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Player Information
Player name: James
Contact: Trilies at plurk, PM on polariity, trickeryandlies@yahoo.com
Are you over 18: Yes
Characters in The Box Already: Nope
Character Information
Character Name: The Psiioniic
Canon: Homestuck
Canon Point: Right before becoming Helmsman
History:
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.
Unlike most troll grubs, he would not be born from the breeding caverns but instead cloned and sent back in time through shenanigans and on a meteor. (It's a long story.) In a strike of good fortune, he would managed to be found by a lusus with yellowblood who would take him in. It would protect the young grub until he completed his pupation. That would the most freedom the young yellowblood would ever know as, soon after, highbloods found the pair and he was taken to be a slave from a young age. Most of his memories would be from after his time and thus the yellowblood only knew enslavement for many solar sweeps.
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. The reason for this repression would be a "career" that would terrify the young yellowblood from his earliest memories from talking with other slaves and nosing about: becoming a helmstroll.
No doubt the horrifying role would be glamorized by highblood controlled media, convincing the optimistic or the foolish that they were the most honorable titles that otherwise worthless, weak, and short-lived lowblood psionics could ever hope to achieve. However, through the grapevine of the knowledgeable, the true fate of Helmstrolls would be murmured and spread. A certain young yellowblood with a Gemini symbol would hear of this, and such a thing would haunt him. It would serve as one of the few things to force him to keep going on because as much as his life was miserable, it could always get worse if it was found out that he was a psionic and he'd be exchanged to the highest bidder since a slave like himself held no true rights.
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 he would have to struggle and fight for his life every day even just against himself. During that time, he would possess no title. A slave like him deserved barely a name, and even then only so that his masters could check to make sure all their assets were in order.
t is not said how old he is when he joins Signless' group or the circumstances surrounding it, but likely as an mid-teen or a young adult. 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 young yellowblood 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, theis yellowblood also has prophetic visions of doom and disaster. During the Signless' stay, he 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 yellowblood'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. He 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. In quick time, he is given a title that soon becomes known by all- spread first by the lowbloods who look up to him and caught on by the highbloods who need a way to identify him.
The Psiioniic. A title born out of his immensely powerful and versatile abilities that he uses almost solely for the protection of the group he has become so attached to.
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. His end destination is clear as he's branded for his new fate: as the Helmsman of Her Imperious Condescension's ship.
Personality:
With the Psiioniic'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.
What is likely one of the more blatant traits noticeable in the Psiioniic is something of a proud tradition amongst the Captor lineage: unbridled dickbaggery-filled snark directed towards anyone and everyone. From quotes from his descendant such as "You can scream at my corpse" to his alternate universe self snapping at a person for being "indieot garbage", the Psiioniic is no different. It didn't always use to be this way. A slave, after all, would be quickly culled and replaced at worst if they let their smart mouth run off without any consideration, and whipped into a sorry state at 'best'. (A lesson he's no doubt learned from personal experience.) However, with his freedom being won at least for a short period of time, he's since quickly forgotten what it means to hold his tongue. It doesn't matter if he's speaking with a friend or a stranger; he'll shoot off a sarcastic phrase or bit of snark regardless. In fact, it could almost be considered a sign that he might even like someone.
He even uses this against people he hates, but there's a noticeable difference in his tone and the kind of snark he uses against them. It's another thing he shares with his lineage. If he truly hates someone and wants to see them burn, he won't try to hide any of his feelings about it niceties be damned.
When one gets down to it, however, he does lean a bit more towards his previous self Mituna Captor in some things. One of those? Dirty jokes. It's something that's unavoidable, really. Lowbloods are at the very bottom of the rung, treated like dirt and sewage. Why try and clean themselves up when they're going to be treated the same either way? So rather immature and dirty humor is no doubt something that was common in the lowblooded communal hives, and the Psiioniic has embraced it. Letting an easy joke slip past him would be a shame, and he won't hesitate to shoot off something before sniggering to himself.
There's something more to all Captors besides just their tendency towards snark or the occasional dirty joke, however, but it's something that might not be immediately obvious. "Heroic" or "selfless" are probably not words that would come to mind for their kinds of personalities, all snark and abrasiveness as they'd rather be with themselves. Still, when it comes down to the wire and someone needs to do something, Captors will be one of the first to stand up and step forward. They're a self-sacrificing lot, even if none of them will admit it. Sollux Captor sacrifices his lives multiple times to get Feferi in the game, to hurl a meteor through space so his friends have hope. Mituna Captor overuses his powers so much that the psionic backlash gives him braindamage, all to save his group- even if a good chunk of them are dickbags.
