Sombre Bleu

Sombre is a lanky, lithe human standing at about six feet and three inches. Rather than a standard navy coat, he typically adorns himself within a customized black rubber raincoat. The same insignias and decorations that would be found upon a standard issue jacket of his rank are instead upon said raincoat. Beneath this raincoat, he wears a formal white shirt, with black slacks held up by suspenders. He has unruly brown hair and a neatly trimmed assortment of chin stubble. His eyes contain a remarkable intelligence albeit their distant glaze.

Sombre was born upon Dry Island. As you might suspect from its name, Dry Island was just that. Dry. At some point in the distant past it had been known for the fertility and health of its soil. A large community of prosperous farmers had set up roots upon the island, and Sombre hailed from these ancestors. Things were very different, however, in Sombre's time. The island had reached the seventy sixth year of an island wide drought that had rendered the island almost uninhabitable. The stubborn farm society were determined to maintain their homeland; they refused to leave. Sombre's father was one of these farmers. He raised Sombre alone, as Sombre's mother had died during childbirth; he was a kind and hardworking man that would instill the values of justice that Sombre would later come to value so highly. Although the island was a leaderless community, one could say that Sombre's father led the people of Dry Island.

In order to survive, Dry Island dealt with pirates that passed through the region. These pirates soon became the sole source of water, and an arrangement was arranged with the inhabitants of Dry Island that essentially robbed them blind. The pirates would come every five years and take all the crops the Dry Islanders had slaved for in exchange for water and fresh soil. It was sharecropping at its most cruel. The injustice of it frustrated Sombre and the people of Dry Island, but it was the only way they could possibly hope to survive and keep their homeland.

At the age of thirteen, Sombre was exploring the shoreline on the furthermost tip of Dry Island. The area was dangerous, full of desert creatures and wild beasts, where few dared to venture. To his surprise, he found a ship that had run aground. Sorting through the debris, he eventually found a treasure chest that had been busted open from the impact of the collision. Hoping to find money or treasure to trade with, he was instead disappointed to find a strange looking fruit. Famished from the toil of his walk, he devoured it and didn't think twice. He would explore for a few moments more, and then return home.

Sombre woke up to the sounds of exuberant cheering. His father roused him from sleep and urged him outside. Half asleep, he felt an odd sensation chill his body, and then wetness. He looked up skyward to see a dark cloud that had appeared above Dry Island village. The drought was finally over.

Dry Island's crop output began to resemble the times of old, and soon the inhabitants were able to produce enough food to feed themselves and simultaneously make a profit. That year was truly blessed for Sombre. None of the villagers thought oddly of the perpetual rain, they figured it a blessing for their dedication to their home from the gods.

Then the pirates came.

Outraged to find the villagers prospering without their assistance, they were further galvanized to witness the rain cloud that had taken residence above Dry Island. As it turned out, these pirates had been the one pursuing the ship that Sombre had discovered, and the captain of said pirates had wanted the devil fruit Sombre had unwittingly eaten. The pirate captain was all but ready to kill Sombre, and aimed his pistol. As the gunshot resounded through the air, Sombre opened his clenched eyes to find not his own blood dripping upon the ground, but that of his fathers. His father had intercepted the bullet meant for him. Clutching the heaving frame of his father, Sombre sat in a stupefied shock. With his dying words, Sombre's father asked him to always strive for justice.

As Sombre felt his father pass, the pirates raucously laughed and began burning down the village. The flames intertwined with the intensifying storm, and as the thunder began to howl, the pirates left, fearing the destruction of their ship. Sombre was left with the corpse of his father and the destruction of his village. The grief slowly dawned upon him, and a storm of disastrous portions swept over the tiny remnants of Dry Island as his rage swelled.

Sombre woke up amidst debris and dead bodies. Everything had been wiped clean, and a steady drizzle coated the destruction. Hours passed. Slowly, villagers emerged from the wreckage. They began to accuse Sombre of their misfortune, blaming him for the death of his father. They called him cursed. They chased him out of the village into the outskirts. He barely escaped their wrath, and was forced to reside within the Dry Island's wilderness.

From age fourteen to twenty, Sombre lived in the wilderness. He learned to combat the wild beasts, his own self-imposed rain storm, and the villagers who would try to seek out and murder him. As much as he tried to hide, the black cloud above him served as a huge beacon for many enemies, both animal and human. These years were perhaps the hardest of his life.

