The plot development forum is designed for players and groups to keep track of their plot lines, goals they wish their characters to complete in each season, and anything else that may tie into your character's past, present, and future. Please remember that this is not the Personal Journals forum and should not be treated as such. All information posted within this forum should be information that ties back to your character within the Standing Trials Roleplay.
As you may have noticed I like to keep my stuff ordered and orderly. In that vein this thread here is to serve as an external brain for me to keep my various ideas and goals for Cassian organized. It's probably going to get real bloated real fast as I set up the structure and fill it out. If anything you see strikes your fancy feel free to PM me right away. And/or hit me up on Skype (or ask for my Skype to begin with).
I sometimes feel I love the planning and brainstorming even more than the actual writing.
Disclaimer
Cassian is a sociopathic Empath. Which means he has the ability to screw with people's emotions and no compunctions about using that ability. When he deems it advantageous to his needs or wants and can pull it off inconspicuously enough, he will absolutely do it. At the same time this isn't a guarantee that he will, mind you. But the danger exists in every interaction. Fair warning is hereby given.
If you are actually looking for a specific outcome, please PM me.
Last edited by Cassian Gawyne on Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:41 pm, edited 2 times in total. word count: 202
For an Empath, Cassian has a pretty negative take on his emotions. He does not so much detest having them at all, but their unbidden manifestation. He treasures his conscious will above all and will allow or even force it to overrule his emotions when possible. What that may do to him before he can begin to prune his Tangle (see below) remains to be seen.
Leadership [RB]
Novice
Competent
1
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For Cassian, I imagine this to be less of a consciously exerted leadership of men, but rather the polarizing aura of the iconoclast. It's probably not terribly dramatic due to his restrained nature, but for every ten that walk away, one might follow him of their own free will. For as long as they possess it anyway.
Linguistics
Novice
Expert
4
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Language is the key to deciphering the mysteries of human interaction. Somewhere in the letters (and/or numbers) is a code to decipher the meaning of things beyond what they spell out. He intends to find it.
Meditation
Novice
Expert
3
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A necessary evil in his mind. With the idea that the conscious thought reigns supreme, not thinking anything is anathema to his desires. However, it is a thing he needs as he examines his own Tangle and seeks enlightenment of the self.
Politics
Novice
Competent
2
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For the time being, Cassian lacks grand designs beyond vague ideas. He still believes that one day he shall return to rule part of the land from the shadows, employing a half-sibling or other relative as a puppet to guide. An understanding of politics is vital for this endeavour.
Research [FT]
Novice
Master
3
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.
Surgery
Novice
Master
3
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.
Alchemy
Competent
2
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.
Blades
Expert
2
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.
Cartography
Competent
1
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.
Deception
Competent
3
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.
Drawing
Expert
3
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.
Etiquette
Competent
2
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.
Intelligence
Expert
1
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.
Interrogation
Expert
2
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.
Investigation
Competent
1
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.
Mathematics
Expert
2
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Comparable to Linguistics. Mathematics are part of the world equation and thus the world solution (need a better name here but Anti-Life Equation is already taken. But if he gets to designing magical objects, Mathematics might play another vital if boring role.
Medicine
Expert
4
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.
Painting
Competent
3
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.
Psychology
Expert
4
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.
Rhetoric
Competent
2
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.
Sculpting
Expert
2
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.
Sociology
Expert
1
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.
Tactics
Competent
1
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.
Torture
Master
2
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.
Arcana: Empathy
Novice
Master
5
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Empathy is transitioning from Cassian's crutch for allowing him to function in polite society to a tool he can use to shape the world, or rather the people, around him to his needs. And himself. It's highly imperative that he reach Competent fast so he can cut threads at which point he will begin to tailor his emotional landscape to reflect his requirements. Pruning his Tangle as it were, seeing unchecked emotion as a cancerous growth.
Arcana: Graft
-
Master
5
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This will really somewhat depend on what Graft will be like if and when it's released. Cassian's aim for applying graft will be the improvement/perfection of the human body. Life has provided a base, but of course, this can be improved on through human ingenuity and a bit of... spark.
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Last edited by Cassian Gawyne on Tue Mar 28, 2017 8:30 pm, edited 4 times in total. word count: 578
Mirror Mirror -- Cassian is highly self-reflective. His psychological state, which he is semi-aware of in the sense of being different from other people, and his magic, allow him a level of criticism of his self that other people simply cannot match. Which in turn allows him to look down on them. This mostly needs establishing and reinforcing. But also juxtaposition. Find a PC who hates themselves?
