simpathis | [ ARCHIVED ] [ application ]

[ ARCHIVED ] [ application ]

— OLD APPLICATION POST —
CURRENT APPLICATION ENTRY CAN BE FOUND HERE.

IMPORTANT!Applications are on a monthly cycle. They run from the 1st thru the 4th of each month. The cycle opens at 12:00AM CST and close at 11:59PM CST. Notices will be sent out all at once at the end of the cycle, and no later than 24 hours after the end of the cycle.

Before applying, please be sure to read the following:

Read the Rules and the Game Information.
Double check the Reserves and Taken Characters lists to make sure the character you're applying for is not on the list. Also check the comments in case the entry has yet to be updated, as well as any pending applications.
Feel free to use the most recent test drive both for practice as well as to use for samples. IMPORTANT! If you submit threads as samples, you must submit the application with that character journal. This is the only way we can ensure that the samples are from you and not someone else.
Linked samples must have been made within the past year.
You may apply for up to two characters per cycle.
Application challenges are allowed. Reserves will have priority, but it's not definitive. We will choose the better application regardless.
Do not plagiarize. If we find that the information provided was directly taken by either another player or source material such a wiki, the application will be rejected immediately. If we find this after processing the application, we will revoke the application and have you removed from the game with potential ban.
Reusing your own applications from other games is allowed. We only ask any original written samples to conform to our game. That is, we don't want to read samples that are set specifically for another game's premise. Note: this does not apply to threads linked from other games used as samples.
If you are rejected, you cannot reapply for the same character until the next cycle. However, you can apply for a different character in the same cycle.
Those accepted must fill out all of the required entries within a week to be considered part of the game. Otherwise, we will consider it a revocation of the application.
Fill out the form and comment to this entry! You can either paste the application directly to the entry or link it from your own journal/musebox.

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player:
Contact: Journal/Plurk/AIM — anything to help identify since someone might share your name handle.
Age: You must be at least 13 years old to apply.
Current Characters: If a new player, just put "N/A"

⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character:
Age:
Canon:
Canon Point:

Background: We do not need a play by play of their life. You can of course provide one, but it's not necessary. A summary of their role in the canon and important events involving their character will suffice. Wiki links are allowed.

Personality: Tell us everything you can about how the character works. What are their quirks, reasons for thinking, habits, and flaws—basically we want to know not only how they act, but also why they act that way. You are free to use canon as examples, but be sure to explain why you are referencing the event.

Abilities: If there are any particular abilities the character has supernatural or otherwise, list them here. Referencing to a wiki list is acceptable. However, if there are any particular abilities that need to be weakened or removed, note them here.

Alignment: Please refer to the Alignment entry to choose which alignment your character would most likely fall under. Include a brief (a couple of sentences max) just to help explain why you think your choice is the best fit.

Other: Anything else you'd like to mention.

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample: We have two requirements for the sample:

Character Portrayal. We should see examples of the character's dialogue as well as some introspection or additional narrative to further show how you intend to write the character. This is the most important part of the sample and where most of the weight will be.
Use of Emotions. This is our "game setting" requirement. Essentially we want to ensure that you have a basic grasp of the game's premise, especially with the use of emotions. It can be a small scene, even incidental to the main sample. For apathetic characters or those who do not exhibit emotions easily, an alternative is to describe what the character is doing instead and essentially show how they behave in such a manner. For example, if a character is set in a scenario that would normally provoke an emotional response, what do they do instead? What is their mindset and their reaction instead? This portion doesn't have to be lengthy and can even be a couple of sentences to a paragraph. Also keep in mind that subtle and passive effects count, so you do not have to try and create something exuberant or extreme. A calm wind will work just as well as a raging storm, so feel free to be as simple or creative as you want.

