(no subject)
PLAYER INFORMATION-
Name/Nickname: Atropa
AIM/E-mail/Contact: hexaethylene@googlemail.com
LJ: Chlorhexidine
CHARACTER INFORMATION-
Canon Character and Series: Xigbar, Kingdom Hearts
In-Game Name: Brian Freischutz, alias Braig, alias Xigbar.
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Position & Ship (first and second choice for position please): Serenity - Gunner, or Strategist.
Appearance:
The first striking thing about Xigbar, is the black eyepatch and the ragged scar down his cheek. They're his most distinctive features, and it's after those that people tend to notice the white streaks in his long hair, the crows feet and other faint lines of age between his eyebrows, across his forehead, and around his mouth. Despite them, he's aged quite well, and can still give a wicked smile. His sole remaining eye is bright amber, and although he looks every inch a pirate, it's a great number of inches. He's short, for a man, not much more than five feet seven, and easily towered over, in theory. That doesn't mean he's easy to intimidate.
Personality:
The first impression Xigbar gives is that he's an easy going, laid back type. He has a distinctive accent and manner of speaking, sounding like a teenage stereotype from twenty years past, while also using some rather quaint expressions and epithets that modern teenagers would never use. He grins a lot, and tends to tease, and in general acts as though he's mostly harmless unless something serious happens. He's fond of playing poker, although he rarely bets too highly when the stakes are against him, and tends to rub along well with most people, even if they do find his speech a little irritating.
When something serious happens, he's focussed, driven, and plows into the job ahead almost single mindedly. He's good at planning, able to patiently follow a lengthy series of steps that will produce the results he's looking for, and if he can do that without putting himself in unnecessary danger, he will. Still, he's far from averse to fighting face to face; it could even be said that he prefers it, although he knows when to back out of an unwinnable situation. Despite the fact that Xigbar keeps his head and gets on with the job, however, he still finds the time to crack off a few one liners and do some teasing, especially in battle.
The reason Xigbar prefers one on on fighting is that, with Xigbar, first impressions are an act. Underneath the affable old dude exterior, he's scheming and sly, more than willing to sell out his boss or his mentor if it will get him a little closer to what he wants, and what Xigbar mostly wants is power; to be the one pulling strings. He doesn't take well to the treachery of other people, and will come down hard on anyone he finds committing such, but his purposes are self serving. He's corrupt, and corruptible, but will be at least temporarily loyal to anyone in a position to offer him more power than he currently has. He gets friendly with people because that makes it easier to manipulate them if he needs to, and in reality takes the view that he has no friends but himself. Unfortunately, this kind of thing becomes difficult if there are witnesses, and could result in what Xigbar would consider lost opportunities.
Abilities/Weapons:
Xigbar's weapons are a couple of guns that he's had for some time, and modified to suit his tastes. They each fire thirteen bullets, which is a little remarkable but not especially so. Their main, truly unique ability, is to be combined together to create a sniper rifle, giving them both mid and long range functionality. As weapons go, they are unfortunately bulky, but Xigbar has had them for a number of years and is comfortable with them. Their accuracy at mid range, and as separate weapons, is good but not fantastic, and their accuracy as a long range weapon isn't greatly improved, but the ability to shoot at things while being out of range himself is something Xigbar considers an important one, and his sharp shooting skills have improved with practice, making Xigbar sniping a rather frightening prospect..
Though it's still a less frightening prospect than facing off against Xigbar with his guns separated while he's employing his other abilities. He has a unique magical talent that allows him to manipulate space though to a small degree. He can create small portals, enough to put a limb through, and especially enough to fire a bullet through, that can allow him to be stood at one side of a room, and shooting at you from the other end. The ability has its limits; he can't reach something further than twenty metres away, and once created, a portal cannot be moved, needing to be closed in order to let a new one be opened in a different position. They also won't stay open indefinitely; the moment that Xigbar stops keeping them open, they close of their own accord, meaning that a blow strong enough to knock Xigbar's concentration is sufficient to stop him using one for a moment. Xigbar also needs to be able to see where he's opening the other end of the portal in order to do it, or it doesn't work. Without a mana stone, Xigbar can only do this trick a few times before he's too exhausted to continue, but with a mana stone he can keep it up without any apparent ill effects.
