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futurologists) wrote2017-03-26 08:57 pm
futurologists) wrote2017-03-26 08:57 pm
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Sample Applications
SAMPLE APPLICATIONS Listed below are previously accepted applications, shared with player permission! We hope that they'll provide useful reference, but please feel free to direct any further questions to our FAQ. » GIOVANNI (DOGS: BULLETS & CARNAGE) » LILITH (BORDERLANDS) » NICHOLAS ST. NORTH (RISE OF THE GUARDIANS) » ANA RAMÍR (OC) » SUITABILITY SECTION SAMPLES |
Giovanni (DOGS: Bullets & Carnage)
NAME: Kam
CONTACT: kamaitachiyoukai@gmail.com, kamaitachiyoukai @ plurk
CURRENT CHARACTERS: N/A
CHARACTER INFO.
NAME: Giovanni Rammsteiner
CANON: DOGS: Bullets & Carnage
AGE: Unknown - somewhere in his 20’s probably
APPEARANCE: Like so
CANON POINT: after he’s captured in chapter 51 but prior to his conversation with Zollner in chapter 65
BACKGROUND: The series is set in a dystopian, unnamed European city with three levels: the surface level or the ‘Above’, the Underground, then the ‘Below’, who very few have even heard of, and which consists of the hellish facility were Giovanni was created.
Giovanni’s earliest memory is of waking up in a large, white room surrounded by other children, all of whom have no idea who they are or how they came to be there. They are all in fact ‘synthetic life-forms’; test-tube babies (clones, copies, blah blah blah) created specifically to be highly compatible with the ‘Kerberos Spine’ they all have implanted in their backs. The Spine is the source of their unnatural abilities. These Spines are designed to resonate and respond to the original Spine, ‘Fuhrer’, making them obedient ‘lapdogs’ to whoever has the original Spine implanted, basically creating a ruthless yet controllable army of living weapons who are near impossible to kill thanks to their healing and regenerative ability unless they take major damage to the head (the Rammsteiner series, from which Giovanni’s ‘last name’ is derived). Giovanni starts out as a poor specimen, deemed defective and inefficient, as his abilities fail to manifest straight away.
He develops a friendship with two of the other children (Heine, the main anti-hero protagonist, and Lily) who generally ensure that he survives in the Below. Heine is the most ‘successful’ creation in that he demonstrates an ability to harness the Spine’s abilities and utilise it in a controlled way, while Lily is by far the strongest, but has very poor control over her Kerberos Spine and goes into a blacked-out rage where she will destroy anything and everything, including the other children. Heine is the only one able to calm her down and bring her back under control.
As the children grow more aware of what’s happening to them and what they’re intended for, they realise that at some point they are all likely to be destroyed, either consumed by the blackouts as Lily is beginning to demonstrate, or when Angelika (their creator) creates an improved series, THEY will become the ‘beasts’ to be destroyed (all the enemies they face during their training are earlier, less successful experiments). They begin to talk about escaping, though each time the subject is brought up – despite the fact that he’s voiced the opinion that he doesn’t belong in such a violent place – Giovanni shows a great deal of reluctance, demonstrating a fear of the outside world and what might be waiting for them out there, as well as a fear of what would happen to them if they were caught trying to escape. Whenever the plan to escape is brought up, he removes himself from the discussion because it causes him so much anxiety.
Shortly after all the talk of escape really gets underway and just before they execute any kind of plan, they wake up to find themselves in an unfamiliar test room, and to discover that Heine is missing. They are then informed by Angelika that the selection process is complete, that Heine has been chosen to be a ‘Master’ and therefore the rest of them are no longer needed. However! Of course she has some compassion! Whoever of them survive this final test, she insists, she will ‘love with all her heart’ (aka. they will get to live). She then promptly orders them to destroy each other. At some unseen command, the Spine overcomes them and they begin to rip each other apart, some of them trying to get a hold of themselves and prevent the others from killing each other, to no avail. Giovanni attacks Lily, and when one of the other children sees this happening he demands Giovanni ‘snap out of it’, thinking he has been overcome by the Spine. However, Giovanni is completely in control of his mental faculties yet he attacks Lily regardless, voicing a deep jealousy and confusion over how much power all the other children have whilst he has nothing. Lily - being much stronger than Giovanni – turns the situation around and attacks him, though doesn’t quite kill him. At which point Heine disconnects himself from the ‘Fuhrer’ Spine, bursts into the test room and tears Lily apart with his bare hands, ‘saving’ her from the monster she’s become. Heine comes round, realises what he’s done, then goes berserk, killing everyone that remains in the immediate vicinity - all the researchers, Angelika’s clone body (she has many ‘spares’ so that she cannot be killed) - and escapes. Giovanni is the only one (barely) alive, and he is left behind by Heine in the facility.
