Post by ShadesofGrey18 on Jun 2, 2015 11:06:58 GMT -5
(WARNING! There will be spoilers for the story of Xenoblade Chronicles below; they will be blacked out but they will be there. Proceed with caution if you intend to play this game. Side note: You totally should; it is friggin' awesome.)
(Update 6/11/2020: Removed broken images and updated Shulk's main picture with the shiny new version. Also adjusted his age and added to 'History' with the events of the newly-added epilogue, Future Connected)
Full Name: Shulk
Nickname(s): 'Monado Boy', 'Heir to the Monado'
Age: 19
Height: Unknown exactly, but he's about the same height as Samus, so around 5'10" or so.
Weight: Unknown exactly, but slim and fairly muscular. Welterweight-Middleweight range, most likely.
Gender: Male
Race: Homs (Human)
Alliance: Heroic.
Home: Colony 9, Bionis' Right Calf.
Franchise: Xenoblade
Physical Description
See the picture. Shulk can wear all sorts of different outfits (and has even fought in swimwear/oils before) but his typical outfit will be shown below. Shulk is fairly muscular with bright blond hair and blue eyes. He typically wears goggles on his forehead, which he slips over his eyes for protection when working with metal, and he wears his weapon on his back; he also has a bag that he keeps his Ether Gems in, which he can slot into the equipment he wears and his weapon.
Weapons
Shulk has used many different weapons, but right now, he has his most iconic weapon, the Monado. Specifically, it is the first version of it that he used in Super Smash Bros. 4.
The Monado I is a rather uniquely-built weapon that creates a blade of solid ether (a sort of life energy that flows through everything on Bionis) that Shulk can use to fight with. The metal part of the weapon itself is also an effective sword but the ether blade is the strongest part. See the picture below for reference. It is incapable of harming beings from Bionis in this unreleased state, but as there are none to be found on Dimensional Island, he should be fine for a while. It does this by cutting a being's ether... essentially 'reality warping' someone to suddenly have a sword wound. For all intents and purposes for combat, however, it operates under normal blade principles.
Later on, the Monado was released, becoming larger and more ornate, as the Monado II. In this state, it was capable of harming Mechon and Bionite alike.
Even later on still, Shulk lost this Monado and had to fight with various replicas.
Near the very end of his journey, Shulk discovered his own Monado, also known as the True Monado or the Monado III. This one had a blue almost-ethereal appearance, and it's an incredibly powerful weapon.
With each iteration of the Monado, it had a particular symbol on the glass lens in the circle near the handle of the blade. In I, it was a symbol meaning 'Machine'. In II, it showed the symbol meaning 'Person'. In III, it shone the symbol meaning 'God'.
Abilities/Powers
Shulk can see the future. This comes from his using the Monado. Or not. It's actually not connected to the weapon itself; it happens via reading the flow of ether in the world around him, and the visions appear in small flashes. Sometimes, they're not clear about what happens, but knowing in advance what will happen will give Shulk or his allies a chance to change the future for the better. He originally thought he needed the Monado for it, but when Shulk lost the Monado at one point, he found he could still the future, and learned to use the power himself.
Shulk has eight different Arts that he can use in combat, as well as a Talent Art and a set of ten more Monado Arts, though in his arrival at the Island, Shulk lost the ability to use most of these for the time being.
His Art Palette contains... (For reference, the colors mean a different type of Art; Red is a physical attack, Blue is a support, Pink causes Break, Green causes Topple, Yellow causes Daze, Purple are Ether-based attacks or offensive buffs, and Orange are self-buffs called Auras.)
Back Slash: A Red Art; Shulk delivers a powerful leaping slash to an enemy, doing incredible damage to them if he hits their back.
Slit Edge: A Red Art; Shulk stabs his enemy straight-on, lowering their physical defense if he hits them from the side.
Stream Edge: A Pink Art; Shulk steps back before widely swinging outward, dealing damage to enemies in a fan shape in front of him with a chance to inflict Break, weakening their stance and leaving them vulnerable to Topple.
