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cultor | somnia app
PLAYER INFO
Name: Throck
Preferred Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
throckmorton | cuzthrockmorton @ discord | PM
Age: 18+
Invite Link: Current player, I play Julian Bashir
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Little Cato (this may change later as his real name is being revealed in future canon)
Canon: Final Space
Age: 14
If Under 16, why is this character a good thematic fit for Somnia?: Cato is from the same canon as Ash, which is a sci fi canon with a lot of apocalyptic/cosmic horror elements and a fair bit of gore. Cato was raised with combat skills by his general father in a brutal military dictatorship. He's been comfortable with hand to hand combat and had a gun in his hand from an early age, has no qualms with killing, and is treated as a competent member of his crew, tasked with the same things the adults are. In canon, he's shown having the resilience to survive multiple horrific events in canon, ranging from watching other children get executed by their own parents on Lord Commander's orders, being imprisoned and mistreated for 3 years by the dictator and his lackey, losing his father Avocato, getting his father back only to see him get possessed, having to shoot his possessed father (thinking he killed him), having to kill countless rotting and maimed zombie variations of his other adoptive father Gary, and having it revealed that Avocato killed his real parents and lied that he was his bio father.
Also there was that time he was stuck in a time shard and was alone for 60 years and went absolutely stark raving nuts and hallucinated 24/7 after a psychotic break. That was the one time he cracked, and he managed to pull himself together after reverting back, which is frankly a miracle.
He will honestly be more resilient and better adapted to a horror/post-apoc setting than my other character since he's from a grim universe, and is miles better at combat/self-defense, even unarmed. His only weakness is his size. I do also plan to canon update him to 5 years later, as the finale graphic novel is coming out this spring, so he wouldn't have to survive super long as a young teen.
Obviously, I'll be avoiding any 18+ prompts while he's a minor, and I have no plans to do shipping unless he canon updates to the later canonpoint. And if anyone wants to avoid him due to his age (since some people don't like playing adults worrying about kids), I have an extensive opt-out page with "opt out of playing with him entirely" options, and opt outs for all the grim and abuse-related parts of canon.
Canon Point: s3 finale, after Invictus breaks through to his universe, starting the apocalypse.
Wiki Link(s): The wiki is unfortunately not great and missing the whole 3rd season.
Here's a more detailed writeup.
SOMNIA-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
1. Dreams are how Sleep chooses you. What might draw your character into Somnia— a wound, a wish, a weakness? Would they follow the dream, or run from it?
A wound. Cato's only solace during his time imprisoned and abused by Lord Commander was that his father was coming for him. Finding out that Avocato killed his bio parents, the king and queen of Ventrexia, on Lord Commander's orders, is a devastating blow. It means an ongoing source of hope and love has been corrupted to something ugly, especially since he knows now his father probably should've predicted Lord Commander would try to harm him and finish the royal family off, making his execution order, imprisonment, and abuse far more predictable. It appears in the upcoming graphic novel (highlight for spoilers) that he leaves his crew to go with the Ventrexians back to take his rightful throne on Ventrexia, putting distance between himself and the crew.
Gary keeping Avocato's secret will change how he feels about his other adoptive father, too. And Ash couldn't just tell him the truth, she dragged him into the lair of the series Big Bad and tried to get him to join them despite said Big Bad being terrifying and planning to destroy their universe.
The kid has been hurt by multiple people, in many ways, and that injury will be catching up to him. (Which is why the upcoming events of the graphic novel make sense.) Whether all the pain catches up to him in a way he can't survive or he finds his way out to the other side remains to be seen, especially since the Ash player and I have talked about the two characters initially being destabilizing influences on each other.
The good thing is the kid is immensely likeable and has managed to bond with people even during some of the most traumatized times of his life. After his father's (first) death, when he was obsessed with revenge on Lord Commander, Gary was still able to find a way to bond with him. Even when he's on guard and distrusting, he can be won over, and he's good at leaning on the support of others once he lets them in.
He would likely run from the dream, out of a pattern of survival and running for his life often. He knows when to cut his losses and he tries to escape pain.
2. Somnia is a slow unraveling—of worlds, and of selves. How does your character respond to fear, transformation, and losing control? Do they fight, adapt, collapse?
The good thing is despite all these traumas, Little Cato is absolutely a ferocious fighter and consummate survivor. He has refused to give up in circumstances that would destroy most adults, and survived incidents that would permanently destroy the sanity of most people in general. He responds to fear with action, to transformation with resilience, and to losing control with patience. He was trapped for 3 years under Lord Commander's thumb, sometimes being taunted and abused by him and his guard Viro, and simply kept making attempt after attempt at attacks, as well as taking opportunistic advantage of any openings he saw to escape. Even in the third year, after being mistreated for that long, he still had enough spirit to mock his captors. When Cato has no options, he sits and waits for the next opening and he doesn't let his spirit get beaten down - or at least figures out ways to pick himself up off the mat.
