[Bijuu] Lara Croft {Tomb Raider}

General Information

Name:
Lara Croft

Alias:
Tomb Raider

Age:
32

Origin Game:
Tomb Raider

Homeland:
The City

Faction:
N/A

Gender:
Female

History:
Lara was raised by Richard and Amelia Croft, both accomplished experts in their respective fields. Richard was an archaeologist, albeit a notorious one to some. Amelia was a powerful businesswoman, who often helped fund Richard's expeditions. Lara had great respect for both her parents, who represented everything she wanted to be when she matured. Because of their wealth and a historically significant family name, the Crofts lived in a lofty manor within the sprawling City, where Lara would spend most of her days playing an explorer. Her thirst for adventure and studying the various legends Richard tried to uncover, Lara was eventually taken to a dig site, where her spark for archaeology turned into an unextinguishable flame that drives her to this day. Richard began showing Lara more of his findings and spoke about each of them in length, slowly realizing that he was basically training his successor.

It was indeed an idyllic life that the Croft family lived, but tragedy and death were simply biding their time. The family was soon dealt a crushing blow with the passing of Amelia. Officially, she died in a plane crash, but Lara was with her that fateful night. Both initially survived the crash and stumbled upon a temple in the Frontier's snowy mountains. Lara saw her mother disappear into thin air with a flash of bright green while inspecting a sword stuck in a stone dais. When Lara was rescued, she told the story to Richard, who then became hellbent on finding out the truth. He spent day and night trying to find any sort of clue as to what might have happened to her. Eventually, Richard became certain that an artifact known as the Scion would contain the knowledge necessary. It was a mystical three-piece disk, housing a library of knowledge and creation. Richard relentlessly traveled the world in the hopes of locating the pieces. He disappeared during one of these searches.

Lara was left to the care of Croft Manor's resident butler, Winston. She also inherited the entirety of her parents' fortune and the estate itself, along with all of Richard and Amelia's possessions and a network of the people they knew. What had been Richard's obsession, now became Lara's. Over the years, she became just as driven as Richard had been in attempting to locate the Scion and uncover the truth. Eventually, Lara became the suave tomb raider that she is known as. She recruited a small team of like-minded individuals and began her career in archaeology and treasure hunting. While she has been on many adventures since then, the singular and very personal goal remains as Lara's most important mission. Only time will tell if her pursuit for answers bears fruit or if she must finally admit to herself that not all mysteries can be solved.

Drive:
After losing both her father and mother to mysterious circumstances, it has been Lara's mission to find out the truth. While they both disappeared on separate occasions and are most certainly deceased, Lara finds it difficult to believe that their passings were natural. She will leave no stone unturned and woe betide those who stand in the way of her longest quest yet.



Visuals

Image:

Visual Appearance:
Lara Croft's physique is the result of years of rigorous training. Standing at roughly 6 feet and weighing 130 lbs, Lara is a stunning figure, seemingly manufactured for the specific purpose of being exceptional in physical feats. Her figure has become impeccably built over the years of being an explorer, an athlete, and her general fancy towards a healthy lifestyle. In addition to her impressive build, Lara has chestnut-brown hair along with suitably brown eyes, hiding wisdom, experience, and quite a lot of mystery about who Lara really is. She typically wears her hair in a ponytail, as it's the most suitable for her when climbing and traversing in the world. She isn't foreign to the fact that she is stunningly beautiful, often using that to her advantage when dealing with both allies and enemies alike. However, Lara doesn't find this to be her biggest strength, more often than not relying on her intelligence and general capabilities as a person.

Clothing/Armor:
Lara is most typically seen wearing light suits and outfits, which enable her the best possible mobility in whatever terrain she would tread. Her go-to outfit is a brown and black top, along with suitable fingerless gloves. These combined with long brown pants and finishing with a pair of long trek boots. She does occasionally switch up the long pants for shorter ones, helping her legs move more freely. When preferred, Lara throws on a similar-colored jacket like the rest of her outfit. In addition to her regular clothing, Lara wears a light backpack, a utility belt, and holsters for her dual pistols. The backpack and belt hold most of her gadgets and relics she stumbles across on her journey.



