Dr Julian Devorak (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rowdyraven) wrote2022-04-22 04:13 pm
rowdyraven) wrote2022-04-22 04:13 pm
Aef app
Player Information
Name: Kam
Age: 35
Contact: brightflowers @ plurk, PM
Other Characters: N/A
Character Information
Name: Doctor Julian Devorak
Canon: The Arcana
Canon Point: Nadia's route, Upright End.
Age: 32
History: here!
Personality: (Note: I'm going to use examples from his own route despite playing him from a different one, as it gives the clearest indications of his personality. His personality doesn't alter across routes, there is just more of him in his own route!)
Julian is a mass of convoluted and contradictory traits, and whilst they’re all interwoven with each other, there are a number of particular traits that stand out. Julian is an intensely reckless person-- he thinks nothing of flinging himself headlong into danger without giving any real consideration to the consequences of his actions. Most notably, when said recklessness is in pursuit of self-sacrifice for another person, or number of people. On discovering that the plague is set to return and that he can discover how to end it by contacting the Hanged Man, he immediately turns himself in to the authorities so that he can be hanged, not caring about the potential risk of failure and ending up permanently dead. He often does these things in an effort to protect the people he cares about, not realising that in doing so, he is causing them almost as much harm as he causes himself. The people he cares for are left distressed and in disarray when he turns himself in for a crime they’re sure he didn’t commit, but he doesn’t think to explain the plan to them first, just leaves them in limbo whilst they worry about his fate. He often acts on impulse and emotion rather than planning and forethought, leading to a variety of precarious positions that hurt both himself and those who love him.
Whilst in some ways this makes him selfless, as he pours all his intentions and actions into helping others rather than doing things for himself, his underlying motivations can - at times - be quite self-absorbed. He has a tendency to turn his emotions inwards upon himself, believing himself to be unlovable, a disaster waiting to happen, and a poison to those who enter into his orbit. The majority of his actions, then, are a form of self-flagellation and punishment-- he’s a raging masochist who time and again is demonstrated to take satisfaction from being hurt, and often when he pushes people away ‘for their own good’ or enters into precarious situations for the sake of someone else, it is also to satisfy his own masochistic desires. He’s desperately in love with his own suffering, and this often blinds him to the true needs of the people he professes to be trying to protect. He rarely stops to think, or god forbid ask, what the people in his life might actually want, and instead acts on his own ideas of what he thinks they need based around his self-obsession with his own failings. For example, in his route in-game, he pushes the apprentice away and tries to break things off with them before they really even begin in order to ‘protect them’. He doesn't stop to consider that the apprentice is capable of making their own informed decisions. Unfortunately then, he often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy by sabotaging anything good that comes into his life before it can really flourish, giving him further ammunition to use against himself.
This, in turn, ties in with his intensely needy nature. Whilst on the one hand, his desire to bend over backwards for others is an act of selfelessness, it is also another example of Julian acting on his own self-absorption and a desperate need to be dominated. During his relationship with Asra he often ignores the signs that the magician is less invested than he is, and continuously offers more of himself than the magician actually wants or needs. There is one pivotal scene where Asra is performing a ritual, for example, where Julian tells Asra that he will give him anything, everything, if it will help. Asra responds by telling him he knows he would, but only needs a little of his blood. Julian goes down on his knees and begs Asra to hurt him, to take as much from him as he can. Even when Asra tells Julian he can’t give him everything he wants, Julian responds – not by demonstrating understanding of Asra’s own wishes – but by saying he will take whatever he can get. As such, Julian is often too needy and intense for the people around him, he wears them down with his constant need to give too much of himself. He therefore often ends up driving people away, which feeds back into his problems with self-absorption and self-fulfilling prophecy-- he makes a martyr of himself again and again, and when his deep neediness for the satisfaction of his own darker inclinations winds up driving people away, he takes it as proof of his own worthlessness, and the cycle continues.
This being said, Julian is nonetheless shown to be a genuinely kind and caring person. He loves deeply, and demonstrates his care for those around him in small – as well as big, and dramatic – ways, such as taking note of the apprentice’s favourite clothing style and colours, and taking the time to carefully pick them out for them when they’re preparing for the masquerade. He loves spoiling people, buying them small thoughtful gifts and trying his best to do well by them, even if this is something that often backfires. His heart is demonstrated again and again to be in the right place, and people tend to be drawn to him. For example, many of the people of Vesuvia are devastated on hearing he’s going to be hanged. When he’s seen interacting with side-characters in the story, it’s often through small demonstrations that he knows what they like, and that he’s taken the time to remember them. How much he cares for his sister is also big and obvious in the way they interact with each other; with playfulness and fond memories of the history they share. Portia may often be frustrated over Julian's lack of care for himself, and his inability to accurately interpret what others want from him, but she also openly adores him. He gets things wrong, and frequently fucks up, but he has a lot of ambient love for the people who surround him.