Air Slash: A Pink Art; Shulk jumps into the air, slashing upward then across. This deals damage, has a chance to inflict Break, and a chance to inflict Slow if he strikes the enemy's side.
Shaker Edge: A Yellow Art; Shulk turns about, bashing the handle of the Monado into his opponent's head. It will inflict Daze on a Toppled target, provided that they're not immune to it.
Shadow Eye: A Blue Art; Shulk drops down, shrouding himself in Ether; it lowers aggro in Xenoblade and gives Shulk the Physical Arts Plus buff, which makes his next attacking Art do more damage; here, it cloaks him, making him harder to see for a little while.
Light Heal: A Blue Art; Shulk pulls Ether towards himself or an ally, healing their wounds; it's not a very powerful heal, but it can do in a pinch.
Battle Soul: A Blue Art; Shulk draws from his own vital energy, converting it into Ether and using it to power the Monado, allowing him to use a Monado Art quicker.
He also has the Talent Art, Turn Strike. In Xenoblade, Shulk got rid of this when he got the Monado, but I'm keeping it here. As he attacks, he builds up energy for it, and turns, slashing at his opponent's legs with the flat solid end of his weapon; it deals damage and inflicts Break for quite a while.
By harnessing the Ether around him, Shulk can power up the Monado, activating it to use special Monado Arts. They are...
Jump: Created for the Super Smash Bros. 4 tournament, Shulk empowers his legs with a green aura, allowing him to jump far higher and farther than he could before. It doesn't last very long, but it doesn't really need to. When using this, the glass disc shows the kanji '翔', which means 'Soar'.
Smash: The other Art created for the tournament; there, it empowered Shulk's attacks to launch his opponents further at the cost of his damage output. Here, it is instead a powerful fan-shaped strike with the Monado's blade glowing bright red that has high knockback and a chance to Confuse opponents. When used, the Monado shows the kanji '撃' which means 'attack/strike'
Buster: One of the first Monado Arts available, Shulk creates a large blue blade from the Monado and swings it, doing double damage to machine-based life forms. The kanji displayed is '斬' which means 'To slash'.
Enchant: The other of the first Monado Arts available, the Monado's blade glows dark purple and Shulk swings it, empowering his allies' weapons with Ether, allowing Mechone to be damaged normally. As their armor was far too tough for normal weapons to damage, this was very useful, though... not so much on the Island. As such, the art's purpose changed as well. It now empowers weapons with Ether, increasing the physical and Ether strength of Shulk and his allies for a short time. It used to show the kanji '機' meaning 'Machine', but now shows the kanji '力' meaning 'Power/Strong'.
Shield: Shulk created this Art to save his friend Reyn from being killed by the Arachno Queen, a giant spider, preventing the future he'd seen in a vision. The Monado's blade glows yellow and Shulk swings it, a shield appearing over himself and his allies, stopping an enemy's Talent Art that is equal to or lower level than Monado Shield's level. As that would be difficult to properly parse here, it instead creates a shield that can stop powerful blows for a short period of time, though it can be broken. The Monado displays the kanji '盾' meaning 'Shield'.
These Monado Arts above are the ones that Shulk currently has access to. The ones below will unlock again over time.
Speed: Shulk created this Art to stop another bad future, saving his and Reyn's new friend Sharla from being killed by a Mechon; the Monado's blade glows dark blue and Shulk swings it, transferring Ether into a target, whose speed greatly increases, making dodging physical attacks much easier for a period of time. He can only give it to one person at a time, though. The Monado displays the kanji '疾' which means 'quick' or 'swift'.
Purge: Shulk first used this one against a creature called a Telethia while in Makna Forest. He was alone, looking for pure Water Ether Crystals so Sharla could heal a girl they'd found unconscious in the forest. He tried fighting the Telethia head-on, using his visions to predict its attacks... but the creature could read his mind, and so thwarted Shulk's power. A mysterious young man named Alvis who had appeared nearby to talk to Shulk earlier took the Monado in hand, and used this Art to seal the Telethia's mind-reading Aura. Shulk charges Ether into the blade, making it glow bright green, then jumps into the air, swinging the blade and sending a massive shockwave at an enemy, shattering their Auras and sealing them for a time, also doing damage to them. The Monado displays the kanji '破' which means 'destroy/break/rend'.
