APPLICATION FOR prismatica

[noatic]

NOTE: Constance has been canon-updated since this app was written, please see her permissions!

▶ PLAYER
HANDLE: Typhie
CONTACT: typhie
OVER 18? Yep!
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: N/A on time of application, but I now also have Professor Sycamore (sycamour)!

▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Constance von Nuvelle
CANON: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
CANON POINT: Black Eagles Route, Chapter 11: Throne of Knowledge (start of chapter, before the Big Reveal)
AGE: 18
BACKGROUND: Her page on the Fire Emblem Wiki!

PERSONALITY:

Upon first encountering Constance von Nuvelle, one would come away with the impression that she is arrogant, conceited, and more than a little pretentious. On the surface, said impression would be correct; very...very correct. Her manner of speaking, while polite and refined, is biting, and she isn’t afraid to be scathing if the conversation calls for it (and sometimes, when it doesn’t). Both friend and foe can be targets of her ire, and she isn’t afraid to say exactly what she thinks, regardless of consequences. Her opinion of herself and her importance appears inflated, and she won’t hesitate to talk down to those she deems unworthy of her attention or unable to keep up with her intellect. She was born a noble so she will act like one, and she expects everyone around her to give her the respect she so obviously deserves - including her professor, who she strong-arms into being the subject of her experiments.

Looking past her airs and graces, however, reveals a bit more depth.

While it’s true that Constance was born a noble, her house has been rendered non-existent, and her family name stripped of any titles or peerage. Her entire family was massacred in a war 4 years before the start of the story of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, in which they were overrun by invaders from neighbouring countries and offered no aid by the other great houses of the Adrestian Empire. Stripped of their riches and land, and with only Constance left, House Nuvelle collapsed.

Anyone hoping the house would be dead and gone, though, underestimates the sole survivor.

Though her life has been marred by tremendous tragedy, culminating in her needing to live in the depths of Garreg Mach’s underground due to a lack of anywhere else to go, Constance maintains a firm desire to change her destiny and restore her life to what it was before she lost everything. She’s tenacious to a fault, pontificating her plans for the restoration of her house to anyone unfortunate enough to be in earshot, so laser-focused on her goals that most of her close companions can’t stand to hear another word about them. Rather than letting what she has lost define her, Constance instead constructs her self-image around what she plans to achieve - and achieve it, she will.

A person cannot endure what she has, however - the massacre of family, loss of wealth, of land, of home - without procuring some scars in the process, and Constance’s trauma manifests itself when she’s exposed to the sun’s rays. The feel of sunlight takes her, emotionally, back to the day when her family was murdered, and it leaves her a shell of her normally fiery self. Her voice loses its volume, her self confidence plummets, and anyone who converses with her is subject to her constant self-deprecation, throughout the conversation. While there isn’t yet a canon explanation for why she reacts like this, one can assume it is a reflection of the powerlessness she felt back during that time, of the regret she carries for being the only survivor of her house. These episodes leave her frustrated and embarrassed, but like her painful history they only feed the flames of her desire to improve herself. Any setback is only more evidence that she has to try harder, that she has to aim higher, that once her house is restored (and she must never, ever lose the belief that it will be), everything she has endured will be worth it.

So what exactly is her grand plan to restore House Nuvelle to its former glory? Constance is a talented user of magic - something her family prided itself on for generations - so it makes sense to her that the fastest and easiest (perhaps only) way to get back to where they were is to develop a spell so incredible, so impressive, that the powers-at-be in the Empire (or...anywhere in Fódlan, really….she’s not picky….) could not resist reinstating House Nuvelle as a key player in the nobility. It’s a logical - and likely achievable - plan, aside from one small detail. While Constance is unarguably an imaginative and talented spell-inventor, her spells...don’t quite hit the mark, in terms of functionality. She’s earnest in her work, and devotes much - if not all - her spare time to her creations, but her results tend to confound her noble audience more than they enthrall it. A spell to turn boot leather into black liquorice, for example, after a discussion on the topic of boot-licking, is one such result. To her, it makes perfect sense! Who wouldn’t be impressed? Such a simple solution to the problem! She’s solved it! But to her companion - who meant ‘boot-licking’ more metaphorically than literally - her single-mindedness is an amusement.

Despite the reactions to her efforts, however, Constance remains motivated. If one spell doesn’t hit the mark, then the next one - which will be grander! - must. Because to her, every failure is simply another step on the way to restoring her beloved house to where it once was. She never gives up - she can’t. Failure is not an option. Problems are not setbacks; they are opportunities for her to show her worth.

So while she can appear rude, and be arrogant, pretentious and a little bit too much at times, those closest to Constance appreciate her tireless work-ethic, her dedication to her family and her considerable - if usually a tad mis-disrected - intellect. She motivates those around her with her indefatigable spirit, and refuses to let her dream remain nothing but fantasy.

