app for ataraxion;

[tervelocius]

P L A Y E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Yami
OOC Journal: birdplane
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: No.
Email IM: yami.manuel@gmail.com kaizokuyacchan
Characters Played at Ataraxion: Spock (oftwoworlds)

C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: "Char Aznable". This is actually an alias, his birth name is Casval Rem Deikun. He has several other aliases, but those are the most notable two for his canon pullpoint.
Canon: Mobile Suit Gundam
Original or Alternate Universe: OU
Canon Point: End of the TV series.
Number: RNG is fine.

Setting:

Wiki overview!

And a Universal Century timeline.

The short version is that Mobile Suit Gundam takes place in a distant future where mankind has colonized space. There is a (more or less) universal Earth Government, although the colonies are significantly less united. The colonies themselves are essentially cyllindrical orbiting satellites with artificial, "Earth-like" landscapes. The colony weather systems make it possible for there to be snow and rain, and there are (almost) natural trees and grass and other plant life. If you took a picture on a colony and didn't know it was a colony, you'd probably mistake it for Earth.

Decades passed, and the population of the colonies expanded exponentially. With that expansion, there followed a sense of independence from Earth. Eventually, one of the colonies (Side 3) declared its independence from both Earth and the other colonies. War broke out. Because it's Gundam, there were giant robots fighting the wars.

At this point in the universe (UC 0079), the major players are the Principality of Zeon (the government formed by Side 3), and the Earth Federation. The Earth itself is more or less united under the Federation, but Zeon only controls a handful of the colonies. Zeon's pro-Spacenoid (humans born in space) propaganda is pretty popular, however, and their army is better equipped than that of the Earth Federation. Zeon is powerful enough to have occupation forces in sections of Earth (primarily in North America), and the neutral colonies usually maintain a low profile and hope to be ignored by them.

Happening simultaneously with the political turmoil is a sense of human evolution. After years of traveling back and forth in space, a small percentage of young people has begun exhibiting psychic, or ESPer-like sense. These people can form nigh telepathic connections with one another and seem to be able to predict elements of the future. They're labeled "Newtypes" and some of them are even detained for study, although very little is really known about them or their developing powers.

I'm sorry, that wasn't really short at all.

History:

Char was born Casval Rem Deikun, the son of Zeon Zum Deikun of the Side 3 Space Colony, a noted politician and philosopher. Zeon was influential enough to be appointed leader of the Side 3 colony and almost immediately declared its independence from the Earth Federation. The Earth Federation responded by halting resource deliveries to the colonies, amongst other sanctions, but eventually the new state prevailed and was named the “Republic of Zeon” in his honor. Very suddenly, when Casval was still a young boy and the fledgling republic was still coming into its own, Zeon died. While there was no official report of foul play, Degwin Sodo Zabi immediately assumed leadership of the new nation, claiming that his political ally, Zeon, had named him successor on his deathbed. To secure his and his family’s power, Degwin Sodo Zabi also order the deaths of Casval and his young sister, Artesia. With the help of a family friend, Jimba Ral, the two children fled to earth and were placed in the care of the aristocratic Mass family.

In the course of Casval’s childhood, the Republic of Zeon was renamed the Principality of Zeon with the Zabi family as its sovereigns. While it still advocated for colonial independence from Earth, its means of achieving that independence quickly became contrary to Zeon Zum Deikun’s peace and enlightenment-oriented philosophies.

On Earth, Casval and Artesia took on the names Edward and Sayla Mass, respectively. They were raised as part of the household and led privileged lives, not substantially different from those they might have experienced had they been allowed to stay within the colony. During this time, Jimba Ral, a great friend of Zeon constantly reminded Casval and his sister of the Zabi family’s betrayal. This left a stupendous impression on Casval (and later “Char”) the influence of which cannot be overstated. Eventually the Zabis caught up to them, and again the Deikun children fled to the Texas Colony. Jimba Ral was killed in the attack, which also left a defining impression on Casval.