Cut to the present canon time! Giovanni has been ‘upgraded’ by Angelika and can now heal and regenerate etc. He has also been given an additional update, and can take massive damage to the head and still regenerate. Where he’d once been gentle-natured, reticent and fearful, he now portrays himself as suave, violent, and ruthless. Loyal to Angelika, he becomes one of the antagonists of the series and routinely attacks Heine, in part under orders and in part due to personal reasons. Angelika has decided the time has come to launch an attack on both the Underground and the ‘Above’ and has readied an army of mindless soldiers which she sends out to cut all train lines running between the Above and the Underground, launches a full-scale attack on the Underground, and then breaks out into the Above. Giovanni is charged with going after the mayor of the city (Zollner Neubauten), and after engaging in a fight with Heine and the other protagonists, Giovanni takes advantage of the explosions (the mindless soldiers have all been programmed to blow up) to break into the above and attack Zollner. On his way to meet with Herbst (another antagonist) it is revealed that Giovanni has begun to have blackouts and is slowly losing his memories (it is later revealed in chapters 80 - 82 that this is a side-effect of his 'update'; the brain may be able to regenerate but the stress of it on the body causes cells to slowly deteriorate after regeneration, destroying his memories).
After pulling himself together, Giovanni meets with Herbst and the attack on the above begins. However, when Giovanni bursts into Zollner’s building and shoots him in the head, he discovers that Zollner originates from the Below and has a Kerberos Spine too; Zollner regenerates and then swiftly subdues and captures Giovanni. This is where I’ll be playing him from.
no subject
Giovanni presents himself as a smoothly violent individual, referring to fighting with Heine and battles in general as ‘fun’ or ‘games’. He is often depicted smiling or laughing during violent encounters, takes on a suave, care-free - if somewhat manic - personality and appears to take great enjoyment from violence in general, specifically in causing havoc in Heine’s life. His tone of voice is often teasing, and on encountering him in a situation outside of the Below, he would seem to be assertive, confident and ruthless.
However, Giovanni is not the kind of antagonist who loves violence merely for its own sake. Instead, his personality and behaviour are constructed from a persistent undercurrent of jealousy and the pervasive fear that one day he will be disposed of. While Angelika sometimes specifically sends him after Heine, he also has a personal vendetta against him, stemming from Heine’s abandonment of him back when he was a child, but also largely because Heine is the ‘superior specimen’, something he continues to be deeply jealous of. He is well aware that one day Angelika is likely to tire of him and kill him off as she is want to do with all her creations, and this acts to undermine his self-confidence and self-esteem; he considers himself second-rate, still a defective specimen, and because of this he is always attempting to prove that he is loyal, deadly, and above all useful. Despite the fact that even at the current time Angelika continues to make pointed snipes in regard to his efficiency and that her genetic tampering has essentially condemned him to lose all his memories, he clearly wants to please her and wants to attain her approval. His continuing fear of change, of taking control of his own life, and of the outside world is subtly demonstrated in the fact that he makes no attempt to escape from Angelika’s organisation even though he knows he is only a tool (a ‘leashed dog’; something he openly recognises and in fact insists to Heine they will both always be as long as they have the collars implanted into their necks) and will one day be deemed disposable. He has spent his entire life taking orders and acting almost entirely under the direction of someone else, which suggests that he still has a lot of uncertainty over how he’d survive in the outside world alone.
As his life revolves around violence and simply surviving the barbaric existence Angelika has pushed him into, it’s safe to say that he has little idea of where his own interests might lie outside of his convoluted personal feud with Heine. He has no real interpersonal relationships outside of his loyalty to his creator and his connection with the others in the Below. He does have two much younger twin 'sisters' named Luki and Noki (presumably new models in the Rammsteiner series seeing as they consider Giovanni their 'brother' and also have collars) who seem fond of him, but his feelings towards them haven't been overtly expanded on (he is seen acting in a friendly way towards them, or giving them orders - such as to pursue Heine - but his feelings aren't discussed). His distance from everyone around him stems in part from the dissociation created between himself and his emotions following the brutal death match of his ‘siblings’ and Heine’s abandonment of him, and in part because he is, essentially, just a weapon - he lacks normal socialisation and his creator and superiors in the below treat him accordingly (a tool, not a friend or even an autonomous person). All in all Giovanni's existence focuses entirely on three things: being the obedient weapon he was intended to be, Heine, and the events of his past. He has nothing else.