Personality
If any one of her associates were asked to describe Lara in one word, most would choose "professional". She takes her job as an archaeologist and a relic hunter quite seriously, all the while keeping her humorous edge. Lara knows how to get the job done and how to get it done well. Having been on the field for years, Lara has developed the attitude and aptitude necessary for her profession. When she sets her sights on something, there are few people who can keep her from getting what she wants. When Lara is set on a mission, she will see it through to the end. Perhaps she has a need for closure, but it's more that she's simply ridiculously stubborn and determined. This goes double for whenever she needs to keep a certain artifact out of the wrong hands, even if it requires destroying said artifact. Her main goals, however, are preservation and study. She is definitely seen as a selfish rich girl, who has far too much time on her hands and thus goes around finding things that shouldn't be found. Yet, Lara sees her adventures as an attempt to learn from lost civilizations. She will never know the true intentions of the people who hid their artifacts, but Lara has always believed that everything lost is meant to be found.

Natural for someone being an archaeologist, Lara has an almost childlike sense of adventure. The Frontier is an ideal place for just that. The lands are vast and filled to the brim with places to explore, encouraging Lara to constantly prepare for her next expedition. She is never not in awe of the things she comes across. Falling in love with each ruin is a staple of her character. She thoroughly respects all the remnants of these lost worlds and tries to inspect them with the utmost care. Lara is often found recording whatever she sees and typically talks to herself when not on comms with her allies, speculating what the people might have been like and what certain temples and relics inside were for.

Lara is known to joke around when the occasion calls for it. Her effortless banter with whoever she might be working or accompanying makes her a delight to be around. Her humorous side is paired with her natural suave demeanor. She is confident in who she is and what she does and finds that being a super-serious person with no joy in her life makes her a despicably dull person. Throughout her years as an explorer, there are few things that phase Lara. Whatever and whoever she comes across will still delight her, but she is rarely surprised by the various beings roaming Amalgamos. In addition, Lara was raised to be an impeccably well-mannered woman. She always takes note of someone's status in the world and does her best to be as respectful as possible to nearly everyone, even if she isn't a terribly good conversationalist.

The infamous Tomb Raider is no stranger to her darker side, however. While she is certainly stubborn during a mission, sometimes she can get outright obsessed. This is most clear when chasing after something personal to her. Lara will go to almost any and all lengths to fulfill her desires. She can lose sight of the bigger picture in pursuit of her own selfish desires. During times like these, Lara has little care for consequences and can lose her sense of morality as achieving her goal is more important. She has no qualms about killing people if they get in her way. Many find her reckless because of this. Unwittingly trotting tombs and taking whatever she feels like, without thinking of the destruction she may cause. At the same time, Lara is woefully aware that many incidents have been a result of her meddling and carries that guilt with her every day. Despite all this, Lara is typically very level-headed and chooses to see reason more often than not, to avoid any bloodshed.



Weapons/Items

HK USP Match 9mm
Lara's signature, and most often used, weapon of choice is a pair of semi-automatic 9mm pistols. They are fairly simple in design, with a silver back, black grips and a black base of the shaft. Each magazine can hold 15 bullets. The guns are neatly stored within two holsters, each on either side of her thighs, allowing for a quick draw when needed.

Grenades
They explode. Make big boom. Lara can carry up to 6 grenades at a time on her belt, with an additional two attached to her backpack.

Grapple Gun
The grapple gun can help Lara cross larger gaps and distances. She can also use it as a way to run on walls or simply swing her way across. The grapple can also magnetically attach itself to metallic surfaces.

Earpiece
An earpiece, enabling Lara to contact whoever she needs. Attached to the earpiece is a field camera, which films everything she does. The camera can project a holographic extension over Lara's eyes, allowing her to use the camera as a pair of binoculars. It can also be used as a handy scanner able to relay information about objects or people if any intel is available on Croft's databases.

