Snowblind Moderators (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
snowblindmods) wrote2015-04-06 10:43 pm
snowblindmods) wrote2015-04-06 10:43 pm
Application
| Application | |||
Applications are closed permanently. Thank you to everyone who has applied over the years! Before applying for a character, make sure you've read the rules and FAQ. You should also refer to the application guide to see what we're looking for in our applications. You may apply for one character per application cycle and three characters total. Please put your character's name and canon in the subject line of your application comment. Applications must be posted directly to this post and cannot be links. We will screen your application if you request it of us after we review it. Application challenges are allowed, but someone who did not place a reserve challenge cannot challenge a reserved application. Once reservations expire, an application challenge can only be placed before we process the character application of the applicant you would like to challenge. In the event of us nearing our application cap and having more applications than slots, we will attempt to choose the most well-written applications. First-time applicants will be processed first, then applications for second characters, and finally applications for third characters. We may allow more applications to be submitted than we have slots for in the name of greater selection. We will clarify in our response if an application is not being allowed into the game because of the cap or because of issues with the application not meeting the standards of the game. Original Character Application | |||
Roland Crane | Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Name: World
Age: 25
Contact Info:
Other Characters: None
Character Information
Name: Roland Crane
Canon: Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom
Age: ~49 mentally, ~21 physically.
Gender: Male
Canon Point: After his disappearance from the throne room during the ending.
Background: As all of the wiki summaries are fairly poor, I’ll summarize his background myself. I’ll try to summarize only what is necessary, as he is the deuteragonist and the game is quite long.
In Ichi no Kuni, a world analagous, but not identical, to ours, Roland Crane was the President of the United States. The game begins with Roland travelling in a motorcade on his way to a UN summit to be held in New York City. As the motorcade crosses Manhattan Bridge, a nuclear missile strikes the heart of New York, vaporizing everything in its path. Roland’s car is thrown down the bridge by the resulting explosion and he is crushed to death. Moments before he dies, his body is engulfed in a blue light and he disappears.
He awakens, 30 years younger, in the royal chambers of the child-King of Ding Dong Dell in the world of Ni no Kuni (a fantasy world that mirrors Ichi no Kuni, heavily inspired by the fantasy works of Studio Ghibli). Before he can ask what happened, the cat-king Evan draws a knife on him.
Evan, shocked that someone was apparently able to infiltrate his guard, orders for Roland to be arrested - only for Evan’s guard to turn his sword on his own charge and try to behead him. Roland draws his gun and kills the guard before he strikes, informing the naive king that this must be a coup. They are soon chased by the Ding Dong Dell military, who have turned against their young leader. Roland helps Evan escape Ding Dong Dell castle, and promises that he will stay in Ni no Kuni to protect Evan, who was orphaned during the attack.
After their escape, Evan resolves to build a new kingdom “where everyone can live happily ever after.” Roland, inspired by the child’s optimistic nature, agrees to do everything he can to help. The two of them travel the world securing land, personnel, and resources, and found the kingdom of Evermore. Evan decrees that Evermore will be a nation of peace, and Roland drafts a peace treaty with which to approach the other world powers. The plot of the game mainly revolves around convincing the other world leaders to sign the treaty.
Over the course of the game, Evan and Roland discover a plot by a warlock named Doloran to seize the political and magical power of each major nation. While Evan and Roland are able to stop the warlock from brainwashing the major world leaders, they are unable to stop him from stealing their magic and sapping it for his own purposes. They are also unable to penetrate the walls surrounding the kingdom of Ding Dong Dell to negotiate peace; Roland decides to infiltrate the kingdom alone and gather more information.
Roland publicly fakes his defection from Evermore and is welcomed into the court of Ding Dong Dell by the new rodent king Mausinger, where he is given power and money in exchange for Evermore’s state secrets. His first order as a member of the court is to execute a kidnapped citizen of Evermore; Roland shoots them several times in the head and gains Mausinger’s approval.
Roland uses the approval he garnered to steal a key that will allow him to sneak Evan back into Ding Dong Dell. Roland is caught during the theft, and Mausinger orders for Roland to be executed. Roland escapes, managing to rescue the citizen he shot (with a sleeping spell, as it turns out) in the process.
Roland returns to Evan and reports what he has seen: Ding Dong Dell, formerly the Kingdom of the Cats, had been built on the backs of mouse slaves. The mice, sick of generations of oppression, overthrew the cats and seized the throne. Evan claims that he had no idea his kingdom had such a history. Roland asks Evan to consider what sort of rulers his parents were, if their citizens would want to turn against them. Evan is deeply hurt, wondering if his parents were unjust rulers. Evan confronts Mausinger and learns that Doloran had brainwashed him against King Leonhard, Evan’s father, who only wanted to end the conflict between Cats and Mice. Once Mausinger realizes he had betrayed his old friend because of the influence of Doloran, he begs Evan for forgiveness. Evan decides to leave Ding Dong Dell in Mausinger’s care, and the two rulers sign a peace treaty.