At the Texas Colony, they were given an estate by Roger Aznable, the colony’s leader. They stayed there, still under Don Teabolo Mass’ care, and eventually Casval crossed paths with Char Aznable, Roger Aznable’s son. To everyone’s surprise, Casval and Char were remarkably physically similar, with their one notable difference being their eye color (Casval’s are blue, Char’s are brown). Being the same age, and shoved together by circumstance, the two became fairly good friends. Eventually, however, Char was taken in by the Principality of Zeon’s independence propaganda, and decided (against his father’s wishes) to go and join the Zeon Military Academy. As a young teenager, Casval was already forming his plots for revenge and volunteered to join his friend at the Academy under the guise of looking out for him. Roger Aznable reluctantly agreed and the two boys set out to leave.

Their transport was delayed, however, when Kycilia Zabi learned that Casval was planning to return to Side 3. Knowing that he was risking his life by entering Zeon territory, Casval planted fake explosives and an antique pistol in Char’s bag, causing him to be detained, then, when Char expressed regret at missing the first day of classes, volunteered to switch places with him since they were similar looking enough to pass routine ID inspections. Char agreed and boarded the transport as Edward Mass, Casval’s alias. The transport exploded shortly after takeoff, killing everyone aboard and “Edward Mass” was declared dead. Knowing that Kycilia would take that to mean Casval had been killed, he assumed the identity of Char Aznable and joined the Zeon Military Academy in his friend’s place. This was when he adopted his signature sunglasses, as his natural eye color wouldn’t match any of the real Char’s IDs.

At the Academy, “Char” excelled in almost every subject. He also befriended Garma Zabi, the youngest of the Zabi family. The two developed something of a rivalry with Garma desperate to prove his achievements weren’t just the product of nepotism, and Char desperate to outdo the son of his father’s killer. Despite this, the two boys became close and developed a lasting regard for one another.

During this time, relations between Zeon and the colonies still under the control of the Earth Federation were incredibly strained. The Federation began increasing their forces near the edge of the Side 3 Colony, prompting the fear within Zeon’s civilians that they were preparing for an invasion and eventual occupation. Char, anxious to see the downfall of his “friend”, incited Garma to lead the students in an attack against the Federation forces. While their attack was more or less successful, Char was still expelled from the Academy for his actions. Back on Earth, he found a construction job and worked for the Federation at Jaburo, only returning to space once war truly broke out between the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation.

Prior to the One Year War, Char distinguished himself as a member of the Zeon mobile suit force. He was able to pilot a Zaku (the standard grunt mobile suit) so that it moved “three times faster than the usual Zaku”, which earned him the nickname “Red Comet” and a two-rank promotion even after his reinstatement. Within this time, he served under Admiral Dozle Zabi, yet another member of the family he was actually set on destroying.

At the onset of what would be known as the One Year War, Char discovered the Federation battleship known as White Base near the Side 7 Colony while returning from a routine mission. At Side 7, he discovered that the Federation had begun developing large Mobile Suits, far more advanced than anything Zeon had yet developed. Side 7 was Char’s first encounter with the Gundam. As chance would have it, Char’s recon work at Side 7 brought him face to face with his sister, “Sayla Mass” for the first time since his enlistment in the Academy. In that time, Sayla had begun working for the Earth Federation. Char escaped capture, but only after revealing his true identity to her.

After withdrawing from Side 7, Char continued to chase White Base. In the course of this venture, Char came to face his soon-to-be rival and pilot of the Gundam, Amuro Ray in an actual battle. All of these encounters ended in stalemates, however, and White Base made it to Earth, with Char still chasing its heels. On Earth, Char met up with his old Academy buddy, Garma Zabi while in California. Together, Char and Garma discovered White Base attempting to escape North America (Garma’s territory as a commander in the Zeon Military). While Char was quick to understand White Base’s intentions, he allowed Garma to fall into a trap, opening a communications link to confess his treachery in the moments before his “freind’s” death. While his obsession with White Base and Amuro Ray were definitely growing, Garma’s death re-intensified his plots for revenge against the Zabi family.

