On Casimir.
Sep. 7th, 2024 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
minirothWhat exactly, is Sephiroth's companion Casimir?
Casimir is what happens when a non-Sleeper attempts to conjure what he THINKS is an Omen, based on his ideas of what qualifies as an Omen and a useful companion, aided by a Darkblood shrike.
Things went a bit wrong. Because Sephiroth believed it meant ripping out a part of his soul, it did. Casimir is literally a piece of him on the outside, at about the size of a German shepherd normally. Calling him a remnant, a Sephiroth copy, a weirdly small piece of Jenova.. these are not entirely inaccurate..
As Sephiroth is not a Sleeper and does not have proper blood magic, but does have very specific wishes in mind, the result is surface-similar. Casimir is a creation of smoke, magic and blood, a part of his soul carved out and given an external form. Form chosen: Shinra's hybrid canine guard hounds. He is a representation of an animal, and is not actually an animal, and his visible state can reflect Sephiroth's mental state by way of apparent scars and injuries. Like an omen, attacking him physically can be as pointless as attacking smoke, and he can possess Sephiroth's weapons to make them nigh indestructible and impossibly keen. He can shrink or grow in size as desired, from chihuahua sized to horse sized, and is able to be ridden in larger modes. He can if he or Sephiroth so choose it, discorporate entirely and follow along unseen. Sephiroth can communicate with Casimir nonverbally, and use Casimir's senses (and Casimir use Sephiroth's), but only one can be 'active' at a time; if Sephiroth's using Casimir's sight wherever Casimir is, he's not going to be seeing where he himself is until he stops.
However, Casimir was created specifically with the desire for a guardian and ally in combat, and thus Casimir is exactly as tangible as he wishes to be, and is fully capable of fighting alongside Sephiroth. They share all strengths, weaknesses, abilities and powers between them save Legend specific boons. Casimir is functionally immune to most status effect type abilities, able to discorporate and render poisons and diseases null and void; this doesn't work on mind or spirit affecting things, nor does it prevent shared effects mentioned below.
Limitations: Unlike Sleeper omens, Casimir has no prophetic sixth sense for danger, can't be used as a source of light and cannot be used as a communicator. He is LITERALLY a piece of Sephiroth and not a representation, and thus what affects one affects the other. For lack of a better term, they share stats, health, magic and powers between them; Casimir is fully as strong as Sephiroth is and must be fully corporeal to use physical attacks, but damage to one does damage to the other; Casimir shares his weakness to Holy elements, and anything that successfully can kill one will immediately kill the other. Mental effects are also shared, for better or worse. Healing one heals the other; being smoke and blood doesn't prevent Casimir from carrying injuries sustained across their link until those are mended. Casimir can be ensnared by spirit-specific abilities, traps and wards but can't be outright Dispelled. Any attack that successfully can strike both of them at the same time inflicts doubled damage. Casimir's senses are no sharper than Sephiroth's.
It will take time, and probably some nice lessons at Agrona or similar focused effort, to learn how to properly fight as a team and use Casimir's faux-omenness to its best ability. While Casimir CAN turn into smoke to avoid being hit, Sephiroth isn't used to thinking of that being an option and thus it's going to take time and practice to implement, though using it casually will be more frequent.
Casimir is what happens when a non-Sleeper attempts to conjure what he THINKS is an Omen, based on his ideas of what qualifies as an Omen and a useful companion, aided by a Darkblood shrike.
Things went a bit wrong. Because Sephiroth believed it meant ripping out a part of his soul, it did. Casimir is literally a piece of him on the outside, at about the size of a German shepherd normally. Calling him a remnant, a Sephiroth copy, a weirdly small piece of Jenova.. these are not entirely inaccurate..
As Sephiroth is not a Sleeper and does not have proper blood magic, but does have very specific wishes in mind, the result is surface-similar. Casimir is a creation of smoke, magic and blood, a part of his soul carved out and given an external form. Form chosen: Shinra's hybrid canine guard hounds. He is a representation of an animal, and is not actually an animal, and his visible state can reflect Sephiroth's mental state by way of apparent scars and injuries. Like an omen, attacking him physically can be as pointless as attacking smoke, and he can possess Sephiroth's weapons to make them nigh indestructible and impossibly keen. He can shrink or grow in size as desired, from chihuahua sized to horse sized, and is able to be ridden in larger modes. He can if he or Sephiroth so choose it, discorporate entirely and follow along unseen. Sephiroth can communicate with Casimir nonverbally, and use Casimir's senses (and Casimir use Sephiroth's), but only one can be 'active' at a time; if Sephiroth's using Casimir's sight wherever Casimir is, he's not going to be seeing where he himself is until he stops.
However, Casimir was created specifically with the desire for a guardian and ally in combat, and thus Casimir is exactly as tangible as he wishes to be, and is fully capable of fighting alongside Sephiroth. They share all strengths, weaknesses, abilities and powers between them save Legend specific boons. Casimir is functionally immune to most status effect type abilities, able to discorporate and render poisons and diseases null and void; this doesn't work on mind or spirit affecting things, nor does it prevent shared effects mentioned below.
Limitations: Unlike Sleeper omens, Casimir has no prophetic sixth sense for danger, can't be used as a source of light and cannot be used as a communicator. He is LITERALLY a piece of Sephiroth and not a representation, and thus what affects one affects the other. For lack of a better term, they share stats, health, magic and powers between them; Casimir is fully as strong as Sephiroth is and must be fully corporeal to use physical attacks, but damage to one does damage to the other; Casimir shares his weakness to Holy elements, and anything that successfully can kill one will immediately kill the other. Mental effects are also shared, for better or worse. Healing one heals the other; being smoke and blood doesn't prevent Casimir from carrying injuries sustained across their link until those are mended. Casimir can be ensnared by spirit-specific abilities, traps and wards but can't be outright Dispelled. Any attack that successfully can strike both of them at the same time inflicts doubled damage. Casimir's senses are no sharper than Sephiroth's.
It will take time, and probably some nice lessons at Agrona or similar focused effort, to learn how to properly fight as a team and use Casimir's faux-omenness to its best ability. While Casimir CAN turn into smoke to avoid being hit, Sephiroth isn't used to thinking of that being an option and thus it's going to take time and practice to implement, though using it casually will be more frequent.
