on this… vessel. If anyone could help me as to the location of these individuals, or inform me of how to contact them, I would be most thankful.
[There's a short pause, and a slightly self-deprecating smirk flits across his face for a moment.]
I do sincerely apologize to those of you who would have rather never seen my face again. It seems that I have the worst luck with timing.
3rd person sample:
Zecht knitted his brows in concentration and likely frustration while Gabranth remained frustratingly blank, for all that he had to restrain a smile from his lips.
It had been easy, ridiculously easy, to goad his 'mentor' into a private game. Before, in their matches of Impetere, he had played the game the way Basch would have played it, endlessly an tirelessly defending his place with fair play and clinging to lands already lost. Gabranth didn't play that way; Gabranth had learned through blood and toil and tears that such a gambit amounted to nothing. Archadia had not been kind, but it had been a good teacher nonetheless.
When his mentor had accepted the match, this was not what he had expected; Gabranth could tell from the way he'd gotten increasingly more agitated.
It had started out "normal" enough, concentrated troops in the same areas and smaller deployments among his other "starting" territories. He'd let the Judge Magister sweep along the land, building up his troop numbers slowly, so far spread and in such small increments that Zecht hadn't noticed until he had ruthlessly turned the tables, forcing the higher-ranked Judge into a desperate man's war of attrition. His Lordship Emperor Gramis had placed favor in him, and he was ready to prove he could earn it.
Now, though, Zecht wasn't looking at the board at all, and Gabranth couldn't help but feel the churning of his ever-present anger rise dangerously close to the surface as he shoved it down. He had failed, again, despite his advantage, despite the fact he was winning, because no one would see him succeed.
So wrapped up in his own frustrations he was caught off guard by the man's words. "You are alive, Noah! A living, breathing Hume. Not a statue of stone. Show some pride in your accomplishment. You'll live your life under a helmet that shows no emotions, do not be afraid to show them."
Years later, it was those words he remembered when Vayne confronted him with a past he had tried to forget.
"Did you know your look alike stands as Captain of the Guard in Dalmasca? Such an unfortunate resemblance. Of course, you would know nothing of this Basch, would you?" Gabranth hated that smile. Like a satisfied cat having feasted on the canary and given a helping of cream for it's efforts.
"Milord."
Gabranth didn't need the helmet when he received the orders to impersonate is second half. He didn't flinch; there wasn't even the slightest twitch on expression. Emotions were useless, impeding. They hindered his service to his lord. What good were the words of a man who'd fled, anyways?
And if somewhere inside him a young man cried out and mourned for the brother he was about to lose yet again, he went unacknowledged.
Questions?:
Halp? I've been kidnapped by my rabid fangirl.
No, not really.
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject:
Yes sir/ma'am!
Name: Crin
Are you over 16?: yes
Personal LJ: world_chaser
Email: ontheline@gmx.com
Timezone: CST
Other contact: AIM || Entropyflight
Characters already in the game: none
How did you find us?: fresh_debonair dragged me into this invited me
IC:
Character name: Noah 'Gabranth' fon Ronsenburg
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Timeline: Slowly bleeding his life out abroad the Strahl, but still fixable.
Age: 36
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths:
Noah doesn't have many magical abilities, other than the fact that he is immune to most effects of the status-affecting magick "spells" available to FFXII (Blind, Sleep, Stop, etc). I'd assume the same resistance would work against other similar types of magic, though to less effect, as it is from a different origin, and thus of a different construction. He can also heal himself with the quasi-spell "Restore". Similar to Basch, though, his real combat strengths rely on his weapon skills (he can use just about anything you can find on a D&D weapons chart, with specialties in swords and staff/pole-arm/battle-pike-type weapons) and physical attacks and defense. He isn't much of a magic user.
Noah also is very intelligent and has the memory of a… super computer or something, but that isn't so much magical as it is Noah being a boss.
I suppose living life seeming perfectly normal like your mind wasn't a minefield of psychological problems could be considered magical, too.
How would they use their abilities?:
He'd just use it to avoid trouble and serve his lord. And probably help people, if his brother dragged him into it. He doesn't particularly favor using his battle skills to muscle his way through problems, and much more enjoys using subtlety and political maneuvering. He's the (former) head of intelligence; his preference lies in outwitting, out-maneuvering, and sidestepping his opponents and problems.
Appearance:
Noah is a moderately tall (5'11"), well-muscled man with blond hair and blue-hazel eyes, who wears ridiculously heavy plate armor. So, basically he looks like his identical twin brother, Basch, with minutely better fashion sense and less scars in visible places. Basic silver/black and all that. His skin is paler, due to walking around in aforementioned full armor and and helmet all the time.
