Exsilium Application 2.0

[sithiche]

» PLAYER INFORMATION

Player NAME:	Brette
Current AGE:	23
Player TIME ZONE:	PST [GMT-8]
Personal JOURNAL:	ofchessycats
IM & SERVICE:	AIM: PackOfChessyCats (Plurk is prefered)
Player PLURK:	thechessycats
Current CHARACTERS:	N/A

» CHARACTER INFORMATION

Character NAME:	Artemis Ratcliff
Character PULL-POINT:	About 25 years in the future from when he was previously played in Exsilium.
Character AGE:	Physically, in his mid-20s. 192 years have passed in the mortal realm since he was born. However, he has spent some of that time in the Otherworld, where time flows differently and is impossible to measure in human terms. From his own perspective, he has lived somewhere between four to five hundred years.
Character ABILITIES:	Artemis is Fey, which means first and foremost, he is effectively immortal. He can only be killed by weapons imbued with very powerful magic. Once he reached adulthood, his ageing slowed to an imperceptible crawl -- those among his kind who appear truly elderly are as old as the world itself. He is immune to mortal ailments, and heals from injuries within moments of receiving them. He has weaknesses to substances such as pure iron and rowan wood, which may weaken his powers and cause wounds to be more painful and heal more slowly, but they cannot actually kill him. He is much stronger than humans, and even stronger than many other supernatural beings. His senses are sharper as well, though not superior to creatures such as vampires. Except for his hearing. Those ears have to be good for something. Fey, in this universe, are essentially the humanoid embodiment of elemental spirits -- magic taken solid form. Artemis' powers are air-based. These powers grow over time, and require a great deal of practice and concentration to master. On the simplest level, Artemis can cause shifts in the air around him such as temperature change or pulling the oxygen from a room. With enough concentration he can alter the weather, sometimes on a massive scale. Artemis is also proficient in basic spellcasting of the sort that mortal witches of his world could very well master, given that his nature makes it rather instinctive to him. He can perform a number of simple spells with little to no effort, such as moving small objects from across the room, creating balls of light, or lighting a fire. More complex magic requires more complicated spellcasting, which may require various ingredients, runes, or written incantations. Glamour-- the ability to alter the way that one's appearance is perceived-- is one of the spells that is considered incredibly basic for fey, making it possible for Artemis to appear human. Another spell that he mastered very early on is the ability to travel by mirror, allowing him to use mirrors as portals. On the less supernatural side of things, Artemis is proficient in combat at this point, given that he has received years of training and first-hand practice. He is rather well educated, largely because he had a great deal of time on his hands. In his adolescence he was expected to learn French along with the classical languages, and being among fey he has become well-versed in both modern and archaic forms of Gaelic, Welsh, and other Celtic languages.
Character WORLD:	[ I made a visualosities for this. ] Artemis comes from a world in the vein of series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Supernatural -- On the surface it is just like our own, but it is actually full of creatures such as vampires, werewolves, demons, and witches, all of which remain secret from the human population at large. Some humans know that these creatures exist, and have dedicated their lives to ensuring that the rest of humanity remains safe. In this world, those people are simply known as demon hunters. Demon hunting is a tradition that is generally passed on through family lines. Some families are better at it than others. Parallel to the mortal realm is the Otherworld, also known as the realm of the dead. It is separated from the realm of the living by a thin barrier between dimensions known as the veil. The veil grows thin in certain locations, causing hauntings occur when spirits are able to cross between realms. The Otherworld is also populated by the fey, which includes the more powerful (and humanoid) Daoine Sídhe such as Artemis, as well as the "lesser fey" such as goblins and pixies. The fey are aligned in two opposing factions, the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court. They are sometimes affiliated with day and night, respectively. The Seelie Court is generally more indifferent toward humans while the Unseelie Court is more malevolent-- though it is not recommended for a mortal to cross a fey regardless of which court they belong to, as the Seelie will be just as quick to curse someone for any perceived slight, no matter how insignificant it may seem.

