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Empatheias Mods ([personal profile] simpathis) wrote2014-05-25 12:34 am
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[ applications: canon characters ]

— APPLICATIONS ARE ALWAYS OPEN

Reserves OPEN
OC Applications are here


IMPORTANT! We are officially in endgame until August 31, 2020. Applications are on a rolling basis. There is a small "block" period from the 1st through the 4th of every month to allow a bulk of apps to be submitted, and then applications can be submitted at any time during the month. Notices will be sent out all at once after the first "block" period, and then between 24 hours to the end of the weekend depending on how many and our schedule. Applications are guaranteed to be processed during the weekends.

Before applying, please be sure to read the following:

  • Read the Rules and the Game Information.
  • Double check the Reserves and Taken Characters lists (A-M | N-Z) 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.
  • RETURNING PLAYERS! You only need to submit any old application. Does not matter how long ago, as long as it was accepted and you have good standing (ie, not banned), it will be valid.
  • 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 month.
  • 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 content from your own applications from other games is allowed. However, the application must follow our format, and we 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 for two weeks. However, you can apply for a different character in that timeframe.
  • 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.


We have compiled sample applications from our players to show what the mod team and the application moderators are looking for in terms of writing quality and depth. We hope you find these samples useful!


⌈ 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 ⌉

We have two sample requirements.

General Sample: 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.

Emotion Sample: 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. A reminder that apathetic characters will also create effects, such as loss of color, surface distortion, holes forming. This section doesn't have to be lengthy, but the effect must be clear for us to see.

The emotion sample can be part of the general character sample. If so, please link directly or directly quote that portion so that it's easier for us to quickly find it.

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

  1. 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 can be used for both.
  2. 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.
  3. 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:



(first application page has been archived and can be found here.)
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nobodys_puppet: (New kid in the Hood)

App part 1

[personal profile] nobodys_puppet 2018-02-01 10:26 am (UTC)(link)
⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉

Player: Chicklet
Contact: Plurk: ChickletLARP, or message this journal
Age: Adult
Current Characters: None in this game yet.


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉

Character: Xion/ XIV
Age: about a year old. Looks about 14-16ish
Canon: Kingdom Hearts
Canon Point: As she is dying, because I am a horrible person

Background:
Xion was created as a double of an existing Nobody (Roxas) using memories from his Somebody (Sora) of Sora's friend (Kairi) by Namine, who is Kairi's Nobody. Confused yet? We're just getting started...

Xion was created to be a puppet for the Organization, because Xemnas wanted to have a second Keyblade wielder for his plans. Where most Nobodies in the Organization seem to have at least vague memories of being Somebodies, Xion (like Roxas) does not, at first. She arrives in game while Roxas is dealing with the fact that Axel is off on a prolonged mission, and either out of loneliness or kinship he does for Xion what Axel did for him when he was new and had no memories. He takes her under his wing, talks to her, draws her out, and sits with her at the end of the day with sea salt ice cream to watch the sunset.

After a while, Xion started to come out of her shell more, but only with Roxas. The thing with her is that people see what they expect to see when they look at her. Most members of the Organization cannot hear her speak, and see her with her hood up all the time. Roxas, once he started to make the effort to get to know her, saw her as her. Axel for reasons of his own, saw her as her. Saiix always saw her as a puppet, to him she has a blank face devoid of features. This did not exactly encourage her to branch out and talk to others more than she had to.

In so much as a Nobody in the Organization who isn't high ranking can be... Xion was content at times. After missions, sitting with Roxas and Axel made everything else easier, and the ice cream took off the rough edges of the day.

But she started having more and more issues controlling her Keyblade. She was terrified that Saiix and Xemnas were going to declare her a failed experiment and turn her into a Dusk (a lower form of Nobody that is basically a combination of servant and canonfodder).

Axel had the idea to get her and Roxas to team up on missions. As Keyblade wielders, they were supposed to use those weapons to gather hearts, and without hers, she wasn't meeting her quotas. So Roxas and she did some missions together, and between his Keyblade and her magic, they were able to JUST get enough hearts to stay out of danger.

Or so they thought.

Saiix grew tired of them being paired up, or perhaps he suspected there was something wrong with one of them, or it was just spite. With Saiix, it's hard to tell. He told them that their days of working together were rapidly dwindling.

In desperation, one mission, Roxas gave Xion his Keyblade and used a branch stick as a weapon again, sure that if she just worked with a Keyblade for a while, she'd remember how to summon hers again. And it worked! She was able to survive the separate missions, and fill her quotas.

Two other major things of note happened during this time, but spread out throughout the year: the comas, and Riku.

There seemed to be a pattern, though no one really called anyone out over it much. Any time Roxas got especially strong and was doing well, Xion weakened. It got bad enough that she was unwakeable for days at a time. When she would finally stir, there would be brightly coloured sea shells from Roxas waiting for her, because he knew she loved the ocean.

The other side of the pattern came when Xion got stronger. Roxas fell into a coma, and she returned the gift leaving favor.

The other big thing of note intermixed, as I said, was Riku. Riku for reasons of his own was trying to infiltrate Organization XIII, and all members were instructed to be on the lookout for a spy wearing their coat. Xion's first meeting with him went... poorly. They fought, and she demanded to know who he was, and he demanded to know how she had a Keyblade. He won the confrontation, declared her Keyblade to be a "sham" and left in disgust, leaving her on the ground, screaming in rage and frustration.

They met again multiple times, and perhaps triggered by meeting him, Xion started having memories. Memories of Sora and Kairi. Riku, meanwhile, had learned more about Xion and why she existed. He saved her in one meeting, and was kinder, but informed her basically that Sora would never wake up so long as she was alive and her own person. That she had to give up her memories, and while he doesn't say it, it is clear her existence as well. She says she doesn't want to leave her friends and he tells her to think about who needs her most, and where she really belongs, and that her answer can't just be the one that's best for her, but the one that is best for everyone.

