Belldandy

Designers Notes:

Belldandy is one of the two primary characters of Fujishima Kousuke's amusing romantic comedy _Ah! Megami-sama_ (aka _Oh, My Goddess!_). This series is also known as _Ah! My Goddess!_, but since I'm basing my material off of Toren Smith's translations for Dark Horse Comics I'm going to go with the former. I don't think it matters either way, especially since Fujishima Kousuke has indicated that 'Oh...' is fine with him.

The plot for _OMG!_ is a rather common one, boy meets beautiful girl, falls in love and then meets girl's relatives, friends and enemies. As with most manga series like this, _OMG_ has a cast of thousands and a rather complex history. I'm going to skip all that and just concern myself with the basics.

In _OMG!_, Keiichi Morisato, while trying to call for takeout, ends up reaching the Relief Goddess Office. When Belldandy appears to grant him a wish, he asks to have a girlfriend, just like her. His wish is then granted, with Belldandy telling him that she will stay with him as long as he needs/wants her. This results in the pair getting tossed out of Keiichi's dorm room, so the two of them move into an abandoned temple. Eventually, they are joined by Belldandy's two sisters, Urd and Skuld.

Aside from her impressive magical powers, Belldandy seems to have normal person. Physically, she's not that much quicker or stronger than anyone else, although she certainly thinks a *lot* faster (thus, her high INT and Speed). Being a goddess, she has above average Ego and Presence and is not easily threatened or frightened.

Description:

Belldandy is a young woman, about 21 years old. She stands 5'6" and has *long* brown hair that falls to about her knees. She usually dresses in multi-layer skirt and blouse combinations. Her 'goddess' costume is a multi-layered affair of overlapping skirts, shawls and scarves colored primarily blue, white and yellow. Belldandy also wears a lot of jewelry, commonly wearing rings on most of her fingers as well as earrings and multiple necklaces.

Powers Notes:

As a goddess, Belldandy is capable of casting a wide variety of spells. All require gestures, and some form of spoken incantations. Her incantations usually call upon the 'spirits' that inhabit everything, both natural and manmade. (Although the following spell is spoken by Urd, it gives a good idea of what the incantations sound like: "O Sea of Clouds that Covers Heaven! Hear My Voice! Know My Will! I am Urd, Greatest of the Three Norns! And I call down the LIGHTNING!!") Her more complex spells usually require a full phase to cast, and Belldandy often uses a focus of some sort. Sample foci have included a bowl of water for a Clairsentience spell, a pendulum for a 'dowsing' spell, and wooden blocks as the anchors for a barrier (ie. Force Wall).

The spell effects range from simple power balls (ie. Energy Blasts) to such things are rebuilding a damaged car (Transformation Attack). Most of Belldandy's spells seem to revolve around interesting applications of Aid, Clairsentience, Telekinesis and Transformation Attack. She also has used a number of enchanted stones (such as the 'Maxwell's Demon Stone') to perform other magical feats. (The Maxwell's Demon Stone was attached to a broom and allowed her to fly). Belldandy is also highly attuned to her surroundings and will quickly pick up on 'bad omens' or 'disturbances in the net'.

Aside from her magical powers, Belldandy has a number of abilities that look to be common to all goddesses. These powers include: immortality, the ability to speak to anyone, the ability to travel from this world to 'heaven'(aka the Yggdrasil Celestial Computer System) and the ability to instantaneously travel anywhere. The last two abilities require that Belldandy have access to a mirror, even one as small as a hand mirror or a car vanity mirror, at both ends. Belldandy's Teleport power is not bought with any form of memorized locations. As with many anime/manga teleporters, Belldandy can 'port to just about anywhere she's been before. Since her teleport is primarily defined as a non-combat movement power, this shouldn't be abusive.

Belldandy is fairly knowledgeable in matters dealing with sorcery, enchantments, demons and other magical happenings. As a former administrator to the Yggdrasil System, she also has a good understanding of the computer sciences. Helping Keiichi with his assorted projects at the Nekomi Institute of Technology has turned her into a capable race car driver. Finally, Belldandy is a *fantastic* cook.

Disadvantages Notes:

As with all Celestial beings, Belldandy has distinctive markings on her face. These markings take the from of a blue triangle under each eye and a thin blue line in the middle of the forehead.

Keiichi Morisato is Belldandy's boyfriend. He's an engineering student at the Nekomi Institute of Technology, has such skills as Mechanics, Combat Driving (car and bike), SC: Mechanical Engineering and KS: Motor Vehicles. Keiichi stands all of 5'4" with a thin build and a short mop of black hair. Belldandy is seriously in love with Keiichi and tries to do her best to protect him from the 'fallout' that constantly occurs from sharing the temple with her two sisters. It doesn't help that her sister Urd seems to have the hots for Keiichi, or that Skuld doesn't like him for taking Belldandy away.

Marller (or Mara) is a demon from the depth of hell (ie. Nifelheim). She exists to cause nothing but trouble for Belldandy and company and one of her favorite targets is Keiichi. She has powers similar to Belldandy's, except they don't require incantations, and she seems to specialize in Transformations attacks (she turned Keiichi into a lizard and Keiichi's sister Megumi into a car). Marller is about Belldandy's size, with long blonde hair and two triangles under each eye and a 'V' shaped mark on her forehead. She dresses in black leather jacket and trouser outfits. Aside from being unrelentingly evil (well... irritating) Marller has about 3d6 of Unluck, since *everything* she does seems to backfire on her.

If Belldandy ever uses up all her End, or casts a spell of 'power' (game terms, not active points) she'll fall asleep until she 'recharges'. This a wonderful GM's plot device limitation, as Belldandy can fall asleep whenever the GM wants, only to awake when needed.

Belldandy is amazingly nice, going so far as to allow Marller to escape at one point instead of sealing her away, since "...that would too harsh, even for a demon.". She is always seems to be willing to give someone a second chance. About the only person Belldandy doesn't give the benefit of the doubt to is her sister Urd, whom she knows is a meddlesome busybody. Making Belldandy angry is hard, but can be done, just threaten Keiichi... Do that, and I recommend that you move out of town... _way_ out of town. Belldandy is also a trifle naive, being unused to certain Earth customs and often doesn't recognize a con-job until it's a bit too late.

Belldandy and Keiichi try to do their best to hide Belldandy's Celestial origins, no mean trick with her sisters around. Belldandy's cover is that she's a foreign exchange student.

Write-up copyright © 1996 by Michael Surbrook (susano@access.digex.net); comments about the page layout should be addressed to Jack Wilson (deejay@cu-online.com). Permission granted to duplicate and transmit, as long as this note is not removed.

• Champions Write-Ups page
• Anime/manga characters
• Other writeups by Michael Surbrook