When away from battle, Giovanni is depicted as being an intensely morose, lonely individual who spends much of his time dwelling on the past and almost entirely cut off from his present (though this is perhaps unsurprising when one considers that he does not have a future; his memories are deteriorating and he is very much aware of this, hence his requesting of Angelika that he be allowed to see Heine ‘one last time’- he knows only death or the erasure of self is ahead of him). His feelings towards – and virtual obsession with – Heine are also more complicated than purely bitterness and jealousy; Heine is the only surviving link to his past, the one person still alive who he had shared any level of closeness with and while he in no way expects or even wants a return of this closeness, he still misses Heine deeply (see chapter 33) and has a strong desire for the other man to at least acknowledge his existence. Still, despite his inferiority complex, his desire to please, his abiding fear and his longing for the past, this is not to say that deep down he is still that gentle-natured child who just wants to be liked. In order to survive the horror and violence that is life in the ‘Below’, it was essential to become equally violent and ruthless; while he may not be the arrogant, self-confident killing machine he presents himself to be in front of others, he does enjoy fighting and would kill mercilessly if ordered to or if someone stood between him and his goals/the goals set out for him. At least some of his bitterness towards Heine stems from Heine’s desire to suppress his more violent urges and the full potentiality ‘gifted’ to him by his Kerberos Spine. Heine has the potential to be Giovanni’s superior by far, and yet he often holds himself back, not wanting to become the brutal killing machine and to let the ‘Dog’ in his Spine take over as it did when he unwittingly killed Lily. Because of his own jealousy, his inferiority complex and his desire to push himself to be better, Giovanni finds it hard to comprehend why Heine wouldn’t want to reach his full potential and expresses disdain over his behaviour, referring to him as a stray dog and often trying to provoke him into becoming as violent and ruthless as he knows he’s capable of being. This acts to demonstrate that this kind of violence and ruthlessness is something Giovanni strives for, that whatever gentleness there was in him has been largely suppressed by the harshness of his life in the Below. He's damaged certainly, and a product of the life he was forced into, but violence is now so deeply ingrained in him that he's come to enjoy it.
Still, he is never shown to be mindlessly violent without provocation or – importantly - reason, only ever acting under orders and only demonstrating an overt volatility outside of those orders towards Heine. Get in his way or deliberately pick a fight with him and he will not hesitate to gun you down, but leave him alone and – unless ordered otherwise – he’ll likely do the same to you in kind
ABILITIES: As a synthetic life-form specifically created to be a living weapon and with the Kerberos Spine implanted in his back - along with his later genetic modifications - Giovanni has a number of abilities, though they’re not clearly defined. He’s physically stronger and faster with superior reflexes when compared with a normal human, and is capable of very swift healing (so bullet wounds or knife wounds etc heal within in a matter of seconds). He’s also capable of regeneration (if his limbs are torn off, they will grow back) and as is demonstrated in chapters 45 and 51, he can heal/regenerate even after taking a bullet wound to the head/having his skull crushed. With his powers intact, it’s incredibly difficult to kill him, though certainly not impossible.
INVENTORY: Nothing! As he’s a prisoner at the point I’m pulling him from, he will be without any of his personal belongings, such as they are.
WRITING SAMPLES.
NETWORK SAMPLE: (Just gonna...try setting it in the current event? Apologies for any mistakes!)
Video, un: lostdog
[It’s no secret that he doesn’t particularly want to be here. His indifference towards the duties and the missions and even (especially) his so-called teammates have been made painfully evident in every last aspect of his being, from the way he carries himself to the clipped tone of his voice on those occasions where conversation has become unavoidable, but today-- well. Today is something different.
The image projected by his jewelry is a grisly one. It’s a small deer-like face, quite dead; dark cavities crusted with fast-drying blood gape sickeningly where the eyes should be, fur matted and waterlogged and turning an ugly bleached colour now that all remnants of life have been drained from it. This unsettling scene remains for several long-stretching moments before the jewelry is finally turned and Giovanni’s crookedly smiling visage replaces it.]
Looks like the fun’s finally getting started. And here I was, thinking it’d be nothing but a bore. If I’d known there were going to be party games I’d have shown a little more enthusiasm.
[His shoulders rise and fall in a shrug that somehow manages to appear cheery.]
Oh, well. No time like the present, I suppose. Let’s play.
LOG SAMPLE: over here!
Lilith (Borderlands)
NAME: Danni
CONTACT:
CURRENT CHARACTERS: Kung Jin
ACTIVITY PROOFS:
october: one | two | three | four
november: one | two | three | four
CHARACTER INFO.
NAME: Lilith
CANON: Borderlands
AGE: 27
APPEARANCE: bam
CANON POINT: post-Borderlands, including DLC!
BACKGROUND:
you know there ain't no rest for the wicked / money don't grow on trees.