Even with the little information we know about the Psiioniic, there can be no doubt that he's exactly the same. Slavery is miserable and horrible, with a life expectancy rate that's low even for the Alternian average. Yet compared to what could happen running around with an illegal-blooded rebellion-minded troll preaching against Her Imperious Condescension herself? It's surely the safer option, especially as the Psiioniic begins to use more and more often the powers that would earn him his title and make him such a prize for the highbloods. Yet still he risks it all, and becomes one of the Signless' most closest disciples and friends. It's high-risk, it's suicidal, it's foolish... But there's no one better equipped to tell you the Alternian way of doing things is horrible than a lowblood slave, and the Psiioniic is simply willing to put his money where his mouth is. After a while, however, that shifted from mere selflessness to outright loyalty- the kind where he'd stick to someone tighter than facepaint to a juggalo. And when a Captor becomes loyal to someone, come hell or high water, come rebellion or threat of slavery worst than anything imaginable, then he'll stay loyal.
Despite what some might call a noble character trait, however, it's highly unlikely that the Psiioniic sees himself that way. The reason for that is simple: the trademark and genetic Captor bipolarity. From hitting confidence-filled mania where they'll proclaim they're the best that everyone wants a piece of, to self-deprecating and self-loathing filled depression where they'll close themselves off from even those they like, there's no doubt it's something that has just carried on through them all. The Psiioniic in particular is, for the purposes of this roleplay, prone to mixed episodes: times where he'll be hit with both symptoms from depression and those of mania. This disorder has nearly done him in many times in his life as a slave, and it's only as he's gained a strong support network with Signless, Disciple, and Dolorosa that he's managed to recover and adapt as much as he's been able to without the use of medication.
With such a disorder and also his horrible past as a slave no doubt adding PTSD, it should be of no surprise that the Psiioniic is on occasion prone to suicidal idealization even on good days. With his particular canonpoint, just watching his entire life crumble away as Signless was murdered and Dolorosa was taken away for some ungodly fate, Disciple on her own... It's only going to be stronger with a twisted sort of survivor's guilt, desperately wishing he could have died back there with them instead of being dragged to his worst nightmare serving under one of the people he hates the most in the universe. Perhaps it's one of the reasons he can so easily be self-sacrificial. After all, if his own life is so worthless, then at least he can use it so that someone else more deserving can go on.
Of course, this doesn't mean the Psiioniic is going to lay down and just let himself die. (Not in his usual states of mind, at any rate.) No, he's much more a fan of going down in a blaze of glory, with a purpose. He's going to make his shit-life worth something. Perhaps that's part of why the life of a Helmsman terrified him so much: just wasting away while every bit of him was used up.
If there's a bright side to any of this, as much as anything can be called a bright side, the same mutation that's split his brain and likely ushered in his bipolarity is the same mutation that has made the Psiioniic nothing short of an utter genius even without the high quality sort of education that midbloods and highbloods were given. As a slave, it was given minimal chances to grow and prosper save for how to haul his ass out of trouble and keep things in his shared hive up and running slightly better than usual. As a rebel, that's where it truly began to shine. With a lust for knowledge awakening with his freedom, the Psiioniic soon became the tech expert amongst the group by forcing even the shittiest little husktop to work so that they could keep an eye on the news and the highbloods while traveling. Things like mapping, keeping an eye on their limited funds, and keeping an eye on faces were also all things his impressive amount of smarts were put to work to.
In summary, the Psiioniic has lived a hell of a life and he's burdened with the knowledge that it's going to get worse and never better. Harsh bipolarity, an abrasive attitude, and a smart mouth can make him hard to get along with. Yet, if one can see past that, they'll find a troll with a heart of gold with a kind of loyalty that can't be beat and a selflessness that's weathered despite the harsh and cruel culture of Alternia.
Items on your character at canon point:
Did you mean "dick all"? Because that's what the Psiioniic is honestly bringing to the table. Okay, that's not quite right. He is bringing some things, maybe, but they're all relatively useless (for him) as he was in transit from Signless' execution to the Condesce's ship to be installed in the helmsblock. Most of his personal items such as his sylladex and strife specibus were confiscated since he was once again a slave. So in all honesty? He has:
- The clothes on his back, some stylish form-fitting garments of garish yellow and black which are best made for flying so there's minimal drag resistance. Accompanied by a pair of slick boots!
