Le Stoïque
07-03-11, 09:26 PM
They Call Me Horsey Hayes
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2559/davidbowiecropped.jpg
Name: Hayes – also known as Tom, Joe, Sam, and Horsey Hayes
Gender: Male
Age: Hard to tell, with that ageless look about him
Hair: A sharp-bodied shock of dark russet
Eyes: Cloudy-blue, with a case of anisocoria in his right
Skin: Surprisingly pale, but not ghastly
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 128 lbs.
Skills
Hayes is a skillful man in many respects, but he’s never paid any mind to matters of combat and survival. Were his life ever in any danger, weapons would do him little good, as would the legs of this less-than-stellar runner. Otherwise, he is a dabbler in many crafts, games and sciences of the world… some more esoteric than others. He claims no expertise in any of these, but the things he knows and sometimes does could surprise the common people.
Abilities
(Shadow Men)
Hayes can manifest as a number of doppelgangers (2) with no limitation of range in relation to his real body. These shadow men can just as easily use the Fregoli-Capgras Permutation, but each can also extend its effect to a third party once a day. They are, however, next to incorporeal: minimal interaction with the physical world is possible, but they cannot functionally engage in combat. A strong physical shock may also disrupt their form and dispel them, rendering them inoperative for a full twenty-four hours. Of course, he can only create the (Shadow Men) right next to him, but from that point on they act move by themselves like clones of Hayes that can, at any time tap into a shared consciousness with the original.
Example: Hayes is in Alerar, and he creates one (Shadow Man). The (Shadow Man) travels to Corone, taps into the shared consciousness, and tastes a righteous cup of tea. The original Hayes will be able to agree that the cup of tea was, in fact, righteous. Hayes then travels by boat to Scar Brae, creates a (Shadow Man) that trips into the water. It taps into the shared consciousness, then drowns. The original Hayes will be able to say: “that was unpleasant.” The original Hayes, oddly, cannot extend the Fregoli-Capgras Permutation to anyone: only the (Shadow Men) can.
My Friends, Capgras and Fregoli…
Also known as the Fregoli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fregoli_delusion)-Capgras (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_delusion) Permutation. Hayes is neither a changeling nor a shape-shifter. His appearance itself never really changes, but it is the perception others have of him that does. This is even subtler than an illusion as it merely trips the perceiver’s brain, crossing the wires of recognition despite all outward evidence of his identity (be it distinct physical features, powerful body odor, spiky skin that tastes likev sunshine if you lick it, or a fancy shirt that reads: “Yes, It is I”). This allows him to make people believe he is not in fact the person they see him to be, or that he is someone else entirely but in a very convincing disguise. This comes to him as easily as breathing, requiring next to no concentration on his part outside of deciding what he would like to be perceived as at any time and for however long he desires. Should he leave the perceiver’s presence, whatever identity was active at that time, regardless of the logical fallacies, will remain in their memory unquestioned. Lastly, no matter who the perceiver thinks he is, they will respond the same way they would to any perceived danger. The permutation also extends to his (Shadow Men).
Example: People might start talking to him as if he were someone else entirely, while commenting on his convincing disguise. Those who are looking for someone that looks exactly like him will, upon finding him, be unable to connect the dots beyond taking him for a moderate lookalike. Of course, he can be perceived normally as well.
What Strange Aeons?
Hayes does not understand the importance people accord to the concepts of life and death, of rebirth and immortality. This is largely due to his personal existence, so to say, finding more relevance in the ebbs and tides of ideas – in the way they come and go, and sometimes come again. Ideas are oblivious to laws and their loopholes because ideas are, in and of themselves, noncommittal. Hayes has gone many times, and will think nothing of it if he one day fails to come back.
Example: He is stabbed in the heart in Underwood; two days later, he reappears in Salvar. The corpse may or may not still be in Corone. He might also get decapitated in Fallien, but reappear a month later (or two hours later) in Dheathain (or Alerar). The corpse may or may not be missing a head, or vice versa. Or he could get burned at the stake in a backward country and reappear in Óvegur, or never reappear again.
Wardrobe Roulette!
Hayes can change his outfits at will. While he sometimes adds leathers and plates to his wardrobe, they are never functional armors, and exist purely for aesthetic purposes. When no longer in contact with his body, they seem to vanish into thin air.