The sample can be "written" in three different ways and you can choose which one will work best for you:

Test Drive. You can utilize our test drive to cover both requirements of the sample. So long as there is enough character portrayal and a scene with an emotional reaction, be it within the prompt or done during the thread, then it will satisfy both requirements.
Link out + Written. You can link to threads/entries from other games, memes, or museboxes to show character portrayal, and then write an additional short scene for the emotion portion of the sample.
Original Sample. You can write a complete sample that shows both character portrayal and a scene involving emotion use. This can be one sample or two separate samples. If you opt to write an original sample, you are welcome to use any prompts from any of our Test Drives, Intro Logs, Task Board, and even past events. You are also free to change things up and are not restricted to any of these prompts. They are just here to help offer ideas.

Format wise, you can use either [ brackets ] OR narrative prose. We do require that the writing at least be coherent, have proper sentence structure, and is mostly grammatically correct (we realize that writing styles can be loose/creative in [ bracket ] form so we're giving a bit more leeway). One last suggestion we have is try to have the character interacting with the environment and try thinking of the sample less of a narrative piece but more like a post or thread prompt you might make in the game. That will help the sample show not only how you will write the character, but also how you will play them in practice.

Questions: If you have any questions, ask them here.

Clean copy and paste form here:

<center>⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉</center>
Player: 
Contact: 
Age: 
Current Characters:

<center>⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉</center>
Character:
Age:
Canon:
Canon Point:

Background:

Personality:

Abilities:

Alignment: [Choose from one of the following: Aiada, Daimonia, Elios, Peromei, Piphron, Sosyne, or Thras. Refer to the proper info page for more information and be sure to include a very brief reason why you chose the alignment.]

Other:

<center>⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉</center>
Sample: Remember that the sample needs to show both 1) core character portrayal and 2) some use of emotions, either as an environmental effect or discussing why a character is not feeling anything at all if they are more apathetic or less emotional than most. We highly encourage using the Test Drive, and you can use prompts from the Test Drives, Intro Logs, and the Task board if you need them. Refer to the main application page for links and more suggestions.

Questions:

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Congratulations! You've been accepted to the game. Just follow the following steps and you'll be officially considered part of the game. Remember you have one week otherwise we will consider it a revocation of the application.

• Reply to this comment with the journal you will be joining with.
• Comment to the Taken list.
• When your journal is added by the mod journal, comment to the Player Contact list.
• Join

empatheias,

crystalnet, and

empatheias,

crystalnet, and

empatheias,

crystalnet, and

empatheias,

crystalnet, and

While the application shows promise, there are a few things that either didn't quite meet our standards, were lacking, or incorrect. Fortunately we feel that this can be easily revised. Here are our concerns:

While your samples are well done, we would like more information pertaining to her personality. If you can, please elaborate on how the statement about Reimu aiming "for a nonviolent peace to spread across the land" reflects her current methods in dealing with youkai in a "kick their ass, then talk’" or "merciless" way.

Please submit your revisions as its own comment in reply to this one. You have one week to submit the revisions, otherwise we will consider it a revocation of your application. If you have any questions or concerns, ask away!

This would be the journal, thank you!

This one, of course!

This is her journal!

This is my Albion... and I will see it destroyed before I surrender it.

Who's the hot mess now?

It had been a long time since the spirit of the girl known as Sachiko Shinozaki had felt this much rage. She had gotten used to the idea that she wasn't able to return to her little paradise within the death-laden halls of her school. What she could not get used to was all the vibrant life around her. People would pass by her without even knowing she was there, without knowing that a hate-filled, envious spirit was glaring at them in with eyes filled with anger. The fact that so many people seemed to be living so many different happy lives was so infuriating to her that she could hardly contain it.

The phantom girl was invisible atop the roof of a building, looking down with eyes filled with annoyance. "Look at them all. Like stupid little bugs, just waiting to be stepped on." A giggle escapes her lips, one that could easily be confused as the laughter of an innocent child if one did not know the nature of the ghostly girl.She holds one of her hands in front of her face, making a circle with one finger and thumb, and peers through it. "If I had a giant magnifying glass, I'd just burn them all like the ants they are. Whooosh! No more annoying people!" It sounds like something a mean spirited child might say without any conviction, but Sachiko actually meant it. The lives of those people meant absolutely nothing to her. They were mere toys to play with, break, and then replace.

