Character Applications

[yhlee]

Please post character applications as comments here.

Edit: We're currently closed to new characters.

Comments

Character app: Vauhan Istradez

[mercuryhatter]

Taking the first plunge, I guess!

Player name or handle: Simon/mercuryhatter

RPG DW account (if separate): N/A

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW messaging, discord @simon#9532

Character name: Vauhan Istradez

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character. Istradez is the brother and former professional double of Hexarch Shuos Mikodez. After volunteering for what was intended to be a suicide mission for one of his brother’s plots, he survived when the ensuing explosion pushed him through one of the rifts in space that have been opening across the hexarchate. Left with the effects of head trauma and a confused memory surrounding the circumstances of his death, he found his way to the rebellion and lent them his skills as an actor and inside knowledge of the hexarchate, though he does have to be careful of his recognizable face.


NOTE: In the following section, limit your answers to up to 100 words per question.
===

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate? Istradez was born into the hexarchate and worked for the Shuos faction, although he was not officially Shuos himself.

Why did your character join this rebellion? Due to his damaged memory, Istradez does not remember volunteering for the mission that was meant to kill him. He thinks he was sent to his death by Shuos Mikodez. But even before that, he harbored conflicted feelings about the hexarchate, given the unique view he had into its inner workings through his brother. The trauma and confusion of his near-death was enough to sever his former loyalty and convince him to work against the hexarchate. He has a vague idea that he could potentially save future versions of himself and his brother by preventing the hexarchate from ever forming.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?
(Note for this and further questions: Tell me things that you're willing to have happen in the game. I may go this far with your character. I will not go further. What I'm asking for is story/character hooks.) There are a number of people from his past who could convince Istradez to abandon the rebellion, including Mikodez, his old lover Spirel, and others who knew him or could pretend they did. This would probably rely on either clearing up or manipulating his memories to convince him to be on the side of the hexarchate again. There is also the possibility that he could recover his memories and change his mind, given enough time, although at that point he might have been with the rebellion long enough that he supports it for reasons other than his personal motivations.

Name something your character does not want to lose. At this point, Istradez does not have a massive amount left to lose, but he is very protective of his remaining sanity and memories, and would probably react very badly to anyone attempting to screw with those.

Name something your character would die for. Loyalty to family or friends, or as a preference to being useless or unneeded. He is a “go out with a bang” sort if at all possible.

Name something your character would kill for. Personal morality (if he thought it was the best or only option), or to protect friends and family (unless personal morality outweighed this-- i.e., a choice between one family member and 1000 strangers, or something. Depending on the family member and the circumstances, this could get shaky).

Who is your character's best friend? Up until recently, Shuos Mikodez, who he grew up with and has always had a close relationship even before he became Mikodez’s double.

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice). With a quick temper exacerbated by his circumstances, Istradez’s ideal partner would be steady and level-headed, or at least capable of projecting this, though still understanding of strong emotions. He likes artistic types and a certain level of intelligence, which doesn't always have to be the obvious kind. He likes someone he can both confide in and spar with. He has no particular gender preference, though he can be somewhat shallow on appearances-- he likes pretty people.

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone? If someone offered him a way to take himself and his loved ones off to a pocket of the universe where nothing could touch them while the rest of civilization burned, he would take it. Or rather, he wishes he could say he would take it. He wishes that he could turn off caring about wider consequences and just take care of his own, but the chances of that happening are pretty slim.

How will your character die?
(NOTE: I will not kill your character unless you pre-arrange it with me, but I may put you in a dangerous situation based on this.) No particular preference, willing to talk through possibilities. As stated above, if given the choice he prefers an option that lets him go out dramatically, preferably with some strategic value. He does not expect to die peacefully of old age.

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)? No.

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG? It's been quite some time since I've RP’d, but I imagine my predilection for intense emotional scenes, hurt/comfort, and reunion has not changed. However, I am up for trying anything! I also tend to prefer at least some level of plot most of the time rather than unstructured character development.

===

You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.

Having several friends with brain injuries, I'm pretty committed to accuracy in that area (did you know the effects from even a minor concussion can last up to two years?). Therefore, in addition to the memory issues that are central to Istradez’s changes of heart, he will also experience some difficulty focusing, trouble with emotional regulation, and intermittent dizziness and headaches for quite some time after the explosion. However, I'm also not above messing with any of this for plot reasons as necessary.

Also for plot reasons, the exact location and time period he ends up in after falling through the rift is flexible.

Re: the answers about best friend and partner: though Istradez won't get over Mikodez any time soon, and misses his long-time lover Spirel as well, he can multitask. I'm willing to discuss romantic or platonic relationships with any character with whom he might be compatible.

He also retains a few odd habits, some of which he doesn't totally understand: a tendency to order sweet foods without thinking and then immediately dislike them, occasional inadvertent shifts in body language or speech patterns, and a nervous habit of rubbing his palm with the fingers of the opposite hand.

He will not surgically alter his looks even though they are recognizable to many hexarchate officials, but he will make less permanent changes such as growing his hair or wearing heavy makeup. He dislikes bright colors, especially red, and prefers to wear pastels.

[ursula]

Player name or handle: ursula

RPG DW account (if separate): I'll make one later, maybe?

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): Email to ursula at yarntheory dot net

Character name: Sasha Alieva

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character. Sasha is a short, wiry woman in her late twenties whose thick hair is stuffed into a floppy hat. She grew up in a large house in the mountains of a low-population density planet just outside the edge of the Heptarchate. She remembers her nanny fondly and her parents rarely. She left home as soon as possible to take the Nirai entrance exam. She failed three times, after pointing out significant errors in the problems posed. Her introduction cards now state she is a computer security analyst for an independent consulting firm, which is the nice way of saying "hacker spy".

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate? She grew up on its borders-- or the borders of what would become the hexarchate.

Why did your character join this rebellion? She has noticed more and more propaganda regarding foreign superstitions, and is growing more and more concerned about the logic behind it (her own superstitions are many, and effective). Also somebody involved with the rebellion hired her firm.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?

Evidence that the alternative was equivalent.

Name something your character does not want to lose.

Her luck (heavily augmented by nursery rhymes, special braids, etc.)

Name something your character would die for.
Any one of the members of her father's household (as long as she didn't have to explain why she isn't seeing anyone, whether she is planning to visit, or why she doesn't write).

