Post by mugenginga on Aug 24, 2009 1:10:32 GMT -5
Full Name: NiGHTS/Nights
Nicknames: Dream Demon
Apparent Age: Teens (Its pretty unclear, actually, but he acts a fair bit like a rebellious teenager)
Real Age: ? (around the age of nightmares themselves, and the realm of Nightmare)
Height: ? (when compared to teenagers, he seems roughly the height of a male teenager)
Weight: ? (he looks spritely and there seems to be some indication he is very lightweight)
Gender: None (although he has quite the feminine voice)
Race: Nightmaren
Alliance: Neutral with a strong lean towards good
Home: Night Dimension/World of Dreams
Franchise: NiGHTS into Dreams
Physical Description
NiGHTS appears to be a sort of stylized harlequin jester with a dominance of purple in his design. He has these elongated head pieces that extend backwards and to the side known to jesters of his style. They are striped his standard shade of purple and a darker purple, but the stripes are rather thick. They are part of a head piece. As with the rest of his "outfit" it is unclear as to whether that is his skin or an actual costume. His head floats just above his body and is not connected in any visible fashion.
He has no true signs of gender, which fits because he has none. He has a face with a caucasian skin tone, neither pale nor tanned. His eyes are freakishly large by human standards, and almond shaped. They point downwards slightly, the point ending just above the front point of his head piece. They are a beautiful azure shade, with the "pupils" being thick cat like strips of a darker blue.
He wears what looks like a fancy pink vest with yellow trim. The inner and upper parts of the vest just inside the trim are red and the "buttons" are gold stars. The over-exaggerated collar has a blue rhombus gem on either of the inside sides of it and is also red. Under the collar is a gold fabric often seen on old-fashioned clowns. In the middle of his chest is a red rhombus gem that is known to glow in relation to his power level.
His arms seem to be covered in white shiny fabric a bit on the loose end, they grow to the "cuffs" on the outside. The "sleeves" have intracite lace pattern on the outside of a dark silver color. The cuffs are rather thick and have a triangle pattern on them, with the points of each triangle reaching the other side of the cuff. The triangles whose bases' are near his hands are purple, while the other ones are yellow. His hands float seperate from his body like his head does and appear to be gloved in form fitting white shiny material. If you were to look down into his body or up the cuffs, there would appear to be nothing but blackness.
His legs have disproportionally large feet and ankles, making it seem like he has a skin tight jumpsuit of sorts over his "shoes". About half way up his "feet" is a thick yellow strip, topped by a rather large pink strip that comes halfway up his lower "legs". The sides of the legs have the same dark silver intricate lace pattern as his arms, although the difference in contrast between the purple and the white make it seem a slightly different color.
His mouth is rather curious in that it seems to move to fit a situation. Usually it is in the center of his face, like it should be, but it is known to shifting to onse side of his face or another.
Weapons
One could call the "Persona Mask" as such, as he has to have it in his possession to access its powers. While the mask technically has three forms, they seem to be an expression of its power than actual forms. The only version you'll ever see NiGHTS wearing, and this is exteremely rarely, is a gold Mardi Gras style mask. It weights about as much as a quality costume mask but is quite indestructable. Even if its destroyed NiGHTS can still summon it back up and it does not need to be visible for him to access its powers. It seems possible for it to be taken from him, but only Wizeman seems to have the power.
The mask itself is a rather ornate gold thing with two blue feathers rising up from the center. There are etchings in the mask that are rather pointless beyond lending to how fancy the mask looks. There is an actual emotional reason he doesn't like wearing the mask. He sees it in the purpose it was intended, a symbol of loyalty to Wizeman. Besides, since he can access its powers without it being visible, he rarely sees a need to display it.
Abilities/Powers
NiGHTS most basic ability is that of flight, and saying he is a master of this would be an insult for how much of an understatement it is. He flies better than most people can walk. He also tends to avoid a "plain" flight pattern, performing what would probably best be described as aerial acrobatics. At the very least he tends to hold his arms out to the side.
His flight much like a person would move in outer space, except that he has complete and total control. It should be noted this does not mean he can't walk, but his body isn't designed for it and he looks rather clumsy if he attempts it. A comparison to a toddler just learning to walk is rather appropriate. NiGHTS seems uneffected by any form of gravity or whatnot in his flight, but if he were to set his "feet" down the effects would come into play. The only time that he is truly grounded is when he is totally unconscious.
His aerial acrobatics confer other various abilities. He can spin rapidly to perform a "screwdriver" type move, which can damage an opponent. This spiral also speeds him up, but if he does it constantly does require a bit of time to "recover", which basically slows him a bit and prevents him from using the move. A full recovery takes about ten seconds, give or take.
His most preferred move, however, is known as the "Paraloop". Basically he uses the advantage of an all directional flight pattern to fly a circle around the opponent. This attack can do a variety of things, not all of them harmful. Its main purpose is to release energy onto an enemy, but over time NiGHTS has developed the skill to use it to warp others or give them a bit of an energy boost. The helpful versions of this ability only apply in the Night Dimension. He is able to use the harmful version in any dimension. All of his acrobatics can be used to quite literally fly circles around the opponent and confuse them.
Not really an ability as much as a quirk, but sparkles fly from the tips of his fingers when he flies. They are in fact an indication of his power. The stronger he is, the more sparkles fly. They also seem to gain a certain level of intensity when he gets strong enough, but they aren't blinding. Its more of an "ooh pretty" thing than anything else.
NiGHTS can "play" a phantom flute, as well. Basically he looks like he is holding and playing a flute when nothing is there. Beautiful flute like sounds come from him when he does this, but as previously stated nothing is there. It is likely he could play other phantom instruments, but he doesn't seem inclined to do so. He can play any song ever created, but he has a preference for one song, a melodic flute version of a song known as "Dreams, Dreams" (see Other section). He tends to favor playing the more energetic middle parts than the intro or the full version.
