Aruza

ARUZA

    Intense yet soft, alive with passion

       Aruza was created as an idea to fill the role of Xerneas on the Deviantart roleplaying group Reverie Sanctuary, and is the first character that was created for a roleplaying group.

 Created as a counterbalance to a new and potentially dangerous threat, Aruza is embodied with a strong sense of duty to protect the world, which is rivaled in strength by xyr sudden outbursts of emotion. Now locked in an eternal rivalry with that threat, and changed forever by a romantic experience, Aruza strives to pick up and repair the broken pieces of a life xe once lived a thousand years before.

Story

One thousand and five hundred years before present time, Aruza came into existence in response to a new legendary that had unraveled its wings into the world, which radiated a dark aura that spoke of dangerous potential. At first, xyr mind was young, and had not yet formed its own sense of identity and self, but over time as xe explored and began to understand the world around xem, xe formed into xyr own person with a set idea about xyr purpose in the world.

 After some time spent alive, xe eventually began to feel a decline in xemself, and found xemself not viewing the world with the same interest as before, having become somewhat used to the repetitive cycle that life put itself in. As a result of this, Aruza went through a withdrawal period where xe only spent xyr time around a little forest xe had created for xemself, not bothering to venture out as much as xe used to.

 This period eventually came to pass, and xe reemerged into the world to explore it again and experience what xe had yet to experience. During xyr travels, xe met a young woman at a marketplace named Laomi, and agreed to return to the marketplace to talk with her again. The two became friends, and over the course of a few months, developed romantic feelings for each other. Aruza eventually asked her if they could enter a relationship together, to which she happily agreed. This romance gradually became more and more passionate, and helped to bring Aruza completely out of xyr withdrawal, as well as experience a new level of compassion for someone that xe hadn't felt before, until Laomi became the thing xe cared most about in the entire world.

 It became apparent to xem after this that she was the person xe wanted to spend the rest of xyr immortal life with. Being a legendary being of life, xe had the power to grant mortal beings immortality, but xe had only tested it on small creatures and plants, never before on another person. However, after many talks and a lot of thinking, Laomi eventually agreed to receiving immortality. It worked, and the two of them lived together happily for a few centuries.

 But it seemed that the world could no longer keep itself together. A corrupt Jirachi called upon a rare meteor shower to grant her own selfish wish, and with the power of it, brainwashed nearly the entire continent into being her slaves. Unable to stop this after the brainwash had started, Aruza and Laomi fled away from the reaches of civilization, hiding from Jirachi and her influence, as well as her servants. Despite the bleak outlook, the two of them were still able to retain happiness in having each other in a world where they otherwise felt alone.

 The incident came to pass after a hundred years, and thinking they were safe to return to their lives, the two moved back to their former location. However, it was only another hundred years before the entire world was consumed in a war over territory, and the two found themselves back in the same situation.

 Sometime into this, Aruza began to feel a sense of unease, as it had been a while since xe had checked in on xyr eternal enemy, and with the entire world at war, there was no telling what she could be planning. What started as a venture out from xyr safe place to find and confront Yveltal ended as a violent clash between the two forces, with both sides suffering heavy injuries. As Yveltal flew off to recuperate from the battle, Aruza stumbled into a nearby wooded area and sealed xemself into a tree, going to sleep to regenerate the massive amount of lost energy, a process which took nearly a thousand years to complete.

 In a thousand years' time, the world was no longer as it was before, as the war had come to pass, and throughout the centuries afterward, the world had moved on from it, and the names of Xerneas and Yveltal were only to be seen in legends and fables. But lying dormant in the reaches of an area now known as Fairy Vale, unknown to most, an odd-looking tree glows with the power of life itself, and released into the now-unfamiliar world again as the tree dissipated into nothing, Xerneas xemself opened xyr eyes once more.

Personality

"Please let the world be a better place than I last left it..."

Aruza isn't one to open up easily, and is more likely to put up a front and act fake if xe feels it necessary to get what xe wants or to disguise xemself as normal. Though not exactly unfriendly and still willing to have conversation, xe is usually secretive about xemself at first, especially xyr well-guarded secret of being a legendary. Though xe seems calm and collected in demeanor when not under pressure, this changes in an instant once something gets to xem, and can result in a sudden emotional outburst of various kinds, whether internally or externally.