Character HISTORY:

I.	Once upon a time, the Seelie and Unseelie courts were in a constant state of war. This war did not generally take place on the battlefield, but through politics and through proxy wars that left humans caught in the middle, treated as little more than chess pieces. But on the occasion that the fey did see battle, it shook the foundations of the earth. Eventually, the courts both came to realize that their conflict could destroy far more than either side cared to risk. An armistice was arranged. Both sides were forbidden from meddling in the political affairs of humans-- they went so far as ensuring that humans would forget their involvement in their history, causing many humans to gradually cease to believe that fey existed at all.
II.	Raleigh was a member of the Unseelie queen's guard for centuries. He had made a reputation for himself among both courts for the acts he had carried out in the name of the queen. In the mid-19th century, his affair with a woman of the Seelie court resulted in pregnancy. She did not want the affair to become public knowledge, due to his reputation, and thus kept the pregnancy a secret. Upon the birth of the child, she exchanged it with a newborn human child, leaving the fey infant to be raised by humans who believed it was their own.
III.	Artemis was raised by a wealthy family in Victorian England. His parents were caring, but also distant, as was common of upper class families of the time. He spent more time with his nursemaids and tutors than he did with his parents themselves. It was one of his nursemaids who first noticed that he was an unusual child: he never got sick, he never seemed to have any injuries, he learned abnormally quickly for a child his age. His parents caught her attempting to arrange an exorcism, and she was fired on the spot.
IV.	Growing up, Artemis' parents attempted to groom him for a career in law and politics. He was sent to an expensive boarding school, and then to Oxford when he was in his late teens. Meanwhile, Artemis gradually began to question his own nature. The glamour that his mother had placed on him as an infant grew weaker with time: there would be moments where his eyes were a much brighter shade of green than was natural in humans, or that his sharp teeth would become obvious. Other small incidents occurred over time, such as doors slamming themselves when he was upset, the weather shifting with his mood, or animals behaving unusually around him. He tried to overlook what he could not rationalize, but eventually he could not ignore it any longer, which left him feeling quite uneasy.
V.	After Artemis graduated from Oxford, he returned home to London. It was one day in the city that he encountered a red-haired man. What this man had to say would change everything for Artemis: it was his father, Raleigh, who had sought him out upon learning from Artemis' mother that they had a child. Raleigh revealed to Artemis the truth of his own heritage. This was shocking and overwhelming to Artemis at first, but he gradually came to terms with the knowledge, and his own desire to learn everything that he could about his own kind. Raleigh took Artemis to the Otherworld, teaching him about the history and culture of fey, how to master his own innate abilities in magic, and many other things. He recruited Artemis' eldest half-sister, Myfanwy, to train Artemis in basic combat. All of this was with the warning that if the fey courts should ever return to a state of war, Artemis would be expected to fight for the Unseelie queen. Artemis still felt connected to the human world, given that he had been raised there. He came to spend much of his time continuing to reside in London for the next century. He found himself with a growing fascination with the advance of mortal technology, keeping up with which became something of a hobby.
VI.	In the 21st century, something changed. A strange power became obvious, resonating from the coast of Washington state, though it could be felt across the world by beings who were sensitive to magical energies. Artemis, being the member of the Unseelie court who was the most knowledgeable about modern-day humans, was sent to investigate. In his time there, he met Len Andriesen, a vampire who was something of a mad scientist. Len consulted Artemis' unique expertise on the integration of technology and magic on several occasions. It was months later that Artemis would be contacted over more serious matters. Artemis was not the only one who had been drawn toward this mysterious beacon. Many creatures had been gravitating toward the area, with or without being aware of it. The influx of demons, shapeshifters, witches, and all other sorts of beings had in turn drawn the attention of demon hunters. Shea Hastings was one of these hunters, who was also attempting to investigate the strange happenings in the area. Shortly after she had arrived, she had been forced to kill the former leader of the vampires in the region, as he had somehow been driven insane. His successor, Avni, was very disturbed by the other vampire's sudden shift in behaviour, and promised to Shea that he would lend her assistance in getting to the bottom of these strange events in any way that he could. So when Shea came upon a strange text that could possibly shed some light upon the situation, and Len mentioned knowing someone who was apparently knowledgeable in archaic Celtic languages, Avni did not hesitate to have Artemis brought to them. Of course, no one in the area was aware that Artemis was not human, even if some had their suspicions, and Artemis resented being given orders by a vampire. However, he was inclined to be more cooperative upon meeting Azrael, another vampire. Upon examining the document, Artemis found that it was written in a form of runes that was more ancient than any that he was familiar with. He asked his father to examine it for him, but due to the unpredictable passage of time in the Otherworld, it would be several months before Artemis would hear back from him. In the meantime, Shea, Avni, and their cohorts would grow increasingly suspicious of Artemis' enigmatic nature. The only individual that Artemis willingly disclosed his true nature to was Azrael, and only when he felt that he could trust the vampire to keep it a secret. It was several weeks later, when Artemis found himself caught in a fight against a particularly nasty demon, that he would accidentally expose that he was fey to the others. Shea and her fellow demon hunter, Helena, were even more wary of Artemis upon learning this-- Shea, being descended from a Scottish line of demon hunters, had been raised with many cautionary warnings about fey. The demons they were used to encountering felt no particular allegiances to one another, but crossing a fey could potentially provoke the entire court. When Artemis finally heard back from his father on the translation, the news was not good. The energy that had been sensed in the area was a sort of beacon, meant to summon an Old God. That was why demons and other supernatural