He has one other power that is all his own, although there is evidence his twin Reala could do it if he was willing to "lower" himself to that level. With a touch of hand to hand, NiGHTS can assimilate with a Visitor to the Night Dimension. He's not at all picky who he does this with, enjoying sharing the power of flight. It's a rather hard ability to define as it seems he fully merges with the person. He is the one with the most control and can wrest it from the Visitor if he chooses, but he would never do so due to his belief that people shoud stand/fly on their own and how much he values freedom. The ability is called Dualizing.
Dualizing is only possible in the Night Dimension/World of Dreams. In the rare occurances he comes to the real/waking world, he is unable to Dualize with a person. While Dualized, he can hold full conversations with his partner. Anyone observing the situation could see his partner as a ghost-like shadow. Interestingly, his partner moves the same way NiGHTS does. If the Visitor is overcome by extreme emotions, they can manifest onto NiGHTS. Very rarely it appears the two can have independant movements, such as NiGHTS turning towards the Visitor without their head turning. It is often unclear as to who is in control while Dualized. As said before, NiGHTS has the final control but will rarely express it.
If NiGHTS is severely injured, the Dualized state of him and the Visitor will cancel out, often ending badly for the Visitor. Unless they have awakened their own powers of flight, they will fall from wherever NiGHTS is floating. Even if it's hundreds of feet in the air. Luckily, normal physics don't always apply in the World of Dreams, and the person is like as not to safely land. Also, while NiGHTS has no gender it is generally accepted that while Dualized, his gender is the same as the Visitor he is merged with, although this makes no impact on his voice or mannerisms.
NiGHTS has two forms of shapeshifting powers. His innate one is usable only in the Night Dimension, allowing him to shift to any manner of useful "vehicle" forms, such as a rollercoaster or rubber raft-like boat. His other power is directly connected to his Persona Mask and can be used in the real/waking world as well as in the Night Dimension, but he must have access to the mask to use them. He has three "Persona": Dolphin, Rocket, and Dragon. All the forms resemble what they are named after. Its important to realize that as his powers sit now, he can not combine the effects of the forms. So he can't use the speed of his Rocket form while underwater or anything like that.
In his Dolphin Persona form, his powers are identical to those in his true form, just in the water. In a world with normal physics, the water would react normally, such as a spin giving off waves. He's never needed to use it, but he has an echolocation power in this form as well. The form automatically activates if he is submersed in water and can not be accessed out of water.
In his Rocket Persona, he can greatly boost his speed for about ten seconds at a time. This power is constantly regenerating, although it takes about ten seconds to fully recharge if he fully drains it. At full drain, his flight speed is dropped just below his standard speed. However, the speed gained is so drastic he more than makes up for any delay the recovery time requires. It does indeed put off flames and it is rather unadvised to stand right behind him when he uses it.
In his Dragon Persona, he resembles an oriental dragon. All his powers are the same, except that he is completely immune to the effects of wind. He could fly through a tornado like it wasn't even there in this form. His body also has an interesting spiral effect when he uses his "screwdriver" move, but its purely cosmetic.
One power NiGHTS does not have is the ability to maintain himself in the real world without some sort of outside source. This is true of all inhabitants of the Night Dimension. NiGHTS is actually the only Nightmaren who is known to have appeared in the real world, but it takes some strong outside source to allow him to do so. Generally this comes from the power of the combined Ideya and a fulfilled dream, although there have been cases where he could surface without that power. But it always requires an outside source for it to happen. The Ideya route only seems to work for a maximum of eight hours, or one night. Other methods have rules of their own.
NiGHTS has a gem on his chest, previously mentioned in the description, that seems to react to power levels. If he is acting with the power of an Ideya, especially the Ideya of courage, it glows. NiGHTS is unable to supress this power, making hiding very difficult. Not that NiGHTS would take such a coward's route, but its worth noting. It shines the brightest when he is in the real world using the combined powers of Ideya.
NiGHTS has no need to breathe, either. He is, after all, a glorified spirit. Also, anyone he is Dualized with shares all these powers, so he could conceivably Dualize with a person to prevent them from dying from lack of oxygen. Although its not likely he would come up with that on his own...
Skills
NiGHTS has no skills that are not part of and explained by his abilities/powers. This includes his aerial acrobatics.
Personality
NiGHTS is rather precocious. He's independant, values freedom, a little cocky, and finds beauty in the power and potential of dreams. He's quite confident and its hard to bring him down. He's rather dedicated to his ideals. He's also impatient, easily annoyed, and can't seem to stay focused on anything for more than two seconds at a time. Seems quite the little kid until you see how dedicated his is to his resolve.
In general he isn't that judgmental. It takes a lot for him to be truly mad at people, although he does get annoyed pretty easily. He's a firm believer in people should be allowed to do what they want and that one should never give up. He believes in freedom more than anything else. He's playful, funloving, and carefree but won't back down from a situation just because its a little scary.
He doesn't like to admit when he's in the wrong or show that he has weakness. He kind of likes razzing on people but doesn't mean any harm by it. He's a good friend, if a little annoying at times, and is good at showing concern. He does seem to poke fun at people and it would not be beyond his character to get annoyed and tell a person they need to take a joke.
NiGHTS isn't generally one to care what a person does as long as they are doing it for themselves and stand completely behind their reasoning. He despises when people do things just to make others happy or out of some misguided sense of loyalty, which is the main reason why he and Reala clash so much. Problem is, when he gets it into his mind a person is doing something for reasons other than their own, its hard to convince him otherwise.
