Beholding Avatar Permissions

[fingeronthebutton]

As an Avatar of the Entity known as the Beholding, Elias has been gifted with some unique abilities. These include being able to just know things about certain people, manipulate memories, bind people to him, and even twist digital reality to his needs. For that reason, please fill out the following as thoroughly as possible so I can be aware of what I can and cannot do with your character. Some of this may never come up but obviously if it does I'd love for us to be on the same page!


1. What information can Elias simply know about your character if he concentrates on them? Secrets they don't want exposed, people they want to protect, memories they want to forget, crimes they haven't been caught for...things like that.

2. Will Elias be allowed to implant memories into your character's mind? These memories will always be true and can be good or bad. But once he gives them to your character he can never remove them. (Example: He knows character A's friend was tortured but A does not. He then gives A memories of character B being tortured and how it felt and so on.)

3. Is he permitted at any point to create a contract of sorts to bind your character to him? Please note that this means he may not tell your character that this has taken place and that if he comes to harm so will your character. This will also be a separate contract from the ones used in Duplicity.

Comments

[hungerneverfed]

Obviously, you can do whatever you want with Jon.

For Reid...

1. It's an open secret at this point, but Reid is a vampire and he doesn't really like knowing that. He'd prefer to pretend he's still human or a human with some magic powers, if pressed. He murder his little sister by ripping out her throat when he just woke up as a new vampire and was starving. He murdered her a second time after he accidentally turned her into an insane vampire from that first incident. He would very much like to forget doing both of those things. In Duplicity itself, he's gone around murdering SIN guards with Cullen around his hospital and would like to not be caught for that. He's intensely vain, as well, so memories from people who might have seen him when he didn't have his glamour disguising his inhuman features and found him hideous or terrifying would be very affecting. Aaaaand, he was having to play Ignacio's errand boy and sexual toy for a while there due to a debt and he would REALLY like for none of his friends to EVER find out about that.

2. Sure. He might have a little bit of a harder time with Reid than a normal human, though. He's got his vampy mental barriers that can limit some influences.

3. Reid's not nearly as gullible as Jon, but first impressions are important. If Elias makes a good first impression, Reid could possibly be tricked into this. Or, if he believes it's for some specifically defined Great Good that is tangible and that he can mentally calculate the cost-benefit on. He's pragmatic. 8')b

[lacecase]

1. What information can Elias simply know about your character if he concentrates on them? Secrets they don't want exposed, people they want to protect, memories they want to forget, crimes they haven't been caught for...things like that.

Ginger doesn't have any particularly deep or heavy secrets. She's lived a relatively simple and unremarkable life, as well as an honest one. She's very close with her older siblings: her elder sister and oldest of the three is Emmaline, Emma for short, who all but raised her when their parents divorced and moved out of the family home. The middle child, her older half-brother Halim, appeared suddenly in their life when he tried to connect with his illegitimate father. The sisters took him in, instead. He raises horses on a farm, and Emma is a florist.

After dropping out of high school, Ginger entered a series of bad relationships and couldn't hold down a job. She got a bit of a bad reputation for being easy, losing most of her former friends because of it (she didn't realize when she was sleeping with people who were "off limits" since she hadn't been in the schoolyard gossip loop). Around this time, when funds were at an all-time low and Emma had to give up a volleyball scholarship in order to make ends meet, her sister ultimately tried to overdose. It's not a secret, but it's a memory she tries to forget. When she stops to think too hard about the guilt and responsibility she feels for all of the hardships her family suffered, Ginger spirals.

Like most people who are pep-pep-peppy, Ginger is running from the darker emotions that she doesn't otherwise know how to deal with. She avoids commitment and avoids confronting herself. As long as she keeps working, as long as she keeps going, those haunts can't catch up with her.

Also, she lives in a haunted house! But she really hasn't noticed the ghosts, because she's just that bad at paying attention. Like, they're trying really hard to evict her. It's a whole thing.

