Cole (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
theforgottenboy) wrote2020-07-11 09:15 am
theforgottenboy) wrote2020-07-11 09:15 am
Tabula Rasa Application
Character Information
Character Name: Cole
Canon: Dragon Age: Inquisition (or just Dragon Age for umbrella series purposes)
Canon Point: Shortly before Here Lies The Abyss
Journal:theforgottenboy
Character Background: The Background section covers most of the important bits up to his canon point, though I will add a couple things:
1. After the spirit "became" Cole, for a while he forgot what he was and believed himself to truly be the human Cole, but he was fully invisible to everyone around him (except Rhys, a spirit medium that later befriended him). During that time he killed a number of captive mages. Only those imprisoned mages who were deathly terrified of what the Templars would do to them could see Cole, and killing them made him feel more "real." He later regrets and condemns those actions when he has a better understanding of what he is. Sometime before Cole’s appearance in Inquisition, he has gone to find the Templars in the hopes that if he becomes like that again, then the Templars will kill him. That didn’t quite go as planned as the Templars were being turned into monsters themselves as part of a bigger evil plot, and in the process he learns of the Inquisition and asks to join, believing he can better help people that way.
2. I'll specify that Cole comes from a world state where the Inquisitor chose to support the mages, which on Cole’s end mainly means he meets the Inquisitor protagonist at a slightly later point in the game.
Character Personality:
Cole is most easily described by onlookers (and even friends) as odd. Not quite spirit but not wholly human either, his ways of thinking, speaking, and taking action can swing from simple and straightforward to abstract riddles. But if one looks past his oddities, his goals are clear: he does what he does in order to find and help those who are suffering, and he will ally himself with those who strive to do the same.
As he was originally a spirit of compassion, in many ways Cole embodies caring, kindness, and sympathy. He wants nothing more than to aid those in need. His ability to sense emotions and thoughts helps him to determine how to achieve this, and his ways of helping are varied and not always tangible. He can help directly by giving water to someone who is thirsty, or say a few words to someone to ease an old guilt, or help in more indirect ways that lend to him seeming odd- such as stealing turnips and tossing them in a fire, to comfort a dying soldier with the smell of his mother's turnip stew. Since his help tends to be focused on individuals and feelings, he mainly focuses on what’s in front of him and sometimes he has difficulty grasping or paying attention to the bigger picture of a situation, such as how his words or actions intended to help may potentially have broader social or political consequences. Being compassionate does not mean his kindness is unconditional, however. Killing can be a complicated subject for him, but if need be he will fight and he will kill, whether it be to protect someone else or- to a point- his own life. He will only draw his daggers on those who would attack first. He helps those in need of help whether they ask for it or not, but he's not one to vouch that no one ever has to die, especially when it comes to those who willingly inflict cruelty on others, with no desire to change their ways.
While his motivation to help people is a significant aspect of who he is, as a "human" Cole can be not unlike a curious child. His ability to sense other's thoughts can make it seem like he's semi-omniscient, but just because he can read a thought or sense a feeling doesn't mean he fully understands all the nuances of it. He may be able to tell that someone both hates and loves their parents, but not understand how such conflicting feelings could come to be so entwined. In this way not all of his attempts to help are perfect, and he sometimes unintentionally makes a hurt worse. He intentionally uses his “invisibility” to avoid confrontation and will make people forget him to give himself second tries when he fails. His understanding of social norms and boundaries is lacking and can lead to some hilarious and/or uncomfortable interactions with others, especially when he's constantly bringing up people's private thoughts and feelings for everyone to hear. Most of the time he does so trying to help, but many times he's simply curious, or wants to learn more so that he can discover better ways to help.
