Entry tags:
[EXS] APPLICATION
» PLAYER INFORMATION
Player NAME: Sophia
Current AGE:
Personal JOURNAL:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
oceanwrath
IM & SERVICE: aim: shallowbays
Player PLURK:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
oceanwrath
Current CHARACTERS: Bariyan e Kodhi/stonefaith, Corosa Nyem/rorosa
» CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Satero e Ankhar
Character PULL-POINT: while he is dead asleep (end of history section; and he'll wake up upon arrival)
Character AGE: ~800. Looks like he's in his mid-30s.
Character ABILITIES:
CHASM: Satero is what his world calls a "chasm", someone who acts as a magical black hole. Any magic cast at or within range of him gets redirected and absorbed harmlessly into his body, regardless of whether or not he was even targeted. Over the years, Satero has figured out how to control this: he can shrink and expand the range, from nothing to 50ft max.
THE DREAM: Satero's bound to a force called the dream, which grants him quite a few powers -- many of which he has blocked himself from using, on account of having damaged the dream himself.
Blocked and unblocked, they are:
SABOTAGE: He is also subject to a few things that aren't abilities -- these are instead consequences of Satero having destroyed part of the pulse/the dream while it was within him. They are the damaged portions of the dream, retaliating against and rejecting Satero as a host.
In his daily routine, these attacks can happen at random. They become more frequent and severe whenever he is under stress, or whenever he has been making heavy use of his above powers. However, no matter how bad the damage gets, he cannot die from these attacks. Injuries and symptoms always vanish within the hour.
Character HISTORY:
Satero was singled out early in life for being a chasm, and the church kept a close eye on him in order to monitor his development. However, he grew up free-willed, violent, and unruly, and when asked to join the church he refused. As a result, they exiled him from the country before he could become a true threat to the church mages.
Instead of leaving the country, Satero went into hiding with his friend Corosa e Ankhar. The two of them managed to linger on for years, as Corosa slowly formed a company of mercenaries that would eventually come to include one Bariyan e Kodhi. However, the authorities eventually caught up with them, and the entire company was forced to flee eastwards into the desert empire of Kharta.
There, the company began to fall apart. They discovered a mysterious source of power called the pulse that could possibly bring one of them immortality, but only one -- as a result, they fought over it. Eventually they split against each other: Satero versus Corosa, and the both of them versus Bariyan, who wanted nothing to do with immortality. In fact, Bariyan went one step further in that he did not want anyone to become immortal.
In the fighting and warring that followed, Bariyan was the first to reach the pulse. He destroyed it before anyone else could get there. Unfortunately, he did not think his actions through very well and his destruction of the pulse -- the force that kept the world going -- had the unintended consequence of nearly bringing about the end of all life as they knew it.
Luckily for the world, Corosa, Satero, and Bariyan were able to undo the damage by restructuring the remains of the pulse, and splitting it into themselves instead. The pulse split into the dream, the truth, and the covenant, each going to Satero, Corosa, and Bariyan respectively. This turned the three of them into cornerstones of the universe's very existence. As a result, contrary to original expectations, all three of them got to become immortal.
But following their immortality, they all took a big long look at one another and each one of them realized that the other two were complete bastards whom they still didn't like very much at all. Thus they all parted ways, each of them eventually carving out their own part of the world and settling down to rule their respective domains on one level of existence, while maintaining the universe's existence on the other.
Except the whole 'immortality' thing only worked out well for Corosa. Bariyan had never wanted it in the first place and grew terribly bitter about it, while Satero....
Satero found himself completely incapable of coping with the responsibilities that came with his immortality. As part of the pulse, he and the others were supposed to handle the cycle of life and death, reaping life when it was spent, forming new life in its place. However, Satero was never made fully aware of his duties, or the full extent of what he had become. And unlike Bariyan and Corosa, Satero could not handle the vastness of his second level of existence. For a while he struggled to comprehend, but in the end failed in a very massive way.
In short, Satero could not handle being more than human.
So he abandoned his own throne early on, leaving it in the hands of others, and spent the first four centuries of his life trying to keep himself together. Despite his efforts, his sanity crumbled bit by bit and his domain suffered with it. Years passed by in flashes. He spent most of this time wandering in a fit, fighting, warring, seeking some sort of outlet for the existential anguish that plagued him. Becoming increasingly psychotic as he went.