He also has the slightly unnerving habit of hanging in space, sometimes upside down, while shooting, and, in order to make life more difficult for an opponent, will transport himself out of easy reach during the course of a battle. It's a useful ability for Xigbar if there happens to be an overhang or other position high up from which he can snipe at an opponent, but it's also useful during battle to minimise the amount of damage he can take. Xigbar doesn't use this ability outside of battle however, as even with a mana stone it is tiring, and he can't keep it up for more than a few minutes before he has to take a break and plant his feet firmly on the ground.
Regardless of the circumstances, Xigbar is a dirty fighter who will use every advantage he has, and every nasty trick in the book to distract and disadvantage his opponent.
How well can your character hack?: Medium-Hard. Xigbar has a habit of eavesdropping because it suits him to know more about people than they would openly reveal, and with being the Organization's second rank he's had both the inclination and the time to learn how to hack.
Weaknesses:
Xigbar is self reliant, which can prove to be a weakness when he bites off more than he can chew. He's overconfident in himself and his abilities, and especially in his ability to get out of a situation, leading him to become unstuck if he has underestimated an opponent. He's corruptible, and easily bribed, although his prices are high, and though he will gladly sell out anyone he meets for the right price, he can become rather irritated if anyone attempts to do the same to him.
On the physical front, his weapons require reloading, leaving Xigbar open to physical attacks, especially if the reloading coincides with a need to have his feet on solid ground. The reload time is still slow enough that a sufficiently quick fighter can land at least one devastating blow, and possibly more if they're able to combo their moves. On a related note, while transporting himself around has its advantages, it also has a distinct disadvantage in that in order to use his portals and get a shot in he has to stay still, and doing that leaves him open not only to physical attacks, if they can get to him, but to magical ones. Xigbar's defences are not terribly high, although he is stronger than he looks, and a suitably quick learning, tactical fighter will cause him significant difficulties.
On the psychological front, Xigbar is rarely willing to continue a fight he knows he cannot win, and that includes if he is fighting as part of a group, meaning that he will abandon his teammates regardless of the trouble they are in. Xigbar considers things such as honour a waste of his energies, and his primary and only unwavering loyalty is wholly to himself. He does not take well to getting hurt in a fight, and expects people with whom he makes arrangements to keep their promises. He will also quickly back out of any hasty challenge made to someone who is several orders of magnitude more powerful than himself, and will, in all likelihood, offer his services to them. While Xigbar would dispute this kind of behaviour being called cowardly, it is still easy for people to take it this way. In the end, Xigbar will do whatever is necessary to look after himself, and bugger the rest of them.
Unfortunately, this also means that Xigbar tends to be expendable, and the people he works for are typically the sort who have no compunctions about this fact. Xigbar, on the other hand, has a hard time accepting it, considering himself to be a significant part of any plan. Once again, it boils down to his own overconfidence in his abilities, and a serious misjudgement of his own importance.
It also has to be said that his mana stone is a significant weakness as, while it allows him to keep up his portal trick, if it is ever lost or stolen, he will not be able to perform them as freely. His mana stone is kept on his person in a secret location; he isn't about to advertise the weakness, but it is still vulnerable, and Xigbar isn't quite mad enough to swallow the stone.
History:
Xigbar was born in Kropmork under the name Brian Freischutz, long before the current Patrician ascended to power, and back when Kropmork was a less than nice place to grow up. As a child he ran with street gangs, often getting up to petty crimes such as vandalism and theft, though he was never caught. At the age of sixteen, and with a distinct taste of irony in his mouth, he joined the Watch as a lance constable. For Brian, it was an opportunity to earn some money, and earn a little extra money on the sides, since the Watch at the time were relatively corrupt.
It wasn't long before he caught the attention of one particularly corrupt section, and gained a transfer into the Particulars, otherwise known as the Unmentionables. In the Particulars, Brian took on his first pseudonym, that of Braig, since the Particulars never signed anything, or gave their names to anyone if they could help it, and came into possession of his guns. He stayed with them until the new Patrician came along and rolled out his changes, giving Braig a steady and lengthy education in everything from torture and mental manipulation to taking bribes of sex or money, and generally in how to be as dodgy a person as possible. From them, Braig learned to threaten and intimidate, and also learned a significant amount about the criminal underbelly of Kropmork, and especially about those in power who had dealings with the criminal underbelly.