Cole may not seem like he has any fears, or even feel much at all, with the way he can easily describe the suffering he senses from others and has no qualms asking the party to kill him if he ever becomes a threat. That is far from true, however; Cole's greatest fear, as conveniently revealed in-game, is despair. While this can apply to not being able to stop despair in others as he failed to do with the original mage Cole, he himself can become overwhelmed by his own feelings. To be completely unable to help can be heavily distressing to him, and if his spirit nature didn’t make it easier to “wash clean” his past mistakes and memories then he would carry much more guilt and despair of his own. He would rather be cut down than truly become twisted into a demon who hurts people instead of helping, whether he’s being controlled or through his own choices. He had much more difficulty coping with his feelings before he realized he was a spirit, having made many decisions driven by his fear of fading away and his need for connection with others. Cole may have since embraced much of his spirit nature and put himself second in order to better help people, but the more human parts of him can still feel lonely, scared, angry, and hurt. When Cole chooses to make people forget him, it’s as much to prevent their fear of him as his own of being something to fear.
Some extra tl;dr on spirits for better context: One of the major things that makes Cole’s behavior seem to sit on the uncanny valley rather than being wholly spirit or human is his sense of self, which requires some background explanation. A spirit normally exists within an immaterial plane of existence called Fade and does not naturally have a will in the way a human does; it can see into the minds of physical beings and reflect their reality and embody emotions, and it can will the Fade around it to move and shape itself as it pleases. But it does not conceive new ideas of its own and only reflects the existing emotions and ideas that leak into the Fade. Spirits are also forgetful and therefore cannot learn and grow the way a human can. Cole has managed to manifest a will and physical body of his own in the material plane, and so unlike a normal spirit he can learn and grow and change, and he experiences his own emotions the way a human does. However, Cole can still be more forgetful than a human, keeping him from fully retaining every lesson he could have learned or understanding personhood and his own emotions. On the other hand, he is capable of learning and growing, which he tries to do, especially when encouraged to do so. In short, unlike a spirit he has a sense of self, but unlike a human it's easier for him to cast the self aside, to help others without regard for his own feelings or existence as a person (i.e. helping people who then immediately forget he exists and not feeling sad about it- just knowing he helped is enough).
Character Abilities:
These abilities don't have names in canon and aren't really described as distinct abilities, but I'm listing them out that way for easier explaining:
1. empath mind reading
This is a passive ability that is always active- it's just part of how he experiences the world and other people. I’m mashing mind reading and empathy into one because: Cole can sense/feel what others are feeling, and what he reads from their minds is often loosely based around what thoughts are attached to those feelings. Cole mainly hears thoughts and mental imagery that relate to the person feeling hurt, angry, scared, regret, etc.; Anything that he can potentially "help" or "fix," from unresolved deep-seated emotional wounds to minor inconveniences. In that sense it isn't quite the same as cut and dry traditional mind reading, or maybe on some level it could be- but Cole doesn't use it that way. If you ask him what number you're thinking of, he's more likely to recite your childhood trauma to you.
This ability also applies to physical locations, in that he can sense the residual strong emotions left behind in a specific place or location. With Cole, this often means reciting the last thoughts and feelings of those who died there. He can also read animals & plants, though they are generally much more simple in nature.
2. "Invisibility" & the forgotten boy
Also a passively active ability. This isn't true invisibility but more like the effect of a perception filter from Doctor Who; people just don't notice him even when he's in the same room, as if their mind doesn't want to see him and so chooses to simply not perceive him. While he can make himself visible to certain people or break the illusion by speaking, he is very easily forgotten once the encounter is over, and he can force someone to forget him if he chooses. It’s not clearly defined, but it seems that the more someone “wants” Cole to be real, or at least believes him to be, the easier it is to remember him (hence why the in-game party doesn’t constantly forget he exists). Cole may have some amount of control over that as well whether he does it consciously or not. But if he doesn’t exert his will one way or the other, then he will generally be forgotten in time. While he has limited control over it, this isn’t an ability he can completely “turn off” in his current state.
Spirit mediums or anyone with a related strong sensitivity/ability to communicate with spirits/the dead may not be affected by this, unless Cole consciously chooses to not be seen.
