Cater

Cater is a playable character in Final Fantasy Type-0 who also appears in Final Fantasy Agito and Final Fantasy Awakening. She represents the number 4 of Class Zero and wields a magicite pistol. She is a fast ranged character; though not very strong, her agility and ranged capabilities make her an invaluable addition to any mission. She is brave and upbeat, always looking ahead and not mulling over the past, though her sudden bouts of déjà vu confuse her.
==Profile==
===Appearance===
Cater is a teenage girl with short, flared auburn hair and steel-blue eyes. As a member of Class Zero she wears a uniform consisting of a black jacket with gold-padded shoulders, a checked red pleated skirt, knee-high black socks, and a red cape. She equips a red satchel backpack and wears white panties with pink polka-dots. In her summer uniform Cater wears a black pleated skirt with a loose studded belt hanging over it, white knee-high socks with two gray stripes at the top, a black vest over a white collared t-shirt with black lining on the cuffs, a black bow-tie and black gloves. Her formal uniform is a red jacket with black-padded shoulder and black cuffs and wrist-bangles, white gloves and cape, and red knee-high socks. Her l'Cie brand would be located on her right forearm.
===Personality===
Cater is confident, direct and competitive. She prefers to face things head-on. Her motto is "Trust your instincts, don't think", though this doesn't always work out for her. She can be nosy and to gossip with fellow classmates. She has little patience to some of her more emotional classmates, believing that worrying about things never solved anything. Cater wholly trusts her adoptive mother, Arecia Al-Rashia, and seeks advice when she becomes plagued with an eerie feeling that she has lived the events of the war before.
According to the Final Fantasy Type-0 novel, Cater wants to stay as a cadet for as long as possible after the war ends because she feels that she has spent her life fighting, and wishes to experience normal student life such as traveling, chatting until sundown, and falling in love.
==Story==
===Final Fantasy Agito===
Cater is a member of Class Tenth and dons a black mantle.
She can be found in what used to be Class Zero's classroom during the morning, afternoon and evening.
===Final Fantasy Type-0: Change the World -The Penultimate Truth-===
The novel depicts the events of the cycle of Orience prior to the cycle depicted in the game. During the Battle of the Big Bridge, Cater teams up with Eight to defeat Colonel Faith and his magitek armor, the Blackburn. They receive word through the COMM that some of their comrades have been captured and their commanding officer, Kurasame Susaya, orders them to return to the base camp. Due to the perilous task of sneaking into an enemy territory so close to the Militesi capital of Ingram only two Class Zero members are to be deployed in the rescue mission. The Concordian military officer Claes Celestia Misca Sancest who is helping the Dominion of Rubrum in the war offers Cater and Eight a one-way passage on her dragons, and Kurasame is to meet them at a rendezvous point with chocobos for their return trip.
Eight questions if he should have picked a stronger weapon than his fists, but Cater thinks fighting unarmed suits him. Eight flashes back to his childhood when the friendly Cater had been the first person he had lowered his guard for. As night falls they set off to the mission, and are approached by three Class Second cadets who were infected by the incurable Militesi virus. The Class Second cadets volunteer to join Cater and Eight to make best use of their time left. Cater, Eight and Celestia ride one dragon and the other three ride another. As they alight, the Class Second cadets give up their lives to summon three Bahamuts, and the Bahamuts and Celestia attack Ingram. Eight and Cater forget everything about the cadets as well as Celestia as the memories of them are erased from all mortals' minds.
Eight again mentions that he chooses to fight unarmed and Cater realizes this is his way of rebelling against the Crystals' memory erasure: Eight wants to remember the pain his enemies endure. Cater tells him this is not the right time for this discussion as they have a war to fight. The Blackburn and a number of snipers intercept them. Cater takes care of the snipers while Eight defeats the Blackburn. Cater and Eight find Cinque and Rem Tokimiya in the camp for prisoners of war, but Trey and Machina Kunagiri have been taken for interrogation and are discovered drenched in blood. It is too late to save Trey, and they can only salvage his body. When the cadets meet with Kurasame at the rendezvous point, he has glowing red eyes and summons Shiva to annihilate the MAs still at their heels.
