wip nightfell app

♰ OOC

Player Name: mal
Are you over 18? yes
Contact: resurrectionist
Characters in game: n/a



♰ BASICS

Character's name: aristaeus
Canon: original
Canon point: standing in front of the rescue team, an unconscious mavis in tow. they are about to return by shuttle to the capital. 
Age: 93

Background: cw: genocide, slavery, imperialism, religious bigotry and overall questionable themes

like all kossian children, aristaeus was born in a breeding center in the heart of the imperial capital and raised in a group-home by caretakers who taught him to think of himself as part of a community. as a result of the hivemind connecting the psychically-sensitive population of kossos together, aristaeus learned to eschew personal relationships and individualism, focusing instead on his duty to the collective. though he had no knowledge of nor contact with his parents, he bonded to those around him, and he came away from this early education feeling certain about his place in society.

a gifted student with a strong sense of nationalistic pride, aristaeus was accepted to the empire's military academy. his time there further cultivated in him a fanatical devotion to both the empire and its policies of benevolent expanionism — believing that those hostilities bettered the lives of all those integrated into the empire. under the supervision of a senior instructor and telekinetic specialist named pallas, aristaeus trained to become a venator, tracking down and retrieving individuals identified by themis as good candidates for integration into the empire due to their strong psychic abilities. with her assistance, he refined his already precocious predisposition towards telekinesis and became a prodigy at precision control. he graduated from the program a year earlier than projected, at thirty eight. during his graduation ceremony, he was fitted a spinal implant to enhance his power and assigned to an operational unit.

as a venator, aristaeus joined an elite caste in kossian society, enjoying all the pleasures of imperial bounty, regarded by fellow kossians as the right arm to THEMIS, the ancient AI who rules the empire (and whose discovery birthed the empire and its hivemind). venators have the novel privilege of interacting with THEMIS directly, and through this experience, aristaeus also developed a personal and fanatical devotion to the AI. fueled by this increasingly aberrant personal loyalty to THEMIS and pallas, aristaeus served dutifully in this role for about fifty years and developed an impressive reputation for efficiency.

when a routine assignment takes him into the soundless wilds, one of the last territories untouched by imperial influence, aristaeus and his unit meet with representatives of the itinerant kuruko clan. the venators attempt to negotiate for the surrender of their target, but the conversation quickly sours when the kuruko deny sheltering her. per protocol, the venators turn to violence to seek out their target. but even after brutally eliminating the clan's people to the last man, they find no sign of her.

en-route back to the shuttle point, aristaeus discovers signs of life. upon investigating, he discovers the target — mavis — approaching the wreckage of her former clan. they fight, and mavis escapes.

rendered unable to pursue by injury, aristaeus returns to the capital. ashamed of his failure and fixated on correcting his mistake, he argues for his unit to be sent back. after debrief and healing, he is. his obsessive determination to capture her only grows when, on their next encounter, mavis kills the youngest of his teammates, ione, and creates a psychic tether between herself and aristaeus, allowing them to sense each other's thoughts and feelings, even across great distance.

the next time he finds her, he and his remaining teammate leto pursue her into an ancient mine site where she shelters from a growing dust storm. their conflict causes the mine to collapse, killing leto and trapping mavis and aristaeus together.

left to survive or die together, aristaeus and mavis reluctantly bond. aristaeus' fixation on mavis deepens into something more complicated, which is what ultimately leads him to decide that if she won't return with him voluntarily, he will simply remove the choice from her. after all, once she sees what the empire has to offer she will understand. a rescue team arrives after two days, greeted by him and his unconscious captive. 

Abilities:

FUROR: a natural force exerted upon the world in the vein of gravity (think something like the force in star wars or dark energy in mass effect), it was dubbed 'furor' by the early empire due to its strong connection to a wielder's emotional state. 

as a kossian, aristaeus was born with a naturally high affinity for furor, meaning that he can exert a greater degree of influence over his environment. his power can be broken down into the following branches: 

• TELEKINESIS – aristaeus' primary talent is in telekinesis. he can lift, hold and otherwise manipulate objects to a very precise degree. in theory, he can lift light through to heavy objects (around the size of a small car) but the greater the weight the more strain it places on his body.