It’s been shown in canon that Cole has some ability to make others forget other older memories, though they may still have to relate to him in some way.
He can also technically extend his invisibility to at least one other person, but he’s only done it one time that we’ve seen and it seemed to take a toll on him.
3. rogue class
This isn't technically a nonhuman "ability" and is listed more to note that he has strong skills when it comes to sneaking and stabbing, basically.
Items: The only items of note are the clothes on his back, his giant hat, and two large daggers.
Other: Obviously Cole's abilities would require a good chunk of player permissions, but he won't have access to them in the base world state.
▲▼▲▼▲▼▲▼▲
Imprint
You may provide *up to three options* for your initial imprint. If you do not use all three, you may delete the extra space. We recommend including at least one scenery imprint.
Imprint Type: Species
Summary: Nugs, a hairless and harmless roughly knee-height pink omnivore.
Full Details: Nugs are mostly sightless critters with long ears, beady eyes, and square snouts that live in or near caves and caverns. You could say they look similar to a pink hairless capybara and are roughly the size of a shetland sheepdog. They're highly popular among dwarves as pets, a source of meat, and entertainment via nug races. Their skins can also be used in clothing and armor. While there are larger more dangerous relative species of nugs, nugs themselves are completely docile, simple creatures and mainly scavenge for insects though they can eat just about anything. Their appearance can be considered cute or ugly depending on who you ask, but their hands are especially uncanny as they have five-fingered humanlike "hands" on all four limbs.
Imprint Type: Scenery
Summary: A great medieval stronghold with a tall, imposing white tower in the center and ancient dungeons, archives, and many long forgotten rooms and passages in its lowest levels.
Full Details: The White Spire has a long history, originally a king's fortress but now used to house and contain a community of mages and the Templars who police them. However, Cole avoided the upper levels of the Spire with its wide open spaces and bright sunlight, much less had many chances to look at it from the outside. He spent at least a year living mainly in the lower levels and The Pit, the expansive and numerous ancient levels extending deep beneath the Spire, mostly in disuse aside from a fraction of the hundreds of prison cells located at its center. In the "highest" of the underground levels that do see some use, there are the kitchen stores and expansive armories filled with armor and weapons. Below that is the archives, a collection of rooms filled with books on a wide variety of subjects. And all the levels below that are what is referred to as The Pit, the oldest parts of the Spire and a veritable maze of crumbling, cold, and dark passageways and tunnels. Amongst those passages are abandoned torture chambers, an old mausoleum filled with stone statues and caskets, secret passages, flooded chambers long since sealed off, and forgotten storerooms either empty or containing musty old tomes and texts, relics, or hidden treasures. Some tunnels have long since collapsed or lead in circles. The dungeons situated at the heart of it have a single cavernous entrance and the many levels of prison cells extend down into The Pit, far more than have seen use in countless years. The dungeons contain a number of old traps designed to kill anyone trying to escape it.
Imprint Type: Scenery
Summary: A medieval tavern of wood and stone construction with three levels and an open center that allows the upper levels to overlook the rest of the tavern.
Full Details: The Herald’s Rest is your generic medieval tavern, if a tad fancier due to the extra floors, and the open design allows music and chatter to fill the entire structure. The sign on the entrance reads “A place for all in service here, To rest, recoup, and persevere. Though weighs the heart, remember best, Your saving grace, the Herald's Rest.”The first floor has a cozy atmosphere with a large rug spread out in front of a big fireplace and plaques and a few decorations on the walls like a stuffed bear’s head and some shelves holding various alcohol. Simple wooden tables and chairs are situated around the edges, and one corner is taken up by a huge ale barrel. The second floor has more tables, some glass windows, and a well decorated private room built onto one corner with a number of windows. The third floor is where Cole likes to linger and is more of a loft with less space and light due to the arch of the roof, and is mainly left empty aside from some storage. The entire place is lit by wall, beam, and ceiling mounted sconces lit with good old fashioned fire. The tavern itself is situated adjacent to the walls of the fortress it’s located in, and there’s a door on the third floor that leads onto part of the battlements.