In all this time he made a spirited attempt to understand his exitence, and managed to grasp one half of it -- the ending half, the reaping, the part of the cycle that encompassed death. As that was all he had, he went with it at full-force. He became a whirlwind of madness and destruction, with absolutely no comprehension of the other half of the cycle-- no ability to bring new life back into existence. Only the ability to destroy. And so he cut through his kingdom, leaving nothing but devastation in his wake.
In time, Corosa and Bariyan both became aware that something terrible was happening in Satero's kingdom. But by the time either of them realized the full extent of the damage, it was already far too late -- and they were advised to stay back, to let it run to completion.
As for Satero himself: his insanity was fitful, halting, unpredictable, sometimes broken or mixed with periods of clarity. He was, on some level, aware of the terrible things that he had done -- but on another level unable to comprehend them as terrible, unable to understand the full impact of death and destruction. This internal struggle cost him yet more of his sanity.
The process was slow, taking four centuries to finish, but by the end of it Satero had single-handedly brought his domain (almost a third of the world) to ruin. Nearly all life was dead and gone -- plant, animal, human, leaving Satero nothing more to destroy externally. So he turned on his very own existence. He blunted his emotional and mental faculties so badly that it hurt the part of the pulse stored away within him, causing it to wither and corrupt just as Bariyan had once caused it to, all those centuries ago. (This resulted in the weakening of some of his powers, and in the afflictions listed under 'sabotage' in his abilities section.)
Satero's wildly oscillating lucidity finally drew the attention of another immortal: a girl nicknamed Soothe. She came into Satero's dead and empty territory and found him, and she put him to sleep to alleviate his misery. Finally bringing peace upon Satero's kingdom, and upon his own mind.
Asleep, vegetative, Satero's consciousness finally managed to unwind itself enough to start coming to terms with his own existence. Freed of the confines that his self-awareness and humanity had placed on him, Satero was able to pick up some of his duties. Though his kingdom remained empty of human life, the wilderness started to creep back. Out of shells and husks, seeds; then plants, sprouting up through scorched land, strange and misshapen, but life all the same. And soon, perhaps, more plants, and insects, fish, animal life....
If he had been allowed some more time in his own world, that is.
(Note: upon waking in Exsilium, Satero will not remember much of his history. Only bits and pieces of it. Mostly he will remember all the time he spent rampaging and destroying his domain. He will not remember the names of places and people in his life, or much of his life from before immortality.)
Character PERSONALITY:
Satero straddles the line between lucidity and insanity, often tipping into one or the other, unable to balance himself. He is happily clear in some of his mental processes -- able to talk sensibly, able to form relationships and friendships, able to understand the external events happening around him -- and horrendously out-of-mind in others. Such as his inability to comprehend that there are consequences to death. Or his very weak grasp of right and wrong, good and bad, of any morals in general.
Satero is not malicious. He does not hate. He is rarely even angry. He is only violent, savage, and so far removed from reality and himself that he is downright chaotic.
He is highly destructive, as destruction is practically all he knows. Whenever Satero is around, doors get ripped off their hinges, walls tend to get punched in, people tend to get stabbed. Unfortunately, Satero doesn't think that there is anything wrong about any of these things. He turns his destruction on himself, too, quite often -- seeing him repeatedly bang his head against a wall is not an uncommon sight. And hardly the worst thing that Satero will do to himself. Much of Satero's behavior seems utterly insane.
But he thinks. He reasons. He can understand-- some things, sometimes. He acts demented, but most of the time he is perfectly rational -- except for the part where he is only perfectly rational on a level thrice-removed from reality.
He has trouble bringing that level down to this one. He is slightly aware of this fact.
Satero maintains much of his personality as it once was, before immortality ruined him. A Satero who was cheerful, laughing, temperamental and sociable and friendly. But all these traits are now twisted, sometimes superficial, sometimes utterly fucked-up -- like how Satero's idea of a good friendship starts with trying to kill them, first. But this Satero has also shed some of the old Satero's less-savory traits: he does not hold grudges, he is not easily angered, and he rarely hates. He does not obsess. He does not envy. Satero is now very far past most petty emotions.