PERSONALITY:
Lilith Cashlin was born on the planet Dionysus. When she was a young girl, her father died before her eyes, leaving her alone in the barren wastes of the planet Honus 4651. She was bullied through childhood for being a geek, as well as for the intricate tattoos running down the left side of her body. She dreamed of searching for the Vault, the supposed location of a legendary alien treasure on a dangerous, barren planet called Pandora. And, a short time after the loss of her father, an old woman revealed her true destiny to her: she was a powerful being known as a Siren. We don't know much else about her early life-- until she steps onto a bus and receives a fateful message from a "guardian angel", we don't know anything else-- but it's these details that lay the groundwork for the woman that Lilith becomes.
The most important piece of Lilith's identity is the fact that she is a Siren. What a Siren exactly is is a mystery, but there are enough cults, churches, and prophecies that it has to be something big. At the very least, it's certain that she's destined for greatness, and that she isn't the only one with these powers. That's one hell of a reassuring truth in the vast, lonely galaxy, and for Lilith, it was what she picked herself and dusted herself off with when she had little else to rely on in life. In fact, her Siren identity is important and defining enough to her that she's willing to head to the planet-wide death trap that is Pandora in search of answers about who and what she is (along with, of course, the Vault). It's one of the biggest sources of her internal strength. Confident in her powers and in the freedom that they afford her, she's not afraid to let anyone know who and what she is. And since she's definitely not guarded about her powers, she's gotten reactions to them ranging from fear and mockery to very, very high expectations of greatness. Which is totally fine with her: she can back it up. She's perfectly happy to prove the naysayers wrong and to show everyone else that she's everything amazing they heard about and more. After all, in her
somewhat unfortunatewords, being a Siren is "totally swag".With few loved ones to speak of and not much in the way of personal weakness, it's little wonder that Lilith is about as lawless as she is fearless. She's apparently wanted for "conspiracy, witchcraft, theft, and murder": the first two are easily attributed to ignorance and fear of Sirens, but the latter... well, powers or not, a girl's gotta eat, even if it entails killing someone or something or getting up to something illegal for a bounty. Though Lilith isn't amoral by any means, survival on a planet as ridden with criminals and murderers as Pandora necessitates the acceptance of at least a little gray morality. The galaxy is harsh and unforgiving, and if making it to tomorrow involves setting a handful of bandits on fire every so often, she's not going to feel that bad-- especially since most of wouldn't flinch at doing the same to her. Unless you're butchering mindlessly, trying to release something world-destroying, or acting like some sort of horrible despot (cough), she doesn't have much of a moral high ground and won't try to take one. She melts people's faces for a living and has a blast doing it, to boot, so she can't exactly judge.
A lifetime of fending for herself and the knowledge that she's capable enough to pull it off has necessarily made Lilith fiercely independent. While she isn't totally incapable of working with a group, she knows just how powerful she is with and without her powers, and balks at the idea of ever becoming a damsel in distress. She states later in canon that she was "pretty bitchy" to her current group of allies when they were just starting out: sure enough, much of her in-game dialogue directed at teammates is cocky, sarcastic, impatient, or just plain blunt. (It's an attitude all four Vault hunters share: hardly a stretch to assume that four lone wolves would initially struggle with teamwork.) This doesn't, however, mean she's not sympathetic to their needs or willing to reach out for help. If she's out of bullets, she'll shout for someone to cover her, and any and all quips aside, she'll still do everything she can to swoop in and help an ally who's in danger. There's a definite bond of trust that comes with fighting for your life by someone's side, and she's no stranger to it, even if she's still at a point where she's only just beginning to embrace it. Though Lilith would much rather shoulder her burdens alone, she's well aware that "at the end of the day, your friends are all you've got". Seeing as she hasn't got very many of them, she does what she can to keep them safe, even if those strong personalities can clash sometimes.
Lilith wears her heart on her sleeve, and her philosophy's very much shoot (or melt, or incinerate, or electrocute) first, ask questions later. Lilith's a person of action and impulse-- when she sets her heart on something she wants, she'll stop at nothing to get it done. She's a badass and a Siren, so why shouldn't she be able to do anything she puts her mind to? She's extremely persistent in her goals and desires, which, by the way, are typically heavily based upon her emotions, which she feels very strongly. After all, Lilith's a Vault hunter. It takes a particular sort of person to risk life and limb to find an alien treasure that's little more than a fairy tale: as much as she's steeled herself to a world she's at odds with, she's still just a geeky, dreamy kid at heart, and will always long for action and a greater adventure. On the darker end of the spectrum, however, she's also the type to hold grudges and seek vengeance if she's been wronged, resulting in occasional rash decisions made out of frustration or pain. This primarily comes into play later in the series (oh BOY does it ever), but where she is in canon now, part of her motivation to be the very best she can be is to deliver a solid 'fuck you' to everyone who's ever doubted her or belittled her. She is, again, a geeky kid at heart, which comes along with all of the hurt and mistrust she's faced as someone who's been bullied for her interests and her appearance. She hates it, and insists on being taken seriously. Her name's not 'sweetheart' or 'honey' or anything that'd reduce her to one aspect of herself-- she's Lilith and demands to be taken for everything she is.