• BIOKINESIS – rooted in the primary telekinetic ability, aristaeus is able to manipulate living matter telekinetically, with varying degrees of success. primarily he can temporarily augment his physical traits, allowing himself brief bursts of speed or strength. he is also able to inflict or heal wounds in others, though his ability is restricted by his anatomical knowledge. 

• ESP – he does possess a nominal skill for perception based psionics (which would be something like telepathy). primarily, this will manifest in an ability to detect life in his immediate area, read surface-level thoughts (provided he either concentrates or they are especially loud) and glean vague memory impressions off of objects.

VENATOR TRAINING: as a part of the kossian military caste, aristaeus has received decades of physical and psychological conditioning to prepare him for hunting down high-affinity individuals.

• COMBAT – he excels in armed and unarmed close-quarter combat. a stun baton or combat knife would be his weapon of choice.

• SURVIVAL TRAINING – he has been instructed to survive in hostile terrains, with minimal resources, for extended periods. in addition to this, he is a skilled tracker and performs this function in his operational unit.

• PHYSIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE – he has extensive knowledge of human anatomy, albeit on a mechanical rather than medical level. this instruction was meant to extend his knowledge of the body's functioning, to manipulate or influence it better.

• IMPLANT – a prissite implant (rare, high-value in universe metal) that runs the length of the spine. the implant functions as a passive amplifier, allowing him greater control of his abilities and occasionally pushing himself past what would ordinarily be considered a dangerous limit. surpassing these limits will have obvious physical effects like intense migraines, haemorrhages and even seizures. 

• RAPID HEALING – a passive side-effect of the implant is that aristaeus' body will heal at an accelerated rate dependent on the nature of the injury, and provided his head remains undamaged. obstructions to the injury site will hamper healing. 

KOSSIAN PHYSIOLOGY: while biologically human, aristaeus has some unique characteristics i'm noting because they will influence his behavior.

• HIVEMIND – a psychic tether that ties him to the people of the empire and to the ai, THEMIS. as the hivemind operates on moderate drone awareness, individuals maintain a significant amount of personal autonomy and sense of self, but are monitored by THEMIS. in aristaeus' case, this means that he would be able to pick up on the thoughts and emotions of other 'tethered' like himself if he were in close proximity, with relative ease. 

• SUB-TETHER – a secondary, "lesser" connection formed between himself and mavis which allows him to occasionally pick up her strong emotions and thoughts. 

♰ SUITABILITY

Strengths:

• PRINCIPLED: to a surprising degree. while he is disdainful of anyone that exists outside of the kossian hivemind, he tends to deal fairly and directly with them and expects the same level of consideration in turn. failure to uphold this basic social contract will not only validate his prejudice but could result in him taking the offense quite personally. in the netherworld, this will reflect as much in his dealing with the locals as it will in his dealing with fellow restless. 

• LOYAL: aristaeus is very much a product of his society. years of indoctrination and conditioning has left him with an almost fanatical devotion to the empire and its cause. this being said, he does genuinely believe that bringing others into the imperial fold is doing them a favour and for this reason he is able to "betray" mavis without seeing this as a contradiction to their own burgeoning relationship. in his mind, the empire is the safest place for her where she will enjoy the best quality of life without having to fear for her safety or hide. 

• RESILIENT: priory training is brutal, pushing novitiates to the edge in an effort to weed out any weak links. having survived to graduate, aristaeus has already demonstrated a considerable mental and physical fortitude. he has carried this forward into his active duty, where he is forced to spend extended periods of time away from the capital, with minimal resources. his ability to bear this discomfort without strain will translate similarly into how he engages with the netherworld. 