But regardless of how much she meant it, she did not have the same power in this world that she had back home. There was no inescapable school to drag people into, she had to pick and choose her toys a lot more carefully. And that was what she was doing now. She had picked this building because it let her watch large amounts of people at once, to find someone particularly loathsome to torment.

And finally, she saw her. A girl who was just breaking away from her group of friends to return home. That girl had everything Sachiko was never allowed to have. She had friends, and was probably returning to a loving family. Those were the only reasons she needed to torment the girl. She didn't know her name at all. She just knew that she hated her. "Aren't you just the cutest thing? So adorable I can't help but want to mess you up." A mocking laugh escapes her as she suddenly vanishes from her rooftop perch.

Keeping herself concealed from sight, she lands a short distance from the girl, hiding behind a bush. She had no intention of concealing herself for long, though. She let out a pained sounding moan, audible to her intended victim, before stumbling into sight. It was all a show, of course. In her experience, this type of person was rarely smart enough to be afraid of her. Not until it was too late at least. She puts on her best pathetic, sad expression as she approaches. When she speaks, her voice lacks the sinister, mocking tone she had used when speaking to herself. Instead she sounds like a scared, confused child. It was a role she had a lot of practice in.

"..M...miss?" She looks up at the girl, the poor girl who has no idea what sort of spirit she was dealing with. "..S...something happened.....I don't know where I am...." She sniffles, a hand coming to her face to rub at tears that just aren't there. "...I can't find mommy and daddy and....and I don't feel so well..." While on the outside she was playing the role of the helpless child, it was difficult for her to hold back her smirk. She didn't intend to make this quick. She would not be satisfied with giving this girl a bit of a scare and some bruises. No, she intended to see her ruined. "...You...you'll help me, won't you?" If she was smart the girl would say no. But they were rarely smart. Not when they saw a 'child' in trouble. Trembling visibly, she waited for an answer, outwardly scared but inwardly plotting. No matter what answer Sachiko was given, she had no intention of leaving the girl alone. All that would change was the way she was tormented.

Menoth be praised!

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Molly
Contact:

marvelousmith
Age: 24
Current Characters: none atm!

⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: River Tam
Age: 18 (pooooosssibly 17 but I'm pretty sure she had a birthday offscreen, haha)
Canon: Firefly/Serenity
Canon Point: post-Leaves on the Wind

Background: Wiki page for the series (wiki 2: electric boogaloo, wiki 3: revenge of the wiki)

Personality: It’s hard to know where to start with River. When lucid, she’s sweet and playful. She plays tag with her friend Kaylee, draws and colors, and listens to gossip about boys. But in less favorable circumstances, she’s cryptic, blunt, and even violent. She throws packs of medical equipment around, explains how the crew would freeze to death in space before asphyxiating, and slashes a crewmate across the chest with a butcher knife.

These opposing traits exist in her mainly due to the medical and psychological experimentations she underwent as a teenager. Her brother, Simon, recalls how she acted before the experiments: hyperintelligent and hypertalented – to the point of being “more than gifted…she was a gift”; sometimes “a real brat” but still dearly loved by him and their parents. His descriptions – as well as several flashbacks that are scattered throughout the series – indicate that the friendly and sweet personality is the original.