And finally, in stark contrast to her confidence in most other realms, Lilith's actually rather awkward in social situations. She is, again, unaccustomed to having friends or people she can rely on-- it's quite easy to read what she's feeling and when, but getting her to comfortably put those feelings in words is another story by far. Don't expect her to directly verbalize how much a person means to her, at least not seriously or in a context separate from "thanks for not letting me die over there". She has a reputation for being effortlessly cool and capable, after all, and maintaining that's important to her. If she's offended, she'll go back and forth between being clingy, or (not especially convincingly) playing hard to get; she plays off when she's hurt or upset even when the way that she feels is obvious. (She doesn't know how obvious she is, of course.) She's pretty great at shooting guns, but... dealing with people, not so much.
ABILITIES:
As a note, Borderlands has RPG elements: some of her abilities change based on player choice. I'm capturing a selection of the more RP-viable ones spread across the possible builds.
vault hunter;
Lilith is a Vault Hunter-- in other words, someone who's journeyed to the dangerous planet of Pandora in search of hidden alien treasure. Like most other adventurers of her ilk, she is physically hardy and very knowledgeable about explosives, vehicles, and firearms. Her favorite's the submachine gun, though she's got no problem using most other things. The Incendiary SMG she's bringing in will occasionally set targets on fire when, er, fired.
orb shield;
Lilith also uses advanced orb shield technology, common amongst Vault Hunters and other Pandoran mercenaries worth their salt. It takes the form of a small electronic device that clips onto her belt; the shield itself it remains invisible until it's damaged enough to deactivate, after which the shield blinks blue until it disappears. While active, the orb shield dulls the effects of bullets and other attacks. The shield's especially vulnerable to electrical energy and will go down almost completely with a good shock. The specific shield she's bringing in will slowly heal minor injuries while it is active.
siren;
Lilith is a unique being known as a Siren: one of just six women with incredible powers. Only six Sirens may exist in the galaxy at any given moment, and though we've never seen all six alive at the same time it's surmised that when one Siren dies, a new one's powers awaken. Although they have some kind of connection to the Eridians (aka the alien race who created the Vaults), the source of their abilities isn't known completely, not in canon and certainly not by Lilith.
Sirens typically have abilities tied to dimensional manipulation. Lilith's specialty is the phasewalk. She can momentarily tear a hole in the fabric of space and time, traverse through the space between dimensions for several moments, and emerge unscathed. While phased, she moves invisibly and at (roughly approximated as) two to three times her normal speed of movement. Additionally, both her entrance and exit from the dimensional tear creates a burst of energy, and anyone too close to Lilith while phased will receive a mild electrical shock. Think unpleasant static shock more than taser. She has to wait a little over half a minute between phasewalks, and from her canon point, Lilith isn't yet capable of phasing someone along with her. Additionally, Lilith can envelop her hand in phase energy and hit someone with it. Occasionally the energy serves to daze whoever's been struck for a few moments.
phoenix;
As part of her Siren abilities, Lilith can manifest a pair of flaming wings that enough heat to set nearby enemies on fire. In-game, this activates when she's killed something, but for the purposes of RP we'll say the ability is connected to heightened stress in a combat situation. In-game it also occasionally allows her to fire guns without expending ammo (which I'll use with discretion of course!).
INVENTORY:
While Lilith is typically well-stocked ammo-wise, the amount she'd typically carry in-game is sort of unrealistic for an RP setting. I'll handwave that the amount she has stocked up will last about 2 months before she'll need to start looking for supplies elsewhere. Let me know if any of that isn't okay, or if there's any other limitations that'll need to be placed on her equipment.
weapons:
- (1) Maliwan Incendiary SMG
- (1) Jakobs Sniper Rifle
- (1) Hyperion Repeater Pistol
- (1) Vladof Shotgun
- (6) Sticky Grenades
- additional ammo
miscellaneous:
- (3) Healing Kit
- (1) Tediore Orb Shield
- (1) Dahl ECHOnet communicator unit (with absolutely zero reception)
- the clothes on her back!
WRITING SAMPLES.
NETWORK SAMPLE: (set in perdition's rest)
[When her magitek's transmission sparks to life, Lilith's splattered with blood and grinning brightly.]
'Sup, Audentes?
[let's.... back up.]
Okay, so. I heard a whole lot of chatter that we needed to look into those gross brain slug things. (Don't super get why, when we could just take them out, but your and ALASTAIR's prerogative, I guess.)
