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Player Information

Name: Fox
Personal Journal: foxysquid
Age: over 18
Contact Info: DW PMs, Plurk: teacuppity
Other Characters Played: n/a

Character Information

Character Name: Kariya Matou
Character Series: Fate/Zero
Character Age: Late 20s (about 26)
Character Gender: male
Original Canon
Canon Point: End of act eight: after his rescue of Rin Tohsaka from Caster's monster, and after Assassin is killed by Rider.
Background Link: wiki link
Personality: Kariya Matou is naturally gentle, kind, and soft-spoken, and those traits have been mistaken for cowardice or weakness. However, the idea that he is weak couldn't be farther from the truth. He is strong, and has been since before the Fourth Grail War. It is simply that his strength is utilized in non-traditional ways. It takes enormous strength for him to reject his powerful magus family, as a family member with Magic Circuits they could use. Choosing not to use his magic and turning his back on the problematic and abusive world he was born into, although it makes him weak in the sense that his magecraft is weak, takes a great deal of emotional fortitude and moral courage. Kariya lives as an outcast, by his own choice, but as the story begins, he is satisfied with the choice he's made, with his freedom from the Matous and his life away from them.

The opinion of others aside, his courage is immense. Unlike every other Master in the War (with the odd and dissimilar exception of Kirie Kotomine, at first), he does not enter the War because he wants to use the Grail to make a wish. Instead, he wants to obtain the Grail so he can give it to the head of the family, Zouken, in exchange for a single favor: to save someone else from the Matou family cruelty.

Kariya is generous, thoughtful, and quietly devoted. His desires tend to revolve around others. What Kariya wants most is for the young Sakura Tohsaka to be freed from the Matou Family. The girl is the daughter of Aoi, his childhood sweetheart and best friend. Kariya loves the child and is like an uncle to her. The Matou family took Sakura from the Tohsaka family because of the lack of any remaining young, viable magus in the family after the departure of Kariya. The Tohsaka family agreed to give Sakura to the Matous for political reasons, and it is this fact around which the tragedy of Kariya Matou centers.

Kariya agrees to return to his family, to train as a magus, and to allow his family's Crest Worms to be placed in his body. This, all to save a single child, and, by association, to help her mother, the woman he loves. He knows that, no matter what happens, he will die. In the end, he will also fail, and he will suffer greatly for it. It is possible that a part of him knows that this is all but inevitable, but he enters into the agreement because he would rather undergo all this suffering than be the kind of person who would allow it to continue without doing anything. That is the strength of Kariya Matou. He is a protector of the weak and innocent, with a soft spot for children. He is sustained by the idea of once again spending time with Sakura, Rin, and their mother, all of them together, with the children playing together happily again.

That said, Kariya is not a person without flaw. One could make a case for him being the most selfless Master in his Grail War, but there is selfishness in him, even as he is sacrificing himself. When he left his family, he did leave his brother Byakuya with the weight of the family's expectations on him. This left Byakuya a broken man, and he'd be the first to call Kariya selfish. Byakuya believes he's doing what is right for the family and that Kariya deserted them. Also, Kariya's love for Aoi is a lifelong one, and though he wants his friend to be happy, there is desire there, too, and buried resentment. He greatly dislikes Aoi's husband Tokiomi, and after what happens to Sakura, that dislike grows into a destructive, blinding hatred that causes him to act irrationally. Eventually, he develops the overpowering desire to kill Tokiomi, even though--and in part because--Tokiomi is the man Aoi loves.

His desire to help and his idealistic kindness can blind him to the reality of events. There is only a small chance that he can win the Holy Grail War. Even Zouken thinks that it is impossible that he will win, and it is difficult to believe that Zouken would have kept his word, even if Kariya had. His entire quest, then, may be pointless, and he has sacrificed himself in an act of futility. A more strategic or subtle person may have tried to find another way to free Sakura without involving herself in the folly of the War. Kariya is too earnest and straightforward to concoct deceptive or manipulative plots.

Currently, Kariya's physical and mental state are very poor. He is in near-constant pain. The Crest Worms implanted in him affect his mind and her body, and both are slowly but steadily being devoured from within. Once steady and quiet, if inwardly passionate and principled, he is beginning to lose his mind. He now has greater difficulty thinking clearly, as he losing himself slowly and steadily, along with his life. His thoughts are more erratic. His focus on his task has become obsessive. His decline increases his negative traits the further it progresses: his self-sacrifice to the point of foolishness, his focus on his anger at Tokiomi, and his lack of deceit and difficulty seeing through the deceit of others. This makes it easier for others to manipulate him, which leads him into the folly of an alliance with Kirei Kotomine.

