[Spirit Class 4] Johann Arant

○ Name: Johann Arant ○ Alias: ▕ Patriarch of the Arant Family ▕ Grandfather ▕ Gramps ▕ Old Man ○ Age: 71 ○ Gender: Male ○ Race: Quincy ○ Affiliation: Vandenreich - Sternritter Administrator ○ Alignment: Lawful Neutral ○ Marital Status: Married ○ Nationality: German ○ Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual ○ Height: 5’8 ○ Weight: Healthy ○ Hair Color: Gray ○ Eye Color: Blue

○ Withering Pride: A man who has seen much in his time, and yet still holds pride to his status as a Quincy. While this was a point of arrogance in his prime and his youth, he has since changed through the loss of his children and grandchildren to World War 4. In addition, he shows pride in his age, using his long life to set an example for those around him and to motivate others to do his best in what little time he might have left. But, overall, Johann’s pride has long since regressed, no longer an aspect of youthful arrogance. He is but an old man past his prime and out of his time, seeking to improve the new generation.

○ Traditional: Johann is a firm believer that Quincy are ranged fighters, and that all Quincy should have some level of competency in archery or firearms. He is aware of the changing times, and seeks to instill at least a degree of knowledge and understanding of the old values within the new generation. He has eased off this notion compared to when he was young, but still deeply believes that these values are important, even with the changes to the world.

○ Age-Old Wisdom: Despite not being as old as some of the beings in the world, Johann has still seen his fair share of life. A man who has loved, lost, and seen his comrades and friends at their worst, yet still persists. A lover of literature and anything historic, he particularly enjoys analyzing and learning of the history of words, of locations, of Quincy. There is no piece of history that is too little for him. He is a man who is more than willing to provide wisdom, lessons, and stories for anyone willing to listen. He is as much a scholar as he is a soldier

○ Soft Spot: A trait from when he was a father and a grandfather, Johann has a soft spot for children. While he may be mildly stern to adults, he will often lower his voice and smile, giving more gentle encouragement to the young. A sort of personal penance enacted on himself at the loss of his children and grandchildren, Johann hopes that the young men and women of the next generations will never meet the same fate as his kin. However, he also wants to make sure that, should the worst come, that they will be ready.



Johann was born to the Arant Family, a name long since withdrawn from the modern era of Quincy families. Formerly of great renown, a proud family that served as traditional Quincies, male and female archers that upheld a firm standing for the old ways, though the name is sparsely mentioned in the modern day. Through his youth, he was regaled with the stories and tales that his father and grandfather told of the time before he was even a thought.

With all of these aspects, one could say that Johann was destined for greatness. However, not all was what it seemed. Despite the resources and wealth that his family had at their disposal, the power and skills of Quincy never came naturally. There was no shortage of struggle within Johann’s upbringing, learning to manipulate and weaponize the world around them.

However much struggle he endured throughout his training, Johann remained determined and resolved to uphold his family’s standards and traditions. It took time, but, eventually, manifesting a bow, among other core skills of his race, became as simple as drawing breath. With that same resolve, Johann devoted himself to everything remotely associated with the Quincy and his family’s ancestry.

He was as much a scholar as he was a soldier, absorbing knowledge of both ally and enemy, of all things related to his heritage. The words, powers, mechanics, no sliver of information was too small. It was through this that made him a powerful and capable soldier for the Vandenreich, enlisting as soon as he was able. By the time he had become a Sternritter, the numbers of Quincy were growing after the genocide at the hands of Shinigami.

Serving under Huldric initially, he threw himself at every opportunity, seeking to prove himself and bring pride to his family. He fought alongside his father, exterminating Hollows and helping to keep order in the world. It was also within his service to the Vandenreich where fate guided him to a woman, Emma. Another Quincy serving under Huldric and a doctor by trade, the two became well-acquainted. Johann’s confidence and mannerisms toward his work often landed him in her office.

With how often it happened, some even began to speculate that it was all purposeful, just to see Emma. Well, there was a kernel of truth to that. But, at the time, the Vandenreich came first.

