M A Y
06/06 - TFLN
         ↳ Cable
06/06 - MoM May TDM
         ↳ Seyn Ayliffe
         ↳ Marty Darkov
06/08 - Thor at MoM TDM

J U N E
06/24 - MoM June TDM
         ↳ Noctis Lucis Caelum CXIV
         ↳ Leonid
06/24 - Zack Fair at MoM TDM
06/24 - Korg at MoM TDM

〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Kaitie
AGE: Over 21
JOURNAL: redconfession
IM / EMAIL: Kaitie#0107 on Discord, kaitiekudara@gmail.com
PLURK: redconfession
RETURNING: Yes

〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Roland Crane
CHARACTER AGE: 48
SERIES: Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
CHRONOLOGY: Post Game, right before being sent home
CLASS: Hero (well, politician)
HOUSING: No preference

BACKGROUND:
Not much is known about Roland's life in the "modern day" world prior to arriving in the Ni no Kuni world, other that he was President of a country strongly implied (but not implicitly stated) to be the United States, and that he had a young son who was ill, or possibly had recently passed. It's also implied, given his knowledge of (and respect for) the law during the trial at Goldpaw, that he was a lawyer before pursuing politics. What is known for a fact, however, is that immediately before arriving in the Ni no Kuni world he was travelling to an unnamed metropolitan city in a limousine for a political summit when a nuclear bomb flew past, detonating in and destroying the city and killing an untold number of people. The resulting blast also flipped the Presidential limousine, leaving Roland on the cusp of death.

When he opened his eyes once more, he found himself not dead, but in a world never explicitly named in the game, though it was known colloquially in it’s prequel as Ni no Kuni. This world is your standard JRPG fantasy world, with monsters and magic being all too real, and humans and non-human races living side-by-side to varying degrees of success. On the non-human side, there are Merfolk, Grimalkin (humanoid cats), Mousekind, Dogfolk, and Greenlings (wood elves), to name a few.

As for locations, Ni no Kuni consists of 6 countries having analogies to “real” world ones: Ding Dong Dell, a country that up until the start of the game had been ruled by Grimalkin, only to have power seized by mousekind, whose appearance is heavily based on England; Goldpaw, a city primarily run by dogfolk built on gambling and chance, whose appearance is heavily based on China; Hydropolis, a city populated by human and merfolk alike who, until recently, had been closed off and unmoving for 300 years whose appearance is heavily based on Italy (specifically Venice); and Broadleaf, a country that considers itself one large company capable of producing technological marvels, based heavily on the United States.

What of the 6th, you ask? That was Evermore, a country founded by half-human, half-grimalkin Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum with help from Roland over the course of the game, and has no real-world analogue. Evermore is Evan’s dream; a country where people of all races and of all backgrounds can come and be successful and happy. It was a dream that stemmed from tragedy, for at the start of the game, as Roland was transported to this world, Evan found himself in the middle of a coup. His father, the king of Ding Dong Dell, had just died, and it was the day he was to ascend the throne. Instead, his father’s advisor, Mausinger, wished to take the throne for himself, and tried to have the boy killed. It was Roland’s intervention that prevented this from happening, but Evan’s governess, a fierce woman by the name of Aranella, sacrificed herself so Evan could be safe. It is her death that spurns Evan forward to create a new world, one where everyone could be happy and to smile.

For Roland’s part, well, frankly, when he first arrived he genuinely thought that he was dead, and that the world he found himself in was the afterlife. As such, he leaned into all the absurd aspects of this new world, such as talking catboys and fighting mice, without really thinking too deeply about it. All he knew was that this boy in front of him needed to be protected, and even if it was some sort of elaborate dream, he was going to see it through. By the time he realized that it was all too real, he knew that this boy fate had stuck him with needed his help, and since he had no world to return to, decided to do everything he could to keep him safe and to help him see his dream through to fruition.

As Evermore became a reality, Roland became Evan’s chief consul, providing advice and utilizing his years of political experience from his world to help smooth out some of the sharp edges of founding a new kingdom. Not only does he help with the physical creation of the country and dealing with manners such as taxation, he also drafts what he dubs “the Declaration of Interdependence,” a treaty that would unite the 6 countries of the world together, as Evan’s dream evolves to incorporate the entire world.

He’s fiercely loyal to the boy, to the point where he sees him as a surrogate son. There isn’t anything that Roland wouldn’t do for him, even pretending to become a traitor in order to get into the good graces of Mausinger, the newly crowned king of Ding Dong Dell, spy on the mouse, and obtain a critical item from the country they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

He maintains a similarly cordial relationship with the other members of Evan’s inner circle. He appears to be the closest with Leander Aristides, a fellow intellectual and politician from the country of Hydropolis. It’s Leander and Roland who concoct the plan in secret to make people in Evermore think that Roland has turned traitor, and can be seen chatting with one another in the palace between cut scenes. He has a great deal of respect for Bracken Meadows, for both her moral compass and skills as an inventor; without which he never would have made it out of Ding Dong Dell unscathed. His relationship with Batu, former leader of the Sky Pirates, is a little rocky, considering Batu initially kidnapped them when they first encounter the man, and it’s Batu Roland and Leander trick into thinking Roland was selling state secrets, but at the end of the day Roland has nothing but respect for the man who’s heart knows no depths, and who would do anything for the people he cares for. Out of everyone, he’s probably the least close to Batu’s daughter, Tani, but still he admires her courage and determination, which rival Evan’s.


