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thebastion
Player name: James
Age: Who let me be an adult
Contact: trilies everywhere
Other characters:
Paarthurnax -![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wayofvoice - The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Saix -croceamors - Kingdom Hearts (Vatheon AU)
Zulf -fuckthemancers - Bastion
Character name: The Psiioniic/Helmsman
Series: Homestuck
Canon point: Shortly before his death
Summary: The Psiioniic is one of those characters where we know very little canon fact, so here is what has been confirmed in the series proper:
As a yellowblooded troll, considered "lesser" by the hemospectrum of Alternia, the Psiioniic was a slave. At some point in his life, he met the mutant troll known only as the Signless and ended up joining his group. When he comes into his power, he's referred to later by an omnipotent entity as "the most powerful psionic mage on Alternia". The group were the founders of a rebellion against the Empress of Alternia, wanting to overturn the hemospectrum so that no troll was lesser than any other. They failed in this and each was given a punishment. The Psiioniic's was that he was made into a "Helmsman"- when a psychic troll is used as a living battery and computer fueling an Alternian spacecraft. He was used for the Empress' personal ship, further insult to defeat. While lowblooded trolls normally have a much shorter lifespan than those with higher blood, the Psiioniic's life was extended by the Empress keeping him alive with her powers. This tortuous lifestyle was finally brought to an end by an event known as The Vast Glub- an enormous psychic backlash that killed the Psiioniic and brought him too close to death for even the Empress to drag him back.
We don't even get an idea of the Psiioniic's individual personality, that's how minor a character he is. Anything beyond these facts is pure headcanon and speculation on anybody's part, so I'll be upfront with what I'm going with past this point.
The Psiioniic, before he had such a title, was merely one out of many lowblooded slaves. In modern day Alternia, his descendent Sollux Captor is shown to share an apartment-like building with other trolls. We can thus assume that, in the past when adult trolls were considerably more common planet-side and with Psiioniic as a slave, that his living conditions were very similar. For many years (or sweeps as known on Alternia), he would have worked and lived in atrocious conditions with lowblood lives being viewed as extremely expendable. If he used his powers freely, then it would obviously not go unnoticed and a psionic of his caliber would no doubt have quickly been installed into a ship. There are no doubt many theories for how he escaped this notice or if this was a part of his slavery. I personally go with the idea that he repressed his psionics to the best of his ability in order to hide them and just tried to scrape by without dying a horrible death that's so common in Alternian culture.
With a life already dismal because of his low colored blood and status as a slave, repressing his powers and the bipolarity apparent in the two other Captors we've seen would have placed great strain onto him. We already get glimpses of how unfair and violent Alternian culture can be in a world inhabited solely by the children and adolescents. The adults of the species can no doubt be even worse. Thus it's likely that Psiioniic would have to struggle and fight for his life every day even just against himself.
It is not said how old Psiioniic is when he joins Signless' group or the circumstances surrounding it. For my purposes, I'll have him around 9 sweeps which is not quite 20 years. It is around that time in his life that Signless, Dolorosa, and Disciple arrive in the city where he lives. He manages to hear through the down-low lowblood grapevine about this group from out of town pulling together a small meeting. Unable to help being curious, he goes to attend. The Signless speaks of a dream- a dream where Alternia is not filled with bloodshed or troll having to go against troll just to survive the day. Where highbloods do not use and abuse lowbloods without repercussion. Where it is possible for all trolls to be equal regardless of their blood color. A natural pessimist, the Psiioniic inevitably gets into an argument/debate with the other troll(which it is depending on which party you ask). The idea of daring to hope is frightening to the yellowblood, who's resigned himself to this wretched lifestyle.
However, fate sometimes can't be fought and none are more aware than those in the Captor lineage. Just like Sollux and Mituna, the Psiioniic has prophetic visions of doom and disaster. During the Signless' stay, the Psiioniic argues with him at every meeting. Just as long, his visions get stronger despite how he fights against them. Captors are good people, for all their sass and occasionally abrasive personality. Unable the help himself, the troll helps the strange group of three avoid disasters his visions warn him of by warning them in turn of highblood groups that threaten to discover them.
Inevitably, the group must move on lest they be discovered and to further spread Signless' words. To the Psiioniic's surprise, he's given the offer to join them. It's a dangerous thing, to run away from being a slave on Alternia. It's an offer he nearly refuses but the Signless' words have worn through his resolve even with visions in his mind murmuring that this is a doomed effort regardless of all he might do. The Psiioniic joins with Signless' group and, traveling with them, learns to harness the powers he's stifled for so long. In time, he becomes one of the Signless' closest friends and staunchest supporters. Any who know of the Signless know that the yellowblooded troll is one of the few in his inner circle along with Dolorosa and Disciple.
The group tries to stay as peaceful in their endeavors for as long as they can. However, inevitably, that begins to change. While some highbloods are willing to listen to the Signless' words, they are a rare few. The rest are another matter entirely. As the Signless' movement grows, the highbloods start paying more attention and begin to deal with those they find in the typical violent Alternian manner. It's not explicitly stated in canon to what degree this confrontation became, whether the highbloods hunting down the Signless and his followers like dogs or a fullout war between the two opposing groups. However, it is said that the impact the Signless left was so severe that the Imperious Condescension banned his very name leading him to be known as the Sufferer from then on.
In the end, the Signless and his three companions are all captured. Two amongst their group are slated for execution, and two others for slavery. The Signless is executed in a public display after being tortured, the Psiioniic one of those forced to be in the crowd in an effort to break his will. Second for death is the Disciple, another one of his dear friends he's forced to watch die- only the Executor lets her escape either out of carelessness or some strange sort of pity. It's a cold comfort to the Psiioniic after all that's happened, and he's torn away from the single companion left, Dolorosa. A psionic of his caliber would be wasted if merely executed, after all. He's forced into not just any helmsblock, but that of the Imperious Condescension's personal ship.
Biotechnology is a common concept in Alternian fleets just as much as computers and ipods are to humans in modern day. Helmstrolls are prime examples of Alternian biotechnology at work. A helmsblock is composed of a mass of tentacle-like objects connected to a variety of computers- effectively cables and wires. A powerful enough psionic troll (often of the lowblooded variety) is placed within the station, which envelopes most of their lower half. The troll's upper arms are then pulled upwards and suspended in the upper cables. From that point on, the ship is effectively a parasite on the psionic troll acting as its helmstroll and drains the psionic energy until the troll dies from any number of causes. Helmstroll minds are also forcefully merged with the computer systems to help monitor the system more effectively and manage various tasks to keep the ship running smoothly. It is possible to remove a helmstroll from their block with no damage for various check ups and upgrades. Needless to say, it's a painful experience both upon initial installation and afterwards if the helmstroll in question doesn't completely break mentally.
