[ APP. ]

[vaikartana]

Name: Karna
Canon: Fate/Extra CCC
Canon Point: After he makes an "exit" for Jinako - Gilgamesh route, but I'm flexible!!
Age: ANCIENT... the Mahābhārata (which chronicles the heroic tales of Karna) can be dated all the way back to 4th century BCE, and the events written within occurred even before then. Conservatively speaking, Karna is probably a few millennia old (he's a demi-god, so that adds credence to his old-as-fuck status); appearancewise, he looks to be in his mid-twenties.

History: Here! The history in his wiki covers both Karna as a hero in life and Karna in his various incarnations in the Fate/ franchise.

Personality:

" Even if the future seems not to be so rewarding, I am not the one to change destiny. "

Karna is simple. Events of the Mahābhārata have branded him as a 'Hero of Charity', but that designation isn't wholly true: while the term 'charity' inherently implies that one side of the equation stands on higher ground, Karna doesn't subscribe to any sense of hierarchical superiority. To Karna, his actions of giving are merely a matter of course; the only significance he sees in his acts is that he has subscribed to his idea of truth. He's impartial because he believes that the world is founded on validity— if he's allowed to live and if he's allowed to feel purpose, then that must also hold true to every living being on this earth, without distinction.

Humility comes easily to Karna. In a segment of the Mahābhārata, Karna sits still for his master, Parashurama, as Parashurama takes a nap on his knees; even when a bee comes to sting him on his thigh, Karna remains unflinching and unmoving as the wound bleeds and he's left in excruciating pain. This noble deed is rewarded with a punishment, as the blood on Karna's thigh reveals him to be of a lower class than he'd presented himself to be, but Karna neither rages against nor blames Parashurama for the curse that Parashurama places upon him— again, he views it as a matter of course, and an inevitability. Life is unjust to Karna on more than several occasions, but Karna accepts his misfortunes by embracing that the perspectives and beliefs of all the people who condemn him are justifiable. He chooses not to ascribe value to the actions of others, because he, in his own words, has " never been a good judge of people... they all look to be the same value to [him]."

In this way, Karna is selfless. He accepts the contempt that others have for him despite being a demigod (a pedigree that should earn him respect), and states that he's not "special enough" to fancy that he can save others. In Fate/Extra CCC, he's saddled with an objectively incompetent Master who derides him more often than compliments him; even so, when the time comes to choose whether to save her or save himself, Karna chooses Jinako without hesitation. To Karna, there's no significance in debating whether or not Jinako is a person worthy to be saved. What's important is that he serves her, that he holds her life as precious by virtue of her existing. The kind of love that Karna holds for humanity is indiscriminate, and perhaps a little impersonal— no matter what, he'll extend this courtesy to everyone— but it is wholly sincere, and Karna has the utmost confidence in the importance of each and every single life that touches him in some way, regardless of whether or not he agrees with everyone's ideals.

On the flipside, Karna's devotion to his ideals reveals a side of him that is less flattering. His objective understanding of the intrinsic value of existence doesn't bar him from having personal entanglements, after all. While he accepts that everyone has their own codes and creeds, he also has his own loyalties; or, in other words, Karna extends the same courtesy of absolute acceptance to his own allegiances. Where he doesn't expect others to bend for him, he, in turn, will bend for no one when it comes to the things that are truly near and dear to his heart. This is exemplified in Karna's blood feud with his stepbrother Arjuna, who Karna fought to the death for the honor of his friend. On one hand, Karna's fierce adherence to his principles allows him to give without hesitation; by the same token, Karna has no compunction with killing if it means upholding his truth. He doesn't ascribe the notion of justice or goodness to his actions, which often results in others finding him to be cold and unforgiving. This isn't entirely untrue given that Karna is extremely single-minded when he has reason to be, and further bolstered by the fact that Karna himself sees no reason to refute these claims.