- Shackles and chains! Apparently kicking, punching, and generally trying to raise hell in mourning and fury is not seen kindly by lowbloods, and it was thus put to a stop quickly.
- A gag. They also got sick of his yelling, cursing, and snark. He might have tried to bite at some point.
- A psionic canceling device that looks suspiciously like a pair of tyrian pink goggles which dig uncomfortably into his face so that he couldn't blast his way out of the situation. It sure would be bad if those got into the wrong hands, wouldn't it?
Abilities, Strengths and Weaknesses:
[Physical]
+ Unlike his descendant, Psiioniic actually knows how to handle himself away from a computer. He's tall and lean muscled after so many sweeps of traveling around with Signless and Co., so he has some endurance to his name that are good for long travels. He's also a decent sneak in order to get past all of Alternia's dangerous fauna and various other creatures such as the undead.
+ Things in Alternia's past were almost more gruesome than its present with the kids, which is saying something impressive. This means, of course, that the Psiioniic learned how to be in a physical fight especially after so long repressing his psionic powers and thus unable to rely on them in a jam. He's good at improvising bullshit, and preferred a simple shank or dagger when he was a slave since a lowly yellowblood like himself wouldn't be permitted anything better and such weapons were easier to craft on the fly. He's quick on his feet and some measure of acrobatic, preferring to take care of his opponents quickly when he can or darting in and out with cuts from his blade if that's really what it's come down to. With his psionics, he's only learned to augment his physical skill. Unfortunately....
- He's a lightweight. When it comes to brute physical strength and nothing else, he'll lose every time. If he can be caught by surprise or his powers are unavailable for whatever reason, he can be subdued quickly especially in regards to blows to the head.
- Migraines are a common beast Psiioniic has to wrestle with and sometimes they're so debilitating that he can't do anything but curl up in a dark corner and pray that they go away at some point.
+ Trolls are nocturnal creatures (for good reason, since their sun gives off physically harmful rays that can blind them). This means that the Psiioniic's eyesight is able to see through dim and dark areas even without any lightshows from his psionics.
- As a reminder of his time as a simple slave, the Psiioniic is host to a variety of scars all over his body. When he's cold, the pain often acts up and can leave him uncomfortable at best. He's particularly susceptible to cold because of his blood.
- The most noticeable scars are huge welts up along his back from when he was whipped and lashed for various petty offenses and sometimes not knowing when to shut up. He also has a total of three slave brands on his body. Two of them are from his first two masters and have been torn up so that they're unrecognizable. The latest is still fresh and recent in the shape of a Pisces sign. The first two are around his hip, but the last has been done on his chest right over his heart.
+ On the bright side, as a yellowblood that low on the spectrum, he's good for leeching warmth off of especially if he's been using his psionics lately or a lot and his body temperature gets higher.
+ Due to traveling a lot through the brutal Alternian wilderness, the Psiioniic has picked up a decent amount of survival skills. He's by no means the expert of the group, but he's decent enough and can set up a camp, know how to prep an animal so it's edible, and enough presence of mind to make someone else (preferably who he doesn't like) eat fruits or fungi he's not familiar with.
- ...But he can't swim. Or, at least, he can't swim well. He can doggy paddle and float in place, but the Psiioniic is loathe to be in any water that goes past his knees. His preferred method is to use his psionics to get the fuck out of there ASAP.
[Mental]
- His bipolarity has already been covered up above in the personality section.
- Also covered above is his unfortunate tendencies towards suicidal idealization, tendencies, and a low view of his own life compared to certain other people.
- PTSD was also mentioned above, something that was first started off from his time as a slave and has since been added onto as the rebellion failed and he was forced to watch his closest friends meet horrible fates. He'll do his best to avoid certain places if he can, and be commonly haunted by worse nightmares than usual that even sopor slime isn't always strong enough to beat back, along with being a jittery on edge snappy mess. Things that can trigger such things: large bodies of water, factory-like places, the sound of heavy machinery, the Cancer zodiac sign, the sound of bow strings, the smell of burning flesh, a certain shade of pink.
- What I'm saying is that this man needs a fucking therapist and he is never getting one.