He's laid back and doesn't generally yell. He's only met one person he truly despises, and that's Wizeman. Reala grates on his nerves like you wouldn't believe, but he doesn't despise his twin. He just wishes Reala would act on his own thoughts, feeling that his twin does things he has no desire to just because he's scared of Wizeman. NiGHTS is not fond of cowards in the least and is very much about a fair fight.
Even when not under the effect of Dimension Island, NiGHTS speaks no true language. Because of the nature of dreams and the mind, people hear him speak in their language even when he is in a real/waking world. Since some languages have varying degrees of politeness and such, he speaks in an informal genderless way and might very well come across as rude to some because of it. If the language has no genderless self pronouns, he'll use the male ones that teenagers use. On that note, he doesn't seem to care which pronouns people use when talking about him. He'll react the same to "he", "she", and "it".
History
NiGHTS was created as one of two 1st level Nightmarens by the figure known as Wizeman the Wicked. Wizeman is the creator of Nightmare and the orchestrator of those awful things that plague people in their sleep. He takes the fears in the hearts and memories of a dreamer and manifests them into "reality". On rare occasion, he can cause those realities to actually kill a dreamer. It his his orchestration that has caused the "if you die in your dreams, you die for real" not quite rumors to begin.
Wizeman created NiGHTS and his twin, Reala, to serve as his right hand men. He wanted them to help in capturing the Ideya of dreamers so that he could use their near limitless potential to destroy Nightopia, take over the night dimension, and eventually plunge all reality into Nightmare. Reala was everything Wizeman had hoped for. Strong, obedient, and loyal despite his best interests. The red-themed Nightmaren may have had a mind of his own, but he gladly pushes it aside to serve "Master Wizeman".
NiGHTS, on the other hand, possessed a more carefree and independant attitude. He understood the gift that was free will and had no qualms about "abusing" it. He served Wizeman faithfully for an undetermined amount of time, but not because Wizeman wished it. He simply had nothing better to do with his time. Wizeman saw and disapproved of this attitude, but did nothing about it as NiGHTS was getting the job done.
At one point, NiGHTS decided he was bored with simply following Wizeman's orders and began to goof off. He had met inhabitants of the paradise of Nightopia and found their carefree and playful lives attractive. Over time, a rift began to occur between Wizeman and NiGHTS. Rather comparable to a kid who has no desire to listen to their parent, NiGHTS began obeying Wizeman less and less in favor of playing with the Nightopians. He was slowly developing a desire to protect this world. Wizeman wanted to crush it, NiGHTS wanted to keep it.
Wizeman decided he'd had enough of this nonsense and chose to seal NiGHTS in a prison known as an Ideya Palace, using the more latent energy of Nightopia and Ideya to do so. NiGHTS was distraught over this as Wizeman had taken away the thing he considered most precious... his freedom. Due to the nature of time in the Night Dimension, it is unknown how much time passed. But one night, two teens appeared in their respective Nightopias, and NiGHTS sensed the power of Ideya from them. Both of them seemed in possession of the rare red Ideya, the only one with enough power to break the seal placed on NiGHTS' Ideya Palace.
At this point, it was a combination of curiosity and downright boredom that prompted NiGHTS to frantically try to get the attention of the two teenagers. The blue haired boy named Elliot approached the Palace out of curiosity, the pink haired girl named Claris approached the Palace out of pity. NiGHTS dualized with the pair of them, and realized from the hollow spots in their hearts that they not only had the rare red Ideya, but an Ideya of each of the powers and ideals of Nightopia.
NiGHTS fought with the teens to regain their Ideya, and the course of the adventure gave him a new respect for mortals and the powers of their dreams. He learned of Elliot's dream to be a pro basketball player, although his immediate concern was winning an important game. He learned of Claris' dream to be a famous singer, although her immediate concern was being cast as the star of a production called Twin Dreams set for the 100th anniversary of her town, Twin Seeds.
Through a series of nights, NiGHTS helped the teens access the power of their five Ideya. Eventually he would Dualize with both dreamers and help them fully realize their potential, an act that allowed Wizeman to be sent into submission. Through the adventure NiGHTS realized that there was something more important than his freedom. The power to fulfill ones dreams and defeat Nightmare. Elliot and Claris returned the favor of his help by giving him access to their Ideya. For one glorious night, the dream demon soared the skies of Twin Seeds. It strengthened his resolve to protect dreamers, Ideya, and ultimately, Nightopia. He would actually meet Elliot and Claris many more times, although their visits have dropped off, presumably with their age. The last time he remembers seeing them was during a time of year they called "Christmas". Their dreams during this time of year effected their Nightopias in a way that made it become covered in snow.
A series of adventures with little real impact on things occured, their order nearly impossible to track and quite unimportant. NiGHTS would meet a dream entity that considered itself neither a Nightopian or a Nightmaren but looked more then a bit like an owl. Having a general dislike of a lack of order, Owl would orchestrate the creation of a plaza like area that would serve as a "Dream Gate" for Visitors.
During this time period NiGHTS would meet and Dualize with many visitors to the Night Dimension, and the term "Visitor" eventually became adopted for those that visited. NiGHTS seemed drawn to any Visitor possessing Ideya, although even he didn't know why some Visitors attracted him and others didn't. One of these visitors was a boy by the name of Gantz, whom NiGHTS became friends with. While all this "time" passed, Wizeman constantly tried to steal Ideya and destroy Nightopia. NiGHTS really was his only obstacle.
Things changed rather drastically when for the first time since Elliot and Claris, "twin" Visitors reached the Night Dimension. Their similarities to Elliot and Claris were striking, right down to their dreams. Will, the boy, wanted to be a professional soccer player, but his immediate concern was winning the championship game. Unlike Elliot, he had other concerns, such as his relationship with his father. Helen, the girl, wanted to be a famous violinist like her mother, but her immediate concern was a concert she was going to perform with her mother. Unlike Claris, she had other concerns, such as her relationship with said mother.
