OOC:
Name: RM
Personal LJ or DW: zinthos @ LJ / galatea @ DW
Email: [email protected]
Other Contact: katoptron @ plurk, ariesAutomaton @ AIM
Characters You Play/Have Played in Thusia: None!
Will You Need a DW Code?: Should be fine.

IC:
Character Name: Vivilothkarios, the Librarian (AKA Moredecai Rhodes). He will almost certainly settle on one of these names exclusively once he arrives and figures himself out. For the purposes of this app, I’ll be referring to him as “Librarian” throughout.

Canon: Sabra La Tau, a memory-loss game on IJ.

AU/OC/Previous Game: OC/Previous Game. He was an NPC created for the game who I’m fleshing out to play as an OC in this one.

Age: As a former god of lore and history, Librarian is stupid old. He’s been around as long as his civilization thought to keep records of their existence, plus a similarly long period of time where he was helping his dick of a head god (King) run the underground murdercave keeping all the old gods alive. Probably about fifteen thousand years of consciousness total.

Appearance: A man in his late twenties/early thirties, right in that range where he isn’t really young any more but also not visibly aged just yet. Librarian has black hair, brown eyes, and a dark complexion, giving him an appearance that seems vaguely Greek or otherwise Mediterranean. He always wears a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, originally for aesthetic reasons but now out of genuine myopia. Given a choice, he prefers formal, old-fashioned clothing, though he’ll be entering Thusia clothed in a violet mandarin collared uniform, to match the other Cepheus team-members coming in from Sabra. (See this pic.)
Librarian’s PB is Richard Kahan, as seen here.

Cause of Death: Lightning bolt to the face. (And subsequent lack of remaining god power.) After weeks of hiding from King after his defection, Librarian found himself faced with a difficult decision: stay in hiding and survive, or help Cepheus escape death in a way that would almost certainly attract King’s attention. He chose the latter — and was consequently hit by King’s wrath as a result. The humanoid construct he was using at the time held almost all of his remaining power, so when it was destroyed, the last remnants still left in his keystone couldn’t survive. His consciousness faded out very soon afterwards.

Impact of Death: Librarian’s death isn’t going to be the thing causing the complications; he already knew that eating one of King’s lightning bolts was a damn likely outcome for his defection. It’s living that’s the problem. He’ll be way more confused and concerned by the fact that Thusia has brought him back in a human body, as he’s never really had one before, much less one that needs to eat every day and gets hurt and grows old, etc. He’ll also be super weirded out by the fact that he’ll have to make offerings to gods to get by in Thusia, since he’s /definitely/ not used to being on that side of the worship coin. His personality will also shift to be more human as well. Godly precision becomes borderline OCD, his old patronage of books/libraries becomes book-hoarding, and so forth.

References Link: The game Librarian is from: Sabra La Tau. There’s also a wiki/info gdoc, but it’s a) not terribly informative and b) already written by me.

Character Info: Before the creation of the world, there was only the Old Woman. Although her embrace was warm and loving, there was no one to share it with. Then came the Old Man. Captured by her love, the two began a dance that would create millions upon millions of children to walk upon the Old Man’s surface. The first of her children were also the first of the great gods: Regulus (King), the all-father and ruler, Kolotha (Weaver), his queen, and Corpus (Surgeon), brother and scholar. Many other gods emerged as well, though most traced their lineage back through these bloodlines. The specifics of Librarian’s birth aren’t clear, but it’s rumored that, after Foreman (construction god) got Surgeon drunk one night, the result was a trio of sibling deities: Storyteller, the eldest, Librarian, the middle child, and Haunted, the youngest of the three.

As you might have guessed from his name, Librarian was the god of records and libraries. Usually this meant history, but any sort of recorded information fell under his domain, from the smallest scrap of paperwork to the greatest encyclopedia. (He also had quite the fondness for romance novels, but that’s not important.) He and the other gods ruled over the many people living on the Old Man, each god granting favors to mortals and countries alike, depending on how much the countries revered them. And there were many of them — from the brash warriors of Pyxis to the clockwork princesses of Pavo, this world was home to all sorts of different people and traditions. Librarian found himself drawn to Cepheus, a vaguely steampunk nation that eshewed magic and religion in favor of technology. The country had all sorts of adorable geeky types, just like him … but the country was almost entirely atheist. This meant he couldn’t just appear and get worship, the way the gods did with other countries. So for a long time, Librarian inhabited a humanoid construct and set up a small bookstore in the corner of the capital city. In this human disguise, he got to know quite a few Cepheans, especially a small group towards the end. They proved to be one hell of a catalyst for a god that usually resisted change, though he did not know it at the time…

