application ♦ soul_campaign ♦ in progress
[ PLAYER INFORMATION ]
Player Name: Your name. A nickname or online handle is fine.
Age: Your age.
Timezone: The timezone you live in.
Personal Journal: Your personal journal - not your character's.
Contact Information:
Instant Messenger: AIM/MSN/Other (AIM is frequently used for communication at SC.)
Email: Primary Email you would like us to contact you at.
Current Characters: If you are already a player at Soul Campaign, please list your current characters.
Activity Checks: If you are applying for your second character, please provide a link as proof that you have passed the latest activity check. If you are applying for your third or fourth character, please link to your last two successful activity checks in a row. Passing the activity check through hiatus or through exemption because of new character will not be considered.
[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]
Name: John Constantine
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Fandom: Hellblazer (DC/Vertigo Comics)
Timeline: Just after the Horrorist miniseries, in which John recovered from the emotionally numb state the trauma from Garth Ennis's run left him in by traveling the globe and having killer sex with a magical African woman who was secretly some kind of horror elemental.
History: Pre-series background here. His wiki page covers some later stuff.
In summary, the major stuff that happens after the Straight to Hell history leaves off:
--Manipulates a plant elemental into helping to save the world; gets a bunch of his friends killed in the process
--Gets another friend killed, starts seeing his dead friends' ghosts
--Finally defeats the demon who tormented him at Newcastle (getting more friends killed in the process)
--Gets his father killed by a serial killer; kills said serial killer himself
--Hangs out with hippies for a while
--Gets terminal lung cancer
--Makes an enemy out of the Devil himself
--Tricks the Lords of Hell (including the Devil) into curing his cancer, thus making the Devil (aka the First of the Fallen) hate him even more
--Falls in love with the woman of his dreams (aka "John has buried Oedipal issues and is therefore incapable of actually judging how good for him his love interests are")
--Plots to defend himself from the Devil's wrath; this involves such things as arranging the Fall of an Archangel
--Gets dumped by the woman of his dreams
--Angsts ridiculously
--Shapes up just in time to pwn the Devil, but not without getting a whole bunch of his friends killed in the process
--Is dead inside a lot because Garth Ennis's run kicked his sorry arse
--Finally gets back his joie de vivre after a weird jaunt to America and then Africa after a "horrorist"
Character Personality:
First things first. John Constantine is a con artist, a thief, a cheat, a murderer, and a phenomenal liar. He is a dishonest, self-serving, reckless, arrogant, self-destructive, manipulative, amoral bastard. He's also essentially a good person. Most of the time.
The rest of this section is going to be devoted to making the above sentences make sense.
To define John Constantine one should first realize that definition itself does him a disfavor. He's elusive, like the punch line to a smart and half-familiar joke. A lot of the time it seems like he operates, or at least thinks, on a completely different level of reality than everyone else. He's probably the only one who really understands himself, insofar as anyone can.
The bad stuff first: he can ignore his conscience when he thinks the situation demands it. Oh, sure, it'll come crashing down on him afterwards with a load of remorse, but when he's actually committing his sins--well, let's just say that the things he does can be pretty appalling. He's unbelievably manipulative and will twist people's minds in horrible ways. Sometimes he's doing this to save the world; other times, the only thing he's saving is his life or his soul.
His default state? Cool. At ease. Nonchalant. He'll joke when lives and souls are at stake. Judging from the attitude he displays, one might think he looks at life as if it were no more than the biggest game of all. It takes a lot to ruffle or even faze him. Of course, it can be done. Go ahead--try and mention Newcastle to him. Or talk about the invariably nasty fates of his friends. Then you'll have the privilege of seeing his vicious, violent temper.
His life is one long gamble, and he makes sure to spice it up with lots of little (or not so little) ones. Some of the risks he takes seem downright insane to more sensible people. He's a gambler, after all. Even when he doesn't enjoy the danger he puts himself in, he couldn't stop if he tried. It's partly that he's quite addicted to the thrill and the adrenaline, but it's also something rooted much deeper in his character. He has a need to pit himself against authority and the odds. Probability is just one more law of the universe for him to mock by his very existence.
