SynBlade World Concept & Cast Details

[zweihandler]

WORLD HISTORY AND SETTING BACKSTORY

$YEARS prior to the time of the story, the planet was ravaged by a meteor shower that tore apart continents, wreaked environmental havoc and brought about huge changes to the plant and animal life of Earth. This event, referred to as the "Cascade" is speculated to have been a failed attempt at terraforming the planet by an alien race. On top of the structural damage done to the planet, the subtle changes made to the environment and creatures of Earth made it a much less welcoming place for humans. Though they managed to survive, certain species of animals became monstrous and savage and certain families of plants seemed to gain some measure of sentience and a healthy distaste for humans. These mutated creatures – colloquially dubbed "Cast-Offs" in reference to the event that created them – began wreaking havoc on what remained of the human race.

In response, humankind did what they always do: tried to find a way to survive. On continents worst affected by the Cascade, technology did not exactly regress but the unreliability of technology in their new environment (mostly desert, rock and other difficult to inhabit nastiness) made it less vital in their day-to-day living. On the other end of the scale, the humans in areas less affected by the disaster pooled together their resources and began to construct hi-tech, fortified megacities to better ensure their safety and survival.

It wasn't until the metaphorical dust had settled that it became clear that the fauna of Earth was not the only thing changed by the Cascade. Similarly changed by the Cascade, a new race of humans were born, starting off as a tiny minority and quickly becoming startling percentage of the remaining human race. Initially met with hostility and discrimination, it eventually became clear that this new race of humans, dubbed "Synchronics", were necessary to the survival of humankind.

Synchronics are speculated to be humans beings who are able to properly adapt to the changes in their new ecosystem and have come to take on the traits of the race that attempted to terraform Earth. On top of being much stronger, faster and altogether better suited to combat than regular humans, Synchronics also seemed to have the ability to resonate with fragments of the meteors that brought them into existence, which in turn further enhanced their natural superhuman capabilities. These fragments were eventually used to develop the technology used to create Keys, weapons and tools that could synchronize with compatible Synchronics and bring out their full strength and potential. Keys also function as a sort of backup to Synchronics, as the process of their creation results in them awakening a sort of heart of their own and they are mostly sentient but generally only able to communicate with Synchronics they are connected to.

Over the next few decades, a great deal of research went into understanding the way Synchronics and their powers functioned and finding them a place in this new society. For a time, things were messy and uncomfortable but as the Synchronic population increased (sitting at a comfy 60/40 split with normal humans at the time the story takes place) it became clear that society had no choice but to adapt and welcome them. Shifts in governance and law took place and after a particularly messy bit of political history (that we won't get too into, this is supposed to be a fun superpowered anime teenager story) there was finally a place for Synchronics in this new world.

MODERN DAY SETTING DETAILS

SynBlade takes place in a near-future Earth some number of years after the normalization of Synchronics within society. In the megacities (like Verdette, where the story takes place) tech has accelerated and the general tech aesthetic is this sort of nonsense. Lots of touchscreens and holo displays and all that sort of cool stuff. These megacities serve to protect the population from all the nasty shit outside. They're not the only settlements left but they're generally the safest (basically think FFXV and the crown city vs the roadside settlements that keep getting shitcanned by daemons)

Synchronics and humans are generally pretty intermingled, with the occasional but not unusual community that swings either mostly human or Synchronic. For the most part, young Synchronics go through the same general education as regular humans but will have their own separate classes and instruction sessions on how to manage their powers and how to begin Syncing with Keys. During these sorts of classes, young Synchronics are assessed and categorized according to the way they exert control of their powers.

Ability to Sync with a Key is assessed on a scale of 1 to 100% percent with a higher number obviously being preferable, but Sync numbers in the uppers 80s and above considered 'dangerous' in a nebulously defined sense. The population at large tends to average at 15% Sync on a day-to-day basis.

Each Synchronic has a unique individual power (though they can be sorted into broad categories) called a "Resonance" and depending on the exact nature of their Resonance, they are classed as "Combatant" or "Non-Combatant".

From high school upwards is generally where the split starts between schools catering to both humans and Synchronics and academies that serve to train Synchronics in combat. These academies will accept students of varying skill levels. Some will allow Synchronics to continue using Keys they may have had beforehand (in the case of a family Key that has been handed down, etc) but some academies will offer students the opportunity to take a Key from the school's property and begin training with that one.

Not all Synchronics have Keys. Most of them do, simply because Keys are so prevalent in Synchronic society. Of the ones that do, not all of those will have weaponry. Non-Combatant Synchronics may have Keys that take other forms but for the most part, Keys are intended to be used as weapons. there's basically no hard and fast rule on what your key should be except that it needs to be Cool and Anime.