Doloran, who has now absorbed magical power from four nations, declares war on the world of Ni no Kuni. He unleashes a curse that seeks out and absorbs the souls of all living things. Evan and Roland confront Doloran, who reveals that he and Roland are the same person, and are merely alternate universe versions of eachother. Doloran was the dictatorial King of the country of Allegoria, which was destroyed in a calamity after he consumated the relationship with his lover Alisandra, a unicorn shape-shifting into the form of a human, therefore “committing a crime against the gods”. The only soul left alive after the calamity, Doloran swore that he would rebuild his kingdom by amassing as much power as it took to revive the dead.
Doloran approaches Roland and asks for his allegiance, telling Roland that if he helps him, the United States will also return, as whatever happens in one world is destined to also happen to the other. Doloran explains that that the death of Roland’s biological son, who perished in the missile strike, will be undone in the process. Roland, who was absolutely devoted to his family, is about to agree before Evan interrupts him, announcing that Roland would never do such a thing. Roland snaps out of his grief and agrees with Evan. Doloran explains to Roland that if they kill him, Roland will also die; Roland accepts those terms, claiming that he had always been prepared to die to save his people.
The party defeats, but does not kill, Doloran, who then learns that the calamity against Allegoria had not happened because the gods had cursed him, but because Alisandra lost control of her power after deciding to become human so she could be with her lover. Doloran despairs, asking Roland what he had done wrong during his rule for he and his country to suffer so. Roland tells him that he had done nothing wrong, and had only done what he could to survive; Roland, too, had done everything he could to keep his nation and his family safe, but it had not been enough to prevent nuclear war. Evan decides to forgive Doloran and allies with him, promising he will help Doloran rebuild Allegoria without the loss of life.
Some time later, Evan welcomes the citizens of all the nations of Ni no Kuni to Evermore in a ceremony to celebrate world peace; however, he soon notices that Roland is not present during the festivities. He finds Roland hiding in the throne room, where his body has been consumed by a bright blue light - Roland expresses regret that Evan found him, because he didn’t want to upset him. Roland explains that though he had promised to stay with him, he can feel his body being pulled back to Ichi no Kuni. Evan expresses concern, since Roland’s country has been destroyed and this may take Roland back to his death, but Roland resolves that, no matter what happens, he’ll press forward and never forget about Evan. Evan and Roland hold hands as Roland disappears.
In the epilogue we see Roland in his original body, having returned to the past and undone the events that lead to nuclear war, campaigning for the rest of the global powers to come together in world peace.
Inventory: -A Ding Dong Dell human guardsman’s coat & belt.
-A black turtleneck, cream pants, brown leather boots & a leather hair tie.
-His “armsband”, a gold bracelet with four gems that once summoned his weapons but has been depowered here
-His cell phone with his presidential insignia on it.
-A pet: Runcible the Righteous, a “Higgledy” or nature spirit wearing a red scarf that left his home to follow Roland and Evan after Roland saved Evan’s life. He cannot speak, and it is said that only the most pure of heart can see him. Note that this seems extremely arbitrary in practice, truth be told; for instance, while Roland and Doloran are the same person and Doloran is said to be quite conceited, Roland can see him, as can a party member who has literally killed people. However, a kind-hearted woman who is raising her baby sister alone cannot see him. So, I’m just going to say that he can only be seen by those he allows to see him, which I’ll work out on a case-to-case basis; overall, it’ll probably just be Roland who can see him. (One of the purposes of bringing Runcible along, in addition to him being an important pet, is to exacerbate Roland’s paranoia when people can’t see him, or to have him doubt his own eyes.)
Roland Crane | Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (2/2)
Outwardly, Roland is very calm, always appearing collected and well put-together even in the face of death. He is a deep thinker, and is especially good at retaining important information. When the chips are down, Roland is able to use his calm and analytic nature to ensure his survival; he shoots several attacking guardsmen in the head without hesitation, and blends very easily into pretending to be Mausinger’s right-hand-man. When he discovers a civillian spying on him in his office, Roland pulls a gun on them (though he decides not to fire).
In public, Roland is the very picture of professionalism - he is a rousing public speaker who speaks with authority and eloquence. In private, he has a tendency towards snark, speaking frankly, and a dry sense of humor.