Eater: Shulk learned this Art from finding a book of notes on the Monado that had been sealed away in a tomb of one of the old race of Giants. He charges the blade with Ether, stepping back as the blade turns black, then thrusts it forward, energy tearing out in a fan shape in front of him. That energy rips buffs from enemies struck and causes Bleed to them. The Monado displays the kanji '喰' which means 'To Eat'.
Armor: Shulk received the book of notes on the Monado related to this Art later on, on Mechonis. The blade turns orange and Shulk swings it, coating himself and his allies with a temporary armor of Ether that reduces received damage. It does not block status effects, though. The Monado displays the kanji '鎧' meaning 'Armor'.
Cyclone: After destroying a machine suppressing the Monado's power in the core of Mechonis, Shulk unlocked this Art. The blade turns white and gold, and Shulk thrusts it skyward, launching a massive cyclone of Ether from the ground around him, Toppling enemies afflicted with Break and doing damage. The Monado displays the kanji '轟' which is an onomatopoeia for 'roar' or 'boom', representing the roar of the cyclone in this case.
Skills
Shulk is a skilled engineer/machinist. He was constantly developing new weapons in Colony 9's Weapons Development Lab for the Defense Force, and designed several weapons in particular for his best friend Reyn. He's very good at working with machinery of all sorts, and is also pretty good at crafting Ether Gems, and has a Mobile Furnace for that purpose, though he can't really do it alone. As a Shooter, he's very good at going into Fever mode, which greatly increases the Heat on the Crystals being used, making them more powerful.
Personality
Shulk can come across as absent-minded at times, and dense when it comes to interpersonal relationships. ...That said, as he went through his journey, he grew quite a bit as a person, and is something of an All-Loving Hero. He will fight tooth and nail to try and save as many people as he can, and while he doesn't always show his emotions beyond a small bit, when he does, they show very strongly.
Shulk is very into machines and loves tinkering with parts and studying them. Almost too much, really; he was sent out with Reyn to try to get aid partially because Shulk's adoptive father thought he should get out of the lab more often; he thought it'd be good for Shulk.
He's also a huge dork at times, and gets excited quite easily when something really catches his interest. He gets quite cheery when a battle's going well.
History
Shulk was initially the lone survivor of an expedition sent to Valak Mountain on the Bionis to find the Monado... though for the sake of framing, I feel I should at least explain in brief what that means.
The Bionis is one of the two titans that make up the world of Xenoblade; it is made of organic lifeforms, and they live on its body. The other is the Mechonis, which is a mechanical titan where the Mechon live. Long before the events of Xenoblade, the two titans fought, and ended up both going dormant. Life grew from the titans.
As the Mechon often attack the Bionis and its residents, and normal weapons weren't very effective against them, the Homs, out of desperation, searched for a mythical weapon, the Monado, which could defeat the Mechon. An expedition to Valak Mountain, on the Bionis' right arm, ended with everyone there dead... except for Shulk. He was found and taken back to Colony 9, on the Bionis' right calf, and raised by Dickson, one of the members of the colony's Defense Force who found him, as Shulk's parents were among those who died during the expedition.
Many years passed, and when Shulk was 17, the Mechon attacked Bionis at Sword Valley, the place where the Mechonis' large blade pierced the Bionis. The Homs attempted to fight them back, with Dunban, Colony 9's strongest fighter and the 'Hero of the Homs' wielding the Monado. Things were going well for a while until Dunban lost control of the weapon, the energy overloading him and rendering his right arm useless, with nasty electrical burns snaking up it to his shoulder.
The Homs managed to fight off the Mechon then, and things were quiet again for a time. As Dunban was returned to Colony 9 to recuperate, he asked Shulk to study the Monado. The young man did so for the next year, tirelessly working on it. Dunban was like a father figure to him, after all, and he wanted to help any way he could.