+ Thanks to the mutation of his brain and his status as a lowblood slave, the Psiioniic is a self-taught genius. With technology he's familiar with, he can bullshit a whole lot of things. If it's unfamiliar to him? He's an astonishingly quick learner and won't hesitate to dick around to further his knowledge. The things he's bullshits together to make a functioning piece of equipment aren't always pretty or even remotely perfect, but they can work and that's all that matters.
- Like many lowbloods, as a price for his immensely powerful psionic powers, he's in turn particularly susceptible to mind-affecting powers himself such as mind-control.
[Powers]
+ The Psiioniic is known as the Psiioniic for a reason. His psionic powers are immense, and he's had longer to grown into them and use them than his descendant Sollux has. They're also extremely versatile with a wide away of uses. With his telekinetics, he can lift up multiple objects or even immensely huge ones. He's also able to produce laser and concussive blasts from his eyes and hands. Those are just the obvious ones. With more time to experiment by virtue of being older, the Psiioniic has also learned to use his powers with more finesses to make the energy more for show or even just as harmless heat instead of anything that might hurt. His psionics can also be used as a power source... Something many from his home planet are aware of.
- With great power comes great responsibility... And thus these powerful psionics don't run on nothing. In order to use them with no ill effect, the Psiioniic's body requires he eat regularly and he eat a lot. Energy of one kind is needed to be converted into another, after all. If he doesn't keep himself decently fed, at best his psionics will start to devour his own body for the necessary fuel they need to keep going. At worst, they'll knock him straight the fuck out and thus leave him vulnerable for whoever or whatever wants a piece of him.
+/- Like many Captors (or perhaps just Doom players past and present), the Psiioniic can hear the "voices of the imminently deceased". What the hell does that mean? Ask Hussie. For the purposes of this roleplay, it means he can hear those who are dying by psychic means. On one hand, it's a pretty shitty power and guaranteed to wear down on one after long enough. On the other hand, it also acts as an early warning system regarding things or places dangerous enough. When it's too much, he often tries to ignore the voices and can miss things they tell him.
+ The Psiioniic has the power of something called "the vision twofold"... But this really only means he's a seer of sorts, able to see the present and future. In the Box, this will be suitably limited (does 24 hours sound good enough?) and even then it will only show him horrible possibilities instead of anything good like where to find decent food to eat. Much like his connection to the dying, this power also has a tendency of wearing down on the Psiioniic as he often feels the need to do something more often than naught especially if it has something to do with those he cares about. Sometimes he does his best to outright ignore it because of the stress it brings him. This power will be used with discretion.
Samples
Network/Action Spam Sample: An excerpt from a meme thread. Skipped from all the porn. It is an AU which should hopefully be okay for action spam, but nothing has really changed personality wise. He's still a snarky dickbag messing with someone (who he admittedly is fond of) and showing some of his insecurities. If the AU thing is a problem, there's also this dear player post.
Prose Log Sample:
There's two smells he can remember strongly from his childhood.
One is the mixed scent of sweat, oil, and blood all mingling together in the hell that was a factory where everyone's life was expendable. Then, waiting outside, was the thick and inescapable smell of salt water that not even the grime and rotting smell of the city could overcome. It had followed him at his heels everytime he ventured outside to herald the call of work or to get what little supplies he could manage. It hung heavy in his own shared block, smothering him everytime he tried to sleep and leaving salt on the surface of his sopor. He hardly had to learn to hate it, not when it came so easily especially once he ran away and there was a whole world devoid of that smell that heralded merciless violet eyes and slick white shapes beneath the mirror-like surface of water.
It's never a smell he's been able to really escape. They had a ship that needed to be used, after all, and sometimes it was just unavoidable to take a seaside path.
Still. As he lurks about the parking lot of the Foodland, sizing up to see if any of the cars are worth a good goddamn, he finds himself subconsciously trying not to take too many breaths. Even from here, the scent of the ocean still somehow reaches him. He's heard the rumors of the sort of things that lurk in that place and in the nearby lake, but honestly? He already knows.
Nothing good has ever come out of the goddamn water. He'll go to his goddamn death yodeling that little fact until even the unhatched know it.
But what can he do? There's no leaving the place, no way to get far enough from the goddamn hellish smell unless he wants to take a merry death-filled walk through the swamp. So he just grits his teeth and tries not to think on it too much. He has more important things to do- this is a supply run after all. He can't waste it on dicking around with his own issues.
He makes a grimace to his reflection in a grimy car window as he thinks that. After all... He's well aware his nightmares will take care of all that later.