NiGHTS worked with the two Visitors and helped them realize their potential. Having full knowledge of a double Dualization from his adventures with Elliot and Claris, he offered to do so with the teens after awakening the powers of all but their yellow Ideya of hope. With their help he was able to destroy Wizeman, but at a cost. He had known all along that Wizeman's destruction would mean his own, and as he faded into a shower of light he bowed farewell to the two Visitors.
Both teens accessed the powers of hope through their yellow Ideya. They hoped to meet NiGHTS again, to allow him to live despite what his fate had appeared to be. The combination of this and their fulfilled dreams awakened NiGHTS in Bellbridge, their town. When he returned to the Night Dimension, his very existance restored Wizeman, Reala, and all the inhabitants of Nightmare. He realized then that Nightmare could never truly be defeated, but it had little impact on how he acted. He would always be there to help Visitors face Nightmare and realize the powers of their Ideya.
The Night Dimension, Ideya, and Visitors
The Night Dimension is a lynchpin dimension similar to Dimension Island, except its not as universally connected. NiGHTS' home dimension can only connect to worlds where there are powerful dreamers, meaning only worlds where at least one Visitor possessing all five Ideya (rather rare) exists. The connection can be severed if only one such Visitor exists and they die.
The Night Dimension is not a place where one is immortal. Any damage suffered in the Dimension will not transfer to the Visitor, but if they truly die in the Night Dimension they will appear to have died in their sleep in their world. Nightmaren and Nightmare seem the only forces capable of truly killing visitors, and even then only Wizeman, Reala, and NiGHTS have the ability to take a life. Which NiGHTS would never do, but it explains why he pulls back if the life of a Visitor is threatened.
The Ideya are orbs of energy that represent the positive powers of a Visitor's consciousness. More than that, they are the source of all power in the Night Dimension and the base upon which Nightopia is created. Their power is limited only by the dreams of the Visitor possessing them, and are in high demand among Wizeman. If mastery over a Visitor's Ideya is possessed, their Nightopia can be corrupted. If enough Nightopias are corrupted, the entire Night Dimension will collapse and become another aspect of Nightmare. Once that occurs, nothing stops Wizeman from leaving the Night Dimension and taking over all realities with dreamers. Each visitor has their own set of Nightopias, which is directly connected to their Ideya. Nightmare's existance seems more dependant on fears an unfulfilled dreams, which are always more abundant than the sterengths and/or potentials of heart that makes up Ideya.
Many Visitors only have one Ideya, and if this Ideya is stolen they can only wander the Dream Gate or simply be stuck in Nightmare. While possessing more than one idea is uncommon, it is not rare. The true rarity comes from those select Visitors who, at least upon entering, possess all five varieties of Ideya. Red Ideya is extremely rare and is of such a power only Wizeman and the two first level Nightmarens in existance (NiGHTS and Reala) even stand a chance of stealing it. This powerful Ideya allows many wonderous things, and only those that have it can even think about standing up to Wizeman and truly vanquishing Nightmare... at least for the night.
The five Ideya are color coded according to power. White is the Ideya of a pure heart aka Purity, Blue is the Ideya of intelligence and learning aka Intelligence, Green is the Ideya of the potential to grow or the realization of said growth aka Growth, and Yellow is the Ideya of never giving up on ones ideals aka Hope. The extremely rare Red Ideya is that of those willing to fight for what they believe in and help others, often seen as a combination of all the other Ideya aka Courage. Its an interesting coincidence that NiGHTS chest gem is red and seems to respond best to red Ideya.
A Visitor is merely a person from some dimension or another that comes to the Night Dimension. Only those with access to at least one Ideya can enter Nightopia. A Visitor does not have to be human, they must merely be capable of dreaming.
Other
The Night Dimension is rather hard to explain. Time doesn't flow the same as it does in most dimensions, one could even say it doesn't flow at all. This phenomena is what allows years to pass by in a dream during seconds of waking world time. There is an order to the events in NiGHTS' history, but how long each event takes and the time between them is quite impossible to nail down. To NiGHTS, everything "just happened", there is no "long ago" or anything of the sort. In fact, the concept of time is a bit baffling to the Nightmaren, and even with his visits to the real world is not something he seems capable of truly grasping. He can handle "before" and "after" with some decency, but beyond that has very little grasp of time. Even time travel and paradox wouldn't make his mind trip.
It also appears that NiGHTS can exist in many places at the same time in the NiGHT Dimension, and that each Visitor manifests their own version of the Dream Gate above and beyond their own Nightopia's manifested by their Ideya. Only Visitors with a complete set of Ideya stand a chance of remembering their adventures in the Night Dimension, and they are the only ones that can cross from their Nightopias to another Visitor's Nightopia. Both Visitors must possess a full set of Ideya, although they don't have to have the Ideya on them for the crossover.
It is entirely possible NiGHTS has met and even Dualized with other players in the RP. However, only those that have awakened the power of all five Ideya (which means they must have access to all of them!) will remember the encounters. Which is pretty darn unlikely, but feel free to PM me about it. One character in the RP (Gantz) has done this and would recognize NiGHTS if they were to meet.