One day, about a year later, Shulk went with his best friend, Reyn, and Dunban's younger sister, Fiora, to a routine mission to get Ether Cylinders from a storage area through Tephra Cave, not far from the Colony. As they began returning, the Mechon had launched a sneak attack, razing the Colony and attacking the residents, eating people and destroying buildings. As Dunban was nowhere to be found, the three searched for him, trying to make their way to the lab to get to the Monado, where they figured Dunban went. As the lab was blocked off, the three attempted to get away, to get to the Mobile Artillery that they were getting the Ether Cylinders for, but got surrounded by Mechon. Shulk and Reyn stayed behind to buy Fiora time, and ended up being saved by Dunban, wielding the Monado again. They fought to the entrance of the Colony to make their way around to the Residential District to meet up with Fiora again, but as they left, Dunban was shocked by the blade yet again, coughing up blood. Shulk took the Monado and fought, discovering his power of future sight.
As they went to the Residential District, they were attacked by a Mechon with a face, red lights running along it. The Monado had no effect against it, and as the three were blasted down, Fiora came in, piloting the Mobile Artillery and attacking the Mechon. Shulk had a vision, but couldn't do anything to prevent it. Fiora was stabbed by the Mechon and tossed to the smaller ones nearby, and Shulk, Reyn, and Dunban attacked the Faced Mechon in a rage. Eventually, the Mechon fled, and a few months after the attack, Shulk and Reyn left to make their way to Colony 6, another Homs colony, to get aid.
As they crossed Gaur Plain on the Bionis' leg, they encountered a group of refugees from Colony 6, lead by a young woman, a field medic named Sharla. After learning that Colony 6 had been sacked as well, the three teamed up, going to save Sharla's little brother, Juju, who'd gotten himself into trouble and captured by the Mechon.
That's as far as I will give, to avoid spoilers, but in brief, the adventure got quite a bit more deep than that, Shulk made quite a few more friends; Dunban joined the group later, they saved a High Entia girl named Melia, really the High Entia crown princess, and were joined by that year's legendary Heropon of Frontier Village (the Nopon home... Nopon are very cute little furry creatures), a somewhat childish Nopon named Riki, and Fiora again, who turned out to be not-quite dead, and in a Mechon body.
They fought their way up the Mechonis, battling against its leader, many big plot twists happened, Shulk was dead for a time, and it ended with them killing a tyrannical god and Shulk making a new world, one that didn't have need for gods. Shulk was perfectly content to live out the rest of his life as a simple Homs...
(Spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected below)
A full year after the final battle against Zanza, Melia made a request of Shulk, and the two took the ship that they'd used during their earlier adventure, the Junks, up to the Bionis' Shoulder, the only part of the former titan that was still around due to the Float Stone keeping it aloft in the air. Upon being shot down, the two, alongside two of Riki's children, Kino and Nene (who had stowed away on the ship), found that a decent-sized group of refugees had been living there; they were former residents of Alcamoth, the High Entia homeland, who had been forced out by a strange creature known as the Fog King, which had come from a mysterious rift and had been driving monsters mad. Shulk mostly supported Melia on her journey there, helping reunite the two splintered groups, allowing Melia to reconcile with her sister Tyrea, and using his Replica Monado EX (upgraded to a '+' version through use of Ether Crystals there) to destroy the Fog King, freeing Alcamoth and giving Melia the chance to be properly crowned as her people's Empress.
Happily living with Fiora, the two having made their relationship official during their travels beforehand, Shulk had gone to inspect strange Ether readings near the colony they lived in... his alarm at the similarity to the rift associated with the Fog King quickly turned to shock as he was pulled through, leading him to somewhere quite strange... with the original Monado in hand.
Other
See the notes above regarding Shulk's Monado Arts. This page will be edited to show what he has access to as that changes in the future.
