Since I've been trying to become more active lately but can't really get started on an RP, I thought I could join this one. I'm assuming you were still waiting for more members to show up to continue, but if that's not the case, please disregard this.
__________________________________
Name: Kiefer Bennet.
Gender: Male.
Age: 25.
Type: State Military Major - gThe Vacuum Alchemisth.
Description: Visual Reference.Kiefer has what could be very well called a sly appearance. He has light brown hair that is usually presented in a very disorganized manner, though he is known to frequent the streets with civil clothing and usually wear a beanie, which might be partly responsible for it. He has small, dark green eyes accompanied by thin eyebrows and an almost constant indifferent expression. He doesnft stand excessively tall, measuring around the 5f5ff.
Personality: Summed up, Kiefer is a person hard to befriend and, if that much is not achieved, he can seem as a cold and ruthless individual. Though at first sight Kiefer gives away an untrustworthy appearance, with expression and presentations that certainly donft seem to match his uniform, he is actually a person very committed to his work as part of the militia. He will refuse any kind of rest until his duty is fulfilled and, if he has not a current task to carry out, he will be quick to offer himself for other kinds of jobs. However, it is actually true that he is not entirely worthy of othersf trust, as many would disagree with his priorities when carrying out a mission, when he puts the objective to accomplish as more important than his own companions. He justifies this by claiming that it will be the best for the majority.
Despite his success in the military, Kiefer is considerably insecure when it comes to his abilities, especially regarding the use of alchemy in actual battle, constantly comparing himself to other prominent members of the military, who he is generally very knowledgeable of. This has many times lead to him having some trouble socializing with his superiors and in some rare cases, his inferiors, who he generally tends to disregard to a great extent. As easily noticed by people around him, even if not too close, he needs to have a reason to engage in a conversation and it is not frequent to find him meaninglessly chatting, which happens only with colleagues he has already befriended. Many people tend to interpret this as a sign of shyness.
His ease when talking to people can be affected a lot by the kind of social environment he is in. While at work in the military he is his usual, hard-working but not very social self, he feels much more at ease when the situation is informal and even his manner of speaking will dramatically change; his lack of self-confidence, however, will remain unaffected. This is also probably one of the reasons why he spends most of his free time on the streets, socializing with people he doesnft hold a professional relationship with.
He sees alchemy as a potential source of power and wisdom that doesnft to be necessarily linked to war or violence, despite him being a soldier trained to employ it almost only for battle. He is not fond of killing other people and would much rather capture an enemy than simply killing him. However, he has grown to diminish the value of otherfs lives and, if something stands strongly in between him and his ideals, he will not hesitate to kill anybody.
Short history: Kiefer was born as the only son of a poor family in Youswell. Between the bad economic situation of the town and his family having no one or nowhere to turn to, Kiefer spent his childhood in patchiness. He grew up disliking the military as many argued it was all because of them that the town was going through such a mediocre state and at least for the first 7 years of his life, he was fed only with curses towards the military and government in general.
It was around that age, however, that an old, retired State Alchemist responding to the name of Adele arrived to Youswell searching for a place to stay and live her remaining days in peace. Most people were not very happy to hear about the newcomer and the general sentiment was to deny her any housing, but she managed to find an understanding family who took her in and she remained in Youswell, content with simply having somewhere to sleep. She was victim over the first few weeks to mediocre treatment from others, though, with time, people grew accustomed to her presence and she became a regular citizen. Kiefer was one of the few who would still refuse her presence.
Adele began offering free basic alchemy training to some children who would be willing to put up with the massive training required and, even though they were few, she did manage to find some pupils. Kiefer was not interested in what he considered gwitchcrafth until one of his friends transmuted a small stone into something else. It was nothing more than the same rock with a slightly different shape (a human sculpture was intended), but Kiefer quickly understood the potential behind alchemy over time and, thinking it could be a ticket for him to leave his poor hometown. He demanded help from Adele, who offered him to become part of the class, ignoring his lack of manners. In a matter of months, Kiefer not only caught up, but even overcame most of his companions, being clearly Adelefs best pupil. By the time Kiefer reached the age of 12, Adele began instructing him separately with the wind alchemy, her specialty. Her attitude towards changed at this point and she demonstrated a severely strict and perfectionist form of teaching, reason why Kiefer would dislike State Alchemist and his classes even more, growing full of himself and thinking he would soon be good enough to become an alchemist by himself.
