Cape and Cowl application
[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: Teal
AGE: 24
JOURNAL: teal_deer
IM: Failscream
E-MAIL: ryuutenshi [at] gmail [dot] com
RETURNING: Former member who dropped a while back and is now crawling back :|
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Doc Scratch
FANDOM: Homestuck
CHRONOLOGY: Just as he starts repairing the scratched disk
CLASS: True Neutral facilitator / weapon / informant / douche
SUPERHERO NAME: Doc Scratch
ALTER EGO: He'll adopt names as he sees fit, but will probably use Devon Striderson or Daniel Stevenson the most often.
BACKGROUND: There is a game that exists that ends the world.
There is a game that exists that begins the world.
These games are one and the same. It has different names in each reality, and it is an insidious, horrifying death-trap of infinite complexity. In the universes most relevant to this current incarnation of Doc Scratch, it is called either Sburb or Sgrub. For the sake of simplicity, I'll use Sburb to refer to the game as a whole, and Sgrub to refer to the instance specific to the Troll's universe.
Sburb works by creating a vast stable time loop in which a number of children aged thirteen Earth years exactly (or six Alternian solar sweeps) are created by the game itself / chosen by the game to play it in order to perpetuate a new universe. Doing so ends the universe that the children hail from and hypothetically allows them to become the gods of the new world they've created. Hypothetically. Maybe. Except Sburb is ridiculously difficult, and almost by design it is almost unwinnable by most races. Those that do, of course, can obtain the ULTIMATE REWARD.
In the universe where the game is called Sgrub, twelve trolls, each conforming to the signs of the Zodiac, each with their own goals and desires. Through an excessively convoluted series of trials and tribulations which I will not summarize because believe me, you don't want to me to (a girl turns into a frog ghost another girl dies and becomes god a guy with nubby horns yells a lot and there's romance just. Just leave me alone), these trolls actually win their game... only to have the Ultimate Reward snatched from their grasp by an indestructible dimension hopping demon from another session. Desperate to escape, the Trolls abscond to a location outside time itself, the Furthest Ring, where they waited and watched the beings playing in that other session.
That other session is played by four kids, best friends all. The kids get off to a bad start and then their game just gets worse, partially due to the machinations of the trolls themselves. Initially determined to get revenge for the kids creating the demon that denied them their prize, the trolls in fact manage to cause the instrument of their own destruction to come into being of their own (indeed, intentional!) design. The kids session is thus damaged to the point that it cannot be recovered, only destroyed, with the hopes of starting anew.
Doc Scratch is a construct resultant from the initiation known as Sgrub, which the Trolls played. He is a First Guardian, a being tasked with the purpose of protecting the reality to which he is assigned and facilitating its ULTIMATE PURPOSE - the playing of Sgrub and thus the perpetuation of a new universe. Each First Guardian has a different method of doing this. In Scratch's case, he prefers subtle manipulation. If one were to imagine Sgrub as a game of pool, Scratch would be the cue ball, himself controlled by an even greater force (Sgrub itself; as well as an entity called Lord English, but more on him later.)
He subtly pulls the strings in the game to cause the Trolls to begin the game of Sgrub; then later begins pulling the strings in the Kid's session of Sburb to facilitate his own demise and, in turn, to summon the entity known as Lord English - a being destined to end the universe. At one point, the game data becomes corrupted in an excessively meta and fourth wall breaking manner, but as Doc Scratch doesn't care about the fourth wall, he kindly volunteers to fix it.
PERSONALITY: If one were to describe Doc Scratch in two words, it would be smug bastard. Doc Scratch is immortal, endlessly patient, nearly omniscient, and close to omnipotent. He is a tool, a weapon designed for one purpose - to protect the universe long enough for it to be burned to dust that it might allow a new universe to rise from those ashes. To that end, he manipulates, cajoles, and moves the players about in ways that they cannot begin to comprehend. He also has a dry (and wicked) sense of humor, and he enjoys this chess game a great deal in its own way, even though he knows he is destined to win, something about the moves he makes does seem to appeal to him. Above all, he enjoys the sense of being in control, enjoys lording his abilities over others and using the least amount of force to accomplish his goals. As such, he never lies, save for the purpose of jokes. When speaking on serious matters, everything he says is truth.. it's just a question of how he phrases it, and how much he tells you.