Weaknesses:

• OBSESSIVE: aristaeus is prone to forming obsessive fixations. while the ability to hyper-focus has proven to be advantageous, allowing him to tune out distractions and maximize his efficiency, it also means that he quickly becomes consumed by the object of his obsession. its for this reason that he's unable to leave mavis alone once he's aware of her. this is only acerbated by the discovery of their connection. 

• RUTHLESS: aristaeus is willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure his own success and survival. he tends to base his decisions on logic rather than on emotion, which means that he easily divorces the human element of the equation — this is made easier by the fact that he views anyone outside of the empire as being subhuman, and therefore expendable, which is why he is able to massacre mavis' clan without experience an ounce of guilt.

• INTRACTABLE: aristaeus becomes so invested in his decisions that it's difficult for him to deviate once he's settled on a course, regardless of if events take a turn for the worst. moreover, because he is so sure of himself he will struggle to admit when he's made a bad call and will quickly turn bitter and defensive when challenged. as a result of this, he can be difficult to work with and is prone to behaving recklessly, endangering himself and others around him, as seen in how his recent attempt to capture mavis nearly results in their death and does result in the death of his operational unit.

Fears:

• REJECTION: leaving aside the fact that nobody enjoys rejection, rejection from the hivemind takes this a step further in that the psychological blowback from being severed might well be lethal. to aristaeus' knowledge, at least, there is no one that has broken from the hive and survived. 

• FAILURE: due to his upbringing, aristaeus defines his personal worth by his ability to perform to the correct standard. as a result of this, his fear of failure and being deemed unworthy eclipses his drive to succeed and might lead him to act desperately and irrationally if he feels that he is not meeting that standard.

• LOSS OF CONTROL: in kossian society, losing control means "burning out". burning out is when you push so far past your limit that your mind buckles, and you succumb to an irreversible vegetative state. given his extended lifespan it shouldn't be difficult to understand why he would like to avoid this happening to him. 

Desires: more than anything, aristaeus craves connection and acceptance but lacks the understanding of how to achieve this outside of what would be deemed societally appropriate — such as the relationship between himself and his unit. personal attachments and the related intimacies are viewed as something broadly damaging to the kossian society as it priortizes individual needs over that of the collective whole. aristaeus' relationship to his unit is permissable as it facilitates a greater resilience and strength in pursuit of one's duty. despite its intensity, it is still largely transactional.

in contrast, what he wants is something that would be more personal and even selfish. he would like to be able to form the kind of connection with someone that would allow him to be vulnerable without the fear of ridicule.


Regrets: aristaeus believes that his failure to capture mavis initially resulted in the death of the other members of his unit. he regards this as a personal failing – if he had not faltered at that crucial moment, she would never have escaped.

Tethers:

⁍ THE PRIORY - this is represented as a mechanical honey bee. the bee is the symbol of the priory proper, while the mechanical embellishments hint at the ai overlord's influence on not only it but the kossian society as a whole. the priory is "home" to aristaeus more so than the capital, as it is where he was raised and taught.

⁍ IONE & LETO - the two members of aristaeus' three person unit. leto is an older man with patrician features, who looks to be somewhere in his late thirties to mid forties. ione is a younger woman, who looks to be in her early twenties. they represent a kind of pseud-family and stabilizing force.

⁍ DORATA - two crossed weapons, resembling something between a spear and a riot baton. they're commonly used training weapons, allowing novitates to stun or disable their opponents in the ring. not only is aristaeus proficient in their use, but they represent his personal dedication and belief toward the imperial cause.

♰ OPT-INS / OPT-OUTS


Harrowings: yes
Curses/Pranks: yes
Imprisonment: yes
Encounters: yes
Loss of control: yes

NOTE: nothing i can think of



♰ SAMPLES

⁍ TDM TOPLEVEL
⁍ ALINA: text but moves to action
⁍ CHURCH