somarium Application
[Player name] Gabe
[Age] 22
[Personal Journal] skaldadottir
[Other characters currently played] N/A
[Character name] N
[Age] 16
[Canon] Pokemon Black/White
[Point in time taken from canon] Immediately Post-Game
[Background]
N is a boy who grew up in a very narrow world. As a child he was isolated from humans and only allowed the company of Pokemon who had been abused and mistreated by their trainers. Thus he grew up to think that all trainers were using their Pokemon as tools, and that beyond the few human beings he was occasionally allowed to see, that the human race was by nature abusive and cruel.
It was not until he was sixteen that he was really let out into the world, and by that time his convictions were set in stone. He had been groomed to become the King of Team Plasma, continually fed the rhetoric that his experiences proved: trainers were dangerous, and needed to be separated from Pokemon. He went off on a Pokemon journey to become the Champion, thinking that by doing so he could order all trainers to release his Pokemon. He was encouraged in this by the Seven Sages of Team Plasma, especially their leader, Ghetsis.
On his journey, however, things began to change. He saw the realities of Pokemon battles, but along with them he discovered Pokemon who were happy with their humans. He met many new people with many new ideas he had never experienced. It was hard to believe what he was seeing and hearing, because it conflicted so much with everything he had learned in his childhood.
He started out with the confidence of someone with absolute faith, but then doubt began to creep in, revealing bit by bit a boy who really did not know what he was doing. He came up with a plan, prodded forward by Ghetsis, to make certain he was right, to test his faith: he would become friends with the legendary Pokemon. What Ghetsis did not expect is that he took it a step farther, encouraging a trainer he had met several times to befriend the other dragon, and to face him in battle. His entire truth rested upon whether he won the battle or not.
When he did befriend Reshiram, his confidence was on the rise, but the doubt would not go away. He was beginning to realize how wrong his world view was, but he desperately clung to his ideals, afraid of what would happen if he admitted he was wrong and stopped pursuing the goal that had been set out for him. He was forced to face it when he and Reshiram lost to Zekrom and its new trainer.
N was shocked, his faith disappearing. Initially he saw it in an almost optimistic way, thinking that perhaps both he and the trainer were right in their own ways. It was almost a relief. His self-confidence, however, took another blow when Ghetsis, who was revealed to be his father, appeared and berated him for his failure, tearing him down. Ghetsis too lost to the trainer and was taken away, leaving behind the confused boy who had no idea where to go from here.
He made a decision, the only one he could think of: to leave Unova with Reshiram and find a new way of life. He was no longer a king, nor did he consider himself a hero. He knew he was leaving behind a better Champion than himself.
[Personality]
The first thing most people notice about N is that he is strange. He speaks too fast, has little sense of personal boundaries, and does not seem to recognize the proper way to hold a conversation with another being. He can be alternatively spacey and pushy, first monologuing to himself before devoting all his attention on the other person. Perfectly normal courtesies often seem to illude him. After a while of knowing him, it becomes obvious all these things are born out of honest ignorance. Due to his upbringing, N has little actual experience interacting with other human beings, and much of what experience he has was colored by his drive to fufill his dream as the king of Team Plasma.
In addition to his trouble interacting people, completely normal things such as novels or simply wandering around a grocery store can surprise him. All of the things N had access to were very carefully censored, and as such the world is full of new and fascinating things for him.
While N is ignorant, he is quite intelligent. He shows a fascination for mathmatics, and his skill in Pokemon battles belies a strategic mind. He also carries with him what seems to be either a Menger sponge or a Void Cube, either of which would coorelate with his love of mathmatics and likely puzzles. He also speaks rather eloquently, though in a strange way that seems more apt for the written word than for conversation, probably due to most of his language coming from books or computer programs instead of proper social interaction.
N's lack of real world experience and the careful manipulation of Ghetsis not only made him ignorant, but also extremely ideaistic. He spent most of his life believing that he had the one true cure to make the world a better place and that cure was separating people and Pokemon. While the ideal he initially persued with such fervor turned out to be false in many different ways, N's idealistic nature has not left him. He still believes in fairly simple answers, and while he no longer thinks people and Pokemon should be separated, he still holds some ideals very close to his heart. There are ways he thinks the world should work, such as no one harming a Pokemon (extending to animals as well), or that heroes should exist, that he cannot be swayed from easily.
The thing about N is that he believes in these ideals whole-heartedly and without guilt, like a child believing in a fairytale. Though his innocence has been tarnished due to finding out the depth of Ghetsis' lies, he still in many ways has a childlike innocence about him. He is completely and utterly honest in everything he says and does, and despises lying. His honesty extends to how he expresses emotion: he has difficulting hiding his feelings even if he bothers tring, because it effects the way he holds his entire body. He is animated when he is pleased or excited; when he is sad, he slumps and closes up.
