We ask that potential applicants post their application in comments rather than linking. If their application contains explicit references to 'hard' spoilers (character death, unforeseen plot twists, big reveals, he was evil all along etc), players should put the application in their own journal or their character's journal and link it, making sure to mention the presence of spoilers within. For further clarification on our spoilers policy and whether or not your application needs to be linked, please check this page. Thank you for your cooperation!
The comment character limit on Dreamwidth is 16,000 characters so apps no longer need to be split into multiple comments; however this is at players' discretion.
While players are welcome to play multiple characters (five characters maximum are allowed per player!), please only apply for one character at a time, and wait for a decision before submitting another application!
A reminder for those waiting to hear back: Please don't be worried if we skip yours while going through them. It only means we needed a little more time to research!
Please use the form below to apply! If you have any questions, feel free to ask any of the mods.
Helpful links!
Taken / Reserves Please do not app a character from either of these unless you reserved them!
Starter Pokémon! A compiled list of the starter Pokémon to choose from offered in Victory Road!
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon! Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted... [○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must! [○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here. [○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it. Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places. [○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted. [○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms! [○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon! Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted... [○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must! [○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here. [○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it. Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places. [○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted. [○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms! [○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon! Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted... [○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must! [○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here. [○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it. Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places. [○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted. [○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms! [○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
Unfortunately, we can't accept your application at this time. We do not believe that your personality section sufficiently provides an overview of your character. Although what you have is a great start, we would like to see you detail more of the aspects of what you've highlighted--for example, why does he stay optimistic despite going through hell? How does he show that optimism despite being grouchy/surly? We'd like elaboration on basically all the aspects you've touched upon, especially as Ichigo is the main character of the series.
Additionally, we would like to see another sample that better shows Ichigo's voice. Although the thread sample linked is fine, we believe that the other sample you've provided doesn't sufficiently demonstrate your character's voice. This, in tandem with the personality section, makes it very difficult to get a grasp on the character as a whole.
For these reasons, we cannot accept your application at this time. Please feel free to reapply as many times as you like.
Player Name: Ruka E-mail: violinistical [at] gmail [dot] com Preferred Contact:rukafais Timezone: GMT +9:30 Current Characters in Victory Road: N/A
Character Name: Kimmuriel Oblodra Series: Legend of Drizzt Timeline: Post-Starlight Enclave (most recent book) Canon Resource Links:History link. It gets sparse after a certain point so here's a brief dotpointed summary of what he's been up to since then:
- Manipulated by Lolth, his home city's ruling goddess, to summon Demogorgon by proxy by using his lessons with Gromph to plant psionic suggestions in the Archmage's mind; this was A Bad Idea. Later spent some time with an illithid hivemind in order to avoid Gromph being incredibly angry with him; eventually came back to aid in the reconstruction of the Hosttower in Luskan, serving as the hivemind's ambassador.
-Later fixed the Bad Idea he'd partially caused by using the power of the illithid hivemind he was in contact with to form a kinetic barrier that could absorb a ridiculous amount of damage and banish Demogorgon that way. (Homecoming trilogy - Archmage/Maestro/Hero)
- Took command of Luskan's defense during an extended siege while his co-captain Jarlaxle was busy, eventually driving out the demon possessing a key figure in the siege and forcing the possessed victim to help his organization regain control of Luskan properly. He aided several high-ranking priestesses in rejecting Lolth, sparking a civil war in his birth city between the cult's adherents and those who rejected it. (Generations trilogy - Timeless/Boundless/Relentless)
- Two years after the civil war started, he accompanied Drizzt Do'urden and his child to the Monastery of the Yellow Rose, serving as a bodyguard for the trip as well as using it to satisfy his own curiosity about certain philosophical ideas. (Starlight Enclave)
Personality: Often described as near-emotionless and passionless in both expression and personality, Kimmuriel is the cool-headed, confident and pragmatic co-leader of Bregan D'aerthe, a notorious mercenary band in the drow city of Menzoberranzan. He provides much-needed grounding and a sense of practicality and logic to the band's endeavors, having kept it running essentially by himself for well over a century while its founder temporarily abdicated responsibility. Add to this mixture his constant contact with illithids- traditionally feared by much of the Underdark as ruthless mental dominators - and his heritage as the last survivor of a House that practiced psionic powers rather than more traditional magic, and it's no surprise at all that many in his home city view him as unsettling and not to be trusted, on par with illithids themselves in being essentially non-drow - the worst category that one Menzoberranzan drow can give another.
It's an unflattering impression, but Kimmuriel prefers that fear; it deters those who might think to use him or sacrifice him for their own ends or for the favour of Menzoberranzan's goddess. He sees no reason to dispel such a reputation, and while he doesn't go out of his way to cultivate it, his penchant for complete disregard and manipulation of others' mental boundaries and ruthless, immediate violence to his enemies has given him the impression of someone who cannot be trifled with without an equally powerful trump card in reserve. He sees no problems with rooting through others' surface thoughts, restricting or controlling their actions, or threatening to subject them to mental torture in order to demonstrate his range of power and control.
He's not all ruthless logic and strategic manipulation, of course, as much as he tries to pretend otherwise. Kimmuriel is more than capable of other emotions besides the ones that make him a powerful enemy in his birth city, though he'd rarely admit it. Beneath an impassive surface seethes tremendous rage and a great deal of loneliness in equal measure, both ultimately rooted in the loss of his family centuries past and mostly smothered by his determination to never let his emotions, or his trauma, control him to such an illogical degree. Such control came at a terrible price; denying his emotions has meant he's been out of touch with them for a very long time, and so he doesn't usually understand them when they affect him.