But that said, Scratch is also dangerously arrogant and unaware of his own failings. It is true that it is very, very hard to catch him off guard, but on the rare occasion that he is thwarted or otherwise upstaged, he flips the fuck out. Though he is usually correct that he is one hundred percent in control, he does not, in fact, actually know everything, and can be woefully stupid when it comes to certain forms of social interaction (for example, his interactions with Rose Lalonde on his end are meant to be fatherly and endearing, but end up coming across as creepy and stalkerish; he continues to insist that his actions are perfectly normal and indeed gentlemanly when this is clearly not the case.)
Scratch can be a bit of a nihilist - omniscience will do that to a person. Indeed, his very purpose is to facilitate the end of the universe, and in a universe he's not meant to end he'll still be explicitly aware that it WILL end eventually. Everything does, after all. He's also extremely blasé about his own death - his death in canon is meant to summon Lord English into the universe, which is his ultimate purpose, and furthermore omniscience and immortality is boring after a while.
Above all, Scratch is a tool to be used. He is a weapon of Lord English and a servant of the world he guards. In a place like Cape and Cowl, he'll likely pledge his services to an individual or a group of individuals he finds interesting, or acting as a mercenary. In the end, Scratch has no use for morals or the concepts of good or evil - there is truth and the machinations of the universe, nothing more.
In any given situation, Scratch will use the minimum amount of force to accomplish a task. Sure, he can teleport to China, but it's simply easier, more practical, and less tiresome to take a plane flight.
Finally, Scratch has a soft spot for young ladies. This is entirely nonsexual, but it tends to creep people out.
POWER:
(Limited) Omniscience -- In canon, Doc Scratch is nearly omniscient. He can see the entirety of the past, present, and future, save for small dark pockets which he cannot know; these he is, for the most part, capable of extrapolating what happens in them. There are two notable exceptions to this in canon: the first, when Vriska Serket obtains one of his Magic Cueballs and uses it to counter his moves; he does not know she has it, and is later extremely distressed when he finds out she does - to the point that he uses it to blow half her face and her entire arm off. The second is implied to pertain to characters with the “of Void” element: the Magic Cueball cannot see the actions of the Troll Ancestor Expatriate Darkleer, Equius Zahak's ancestor, and thus the Ancestor of the Heir of Void. This in turn implies that the actions of said individuals are invisible to Scratch.
Obviously, for purposes of Cape and Cowl, this power will have to be limited. The primary method of limitation will be based on permissions. Given that Scratch's powers in canon break the fourth wall (he speaks directly to the audience on... pretty much every occasion he appears) this will make sense from a meta-perspective. Scratch won't be completely aware of the true nature of CnC, but he'll have some vague notion of it being all a game and there being an audience (he just won't be terribly concerned with who they are and what they do)
SO.
THE FUTURE: Scratch can't see the future well, because we ourselves can't know the future! THAT SAID. If someone OOCly would like Scratch to know of an event in advance, then he can know about to whatever degree of detail they like. This can be as vague as “On Tuesday something is going to happen” to the exact details of an event, including who is dying.
THE PRESENT: With permission, Scratch can know where your character is, what they're doing, and how. IF OOCLY YOU DON'T WANT HIM TO KNOW, HE WON'T. This is a safety mechanism to allow characters to still keep things from him.
THE PAST: Scratch can know the details of character histories AND the City's history to a point. Major plot details that the mods want to keep secret will be secret from him (unless, for some reason, they want him to know) and if a player doesn't want Scratch to know their character's secrets, he won't.
NOTE that in the case of villains, Scratch won't care if someone is going to try to nuke the city, even if that might kill him. He has no reason to tell anyone anything unless he finds it amusing, or unless it furthers his goals. He might know instantly where every crime in the city is taking place, when it will take place and how, but he has no reason to play informant to the cops unless they can offer him something interesting in return.
