Application for empatheias

[tokyokingmade]

⌈ PLAYER SECTION ⌉
Player: Holo
Contact: hologramblue
Age: 20
Current Characters: n/a


⌈ CHARACTER SECTION ⌉
Character: Akira
Age: ~35
Canon: Shin Megami Tensei IV
Canon Point: After "The Tokyo Kingmaker"

Background: Under the "Infernal Tokyo Akira" heading here, but it's kind of stilted so I'll just write it up to canonpoint.

When Akira was a kid, the world ended, more or less. Experiments in advanced physics broke reality, shattering the boundary between the physical world and the soulscape of the Expanse; demons and entities from human mythology began to spread across the Earth, among them the angelic forces of the Abrahamic God, who incited a global war meant to wipe the world clean of the "unworthy".

Akira hails from Tokyo, and from one of three possible timelines; in his world, members of the "Counter-Demon Force" joined forces with the demons to kill the angels occupying Tokyo, preventing the launch of ICBMs that would have wiped out the city. The victory was short-lived, because while the angels were gone, the flow of demons into Tokyo didn't stop, attacking humans and overwhelming the CDF. Following the lead of the man who spearheaded the fight against the angels, humans began fusing themselves with demons, believing an "evolution" into demonoid forms would allow humanity to keep pace with and beat back the demons - but while turning into demonoids did grant people power, it by and large robbed them of their humanity, and soon the ones destroying Tokyo were the very people who once wanted to protect it.

The angels fell in 2013, when Akira was....the game never specifies, but about 10 seems reasonable, from hints on other timelines. As the demon situation had progressed, the angels had created a "cocoon" in Shinjuku National Park and begun kidnapping children into it (Akira's sister among them), intending to lift it away when the ICBMs struck and use these "innocents" to establish their holy kingdom. After the angels were gone, an effort was made to open the cocoon, but by the time it was broken into, the children had long since died of starvation/dehydration. Learning of his sister's death inspired Akira to become a demonoid, believing (naively, at his young age) that it would give him the power to prevent such painful experiences in the future.

Twenty-five years later, life in Tokyo has settled into a rhythm of violence. The city is ruled by Kenji, the man who initially led the fight against the angels; in demonoid form, he has the power to force anyone to his will. Demons and demonoids mingle, the strongest among them taking all. Humans unwilling to join the endless demon turf wars become neurishers, getting plugs implanted in their skulls to allow demons to drink fluid from their brains - dooming themselves to a life as livestock and possible mental degeneration, but making themselves too valuable to kill. Akira leads a tiny, feeble band of demonoids and neurishers from the CDF's old base in Kasumigaseki, collecting and scavenging through garbage from other districts to keep himself and his people in business.

Things start looking up when Akira has a strange, prophetic dream featuring chalk-white human figures in a vast, blank expanse, who announce that Intruders will enter Tokyo, and that if the Intruders reach Kenji's lair in Ichigaya, Kenji will die. His plan to take Kenji's place as King and use his influence to impose order in Tokyo crystallizes around this prophecy, and takes off when the Intruders (the player and their party) appear in his own base in Kasumigaseki. Akira bargains their help by convincing them that their goals intersect, and by promising to "not let Kenji kill them", though the latter is only a bluff.

Akira leads the Intruders first to Shinjuku in a bid to conquer the district and acquire more territory and neurishers for his crew, so that if the attack on Kenji fails, he'll still have gained influence - he does none of the actual fighting, leaving combat entirely to his allies. With Shinjuku acquired, Akira orders the old inhabitants killed, consolidates the neurishers, and instates rules to protect neurisher welfare, like alternating feeding schedules. Though worried for his own...longevity when he learns that the Intruders will leave after Kenji's defeat, he accompanies them to Ichigaya. Kenji is killed, and Akira returns to Shinjuku to begin planning for his dominion of Tokyo.

Personality: No matter what timeline you're in, one thing about Akira is always, fundamentally true - he is a leader. He's always carrying a motive, a plan, the conviction to put it into action, and the charisma to make other people believe in it. What he isn't is physically strong, and that conflict - having ambition, but not enough "power" to get what he wants in the traditional way - is what shapes him in the world where demonoids rule Tokyo.