2. Will Elias be allowed to implant memories into your character's mind? These memories will always be true and can be good or bad. But once he gives them to your character he can never remove them.

Absolutely! It would be easy. She's incredibly gullible to begin with.

3. Is he permitted at any point to create a contract of sorts to bind your character to him? Please note that this means he may not tell your character that this has taken place and that if he comes to harm so will your character. This will also be a separate contract from the ones used in Duplicity.

Totally! Fuck her up!

[mordacita]

1. He'd see he was a vampire, and probably be able to see his closest relationships (lovers with Will, Lestat, Ignacio, Dominic, sire to Cesare, sire and father to Zoey). Also Elias might be interested by his close friendship with Jonathan, and with Jonathan's friend Ava who Rafa semi-adopted as a fledgling even though she's from a different world. There aren't honestly very many secrets he'd want to keep that haven't already been exposed by LIEs to at least some people, but the issues from his past that resonate most strongly with him would be: his childhood of rigid control and being forced into a tournament where he fought other children to the death; being turned into a vampire by his "father"; killing his father; falling in love and getting married to three different men; eventually having children; long centuries of depressive obsession where his lover Shane was trapped in the faerie realm and Rafa couldn't get him back, followed by his eventual return and their marriage. Around 500 years of war with the faeries, ending with an uneasy peace. That's a broad overview - let me know if Elias would look into anything more deeply and I can give more info. Also he's been giving statements to Jon, and I don't know if any of that knowledge would be shared with Elias through his patron? If so I can give more info on that too.

2. Maybe! It might be an interesting plot point. Let's discuss each instance as it arises.

3. I would prefer to avoid this, at least for now!

Solus zos Galvus/Emet-Selch | Final Fantasy XIV

[emet_sulk]

(There are potential spoilers for his canon here.)
UPDATED: May 29, 2020
1. What information can Elias simply know about your character if he concentrates on them? Secrets they don't want exposed, people they want to protect, memories they want to forget, crimes they haven't been caught for...things like that.

He calls himself Solus zos Galvus (or just Solus Galvus) but he's far, far more ancient than he looks. Honestly, there isn't much in the way of secrets with him - just things he leaves unsaid if no-one asks. Elias will certainly know that his true title is 'Emet-Selch' and that the form he wears is not his own. Rather, it's one that he's forcefully taken and shaped for his own use.

(There's...a lot I can elaborate on but it would involve spoilers from his canon, and I'm not sure which parts would interest Elias.)

Currently he's suffering from recurring nightmares thanks to having shared a tale from his past with Jon, the Archivist. Elias may find that interesting to know. As of mid-Dec, 2019 he has managed to free himself from them with help from Lilith.

NEW: As of the end of May (or thereabouts), Emet will have found a semi-solution for the two nightmares he fed the Archivist a few months ago thanks to Aziraphale.

2. Will Elias be allowed to implant memories into your character's mind? These memories will always be true and can be good or bad. But once he gives them to your character he can never remove them. (Example: He knows character A's friend was tortured but A does not. He then gives A memories of character B being tortured and how it felt and so on.)

Would like to discuss this scenario if it ever happens, but will put a tentative yes for now. He has so many memories already what more could you possibly give him.

3. Is he permitted at any point to create a contract of sorts to bind your character to him? Please note that this means he may not tell your character that this has taken place and that if he comes to harm so will your character. This will also be a separate contract from the ones used in Duplicity.

No, but that's only because he's already beholden to another deity in canon and said deity provides specific protection against compulsions like that. Elias is sure free to try though... He wouldn't be the first here. /eyes Jon

Felih removed his tempering around the middle of March. So Emet is now vulnerable to Elias' machinations.

[prideinbattle]

1. There isn't much that Hiling feels the need to keep to herself. He could learn about her kind, world history from 2100-2312
Also she learned how to write by duplicating Jon's handwriting if there might be something to plot with that...