One day, on a particularly hopeless day, Sombre gave up. He couldn't bear to live an existence that was so cursed. He had been responsible for the death of his mother, his father and his people. He lived an existence of complete isolation, combating wild beasts and vengeful youth that had at one time been his friends. And above him, the black cloud continued its cold torrent down upon him. He allowed them to capture him. They paraded him about the rebuilt square and tied him to a shoddily made raft and set him at sea. They cruelly taunted that his demon magic would be his own undoing. As Sombre's sorrow deepened, he could feel his curse begin to disassemble the raft, the rain grew stronger. He had accepted his fate. Soon, the ice cold embrace of the ocean swept over him. He began to sink. There was darkness.

And then suddenly, light.

He was heaved aboard a large Navy Warship by a passing patrol ship. They had spotted the odd weather configuration and had decided to check it out. His curse had saved his life. The man who had saved him was a gifted vice admiral, who upon querying, discovered Sombre's Devil Fruit power. Realizing his potential, he offered him a place, a family, and a purpose. He asked Sombre to fulfill his father's dying wish by joining the Navy.

Sombre excelled, to put it mildly. He was immediately recognized for his combat prowess and intellect by the higher ups. Over the next ten years, promotions came like a rapid-fire hail of bullets. This rapid ascent garnered negative attention from one of the higher ups. He was told that he was to be tasked with an important mission befitting of his new rank, and he was to lead a naval fleet along with several others to intercept a growing pirate armada. It was a battle of the utmost importance, and they were hoping his devil fruit would help spread discord amidst the pirates.

His crew arrived upon the battlefield to find themselves badly outnumbered. The intel had been inaccurate, and the enemy forces far surpassed their own. Fighting tooth and nail, they were inevitably captured by the pirate armada. Taken aboard the enemy ship, things were looking grim. As Sombre glowered with the same of defeat, something caught his peripheral vision. A familiar face.

It was the pirate captain that had burned down his village. He was aboard.

Something inside Sombre snapped. The black cloud began to expand, turning into a violent tempest of rage and hatred. The force of the winds began to capsize ships, lightning began to fall upon the unsuspecting pirates. Louder and louder the thunder grew, reaching an insufferable boom. All was enveloped within the black cloud, and all was destroyed.

Sombre woke up with an apprehension that was all too familiar. He was clinging to plank of wood that was floating amidst a colossal wreckage. Seven massive ships lay destroyed around him, and bodies drifted by. Again, he had been the scion of destruction. And the light drizzle poured on.

He was picked up by a Navy ship and taken back to headquarters along with the rest of the survivors. There he was called a hero, and became known around the world as Sombre Bleu, "The Black Cloud" that had destroyed the evil pirate alliance. He was promoted to Vice Admiral, and became feared and respected. But the violence weighed heavily on his conscience. This world's justice was sick, sodden with violence. He swore that day to fix this confused planet that he lived on.

It has been thirteen years since that day. The "Black Cloud" remains the Navy's goto man for the most dangerous of pirates. Sombre ponders his place in the world, and whether or not his quest for true justice is feasible. For now, it is enough to try.

As a vice admiral, Sombre is respected far and wide for his exceptional combat prowess and strategic genius. To those that know him better, he is known for his exceptional flakiness. Sombre is typically found within a melancholic, whimsical state. His depth of thought often times renders him seemingly unaware of his surroundings, as his observations remain fixed upon the state of the world rather than his own immediate reality. On multiple occasions his ship has left harbor without him due to some philosophical musing of his own design, and Sombre gets lost almost every other hour. For this reason, he is very slow to complete missions, as he periodically finds himself lost upon the ocean. When contemplating the state of the world, he is prone to bouts of extreme depression. These periods of depression are indicated by what the crew calls 'The Sigh'. The sigh heralds a moping hopelessness, as well as an intense downpour from the rainstorm that always hovers above Sombre. For this reason, the crew will desperately try to raise Sombre's spirits, as 'The Sigh' has wrecked numerous incarnations of their ship, The Rain Kettle. Despite his inherent pessimism towards the world's cyclical patterns of violence, Sombre is a very kind soul. His position of authority and power does not stop him from fraternizing with his crew regularly, and he firmly believes in the principles of justice that he has sworn to uphold. Sombre's empathetic nature creates a very flexible justice that differs from his colleagues insomuch that there are no absolutes; to him there is no absolute good or absolute evil. Regularly he questions his role as a Vice Admiral, and although many have suggested for him to become an Admiral, these reservations coupled with his eccentricities have stopped him from receiving that responsibility. Nevertheless, he recognizes piracy as a representation of disrespect for the sanctity of human life and happiness, and for this reason he has chosen to fight against it.

