Vexen

OOC:
Name we know you (the player) as: Jess
Plurk and/or Discord contact: firebenderjess or firebenderjess
May mods who do not have you on one or the other add you?: Sure
Triggers?: 'Weirdness' presented as genuine justification for othering


IC:
Character name: Vexen/Even
Character age as of canon point (As best as is known): ~40
Character age after CRAU (Again, as best as is known): ~40
Canon format (Anime, manga, video game, live action TV, novel, web comic, etc.): Video game
Name of canon: Kingdom Hearts
Canon point before CRAU: While Sora was fighting the Real Organization XIII in the Keyblade Gravehard
Is the canon point more than 6 months old in the US as far as you know?: Yep
What game(s) is the CRAU from? (PSLs count): Voidtreckers
How long was the character there?: Nine months
What have they done between game end and apping here?: After leaving the Voidtrekker Express, he went home and was met with demands for a full explanation of what happened during his apparent coma, after his previous visit had time for only the most basic of reassurances. In turn, Ienzo filled him in on what he'd missed while his soul was elsewhere, including Sora's disappearance and Kairi placing herself under their care for the sake of examining her memories. The relief of the others at his safe return took some time to process, during which he enlisted Riku's help in ensuring the last fragment of Xehanort's heart was thoroughly excised from him. After that was done, he attempted to immediately immerse himself in the project reports from Kairi's examination, only to find Ansem, Aeleus, and Ienzo all quite insistent that he take some time to recover from his interdimensional ordeal first. So, reluctantly, he turned his attention to settling back into life in Radiant Garden and working on stabilizing his relationships.

Reaching out to Ansem wasn't too difficult, as he had the assurance of another timeline's version of his mentor that there were no more feelings of animosity, and that the respect and affection between them was mutual now that they'd both moved past the way Xehanort had poisoned their trust. In contacting Lea to establish a lack of resentment for Axel's actions in Castle Oblivion, he found that Isa had also worried about him, and so explained the cause of his incapacitation to his co-conspirator. Though he inquired after Roxas and Xion, he hesitated to speak to them directly. His fellow former apprentices were a messier matter, as he feared they had lost all respect for him during their decade as Nobodies. Clear as it was that he cared for them greatly, he refrained from anything he felt might impose upon or trouble them...and particularly from anything that might remind them of his continued status as a manifestation of Nothingness.

Completely optional canon history and personality section. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SKIP THIS!: Yeah, just look here if you want.

CRAU history: On board the Voidtrecker Express, Vexen traveled between worlds outside those that were said to be fragments of the original World, and alternated helping worlds that were in existential danger with working to unravel the mystery of what happened to the Voidcraft's original crew. In between these efforts, he lived with his fellow replacement crew on board a massive train designed for long-term travel. Because of these close quarters, he had to immediately address his unpleasant history with Lea, and what had started as a tense peace grew into an awkward friendship as the two got to know each other in the present and worked to atone for their respective misdeeds. With Lea's encouragement, he also attempted to connect with Xion, whom he regarded as an estranged daughter. He also adopted a young boy named Ken Amada, whose heart was troubled by a deep and volatile darkness. Other friends he made included Siebren, Yondu Udonta, and Thanatos.

While there, he also met Ansem, and pushed through his self-doubt to re-bond with his former master - this time as a colleague, rather than a student, a change that ultimately emboldened him to admit that the love he felt for his liege exceeded anything appropriate for a formal mentorship. It was only one crime out of many, but he had righted the most personal of the wrongs weighing on his conscience, and reminded himself of what happiness felt like. Less pleasant was the arrival of Xehanort from before his betrayal of Ansem, which brought up both painful memories and moral dilemmas.

Ultimately, the Voidtreckers succeeded in unraveling the mysteries of both the train's former crew, and the powerful Chaos entity destroying worlds in the Void. After taking part in a climactic final battle, he was finally able to return home. Though Void etiquette insisted he was not to publicize the existence of worlds beyond the known reaches of Gummispace until his own had the means to reach it, he parted ways with his new friends and family with the promise that he would do his utmost to figure out the scientific theory necessary to create a Voidcraft of his own.