2. If he can mess with digital reality then an AI should be no problem. Alter memory at will.

3. Permission for contract :)

[gutteringlight]

1. Hoo boy. He's given two statements to Jon, so Elias will very likely know about those.

tl;dr lost his wife and kids after a moon hit the planet, has hella impostor syndrome and a huge death wish but he feels like too many people are depending on him.

He recently narrowly avoided becoming an eldritch horror and destroying the world and that scares the shit out of him. If you want to have Elias know anything specific just ask.

2. Go ahead! If anything it might be easier than usual because Joph's protected from that sort of thing back home. He's not protected here and he tends to forget that.

3. I'd like to discuss the specifics first if it comes to that, but yes.

[needsaspirin]

1. EVERYTHING! tl;dr Erik manifested an ability to sense "evil" (see his permissions) sometime in college. Came home to sense it on his father, found out his father had been abusing his sister, turned him into the police. Mother committed suicide after and his sister blamed him.

He's still very protective of his sister, if distant. Moved to New York to keep an eye on her even if the large city is terrible for his well being. Took to gambling and supporting his habits by blackmail. He'd follow targets that felt especially dark to him and send them notes.

One of this targets turns out to be a serial killer, who tries to kill him, and with the help of Jessica Jones and Trish Walker catches him. However, he refuses to testify against the man because he'd also get sent to jail (a nexus of darkness that would potentially kill him). As a result, the killer escapes justice and kills someone close to Trish. When Trish blames him, he tries to make amends by finding other targets to punish, but Trish accidentally kills them. Regretting his actions, he helps Jessica find Trish.

2. With prior plotting, potentially yes.

3. Also plotting dependent, but if Elias hurts him to be around he's very unlikely to trust anything he says. Willing to discuss, however.

[saintguillotine]

1. Lets see... Anderson's a member of Iscariot, the black-ops section of the Vatican, and he's a human-made-regenerator that was enhanced with bio-technology to fight unholy beings. He also managed to fall in love with the worst possible unholy being, that being Dracula himself, and while he's come to terms with that, it's not something he's eager for people to know. During a war on London in 1999, he had to kill Enrico Maxwell, someone he regarded as a son, because they went postal and mass-slaughtered innocent people. Anderson broke open the glass case keeping Maxwell safe and watched him be impaled while he begged for Anderson's help, then he sat with the corpse a while. His failings as a teacher are an immense source of guilt. In Duplicity, he runs an Orphanage and Church, the regulars and residents of which he cares for dearly, and he's forged a friendship with The Archivist.

2. Go right ahead.

3. I'm not sure how successful this would be, but he's welcome to try!

[rosebyanyother]

1. I mean, first of all his name is Peter Nureyev not Morrigan Prince. Master thief! Con-man extraordinaire! There's definitely other stuff he would prefer other people not know or bring up. Probably the biggest thing is the fact that he killed his father figure when he was 16 in a fit of anger after finding out that the man had been lying to him about his own past. (Also something that could potentially be brought up: the fact that the man wanted to drop an entire floating city on the planet below.) Another thing is that the person he loves basically tried to sacrifice himself to save a planet and then...walked out on Peter in the middle of the night after agreeing to leave Mars with him.

He's committed just....so many crimes in Duplicity...mostly minor robberies and a lot of pickpocketing but. Yes. That's certainly something he wouldn't want known. Another thing he'd like not to be known is that he was killed (by Villanelle). He's still a little fucked up about that tbh.

Also he's at least somewhat close to Jon (and has a certain fondness for him specifically because he reminds him of the person he's in love with).

eta: also he has killed a not insignificant number of people in his life. In Duplicity this is probably confined to Veracity guards and...maybe one or two people during Tumenalia(s), so nothing illegal. Just...you know, he's killed people. Never just for the fun of it and it's not his go-to. But it comes pretty easy to him.