It is highly implied that many of the above characteristics that allow him to seem like a perfect leader are a well-groomed facade meant to hide Roland’s insecurities. His biography released by the developers explains that while Roland is well liked by his people, he has a complex over his relative youth (he is 48 at the start of the game - quite young for a president) and whether or not he is good at his job. In spite of his apparent competence, he refuses Evan’s request to become Chief Consul of Evermore, only gaining his title when Evan forces him to.
Indeed, Roland guards any emotion more complicated than polite friendliness until other’s backs are turned, where his serious persona breaks down considerably. In the epilogue of the game, when one of his bodyguards catches him daydreaming and smiling to himself, Roland stops smiling and turns away. This is also true for his negative emotions - there is a scene near the end of the game where Roland has a nightmare where he encounters the ghost of his son in the ruins of New York. Roland’s son blames his father for not being there when he died, and turns to ash in Roland’s arms as Roland tries to hug him. Roland has a panic attack, and begins screaming and sobbing. When the party wakes him and asks Roland if he is alright, Roland puts on a poker face and tells them that he is fine, and gets up and walks away without another word. He seems to carry around a great deal of guilt and grief that he keeps to himself; his biography in the game’s menu reveals that Roland’s young son was terminally ill before the missile attack, which is seemingly why he is unable to bring himself to talk about him and why he shows no interest in returning to his own world. Following a private conversation with Evan, after Evan leaves, Roland thinks to himself that Evan reminds him of his son, which seems to upset him a bit.
He is somewhat vain, having a habit of obsessing over his appearance. His first action after waking up in Ni no Kuni is to admire his young body in the mirror, and his idle animations involve him fussing over his clothes and hair. Twice after changing into a disguise, he voices concern about how he looks. He also decides to delay a confrontation with a villain so he can change into a fancy suit. He regularly describes himself as the “King” of the United States, even though presidents exist in the world of Ni no Kuni and he does not need to use this title. His ultimate armor is a fine military jacket embroidered with a fair amount of gold.
Roland wears a patient persona until he is challenged; once tested, he has a habit of becoming short with people, snapping or sniping passive-aggressively at people who disagree with him. Roland starts a verbal fight with a party member after said party member questions Roland’s decision to help Evan achieve world peace, only breaking it up after Evan asks them to stop (much later, he gets the last word in by insulting that party member in public). Once, he loses his temper with Evan after Evan ignores Roland’s warnings twice, and tells him that he’s had enough and he’d better start listening to him. When Evan endangers himself because he didn’t take Roland’s advice, Roland rubs it in by remarking to a bystander that the boy king has learned his lesson and won’t soon do it again.
Flavor Abilities: All of Roland’s magical skills have been nerfed. Runcible can occasionally generate faint balls of coloured lights, which used to heal people, but now do nothing.
Suitability: While Ni no Kuni is a family series (in spite of the T rating), there are many plotlines and events, especially in regards to Roland, that are quite dark and have sinister implications. I’d like to experiment more with Roland’s character outside of the soft-box that is the Ghibli-inspired world of Ni no Kuni and see how he would behave in a much more extreme environment.
Secondly, since Roland only acts as though he is a perfect president, I’d like to use a survival-horror setting to crack through his persona and allow the negative characteristics he tries to hide to come to the forefront. I especially want to play with the insecurities and weaknesses that Roland will not allow anyone else to see, which should be brought to a breaking point in Snowblind’s setting.
I’m especially interested in exploring what separates the paternal, gentle Roland from the selfish Doloran, since the game is vague on how the two can be the same person in spite of their apparent differences in personalities. My theory is that he is highly influenced by the people he surrounds himself with; Roland has a family back home, and the support of many friends and allies, while Doloran has had no one for decades. This is supported by Evan changing Roland’s mind after Doloran asks him to join him; Roland admits that if Evan had not done that, he isn’t sure what would have happened. I’d like to see what happens in Snowblind.
Finally, since one interpretation of the Ni no Kuni series is that they are just elaborate fantasies that the main characters use to cope with their problems (ex. the first game is about a little boy trying to bring his mom back from the dead only to find out that that isn’t possible in real life, then the second game is about the POTUS learning how to achieve world peace), I think it might be fun to lampshade this by eventually have Roland doubt his memory of Ni no Kuni, after enough time in Norfinbury. Perhaps, after enough influence from exposure effects, he may even be pushed to doubt his own identity - after all, he’s a 21-year-old man who claims to be about 50, claims to see faeries, and says he is the President. Weird, right?
