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Mobius ([personal profile] favoriteanalyst) wrote in [personal profile] faderifting 2022-01-11 11:08 pm (UTC)

Mobius | MCU | Native AU

PLAYER

Name: Shawna
Age: 30+
Contact: shadowesque@plurk, Shawna#1574@discord
Other Characters: n/a
Interests: Apparently I'm big about characters with strong religious beliefs who also deeply question the institute that presides over that religion, so...what do we wanna call that, religious intrigue? Political intrigue regarding the Chantry and cults thereof? Also the broader sociopolitical ramifications of doing the outside the box things they do, the generally more liberal views they as a group hold compared to the rest of Thedas, as well as the whole 'used to be the Inquisition, now are just a tolerated splinter group' thing. And also just the social interpersonal aspects. Who...who here needs some therapy, raise your hand...

CHARACTER

Name: Mobius (M. Mobius, will only be doing the Cher thing with a single name for the game)
Canon/OC: MCU (specifically the Loki show)(wait, another one?)(yes, another one)
Journal: favoriteanalyst
Race: Human
Nationality: Marcher (ostensibly)
Occupation: ex-Templar
Division: Research, but also open to Diplomacy tbh
Mage or Not: Nah
Age: 52

History
canon history such as it is

↦ has an Accident (of the noodle incident kind) while young, leads to fairly extensive amnesia including his name and his family, but also leads to a come to Andraste moment
↦ filled with a Maker-borne desire to Do Good and Help People and Devote Himself To A Higher Cause, he becomes determined to drop everything and join the Templar Order, to the bafflement of those around him
↦ nerdy bookworm has done a lot of reading and continues to do a lot of reading, and this is me deciding the concept of a mobius strip exists, and this weirdo decides to take that as a name
↦ does moderately well in templar training, doesn't stand out in any particular way, doesn't especially suck. learns real fast to maybe not talk about the fact that he got Touched By An Angel and sound like a nutcase. his lyrium initiation is also akin to a religious experience that he now has some more complicated feelings about
↦ sent to Ostwick circle, where it is decidedly chill and perfect for nerdy types, where the tales of templar abuse are not nearly as rampant
↦ mage rebellion whoops. it's calmer than many other circles with a good deal more talking and actually trying to work something out, but eventually violence breaks out. as it always does. he does what he has to do, but he has doubts and questions and feelings about it after, which only increase during the war
↦ survivor of the Conclave--like many templars and mages, he was actually a fair distance away from the whole thing when it Went Down. made a point to help anyone and everyone he could regardless of who or what they were, sticking around the Haven area to do just that
↦ when the Herald bites it, that's the last straw to send him spiraling into a crisis of faith. gives up being a Templar--keeps some of the trappings but no longer calls himself one and mostly removes the sigil from his gear
↦ takes on odd jobs around the Marches until he settles down on the outskirts of Starkhaven, tries to form some ties to keep a supply of lyrium around (he falls in and out of withdrawal a few times over the years), finds out that people will actually pay some coin to have someone listen to their problems and dole out advice so becomes something of a therapist on the side by word of mouth
↦ he does not heed the new Divine's recall of the templars having given that up. the Tevinter/Corypheus forces storm the Marches, wiping Tantervale off the map and coming for Starkhaven. he helps as many refugees and those fleeing as he can, escapes Starkhaven before it gets completely cut off. decides it's time to stop his finding-himself pity-party bullshit and actually put his skills to use however he can.
↦ catches a couple of wagons shuffling refugees places, helps where he can, eventually makes his way to Kirkwall, hello