He basically rips her to shreds with guilt and gets her to thank him for it.

She does try to leave, to do what is 'right' and rejoin Sora. Axel and Roxas are sent to retrieve her, and she clearly wants to go back, but is trying to do the right thing, even though it is killing her emotionally and will kill her physically. When Roxas tries to bring her back, she goes as far as to draw her Keyblade at him. Axel steps in and beats her in combat to knock her out. She realizes why, later. Because he wanted to keep her with them, just a little bit longer. Because he wanted them to still be friends. Still be together. Roxas doesn't forgive Axel for hurting her, but Xion understands why he did, and stays a while longer.

When she starts to remember her first days of existence, and they get tangled with the memories of Sora and Kairi, she makes her way to Castle Oblivion, where once more Axel is seemingly cruel in order to save her. He brings her back and makes sure they don't destroy her, but Roxas only gets part of the story, widening the rift between them.

When she finally realizes it is time to leave, she makes her preparations. She learns from Namine that not only must she be destroyed to restore Sora, but she must be forgotten as well. Namine will erase her from everyone's memories. And... and Roxas will have to go back too, but Xion going back first buys him time. More time to be with Axel. She agrees, reluctantly.

She says goodbye to Axel in a rather odd way. combat. If he can beat her, again, she's clearly not ready to go. But if she wins... she knows it is time. After that, she goes to wait for Roxas. All second thoughts and hopes vanish when she lowers her hood, and Roxas sees Sora's face, instead of hers. Namine's magic has already started to work on her. On them.

For some reason never quite made clear, she then becomes an odd boss monster Heartless. they fight, and then are on the ground under the tower. Roxas sees her. He's already forgotten her, but for some reason, seeing her dying, he starts crying. Which, should in theory, be impossible; of course. She says her last goodbyes, telling Roxas that he has to undo all they had done, that he has to destroy Xemnas' plans, and then rejoin Sora. And then she fades to nothingness in his arms.... I am pulling her from this moment. Cause I'm a jerk like that.




Personality:
Xion is never going to be the most confident person in a room. Even if she's alone there. she carries a lot of guilt for things no one in their right mind would blame her for. For helping forward Xemnas' plans. For hurting Axel by making him hurt her. For making Sora wait, and hurting Riku that way. For hurting EVERYONE who loves Sora, by being selfish and taking the extra time with her friends. She feels guilty for making Roxas weak by trying to be strong. She feels guilty that she wasn't able to leave them a goodbye that they'd remember, that mattered.

Pair that kind of guilt with having been beaten down verbally by Saiix on a regular basis about how she's a failed experiment, and never should have existed in the first place? She's a mess. And frankly, Riku's guilt trips only made things worse.

Further, she was fed the same pack of lies as the rest of the Organization. About not having a heart, about not being able to have real emotions. Only the fake emulations of emotions from memories of when they did have hearts, and she of course spent most of her existence not even having those. So she dosen't trust herself, or her own emotions.

And you can add shy to that list. Only people who made an effort to see her in the organization could see her face at all. Could hear her. Riku freaked out when he first saw her face. Saiix never hid that he saw no face at all. All if this leads to her being very hesitant to lower her hood or speak up in front of strangers.

And she thinks she needs to go back to being part of Sora ASAP, she needs to stop existing, for the good of Sora, everyone who cares about Sora.. and for Roxas' sake. So she can stop weakening him. So she's not looking to make new friends anyway, because liking people.... just makes it that much harder to leave, makes it hurt that much more...to know that they'll have to forget she ever existed. No matter how much they thought they got her memorized.

When defending her friends, or trying to do what it right, she can be stubborn and strong, but in fits and starts that never last long - and never for her own sake.

She works hard, on missions. She is motivated by fear, yes, but she does a good job, and does not slack off. Which is more than can be said for some of the other Organization members. (Looking at you, Demyx.) She's not openly rebellious, and even her moments of rebellion are brief and mostly kept between her and her two best friends. But for Axel and Roxas... she would do anything. They are what made her existence less than miserable. They are her best friends. And though she believes herself incapable of feeling love, she loves them. With all her non-existent heart.


Abilities:
Keyblade. Sometimes. (will work out with the Roxas player OOCly if they will drain each other or not.)
Magic. Even without the Keyblade, Xion is a formidable battle caster. But since people only ever saw her value as the fact that she had a Keyblade, only Roxas and Axel ever really became aware just how strong a fighter she can be with her magic. And as they rarely say anything about it to her, she undervalues it herself. But she teams up with Roxas on missions when he's the big PC, and she has no weapon at all and she HOLDS HER OWN. So yeah, she's a magical powerhouse, and that SHOULDN'T drain Roxas, in theory, unless she is channeling through the Keyblade (which Keyblade wielders can do)
Existing without a heart. Not sure if that counts as a power, but there it is.
RTC - which will not work in game the way she expects it to. (If you want me to nerf it out entirely, I can do that. Otherwise it won't work for her at first, and when it does, it will only take her back to her "Home" in game. RTC stands for Return to Castle, and opens a Dark Corridor to the Castle where she "lived" she can use the same power to go to the location of her missions, and if you allow the modified RTC, I'll keep that as well. Basically, in canon she can go to any world that way. In game she can only go to places she could get to in game.)



Alignment: Thras
Xion spends most of the game scared of being turned into a dusk, or destroyed. She's terrified of being unmade. But in the end... she's brave enough to send herself to be unmade to buy Roxas more time, and to help Sora save everyone.

Edited 2018-02-01 10:28 (UTC)
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