In the 199th year of King’s reign, the Old Woman suddenly made her wrath known. The star was beginning to die—and it lashed out at the planet circling it, causing sharp increases in temperature, climate changes, and other ominous omens. Cepheus in particular was plagued by fires, forcing them to shut off the Core, aka the steampunk engine powering the capital city. King called all of the nations to send what help they could to build the Sacred City, which would shelter them from the raging sun. Librarian reluctantly packed up his bookstore and left, resuming his full time duties as the god of records. For a time, things were good again; he manned the Great Library personally, managed the records for every person there, and watched as his Cephean friends lived in peace and comfort.

But … then things began to worsen, little by little. People began to disappear. Life began to drain back out of the landscape. Librarian found himself mired by more and more circuitous paperwork, stymied by a system that could no longer support itself. In the end, the gods had to take drastic measures. They created the first games: often bloody competitions that powered the gods via human sacrifice. King in turn bound the other gods to him, stealing their names and hiding away their keystones, when necessary. Librarian, who had neither the stomach nor the ability to run games of his own, swore absolute fealty to his ruler. And it didn’t even seem like such a bad deal. A little creative censoring in exchange for enough power to continue existing for untold millenia? He could deal with that. But as before, the paperwork grew ever more byzantine. Whole swaths of history erased, endlessly complicated paperwork for deaths, games … and new entries for the games, this time drawn from other worlds. Librarian began a slow, spiraling decline into mere bureaucracy, his power waning the more history became shrouded by his own red tape.

And then something jolted him awake. While supervising one of his fellow god’s games, he noticed that one of the blanks (game participants seeking to get their memories back, aka the PCs) resembled someone he had befriended just before the Sacred City. When he looked at the records for this team, he found that they were called Cepheus … and all of them strongly resembled Cepheans he had befriended. From that point on, Librarian began to watch over the team. Subtly and awkwardly at first, followed by the occasional favor or advice, then full patronage. It was something he’d never done before, given his long isolation from the Games and their suffering. But he just couldn’t stay away. For the first time since the cataclysm, he took on a construct form (a paper owl this time) and spent quite a bit of time with his favored team. Not all of his attention was positive — he once “lost” the paperwork for a pair of Cepheans who were supposed to win and escape Sabra, so desperate was he to keep interacting with them a little longer — but his feelings grew to be more than just what he had felt for the original Cepheans. By the time they found out the true history of Sabra, Librarian knew that he couldn’t bear to lose this group. Not when he had failed to protect the originals that he had been so fond of.

After the history-revealing event (that resulted in Surgeon’s destruction — another loyalty-shaking move for Librarian), Librarian found his loyalties shifting away from King and towards Cepheus. It took a lot of time and fuss, but eventually he decided to join them completely. Cepheus retrieved his divine keystone and his former construct, Mordecai Rhodes (the bookstore owner from Old Sabra). As he could not depend on energy from King once he went into hiding, he channeled everything he had left into that humanoid construct. If that construct were to be killed, he would die as well—but it was worth it for the chance to help Cepheus. Things became more and more dangerous as Sabra began to tumble down around their ears. Judges (former gods) killed, draconic rules implemented, terrible games … and a few close calls for himself as well. In the end, though, King called the blanks to the arena for one last event. Librarian had guessed that this would likely result in Cepheus’ injury or death, but could not stop them from leaving to go to it due to King’s compulsion. So he followed them to the arena, used the very last of his power, and stood up to King … for the first and last time. King struck his construct down on the spot, killing Librarian instantly.

As the god of history and also paperwork, Librarian is a pretty stuffy guy. He’s not the god you go to if you want a party. Though quiet, reserved, and very formal, Librarian isn’t as much anti-social as he is … just … not terribly good at it. He prefers his work and his books to any kind of mortal interaction. … or immortal interaction, for that matter. Librarian didn’t have many friends even among the gods, although he didn’t really have any enemies either. Most of his longstanding “rivalries” are with people and gods who interfere with his work, like people who mess up his specific order of books in the library or — god forbid — actually destroy books. Even for a god, Librarian was borderline OCD about some things … which will make him downright obsessive in human form. He’s the kind of person who needs to have everything in a very specific order and a very specific pattern. Even minor changes prompt irritability from him, with major unexpected changes being a source of stress for the guy. He’s super bad at anything remotely spontaneous, including relaxation for relaxation’s sake. And alcohol just makes him a sad drunk. This is not to say that major changes can’t occur, however. The trick is that Librarian needs time —time to think through all the options, time to wait things out for a bit and see if the situation changes, and time to actually go through whatever it is he’s doing. He didn’t start out as the god of paperwork, but it’s ultimately something that suited him very well. He was (and still is) a creature of slow, rigid order.