===Final Fantasy Type-0===
Cater has trained at one of Sorcery Division's special facilities since the age of eight, studying to wield a magicite pistol and cast spells. Cater was adopted by Archsorceress Arecia Al-Rashia, and is thus a member of Class Zero, a group of students from Akademeia, the magic academy of the nation of Rubrum, that fights the invasion by the Militesi Empire. As part of the resistance operation "Operation Apostle", Cater and her comrades seek to become the Agito, a messiah prophesied in ancient mythology to appear at the time of Tempus Finis, an apocalyptic calamity.
When Milites attacks Akademeia, the cadets are deployed to take down the imperials' crystal jammers, restoring power to the Vermilion Bird Crystal and liberating the capital. The class is officially enrolled with Kurasame Susaya as their new commanding officer. The cadets try to defy him with Cater shooting at him with her magicite pistol when Kurasame underhands a reckless Nine, but he repels the cadets' attacks, impressing them. Kurasame explains the cadets are to live in the Akademeia dorms, but Cater is skeptical, and asks if that is mother's orders. She derides him for having a "superhero nickname", Ice Reaper, calling him a "bigheaded jerk" when she later hangs out with Jack at the lounge.
The cadets visit the cemetery where they talk about the Crystals erasing the memories of the dead from the living. Cater explains it is supposed to be a blessing so the living won't be tied to the dead.
If the cadets take the Code Crimson mission at Togoreth, they are sent to save the civilians who live at the stronghold, but find no survivors. Cater reports they couldn't save them via Mog, and voices how sick she is with the empire: because their land is barren and they lack many resources, the empire doesn't usually take prisoners.
Cater sometimes hangs out in the back garden, and gossips about Kurasame's clandestine status as a member of the Four Champions of Rubrum, a band of legendary Agito Cadets she compares to Class Zero, finding it difficult to believe. She reveals one of the four turned on the group and scorched Kurasame's face, the reason he always wears a mask. She finds it creepy the traitor's Cactuar companion is said to still roam the halls of Akademeia. Although she deems Kurasame a jerk, she sympathizes with him having been backstabbed by a friend, saying if it happened to her she'd "stab 'em right back".
After the mission to liberate Iscah, Cater recalls Qator Bashtar who fled from Class Zero at Togoreth, saying she's learned he's an important figure in Milites, calling the imperial standards low and that she "can't wait to blast that ugly bird's nest off his head". Cater begins to experience moments of déjà vu. She brings it up with Arecia who assures her she is fine. After the liberation operation in Iscah Cater hangs out with Jack at the Ready Room and is propositioned by Carla, a fellow cadet, who wants to sell her an energy drink for 70,000 gil. Cater calls her a scam artist.
When the cadets are sent to sabotage the imperial magitek armor program they face off against the White Tiger Primus l'Cie Nimbus with Cater in the front line, but get orders to cease fire due to a newly wrought armistice mid-mission. Kurasame travels to the imperial capital as Chancellor Khalia Chival VI's aide and negotiates for the cadets' safety, and afterward explains the situation to them: the empire had proposed peace before the cadets' mission was underway, but they could not contact them in time to halt it. The cadets disagree with the treaty, positing that the empire has no right to ask for peace for being the initial aggressor. They meet Queen Andoria of the Kingdom of Concordia who explains that peace is the Will of the Crystals, and that the cadets' opposition would only lead to Tempus Finis. Yet, the cadets struggle accepting that what they have been fighting for is against the Crystal's will.
Cater explores the Militesi capital of Ingram during their free time and feels like she's visited the city before. When Eight has a hunch they are under surveillance, Cater chalks it up to their status as Agito Cadets and the imperials' distrust of them. The two spot a mysterious dominion quaestor talking to an imperial trooper, but dismiss the sighting.
Queen Andoria is assassinated and Class Zero is blamed for it. The cadets are ambushed at Hotel Armada, confirming Trey's suspicions of it having been a trap, but Cater tells him to shut it. The cadets escape, realizing they are unable to contact Central Command. They face off against Celestia, Queen Andoria's aide, who, at first, holds them culpable for the regicide, but is convinced otherwise and helps the cadets escape the city to a deserted house in the Old Lorica Region, where they spend the night.
When Trey begins lecturing about Concordian kings Cater cuts him off. After an argument over Machina holding the rest of Class Zero culpable for his brother Izana's death, he marches off. When Cater mentions her frequent bouts of déjà vu Trey attempts to explain the mechanics behind the phenomenon, exasperating her. Machina returns in the morning and they can move on, as Deuce exclaims the COMM is working again and she has reached the dominion.