This is the full version of the song "Dreams Dreams" that NiGHTS likes to play on his flute (although his version seems a bit more upbeat and slightly faster paced). It is one of three main versions (Adult, Child, Sweet Snow). Obviously, NiGHTS' flute version has no lyrics, although the one linked is the "Adult" version. The melody (not so much the lyrics) could easily be described as NiGHTS' theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ3EiydeUsA
Pictures
Official Art (Journey of Dreams): upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/NiGHTS_characterart.jpg
Box Art (Journey of Dreams): www.games.lt/w/gbox/2637.jpg
Nicknames: Dream Demon
Apparent Age: Teens (Its pretty unclear, actually, but he acts a fair bit like a rebellious teenager)
Real Age: ? (around the age of nightmares themselves, and the realm of Nightmare)
Height: ? (when compared to teenagers, he seems roughly the height of a male teenager)
Weight: ? (he looks spritely and there seems to be some indication he is very lightweight)
Gender: None (although he has quite the feminine voice)
Race: Nightmaren
Alliance: Neutral with a strong lean towards good
Home: Night Dimension/World of Dreams
Franchise: NiGHTS into Dreams
Physical Description
NiGHTS appears to be a sort of stylized harlequin jester with a dominance of purple in his design. He has these elongated head pieces that extend backwards and to the side known to jesters of his style. They are striped his standard shade of purple and a darker purple, but the stripes are rather thick. They are part of a head piece. As with the rest of his "outfit" it is unclear as to whether that is his skin or an actual costume. His head floats just above his body and is not connected in any visible fashion.
He has no true signs of gender, which fits because he has none. He has a face with a caucasian skin tone, neither pale nor tanned. His eyes are freakishly large by human standards, and almond shaped. They point downwards slightly, the point ending just above the front point of his head piece. They are a beautiful azure shade, with the "pupils" being thick cat like strips of a darker blue.
He wears what looks like a fancy pink vest with yellow trim. The inner and upper parts of the vest just inside the trim are red and the "buttons" are gold stars. The over-exaggerated collar has a blue rhombus gem on either of the inside sides of it and is also red. Under the collar is a gold fabric often seen on old-fashioned clowns. In the middle of his chest is a red rhombus gem that is known to glow in relation to his power level.
His arms seem to be covered in white shiny fabric a bit on the loose end, they grow to the "cuffs" on the outside. The "sleeves" have intracite lace pattern on the outside of a dark silver color. The cuffs are rather thick and have a triangle pattern on them, with the points of each triangle reaching the other side of the cuff. The triangles whose bases' are near his hands are purple, while the other ones are yellow. His hands float seperate from his body like his head does and appear to be gloved in form fitting white shiny material. If you were to look down into his body or up the cuffs, there would appear to be nothing but blackness.
His legs have disproportionally large feet and ankles, making it seem like he has a skin tight jumpsuit of sorts over his "shoes". About half way up his "feet" is a thick yellow strip, topped by a rather large pink strip that comes halfway up his lower "legs". The sides of the legs have the same dark silver intricate lace pattern as his arms, although the difference in contrast between the purple and the white make it seem a slightly different color.
His mouth is rather curious in that it seems to move to fit a situation. Usually it is in the center of his face, like it should be, but it is known to shifting to onse side of his face or another.
Weapons
One could call the "Persona Mask" as such, as he has to have it in his possession to access its powers. While the mask technically has three forms, they seem to be an expression of its power than actual forms. The only version you'll ever see NiGHTS wearing, and this is exteremely rarely, is a gold Mardi Gras style mask. It weights about as much as a quality costume mask but is quite indestructable. Even if its destroyed NiGHTS can still summon it back up and it does not need to be visible for him to access its powers. It seems possible for it to be taken from him, but only Wizeman seems to have the power.
The mask itself is a rather ornate gold thing with two blue feathers rising up from the center. There are etchings in the mask that are rather pointless beyond lending to how fancy the mask looks. There is an actual emotional reason he doesn't like wearing the mask. He sees it in the purpose it was intended, a symbol of loyalty to Wizeman. Besides, since he can access its powers without it being visible, he rarely sees a need to display it.
Abilities/Powers
NiGHTS most basic ability is that of flight, and saying he is a master of this would be an insult for how much of an understatement it is. He flies better than most people can walk. He also tends to avoid a "plain" flight pattern, performing what would probably best be described as aerial acrobatics. At the very least he tends to hold his arms out to the side.
His flight much like a person would move in outer space, except that he has complete and total control. It should be noted this does not mean he can't walk, but his body isn't designed for it and he looks rather clumsy if he attempts it. A comparison to a toddler just learning to walk is rather appropriate. NiGHTS seems uneffected by any form of gravity or whatnot in his flight, but if he were to set his "feet" down the effects would come into play. The only time that he is truly grounded is when he is totally unconscious.
His aerial acrobatics confer other various abilities. He can spin rapidly to perform a "screwdriver" type move, which can damage an opponent. This spiral also speeds him up, but if he does it constantly does require a bit of time to "recover", which basically slows him a bit and prevents him from using the move. A full recovery takes about ten seconds, give or take.
His most preferred move, however, is known as the "Paraloop". Basically he uses the advantage of an all directional flight pattern to fly a circle around the opponent. This attack can do a variety of things, not all of them harmful. Its main purpose is to release energy onto an enemy, but over time NiGHTS has developed the skill to use it to warp others or give them a bit of an energy boost. The helpful versions of this ability only apply in the Night Dimension. He is able to use the harmful version in any dimension. All of his acrobatics can be used to quite literally fly circles around the opponent and confuse them.
Not really an ability as much as a quirk, but sparkles fly from the tips of his fingers when he flies. They are in fact an indication of his power. The stronger he is, the more sparkles fly. They also seem to gain a certain level of intensity when he gets strong enough, but they aren't blinding. Its more of an "ooh pretty" thing than anything else.
NiGHTS can "play" a phantom flute, as well. Basically he looks like he is holding and playing a flute when nothing is there. Beautiful flute like sounds come from him when he does this, but as previously stated nothing is there. It is likely he could play other phantom instruments, but he doesn't seem inclined to do so. He can play any song ever created, but he has a preference for one song, a melodic flute version of a song known as "Dreams, Dreams" (see Other section). He tends to favor playing the more energetic middle parts than the intro or the full version.