That doesn’t mean that Librarian can’t socialize or care for people. Given enough time to warm up to a situation (which can take quite a long time, depending on how strange or challenging the situation is), Librarian’s dere side eventually begins to show. He starts with small expressions of kindness, then moves on to actual fondness for people. He’s the sort of person who has very few friends, but when he does befriend someone, it’s for life. In fact it’s rather hard for him to let go after he’s gotten fond of someone, whether that’s for an authority figure (his misplaced loyalty for King) or for more personal friends (Cepheus, even centuries later). He’s just a wee bit clingy when you get right down to it. But he’s also deeply concerned, eventually willing to give just about anything for the people he’s close to.

Another thing that Librarian had as a god was access to all the information. All of it. The trick being that, after centuries upon centuries of red tape and self-censoring, he eventually lost the will to access that information, followed by actual inability. Even so, he got used to having everything at his disposal, even if he couldn’t directly get at it; that won’t be the case as a human. There are quite a lot of things he’ll have trouble with as a human. His realm dealt with history, the greater movements of humanity. And while he has a lot of practice acting like a human, he’ll have a lot of trouble dealing with the everyday work of being a human. Like eating. And bathing. He’ll probably forget for a while at first, followed by a lot of complaining and lots of checklists for himself. He’ll complain quite a lot, in fact. Especially about the fact that he basically has to worship gods in order to get by, when he himself used to do this whole god thing … He may even end up as a character who tries to do as much as possible without the gods, ironically.

Old Game Info: See above. As the god of paperwork for a panfandom RPG, Librarian theoretically knows a hell of a lot about a hell of a lot of characters. However, he’s also a god. Most of these characters are background noise, forgotten except for how much of a pain their entry (and exit) paperwork was to file. The exceptions are the members of Cepheus and a lone member of Hydra, who are the following canon characters:

+ Rabi/Lavi (D.Grayman): One of Librarian’s closest relationships. They’re very good friends, although Librarian (as always) struggles with returning affection appropriately. The relationship might have had romantic undertones if not for the fact that Librarian super doesn’t know how to handle romance. Along with Claude, Rabi is one of the two blanks that Librarian “lost” paperwork for in an effort to keep him in Sabra longer.

+ Claude C. Kenni (Star Ocean 2): Another of Librarian’s very close relationships. The two have had many deep discussions aaaand a few fights, especially when he found out about Librarian’s paperwork meddling. But they’ve made up since then.

+ Syaoran (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles): The original member of Cepheus that made Librarian realize that near-reincarnations were now present in Sabra. Their relationship was somewhat strained towards the end, but Librarian is still very fond of the kid.

+ Nakayama Yayoi (Air Gear): Another of Librarian’s Cepheus relationships. Less strong than the above relationships, but still good friends. Yayoi’s fondness for birds means lots of pettins for Librarian in his owl form.

+ The Rest of Cepheus (Hattori Heiji (Detective Conan), Shinonome Kon (Amatsuki), Rikudo (Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu)): Other members of Cepheus that Librarian is fond of. There’s not a whole lot to say beyond that. (This is mostly because as an NPC Librarian didn’t focus on relationships, etc.)

+ Zexion (Kingdom Hearts): The only member of Hydra that Librarian really likes. In Old Sabra, Zexion was a devotee of Librarian; in modern Sabra, Zexion helped fix up the library and recognized Librarian for who he was (a god of history, not paperwork). Both are very ordered and quiet, which Librarian likes.

Abilities (before Powercap): For a god, Librarian had barely any power left before his death. He had an eidetic memory but, as noted above, it became more and more restricted as time went on. Even so, he was fundamentally incapable of forgetting anything, and theoretically had access to all the information he wanted if he took the time to undo all of his paperwork. Librarian could also enter the minds of blanks via his bookworm form, where he could see the organization of their mind and sometimes piece things back together. He also could create red tape, which had a number of anti-god uses, such as hiding memories, delaying power usage, and generally protecting mortals from gods. Additionally, he was able to create, enter, and control paper constructs, usually either his human form or his owl one.