2. Yes, definitely (with planning of course!)

3. This is...intriguing? Peter's not terribly easy to manipulate but I'm not absolutely against it.

[sathan]

I like to do a bunch of discussion on big things since Lilith has a LOT in her past (and it's a very shitty past) but generically:

1. That she's a witch and a demon, the first woman, the Garden of Eden, Hell. I can give more specifics about memories etc when it comes up.

2. He can try? Lilith has a very strong will so it could happen but also potentially maybe not? Depending on the situation surrounding her at that point

3. He would have a very hard time getting her to sign one.

[nighttemplar]

1. Alessandro is a Preternatural. He's Soulless, last in a breeding program by the Templars. Any direct contact with his bare skin turns once human supernatural characters human again with player permission. He was trained to kill since the age of 5, only escaped at the age of 40. He has been a hunter that long and has been feeding Jon with statements about his life, both written and verbal. He has force fed Jon once.

Elias is welcome to know about any of his statements. He is wanted in numerous countries for various crimes and recently is being hunted by the very Templars that trained him for breaking off with them. In Duplicity, Sandy has killed for the Huntr App, prostuted himself, and worked with some super shady people. Elias can also be aware that Sandy cannot be compelled to make a statement unless there's a item, such as the charms, that gives him a soul.

He wants to protect Jon. He also is deeply in love with Lyall and will literally die for him the moment he returns home. He has one daughter, Alexia that NO ONE CAN KNOW ABOUT. (as she'd be in danger of being taken by the Templars.)

He's directly responsible for the God Breaker plague (statement 4/dream share).

2. Don't expect him to feel guilty over it. But Alessandro also has a son. We don't know his name, but it's established in the later books about his granddaughter that his daughter Alexia had a half-brother. So he was either forcibly bred by the Templars or one of his many many affairs ended up with a kid. Said child went through the Templar indoctrination. He has a Granddaughter, Prudence and a Grandson, Rodrigo.

3. Depends on how that contract works. He technically already is attatched to the Archivist and the Archives by statements and by choice. However, if said contract requires something akin to the Soul to bind him, then it just won't work. He has nothing there to bind him with.

[calamitysymphony]

Elias is welcome to discern any of the following information, though stating to Ivy that he has done so is a good way to get stabbed. She's a little impulsive that way.

1. Ivy's real name is Isabella Valentine. She is the adopted foundling child of the Earl and Countess Valentine and grew up in great privilege. She only learned she was not their blood child as an adult, and shortly after learned that she was originally conceived solely to create an heir to Soul Edge, a parasitic demonic sword. Her biological father Cervantes de Leon, whom she fucking hates, was possessed and infected by the sword, therefore Ivy was born with its demonic power in her body. Her blood is cursed and can infect others, enslaving them to the sword's power. She is deeply ashamed about this and mostly believes she is a monster.

Anyone sensitive to it may be able to feel this demonic energy coming from Ivy, and also from her sword, Valentine. It is alive and sapient.

Her closest friends are Neria Surana and Jonathan Reid. She is also fiercely protective of Jester and Anderson, and she is in love with Cullen.


2. Sure. Though she is extremely touchy about being manipulated or controlled in any way, and depending on the memory, may unleash her extremely volatile temper.

3. See above, so gonna pass on this. Unless Elias particularly wants to get stabbed.

[lovingvambrace]

1. What information can Elias simply know about your character if he concentrates on them? Secrets they don't want exposed, people they want to protect, memories they want to forget, crimes they haven't been caught for...things like that.

He can know that Cullen struggles with an addiction to lyrium. He has been clean for years, but it is still an active struggle. He can know that he has survivor's guilt for being the only templar on the upper level of the Mage Circle at Kinloch Hold to survive the demon and blood magic attack by not giving in or allowing himself to be possessed. He can see some of the horrors inflicted there, pulsing, oozing flesh and organic material as walls, templars wasting away in the thrall of desire demons, and a constant whispering voice in his mind.