This segues neatly into Karna's communication skills... or lack thereof. It's really no surprise that someone who is so committed to honesty and straightforwardness is just as earnest and lacking in decorum with his words. This, coupled with Karna's innate ability to read people, often results in Karna saying the wrong thing at the wrong time... or, well, giving honest input when no one asked for it. References neatly cite it as "no one wants to have their darkest secrets exposed so openly"— what Karna verbalizes as neutral assessments of virtues or vices, people usually perceive as personal attacks. These so-called criticisms may be unintentional, but they're causes for others to misunderstand or even hate Karna.

But again, Karna receives criticism as graciously as he doles them out, as evidenced by the following conversation he has with Jinako:

Jinako: You’re always one word too few, not too many. You stop in the middle of what you’re trying to say, so the person you’re talking to misunderstands. Make sure you say what you’re thinking properly from now on.
Karna: —So that was it? ...So that was it... So that...was it...
Jinako: W, was it really such a shock you had to say it three times?!
Karna: I’m sorry, this is how I am. I just have a gloomy personality. Thank you for the advice, I’ll take it to heart.

So, again, Karna is incontrovertibly fair. He's as harsh on himself as he is on others, and likewise, he gives his respects without reservation when he sees fit.

Also, in line with his accepting nature, we get to see the quainter facets of Karna's personality throughout the course of Fate/Extra CCC. Jinako alludes to the fact that Karna has played video games with her (despite being terrible at them), that he's attempted to run errands for her (poorly), and that he'd taken it upon himself to try cleaning her closet space on her behalf (to middling success). He goes along with Jinako's more far-fetched ideas with comical neutrality, consenting to doing ridiculous poses with her just because she told him to. Despite his seemingly austere personality, Karna is more than capable of going with the flow for the right person.

In summary— yes, Karna is simple. Equal measures light and dark, giving and unforgiving. Divine in his lineage and simple in his heritage, Karna is a hero who will gladly sacrifice himself for his loyalties while driving his spear in the throat of his enemy.


Abilities/Skills: laughs for 500 years about how no one wants to read a section about how OP a character is, but here it goes........ here's a disclaimer that Karna is canonically one of the strongest Servants in the Fate/ universe (aided by his demigod status in some respects), and also a note that I literally have no interest in having him be a gamebreaker. I'll be running Karna on a nerf anyway, using the justification that the amount of magic being supplied to him in space isn't enough for him to fight at maximum capacity. Even in canon, it's plainly stated that Karna requires a top-class magus (magic user) to accommodate the sheer amount of mana he expends just by existing, so his frankly ludicrous strength will be kept at bay! Much to everyone's relief, I'm sure.

(Note: All Servants require mana to retain their form and power; without mana, they perish. They can replenish mana by preying on others with magical energy, through 'intimate exchange' with people holding magical energy (LMFAO...) or by eating, even if the latter of the three only provides the bare minimum.)

That being said! Karna is a Heroic Spirit that is capable of being summoned into one of three classes: Lancer, Archer, or Rider. Without getting too much into the nitty-gritty of what these classes mean, for the purposes of this app, I'll be referring to Karna as a 'Lancer'-class Servant even if Fate/Extra CCC lovingly refers to him as 'Launcher'. Irrespective of class, all Servants are ridiculously fast, ridiculously strong, and are generally capable of things that no human can reasonably do. It comes with the territory.

Here's a quick rundown of his basic stats, because no one actually wants to read about power levels—

STRENGTH: B
ENDURANCE: C
AGILITY: A
MANA: B
LUCK: D
Noble Phantasm: EX

'Noble Phantasm' refers to the main weapon/armaments/attributes that comprises the core identity of the Heroic Spirit. Karna's main Noble Phantasm is Vasavi Shakti, his divine spear (earning him the title of 'Lancer'), but his impenetrable armor and earring (Kavacha and Kundala) are also considered to be Noble Phantasms, along with Brahmastra and Brahmastra Kundala. More on these later.

Karna also comes with a nifty set of skills, which are summarized below.