He has one other power that is all his own, although there is evidence his twin Reala could do it if he was willing to "lower" himself to that level. With a touch of hand to hand, NiGHTS can assimilate with a Visitor to the Night Dimension. He's not at all picky who he does this with, enjoying sharing the power of flight. It's a rather hard ability to define as it seems he fully merges with the person. He is the one with the most control and can wrest it from the Visitor if he chooses, but he would never do so due to his belief that people shoud stand/fly on their own and how much he values freedom. The ability is called Dualizing.
Dualizing is only possible in the Night Dimension/World of Dreams. In the rare occurances he comes to the real/waking world, he is unable to Dualize with a person. While Dualized, he can hold full conversations with his partner. Anyone observing the situation could see his partner as a ghost-like shadow. Interestingly, his partner moves the same way NiGHTS does. If the Visitor is overcome by extreme emotions, they can manifest onto NiGHTS. Very rarely it appears the two can have independant movements, such as NiGHTS turning towards the Visitor without their head turning. It is often unclear as to who is in control while Dualized. As said before, NiGHTS has the final control but will rarely express it.
If NiGHTS is severely injured, the Dualized state of him and the Visitor will cancel out, often ending badly for the Visitor. Unless they have awakened their own powers of flight, they will fall from wherever NiGHTS is floating. Even if it's hundreds of feet in the air. Luckily, normal physics don't always apply in the World of Dreams, and the person is like as not to safely land. Also, while NiGHTS has no gender it is generally accepted that while Dualized, his gender is the same as the Visitor he is merged with, although this makes no impact on his voice or mannerisms.
NiGHTS has two forms of shapeshifting powers. His innate one is usable only in the Night Dimension, allowing him to shift to any manner of useful "vehicle" forms, such as a rollercoaster or rubber raft-like boat. His other power is directly connected to his Persona Mask and can be used in the real/waking world as well as in the Night Dimension, but he must have access to the mask to use them. He has three "Persona": Dolphin, Rocket, and Dragon. All the forms resemble what they are named after. Its important to realize that as his powers sit now, he can not combine the effects of the forms. So he can't use the speed of his Rocket form while underwater or anything like that.
In his Dolphin Persona form, his powers are identical to those in his true form, just in the water. In a world with normal physics, the water would react normally, such as a spin giving off waves. He's never needed to use it, but he has an echolocation power in this form as well. The form automatically activates if he is submersed in water and can not be accessed out of water.
In his Rocket Persona, he can greatly boost his speed for about ten seconds at a time. This power is constantly regenerating, although it takes about ten seconds to fully recharge if he fully drains it. At full drain, his flight speed is dropped just below his standard speed. However, the speed gained is so drastic he more than makes up for any delay the recovery time requires. It does indeed put off flames and it is rather unadvised to stand right behind him when he uses it.
In his Dragon Persona, he resembles an oriental dragon. All his powers are the same, except that he is completely immune to the effects of wind. He could fly through a tornado like it wasn't even there in this form. His body also has an interesting spiral effect when he uses his "screwdriver" move, but its purely cosmetic.
One power NiGHTS does not have is the ability to maintain himself in the real world without some sort of outside source. This is true of all inhabitants of the Night Dimension. NiGHTS is actually the only Nightmaren who is known to have appeared in the real world, but it takes some strong outside source to allow him to do so. Generally this comes from the power of the combined Ideya and a fulfilled dream, although there have been cases where he could surface without that power. But it always requires an outside source for it to happen. The Ideya route only seems to work for a maximum of eight hours, or one night. Other methods have rules of their own.
NiGHTS has a gem on his chest, previously mentioned in the description, that seems to react to power levels. If he is acting with the power of an Ideya, especially the Ideya of courage, it glows. NiGHTS is unable to supress this power, making hiding very difficult. Not that NiGHTS would take such a coward's route, but its worth noting. It shines the brightest when he is in the real world using the combined powers of Ideya.
NiGHTS has no need to breathe, either. He is, after all, a glorified spirit. Also, anyone he is Dualized with shares all these powers, so he could conceivably Dualize with a person to prevent them from dying from lack of oxygen. Although its not likely he would come up with that on his own...
Skills
NiGHTS has no skills that are not part of and explained by his abilities/powers. This includes his aerial acrobatics.
Personality
NiGHTS is rather precocious. He's independant, values freedom, a little cocky, and finds beauty in the power and potential of dreams. He's quite confident and its hard to bring him down. He's rather dedicated to his ideals. He's also impatient, easily annoyed, and can't seem to stay focused on anything for more than two seconds at a time. Seems quite the little kid until you see how dedicated his is to his resolve.
In general he isn't that judgmental. It takes a lot for him to be truly mad at people, although he does get annoyed pretty easily. He's a firm believer in people should be allowed to do what they want and that one should never give up. He believes in freedom more than anything else. He's playful, funloving, and carefree but won't back down from a situation just because its a little scary.
He doesn't like to admit when he's in the wrong or show that he has weakness. He kind of likes razzing on people but doesn't mean any harm by it. He's a good friend, if a little annoying at times, and is good at showing concern. He does seem to poke fun at people and it would not be beyond his character to get annoyed and tell a person they need to take a joke.
NiGHTS isn't generally one to care what a person does as long as they are doing it for themselves and stand completely behind their reasoning. He despises when people do things just to make others happy or out of some misguided sense of loyalty, which is the main reason why he and Reala clash so much. Problem is, when he gets it into his mind a person is doing something for reasons other than their own, its hard to convince him otherwise.
