Headcanon; Basch’s Smoking Habits.

Along with his brother, Basch has been smoking for years. Carrying a pack of cigarettes in his pocket at all times, Basch smokes when has time to himself, and doesn’t smoke during Army missions, or around other people in an enclosed space. Basch will always excuse himself and go outside if he wants to smoke, knowing others could be uncomfortable with him smoking around them. Due to his age, Basch has cut down on the amount he smokes from 10 cigarettes a week to 2 at the most, slowing down his habit and will eventually stop.

Basch’s Weapon, Chaos Blade.

Basch used the Golden Axe until he completed mission 016, at which point he donned his brother’s armour and wielded his weapon in memory of his brother, Gabranth.

The sword, which was named Chaos Blade, is a longsword but is technically designated by military standards as a Knight Sword. The blade itself was forged with Cobaltite and infused with rare and powerful Nethecite by the father of the Ronsenburg brothers, Taralen fon Ronsenburg.

Noah, an accomplished weaponsmith, forged the Blade for Gabranth at his birth, not expecting a second son. When Basch was born, Taralen forged the Golden Axe for his son, but his best work would forever be the Chaos Blade, given to his firstborn son.

The weapon’s hilt has an engraving of Chaos, Walker of the Wheel, the namesake of the weapon. The blade was given to the Army’s engineers before mission 016 for modification and strengthening. AMP-Technology was added to to the hilt at Basch’s request, in order to maintain the blade’s condition and to empower his Quickenings to incredibly powerful levels.

Basch’s Armour.

Before arriving in Oerba, Basch was a different person. After their parent’s deaths, Basch and his brother Gabranth left their village. Gabranth, who was 2 years older than Basch, was a brave warrior, who taught Basch everything he knew about hunting, combat and surviving in the wilderness of Gran Pulse. Many years passed as they travelled, until the brothers heard about the fall of Taejin’s Tower, when they headed towards Oerba to investigate. On the Archylte Steppe, Gabranth was killed by a Behemoth while he and Basch attempted to rescue a group of travellers under attack by the Behemoth.

After joining the Army, he kept his brothers’ armour and weapon in his room, as a solemn reminder of his failure to protect the one person he loved in the world, and the guilt and rage drove Basch to self harm.

During a mission to rescue a scientist Basch received extensive wounds from a pair of Amam’s, and spent some time in the infirmary recovering, where he met Aerith. After he was released from the clinic, he met Lightning, who was among the group he and his brother saved from the Behemoth. Aerith was able to help Basch open and talk about what happened, and help him to let go of the guilt of his brother’s death.

A day before mission 016, Basch gave the armour to the Army’s engineers to be retrofitted with AMP-Technology, cleaned, and altered for his height and weight, which he collected from the engineers once the changes were made.

In remembrance of his brother, he now wears Gabranth’s armour.