Utility Light
A rather simple flashlight attached to Lara's harness near her shoulder. Quite powerful, the flashlight is able to light up even the darkest of corners. It is solar-powered and can store that energy, allowing the flashlight to run for 10 hours if not in sunlight.

Backpack
A medium-sized backpack allowing Lara to carry larger objects with her. She can also attach two extra grenades onto the sides of the backpack.

Utility Belt and Harness
A basic utility belt, accompanied by a torso harness and a pair of holsters for Lara's guns. Also comes with a set of rudimentary climbing gear. The belt holds most of Lara's necessities.

Journal
A leather-bound journal with leather strips to keep it closed. Lara writes down details on her artifacts, puzzles, civilizations and other things of similar importance. The journal has the initials of Richard Croft, Lara's father, engraved to the front cover.

Money
A rather simple, but necessary commodity, of which Lara has in spades due to inheritance. This is Lara's main source of funding as her operations are not terribly cheap.

Abilities/Powers

Peak Human Condition
An athletic woman from a young age, Lara has since developed her body to its absolute limit. Thus, Lara is capable of punching harder and running faster than a normal human can, though not to the levels of ludicrousy. Her main use for her peak condition comes in the form of climbing and agility. Her Olympic gymnast like acrobatics allows Lara to scale tall structures and perform flips and somersaults after jumping several meters in the air. She has excellent balance, coordination, and is typically well aware of her surroundings, able to improvise whenever needed. Lara's strength lets her grab onto even the smallest ledge and pull herself up from there if desired. She can also lift, push, and pull objects heavier than she is.

Expert Martial Artist
Throughout her years of training, Lara has become an expert in many forms of martial arts. Kung Fu, Karate, Taekwondo, Jiu-Jitsu, and Boxing are the various styles that Lara has learned, often opting to mix techniques between these styles to handle any necessary combat situations. It should be noted that she isn't a full-blown master in these, but rather has mastered them at a high enough level, where she feels comfortable taking on multiple enemies on her own. Lara isn't a stranger to facing many opponents at once and while she typically prefers the use of her ever-reliable guns, she is a force to be reckoned with on a purely physical level.

Master Marksman
Having hunted with her father when she was young, Lara was taught to handle various weapons with efficiency. As said before, she mainly uses her pair of pistols but is no stranger to assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles and the like. It helps that Lara thoroughly enjoys a well-crafted weapon, be it a gun or a blade, and has extensive knowledge of the type of weaponry out in the world. As she does rely on her guns most often, she has developed into a marksman capable of taking down enemies from either close or afar with frightening accuracy. However, it is not as if she can take someone down at 100 meters with a simple pistol. Her accuracy and skill need to be adapted to whatever weapon she is currently using.

Gifted Intellect
Lara exhibited a sort of "child prodigy" level of intelligence early on. Her natural aptitude in athletics and the mythological persuaded her father enough for him to take her on his various expeditions. That sparked her love for archaeology and uncovering the world's mysteries, lost civilizations and the like. Lara made sure to become as knowledgable as she could about as many myths and legends as she could so that she could always be prepared. That includes Lara's knowledge of languages. A sizable chunk of that intelligence came from her own adventures in her early years. With her expertise in everything mythological, supernatural, and the impossible, Lara knows when she's presented with something fake. Sometimes eager adventurers or simple thieves come to her in need of her services. They often offer her a piece of a supposed artifact or something similar to that. More often than not, they are all fake. Lara's intricate knowledge on such matters makes her the prime candidate to go to whenever an expert opinion is needed.

In addition, Lara's intelligence allows her to plan ahead in case a mission is jeopardized. Improvisation is certainly a part of that, but Lara tries to have as many contingencies in place as possible. She never leaves for an expedition without a modicum of planning and strategy done beforehand. This can easily be adapted to combat needs, as she prefers to get the layout of whatever battlefield she might be on and hates going in blind when not needed.

Multilingual
Lara is fluent in a large variety of Amalgamos languages, though most of her business is done in the common tongue. She especially has a knack for forgotten or dead languages of old, which make are the bread and butter of her profession.