First Guardian - Scratch is mildly radioactive; when he wishes he can project a glowing green aura and a crackle of yellow lightning. This radiation is harmless in small doses, but hugging him for longer than two days is not recommended. In addition, he has immense strength (he bends a cast iron horse hitcher into a pretzel with his bare hands) and the ability to bend space to his will. Scratch can teleport himself and objects or people wherever he likes, however he likes.
In CnC, this power will be limited. Scratch will only be able to teleport objects up to the size of a sedan; furthermore, objects larger than a person he can only teleport a distance of about a mile. Multiple long-distance teleports (anything further than a mile for any object) will tire him out proportional to the distance. Teleporting to China, for example, would require a day of rest before he could teleport back.
Finally, I'd like to request one minor cosmetic non-power: instead of brains, Doc Scratch's skull is full of dark blue fluid and a single 20-sided polyhedral made of bone. Characters with x-ray vision can use him as a magic-8 ball (not even a magic cue-ball, just a magic 8 ball.)
Shooting him in the head will still kill him, and he can still get concussions. Just don't ask how.
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE: [The video feed comes up on a gentleman sitting in what must be Central Park, against a verdant background of green leaves. Where he is, though, is difficult to say - you can't see any pedestrians around. Hm.
He is completely expressionless, to the point that it's a little disturbing. He is also dressed to kill - his white suit is spotless, his bow tie perfectly tied, and somehow he not only makes that neon green dress shirt work, he makes it look like the classiest thing you've seen all day.
He speaks with a light accent - it sounds like British, except there's something a little off about it, perhaps an echo or a whisper or a touch of white noise. ]
Greetings, City.
You may spare me your introductions, your information concerning the nature of this place, and, indeed, much of your history. I already know.
As a courtesy, I am composing this introduction as a video post, as I understand that most of you would not take kindly to my usual method of textual communication.
I am Doc Scratch. And that's really all you need to know about me. Few of you have any need to introduce yourselves to me.
[Flagged to the Homestuck cast, but not private or encrypted]
[I am also aware of your presence here. Nine of twelve trolls, and all four humans. Fascinating. It seems only polite that I should say hello again to those who know me, and bid a polite greeting to those who don't.]
LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE: The first thing he knows is darkness in his head. It feels like the unwaking deeps of a great sea, invisible currents sloshing around unseen hazards. He gropes around, suddenly lost, suddenly uncertain of his footing. It's a disconcerting feeling.
He gropes for information, for anything, and there - there. A white triangle of light, floating up from the depths.
This is the City, on the planet Earth. It has no other name. In other realities, it may have been called New York, but in this place it has since lost that title.
The fact that it takes him this long to notice that he sees, not by simply knowing, but by actual photons hitting eyeballs, is excessively distressing to him. The only thing that keeps him from detonating this room is eons of practiced restraint and the knowledge that he needs to grab one of those communication devices if he's going to progress here. Everything is fuzzy and disconcerting. He doesn't like it at all.
He massages his temples and makes a note to himself that he's going to find some way to get back at the AI responsible for this. Thinks she's god, does she? Wait, no. Petty revenge is for teenage girls.
Focus, Scratch.
All in all, not a terrible loss. He knows that in the future he'll be returned to his universe to finish the tale and summon Lord English. He knows furthermore that eventually he'll leave this place entirely to be consigned to final oblivion. All will occur as it is meant to in his home universe.
That doesn't change the fact that all the information in this universe is coming to him in fits and starts. That everything's a clouded mess. If he focueses on those points of light he can see truth resolving, but it's difficult. So much more difficult. And still more is kept from him.
Focus.
First things first. Food to fuel this far weakened body. Second, practice.
He heads towards Central Park. It's time for a little chess.
FINAL NOTES ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:
Doc Scratch types in obnoxious white courier font, or white courier on a dark green background (that... for some reason doesn't show up in Firefox :| ) There will be a permissions post for this, as it's obnoxious as fuck.
