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groundrules) wrote2021-01-08 03:30 pm
groundrules) wrote2021-01-08 03:30 pm
Entry tags:
applications
Eastbound is primarily an invite-only game — each existing player can currently invite up to one person per month, or get in touch about further invites. Existing players can hold two characters in game. A third character can be applied, if players can prove they have met activity requirements for two consecutive months with their existing two characters and have stayed engaged with the game. If you don't have an invite, somehow stumbled upon this neck of the woods, and you’d like to stay, drop the mod journal a line — we'll try to figure it out.
As of Oct. 1, cast/game caps are off. Please note, as of Dec. 1, Eastbound only has 3-4 months of gameplay left.
WHAT CHARACTERS CAN BE APPLIED?
YES: canon and original characters, if they have a solid and consistent personality and background. Characters brought in after they've died are a-okay. For characters taken from a time point just as they're in the process of dying, please read below on meeting medical requirements.
NO (at this time): real people, original characters set in a canon environment, characters from canons or canon instalments that have been released for less than one month, characters with imported development from other games (CRAU), alternate universe, or gender-swapped versions of canon characters.
Children or characters with very specific medical/magical/environment needs: appable, but please make a note of how your character will ICly meet their requirements and stay alive. Likewise, if you are applying for a character taken just as they're dying, provide a suggestion for how they can be kept alive on arrival (this might be easier in some app cycles than others). You can bend the world a little to make miracles happen (ex: a substitute for the medication your character needs to survive can be found for a high price at certain apothecaries, etc.)
Characters that were dropped or swept by activity checks: yes, but they’ll come back without their previous memories, if they are applied in by a different player.
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
→ NAVIGATION MENU
Vrtra (Varshahn) | Final Fantasy XIV
CONTACT:
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE GAME?: got a few threads going on in the TDM!
CHARACTER: Vrtra (“Varshahn”)
CANON: Final Fantasy XIV
CANON POINT: 6.2, just before walking back through the portal to the Source
BACKGROUND: First, a note on names: “Varshahn” is the name of his current simulacrum body, while “Vrtra” is his true name as a dragon. The game typically calls him Varshahn when he is on-screen in his simulacrum body, and Vrtra when he is on-screen as a dragon. He answers to both and states that he does not mind people more-or-less choosing which they want to call him.
Here is his wiki link, which has not yet been updated for the latest patch, 6.2. To complete his background, here's a brief summary of the patch:
Preparations for crossing into the Void are completed, and Y'shtola, Estinien and the Warrior of Light (i.e. the player character) meet up in Thavnair to get down to business. Vrtra arrives as Varshahn, but before they leave he is gifted a sort of “upgraded” adult body that can better fight and use magic. The four of them travel through the gate and fight their way through a ruined, haunted castle (the Fell Court of Troia). They discover that voidsent can regenerate after death, and that they are ruled over by the strongest among them, currently Golbez and the Four Archfiends. They befriend a half-voidsent woman whom they name “Zero” and, with her assistance, defeat one of the Archfiends, Scarmiglione. Zero knows how to essentially crystallize her fellow voidsent, preventing them from regenerating and thus killing them for real; she begrudgingly agrees to continue helping the team so long as they let her feed off of their aether. (Y'shtola volunteers her aether first, but later Varshahn offers his instead.) The Warrior manages to see into Scarmiglione's memories and sees that Golbez has captured Azdaja and is keeping her alive in stasis for unknown but doubtlessly evil reasons.
After some investigation, and while gaining further insight into the lives and culture of the voidsent, they are confronted by the second Archfiend, Barbariccia, who taunts them with knowledge of Azdaja's whereabouts if they can defeat her in battle. They do, but the Warrior is unable to get anything from her memories (and uh they killed her instead of questioning her, which wasn't the best move but whatever), and Zero is exhausted from the battle, forcing them to retreat. They step back through the portal to their home world with Zero in tow, and the patch ends with the Warrior and Varshahn showing her around Radz-at-Han and resting up for their next foray.