Example: On Mondays, he wears a suit, but sometimes he wears a rainbow-colored clown costume instead. Sometimes he gets wet wearing his clothes, or is burned alive with them; in these situations, he can remove them from existence, then bring them back, completely dry (or unburned). If someone stabs him while he’s wearing what seems to be a full-body Prevalida armor that shines like the hearts of a thousand suns, he will still die, but he’s okay with that. As a note, no matter how bright or loud something he wears can get, it can never blind, deafen, or even hurt a person. It can only cause mild aesthetic discomfort, offend a person’s sense of style, or sometimes inspire.
Equipment & Possessions
Hayes has very little in the ways of worldly possessions. Whatever coinage sometimes stumbles into his hands never stays long, and he is to the marketplace as a blue moon is to the skies. The closest the man has to anything are his… birthrights, as it were.
Óvegur, the Un-Road
The few surviving scholars who know of the Un-Road are equivocal about its nature and location. The first people had described it as one of many faults in the structure of all that exists (as we understand it). Old scriptures describe it as being located in a realm named Refsingvötn, within the crater Pyttursvik – how they came about this knowledge, or whether it holds any truth, is unknown. Whatever the case, Hayes and the Un-Road are intrinsically linked. What that entails is also unknown.
Appearance
Some say he has a horsey face, others, just a horsey name. Lately, he tends to favor proper, fitted suits, but he still owns an eclectic wardrobe to last the ages.
History
Very little is known of Hayes, and that is all anyone will ever need to know about this man.
Other Notes and Precisions
Skills are left ambiguous because all he has is knowledge. To select any specifically would either severely limit him in his purposes as a character, or reveal too much about him. As such, the only precision is that his skills are utterly useless in combat, no matter what they are. I hope this will be enough to convince you, but if not, let me add that the if he’s ever to participate in a battle, then it’ll be the psychological kind, if that. Also, I feel that if he’s a decent cook, can make a U with his tongue, or fold his eyelids back quite racistly (although he’s not), he should be able to do so without trouble, as long as he doesn’t suddenly throw spears with pinpoint accuracy (although he might know which end of a spear is the pointy end) or fly fighter jets like a pro (although he might know what the hell a fighter jet is, or he might not).
Wardrobe Roulette! Grants him no extra defense. For all intents and purposes, his clothing is made of the stuff of thoughts, dreams and nightmares – that is to say, one notch above useless in a world like Earth or Althanas. It can glow or glitter or do other visual or auditory things inexplicably (or even taste like chicken or feel like ennui to the touch), but it cannot hurt, disorient or incapacitate more than typical clothing can (although he can mesmerize with pure style).
My Friends, Capgras and Fregoli… works similarly to the psychic paper in Doctor Who, only applied to his entire person. Also, while he could attempt to toggle identities back and forth to confuse someone, the mind will quickly compensate and settle on one identity, and it will be a long while before the permutation will affect them normally again.
What Strange Aeons? is also useless in battles, because when he’s killed, if he comes back at all, he won’t come back instantly or at the same place. In roleplaying terms, when he dies in a thread, he’s dead for the thread (unless that’s part of the story).
(Shadow Men), I'm not sure if there's anything risky about it. It's like having two NPCs that have one ability the PC has, only they go poof after one hit. They can communicate with each other across vast distances, because they're kinda useless to Hayes otherwise. Sorry if there's a problem that I'm just not seeing, though.
As for the Un-Road, consider it, for RoG purposes, as the equivalent of a character’s dream world, in that it’s under their control and what happens inside isn’t limited by their skills and abilities, only their mind. Long story short, it’s a special setting unique to Hayes. There’s probably cool stuff to be found in it, but aforementioned stuff might not necessarily be useful (or stuff at all).
This totals 4 abilities, I know, but considering this isn't a character that's intended to get stronger, and that any addition from this point forward would be rare, aesthetic in nature (probably) and purely plot-related... I was hoping that leniency might be possible. Also, one of the abilities is to change clothes, so yeah.
Thanks for your time, and sorry if it's any trouble. All I want is to work with a character that's not competing in an arms and power race, and whose few abilities are unconventional and will offer unique writing experiences.