He is thrill-seeking, adrenaline-addicted. Constantly seeking out new sources of entertainment and distraction in order to prevent himself from falling back into the ravages of his own mind. If it promises to be even slightly interesting, there is not much that Satero will balk at doing.
His mental fallout aside, the one big change that Satero has undergone over the years is his newfound ability to not give a fuck. This is a conscious decision on his part. The four centuries he spent awake have done well to erode his desire to connect with anything, person or idea or concept, knowing that it will all eventually fade away while he remains. As a result, Satero rarely restrains himself in his daily interactions. The world will simply have to deal with him in all his lunatic glory and apathy.
In Satero's clearest moments -- the ones that push past mere lucidity and invoke the realization that his very being is interwoven with the fabric of his universe -- he breaks down utterly. He remembers all the people he killed and all the destruction he wrought and all the wrongs that he's done. Without fail, that knowledge overwhelms him to the point of absolute despair. He immediately throws up mental walls to protect himself from these moments, and that sends him into frenzies of madness. At which point his behavior is entirely unreasonable and unpredictable. He tries to keep these moments to a bare minimum.
Despite all of the above, there is some gentleness in Satero -- a welcome side-effect of the long sleep that Soothe put him in. He is not overly sentimental about plant life -- as in, he will punch a tree just as happily as he will punch a person -- but he can appreciate a good garden, or forest, or even a single stalk of grass. He takes joy in bringing seeds to sprout and blossom, in watching life grow.
Satero treats children in much the same way. With slightly more confusion and bewilderment. The jury is still out on that one.
» EXSILIUM INFORMATION
Chosen WEAPON: The powers granted to him by the dream -- as they evolve, he will unlock some of his blocked abilities, strengthen others, possibly develop new ones along the same vein. However, there is also a chance that he will develop more afflictions that fall under 'sabotage' as well, or worsen the existing ones.
Chosen SKILLSET: Fighting. So much fighting.
» SAMPLES
First PERSON:
[ video. THAT SURE IS A LOT OF SHARP TEETH, GRINNING INTO THE CAMERA RIGHT NOW. also, sunglasses. who gave you those, satero. ]
You've got no fuckin' idea-- this is amazing! [ looking around, bright and wild-eyed. ] I don't feel anything at all! Nothing. Nothing. Because I, this isn't, I'm not -- I'm not a part of this. I don't....
[ he trails off. but he's looking happier and happier by the second. his grin i threatening to fall right off his face.
he suddenly whips his head right back around to lean into the camera. ]
I'm free. We're all free!
[ whooping, he slams the netbook shut. the feed fizzles dead. ]
Third PERSON:
There is fear and pressure and stress. All that questioning. All that space. All that vast, terrible, unknowable horror of who am I what am I where am I how why no no no I need to I can't I have to I can't I can't I can't--
--I can't.
Satero screams and slams his head into the pillar, hard enough to crack the stone and crack his skull. But the bone knits within minutes, and the blood trickling down his face is easily wiped off. He repeats the action again, cursing, swearing the whole while, again and again and again until he staggers away, howling, walking into the next pillar and then sliding down it. The strength to carry on with his tantrum suddenly drained away.
He spits out a tooth. He looks at it on the floor, gleaming and bloody, then snatches it up and laughs and flicks it straight up into the air. He catches it in his mouth as it arcs back towards him. Biting down, he hears a crack and he is not sure what it is from. Already, he has forgotten what it is that just happened.
"Satero--" A voice. A girl's. He sees someone coming towards him, arms crossed, disapproving.
Satero flinches away and growls, animalistic. "No." He gets back to his feet. "Away."
"Satero, we need to--"
"No!" Satero strides away, laughing brokenly, fists clenching and unclenching the air before him. "I have to. I need to. I--"
He doesn't know. He doesn't know what he has to do, never did, never will. He finds a door, tries to push it open -- fails, slams into it repeatedly until the wood splinters. But the frame refuses to give way and he cannot get through. He roars profanities at it as the girl behind calls his name.
He looks back at her, suddenly, eyes wide and blank. Soothe. The girl. He thinks he knows what she wants from him and he knows that it is far beyond his ability to give.