Constantine is the ultimate maverick, the unknown and unstable quantity in any equation. Most people quickly learn not to trust him even close to as far as they can throw him. Dangerous and utterly unreliable, he's as likely to ruin someone's careful plan as he is to salvage it at the last minute. Number zero: he moves outside the system, completely free of the usual rules and restrictions of society. He sympathizes with the iconoclasts, although he's rarely active in their efforts. He aims not to shatter the established order, simply to thwart and oppose and escape it.
His own intricate schemes often involve putting someone else's plans completely off kilter. Constantine disrupts by his very nature. You might say that he's the one who stole the nail for want of which a kingdom was lost. He's the eternal trickster, dangerous in a hundred different ways, and the enemy of all forces of cosmic order and authority. The more daunting his opponent, the better; he's much happier, or at least much more alive, defying Heaven and Hell than he is setting himself against some other part of humanity. He is, among other things, at heart a defender of humanity from the bigger forces of the cosmos--or at least, that's how he sees himself. John Constantine's entire life is a whole-hearted struggle to find out who will break first, him or the universe. And his attitude leaves no room for doubt: whatever the cost, John's betting he'll win.
In his opinion, very few situations can't be improved by humor. Of course, his sense of humor is a bit twisted, and certainly dark. He laughs at the nasty things about life, because otherwise they'd get to him. Not that they haven't gotten to him on occasion, but most of the time he can stave the horror off with humor. Snide, dry comments, usually. Sometimes he just makes bad jokes, other times he's actually quite funny.
His role as the jester is actually quite important. To paraphrase a bit: Freud (bless his unscientific and usually mistaken soul) said that there is a link between anger and wit. Anger turned inwards is depression. Anger turned sideways is wit. Anger turned both inwards and sideways is Constantine. Where does he get this anger? Well, think about it this way. The world has screwed him over his entire life (sometimes because he was asking for it, sometimes just because he was there). Somewhere, there's a part of him that insists that screwing people over is wrong, and no one else should have to live like he does.
Of course, he screws people over all the time for his own purposes. Often they're close friends of his. But he cares. He hurts when he does this. There are days when the only reflection of himself he can bear to see is the one on the bottom of a glass. The people or beings his anger falls on are those who screw people over and don't care. He can't stand that, not at all. So he's a cynic--oh, yes, he most certainly is--but the reason for it is that he needs an act to cover his anger, his disappointment in the world. He needs an act to cover his pain. Living a life like his, knowing what he does about humanity and its enemies--it's not easy. Most people would go out of their minds trying to do it. He doesn't, but it's damaged him beyond repair. It has not, however, damaged him beyond redemption.
Character Abilities: This includes your characters special abilities, such as powers or supernatural skills, as well as normal ones. Martial arts, above average intelligence, problem-solving - anything that you feel is relevant. One to two in-depth and well-written paragraphs are a minimum.
Character Weaknesses: This section is very important to our deliberations and basically talks about the various weaknesses of your character. This should include the following: psychological, emotional, and physical weaknesses. If they are lacking in any one of these, please try to make up for it in the section below. This section can also include anything from a phobia of being hit by large trucks, to character flaws, to a horrible bee allergy. One to two in-depth and well-written paragraphs are a minimum.
[ SOUL CAMPAIGN SECTION ]
What are the abilities that your character will retain in Soul Campaign? Out of the things that you have elaborated and listed in the abilities section, what are the abilities that you think your character will be able to keep in Soul Campaign? What are the adjustments to these abilities, if applicable? Please be reminded that the 'physics' or power levels of your character's canon may largely differ from that of the Soul Eater's. Just because your character is physically strong enough to crush cars with their fingers in their canon as a physical, non-supernatural ability doesn't mean that it will carry over to Soul Campaign. At most, they will be of 'above-average' strength. Bullet points are all right for this section.