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/2559/davidbowiecropped.jpg
Name: Hayes – also known as Tom, Joe, Sam, and Horsey Hayes
Gender: Male
Age: Hard to tell, with that ageless look about him
Hair: A sharp-bodied shock of dark russet
Eyes: Cloudy-blue, with a case of anisocoria in his right
Skin: Surprisingly pale, but not ghastly
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 128 lbs.
Skills
Hayes is a skillful man in many respects, but he’s never paid any mind to matters of combat and survival. Were his life ever in any danger, weapons would do him little good, as would the legs of this less-than-stellar runner. Otherwise, he is a dabbler in many crafts, games and sciences of the world… some more esoteric than others. He claims no expertise in any of these, but the things he knows and sometimes does could surprise the common people.
Abilities
(Shadow Men)
Hayes can manifest as a number of doppelgangers (2) with no limitation of range in relation to his real body. These shadow men can just as easily use the Fregoli-Capgras Permutation, but each can also extend its effect to a third party once a day. They are, however, next to incorporeal: minimal interaction with the physical world is possible, but they cannot functionally engage in combat. A strong physical shock may also disrupt their form and dispel them, rendering them inoperative for a full twenty-four hours. Of course, he can only create the (Shadow Men) right next to him, but from that point on they act move by themselves like clones of Hayes that can, at any time tap into a shared consciousness with the original.
Example: Hayes is in Alerar, and he creates one (Shadow Man). The (Shadow Man) travels to Corone, taps into the shared consciousness, and tastes a righteous cup of tea. The original Hayes will be able to agree that the cup of tea was, in fact, righteous. Hayes then travels by boat to Scar Brae, creates a (Shadow Man) that trips into the water. It taps into the shared consciousness, then drowns. The original Hayes will be able to say: “that was unpleasant.” The original Hayes, oddly, cannot extend the Fregoli-Capgras Permutation to anyone: only the (Shadow Men) can.
My Friends, Capgras and Fregoli…
Also known as the Fregoli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fregoli_delusion)-Capgras (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_delusion) Permutation. Hayes is neither a changeling nor a shape-shifter. His appearance itself never really changes, but it is the perception others have of him that does. This is even subtler than an illusion as it merely trips the perceiver’s brain, crossing the wires of recognition despite all outward evidence of his identity (be it distinct physical features, powerful body odor, spiky skin that tastes likev sunshine if you lick it, or a fancy shirt that reads: “Yes, It is I”). This allows him to make people believe he is not in fact the person they see him to be, or that he is someone else entirely but in a very convincing disguise. This comes to him as easily as breathing, requiring next to no concentration on his part outside of deciding what he would like to be perceived as at any time and for however long he desires. Should he leave the perceiver’s presence, whatever identity was active at that time, regardless of the logical fallacies, will remain in their memory unquestioned. Lastly, no matter who the perceiver thinks he is, they will respond the same way they would to any perceived danger. The permutation also extends to his (Shadow Men).
Example: People might start talking to him as if he were someone else entirely, while commenting on his convincing disguise. Those who are looking for someone that looks exactly like him will, upon finding him, be unable to connect the dots beyond taking him for a moderate lookalike. Of course, he can be perceived normally as well.
What Strange Aeons?
Hayes does not understand the importance people accord to the concepts of life and death, of rebirth and immortality. This is largely due to his personal existence, so to say, finding more relevance in the ebbs and tides of ideas – in the way they come and go, and sometimes come again. Ideas are oblivious to laws and their loopholes because ideas are, in and of themselves, noncommittal. Hayes has gone many times, and will think nothing of it if he one day fails to come back.
Example: He is stabbed in the heart in Underwood; two days later, he reappears in Salvar. The corpse may or may not still be in Corone. He might also get decapitated in Fallien, but reappear a month later (or two hours later) in Dheathain (or Alerar). The corpse may or may not be missing a head, or vice versa. Or he could get burned at the stake in a backward country and reappear in Óvegur, or never reappear again.
Wardrobe Roulette!
Hayes can change his outfits at will. While he sometimes adds leathers and plates to his wardrobe, they are never functional armors, and exist purely for aesthetic purposes. When no longer in contact with his body, they seem to vanish into thin air.