He’s also intelligent and hard-working; he works tirelessly in his attempts to find a cure for the plague, working to the point of exhaustion, and whilst this isn’t entirely a selfless effort – given that it gives him satisfaction to throw all of himself into the care of others – it nonetheless demonstrates what a focused and dedicated person he is. The fact that he manages to go from a shipwrecked orphan to the personal physician of a Count demonstrates his own intense work ethic, his innate intelligence, and ability to go far in life when he chooses to apply himself.
And lastly, he is intensely brave. He is not a fearless man – in fact, a lot of things are demonstrated to frighten him deeply – but often he demonstrates bravery by doing them anyway. He’s been on countless adventures all across the world, sailed with pirates, worked as a medic on battlefields, and whilst part of this ties in with his recklessness and lack of care for his own safety, in later chapters of the game we are given a clearer look at how he pushes past his own fears even in situations that don’t bring him dramatic self-sacrificing satisfaction. An excellent example of this is his abiding distrust of magic; whilst science and medicine are things he can measure and quantify and thereby understand, magic is nebulous and abstract and as such he struggles to comprehend it. It makes him nervous. However, with some encouragement from the apprentice, he pushes past his own fears and even learns to use some rudimentary magic himself, in the name of working together and achieving a higher goal.
Abilities & Skills: At the canon point I’m taking him from, Julian has no magical abilities, having lost his healing magic after his hanging. However, Julian is a doctor, and whilst his medical knowledge is significantly outdated by modern standards (he firmly believes in the medicinal value of leeches!) he’s nonetheless a fairly good one. He’s also highly skilled in the art of persuasion, and has learnt how to charm his way into and out of all manner of sticky situations. He can also speak 7 languages at least conversationally.
He has some fighting ability to speak of, and knows how to handle himself in a bar brawl, as well as with a sword, but he’s a very long way from being a warrior and his heart certainly isn’t in it. He would be of limited use when up against a skilled (and sober!) opponent!
Inventory/Companions: The clothes on his back, probably a knife concealed in his boot and another tucked into his belt, given that he tends to have this kind of thing on him in canon.
Choice: Monster, harpy (a raven!).
Reason: In The Arcana, all the characters have an animal they are likened to, and Julian’s is a raven! He’s often described in the prose in raven-like ways, his model animal (used to represent him) from Asra is a raven, and when he attends the masquerade his outfit is made of raven feathers. During his reversed end, he actually becomes a raven demon which is how…I actually ended up with the desire to play this kind of form for him in the first place, haha. A raven-esque harpy would suit him perfectly!
Sample: one | two
Name: Kam
Age: 35
Contact: brightflowers @ plurk, PM
Other Characters: N/A
Character Information
Name: Doctor Julian Devorak
Canon: The Arcana
Canon Point: Nadia's route, Upright End.
Age: 32
History: here!
Personality: (Note: I'm going to use examples from his own route despite playing him from a different one, as it gives the clearest indications of his personality. His personality doesn't alter across routes, there is just more of him in his own route!)
Julian is a mass of convoluted and contradictory traits, and whilst they’re all interwoven with each other, there are a number of particular traits that stand out. Julian is an intensely reckless person-- he thinks nothing of flinging himself headlong into danger without giving any real consideration to the consequences of his actions. Most notably, when said recklessness is in pursuit of self-sacrifice for another person, or number of people. On discovering that the plague is set to return and that he can discover how to end it by contacting the Hanged Man, he immediately turns himself in to the authorities so that he can be hanged, not caring about the potential risk of failure and ending up permanently dead. He often does these things in an effort to protect the people he cares about, not realising that in doing so, he is causing them almost as much harm as he causes himself. The people he cares for are left distressed and in disarray when he turns himself in for a crime they’re sure he didn’t commit, but he doesn’t think to explain the plan to them first, just leaves them in limbo whilst they worry about his fate. He often acts on impulse and emotion rather than planning and forethought, leading to a variety of precarious positions that hurt both himself and those who love him.
Whilst in some ways this makes him selfless, as he pours all his intentions and actions into helping others rather than doing things for himself, his underlying motivations can - at times - be quite self-absorbed. He has a tendency to turn his emotions inwards upon himself, believing himself to be unlovable, a disaster waiting to happen, and a poison to those who enter into his orbit. The majority of his actions, then, are a form of self-flagellation and punishment-- he’s a raging masochist who time and again is demonstrated to take satisfaction from being hurt, and often when he pushes people away ‘for their own good’ or enters into precarious situations for the sake of someone else, it is also to satisfy his own masochistic desires. He’s desperately in love with his own suffering, and this often blinds him to the true needs of the people he professes to be trying to protect. He rarely stops to think, or god forbid ask, what the people in his life might actually want, and instead acts on his own ideas of what he thinks they need based around his self-obsession with his own failings. For example, in his route in-game, he pushes the apprentice away and tries to break things off with them before they really even begin in order to ‘protect them’. He doesn't stop to consider that the apprentice is capable of making their own informed decisions. Unfortunately then, he often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy by sabotaging anything good that comes into his life before it can really flourish, giving him further ammunition to use against himself.