A cold Kurasame greets the cadets on their return. Cater asks if this is all they get for the struggles they've been through, but Kurasame says there will likely be an investigation, and implies the cadets switched off their COMM so they could not be contacted. The cadets find the accusations ridiculous. Cater asks for a check up and Arecia invites her to the office. Cater is still spooked by what Trey had told her about experiencing déjà vu, but Arecia assures that she is perfectly healthy.
After the cadets return from a mission to reclaim Eibon, they assemble in the classroom to hear their next orders from Kurasame, but Machina has gone missing. Kurasame explains to the rest the upcoming battle plan against the joint Militesi-Concordian forces, as the new King of Concordia has allied with Cid Aulstyne of the empire. Class Zero is to be sent with the Vermilion Bird Primus l'Cie Lord Zhuyu to fight off the Concordian dragons with an airship fleet, while Kurasame will accompany the rest of Rubrum's legionaries, as well as Akademeia's cadets and trainees, to the Militesi border for Vermilion Bird Secundus l'Cie Lady Caetuna to summon a Verboten Eidolon. Cater remarks that if they are sending Kurasame to the front lines Central Command must be desperate for a victory. Cater confronts Kurasame over him being sent to the front lines, exclaiming that even if she doesn't like him, his death would reflect badly on the cadets. Kurasame is bemused his cadets would worry over him, as even if he did die the Crystal would remove all memories of him from the living.
The cadets help Rubrum secure victory on the eastern front by defeating Shinryu Celestia. The western front is falling back and Class Zero is recalled as reinforcements to destroy the empire's crystal jammer allowing for Lady Caetuna to begin summoning Alexander; Kurasame and the other cadets give their lives to complete the summoning. As Class Zero retreats they run into Gilgamesh and are forced into a battle. After Gilgamesh departs Cater becomes frustrated, but Seven urges them to hurry.
Alexander obliterates the Militesi forces, and Caetuna enters crystal stasis. Class Zero visits the numerous new graves in the Akademeia cemetery, but cannot comprehend the losses as all memories of Kurasame as well as the others perished have been removed from them. Cater and Nine visit Kurasame's grave out of Queen's request, Cater explaining she had looked Kurasame up and deems him a jerk who had left them behind in Ingram when the cadets had been blamed for the regicide.
Machina's absence worries Class Zero, especially Rem. Upon his return he finds her talking with Cater and Trey. When Cater nudges him playfully, telling him to not worry Rem too much, Machina slaps her hand away and snaps that he will protect Rem alone. Cater gets angry but Trey de-escalates the situation until Cater storms off.
After the cadets help dominion invade Concordia, Deuce and King discuss their next move now that only the empire stands in the dominion's way of controlling all of Orience. Cater butts in to finish Deuce's sentence, shocking her. Cater has a feeling she has had the same conversation before, but as Arecia had told her not to worry about the déjà vu she has been experiencing, Deuce affirms she must be fine.
As the final showdown against the empire and Cid Aulstyne begins, the class is sent to help conquer the imperial capital. As Class Zero is to be deployed Machina disappears. The others go without him and best Militesi General Qator Bashtar in his new and improved MA. The empire falls and Orience is united under the Vermilion Bird banner. As the cadets return to Akademeia they find its cadets and legionaries slain by the Rursan Reavers and the dominion commanders gone: Tempus Finis has begun.
Other cadets reveal the once code crimson missions, which Class Zero partook, making the remaining cadets turn against them, blaming them for the ensuing apocalypse. Rem's illness reaches its final stages and she collapses, Cater questioning why she never told anyone she was ill. Arecia explains the cadets have lived their lives according to the Will of Crystals recorded in the Akashic Records, but now that the "souls have been released" they can write their own ending, as humans have the power to decide how they live or die, hinting at a vital decision the cadets would soon need to make.
Queen calls everyone to the Altocrystarium room where she tells them about the Judge who resides in the newly appeared sanctuary, Pandæmonium, to make the Final Decision: if there is no Agito, the Rursus will destroy Orience. The cadets plan to infiltrate the sanctuary to speak to the Judge while knowing that without Arecia they will not be revived if they fall in battle. Carla, who has joined Class Zero, becomes depressed, pondering if all of her endeavors have been meaningless. Cater and King cheer her, reminding that being part of Class Zero means never giving up. Cater remains shocked Rem is so ill, but is motivated to go and save the world so she would have something worth waking up to.