Please list and explain the three worst (morally) things your character has ever done in canon:
1. Performing inhumane experiments on unwilling subjects from his own home, culminating in betraying Ansem when caught and helping to banish him to the Realm of Darkness and blaming the consequences of the experiments on him as the world was overrun by Heartless.

2. Deliberately antagonizing Riku in order to observe the behavior of his heart so he could make a clone of him, a clone he never even named before using him as a tool and bartering chip in his feud with Marluxia, including allowing Larxene to force Namine to overwrite the newly created boy's identity in order to make him better at provoking Sora, because doing so would provide him with useful data in improving his cloning technique.

3. Creating a Keyblade wielding Replica and handing her off to Xemnas, allowing the Organization to shape the new being's conceptions of the worlds and sense of morality, and knowing that it would enable a project of transforming powerful individuals into Heartless, taking control of any resultant Nobodies, and then using the Keyblade to harvest the separated hearts for an end he was entirely uninterested in.

Please list and explain the three best (morally) things your character has ever done in canon.:
1. Gave up his safety and humanity to go undercover in Xehanort's Real Organization XIII for the sake of gaining access to his old Replica Project notes so he could grant new life to Roxas, Xion, and Namine and generally help sabotage the Organization from within, despite his own personal intense fear of Xehanort.

2. Risked being uncovered as a spy in order to rescue Ansem from Xehanort's Heartless, who had retrieved the man from the Realm of Darkness in order to question him, and protected three children who had drawn the Heartless' attention in trying to do the same.

3. Along with Ansem, adopted a selectively mute orphan child and treated the boy as his own son, even going so far as to search for him in dangerous conditions after finding he'd wandered outside the castle grounds unsupervised.

Please list and explain the three worst (morally) things your character has ever done in other games:
1. While overwhelmed by the influence of the fragment of Xehanort's heart implanted in him, attacked his fellow Voidtreckers with the intention of subduing them and using them for raw materials in experimentation.

2. Nearly attacked pre-betrayal Xehanort, believing him to be dangerous and initially intending on finding out if death would stick if it happened while the platform was still there.

3. Tried to convince Xion of Axel's manipulative nature, believing that Lea still harbored ill will against him and had taught her to fear him.

Please list and explain the three best (morally) things your character has ever done in in other games.:
1. Fought a giant Void monster and paradox manifestation, in order to help restore the original crew of the Voidtrecker Express and prevent further harm to Voidspace.

2. Put himself in danger to protect civilians of multiple individual worlds, including ones where the entire dominant species was threatened with extinction.

3. When half of the Voidtreckers were de-aged to childhood, spent large portions of the day minding the new children, including helping to calm and direct ones who clearly had no clue how to function as independent individuals.

Please put the twelve things above on a timeline relevant to each other:
6, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 7, 8, 9

Do you consider your character a hero, an anti-hero, a good aligned side kick, a bystander, a victim, a fence sitter, a mercenary, an evil aligned side kick, a villain, or something else? Why?: A good-aligned side-kick, bordering on hero. Though he's done truly, almost incomprehensibly horrible things in the past, it was first under the manipulations of Xehanort, and then while literally heartless. With his capacity for emotions restored, he's become dedicated to atonement and repairing as much of the damage done as he can, even at great personal risk or sacrifice. Despite this, he's not particularly interested in the limelight and avoids direct confrontation if he can instead rely on misdirection and indirect methods to remove or otherwise negate threats. This often wasn't possible on Voidtrecker missions, and so he has grown more used to being on the front lines of problem solving, but he still considers his primary talents to be supporting the real heroes, and weakening or gathering information on the real villains.

Do you think your character should start on the Isle or in Auradon? Why?: Auradon. Despite the enormity of his past sins, his recent behavior has shown clear remorse and selfless desire to do the right thing, even without expecting it to absolve him in the eyes of those who were affected by his misdeeds. Further, he has not only shown genuine dedication to atonement, he's been incredibly effective at it, as he's personally rescued several people he feels directly responsible for, and his efforts at doing so turned the tide in a battle for the fate of the universe when two of the people he brought back from effective death changed the outcome of a battle the villains were on the verge of winning.

