Duplicity App

[gardenerofavalon]

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Name: Merlin Door: Door Pass Canon: Fate/ Canon Point: Post-Solomon Age: Approximately 1500 years, give or take; note that this is in fact his actual age, as unlike most Fate/ characters, he has indeed been alive the entire time. Takes on the appearance of a young man in his early to mid 20s, however. Appearance: Have a look! History: The child of an incubus and a human, Merlin was born with all manner of supernatural powers, and became renowned from an early age for his prophecies. He also took to meddling in political affairs, arranging such things as one king's marriage and another's birth and training. However, he became a little too attached to the latter, and while matters did indeed go as he'd originally planned, he came to regret the suffering his actions had put her through, and ultimately fled to Avalon. There he wound up trapped in a stone tower, and has remained there ever since, using his Clairvoyance to watch over humanity from afar. At least, until fairly recently. With the incineration of humanity and Chaldea's desperate efforts to thwart that, Merlin started taking an active role. From secretly providing mana to fuel Chaldea's systems when needed, to running a net idol blog to console and support Chaldea's acting leader, he's taken on a considerably more active role. This culminated in the Babylonia Singularity, where he was summoned by Gilgamesh to help keep the goddesses--and the Beast--at bay and preserve Uruk's people. And when his Servant self was 'killed', he even went so far as to run all the way back from Avalon to return in time to assist in the final battle. After that, he apparently had taken so much of a liking to Chaldea's Master that, despite technically not being a Heroic Spirit, he summoned himself to Chaldea just so that he could join in the fun of being a Servant there, too. Personality: The first thing to know about Merlin is that he's only half-human. The other half being incubus. This has a huge effect on his personality and behavior, because interesting powers and diet aside, he quite literally doesn't feel emotions the way a normal human would. This doesn't mean he lacks them completely, either, despite his claims to the contrary, just that most of what he projects is just that--a projection based in emotions he's fed upon from others. Much of the time, beneath that veneer, he's feeling very little, sometimes nothing at all. But not all the time. For one thing, Merlin truly is capricious and flighty. This likely stems partly from his difficulty in connecting emotionally with people, but is probably also simply a part of who he is anyway. He likes to tease and joke and rarely takes a situation seriously, and will change his attitude at the drop of a hat if he benefits him. One moment, he's boasting of his immortal nature, and the next, demanding that someone defend him from an enemy's attack. He's full of pranks and mischief, and can be oblivious to how unpleasant his actions make things for other people. For another, Merlin is lazy. He's one of the most (if not the most) powerful mages of all time, with immense potential should he apply himself... And yet, when required to actually participate in combat, he prefers to whip out a sword to smack things than bother to cast a spell. He'd rather play around and amuse himself than do as he's told, much to the endless exasperation of anyone trying to work with him. Perhaps he truly lacks the simple empathy to understand how important or grave the situation is to others... But then again, he's not a complete idiot, so it's more likely he simply doesn't care. And would rather be lazing around than working. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he's also very dishonest. The false facade he presents to make his presence more acceptable to ordinary humans aside, he has no qualms about lying by omission, tricking and manipulating people, perhaps even lying outright if it serves his purposes and goals. He's willing in canon to deceive even a goddess to ensure her cooperation on an essential matter, and has been known to use his powers of illusion and such to disguise himself and others for various purposes. Not to mention, he avoids being direct and open with other people in general, even people he seems to care for, and is most certainly less than honest with and about himself. On the other hand, though, Merlin truly is sentimental at heart. He made it his goal to work toward a happy ending for humanity, and much as he dispassionately accepts that it's necessary for some to suffer for the greater good, he doesn't like having to do it. His aloofness is more due to him being able to simply disengage and avoid emotional attachment than any true lack of caring on his part. After all, the one time he did come to genuinely care for something, he risked upsetting the course of human history by trying to warn her away from a tragic fate, then later fled rather than witness that fate himself. While it's terribly difficult to see at times, hidden as it is under layers of facades and inhuman detachment, this is perhaps Merlin's true driving force and motivation. At the end of it all, though, he's an extremely conflicted person. Merlin is literally of two natures, human and incubus, and he himself acknowledges that attempting to somehow reconcile the two has only brought him trouble and grief in the past. He's a being that must feed on humans to survive, yet he's also partially human, himself. As a result, he sets aside or buries his more human feelings deep, acting more on the emotionless state of an incubus when he can. It's a conflict he's acutely aware of, and he loathes it and what he knows it could make him do if things ever went sufficiently awry. He once nearly upset the intended course of human history and all his work he put into it just because he became too attached to a certain young girl and wanted to spare her a terrible fate. Who knows what he'd do if he opened himself up again? So he keeps his true feelings and sentimentality hidden, deliberately disguising it with falsely projected emotions, and letting his capricious and lazy attitude run unchecked. A friendly, easygoing young man, or a callous, unfeeling monster; both are perfectly apt descriptions, while neither truly describes him in full. Powers and Abilities: His