It was while with the Particulars that Braig also gained his scar, and lost his eye. In a clash with another branch of the Watch that, as far as the Particulars were concerned, had gone renegade, Braig got seriously hurt for the first time in his life. His eye was removed, and his cheek stitched up, leaving him with a gaping hole of a socket, and an ugly scar down the other side of his face. Despite his newly impaired sense, Braig was able to function normally because he realised he could still feel the difference in distance, even if he couldn't see it any more.
This was when Braig began to develop his magical abilities, which he wouldn't have discovered without losing his eye. He began by learning how to judge distances with unerring accuracy, and that developed over time, and with practice, into an ability to reach through the distance in question.
It was because of this ability that he was first met by the man who would become the leader of the Organization. Braig had met him, and worked with him previously, and when the new Patrician made his changes, Braig found himself in need of fresh employment. Together with his shadowy acquaintance, and a few others, they became the fledgling and vague 'Organization', and Braig took on his second pseudonym, Xigbar. Their goal was mana stones, and specifically, one very important one that promised, if obtained, to give anyone who commanded it supreme powers. Xigbar wanted in, and helped arrange the Organization's funding through gaps in the Kropmork criminal market that people of unusual talents could safely fill.
Not long after the Organization's creation, he obtained his first mana stone. With its use, he found his abilities expanded significantly, giving him not only the power to use his small portals as much as he liked, but also the ability to transport himself through space, though not at great distances. With practice, he managed to gradually extend his range, and, with further practice, found he could still do the transporting trick even without the mana stone, although it was significantly more difficult. It was at this time that he, together with one of the scientists, performed some modification of his old guns that would make them more useful with his new abilities in mind.
With them, and his new abilities, Xigbar became one of the more active and accomplished members, doing a number of missions, and even recruiting new people to the Organization. He chose people with unique magical talents, but also ones who were more than a bit sneaky and untrustworthy. Xigbar didn't trust any of them, including the Superior, and wasn't about to recruit someone who was trustworthy just in case they turned out to be a good guy into the bargain.
Now, on another mission from the Organization, Xigbar has gone to find his way onto an airship. Believing themselves closer than ever before to finding the Heartstone, Xigbar is out to pick up information, make a few trades, find a few more recruits, and pursue a few personal interests in the process.
SAMPLES-
Third Person (roleplay):
Xigbar liked fieldwork. It was an excuse to stretch his legs, and a few other things. Being in Kropmork meant staying under the radar, which was getting harder and harder. There wasn't a damn thing went on in that city that the big dude up top didn't seem to know about. He probably knew what was going on out here, too, if it came to it, but Xigbar found that easier to shrug off.
He watched his drinking buddy for the evening down a shot and cough. He couldn't hold his alcohol, which was why Xigbar had picked him. A few more shots and Xigbar could roll him and dump him. "I'm just trying to catch up with a few friends," he said, companionably, and downed his own shot quickly. It burned, and it was good, better than the piss some of the pubs in Kropmork tried to make you swallow; Xigbar savoured it. "Heard they're on one of them airships," he said, "name of Serenity." He grinned, and poured the kid another shot, "Don't suppose you know if it's passed through here lately?"
He waited, patiently, for an answer. Of course he knew the kid knew, but it was a good opener for Xigbar to do some checking up and make sure his info was up to date, as well as checking out a couple of other things, and once the kid was too drunk to remember what Xigbar looked like... well, when you're that plastered just about anything can happen to you, can't it?
First Person (journal):
[Private//Text]
Ha! If there's one thing I've learned it's to never note anything down that you don't want other people to read. But nice try if you got this far.
[Public//Voice]
Nice digs you got here. The name's Xigbar; I came all the way from Kropmork just to grace you with my presence. Ain't you lucky?
Now, down to the important business...
Who here plays cards, and who's got booze?
[Filtered to Marluxia//Voice]
Long time no see, my slippery old compadre.