He is dying, but he is still fighting. He is not ineffective. He stood up to one of the Servant Caster's monsters in order to save the life of Aoi's other daughter, Rin. His ability to withstand suffering is immense. Zouken himself admits that he is impressed with and surprised by Kariya's continued survival more than once. It is Kariya's great sense of purpose, his single-minded focus on his compassionate goal, that allow him to keep living. He has managed to hold up under pressures that would already have destroyed almost anyone else. No one else believes he can succeed in his quest, and ultimately, he will fail, but even his last moment will be one of hope. He will outlive the Crest Worms that are killing him, and his will is so strong that only death will stop him from striving to save the child he loves.

Abilities: Though born with magic circuits, as stated previously, Kariya avoided formal training when he was young as a result of his dislike of his family. As such, he has no real power under ordinary circumstances. However, when entering the Holy Grail War for Sakura's sake, he agreed to allow his body to be infested with Crest Worms, parasites that increase his magical power, even while devouring his body from within. As a result, his magic is increased, although his body is wracked with pain and his lifespan has been greatly shortened. He can use the worms themselves to fight, expelling them from his body and turning them into Blade Wing Worms, horrifying carnivorous insects. In his world, he can also summon and direct (to an extent) the Heroic Spirit Berserker, but as his connection to his Servant will be cut off (and as Berserker is an appable character in any case), he won't be able to summon his Servant in the tower.

Sample Entry:
"Berserker. Berserker." Kariya's voice is quiet, almost sing-song as he calls out in the darkness. He doesn't need to call with his voice to summon Berserker, he knows, but he does anyway. It seems more polite to speak to his Servant, even considering the circumstances. Even though there's no need to be polite. All he has to do is summon his Servant to fight for him. It's a strange feeling, having something so powerful at his command, a relentless, destructive force. After avoiding magecraft for so long, he's been thrust into a surge of it. Almost everything in his life, now, is everything he'd once struggled to escape from. That was his choice.

He sees the Servant before there's any audible response. The light that glows from Berserker's helmet and the seams in his armor is a brilliant red, highly visible in the dark. Kariya approaches slowly. The Hero is huge. He could easily crush Kariya if he wished, if not for the contract binding them. "Berserker." Kariya's own voice sounds strange to him. His throat is ruined, along with the rest of him. It's the same voice at heart, but impossibly ravaged. Like himself.

The Servant makes a noise, then, a low exhalation of breath with something of his voice in it, not unlike a groan. Kariya feels drawn to the sound. Something about it is compelling. There's a pained edge to it that resonates within him.

"I'm Kariya," he says, trying his best to make the words understandable. Berserker has already accepted him as a Master, and they were "introduced" in Zouken's presence, but Zouken isn't here now. It's only the two of them, in the dark. This feels more genuine, less forced. "We're going to win the war. I know we will." His right eye lights, though his left remains dull and colorless.

He can feel Berserker watching him as Berserker lets out another breath. It's strange, to feel watched when he can't see any eyes, only that red glow. Berserker doesn't offer his name or opinion. He doesn't say anything. Kariya knows why. He's mad. Kariya goes on, speaking into the silence. "I promised to get the Grail for my uncle. When I do, he's going to let Sakura go." He doesn't bother to explain who Sakura is. "She'll go home. She'll be happy again. That's all I want."

Berserker doesn't speak, but Kariya imagines he might be listening, though there's no way to tell whether he understands. Just the idea that someone might be listening encourages him. His voice grows stronger, full of desperation, hope, and a measure of his own madness. "We're going to save Sakura and kill Tokiomi. It's his fault this happened. I want him to die. That's what we're going to do first. He's our enemy. He brought Sakura here. So he has to die."

Because Sakura came here, Kariya did, too. He used to travel. He used to go places, to meet people. He used to have a life of his own. Now, in the darkness, this mad Servant is the only person he has to talk to. "You'll follow my orders, and when we're done, everything will be fine! Everything will be all right again!"

Berserker lets out a hiss. Kariya remembers the words, "chains of madness." With his heart racing, his body aching, he can understand what that's like. He feels bound, too. This is his Servant. They're alike.

Alike... A stab of compassion cuts through his determination, suddenly, and he sags. "I'm sorry," he says. The words are a whisper, and with the wreck of his throat, it's possible that they can't be understood, that they're just another meaningless sound.

Bonus sample threads:
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