Originally, I was aiming to do some coercing for information. [At least she's using a euphemism for it.] That didn't work, so what I've got for you instead are safety tips: the little bastards do definitely come out of the nose or the ear, which is really sick, but any kind of elementally charged weapon will do the trick real nice. Corrosive works especially well. Corrosive also screwed up my chance at grabbing more than one sample, and got Taraxa gunk on my boots, so maybe don't do that if you wanna bring something home with you.
[She shrugs and holds up an ALASTAIR-issue boot that's been-- oh god there's a chunk of it missing in the toe like it's been eaten at with acid Lilith why.]
I did, however, figure out that you can stun 'em and take 'em out of the Qorral's heads! Electrical shock, what whaaat? [She's reaching off-screen for a thrashing, still-bloody, Taraxa in a jar, and the full picture of what has just happened comes into view... in the form of a fallen Deemer, just barely in the shot. Only his legs are visible, and not his very possibly empty skull, thankfully, for everyone on the team watching.] So. If anyone wants to pick this puppy up, I'll be heading over to the saloon ruins.
... He's kind of a dick, though, so if you interrogate him, don't go easy. Made me waste a whole bunch of bullets taking him down.
[Muttering treacherously, she shakes the jar a little. The Taraxa inside makes an irritated noise like a nail scraping slowly down a chalkboard.]
Hey, ALASTAIR reimburses us for the cash we drop on supplies for these missions, right?
LOG SAMPLE: the shiniest meat bicycle
Nicholas St. North (Rise of the Guardians)
NAME: jay
CONTACT: charred @ plurk
CURRENT CHARACTERS: n/a
CHARACTER INFO.
NAME: Nicholas St. North
CANON: Rise of the Guardians (movies)
AGE: physically (around) his 70s, it's implied in the movies Santa began to exist as the Dark Ages ended, which would put him at about 1000 years old, give or take a century.
APPEARANCE: russian santa with tattoos alternate fur jacket.
CANON POINT: post movie.
BACKGROUND: a general plot of the movie, North's roles
As he is a children's movie character, he doesn't have a lot of background for himself aside from "this is Santa Claus". While the creators have an accompanying set of books that are a prequel (hover for quote) to the movie, there are a number of discrepancies between what is seen in the movie and what is in the books. So I'll only be taking him from mostly movies, while borrowing bits of his origins (but not the events of the books themselves) and abilities from the books!
no subject
North and Santa Claus are the same people — actually, it's always been North; Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, Saint Nick and Father Christmas are just names that came along later. While he's still the man who delivers the toys to children on Christmas Eve with an unconditional love for milk and cookies, he's also the heavily accented Russian swords master that has two large tattoos on his forearms. It's incredibly easy to describe him as a weird, ridiculous version of Santa that doesn't seem to quite grasp every joke and sarcasm thrown in his direction. But there's more even more to Nicholas St. North than just that — he even says so himself in the movie, using a matryoshka doll of himself to prove the point. Surprisingly, that actually does a fantastic jab at describing him.
For argument's sake, let's say someone ran into North for the first time without knowing he was Santa; with his booming voice and towering height, the poor person would start wondering what kind of debt he hadn't paid off. Complete with a pair of swords and tattoos running down his arms, it's not hard to see why people could get the wrong idea; his never-ending confidence only adds to this. North knows he's intimidating — of course he does — he uses this (the height, the booming voice, the presence) to his advantage ( him interrogating Jack at the start of the movie being a primary example of this ). It's hard to ignore someone with his kind of presence — between other fairy tale figure heads like the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny, there's a reason why North acts as the de-facto leader ( granted, with varying degrees of success ). His fame as Santa Claus sure has a lot to do with it, yes, but he's also a natural born leader, confidence and charisma running in his veins like no other.
And then there's his pride and stubbornness; he's argues with the Easter Bunny about which holiday is more important ( Christmas, obviously ), while blatantly ignoring the Sandman's call for attention to more important matters. North is a freight train coming at top speed once he believes in something, and he's nearly impossible to stop until something blow up in his face. He's quick to get wrapped up in his own agenda, easily dismissing other's concerns because, well, his idea is the best, obviously'; Santa shouldn't be described as self-centered, but he is. The only reason this is acceptable is because while he'll get dismissive, it's painfully obvious to see that he really means no harm — in fact, most of the time, he means well. Even his friends have learned to deal with the man's ridiculousness with rolled eyes and fond resignation. And let's be real: it's probably impossible to stay humble after the constant love and adoration he receives from every children on earth.