Name something your character would kill for.
To stop someone from hitting her, if that seemed necessary. Or to stop a lie, if she thought it would work.

Who is your character's best friend?
In her spare time she watches birds, or frogs when she can find them; she has been banned from a couple of birding fora. She goes out drinking with the other independent security consultants, but that mostly entails singing songs and getting into fights. Her favorite person on this planet is a seventy-year-old woman at the gym, who does some sort of forms involving swords and handstands, and owns a parrot.

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).
Sasha imagines a buxom artist who dresses in the style of the previous century and likes to talk about philosophy, who would notice her devotion after many nights of intense discussion. She might be better off with a forthright woman who liked dogs and long walks on the beach, but she hasn't had much chance to test either hypothesis.

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?
She inherits the family estate and turns it into a communally owned wildlife refuge. Or maybe takes up falconry.

How will your character die?
Of a nasty infection that would have been perfectly curable if she had been willing to visit a doctor.

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?
Yes; that's why she's so good at breaking into security systems (she would tell you that modern quantum computing systems are highly sensitive to irrelevant stimuli). She also wins a lot of raffles.

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?
Figuring out what my character would do. (And in this case, making quantum computing jokes.)

===

You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.

Sasha doesn't play cards because either she gets mad at people for playing badly, or they get mad at her for cheating when she hasn't. She has kissed a lot of girls, but only at the sleazier kind of security-consultant party. She daydreams about chopping her hair off and bleaching the tips, but the fairy tales she learned growing up were all about people with paired waist-length braids, and she doesn't trust scissors. She spends most of her money on a studio apartment, and sends the rest to her mother, who no longer lives with her father.

[venndaai]

Player name or handle: Tal, venndaai

RPG DW account (if separate): n/a

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW messaging.

Character name: Aricura Sulen

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.

Sulen was until recently a mid-level Rahal inquisitor working in the Rahal Heptarch’s office at Wolf Hall. They are quiet and conscientious, with an interest in history and a basic grasp of calendrical mechanics as is required for all Rahal. They speak softly, perhaps to hide their slight accent in the High Language. They are from a time before the Liozh rebellion. They are interested in creating a version of the Heptarchate/Hexarchate that is more open-minded, enlightened and permissive, though not necessarily less imperialist.

NOTE: In the following section, limit your answers to up to 100 words per question.

===


How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?

Sulen was born on a planet that had been part of the Heptarchate for a hundred years. When they were ten the planet suffered a spate of terrorist attacks on population centers by heretics who followed an extremist version of a pre-Heptarchate religion, and half of Sulen’s family was executed by the Vidona during reprisals. Thanks to this early trauma they developed a bad case of obsessive compulsive disorder and eventually joined the Rahal in the belief that a dedication to duty would drown out their bad, heretical thoughts. They served quietly for fifteen years before suddenly abandoning their post.

Why did your character join this rebellion?

A prisoner they were interrogating claimed to be a time traveler and part of a rebellion. Sulen was determined to get the truth out of her. Then they had a long night with an extremely good Andan courtesan who gave them six hours of talk therapy. They realized all of their loyalty to the Heptarchate had been borne out of their OCD and really there was no reason not to become a heretic. They broke the prisoner out of Wolf Hall and asked to join the rebellion, wanting to change history for their own sake and their family’s.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?

(Note for this and further questions: Tell me things that you're willing to have happen in the game. I may go this far with your character. I will not go further. What I'm asking for is story/character hooks.)

If working for the rebellion became so intensely stressful that it began badly triggering their OCD they might have to leave. If they began to think that the rebellion might create a civilization even more restrictive and conservative than the Heptarchate they might leave also. If they thought the cause was hopeless they would abandon it.

If the Rahal who recruited them- Magistrate Imris- appeared and told them they were a filthy heretic but that they could be cleansed and forgiven if they returned to the Rahal, they might well obey her- she’s very good at psychological manipulation through fear.

Name something your character does not want to lose.

The certainty that they are doing the right thing and have control over their life.

Name something your character would die for.

They would die rather than turn someone over to the Vidona like they used to sometimes when they were done with interrogations. They still have the Rahal “kill yourself out of spite for a higher abstract principle” mindset but are trying to work their way out of it.

Name something your character would kill for.

They’d kill directly to protect themselves or their friends or coworkers. They’d kill indirectly for principles, and did when they were an inquisitor and found people guilty of crimes with the death penalty.

Who is your character's best friend?

Vestar Ashari, an Andan event organizer and http://smokedetective.dreamwidth.org‘s OC. It’s a continual shock to Sulen and Ashari’s coworkers that they can stand each other.

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).

They haven’t had many romantic relationships, but they are interested in women and alts, especially ones who are adventurous and passionate (they spend a lot of their spare time reading historical romance novels.) However, what they want in a professional partner is someone reliable and level-headed who can tell them if they’re behaving irrationally.

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?

To have the intrusive thoughts stop. They did eventually tell the Andan courtesan that, but would never tell anyone else.

They have a huge history crush on Heptarch Andan Navo, who they briefly met as a very young cadet when she gave a speech at Rahal Academy shortly before she died. No one can ever know.

How will your character die?

(NOTE: I will not kill your character unless you pre-arrange it with me, but I may put you in a dangerous situation based on this.)

Overdosing while self medicating or being executed for treachery.

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?

They were an inquisitor so are quite competent at Rahal scrying of signifiers.

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?

I’ve actually never played a proper organized online RPG before! But I’ve played DnD, and I like plot twists, interesting environments, and drama.

===


You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.


They are 38 years old, medium height and weight, with long straight dark hair that they usually keep pinned up and a serious expression. They’ve made slight modifications to their body to make themselves more androgynous, and feel guilty about it thanks to Rahal conservatism. The above icon is a drawing of them.


Like most Rahal, they don’t have much of a sense of humor and are very bad at relaxing- they’re pretty much constantly tense and stressed. But if you get them talking about history or romance novels they will get very enthusiastic.


Their knowledge of history and scrying ability might be useful to the rebellion. They’re also experienced at bookkeeping and can do calendrical calculations if given a lot of time and scratch paper.


(Note: I have OCD myself and will be drawing on my own experience when relevant.)