Picture(s)
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/xenoblade/images/b/b9/XCDE-Shulk.png/revision/latest?cb=20190907023105
Shulk in his normal outfit, as of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/xenoblade/images/0/0c/XCDE_Shulk_Future_Connected.png/revision/latest?cb=20200501030059
Shulk in his outfit he wore on the Bionis' Shoulder, based off of the Replica Monado EX.
(Update 6/11/2020: Removed broken images and updated Shulk's main picture with the shiny new version. Also adjusted his age and added to 'History' with the events of the newly-added epilogue, Future Connected)
Full Name: Shulk
Nickname(s): 'Monado Boy', 'Heir to the Monado'
Age: 19
Height: Unknown exactly, but he's about the same height as Samus, so around 5'10" or so.
Weight: Unknown exactly, but slim and fairly muscular. Welterweight-Middleweight range, most likely.
Gender: Male
Race: Homs (Human)
Alliance: Heroic.
Home: Colony 9, Bionis' Right Calf.
Franchise: Xenoblade
Physical Description
See the picture. Shulk can wear all sorts of different outfits (and has even fought in swimwear/oils before) but his typical outfit will be shown below. Shulk is fairly muscular with bright blond hair and blue eyes. He typically wears goggles on his forehead, which he slips over his eyes for protection when working with metal, and he wears his weapon on his back; he also has a bag that he keeps his Ether Gems in, which he can slot into the equipment he wears and his weapon.
Weapons
Shulk has used many different weapons, but right now, he has his most iconic weapon, the Monado. Specifically, it is the first version of it that he used in Super Smash Bros. 4.
The Monado I is a rather uniquely-built weapon that creates a blade of solid ether (a sort of life energy that flows through everything on Bionis) that Shulk can use to fight with. The metal part of the weapon itself is also an effective sword but the ether blade is the strongest part. See the picture below for reference. It is incapable of harming beings from Bionis in this unreleased state, but as there are none to be found on Dimensional Island, he should be fine for a while. It does this by cutting a being's ether... essentially 'reality warping' someone to suddenly have a sword wound. For all intents and purposes for combat, however, it operates under normal blade principles.
Later on, the Monado was released, becoming larger and more ornate, as the Monado II. In this state, it was capable of harming Mechon and Bionite alike.
Even later on still, Shulk lost this Monado and had to fight with various replicas.
Near the very end of his journey, Shulk discovered his own Monado, also known as the True Monado or the Monado III. This one had a blue almost-ethereal appearance, and it's an incredibly powerful weapon.
With each iteration of the Monado, it had a particular symbol on the glass lens in the circle near the handle of the blade. In I, it was a symbol meaning 'Machine'. In II, it showed the symbol meaning 'Person'. In III, it shone the symbol meaning 'God'.
Abilities/Powers
Shulk can see the future. This comes from his using the Monado. Or not. It's actually not connected to the weapon itself; it happens via reading the flow of ether in the world around him, and the visions appear in small flashes. Sometimes, they're not clear about what happens, but knowing in advance what will happen will give Shulk or his allies a chance to change the future for the better. He originally thought he needed the Monado for it, but when Shulk lost the Monado at one point, he found he could still the future, and learned to use the power himself.
Shulk has eight different Arts that he can use in combat, as well as a Talent Art and a set of ten more Monado Arts, though in his arrival at the Island, Shulk lost the ability to use most of these for the time being.
His Art Palette contains... (For reference, the colors mean a different type of Art; Red is a physical attack, Blue is a support, Pink causes Break, Green causes Topple, Yellow causes Daze, Purple are Ether-based attacks or offensive buffs, and Orange are self-buffs called Auras.)
Back Slash: A Red Art; Shulk delivers a powerful leaping slash to an enemy, doing incredible damage to them if he hits their back.
Slit Edge: A Red Art; Shulk stabs his enemy straight-on, lowering their physical defense if he hits them from the side.
Stream Edge: A Pink Art; Shulk steps back before widely swinging outward, dealing damage to enemies in a fan shape in front of him with a chance to inflict Break, weakening their stance and leaving them vulnerable to Topple.
Air Slash: A Pink Art; Shulk jumps into the air, slashing upward then across. This deals damage, has a chance to inflict Break, and a chance to inflict Slow if he strikes the enemy's side.