Despite this repression, one outlet he's found to be acceptable is through his expression of curiosity. Kimmuriel is endlessly fascinated by the underpinnings of the universe, particularly the workings of gods and the afterlife - and particularly how much sway gods have on the path of mortals. His long-dulled feelings for anything reignites in the exploration of such topics, one of the only true indulgences he allows himself to have.
His capacity for loyalty, too, is something not to be understated. Despite his constant complaining and sometimes-threatening directed towards his co-leader, Jarlaxle, he engages willingly in the delicate push and pull of trust that constitutes their relationship without showing any desire to break it. He shares information and his own unique power more easily and freely with him than he does any other individual, and though he'd never admit it, Jarlaxle's interests in some ways have become his own. When shown trust, Kimmuriel is perhaps surprisingly ready to reciprocate - at least, if he finds that bond worthy of honoring.
Additionally, he's not much for friendship in the traditional sense, but he does find the open trade of information and favors to be a useful, practical thing. While he refuses to compromise his own bluntness to make himself more appealing to others, those looking for a simple exchange of information or payments made for services rendered will find a willing partner in Kimmuriel; as long as the exchange is neutral, he finds no real reason to cheat or withhold anything. Transactions of this nature are emotionally simple in a way he finds acceptable, and he finds it far easier to assign value to skill or monetary payment than to bother with the more tumultuous, uneasy ranking process guided by strength of feeling.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter: Inkay Password: FAQ: Fireball Rules: Atomic
Player Name: bii E-mail: all dot your dot beliefs at gmail Preferred Contact:obiisama Timezone: PST Current Characters in Victory Road: Greg, Steven D
Character Name: Jarlaxle Baenre Series: Legend of Drizzt (Forgotten Realms) Timeline: at the beginning of the Waterdeep Dragon Heist module (circa 1492 DR) Canon Resource Links:wiki!
Beyond the history in the wiki, I do want to note that since the siege of Gauntlgrym in 1488 DR, Jarlaxle ended up going on an expedition to the far north in 1490 DR and met the rather less cultish drow settlement up there and that in 1492 DR he’s in the city of Waterdeep, looking for the hidden gold dragons that Dagult Neverember embezzled from the city, with the intention of publicly returning them to the city and using that as impetus to join the Lords Alliance, as representative of Luskan. Although the module doesn’t specify any particular reason for wanting to join, besides an increase of Jarlaxle’s personal power, I will personally assume that the fact that the Lords Alliance has a mutual defense pact and literally no one helped Luskan out when it got sacked in 1488 DR, that might have a lot to do with it.
(Gauntlgrym would have, probably, but it was under siege at that point by allies of the very assholes who were sacking Luskan. The point is that Waterdeep and Neverwinter and every other Lords Alliance member didn’t lift a fucking finger for Jarlaxle’s shady pirate city.)
Personality:
"He's a narcissist with a heart. He's kinder than he lets himself admit, and more dangerous than he seems. More often than not, his success is not in how thoroughly he plans ahead, but in how he reacts to the chaos around him (and a healthy dose of luck). He'll always try to throw the players off with a nonsequitur clue or hint, so use that to your advantage."
Jarlaxle, quite simply, is who Menzoberranzan has made him to be. In his base state, he’s a naturally kind and friendly person, who genuinely likes other people. Unfortunately, he grew up in a city controlled by a really fucked up spider cult, so he’s all these things despite coming from a society that mostly values the ability to manipulate people and stab them in the back—though mind you, he is quite good at both manipulation and backstabbing. His talent at the first comes from the fact that he’s one of the few drow seen in the books with anything resembling emotional intelligence, while his talent for the second is mostly fueled by his desire for survival. More than anything, Jaraxle wants to live.
And why not? After all, he almost didn’t. Jarlaxle was Matron Mother Yvonnel’s thirdborn son, which meant he was destined to be sacrificed to the drow spider goddess, Lolth, immediately after being born. He wasn’t—but only due to interference from another priestess, who used her psionic abilities to keep the knife from penetrating his infant skin. However, the ruling House of Menzoberranzan couldn’t publicly be seen to not gone through with the sacrifice, so Jarlaxle was hidden—in 1018 DR flashback scenes from the book Timeless, Yvonnel is quite sure that none of her children (including Jarlaxle) know their true relationship, although the flashback scenes from Boundless—which take place a century later in 1118 DR—seem to indicate that by that point Jarlaxle did know.
Why does this matter? Well, Jarlaxle’s knowledge of both the family he was born to and also how very much he shouldn’t be alive probably informs a lot of his overwhelming ambition—and he is ambitious. Very much so. He grew up without a House, so he built one of his own—and by late 1400s, Bregan D’Aerthe is very much the size of a small House, even if its continued existence is on the sufferance of House Baenre. And his ambitions are not only limited to Menzoberranzan, but they’ve spread to the surface world too, where a drow male can dream bigger than he ever could in the Underdark. Indeed, by the same time period, Jarlaxle had become the shadow ruler of the notorious pirate city of Luskan… and in truth, the city was more stable under his own rule than it had been previously.