Name/Nickname: Atropa
AIM/E-mail/Contact: hexaethylene@googlemail.com
LJ: Chlorhexidine
CHARACTER INFORMATION-
Canon Character and Series: Xigbar, Kingdom Hearts
In-Game Name: Brian Freischutz, alias Braig, alias Xigbar.
Age: 53
Gender: Male
Position & Ship (first and second choice for position please): Serenity - Gunner, or Strategist.
Appearance:
The first striking thing about Xigbar, is the black eyepatch and the ragged scar down his cheek. They're his most distinctive features, and it's after those that people tend to notice the white streaks in his long hair, the crows feet and other faint lines of age between his eyebrows, across his forehead, and around his mouth. Despite them, he's aged quite well, and can still give a wicked smile. His sole remaining eye is bright amber, and although he looks every inch a pirate, it's a great number of inches. He's short, for a man, not much more than five feet seven, and easily towered over, in theory. That doesn't mean he's easy to intimidate.
Personality:
The first impression Xigbar gives is that he's an easy going, laid back type. He has a distinctive accent and manner of speaking, sounding like a teenage stereotype from twenty years past, while also using some rather quaint expressions and epithets that modern teenagers would never use. He grins a lot, and tends to tease, and in general acts as though he's mostly harmless unless something serious happens. He's fond of playing poker, although he rarely bets too highly when the stakes are against him, and tends to rub along well with most people, even if they do find his speech a little irritating.
When something serious happens, he's focussed, driven, and plows into the job ahead almost single mindedly. He's good at planning, able to patiently follow a lengthy series of steps that will produce the results he's looking for, and if he can do that without putting himself in unnecessary danger, he will. Still, he's far from averse to fighting face to face; it could even be said that he prefers it, although he knows when to back out of an unwinnable situation. Despite the fact that Xigbar keeps his head and gets on with the job, however, he still finds the time to crack off a few one liners and do some teasing, especially in battle.
The reason Xigbar prefers one on on fighting is that, with Xigbar, first impressions are an act. Underneath the affable old dude exterior, he's scheming and sly, more than willing to sell out his boss or his mentor if it will get him a little closer to what he wants, and what Xigbar mostly wants is power; to be the one pulling strings. He doesn't take well to the treachery of other people, and will come down hard on anyone he finds committing such, but his purposes are self serving. He's corrupt, and corruptible, but will be at least temporarily loyal to anyone in a position to offer him more power than he currently has. He gets friendly with people because that makes it easier to manipulate them if he needs to, and in reality takes the view that he has no friends but himself. Unfortunately, this kind of thing becomes difficult if there are witnesses, and could result in what Xigbar would consider lost opportunities.
Abilities/Weapons:
Xigbar's weapons are a couple of guns that he's had for some time, and modified to suit his tastes. They each fire thirteen bullets, which is a little remarkable but not especially so. Their main, truly unique ability, is to be combined together to create a sniper rifle, giving them both mid and long range functionality. As weapons go, they are unfortunately bulky, but Xigbar has had them for a number of years and is comfortable with them. Their accuracy at mid range, and as separate weapons, is good but not fantastic, and their accuracy as a long range weapon isn't greatly improved, but the ability to shoot at things while being out of range himself is something Xigbar considers an important one, and his sharp shooting skills have improved with practice, making Xigbar sniping a rather frightening prospect..
Though it's still a less frightening prospect than facing off against Xigbar with his guns separated while he's employing his other abilities. He has a unique magical talent that allows him to manipulate space though to a small degree. He can create small portals, enough to put a limb through, and especially enough to fire a bullet through, that can allow him to be stood at one side of a room, and shooting at you from the other end. The ability has its limits; he can't reach something further than twenty metres away, and once created, a portal cannot be moved, needing to be closed in order to let a new one be opened in a different position. They also won't stay open indefinitely; the moment that Xigbar stops keeping them open, they close of their own accord, meaning that a blow strong enough to knock Xigbar's concentration is sufficient to stop him using one for a moment. Xigbar also needs to be able to see where he's opening the other end of the portal in order to do it, or it doesn't work. Without a mana stone, Xigbar can only do this trick a few times before he's too exhausted to continue, but with a mana stone he can keep it up without any apparent ill effects.