Character App: Vestar Ashari

[smokedetective]

Player name or handle: Chander

RPG DW account (if separate): NA

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW messaging, discord messaging (discord handle: @chander#0410)

Character name: Vestar Ashari

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.
Ashari is an Andan event planner from a time before the Liozh rebellion. They have a low and smooth voice and are fluid in their gestures. Both their appearance and status are immensely important to them, and they use mods to stay on top of the times and fit in. They see their current job as a result of in a drop in family status. Consequently, they're very insecure and cling to anything that makes them feel good or superior. They make up for it with Andan training and general theatrics.

===

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?
Ashari was born into an influential Andan family in the time of the heptarchate. They did well in their training and had some ambition to working in intelligence, thinking it exciting. Unfortunately, soon into their career they were transferred to menial administrative work due to a fall in family status and some petty rivalries. They eventually clawed their way up to event planner and ended up being shuttled around the heptarchate to wherever their services were needed. They found out about the hexarchate after accidentally traveling forward in time, and it was quite a shock for them.



Why did your character join this rebellion?
Ashari joined the rebellion a while before jumping in time. They were unhappy with their current position and saw the system as the problem. They reasoned that if that rebellion were to succeed, it would mean an advance in their personal status and rank, which would give them control over their own life and the lives of others.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?
(Note for this and further questions: Tell me things that you're willing to have happen in the game. I may go this far with your character. I will not go further. What I'm asking for is story/character hooks.)

If the risk of permanently losing their autonomy or personal happiness was at stake, they’d at the very least heavily consider dropping the cause. They’d also leave if bribed with a high enough position, or if they felt the situation got too dangerous with little to no reward.


Name something your character does not want to lose.
Their social standing, influence, looks, a few friendships, and most of their finances. Most importantly, they desperately don’t want to lose control over their life, their individuality, and their happiness.


Name something your character would die for.
If there is no chance and no hope in advancement, Ashari would die for the sheer drama and theatrics of it. Apart from that, they'd die for their friends and their happiness, but only if all hope of their own was lost.

Name something your character would kill for.
Even more so than for their status, Ashari would kill for their personal happiness. They're a pleasure seeker through and through and want to keep it that way.

Who is your character's best friend?
Aricura Sulen, http://venndaai.dreamwidth.org/ ‘s OC. Ashari keeps trying to convince themselves that they're only keeping them around to practice their old spy skills on, but they're genuinely incredibly fond of Sulen.


Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).
In a coworkers and romantic partners, Ashari looks for people who are impressed with or in awe of them. In coworkers specifically, they like people who will follow their lead and not get in their way, but potentially take the fall if things go awry. In friends and romantic partners, they seek people who challenge them and at times take the pressure of constantly being in control off of Ashari.


What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?
Despite their pleasure-seeking, adrenaline junkie nature and constant status climbing schemes, Ashari’s secret desire is to be able to retire to a remote location with no stress or care for that sort of thing. In these dreams, they're always with one or two people who they love and trust, and the drama of their faction is far away. They’d like to try raising goats and chickens in spite of never having been on a farm. This dream is something they’re embarrassed by, as it isn’t as dramatic or theatrical as they’d like it to be.

How will your character die?
(NOTE: I will not kill your character unless you pre-arrange it with me, but I may put you in a dangerous situation based on this.)

When things start going badly for Ashari (loss of friends, status, autonomy), they put themselves in more and more dangerous situations, physically and socially, and especially with the rebellion. The worse their loss, the more they would escalate the situation. This would keep going until they inevitably lose their life in a truly idiotic, but nevertheless dramatic and flashy manner.



Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?
Ashari was trained in Andan exotics, and specifically Enthrallment. They are, however, rather rusty, as they were fairly low on the social rankings for a while.


What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?
I enjoy interacting with other characters (both pcs and npcs) and watching the story unfold.

===

You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.

Ashari would never share their age, original appearance, or even most of their family history with anybody. Their latest appearance before the time jump, courtesy of numerous mods, is rather frivolous, and styled to emulate Andan colors (the above icon is a picture of them).

They try their best to stay theatrical, interesting, and in style, but are in reality simply very tired and often long for a break to just be themselves, or even better, just a nobody.

Nevertheless, they love playing into stereotypes, norms, and expectations, but only so they can break them in order to draw attention to themselves and appear avant-garde and eccentric. In reality, they just think that the only way they can get validation is through theatrics and desperate bids for attention.

Character App: Dah Iawa

[vass]

Here goes.

Player name or handle: vass

RPG DW account (if separate): none

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): Dreamwidth PM works for me

Character name: Dah Iawa

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.

Iawa is dogmatically agnostic: "I don't know and you don't either." He applies this attitude to her gender as well as their religion and everything else in his life, although their pronouns don't normally fluctuate quite that many times per sentence. Iawa was born in the late heptarchate, and has Liozh heritage, an interest in philosophy, and a tendency to take things to extremes and get in over their head which led them, very temporarily, to the Vidona. This did not go well at all for them.

===

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?

Iawa was born to a family of relatively wealthy civil servants and scholars, many of them Liozh. Their parents assumed that Iawa would be a scholar too, and encouraged their interest in philosophy. Iawa at this time was very confident, intolerant of what they would term intellectual cowardice. In their teens they fell into a strict utilitarian theoretical school, and decided that if torturing heretics was truly in the public interest then they should logically be willing to personally torture heretics. So, to their parents' horror, they signed up to join the Vidona.

Why did your character join this rebellion?

Iawa found Vidona training easy, although she couldn't relate to her classmates and had to simplify her complexities (gender included), or more unkindly, "dumb herself down for the greater good". She coped until the first remembrance she was expected to observe up close, at which point logic abruptly failed her.

Before the celebrants could shut her up, a rift opened. She has no idea how much time elapsed between then and now, but long enough to decide that she was wrong about everything, ever, and cannot trust her own judgment. Not long enough to acquire enough humility to trust anyone else's judgment.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?

If he had reason to believe the group was ultimately doing more harm than good. He's already going to take some convincing that undoing a whole timeline isn't equivalent to killing all the people in it, and that the time travel group isn't causing the rifts themselves, and won't destroy the universe.

Apart from that, if torture is necessary in whatever society they're replacing the hexarchate with, or they need torture to power the time travel exotics, that would be a big problem for Iawa. (Nonfatal torture with volunteers might sway him, but he would be very worried.)

Name something your character does not want to lose.

She has a mirrorweight web piece (a polished and engraved stone small enough to fit in her palm) that she inherited from a grandparent. This isn't necessary for performing the self-scrying technique, it's more a focusing tool/memory aide, but it has great sentimental value.

Name something your character would die for.