The experience is very much the same for the Psiioniic, who is renamed The Helmsman to signify his special position as the one installed into Her Imperious Condescension's personal ship. In the one of three panels we are shown of him, two of them feature him as "The Helmsman" and only one of them features him alive in this state. In this panel, it's obvious that he's in pain or rage, mouth open wide in some sort of scream. His time as Helmsman is obviously an unpleasant one and one that is dragged out in an unnatural way. Lowbloods such as himself are naturally destined for shorter lifespans than higher blooded trolls. However, with the power of the Condesce, his life is unnaturally extended so that he might serve her for centuries- an eternity if she would have her way.
It is never canonly mentioned how the Psiioniic deals with his new enslavement so really it is up to every individual fan's interpretation. (Fortunate that alternate universes are canon, right?) For the purpose of roleplaying the Helmsman, I'll be going with this:
Being forcefully being made the Helmsman of the most powerful troll in the entire Alternian race, the Psiioniic is put under almost stricter than usual physical and mental restraints. Fortunately, the Captor lineage has always shown itself to produce extremely intelligent and resilient trolls despite their lowerblood status. Four things ensure that the Psiioniic is not completely shackled within his new prison.
The first is the extreme will his descendent will show many years later. As Sollux Captor can power through the pain to guide a meteor carrying his friends, the Psiioniic can power through his own pain to adjust more quickly to the Helmsman system. The second is the trademark Captor intelligence, something more than quick enough to understand the system and thoroughly exploit it. The third would be simple pre-planning. You don't join a revolution knowing full well what one of the consequences might be without planning... At least not if you're the Psiioniic. That's why, during the protest-turned-rebellion, he put in a piece of biotech in his own mind. Nothing fancy- just something which would ensure his physical brain matter couldn't be meddled with unless you wanted to set off that biotech which would destroy the part of his brain responsible for that oh-so-precious psionic power of his which would make him so powerful as a Helmstroll.
The fourth?
Pure fucking spite.
Out of everyone in all of reality, the Psiioniic hates only one person as much as the Condesce and that's himself. To the person responsible for his life as a lowblood, for the one responsible for his slavery twice done now, to the person responsible for stealing away his three most beloved people... The Psiioniic refuses to bow his head down to her from pure nearly consuming hatred. He also considers it his own punishment for not doing a better job as the guardian of his group, even as much as he wants to die. So if he's going to live an eternity, than he's going to scream and rage every step of the way. (Most of the time, at any rate.)
These four factors have kept the Psiioniic from falling into the same inescapable pit of despair that so many other Helmstrolls have been unable to escape from. There's no real way for him to escape his fate, of course. He's still trapped as Her Imperious Condescension's Helmsman and he's still used as a living breathing battery-computer combo. He's still trapped in the land of the living by the Condescension's powers.
Yet despite the efforts of the Empress herself and so many engineers and technicians, the Helmsman retains his individuality and mind more than most other Helmstrolls can or perhaps dare to and manages to do this for the many centuries he's forced to stay as Helmsman. He outwits the technicians that regularly try to "fix" him. Any physical abuse he suffers, he escapes by having his mind disappear into the very system which regularly uses and drains him. He does not break under whatever torture the Condesce throws at him and perhaps because of this she does not "decommission" him as would be the considerably easier option to do. Perhaps she doesn't want to lose to the one troll part of that despicable rebel group still alive, perhaps with the same kind of hatred and stubbornness that lead her to completely destroy the Signless' name from the history books. Perhaps she's just greedy and doesn't want any psionic for her Helmsman besides the most powerful one Alternia has ever seen. The Helmsman doesn't know. Quite frankly? He doesn't care.
In his time as part of Her Imperious Condescension's ship, the Helmsman works... functionally. He powers the ship utterly and completely, making it the fastest and most powerful in the entire Alternian fleet. It's been proven that the computer system is the quickest and most efficient out of all the ships... But sometimes things don't go quite as they should. It's the Helmsman's last bits of defiance, all he can really do with all the restraints that have been placed onto his mind. There's no way he can kill the Condesce or any of her highblooded personnel- it goes directly against Helmsman programming. It's the minor day to day things he messes with: filling the Condesce's inbox with cat spam, messing with the temperature so that every highblood in the ship is uncomfortable while the system lies to their face and tells them they're fine, maintenance requests getting mixed up...
And sometimes? Sometimes he doesn't do anything. He just smiles right in the Condesce's face and savagely enjoys all the power he's been given, the feeling of controlling an entire Imperial battleship, the feeling of having access to so much information and connections to an entire fleet.
He rubs her face in the fact that she's given him all this.
With the Helmsman's personality, we run into the same issue as his backstory. We literally know next to nothing about him. However, we do have an idea of what kind of person he would be both because of the two other trolls connected to him (Sollux and Mituna Captor) and the actions/events that canon does provide us.
One of the more noble traits that every Captor has demonstrated without fail would have to be their tendency towards self sacrifice in the name of their friends or the greater good. We see this first with Sollux Captor three times: to get his Sgrub partner into the game before the end of the world, to try and stop Eridan from fucking things up as usual, and finally (so far) to over extend his powers to move a meteor so that his friends could travel across space and time. Mituna Captor also demonstrates this in his backstory, stopping a horrible calamity to the point that he basically overused his powers and suffered a psionic backlash which gave him brain damage. This falls into line with the Psiioniic's actions perfectly. As a lowblooded slave, there's no way he couldn't realize the kinds of fates that would wait for him if he went roadtripping with hippie alien Jesus.
Yet the Psiioniic still goes with them. Why? Again, canon never says. Maybe it's because he knows, much like his descendent Sollux does, that sometimes you have to sacrifice something if you want anything to really move forward and it's a shitty job but someone has to do it. Maybe it's because, like his predecessor Mituna, he would sacrifice anything for the people he's called friends. Maybe Signless' words truly inspired him. Maybe he just really wanted to tap Signless and Disciple's asses. Either way, it shows that the Psiioniic has something he believes in and wants, and he'll give more than his all in an effort to go through with it.
Of course, past their self sacrifice, Captors are even more notable for being snarky dickbags to people they like and hate both. For some examples...
- "I think I can't breathe, I'm laughing too hard."
"You better not fucking die, then I'll have no one to scream at."
"You can scream at my corpse."
- "Eheheh making fun of people's religions is the best thing to do."
- "That was before I knew we were all going to die. And no one believed me. And now look at you all. All believing me suddenly HMM UNCANNY."
- "Look take off your rad shirt deal and lemme see if you got wings."
"Hehehehehe yes! Thought you'd never ask."