Player name: James
Contact: Trilies at plurk, PM on polariity, trickeryandlies@yahoo.com
Are you over 18: Yes
Characters in The Box Already: Nope
Character Information
Character Name: The Psiioniic
Canon: Homestuck
Canon Point: Right before becoming Helmsman
History:
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.
Unlike most troll grubs, he would not be born from the breeding caverns but instead cloned and sent back in time through shenanigans and on a meteor. (It's a long story.) In a strike of good fortune, he would managed to be found by a lusus with yellowblood who would take him in. It would protect the young grub until he completed his pupation. That would the most freedom the young yellowblood would ever know as, soon after, highbloods found the pair and he was taken to be a slave from a young age. Most of his memories would be from after his time and thus the yellowblood only knew enslavement for many solar sweeps.
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. The reason for this repression would be a "career" that would terrify the young yellowblood from his earliest memories from talking with other slaves and nosing about: becoming a helmstroll.
No doubt the horrifying role would be glamorized by highblood controlled media, convincing the optimistic or the foolish that they were the most honorable titles that otherwise worthless, weak, and short-lived lowblood psionics could ever hope to achieve. However, through the grapevine of the knowledgeable, the true fate of Helmstrolls would be murmured and spread. A certain young yellowblood with a Gemini symbol would hear of this, and such a thing would haunt him. It would serve as one of the few things to force him to keep going on because as much as his life was miserable, it could always get worse if it was found out that he was a psionic and he'd be exchanged to the highest bidder since a slave like himself held no true rights.
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 he would have to struggle and fight for his life every day even just against himself. During that time, he would possess no title. A slave like him deserved barely a name, and even then only so that his masters could check to make sure all their assets were in order.
t is not said how old he is when he joins Signless' group or the circumstances surrounding it, but likely as an mid-teen or a young adult. 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 young yellowblood 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, theis yellowblood also has prophetic visions of doom and disaster. During the Signless' stay, he 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 yellowblood'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. He 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. In quick time, he is given a title that soon becomes known by all- spread first by the lowbloods who look up to him and caught on by the highbloods who need a way to identify him.
The Psiioniic. A title born out of his immensely powerful and versatile abilities that he uses almost solely for the protection of the group he has become so attached to.
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. His end destination is clear as he's branded for his new fate: as the Helmsman of Her Imperious Condescension's ship.
Personality:
With the Psiioniic'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.
What is likely one of the more blatant traits noticeable in the Psiioniic is something of a proud tradition amongst the Captor lineage: unbridled dickbaggery-filled snark directed towards anyone and everyone. From quotes from his descendant such as "You can scream at my corpse" to his alternate universe self snapping at a person for being "indieot garbage", the Psiioniic is no different. It didn't always use to be this way. A slave, after all, would be quickly culled and replaced at worst if they let their smart mouth run off without any consideration, and whipped into a sorry state at 'best'. (A lesson he's no doubt learned from personal experience.) However, with his freedom being won at least for a short period of time, he's since quickly forgotten what it means to hold his tongue. It doesn't matter if he's speaking with a friend or a stranger; he'll shoot off a sarcastic phrase or bit of snark regardless. In fact, it could almost be considered a sign that he might even like someone.
He even uses this against people he hates, but there's a noticeable difference in his tone and the kind of snark he uses against them. It's another thing he shares with his lineage. If he truly hates someone and wants to see them burn, he won't try to hide any of his feelings about it niceties be damned.
When one gets down to it, however, he does lean a bit more towards his previous self Mituna Captor in some things. One of those? Dirty jokes. It's something that's unavoidable, really. Lowbloods are at the very bottom of the rung, treated like dirt and sewage. Why try and clean themselves up when they're going to be treated the same either way? So rather immature and dirty humor is no doubt something that was common in the lowblooded communal hives, and the Psiioniic has embraced it. Letting an easy joke slip past him would be a shame, and he won't hesitate to shoot off something before sniggering to himself.
There's something more to all Captors besides just their tendency towards snark or the occasional dirty joke, however, but it's something that might not be immediately obvious. "Heroic" or "selfless" are probably not words that would come to mind for their kinds of personalities, all snark and abrasiveness as they'd rather be with themselves. Still, when it comes down to the wire and someone needs to do something, Captors will be one of the first to stand up and step forward. They're a self-sacrificing lot, even if none of them will admit it. Sollux Captor sacrifices his lives multiple times to get Feferi in the game, to hurl a meteor through space so his friends have hope. Mituna Captor overuses his powers so much that the psionic backlash gives him braindamage, all to save his group- even if a good chunk of them are dickbags.
