Application @Acatalepsy

[pileofspirits]

OOC INFO;

NAME: Red
AGE: +20
CONTACT: redpyre
CHARACTERS IN GAME: none

IC INFO;

CHARACTER NAME: Phalanx
AGE: Appears to be a young man in their early twenties, but is likely decades (if not over a century) older
CANON: Original
CANON POINT: Many years after they have escaped their creator. Has no idea how long they have been wandering the land.
HISTORY: History linked here (including an optional short version with bullet points!)

PERSONALITY:  Very generally, Phalanx is inquisitive, unbothered, and surprisingly peaceful for an undead, eldritch abomination. They are also prone to shifting personality aspects, and occasional stormy moods when something disturbs their balance. But, like any good mostly-blank-slate, everything kind of goes back to neutral after a while. Forgetful and childlike, with unexpected glimmers of lucidity.

It's tricky to describe the personality of a creature who is technically many fragmented souls sharing one body more specifically than that, so I'm breaking it down into three pieces to hopefully make some sense of it. These aren't three separate "personalities" or anything, but rather a way to think of the various "gears" that Phalanx slides between in the personality department, or the different aspects that impact how they behave at any given moment. 

→ the shell: The shell could be considered Phalanx's most default state. When they haven't had a lot of human interaction recently, or are otherwise allowed to settle and detach from the physical plane, they end up appearing very empty or doll-like. Speaking, moving, and otherwise interacting with the physical world is difficult for them, and tends to be rather incomprehensible. A lot of mimicking happens--sometimes unconsciously and sometimes in an attempt to communicate. Their curiosity is always there, but remembering that they're in a physical body and how to work it correctly can take some time. When something really hooks their interest, when they're interacted with by another person for long enough, or if familiar things pull up memories, they begin to shift out of this detached, only-vaguely-aware state. Sometimes the change is a bit sudden, and other times the progression into greater lucidity takes a frustratingly long time... but they always return to this vacant state afterward, often after something like sleeping, and can at least temporarily seem to lose memory of the progress that had been made. Also, this is the state of mind in which Phalanx tends to be most afraid of feeling exposed. In their wandering, they tend to find tight places to wedge themselves into when they rest, and they collect clothing and pieces of fabric to wrap themselves securely in. The swaddling, covering effect helps them feel less like they're going to dissolve into nothingness at any moment.

→ the tailor: The anchor that all of the soul bits are tethered to is what remains of this body's original owner, Maicah the tailor. It can't be said that Maicah is the "real" Phalanx, as he really is very much lost and the conglomeration of souls are the "real" Phalanx, but his is one of the strongest pieces in the mix. It's Maicah's curiosity that comes out first and foremost when everything else is settled and feeling lost, and aspects of his physical appearance are one of the quickest to manifest when Phalanx is out and about and interacting with the world. Also, the fact that sewing is one of the only actionable skills that Phalanx has left is absolutely Maicah's fault.

→ the rest: There is literally an entire village of spirits in there, but they're not fully-formed and aware personalities. They're souls that were partially shredded by botched necromancy, ripped from their bodies and caught before they could escape to realm of the dead, and then blindly attached to an anchor in one (very crowded) humanoid vessel. So, they jostle for control, struggle to communicate with the outside world, and can be pinged by various things on a more-or-less individual level, but they are absolutely not whole enough to be considered separate, functional entities. It mostly amounts to a complicated and varying arrangement of personality traits. Sometimes certain memories or aspects of the people around them will bring out a trait more strongly than usual (eg. perking up and laughing more easily when interacting with children, tending to be more morose and introspective when around depressed characters, etc.) and might refer to themself in the singular more often than plural, but they're not truly separate personalities. Physical traits also tend to shift around as different souls put forth more energy into rising to the surface, but it's usually too fluid and shifting to recognize a strong pattern in. And even when the strongest personalities come out, it's still more subdued or diffused than the average human would be, and still falls within the range of being recognizably "Phalanx." (So, basically, Phalanx's moods and personality traits shift around some, but it's not ever hugely away from their core. They never become like a completely different person.)

→ other things: There are exceptions to all of this, but that's usually when they are disturbed or tampered with in some way, either magically/psychically or triggered by an especially powerful memory (such as after waking with night terrors). Spikes of volatile emotion show up during these times, and as sights and sounds that aren't "real" become increasingly mixed with reality, things quickly become overwhelming to Phalanx. However, unless something about their balance is permanently damaged, they always end up returning to a neutral state again after a while, so even the worst of their meltdowns don't leave lasting marks on their psyche.

CANON POWERS: Phalanx is technically an undead construct capable of being an incredible well of power... but they have access to pretty much none of that. The only necromantic/undead abilities that they have are accidentally doing ghosty things such as: being extra sensitive to and sometimes able to communicate with other "dead" things, being generally psychically sensitive, telekinetically floating and knocking over objects, interfering with electronics, and mildly haunting people or places that they spend time around (just enough to cause things like bad feelings, vivid nightmares, and pinging as technically a little bit "haunted" to other characters that can sense that kind of thing) but it's just residual bleed from the spirits and not anything malicious or overtly harmful. The only other thing that could be considered an ability is the way that aspects of their appearance can shift around depending on their mood and pieces of souls that might be rising to the surface at any given time. They can't control this ability and can't make themselves look like specific people; it's purely an effect of the souls inside them putting forth energy to control the vessel.

OTHER: Phalanx is undead, or half-living. The vessel technically breathes, has a sluggish heartbeat, and can consume some amounts of food, but none of these things are strictly necessary for survival. Granted, if they don't eat or sleep or otherwise take care of their body, their energy will run low and things won't work like they should, but they won't starve or suffocate to death. They can also withstand injuries that would put a living human out of commission, and they can heal over time. That being said, if enough physical damage is done to the body, the souls will lose their connection to it and Phalanx will "die," so they're far from being indestructible.

...Also, they often sleep-walk, sleep-talk, and have night terrors, because being a bunch of dead people isn't very restful.

GAME INFO;

CRAU INFO: none

MAGIC ABILITY:  
→ Scrying: Being that Phalanx tends to have one foot in the physical plane and one foot... somewhere else... and the flow of time and reason doesn't always line up correctly for them anyway, scrying is a natural fit

To scry, they gaze into a surface and allow their consciousness to diffuse and wander, coming back to awareness afterward with "answers." What surface they decide to use doesn't really matter, though spaces that are deep, reflective, empty, or have repeating patterns work best. And the message that Phalanx receives could either be directly related to a specific question, or just something they to pick up from the universe when they open themselves up. However, there does need to be a topic of focus, such as a certain person, situation, or problem.

When it comes to scrying about people, it is done with the consent and volunteered information from another player. If it's about a situation or problem that another player wouldn't have the answer to, such as wanting to know if Phalanx could pick up anything about a certain location or plot event, I will ask the mods.

I'm not aiming for Phalanx to know all the secrets of the universe (especially since it's a gamble whether or not what they do pick up will be comprehensible to anyone else) but since they have little-to-no offensive or defensive ability even in canon, a psychic information-based one could be fun.

ANY WEAPONS/MAGICAL ITEMS?: Nope!
ANY PETS?: Phalanx isn't allowed to have pets.

SAMPLE;

LINKED SAMPLE: TDM