- The entire scene where Mituna tells Cronus (who he clearly hates) WHOA HE'D TOTALLY BANG HIM only to immediately do a (predictable) 180 and say "No you piece of indiot fucking garbage".
So with a long history of trolls making shitty and snarky comments on a regular basis, the Helmsman is very likely no different. The only difference for him would be the fact that for many years now, he hasn't been in the position to make blatant comments unlike when he was a "free" troll both as a Helmsman and in the fact that his voice hasn't exactly been used for centuries now. In lieu of this, the Helmsman has likely had to develop more of a tone to both his written words and his actions until "Of course, my Empress, I am your humble Helmsman" sounds suspiciously an awfully lot like "fuck you". Perhaps in an environment where he's allowed to be more comfortable or perhaps more familiar, he'd go back to more blatant statements of dickery.
His very long service under Her Imperious Condescension may have changed the Helmsman's tendency towards snark to some degree, but there's one thing that's been impossible to: his bipolarity. This is another Captor trait, one that is apparently hereditary. (No surprise- they are all effectively reincarnations or clones of one another.) Each one seems to display it a bit differently. As an educated guess, it would seem like Mituna is mostly manic with bouts of depression and Sollux leaning more towards a general state of depression and perhaps bouts of mania.
For the purposes of this app, the Helmsman is more prone to mixed episodes- an event where an individual with bipolar disorder expresses symptoms of both a major manic episode and a major depressive episode at the same time. The Helmsman has always had difficulties with his bipolar disorder even before he was installed into the Condesce's ship. Not only does his low blood color work against him, Alternian culture is very much about culling the weak from the strong. This is mentioned specifically with Tavros, a troll in a wheelchair who knows his disability will likely have him killed once he's old enough since he can't "contribute" to Alternian society. No doubt similar works for more mental disabilities such as the Captor tendency towards bipolar disorder if it's severe enough or for there even to just be one bad episode at the wrong time.
His situation has not much improved in regards to this since being installed as Her Helmsman. Why would it be? He's not longer considered a person, merely a tool to be used so that the ship can be more efficient. One could even say that his disorder has become worse with the combination of mental strain, physical strain, abuse on nearly every spectrum imaginable, and losing all he holds dear. This has had what could very politely be called "interesting" side effects in his role as Helmsman. It's (fortunately) not been able to affect anything too severely but it has been noticeable enough to affect minor parts of the ship. It's been just another thing that infuriates the Condesce and most other highbloods but, in truth, this isn't something Psii can control either.
It's noticeable that for the Captors shown so far in canon, their bipolarity seems to affect their self esteem most notably. When hitting more depressive swings, they tend to be extremely self-deprecating and full of self loathing (Sollux) or have no self esteem whatsoever and let others walk all over them (Mituna). When more manic swings take a hold of them, they're almost arrogant in their self confidence with Sollux boasting about his computer skills and Mituna acting as though everyone wants him to name two examples.
Another trait shared amongst Captors, although more minor than the others listed so far, is that they're not particularly subtle when it comes to expressing their dislike of another person. Oh yes, they're that particular kind of jackass who is a bit of a jerk to those they like dearly. (Perhaps even more so). However, with someone who really makes their blood boil, there's venom that enters their words that's not prevalent with anyone else. Sollux outright says he'll kill Eridan and doesn't seem to have any problem with it when the seadweller threatens to ruin things for them on the meteor. Mituna has a similar problem with his own version of an Ampora, showing a clear distaste for Cronus and outright calling him and his hobby-of-the-week trash (only apologizing because of his disorder destroying his self esteem in random fits). Much like with his tendency towards snark, the Helmsman hasn't been able to show this sort of thing for a very long time... But no troll can miss the clear (and unromantic) hatred the Helmsman fairly radiates towards highbloods and the Condesce herself however much he might not be able to say it. Of course, there's no need to say "I hate you" when a metaphorical punch to the bulge does just as well.
Pessimism is a trait shown more in Sollux Captor alone than Mituna Captor (that we've seen), but it's something I believe that the Helmsman is prone to as well because of his life and circumstances. Alternia is a very different beast than the alternate world of Beforus, after all, and that's experience Sollux shares to some degree with his ancestor more than perhaps Mituna does with his "reincarnation". The Helmsman grew up as a lowblood and a slave, where pessimism and paranoia could very likely keep you safe. It also doesn't help that, as a seer who sees only the horrible happen, it's natural that he would be a pessimist by nature. Thousands of years of slavery have not done much for this way of thinking, only enhanced it. Upon coming into the Bastion, no longer a slave and still alive to boot, it's likely that the Helmsman will brush everything off as nothing more than a hallucination of his own "broken" mind. That isn't to say the Helmsman can't change his views on things. It's clear that, at one point, he did and ventured out with the Signless to try and change the world even no doubt with visions of failure haunting him with every step.
A lot of what has been written so far are rather negative traits, it's true. Captors are by nature sometimes very difficult to like or get along with due to their abrasive nature. As Meenah Peixes once said of Mituna, "Kid makes you work". However, they have their positive traits. One of those is loyalty, although it's not always paid in kind (Mituna's group being the most glaring examples). Once you get a Captor dedicated to you, it seems like quite the feat to make them stop no matter how much of an asshole or creepy freak you are. (Obligatory nod to Aradia "Let's have a corpse party with your corpse" Megido.) The Helmsman shows this with how far he went with the Signless and Co even with the odds stacked against them and the terrible fates he likely knew would claim them all.
Captors have also shown themselves to be extremely intelligent, as I mentioned above earlier, due to a mutation in their brains. There's no doubt that the Helmsman is similar, both when he was merely another lowblood and only forced further when he became the Helmsman. It wouldn't be surprising if the Helmsman's quick thinking came in handy more than once while the rebel group was on the run from the Highblood forces, nor would it be surprising for him to put preventive measures such as the biotech in his brain mentioned above. That's just when he was still a free troll. As the Helmsman, his intelligence has been artificially enhanced due to being connected with the Helmsman system of the ship. In truth, he effectively possesses a super computer in his mind. As a downside, much like his descendent Sollux, he likely gets severe headaches and migraines on occasion.
In summary, the Helmsman is one battered troll who has seen a lot in a long life he never asked for. As the Psiioniic, he was brave, selfless, pessimistic, quick witted, and a bonafide genius. As the Helmsman... Some of those old traits still remain despite it all. However, thousands of years of forced slavery after losing his most important people have worsened his natural bipolar disorder and twisted his previously pessimistic nature into something bitter and spiteful. His already brilliant mind has been forcefully enhanced at the cost of his freedom and use of his body.
Against the odds, however, deep inside he is still the selfless troll who risked everything for the happiness and dreams of others.