ABILITIES | POWERS: dragons in FFXIV are extremely powerful creatures, able to breathe fire and send out magical/sonic blasts, sustain themselves only on aether (magical energy), pop their eyes in and out of their skulls (and let others borrow them!), and so on. Most of these powers do not seem to translate to the Varshahn body, however.
Here is what we have seen him do as Varshahn:
- sense other dragons (including those “touched” by dragons such as Estinien) and possibly get a sense of other's powers or magics
- fight using sword and shield, or a lance
- use protective and destructive magics (i.e., he can tank or dps) including shielding others around him
Here are things that his dragon-self can do, with notes:
- sing/call to other dragons, which is “borne on the aether” (cannot be done by the simulacrum). It is somewhat implied that dragonsong has other magical properties, but these are not clearly defined. If there is ever an opportunity for Vrtra to sing in-game, I would probably play it as just “music that is incredibly moving and resonant within one's soul”.
- auto-translate their own language via telepathy (possibly can be done by the simulacrum?)
- breath fire/sonic blasts (won't be possible in-game)
- fly, including in outer space (nope)
- natural protection against corrupting magic/influences (presumably not relevant in-game)
- control lesser “scalekin” like crocodiles, pteranodons, etc. (presumably cannot be done by the simulacrum)
And finally, as a simulacrum rather than a real person, Varshahn presumably does not need to eat/drink/sleep and so forth, and can be “deactivated” by taking the eye out and putting it back in the dragon's skull. Vrtra is technically capable of moving and observing from both bodies at once, though in-game his dragon form will be miniaturized and confined to a pendant.
PERSONALITY: Vrtra's main personality points are devotion, self-sacrifice, and insecurity. He views all of Thavnair as his children, and has secretly guided and watched over them for generations. His love for them is strong enough to stop him from answering his brother's centuries-long call for blood after the brutal murder of his sister; he describes himself as hiding away and desperately hoping that the war does not come to his shores and disrupt his people's peace. Even when the Final Days come to Thavnair and warp its citizens beyond recognition, corrupting their aether and turning them into violent monstrosities, Vrtra hesitates to hurt them and mourns their loss deeply (“O capricious and cruel fate – they are undeserving of such condemnation...”). His love for his sister, too, has defined him for years; he spent centuries looking for a way to reach her after she became trapped in the void, and even after nominally giving up on the search, he quietly harbors hope that she is still alive. His normally calm demeanor gives way to concern and even frustration and anger when it is clear that she's still in danger during the events of patch 6.2.
While he protects and cares for Thavnair specifically, he also loves all of Eitherys and views it as his father did – the “last bastion of hope” in a universe filled with despair. In order to help save the lives of its people, he donates his own scales to research into protective wards. This results in a large, bloody wound across his side when the player first meets him; it is unknown exactly how many scales he's taken off of himself, or for how long he's been doing it, but it's obviously caused a great deal of pain and damage. He dismisses this as “a mere annoyance compared to the dreadful suffering inflicted upon this land and its people”. In terms of slightly less literal self-sacrifice, he's hidden himself away for most of his life in order to uphold peace and stability for his people, living confined in the mountain palace of Radz-at-Han and almost exclusively interacting with others through his living dolls. His only real companions have been the royal family, to which he gives all the credit of leadership to – even after he steps up and becomes the satrap officially, he speaks of the last satrap, Ahewann, with great respect and fondness, clearly seeing him as just as much of a leader as he himself is.
His arc in Endwalker is one of overcoming his insecurities and fear of rejection by his people. He describes himself (in detail) as just as frightening as the monsters created by the Final Days, and agonizes over the decision to reveal himself to his people, only relenting once Ahewann dies and Thavnair is left leaderless (and Estinien gives him a nice pep talk). As Varshahn, he introduces his dragon self to his people by asking them to remember that he means them no harm, despite his appearance; after the crisis of the Final Days is averted, he continues to use Varshahn as well as his real body to communicate with his people. His dragon model is also often posed as crouching low to the ground, unlike some of the other dragons we have seen previously, as though he is trying to make himself smaller or less intimidating.
