Axel Graf

CHARACTER

Name: Axel Graf

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Symbol: Serpent Eye Glyph

Spoiler:

Occupation: Student

Appearance: 6 feet 1 inch; 192 pounds; toned and muscular on a strong frame, medium-chestnut brown hair in a peaked side crop haircut; grey eyes; clean-shaven; wears a pair of frameless, thin, rectangular glasses when attending class and formal functions; no particular combat uniform apart from a single round tri-spiked spaulder on his off-hand shoulder

Spoiler:

History:  Axel grew up in the the city of Aetera, outside of the Kingdom of Vale. He comes from a line of politicians, and the shrewd world of business and politics were as natural to him as breathing air. The second youngest of five children, Axel watched his family and extended family being constantly embroiled in the maneuverings of the kingdoms highest echelons, where words were the sharpest weapons known in existence. Despite being from such a family, Axel had no stomach for the life of politics, in particular the byzantine web of favors, alliances, grudges, and debts that pervaded the kingdom. As such, he turned to the path of the Hunter as a way to escape the life that he was born into and began training at Signal Academy.

To Axel, the life of the Hunter offered freedom, simplicity, and clear meaning. No longer would he be bound under the eye of scrutiny that followed his family and rival political families, especially now that he was in the Kingdom of Vale. The goal of the Hunter was simple and obvious: to protect people from the darkness that followed the Grimm. Political maneuverings and convoluted plans were nowhere to be found, and Axel could feel like he constantly reaffirmed himself as his own man as he could eventually risk his life frequently with nothing but his mind, body, and aura against the Grimm.


Personality:  

Axel is an educated person, which was a result of his upbringing and intense early education in preparation for an expected future in law, business, and politics. Though generally quiet, he possess a dry and often times sarcastic sense of humor. Despite his best efforts, aspects of Axel's background and upbringing find their way into his personality. Axel has a high regard for the law, when applied to others, but typical of most politicians of his homeland, he thinks laws and rules to be a sham designed to keep down those who do not know how to play its game. He expects great work out of himself and others and has little patience for those who do not live to his expectations of work performance, sophistication, or intelligence. On top of this, Axel is quick to judge and maintains opinions that are difficult to redeem. This is all hidden under a veil of civility, proper manners, and a charm of reserved sophistication that makes him appear likable, yet still slightly cold and distant.

Nonetheless, Axel, though pragmatic, still hopes to see the best in people and tries to break down the barriers of the class and skill-based elitist perception of the world that he grew up around.


Strength: Axel is very strong, and he knows how to use it.  He retains a cunning sense of fighting that developed from the craftiness and shrewdness necessary to survive in upper-class politics.  Attacks such as limb breaking and joint targeting that come natural, and despite his best efforts to eliminate such tactics in fights against other students and reserve them for when fighting Grimm, he is sometimes called an unintentionally brutal and dirty fighter.  Axel is rather fast and agile for a person of his size, and though certainly far from the fastest of students at Beacon, he is still able to keep up.


Weakness:  While Axel can certainly be described as arrogant, he takes great pain to hide it and reform his personality. However, it is in the arena where his arrogance comes to the fore and costs him greatly. While his arrogance generally does not impact him in the fight against soulless Grimm, Axel sometimes overestimates himself, leading him to toy with his opponents, especially against other students. This is an ingrained remnant of Axel's elitism, and his tendency to break the opponent, yet not defeat them, to establish his dominance and superiority, often leaves room in which he can be caught off guard, allowing for opponents to make a comeback. When such a comeback does occur, Axel, whether out of surprise or a sense of tarnished pride, inadvertently allows himself to get carried away, making his attacks more brutal, yet noticeably sloppier. Axel is painfully aware of this weakness and struggles to overcome it as it ties him back to his disdained upbringing, but old habits are hard to break.


WEAPON

Name:  Laughter and Spite

Laughter:  Laughter is a single-faced chainaxe wielded with one hand.  Opposites of its motorized face is a semi-circle with sharp spikes radiating from the center giving it the appearance of a sun setting over the horizon.  The chain drive motor is fueled by Dust and has variable torque settings, but it is usually not utilized in fights against other students for fear of seriously damaging their weapons.  Nonetheless, against Grimm, it creates a horrifically bloody display of gore and dismemberment.  Its cutting face (not including the motorized teeth) is colored with a blood-splattered yellow and black construction stripe pattern

Spite:  Spite is a large-caliber magnum pistol that Axel pairs together with Laughter in combat.  It can be adapted for use with Aura, but Axel prefers using solid bullets as they are reliably tried and true.

History:  Being used to cut down trees, chainsaws were familiar tools for woodsmen and were among the first-choice weapons, along with axes, used against the recurring Grimm.  Axel, seeing the loud, direct nature of such weapons chose them as a statement of his desire for simplicity and straightforwardness. To this end, he combined the axe and chainsaw together to create the chainaxe during his time at Signal Academy. It's name was chosen sarcastically from the sound it made when it chewed through a shield in his first practice spar.

Spite, the pistol, is a gift from his father given as Axel left Aetera. Originally, it was a slim weapon epitomized for the swift, silent assassinations that sometimes occurred in politics. Axel, despite appreciating the gift, disdained its original purpose, and in spite, he modified to match the loudness and directness of Laughter, thus giving it its name.

Approval +1 - Provided you do one thing.

Expand the weakness beyond going frenzied. Suggestions include have it make him fight sloppily, go in too deep or possibly even get randomly lost.

I'm added to add a bit of those three, but I'm definitely liking the randomly lost option.  That seems like it'll have the possibility for some rather entertaining outcomes.

Thanks for suggestion

I think the weakness needs to be more defined. It's not very clear how this is a weakness. A bit more description and depth to it.

I decided to go with the sloppiness you suggested, but at the same time, I didn't want to make my character a berserker. That's why I went with arrogance being my character's main problem, with overconfidence and sloppiness being symptoms of it. This necessitated a change in backstory, because I couldn't think of a way to justify a lumberjack being arrogant.

Approval +1 - arrogance can lead to sloppiness. Not making him a berserker but moreso overconfident to the point where he deliberately drops his guard because he thinks his opponents can't match him.

Looks good. Second approval.