Romance -- Let's face it, this is Idalos so despite Cassian being aromantic and probably some kind of sexual pervert there will be romance. How could this be made relevant?
Cassian finds a bitchy, smart and utterly unattainable sociopath to fall for and never have. That would be the easy one.
Cassian finds a bitchy, smart yet attainable sociopath and they him. He'll have to surgically remove his feelings before the world is utterly destroyed.
An available but undesirable wannabe partner finds him and he has to go to various lengths to get them off his back.
There's gotta be more.
Memories of Rynmere
We'll always have Andaris.
Unhappy Childhood -- It wasn't really unhappy. Not for him anyway. Need to establish a normal daily routine for him anyway. What was life like for the little bastard? Interaction with tutors, servants, slaves. This would probably feature a very young Cassian
Sins of the Father -- A proper relationship with his father was probably the one thing Cassian always wanted but didn't get. A baron of Rynmere is always busy and let's face it, the child is the living reminder of a past indiscretion and while bright not something you parade around. But how did they interact when they could?
Rakes in the Grass -- Misfits one and all, in his own way Cassian did probably fit in well with the other scions of Rynmere when they did meet up at social functions, or at the academy. Or maybe they were going for each others' throats. There is a LOT of memories to be set up here.
List of scions by Name goes here with further ideas.
Gotta thread them all.
Not a euphemism.
He's not a Venora.
Step Ahead -- Cassian's stepmother is a very important person in his life. Probably the only one he holds some form of affection for and thus their relationship will require some exploration. Her past maybe too. May require Mod support/approval so get the ball rolling ahead of time.
Mensur for Mensur -- The mention of a student dueling society in his CS was not just a throwaway line. This is Cassian's idea of weird self-exploratory stuff you do as a college student. Should he have a dueling scar to mar that pretty face? I should put this up to a vote.
Kids in Academia -- College years are formative years, right? I definitely need to capture Cassian's disenchantment with the academic establishment in detail while providing some juxtaposition. Maybe a professor or two that go against the grain, a few (PC) students that are willing to go beyond the norm and on the other side the estbalishment. Introduce an NPC mentor-like figure that eventually gets canned leading to Cassian's final break with the Andaris Academy?
Thorns -- Something has to stir Cassian's heart, right? There must be some living creature he cares for, yes? I've decided it's the noble Shrike. Or an Idalosian equivalent. Maybe originally from the Empire with a name echoing Raskalarn. I'd lovelovelove for Cassian to cause the release of a pair or several from an aviary and introduce them into the ecosystem of Rynmere. Then track them down and watch over their nest, sketch the magnificent creatures as they impale their prey etc.
When in Viden...
...what DO you do?
#Lifegoals -- Cassian is still young and doesn't know what exactly he wants to do with his life. Time to figure it out.
Last edited by Cassian Gawyne on Mon Apr 03, 2017 8:05 pm, edited 1 time in total. word count: 659
How do you balance 'fair play' among role-player with the existence of coercive magics? At base we've probably all been exposed to systems, rules or at least conceptual understanding of consent among role-players. You don't just run roughshod over other people. How do you handle this then?
You don't. You're an adult about it all, but you don't try to balance this against consent. You give people outs and ways to work with you or against you, but if you try to balance this you're just hamstringing it and it becomes pointless. Besides, some people do like this kind of thing. Consent is a great idea when you run a public and paid-for game. But in threads of two or three people everyone should have an idea of what they're getting themselves into ahead of time anyway.
Consent is over-rated. It's that damn simple.
Minions
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One day, Cassian will hold down some kind of business. I'll brainstorm on that elsewhere. And to run a business he'll need minions. Empathy already gives him the ability to make them useful despite their best intents not to be. Who needs slaves when you can have highly motivated sycophants with just a snip and a tether?
But, this needs a little more. Something wicked, something... grafty. Now, Graft isn't live and I have no idea how far it will go but it should be enough to skew people into being more suited to their tasks. I'm not sure if Cassian would be interested in splicing animal parts into his minions, though. That seems crude and crass. Magomechanical apparata would be far more stylish and efficient since they could be developed to the task at hand. Foot-long blades popping out of forearms, superlight subdermal chain mail, chords of metal muscle... that's just the easy stuff... and things he might use on himself if at all possible.
But if he ever were to understand the human brain in function that could be really useful. Graft people's brains to permanently reprogram them and save on Empathy.
Other than mundane skills this will probably require Dustforge to fashion the implants to be used as well as Graft to properly insert the modifications. This does throw up the problem of limited slots for Cassian's Magics, making it hard to slot in anything else. A Dustforging friend might be more useful, leaving slots open for Attunement and Sovereign... on the other hand, one of those or both could be mirrored through the use of implanted artifacts.