The only situation that truly broke him was the time shard and that took the slow passage of decades alone, with him not even knowing if the rest of the crew was alive on the other side of the ship. Rescue and reversion back to his 14-year-old mindset allowed him enough sanity to cling on and keep going, though. Even if I'm leaning on Word of God that he's hidden how traumatic the situation was from the adults around him, it's an almost miraculous recovery and sense of resolve.
3. Connection is the only constant. What kind of bonds does your character form— fast and burning, slow and wary, deep and desperate? How might that shape their time in this world?
Little Cato usually bonds with people pretty quickly, though he'll struggle more than usual since he'll be coming from a situation where he was betrayed by several people he trusted.
It'll be a situation where he's struggling with that distrust, since his normal nature is that he attaches pretty quickly and healthily to others. He'll be able to make attachments but it will probably take some work at first. He's still capable of it, though. It helps that he's an extremely loyal ride-or-die person willing to fight for others when they do finally win him over, making them care about him in turn. Among his crew, he was the one that always emotionally protested leaving crewmates behind at moments the others did tactical retreats.
He can also just be an extremely loving kid when he finally bonds with someone, showing that there's gentleness under all the kitty homicide. He was a very gentle friend to Ash, which is why he was the very last crew member she still had loyalties to while spiraling, despite all her traumas. And he was the one to insist on tearfully giving a sweet-natured eulogy for her brother Fox, his friend.
4. What are two major forces in your character’s personality that are often in conflict? (Ex: logic vs emotion, power vs guilt, obedience vs rage, etc.)
Rage/vengeance vs. empathy are two major forces that conflict in Cato's personality. He's an extremely violent person, very comfortable with killing people if he feels under threat, has been angered by some great injustice, or if he sees them as causing some kind of harm. When his father Avocato dies for a while (until they save him with time travel) he goes on a roaring rampage of revenge, wanting to kill Lord Commander for the murder, even saying he wants to slit his throat and dance in his blood. He tries his damndest to pull this off, only being stopped by external forces. He did successfully kill Viro, his main prison warden and one of his main abusers.
But at heart he doesn't necessarily want to live a life consumed by rage and violence. Avocato's life of violence and murder is what drew Cato into suffering under Lord Commander's thumb in the first place, since it drove Avocato to serve the dictator, and killed Cato's bio parents. Deep down, he knows it's not good that he's so inured to bloodshed. He talked about this a little when Ash's brother Fox died, while giving his eulogy, thanking Fox for teaching him you could be a great warrior without being a killer.
Cato can be innocent at times. He is a caring person at heart, someone capable of kindness and extreme empathy - when he lets those emotions actually take the wheel. The big question is whether or not that part of him will win the day in the end. The show established his status as the crown prince in season 3 so the question is whether he'll retake the throne, and if he'll embrace his more violent side to lead his people in the war against the end of all things vs. leading with compassion, and how much of his gentler side will survive.
One thing's for sure, he has lost any innocence he had. Even if he's still capable of joking around a times, capable of connection, and capable of gentleness, his trauma and suffering and broken trust have been too complete for him to look at the universe with anything resembling true naivete.
VESSEL SELECTION
Which Vessel Type are you choosing: Token or Offering? Token
Why does this Vessel type feel appropriate for your character? I feel like something with powers would fit him in an interesting way as he's someone that often feels powerless. I also want any moral struggles to come more from personal struggles rather than strong instincts tied to an Offering form, as he's already got plenty to struggle over. Tokens have things influence them but in a slightly less animalistic way than Offerings. And I mean, he's a cat. He's already got some animal behaviors naturally.
Choose one OR list three subclass options within your chosen Vessel type that you think would suit them: Chronomancer. I feel like it'd be a natural extension of his ordeal in the time shard, and him having to balance use of the powers with avoiding accidentally getting trapped in time again would be interesting. Were he to overuse his powers and get displaced in time he'd probably go insane before long, so the prospect of using the powers would terrify him.
Buuuut he'd want the edge. He's a pragmatist.
Note: Since he naturally has some abilities in canon that'd fit Lycan I'm going to downplay his Ventrexian abilities. He'll find that he's at most at a high human-esque norm. His agility, reflexes, and strength are above-human normally (albeit tempered by his small size) and they will be a bit slower and weaker, closer to just peak human, something nearer to comic book "badass normal" human. He'll also be missing his claws and his teeth will be a little duller. His danger gland (a gland Ventrexians have in their throats that throbs if danger is near) will be gone. His senses won't be enhanced and will just be very high-end human, with the exception of having the slightest edge on hearing because physics dictates the shape of his ears funnels sound well.
