Folkmore

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❥ Character Information

Character Name: Nero
Character Age: 23
Character Species: Demon/Human Hybrid (1/4 demon)
Current Health: A little banged up after the fight on top of the Qliphoth, but healing quickly thanks to his new powers awakening.
Outfit: His DMC5 drip. Note that he is no longer wearing the mechanical Devil Breaker arm on his right hand, as his severed arm has grown back (#justdmcthings)

Character Canon: Devil May Cry
Link to History: Here
Canon Point: End of DMC5
Canon Iteration: Original canon

❥ Folkmore Roles & Attributes

Skills:
- Swordplay: Nero was trained as a Knight in the Order of the Sword
- Gunplay + Marksmanship: Frowned on by the Order, but pursued on Nero's own time out of interest
- Mechanics: Seen performing maintenance on his own van and building his own custom magnum, Blue Rose
- Athletics: Along with being generally athletic, Nero shows familiarity with skateboarding and professional wrestling and works the moves into his fighting style

Canon Abilities: Nero is 1/4th demon, the grandson of the legendary Dark Knight Sparda. Even being a quarter demon makes him capable of numerous wild feats, and his supernatural abilities include:

- Strength: Nero can parry, wrestle, pin, and throw around enemies who are massively bigger than him, such as the building-sized Goliath. The souped-up engine in his sword is said to be so idiotically strong that Nero is the only one who can keep a grip on it. The spectral arms of his Devil Bringer can now augment his natural strength for even heavier lifting.

- Durability: Nero survives injuries that would kill an ordinary human, such as being stabbed, impaled, being thrown/falling great distances, and having his right forearm ripped clean off. He's more vulnerable than his half-demon family, shown to be weakened by blood loss and once beaten severely enough to lose consciousness.

- Speed/Reflexes: Nero is exceptionally fast with heightened reflexes and dexterity. He can run fast enough to scale walls, and much of his fighting style focuses on aerial maneuvering, flipping, and split-second dodging. In the DMC5 intro he leaps out of a speeding van, lines up shots, and shoots multiple demons in the time it takes him to flip over the top of the vehicle.

- Energy: Nero can channel a concentrated portion of demonic energy for various uses. For example, he can pour energy into Blue Rose's bullets to make them hit harder, or can create a temporary platform in mid-air to step off of. He is also able to faintly sense others of demonic blood.

- Devil Bringer: Along with growing back his severed arm, Nero has two more limbs in the form of clawed, spectral wings. When summoned he can use them like extra arms to punch harder, snatch/grapple enemies, and lift even heavier objects. They also work as actual wings, letting him slow his falls and heighten his jumps. (He outright flies once, but it's in a cutscene so we'll say he's still learning and not able to do it easily.)

- Devil Trigger: Like all demons, Nero's Devil Trigger gives him a power boost and transforms him into a fully-demonic form resembling a horned, scaled angel with long white hair. This greatly increases his strength and speed and rapidly regenerates his health. New to using it, Nero can't maintain his Devil Trigger for long, less than a minute at a time (or until he exerts all his energy.)

Role: Legend

Role Qualities/Attributes: Nero already has wings (sometimes,) so when his role manifests it will have his eyes glowing white, bright light glowing in his veins and "crackling" his skin, and his Devil Trigger form glowing angelically. He becomes even more desperate to protect others, and even more temperamental if he can't.

Role Reasoning: Nero represents a "balance" between the worldviews of his uncle Dante and father Vergil. But rather than this putting him in a neutral position, and in spite of his preferred "bad boy" image, Nero is 100% a heroic person devoted to helping others, using his strength to protect innocents. He spends spare time doing charitable works in his recovering hometown, including running a soup kitchen and taking in children from the destroyed orphanage. No amount of listening to metal in church, swearing, and putting on an aloof front can disguise the obvious fact that this is a very nice boy who wants to help others, no matter where he is.

General plans: being a Legend will mesh well with Nero's regular personality. He is generally friendly to strangers and will leap at the chance to help others, especially if it involves combat or protection. However, he's young and very emotional, and down the line I could see his temper teetering towards Myth, especially if he ends up unable to meet a challenge, or gets angry at the powers at be for "allowing" bad things to happen to innocents.

❥ Personality

Option 2.

What experience challenged your character's core beliefs? How did they handle this or change from it?
Nero grew up in the Order of the Sword, a strict, traditionalist cult that worshiped the Dark Knight Sparda and (supposedly) shunned all else of demon descent. With the Order all he'd ever known, Nero had difficulty reconciling his personality with the Order's tenets, even as he joined the Holy Knights in an attempt to fit in.

Then when Nero was a teenager, he injured his right arm protecting Kyrie and some children from a demon attack. Instead of healing, the injury slowly began to mutate until it took over the entirety of Nero's arm, with claws, dark scales, and glowing veins. Though Nero was at first frightened of the change and immediately believed it was demonic, he began to wonder if this was a sign that his arm was meant to be like this-- "like a caterpillar in a cocoon," turning into what it's supposed to become. Maybe he was always supposed to be different.