Character Name: Cole
Canon: Dragon Age: Inquisition (or just Dragon Age for umbrella series purposes)
Canon Point: Shortly before Here Lies The Abyss
Journal:
theforgottenboyCharacter Background: The Background section covers most of the important bits up to his canon point, though I will add a couple things:
1. After the spirit "became" Cole, for a while he forgot what he was and believed himself to truly be the human Cole, but he was fully invisible to everyone around him (except Rhys, a spirit medium that later befriended him). During that time he killed a number of captive mages. Only those imprisoned mages who were deathly terrified of what the Templars would do to them could see Cole, and killing them made him feel more "real." He later regrets and condemns those actions when he has a better understanding of what he is. Sometime before Cole’s appearance in Inquisition, he has gone to find the Templars in the hopes that if he becomes like that again, then the Templars will kill him. That didn’t quite go as planned as the Templars were being turned into monsters themselves as part of a bigger evil plot, and in the process he learns of the Inquisition and asks to join, believing he can better help people that way.
2. I'll specify that Cole comes from a world state where the Inquisitor chose to support the mages, which on Cole’s end mainly means he meets the Inquisitor protagonist at a slightly later point in the game.
Character Personality:
Cole is most easily described by onlookers (and even friends) as odd. Not quite spirit but not wholly human either, his ways of thinking, speaking, and taking action can swing from simple and straightforward to abstract riddles. But if one looks past his oddities, his goals are clear: he does what he does in order to find and help those who are suffering, and he will ally himself with those who strive to do the same.
As he was originally a spirit of compassion, in many ways Cole embodies caring, kindness, and sympathy. He wants nothing more than to aid those in need. His ability to sense emotions and thoughts helps him to determine how to achieve this, and his ways of helping are varied and not always tangible. He can help directly by giving water to someone who is thirsty, or say a few words to someone to ease an old guilt, or help in more indirect ways that lend to him seeming odd- such as stealing turnips and tossing them in a fire, to comfort a dying soldier with the smell of his mother's turnip stew. Since his help tends to be focused on individuals and feelings, he mainly focuses on what’s in front of him and sometimes he has difficulty grasping or paying attention to the bigger picture of a situation, such as how his words or actions intended to help may potentially have broader social or political consequences. Being compassionate does not mean his kindness is unconditional, however. Killing can be a complicated subject for him, but if need be he will fight and he will kill, whether it be to protect someone else or- to a point- his own life. He will only draw his daggers on those who would attack first. He helps those in need of help whether they ask for it or not, but he's not one to vouch that no one ever has to die, especially when it comes to those who willingly inflict cruelty on others, with no desire to change their ways.
While his motivation to help people is a significant aspect of who he is, as a "human" Cole can be not unlike a curious child. His ability to sense other's thoughts can make it seem like he's semi-omniscient, but just because he can read a thought or sense a feeling doesn't mean he fully understands all the nuances of it. He may be able to tell that someone both hates and loves their parents, but not understand how such conflicting feelings could come to be so entwined. In this way not all of his attempts to help are perfect, and he sometimes unintentionally makes a hurt worse. He intentionally uses his “invisibility” to avoid confrontation and will make people forget him to give himself second tries when he fails. His understanding of social norms and boundaries is lacking and can lead to some hilarious and/or uncomfortable interactions with others, especially when he's constantly bringing up people's private thoughts and feelings for everyone to hear. Most of the time he does so trying to help, but many times he's simply curious, or wants to learn more so that he can discover better ways to help.
