Jade

Canon:
YWKON, which is a Tales of / Xenoblade 2 Fusion AU. Jade's originally a Tales of the Abyss character, but he's a blade now, along with several other characters I've removed from their respective canons and put in this AU.

It's an AU about deconstructing XC2's blade system; a system where blades are magically bonded to a human "driver" - a bond that they are beholden too and cannot break through natural means. The series stars characters as blades escaping this system in the ways available to them, and then healing from their trauma, mostly.

You can read it here, if you're interested.


World info:
Tales, but with Xenoblade 2's blade/driver system, with several characters from the Tales of/Xeno series as a whole thrown in for flavor.

Nael did a comprehensive breakdown of the world's rules/mehanics here.


Short Personal history:
Jade is a blade who spent several years with an abusive driver; only really finding the hope necessary to get himself out of there when said driver also resonated with Mythra (Xenoblade 2), another blade like him. They become fast friends, instantly ride or die, and Mythra gives Jade the courage and determination necessary to kill their driver and get the hell out of dodge.

Jade and Mythra have spent the past hundred years healing from their trauma and then helping other blades out of situations like theirs. They live with Malik (Tales of Graces), who runs a front of a bar that serves as a homepoint for the operation. Jade mostly just does the accounting to make sure the bar doesn't go bankrupt, but it's not about what he contributes - it's about this being the place he calls home.

Jade is tangentially the great uncle of YWKON's protagonist Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia) because this family tree is a fucking nightmare.

Also, Mythra is Jade's emotional support bastard, and I could not possibly overstate how much she means to him.