He had a crush on Neria Surana at one point but no longer, although he still has warm feelings toward her. He is in love with Ivy Valentine. He will kill to protect his dog Blade. He definitely wants to forget his captivity in Kinloch Hold and is ashamed of how much he hated mages right after his rescue and rehabilitation.

2. Will Elias be allowed to implant memories into your character's mind? These memories will always be true and can be good or bad. But once he gives them to your character he can never remove them. (Example: He knows character A's friend was tortured but A does not. He then gives A memories of character B being tortured and how it felt and so on.)

His mind is difficult to breach. Not impossible, but canonically difficult, so I'd say maybe with effort, but he'd likely be aware of what was happening and who was doing it, and his reaction would likely be quite violent.

3. Is he permitted at any point to create a contract of sorts to bind your character to him? Please note that this means he may not tell your character that this has taken place and that if he comes to harm so will your character. This will also be a separate contract from the ones used in Duplicity.

I'd rather not play with this particular aspect as of yet. I could easily see Cullen taking a scorched earth approach with this and running him through if he found out, even if it meant he'd die, too.

[theansweris]

1. Oh boy. Ed Nygma is a constructed identity. Edward Nashton was born to James and Emma Nashton and his earliest memory is of his parents fighting about who was to blame for how he was. Emma walked when he was four and his father turned more violent and highly verbally and mentally abusive, which is what caused the split that created Ed and Riddler. I can give you more details if you need/want. Ed's bisexuality was not acceptable and thus got ruthlessly repressed.

He's killed some people. He was committed to Arkham for four murders, but actually committed a fifth with Oswald Cobblepot, where they tortured and killed a man involved in the death of Oswald's mother.

Ed is in love with Oswald. Riddler is too. They're both unaware of this.

They're also starting to crack. The boredom of Duplicity and the humiliation of being forced into sex (Riddler was a virgin before here and Ed had only been with one woman, once, before accidentally smothering her) is doing bad things. Riddler's starting to cook drugs in the back shed. Ed isn't really eating from the stress. There's probably more I could throw into here, this'll do for now.

2. Ed and Riddler are highly resistant to this sort of tampering, because they switch places and memories and basically, it's a maybe, but with discussion and specifics.

3. Would rather not at this stage. Answer may change.

[shoelicking]

1. What information can Elias simply know about your character if he concentrates on them?

Tsurugi is kinda a huge open book because he gets a kick out of making people uncomfortable, so a lot of the 'major' secrets are things he might casually mention anyway, but the gist:

1. (the like one thing he doesn't talk about/people only know because touma makes fun of him for it) his mother ran off right after he was born, leaving him with his dad. his dad was an alcoholic and a huge dick who beat him a Lot & tied him to the floor
2. he was 'rescued' when he was 3 by his neighbor who was at the time a 13 year old named touma. touma lived with his own physically abusive parents, so he locked tsurugi down in his room/the basement and didn't let him out for several years. tsurugi was basically incapable of doing anything and touma had to feed him by pouring stuff on the floor bc tsurugi only really knew how to lick... things. most of this tsurugi wouldn't care about people knowing, the only thing he'd be bothered by is someone knowing that his dad had beat him badly enough that he didn't have baby teeth (tooth trauma).
3. touma killed his own abusive parents when he was 15, and this is like tsurugi's best memory because it's the first day he got to go outside and one of the only times he's ever seen touma genuinely smile
4. he started training to kill vampires when he was 6 and started officially working as a vampire hunter when he was 13
as far as things he doesn't like mentioned about that time/his childhood: he was actually mute throughout elementary school and didn't really start talking until he made friends with two dudes jun & yumi
5. he's been poor as fuck his whole life bc even though he was taken away from his dad, his dad put all of their family/drinking debt in tsurugi's name, so he's basically been having to pay it off since he was 6
he jokes about his debt a lot/brags about licking anything for money buuuuut he doesn't talk about the reason/his dad at all
6. basically spent his whole life as touma's slave/killing shit for him & touma is super angry about life so he was Main Villain for a while and was basically raising Tsurugi in order to create one of the series fancy vampires because it required mass destruction and he was into that. he also named tsurugi which is literally just 'sword' so he was never particularly subtle about what tsurugi was meant for lol
7. toumas vamp spell killed jun's wife and then later he made tsurugi attack his friends. at his canon point, he's pulled from right after eviscerating his bestie, so he's been here thinking he probably killed him. mikuni also convinced him he killed his other friend & touma killed himself which tsurugi figures sounds about right and hasn't questioned. he is genuinely Sad about this but he hasn't really talked about it outside of "lol be careful i kill all my friends." so i guess it's kind of a secret? it's a secret that it bugs him as much as it does.
8. so as far as crimes and shit he feels super bad about, he feels bad about getting jun's wife killed. he also got a bunch of other innocent people killed/killed them himself but he doesn't feel super bad about that other than "well, that was a bad thing i did but what can you do!" basically he's done a lot of awful shit for touma including torture/murder/etc. etc., which he feels 2% bad about. basically he wishes he hadn't done it, but since it was touma's order, he would do it again
9. i think the only other thing he really wants to forget is mikuni in general, but considering he also stalks him, that's not really going to happen. they used to work together and it went south because Feelings and tsurugi not being willing to betray touma, so mikuni stormed off.

2. Will Elias be allowed to implant memories into your character's mind?

go for it! tsurugi's magic sort of uses memories as a power source, so the more he uses it, the more he loses grip on what's real and what's fake. sooo, insert memory away, but he definitely won't think anything of getting new really bad memories because that's kind of his magical jam

3. Is he permitted at any point to create a contract of sorts to bind your character to him?

:" ) go for it. the collar that's always on his neck is actually from a contract very similar with touma (with the added bonus of touma being able to control him like a puppet when he misbehaves). he's also capable of putting contracts like that on people but he hasn't really bothered here bc using his magic kills him (less if i get hurt you die tho, and more if you go too far away from me, you'll die), but yeah.

he would think that kind of thing was quite Comfy if he knew. (he really really misses touma lmao)

[brushoff]

1. Sooo many things. Dorian's a pretentious immortal man! All of his wounds, sins, traces of age, etc. get transferred to a portrait of himself. He's 150 or so years old, soulless, regularly interacts with the supernatural, and cannot keep his nose out of trouble. Some of his deeper secrets include the fact that he had to kill his sister and he has secret self-loathing issues out the whoa. Dorian died in 2012 and was trapped inside his portrait: he only managed to get out by making a deal with the devil and killing three people. The biggest thing for Elias to call him out on is Tobias Matthews, Dorian's vampire boyfriend. Dorian watched Toby commit suicide via sunlight and then fell into a depression that lasted almost the entire 1990s. Dorian was madly in love with Toby and honestly feels that he can never have that sort of love again.

He's also got a bit of a crush on Jon in the sense that he wants to absolutely corrupt/wreck the man and also thinks that being seen by the Beholding is sexy as hell. He's given multiple statements and used to be Jon's Submissive. Dorian and Martin also hate each other's guts.

2. Go for it! It might be a bit more annoying than expected because Dorian is immune to being changed by supernatural forces (ex, he got a nasty case of lycanthropy that his portrait ended up taking on) but Beholding is OP and I'm always up for mental fuckery.

3. Getting in over his head and making stupid decisions is definitely Dorian's MO. However, he's already Satan's bitch due to him having a contract with the devil for his immortality. I'd be up for that, but let's definitely talk it out ahead of time.

