Noranov

(Image is copyright of Jennifer De Salme. If you use it without permission, you shall surely die... eventually...)

Question 1: What is your character's name?

Her name is Noranov. This is her given name. Her family name is unknown, but probably ends in 'ski', or 'witz'. :)

Question 2: Character's gender

Noranov is female. Happosai can vouch for this.

Question 3: Character's age

Hmm... on a whim, let's make her 22 years old.

Question 4: Character's cursed form, and reason for curse

N/A

Question 5: Character's Martial Arts Style.

Noranov, a Trombonist, practices the mysterious fighting style known only as Trombitsu. Included in this style is the ability to use a trombone much like a bo staff. Primarily, this involves twirling, thrusting, parrying and such, but also includes more trombone-specific moves, like extending the slide to strike at a distance, and, of course, various musical and sonic attacks.

Her primary strength, of course, lies with using her skills along with the rest of the Kielowitz Marching Band, as that is the only way she can access the strongest of the Martial Arts Marching Band attacks.

Question 6: A general description of the character.

As do the other members of the Kielowitz International Martial Arts Marching Band, Noranov wears a flashy red and blue Marching Band uniform. This is not an organization who's primary goal is stealth. The uniform includes a military style cap (much like the one M.Bison wears in Street Fighter), but topped with a plume of red and blue feathers.

She has very cold, slate-grey eyes, and brown hair that reaches down below her shoulders. The hair is kept tied in a neat and orderly ponytail. Her build is tall, slender, and willowy. Would probably be considered pretty if not for her perpetual cold smirk.

Of all the Keilowitz Band, she could probably be considered the closest in attitude to Major Antonov Liedowitschiovski Zielioskowitz, the Director of the Band. She, too, believes that there is no such thing as cheating in battle, and is quite willing to use any tactic to win. She is very arrogant, and confident in her abilities to the point of overconfidence. She honestly doesn't believe that there is an opponent out there that she could not defeat with time and patience.

She does have one particular weakness when fighting one-on-one. She has no access to the powerful musical attacks practiced by the band as a whole, such as the sonic wall (a barrier of sound much stronger than iron) or the Ultimate Harmonic Strike: Dischord (a very powerful technique that can immobilize, throw, or destroy a large group of opponents). Possibly the greatest difficulty in using her alone in a story is in coming up with a reason as to why she is apart from the rest of the band in the first place. (Practicing a solo, perhaps?)

Question 7: The character's history.

Noranov was born and raised in Kielowitz, a small, despotic country with a fair-sized army and a colossal ego. She was recruited for the Kielowitz International Martial Arts Marching Band at the age of seven, when the Director somehow managed to gain permission to establish what seemed to most to be an absurd division of the Kielowitz military force. The Marching Band has been her sole career ever since. Her entire life from the point she joined the band has been spent honing her Trombitsu skills, and she has become a formidable martial arts trombonist as a result.

While she has no personal enemies, persay, she, like the rest of the Marching Band and most of the population of Kielowitz, has a grudge against Ryoga Hibiki, who stumbled into their country by mistake and smashed a large portion the the Kielowitz military in order to escape again. Actually, the utter humiliation of the Kielowitz military at the hands of Ryoga was a blessing in disguise for the Kielowitz Marching Band, as it showed quite decisively just how dangerous a martial artist could be. For that reason, the Kielowitz Marching Band was granted a great deal more respect than it had before, respect that the Director used to gain permission to search the world for powerful martial artists--especially Ryoga--and defeat and subdue them, thus ensuring that the Kielowitz Band would be the indisputably strongest group of Martial Artists in the world.

In addition to Ryoga, Noranov has some general knowledge of most of the rest of the Ranma cast, including fighting styles and relative strengths. All of this knowledge is tactical data collected by the Director as a part of their mission.

Question 8: Special Moves.

Most of Noranov's "special" moves are music-related in nature (and most are undocumented--they never showed up in the story I wrote her in, so I'm making them up as I go along). While most are named, she rarely calls out the name when executing the technique (largely because her lips are occupied with the instrument at the time of attack). All of the musical attacks are executed with such precision that only the target (or targets) is affected, unless Noranov deliberately chooses to affect the whole area (in which case the attack would be less effective).

Pedaltone Blaat: By executing a particularly loose-lipped blow of her trombone, Noranov can play a musical sequence several octaves below her regular musical range. The interplay of notes causes a series of low-frequency soundwaves that augment each other until they build into a powerful wave of sound that hits the opponent with the force of a good-sized chi-blast. Many brass intruments have this attack, but lower-pitched instruments, like the trombone and tuba are particularly good at it.

Metal Scream: An extremely high-pitched note played at an incredible volume, intended to cause severe pain and temporarly deafness to the victim on the receiving end. This is actually a technique practiced by most of the brass instruments in the Marching Band, and higher-pitched instruments are far more proficient with it.

Lullaby: A soothing and beautiful solo that triggers drowsiness and diminishes an opponent's battle aura. Takes a while to execute completely, so Noranov needs to either incapacitate the opponent first, or move swiftly to avoid harm while playing (the former is generally easier to acchieve). This technique obviously won't work if the opponent has been deafened by the Brass Scream.