This would surprise some people, most likely, as Jarlaxle has—and has partially cultivated—a reputation for being a loose cannon and a wildcard. This is not wholly untrue, for he does seem to change plans and even alliances on the fly and he delights in disconcerting his opponents with his unpredictability. That said, the man is surprisingly responsible when it comes to him and his. When not underneath the malign influence of an evil artifact, he’s quite concerned with the continued survival of Bregan D’Aerthe and of his men, going so far as to submit to the sacrifice of his most valued companion, Zaknafein, when he could have fairly easily rescued him and absconded to the surface with Zak and his son—but not without leaving Bregan D’aerthe vulnerable to reprisals from their former patrons. He also pays more than sufficient attention to the daily minutia of maintaining an organization on that scale—in fact, he’s the one character we see the most at a desk, filling out paperwork.
Jarlaxle has a love for treasure and for magical trinkets most of all—a love that far exceeds that of most adventurers, who are already covetous souls. He collects these magical trinkets and uses them creatively in his adventurers—in fact, his penchant for the use of magical items has lead him to being able to attune to more items that most. His love for shiny things has gotten him into trouble before, most notably during his possession of Creshinibon, the intelligent and malevolent crystal shard which nearly led him to his doom.
That it didn’t was wholly because of the friends Jarlaxle had made along the way–and really, that is his greatest strength, his capacity for engaging with people and ultimately befriending them. Sure, most of them have wanted to kill him at one point in time, but the ultimate point is that they haven’t yet. Despite everything Menzoberranzan shaped him to be, Jarlaxle still likes people and he still wants to form connections—-and even if practicality sometimes leads him to betray those people, it isn’t without a sense of regret at the doing and he does try to mitigate the damage he causes when he does. As Bob Salvatore says, he’s both kinder and more dangerous than he seems—-and speaking for myself, I find it delightful.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer! He’s gonna catch them all! Starter: Sableye, “Euol” Password: Atomic Fireball
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon! Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted... [○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must! [○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here. [○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it. Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places. [○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted. [○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms! [○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon! Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted... [○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must! [○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here. [○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it. Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places. [○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted. [○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms! [○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
Mirabel is part of the magical Madrigal family, and she's the only one (outside the two men who married into the family) who doesn't have a magical Gift like the rest of her family members. She takes this in stride though and still considers herself part of an amazing family, which she loves dearly. It doesn't matter that she doesn't have magical powers, because she's just as special and the fact that she's part of the family at all is a Gift in itself!
... Or maybe it's not. Mirabel has unyielding optimism and does love her family, but she feels like an outsider without her own Gift. She doesn't really feel like she's part of the family, and that's apparent in the song "the Family Madrigal" where she sings about everyone else in her family BUT excludes herself. Even when the kids ask about her power, she doesn't want to admit she doesn't have one. She just sings about her family all over again while trying to avoid the topic of herself.
To make up for having no Gift, Mirabel tries to work extra hard to make herself part of the family. When the family prepares a party for her cousin Antonio to get his Gift, she's seen trying to make decorations to put around the house as a surprise and trying to help out in her own way. Because this is how she tries to find value within the family, and her attempts are kind of brushed over as she's told by her Abuela to basically stand aside and let everyone else do their part.
Deep down, Mirabel feels kind of jealous of the rest of the family. And though she tries to stay positive and happy all the time, the moment she's left out of a family picture makes it apparent that she's an outsider. During "Waiting on a Miracle" she laments over not getting a Gift and that she wants one too so she can finally be "seen" by the rest of her family.
This feeling of being left out is fueled by the family's matriarch, Mirabel's Abeula. The night when Mirabel didn't get her Gift, she told Mirabel to "make her family proud" and that line stuck with her. When she didn't get her Gift, Abeula turned cold towards her. She always acts like Mirabel is in the way, despite Mirabel's best efforts to prove herself.
When the family's magic candle, the object that gave everyone their powers, threatens to go out, Mirabel takes it upon herself to save the Miracle and everyone's gifts. This is where Mirabel's adventurous nature comes in - she doesn't know how to save the Miracle, but she's willing to do anything to keep her family happy. And there's a slightly selfish reason to it too, that she wants to do something that will finally make her family notice and accept her.
Mirabel is brave, and a little reckless too. When she goes into Bruno's Tower to find out why the Miracle is fading, she has to climb tons of steps. She still tries to stay upbeat and positive about it before breaking down in a tired mess. And then she has to cross a huge gap that would be fatal if she were to fall. She uses a rope to swing across instead of giving up. When the room Bruno has his visions in starts to collapse with sand, she risks her life collecting the fragments of his vision instead of immediately escaping. She does this again when chasing Bruno through the walls in the house, after she finds out he's been hiding in there. There's a huge gap in the floor, and she basically risks falling to jump across.
Out of all the family members, Bruno is probably the one who she relates to the most. He's an outsider, like her, and his Gift caused more harm than good which caused him to eventually "leave" the family when Mirabel was young. But despite "leaving" he ended up living in the walls because he still loved his family, something that Mirabel can relate to. She has no Gift, she can't help, but she still loves her family and wants to do what she can.
Perhaps one of the most strained relationships in the movie is between Mirabel and her older sister, Isabela. Isabela is pretty hard on Mirabel, telling her that she's getting in the way and when Mariano comes over to dinner she tells her that she doesn't "want a word out of her". Her sister is pretty hostile towards her, but Mirabel doesn't really make things easy either. Mirabel isn't so much as jealous, as she is thoroughly annoyed with her sister's seemingly perfect life. Mirabel sees Isabel as selfish and spoiled, and when it turns out that in order to save the magic they have to "hug it out", Mirabel is upset by the idea. When Mirabel goes into Isabela's room to "hug it out", they fight, and it isn't until Isabela's magic grows something "imperfect" that Isabela realizes she doesn't want to be the perfect child either, and Mirabel finally manages to connect with her when she understands that Isabela's life is a facade. It isn't until Mirabel lets herself see more than the perfect Isabela that she can finally have a better relationship with her sister.