Roleplay Sample


A dark corridor, seemingly endless. Vines embracing, even digging through the stone and intricate markings of a lost civilization. The dust in the air and a peculiar smell. All those things couldn't scream "home" more if they wanted to. At least that's what it was like for Lara. Tombs were her livelihood, her profession, and occasionally her closest friends. They told so many stories, hid so much knowledge. Any artifacts inside were only cherries on top of a delicious, rustic sundae. If she could, Lara would definitely live in a tomb herself. Of course, she would have to choose her favourite one, which was practically impossible. She certainly had attachment issues and fell in love far too easily with a pile of stone and unintelligible markings.

Lara's flashlight showed her the way, but there was no end in sight yet. She began to wonder if it was a dead end. She must have been exploring the tomb for a good three hours by now. In the past, Lara would explore these tombs in utter silence. Unless a wild animal or a rival group or hunter decided to join in. Nowadays, she has constant chatter over comms. It was nice, from time to time, but Lara did enjoy the prospect of exploring with just her thoughts to guide her. Still, it reminded her to try and be more social, even if she wasn't particularly refined in that field.

"The scans still don't show anything past your last entry point. It's a dead zone."

"Then I'll simply have to keep on walking."

Zip had been with Lara for a long while now. He was her resident tech expert. While Lara had a tumultuous relationship with technology, having him around made things a bit easier. Lara considered herself a more old-fashioned girl, but she saw the necessity and potential in technology. The banter between the two was quite refreshing as well. Alister and Sam were more intellectual types. Roth and Winston acted as father figures. So as unlikely as it may have seemed, it was Zip who had the most effortless talks with Lara.

After walking some more, Lara finally saw a light. The corridor she had been walking through was long indeed and likely meant to house traps to keep any nosy people out. Thousands of years of neglect had done their job, however, leaving most of the contraptions useless. What she came across was a wide circular room, with torches on the walls, each burning with a blue flame. In the back-end of the room was a large doorway, shaped after a snake's head. Its fangs more or less shaping the doorway. This was the place alright.

Lara went through the doorway, which lead to a smaller chamber. The chambers' walls were lined with a glowing blue substance, which were formed into a text. In the middle of the chamber was a coffin-like box, if you will. The cover was equally intricately lined with patterns and the same glowing text as everything else in the tomb. In the center was a dagger, about the size of a tanto. The dagger itself looked as if it was made yesterday. With a leather grip and a shining silver blade, engraved with the very same blue markings, it was a sight to behold. Lara didn't immediately grab it but went on to read the texts that the chamber was providing her with.

"The engravings tell the story of Anantashesha or Adishesha, one of the primal beings of creation. His true form was that of a colossal snake. It is said that when Adishesha uncoils, time moves forward and creation takes place. When he coils back, the universe ceases to exist. The dagger is supposedly made from one of his fangs. It is said that the dagger can give the user glimpses into the future. But only those with an iron will can truly use it, lesser minds will be driven irrevocably mad. Fascinating!"

Lara's childlike enthusiasm was ever so apparent. Discovering things like this was a true joy. Even more so, it was humbling. And yet, she needed the dagger to find something much more important to her. She went back to the coffin and hesitated for a moment, but still yanked the dagger from its place. She held it for a few moments, admiring its design before placing it on her belt. Her moment of joy would be interrupted by the blue glow turning into a dark green, with a rumbling coming soon after. As was most often the case, removing an artifact would disrupt the structural integrity of the tomb or deploy one of its many traps. In this case, it was the former. With no other way out, Lara had to go back the way she came from. The stones began falling, signaling the tomb's eventual collapse.

"Aaaand the place is becoming a death trap again. You gotta get out of there, Lara!"

"At least it's a bit more exhilarating. Everything has a silver lining, Zip."

With that, Lara made haste. She had no doubts that she would get out of the tomb. It was simply more fun and challenging now than simply walking down a dark corridor. The life of Lara Croft may have been fraught with dangers, but it was most certainly never boring.