Poetry, Pea Soup, Redheaded Women, Slapstick Comedy


Selfishness, Colds, Thunder, Labyrinths

https://theonepiecerp.rpg-board.net/t6112-the-rain-kettle-vi

Ship Flag: Navy Flag


Survival Expert- As the name implies. An expert at survival. (first-aid, camp-fires, etc.)

Martial Arts- Extremely proficient at martial arts. Extraordinary strength, speed, and reflexes in hand to hand combat (as to be expected from his rank)

Tactical Mind- Possesses a rare and unpredictable military genius. Can perceive and understand the flow of war and battle.

Resistance to Cold- Having lived under a thunderstorm for most of his life, Sombre is resistant to cold conditions. He does not catch cold easily.

Storm Combat- Sombre has existed within his storm since the age of thirteen. He has become extremely accustomed to it, and as such can feel and understand the storm. He can predict the winds, rainfall and lightning strikes of all but the highest level of power of his storm. The lack of visibility and deafening conditions of the storm does not affect his precision and perception.

Lightning Dance- Sombre uses an umbrella that simultaneously focuses as a staff called Arashi. He is very skilled with this weapon and uses it as if were an effortless extension of his own body. It doubles as a lightning rod, and he has perfected a style of staff that incorporates fluid movements and bursts of lightning


Storm Manipulation- Sombre has mastered his control of the black cloud. Whilst the storms produced can vary, they typically fall within these six levels of storm.
Level One: Drizzle
Light precipitation. No heavy winds or lightning. Battle effects are negligible. The only notable affectations would be wetness and slight cold.
Level Two: Flurry
Increased level of rain. Again, no heavy winds or lightning, but the wetness and cold substantially increases. The black cloud darkens and spreads, perhaps creating an ominous psychological effect.
Level Three: Thunderstorm
Winds begin to pick up. Thunder begins to resound. Lightning is present, but rare. The downpour is now heavy and extremely cold. Enough to present troubles for those at sea or without shelter. The cloud grows darker and larger still.
Level Four: Cloudburst
Lightning becomes more commonplace, and the thunder grows closer, reaching a deafening din. The rain begins to become so thick that it begins to hamper visibility. Ships have been known to capsize easily in the hands of the lesser skilled within these conditions. The cloud has become as black as night and encompasses the better half of the sky about the Sombre.
Level Five: Deluge
Winds begin to become extremely destructive, and lightning begins striking the field of battle with truly ferocious intensity. The thunder booms with an increased frequency, and the downpour thickens even still to the extent that floods are very commonplace. It is also not uncommon for hail to present itself at this stage. Most ships will capsize under these conditions.
Level Six: Typhoon
The sky literally begins completely enveloped within the black cloud. Lightning is striking at rapid-fire frequency, and winds will toss about all but the strongest combatants like rag dolls. A torrential downpour of epic proportions comes slamming down form the sky. At this stage, even Sombre is subject to the rampant chaos of the elements. Capable of destroying massive expanses, perhaps entire islands.

Lightning Dance: Thunderclap- Sombre leaps into the black cloud. Spinning Arashi at incredible speeds, he enshrouds himself within electricity and drops down upon his unsuspecting foe.

Lightning Dance: Electric Shower- Using Arashi, he fires multiple electric blasts directly up into the sky. Then a downpour of electrical blasts rain down upon the field.

Lightning Dance: Zeus's Bolt- After three successive lightning absorptions, Sombre leaps into the heart of the storm. At this point, Arashi is teething with electrical energy, and becomes even more conductive. Lightning repeatedly strikes Arashi until it cannot house any more electrical energy. Then Sombre fires a massive lightning beam of extreme destruction directly downwards, which encompasses the entirety of the field of battle. Afterwards, Arashi must be repaired before it can be used to conduct lightning again.