Discernment of the Poor: A
Plainly put, this refers to Karna's keen sense of insight, which allows him to see through to his opponent's true nature and way of being. Being famously inept with his words (or, well, clumsy with them), he relies largely on this skill to understand others as opposed to establishing a rapport through conversation alone. I say 'skill' here, but Karna's ability to relate to others is attributable to his humble and lonely upbringing.

Magic Resistance: C
This grants Karna with resiliency against magic with "an aria of two verses or lower", but for the purposes of this app, I'm just going to say that Karna is resilient against lower-level magic. Anything that can be considered moderate-to-high level magic is fair game, if and when Karna doesn't have his armor on.

Riding: A
As a warrior who was endowed with a chariot from the Sun God Surya himself, Karna has an intrinsic proficiency in maneuvering anything that can reasonably be ridden. This extends to vehicles he's never interacted with before (cars, motorcycles, etc.), as well as animals (normal or divine) that rank lower in ability than him.

Uncrowned Arms Mastership: N/A
This basically means that anyone who doesn't know who he is will regard his stats as one rank lower than they actually are. This is pretty much irrelevant in the realm of RP, so we can just ignore it.

Mana Burst (Flames): A
This boils down to Karna's ability to imbue his weapons with energy in the form of flames.

Divinity: A
Being the literal son of a Sun God (Surya), Karna possesses the highest rank with respect to divinity. Any being who classes lower in divinity to Karna and claims to be from the lineage of the sun will be unable to harm Karna using their fire; simply put, if you're a basic sun deity, you can't hurt him.

I literally can't believe I'm still talking about his powers, but bear with me for one final section... here's a quick rundown of his Noble Phantasms, just to finish everything off.

Kavacha & Kundala:
Karna's golden armor and earring, endowed with the power of light and the radiance of the sun. They're basically light itself, which means that they're unbreakable and, for the most part, impenetrable— this grants Karna near-invincibility, but that's bullshit so we can nerf it if necessary. The downside to this NP is that there's no way for Karna to turn the defensive powers off, so a bulk of his mana has to go to sustaining Kavacha and Kundala at the expense of his offensive abilities.

Brahmastra:
By invoking the name of Brahma, Karna literally fires a homing beam from his eye to destroy his enemies. Incredible. Thanks to a curse that was placed on him, Karna is unable to use Brahmastra against anyone who exceeds him in ability.

Brahmastra Kundala:
An upgraded version of Brahmastra. Instead of an eyebeam, Karna imbues his spear with the power of the sun and launches it at his opponent; this supposedly has a range that's wide enough to literally wipe out an entire city (it's roughly as powerful as a 'nuclear weapon', thanks Fate/verse), but requires Karna to discard Kavacha and Kundala. This is going to be nerfed to be a more concentrated pinpoint attack, because jesus christ.

Vasavi Shakti:
A last-ditch, one-shot-kills-all move that requires Karna to imbue his spear (which goes by the same name as the attack, Vasavi Shakti) with Kavacha and Kundala. The implication is that Karna has to strip his armor off with his own hands, to peel his flesh from his bones and to cover himself in his own blood to use this attack. Unsurprisingly, every time Karna has ever resorted to this, it came at the expense of his own life.

Vasavi Shakti, the spear itself, can be used without these limitations as a normal weapon. However, its true potential and its true powers can only be unleashed by going through the song and dance as mentioned above.

AND THAT'S IT we made it, we survived this hellish abilities section... thank you, lord.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

Strengths

・Fair
・Insightful
・Loyal
・Equanimous
・'Charitable'
・Honest

Weaknesses

・Unreserved in opinion
・Blunt to a fault
・Selectively ruthless
・Seemingly aloof
・Lacking in certain social graces........

Items:

・Kavacha and Kundala - Karna's armor and earring, which are technically part of him.
・Vasavi Shakti - Karna's divine spear, given to him by Indra, the God of Thunder.