Background/Personality:
Just a warning, this is going to be a mish-mash of head-canon and game-canon, simply because there are huge spans of time that occur that canon references with maybe an eight-word sentence. Personally, I don't think I've read an eight-word sentence that could eloquently describe a roughly twenty year time span, but that could just be me.
Noah fon Ronsenburg, younger twin to Basch, was born in 670 according to the Old Valendian calendar, to a Landissian father and an Archadian mother. (It is implied that his mother held some sort of rank or nobility.)
His father presumably died rather early on in their lives, leaving Basch and Noah as the men of the household.
Despite this, the twins' youth seemed to be a good one, alternating between taking care of their sickly mother and training as warriors. (The twins prowess and canonical events of them going from essentially washed-up and displaced persons to Captainhood [Basch] and Four-five star general Equivalent [Noah] indicate they were fighters or career soldiers). It's a whole different level of skill and dedication: less about fighting because my country needs it and more because this is what I do.
All of this, of course, goes straight to Famfrit in a handbasket when the Archadian Empire decides to expand their borders and subjugate the Republic circa 687.
The Landisi, of course, are quite aware that they are going to lose. It is from the decisions made in light of this that the trouble begins. At age 17, Noah and Basch were in the regular army, fighting to preserve Landis. As it grows more apparent that this is a hopeless fight, Basch makes the decision to leave Landis for Dalmasca in hopes of gaining better training (and possibly allies) so that he may return and liberate Landis. Noah considers this treason and desertion, and the brothers part on the worst terms possible.
Landis falls soon after and is fully assimilated into the Archadian Empire. Landis is now the remains of a war zone gone horribly horribly wrong. Kind of like Nabudis, only with survivors. Needless to say, it's rather traumatizing.
Noah, as a former soldier with nothing left to him and an Archadian mother (like of some not-inconsiderable status) who is only deteriorating in health, moves with her to Archadia, takes his mother's maiden name (Gabranth) as his own, and (with coercion and glaring) enlists into the military.
Noah's skill and experience helped him rise swiftly in rank (despite his Landissian heritage) to Senior NCO (Noncommissioned officer), i.e. the highest enlistment rank achievable, and he was "mentioned in dispatch" very frequently, catching Emperor Gramis's attention (likely through a Judge Magister, say, Zecht): and with the Emperor's backing, he becomes a Judge (Archadia's elite officer corps.), and later a Judge Magister (the four/five star general ranking in the US Army; for example Patton and Ike/Eisenhower).
As a new judge, Noah was placed into the Ninth Bureau, at the time under Judge Magister Zecht. With the subtle support of the Emperor (who, at this point, is essentially grooming Gabranth to be his right-hand man), Noah is taken under Zecht's mentoring wing and grows to be his second.
During all of this, he is playing a dangerous game, hiding the existence of his twin brother who is Captain by this point, while letting the Empire lead him around by the nose with Landis (and his mother until her death during this time span).
I'd assume the pattern went something along the lines of this: Gramis gives Gabranth an assignment that more morally upright men would have burned, Noah completes it like a good boy, Gramis gives him a fatherly pat on the head, and Noah receives a report on the acceleration towards self-determination and reconstruction in the Northwestern territories *cough*Landis*cough* the next morning.
It is also likely that within this time is when Noah first gains contact with baby Larsa, the emperor's fourth son, and becomes his pseudo-guardian after a fellow Judge Magister, Drace, who is also his best friend forever (because she is an amazing woman and the boys are all lame anyways).
It is under Zecht that Gabranth eventually reaches the rank of Judge Magister. Close up to the two years immediately preceding FFXII, this huge important secret thing about Judge Magister Gabranth having an identical twin brother who happens to be the Captain of the guard in little old Dalmasca (a region that currently holds both Rozzaria and Archadia's interest) is not so secret anymore. Noah is not pleased. The Emperor is not pleased. Someone gets into a whole lot of trouble, and that leash around his neck tightens.
However, the Solidors (Emperor Gramis and his sons), now have something even better to dangle over Noah's head. AND Vayne (Gramis' eldest living son after he killed his two older brothers), who is seriously stretching his political power, finds a key to conquer the city of Rabanastre (the Dalmascan capital), so to speak. Noah goes along with the plan to overtake Rabanastre because it means that Basch will still be alive at the end of it (and, frankly, he could care less about the Kingdom that stole his brother away as long as they weren't utterly slaughtered a-la-Landis. No one deserved that.).
There is a lot of planning/plotting and Noah slowly picks up Bach's mannerisms and styles for Vayne's plan.