Which of those two would you prefer your character to start in?: Auradon

Are you still interested in having this character in this game at this time if that preference is not met?: Yes

Powers and Abilities:
MAGIC: Vexen is a primarily magical fighter, with manipulating ice and cold being second nature to him. Not only is he immune to both natural and magical cold, but ordinarily dangerously low temperatures and magical ice actually heal him. As an experienced mage even in his human life, he is also capable of using other JRPG-style magic, scanning magic that can identify the balance of light and darkness in someone's heart as well as analyze their heart's makeup and their physical abilities, and other spells that can be used as plot devices when necessary. Instead of running, he often uses his magic to float, levitating at a speed comparable to a fast runner. Uniquely among Kingdom Hearts characters, he's able to cast the spell Auto-Life, which automatically heals and revives a subject if they enter a 'dying' state.

His magic also includes the ability to summon a large, bladed shield called Frozen Pride at will, which he can manipulate telekinetically, along with storing it and other objects in a sort of limbo. As people often use this storage magic to carry ice cream, it seems to normally include some sort of stasis...but ice cream will probably melt and coffee go cold with the way the setting screws up hammerspace food storage.

He is also capable of using dark magic, most notably, creating corridors of darkness that connect any two points he desires. These corridors are uncomfortable and possibly even dangerous to use without protection, as they can corrupt travelers' hearts with darkness and negativity that doesn't belong to them. They will, obviously, be subject to the normal nerfs.

SCIENCE: Vexen is genuinely brilliant, to the point that it was considered his defining skill in the Organization. He dabbles in just about everything, but his main focus is on the theoretical workings of the heart and psyche, with a strong enough grounding in biology that he can create fully functional artificial bodies that, once animated by a heart and soul, are indistinguishable from natural humans. This makes him competent as a medic as well, at least for injuries and non-rare afflictions.

MAGIC SCIENCE: Radiant Garden is a world where magic and technology exist side by side, and the line often blurs. As such, Vexen is adept at both using his magic for mundane applications, and creating and maintaining magitech. This includes treating alchemy as simply a specialized branch of chemistry, and he makes a habit of stocking himself with magical restoratives, though he's unlikely to have access to necessary reagents on the train.

Nobody Stuff: As a Nobody, Vexen isn't entirely 'real', and thus can't be harmed by purely physical objects. Any attack without some form of magic behind it passes right through him, as if he wasn't really there. He also is far stronger than his build would suggest, able to swing a massive blade of ice with enough force to shatter it and create a small shockwave, despite being fairly emaciated and on the physically weaker end for Organization Nobodies.

Misc: While generally fairly socially inept, Vexen does understand human psychology very well. If he takes time to learn how someone thinks, he can be surprisingly effective at manipulating or negotiating with them. As a complementary skill, he can lie and act extremely well, even if he's trying to display an image contrary to his basic nature.

As a parent of an anxious and homeschooled child, he is especially good with kids, and has experience teaching. This includes some level of caretaking abilities like cooking, although any recipe he attempts has to be substitution and experimentation friendly.

What clothing/items did your character arrive with? (See rules and FAQ for what is allowed, feel free to ask if you are unsure): His Radiant Garden Castle lab uniform (enchanted to shield the wearer's heart from external darkness), a black coat (likewise enchanted), two chains that combine to give him a slight resistance to fire instead of his usual weakness along with some extra physical resilience, a Cosmic Arts, an entire houseware store's worth of novelty/sassy mugs full of coffee, half a dozen bars of sea salt ice cream, twenty hi-potions and twenty hi-ethers, 1 elixir, other potions that are magical/alchemical medications for anxiety and focus disorders, a couple potion books, a high end laptop, a Gummiphone, an assortment of herbs and magical shards useful in potion brewing and item synthesis, a notebook and day planner full of illegible chicken scratch, too many pens, a few dirty spoons, twelve meal shakes, moisturizing cream for burn scars, a few basic hair ties, an oversized sun hat and sunglasses, a handful of books on complex and esoteric scientific subjects, a couple types of medicinal teas that taste gross but do wonders for headaches or nausea, munny...and, of course, Frozen Pride.

