DDD Moderators (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tripled_mods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ddd_news2012-01-01 12:59 pm
tripled_mods) wrote in ddd_news2012-01-01 12:59 pmAPPLICATIONS | 2012; 01
THIS APPLICATIONS POST IS CLOSED. Please direct your attention to the new one here!
tripled_mods) wrote in ddd_news2012-01-01 12:59 pm
Totooria "Totori" Helmold | Atelier Totori | Not Reserved | 2/3?
History: Totori lives in a small fishing village named Alanya, on the outskirts of the kingdom of Arland. Arland gives licenses to adventurers to explore the world and take on quests from the people and the kingdom itself; Totori's mother, Gisela, was one such adventurer. Years ago, when Totori was very little, Gisela received a quest in a distant land, which required her to leave the continent from Alanya, the most convenient port. Her husband Guid constructed her a spectacular ship, and she left port with the mission to defeat the Flauschtraut, a massive aquatic monster that blocked the channel... and several days later, pieces of the ship washed ashore. Gisela was never heard from again. Totori cried for a week, and afterward blocked out the memory; her older sister Cecilia convinced the people of Alanya never to tell her of her mother's fate. Totori still believes her mother is alive and stranded somewhere.
A few years ago, Arland ceased to be a kingdom when its ruler, Gio, stepped down from the throne; it's now a republic, though still run out of the castle town. Notably, there was a stir in the capital recently, when the most well-known alchemist in the kingdom announced she was turning her workshop - her atelier - over to her pupil, and basically stopped performing alchemy. Her pupil, Rorona, was challenged by the kingdom to perform various tasks through the power of alchemy or risk having Atelier Rorona closed; through hard work and the help of her friends, she persevered, and Atelier Rorona was spared, Rorona herself becoming something of a celebrity.
Just after Rorona's success in keeping her atelier, she found herself in Alanya during her travels, and met Totori, noting that Totori had the right looks for the lofty position of alchemist, and after some trial, discovered that she had talent for it as well. And so Totori became the apprentice of Rorona, the most well-known alchemist in the land. She worked hard, and eventually became skilled enough for Rorona to let her practice on her own, so when her master returned to the capital, Totori continued to work on her alchemy. It was slow work, and Ceci became exasperated at having to clean up Totori's workshop what seemed like every day, but she passed the days diligently training herself to become a real alchemist.
Totori is now fourteen, and the chance of a lifetime has presented itself: if she and her good friend Gino can save up 5000 Cole, they can go to the capital and get their adventurers' licenses, which will give her the freedom she needs to search for her mother. Ceci is very much against this, and tries to keep Totori from succeeding, but by the end of the three month period they have to collect the money, they are woefully short. Seeing how hard Totori worked to try and save the money, Ceci relents and provides it herself, and Totori and Gino find themselves en route to the capital. After a few weeks of travel, their carriage is attacked near the capital, but they are saved by a passing knight, Sterkenberg; he points them in the direction of the capital, and the two explore for a bit before proceeding to the castle, where they obtain their adventurers' licenses.
Returning home, the days pass peacefully for Totori; she trains her body in combat against monsters while searching for rare ingredients, and she improves her alchemy skills via lots and lots of synthesis, the two feeding into each other and helping her grow into a powerful adventurer. She finds her teacher, Rorona, adrift and nearly out to sea, and her father fishes her out of the water just in time; Rorona spends some time working on her apprentice's skills. Totori overhears her father and Ceci discussing that he can build seaworthy ships; Totori asks about it, and Ceci explodes, sending Totori to her room. The girl is confused, but doesn't push the issue... yet.
And one day, on a trip to the capital to report on the result of a quest, Totori gets some interesting information from the guild attendant, Cordelia: that her mother was well-known around the capital. Asking for information, Cory went digging through the records; when she returned with what little she could find, neither was particularly pleased. All Cordelia could find was the information about Gisela leaving Alanya to take on the Flauschtraut, and never being heard from again. As soon as she could get the time away, she rushed home to confront her sister and father.
