RPG DW account (if separate): tbh I didn't even remember I’d ever made a DW account — I was going to make a new one but something prompted me to check and lo and behold I found this empty thing that I seem to have created in 2012. so anyway this is it I guess.
How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW messaging seems pretty straightforward
Character name: Eshegen Virmad, formerly Rahal Virmad
One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character. Virmad used to be a low-ranking inquisitor at Smokewatch 33-67. When General Shuos Jedao requested seventy-three calendrical lenses, Virmad found himself drafted into one of the crews, and this close encounter with a heretical calendar piqued his curiosity, setting him — very slowly and very cautiously — on the path towards calendrical heresy, or at least towards seriously interrogating the foundations of the high calendar. The events at Hellspin Fortress solidified his conviction that the high calendar, and the society built on it, are broken, and he began reading up on heretical calendars and discreetly seeking like-minded would-be heretics.
NOTE: In the following section, limit your answers to up to 100 words per question. === How did your character first learn of the hexarchate? Virmad took a different route from his quarters to his office one day and stumbled through a time portal. Fortunately, Rahal formal wear has changed relatively little in four hundred-odd years; he was able to avoid attracting excessive attention to himself (no more than a Rahal inquisitor would normally attract, anyway) until he had something of a handle on what had happened.
Why did your character join this rebellion? Virmad is committed to the abolition of the high calendar and the institutions associated with it. Having read up on history after his timeshift, he regrets not having been present for the Liozh heresy, but given its failure, perhaps this is for the best. Maybe he’s exactly where he needs to be.
What would make your character consider giving up the cause? While Virmad is committed to the abolition of the high calendar, he isn’t necessarily committed to any particular heresy — if it seems like this particular rebellion is insufficiently committed to the kinds of sweeping institutional reforms (especially relating to self-determination, demilitarization, and ending remembrances) that Virmad believes are necessary, he’d be willing to abandon it in favor of biding his time until a more ideologically correct rebellion arises.
Name something your character does not want to lose. Having seen both Candle Arc and — at a distance — Hellspin Fortress and its aftermath, Virmad is afraid of losing sight of the ideals he’s fighting for and losing himself in the inevitable violence of the rebellion (even if he’s not entirely sure he believes this is what happened to Jedao). If he seems inflexible about his ideological commitments, it’s because of this: the ends must never be allowed justify the means if the means are not themselves in accordance with his principles.
Name something your character would die for. His cautious nature and heretical inclinations notwithstanding, Virmad has a Rahal’s commitment to ideological principles — if he feels the rebellion’s principles match his (or, with a Rahal’s attention to symbolism and remembrance, if he feels his death will bring the rebellion into alignment with his principles), he would be willing to die for it.
Name something your character would kill for. In the right situation, if dying a martyr would not advance the rebellion’s cause, he would kill in self-defense, at least. That said, Virmad may be willing to die for the rebellion, but he’s a lot less confident about killing for the rebellion. He’s never personally, directly had to kill (although he was indirectly responsible for both death and torture as an inquisitor), and he’s not sure what he would do if it were ever to become necessary to kill someone not in self defense. If the situation were right, though...
Who is your character's best friend? Virmad’s best friend used to be Rahal Ejad, another member of the inquisitor hept Virmad was assigned to and Virmad’s some-time lover, but as Virmad has drifted away from the Rahal ideologically, so he and Ejad have drifted apart. And of course, now they’re separated by several hundred years, thanks to the time-shift.
Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice). Virmad’s ideal partner in his home time would be probably have been a Liozh, but he never managed to find the right man for the job (although he also never really set his mind to looking). Most Liozh were too outspoken for it to be safe for him to air his views in their company — too easy for his words to find their way to more Doctrine-focused ears. He did once have a few very pleasant dates with a man named Liozh Marin, but he was transferred to Smokewatch 33-67 before things got serious, so nothing ever came of it.
What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone? Virmad would like to meet Shuos Jedao, or Jedao’s revenant. He knows the official story, and he has his own theories about Hellspin Fortress, but...he wants to know more.
How will your character die? Probably sacrificing himself for The Cause, but if not, hopefully of old age, surrounded by philosophy books.
Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)? In his own time, Virmad is a reasonably effective scryer of signifiers, but I don’t know how heptarchate-era scrying would interact with the hexarchate-era high calendar.
What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG? The last time I did any play-by-post RP was...over a decade ago, and it was very different from this. In tabletop contexts, I like being able to discuss(/show off >_>) the minutiae of worldbuilding. Probably what this means for Virmad is that I’m going to get really into, like, the details of signifiers and scrying, assuming his scrying still works.
=== You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here. Virmad is an adequate mathematician, but nothing special — but he’s fascinated by heretical calendars, not for their mathematical properties but for their philosophical and ideological implications. He’s read as much information as he could discreetly get his hands on about as many alternate regimes (both heretical and foreign) as possible — he’s especially interested in the Poetics of the Gwa Reality, and he knows probably about as much as anyone who wasn’t involved in the heresy itself can about the Lanterners’ beliefs.
He’s studied several languages in addition to his native language and the high language, including Tlen Gwa (which he reads comfortably but cannot speak).
Virmad fancies himself a poet, although in truth he knows his poetry is mediocre. (Someday he will discover free verse, and it will be a Revelation.)
His ideological discomfort with the Rahal and interest in other cultures notwithstanding, Virmad sets great store by signifiers and their traditional meanings, and he can and will want to ask everyone who’d know about their signifiers as soon as he can get away with it without it being rude. [I was going to make up a Rahal signifier for him but I feel kind of weird about just making up stuff in someone else’s world, plus we’ve only seen the one Rahal signifier thus far, so it’s hard to know the particular #vibe they’ve got.] [EDIT: I forgot they pattern a few Rahal signifiers when breaking through the ice at Shattered Needles — whatever his signifier used to be, I think it’s probably Scrywolf Uncircled now, or at least moving in that direction.]
He’s in his early thirties (it feels odd to identify himself as a specific age, given the time jump, but subjectively, he’s 31), tall, and thin; he usually keeps his hair clipped to about half a centimeter long.
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timeasmymeasure
character app: Eshegen Virmad
Date: 2017-06-30 04:35 pm (UTC)RPG DW account (if separate): tbh I didn't even remember I’d ever made a DW account — I was going to make a new one but something prompted me to check and lo and behold I found this empty thing that I seem to have created in 2012. so anyway this is it I guess.
How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW messaging seems pretty straightforward
Character name: Eshegen Virmad, formerly Rahal Virmad
One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.
Virmad used to be a low-ranking inquisitor at Smokewatch 33-67. When General Shuos Jedao requested seventy-three calendrical lenses, Virmad found himself drafted into one of the crews, and this close encounter with a heretical calendar piqued his curiosity, setting him — very slowly and very cautiously — on the path towards calendrical heresy, or at least towards seriously interrogating the foundations of the high calendar. The events at Hellspin Fortress solidified his conviction that the high calendar, and the society built on it, are broken, and he began reading up on heretical calendars and discreetly seeking like-minded would-be heretics.
NOTE: In the following section, limit your answers to up to 100 words per question.
===
How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?
Virmad took a different route from his quarters to his office one day and stumbled through a time portal. Fortunately, Rahal formal wear has changed relatively little in four hundred-odd years; he was able to avoid attracting excessive attention to himself (no more than a Rahal inquisitor would normally attract, anyway) until he had something of a handle on what had happened.
Why did your character join this rebellion?
Virmad is committed to the abolition of the high calendar and the institutions associated with it. Having read up on history after his timeshift, he regrets not having been present for the Liozh heresy, but given its failure, perhaps this is for the best. Maybe he’s exactly where he needs to be.
What would make your character consider giving up the cause?
While Virmad is committed to the abolition of the high calendar, he isn’t necessarily committed to any particular heresy — if it seems like this particular rebellion is insufficiently committed to the kinds of sweeping institutional reforms (especially relating to self-determination, demilitarization, and ending remembrances) that Virmad believes are necessary, he’d be willing to abandon it in favor of biding his time until a more ideologically correct rebellion arises.
Name something your character does not want to lose.