Powers:
Flight (Always On) - This is a power that's going to be needed out of necessity because of the Helmsman's physical state. I plan on having him been in service as a Helmsman for 1425.23 solar sweeps (3088 human years) and that has done a number on his limbs when he even remembers he has limbs. He's forgotten how to use them and, honestly, they're in no shape to be used. In order to get around, he's going to be relying on his psionic abilities to float here and there.
Lightshows (Always On) - This is more a side effect of his other psionic powers most of the time although it can be utilized as somehting of its own. Considering his speaking ability might not be in the best of condition, I'd like to have this as an always on ability for basic communication. Basically, it's just psionic powers at the most basic level: psionic energy of alternating red and blue light which can form to make lettering or basic pictures on a very small scale so that the Helmsman can get the idea of what he's asking or what he wants across. This light tends to be apparent whenever the Helmsman is using his psionic abilities so it could be considered a sort of side effect. It gives off a small but pleasant heat if anyone tries to touch it, but it's not remotely enough to harm or blind anyone. The Helmsman can also only use this in short proximity to his physical body.
Seer (Always On) - As with all Captors, the Helmsman is a seer of sorts but he can only see when horrible or disastrous things occur. This may have something to do with how all Captors are connected to the Sgrub aspect of Doom, which the Helmsman is only tangentially connected to. This power can be triggered at mod discretion, and I'll also put up a post for any players to contact me if they want to have the Helmsman realize their character is about to do something horrible whether by purpose or accident. It's said in canon that Sollux gets these prophecies from the voices of the imminently deceased, but Hussie never really explains what that means. We can assume that it has something to do with the voices of the dead and dying, however, which means that this power also has the Helmsman faintly connected to the dead.
Psionic Blasts (3 time use) - The Helmsman can channel his psionic abilities into blasts from either his eyes or his hands. They can manifest as either a more concussive force or something with a more laser like quality to it, depending on the Helmsman's will. With his descendant Sollux, this power has been shown powerful enough to blast through a hiveblock made out of some sort of stone. Considering the Helmsman's age and experience, his are just as if not more powerful.
Telekinesis (On/3 time use) - This is divided into two different uses depending on what the Helmsman is using his power for. For anything that a normal person such as Bon could lift (a spoon, a doorknob, etc), I'd like to permit the Helmsman to be able to use his psionics 24/7 since, again, he's not physically capable of lifting these things. For anything larger (another person, a boulder, a lunkhead), I'll have this power be restricted to 3 times a day with a 15 minute duration for the area around him (since Captors have been shown to use this power on multiple objects at the same time).
Minor Advanced Healing (Always On) - The Helmsman is one of the few, possibly only, trolls which has been subject to the Condesce's Life-aspect powers for so long and has far outlived his normal yellowblooded troll lifespan. Because of this prolonged contact with this power, the Helmsman is prone to recovering from physical injuries such as cuts much quicker than trolls already tend to. This isn't Wolverine-level kind of healing, but it does help.
Biotech Compatibility (Always On) - Alternian technology is extremely advanced, especially as they are conquerors of various races and it's likely expected that anything they find worth their time is absorbed into their own technology for use. As a Helmsman, he is capable of being able to adapt to alien tech so long as it's sufficiently advanced. This is mostly in the case of Alternian tech, but he could likely bullshit rig anything else especially since his psionics are the main focus with understanding and using other tech. Whether or not any biowires from the ship are brought back with him will make the process either easier or harder.
Supercomputer (Always On) - After thousands of years as basically a computer for an extremely advanced and very large ship, the Helmsman can't really make his mind not be a computer. He's acutely aware of how much time passes by, he can do math that would make most people want to vomit, and he can crack codes or figure out foreign language in no time at all among other things. A side effect is that he was connected to a disciplinary program as part of the ship which conditioned him to obey the orders of higherblooded trolls. He's aware of this and can often pull semantic bullshit if it's an order he disagrees with or just wants to be contrary, but it's still something basically embedded into him at this point and relevant if any other trolls enter the game since the vast majority are higher than him on the hemospectrum.
Troll body - Alternian trolls are an unbelievably violent race, and their bodies have evolved to take a lot of damage. In canon, Vriska Serket is shown losing her arm in the equivalent of her pre-teens but still recovers fast enough to do some complicated psionic fuckery. Needless to say, the Helmsman is... similar, to some degree. More than other trolls, his pain tolerance levels are off the roof because of his past as a regular slave and his current role as Helmsman where every waking moment is unspeakable pain. This isn't exactly a good thing. While he can stand a lot of pain, he's somewhat disconnected from the actual condition his body can really be in and thus is liable to ignore when he's in serious danger.
There's also the fact that, as mentioned, he's in extremely poor physical condition due to being effectively a part of a ship. When he was still attached to the HIC ship, this wasn't a problem. He was only a small part of a whole, parasitically attached to the ship as he was. The only thing of true important in the eyes of highbloods was his brain where his powerful psionics resided. Thus, on more than one occasion, not as much attention was paid to the rest of his body as perhaps should have been if anyone actually cared about him as a troll instead of property. This means he's forgotten what it means to use most of his limbs on their own and they've grown too weak to be even used that way.
He's also become too used to being part of a ship. His psionics were used for powering a vast majority of the HIC ship and were sufficiently backed up by it as it was basically an extension of his mind and body. Now that he's no longer attached to it, using the full extent of his psionic powers especially with his body in the condition it's in isn't really possible. As mentioned above as well, if he overexerts himself than he'll utterly exhaust himself at best or take an immediate dirtnap. Emotional outbursts can also quickly drain him.
Entry: RESCUE HIM. PLEASE.
Considering his situation, the Helmsman will be found in a small portion of Her Imperious Condescension's ship which has been broken off after being hit by the Calamity and will be on a large slice of the Skyway. The helmsblock itself will be mostly intact and filled with sea water up to the waist, although getting there might be a bit difficult with the rest of the damage.
Depending on the actions of his rescuers, the Helmsman can be either just plain pulled from his station or somehow bullshit through the necessary procedures of Helmstroll removal with the helmsblock computers. The first option means that the Helmsman will suffer wounds from this crude removal that will take longer to heal from (3-4 days). The second option, while more difficult especially if there's no one tech savvy around, will ensure a more smooth removal and the typical entry points of the biowires into his body will bleed less and have a lesser chance of getting infected.
This portion of the ship is only functional while the Helmsman is still in his block, since it's been separated from the backup engines and relying purely on psionic energy. Once he's removed, it will shut down and be useless for even salvage unless he or another psionic troll is inserted into the helmsblock again. Considering it's biotech, certain portions of the ship will start to decay and thus take away a lot of its use. Skyway creatures will also probably move into it with time despite the slowly growing smell of fish.