Similarly, Mirabel and Abeula end up having an understanding of their own. Mirabel finally confronts her, telling her off for basically putting too much pressure on the family and that Mirabel feels like she'll never be enough for her. The house collapses after their fight, and Mirabel runs off thinking that she basically destroyed everything. Abeula shows up and apologizes, telling Mirabel the story of why she is the way she is, and Mirabel ultimately forgives her for the way she was treated. When she and Abeula with Bruno in tow return to the family, and the family rebuilds their home, Mirabel finally discovers her worth. She doesn't need a Gift, because her real Gift was bringing the family together again. The house is rebuilt, the family's magic is restored, and Mirabel is finally accepted as part of the family.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter: Rockruff Password: Atomic Fireball
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon! Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted... [○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must! [○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here. [○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it. Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places. [○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted. [○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms! [○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
Player:Hobbit Name: Hobbit E-mail:Byakuen80@gmail.com Preferred Contact: Pm the journal and I can send discord information if necessary. Timezone: Eastern Current Characters in Victory Road:None
Character:Captain Levi Ackerman Name:Captain Levi Ackerman Series: Attack on Titan Timeline: At the end of the first half of Season 4. Canon Resource Links: Please note there will be SPOILERS for the complete season 4. Levi Ackerman
Original Character Background: N/A
Personality:
Levi Ackerman is considered to be the strongest human-partially due to his powers of being an Ackerman- and he is highly thought of as a soldier. Despite this he doesn’t boast about his powers or belittle others and occasionally becomes annoyed hearing others praise him so freely. He respects a soldier’s skills and knows that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. He doesn’t expect others to be at his level. Often he will take on difficult tasks that he feels a regular soldier can’t handle. As a soldier, he is realistic and not afraid to pull back when he feels a mission is a failure, believing in the safety of his men first.
As a result of having grown up in the Underground World, Levi learned to that he had to be tough and make quick judgments. He learned quickly that most people reacted toward violence and fear, using this in order to gain the information he needed and to control. He didn't show compassion understanding that to do so often got one in trouble. His short height resulting from a poor diet at a young age, also contributed to this need to compensate using his fighting skills and strength.
Levi became used to keeping people at arm's length, having lost a lot of people over time and knowing that attachments got one nowhere when lives were often short lived. He rarely shows emotion aside from the obvious expressions of annoyance. Because of this, it is often hard for people who don't know him to understand what he was thinking and believed he doesn't care about anyone and that he was a cold individual.
On the contrary, one of his strongest traits he carries is empathy. As such, tries his best to not have a lot of collateral damage and bring back as many people alive, even if it means retreating from an assignment if its dire. It’s extremely hard on him when he does lose a lot of people or even just having to leave the dead bodies behind.
He also believes in action over words and doesn't waste time on simple dialogue. Often when he does speak it is blunt, insulting, or even vulgar. He doesn't mince his words and his sense of humor is often considered dark or vulgar.
Because of the fact that Levi was well known to be a leader of the thugs in the Underground World, authorities often mock and belittle him. They try to find ways to undermine his work and stop him from doing his job. This causes Levi to dislike most authorities. The only one he fully trusted was Commander Erwin and chose to follow him and leave the Underground World. He believed in Commander Erwin’s cause and wanted to full fill it.
He is not above insulting others outside his circle or those who seek to undermine him and his cause. He doesn’t respect a lot of people and has a hard time taking orders from those outside the small group of people he trusts. Even with the ones he does trust, he will still tend to do things his way if he feels it’s the better approach. Often people were at odds on how to handle him.
Levi will have a hard time adjusting to this new life style. It will be a rather big test for him on how to deal with people and the Pokemon themselves.
Powers: I realize that for the game in particular Levi’s powers are going to be cut back drastically. Despite his powers being cut back he would still be considered pretty strong for a average human. Nor will he be able to carry any weapon on him.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter:Togepi Password: Atomic Fireball
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Pokemon! Congratulations, you have a fun and exciting adventure awaiting you.
Now that you've been accepted... [○] Respond to this with your character's journal. This is a must! [○] Comment in the Taken Characters post, alphabetized by series: Here. [○] Join the following communities: victory_road, the_plateau, and ohmyarceus. Only Team Rocket personnel should join silph_co, but we ask that all Victory Road members subscribe to it. Note! You will not be accepted to the main or logs community until you've commented in the aforementioned places. [○] If you're still on the reserved list, please let us know that they've been accepted. [○] Please make sure to check out the Calendar for the weather and upcoming plots and swarms! [○] You can also find our mod plurk at victoryroad; if you have a Plurk, we suggest you become a fan!
We'd also like to take this moment to inform you of the Eastern Kanto Ferry! For only P2000, you can take a three day, all-inclusive ferry ride from New Bark Town to Pallet Town and begin a new pokémon journey in the Kanto region! Otherwise, feel free to start in Johto!
Player Name: Raile E-mail: railerat [at] gmail [dot] com Preferred Contact:railerat Timezone: EST Current Characters in Victory Road: Dirk Strider
Character Name: Karako Pierot Series: Homestuck (Hiveswap + Friendsim) Timeline: Pre-Friendsim Canon Resource Links:Wiki. Player impact does not make a huge difference, and is covered in wiki.