Abilities (after Powercap): First of all, Librarian won’t have nearly the same level of information access. Even his memories of Sabra will be fuzzed in places, due to the fact that Sabra’s an RPG that’s still ongoing, etc. This is due to the fact that, even with an eidetic memory, a human mind just really isn’t capable of dealing with ten thousand years of history in his head. He’ll have some of it — large chunks, even — but not all of it. What he will have is an eidetic memory for everything new he learns in Thusia. If he’s seen it or heard it, he can remember it.

Most of his other powers are completely gone just due to being in a human body. He can’t go in other people’s heads at all (unless the Thusia equivalent of heartgames happens anyway), he can’t access world information without working for it the normal way, and he can’t build paper bodies for himself (although he’s still pretty damn good at origami). His red tape takes the form of paper wards, which now rely on his mortal energy and aren’t on the same level as a god’s. They’ll be useful for some degree of warding/blocking, such as helping to keep a room cleared of wildlife still clear, and might hamper other characters’ powers (with permission), but they aren’t strong enough to do much more than crumple in the face of willful assault.

Both his memory and his wards will take practice to use as a human, since he’s never done it like that before.

Items Brought In: A book filled with old Cepheus steampunk schematics, in the back of which is an old (and fully inert) keystone. A supply of paper (about a notebook’s worth) with pen/ink.

Samples:

Comment Spam

Mr. Rhodes says goodbye to his shop (and his favorite Cepheans): http://asylums.insanejournal.com/sabra_la_tau/375735.html?thread=162873015#t162873015 This is from an Old Sabra event, with the the characters involved being in-setting AU versions of themselves. Librarian’s journal in this thread is sabra_la_au.
Librarian in his role as informant and loremaster for Cepheus: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/sabra_la_tau/584331.html?thread=261372043#t261372043 (He’s describing one of the villains of the game, Queen. Too much contact with her lowers character inhibitions in a bad way. Librarian’s journal in this thread is browl.)
Cepheus retrieves his construct: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/sabra_la_tau/547731.html (This is a quest post so some of the browl comments are me running the event rather than direct interaction. Check the first and last threads for more direct interaction.)

Survey

Introduce yourself in a few sentences.
I am Vivilothkarios, also known as the Librarian. Ah … although a few know me as Mordecai Rhodes. I do not know which you should use in this situation … Perhaps whatever you think best, or will require the least amount of effort to say.

Describe yourself physically.
Physically? I … have two hands, a pair of feet, a torso, and a head? This does not seem to be a terribly productive question. Unless you are referring to eye color and the like, in which case you can surely see far better than I can.

What was your childhood like?
I was never a child. Although … when the world was a lot younger, my older sister did tease me quite a bit. She was completely ridiculous once things like popular novels came into existence. We made something of a wager back then: I would produce a tome with literary and educational merit, while she would write complete garbage, and we would see which book performed better among the mortals. … the result is too embarrassing to say, but I am sure you can guess what the outcome was.

Who is most important to you, and why?
… may I answer with a group? It is difficult to single out individual members of Cepheus, all things considered. Without them … ah … I likely would have died anyway, but it would have been a terrible, drawn out ordeal. Even worse, I might have persisted as I did for many hundreds of years.

What's your biggest pet peeve?
Anyone who has the gall to meddle in something I have already carefully organized. If they must live their life in such ridiculous conditions, then I really cannot stop them. But why must they interfere with my business? It’s entirely ridiculous.

Do you consider yourself an optimist or a pessimist? Why?
Historians who are optimists tend to repeat their mistakes. I would much prefer to be a pessimist, thank you. It is far better to plan for things to go wrong than it is to assume they will go correctly.

Where, or how, did you learn your most important skills?
I’m not certain I understand this question either. I suppose my logic and order descend from the Surgeon’s influence, although I am certainly more detailed than he ever was. If you mean power, then I derived it from intelligent, logical thought that has been written down — such as a library. I do not learn things in the backwards, slow kind of way that humans tend to use.

Do you think world peace is possible?
Of course. World peace has been achieved a number of times. The trouble, however, is not in attaining it; rather, it is in making such a thing last. All good things come to an end.

Do you tend to argue with people, or avoid conflict?
Avoid it, if at all possible. Direct conflict hardly serves anyone, least of all the two parties involved.

What turns you on the most?
I … what?

Anything else you'd like to say?
I am still quite flabbergasted after that last question, thank you. I don’t believe there’s anything else I can add.