>Just underneath the confidence and intimidation — the surface level impressions and appearances — is North's jolliness doll. There's a reason his joyous personality has found itself in every single myth and tale. There's no other way to describe North's rosy cheeks and brightly-lit blue eyes, the booming Ho, Ho, Ho! and never ending optimism. North absolutely thrives in company, whether they're strangers or friends — because let's be real, strangers are just friends that he hasn't made yet ( unless their intent is to harm ). This is the Santa everyone's definitely more familiar with; the one that's more than happy to lose his titles and formalities to get silly. But he'll also take it further than the tales to play pranks, plan over-the-top celebrations without bothering to get any sort of approval, and throw awful, butchered sayings that'll make everyone groan inside. His never-ending cheerfulness and his general inability to see a limit is two very, very dominant parts of North. Besides, jolliness, in moderate doses ( something North definitely is not ), is a kid-friendly concept.
But as upfront and dramatic North is, he's also very mysterious; the third doll. He's more than happy to talk about himself, who he is, the title he carries, but he's less inclined to share what kind of person he was. He cares a lot about the secrecy that comes with being a Guardian, and takes his role very, very seriously. His image is also paramount to him, and in that regard he can ... well, he can be a little vain. Though really, a man as confident and proud as he is should be going around announcing who he is to the world, but he doesn't, because he's aware the moment he makes himself known, he can't do what he's supposed to do as a Guardian. He prefers to be a myth, holed up in his workshop day and night; North keeps Yetis posted as guards, making sure no one can bother his sanctuary. He's welcoming to those he invites, and certainly upfront to anyone he wishes, but anyone nosy enough to try and pry for more can get out.
There are a few who know of North's origins. Before he was Santa, he was a Cossack — the strongest swords master in the world, and the most powerful leader of bandits in Russia; if he has to fight, he will fight until his very last breath. Back then, he fought for himself, for the enjoyment of it; but as people change, his motivations have also changed. Now, he fights for his friends, the children, and those who need his protection — the weak and the meek. But this doesn't mean that he's become any more cautious; he still laughs at the face of danger, and just as reckless as he is fearless — just as the fourth doll describes him. It's hard to tell the difference more often times than not; there's the ridiculous things, like doing loop-de-loops to launch his sleigh out of the North Pole just because he wants to, or giving Jack ( a first-time sleigh driver ) the reins before jumping in to fight. He's also unbelievably competitive, and he goes as far as to gloat in everyone's faces when he collects more teeth (for the Tooth Fairy) than anyone else. But he also raises his sword against Pitch's army when his powers are gone and he's hopelessly outnumbered — the warrior mentality of fearlessness and honor has never left North.
While everything up to this point, from the pride to his jolliness, has always been something that came about him naturally, love had always been something he learned. Only then did he learn how to lend a hand, to find joy in giving, rather than taking — to care, as his fourth doll shows. There's a reason one of North's many titles is Father Christmas; he's the father figure for many of those around him, and he excels in being a catalyst for other's developments — within the context of the movie, he was a fantastic father figure to Jack. He lives up to the trope pretty well, complete with the ridiculous jokes, and the a sharp perceptiveness that fathers seem to magically possess ( all the while being completely blind about other things ). But at the same time, he'd probably make a terrible father — the most obvious example being when he's completely clueless what to do with Jamie's sister when she gets dropped into the Easter Bunny's Warren.
And at the center of it all — both literally and figuratively, something that has found its way into every single version of Santa Claus is wonder. The ability to see the miracle even in the smallest of things, find delight in things that may seem trivial. North, before Santa Claus, Father Christmas, or a warrior, is the Guardian of Wonder; and after a title like Santa Claus it may not mean much, but to the man himself, it's what makes him Nicholas St. North. Discovering the magic in the first snowfall of the year, the excitement the night right before Christmas day, appreciating each friend that will always come to one's aid; because North is able to appreciate the wonder in this world, he's the one entrusted to protect it in the children. Some call it naive, or even childish — but wonder is what will has, and will continue to drive North.
ABILITIES:
master swordsman
Before North took his role as Santa, he was the youngest and most powerful bandit leader ( a Cossack ) to roam all of Russia. His swordplay became something of a legend at the time; it was said that he once defeated an entire regiment of calvary with a bent steak knife-while he was eating. Even now, his physical condition is beyond human capabilities, as he's capable of leaping easily from rooftop to rooftop while definitely holding his own in a fight.
There are nothing special about his swords, aside from the fact that they were Tsar Lunar XI's legendary weapons entrusted to him. As cool as it sounds, they're regular swords at the end of the day.
wizard-?