Guid seemed displeased, but Ceci was beside herself with rage. She revealed that Totori was not to know of those facts, but reluctantly told her sister the story once again. Predictably, Totori asks her father to build her a boat; Guid agrees, but Ceci is strongly against it, and refuses to talk to either of them until they change their minds. Over the course of the next few days, Totori worries at how to change her sister's mind, but Ceci comes around when her boss points out that the two haven't started on the boat without her okay. Resigned and knowing it'll be a losing battle, she gives in and lets Totori go.
Constructing the boat itself takes a while, and several parts have to be made by Totori herself through alchemy, but after a few months she's got a functional ship, and she gets a group of companions together and sets sail. It's a hard trip, but eventually she makes it to the mouth of the small strait to the ocean, and like clockwork, the Flauschtraut appears to strike down Totori; through force of arms and alchemical might, the girl bests the beast, and she makes her way onward into the open ocean.
After a month or two of travel, she makes landfall on a continent across the ocean, and after a week's travel, she reaches a nameless village. The villagers all seem confused on how someone ended up clear out here... until she gives her name, and they all become nervous. The village elder, Pilca, comes to greet Totori, and show her something important and, ultimately, heartbreaking: Gisela's grave, on the outskirts of the village, where she was buried after a hero's death. Totori spends some time grieving, and the elder tells Totori her mother's story. Some distance away from the village, a great tower sealed an ancient demon. Once every hundred years or so, the demon awakens and demands sacrifices. The village was constructed to serve as the sacrifice to keep the demon from attacking the rest of the continent; all its citizens are female, to please the demon. Gisela was displeased with this, and went to destroy the demon herself when it became clear it would awaken and destroy the village within a month; it was a hard fight, and it ended in a stalemate. She was able to force the demon back into slumber for a time, but she took a grave wound that the village's medicine couldn't treat. She told Pilca of her daughter, Totori, and asked to be taken to the remains of her ship; she passed on shortly after. The elder buried her in the village to honor her sacrifice.
Totori was inconsolable for hours after hearing this, but finally hearing the truth gave her some peace. And so, after a brief rest, she returned home to tell her family about her mother's fate. Unexpectedly, Totori found a stowaway once she was underway: the elder's granddaughter, Piana, who had tucked herself away as an excuse to finally get out of the village that would be her final resting place if nothing changed. Totori had to take her back, but she had to talk to her family first. The trek back was long, but Ceci and Guid are happy to see her, and while they're distraught at the news of Gisela, they're glad to have closure.
After giving her report and checking in with her friends, she returns to the distant village to find that the demon will awaken within days and devour the village. Totori won't stand for this, and makes her way into the demon's tower to finish what her mother started. After a hard fight that nearly ends her, Totori emerges victorious: the demon is slain, never to return. She returns to the village, proud to have carried on her mother's will and saved the village she lived the last of her days in. The elder agrees to let Piana stay with Totori for a while now that the village is no longer in danger, and gives her sincerest thanks. Totori returns home with high spirits but a ache in her heart, and works hard at her alchemy, not wanting to shame her mother's legacy by failing as an adventurer, and gets her lifetime adventurer's license extension.
Special: Atelier Totori has two endings (well, three, but the last one is a bad end, so I don't count it). In the normal end, Totori becomes a great alchemist, but doesn't really go far from Alanya, searching for new candidates to become alchemists but never going too far away from home, and eventually opening a new atelier in the small kingdom of Arls. In the true end, Totori builds strong bonds with her friends and becomes truly strong, and is surprised one day when there's a knock at the door, and her mother is on the other side! Totori is overjoyed, and the family celebrates. Gisela is proud that her daughter's grown to become a fine adventurer, and Totori explores the land with a new spring in her step, though she still opens her new workshop in Arls. (I'll figure out which ending I want to take later; the choice really only comes into play literally at the end of the canon. More than likely I'll play the normal end.)