Blaming Char’s “incompetence” for Garma’s death, Admiral Dozle Zabi suspended his military service, but only briefly. Quickly enough, the tide began to shift in favor of the Federation and Zeon once again needed Char’s superior skills as a pilot and tactician. Shortly after returning to active service, Char once again found himself chasing White Base. On a mission to destroy Jaburo, he again encountered Sayla and urged her to leave the Federation before aborting his mission.

Char developed a relationship with Lalah Sune, an orphaned Newtype girl who had been working as a prostitute after losing her parents in the war. Realizing her potential (and very possibly being affected by her Newtype powers as he was rapidly developing into a Newtype himself), Char saved her from the brothel and used his influence to have her placed in Zeon’s Flanagan Institute to further develop her powers. Lalah became the “star student” of Professor Flanagan and Zeon’s secret weapon. Her Newtype abilities also led Char to his first face-to-face encounter with Amuro Ray (who was also developing into a Newtype). Eventually, the three of them (Char, Amuro, and Lalah) formed a pseudo-psychic connection.

On a subsequent mission against Amuro and the Gundam, Lalah was killed. Being fiercely loyal to Char and sensing that his sister, Sayla, was Amuro’s wingman, Lalah urged Char to stop his assault on the other two. Char hesitated, and Amuro used the opportunity to land what would have been a killing blow, but Lalah placed herself in front of Char’s mobile suit and was killed instead. While their rivalry had previously been strictly professional, this loss created a bitter but entirely mutual resentment in both Char and Amuro.

Char and Amuro’s rivalry came to a head at the Battle of A Baoa Qu. They engaged in a mobile suit duel, then a sword duel. Char stabbed Amuro in the arm, Amuro landed a blow to Char’s head. Ultimately, they were stopped by Sayla. Realizing that his vendetta against Amuro on behalf of Lalah was distracting him from his original revenge plot, Char left, but not without asking Amuro to join him on his quest to overthrow the Zabi family. Moments later, they were separated by an explosion and Char moved to care for his sister. In the next few minutes he was also informed that Kycilia Zabi (the last surviving member of the Zabi family) was about to escape the battle. He left Sayla in the wreckage telling her to go back to Amuro and “be a nice woman”.

Armed with a bazooka, he confronted Kycilia’s ship and fired, decapitating her. In his own words, Kycilia’s death was his parting gift to his friend Garma. Char Aznable then vanished in the ensuing chaos and was, for a while declared Missing In Action.

Personality:

Eventually, Char Aznable will develop into the charismatic leader of Neo Zeon and savior of the Spacenoids. Unfortunately, he's not quite there yet.

At 20, Char is well on his way to being a good politician, even in the framework of a primarily militaristic society. He's smooth to the point of being, on occasion, smarmy. He makes good connections with superiors, but still holds the respect of his subordinates. While the Red Comet might be just a little arrogant (and I mentioned smarmy), he's definitely got the skills to back it up. If anything, his arrogance can then be read as an ultimate self-assuredness. Char knows what he can do and isn't going to lie about it to anyone. Yes, he's good. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be kept around.

These are all great qualities (well, except maybe that smarminess), but a little surface-level. The truth is that underneath his bravado, Char isn't all that well-developed of a person. That isn't to say he's one-note, exactly. As the Universal Century timeline progresses, Char becomes one of the most developed and complex figures in its history. Rather, at 20, his story is just really starting to be told. For the moment, underneath the confident exterior, there's really not much other than an angry young man bitter about his father's killers being allowed to live out his legacy. He has a talent for politics, but not an affinity for them. Really, the Char we see in Mobile Suit Gundam proper is subtle only when its necessary to maintain his cover. Other than that, he has about all the subtly of a Mac Truck (Then again, it's Gundam, there are giant robots, no one is subtle.)