One day, it will all be worth it.

POWERS/ABILITIES:

Constance comes from a long line of proud magic users (as she’ll happily tell anyone who will listen), and her abilities reflect that. She's able to learn a variety of powerful offensive spells, as well as some useful support spells (including healing). The most powerful among these spells include one that can cast lightning onto an enemy from a distance (Bolting), and one that sends powerful flames instead (Agnea’s Arrow). Her default class within canon is a Dark Flier, i.e. a mage riding a pegasus, so one can assume she’s also quite capable with horses - or at least, the flying ones. She also graduated from one of the most notable sorcery schools in Fódlan before she enrolled in the Officer’s Academy, so it’s safe to say that she knows her way around a spellbook.

Magic attacks/supports have limited uses within a Fire Emblem battle (which I’ll equate to general energy/stamina for Prisma), and Constance’s Crest of Noa - a magical blessing granted through her blood - occasionally refunds exhausted uses (i.e. returns said stamina) so she can attack/heal for longer. Another one of her major strengths is her ingenuity when it comes to developing new spells, but the only problem is that the spells she develops aren’t...always all that useful. Two examples are the aforementioned spell that turns boot leather into liquorice, and one that makes tea turn a variety of wonderful colours when poured from a pot. Fun party tricks, yes, but not anything that would impress a ruler on the verge of war.

At her canon point, Constance still has a great deal of room to grow, so I do not want her to have access to Bolting or Agnea’s Arrow. Ideally, she’ll have healing abilities for small-medium injuries (no major wounds), and an amped-up version of the Cordis ice-magic (freezing large quantities of food and larger areas than the average person with this Moon Blessing). I’d also love to play around with her special brand of ‘spell development’ within the context of Prismatica, but will be keeping anything she comes up with suitably benign/useless (as it’s far funnier that way).

INVENTORY:
◐ Repellent Powder (in-game description - A powder derived from insect-repellent flowers. It probably belongs to someone who hates bugs.)
◐ Nimbus Charm (in-game description - A cursed charm said to summon clouds. Its efficacy is dubious. Likely belongs to someone who avoids sunlight. NOTE: dubious efficacy not withstanding, the charm will obviously not work whatsoever while in Primsa.)
◐ A small purple fan.
◐ A small bag of bergamot tea leaves.

MOONBLESSING: Cordis

▶ SAMPLE

[When she had first woken up in this odd new world, Constance had been struck with an almost overpowering sense of devastation. The past year at Garreg Mach had been trying, in many ways, but she had still felt like she was making progress with her mission. Her months spent rubbing shoulders with the highest echelons of Empire youth were finally beginning to yield fruit, finally finally finally moving her along the path she’d been destined to struggle along since her family’s ruin, and then…!

Well. It had been an unpleasant thing to process, to say the least. But rock-bottom was a place not unfamiliar to her, and starting with nothing (again…) did little to lower her resolve. True, she could very well have done without the...unique method of acquiring currency within this bizarre world, but there were worse things. A handshake here and there - for the sake of House Nuvelle - was hardly a struggle. She’d done an expectedly admirable job fighting off the other urges that were determined to plague her, as well.

Try as she might, however, there was one aspect of Prismatica she was finding truly difficult to process. So the results of today’s experiment - born from seemingly endless attempts - had left her absolutely elated.]

This is unprecedented!

[The version of herself that stared back from the mirror was still unfamiliar - large cat ears sprouting from their head will do that to a person - but where there had always been white fur, there was now blonde. A blonde so close to her own hair colour that the ears looked like they were meant to be there.

It was, in short, a triumph.]

Everyone will simply marvel at my brilliance! Only I, Constance von Nuvelle, could possibly be capable of devising such a solution to this infuriating problem!

[The fact that she was alone in the apartment did little to ease her elation - her classmates would be back soon, and that was all that mattered! Grinning toothely (mainly due to the decidedly feline teeth now occupying her mouth), Constance couldn’t resist a quick twirl.]

When they look upon what I have achieved, there will be no doubt in their minds...it was always in the Empire’s best interests to return my house to its deserved high position-AH!

[Jerking to a halt mid-twirl, back facing the mirror, Constance couldn’t stop her jaw dropping at the dreadful sight that met her (decidedly feline) eyes.

A tail.

A white tail.]

No! This will not do! Must I start again…..?!

[....it was a setback, to be sure. But at the end of the day, that was all it was. The redemption of her house would not be sidetracked by the appearance of another feline appendage, regardless of colour or location. This spell was the one! The one that would show all of them, show the world, that House Nuvelle still birthed the most impressive sorcerers ever to exist! If it took her another sleepless night, another week of sleepless nights, it wouldn't matter!

....

.....

......now if only she could rid herself of this infuriating craving for fish.]