To end the remembrances. If their death on its own could assure that, they would very enthusiastically volunteer. But given a less certain outcome and more time to weigh the probabilities, they have a bit more self-preservation.

Name something your character would kill for.

In cold blood, very little: killing is too irrevocable, and what if he's wrong? But in hot blood, given a weapon and faced with a person in the act of torturing another person, Iawa wouldn't hesitate to stop the torture by killing the perpetrator.

Who is your character's best friend?

They had a grandparent they loved a lot, Liozh Ton, who babysat for them as a child, a researcher into invariant technology who was very patient with Iawa and let them help with the research, respecting their intellect and treating them like an equal and a fellow researcher while never forgetting that they were a child in emotions and lived experience. Ton did a good job of taking Iawa just seriously enough, without taking them too seriously or laughing to their face.

Ton died after a short illness when Iawa was in their early teens.

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).

Someone who would never have made the same mistake she did (joining the Vidona.) Iawa is therefore convinced that anyone she could love would necessarily hate her for having participated in that system.

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?

Logically, if we are preventing people from being born then we are also preventing them from dying. So it would be hypocritical of Iawa to want to save her grandparent Ton, since (depending how far we go back in changing the timeline) Ton would not be dead, not to mention that this would be very unfair since what about all the other people who weren't saved? And Iawa hates hypocrisy and internal inconsistency worse than anything but torture. Nevertheless, that's her secret dream. To save, and submit herself to the judgment of, the one person who would understand.

How will your character die?

They'll get into a situation they overconfidently assume they can manage, discover they can't handle it after all, then panic and make it worse.

Alternatively, they will start talking and won't stop until someone kills them.

The situation with the Vidona was a bit of both.

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?

Iawa's grandparent taught him to use the Liozh mirrorweight self-scrying technique, and he can still use that. The results are often mixed and confusing, whether because he is technically not a member of the Liozh faction or because his inner state is mixed and confused.

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?

I don't have a lot of experience as a player. What I've enjoyed most as a spectator about RPGs of this sort is the unexpectedness, that they end up going in directions no one, even the individual players or GM, could have predicted. What might be a weakness in a less open-ended medium (incoherence or lack of direction) is instead a strength (richness and detail and surprise.)

===

You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.

Iawa is twenty years old, medium height, fat-ish, sedentary and physically untrained, and oscillates between gender presentations from day to day according to mood, but will rein this at need. During their studies with the Vidona, for example, everyone there assumed they were a woman, and they made no effort to correct this. The fluidity of their gender is not an instance of their internal confusion, although their attitude to their gender identity sometimes is.

Since what happened with the Vidona they believe that they were arrogant and overconfident and have learned their lesson, but are actually arrogant and overconfident about how humble and flexible they have become. Despite, or perhaps because of this, they have a huge weakness for people who are unimpressed by them but still like them.

They are book-smart at the humanities, skilled at oration and bluffing, and verbally very quick and good at spotting flaws in reasoning (except their own.) They have a small amount of technical skill with invariant technology, from helping Grandparent Ton with their research; otherwise their scientific/engineering/mathematical knowledge is poor. They are able-bodied, but have no training in running, lifting weights, or combat, and their hand-eye coordination is poor.

They are very idealistic but with minimal to no real world experience to back this up. They have a lot of high faction cultural capital to draw on at need. In a text-only medium, or with extensive body mods, they could successfully pass as an Andan to someone who's never met one, or to a Rahal even to someone who has (but not to an actual Rahal.) Despite their immersion in Vidona culture, they are not able to successfully impersonate a Vidona, and stood out like a sore thumb even when they were there, but they'd be able to spot who is or is not a Vidona. Their knowledge of the Kel and Shuos and Nirai, and of unaligned people outside their own social bubble is very limited.

If there were a faction called Well Actually, they would be its heptarch.

Their native language is the high language, and they've never learned any other languages. They are less well-educated and well-informed than they think, but their knowledge base isn't that bad overall considering that they're twenty years old and just spent three of those years with the Vidona.

[lookingforoctober]

PLAYER APPLICATION FORM

Player name or handle: October

RPG DW account (if separate): n/a for now, unless you'd prefer me to make one

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): PM, please.

Character name: Elesa Avery

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.

Elesa is a historian from the planet Samhill, in the far future of the Milky Way galaxy after humans have colonized most of the galaxy. Her area of expertise is the Biological Wars on her planet, and like most historians of her time period, she uses time travel to visit the time period she is interested in. (Her kind of time travel has limits that in theory don't allow major changes in the past.) She has genetic modifications that allow her to survive during the Biologic Wars: she is able to change her shape and to protect herself from psychic effects.

NOTE: In the following section, limit your answers to up to 100 words per question.
===

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?

Elesa was attempting to return from a trip to the past to her present, but the time field generator malfunctioned (her theory is that the path she meant to take through time was intersected by a rift such as those currently plaguing the hexarchate, and it carried her much farther in some exotic direction than her own technology even admitted the possibility of). She ended up on a minor world within the hexarchate instead of her own world.

Why did your character join this rebellion?

Although Elesa has been working as the companion to a rich woman (sort of a fool, providing amusement with her strange ideas and stories of another world), she is still a historian. She has theories about history that she wants to test in the most practical way possible: by changing the past in ways that can't be done by historians in her own home. Plus, coming from a somewhat less torturous civilization (though not by any means perfect) she has no scruples about changing history to eliminate the worst aspects of hexarchate -- if it's possible.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?
(Note for this and further questions: Tell me things that you're willing to have happen in the game. I may go this far with your character. I will not go further. What I'm asking for is story/character hooks.)

Evidence that what she's doing might have a negative effect on Samhill or on the wider multiverse in some way.

Name something your character does not want to lose.

She lives to try to prove her theories about history, even in this strange and unsettling new world where she's found herself. She would not want to lose the ability to observe and theorize and endlessly refine her theories about history.

She also hopes (though she is completely vague on details about how this might be possible) to return where she came from someday, and would not want to lose that hope.

Name something your character would die for.

She would be willing to risk death to test her theories about history. She would be willing to straight up trade her life to protect the wider multiverse, but that might take some working up to, because she tends to look for other options when she doesn't like the one she's given, so she'd have to think that it was the only choice.

Name something your character would kill for.

The chance to seed some of her core values from her childhood on Samhill into the history of this foreign land. (She doesn't realize how much this matters to her, she thinks she's impartial, but she absolutely would without even realizing why she's so motivated.)