What are the weaknesses that your character will lose or gain in Soul Campaign? Out of the things that you have elaborated and listed in the weaknesses section, what are the weaknesses that you think your character will lose upon coming to Soul Campaign? For that matter, what are the weaknesses that you think your character will gain in Soul Campaign? For example, if their abilities are removed from them, will they be as helpless as a baby? Bullet points are all right for this section.
[ WEAPON ONLY SECTION ]
Why your character should be a Weapon:
The obvious, easy choice for John would be to make him a Meister, since he's a manipulator who likes to work from the shadows and behind the scenes. But that's altogether too easy, and fate wouldn't let him get that complacent. The view I'm taking here is that he's a Weapon because he's destructive. Sometimes he intends to be and sometimes he doesn't, but even when he's saving the world, he leaves behind him a trail of ruined plans and sacrificed friends.
[More???]
What is your character's Weapon form?:
John Constantine's weapon form is an oversized cigarette.
[Abilities: Haunting Cloud, the Meister smokes him and exhales a cloud of fumes that confuse/upset the enemy and at higher powers torment them with ghosts; Hellfire?]
[ SOUL INFORMATION ]
Soul Description: Bastardly, bloodyminded, antiheroic, subversive, incorrigible, mystic
Soul Appearance: John's soul is a round flame with fuzzy, indeterminate boundaries that make it difficult to pin down its real size. It flickers, dims, and grows (or seems to grow--somehow the size doesn't actually change) constantly. Its coloration is much like a flame, with the dirtier orange/yellow parts of the fire predominating and the clean blue-white base nearly invisible. The "face" of the soul is covered in little scratches and bruises, trophies of all the spiritual damage he's taken over the years.
[ SAMPLES ]
First Person: A first person sample, in the form of a post to the DEMISE network.
Third Person: A third person sample of your character set during the last minutes they have in their world, and their first glimpse of the kishin chamber. We prefer something at least two or three paragraphs long. This sample is a MUST. You may not recycle samples from other games unless they adhere to this requirement.
[ NOTES ]
Any extra notes you may have go here.
Player Name: Your name. A nickname or online handle is fine.
Age: Your age.
Timezone: The timezone you live in.
Personal Journal: Your personal journal - not your character's.
Contact Information:
Instant Messenger: AIM/MSN/Other (AIM is frequently used for communication at SC.)
Email: Primary Email you would like us to contact you at.
Current Characters: If you are already a player at Soul Campaign, please list your current characters.
Activity Checks: If you are applying for your second character, please provide a link as proof that you have passed the latest activity check. If you are applying for your third or fourth character, please link to your last two successful activity checks in a row. Passing the activity check through hiatus or through exemption because of new character will not be considered.
[ CHARACTER INFORMATION ]
Name: John Constantine
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Fandom: Hellblazer (DC/Vertigo Comics)
Timeline: Just after the Horrorist miniseries, in which John recovered from the emotionally numb state the trauma from Garth Ennis's run left him in by traveling the globe and having killer sex with a magical African woman who was secretly some kind of horror elemental.
History: Pre-series background here. His wiki page covers some later stuff.
In summary, the major stuff that happens after the Straight to Hell history leaves off:
--Manipulates a plant elemental into helping to save the world; gets a bunch of his friends killed in the process
--Gets another friend killed, starts seeing his dead friends' ghosts
--Finally defeats the demon who tormented him at Newcastle (getting more friends killed in the process)
--Gets his father killed by a serial killer; kills said serial killer himself
--Hangs out with hippies for a while
--Gets terminal lung cancer
--Makes an enemy out of the Devil himself
--Tricks the Lords of Hell (including the Devil) into curing his cancer, thus making the Devil (aka the First of the Fallen) hate him even more
--Falls in love with the woman of his dreams (aka "John has buried Oedipal issues and is therefore incapable of actually judging how good for him his love interests are")
--Plots to defend himself from the Devil's wrath; this involves such things as arranging the Fall of an Archangel
--Gets dumped by the woman of his dreams
--Angsts ridiculously
--Shapes up just in time to pwn the Devil, but not without getting a whole bunch of his friends killed in the process
--Is dead inside a lot because Garth Ennis's run kicked his sorry arse
--Finally gets back his joie de vivre after a weird jaunt to America and then Africa after a "horrorist"
Character Personality:
First things first. John Constantine is a con artist, a thief, a cheat, a murderer, and a phenomenal liar. He is a dishonest, self-serving, reckless, arrogant, self-destructive, manipulative, amoral bastard. He's also essentially a good person. Most of the time.