Personality: In a classic Harlequinade, Pierrot's defining trait is his naïveté--he is seen as a fool, often the butt of pranks, yet nonetheless trusting. This jives with the player's first impression of Karako: just as startled by the player character (hereafter referred to as MSPAR, short for MSPA Reader) as MSPAR is by him, he jumps straight into the air and immediately gets stuck, having impaled himself by the horns into a low-hanging tree branch. He is left kicking his legs in the air helplessly, and the MSPAR is obliged to pull him down--which they do only after a great deal of explaining their situation and repeating that they mean him no harm and hoping that Karako does not use his belt(s) full of knives to fill them with holes.
On the ground, Karako Pierot turns out to be an expressive, upbeat young clown, 'chatting' with the player by means of honks and a few choice nonverbal cues. He quickly proves himself to be an attentive listener, open minded to the MSPAR's existence in a way many trolls are not (and without ulterior motive, as many OTHER trolls are not.)
Incredibly, he's a runt, and should have been culled back in the breeding caverns; instead, he was raised in secrecy by the self-appointed leader of the Jadebloods in charge of those caverns, and while he's supposed to be somewhat contained by the cloister, he's escaped 'to seek his fortune.' No lusus, no hive... just a pendant with his (dubiously appointed) symbol on one side and the words If lost, call BRONYA URSAMA on the other.
One would think that a troll in such a dangerous situation would be more suspicious and guarded, but this is not the case. One would also expect a troll in such constant peril to be more prepared, and in this sense... well, the MSPAR both is and is not disappointed. Karako is impulsive, clearly, but not unintelligent; for one thing, he's still alive, which is a pretty strong indicator of ability on its own. And he's no less bloodthirsty or dangerous than any other troll--in fact, he turns out to be bloodthirsty and dangerous in a new and terrifying manner, or at least one new to the MSPAR. (Terrifying is an objective quality here.)
Like any good purpleblood, Karako is 'down with the clown,' which in this case means he is faithful to the (clown) church, a believer in miracles and the mirthful messiahs. He paints his face (and, somewhat unusually, his horns) and wears a bandolier of Faygo across his chest in active observance of the traditional practises. Whether he actually attends massacre is unknown, but as canon shows, it doesn't matter: he is no less a true faithful of the Dark Carnival.
Because that's where he (and later, MSPAR) are taken in one of the possible endings, one where he takes on three seadwellers in his rage at their insults and mockery and is murdered for his efforts. The heavens open up and some janky, painted mannequins come down, suspended on obvious fishing line, and lift his repeatedly-skewered body up to the massive Murder Go Round in the sky. Whatever else Karako may stand for, his strength of belief merits the afterlife of his faith.
The Dark Carnival, however, is not Clown Heaven. I am so sorry that I have to do this, but taking from the ICP wiki:
The Dark Carnival is a concept of the afterlife in which souls are sent to a form of limbo while waiting to be sent to heaven or hell based on their individual actions. It features multiple rides and attractions which assist in this purpose, which are the focus balls of multiple albums and songs within the group's discography. These concepts are related by Insane Clown Posse in a series of albums called the six Joker's Cards. Each of the six Joker's Cards relate to a specific character — an entity of the Dark Carnival — that tries to "save the human soul" by showing the wicked inside of one's self.
MSPAR's actions after Karako's death embody this: horrified by the cruelty of the seadwellers and the brutality of troll culture, MSPAR takes a stand. A moral stand, one in which they refuse to accept the way things are on Alternia, the way Karako was ridiculed and then murdered. They decide to embody that morality, to choose what's right, to put morality into events through their own actions, to attempt and be morality in their little space of the universe, right here and now. They take up Karako's knives and his Faygo and take on all three seadwellers themself, despite being objectively weaker and less skillful than Karako. Which is admirable, but why am I talking about MSPAR's actions in Karako's app?
Because MSPAR dies. Like, that was fucking inevitable. But upon their death, the heavens open once more, and once more those mannequins descend on their fishing lines, lifting MSPAR in their arms and placing them onto the back of Karako's same Murder Go Round horse. (I have to note here that the term Murder Go Round is actual ICP canon lore.) Which leads me to my second pasting from hatchetpedia, the actual goddamn Juggalo wiki:
Carnival of Carnage is the first Joker's Card in Insane Clown Posse's Dark Carnival concept album series. This Joker's Card is a representation of the ghettos and the violence that occurs within them. It takes the form of a traveling carnival which releases the same brutality on those who have ignored the inner cities' cries for help. The Card issues a warning against the upper-class and government's negligence toward the lower classes.
This obviously describes MSPAR's actions, as inspired by Karako's death, but it also describes Karako's. Karako, as a reject, a runt and an outcast, is extremely sensitive to (and quickly enraged by) bullying and general unfairness. This despite his status as a purple-blooded troll, ostensibly the blood caste intended to become subjugglators--to subjugate the lower castes and keep them down. Given the ICP lore likely associated with him, and the way things unfold in canon, it seems likely that it's not just being picked on himself (though he surely doesn't like it, he's just very obviously used to it) which sets him off so violently. And he is super fucking violent.
He absolutely loses his goddamn mind on the seadwellers.