NAME: Teal
AGE: 24
JOURNAL: teal_deer
IM: Failscream
E-MAIL: ryuutenshi [at] gmail [dot] com
RETURNING: Former member who dropped a while back and is now crawling back :|
[CHARACTER INFO]
CHARACTER NAME: Doc Scratch
FANDOM: Homestuck
CHRONOLOGY: Just as he starts repairing the scratched disk
CLASS: True Neutral facilitator / weapon / informant / douche
SUPERHERO NAME: Doc Scratch
ALTER EGO: He'll adopt names as he sees fit, but will probably use Devon Striderson or Daniel Stevenson the most often.
BACKGROUND: There is a game that exists that ends the world.
There is a game that exists that begins the world.
These games are one and the same. It has different names in each reality, and it is an insidious, horrifying death-trap of infinite complexity. In the universes most relevant to this current incarnation of Doc Scratch, it is called either Sburb or Sgrub. For the sake of simplicity, I'll use Sburb to refer to the game as a whole, and Sgrub to refer to the instance specific to the Troll's universe.
Sburb works by creating a vast stable time loop in which a number of children aged thirteen Earth years exactly (or six Alternian solar sweeps) are created by the game itself / chosen by the game to play it in order to perpetuate a new universe. Doing so ends the universe that the children hail from and hypothetically allows them to become the gods of the new world they've created. Hypothetically. Maybe. Except Sburb is ridiculously difficult, and almost by design it is almost unwinnable by most races. Those that do, of course, can obtain the ULTIMATE REWARD.
In the universe where the game is called Sgrub, twelve trolls, each conforming to the signs of the Zodiac, each with their own goals and desires. Through an excessively convoluted series of trials and tribulations which I will not summarize because believe me, you don't want to me to (a girl turns into a frog ghost another girl dies and becomes god a guy with nubby horns yells a lot and there's romance just. Just leave me alone), these trolls actually win their game... only to have the Ultimate Reward snatched from their grasp by an indestructible dimension hopping demon from another session. Desperate to escape, the Trolls abscond to a location outside time itself, the Furthest Ring, where they waited and watched the beings playing in that other session.
That other session is played by four kids, best friends all. The kids get off to a bad start and then their game just gets worse, partially due to the machinations of the trolls themselves. Initially determined to get revenge for the kids creating the demon that denied them their prize, the trolls in fact manage to cause the instrument of their own destruction to come into being of their own (indeed, intentional!) design. The kids session is thus damaged to the point that it cannot be recovered, only destroyed, with the hopes of starting anew.
Doc Scratch is a construct resultant from the initiation known as Sgrub, which the Trolls played. He is a First Guardian, a being tasked with the purpose of protecting the reality to which he is assigned and facilitating its ULTIMATE PURPOSE - the playing of Sgrub and thus the perpetuation of a new universe. Each First Guardian has a different method of doing this. In Scratch's case, he prefers subtle manipulation. If one were to imagine Sgrub as a game of pool, Scratch would be the cue ball, himself controlled by an even greater force (Sgrub itself; as well as an entity called Lord English, but more on him later.)
He subtly pulls the strings in the game to cause the Trolls to begin the game of Sgrub; then later begins pulling the strings in the Kid's session of Sburb to facilitate his own demise and, in turn, to summon the entity known as Lord English - a being destined to end the universe. At one point, the game data becomes corrupted in an excessively meta and fourth wall breaking manner, but as Doc Scratch doesn't care about the fourth wall, he kindly volunteers to fix it.
PERSONALITY: If one were to describe Doc Scratch in two words, it would be smug bastard. Doc Scratch is immortal, endlessly patient, nearly omniscient, and close to omnipotent. He is a tool, a weapon designed for one purpose - to protect the universe long enough for it to be burned to dust that it might allow a new universe to rise from those ashes. To that end, he manipulates, cajoles, and moves the players about in ways that they cannot begin to comprehend. He also has a dry (and wicked) sense of humor, and he enjoys this chess game a great deal in its own way, even though he knows he is destined to win, something about the moves he makes does seem to appeal to him. Above all, he enjoys the sense of being in control, enjoys lording his abilities over others and using the least amount of force to accomplish his goals. As such, he never lies, save for the purpose of jokes. When speaking on serious matters, everything he says is truth.. it's just a question of how he phrases it, and how much he tells you.