In Valendia 704, shortly after political unrest in Nabudis, Nabradia's capital, said capital is blown up by Zecht, who had no idea what it was going to do. Zecht ditches his post and flees to Balfonheim after he does so, out of guilt, giving Noah a Klingon Promotion into head of the Ninth Division. (Keep in mind that the Empire is not stupid. Zecht isn't flying free like a bird, no great empire is going to let their head intel officer up and run. Noah and Zecht are on rather good personal terms, and thus Noah has maintained contact with Zecht, now going by the name Reddas. With Basch to reign Noah in, Gramis is content for now.)
At the battle of Nalbina fortress in 704, a little after Zecht blew up Nabudis, Noah does his part in Vayne's plan to gain control over Dalmasca by imitating his brother and killing the Dalmasacn monarch, King Raminas (and a decent number of statesmen and soldiers in the process). He encounters Basch for the first time in seventeen years (oh, ironic symmetry) and defeats him. Basch is then secreted away for political reasons (and, they can't exactly have two Captain Basch fon Honourfaces skipping about, can they now?)
For Regicide and High Treason (plus provoking the Archadian Invasion) "Basch", in a trial where everyone and their grandmother was under the heavy influence of magical meddling and half-high out of their minds, is sentenced to death, and is 'executed'.
In truth, Basch remained in the Oubliette of Nalbina Dungeons for political leverage against neutral countries (and to flagrantly taunt Noah, but Basch didn't know about that part.)
In the two years that followed, whenever Noah could scrounge together a few free moments out of his busy schedule (which he surprisingly managed to do quite a lot) of running all of Archadia's intelligence operations and catering to Vayne, who was now Consul of Rabanastre, he would visit his brother to check on him and see how he was doing taunt him and subtly pry for information that Archadia wanted. Occasionally, when Noah was sure that Basch was not going to be conscious for several hours, he would cast Sleep on the man and take him to a private room and heal him up. (Because Noah wasn't a total bastard all the time, however much he may seem like a vegetarian mass-murderer.)
There is more plotting and some resistance-crushing that follows (because there is a mole) and political ladder-climbing, none of which is particularly relevant to Gabranth personally.
It's after one of these visits, two years later in 706 (coincidentally, after Gabranth meets Vaan, brother of one of the soldiers he'd killed impersonating Basch, for the first time the evening before), that Basch manages to escape with the help of former-judge and now sky pirate (and leading man) Balthier, the bunny-woman (Viera) Fran, and the aforementioned obnoxious blond brat, Vaan.
Gabranth tells Vayne that Ondore, a Marquis of the neutral country Bhujerba that Basch was being kept alive to be leverage for, is pulling shenanigans and likely funding Bhujerba's resistance and the like. He also goes snooping with Vayne for information regarding something with the power to do a lot of bad things, that Vaan had already stolen.
When Gabranth finally returns to Archadia (as Vayne has been called back by the Senate), he reposts on Vayne's actions to Emperor Gramis, outlining all the little plot strings because Gabranth knows his intel.
Gramis asks Gabranth to protect Larsa from Vayne's influence and to preserve Larsa's sweetness and idealism from Vayne's evil. Or something.
Later, previously mentioned fellow Judge Magister Drace tells Gabranth her own worries for Larsa's safety because the Senate favors him and wants to use him as a puppet.
Then Vayne tells Gabranth to look over Larsa and protect him from the Senate, and to preserve his innocence.
HE'S REALLY GOT THE POINT BY NOW THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Vayne kills Gramis and pins it on a Senator so that he has a reason to dissolve the Senate and get his father out of the picture. None of the Judge Magisters challenge the decision, except Drace, who draws her sword to attack Vayne. She is restrained then accused of High Treason.
Because Vayne is mean, nasty, and heinous, and suspects that it was Gabranth who has been snitching on him to Gramis, he forces him to kill Drace. Which he does with much reluctance and inner angst. She tells him (with her dying breath, no less) to guard Larsa in her place. He promises that he will.
(This whole patricide debacle, interestingly enough, places Noah as the 2nd most dangerous man in Ivalice, and 3rd most powerful in Archadia-and, through extension, likely Ivalice as well-as the ranking of Succession is Vayne-->Larsa {who is sweet and precious and not dangerous at all}-->Noah/Gabranth)
Vayne then sends Gabranth off to figure out what the hell Ashe, princess of Dalmasca and daughter to that King he killed two years ago, and the good guys (comprised namely of his brother, Balthier, Fran, Vaan, and Vaan's girl-buddy Penelo who smiles a lot) are up to, and whether or not Ashe intends war.