Who is your character's best friend?

The rich woman she works for is not exactly an equal friend, being an employer with power over her, but Elesa enjoys talking to her a lot, because she can say almost anything and have it taken only just seriously enough to be a thought experiment.

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).

Elesa has a scientific approach to history but history is also her only passion; she is not interested in romance. Her perfect friend would share her interests, and be willing to talk about her theories long into the night (and she would love to reciprocate and talk about alternate theories that her perfect friend might have).

Her perfect friend (from her pov, at least) might also be a little bit more willing to do extreme things than Elesa, so that Elesa could feel like she has appropriate scruples (even though she sorta doesn't).

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?

Eventually, she wants to publish all her observations about history. She'd prefer to find a way to return home and revolutionize the study of history by introducing them to a multiverse of new history, but if that never happens, she still wants to publish.

In anticipation of that day, she's writing an entirely truthful diary (encrypted) and also working on a constantly changing draft of her magnum opus.

How will your character die?
(NOTE: I will not kill your character unless you pre-arrange it with me, but I may put you in a dangerous situation based on this.)

The changes to her genetic code will only last for about fifty years before they begin to unravel, which will eventually cause Elesa's death if not treated.

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?

Shapeshifting and protection from psychic effects. (I can tone this down or change it to something else if it's not a good match for the game.)

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?

I find that different games have different things to enjoy, and try to enjoy the thing that makes the game unique...but in general I enjoy collaboration and making stuff up and seeing other people react and use that stuff.

===

You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.

I would like to make up more about Elesa and her homeworld Samhill and its history on the fly, if/when it becomes relevant to current situations, but for the record, my current broad inspirations are Connie Willis's brand of time travel (more or less) and a colonization of the galaxy which happened over a long period of time via generation ships, only to have the invention of spacetime travel connect the galaxy suddenly (a bit like John Barnes' A Million Open Doors).

character app: Eshegen Virmad

[lleullawgyffes]

Player name or handle: Lleu

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.

Character application

[talifabian]

Player name or handle: Talifabian

RPG DW account (if separate): Nope

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW messaging seems straightforward; my Discord is Talifabian with some number attached (will track it down later). Would rather not post my email openly, but I'll message you with it later

Character name: Zirvesi Ankat (formerly Kel Ankat)

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.
Outprocessed Kel. Deprived of the reassuring presence of formation instinct, he's had problems with loneliness and some difficulty relating with people. Whole sections of his memories have been removed as containing “Classified” or "heretical" information including the entirety of his final mission.

NOTE: In the following section, limit your answers to up to 100 words per question.
===

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?
Child of two Nirai who were, perhaps, more in love with the concept of a child than a particular instance thereof. Ran away from home to join the Kel, rather than a more intellectually stimulating path with the Andan, Rahal, or Nirai. After this his parents were cold, but faintly relieved to have a child who now actually _listened_. Has not been back to his home station since joining the rebellion.

Why did your character join this rebellion?
Harbors significant resentment toward the Kel specifically for obvious reasons. To erase them from existence completely, rather than only in his memories, seems a fitting revenge. If he discovered more information about why exactly he'd been outprocessed, he'd likely end up with a more general disdain for the hexarchate's Doctrine and way of life.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?
(Note for this and further questions: Tell me things that you're willing to have happen in the game. I may go this far with your character. I will not go further. What I'm asking for is story/character hooks.)
If captured and confined for longer than a few days, his nerve may break of its own accord when isolated from human contact. If the rebellion begins using technologies such as composite wiring or psych-surgery, that would likely cause him to abandon the cause, or even sabotage it.

Name something your character does not want to lose.
His desire for revenge and hope that no one else will ever be forced to have their memories wiped; those feelings continue to burn right now, but how long will that last? When those are gone, what will he have left?

Name something your character would die for.
He might not be a Kel anymore, but they can't quite stop one from being a suicide hawk as easily. Would die for revenge, family, possibly friends, numbers of strangers, or possibly to stop someone else from having their memory wiped.

Name something your character would kill for.
Life is cheap, and he's still better than most when there's killing to be done.

Who is your character's best friend?
As of right now, his dog Yisran, who I envision as a kind of overweight yappy rat-terrier. Ankat consistently carries treats with him, and thus tends to be popular with any other animals he runs across.

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).
Always likes someone who returns his banter, especially when under an unreasonable degree of stress. His perfect friend (platonic or romantic) is likely someone assertive, vibrant, and knowledgable about the arts.

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?
He'd likely doesn't realize it, but he'd love to travel outside the hexarchate; he's had a taste for foreign and exotic art and goods, but contented himself with the few items allowed for general release by the Andan.

How will your character die?
(NOTE: I will not kill your character unless you pre-arrange it with me, but I may put you in a dangerous situation based on this.)
Good ol' Kel style heroic sacrifice would go down with him perfectly well. A much more tragic end would be to attempt such a sacrifice, but be captured instead.

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?
Not inherently, though he retains more knowledge than most of exotic weapons, their handling, and use.

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?
Haven't played a play-by-post game before, although I've been doing tabletop RPG's for several years now. What I've found I most enjoy is messing around with small interactions that showcase character; the most fun I had in the most recent session of an ongoing campaign was spending fifteen minutes improvving how the party could get through an unlocked door.

You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.
Since he cannot remember the circumstances leading up to him waking up in Medical without formation instinct, he's unsure why he was actually outprocessed (beyond the vague euphemisms given by Doctrine). He thus harbors doubts as to the justice of his desire for vengeance; did he do something to get thrown out, or can he pin his current life situation entirely on Command? He tends to wear brightly colored clothing, often more formal than casual. Loves to eat seafood of any kind. Any jewelry he wears will be silver in color. He drinks or otherwise indulges in intoxicants sparingly. A friend in Logistics allowed him to keep his calendrical sword, off the books of course. The smell of freshly cleaned floors tends to make him both hungry and sad for reasons he's not entirely sure of. Still posses an encylopedic knowledge of Kel jokes, although they hurt to tell these days.

Ette Kaliyan

[after_almsivi]

Player name or handle: Eli

RPG DW account (if separate): n/a

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW

Character name: Kaliyan Ette

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.
Kaliyan was once a Kel lieutenant, who followed her superior officer into heresy. Unluckily, she survived both her beloved commander and their very short-burned rebellion against Kel Command.
Kaliyan is most comfortable being someone else's weapon, and she's happy to leave philosophical dilemmas to trusted authority figures. She may or may not just be waiting for a good opportunity to set herself ablaze.