This, in turn, ties in with his intensely needy nature. Whilst on the one hand, his desire to bend over backwards for others is an act of selfelessness, it is also another example of Julian acting on his own self-absorption and a desperate need to be dominated. During his relationship with Asra he often ignores the signs that the magician is less invested than he is, and continuously offers more of himself than the magician actually wants or needs. There is one pivotal scene where Asra is performing a ritual, for example, where Julian tells Asra that he will give him anything, everything, if it will help. Asra responds by telling him he knows he would, but only needs a little of his blood. Julian goes down on his knees and begs Asra to hurt him, to take as much from him as he can. Even when Asra tells Julian he can’t give him everything he wants, Julian responds – not by demonstrating understanding of Asra’s own wishes – but by saying he will take whatever he can get. As such, Julian is often too needy and intense for the people around him, he wears them down with his constant need to give too much of himself. He therefore often ends up driving people away, which feeds back into his problems with self-absorption and self-fulfilling prophecy-- he makes a martyr of himself again and again, and when his deep neediness for the satisfaction of his own darker inclinations winds up driving people away, he takes it as proof of his own worthlessness, and the cycle continues.
This being said, Julian is nonetheless shown to be a genuinely kind and caring person. He loves deeply, and demonstrates his care for those around him in small – as well as big, and dramatic – ways, such as taking note of the apprentice’s favourite clothing style and colours, and taking the time to carefully pick them out for them when they’re preparing for the masquerade. He loves spoiling people, buying them small thoughtful gifts and trying his best to do well by them, even if this is something that often backfires. His heart is demonstrated again and again to be in the right place, and people tend to be drawn to him. For example, many of the people of Vesuvia are devastated on hearing he’s going to be hanged. When he’s seen interacting with side-characters in the story, it’s often through small demonstrations that he knows what they like, and that he’s taken the time to remember them. How much he cares for his sister is also big and obvious in the way they interact with each other; with playfulness and fond memories of the history they share. Portia may often be frustrated over Julian's lack of care for himself, and his inability to accurately interpret what others want from him, but she also openly adores him. He gets things wrong, and frequently fucks up, but he has a lot of ambient love for the people who surround him.
He’s also intelligent and hard-working; he works tirelessly in his attempts to find a cure for the plague, working to the point of exhaustion, and whilst this isn’t entirely a selfless effort – given that it gives him satisfaction to throw all of himself into the care of others – it nonetheless demonstrates what a focused and dedicated person he is. The fact that he manages to go from a shipwrecked orphan to the personal physician of a Count demonstrates his own intense work ethic, his innate intelligence, and ability to go far in life when he chooses to apply himself.
And lastly, he is intensely brave. He is not a fearless man – in fact, a lot of things are demonstrated to frighten him deeply – but often he demonstrates bravery by doing them anyway. He’s been on countless adventures all across the world, sailed with pirates, worked as a medic on battlefields, and whilst part of this ties in with his recklessness and lack of care for his own safety, in later chapters of the game we are given a clearer look at how he pushes past his own fears even in situations that don’t bring him dramatic self-sacrificing satisfaction. An excellent example of this is his abiding distrust of magic; whilst science and medicine are things he can measure and quantify and thereby understand, magic is nebulous and abstract and as such he struggles to comprehend it. It makes him nervous. However, with some encouragement from the apprentice, he pushes past his own fears and even learns to use some rudimentary magic himself, in the name of working together and achieving a higher goal.
Abilities & Skills: At the canon point I’m taking him from, Julian has no magical abilities, having lost his healing magic after his hanging. However, Julian is a doctor, and whilst his medical knowledge is significantly outdated by modern standards (he firmly believes in the medicinal value of leeches!) he’s nonetheless a fairly good one. He’s also highly skilled in the art of persuasion, and has learnt how to charm his way into and out of all manner of sticky situations. He can also speak 7 languages at least conversationally.
He has some fighting ability to speak of, and knows how to handle himself in a bar brawl, as well as with a sword, but he’s a very long way from being a warrior and his heart certainly isn’t in it. He would be of limited use when up against a skilled (and sober!) opponent!
Inventory/Companions: The clothes on his back, probably a knife concealed in his boot and another tucked into his belt, given that he tends to have this kind of thing on him in canon.
Choice: Monster, harpy (a raven!).
Reason: In The Arcana, all the characters have an animal they are likened to, and Julian’s is a raven! He’s often described in the prose in raven-like ways, his model animal (used to represent him) from Asra is a raven, and when he attends the masquerade his outfit is made of raven feathers. During his reversed end, he actually becomes a raven demon which is how…I actually ended up with the desire to play this kind of form for him in the first place, haha. A raven-esque harpy would suit him perfectly!
Sample: one | two