PERSONALITY:
Roland is an extremely personable guy. He's someone who makes friends fast and forgives pretty much just as quickly, as evidenced by how he never held a grudge against Batu for kidnapping him and Evan. He's also a pretty skilled orator who the group relies on whenever pep-talks and speeches are needed to rally troops (both physical and metaphorical). Much of this probably stems from his political career, but unlike most politicians, his motives are pure. He wants to believe in the best in people.

That isn't to say that he's blind to the faults in others. There were multiple occasions, especially during side quests, where he was the voice of reason, reminding party members that they were most likely about to walk into a trap, and that instances that seemed too good to be true probably are.

Roland possesses a very strong sense of justice. In one side quest, it's revealed that he was bullied as a child, and gaining confidence through training in how to use a sword was what sent him down the path that ultimately led to his presidency. He hates to see other people bullied, and will do whatever he can to stop it, whether it be through legal means, political means, or more... physical means.

He also isn't afraid to get his hands dirty to do whatever it takes to get the job done. He isn't the type to resort to say, murder, but he very convincingly convinced not only much of his close friends that he had become a traitor to Evermore, but also his enemies, seemingly shooting an ally in cold blood to prove his newfound loyalty to Mausinger. Of course, the whole thing turned out to be a ruse, but until all the details of his plan was revealed, Roland played the role of traitor dutifully, even if it meant making a few temporary betrayals along the way.

His ability to do this probably stems from his intellectual nature, and his ability to see plans through to fruition. Back when Evermore was just a dream in Evan's mind, Roland was already working out the specifics on how to make that a reality. When they needed information, it was Roland pouring over the tomes in the Goldpaw library to come up with a plan (though the others did help). He was the mastermind behind the Declaration of Interdependence, putting down a concrete plan back when all Evan had were ideas of what he wanted to do next. Whatever he's given, he can work with to try his best to make something a success.

POWER:
Arms Band - A magical artefact from Ni no Kuni that allows the wearer to store and transport weapons. It allows the wearer to carry a variety of weapons with them (up to 3 melee weapons and 1 ranged weapon, which in Roland's case is 2 swords and a firearm), and to call on any special skills with which they are imbued, which in Roland's case enables him to perform weapons combos and minor air attacks in the form of forming short, temporary walls to deflect and push back enemies and extremely minor shockwaves to also deflect and push back enemies. Weapons equipped to an arms band have their ammunition replenished automatically.
Frog Consul - Roland can turn into a frog at will. Not just any frog, a very specific blue frog with a little black tuft of hair on its head. While in this form he has the proportionate strength and speed of a frog. Because he will be a frog.


〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
[The camera turns on to a man with a young face wearing a large, blue and black trench coat despite the summer weather. He smiles easily and gives the camera a short, almost embarrassed wave.]

Hello, I'm sure you've seen a million of these already, but I was told I should introduce myself. My name is Roland Crane.

Rather than pester you with questions about this world and what I should know about it--I plan on researching such topics in my own time--I would like to instead ask about the worlds where you once came from. What were they like? What do you miss most about them? Is there anything this world could do to make it feel a bit more like home to you?

Thank you all, have a wonderful evening.


LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
This wasn't where he was supposed to be. The world had been saved, the threat of Doloran defeated and Evermore was on its path to leading the world to worldwide peace. He had known that his time in this strange new world he had come to call home was drawing short, even before the light that had brought him there slowly enveloped his body once more in the throne room of the young half-grimalkin king.

At least it had the decency to give him the chance to say his goodbyes to Evan before he left.

But after all of that, he was supposed to be home. This world that he found himself in, though similar in terms of geography and technology, was not his own. He and Leander had posited that there would probably be changes when he returned, given Doloran's defeat, but this was beyond that. This was an entirely different world, different from the one he had just left, but different still from the world he was expecting to arrive back to.

And if he was right, if this was a different, brave new world to explore, then he knew he had to adapt. His time in Evan's world had taught him he's rather good at that, and had even left him with a few parting gifts. For starters, it had left him with his now signature guards coat as well as his arms band. A quick check through that showed that his weapons were still equipped to them. The sunglasses Bracken had made for him was still in his coat pocket. What little magic he had come to master was still present as well. And most importantly to his vanity, he still bared that youthful appearance that he had been given at the start of his journey.

If he was being honest, it was a lot to start with, more than he had last time. The file on himself he was given was useful too. In the car ride to the city they called "Heropa", he read over it countless times, as if something new might appear in the file if only he were to reread it. When that grew dull, he made small-talk to learn more about this alternate United States.

By the time he'd arrived in this new city, he was ready. He'd do whatever task it was that brought him here, and then... then he would finally have the chance to go home, and set things right there.


FINAL NOTES:
Just a quick note about the sunglasses mentioned in the third person sample--there's nothing magical or anything about these sunglasses. They were specially made for Roland so he could throw a flash grenade at an enemy. They darken enough to block that kind of light out with the push of a button, but that's all they do. Otherwise, they work as non-prescription glasses and regular sunglasses.