Away. He has to get away. He has to get away before the infinite gets him, that great, horrifying endless whatever it is he doesn't know he doesn't want to know he-- finds a window, shattering the glass with an fist and an elbow, and now the elbow is bleeding and his knuckles are broken but the barrier is gone. It is storming. Did he do that? What did he do, what has he done, what more is there to do and what has he failed to do and no oh no and-- now he pulls himself up onto the ledge. He hears footsteps behind him.
He screams at her, one more time, and throws himself out the window.
» ADDITIONAL NOTES
Satero here is being app'd from an AU of Bariyan's same story (which canonically happens through timetravel shenanigans leading to multiple timelines/universes). They know each other in both versions but I should be able to avoid having to play them against each other: Satero barely remembers Bariyan. Meanwhile Bariyan is not very observant of the network, so he'll just miss Satero's presence there completely, and I can just assume that Bariyan happily never notices Satero in person.
Player NAME: Sophia
Current AGE:
Personal JOURNAL:
oceanwrathIM & SERVICE: aim: shallowbays
Player PLURK:
Current CHARACTERS: Bariyan e Kodhi/
stonefaith, Corosa Nyem/rorosa» CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Satero e Ankhar
Character PULL-POINT: while he is dead asleep (end of history section; and he'll wake up upon arrival)
Character AGE: ~800. Looks like he's in his mid-30s.
Character ABILITIES:
CHASM: Satero is what his world calls a "chasm", someone who acts as a magical black hole. Any magic cast at or within range of him gets redirected and absorbed harmlessly into his body, regardless of whether or not he was even targeted. Over the years, Satero has figured out how to control this: he can shrink and expand the range, from nothing to 50ft max.
THE DREAM: Satero's bound to a force called the dream, which grants him quite a few powers -- many of which he has blocked himself from using, on account of having damaged the dream himself.
Blocked and unblocked, they are:
- Increased strength, speed, resilience, and fast healing -- given the chance to recover, Satero can recover from almost any wound within hours, or within days at the worst. He can take on injuries that would normally kill a person, but he is not indestructible. Continuous damage will eventually kill him.
- Dream-hopping. When asleep, Satero can walk through the minds of other sleepers nearby, and interact/interfere with their dreams.
- [BLOCKED] He can also walk into the 'dreams' of non-human creatures, inanimate objects, or whole environments.
- [SEMI-BLOCKED] Mirages/phantasmagoria: Satero used to be capable of weaving elaborate illusions in all dimensions -- optical, auditory, olfactory, sensory. These days he can only manage illusions on an optical level. Everything else is free game.
- [SEMI-BLOCKED] Dissociation from his physical body. This ability suffuses him into his surroundings, and allows him to become totally and completely aware of everything happening within a large (20-ish mile) radius -- but when Satero comes back down to his physical shell, there's essentially 0% chance of him remembering anything from the experience. And more than 50% chance that he'll come back completely bewildered and disoriented.
- [SEMI-BLOCKED] Summoning of natural disasters: hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, you name it, he's got it. Except... not really. Upon arriving in Exsilium, this ability will be heavily cut down on. The only one he will have any access to is his ability to cause earthquakes -- small ones. Certainly not enough to bring any cities down.
- The ability to bring about/speed up the birth/life/death of plant life. Only on a small scale, right now. He can just about handle a small tree.
- [BLOCKED, FOREVER] The ability to end any life within his domain as he sees fit, immediately, without having to do anything other than desire it. As Exsilium is way outside of his domain, this unlikely to ever apply.
- [BLOCKED, FOREVER] The ability to create any life, including human.
- [BLOCKED, FOREVER] As part of the pulse, Satero can grant immortality. Not that he was ever aware of this ability, heh.
SABOTAGE: He is also subject to a few things that aren't abilities -- these are instead consequences of Satero having destroyed part of the pulse/the dream while it was within him. They are the damaged portions of the dream, retaliating against and rejecting Satero as a host.
In his daily routine, these attacks can happen at random. They become more frequent and severe whenever he is under stress, or whenever he has been making heavy use of his above powers. However, no matter how bad the damage gets, he cannot die from these attacks. Injuries and symptoms always vanish within the hour.