Gabranth confronts Ashe at the Sun Cryst-a big shiny crystal thing that can do a lot of damage- and confesses that it was he who killed her father and tries to goad her into using the Cryst's power. (thus declaring war and doing exactly what Vayne wants her to do).
She ultimately refuses, so he attacks her and the party/good guys, and gets his butt handed to him. Dr. Cid (Balthier's father and a crazy-mad scientist, go figure) shows up and badmouths Gabranth, (but Cid badmouths everybody and is a few eggs short of a dozen anyways) and Gabranth tries to strike him down but is rebuffed by Venat, Dr. Cid's crazy acquaintance who also happens to be a pseudo-God. Figures. After that debacle, Gabranth retreats to report back to Vayne.
Gabranth goes to the Sky Fortress Bahamut with Vayne after sharing his knowledge with him, and is sent into the lower levels, still wounded, to slow the party down and confront them again.
Gabranth doesn't understand Basch's continued upholding of his honor and pride (though, by this point, Noah has run out of his endurance and is starting to hit that third stage of stress, meaning he is really headed towards a mental and physical burnout. Given that it's take him nineteen years to get to this point, with a constantly increasing level of stress added onto the crap he's already dealing with, it is distinctly impressive that he's made it this long) and engages the good guys again.
After all, he considers getting the ever-loving snot beat out of him his just desserts. (Also, he is rather a masochist, if his life choices are anything to go by).
Basch is all mushy-gushy brother pep talk and the party then leaves Gabranth to go confront Vayne.
Noah, now in superbly awful shape, stumbles his way up Bahamut and witnesses the battle of the good guys against the bad. Vayne is defeated once and then saps power out of Larsa through Nethecite (that big bad glowy/shiny crystal of evil thing) or something. Noah confronts Vayne and then aids the party (because he's gotta protect Larsa). At the end of the battle, Noah strikes "Vayne Novus" when he's vulnerable and practically runs him through. Vayne repays him with a one-two punch that busts the armor on his face and sends him flying across the rather large room. Basch cradles his brother in his arms and Vayne makes as if to finish Noah off, but is stopped by Larsa, who uses his own Nethecite to absorb the magic attack. Vaan uses this distraction to pick up Noah's fallen sword and delve the fatal blow to Vayne.
Vayne totters off and becomes a monster and the party follows him, leaving Noah laying there with Larsa for company.
The party wins, and as a result the Bahamut is falling and the party bring the dying Gabranth along with them as they hightail back to Balthier's airship, the Strahl.
Larsa and Basch (mostly Basch) angstfest over Noah, who charges his brother with protecting Larsa that the newly-gained, hard-won peace doesn't shatter into a million pieces.
And then some idiot technician in Draklor has to spill some substance or another and blow the bloody place up.
Now, personality:
Noah is a complicated man. He tends to come off as cynical, cold-hearted and rather ruthless,sometimes even downright malicious and cruel. In truth, he's a man dealt a bad hand by the fates, and he hides his opinions and emotions under a flat mask. With a firm sense of loyalty, he has tendency to fall into a 'my master, right or wrong' mindset. Part of this stems from his anger and hatred of himself and his perceived failings partnered with a preoccupation toward being the perfect servant (and, in essence, doing something /right/, even if it isn't exactly the morally kind of 'right').
He is one of those people who are quietly angry. Normally, you wouldn't notice a difference, his face subtly sets and he becomes more terse in his speech as the repressed feelings escalate. Noah holds himself to very high standards and, as a result, has an underlying self-loathing of himself and is prone to count his failures as inexcusable. This generates more hated and frustration and disappointment and self-loathing. His cold façade is a thin layer of crust with pressure steadily building up under it, and eventually he'll hit his threshold and erupt like a volcano.
Repression is his way of dealing with everything the world throws his way, from his parents' deaths, to Basch's leaving, to the takeover of Landis, to the actions he is forced to take. His adulthood has been little more than one huge regret, and he seeks absolution with the same tireless tenacity he fights to live.
When it counts, he puts others before himself and does indeed have a sense of nobility, even if he tends to be a mite more pragmatic (combat and otherwise) than Basch.
However, there is one big problem with all of this…
His façade and his coping mechanism of focus on the big issue that's about to doom the world isn't going to work any longer because, a) there isn't a world hurtling towards doom anymore, and b) his PTSD, C-PTSD, and the other loads of Psychological trauma problems that Square Enix decided to give him if finally reaching the level of "you seriously can't ignore the fact you have issues anymore".