[monstermanual]

1. Provided it doesn't involve another player who has given a 'no' for their character, shit Know whatever you want about Gerry. Blanket a-ok for Elias to creep on him at any and all times (I mean, Gerry, your protection is great and clearly saved your life but Elias can see out of Any Eye and you are covered in eyes.)

2. Yep!

3. Sadly I think Gerry's been so heavily warned about Elias both back home and here and won't sign anything Elias has touched, but I'm not opposed to coming up with something if we get cool ideas.

CW: dubcon, murder, vampires being vampires, all that bad stuff etc.

[colorature]

1. Elias is welcome to know anything and everything about Diva. He's welcome to know of her history, how she was cut from her mother's mummified corpse alongside her twin and that the two of them were originally in creepy cocoons before they were "hatched". Diva then spent the subsequent 50 years chained up naked and with rags in a old tower in Bordeaux France as part of a shitty Victorian nature vs nurture experiment. She was tortured in a manor of ways and barely fed. What she was given to eat was blood and corpses, for the most part.

When Saya, her twin finally let her out, Diva set the entire property on fire and slaughtered everyone who was in the vicinity. He's welcome to know of her shenanigans during various wars and also all about her LARPing as Anastasia Romanov. Things such as the fact her Chevalier were attempting to more or less breed her and her twin can come up as well, even though no attempts were made from her canon point. There is also her overwhelming genuine desire to have a family and be loved by Saya that's pretty much her driving force. He can know of her creepy cocoons in Duplicity along with her relationship with Tsurugi and how much he means to her and that at this point she'd do pretty much anything for him. Her whole motivation in canon to turn everyone into chriopterans stemmed from not wanting to be seen as an 'other' and a monster - she wanted to live in a world where she and her twin could be accepted. She wants this in Duplicity as well, it's just her focus in attention for love has shifted from Saya onto Tsurugi, even though she still loves Saya to an unhealthy degree.

With regards to insecurities or secrets Diva doesn't really have much she hides, but she has an extreme fear of abandonment, especially in Duplicity, and anxiety about being left alone or locked up again. Her fears in Duplicity stem from the fact Tsurugi might die, that she wants to turn him so she can have her happily ever after, and that she might end up confined somewhere, unable to get out. Another kind of traumatizing event that happened to her in Duplicity was when she had to go to re-education with Tsurugi and ended up more or less gangbanged. She didn't enjoy it but what kind of really messed her up was the way Tsurugi was forced to dominate her after the fact. It's not something she likes to think about, as she hates having control taken from her.

Crimes she's committed in Duplicity amount to, well, outright murder and feeding on people. She doesn't really care in all honesty about killing people but she has been trying to be 'good' to get people to like her, since she's desperate as of late. She still works at Fangtasy and loves to sing. He's welcome to know about all her OP abilities as well - it's not like she hides them.

2. Sure! I'm not sure when this would come up but I can't really see it being a problem. Diva's pretty resigned to weird shit happening to her in Duplicity at this point.

3. Considering we both know how dumb Diva is and how easily manipulated she is...it'll probably happen at some point if the situation calls for it.

[crystaltower]

1: Oof, there is a lot to know! I'll try my best to summarise, but anything more detailed is best discussed properly.

The Exarch (real name G'raha Tia) is the last of a royal bloodline able to control an ancient and powerful structure. He spent 200 years asleep inside it so that his bloodline would not thin to the point of extinction before the rest of humanity could make use of it. On awaking, he arrived in an apocalyptic world that was could not recover from a disaster not long after he went to sleep, and was recruited by a group of people who sought to unwrite the disaster from ever happening (and importantly, save the life of a hero still in the people's hearts), building on research left by their founders. Using their research, he travelled through time and space with his tower to a connected world (the First), as that world's doom had amplified the calamity to its disastrous scale. He missed his mark when it came to the proper timeline, arriving 100 years too early, and used that time to prepare while at the same time offering people sanctuary and refuge with the Crystal Tower's power. Over time a city built up around it, and he became their mysterious but beloved leader. He waited until the right time to bring the hero across the rift between worlds to help save both worlds from oblivion.