creatures had also been drawn, and why many were behaving oddly. Further, it was too late to stop the summoning; they anticipated that there was only a week left. In that week, it became obvious that there as no way to kill this being. The only potential solution they were able to find was a binding ritual, in which the human caster trapped the being inside of them. Shea was the only one with the necessary proficiency in dark magic to perform this ritual, whom could also be trusted to keep the Old God contained rather than trying to unleash it upon the world. However, in order to complete the ritual, she would have to be able to get close enough to the being to touch it, but merely setting eyes upon the Old God would drive a mortal insane, if not kill them. This was how Artemis was recruited into being her escort-- he was not mortal and never had been, and was equally invested in preventing the world from ending. The fateful day came that the Old God arose from the sea, and the ritual was successful. Spellcasters from across the world came to perform additional binding spells to help Shea keep the Old God contained. Meanwhile, Artemis was requested to return to the Unseelie Court to be commended for his work in aiding to prevent the end of the world.
VII.	Six months passed in the mortal realm before Artemis returned. From his perspective, it was much longer. As one of the youngest members of the Unseelie court, he had never drawn much attention from fey outside of his immediate family. Now that the queen had actually deigned him worthy of attention, albeit for a fleeting span of time, he was expected to remain present at court, and was unable to return to the mortal realm until the attention of his fellow fey had waned once more. He returned to Washington as soon as he was able so that he could be close to Azrael once more. When he saw Shea again, he was surprised by how normal she seemed, given the Old God's constant presence in her mind. Several months after Artemis had returned, Shea and Helena Bardakçı, a fellow demon hunter, managed to find a connecting thread in a series of murders that they had previously thought were unrelated. They suspected that something supernatural was at work, and began to investigate, thinking that it was perhaps a demon. It took them quite a while to unravel, but they eventually discovered that Artemis was responsible. It seemed that he had not been as unaffected by coming face-to-face with the Old God as they had previously believed; though he had fared much better than a mortal would have, it had exacerbated the violent and destructive instincts that he had already possessed. His time among the Unseelie Court had not helped matters, as many of his fellow fey only encouraged such behaviour. Shea and Helena debated how to handle the situation. Shea wanted to proceed with caution-- she regarded interactions with fey as a sensitive matter, and has almost come to consider Artemis a friend. Helena, on the other hand, thought that he needed to be stopped immediately. It became a source of contention between the pair, and Helena chose to take action behind Shea's back. Helena arranged to confront Artemis in a remote forest clearing. He did not expect a fight, and she managed to catch him by surprise and pin him to a rowan tree with an iron sword through his chest. The tree closed in around him, leaving him immobilized by magic in a half-dead state. Artemis was absent for weeks, and this began to draw suspicion. He had not left Azrael or anyone else with any indication that he was returning to the Otherworld, and after his previous length of time there, he had left several individuals with means to contact him by mirror should he do so. Eventually, Helena began to feel guilty, but only when faced with Shea's distress. She confessed to the actions that she had taken, allowing Shea and Azrael to locate Artemis and free him. However, he would remain unconscious and unbreathing for several weeks longer before abruptly awakening. For some time after he awoke, Artemis seemed distant. He seemed to have difficulty controlling his own elemental nature at times, causing abrupt shifts in the air around him, and sometimes appearing as though he was not completely solid or grounded in the mortal realm when viewed at twilight or out of the corner of one's eye. He gained more control of this over time, as well as seeming more like himself. During his time unconscious, caught between life and death, he had experienced perpetual, surreal nightmares, and had come to feel some guilt for his actions which fueled a desire to try to reign in his own instincts once more. Helena continued to deeply distrust Artemis. And though Shea disapproved of the measures that Helena had taken, she also felt betrayed by Artemis' actions. After much conflict, Shea suggested that Artemis leave for a while so that he could not cause any more contention. Artemis returned to his flat in London, but would continue to visit Azrael frequently, travelling by mirror. This is how he managed to be close at hand when Shea's hold on the Old God cracked, causing her to begin destroying everything in her path as she attempted to find a way to destroy the world. It was discovered that Shea had lost control because one of the witches who had supposedly come to assist her in placing binding spells to help contain the Old God had actually wished for the end of the world, and had secretly placed a corrupted spell upon Shea that had gradually worked to weaken the bonds of the other spells. With Azrael's help, Artemis was able to repair the magic that helped Shea keep control. Artemis did not want to see the world come to an end, and he had come to feel a deep, personal bitterness toward the Old God for working its way into his mind and essentially making him an agent of its destruction for a period of time. In addition, he had come to realize that he cared for Shea deeply as a friend. This was how Artemis came to the decision to swear loyalty to Shea, vowing to protect her and ensure that no one else could get so close to unleashing the Old God once more.
VIII.	Twenty years passed. Artemis was called before the Unseelie queen once more. Tensions between the fey courts were rising once more, and they were readying themselves for the possibility of war. Artemis was no longer under the same obligation to fight for his queen, as his duty as guardian of the Old God was considered to take priority. However, the queen made it obvious that she had brought him to court to "strongly encourage" him to remain loyal to the Unseelie Court. This was not just serious news for Artemis. If there was a full-out war between fey, the destruction would undoubtedly spill over into the mortal realm, with entire nations caught in the crossfire. Further, the veil between worlds was showing signs of weakness, and such chaos posed a very real threat of tearing a hole in the veil-- allowing not only fey to cross over freely from the Otherworld, but also the spirits of the dead. AND THIS IS WHERE HE GETS PULLED INTO EXSILIUM, YAY.

