voidtrecker app (endwalker spoilers)

[apokroteo]

Player Information

Name: Rachel
Age: 29
Contact details: aziraphale @ plurk
Other characters: Jiang Cheng (OU)

Character Information

Name: Hades, known by his title "Emet-Selch" commonly
Canon: Final Fantasy XIV
Canon Point: The end of the You're Not Alone main story quest
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: OU
Age: ~12,000, likely much older

World Information: Eorzea wiki

Personal History: Lengthy wiki link Spoilers for FFXIV: Endwalker

Personality:

Emet was originally a man who was unapologetic, more likely to complain than do as asked and generally rather uncooperative, no matter who he was talking to - friend or otherwise. While he came across as someone rather selfish and refusing to offer aid and support to the people he cared about the reality is different: he would do it with some encouragement, perhaps to temper his ego.

The words of his friends offer a counter to this, suggesting that he was, at heart, compassionate, deeply responsible and caring - doing things such as helping Azem despite his frustration with them.

Things changed after the creation of Zodiark, however, and the great losses that Emet-Selch faced as a result. He's transformed into someone far more bitter, a lot more condescending and not as kindly or gentle as he had been once upon a time. He created an entire Empire for the prospect of bringing back the world that had once been and he doesn't seem to show much concern for who or what might have been harmed along the way.

Compared to his fellow Unsundered he is a lot more talkative, a lot more eccentric and all over the place, making it hard to place what his actual intentions are. He is determined when it comes to his beliefs, to the point of damning himself and others, and he is almost too intense when it comes to the balances of the world. He doesn't even seem to be able to muster the ability to have any kind of consideration for his "grandson", linked to the heartbreak of the losses of his firstborn son. He sees the people of the world as lesser - likely due to his Aether sight showing him that their levels, their strength, are somehow lesser.

While he can come across as cruel and incredibly dangerous, there is a moral side of Emet-Selch. He is not fond of lies and when it comes to information he shares he omits information rather than outright denying it or twisting the truth. There's a hint of arrogance to it as well - there's no point lying to people when he knows more than they could ever possible know due to his thousands of years of living.

Under all the arrogance and drama, however, is the deep grief and sorrow that Emet-Selch feels almost all the time. He is carrying the weight of a thousand years of loss - he had been there to witness it and has seen what the world has become as a result. As the only one of his kind that has truly retained himself it's hard for him to let go of his sorrows and his pain, perhaps leaving him a more embittered and cruel than he might have been in the past.

This sorrow and this grief has lead to Emet-Selch often drowning in his losses and his memories - it is what made him to create a false version of his home, even creating shades of the people he had cared about the most. He loves his friends, deeply and intensely, and was the one who created Azem's crystal when they were denied one, despite it being forbidden. Despite his anger, and his arrogance, he is sentimental, often to the point of causing himself harm. This sentiment carries over to him going as far as coming to the Warrior of Light's aid when summoned using the crystal and, eventually, sharing their desire for a better future.

Key themes: Emet-Selch's story revolved around a mixture of power and the resulting grief that comes from it. For the sake of his home he lost a great deal - literally hundreds of lives - and this resulted in him trying to find enough power to repair the worlds and bring what he had lost back. This is all tied in with his grief, his pain and his agony; the fact that he cannot meet with his friends again, that he has spent the last twelve thousand years on this quest to undo the damage done and failing and losing himself in the end, unsuccessful. Emet-Selch's story is that of someone desperate to return to what once was, to return to a world that he saw as being ideal, a 'paradise', and being unable to do so, therefore leaving everything he loved in the past.

Main Motivation: Initially, Emet-Selch's main motivation was "simply" the Rejoining - to return the world to what it once was and to go back to how things were before everything was destroyed. This has changed since his defeat at the hands of the Warrior of Light, however; he is now summoned as a gift to help them in their journey, to prevent the end of the world itself and to stand at their side as something of a friend. Rather than the motivation of power for destruction he is instead offering power for hope.

Skills:

"THE THIRD SEAT"; Emet-Selch can play two of the 'canon' classes of Final Fantasy XIV - a Dark Knight and a Black Mage. As a Dark Knight he has a stance ("Klymenos") that makes enemies more likely to attack him. He also has "Katabasis", which functions as a way of keeping him alive on his last legs ('alive' being a relative, dungeon-specific term since he is immortal). As a Black Mage he can use a range of elemental spells and can use "Anabasis" to raise a dead ally.

AETHER SIGHT; Emet can see magic and life forms as if they have an aura, with different levels of vibrancy or how dense they are depending on the person. He is particularly skilled at this and known to be one of the most gifted. It's described this way in his side story: What he beheld was the aether that comprised all things, radiating life... Here and there, lives that had served their purpose drifted upon the current before suddenly plunging down unto the Underworld... So acute was his vision, he could make out not only the soul─the heart of life─but also discern subtle differences in the hue of each, telling individual lives apart. Emet-Selch has the ability not just to see people's Aether but at a level where he can pick out specific individuals.

UNSUNDERED ASCIAN; Emet-Selch is one of the Unsundered, and the only one to retain his sense of self over the ages - perhaps due to him regularly using his soul crystal. As a result of this he is immortal - he can cheat 'physical' death, but not metaphysical (which is why Hades was able to be killed by the Warrior of Light) by using another body as a host and manipulating the appearance to his liking. Much like the other Ascians Emet-Selch has a set of abilities linked to the 'Echo'. He can understand spoken languages, for example.

MAGICAL POWER; As Emet-Selch and having had that seat, Hades has a huge amount of strength and power. He has incredibly magical strength and can do almost limitless things with his strength and his aether - bringing someone out of the lifestream by finding their aether, for example, or leave an aspect of himself to be summoned to the side of Azem using the crystal he gave them. He is just incredibly strong and magically powerful and can do almost anything he wants with that magic. He also has immunity to any mind control sort of effect.

TRUE FORM; Hades' true form is a huge, unyielding monster - one that he only becomes in the most dire of situations. In this form he has incredible strength and can do area of effect damage, do an attack twice, give vulnerability and summon huge purple arrows to deal damage. It's all detailed here, but it's incredibly unlikely that he would ever find himself in a position to transform.

SHADOW/CREATION SORCERY; While Emet is very strong with many kinds of magic, his main focus is shadow and creation. He can apply his shadow magic to many different types of damage - including bomb like things, barriers, etc - and also teleport and create mirror images of himself. Like other Ancients he has a talent for creation, including summoning, creating and transforming. He cannot make anything with a soul, however, and he can be interrupted/stopped from creating. This power is so immense that he was able to recreate a destroyed city by using his own aether.

Item: His mask (leftmost one)

Sample: TDM

Notes: He is coming in with Pahja being his "canon" Warrior of Light. His true name can also be the one used on the passenger roster if you prefer, as while he uses Emet-Selch most commonly it is technically a title, not a name.