Other: quietly screams a lot
Age: Who let me be an adult
Contact: trilies everywhere
Other characters:
Paarthurnax -
wayofvoice - The Elder Scrolls: SkyrimSaix -
croceamors - Kingdom Hearts (Vatheon AU)Zulf -
fuckthemancers - BastionCharacter name: The Psiioniic/Helmsman
Series: Homestuck
Canon point: Shortly before his death
Summary: The Psiioniic is one of those characters where we know very little canon fact, so here is what has been confirmed in the series proper:
As a yellowblooded troll, considered "lesser" by the hemospectrum of Alternia, the Psiioniic was a slave. At some point in his life, he met the mutant troll known only as the Signless and ended up joining his group. When he comes into his power, he's referred to later by an omnipotent entity as "the most powerful psionic mage on Alternia". The group were the founders of a rebellion against the Empress of Alternia, wanting to overturn the hemospectrum so that no troll was lesser than any other. They failed in this and each was given a punishment. The Psiioniic's was that he was made into a "Helmsman"- when a psychic troll is used as a living battery and computer fueling an Alternian spacecraft. He was used for the Empress' personal ship, further insult to defeat. While lowblooded trolls normally have a much shorter lifespan than those with higher blood, the Psiioniic's life was extended by the Empress keeping him alive with her powers. This tortuous lifestyle was finally brought to an end by an event known as The Vast Glub- an enormous psychic backlash that killed the Psiioniic and brought him too close to death for even the Empress to drag him back.
We don't even get an idea of the Psiioniic's individual personality, that's how minor a character he is. Anything beyond these facts is pure headcanon and speculation on anybody's part, so I'll be upfront with what I'm going with past this point.
The Psiioniic, before he had such a title, was merely one out of many lowblooded slaves. In modern day Alternia, his descendent Sollux Captor is shown to share an apartment-like building with other trolls. We can thus assume that, in the past when adult trolls were considerably more common planet-side and with Psiioniic as a slave, that his living conditions were very similar. For many years (or sweeps as known on Alternia), he would have worked and lived in atrocious conditions with lowblood lives being viewed as extremely expendable. If he used his powers freely, then it would obviously not go unnoticed and a psionic of his caliber would no doubt have quickly been installed into a ship. There are no doubt many theories for how he escaped this notice or if this was a part of his slavery. I personally go with the idea that he repressed his psionics to the best of his ability in order to hide them and just tried to scrape by without dying a horrible death that's so common in Alternian culture.
With a life already dismal because of his low colored blood and status as a slave, repressing his powers and the bipolarity apparent in the two other Captors we've seen would have placed great strain onto him. We already get glimpses of how unfair and violent Alternian culture can be in a world inhabited solely by the children and adolescents. The adults of the species can no doubt be even worse. Thus it's likely that Psiioniic would have to struggle and fight for his life every day even just against himself.
It is not said how old Psiioniic is when he joins Signless' group or the circumstances surrounding it. For my purposes, I'll have him around 9 sweeps which is not quite 20 years. It is around that time in his life that Signless, Dolorosa, and Disciple arrive in the city where he lives. He manages to hear through the down-low lowblood grapevine about this group from out of town pulling together a small meeting. Unable to help being curious, he goes to attend. The Signless speaks of a dream- a dream where Alternia is not filled with bloodshed or troll having to go against troll just to survive the day. Where highbloods do not use and abuse lowbloods without repercussion. Where it is possible for all trolls to be equal regardless of their blood color. A natural pessimist, the Psiioniic inevitably gets into an argument/debate with the other troll(which it is depending on which party you ask). The idea of daring to hope is frightening to the yellowblood, who's resigned himself to this wretched lifestyle.
However, fate sometimes can't be fought and none are more aware than those in the Captor lineage. Just like Sollux and Mituna, the Psiioniic has prophetic visions of doom and disaster. During the Signless' stay, the Psiioniic argues with him at every meeting. Just as long, his visions get stronger despite how he fights against them. Captors are good people, for all their sass and occasionally abrasive personality. Unable the help himself, the troll helps the strange group of three avoid disasters his visions warn him of by warning them in turn of highblood groups that threaten to discover them.
Inevitably, the group must move on lest they be discovered and to further spread Signless' words. To the Psiioniic's surprise, he's given the offer to join them. It's a dangerous thing, to run away from being a slave on Alternia. It's an offer he nearly refuses but the Signless' words have worn through his resolve even with visions in his mind murmuring that this is a doomed effort regardless of all he might do. The Psiioniic joins with Signless' group and, traveling with them, learns to harness the powers he's stifled for so long. In time, he becomes one of the Signless' closest friends and staunchest supporters. Any who know of the Signless know that the yellowblooded troll is one of the few in his inner circle along with Dolorosa and Disciple.
The group tries to stay as peaceful in their endeavors for as long as they can. However, inevitably, that begins to change. While some highbloods are willing to listen to the Signless' words, they are a rare few. The rest are another matter entirely. As the Signless' movement grows, the highbloods start paying more attention and begin to deal with those they find in the typical violent Alternian manner. It's not explicitly stated in canon to what degree this confrontation became, whether the highbloods hunting down the Signless and his followers like dogs or a fullout war between the two opposing groups. However, it is said that the impact the Signless left was so severe that the Imperious Condescension banned his very name leading him to be known as the Sufferer from then on.
In the end, the Signless and his three companions are all captured. Two amongst their group are slated for execution, and two others for slavery. The Signless is executed in a public display after being tortured, the Psiioniic one of those forced to be in the crowd in an effort to break his will. Second for death is the Disciple, another one of his dear friends he's forced to watch die- only the Executor lets her escape either out of carelessness or some strange sort of pity. It's a cold comfort to the Psiioniic after all that's happened, and he's torn away from the single companion left, Dolorosa. A psionic of his caliber would be wasted if merely executed, after all. He's forced into not just any helmsblock, but that of the Imperious Condescension's personal ship.
Biotechnology is a common concept in Alternian fleets just as much as computers and ipods are to humans in modern day. Helmstrolls are prime examples of Alternian biotechnology at work. A helmsblock is composed of a mass of tentacle-like objects connected to a variety of computers- effectively cables and wires. A powerful enough psionic troll (often of the lowblooded variety) is placed within the station, which envelopes most of their lower half. The troll's upper arms are then pulled upwards and suspended in the upper cables. From that point on, the ship is effectively a parasite on the psionic troll acting as its helmstroll and drains the psionic energy until the troll dies from any number of causes. Helmstroll minds are also forcefully merged with the computer systems to help monitor the system more effectively and manage various tasks to keep the ship running smoothly. It is possible to remove a helmstroll from their block with no damage for various check ups and upgrades. Needless to say, it's a painful experience both upon initial installation and afterwards if the helmstroll in question doesn't completely break mentally.