So, again, eventually Char will come to understand the true meaning of his father's philosophies. Being a small and angry person, he'll still be unable to do anything but twist them into something destructive (Well-intentioned colony drops are the best colony drops.), but he'll understand them, and he'll know that killing the Zabis barely means anything at all in the grand scheme of things. However, with a life time of conditioning and being told about their betrayal, it's pretty easy to understand how he might fixate on them as a young man.

His hatred of Amuro Ray is, at first, entirely incidental. Being the pilot of the Gundam, Amuro was both an inconvenience and tool that Char could use to curry favor with the Zabis. If he could capture (or destroy, really) the enemy's secret weapon, it would secure him a place high enough on the totem pole that he might be able to finally get his revenge. Similarly, while Char definitely feels affection for Lalah, he uses her in more or less the same way. Her devotion toward him for rescuing her is somewhat ill-placed and he puts her in harms way time and time again, to further his revenge, probably without understanding the depths of their bond. Ironically, it's the budding ties between his two "distractions" (Lalah and Amuro) that end up securing his hatred for Amuro and fate in the universe.

(To skip ahead a ways (several decades) on the timeline... As the leader of Neo Zeon, Char tries to kickstart the Newtype evolution by dropping a colony onto Earth and eliminating the last bastion of "oldtypes". If Lalah's death hadn't made such and impression on him, and if both he and Amuro hadn't continued to be haunted by her, he probably would have been satisfied with his simple revenge.)

It should be noted in all of this, though, that while Char's intentions are usually good (the restoration of his father's philosophies, the evolution of mankind) he is ruthless about achieving his goals. It isn't simply "by any means necessary", it's "no matter what the cost", and usually that cost is the people closest to him. Char Aznable was Casval Rem Deikun's first friend and the first victim of his revenge plot simply because it was convenient. Garma had always been on the agenda, but stayed there even after he proved himself to be a loyal friend to Char. Lalah chose to sacrifice herself to save Char in his duel with Amuro and that was her choice, but even if it hadn't happened then it would have happened eventually. Make no mistake, while his goals are as noble as can be, Char himself (especially at this point) is not a "noble" person by very many definitions.

Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations:

Char is a relatively low-level Newtype, particularly at this early point in his canon development. As such, while he does possess some psychic abilities, they're not all that strong. Rather, his Newtype powers generally only allow him to forge bonds with those very, very close to him or connected in some way through fate, and generally speaking, those people have also been Newtypes. Examples of this are Lalah Sune (his lover and wingman, and a far more powerful Newtype) and Amuro Ray (his rival for the Mobile Suit Gundam series, and eventual arch-nemesis across the franchise, also a Newtype slightly more powerful than Char himself). Lalah's power as a Newtype, rather than Char's is responsible for his continued awareness of her after her death. In the end, his abilities aren't significant enough to grant him the same understanding of her that Amuro has throughout the rest of the franchise.

Outside of Newtype abilities, Char is a very well trained military officer. While he was expelled from the Academy, it was at a very late stage, at a point when his training was mostly complete. He is an accomplished pilot and tactician and is familiar with most of the mechanics involved in mobile suits and the more general weaponry used by Zeon and the Federation. That said, while Char has the ability to be a schemer, his usual combat style is more speed-driven and opportunistic.

Physically, he's a perfectly normal (if military fit) human with no special powers or anything like that. He's probably more comfortable in space than most and doesn't care too much for sunlight on account of "being unaccustomed to it".

Inventory: 1 customized Zeon uniform (shirt, pants, jacket w/cape, gloves, belt and boots), 1 customized helmet with eye shield, 1 flight suit, and 1 pair of aviator sunglasses.