He also has the slightly unnerving habit of hanging in space, sometimes upside down, while shooting, and, in order to make life more difficult for an opponent, will transport himself out of easy reach during the course of a battle. It's a useful ability for Xigbar if there happens to be an overhang or other position high up from which he can snipe at an opponent, but it's also useful during battle to minimise the amount of damage he can take. Xigbar doesn't use this ability outside of battle however, as even with a mana stone it is tiring, and he can't keep it up for more than a few minutes before he has to take a break and plant his feet firmly on the ground.
Regardless of the circumstances, Xigbar is a dirty fighter who will use every advantage he has, and every nasty trick in the book to distract and disadvantage his opponent.
How well can your character hack?: Medium-Hard. Xigbar has a habit of eavesdropping because it suits him to know more about people than they would openly reveal, and with being the Organization's second rank he's had both the inclination and the time to learn how to hack.
Weaknesses:
Xigbar is self reliant, which can prove to be a weakness when he bites off more than he can chew. He's overconfident in himself and his abilities, and especially in his ability to get out of a situation, leading him to become unstuck if he has underestimated an opponent. He's corruptible, and easily bribed, although his prices are high, and though he will gladly sell out anyone he meets for the right price, he can become rather irritated if anyone attempts to do the same to him.
On the physical front, his weapons require reloading, leaving Xigbar open to physical attacks, especially if the reloading coincides with a need to have his feet on solid ground. The reload time is still slow enough that a sufficiently quick fighter can land at least one devastating blow, and possibly more if they're able to combo their moves. On a related note, while transporting himself around has its advantages, it also has a distinct disadvantage in that in order to use his portals and get a shot in he has to stay still, and doing that leaves him open not only to physical attacks, if they can get to him, but to magical ones. Xigbar's defences are not terribly high, although he is stronger than he looks, and a suitably quick learning, tactical fighter will cause him significant difficulties.
On the psychological front, Xigbar is rarely willing to continue a fight he knows he cannot win, and that includes if he is fighting as part of a group, meaning that he will abandon his teammates regardless of the trouble they are in. Xigbar considers things such as honour a waste of his energies, and his primary and only unwavering loyalty is wholly to himself. He does not take well to getting hurt in a fight, and expects people with whom he makes arrangements to keep their promises. He will also quickly back out of any hasty challenge made to someone who is several orders of magnitude more powerful than himself, and will, in all likelihood, offer his services to them. While Xigbar would dispute this kind of behaviour being called cowardly, it is still easy for people to take it this way. In the end, Xigbar will do whatever is necessary to look after himself, and bugger the rest of them.
Unfortunately, this also means that Xigbar tends to be expendable, and the people he works for are typically the sort who have no compunctions about this fact. Xigbar, on the other hand, has a hard time accepting it, considering himself to be a significant part of any plan. Once again, it boils down to his own overconfidence in his abilities, and a serious misjudgement of his own importance.
It also has to be said that his mana stone is a significant weakness as, while it allows him to keep up his portal trick, if it is ever lost or stolen, he will not be able to perform them as freely. His mana stone is kept on his person in a secret location; he isn't about to advertise the weakness, but it is still vulnerable, and Xigbar isn't quite mad enough to swallow the stone.
History:
Xigbar was born in Kropmork under the name Brian Freischutz, long before the current Patrician ascended to power, and back when Kropmork was a less than nice place to grow up. As a child he ran with street gangs, often getting up to petty crimes such as vandalism and theft, though he was never caught. At the age of sixteen, and with a distinct taste of irony in his mouth, he joined the Watch as a lance constable. For Brian, it was an opportunity to earn some money, and earn a little extra money on the sides, since the Watch at the time were relatively corrupt.
It wasn't long before he caught the attention of one particularly corrupt section, and gained a transfer into the Particulars, otherwise known as the Unmentionables. In the Particulars, Brian took on his first pseudonym, that of Braig, since the Particulars never signed anything, or gave their names to anyone if they could help it, and came into possession of his guns. He stayed with them until the new Patrician came along and rolled out his changes, giving Braig a steady and lengthy education in everything from torture and mental manipulation to taking bribes of sex or money, and generally in how to be as dodgy a person as possible. From them, Braig learned to threaten and intimidate, and also learned a significant amount about the criminal underbelly of Kropmork, and especially about those in power who had dealings with the criminal underbelly.