The rest of this section is going to be devoted to making the above sentences make sense.
To define John Constantine one should first realize that definition itself does him a disfavor. He's elusive, like the punch line to a smart and half-familiar joke. A lot of the time it seems like he operates, or at least thinks, on a completely different level of reality than everyone else. He's probably the only one who really understands himself, insofar as anyone can.
The bad stuff first: he can ignore his conscience when he thinks the situation demands it. Oh, sure, it'll come crashing down on him afterwards with a load of remorse, but when he's actually committing his sins--well, let's just say that the things he does can be pretty appalling. He's unbelievably manipulative and will twist people's minds in horrible ways. Sometimes he's doing this to save the world; other times, the only thing he's saving is his life or his soul.
His default state? Cool. At ease. Nonchalant. He'll joke when lives and souls are at stake. Judging from the attitude he displays, one might think he looks at life as if it were no more than the biggest game of all. It takes a lot to ruffle or even faze him. Of course, it can be done. Go ahead--try and mention Newcastle to him. Or talk about the invariably nasty fates of his friends. Then you'll have the privilege of seeing his vicious, violent temper.
His life is one long gamble, and he makes sure to spice it up with lots of little (or not so little) ones. Some of the risks he takes seem downright insane to more sensible people. He's a gambler, after all. Even when he doesn't enjoy the danger he puts himself in, he couldn't stop if he tried. It's partly that he's quite addicted to the thrill and the adrenaline, but it's also something rooted much deeper in his character. He has a need to pit himself against authority and the odds. Probability is just one more law of the universe for him to mock by his very existence.
Constantine is the ultimate maverick, the unknown and unstable quantity in any equation. Most people quickly learn not to trust him even close to as far as they can throw him. Dangerous and utterly unreliable, he's as likely to ruin someone's careful plan as he is to salvage it at the last minute. Number zero: he moves outside the system, completely free of the usual rules and restrictions of society. He sympathizes with the iconoclasts, although he's rarely active in their efforts. He aims not to shatter the established order, simply to thwart and oppose and escape it.
His own intricate schemes often involve putting someone else's plans completely off kilter. Constantine disrupts by his very nature. You might say that he's the one who stole the nail for want of which a kingdom was lost. He's the eternal trickster, dangerous in a hundred different ways, and the enemy of all forces of cosmic order and authority. The more daunting his opponent, the better; he's much happier, or at least much more alive, defying Heaven and Hell than he is setting himself against some other part of humanity. He is, among other things, at heart a defender of humanity from the bigger forces of the cosmos--or at least, that's how he sees himself. John Constantine's entire life is a whole-hearted struggle to find out who will break first, him or the universe. And his attitude leaves no room for doubt: whatever the cost, John's betting he'll win.
In his opinion, very few situations can't be improved by humor. Of course, his sense of humor is a bit twisted, and certainly dark. He laughs at the nasty things about life, because otherwise they'd get to him. Not that they haven't gotten to him on occasion, but most of the time he can stave the horror off with humor. Snide, dry comments, usually. Sometimes he just makes bad jokes, other times he's actually quite funny.
His role as the jester is actually quite important. To paraphrase a bit: Freud (bless his unscientific and usually mistaken soul) said that there is a link between anger and wit. Anger turned inwards is depression. Anger turned sideways is wit. Anger turned both inwards and sideways is Constantine. Where does he get this anger? Well, think about it this way. The world has screwed him over his entire life (sometimes because he was asking for it, sometimes just because he was there). Somewhere, there's a part of him that insists that screwing people over is wrong, and no one else should have to live like he does.