As Johann grew older, cultivating more experience and skill as a Quincy, his grandfather’s health began declining, and his father retired to take care of him and the home in his final days. Life went on, and in his grandfather’s passing, Johann found greater motivation to keep moving forward, to continue doing his best to be a man that his grandfather could be proud of.

Putting more time into his service to the Vandenreich, he and Emma began seeing more of one another, both on and off work. As the months and years went by, the two only grew closer. In time, they were married, and Johann wanted to try and settle down. He and Emma had a few children, and for several years, he watched them grow, teaching them the Quincy arts and training them to eventually join the Vandenreich.

His children joined, served, and eventually came to find love themselves. In time, Johann became a father-in-law, and eventually, a grandfather as well. He was called to the front and called to help from time to time, and he did his duty, but, by and large, he spent time with his family.

His children and grandchildren had become fine men and women, and many of them had entered the Vandenreich. Unfortunately, this time of happiness would come crashing down as World War 4 began. While he was not called to the front again, his children and grandchildren were. He felt nothing but dread as they left, giving warm and hopeful farewells that they would return.

Yet, they were promises that would not be kept. The only thing that returned home were their Sanrei Gloves.

The home was quiet from then on, and it ached. Despite the pain, he did his best to try and live whatever he had left of his life to the fullest. He continued to study and read about Nordic mythology, Germanic history, varying forms of linguistics, anything to keep his mind off of it. In this time, he tried to keep up his skills as a Quincy, to ensure that he was ready in case he was needed.

But, for the longest time, it was quiet. It was merely an old man, out of his time, trying to keep up with the changing times. Then, in the recent years, he heard of the resurfacing of Ichigo Kurosaki and his attack on the Vandenreich -- more importantly, the devastating damage and defeat that was suffered at his hand.

In the advent of the attack on the City of Lights, Johann has come out of retirement, to serve as a bastion to the organization once again, as well as helping to train the Vandenreich’s Quincy. While age has worn away some of his skill compared to his prime, there’s not much that can keep this old man down for long.



○ Martial Skill: Most of Johann’s martial skill is, as expected of him, present in his marksmanship in archery. Even in his old age, he’s able to draw and release an arrow from a bow in little to no time at all, with pinpoint accuracy. It is a skill that was cultivated through years of struggle, practice, and learning. While this skill has waned slightly in his retirement, lack of practice, and the mere fact that he was not a total master in the first place, he is still a formidable archer with any bow in his hands. Outside of archery, his martial prowess can be seen in a competitive level of fencing and aikido, the latter meant to adapt to the changing times and give him a formal discipline when dealing with things up-close, though it is a far cry from his skills as an archer and marksman.

○ Reishi Absorption: A traditional Quincy to his core, Johann spent a great deal of time putting work into his ability to manipulate the particles of Reishi around him. Capable of creating platforms and being able to manifest his Spirit Weapon with only a small amount of delay, it is one of his greatest strengths, even in his old age. The skill has decayed, but he still holds a considerable amount of power over Reishi, and would likely be easily capable of returning the skill to its former glory.

• Ýdalir (“Yew-Dales”): An old Nordic word, only termed once in the Poetic Edda in reference to the home of the forgotten god, Ullr. This ability freezes the Reishi in an area around him, starting from the palm of his hand and reaching out to a couple hundred meters. Any trees are frozen and shifted, and the area is filled with a valley of yew trees, a type of wood preferred when making bows. These trees, ripe with Reishi, can be manipulated by any Quincy in the vicinity, including Johann himself. However, the Reishi from these trees cannot be turned into melee weapons without a large amount of effort, and are easier to create bows and ranged weapons with. This primarily serves as a teaching tool, allowing melee fighters to become accustomed to creating and using bows, as compared to swords.

○ Ginto: While he’s not prone to the more modern version of Quincy spellcraft, Johann has a decent amount of experience and knowledge of the more traditional and old-school items, one of them being Ginto. He carries ten Ginto tubes on his person at all times, capable of using Heizen, and even Sprenger, though that requires the usage of Seele Schneider, as well as far more setup than the others. Johann is also capable of weaponizing Wolke, something seen as a generally defensive or utility spell.