- His eyes, ears, and nose occasionally start bleeding spontaneously.
- He frequently spits out bloody teeth, only to find that none of his own are actually missing, or even loose. That, or they magically reappear.
- On particularly bad days, his body threatens to turn itself inside out. Veins burst, bone shifts and twists and splinters its way free of flesh, translucent spikes of unknown material burst out through his skin, plants take root in his innards and grow their way out of his eyes... etc, etc.
- Symptoms will likely worsen/evolve with his stay in Exs.
Character HISTORY:
Satero was singled out early in life for being a chasm, and the church kept a close eye on him in order to monitor his development. However, he grew up free-willed, violent, and unruly, and when asked to join the church he refused. As a result, they exiled him from the country before he could become a true threat to the church mages.
Instead of leaving the country, Satero went into hiding with his friend Corosa e Ankhar. The two of them managed to linger on for years, as Corosa slowly formed a company of mercenaries that would eventually come to include one Bariyan e Kodhi. However, the authorities eventually caught up with them, and the entire company was forced to flee eastwards into the desert empire of Kharta.
There, the company began to fall apart. They discovered a mysterious source of power called the pulse that could possibly bring one of them immortality, but only one -- as a result, they fought over it. Eventually they split against each other: Satero versus Corosa, and the both of them versus Bariyan, who wanted nothing to do with immortality. In fact, Bariyan went one step further in that he did not want anyone to become immortal.
In the fighting and warring that followed, Bariyan was the first to reach the pulse. He destroyed it before anyone else could get there. Unfortunately, he did not think his actions through very well and his destruction of the pulse -- the force that kept the world going -- had the unintended consequence of nearly bringing about the end of all life as they knew it.
Luckily for the world, Corosa, Satero, and Bariyan were able to undo the damage by restructuring the remains of the pulse, and splitting it into themselves instead. The pulse split into the dream, the truth, and the covenant, each going to Satero, Corosa, and Bariyan respectively. This turned the three of them into cornerstones of the universe's very existence. As a result, contrary to original expectations, all three of them got to become immortal.
But following their immortality, they all took a big long look at one another and each one of them realized that the other two were complete bastards whom they still didn't like very much at all. Thus they all parted ways, each of them eventually carving out their own part of the world and settling down to rule their respective domains on one level of existence, while maintaining the universe's existence on the other.
Except the whole 'immortality' thing only worked out well for Corosa. Bariyan had never wanted it in the first place and grew terribly bitter about it, while Satero....
Satero found himself completely incapable of coping with the responsibilities that came with his immortality. As part of the pulse, he and the others were supposed to handle the cycle of life and death, reaping life when it was spent, forming new life in its place. However, Satero was never made fully aware of his duties, or the full extent of what he had become. And unlike Bariyan and Corosa, Satero could not handle the vastness of his second level of existence. For a while he struggled to comprehend, but in the end failed in a very massive way.
In short, Satero could not handle being more than human.
So he abandoned his own throne early on, leaving it in the hands of others, and spent the first four centuries of his life trying to keep himself together. Despite his efforts, his sanity crumbled bit by bit and his domain suffered with it. Years passed by in flashes. He spent most of this time wandering in a fit, fighting, warring, seeking some sort of outlet for the existential anguish that plagued him. Becoming increasingly psychotic as he went.
In all this time he made a spirited attempt to understand his exitence, and managed to grasp one half of it -- the ending half, the reaping, the part of the cycle that encompassed death. As that was all he had, he went with it at full-force. He became a whirlwind of madness and destruction, with absolutely no comprehension of the other half of the cycle-- no ability to bring new life back into existence. Only the ability to destroy. And so he cut through his kingdom, leaving nothing but devastation in his wake.
In time, Corosa and Bariyan both became aware that something terrible was happening in Satero's kingdom. But by the time either of them realized the full extent of the damage, it was already far too late -- and they were advised to stay back, to let it run to completion.
As for Satero himself: his insanity was fitful, halting, unpredictable, sometimes broken or mixed with periods of clarity. He was, on some level, aware of the terrible things that he had done -- but on another level unable to comprehend them as terrible, unable to understand the full impact of death and destruction. This internal struggle cost him yet more of his sanity.