Even with the little information we know about the Psiioniic, there can be no doubt that he's exactly the same. Slavery is miserable and horrible, with a life expectancy rate that's low even for the Alternian average. Yet compared to what could happen running around with an illegal-blooded rebellion-minded troll preaching against Her Imperious Condescension herself? It's surely the safer option, especially as the Psiioniic begins to use more and more often the powers that would earn him his title and make him such a prize for the highbloods. Yet still he risks it all, and becomes one of the Signless' most closest disciples and friends. It's high-risk, it's suicidal, it's foolish... But there's no one better equipped to tell you the Alternian way of doing things is horrible than a lowblood slave, and the Psiioniic is simply willing to put his money where his mouth is. After a while, however, that shifted from mere selflessness to outright loyalty- the kind where he'd stick to someone tighter than facepaint to a juggalo. And when a Captor becomes loyal to someone, come hell or high water, come rebellion or threat of slavery worst than anything imaginable, then he'll stay loyal.
Despite what some might call a noble character trait, however, it's highly unlikely that the Psiioniic sees himself that way. The reason for that is simple: the trademark and genetic Captor bipolarity. From hitting confidence-filled mania where they'll proclaim they're the best that everyone wants a piece of, to self-deprecating and self-loathing filled depression where they'll close themselves off from even those they like, there's no doubt it's something that has just carried on through them all. The Psiioniic in particular is, for the purposes of this roleplay, prone to mixed episodes: times where he'll be hit with both symptoms from depression and those of mania. This disorder has nearly done him in many times in his life as a slave, and it's only as he's gained a strong support network with Signless, Disciple, and Dolorosa that he's managed to recover and adapt as much as he's been able to without the use of medication.
With such a disorder and also his horrible past as a slave no doubt adding PTSD, it should be of no surprise that the Psiioniic is on occasion prone to suicidal idealization even on good days. With his particular canonpoint, just watching his entire life crumble away as Signless was murdered and Dolorosa was taken away for some ungodly fate, Disciple on her own... It's only going to be stronger with a twisted sort of survivor's guilt, desperately wishing he could have died back there with them instead of being dragged to his worst nightmare serving under one of the people he hates the most in the universe. Perhaps it's one of the reasons he can so easily be self-sacrificial. After all, if his own life is so worthless, then at least he can use it so that someone else more deserving can go on.
Of course, this doesn't mean the Psiioniic is going to lay down and just let himself die. (Not in his usual states of mind, at any rate.) No, he's much more a fan of going down in a blaze of glory, with a purpose. He's going to make his shit-life worth something. Perhaps that's part of why the life of a Helmsman terrified him so much: just wasting away while every bit of him was used up.
If there's a bright side to any of this, as much as anything can be called a bright side, the same mutation that's split his brain and likely ushered in his bipolarity is the same mutation that has made the Psiioniic nothing short of an utter genius even without the high quality sort of education that midbloods and highbloods were given. As a slave, it was given minimal chances to grow and prosper save for how to haul his ass out of trouble and keep things in his shared hive up and running slightly better than usual. As a rebel, that's where it truly began to shine. With a lust for knowledge awakening with his freedom, the Psiioniic soon became the tech expert amongst the group by forcing even the shittiest little husktop to work so that they could keep an eye on the news and the highbloods while traveling. Things like mapping, keeping an eye on their limited funds, and keeping an eye on faces were also all things his impressive amount of smarts were put to work to.
In summary, the Psiioniic has lived a hell of a life and he's burdened with the knowledge that it's going to get worse and never better. Harsh bipolarity, an abrasive attitude, and a smart mouth can make him hard to get along with. Yet, if one can see past that, they'll find a troll with a heart of gold with a kind of loyalty that can't be beat and a selflessness that's weathered despite the harsh and cruel culture of Alternia.
Items on your character at canon point:
Did you mean "dick all"? Because that's what the Psiioniic is honestly bringing to the table. Okay, that's not quite right. He is bringing some things, maybe, but they're all relatively useless (for him) as he was in transit from Signless' execution to the Condesce's ship to be installed in the helmsblock. Most of his personal items such as his sylladex and strife specibus were confiscated since he was once again a slave. So in all honesty? He has:
- The clothes on his back, some stylish form-fitting garments of garish yellow and black which are best made for flying so there's minimal drag resistance. Accompanied by a pair of slick boots!