RP Samples:
[NETWORK SAMPLE - Using the Stay Hydrated/Flowey Powey prompt from the most recent TDM]
[Roland isn’t President, here. Neither is he a leader, nor someone universally liked, but he still feels somewhat obligated to keep up morale. Call it vanity, or just force of habit - regardless of the reason, Roland appears on camera with his hair a little too neat and his smile a little too cheerful, considering the environment.
He tries to seem amused; not to downplay the situation, but to put people at ease where he can.]
Fitness apps and such were commonplace where I am from, but so was Malware disguised as an ordinary program. I’d advise everyone not to go clicking on things they don’t recognize. Something may seem innocuous at first, but... well, trust me when I say that even wars have been lost for a lot less.
[“For want of a nail” and all. He wonders how many people tested out the app on behalf of their friends, only to report that it was safe... and now they’re all paying the price. Well, if the ship’s already sailed, no use giving a guilt trip.]
As for anyone afflicted with this thing...
Don’t listen to anything it tells you. While it’s natural to try and empathize, it’s just a machine. It doesn’t have feelings to hurt.
Now, has anyone developed a strategy for dealing with it, yet? I’d like to find a solution as fast as possible.
[...Sure, he’s genuinely trying to rally towards a fix, but he also installed it for investigative purposes. This flower is so irritating, and he could really go for another bottle of water...]
[PROSE PROMPT - Using my own prompt]
As Roland woke to his thirtieth day in Norfinbury, he had the sudden thought that he could never get used to squalor. It’s a selfish thing to think, given the current state of his country, and he can’t shake the guilt from his conscience as he opens his eyes. Clearing the fog from his head, Roland surveys the room. His travelling companion, who had been huddled at his right shoulder, is nowhere to be seen.
Roland calls their name; his voice echoes about the empty space and he wonders if he has been abandoned - when something shuffles outside of his peripheral vision.
Roland rounds on the corner he had his back to - and finds that the source of the noise was his own son, eyelashes coated in frost, arms tucked into the sleeves of his hospital pajamas and shivering desperately. Owen Crane, only slightly older than Roland’s time in office; a little prince too sick to grow out of his babyish innocence.
Owen’s gaze lifts to meet eyes identical to his own, his chapped lips opening in a silent gasp as recongition flashes over his face - though that shouldn’t be possible, not in the body his father is in. Roland bristles, taking a step back. The boy’s expression falls.
...Daddy?
Only once before has Roland seen his son in such a state; just before Owen started responding to treatment, on a night when the family had gathered, unsure if he would pull through. And just like then, Owen can no longer rise to latch onto his fathers’ legs - he curls deeper into himself, face disappearing into his knees. His voice comes out barely above a whisper.
Where are we? Daddy, I’m so cold...
A lump forms in Roland’s throat; he cannot stop himself from being convinced. Roland hoists himself over to the boy, shucking his own wool coat from his shoulders. The cold is immediately oppressive, but nothing relieves him more than to see Owen smile gratefully as Roland settles the coat over him. Owen curls into the residual warmth, drawing the coat around him like a heavy blanket. Roland reaches out to pull his child into his lap-
His hands pass through thin air. Owen is gone, and things are as they were before Roland fell asleep. Only, his coat is nowhere to be seen.
It takes a full minute for the truth to steep. At last a betrayed, roiling growl pushes up through Roland’s throat and he finds himself compelled to bring his fist down hard on the wall - beside him, his companion wakes with a start, fumbling towards the opposite side of the room to distance themselves from whatever threat has crept in.
‘Roland! What’s going on?!’
Roland’s haggard breath catches in his throat and he collects himself, his fist aching with a force it has never used before, the frigid air weighing down against his back. In spite of this, he manages to rise, hoisting his pack onto his shoulders as though he were in a condition to leave. He suppresses the urge to shiver.
“...Nothing. Sorry to wake you, but we should get moving.”
‘But- Where’s your jacket? You can’t head outside like that-‘
Roland throws a look at his companion, hoping to make it clear that his orders aren’t open to negotiation. His voice is flat and low.
“I said we’re leaving.”
As he forces open the door, reality sets in - he’ll have to do something about the coat situation, and quickly.
ACCEPTED
With a brightly-colored interior and once pretty, now moldy and useless scarves and purses reveals this to be an accessory store. Hats, scarves, bags, cheap costume jewelry... Of course, a lot of it is ruined, and the whole store feels a bit damp. It's probably safe to stay in for the night, at least. The back room has a few tables and chairs, as well as a bathroom. "ALFIE SOLOMONS, 1922. Camden Town, London, England, UK, Europe, Earth. Day 172, March 2 or March 3" is carved on the wall.
Please reply to this comment with the journal you will be using for the game. After that, join
Thank you for your interest in our game!
Re: ACCEPTED