He's not on a hair-trigger, but he is surely quick-tempered--his anger is immediate (jaw clenched, face flushed), but stares at the seadwellers with stony dignity until they try to make him and MSPAR bow, mocking him for his anger. That's when he completely snaps. If allowed to attack them (the route that leads to his and MSPAR's deaths), he is so absolutely consumed with fury and bloodlust that the seadwellers are at one point described as 'dealing with hurricane clown' until they eventually manage to stab all of his own knives into his body. Also their own weapons. There are a lot of weapons stuck in his little body when he finally goes down. Like, there's an entire trident in there.
If he is restrained--a feat that takes all of MSPAR's strength and body weight, and is barely successful at that--he gets increasingly furious, so much so that he eventually unleashes the chucklevoodoos.
Even the seadwellers run in fear.
Yet this same clown opens his arms to offer MSPAR a hug--a hug he reconsiders for MSPAR's safety (he is wearing an awful lot of knives) and swaps out for a friendship-sealing handshake instead. And MSPAR is a soft, hornless thing, an alien being of a kind Karako has never seen before! MSPAR isn't on the hemospectrum. They're not even a Troll! Sure, MSPAR saves his life (twice), but that's not the kind of treatment MSPAR gets from... well, practically anyone, really. It's almost innocent of him.
It is innocent of him, really.
Word of god has confirmed him to be a wanderer (more specifically, he's living "the nomadic shrubbery lifestyle") and a good person, albeit still a Troll.
Which opens up the mystery of Karako's age, and.... truthfully? Information is conflicting. Friendsim confirmed Karako to be a tween (via narrative genuflection by MSPAR), but Aysha (one of the writers) told me on Twitter (I swear this is true) that this is a mistake, and he's actually the youngest Troll in Hiveswap, younger even than Barzum and Baizli. Who are... young. Definitely "children" and not tweens.
Which is... uh, frustrating. The fandom tendency is to characterise him as very young. A toddler maybe, or something like human five years old (not to be confused with six sweeps old, which is approximately human thirteen.)
I disagree with this pretty strenuously, though from an RP perspective, the details really don't matter. Karako's demonstrated intelligence and ability doesn't change in any way. His amount of lived experience does, but given how perilous Alternia is (especially for an outcast Troll like him) and the role of Pierrot as mentioned briefly at the beginning of this section... it plays out effectively the same way. His lack of verbal skills are still attributable to his existence as a runt. And he's clearly a minor in any case. However, since he needs "an age" for RP purposes, we've got a conundrum.
Canon indication is that Trolls in general just continue to get bigger as they age... but we don't really know how they age, whether it's different across blood castes, or what that means developmentally. I mean. Yes. Karako is definitely smaller than almost all of the Friendsim Trolls save for Amisia and maybe Barzum/Baizli, whose ages are also unknown, although Amisia claims to be "too young for quadrants." (Chahut disputes this, saying she that knows "a few motherfuckers what started younger," so Amisia can't be THAT young, but how young THAT young is... is a mystery.) But it's not clear how tall he is even compared to Amisia. The best we have is that they're both described as 'small' or 'little' and are shorter than MSPAR.
So, uh. As a solution, I'm putting Karako slightly younger than fellow Friendsim characters Wanshi and Tirona... the equivalent of human 8 years old, aka a human third grader. Which means that until proven otherwise (or told directly by a member of WhatPumpkin), I'm declaring he can read. Which is very likely, because Karako did share Wanshi's extremely sheltered life in the Caverns.
Even with all that, though? Tirona and the zodiac trolls are a much better comparison for life experience and maturity than Wanshi.... or the bizarre and isolated Barzum and Baizli. While his life was made easier in some ways (and possible to begin with, really) thanks to Bronya, Karako has an extremely difficult life overall. Mutant though he was, even Karkat had a lusus and a hive.
So far, Karako hasn't died (in this timeline, yet or to his knowledge), but that's the most one can really say has gone right for him. And technically, that's only gone 'right' for him because someone did the system wrong. It's... not great. He's a highblood who doesn't benefit from highblood privilege. He's certainly going to be hard to kill, but he lacks the societal benefit of his blood colour and a good chunk of the physical benefits. His horns are massive for his head, and that's because purples like him become fucking huge. Even less physically mature purples than Chahut are noticeably bigger than MSPAR. Not just taller, but bigger. Karako is not only shorter than MSPAR, he's pretty scrawny looking. At best, he's full of lean muscle but can't seem to bulk up. (Maybe when he gets older... but given he's a runt, I think it's doubtful he'll get much taller, if at all, so that's a mental image for you.) But the point is, anyone can pick on him. Anyone can threaten his life. And based on his route, it's easy to decode that they definitely have. MSPAR refers to him, at one point, as "a clown of suffering" while the seadwellers are mocking him.
Even staying alive is ultimately a futile endeavour... after all, he's a cull-on-sight runt, and has failed to keep (or even have begin with) a hive or lusus (which would also call for being culled, Alternia sucks.) He will never go to space and serve the Condesce in her eternal Space War... sooner or later, Alternian society or some other facet of Alternian life will kill him. So why does he even try?
... fucks' sake. Someone give this kid a flipping break.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter: Galarian Meowth Password: Atomic Fireball
Samples RP Sample:Here, but you can definitely tell this was originally going to be the second sample and then I made it the top level instead. Sorry.
Victory Road Sample: It's not like Karako hasn't done this before. Hell, this is practically normal! Wandering byways and back trails through thick brush outside of inhabited areas, searching for food or fate or fortune despite the ever-present dangers of the outdoors. Native fauna and flora with massively oversized teeth and talons and stingers and spines and venom sacks and poisonous flesh and projectile weapons and--
And no weapons. Not a single motherfucking knife. Not even one lonely little blade. Nor a single can of miraculous bubbly elixir to lift his spirits and free his mind. He tried to find some--tearing through the hive of the friendly-but-frightening 'mom' like a hairy, honking barefoot tornado, pulling open drawers and emptying the contents of her thermal hull onto the floor--but to no avail.