===

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?
She was born into the hexarchate and was serving as a Kel lieutenant at the time Command decided to use formation instinct.

Why did your character join this rebellion?
Kaliyan was once part of a small resistance swarm that opposed formation instinct. They were promptly reduced to ashes. It was terrible bad luck that Kaliyan did not burn with the rest, as she was busy escorting a “potential ally” on her commander's order. The stranger turned out to be a time traveling rebel with a brand new cause for Kaliyan to die for.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?
Kaliyan needs people to fight for. If anything were to happen to her companions, or if they themselves were to abandon the cause, she might not have the strength to carry on. Though truthfully, she'll likely have launched herself in the middle of gunfire before that ever happens.

Name something your character does not want to lose.
For all her enthusiastic blind loyalty, she's quite attached to her free will. That her entire swarm chose to die rather than giving it up might have something to do with that. She wouldn't know.

Name something your character would die for.
Kaliyan already survived a perfectly timely death once, she won't miss next time.

Name something your character would kill for.
She sees her companions as fellow soldiers, and would kill to protect any one of them.

Who is your character's best friend?
Her late commander, Kel Thais, had most of Kaliyan's admiration and affection. Though Kaliyan never acted on her feelings for Thais, the two did share a deep friendship.

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).
Kaliyan has a history of catching feelings for superior officers, which she's quite self conscious about. She tends to be attracted to decisive and authoritative older women.

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?
She might need to form genuine connections to other people instead of the blind devotion she currently has going on. Though this would be a secret from herself as well. Clearly she's doing fine.

How will your character die?
Hopefully, sacrificing herself to fulfill a mission or to save someone she cares about.

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?
She doesn't.

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?
Making overly complicated plans and really bad jokes.

===

You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.

Kaliyan has kept herself in working conditions by sheer force of denial. She's pretty much blocked her past failed rebellion from her thoughts, and she's doing a great job at ignoring the deep void slowly devouring what's left of her heart. While she tries to keep her dramatic emotional outbursts to a minimum, she might still creep out anyone not completely comfortable with an overly enthusiastic hawk ready to die for them two minutes after their first meeting.

Kaliyan is a tall, broad woman, with copper-brown skin and dark hair she keeps very short. She's friendly, quick to smile and surprisingly cool-headed for someone waiting for the perfect opportunity to set themselves on fire.

NOTES : I'm sorry for making such a stereotypical Kel, but the longer I kept writing, the worst it got. Also, I'm finishing this kind of late so I really hope it makes sense.

[yehan]

Player name or handle: Kai

RPG DW account (if separate): I just made this account for this purpose, so this works :)

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW is fine!

===

Character name: Cherrewin Yehan

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.
Cherrewin Yehan is a talented linguist who joined the Shuos because she was too socially inept to be Andan and too uninterested in the mathematic/logical side of linguistics to be Nirai. Staunchly proud of her heritage, Yehan has a penchant for underdogs and a devotion to diversity in all forms, which over time turned into disapproval of the hexarchate’s cultural imperialism.

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?
Yehan is from an ethnic minority on her planet of origin that was liberated from slavery by the hexarchate long before her birth. While the whole planet adheres to the high calendar, the ethnic majority is still grumbly about losing “their workforce;” meanwhile Yehan’s group tends to revere the hexarchate and Yehan’s family encouraged her to work in its service.

Why did your character join this rebellion?
Her extended in-depth studies of the temporal logics embedded in other languages as a Shuos linguist-cryptographer-interpreter made her question whether the hexarchate was destroying valuable diversity by imposing their calendar and language.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?
She would be sorely tempted by reform measures that give stronger support to different cultures and languages, but she sees that as unlikely to happen to standards of her satisfaction. Serious danger posed to her home community would also be major leverage against her.

Name something your character does not want to lose.
Since joining the rebellion, she has had no contact with her family or her home community, but she is terrified of losing their approval.

Name something your character would die for.
She would die in a heartbeat if it meant keeping her people or any other group of people out of enslavement. Similarly, if facing captivity she has decided that she would rather kill herself than endure it.

Name something your character would kill for.
She doesn’t develop many strong relationships, but she would unhesitatingly kill anyone who was seriously threatening to harm one of the people she considers to be important to her. It would probably surprise her what she’s actually capable of.

Who is your character's best friend?
Her best friend growing up was a girl named Senna, who despite being from the ethnic majority of their country was raised among Yehan’s people. Although she hasn’t seen Senna since joining the rebellion, she still thinks about her every day. She worries about whether Senna would approve of her actions. On the one hand, Senna is a fierce ally to Yehan’s people and other minorities; on the other hand, she can be a bit of a clueless privileged girl at times. Yehan’s not sure what impulse would win out if she told her.

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).
What Yehan wishes for most of all is someone to be a permanent social wingman. She struggles with social interaction (which was a serious failing as a Shuos, at least in the area of seduction) and she just wants a partner (romantic or friend or work) who understands that she doesn’t get it and A) translates for her when she’s around others, and B) doesn’t force her to fit into a certain mold the rest of the time.

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?
Secretly, Yehan sometimes wishes she had been one of the flashy Shuos—well, insofar as Shuos are ever flashy, but you know, one of the smooth, devious ones you never see coming and never know what hit you.

How will your character die?
If unnaturally, probably after flubbing some social cue while undercover, or being executed upon being discovered for her cryptological and linguistic work for the rebellion.

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?
No.

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?
I’m going to be really honest and say, I’ve never actually participated in an RPG before. I’ve watched many happen online over the years, but this is new to me (I hope that’s okay!) I like seeing characters develop and worldbuilding funtimes, I think, but I guess I will find out as we go (presuming it is okay for me to make this my first RPG go!)
===

You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.
In our time and world, Yehan would be called autistic. Her own people viewed her as just a special kind of person (their cultural understanding of such people), the majority ethnic group viewed people like her as a burden; within the hexarchate at large, she’s able to blend in for the most part as just a slightly awkward and nerdy person. Though I’d be curious to know more about how the hexarchate might treat autistic people and other people with disabilities!

In addition to just being a linguist, she’s also something of a polyglot. It’s an occupational hazard, even if it is a stereotype. She speaks three languages natively (her own, her country’s majority language, and the high language) and while she’s not able to speak fluently in all the languages she knows, she does have an uncanny ability to mimic a native accent even in those she’s not fluent in.