But that said, Scratch is also dangerously arrogant and unaware of his own failings. It is true that it is very, very hard to catch him off guard, but on the rare occasion that he is thwarted or otherwise upstaged, he flips the fuck out. Though he is usually correct that he is one hundred percent in control, he does not, in fact, actually know everything, and can be woefully stupid when it comes to certain forms of social interaction (for example, his interactions with Rose Lalonde on his end are meant to be fatherly and endearing, but end up coming across as creepy and stalkerish; he continues to insist that his actions are perfectly normal and indeed gentlemanly when this is clearly not the case.)
Scratch can be a bit of a nihilist - omniscience will do that to a person. Indeed, his very purpose is to facilitate the end of the universe, and in a universe he's not meant to end he'll still be explicitly aware that it WILL end eventually. Everything does, after all. He's also extremely blasé about his own death - his death in canon is meant to summon Lord English into the universe, which is his ultimate purpose, and furthermore omniscience and immortality is boring after a while.
Above all, Scratch is a tool to be used. He is a weapon of Lord English and a servant of the world he guards. In a place like Cape and Cowl, he'll likely pledge his services to an individual or a group of individuals he finds interesting, or acting as a mercenary. In the end, Scratch has no use for morals or the concepts of good or evil - there is truth and the machinations of the universe, nothing more.
In any given situation, Scratch will use the minimum amount of force to accomplish a task. Sure, he can teleport to China, but it's simply easier, more practical, and less tiresome to take a plane flight.
Finally, Scratch has a soft spot for young ladies. This is entirely nonsexual, but it tends to creep people out.
POWER:
(Limited) Omniscience -- In canon, Doc Scratch is nearly omniscient. He can see the entirety of the past, present, and future, save for small dark pockets which he cannot know; these he is, for the most part, capable of extrapolating what happens in them. There are two notable exceptions to this in canon: the first, when Vriska Serket obtains one of his Magic Cueballs and uses it to counter his moves; he does not know she has it, and is later extremely distressed when he finds out she does - to the point that he uses it to blow half her face and her entire arm off. The second is implied to pertain to characters with the “of Void” element: the Magic Cueball cannot see the actions of the Troll Ancestor Expatriate Darkleer, Equius Zahak's ancestor, and thus the Ancestor of the Heir of Void. This in turn implies that the actions of said individuals are invisible to Scratch.
Obviously, for purposes of Cape and Cowl, this power will have to be limited. The primary method of limitation will be based on permissions. Given that Scratch's powers in canon break the fourth wall (he speaks directly to the audience on... pretty much every occasion he appears) this will make sense from a meta-perspective. Scratch won't be completely aware of the true nature of CnC, but he'll have some vague notion of it being all a game and there being an audience (he just won't be terribly concerned with who they are and what they do)
SO.
THE FUTURE: Scratch can't see the future well, because we ourselves can't know the future! THAT SAID. If someone OOCly would like Scratch to know of an event in advance, then he can know about to whatever degree of detail they like. This can be as vague as “On Tuesday something is going to happen” to the exact details of an event, including who is dying.
THE PRESENT: With permission, Scratch can know where your character is, what they're doing, and how. IF OOCLY YOU DON'T WANT HIM TO KNOW, HE WON'T. This is a safety mechanism to allow characters to still keep things from him.
THE PAST: Scratch can know the details of character histories AND the City's history to a point. Major plot details that the mods want to keep secret will be secret from him (unless, for some reason, they want him to know) and if a player doesn't want Scratch to know their character's secrets, he won't.
NOTE that in the case of villains, Scratch won't care if someone is going to try to nuke the city, even if that might kill him. He has no reason to tell anyone anything unless he finds it amusing, or unless it furthers his goals. He might know instantly where every crime in the city is taking place, when it will take place and how, but he has no reason to play informant to the cops unless they can offer him something interesting in return.