He's laid back and doesn't generally yell. He's only met one person he truly despises, and that's Wizeman. Reala grates on his nerves like you wouldn't believe, but he doesn't despise his twin. He just wishes Reala would act on his own thoughts, feeling that his twin does things he has no desire to just because he's scared of Wizeman. NiGHTS is not fond of cowards in the least and is very much about a fair fight.
Even when not under the effect of Dimension Island, NiGHTS speaks no true language. Because of the nature of dreams and the mind, people hear him speak in their language even when he is in a real/waking world. Since some languages have varying degrees of politeness and such, he speaks in an informal genderless way and might very well come across as rude to some because of it. If the language has no genderless self pronouns, he'll use the male ones that teenagers use. On that note, he doesn't seem to care which pronouns people use when talking about him. He'll react the same to "he", "she", and "it".
History
NiGHTS was created as one of two 1st level Nightmarens by the figure known as Wizeman the Wicked. Wizeman is the creator of Nightmare and the orchestrator of those awful things that plague people in their sleep. He takes the fears in the hearts and memories of a dreamer and manifests them into "reality". On rare occasion, he can cause those realities to actually kill a dreamer. It his his orchestration that has caused the "if you die in your dreams, you die for real" not quite rumors to begin.
Wizeman created NiGHTS and his twin, Reala, to serve as his right hand men. He wanted them to help in capturing the Ideya of dreamers so that he could use their near limitless potential to destroy Nightopia, take over the night dimension, and eventually plunge all reality into Nightmare. Reala was everything Wizeman had hoped for. Strong, obedient, and loyal despite his best interests. The red-themed Nightmaren may have had a mind of his own, but he gladly pushes it aside to serve "Master Wizeman".
NiGHTS, on the other hand, possessed a more carefree and independant attitude. He understood the gift that was free will and had no qualms about "abusing" it. He served Wizeman faithfully for an undetermined amount of time, but not because Wizeman wished it. He simply had nothing better to do with his time. Wizeman saw and disapproved of this attitude, but did nothing about it as NiGHTS was getting the job done.
At one point, NiGHTS decided he was bored with simply following Wizeman's orders and began to goof off. He had met inhabitants of the paradise of Nightopia and found their carefree and playful lives attractive. Over time, a rift began to occur between Wizeman and NiGHTS. Rather comparable to a kid who has no desire to listen to their parent, NiGHTS began obeying Wizeman less and less in favor of playing with the Nightopians. He was slowly developing a desire to protect this world. Wizeman wanted to crush it, NiGHTS wanted to keep it.
Wizeman decided he'd had enough of this nonsense and chose to seal NiGHTS in a prison known as an Ideya Palace, using the more latent energy of Nightopia and Ideya to do so. NiGHTS was distraught over this as Wizeman had taken away the thing he considered most precious... his freedom. Due to the nature of time in the Night Dimension, it is unknown how much time passed. But one night, two teens appeared in their respective Nightopias, and NiGHTS sensed the power of Ideya from them. Both of them seemed in possession of the rare red Ideya, the only one with enough power to break the seal placed on NiGHTS' Ideya Palace.
At this point, it was a combination of curiosity and downright boredom that prompted NiGHTS to frantically try to get the attention of the two teenagers. The blue haired boy named Elliot approached the Palace out of curiosity, the pink haired girl named Claris approached the Palace out of pity. NiGHTS dualized with the pair of them, and realized from the hollow spots in their hearts that they not only had the rare red Ideya, but an Ideya of each of the powers and ideals of Nightopia.
NiGHTS fought with the teens to regain their Ideya, and the course of the adventure gave him a new respect for mortals and the powers of their dreams. He learned of Elliot's dream to be a pro basketball player, although his immediate concern was winning an important game. He learned of Claris' dream to be a famous singer, although her immediate concern was being cast as the star of a production called Twin Dreams set for the 100th anniversary of her town, Twin Seeds.
Through a series of nights, NiGHTS helped the teens access the power of their five Ideya. Eventually he would Dualize with both dreamers and help them fully realize their potential, an act that allowed Wizeman to be sent into submission. Through the adventure NiGHTS realized that there was something more important than his freedom. The power to fulfill ones dreams and defeat Nightmare. Elliot and Claris returned the favor of his help by giving him access to their Ideya. For one glorious night, the dream demon soared the skies of Twin Seeds. It strengthened his resolve to protect dreamers, Ideya, and ultimately, Nightopia. He would actually meet Elliot and Claris many more times, although their visits have dropped off, presumably with their age. The last time he remembers seeing them was during a time of year they called "Christmas". Their dreams during this time of year effected their Nightopias in a way that made it become covered in snow.
A series of adventures with little real impact on things occured, their order nearly impossible to track and quite unimportant. NiGHTS would meet a dream entity that considered itself neither a Nightopian or a Nightmaren but looked more then a bit like an owl. Having a general dislike of a lack of order, Owl would orchestrate the creation of a plaza like area that would serve as a "Dream Gate" for Visitors.
During this time period NiGHTS would meet and Dualize with many visitors to the Night Dimension, and the term "Visitor" eventually became adopted for those that visited. NiGHTS seemed drawn to any Visitor possessing Ideya, although even he didn't know why some Visitors attracted him and others didn't. One of these visitors was a boy by the name of Gantz, whom NiGHTS became friends with. While all this "time" passed, Wizeman constantly tried to steal Ideya and destroy Nightopia. NiGHTS really was his only obstacle.
Things changed rather drastically when for the first time since Elliot and Claris, "twin" Visitors reached the Night Dimension. Their similarities to Elliot and Claris were striking, right down to their dreams. Will, the boy, wanted to be a professional soccer player, but his immediate concern was winning the championship game. Unlike Elliot, he had other concerns, such as his relationship with his father. Helen, the girl, wanted to be a famous violinist like her mother, but her immediate concern was a concert she was going to perform with her mother. Unlike Claris, she had other concerns, such as her relationship with said mother.