Nietzsche (is he from Etzos?)
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Nietzsche introduces the concept of the Übermensch in contrast to his understanding of the other-worldliness of Christianity: Zarathustra proclaims the Übermensch to be the meaning of the earth and admonishes his audience to ignore those who promise other-worldly hopes in order to draw them away from the earth. The turn away from the earth is prompted, he says, by a dissatisfaction with life—a dissatisfaction that causes one to create another world in which those who made one unhappy in this life are tormented. The Übermensch is not driven into other worlds away from this one.
Zarathustra declares that the Christian escape from this world also required the invention of an eternal soul which would be separate from the body and survive the body's death. Part of other-worldliness, then, was the abnegation and mortification of the body, or asceticism. Zarathustra further links the Übermensch to the body and to interpreting the soul as simply an aspect of the body.
[...]
For Rüdiger Safranski, the Übermensch represents a higher biological type reached through artificial selection and at the same time is also an ideal for anyone who is creative and strong enough to master the whole spectrum of human potential, good and "evil", to become an "artist-tyrant". In Ecce Homo, Nietzsche vehemently denied any idealistic, democratic or humanitarian interpretation of the Übermensch: "The word Übermensch [designates] a type of supreme achievement, as opposed to 'modern' men, 'good' men, Christians, and other nihilists ... When I whispered into the ears of some people that they were better off looking for a Cesare Borgia than a Parsifal, they did not believe their ears." Safranski argues that the combination of ruthless warrior pride and artistic brilliance that defined the Italian Renaissance embodied the sense of the Übermensch for Nietzsche. According to Safranski, Nietzsche intended the ultra-aristocratic figure of the Übermensch to serve as a Machiavellian bogeyman of the modern Western middle class and its pseudo-Christian egalitarian value system.
When Cassian talks about perfecting the human form he is primarily talking about his own form, of course. To this end he will probably ultimately end up harvesting body parts or individual components thereof to enhance his own body first and foremost.
Now, this is an ability attained late in Graft but there will be baby steps leading him there along the way. Experimentation or an exchange of knowledge should yield all or most of the ingredients required for the latter, more involved procedures. That said, whether all of these options are ultimately feasible or possible is something to be found out via experimentation in game. The continuous process of improvement will likely happen in several stages, though the transition won't be clear cut: He might move to stage 3 with limbs while still being hung up on stage 1 with other parts of his body. Still, this manifests in a clearly escalating hierarchy.
Stage 1: Appropriation
At this stage, Cassian (and/or his Spark) is primarily interested in 'upgrading' his physical vessel along existing lines. He'll be on the lookout for the person with the clearest eyes, the most immaculate skin or the most regal nose. Maybe a set of stronger arms or longer legs but this stage is primarily cosmetic and Cassian resists grafting things like muscle which he might attain through training.
Possible Options:
Eyes (clear)
Skin (pristine)
Clavicle (wider shoulders)
Stage 2: Harvesting
Moving on from superficialities, Cassian casts more of an eye towards function and human body parts will only take him so far in this endeavour. Cat eyes might be a useful addition, for example, but the biggest possible yield would come from fellow sentients, up to and including the wings of an Avriel and the accompanying musculature. Of note, organs specific to a given animal might also be an option, such as poison glands.
Possible Options:
Eyes (such as from a cat (low light vision) bird (long range) or crocodile(split pupil))
Teeth (weaponizing teeth by replacing human incisors with more pointed animal ones; replacing human canines with snake teeth to facilitate a poisonous bite)
Fingernails (replace or supplant with appropriate animal claws)
Stage 3: Physical Preparation
At this point, potential enhancements are harvested, then prepared before grafting. Examples might include laced bones or surgically altered organs. This step is diffuse and will more strongly bleed into the following and preceding stages, respectively since the methods are not mutally exclusive.
Stage 4: Expanded Grooming
Grooming is the point at which Cassian would keep a host body to grow his desired graft into an appropriate shape through surgery followed by accelerated healing. Shaping bones into a desired pattern via breaking them, shaping them as desired and then energizing them to heal into the desired shape would be the obvious example. Of course this method is also relevant for proof of concept regarding more complex grafts he might try upon himself.
Stage 5: Interchange
Ultimately, there are several physical properties which might be mutuality exclusive, but Cassian might care to be able to pick and choose them as required. To that end he would likely develop a method of preservation and keep stores of especially prepared limbs and organs for specialized uses. Like some nice smooth hands for going out or some calloused strong ones for physical labour, a writing hand etc.