The experience is very much the same for the Psiioniic, who is renamed The Helmsman to signify his special position as the one installed into Her Imperious Condescension's personal ship. In the one of three panels we are shown of him, two of them feature him as "The Helmsman" and only one of them features him alive in this state. In this panel, it's obvious that he's in pain or rage, mouth open wide in some sort of scream. His time as Helmsman is obviously an unpleasant one and one that is dragged out in an unnatural way. Lowbloods such as himself are naturally destined for shorter lifespans than higher blooded trolls. However, with the power of the Condesce, his life is unnaturally extended so that he might serve her for centuries- an eternity if she would have her way.
It is never canonly mentioned how the Psiioniic deals with his new enslavement so really it is up to every individual fan's interpretation. (Fortunate that alternate universes are canon, right?) For the purpose of roleplaying the Helmsman, I'll be going with this:
Being forcefully being made the Helmsman of the most powerful troll in the entire Alternian race, the Psiioniic is put under almost stricter than usual physical and mental restraints. Fortunately, the Captor lineage has always shown itself to produce extremely intelligent and resilient trolls despite their lowerblood status. Four things ensure that the Psiioniic is not completely shackled within his new prison.
The first is the extreme will his descendent will show many years later. As Sollux Captor can power through the pain to guide a meteor carrying his friends, the Psiioniic can power through his own pain to adjust more quickly to the Helmsman system. The second is the trademark Captor intelligence, something more than quick enough to understand the system and thoroughly exploit it. The third would be simple pre-planning. You don't join a revolution knowing full well what one of the consequences might be without planning... At least not if you're the Psiioniic. That's why, during the protest-turned-rebellion, he put in a piece of biotech in his own mind. Nothing fancy- just something which would ensure his physical brain matter couldn't be meddled with unless you wanted to set off that biotech which would destroy the part of his brain responsible for that oh-so-precious psionic power of his which would make him so powerful as a Helmstroll.
The fourth?
Pure fucking spite.
Out of everyone in all of reality, the Psiioniic hates only one person as much as the Condesce and that's himself. To the person responsible for his life as a lowblood, for the one responsible for his slavery twice done now, to the person responsible for stealing away his three most beloved people... The Psiioniic refuses to bow his head down to her from pure nearly consuming hatred. He also considers it his own punishment for not doing a better job as the guardian of his group, even as much as he wants to die. So if he's going to live an eternity, than he's going to scream and rage every step of the way. (Most of the time, at any rate.)
These four factors have kept the Psiioniic from falling into the same inescapable pit of despair that so many other Helmstrolls have been unable to escape from. There's no real way for him to escape his fate, of course. He's still trapped as Her Imperious Condescension's Helmsman and he's still used as a living breathing battery-computer combo. He's still trapped in the land of the living by the Condescension's powers.
Yet despite the efforts of the Empress herself and so many engineers and technicians, the Helmsman retains his individuality and mind more than most other Helmstrolls can or perhaps dare to and manages to do this for the many centuries he's forced to stay as Helmsman. He outwits the technicians that regularly try to "fix" him. Any physical abuse he suffers, he escapes by having his mind disappear into the very system which regularly uses and drains him. He does not break under whatever torture the Condesce throws at him and perhaps because of this she does not "decommission" him as would be the considerably easier option to do. Perhaps she doesn't want to lose to the one troll part of that despicable rebel group still alive, perhaps with the same kind of hatred and stubbornness that lead her to completely destroy the Signless' name from the history books. Perhaps she's just greedy and doesn't want any psionic for her Helmsman besides the most powerful one Alternia has ever seen. The Helmsman doesn't know. Quite frankly? He doesn't care.
In his time as part of Her Imperious Condescension's ship, the Helmsman works... functionally. He powers the ship utterly and completely, making it the fastest and most powerful in the entire Alternian fleet. It's been proven that the computer system is the quickest and most efficient out of all the ships... But sometimes things don't go quite as they should. It's the Helmsman's last bits of defiance, all he can really do with all the restraints that have been placed onto his mind. There's no way he can kill the Condesce or any of her highblooded personnel- it goes directly against Helmsman programming. It's the minor day to day things he messes with: filling the Condesce's inbox with cat spam, messing with the temperature so that every highblood in the ship is uncomfortable while the system lies to their face and tells them they're fine, maintenance requests getting mixed up...
And sometimes? Sometimes he doesn't do anything. He just smiles right in the Condesce's face and savagely enjoys all the power he's been given, the feeling of controlling an entire Imperial battleship, the feeling of having access to so much information and connections to an entire fleet.
He rubs her face in the fact that she's given him all this.
With the Helmsman's personality, we run into the same issue as his backstory. We literally know next to nothing about him. However, we do have an idea of what kind of person he would be both because of the two other trolls connected to him (Sollux and Mituna Captor) and the actions/events that canon does provide us.
One of the more noble traits that every Captor has demonstrated without fail would have to be their tendency towards self sacrifice in the name of their friends or the greater good. We see this first with Sollux Captor three times: to get his Sgrub partner into the game before the end of the world, to try and stop Eridan from fucking things up as usual, and finally (so far) to over extend his powers to move a meteor so that his friends could travel across space and time. Mituna Captor also demonstrates this in his backstory, stopping a horrible calamity to the point that he basically overused his powers and suffered a psionic backlash which gave him brain damage. This falls into line with the Psiioniic's actions perfectly. As a lowblooded slave, there's no way he couldn't realize the kinds of fates that would wait for him if he went roadtripping with hippie alien Jesus.
Yet the Psiioniic still goes with them. Why? Again, canon never says. Maybe it's because he knows, much like his descendent Sollux does, that sometimes you have to sacrifice something if you want anything to really move forward and it's a shitty job but someone has to do it. Maybe it's because, like his predecessor Mituna, he would sacrifice anything for the people he's called friends. Maybe Signless' words truly inspired him. Maybe he just really wanted to tap Signless and Disciple's asses. Either way, it shows that the Psiioniic has something he believes in and wants, and he'll give more than his all in an effort to go through with it.
Of course, past their self sacrifice, Captors are even more notable for being snarky dickbags to people they like and hate both. For some examples...
- "I think I can't breathe, I'm laughing too hard."
"You better not fucking die, then I'll have no one to scream at."
"You can scream at my corpse."
- "Eheheh making fun of people's religions is the best thing to do."
- "That was before I knew we were all going to die. And no one believed me. And now look at you all. All believing me suddenly HMM UNCANNY."
- "Look take off your rad shirt deal and lemme see if you got wings."
"Hehehehehe yes! Thought you'd never ask."