○ Blut: The offense and defensive skill of the Quincy is one that Johann is at least moderately competent with, able to utilize Blut Vene and Blut Arterie individually to a reasonable extent of protecting and augmenting his body. The skill has decayed slightly since his youth and his prime, noted with a noticeable delay when swapping between the two.

• Lögr (“Water”): A unique application of Blut Vene, named after the Nordic rune associated with and symbolic of water. This application causes his Blut to take on a more liquid appearance and functionality, forming a unique in-between of solid and liquid formatting of energy, created as a defense against slashing weapons. Whenever a blade makes contact with this application of Blut, it is noticeably weaker and slips off his body not long after contact, as if it had collided with a wet stone or water itself and slid off. This, however, creates a weakness and opening for thrusting or piercing attacks from afar, such as from spears, rapiers, or arrows. Outside of this, it scales with his Blut skill, sharing the drawbacks of the given level.

○ Ransotengai: As he grew old, Johann fell back to using this technique more and more frequently to allow him to reach the same heights as he did in his youth. By controlling the strings of Reiryoku in his brain, Johann can react far quicker, without worrying about his aging body. While he is out of practice in this technique due to his retirement, it is one that he is ready to use, should the time come.



○ Spirit Weapon Name: Ullr (“Glory”)

○ Spirit Weapon Appearance: Johann’s Spirit Weapon has a rather simple appearance, befitting of a traditional Quincy. It takes the form of a walking cane of intricate design with the look, feel, and scent of yew wood, and a silver insignia of his family crest near the handle. A weapon perfectly suited for an old man out of his time, one who tries to make sure that he is ready for future conflict.

Spirit Weapon Abilities

○ Ullr Brands (“Ullr of Sword”): This ability, attributed to one of the names of the archery god Ullr, is one that was created as a byproduct of the changing times in the world. Quite simply, by twisting the head to the left, the shaft of the cane shrinks and thins out, creating a rapier. It is considerably the weakest of his Spirit Weapon’s abilities compared to his others, due to his preference to range, as well as having no unique traits to it. It specializes in quick, brief thrust attacks, deflecting and redirecting other weapons without taking the brunt of the force.

○ Rand-Ullr (“Shield-Ullr”): Rand-Ullr activates by absorbing and projecting a film of Reishi in an oval motion originating from his Spirit Weapon, creating a round shield large enough to cover Johann’s entire body from the front without crouching down. This leaves the head of the cane unchanged. When faced with physical attacks, it acts like a typical shield, scaling off his Spirit Weapon skill. However, the true potential of this shield is unleashed when combating spiritual attacks. Any Reishi or Reiryoku-based construct that makes contact with the shield is attempted to be dispersed and destabilized.

If it were low-grade Ceros from the conventional Hollows or low to mid-range Kido (roughly 30 and below), the shield would have little problem dispersing the particles and energy without much harmful detriment. Stronger attacks, however (Kido 40 and above), would not only be unable to be fully dispersed, but would be scattered to both sides of him.

Obviously, this causes damage to the shield, the area around him, and if the damage is wide-scale enough, himself. At that point, the shield’s durability would scale off his own, like with physical attacks. Should the shield be broken, he would be left unable to manifest it for two posts afterward.

○ Ullr Almsima (“Ullr of Bowstring''): The primary and most powerful ability of Johann’s spirit weapon. By twisting the head of the cane to the right, the object deploys the limbs of a crossbow, or, with a bit more effort, any bow shape he desires, such as using Reishi to form a bowstring and make the properties of the cane more malleable. While the nature of either prevents him from creating a rapid onslaught to deal with large amounts of enemies, the sheer power of his individual arrows become that much stronger.

Unique to this particular ability, any and all arrows that form from Ullr Almsima have innate frost properties. Upon hitting a target the arrows will expand and make a small field of ice around two feet wide. This is extraordinarily cold, able to freeze the area of targets, but its best attribute is the ability to reduce the speed of something as it passes through the field by around 10% for three posts. This gives Johann the ability to shoot at his targets' feet in order to slow them, shoot at oncoming attacks such as Kido spells or cero to briefly slow them to assist in avoiding them. This debuff effect will stack upon consecutive hits, with the limit being three, giving a 30% debuff. The effect also drops off by 10% with each post, demanding a watchful eye and consistent reapplication.