Unfortunately, the experiments performed on her by the government – which included at least one partial lobotomy – left her scarred and unstable. It is unclear what the experimenters’ purposes were, but it seems that they were turning River Tam into an assassin. They conditioned her into responding to certain codes, both visual and aural; at least one exists to trigger her into “mindless killing” mode (as seen in the movie, when she incapacitates an entire bar’s worth of people), and one to “put her to sleep” (which stops her from hurting her captain in said bar). They took her natural intuitiveness and attempted to expand upon it – perhaps to the point of her becoming “psychic”. There are times when it does seem that she can read minds, knowing things that she couldn’t have known before; at other times she’s just hypersensitive, reading everything about a person from their voice, their body, their inflections. What is certain about her intuitiveness is that she can’t control it. The partial lobotomy – which removed her amygdala, the part of the brain that controls emotions – left her unable to filter or hold things back; as a result, “she feels everything. She can’t not”. Although it would be inaccurate to say that she always explains herself (she definitely doesn’t, and when she does it’s often cryptic and layered), she does have trouble knowing when to say things and when to keep quiet. (For example, at one point she and Simon are kidnapped by a town of old-fashioned folk, who come to believe that River is a “witch” and must be burnt. The pastor/village elder reacts kindly to her at first – perhaps this is just a misunderstanding, and she is simply a strange little girl. Unfortunately, River reads him and reveals that he gained his position of power by murdering his predecessor, “proving” that she’s a “witch” and causing him to proceed with the witch-burning.)

Her unstable moods sometime leave her morbid, such as when she decides to lay down on a (filled) coffin; childish, such as when she refuses to give Shepherd Book his Bible back; or generally inappropriate, such as when she calmly watches Kaylee and Simon consummating their relationship in the engine room.

Despite all of this, in her saner moments she reveals that she cares greatly for Simon and the rest of the crew. She is aware that her brother gave up everything he had to save her, and feels guilty for it (“You gave up everything you had to find me. You found me broken. It's hard for you.”). As aforementioned, she can be very nice and “pleasant enough” to be around; it all depends on her mood. After the events of the movie, she does seem to be more stable as commented on by her brother and Mal, but still continues to say odd things and jump around hitting people with knives.

Abilities: River's powers are somewhat difficult to describe; the short story is, she's a psychic assassin trained in being ridiculously fast and calculating. She appears to be able to read minds, sometimes in a more subtle way - seeing what people are feeling by observing them very closely, and having enough empathy to get some of that emotion in herself - and sometimes in a more mysterious way - knowing the pasts of the people around her, even when there is no conventional way for her to possess such knowledge. Her empathetic telepathy/psychometry probably has something to do with the missing parts of her brain. Her great power is tempered by the fact that she cannot control it.

Simon also mentions in his exposition for River that “Everything she did, music, math, theoretical physics -- even-even dance -- there was nothing that didn't come as naturally to her as breathing does to us.” Since her time at the Academy, River has developed her almost surreal grace for both dancing and more deadly combat situations. She is able to incapacitate an entire bar after being triggered by a secret code broadcasted by the government, and also seems fairly proficient with a variety of weapons, including guns and axes. She speaks English, Mandarin Chinese, Esperanto, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, and Russian.

Alignment: Daimonia (grief-joy). As aforementioned, she "feels everything" and the gambit of happiness to sadness seems to encompass the most. There are a few iconic scenes of River being both joyous (dancing in the fair, playing chase with Kaylee) and grief-stricken ("You found me broken. It's hard for you. You gave up everything you had."; Sessions 22 of the R. Tam Sessions).

Other: River will be carrying a plastic toy dinosaur with her upon arrival.

⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample:
(In canon characters interject English with Chinese words and phrases. I will include the translation in hover-text when River does this.)

He would’ve liked it, she mused to herself as she toyed idly with the (his) plastic dinosaurs on the dashboard. Everything had been remade with love. She had watched Inara carefully paint Serenity’s face again, making her shine with new life. She had heard the new life in Zoe, and was excited to know that she would no longer be the youngest on board. (“I want her to call me dà jiě jie,” she’d said to Zoe, who’d been confused. She hadn’t even known about her own family, growing inside of her.) She had been pleased to know that Simon and Kaylee had finally found each other, pleased for him because her brother had finally figured out how girls work and pleased for her because she would be a real part of the family now.