The process was slow, taking four centuries to finish, but by the end of it Satero had single-handedly brought his domain (almost a third of the world) to ruin. Nearly all life was dead and gone -- plant, animal, human, leaving Satero nothing more to destroy externally. So he turned on his very own existence. He blunted his emotional and mental faculties so badly that it hurt the part of the pulse stored away within him, causing it to wither and corrupt just as Bariyan had once caused it to, all those centuries ago. (This resulted in the weakening of some of his powers, and in the afflictions listed under 'sabotage' in his abilities section.)
Satero's wildly oscillating lucidity finally drew the attention of another immortal: a girl nicknamed Soothe. She came into Satero's dead and empty territory and found him, and she put him to sleep to alleviate his misery. Finally bringing peace upon Satero's kingdom, and upon his own mind.
Asleep, vegetative, Satero's consciousness finally managed to unwind itself enough to start coming to terms with his own existence. Freed of the confines that his self-awareness and humanity had placed on him, Satero was able to pick up some of his duties. Though his kingdom remained empty of human life, the wilderness started to creep back. Out of shells and husks, seeds; then plants, sprouting up through scorched land, strange and misshapen, but life all the same. And soon, perhaps, more plants, and insects, fish, animal life....
If he had been allowed some more time in his own world, that is.
(Note: upon waking in Exsilium, Satero will not remember much of his history. Only bits and pieces of it. Mostly he will remember all the time he spent rampaging and destroying his domain. He will not remember the names of places and people in his life, or much of his life from before immortality.)
Character PERSONALITY:
Satero straddles the line between lucidity and insanity, often tipping into one or the other, unable to balance himself. He is happily clear in some of his mental processes -- able to talk sensibly, able to form relationships and friendships, able to understand the external events happening around him -- and horrendously out-of-mind in others. Such as his inability to comprehend that there are consequences to death. Or his very weak grasp of right and wrong, good and bad, of any morals in general.
Satero is not malicious. He does not hate. He is rarely even angry. He is only violent, savage, and so far removed from reality and himself that he is downright chaotic.
He is highly destructive, as destruction is practically all he knows. Whenever Satero is around, doors get ripped off their hinges, walls tend to get punched in, people tend to get stabbed. Unfortunately, Satero doesn't think that there is anything wrong about any of these things. He turns his destruction on himself, too, quite often -- seeing him repeatedly bang his head against a wall is not an uncommon sight. And hardly the worst thing that Satero will do to himself. Much of Satero's behavior seems utterly insane.
But he thinks. He reasons. He can understand-- some things, sometimes. He acts demented, but most of the time he is perfectly rational -- except for the part where he is only perfectly rational on a level thrice-removed from reality.
He has trouble bringing that level down to this one. He is slightly aware of this fact.
Satero maintains much of his personality as it once was, before immortality ruined him. A Satero who was cheerful, laughing, temperamental and sociable and friendly. But all these traits are now twisted, sometimes superficial, sometimes utterly fucked-up -- like how Satero's idea of a good friendship starts with trying to kill them, first. But this Satero has also shed some of the old Satero's less-savory traits: he does not hold grudges, he is not easily angered, and he rarely hates. He does not obsess. He does not envy. Satero is now very far past most petty emotions.
He is thrill-seeking, adrenaline-addicted. Constantly seeking out new sources of entertainment and distraction in order to prevent himself from falling back into the ravages of his own mind. If it promises to be even slightly interesting, there is not much that Satero will balk at doing.
His mental fallout aside, the one big change that Satero has undergone over the years is his newfound ability to not give a fuck. This is a conscious decision on his part. The four centuries he spent awake have done well to erode his desire to connect with anything, person or idea or concept, knowing that it will all eventually fade away while he remains. As a result, Satero rarely restrains himself in his daily interactions. The world will simply have to deal with him in all his lunatic glory and apathy.
In Satero's clearest moments -- the ones that push past mere lucidity and invoke the realization that his very being is interwoven with the fabric of his universe -- he breaks down utterly. He remembers all the people he killed and all the destruction he wrought and all the wrongs that he's done. Without fail, that knowledge overwhelms him to the point of absolute despair. He immediately throws up mental walls to protect himself from these moments, and that sends him into frenzies of madness. At which point his behavior is entirely unreasonable and unpredictable. He tries to keep these moments to a bare minimum.