Uniquely from similar "hybrid" protagonists, Nero never really angsts over his heritage or worries about being a "freak." He already sees himself as an outcast and instead of loathing his demonic nature, he learns to utilize it and accepts that it's part of him. The only reason he hides his arm at all is fear of persecution by the Order and worse, rejection by Kyrie. Even then, Nero says he will gladly endure the exile, hatred, and isolation being a demon earns him if it gives him the power to protect Kyrie. After putting a stop to the Order and through his encounters with Dante, Nero fully embraces his demonic heritage; Kyrie says she accepts and loves him no matter what, and he never hides his arm again.

What is the most important and defining relationship(s) in your character's life and why?
- As a child in the orphanage, Nero met a family of faithful Order members when the parents took a liking to him. Their son Credo was a knight-in-training, and their daughter Kyrie close to Nero's age. This is the closest "family" Nero ever had; translations vary whether they intended to adopt Nero, or actually did. Regardless, his connection with this family set the course for the rest of Nero's life.

When the parents were slaughtered by demons, Nero ceased believing in any higher power, disgusted that any loving god let such kind people die. He looked up to Credo as a brother, joined the Holy Knights, and learned how to fight from him. Kyrie was not only like a sister to him, but his dearest friend and later, his true love. It has been stated that without the influence of this family and Kyrie in particular, Nero would have gone down the same dark path his father did.

- At 18, Nero meets the legendary devil hunter Dante, who goes quickly from being Nero's target, to a rival, to an ally. His intervention helps Nero stop the Order's world domination plot and save both himself and Kyrie. Dante shows Nero the possibilities of his demonic heritage and inspires him to embrace it. And once all's said and done Nero admires Dante, aspiring to match his strength and finesse. Even if he is deeply annoying.

Five years later, Nero has taken a leaf out of Dante's book with his laid-back, jovial banter and in-battle shenanigans. Dante has also gifted Nero a Devil May Cry sign and his blessing to open a franchise. It's later revealed that Dante is actually Nero's uncle, and Dante knew this but kept it to himself for Dante Reasons.

What is a headcanon (or two) you feel strongly about and that you prefer playing your character with? How is this supported in canon and why do you think it benefits the character's story?
- DMC demons fuel their powers with human blood. It's speculated this is why half-demon Dante and Vergil are so powerful, possibly surpassing their full-demon father. Given fractions, it's assumed that quarter-demon Nero's power is weaker. However, every demon who mocks Nero's humanity ends up shocked at his strength, and in the final battle he overpowers BOTH Dante and Vergil at once. It's possible that Nero's 3/4 human blood provides more fuel for his demonic energy than a half-blood's, a built-in battery channeling his storming emotions and willpower into raw power.

- Nero grew up in Fortuna, a traditionalist city dominated by the Order of the Sword cult. While access and trade are not forbidden, Order followers shun the outside world. Yet somehow, Nero is a punk who embraces the use of firearms, listens to modern music, knows WWE moves, and has clearly been exposed to more outsider culture than the typical citizen.

I headcanon that a child Nero got his hands on a handheld television with an antennae and a radio. He picked up signals from outside Fortuna, allowing him to listen to rock and heavy metal music, watch movies and TV shows, and become a massive fan of professional wrestling. This was all frowned upon if not outright forbidden, so he would sneak off or stay up late watching under the blanket with headphones. This awakens Nero's interest in the outside world and emboldens him to seek out knowledge and coveted items, like his music player and the parts for his gun. This headcanon explains Nero's punk rock attitude at odds with his background, and supports his status as a lifelong rebel, half-heartedly walking the Order walk while longing to express his true nature.

What is a time where your character failed drastically at something and how did it impact them, what did they do about it?
- It was not actually Nero's fault, but during the events of DMC4, Credo is killed while attempting to rescue Nero and Kyrie from the Order. Nero watches his mentor, a man he admired and loved like a brother, fall to his death while he is utterly helpless to do anything about it. This, along with his repeated near-misses at rescuing Kyrie, gives Nero an absolutely massive chip on his shoulder about failing, being weak, and being seen as capable. He is deeply worried about being too powerless, too slow, or too unskilled to protect the people he cares about. His already strong desire to prove himself and keep up with those around him becomes an outright insecurity, and he is prone to irrational, reckless actions out of desperation. In DMC5, this is magnified after Nero loses his demonic right arm in an attack, robbing him of much of his power. It reaches exponential levels when Dante, in an attempt to make him leave a dangerous situation, calls him "deadweight." Hearing this from the man he looks up to is a crippling blow to Nero's confidence, and he is furious and hung up about it for the entirety of the game.

Later on, Nero reveals aloud that he still hates himself for being unable to protect Credo. But this time, he transforms his fear and insecurity into determination. As Dante and Vergil face each other in a fateful battle, Nero vows that he won't let either of them die-- and his will to protect them both finally awakens his Devil Trigger, his true power. He throws himself in between Dante and Vergil, breaks up their fight, then duels Vergil to subdue him for the sake of protecting his brand new father and uncle.

(Even when they ripped off his arm and called him a deadweight.)

❥ Player Information

Player Name: GG
Pronouns: she/her
Are you over 18?: yeeeep
Contact(s): theggnator or theggnator on Discord
Link to invitation: Link
Current Characters: N/A
Permissions: Here
Writing Samples: One and Two