Personality

Cool/Calm/Collected
↦ easier for people to talk to you (and mages to trust you) if you don't berate them for every little thing; not unflappable but has the appearance of being so
↦ look, there's already so much weird shit in the world; a little more weirdness on top ain't shit
↦ being angry while trying to help people is not going to End Well
Conflicted
↦ in his standing in the world and his religion vs The Church's version of religion; in wondering who's more right, the Templars or the mages
↦ his worldview got shaken pretty badly after the Conclave and the death of the Herald; dooting around Starkhaven pretending like he's a normal guy hasn't exactly cured that
Curious
↦ known to read as much as possible on many topics; asks A Lot of questions
↦ are you a Rifter? he is ESPECIALLY going to ask way too many questions!
↦ if he knows as much as possible, then he'll be ready for anything, right?
Petty
↦ easily becomes a snarky bitch to people he doesn't like; goes for the psychological throat when the cool/calm/collected finally drops
↦ thankfully he tends to give people the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance if they apologize or try to redeem themselves
↦ otherwise fuk u good serah
Devout/Devoted
↦ has his beliefs, sticks to them; staunchly Andrastian, just maybe not in the way the Chantry would strictly approve of
↦ being devoted (to a belief, a cause) is not the same as being loyal (to a person/people); he learned this one the hard way
Presumptuous
↦ self-assured and stubborn enough in his beliefs to think he's right
↦ what's he right about? whatever he's decided at this moment
↦ sometimes keeps this to himself; sometimes opens his mouth and comes off as a condescending, overbearing know-it-all
Contrary
↦ likes to see how far he can bend rules (without breaking them)
↦ insubordinate To A Point; got plenty of slaps on the wrist from his CO but didn't do anything egregious or dangerous
↦ is willing to play devil's advocate for interesting conversation
Unconventional
↦ feeding that itch, that desire to do something different than the same thing that's been done for ages; thinks outside the box
↦ thinking the Maker sent you a vision as a boy and that the Rifters are all chosen by Andraste Herself is certainly fucking unconventional yeah
Perceptive
↦ Notices things, especially and primarily in people; alert to the tics and expressions of others, in the things they say and the things they don't
↦ not a scout, though; he's not nimble or stealthy enough
↦ much more likely to notice a change in a person than a change in surroundings

Opinions & Affiliations

Chantry
↦ complicated!
↦ the religion is good; the institute bowing to the whims of whatever painfully human woman gets elected to wear the funny hat is...less
Templars
↦ those were his brothers
↦ those are his brothers
↦ were. are. were.
↦ a lot of bad decisions got made; a lot of decisions that seemed right at the time were made
↦ he's distanced himself from them but retains a fondness for what was
Circle Mages
↦ organized, helpful, have/had their inter-scholarly spats but knowledgeable and wise and reasonable
↦ frankly he's for bringing Circles back
Apostates
↦ ...potentially very dangerous, unruly, reckless
but should not a person be able to choose their own life path?
but should not a mage be taught under safe supervision?
Blood Mages
↦ fuck those guys in particular though
Seekers
↦ thunderbolts and lightning very very frightening he
Elves
↦ quite frankly doesn't know what to make of them as a whole
↦ they've got some weird beliefs and get treated like shit (spoilers: because of the chantry) so he's...wwwwary but not necessarily likely to treat them as lesser
↦ elven mages and templars got the same treatment in the circles anyway, and so long as they open themselves up to the chant then it'll all be fine
Orlesians
↦ hoity-toity fancy-pantses who wouldn't know a days work if it bit them in the ass
↦ (who doesn't like making fun of orlesians honestly)
Rifters
↦ nigh-holy heralds chosen by the maker's bride herself nbd
Qunari
↦ jesus mary and joseph those guys are fucking intimidating
↦ are we sure they're the maker's children too? we are? okay. okay, but he doesn't trust them far as he can throw em

Adaptation Notes

"shawna wtf are you doing apping yet another timespace scifi character into this high fantasy game" i just think they're neat

Given a big thing about the TVA is that there's no magic, Templar makes sense to be able to shut down magic. While canon Mobius isn't much of a fighter, there's an aspect of faith and belief in canon that I feel translates well into a job based heavily in the Chantry and its belief system. While a nerdy analyst type, he canonically specializes in the capture of particularly dangerous variants, and what's more dangerous on the daily than a blood mage/maleficar/apostate/etc?