Character PERSONALITY:

Artemis is snarky, quick to judge, and all too eager to indulge in every vice available to him. He treats his smoking, drinking, sex, and violence with an air of refinement, being raised in Victorian England after all. He is quite vain, taking a great deal of pride in his own appearance and abilities. He is prone to teasing and can often come across as mean-spirited. However, he is capable of being much more sympathetic than he lets on. Once he has developed a soft spot for someone, he tends to be fiercely protective of them, to the point that he will kill those who pose threats to those he cares about without a second thought. As Artemis was raised by human parents who were attempting to groom him for a career in law and politics, and then found himself in the Unseelie Court, where one's survival tends to depend upon being very skilled at interpersonal politics, Artemis is rather capable at wordplay and manipulation. Fey consider breaking one's word to be a serious crime, regardless of how small a lie may seem, so he will actively avoid telling a direct lie at all costs. This does not stop him from misdirecting people by intentionally using word choice that may lead one to believe something that is untrue, so long as he does not directly state anything untrue as though it is fact. Over the course of his life, Artemis has gone on something of a roller coaster of personal morals, being torn between the influences of mortal society and fey society, which differ a great deal. It is only in the past several decades that he has essentially come into his own, finding a comfortable middle ground for himself. He allows himself to indulge in the vices that are instinctual to him, which grow more overbearing with age, but has come to attempt to practice some form of moderation-- though it likely does not appear that way to those who are unfamiliar with Unseelie fey, and do not realize the Dionysian levels of indulgence that many of his kind allow themselves. Although Artemis appears to have confidence in excess, he is accustomed to being surrounded by fey who are far older and more powerful than himself, and is used to working carefully to present himself as modest, demonstrating just the right balance of submissiveness and confidence to ensure that other fey see him as neither attempting to threaten them nor as prey. He feels quite at ease when in the mortal realm, in contrast, since he does not feel like he is watching his own back at all times. This sometimes makes it seem that he is overindulging in his own liberties when there are no other fey around, allowing himself to be much more of a smug, egotistical smartass. Artemis can often seem flippant when interacting with mortals, though he is gradually getting better about this. He has long been conflicted about his fellow fey trying to teach him that mortals are inconsequential and should be treated as such, due to the fact that he was raised by mortals and has spent much of his time living amongst them. For some time he did try to train himself to be emotionally detached from humans, to spare himself the emotional pain of seeing them age and die. However, he has come to find that while it was somewhat possible to try and dismiss the human race as a whole, he could not stop himself from still coming to feel fondness and respect for certain individuals. He has started to tell himself that treating humanity as inferior is not the correct course of action, and thus he is starting to resent the fey who are the most callous toward humankind. This does not mean that he is not often guilty of being dismissive toward mortals, but he is aware that it is a bad habit.