Celestia takes the cadets to Pandæmonium who loses her humanity and turns into Shinryu Celestia for having defied the Focus given to her by the Azure Dragon Crystal. The cadets head to the top of the temple guided by Cid's voice, who had entered Pandæmonium ahead of them. The Vermilion Bird Crystal asks them to become l'Cie, but if they accept the Rursus slay the cadets, Arecia deems it yet another failed experiment, and Orience and, eventually, Class Zero are reborn in wait for another Tempus Finis.
If they choose to remain mortal, the Vermilion Bird Crystal brands Rem, still slumped in Arecia's office back in Akademeia, in their stead. The Crystal sends her to intercept a White Tiger l'Cie it had sensed in Pandæmonium, wanting one of the Vermilion Bird to become Agito. As Rem engages the l'Cie she is impaled by his rapier, and it turns out the l'Cie was Machina who had willingly inherited the White Tiger Secundus l'Cie Qun'mi Tru'e's Focus to become strong enough to protect Rem. As Rem dies, both enter crystal stasis, the cadets mourning the sight when they happen upon their crystal.
The cadets face off against Cid who has become the Rursan Arbiter, possessed by the fal'Cie Gala. He deems Class Zero unfit to be Agito, and thus sets out to destroy Orience. Machina and Rem's crystal bestows the cadets with their power, allowing them to prevail, but like the rest of Class Zero, Cater meets her end after they vanquish the Judge. At first they despair, but soon cheer each other up by talking about all the things they would have done in a war-free Orience, Cater wanting to take Mother on a trip to Concordia and Milites.
The mysterious Tiz and Joker, who had been observing the class's progress, ask for Arecia to listen to the cadets' wishes from beyond the grave. By listening to their souls Arecia learns the class loves her, but have made their own decision on how they met their end and do not wish to be revived. Arecia releases Machina and Rem from crystal stasis and instead of restarting the spiral, departs from Orience, abandoning the experiment to find Etro's gate with the Agito. The Crystals of Orience fade and people are allowed to remember the dead, Machina and Rem holding dear the memories of Class Zero.
In the alternate ending where Arecia removes the Crystals from Orience's history, Cater lives a peaceful life with rest of Class Zero. She is speeding through the school as she is late for class. Oblivious to Eight who is standing under the hall's ledge, Cater jumps down to take a shortcut. Upon realizing Eight is there, a shocked Cater loses her balance and lands on top of him, rendering both unconscious.
==Gameplay==
===Final Fantasy Type-0===
Cater wields a magicite pistol that fires magically-enhanced bullets that inflict various kinds of damage. Compared to King, Cater shoots quickly and does not require reloading, but has the lowest raw attack. She is fast and can dodge with ease due to a passive ability that allows her to quickly cancel her current action. Her attack patterns vary; she can either shoot constantly and finish with a charged shot, or she can remain idle, let her attack charge up, and fire the charged shot. One should take caution when choosing the former strategy: although Cater can get in more hits, she cannot move and shoot simultaneously, thus requiring her to dodge often if attacks get in the way.
As a ranged character, Cater can easily exploit Killsight and Breaksight to take down enemies. Cater has good magic stats, though with her ability to fire bullets of all three elements one needs not equip her with offensive magic, and instead, just equip her with Cure. Cater is a recommended character for beginners and can solo missions due to her fast movement speed, evasion, and attacks.
Cater is one of the fastest and evasive ranged characters, either better or on par with Ace. Her magic gun allows for automatic Charged Shot that lets her unleash a more potent blast of damage, but does not home at targets. During normal attacks, Cater first shoots up to five rounds of small bullets that weakly home at their target, but are fast. After five consecutive rounds she will briefly ready her stance as she unleashes the Charged Shot, which is larger but about half the range of the normal bullets. After the finishing shot she is knocked back due to the recoil, making her temporarily vulnerable especially by ranged attacks.
Her Charged Shot and finisher shot do not home like her normal bullets, and can miss fast enemies. Her normal bullets are comparatively weak, and have poor staggering power, but her Charged Shot deals up to six times more damage. While idle, or just moving or strafing around, she charges her shot up to three levels. With each increasing level, the shot's power and knockback power rises, but the range shortens (for the second and third charge only).