The crystallisation on his body is a result of binding himself to the Crystal Tower. This allowed him to survive his journey through the rift, grants him use of the tower's energies and power, and has extended his life indefinitely. However, he considers himself only an extension of the tower now, and grows weaker the further and longer he is away from it.



2. Possibly? It would rely on plotting beforehand first.




3. I am not entirely sure what a contract would entail, so this is another "would require plotting" deal.

[oinkoink]

1. What information can Elias simply know about your character if he concentrates on them? Secrets they don't want exposed, people they want to protect, memories they want to forget, crimes they haven't been caught for...things like that.

At a fairly young age, her family moved from England to Singapore, due to her father's fairly high-up position in the company he works for. Her mother is a socialite obsessed with trends and appearances, so between her father's busy schedule and her mother's social life and her older sister, Freya's, general success, she was left to fend for herself. Completely out of touch with the culture and feeling isolated, she suffered a severe mental break due to depression and was sent to attend an all girl's private school back in England, alone.

She kept her diagnosis of acute depression from her school counselor a secret out of shame, and never had it properly treated. Things got worse due to the merciless bullying she received at the hands of her peers and her continued lack of a support system. Known as "Oink" to her classmates, they conspired to humiliate her by convincing a boy named Piers to take her virginity. This event was the talk of the school.

After going to University to study photojournalism, hoping to follow in the steps of her sister, who now has a successful career for a well-known magazine in New York, she accidentally signed herself up for a Paranormal Investigation club. Here, she met Axel, Lance, Angela, Fern, and most importantly, Todd. Falling absolutely, maddeningly into an unrequited crush for him, she decided to stay. He never noticed her, but he was kind, and she kept hoping.

One night, on October 27th, 1997, Axel convinces the group to investigate a series of disappearances connected to a mysterious "Slade House", which shouldn't exist. Sally, not realizing that she has a special connection to the paranormal, is the only one able to find the door to the estate, which exists in an impossible space. A detailed account of these events was written by her for Jonathan Sims' archive, and can be found here.

2. Will Elias be allowed to implant memories into your character's mind? These memories will always be true and can be good or bad. But once he gives them to your character he can never remove them.

Sure! What harm could more trauma possibly do?

3. Is he permitted at any point to create a contract of sorts to bind your character to him? Please note that this means he may not tell your character that this has taken place and that if he comes to harm so will your character. This will also be a separate contract from the ones used in Duplicity.

Totally fine! Let's go three for three!

cw body horror; suicidal ideation

[bestofall]

1. At time of writing, Festival's big secret is that he's a lot more powerful than he lets on. He came to Duplicity fresh from preventing a world-ending threat, and he's among the most powerful mortal magic users in his world. But he's enjoyed pretending he's nobody of any importance and doesn't like remembering his time traveling and working with history's greatest monsters (long story), so he'd be annoyed for all that to come out.

He also usually does not tell people that he's died and been to Heaven because he struggles with the fact that he sort of misses being dead.

Besides that, he has several memories he'd really rather forget:

• Being found out by the lieutenant of the barbarian warlord whose place he had usurped in order to turn the horde away from his home. He was dragged from Spineripper's bed in the night and his throat slit. It was an unpleasant way to die.
• The death of Blind Agnes at the hands of the evil bastards he was traveling with. She was inflicted with a poison that killed her body but trapped her soul within it. She kept screaming long after she was dismembered in battle, and Festival had to beg the party's necromancer to kill her properly.
• Allowing a magical-mechanical device to cut out and replace his own still-beating heart while he was awake and aware. Holding the withered husk of his original heart in his hands after he'd given its essence to a gem needed to save the world. Feeling uncertain whether he'd given away his soul with it.

2. Yes, but let's plot it out ahead of time.

3. For now I'm going to say no to binding him in a contract.