Glissando Vertigo: A specialized series of glissando notes (a glissando is the smooth up-and-down playing that trombones are particularly famous for) that target the fluids in the inner ear of an opponent, sloshing them around at random. The result of this is that the opponent experiences severe dizziness and nausea.

Big Brass Bash: A fairly mundane attack (and physical rather than musical) but one possessing a lot of force. Noranov swings widely and (apparantly) awkwardly with her horn, attempting to slug the opponent with the heavy back end of the instrument. A fairly slow attack, but very, very painful if it connects. Somewhat difficult to avoid, as the irregular swinging is hard to anticipate (much like Drunk-Fu :) ). Should the opponent avoid the attack, it is actually quite easy for Noranov to abort the attack and recover before the opponent has a chance to counter.

Fight except: From Halftime, written by Spanner:

(Note: This passage has a lot more people than Noranov fighting, but it provides a good overview of the Martial Arts Marching Band's moves in general.)

Noranov laughed, "We don't have to move to attack you, you fools! Horns up!"

Before anyone could react, the familiar tune of 'Dischord' filled the air. Oddly, Ranma could feel no affect. "Ha! It didn't work! There's not enough of you."

Troffimov's eyebrows lifted condescendingly, and Blattislov (the only one able to talk while playing) snarled, "Look at your friend, and then tell us again whether there's enough of us."

Ranma whirled along with Mousse and Ryoga to see Lucca hovering about a foot off the ground. Her body was vibrating visibly, and her teeth were clenched. Blattislov smiled a venomous smile and said, "Now, you're gonna do just as we say, or we'll rip your friend into kibble, understand?" The drummer added a subtle extra rhythm to his drumming, and Lucca cried out in pain.

Mousse was incensed. "Put her down, you fiend!"

"I don't think so," Blattislov responded. We'll just wait, all nice and cozy, until these chains cool down. Then, we'll collect all your friends and put you all into a nice, safe box. You lose, homeboy."

Mousse looked ready to do something rash, so Ayla snapped, "Mousse not do anything! Ayla not want friend Lucca dead, and Mousse also not want! There nothing we can do."

Ryoga gritted his teeth. Once more, there was absolutely nothing he could do. He had more than enough reason to feel depressed, if only he could-

"That's enough of that, bandana-boy!" barked Blattislov. "You even start to think of trying one of those Shi-Shi-Whatevers and the girl dies. And that goes for all of you. No fancy-pants martial arts tricks." Continuing his rhythms with one hand, the drummer reached out with the other to carefully feel a chain. "Ah, nice and cool. All right, follow us."

The mistake that Blattislov made at this point was really not his fault at all. After all, having just obtained four new prisoners, it was perfectly understandable that he should want to make sure that the original two were still secure, particularly since the four backup players had been dispatched to help repel the invaders. So, Blattislov opened the door to Nabiki's room just far enough to see in. Unfortunately for him, it was also just enough for Happosai to see out...

Happosai was lying in a happy daze. Robo had tired once again, and temporarily stopped her abuse. As soon as Happosai recovered his own strength he would be free to show his boundless affection for all females once again.

Happosai's demented daydreaming was interrupted by the click of a door opening. Was it, perhaps, that nice Director fellow, come to deliver another luscious prisoner? No, it was just his flunky, Blattislov. But wait! Just beyond...yes, it was!

While Happosai had not dwelled long at the Village of Chinese Amazons, he had stayed long enough to learn of an intriguing artifact that had existed many thousands of years in the past. All he had to go on was a few sketches and some vague references in a few ancient documents, but Happosai had learned that one of the founders of the village had possessed unique underwear of astounding quality: A bikini, crafted from the grey fur of an animal that no longer existed. The memory had haunted Happosai's thoughts for many years, before he finally resigned himself to the fact that those wondrous undergarments would remain ever beyond his reach. But now, through some twist of fate, Happosai's wish had been granted. And all that stood in his way was a wall of sound and six tired musicians.

Blattislov, satisfied that the prisoners were still secure, carefully closed the door and turned to taunt their new captives once again. No sooner had he done so than a loud explosion could be heard. An object like a small cannonball reduced Nabiki's door to splinters, burst through Blattislov's bass drum, and clamped lecherously onto Ayla's chest.

Without the steady backbone rhythms only a drum could provide, the 'Dischord' attack fizzled, dropping Lucca to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Ayla calmly pried Happosai loose and regarded him with the sort of look one normally might reserve for slugs found in one's salad. "Must...have...fur..." mumbled Happosai, groping weakly towards Ayla's clothing. He had evidently been quite drained by his breakout. Ayla casually tossed Happosai at Noranov, and the tiny pervert evidently decided that the stunned trombonist would do as a temporary substitute.

While the enraged musician beat Happosai with her trombone, her fellow section leaders tried desperately and futilely to overcome their four opponents. Blattislov, unbalanced by his wrecked drum, was the first to fall, the point-blank target of a now unrestrained Ryoga's 'Shi-Shi-Hokudan'.

Noranov (having disposed of Happosai by sticking him into the bell of her horn and blasting him out of an open window with a masterfully executed solo rendition of the '1812 Overture'), was felled by a single, powerful uppercut, courtesy of Ayla. Troffimov was floored by a dual attack of 'Hypno Waves', one provided by Lucca, and the other by Mousse.

Here's the rest of Halftime, which I highly recommend to everyone.

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