She had wanted to keep his things on the dashboard. The rest of them agreed. They felt like it was a tribute to him. She decided it meant that he was still with them. People put themselves into their possessions. When his and Zoe’s baby was born, she would show the things to her. Then it would be like he was still here to be a father. He had always wanted to be one; she had heard him talk about it, time and time again, when the whole crew was together and when he thought he and Zoe were alone.

The ‘Verse had an ironic streak, to take him away just before he got his wish. She would’ve been upset at the unfairness of it all, but she’d already known how unfair life was.

Carefully, she placed the hula-dancer doll at the head of the dinosaurs, making sure it was secure. It was time for Mal to take the wheel.

(It wasn’t actually a wheel. That was an old anachronism, from the days of ships on water, on Earth-That-Was. They were steered via rudders, which were controlled via wheels. Which were controlled via humans, at the helm of the transport.)

It was time for Mal to take the controls. That was a more appropriate turn of phrase for Serenity. It was morning (another anachronism: in space, without the guidance of a star or a planetary orbit, traditional times of day had little meaning. It was the end of the crew’s sleep cycle) and that meant her shift was over. He wouldn’t want to be up, and he’d complain at her as he got ready, but a deal was a deal.

She found the hatch to his room unlocked and was climbing noisily down it when he cried out at her. He claimed not to be decent. She knew what men looked like. It didn’t seem like an issue, in her mind. But then her mind was never quite like the others’. So she climbed back up and waited at the top for him.

After a few moments he started.

“You know…little one…I’m not saying an early rise ain’t good for a man. But I’m thinking your impression of ‘early’ might be a little different than the rest of us. Pretty sure I just fell asleep a minute ago and now you’re sayin’ it’s time to get up…”

Above him, she smiled. He’d complain, but a deal was a deal.

Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality

empatheias,

crystalnet, and

While the application shows promise, there are a few things that either didn't quite meet our standards, were lacking, or incorrect. Fortunately we feel that this can be easily revised. Here are our concerns:

While you have a good Sample for River, we would like you to expand more on River's Personality. In particular, we would like to know less about her behavioral quirks and more about her as a person. We would like you to expand on her self-awareness, her worldview, how she feels about others/people in general, and what her current motivations for her actions are, if there are any at all.

Please submit your revisions as its own comment in reply to this one. You have one week to submit the revisions, otherwise we will consider it a revocation of your application. If you have any questions or concerns, ask away!

empatheias,

crystalnet, and

empatheias_ooc. They are all open membership so no approval required.
• Introduce yourself in our Player Intro post and start playing!

Optional:
• Review the Game Info, Emotions, Amulet, and Island information pages.
• Make sure you understand how the Network works. Remember, Empatheias uses telepathy as communication!
• Feel free to make a "Message Box" type post for any private messages that could be sent via messenger bird.

Please use the Character Introduction Log for your character intro. If you have any questions at any time, feel free to contact us! Have fun :D

In addition, we just wanted to let you know that while the content of your sample was great, but we did have some difficulty reading the paragraphs that had dialogue within it, particularly the second and last paragraphs. We suggest that you space out the content so that the lines of dialogue are more visible and not buried in the narrative text.

While the application shows promise, there are a few things that either didn't quite meet our standards, were lacking, or incorrect. Fortunately we feel that this can be easily revised. Here are our concerns:

There are a couple of things we'd like for you to expand on Feora's personality. You've touched upon a couple of interesting facets, such as how she believes she's the one best suited to lead and mentioning her beliefs. Could you go into more detail about the kind of justice and faith she has? Is it purely religious or are there moral teachings or virtues that she also follows? We're also curious how much of her actions is out of justice or if she is more like a warmonger.

Please submit your revisions as its own comment in reply to this one. You have one week to submit the revisions, otherwise we will consider it a revocation of your application. If you have any questions or concerns, ask away!