Despite all of the above, there is some gentleness in Satero -- a welcome side-effect of the long sleep that Soothe put him in. He is not overly sentimental about plant life -- as in, he will punch a tree just as happily as he will punch a person -- but he can appreciate a good garden, or forest, or even a single stalk of grass. He takes joy in bringing seeds to sprout and blossom, in watching life grow.
Satero treats children in much the same way. With slightly more confusion and bewilderment. The jury is still out on that one.
» EXSILIUM INFORMATION
Chosen WEAPON: The powers granted to him by the dream -- as they evolve, he will unlock some of his blocked abilities, strengthen others, possibly develop new ones along the same vein. However, there is also a chance that he will develop more afflictions that fall under 'sabotage' as well, or worsen the existing ones.
Chosen SKILLSET: Fighting. So much fighting.
» SAMPLES
First PERSON:
[ video. THAT SURE IS A LOT OF SHARP TEETH, GRINNING INTO THE CAMERA RIGHT NOW. also, sunglasses. who gave you those, satero. ]
You've got no fuckin' idea-- this is amazing! [ looking around, bright and wild-eyed. ] I don't feel anything at all! Nothing. Nothing. Because I, this isn't, I'm not -- I'm not a part of this. I don't....
[ he trails off. but he's looking happier and happier by the second. his grin i threatening to fall right off his face.
he suddenly whips his head right back around to lean into the camera. ]
I'm free. We're all free!
[ whooping, he slams the netbook shut. the feed fizzles dead. ]
Third PERSON:
There is fear and pressure and stress. All that questioning. All that space. All that vast, terrible, unknowable horror of who am I what am I where am I how why no no no I need to I can't I have to I can't I can't I can't--
--I can't.
Satero screams and slams his head into the pillar, hard enough to crack the stone and crack his skull. But the bone knits within minutes, and the blood trickling down his face is easily wiped off. He repeats the action again, cursing, swearing the whole while, again and again and again until he staggers away, howling, walking into the next pillar and then sliding down it. The strength to carry on with his tantrum suddenly drained away.
He spits out a tooth. He looks at it on the floor, gleaming and bloody, then snatches it up and laughs and flicks it straight up into the air. He catches it in his mouth as it arcs back towards him. Biting down, he hears a crack and he is not sure what it is from. Already, he has forgotten what it is that just happened.
"Satero--" A voice. A girl's. He sees someone coming towards him, arms crossed, disapproving.
Satero flinches away and growls, animalistic. "No." He gets back to his feet. "Away."
"Satero, we need to--"
"No!" Satero strides away, laughing brokenly, fists clenching and unclenching the air before him. "I have to. I need to. I--"
He doesn't know. He doesn't know what he has to do, never did, never will. He finds a door, tries to push it open -- fails, slams into it repeatedly until the wood splinters. But the frame refuses to give way and he cannot get through. He roars profanities at it as the girl behind calls his name.
He looks back at her, suddenly, eyes wide and blank. Soothe. The girl. He thinks he knows what she wants from him and he knows that it is far beyond his ability to give.
Away. He has to get away. He has to get away before the infinite gets him, that great, horrifying endless whatever it is he doesn't know he doesn't want to know he-- finds a window, shattering the glass with an fist and an elbow, and now the elbow is bleeding and his knuckles are broken but the barrier is gone. It is storming. Did he do that? What did he do, what has he done, what more is there to do and what has he failed to do and no oh no and-- now he pulls himself up onto the ledge. He hears footsteps behind him.
He screams at her, one more time, and throws himself out the window.
» ADDITIONAL NOTES
Satero here is being app'd from an AU of Bariyan's same story (which canonically happens through timetravel shenanigans leading to multiple timelines/universes). They know each other in both versions but I should be able to avoid having to play them against each other: Satero barely remembers Bariyan. Meanwhile Bariyan is not very observant of the network, so he'll just miss Satero's presence there completely, and I can just assume that Bariyan happily never notices Satero in person.