Optional- What do you have to keep in mind when playing this character?: He's been deeply traumatized, and has developed a dangerously unhealthy work ethic as a result, along with phobias of fire and the sound of snapping fingers. His priorities have been skewed, such that he's still un-learning a belief that his own comfort isn't worth sacrificing even a slight amount of productivity for. He also behaves noticeably differently when he's at home compared to when he was in the Organization, what self-care he does remember when he's there seems to include elements that help him stay more level headed and focused, compared to his volatile and distractable behavior as Vexen.

What mod candy, if any, does your character bring? (Aka what elements would you really like to see us play with?): He is still a Nobody, with all the existential weirdness that involves. His magic also works great as a plot device, and I'm happy to discuss things if you ever need a Wizard who Did It to justify some sort of weirdness or magical accident.

What else do you think the mods should know about your character or their canon?: Mods know the canon, you were there for it.

Any questions?: Assuming access to stuff from Auradon, will he have materials to keep making medicinal potions?

Player Information

Name: Jess
Age: 29
Contact details: firebenderjess or firebenderjess#1255
Other characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Vexen
Canon: Kingdom Hearts
Canon Point: Late-3, after sending Demyx to collect Repliku's emptied vessel
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: OU
Age: 40-ish

World Information: Series wiki

Personal History: As Even, as Vexen

Personality: To understand the current Vexen, one must first understand both Even and the previous Vexen. Even was a man of science, driven by an eager curiosity to uncover answers to all the World's mysteries. He approached everything in terms of questions to answer and theories to test, showing intrigue even when apprehension might have been more appropriate, but was by no means a bad person. Rather the opposite, he was a kindhearted and fiercely protective individual who cared deeply for those around him, even if his methods of showing it could sometimes edge toward the overbearing. Though somewhat arrogant and condescending, and occasionally temperamental, he was appreciative of others' actions, and not one to accept thanks simply for repaying a favor. It was, after all, not a desire for gratitude motivating his actions, but a simple desire to use his talents to help people.

Despite his somewhat unnerving lack of caution in the face of curiosity, his overall behavior seemed to have earned him the respect of his fellow apprentices, as he was able to treat Aeleus and Dilan as if they were his subordinates without so much as an objection. In particular, his mentor trusted him with the care of the young orphan Ienzo, who he swiftly bonded with and came to see as his own son. The child became the most important person in his life, someone he would risk his own safety without hesitation to protect, even if it meant risking attack by vicious monsters to search for him when he'd wandered off in dangerous times.

Much of that changed when he lost his heart the first time. Without a sense of empathy to restrain him, and steeped in the darkness he researched, he turned cold and even cruel. The focus of his experiments shifted from benefiting others to simply pursuing knowledge for its own sake, even if it meant doing horrific things to innocent people. Once he completed a project and learned all he could from it, it became of no interest to him, even if the fruits of his labor were then used to lay waste to entire worlds. Indeed, he participated in many twisted experiments, including artificially transforming hapless test subjects into new, more dangerous forms of Heartless that would then go on to wreak havoc across the known World.

Paradoxically, his relative lack of genuine emotions led to a sharp increase in both his arrogance and his temper, and generally high strung and anxious behavior. He treated most others as beneath him, and would angrily lash out and chastise anyone who tried to give him orders, or even simply act as though they were his equal...with one exception. Xemnas, the Nobody of the man responsible for his transformation, terrified him, and the mere threat of his involvement was enough to stop Vexen in his tracks. It was this fear, rather than any genuine loyalty, that kept him in the Organization, despite constant disrespect from younger members. Given the opportunity, he was perfectly willing to reveal information that would undercut the Organization's goals, if it helped to sabotage a particularly loathed rival.

His lack of compassion in his first time as a Nobody also exposed a gleefully mocking, borderline sadistic part of his personality. Given the opportunity, he took great entertainment in baiting people with incomplete or confusingly phrased information. Words became a different sort of scalpel for him, one he used to cut at raw nerves and draw out reactions from people.

The current Vexen is a different Nobody altogether, far closer to his human self than the unfeeling academic. Regaining his heart caused him to look back on his previous actions with horror and shame, and he held on to the shadow of his feelings when he gave his heart back up, aided by the fact that Nobodies can naturally regain their emotions over time. He retains some of his quick temper, but realizing his mistakes and the horrible depths of his own potential depravity was a humbling experience, and talking him down is as easy as pointing out the impulsiveness of his actions.