First Guardian - Scratch is mildly radioactive; when he wishes he can project a glowing green aura and a crackle of yellow lightning. This radiation is harmless in small doses, but hugging him for longer than two days is not recommended. In addition, he has immense strength (he bends a cast iron horse hitcher into a pretzel with his bare hands) and the ability to bend space to his will. Scratch can teleport himself and objects or people wherever he likes, however he likes.
In CnC, this power will be limited. Scratch will only be able to teleport objects up to the size of a sedan; furthermore, objects larger than a person he can only teleport a distance of about a mile. Multiple long-distance teleports (anything further than a mile for any object) will tire him out proportional to the distance. Teleporting to China, for example, would require a day of rest before he could teleport back.
Finally, I'd like to request one minor cosmetic non-power: instead of brains, Doc Scratch's skull is full of dark blue fluid and a single 20-sided polyhedral made of bone. Characters with x-ray vision can use him as a magic-8 ball (not even a magic cue-ball, just a magic 8 ball.)
Shooting him in the head will still kill him, and he can still get concussions. Just don't ask how.
[CHARACTER SAMPLES]
COMMUNITY POST (FIRST PERSON) SAMPLE: [The video feed comes up on a gentleman sitting in what must be Central Park, against a verdant background of green leaves. Where he is, though, is difficult to say - you can't see any pedestrians around. Hm.
He is completely expressionless, to the point that it's a little disturbing. He is also dressed to kill - his white suit is spotless, his bow tie perfectly tied, and somehow he not only makes that neon green dress shirt work, he makes it look like the classiest thing you've seen all day.
He speaks with a light accent - it sounds like British, except there's something a little off about it, perhaps an echo or a whisper or a touch of white noise. ]
Greetings, City.
You may spare me your introductions, your information concerning the nature of this place, and, indeed, much of your history. I already know.
As a courtesy, I am composing this introduction as a video post, as I understand that most of you would not take kindly to my usual method of textual communication.
I am Doc Scratch. And that's really all you need to know about me. Few of you have any need to introduce yourselves to me.
[Flagged to the Homestuck cast, but not private or encrypted]
[I am also aware of your presence here. Nine of twelve trolls, and all four humans. Fascinating. It seems only polite that I should say hello again to those who know me, and bid a polite greeting to those who don't.]
LOGS POST (THIRD PERSON) SAMPLE: The first thing he knows is darkness in his head. It feels like the unwaking deeps of a great sea, invisible currents sloshing around unseen hazards. He gropes around, suddenly lost, suddenly uncertain of his footing. It's a disconcerting feeling.
He gropes for information, for anything, and there - there. A white triangle of light, floating up from the depths.
This is the City, on the planet Earth. It has no other name. In other realities, it may have been called New York, but in this place it has since lost that title.
The fact that it takes him this long to notice that he sees, not by simply knowing, but by actual photons hitting eyeballs, is excessively distressing to him. The only thing that keeps him from detonating this room is eons of practiced restraint and the knowledge that he needs to grab one of those communication devices if he's going to progress here. Everything is fuzzy and disconcerting. He doesn't like it at all.
He massages his temples and makes a note to himself that he's going to find some way to get back at the AI responsible for this. Thinks she's god, does she? Wait, no. Petty revenge is for teenage girls.
Focus, Scratch.
All in all, not a terrible loss. He knows that in the future he'll be returned to his universe to finish the tale and summon Lord English. He knows furthermore that eventually he'll leave this place entirely to be consigned to final oblivion. All will occur as it is meant to in his home universe.
That doesn't change the fact that all the information in this universe is coming to him in fits and starts. That everything's a clouded mess. If he focueses on those points of light he can see truth resolving, but it's difficult. So much more difficult. And still more is kept from him.
Focus.
First things first. Food to fuel this far weakened body. Second, practice.
He heads towards Central Park. It's time for a little chess.
FINAL NOTES ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER:
Doc Scratch types in obnoxious white courier font, or white courier on a dark green background (that... for some reason doesn't show up in Firefox :| ) There will be a permissions post for this, as it's obnoxious as fuck.