"...When you look at the world from this perspective, it looks so beautiful... It makes me wonder how a world this beautiful got so tainted... or, was it always that way? ...Either way, it probably changes nothing."

Beyond xyr initial barriers in opening up, Aruza demonstrates a somewhat more open, sincere, and friendly demeanor, and tends to put xyr all into a relationship that xe cares about, being more caring, soft, and genuinely invested. If xe is particularly comfortable in said relationship, xe may even demonstrate a more lighthearted behavior than what one would expect, which sometimes results in xem unintentionally causing humorous or comical amusement.

"I know there are a lot of people who've given up on the world because of how awful it can be. And, considering what I've seen in the past, I can't say I fully blame any of them. But I still always feel like I should never give up on it. I was probably created to be like that, but I really do. It must be here for a reason..."

Aruza has a defined ability to improvize and is a quick thinker, usually operating on loosely-constructed plans and ideas, changing them in a beat if necessary. Xe has a healthy amount of empathy, and does xyr best to operate on a basis of helping people and the world in the form of using xyr powers and combative abilities to fend off threats to it, and builds xyr ideologies around this idea of xyr purpose, but is less inclined to invest in people's personal problems and other things on a small scale unless xe has a meaningful relationship with somebody, and can at times be or seem more selfish.

"There always seems to be something that wants to take life away for all it's worth... and I can't always prevent it. Sometimes I've been too late... and sometimes I see it firsthand... And then there's nothing I can do. It's another failure to add to the list."

Aruza also tends to be brave, and is somewhat unafraid of danger, provided it doesn't affect anyone else but xem, partially due to xyr mentality that xyr powers being beyond that of a regular mortal often remove the danger from situations. Xe is also typically confident in xemself and usually has healthy self-esteem, but it wavers in the face of failure, especially if said failure cost somebody dearly. Xe fears that xe may one day face a failure so severe that xe will lose xemself and never find xemself again, destroying xemself in the process.

"And I was supposed to be an entity of life, something to keep balance with that thing of death, to eventually destroy them once and for all. And I couldn’t even do that?!"

Overall, Aruza is a strong-willed individual self-bound to an ingrained purpose, trying to generally do what xe is able to for the world, but at times is hindered by xyr varying emotional control and weaknesses, as well as by xyr emotional investment in Laomi that threatens to be met with changed feelings upon seeing her again.

"I'm going to do this. Soon. For Laomi, and for everyone else in the world... I'm not going to fail."

 Creator's Comments

Aruza has the award for the coolest design and the best drawing so far out of all my characters (it took about a week just to draw, and then a couple days to digitize). Xe is also the tallest character currently on record. 

 I'm quite fond and proud of how xe turned out. I put a lot of effort into xyr design and overall concept and creation, because I was excited for the concept and excited to finally have a legendary in the roleplay group, and xe has proven to be a strong edition to my characters and I love how xyr personality turned out. It's the perfect mix of flaws and strengths I wanted in the character. Xe has also been quite well-received by the other people I have shown xem to, so that helps my confidence a lot. 

For right now xe has been doing just fine being roleplay-based, but in the long-term I know xe is destined to have more to do in my creative universes as a whole. I may incorporate xem into something else or base a whole universe around xem, I'm not sure yet. All I know is wherever xe ends up, it'll be beautiful and great~

Trivia Facts:
-Aruza's name comes from my first idea for a name, Azura. But because it sounds like the word for a shade of blue, I thought it would be too obvious and put it backwards. It was also chosen for not starting with the letter x.
-Xe was originally envisioned with a cape, but this didn't make it through to the final design.
-One of xyr notable powers include the ability to summon a sword of light when using the move Geomancy. It represents the antlers that xe doesn't have.
-Xe was created in the same form as xe takes now and never had a childhood.
-Aruza is my first immortal character, and will probably keep that aspect outside of Pokemon universes.

Links

Aruza's Wiki page on the now-defunct RESA wiki (some info outdated)

Aruza's Application on Deviantart

List of Roleplays involving Aruza

An Original Composition I'm working on as a character theme for Aruza

Remix of said composition by a friend

An Info Sheet

Blog Tag

I will also post a series of stories I've written on Aruza and Laomi when they are completed.