Physically, she’s brown-skinned with black hair and eyes, in her late twenties (see icon [of Julia Jones] for inspiration). She doesn’t care too much about her appearance, though. In terms of personality, she’s quick to develop opinions of everything and slow to change them. She enjoys people who can make her think deeply about something. She also has great appreciation of sensual pleasures like textures and sounds.

Additional note: I literally just finished the books like yesterday so please forgive and help me out if I screw up any of the worldbuilding details!

[pengwern]

Player name or handle: pengwern
How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW
Character name: Vauhan Mikodez
One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.
This is a Mikodez right after his evaluation with Zehun - the hexarchs, scrambling for a solution to the incursions, have sent Mikodez to a Rahal station where rift prisoner interrogations are taking place. Mikodez has been told that his variable signifier will be an asset on this mission, since the rebels are aware that Shuos with this signifier are limited to the pre-Hellspin era, and may give more up to a convincing fellow prisoner. During the briefing, Mikodez received hints that his family has been threatened as collateral, when his younger sister Istradez was mentioned by name. Then his moth swerved through a rift. Oy.

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?
He was born to it, and decided to sign up for the Shuos as an outlet for his energy.

Why did your character join this rebellion?
He was told to! Apparently it will count as extra credit, and any good Shuos cadet would stab for extra credit. (Second year cadets don’t tend to survive going undercover with heretics, no matter how good their rank in class. The threat against his family is probably credible, but he has no guarantee that he’d be reinstated after completion of this mission, given the oversight of other factions in this matter, especially the Rahal. The rifts aren’t predictable in where they open, and he may never see any of his family again anyway. Which make this an occasion that calls for the application of [play your own game], a lesson that Mikodez has learnt very well indeed.)

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?
(Note for this and further questions: Tell me things that you're willing to have happen in the game. I may go this far with your character. I will not go further. What I'm asking for is story/character hooks.)

If it becomes apparent that the replacement for the hexarchate would be worse than the current state of affairs, or if it seems unlikely to succeed, Mikodez might try to return to the Shuos to influence the course of events from within.

Name something your character does not want to lose.
The game that his Shuos superiors have decided to play with him.

Name something your character would die for.
A week ago this wasn’t in on the table, but he had plenty of time aboard the Rahal transport vessel to consider what the welfare of his family means to him, and if there’s a way out of this.
Also, if Mikodez had wanted to give up his life for the hexarchate he wouldn’t have applied to the Shuos.

Name something your character would kill for.
In the future, Mikodez is more than willing to kill innocents for a larger objective. While current Mikodez is lacking in hands-on experience, he has the resolve to remove obstacles directly if he sees no other way of negotiation.

Who is your character's best friend?
Out of his family, Istradez. In public, he’s willing to apply that to anyone who brings him sweets (that pancake with lemon honey, the extra wintermelon pastry, the crunchy hawthorn brittle).

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).
Competent and not boring. In a pinch, he’ll take someone capable over the erratic but entertaining.

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?
This interpretation of Mikodez has consciously decided to try for the hexarch’s seat, but is only nebulously willing to admit that his motive is the welfare of the hexarchate’s citizens, let alone reform. (His selective denial is influenced by being summoned out in the middle of a quiz to face a pack of brightly clad assassins and the rather scarier Senior Instructor Zehun.)

How will your character die?
(NOTE: I will not kill your character unless you pre-arrange it with me, but I may put you in a dangerous situation based on this.)
Having played to the utmost of his abilities. But specifically: by taking candy from a stranger, malnutrition or some kind of space scurvy, sleep deprivation, weapon misfire while sleep deprived, stabbing himself while trying to knit, crashing out a window when the frustration of having miscounted the ridiculous increases on the foxpaws pattern led to him getting tangled in the five different skeins he was working with, trying to pet a cat and getting mauled, trying to play with a cockatiel and succumbing to poison on its beak, or at the hands of various assassins and agents. Lots of ways to die for a hexarch-to-be!

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?
None for the Shuos, but interesting rumours about the benefits of their hexarch’s position have always existed.

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?
I’ve never played before, but I’m excited to see how everything goes.
===
You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.
Mikodez took the tenuous opportunity Cheris offered when he might have stopped her plans with a single call, and I’m inclined to think that this holds for the Mikodez of eighteen, who managed to convince Zehun with their “unquiet ideas about how the Shuos should be run” to allow him to live.
I feel like Mikodez at 68 has spent all that time emphasizing his Ninefox Smiling qualities in order to nudge his signifier away from dangerous ground (although he isn’t subtle about his policies for a saner working environment, that seems to be development from after the gun heist when he was 36-45)? He may fall back into those whimsical performative patterns, but was rather more volatile in his early years as hexarch, and joining a bunch of heretics is at least as attention consuming as whacking the entire Shuos into compliance. So still the same wriggly noodle deep down as the vision from Raven Stratagem, but with far less license to indulge in those ostentatious weaknesses as a Shuos cadet than its hexarch of forty-two years.
The Mikodez of eighteen either can hack or has access to people with the ability, is capable of appealing to his classmates’ self interests, and spends his nights plotting. Being inexperienced but already wildly over-confident, he’s likely to overreach and get into scrapes while figuring out what to do with the information he’s collected through the rift (besides selling it to the Andan for extra cash.) He’s a little worried about his family, but there’s little chance for anything he does to have an effect on them so far into the future.
Right now his goals are: (not in order)
1) prove himself to Zehun
2) keep in practice with Shuos principles
3) evaluate the rebellion’s potential
4) figure out what to do
5) take care of family somehow…?
6) stay alive
7) wrangle this fucking hexarchate into better shape
8) ???
9) Profit! (profit would be really nice)

(I understand if the presence of purposefully sent agents doesn’t work with the conditions for this rpg, but if they do exist, then I imagine there would be scores of agents coming after him given how pissed off the other factions will be at Shuos (after they sort out their respective successions), since Brezen told Tseya, who has every incentive to get the news out.)

[slybrarian]

Player name or handle: slybarian

RPG DW account (if separate): n/a

How can we get in touch with you? (email, DW messaging, other): DW messaging will work

Character name: Liatris Alaric

One-paragraph (100 words) summary of your character.