Having seen both Candle Arc and — at a distance — Hellspin Fortress and its aftermath, Virmad is afraid of losing sight of the ideals he’s fighting for and losing himself in the inevitable violence of the rebellion (even if he’s not entirely sure he believes this is what happened to Jedao). If he seems inflexible about his ideological commitments, it’s because of this: the ends must never be allowed justify the means if the means are not themselves in accordance with his principles.
Name something your character would die for.
His cautious nature and heretical inclinations notwithstanding, Virmad has a Rahal’s commitment to ideological principles — if he feels the rebellion’s principles match his (or, with a Rahal’s attention to symbolism and remembrance, if he feels his death will bring the rebellion into alignment with his principles), he would be willing to die for it.
Name something your character would kill for.
In the right situation, if dying a martyr would not advance the rebellion’s cause, he would kill in self-defense, at least. That said, Virmad may be willing to die for the rebellion, but he’s a lot less confident about killing for the rebellion. He’s never personally, directly had to kill (although he was indirectly responsible for both death and torture as an inquisitor), and he’s not sure what he would do if it were ever to become necessary to kill someone not in self defense. If the situation were right, though...
Who is your character's best friend?
Virmad’s best friend used to be Rahal Ejad, another member of the inquisitor hept Virmad was assigned to and Virmad’s some-time lover, but as Virmad has drifted away from the Rahal ideologically, so he and Ejad have drifted apart. And of course, now they’re separated by several hundred years, thanks to the time-shift.
Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).
Virmad’s ideal partner in his home time would be probably have been a Liozh, but he never managed to find the right man for the job (although he also never really set his mind to looking). Most Liozh were too outspoken for it to be safe for him to air his views in their company — too easy for his words to find their way to more Doctrine-focused ears. He did once have a few very pleasant dates with a man named Liozh Marin, but he was transferred to Smokewatch 33-67 before things got serious, so nothing ever came of it.
What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?
Virmad would like to meet Shuos Jedao, or Jedao’s revenant. He knows the official story, and he has his own theories about Hellspin Fortress, but...he wants to know more.
How will your character die?
Probably sacrificing himself for The Cause, but if not, hopefully of old age, surrounded by philosophy books.
Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?
In his own time, Virmad is a reasonably effective scryer of signifiers, but I don’t know how heptarchate-era scrying would interact with the hexarchate-era high calendar.
What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?
The last time I did any play-by-post RP was...over a decade ago, and it was very different from this. In tabletop contexts, I like being able to discuss(/show off >_>) the minutiae of worldbuilding. Probably what this means for Virmad is that I’m going to get really into, like, the details of signifiers and scrying, assuming his scrying still works.
===
You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.
Virmad is an adequate mathematician, but nothing special — but he’s fascinated by heretical calendars, not for their mathematical properties but for their philosophical and ideological implications. He’s read as much information as he could discreetly get his hands on about as many alternate regimes (both heretical and foreign) as possible — he’s especially interested in the Poetics of the Gwa Reality, and he knows probably about as much as anyone who wasn’t involved in the heresy itself can about the Lanterners’ beliefs.
He’s studied several languages in addition to his native language and the high language, including Tlen Gwa (which he reads comfortably but cannot speak).
Virmad fancies himself a poet, although in truth he knows his poetry is mediocre. (Someday he will discover free verse, and it will be a Revelation.)
His ideological discomfort with the Rahal and interest in other cultures notwithstanding, Virmad sets great store by signifiers and their traditional meanings, and he can and will want to ask everyone who’d know about their signifiers as soon as he can get away with it without it being rude. [I was going to make up a Rahal signifier for him but I feel kind of weird about just making up stuff in someone else’s world, plus we’ve only seen the one Rahal signifier thus far, so it’s hard to know the particular #vibe they’ve got.] [EDIT: I forgot they pattern a few Rahal signifiers when breaking through the ice at Shattered Needles — whatever his signifier used to be, I think it’s probably Scrywolf Uncircled now, or at least moving in that direction.]
He’s in his early thirties (it feels odd to identify himself as a specific age, given the time jump, but subjectively, he’s 31), tall, and thin; he usually keeps his hair clipped to about half a centimeter long.