Since he wanders around masquerading as a cute kid, he also appears to have a fanciful side; he plays the part of Varshahn well and is even noted to have joined the children of Radz-at-Han in their daily games. Even after he reveals himself and the true nature of “Varshahn”, the people of Thavnair continue to treat him in an affectionate manner, referring to him as their “little brother”, which he seems to enjoy and even encourage.
SAMPLE: The chiming of the clock is still reverberating inside of Varshahn’s horns as he blocks a knife-wielding mannequin’s attack. He has, unfortunately, been trapped in the dollhouse for over an hour by now, so this is not his first little “hunting session”. At least that has given him the knowledge that the partygoers will stop attacking soon - he just needs to hold out against their assault for a few minutes.
He’d tried reasoning with them at first, hoping for a non-violent solution, but his words had fallen on deaf ears. Assuming they had ears. The reward for his pacifism was a few knife-wounds to the simulacrum body. (His true form is still safely inside of the strange pendant he’d been given before boarding the train a couple of Unwindings ago.) The magic that ties his two bodies together allows him to feel the pain of the simulacrum, but he’s experienced with his double-life enough to be able to focus his attention away from it; and the body itself works just fine even with damage. This much damage, anyway. It won’t do to have a part cut off. He’d be trapped inside the pendant with no means of carrying himself away then, and to be frank he’d feel guilty for ruining his alchemists’ hard work on the vessel.
The chiming is finally fading as he wrests the knife out of the mannequin’s hands and turns the blade against it, a doll fighting another doll, as though they were the playthings of a precocious unseen child. Vrtra isn’t entirely sure that such a description is inaccurate; he’s been told something about forces summoning them all here against their wills, the need to escape via beacons to the east…it’s been a lot to take in, even without the murderous mannequins. He hopes, as his adversary finally stills in a heap on the floor, that he gets more answers soon. An ancient being such as he knows how to be patient, yes, but his incomplete mission back home grates on him; he has to get back to the others, back to taking care of Zero and to finding his sister…
Clanking footsteps pull him out of his worries over friends and family. There are more mannequins after him. He dashes down the corridor to find a more defensive spot, wishing he had his sword and shield instead of the admittedly snazzy clothes that Varshahn had been inexplicably put in.
He finds a room with what looks like a sturdy door and decides to barricade himself inside. Only to find that he is not alone - the occupant isn’t a mannequin or faceless robot, so he assumes that they’re a fellow victim of the Unwinding.
Then he notices the blood and wounds his new companion is trying to hide, and his heart aches. Yes, this is definitely another victim.
“Do not fear,” he says softly to them. “We shall survive this together. If they come for us, stay behind me, and I will protect you.”
It would really be nice to have his sword and shield.
INVENTORY: he'll be living pretty much entirely in his simulacrum body for the duration of the game. The simulacrum comes with clothing as well as a sword and shield, and he is also carrying a protective talisman made partially from his own scale. The talisman protects its bearer from the influence of hypnotizing demi-gods known as primals, as well as from corruption by the Void.
In addition, he will have a locket which holds his miniaturized dragon form, as discussed with the mods.
NOTES: see above with regards to his dragon body!
IF ACCEPTED, WOULD YOU WANT A PLOT-LIGHT OR PLOT-HEAVY CUSTOM INTRO? Plot-light intro since things will be exciting enough for him just...existing as a living doll carrying his miniature real self in a Pokeball, lol.
no subject
Just two notes:
— please make it opt-in for player characters, if they want Vrtra to sense that they are dragons or have magic, etc.
— in Arc IV, characters are mod-assigned false identities and a location between Eidris and Minaras. This is mostly to give them a 'base,' and they can still traverse to the other citadel half. The thinking was to assign Vrtra to Eidris, especially given his dragon connection. Does that sound good?
no subject
- that sounds great, he would love to hang with some fellow dragons!
ACCEPTED
Thank you for your application!
ADMIN
NOTES
INTRO
no subject
I wanted to leave you a quick note on powers - I took a look at the scene about sensing magical powers again, and decided that it's so vague on what exactly he's sensing from the player character (or even if he's maybe just heard about them and is speaking poetically? idk) that it shouldn't really count as an ability. I will put the dragon stuff in my permissions as discussed though.
no subject