A traveling natural philosopher, Alaric journeys from star to star studying and critiquing methods of maintaining a consensus physics package. He likes to style himself something of a scholar and teacher, offering advice even when it's clearly unwanted. He is literally heartless, due to an ill-advised graduating thesis involving a miniaturized reality engine, and he uses this as an excuse to claim to be academic and detached from mere emotions. The fact that emotions are not from the heart is irrelevant.

NOTE: In the following section, limit your answers to up to 100 words per question.
===

How did your character first learn of the hexarchate?

He was traveling the stars and studying the different methods that societies use to harness exotic effects and create a stable set of metaphysics within their region of control. (Poetry? Really?) From a distance the hexarchate sounded particularly interesting. Calculating the desirable physics conditions and then using a mathematical calendar to create compliance sounded very logical, sensible, and sane. He wanted to see it was as clean and efficient under the hood as it sounded.

Why did your character join this rebellion?

It was a bit of a downer to discover that the cold mathematical calendar was backed by an unfathomably vast scheme of torture and murder. (Actually, he can fathom exactly how much pain is being administered to support it all, he just tries not to think about it too much.) He found both the nature of their remembrances and the hexarchate's hegemonic expansionism offensive. He strives to teach them that such crude acts are uncouth and unnecessary.

More personally, the Vidona get really upset when you call them a bunch of ignorant savages who can't do basic calculus without taking their shoes off.

What would make your character consider giving up the cause?
(Note for this and further questions: Tell me things that you're willing to have happen in the game. I may go this far with your character. I will not go further. What I'm asking for is story/character hooks.)

Ultimately, this isn't really his fight. He's just visiting. If he feels that reform is futile, he is likely to abandon that in favor of just burning it all down so that new seeds may take hold. Also, an offer of supreme executive power would be extremely tempting. He probably wouldn't take it and betray the entire rebellion, though, mostly out of paranoia regarding offers too good to be true. He's heard that particular speech before; it turned out poorly for everyone involved.

Name something your character does not want to lose.

Face, mostly. He has few physical possessions, and as a mere academic observer he has no emotional connections here. (Or so he says.) He can have trouble admitting that he is wrong, and will go to considerable and often unwise length to avoid doing so.

Name something your character would die for.

Alaric would insist that he would only die for some suitably grand gesture, like saving an entire world, or sparking a philosophical revolution that changed a million million minds. You know, the sort of thing that historians and bards and so forth would speak of as legend for the next thousand years. In truth, he would probably throw himself in front of a bullet for a friend. Fortunately mere bullets would mostly just cause him to brag endlessly about his selflessness.

Name something your character would kill for.

Alaric is more one for ironic fates than killing, because killing is pedagogically dubious. If he were to kill, though, it would probably be because someone was a threat to his students and colleagues. That, or an insult to his intellect; a few particularly uncouth individuals have met their fate spitted upon his sword Uncertainty.

Who is your character's best friend?

While he has no friends in the hexarchate (yet), he is engaged in a long-winded and often fractious exchange of letters and pointed journal articles with several colleagues across the universe.

Describe your character's perfect partner (romantic or friend or coworker, your choice).

Male. Scientifically inclined, perhaps in one of the more social-oriented fields that can compliment his more mathematical inclinations. Kitchen skills not required but certainly a plus.

What part of heartless do people not understand?

What is your character's secret dream or desire, the one they've never told anyone?

He really does, in his heart of hearts, or at least the whirring sphere where his heart once was, want to fit in. He wants friends who he can hang out with as equals and do various generic friendly things with. The problem is that he's pretty much constitutionally incapable of admitting that anyone is his intellectual equal. He also has trouble doing any of that like a normal person, and the bemused reactions of his friends just make him even more grumpy.

How will your character die?
(NOTE: I will not kill your character unless you pre-arrange it with me, but I may put you in a dangerous situation based on this.)

Mere beams and bullets are too pedestrian to worry him; the empty vacuum of space has no effect upon one who has no heart. There are fates other than death, however, particularly from those with sufficiently unique and exotic technologies. For practical purposes, what difference is there between death and being sealed in the heart of a dead star until the memory of man fades into myth and legend? He has no intention of finding out, because it would really put a crimp in his studies.

Does your character have any powers that the hexarchate would consider "exotic" (magical)?

Alaric can manipulate local calendrical values, allowing for unexpected exotics to function - or alternatively nullify them. A favorite party trick is to methodically deconstruct some technology or concept to demonstrate how it works, and then put it back together again in a different, heretical way. He thinks of it as a teaching moment. This can have more practical uses, but a side-effect is leaving a wake of calendrical rot behind him as ripple effects from the changes spread.

What do you (the player) enjoy most in an RPG?

Collaborative story-telling, especially when character interactions lead to the plot going off in unexpected directions.

==

You have 500 words to tell me anything else you want me and the other players to know about your character. Do it here.

Once upon a time, a sun was murdered and a world was swallowed by primordial chaos, reality itself failing as the very concepts that made it drifted apart. If they knew about it, the Rahal would call it a warning about the dangers of calendrical heresy, as a well-ordered system prevents such excesses. They would be entirely wrong about the causes, not to mention hypocritical about world-killing, but the real reasons are not worth going into at this junction, nor is how this situation was fixed. Needless to say, the people of his world are quite keen on preventing any reoccurrences and trains scholars to study these things.

Alaric, in his pride, decided to transcend mere conventional academic study of calendrical math and sought tutelage at the Bleak Academy from the master of death's dominion; a decision that in retrospect he agrees was probably a bad idea. Now he travels the stars to examine other forms of maintaining consensus reality. A depressing number of them are, when you get got right down to it, really terrible in one way or another. The hexarchate is just the cherry on top of the scatalogical baking metaphor.

Alaric appears quite young, in his late twenties at most, and is tall but lanky. His black hair tends to be ruffled and flop in improbably directions. As is proper for a scientist, he habitually wears a lab coat and goggles, although he will exchange the coat for a sweater or other suitably professor-like attire (or what he think passes for that) when the occasion calls for something more formal.

Occasionally, if you happen to look at him just the right way, his eyes are full of an endless field of falling stars. It's probably an optical illusion. Probably.

(Inspired by an RP character previously created for Nobilis and Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, suitably toned down to non-miraculous levels. [And I'm happy to adjust that further.] I was a bit hesitant to do a hexarchate native because I've only read the books once and I'm sure I've missed a lot of detail, so being a bit of a fish out of water seemed easier.)