Well, some avail.
He'd found some glass bottles of sweet, bubbly soda, which had seemed like a victory at the time. It wasn't until he'd made his way out into the wilds that he'd tried chugging one, only to be let down when it had no effects save to make his sniff nub hurt terribly for a few seconds. He'd broken the bottle on a tree, so he was slightly more armed than before, but mostly he was frustrated. Soft-bodied and warm and hornless and nearly-unarmed. Worst of all, he was disappointed.
But the Mirthful Messiahs had not abandoned him in this tamed jungle of mostly-inert plantlife, obviously not. His new friend, Gigglesnarl, was bright-eyed and coarse-furred, sharp of tooth and claw, and happy to lead the way. He didn't know where they were going--he didn't speak purrbeast and Gigglesnarl didn't speak Alternian--but they were going somewhere, and Gigglesnarl had already found him a piece of candy. Just one piece, but it was pretty clean, and still in its crinkly blue wrapper. They... had disagreed over who got to eat the candy, at least until Karako traded his new friend the bag of desiccated vine drupes and nut creature snacks for it. That had settled things between them. And now he could see they were heading into a cluster of bushes covered in fat, blue berries.
A veritable feast!
Uh.
Hm.
If they're not deadly poison?
It's never occured to him before that he might not be able to eat something (that wasn't trying to eat him). He's seen Trolls and wildlife both die from eating the wrong this or that, a price paid for picking the wrong leaf or berry or stem. It never worried him because (as a purple blood), he can survive pretty much anything. Even that one swollen, pustule-covered fruit that made the organs and soft tissues of that gobblefiend dissolve so all the rest of its insides fell on the ground and attracted a lot of ripperwasps for some reason....
While he's pondering, though, Gigglesnarl has stopped and begun stabbing fat berries onto each one of his six sharp claws.
The.... conversation... that ensues might not be intelligible, but the pointing and gesturing between the wayward young clown and his Galarian Meowth might be more facilitative of real communication.
"Honk?"
"Nyarrrrl?"
"Honk! Honk! Honk!"
"Nyaaaarl."
"Honk!"
"Nyaaaa!"
"Honk!!"
He's so relieved to learn that eating his fill of berries isn't a terrible mistake that he'll regret immediately that he could just.... he could just motherfucking honk. Instead, he grabs a double handful of berries and flashes Gigglesnarl a bright, toothy grin.
... and thus concludes this episode of moments paused seconds before disaster.
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Player Name: Bramble E-mail: raspberrywhisper (at) gmail (dot) com Preferred Contact:bramblepatch or discord @ bramble#6628 Timezone: Pacific (GMT+8) Current Characters in Victory Road: none
Character Name: Vierna Do'Urden Series: Legend of Drizzt Timeline: After Chapter 5 of The Legacy, having transformed Dinin into a drider but before setting out to hunt Drizzt Canon Resource Links:Vierna on the FR wiki
Vierna also appears in the flashback sections of Relentless, which does not have a plot summary on the wiki yet; these flashbacks cover roughly the same span of time as the events of Homeland, showing the events of that time period from a less Drizzt-centric perspective.
Personality: Vierna is, fundamentally, both a product of Menzoberranzan and very much her father's daughter.
As a noble daughter of an ambitious House in the City of Spiders, Vierna has been taught from a very early age to trust no one, to revere the demon goddess Lolth, and to hold herself above all drow males and all non-drow of any gender. In fact, "taught" is probably not a strong enough word; "indoctrinated" or "brainwashed" is probably closer to the mark, as Menzoberranzan is a theocracy ruled by the cult of Lolth. Vierna, like all drow noblewomen, was expected to serve as a Priestess of Lolth for the advancement of her House, and her mother, Matron Mother Malice, and elder half sister Briza, were not gentle in teaching her the ruthless violence expected of her in that position. The early childhood of any drow can be assumed to be physically and emotionally abusive, although girls usually have a better time of it than boys, and Malice and Briza neither showed Vierna any mercy nor tolerated any display of mercy from Vierna toward others.
This was a real concern for them, as Vierna inherited her sire Zaknafein's sense of empathy - perhaps if Zaknafein had been permitted to take part in raising her, as he did her younger brother Drizzt, Vierna would have developed the morality and principled behavior that her father and brother both exhibit to varying degrees. Unfortunately for everyone involved, her contact with her father during her early years was extremely limited, both because as a lower-status male Zaknafein had little legitimate reason to interact with the daughters of the house, and because Malice intentionally allowed Zaknafein to believe that Vierna's paternity was in question as part of her centuries-long campaign of being as abusive toward him as possible in as many ways as possible. Drow men are not expected to take a parental role, but as Zak was easily the least-awful adult in the family compound, his disinterest in her as a child and open dislike of her priestess status as an adult was still painful - and even more so when he did take an active interest in her younger brother Drizzt.