The extent of his magic aren't outlined at all in the movie, but it can be assumed North is a fairly talented magic user in his own way. While it's safe to assume that it's mostly used to create toys, fulfill his duties as Santa Claus, or serve his own amusement - for the sake of the game I'll try to outline the few things he does in the movie. This probably makes North a telekinetic(?), animator and teleporter (given his snowglobes are here with him), and I'm more than willing to keep this from becoming game breaking: All of this is, of course, up for discussion!
inventor
This goes hand in hand with wizard, but he's a tinkerer and builder at heart, from things as simple as toy trains to more complicated things like a robot. How he does it is a mystery in itself, but he's pretty good at what he does.
international translator
He speaks a heavily accented English as well as Russian. But! He also speaks almost all bug languages, hamster, and fluent leech. Apparently, the best way to find out if a child has been naughty or nice is to ask through their pets ( I'm not sure what kind of child keeps leeches as pets ).
a guardian of wonder
Thanks to his Guardian status, North is a near-immortal spirit. Age isn't an issue, he doesn't have to eat and drink to survive (though he really does love cookies and fruit cake), breathing's not exactly a necessity, and while sleeping's nice, it's not on the top list of his priorities. Fatal injuries won't kill him, but it will make him weak enough to keep him bed-ridden for a while.
What is a Guardian? They're spirits ( what they were before they were spirits doesn't really matter ), chosen by the Man in the Moon (MiM) to protect the the children; but not in the traditional sense. They each guard an aspect of what makes a child stay a child, so to speak — hope, fun, dreams, memories, and wonder. What they do also puts out each "aspect" into the world again. North is the Guardian of Wonder, as he's able to see the wonder in everything around him. His job as "Santa Claus" allows him to travel around the world in near-impossible speed to deliver presents to every good child on Earth, thus allowing them to experience the wonder of opening presents on Christmas day.
He also has the power to edit the "good" and "naughty" list on his arms (yeah, that's what they are) any time he wishes. No, this will probably never be used in the game.
the catch
While being a Guardian means near-immortality, the keyword is near. Guardians must rely heavily on the concept of belief, as their whole existence serves to protect those that believe in them — in other words, the children. Their powers are heavily linked to just how many believers there are on Earth — the more believers there are, the more powerful the Guardians will be. However, as soon as the numbers start decreasing, they begin to feel the effects immediately with a loss of their powers. Once enough people stop believing in Santa, his near-immortality disappears. When there aren't any believers left, he'll fade out of existence. To keep his powers consistent while they hop from world to world, I'll keep this catch from affecting him while he's in game (though if necessary, I can keep a cap on the number of times he can receive a fatal injury before "dies"!). In return —
North is also completely invisible to those that don't believe in him. To non-believers, he's completely invisible and intangible; a ghost. However, other spirits and believers will be able to see him no problem; he can always interact with objects too as necessary. There will be a permissions post up for players! (it'll look something like this)
INVENTORY:
his clothes, which involves black pants and a Christmas sweater, boots, hat, as well as a long winter coat (with a million pockets)
2 swords (Shashkas)
a questionable number (2) of magical snow globes that let him travel to anywhere he wishes (minus all the world hopping)
a ring on his right thumb
WRITING SAMPLES.
NETWORK SAMPLE: link!
LOG SAMPLE: link!
Ana Ramír (Original Character)
APPLICANT INFO.
NAME: Zee
CONTACT: plurk: buttadventure
CURRENT CHARACTERS: [N/A, before our current system for second characters]
CHARACTER INFO.
NAME: Ana Ramír
CANON: original
AGE: 18
APPEARANCE: Here!
CANON POINT: Shortly after hearing the news about her grandmother, before leaving Earth.
BACKGROUND:
PERSONALITY:
ABILITIES:
INVENTORY:
WRITING SAMPLES.
NETWORK SAMPLE:
LOG SAMPLE:
Sample Suitability Section
Alice is laid-back enough to roll with the punches; furthermore, at least initially, she'll be glad to distance herself from the issues facing her in her canon. Uncomfortable with the weight of the universe resting squarely on her shoulders, she'll be glad for the camaraderie implicit in the team aspect of the game and take her stint with ALASTAIR as an opportunity to take stock of her role at home while waiting for her chance to leave.
Bernard would be skeptical to accept everything that's going on, especially since he's got some massive culture shock to work through first. At times, he might get downright angry at his situation or distrustful of the team, as well as the organization at large. However, there's enough on the line to get him through his personal qualms and hurdles: there are worlds in danger, and that's too much responsibility for a guy like him to shy away from.
Caroline has no love lost for her original world, and she finds ALASTAIR's intentions noble, but she's not without her own problems. Her low self-worth and lack of combat experience might cause her to doubt her place on a field team, or to shy away when things get especially hairy. But she's also eager to work and learn new skills to help her comrades -- for her, this is an opportunity for personal growth, as well as a goal to keep her focused as she finds a home away from home.