Cole may not seem like he has any fears, or even feel much at all, with the way he can easily describe the suffering he senses from others and has no qualms asking the party to kill him if he ever becomes a threat. That is far from true, however; Cole's greatest fear, as conveniently revealed in-game, is despair. While this can apply to not being able to stop despair in others as he failed to do with the original mage Cole, he himself can become overwhelmed by his own feelings. To be completely unable to help can be heavily distressing to him, and if his spirit nature didn’t make it easier to “wash clean” his past mistakes and memories then he would carry much more guilt and despair of his own. He would rather be cut down than truly become twisted into a demon who hurts people instead of helping, whether he’s being controlled or through his own choices. He had much more difficulty coping with his feelings before he realized he was a spirit, having made many decisions driven by his fear of fading away and his need for connection with others. Cole may have since embraced much of his spirit nature and put himself second in order to better help people, but the more human parts of him can still feel lonely, scared, angry, and hurt. When Cole chooses to make people forget him, it’s as much to prevent their fear of him as his own of being something to fear.
Some extra tl;dr on spirits for better context: One of the major things that makes Cole’s behavior seem to sit on the uncanny valley rather than being wholly spirit or human is his sense of self, which requires some background explanation. A spirit normally exists within an immaterial plane of existence called Fade and does not naturally have a will in the way a human does; it can see into the minds of physical beings and reflect their reality and embody emotions, and it can will the Fade around it to move and shape itself as it pleases. But it does not conceive new ideas of its own and only reflects the existing emotions and ideas that leak into the Fade. Spirits are also forgetful and therefore cannot learn and grow the way a human can. Cole has managed to manifest a will and physical body of his own in the material plane, and so unlike a normal spirit he can learn and grow and change, and he experiences his own emotions the way a human does. However, Cole can still be more forgetful than a human, keeping him from fully retaining every lesson he could have learned or understanding personhood and his own emotions. On the other hand, he is capable of learning and growing, which he tries to do, especially when encouraged to do so. In short, unlike a spirit he has a sense of self, but unlike a human it's easier for him to cast the self aside, to help others without regard for his own feelings or existence as a person (i.e. helping people who then immediately forget he exists and not feeling sad about it- just knowing he helped is enough).
Character Abilities:
These abilities don't have names in canon and aren't really described as distinct abilities, but I'm listing them out that way for easier explaining:
1. empath mind reading
This is a passive ability that is always active- it's just part of how he experiences the world and other people. I’m mashing mind reading and empathy into one because: Cole can sense/feel what others are feeling, and what he reads from their minds is often loosely based around what thoughts are attached to those feelings. Cole mainly hears thoughts and mental imagery that relate to the person feeling hurt, angry, scared, regret, etc.; Anything that he can potentially "help" or "fix," from unresolved deep-seated emotional wounds to minor inconveniences. In that sense it isn't quite the same as cut and dry traditional mind reading, or maybe on some level it could be- but Cole doesn't use it that way. If you ask him what number you're thinking of, he's more likely to recite your childhood trauma to you.
This ability also applies to physical locations, in that he can sense the residual strong emotions left behind in a specific place or location. With Cole, this often means reciting the last thoughts and feelings of those who died there. He can also read animals & plants, though they are generally much more simple in nature.
2. "Invisibility" & the forgotten boy
Also a passively active ability. This isn't true invisibility but more like the effect of a perception filter from Doctor Who; people just don't notice him even when he's in the same room, as if their mind doesn't want to see him and so chooses to simply not perceive him. While he can make himself visible to certain people or break the illusion by speaking, he is very easily forgotten once the encounter is over, and he can force someone to forget him if he chooses. It’s not clearly defined, but it seems that the more someone “wants” Cole to be real, or at least believes him to be, the easier it is to remember him (hence why the in-game party doesn’t constantly forget he exists). Cole may have some amount of control over that as well whether he does it consciously or not. But if he doesn’t exert his will one way or the other, then he will generally be forgotten in time. While he has limited control over it, this isn’t an ability he can completely “turn off” in his current state.
Spirit mediums or anyone with a related strong sensitivity/ability to communicate with spirits/the dead may not be affected by this, unless Cole consciously chooses to not be seen.
It’s been shown in canon that Cole has some ability to make others forget other older memories, though they may still have to relate to him in some way.