Samples:
Top-level
fight fight fight
this one's just funny
Name: Throck
Preferred Contact:
Age: 18+
Invite Link: Current player, I play Julian Bashir
CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Little Cato (this may change later as his real name is being revealed in future canon)
Canon: Final Space
Age: 14
If Under 16, why is this character a good thematic fit for Somnia?: Cato is from the same canon as Ash, which is a sci fi canon with a lot of apocalyptic/cosmic horror elements and a fair bit of gore. Cato was raised with combat skills by his general father in a brutal military dictatorship. He's been comfortable with hand to hand combat and had a gun in his hand from an early age, has no qualms with killing, and is treated as a competent member of his crew, tasked with the same things the adults are. In canon, he's shown having the resilience to survive multiple horrific events in canon, ranging from watching other children get executed by their own parents on Lord Commander's orders, being imprisoned and mistreated for 3 years by the dictator and his lackey, losing his father Avocato, getting his father back only to see him get possessed, having to shoot his possessed father (thinking he killed him), having to kill countless rotting and maimed zombie variations of his other adoptive father Gary, and having it revealed that Avocato killed his real parents and lied that he was his bio father.
Also there was that time he was stuck in a time shard and was alone for 60 years and went absolutely stark raving nuts and hallucinated 24/7 after a psychotic break. That was the one time he cracked, and he managed to pull himself together after reverting back, which is frankly a miracle.
He will honestly be more resilient and better adapted to a horror/post-apoc setting than my other character since he's from a grim universe, and is miles better at combat/self-defense, even unarmed. His only weakness is his size. I do also plan to canon update him to 5 years later, as the finale graphic novel is coming out this spring, so he wouldn't have to survive super long as a young teen.
Obviously, I'll be avoiding any 18+ prompts while he's a minor, and I have no plans to do shipping unless he canon updates to the later canonpoint. And if anyone wants to avoid him due to his age (since some people don't like playing adults worrying about kids), I have an extensive opt-out page with "opt out of playing with him entirely" options, and opt outs for all the grim and abuse-related parts of canon.
Canon Point: s3 finale, after Invictus breaks through to his universe, starting the apocalypse.
Wiki Link(s): The wiki is unfortunately not great and missing the whole 3rd season.
Here's a more detailed writeup.
SOMNIA-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS
1. Dreams are how Sleep chooses you. What might draw your character into Somnia— a wound, a wish, a weakness? Would they follow the dream, or run from it?
A wound. Cato's only solace during his time imprisoned and abused by Lord Commander was that his father was coming for him. Finding out that Avocato killed his bio parents, the king and queen of Ventrexia, on Lord Commander's orders, is a devastating blow. It means an ongoing source of hope and love has been corrupted to something ugly, especially since he knows now his father probably should've predicted Lord Commander would try to harm him and finish the royal family off, making his execution order, imprisonment, and abuse far more predictable. It appears in the upcoming graphic novel (highlight for spoilers) that he leaves his crew to go with the Ventrexians back to take his rightful throne on Ventrexia, putting distance between himself and the crew.
Gary keeping Avocato's secret will change how he feels about his other adoptive father, too. And Ash couldn't just tell him the truth, she dragged him into the lair of the series Big Bad and tried to get him to join them despite said Big Bad being terrifying and planning to destroy their universe.
The kid has been hurt by multiple people, in many ways, and that injury will be catching up to him. (Which is why the upcoming events of the graphic novel make sense.) Whether all the pain catches up to him in a way he can't survive or he finds his way out to the other side remains to be seen, especially since the Ash player and I have talked about the two characters initially being destabilizing influences on each other.
The good thing is the kid is immensely likeable and has managed to bond with people even during some of the most traumatized times of his life. After his father's (first) death, when he was obsessed with revenge on Lord Commander, Gary was still able to find a way to bond with him. Even when he's on guard and distrusting, he can be won over, and he's good at leaning on the support of others once he lets them in.
He would likely run from the dream, out of a pattern of survival and running for his life often. He knows when to cut his losses and he tries to escape pain.
2. Somnia is a slow unraveling—of worlds, and of selves. How does your character respond to fear, transformation, and losing control? Do they fight, adapt, collapse?
The good thing is despite all these traumas, Little Cato is absolutely a ferocious fighter and consummate survivor. He has refused to give up in circumstances that would destroy most adults, and survived incidents that would permanently destroy the sanity of most people in general. He responds to fear with action, to transformation with resilience, and to losing control with patience. He was trapped for 3 years under Lord Commander's thumb, sometimes being taunted and abused by him and his guard Viro, and simply kept making attempt after attempt at attacks, as well as taking opportunistic advantage of any openings he saw to escape. Even in the third year, after being mistreated for that long, he still had enough spirit to mock his captors. When Cato has no options, he sits and waits for the next opening and he doesn't let his spirit get beaten down - or at least figures out ways to pick himself up off the mat.