Of course, he screws people over all the time for his own purposes. Often they're close friends of his. But he cares. He hurts when he does this. There are days when the only reflection of himself he can bear to see is the one on the bottom of a glass. The people or beings his anger falls on are those who screw people over and don't care. He can't stand that, not at all. So he's a cynic--oh, yes, he most certainly is--but the reason for it is that he needs an act to cover his anger, his disappointment in the world. He needs an act to cover his pain. Living a life like his, knowing what he does about humanity and its enemies--it's not easy. Most people would go out of their minds trying to do it. He doesn't, but it's damaged him beyond repair. It has not, however, damaged him beyond redemption.
Character Abilities: This includes your characters special abilities, such as powers or supernatural skills, as well as normal ones. Martial arts, above average intelligence, problem-solving - anything that you feel is relevant. One to two in-depth and well-written paragraphs are a minimum.
Character Weaknesses: This section is very important to our deliberations and basically talks about the various weaknesses of your character. This should include the following: psychological, emotional, and physical weaknesses. If they are lacking in any one of these, please try to make up for it in the section below. This section can also include anything from a phobia of being hit by large trucks, to character flaws, to a horrible bee allergy. One to two in-depth and well-written paragraphs are a minimum.
[ SOUL CAMPAIGN SECTION ]
What are the abilities that your character will retain in Soul Campaign? Out of the things that you have elaborated and listed in the abilities section, what are the abilities that you think your character will be able to keep in Soul Campaign? What are the adjustments to these abilities, if applicable? Please be reminded that the 'physics' or power levels of your character's canon may largely differ from that of the Soul Eater's. Just because your character is physically strong enough to crush cars with their fingers in their canon as a physical, non-supernatural ability doesn't mean that it will carry over to Soul Campaign. At most, they will be of 'above-average' strength. Bullet points are all right for this section.
What are the weaknesses that your character will lose or gain in Soul Campaign? Out of the things that you have elaborated and listed in the weaknesses section, what are the weaknesses that you think your character will lose upon coming to Soul Campaign? For that matter, what are the weaknesses that you think your character will gain in Soul Campaign? For example, if their abilities are removed from them, will they be as helpless as a baby? Bullet points are all right for this section.
[ WEAPON ONLY SECTION ]
Why your character should be a Weapon:
The obvious, easy choice for John would be to make him a Meister, since he's a manipulator who likes to work from the shadows and behind the scenes. But that's altogether too easy, and fate wouldn't let him get that complacent. The view I'm taking here is that he's a Weapon because he's destructive. Sometimes he intends to be and sometimes he doesn't, but even when he's saving the world, he leaves behind him a trail of ruined plans and sacrificed friends.
[More???]
What is your character's Weapon form?:
John Constantine's weapon form is an oversized cigarette.
[Abilities: Haunting Cloud, the Meister smokes him and exhales a cloud of fumes that confuse/upset the enemy and at higher powers torment them with ghosts; Hellfire?]
[ SOUL INFORMATION ]
Soul Description: Bastardly, bloodyminded, antiheroic, subversive, incorrigible, mystic
Soul Appearance: John's soul is a round flame with fuzzy, indeterminate boundaries that make it difficult to pin down its real size. It flickers, dims, and grows (or seems to grow--somehow the size doesn't actually change) constantly. Its coloration is much like a flame, with the dirtier orange/yellow parts of the fire predominating and the clean blue-white base nearly invisible. The "face" of the soul is covered in little scratches and bruises, trophies of all the spiritual damage he's taken over the years.
[ SAMPLES ]
First Person: A first person sample, in the form of a post to the DEMISE network.
Third Person: A third person sample of your character set during the last minutes they have in their world, and their first glimpse of the kishin chamber. We prefer something at least two or three paragraphs long. This sample is a MUST. You may not recycle samples from other games unless they adhere to this requirement.
[ NOTES ]
Any extra notes you may have go here.