Hey hey! So the names Kytha and I'm currently considering applying for Desmond Miles from the Assassin's Creed series. \o/ In terms of roles within the game, I'm currently most inclined to have him be a Witch who's will either be affiliated with Hillingdon Clan or Circle Daybreak. The main thing i'm trying to preserve about him is the feel of someone who's made a deliberate, conscious attempt to break away from his past and make a life for himself, only to have him catching up with him in a bad way, and now he's forced to sink or swim to adapt.
Desmond is sort of an odd case in his own canon because his story acts as a framing device for the meat of 6 or so games -- as a descendant of Assassins, he gets kidnapped and forced to relive the memories of his ancestors with a device that taps into his genetic memory (doesn't really work that way, but you know, it's a video game) to help locate where certain important artifacts that could change the course of history have been hidden. As the games progress, it turns out constantly spending what feel like hours or days in your ancestors' heads does funny thing to a poor guy's brain; Desmond's mind begins to fracture, seeing things in the real world that shouldn't exist, and at some point he straight up goes catatonic. Eventually, after many shenanigans, he ends up sacrificing himself.
Not exactly stuff that makes for easy translation into an urban fantasy AU, though there are elements of that I'd like to pull out of that!
The early, pre-game part of his background is easiest to adapt: - At 16 ran away from home, an 'off the grid' Assassin commune in the desert. By now, he's in his 20s. - He became a bartender in the city (in canon it's New York, in game it could be London) hiding his past and pretending to have little knowledge of the supernatural. - Unhappily, despite his resolution to live an ordinary human life, he's discovered he has powers that make that quite impossible, and who he is also makes him of interest to harmful individuals.
What I'm currently undecided on is if I should leave it at that (it leaves it most wide-open for any future canonmates to come in or if I should incorporate any actual game events). My current tentative plans for his history after that: - He was kidnapped for some ritual that involved summoning/channelling the spirits of his ancestors. However, he was rescued by a small cell of other Assassins (a much diminished order) and brought to London. - ??? Stuff happens that either gives reason for him to be separated from them or break off??? - Having found a safe haven (for now) Desmond applies himself to trying to better understand 1. what the hell is going on, 2. gaining skills that would actually be useful for figuring that out. - At this point, having been forced to relive the memories of at least one ancestor, he has slightly more fighting prowess than he did before.
The reasoning behind him being a witch is primarily because it has the skillset that most readily adapts itself to things like seeing ghosts, learning new things, etc. I can see him pushed to Hillingdon if he ends up leaning more to the distrust of authority side of him (he has plenty enough of that) and in keeping with wanting to be on the lowdown. On the other hand, Circle Daybreak could offer him a safe haven (he hopes) and also teach him to wrangle his newfound powers, while potentially providing conflict between his personal morals and what the faction's goals are. His personal motivation as a character is more 'please leave me alone' but hitching him to the greater cause of a faction provides him something to (reluctantly) work towards while he tries to sort his own life out.
Anyway, any thoughts/commentary/suggestions are more than welcome. \o/ I'm not attached to specifically using the 'Assassin' lore at all and can happily substitute them for either NPC groups or factions existing in game if that makes more sense.
Desmond Miles | Assassin's Creed
Desmond is sort of an odd case in his own canon because his story acts as a framing device for the meat of 6 or so games -- as a descendant of Assassins, he gets kidnapped and forced to relive the memories of his ancestors with a device that taps into his genetic memory (doesn't really work that way, but you know, it's a video game) to help locate where certain important artifacts that could change the course of history have been hidden. As the games progress, it turns out constantly spending what feel like hours or days in your ancestors' heads does funny thing to a poor guy's brain; Desmond's mind begins to fracture, seeing things in the real world that shouldn't exist, and at some point he straight up goes catatonic. Eventually, after many shenanigans, he ends up sacrificing himself.
Not exactly stuff that makes for easy translation into an urban fantasy AU, though there are elements of that I'd like to pull out of that!
The early, pre-game part of his background is easiest to adapt:
- At 16 ran away from home, an 'off the grid' Assassin commune in the desert. By now, he's in his 20s.
- He became a bartender in the city (in canon it's New York, in game it could be London) hiding his past and pretending to have little knowledge of the supernatural.
- Unhappily, despite his resolution to live an ordinary human life, he's discovered he has powers that make that quite impossible, and who he is also makes him of interest to harmful individuals.
What I'm currently undecided on is if I should leave it at that (it leaves it most wide-open for any future canonmates to come in or if I should incorporate any actual game events). My current tentative plans for his history after that:
- He was kidnapped for some ritual that involved summoning/channelling the spirits of his ancestors. However, he was rescued by a small cell of other Assassins (a much diminished order) and brought to London.
- ??? Stuff happens that either gives reason for him to be separated from them or break off???
- Having found a safe haven (for now) Desmond applies himself to trying to better understand 1. what the hell is going on, 2. gaining skills that would actually be useful for figuring that out.
- At this point, having been forced to relive the memories of at least one ancestor, he has slightly more fighting prowess than he did before.
The reasoning behind him being a witch is primarily because it has the skillset that most readily adapts itself to things like seeing ghosts, learning new things, etc. I can see him pushed to Hillingdon if he ends up leaning more to the distrust of authority side of him (he has plenty enough of that) and in keeping with wanting to be on the lowdown. On the other hand, Circle Daybreak could offer him a safe haven (he hopes) and also teach him to wrangle his newfound powers, while potentially providing conflict between his personal morals and what the faction's goals are. His personal motivation as a character is more 'please leave me alone' but hitching him to the greater cause of a faction provides him something to (reluctantly) work towards while he tries to sort his own life out.
Anyway, any thoughts/commentary/suggestions are more than welcome. \o/ I'm not attached to specifically using the 'Assassin' lore at all and can happily substitute them for either NPC groups or factions existing in game if that makes more sense.