- The entire scene where Mituna tells Cronus (who he clearly hates) WHOA HE'D TOTALLY BANG HIM only to immediately do a (predictable) 180 and say "No you piece of indiot fucking garbage".
So with a long history of trolls making shitty and snarky comments on a regular basis, the Helmsman is very likely no different. The only difference for him would be the fact that for many years now, he hasn't been in the position to make blatant comments unlike when he was a "free" troll both as a Helmsman and in the fact that his voice hasn't exactly been used for centuries now. In lieu of this, the Helmsman has likely had to develop more of a tone to both his written words and his actions until "Of course, my Empress, I am your humble Helmsman" sounds suspiciously an awfully lot like "fuck you". Perhaps in an environment where he's allowed to be more comfortable or perhaps more familiar, he'd go back to more blatant statements of dickery.
His very long service under Her Imperious Condescension may have changed the Helmsman's tendency towards snark to some degree, but there's one thing that's been impossible to: his bipolarity. This is another Captor trait, one that is apparently hereditary. (No surprise- they are all effectively reincarnations or clones of one another.) Each one seems to display it a bit differently. As an educated guess, it would seem like Mituna is mostly manic with bouts of depression and Sollux leaning more towards a general state of depression and perhaps bouts of mania.
For the purposes of this app, the Helmsman is more prone to mixed episodes- an event where an individual with bipolar disorder expresses symptoms of both a major manic episode and a major depressive episode at the same time. The Helmsman has always had difficulties with his bipolar disorder even before he was installed into the Condesce's ship. Not only does his low blood color work against him, Alternian culture is very much about culling the weak from the strong. This is mentioned specifically with Tavros, a troll in a wheelchair who knows his disability will likely have him killed once he's old enough since he can't "contribute" to Alternian society. No doubt similar works for more mental disabilities such as the Captor tendency towards bipolar disorder if it's severe enough or for there even to just be one bad episode at the wrong time.
His situation has not much improved in regards to this since being installed as Her Helmsman. Why would it be? He's not longer considered a person, merely a tool to be used so that the ship can be more efficient. One could even say that his disorder has become worse with the combination of mental strain, physical strain, abuse on nearly every spectrum imaginable, and losing all he holds dear. This has had what could very politely be called "interesting" side effects in his role as Helmsman. It's (fortunately) not been able to affect anything too severely but it has been noticeable enough to affect minor parts of the ship. It's been just another thing that infuriates the Condesce and most other highbloods but, in truth, this isn't something Psii can control either.
It's noticeable that for the Captors shown so far in canon, their bipolarity seems to affect their self esteem most notably. When hitting more depressive swings, they tend to be extremely self-deprecating and full of self loathing (Sollux) or have no self esteem whatsoever and let others walk all over them (Mituna). When more manic swings take a hold of them, they're almost arrogant in their self confidence with Sollux boasting about his computer skills and Mituna acting as though everyone wants him to name two examples.
Another trait shared amongst Captors, although more minor than the others listed so far, is that they're not particularly subtle when it comes to expressing their dislike of another person. Oh yes, they're that particular kind of jackass who is a bit of a jerk to those they like dearly. (Perhaps even more so). However, with someone who really makes their blood boil, there's venom that enters their words that's not prevalent with anyone else. Sollux outright says he'll kill Eridan and doesn't seem to have any problem with it when the seadweller threatens to ruin things for them on the meteor. Mituna has a similar problem with his own version of an Ampora, showing a clear distaste for Cronus and outright calling him and his hobby-of-the-week trash (only apologizing because of his disorder destroying his self esteem in random fits). Much like with his tendency towards snark, the Helmsman hasn't been able to show this sort of thing for a very long time... But no troll can miss the clear (and unromantic) hatred the Helmsman fairly radiates towards highbloods and the Condesce herself however much he might not be able to say it. Of course, there's no need to say "I hate you" when a metaphorical punch to the bulge does just as well.
Pessimism is a trait shown more in Sollux Captor alone than Mituna Captor (that we've seen), but it's something I believe that the Helmsman is prone to as well because of his life and circumstances. Alternia is a very different beast than the alternate world of Beforus, after all, and that's experience Sollux shares to some degree with his ancestor more than perhaps Mituna does with his "reincarnation". The Helmsman grew up as a lowblood and a slave, where pessimism and paranoia could very likely keep you safe. It also doesn't help that, as a seer who sees only the horrible happen, it's natural that he would be a pessimist by nature. Thousands of years of slavery have not done much for this way of thinking, only enhanced it. Upon coming into the Bastion, no longer a slave and still alive to boot, it's likely that the Helmsman will brush everything off as nothing more than a hallucination of his own "broken" mind. That isn't to say the Helmsman can't change his views on things. It's clear that, at one point, he did and ventured out with the Signless to try and change the world even no doubt with visions of failure haunting him with every step.
A lot of what has been written so far are rather negative traits, it's true. Captors are by nature sometimes very difficult to like or get along with due to their abrasive nature. As Meenah Peixes once said of Mituna, "Kid makes you work". However, they have their positive traits. One of those is loyalty, although it's not always paid in kind (Mituna's group being the most glaring examples). Once you get a Captor dedicated to you, it seems like quite the feat to make them stop no matter how much of an asshole or creepy freak you are. (Obligatory nod to Aradia "Let's have a corpse party with your corpse" Megido.) The Helmsman shows this with how far he went with the Signless and Co even with the odds stacked against them and the terrible fates he likely knew would claim them all.
Captors have also shown themselves to be extremely intelligent, as I mentioned above earlier, due to a mutation in their brains. There's no doubt that the Helmsman is similar, both when he was merely another lowblood and only forced further when he became the Helmsman. It wouldn't be surprising if the Helmsman's quick thinking came in handy more than once while the rebel group was on the run from the Highblood forces, nor would it be surprising for him to put preventive measures such as the biotech in his brain mentioned above. That's just when he was still a free troll. As the Helmsman, his intelligence has been artificially enhanced due to being connected with the Helmsman system of the ship. In truth, he effectively possesses a super computer in his mind. As a downside, much like his descendent Sollux, he likely gets severe headaches and migraines on occasion.
In summary, the Helmsman is one battered troll who has seen a lot in a long life he never asked for. As the Psiioniic, he was brave, selfless, pessimistic, quick witted, and a bonafide genius. As the Helmsman... Some of those old traits still remain despite it all. However, thousands of years of forced slavery after losing his most important people have worsened his natural bipolar disorder and twisted his previously pessimistic nature into something bitter and spiteful. His already brilliant mind has been forcefully enhanced at the cost of his freedom and use of his body.
Against the odds, however, deep inside he is still the selfless troll who risked everything for the happiness and dreams of others.