He can also technically extend his invisibility to at least one other person, but he’s only done it one time that we’ve seen and it seemed to take a toll on him.
3. rogue class
This isn't technically a nonhuman "ability" and is listed more to note that he has strong skills when it comes to sneaking and stabbing, basically.
Items: The only items of note are the clothes on his back, his giant hat, and two large daggers.
Other: Obviously Cole's abilities would require a good chunk of player permissions, but he won't have access to them in the base world state.
Imprint
You may provide *up to three options* for your initial imprint. If you do not use all three, you may delete the extra space. We recommend including at least one scenery imprint.
Imprint Type: Species
Summary: Nugs, a hairless and harmless roughly knee-height pink omnivore.
Full Details: Nugs are mostly sightless critters with long ears, beady eyes, and square snouts that live in or near caves and caverns. You could say they look similar to a pink hairless capybara and are roughly the size of a shetland sheepdog. They're highly popular among dwarves as pets, a source of meat, and entertainment via nug races. Their skins can also be used in clothing and armor. While there are larger more dangerous relative species of nugs, nugs themselves are completely docile, simple creatures and mainly scavenge for insects though they can eat just about anything. Their appearance can be considered cute or ugly depending on who you ask, but their hands are especially uncanny as they have five-fingered humanlike "hands" on all four limbs.
Imprint Type: Scenery
Summary: A great medieval stronghold with a tall, imposing white tower in the center and ancient dungeons, archives, and many long forgotten rooms and passages in its lowest levels.
Full Details: The White Spire has a long history, originally a king's fortress but now used to house and contain a community of mages and the Templars who police them. However, Cole avoided the upper levels of the Spire with its wide open spaces and bright sunlight, much less had many chances to look at it from the outside. He spent at least a year living mainly in the lower levels and The Pit, the expansive and numerous ancient levels extending deep beneath the Spire, mostly in disuse aside from a fraction of the hundreds of prison cells located at its center. In the "highest" of the underground levels that do see some use, there are the kitchen stores and expansive armories filled with armor and weapons. Below that is the archives, a collection of rooms filled with books on a wide variety of subjects. And all the levels below that are what is referred to as The Pit, the oldest parts of the Spire and a veritable maze of crumbling, cold, and dark passageways and tunnels. Amongst those passages are abandoned torture chambers, an old mausoleum filled with stone statues and caskets, secret passages, flooded chambers long since sealed off, and forgotten storerooms either empty or containing musty old tomes and texts, relics, or hidden treasures. Some tunnels have long since collapsed or lead in circles. The dungeons situated at the heart of it have a single cavernous entrance and the many levels of prison cells extend down into The Pit, far more than have seen use in countless years. The dungeons contain a number of old traps designed to kill anyone trying to escape it.
Imprint Type: Scenery
Summary: A medieval tavern of wood and stone construction with three levels and an open center that allows the upper levels to overlook the rest of the tavern.
Full Details: The Herald’s Rest is your generic medieval tavern, if a tad fancier due to the extra floors, and the open design allows music and chatter to fill the entire structure. The sign on the entrance reads “A place for all in service here, To rest, recoup, and persevere. Though weighs the heart, remember best, Your saving grace, the Herald's Rest.”The first floor has a cozy atmosphere with a large rug spread out in front of a big fireplace and plaques and a few decorations on the walls like a stuffed bear’s head and some shelves holding various alcohol. Simple wooden tables and chairs are situated around the edges, and one corner is taken up by a huge ale barrel. The second floor has more tables, some glass windows, and a well decorated private room built onto one corner with a number of windows. The third floor is where Cole likes to linger and is more of a loft with less space and light due to the arch of the roof, and is mainly left empty aside from some storage. The entire place is lit by wall, beam, and ceiling mounted sconces lit with good old fashioned fire. The tavern itself is situated adjacent to the walls of the fortress it’s located in, and there’s a door on the third floor that leads onto part of the battlements.