Appearance:

Char in UC 0079

Standing at roughly 5'10, Char is a slender young man with shaggy light blond hair. Physically, he's handsome, but otherwise unassuming. That said, there is a charisma to the way in which he carries himself that usually more than makes up for this. Char makes a point of wearing sunglasses or otherwise covering his eyes to disguise their true color. As the actual Char Aznable had brown eyes, his blue eyes would reveal him as an impostor. Apparently color contacts aren't a thing in the far future. To explain his mask/sunglass thing, there is a very small scar between his eyes. It's not particularly notable, and definitely not a Phantom of the Opera-type disfigurement.

Age: 20. Because anime.

AU Clarification: N/A

S A M P L E S

Log Sample:

Interestingly, it's the whirring of the machines that wakes him. In their high-pitched wailing, he thinks for a minute he can hear Lalah. That's stupid, of course. The bleary-eyed, disoriented thoughts of someone who just survived an explosion that probably should have killed him. It was probably supposed to kill him. Lalah wasn't here, couldn't be here, could never be here again and that was the way it had to be. Didn't it?

Which, of course, as the whirring and buzzing of the contraptions was put more into perspective by his rapidly rousing consciousness, brought up the question of where exactly here was. Despite his distractions and subsequent dramatics at A Baoa Qu, Char could say that his memory was perfectly well in tact. For better or worse, he could remember his role, the Gundam and the Federation's forces, and Zeon's own subsequent defeat. That forced him to the logical conclusion that he was either in the presence of enemies or rebels. Given those (albeit incredibly satisfying dramatics) possibly both.

Which means that he hasn't got time to laugh over Kycilia's death the way he had over Garma's. That's disappointing in itself, but somethings can't be helped.

He swings his leg over the side of the gravity couch, ignoring the dizzy rush of blood that comes from suddenly becoming mobile after being immobile for an extended period of time. The stiffness is easily explained by surviving the explosion, it's to be expected. He couldn't remember hardly anything after the flames had set in. The ringing in his hears is to be expected too, even if it does sound remarkably like Lalah, almost as much as the whirring had. That's harder to ignore, but Char Aznable was nothing if not determined.

The floor of the medical bay is cold underneath his feet which brings home yet another conclusion. He does need to find out where the hell he is, and better yet, who (Char or Casval) they're expecting. But more immediately, he might settle for some clothes. For a moment the ringing almost seems like delicate laughter at his plight.

Comms Sample:

[There's something oddly compelling about the young man on the video. He's clean shaven and from the high collar visible, he's wearing a military dress uniform of some variety. The embellishments on it look old in styling, but they're off set by the helmet that covers his head and eyes. It's an anachronistic picture altogether, but he seems to be taking everything in stride. In fact, from the mona lisa smile on his overly youthful lips, the boy is almost enjoying the change of pace.]

There is a philosophy in my world-- though perhaps that isn't the most apt term-- that the Earth is a sacred place and that humans should give up living there because they aren't worthy of it. The man who first propagated it had a lot of significant thoughts, the merits of which are still being celebrated, but I don't know if I'd call that one of them. I've had my troubles with mankind, but to say that we're unworthy of the planet that created us? That idea depresses me. I prefer to consider our potential.

Still, I can't help but think that man would have something to say about this ship and its possibilities. Everything we don't seem to know about is almost as fascinating as everything we do. Where are we going? Why are we here? Yes, we know the scientific explanation, but we all know that science is but so comforting in many situations. Who were the people here before us? Why did they leave?

[His diction is clear and he's very obviously well-educated. The one criticism one might have is that he seem almost un-invested in what he's saying. It creates a disingenuous and slightly off-putting feel.]

That's just the few I can think of off the top of my head, to say nothing about the obvious technological prowess it must have taken to develop such a ship. I'd like to know more about their intended purpose for such a thing. Perhaps it was built simply because, at a certain point, we do things because we can.

[He inclines his head slightly, and the synthetic light of the corridor glints for a moment off of the metallic white of his helmet It's a quizzical gesture that dissolves into something akin to a rhetorical shrug. The full extent of that gesture, however, is cut short as the feed ends.]