Thurs (“Thorn”): Uniquely, a Nordic rune associated with Thor, symbolic of catharsis, purging, and cleansing. A technique used with Seele Schneider instead of his base arrows, Thurs uses the vibrations and rotations to create an even more violent and deadly projectile. Instead of halting movement and dispersing after singular contact, the refined, condensed Reishi in the tool causes it to bore through multiple targets at a time. Due to how the Seele Schneider gains additional power when used as an arrow, in tandem with the vibrations and rotations of the “blade,” this creates an even more powerful attack. However, it requires a firm hand to ensure accuracy, and disturbances of such will have severe consequences.

Weakness

○ Shifting: While Ullr has three different forms, and can shift between them, the process of doing so is not fast, with the sole exception of Almsima. When it comes to changing the form of his Spirit Weapon, Johann must first reset the handle of the cane, letting it come to rest in the center and wait for the weapon to change back to its default state, leaving him open to attack. While it is quicker for his weapon to shift from neutral to Almsima and vice-versa, the other forms are not so lucky.



○ Letzt Stil Name: Wuldor-Fæder (Glory-Father)

○ Appearance: Johann’s Letzt Stil makes little change to his appearance upon activation. As his Sanrei Glove freezes over and melts away, the form manifests an icy blue hooded cloak around him. It is cold to the touch and translucent like ice, yet flows effortlessly in the wind.

○ Summary: At the cost of his Sanrei Glove and the forcible shifting of Ullr to its Alsima form, Johann’s Letz Stil freezes the Reishi in a mile radius around him, breaking down and absorbing all the Reishi within that area. Unable to perform any other traditional techniques outside of Ransotengai, Johann can unleash as many arrows in the timeframe his Reishi Absorption skill allows before the form eventually melts away. In addition to this, Johann’s base arrows are augmented, being not only more powerful and faster, but the frost properties in base also are augmented. Each arrow, rather than a 10% slow, now inflicts a 30% debuff on the target with the same conditions and drawbacks as they had initially.



○ Literature: A purveyor of history and literature, Johann always can be seen with a book on him or nearby. He has an extensive collection of Quincy history, world history, books on various mythologies and cultures, many books on archery, as well as anthologies on etymology and linguistics.

○ Seele Schneider: Carrying a rather sizable handful of these at a time, Johann keeps a set of Seele Schneider on his person always. He carries around ten at a time, and can use them as either an arrow or a blade, though it prevents him from using the base attributes of his arrows effectively, due to the vibrations and rotations. However, this allows him to cause more raw damage, rather than a mix of damage and detriment. He keeps these on his person in the chance that he should need to use Sprenger or any other spell that requires it.

○ Sanrei Gloves: In addition to his own Sanrei Glove, Johann possesses several more, formerly belonging to his father, grandfather, children, and grandchildren, all as either keepsakes or simply being the only thing that remained to return home.

○ Medallion: A round object the size of his palm, with the Vandenreich’s insignia etched into the surface. It is worn, with age and time wearing away at its features. Nowadays, it is merely an old family relic, once awarded to his grandfather before Johann was born. The item was passed down to his father, who used it as a set piece for a bedtime story of stealing a Shinigami’s Bankai when he was a boy, and eventually passed it down to him. But, it was, after all, just a story, and the item truly is nothing but a piece of memorabilia. Out of respect, Johann keeps the item close to honor the memory of his father and grandfather.

○ Quincy Cross: Yet another relic from his youth, Johann’s Quincy Cross takes the form of his family’s signet ring with a beautiful sapphire as the embedded stone and the cross in center. A small collection of Nordic runes surround the ring’s band, creating an old poem “Ice is what we call a broad bridge, a blind man should be shown the way.” Like many old family items, this hardly serves much more purpose than a personal memento and a small degree of pride in what once was.

Upgrade Log:

General Attributes

• Durability: C
  
• Speed: B
  
• Strength: C
  
• Soul: B
  

Racial Skills

• Blut: Adept
  
• Gebut: Advanced
  
• Kreuzen: Advanced
  
• Steigen: Advanced
  

Will Skills

• Willpower/Determination: Adept
  
• Mental Deduction: Adept
  
• Focus: Advanced