More significantly, his regained empathy gave rise to an overwhelming sense of guilt and regret. More than his curiosity, he is now driven by a need to atone for his misdeeds, to make right what he can and to make up for what he can't. His own desires and even fears are secondary, as he would give up his own chance at comfort or normalcy, and even risk Xemnas' ire, to help those he hurt. Rather than wallowing in self-loathing and recoiling from his passions, he instead uses both to propel him forward and motivate him, setting goals for himself based on his specific regrets. If he did immeasurable harm before, he'll simply have to do immeasurable good now.

Key themes: Failure, distortion of self, regret

Main Motivation: Atonement, to repair as much of the harm he's done as he can and to balance the rest by using his research to help as many people as possible.

Skills:
MAGIC: Vexen is a primarily magical fighter, with manipulating ice and cold being second nature to him. Not only is he immune to both natural and magical cold, but ordinarily dangerously low temperatures and magical ice actually heal him. As an experienced mage even in his human life, he is also capable of using other JRPG-style magic, scanning magic that can identify the balance of light and darkness in someone's heart as well as analyze their heart's makeup and their physical abilities, and other spells that can be used as plot devices when necessary. Instead of running, he often uses his magic to float, levitating at a speed comparable to a fast runner.

His magic also includes the ability to summon a large, bladed shield called Frozen Pride at will, which he can manipulate telekinetically, along with storing it and other objects in a sort of limbo. As people often use this storage magic to carry ice cream, it seems to include some sort of stasis.

He is also capable of using dark magic, most notably, creating corridors of darkness that connect any two points he desires. These corridors are uncomfortable and possibly even dangerous to use without protection, as they can corrupt travelers' hearts with darkness and negativity that doesn't belong to them.

SCIENCE: Vexen is genuinely brilliant, to the point that it was considered his defining skill in the Organization. He dabbles in just about everything, but his main focus is on the theoretical workings of the heart and psyche, with a strong enough grounding in biology that he can create fully functional artificial bodies that, once animated by a heart and soul, are indistinguishable from natural humans. This makes him competent as a medic as well, at least for injuries and non-rare afflictions.

MAGIC SCIENCE: Radiant Garden is a world where magic and technology exist side by side, and the line often blurs. As such, Vexen is adept at both using his magic for mundane applications, and creating and maintaining magitech. This includes treating alchemy as simply a specialized branch of chemistry, and he makes a habit of stocking himself with magical restoratives, though he's unlikely to have access to necessary reagents on the train.

Nobody Stuff: As a Nobody, Vexen isn't entirely 'real', and thus can't be harmed by purely physical objects. Any attack without some form of magic behind it passes right through him, as if he wasn't really there. He also is far stronger than his build would suggest, able to swing a massive blade of ice with enough force to shatter it and create a small shockwave, despite being fairly emaciated and on the physically weaker end for Organization Nobodies.

Misc: While generally fairly socially inept, Vexen does understand human psychology very well. If he takes time to learn how someone thinks, he can be surprisingly effective at manipulating or negotiating with them. As a complementary skill, he can lie and act extremely well, even if he's trying to display an image contrary to his basic nature.

As a parent of an anxious and homeschooled child, he is especially good with kids, and has experience teaching. This includes some level of caretaking abilities like cooking, although any recipe he attempts has to be substitution and experimentation friendly.

Item: His personal item is a black outfit, with a leather coat that guards against darkness and prevents it from creeping in from external sources. His hammerspace contains his shield; his Gummiphone (a smartphone that normally works between worlds, but doesn't have that function here); a set of notebooks, pens included, containing research notes on the Replica Program that are nigh illegible to anyone not experienced in deciphering Vexen's personal notes, a set of five hi-eithers (one use potions that completely restore a drinker's magical energy), and an elixer (a powerful, one use potion that heals all injuries, cures all afflictions, and fully restores the drinker's magical energy).

Sample: TDM threads

Notes: Because of his ice affinity, he is weak to fire and heat. Dangerously high temperatures make him sick faster, and fire burns him more readily. He also has PTSD regarding being burned alive, which manifests partially as a phobia of open flames.