in-game skills are all listed in his profile here, and a more detailed (albeit work in progress) writeup is here. A few specific noteworthy things are as follows: Servant Abilities: In addition to the stuff listed in the above links, he has all the standard Servant powers of things like being able to switch to an immaterial body (capable of phasing through walls, but not capable of interacting with anything material) at will, and similarly materializing/dematerializing things like clothing and weapon(s) at will. Injuries to his person, while they may give the superficial appearance of wounds, are simply damage to a spiritual body that can be easily healed with enough magical energy to use to do so regardless of the apparent severity of the injury. Only damage to a Servant's Spiritual Core (or sufficiently draining it of power via other injuries and expenditures) will actually "kill" a Servant. Clairvoyance: As mentioned, Merlin is a powerful Clairvoyant. In his case he's able to observe literally anything in the present time; the only thing stopping him from spying on a goddess, for example, is knowing that said goddess would notice and retaliate against him for peeping. He additionally seems to have at least a small degree of prophetic ability, though to what extent or how it works is unknown. Finally, his clairvoyance extends to being able to view things contained on computers and network and such, as well, and this along with his magecraft allows him to maintain an online blog in canon despite being locked in a tower in Avalon. Illusions & Transformation: Merlin is capable of making illusions both of the "all in your head" and the "actual fake objects" varities, and can affect an area with these as large as "an entire village" according to his in-game profile. On top of this, he can magically alter himself or others physically. This goes beyond mere illusions: he once gave a woman functioning male genitals, for example, and is described in side material as having in the past transformed himself into nonhuman creatures not just in appearance, but also internally as well. The limits on this are unknown, but either such changed are temporary and/or he's able to perfectly reverse them, and he presumably can do things affecting himself more easily than altering others, as incubi lack a fixed form by nature. Immortality: Worth noting because Merlin is an odd case: he can be killed, in a fashion, but that just means immediately re-forming in the dream world again. The catch is that, presumably, he cannot simply re-manifest in the material world just anywhere; after being "killed" in Babylonia, he actually had to run all the way from Avalon to return in time to participate in the battle against Tiamat. So in other words, it's probably like having a fixed spawn point. If allowed, I'd like to assume this would be wherever his current permanent residence is; this way someone killing him ICly will take him out of action long enough to make a difference due to the time it'd take to get anywhere after, while having a consistent place that's easy to remember/keep track of OOCly. I assume that the nerfs discussed here will apply, and that things like messing with dreams and such will rely on player permission, but please let me know how much else needs to be nerfed! Ideally I'd prefer for him to keep some of his powers if possible. Inventory: His staff, which is a (mostly) wood staff taller than he is with a nice gnarled and crooked end. There's colorful ribbons tied to it and some sort of metal counterweight (possibly a small blade or sharpened point) on the lower end. There's also a scabbard mounted into the staff, which holds a one-handed shortsword with a thin blade; I'm not sure if this counts as a second item or not, but if it does, that's fine. Aside from his clothing, the only other thing he possesses is Excalibur (whether the real thing or a replica is hard to say, and somewhat of a moot point for Servants anyway) though he seems to only be able to manifest it for extremely brief periods of time, and most certainly cannot use its Noble Phantasm. In other words, it's mostly just a flashy (if still holy) sword. If the staff + sword combo counts as one item, the third item slot will go unused, he has no other possessions to bring. Samples: One - Introspection Now, this was certainly an odd place he found himself in, wasn't it? Another world--not just another timeline, or a Singularity, or other such offshoot--a whole other world entirely, it would seem. A bizarre one, so twisted that even his powers were strangely muted here. One that ran on its own rules, and its own populace seemed, if not always pleased, at least content with the status quo, strange though it may be to outsiders like him. Nothing he should be concerned about, nothing that was more important than finding a way back to where he belonged, the world and humanity he had chosen to protect. He ought to just enjoy what this place has to offer him, revel in its indulgences, and leave it to its own guardians, who or whatever they might well. And yet... These were people here, too. With their hopes and dreams, their fears and despairs. Being what he was, Merlin couldn't not be more aware of that, he fed upon those assorted emotions regularly, after all. There was absolutely no reason for him to care in the least, and he knew it, but humanity was humanity, wasn't it? Perhaps, just perhaps, it wouldn't hurt to meddle a bit to set things on a better path while he's here, if possible. Besides, nothing said he couldn't also have fun as he went about it, at that. In fact... With this peculiar little system they had set up here, he could think of all kinds of mischief to cause consternation on those who cared about such things. The bigger the reactions, the better; he'd have to come up with something good, cause some minor outrage, that sort of thing. But first! He needed to establish himself here, for the time being. And much as he absolutely loathed the thought, that meant he may actually have to get a job. Ugh. Maybe he could find someplace that needed gardening one. Then he could simply use his magecraft to do a day's work in an hour, and spending the rest the time napping. That wouldn't be so bad... Well, one way or another, he had a task now. One he'd set for himself. He'd manage, one way or another. Two - Conversation A little bit of everything...