Even without his direct influence, though, Vierna is unusually soft-hearted for a drow. She does not enjoy inflicting pain on others, and although she will do so as required by her station, her family was always perfectly aware that she disliked doing so. This was, of course, only a reason for her mother to place her in situations where she was required to harm others, frequently family members - most notably, her younger brother. She was given responsibility for Drizzt's early care and education, a role which included the expectation that she make liberal use of corporal punishment, up to and including with the magical viper-headed scourge that is part of Lolthian clerical regalia. Vierna both resented her brother and was honestly fond and proud of him, and only beat Drizzt in response to actual infractions or misbehavior. This lead Malice or Briza to frequently step in and deliver harsher and more arbitrary punishments than Vierna was willing to dole out - discouraging Vierna from showing mercy, and also denying her control over the task for which, in theory, she was solely responsible.
Because of the trauma that following her conscience has often caused, Vierna does not always - or even often - treat other people with kindness. She craves the approval of her superiors and the relative security that it brings, and tries to live up to the standard of cruelty expected of a woman of her station. The cognitive dissonance caused by the conflict between her inborn compassion and the violence expected of her, as well as her experience with having her agency over her own affairs denied to her because of her softness, sometimes causes Vierna to lash out or overreact - up to and including at least one case where she attempted to murder Drizzt as an adolescent, when she caught him sneaking out of the initiation ceremony/orgy that marked his graduation from warrior training. (Notably, though, she followed him immediately and her initial reaction was concern, until his defiance and blasphemy made it clear he would not voluntarily return to the ceremony; I believe that initially she welcomed the excuse to remove herself from the situation as well, if only temporarily.) She also does not handle change well, as her attempts to live up to expectations have left her inflexible in her thinking as she tries to stick to the behavior that she knows will keep her safest in Menzoberranzan. After the collapse of her House and the death of most of her family, Vierna became obsessed with regaining Lolth's favor and her standing as a noblewoman. Working with Bregan D'aerthe and under the protection of Jarlaxle, who had been a close friend of her father, Vierna was arguably more secure than she had ever been as a daughter of House Do'Urden; however, her sense of self-worth and security was too deeply tied to the power struggles of Menzoberranzan's nobility and she was unable to accept her change in circumstances, ultimately leading her to reckless and fanatical behavior.
Vierna's closest relationships are with two of her brothers - Dinin, older than her by at least fifty years, is one of the few people who ever genuinely cared about her wellbeing, and Drizzt, her only full-blooded sibling and most of a century younger, is in turn the only person she was ever allowed to nurture in any capacity whatsoever. However, these bonds did not ultimately offer either brother any protection from her desperate need for what she saw as redemption, even though they were also the only two other members of the family to survive the fall of their House. It was clear from well before House Do'Urden fell that it was Drizzt's heresy and abandonment of the family that had lead to them losing Lolth's favor and doomed them, and although it took her nearly twenty years to psyche herself up, Vierna ultimately decided that she ought to be the one to capture or kill him - a mission that was completely self-imposed, and which ultimately lead to her death when she refused to surrender to Drizzt, who honestly would have been only too happy to spare her. And where once she might have accepted Dinin's better judgment, when he objected to her plans to hunt down their long-absent and very dangerous brother, she transformed him into a drider - a cursed half-spider form traditionally used as punishment for drow who defy Lolth's priestesses.
And it must also be acknowledged that Vierna was relatively young when her self-destructive desire to fit in and succeed in Menzoberranzan lead to her death at Drizzt's blade - elves, of which drow are a subset, can live well into their 700s, and Vierna was only 144 at the time of her death (which occurs within, at most, a few weeks of her canon point). She also was forced into adult life young; all elves grow and age at the same rate, but by the lore presented in the Player's Handbook for Dungeons and Dragons, for which the Legend of Drizzt books are a tie-in, most elves consider their young people to be fully adult at around age 100; by the lore presented in the novels, drow nobles take on adult responsibilities when they graduate from their Academy training, which for most noble girls is somewhere in their 80s.
Pokémon Information Affiliation: Trainer Starter: Zubat Password: Atomic Fireball
Victory Road Sample: The sun had long set before Vierna had to admit that this strange new form’s vision was simply not adequate for her to feel comfortable traveling through unfamiliar territory by night.
It did not take her long to set up camp, with her gear as meager as it was – she found a spot by the side of the road where the grass was not so high as to hide wandering monsters, rolled out the odd bedroll from her pack, and morosely ate a little of the strange and laughably meager food. Then, out of responsible measures to take, she pulled out the red and white capsule and, flinching a little in anticipation, opened it.
She was rewarded, as she’d been back in the village, with a fair-sized blue-and-purple bat creature flapping excitedly around her. Vierna lifted an arm to shield her face, and the creature caught at her sleeve with claws so small as to be nearly invisible and settled, hanging at her wrist, as she looked at it in bemusement. Zubat, the pokedex had called it; she wasn’t sure what “zu-” was supposed to mean, but it was certainly very much like the bats of the Underdark. As she watched, it yawned, showing sharp teeth that shone very white in the darkness, and folded its wings around itself.
As much as she wished to return to her own plane and her own business... perhaps this wasn’t all bad. It was a rather appealing little animal, after all. “I suppose you’ll need a name,” she commented – how did one go about naming an animal? Vierna had never been permitted a pet bat as a child, which was perhaps for the best, given her mother and sister’s attitudes toward weaker creatures. It did leave her a little at a loss for what to do with one now, though. Could she just... give it a name fitting a person? It wasn’t a person, but anything else seemed demeaning, somehow. “Ethetyrr?”
The zubat shrieked – but agreeably, Vierna thought. She carefully lifted her other hand to scratch the creature between its big ears. “Ethetyrr it is, then.”
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indigo_league) wrote2016-05-03 09:48 pm
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