Most demonoids maintain control through raw strength, but rather than threatening others into submission, Akira knows that the best way for him to hold "power" over others is by giving them what they want. Sometimes, that just means being likable, playing to the desire to be treated well. Often, it means making and keeping promises, and going to creative lengths to supply some material benefit. He's a smooth-talker and a liar when he needs to be, personal dignity and moral standards shoved aside when the ends demand it, willing to beg, borrow, and steal to keep his word - because his word, selectively deployed and carefully cultivated, is the most powerful thing he has to his name.

First and foremost in his repertoire of deception is a constant projection of confidence, necessary to avoid weaknesses being sniffed out by other demonoids, which he wears as a habit. A keen-eared neurisher will tell the player that Akira is a person who's good at hiding his true thoughts and feelings, and that he had had to become tough to survive in Tokyo. How he treats people varies widely based on...well, what he needs from them and what they expect from him - to his crew's faces he acts strong and authoritative to keep their trust and confidence, and around demons he knows have an edge over him he acts submissive, bumbling, and placating to avoid confrontation. And around the rest - the neurishers, still human and powerless - he's kind, courting favor wherever he can get it. The one situation where his self-assured facade falters is in the face of direct physical danger he didn't plan for - Akira will always take the option that avoids combat, and if he's pushed out of his plan and into a situation he can't smooth-talk his way out of, his composure becomes clumsy.

All this sneakiness and manipulation isn't necessarily a sign of malice, though. On the contrary - Akira likes people, in general. And in general, he wants to make things better for people when they suck. It's why he consistently rises to the task of leadership, no matter which timeline he ends up in. Akira always has ideas, and he's not the kind of person who's content just letting them be ideas. In a very fundamental, emotional sense, he enjoys having control of his surroundings, and his sense of security is rooted in how much power he has to influence things to his liking. Part of this is just an innate, leaderly personality, but a large part also has to do with the kidnapping and death of his sister early in his life, which inspired him to drastic action then and still motivates him even 25 years later. When Akira doesn't feel the need to sweet-talk and pull strings - which isn't often - he's sociable and friendly in a cautious way, and even a little shy, assuming (after weathering everything that Tokyo has become) that others will find his real feelings and wishes laughable and worthless.

Akira is well aware of his strengths and limitations - he has to be, to survive. He doesn't have the greatest opinion of himself and he certainly doesn't believe most of the things he brags about, but at the same time he's comfortable accepting that his lot in life is to be manipulative, the same way he's comfortable accepting the horrible things one has to do sometimes to achieve greater ends - like killing off Shinjuku's demonoid population to make it safe for him and his crew, so that he can eventually rule over Tokyo and improve the quality of living. The ends, in Akira's mind, pretty much justify the means, as long as you're tallying up the ends correctly - by believing in this concept of order, he focuses on the things he accomplishes, and finds satisfaction through them even when he achieved them through underhanded methods.


Abilities: Akira is a "demonoid" - a human fused with a demon. Demons thrive on the thoughts, emotions, and desires of humans, and demonoids too must regularly feed on the byproducts of the human soul to stay in top shape (though supplementing this with real food makes the need less pressing). Normally this involves sipping human brain fluid (ew), but any manifestation of emotion that he can physically eat will do just fine.

Other than that, he reaps no particular benefit from being a demonoid, except a slight increase in general physical durability - a punch from a human will be a little less damaging, but as supernatural beings go he's firmly at the bottom of the ladder.

Alignment: Piphron - Though Akira cares about people and is passionate about making life more comfortable for everyone, the Tokyo he knows is not an easy place to trust in. He has one of the more loyal crews around, but in general the city is full of unpredictable, violent demonoids who Akira deals with through manipulation, deceit, or overblown displays of submission - never trust. At the same time, he craves a world where people don't have to fear one another, valuing trust as a (maybe unrealistic) ideal.

Other: nah


⌈ SAMPLE SECTION ⌉
Sample: I have two Test Drive threads: one network here (with unused action prompt), and one action here.


Questions: nah