It was after an argument with Adele once these new lessons had started that Kiefer grew tired of her and decided to practice alchemy by himself. He advanced very little in his skills, but still managed to perform some wind transmutations with moderate success. However, when he attempted to use a large scale wind transmutation, it resulted in failure and nearby coal mine was destroyed due to his mistake, resulting in two deaths. Kiefer received major criticism, though maybe because he was but a kid at the time, many understood his position and he received some protection. Adele, however, saw herself in a much more complicated situation, as the event was blamed on her teaching kids how to use alchemy. She was forced to leave Youswell a few days after the two victimsf funeral. Feeling guilt and trying to escape the shame that remained in Youswell, Kiefer followed Adele and asked her to continue teaching him, taking him along in her journey so that something like that would never happen again. She accepted Kieferfs begging and the first thing she did was carve the correct wind transmutation circle in his hand so that he would never forget either how to use it properly or what could happen if he didnft learn it.
For the next 8 years, Kiefer mastered and eventually surpassed the teachings of Adele while continually travelling with her. At this age, he finally decided to join the military, his perspective of them having changed a lot after the teachings of responsibility Adele had given him. Separating himself from Adele, he went to Central City and, after further exceeding his alchemy with the new learning materials available for him there, he became a State Alchemist under the nickname of gThe Vacuum Alchemisth at the age of 20. He was instantly sent to aid in the Ishbal Massacre, where he demonstrated great potential and quickly ranked up to Sergeant. After the Ishbal Massacre was over, Kiefer spent the rest of the years working hard to further improve in his standing and just recently, in his 25th year of life, finally attained the position of Major.
Abilities: Kiefer is quite capable with all sorts of alchemy in general, though the only one he can use skillfully enough to employ in battle is the one dealing with air.
If given enough time, Kiefer is able to compress waves of wind together to create masses of airstream pressurized to a massive extent. To do this, he has a scar on the palm of his right hand that spreads all over to his fingertips, which have a smaller version of the circle on the center. The other hand has a tattoo that looks and works exactly the same way. Once having clapped his hands together, Kiefer can begin to concentrate waves of winds in between his hands or continue the transmutation with only one hand; the speed at which the wind compresses in his hand depends a lot on the environment, and the more open and windy it is, the easier it is for him to perform this task, though even in closed spaces, it is not an impossible duty. While all the accumulated wind can be used in many different ways and is mostly limited only to Kieferfs imagination, its effect in battle depends on how much pressure has been concentrated.
Even if he doesnft have much time to charge the pressure, Kiefer can still employ the wind in the form of bubbles or lines to push heavy objects with impressive strength, and the more time he has, the stronger and more similar to an actual crash with a physical object the impact will be. This can be taken to such an extent that even rock can be destroyed to bits by one shot; this, however, can be a relatively time-wasting tactic unless he possesses the wind advantage. Kiefer is also able to, if even more time is employed, to reach air pressures that cannot be reached with current technology through his alchemic abilities. Once this point is reached, the pressure is high enough to literally disintegrate anything upon exploding, leaving no trace whatsoever after it, hence Kieferfs title of gThe Vacuum Alchemisth. This skill can only be employed in the form of wind spheres, which must be exploded from a distance by Kiefer and they would take over a minute to charge.
It must also be noted that, due to the necessity of continuously using alchemy to keep the wind together, it is impossible for Kiefer to have already charged wind waves prior to a battle, as he doesnft know when one will take place.
Possessions: Custom Revolver: Having ditched the use of regular firearms after learning what was needed from them, this is the only thing that remains from them for Kiefer. A perfect example of symphony between guns and alchemy, and it is nothing more than a catalyst for Kiefer to use his wind alchemy more effectively. The cylinder of the revolver, rather than having chambers, is completely hollow and has transmutation circles similar to the ones in Kieferfs palm for the use of wind. When Kiefer wants to employ it, he has to activate the transmutation circle inside the cylinder, which will start to rotate at a high speed. When the trigger is pulled, a high-pressure wind wave will blast from the cannon at a speed that can nearly match actual bullets fired from a regular gun. In addition, thanks to the spinning system of the cylinder, the charging time is much faster compared to when Kiefer uses his hands. On the downside, Kiefer is not able to reach a pressure high enough to create vacuums, as the weapon would not be able to handle it and would simply blow itself up with his arm included; neither can he reach distances that go over 70 meters. It is still, however, able to produce a push strong enough to even break rocks or bend metal and, although only one shot is not deadly to a human at a far away distance, point-blank shots can be as effective as a normal bullet if the gun is charged enough.
Traps: Kiefer has a large amount of objects hidden in his clothes and body to employ as tools for unexpected attacks. He is known to use sneaky tactics like that by people who have already worked with him before, so it is a secret already known by a few.