===Final Fantasy Awakening===
Cater is one of the weakest alongside Eight, Nine, Mutsuki Chiharano and Trey, and she can only damage her opponent from one of her special skills. Her strongest skill is to heal single ally's HP. Her healing ability is succeeded by Queen and later Deuce in terms of healing everyone's HP, and is no longer useful in later chapters. She is also a boss alongside Cinque and appears a little stronger than when she was recruited. As a boss, as can damage the player's ally in one hit and heals Cinque with her strongest skill.
==Other appearances==
Cater has appeared in the following games throughout the Final Fantasy series:
*Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Twitter Battle as a playable character.
*Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia as a playable character.
*Pictlogica Final Fantasy as a playable character.
*Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade as a Legend and a playable character.
*Final Fantasy Artniks as a series of cards.
*Final Fantasy Record Keeper as a playable character.
*Final Fantasy Brave Exvius as a summonable vision.
*Mobius Final Fantasy as an ability card.
*Final Fantasy Trading Card Game as a series of cards.
*Triple Triad as a series of cards.
==Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances==
Cater has made key guest appearances in the following non-Final Fantasy games:
*Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Lost Zero as an outfit for the playable character.
==Behind the scenes==
The cutscene featuring Carla, Cater, and King in Chapter 8 is titled "The Melancholy of Carla Ayatsugi", referring to the anime series The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which featured their Japanese voice actors, Aya Hirano, Minori Chihara, and Tomokazu Sugita, respectively.
===Voice===
Cater is voiced by Minori Chihara, who also provided voice for Lessica, from another Square Enix published game Chaos Rings II.
In the English version, she is voiced by Kristen Klabunde.
==Gallery==
;Final Fantasy Type-0
Cater and Eight.jpg|Cater speaking to Eight.
CaterScreenshot2.jpg|Cater.
CaterScreenshot.jpg|Cater talking.
Cater-FFType-0-HD.jpg|Cater (HD).
Cater-Angry-Type-0-HD.png|Cater (HD).
Cater-type0-psp-model.png|Model of regular uniform.
Cater-type0-psp-model-summer.png|Model of summer uniform.
Cater-type0-psp-model-dress.png|Model of dress uniform.
FFT-0 Cater L'Cie.png|Cater becomes a l'Cie.
FFT-0 Cater.png|Cater during the ending.
Cater-Deuce-Cinque-Type-0-HD.png|Cater with Deuce and Cinque.
FFT-0 Cater Alternate End.png|Cater jumping.
FFT-0 Cater Manga.png|Cater in the manga.
FFT-0 Virtual World Cater's Magic Gun.png|An avatar with Cater's magic gun from the Square-Enix Members Virtual World.
;Final Fantasy Agito
FFAgito-CaterRender.jpg|Render.
FFAgito Cater Close-up.png|Close-up.
FFAgito Cater2.png|In-game render.
FFAgito Cater SS.png|Screenshot of Cater.
==Etymology and symbolism==
 Within Japan, the number four is viewed as an ominous and unlucky number due to it sharing the same pronunciation as death, being shi. Alternately, the number four has historically been used to denote sacredness within the higher castes and to showcase their "immunity" to calamity.
By the prophecy of the Nameless Tome, Cater is said to bear the Power of Valor. Valor also means courage, but its vernacular weight ties with patriotism, including the will to dedicate oneself to serve one's nation, even in war. Wielding a magicite pistol, Cater's weaponry symbolizes the magic-oriented Dominion of Rubrum. Her fighting style and temperament are very "in your face" and aggressively agile yet flowing.
Within Buddhist imagery of Jimotsu, or sacred ritual instruments, Cater's use of a magicite powered pistol and a backpack held magicite source is reminiscent of the hoju, ruyi, or cintamani, a sacred jewel said to grant one's wishes with its power, and represents the removals of want, the endowment of wealth, and the pacification of desires, and a sutra box, representing the promise of happiness in the next life. With her magicite pistol being the most "direct" use of magical power to attack her foes and based off the conception of guns once being associated with black magic in history, this also hearkens to horiki or Buddhist magic, said to have been gained by arhats and the enlightened within Shingon and Vajrayana Buddhism, and with horiki being adopted by magicians, sorcerers, and even ninja within ancient Japan.
==Citations==
de:Cater
es:Cater
fr:Cater
pt-br:Cater
ru:Кейтер
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy Type-0
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy Agito
Category:L'Cie
Category:Gunners