It was while with the Particulars that Braig also gained his scar, and lost his eye. In a clash with another branch of the Watch that, as far as the Particulars were concerned, had gone renegade, Braig got seriously hurt for the first time in his life. His eye was removed, and his cheek stitched up, leaving him with a gaping hole of a socket, and an ugly scar down the other side of his face. Despite his newly impaired sense, Braig was able to function normally because he realised he could still feel the difference in distance, even if he couldn't see it any more.
This was when Braig began to develop his magical abilities, which he wouldn't have discovered without losing his eye. He began by learning how to judge distances with unerring accuracy, and that developed over time, and with practice, into an ability to reach through the distance in question.
It was because of this ability that he was first met by the man who would become the leader of the Organization. Braig had met him, and worked with him previously, and when the new Patrician made his changes, Braig found himself in need of fresh employment. Together with his shadowy acquaintance, and a few others, they became the fledgling and vague 'Organization', and Braig took on his second pseudonym, Xigbar. Their goal was mana stones, and specifically, one very important one that promised, if obtained, to give anyone who commanded it supreme powers. Xigbar wanted in, and helped arrange the Organization's funding through gaps in the Kropmork criminal market that people of unusual talents could safely fill.
Not long after the Organization's creation, he obtained his first mana stone. With its use, he found his abilities expanded significantly, giving him not only the power to use his small portals as much as he liked, but also the ability to transport himself through space, though not at great distances. With practice, he managed to gradually extend his range, and, with further practice, found he could still do the transporting trick even without the mana stone, although it was significantly more difficult. It was at this time that he, together with one of the scientists, performed some modification of his old guns that would make them more useful with his new abilities in mind.
With them, and his new abilities, Xigbar became one of the more active and accomplished members, doing a number of missions, and even recruiting new people to the Organization. He chose people with unique magical talents, but also ones who were more than a bit sneaky and untrustworthy. Xigbar didn't trust any of them, including the Superior, and wasn't about to recruit someone who was trustworthy just in case they turned out to be a good guy into the bargain.
Now, on another mission from the Organization, Xigbar has gone to find his way onto an airship. Believing themselves closer than ever before to finding the Heartstone, Xigbar is out to pick up information, make a few trades, find a few more recruits, and pursue a few personal interests in the process.
SAMPLES-
Third Person (roleplay):
Xigbar liked fieldwork. It was an excuse to stretch his legs, and a few other things. Being in Kropmork meant staying under the radar, which was getting harder and harder. There wasn't a damn thing went on in that city that the big dude up top didn't seem to know about. He probably knew what was going on out here, too, if it came to it, but Xigbar found that easier to shrug off.
He watched his drinking buddy for the evening down a shot and cough. He couldn't hold his alcohol, which was why Xigbar had picked him. A few more shots and Xigbar could roll him and dump him. "I'm just trying to catch up with a few friends," he said, companionably, and downed his own shot quickly. It burned, and it was good, better than the piss some of the pubs in Kropmork tried to make you swallow; Xigbar savoured it. "Heard they're on one of them airships," he said, "name of Serenity." He grinned, and poured the kid another shot, "Don't suppose you know if it's passed through here lately?"
He waited, patiently, for an answer. Of course he knew the kid knew, but it was a good opener for Xigbar to do some checking up and make sure his info was up to date, as well as checking out a couple of other things, and once the kid was too drunk to remember what Xigbar looked like... well, when you're that plastered just about anything can happen to you, can't it?
First Person (journal):
[Private//Text]
Ha! If there's one thing I've learned it's to never note anything down that you don't want other people to read. But nice try if you got this far.
[Public//Voice]
Nice digs you got here. The name's Xigbar; I came all the way from Kropmork just to grace you with my presence. Ain't you lucky?
Now, down to the important business...
Who here plays cards, and who's got booze?
[Filtered to Marluxia//Voice]
Long time no see, my slippery old compadre.