Lightning Dance: Lightning Cage- (Only usable in Deluge or Above Storm Level) Planting Arashi within the ground, Arashi generates an electrical forcefield that encompasses a large area about it (size varies on the frequency of lightning). Those within are entrapped within until Arashi is closed. Typically this ability is used to stop enemies from fleeing, but it has also been used as a defensive maneuver to protect Sombre's subordinates from the harsher conditions of his Storm Manipulation. Sombre may not remove Arashi while it is producing the forcefield until the forcefield is taken down.

Lightning Dance: Chained Lightning- Sombre can perceive and predict rainfall within his storm. That being said, he can specifically fire lightning at points of water that will conduct it into paths that ultimately lead to the enemy, like dominoes falling into place. The unpredictable nature of the storm makes this technique extremely hard to dodge, but it requires extreme focus from the user.


Name: Arashi
Description: Arashi is a large metal umbrella built to attract, absorb and repel electricity. It requires extraordinary strength to open and close it, as the protective crown of the umbrella is made of conductive steel plates. The ferrule of the umbrella resembles a cannon, which fires accelerated blasts of electricity upon absorbing enough lightning. The staff part of the umbrella is about 2 inches in diameter and 7 feet long. At the base of the staff is traditional umbrella crook handle with a trigger (which fires the aforementioned lightning blasts). When utilized correctly, the metal plates can manipulate and conduct lightning, although it cannot produce it independently. It excels as a staff-like weapon when closed, proving to be durable and powerful, and when opened it acts as a very effective shield.

Name: Rubber Gloves
Black rubber gloves with white navy insignias. Designed to protect Sombre from the use of Arashi.


To save the world from the repetitious cycles of bloodshed. Sombre views his cloud as a representation of the state of the world. He feels that the world is clouded by pain, suffering and injustice. As he seeks to escape the dark reality of his stormy prison, so he aspires to do the same for the world. Maybe when he cures the world of its suffering, the black cloud will begin to dissipate. Such is his greatest hope.

Because this character is a monster, I'm going to try to review this guy in bite-sized chunks. Namely, I'm saving his history for a little bit later.

First of all, I want to say the detail you've put into this guy is fantastic. However, there are a few problems I've noticed.

We don't allow characters to start off as Admirals. As one of the biggest positions in the Marine ranking structure, and one of the few with an actual restriction on the number of possessors of the title, it seems a little unfair to let people just start off with the rank. Vice Admiral is acceptable, as is Rear Admiral. The latter is preferred, but the former is alright because of how well written the history is.

Secondly, onto the ship. Ships normally get submitted as a weapon in the weapons created area, so if you could do that and post a link to it in this application, that would be fantastic. Additionally, I don't quite understand how it fires electrical energy. I can see it using electricity to power a cannon, but not to serve as ammunition as well.

Onto the attacks.
I like how you've staggered the destructive power of each successive storm level, however I'm not pleased with one part of "Typhoon". Please try to avoid island destruction, because that is a very sore subject around here. Please try to avoid using levels five and six with much frequency.

Zeus' Bolt, even though it has a very good drawback (one use per thread) it's still a rather dangerous move because it cannot be avoided if it hits such a wide area. A large area of effect is alright, but as long as it can be escaped through some means, and/or isn't an instant KO inducing move, it should be alright.

Make sure you do not auto-hit anybody with Chained Lighting, alright?

After these small issues have been resolved and accounted for in the history, I'll check the history again.

Righto. Changed rank to Vice Admiral. Put ship in Weapons are here thread, removed the concept of firing electrical energy. Essentially they would've just been like Arashi cannons, but on second thought, I decided that the energy would probably best be reserved speed.

Attacks: Oh yeah, I never intended to use six unless something truly abominable caused Sombre to snap. This dude detests meaningless destruction and violence, so anything pretty much four and above puts his allies and innocents in danger. Won't happen often, if at all.

As for Zeus Bolt, will most likely be combatted by a Logia blast of equal magnitude and or just sheer durability. It's meant to be a finisher as it pretty much renders a large part of Arashi useless, which is pretty much the most effective component of Sombre's fighting style. But again, like level four through six, I doubt that this will be used often. And yup, no auto-hitting. No problems there.

Alright then!

Approved!

I might want to chat with you on a later date regarding something, but don't worry, you're not in trouble.