Though many of his actions were villianous, N is actually a highly compassionate and sensitive person. He acted as he did only due to his idealistic goals and the true conviction that Pokemon were being harmed and his actions were the only way to stop them from getting hurt. He even shows compassion towards his enemy, the protaginist, and tells them that taking their Pokemon away from them breaks his heart, because they truly loved each other. His mission was not to cause pain, but to stop it.
Because of his compassionate nature, the revelation that he was the villain the entire time, hurting people needlessly, was a huge blow to his self-esteem. He sees himself as terrible as he thought other people were, and harbors a lot of guilt over what happened. He is incredibly insecure without Ghetsis and Team Plasma behind him because he has never lived without them.
[Abilities]
N can speak with Pokemon as easily as he can people through a sort of telepathy. Pokemon in turn seem better able to understand him than a normal person. I typically extend this to cover all animals, though can of course be accepted or denied by the mods.
[Other important stuff]
[Sample post]
[First Person]
I do not have a home.
I miss my old home. I should not. I've seen these places humans grow up, little houses with many rooms, windows everywhere, grassy lawns surrounding them. They are so open and inviting, so much less lonely...even I can tell that. But I want to dig my fingers into the clouds on my carpet, I want to hear my train sliding along its track, fall asleep on the tires after the day is done. I want to go back to where it was all simple, where I knew everything, a time when I was right and I was happy and I never had to deal with anything bigger. Back before I hurt anyone, back before I knew it was all fake.
I was lonely there, even amongst my Pokemon, but that sort of loneliness is better than this one. Ghetsis hates me. I failed- not that I wanted to succeed knowing what I do now! But I failed him all the same. I'm sorry for it even though I don't wish I succeeded.
The others are all gone. And Touya --
I'm not worthy to be a hero. I'm certainly not worthy to continue bothering one.
I want to go back to my room.
[Third Person]
Fresh Sample:
N's shirt stuck to his skin, soaked fabric showing the pale tint of his skin underneath. The rain was bitter cold, and his umbrella lay broken at his feet, but he could not bring himself to care. Too many nights he had pressed his palm to the chilled glass of his room's window and wondered what the water felt like, having fallen so far from the sky. He had only ever felt a drop or two during the rare times he was taken to the courtyard, an enclosed little patch of grass and bushes that had been his only true venture into the outside until only a few weeks ago. Each time he felt them, he was all too soon dragged indoors.
But here, there was no one to drag him out of the rain and wind. He could feel each drop strike against him. The wind whipped his green hair around, getting it into his face, his mouth, sticking to his neck. It all made it so real, so worth the sixteen years he had waited to truly experience it.
It was not until he started shivering that he moved. Even then, he took small steps on the way to the hotel, savoring every moment before he walked into the warmth and the light of the building, shedding water after him. Though he got dried and dressed in fresh clothes, the feeling of raindrops would not leave him. He fell asleep in a chair by the window, listening to the rain beat against the glass.
Another Sample:
Reshiram's fur was soft beneath N's hands, soothing even as they began to ache from clinging too hard. He had picked a direction at random, barely paying attention to the roads and towns below as they flew, though no doubt many eyes had turned upwards at their passing. He had only one goal: to flee Unova. Maybe there was somewhere else he could go, somewhere no one would know his name, know all the mistakes he made. Somewhere Ghetsis was not, nor any of Team Plasma. Nor any of their victims.
What he was going to do wherever he ended up, he did not know. Did it really matter? He had Reshiram, and the Poke balls he carried with him carried more of his friends. As long as he had them, he would be all right. He had barely seen Ghetsis, or even Anthea and Concordia, for long periods of time while growing up. Why would he need them now?
It is not long until he is laying along Reshiram's back, arms wrapped as far around him as he can get, hugging him tightly even as they flew through the air. Part of him wanted to tell Reshiram to go back, to find the Champion he had left behind, to find Zekrom, beg them to let him stay with them. To give him some direction, friendship, advice, a hug. Anything.
No. He had to keep going. He was a hero still, wasn't he? Maybe not. Maybe he was a sham of one, just like his ideals had been. But he would try. He would deal with this. For his friends. For himself.
He sat back up, looking forward into the distance. A new journey awaited.
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?] I love playing this character and want to try him in a different setting.
[Which rule was your favorite and why?] No player-cest. I played in a game that allowed it before, and one person played two brothers, which made it difficult to get interesting CR with one or the other, because she always had them together.
[Where did you hear about Somarium?] Players from Vatheon.
[Any questions?] Does N get to have a full set of Pokemon here or only one? Are there any special rules?
Also I will make another N journal for Som if he is accepted, I'm just posting from this one out of ease at the moment.