The only situation that truly broke him was the time shard and that took the slow passage of decades alone, with him not even knowing if the rest of the crew was alive on the other side of the ship. Rescue and reversion back to his 14-year-old mindset allowed him enough sanity to cling on and keep going, though. Even if I'm leaning on Word of God that he's hidden how traumatic the situation was from the adults around him, it's an almost miraculous recovery and sense of resolve.
3. Connection is the only constant. What kind of bonds does your character form— fast and burning, slow and wary, deep and desperate? How might that shape their time in this world?
Little Cato usually bonds with people pretty quickly, though he'll struggle more than usual since he'll be coming from a situation where he was betrayed by several people he trusted.
It'll be a situation where he's struggling with that distrust, since his normal nature is that he attaches pretty quickly and healthily to others. He'll be able to make attachments but it will probably take some work at first. He's still capable of it, though. It helps that he's an extremely loyal ride-or-die person willing to fight for others when they do finally win him over, making them care about him in turn. Among his crew, he was the one that always emotionally protested leaving crewmates behind at moments the others did tactical retreats.
He can also just be an extremely loving kid when he finally bonds with someone, showing that there's gentleness under all the kitty homicide. He was a very gentle friend to Ash, which is why he was the very last crew member she still had loyalties to while spiraling, despite all her traumas. And he was the one to insist on tearfully giving a sweet-natured eulogy for her brother Fox, his friend.
4. What are two major forces in your character’s personality that are often in conflict? (Ex: logic vs emotion, power vs guilt, obedience vs rage, etc.)
Rage/vengeance vs. empathy are two major forces that conflict in Cato's personality. He's an extremely violent person, very comfortable with killing people if he feels under threat, has been angered by some great injustice, or if he sees them as causing some kind of harm. When his father Avocato dies for a while (until they save him with time travel) he goes on a roaring rampage of revenge, wanting to kill Lord Commander for the murder, even saying he wants to slit his throat and dance in his blood. He tries his damndest to pull this off, only being stopped by external forces. He did successfully kill Viro, his main prison warden and one of his main abusers.
But at heart he doesn't necessarily want to live a life consumed by rage and violence. Avocato's life of violence and murder is what drew Cato into suffering under Lord Commander's thumb in the first place, since it drove Avocato to serve the dictator, and killed Cato's bio parents. Deep down, he knows it's not good that he's so inured to bloodshed. He talked about this a little when Ash's brother Fox died, while giving his eulogy, thanking Fox for teaching him you could be a great warrior without being a killer.
Cato can be innocent at times. He is a caring person at heart, someone capable of kindness and extreme empathy - when he lets those emotions actually take the wheel. The big question is whether or not that part of him will win the day in the end. The show established his status as the crown prince in season 3 so the question is whether he'll retake the throne, and if he'll embrace his more violent side to lead his people in the war against the end of all things vs. leading with compassion, and how much of his gentler side will survive.
One thing's for sure, he has lost any innocence he had. Even if he's still capable of joking around a times, capable of connection, and capable of gentleness, his trauma and suffering and broken trust have been too complete for him to look at the universe with anything resembling true naivete.
VESSEL SELECTION
Which Vessel Type are you choosing: Token or Offering? Token
Why does this Vessel type feel appropriate for your character? I feel like something with powers would fit him in an interesting way as he's someone that often feels powerless. I also want any moral struggles to come more from personal struggles rather than strong instincts tied to an Offering form, as he's already got plenty to struggle over. Tokens have things influence them but in a slightly less animalistic way than Offerings. And I mean, he's a cat. He's already got some animal behaviors naturally.
Choose one OR list three subclass options within your chosen Vessel type that you think would suit them: Chronomancer. I feel like it'd be a natural extension of his ordeal in the time shard, and him having to balance use of the powers with avoiding accidentally getting trapped in time again would be interesting. Were he to overuse his powers and get displaced in time he'd probably go insane before long, so the prospect of using the powers would terrify him.
Buuuut he'd want the edge. He's a pragmatist.
Note: Since he naturally has some abilities in canon that'd fit Lycan I'm going to downplay his Ventrexian abilities. He'll find that he's at most at a high human-esque norm. His agility, reflexes, and strength are above-human normally (albeit tempered by his small size) and they will be a bit slower and weaker, closer to just peak human, something nearer to comic book "badass normal" human. He'll also be missing his claws and his teeth will be a little duller. His danger gland (a gland Ventrexians have in their throats that throbs if danger is near) will be gone. His senses won't be enhanced and will just be very high-end human, with the exception of having the slightest edge on hearing because physics dictates the shape of his ears funnels sound well.
Samples:
Top-level
fight fight fight
this one's just funny