» EXSILIUM INFORMATION

Chosen WEAPON:

Artemis is going to come into game with his sword, a very sharp sabre, but it is actually his armor that is going to be his sentient weapon. In the past, he has opted to only wear parts of it, or to not wear it at all due to the fact that it restricts his movement and slows him down. And at this point in his life, it is becoming much more likely that he will need it in the future, considering that war between the fey is about to break out in his own world. This will encourage him to become more accustomed to wearing it.

Character INVENTORY:

[1] very fashionable set of clothing [½] a pack of cigarettes [1] cell phone/MP3 player/e-reader c. 2038 CE [1] expensive wallet containing three false IDs, several credit cards, a punch card for a local coffee shop (buy nine drinks and get the tenth one free; six are punched out), and 72 pence

» PREVIOUS GAME INFORMATION ( IF APPLICABLE )

Previous GAME(s):	do I have to put Exsilium here
Previous GAME SETTING(s):	some dumb dystopian thing idk
Your character's DEVELOPMENT:	He has accepted his fate of being called an elf.

» SAMPLES
First PERSON:

[ When the camera turns on, Artemis' expression is carefully neutral-- almost bored. ] As much... joy I feel to be back here, I would have thought you could have at least cleaned up a bit. This place has just as much charm as it did the last time around. [ He punctuates that statement with a bit of a sneer, before his expression returns to its blasé state. ] Would anyone mind filling me in on what I've missed? Sparing none of the grim and gritty details, of course. [ There is a pause, before he adds: ] Don't tell me those sods bombed this place again.

Third PERSON:

He felt it before his mind could even process the sudden change in scenery: An ache deep in his bones, a burning in his lungs, a churning in his stomach. It made him double over, grinding his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut as the muffled vestiges of a pained groan escaped him. The walls of the Initiative compound may as well have been non-existent; he could feel the dead earth beneath him, smell the pollution thick in the air. It hadn't been this bad the first time he had been brought here. He had been younger, less attuned with his own nature. The condition of the world had caused a sort of constant, dull ache, that was so much easier to tune out than this. This was all-consuming, overwhelming all of his senses, pressing in on him from all sides. It could have been minutes or it could have been hours that he was on his knees on the floor of the transporter room. He regained awareness gradually, like struggling to awaken from the haze of sedation. The pain was still there, he had just finally managed to work past it. Artemis untangled the fingers of one hand from where they had threaded in his hair when he had clutched at his head. His other hand had curled into a fist; red crescent-shaped marks marred the palm of his hand where he had dug his own nails into himself. The marks disappeared almost instantly. Artemis was careful as he slowly moved to stand, not entirely trusting that he would remain steady on his feet. He took a deep breath-- and regretted it within a fraction of a second, as he could feel the impurities in the air in the base of his very lungs. Sliding fingers through his hair and then straightening his coat, he worked to compose himself. His eyes travelled about the white walled room, an expression of disdain working itself onto his features as bitterness flooded his mind. They had brought him back to this shithole of a reality and had barely even cleaned the place up since his last visit. Even more, he had things to actually miss this time. People to miss. Duties going unattended. As his gaze travelled on the room, they settled upon a familiar sight: the Initiative's greeter, whose brow is furrowed in concern, likely over his... episode. The look in his eyes was one that promised pain to whomever was on the receiving end. In spite of that, his lips curved into a smile. "I see that you've missed me, then."