- Shackles and chains! Apparently kicking, punching, and generally trying to raise hell in mourning and fury is not seen kindly by lowbloods, and it was thus put to a stop quickly.
- A gag. They also got sick of his yelling, cursing, and snark. He might have tried to bite at some point.
- A psionic canceling device that looks suspiciously like a pair of tyrian pink goggles which dig uncomfortably into his face so that he couldn't blast his way out of the situation. It sure would be bad if those got into the wrong hands, wouldn't it?
Abilities, Strengths and Weaknesses:
[Physical]
+ Unlike his descendant, Psiioniic actually knows how to handle himself away from a computer. He's tall and lean muscled after so many sweeps of traveling around with Signless and Co., so he has some endurance to his name that are good for long travels. He's also a decent sneak in order to get past all of Alternia's dangerous fauna and various other creatures such as the undead.
+ Things in Alternia's past were almost more gruesome than its present with the kids, which is saying something impressive. This means, of course, that the Psiioniic learned how to be in a physical fight especially after so long repressing his psionic powers and thus unable to rely on them in a jam. He's good at improvising bullshit, and preferred a simple shank or dagger when he was a slave since a lowly yellowblood like himself wouldn't be permitted anything better and such weapons were easier to craft on the fly. He's quick on his feet and some measure of acrobatic, preferring to take care of his opponents quickly when he can or darting in and out with cuts from his blade if that's really what it's come down to. With his psionics, he's only learned to augment his physical skill. Unfortunately....
- He's a lightweight. When it comes to brute physical strength and nothing else, he'll lose every time. If he can be caught by surprise or his powers are unavailable for whatever reason, he can be subdued quickly especially in regards to blows to the head.
- Migraines are a common beast Psiioniic has to wrestle with and sometimes they're so debilitating that he can't do anything but curl up in a dark corner and pray that they go away at some point.
+ Trolls are nocturnal creatures (for good reason, since their sun gives off physically harmful rays that can blind them). This means that the Psiioniic's eyesight is able to see through dim and dark areas even without any lightshows from his psionics.
- As a reminder of his time as a simple slave, the Psiioniic is host to a variety of scars all over his body. When he's cold, the pain often acts up and can leave him uncomfortable at best. He's particularly susceptible to cold because of his blood.
- The most noticeable scars are huge welts up along his back from when he was whipped and lashed for various petty offenses and sometimes not knowing when to shut up. He also has a total of three slave brands on his body. Two of them are from his first two masters and have been torn up so that they're unrecognizable. The latest is still fresh and recent in the shape of a Pisces sign. The first two are around his hip, but the last has been done on his chest right over his heart.
+ On the bright side, as a yellowblood that low on the spectrum, he's good for leeching warmth off of especially if he's been using his psionics lately or a lot and his body temperature gets higher.
+ Due to traveling a lot through the brutal Alternian wilderness, the Psiioniic has picked up a decent amount of survival skills. He's by no means the expert of the group, but he's decent enough and can set up a camp, know how to prep an animal so it's edible, and enough presence of mind to make someone else (preferably who he doesn't like) eat fruits or fungi he's not familiar with.
- ...But he can't swim. Or, at least, he can't swim well. He can doggy paddle and float in place, but the Psiioniic is loathe to be in any water that goes past his knees. His preferred method is to use his psionics to get the fuck out of there ASAP.
[Mental]
- His bipolarity has already been covered up above in the personality section.
- Also covered above is his unfortunate tendencies towards suicidal idealization, tendencies, and a low view of his own life compared to certain other people.
- PTSD was also mentioned above, something that was first started off from his time as a slave and has since been added onto as the rebellion failed and he was forced to watch his closest friends meet horrible fates. He'll do his best to avoid certain places if he can, and be commonly haunted by worse nightmares than usual that even sopor slime isn't always strong enough to beat back, along with being a jittery on edge snappy mess. Things that can trigger such things: large bodies of water, factory-like places, the sound of heavy machinery, the Cancer zodiac sign, the sound of bow strings, the smell of burning flesh, a certain shade of pink.
- What I'm saying is that this man needs a fucking therapist and he is never getting one.