Shaker Edge: A Yellow Art; Shulk turns about, bashing the handle of the Monado into his opponent's head. It will inflict Daze on a Toppled target, provided that they're not immune to it.
Shadow Eye: A Blue Art; Shulk drops down, shrouding himself in Ether; it lowers aggro in Xenoblade and gives Shulk the Physical Arts Plus buff, which makes his next attacking Art do more damage; here, it cloaks him, making him harder to see for a little while.
Light Heal: A Blue Art; Shulk pulls Ether towards himself or an ally, healing their wounds; it's not a very powerful heal, but it can do in a pinch.
Battle Soul: A Blue Art; Shulk draws from his own vital energy, converting it into Ether and using it to power the Monado, allowing him to use a Monado Art quicker.
He also has the Talent Art, Turn Strike. In Xenoblade, Shulk got rid of this when he got the Monado, but I'm keeping it here. As he attacks, he builds up energy for it, and turns, slashing at his opponent's legs with the flat solid end of his weapon; it deals damage and inflicts Break for quite a while.
By harnessing the Ether around him, Shulk can power up the Monado, activating it to use special Monado Arts. They are...
Jump: Created for the Super Smash Bros. 4 tournament, Shulk empowers his legs with a green aura, allowing him to jump far higher and farther than he could before. It doesn't last very long, but it doesn't really need to. When using this, the glass disc shows the kanji '翔', which means 'Soar'.
Smash: The other Art created for the tournament; there, it empowered Shulk's attacks to launch his opponents further at the cost of his damage output. Here, it is instead a powerful fan-shaped strike with the Monado's blade glowing bright red that has high knockback and a chance to Confuse opponents. When used, the Monado shows the kanji '撃' which means 'attack/strike'
Buster: One of the first Monado Arts available, Shulk creates a large blue blade from the Monado and swings it, doing double damage to machine-based life forms. The kanji displayed is '斬' which means 'To slash'.
Enchant: The other of the first Monado Arts available, the Monado's blade glows dark purple and Shulk swings it, empowering his allies' weapons with Ether, allowing Mechone to be damaged normally. As their armor was far too tough for normal weapons to damage, this was very useful, though... not so much on the Island. As such, the art's purpose changed as well. It now empowers weapons with Ether, increasing the physical and Ether strength of Shulk and his allies for a short time. It used to show the kanji '機' meaning 'Machine', but now shows the kanji '力' meaning 'Power/Strong'.
Shield: Shulk created this Art to save his friend Reyn from being killed by the Arachno Queen, a giant spider, preventing the future he'd seen in a vision. The Monado's blade glows yellow and Shulk swings it, a shield appearing over himself and his allies, stopping an enemy's Talent Art that is equal to or lower level than Monado Shield's level. As that would be difficult to properly parse here, it instead creates a shield that can stop powerful blows for a short period of time, though it can be broken. The Monado displays the kanji '盾' meaning 'Shield'.
These Monado Arts above are the ones that Shulk currently has access to. The ones below will unlock again over time.
Speed: Shulk created this Art to stop another bad future, saving his and Reyn's new friend Sharla from being killed by a Mechon; the Monado's blade glows dark blue and Shulk swings it, transferring Ether into a target, whose speed greatly increases, making dodging physical attacks much easier for a period of time. He can only give it to one person at a time, though. The Monado displays the kanji '疾' which means 'quick' or 'swift'.
Purge: Shulk first used this one against a creature called a Telethia while in Makna Forest. He was alone, looking for pure Water Ether Crystals so Sharla could heal a girl they'd found unconscious in the forest. He tried fighting the Telethia head-on, using his visions to predict its attacks... but the creature could read his mind, and so thwarted Shulk's power. A mysterious young man named Alvis who had appeared nearby to talk to Shulk earlier took the Monado in hand, and used this Art to seal the Telethia's mind-reading Aura. Shulk charges Ether into the blade, making it glow bright green, then jumps into the air, swinging the blade and sending a massive shockwave at an enemy, shattering their Auras and sealing them for a time, also doing damage to them. The Monado displays the kanji '破' which means 'destroy/break/rend'.