This is evidenced throughout the game and comic canon, where, in the beginning, he is very stoic, calm, and-for the most part-collected. With each successive encounter with the party, he cracks even further, finally managing to pull himself together long enough to give his brother final instructions as he's dying.
His history tells us (even just relying on canon and common sense) that he has been in the psychological equivalent of the front lines of battle for at least 10 years straight. Human's cannot function like that without adapting in a way that seriously messes you up later when the world rights itself (and sometimes just messes you up. Period. No adaption.)
He's been manipulated and placed in high up (and eventually in charge) in a branch of military that does not necessarily find itself conducive to morality. Everything he values as important has been used against him. He's been forced to commit crimes and do actions that go against his moral principle. And due to his perfectionist personality and refusal towards self-failings, he will think that it's all his fault.
Messed up. Bad. End of story.
Why do you want to continue their history here: Because FFXII carefully dodges around the fifty million mental problems that are coming to a head, because he dies. I would very much like to explore this. Also, Basch needs his twin bro.
And, in all honesty? This place looks amazing, and I like to mess with my Noah-muse. He doesn't like this about me so much.
(As a note, I am not taking Noah from another game/community, he is drawn directly from canon. I just answered this question before I had been explained what this question applied to, but I rather like it so I hope you don't mind that I kept it. :3)
Have you read up on how the game works?:
As far as the guide plug-in, uh, FlamingFerret? I can't quite tell, 'xactly.
Three ways? Missions, freelance/private employment/business, and the most useful and absolute best….MOOCHING.
1st person sample:
[There's a long pause after the device is turned on; the screen has been blacked out, most likely by a hand. A shifting sound can be heard, and the device is moved (propped up?) against something. The hand is removed to reveal a severely injured man with short-cropped blond hair and blue-hazel eyes. A drop of dark-red is coagulating at the corner of his mouth.]
As I am to understand, I am not the only individual from Ivalice to find themselves on this… vessel. If anyone could help me as to the location of these individuals, or inform me of how to contact them, I would be most thankful.
[There's a short pause, and a slightly self-deprecating smirk flits across his face for a moment.]
I do sincerely apologize to those of you who would have rather never seen my face again. It seems that I have the worst luck with timing.
3rd person sample:
Zecht knitted his brows in concentration and likely frustration while Gabranth remained frustratingly blank, for all that he had to restrain a smile from his lips.
It had been easy, ridiculously easy, to goad his 'mentor' into a private game. Before, in their matches of Impetere, he had played the game the way Basch would have played it, endlessly an tirelessly defending his place with fair play and clinging to lands already lost. Gabranth didn't play that way; Gabranth had learned through blood and toil and tears that such a gambit amounted to nothing. Archadia had not been kind, but it had been a good teacher nonetheless.
When his mentor had accepted the match, this was not what he had expected; Gabranth could tell from the way he'd gotten increasingly more agitated.
It had started out "normal" enough, concentrated troops in the same areas and smaller deployments among his other "starting" territories. He'd let the Judge Magister sweep along the land, building up his troop numbers slowly, so far spread and in such small increments that Zecht hadn't noticed until he had ruthlessly turned the tables, forcing the higher-ranked Judge into a desperate man's war of attrition. His Lordship Emperor Gramis had placed favor in him, and he was ready to prove he could earn it.
Now, though, Zecht wasn't looking at the board at all, and Gabranth couldn't help but feel the churning of his ever-present anger rise dangerously close to the surface as he shoved it down. He had failed, again, despite his advantage, despite the fact he was winning, because no one would see him succeed.
So wrapped up in his own frustrations he was caught off guard by the man's words. "You are alive, Noah! A living, breathing Hume. Not a statue of stone. Show some pride in your accomplishment. You'll live your life under a helmet that shows no emotions, do not be afraid to show them."
Years later, it was those words he remembered when Vayne confronted him with a past he had tried to forget.
"Did you know your look alike stands as Captain of the Guard in Dalmasca? Such an unfortunate resemblance. Of course, you would know nothing of this Basch, would you?" Gabranth hated that smile. Like a satisfied cat having feasted on the canary and given a helping of cream for it's efforts.
"Milord."
Gabranth didn't need the helmet when he received the orders to impersonate is second half. He didn't flinch; there wasn't even the slightest twitch on expression. Emotions were useless, impeding. They hindered his service to his lord. What good were the words of a man who'd fled, anyways?
And if somewhere inside him a young man cried out and mourned for the brother he was about to lose yet again, he went unacknowledged.
Questions?:
Halp? I've been kidnapped by my rabid fangirl.
No, not really.
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject:
Yes sir/ma'am!