Example: On Mondays, he wears a suit, but sometimes he wears a rainbow-colored clown costume instead. Sometimes he gets wet wearing his clothes, or is burned alive with them; in these situations, he can remove them from existence, then bring them back, completely dry (or unburned). If someone stabs him while he’s wearing what seems to be a full-body Prevalida armor that shines like the hearts of a thousand suns, he will still die, but he’s okay with that. As a note, no matter how bright or loud something he wears can get, it can never blind, deafen, or even hurt a person. It can only cause mild aesthetic discomfort, offend a person’s sense of style, or sometimes inspire.
Equipment & Possessions
Hayes has very little in the ways of worldly possessions. Whatever coinage sometimes stumbles into his hands never stays long, and he is to the marketplace as a blue moon is to the skies. The closest the man has to anything are his… birthrights, as it were.
Óvegur, the Un-Road
The few surviving scholars who know of the Un-Road are equivocal about its nature and location. The first people had described it as one of many faults in the structure of all that exists (as we understand it). Old scriptures describe it as being located in a realm named Refsingvötn, within the crater Pyttursvik – how they came about this knowledge, or whether it holds any truth, is unknown. Whatever the case, Hayes and the Un-Road are intrinsically linked. What that entails is also unknown.
Appearance
Some say he has a horsey face, others, just a horsey name. Lately, he tends to favor proper, fitted suits, but he still owns an eclectic wardrobe to last the ages.
History
Very little is known of Hayes, and that is all anyone will ever need to know about this man.
Other Notes and Precisions
Skills are left ambiguous because all he has is knowledge. To select any specifically would either severely limit him in his purposes as a character, or reveal too much about him. As such, the only precision is that his skills are utterly useless in combat, no matter what they are. I hope this will be enough to convince you, but if not, let me add that the if he’s ever to participate in a battle, then it’ll be the psychological kind, if that. Also, I feel that if he’s a decent cook, can make a U with his tongue, or fold his eyelids back quite racistly (although he’s not), he should be able to do so without trouble, as long as he doesn’t suddenly throw spears with pinpoint accuracy (although he might know which end of a spear is the pointy end) or fly fighter jets like a pro (although he might know what the hell a fighter jet is, or he might not).
Wardrobe Roulette! Grants him no extra defense. For all intents and purposes, his clothing is made of the stuff of thoughts, dreams and nightmares – that is to say, one notch above useless in a world like Earth or Althanas. It can glow or glitter or do other visual or auditory things inexplicably (or even taste like chicken or feel like ennui to the touch), but it cannot hurt, disorient or incapacitate more than typical clothing can (although he can mesmerize with pure style).
My Friends, Capgras and Fregoli… works similarly to the psychic paper in Doctor Who, only applied to his entire person. Also, while he could attempt to toggle identities back and forth to confuse someone, the mind will quickly compensate and settle on one identity, and it will be a long while before the permutation will affect them normally again.
What Strange Aeons? is also useless in battles, because when he’s killed, if he comes back at all, he won’t come back instantly or at the same place. In roleplaying terms, when he dies in a thread, he’s dead for the thread (unless that’s part of the story).
(Shadow Men), I'm not sure if there's anything risky about it. It's like having two NPCs that have one ability the PC has, only they go poof after one hit. They can communicate with each other across vast distances, because they're kinda useless to Hayes otherwise. Sorry if there's a problem that I'm just not seeing, though.
As for the Un-Road, consider it, for RoG purposes, as the equivalent of a character’s dream world, in that it’s under their control and what happens inside isn’t limited by their skills and abilities, only their mind. Long story short, it’s a special setting unique to Hayes. There’s probably cool stuff to be found in it, but aforementioned stuff might not necessarily be useful (or stuff at all).
This totals 4 abilities, I know, but considering this isn't a character that's intended to get stronger, and that any addition from this point forward would be rare, aesthetic in nature (probably) and purely plot-related... I was hoping that leniency might be possible. Also, one of the abilities is to change clothes, so yeah.
Thanks for your time, and sorry if it's any trouble. All I want is to work with a character that's not competing in an arms and power race, and whose few abilities are unconventional and will offer unique writing experiences.