Eater: Shulk learned this Art from finding a book of notes on the Monado that had been sealed away in a tomb of one of the old race of Giants. He charges the blade with Ether, stepping back as the blade turns black, then thrusts it forward, energy tearing out in a fan shape in front of him. That energy rips buffs from enemies struck and causes Bleed to them. The Monado displays the kanji '喰' which means 'To Eat'.
Armor: Shulk received the book of notes on the Monado related to this Art later on, on Mechonis. The blade turns orange and Shulk swings it, coating himself and his allies with a temporary armor of Ether that reduces received damage. It does not block status effects, though. The Monado displays the kanji '鎧' meaning 'Armor'.
Cyclone: After destroying a machine suppressing the Monado's power in the core of Mechonis, Shulk unlocked this Art. The blade turns white and gold, and Shulk thrusts it skyward, launching a massive cyclone of Ether from the ground around him, Toppling enemies afflicted with Break and doing damage. The Monado displays the kanji '轟' which is an onomatopoeia for 'roar' or 'boom', representing the roar of the cyclone in this case.
Skills
Shulk is a skilled engineer/machinist. He was constantly developing new weapons in Colony 9's Weapons Development Lab for the Defense Force, and designed several weapons in particular for his best friend Reyn. He's very good at working with machinery of all sorts, and is also pretty good at crafting Ether Gems, and has a Mobile Furnace for that purpose, though he can't really do it alone. As a Shooter, he's very good at going into Fever mode, which greatly increases the Heat on the Crystals being used, making them more powerful.
Personality
Shulk can come across as absent-minded at times, and dense when it comes to interpersonal relationships. ...That said, as he went through his journey, he grew quite a bit as a person, and is something of an All-Loving Hero. He will fight tooth and nail to try and save as many people as he can, and while he doesn't always show his emotions beyond a small bit, when he does, they show very strongly.
Shulk is very into machines and loves tinkering with parts and studying them. Almost too much, really; he was sent out with Reyn to try to get aid partially because Shulk's adoptive father thought he should get out of the lab more often; he thought it'd be good for Shulk.
He's also a huge dork at times, and gets excited quite easily when something really catches his interest. He gets quite cheery when a battle's going well.
History
Shulk was initially the lone survivor of an expedition sent to Valak Mountain on the Bionis to find the Monado... though for the sake of framing, I feel I should at least explain in brief what that means.
The Bionis is one of the two titans that make up the world of Xenoblade; it is made of organic lifeforms, and they live on its body. The other is the Mechonis, which is a mechanical titan where the Mechon live. Long before the events of Xenoblade, the two titans fought, and ended up both going dormant. Life grew from the titans.
As the Mechon often attack the Bionis and its residents, and normal weapons weren't very effective against them, the Homs, out of desperation, searched for a mythical weapon, the Monado, which could defeat the Mechon. An expedition to Valak Mountain, on the Bionis' right arm, ended with everyone there dead... except for Shulk. He was found and taken back to Colony 9, on the Bionis' right calf, and raised by Dickson, one of the members of the colony's Defense Force who found him, as Shulk's parents were among those who died during the expedition.
Many years passed, and when Shulk was 17, the Mechon attacked Bionis at Sword Valley, the place where the Mechonis' large blade pierced the Bionis. The Homs attempted to fight them back, with Dunban, Colony 9's strongest fighter and the 'Hero of the Homs' wielding the Monado. Things were going well for a while until Dunban lost control of the weapon, the energy overloading him and rendering his right arm useless, with nasty electrical burns snaking up it to his shoulder.
The Homs managed to fight off the Mechon then, and things were quiet again for a time. As Dunban was returned to Colony 9 to recuperate, he asked Shulk to study the Monado. The young man did so for the next year, tirelessly working on it. Dunban was like a father figure to him, after all, and he wanted to help any way he could.