NiGHTS worked with the two Visitors and helped them realize their potential. Having full knowledge of a double Dualization from his adventures with Elliot and Claris, he offered to do so with the teens after awakening the powers of all but their yellow Ideya of hope. With their help he was able to destroy Wizeman, but at a cost. He had known all along that Wizeman's destruction would mean his own, and as he faded into a shower of light he bowed farewell to the two Visitors.
Both teens accessed the powers of hope through their yellow Ideya. They hoped to meet NiGHTS again, to allow him to live despite what his fate had appeared to be. The combination of this and their fulfilled dreams awakened NiGHTS in Bellbridge, their town. When he returned to the Night Dimension, his very existance restored Wizeman, Reala, and all the inhabitants of Nightmare. He realized then that Nightmare could never truly be defeated, but it had little impact on how he acted. He would always be there to help Visitors face Nightmare and realize the powers of their Ideya.
The Night Dimension, Ideya, and Visitors
The Night Dimension is a lynchpin dimension similar to Dimension Island, except its not as universally connected. NiGHTS' home dimension can only connect to worlds where there are powerful dreamers, meaning only worlds where at least one Visitor possessing all five Ideya (rather rare) exists. The connection can be severed if only one such Visitor exists and they die.
The Night Dimension is not a place where one is immortal. Any damage suffered in the Dimension will not transfer to the Visitor, but if they truly die in the Night Dimension they will appear to have died in their sleep in their world. Nightmaren and Nightmare seem the only forces capable of truly killing visitors, and even then only Wizeman, Reala, and NiGHTS have the ability to take a life. Which NiGHTS would never do, but it explains why he pulls back if the life of a Visitor is threatened.
The Ideya are orbs of energy that represent the positive powers of a Visitor's consciousness. More than that, they are the source of all power in the Night Dimension and the base upon which Nightopia is created. Their power is limited only by the dreams of the Visitor possessing them, and are in high demand among Wizeman. If mastery over a Visitor's Ideya is possessed, their Nightopia can be corrupted. If enough Nightopias are corrupted, the entire Night Dimension will collapse and become another aspect of Nightmare. Once that occurs, nothing stops Wizeman from leaving the Night Dimension and taking over all realities with dreamers. Each visitor has their own set of Nightopias, which is directly connected to their Ideya. Nightmare's existance seems more dependant on fears an unfulfilled dreams, which are always more abundant than the sterengths and/or potentials of heart that makes up Ideya.
Many Visitors only have one Ideya, and if this Ideya is stolen they can only wander the Dream Gate or simply be stuck in Nightmare. While possessing more than one idea is uncommon, it is not rare. The true rarity comes from those select Visitors who, at least upon entering, possess all five varieties of Ideya. Red Ideya is extremely rare and is of such a power only Wizeman and the two first level Nightmarens in existance (NiGHTS and Reala) even stand a chance of stealing it. This powerful Ideya allows many wonderous things, and only those that have it can even think about standing up to Wizeman and truly vanquishing Nightmare... at least for the night.
The five Ideya are color coded according to power. White is the Ideya of a pure heart aka Purity, Blue is the Ideya of intelligence and learning aka Intelligence, Green is the Ideya of the potential to grow or the realization of said growth aka Growth, and Yellow is the Ideya of never giving up on ones ideals aka Hope. The extremely rare Red Ideya is that of those willing to fight for what they believe in and help others, often seen as a combination of all the other Ideya aka Courage. Its an interesting coincidence that NiGHTS chest gem is red and seems to respond best to red Ideya.
A Visitor is merely a person from some dimension or another that comes to the Night Dimension. Only those with access to at least one Ideya can enter Nightopia. A Visitor does not have to be human, they must merely be capable of dreaming.
Other
The Night Dimension is rather hard to explain. Time doesn't flow the same as it does in most dimensions, one could even say it doesn't flow at all. This phenomena is what allows years to pass by in a dream during seconds of waking world time. There is an order to the events in NiGHTS' history, but how long each event takes and the time between them is quite impossible to nail down. To NiGHTS, everything "just happened", there is no "long ago" or anything of the sort. In fact, the concept of time is a bit baffling to the Nightmaren, and even with his visits to the real world is not something he seems capable of truly grasping. He can handle "before" and "after" with some decency, but beyond that has very little grasp of time. Even time travel and paradox wouldn't make his mind trip.
It also appears that NiGHTS can exist in many places at the same time in the NiGHT Dimension, and that each Visitor manifests their own version of the Dream Gate above and beyond their own Nightopia's manifested by their Ideya. Only Visitors with a complete set of Ideya stand a chance of remembering their adventures in the Night Dimension, and they are the only ones that can cross from their Nightopias to another Visitor's Nightopia. Both Visitors must possess a full set of Ideya, although they don't have to have the Ideya on them for the crossover.
It is entirely possible NiGHTS has met and even Dualized with other players in the RP. However, only those that have awakened the power of all five Ideya (which means they must have access to all of them!) will remember the encounters. Which is pretty darn unlikely, but feel free to PM me about it. One character in the RP (Gantz) has done this and would recognize NiGHTS if they were to meet.
This is the full version of the song "Dreams Dreams" that NiGHTS likes to play on his flute (although his version seems a bit more upbeat and slightly faster paced). It is one of three main versions (Adult, Child, Sweet Snow). Obviously, NiGHTS' flute version has no lyrics, although the one linked is the "Adult" version. The melody (not so much the lyrics) could easily be described as NiGHTS' theme: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ3EiydeUsA
Pictures
Official Art (Journey of Dreams): upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/NiGHTS_characterart.jpg
Box Art (Journey of Dreams): www.games.lt/w/gbox/2637.jpg