I've chosen to translate his firm belief and devotion to the job that might otherwise be morally questionable to being a devoted if troubled believer of a (lapsed) Templar, turned his (currently canonically) mysterious past into Convenient Amnesia with a hit of Come To Andraste revelation, and his subsequent bombdrop yer a variant harry into (emotionally) a break from the Templars and the Chantry as an organization.

That he has differing ideas from many of his compatriots about how to deal with variants, and that he's open to the realizations of how fucked up everything is, is thus interpreted as a...hmmmm variable personal interpretation of the Chant and his religious stances, as well as questioning his stance on mages. His broad knowledge and experience with temporal shenaniganry as well as his analyst job is a love of books and reading and researching out of pure interest/fascination.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Templar who's been a templar for decades and is pretty good at the whole templar-y thing. At least in terms of specialized skills. He's an okay sword-and-shield type fighter, but age (and reliance on lyrium) is catching up to him; still, it would be unwise to underestimate him. He'll still cut someone down, but complain about his knees while doing so. He's coming in with a stash of lyrium for personal consumption and will have to make a point of figuring out how to obtain a steady supply moving forward (and having had a few tastes of what being without does to a person, he has no plans to lapse in his use again). Not a ranged fighter, has never had to be stealthy--you don't put on that armor for stealth aight. Is going to be wary of apostates slinging magic in the field.

Is pretty damn good at reading people like an open book. Obviously I don't plan on infomodding anyone at any time, relying only on narrative-supplied details and publicly known information to draw conclusions, but he's exceptionally good at sussing out what's ticking behind someone's eyes. He claims it to be a gift from the Maker, though there isn't anything actually supernatural about it. He's just. good at reading people. Imagine a fine blend of seasoned psychotherapist and overworked detective who has stopped bothering with good cop/bad cop and just talks to the perp instead. This doesn't make him a walking lie detector, just that he's got a keen eye for tics and cues and a personality that lends him to be calm, curious, clever, and even occasionally charming.

Which on the flipside can make him go poking at the wrong thing, being convinced he's right about something that he's actually Quite Wrong about, barking up the wrong tree, digging too deep, asking too many questions, being a nuisance, and trust that he's going to have a very apparent fascination with Rifters that is going to be offputting. Does not like to lie outright (can, does not like to), but lies of omission are a-okay. He'd make a terrible spy, nobody ever suggest it.

Most of his travel has been within the Free Marches, so a lot of his opinions and experience from other cultures is from books and brief contact with people from Elsewhere and how they act. A vast majority of that travel has been on land, either marching on foot or riding in wagons. Sea-worthy boats and horseriding are...new to him.

Jack of all trades - his nerdity and bookworming and reading a wide array of what he can get his hands on between templaring means he knows a little bit on a wide array of subjects, including some super basics of (reading) some of the other languages of thedas
Master of none - his nerdity and bookworming and reading a wide array of what he can get his hands on between templaring means he never stopped to focus on any one area of expertise and therefore...does not have any expertise on any given subject. save andrastianism?

Inventory

↦ remaining parts of his Templar gear: sword and shield, chest piece, gauntlets, boots, primarily. has made attempts to remove or obscure the Templar sigil from them but was not...100% successful
↦ small personal supply of lyrium and his philter
↦ heavily heavily used, dogeared, annotated copy of the Reader's Edition of the Chant of Light
↦ heavily used, dogeared, annotated copy of the Reader's Edition of the New Cumberland Chant of Light

Motivation

Having seen how a good chunk of the Free Marches are on fire yo, and as ineffective as he feels right now, and as ineffective as he feels the Exalted March is being, he wants to offer up his sword and lyrium-based powers to do something that's either more direct or something out of the box/otherwise unsanctioned. Try Something Else. He's been in something of a rut ever since putting his Templar-ing ways down, but if he can't trust the brotherhood and isn't sure about fully trusting the Chantry, then he'll go to the other place he knows are doing something, sometimes in very...unique and interesting ways.

SAMPLES

TDM with Astarion
TDM with Sylvie

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