One day, about a year later, Shulk went with his best friend, Reyn, and Dunban's younger sister, Fiora, to a routine mission to get Ether Cylinders from a storage area through Tephra Cave, not far from the Colony. As they began returning, the Mechon had launched a sneak attack, razing the Colony and attacking the residents, eating people and destroying buildings. As Dunban was nowhere to be found, the three searched for him, trying to make their way to the lab to get to the Monado, where they figured Dunban went. As the lab was blocked off, the three attempted to get away, to get to the Mobile Artillery that they were getting the Ether Cylinders for, but got surrounded by Mechon. Shulk and Reyn stayed behind to buy Fiora time, and ended up being saved by Dunban, wielding the Monado again. They fought to the entrance of the Colony to make their way around to the Residential District to meet up with Fiora again, but as they left, Dunban was shocked by the blade yet again, coughing up blood. Shulk took the Monado and fought, discovering his power of future sight.
As they went to the Residential District, they were attacked by a Mechon with a face, red lights running along it. The Monado had no effect against it, and as the three were blasted down, Fiora came in, piloting the Mobile Artillery and attacking the Mechon. Shulk had a vision, but couldn't do anything to prevent it. Fiora was stabbed by the Mechon and tossed to the smaller ones nearby, and Shulk, Reyn, and Dunban attacked the Faced Mechon in a rage. Eventually, the Mechon fled, and a few months after the attack, Shulk and Reyn left to make their way to Colony 6, another Homs colony, to get aid.
As they crossed Gaur Plain on the Bionis' leg, they encountered a group of refugees from Colony 6, lead by a young woman, a field medic named Sharla. After learning that Colony 6 had been sacked as well, the three teamed up, going to save Sharla's little brother, Juju, who'd gotten himself into trouble and captured by the Mechon.
That's as far as I will give, to avoid spoilers, but in brief, the adventure got quite a bit more deep than that, Shulk made quite a few more friends; Dunban joined the group later, they saved a High Entia girl named Melia, really the High Entia crown princess, and were joined by that year's legendary Heropon of Frontier Village (the Nopon home... Nopon are very cute little furry creatures), a somewhat childish Nopon named Riki, and Fiora again, who turned out to be not-quite dead, and in a Mechon body.
They fought their way up the Mechonis, battling against its leader, many big plot twists happened, Shulk was dead for a time, and it ended with them killing a tyrannical god and Shulk making a new world, one that didn't have need for gods. Shulk was perfectly content to live out the rest of his life as a simple Homs...
(Spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected below)
A full year after the final battle against Zanza, Melia made a request of Shulk, and the two took the ship that they'd used during their earlier adventure, the Junks, up to the Bionis' Shoulder, the only part of the former titan that was still around due to the Float Stone keeping it aloft in the air. Upon being shot down, the two, alongside two of Riki's children, Kino and Nene (who had stowed away on the ship), found that a decent-sized group of refugees had been living there; they were former residents of Alcamoth, the High Entia homeland, who had been forced out by a strange creature known as the Fog King, which had come from a mysterious rift and had been driving monsters mad. Shulk mostly supported Melia on her journey there, helping reunite the two splintered groups, allowing Melia to reconcile with her sister Tyrea, and using his Replica Monado EX (upgraded to a '+' version through use of Ether Crystals there) to destroy the Fog King, freeing Alcamoth and giving Melia the chance to be properly crowned as her people's Empress.
Happily living with Fiora, the two having made their relationship official during their travels beforehand, Shulk had gone to inspect strange Ether readings near the colony they lived in... his alarm at the similarity to the rift associated with the Fog King quickly turned to shock as he was pulled through, leading him to somewhere quite strange... with the original Monado in hand.
Other
See the notes above regarding Shulk's Monado Arts. This page will be edited to show what he has access to as that changes in the future.
Picture(s)
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Shulk in his normal outfit, as of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/xenoblade/images/0/0c/XCDE_Shulk_Future_Connected.png/revision/latest?cb=20200501030059
Shulk in his outfit he wore on the Bionis' Shoulder, based off of the Replica Monado EX.