Synchronics who prove themselves to be capable in handling combat and have high Sync percentages can become what are known as "Full-Time Combatants" who are paid to defend the megacities humanity occupies from Cast-Offs or to travel out to smaller settlements and provide assistance there.

STORY AND TIMELINE DETAILS

The main action of SynBlade takes place in Estrella Academy, the most prestigious academy for Synchronics currently active. Estrella is notable for its policy of refusing entrance to students who cannot achieve a baseline 20% Sync with a Key, meaning that they only accept the very best of the Synchronic population. Students attending Estrella are paired up with power-compatible Synchronics with whom they are partnered for the rest of their time at the Academy.

Estrella Academy Hosts a yearly tournament known as the Seven Sisters Tournament as a sort of sporting event from eligible combatants. Winning the tournament is a show of considerable skill. There are whispers that particularly talented winners of the tournament are given permission to immediately graduate and become full-time Combatants.

The truth of this, however, is that Estrella Academy are creating Keys through a traumatic conversion process that involves killing promising Synchronics and forcing their minds into empty weapons, erasing the memories of their human lives in the process. The Seven Sisters Tournament is held for the purposes of weeding out the Synchronics with the highest rate of compatibility for conversion into Keys.

This process started off as a benign attempt to save promising Synchronics from being killed in combat by having their minds transferred into blank Keys that had yet to be completed. Due to obvious moral concerns, this research was put on the backburner and eventually came into the hands of the Estrella Foundation.

The Estrella Foundation, as the name suggests, are the group formally in control of Estrella Academy. It is composed of a mingling of (of course, extremely rich and privileged) humans and Synchronics who collectively believe that the next step for humanity's evolution is not to become Synchronics, but to become fully autonomous Keys, who are able to communicate and influence the world entire of their own power without needing to be connected to a Synchronic. To that end, the Key conversion process is an experiment in creating a Key/Synchronic fusion who is able to achieve 100% Sync with itself and therefore become fully sapient, sentient and autonomous.

CONCEPTS TO WORK OUT:

- Synchronics regularly spar with each other, using their weapons. How are Synchronics not regularly injured or killed during sparring matches? Do they have some additional power to prevent this?
- general worldbuild fuckshittery

KEY CONCEPTS:

Synchronics: superpowered Anime Teenagers with their own gimmick powers who become more powerful when bonded with sentient weapons called Keys. Each one of them has their own cool gimmicky power (tentatively called a Resonance, but i'm up for other cool name pitches) and all of them come with the standard boost to speed, strength, stamina, etc.

Keys: Sentient weapons that bond with Synchronics to bring out their potential. They can be Pretty Much Any Weapon as long as it's sufficiently cool and anime.

Sync: The process in which a Synchronic bonds with their Key. Sync is measured in terms of percentage, in which a higher percentage means a more powerful bond between Synchronic and Key. Upwards of 85% Sync begin to blur the lines between a Synchronic and the mind inside their Key with a full 100% Sync considered dangerous. 100% Sync is essentially a limit break in which the Synchronic receives a huge power boost and begins to act in complete synchronization with their Key. Keys created from living Synchronics may begin to recover memories of their human identities after experiencing 100% Sync.

Academies: Multiple academies around the world exist for the purpose of training Synchronics and helping them control their powers. The story of Synchronic Blade takes place in Estrella Academy, which is situated in Verdette City.

Estrella Academy: The most prestigious academy for Synchronics that promises to teach them to control and fight with their powers. Notable for its policy of refusing entrance to students who cannot achieve a baseline 20% Sync with a Key. Run by the Estrella Foundation. Students attending Estrella are paired up with power-compatible Synchronics with whom they are partnered for the rest of their time at the Academy. Hosts a yearly tournament for the purposes of weeding out the Synchronics with the highest rate of compatibility for conversion into Keys.

Seven Sisters Tournament: The yearly Big Battle Tournament held in Estrella Academy. Students must battle their way through prelims before being able to enter the tournament proper. Winning is a Big Deal.

Comments

PROFILE SKELETON if you want i guess

[zweihandler]

<b>Name</b>: <b>Age:</b> <b>Appearance/Image References:</b> <b>Bio:</b> <b>Key:</b> <b>Powers and shit:</b> <b>ANYTHING ELSE:</b>

[zweihandler]

Name: Erina Estival
Age: 16
Appearance/Image References: I changed her PB so have a new ref

Always looks sort of fashionably dishevelled. The kind of look someone has when they try very, very hard to look like they've put absolutely no effort into their appearance at all. Black hair and blue eyes. About 5'8'', so she is Tall and Leggy.