+ Thanks to the mutation of his brain and his status as a lowblood slave, the Psiioniic is a self-taught genius. With technology he's familiar with, he can bullshit a whole lot of things. If it's unfamiliar to him? He's an astonishingly quick learner and won't hesitate to dick around to further his knowledge. The things he's bullshits together to make a functioning piece of equipment aren't always pretty or even remotely perfect, but they can work and that's all that matters.
- Like many lowbloods, as a price for his immensely powerful psionic powers, he's in turn particularly susceptible to mind-affecting powers himself such as mind-control.
[Powers]
+ The Psiioniic is known as the Psiioniic for a reason. His psionic powers are immense, and he's had longer to grown into them and use them than his descendant Sollux has. They're also extremely versatile with a wide away of uses. With his telekinetics, he can lift up multiple objects or even immensely huge ones. He's also able to produce laser and concussive blasts from his eyes and hands. Those are just the obvious ones. With more time to experiment by virtue of being older, the Psiioniic has also learned to use his powers with more finesses to make the energy more for show or even just as harmless heat instead of anything that might hurt. His psionics can also be used as a power source... Something many from his home planet are aware of.
- With great power comes great responsibility... And thus these powerful psionics don't run on nothing. In order to use them with no ill effect, the Psiioniic's body requires he eat regularly and he eat a lot. Energy of one kind is needed to be converted into another, after all. If he doesn't keep himself decently fed, at best his psionics will start to devour his own body for the necessary fuel they need to keep going. At worst, they'll knock him straight the fuck out and thus leave him vulnerable for whoever or whatever wants a piece of him.
+/- Like many Captors (or perhaps just Doom players past and present), the Psiioniic can hear the "voices of the imminently deceased". What the hell does that mean? Ask Hussie. For the purposes of this roleplay, it means he can hear those who are dying by psychic means. On one hand, it's a pretty shitty power and guaranteed to wear down on one after long enough. On the other hand, it also acts as an early warning system regarding things or places dangerous enough. When it's too much, he often tries to ignore the voices and can miss things they tell him.
+ The Psiioniic has the power of something called "the vision twofold"... But this really only means he's a seer of sorts, able to see the present and future. In the Box, this will be suitably limited (does 24 hours sound good enough?) and even then it will only show him horrible possibilities instead of anything good like where to find decent food to eat. Much like his connection to the dying, this power also has a tendency of wearing down on the Psiioniic as he often feels the need to do something more often than naught especially if it has something to do with those he cares about. Sometimes he does his best to outright ignore it because of the stress it brings him. This power will be used with discretion.
Samples
Network/Action Spam Sample: An excerpt from a meme thread. Skipped from all the porn. It is an AU which should hopefully be okay for action spam, but nothing has really changed personality wise. He's still a snarky dickbag messing with someone (who he admittedly is fond of) and showing some of his insecurities. If the AU thing is a problem, there's also this dear player post.
Prose Log Sample:
There's two smells he can remember strongly from his childhood.
One is the mixed scent of sweat, oil, and blood all mingling together in the hell that was a factory where everyone's life was expendable. Then, waiting outside, was the thick and inescapable smell of salt water that not even the grime and rotting smell of the city could overcome. It had followed him at his heels everytime he ventured outside to herald the call of work or to get what little supplies he could manage. It hung heavy in his own shared block, smothering him everytime he tried to sleep and leaving salt on the surface of his sopor. He hardly had to learn to hate it, not when it came so easily especially once he ran away and there was a whole world devoid of that smell that heralded merciless violet eyes and slick white shapes beneath the mirror-like surface of water.
It's never a smell he's been able to really escape. They had a ship that needed to be used, after all, and sometimes it was just unavoidable to take a seaside path.
Still. As he lurks about the parking lot of the Foodland, sizing up to see if any of the cars are worth a good goddamn, he finds himself subconsciously trying not to take too many breaths. Even from here, the scent of the ocean still somehow reaches him. He's heard the rumors of the sort of things that lurk in that place and in the nearby lake, but honestly? He already knows.
Nothing good has ever come out of the goddamn water. He'll go to his goddamn death yodeling that little fact until even the unhatched know it.
But what can he do? There's no leaving the place, no way to get far enough from the goddamn hellish smell unless he wants to take a merry death-filled walk through the swamp. So he just grits his teeth and tries not to think on it too much. He has more important things to do- this is a supply run after all. He can't waste it on dicking around with his own issues.
He makes a grimace to his reflection in a grimy car window as he thinks that. After all... He's well aware his nightmares will take care of all that later.