Powers:
Flight (Always On) - This is a power that's going to be needed out of necessity because of the Helmsman's physical state. I plan on having him been in service as a Helmsman for 1425.23 solar sweeps (3088 human years) and that has done a number on his limbs when he even remembers he has limbs. He's forgotten how to use them and, honestly, they're in no shape to be used. In order to get around, he's going to be relying on his psionic abilities to float here and there.
Lightshows (Always On) - This is more a side effect of his other psionic powers most of the time although it can be utilized as somehting of its own. Considering his speaking ability might not be in the best of condition, I'd like to have this as an always on ability for basic communication. Basically, it's just psionic powers at the most basic level: psionic energy of alternating red and blue light which can form to make lettering or basic pictures on a very small scale so that the Helmsman can get the idea of what he's asking or what he wants across. This light tends to be apparent whenever the Helmsman is using his psionic abilities so it could be considered a sort of side effect. It gives off a small but pleasant heat if anyone tries to touch it, but it's not remotely enough to harm or blind anyone. The Helmsman can also only use this in short proximity to his physical body.
Seer (Always On) - As with all Captors, the Helmsman is a seer of sorts but he can only see when horrible or disastrous things occur. This may have something to do with how all Captors are connected to the Sgrub aspect of Doom, which the Helmsman is only tangentially connected to. This power can be triggered at mod discretion, and I'll also put up a post for any players to contact me if they want to have the Helmsman realize their character is about to do something horrible whether by purpose or accident. It's said in canon that Sollux gets these prophecies from the voices of the imminently deceased, but Hussie never really explains what that means. We can assume that it has something to do with the voices of the dead and dying, however, which means that this power also has the Helmsman faintly connected to the dead.
Psionic Blasts (3 time use) - The Helmsman can channel his psionic abilities into blasts from either his eyes or his hands. They can manifest as either a more concussive force or something with a more laser like quality to it, depending on the Helmsman's will. With his descendant Sollux, this power has been shown powerful enough to blast through a hiveblock made out of some sort of stone. Considering the Helmsman's age and experience, his are just as if not more powerful.
Telekinesis (On/3 time use) - This is divided into two different uses depending on what the Helmsman is using his power for. For anything that a normal person such as Bon could lift (a spoon, a doorknob, etc), I'd like to permit the Helmsman to be able to use his psionics 24/7 since, again, he's not physically capable of lifting these things. For anything larger (another person, a boulder, a lunkhead), I'll have this power be restricted to 3 times a day with a 15 minute duration for the area around him (since Captors have been shown to use this power on multiple objects at the same time).
Minor Advanced Healing (Always On) - The Helmsman is one of the few, possibly only, trolls which has been subject to the Condesce's Life-aspect powers for so long and has far outlived his normal yellowblooded troll lifespan. Because of this prolonged contact with this power, the Helmsman is prone to recovering from physical injuries such as cuts much quicker than trolls already tend to. This isn't Wolverine-level kind of healing, but it does help.
Biotech Compatibility (Always On) - Alternian technology is extremely advanced, especially as they are conquerors of various races and it's likely expected that anything they find worth their time is absorbed into their own technology for use. As a Helmsman, he is capable of being able to adapt to alien tech so long as it's sufficiently advanced. This is mostly in the case of Alternian tech, but he could likely bullshit rig anything else especially since his psionics are the main focus with understanding and using other tech. Whether or not any biowires from the ship are brought back with him will make the process either easier or harder.
Supercomputer (Always On) - After thousands of years as basically a computer for an extremely advanced and very large ship, the Helmsman can't really make his mind not be a computer. He's acutely aware of how much time passes by, he can do math that would make most people want to vomit, and he can crack codes or figure out foreign language in no time at all among other things. A side effect is that he was connected to a disciplinary program as part of the ship which conditioned him to obey the orders of higherblooded trolls. He's aware of this and can often pull semantic bullshit if it's an order he disagrees with or just wants to be contrary, but it's still something basically embedded into him at this point and relevant if any other trolls enter the game since the vast majority are higher than him on the hemospectrum.
Troll body - Alternian trolls are an unbelievably violent race, and their bodies have evolved to take a lot of damage. In canon, Vriska Serket is shown losing her arm in the equivalent of her pre-teens but still recovers fast enough to do some complicated psionic fuckery. Needless to say, the Helmsman is... similar, to some degree. More than other trolls, his pain tolerance levels are off the roof because of his past as a regular slave and his current role as Helmsman where every waking moment is unspeakable pain. This isn't exactly a good thing. While he can stand a lot of pain, he's somewhat disconnected from the actual condition his body can really be in and thus is liable to ignore when he's in serious danger.
There's also the fact that, as mentioned, he's in extremely poor physical condition due to being effectively a part of a ship. When he was still attached to the HIC ship, this wasn't a problem. He was only a small part of a whole, parasitically attached to the ship as he was. The only thing of true important in the eyes of highbloods was his brain where his powerful psionics resided. Thus, on more than one occasion, not as much attention was paid to the rest of his body as perhaps should have been if anyone actually cared about him as a troll instead of property. This means he's forgotten what it means to use most of his limbs on their own and they've grown too weak to be even used that way.
He's also become too used to being part of a ship. His psionics were used for powering a vast majority of the HIC ship and were sufficiently backed up by it as it was basically an extension of his mind and body. Now that he's no longer attached to it, using the full extent of his psionic powers especially with his body in the condition it's in isn't really possible. As mentioned above as well, if he overexerts himself than he'll utterly exhaust himself at best or take an immediate dirtnap. Emotional outbursts can also quickly drain him.
Entry: RESCUE HIM. PLEASE.
Considering his situation, the Helmsman will be found in a small portion of Her Imperious Condescension's ship which has been broken off after being hit by the Calamity and will be on a large slice of the Skyway. The helmsblock itself will be mostly intact and filled with sea water up to the waist, although getting there might be a bit difficult with the rest of the damage.
Depending on the actions of his rescuers, the Helmsman can be either just plain pulled from his station or somehow bullshit through the necessary procedures of Helmstroll removal with the helmsblock computers. The first option means that the Helmsman will suffer wounds from this crude removal that will take longer to heal from (3-4 days). The second option, while more difficult especially if there's no one tech savvy around, will ensure a more smooth removal and the typical entry points of the biowires into his body will bleed less and have a lesser chance of getting infected.
This portion of the ship is only functional while the Helmsman is still in his block, since it's been separated from the backup engines and relying purely on psionic energy. Once he's removed, it will shut down and be useless for even salvage unless he or another psionic troll is inserted into the helmsblock again. Considering it's biotech, certain portions of the ship will start to decay and thus take away a lot of its use. Skyway creatures will also probably move into it with time despite the slowly growing smell of fish.
Other: quietly screams a lot