Bio: A grouchy sassy shitpost who manages to achieve a 60% Sync rate with her Key on her first attempt and pretty much immediately falls hard and fast for the girl inside. Saw the Seven Sisters Tournament as a child and was inspired by the winner to become a combatant Synchronic herself, despite her ability being more geared towards a non-combatant role. Her Resonance is to hear the thoughts and voices of Keys she herself is not Synced with and ??? probably something else cool. Sort of sassy and snarky and comes across like she's trying a bit too hard to be a standoffish edgelord. Tries very hard to paint the image of herself as a cool, unaffected badass. She's actually very energetic and passionate under the surface. Gay for two things: haunted swords and women.

Key: A zweihander, called uh Zwei. LEAVING THE DETAILS UP TO BLOSS SINCE SHE PROMISED TO PLAY SWORD LESBIANS WITH ME
Powers and shit: High sensitivity to Sync levels between Synchronics and Keys. She's able to hear and sometimes communicate Keys she isn't bonded with and when fighting with Zwei, they can disrupt the Sync between other Synchronics and their weapons for short bursts. maybe something else like she can use the Sync between another synchronic and their key to briefly megaman their powers? BASICALLY I WANT TO DO A LITTLE MORE WITH HER ABILITY TO TUNE INTO PEOPLE'S SYNC, SO I THINK THE MEGAMAN THING IS A GOOD PLACE TO START

ANYTHING ELSE:

[allione]

Name: Restille Alleluia (under control of her key Allione, formerly known as Farron Al-Beyer)
Age: 17 (Restille's body), 2 (since Allione was made), 19 (Farron)
Appearance/Image References: icons yo. also farron icons for flashback purposes

Bio: On the surface, Restille kind of fades into the background. Average student, average fighter, mostly quiet. Under the surface, it seems she has a bit of a sarcastic and pessimistic streak, but that's only to people who actually take notice of her. The biggest event of importance was that two years ago, a sparring accident should have taken her life, but then her Key, having not yet shown its powers, managed to save her from death. It was talked about for a quick minute, but then mostly forgotten about.
Key: Allione, a jitte. Allione possesses the soul of Farron Al-Beyer, and fragmented memories from a botched conversion to her weapon form. Using those memories, Allione/Farron intends to find out the truth of what's going on at the Academy.
Powers and shit: Necromancy. Allione is constantly using this power to control Restille's body, since Restille actually died in that sparring accident two years ago. In theory Allione can control any dead body within a certain distance, but dead bodies are actually hard to come across in day to day life, believe it or not.

ANYTHING ELSE: zombies r cool

[albeyer]

Name: Farron Al-Beyer
Age: 17 (at death), 19 (chronologically)
Appearance/Image References: yo

Bio: The winner of the Seven Sisters Tournament two years ago. In life, Farron was known as the "cool senpai" who was generally laid-back in demeanor but still trained hard and wanted everybody around her to be the best they could be. She was popular among both students and staff, and probably on the receiving end of several love confessions (all let down gently.) After winning the tournament, Farron "graduated early" which is code for "was turned into a Key against her will." The process fucked up, however, leaving her with fragmented memories of her human life.
Key: Now she is a key, Allione. In life, she used a synthetic key, Fenrir, a spear which let her control her personal gravity and the gravity of things she hit with it.
Powers and shit: Farron is, plainly, mostly just a lot of fucking fightman skill. Her combat style involves being a very good technical fighter and, although not the speediest, she is incredibly agile and tends to have a very mobile, even unorthodox fighting style.

ANYTHING ELSE: she ded

[dobonhonkeros]

this is a placeholder for the cool senpai who isn't a zombie, i'll come back to this. taking the titty oneesan mantle from claire for now. she's big and pink and gay thank you

[irresponsibly]

Name: Lucia Lee
Age: 18
Appearance/Image References: Basically

Bio: Seems relatively harmless on the outside; actually doesn't care about anyone except herself, her Key, and her mother. Avoidant as hell and would rather not deal with people in general because that's just how she is. Lucia becomes pretty menacing once you piss her off though? (See reference pic). She started off with a 5% Sync rate, but her goal was to get into Estrella Academy. So through hard work and learning how to communicate with her Key, she managed to get up to a 20% Sync rate, and was subsequently accepted into the academy. Lucia and her Key used to hate one another, but overtime learned to tolerate each other and cooperate to raise their Sync and do well in battle. Lucia has a long way to go and is considered an underdog, but she's doing her best.

I feel pretty bad for whoever's partnered with her tbh
Key: A giant ass mace named Mila.
Powers and shit: Superstrength! Lucia is basically using this to wield Mila because Mila is heavy as fuck

ANYTHING ELSE: